Public consultation, public comment, or simply consultation, is a process by which members of the public are asked for input on public issues. This can occur in public meetings open to all (such as town hall meetings) in written form (such as in public comment or surveys), as well as in deliberative groups (such as citizens' assemblies or citizen juries). Surveys and deliberative groups can be conducted with self-selected citizens or with statistically representative samples of the population which enables the identification of majority opinion. Its main goals are to improve public involvement and influence, as well as the transparency and efficiency of government projects, laws, or regulations.

Public consultation usually involves notification (to publicize the matter to be consulted on), consultation (a two-way flow of information and opinion exchange) as well as participation (involving stakeholders in the drafting of policy or legislation). There are a variety of consultation methods, but they all involve the provision of background information on the issue, and the opportunity for deliberation on the regulation, law or plan under consideration.

While public consultations have historically been undertaken by governments, they have been increasingly conducted by non-governmental organizations, including university programs and non-profit organizations.

History
The basis for public comment is found in general political theory of constitutional democracy as originated during and after the Enlightenment, particularly by Rousseau. This basis was elaborated in the American Revolution, and various thinkers such as Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Jefferson and Thomas Paine are associated with the rejection of tyrannical, closed government decision making in favor of open government. The tradition of the New England Town Hall is believed to be rooted in this early American movement, and the distillation of formal public comment in official proceedings in the United States is a direct application of this format in the workings of public administration itself.

A frequently used tool for understanding different levels of community participation in consultation is known as Arnstein's ladder, although some academics contest that Arnstein's ladder is contextually specific and was not intended to be a universal tool.

Public meetings
Common instances of public meetings include meetings convened by legislators or other elected officials, such as town halls open to all. Governing bodies also hold public hearings to get input on specific issue areas, however these are not open to all, as participants are selected by the governing body due to their expertise or representation of stakeholders.

Public Comment
Email, surveys, and social media offer relatively accessible forms of consultation, lowering the barriers of time and travel required to participate.

Governing bodies, as well as regulatory agencies often have periods of public comment before a new regulation or project is enacted, to allow for ordinary citizens and stakeholders to provide input.

A 2023 report cautions, however, that AI-generated text, (such as from bots on social media) may result in illegitimate feedback in addition to legitimate testimony and opinions.

A specific class of public comment is requested by agencies seeking input on draft policy documents such as environmental impact reports. This type of comment may pertain to an intended action, such as permit issuance, or the classification of a particular species of plant or animal as endangered. Other instances occur with regard to publication of draft environmental impact reports, which comments are then answered and may be reflected in subsequent revisions to the document. Typically there is a notice of completion of the draft which is posted in the newspaper, on the web, and is mailed to known interested parties who may be designated as "stakeholders" or simply "interested parties". A public comment period is established and comments which are received by the cutoff date become part of the official public record. In some cases, there is a statutory mandate that those comments be replied to or incorporated in some fashion into the Final document in advance of the deadline, which provides commentators with an opportunity to view the remarks of others before committing themselves in writing. A government portal which may allow review of comments and opportunity for making comment and can be searched by keyword.

Public Consultation with Representative Samples
One important dividing line between the various methods of public consultation is whether the participants are self-selected or if the participants are a representative sample of the population. It is only through representative samples that one can use the findings of a public consultation to characterize the distribution of views in the general population including the identification of majority views.

To achieve a representative sample the ideal method is a purely random selection of the population, but reasonably representative samples can still be achieved by opt-in samples by stratifying the sample in advance and weighting it afterwards according to key demographic variables in the population, as well as ensuring that the universe of potential respondents drawn from does not have evident biases. (see Sampling).

Methods that use representative samples are public consultation surveys and many of the deliberative groups based on the idea of creating mini-publics such as deliberative polls, citizen assemblies, citizen juries, and in some cases participatory budgeting. Public comment periods, public hearings, and town halls, are generally not done with representative samples, nor are some of the surveys used by government agencies and NGOs.  Such non-representative methods may however give an indication of the views of self-selected activists and individuals or organizations who have an interest in the issue at hand.

Deliberative assemblies

A growing trend, especially in Europe and the Commonwealth countries, is for citizens to meet for an in-depth deliberation on an important policy issue and deliver their conclusions to the government. The groups that meet are usually representative samples and are thus called "mini-publics."  Representativeness is often achieved by using a random selection of lay citizens (sortition). They meet, usually in person, for as little as one or as many as five days, or for shorter regular meeting periods over a longer period. They are briefed by experts on the issue, have discussions, and in the end vote on some type of final recommendation. In some cases, members of the general public may submit questions or comments to the mini-public, which are then discussed in their meetings.

One of the first forms of such deliberative assemblies were "citizens' juries" developed in the United States by Ned Crosby at the Jefferson Institute in Minneapolis, Minnesota. Citizen juries are small representative samples of several dozen participants that meet for several intensive days.

Citizens' assemblies are usually larger than citizen juries with a sample of one hundred to five hundred citizens. Citizens' assemblies have been initiatives of the government in British Columbia and Ontario, the Netherlands, the Republic of Ireland, Poland, France, the United Kingdom, and Australia.

They have also been initiated by NGOs, such as the Le G1000 in Belgium, the We The Citizens project in Ireland, and The People's Parliament in UK. A citizens' assembly has also been convened on the global level: The Global Assembly was organized in 2021 to deliberate on climate change policies before the start of the international climate change conference COP26. It is the first body that can make any claim to represent the democratic wishes of the global population as a whole.

Public consultation surveys
Public consultation surveys are surveys on policy proposals or positions that have been put forward by legislators, government officials, or other policy leader. The entirety of the deliberative process takes place within the survey. For each issue, respondents are provided relevant briefing materials, and arguments for and against various proposals.  Respondents then provide their final recommendation.  Public consultation surveys are primarily done with large representative samples, usually several thousand nationally and several hundred in subnational jurisdictions. .

Public consultation surveys have been used since the 1990s in the US.  The American Talks Issue Foundation led by Alan Kay played a pioneering role.  The largest such program is the Program for Public Consultation at the University of Maryland's School of Public Policy, directed by Steven Kull, conducting public consultation surveys on the national level, as well as in states and congressional districts. They have gathered public opinion data on over 300 policy proposals that have been put forward by Members of Congress and the Executive Branch, in a variety of areas. Such surveys conducted in particular Congressional districts have also been used as the basis for face-to-face forums in congressional districts, in which survey participants and House Congressional Representative discuss the policy proposals and the results of the survey.

Deliberative opinion polls
Deliberative opinion polling combines surveys of a representative sample of the population on their policy preferences together with face-to-face deliberation. The sample (usually several hundred) is surveyed in advance and then is provided briefing materials on the issue, and arguments for and against various policy proposals. They then participate in a face-to-face process in which experts with different policy orientations make presentations, and participants discuss the issues among themselves and with the experts. In the end, participants repeat the survey on their policy preferences.

Deliberative opinion polling was developed by James Fishkin, and is currently run by the Deliberative Democracy Lab at Stanford University. Deliberative opinion polls have been used in the United States, the European Union, China, Australia, Mongolia, and South Korea. This method was the basis of the American in One Room event, in which a representative sample of several hundred Americans gathered in-person to deliberate on and make their recommendations for dozens of policy issues.

Participatory Budgeting
Participatory budgeting involves a sample of ordinary people, sometimes representative, making decisions about their government's budget through a process of democratic deliberation and decision-making. Participants recommend how a government's overall budget should be allocated among its various spending areas, or decide on whether to implement proposed public spending projects.

Frameworks of participatory budgeting differ throughout the globe in terms of scale, procedure, and objective. Participatory budgeting is often contextualized to suit a region's particular conditions and needs. In many cases, participatory budgeting has been legally enforced and regulated; however, some are internally arranged and promoted by NGOs.

Participatory budgeting was first developed in the 1980s by the Brazilian Workers' Party (PT), and since then it has manifested itself in a myriad of designs, with variations in methodology, form, and technology. It has been implemented in nearly 1,500 municipalities and institutions around the world.

Authoritarian systems
Authoritarian systems generally tend to take a dim view of public consultation. In the writings of Benito Mussolini, he expressed the view that fascism offers "free" speech, but only to persons who were "qualified" to have an opinion. Similarly, in the historical development of Nazism, public commentators at official NSDAP rallies were not infrequently beaten by the mob, or, if there were large numbers supporting the adverse commentator, brawls broke out. In today's People's Republic of China, public comment on government policy is considered inappropriate, and may result in long prison terms for persons such as Wei Jingsheng.

The Hungarian Fidesz government has employed so-called National Consultations, sending questionnaires to citizens that survey their opinions on government policy and legislation while pushing the Fidesz governments' ideology and agenda with suggestive questions (e.g. by referring to a supposed "Soros plan" to "convince Brussels to resettle at least one million immigrants from Africa and the Middle East annually on the territory of the European Union, including Hungary", that this "is part of the Soros plan to launch political attacks on countries objecting to immigration and impose strict penalties on them", and asking citizens whether they agree, or blasting "Brussels bureaucrats" in a consultation about family policy). On other occasions, such as just prior to elections, the government sent letters notifying citizens that it will reduce their gas payments by €38, or sent pensioners gift vouchers. The Fidesz government has also carried out taxpayer-funded "information campaigns", or "national messaging initiatives", that have denounced supposed enemies of Hungary with budgets of tens of millions of euros per year.

Managing conflict

Liberalized systems also typically proscribe slander, fabrications and personal attacks, however defined, and public commenters are discouraged from engaging in back and forth discussion with board or committee members. Comments which are directed from the floor towards persons who have the floor are generally classified as heckling. For example, while in constitutional democracies which permit public comment, meeting facilitators can be relaxed, friendly and informal, allowing for errors on the part of public speakers such as exceeding allowable time. Remarks deemed inappropriate result in warnings and may escalate to the point that the meeting chair may not recognize the public speaker and refuse to allow access to the microphone. Less frequently, speakers who are out of order are ordered to leave, escorted out of the building, or, rarely, placed under arrest for trespass or other charges. However, most government agencies in the United States are reluctant to resort to such measures, which may be viewed as restricting free speech protection of the US and various state constitutions. They may also result in litigation and in some cases do. For instance, Robert Norse filed suit against the City of Santa Cruz, California when he made a Nazi-style straight arm salute to the Santa Cruz City Council as a protest for council not permitting one additional public speaker who had not put in a speaker's slip and would have exceeded the amount of time allowed for public comment. The suit, typical of a possible consequence of not permitting public comment, is based upon Title 42 Section 1983 of the US Code, and alleges that city council violated his First Amendment right to free speech by having him arrested for refusing to leave as ordered in response to his gesture.

See also

 Freedom
 Freedom of speech
 Mandate (politics)
 Participation (decision making)
 Stakeholder theory
 Symbolic speech

References

External links

Australian consultations
 Australian Government, Public Consultations
New South Wales, Public consultations
Queensland Government, Comment on

Public policy
Polling

Public consultation


A mango pickle is a variety of pickle prepared using mango. It is very popular in South and Southeast Asia. These sour/spicy pickles are also available commercially.

Varieties

The pickling process in India differs from other regions mainly due to an additional spice mixture added to them after anaerobic fermentation. Pickles are main side dishes and many varieties of vegetables are used. However, raw mango or tender mango is the most popular variety of fruit used for pickling. There are multiple varieties of mango pickles prepared depending on the region and the spices used but broadly there are two types: whole baby mango pickles and cut mango pickle. Whole baby mango pickle is a traditional variety very popular in Southern India and uses baby mangoes that are few weeks old. There are special varieties of mangoes specifically used just for pickling and they are never consumed as ripe fruit. Baby mangoes are pickled using salt, vegetable oil and a blend of hot spices, in a very careful process which ensures pickles are preserved for years.

Cut mango pickle

This is ideally prepared using a special variety of mango that can stay crisp for longer periods when pickled. This variety of mango is specially bred and grafted for use. However, most raw mango varieties  can be pickled if quality is not a concern.

Avakaya
One of the most popular kind of mango pickles is called the "Avakaya", also known as "Urakaya" and it is known for its spice and flavor. It is usually eaten with plain white rice or on the side with other flavored rice items like a hot sauce and is a staple of meals in southern India, especially in the state of Andhra Pradesh.

Avakaya (also known as mango pickle) is a variety of Indian pickle popular in South India with its origin in Delta Districts of Andhra Pradesh. The main ingredients are mangoes,  (powdered mustard seeds) and a combination of other spices used for pickling. South Indians are known to have a deep attachment to these spicy pickles. A wide variety of pickles are available in these regions, using mango as their prime ingredient. Besides being made at home, the pickles are available commercially and are exported to the United States, Europe, Japan and many other countries.

Avakaya pickles are usually made in the summer, this being the time for peak availability of green mangoes. Green mangoes, hot oil, chilies and a variety of spices are the key ingredients. The process of preparation, storage and serving is considered almost a ritual.

The mangoes are cut into medium-sized pieces approximately 2 cm x 2 cm using strong and especially sharp cutters/knives in swift strokes so as not to structurally damage the pieces. These pieces are wiped clean and dry with a highly-absorbent soft cloth — usually an old sterilized cotton sari with no embroidery, stowed away for this purpose. They are then pickled with powdered mustard, red chili powder (dried and powdered or sometimes dried, roasted and powdered), salt, gingelly oil. The mixture matures for four to eight weeks, care being taken to mix the contents periodically to ensure a uniform marinade.

Hot rice is mixed with one or two pieces of avakaya and ghee (clarified butter) or groundnut oil, then made into bite-size balls. Avakaya is often eaten with rice and dahi (yogurt). Raw onion can be added  which enhances the taste. Most people prefer to eat it along with  (pigeon pea dal) and  (ghee/clarified butter). Some people prefer to eat it within 1–2 months from preparation, when it is called .

Pickled mango chutney

This is a variation where mangoes are grated to produce a chutney-like pickle.

Kadumango

This is a variation of mango pickle. This kind of pickle is made from tender mango. The small mangoes are collected when the mangoes just start to grow. In this pickle the mango is not cut into pieces; the whole mango is prepared as a form of pickle.

See also

References

External links

Indian condiments
Indian pickles
Pickle
Pickles
Pakistani pickles
Bangladeshi condiments

Mango pickle


David Nathan (born 15 February 1948) is an English-born biographer, journalist, authority on soul music, and singer. In the 1960s and 1970s, he was the co-founder of the Soul City record label and a contributing editor to Blues & Soul magazine. Living in the US between 1975 and 2009, he wrote several biographies of musicians as well as hundreds of articles and liner notes, and founded the website soulmusic.com. He has also recorded and performed as a jazz and blues singer, both under his own name and as his alter ego Nefer Davis.

Life and career
David Nathan was born in London, and at the age of 16 set up the UK's first fan club for singer Nina Simone. In 1966, with Dave Godin and Robert Blackmore, he established Soul City, in Deptford, South London, claimed to be the first record store outside the US specialising in American rhythm and blues and soul music. The shop also started a record label in 1968, to release US R&B singles in the UK.

In 1970, he began working in London for Contempo International, which owned Blues & Soul magazine. He moved to New York City in 1975 as contributing editor for Blues & Soul, leaving the company in 1981 when the magazine's ownership changed. After a period working for Werner Erhard and Associates, he then moved to Los Angeles and worked as a freelance journalist. He wrote Lionel Richie: An Illustrated Biography (1985), as well as contributing to Billboard, USA Today and other magazines including Blues & Soul which he rejoined in the mid-1980s, and writing many CD liner notes.  In the 1990s, he also worked as a producer of compilation reissues, and established a media coaching service and since the mid-1980s, he has written or updated the music bios for Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan, Lionel Richie, Usher, Whitney Houston, Patti LaBelle, Toni Braxton, Prince, Alicia Keys and hundreds of other artists, producers, songwriters, musicians and industry executives.  He wrote The Soulful Divas, published in 1999, and Break Down and Let it All Out, a biography of Nina Simone co-written with his sister Sylvia Hampton, in 2004. He founded a website dedicated to soul music,  SoulMusic.com, in 2001.

For a number of years, Nathan was Secretary and then an Advisory Board member of the Rhythm & Blues Foundation. He has received an award for his journalism from the International Association of African-American Music.  Nathan is a graduate of The Landmark Forum and has participated as senior coach in several of Landmark's programs in the US and the UK.

Since coming back to live in London, Nathan has established the label SoulMusic Records in association with Cherry Red and as of September 2017, SoulMusic Records has reissued over 150 CDs by popular soul, jazz/funk and Motown artists.

Nathan released his first CD as a singer, Reinvention, in 2003 on his own Nefer Music label. In 2006, he issued a digital EP, Wlld Is The Wind: A Tribute To Nina Simone and In 2007, he released his second album, Wistful Elegance, produced by award-winning music man Preston Glass.  In 2010, after returning to live in the UK, he recorded briefly as Nefer Davis, a name derived from his interests in ancient Egypt, before reverting to his birth name, issuing another digital-only album, I Used To Rule The World featuring covers of songs by Coldplay, The Bee Gees, Elton John, Dionne Warwick and others.  Three contemporary R&B/soul music songs co-written with UK producer Amar Naik, have been released via Expansion Records and one of Nathan's earliest compositions, "Ain't Nothing Like The Love", has garnered much attention as a 1970s soul favorite in the UK (via the original John Simmons recording), through his own version (released on a French label compilation), a vinyl release by Phillip Ballou and a cover by award-winning Canadian DJ/producer Pomo. His 2017 EP release, A Long Way From Blue features his original compositions with Indian violinist/producer/composer Aritra Bhattacharya.

Considered a soul music historian, Nathan has been featured in several documentaries including TV One's Unsung series and in interviews with BBC on radio and television as well as working on the Motown Museum expansion project in Detroit.

Bibliography
 Lionel Richie: An Illustrated Biography, 1985
 The Soulful Divas, 1999
 Nina Simone: Break Down & Let It All Out, with Sylvia Hampton, 2004

References

External links
 SoulMusic.com
Credits at Allmusic.com
David Nathan 2012 Audio Interview at Soulinterviews.com

1948 births
Living people
English writers about music
Writers from London
English blues singers
English jazz singers
English male songwriters

David Nathan (music writer)


Parsifal is a 1982 West German-French opera film directed by Hans-Jürgen Syberberg, based on the opera of the same name by Richard Wagner. It was shown out of competition at the 1982 Cannes Film Festival.

The soundtrack is a complete performance of the opera, but the imagery used is a melange including medieval costume, puppetry, Nazi relics and a giant death mask of Wagner. The Grail itself is represented by Wagner's Bayreuth Theatre, and Parsifal's key transformation is portrayed with a change of actor to an androgynous but deliberately female-suggesting form in order to achieve a union of male and female at the conclusion of Act II.

Cast
 Armin Jordan - Amfortas / Music Conductor
 Robert Lloyd - Gurnemanz
 Martin Sperr - Titurel
 Michael Kutter - Parsifal 1
 Edith Clever - Kundry
 Thomas Fink - 2nd Squire
 Rudolph Gabler - 1st Knight of the Grail
 Monika Gärtner - 1st Squire
 Reiner Goldberg - Parsifal (voice)
 Aage Haugland - Klingsor
 Karin Krick - Parsifal 2
 David Luther - Young Parsifal
 David Meyer - 3rd Squire
 Yvonne Minton - Kundry (voice)
 Bruno Romani-Versteeg - 3rd Knight of the Grail
 Judith Schmidt - 4th Squire
 Wolfgang Schöne - Amfortas (voice)
 Amelie Syberberg - Bearer of the Grail
 Urban von Klebelsberg - 2nd Knight of the Grail

Production
Prior to making Parsifal, Hans-Jürgen Syberberg had made three films which bring up the subject of Richard Wagner: Ludwig: Requiem for a Virgin King from 1972, The Confessions of Winifred Wagner from 1975 and Hitler: A Film from Germany from 1977. The Confessions of Winifred Wagner had upset the descendants of Wagner, which had the effect that Syberberg was not allowed to use any existing recording of the opera for the soundtrack of Parsifal. A production was instead arranged specifically for the film, with Armin Jordan as conductor. The film was shot entirely in studio in 35 days, in Bavaria Atelier in Munich. The budget was just above three million Deutsche Mark.

Reception
The New York Times''' John Rockwell wrote: "Hans Jurgen Syberberg's film version of Richard Wagner's music drama, Parsifal, should enthrall both film lovers and Wagner fans. Mr. Syberberg's work represents not only the summation of his career thus far, but is as gripping, strange and, in the end, devotionally faithful a staging as any Wagner opera has received in our time." Rockwell continued: "Just why Mr. Syberberg's scenic innovations don't seem as disturbing as other modern directorial innovations - Patrice Chéreau's Bayreuth Ring, for instance - is hard to explain. ... [I]nstead of their shocking us away from the romantic spell of the music, they reinforce that spell. It's as if Wagner's hypnotic allure and Brecht's intellectualized alienation have been somehow mystically united." Graham Bradshaw wrote in London Review of Books: "Using clever front projection techniques, [Syberberg] provides a rapid background commentary on the main dramatic action: this is sometimes contrived and disruptive, but more frequently suggests the reflexes and ricochets of a mind that is actively engaging with Parsifal."

References

Notes
 Olsen, Solveig (2005): Hans Jürgen Syberberg and His Film of Wagner's Parsifal, University Press of America.
 Davidović, Dalibor (2023): Figuren Wagners - und Syberbergs, in: Kordula Knaus & Susanne Kogler (eds.): Musik – Politik – Gesellschaft: Michael Walter zum 65. Geburtstag'', Metzler, 301-338.

External links

About the Film

1982 films
1980s musical films
1980s German-language films
German musical films
West German films
French musical films
Films directed by Hans-Jürgen Syberberg
Arthurian films
Films about the Holy Grail
Films based on operas
Films based on works by Richard Wagner
Opera films
Parsifal
1980s German films

Parsifal (1982 film)


Ascra or Askre () was a town in ancient Boeotia which is best known today as the home of the poet Hesiod. It was located upon Mount Helicon, five miles west of Thespiae. According to a lost poetic Atthis by one Hegesinous, a maiden by the name of Ascra lay with Poseidon and bore a son Oeoclus  who, together with the Aloadae, founded the town named for his mother. In the Works and Days, Hesiod says that his father was driven from Aeolian Cyme to Ascra by poverty, only to find himself situated in a most unpleasant town (lines 639–40):

The 4th century BCE astronomer Eudoxus thought even less of Ascra's climate. However, other writers speak of Ascra as abounding in corn, and in wine.

By the time Eudoxus wrote, the town had been all but destroyed (by Thespiae sometime between 700 and 650 BCE), a loss commemorated by a similarly lost Hellenistic poem, which opened: "Of Ascra there isn't even a trace anymore" (). This apparently was a hyperbole, for in the 2nd century CE, Pausanias could report that a single tower, though not much else, still stood at the site.

Notes

Cities in ancient Boeotia
Populated places in ancient Boeotia
Former populated places in Greece

Ascra


Bruce Jay Ehrlich (February 26, 1948 – January 1, 2013), better known by his pen name Bruce Eisner, was an American writer, psychologist, and counterculture spokesman mostly known for his book Ecstasy: The MDMA Story.

Biography
Eisner was born in Brooklyn, New York. At age 2, he moved with his family to the San Fernando Valley near Los Angeles. His first publication was at age of sixteen, when he won an LA County-wide essay contest. The essay, "Democracy and What It Means to Me" was published in the Congressional Record by Congressman Ed Reinecke.

Eisner attended San Fernando Valley State College (now known as California State University, Northridge) where he was on the Deans List for his first two years of attendance. During his third year, he became an anti-Vietnam War activist and joined the Students for a Democratic Society. At the end of his third year, in 1969, he dropped out of college and moved to Laguna Beach which was then home base for Timothy Leary and the Brotherhood of Eternal Love. In the fall of 1969, Eisner first went to Europe where he lived in the Netherlands and then traveled overland to India.

In January 1970, Eisner returned to Los Angeles where he became a freelance journalist writing feature articles on topics focusing on LSD and the psychedelic consciousness movement for the underground press. He wrote articles for the Los Angeles Free Press edited by Art Kunkin, the L.A. Star, and a variety of other small publications. In 1976, he became a contributing editor for High Times magazine and wrote a series of articles including "LSD Purity" and "Who Turned on Whom" with Peter Stafford. Also in 1976, Eisner traveled to Europe where he met author Michael Hollingshead in England and LSD-discoverer Albert Hofmann in Basel, Switzerland.

In 1977, Eisner moved from Los Angeles to Santa Cruz, California. There he became one of the leaders of a group of psychedelic movement activists. That group known as Linkage brought Albert Hofmann to UC Santa Cruz in 1977 for his first public lecture in the US at a conference called "LSD: A Generation Later." The conference was attended by both counterculture figures such as Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Ram Dass, Stephen Gaskin, and Ralph Metzner, as well as early psychedelic researchers including Oscar Janiger, William McGlothlin, Stanley Krippner, Claudio Naranjo and Willis Harman.

Eisner received his BA in psychology from the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1979. He moved to Goleta, California for two years and received his MA in psychology from the University of California, Santa Barbara. Eisner worked as a Teaching Assistant at U.C. Santa Barbara. In 1980, he became a contributing writer for Omni magazine.

Eisner returned to Santa Cruz in 1981, and in 1982, moved into a home near Natural Bridges State Beach. He began working on his PhD in Psychology from Saybrook Graduate School and Research Center in 1982, but withdrew before completing a dissertation in 1988. In 1989, Eisner started a self-improvement software company called Mindware, which published a catalog of mind tool and personal development software programs called the Mindware Catalog until 1995.

In 1990, Eisner started the Island Group, which produced salons that encouraged discussions surrounding the creation of a "psychedelic culture". The group was named after the 1962 Island by Aldous Huxley. The Island Group conceived and co-organized the 1992 "The Bridge: Linking the Past, Present and Future of Psychedelics" a two-day conference held at Stanford University. Island also conceived and co-organized "Bicycle Day: Celebrating 50 Years of LSD" at the University of California Santa Cruz, in April 1993.

Eisner created the Mind Media Life Enhancement Network in 1996, one of the first websites that provided a portal to other self-improvement and personal development websites.

In 1998, Eisner transformed the Island Group into the Island Foundation—a 501 (c)(3) non-profit organization; however, the Foundation's exempt status was automatically revoked by the IRS after Eisner failed to file taxes for three consecutive years.

In 2003, Eisner moved to Las Vegas, Nevada to be close to his mother, Irene, who died in 2009 at age 82.

Death
Bruce died on New Year's Day 2013 at his home in Las Vegas from a gastrointestinal hemorrhage. He was working on his online book, Future Culture: How to Make New Memes to Change the World, when he died.

References

Bibliography

Books
Ecstasy: The MDMA Story 1989. 1994 revised ed, Ronin Publishing

Articles
LSD Purity. By Bruce Eisner, publication: High Times, 1977.
Why We Get High. By Bruce Eisner, Original publication: Island Views Newsletter, 1995–1996.
A Call for a Psychedelic Sanctuary. By Bruce Eisner, Original publication: Island Views Newsletter, 2001.
MDMA, Personality and Human Nature:  The Power to Transform People. By Bruce Eisner.
LSD and Aldous Huxley's Island: Setting Sail for a Better Country. By Bruce Eisner published in Gaia News No. 14.

Fiction
firstname.lastname@example.com. By Bruce Eisner and Timothy Leary, 1996, published on New World Disorder, 2004.

Interviews conducted
Interview with an Alchemist: Bear Owlsey.By Bruce Eisner; Original Publication: Psychedelic Island Views, 1997.
Modern Alchemy: Modern Alchemy: Interview with Ann and Sasha Shulgin. By Bruce Eisner with Peter Stafford, original publication: Psychedelic Island Views, 1997.
Psychedelic Culture An Interview with Terence Mckenna. By Bruce Eisner original publication: Psychedelic Island Views, 1998.
Timothy Leary's Ultimate Trip. By Bruce Eisner original publication: Psychedelic Island Views, 1996.

Interviews given
Interview with Bruce Eisner. Original Publication: Cruzio.Com's Hawk Magazine; May 1996.

Lecture videos
LSD and Aldous Huxley's Island: Setting Sail for a Better Country. International Symposium on LSD, Basel, Switzerland. January 2006
The History and Future of LSD. International Conference on Altered States, Santa Fe, New Mexico, October 2001

External links
 Island Web: Island Foundations website
 Bruce Eisner's Profile on Amazon Author Connect
 Extasis (Ecstasy: the MDMA Story in Spanish)

1948 births
2013 deaths
American psychology writers
American male writers
American male bloggers
American bloggers
Writers from California
21st-century American non-fiction writers

Bruce Eisner


The interleukin-2 receptor (IL-2R) is a heterotrimeric protein expressed on the surface of certain immune cells, such as lymphocytes, that binds and responds to a cytokine called IL-2.

Composition

IL-2 binds to the IL-2 receptor, which has three forms, generated by different combinations of three different proteins, often referred to as "chains": α (alpha) (also called IL-2Rα, CD25, or Tac antigen), β (beta) (also called IL-2Rβ, or CD122), and γ (gamma) (also called IL-2Rγ, γc, common gamma chain, or CD132); these subunits are also parts of receptors for other cytokines.  The β and γ chains of the IL-2R are members of the type I cytokine receptor family.

Structure-activity relationships of the IL-2/IL-2R interaction

The three receptor chains are expressed separately and differently on various cell types and can assemble in different combinations and orders to generate low, intermediate, and high affinity IL-2 receptors.

The α chain binds IL-2 with low affinity, the combination of β and γ together form a complex that binds IL-2 with intermediate affinity, primarily on memory T cells and NK cells; and all three receptor chains form a complex that binds IL-2 with high affinity (Kd ~ 10−11 M) on activated T cells and regulatory T cells.  The intermediate and high affinity receptor forms are functional and cause changes in the cell when IL-2 binds to them.

The structure of the stable complex formed when IL-2 binds to the high affinity receptor has been determined using X-ray crystallography. The structure supports a model wherein IL-2 initially binds to the α chain, then the β is recruited, and finally γ.

Signaling

The three IL-2 receptor chains span the cell membrane and extend into the cell, thereby delivering biochemical signals to the cell interior. The alpha chain does not participate in signaling, but the beta chain is complexed with an enzyme called Janus kinase 1 (JAK1), that is capable of adding phosphate groups to molecules.  Similarly the gamma chain  complexes with another tyrosine kinase called JAK3.  These enzymes are activated by IL-2 binding to the external domains of the IL-2R. As a consequence, three intracellular signaling pathways are initiated, the MAP kinase pathway, the Phosphoinositide 3-kinase (PI3K) pathway, and the JAK-STAT pathway.

Once IL-2 binds to the high affinity receptor, the complex is rapidly internalized and has only a short time to signal.  IL-2, IL-2Rβ, and γc are rapidly degraded, but IL-2Rα is recycled to the cell surface. Thus, the concentration of IL-2 and its receptor available determines the tempo, magnitude and extent of T cell immune responses.

IL-2 and its receptor have key roles in key functions of the immune system, tolerance and immunity, primarily via their direct effects on T cells.  In the thymus, where T cells mature, they prevent autoimmune diseases by promoting the differentiation of certain immature T cells into regulatory T cells, which kill off other T cells that are primed to attack normal healthy cells in the body.  IL-2/IL2R also promotes the differentiation of T cells into effector T cells and into memory T cells when the initial T cells is also stimulated by an antigen, thus helping the body fight off infections.    Through their role in the development of T cell immunologic memory, which depends upon the expansion of the number and function of antigen-selected T cell clones, they also have a key role in enduring cell-mediated immunity.

Clinical implications
Drugs that inhibit IL-2 receptors, such as basiliximab and daclizumab are used in conjunction with other drugs to prevent immune rejection of transplants.

History
According to an immunology textbook: "IL-2 is particularly important historically, as it is the first type I cytokine that was cloned, the first type I cytokine for which a receptor component was cloned, and was the first short-chain type I cytokine whose receptor structure was solved. Many general principles have been derived from studies of this cytokine, including its being the first cytokine demonstrated to act in a growth factor–like fashion through specific high-affinity receptors, analogous to the growth factors being studied by endocrinologists and biochemists".

See also
CD25 deficiency

References

External links

Type I cytokine receptors
Integral membrane proteins

IL-2 receptor


Gotthard Johann von Knorring (1744 or 1746 – 1825; , Bogdan Fyodorovich Knorring) was a Baltic German who was a soldier in the Russian Army, rising to become a general.

Biography
He was born in 1744 or 1746. Knorring grew up on Ervita manor, in the Governorate of Estonia. He was appointed general quartermaster in 1788 and had active duty during the war against Sweden (1788–1790). In 1792-1794 he participated in the campaign in Poland. When Paul I started his reign, Knorring withdrew from the military for some years. He participated in the war against France in 1807 but was recalled due to disagreements with the commanding general, Levin August von Bennigsen. In December 1808 he was appointed commander of the Russian forces in Finland after Friedrich Wilhelm von Buxhoevden and under his command the Russian forces crossed the Gulf of Bothnia on the ice and invaded Sweden proper. Shortly after, in March 1809 the command of the Russian forces transferred to Michael Andreas Barclay de Tolly. He died in 1825.

See also
There was another General Knorring, his brother Karl Knorring , who was involved in the Russian annexation of Georgia in 1801.

References

External links
Genealogisches Handbuch der baltischen Ritterschaften

1746 births
1825 deaths
People from Järva Parish
People from the Governorate of Estonia
Baltic-German people
Nobility from the Russian Empire
Imperial Russian Army generals
Russian commanders of the Napoleonic Wars
Russian military personnel of the Finnish War
Russian people of the Kościuszko Uprising
Recipients of the Order of St. George of the Second Degree
Bogdan

Gotthard Johann von Knorring


Lily M. Halpern also known by the stage name Lily Lane (born November 30, 1991) is an American performer and singer. She is best known as her second reincarnation in the entertainment industry, Lily Lane, whose debut 2014 EP "Nothin' But Trouble" gained critical acclaim and was featured on the abc family hit show Pretty Little Liars. As Lily Halpern, she is best known for her viral video of Nicki Minaj's song "Starships", her hit song "Wishlist", for being an opening act for Big Time Rush on their nationwide tour (Summer - Fall 2011), In 2012, her original cover video of Nicki Minaj's song "Starships" went viral on YouTube and surpassed a million views in a few short weeks.

Early life
Lily began dancing, singing, modeling, and acting at a young age. Born in Boston, Massachusetts, sang at the Longy School of Music and Berklee College of Music, modeled with Dynasty Models and Talent, and acted at her elementary school. She also spent summers at Stagedoor Manor, a performing arts summer camp. She attended The Park School, an independent day school, from 1997–2004, and Milton Academy, a prestigious preparatory school, from 2004-2010. She graduated Milton Academy in the spring of 2010, and moved to New York City to pursue her music career. Halpern has two older brothers, Ian and Grammy nominated  Tucker, who participated in a parody video of Lily's first single "Not Gonna Cry."

Career
Halpern moved to New York City to pursue her music career in the summer of 2010. She released her EP "Not Gonna Cry" which was produced by Alex Cantrall (JoJo, Vanessa Hudgens, Nicole Scherzinger). In March 2011, Lily released her music video for "Wishlist" which was directed by Shalin Sharman (Kanye West) and featured internet celebrity Megan Parken. The video was shot at famous landmarks in New York including Coney Island's Boardwalk, and featured fashions from designer Tory Burch. In the spring of 2011 Lily opened for the leg of Australian pop star Cody Simpson's "Waiting4U Tour" featuring Greyson Chance.  Lily performed songs from her EP. Halpern then filmed two music videos in the summer of 2011, one for the first single from her full-length album "Colors". The "Colors" video features television star Grey Damon of abc family's The Nine Lives of Chloe King. In August 2011, Halpern started touring with Big Time Rush and Hot Chelle Rae on their nationwide tour. Her first show on the BTR tour was in her hometown of Boston, MA at the Boston House of Blues.
In 2012, Halpern released a song called "Forget What They Say" in an effort to raise awareness of cyber bullying and speak out against the cyber bullies that attacked her after rumors circulated in March 2012 that she was dating popular boy band member Harry Styles of One Direction. In April 2012, Halpern released a cover video of "Starships" by Nicki Minaj featuring her rapping for the first time. The video was entered in Perez Hilton's "Can You Sing Competition" and she was named one of the winners. In weeks the video surpassed the number of views any of the other videos on the competition received and in two months the video passed 1,000,000 views, being the first of Halperns videos to reach a million. June 2012, Lily returned to her hometown and performed four songs at radio station Kiss 108's Summer Kiss Concert at the Comcast Center in Boston, MA. She shared the stage at Kiss Concert with acts such as The Wanted, Enrique Iglesias, Flo Rida, Karmin, JoJo, and Gym Class Heroes.

After proving herself as a teen pop entertainer, Halpern took a hiatus from music and attended NYU's Tisch School of the Arts and enrolled in the Clive Davis Institute of Recorded Music. At college, she reinvented herself with a new more mature retro-inspired sound. When Halpern released her next EP in 2014, she did so under her new moniker, "Lily Lane".
Lane's first independent EP "Nothin' But Trouble", released in 2014 was music featured numerous times in the most popular teen television show in the country, ABC family's "Pretty Little Liars".

Discography
 Not Gonna Cry - EP (2010)
 Nothin' But Trouble - EP (2014)

Singles

References

1991 births
Living people
American child singers
Musicians from Boston
Milton Academy alumni
21st-century American singers

Lily Halpern


2001 (MMI) was .

Events

January
 January 1 –  Strictly speaking, it was the first day of the 3rd millennium and 21st century in the Gregorian calendar, but according to Popular Culture, the first day of these two distinctions was January 1, 2000. A nine foot tall rock was placed by an artist in Seattle's Magnuson Park, like the one in 2001: A Space Odyssey.
 January 13 – A strong earthquake hits El Salvador, killing at least 800 (See also February 13).
 January 15 – Wikipedia, a free encyclopedia, goes online.
 January 20 – Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo becomes the 14th President of the Republic of the Philippines, replacing Joseph Estrada.
 January 20 – George W. Bush replaces Bill Clinton and becomes the 43rd President of the United States.
 January 22 – Four of the "Texas 7" are caught at a store in Woodland Park, Colorado and a fifth kills himself.
 January 24 – The last two of the "Texas 7" are caught by police in Colorado Springs, Colorado.
 January 26 – A 50-year-old DC-3 crashes near Ciudad Bolivar, Venezuela and kills 24 people.
 January 26 – An earthquake happens in Gujarat, India; more than 20,000 die.
 January 29 – Thousands of students in Indonesia tell President Abdurrahman Wahid that he should give up his job because he was caught doing something bad.
 January 31 – A court finds one Libyan guilty and another innocent in the bombing of Pan Am Flight 103 which crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland in 1988.

February
 February 5 – Tom Cruise and Nicole Kidman announced that they are not together anymore.
 February 6 – Likud Party leader Ariel Sharon wins election as Prime Minister of Israel.
 February 9 – American submarine USS Greeneville accidentally hits and sinks Japanese fishing ship Ehime-Maru.
 February 12 – NEAR Shoemaker spacecraft lands on 433 Eros becoming the first spacecraft to land on an asteroid.
 February 13 – An earthquake hits El Salvador, killing at least 400.
 February 16 – Iraq disarmament crisis: British and U.S. forces carry out bombing raids attempting to destroy Iraq's air defense network.
 February 16 – Baghdad suburb bombed by US and UK war planes, killing 3 people.
 February 18 – During the Daytona 500 race, NASCAR driver Dale Earnhardt is killed in a car crash.
 February 18 – FBI agent Robert Hanssen is arrested for being a spy.
 February 19 – An Oklahoma City bombing museum is dedicated at the Oklahoma City National Memorial.
 February 26 – Treaty of Nice was signed.

March
 March 24 – Apple Computer's Mac OS X version 10.0 is released.

April
 April 1 – An American EP-3E spyplane collides with a Chinese F-8 fighter jet and is forced to make an emergency landing in Hainan, China. The U.S. crew was jailed for 10 days and the Chinese pilot, Wang Wei, went missing and thought to be dead.
 April 1 – Former president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic surrenders to police special forces, to be tried on charges of war crimes.
 April 26 – Junichiro Koizumi becomes Prime Minister of Japan.
 April 28 – American Dennis Tito becomes the first space tourist.

May
 May 1 – The Japanese cities of Urawa, Omiya, and Yono become one to form the city of Saitama.
 May 10 – In Ghana, a sudden rush at a soccer game kills over 120.
 May 24 – Mountain climbing: Sherpa Temba Tsheri, 16, becomes the youngest person to reach the top of Mount Everest.
 May 25 – Mountain climbing: Erik Weihenmayer, of Boulder, Colorado, becomes the first blind person to reach the top of Mount Everest. A 64-year old Sherman Bull, of New Canaan, Connecticut, becomes the oldest person to reach the top.

June
 June 5-9 – Houston, Texas is devastated by flooding when Tropical Storm Allison hits the city. Texas Medical Center lost years of research and data and thousands of lab animals. Twenty-two people die; damage exceeds five billion American dollars.
 June 7 – Tony Blair's Labour Party were selected for second term in UK General Election
 June 11 – Timothy McVeigh is executed for the Oklahoma City Bombing.
 June 19 – An American missile hits a soccer field in northern Iraq, killing 23 people and wounding 11.
 June 20 – Andrea Yates drowns her children in a bathtub and confesses to her crime. She would get life in prison for it.
 June 21 – Total solar eclipse.
 June 23 – An earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, hits the south of Peru.

July
 July 2 – The world's first self-contained artificial heart is implanted in Robert Tools.
 July 16 – The FBI arrests Dmitry Sklyarov at a meeting in Las Vegas for violating a condition of the DMCA.
 July 18 – In Baltimore, Maryland, a 60-car train derails in a tunnel, causing a fire that last for days and virtually shuts down downtown Baltimore.
 July 19 – UK politician and novelist Jeffrey Archer is sentenced to four years in prison for perjury and perverting the course of justice.
 July 23 – Megawati Sukarnoputri becomes the new president of Indonesia, replacing Abdurrahman Wahid.

August
 August 9 – US President George W. Bush announces his support for federal funding of limited research on embryonic stem cells.
 August 9 – In the Comoros, the military seizes power in the island of Anjouan that had declared independence. They plan to rejoin the Comoros.
 August 31 – PBS airs the final episode of Mister Rogers' Neighborhood with host Fred Rogers retiring

September

 September 5 – Peru's attorney general files homicide charges against ex-President Alberto Fujimori.
 September 6 – United States v. Microsoft: The United States Justice Department announces that it was no longer seeking to break-up software maker Microsoft and will instead seek a lesser antitrust penalty.
 September 9 – Ahmed Shah Massoud, leader of the Northern Alliance, is assassinated in Afghanistan.
 September 11 – Almost 3,000 people are killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, The Pentagon in Arlington, Virginia, and rural Pennsylvania.
 September 14 – The Nintendo GameCube is released in Japan.
 September 15 – President George W. Bush says that the United States of America is at war against terror.

October
 October 4 – The first case of anthrax in the U.S. is announced by federal officials.
 October 7 – The 2001 U.S. Attack on Afghanistan begins.
 October 10 – War on Terrorism: US President George W. Bush presents a list of 22 most wanted terrorists.
 October 15 – NASA's Galileo spacecraft passes within 112 miles of Jupiter's moon Io.
 October 23 – Apple Inc. releases the iPod.
 October 25 – Microsoft releases Windows XP.

November
 November – The Doha Declaration relaxes the international intellectual property law by a bit.
 November 4 – Hurricane Michelle hits Cuba, destroying crops and thousands of homes.
 November 7 – The super-sonic commercial aircraft Concorde starts flying again after a 15-month break.
 November 10 – The People's Republic of China became a member of the World Trade Organization.
 November 12 – In New York City, an Airbus A300 crashes minutes after takeoff from John F. Kennedy International Airport, killing all 260 on board.
 November 12 – 2001 U.S. Attack on Afghanistan: Taliban forces abandon Kabul, the capital of Afghanistan, as the Northern Alliance troops are coming (Northern Alliance fighters took Kabul on November 14).
 November 13 – Doha Round: The World Trade Organization ends a four-day conference in Doha, Qatar.
 November 13 – War on Terrorism: In the first such act since World War II, US President George W. Bush signs an executive order allowing military tribunals against any foreigners suspected of having connections to terrorist acts or planned acts on the United States.
 November 16 – The first Harry Potter movie, Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, is released, earning US $975.8 million, becoming the second highest earning movie around the world of all time, behind Titanic.
  November 24 - Melanie Thornton, the German/American Pop singer, also the former member of La Bouche, dies in a plane crash going to Zürich, Switzerland, along with Maria Serreno-Serreno and Nathaly Van Het Ende of the German dance band Passion Fruit (band).
 November 29 - George Harrison, former lead guitarist of The Beatles, dies of lung cancer at the age of 58.

December
 December 2 – Enron scandal: Enron files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection five days after Dynegy canceled a US$8.4 billion buyout bid (At the time this was the largest bankruptcy in the history of the United States).
 December 13 – The United States withdraw from the 1972 Anti-Ballistic Missile Treaty.
 December 13 – Tuanku Syed Sirajuddin, Raja of Perlis becomes the 12th Yang di-Pertuan Agong of Malaysia.
 December 14 – Annular solar eclipse.
 December 22 – 2001 U.S. Attack on Afghanistan: Hamid Karzai became head of the interim government in Afghanistan.
 December 27 – The People's Republic of China is granted permanent normal trade status with the United States.

Births

January

 January 2 - Christopher Barrios Jr., American murder victim (d. 2007)

August
 August 24 - Nicoleta Gaiu, Romanian drummer (Trupa Sportului)
 August 25 - Adrian Sandu, Romanian drummer (Trupa Muzicii Rock-The Jam Hendrix Experience)
October
 October 31 - Florian Vizuroiu, Romanian drummer (The Jam Hendrix Experience)

Deaths

January

 January 27 – Marie-José of Belgium, Queen of Italy (b. 1906)

February

 February 18 – Dale Earnhardt, American racing driver (b. 1951)
 February 25 – Sir Donald Bradman, Australian cricketer (b. 1908)

March

 March 12 – Robert Ludlum, American writer (b. 1927)
 March 15 – Ann Sothern, American actress (b. 1909)
 March 22 – William Hanna, American animator and studio founder (b. 1910)

April

 April 15 – Joey Ramone, American musician and singer-songwriter (b. 1951)

May

 May 11 – Douglas Adams, English writer (b. 1952)

June

 June 1 – King Birendra of Nepal (b. 1945)
 June 2 – Imogene Coca, American comic actress (b. 1908)
 June 3 – Anthony Quinn, Mexican-American actor (b. 1915)
 June 4 – King Dipendra of Nepal (b. 1971)
 June 7 – Víctor Paz Estenssoro, 45th President of Bolivia (b. 1907)
 June 11 – Timothy McVeigh, American terrorist (b. 1968)
 June 21 - John Lee Hooker, American blues musician (b. 1916)
 June 21 – Carroll O'Connor, American actor (b. 1924)
 June 27 – Jack Lemmon, American actor and movie director (b. 1925)
 June 27 – Tove Jansson, Finnish writer of the Moomin books (b. 1914)

July

 July 5 – Hannelore Kohl, wife of Chancellor of Germany Helmut Kohl (b. 1933)
 July 10 – Álvaro Magaña, President of El Salvador (b. 1925)
 July 29 – Edward Gierek, 4th First Secretary of the Polish United Workers' Party (b. 1913)
 July 31 – Poul Anderson, American science fiction writer (b. 1926)

August

 August 6 – Jorge Amado, Brazilian writer (b. 1912)
 August 24 – Jane Greer, American actress (b. 1924)
 August 25 – Aaliyah, American singer (b. 1979)

September

 September 2 – Christiaan Barnard, South African cardiac surgeon (b. 1922)
 September 11 – People killed in the September 11 attacks, including:
 David Angell, American sitcom creator (b. 1946)
 Berry Berenson, widow of the actor Anthony Perkins (b. 1948)
 Daniel M. Lewin, American technician (b. 1970)
 Mychal Judge, American priest (b. 1933)
 Garnet Bailey, Canadian ice hockey player (b. 1948)
 Carolyn Beug, American movie maker (b. 1953)
 Charles Burlingame, American pilot (b. 1949)
 William M. Feeham, American firefighter (b. 1929)
 Peter J. Ganci, American firefighter (b. 1946)
 Timothy Maude, American military officer (b. 1947)
 Barbara Olson, American political commentator (b. 1955)
 Mohamed Atta, Egyptian terrorist (b. 1968)
 Wail al-Shehri, Saudi terrorist (b. 1973)
 Nawaf al-Hazmi, Saudi terrorist (b. 1973)
 Majed Moqed, Saudi terrorist (b. 1977)
 Abdulaziz al-Omari, Saudi terrorist (b. 1979)
 September 29 – Nguyễn Văn Thiệu, 2nd President of South Vietnam (b. 1923)

October

 October 13 – Olga Oleinik, Russian mathematician of Ukrainian origin (b. 1925)
 October 15 – Chang Hsueh-liang, Ruler of Manchuria (b. 1901)

November

 November 21 – King Salahuddin of Selangor, Yang di-Pertuan Agong (b. 1926)
 November 29 – George Harrison, English musician (The Beatles) (b. 1943)

December

 December 10 – Ashok Kumar, Indian actor (b. 1911)
 December 20 – Léopold Sédar Senghor, 1st President of Senegal (b. 1906)

Nobel prize winners
 Chemistry – William S. Knowles
 Chemistry – Ryoji Noyori
 Chemistry – K. Barry Sharpless
 Economics – George A. Akerlof
 Economics – A. Michael Spence
 Economics – Joseph E. Stiglitz
 Literature – V. S. Naipaul
 Medicine – Leland H. Hartwell
 Medicine – Tim Hunt
 Medicine – Sir Paul Nurse
 Peace – United Nations
 Peace – Kofi Annan
 Physics – Eric A. Cornell
 Physics – Wolfgang Ketterle
 Physics – Carl E. Wieman

Fictional references to the year
 Arthur C. Clarke set the 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey in this year, the first year of the 21st century.

Other websites
 2001 Year-End Google Zeitgeist – Google's Yearly List of Major Events and Top Searches for 2001
 Nisqually Earthquake Clearinghouse  – Information on the February 28th earthquake from the University of Washington

References

2001


The 2017 Arab League Summit was held near the Dead Sea in Jordan on 29 March 2017.

Attendance

Arab League representatives
  Algeria – President of the Council of the Nation Abdelkader Bensalah
  Bahrain – King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa
  Comoros – President Azali Assoumani
  Djibouti – President Ismaïl Omar Guelleh
  Egypt – President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi
  Iraq – Prime Minister Haider al-Abadi
  Jordan – King Abdullah II of Jordan
  Kuwait – Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Sabah
  Lebanon – President Michel Aoun
  Libya – Prime minister and Chairman of the Presidential Council Fayez al-Sarraj
  Mauritania –  – President Mohamed Ould Abdel Aziz
  Morocco – Minister of Foreign Affairs Salaheddine Mezouar
  Oman – Deputy Prime Minister Asaad bin Tariq Al Said
  State of Palestine – President of the PNA Mahmoud Abbas
  Qatar – Emir Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani
  Saudi Arabia – King Salman of Saudi Arabia
  Somalia – President Mohamed Abdullahi Mohamed
  Sudan – President Omar al-Bashir
  Syria – Vacant
  Tunisia – President Beji Caid Essebsi
  United Arab Emirates – Ruler of Dubai and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum
  Yemen – President Abdrabbuh Mansur Hadi

Other participants
  United Nations – Secretary-General António Guterres
  Arab League – Secretary-General Ahmed Aboul Gheit
  European Union – High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Federica Mogherini
  African Union – Chairperson of the African Union Commission Moussa Faki
  Organisation of Islamic Cooperation – Secretary-General Youssef bin al-Ottaimeen
  Arab Parliament – President Mishaal bin Fahm Al-Salami

Amman Summit
The 2017 Amman Summit (also known as the 2017 Arab League Summit and the 28th Ordinary Session of the Arab League Council) and its preparatory meetings will take place between 23 and 29 March 2017, in the Dead Sea area of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.

History of Arab League Summit
In 1946, at the invitation of King Farouk of Egypt, leaders of the League of Arab States held their first summit at Inshas Palace in Egypt. The League's seven founding members participated: Jordan, Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Iraq, Lebanon and Syria.

During the summit, which focused on the Palestinian cause, participating countries declared their intention to 'consult, cooperate and work together in unity' for the good of the Arab World. They also stressed the

importance of utilising all means possible to assist Arab peoples who were still under foreign rule to gain their independence and attain their nationalist aspirations to become active members of the League and United Nations.

Since the League's establishment in 1945 and up until 2016, Arab leaders have held a total of 39 summits, of which 27 were ordinary, nine were emergency (or extraordinary) and three were economic. Three of these summits were held in the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan: The 11th Ordinary Summit in 1980, the 4th Extraordinary Summit in 1987 and the 13th Ordinary Summit in 2001.

In 2000, participants at the Extraordinary Arab Summit, which was hosted by Egypt, agreed to hold the Arab League Council at the Summit Level in an ordinary session in March of every year. This decision was first implemented at the Amman Summit in 2001, which took place on the 26th anniversary of the League's establishment.

The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is, once again, hosting Arab leaders at the 28th Ordinary Session and its preparatory meetings, embodying the Kingdom's constructive role in promoting joint Arab action.

The Summit Venue

The Dead Sea Area
To the west of the Jordanian capital of Amman lies the Dead Sea: A rare, natural phenomenon famed for its high salinity and known as the lowest point on earth.

A few minutes' drive from the Dead Sea to the east of the Jordan River lies the baptism site of Jesus Christ, which the Vatican has named an international destination for Christian pilgrimage. Moreover, to the east of the Dead Sea stands Mount Nebo, overlooking Israel, the occupied Palestinian territories, Southern Lebanon, Syria, and Egypt's Sinai.

King Hussein bin Talal Convention Centre at the Dead Sea
The Dead Sea area is home to a number of international hotels, resorts, tourist stops, therapeutic facilities, and conferences. At the heart of the area, among numerous five-star hotels, lies the King Hussein Bin Talal Convention Centre, which has become a destination for conference tourism and has been selected to host the Arab League Council at the Summit Level (the 28th Ordinary Session).

Established in 2004, the Centre's architectural style combines Islamic and modern architecture, with its stones and walls reflecting Jordan's environment in colour and design. The three-storey centre includes 27 halls of varying designs and sizes, equipped with the facilities and utilities required to hold conferences, making it an ideal location to host major events and conferences for the World Economic Forum, International Monetary Fund, United Nations and Arab League Summit.

Amman Summit Social Media Platforms
The Media Committee of the Arab Summit 2017 launched its official social media platforms on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube under the handle @ArabSummit2017. Launched for the first time as an interactive tool for Arab summits, these platforms aim to expand outreach to journalists and followers of the news and preparatory meetings of the Amman Summit, scheduled to take place between 23 and 29 March 2017.

These platforms seek to engage Arab youth – who comprise the largest segment in Arab societies – and allow them to weigh in on current Arab issues.

References

External links

2017
2017 in Jordan
21st-century diplomatic conferences (MENA)
2017 in international relations
2017 conferences
March 2017 events in Asia

2017 Arab League summit


Justin Snow (born December 21, 1976) is a former American football long snapper who played in the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Baylor University. He signed as an undrafted free agent in 2000 with the Indianapolis Colts, who he played twelve seasons with. Winning Super Bowl XLI with the Colts against the Chicago Bears is his biggest accomplishment.

He was also a member of the Washington Redskins.

High school career
Snow was born in Abilene, Texas and attended Cooper High School where he was an AP and a Texas Sportswriters Association All-State First-team selection, and, as a senior, recorded ten sacks, 70 tackles, three forced fumbles, and two fumble recoveries.

College career
Snow attended Baylor University and was a four-year letterman in football as both a defensive end and long snapper. He finished his college career with five sacks, and 189 tackles (15 tackles for loss). He graduated with Bachelor's and Master's degrees in Speech Pathology.

Professional career

Indianapolis Colts
Snow went unselected in the 2000 NFL Draft, however he signed with the Indianapolis Colts as a free agent and began serving as the team's long snapper and a back-up tight end. In 2003, Snow and kicker Mike Vanderjagt, along with the holder (Hunter Smith) became the first snapper, holder and kicker trio in the league's history to go an entire season, including the playoffs, without missing a field goal or point-after attempt. Snow played with former Cooper High School teammate Dominic Rhodes on the Colts.  Super Bowl XLI, a game in which three players that once resided in Abilene, Texas participated. Snow and Rhodes both played for the Colts and for Cooper High School, and Danieal Manning played for the Chicago Bears and attended Abilene Christian University. Prior to Super Bowl XLI, only one other person that once lived in Abilene, Texas had played in the Super Bowl, Terry Orr. Orr played for Cooper High School in Abilene as well as the Washington Redskins where he played in Super Bowls XXII and XXVI. On August 31, 2012, Snow was cut from the Colts ending his twelve-year career as a Colt.

Washington Redskins
Snow signed with the Washington Redskins on September 11, 2012. On November 6, Snow was waived by the Redskins after they activated Nick Sundberg from injured reserve.

References

External links
 ESPN Profile
 Indianapolis Colts bio
 Washington Redskins bio

1976 births
American football long snappers
Baylor Bears football players
Indianapolis Colts players
Washington Redskins players
Living people
Players of American football from Abilene, Texas

Justin Snow


The 1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal is a political scandal that is taking place in Malaysia. In 2015, Prime Minister Najib Razak was accused of sending over  Malaysian ringgit (about US$) from 1Malaysia Development Berhad (1MDB), a government-run company that was made to develop the country's economy, to his own bank accounts. Many Malaysians called for Najib to resign because they did not want a corrupt prime minister. In 2018, Najib was defeated in an election by Mahathir Mohamad.

A Malaysian politician, Anwar Ibrahim, has asked questions about the true purpose of 1MDB. He told Parliament that the company "has no business address and no appointed auditor" to check the company's finances.  According to records, 1MDB has nearly RM 42 billion (US$11.73 billion) in debt.

Introduction
"Berhad" is a Malay word that means limited. In this case it means a limited company. That means that a company's finances are separate from those of the owners. Members of the public may not own shares in the company.

Timeline

2009

July
 1MDB is founded with Najib Razak as the advisory board chairman.

September
 1MDB enters into a US$2.5 billion joint venture with Saudi oil company PetroSaudi International.

2010

May
 1MDB signs deals with sovereign wealth funds in Qatar and Abu Dhabi, U.A.E. It also starts developing the old airport in Sungai Besi and the project is named Bandar Malaysia.

2012

March
 1MDB buys Tanjong Energy Holdings for $2.81 billion from Ananda Krishnan.
 Najib starts the Tun Razak Exchange project.

May - October
 US investment bank Goldman Sachs helps 1MDB sell bonds worth $3.5 billion.

2013

March
 Goldman Sachs helps 1MDB get a further $3 billion in an additional bond sale, this time to cover "new strategic economic initiatives" between Malaysia and Abu Dhabi.

May 5
 Malaysia's 2013 General Elections is held. Najib's Barisan Nasional coalition wins the simple majority but the opposition coalition Pakatan Rakyat, led by Anwar Ibrahim, wins the popular vote.

December
 The movie The Wolf of Wall Street, which stars Leonardo DiCaprio is released. The movie credits Jho Low.

2014

March
 1MDB is reported to be over $10 billion in debt.

2015

January
 Around 227,000 leaked documents related to the fraud are handed to Sarawak Report editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown, and to the Wall Street Journal. The documents were reportedly leaked by Xavier Andre Justo, a retired Swiss banker, who had worked with PetroSaudi.

May 29
 1MDB gets a US$1 billion injection from Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company, which will be used to repay a US$975 million loan from international bank lenders.

June
 Malaysia's central bank launches an investigation into 1MDB.

July 2
 The Wall Street Journal releases a report saying that US$700 million (RM 2.6 billion) of deposits have gone into Najib's personal bank accounts.

July 4
 Najib denies allegations that the cash was found in his bank accounts.

July 7
 A special task force formed to investigate allegations that millions of dollars had been channeled into Najib's bank accounts announces a freeze order for six accounts linked to the case.

July 8
 Police raid the 1MDB office.

July 9
 The Attorney-General's Chambers says that the six accounts which were ordered to be frozen were not linked to Najib, as his accounts with AmBank Islamic had already been closed by then.

July 20
 News website Sarawak Report is blocked by the Malaysian government and an arrest warrant is issued for editor Clare Rewcastle-Brown.

July 28
 Following criticism, Najib changes members of his cabinet. Deputy Prime Minister Muhyiddin Yassin and Rural and Regional Development Minister Shafie Apdal are dropped.
 Attorney General Abdul Ghani Patail is also fired and replaced by Apandi Ali.

August 3
 The MACC announces the task force has completed its investigation. It revealed the $700 million that allegedly went into Najib's accounts were from donations and had nothing to do with 1MDB.

August 17
 Thai authorities hands Justo a three-year jail sentence after he pleaded guilty to stealing information from PetroSaudi International (PSI).

August 29-30
 The Bersih 4 rally was held. Thousands come, including former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad and his wife Siti Hasmah. Mahathir. Participants urge Najib to resign.

September
 Several countries, including Hong Kong, Australia, Singapore and Switzerland, begin investigating financial firms and banks Najib allegedly used to siphon funds.

October 20
 Thai police give Malaysian counterparts approval to question Justo.

November 25
 1MDB CEO Shahrol Halmi is questioned by Malaysia's Public Accounts Committee (PAC). He is later called back in on November 30 for further questioning.

December 1
 PAC questions 1MDB president Arul Kanda Kandasamy.

December 5
 Najib gives a statement to the MACC on the issue of the almost US$700 million found in his personal bank accounts and on SRC international.

December 31
 MACC submits 1MDB investigation papers to the Attorney General.

2016

January 26
 Attorney General Apandi Ali clears Najib of any wrongdoing, saying in a statement that US$681 million transferred into Najib's account was a "personal donation from the Saudi royal family". "A sum of US$620 million was returned by the Prime Minister to Saudi royal family because it was not [used]," the statement adds.

January 29
 Swiss prosecutors request assistance from Malaysian authorities as they believe around US$4 billion was stolen from Malaysian state-owned companies. "A small portion" of the cash was transferred into Swiss accounts held by former Malaysian officials as well as current and former officials from the United Arab Emirates, the Swiss attorney general's office says in a statement.

February 1
 Singapore's Commercial Affairs Department (CAD) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) issue a statement, saying a "large number" of bank accounts in relation to a probe into 1MDB have been seized.

February 3
 Kedah Menteri Besar Mukhriz Mahathir resigns.

February 7
 Saudi Arabia's Foreign Minister Adel Al-Jubeir says he believes the funds that went into Najib's personal account were not a political donation from the Saudi government, but that they had been part of a business deal.

February 19
 1MDB says in a statement that a Wall Street Journal report stating that it paid funds into the personal accounts of Najib is an "outright lie".

February 29
 Mahathir announces his departure from UMNO and also his withdrawal of support from Najib.

March 23
 Malaysia central bank governor Zeti Aktar Aziz says Bank Negara has initiated administrative punitive action against 1MDB after it failed to provide documents on its finances abroad.

March 31
 The Wall Street Journal publishes a report claiming that Najib spent money on luxury goods overseas, using funds diverted from 1MDB.

April 2
 1MDB denies reports that it provided funds to finance the movie The Wolf of Wall Street.

April 5
 Pandan MP Rafizi Ramli is arrested under the Official Secrets Act (OSA) for leaking the Auditor General's 1MDB report.

April 7
 1MDB's board of directors offer to resign after a report released by the parliamentary Public Accounts Committee said it found the state investment fund's financing and performance "unsatisfactory".

April 9
 PAC chairman Hasan Ariffin says there is no evidence to indicate any wrongdoing or abuse of power by Najib.

April 12
 Swiss authorities expand their investigation into 1MDB to two former officials in charge of Abu Dhabi funds.
 Singapore's Attorney-General's Chambers receives a request for legal assistance from Switzerland with regard to 1MDB.

April 13
 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda Kandasamy says the state investment fund could be a victim of fraud. This is after the Abu Dhabi fund, the International Petroleum Investment Company, denied receiving payment from 1MDB.

April 19
 Mahathir applies for a court order to freeze Najib's assets.
 1MDB also says it is working to resolve the dispute with International Petroleum Investment Company.

April 28
 Malaysia's central bank fines 1MDB for "failure to fully [follow] directions under the Financial Services Act".

May 24
 The Monetary Authority of Singapore says it has ordered the closure of Switzerland's BSI Bank in Singapore over "serious breaches of anti-money laundering requirements, poor management oversight of the bank's operations, and gross misconduct by some of the bank's staff".

May 31
 Malaysia's Ministry of Finance announces the appointment of a new board of directors for 1MDB, succeeding the previous board.

July 11

 1MDB agrees to resolve its dispute with International Petroleum Investment Company via the London Court of International Arbitration.

July 21
 United States Attorney General Loretta Lynch announces the filing of civil forfeiture complaints seeking the forfeiture and recovery of more than US$1 billion in assets associated with an alleged international conspiracy to launder funds misappropriated from 1MDB.

August 9
 Justo receives a royal pardon and has his three-year sentence reduced by one third.

October 11
 The Monetary Authority of Singapore orders the Singapore branch of Falcon Bank to stop operations for serious failures in anti-money laundering controls and improper conduct by senior management. MAS also imposes fines on DBS and UBS banks for breaches of its anti-money laundering requirements. This comes after "supervisory examinations by MAS into 1MDB-related fund flows" that took place through the three banks from March 2013 to May 2015, MAS said.

December 2
 MAS fines Standard Chartered Singapore and Coutts & Co for breaches of anti-money laundering requirements that occurred in the context of 1MDB-related fund flows.

2017

March 22
 US authorities plan to file criminal charges against Jho Low, who is suspected to be at the center of the 1MDB scandal, the Wall Street Journal reports.

April 24
 1MDB reaches a settlement deal with Abu Dhabi's International Petroleum Investment Company.

May 30
 The Monetary Authority of Singapore announces the completion of its two-year review of the banks involved in known 1MDB-related transactions. It says it has imposed financial penalties on Credit Suisse and United Overseas Bank, issued Prohibition Orders against three individuals and served notice of its intention to impose regulatory action on three others.

June 15
 US authorities seize another US$540 million in assets, allegedly stolen via 1MDB.

June 16
 The US Justice Department files a civil lawsuit, which claims that nearly US$30 million of funds stolen from 1MDB was used to buy jewelery for the wife of "Malaysian Official 1".

August 1
 International Petroleum Investment Company gives 1MDB five days to make a US$600 million payment, which it failed to pay on July 31. 1MDB says it will make the payment within the month.

August 2
 Najib says 1MDB's failure to make the US$600 million payment to International Petroleum Investment Company was "a technical matter, and not a question of not being able to pay back".

August 11
 1MDB says it has sent US$350 million to International Petroleum Investment Company. This comes after Abu Dhabi extended the deadline for 1MDB to make its US$600 million debt repayment, provided at least US$310 million was paid by 12 Aug

August 30
 1MDB says it has finished paying off the money to IPIC.

October 23
 Malaysia asks Interpol to try to locate Jho Low for questioning over his suspected involvement in the 1MDB scandal.

November 1
 The Monetary Authority of Singapore issues prohibition orders against two individuals involved in breaches related to 1MDB.

December 19

 The Monetary Authority of Singapore issues more financial bans in its 1MDB investigation.

December 27
 International Petroleum Investment Company says 1MDB has paid the settlement amount in full.

2018

February 28
 Indonesian authorities seize Jho Low's yacht, "Equanimity, at Bali.

May 9
 Opposition coalition Pakatan Harapan, led by Mahathir, wins in the country's general elections, defeating Najib and his Barisan Nasional coalition.

May 12
 Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor are banned from leaving Malaysia. He later resigns as UMNO and Barisan Nasional chairman.

May 16-17
 Malaysian police seize luxury items from residences owned by Najib.

May 21
 A special task force that will look into possible criminal conduct of individuals involved in the management of 1MDB has been set up.

May 22
 Najib is questioned by the MACC.

May 24
 Najib is questioned by the MACC for the second time.
 The 1MDB task force has a meeting with the FBI and the United States' Department of Justice (DOJ) officials.

June 5
 Rosmah is questioned by the MACC.

June 7
 Malaysian police issue an arrest warrant for Jho Low and former director of SRC International Nik Faisal Ariff Kamil.

June 19
 In an interview with Reuters, Mahathir describes the 1MDB case against Najib as "almost perfect".

June 27
 Police reveal that the total value of items seized to be worth RM 900 million and RM 1.1 billion (US$220 million and US$269 million).

June 28
 1MDB CEO Arul Kanda is fired, two days before the end of his contract.

July 3
 Najib is arrested by the MACC. He is charged with four counts of CBT and abuse of power over RM 42 million transferred into his private account from SRC International the following day.

August 4
 Najib is charged with three additional counts.

August 5
 The Equanimity leaves Bali, where it was seized, to Batam island, before arriving at Port Klang two days later.

September 18
 The book, "Billion Dollar Whale: The Man Who Fooled Wall Street, Hollywood, and the World" by Tom Wright and Bradley Hope of The Wall Street Journal is published.

September 20
 Najib is slapped with 25 charges of graft and money laundering over 1MDB transactions amounting to RM2.3 billion.

October 25
 Najib and former Treasury Secretary General Mohd Irwan Serigar Abdullah are slapped with six CBT charges involving RM 6.6 billion worth of government funds.

October 29
 The Equanimity is put up to auction.

December 12
 Najib is charged for reportedly tampering with the 1MDB audit report.
 Arul Kanda is also charged for abetting Najib.

2019

April 3
 Najib's trial on the SRC International begins.
 Equanimity is auctioned off to the Genting group at US$126 million.

May 8
 Attorney General Tommy Thomas says Malaysia has recovered US$322 million (RM1.3 billion) worth of 1MDB assets so far.

July 4''
 Red Granite Pictures founder and producer Riza Aziz arrested in Malaysia on money laundering charges.August 27 The High Court sets 11 November as the date to deliver its decision on Najib on the SRC International trial.August 28 Najib's 1MDB trial begins.November 11 The High Court orders Najib to enter defense on all seven charges involving abuse of SRC International funds.2020January 8 The MACC releases nine phone audio recordings received about a week earlier. They were recorded between January 5 to July 29, 2016 and are about 45 minutes long in all. The recordings reveal Najib's attempts to cover up investigations into the 1MDB scandal, which MACC chief Latheefa Beebi Koya described as "shocking, as there are attempts at cover-ups and subversion of justice". One of the audio recordings featured a conversation between Najib and his wife Rosmah Mansor, who sounded upset at Najib's mishandling on the scandal. In another audio recording, Najib  was seeking help from United Arab Emirates Crown Prince Mohammed bin Zayed Al Nahyan to help clear Najib's stepson, Riza Aziz's involvement in the scandal.March 17 Officials from the Malaysia's Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said that Malaysia has recovered US$322 million stolen from 1MDB, a fraction of the more than US$4.5 billion US prosecutors say was looted.April 15The US Department of Justice returns US$300 million in funds stolen during the 1MDB scandal to Malaysia.July 28'''
Former prime minister Najib Razak is found guilty of one count of abuse of power, three counts of criminal breach of trust, three counts of money laundering, a total of seven charges. The verdict was announced on the first of five trials related to this scandal.

References

Political scandals

1Malaysia Development Berhad scandal


Sperm washing is the process in which individual sperms are separated from the semen. Washed sperm is used in artificial insemination using the intrauterine insemination (IUI) technique and in in vitro fertilization (IVF). It may also be used to decrease the risk of HIV transmission by an HIV-positive male, in which case the washed sperm is injected into a female using an artificial insemination technique.

Sperm washing involves removing any mucus and non-motile sperm in the semen to improve the chances of fertilization and to extract certain disease-carrying material in the semen. Sperm washing is a standard procedure in infertility treatment.

Once the fastest sperm have been isolated, before using them for artificial insemination or in vitro fertilization, it is important to confirm the absence of HIV virus in the sample.

The sample obtained after washing is analysed, usually using the PCR technique, to check that there is no viral particle. If the result is negative, i.e. there is no virus, this sample is suitable for use in assisted reproduction treatments.

These samples are usually free of the virus in a high percentage.

Procedure
Sperm washing takes place in a laboratory following sperm donation.

Sperm may be washed by density gradient centrifugation or by a "direct swim-up" technique that does not involve centrifugation. In normal semen samples, centrifugation causes no more DNA damage to spermatozoa than a direct swim-up technique.

Washed sperm is concentrated in Ham's F-10 media without L-glutamine, warmed to . A chemical known as a cryoprotectant is added to the sperm to aid the freezing and thawing process. Further chemicals may be added which separate the most active sperm in the sample, as well as extend or dilute the sample so that vials for a number of inseminations are produced.

Decreased HIV transmission
Sperm washing can be used to decrease the risk of HIV transmission in HIV-positive males, because the infection is carried by the seminal fluid rather than the sperm. One Italian study from 2005 of 567 serodiscordant couples treated with washed sperm resulted in no horizontal (to the woman) or vertical (to the child) HIV seroconversion. However, there is no 100% guarantee that washed sperm is free from the virus.

History
Sperm washing was first used in Milan, Italy. The oldest child conceived using this method was born in 1997 and is HIV negative. The first known baby conceived this way in the United States, Baby Ryan, was born in 1999 through the Special Program of Assisted Reproduction started by Ann Kiessling.

Starting in the mid-1990s the technique was used to help HIV discordant couples conceive without passing the virus from the father to the mother or child. The idea is that when the male is HIV positive, the technique will reduce the risk of transmission to the female. For years there were lingering doubts about the safety of the procedure, and many couples had to travel to places that would do the procedure, such as Italy. Today, hundreds of babies have been born through this process.

References

External links
 Special Program of Assisted Reproduction at the Bedford Research Foundation Clinical Laboratory
 Bedford Research Foundation

Prevention of HIV/AIDS
Artificial insemination
Fertility medicine

Sperm washing


Kemerovo Oblast — Kuzbass, also known simply as Kemerovo Oblast () or Kuzbass (), after the Kuznetsk Basin, is a federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Kemerovo is the administrative center and largest city of the oblast. Kemerovo Oblast is one of Russia's most urbanized regions, with over 70% of the population living in its nine principal cities. Its ethnic composition is predominantly Russian, but Shors, Ukrainians, Tatars, and Chuvash also live in the oblast. The population recorded during the 2021 Census was 2,600,923.

Geography
Kemerovo Oblast is located in southwestern Siberia, where the West Siberian Plain meets the South Siberian Mountains. The oblast, which covers an area of , shares a border with Tomsk Oblast in the north, Krasnoyarsk Krai and the Republic of Khakassia in the east, the Altai Republic in the south, and with Novosibirsk Oblast and Altai Krai in the west.
Verkhny Zub peak, the highest point of the oblast, is located in the eastern border.

Climate
The climate of the oblast is continental: winters are cold and long, summers are warm, but short. The average January temperature ranges from , the average in July is . Average annual precipitation ranges from  on the plains and the foothills of up to  or more in mountainous areas. The duration of the frost-free period is 100 days in the north area, and up to 120 days in the south of the Kuznetsk Basin.

Environment
The environmental conditions in Kuznetsk Basin are heavily influenced by the regional industrial activities, especially, by coal mining. The report about the environmental conditions in Kemerovo region from 2014 indicated that there are more than 20 thousand of enterprises, emitting more than 250 types of atmospheric pollutants, where most urban areas with the worst air quality are located in the Kuznetsk Basin: Novokuznetsk, Mezhdurechensk, Myski, Kaltan, Polysaevo, Belovo and Leninsk-Kuznetskiy.

Atmospheric pollution is apparent over Kuznetsk Basin as major regional long-term tropospheric NO2 anomaly was identified over the region in 2006-2020 years. The anomaly was driven primarily by coal mining and processing activities in the region, being exacerbated by the regional topography, favorable for accumulation of atmospheric pollutants and metal production in Novokuznetsk. Unlike other Siberian cities, where atmospheric concentration of NO2 has been decreasing in recent years, the concentration of NO2 is increasing in the cities of the Kuznetsk Basin due to the increasing coal production in the region.

History
The oblast was established on January 26, 1943, but it has considerably older antecedents. Shors, Teleuts and Siberian Tatars are native peoples of the region. The oldest city in Kemerovo Oblast is Novokuznetsk, founded in 1618, soon after Cossack ataman Yermak's push into Siberia.

The territory of modern Kemerovo Oblast has been inhabited for several thousand years. In 1618, Kuznetsk fort was established in the south of the future oblast to protect the land from Russian and Mongolian Dzhungarian invaders. During the 19th century, the territory of the modern oblast was a part of Tomsk Governorate.

Soviet period
After the October Revolution of 1917, Kuzbass experienced significant strife as part of the Russian Civil War. A major peasant rebellion took place in the region in early 1921, but was suppressed by the Red Army. In 1930, Kuzbass became part of the West Siberian Krai, and then the Novosibirsk Oblast. Post revolutionary period was characterized by the transition to a planned economy, the creation of the Ural-Kuzbass industrial complex development of the coal, metallurgical and chemical industries Kuzbass Kemerovo Coke built, Kuznetsk Metallurgical Combine, a lot of new mines. Industrial enterprises are being built near the workers' settlements, which quickly became a city: Kiselevsk Osinniki Krasnobrodsky, Tashtagol Kaltan Mezhdurechensk and others.

During the Great Patriotic War, Kemerovo region became a major supplier of coal and metal. From Novokuznetsk steel produced over 50,000 tanks and 45,000 aircraft. In Kuzbass from the occupied areas were evacuated equipment 71 enterprises, most of which have remained in the Kuzbass.

In January 26, 1943, the Presidium of the USSR Supreme Soviet issued a decree, decided to allocate from the Novosibirsk Oblast of Kuzbass and the establishment on its territory of Kemerovo region with administrative center in the city of Kemerovo. In the new Oblast included 17.5% of the Novosibirsk region, 9 of the 12 cities of regional subordination, 17 of the 20 workers' settlements, 23 of the 75 districts. The population of the Kemerovo Oblast was 42% of the total population of the Novosibirsk Oblast.

Aeroflot Flight 593 crashed into a mountain range in the Kemerovo Oblast in 1994.

Politics

During the Soviet period, the high authority in the oblast was shared between three persons: The first secretary of the Kemerovo CPSU Committee (who in reality had the highest authority), the chairman of the oblast Soviet (legislative power), and the Chairman of the oblast Executive Committee (executive power). After the abolition of Article 6 of the Constitution of the USSR in March 1990, the CPSU lost its monopoly on power. The head of the Oblast administration, and eventually the governor was appointed/elected alongside elected regional parliament.

The Charter of Kemerovo Oblast is the fundamental law of the region. The Legislative Assembly of Kemerovo Oblast is the province's standing legislative (representative) body. The Legislative Assembly exercises its authority by passing laws, resolutions, and other legal acts and by supervising the implementation and observance of the laws and other legal acts passed by it. The highest executive body is the Oblast Government, which includes territorial executive bodies such as district administrations, committees, and commissions that facilitate development and run the day to day matters of the province. The Oblast administration supports the activities of the Governor who is the highest official and acts as guarantor of the observance of the oblast Charter in accordance with the Constitution of Russia.

Administrative divisions

Economy

The northern area of the region is more agricultural. The region has a dense railway network, including the Trans-Siberian Railway, which passes through the oblast. Novokuznetsk is the center of the engineering industry.

Kemerovo Oblast is one of Russia's most important industrial regions, with some of the world's largest deposits of coal. The south of the region is dominated by metallurgy and the mining industry, as well as mechanical engineering and chemical production.

The Evraz Group and an ore subsidiary Evrazruda operate iron ore mining and processing facilities along with the Raspadskaya, Yuzhkuzbassugol, the Siberian holding company SIBPLAZ. Coal and coking coal mines are located there. Prokopevsk, Kiselevsk, and Andzhero-Sudzhensk are coal-producing centers.
The Zhernovskoye coal mine has reserves amounting to 163 million tonnes of coking coal. In November 2021, the Listvyazhnaya mine disaster took place, in which many people were trapped.

Honors
A minor planet 2140 Kemerovo discovered in 1970 by Soviet astronomer Tamara Mikhailovna Smirnova is named after Kemerovo Oblast.

Demographics

Population:

Vital statistics for 2022:
Births: 19,790 (7.6 per 1,000)
Deaths: 38,363 (14.8 per 1,000)

Total fertility rate (2022):
1.26 children per woman

Life expectancy (2021):
Total — 67.61 years (male — 62.80, female — 72.37)

Ethnic composition (2010):
Russians - 93.7%
Tatars - 1.5%
Ukrainians - 0.8%
Germans - 0.9%
others - 1.5%
55,899 people were registered from administrative databases, and could not declare an ethnicity. It is estimated that the proportion of ethnicities in this group is the same as that of the declared group.

Settlements

Religion

As of a 2012 survey 34.1% of the population of Kemerovo Oblast adheres to the Russian Orthodox Church, 7% declares to be nondenominational Christian (excluding the Protestant churches), 3% are members of Rodnovery, the Slavic folk religion, 1% are either believers of Orthodox Christianity not belonging to any church or members of other (non-Russian) Orthodox churches, 1% are Muslims, 5.9% are followers of other religion or people who did not give an answer to the survey. In addition, 31% of the population declares to be "spiritual but not religious" and 17% to be atheist.

See also

Geography of South-Central Siberia
List of Chairmen of the Council of People's Deputies of Kemerovo

Notes

References

Sources

External links

 Informational website of Kemerovo Oblast

Central Asia
States and territories established in 1943
1943 establishments in the Soviet Union

Kemerovo Oblast