League business.

Realignment.

The relocation of the former Atlanta Thrashers franchise to the current Winnipeg Jets in 2011 prompted the league to discuss realignment. On December 5, 2011, the NHL Board of Governors approved a conference realignment plan that would eliminate the current six-division setup and move into a four-conference structure from the 2012–13 season.<ref name="http://www.nhl.com/ice/news.htm?id=604852"></ref> Under the plan, which was designed to better accommodate the effects of time zone differences, each team would have played 50 or 54 intra-conference games, depending on whether it was in a seven- or eight-team conference, and two games (home and road) against each non-conference team. On January 6, 2012, the league announced that the NHLPA had rejected the proposed realignment, citing concerns about fairness, travel and the inability to see a draft schedule before approving, and that as a result, it would not implement the realignment until at least 2013–14.  Upon NHLPA rejection of the previous realignment, a new joint NHL-NHLPA plan was proposed in February 2013 as a modification of the previous plan with both the Columbus Blue Jackets and Detroit Red Wings moving to the East and the Winnipeg Jets moving to the West. This revised plan also adjusted the previously proposed four-conference system to a four-division/two-conference system, with the Eastern Conference consisting of two eight-team divisions, and the Western Conference consisting of two seven-team divisions. A new playoff format was also introduced to accommodate the new proposal, with the top three teams in each division making the playoffs, along with two wild-cards in each conference (for a total of 16 playoff teams). The NHLPA officially gave its consent to the NHL's proposed realignment plan on March 7, and then the NHL's Board of Governors approved the realignment and the new playoff format on March 14, to be implemented prior to the 2013–14 season. The league then announced the names of the divisions on July 19: the two eight-team divisions in the Eastern Conference would be the Atlantic Division and the Metropolitan Division, and the two seven-team divisions in the Western Conference would be the Central Division and the Pacific Division.  The new alignment was as follows:  Western Conference Eastern Conference  </small>

Canadian TV deals.

The league's Canadian broadcast agreements with CBC and TSN/RDS expired at the end of the season. At the same time, the league had reportedly aimed for its next round of Canadian television contracts to have a value of at least $3.2 billion in total. During negotiations, NHL commissioner Gary Bettman had reportedly recognized the broadcaster's financial difficulties and budget cuts imposed by the federal Conservative government which had decreased CBC's chances of maintaining rights to "Hockey Night in Canada" and offered CBC a simplified broadcast package which would have consisted of a national doubleheader on Saturday nights (as opposed to regional coverage of multiple games), reduced playoff coverage, and the loss of digital rights and the All-Star Game. Rights to the remaining properties not covered under the CBC's contract would have been offered to other broadcasters. However, CBC Sports' staff, including executive director Jeffrey Orridge, continued to insist that it have exclusivity for every Saturday night game involving Canadian teams. In turn, CBC failed to reach a deal; BCE (owners of Bell Media and previous cable rightsholder TSN and over the air broadcaster, CTV) made a bid for sole national rights to the NHL, and attempted to contact the CBC in regards to forming a partnership. However, CBC Sports' staff did not respond. In turn, Rogers Communications also made a bid of its own.  On November 26, 2013, the NHL announced it had sold twelve seasons' worth of exclusive national broadcast rights to NHL games to Rogers, who would broadcast games across its numerous platforms, including Sportsnet, Sportsnet One, and City, at a price of C$5.2 billion. "Hockey Night in Canada" would continue on the CBC for the next four seasons; the CBC would give Rogers six hours of free airtime each night to air the broadcasts but paid no rights fee. CBC would be allotted time during the broadcasts to promote its other programming. French language broadcasts were moved to TVA Sports under a sub-licensing deal with Rogers. The moves have left both Bell Media (except for its regional properties) and the CBC (which, in turn, would no longer compete with private broadcasters for professional sports) officially shut out of the national NHL broadcasts.

Regular season.

With realignment, a new scheduling format was introduced. Among the changes, the scheduling of inter-conference games ensured that all 30 teams would play in all 30 arenas at least once per season. Each team played 82 games – 50 or 54 games within their conference, depending on whether they were in a seven- or eight-team division, and two games (home and road) against each non-conference club. The regular season opened on October 1, 2013, with the first game seeing the Toronto Maple Leafs defeat the home team Montreal Canadiens by a score of 4–3.  The annual Christmas trade freeze was in effect from December 20, 2013, through December 26, 2013.

Olympics.

There was no all-star game this season, due to the 2014 Winter Olympics in Sochi, Russia. Prior to the season, NHL, International Ice Hockey Federation (IIHF) and Olympic officials reached an agreement to send NHL players to the Olympics game. The league took a break on February 9 and resumed play on February 25. All players participating in their respective national teams gathered in four U.S. airports and flew to Sochi on February 9 and 10.

Winter Classic.

The 2014 NHL Winter Classic was held on January 1, 2014. The game, the sixth Winter Classic, featured the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Detroit Red Wings at Michigan Stadium at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, Michigan. The game was originally planned to be played on January 1, 2013, as the 2013 NHL Winter Classic, but was postponed due to the 2012–13 NHL lockout.  HBO once again produced a four-part documentary chronicling the preparation of the two teams for the Winter Classic as part of its sports series "24/7" The special also aired in Canada on Sportsnet.

Heritage Classic returns.

The 2014 NHL Heritage Classic featured the Ottawa Senators facing off against the home team Vancouver Canucks at BC Place in Vancouver, British Columbia. This was third Heritage Classic game held in Canada following the Heritage Classic in 2011 when the Calgary Flames defeated the Montreal Canadiens 4–0 at McMahon Stadium in Calgary, Alberta. Unlike previous Heritage Classics, the 2014 event was technically held indoors; BC Place kept its retractable roof closed because of inclement weather.

Debut of the Stadium Series.

On May 1, 2013, the NHL announced that the Chicago Blackhawks would host the Pittsburgh Penguins at Soldier Field in Chicago on March 1, 2014, as part of the new NHL Stadium Series. The NHL announced an unprecedented six outdoor NHL games for the 2013–14 season: one Winter Classic, four Stadium Series games, and a Heritage Classic game.  For the two Stadium Series games they were involved in at Yankee Stadium, the New York Rangers were the away team due to contract obligations with Madison Square Garden as they can't receive income from other venues in New York as the home team (this claim is dubious as Madison Square Garden owns the team and could theoretically waive that clause with its own team at any time).  The six outdoor games were: On November 18, 2013, the league announced "NHL Revealed: A Season Like No Other", a new seven-part series showing behind-the-scenes footage of top NHL players during the season. The program followed multiple players as they competed in the regular season, the Stadium Series, the Heritage Classic, and the Sochi Olympics. Unlike "24/7", language by players and coaches would be censored. The program aired in the United States on the NBC Sports Network starting on January 22, and in Canada on CBC starting on January 23.

Postponed games.

The Carolina Hurricanes-Buffalo Sabres game originally scheduled for January 7 was postponed due to the 2014 North American cold wave. It was rescheduled for February 25.  The Philadelphia Flyers postponed their game against the Hurricanes from January 21 to 22 due to the city of Philadelphia declaring a snow emergency. This resulted in the Hurricanes postponing their match with the Ottawa Senators from January 24 to 25 due to a rule stating that a team cannot play games on three consecutive days.  The Dallas Stars postponed their March 10 game versus the Columbus Blue Jackets after Dallas player Rich Peverley, who had a history of heart problems, collapsed while on the players' bench midway through the first period, with Columbus leading 1–0. The game was abandoned at that point. This game was rescheduled for April 9. The game ran for 60 minutes, with Columbus leading 1–0 to start the game with a goal credited to Nathan Horton and assists credited to Matt Calvert and James Wisniewski. All other statistics were expunged. In the rescheduled game, the Blue Jackets won 3–1. This mirrors the actions taken by the league during a game between the Detroit Red Wings and Nashville Predators on November 21, 2005.

Standings.

Tie Breakers:

Player statistics.

Scoring leaders.

The following players led the league in regular season points.

Leading goaltenders.

The following goaltenders led the league in regular season goals against average while playing at least 1800 minutes.

NHL awards.

Awards were presented at the NHL Awards ceremony in Las Vegas, Nevada on June 24, 2014. Finalists for voted awards were announced during the playoffs. Voting concluded immediately after the end of the regular season. The Presidents' Trophy, the Prince of Wales Trophy and Clarence S. Campbell Bowl were not presented at the awards ceremony. The Lester Patrick Trophy was announced during the summer and presented in the fall.

Milestones.

First games.

The following is a list of notable players who played their first NHL game during the 2013–14 season, listed with their first team:

Last games.

The following is a list of players of note who played their last NHL game in 2013–14, listed with their team:

The 2013–14 NHL season was the 97th season of operation (96th season of play) of the National Hockey League (NHL). This season features a realignment of the league's 30 teams from a six to a four division format. The regular season began Tuesday, October 1, and concluded Sunday, April 13. The Stanley Cup playoffs began April 16.

La saison 2013-2014 est la de la Ligue nationale de hockey (LNH). La saison régulière voit 30 équipes jouer 82 matchs chacune. Les Kings de Los Angeles remportent la Coupe Stanley en battant en finale les Rangers de New York.


History.

Discussions about a new roller coaster began under former Cedar Fair CEO Dick Kinzel in 2011, who credits his successor Matt Ouimet with the project. The first concept of GateKeeper was created at the 2011 International Association of Amusement Parks and Attractions (IAAPA) Expo. On April 24, 2012, Ouimet said at an Erie County Chamber of Commerce meeting that there would be $25 million in capital expenditures for Cedar Point in 2013. On May 30, 2012, the "Sandusky Register" reported that a memo written by Ouimet to Cedar Fair's board of directors on February 15, 2012, stated that a new Wing Coaster code-named "CP Alt. Winged" would be introduced in 2013. It also mentioned that the new coaster would set Wing Coaster records for drop, speed, and length and that it would have a "Front Gate Statement" explained as a strong presence at the entrance to the park. In addition to traveling over the front entrance, part of the track would also cross over portions of the parking lot. Details claimed the ride would be high, and that both Disaster Transport and Space Spiral would need to be removed to accommodate the new attraction.  As part of GateKeeper's marketing campaign, Cedar Point released several teasers on their "OnPoint" blog. Posters scattered throughout the park and on Cedar Point's website included taglines such as, "How do you recover from a Disaster?", "WildCat is no match for this creature" and "Not even a Jumbo Jet soars like this!" Each poster had a black background with five blue wings, hinting at the ride's logo. Annie Zelm, a marketing representative for the park, stated that some of the clues on the website were intended to mislead readers. On August 3, 2012, Cedar Point launched a countdown clock on their Facebook page, letting the public know when the next major announcement was scheduled. The page said, "We can't keep it locked away much longer... Join us outside the Main Gate at 3:30 pm on August 13, where all we've kept hidden will be set free!"  On August 13, 2012, Cedar Point officially announced GateKeeper with specifications that confirmed the report leaked earlier by "Sandusky Register"—a Wing Coaster that would be manufactured by B&M. The announcement included a Halloween Haunt-like creature speaking to guests atop the main gate at the park's main entrance. A trademark application was filed for the name GateKeeper the same day. Rob Decker said, "GateKeeper is truly an innovation in thrills. Every twist, turn and near-miss element was created exclusively for Cedar Point." Following its completion, the total investment in the new coaster was $30 million.  In its first complete test, the roller coaster completed its first full-circuit ride on April 4, 2013. Hundreds of tests were conducted prior to inspections and approval for operation. On April 10, Cedar Point launched an online auction in which bidders could bid to become one of the first 64 people to ride GateKeeper after it opened to the public. The Cleveland Clinic Children’s Hospital and United Way of Erie County each had 32 seats available in separate auctions, and proceeds were shared between the organizations. Media day for GateKeeper was held on May 9, and the ride debuted to the public on opening day, May 11.

Construction.

On July 13, 2012, Cedar Point announced the closure of Disaster Transport and Space Spiral. Disaster Transport closed on July 29, 2012 and dismantling began on August 6, starting in the back of the building. Space Spiral closed on August 14, 2012 and demolished on September 12 by imploding the base and letting the tower fall towards the beach. Construction of GateKeeper started in mid-September and the first footers were poured on October 2. Approximately 200 footers were dug, each about deep. The first pieces of track were delivered on October 23 and the installation of the track and supports, starting with the station, began on November 5. The lift hill was topped off on November 30. A construction update on January 7, 2013, said that approximately 40% of the ride's structure, including the Wing Over Drop, Immelmann and Camelback elements, had been completed. The first pieces of the two keyhole towers arrived on January 23, and the first keyhole tower was erected on January 29. On February 27, 2013, at approximately 2 pm, the final piece of GateKeeper was put in place about two weeks ahead of schedule.  Building the coaster took about eight months and nearly 100 workers from four engineering companies worked on the project. Sherrod Brown, a United States Senator from Ohio, praised Cedar Point for using local companies for the job. A.A. Boos & Sons did the groundwork, including the footers and cement pouring. Tony Ravagnani Architects designed, engineered and installed the two keyhole towers. The electrical work, including the lighting, was done by Firelands Electric. The station and gift shop were built by Bert Witte Contractors, S.A. Comunal installed the plumbing and air systems and Lew’s Construction built the park's new entrance plaza. About of concrete was used for the ride.

Ride experience.

Entrance and queue.

GateKeeper's entrance plaza is located along the beach next to one of Wicked Twister's towers. A sculpture with the GateKeeper logo is in the center of the plaza. The queue runs parallel to the beach, under the lift hill and station. Once under the station, riders can choose which side of the train they would like to ride. GateKeeper uses the Fast Lane queuing system; visitors can buy a wristband that allows them to wait in a shorter line.

Layout.

After leaving the station, the train turns 180 degrees to the right, then begins to climb the chain lift hill at 40 degrees. Once the train reaches the top of the lift, it enters the first element called the "Wing Over Drop". The train rotates 180 degrees before descending in a half loop. During this drop, the train reaches its maximum speedand riders experience approximately 4 Gs. After leaving the first drop, the train immediately enters an Immelmann loop almost directly under the lift hill. After the loop, the train turns right into its only camelback hill, where riders experience a feeling of weightlessness on the hill. Next, the train goes through a giant flat spin, followed by a Spiraling Camelback (zero-g roll) which features two keyhole points as it passes through two -tall towers. The train then returns to the ground and goes through an inclined dive loop, which is the turn-around point of the roller coaster. Next, the train rotates 360 degrees in an inline twist, which passes the two towers. The train then turns slightly left before entering the mid-course brake run. The train drops to the ground before ascending again and enters a 360-degree downward helix. The train then traverses a small hill before turning left into the final brake run which leads back to the station.

Characteristics.

Location.

GateKeeper's entrance and station are located near Wicked Twister, Troika and maXair. The ride covers ; it initially runs parallel to Lake Erie then travels through the parking lot, over the main entrance then turns around in front of Blue Streak. As it passes through the main entrance plaza, it passes through two -tall towers that form Cedar Point's entrance gates.

Manufacturer.

GateKeeper is a Wing Coaster model manufactured by Swiss roller coaster firm Bolliger & Mabillard. It is Cedar Point's third B&M roller coaster; the park also has Raptor, an inverted roller coaster, and Rougarou, a floorless roller coaster. GateKeeper was the fifth Wing Coaster in the world and the third one built in the United States following X-Flight at Six Flags Great America and Wild Eagle at Dollywood.

Trains.

GateKeeper operates with three open-air steel and fiberglass trains, each with eight cars of four seats each, with two on each side of the track. Each train holds 32 riders and the ride has a capacity of about 1,710 riders per hour. Riders are restrained by flexible over-the-shoulder restraints and interlocking seat belts and riders are required to be between and to ride. Because the seats are on the side of the track, a cantilevered steel arm is used to support the wings. The trains are painted Sunset Gold with Zenith, Meteor, and Orion Gold accents. The fourth row of each train has extendable harnesses enabling large passengers to ride. The front of each train is shaped to resemble the head of a griffin. The griffin's eyes and the outside seats of each row incorporate LED lighting, a first for a roller coaster at Cedar Point. The LED lights on the trains recharge while the trains are in the station. Unlike the other B&M coasters at Cedar Point, the station's floor does not drop before the trains dispatch, as guests are required to climb into the seats while boarding.

Track.

GateKeeper's tubular steel track is long and the lift is approximately high. The track is Azure Blue (dark blue) and Strata Blue (light blue), and the supports are white. There are 102 track pieces, each weighing approximately. Unlike Raptor and Rougarou, the track and supports are filled with sand to reduce the noise as the ride traverses the main entrance. The track and supports were manufactured by Clermont Steel Fabricators in Batavia in southwest Ohio.  Clermont also manufactured the two keyhole towers. Each tower is tall; is the concrete foundation and is steel. At the Great Ohio Coaster Club holiday tour, Ed DanglerCedar Point’s Director of Maintenance and New Constructionstated the original plan was to have the towers' supports encased by an outer shell; however, Cedar Point went back to B&M, and decided to build a steel structure to serve as the keyhole element and the supports. Each half of the tower weighs about.

Records.

GateKeeper broke several world records. Among Wing Coasters, it became the longest and fastest, featured the longest drop, and contained the most inversions. It also set a new record for having the highest inversion of any roller coaster in the world, surpassing Volcano, The Blast Coaster at Cedar Point's sister park, Kings Dominion. The highest inversion record was broken by Steel Curtain in 2019.

Reception.

GateKeeper has received mostly positive reviews from the media and public. Some riders complained about the shoulder restraints becoming too tight while sitting in the brake run at the end of the ride. Others praised the near-miss elements; one woman said, "It feels like you're going to get your knees chopped off and your head chopped off." Many guests also praised the smoothness of the ride and how the renovated main entrance is very appealing. On GateKeeper's opening weekend, Cedar Point achieved its most successful opening weekend in the history of the park, due to the popularity of GateKeeper.  On July 17, 2013, GateKeeper's millionth rider received $500 to spend at the park, a VIP tour of the park and exclusive access to GateKeeper for the rest of the 2013 season. The park's spokesman Bryan Edwards said, "We are giving approximately 1,600 rides per hour. It has definitely been a huge success for the park. Our guests love GateKeeper." It finished the season with just over 2.1 million riders, the most of any ride in 2013. GateKeeper also helped Cedar Fair to achieve record revenue, record attendance, record distribution and record stock pricing in 2013.

Awards.

In 2013, GateKeeper ranked third in "Amusement Today"s Golden Ticket Award for Best New Ride behind Outlaw Run at Silver Dollar City and Iron Rattler at Six Flags Fiesta Texas. It also debuted 28th on the list for Top Steel Roller Coasters, making it the first time ever that Cedar Point had six steel roller coasters in the top 50.

GateKeeper is a steel roller coaster located at Cedar Point amusement park in Sandusky, Ohio. Designed by Bolliger & Mabillard (B&M), it was the fifth Wing Coaster installation in the world. The ride opened on May 11, 2013, on the most successful opening weekend to date in the park's history. GateKeeper featured the highest inversion in the world when it opened, with its Wing Over drop. It also broke several Wing Coaster records, including those for height, speed, track length, drop height and number of inversions. The coaster has a, 40-degree inclined lift hill with a drop and features two support towers with keyhole elements that the trains travel through. Its maximum speed is approximately.

GateKeeper est un parcours de montagnes russes de type Wing Coaster du parc Cedar Point, situé à Sandusky, en Ohio aux États-Unis. L'ouverture au public eu lieu le. Le parcours contient la plus haute inversion du monde sur des montagnes russes.


Career.

Banin joined Hapoel Haifa as a youngster. He trained in their football academy and played for many of Hapoel's youth teams. He made his full debut for the side at 17. Between the years of 1987–89 Banin played a total of 44 games for Hapoel in the second division and scored seven goals.  When Banin was 19 he signed a contract with arch rivals Maccabi Haifa in 1989, they continued his impressive development as a player. He left the club in 1992 after playing 94 games in "ligat ha`hal" and scoring seventeen goals.  When Banin was just 20 he became the second youngest Israeli to collect the "Player of the Year" accolade in 1991. During the same season he was an integral part in the Maccabi side that won the Israeli League and Cup "double".  Banin then returned to Hapoel Haifa, where he played for a further season playing 29 games and scoring 8 goals in the top division.  In 1993 Banin moved to French side Cannes. He led the side to a sixth position in the "Championnat de France de football Ligue 1", the French top division. As a result, Cannes qualified for Europe.  Whilst playing for Cannes, Banin picked up a knee injury. This problem proved to be serious. He began to suffer from a chronic knee problem that would plague him for the rest of his career.  Cannes offered to extend his contract, however after 23 games and two goals Banin declined and returned to Israel to join Hapoel Haifa. He proved to be their star player in what seemed to be a very average side. He remained at Haifa for three years playing a further 74 games for them and scoring 19 goals.  In 1997 Banin was on the move again, this time to Brescia in Italy. He played 26 games for them, scoring one goal. During that year Banin aggravated his knee injury and was unable to prevent Brescia from slipping from Serie A to Serie B. The next year Banin sat out the season through injury but a year later he oversaw Brescia's triumphant return to the top division.  At the insistence of his wife Banin returned to Israel to sign for Maccabi Tel Aviv. He became vital to the side, and was moulded into the spine of the team. Banin led Maccabi to victory in the State Cup in 2002.  The next season Banin helped Maccabi lift the league title for the first time since 1996.  In the next season's UEFA Champions League, Maccabi were knocked out in the first round. Head Coach Nir Klinger blamed it on the fights between Banin and Maccabi legend Avi Nimni. As a result, on August 13, 2003, they were both kicked out of the side. For a while, Banin was unable to find a team that would accept his high wage demands for the 2003–04 season. He finally moved to play for Bnei Yehuda for the remainder of the season.  In January 2005, Beitar Jerusalem signed the midfielder for the remainder of the 2004–05 season. Beitar were desperate for some steel in the middle after a run of humiliating defeats, aiming to try and avoid relegation.  Banin finished his career in Maccabi Netanya.

International career.

During his career Banin was called up to the Israeli national side due to his hard work in the middle of the field. Banin made his debut on May 16, 1990 against the USSR (or Russia as they are now known). He scored to lead Israel to a 3–2 win at the Ramat Gan Stadium.  He captained the country from 1997 until 2003. Banin is considered as one of the best defensive midfielders in the history of Israeli football.  Banin is a highly respected player in Europe, but unfortunately has been unable to fulfill his potential due to his crippling knee injury. Banin played 80 times for Israel scoring 12 goals.

Managerial career.

On April 8, 2008 he was appointed as the assistant manager of Nitzan Shirazi in Maccabi Petah Tikva.  After only two months in Petah Tikva, he moved on to coach the Israel national under-17 football team for two years.  On July 25, 2010 Banin was appointed as the assistant manager of Luis Fernández in the Israel national football team.  In the 2011–12 season he worked as the manager of Hapoel Haifa, helping the club avoid relegation. The day after the season ended he immediately signed a two years contract in Maccabi Netanya replacing Reuven Atar. He was sacked from Maccabi Netanya on 18 March 2013.  In November 2013 he signed a two years contract with Maccabi Ahi Nazareth in the Liga Leumit.  On February 16, 2015 he was appointed as the manager of Hapoel Haifa, once more, in order to help the club in the battle against relegation.

Tal Banin (; born March 7, 1971 in Kiryat Haim, Haifa, Israel) is a retired football player and currently the manager of Maccabi Ahi Nazareth. Banin played as a defensive midfielder. A captain for the Israeli National Team for many years, Banin was also the only Israeli player to ever play in the Italian Serie A until 2011, when Palermo signed Eran Zahavi.

Tal Banin (en hébreu : טל בנין), né le à Kiryat Haïm en Israël, est un footballeur international israélien, qui évoluait au poste de milieu de terrain, aujourd'hui reconverti entraîneur.


Geography.

Various definitions exist of Northern Alberta's boundaries. The definition used by the Northern Alberta Development Council, an agency of the provincial government, includes the communities of Whitecourt, Athabasca, Saddle Lake, St. Paul, and Cold Lake, while excluding Hinton, Edson, Mayerthorpe, and Westlock. This definition is also used by the University of Alberta to define eligibility for northern research grants.  The region consists of aspen parkland in the south, grading to boreal forest and muskeg in the north.  The southwest of the region is part of the Peace Country, an area that stretches into northeastern British Columbia consisting of fertile prairie, ranchland, and farmland along the Peace River and its tributaries.  Northern Alberta is crossed by the Peace River and the Athabasca River, both of which eventually convene to form the Slave River that ultimately drains into the Arctic Ocean via Great Slave Lake and the Mackenzie River within the Northwest Territories. Other major rivers are Wapiti, Smoky, Hay, Chinchaga, Petitot Rivers in the west, Wabasca River in the center and Firebag and Clearwater River in the east. Alberta's two largest waterbodies, Lake Athabasca and Lake Claire are located in the wetlands of northeastern Alberta, forming the Peace-Athabasca Delta, that drains through the Slave River towards the Arctic Ocean.  The Caribou Mountains are an elevated plateau in the relatively flat Albertan north which provide core habitat for an endangered woodland caribou herd. This area is conserved by the Caribou Mountains Wildland Park. The adjacent Wood Buffalo National Park is Canada's largest protected area.  Other tourist attractions in Northern Alberta include the Fort McMurray Historical Society-Heritage Park, Historic Dunvegan, Kimiwan Birdwalk and Interpretive Centre, Lesser Slave Lake Bird Observatory in the Lesser Slave Lake Provincial Park, Muskoseepi Park, and the Oil Sands Discovery Centre.  Northern Alberta contains several diamond bearing diatremes associated with kimberlite fields, including the Buffalo Head Hills and Birch Mountains kimberlite fields which in turn form the Northern Alberta kimberlite province.

Infrastructure.

Transportation.

Highway 43 and Highway 2 pass through the southwest of the region, this being the end of the CANAMEX corridor. Other important routes are the Mackenzie Highway and Bicentennial Highway in the northwest, the Northern Woods and Water Route in the southeast and Highway 63 in the east.  Grande Prairie Airport, Peace River Airport, and Fort McMurray Airport are regional air transportation hubs.

Health regions.

Northern Alberta's health region is controlled by Alberta Health Services.

Politics.

On a provincial level, northern Alberta is represented in the Legislative Assembly of Alberta by Members of the Legislative Assembly elected in the ridings of Athabasca-Redwater, Barrhead-Morinville-Westlock, Bonnyville-Cold Lake, Dunvegan-Central Peace, Fort McMurray-Conklin, Fort McMurray-Wood Buffalo, Grande Prairie Smoky, Grande Prairie Wapiti, Lac La Biche-St. Paul, Lesser Slave Lake, and Peace River.

Northern Alberta is a region located in the Canadian province of Alberta. An informally defined cultural region, the boundaries of Northern Alberta are not fixed. Under some schemes, the region encompasses everything north of the centre of the Calgary–Edmonton Corridor, including most of the province's landmass as well as its capital, Edmonton. Other schemes place Edmonton and its surrounding farmland in Central Alberta, limiting Northern Alberta to the northern half of the province, where forestry, oil, and gas are the dominant industries.

La région d'Alberta du Nord ou région du Nord de l'Alberta (en anglais : "Northern Alberta") est une région géographique de la province canadienne d'Alberta comprenant notamment le secteur de services urbains de Fort McMurray.


History.

The oldest traces of this method in Europe were found in southern France (département of Hérault) and date back to Copper Age. Numerous finds exist from Bronze Age, such as in the Alps, in the former mining district of Schwaz-Brixlegg in Tyrol, or in the Goleen area in Cork, to name a few.  As for antique written sources, fire-setting is first described by Diodorus Siculus in his Bibliotheca historica written about 60 BC, about methods of mining used in ancient Egyptian gold mines. It is also mentioned in greater detail by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia, published in the first century AD. In Book XXXIII, he describes mining methods for gold, and the pursuit of the gold-bearing veins underground using tunnels and stopes. He mentions the use of vinegar to quench the hot rock, but water would have been just as effective, as vinegar was expensive at the time for regular use in a mine. The reference to vinegar may come from a description by Livy of Hannibal's crossing of the Alps, when it was said that the soldiers used vinegar in fire-setting to remove large rocks in the path of his army. The effectiveness of strong acetic acid solutions on heated limestone has been demonstrated in laboratory experiments. Pliny also says that the method was used both in opencast and deep mining. This is confirmed by remains found at the Roman gold mine of Dolaucothi in west Wales, when modern miners broke into much older workings during the 1930s where they found wood ashes near worked rock faces. In another part of the mine, there are three adits at different heights which have been driven through barren rock to the gold-bearing veins for some considerable distance, and they would have provided drainage as well as ventilation to remove the smoke and hot gases during a fire-setting operation. They were certainly much larger in section than was normal for access galleries, and the draught of air through them would have been considerable.  Fire-setting was used extensively during opencast mining, and is also described by Pliny in connection with the use of another mining technique known as hushing. Aqueducts were built to supply copious amounts of water to the minehead, where they were used to fill tanks and cisterns. The water was unleashed to scour the hillside below, both soil in the case of prospecting for metal veins, and then rock debris after a vein had been found. Fire-setting was used to break up the hard rocks of the vein and the surrounding barren rock, and was much safer to use in above ground workings since the smoke and fumes could dissipate more easily than in a confined space underground. Pliny also describes undermining methods that were used to facilitate the removal of hard rocks, and probably softer alluvial deposits as well.

Medieval Europe.

The method continued in use in the medieval period, and is described by Georg Agricola in his treatise on mining and mineral extraction, De re metallica. He warns about the problem of the "foetid vapours" and the need to evacuate the workings while the fires are lit, and presumably for some time afterwards until the gases and smoke had cleared. The problem raises the question of ventilation means in the mines, a problem often solved by ensuring that there was a continuous path for escape of the noxious fumes, perhaps aided by artificial ventilation. Agricola mentions the use of large water-powered bellows to create a draught, and continuity of workings to the surface were essential for a stream of air to run through them.  In later times, a fire at the base of a shaft was used to create an updraught, but just like fire-setting, it was a hazardous and dangerous procedure, especially in collieries. As the number and complexity of the underground workings increased, care was needed to channel the air draught to all parts of the tunnels and faces. It was usually achieved by installing doors at key points. Most of the deaths in coal mine disasters were caused by inhalation of the toxic gases produced by firedamp explosions.  The method continued in use for many years afterwards until finally made redundant by the use of explosives. However, they also produce toxic gases and care is needed to ensure good ventilation to remove those gases, like carbon monoxide, as well as choice of the explosive itself to minimise their emission.

Fire-setting is a method of traditional mining used most commonly from prehistoric times up to the Middle Ages. Fires were set against a rock face to heat the stone, which was then doused with liquid, causing the stone to fracture by thermal shock. Some experiments have suggested that the water (or any other liquid) did not have a noticeable effect on the rock, but rather helped the miners' progress by quickly cooling down the area after the fire. This technique was best performed in opencast mines where the smoke and fumes could dissipate safely. The technique was very dangerous in underground workings without adequate ventilation. The method became largely redundant with the growth in use of explosives.

Le dépilage au feu, d'abattage par le feu ou d'ouverture par le feu désigne une technique minière primitive (pyrofracturation). Cette technique ancestrale est utilisée dès la Préhistoire pour extraire des matériaux ou des minerais du sous-sol ou d'une paroi rocheuse.


Decoration of the room.

Originally intended as a place from which the king could watch and assist in theatrical productions in the courtyard, the Salón de Reinos was turned into a throne room when it was decided to turn Buen Retiro into a full palace. It was still used for spectacles and soirees, so a balcony was added so that festivities could be viewed from above, but as a throne room it had to impress ambassadors and other distinguished members of the courts of Europe who visited the palace. This meant the room's decoration was the most sumptuous in the whole palace, well-illuminated by several windows between jasper tables and silver lions and with a ceiling covered in grotesques. There were also wall paintings full of political symbolism with the ultimate aim of glorifying Philip IV. The designer of the room's decorative programme is unknown, though ultimate responsibility lay in the hands of the conde duque de Olivares himself, along with Jerónimo de Villanueva (who gave the lions and effected the payments) and with the intellectual advice of Francisco de Rioja and of the painters closest to Philip and Olivares, Juan Bautista Maíno and Velázquez.  The Salón de Reinos is rectangular in plan, with narrow doors on the two longer sides. On its north and south sides hung twelve paintings (one now lost) on the theme of the major battles won by the armies of Philip IV in the early years of his reign. Between these paintings, and above the Salón's windows, were ten paintings by Zurbarán showing the labours of Hercules, comparing the exploits of the demi-god Hercules (then considered as the ancestor of the House of Habsburg) with those of the king.  The battle paintings juxtaposed examples by artists of the older generation such as Vicente Carducho or Eugenio Cajés (who had both served Philip III of Spain) with ones by younger artists trained in naturalism such as Juan Bautista Maíno, Zurbarán (summoned from Seville for this very commission), Jusepe Leonardo, Félix Castelo (who did his first major work there), Antonio de Pereda and especially Velázquez, Philip IV's favourite.  At the east and west ends were portraits by Velázquez of the royal family. The series was made up of equestrian portraits of Philip III and his wife Margaret of Austria (both on the west all) and equestrian portraits of Philip IV and his wife Elisabeth of France either side their son and heir Balthasar Charles (all three on the east wall). These five paintings' distribution and staggered positioning exemplified the concepts of hereditary monarchy and dynastic continuity.  Based on the titles held by Philip IV, the hall also contained shields showing the coats of arms of the twenty-four kingdoms and realms that made up his monarchy: Aragon, Archduchy of Austria, Lordship of Biscay, Duchy of Burgundy, Duchy of Brabant, Castile and León, Principality of Catalonia, Córdoba, County of Flanders, Galicia, Granada, Jaén, Mexico, Duchy of Milan, Murcia, Naples, Navarre, Peru, Portugal, Sardinia, Seville, Sicily, Toledo and Valencia (Philip IV also held the titles of Count of Habsburg, Count of Tyrol, and Lord of Molina, among others).

Paintings.

The layout of the portraits and battle paintings in the Salón, based on the reconstruction produced by Jose Alvarez Lopera, which is in turn based on the "Silva topográfica" by Manuel de Gallegos and the 1701 inventory, is as follows:

West wall (main entrance).

Three works by Velázquez:

Trials of Hercules.

Over the windows were paintings of the trials of Hercules by Zurbarán, all 130 cm x 160 cm, all oil on canvas, all now in the Prado:

Later history.

The Salón de Reinos, and the Salón de Fiestas (now the Casón del Buen Retiro) were the only parts of the palace to survive the intense French bombardment between 1808 and 1814 during the Peninsular War and the appearance of the buildings were transformed by post-war rebuilding. For a long time the Salón de Reinos housed the Museo del Ejército.

Restoration project.

In the early 21st century the Spanish Ministry of Culture launched a series of studies and reforms to move the Army museum to a larger, better and more modern setting at the Alcázar of Toledo, giving the Hall of Realms over to the Prado, which already had responsibility for the Casón and which could then return the Salón de Reinos to its 17th-century appearance and reinstate the paintings originally meant for it. This would be all the easier since the wall paintings, ceiling paintings and grotesques were still well preserved, but the initial proposal caused a debate on the building's final use, with some opposing it since it would separate works by Velázquez such as "The Surrender of Breda" from his other works in the Prado, and others since they felt that such a move was unjustified just to recreate a single room.  The Museo del Ejército reopened in Toledo in July 2010. The works on the Salón de Reinos to convert it for the use of the Prado were originally expected to occur from 2010 to 2012, with a budget of 42.5 million Euros. In the context of the financial crisis, deadlines went by, and in 2016 the project to add the building to the Museo del Prado’s Campus was being presented as part of the Museum’s 200th anniversary celebrations which were scheduled for 2019. In 2017 some of the design work was displayed in an exhibition in the Telefónica Building, Madrid, about the work of the architect Norman Foster. A comparison was drawn with an earlier project by the same architect, the Carré d'Art in Nîmes where he was working in proximity to an ancient temple. Foster ́s scheme for the Salon envisages the building stripped of some of its post 17th century accretions and combined with modernistic features.  Pending the beginning of building work, there has been scope to give over the Salón de Reinos and its adjoining rooms to activities such as temporary exhibitions. In 2017 the artist Cai Guo-Qiang used the Hall of Realms for 8 works of art using gun-powder.

The Salón de Reinos (translated as "Hall of the Kingdoms" or "Hall of Realms") or salón grande ("great hall") is a 17th-century building in Madrid, originally a wing of the Buen Retiro Palace. The Salón de Reinos and the Casón del Buen Retiro are the only survivors of the original grand scheme of the palace. Built between 1630 and 1635, the Hall of Realms housed the largest paintings in the royal collection, now all in the Museo del Prado. It is named after its paintings of the coats of arms of the 24 kingdoms which formed the Kingdom of Spain at the time of Philip IV of Spain.

Le Salon des royaumes (en espagnol, "Salon de Reinos" et "Salon grande") est un musée au cœur de Madrid. Le bâtiment est le corps principal du palais du Buen Retiro construit entre 1630 et 1635, il abrite les collections royales de peintures aujourd'hui conservées au musée du Prado.


Greece in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013

Grèce au Concours Eurovision de la chanson 2013

Background.

Prior to the 2013 contest, Greece had participated in the Eurovision Song Contest thirty-three times since its first entry in 1974, winning it in 2005 with the song "My Number One" performed by Elena Paparizou, and having placed third three times: in 2001 with the song "Die for You" performed by the duo Antique; in 2004 with "Shake It" performed by Sakis Rouvas; and in 2008 with "Secret Combination" performed by Kalomoira. Following the introduction of semi-finals for the 2004 contest, Greece has had a top ten placing each year (except on 2012). Its least successful result was in 1998 when it placed twentieth with the song "Mia Krifi Evesthisia" by Thalassa, receiving only twelve points in total, all from Cyprus.  The Greek national broadcaster, Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), is in charge of Greece's participation each year, including the selection process for its entry. Although its selection techniques have varied over the decades, the most common has been a national final in which various acts compete against each other with pre-selected songs, voted on by a jury, televoters, or both. In most cases, internal selections have been reserved for high-profile acts, with the song either being selected internally or with multiple songs—by one or multiple composers—performed by the artist during a televised final. One of the more unusual methods was a reality television talent competition format inspired by the "Idol" series that ran for many months in 2004, ultimately being scrapped. The notability of the participants has also varied, from previously unsigned acts to established music superstars. Since the 2010s, ERT has used national finals with generally less-established acts.  In mid-November 2012, Johnny Kalimeris, executive member of the ERT board, initially confirmed that Greece would take part in the contest despite ongoing financial problems Greece was facing. Despite the earlier confirmation, the country's participation came into doubt later in the same month due to budget cuts the broadcaster had endured, the high costs associated with the contest, and the difficulty said costs would present in finding sponsors to cover the expenses. Additionally, various Greek politicians and the current government spokesman suggested that a participation in the 2013 contest would be distasteful during a time that Greeks were enduring drastic economic cuts to keep the economy afloat due to the ongoing finical crisis. Despite the uncertainty, Greece's participation was officially confirmed on 21 December 2012 when the European Broadcasting Union released a list of the countries that would participate in the 2013 contest. ERT later stated that its participation was decided on taking into consideration the high viewership and popularity of the event, on the condition that the broadcaster would not be burdened financially.

Before Eurovision.

Eurosong 2013 - a MAD show.

ERT announced on 15 January 2013 that it had reached an agreement with private music channel MAD TV to take on the organization and production of a national final to select a song to represent Greece in the contest. Additionally, MAD TV will also handle all related preparations associated with the contest.  On 21 January 2013, ERT and MAD TV officially announced four acts that will take part in a national final. All four acts are signed to the record label "Panik Records" or its imprint "Platinum Records". A special press conference to present the selected songs was held on 6 February 2013.

Final.

The final was held on 18 February 2013 at the Gazi Music Hall in Athens, hosted by Despina Vandi and Giorgos Kapoutzidis. The winner was chosen by 50% televoting and SMS voting and 50% internal jury voting.

At Eurovision.

Greece was allocated to compete in the second semi-final on 16 May for a place in the final on 18 May. In the second semifinal, the producers of the show decided that Greece would perform 9th, following Iceland and preceding Israel.  Greece qualified from the second semi-final. At the second semi-final winners' press conference, Greece was allocated to perform in the second half of the final. In the final, the producers of the show decided that Greece would perform 21st, following Azerbaijan and preceding Ukraine.

Points awarded by Greece.

Semi-final 2.

Points awarded in second semi-final:

Final.

Points awarded in the final:

Eurovision Channel ERT powered by MAD.

On February 7, 2013, ERT and MAD TV launched a special 24/7 channel called "Eurovision Channel ERT powered by MAD" exclusively on OTE TV. The channel is exclusively devoted to Eurovision coverage, and features clips of songs throughout the history of the Eurovision Song Contest, as well as special Eurovision programs.

Greece confirmed its participation in the Eurovision Song Contest 2013, to be held between 14 and 18 May 2013 in Malmö, Sweden. The Greek national broadcaster Hellenic Broadcasting Corporation (ERT), announced on 15 January 2013 that it had reached an agreement with private music channel MAD TV to take on the organization and production of a national final to select a song to represent Greece in the contest. Additionally, MAD TV will also handle all related preparations associated with the contest. ERT stated that it had taken this decision, after reaching out to record labels and failing to secure a deal with them as in previous years. A national final was held on 18 February 2013, with Koza Mostra & Agathonas Iakovidis winning with the song "Alcohol is Free".

La Grèce participe, pour la trente-quatrième fois de son histoire, au "Concours Eurovision de la chanson" en 2013. En 2012, de nombreux doutes planent sur la participation des Grecs, à cause des difficultés financières que traverse le pays ainsi que le diffuseur "ERT". Finalement, la Grèce confirme sa participation après l'annonce d'un accord avec la chaîne privée "MAD TV" pour organiser une finale nationale.


History.

Formed in 1996, AFCA began as the Melbourne Film Critics’ Forum, expanding to a national organisation in 2004. In the same year, AFCA became an Australian representative of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI), which comprises the national organisations of professional film critics and film journalists from around the world. FIPRESCI has members in more than 50 countries worldwide. AFCA helped to establish the first FIPRESCI jury at the Adelaide Film Festival.  AFCA's members, several of whom contribute to internationally recognised media outlets, are professional film critics, film reviewers and film journalists, from all media forums, who provide informed discussion, analysis and comment on Australian and world cinema. Here are some of them: Adam Ross, Lachlan Marks, Alan James, Laura Bennett, Alex Thomas, Lawrence Barber, Alexandra Heller-Nicholas, Lee Zachariah, Lisa Thatcher, Ashley Beks, Luke Buckmaster, Marcella Papandrea, Bede Jermyn, Madeleine Swain, Mark Lavercombe, Cameron Williams, Matthew Toomey, Carol Van Opstal, Nicholas Brodie, Paul Turner, Peter Krausz, Richard Alaba, David O'Connell, etc. The body supports both mainstream and independent cinema and highlights significant or challenging films.

Film Awards.

On 22 January 2008, AFCA announced the results of its inaugural Film Awards for 2007. The awards span four categories comprising Best Australian Film, Best Overseas Film, Best Documentary and Best Unreleased Film (in Australia at the time of the awards). The winning and commended films granted AFCA film awards are:  In 2011 acting awards were introduced and the Best Unreleased Film category was discontinued.

Writing Awards.

In conjunction with its 2009 film awards, AFCA announced the results of its inaugural writing awards. The categories and winners are:

The Australian Film Critics Association (AFCA), formerly Melbourne Film Critics’ Forum, is an Australian professional association for film critics, reviewers and journalists who work in the media, based in Melbourne. It is a member of the International Federation of Film Critics (FIPRESCI).

L’ est une association australienne de critiques de cinéma fondée en 1996. Elle remet chaque année depuis 2007 les ().


Motivation.

One of the motivating reasons for considering derivators is the lack of functoriality with the cone construction with triangulated categories. Derivators are able to solve this problem, and solve the inclusion of general homotopy colimits, by keeping track of all possible diagrams in a category with weak equivalences and their relations between each other. Heuristcally, given the diagramformula_1which is a category with two objects and one non-identity arrow and a functorformula_2to a category formula_3 with a class of weak-equivalences formula_4, and satisfying the right hypotheses, should have an associated functorformula_5where the target object is unique upto weak equivalence in formula_6. Derivators are able to encode this kind of information and provide a diagram calculus to use in derived categories and homotopy theory.

Definition.

Prederivators.

Formally, a prederivator formula_7 is a 2-functorformula_8from a suitable 2-category of indices to the category of categories. Typically such 2-functors come from considering the categories formula_9 where formula_3 is called the category of coefficients. For example, formula_11 could be the category of small categories which are filtered, whose objects can be thought of as the indexing sets for a filtered colimit. Then, given a morphism of diagramsformula_12denote formula_13 byformula_14This is called the inverse image functor. In the motivating example, this is just precompositition, so given a functor formula_15 there is an associated functor formula_16. Note these 2-functors could be taken to beformula_17where formula_4 is a suitable class of weak equivalences in a category formula_3.

Indexing categories.

There are a number of examples of indexing categories used in this construction

Derivators.

Derivators are then the axiomatization of prederivators which come equipped with adjoint functorsformula_25where formula_26 is left adjoint to formula_13 and so on. Heuristically, formula_28 should correspond to inverse limits, formula_26 to colimits.

In mathematics, derivators are a proposed new framework for homological algebra and various generalisations. It is intended to address the perceived deficiencies of derived categories and provide at the same time a language for homotopical algebra.

Un dérivateur est une notion mathématique introduite par Alexander Grothendieck pour essayer de rendre compte de manière catégorique des différentes théories de l'homologie et de l'homotopie, notamment en comblant les défauts des catégories dérivées.


Virology.

The Spondweni virus belongs to the family "Flaviviridae" and the genus "Flavivirus". Due to its phylogeny, it is related to the dengue virus, yellow fever virus, Japanese encephalitis virus, and West Nile virus. It is part of the Spondweni serogroup which also contains the Zika virus. However, in certain Spondweni virus cases, signs and symptoms can appear as early as three days after infection. Both of these viruses in the Spondweni serogroup have serological cross-reactivity and very similar clinical presentations. This is one of the primary reasons that both viruses and their correlated diseases have been misidentified and misdiagnoised.  Similar to other flaviviruses, SPONV has a positive-sense, single stranded RNA genome, which is about 11 kilobases in length. The RNA genome contains 5’ and 3’ untranslated regions that surround a single open reading frame that encodes for a polyprotein that is specifically cleaved. The polyprotein is cleaved into three specific proteins: the capsid (C), the premembrane (prM), and the envelope (E), along with seven non-structural proteins (NS1, NS2A, NS2B, NS3, NS4A, 2K, NS4B, and NS5). The SPONV capsid is icosahedral and the similar to other flaviviruses which have an enveloped consisting of glycoproteins. These glycoproteins aid the virus in infection, through receptor mediated endocytosis. Two strains of the Spondweni virus have been reported, the Chuku strain and the SA Ar 94 strain. The Chuku strain was the original strain isolated from a patient in Nigeria in 1952. This strain was originally misclassified as Zika virus, and this misidentification eventually lead to the 1955 South African SA 94 isolation from the "Mansonia uniformis" mosquito. Both isolated SPONV strains are genetically similar, but they do exhibit a high degree of amino acid and nucleotide divergence, compared to the multiple ZIKV strains.

Transmission.

Similar to Zika, the Spondweni virus’s primary vector of transmission is mosquitos from the genus "Aedes". The two Spondweni virus strains have been isolated from multiple mosquito genera including "Aedes fryeri/fowleri, Aedes cicumluteolus, Aedes cumminsi, Culex neavi, Culex univittatus, Eretmapodites silvestris, Mansonia africana," and "Mansonia uniformis". However, the majority of SPONV isolations have been from one species of sylvatic mosquito, "Ae. circumluteolus".  The degree of infection and dissemination of both strains differs by primary vector species. In regards to Chuku strain, no detectable infection or dissemination has been found in two different "Aedes" species ("Ae. albopictus" and "Ae. aegypti") along with "Culex quinquefasciatus". The SA Ar 94 strain had been observed causing dissemination infection in "Ae. albopictus", but the other two resulted in failed transmission. When the Chuku stain of SPONV was tested to see if it could successfully transmit into the "Ae. aegypti" mosquito (the dominant vector of ZIKV), it failed.  Little information is available on the potential amplification and maintenance of SPONV in numerous hosts species. Intensive field studies have been carried out in areas with high SPONV transmission, to eliminate potential host species. Numerous isolations of both SPONV strain types along with evidence of antibodies to the two strains were not detected in any rodent or birds collected in South Africa in 1958, leading to the speculation that these species were unlikely amplification and transmission of the virus. Experimental work has demonstrated that SPONV can infect non-human primates. Due to its serological cross-reactivity and similar clinical presentations with ZIKV, SPONV may be maintained and transmitted in a sylvatic cycle to nonhuman primates and certain species of mosquitoes.

Signs and symptoms.

Successful transmission and infection by either SPONV strain can result in the infectious disease known as Spondweni fever. Less is known about the clinical presentation of Spondweni virus infections, since a large problem with misdiagnosis is seen, as other viral infections like Zika. The majority of SPONV infections have been reported as asymptomatic. However, in certain Spondweni virus cases, signs and symptoms can appear as early as three days after infection. Six cases of Spondweni virus infections have been well documented, and the signs and symptoms parallel closely to Zika fever. Symptoms included fever, headache, nausea, myalgia, greyish mucoid lining on the posterior pharynx, arthralgia, vertigo, conjunctivitis, maculopapular and pruritic rash, epistaxis, photophobia, vomiting, and disorientation. While most reported symptomatic Spondweni virus infections have mild to moderate febrile illness that last for a short duration, incidences of more serious symptoms and illnesses have been associated with the virus. More serious complications have occurred, including conjunctivitis, hematuria, hematospermia, aphthous ulcer, and epistaxis.  Diagnosis of Spondweni viral infection would be to screen blood samples from infected individuals for the presence of the positive-sense, single-stranded RNA virion through the use of serologic assay, virus isolation, or PCR/qPCR. These methods also aid in the prevention of misdiagnosis of Spondweni viral infection with other viral infections and infections with a similar clinical symptom array which includes Zika fever, dengue fever, Lassa fever, rickettsial infection, leptospirosis, and typhoid fever.

Spondweni virus (SPOV or SPONV) is an arbovirus, or arthropod-borne virus, which is a member of the family "Flaviviridae" and the genus "Flavivirus". It is part of the Spondweni serogroup which consists of the Sponweni virus and the Zika virus (ZIKV). The Spondweni virus was first isolated in Nigeria in 1952, and ever since, SPONV transmission and activity have been reported throughout Africa. Its primary vector of transmission is the sylvatic mosquito "Aedes circumluteolus", though it has been isolated from several different types of mosquito. Transmission of the virus into humans can lead to a viral infection known as Spondweni fever, with symptoms ranging from headache and nausea to myalgia (muscle pain) and arthralgia (joint pain). However, SPONV is phylogenetically close to the ZIKV, it is commonly misdiagnosed as ZIKV along with other viral illnesses.

Le virus Spondweni (SPOV) est un virus à ARN monocaténaire de polarité positive (groupe de la classification Baltimore) appartenant au genre "Flavivirus". Il s'agit d'un arbovirus responsable de la fièvre Spondweni,


Background.

After the successful attack on Cadiz in 1596 the English army led by Sir Francis Vere were urgently required back in the Netherlands and went there directly. Due to the raid's damages Spain had gone bankrupt for the third time which meant that payments to the army dried up, which led to mutinies. During the winter of 1596/7 Archduke Albert's Spanish army of 4,600 under the command of the Burgundian Philibert de Rye, Count Varax had advanced to the village of Turnhout, about twenty miles south of Breda; their design was to surprise the town of Tholen on a rare winter offensive.  The Dutch Stadtholder, Maurice of Nassau, had received orders from the States General to collect a force at Geertruidenberg to counter the Spanish threat in the area of Turnhout. Though the town had not been walled, Turnhout was an important strategic town - it held a small castle, surrounded by a moat and contained a garrison of forty men. A force of nearly 6,000 men with two demi-cannons and two field pieces, was assembled at Geertruidenberg. Six companies of Dutch infantry were under Maurice - the Counts of Hohenlohe, Brederode and Solms arrived with contingents gathered from their various garrisons. Sir Francis Vere led the English force once more - nearly two thirds of Maurice's army were in fact English and Scots. A minority were subsidized allied troops or'religious volunteers' most of whom were long term mercenaries sent by Elizabeth I. Among these were Sir Alexander Murray's regiment of Scots, as well as eight companies of English infantry under the command of Captain Henry Docwra. The cavalry totalled 800 men commanded by Marcellus Bacx and included a contingent of a hundred elite pistoleers made up of volunteers from among the English gentry, 'the gentlemen of the (Protestant) religion', under Sir Robert Sydney and Sir Nicholas Parker.  On January 23, 1597 the expedition marched out of Geertruidenberg in four divisions, with the cavalry on the flanks and stopped off to camp at Ravels on the frozen ground.  The Spanish army under the command of Varax consisted of four battalions of infantry; the elite Spanish 'Naples' Tercio regiment under the Marquis of Treviso, the Germans under the Count of Sulz and a couple of Walloon and Burgundian regiments under the Comtes de Hachicourt and de Barlaymont. There were five squadrons of Spanish cavalry commanded by Nicolo Basta. The regiments of horse were commanded by Juan de Cordova, Alonzo de Mendoza, Juan de Guzman, Alonzo Mondragon and a Flemish force under de Grubbendonck. These were split into two units, one of heavy lancers and the other of lighter 'herreruelos' (mounted harquebusiers).<ref name="Coetzee/Eysturlid">Coetzee & Eysturlid pp 117-18</ref>  At midnight Maurice broke up his camp and after a forced march they reached the outskirts of Turnhout in the neighbouring village of Tielen by midnight.

Battle.

Varax heard reports of Maurice's army having approached not far from Turnhout itself. He immediately ordered a retreat and by dawn the whole of the Spanish force were in the process of withdrawing to Herentals. Maurice soon discovered that the rear guard of the Spanish had just marched out of the village. The country was intersected in all directions by hedges and ditches and having reached the banks of the River Aa, Varax removed all but one plank from the wooden bridge that transversed it. Parties of Spanish musketeers were stationed on the other side to contest any crossing attempt by Maurice, although the English advance guard swiftly forced them off.  Having come across a large wood further on from the river Vere called up his detached musketeers and placed them along the edges to conceal them. These skirmishers kept up a constant harassing fire on the Spanish rearguard, while Vere along with sixteen horsemen followed them along the highway in full sight and at the same time sent back a report to Maurice to come up in support. Vere had his horse shot from under him which slightly wounded his leg, but continued to lead on foot, until he was remounted. This skirmish between the Anglo-Dutch scouting force and the Spanish rearguard lasted for over three hours until the main body of the former's cavalry arrived. The Spanish had by then emerged onto an open heath, suitable for cavalry action.  Varax had his infantry formed in four solid squares of pikemen in the open space of the heath, with musketeers on the flanks as was standard practice for the Spanish tercios. His cavalry and wagons had entered an enclosed lane beyond. The first square consisted of Germans led by the Count of Sulz, then came the Walloons and Burgundian tercios. The Marquis of Treviso brought up the rear with a force of Italian and Spanish veteran tercios. Vere had followed them, until all of Maurice's cavalry had joined with him having emerged from the wood. The Anglo-Dutch then formed on the open heath in front of the Spanish. The Spaniards steadily continued their march but as they became aware of the allied movements on their left, their cavalry changed position and transferred from the right to the left of the line and rode between the infantry and the belt of woods. After the first volley by Vere's musketeers the Spanish harquebuisers on foot broke and fled. Varax ordered his cavalry to protect the retreat but Count Hohenlohe and his Dutch cavalry charged the Spanish right flank, as Vere followed suit upon their rear. Hohenlohe fell upon Sulz's regiment of Germans while the rearguard consisting of Treviso's tercios was assailed by Vere's English and Bacx's Dutch cavalry. The surprise was complete; the Spanish cavalry which included the famed squadrons of Guzman, Mondragon and Mendoza were hit hard at the first onset and within moments retreated for the pass. Most of them escaped through the hollow into the boggy ground beyond. Several companies of Parker's cavalry galloped down the Herentals road, in pursuit of the Spanish cavalry and baggage.  With the Spanish cavalry having been driven off, the Dutch and English cavalry fell upon the straggling Spanish infantry. The Walloon regiments tried to form a line with the flank protected by a copse, but their morale was already low after witnessing the flight of their cavalry. When they saw in the distance the mass of Dutch infantry appearing to support their cavalry they broke into a rout and tried to swim across the Aa river to reach Herentals. The musketeers of Sultz's regiment fell back in confusion upon the pikemen behind them and the whole formation promptly surrendered en masse upon being charged by the Anglo-Dutch cavalry. The veteran tercios of Treviso however managed to deploy in combat formation and resisted manfully for some time, but Vere and Bacx's charge upon them was decisive. The Dutch and English troopers rode up very close to the massed ranks of the Spanish infantry and discharged their pistols and carbines at point blank range, inflicting carnage. Varax, fighting in the front line with his men, was among the casualties. The cuirassiers' fire opened gaps within the Spanish ranks into which the troopers rode in and started attacking the formation from within, rapidly causing a rout.  While the veteran Spanish tercio were being broken, the surviving Germans in the front and the other tercios in the rear had been simultaneously shattered and the panicked survivors swamped the two other regiments, those of Hachicourt and La Barlotte which were placed between them, masking their field fire and spreading panic among them. The English and Dutch soon broke these formations as well and put nearly all of the Spanish infantry into rout. The pursuing cavalry harried them and the Spanish infantry were 'cut down with terrible slaughter'. Parker's cavalry had in the meantime gone through the pass and plundered the Spanish baggage train. The Spanish had been completely routed and the battle had lasted no more than half an hour.  The rest of the Spanish managed to retreat to Herentals where Nicolo Basta took command and rallied the survivors.

Aftermath.

Out of 4,000 Spanish soldiers and 500 horsemen nearly over 50% were casualties; 2000 were killed or wounded. In addition thirty-eight ensigns were taken and prisoners numbered around 600. Of the allied force only fifty were casualties including ten killed. The whole action was won by around 800 Dutch and English horsemen and the majority of the Dutch infantry were never brought into action. That night the victors rested in Turnhout and the next morning the castle there capitulated and the Dutch promptly burned parts of it. However, in a few days Maurice had to leave the city before the arrival of Spanish reinforcements led by the Archduke Albert who after hearing of the defeat left his winter quarters. The Spanish Tercios of Francisco Velasco and several units of cavalry, which together with the survivors of the battle advanced against him. The allied force then began their return march to Geertruidenberg. The victory at Turnhout therefore did not result in any long term strategic gain since there was no follow up.  On 8 February Maurice returned to the Hague - the Spanish standards captured from the battle were strung up in the Ridderzaal (the political headquarters of the States General) as a symbol of victory. The prisoners were treated with kindness and the wounded were cared for, even the body of Varas was sent to the Archduke. In return Albert assured the Dutch Prince that he would follow his generous example for the duration of the war. The English under Vere and Sidney greatly distinguished themselves. Vere accompanied Sidney to Willemstad, wrote his official despatches and gave them to one of Sidney's captains to deliver in England. Both generals spoke generously of each other - Vere thought that Sidney exceeded well in battle, being one of the first that charged. Sidney reported that the victory was only due to Vere.  News of the battle of Turnhout was received in England with great rejoicing, and congratulations poured in on all sides. The satirist Stephen Gosson composed a sermon called the "Trumpet of Warre" a justification of war with Spain. The battle was even dramatized in London, and introduced on the stage known as the "Overthrow of Turnholt". All of the officers who were present at the battle were impersonated.  Queen Elizabeth I herself wrote to Vere on February 7, 1597, in the following terms:

Analysis.

At the time the battle had great importance for the evolution of mounted warfare for two reasons. The first impact was that Maurice's army had demonstrated the superiority of the new type of cavalry, the cuirassiers or reiters, as used by Henry IV of France at the battle of Ivry. The cuirassiers wore half armour and a light headpiece and were armed with several pistols but also carried carbines as well as a sword. No lance was carried so instead of being arrayed in a thin line to maximize the number of lance being deployed they charged in a dense formations (eight in depth) and fired their pistols only in the moment of contact. This tactic, which had already defeated French gendarmes (lancers in full armour) at Ivry, proved to be effective as well against the lighter Spanish demi-lancer. The second impact was that the Dutch and English cuirassiers, with the support of a few hundred musketeers, had destroyed a regiment of Spanish tercios without the help of their own heavy infantry. These lessons on the value of the cuirassiers were quickly learned and most European armies abandoned the employment of lancers soon after, with only the Poles retaining them within their famed husaria. The Spaniards finally drew their conclusions after the defeat at Nieuwpoort three years later.

Cultural.

Music composer Kevin Houben commemorated the battle in his concert work, "Thyellene, battle on the heath". In September 2008, Brassband Kempenzonen Tielen played this work on the site where once the battle took place.  The defeat of Varax inspired the writing of the hymn "We Gather Together."

The Battle of Turnhout also known as the Battle of Tielenheide was a military engagement which took place on 24 January 1597 in the border area between the Northern and Southern Netherlands at Turnhout during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604).

La bataille de Turnhout est un épisode de la Guerre de Quatre-Vingts Ans qui se déroula le près de la ville de Turnhout, entre une armée hollandaise commandée par Maurice de Nassau et une armée espagnole commandée par Jean de Rie de Varas et se termina par la victoire des hollandais.


Life.

Otto Neururer was born on 25 March 1881 as the last of twelve children to the poor and modest farmers Alois Neururer and Hildegard Streng. His parents managed a small farm with a mill. He was a timid (noted as having had a subdued temperament) but academic man who battled depression much like his mother did. His devout mother would suffer from these occasional bouts of depression following her husband's death when Neururer was a child at the age of eight.  He studied for the priesthood in Brixen (which his uncle helped support) under the Vincentians from 1895 (he did his theological studies from 1903 onwards) before he was ordained to the priesthood on 29 June 1907. He celebrated his first Mass as a priest in his hometown. Neururer also wanted to become a Jesuit so he could join their missions though his delicate health at the time prevented him from being able to pursue that path. He served as a curate and as a teacher of religious education in the Saint James parish from 1917 until 1932 following his ordination and later joined the Christian Social Movement (in the spirit of the papal document "Rerum Novarum") despite the fact that it put him at odds with his conservative superiors. His first assignment as a priest was spent in Urdens in Zillertal and then in Oberinntal before being sent to Kappl in Paznautal. He was then sent to Innsbruck and then in 1932 was sent to his final assignment as a pastor in Götzens near Innsbruck to the Saints Peter and Paul parish church.  The Nazi annexation of Austria in 1938 led to the arrest of several priests. Neururer was serving as a parish priest in Götzens near Innsbruck at the time that this was taking place. He advised a girl not to become married to a divorced man (known for having lived a dissolute and atheistic life) owing to his questionable morals, but it happened that this man was a personal friend of Franz Hofer (the Nazi Gauleiter of Tirol). The girl refused to listen to the priest's advice and told this man, who in turn reported Neururer to the authorities. Neururer was arrested on 15 December 1938 as a result of his actions on the charge of "slander to the detriment of German marriage" and sent on 3 March 1939 to the Dachau Concentration Camp before later being sent on 26 September 1939 to Buchenwald where he faced frequent torture. In prison he shared his scarce food rations with prisoners in a weaker condition.  Neururer (despite suspecting a trap) agreed to perform a forbidden baptism at the camp for a prisoner who approached him in April 1940 and was sent to the punishment block when his action was discovered not long after. There he was hanged upside down and naked until he died after 34 hours of agony. It was said that this execution was conducted on the orders of the sadistic SS "Hauptscharführer" (master sergeant) Martin Sommer – the "Hangman of Buchenwald". The chaplain Alfred Berchtold (1904-85) witnessed Neururer's final torture and said that he never complained but would mumble while he was still conscious. His remains were cremated on 3 June 1940 (the Nazis later attributed his death to "acute cardiac weakness") and his ashes sent in an urn to Götzens later that same month which is now located under the altar of the Götzens parish church.

Beatification.

The beatification process opened on 23 May 1983 after the Congregation for the Causes of Saints issued the official edict "nihil obstat" (no objections to the cause) and titled Neururer as a Servant of God; the diocesan process was conducted in Innsbruck from 20 November 1983 until 8 December 1986. It was following this investigation that the documentation was sent to the C.C.S. in Rome where on 14 June 1991 the C.C.S. validated the diocesan process as having complied with their regulations and therefore deeming that process to have been valid. The official Positio dossier was sent to the C.C.S. sometime after so that the cause could be investigated further. Theologians first assented to the cause on 19 May 1995 as did the cardinal and bishop members of the C.C.S. on 21 November 1995.  Neururer was cleared for beatification on 12 January 1996 after Pope John Paul II confirmed that the priest had died "in odium fidei" (in hatred of the faith). John Paul II beatified Neururer on 24 November 1996 in Saint Peter's Basilica.

Otto Neururer (25 March 1882 – 30 May 1940) was an Austrian Roman Catholic priest and was the first priest to die in a Nazi concentration camp. Neururer did his studies for the priesthood in Brixen before he served as a teacher and pastor in several cities before settling in 1932 in Götzens near Innsbruck. He was arrested in 1938 for attempting to persuade a girl not to be wed to a man of questionable morals and was sent to Dachau before being transferred to Buchenwald where he died after being hanged upside down.

Otto Neururer (né le à Piller (Tyrol), mort le dans le camp de concentration de Buchenwald) est un prêtre catholique autrichien victime du nazisme. Il est exécuté pour avoir exercé illégalement sa fonction sacerdotale, c'est pourquoi l'Église a fait de lui un bienheureux.


Career.

Youth and college.

Marshall attended Rubidoux High School in Riverside, California, where he was an NCSAA All-American, "Parade" All-America selection, and "Parade"'s Best Defender in his senior year, and a "Parade" All-American his junior year. Coming out of high school he was rated as the top college soccer recruit in the country by "Soccer America". In addition to his soccer exploits, Chad was also an avid equestrian. He played club soccer for the prestigious club soccer team Irvine Strikers coached by the legendary club coach Don Ebert. He attended the IMG Soccer Academy in fall 2000 through spring 2001. Chad attended Stanford University for two years a brief stint at Harding University. After two seasons with the Cardinal, he decided to turn pro.

Professional.

Marshall was drafted second overall in the 2004 MLS SuperDraft by Columbus Crew. He had an exemplary first year, anchoring the Crew defense along with Robin Fraser, who won the MLS Defender of the Year award that season, and helped the team to an eighteen-game unbeaten streak and the MLS Supporters' Shield. He finished the season with twenty-seven starts, and was a close second to Clint Dempsey in the voting for the MLS Rookie of the Year Award. He only played in twelve matches in 2007 due to ongoing concussion issues that threatened to end his career.  Marshall's strongest campaign with the Crew came in 2008. He led the defense on the squad that won both the Supporters' Shield and the MLS Cup 2008, a game in which Marshall scored the game-winning goal. After the season, he was voted to the MLS Best XI and was also awarded the MLS Defender of the Year award, beating competition from Bakary Soumare and Jimmy Conrad.  Marshall's contract ran out after the 2008 campaign. After a brief trial for part of December with German 2. Fußball-Bundesliga side Mainz 05 he re-signed with Columbus on December 26, 2008.  On March 17, 2011, Marshall was named captain of Columbus Crew for the 2011 season to fill the void left by departing captain Frankie Hejduk. In December 2011, Columbus signed Marshall to a long-term contract extension through the 2015 MLS season.  On December 12, 2013, Marshall was traded to Seattle Sounders FC in exchange for allocation money and a third-round 2015 MLS SuperDraft pick. He scored his first goal as a Sounder, a game-winning header in the 84th minute, against the Philadelphia Union on May 3. He was named MLS Defender of the Year for the third time as the Sounders won the Supporters Shield.  On May 22, 2019, Marshall announced his retirement from professional soccer.

International.

As a teenager, Marshall trained at the United States Soccer Federation's exclusive Bradenton Academy and has played for several United States youth national teams. He played for the United States at the 2003 FIFA World Youth Championship, now commonly known as the FIFA U-20 World Cup, in the United Arab Emirates. He later moved up and earned time with the Under-23 team.  Marshall earned his first cap and scored his first goal for the senior national team on March 9, 2005, against Colombia. Marshall was selected for the 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup for the United States and received his first cap since 2005 in the side's opening match against Grenada. Marshall went on to play in five games throughout the tournament and garnered Gold Cup All-Tournament honors.  On May 11, 2010, Bob Bradley, the U.S. Men’s National Team head coach selected Marshall for the 30-man preliminary roster for the 2010 FIFA World Cup. On May 26, 2010, Bradley decided to keep Marshall off the 23 man roster for the 2010 FIFA World Cup.  On January 6, 2017 after almost 7 years of absence from international soccer, Marshall was called for the United States national team by coach Bruce Arena.

Chad Marshall (born August 22, 1984) is a retired American soccer player. During his 16-year career, he played for Columbus Crew and Seattle Sounders FC in Major League Soccer.

Chad Marshall est un footballeur international américain né le à Riverside en Californie. Durant sa carrière professionnelle, il évolue au poste de défenseur central avec le Crew de Columbus et les Sounders de Seattle en MLS.


Background.

Youngs is the son of former Leicester and England scrum-half Nick Youngs, and the elder brother of current Leicester and England scrum-half Ben Youngs.  Originally a centre, he changed to play at hooker after advice from then Tigers' coach Heyneke Meyer.  Youngs played for Gresham's School and for England Schools, and also for Holt as a junior.

Club career.

He made his Tigers debut against London Irish on Boxing Day 2006, broke his leg after five minutes and came off after thirteen.  In the 2008/09 season, when he was persuaded to switch to hooker he was used by new head Coach Richard Cockerill in the Leicester "A" team as a hooker.  In the 2010-2011 season he was loaned to the Leicester feeder club Nottingham R.F.C. where he was first choice hooker.  Youngs started the 2013 Premiership final, alongside his brother Ben, as Leicester defeated Northampton Saints.  At the start of the 2016-17 season he was announced as club captain for the Tigers, replacing lock Ed Slater after being injured for nearly half of the previous season.

International career.

In 2007-08, he was a member of the England squad at Rugby sevens.  On England's summer tour to South Africa in 2012, Youngs was taken as part of the main touring squad for experience. He played in the midweek games and his performances led to him being touted as a future England starting hooker.  Due to an injury to England's first-choice hooker Dylan Hartley and the earlier retirement of second-choice Lee Mears, Youngs was awarded the number 2 shirt for England's first 2012 Autumn International match against Fiji, and was joined on the pitch by substitute brother Ben. The Youngs brothers became the second family to have a father and two sons play for England after Sir William Milton and his sons Jumbo and Cecil. An impressive performance meant that he retained the shirt for the second test.  He was named as part of the victorious Lions squad for the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia.  Youngs was named in Stuart Lancaster's 31- man squad in August 2015 for the 2015 Rugby World Cup and went on to start all 4 games as hooker. He was controversially overlooked for the Six Nations by new coach Eddie Jones and then was injured for the Summer tour of Australia. He was overlooked again for the 2016 Autumn Internationals and was not chosen for Jones' 45 EPS Squad for the Six Nations with skipper Dylan Hartley as first-choice, Jamie George as second choice and Tommy Taylor as third choice.

Thomas Nicholas Youngs (born 28 January 1987, in Norwich, England) is a rugby union player who plays as a hooker for Leicester Tigers in Premiership Rugby, between 2012–2015 he won 28 caps for, including selection for the 2015 Rugby World Cup and was selected for the 2013 British and Irish Lions tour to Australia where he played in all three test matches.

Thomas Nicholas Youngs dit Tom Youngs, né le à Norwich, est un joueur anglais de rugby à XV qui évolue au poste de talonneur. Il joue avec les Leicester Tigers depuis 2006 et en équipe d'Angleterre depuis 2012.


Overview.

"Methanosarcina" may be the only known anaerobic methanogens that produce methane using all three known metabolic pathways for methanogenesis. Methanogenesis is critical to the waste-treatment industry and biologically produced methane also represents an important alternative fuel source. Most methanogens make methane from carbon dioxide and hydrogen gas. Others utilize acetate in the acetoclastic pathway. In addition to these two pathways, species of "Methanosarcina" can also metabolize methylated one-carbon compounds through methylotrophic methanogenesis. Such one-carbon compounds include methylamines, methanol, and methyl thiols. Only "Methanosarcina" species possess all three known pathways for methanogenesis, and are capable of utilizing no less than nine methanogenic substrates, including acetate.  "Methanosarcina" are the world's most diverse methanogens in terms of ecology. They are found in environments such as landfills, sewage heaps, deep sea vents, deep subsurface groundwater, and even in the gut of many different ungulates, including cows, sheep, goats, and deer. "Methanosarcina" have also been found in the human digestive tract. "M. barkeri" can withstand extreme temperature fluctuations and go without water for extended periods. It can consume a variety of compounds or survive solely on hydrogen and carbon dioxide. It can also survive in low pH environments that are typically hazardous for life. Noting its extreme versatility, biologist Kevin Sowers postulated that "M. barkeri" could even survive on Mars. "Methanosarcina" grow in colonies and show primitive cellular differentiation.  In 2002, the amino acid pyrrolysine was discovered in "M. barkeri" by Ohio State University researchers. Earlier research by the team had shown that a gene in "M. barkeri" had an in-frame amber (UAG) codon that did not signal the end of a protein, as would normally be expected. This behavior suggested the possibility of an unknown amino acid which was confirmed over several years by slicing the protein into peptides and sequencing them. Pyrrolysine was the first genetically-encoded amino acid discovered since 1986, and 22nd overall. It has subsequently been found throughout the family "Methanosarcinaceae" as well as in a single bacterium, "Desulfitobacterium hafniense".  Both "M. acetivorans" and "M. mazei" have exceptionally large genomes. As of August 2008, "M. acetivorans" possessed the largest sequenced archaeal genome with 5,751,492 base pairs. The genome of "M. mazei" has 4,096,345 base pairs.  "Methanosarcina" cell membranes are made of relatively short lipids, primarily of C25 hydrocarbons and C20 ethers. The majority of other methanogens have C30 hydrocarbons and a mixture of C20 and C40 ethers.

Role in early development of life on Earth.

In 2004, two primitive versions of hemoglobin were discovered in "M. acetivorans" and another archaeon, "Aeropyrum pernix". Known as protoglobins, these globins bind with oxygen much as hemoglobin does. In "M. acetivorans", this allows for the removal of unwanted oxygen which would otherwise be toxic to this anaerobic organism. Protoglobins thus may have created a path for the evolution of later lifeforms which are dependent on oxygen. Following the Great Oxygenation Event, once there was free oxygen in Earth's atmosphere, the ability to process oxygen led to widespread radiation of life, and is one of the most fundamental stages in the evolution of Earth's lifeforms.  Inspired by "M. acetivorans", a team of Penn State researchers led by James G. Ferry and Christopher House proposed a new "thermodynamical theory of evolution" in 2006. It was observed that "M. acetivorans" converts carbon monoxide into acetate, the scientists hypothesized that early "proto-cells" attached to mineral could have similarly used primitive enzymes to generate energy while excreting acetate. The theory thus sought to unify the "heterotrophic" theory of early evolution, where the primordial soup of simple molecules arose from non-biological processes, and the "chemoautotrophic" theory, where the earliest lifeforms created most simple molecules. The authors observed that though the "debate between the heterotrophic and chemotrophic theories revolved around carbon fixation", in actuality "these pathways evolved first to make energy. Afterwards, they evolved to fix carbon." The scientists further proposed mechanisms which would have allowed the mineral-bound proto-cell to become free-living and for the evolution of acetate metabolism into methane, using the same energy-based pathways. They speculated that "M. acetivorans" was one of the first lifeforms on Earth, a direct descendant of the early proto-cells. The research was published in "Molecular Biology and Evolution" in June 2006.  Recently researchers have proposed an evolution hypothesis for acetate kinase and phosphoacetyl transferase with genomic evidence from "Methanosarcina". Scientists hypothesize acetate kinase could be the urkinase in a major protein superfamily that includes actin. Evidence suggests acetate kinase evolved in an ancient halophilic "Methanosarcina" genome through duplication and divergence of the acetyl coA synthetase gene.

Role in the Permian–Triassic extinction event.

It was hypothesized that "Methanosarcina's" methane production may have been one of the causes of the Permian–Triassic extinction event. It is estimated that 70% of shell creatures died from ocean acidification, due to over-populated "Methanosarcina". A study conducted by Chinese and American researchers supports that hypothesis. Using genetic analysis of about 50 "Methanosarcina" genomes, the team concluded that the microbe likely acquired the ability to efficiently consume acetate using acetate kinase and phosphoacetyl transferase roughly 240 ± 41 million years ago, about the time of the extinction event 252 million years ago. The genes for these enzymes may have been acquired from a cellulose-degrading bacterium via gene transfer.  The scientists concluded that these new genes, combined with widely available organic carbon deposits in the ocean and a plentiful supply of nickel, allowed "Methanosarcina" populations to increase dramatically. Under their theory, this led to the release of abundant methane as waste. Then, some of the methane would have been broken down into carbon dioxide by other organisms. The buildup of these two gases would have caused oxygen levels in the ocean to decrease dramatically, while also increasing acidity. Terrestrial climates would simultaneously have experienced rising temperatures and significant climate change from the release of these greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. It is possible the buildup of carbon dioxide and methane in the atmosphere eventually caused the release of hydrogen sulfide gas, further stressing terrestrial life. The team's findings were published in the "Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences" in March 2014.  The microbe theory's proponents argue that it would better explain the rapid, but continual, rise of carbon isotope level in period sediment deposits than volcanic eruption, which causes a spike in carbon levels followed by a slow decline. The microbe theory suggests that volcanic activity played a different role - supplying the nickel which "Methanosarcina" required as a cofactor. Thus, the microbe theory holds that Siberian volcanic activity was a catalyst for, but not the primary cause of the mass extinction.

Use by humans.

In 1985, Shimizu Construction developed a bioreactor that uses "Methanosarcina" to treat waste water from food processing plants and paper mills. The water is fed into the reactor where the microbes break down the waste particulate. The methane produced by the bacteria is then used to power the reactor, making it cheap to run. In tests, "Methanosarcina" reduced the waste concentration from 5,000–10,000 parts per million (ppm) to 80–100 ppm. Further treatment was necessary to finish the cleansing process. According to a 1994 report in "Chemistry and Industry", bioreactors utilizing anaerobic digestion by "Methanothrix soehngenii" or "Methanosarcina" produced less sludge byproduct than aerobic counterparts. "Methanosarcina" reactors operate at temperatures ranging from 35 to 55 °C and pH ranges of 6.5-7.5.  Researchers have sought ways to utilize "Methanosarcina's" methane-producing abilities more broadly as an alternative power source. In December 2010, University of Arkansas researchers successfully spliced a gene into "M. acetivorans" that allowed it to break down esters. They argued that this would allow it to more efficiently convert biomass into methane gas for power production. In 2011, it was shown that most methane produced during decomposition at landfills comes from "M. barkeri". The researchers found that the microbe can survive in low pH environments and that it consumes acid, thereby raising the pH and allowing a wider range of life to flourish. They argued that their findings could help accelerate research into using archaea-generated methane as an alternate power source.

Methanosarcina is a genus of euryarchaeote archaea that produce methane. These single-celled organisms are known as anaerobic methanogens that produce methane using all three metabolic pathways for methanogenesis. They live in diverse environments where they can remain safe from the effects of oxygen, whether on the earth's surface, in groundwater, in deep sea vents, and in animal digestive tracts. "Methanosarcina" grow in colonies.

Methanosarcina est un genre d'archées méthanogènes anaérobies dont les espèces sont parmi les seules connues à pouvoir produire du méthane par les trois modes de la méthanogenèse<ref name="10.1101/gr.223902">