Brucellosis is a zoonosis caused by ingestion of unpasteurized milk from infected animals, or close contact with their secretions. It is also known as undulant fever, Malta fever, and Mediterranean fever.

The bacteria causing this disease, Brucella, are small, Gram-negative, nonmotile, nonspore-forming, rod-shaped (coccobacilli) bacteria. They function as facultative intracellular parasites, causing chronic disease, which usually persists for life. Four species infect humans: B. abortus, B. canis, B. melitensis, and B. suis. B. abortus is less virulent than B. melitensis and is primarily a disease of cattle. B. canis affects dogs. B. melitensis is the most virulent and invasive species; it usually infects goats and occasionally sheep. B. suis is of intermediate virulence and chiefly infects pigs. Symptoms include profuse sweating and joint and muscle pain. Brucellosis has been recognized in animals and humans since the early 20th century.

Signs and symptoms

The symptoms are like those associated with many other febrile diseases, but with emphasis on muscular pain and night sweats. The duration of the disease can vary from a few weeks to many months or even years.

In the first stage of the disease, bacteremia occurs and leads to the classic triad of undulant fevers, sweating (often with a characteristic foul, moldy smell sometimes likened to wet hay), and migratory arthralgia and myalgia (joint and muscle pain). Blood tests characteristically reveal a low number of white blood cells and red blood cells, show some elevation of liver enzymes such as aspartate aminotransferase and alanine aminotransferase, and demonstrate positive Bengal rose and Huddleston reactions. Gastrointestinal symptoms occur in 70% of cases and include nausea, vomiting, decreased appetite, unintentional weight loss, abdominal pain, constipation, diarrhea, an enlarged liver, liver inflammation, liver abscess, and an enlarged spleen.

This complex is, at least in Portugal, Israel, Syria, and Jordan, known as Malta fever. During episodes of Malta fever, melitococcemia (presence of brucellae in the blood) can usually be demonstrated by means of blood culture in tryptose medium or Albini medium. If untreated, the disease can give origin to focalizations or become chronic. The focalizations of brucellosis occur usually in bones and joints, and osteomyelitis or spondylodiscitis of the lumbar spine accompanied by sacroiliitis is very characteristic of this disease. Orchitis is also common in men.

The consequences of Brucella infection are highly variable and may include arthritis, spondylitis, thrombocytopenia, meningitis, uveitis, optic neuritis, endocarditis, and various neurological disorders collectively known as neurobrucellosis.

Cause

Brucellosis in humans is usually associated with consumption of unpasteurized milk and soft cheeses made from the milk of infected animals—often goats—infected with B. melitensis, and with occupational exposure of laboratory workers, veterinarians, and slaughterhouse workers. Some vaccines used in livestock, most notably B. abortus strain 19, also cause disease in humans if accidentally injected. Brucellosis induces inconstant fevers, miscarriage, sweating, weakness, anemia, headaches, depression, and muscular and bodily pain. The other strains,  B. suis and B. canis, cause infection in pigs and dogs, respectively.

Overall findings support that brucellosis poses an occupational risk to goat farmers with specific areas of concern including weak awareness of disease transmission to humans and lack of knowledge on specific safe farm practices such as quarantine practices.

Diagnosis

The diagnosis of brucellosis relies on:
 Demonstration of the agent: blood cultures in tryptose broth, bone marrow cultures: The growth of brucellae is extremely slow (they can take up to two months to grow) and the culture poses a risk to laboratory personnel due to high infectivity of brucellae.
 Demonstration of antibodies against the agent either with the classic Huddleson, Wright, and/or Bengal Rose reactions, either with ELISA or the 2-mercaptoethanol assay for IgM antibodies associated with chronic disease
 Histologic evidence of granulomatous hepatitis on hepatic biopsy
 Radiologic alterations in infected vertebrae: the Pedro Pons sign (preferential erosion of the anterosuperior corner of lumbar vertebrae) and marked osteophytosis are suspicious of brucellic spondylitis.
Definite diagnosis of brucellosis requires the isolation of the organism from the blood, body fluids, or tissues, but serological methods may be the only tests available in many settings. Positive blood culture yield ranges between 40 and 70% and is less commonly positive for B. abortus than B. melitensis or  B. suis. Identification of specific antibodies against bacterial lipopolysaccharide and other antigens can be detected by the standard agglutination test (SAT), rose Bengal, 2-mercaptoethanol (2-ME), antihuman globulin (Coombs') and indirect enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). SAT is the most commonly used serology in endemic areas. An agglutination titre greater than 1:160 is considered significant in nonendemic areas and greater than 1:320 in endemic areas.

Due to the similarity of the O polysaccharide of Brucella to that of various other Gram-negative bacteria (e.g. Francisella tularensis, Escherichia coli, Salmonella urbana, Yersinia enterocolitica, Vibrio cholerae, and Stenotrophomonas maltophilia), the appearance of cross-reactions of class M immunoglobulins may occur. The inability to diagnose B. canis by SAT due to lack of cross-reaction is another drawback. False-negative SAT may be caused by the presence of blocking antibodies (the prozone phenomenon) in the α2-globulin (IgA) and in the α-globulin (IgG) fractions.

Dipstick assays are new and promising, based on the binding of Brucella IgM antibodies, and are simple, accurate, and rapid. ELISA typically uses cytoplasmic proteins as antigens. It measures IgM, IgG, and IgA with  better sensitivity and specificity than the SAT in most recent comparative studies. The commercial Brucellacapt test, a single-step immunocapture assay for the detection of total anti-Brucella antibodies, is an increasingly used adjunctive test when resources permit. PCR is fast and should be specific. Many varieties of PCR have been developed (e.g. nested PCR, realtime PCR, and PCR-ELISA) and found to have superior specificity and sensitivity in detecting both primary infection and relapse after treatment. Unfortunately, these are not standardized for routine use, and some centres have reported persistent PCR positivity after clinically successful treatment, fuelling the controversy about the existence of prolonged chronic brucellosis.

Other laboratory findings include normal peripheral white cell count, and occasional leucopenia with relative lymphocytosis. The serum biochemical profiles are commonly normal.

Prevention
Surveillance using serological tests, as well as tests on milk such as the milk ring test, can be used for screening and play an important role in campaigns to eliminate the disease. Also, individual animal testing both for trade and for disease-control purposes is practiced. In endemic areas, vaccination is often used to reduce the incidence of infection. An animal vaccine is available that uses modified live bacteria. The World Organisation for Animal Health Manual of Diagnostic Test and Vaccines for Terrestrial Animals provides detailed guidance on the production of vaccines. As the disease is closer to being eliminated, a test and eradication program is required to eliminate it.

The main way of preventing brucellosis is by using fastidious hygiene in producing raw milk products, or by pasteurizing all milk that is to be ingested by human beings, either in its unaltered form or as a derivative, such as cheese.

Another aspect of Brucellosis prevention is public awareness. Endemic areas demonstrated a high lack of knowledge and understanding of the disease and it's causes. To combat this, the One Health concept has been proposed. One Health is a method for combining disciplines such as Public Health, Veterinary services, and microbiologists to bring awareness to the disease. However, the implementation of this method faces many challenges including economical, political, and social barriers.

Treatment
Antibiotics such as tetracyclines, rifampicin, and the aminoglycosides streptomycin and gentamicin are effective against Brucella bacteria. However, the use of more than one antibiotic is needed for several weeks, because the bacteria incubate within cells.

The gold standard treatment for adults is daily intramuscular injections of streptomycin 1 g for 14 days and oral doxycycline 100 mg twice daily for 45 days (concurrently). Gentamicin 5 mg/kg by intramuscular injection once daily for 7 days is an acceptable substitute when streptomycin is not available or contraindicated. Another widely used regimen is doxycycline plus rifampicin twice daily for at least 6 weeks. This regimen has the advantage of oral administration. A triple therapy of doxycycline, with rifampicin and co-trimoxazole, has been used successfully to treat neurobrucellosis. Doxycycline plus streptomycin regimen (for 2 to 3 weeks) is more effective than doxycycline plus rifampicin regimen (for 6 weeks).

Doxycycline is able to cross the blood–brain barrier, but requires the addition of two other drugs to prevent relapse. Ciprofloxacin and co-trimoxazole therapy is associated with an unacceptably high rate of relapse. In brucellic endocarditis, surgery is required for an optimal outcome. Even with optimal antibrucellic therapy, relapses still occur in 5 to 10% of patients with Malta fever.

Prognosis
The mortality of the disease in 1909, as recorded in the British Army and Navy stationed in Malta, was 2%. The most frequent cause of death was endocarditis. Recent advances in antibiotics and surgery have been successful in preventing death due to endocarditis. Prevention of human brucellosis can be achieved by eradication of the disease in animals by vaccination and other veterinary control methods such as testing herds/flocks and slaughtering animals when infection is present. Currently, no effective vaccine is available for humans. Boiling milk before consumption, or before using it to produce other dairy products, is protective against transmission via ingestion. Changing traditional food habits of eating raw meat, liver, or bone marrow is necessary, but difficult to implement. Patients who have had brucellosis should probably be excluded indefinitely from donating blood or organs. Exposure of diagnostic laboratory personnel to Brucella organisms remains a problem in both endemic settings and when brucellosis is unknowingly imported by a patient. After appropriate risk assessment, staff with significant exposure should be offered postexposure prophylaxis and followed up serologically for 6 months.

Epidemiology

Argentina
According to a study published in 2002, an estimated 10–13% of farm animals were infected with Brucella species. Annual losses from the disease were calculated at around US$60 million. Since 1932, government agencies have undertaken efforts to contain the disease.  all cattle of ages 3–8 months must receive the Brucella abortus strain 19 vaccine.

Australia
Australia is free of cattle brucellosis, although it occurred in the past. Brucellosis of sheep or goats has never been reported. Brucellosis of pigs does occur. Feral pigs are the typical source of human infections.

Canada
On 19 September 1985, the Canadian government declared its cattle population brucellosis-free. Brucellosis ring testing of milk and cream, and testing of cattle to be slaughtered ended on 1 April 1999. Monitoring continues through testing at auction markets, through standard disease-reporting procedures, and through  testing of cattle being qualified for export to countries other than the United States.

China
An outbreak infecting humans took place in Lanzhou in 2019 after the Lanzhou Biopharmaceutical Plant, which was involved in vaccine production, accidentally pumped out the bacteria into the atmosphere in exhaust air due to use of expired disinfectant.

According to Georgios Pappas, an infectious-disease specialist and author of a report published in the journal Clinical Infectious Diseases, the result was "possibly the largest laboratory accident in the history of infectious diseases." According to Pappas, out of nearly 70,000 people tested, more than 10,000 were seropositive, citing figures compiled by the provincial health authorities in Lanzhou's Gansu province. Pappas also states that Chinese documents show that more than 3,000 people living near the plant applied for compensation, an indication of at least a mild illness.

Europe

Malta
Until the early 20th century, the disease was endemic in Malta to the point of it being referred to as "Maltese fever". Since 2005, due to a strict regimen of certification of milk animals and widespread use of pasteurization, the illness has been eradicated from Malta.

Republic of Ireland
Ireland was declared free of brucellosis on 1 July 2009. The disease had troubled the country's farmers and veterinarians for several decades. The Irish government submitted an application to the European Commission, which verified that Ireland had been liberated. Brendan Smith, Ireland's then Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, said the elimination of brucellosis was "a landmark in the history of disease eradication in Ireland". Ireland's Department of Agriculture, Food and the Marine intends to reduce its brucellosis eradication programme now that eradication has been confirmed.

UK
Mainland Britain has been free of brucellosis since 1979, although there have been episodic re-introductions since. The last outbreak of brucellosis in Great Britain was in cattle in Cornwall in 2004. Northern Ireland was declared officially brucellosis-free in 2015.

New Zealand
Brucellosis in New Zealand is limited to sheep (B. ovis). The country is free of all other species of Brucella.

United States
Dairy herds in the U.S. are tested at least once a year to be certified brucellosis-free with the Brucella milk ring test. Cows confirmed to be infected are often killed. In the United States, veterinarians are required  to vaccinate all young stock, to further reduce the chance of zoonotic transmission. This vaccination is usually referred to as a "calfhood" vaccination. Most cattle receive a tattoo in one of their ears, serving as proof of their vaccination status. This tattoo also includes the last digit of the year they were born.

The first state–federal cooperative efforts towards eradication of brucellosis caused by B. abortus in the U.S. began in 1934.

Brucellosis was originally imported to North America with non-native domestic cattle (Bos taurus), which transmitted the disease to wild bison (Bison bison) and elk (Cervus canadensis). No records exist of brucellosis in ungulates native to America until the early 19th century.

History

Brucellosis first came to the attention of British medical officers in the 1850s in Malta during the Crimean War, and was referred to as Malta Fever. Jeffery Allen Marston (1831–1911) described his own case of the disease in 1861. The causal relationship between organism and disease was first established in 1887 by David Bruce. Bruce considered the agent spherical and classified it as a coccus.

In 1897, Danish veterinarian Bernhard Bang isolated a bacillus as the agent of heightened spontaneous abortion in cows, and the name "Bang's disease" was assigned to this condition. Bang considered the organism rod-shaped and classified it as a bacillus. At the time no one knew that this bacillus had anything to do with the causative agent of Malta fever.

Maltese scientist and archaeologist Themistocles Zammit identified unpasteurized goat milk as the major etiologic factor of undulant fever in June 1905.

In the late 1910s, American bacteriologist Alice C. Evans was studying the Bang bacillus and gradually realized that it was virtually indistinguishable from the Bruce coccus. The short-rod versus oblong-round morphologic borderline explained the leveling of the erstwhile bacillus/coccus distinction (that is, these "two" pathogens were not a coccus versus a bacillus but rather were one coccobacillus). The Bang bacillus was already known to be enzootic in American dairy cattle, which showed itself in the regularity with which herds experienced contagious abortion. Having made the discovery that the bacteria were certainly nearly identical and perhaps totally so, Evans then wondered why Malta fever was not widely diagnosed or reported in the United States. She began to wonder whether many cases of vaguely defined febrile illnesses were in fact caused by the drinking of raw (unpasteurized) milk. During the 1920s, this hypothesis was vindicated. Such illnesses ranged from undiagnosed and untreated gastrointestinal upset to misdiagnosed febrile and painful versions, some even fatal. This advance in bacteriological science sparked extensive changes in the American dairy industry to improve food safety. The changes included making pasteurization standard and greatly tightening the standards of cleanliness in milkhouses on dairy farms. The expense prompted delay and skepticism in the industry, but the new hygiene rules eventually became the norm. Although these measures have sometimes struck people as overdone in the decades since,  being unhygienic at milking time or in the milkhouse, or drinking raw milk, are not a safe alternative.

In the decades after Evans's work, this genus, which received the name Brucella in honor of Bruce, was found to contain several species with varying virulence. The name "brucellosis" gradually replaced the 19th-century names Mediterranean fever and Malta fever.

Neurobrucellosis, a neurological involvement in brucellosis, was first described in 1879. In the late 19th century, its symptoms were described in more detail by M. Louis Hughes, a Surgeon-Captain of the Royal Army Medical Corps stationed in Malta who isolated brucella organisms from a patient with meningo-encephalitis. In 1989, neurologists in Saudi Arabia made significant contributions to the medical literature involving neurobrucellosis.

These obsolete names have previously been applied to brucellosis:

Biological warfare
Brucella species had been weaponized by several advanced countries by the mid-20th century. In 1954, B. suis became the first agent weaponized by the United States at its Pine Bluff Arsenal near Pine Bluff, Arkansas. Brucella species survive well in aerosols and resist drying. Brucella and all other remaining biological weapons in the U.S. arsenal were destroyed in 1971–72 when the American offensive biological warfare  program was discontinued by order of President Richard Nixon.

The experimental American bacteriological warfare program focused on three agents of the Brucella group:
 Porcine brucellosis (agent US)
 Bovine brucellosis (agent AA)
 Caprine brucellosis (agent AM)

Agent US was in advanced development by the end of World War II. When the United States Air Force (USAF) wanted a biological warfare capability, the Chemical Corps offered Agent US in the M114 bomblet, based on the four-pound bursting bomblet developed for spreading anthrax during World War II. Though the capability was developed, operational testing indicated the weapon was less than desirable, and the USAF designed it as an interim capability until it could eventually be replaced by a more effective biological weapon.

The main drawback of using the M114 with Agent US was that it acted mainly as an incapacitating agent, whereas the USAF administration wanted weapons that were deadly. The stability of M114 in storage was too low to allow for storing it at forward air bases, and the logistical requirements to neutralize a target were far higher than originally planned. Ultimately, this would have required too much logistical support to be practical in the field.

Agents US and AA had a median infective dose of 500 organisms/person, and for Agent AM it was 300 organisms/person. The incubation time was believed to be about 2 weeks, with a duration of infection of several months. The lethality estimate was, based on epidemiological information, 1 to 2
per cent. Agent AM was believed to be a somewhat more virulent disease, with a fatality rate of 3 per cent being expected.

Other animals
Species infecting domestic livestock are B. abortus (cattle, bison, and elk), B. canis (dogs), B. melitensis (goats and sheep), B. ovis (sheep), and B. suis (caribou and pigs). Brucella species have also been isolated from several marine mammal species (cetaceans and pinnipeds).

Cattle
B. abortus is the principal cause of brucellosis in cattle. The bacteria are shed from an infected animal at or around the time of calving or abortion. Once exposed, the likelihood of an animal becoming infected is variable, depending on age, pregnancy status, and other intrinsic factors of the animal, as well as the number of bacteria to which the animal was exposed. The most common clinical signs of cattle infected with B. abortus are high incidences of abortions, arthritic joints, and retained placenta.

The two main causes for spontaneous abortion in animals are erythritol, which can promote infections in the fetus and placenta, and the lack of anti-Brucella activity in the amniotic fluid. Males can also harbor the bacteria in their reproductive tracts, namely seminal vesicles, ampullae, testicles, and epididymises.

Dogs
The causative agent of brucellosis in dogs, B. canis, is transmitted to other dogs through breeding and contact with aborted fetuses. Brucellosis can occur in humans who come in contact with infected aborted tissue or semen. The bacteria in dogs normally infect the genitals and lymphatic system, but can also spread to the eyes, kidneys, and intervertebral discs. Brucellosis in the intervertebral disc is one possible cause of discospondylitis. Symptoms of brucellosis in dogs include abortion in female dogs and  scrotal inflammation and orchitis in males. Fever is uncommon. Infection of the eye can cause uveitis, and infection of the intervertebral disc can cause pain or weakness. Blood testing of the dogs prior to breeding can prevent the spread of this disease. It is treated with antibiotics, as with humans, but it is difficult to cure.

Aquatic wildlife
Brucellosis in cetaceans is caused by the bacterium B. ceti. First discovered in the aborted fetus of a bottlenose dolphin, the structure of B. ceti is similar to Brucella in land animals. B. ceti is commonly detected in two suborders of cetaceans, the Mysticeti and Odontoceti. The Mysticeti include four families of baleen whales, filter-feeders, and the Odontoceti include two families of toothed cetaceans ranging from dolphins to sperm whales. B. ceti is believed to transfer from animal to animal through sexual intercourse, maternal feeding, aborted fetuses, placental issues, from mother to fetus, or through fish reservoirs. Brucellosis is a reproductive disease, so has an extreme negative impact on the population dynamics of a species. This becomes a greater issue when the already low population numbers of cetaceans are taken into consideration. B. ceti has been identified in four  of the 14 cetacean families, but the antibodies have been detected in seven of the families. This indicates that B. ceti is common amongst cetacean families and populations. Only a small percentage of exposed individuals become ill or die. However, particular species apparently are more likely to become infected by B. ceti. The harbor porpoise, striped dolphin, white-sided dolphin, bottlenose dolphin, and common dolphin have the highest frequency of infection amongst odontocetes. In the mysticetes families, the northern minke whale is by far the most infected species. Dolphins and porpoises are more likely to be infected than cetaceans such as whales. With regard to sex and age biases, the infections do not seem influenced by the age or sex of an individual. Although fatal to cetaceans, B. ceti has a low infection rate for humans.

Terrestrial wildlife
The disease in its various strains can infect multiple wildlife species, including elk (Cervus canadensis), bison (Bison bison), African buffalo (Syncerus caffer), European wild boar (Sus scrofa), caribou (Rangifer tarandus), moose (Alces alces), and marine mammals (see section on aquatic wildlife above). While some regions use vaccines to prevent the spread of brucellosis between infected and uninfected wildlife populations, no suitable brucellosis vaccine for terrestrial wildlife has been developed. This gap in medicinal knowledge creates more pressure for management practices that reduce spread of the disease.

Wild bison and elk in the greater Yellowstone area are the last remaining reservoir of B. abortus in the US. The recent transmission of brucellosis from elk back to cattle in Idaho and Wyoming illustrates how the area, as the last remaining reservoir in the United States, may adversely affect the livestock industry. Eliminating brucellosis from this area is a challenge, as many viewpoints exist on how to manage diseased wildlife. However, the Wyoming Game and Fish Department has recently begun to protect scavengers (particularly coyotes and red fox) on elk feedgrounds, because they act as sustainable, no-cost, biological control agents by removing infected elk fetuses quickly.

The National Elk Refuge in Jackson, Wyoming asserts that the intensity of the winter feeding program affects the spread of brucellosis more than the population size of elk and bison. Since concentrating animals around food plots accelerates spread of the disease, management strategies to reduce herd density and increase dispersion could limit its spread.

Effects on hunters
Hunters may be at additional risk for exposure to brucellosis due to increased contact with susceptible wildlife, including predators that may have fed on infected prey. Hunting dogs can also be at risk of infection. Exposure can occur through contact with open wounds or by directly inhaling the bacteria while cleaning game. In some cases, consumption of undercooked game can result in exposure to the disease. Hunters can limit exposure while cleaning game through the use of precautionary barriers, including gloves and masks, and by washing tools rigorously after use. By ensuring that game is cooked thoroughly, hunters can protect themselves and others from ingesting the disease. Hunters should refer to local game officials and health departments to determine the risk of brucellosis exposure in their immediate area and to learn more about actions to reduce or avoid exposure.

See also
 Brucella suis

References

Further reading
 Fact sheet on Brucellosis from World Organisation for Animal Health
    Brucella genomes and related information at    PATRIC, a Bioinformatics Resource Center funded by    NIAID
 Prevention about Brucellosis from Centers for Disease Control
  – re high rate of brucellosis in humans in ancient Pompeii
 Brucellosis, factsheet from European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control

Animal bacterial diseases
Bacterium-related cutaneous conditions
Biological weapons
Bovine diseases
Dog diseases
Occupational diseases
Sheep and goat diseases
Zoonoses
Zoonotic bacterial diseases

Brucellosis


Thomas Ernest Jenkins (born 2 December 1947) is an English retired footballer. He played professionally in two continents as a winger and is now a soccer coach in the United States.

Early career
Born in Bethnal Green, Jenkins played for East London Schoolboys before joining Leyton Orient in January 1966. He only made one first-team appearance before moving on to West Ham United in December 1967. He never broke into West Ham's first-team and moved to non-league football with Margate at the end of January 1968. He remained with Margate until July 1969 when he was transferred to Reading.

Reading
In July 1969, Reading snapped him up from Margate for £500. However, Margate negotiated a condition to his transfer that Reading would pay an additional £1000 if Jenkins made ten appearances for Reading. His form was such that, after only half a season of 21 games, in December 1969, Ted Bates signed him for £60,000 for Southampton.

Southampton
He made his debut for Southampton at home to Nottingham Forest on 13 December 1969, where he took the place of long-time club servant, John Sydenham, on the left-wing. At his best, Jenkins was a high-class winger with great speed, dazzling trickery and the ability to beat several defenders in one run, but would exasperate his fans by dribbling himself into trouble rather than release the ball to a teammate. He was never a prolific goal-scorer, but one memorable moment came on 31 August 1970 at Upton Park, where his run took him past four West Ham players before shooting past Hammers' goalkeeper Peter Grotier. He never realised his full potential at Southampton and was sold to Swindon Town in November 1972, having made a total of 96 appearances for Southampton, scoring six goals.

Swindon Town
Jenkins was bought from Southampton on 1 November 1972, for a then club record of £50,000. He was signed to replace the legendary Don Rogers, but within days of signing, the man who signed him, Dave Mackay, resigned to join Nottingham Forest.

He made his debut on 11 November 1972 in a 1–1 draw at home to Huddersfield, but was injured on his debut, and was not selected by new manager Les Allen when he returned to fitness. He didn't really feature for most of the 1972–73 season, making just 14 full and 2 substitute appearances. The following season was more productive for Jenkins, making 36 league and 5 cup appearances, but Swindon were relegated to Division Three. In January 1974, he scored his best goal for the club in an FA Cup third round match away to Portsmouth, when after just four minutes he broke down the left-wing, beat two defenders before firing home a right foot shot from the edge of the area. Swindon drew this match 3–3 but were beaten in the replay.

Jenkins remained at the club for two more seasons. Overall, in his four years at Swindon, Jenkins struggled to hold down a regular first-team place – despite being described by manager Danny Williams as the most skilful player at the club. He left the club in 1976 to play in America, having made a total of 114 appearances with 5 goals.

United States
When he arrived in the United States, he signed with the Seattle Sounders, then managed by John Best, of the North American Soccer League. He remained with the Sounders through the 1979 season, but by that time his career was waning. He was constantly hampered by a nagging groin injury. In 1978, he played only five games and in 1979, he appeared only once with the first team. When it became apparent that he would no longer play for the Sounders, he became an assistant coach with the team.

In 1980 he was contracted to play with ASL expansion team the Phoenix Fire, but the team folded in pre-season.

However, in 1981 he began a three-year period of playing indoor soccer with the MISL. He began with the Pittsburgh Spirit before moving to the Phoenix Inferno.

In 1984, he became the head coach of the amateur F.C. Seattle for the F.C. Seattle Challenge '84, a series of exhibition games against NASL and national teams. He returned to F.C. Seattle, now known as the F.C. Seattle Storm for the 1988 Western Soccer League season, replacing Scotsman Jimmy Gabriel. That year, Seattle ran away with the league championship, defeating the San Jose Earthquakes 5–0. While Jenkins returned for the 1989 season, it did not go as well and he resigned at the end of the season to be replaced by Stuart Lee.

He later coached the CISL Seattle SeaDogs. Tommy was appointed as coaching director for a local girls youth club in Washington. Over the years he has coached many boys and girls youth teams. He currently resides in Washington and coaches youth soccer in Seattle, Washington.

Teammates
Jimmy Gabriel and Tommy were teammates at Southampton, Swindon Town and Seattle Sounders. They continued coaching in the Seattle area long after the NASL disbanded. Four-Four-Two, the English football magazine, had an article on the impact of the NASL imports as youth coaches in the USA.

Jenkins continues to live in the Seattle area where his son, Steve, is teammates with sons of four other former Sounders.

Memories
In Southampton the old time fans still remember Tommy in their songs:
"Tommy Jenkins on the wings, 6ft 2 eyes are blue, Jimmy Steele is after you ..."

References

External links
 Tommy Jenkins tries to replace the Swindon Town legend
 Official Swindown Town stats for Tommy Jenkins.
 Career overview from Margate site
 1976 Sounders bio
 NASL/MISL stats

1947 births
Living people
American soccer coaches
Continental Indoor Soccer League coaches
English expatriate men's footballers
English expatriate sportspeople in the United States
English men's footballers
Men's association football wingers
Leyton Orient F.C. players
Major Indoor Soccer League (1978–1992) players
Margate F.C. players
North American Soccer League (1968–1984) players
Footballers from Bethnal Green
Phoenix Inferno players
Pittsburgh Spirit players
Reading F.C. players
Seattle Sounders (1974–1983) players
Southampton F.C. players
Swindon Town F.C. players
Western Soccer Alliance coaches
West Ham United F.C. players
Phoenix Fire (soccer) players
Seattle Storm (soccer) coaches

Tommy Jenkins


Bernard C. Meltzer (May 2, 1916 – March 25, 1998) was a United States radio host for several decades. His advice call-in show, "What's Your Problem?," aired from 1967 until the mid-1990s on stations WCAU-AM and WPEN-AM in Philadelphia,  WOR-AM and WEVD-AM in New York and in national syndication on NBC Talknet.

A city planner by training, with a civil engineering degree from City College of New York and a master's degree from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania, Meltzer moved from a career as a Philadelphia expert in urban problems to a radio host on WCAU. In 1973 his show moved to WOR in New York.

Meltzer's show provided counsel on a wide range of quandaries, ranging from financial to personal: callers were as likely to ask about family crises, parenting issues and romantic problems as they were to ask about plumbing, home improvement or investment problems. Segments were often bracketed by Meltzer delivering aphorisms or reciting moralizing poetry ("What shall we do with grandma, now that she's old and gray?") in his distinctive smooth, soothing, quiet voice. His show at one time held the highest ratings among adults in his time slot. Thanks to a doctoral degree earned by correspondence from an unaccredited university, listeners usually referred to him as "Doctor Meltzer." Meltzer learned he had Parkinson's disease around 1985, continuing on WOR until a brief final stint on WEVD in the 1990s.

Among his many sayings were: "Courts are made for judges and lawyers" and, as he often sought to provide
comfort, "The good people in this world far outnumber the bad."

Meltzer, a Jewish man, chose to work Sunday, to give his Christian colleagues time off for worship.

Talk radio legend Bruce Williams said Meltzer was his inspiration to get into talk radio, after listening to him for years sitting in the car while his daughters attended Sunday School.

Bibliography
 Burke, Christine. "Radio Pioneer 'Uncle Bernie' Meltzer is dead." The New York Post, March 27, 1998. TV Plus section, p. 111.
 Graham, Ellen. New York: Wall Street Journal, June 22, 1978. P. 1. (Retrieved from Information Bank Abstracts)
 Hinckley, David. "Meltzer Still in Tune with 'Radio Family'." New York:Daily News, March 2, 1995. Television section, p. 94.
 Thomas, Robert M.  Bernard Meltzer, Dispenser Of Advice on Radio, Dies at 81, The New York Times, March 27, 1998

References

1916 births
20th-century American Jews
1998 deaths
American radio personalities
Neurological disease deaths in the United States
Deaths from Parkinson's disease
Stuyvesant High School alumni

Bernard Meltzer


Tarzan and the Lost Empire is a novel by American writer Edgar Rice Burroughs, the twelfth in his series of twenty-four books about the title character Tarzan. It was first published as a serial in Blue Book Magazine from October 1928 through February 1929; it first appeared in book form in a hardcover edition from Metropolitan Newspaper Services in September 1929. This was the first Edgar Rice Burroughs book not published by A. C. McClurg, with whom Burroughs had cut off business ties due to a dispute over royalties.

Plot
Erich von Harben, a young German specialized in archaeology and dead languages, with a passion for mountain climbing starts investigating the legend of The Lost Tribe of the Wiramwazi Mountains and disappears. His father meets and asks Tarzan for help.

Tarzan in his search for Erich von Harben finds a lost remnant of the Roman Empire hidden in the mountains of Africa. They are inhabitants of two rival cities Castra Sanguinarius, ruled by Sublatus Imperator, and Castrum Mare, ruled by Validus Augustus.

Erich von Harben was captured and brought to Castrum Mare, where he meets Mallius Lepus, who takes him to his uncle, Septimus Favonius, introducing him as a barbarian from Germany. Erich von Harben  falls in love with Favonia, the daughter of Septimus Favonius and makes an enemy of Fulvus Fupus.

Tarzan reaches Castra Sanguinarius, the city being ruled by Sublatus Imperator. Trying to get information about von Harben, Tarzan makes an enemy of the Emperor and his son Fastus. Protecting Dilecta, the daughter of Dion Splendidus, from Fastus he makes a friend out of Maximus Praeclarus, the young patrician officer who brought him to Castra Sanguinarius. Maximus hides him in his house.

Betrayed by a servant, Tarzan and Maximus Praeclarus are captured and chained in the dungeons beneath the Colosseum of Castra Sanguinarius. Here he meets Cassius Hasta, the nephew of Validus Augustus. They fight as gladiators against man and beast and win in the end. Still the emperor does not grant them their freedom. With help of Appius Applosus, a friend of Maximus they escape and lead a revolution against Sublatus with help of the slaves from the nearby villages and the Waziri, brought by Nkima. Once Sublatus is defeated, Tarzan installs Dion Splendidus as Emperor and leaves for Castrum Mare to find Erich and support Cassius Hasta in ascending to the Throne.

In the meantime Erich von Harben and Mallius Lepus were taken prisoners due to the intrigues of Fulvus Fupus. They were brought to the arena as participants to the games. Just before the games start, Gabula, a companion black slave of Erich slays Sublatus in his imperial loge and in the confusion Erich and Mallius escape and take refuge in a deserted house near the Colosseum. Favonia, abducted by few thieves is brought by chance to the same location where Erich and Mallius free her.

Cassius Hasta returns to Castrum Mare together with Tarzan and the Waziri and encounters no resistance, since without Sublatus, Cassius is the rightful ruler. Tarzan finishes this quest by meeting Erich von Harben.

This novel is notable for the introduction of Nkima, who serves as Tarzan's monkey companion in it and a number of later Tarzan stories. It also reintroduces Muviro, first seen in Tarzan and the Golden Lion, as sub-chief of Tarzan's Waziri warriors.

Comic adaptations
The book has been adapted into comic form by Gold Key Comics in Tarzan nos. 194-195, dated February–March 1971, with a script by Gaylord DuBois and art by Paul Norris and Mike Royer (Inker).

Sources

External links
Edgar Rice Burroughs Summary Project page for Tarzan and the Lost Empire

Text of the novel at Project Gutenberg Australia
Map of the Lost Empire
Link to formatted ebook version on edgar-rice-burroughs-ebooks.blogspot.de

1929 American novels
1929 fantasy novels
Novels first published in serial form
Novels set in ancient Rome
Tarzan novels by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Works originally published in Blue Book (magazine)

Tarzan and the Lost Empire


The Mexican fitbaw league seestem is the naitional fitbaw competeetion seestem in Mexico. It is organisit bi the Mexican Fitbaa Federation an consists o fower levels - it coud be argued that thare are five levels.

Liga MX (18 clubs)
Ascenso MX (14 clubs)
Segunda División de México: Liga Premier de Ascenso (28 clubs) an Liga de Nuevos Talentos (28 clubs) 56 clubs
Tercera División de México, 214 clubs (14 groups)

Liga MX
Liga MX, kent as the Primera División (First Diveesion) afore the 2012–13 saison, is the heichest level o Mexican fitbaw an consists o 18 clubs. Each calendar year is split inta twa short toornaments, the Apertura (Openin) an the Clausura (Closin). In each short toornament a club plays the ither 17 clubs ance. The hame team switches, dependin on the current short toornament.

A new champion is crouned for each short toornament throu a playaff seestem consistin o aicht teams. The top aicht clubs qualifee tae the playaffs. The clubs are arrangit afore each roond so that the heichest seeded team remainin aye plays the lawest seed remainin. The clubs play in a twa-leggit tee, wi ane match occurrin at each club's hame grund, an whichiver club haes the better aggregate score advances. If the twa clubs are tee'd efter baith legs in the quairterfeenals an semifeenals, the heicher seed advances automatically. In the feenals, if the twa clubs are tee'd efter baith legs twa 15 minute halves o extra time are addit. If the clubs are still tee'd efter extra time the champion is determined bi kicks frae the penalty mark.

Ane club is relegatit tae Ascenso MX each year (twa short toornaments). Tae determine the club tae be relegatit, the ratio o points tae gemmes is kept for each team. The club that haes the worst points tae gemmes ratio ower the previous three years (sax short toornaments) is relegatit tae Ascenso MX.

International competeetions
The champions an runners-up o the Apertura an Clausura toornaments earn a spot in the CONCACAF Champions League. In addeetion, clubs o Liga MX are inivitit tae pairticipate in CONMEBOL's club toornament, Copa Libertadores. Atween 2005 an 2008, 2 Mexican teams wur invitit tae pairticipate in the Copa Sudamericana.
Beginnin in Apertura 2014, twa Mexican clubs that qualifee tae the Copa Libertadores are the best eligible teams in Apertura toornament no pairticipatin in the CONCACAF Champions League an ane Mexican club that qualifee tae the Copa Libertadores are the champions o SuperCopa MX.
Mexico 1 an 2 enter directly tae the Seicont Stage o the Copa Libertadores while Mexico 3 hae tae play the First Stage.

Weemen's Fitbaa League (Liga Mexicana de Fútbol Femenil)
Established in 2007, the weemen's league consists o twa levels – the top diveesion Super Liga an the lawer diveesion Liga Premier.  As o Apertura 2012, thare wur 19 clubs pairticipatin in the Super Liga an 11 clubs in Liga Premier.

See an aw
 Fitbaa in Mexico

Freemit airtins
Offeecial wabsteid o Liga MX and Ascenso MX
Offeecial wabsteid o Segunda División de México
Offeecial wabsteid o Tercera División de México
Offeecial wabsteid o Liga Mexicana de Fútbol Femenil

Fitbaw league seestems

Mexican fitbaw league seestem


Ray Kinney (September 26, 1900 – February 1, 1972) was a Hawaiian-born singer, musician, composer, orchestra leader, and performer on radio, stage and screen.

Early years
Kinney was born in Hilo, Hawaii, to Irish-Hawaiian parents William & Pilialoha Kinney. At age 15 he and his six brothers were sent to school in Salt Lake City, Utah.

Career
Already skilled on the ukulele and with a fine tenor voice, Ray and his brothers formed their own band while still in school and began touring the western US. He returned to Hawaii in 1920 upon the death of his mother.

In 1925 Ray was cast as the lead in the Island opera "Prince of Hawaii" by noted Hawaiian composer Charles E. King. The show began touring in California in 1926.

In 1928 bandleader Johnny Noble chose Kinney among others to appear on his radio show. The show originated from station KPO in San Francisco and was basically an hour long promotion for Hawaiian tourism. Later that year Brunswick Records signed Noble, with Kinney as one of the singers, to a contract that resulted in 110 singles being issued. Those 78s and the show helped introduce and popularize Hawaiian music in the US mainland and lead to a national tour and then an 11-month engagement at the Palace Hotel in San Francisco..

While working in a Taro factory in 1934, Kinney was approached by bandleader Harry Owens to join his orchestra for their opening at the Royal Hawaiian Hotel.

Ray appeared on the premiere broadcast of Webley Edwards' "Hawaii Calls" radio show from the Moana Hotel in July 1935. He regularly appeared on the show for a number of years.

Decca Records signed Johnny Noble and His Orchestra, with Kinney as vocalist, to a contract in 1936. The "phenomenal" sales results kept them under contract for four years.

Kinney became the first Hawaiian entertainer to be in a major Broadway production when he and the "Aloha Maids" were cast in the Olsen and Johnson Broadway revue "Hellzapoppin'" in September 1938. The show lasted 1,404 performances and ran until December 1941. 1938 also saw Kinney beat out the likes of Rudy Vallée and Guy Lombardo in a New York popularity poll of American singers as well as begin a four-year stint in the "Hawaiian Room" of New York's Hotel Lexington leading his own orchestra.

Alfred Apaka was hired by Kinney in 1940 as his vocalist at the "Hawaiian Room" and was featured on several Kinney recordings.

Kinney's 1941 musical short "Ana Lani" is frequently mixed up with the 1947 "Hawaiian Hula Song".

During the war years, Kinney toured 157 military bases and clubs becoming a favorite of Hawaii's 442nd Regiment.

The end of the war saw Kinney return to Hawaii and join Don McDiarmid's Orchestra performing at the Kewalo Inn as vocalist and bass fiddle player.

In 1949, Kinney discovered Eddie Kamae and took him on tour and finally, in 1959, adding Kamae to the "Royal Hawaiian Hotel Orchestra".

Kinney also composed many songs during his career including "Across the Sea", "Not Pau", "Hawaiian Hospitality", "Maile Lau Li'ili'i", "Island Serenade", "Kalapaki Bay", "Ululani", and "Leimana."

Ray signed his last recording contract at age 65, with RCA, noting it was "somewhat of a miracle" that his recording career had lasted nearly forty years and almost 600 songs.

Personal life
Kinney married Dawn Holt, and they had five children, daughters Leimana, Meymo, Raylani and sons Rankin, and Rayner.

Death
Ray Kinney died on February 1, 1972, in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Awards and recognition
2002 Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame Honoree

References

External links
Ray Kinney Hawaiian Musician and Entertainer
Hawaiian Music Hall of Fame
Discogs

 Ray Kinney recordings at the Discography of American Historical Recordings.

1900 births
1972 deaths
People from Hilo, Hawaii
American people of Irish descent
Musicians from Hawaii
Male actors from Hawaii
Hawaiian ukulele players
American bandleaders
American male composers
Decca Records artists
RCA Victor artists
20th-century American male actors
20th-century American composers
20th-century American male musicians

Ray Kinney


The National Audit Office (NAO) is an independent Parliamentary body in the United Kingdom which is responsible for auditing central government departments, government agencies and non-departmental public bodies. The NAO also carries out value for money (VFM) audits into the administration of public policy.

Function
The NAO is the auditor of bodies funded directly by the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

The NAO reports to the Comptroller and Auditor General who is an officer of the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom and in turn reports to the Public Accounts Commission, a statutory body established under section 2 of the National Audit Act 1983. The reports produced by the NAO are reviewed by the Public Accounts Committee, a select committee of the House of Commons, and in some cases investigated further.

The NAO has two main streams of work: Financial Audits and Value For Money (VFM) audits.

The NAO's financial audits give assurance over three aspects of government expenditure: the truth and fairness of financial statements; the regularity (or statutory validity) of the expenditure, and; the propriety of the audited body's conduct in accordance with parliamentary, statutory and public expectations. Financial audits are carried out in much the same way as private auditing bodies and the NAO voluntarily applies the International Standards on Auditing (ISAs). The NAO is subject to inspection by the Audit Quality Review team of the Financial Reporting Council.

Value for Money (VFM) audits are non-financial audits to measure the effectiveness, economy and efficiency of government spending. Roughly sixty of these reports are produced each year, the most notable from recent years being the reports on MRSA, which led to an increase in public interest in the topic, the report on the rescue of British Energy and the report in the Public Private Partnership to maintain the London Underground. The remits of the NAO and the Public Accounts Committee do not allow them to question the policy itself and so VFM reports only examine the implementation of policy. The responsibility for questioning policy is left for other select committees and debating chambers of Parliament, but this has not prevented the PAC being named committee of the year in 2006.

"Good Governance", an output somewhere between financial and VFM audits, was previously a strand of NAO work, but is no longer a focus of activity. The NAO does, however, publish best practice guidance for public sector organisations. An example includes the fact sheet on governance statements. In addition, the NAO undertakes fast-paced and more narrowly focused work called investigations.

The NAO received new powers under the Local Audit and Accountability Act 2014 to provide an end-to-end view of policy implementation, and produce reports aimed at the local government sector.

The Comptroller Function
The Comptroller Function is administered by the Exchequer Section within the NAO.

Its work centres on recording all transactions to and from the Consolidated and National Loans funds. Money cannot be paid from either of these without the C&AG's prior approval. This approval is granted every banking day through a mechanism known as 'the credit'. The Exchequer Section is also responsible for agreeing payments from the Consolidated Fund directly to certain bodies, including the King (through the civil list) and judicial salaries.

Parliamentary links

The NAO produces a number of briefings for select committees, but its key audience is the Public Accounts Committee. It also has a strong relationship with the Public Accounts Commission that oversees the work of the NAO and approves its budgets.

Public Accounts Committee
The NAO and Public Accounts Committee (PAC) form the key links of the Public Audit Circle which has the following sequence:
The NAO performs financial and VFM audits and makes its reports public
The PAC has hearings based on NAO reports wherein failures in meeting regularity or propriety requirements are apparent.
The PAC provides a report with recommendations based on PAC hearings.
The Government responds to the PAC report in a Treasury Minute.
The NAO publishes a reply to the minute and there may be an NAO/PAC follow-up study.

Public Accounts Commission
The Public Accounts Commission (TPAC) annually approves the NAO's corporate plans and budgets. It also receives value for money reports on the operation of the NAO. These are written by private sector audit firms in much the same manner as the NAO reports on Central Government.

International Work
The National Audit Office is a member of the International Organisation of Supreme Audit Institutions (INTOSAI). The NAO shares knowledge and experience with other Supreme Audit Institutions (SAIs) around the world and undertakes the audit of some international bodies. For example, between 2010 and 2016 the C&AG was one of three members of the United Nations Board of Auditors, responsible for auditing the United Nations itself, including peacekeeping operations and related organisations such as UNICEF and the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

History
The earliest known mention of a public official responsible for auditing government expenditure is a reference made in 1314 to the Auditor of the Exchequer.

Auditors of the Imprest (1559–1785)

In 1559 an office was set up, with responsibility for auditing Exchequer payments, called the Auditors of the Imprest.

Commission for Auditing the Public Accounts (1785–1866)

In 1785 a Commission for Auditing the Public Accounts was established by statute (the former arrangement having fallen into abeyance). Its members, the Commissioners of Audit, were five in number (increased to ten in 1806). The Commissioners worked closely with the Comptroller of the Exchequer (who was charged with controlling the issue of funds to the government) following the establishment of that office in 1834.

Exchequer and Audit Department (1867–1984)

Under the terms of the Exchequer and Audit Departments Act 1866, the offices of the Comptroller of the Exchequer and the Commissioners of Audit were merged and their duties vested in a new official: the Comptroller and Auditor General (formally the Comptroller General of the Receipt and Issue of Her Majesty's Exchequer and Auditor General of Public Accounts).

National Audit Office (1984–present)
The NAO developed from the former Exchequer and Audit Department (founded in 1866) in 1983 as the auditor for central government (including most of the externalised agencies and public bodies) as part of an "appropriate mechanism" to check and reinforce departmental balance and matching of quantitative allocation with qualitative purpose (as set out by public policy). The existence and work of the NAO are underpinned by three fundamental principles of public audit:

Independence of auditors from the audited (executives and Parliament)
Auditing for: regularity, propriety and VFM (value for money)
Public reporting that enables democratic and managerial accountability

The basic need for the NAO arises from these three fundamental principles, in that, as Parliament votes on public expenditure of various activities by public bodies, they need auditors that are independent of the body in question, the government and/or opposing political parties; while auditing for compliance and legal spending by departments on the activities voted for by Parliament, in a transparent and public forum.

Structure
The NAO is based in London and Newcastle and has a staff of 800. Part of the NAO's London Office is a listed building, originally built for Imperial Airways as their "Empire Terminal". The building underwent a £60m restoration and refurbishment, completed in 2009. The NAO rents part of its offices to tenants, generating income of £1.1m in 2019–20. The building is a modern, open plan office and the refurbishment enabled the NAO to introduce many environmentally friendly features, such as rain-water harvesting.

The NAO is structured into Directorates, each with a responsibility for a government department (for instance, the Home Office or Department for Culture, Media and Sport). Each Directorate contains 20–30 staff, many of whom are qualified accountants or in training for qualification with the Institute of Chartered Accountants in England and Wales (ICAEW). Within Directorates, staff will be split between Financial Audit and Value for Money work and include staff of the following grades:

Analyst: Junior researcher on a value for money engagement;
Assistant Auditors: auditors employed on a three-year training contract, leading to a qualification with the ICAEW;
Auditors: auditors that have completed their ICAEW exams but have not yet obtained the full qualification;
Senior analyst: Oversees value for money studies;
Audit Principals: senior auditors, with responsibility for leading a financial audit engagement;
Audit Managers (Civil Service equivalent Grade 7): oversee a portfolio of audit engagements or a value for money studies;
Director: (Civil Service equivalent Grade 5/SCS 1): responsibility for a directorate.

Above director grade, Directors General have responsibility for specific cross NAO functions (such as Audit Practice and Quality, and Finance and Commerce) and Executive Leaders (previously Assistant Auditors General) support the Board.

The NAO has finance, human resource and ICT functions to support its operations.

Governance
Following the controversy over a previous C&AG's expenses (see Criticisms) the governance arrangements of the NAO were overhauled and a Board was put in place to oversee the running of the organisation. The Board is made up of

Non-executive chairman – Fiona Reynolds
Comptroller and Auditor General – Gareth Davies
Chief operating officer responsible for the day-to-day running of the NAO – Michael Whitehouse
Three other Executive Directors
Four non-Executive Directors

Criticisms
Some of the criticisms that have been levelled at the NAO include the following:
Strategic nature of reports: the NAO produces a wide range of reports on all aspects of central government expenditure, but many of these deal with marginal topics like government leaflets, countryside rights of way and railway stations. David Walker of The Guardian argues that the NAO does not and cannot examine major strategic issues such as the underlying principles of the Private Finance Initiative.
Treatment of value for money in reports: the NAO uses a broad brush definition of 'value for money' to plan and carry out its reports. The reports do not focus purely on detailed financial analysis of whether or not a particular scheme or initiative is value for money. Instead, they include qualitative analysis of costs and benefits to give a more comprehensive assessment. In 2005, an NAO report on NHS Local Investment Finance Trust (LIFT) was criticised by one of the PAC members at the time, Jon Trickett, for its focus on qualitative analysis of the benefits of LIFT schemes and the paucity of its financial analysis.
Expenses: in May 2007, Private Eye released information obtained under the Freedom of Information Act detailing the travel expenses of the then head of the NAO, Sir John Bourn. The Daily Telegraph subsequently reported that Bourn spent £365,000 for travel and £27,000 in restaurant bills over three years, as well as a potential conflict of interest by accepting hospitality from BAE Systems. After initially rebuffing criticisms of these issues, in October 2007 Sir John Bourn announced that he would step down in January 2008.
The NAO was accused of hampering a police investigation into the Al Yamamah deal by several MPs in July 2006.

See also
Whole of Government Accounts
Other "Supreme audit institutions" (for a full list, see International Organization of Supreme Audit Institutions):
There are several other public sector auditing bodies in the United Kingdom:
Wales Audit Office
Audit Scotland

References

Citations

Sources

 Audit, Accountability and Government White & Hollingsworth, Oxford University Press (1999)

External links

Public bodies and task forces of the United Kingdom government
Government agencies established in 1983
United Kingdom
Parliament of the United Kingdom
1983 establishments in the United Kingdom
Grade II listed buildings in the City of Westminster
Auditing in the United Kingdom
Supreme audit institutions

National Audit Office (United Kingdom)


Max Kenworthy (born in West Yorkshire, England) has performed recitals throughout the United Kingdom, Australia and New Zealand and has undertaken recordings, broadcasts and tours in pipe organ, piano and conducting.

Max began playing jazz piano at school and has played with numerous ensembles in a variety of styles. After a prolonged absence from the jazz scene, Max decided to rekindle his interest in playing jazz music by forming his own trio – The Jazz-Tempered Trio – which is currently working on The Jazz-Tempered Clavier Project, a jazz interpretation of J.S. Bach's Well-Tempered Clavier.

Now based in New Zealand, Max arrived in October 2002 to take up the position of assistant organist at Saint Paul's Cathedral, Wellington. Since then he has given solo recitals around the country and has also performed with the New Zealand Symphony Orchestra and the Wellington Sinfonia, The Tudor Consort, the Orpheus Choir of Wellington, the Royal New Zealand Air Force Band and NZ's premiere contemporary music ensemble, Stroma. In addition to his performing, Max has frequently conducted not only the cathedral's four choirs, but also Wellington based chamber choir Cantoris. He is featured on the CD "Favourite Hymns; Cathedral Classics" and recorded his first solo organ disk Organum Maximum in 2006. Max began his musical career as a chorister at St. Paul's Cathedral, London. He started learning the organ at Bradford Grammar School before a year as Organ Scholar at Rochester Cathedral where he studied with Roger Sayer. Max then won an organ scholarship to Brasenose College, Oxford, studying with David Goode.

After leaving Oxford Max was appointed assistant organist at Hampstead Parish Church and subsequently organist at St. Mary's Church, Barnes, London. He continued to study organ with Jeremy Filsell while also teaching piano and organ at The London Oratory School and Latymer Upper School. He is still much in demand as a teacher, and currently tutors at Queen Margaret's College and St Mark's School in Wellington.

Max has recently given organ recitals at Wanganui Collegiate School, the Anglican cathedrals in Napier and Dunedin, and St. Andrew's Cathedral, Sydney.

References

External links
 https://web.archive.org/web/20060629045421/http://www.jazztemperedtrio.org.nz/

Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
English classical organists
British male organists
Alumni of Brasenose College, Oxford
Cathedral organists
People educated at Bradford Grammar School
21st-century organists
21st-century British male musicians
Male classical organists

Max Kenworthy


The Dunfermline Carnegie Library opened in Dunfermline, Scotland, on 29 August 1883 and was the world's first Carnegie Library funded by the Scottish-American businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. It was designed by Edinburgh architect James Campbell Walker who also designed the nearby Dunfermline City Chambers. Andrew Carnegie donated £8000 to building and stocking what would be the first of over 2,500 Carnegie Libraries. The library was made a Category B listed building in 1971.

History

In 1879, Andrew Carnegie put plans in place to fund a new library for his birthplace, Dunfermline, Scotland. Building plans were prepared by James Campbell Walker in 1880, and on 27 July 1881 the foundation stone was laid by Carnegie's mother, Margaret Carnegie.

The opening of the library in 1883 was regarded as the most significant local event of the year and a public holiday was declared. The facilities included a library room, ladies' and gentlemen's reading rooms, a recreation room, a smoking room, and a flat for the librarian. The first librarian was Alexander Peebles, an Edinburgh bookbinder who was selected for the role from 250 applicants. The library proved to be a success however it was soon found to be too small, and the layout was unsuitable. To address these problems the newly formed Carnegie Dunfermline Trust took joint control of the library with the town council, and in 1904 began an extension, designed by James Shearer, which would more than doubled the size of the original building. As a result of the First World War the extension was not completed until 1922. After the extension was completed, full control of the library returned to the town council, with the Dunfermline Carnegie Trust contributing £400 a year to the library until 1958.

Another extension was added to the south of the building and was opened on 2 March 1993 which provided the library with new meeting and exhibition rooms, children and music libraries and a local history room.

In November 2017, the library was awarded the RIAS Andrew Doolan Best Building in Scotland Award.

Archaeology

An archaeology dig called Dig Dunfermline took place over six weeks in August and September 2013 on the site of what is now Dunfermline's new museum and art gallery which connects to the library. There were several finds including a tile from a smokeless stove possibly from the 16th century, the foundations of a medieval building and leather fragments.

Museum and art gallery

In spring 2014, the Dunfermline Carnegie Library was closed as part of the museum and art gallery project. The project was planned to take place over two years and cost £10.8 million with the library reopening in summer 2016. This was extended to spring 2017 and the cost rose to £12.4 million. It was designed by Scottish architect Richard Murphy and includes a museum spanning over two floors, a local studies centre, three exhibition galleries, a children's library and a cafe. The museum and art gallery opened on 18 May 2017.

See also
Andrew Carnegie
Carnegie Library
Dunfermline
List of Carnegie libraries in Europe
List of listed buildings in Dunfermline, Fife

References

Carnegie libraries in Scotland
Library buildings completed in 1883
Public libraries in Scotland
Category B listed buildings in Fife
Listed library buildings in Scotland
1883 establishments in Scotland
Museums established in 2017
Libraries established in 1883
Museums in Dunfermline
Buildings and structures in Dunfermline

Dunfermline Carnegie Library


Dobrich () is a city in  northeastern Bulgaria and is the capital of Dobrich Province. It is the ninth-largest city by population of the country. In 2019, 83,584 people lived here.

The city is 30 km west of the Black Sea coast, not far from resorts such as Albena, Balchik and Golden Sands.

Cities in Bulgaria

Dobrich


KLVJ (102.1 MHz, "K-Love" is a non-commercial educational FM radio station licensed to Encinitas, California and serving San Diego County. The station is owned by Educational Media Foundation and broadcasts a contemporary Christian music format as an affiliate of the K-Love network. KLVJ (then KPRI)'s studios were previously located in the Sorrento Valley district in north San Diego. Prior to 2015, the station, holding the KPRI call letters, was locally owned by Compass Radio Group and broadcast an adult album alternative format. On September 28, it was announced that Compass sold KPRI to EMF; the station began carrying K-Love programming the same day.

History
The station was first licensed to Oceanside, California as KXST; the city of license later changed to Encinitas.

KPRI - 'Capri-by-the-Sea'
When it first went on the air in the 1950s at 106.5 FM, the station billed itself as "KPRI: Capri-by-the-Sea", a middle of the road and jazz station with studios on 5th Avenue in San Diego. This early version of KPRI featured popular DJs like Rod Page and George Manning. KPRI continued with its MOR format, supplemented by a progressive rock show hosted by pioneering underground disc jockey Steve Brown (under the name "OB Jetty"). Finally, in May 1968, KPRI switched to a full-time progressive rock format. The lineup included Gabriel Wisdom, Fred Nurk, Dana Jones, and Joe Chandler. Peter Franklin (with British accent) was an early program director. Later additions to the air staff included Jerry Lubin, Adrian Bolt, The Kapusta Kid, Barrance Q Zakar, and Larry Himmel. Jim Lanter (known on-air as "Jim LaFawn") was the program director from 1971 to 1973; he later worked at KLOS in Los Angeles. In the early 1970s, Gerry Gazlay was the station's news director. Larry Shushan owned the station until 1971, when he sold it to Southwestern Broadcasting.

In 1973, KPRI hired Michael Harrison as PD. He installed a more mainstream album oriented rock format which influenced many other stations around the country. That same year, Gazley left KPRI to become a newscaster for competitor KGB-AM-FM; Gabriel Wisdom, Larry Himmel, and Barrance Q Zakar eventually followed him. KPRI and KGB-FM and battled for ratings supremacy throughout the 1970s and into the 1980s. Ultimately, KPRI lost the ratings war to KGB-FM.

KPRI - 'Independent Radio'
On January 9, 1984, KPRI changed its call letters and format. The last song that the station played as KPRI was "The End" by the Doors. Since then, the 106.5 FM frequency undergone several identity changes. According to David Tanny, operator of San Diego Radio News: "The KPRI that is back is basically the station that used to be KCBQ-FM ten years ago on 105.3 until it shifted radio transmitter locations from San Diego to Oceanside's 102.1 in a complex deal swap. In 2002, the station at 102.1 picked up the KPRI call sign when that became available. It was KXST from 1996 to 2002 between those times". While operating as KXST, the station called itself "Sets-102" and its programming featured sets of two or more songs by the same artist. That format was dropped with the switch to the KPRI call letters in 2002.

KPRI's transmission emitted a city-grade signal that covered most of San Diego County, but due to the topography of the county, there were certain areas the station served better than others. San Diego's affluent North County Coastal areas received the signal without interruption, while areas in main San Diego such as Pacific Beach or La Jolla had degraded "in home" reception due to interference caused by Mount Soledad. Previous ownership had set up rebroadcasters scattered across San Diego to improve transmission of the station, but because those created as many problems as they solved, KPRI stopped using some of them in 1997. On February 13, 2008, KPRI moved its transmitter to Mount Soledad. In 2014, the owners turned down an $8 million offer to sell the station.

From 1998 through 2015, the station operated under an adult album alternative (AAA) format. Believed the only AAA station in San Diego, and one of the few stations offering the format across the entire state, KPRI became known for its eclectic playlist. KPRI held various listener appreciation concerts, hosting artists such as Adele, Ed Sheeran, Imagine Dragons, and Norah Jones, as well as sponsoring the Green Flash concert series, held at the Birch Aquarium.

KLVJ - 'K-LOVE'
On the morning of September 28, 2015, KPRI's 20 employees were told that they had been laid off, and that the station had been sold to the Educational Media Foundation. At 5PM, after playing Bob Dylan's "Forever Young" as its final song, KPRI flipped to contemporary Christian music from EMF's K-Love network. Owner Hughes explained that KPRI had been a "true labor of love". He stated, "I thank each and every one who has helped us create and sustain a truly amazing radio station." Hughes had noted that the independent ownership had made KPRI difficult to operate profitably, as other stations in the market are owned by conglomerates in clusters of multiple stations each, and enjoy financial synergies as a result of their scale.

The sale to EMF, reportedly valued at $12 million, was subject to approval by the FCC, and was consummated on January 15, 2016. KPRI is EMF's third and largest station in the greater San Diego area, behind KKLJ Julian (which also airs K-Love) and KYDO Campo (which airs sister network Air1).

On October 27, 2015, KPRI changed callsigns to KLVJ.

References

External links

Radio stations established in 1962
LVJ (FM)
K-Love radio stations
1962 establishments in California
Educational Media Foundation radio stations

KLVJ (FM)


On February 15, 2003, there was a day of protests across the world. The protests were to express people's opposition to the imminent invasion of Iraq. They were held in more than 600 cities. It was part of a series of protests and political events that had begun in 2002 and continued as the war took place. Social movement researchers have described the 15 February protest as "the largest protest event in human history."

Sources vary in their estimations of the number of participants involved. According to BBC News, between six and eleven million people took part in protests in up to sixty countries over the weekend of the 15th and 16th. Other estimates range from eight million to thirty million.

Some of the largest protests took place in Europe. The protest in Rome involved around three million people, and is listed in the 2004 Guinness Book of World Records as the largest anti-war rally in history. Madrid hosted the second largest rally with more than 1.5 million people protesting the invasion of Iraq; Mainland China was the only major region not to see any protests on that day, but small demonstrations, attended mainly by foreign students, were seen later.

References

2003
Iraq War
21st-century protests

15 February 2003 anti-war protests


In gardening, a spade is a tool for digging. It is similar to a shovel. It has a straight handle, usually of wood and a blade, usually of steel.

For some purposes the difference between a spade and a shovel is important. For example, spade more easily digs in hard soil; a shovel more easily moves gravel.

In card games a spade is one of the four shapes or "suits" of cards.
Basic English 850 words
Gardening tools

Spade


Given a number of characters of an alphabet,  a character encoding is a function that will map each character to a number. This number must be unique and is called code point. In this context, a character is the minimal unit of text that has a semantic value: In alphabets that use letters, this is usually a letter. Early systems, like the telegraph only have a part of all the letters possible. They have only uppercase letters, numbers, and a few extra characters (punctuation, spacing, newline..). The flag alphabet ships use is even more restricted.

Encodings

Character encoding


Anita Darian (April 26, 1927 – February 1, 2015) was an American singer and actress who had an extensive career from the 1950s to the 2010s.

A soprano, Darian performed roles with the New York City Opera and was a featured soloist with the New York Philharmonic. She also performed and recorded several roles from musicals, including Julie in a studio recording version of Show Boat for Columbia Masterworks in 1962 with John Raitt, Barbara Cook, and William Warfield.  She portrayed Lady Thiang in the 1960 revival of The King and I at New York City Center with Barbara Cook as Anna and Farley Granger as the King. She made a number of classical recordings with various contemporary composers as well as solo albums for Fidelio Records and Kapp Records.

She was born Anita Margaret Esgandarian in Detroit, Michigan, of Iranian Armenian descent. She was a 1945 graduate of Cooley High School. She later studied opera at the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia and the Juilliard School in New York, but first came to popular attention as a featured singer with the short-lived Sauter-Finegan jazz band of the mid-1950s, with whom she recorded for RCA Victor.

She settled in New York City and worked in everything from opera and classical recitals to television jingles and cartoon voice-overs. She appeared in several television productions of musicals and operas from the 1950s to the 1970s.

Darian also sang the female soprano portion on The Tokens' 1961 #1 hit "The Lion Sleeps Tonight". Her high counterpoint to the lead and backup singers was an astounding merging of her operatic training.

As late as 2012, she was featured in concerts honoring the Great American Songbook.

Darian died on February 1, 2015, aged 87, at South Nassau Communities Hospital in Oceanside, New York, due to surgical complications.

References

External links

American musical theatre actresses
American operatic sopranos
American people of Armenian descent
Curtis Institute of Music alumni
Juilliard School alumni
1927 births
2015 deaths
Singers from Detroit
Classical musicians from Michigan
Cooley High School alumni
21st-century American women

Anita Darian


1-Pentanol, (or n-pentanol, pentan-1-ol), is an alcohol with five carbon atoms and the molecular formula C5H11OH. 1-Pentanol is a colourless liquid with a distinctive aroma. It is the straight-chain form of amyl alcohol, one of 8 isomers with that formula.

The hydroxyl group (OH) is the active site of many reactions. The ester formed from 1-pentanol and butyric acid is pentyl butyrate, which smells like apricot. The ester formed from 1-pentanol and acetic acid is amyl acetate (also called pentyl acetate), which smells like banana.

In 2014, a study was conducted comparing the performance of diesel fuel blends with various proportions of pentanol as an additive. While gaseous emissions increased with higher concentrations of pentanol, particulate emissions decreased.

Pentanol can be used as a solvent for coating CDs and DVDs.

Pentanol can be prepared by fractional distillation of fusel oil. To reduce the use of fossil fuels, research is underway to develop cost-effective methods of producing (chemically identical) bio-pentanol with fermentation.

References

Alkanols
Primary alcohols
GABAA receptor positive allosteric modulators
Sedatives
Hypnotics

1-Pentanol


Program Design Language (or PDL, for short) is a method for designing and documenting methods and procedures in software. It is related to pseudocode, but unlike pseudocode, it is written in plain language without any terms that could suggest the use of any programming language or library.

PDL was originally developed by the company Caine, Farber & Gordon and has been modified substantially since they published their initial paper on it in 1975. It has been described in some detail by Steve McConnell in his book Code Complete.

See also
Pseudocode
FLOW CHART

External links
Using PDL for Code Design and Documentation
PDL/81 Home Page by Caine, Farber & Gordon, Inc.
C STYLE GUIDE from Goddard Space Flight Center, National Aeronautics and Space Administration.

Algorithm description languages

Program Design Language


News-Press NOW is a 24-hour local cable news and weather channel based in St. Joseph, Missouri and serves Buchanan, Nodaway, and Andrew counties. Owned by News-Press & Gazette Company, the channel is based out of the company's corporate headquarters on Edmond Street in downtown Saint Joseph.

News-Press NOW is one of a handful of flagship properties owned by News-Press & Gazette Company, which also publishes the St. Joseph News-Press and owns local Fox affiliate KNPN-LD, NBC affiliate KNPG-LD, and CBS affiliate KCJO-LD, all four of which also share offices with the channel at News-Press & Gazette's Edmond Street headquarters. It is carried on Suddenlink cable channel 3 and in high definition on digital channel 103 throughout the St. Joseph metropolitan area (including the communities of Maryville, Savannah, Country Club, and Agency). Since June 2, 2012, it is also rebroadcast as a digital subchannel of KNPN-LD, broadcasting over-the-air on UHF channel 26.3 in 16:9 standard definition widescreen.

History
Originally launched as St. Joe NOW in January 2006, News-Press 3 NOW was sold by News-Press & Gazette Company in April 2011, as part of the sale of NPG Cable, Inc., the company's cable television division that operated cable systems in Missouri, Arizona and California, to Suddenlink Communications for $350 million. On March 5, 2012, News-Press & Gazette Company announced that it would re-acquire ownership of News-Press 3 NOW from Suddenlink; the purchase includes production equipment and other resources. All twelve employees were retained in the sale, which closed on May 1, 2012.

With the repurchase of the channel and the launch of KNPN-LD, News-Press 3 NOW became News-Press NOW. The channel's format changed from a cable-only service that offered a mix of live newscasts and news rebroadcasts exclusive to the channel to one that simulcasts and re-airs KNPN-LD's, KNPG-LD's and KCJO-LD's weekday morning, noon and nightly newscasts, along with a simulcast of the Storm Tracker weather radar during overnight and weekend daytime hours.

See also
Channel 3 branded TV stations in the United States

References

External links
St. Joseph News-Press / News-Press NOW Homepage

Television stations in Missouri
24-hour television news channels in the United States
Television stations in St. Joseph, Missouri
News-Press & Gazette Company
2006 establishments in Missouri

News-Press NOW


Mud bogging (sometimes called mud racing, mud running, mud drags, or mudding) is a type of off-road motorsport. It is popular in Canada and the United States. The goal of mud bogging is to drive a vehicle through a pit of mud.  Winners are decided by the distance they get through the pit.  However, if several vehicles are able to travel the entire length, the time taken to go through the pit will decide the winner. Usually, vehicles competing in mud bogs are four-wheel drives. The motor sport is managed by groups like the American Mud Racing Association.  and the National Mud Racing Organization (NMRO).

References

Motor sports

Mud bogging


Not This August, also known as Christmas Eve, is a Hugo Award shortlisted science fiction novel by Cyril M. Kornbluth. It was originally published in 1955 by Doubleday. It was serialized in Maclean's magazine (Canada) in May and June 1955. A revised edition with a new foreword and afterword by Frederik Pohl was published in 1981 by Tor Books, . The title comes from author Ernest Hemingway's "Notes on the Next War".

Plot summary
By 1965, the United States and Canada have been at war with the Soviet Union and Chinese People's Republic for three years. Both sides' atomic weapons are ineffective as surface-to-air missiles shoot down any bombers or guided missiles, so ground forces have done most of the fighting. The Communist nations—whose armies greatly outnumber the North Americans—conquered Western Europe, invaded South America, and are moving toward Texas. All American males are required to either perform agricultural work to feed the armed forces or be drafted into military, construction, or factory service. Food, electricity, and gasoline are rationed, only two CONELRAD stations broadcast on radio, and New York City is reportedly under martial law.

Billy Justin, a 37-year-old commercial artist and Korean War veteran, is working as a dairy farmer in Chiunga County, New York when the radio announces that Soviet and Chinese forces have overrun the Canadian-American line at El Paso, Texas. The last American naval forces were destroyed three months earlier but the news had been kept secret. In New Mexico, the Communist armies capture the Los Alamos National Laboratory and destroy the incomplete Yankee Doodle, a satellite capable of dropping hydrogen bombs from orbit that are impossible to shoot down.

The President of the United States surrenders to the Communists, who over the next several months divide the country at the Mississippi River, and together form the North American People's Democratic Republic. Other than a military garrison, a formal disarmament, searches for fissionable material, and the establishment of production quotas for food, the surrender of the United States leaves Chiunga Center largely untouched. The Soviets execute the Communist fifth column members who had secretly aided the invasion to prevent them from organizing against the new government, but are otherwise relatively peaceful and amenable to the black market.

A paraplegic comes to Justin's farm asking for work; he is General Hollerith, a veteran of the previous war. He and Justin join a conspiracy to finish the real satellite, a crewed space station buried in Chiunga County that the United States had been building for 15 years. It requires parts and engineering knowledge to launch. MVD troops arrive, shoot the corrupt Soviet soldiers, and are much more cruel. They capture, to Justin's knowledge, all of the conspirators but himself and the general.

Justin deduces that the contacts he needs to make are in Washington, Pennsylvania. With a traveling preacher, Sparhawk, Justin walks the hundreds of miles from Chiunga Center to Washington, benefiting from the Democratic Republic's policy of respecting the Americans' freedom of religion. At Washington Justin receives instructions from the nationwide resistance movement for an attack planned for Christmas Eve on Chiunga Center to liberate the satellite.

Despite the Soviets' arrest and torture of a local farmer, they are ignorant of what "Christmas Eve", a mild oath they have heard sworn by various citizens, means until the battle begins. Coordinated by Hollerith, bridges around the area are blown up and nearby arsenals are sabotaged. The townspeople, many of whom are veterans, battle the Soviets as the space station launches.

Hollerith's forces triumph, and the Americans transmit an ultimatum to the Soviets and Chinese: The satellite is armed and will destroy Moscow and Peking in 24 hours if occupation forces do not withdraw from American soil and free all prisoners of war. Hollerith offers Justin important positions in the new government and society, but he refuses them and kneels in prayer with Sparhawk, fearing the fulfillment of mutual assured destruction.

Reception
Galaxy reviewer Floyd C. Gale praised the novel as "believable throughout and thoroughly frightening." The Boston Herald gave a positive review and the Chicago Tribune called it "The most shockingly realistic science fiction book since Orwell's '1984'...."

See also
Face to Face with Communism
Invasion, U.S.A. (1952 film)
Invasion literature

Notes

References

External links

American science fiction novels
1955 American novels
1955 science fiction novels
Invasion literature
Novels by Cyril M. Kornbluth
Novels about communism
Novels set in New York (state)
Novels set in Pennsylvania
Doubleday (publisher) books
Maclean's
Novels set during World War III
Novels set in the 1960s
Novels set in the future

Not This August