Early life and education.

McCreary was born in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and spent most of his formative years in Bellingham, Washington. He is the son of author Laura Kalpakian and professor Jay McCreary of University of Hawaii. His brother, Brendan McCreary, is also a musician. Bear has directed and produced several music videos for Brendan's band, Young Beautiful in a Hurry. He graduated from Bellingham High School in 1997.  He is a classically trained pianist and self-taught accordionist. He studied under the renowned film score composer Elmer Bernstein during which time he reconstructed and reorchestrated Bernstein's 1963 score for "Kings of the Sun". Their collaboration allowed for the complete score to be available as a soundtrack album for the first time in 40 years.

Career.

Television.

"Battlestar Galactica" and "Caprica".

In 2003, McCreary worked under primary composer Richard Gibbs on the three-hour miniseries which served as a pilot for the reimagined series of "Battlestar Galactica". When the show was picked up, Gibbs opted not to devote full-time to the regular series' production, and McCreary became the sole composer. He worked on the series until it reached its conclusion in 2009, scoring over 70 episodes. To date, six "Battlestar Galactica" soundtrack albums have been released, and have garnered a great deal of critical acclaim and commercial success. The soundtracks for seasons two and three ranked amongst Amazon.com's Top 30 Music Sales on their first days of release.  McCreary composed for the "Battlestar Galactica" prequel series "Caprica" and "".

"Human Target".

McCreary provided the score for the series "Human Target" (based on the comic book of the same name). The pilot episode and main theme score had been recorded with a full orchestra. The series has the distinction of having one of the largest orchestras on television.  The score to the finale of season one, "Christopher Chance", used the largest orchestra ever assembled for episodic television, and he took the opportunity to rerecord the main title theme with a new orchestration with this larger ensemble.  In July 2010, he received his first Emmy nomination for the "Human Target" main title.  In a post on his blog on July 25, 2010, McCreary announced the new creative leadership brought in for season two had not asked him to return for it, and he would be leaving the series.

"Black Sails".

The opening title sequence for "Black Sails" was composed by McCreary with a backing sea shanty inspired theme. It accurately features an instrument of the period in the form of the hurdy-gurdy.

"Outlander".

McCreary has composed the soundtrack for each of the first five seasons of "Outlander", with the main title being sung by long time collaborator and partner, Raya Yarbrough. McCreary was nominated for an Emmy for the episode "Sassenach" in 2015.

Other series.

During Comic-Con 2010, Bear McCreary attended panels for AMC's "The Walking Dead" and NBC's "The Cape" to announce he would be composing the score for both television series.  On July 15, 2013, McCreary announced that he would compose the score for ABC's series "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." On September 4, 2015, McCreary released the official "Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D." soundtrack publicly.  McCreary served as orchestral producer for the rock opera "" airing on Adult Swim on October 27, 2013. This is a continuation of the Metalocalypse universe following the band Dethklok. The music features a 50-piece orchestra. The soundtrack was released on October 29, 2013.

Films.

McCreary made his theatrical feature film scoring debut with "Step Up 3D" and has scored several direct-to-video features, including "Rest Stop", "", and "".  Bear has scored three films with director Joe Lynch (of "Wrong Turn 2"), the latest being "Everly" which includes "Silent Night", a duet with his spouse, Raya Yarbrough. McCreary's latest feature film scores are for "The Cloverfield Paradox", released February 4, 2018, "Tau" in 2018, and then 2019's "" and "Child's Play".

Video games.

McCreary made an eight-bit rendition of the "Dark Void" theme, which was, originally, an April fools joke. However, the theme was used for the prequel, "Dark Void Zero". He composed all the songs in an eight-bit fashion by connecting the wires on an actual NES console and cartridge to create authenticity.  He arranged James Rolfe's "The Angry Video Game Nerd" "You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch" parody "You're a Mean One, Mr. Nerd" for the 2010 Christmas special, with orchestra and eight-bit audio elements.  McCreary also performed with his orchestra band live at Sony's E3 2016 press conference throughout the show and composed the score of the 2018 "God of War" game.

Personal life.

McCreary married singer/songwriter Raya Yarbrough in 2010. They have collaborated on the music of "Battlestar Galactica", "Outlander", "Defiance", "Da Vinci's Demons", among other projects. Their daughter Sonatine, named after the musical term "sonatina", was born on June 2, 2014.

Other influences.

McCreary credits composers Jerry Goldsmith, Elmer Bernstein, Danny Elfman, Ennio Morricone, John Williams, and Shirley Walker as being key to his growing up adoring film music. They were his heroes while he was growing up. Contemporary composers including Hans Zimmer continue to inspire McCreary's growth.

Bear McCreary (born February 17, 1979) is an American musician and composer of film, television, and video games scores based in Los Angeles, California. He is best known for his work on the reimagined "Battlestar Galactica" television series and for the TV series "Outlander" and "The Walking Dead". He has also scored for the PlayStation 4 video game "God of War".

Bear McCreary (* 17. Februar 1979 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida) ist ein Komponist und Musiker (Akkordeon und Piano). Internationale Bekanntheit erlangte er durch seinen Soundtracks zu den Fernsehserien "Battlestar Galactica" und "The Walking Dead".


Early life and education.

He was the first born of two sons of Robert and Virginia Bahnsen in Auburn, Washington, and grew up in Pico Rivera, California. In youth he was beset by a number of medical difficulties, the most serious of which was a lifelong blood platelet problem that made it difficult for him to stop bleeding. He also had heart trouble which came to light only during his first college admissions medical exam.  Raised in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, he actively participated in religious activities. He first began reading the apologetics of Cornelius Van Til when in high school. While attending Westmont College he began writing for the Chalcedon Foundation of Rousas J. Rushdoony and soon came to admire the latter's strong Calvinistic convictions.  In 1970 Bahnsen graduated "magna cum laude" from Westmont College, receiving his B.A. in philosophy as well as the John Bunyan Smith Award for his overall grade point average. From there he went on to Westminster Theological Seminary in Philadelphia, where he studied under Cornelius Van Til. The two became close friends. When he graduated in May 1973, he simultaneously received two degrees, Master of Divinity and Master of Theology, as well as the William Benton Greene Prize in apologetics and a Richard Weaver Fellowship from the Intercollegiate Studies Institute. His next academic stop was the University of Southern California (USC), where he studied philosophy, specializing in the theory of knowledge. In 1975, after receiving ordination in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church, he became an associate professor of Apologetics and Ethics at Reformed Theological Seminary (RTS) in Jackson, Mississippi. While there, he completed his studies at USC, receiving his Ph.D. in 1978. Bahnsen's four years at RTS were frought with contention, centered around his particular version of theonomic postmillennialism.

Later life.

One of the original pillars of Christian Reconstruction, Bahnsen was a leading proponent of theonomy, postmillennialism, and presuppositional apologetics. He lectured to a broad range of evangelical Christian groups at many colleges and conferences, not only throughout the United States, but in Scotland and Russia. He published numerous articles and has over 1700 audio tapes, videos, articles, and books to his name.  Greg Bahnsen's vocal advocacy of Christian Reconstructionism and theonomy was highly controversial during his lifetime, and a public disputation pertaining to theonomy led to his dismissal from the Reformed Theological Seminary in Jackson, Mississippi. In addition, he was known for his public debates on apologetics, theonomy, religion (such as Roman Catholicism, Islam, and Judaism), and a variety of socio-political issues (such as abortion, gun control, and homosexuality).  Bahnsen is perhaps best known for his debates with such leading atheists as George H. Smith, Gordon Stein, and Edward Tabash. The debate with Stein marked one of the earliest uses of a transcendental argument for the existence of God (TAG).  In 1994 a controversy emerged after atheist philosopher Michael Martin was informed just three weeks before a scheduled debate with Bahnsen, "that Bahnsen would not debate unless Martin gave written permission to SCCCS to tape the debate" for resale to support SCCCS. Martin refused, because "he did not want SCCCS to profit from his participation", while SCCCS refused to let Bahnsen debate without the debate being taped. The debate was canceled. Since that time Martin has responded to Bahnsen's use of TAG, doing so in his own debates with Michael Butler, John Frame, and Douglas Jones, and has published his "Transcendental Argument for the Non-Existence of God" in the journal of the New Zealand Association of Rationalists and Humanists, as well as in essays posted on the Secular Web.

Death.

Due to his lifelong medical problems, Bahnsen had to undergo a third aortic valve implant surgery on December 5, 1995. After the completion of the operation, serious complications developed within twenty-four hours. He then became comatose for several days and died on December 11, 1995, at the age of forty-seven.

Greg L. Bahnsen (September 17, 1948 – December 11, 1995) was an American Calvinist philosopher, apologist, and debater. He was a minister in the Orthodox Presbyterian Church and a full-time Scholar in Residence for the Southern California Center for Christian Studies (SCCCS). He is also considered a contributor to the field of Christian apologetics, as he popularized the presuppositional method of Cornelius Van Til. He is the father of David L. Bahnsen, an American portfolio manager, author, and television commentator, as well as his first born, Jonathan Bahnsen, and youngest, Michael Bahnsen.

Greg Bahnsen (* 17. September 1948 in Auburn, Washington; † 11. Dezember 1995) war ein US-amerikanischer Philosoph, Autor und Theologe.


Dongbei University of Finance and Economics

Admissions.

DUFE's students are from all 30 provinces in China, as well as international students from more than 30 countries. As one of the most competitive schools, DUFE's average China National College Entrance Exams grades are consistently among the top three in Liaoning province. The graduate employment rates are also one of the highest (over 95%).

International cooperation/programs.

DUFE's International Education Center facilitates students' studies from international perspectives. Its participants at home are afforded the access to international perspectives. The international cooperation programs has grown to include 13 exchange programs with nine universities in six countries (the UK, Germany, Korea, Japan, Canada, Australia, Ireland and Austria). Some of the joint programs are:

Athletic programs.

DUFE prides itself in student athletes and collegiate sports. It is one of the national bases for collegiate sports development.  The men's soccer team has won four consecutive championships of China's collegiate men's soccer champions tournament — one-time champions and twice runners-up of “Phillips Cup” of China's men's soccer collegiate champions league, and Championship of Asia-Pacific University Men's soccer invitational. DUFE's men's basketball team had a strong force in the China University Basketball Association (CUBA), having won many city and provincial championships and third place in the national finals. DUFE's field and track team has been in overall second place Asia University Track and Field's Invitational, first place in the 9th China National University Field and Tracks Games.  DUFE's graduates includes athletes and coaches of Olympic gold medalists, world champions/record holders, and many national champions.

Dongbei University of Finance & Economics (DUFE, ) is a public university in Dalian, Liaoning province, China. Home to over 20,000 students, it is one of oldest and largest modern universities in Dalian. DUFE is one of the top schools in the field in China, with its graduates occupying high-level positions in government and industries, especially in banking and finance sectors. It has a significant position throughout the northeast and across the country.

Die Universität für Finanz- und Wirtschaftswissenschaften Nordostchinas (), im englischen Sprachraum bekannt als "Dongbei University of Finance & Economics (DUFE)", ist eine chinesische Universität mit mehr als 20.000 Studierenden. Das Lehrangebot ist schwerpunktmäßig auf wirtschaftswissenschaftliche Studiengänge ausgerichtet. Die Universität liegt im Nordosten von Dalian in der Provinz Liaoning und gehört auf ihrem Gebiet zu den renommiertesten Hochschulen des Landes.


Proposal history.

Early origins.

A very early discussion on such a tunnel was conducted in 1917 by then-Imperial Japanese Army General Staff officer Kuniaki Koiso. Another early proposal for the project originated in the late 1930s as part of the Greater East Asia Railroad. In 1938, Imperial Japan's Ministry of Communications reportedly decided on a preliminary survey of the sea bottom between Japan and Korea. During World War II the Imperial Japanese government actively pursued the project to connect it with the Korean Peninsula and, ultimately, with the rest of the Asian continent.  In 1939, a Japanese Railway official, Yumoto Noboru, wrote of a trans-Eurasian railway to link Japan to its Axis partner, Germany, and proposed the construction of an undersea tunnel to connect Japan with Korea via the island of Tsushima. It was argued a combined undersea tunnel and land link would help safeguard Japanese communications and shipments to and from Europe, which would be imperiled by a Pacific War.  Noboru's writing was joined in the same year by a recommendation from a Mr. Kuwabara, who would later assist in the creation of the undersea Seikan Tunnel, currently the world's longest undersea tunnel. In 1939, Kuwabara made the same recommendation of tunneling across the strait and connecting to a 'Cross Asian Railway'. Studies were soon conducted by the Japanese government on a possible Kampu (Shimonoseki-Busan) tunnel between the Japanese home islands and South Korea. The plan came under serious consideration starting in 1941.  In September 1940 the Japanese Cabinet issued its overview "Outline of National Spatial Planning" study which outlined its long-term goals for the development of its occupied conquests and spheres of influence in Asia, which it termed the "Greater East Asia Co-Prosperity Sphere". It further refined its plans with the outbreak of hostilities with the United States, bent on increasing its geopolitical and ethnic ties with mainland Asia through a vastly expanded rail and marine network, with special emphasis on the Korean peninsula land bridge to connect it with its colonies. To achieve its objectives, Japan's plans called for "a giant leap forward" in its transportation and communications infrastructures, including shinkansen trains, so that it could integrate all of its colonial economies and ensure the transport of war materials and other necessary supplies to and from the home islands. This coincided with the planning and development of the "dangan ressha" ("bullet train") system by a Japanese chief rail engineer, Shima Yasujiro, who concurred on the links between Tokyo, Korea, and China.  In 1941, geological surveys were conducted on Tsushima Island and test bores were sunk to close to Kyūshū. By August 1942, Japan's South Manchurian Railway Company had created plans for an rail network stretching from Manchukuo to Singapore. Against this backdrop, Japan took its first concrete step for a fixed link to and through Korea to connect it with its planned vast rail network in Asia, with the construction of several bridges as well as the completion of its Kanmon undersea railway tunnel joining the Japanese islands of Kyushu and Honshu.  Although preliminary work on rail lines, bridges, and tunnels in southern Japan was started, work on the project stopped in a few years as the nation's economy and infrastructure deteriorated due to World War II. After 1943, with increasing shortages of materials, manpower, and even transportation, Japan canceled its "raumordnung" (spatial plan) for its vast new Asian rail infrastructure, as it turned its full-time attention to defending its home islands from invasion. Its land planning organization was discontinued in 1943; its staff was transferred to the Japanese Home Ministry.

Activities since World War II.

The proposal for a fixed link between the two countries has been raised in public discussions numerous times since the end of World War II. Leaders of both countries have called for the tunnel's construction on a number of occasions.  Starting in the 1980s, a Japanese research group has been engaged in detailed research and exploration of prospective routes for the tunnel. In 1988, the Japanese researchers contracted a Korean company to explore the sea off of Koje to document the region's geological features.  In September 2000, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung (김대중) said a review should be performed of the project that could enable all of Japan to be linked to Europe, as "a dream of the future." Kim's comments came during a summit meeting with Japan's then-Prime Minister Yoshiro Mori (森 喜朗). The following month Mori proposed moving ahead with the project at the Seoul summit of the Asia-Europe Meeting (ASEM); however, Korea and Japan stopped short of committing it as an official bilateral project.  By early 2002, the South Korean Ministry of Construction and Transportation had commissioned three research institutes to study the project's feasibility. Also in 2002 Japanese experts had estimated that the tunnel would take 15 years and cost US$77 billion to complete. Around that time (mid-2002), an easing of relations between North and South Korea gave impetus to the Japan–Korea-tunnel project. The North and South Korean governments had agreed on an inter-Korean rail line to run from Seoul to Pyongyang and then on to Sinuiju, a border city in the north on the Yalu River, as well as a road running parallel to the railway. From Sinuiju trains could then cross the border and access the Trans-Chinese Railway (TCR), and then Russia's Trans-Siberia Railway (TSR) which would lead on to all of Europe's rail networks.  In September 2002, a five-member Japanese delegation visited South Gyeongsang Governor Kim Hyuk-kyu of Korea's southeastern provincial government to discuss the proposal of an undersea tunnel. The legislative group from Japan was headed by Daizō Nozawa (), a future Japanese Cabinet Minister of Justice who was then a Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) legislator in Japan's House of Councilors. Nozawa, then a key figure involved in Japanese civil engineering projects, toured Korea's Geoje region. This visit marked a starting point on the contemplated tunnel on the South Korean side, officials at the regional government stated. The same month saw comments by Alexander Losyukov, Russia's vice foreign minister for Asia-Pacific affairs, raising discussion on the tunnel project and saying that it was "something for the distant future, but feasible".  The tunnel proposal was again brought forward in the recent era by Japan's 91st Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda (). At an August 2009 meeting of the International Highway Foundation in Japan which was addressed by Huh Moon-doh of South Korea, a video was shown of a half-kilometer long test tunnel excavated from Karatsu toward Korea. The foundation also conducted geophysical research on the sea bottom in the Tsushima and Iki Islands areas. Addressing the congregation Huh stated a serious interest in the project, made more attractive by the economic activity it would generate for both countries in the middle of 2009's deepening economic recession. But Huh interjected that "...there are still deep and lingering anxieties among Korean citizens over closer connections with Japan," referring to centuries of warfare between the nations dating back to Japan's invasions of the peninsula in the 16th century, almost mirroring that of Britain and France. Huh also commented on the growing possibility of Chinese economic hegemony in the region which could be blunted by greater South Korean and Japanese cooperation. "The tunnel connecting the two nations would be the very symbol of such cooperation", Huh reiterated.  In October 2009, Japanese Prime Minister Yukio Hatoyama (鳩山 由紀夫) visited Seoul and had discussions that led to two proposals: an undersea tunnel between Japan and South Korea being one of those. It was announced at the conclusion of his meetings that a research group from the two countries would convene in January 2010 to establish a tunnel building committee. Speaking earlier at the United Nations General Assembly, Hatoyama indicated that the recent changes in Japan would help his nation be a "bridge" to the world. To build a unity of nations, Hatoyama wanted to establish an East Asian Community similar to the European Union. An undersea tunnel between the two countries would help establish that unity.

Notable supporters.

Former South Korean President Lee Myung-bak (), inaugurated as president in February 2008, expressed a willingness to consider the project, unlike his immediate predecessor Roh Moo-hyun. Former Japanese Defence Minister and long-term Diet member Seishiro Etō was quoted after a meeting with other interested lawmakers from various parties: "This is a dream-inspiring project" and "We'd like to promote it as a symbol of peace-building." Japanese legislators stated that the tunnel could "...one day allow passengers to travel by rail from Tokyo to London".  Other South Korean presidents who have publicly supported the fixed-link have included Roh Tae-woo and Kim Dae-jung. Japan's former Finance Minister Masajuro Shiokawa discussed the economic stimulus benefits of large infrastructure programs such as the Channel Tunnel, in light of the grave economic crisis his country and the region was experiencing in 2009.  Former Ministers of Justice Daizo Nozawa, president of the Japan–Korea Tunnel Research Institute, and Kim Ki-Chun, a former executive member of the Korea-Japan Parliamentarians Union, have been significant supporters of the project, saying: "any engineering challenges [to building the tunnel] can be met with present technology." They cautioned, however, that "Far more daunting is the historic psychological barrier between the two countries. There is no better way to bring people together than to engage them in a project requiring all their efforts."  Similarly, Professor Shin Jang-cheol of Soongshil University in Korea has promoted the project, stating that "...the tunnel will stimulate business, ease tension and promote political stability in East Asia. It will also have a positive impact on the reunification of the Korean Peninsula." Shin further commented on the project's positive aspects by noting that it would encourage a joint Free Trade Zone by improving the region's general transportation infrastructure.  A noted long-time proponent of the tunnel project was South Korea's Sun Myung Moon (문선명), the late Korean founder and leader of the worldwide Unification Church. Moon proposed a "Great Asian Highway" as early as November 1981 at the 10th International Conference of the Unity of the Sciences and helped establish several related committees over the next three years. Moon helped create the International Highway Construction Corporation (IHCC) in April 1982 to build the tunnel project and other transportation infrastructures, motivated by the project's potential for promoting international harmony and world peace.  Moon was the inspiration of the late highly respected Japanese scientist Eizaburo Nishibori, who was a major proponent for the current impetus on the tunnel project. He became motivated upon hearing Reverend Sun Myung Moon's proposal for this tunnel in 1981 at the International Conference on the Unity of the Sciences meeting in Seoul, South Korea. Nishibori subsequently helped organized the Japan–Korea Tunnel Research Institute which has performed major research and assisted in the selection of the three new proposed tunnel routes.  In October 2010, a group of 26 Korean and Japanese scholars of the Joint Research Committee for a New Korea-Japan Era, led by Ha Young-sun of Seoul National University and Masao Okonogi of Keio University, released the findings of their study: "A Joint Study Project for the New Korea-Japan Era". The research study made specific policy proposals in order to improve both countries' bilateral relations, and among the study's suggestions was a call to build the undersea tunnel in order to link the two countries together.  Additionally, in August 2014, business organizations representing South Korea's and Japan's largest companies announced there was a "need to raise public interest for the undersea tunnel plan that could link South Korea to Japan by rail", as well as increasing tourism between the countries. Representatives of the Federation of Korean Industries and Nippon Keidanren stated that increased tourism between their two lands could "help overcome past differences and help fuel domestic spending in both countries", while the proposed undersea tunnel could create ₩54 trillion won (54T원, or US$53 billion) in economic benefits. It could provide about 45,000 jobs, according to the Busan Development Institute. While that announcement was made at a meeting held in the South Korean capital, Seoul, the Keidanren portion of the Japan Federation of Economic Organizations in Tokyo announced their support for efforts to increase "more civilian exchanges and foster better relations" between the two cultures by increased tourism and trade.

Proposed routes.

An early post–World War II proposal called the "Korea-Japan Friendship Tunnel System", had tunnels running between Korea and Japan, extending from the Korean port city of Busan (connect with Korail) to the Japanese city of Fukuoka on Kyūshū (connect with Sanyo Shinkansen), via four islands in the Strait.  Since approximately 1988, three newer routes have been proposed for the project by the Japan–Korea Tunnel Research Institute Society (founded by the Korean Unification Church), with all three having the most eastern point terminating at Karatsu, Saga Prefecture, on the Japanese island of Kyūshū. The proposed western termination points are in the Korean port city of Busan (부산광역시) for one of the routes, and the city of Geoje (거제시) for the other two routes, with all three routes running across the strait islands of Tsushima and Iki. Combined tunnel-island traverses for the three routes range from 209 to 231 kilometers to cross the Korea Strait (both the eastern Tsushima Kaikyō and the western Busan Strait). Those distances would be far longer than the undersea Channel Tunnel that connects Britain to France.  In early 2009 the joint study group stated that the route would almost certainly begin at Karatsu in Japan's Saga Prefecture and likely travel to Geoje Island on the Korean shore. If the tunnel travels between Karatsu and Geoje, it would span a length of, with an undersea distance of, making it the longest such tunnel in the world.  One of the new proposals calls for a combination road and rail link from Karatsu on Kyushu Island and terminating at Busan, the second largest city in South Korea. Of the three tunnel routes under consideration, the favoured design was a combination bridge from Karatsu to Iki Island, followed by a 60 km tunnel to the central portion of Tsushima Island, and then a 68 km tunnel roughly westward to Busan at an estimated cost of approximately 10 to 15 trillion yen ($111 billion to $157 billion).  Other options would see the final tunnel portion constructed from Tsushima to Geojedo Island off the Korean coast, and then to Masan on the peninsula, with two tunnel designs under consideration. One version would be similar to the Channel Tunnel, which employs a service and emergency tunnel between its two train tunnels. The other design would have a single large diameter tunnel for both road and train traffic. Long highway tunnels have in the past been criticized for their inherent safety issues involving serious auto accidents, as have been experienced in European tunnels.

Potential benefits, costs and possible issues.

In the mid-1980s, the tunnel's approximate cost was estimated at US$70 billion, with the Japan–Korea Tunnel Research Institute placing it between approximately ¥10 and ¥15 trillion (Japanese yen). The proposed tunnel project would provide a savings of about 30 percent in costs of transporting goods between the countries.  The tunnel would benefit passenger travel, with travel times around 5 hours Seoul–Osaka (1040 km) and 7 hours Seoul–Tokyo (1550 km). This would offer South Korea a chance to redefine and expand its tourism industry to include other cities and destinations besides Seoul, as the tunnel would serve as a gateway for tourists to travel with ease to and from the peninsula. The tunnel would assist in the creation of the proposed BESETO (Beijing–Seoul–Tokyo) Highway Plan which would connect six megacities (Shanghai, Tianjin, Beijing, Seoul, Osaka and Tokyo), each having a population of greater than 10 million people.  By 2002, a preliminary Japanese study had reported that the costs of freight transported through the tunnel would be one-fourth of those related to traditional maritime shipping, and that shipments from Japan to Europe, via the Eurasian Land Bridge, would arrive faster than the 20 days for seaborne transport.  Others have debated the tunnel project. The Korean news media outlet "Chosunilbo" reported in 2007 that construction would cost between ₩60 and ₩100 trillion (Korean won) and take 15 to 20 years to construct. This is more than five times the cost and three times the construction time of the tunnel between Britain and France. Opponents of the project say that Korea would gain little from such a tunnel, which would principally help Japan expand its economic and political influence into the Asian continent.  According to professor Park Jin-hee of the Korea Maritime University, in the period before 2007 it cost $665 to ship a container from Osaka to Busan. With an undersea tunnel, the estimated price would drop to $472, a saving of almost 30%. Further economic benefits would be gained if North Korea would permit trains to cross through it into China, from where trains could then access the Trans-Chinese Railway to the Trans-Siberian Railway to Europe. An additional proposal raised in 2009 suggested the construction of a second tunnel from Pyeongtaek at the north end of South Korea, tunneling westward to Weihai in China's Shandong Province, completely bypassing North Korea, whose government has been seen as volatile and temperamental. Such a Yellow Sea tunnel would cover a distance of.  However, negative views of the tunnel's profitability emerged the same year. Japanese Studies Professor Shin Jang-churl, of Seoul's Soongsil University, stated that the countries' political proposals were "...nothing but [empty] diplomatic rhetoric." Key issues for the tunnel would be its enormous construction cost combined with possible low profitability, similar to the Eurotunnel's financial situation since it opened in 1994.  In early 2009, the new joint study group identified that the construction costs alone would be ¥10 trillion by a Japanese estimate and almost ₩200 trillion by a Korean estimate. A Japanese report showed the tunnel would not be economically feasible, which was similar to another study conducted by the Koreans.  However, the group pointed out that the tunnel is economically feasible if decision-makers included the effects of job creation and the project's ability to revive the construction industry. Korea would see a ₩13 trillion addition to its construction industry, and Japan's increase would be ₩18 trillion. With industrial effects, the group forecast that Korea would see economic benefits worth ₩54 trillion and ₩88 trillion for Japan.  In 2011, a new study released by South Korea's Land, Transport and Maritime Affairs Ministry, referring to studies by the government's Korea Transport Institute (KOTI), reported that the proposed tunnel project, as well as another proposed tunnel project from the northwest of South Korea to neighbouring China (which would bypass North Korea) were economically non-feasible. The KOTI studies cited the estimated combined construction costs for both projects at about ₩100 trillion (approx. US$90 billion), which would produce an extremely low benefit-to-cost result.  In 2014, the South Korean Busan Development Institute estimated the undersea tunnel could create ₩54 trillion won (원54T, or US$53 billion) in economic benefits and provide about 45,000 jobs.

Comparison to the Anglo-French Channel Tunnel.

In an April 2009 editorial, former Justice Ministers Daizō Nozawa of Japan and Kim Ki Chun of South Korea remarked on some of the similarities of the proposed Japan–Korea tunnel to the Anglo-French tunnel. The Channel Tunnel runs for 50.45 km linking the United Kingdom and France, and opened in May 1994: At 37.9 km, the tunnel has the longest undersea portion of any tunnel in the world. The Japan–Korea tunnel faces technical issues and similarly the mistrust of two former adversaries created by centuries of conflict. However, the UK and France were able to overlook their historical divide and link themselves, setting the stage for a major change in their relationship.  The addition of the fixed link to Europe, once believed to be "impossible to build and financially impractical", resulted in numerous positive changes to both the U.K. and mainland Europe. Among the most significant was the loss of a key psychological barrier (akin to an "island mentality"), that previously held back many Britons and other Europeans from travelling to each other's nations, according to Kim and Nozawa.  A veritable new industry subsequently sprang up to serve Britons wanting to buy properties in European countries. Fifteen years after opening the Channel Tunnel, it was estimated that 300,000 French citizens were living in London, helped in part by reasonably priced Eurostar fares and service that is almost completely immune to bad weather and heavy seas. The Channel Tunnel is seen as an important asset to the entire European Union's infrastructure, placing Brussels less than two hours from central London, with central Paris taking only 15 minutes longer to reach. It has "greatly facilitated integration of the region." The Japan-Korea Cooperation Committee, composed of business organizations and academics, similarly concluded in August 2009 that "the undersea tunnel may contribute to the integration process of Northeast Asia."  That fixed link allows hundreds of thousands of citizens to move and work more freely in each other's countries, and has allowed for greater economic growth. In contrast, northeast Asia, also one of the world's fastest growing economies, experiences a lower degree of internal political cohesion partly due to its poorer intraregional transportation links. This observation was similarly noted after a two-day meeting in late 2008 by the Japan–Korea Cooperation Committee of business leaders and academics that reported "the undersea tunnel may contribute to the integration process of Northeast Asia", helping to establish an Asian economic sphere of several hundred million-plus people.  Politically and economically, both tunnels could be viewed as symbols of regional integration, with former French President François Mitterrand once stating: "The Channel Tunnel... is nothing less than a revolution..."  Nozawa and Kim further claimed that the Channel Tunnel was instrumental in redirecting how the peoples of different cultures and nationalities view each other, something they hope that the Japan–Korea fixed link will accomplish to reverse centuries of conflict and mistrust between their countries. As with the Channel Tunnel, the Japan–Korea tunnel would be regarded as a prime political symbol and proof of intraregional cooperation.  For the Japan–Korea fixed link project to proceed, it must, after decades of informal talks and private research, similarly move into formal bilateral discussions and agreements.

Associated difficulties.

Societal.

The Japanese and the South Korean public have reservations toward closer links with each other. Some South Koreans have strong memories of the Japanese occupation of Korea from 1910 to 1945. Urban Planning Professor Hur Jae-wan of Seoul's Chung-Ang University argued that for the tunnel to become politically viable it would be essential for the project to gain significant support from both countries' citizenry, stating:  In the mid-2000s, disputes over history, territory and policies aimed at North Korea had brought the two countries' relations to a low point, and deepened their mistrust in each other. Professor Shin Jang-churl of Soongsil University in Seoul advised that it was essential for consensus to be reached by both Japanese and South Korean nationals on the relevant issues that divided them.

Political.

Japan and South Korea tend to favor large infrastructure projects, so this project might seem to be fairly obvious politically, but this project has been the target of far right/nationalist political groups in both countries. Many South Koreans have advised caution in proceeding with the project due to worries of firms in the much larger Japanese economy becoming more dominant in South Korea due to the lower logistical expenses the tunnel would provide; this increased economic power would further expand the political power of Japan in the region. Similarly, many Japanese firms worry it may expand the increasing dominance of Korean firms in sectors such as consumer electronics. China's increasing dominance in the region may, eventually, minimize these concerns making the project politically viable, but this is not yet the case.  In the early 2000s, Japan's relationship with South Korea soured when Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited his country's Yasukuni shrine several times, an action deemed offensive to many Koreans. Another contentious issue may be the territorial dispute over the Liancourt Rocks islets (Dokdo/Takeshima) to the northeast of the strait, which have long been claimed by both parties but under South Korean control since 1952. South Korea's Coast Guard personnel first occupied the islets in 1953, with more permanent facilities built by South Korea over the next several years.  Aside from the power politics that exist between Tokyo, Seoul, Pyongyang, and Beijing, other policy issues that could restrict a tunnel between Japan and Korea include regulatory barriers such as different rail transport regulations, border controls, and trade policies.

References.

Footnotes

The Japan–Korea Undersea Tunnel (also Korea–Japan Undersea Tunnel) is a proposed tunnel project to connect Japan with South Korea via an undersea tunnel crossing the Korea Strait using the strait islands of Iki and Tsushima, a straight-line distance of approximately at its shortest.

Der Japan-Korea-Tunnel (jap., "Nikkan tonneru", auch: Korea-Japan-Tunnel, kor. Hangeul:, "Han-Il haejeo teoneol") ist ein vorgeschlagener Tunnel zwischen Japan und Südkorea, der unter der Koreastraße verlaufen würde, entlang der Inseln Iki und Tsushima. Die kürzeste vorgeschlagene Strecke ist ungefähr 128 km lang, mehr als zweimal so lang wie der Gotthard-Basistunnel, der mit 57 km zurzeit der längste Tunnel der Welt ist.


Biography.

"The New York Times" says she is a prominent advocate of jihad on the Internet, and has called herself a female holy warrior for Al Qaeda. She is the widow of Dahmane Abd al-Sattar, a.k.a. Abdessatar Dahmane, one of the men who killed anti-Taliban leader Ahmad Shah Massoud two days before the September 11, 2001 attacks. According to CNN, she admitted in 2008 that she was devoted to Osama bin Laden.  In February 2005 she was detained along with her Tunisian-born second husband Moez Garsalloui in an anti-terror raid. She was accused of operating a jihadist website which incited others to criminal acts and racial violence. While living in Switzerland (near Fribourg), she and her husband were charged with setting up websites to promote racially motivated crimes. "The New York Times" reports that, as part of first Internet-related criminal case, she was tried in found guilty by a Swiss court in June 2007 of promoting violence and supporting a criminal organization, and was given a six-month suspended sentence.  According to journalists Elaine Sciolino and Souad Mekhennet, "writing in French under the name `Oum Obeyda,` [El Aroud] has transformed herself into one of the most prominent Internet jihadists in Europe," by bullying "Muslim men to go and fight" and rallying "women to join the cause." In an interview she told the journalists: "I have a weapon. It’s to write. It’s to speak out. That’s my jihad. You can do many things with words. Writing is also a bomb."  She is quoted as telling Western audiences: "Vietnam is nothing compared to what awaits you on our lands... Ask your mothers, your wives to order your coffins." And telling her followers: "Victory is appearing on the horizon my brothers and sisters. Let’s intensify our prayers."  On December 11, 2008, she was arrested by the Belgian police with a group of people suspected of terrorist links.  In February 2009, "CNN" presented an interview with El Aroud, as well as various people familiar with her activities or involved with her court proceedings, as part of "CNN"'s regular program, "World's Untold Stories".  In May 2010, she was convicted in Brussels on terrorism charges and sentenced to eight years in prison.  In December 2017, she was stripped of her Belgian citizenship by the Court of Appeal in Brussels.

Malika El Aroud (aka "Umm Obeyda"; born 1960) is a Moroccan activist with ties to al-Qaeda known for her writings on the Internet.

Malika El Aroud, auch bekannt als Oum Obeyda (* 1959/1960 in Tanger, Marokko), wohnhaft in Brüssel, Belgien, ist die Witwe von Dahmane Abd al-Sattar, einem der Attentäter des Anti-Taliban-Führers Ahmad Schah Massoud. El Aroud ist eine der prominentesten Internet-Islamistinnen.


History.

Rostselmash was founded in 1929 as a government contractor, producing a variety of products for state farms. In 1931, the first Stalinets harvesters were produced. The Stalinets-1 was awarded with the highest award (Grand Prix diploma) during the World Industrial Exhibition in Paris in 1937 and by 1940 fifty thousand units were assembled.  During Operation Barbarosa, Rostselmash dismantled its plant in Rostov-on-Don, and relocated in Tashkent, the capital of Uzbekistan. Production shifted from agricultural goods to military equipment until the end of the war. In 1943, production was returned to Rostov.  After the war, the Stalinets-6 harvesters were assembled and in 1955 Rostselmash began to specialize in grain harvester production. In 1958, the SK-3 self-propelled harvesters were introduced followed by the SK-4 in 1962. By 1969, Rostselmash produced 1 000 000 harvesters. The SK Niva harvesters, introduced in 1973, remain in production for the Eastern European market.  By 1984 Rostselmash produced 2 000 000 harvesters. The Don Series combines were introduced in 1986; those along with tractors were sold in North America by Belarus Tractor of Canada. Both had a reputation for poor quality, lack of operator comfort, poor reliability, and lack of part availability.  After the fall of the Soviet Union, Rostselmash was incorporated into a joint-stock company in 1992, and fully privatized in 2000. The new owners — Konstantin Babkin, Dmitry Udras and Yuri Ryazanov withdrew Rostselmash from the crisis of 1990-s.  In 2007 they took control of Buhler Industries of Winnipeg in Canada. Buhler Industries are the owners of the Canadian–built Versatile brand of articulated tractor, founded by Peter Pakosh.

Products.

Harvesters.

Rostselmash produces four harvester variants. A 400 hp rotary harvester is sold the Rostselmash name in Eastern Europe and the Versatile name in North America. The RT 490 uses a unique Rotating Concave Rotary design where the concave rotates counter to the rotor, reducing dead spots and increasing usable area.  Vector and Acros harvesters are sold in North America through Python Manufacturing Inc.  The Niva is a 155 hp harvester developed in the Soviet era, and is available only in Eastern Europe and Africa.

Tractors.

Versatile tractors are available from 190 to 620 hp.

Rostselmash () is a Russian agricultural equipment company, based in Rostov-on-Don. It was founded in 1929. It primarily produces combine harvesters. The company income in 2005 was 400 million dollars. It used to sponsor a football club that used to be called FC Rostselmash and is, as of 2008, called FC Rostov.

Rostselmasch (; englische Transkription "Rostselmash") ist der größte Landmaschinenhersteller in Russland und Osteuropa. Das Unternehmen produziert und vertreibt Produkte wie Feldhäcksler, Mähdrescher, Futtererntemaschinen, Ballenpressen, aber auch Technik für die Lagerung und Verarbeitung von Getreide, für die Viehzucht und für den Straßenbau. Rostselmasch ist an der Moskauer Börse RTS notiert und bietet seine Produkte in insgesamt 19 Ländern an.


Toponymy.

The name ""Cassaro"" comes from the Arabic word ""Qasr"" (fortress, castle). In fact, during the era of the Islamic Sicily, "Panormus", called "Balarm" by the Saracens, became the island's capital and a large portion of the ancient city was widely fortified. In the Middle Ages, especially during the Islamic and Norman periods, the street was also called ""As-Simat Al-Balat"" (Arabic) and ""Via (Platea) Marmorea"" (Latin) because it was paved with slabs of marble. Even now, the Arabic word ""balat(a)"" is used in Sicily to indicate the marble.  In the late sixteenth century, during the age of the personal union between the crowns of Spain and Sicily, the street assumed the name of ""Via Toledo"" in honor of the Viceroy García de Toledo Osorio, the main architect of its rectification. This denomination lasted until the unification of Italy, when the street was officially dedicated to the King Victor Emmanuel II of Italy. However, the ancient name ""Cassaro"" never was abandoned by the people.

History.

The road was created at the time of the foundation of Palermo by the Phoenicians, cutting into two parts the city and connecting the ancient port to the Punic necropolis located in the area of the current Piazza Indipendenza and Corso Calatafimi.  During the Islamic era the street confirmed its role of main axis of the city, from which various branch detached as secondary roads called ""Darbi"", perpendicular to the main branch, inserting in the territory and ending in ""Aziqqa"", blind alleys distinctive of Palermo. During the Siculo-Norman age the Cassaro was richly described by the Muslim geographer Al-Idrisi in his famous ""Book of Roger"".  The most important innovation to the layout of the Cassaro occurred in the second half of the sixteenth century, during the Spaniard age. The project, maybe defined from the outset but accomplished in various stages, provided for the rectification and enlargement of the street up to the Church of Santa Maria di Porto Salvo, near Palazzo Chiaramonte (at that time headquarters of the Viceroy).  The works, with the permission of the Viceroy Garcia de Toledo, began in 1567. It started with the adjustment of the southern area till ""Porta dei Patitelli"" (current Via Roma), then with massive demolitions to reach Piazza Marina. The development of this work was actively supported by the city nobility, that contributed to the opening of Piazza Bologni and Piazza Pretoria. In 1581 The Viceroy Marcantonio Colonna prolonged the street up to the city walls by opening the sea with the monumental Porta Felice.

Structure.

The street is perfectly straight from Porta Nuova, near Piazza Indipendenza, to Porta Felice, near the Foro Italico. It has a slight downhill sloping towards the sea. Throughout its path there are many streets leading into it but only two crossing: Via Maqueda (also known as ""Strada Nuova""), with which it forms the famous Baroque intersection known as Quattro Canti (Piazza Villena), and Via Roma, created in the late nineteenth century.

Transport.

Since 2015 the street is pedestrian in the stretch from the Cathedral to Quattro Canti. A free shuttle bus, called ""Free Centro Storico"" or ""Arancione"" ("Orange"), crosses the historic centre from Piazza Indipendenza to Porta Felice.

Feast of Saint Rosalia.

The Cassaro is the scenery of the long procession of the Chariot of Saint Rosalia during the ""Festino"", the night between the 14th and 15th of July of each year. The feast dedicated to the patron saint of Palermo involves every year tens of thousands of people.

The Cassaro () is the most ancient street of Palermo. From the late 16th century the street also had the name Via Toledo. Following the unification of Italy, it was officially renamed Via Vittorio Emanuele II, but the old and distinctive name is still in use. The street is rooted in the age of the foundation of Palermo by the Phoenicians. It provides access to a number of important sights, including the Royal Palace (also known as "Palazzo dei Normanni") and the Cathedral, two UNESCO World Heritage Sites.

Der Corso Vittorio Emanuele (auch Via Vittorio Emanuele genannt) ist eine Hauptstraße der Stadt Palermo. Sie ist eine der ältesten Straßen der Stadt.


History.

The station was built by the Edinburgh and Glasgow Railway, and opened on 21 February 1842. In 1865 the E&GR was absorbed into the North British Railway, in 1878 the entire station was redesigned by the civil engineer James Carswell. It became part of the LNER group in 1923.  The climb through the tunnel to Cowlairs is at 1 in 42 and until 1909 trains were hauled up on a rope operated by a stationary engine, although experiments were carried out using banking engines in 1844–48. Three people died in 1928 when a train leaving the station rolled back into another train. Modern diesel and electric trains have no difficulty with the climb.  The adjacent station of the rival Caledonian Railway closed on 7 November 1966 as a result of the Beeching cuts and its services to Stirling, Perth, Inverness, Dundee and Aberdeen transferred to Queen Street. This caused difficulties with longer trains, as Queen Street is in a confined position between George Square and the tunnel.  In the 1980s, HST were used on Cross Country and East Coast services run by InterCity, having to use Platform 7 with the end of the train being close to the tunnel mouth.

Services.

Queen Street station's platforms are on two levels, with the high-level platforms running directly north–south, and the low-level running east–west. They are connected by staircases at either end of the low-level platforms, and by lifts accessible from Platform 7 on the high level.  In 2018, the typical Monday to Saturday service is:

High level.

The High Level station is the larger of the two levels, and is the terminus for the Edinburgh shuttles and all routes north of the Central Belt run by ScotRail. The high level railway approaches the station building through the Queen Street Tunnel, which runs beneath the Buchanan Galleries shopping centre to the Sighthill area northeast of the city centre. Platforms 1–7 occupy the High Level, Platform 1 being at the western end of the trainshed, and being considerably shorter – it is usually only used for local stopping services. Since the electrification of several of the routes from the High level station (Edinburgh to Glasgow via Falkirk High and to Stirling, Dunblane and Alloa) the fleet is largely electric, utilising the new Class 385 trains.

Low level.

Platforms 8 and 9 comprise the Low Level station, and it is the most central stop on the North Clyde Line of the Glasgow suburban electric network. Trains run frequently between Helensburgh on the Firth of Clyde, Balloch and suburban Milngavie to Airdrie, on the eastern edge of the Greater Glasgow conurbation and onward to Edinburgh via Bathgate and Livingston. The line is electrified; the fleet operating this route are Class 318s, Class 320s and Class 334s.  Services on the West Highland Line to Oban, Fort William and Mallaig occasionally use the Low Level station when the main route into the High Level is unavailable due to engineering work. As of September 2014, the to overnight sleeper also calls here instead of in the northwestern suburbs, eliminating the need for those travelling between Glasgow & Fort William and between Glasgow & London Euston on the sleeper to change there (alighting only southbound/boarding only northbound), the only locomotive-hauled train to call here.  The Low Level line between High Street, Queen Street and Charing Cross was built before the Glasgow Subway, making it the oldest underground railway in the city. In May–June 2014, work was carried out to redevelop the Low Level platforms, which now have new compliant seating.

Signalling.

Queen Street signal box, opened in 1881, was on a gantry spanning the tracks close to the tunnel mouth. It closed on 26 February 1967 when control of the high level station was transferred to a panel in Cowlairs signal box. That box was superseded by the new Cowlairs signalling centre on 28 December 1998. This in turn was abolished in October 2013 and the station is now under the supervision of Edinburgh IECC (which will eventually become the Edinburgh Rail Operating Centre).  The low level station had two signal boxes, 'Queen Street West' and 'Queen Street East'. Both boxes were over the tracks and closed on 8 February 1960. The low level lines came under the control of Yoker Signalling Centre (IECC) on 19 November 1989.

Redevelopment.

Minor refurbishment of the station has taken place over in recent years, which has seen the station internally repainted and paved with new flooring, and the CRT screens that displayed train timetables and passenger information were replaced with new LED information boards similar to those in Glasgow Central Station but smaller, in January 2008.  In August 2006 Network Rail revealed that it intended to redevelop Queen Street substantially, making use of the Hanover Street car park area to provide more retail space, and to upgrade the station's entrances, and to provide escalators down to the lower level platforms – at present there are only steep staircases at either end of Platforms 8/9, and lifts which have to be reached using a circuitous route via the main line platforms. More plans were unveiled in September 2011 by Network Rail, along with an announcement that the owner of the Buchanan Galleries shopping mall – Land Securities had been chosen as development partner for the station. This saw the 1970s hotel extension (which until recently fronted the George Square entrance of the station) demolished and replaced by a glass atrium. The previous plans of developing the airspace rights above the North Hanover Street car park into an expanded retail and restaurant area will be carried forward – and will form part of the proposed extension to the Buchanan Galleries, which will gain direct access to the station concourse. The redevelopment, which was initially scheduled for completion in June 2019, also includes an extension of the high level platforms to accommodate the longer trains that will be introduced as part of the Edinburgh Glasgow Improvement Programme (EGIP).  In 2009, the Scottish Government announced that the Glasgow to Edinburgh via Falkirk Line would be electrified by 2017. Overhead line electrification lines have been installed on the high level platforms of Queen Street, with Class 380 trains now operating from the station as of December 2017, and Class 385 trains as of Autumn 2018. As part of this work, the High Level station was closed for 20 weeks (from 20 March to 8 August 2016) to allow of track in Queen Street Tunnel (and all of the tracks and platforms in the station itself) to be replaced. Services were diverted over various routes during this period, with some trains running to/from the Low Level station and others to/from Glasgow Central station (via Cumbernauld, Coatbridge and Carmyle).  In August 2017, work began on the £100 million redevelopment of the station, which was due to be completed by December 2019, but has now been scheduled to 2020 due to delays in receiving power to go forward with the work.

Proposals.

Various schemes to link Queen Street to station have been considered, as passengers travelling from the north of Scotland to the south and vice versa via Glasgow have to traverse the city centre either on foot or by road. A bus link connects the two stations (which also calls at the city's Buchanan bus station), use of which is free to rail passengers making a cross-Glasgow transfer on a through ticket. Neither of Glasgow's main line terminals is served by the Glasgow Subway, although a moving walkway was installed between Queen Street and the immediately adjacent subway station during the system's modernisation in 1980, whilst station is a short walk from Glasgow Central.  One option to allow cross-Glasgow rail journeys would be Crossrail Glasgow, using a former passenger line (now used only for freight) that links High Street to the Gorbals area. This initiative was reviewed favourably, but progress has been stalled indefinitely as of 2009. Alternative proposals envisage a new city centre station (possibly in a tunnel underneath the city centre) or a light rail / metro system.

Other sources.

Glasgow Queen Street () is a city centre railway terminus in Glasgow, Scotland. It is the smaller of the city's two main line railway terminals and the third busiest station in Scotland. The station is situated between George Street to the south and Cathedral Street Bridge to the north, at the northern end of Queen Street adjacent to George Square. Queen Street station serves the Greater Glasgow area's northern towns and suburbs. The station also serves the Edinburgh Waverley shuttle and is the terminus for all inter-city services to destinations in the North of Scotland. The other main city-centre station in Glasgow is.

Der Bahnhof Glasgow Queen Street ist der kleinere der beiden Hauptbahnhöfe Glasgows. Nach Glasgow Central und Edinburgh Waverley ist er der am drittstärksten frequentierte Bahnhof Schottlands. Er besteht aus zwei Teilen, dem oberirdischen Kopfbahnhof und einem unterirdischen Durchgangsbahnhof. Über einen Fußgängertunnel ist er mit der Station "Buchanan Street" der Glasgow Subway verbunden.


Description.

Adult Bengal floricans range from in length and stand around tall. The male has black plumage from the head and neck to underparts. Its head carries a long lanky crest, and the neck has elongated display plumes. The upperside is buff with fine black vermiculations and black arrowhead markings, and there is a conspicuous large white patch from the wing coverts to the remiges. In flight, the male's wings appear entirely white except for the dark primary remiges. The feet and legs are yellow, the bill and irides are dark.  Females are larger than the males and have a buff-brown colour similar to the males' back, with a dark brown crown and narrow dark streaks down the side of the neck. Their wing coverts are lighter than the remiges and covered in fine dark barring. Immature birds look like females. Adult females weigh around against a weight of in males.  They are normally silent but when disturbed utters a metallic "chik-chik-chik" call. Displaying males croak and produce a strange deep humming.  The only bird even remotely similar to adult males of the Bengal florican is the lesser florican ("Sypheotides indica"). This is a smaller, slimmer-necked bustard overall, and its males have cheek-tufts of plumes with pennant-like tips rather than the crest, and a white band between neck and back. The females are similar, and young Bengal floricans can be easily mistaken for female lesser floricans. The latter has almost white wing coverts however, resembling the males' wing patch.

Distribution and habitat.

It has two disjunct populations, one in the Indian subcontinent, another in Southeast Asia. The former occurs from Uttar Pradesh (India) through the Terai of Nepal to Assam (where it is called ulu mora) and Arunachal Pradesh in India, and historically to Bangladesh. The South East Asian population occurs in Cambodia and perhaps adjacent southern Vietnam. This species is mostly resident on its breeding grounds; around Tonlé Sap in Cambodia however, the birds use grasslands near the lake to breed, and move away from the water in the wet season when the breeding grounds are flooded. Similarly, the Terai population seems to move to warmer lowland locations in winter. Migrations are not long-distance, however, and probably are restricted to a few dozen kilometers.  Bengal floricans live in open tall grassland habitats with scattered bushes. The most important grass species are satintails ("Imperata", in particular Cogongrass "I. cylindrica"), sugarcane ("Saccharum", in particular "S. munja" and Kans Grass "S. spontaneum"), as well as "Desmostachya bipinnata". The birds are usually encountered in the early mornings and evenings and are most easily spotted in the breeding season from March to August, which is when most censuses of the population are conducted. Particular between March and May, when they give their stunning courtship display, males are far more conspicuous than the cryptically-coloured females, which moreover prefer high grassland rich in sugarcane.

Status and conservation.

Restricted to tiny fragments of grassland scattered across South and Southeast Asia, the Bengal florican is the world's rarest bustard. It is known to have become increasingly threatened by land conversion for intensive agriculture, particularly for dry season rice production. Poaching continues to be a problem in Southeast Asia, while the South Asian population is down to less than 350 adult birds, about 85% of which are found in India. Though more threatened, birds in Southeast Asia may number as many as in South Asia but more probably closer to or even less than 1,000 adults.  The population has decreased dramatically in past decades. It may be that in India the decline is coming to a halt and that stocks in Dibru-Saikhowa and Kaziranga National Parks and Dudhwa Tiger Reserve are safe at very low levels. Still, its global status is precarious and it was consequently uplisted from Endangered to Critically Endangered in the 2007 IUCN Red List.  In Cambodia, it is mostly found in Kampong Thom Province; lesser numbers are found in Siem Reap Province and remnants might persist in Banteay Meanchey, Battambang and Pursat Provinces. Its rate of decline there has accelerated in the early 21st century, and the bird's numbers in Southeast Asia might fall to effective extinction in the early 2010s. The government of Cambodia has taken a significant step towards protecting important habitat for the Bengal florican. Along with 350 square kilometres being designated as "Integrated Farming and Biodiversity Areas", where land-use practices are adapted to also benefit the Bengal florican, a public education program to inform schoolchildren about the bird has also been undertaken. At present, the species may persist in the Ang Trapaing Thmor Crane Sanctuary and perhaps Vietnam's Tràm Chim National Park, but the South Asian population is not known with certainty from any protected areas.  In Nepal, it is essentially restricted to protected areas, namely Sukla Phanta Wildlife Reserve, Bardia and Chitwan National Parks. Since 1982, the Sukla Phanta and Bardia populations appear to have been stable, but the Chitwan population has declined. In 2001, 20–28 birds were estimated in Sukla Phanta, 6–10 birds in Bardia, and 6–22 birds in Chitwan. It used to be fairly common in the Koshi Tappu Wildlife Reserve but has not been recorded there since 1990, and has not been sighted around the Koshi Barrage since the 1980s. In spring 2007, 8–9 males were recorded in Sukla Phanta and 16–18 birds estimated; one male was sighted in Bardia and 2–4 estimated; five males were sighted in Chitwan and 10–14 estimated. The population in Nepal has declined by 56% since 1982 and by 30% since 2001. In spring 2011, 17 birds were recorded from nine different sites along a north-south stretch of the Koshi River. Seven were males and 10 were females. Only five individuals were recorded outside the reserve, two pairs north of Koshi Tappu, and one female seen twice near the Koshi Barrage area.  The courtship display of males has been discussed by many naturalists travelling British India, and in the modern era attracts tourists who provide revenue to locals. Studies indicate that the Bengal florican is not a particularly shy or hemerophobic species, its apparent intolerance of human settlements being chiefly due to its intolerance of land clearance for agriculture. Pastures and the traditional use of common land for villagers' tall-grass harvest (for construction and handicraft) actually seem to be tolerated quite well by the birds.  If firewood and timber is collected from grassland rather than from forests, human land use will even benefit the species. In particular, sal ("Shorea robusta") and saj ("Terminalia elliptica") have been identified as trees that encroach upon the florican's habitat in Nepal, and its decline in Bardia National Park is probably chiefly due to insufficient use of trees that overgrow grassland. A sustainable land-management technique that will bolster Bengal florican stocks consists of harvesting grass and particularly wood from changing tracts of land, leaving some areas unharvested each year and setting aside a few additional ones as reserve land, where grasses can grow tall for years until they are harvested. Controlled burning may be necessary when woodland encroachment is strong; it should take place before March so that the year's offspring are not harmed. A landscape ecology approach, integrating social, biological and physical environmental elements at scales compatible with management objectives, will be needed to effectively conserve Bengal floricans and their grassland habitats.

The Bengal florican ("Houbaropsis bengalensis"), also called Bengal bustard, is a bustard species native to the Indian subcontinent, Cambodia, and Vietnam. It is listed as Critically Endangered on the IUCN Red List because fewer than 1,000 individuals were estimated to be alive as of 2017. It is the only member of the genus "Houbaropsis".

Die Barttrappe ("Houbaropsis bengalensis") ist eine sehr seltene Art von Trappen, die einzige der Gattung "Houbaropsis". Sie kommt in tropischen Zonen Asiens vor und ist vom Aussterben bedroht (nach IUCN Rote Liste 2009: "critically endangered").


History.

In 1962, Smidt published work on the palladium-catalysed oxidation of alkenes to carbonyl groups. In this work, it was determined that the palladium catalyst activated the alkene for the nucleophilic attack of hydroxide. Gaining insight from this work, Tsuji hypothesized that a similar activation could take place to form carbon-carbon bonds. In 1965, Tsuji reported work that confirmed his hypothesis. By reacting an allylpalladium chloride dimer with the sodium salt of diethyl malonate, the group was able to form a mixture of monoalkylated and dialkylated product.  The scope of the reaction was expanded only gradually until Trost discovered the next big breakthrough in 1973. While attempting to synthesize acyclic sesquiterpene homologs, Trost ran into problems with the initial procedure and was not able to alkylate his substrates. These problems were overcome with the addition of triphenylphosphine to the reaction mixture.  These conditions were then tested out for other substrates and some led to "essentially instantaneous reaction at room temperature." Soon after, he developed a way to use these ligands for asymmetric synthesis. Not surprisingly, this spurred on many other investigations of this reaction and has led to the important role that this reaction now holds in synthetic chemistry.

Mechanism.

Starting with a zerovalent palladium species and a substrate containing a leaving group in the allylic position, the Tsuji–Trost reaction proceeds through the catalytic cycle outlined below.  First, the palladium coordinates to the alkene, forming a η2 -allyl-Pd0 Π complex. The next step is oxidative addition in which the leaving group is expelled with inversion of configuration and a η3 -allyl-PdII is created (also called ionization). The nucleophile then adds to the allyl group regenerating the η2 -allyl-Pd0 complex. At the completion of the reaction, the palladium detaches from the alkene and can start again in the catalytic cycle.

"Hard" versus "soft" nucleophiles.

The nucleophiles used are typically generated from precursors (pronucleophiles) in situ after their deprotonation with base. These nucleophiles are then subdivided into "hard" and "soft" nucleophiles using a paradigm for describing nucleophiles that largely rests on the of their conjugate acids. "Hard" nucleophiles typically have conjugate acids with greater than 25, while "soft" nucleophiles typically have conjugate acids with less than 25. This descriptor is important because of the impact these nucleophiles have on the stereoselectivity of the product. Stabilized or "soft" nucleophiles invert the stereochemistry of the -allyl complex. This inversion in conjunction with the inversion in stereochemistry associated with the oxidative addition of palladium yields a net retention of stereochemistry. Unstabilized or "hard" nucleophiles, on the other hand, retain the stereochemistry of the -allyl complex, resulting in a net inversion of stereochemistry.  This trend is explained by examining the mechanisms of nucleophilic attack. "Soft" nucleophiles attack the carbon of the allyl group, while "hard" nucleophiles attack the metal center, followed by reductive elimination.

Phosphine ligands.

Phosphine ligands, such as triphenylphosphine or the Trost ligand, have been used to greatly expand the scope of the Tsuji–Trost reaction. These ligands can modulate the properties of the palladium catalyst such as steric bulk as well as the electronic properties. Importantly, these ligands can also instill chirality to the final product, making it possible for these reactions to be carried out asymmetrically as shown below.

Allylic asymmetric substitution.

The enantioselective version of the Tsuji–Trost reaction is called the Trost asymmetric allylic alkylation (Trost AAA) or simply, asymmetric allylic alkylation (AAA). These reactions are often used in asymmetric synthesis. The reaction was originally developed with a palladium catalyst supported by the Trost ligand, although suitable conditions have greatly expanded since then. Enantioselectivity can be imparted to the reaction during any of the steps aside from the decomplexation of the palladium from the alkene since the stereocenter is already set at that point. Five main ways have been conceptualized to take advantage of these steps and yield enantioselective reaction conditions. These methods of enantiodiscrimination were previously reviewed by Trost: The favored method for enantiodiscrimination is largely dependent on the substrate of interest, and in some cases, the enantioselectivity may be influenced by several of these factors.

Scope.

Nucleophiles.

Many different nucleophiles have been reported to be effective for this reaction. Some of the most common nucleophiles include malonates, enolates, primary alkoxides, carboxylates, phenoxides, amines, azides, sulfonamides, imides, and sulfones.

Leaving groups.

The scope of leaving groups has also been expanded to include a number of different leaving groups, although carbonates, phenols, phosphates, halides and carboxylates are the most widely used.

"Hard" and "soft" nucleophiles.

Recent work has demonstrated that the scope of "soft" nucleophiles can be expanded to include some pronucleophiles that have much higher than ~ 25. Some of these "soft" nucleophiles have ranging all the way to 32, and even more basic pronucleophiles (~44) have been shown to act as soft nucleophiles with the addition of Lewis acids that help to facilitate deprotonation. The improved pKa range of "soft" nucleophiles is critical because these nucleophiles are the only ones that have been explored for enantioselective reactions until very recently (although non-enantioselective reactions of "hard" nucleophiles have been known for some time). By increasing the scope of pronucleophiles that act as "soft" nucleophiles, these substrates can also be incorporated into enantioselective reactions using previously reported and well characterized methods.

Ligands.

Building on the reactivity of the triphenylphosphine ligand, the structure of ligands used for the Tsuji–Trost reaction quickly became more complex. Today, these ligands may contain phosphorus, sulfur, nitrogen or some combination of these elements, but most studies have concentrated on the mono- and diphosphine ligands. These ligands can be further classified based on the nature of their chirality, with some ligands containing central chirality on the phosphorus or carbon atoms, some containing biaryl axial chirality, and others containing planar chirality. Diphosphine ligands with central chirality emerged as an effective type of ligand (particularly for asymmetric allylic alkylation procedures) with the Trost Ligand being one such example. Phosphinooxazolines (PHOX) ligands have been employed in the AAA, particularly with carbon-based nucleophiles.

Additional substrates.

The reaction substrate has also been extended to allenes. In this specific ring expansion the AAA reaction is also accompanied by a Wagner–Meerwein rearrangement:

Applications.

Pharmaceutical/natural products synthesis.

The ability to form carbon-carbon, carbon-nitrogen, and carbon-oxygen bonds enantioselectively under mild conditions makes the Trost asymmetric allylic alkylation extremely appealing for the synthesis of complex molecules.  An example of this reaction is the synthesis of an intermediate in the combined total synthesis of galantamine and morphine with 1 mol% [pi-allylpalladium chloride dimer], 3 mol% ("S,S") Trost ligand, and triethylamine in dichloromethane at room temperature. These conditions result in the formation of the (−)-enantiomer of the aryl ether in 72% chemical yield and 88% enantiomeric excess.  Another Tsuji–Trost reaction was used during the initial stages of the synthesis of (−)-Neothiobinupharidine. This recent work demonstrates the ability of this reaction to give highly diastereoselective (10:1) and enantioselective (97.5:2.5) products from achiral starting material with only a small amount of catalyst (1%).

Palladium detection.

Aside from the practical application of this reaction in medicinal chemistry and natural product synthesis, recent work has also used the Tsuji–Trost reaction to detect palladium in various systems. This detection system is based on a non-fluorescent fluorescein-derived sensor (longer-wavelength sensors have also recently been developed for other applications) that becomes fluorescent only in the presence of palladium or platinum. This palladium/platinum sensing ability is driven by the Tsuji–Trost reaction. The sensor contains an allyl group with the fluorescein functioning as the leaving group. The -allyl complex is formed and after a nucleophile attacks, the fluorescein is released, yielding a dramatic increase in fluorescence.  This simple, high-throughput method to detect palladium by monitoring fluorescence has been shown to be useful in monitoring palladium levels in metal ores, pharmaceutical products, and even in living cells. With the ever-increasing popularity of palladium catalysis, this type of quick detection should be very useful in reducing the contamination of pharmaceutical products and preventing the pollution of the environment with palladium and platinum.

The Tsuji–Trost reaction (also called the Trost allylic alkylation or allylic alkylation) is a palladium-catalysed substitution reaction involving a substrate that contains a leaving group in an allylic position. The palladium catalyst first coordinates with the allyl group and then undergoes oxidative addition, forming the -allyl complex. This allyl complex can then be attacked by a nucleophile, resulting in the substituted product.

Die Tsuji-Trost-Reaktion oder Trost-Allylierung, auch häufig einfach Allylische Alkylierung genannt, ist eine Namensreaktion aus dem Bereich der Organischen Chemie. Es handelt sich dabei um eine Palladium-katalysierte Alkylierung von Allylverbindungen. Sie dient meist der Einführung von Alkoholen, Aminen oder Derivaten von Phenol. Als Edukte werden Verbindungen benötigt, die eine Abgangsgruppe in allylischer Position besitzen. Sie wurde nach Jiro Tsuji und Barry Trost benannt.


Plot.

Škvorecký modelled Kostelec on his own home town of Náchod, and Smiřický is a semi-autobiographical character based on the author. Like Náchod, Kostelec is a border town on a river and overlooked by a castle. Like Škvorecký, Smiřický is the educated, middle-class son of a bank clerk, loves jazz music and has spent two years as a forced labourer in a Messerschmitt aircraft factory. Danny belongs to a jazz and swing band of middle-class young men that plays in a local café and tries to impress the local girls. But everyone knows that Danny's love for the beautiful Irena is unrequited, and instead she loves Zdeněk who shares her enthusiasm for mountaineering.  The novel opens with Kostelec still under German occupation, and ends a week later after the Red Army has liberated the town. The town's German garrison plans to retreat west in the hope of surrendering to the US Army rather than the Soviets. Kostelec's Czech civic authorities, who had cooperated (and in some cases possibly collaborated) with the German Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia authorities, want to keep the town calm and avoid bloodshed. They fear that local Czechoslovak Communist (KSČ) partisans are planning a revolution not only against the retreating Germans but also to prevent restoration of the pre-war capitalist order. The local elite thus organize "revolutionary troops" only to disarm Czech population and keep the young men under control. Groups of disarmed youngsters are sent to patrol and to prevent the communist resistance from raiding the German ammunition train. Danny and his friends have lost the illusions and deserted.  In the following days the liberated POWs and prisoners from concentration camps are streaming through the town. Danny helps them to find the food and shelter and he finally feels useful.  On 9 May, troops of "Waffen-SS" refuse to respect the Unconditional surrender. Their tank and infantry units are fighting a rearguard action against a Soviet forces and are approaching the town. The communist resistance takes over the command of "revolutionary troops" gives them guns and sends them against Germans. In the ensuing fight Danny kills one SS-man and incapacitates one German tank but he gives a false name to the Soviet commander as he doesn't want to be misused by propaganda as the "hero".

Anti-hero Danny.

Local young men including Danny and his fellow-musicians have a wry and cynical view of the older generation who run the town and try to organise an orderly and peaceful transition throughout the departure of the German garrison and arrival of the Soviets. Danny is motivated not by patriotism or politics but to impress Irena and win her from Zdeněk. As the turmoil of the final days of the war in Europe envelop Kostelec, events cause Danny to confront existential questions of his life, its purpose, and his future if he survives the dangerous final phase of the war.

Publication and reactions.

Škvorecký started the novel a few months after the 1948 Czechoslovak coup d'état created the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic (ČSSR) and completed it in September 1949. It portrayed KSČ partisans favourably and was unfavourable to the democrats they had deposed, but as a result of continuing Stalinism in the ČSSR the novel went unpublished until 1958, when it appeared both in Prague and in an English translation by Victor Gollancz in London. Even then, ČSSR President Antonín Novotný and the KSČ Central Committee accused Škvorecký of ""defamation of anti-fascist resistance and denigration of the Red Army"", copies were withdrawn from sale and destroyed, and the author was dismissed from his post as editor of the magazine "Světová literatura" ("World Literature").  The novel survived and was republished in Czechoslovakia in 1964, 1966 and in the Prague Spring of 1968. When this ended in the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia, Škvorecký and his wife fled to Canada. "The Cowards" was published in English by in the USA by Grove Press in 1970 and in Canada by Škvorecký's own 68 Publishers in 1972.

Attempts at adaptation.

In the spring and summer of 1968 Škvorecký and the Czech film director Miloš Forman jointly wrote a script synopsis to make a film version of "The Cowards". After Škvorecký fled the Warsaw Pact invasion the synopsis was translated into English, but no film was made. The original Czech synopsis was lost, but in the 21st century the English translation was translated back into Czech and has been published.  In the 1990s the screenwriter Petr Jarchovský wrote a screenplay, and the directors Jiří Menzel and Vladimír Michálek considered filming it. The director Bohdan Sláma also had an unrealised project to turn the novel into a film.

The Cowards (originally "Zbabělci") is a Czech novel by Josef Škvorecký. Written in 1948–49 but not published until 1958, it is a story from the very end of the Second World War in Europe. Narrated in the first person by a Czech at the end of his teens, Danny Smiřický, it takes place in the week 4–11 May 1945 in his home town, a fictional town called Kostelec in northeast Bohemia, close to the frontier with then-German Middle Silesia (now part of Poland).

Feiglinge ist der 1948/49 geschriebene, aber erst 1958 unter dem Titel "Zbabělci" (deutsch: Feiglinge) in Prag erschienene erste Roman von Josef Škvorecký. Er spielt bei Kriegsende vom 4. bis 11. Mai 1945 in der tschechischen Kleinstadt Kostelec, die nach sechs Jahren Protektoratszeit von der Fremdherrschaft befreit wird und deren Bewohner die Rote Armee als Sieger über die Deutschen willkommen heißen. Sein Erscheinen 1958 führte zu einer heftigen öffentlichen Debatte, in deren Verlauf auch der Staatspräsident Antonín Novotný bei einem Parteikongress seine Verurteilung aussprach.


History.

Foundation.

In 1960 Walter and his wife Mariella founded the company with the purpose of the production and distribution of children's clothing.  After the rise of prêt-à-porter for women in the 1970s, the company began to export abroad in the 1980s, and expanded into other lines of clothing, as well as by opening stores.

IPO and expansion of the Group.

In July 2000, it was announced that the company would be entering the Milan Stock Exchange. The shares were sold for 7 euro each on 13 and 14 July 2000. From 2000 to 2007 the group opened many new stores and made a number of acquisitions, including stakes in several companies in the leather industry, including Braccialini and Baldinini, Coccinelle, the aim being to cover different geographical areas, as well as offering a range of products.

Crisis and failure.

By the summer of 2008 the value of the shares Mariella Burani had declined drastically, by 28 August 2009 they were valued at 2.522 euro each. On 31 August the Italian Stock Exchange announced that Mariella Burani FG ordinary shares were suspended from trading indefinitely. On 11 January 2010, the prosecutor in Milan filed a petition for bankruptcy for Mariella Buran]. On 11 February, the Court of Milan declared the failure of Burani Designer Holding, Diego Moscato was appointed as liquidator and on 26 Feb he resigned the entire board of directors On 28 July 2010, the financial police of Reggio Emilia arrested Walter Burani and his son John on charges of fraudulent bankruptcy. His father Walter was placed under house arrest while his son John was held in custody in San Vittore. On 26 September, Giovanni Burani was also placed under house arrest.

The Mariella Burani Fashion Group, based in Cavriago, is a clothing, jewelry and watches company. Founded in 1960 by Walter and Mariella Burani, it became a public company listed on the stock exchanges of Milan and London. In February 2010 the company declared bankruptcy.

Die Mariella Burani Fashion Group ist eine italienische Unternehmensgruppe für Luxusmode, mit Hauptsitz in Cavriago bei Reggio nell’Emilia. Sie wurde 1960 von Mariella und Walter Burani gegründet; heute führt sie deren Sohn Giovanni Burani. Nach starkem Wachstum durch Zukäufe erzielte die Gruppe 2008 rund 700 Mio. Euro Umsatz und zählte zu den größten Modefirmen des Landes. Zu ihren Marken gehört u. a. René Lezard.


History.

Origin.

The castle of Knesebeck in Lower Saxony was jointly established by the first Duke of Brunswick/Lüneburg and the Margrave of Brandenburg in 1236, as a defence against the Slavs. Each appointed a knight to man it, who then both took their name from the castle, as was common at the time. The first documented mention in the black line is of a "Wasmodos von dem Knesebeck" in 1248. From 1374 the family held the position of hereditary chamberlain of the Principality of Lüneburg.  The first documented mention of the white line is of "Bodo de Soltwedele" in 1207. He was governor and constable in Salzwedel, from which he initially took his name. He is first mentioned as "de Knesebeke" on 26 January 1244 as a witness in a document for the Margraves Johann and Otto of Brandenburg.

Rise.

In 1281 "Pariadmus miles dictus de Knesebecke" appears as donor of an altar to St Spiritus in the convent of Diesdorf, while the brothers "Boldewinus" and "Paridam de Knesebeck" are mentioned as selling the estate of Mackstorf to the convent of Dambeck in 1283. In 1338 the family became vassals of Margrave Louis I of Brandenburg, in exchange for providing ten men in armour and forty armed with spears. In 1374 "Werner von dem Knesebeck" was awarded the position of chamberlain of the Principality of Lüneburg, which his grandfather hat first held, as a hereditary office.  Numerous members of the white line rose to senior positions in Brandenburgish and later Prussian military and public service. In 1440 Paridam von dem Knesebeck served as Prince-Bishop of Ratzeburg, while in 1464 Matthias von dem Knesebeck became Prelate of the Benedictine Ebstorf Abbey, having previously served as secretary and chancellor to the Dukes of Brunswick. Ludolf von dem Knesebeck joined Vasco da Gama as a captain on his exploration of the sea route to India in 1497. Thomas von dem Knesebeck (1559–1625) rose to Landeshauptmann (Governor) of the Altmark and was instrumental in introducing the Reformation to Brandenburg. In 1901 he was honoured with inclusion among the statues of the Siegesallee, as a bust next to John Sigismund, Elector of Brandenburg. His son Thomas would also go on to hold the position of Landeshauptmann, as did another son Hempo von dem Knesebeck (1595–1656), who was previously diplomat and Master of the Horse to Christian I. of Anhalt.  Among notable members of the black line were (1775–1842), Hanoverian Major-General, and his sons Major-General Bernhard (1817–1887) and Lieutenant-General Ernst Julius Georg von dem Knesebeck (1809–1869). Bernhard von dem Knesebeck rose to prominence as a senior field commander during the Austro-Prussian War (1866) and the Franco-Prussian War (1871) and later as Commandant of Erfurt; his brother Ernst Julius Georg von dem Knesebeck served on the general staff and as ambassador to the Bavarian and Württemberg courts. His son Bodo von dem Knesebeck (1851–1911), rose to Imperial Chamberlain and Master of Ceremonies, Secretary of the Order of the Black Eagle and founder of the German Diplomatic Corps. His other son Lionel von dem Knesebeck (1849–1916), served as Hofmarschall to Prince Frederick Charles of Hesse, the last King of Finland.  During the Second World War a number of family members became highly decorated. This included Colonel Wasmod von dem Knesebeck, who was awarded the highest military award, the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross, while serving as Chief of Staff of the 306th Infantry Division. Furthermore, Colonel Klaus von dem Knesebeck, Chief of Staff of the 65th Infantry Division, and Captain Krafft von dem Knesebeck were both awarded the second highest military award, the German Cross in Gold, the latter just days before being fatally wounded. He had been recommended for the Knight's Cross, but this was downgraded.  Of particular note among the women of the family is Friedrike Wilhelmine von dem Knesebeck (1750–1802), daughter of the Lieutenant-Colonel and Adjutant-General Carl Christoph Johann von dem Knesebeck, who became lady-in-waiting to Queen Sophia Dorothea of Prussia. While riding in a carriage in Berlin her horses bolted, upon which she promptly jumped from the speeding vehicle. Frederick the Great was so impressed by her courage that he penned a two-page poem in French, describing her as "braver than Penthesilea". The court painter Adolph von Menzel produced an engraving of the incident.  Three streets and a bridge in Berlin are named after the family.

Properties.

At various times the family has held the properties of Knesebeck, Tylsen, Karwe, Myllendonk, Huysburg, Röderhof, Osseg, Wall, Frohnenbruch, Hoerstgen, Dömnitz, Badekow, Gresse, Dambeck, Löwenbruch, Jühnsdorf, Langenapel, Döre, Fürstenau, Butow, Brome, Wittingen, Corvin, Woltersdorf and Colborn.

Coat of Arms.

In 1644 the white line and the black line united their arms, a griffin claw and unicorn respectively, resulting in a quartered shield. According to family tradition, the three banners in the coat of arms stem from an ancestor, the knight Iwan, who was awarded them by Rudolf I of Germany for having taken them from the enemy in battle against Ottokar II of Bohemia.

Knesebeck is the name of two branches of a prominent aristocratic family in the tradition of ancient nobility in Germany. In the 17th century they acknowledged a common ancestry and combined their arms. The "black" line of the family von dem Knesebeck stems from the ancient nobility of Lower Saxony, while the "white" line stems from the ancient nobility of the Altmark. Branches of both lines remain to this day. The family has produced numerous senior military and public figures. These have included ambassadors, bishops, governors, members of parliament, a field marshal, and dozens of generals.

Von dem Knesebeck ist der Name zweier Uradelsgeschlechter unterschiedlicher Abstammung. Der „Schwarze Stamm“ stammt aus dem östlichen Niedersachsen, der „Weiße Stamm“ aus der benachbarten Altmark.


Structure.

The great saphenous vein originates from where the dorsal vein of the big toe (the hallux) merges with the dorsal venous arch of the foot. After passing in front of the medial malleolus (where it often can be visualized and palpated), it runs up the medial side of the leg. At the knee, it runs over the posterior border of the medial epicondyle of the femur bone. In the proximal anterior thigh 3-4 centimeters inferolateral to the pubic tubercle, the great saphenous vein dives down deep through the cribriform fascia of the saphenous opening to join the femoral vein. It forms an arch, the saphenous arch, to join the common femoral vein in the region of the femoral triangle at the sapheno-femoral junction.

Tributaries.

Several veins join the great saphenous vein, but each of them is not present in every individual. Most of them join it near its junction with the common femoral vein (CFV), at various average distances from this junction:  At the ankle, the great saphenous vein receives branches from the sole of the foot through the medial marginal vein; in the lower leg it anastomoses freely with the small saphenous vein, communicates by perforator veins (Cockett perforators) with the anterior and posterior tibial veins and receives many cutaneous veins; near the knee it communicates with the popliteal vein by the Boyd perforator, in the thigh it communicates with the femoral vein by perforator veins (Dodd perforator) and receives numerous tributaries; those from the medial and posterior parts of the thigh frequently unite to form a large accessory saphenous vein which joins the main vein near the sapheno-femoral junction.  Near the fossa ovalis it is joined by the superficial epigastric, superficial circumflex iliac vein, and superficial external pudendal veins.  The thoracoepigastric vein runs along the lateral aspect of the trunk between the superficial epigastric vein below and the lateral thoracic vein above and establishes an important communication between the femoral vein and the axillary vein.

Clinical significance.

Pathology of the great saphenous vein is relatively common, but in isolation typically not life-threatening.

Use in cardiovascular procedures.

The vein is often removed by cardiac surgeons and used for autotransplantation in coronary artery bypass operations, when arterial grafts are not available or many grafts are required, such as in a triple bypass or quadruple bypass.  The great saphenous vein is the conduit of choice for vascular surgeons, when available, for doing peripheral arterial bypass operations [ see vascular bypass ]. The saphenous vein may undergo vein graft failure after engraftment, but still it has superior long-term patency compared to synthetic grafts (PTFE, PETE (Dacron)), human umbilical vein grafts or biosynthetic grafts [Omniflow]. Often, it is used "in situ" (in place), after tying off smaller tributaries and destruction of the venous valves with a device called valvulotome, e.g. LeMaitre's valvulotome.  Removal of the saphenous vein will not hinder normal circulation in the leg. The blood that previously flowed through the saphenous vein will change its course of travel. This is known as collateral circulation.  The saphenous nerve is a branch of the femoral nerve that runs with the great saphenous vein and can be damaged in surgery on the vein.

Use in emergency medicine.

When emergency resuscitation with fluids is necessary, and standard intravenous access cannot be achieved due to venous collapse, saphenous vein cutdown may be utilized.

Etymology.

The terms "saphaina" (Greek, meaning "manifest", "to be clearly seen") and "safoon" (Hebrew, "שָׂפוּן" meaning "hidden/covered") as well as "safin" (Arabic, "صَافِن" meaning "deep/embedded") have been claimed as the origin for the word "saphenous".

The great saphenous vein (GSV, alternately "long saphenous vein"; ) is a large, subcutaneous, superficial vein of the leg. It is the longest vein in the body, running along the length of the lower limb, returning blood from the foot, leg and thigh to the deep femoral vein at the femoral triangle.

Die Vena saphena magna (V.s.m., VSM; „große Rosenader“; aus lateinisch "vena" ‚Blutader, Vene, und aus dem Arabischen "saphenus, -a, -um" ‚verborgen‘, und lateinisch "magnus, -a, -um" ‚groß‘; in der Tieranatomie "Vena saphena medialis" genannt) ist eine Blutader der unteren Extremität.