Biography.

Ahle was born in Mühlhausen, Thuringia. While not much is known of his early musical training, he attended the grammar school in Göttingen and then studied theology at the University of Erfurt from 1645 to 1649. In 1646 he became cantor at the in Erfurt. In 1648 he published the "Compendium per tenellis", a theoretical treatise on choral singing which was reprinted several times during his lifetime and for a last time 50 years later by his son Johann Georg (the last edition appeared in 1704).  In 1654 Ahle assumed the post of organist at the Divi Blasii in Mühlhausen. The next year he married Anna Maria Wölfer; their son, Johann Georg Ahle (1651-1706), was also a well-known composer and organist. Ahle was elected a town councillor in Mühlhausen in the 1650s, and was elected mayor shortly before his death in 1673. His immediate successor at the church was his son Johann Georg, and then briefly Johann Sebastian Bach, who worked in Mühlhausen in 1707/08.  Much of Ahle's compositional output consists of sacred choral and vocal works, instrumental music, and organ music. He is best known for motets and sacred concertos (most of them in German, some in Latin) contained in the collection "Neu-gepflanzte Thüringische Lust-Garten, in welchem... Neue Geistliche Musicalische Gewaechse mit 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10 und mehr Stimmen auf unterschiedliche Arten mit und ohne Instrument... versetzet" (1657–65). He is also known for hymn melodies, of which three remain in the common German Protestant hymnal "Evangelisches Gesangbuch", including "Liebster Jesu, wir sind hier".

Johann Rudolph Ahle (24 December 1625 – 9 July 1673) was a German composer, organist, theorist, and Protestant church musician.

Johann Rudolph Ahle, auch Johann Rudolf Ahle (* 24. Dezember 1625 in Mühlhausen/Thüringen; † 9. Juli 1673 ebenda) war ein deutscher Komponist, Organist, Dichter und evangelischer Kirchenmusiker.


Materials.

In addition to common glass making materials manganese, quartz pebbles, and alume catino, a particularly suitable form of soda ash, are used in the making of cristallo glass.  Rather than using common sand, crushed quartz pebbles were used instead. The quartz pebbles were typically from the Ticino and the Adige rivers. The quartz pebbles went through a rigorous screening process before being selected for use in cristallo production. The quartz pebbles had to be free of yellow and black veins and also had to be able to produce sparks when struck with steel.  If the quartz pebbles passed the selection process then the pebbles were heated to the point where the stones began to glow and then placed into cold water. Then the pebbles were crushed and ground.  The typical flux used in the production of cristallo was called alume catino. Alume catino was derived from the ash of the salsola soda and salsola kali bushes that grew in the Levantine coastal region. It was found to contain high and constant amounts of sodium and calcium carbonates, necessary to make workable and chemically stable glass.  The ash of the plants was carefully sieved and then placed into water to be gently boiled with constant mixing. Then the ashen mixture was placed into shallow pans to be dried. The alume catino would repeatedly undergo the boiling and drying process until all of the salt was extracted from the ashes.

Process.

The crushed and ground quartz was mixed with the purified alume catino and constantly mixed at high temperatures. The top of the molten batch would then be skimmed off. By skimming the top of the molten glass, unreacted and undissolved chlorides and sulfates in the mixture were removed.  The molten glass would then be ladled into vats of water. The water removed chloride and sulfate impurities from the mixture. The process of remelting and placing the molten mixture into vats of water was repeated several times until the glass-makers were satisfied.  Next the glass was placed into a furnace that was heated to the highest temperature possible and left there for several days. The material was stirred continually to eliminate defects, such as bubbles.  Then the refined mixture was taken, heated and shaped into blocks called frit. The frit was then taken and remelted and skimmed once again in order to remove impurities. The batch then had manganese added to the mixture at this time. The addition of manganese helps to rid the cristallo of any color tints. This step is repeated until the glass-maker is satisfied.  Now the molten mixture is ready to be shaped by glass-makers into pieces of cristalloware.

Cristallo is a glass which is totally clear (like rock crystal), without the slight yellow or greenish color originating from iron oxide impurities. This effect is achieved through small additions of manganese oxide. Often Cristallo has a low lime content which makes it prone to glass corrosion (otherwise known as glass disease).

Kristallglas, auch Hartglas, Spiegelglas oder Kronglas, ist ein farbloses Glas, das oft Metalloxide oder -ionen als Zusätze enthält. Im Falle von Bleioxid spricht man von Flintglas. Es ist jedoch nicht im physikalischen Sinne kristallin, sondern amorph wie alle Glassorten. Die Bezeichnung „Kristallglas“ bezieht sich auf den im Vergleich zu Kalk-Natron-Glas erhöhten Brechungsindex und die erhöhte Dispersion, die Brechung und Farbeffekte hervorrufen, die an Kristalle wie etwa Quarz erinnern.


Background and education.

The fifth son of Henry Vansittart (died 1770), the Governor of Bengal, Vansittart was born in Bloomsbury, Middlesex, and raised in Bray, Berkshire. Educated at Christ Church, Oxford, he took his degree in 1787, and was called to the bar at Lincolns Inn. From the early 1770s he was living with his mother at 60 Crooms Hill, Greenwich.

Political career.

Vansittart began his public career by writing pamphlets in defence of the administration of William Pitt, especially on its financial side, and in May 1796 became Member of Parliament for Hastings, retaining his seat until July 1802, when he was returned for Old Sarum. In February 1801 he was sent on a diplomatic errand to Copenhagen, and shortly after his return was appointed joint Secretary to the Treasury, a position which he retained until the resignation of Henry Addington's ministry in April 1804. Owing to the influence of his friend, the Duke of Cumberland, he became Chief Secretary for Ireland under Pitt in January 1805, resigning his office in the following September. With Addington, now Viscount Sidmouth, he joined the government of Charles James Fox and Lord Grenville as Secretary to the Treasury in February 1806, leaving office with Sidmouth just before the fall of the ministry in March 1807.  During these and the next few years Vansittart's reputation as a financier was gradually rising. In 1809 he proposed and carried without opposition in the House of Commons thirty-eight resolutions on financial questions, and only his loyalty to Sidmouth prevented him from joining the cabinet of Spencer Perceval as Chancellor of the Exchequer in October 1809. He opposed an early resumption of cash payments in 1811, and became Chancellor of the Exchequer when the Earl of Liverpool succeeded Perceval in May 1812. Having forsaken Old Sarum, he had represented Helston from November 1806 to June 1812; and after being member for East Grinstead for a few weeks, was returned for Harwich in October 1812.

Chancellor of the Exchequer.

When Vansittart became Chancellor of the Exchequer the country was burdened with heavy taxation and an enormous debt. Nevertheless, the continuance of the Napoleonic Wars compelled him to increase the customs duties and other taxes, and in 1813 he introduced a complicated scheme for dealing with the sinking fund. In 1816, after the conclusion of peace, a large decrease in taxation was generally desired, and there was an outcry when the Chancellor proposed only to reduce, not to abolish, the property or income tax. The abolition of this tax, however, was carried in parliament, and Vansittart was also obliged to remit the extra tax on malt, meeting a large deficiency principally by borrowing. He devoted considerable attention to effecting real or supposed economies with regard to the national debt. He carried an elaborate scheme for handing over the payment of naval and military pensions to contractors, who would be paid a fixed annual sum for forty-five years; but no one was found willing to undertake this contract, although a modified plan on the same lines was afterwards adopted.  Vansittart became very unpopular in the country, and he resigned his office in December 1822. His system of finance was severely criticised by William Huskisson, Tierney, Brougham, Hume and Ricardo. On his resignation Liverpool offered Vansittart the post of Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster. Accepting this offer in February 1823, he was raised to the peerage as Baron Bexley, of Bexley in the County of Kent, in March, and granted a pension of £3000 a year. He resigned in January 1828. In the House of Lords, Bexley took very little part in public business, although he introduced the Spitalfields Weavers Bill in 1823, and voted for Catholic Emancipation in 1824. He took a good deal of interest in the British and Foreign Bible Mission, the Church Missionary Society and kindred bodies, funded Kenyon college and seminary on the US western frontier (the seminary is now named Bexley Hall in his honour) and assisted in founding King's College London. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1822. He was also one of the Vice-Presidents of the American Colonization Society, whose aim was to repatriate African freedmen in the United States to the African continent.

Family.

Lord Bexley married the Hon. Catherine Isabella (1778–1810), daughter of William Eden, 1st Baron Auckland, in July 1806. He withdrew from public life in the spring of 1809 to take her on rest cures at Malvern and Torquay. The marriage was childless. He died at Foots Cray, Kent, on 8 February 1851. As he had no issue the title became extinct on his death.

Archives.

There are nine volumes of Vansittart's papers in the British Library.

Nicholas Vansittart, 1st Baron Bexley, (29 April 1766 – 8 February 1851) was an English politician, and one of the longest-serving Chancellors of the Exchequer in British history.

Nicholas Vansittart, 1. Baron Bexley PC (* 29. April 1766 in London; † 8. Februar 1851 in Kent) war ein deutschstämmiger britischer Politiker und Staatsmann.


History.

The modern city of Kurashiki was founded on April 1, 1928. Previously, it was the site of clashes between the Taira and Minamoto clans during the Heian period. It gradually developed as a river port. During the Edo period, it became an area directly controlled by the shogunate. Distinctive white-walled, black-tiled warehouses were built to store goods. During the Meiji Restoration (Japan's Industrial Revolution period), factories were built, including the Ohara Spinning Mill, which still stands as the nostalgic tourist attraction Ivy Square.  On August 1, 2005, the town of Mabi (from Kibi District), and the town of Funao (from Asakuchi District) were merged with Kurashiki.

Attractions.

Kurashiki is the home of Japan's first museum for Western art, the Ohara Museum of Art. Established in 1930 by Magosaburō Ōhara, it contains paintings by El Greco, Monet, Matisse, Gauguin, and Renoir. The collection also presents fine examples of Asian and contemporary art. The main building is designed in the style of Neoclassicism.  The old merchant quarter is called the Bikan historical area. It contains many fine examples of 17th century wooden warehouses ("kura", 倉) painted white with traditional black tiles, along a canal framed with weeping willows and filled with "koi". The area has no electric poles in order to make it more closely resemble the look of the Meiji period. One of the city's former town halls was located in the Kurashiki Kan, a European style building constructed in 1917.  In 1997 a theme park called "Tivoli" (after the park of the same name in Copenhagen) opened near Kurashiki Station. After ten years of operation it was closed in 2008, with a massive debt.  The Great Seto Bridge connects the city to Sakaide in Kagawa Prefecture across the Inland Sea.  Kenzo Tange, winner of the 1987 Pritzker Prize for architecture, designed the former Kurashiki City Hall in 1960.

Education.

Colleges and universities.

The city is home to several private universities and one public university.

Primary and secondary schools.

The city has a North Korean school,.

Sports.

Kurashiki has a variety of Sports clubs, including former Japan Football League side Mitsubishi Mizushima.  Kurashiki was also the place where current J. League sides Vissel Kobe and Fagiano Okayama had their origins before moving.

Sister/friendship cities.

Kurashiki maintains the following sister/friendship cities:

As of March 31, 2017, the city has an estimated population of 483,576 and a population density of 1,400 persons per km2. The total area is 355.63 km2.

Kurashiki (jap., "-shi") ist eine Großstadt in der Präfektur Okayama und der ehemaligen Provinz Bitchū auf Honshū, der Hauptinsel von Japan.


Etymology.

Unlike most of the larger Orkney islands, the derivation of the name 'Shapinsay' is not obvious. The final 'ay' is from the Old Norse for "island", but the first two syllables are more difficult to interpret. Haswell-Smith (2004) suggests the root may be "hjalpandis-øy" ("helpful island") owing to the presence of a good harbour, although anchorages are plentiful in the archipelago. The first written record dates from 1375 in a reference to "Scalpandisay", which may suggest a derivation from "Judge's island". Another suggestion is "Hyalpandi's island", although no one of that name is known to be associated with Shapinsay.

History.

Early history.

Standing stones provide evidence of the island's human occupation since Neolithic times. According to Tacitus, the Roman general Agricola subdued the inhabitants of the Orkney Islands, and a local legend holds that he landed on Shapinsay. During the 18th century, a croft named "Grukalty" was renamed "Agricola" (which is also Latin for "farmer"). Roman coins have been found on Shapinsay, but they may have been brought to the island by traders.  Shapinsay is briefly mentioned in the Norse sagas. "The Saga of Haakon Haakonsson" states that Haakon IV of Norway anchored in Elwick Bay before sailing south to eventual defeat at the Battle of Largs.

18th century.

The 18th century saw the beginnings of change to agriculture on Shapinsay, courtesy of the Balfour family. The family owned the estate of Sound, which covered the western part of the island. Sound had passed from the Tulloch family to the Buchanan family in the 17th century. In 1674, Arthur Buchanan built the house of Sound, where Balfour Castle now stands. His granddaughter married James Fea, who is best known for his role in the capture of the Orkney Pirate John Gow. Fea was a supporter of the Jacobite rising of 1715, and the house was burned by Hanoverian troops in revenge. The estate was acquired by Andrew Ross, Stewart Depute in Orkney of the Earl of Morton. Ross's heirs, the Lindsay brothers, sold the estate to Thomas Balfour in 1782. Balfour had previously rented the Bu of Burray, a large manor farm on another Orkney island, but had insufficient wealth to acquire the estate even though his wife had inherited a legacy on the death of her aristocratic brother. To raise the necessary funds, Balfour had to sell his military commission and borrow from his brother, John, who was prospering in India with the East India Company. Once installed on the island, he built a new house, Cliffdale, and founded the village of Shoreside, now known as Balfour. He also reformed the local agriculture, enclosing fields and constructing farm buildings.  William Irving was born c. 1740 in the small hamlet of Quholm in the northeast of the island. He became a sailor before emigrating to New York in 1763. One of his sons was Washington Irving, author of Rip van Winkle and the first American author to gain international recognition.  Marjory Meason, a native of Shapinsay, was the last person to be executed in Orkney, in 1728. She was a young servant, hanged in Kirkwall for the murder of a child. The execution is recorded as requiring 24 armed men, not including officers, and costing £15 8s.  During this period, burning kelp was a mainstay of the island economy. More than of burned seaweed were produced per annum to make soda ash, bringing in £20,000 for the inhabitants. Thomas Balfour's income from the kelp industry brought him four times the income that farming did.

19th century.

The 19th century saw more radical change in Shapinsay. Thomas Balfour's grandson, David Balfour, transformed the island after inheriting the family estate, which by 1846 encompassed the whole of Shapinsay. Most of the land was divided into fields of, a feature that is still apparent today. Tenants were required to enclose and drain the land or pay for the estate to do it in the form of a surcharge added to their rents. In 1846, on Shapinsay consisted of arable land. By 1860, that had trebled to more than. New crops and breeds of cattle and sheep were also introduced. Balfour's reforms were described as "the fountain and source of Orkney Improvement."  Balfour also gave the island its most noticeable landmark when he recruited an Edinburgh architect, David Bryce, to transform Cliffdale House into the Scottish Baronial Balfour Castle. Other buildings he added to the island include the porter's lodge (now a public house called The Gatehouse), a water mill, a school, and a gasworks that remained operational until the 1920s. The gasworks is in the form of a round tower with a corbelled parapet of red brick and carved stones—including one possibly removed from Noltland Castle on Westray, which is inscribed with the year 1725. The structure appears to be fortified, in accordance with Balfour's intention to give the village a medieval appearance. David Balfour was also responsible for the construction of Mill Dam, a wetland which was once the water supply for the mill and is now an RSPB nature reserve.  Fishing for herring and cod also grew in importance during the 19th century. Herring fishing was expanding generally in Scotland at that time, with fishing stations being set up in remote areas. Herring fishing began in 1814 on Stronsay and soon spread throughout the Orkney Islands. By the middle of the century, Shapinsay had 50 herring boats. Cod became important largely because the Napoleonic Wars forced English fishing boats to fish further north. Local fishermen, who had been catching fish using lines from small boats for centuries, also began trawling for cod. However, this was largely a part-time venture, unlike in Shetland, where many inhabitants made a living from fishing. A saying originating from this time states, "a Shetlander is a fisherman with a croft, while an Orcadian is a farmer with a boat." Consequently, fishermen from outside the Orkney Islands earned a large share of the profits. Helliar Holm's beaches were used to dry both herring and cod after they had been salted. With the end of the Napoleonic Wars, which led to cheaper sources of soda ash becoming available from continental Europe, the kelp industry collapsed by 1830. This collapse helped fuel agricultural reform, as crofters accustomed to earning a second income had to now earn more from farming.

20th century.

The Balfour estate sold its farms on Shapinsay between 1924 and 1928. This was a common occurrence in Orkney at the time as wealthy landowners moved to more lucrative forms of investment. Farms were generally sold to the sitting tenant or to their neighbours who wished to expand.  The 20th century saw many changes in farming on Shapinsay. Mechanised implements came to the island, particularly after the Second World War. In common with the rest of Orkney, the amount of land given over to growing grass increased. The growing of grain (with the exception of barley) and turnips steadily declined as these were replaced as winter fodder for livestock by silage, usually harvested by mechanical forage harvesters.  Orkney was a strategic site during both World Wars, and Shapinsay was no exception. In 1917, during the First World War, the "Swiftsure" was hit by a mine 4 kilometres (2.5 mi) east of Haco's Ness and sank in 19 metres (62 ft) of water with the loss of a single life. The site of the wreck was not discovered until 1997.  During the Second World War, gun batteries were built on the island. A twin six pounder emplacement at Galtness Battery on the coast at Salt Ness protected the Wide Firth from German torpedo boats. A Castle Battery was operational from 1941–43, as was an anti-aircraft battery. Mains electricity arrived on Shapinsay in the 1970s, when an underwater cable was laid from Kirkwall.  The trend towards more intensive farming began to be partially reversed by the end of the century as more environmentally friendly practices were encouraged by government and European Union grants. For example, Richard Zawadzki, owner of Balfour Mains (the largest farm on the island), ceased to breed livestock (instead keeping animals bred elsewhere) and grew less grain (some barley is still grown on the farm). Instead, some of the land is now managed under a Habitat Creation Scheme, which aims to encourage natural vegetation, wild flowers and nesting birds by limiting grazing and reducing the use of chemical fertilisers.  Tourism started to become important in the latter half of the century; the first restaurant to incorporate bed and breakfast facilities opened in 1980.

Geography.

With an area of, Shapinsay is the 8th largest Orkney island and the 29th largest Scottish island. The highest point of Ward Hill is above sea level. The east coast is composed of low cliffs and has several sea caves, including the picturesque geo at the extreme northern tip known as Geo of Ork. Elwick Bay is a sheltered anchorage on the south coast, facing the Orkney mainland; the island's largest settlement, Balfour, is at the western end of the bay.  The island has several ayres, or storm beaches, which form narrow spits of shingle or sand cutting across the landward and seaward ends of shallow bays. They can sometimes cut off a body of water from the sea, forming shallow freshwater lochs known as oyces. Examples include Vasa Loch and Lairo Water.  There are several small islands in the vicinity including Broad Shoal, Grass Holm and Skerry of Vasa. Helliar Holm is a tidal islet at the eastern entrance to the main harbour at Balfour; it has a small lighthouse and a ruined broch. The String, a stretch of water that lies between Helliar Holm and the mainland, has strong tidal currents.

Geology.

In common with most of the Orkney isles, Shapinsay has a bedrock formed from Old Red Sandstone, which is approximately 400 million years old and was laid down in the Devonian period. These thick deposits accumulated as earlier Silurian rocks, uplifted by the formation of Pangaea, eroded and then deposited into river deltas. The freshwater Lake Orcadie existed on the edges of these eroding mountains, stretching from Shetland to the southern Moray Firth. The composition of Shapinsay is mostly of the Rousay flagstone group from the Lower Middle Devonian, with some Eday flagstone in the southeast formed in wetter conditions during the later Upper Devonian. The latter is regarded as a better quality building material than the former. At Haco's Ness in the south east corner of the island is a small outcrop of amygdaloidal diabase. The island is overlain with a fertile layer of boulder clay formed during the Pleistocene glaciations.

Flora and fauna.

The island's bird life is particularly rich in waders such as curlew and redshank, found at The Ouse and Veantro Bay, and gull and tern colonies on the rockier shores and cliffs. pintail, shovellers and whooper swans are regular summer visitors, and there are also breeding populations of shelducks, hen harriers and bonxies. There is an introduced population of red-legged partridges. Otters can be seen at the Ouse, Lairo Water and Vasa Loch, and at various places around the coast along with common seals and Atlantic grey seals. There are plans to build a hide to allow visitors to observe seals without disturbing them. Shapinsay and Hoy are the only two larger Orkney islands that lack the Orkney vole ("Microtus arvalis orcadensis"). Wildflowers abound in the summer, and the lichen "Melaspilea interjecta", which is endemic to Scotland, is found in only three locations, including Shapinsay. In addition to the RSPB reserve at Mill Dam there is a Scottish Wildlife Trust reserve at East Hill in the southeast.

Demography.

The highest recorded population for Shapinsay is 974, in 1881. Since then, the population of the island has steadily declined; less than a third of that number was recorded in the 2001 census. The rate of absolute population loss was lower in the last decades of the 20th century than it had been in the first half of that century. In 2001, Shapinsay had a population of 300, a decline of 6.8% from 322 in 1991. This was greater than the population decline for Orkney overall in the same period, which was 1.9%. However, the loss in population on Shapinsay was less than that experienced by most Orkney islands, most of which experienced declines of more than 10%. The number of persons per hectare on Shapinsay was 0.1, similar to the 0.2 persons per hectare across Orkney. At the time of the 2011 census the usually resident population had increased to 307. During the same period Scottish island populations as a whole grew by 4% to 103,702.  Of the island's 300 inhabitants recorded in 2001, 283 were born in the United Kingdom (227 in Scotland and 56 in England). Seventeen were born outside the United Kingdom (four elsewhere in Europe, four in Asia, four in North America, one in South America and four in Oceania). By age group, 85 of the inhabitants were under 30 years of age, 134 were aged between 30 and 59, and 71 were age 60 and over.

Notable buildings.

Balfour Castle dominates views of the southwest of the island and can be seen from the tower of St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall. The castle library features a secret passage hidden behind a false set of bookshelves. The Balfours escaped unwelcome visitors through this passageway, which leads to the conservatory door, enabling the butler to truthfully tell visitors that the Balfours were not in the house. Another feature of the castle is the stags' heads with gaslights at the tips of their antlers, although these are no longer used as working lights. The castle grounds feature deciduous woodland (now rare in Orkney) and of walled gardens. Though built around an older structure that dates at least from the 18th century, the present castle was built in 1847, commissioned by Colonel David Balfour, and designed by Edinburgh architect David Bryce.  Other buildings constructed by David Balfour include the Dishan Tower, known locally as "The Douche". This is a saltwater shower building with a dovecote on top. A local landmark due to its high visibility when approaching the island by sea, the building is now in a serious state of disrepair, with roofing slates missing and the dovecote in danger of collapsing. A more ancient dwelling on Shapinsay is the Iron Age Broch of Burroughston. Only the interior of this partially buried building has been excavated, allowing visitors to look down into the broch from the surrounding mound. The surviving drystone walls rise to about three metres (10 ft) and are more than four metres (13 ft) thick in some places.  The broch shows more evidence of David Balfour's influence on Shapinsay. He arranged for the site to be excavated by the archaeologists George Petrie and Sir William Dryden in 1861. The site was neglected after the excavation, slowly filling up with vegetation and rubble before being cleared in 1994.  Shapinsay Heritage Centre is located in Balfour's former smithy, along with a craft shop and a cafe. The castle's former gatehouse is now the village public house.

Economy.

In common with the other Orkney islands, Shapinsay is fertile agricultural land, with farms specialising in beef and lamb which export thousands of cattle and sheep annually. Orkney Ferries provides transport for pedestrians and vehicles, proximity to Kirkwall permitting closer contacts with the Orkney Mainland than is possible for most of the other North Isles. There are six crossings per day, the journey lasting about 25 minutes, which allows for a moderate amount of commuting. Between 1893 and 1964, the island was served by the steamer "Iona". Since 1964, the "Klydon" and then the "Clytus" have operated the service; the current ferry is the. The Orkney Islands Council has considered building a tunnel to the Orkney Mainland. Balfour Castle was run as a hotel by the family of Captain Tadeusz Zawadzki, a Polish cavalry officer, but is now in use as a private house. The Shapinsay development trust is working on the island's community plan, and owns the island's wind turbine, which was completed in August 2011 after the community voted for its construction. According to the development trust, the turbine could earn more than £5 million during its 25-year lifetime.  Small businesses on Shapinsay include a jam and chutney manufacturer, which uses traditional methods, and a studio offering residential arts courses such as stained glass crafting.

Education and culture.

Shapinsay has a primary school, which in the 2006–7 academic year had 26 pupils. Before 1995, the island also had a secondary school but lost this because of falling enrolment and improved transport links with Kirkwall, to where Shapinsay secondary pupils now travel. The school doubles as a community centre and is host to a learning centre supported by the UHI Millennium Institute. This centre uses the internet, email and video-conferencing to allow students in Shapinsay to study without leaving the island.  In December 2006, the pupils staged a joint Christmas show with a school in Grinder, Norway, from Shapinsay. The schools used the internet to collaborate, supported by BT Group (BT), which upgraded the school's broadband connection. The finale of the show involved the Norwegian pupils singing "Away in a Manger" in English while the Shapinsay pupils responded with "En Stjerne Skinner I Natt" in Norwegian. This multilingual collaboration was somewhat easier for the Grinder pupils, who are taught English from the age of six. This collaboration was part of an ongoing relationship between the schools, whose children exchange letters and cards. Shapinsay school's headteacher has visited the Norwegian school, and there are plans for a reciprocal visit in 2008.  Shapinsay Community School has gained a Silver Award under the international Eco-Schools programme. School pupils have carried out an energy audit, helped to plant more than 600 trees close to the school and carried out energy saving campaigns. Shapinsay pupils have also won an award from the Scottish Crofters Commission for producing a booklet on crofting on the island.

Folklore.

Cubbie Roo, the best known Orcadian giant, has a presence on Shapinsay. He was originally based on the historical figure Kolbein Hrúga, who built Cubbie Roo's Castle in 1150 on the isle of Wyre, which is possibly the oldest castle in Scotland, and was mentioned in the "Orkneyinga Saga". However, the figure Cubbie Roo has departed far from his historical origins and has become a giant in the fashion that Finn MacCool (legendary builder of the Giant's Causeway) has in parts of Scotland and Ireland. He is said to have lived on the island of Wyre and used Orkney's islands as stepping stones. Many large stones on Orkney islands, including Shapinsay, are said to have been thrown or left there by the giant. Cubbie Roo's Burn is a waterway on Shapinsay that flows through a channel called "Trolldgeo". Cubbie Roo's Lade is a pile of stones on the shore near Rothiesholm Head, the westmost point of Stronsay. This is supposedly the beginning of a bridge between the two islands that the giant had failed to complete. The name derives from the Old Norse "trolla-hlad", meaning "giant's causeway".  In 1905, "The Orcadian" newspaper reported that a strange creature had been seen off the coast of Shapinsay. It was reportedly the size of a horse, with a spotted body covered in scales. Opinion on the creature's origin was divided, with some islanders believing it to be a sea serpent, while others opined that it was merely a large seal.

Shapinsay is one of the Orkney Islands off the north coast of mainland Scotland. There is one village on the island, Balfour, from which roll-on/roll-off car ferries sail to Kirkwall on the Orkney Mainland. Balfour Castle, built in the Scottish Baronial style, is one of the island's most prominent features, a reminder of the Balfour family's domination of Shapinsay during the 18th and 19th centuries; the Balfours transformed life on the island by introducing new agricultural techniques. Other landmarks include a standing stone, an Iron Age broch, a souterrain and a salt-water shower.

Shapinsay gehört zu den Orkneys und liegt nur sechs Kilometer nördlich von Kirkwall, von wo die Insel durch eine regelmäßige Fährverbindung mehrmals täglich in etwa 30 Minuten mit modernen Ro-Ro-Fähren zu erreichen ist. 2011 lebten 307 Personen auf Shapinsay. Shapinsay hat bei einer Ausdehnung von 7,5 km × 6 km eine Fläche von 29,48 km und ist mit einer max. Erhebung von 70 Metern recht flach. Die 300 Einwohner leben zu einem großen Teil im kleinen Hafenort Balfour Village und auf den über die Insel verstreuten Farmen.


Family background.

Yuan Shao was born in Ruyang County (), Runan Commandery (), which is in present-day Shangshui County, Henan. His family had for over four generations been a prominent force in the Han civil service, having produced numerous members in high positions since the first century CE. Descended from Yuan An, who served during the reign of Emperor Zhang, Yuan Shao's exact parentage was the source of some controversy, being one of the primary points of contention between himself and his half-brother, or cousin, Yuan Shu. Yuan Shao was a son of Yuan Feng () and the eldest sibling, supposedly to the ire of Yuan Shu. Both Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu are recognised as great-grandsons of Yuan An, as recorded in Wang Shen's "Book of Wei" ().  Yuan Shao's mother was originally a servant of Yuan Feng. Since Yuan Feng lacked male heirs, the birth of Yuan Shao elevated his mother to the status of a concubine. The "Records of the Three Kingdoms" contend that Yuan Shao was in fact an older cousin of Yuan Shu, and was adopted by the elder brother of Yuan Feng, Yuan Cheng, who also lacked male heirs. The act of adopting Yuan Shao would have infuriated Yuan Shu, because his own mother, a concubine of Yuan Feng, held a higher status than that of Yuan Shao's mother; however, by Yuan Cheng's adoption of Yuan Shao, Yuan Shu was no longer the eldest son of the Yuan family. Yuan Shao enjoyed more privileges than Yuan Shu, despite the latter being a blood-related member of the clan.  When Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu became involved in disputes later, Yuan Shu used Yuan Shao's mother as an excuse to claim that he was not a "true son" of the Yuan family. When compared to Yuan Shu, Yuan Shao had a more serious appearance and respected men of talent regardless of their background; as such, he was welcomed by many since his childhood, including Cao Cao and Zhang Miao.

Service under the Han dynasty (–189).

When Yuan Shao was young, he participated in saving some of the "partisans" from death or other terrible fates during the second of the Disasters of Partisan Prohibitions. After he entered the civil service, Yuan Shao initially served as an aide to General-in-Chief He Jin, who deeply trusted him.  After the death of Emperor Ling in 189, He Jin and Yuan Shao plotted to eliminate the eunuch faction, but Empress Dowager He was against their idea. He Jin then summoned Dong Zhuo to lead troops into the imperial capital, Luoyang, to pressure the empress dowager. The eunuchs became fearful and they forged an edict in the empress dowager's name, summoning He Jin into the inner palace. Yuan Shao cautioned He Jin, reminding him that he should order an attack on the eunuchs instead of entering the palace. After He Jin refused to accept his advice thrice, Yuan Shao and Yuan Shu led 200 elite troops to wait outside. On 22 September 189, inside the palace, He Jin was ambushed and assassinated by the eunuchs, who tossed his severed head over the wall. He Jin's angered followers set fire to the palace and charged in, slaughtering every person (except females) without facial hair; to the extreme that many young men without facial hair had to show their genitals to avoid being mistaken for eunuchs and killed. Over 2,000 people were killed in the massacre, while the young Emperor Shao and Prince of Chenliu (future Emperor Xian) escaped during the chaos. The resulting power vacuum provided Dong Zhuo, who found and rescued the emperor and prince, with an opportunity to seize control of the imperial capital when he arrived.  Dong Zhuo then discussed with Yuan Shao about his plan to depose Emperor Shao and replace him with the Prince of Chenliu, but Yuan Shao disagreed. Relations between the two deteriorated and Yuan Shao fled from Luoyang to Ji Province (present day southern Hebei). At the time, Yuan Shao just got out through the city gates of Luoyang, Dong Zhuo thought about sending men after him, but Zhou Bi, Wu Qiong and He Yong secretly helped Yuan Shao by convincing Dong Zhuo to let him go. As suggested by the three men, Dong Zhuo appointed Yuan Shao as the Administrator of Bohai Commandery (near present-day Cangzhou, Hebei) in a bid to appease him.

Coalition against Dong Zhuo (190–191).

Sun Jian's advancement.

By early 190, however, Yuan became openly hostile. A coalition of regional officials and commanders from the eastern provinces, including Cao Cao, Yuan Shu, Han Fu, Zhang Miao and Bao Xin, formed up behind him in a campaign to oust Dong Zhuo. Yuan Shao declared himself General of Chariots and Cavalry () and camped at Henei (), near a ford on the Yellow River just north of Luoyang. Dong Zhuo ordered the execution of all members of the Yuan clan in Luoyang, and sent out emissaries with imperial edicts ordering the regional officials to disband. However, members of the coalition listened to Yuan Shao, and had all the emissaries executed instead (except Han Rong). Dong Zhuo then sent Hu Zhen, Lü Bu and Hua Xiong to deter the coalition vanguard led by Sun Jian. Despite initial success, Sun was able to capitalise on the internal conflict between Hu Zhen and Lü Bu and defeated them at Yangren. After that loss, Dong Zhuo decided to move the imperial capital to Chang'an, where his home base of Liang Province was nearby. A year later, Dong Zhuo burnt Luoyang to the ground and withdrew to the west with the mass of refugees. Although lacking a logistical base, Sun Jian and Cao Cao requested to pursue Dong Zhuo's retreating force, but Yuan Shao and other members largely disagreed with their opinion. Sun Jian was ordered to rendezvous with Yuan Shu, so Cao Cao led his own men to go on the pursuit alone, and was soundly defeated by Dong Zhuo's subordinate, Xu Rong.

Dissolution.

During this time, Yuan Shao and Han Fu had intended to establish the legitimacy of the coalition by declaring Liu Yu, the governor of You Province (present day northern Hebei), the new emperor to replace Emperor Xian. However, believing that it would be faithless to Emperor Xian for him to accept, Liu Yu declined the offer. When the scene of the ruined capital coming into their eyes, the disunited leaders of the coalition realised that the Han dynasty was coming to an end, and started planning on strengthening their position, and soon returned to their respective home bases.

Unifying northern China (191–199).

Acquisition and consolidation of Ji Province (191).

As many volunteers from different provinces had flocked to join Yuan Shao, Bohai Commandery would be far from sufficient to supply his army. Thus, Pang Ji suggested to Yuan Shao to form a secret alliance with the warlord Gongsun Zan and incite the latter to attack Han Fu's Ji Province. Facing an imminent attack from Gongsun Zan, Han Fu was terrified so he listened to Yuan Shao's lobbyists, Gao Gan (Yuan Shao's nephew) and Xun Chen, to give up the governorship of Ji Province to Yuan Shao in order to drive back Gongsun Zan. Yuan Shao then began to build a warlord state from Ye, the capital of Ji Province. In order to curtail Yuan Shu's sphere of influence, Yuan Shao formed an alliance with Cao Cao and Zhang Miao, and named his follower, Zhou Yu () as the Inspector of Yu Province, a title to which Sun Jian had already been entitled, and sent him to attack Sun Jian's territories in Yu Province while the latter was on his way back from Luoyang. In response, Yuan Shu allied with Gongsun Zan and Tao Qian, and ordered Sun Jian to fight his half-brother.  Although Zhou Yu managed to defeat the forces of Sun Jian in the Battle of Yangcheng, he lost to Sun Jian in the following battles. The first battles between the brothers ended in Yuan Shu's favour: he had engaged and defeated Yuan Shao's forces in both Yangcheng and Jiujiang, restored the position in Yingchuan Commandery under Sun Jian, and eliminated Zhou Yu as a threat once and for all although Jiujiang was not yet conquered. For Yuan Shao, on the other hand, the situation was extremely difficult: besides the failure in the south, he was also under threat from Gongsun Zan, who held Yuan Shao responsible for the death of his cousin Gongsun Yue () in battle and formally declared war against him, rejecting all of Yuan Shao's protestations of goodwill. This led to the clash between Yuan Shao and Gongsun in the Battle of Jieqiao.  The Battle of Yangcheng, being the first move in the struggle between the two Yuans, marked the beginning of a new stage in the confusion of wars which brought about the end of the Han dynasty. This internecine struggle confirmed the undoing of the alliance against Dong Zhuo as the warlords of the North China Plain started to battle each other for the ultimate dominion of China.  In order to focus on the conflicts with Gongsun Zan, Yuan Shao entered into a general alliance with Liu Biao against Yuan Shu. In the winter of that year, Yuan Shao defeated Gongsun Zan's elite cavalry at the Battle of Jieqiao with the use of massed crossbowmen. The Han imperial court issued an edict ordering Yuan Shao and Gongsun Zan to cease fire. Yuan Shao then returned to Ye and started targeting the Heishan bandits, who had been causing trouble in Ji Province. With temporary aid from Lü Bu, Yuan Shao managed to defeat the Heishan bandits despite suffering heavy casualties. In any case, Yuan Shao succeeded in drastically reducing the threat posed by the Heishan bandits to his western flank.

Conquest of Qing Province (192–196).

Despite warnings from Ju Shou that the move could sow seeds for future trouble, Yuan Shao insisted on sending his first-born son, Yuan Tan, away to "govern" Qing Province (present-day eastern Shandong).  In subsequent years, Yuan Shao achieved considerable success in consolidating his domain. At the same time, Yuan Tan also achieved exceptional success on expanding his territories in Qing Province, driving out Gongsun Zan's general Tian Kai in 193 and defeating Beihai chancellor Kong Rong in 196.

Refusal to host the emperor (195–196).

In 195, Ju Shou suggested to Yuan Shao to welcome Emperor Xian to Ji Province so he could effectively control the Han central government and use the emperor as a figurehead to enhance his legitimacy. However, Guo Tu and Chunyu Qiong opposed this move under the faulty logic that if Yuan Shao were to do so, he would have to yield to Emperor Xian on key decisions. Yuan Shao, valuing his autonomy, listened to Guo Tu and Chunyu Qiong and let the opportunity pass by. In contrast, his would-be rival, Cao Cao used the opportunity to welcome Emperor Xian to his base in Xuchang, where the new imperial capital was established.  In 196, the Han imperial court, under Cao Cao's control, awarded Yuan Shao the appointment of Grand Commandant. However, Yuan Shao rejected the appointment because Grand Commandant ranked below General-in-Chief, the position held by Cao Cao. As a result, Cao Cao gave up his position and offered it to Yuan Shao, who readily accepted it. Yuan Shao was also enfeoffed as the Marquis of Ye.

Annihilation of Gongsun Zan (198–199).

In 198, Yuan Shao advanced against Gongsun Zan and encircled his remaining force at Yijing (present-day Xiongxian County, Hebei). By early 199, Yuan Shao had completely defeated Gongsun Zan at the Battle of Yijing and held absolute power over the four provinces north of the Yellow River. Then, after establishing an alliance with the Wuhuan tribes on the northern frontier, Yuan Shao turned his attention to Cao Cao, who had consolidated his own power base to the south of the Yellow River.

Guandu Campaign (199–201).

Both sides made preparations for a decisive battle. Towards the end of 199, both sides had already engaged in skirmishes at Liyang (northwest of present-day Xun County, Henan), a major crossing point of the Yellow River. Cao Cao prepared his defences around Guandu (northeast of present-day Zhongmu County, Henan), slightly south of the river. When Liu Bei defected from Cao Cao in the first month of 200 and planted a foothold in Xu Province, Cao Cao left his northern front exposed to Yuan Shao and turned east to deal with Liu Bei. Tian Feng urged Yuan Shao to seize the opportunity to attack Cao Cao while he was away, but Yuan Shao refused to launch an all-out offensive. Instead, he sent small detachments to harass his enemy. Yu Jin, the general appointed by Cao Cao to defend Yan Ford, defeated Yuan Shao's detachments.  Shortly after Cao Cao returned to Guandu, Yuan Shao had Chen Lin draft a document condemning Cao Cao in what was essentially a declaration of war. He then marched his main army towards the forward base of Liyang north of the Yellow River. At the time, Yuan Shao's main veteran army boasted of numbers over 100,000, supplemented with hundreds of thousands of less skilled militia units. Heavily outnumbering Cao Cao and holding large cavalry force, Yuan Shao's initial attacks almost overwhelmed his enemy's positions. It is recorded in the "Records of the Three Kingdoms" that Cao Cao on several occasions considered relinquishing his position, and consulted his chief strategist, Xun Yu on that decision, which Xun strongly opposed and further encouraged Cao to hold on. Following an unexpected defection of one of Yuan Shao's strategists and personal friends, Xu You, Cao Cao received confidential information on the whereabouts of Yuan Shao's food storage. In late 200, Cao Cao and Yue Jin led a strike force to attack Yuan Shao's supply depot at Wuchao and burnt it down, inflicting severe damage on the morale of Yuan Shao's army. Two of Yuan Shao's officers, Zhang He and Gao Lan, immediately defected to Cao Cao's side once they got wind of what happened in Wuchao, and many others followed suit. Yuan Shao was unable to stop the trend and fled north across the Yellow River with only hundreds of loyalists.  Yuan Shao's first major defeat was also a decisive one. Thereafter, he lost the advantage over Cao Cao and never regained it. In 201, Cao Cao defeated him again at the Battle of Cangting (in present-day Yanggu County, Shandong) and proceeded to capture several of Yuan Shao's territories in Ji Province.

Futile effort to turn the tide and death (201–202).

After the Battle of Cangting, Cao Cao's exhausted troops returned to the south for a rest. Meanwhile, Yuan Shao was able to reorganise his defeated armies to settle the rebellions in his own domain, soon reestablishing order and restored the status quo ante bellum. Yuan Shao had three sons, and he favoured his third son, Yuan Shang, due to his good looks, and both Yuan Tan and Yuan Shang were his choice for succession. However, Yuan was never able to finalise his decision regarding who should succeed him before he died in on 28 June 202, leaving his domain to be contested by his sons and Cao Cao.  Immediately after Yuan Shao's death, Shen Pei and Pang Ji, two influential advisers, supported Yuan Shang and pushed for him to succeed Yuan Shao, despite opposition from Yuan Tan. Yuan Shao's wife, Lady Liu, supported Yuan Shang, and Yuan Tan could not do anything to change the outcome when he rushed back from Qing Province. Then, Lady Liu, being in control of the Yuan household after her husband's death, killed Yuan Shao's other five consorts out of jealousy and disfigured them. True to Ju Shou's previous warning, chaos ensued within Yuan Shao's forces. Cao Cao exploited the internal turmoil within the Yuan family to his advantage and completely eliminated Yuan Shao's heirs and remnants by 207.  Cao Cao paid his respects at Yuan Shao's tomb after conquering Ye city in 204. He wept bitterly for his old friend in front of his followers and gave Yuan Shao's family consolatory gifts and a government pension.

In popular culture.

Yuan Shao is featured as a playable character in Koei's "Dynasty Warriors" and "Warriors Orochi" video game series. He also appears in all instalments of Koei's "Romance of the Three Kingdoms" strategy game series. He also has a minor role in Koei's "Kessen II". Yuan Shao also appears as a playable faction leader in the Creative Assembly title. He plays a major role in the "Three Kingdoms (TV series)" as a reappearing character.

Yuan Shao ( "Chinese:" 袁绍, 154 - 28 June 202), courtesy name Benchu ("Chinese:" 本初), was a warlord who lived in the late Eastern Han dynasty of China. He occupied the northern territories of China during the civil wars that occurred towards the end of the Han dynasty. He was also an elder half-brother of Yuan Shu, a warlord who controlled the Huai River region, though the two were not on good terms with each other.

Yuán Shào (; * 154 in Luoyang; † 28. Juni 202) war ein chinesischer Warlord während des Bürgerkrieges nach dem Untergang der Han-Dynastie.


Discovery.

In 1833 the Russian Academy of Sciences received a new specimen from Haiti. Puzzled by the animal, curator Johann Friedrich von Brandt named it "Solenodon paradoxus". ("Solenodon" means "grooved teeth".) No more information was known other than a relation to the Cuban solenodon discovered in 1861, and it was believed to be extinct. Addison Emery Verrill and Alpheus Hyatt Verrill rediscovered the animal in the Dominican Republic in 1907, but by 1964 it was again believed extinct.

Description.

The Hispaniolan solenodon looks much like an oversized shrew; males and females are similar in size. Adults measure in total length, including a tail, and weigh about on average. Although they are somewhat variable in colour, they are typically dusky brown over most of the body, with a paler underside and reddish fur on the sides of the head, throat and upper chest. The tail, legs, snout, and eyelids are hairless.  The forelegs are noticeably more developed than the hind legs, but all have strong claws useful for digging. The head is very big in relation to its body, with a long rostrum and tiny eyes and ears partially hidden by the body fur. The nostrils open to the side and the snout has about a dozen long whiskers, up to in length, with a few smaller whiskers further back on the head. A unique feature is the "os proboscidis", a bone extending forward from the nasal opening to support the snout cartilage; this is not found even in other solenodons.  The dental formula for the species is. The second lower incisor has a narrow tubular channel that is almost entirely enclosed, through which flows a venomous saliva secreted by the submaxillary gland. Although the exact chemical composition of the venom is unknown, injection of 0.38 to 0.55 mg of venom per gram of body mass has been shown to be fatal to mice in two to six minutes.  Hispaniolan solenodons have patches of skin rich in apocrine glands on the thighs. The secretions of these glands are used in communication between individuals.

Distribution and habitat.

Hispaniolan solenodona are found only on the island of Hispaniola, in the Dominican Republic and parts of southern Haiti. Their habitat is usually undisturbed moist forest below elevation, although they are sometimes found at higher altitudes or close to developed agricultural land. There are two recognised subspecies:  The Hispaniolan solenodon appears to have a patchy distribution. Populations are found both within and outside protected areas such as the Jaragua, Del Este and Sierra de Baoruco National Parks. In Haiti, it is reported from La Visite National Park and the Duchity region of the Massif de la Hotte. Its presence in Los Haitises National Park in the Dominican Republic is inferred, but unconfirmed.

Behavior.

Hispaniolan solenodons are nocturnal; during daylight hours, they stay in their burrows, trees, hollowed-out logs or caves, remaining hidden from view. Their burrows may contain multiple chambers and tunnels and are typically inhabited by an adult pair accompanied by up to six younger family members. When they emerge into the open air, they run on the soles of their feet, following an erratic, zigzag course.  Hispaniolan solenodons feed mainly on arthropods, but will also eat worms, snails, mice and small reptiles; they may also feed on a small amount of fruit, grains, and leaf litter. They probe the earth with their snouts and dig or rip open rotten logs with their claws. They have been reported to make a number of vocalisations, including a loud defensive "chirp", an aggressive "squeal", a soft "squeak" when encountering familiar conspecifics, and a high-pitched "clic" when encountering strangers. They have also been reported to make echolocation clicks at 9 to 31 kHz.

Reproduction.

Breeding occurs throughout the year, although the females are receptive only for short periods once every ten days or so. Litters of one to three young are born after a gestation period of over 84 days. Usually, only two of the offspring survive, because the female only has two teats, which are found towards the groin. The young are born blind and hairless, and weighing. They are carried about by the mother for the first two months of life, although it is unknown how long it takes for them to be fully weaned. They can live for over eleven years in captivity.

Ecology.

Because of a lack of natural enemies, the Hispaniolan solenodon did not evolve defenses against predators, and it is a slow, clumsy runner. When feral dog and cat populations became established and small Asian mongooses (specifically "Herpestes javanicus auropunctatus") were introduced to control rats in sugar cane fields, its future was jeopardized.

Evolution.

In 2016, researchers at the University of Illinois and the University of Puerto Rico completely sequenced the mitochondrial genome for the Hispaniolan solenodon. The study confirmed that the Hispaniolan solenodon diverged from all other living mammals about 78 million years ago. The study also found that there was much greater genetic diversity among the northern population than the southern population. This timeline aligns well with a hypothesis on how the Hispaniolan solenodon came to inhabit the island of Hispaniola. Geologists speculate that the island was part of a volcanic arc that connected to Mexico around 75 million years ago.

Conservation.

The Hispaniolan solenodon was identified as one of the top ten "focal species" in 2007 by the EDGE Species project. A collaborative conservation project funded by the Darwin Initiative (UK) was started in 2009 and is researching the species to conserve it.  The species is fully protected by law. However, national parks in both Haiti and the Dominican Republic are threatened by deforestation and encroachment for farming and charcoal production. The US Agency for International Development and the Nature Conservancy are working with local nongovernmental organisations to improve protection and implement management plans for these parks (the "Parks in Peril" programme). A recovery plan for the isolated Haitian population, published in 1992, advocated comprehensive surveys, improved management of the Pic Macaya National Park, education campaigns, control of exotic mammals, and an "ex situ" breeding programme. These recommendations have not yet been implemented.  Two conservation research and education programmes funded by the Darwin Initiative have recently been established, focusing on solenodons in both countries: "Building evidence and capacity to conserve Hispaniola's endemic land mammals" (started 2009), and "Building a future for Haiti's unique vertebrates" (started 2010). These collaborative projects represent a partnership between the EDGE programme, the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust, BirdLife International, the Sociedad Ornitologica de la Hispaniola, the Dominican Republic National Zoo, Societe Audubon Haiti, and in-country project partners.  Habitat loss and predation by introduced species have contributed to making it an endangered species; its numbers have dropped dramatically during the last few decades. It was actually considered almost extinct until 1907, when it was found living in the interior of Hispaniola. It was not considered to be in immediate danger early in the 20th century. In 1966, it was found in several localities in the Dominican Republic. As of 1981, after extensive searching, the Hispaniolan solenodon was declared "functionally extinct" in Haiti, persisting only in the remote mountains of the south. In 1987, it was still found in both countries, but was thought to be particularly threatened in Haiti. As of 1996, it could still be found in both countries. Wildlife filmmaker Jürgen Hoppe has been able to film the Hispaniolan solenodon in various parts of the Dominican Republic during the last 18 years. The most recent sightings in the wild (with video evidence) were during the summer of 2008, when a team of researchers from the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust and the Ornithological Society of Hispaniola were able to trap an individual specimen. The researchers took physical measurements and DNA from it before releasing it back into the wild.  Follow up work sequencing the whole genomes of six captured individuals more accurately predicts that solenodons diverged from other extant mammals 73.6 million years ago. Looking at single-nucleotide polymorphism variation between Northern and Southern captured individuals enabled the researchers to infer population demography, which supported a likely subspecies split ("S. paradoxus woodi" the proposed name for the Southern Subspecies) within the Hispaniolan solenodon at least 300 thousand years ago.

The Hispaniolan solenodon ("Solenodon paradoxus"), also known as the Haitian solenodon, or agouta, is a solenodon found only on Hispaniola, the island shared by Haiti and the Dominican Republic. It was first described by Brandt in 1833. A similar but smaller species, Marcano's solenodon ("S. marcanoi"), once lived on the island, but became extinct after European colonization.

Der Dominikanische oder Haiti-Schlitzrüssler ("Solenodon paradoxus") ist eine Säugetierart aus der Ordnung der Insektenfresser (Eulipotyphla). Zusammen mit dem Kubanischen Schlitzrüssler bildet er die Familie der Schlitzrüssler (Solenodontidae). Er ist auf der Insel Hispaniola endemisch und stark gefährdet.


Plot summary.

The story is told by a narrator who claims to have known Lothar. It begins by quoting three letters:  1. A letter from Nathanael to Lothar, the brother of his fiancée, Clara. Nathanael recalls his childhood terror of the legendary Sandman, who was said to steal the eyes of children who would not go to bed and feed them to his own children who lived in the moon. Nathanael came to associate the Sandman with a mysterious nightly visitor to his father. He recounts that one night, he hid in his father's room to see the Sandman. It is Coppelius, an obnoxious lawyer come to carry out alchemical experiments. Coppelius begins taking "shining masses" out of the fire and hammering them into face-like shapes without eyes. When Nathanael screams and is discovered, Coppelius flings him to the hearth. He is about to throw fire embers into Nathanael's eyes when his father pleads he be permitted to keep his eyes. Coppelius instead twists Nathanael's hands and feet and tortures him until he passes out. A year later, another night of experiments caused his father's death in the presence of Coppelius, who then vanished without a trace. His father having died of some sort of flaming explosion, the burns to his face are gone before he is laid in his coffin. Nathanael believes that a barometer-seller who arrived recently at his rooms under the name Giuseppe Coppola is none other than the hated Coppelius, and he is determined to seek vengeance.  2. A letter from Clara to Nathanael, explaining that Nathanael had addressed the previous letter to her instead of to Lothar. She was touched at the account of Nathanael's childhood trauma, and discussed it with Lothar, but she is convinced that the terrors are of Nathanael's own imagining and urges him to put Coppelius/Coppola out of his mind.  3. A letter from Nathanael to Lothar, in which Nathanael declares that Coppola is not, after all, Coppelius: Coppola is clearly Italian, while Coppelius was German, and Coppola is also vouched for by the new physics professor, Spallanzani, who is also Italian and has known Coppola for years. Nathanael adds that Spallanzani has a daughter, Olimpia, a brief glimpse of whom has made a considerable impression upon him.  Shortly after this third letter, Nathanael returns to his home town from his studies to see Clara and Lothar, and in the joy of their reunion Coppelius/Coppola is at first forgotten. Nevertheless, the encounter with Coppola has had a profound effect on Nathanael, driving him toward a gloomy mysticism which bores Clara and leads to their gradual estrangement. He writes a poem about Coppelius destroying his happiness in love, in which Coppelius appears at his wedding to touch Clara's eyes and then throws Nathanael into a circle of fire. After he emotionally reads this poem to her, she tells him to throw the insane poem into the fire. Nathanael's frustration with this leads him to call her an "inanimate, accursed automaton", which so enrages Lothar that he in turn insults Nathanael, and a duel is only narrowly averted by Clara's intervention. Nathanael pleads for Clara's forgiveness, and declares his true love for her, and the three then reconcile.  Nathanael returns to complete the final year of his studies, after which he intends to return to his hometown forever. He finds his student lodgings destroyed by fire, though his possessions were rescued by his friends and moved to a new house which is opposite that of Spallanzani. His window now looks directly into that of Olimpia, and he is again struck by her beauty. Coppola calls to sell his wares, and offers "pretty eyes, pretty eyes!" which reawakens Nathanael's childish fear of the Sandman. However, it turns out that Coppola has lenses and spectacles to sell, and also small telescopes, and Nathanael buys one of these from him to set matters right after his earlier outburst. As Coppola leaves, Nathanael becomes fixated on watching Olimpia through his telescope, although her fixed gaze and motionless stance disconcert him.  Spallanzani gives a grand party at which it is reported that his daughter will be presented in public for the first time. Nathanael is invited, and becomes enraptured by Olimpia, who plays the harpsichord, sings and dances. Her stiffness of movement and coldness of touch appear strange to many of the company. Nathanael dances with her repeatedly, awed by her perfect rhythm, and eventually tells her of his passion for her, to which Olimpia replies only "Ah, ah!". During the following days, he visits Olimpia repeatedly, reading her the poems and mysticism that had so bored Clara, and Olimpia listens to it all and replies only "Ah, ah!", which Nathanael interprets as understanding. Most other people consider her dull and stupid, although pretty, and with strangely mechanical actions.  Eventually Nathanael determines to propose to Olimpia, but when he arrives at her rooms he finds an argument in progress between Spallanzani and Coppola, who are fighting over the body of Olimpia and arguing over who made the eyes and who made the clockwork. Coppola, who is now revealed as Coppelius in truth, wins the struggle, and makes off with the lifeless and eyeless body, while the injured Spallanzani urges Nathanael to chase after him and recover the automaton to which he has devoted so many years of his life. The sight of Olimpia's eyes lying on the ground drives Nathanael to madness, and he flies at the professor to strangle him. He is pulled away by other people drawn by the noise of the struggle, and in a state of insanity, is taken to an asylum.  Spallanzani recovers from the encounter, but is forced to leave the university because of the sensational revelation of the trick he had played in trying to pass off an automaton as a living person. Coppelius once more vanishes without trace. The narrator adds that the story of the automaton had a widespread effect on society, with many lovers taking steps to ensure they were not enamoured of puppets but of real flesh and blood.  Nathanael appears to recover from his madness and is reunited with Clara and Lothar. He resolves to marry Clara and move to a pleasant estate near his home town. On the way to visit the place, they pass through the town and climb the high steeple to look out at the view. Clara points out a bush that seems to be striding towards them. Nathanael automatically withdraws Coppola's spyglass and, looking through it sideways, sees Clara through the lens. With Clara in place of Olimpia as the subject of the spyglass's gaze, madness strikes Nathanael again, and he tries to hurl Clara from the steeple. She is saved by Lothar, but in the crowd that gathers below Coppelius appears, and upon seeing him Nathanael cries "pretty eyes, pretty eyes!" and leaps over the railing to his death. Coppelius disappears into the crowd.  Many years afterward, the narrator concludes, it is said that Clara was seen with a kind-looking man sitting before a country house with two lovely boys, and thus found the domestic happiness that Nathanael could never have provided.

Folklore references.

The story contains an example of a horrific depiction of the folklore character, the Sandman, who is traditionally said to throw sand in the eyes of children to help them fall asleep. The following excerpt is from an English translation of the story: Most curious to know more of this Sandman and his particular connection with children, I at last asked the old woman who looked after my youngest sister what sort of man he was.  'Eh, Natty', said she, 'don't you know that yet? He is a wicked man, who comes to children when they won't go to bed, and throws a handful of sand into their eyes, so that they start out bleeding from their heads. He puts their eyes in a bag and carries them to the crescent moon to feed his own children, who sit in the nest up there. They have crooked beaks like owls so that they can pick up the eyes of naughty human children.'

Interpretations.

The characters and the conflict are first defined in the story's three opening letters. Furthermore, the psychological conflict of the protagonist, Nathanael, is represented, who is torn between hallucinations and reality. Nathanael struggles his whole life against posttraumatic stress which comes from a traumatic episode with the sandman in his childhood experience. Until the end of the book it remains open whether this experience was real, or just a dream of the young Nathanael. The text clearly leaves the decision open in as much as it offers two understandings: that of Nathanael's belief that there is a dark power controlling him, and Clara's postulation (together with Lothar) against this that this is only a psychological element.  The story is partly a subjective description of the proceedings from Nathanael's viewpoint which, due to enormous psychological problems, is not likely objectiveor possibly objectively portrayed. Hoffman consciously leaves the reader unsure. In this, the interpretation from an Enlightenment perspective makes sense against the Romantic view, whereby Klara represents the enlightenment and Nathanael the Romantics.  Of central importance is the "eyes" theme (interpreted by Freud in his 1919 essay, The Uncanny, as fear of castration), the "steps", the robot, and laughing. Hoffman, well known for not conforming to society, manages to give a satirical critique of society here, which offers a lesson to both Enlightened scientists and Romantic "hoverers and floaters".  The Coppelius/Coppola character can be considered not as a real physical character, but as a metaphor, like Nathanael does when he returns home. He represents the dark side within Nathanael. Note that the fight between Spallanzani and one or both of them for the "wooden doll" where we hear Coppelius's voice but see Coppola. There is also the motif of fists, where Coppelius is always described as having fists, but never hands.

"The Sandman" (, 1816) is a short story written in German by. It was the first in an 1817 book of stories titled "Die Nachtstücke" ("The Night Pieces").

Der Sandmann ist eine Erzählung in der Tradition des Kunstmärchens der Schwarzen Romantik (häufig auch als Schauerroman bezeichnet) von E. T. A. Hoffmann, die erstmals 1816 veröffentlicht wurde. Sie erschien ohne bestimmte Autorenangabe in Berlin, Realschulbuchhandlung, als erste Erzählung in dem Zyklus "Nachtstücke. Herausgegeben von dem Verfasser der Fantasiestücke in Callots Manier." Ferner sind dort enthalten: "Die Jesuitenkirche in G., Ignaz Denner, Das Sanctus". 1817 folgte ein zweiter Teil der Nachtstücke mit den Erzählungen "Das öde Haus, Das Majorat, Das Gelübde" und "Das steinerne Herz." "Der Sandmann" bietet viele Deutungsansätze und zählt zu den bedeutendsten Werken des Autors, so dass hier das Nachwort der Reclam-Ausgabe zitiert sei: „[...], dass die Zahl der Deutungen in den letzten Jahren ein derartiges Ausmaß erreicht hat, dass die Interpretation des Sandmanns wie eine literaturwissenschaftliche Spezialdisziplin anmutet, an der Vertreter aller methodischen Richtungen teilhaben.“


Life.

From 1804 until 1808 Fink studied theology at the University of Leipzig where he joined the Corps Lusatia. There he made his first attempts at composition and poetry. Most of his song compositions are attributed to this period. From 1811 he held the office of vicar in Leipzig for some years, where he also founded an educational institution which he led until 1829. Since the beginning of the 19th century he worked for the "Allgemeine musikalische Zeitschrift" ("General musical magazine"). In 1827 he became the magazine's editor-in-chief, a position he held for 15 years.  From 1838 Fink worked as a lecturer at the University of Leipzig. In 1841 he became a "Privatdozent" of musicology at the university. In the same year he became a member of the Prussian Academy of Arts in Berlin and a year later he was appointed the music director of the university.  Fink was highly appreciated throughout his life as a music theorist and composer. Numerous honors and awards were bestowed on him at home as well as abroad. In 1838, the Faculty of Philosophy at Leipzig University awarded him an honorary doctorate.  His compositions consist mainly of songs, song collections, and ballads. He wrote the lyrics for most of his song compositions himself. He also made a name for himself as the author of important works on music theory and music history. However, he was best known as the editor of the "Musikalischer Hausschatz der Deutschen" ("Musical house treasure of Germans"), a collection of about 1,000 songs and chants, as well as the "Deutsche Liedertafel" ("German song board"), a collection of polyphonic songs sung by men.

Gottfried Wilhelm Fink (8 March 1783 – 27 August 1846) was a German composer, music theorist, poet, and a Protestant clergyman.

Gottfried Wilhelm Fink (* 8. März 1783 in Sulza (ehemals Stadtsulza); † 27. August 1846 in Leipzig) war ein deutscher Komponist, Musiktheoretiker, evangelischer Geistlicher und Dichter.


History.

Iso was initially named 'Isothermos' and manufactured refrigeration units before World War II. The company was founded in Genoa in 1939, but was transferred to Bresso in 1942 by Renzo Rivolta, an engineer and the heir of industrialists. The business was refounded as Iso Autoveicoli S.p.A. in 1953 to reflect the production of motorized transport. Renzo Rivolta died in 1966, and his son, Piero, took over as managing director. At the start of 1973, the Rivolta family ceded the business to an Italian American financier named Ivo Pera who promised to bring American management know-how to the firm. The business was again renamed to Iso Motors, before going bankrupt in 1974.

Early years: motorcycles.

Initially starting out as an appliance manufacturer, the company was active again after World War II now specialising in manufacturing vehicles. In 1948 it began to build motorcycles, scooters and motocarries (three-wheeled transport scooters/motorcycles). The famous models are the Furetto (1948), 'Isoscooter (1950), 'Isocarro (1951), 'Isomoto (1954), 'Isosport (1953) and 'Iso Diva. The last Iso motorcycle was the Iso 500, introduced 1961. Isomotos were known as expensive, but durable and well-built. In 1967 Iso Rivolta also built a series of snowmobiles called the 'Iso Neve. The most popular model was the Flying Iso which was built in collaboration with De Tomaso and distributed by them in North America and Canada.

1950s: Isetta bubble car.

In the mid-1950s, after the success of the motorcycle manufacturing business, Iso started to develop a miniature city car. The car was designed and conceived by aeronautical engineers Ermenegildo Preti and Pierluigi Raggi. Initially the car had only three wheels but later a fourth wheel was added for stability reasons. With the two wheels on the rear being very close together, the need for a differential was eliminated thus resulting in weight savings. The result was named the Isetta Bubble Car which had an unusual egg like design and a front entrance which also moved the steering wheel and column out of the way for easier access to the cabin. The car was powered by a two-cylinder motorcycle engine placed at the rear. While a luggage rack outside at the rear provided storage space. It was unveiled at the 1953 Turin Motor Show. About 20,000 of these bubble cars were built. Starting in 1954, the Isetta was licensed to automobile manufacturers in several countries due to slow sales in the home market. It was licensed to France (by VELAM), Spain, Great Britain and Brazil (by Romi-Iso). The most successful, however, was the German Isetta built by BMW. The BMW-Isetta went on to dwarf the production volumes of Iso and become one of the best-selling German microcars in the 1950s and 1960s. About 130,000 had been sold by 1962.

1960s: performance cars.

Together with engineer Giotto Bizzarrini, designer Giorgetto Giugiaro and coachbuilder Bertone, Renzo Rivolta began developing the Iso Rivolta IR 300, which was first presented at the Torino Motor Show of 1962.  The 5.4 L V8 Chevrolet Small-Block engine and the transmission came from General Motors in Detroit, and the de Dion suspension and four-wheel disc braking system came from the large Jaguars of the time. This concept was maintained for almost all production cars of Iso. Starting in 1971, Ford 351 Cleveland engines replaced the GM small block.  Iso's most well-known gran turismo automobile was the Grifo which featured a low-slung, sporty berlinetta body by Bertone. After Bizzarrini left the project, this prototype formed the basis for his own Bizzarini 5300 GT. The Grifo Prototype was further refined by Iso, receiving a reworked, less aggressive and more luxurious body in the process, and went into production in 1965. The Grifo was powered by Chevrolet ́s 327 cubic inch (5.4 litre) small-block V8 rated at either 300 or 350 hp. In 1966, a convertible version of the Grifo was shown, but never reached production. Starting in 1968 the Grifo was also available with Chevrolet's 427 cubic inch big-block V-8; this version was known as the "Grifo 7 litri" and was easily recognized by the broad air inlet on the hood. The Series II, introduced in 1970, featured concealed headlights and a slightly modified front area.  After the sudden death of Renzo Rivolta at Milan on 20 August 1966, his 25 year old son Piero became the director of Iso. Under Piero's leadership, Iso built the limousine 'S 4 (for "four seats", later to be called 'Fidia) with body by Ghia, the Grifo 7 litri (with the GM V8 7 L marine engine) and the 2 + 2 fastback Coupé Lele (1969) with body designed by Bertone, intended as the successor to the IR 300. The Iso Rivolta plant moved from Bresso to Varedo in 1972. Apart from the Grifo Series II, Fidia and Lele, a mid-engine concept car named the Varedo was developed, designed by Ercole Spada, but only one car was ever built. Iso went bankrupt in 1974, only 1,700 Iso Gran Turismos had been built in those ten years.

Production range.

Data from automobile-catalog.com.

Iso was an Italian automobile and motorcycle maker. The company was predominantly active from the late 1940s through the early 1970s. Iso is known for the iconic Isetta bubble car of the 1950s, and for a number of performance cars in the 1960s and early 1970s.

Iso Rivolta war ein im italienischen Bresso ansässiger Hersteller von Sportwagen, Kleinwagen und Motorrädern. Die bekanntesten Fahrzeuge des Unternehmens sind das zweisitzige Rollermobil Iso Isetta und der Hochleistungssportwagen Iso Grifo.


History.

The street name "Am Judensand" indicates the use of parts of the later area in the borough from the Middle Ages on. Here are burial places of the Jewish community. The old Jewish cemetery on the border between Hartenberg-Münchfeld and Mainz-Neustadt has been preserved until today; the oldest gravestone dates back to the 11th century. The memorial stone of Gershom ben Judah, who died in 1028 or 1040, is located here.  In the early 19th century, probably more than a thousand people were buried in a mass grave on the territory of the present borough. The mass grave was discovered in autumn 2018 during construction work for a shooting range. According to initial estimates, it could have been German and French soldiers who had fallen victim to an epidemic. Survivors of the Battle of Leipzig in 1813, who had fled to Mainz, had brought the so-called "Typhus de Mayence" into the city. At least 16292 men of the French occupation and 2485 inhabitants of Mainz died during this time.  Due to the importance of Mainz as a fortified city, the "Hartenberg" also had a military function. Those who controlled it could fire from there to the city centre of Mainz. When the town was extended, a new rampart was built around it, the Rheingauwall. It was built in the Neo-Prussian style of fortification and enclosed parts of what is now the district. Several forts have been partially preserved, such as Fort Hauptstein, the Cavalier Prince Holstein, Fort Hartmühl in Hartenberg Park north of the water features and the "New Golden Ross" Barracks. At the Mombacher Tor, an army cannery was built at the suggestion of Field Marshal Edwin von Manteuffel, of which only the foundations can be seen today. During the expansion of the Südwestrundfunk in 2003, parts of the "Gonsenheimer Tor" were rediscovered during excavation work. The parts were salvaged and restored near the site. Extensive parts of Fort Hartenberg, built in the 19th century, including its mining galleries, also came to light when excavation work began on the site of the Hartenberg Primary School (later "Peter-Jordan School"), which was built around 1965 and demolished in 2018, for a planned residential development in Hartenberg Park. Here, in September 2019, a construction freeze of three months came into effect to allow the archaeologists to survey and document the facilities before they gave way to residential buildings.  The construction of the settlement in Baentschstraße in 1904 marked the beginning of civil housing construction in the borough, which continues until today. In 1928, the Bruchwegstadion was built, where 1 FSV Mainz 05 played its home games until 2011. At the beginning of the 1960s and in the 1970s, massive construction work was carried out on the Hartenberg and Münchfeld and housing was created to alleviate the housing shortage of the post-war period in Mainz city centre.  After the death of Martin Luther King Jr., the city council agreed to the proposal of the city's cultural and school committee to rename the "Bruchweg", which was adjacent to the then "Mainz University Housing Area" of the US Army, as "Dr.-Martin-Luther-King-Weg". The urban conversion of the "Mainz University Housing Area" brought many apartments for the civilian population of Mainz.  As a result of this development, the former borough Mainz-Innenstadt was dissolved in 1989 and divided into four independent districts. Thus the new district Hartenberg-Münchfeld was created from parts of the borough Mainz-Gonsenheim as well as (east of the Martin-Luther-King-Weg or Am Judensand) the former district city centre. The district consisting of the parts Hartenberg (northeast of the street "An der Allee") and Münchfeld (southwest of it) has not yet found its own identity.

Hartenberg-Münchfeld is a borough of the Rhineland-Palatinate state capital Mainz, Germany. Hartenberg-Münchfeld is known for the Bruchwegstadion former home of first league football club of 1. FSV Mainz 05, the state broadcasting house of the Südwestrundfunk for Rhineland-Palatinate, a subsidiary of the Deutsche Bundesbank, formerly: "State Central Bank of Rhineland-Palatinate/Saarland", a large vocational school centre, the day-care centre ′′Alte Patrone′′ with artists' studios. The Taubertsberg town bath and the Peter Cornelius Conservatory are located in the district called "Binger Schlag" near Mainz Hauptbahnhof.

Hartenberg-Münchfeld ist ein Ortsbezirk der rheinland-pfälzischen Landeshauptstadt Mainz. Hartenberg-Münchfeld ist bekannt durch das Bruchwegstadion von Mainz 05, das "Landesrundfunkhaus" des Südwestrundfunks für Rheinland-Pfalz, die Deutsche Bundesbank (Hauptverwaltung Mainz, früher: Landeszentralbank Rheinland-Pfalz/Saarland), ein großes Berufsschulzentrum, die Kindertagesstätte Alte Patrone mit Künstlerateliers. Im bahnhofsnah gelegenen „Binger Schlag“ genannten Gebiet des Ortsbezirks befinden sich das Taubertsberg-Schwimmbad und das Peter-Cornelius-Konservatorium.


Effectors and Hormones.

Effectors and hormones are other signalling molecules often confused with elicitors. Elicitors and effectors differ from hormones in that they are not produced within the organism that they are triggering a response in, and are usually not naturally occurring in the organism.

Plant Hormones.

Plant hormones are signalling molecules produced within the plant (i.e. they are endogenous). Hormones regulate cellular processes in targeted cells locally and can be moved to other parts of the plant. Examples of plant hormones are auxins, cytokins, gibberellin, ethylene, abscisic acid, salicylic acid and jasmonates. Hormones naturally occur in extremely low, finely balanced, concentrations.  Plant hormones act as plant growth regulators or modulators. Modulators are defined as molecules that "bind to a particular target protein, mainly to an enzyme, thereby directly changing its activity, i.e. increasing or decreasing". An example is salicylic acid which is a modulator of catalase isozymes activity and jasmonate, which modulates phenylalanine ammonia lyase activity.

Effectors.

Effectors are proteins secreted by microbial pathogens which can either trigger or compromise immunity depending on the ability of perception (presence of suitable receptor) and response (appropriate defence reaction) of the plant. Effector could be extracellular or injected directly into cells.  Microorganisms are able to inject effectors directly into host cells to by-pass induced defences in plants. This compromises the host plant's defence system and is referred to as effector-triggered susceptibility (ETS). The remaining immunity is called basal defense which can limit the spread of virulent pathogens in their hosts but it is typically insufficient to prevent disease.  In response to this threat, plant's have evolved effector recognition protein receptors to recognise, or monitor, effectors and initiate effector-triggered immunity (ETI). ETI is a strong immune response that efficiently protects plants from avirulent biotrophic pathogens and is often associated with the hypersensitive reaction (HR), a form of programmed death of plant cells at infection sites.

Crop Protection and Commercialisation of Elicitors.

Elicitors can protect crops from diseases, stress and damage. Elicitors do not need to be directly toxic for pathogenic organisms or pests to be of benefit. Therefore, they are an alternative to conventional pesticides which are often harmful for the environment, farmers and consumers and for which consumers are increasingly seeking safer alternatives.

Elicitors in plant biology are extrinsic or foreign molecules often associated with plant pests, diseases or synergistic organisms. Elicitor molecules can attach to special receptor proteins located on plant cell membranes. These receptors are able to recognize the molecular pattern of elicitors and trigger intracellular defence signalling via the Octadecanoid pathway. This response results in the enhanced synthesis of metabolites which reduce damage and increase resistance to pest, disease or environmental stress. This is an immune response known as pattern triggered immunity or PTI. PTI is effective against necrotrophic microorganisms.

Als Elicitoren (auch: Induktoren oder Botenstoffe) werden in der Pflanzenphysiologie Substanzen bezeichnet, die Abwehrmechanismen gegen Fraßfeinde und Krankheitserreger auslösen ("induzieren").


Etymology.

The former name of the city, Çärjew, is a Turkmen borrowing from the Persian term, čahârjuy, which is consisted of two parts: 'čahâr', meaning 'four' and 'juy' meaning 'brook'.  This type of naming is also common in Iran, like the village Se Juy (literally 'three brooks').

Geography.

Türkmenabat is located at an altitude of on the banks of the Amu Darya River, near the border with Uzbekistan. Türkmenabat is at the center of Lebap province, which has borders with three provinces in Turkmenistan: Mary, Ahal and Daşoguz. The province also borders with Uzbekistan and Afghanistan.  Some south of Türkmenabat in the East Karakum Desert is the Repetek Nature Reserve, famed for its "zemzen", or desert crocodiles.

History.

Although now a modern industrial city, Türkmenabat has a history of over 2,000 years. In ancient times, it was known as Āmul (to be distinguished from the Iranian city of Amol). The river Amu Darya is said to mean "River of Āmul", named after this ancient city. Türkmenabat was the hub in an intersection between 3 paths of the Great Silk Way leading to Bukhara, Khiva and Merv.. For centuries, Āmul was an important town of the relatively backward Uzbek feudal khanate (later emirate) of Bukhara.  When the Russian Empire started annexing Central Asian Turkestan, Āmul was surrendered to Russians by the Bukhara emirate, who later herself would entirely become a vassal of Russia and pledge allegiance to the Russian emperor. The modern city was founded in 1886, when Cossack Russians settled in Uralka in what is now the eastern part of Türkmenabat, naming their settlement "New-Chardjuy". The settlement here was necessary to complete the construction of the Trans-Caspian railway.  After the revolution of 1917, when the Bolsheviks came into power in Russia, communists merged former khanates into republics on the basis of nationality. Thus, Türkmenabat (known as "Chardjuy" at those times) was passed to the newly created Turkmen Soviet Socialist Republic in order to reduce the territory and strength of a highly nationalistic Uzbekistan.  Its role as a railway junction, and the high fertility of the Amu Darya region, made it the major trade center for agricultural products in the northeast region of the country. The city has food processing, textile (cotton processing and silk) factories. Chardzhou was Turkmenistan's industrial and transport hub during the Soviet period, but most of these related jobs and transport opportunities have been relocated to Ashgabat or closed since Turkmenistan's independence.  From the article about Chardjuy in Brockhaus and Efron Encyclopedic Dictionary (beginning of the 20th century):  Chardjuy is an urban settlement formed near the Amu-Darya station (1070 c. from Krasnovodsk) of the Central Asian Railway, on the left bank of the Amu-Darya River, on land ceded by the emir of Bukhara to the Russian government. There are 4 068 inhabitants (2 651 men, 1 417 women), including 3 501 Russians. There are wide straight streets, enough greenery, lots of shops, and a rather lively bazaar. Chardjuy is an important trade center, where goods going to Bukhara, Khiva, and partly to Afghanistan, are loaded onto river vessels. The steamboat of the Amu Darya fleet maintains communication between Patta Gissar (Termez) in the south and Petro-Aleksandrovsky (Khiva)... At 16 verst from Chardjuy lies the rather large Bukharan city of Chardjuy (native Chardjuy), the center of Chardjuy province (bekstvo), with the remains of walls and a fortress; 15 thousand inhabitants. Old Chardjuy (Amu-Darya) is characterized by a lively trade exchange. In 1900, 1820244 pd arrived at the station. (military supplies, sugar, timber, building material, iron, flour, tea, rice, etc.); Sent from the Chardjuy station in the same year: 963382 (leather, carpets, sheepskin, cotton seed, cotton - 516641 pd, wool, etc.).

Climate.

Türkmenabat has a cool desert climate (Köppen climate classification "BWk"), with cool winters and very hot summers. Rainfall is generally light and erratic, and occurs mainly in the winter and spring months.

Demographics.

Türkmenabat is unusual in Turkmenistan because it has population which speaks its own dialect. This regional dialect mostly consist of Turkmen language and Uzbek language which has heavily influenced the area's culture and customs. This dialect is mostly spoken in Turkmenabat and Northern provinces of Lebap.

Transport.

Türkmenabat is connected with the Turkmen capital Ashgabat and Turkmen port city Türkmenbaşy by Turkmenistan Airlines and the M37 highway. Türkmenabat is also connected by train to every province in Turkmenistan.  A new terminal of Turkmenabat International Airport opened in 2018. The capacity of the airport complex is 500 passengers per hour. Türkmenabat offers air service to and from all the major cities of the Turkmenistan, as well as some destinations to Moscow and Bokhtar.

Culture.

"Tasinlikler meydanchasy" is a park where people celebrate national holidays.  Türkmenabat also well known for its bazaars. The largest bazaar is "World bazaar" which is known by the name "Dunya bazar". Other well-known bazaars are "Gok bazar" and "Merkezi bazar". People from all around the country come to Türkmenabat in order to purchase local, Chinese, Turkish, Uzbek and Russian goods. "Dunya bazar" has many sections, including those for jewelry, home appliances, clothes, diary, cars, and other items. One of the most attractive places in Türkmenabat is "Zaton", is an artificial beach, located about from the center of the city. During the whole summer youth gather at 'Zaton' for relaxation and enjoyment.

Education.

Türkmenabat has one state-owned University specializing in teacher training (known in Turkmen as: Seýitnazar Seýdi adyndaky Türkmen Döwlet Mugallymçylyk Instituty'), a medical college, carrier schools, public schools, and specialised arts and sports schools. Until recently, there was a Tutkmenabat Turkmen-Turkish High School which was part of the countrywide network of Turkmen-Turkish schools, and one of the leading schools in the city. It followed a national educational curriculum, where students have a good opportunity to learn English as well as Turkish and Russian languages. Students of this school have attended international Olympiads and gained many medals in different branches of Science and Technology. Students of Turkmen-Turkish Schools are honored as 'Pride of Nation'. As a result of recent changes in education policy, Turkmen-Turkish school in Türkmenabat was turned into a specialised boarding school.

Türkmenabat (), formerly and since medieval times, Chardzhou (, "Chardzhou";, ) ( 'čahârjuy', meaning 'four brooks') and in ancient times Āmul, is the second-largest city in Turkmenistan and the capital of Lebap Province., it had a population of approximately 254,000 people (up from 161,000 in the 1989 census).

Türkmenabat (; früher turkmenisch Чәрҗев/"Çärjew", russisch Чарджоу), früher im Deutschen als Tschardschou bekannt, ist die zweitgrößte Stadt Turkmenistans. Türkmenabat hat 234.828 Einwohner.