Purpose.

The dam was built to provide flood protection and its reservoir collects the waters of the Harz flowing into the southern Harz Foreland via the River Helme and its tributaries. The reservoir lake stores water for irrigation and is used for angling and recreation. Both dam and lake are operated jointly and cooperatively by the Thuringian Long Distance Water Supply ("Thüringer Fernwasserversorgung") and the Saxony-Anhalt Dam Company ("Talsperrenbetrieb von Sachsen-Anhalt").

Dam.

The Kelbra Dam was built from 1962 to 1966 between Berga and Kelbra in the region known as the Goldene Aue between Nordhausen in the west and Sangerhausen in the east. It is located in the district of Mansfeld-Südharz (Saxony-Anhalt) on the northwestern end of the Kyffhäuser hills. It is only a few kilometres from the border with the state of Thuringia and impounds the river system of the Helme into the Kelbra Reservoir.  Its main and auxiliary barriers are earth-fill dams made of gravel and binding material ("Erdstoffen"). Both have a sloping internal grout curtain of clay on the water side.  The crest of the main dam is 4,066 m long and 7 m above the valley floor; the acute-angled auxiliary dam is 3,379 m long.  On the southern shore of the lake is the Numburg Cave.

Reservoir.

The Kelbra Reservoir lies on the river Helme behind the Kelbra Dam at the northwestern foot of the Kyffhäuser hills. It is located within the Goldene Aue, mainly in the district of Mansfeld-Südharz (Saxony-Anhalt); only a small area in its extreme southwestern sector, which is on the border of the Kyffhäuserkreis and Nordhausen districts, lies in Thuringia, which touches its southwestern shore.  Initially only a green - i.e. normally dry - flood retention basin was planned. In the event, however, a full dam was built in order to create a permanent reservoir, and an auxiliary dam, in order to provide a basin that absorbed the bulk of the Helme river system in the event of high water. As a result, there are two adjacent basins, the lower one being permanently impounded – i.e. as a permanent lake – a gauge on the lake indicating a height of, a storage volume of 12.3 million m3 and a surface area of about 600 ha. The upper basin, which is bordered on its western and northwestern shores by arable and pasture land, is only impounded during times of high water. Together, both basins have a volume of 35.6 million m3, of which 23 million m3 is exclusive flood control capacity.  Following the completion of the trial impounding of the Kelbra Reservoir, which lasted until 1969, it was officially taken into service.  The lake is used extensively for tourist purposes and has facilities for sailing and windsurfing, a beach for swimming, a campsite, boat and bicycle hire, a petting zoo a waterslide and, near the lake, various inns and other facilities.

Internationally important bird habitat.

The reservoir is of international importance as a result of the variety of birds found on and around its waters, which, in terms of species as well as sheer numbers exceeds those settling on comparable stretches of water. For example, the following birds can regularly be observed here: duck (e.g. mallard, teal, pochard), waders (peewit, snipe, redshank, curlew), divers (great crested grebe, little grebe, black-necked grebe), rails (water rail, coot), mute swan, black-headed gull and bittern (little bittern and Eurasian bittern). In addition white-tailed eagle, osprey, peregrine and cormorant may also be spotted here. The variety of birds occurring during migration is particularly impressive. Up to 10,000 crane stop over on the reservoir and large flocks of larks and finches may be seen passing through. Since 1978 the reservoirs has been placed under the protection of the Ramsar Convention as an internationally important retreat for birds.

The Kelbra Dam () is a dam on the River Helme in the German state of Saxony-Anhalt. Behind the dam is the lake known as the Kelbra Reservoir ("Stausee Kelbra") or Kelbra Flood Retention Basin ("Hochwasserrückhaltebecken Kelbra").

Die Talsperre Kelbra, hinter der sich der auch Hochwasserrückhaltebecken Kelbra genannte Stausee Kelbra befindet, ist eine von 1962 bis 1966 errichtete Talsperre an der Helme in Sachsen-Anhalt (Landkreis Mansfeld-Südharz). Ihr mit Kleinteilen auch in Thüringen (Landkreis Nordhausen und Kyffhäuserkreis) gelegener/s Stausee/Hochwasserrückhaltebecken ist etwa 6 km2 groß.


Geography.

Location.

The municipality lies in the northwest of the Rhine-Neckar urban agglomeration and is a winegrowing centre in the Palatinate near the north end of the German Wine Route. It belongs to the "Verbandsgemeinde" of Leiningerland, whose seat is in Grünstadt, although that town is itself not in the "Verbandsgemeinde".

History.

In 817, Kindenheim had its first documentary mention as "Cunerono". Later it was called "Cunnenheim" or "Kinnenheim". Until 1969 it belonged to the now abolished Frankenthal district, and in 1972 it was assigned to the newly formed "Verbandsgemeinde" of Grünstadt-Land

Religion.

In 2007, 59.8% of the inhabitants were Evangelical and 12.5% Catholic. The rest belonged to other faiths or adhered to none.

Politics.

Municipal council.

The council is made up of 16 council members, who were elected at the municipal election held on 7 June 2009, and the honorary mayor as chairman.  The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:

Coat of arms.

The German blazon reads: "In Silber auf grünem Grund zwei unbekleidete naturfarbene Kinder, von denen das rechte in der Rechten geschultert eine goldene Hacke, das linke in der Linken ein goldenes Rebmesser (Sesel) hält, während beide mit der anderen Hand zwischen sich eine aufrecht stehende grüne Traube halten."  The municipality’s arms might in English heraldic language be described thus: Argent on a mount vert two naked children proper crined Or, the one in dexter holding in his dexter hand a two-pronged hoe resting on his shoulder of the third, the one in sinister holding in his sinister hand a billhook of the third, both supporting with their free hands a bunch of grapes palewise reversed with leaves of the second.  The arms were approved by the Mainz Ministry of the Interior in 1967 and go back to a court seal from 1544, albeit in modified form. The two children are canting for the municipality’s name, "Kind" being the German word for “child” and "Kinder" the word for “children”.

Culture and sightseeing.

Buildings.

The Kreutzenberger winery can be considered a monument in building form. The Bauhaus architect Otto Prott built the house in the economically hardship-stricken 1920s in the style of Modernity. In 2005, the house was carefully expanded in the style of those times with the addition of a winepress house with a wine tasting parlour on the rooftop terrace. The architect Heribert Hamann earned the "Architekturpreis Wein" for this.

Families of Kindenheim.

There are a number of families whose history spans nearly 500 years in Kindenheim. They include:  Keller - The Keller Family trace their descent from Martin and Anne Keller, and their children - Hanns Keller (b. 1605, Kindenheim) and his sister Appolonnia Keller (b. c. 1614). Today Kellergasse commemorates the family.  Seyb - Deobaldt Seyb (born c. 1610) arrived in Kindenheim during the time of the Thirty Years War. It is said that he originated from the Palatine, and served as an officer in the army. Deobaldt Seyb married Appolonnia Keller (b. c. 1614 - 1658), of Kindenheim, in 1630. He died before 1652, and was buried in Kindenheim. The Seyb family traces their descent from their three surviving children - Hans Caspar Seyb, Johannes Seyb and Anna Katherina Seyb  Gudex - The Gudex Family are said to have arrived in Kindenheim, via Morstadt, from France, following the Edict of Fontainebleau, in 1685.  Kippenberger  Voght  Kissell  Neiss

Diaspora.

New Zealand  Johann Georg Seyb. Arrived in New Zealand in 1865 on the "Tudor". Left Kindenheim to avoid being drafted into the army and travelled to New Zealand via Hamburg and London. Married Christina Gudex, of Kindenheim, in 1873 at Christchurch, New Zealand. Their daughter Caroline Philobena Seyb was an amateur painter. Descendants include clothes designer Marilyn Seyb; artist Wayne Seyb; political scientist Brian Roper;  Michael Seyb. Arrived in New Zealand in Dec 1870 on the "Zealandia". Married Sylvia Louise Morgan, of Timaru, in 1883.  Katharina Seyb. Arrived in New Zealand in 1863 on the "Sebastapol". Married Henry Aker, of Wurttenburg, in 1864 at Christchurch.  Johann Georg/Peter Gudex and Anna Elizabetha Gudex (nee Blasius). Arrived in New Zealand in 1873 on the "Crusader" with their children Christian Gudex, Christina Gudex and Georg Gudex.  Michael George Gudex. Arrived in New Zealand in 1866 on the "Mermaid". Married Jane McCully, of Ireland, in 1884 at Geraldine.  Maria Magdalena Gudex. Arrived in New Zealand in 1870 on the "Zelandia". Married James Lewis, of Wales, in 1872 at Christchurch.  Kippenburger. Descendants include Major-General Sir Howard Karl Kippenberger, KBE, CB, DSO, ED, (28 January 1897 - 5 May 1957);  United States of America Brazil Russia Australia

Kindenheim is an "Ortsgemeinde" – a municipality belonging to a "Verbandsgemeinde", a kind of collective municipality – in the Bad Dürkheim district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany.

Kindenheim ist eine Ortsgemeinde im rheinland-pfälzischen Landkreis Bad Dürkheim und liegt im Nordwesten der europäischen Metropolregion Rhein-Neckar. Sie gehört der Verbandsgemeinde Leiningerland an.


History.

Circus Circus was opened on October 18, 1968 by Jay Sarno and Stanley Mallin. Architects Rissman and Rissman Associates designed a giant circus tent shaped main structure, which was built by R.C. Johnson Construction of Las Vegas.  At its opening, the $15 million facility only included a casino. The lack of a hotel resulted in financial problems, as the casino was not able to attract high rollers. Sarno obtained a $23 million loan from the Teamsters Pension Fund to construct a hotel. As part of the arrangement, the Chicago Outfit's enforcer, Anthony Spilotro (under the name of Tony Stuart) was granted a gift shop concession in the hotel. In addition to a government investigation into the organized-crime connections, Sarno and Mallin were also being investigated for tax code violations. The casino's financial problems also continued and Sarno, along with his partner Stanley Mallin, decided to sell out.  In 1974, ownership changed with the sale of the casino to William Bennett and William Pennington for $25 million, becoming the first property of what would become Circus Circus Enterprises (later known as Mandalay Resort Group). The facility was expanded with hotel tower additions in 1972, 1975, 1980, 1986, and 1996.  In 2019, MGM Resorts International sold Circus Circus to Phil Ruffin, owner of the Treasure Island Hotel and Casino, for $825 million. The sale included the adjacent Slots-A-Fun Casino. Ruffin plans to have a 2,000-seat theater built in front of Circus Circus at a cost of $11 million. The theater would blend in with the property's facade. Ruffin intends to keep the resort's Adventuredome amusement park. Ruffin also plans to turn the property's RV park into a swimming pool complex with a wave machine, sand beaches and a lazy river ride.

Design and features.

Hotel.

The hotel rooms are located in several buildings including:

Amenities and entertainment.

Circus Circus offers:

In popular culture.

Film history.

The hotel's famous midway was featured in the 1971 James Bond film "Diamonds Are Forever".  In his journalistic novel of the early 1970s, "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas", Hunter S. Thompson wrote, "The Circus-Circus is what the whole hep world would be doing Saturday night if the Nazis had won the war. This is the sixth Reich. The ground floor is full of gambling tables, like all the other casinos... but the place is about four stories high, in the style of a circus tent, and all manner of strange County-Fair/Polish Carnival madness is going on up in this space." When the Thompson work was adapted to film in 1998, the fictional "Bazooko Circus" was a thinly veiled stand-in for the world-famed resort, which had refused permission for the filmmakers to shoot on their property.  The Adventuredome Theme Park and the Canyon Blaster roller coaster were featured in the 1999 movie "Baby Geniuses". The theme park was known as Joyworld in the movie.  Characters in 1977's post-apocalyptic "Damnation Alley" seek out at the abandoned Circus Circus to play.  In "", Austin and Vanessa sneak into the Circus Circus.  In the 1992 movie "Honey, I Blew Up the Kid", the oversized child Adam is shown laughing and smiling at the Lucky the Clown pylon.  The Midway was featured in the 1978 film "Corvette Summer", when Mark Hamill was being lured into a scam by a "salesman".  In the game "", Circus Circus is featured as The Clown's Pocket.  A recreation of the hotel called "Ringmaster" can be found in the 2014 racing video game "The Crew", near the northern end of the strip.  In the TV series "Vega$", private detective Dan Tanna (Robert Urich) lived in a converted warehouse next to Circus Circus, and was often shown driving past the resort in his classic Ford Thunderbird.

Circus Circus Las Vegas is a hotel and casino located on the Las Vegas Strip in Winchester, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Phil Ruffin. Circus Circus features circus acts and carnival games at the Carnival Midway. It has of casino space.

Das Circus Circus Hotel ist ein in Las Vegas direkt am Las Vegas Strip befindliches Casino und Hotel, das unter dem Motto Zirkus operiert.


Logistics.

Calendars.

The convention cycle begins with the "Call to Convention". Usually issued about 18 months in advance, the Call is an invitation from the national party to the state and territory parties to convene to select a presidential nominee. It also sets out the number of delegates to be awarded to each, as well as the rules for the nomination process. The conventions are usually scheduled for four days of business, with the exception of the 1972 Republican and 2012 Democratic conventions, which were three days each. (The 2008 and 2012 Republican conventions were also three days each, but in each case was shortened from the scheduled four days due to weather issues.)  There is no statute dictating the order of the conventions, but since 1956 the party to which the incumbent president belongs has held its convention second. Between 1864 and 1952, the Democrats went second every year (except for 1888). In 1956, when Republican Dwight D. Eisenhower was the incumbent, the Democrats went first, and the party out of power has gone first ever since. (Between 1936 and 1952, during administrations led by Democratic presidents Franklin D. Roosevelt and Harry S. Truman, the Democrats had their convention after the Republicans, but it is unclear whether they went second because they held the White House or because they had almost always gone second.) Since 1952, all major party conventions have been held in the months of July, August or (for the first time in 2004), early September. (Election laws in some states would likely prevent conventions from moving into mid-September.) Between the middle of the 20th century and 2004, the two major party conventions were primarily scheduled about one month apart, often with the Summer Olympics in between so they did not have to compete for viewers. In 1996, both were held in August to accommodate the Atlanta Olympics in July, the last Summer Olympics to date to be played in the U.S. In 2000, both conventions preceded the Sydney Olympics in late September.  In 2008 and 2012, the Democratic and Republican conventions were moved to back-to-back weeks following the conclusion of the Beijing and London Olympics, respectively. One reason for these late conventions had to do with campaign finance laws, which allow the candidates to spend an unlimited amount of money before the convention, but forbid fundraising after the convention, in order for the parties to receive federal campaign funds. However, if Barack Obama's choice not to receive federal campaign funds for the 2008 general election is repeated in future elections, this reason for the late scheduling of conventions will no longer be valid. Another reason for the lateness of the conventions is due to the primary calendar, which ends in early June, and the political party's desire to turn the convention into a four-day tightly scripted political rally for their nominee, which coincidentally happens to have a roll call vote for president. This includes such logistics as where each delegation sits on the convention floor, the order of speeches, how the nominee wants to present him or herself, and allows time for any negotiations in regards to the running mate. Finally, the parties also did not want to schedule their conventions around the Olympics. One reason why the Democratic Party held its 2008 convention after the two-week-long Beijing Olympics was, according to them, to "maximize momentum for our Democratic ticket in the final months of the Presidential election". But moving the conventions later into early September led to conflicts with the National Football League's season kickoff game, which opens the season on the first Thursday of September. However, the NFL accommodated the conventions and moved its games to an earlier start time in 2008, and an earlier date in 2012.  In 2016, both the Republican and Democratic conventions moved to July, before the Rio de Janeiro Olympics in August. One reason why the Republican Party wanted a July convention was to help avoid a drawn-out primary battle similar to what happened in 2012 that left the party fractured heading into the general election. The Democrats then followed suit so they could provide a quicker response to the Republicans, rather than wait for more than two weeks until after the Olympics are over.  The 2020 Democratic National Convention was originally scheduled to take place July 13–16, but was postponed to August 17–20, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 2020 Republican National Convention is planned for August 24–27. The Tokyo Olympics, originally scheduled to open on July 24, have also been postponed because of the pandemic, to July 2021. This will be the first time that nominating conventions have not coincided with the Olympics since 1944, when the games were cancelled due to World War II.

Participation.

Each party sets its own rules for the participation and format of the convention. Broadly speaking, each U.S. state and territory party is apportioned a select number of voting representatives, individually known as "delegates" and collectively as the "delegation". Each party uses its own formula for determining the size of each delegation, factoring in such considerations as population, proportion of that state's Congressional representatives or state government officials who are members of the party, and the state's voting patterns in previous presidential elections. The selection of individual delegates and their alternates, too, is governed by the bylaws of each state party, or in some cases by state law.  The 2004 Democratic National Convention counted 4,353 delegates and 611 alternates. The 2004 Republican National Convention had 2,509 delegates and 2,344 alternates. However, other attendees who do not participate in the formal business of the convention dwarf these individuals numerically. These include non-delegate party officials and activists, invited guests and companions, and international observers, not to mention numerous members of the news media, volunteers, protesters, and local business proprietors and promoters hoping to capitalize on the quadrennial event.

Host city.

The convention is typically held in a major city selected by the national party organization 18–24 months before the election is to be held. As the two major conventions have grown into large, publicized affairs with significant economic impact, cities today compete vigorously to be awarded host responsibilities, citing their meeting venues, lodging facilities, and entertainment as well as offering economic incentives.  The location of early conventions was dictated by the difficulty of transporting delegates from far-flung parts of the country; early Democratic and Whig Conventions were frequently held in the central Eastern Seaboard port of Baltimore, Maryland. As the U.S. expanded westward and railroads connected cities, Midwestern locations such as Chicago, Illinois—which since 1860 has held 25 Republican and Democratic Conventions combined, more than any other city—became the favored hosts. In present times, political symbolism affects the selection of the host city as much as economic or logistical considerations do. A particular city might be selected to enhance the standing of a favorite son, or in an effort to curry favor with residents of that state. For example, in 2011, Obama campaign manager Jim Messina noted: "We put the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte, North Carolina in part because we believe so deeply in" a "New South map." Likewise, New York City was selected as the host of the 2004 Republican National Convention to evoke memories of George W. Bush's leadership during the September 11 attacks.  The conventions have historically been held inside convention centers, but in recent decades the two major parties have favored sports arenas and stadiums to accommodate the increasing capacity, the former because indoor arenas are usually off-season outside of WNBA sites, allowing plenty of time for preparation (the major political parties have avoided baseball stadiums ever since the 1992 Republican National Convention at the Houston Astrodome forced the Houston Astros to play 26 consecutive road games). Bids for the 2008 Republican National Convention, for example, were required to have a facility with a seating capacity of at least 20,500 people, including a convention floor of about 5,500 delegates and alternates; the Xcel Energy Center in Saint Paul, Minnesota was eventually selected. Meanwhile, approximately 84,000 people attended the last day of the 2008 Democratic National Convention at Denver's Invesco Field at Mile High. The last day of the 2012 Democratic Convention was originally also scheduled for an outdoor football stadium, but was moved indoors due to weather concerns. The last non-sporting venue to host the Democratic National Convention was San Francisco's Moscone Center in 1984. In 1996, the San Diego Convention Center in San Diego became the last non-sporting venue to host the Republican National Convention.

Delegate selection process.

Every year of a presidential election, the United States' political parties have national conventions that result in presidential candidates. However, selected delegates from each state choose candidates rather than members of the public.  Including delegates in the nomination process began after the Presidential election year of 1968, when there was widespread dissatisfaction of the presidential nominating process. Minor-party movements also threatened the chances of Democratic and Republican candidates to win majorities of the electoral votes, which resulted in the reformation of the presidential election process.

Democratic selection process.

Each party and state has its own process to selecting delegates.  Generally speaking, delegates of both major parties usually pledge their votes to a specific candidate, and those who are associated with the Democratic Party and are unpledged are considered super delegates. These super delegates may include governors who identify with the party, members of the U.S. Congress, as well as members of the Democratic National Committee. Super Delegates aren't pledged to a particular candidate, and can vote for who they please. Any registered Democrat may run to be a delegate, and wins are based on congressional votes. Once Democrats choose their delegates, they distribute delegates to each candidate evenly, according to the number of congressional district votes they get (must be at least 15%).

Republican selection process.

Rule 14 of the Republican Party's national rules determines the size of delegates for each state, territory, or political subdivision. Delegate selection for the Republican Party must take place prior to March 1 or after the second Saturday in June in the year that the convention is held. The Republican Party uses a "Proportional Allocation" rule, which states that delegates should be based on the statewide votes or the number of congressional district votes in proportion to the number of votes received by each candidate. Also, each state must advocate to have an equal number of men and women in its delegation.  Delegates and alternate delegates for the Republican National Convention may be selected or bound by only "one" of the following:

Proceedings.

During the day, party activists hold meetings and rallies, and work on the platform. Voting and important convention-wide addresses usually take place in the evening hours.  In recent conventions, routine business such as examining the credentials of delegations, ratifying rules and procedures, election of convention officers, and adoption of the platform usually take up the bus siness of the first two days of the convention. Balloting was usually held on the third day, with the nomination and acceptance made on the last day, but even some of these traditions have fallen away in 21st century conventions. The only constant is that the convention ends with the nominee's acceptance speech.

Platform.

Each convention produces a statement of principles known as its "platform", containing goals and proposals known as "planks". Relatively little of a party platform is even proposed as public policy. Much of the language is generic, while other sections are narrowly written to appeal to factions or interest groups within the party. Unlike electoral manifestos in many European countries, the platform is not binding on either the party or the candidate.  Because it is ideological rather than pragmatic, however, the platform is sometimes itself politicized. For example, defenders of abortion rights lobbied heavily to remove the Human Life Amendment plank from the 1996 Republican National Convention platform, a move fiercely resisted by conservatives despite the fact that no such amendment had ever come up for debate.

Voting.

Since the 1970s, voting has for the most part been perfunctory; the selection of the major parties' nominees have rarely been in doubt, so a single ballot has always been sufficient. Each delegation announces its vote tallies, usually accompanied with some boosterism of their state or territory. The delegation may pass, nominally to retally their delegates' preferences, but often to allow a different delegation to give the leading candidate the honor of casting the majority-making vote.  Before the presidential nomination season actually begins, there is often speculation about whether a single front runner would emerge. If there is no single candidate receiving a majority of delegates at the end of the primary season, a scenario called a brokered convention would result, where a candidate would be selected either at or near the convention, through political horse-trading and lesser candidates compelling their delegates to vote for one of the front runners. The best example was the 1924 Democratic Convention, which took 103 ballots. The situation is more likely to occur in the Democratic Party, because of its proportional representation system, but such a scenario has been the subject of speculation with regard to most contested nominations of both parties without actually coming to pass in recent years. It is a common scenario in fiction, most recently in an episode of "The West Wing". The closest to a brokered convention in recent years was at the 1976 Republican National Convention, when neither Gerald Ford nor Ronald Reagan received enough votes in the primary to lock up the nomination. Since then, candidates have received enough momentum to reach a majority through pledged and bound delegates before the date of the convention.  More recently, a customary practice has been for the losing candidates in the primary season to release their delegates and exhort them to vote for the winning nominee as a sign of party unity. Thus, the vote tallied on the floor is unanimous or nearly so. Some delegates may nevertheless choose to vote for their candidate. And in 2008 both happened: Hillary Clinton received over 1,000 votes before she herself moved to nominate Barack Obama by acclamation, officially making it a unanimous vote.  The voting method at the conventions is a "roll call of the states", which include territories such as Washington D.C., American Samoa, Guam, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and a catch-all "delegates abroad" category. The states are called in alphabetical order (beginning with Alabama and ending with Wyoming). The state's spokesperson (who generally begins his or her speech with glowing comments about the state's history, geography, and notable party elected officials) can either choose to announce its delegate count or pass. Once all states have either declared or passed, those states which passed are called upon again to announce their delegate count. (Generally, a decision is made beforehand that some states will pass in the first round, in order to allow a particular state—generally either the presidential or vice-presidential nominee's home state—to be the one whose delegate count pushes the candidate "over the top", thus securing the nomination.)  Vice-presidential voting has been problematic since the beginning, as the delegates generally don't really want to deal with it, and it provides for mischief, as was the case at the 1972 Democratic National Convention where the vote was scattered between 50 "candidates" and the 1976 Republican National Convention, where the vote was also scattered widely. In 1988, both parties decided to have their designated candidates nominated by "suspending the rules" and declaring them nominated by "acclamation." The most recent vice-presidential roll call vote was at the 1984 Republican National Convention.  If, after the first round of voting, there is no candidate with a majority of votes, subsequent roll calls are held. In between, candidates can make "backroom deals", swapping delegates in exchange for positions in the administration or other favors, or candidates can release their delegates to vote for whoever they personally prefer. Roll calls continue until one candidate has a majority. The 1924 Democratic National Convention holds the record, where divisions within the party concerning Prohibition led to 102 ballots between Alfred E. Smith and William G. McAdoo before the relatively unknown John W. Davis was chosen as a compromise candidate on the 103rd ballot.

Speeches.

Minor figures in the party are given the opportunity to address the floor of the convention during the daytime, when only the small audiences of C-SPAN and other cable television outlets are watching. The evening's speeches—designed for broadcast to a large national audience—are reserved for major speeches by notable, respected public figures; the speakers at the 2004 Democratic Convention included Ted Kennedy, a forty-two-year veteran of the United States Senate, and Jimmy Carter, a former Democratic President, while speakers at the Republican Convention included Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger of California and Governor George Pataki of New York, two of the largest states in the nation.  The organizers of the convention may designate one of these speeches as the keynote address, one which above all others is stated to underscore the convention's themes or political goals. For instance, the 1992 Democratic National Convention keynote address was delivered by Georgia Governor Zell Miller, whose stories of an impoverished childhood echoed the economic themes of the nominee, Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton. The 1996 Republican National Convention was keynoted by U.S. Representative Susan Molinari of New York, intended to reassure political moderates about the centrism of the nominee, former Senator Bob Dole. And the 2004 Democratic National Convention featured Senator Barack Obama, whose speech brought the future President national recognition for the first time.  Uniquely, Miller, by then a Senator, would also be the keynote speaker at the 2004 Republican Convention, despite still maintaining his Democratic registration.  The final day of the convention usually features the formal acceptance speeches from the nominees for president and vice president. Despite recent controversy maintaining that recent conventions were scripted from beginning to end, and that very little news (if any) comes out of the convention, the acceptance speech has always been televised by the networks, because it receives the highest ratings of the convention. In addition, the halls of the convention are packed at this time, with many party loyalists sneaking in. Afterwards, balloons are usually dropped and the delegates celebrate the nomination.

History.

In the early 19th century, members of Congress met within their party caucuses to select their party's nominee. Conflicts between the interests of the Eastern Congressional class and citizens in newer Western states led to the hotly contested 1824 election, in which factions of the Democratic-Republican Party rejected the caucus nominee, William H. Crawford of Georgia, and backed John Quincy Adams of Massachusetts, Henry Clay of Kentucky, and Andrew Jackson of Tennessee (all of whom carried more states than Crawford in the election) instead.  In 1831 the Anti-Masonic Party convened in Baltimore, Maryland to select a single presidential candidate agreeable to the whole party leadership in the 1832 presidential election. The National Republican and Democratic Parties soon followed suit.  Conventions were often heated affairs, playing a vital role in deciding each party's nominee. The process remained far from democratic or transparent, however. The party convention was a scene of intrigue among political bosses, who appointed and otherwise controlled nearly all of the delegates. Winning a nomination involved intensive negotiations and multiple votes; the 1924 Democratic National Convention required a record 103 ballots to nominate John W. Davis. The term "dark horse candidate" was coined at the 1844 Democratic National Convention, at which little-known Tennessee politician James K. Polk emerged as the candidate after the failure of the leading candidates—former President Martin Van Buren and Michigan Senator Lewis Cass—to secure the necessary two-thirds majority.  A few, mostly Western, states adopted primary elections in the late 19th century and during the Progressive Era, but the catalyst for their widespread adoption came during the election of 1968. The Vietnam War energized a large number of supporters of anti-war Senator Eugene McCarthy of Minnesota, but they had no say in the matter. Vice President Hubert Humphrey—associated with the increasingly unpopular administration of Lyndon B. Johnson—did not compete in a single primary, yet controlled enough delegates to secure the Democratic nomination. This proved one of several factors behind rioting which broke out at the Democratic convention in Chicago.  Media images of the event—angry mobs facing down police—damaged the image of the Democratic Party, which appointed a commission headed by South Dakota Senator George McGovern to select a new, less controversial method of choosing nominees. The McGovern–Fraser Commission settled on the primary election, adopted by the Democratic National Committee in 1968. The Republicans adopted the primary as their preferred method in 1972. Henceforth, candidates would be given convention delegates based on their performance in primaries, and these delegates were bound to vote for their candidate.  As a result, the major party presidential nominating convention has lost almost all of its old drama. The last attempt to release delegates from their candidates came at the 1980 Democratic National Convention, when Senator Ted Kennedy of Massachusetts sought votes of delegates held by incumbent President Jimmy Carter. The last major party convention whose outcome was in doubt was the 1976 Republican National Convention, when former California Governor Ronald Reagan nearly won the nomination away from the incumbent president, Gerald Ford.

Television coverage.

While rank and file members had no input in early nominations, they were still drawn by the aura of mystery surrounding the convention, and networks began to broadcast speeches and debates to the general public. NBC affiliate W2XBS in New York City made the first telecast of a national party convention, of the 1940 Republican National Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and the other two of the Big Three television networks soon followed. NBC News anchorman John Chancellor said just before the start of the 1972 Democratic National Convention, "Convention coverage is the most important thing we do. The conventions are not just political theater, but really serious stuff, and that's why all the networks have an obligation to give gavel-to-gavel coverage. It's a time when we all ought to be doing our duty."  The presence of journalists at presidential nominating conventions have increased with the television networks. In 1976, the Democratic Convention consisted of 3,381 delegates and 11,500 reporters, broadcasters, editors and camera operators. This is on par with the increase in the number of televisions in American homes. In 1960, 87 percent of people had a television; by 1976, 98 percent did. By the 1992 conventions, network coverage increased from three networks (NBC, ABC and CBS) to five networks (NBC, ABC, CBS, Fox and PBS). At the 1996 Republican National Convention there were approximately seven journalists per one delegate, or about 15,000 journalists.  The increase of the media at these conventions originally led to a growth in the public's interest in elections. Voter turnout in the primaries increased from fewer than five million voters in 1948 to around thirteen million in 1952. By broadcasting the conventions on the television, people were more connected to the suspense and the decisions being made, therefore making them more politically aware, and more educated voters. When scholars studied the 1976 conventions they determined that by watching nomination conventions, even viewers that were not previously very politically active developed a much stronger interest in the election process and the candidate. With the rise of the direct primary, and in particular with states moving earlier and earlier in the primary calendar since the 1988 election, the nominee has often secured a commanding majority of delegates far in advance of the convention. As such, the convention has become little more than a coronation, a carefully staged campaign event designed to draw public attention and favor to the nominee, with particular attention to television coverage. For instance, speeches by noted and popular party figures are scheduled for the coveted primetime hours, when most people would be watching.  The changing nature of the conventions, as well as overall changes in television viewing habits, have changed how broadcasters cover the conventions. Midway through the 1996 Republican National Convention, Ted Koppel of ABC's "Nightline" concluded the program with an announcement that he would end his broadcasts from San Diego for the convention, nor broadcast coverage from the Democratic convention in Chicago, citing that the events had effectively become an "infomercial" for the party's nominee rather than a news event. Republican National Committee chairman Haley Barbour was also critical of how the networks covered the convention: in response to the diminishing coverage, the party purchased time-brokered blocks on the cable network The Family Channel to broadcast live coverage of the convention under the branding "GOP-TV."  Bespoke coverage of the conventions on television is now typically relegated to cable news channels and C-SPAN. PBS continues to provide full primetime coverage of the conventions, although it breaks away from minor speakers and mundane business for analysis and discussion. In 2012, the major networks only aired one hour of primetime coverage per-night, while NBC forwent coverage on the second night of the 2012 Democratic National Convention in order to air the NFL Kickoff Game—which the NFL moved to Wednesday night from Thursday to minimize conflict with the convention (to make up for the lack of coverage on Wednesday, NBC aired two hours of coverage on Thursday). There was also a noted increase in coverage via live streaming on digital platforms.

A United States presidential nominating convention is a political convention held every four years in the United States by most of the political parties who will be fielding nominees in the upcoming U.S. presidential election. The formal purpose of such a convention is to select the party's nominee for President, as well as to adopt a statement of party principles and goals known as the "platform" and adopt the rules for the party's activities, including the presidential nominating process for the next election cycle.

Die Nominierungsparteitage ("National Convention") gehören zu den Höhepunkten des Wahljahres in den USA. Bei diesen nationalen Parteitagen, die traditionell im Sommer stattfinden, stimmen die Delegierten der Bundesstaaten über den Präsidentschaftskandidaten der Partei ab. In der Praxis handelt es sich um politische Volksfeste, die nach einer genau geplanten Dramaturgie ablaufen. Von ihrer einst zentralen Bedeutung haben diese Veranstaltungen inzwischen einiges eingebüßt, da (durch den monatelangen Vorwahlkampf) das Ergebnis heute faktisch schon vorher feststeht. Ursprünglich war das nicht so: die Vorwahlen – die zahlreichen Caucuses und Primaries – sollten lediglich ein Meinungsbild liefern, welcher Kandidat die besten Chancen besitzt. Die eigentliche Entscheidung aber sollte erst auf dem Nominierungsparteitag fallen. Die Parteien nutzen die Nominierungsparteitage heute vor allem zur Werbung, um die Aufmerksamkeit von Medien und Öffentlichkeit auf ihre Kandidaten zu ziehen.


Early life and training.

Hirst was born as Damien Steven Brennan in Bristol and grew up in Leeds. He never met his father; his mother married his stepfather when Hirst was two, and the couple divorced 10 years later. His stepfather was reportedly a motor mechanic. Hirst's mother, who was from an Irish Catholic background, worked for the Citizens Advice Bureau, and has stated that she lost control of her son when he was young. He was arrested on two occasions for shoplifting. However, Hirst sees her as someone who would not tolerate rebellion: she cut up his bondage trousers and heated one of his Sex Pistols vinyl records on the cooker to turn it into a fruit bowl (or a plant pot). He says, "If she didn't like how I was dressed, she would quickly take me away from the bus stop." She

Early career—student and warehouse shows.

In July 1988, in his second year at Goldsmiths College, Hirst was the main organiser of an independent student exhibition, "Freeze", in a disused London Port Authority administrative block in London's Docklands. He gained sponsorship for this event from the London Docklands Development Corporation. The show was visited by Charles Saatchi, Norman Rosenthal and Nicholas Serota, thanks to the influence of his Goldsmiths lecturer Michael Craig-Martin. Hirst's own contribution to the show consisted of a cluster of cardboard boxes painted with household paint. After graduating, Hirst was included in "New Contemporaries" show and in a group show at Kettles Yard Gallery in Cambridge.

Professional career.

1987–1990.

1987 – Damien Hirst and Holden Rowan, Old Court Gallery, Windsor Arts Centre, Windsor, UK – Curator Derek Culley  1988 – Damien Hirst: Constructions and Sculpture, Old Court Gallery, Windsor, UK

1991–1994.

His first solo exhibition, organised by Tamara Chodzko – Dial, "In and Out of Love", was held in an unused shop on Woodstock Street in central London in 1991; already in 1989 he had been part of a group exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, and the Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery in Paris. The Serpentine Gallery presented the first survey of the new generation of artists with the exhibition "Broken English", in part curated by Hirst. In 1991 Hirst met the up-and-coming art dealer, Jay Jopling, who then represented him.  In 1991, Charles Saatchi had offered to fund whatever artwork Hirst wanted to make, and the result was showcased in 1992 in the first "Young British Artists" exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in North London. Hirst's work was titled "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living" and was a shark in formaldehyde in a vitrine, and sold for £50,000. The

1995–1999.

In 1995, Hirst won the Turner Prize. New York public health officials banned "Two Fucking and Two Watching" featuring a rotting cow and bull, because of fears of "vomiting among the visitors". There were solo shows in Seoul, London and Salzburg. He directed the video for the song "Country House" for the band Blur. "No Sense of Absolute Corruption", his first solo show in the Gagosian Gallery in New York was staged the following year. In London the short film, "Hanging Around", was shown—written and directed by Hirst and starring Eddie Izzard. In 1997 the "Sensation" exhibition opened at the Royal Academy in London. "A Thousand Years" and other works by

2000–2004.

In 2000, Hirst's sculpture "Hymn" (which Saatchi had bought for a reported £1m) was given pole position at the show "Ant Noises" (an anagram of "sensation") in the Saatchi Gallery. Hirst was then sued himself for breach of copyright over this sculpture (see Appropriation below). Hirst sold three more copies of his sculpture for similar amounts to the first. In September 2000, in New York, Larry Gagosian held the Hirst show, "Damien Hirst: Models, Methods, Approaches, Assumptions, Results and Findings". 100,000 people visited the show in 12 weeks and all the work was sold.  On 10 September 2002, on the eve of the first anniversary of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks, Hirst said in an interview with BBC News Online: The next week, following public outrage at

2005–2009.

Hirst exhibited 30 paintings at the Gagosian Gallery in New York in March 2005. These had taken 31⁄2 years to complete. They were closely based on photos, mostly by assistants (who were rotated between paintings) but with a final finish by Hirst. Also in 2005, Hirst founded the art book publisher Other Criteria.  In February 2006, he opened a major show in Mexico, at the Hilario Galguera Gallery, called "The Death of God, Towards a Better Understanding of Life without God aboard The Ship of Fools", an exhibition that attracted considerable media coverage as Hirst's first show in Latin America. In June that year, he exhibited alongside the work of Francis Bacon ("Triptychs") at the Gagosian Gallery, Britannia Street,

2010–2014.

Hirst's representation of the British Union Flag formed the arena centrepiece for the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in London. In January 2013, Hirst became the

2015–present.

In April 2016, a study published in "Analytical Methods" claimed Hirst's preserved carcasses leaked formaldehyde gas above legal limits at Tate Modern; however, this study was shown to be flawed.  In 2017 he organised with Pinault Foundation

Major works and events.

Some of Hirst's principal works are as follows.

"The Physical Impossibilities of Death in the Mind of Someone Living".

This artwork features a large tiger shark suspended in formaldehyde. The tank in which the shark is floating creates the illusion of the animal being cut into three pieces due to the container looking like three separate sections. The work was created in 1991, and since then, the formaldehyde preserving the shark has slowly eaten away at the animal's body, which shows signs of decay. Hirst says that the formaldehyde surrounding the shark is the process of death and decay.  Some critics argue that the minimalistic qualities of the

Beautiful Inside My Head Forever.

Beautiful Inside My Head Forever was a two-day auction of Hirst's new work at Sotheby's, London, taking place on 15 and 16 September 2008. It was unusual as he bypassed galleries and sold directly to the public. Writing in "The Independent", Cahal Milmo said that the idea of the auction was conceived by Hirst's business advisor of 13 years, Frank Dunphy, who had to overcome Hirst's initial reluctance about the idea.

Hirst art collecting.

In November 2006, Hirst was curator of "In the darkest hour there may be light", shown at the Serpentine Gallery, London, the first public exhibition of (a small part of) his own collection. Now known as the'murderme collection', this significant accumulation of works spans several generations of international artists, from well-known figures such as Francis Bacon, Jeff Koons, Tracey Emin, Richard Prince, Banksy and Andy Warhol, to British painters such as John Bellany, John Hoyland, and Gary Hume, and artists in earlier stages of their careers Rachel Howard, David Choe, Ross Minoru Laing, Nicholas Lumb, Tom Ormond, and Dan Baldwin.  Hirst is currently restoring the Grade I

Awards and recognition.

Hirst was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1992, for his first "Young British Artists" exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in North London, which included his "The Physical Impossibility of Death...", with the award going to Grenville Davey that year.  Hirst won the Turner Prize in

Critical responses.

Positive.

Hirst has been praised in recognition of his celebrity and the way this has galvanised interest in the arts, raising the profile of British art and helping to (re)create the image of "Cool Britannia." In the mid-1990s, the then-Heritage Secretary, Virginia Bottomley recognised him as "a pioneer of the British art movement", and even sheep farmers were pleased he had raised increased interest in British lamb. Janet Street-Porter praised his originality, which had brought art to new audiences and was the "art-world equivalent of the Oasis concerts at Earl's Court".  Andres Serrano is also known for shocking

Negative.

There has been equally vehement opposition to Hirst's work. Of Hirst's work, the former "Evening Standard" art critic, Brian Sewell, expressed the following: "I don't think of it as art... It is no more interesting than a stuffed pike over a pub door. Indeed there may well be more art in a stuffed pike than a dead sheep."  The Stuckist art group was founded in 1999 with a specific anti-Britart agenda by Charles Thomson and Billy Childish; Hirst is one of their main targets. They wrote (referring to a Channel

Appropriation and plagiarism claims.

In 1999, chef Marco Pierre White said Hirst's "Butterflies on Mars" had plagiarised his own work, "Rising Sun", which he then put on display in the restaurant Quo Vadis in place of the Hirst work.  In 2000, Hirst was sued for breach of copyright over his sculpture, "Hymn", which was a, six ton, enlargement of his son Connor's 14" "Young Scientist Anatomy Set", designed by Norman Emms, 10,000 of which are sold a year by Hull-based toy manufacturer Humbrol for £14.99 each. Hirst paid an undisclosed sum to two charities, Children Nationwide and the Toy Trust, in an out-of-court settlement, as well as a "good will payment" to Emms. The charitable donation was less than Emms had hoped for. Hirst also agreed to restrictions on further reproductions of his sculpture.  In 2006, a graphic artist and former research associate at the Royal College of Art, Robert Dixon, author of 'Mathographics', alleged that Hirst's print "Valium" had "unmistakable similarities" to one of his own designs. Hirst's manager contested this by explaining the origin of Hirst's piece was from a book "The Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Geometry" (1991)—not realising this was one place where Dixon's design had been published.  In 2007, artist John LeKay, a friend of Damien Hirst between 1992 and 1994, was reported by Dalya Alberge of "The Times" to have provided ideas and inspirations for a variety of his later works, including having given him a "marked-up duplicate copy" of a Carolina Biological Supply Company catalogue that LeKay had been using as inspiration and supply for his work, noting that "You have no idea how much he got from this catalogue. The Cow Divided is on page 647—it is a model of a cow divided down the centre, like his piece",

Hirst business ventures.

Work philosophy.

Although Hirst participated physically in the making of early works, he has always needed assistants—for instance, Carl Freedman helped with the first vitrines—and the current volume of work produced necessitates a "factory" setup. this has led to questions about authenticity, as was highlighted in 1997, when a spin painting that Hirst said was a "forgery" appeared at sale, although he had previously said that he often had nothing to do with the creation of these pieces.  Hirst said that he only painted five spot paintings himself because, "I couldn't be fucking arsed doing it"; he described his efforts as "shite"—"They're shit compared

Restaurant ventures.

Hirst had a short-lived partnership with chef Marco Pierre White in the restaurant "Quo Vadis". His best-known restaurant involvement was Pharmacy, located in Notting Hill, London, which closed in 2004. Although one of the owners, Hirst had only leased his art work to the restaurant, so he

Net worth.

Art by Hirst sold at his auction in 2008, "Beautiful Inside My Head Forever", raised $198 million (US). It is said to be the largest amount raised by any living artist to date. Hirst is reputed to

Works published, shown, sold.

Art.

His

Personal life.

Between 1992 and 2012, Hirst lived with his Californian girlfriend, Maia Norman, with whom he has three sons: Connor Ojala, (born 1995, Kensington and Chelsea, London), Cassius Atticus (born 2000, North Devon) and Cyrus Joe (born 2005, Westminster, London). Since the birth of Connor, he has spent most of his time at his remote farmhouse near Combe Martin in Devon. Hirst and Norman were never married, although Hirst had referred to Norman as his "common-law wife".  The artist owns a large compound in Baja, Mexico, which serves as a part-time residence and art studio. The studio employs several artists who carry out Hirst's projects.  Hirst has admitted serious drug and alcohol problems during a ten-year period from the early 1990s: "I started taking cocaine and drink... I turned into a babbling fucking wreck." During this time he was known for his wild behaviour and eccentric acts, including for example, putting a cigarette in the end of his penis in front of journalists.  He is a friend of Rolling Stones guitarist Ronnie Wood and 5-time World Snooker Champion Ronnie O’Sullivan.

Charitable work.

Hirst is a supporter of the indigenous rights organisation, Survival International. In September 2008, Hirst donated the work, "Beautiful Love Survival", at the Sotheby's London sale, "Beautiful Inside My Head Forever", to raise money for this organisation. Later, he

Damien Steven Hirst (; born 7 June 1965) is an English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs), who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest living artist, with his wealth valued at £215m in the 2010 "Sunday Times" Rich List. During the 1990s his career was closely linked with the collector Charles Saatchi, but increasing frictions came to a head in 2003 and the relationship ended.

Damien Hirst (* 7. Juni 1965 in Bristol) ist ein britischer Bildhauer, Maler und Konzeptkünstler und Kurator einzelner Ausstellungen. Im Jahr 1988 organisierte er die Ausstellung "Freeze" im Londoner Hafenviertel, die als Geburtsstunde des Phänomens "Young British Artists" gilt, und wurde in den 1990er Jahren der bekannteste Vertreter der Gruppe. Er wurde vor allem durch provozierende Plastiken bekannt, die sich mit Themen Tod, Religion, Leben oder Konsumkultur befassen. Zu seinen bekanntesten Werken gehören mehrere in Formaldehyd eingelegte Tierkörper sowie ein mit Diamanten besetzter menschlicher Schädel mit dem Titel "For the Love of God".


Biography.

Cruz was born in Taguatinga, Distrito Federal. As the son of a steel worker, he began running as a 13-year-old, and soon showed astonishing talent as a junior. At the age of only 15 his personal best over 800 m stood at 1:51 min. After setting a junior world record of 1:44.3 min in 1981, he received a scholarship for the University of Oregon in 1983. The move immediately paid off, and Cruz won the NCAA championships over 800 m that same year. He also competed in the inaugural World Championships in 1983, winning the bronze.  The following year, Cruz became one of only a handful of people to win the 800/1500 m double at the 1984 NCAA Track & Field Championships (a feat that would not be repeated for another 26 years until another Oregon Duck, Andrew Wheating, turned the trick in 2010). Cruz is the co-holder of University of Oregon 1,500 m school record of 3:36.48 along with A.J. Acosta. Later that summer, he ran a time of 2:14.09 min over 1000 m in Nice which is still the current South American record over that distance.  The 1984 Olympic Games were held in Los Angeles, and Cruz was considered to be one of the 800 m favorites, along with world record holder Sebastian Coe of Britain. In the last turn of the 800 meter final, Cruz started a sprint from second place and took the lead, never losing it. He crossed the line in 1:43.00, breaking Alberto Juantorena's Olympic Record and making him the first Brazilian Olympic track and field gold medalist since triple jumper Adhemar Ferreira da Silva won both in 1952 and 1956.  Later that week, after winning his first round heat of the Olympic 1500 m, Cruz, due to a cold, did not start in the semi-finals, which caused quite a stir among the Brazilians, who thought he didn't want to represent his country in an event in which his chances of winning were smaller. Cruz eventually recovered from his cold and had a remarkable five-day stretch of racing a few weeks after the Olympic Games. First, he ran a new Brazilian 800 m record of 1:42.34 at the Weltklasse meet in Zurich, becoming only the second runner in history to break 1:43. Two days later he ran a 1:42.41 at the Memorial Van Damme meet in Brussels, and then two days after that, at a meeting in Cologne, Cruz ran the second fastest 800 meters in history, his time of 1:41.77 was only four hundredths of a second outside of Coe's world record. He is the fifth fastest athlete in the history of the event. By the end of the year, he was the NCAA champion, the Olympic champion, undefeated in all seven of his 800-meter finals, had run the 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 6th fastest 800 meter times in history, and easily ranked as #1 in the world for 800 meters in 1984 by Track & Field News magazine.  In 1985 Cruz confirmed the excellent results of the previous year by winning six of his eight 800 meter races, the last three of which were won under 1:43: 1:42.98 at ISTAF, 1:42.53 in Cologne (beating Sebastian Coe), and 1:42.49 in Koblenz. His record was good enough to earn him a World #1 ranking by "Track & Field News" magazine for the second year in a row. He also ran the world's 3rd fastest 1,000 meter time for 1985, a 2:15.11. In the following two years he struggled with injuries and raced little, though he did manage to win the gold medal in the 1,500 meters at the 1987 Pan American Games, defeating both Jim Spivey (who within the next month would win a bronze medal at the World Championships) and American mile record holder Steve Scott.  At the 1988 Summer Olympics, Cruz appeared to be on his way to retain his Olympic 800 m title when he was passed by Kenyan runner Paul Ereng, leaving Cruz with the silver medal. Troubled by Achilles' tendon injuries, Cruz was never again able to reach the international top level. In 1993, he tried to make a comeback and started over 1500 m at various Grand Prix races in Europe but failed to make a major impact. His last victory of significance came in the 1500 meters at the 1995 Pan American Games. One year later, taking part at his third Olympics at the 1996 Summer Olympics, Cruz was the Brazilian flag-bearer and ran the 1500 meters without reaching the finals.  Cruz was a torchbearer and lit the flame cauldron at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, on July 13, 2007. After retiring from competitions he became a running coach at the Olympic Training Center in Chula Vista, California. He guides Lea Wallace, David Brown and Shaquille Vance, among others.

External links.

<br>  <br

Joaquim Carvalho Cruz (born March 12, 1963) is a former Brazilian middle-distance runner, winner of the 800 meters at the 1984 Summer Olympics. He is one of only five men to run the 800 metres in less than 1 minute, 42 seconds.

Joaquim Carvalho Cruz (* 12. März 1963 in Taguatinga, Distrito Federal) ist ein ehemaliger brasilianischer Mittelstreckenläufer. Sein größter Erfolg war der Sieg im 800-Meter-Lauf bei den Olympischen Spielen 1984 in Los Angeles.


Definition.

There are many equivalent (cryptomorphic) ways to define a (finite) matroid.

Independent sets.

In terms of independence, a finite matroid formula_1 is a pair formula_2, where formula_3 is a finite set (called the ground set) and formula_4 is a family of subsets of formula_3 (called the independent sets) with the following properties:  The first two properties define a combinatorial structure known as an independence system (or abstract simplicial complex).

Bases and circuits.

A subset of the ground set formula_3 that is not independent is called dependent. A maximal independent set—that is, an independent set that becomes dependent on adding any element of formula_3—is called a basis for the matroid. A circuit in a matroid formula_1 is a minimal dependent subset of formula_3—that is, a dependent set whose proper subsets are all independent. The terminology arises because the circuits of graphic matroids are cycles in the corresponding graphs.  The dependent sets, the bases, or the circuits of a matroid characterize the matroid completely: a set is independent if and only if it is not dependent, if and only if it is a subset of a basis, and if and only if it does not contain a circuit. The collections of dependent sets, of bases, and of circuits each have simple properties that may be taken as axioms for a matroid. For instance, one may define a matroid formula_1 to be a pair formula_24, where formula_3 is a finite set as before and formula_26 is a collection of subsets of formula_3, called "bases", with the following properties: It follows from the basis exchange property that no member of formula_26 can be a proper subset of another.

Rank functions.

It is a basic result of matroid theory, directly analogous to a similar theorem of bases in linear algebra, that any two bases of a matroid formula_1 have the same number of elements. This number is called the rank of formula_1. If formula_1 is a matroid on formula_3, and formula_12 is a subset of formula_3, then a matroid on formula_12 can be defined by considering a subset of formula_12 to be independent if and only if it is independent in formula_1. This allows us to talk about submatroids and about the rank of any subset of formula_3. The rank of a subset formula_12 is given by the rank function formula_47 of the matroid, which has the following properties: These properties can be used as one of the alternative definitions of a finite matroid: if formula_57 satisfies these properties, then the independent sets of a matroid over formula_3 can be defined as those subsets formula_12 of formula_3 with formula_61. In the language of partially ordered sets, such a matroid structure is equivalent to the geometric lattice whose elements are the subsets formula_62, partially ordered by inclusion.  The difference formula_63 is called the nullity of the subset formula_12. It is the minimum number of elements that must be removed from formula_12 to obtain an independent set. The nullity of formula_3 in formula_1 is called the nullity of formula_1. The difference formula_69 is sometimes called the corank of the subset formula_12.

Closure operators.

Let formula_1 be a matroid on a finite set formula_3, with rank function formula_73 as above. The closure (or span) formula_74 of a subset formula_12 of formula_3 is the set This defines a closure operator formula_78 where formula_79 denotes the power set, with the following properties: The first three of these properties are the defining properties of a closure operator. The fourth is sometimes called the Mac Lane–Steinitz exchange property. These properties may be taken as another definition of matroid: every function formula_78 that obeys these properties determines a matroid.

Flats.

A set whose closure equals itself is said to be closed, or a flat or subspace of the matroid. A set is closed if it is maximal for its rank, meaning that the addition of any other element to the set would increase the rank. The closed sets of a matroid are characterized by a covering partition property:  The class formula_112 of all flats, partially ordered by set inclusion, forms a matroid lattice. Conversely, every matroid lattice formula_113 forms a matroid over its set formula_3 of atoms under the following closure operator: for a set formula_100 of atoms with join formula_116, The flats of this matroid correspond one-for-one with the elements of the lattice; the flat corresponding to lattice element formula_118 is the set Thus, the lattice of flats of this matroid is naturally isomorphic to formula_113.

Hyperplanes.

In a matroid of rank formula_73, a flat of rank formula_122 is called a hyperplane. (Hyperplanes are also called coatoms or copoints.) These are the maximal proper flats; that is, the only superset of a hyperplane that is also a flat is the set formula_3 of all the elements of the matroid. An equivalent definition is that a coatom is a subset of "E" that does not span "M", but such that adding any other element to it does make a spanning set.  The family formula_124 of hyperplanes of a matroid has the following properties, which may be taken as yet another axiomatization of matroids:

Graphoids.

Minty (1966) defined a graphoid as a triple formula_134 in which formula_135 and formula_136 are classes of nonempty subsets of formula_113 such that  He proved that there is a matroid for which formula_135 is the class of circuits and formula_136 is the class of cocircuits. Conversely, if formula_135 and formula_136 are the circuit and cocircuit classes of a matroid formula_1 with ground set formula_3, then formula_155 is a graphoid. Thus, graphoids give a self-dual cryptomorphic axiomatization of matroids.

Examples.

Uniform matroids.

Let formula_3 be a finite set and formula_157 a natural number. One may define a matroid on formula_3 by taking every formula_157-element subset of formula_3 to be a basis. This is known as the uniform matroid of rank formula_157. A uniform matroid with rank formula_157 and with formula_163 elements is denoted formula_164. All uniform matroids of rank at least 2 are simple (see ). The uniform matroid of rank 2 on formula_163 points is called the formula_163-point line. A matroid is uniform if and only if it has no circuits of size less than one plus the rank of the matroid. The direct sums of uniform matroids are called partition matroids.  In the uniform matroid formula_167, every element is a loop (an element that does not belong to any independent set), and in the uniform matroid formula_168, every element is a coloop (an element that belongs to all bases). The direct sum of matroids of these two types is a partition matroid in which every element is a loop or a coloop; it is called a discrete matroid. An equivalent definition of a discrete matroid is a matroid in which every proper, non-empty subset of the ground set formula_3 is a separator.

Matroids from linear algebra.

Matroid theory developed mainly out of a deep examination of the properties of independence and dimension in vector spaces. There are two ways to present the matroids defined in this way:  A matroid that is equivalent to a vector matroid, although it may be presented differently, is called representable or linear. If formula_1 is equivalent to a vector matroid over a field formula_186, then we say formula_1 is representable over in particular, formula_1 is real-representable if it is representable over the real numbers. For instance, although a graphic matroid (see below) is presented in terms of a graph, it is also representable by vectors over any field. A basic problem in matroid theory is to characterize the matroids that may be represented over a given field formula_186; Rota's conjecture describes a possible characterization for every finite field. The main results so far are characterizations of binary matroids (those representable over GF(2)) due to Tutte (1950s), of ternary matroids (representable over the 3-element field) due to Reid and Bixby, and separately to Seymour (1970s), and of quaternary matroids (representable over the 4-element field) due to Geelen, Gerards, and Kapoor (2000). This is very much an open area.  A regular matroid is a matroid that is representable over all possible fields. The Vámos matroid is the simplest example of a matroid that is not representable over any field.

Matroids from graph theory.

A second original source for the theory of matroids is graph theory.  Every finite graph (or multigraph) formula_190 gives rise to a matroid formula_191 as follows: take as formula_3 the set of all edges in formula_190 and consider a set of edges independent if and only if it is a forest; that is, if it does not contain a simple cycle. Then formula_191 is called a cycle matroid. Matroids derived in this way are graphic matroids. Not every matroid is graphic, but all matroids on three elements are graphic. Every graphic matroid is regular.  Other matroids on graphs were discovered subsequently:

Matroids from field extensions.

A third original source of matroid theory is field theory.  An extension of a field gives rise to a matroid. Suppose formula_186 and formula_226 are fields with formula_226 containing formula_186. Let formula_3 be any finite subset of formula_226. Define a subset formula_100 of formula_3 to be algebraically independent if the extension field formula_233 has transcendence degree equal to formula_234.  A matroid that is equivalent to a matroid of this kind is called an algebraic matroid. The problem of characterizing algebraic matroids is extremely difficult; little is known about it. The Vámos matroid provides an example of a matroid that is not algebraic.

Basic constructions.

There are some standard ways to make new matroids out of old ones.

Duality.

If "M" is a finite matroid, we can define the orthogonal or dual matroid "M"* by taking the same underlying set and calling a set a "basis" in "M"* if and only if its complement is a basis in "M". It is not difficult to verify that "M"* is a matroid and that the dual of "M"* is "M".  The dual can be described equally well in terms of other ways to define a matroid. For instance:  According to a matroid version of Kuratowski's theorem, the dual of a graphic matroid "M" is a graphic matroid if and only if "M" is the matroid of a planar graph. In this case, the dual of "M" is the matroid of the dual graph of "G". The dual of a vector matroid representable over a particular field "F" is also representable over "F". The dual of a transversal matroid is a strict gammoid and vice versa.  Example  The cycle matroid of a graph is the dual matroid of its bond matroid.

Minors.

If "M" is a matroid with element set "E", and "S" is a subset of "E", the restriction of "M" to "S", written "M" |"S", is the matroid on the set "S" whose independent sets are the independent sets of "M" that are contained in "S". Its circuits are the circuits of "M" that are contained in "S" and its rank function is that of "M" restricted to subsets of "S". In linear algebra, this corresponds to restricting to the subspace generated by the vectors in "S". Equivalently if "T" = "M"−"S" this may be termed the deletion of "T", written "M"\"T" or "M"−"T". The submatroids of "M" are precisely the results of a sequence of deletions: the order is irrelevant.  The dual operation of restriction is contraction. If "T" is a subset of "E", the contraction of "M" by "T", written "M"/"T", is the matroid on the underlying set "E − T" whose rank function is formula_236 In linear algebra, this corresponds to looking at the quotient space by the linear space generated by the vectors in "T", together with the images of the vectors in "E - T".  A matroid "N" that is obtained from "M" by a sequence of restriction and contraction operations is called a minor of "M". We say "M" contains "N" as a minor. Many important families of matroids may be characterized by the minor-minimal matroids that do not belong to the family; these are called forbidden or excluded minors.

Sums and unions.

Let "M" be a matroid with an underlying set of elements "E", and let "N" be another matroid on an underlying set "F". The direct sum of matroids "M" and "N" is the matroid whose underlying set is the disjoint union of "E" and "F", and whose independent sets are the disjoint unions of an independent set of "M" with an independent set of "N".  The union of "M" and "N" is the matroid whose underlying set is the union (not the disjoint union) of "E" and "F", and whose independent sets are those subsets that are the union of an independent set in "M" and one in "N". Usually the term "union" is applied when "E" = "F", but that assumption is not essential. If "E" and "F" are disjoint, the union is the direct sum.

Additional terminology.

Let "M" be a matroid with an underlying set of elements "E".

Algorithms.

Greedy algorithm.

A weighted matroid is a matroid together with a function from its elements to the nonnegative real numbers. The weight of a subset of elements is defined to be the sum of the weights of the elements in the subset. The greedy algorithm can be used to find a maximum-weight basis of the matroid, by starting from the empty set and repeatedly adding one element at a time, at each step choosing a maximum-weight element among the elements whose addition would preserve the independence of the augmented set. This algorithm does not need to know anything about the details of the matroid's definition, as long as it has access to the matroid through an independence oracle, a subroutine for testing whether a set is independent.  This optimization algorithm may be used to characterize matroids: if a family "F" of sets, closed under taking subsets, has the property that, no matter how the sets are weighted, the greedy algorithm finds a maximum-weight set in the family, then "F" must be the family of independent sets of a matroid.  The notion of matroid has been generalized to allow for other types of sets on which a greedy algorithm gives optimal solutions; see greedoid and matroid embedding for more information.

Matroid partitioning.

The matroid partitioning problem is to partition the elements of a matroid into as few independent sets as possible, and the matroid packing problem is to find as many disjoint spanning sets as possible. Both can be solved in polynomial time, and can be generalized to the problem of computing the rank or finding an independent set in a matroid sum.

Matroid intersection.

The intersection of two or more matroids is the family of sets that are simultaneously independent in each of the matroids. The problem of finding the largest set, or the maximum weighted set, in the intersection of two matroids can be found in polynomial time, and provides a solution to many other important combinatorial optimization problems. For instance, maximum matching in bipartite graphs can be expressed as a problem of intersecting two partition matroids. However, finding the largest set in an intersection of three or more matroids is NP-complete.

Matroid software.

Two standalone systems for calculations with matroids are Kingan's Oid and Hlineny's Macek. Both of them are open sourced packages. "Oid" is an interactive, extensible software system for experimenting with matroids. "Macek" is a specialized software system with tools and routines for reasonably efficient combinatorial computations with representable matroids.  Both open source mathematics software systems SAGE and Macaulay2 contain matroid packages.

Polynomial invariants.

There are two especially significant polynomials associated to a finite matroid "M" on the ground set "E". Each is a matroid invariant, which means that isomorphic matroids have the same polynomial.

Characteristic polynomial.

The characteristic polynomial of "M" (which is sometimes called the chromatic polynomial, although it does not count colorings), is defined to be or equivalently (as long as the empty set is closed in "M") as where μ denotes the Möbius function of the geometric lattice of the matroid and the sum is taken over all the flats A of the matroid.  When "M" is the cycle matroid "M"("G") of a graph "G", the characteristic polynomial is a slight transformation of the chromatic polynomial, which is given by χ (λ) = λ"p" (λ), where "c" is the number of connected components of "G".  When "M" is the bond matroid "M"*("G") of a graph "G", the characteristic polynomial equals the flow polynomial of "G".  When "M" is the matroid "M"("A") of an arrangement "A" of linear hyperplanes in R (or "F" where "F" is any field), the characteristic polynomial of the arrangement is given by "p" (λ) = λ"p" (λ).

Beta invariant.

The beta invariant of a matroid, introduced by Crapo (1967), may be expressed in terms of the characteristic polynomial "p" as an evaluation of the derivative or directly as The beta invariant is non-negative, and is zero if and only if "M" is disconnected, or empty, or a loop. Otherwise it depends only on the lattice of flats of "M". If "M" has no loops and coloops then β("M") = β("M").

Tutte polynomial.

The Tutte polynomial of a matroid, "T" ("x","y"), generalizes the characteristic polynomial to two variables. This gives it more combinatorial interpretations, and also gives it the duality property which implies a number of dualities between properties of "M" and properties of "M" *. One definition of the Tutte polynomial is This expresses the Tutte polynomial as an evaluation of the corank-nullity or rank generating polynomial, From this definition it is easy to see that the characteristic polynomial is, up to a simple factor, an evaluation of "T", specifically,  Another definition is in terms of internal and external activities and a sum over bases, reflecting the fact that "T"(1,1) is the number of bases. This, which sums over fewer subsets but has more complicated terms, was Tutte's original definition.  There is a further definition in terms of recursion by deletion and contraction. The deletion-contraction identity is An invariant of matroids (i.e., a function that takes the same value on isomorphic matroids) satisfying this recursion and the multiplicative condition is said to be a Tutte-Grothendieck invariant. The Tutte polynomial is the most general such invariant; that is, the Tutte polynomial is a Tutte-Grothendieck invariant and every such invariant is an evaluation of the Tutte polynomial.  The Tutte polynomial "T" of a graph is the Tutte polynomial "T" of its cycle matroid.

Infinite matroids.

The theory of infinite matroids is much more complicated than that of finite matroids and forms a subject of its own. For a long time, one of the difficulties has been that there were many reasonable and useful definitions, none of which appeared to capture all the important aspects of finite matroid theory. For instance, it seemed to be hard to have bases, circuits, and duality together in one notion of infinite matroids.  The simplest definition of an infinite matroid is to require "finite rank"; that is, the rank of "E" is finite. This theory is similar to that of finite matroids except for the failure of duality due to the fact that the dual of an infinite matroid of finite rank does not have finite rank. Finite-rank matroids include any subsets of finite-dimensional vector spaces and of field extensions of finite transcendence degree.  The next simplest infinite generalization is finitary matroids. A matroid is finitary if it has the property that Equivalently, every dependent set contains a finite dependent set. Examples are linear dependence of arbitrary subsets of infinite-dimensional vector spaces (but not infinite dependencies as in Hilbert and Banach spaces), and algebraic dependence in arbitrary subsets of field extensions of possibly infinite transcendence degree. Again, the class of finitary matroid is not self-dual, because the dual of a finitary matroid is not finitary. Finitary infinite matroids are studied in model theory, a branch of mathematical logic with strong ties to algebra.  In the late 1960s matroid theorists asked for a more general notion that shares the different aspects of finite matroids and generalizes their duality. Many notions of infinite matroids were defined in response to this challenge, but the question remained open. One of the approaches examined by D.A. Higgs became known as "B-matroids" and was studied by Higgs, Oxley and others in the 1960s and 1970s. According to a recent result by, it solves the problem: Arriving at the same notion independently, they provided five equivalent systems of axiom—in terms of independence, bases, circuits, closure and rank. The duality of B-matroids generalizes dualities that can be observed in infinite graphs.  The independence axioms are as follows:  With these axioms, every matroid has a dual.

History.

Matroid theory was introduced by. It was also independently discovered by Takeo Nakasawa, whose work was forgotten for many years.  In his seminal paper, Whitney provided two axioms for independence, and defined any structure adhering to these axioms to be "matroids". His key observation was that these axioms provide an abstraction of "independence" that is common to both graphs and matrices. Because of this, many of the terms used in matroid theory resemble the terms for their analogous concepts in linear algebra or graph theory.  Almost immediately after Whitney first wrote about matroids, an important article was written by on the relation of matroids to projective geometry. A year later, noted similarities between algebraic and linear dependence in his classic textbook on Modern Algebra.  In the 1940s Richard Rado developed further theory under the name "independence systems" with an eye towards transversal theory, where his name for the subject is still sometimes used.  In the 1950s W. T. Tutte became the foremost figure in matroid theory, a position he retained for many years. His contributions were plentiful, including the characterization of binary, regular, and graphic matroids by excluded minors; the regular-matroid representability theorem; the theory of chain groups and their matroids; and the tools he used to prove many of his results, the "Path theorem" and "Tutte homotopy theorem" (see, e.g., ), which are so complex that later theorists have gone to great trouble to eliminate the necessity of using them in proofs. (A fine example is A. M. H. Gerards' short proof (1989) of Tutte's characterization of regular matroids.)  In 1976 Dominic Welsh published the first comprehensive book on matroid theory.  Paul Seymour's decomposition theorem for regular matroids (1980) was the most significant and influential work of the late 1970s and the 1980s. Another fundamental contribution, by, showed why projective geometries and Dowling geometries play such an important role in matroid theory.  By this time there were many other important contributors, but one should not omit to mention Geoff Whittle's extension to ternary matroids of Tutte's characterization of binary matroids that are representable over the rationals, perhaps the biggest single contribution of the 1990s. In the current period (since around 2000) the Matroid Minors Project of Jim Geelen, Gerards, Whittle, and others, which attempts to duplicate for matroids that are representable over a finite field the success of the Robertson–Seymour Graph Minors Project (see Robertson–Seymour theorem), has produced substantial advances in the structure theory of matroids. Many others have also contributed to that part of matroid theory, which (in the first and second decades of the 21st century) is flourishing.

Researchers.

Mathematicians who pioneered the study of matroids include Takeo Nakasawa, Saunders Mac Lane, Richard Rado, W. T. Tutte, B. L. van der Waerden, and Hassler Whitney. Other major contributors include Jack Edmonds, Jim Geelen, Eugene Lawler, László Lovász, Gian-Carlo Rota, P. D. Seymour, and Dominic Welsh.

In combinatorics, a branch of mathematics, a matroid is a structure that abstracts and generalizes the notion of linear independence in vector spaces. There are many equivalent ways to define a matroid axiomatically, the most significant being in terms of: independent sets; bases or circuits; rank functions; closure operators; and closed sets or flats. In the language of partially ordered sets, a finite matroid is equivalent to a geometric lattice.

Ein Matroid ("n.") ist eine mathematische Struktur, mit deren Hilfe der Begriff der Unabhängigkeit aus der linearen Algebra verallgemeinert wird. Es stellt einen Spezialfall der allgemeineren Unabhängigkeitssysteme dar. Matroide besitzen Anwendungen in vielen Bereichen der Kombinatorik, insbesondere der kombinatorischen Optimierung, sowie der Graphentheorie.