Facebook Graph Search was a semantic search engine that Facebook introduced in March 2013. It was designed to give answers to user natural language queries rather than a list of links. The name refers to the social graph nature of Facebook, which maps the relationships among users. The Graph Search feature combined the big data acquired from its over one billion users and external data into a search engine providing user-specific search results. In a presentation headed by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, it was announced that the Graph Search algorithm finds information from within a user's network of friends. Microsoft's Bing search engine provided additional results. In July it was made available to all users using the U.S. English version of Facebook. After being made less publicly visible starting December 2014, the original Graph Search was almost entirely deprecated in June 2019.

History

Initial development

The feature was developed under former Google employees Lars Rasmussen and Tom Stocky.

The Graph Search Features was launched in Beta in January 2013 as a limited preview for some English users in the United States. Company reports indicate that the service launched to between tens and hundreds of thousands of users.

The feature has been released only to limited users, with a slow expansion planned. Facebook announced plans for a future mobile interface and the inclusion of Instagram photos.

In late September 2013, Facebook announced that it would begin rolling out search for posts and comments as part of Graph Search. The rollout began in October 2013, but many people who had Graph Search were not given immediate access to this feature. A post on the Facebook Engineering blog explained that the huge amount of post and comment data, coming to a total of 700 TB, meant that developing Graph Search for posts was substantially more challenging than the original Graph Search.

Removal from public visibility from December 2014 onward

In December 2014, Facebook changed its search features, dropping partnership with Bing. Around the same time, Facebook changed the way searches could be done through the website and app, obscuring some of the previous graph search functionality, but most of the functionality was still available through direct construction of the search urls.

Over the next few years, the online intelligence community, investigative journalists, and criminal investigators developed tools and practices to more effectively use Facebook Graph Search despite it not being publicly visible. One of these, Stalkscan, received media attention. Graph.tips was a frequently used tool in the online intelligence community as an interface on top of Facebook Graph Search.

Deprecation of most functionality in June 2019

In early June 2019, the feature was further deprecated, with the majority of URLs for graph search queries no longer working. Facebook explained this by saying: "The vast majority of people on Facebook search using keywords, a factor which led us to pause some aspects of graph search and focus more on improving keyword search. We are working closely with researchers to make sure they have the tools they need to use our platform." However, there was speculation that the shutdown of Graph Search may also have been motivated by privacy concerns.

Many tools that depended on Facebook Graph Search, including Stalkscan and graph.tips, had much of their functionality stop working, though some tools were updated using complicated workarounds for some queries. Vice quoted Bellingcat's Nick Waters as saying: "Now that Graph Search has gone down, it's become evident that it's used by some incredibly important section[s] of society, from human rights investigators and citizens wanting to hold their countries to account, to police investigating people trafficking and sexual slavery, to emergency responders."

Operation

Graph Search operated by use of a search algorithm similar to traditional search engines such as Google. However, the search feature is distinguished as a semantic search engine, searching based on intended meaning. Rather than returning results based on matching keywords, the search engine is designed to match phrases, as well as objects on the site.

Search results were based on both the content of the user and their friends' profiles and the relationships between the user and their friends. Results were based on the friends and interests expressed on Facebook, and also shaped by users' privacy settings. In addition to being restricted from seeing some content, users could sometimes view relevant content made publicly available by users not listed as friends.

Entries into the search bar were auto-completed as users typed, with Facebook suggesting friends and second degree connections, Facebook pages, automatically generated topics, and Web searches for anything Facebook was not able to search for.

The operation of the search feature depended on user involvement. The feature was intended to encourage users to add more friends, more quickly. In doing so, it could provide updating, more data-rich results and stimulate use of the feature.

Search functions
Facebook supported searches for the following types:
 People
 Pages
 Places (limitable to a specific location (latitude and longitude) and distance)
 Check-ins of the user, friends, or where user or friends have been tagged
 Objects with location information attached. In addition, the returned objects will be those in which the user or friends have been tagged, or those objects that were created by the user or friends.
 Users could filter results, such as in time (since and until), or search only a given user's News feed and much more new.

The feature also allowed users to search the web directly.

Examples
Tom Stocky of the search team offered several examples of potential queries during the launch presentation, including,
 "Friends who Like Star Wars and Harry Potter"
 For setting up a potential date, "Who are single men in San Francisco and are from India"
 For employee recruiting, "NASA employees who are friends with people at Facebook"
 For browsing photos or planning travel, "photos of my friends taken at National Parks"

During its roll-out stage, bloggers showed how Facebook Graph Search could be used to uncover potentially embarrassing information (e.g., companies employing people who like racism) or illegal interests (e.g., Chinese residents who like the banned group Falun Gong).

Microsoft was partnered with Facebook to provide search results from 2008 to 2014. Microsoft Live Search came to be known as Bing following the initiation of the partnership. In 2010, Facebook and Bing partnered to offer socially oriented search results: 'People Search' and 'Liked by your Facebook Friends' information appeared in results within Facebook and on Bing.com.

In May 2012, Bing launched a social sidebar feature which displayed Facebook content alongside of search results. Promoted on the basis of asking friends for advice, the feature allows users to broadcast queries related to their searches to Facebook friends, and offers recommendations of Facebook friends, as well as experts from other networks who could be capable of offering insight.

The previously developed Instant Personalization feature integrated friends' publicly available information, such as likes, into content on other external websites, such as Rotten Tomatoes and Yelp.

The emergence of the Graph Search feature builds on this partnership. Facebook content remains on Bing.com. The focus of Graph Search is internal content, but Bing continues to issue search results of external content. The external search results are based on traditional keyword-match.

Advertising
In 2012, Facebook introduced sponsored pages in search results. By buying "Targeted Entities" on Facebook, advertisers pay to have their page appear when users search for that entity. Facebook CEO Zuckerberg reported that this would remain a feature of the search feature, but that the advertising component had not been extended in the Graph Search feature.

Criticisms arose about the integrity of search results on the basis of "buying likes". This practice refers to situations in which companies, without sponsoring results, accumulate a large number of "likes" through practices such as promotions or paying to operate bot accounts. Critics argued that this rendered results allegedly based on other users' opinions meaningless.

Open Graph
The Open Graph feature allows developers to integrate their applications and pages into the Facebook platform, and links Facebook with external sites on the Internet. The feature operates by allowing the addition of metadata to turn websites into graph objects. Actions made using the app are expressed on users' profile pages.

Privacy
Initial reactions to the launch of Graph Search included many concerns about privacy. The social media analytics company Crimson Hexagon reported that 19 percent of users discussing the launch of the feature were stating concerns about privacy. Facebook has alluded to these concerns and emphasized that the search operates within the pre-existing privacy settings: users can access only the information already available to them. The feature makes this information easier and potentially more appealing to find. Related concerns about phishing and the appearance of minors in search results have also been expressed.

References

Further reading

External links

Internet search engines
Semantic Web
Graph Search

Facebook Graph Search


The Tubantes were a Germanic tribe, living in the eastern part of the Netherlands, north of the Rhine river. They are often equated to the Tuihanti, who are known from two inscriptions found near Hadrian's Wall. The modern name Twente derives from the word Tuihanti.

History
Little is known about the Tubantes. They are first mentioned in a description of the first expedition of Germanicus against the Marsi in  14 AD, when they, in coalition with the Bructeri and Usipetes, ambushed the Roman forces returning to their winter-quarters, probably somewhere in the Münsterland.

In 17 AD, the Tubantes are apparently referred to as the Tubattii, in Strabo's  in a list of Germanic peoples defeated by Rome under Germanicus. After being vanquished by the Romans, some Tubantes were prisoners of Germanicus' triumphal procession.

In 58 AD, Tacitus reports in his Annals that the Ampsivarii, in their plea to the Romans concerning some land north of the Rhine reserved by the Roman military, that it had belonged in sequence to the Chamavi, Tubantes, and then the Usipii. (The Usipii are known to have moved into the Rhine region around the time of Caesar (55 BC), but not yet to have found permanent settlement in that time, and to have been resident at the afore-mentioned northern bank of the Rhine by the time of Drusus around 11 AD.)

In 69 AD, they provided a cohort during the Batavian Revolt, which was destroyed by the Ubii.

Claudius Ptolemy in his Geographia (2.10) appears to describe a north to south series starting with the Chamavi "under" whom are the Chatti and Tubanti, and then between these and the Sudetes mountains, thought to be the Ore Mountains, the Teuriochaemae (an otherwise unknown name, but in the place previously inhabited by the Hermanduri and later by the Thuringii, with these three names often thought to be equivalent). But the position of the Chamavi and Tubantes so far to the southeast does not match other sources, and Chamavi also seem to be mentioned under another name in a more expected place, south of the coastal Chauci, and north of the Bructeri, in between Ems and Weser. Confusingly, other tribes normally from the region of the Tubantes, the Chattuari and Chasuarii, are also described as if they are in southern Germany in this passage.

Two third-century sacral inscriptions found near Hadrian's Wall make mention of Tuihanti serving in an auxiliary unit of the Roman army, the Cuneus Frisiorum. (The Frisii was a name applied to all or most tribes north of the Rhine in Roman times, in the same general area of the Tubantes.) The inscriptions say:
"To the god Mars and the two Alaisiagae, and to the divine power of the Emperor, the German tribesmen of Tuihantis of the formation of Frisians of Vercovicium, Severus Alexanders's own, willingly and deservedly fulfilled their vow."
"To the god Mars Thinescus and the two Alaisiagae, Beda and Fimmilena, and the divine power of the Emperor, Germans tribemen from Tuihantis willingly and deservedly fulfilled their vow."

"Mars Thingsus" is understood as referring to the Germanic God "Tyr", who was often considered equivalent to Roman Mars, and was associated with the Germanic traditions of assemblies called "Things".

In 308 AD the Tubantes joined the alliance against Constantine the Great during his campaign against the Bructeri.

The name reappears as Tuianti and Tueanti in two acts from 797 and 799 AD concerning the donation of some farms in Twente and Salland to the church of Wichmond, Gelderland.

Archaeology
Archaeology shows that the region associated with the Tubantes was inhabited more or less continuously since the last ice-age. The region is very fertile and will support agriculture and cattle. The countryside is marked by artificial hills, called es or esch, which were formed by depositing dung mixed with dirt. Prime examples include the Fleringer Esch, near Fleringen and the Usseler Es, also known as the Usseler Esch, near Usselo.

There is archaeological evidence of (relatively) large scale iron production in the region, specifically near Heeten, indicating that the locals understood the process of producing steel, with a carbon content of 2% [1]. The ore used was the abundant bog iron. The production sites can be dated to 280-350 AD.

See also
List of Germanic peoples

References

Early Germanic peoples
Frankish people

Tubantes


River Mease SSSI is a  biological Site of Special Scientific Interest. It is a stretch of the River Mease and its tributary  Gilwiskaw Brook, running between Alrewas in Staffordshire and Packington in Leicestershire. It is also a Special Area of Conservation The river goes through private land, but it is crossed by roads and footpaths.

The River Mease rises near the village of Norton Juxta Twycross in North West Leicestershire. It flows westwards for approximately 16 miles (25 km), largely through agricultural land, to its confluence with the River Trent at Croxall in Staffordshire. The SSSI includes a range of habitats  including riffles, pools, slacks, vegetated margins and variable amounts of bankside tree cover. The site also includes part of the fast-flowing Gilwiskaw Brook.

The river has nationally significant populations of two species of freshwater fish, the spined loach and the bullhead. Vegetation is sparse in the upper reaches as the stream is fast-flowing, but there are stands of floating sweet-grass, and the gravel areas provide favourable conditions for the bullhead to spawn. The freshwater white-clawed crayfish Austropotamobius pallipes is also found in the river as is the otter, both having a restricted range in the East Midlands.

Aquatic flora is more varied in the lower reaches, where the river flows slowly across a flood plain. Here the marginal vegetation includes  common club-rush, floating sweet-grass, reed canary-grass,  branched bur-reed, greater pond sedge and bulrush. Submerged aquatic vegetation includes river water-crowfoot, common water-crowfoot, blunt-leaved pondweed, fennel pondweed, arrowhead and yellow water-lily.

References

Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Leicestershire
Sites of Special Scientific Interest in Staffordshire

River Mease SSSI


Keith Edward Yandell (, Davenport, Iowa – , Madison, Wisconsin) was a philosopher of religion who became notable by his teaching and his writings.

Teaching
Yandell began teaching in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1966. He had become the Julius R. Weinberg Professor of Philosophy when he retired in 2011.

Beginning in 2004 and continuing after his retirement from the University of Wisconsin, Madison, Yandell became an Affiliate Professor of Philosophy at the
Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois.

Education
Yandell earned a BA and an MA from Wayne State University. He received a PhD from Ohio State University.
His fields of expertise include: History of modern philosophy, Metaphysics, Philosophy of religion, Ethics, and Indian philosophy.

Works
Yandell has over 60 articles and reviews in journals listed in EBSCO. His books including those co-authored or edited follow:
Free Will and Evil (MA Thesis, Wayne State, 1960)
Metaphysical Systems and Decision Procedures (PhD Dissertation, Ohio State, 1966)
Basic Issues in the Philosophy of Religion (Allyn and Bacon, 1971)
Problems in Philosophical Inquiry: Theory of Knowledge (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971)
Metaphysics (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971)
Theory of Knowledge (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971)
Philosophy of Religion (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971)
Ethics (Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1971)
God, Man, and Religion (McGraw-Hill, 1973)
Christianity and Philosophy (Eerdmans, 1984)
Hume's Inexplicable Mystery: His Views on Religion (Temple University, 1990)
The Epistemology of Religious Experience (Cambridge University Press, 1994)
Philosophy of Religion: A Contemporary Introduction (Routledge, 1999)
Religion and Public Culture: Encounters and Identities in Modern South India (Routledge, 2000)
Faith and Narrative (Oxford University Press, 2001)
Buddhism: A Christian Exploration and Appraisal (InterVarsity Press/Paternoster, 2009)
Spirituality Without God?: Buddhist Enlightenment and Christian Salvation (Paternoster, 2009)
The Soul (Defence of the Evidential Value of) (Ashgate, 2015)
In addition to books, Yandell has published essays on Anselm, miracles, and religious language; as well as a series of articles on the problem of evil; a series of articles on the epistemic status of religious experience; a series of articles on Hume's philosophy of religion; a series of articles on the supposed ineffability of religious beings or experiences; a series of articles on Indian philosophy; a series of articles on religion and morality; and a series of articles on philosophical issues concerning Christian theology, especially concerning the nature of God. He was working on metaphysical issues in the philosophy of religion and on religious pluralism.

References

1938 births
2020 deaths
American evangelicals
American philosophy academics
Protestant philosophers
Philosophers of religion
University of Wisconsin–Madison faculty
Ohio State University alumni

Keith Yandell


Women have flown and worked in outer space since almost the beginning of human spaceflight. A considerable number of women from a range of countries have worked in space, though overall women are still significantly less often chosen to go to space than men, and by June, 2020 constitute only 12% of all astronauts who have been to space. Yet, the proportion of women among space travelers is increasing substantially over time.

The first woman to fly in space was Soviet Valentina Tereshkova, aboard the Vostok 6 space capsule on June 16–19, 1963. Tereshkova was a textile-factory assembly worker, rather than a pilot like the male cosmonauts flying at the time, chosen for propaganda value, her devotion to the Communist Party, and her years of experience in sport parachuting, which she used on landing after ejecting from her capsule. Women were not qualified as space pilots and workers co-equal to their male counterparts until 1982. By October 2021, most of the 70 women who have been to space have been United States citizens, with missions on the Space Shuttle and on the International Space Station. Other countries (USSR, Canada, Japan, Russia, China, United Kingdom, France, South Korea, Italy) have flown one, two or three women in human spaceflight programs. Additionally one woman of dual Iranian-US citizenship has participated as a tourist on a US spaceflight.

Women face many of the same physical and psychological difficulties of spaceflight as men. Scientific studies generally show no particular adverse effect from short space missions. It has even been suggested by some that women might be better suited for longer space missions. Studies have continually indicated that the main obstacle for women to go to space remains gender discrimination.

History

Early Space Race struggle
In the competition between the Soviet Union (USSR) and the United States known as the Space Race, both nations chose their first space pilots (known as cosmonauts in the USSR and astronauts in the US) in the late 1950s and early 1960s from the ranks of their military high-speed jet test pilots, who were exclusively men.

In 1959, after their research project Woman in Space Earliest of the Air Force Air Research and Development Command was not permitted, Don Flickinger and William Randolph Lovelace II subsequently formed a group of thirteen women US pilots, dubbed by the American press as the "Mercury 13". Wanting the chance to become astronauts the women took and passed the health screening tests as the men, supervised by Lovelace Clinic staff. This was funded privately (e.g. by aviation pioneer Jacqueline Cochran) and not by the government; the idea of female astronauts faced a great deal of resistance in the military command and NASA, leaving these women no chance of becoming astronauts. Jerrie Cobb of the "Mercury 13" became a consultant to NASA in 1961 and testified before Congress in July 1962 about the "Mercury 13"'s positive medical results and gender discrimination.

Meanwhile, the USSR's director of cosmonaut training, Nikolai Kamanin, lobbied for having women as cosmonauts, after being inspired in 1961 by repeated questions from the foreign press about women in space. Subsequently, Kamanin crucially gained space program leader Sergey Korolev as a supporter, getting approval six months later for women cosmonauts. During a visit to the US in 1962 Kamanin got to know Jerrie Cobb of the then rejected "Mercury 13". At one point Kamanin noted in his diary, "We cannot allow that the first woman in space will be American. This would be an insult to the patriotic feelings of Soviet women." The Soviet government generally had no interest in using women as cosmonaut pilots, but Premier Nikita Khrushchev was extremely interested in the propaganda value of proving Soviet superiority over the US in women's equality. In February 1962 from over 400 applicants a group of five female cosmonauts were chosen to be trained for a solo spaceflight in a Vostok spacecraft.
To increase the odds of sending a Soviet woman into space first, the women cosmonauts began their training before the men.

First Woman in Space

The first woman to fly in space was Valentina Tereshkova, a textile factory worker who was an avid amateur parachutist, parachuting was necessary for the Earth landing which was made outside the reentry capsule.
Tereshkova flew aboard Vostok 6 on June 16, 1963, completing a 70.8 hour flight making a total of 48 orbits before returning to Earth.

Kamanin framed her as "Gagarin in a skirt". Tereshkova married Vostok 3 cosmonaut Andriyan Nikolayev on November 3, 1963, at the Moscow Wedding Palace, with Khrushchev presiding at the wedding party together with top government and space program leaders. The occasion was described by Kamanin as "probably useful for politics and science". Tereshkova gave birth on 8 June 1964, nearly one year after her space flight, to the first person with a mother and father who had both traveled into space, their daughter Elena Andrianovna Nikolaeva-Tereshkova.

Further female missions cancelled
Kamanin hoped to fly two other women on the Voskhod 3 and 4 flights, despite the opposition of Yuri Gagarin and the other male cosmonauts. These plans were canceled in 1965, leaving the women with Soviet Air Force officer commissions.

The American Apollo program to land a man on the Moon included only male astronauts. Neither the USSR nor US launched another woman into space until women were admitted to the astronaut and cosmonaut corps in the late 1970s.

Later Space Race advances
By 1971 NASA had hired staff tasked to address issues of adhering to legal ramifications to include underrepresented people of society. In 1973 staff such as Ruth Bates Harris criticized NASA's poor inclusion of women and minorities. Subsequently the NASA Astronaut Group 8 was to include women and people of minorities. To assist finding candidates the milestone Star Trek star Nichelle Nichols was hired, after she spoke at the National Space Institute for the inclusion of women and minorities as astronauts.

On January 16, 1978, NASA announced the selection of its eighth group of astronaut candidates, which included the first women, six Mission specialists (not pilots): Anna L. Fisher, Shannon Lucid, Judith A. Resnik, Sally K. Ride, Margaret Rhea Seddon, and Kathryn D. Sullivan.

Similarly, in 1978 Tereshkova and her colleague Tatyana Kuznetsova pushed for a new cosmonaut program for women, with the USSR in July 1980 choosing a cosmonaut group which included nine women in addition to four men. The women were: Svetlana Savitskaya, Galina Amelkina, Yelena Dobrokvashina, Larisa Pozharskaya, Tamara Zakharova, Yekaterina Ivanova, Natalya Kuleshova, Irina Pronina, and Irina Latysheva.

Of the nine women only Savitskaya got to fly to space. As a research cosmonaut she flew aboard the Soyuz T-7 to the space station Salyut 7 in August 1982 and became the first woman to walk in space (extravehicular activity, EVA) outside the Salyut 7 space station on that mission.
Savitskaya became the first woman to fly in space twice, on the Soyuz T-12 mission on July 25, 1984.

Of NASA's first women astronaut group all flew in space at least once, with mission specialist Sally Ride becoming in 1983 the first US woman to fly in space, with the seventh Space Shuttle mission, and third woman altogether to fly in space.

Situation after the Space Race
Since the first American women in space most of the women who have been to space have been American women, outnumbering all other countries combined. But the more than 50 American women astronauts, contrasted by the several hundred astronauts who have entered space, women still only make up about 12% of all people who have gone to space, still being less chosen and enabled. NASA only in 2013 enabled the first time an equal amount of women as part of an astronaut class, the NASA Astronaut Group 21, a short lived situation since the subsequently and current Group 22 has yet again a lower number.

Female Firsts
In 1992 Mae Jemison became the first woman of color in space. Susan Helms became the first woman on an ISS expedition crew on Expedition 2, lasting from March 2001 until August 2001. Peggy Whitson became in 2007 the first woman to command the International Space Station, and in October 2009 NASA's first female Chief of the Astronaut Office.
On October 18, 2019, the first all female spacewalk was conducted by Jessica Meir and Christina Koch.

Future
Only 12 human beings, all men and no women, have walked on the Moon. In 2020, NASA's communication director reported that NASA planned to land astronauts on the Moon, including possibly a woman astronaut or astronauts, as part of the U.S. Artemis program. Of the 18 candidates in the Artemis program, nine are women: Nicole Aunapu Mann, Kayla Barron, Christina Koch, Kate Rubins, Stephanie Wilson, Jessica Meir, Jasmin Moghbeli, Anne McClain and Jessica Watkins. Furthermore, the European Space Agency (ESA) has six astronauts, of whom one is a woman (Samantha Cristoforetti), training for Artemis. This group is later to be joined by members of the 2022 European Space Agency Astronaut Group, which includes two women, (Sophie Adenot and Rosemary Coogan), plus history's first parastronaut.

In April 2023 NASA, together with the Canadian Space Agency, announced their selection of the Artemis II crew, the first since the Apollo program to go around the Moon. The crew will include Christina Koch.

Discrimination
Space programs allowed women generally only well into the space age, with NASA opening its space program in 1976. When Sally Ride became the first female US astronaut to go into space in 1983, the press asked her questions about her reproductive organs and whether she would cry if things went wrong on the job.

Women with children have also been faced with questions about how they would compare to traditional expectations of motherhood. Shannon Lucid, one of the first group of female US astronauts, remembers questions by the press on how her children would handle her being a mother in space. Women are often expected to be the ones mainly responsible for child-rearing, which can impact their career.

According to the historian Kim McQuaid the American space agency NASA ignored gender issues at the beginning of the space era, and women were not normally allowed to enter technical schools or undergraduate/graduate training in engineering and the physical sciences until changes started happening in the end of the 1960s. Particularly in the period between 1972 and 1974 the focus on women became more prominent. In 1967, NASA changed its policy to make it easier for women to join and 17 women applied for the role to join a spacetravel mission, but all 17 job applications were declined. NASA did employ thousands of women in jobs were space travel was not included in the 1960s, but there was still hierarchical differences between women and men. The women employed in the space agency NASA are also still more likely to work in lower-ranked jobs, while men are more often employed in higher-ranked occupations, particularly in space crew settings, despite of women having similar qualifications to those of men. There has also been found a larger gender gap in certain jobs such as manufacturing, while downstream application and service jobs have a higher representation of women employees.

In 2023, numbers released by UNOOSA showed that only 11 percent of the world's astronauts are women, 6.6 percent are spacewalkers and 20 percent are in the space workforce. In March 2023, the Director of Space Technology of the Australian Space Agency, Katherine Bennell-Pegg, said that women are still in the minority in the space industry and that 'STEM is for everyone' whilst adding that inclusivity is important. The UN Sustainable Development Goals suggests that an increase of women being involved in the space industry is important to achieve the SDGs and gender equality, since 90 percent of future jobs will probably require STEM related skills. The promotion of space technology in an inclusive manner is also an important step towards achieving the SDG 5B. In 2022, the American astronaut Nicole Aunapu Mann, who studied mechanical engineering at Stanford University and also has military combat background in Iraq and Afghanistan, became the first Native American woman in space and she went on the International Space Station. On the 2023 International Women's Day, Mann stated that "inequality does stifle success" and that it is important to continue to break barriers and inspire and empower the youth to achieve their dreams.

In 1995, an academic journal stated that outer space occupations was regarded as a male dominated arena where the male body was the standard while the female body was seen as 'contamination' or uncertainty in an otherwise stable environment, and women have previously said that they have struggled to be taken seriously in outer space environments. Some women in the space industry have also reported that they feel like they have to express typically masculine traits like assertiveness and dominance in outer space occupations, since 'feminine' traits are looked down upon. For example, men are thought to be more rational, which is beneficial in the space industry, while femininity is associated with being emotional which is viewed as 'negative' in the context of outer space travel. The American scientist and former government official Carloyn Huntoon, has previously said in an interview in 2002 that if the women did not behave in the same way as the guys, it would mean that they were not doing the job properly.

Chris Pesterfield, a lecturer at the University of Bristol, has stated that legal and political changes have been made to allow for women to enter outer space occupations, but that these changes do not seem to have been as effective as one might have expected. Pesterfield has argued that the unequal amount of women and men in space might be an outcome of the socialisation process, starting already in child years. For example, boys are more often encouraged to have interests in STEM subjects such as technology and science than girls and there may be societal expectations that gender will influence what a person is good at. The OECD found that the majority of women employed by NASA have studied biological sciences (48 percent), while they are underrepresented in mathematics (25 percent), physical sciences (25 percent) and engineering (22 percent). Rebecca Spyke Keiser, who is a special assistant to the NASA administrator for innovation and public-private partnership, has stated that the lack of female role models in aerospace and physics might also have contributed to the low amount of women in space-related work as well as perceptions about women only being good at certain things.

There have been attempts at combating gender discrimination within the space sector. For example, the United Nations has made the Space4Women project which is intended to focus on gender related issues in space and find reasons why gender inequality is still an issue in the outer space sector. The project includes women from different backgrounds, professions and countries. One of the mentees in the programme stated that "working for girls and women in science has been empowering, encouraging me to persist in a work environment that is sometimes so hostile and not inclusive". In October 2017, UNOOSA and UN women also cooperated to organise a 'Space for Women' Expert Meeting with the goal of empowering women in space industry jobs. Commercial spaceflight and more focus on diversity are also factors that play a role in boosting participation by women.

Physical effects of space on women

Female astronauts are subject to the same general physical effects of space travel as men. These include physiological changes due to weightlessness such as loss of bone and muscle mass, health threats from cosmic rays, dangers due to vacuum and temperature, and psychological stress.

NASA reports initially argued that menstruation could pose serious health risks or have a negative effect on performance, although it is now dealt with as a matter of routine.

Since women have been sent to space, the previously male focused clothing has been reconsidered addressing the issues and needs for clothing like space suits for extravehicular activity (EVA) and bras, e.g. for exercise in micro-g environments.

Furthermore, space toilet designs did not have women in mind, until October 2020 when the first toilet with better design for women (as well as men) was delivered to the ISS.

Radiation and uterine and breast cancer
Both men and women are affected by radiation.
Massive particles are a concern for astronauts outside the Earth's magnetic field who receive solar particles from solar proton events (SPE) and galactic cosmic rays from cosmic sources. These high-energy charged nuclei are blocked by Earth's magnetic field but pose a major health concern for astronauts traveling to the Moon and to any distant location beyond Earth orbit. Evidence indicates past solar particle event (SPE) radiation levels that would have been lethal for unprotected astronauts.

However, due to the currently used risk models for endometrial, ovarian and breast cancer, women at NASA can currently only spend half as much time on missions as men, which limits their career options compared to men.

Astronauts on Apollo and Skylab missions received on average 1.2 mSv/day and 1.4 mSv/day respectively. Exposures on the ISS average 0.4 mSv per day (150 mSv per year), although frequent crew rotations minimize risk to individuals.
A trip to Mars with current technology might be related to measurements by the Mars Science Laboratory which for a 180-day journey estimated an exposure approximately 300 mSv, which would be equivalent of 24 CAT scans or "15 times an annual radiation limit for a worker in a nuclear power plant".

Fertility
A study published in 2005 in the International Journal of Impotence Research reported that short-duration missions (no longer than nine days) did not affect "the ability of astronauts to conceive and bear healthy children to term." In another experiment, the frog Xenopus laevis successfully ovulated in space.

Pregnancy
NASA has not permitted pregnant astronauts to fly in space, and there have been no pregnant women in space. However, various science experiments have dealt with some aspects of pregnancy.

For air travel, the United States' Federal Aviation Administration recommends a limit of 1 mSv total for a pregnancy, and no more than 0.5 mSv per month.

For fetus radiation increases the risk of childhood cancers.
Additionally children of female astronauts could be sterile if the astronaut were exposed to too much ionizing radiation during the later stages of a pregnancy. Ionizing radiation may destroy the egg cells of a female fetus inside a pregnant woman, rendering the offspring infertile even when grown.

While no human had gestated in space , scientists have conducted experiments on non-human mammalian gestation. Space missions that have studied "reproducing and growing mammals" include Kosmos 1129 and 1154, as the Shuttle missions STS-66, 70, 72, and 90. A Soviet experiment in 1983 showed that a rat that orbited while pregnant later gave birth to healthy babies; the babies were "thinner and weaker than their Earth-based counterparts and lagged behind a bit in their mental development," although the developing pups eventually caught up.

The lack of knowledge about pregnancy and birth control in micro-gravity has been noted in regards to conducting long-term space missions.

Post-natal
A 1998 Space Shuttle mission showed that rodent Rattus mothers were either not producing enough milk or not feeding their offspring in space. However, a later study on pregnant rats showed that the animals successfully gave birth and lactated normally.

To date no human children have been born in space; neither have children gone into space. Nevertheless, the idea of children in space is taken seriously enough that some have discussed how to write curriculum for children in space-colonizing families.

Fatalities

Four women have died during two spaceflight missions 1986 and 2003.

The first Teacher in Space Project (TISP) participant as payload specialist Christa McAuliffe, along with mission specialist Judith Resnik of STS-51-L died when their Space Shuttle Challenger exploded on January 28, 1986, less than two minutes after launch, along with all hands.

In February 2003, mission specialists Kalpana Chawla and Laurel Clark were killed on re-entry in the Space Shuttle Columbia disaster.

Statistics

By public space program

USA

The US has since the 1980s the largest group of women of all countries, more than all other that have ever gone to space combined.

Sally Ride became the first American women in space, when she flew in June 1983 on the Space Shuttle mission STS-7 to space.

The first US woman to perform Extravehicular activity (EVA) was Kathryn D. Sullivan on the STS-41-G, which launched on October 11, 1984.

NASA's first female pilot was Eileen Collins from group 13, who first flew in February 1995 on STS-63 and became the first female US mission commander in July 1999 on STS-93.

Although not a NASA astronaut, Millie Hughes-Fulford of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs flew on the STS-40 Space Shuttle mission in June 1991 as the first female payload specialist from outside the space agency.

Russia

Russia has sent three women since its Roscosmos state corporation inherited in 1991 the Soviet space program, which had sent two, the very first women altogether from Russia to space.

Originally chosen as cosmonaut during Soviet times, Yelena V. Kondakova became the first woman cosmonaut for the Russian Federation in 1994, and the first woman to travel for both the Soyuz program and on the Space Shuttle. Twenty years later, Yelena Serova became the first Russian woman cosmonaut to visit the International Space Station on September 26, 2014.

Actress Yulia Peresild became 2021 the fourth Russian woman flying to space. Though she was not sent by the Russian state, since she flew as Spaceflight participant, shooting scenes for a Russian movie at the ISS.

Russia's only current woman cosmonaut, Anna Kikina, was admitted to the Russian cosmonaut corps in 2012. In 2019 Roscosmos announced changes to their space suits to accommodate women and announced in 2020 that Kikina was selected for a flight to the International Space Station in 2022, with SpaceX Crew-5.

Canada

Canada has sent two women to space.

Roberta Bondar was the first Canadian woman to fly in space, on the Space Shuttle Discovery in January 1992.

The second Canadian woman astronaut is Julie Payette from Montreal. Payette was part of the crew of STS-96, on the Space Shuttle Discovery from May 27 to June 6, 1999. During the mission, the crew performed the first manual docking of the Shuttle to the International Space Station, and delivered four tons of logistics and supplies to the station. On Endeavour in 2009 for STS-127, Payette served as a mission specialist. Her main responsibility was to operate the Canadarm robotic arm from the space station. Payette was sworn in as the 29th Governor-General of Canada on October 2, 2017.

In July 2017, Dr. Jennifer Sidey-Gibbons was selected by the Canadian Space Agency to receive astronaut training at Johnson Space Center. She completed the two-year Astronaut Candidate Training Program and obtained the official title of astronaut in January 2020.

Japan

Japan's JAXA has sent two women to space.

In 1985, Chiaki Mukai was selected as one of three Japanese Payload Specialist candidates for the First Material Processing Test (Spacelab-J) that flew aboard STS-47 in 1992. She also served as a back-up payload specialist for the Neurolab (STS-90) mission. Mukai has logged over 566 hours in space. She flew aboard STS-65 in 1994 and STS-95 in 1998. She is the first Japanese and Asian woman to fly in space, and the first Japanese citizen to fly twice.

Naoko Yamazaki became the second Japanese woman to fly into space with her launch on April 5, 2010. Yamazaki entered space on the shuttle Discovery as part of mission STS-131. She returned to Earth on April 20, 2010. Yamazaki worked on ISS hardware development projects in the 1990s. She is an aerospace engineer and also holds a master's degree in that field. She was selected for astronaut training in 1999 and was certified by 2001. She was a mission specialist on her 2010 space shuttle flight, and spent 362 hours in space. Yamazaki worked on robotics and transitioned through the reorganization of Japanese spaceflight organization in 2003 when NASDA (National Space Development Agency) merged with ISAS (Institute of Space and Astronautical Science) and NAL (National Aerospace Laboratory of Japan). The new organization was called JAXA (Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency).

European Space Agency (ESA)

The European Space Agency has sent two women to space, while it has sent many more men.

The first woman sent by ESA, as well as France and its state space agency CNES, was Claudie Haigneré, who went to the Russian space station Mir in 1996. She flew again in 2001 as the first European woman to visit the International Space Station.

Since then the only other woman sent by a European agency ASI and ESA has been Italian Samantha Cristoforetti launched on Soyuz TMA-15M in November 2014. She returned to space in April 2021 on the SpaceX Crew-4 mission to the International Space Station.

The 2022 European Space Agency Astronaut Group had specifically invited women to join. They also extended the first invitation to people with disabilities (parastronauts) to apply for the group. Of the selected five career astronauts and one para-astronaut two are women: Sophie Adenot and Rosemary Coogan.

China

China has sent two women to space.

In 2012, the Chinese space program sent their first woman Liu Yang to space aboard Shenzhou 9 to dock with Tiangong-1.

China's first female astronaut candidates, chosen in 2010 from the ranks of fighter pilots, were required to be married mothers. The Chinese stated that married women were "more physically and psychologically mature" and that the rule that they had have had children was because of concerns that spaceflight would harm their reproductive organs (including unreleased ova). The unknown nature of the effects of spaceflight on women was also noted. However, the director of the China Astronaut Centre has stated that marriage is a preference but not a strict limitation. Part of why they were so strict was because it was their first astronaut selection and they were trying be "extra cautious". China's first woman astronaut, Liu Yang, was married but had no children at the time of her flight in June 2012. Her second mission launched in June 2022 on Shenzou 14.

Wang Yaping became the second Chinese female astronaut as a member of the Shenzhou 10 spaceship crew, which orbited the Earth in June 2013, and of the Tiangong-1 orbiting space station with which it docked. In October 2021, Wang again flew on Shenzhou 13 where she became the first Chinese female astronaut to perform a spacewalk.

Other countries

Yi So-yeon from South Korea was launched into space as a space flight participant with Roscosmos, alongside two Russian cosmonauts.

Rayyanah Barnawi became the first female astronaut from Saudi Arabia in May 2023 on the Axiom-2 mission to the International Space Station.

Privately funded

In May 1991 Helen Sharman went into space on a flight to the Mir space station as a spaceflight participant. Her flight was privately funded by Project Juno, a British-Soviet collaboration. She was the second person and first woman to be funded privately to go to space. Sherman was the first citizen of the United Kingdom who went into space, making the United Kingdom the first of two countries (the other being South Korea) to have a woman as its first person in space.

Anousheh Ansari was the fourth overall, second woman who went privately funded and first self-funded to space. As well as the first privately funded woman to fly to the International Space Station she was also the first Iranian woman citizen (dual citizenship with the US) to go to space. She flew to the station in 2006 on the Soyuz TMA-9 spacecraft. Her mission launched from the Baikonur Cosmodrome on September 18, 2006. Soyuz TMA-9 transported two-thirds of ISS Expedition 14 to the space station along with Ansari. Ansari performed several experiments on behalf of the European Space Agency.

In February 2019 Beth Moses of Virgin Galactic became the first commercial astronaut woman to go to space (sub-orbital). Sirisha Bandla also flew on Virgin Galactic in July 2021.

Wally Funk, member of the Mercury 13, became the oldest woman in space when she flew on Blue Origin's New Shephard sub-orbital flight on 20 July 2021. In addition to being the only member of the Mercury 13 to ever fly in space, she also broke the record for oldest person in space at the age of 82, though her record was broken by William Shatner, age 90, in October that same year.

On 16 September 2021, Sian Proctor and Hayley Arceneaux became the first female commercial astronauts to go into orbit on board Inspiration4.
Shortly after, in October 2021, Russian Yulia Peresild reached space on a Soyuz flight, as the first actress, to shoot the first professional movie scenes in space as well as a space station.

Vanessa O'Brien carried the UN Women's flag on her sub-orbital spaceflight, Blue Origin NS-22 in August 2022. Sara Sabry from Egypt was on the same flight, becoming the first Egyptian, first Arab woman, and first woman from Africa in space.

Non-astronaut personnel

Alongside astronauts, there have been many women who have been working in astronautics and related fields. To name some:
 Eilene Galloway
 Laurel van der Wal
 Katherine Johnson
 Mary Jackson
 Dorothy Vaughan
 Nichelle Nichols

A number of other high-profile women have contributed to interest in space programs. In the early 2000s, Lori Garver initiated a project to increase the visibility and viability of commercial spaceflight with the "AstroMom" project. She aimed to fill an unused Soyuz seat bound for the International Space Station because "…creating a spacefaring civilization was one of the most important things we could do in our lifetime."

See also

List of female astronauts
List of spaceflight records
List of space travelers by nationality
Maximum Absorbency Garment (NASA garment to help contain bodily emissions during spaceflight for men and women)
Mercury 13
List of female explorers and travelers
Human presence in space

References

External links
 Women in Space from Telegraph Jobs
 50 years of humans in space: European Women in Space (ESA)

Women in space
Astronauts
Human spaceflight

Women in space


Elizabeth of Ladymead is a 1948 British Technicolor drama film directed by Herbert Wilcox and starring Anna Neagle, Hugh Williams, Isabel Jeans and Bernard Lee.  It charts the life of a British family between 1854 and 1945 and their involvement in four wars - the Crimean War, Boer War, First World War and Second World War. In each era a Beresford is in the army and dresses in the uniform of the age in most scenes, even at home.

It was shot at Shepperton Studios near London. The film's sets were designed by the art director William C. Andrews.
The drama was remade by the BBC as a TV production in 1949, with Patricia Burke as Elizabeth, John Robinson as John Beresford and Cathleen Nesbitt as Mother.

Plot
Four generations of women (all played by Anna Neagle in the film) have lived in Ladymead, a Georgian mansion, while their husbands are away at war. From the Crimean War to the Second World War, in each case the husband returns home to find his wife more independently minded: the Crimean War wife inspired by the work of Florence Nightingale, the Boer War wife a suffragette and peace activist, and the Great War wife a Jazz Age flapper.

The film begins in the Second World War with her officer husband, John Beresford, returning in a Short Sunderland. One evening at Ladymead House she faints, suffering concussion after imagining that she is trying to go through a door which is not there.

The story jumps to 1854 and a celebration following the Battle of Balaclava during the Crimean War. John Beresford gives a speech. Elizabeth expresses a notion to help as a nurse with Florence Nightingale. They dance to the Blue Danube Waltz by Johann Strauss II (not actually written until 1866). Once alone Elizabeth plays Greensleeves on the piano for John. He explains the Charge of the Light Brigade to a friend. In the bedroom Elizabeth asks John to leave the army. He says the war is over (?) so there is now no risk. She presses  him to run the estate instead. He refuses to change and says he will sleep in the dressing room. Elizabeth weeps next to the four-poster bed.

The story moves forward to 1903 as Elizabeth awaits the return of her husband  from the Second Boer War. This time John is upset that Elizabeth has been managing the estate better than he did. Elizabeth sings Love's Old Sweet Song ("Just a Song at Twilight") as she plays the piano. Elizabeth shows an interest in politics and suffrage.

The story then switches to 1919, after the end of the First World War. John attends major celebrations in the city with crowds singing Auld Lang Syne before going back to Ladymead, which on arrival he finds unoccupied. His wife, who arrives shortly afterwards with a friend, Wrigley, does as she wishes: smoking cigarettes and dressing as a flapper. Wrigley explains how he avoided enlistment. Beresford, infuriated, throws him out. He and Elizabeth argue. John leaves the room and, in despair at his wife's attitude, shoots himself.

The story reverts to 1945 and Elizabeth wakes from her faint. They go out dancing and she remembers the women in her dream.

Cast
Anna Neagle as Beth (1854), Elizabeth (1903), Betty (1919), Liz (1946)
Hugh Williams as John Beresford (1946)
Isabel Jeans as Mother (1903)
Michael Laurence as John Beresford (1919)
Bernard Lee as John Beresford (1903)
Nicholas Phipps as John Beresford (1854)
Michael Shepley as Major Wrigley (1903)
Henry Edwards as Frank
 Hilda Bayley as Mother (1946)
Jack Allen as Major Wrigley (1946)
Kenneth Warrington as Tommy Wrigley (1919)
Claude Bailey as Major Wrigley (1854)
Catherine Paul as Mother (1854)
 Edie Martin as Annie
 Norman Pierce as	Franklin

Box Office
As of 30 June 1949 the film earned £129,700 in the UK of which £84,073 went to the producer.

Critical reception
TV Guide wrote, "the stories are interesting at first, but by war No. 4 the film becomes pretty dull. Nice to look at, with lavish settings"; while Leonard Maltin found Anna Neagle "charming as English lady-of-the-manor with mind of her own," and described the film as a "star vehicle, unsuccessful when released, quite intriguing today for its depiction of woman's role in English society"; and Allmovie wrote, "Whenever the film becomes too repetitious, Elizabeth of Ladymead scores on the charm of Anna Neagle and her attractive deportment while wearing period costumes."

US Release
The film received a limited release in the United States, where it was notable for doing exceptionally well in certain small media markets. In particular the film was the sixth most watched movie in every media market in the American state of Wyoming in 1948. Similarly, it was the tenth highest grossing movie in the state of Tennessee that year, if all media markets in Tennessee were combined. Henry Wriston commented on the film's success in the south saying "Usually, when it comes to who is watching what, the state of Georgia is divided into three separate markets, those being: Atlanta, Savannah and the rest of it. That picture, Elizabeth of Ladymead, was one of the most watched pictures in the rest of it. If you didn't count the markets in Atlanta and Savannah it was in the top five highest grossing pictures in Georgia...it performed very well there." Film critic Parker Tyler wrote in reference to the work of Ernest Dichter that "In New York and New Jersey nobody even heard of it, but, as we learned from Dichter's people, in Virginia people couldn't get enough of it. People in Virginia went back to see it again and again. It was in the top ten down there." The quoted work in question showed that in western Pennsylvania the film was as widely watched as Easter Parade, which was one of the highest grossing films in the United States that year.

References

External links

Review of film at Variety
Elizabeth of Ladymead (1948). - Allmovie.com.
DVD release, 10 January 2014, from Network Company

1948 films
1948 drama films
1940s historical drama films
British historical drama films
Films directed by Herbert Wilcox
Films about marriage
Films set in country houses
Films set in England
Films set in 1854
Films set in 1903
Films set in 1919
Films set in 1945
Films shot at Shepperton Studios
Crimean War films
Second Boer War films
British World War I films
British World War II films
Flappers
1940s English-language films
1940s British films

Elizabeth of Ladymead


Jack W. Steadman (September 14, 1928 – July 5, 2015) was an American football executive who served as chairman, vice president, president and general manager for the Kansas City Chiefs of the National Football League.

Steadman retired as vice chairman of the Chiefs on January 31, 2007, after being in the organization for over four decades, dating to their days as the American Football League's Dallas Texans.

Steadman – the franchise's first general manager – also served as executive vice president, president, vice chairman and chairman in his 47 years with the Chiefs. He won four championships as general manager including the team's Super Bowl IV title. Steadman and Lamar Hunt were at the forefront of the move to merge the AFL into the NFL.

Background
Steadman grew up in Warrenville, Illinois and Dallas, Texas.  He attended Baylor University and received his B.A. in Business Administration from Southern Methodist University. Steadman died at the age of 86 in 2015. He had Alzheimer's disease in his later years. He had 2 sons, Thomas and Donald. Also, a daughter, Barbara. He lived in Kansas City for over 30 years.

Hunt and Steadman bring football to Kansas City
In the early 1960s, Steadman worked with businessman Lamar Hunt to establish the American Football League and the Dallas Texans.  In 1963 the team moved to Kansas City, Missouri when Steadman and Hunt negotiated with Kansas City Mayor H. Roe Bartle to move the Texans to Kansas City as the Chiefs.

Truman Sports Complex
In 1967, Kansas City was considering replacing its aging Municipal Stadium with a new multi-use stadium for both its baseball and football teams.  Denver self-educated architect Charles Deaton suggested to Steadman that the teams would be better served if each sport had its own stadium that was configured to its unique demands but that the complex reduce costs by sharing parking and highway expenses.  The architect firm Kivett and Myers perfected the plan (adding a rolling roof) and voters approved it. (The rolling roof, however, was never added.) Arrowhead Stadium opened in 1972 alongside Royals Stadium (now known as Kauffman Stadium), which opened in 1973.

The rolling roof was not to be built but the concept established Kivett and its successors in Kansas City as the dominant architects for almost all single-purpose major league baseball and football stadiums that have been built since.  In 2005, the rolling roof plan re-emerged as part of Kansas City's bid to host Super Bowl XLIX, but the measure failed in the polls.

Chiefs organization
Steadman was named general manager to executive vice president and general manager in 1966; in August 1976 he was named president of the Chiefs; and in 1989 was named chairman of the board.  During Steadman's term as president (1976–1989), the Chiefs entered a period of decline in which they never entered the playoffs for 15 years and only had four winning seasons.

In 2005, Steadman was inducted into the Chiefs Hall of Fame, the only executive other than Lamar Hunt to be honored with induction. Also in 2005, Steadman was appointed as the club's vice chairman of the board where he served through the end of the 2006 season until his retirement.

Steadman has joined Hunt in other ventures including Hunt Midwest Enterprises, Hunt Martin Materials, Hunt Midwest Real Estate Development Company.  Steadman and Hunt developed Worlds of Fun, a  family entertainment complex which opened in 1973 with Oceans of Fun following in 1982.  They were sold in 1995 to Cedar Fair Entertainment Company.

Community work
Steadman was active in local charities including chairman, president and campaign chairman of the Heart of America United Way; president of the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City; past chairman and board member of the Private Industry Council as well as the Full Employment Council. He was a director of the American Royal Association and the Starlight Theatre Association. Steadman also serves as an advisory trustee for Midwest Research Institute and is a past member of the Civic Council Board of Directors. In 1988, Steadman was honored by the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Kansas City as the "Kansas Citian of the Year."

References

1928 births
2015 deaths
Dallas Texans (AFL) executives
Kansas City Chiefs executives
American Football League owners
National Football League general managers
Baylor University alumni
Southern Methodist University alumni
People from Warrenville, Illinois
People from Dallas

Jack Steadman


Molecular Biology is a scientific journal which covers a wide scope of problems related to molecular, cell, and computational biology including genomics, proteomics, bioinformatics, molecular virology and immunology, molecular development biology, and molecular evolution. Molecular Biology publishes reviews, mini-reviews, experimental, and theoretical works, short communications and hypotheses. In addition, the journal publishes book reviews and meeting reports. The journal also publishes special issues devoted to most rapidly developing branches of physical-chemical biology and to the most outstanding scientists on the occasion of their anniversary birthdays. The journal is published in English and Russian versions by Nauka.

External links

Molecular and cellular biology journals
Multilingual journals
Publications with year of establishment missing
Nauka academic journals
English-language journals
Russian-language journals
Springer Science+Business Media academic journals

Molecular Biology (journal)


Lalit Mathur (born 18 December 1994) is an Indian sprinter. He was part of India's six-member 4 × 400 metres relay team at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Early and personal life
Mathur was born on 18 December 1994 in the village of Karala which is located northwest of Delhi. He started practising athletics at the age of five. His father Vinod Mathur, who is a cable TV operator, took him for training every morning on his bicycle for three years. In order to consume unadulterated milk, Mathur domesticated a buffalo at his home.

Mathur is claimed to have played the body double of Farhan Akhtar in the 2013 Bollywood film Bhaag Milkha Bhaag. As of July 2016, he is a third year student at Sri Guru Nanak Dev Khalsa College in Delhi.

References

1994 births
Living people
Athletes from Delhi
Indian male sprinters

Lalit Mathur


Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster is a 2004 direct-to-video animated science fiction comedy film, and the seventh direct-to-video film based upon the Scooby-Doo Saturday morning cartoons. It was released on June 22, 2004, and it was produced by Warner Bros. Animation (although Warner Bros. had fully absorbed Hanna-Barbera Cartoons by this time, Hanna-Barbera was still credited as the copyright holder and the film ended with an H-B logo). Unlike the previous two films, it is no longer in the "classic format", and does not have the 1969 voice cast, and instead has Mystery Inc. voiced by their regular voice actors, and has them wear their outfits from What's New, Scooby Doo?. It is also the first film to have Mindy Cohn voice Velma, the What's New, Scooby Doo? theme song, and it has Grey DeLisle returning to voice Daphne since Scooby-Doo and the Cyber Chase.

Plot
The Mystery, Inc. gang travel to Loch Ness in Scotland to see the famous Blake Castle, the home of Daphne Blake's Scottish ancestors as well as her cousin, Shannon. The castle grounds are home to the upcoming annual Highland games, composed of many traditional Scottish sports. When they arrive, Shannon informs them that the castle has recently been terrorized by the Loch Ness Monster. Shannon says she has seen the monster and it is indeed real, a position shared by Del Chillman, a Loch Ness Monster enthusiast and amateur cryptozoologist, and Professor Fiona Pembrooke, a scientist who has put her whole career on proving the monster exists. Taking the opposite end of the argument are Colin and Angus Haggart, local competitors in the games, their father Lachlan and Sir Ian Locksley, the head judge of the games (as well as director of the Scottish natural history museum). Locksley and Pembrooke share a mutual hatred for each other (she was Ian's research assistant at his museum until he fired her for spending too much time on the Loch Ness Monster's trail).

That night, Scooby-Doo and Shaggy sneak out of their room to search for the kitchen and are chased by the monster, accidentally destroying the playing field in the process. Locksley sees the carnage and, enraged by Scooby and Shaggy's claims of almost becoming Loch Ness Monster victims, orders Shannon to repair the damage, threatening to demote the highland games to a miniature golf tournament if she doesn't. Velma discovers, to her surprise, that the Loch Ness Monster tracks head into town instead of the loch. The next day, the gang and Shannon travel to Drumnadrochit, Inverness-shire. After enlisting the help of the Haggarts to rebuild the field, Fred, Daphne, Velma and Shannon take Professor Pembrooke's boat, filled up with out-of-date research equipment, to search for the Loch Ness Monster by sea, while Shaggy and Scooby take the Mystery Machine and search by land. While Shaggy is distracted, a hand switches a sign on the road leading to Shaggy getting lost. Both groups are attacked by the monster, which is seemingly in two places at once.

After returning the badly damaged boat back to Professor Pembrooke, the gang discovers Sir Ian has taken it upon himself to patrol the waters with a high-tech ship to prevent any further "peculiarities", as he's still not convinced of the monster's existence. On Locksley's ship, the gang and Shannon find something deep in the loch using sonar equipment. They take Locksley's minisub down to investigate. In the water, the gang is attacked by the Loch Ness Monster, but is saved by a large magnet claw on the ship (before reaching the surface, the Loch Ness Monster knocks the submarine's sonar camera off of its hull). When they return to Blake Castle, they find Del sleeping in the Mystery Machine, who explains his van has been stolen. The Loch Ness Monster later chases the gang, Shannon and Del into a bog, where it's revealed to simply be a canvas covering Chillman's van. Fred deduces it to be a decoy and sets up a trap to catch the real one.

Fred sends Shaggy and Scooby out on the loch to act as bait, while he and Del prepare to use nets to surround the cove to capture the Loch Ness Monster. A large fog appears, blocking visual contact with Shaggy and Scooby. Making matters worse, Locksley's crew mutinies because they want to capture and sell the Loch Ness Monster, and capture Daphne, Shannon, and Locksley himself. The Loch Ness Monster attacks Shaggy and Scooby, chasing them out of the cove. Locksley's ship attaches to the nets, dragging Del and Fred with it. The crew attempts to harpoon the Loch Ness Monster, but Daphne and Shannon distract them long enough to make them miss. Just as the Loch Ness Monster is about to attack Del, Fred, and Locksley, Daphne captures it by using the ship's magnetic claw. All of a sudden, a second Loch Ness Monster appears and gives chase to Shaggy and Scooby but falls into a previously set trap. This monster is revealed to be a huge puppet controlled by the Haggart brothers, and the one Daphne captured is a home-made submarine operated by Professor Pembrooke. Pembrooke used a secret entrance in her boat to go into the monster sub and operate it. She also hired the Haggart brothers to man the second monster on the assumption that they wanted to sabotage the games, but Angus and Colin reveal that they just wanted to do it as a prank. Velma explains that Pembrooke's plan was to use her machine to convince Locksley the real monster existed and enlist his aide in finding it.

The next day, the games begin on schedule, but Locksley calls everyone to his ship to look at new pictures of the monster that his minisub's sunken, yet somehow still working, camera had taken, at a depth well below what a ramshackle homemade submarine like Pembrooke's could survive. These, plus three other photos that Pembrooke had taken several days earlier are enough to convince him that the monster might be real. The film ends with the gang leaving Blake Castle, during which Velma admits that she's actually glad they did not find the real Loch Ness Monster, explaining that "Maybe some mysteries are just better left unsolved." The final scene shows Scooby briefly seeing what appears to be the real Loch Ness Monster swimming by them in the water.

Voice cast
 Frank Welker as Scooby-Doo, Fred Jones, Lachlan Haggart,  a Sheep, Loch Ness Monster
 Casey Kasem as Shaggy Rogers
 Mindy Cohn as Velma Dinkley
 Grey DeLisle as Daphne Blake, Shannon Blake
 Michael Bell as Duncan MacGubbin, McIntyre
 Jeff Bennett as Del Chillman, Sir Ian Locksley, Harpoon Gunner
 John DiMaggio as Colin Haggart, Volunteer #1
 Phil LaMarr as Angus Haggart, Volunteer #2
 Sheena Easton as Professor Fiona Pembrooke

Novelization
Scholastic Inc. released a novelization of the story in conjunction with the film. The novel was written by American fantasy and science fiction author Suzanne Weyn.

References

External links

2004 films
2004 animated films
2004 direct-to-video films
2000s American animated films
2000s mystery films
2000s monster movies
American mystery films
Films about cryptids
Films about vacationing
Warner Bros. Animation animated films
Animated films set in castles
Animated films set in Scotland
Animated films based on animated series
Giant monster films
Loch Ness Monster in film
Loch Ness Monster in television
Scooby-Doo direct-to-video animated films
Warner Bros. direct-to-video animated films
American children's animated comedy films
2000s children's animated films
American children's animated mystery films
Films directed by Joe Sichta
2000s English-language films

Scooby-Doo! and the Loch Ness Monster


A citadel is a castle, fortress, or fortified center.

Citadel may also refer to:

Places
Citadel of Erbil, a palace in Erbil, Iraq
 Citadel of Aleppo, a palace in Aleppo, Syria
 Citadel, Calgary, a neighbourhood in Calgary, Alberta, Canada
 Citadel Hill (Fort George), a fortified hill in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada
 Citadel Island, Victoria, Australia

Arts and entertainment

Fictional entities
 Citadel (comics), a fictional alien empire in the DC Comics universe
 Citadel, in Oldtown, a library and medical school run by maestres, in George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire universe
 Citadel (Half-Life), headquarters for Wallace Breen in City 17 in Half-Life 2

Film and television
 Citadel (film), a 2012 film
 Citadel (TV series), a 2023 television series
 Citadel (Indian TV series), an Indian television series
 Citadel: Diana, an Italian television series

Gaming
 Citadel (video game), by Superior Software
 Citadels (card game), a German-style card game
 Citadels (video game), a 2013 Arthurian video game

Literature
 Citadel (2011 novel), a novel by science fiction writer John Ringo
 Citadel (1957), a non-fiction book by William S. White

Music
 Citadel (Ne Obliviscaris album)
 Citadel (Starcastle album)
 Citadel, an album by Muslimgauze
 "Citadel" (song), a song by the Rolling Stones

Brands and enterprises
 Citadel Broadcasting, an American broadcast holding company
 Citadel Films, a defunct Indian film studio
 Citadel LLC, a hedge fund management company
 Citadel Miniatures, a miniatures company owned by Games Workshop
 Citadel Press, a publishing company
 Citadel Records, an Australian independent record label
 Citadel Securities, a market maker
 Citadel Theatre, Edinburgh, Scotland

Computing
 Citadel (malware), a ZeuS-based botnet alleged to have stolen over US$500,000,000 from personal bank accounts
 Citadel (software), a BBS software
 Citadel/UX, an implementation of Citadel that has evolved into a modern groupware platform

Other uses
 Armored citadel, protective enclosure in a ship
 Halifax Citadels, a defunct American Hockey League team
 Operation Citadel, part of the World War II Battle of Kursk
 Salvation Army citadel, a Salvation Army meeting place

See also
 Citadelle (disambiguation)
 Cittadella (disambiguation)
 Royal Citadel (disambiguation)
 The Citadel (disambiguation)

Citadel (disambiguation)


The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter is a light commercial vehicle (van) built by Mercedes-Benz Group AG of Stuttgart, Germany as a large van, chassis cab, minibus, and pickup truck. In the past, the Sprinter had been sold under the Mercedes-Benz, Dodge, and Freightliner nameplates. In the U.S., it was built from complete knock down (CKD) kits by Freightliner. Re-badged and re-engined Sprinters were also sold by Volkswagen Commercial Vehicles as the Volkswagen LT and the Volkswagen Crafter. They are now primarily marketed by Mercedes-Benz.

In the Mercedes-Benz van lineup, the Sprinter is the largest model offered, followed by the mid-size Vito (aka Viano, V-Class, and EQV) and small Citan.

First generation (1995–2006, T1N)

Europe
The first generation Sprinter was launched in Europe in 1995 to replace the famous but outdated T1 Transporter van dating from 1977. Compared to the T1, the Sprinter had reduced the aerodynamic drag and moved the engine  further forward to increase cabin space. It was the first Mercedes-Benz product to carry a name rather than an alphanumeric designation. It was released with four-wheel disc brakes equipped with an antilock braking system and was driven by the most powerful diesel engine in its class, with a power output of . The Sprinter was voted International Van of the Year for 1995.

The styling was updated in 2000 and 2002, accompanied by technical changes that included standard electronic stability control (2002).

North America

The first generation (VA chassis) North American Sprinter was launched for the 2002 model year in the U.S. and was originally branded as a Freightliner. In 2003, it received Dodge branding, as DaimlerChrysler chose to replace the aging Dodge Ram van with the Sprinter rather than redesign it. After 2003, they were sold concurrently under the Freightliner and Dodge nameplates, and were identical except for minor styling details and badging. DaimlerChrysler chose not to badge the Sprinter as a Mercedes-Benz, because it felt the utilitarian Sprinter would interfere with the luxury image that the Mercedes-Benz brand had in North America, and instead used the Freightliner and Dodge nameplates, as both of those brands had more experience selling trucks and commercial vehicles.

Cargo versions of the Sprinter were manufactured in Düsseldorf, Germany, partially disassembled, and then shipped to a Freightliner factory in Gaffney, South Carolina, where they were reassembled. The cargo versions, classified as light trucks, are subject to the 25% chicken tax if imported as a complete unit, which is avoided by the disassembly and importation as a semi knock-down kit, with subsequent reassembly in the U.S. Passenger vans were not subject to the same tax classifications and were imported as an assembled unit through Mercedes-Benz in Jacksonville, Florida.

2002–2003 Sprinters sold in North America were only available with the 2.7L OM612 inline-5 diesel engine, and were only available in 49 states as it was not compliant with CARB emissions standards; 2004–2006 models used the OM647 engine, which replaced the OM612's air-cooled EGR valve with a water-cooled unit, among other changes, which made the 2004–2006 Sprinters CARB-compliant. The only transmission offered in North America was the 5-speed 5G-Tronic transmission.

The product was launched and supported by DaimlerChrysler Vans LLC, a small division based in Huntersville, North Carolina. Key individuals from DaimlerChrysler Commercial Vehicle Division and Freightliner Trucks were selected to spearhead the effort and made up the bulk of the division. DaimlerChrysler Vans LLC retained sole responsibility for the North American Sprinter market until the sales, service and parts support responsibilities were absorbed by Chrysler Commercial Vehicle Division in 2004. Nearly all of the original staff were retained, though the base of operations shifted from North Carolina to Auburn Hills, Michigan.

Japan
The Sprinter van was sold as the Mercedes-Benz Transporter T1N due to Toyota using the name Toyota Sprinter, a version of the Corolla.

Iran
The model 314 of the first generation is still assembled by Iran Khodro Diesel. It is used as an ambulance.

Vietnam
The first generation Sprinter was assembled by Mercedes Benz Vietnam in Ho Chi Minh City from CKD kits to avoid high local import duties.

Sprinter Classic
Since 2013, the 2000–2006 Sprinter model has been revived in Russian markets only as the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter Classic. The Phase II 2002–2006 grille was chosen for use on the Sprinter Classic and the 2000–2006 dashboard design. The Sprinter Classic used the steering wheel from the 2006–2014 Sprinter models. The Sprinter Classic is built by the Gorky Automobile Plant at Nizhny Novgorod for service in Russian/Eastern European markets only.

Engines

Dimensions

Notes

Fuel economy
With 2.7L I5 OM 612/OM 647 156 hp CDI engine:

Second generation (2006–2018, NCV3)

Initial release

The second-generation Sprinter was introduced in Europe in 2006. It was voted Van of the Year for 2007 and again in 2008 by Professional Van and Light Truck Magazine.

Also known as the NCV3 or New Concept Van 3, the second generation Sprinter appeared in Europe and in other countries as the 2006 model year. North America received its own NCV3 for the 2007 model year.

The U.S. cargo version of the 906 NCV3 came in two wheelbase options (144", 170"), two roof heights (standard 60.6", high 72.4"), three lengths (Short 233.3", Standard 274.2, Extended 289.8"), and two weight classes (2500, 3500). 3500 models had the option of dual rear wheels or extra-wide "super single" wheels in some, but not all, markets. Neither the 128" wheelbase nor the rear super single tires were available in the U.S. market. The U.S. cargo version was reassembled from kits in an assembly plant located in Ladson, South Carolina, while the passenger models were imported directly from Germany.

The second-generation 906 was produced in Argentina only for export markets—except Mercosur markets (Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay)—from 2007 until 2010, but in 2011, announced new production of the second generation in the Centro Industrial J. Manuel Fangio, in Buenos Aires with the brand-new OM 651 engine (also locally made) and exported to the rest of South America (including Mercosur markets). Since 2012, it has been manufactured for the Mercosur and 40 other countries. 70% of its production is exported.

Production
The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter was built in Daimler's Mercedes-Benz Düsseldorf and Ludwigsfelde production plants.

For the second-generation Sprinter marketed in the United States, to avoid "chicken tax" import duties, the cargo version was disassembled partially, shipped to the United States, and reassembled at a plant in Ladson, South Carolina (near North Charleston), in a process known as semi knock-down assembly (SKD), starting in June 2006; the passenger version continued to be imported as a complete unit. The Ladson factory previously was used as an American LaFrance factory for firefighting trucks. The previous SKD reassembly facility in Gaffney resumed operations under Freightliner Custom Chassis Corporation. The Ladson plant was known as DaimlerChrysler Manufacturing International until the parent corporation was dissolved; importation and SKD reassembly of the Sprinter cargo van continued at Ladson under the auspices of Mercedes-Benz Vans, LLC.

Between July 2013 and the end of May 2014, Mercedes-Benz Vans sold around 134,000 units of the new model of Mercedes-Benz Sprinter in Europe and North America.

The production version of the Sprinter-based Volkswagen Crafter by Mercedes-Benz Vans was set to end in 2016.

A class action lawsuit was filed in California state court against Mercedes-Benz alleging the defendant had sold Mercedes-Benz Sprinter 2500 and 3500 models with water that leaked from the roof air conditioning unit into the passenger area. The leaking air conditioning unit was also discovered on Dodge Sprinters made by Mercedes-Benz from 2003 through 2009. The lawsuit affected California residents with the rooftop AC units and Sprinters equipped with the rear AC.

Algeria
From 2014, Algeria started manufacturing the latest model of Sprinter 319/519 4×2 and 4×4 for civilian and military use.

Marketing
Mercedes-Benz Sprinter vans were used in the Boost by Mercedes-Benz custom transportation program.

Updates

Sprinter (2013–2019)

The second generation Sprinter was updated in 2013 with changes including the addition of new assistance systems (crosswind stabilization, collision avoidance system (optional), blind spot monitor (optional), adaptive highbeam, lane departure warning system), Euro VI emissions compliance, redesigned radiator grille, more angular headlights, new upholstery and seat coverings, thicker steering wheel, optional fresh air nozzles boast chrome applications, new-generation radio system.

The vehicle was unveiled in 2014 International Commercial Vehicles show.

Ordering began in June 2013, followed by deliveries in September 2013. Early models include ECO-Gear six-speed manual transmission or the 7G-TRONIC PLUS seven-speed automatic transmission with lock-up clutch.

US models went on sale in the fall of 2013 as 2014 model year vehicles. Early models included a choice of 2 engines (2.1-liter 4-cylinder turbo diesel (163PS) with 7-speed automatic, 3.0-liter V6 turbo diesel (190PS) with 5-speed automatic), 144" & 170" wheelbase (both engines), 3 body lengths, high-roof option, 5 configurations (Cargo, Crew, Passenger, MiniBus, Cab Chassis).

In September 2018, e-commerce platform Amazon announced that they had contracted to acquire 20,000 Amazon-badged Sprinters to be available for small business partners of their proprietary logistics service.

Sprinter 4x4 (2015–2019)

Early models include Sprinter 313/513 BlueTec 4x4, Sprinter 316/516 BlueTec 4x4, Sprinter 319/519 BlueTec 4x4; Eco Gear six-speed manual or five-speed automatic (transmission with converter Sprinter 319/519 BlueTec 4x4).

US models were set to go on sale in the first quarter of 2015 as 2015 model year vehicles. Early models included 144" and 170" wheelbases in low and high roof configurations, 5 body styles (Passenger Van, Crew Van (mixed 2-row passenger and cargo application), and Cargo Van (both 8,550 and 11,030 GVWRs)), 1 engine choice (3.0 L V6 BlueTEC (exclusive 4x4 powertrain)).

2014 facelift

For the 2014 model year, the Sprinter received an updated grille with Mercedes-Benz's signature three-slat design. In an effort to make the Sprinter's fuel economy more competitive, North American models received the 2.1L OM651 two-stage turbo diesel engine formerly only available overseas, along with an optional 3.0L engine. The 2.1L engine (and in Europe, also the 3.0L) was mated to a new 7-speed automatic transmission. A 1.8L supercharged I-4 gasoline engine was mated to 6- and 7- speed automatic transmissions. The 2014 Sprinter added several new driver assistance technologies including standard Crosswind Assist, optional Blind Spot Assist and Collision Prevention Assist, as well as Lane Keeping Assist and Highbeam Assist. The 2014 Sprinter began offering LED running lights. Air suspension was an available option on the 3500-series model. The 2014 Sprinter also gained navigation, iPod integration, and an air suspension for heavier-duty models.

20th Anniversary Edition
For the UK market in 2015, to celebrate 20 years since the first Sprinters were manufactured, a run of 1,200 special edition vans were sold to the public. These vans included the following additional interior comforts and exterior trim level:
 Air conditioning
 Integrated Satellite navigation
 Driver's comfort seat and armrest
 Wheel trims
 Chrome grille
 Chrome 'Sprinter 20' badging on the front wing

Engines

Dimensions

Notes

Third generation (2019–present, VS30)

The third-generation Sprinter debuted on 6 February 2018, at the Mercedes-Benz logistics center in Duisburg and was available to purchase from June 2018. It is the first generation to include a front-wheel-drive van in the line-up. A new range of standard and optional technology and comfort features were made available.

To prepare for the third-generation van, in 2015, Mercedes-Benz Vans decided to switch North American Sprinter production to complete knock-down kit (CKD) assembly, kicking off an expansion of the Ladson factory in 2016, and the first Ladson-built Sprinter rolled off the assembly line in September 2018. The Freightliner version was discontinued after the 2021 model year as part of the Daimler Truck divestment in the Freightliner brand in October 2021.

The third generation Sprinter was updated for the 2023 model year in the U.S., offering a new, all-time all-wheel-drive option with retirement of the selectable "4×4" option; additionally, a 2.0L 4-cylinder OM654 engine replaced the previous diesel engines with standard and high-output tunings offered. Power steering was updated to electromechanical from hydraulic.

eSprinter

The first eSprinter was announced in February 2018. It is a large battery-electric van based on the third-generation Sprinter with a unique front-wheel drive chassis; production of the eSprinter commenced at Düsseldorf in December 2019 for European markets. It is equipped with one of two batteries, with a usable/gross battery capacity of 35/41 (3 modules) or 47/55 kW-hr (4 modules), and is driven by an electric traction motor with an output of  and . Initially, it was available exclusively as a high-roof panel van with a cargo capacity of .

Winter endurance testing under arctic conditions reduced range to . The production vehicles have an estimated range of  for the 41 or 55 kW-hr batteries, giving an energy consumption of , respectively, under Directive 692/2008/EC test requirements. The gross vehicle weight rating is ; given the maximum payload is  for the 55 or 41 kW-hr battery, respectively, the kerb weight is , and a single battery module is estimated to weigh .

eSprinter 2.0
One year after eSprinter production started, Mercedes-Benz announced its successor in December 2020. The second-generation eSprinter 2.0 will be released in late 2023. It is based on the Mercedes-Benz "Electric Versatility Platform" (EVP), a bespoke chassis designed for large vans; EVP shifts the traction motor to the rear axle and enables Mercedes-Benz to offer variants, including pickup truck, chassis cab, and cutaway versions. Three different battery capacities will be available, as Mercedes is aiming to double the range of the Europe-only first generation eSprinter. Production is scheduled to start in the second half of 2023 at the three Sprinter factories: Ladson; Düsseldorf; and Ludwigsfelde.

In October 2022, a preproduction extra-long, high-roof eSprinter 2.0 was driven for  on a single charge, taking a roundtrip journey from the Mercedes-Benz Museum to the Munich Airport and back. The computed energy consumption was  and the eSprinter indicated there were  of range remaining when the trip was completed, giving an estimated usable battery capacity of 108.5 kW-hr.

Dimensions

Notes

Uses

The Sprinter is designed primarily for business, not private users, although recreational vehicle (RV) conversions are available. In the United States, the first generation Sprinters (2001–2006) were offered solely with the Mercedes-Benz 2.7 litre straight 5 cylinder turbocharged Diesel.

Companies are replacing van conversions with wide bus bodies—Sprinters with side-facing benches and tall right-side doors—as campus shuttles. Limited numbers of complete "wagons" (passenger vans) are being produced in Germany and shipped complete to the United States mostly for personal and church van uses. Typical Sprinter wagons accommodate 8 to 10 passengers and have glass in all possible factory positions. Vans shipped to the United States on-spec (speculation to sell by dealer/distributor) are mostly sent in Arctic White color, but many colors are available. The Dodge dealer network for Sprinters is limited to certified locations (known as "Business Link" certified dealers, usually only awarded to "Five Star" certified dealers), and dealer knowledge is still limited in both sales and service. Special orders typically take one to three months for delivery, and may take even longer due to the assembly and disassembly in Germany, and exporting parts to South Carolina for re-assembly. The exception is passenger van models which are assembled in Germany and exported as complete vehicles. This is because of the United States Chicken Tax. As an unintended consequence, several importers of light trucks have circumvented the tariff via loopholes, known as tariff engineering. Ford (ostensibly a company that the tax was designed to protect), imported its first-generation Transit Connect light trucks as "passenger vehicles" to the U.S. from Turkey, and immediately stripped and shredded portions of their interiors (e.g., installed rear seats, seatbelts) in a warehouse outside Baltimore. To import vans built in Germany, Mercedes-Benz "disassembled them and shipped the pieces to South Carolina, where American workers put them back together in a small kit assembly building." The resulting vehicles emerge as locally manufactured, free from the tariff.

In North America, most Sprinters are sold as cargo vans to expediters in the United States. Such expediters are similar to truck drivers, except they take smaller loads and will wait after unloading until dispatchers find another customer nearby to transport goods. The advent of the Sprinter van with its cargo space of  has allowed van expediters to take three  skids or pallets, where previously they were limited to a capacity of two pallets. A Sprinter is capable of hauling approximately  of cargo.
The vehicle has been adopted by the police in Hong Kong, United Kingdom and in Poland, and also as an ambulance by countries in Western Europe, Scandinavia, the U.S., Australia and New Zealand. The 515 CDI has become the standard ambulance for use by the National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom, and the Health Service Executive (HSE) in the Republic of Ireland.

Another market in which Sprinters are gaining ground is as van conversions and recreational vehicles. Conversions include RVs, limousines, family and luxury vans, office vans, wheelchair accessible vans and golf vans. Sprinter RV conversions can also be called Sprinter campervans. Sprinter conversions have been produced by several RV and coach manufacturers. Chilled box versions of the Sprinter currently make up the majority of the supermarket Home Delivery fleet across the UK, but demand for these vans has begun to decline. ASDA recently announced that its new fleet would be primarily custom IVECO vans, following in the footsteps of Tesco. Mercedes are currently working with Waitrose Home Delivery, who currently use chilled LWB HR Sprinters, on a prototype of a new generation home-delivery van, which is currently being used in select stores, aiming to cut emissions, costs and increase time efficiency.

Sprinters have been used globally as television production vehicles, most commonly as ENG (Electronic News Gathering) and SNG (Satellite News Gathering) vehicles. These are a popular choice for local affiliates for their maneuverability in metropolitan areas and the lack of DOT regulations (in the under 10,000 lbs versions).

Despite not being marketed as a family vehicle, a custom-modified Dodge-branded Sprinter was used by the ten-member Gosselin family, the subjects of the TLC reality series Jon & Kate Plus 8.

In Colombia, the Sprinter is the most popular van for intercity transport. The purchase of a luxuriously appointed Sprinter by the son of former President Julio Cesar Turbay, Julio Cesar Turbay, Jr. prompted a scandal.

A Mercedes Sprinter was the vehicle used by Mike and Frank on the History Channel reality series American Pickers until Season 6, when it was replaced by a Ford Transit.

The van is also used as a mobile command center by the Garda Síochána which is the national police force of the Republic of Ireland.

A chassis of the Sprinter is also expected to be used for the upcoming Astrovan II which will be made by Airstream to transport Boeing commercial crew astronauts to Cape Canaveral Space Launch Complex 41 where they would board the CST-100 Starliner on their way to the International Space Station.

Passenger minibuses
Although primarily marketed as a goods van, the Sprinter has 5 variants designed to carry passengers. These are made by removing parts of the walls and replacing them with glass window panels.

Sprinter Mobility

This is the smallest of the Sprinter minibuses. There are 4 sub-variants: the 23, 33, 35, and 45. It has 8-18 seats and is 6.9-7.4 metres long. It has 4 doors: 1 on either side of the driver and front passenger seats (which, like in a van, are segregated from the main passenger compartment), a sliding door in the middle, which goes into the rear passenger seating area, and a set of double doors at the back going into the disabled area with an elevator that can be extended out of the doors when they are open.

It is designed for paratransit.

Sprinter Transfer
This minibus is a longer variant of the Sprinter Mobility where the front passenger seat has been removed and the front passenger seat door now acts as the door for all passengers. In addition, the back wall has seats along it, but can be opened as a door and the seats removed to make modifications to the interior of the vehicle. It comes in 5 sub-variants: 23, 34, 35, 45, and 55. It has 13-22 seats and is 5.9-7.7 metres long.

It is designed for bus services to hamlets.

Sprinter Travel
This bus has a high-floor, and in addition to the driver's door, has just 1 automatic passenger door with steps. It is 7.4-7.7 metres long and has 17-19 seats.

It is marketed as a mini-coach.

Sprinter Inkanyezi
The Sprinter Inkanyezi is marketed in South Africa from 2020s onward as minibus taxi fleet in the country. The car is powered by a 2.0-litre, four-cylinder turbocharged diesel engine and can carry 23 passengers.

Sprinter City

The Mercedes-Benz Sprinter City minibus variant has been in production since 1995 and is marketed through EvoBus. The Freightliner variant has been in production since 2007. There are three sizes, Sprinter City 35, 65 and 77, which seat from 10 to 16 passengers; including standing passengers, these versions can accommodate 22 to 40 passengers. The 77 variant has a low floor throughout and a third pair of wheels at the rear. The Sprinter City has two automatic doors: a set of double doors at the front, used for passengers getting on or off and having a disabled ramp; and a single door behind the rear wheel for passengers alighting, which opens off some stairs in the high-floor area. There is also a manual door on the offside into the driver's cab. The 77 variant has double rear doors.

Engines

For engine choices, the Sprinter is currently offered with inline-four and V6 diesel engines; V6 petrol/gasoline; or liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) engines in Europe, Asia, Australia, and South America. In North America, only the six-cylinder 3.0L turbo diesel and four-cylinder 2.1L turbo diesel engines are offered. The Maxion/Rover HSD diesel engine was offered in Brazil from 1998 to 2002 with the 2.5L. The versions are 310D with 95PS (Turbo Diesel) and 312D, with 115PS (Turbo Diesel Intercooler).

An electric hybrid version has been tested, but is not currently officially part of the Sprinter range. 2,000 electric Sprinters are to be made by VDL Groep from 2016.

2000–2006 (2002–2006 USA)

2006–present (2007–2010 USA)

The Sprinter is also available as the 316/416/516 NGT – Compressed Natural Gas (CNG).

References

Notes

Bibliography

External links

 Official Mercedes-Benz UK Sprinter Van webpage
 Mercedes-Benz Sprinter USA website
 Freightliner Sprinter USA website
Press kit:
 The new Mercedes-Benz Sprinter

Sprinter
Vehicles introduced in 1995
Police vehicles
Minibuses
Vans
Electric vans
Low-floor buses
Rear-wheel-drive vehicles
Hybrid vans
1990s cars
2000s cars
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Cars of Argentina

Mercedes-Benz Sprinter