text: On Pelham's death in March 1754, the Duke of Newcastle was in line to succeed as First Lord of the Treasury. On becoming Member of Parliament for Plymouth, Barrington applied directly for a treasury bench seat, on the recommendation of Henry Fox. Pelham had already gone to the palace to 'kiss hands'. On the understanding of a Treasury seat for the public economist, Barrington succeeded Sir Thomas Robinson as the Master of the Great Wardrobe in 1755, when he was granted a seat as Privy Counsellor. At Newcastle House in September Barrington was informed the arrangement was squared with the king, but Cumberland, the Commander-in-Chief at Windsor, did not know of it. He was appointed as Secretary at War in the Duke of Newcastle cabinet. The supremacy of cabinet government over Wardrobe, Treasury over commander-in-chief in the realm of the patronage of political appointments can be dated from Newcastle's office tenure. Barrington held the post for the next six years throughout the Seven Years' War, despite the Byzantine logistics, and notorious corruption at the war office owing to his scrupulous attitude towards corrupt practices revealed in his letters.


title: William Barrington, 2nd Viscount Barrington

text: Shortly after the new ministry had come to office, Minorca fell. Barrington ordered the 7th regiment to reinforce the Gibraltar garrison on 21 March 1756. The cabinet insisted the rock must be held as a strategic naval base; Barrington's experience told him this, switching the Governor's detachment, a battalion onto Byng's flagship. In the event the garrison could not spare the men: facing the threat of an attack by the Toulon fleet, Barrington was clear in a subsequent letter that Gibraltar must not be left undefended. But Byng's subsequent disgrace and execution left Barrington's loyalties in doubt. He had shown no disobedience to His Majesty the King, when General Fowke was tried at court martial for allegedly abandoning his post. Cumberland was disgusted at the loss of Port Mahon, its naval base, and the shame brought upon the military's discipline and reputation, adding to the Secretary's political problems; Barrington consequently clung to Newcastle's patronage at least in part for self-preservation. Modern historians have laid the blame at barrington's door for the confusion that ensued from the contradictory orders; but much of the contention has derived from his belated conversion to Toryism, and embracing of a Pittite bluewater policy with all its attenuated risks.


text: Meanwhile, the Prime Minister insisted on quizzing Granby on the battlefield with young Barrington in tow learning how to disappoint generals for the future. During the Seven Years War, his brothers, Admiral Sir Samuel Barrington and Major-General John Barrington, who led the assault expeditionary force that captured Guadeloupe, a French colony, were both active in the Caribbean. Barrington remained a staunch friend and ally of Newcastle throughout, always grateful for the confidence, but never afraid to differ from the duke "to whom I owe more compliance than to any man living, because he is the only subject, to whom i have a real obligation. I must do his Grace the justice...." The previous October he had advised Field Marshall Ligioner, by now a Viscount, that his brother was over-promoted "I again deprecate Colonel Barrington being so near the command; and i entreat of your Lordship to recommend some other Major-General to His Majesty, in case Mr Boscawen should be excused." In the light of his compassion, the story of Colonel Monro's Arabian horse seemed typical of the man's discreet delicacy, nursing his gifted steed back to health, but putting its ownership into trust. Barrington was always careful to avoid accusations of taking sweeteners or inducements for corrupt practices; sufficiently astute to defer on matters of ethical credibility to others. The cost of the war was ruinous; and Barrington refused to accede to the duke's demand to buy the Election of 1761.


text: On 12 March 1761 he was transferred to the office of Chancellor of the Exchequer, just ten days before the dissolution of parliament. In 1762 the Tory Prime Minister proposed Barrington Treasurer of the Navy, which he accepted, but remained close to the duke, who declined to oppose the new ministry. Senior cabinet ministers may have met in autumn 1762 at Beckett, his ancestral seat. For he was probably influential in the reconciliation between Newcastle and Cumberland, long embittered rivals, because in a letter to Barrington on 11 July he had signed off "your affectionate friend". Moreover, he strongly advised his whig friend to join with the Tories. Barrington's membership of Bute's ministry, in spite of his friendship with Newcastle, who was at the height of his powers, was, he claimed, on the basis of being a principled "servant of the Crown"; for the main achievement of Bute's time in office was the Peace of Paris in April 1763. On principle he would not oppose the ministry from within, and yet would not resign to suit his friend, mentor and patron. Bute suggested enlarging the government with a Foxite Coalition; but Barrington, who long been a friend of Charles James Fox felt "a coolness between us".


text: On 17 July 1765 Barrington returned to London to seek his former position of secretary at war from the King whom he told: "That a man like me, solely attached to himself, must not expect many Court friends", at St James's Palace as department GHQ, at once abandoned by General Ligonier, who preferred the esprit de corps of Knightsbridge. Barrington told Charles Gould, the Advocate-General that he was the "guardian" of the interests of "the poor, though deserving officer". He told the king that he "detested faction" and "...would never have anything to do with it". It was two days before he informed the Prime Minister that he had 'kissed hands' with the Sovereign. On 26 July, Barrington, the prospect of joining a Tory Chatham ministry looming over the horizon, played his royal hand again to stay in government. Yorke told the Pelhamite Hardwicke that he stayed "by virtue of his pliability". It became Barrington's political hallmark that his pledged allegiance was to the Army and the King only; while Cumberland was Commander-in-Chief he would share in any political decisions.


text: Barrington wished young officers who wanted preferment to buy, or await promotion by seniority. Burgoyne's friend and mentor, Barrington retained office but only until December 1778, when the Rockingham whigs resumed majority control in the Commons. In 1759 Burgoyne had threatened him; Barrington responded "with the House of Commons, in case i am, what you call partial against you...the least courtly letter that was ever written to a Secretary at War." Barrington raised more regiments and increased the places at Old Chelsea Hospital for wounded men. Wages improved slightly, and more compassion was shown after battle; developments that dovetailed with the career of Marquis of Granby. Hospital Board Surgeon Mates were introduced, and an Inspector of Infirmaries was appointed overseer. Ending the practice of in commendam holding every second corps in reserve because it was ruinous to finances exemplified his public policy credentials of saving graces, but critics thought it left England dangerously exposed to invasion from the continent. But more aptly was his fear of domestic unruliness and disorder. Perennial riots was an habitual occurrence on London streets:


text: Like North, Barrington hated the American revolution. It made him sick with worry. He told the king it is "more disagreeable to me". He had been a minister for thirty years, was weary, tired of the work, and wanted to retire, aged sixty. The King's minister, virtually his whole career, he realised that the Sovereign's word was his bond. King George III wanted him to quit the Commons but remain a minister; but the correct constitutional position for any minister was in parliament, particularly for a Secretary at War, a second non-cabinet rank. But the war caused these decisions to be pushed to one side, ignored and delayed. On 29 October 1777, Barrington again applied for the Chiltern Hundreds. Burgoyne's catastrophic defeat was the catalyst: finally, after a protracted and agonising wait, he could no longer hold his own counsel "or oppose them, without affecting my honour and duty". He was allowed to receive the Chiltern Hundreds on 24 May 1778, but was compelled to remain at the War Office until Christmas.


title: Cinematography in healthcare

text: The literature in this area also contains examples of what can happen when the film content is not particularly well crafted and presented. In 2000, a UK cancer study highlighted the impact of poor-quality video. The authors acknowledge that "not all randomised trials of video education, however, have had similarly consistent results. A randomised trial in patients undergoing colonoscopy reported increased knowledge and satisfaction but failed to demonstrate a reduction in anxiety. A similar study in patients receiving genetic counseling reported similar benefits but again no reduction in anxiety. Two further randomised trials, the first in patients having breast surgery and the second in patients undergoing coronary angioplasty, failed to show any improvement in satisfaction or anxiety. The variation in these trial results suggests that, like all educational materials, the quality of the content is paramount and how it is used is vital to success. Involving patients in the development and showing patients recounting their personal experience undoubtedly helps. Using respected TV personalities offers the familiar face of respectability and professionalism. Above all, most studies fail to take advantage of the role which video has to play in continuing the educational process at home with their carers and friends, but instead ask patients to watch it in the unfamiliar environment of the clinic."


title: Jose Guerena shooting

text: Asleep after returning from a 12-hour overnight shift at the ASARCO Mission mine, Guerena was awakened about 9:30 a.m. by his wife who heard noises outside their house, later identified as flash/bang grenades deployed by police in the back yard as a diversion. He instructed his wife and 4-year-old son to hide inside a closet while he grabbed his AR-15 rifle and crouched down preparing to defend himself from the unidentified people breaking into his home. The Sheriff's Department initially claimed that Guerena had fired on officers; at least three of the SWAT members including the team commander reported in their post-operation debriefings that they had observed muzzle flashes aimed at them from inside the house. After an examination of Guerena's rifle however, it was determined that the rifle had not been fired; the safety was still engaged. Other officers claimed they saw splinters from the doorjamb being hit by bullets; the shots that caused this were determined to come from other members of the SWAT team themselves. "There were five officers at the door beginning to make entry into this home, when they engaged this individual that they believed was actually firing at them." Other versions of this story claim that officers started shooting after Guerena pointed the gun at them, though under questioning they were initially unsure whether he had actually moved to target them. A video of the raid shows roughly 38 seconds expired from the time the police briefly sounded a siren upon pulling into Guerena's driveway until they shot him. At this point the five person team fired at least 71 rounds at Guerena in less than seven seconds, who died after being hit 22 times.


title: Jose Guerena shooting

text: Ten months after the raids and the killing, on March 2, 2012, Guerena's two brothers Alejandro Guerena, 28, and Gerardo Guerena, 24; along with Alejandro's wife, Pauline Guerena, his sister-in-law, Denise Ruiz, and his father-in-law, Jose Celaya were indicted, and it was alleged that they imported and sold at least $4.9 million worth of marijuana between 2005 and the time of the fatal raid. Alejandro Guerena, the alleged leader of the smuggling operation, was arrested in Mexico, returned to Pima County, and on June 25, 2013, was sentenced to 105 days in jail plus five years of probation after pleading guilty to attempted possession of marijuana for sale and conspiracy to commit money laundering. Denise Ruiz pleaded guilty to facilitation of possession of marijuana for sale and received an identical sentence to Alejandro. Pauline Guerena and Gerardo Guerena each pleaded guilty to one count of attempted money laundering in the second degree, and were each sentenced to four years probation. Celaya posted a $50,000 bond after his arrest, but the resolution of his charges are unknown.


title: Jose Guerena shooting

text: On August 12, 2011, it was announced that the family of Jose Guerena filed an intention to sue Pima County Sheriff Dupnik, and all the officers who shot Guerena or were part of the raid, offering to settle for $20 million. The lawsuit cites that the officers acted with negligence when they failed to announce themselves and put Guerena's wife and son in danger, and willingly deprived Guerena of medical attention after he was shot, leading to his death, and violated his civil rights. Christopher Scileppi and Pat Broom, Tucson attorneys, were hired to represent the family. Scileppi says the lawsuit is meant to hold those accountable for Guerena's death and send a message to officers who have unlawfully killed citizens, as well as to clear Jose Guerena's name. The lawyer for the officers, however, said that the lawsuit is only to cause more "hysteria" and the amount is excessive since the officers had already been cleared of wrongdoing, while also admitting that, had officers been peacefully allowed into the home, everyone inside "probably ... wouldn't have been arrested."


title: Richard Hill (priest)

text: Hill's work was to minister to the convicts and the poor. Although Richard and his wife were childless, they were "devoted to children and pioneered a tradition of kindergarten teaching." It has been said that the tradition of caring at St James' began with Hill's ministry. Duties at St James included a busy round of baptisms, marriages and funerals. For example, in 1835, he baptized triplets born to Mr and Mrs Whitehead and in 1836 he married the Police Magistrate to the daughter of the Postmaster General at St. James'. In addition to this normal work, Hill conducted services in the region of the Hunter River, and his involvement in humanitarian work included service in a range of organisations, such as being a trustee of the Male and Female Orphan Institutions and the Church and School Lands Corporation and serving sixteen years as Secretary of the Benevolent Society. His interest in people's welfare extended to Aboriginal Australians. He was a founder of the New South Wales Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge among the Aborigines, a director of the Natives Institution and joint secretary of the Australasian auxiliary of the Church Mission Society.


title: Mendelevium

text: Mendelevium was the ninth transuranic element to be synthesized. It was first synthesized by Albert Ghiorso, Glenn T. Seaborg, Gregory Robert Choppin, Bernard G. Harvey, and team leader Stanley G. Thompson in early 1955 at the University of California, Berkeley. The team produced 256Md (half-life of 77.7 minutes) when they bombarded an 253Es target consisting of only a billion (109) einsteinium atoms with alpha particles (helium nuclei) in the Berkeley Radiation Laboratory's 60-inch cyclotron, thus increasing the target's atomic number by two. 256Md thus became the first isotope of any element to be synthesized one atom at a time. In total, seventeen mendelevium atoms were produced. This discovery was part of a program, begun in 1952, that irradiated plutonium with neutrons to transmute it into heavier actinides. This method was necessary as the previous method used to synthesize transuranic elements, neutron capture, could not work because of a lack of known beta decaying isotopes of fermium that would produce isotopes of the next element, mendelevium, and also due to the very short half-life to spontaneous fission of 258Fm that thus constituted a hard limit to the success of the neutron capture process.


title: Mendelevium

text: To predict if the production of mendelevium would be possible, the team made use of a rough calculation. The number of atoms that would be produced would be approximately equal to the product of the number of atoms of target material, the target's cross section, the ion beam intensity, and the time of bombardment; this last factor was related to the half-life of the product when bombarding for a time on the order of its half-life. This gave one atom per experiment. Thus under optimum conditions, the preparation of only one atom of element 101 per experiment could be expected. This calculation demonstrated that it was feasible to go ahead with the experiment. The target material, einsteinium-253, could be produced readily from irradiating plutonium: one year of irradiation would give a billion atoms, and its three-week half-life meant that the element 101 experiments could be conducted in one week after the produced einsteinium was separated and purified to make the target. However, it was necessary to upgrade the cyclotron to obtain the needed intensity of 1014 alpha particles per second; Seaborg applied for the necessary funds.


title: Mendelevium

text: While Seaborg applied for funding, Harvey worked on the einsteinium target, while Thomson and Choppin focused on methods for chemical isolation. Choppin suggested using α-hydroxyisobutyric acid to separate the mendelevium atoms from those of the lighter actinides. The actual synthesis was done by a recoil technique, introduced by Albert Ghiorso. In this technique, the einsteinium was placed on the opposite side of the target from the beam, so that the recoiling mendelevium atoms would get enough momentum to leave the target and be caught on a catcher foil made of gold. This recoil target was made by an electroplating technique, developed by Alfred Chetham-Strode. This technique gave a very high yield, which was absolutely necessary when working with such a rare and valuable product as the einsteinium target material. The recoil target consisted of 109 atoms of 253Es which were deposited electrolytically on a thin gold foil. It was bombarded by 41 MeV alpha particles in the Berkeley cyclotron with a very high beam density of 6×1013 particles per second over an area of 0.05 cm2. The target was cooled by water or liquid helium, and the foil could be replaced.


title: Mendelevium

text: On the day of discovery, 19 February, alpha irradiation of the einsteinium target occurred in three three-hour sessions. The cyclotron was in the University of California campus, while the Radiation Laboratory was on the next hill. To deal with this situation, a complex procedure was used: Ghiorso took the catcher foils (there were three targets and three foils) from the cyclotron to Harvey, who would use aqua regia to dissolve it and pass it through an anion-exchange resin column to separate out the transuranium elements from the gold and other products. The resultant drops entered a test tube, which Choppin and Ghiorso took in a car to get to the Radiation Laboratory as soon as possible. There Thompson and Choppin used a cation-exchange resin column and the α-hydroxyisobutyric acid. The solution drops were collected on platinum disks and dried under heat lamps. The three disks were expected to contain respectively the fermium, no new elements, and the mendelevium. Finally, they were placed in their own counters, which were connected to recorders such that spontaneous fission events would be recorded as huge deflections in a graph showing the number and time of the decays. There thus was no direct detection, but by observation of spontaneous fission events arising from its electron-capture daughter 256Fm. The first one was identified with a "hooray" followed by a "double hooray" and a "triple hooray". The fourth one eventually officially proved the chemical identification of the 101st element, mendelevium. In total, five decays were reported up until 4 a.m. Seaborg was notified and the team left to sleep. Additional analysis and further experimentation showed the produced mendelevium isotope to have mass 256 and to decay by electron capture to fermium-256 with a half-life of 157.6 minutes.


title: Mendelevium

text: The lanthanides and actinides, in the metallic state, can exist as either divalent (such as europium and ytterbium) or trivalent (most other lanthanides) metals. The former have fns2 configurations, whereas the latter have fn−1d1s2 configurations. In 1975, Johansson and Rosengren examined the measured and predicted values for the cohesive energies (enthalpies of crystallization) of the metallic lanthanides and actinides, both as divalent and trivalent metals. The conclusion was that the increased binding energy of the 5f126d17s2 configuration over the 5f137s2 configuration for mendelevium was not enough to compensate for the energy needed to promote one 5f electron to 6d, as is true also for the very late actinides: thus einsteinium, fermium, mendelevium, and nobelium were expected to be divalent metals. The increasing predominance of the divalent state well before the actinide series concludes is attributed to the relativistic stabilization of the 5f electrons, which increases with increasing atomic number. Thermochromatographic studies with trace quantities of mendelevium by Zvara and Hübener from 1976 to 1982 confirmed this prediction. In 1990, Haire and Gibson estimated mendelevium metal to have an enthalpy of sublimation between 134 and 142 kJ/mol. Divalent mendelevium metal should have a metallic radius of around 194±10 pm. Like the other divalent late actinides (except the once again trivalent lawrencium), metallic mendelevium should assume a face-centered cubic crystal structure. Mendelevium's melting point has been estimated at 800 °C, the same value as that predicted for the neighboring element nobelium. Its density is predicted to be around 10.3±0.7 g/cm3.


title: Mendelevium

text: A mendelevium atom has 101 electrons. They are expected to be arranged in the configuration 5f137s2 (ground state term symbol 2F7/2), although experimental verification of this electron configuration had not yet been made as of 2006. The fifteen electrons in the 5f and 7s subshells are valence electrons. In forming compounds, three valence electrons may be lost, leaving behind a 5f12 core: this conforms to the trend set by the other actinides with their 5fn electron configurations in the tripositive state. The first ionization potential of mendelevium was measured to be at most (6.58 ± 0.07) eV in 1974, based on the assumption that the 7s electrons would ionize before the 5f ones; this value has since not yet been refined further due to mendelevium's scarcity and high radioactivity. The ionic radius of hexacoordinate Md3+ had been preliminarily estimated in 1978 to be around 91.2 pm; 1988 calculations based on the logarithmic trend between distribution coefficients and ionic radius produced a value of 89.6 pm, as well as an enthalpy of hydration of −3654±12 kJ/mol. Md2+ should have an ionic radius of 115 pm and hydration enthalpy −1413 kJ/mol; Md+ should have ionic radius 117 pm.


title: Mendelevium

text: The recoil momentum of the produced mendelevium-256 atoms is used to bring them physically far away from the einsteinium target from which they are produced, bringing them onto a thin foil of metal (usually beryllium, aluminium, platinum, or gold) just behind the target in a vacuum. This eliminates the need for immediate chemical separation, which is both costly and prevents reusing of the expensive einsteinium target. The mendelevium atoms are then trapped in a gas atmosphere (frequently helium), and a gas jet from a small opening in the reaction chamber carries the mendelevium along. Using a long capillary tube, and including potassium chloride aerosols in the helium gas, the mendelevium atoms can be transported over tens of meters to be chemically analyzed and have their quantity determined. The mendelevium can then be separated from the foil material and other fission products by applying acid to the foil and then coprecipitating the mendelevium with lanthanum fluoride, then using a cation-exchange resin column with a 10% ethanol solution saturated with hydrochloric acid, acting as an eluant. However, if the foil is made of gold and thin enough, it is enough to simply dissolve the gold in aqua regia before separating the trivalent actinides from the gold using anion-exchange chromatography, the eluant being 6 M hydrochloric acid.


title: Mendelevium

text: Another method to isolate mendelevium exploits the distinct elution properties of Md2+ from those of Es3+ and Fm3+. The initial steps are the same as above, and employs HDEHP for extraction chromatography, but coprecipitates the mendelevium with terbium fluoride instead of lanthanum fluoride. Then, 50 mg of chromium is added to the mendelevium to reduce it to the +2 state in 0.1 M hydrochloric acid with zinc or mercury. The solvent extraction then proceeds, and while the trivalent and tetravalent lanthanides and actinides remain on the column, mendelevium(II) does not and stays in the hydrochloric acid. It is then reoxidized to the +3 state using hydrogen peroxide and then isolated by selective elution with 2 M hydrochloric acid (to remove impurities, including chromium) and finally 6 M hydrochloric acid (to remove the mendelevium). It is also possible to use a column of cationite and zinc amalgam, using 1 M hydrochloric acid as an eluant, reducing Md(III) to Md(II) where it behaves like the alkaline earth metals. Thermochromatographic chemical isolation could be achieved using the volatile mendelevium hexafluoroacetylacetonate: the analogous fermium compound is also known and is also volatile.


title: Swerea

text: During the beginning and mid 20th century Swedish industry prospered. A a result of the blooming years a number of research institutes were formed to ensure further development. The first was the Metallographic Institute (Metallografiska institutet), founded in 1921 by director and physicist Carl Benedicks. The institute was to go through many name changes and mergers. From The Metallographic institute to The Institute for metal research (IM) to Swerea KIMAB, when it merged with the Corrosion Institute in 2005/2006 and became a part of the Swerea group. The Institute for Engineering Technology (Institutet för verkstadsteknisk forskning, IVF) and The Swedish Foundry Association (Svenska Gjuteriföreningen) were also formed during those good years. The Swedish Foundry Association eventually split into one research institute, Swerea SWECAST, and one trade association that kept the original name. When industry development and economy experienced a dip in the late 20th century, SICOMP was founded, in 1988, in order to strengthen competition through contributing with more advanced knowledge and research on composite material. SICOMP became Swerea SICOMP, a part of the Swerea group, when Swerea was founded in 2005. October 1, 2018 two thirds of the Swerea group became RISE Research Institutes of Sweden. The remaining part formed a new institute, Swerim.


title: FC Dinamo Tbilisi

text: Dinamo Tbilisi was one of the most prominent clubs in Soviet football and a major contender in the Soviet Top League almost immediately after it was established in 1936. The club was then part of one of the leading sport societies in the Soviet Union, the All-Union Dynamo sports society which had several other divisions besides football and was sponsored by the Soviet Ministry of Internal Affairs. Its main claim to European fame was winning the Cup Winners' Cup in 1981, beating FC Carl Zeiss Jena of East Germany 2–1 in the final in Düsseldorf. It remains the only club based in Georgia to have ever lifted a trophy in European competition. Throughout its history, FC Dinamo Tbilisi produced many famous Soviet players: Boris Paichadze, Avtandil Gogoberidze, Shota Iamanidze, Mikheil Meskhi, Slava Metreveli, Murtaz Khurtsilava, Manuchar Machaidze, David Kipiani, Vladimir Gutsaev, Aleksandre Chivadze, Vitaly Daraselia, Ramaz Shengelia, and Tengiz Sulakvelidze. After the break-up of the Soviet Union, it would later produce some of the finest Georgian players such as Temur Ketsbaia, Shota Arveladze, Giorgi Kinkladze, Kakha Kaladze, Levan Kobiashvili, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Giorgi Mamardashvili and etc.


title: Alan Mulally

text: In 2006, Mulally led the effort for Ford to borrow US$23.6 billion by mortgaging all of Ford's assets. Mulally said that he intended to use the money to finance a major overhaul and provide "a cushion to protect for a recession or other unexpected event". At the time, the loan was interpreted as a sign of desperation, but is now widely credited with stabilizing Ford's financial position, compared to crosstown rivals General Motors and Chrysler, both of whom subsequently went bankrupt during the automotive industry crisis of 2008–2009. Ford was the only one of the Detroit Three that did not ask for a government loan. Mulally did testify before the United States Congress in favor of government loans for General Motors and Chrysler, discussing the impact to the economy and to other automobile manufacturers if parts suppliers were to go bankrupt in the light of a GM or Chrysler collapse. In May 2009, Ford chairman William Clay Ford, who hired Mulally, said that "Alan was the right choice , and it gets more right every day".


title: D. J. Waldie

text: "The aesthetic appeal of D. J. Waldie's Holy Land: A Suburban Memoir may be attributed to the many surprises its hybrid form delivers. What sets off this little book from so many other narratives about the American post-war history of suburbanization is the complexity of its literary shape. … Holy Land presents a series of fragmented observations formally modeled upon the grid pattern that structures the author's built environment. Roaming across this grid is a walking participant observer: the narrator, who decentres the Cartesian eye of the cartographer. This laconic narrator plays around in a metonymical manner with an endlessly extendable chain of links, disturbing all attempts at reducing and synthesizing his suburban narrative. In the end, however, neither the act of gridding the text nor the insertion of a walking perspective lend themselves to straightforward allegorical interpretations. We are left with an unpredictable stage for the circulation and mutual transformation of information and affect, which in the final analysis appears to be a textual enactment of the workings of desire."


title: 2020 Pakistan Super League

text: Ahead of the play-offs, teams included new players in their squad as Faf du Plessis, Khurram Shehzad and Hardus Viljoen replaced Kieron Pollard, Mohammad Amir Khan and Liam Dawson respectively, in Peshawar Zalmi squad. In Multan Sultans squad Mahmudullah and Adam Lyth replaced Moeen Ali and Fabian Allen respectively. Lahore Qalandars replaced Chris Lynn, Salman Butt and Seekkuge Prasanna with Tamim Iqbal, Abid Ali and Agha Salman respectively. While, Karachi Kings replaced Chris Jordan and Ali Khan with Sherfane Rutherford and Waqas Maqsood. On 7 November 2020, Peshawar Zalmi replaced England's Liam Livingstone with his national side teammate Saqib Mahmood after he was included in the national team against South Africa. On 8 November, Multan Sultans's squad members Mahmudullah tested positive for COVID-19 making him unable to take part in the tournament and was replaced by Brendan Taylor, and James Vince was replaced by Joe Denly after he also tested positive for COVID-19. Kings' Mitchell McClenaghan and Zalmi's Daren Sammy were replaced by Wayne Parnell and Sohaib Maqsood respectively. Few days later, Hasan Ali of Peshawar Zalmi was ruled out of the tournament due to back-strain and was replaced by Mohammad Imran, and in Lahore Qalandars squad, Salman Irshad replaced Agha Salman who suffered an ankle injury.


title: Nanking (2007 film)

text: Nanking (Chinese: 南京) is a 2007 documentary film about the Nanjing Massacre, committed in 1937 by the Japanese army in the former capital city Nanjing, China. It was inspired by Iris Chang's book The Rape of Nanking , which discussed the persecution and murder of the Chinese by the Imperial Japanese Army in the then-capital of Nanjing at the outset of the Second Sino-Japanese War . The film draws on letters and diaries from the era as well as archive footage and interviews with surviving victims and perpetrators of the massacre. Contemporary actors play the roles of the Western missionaries, professors, and businessmen who formed the Nanking Safety Zone to protect the city's civilians from Japanese forces. Particular attention is paid to Nazi Party member John Rabe, a German businessman who organized the Nanking Safety Zone, Robert O. Wilson, a surgeon who remained in Nanjing to care for legions of victims, and Minnie Vautrin, a missionary educator who rendered aid to thousands of Nanjing's women.


title: Joseph Andrews (film)

text: Lady Booby alias "Belle", the lively wife of the fat landed squire Sir Thomas Booby, has a lusty eye on the attractive, intelligent villager Joseph Andrews, a Latin pupil and protégé of parson Adams, and makes him their footman. Joseph's heart belongs to a country girl, foundling Fanny Goodwill, but his masters take him on a trip to fashionable Bath, where spoiled society comes mainly to see and be seen. Sir Thomas really seeks relief for his sick foot, but drowns in the famous Roman baths. The all-but-grieving lady attempts to seduce Joseph, but on finding that his Christian virtue and true love are as immune to her passes as to those of the many ladies who fancy her footman, she fires him. On his way back home on foot, Joseph falls prey to highwaymen who rob him of everything, even the clothes on his back. He is found and nursed by an innkeeper's maid; lusts are stirred at the inn, once more challenging his honour, until he is found by the good parson. Meanwhile, the lady consents to her cousin marrying below his station, on learning that his fiancée is Joseph's sister, Pamela. The parson prevents an attempted rape by a squire, and barely escapes a wicked gentleman's totally unjust justice after being accused of it – he comes to learn of a significant child theft by gypsies. Meanwhile, the parson, Joseph and Fanny again fall prey to the squire's utter debauchery...


title: Miles Jackson-Cartwright

text: Jackson-Cartwright attended the University of Pennsylvania (Penn) of the Ivy League after being heavily recruited by the school's coaching staff. At the time he was the highest ranked player by ESPN's basketball writers and other credible college basketball scouting services to ever commit to the Penn in its long and storied history. Miles was a four-year starter who served three seasons as a team captain. Jackson-Cartwright ended his career at Penn second all-time in minutes played (3,959), seventh in assists (358), ninth in free throws made (364), ninth in free throw percentage (81.3), tenth in steals (131), tenth in 3-point field goals made (155), tenth in 3-point field goals attempted (449), and thirteenth all-time in points scored (1,401). He won the Ivy League Rookie of the Week honors four times during his freshman season . Jackson-Cartwright was selected as a Second Team All-Ivy League honoree and also won the Philadelphia Big 5 Cy Kaselman Award for the Best Free Throw Percentage in 2012–13.


title: Bilal Saeed

text: In 2012, he released his new single "Mahi Mahi" and debut album "Twelve" which received two nominees at PTC Punjabi Music Award for Best Non Residents Punjabi Album and Best Non Resident Punjabi Vocalist. The album also featured Dr Zeus, Amrinder Gill and Fateh. A single "Khair Mangdi" from the album was nominated as Song of the Year at 13th Lux Style Awards. In 2013, for the first time he recorded songs for a film, i.e. "Tauba Tauba" and "Rattan Chitian" from Daddy Cool Munde Fool 2013 Punjabi film. In 2014, he released a single "Lethal Combination" with Roach Killa under Beyond Records in 2014. The single topped BBC Asian Charts. Later in December 2014, he composed a tribute song "Maan" on Peshawar Attack , to condemn the attackers of APS School, Peshawar. He also released a single "Kaash (A Wish)" in 2015 which topped the iTunes Chart. He made his Bollywood debut in 2015 by composing soundtrack of the film Ishqedarriyaan with Jeet Ganguly and Jaidev Kumar. He released another single in 2016 "Paranday", followed by 'Blah Blah Blah' featuring Punjabi Rapper Young Desi in August 2016. In 2016, the remake of his song "Khair Mangdi" featured in Karan Johar's Bollywood movie Baar Baar Dekho. In September 2016, he made his Lollywood debut by composing a song "Chulbul" for Pakistani Film Zindagi Kitni Haseen Hay. One more single of Bilal Saeed released in January 2017 "No Makeup", which featured Bohemia. Later in 2017 he released another single "Twinkle Twinkle" along with Young Desi in August. In early November he released another single "Suroor" with Neha Kakkar on 3 November to be exact. His 2012 Song Adhi Adhi Raat has a lyric which has become a meme sensation in 2019. In November 2019 Bilal released another single, "Baari", feat Momina Mustehsan under One Two Records. In November 2020, Bilal Saeed released the sequel of "Baari", feat Momina Mustehsan named "Uchiyaan Deewara" under One Two Records.


title: Ulrich Pfeil

text: In 1995 he was appointed to the Department of History at the University of Hamburg with a dissertation on Vom Kaiserreich ins Dritte Reich. Die Kreisstadt Heide/Holstein 1890–1933. From 1996 to 2002, Pfeil was a German Academic Exchange Service-Lektor at the Institut d'Allemand of Asnières-sur-Seine) of the University of Sorbonne Nouvelle Paris 3. A scholarship from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft enabled him to study at the Charles de Gaulle University – Lille III in 2002 on the topic Die anderen deutsch-französischen Beziehungen. The DDR and France 1949-1990 led him to habilitation. Between 2002 and 2009 he worked at the German Historical Institute Paris and in 2003 he took a visiting professorship at the 1st Franco-German cycle of the Sciences Po Paris in Nancy. Pfeil was Professor of German Studies at the Jean Monnet University in Saint-Étienne from 2005 to 2010. On September 1, 2010, he received a call to the University of Metz, which was merged with the University of Lorraine in 2012.


title: Pueraria montana

text: Pueraria montana is native to East Asia, primarily subtropical and temperate regions of China, Japan, and Korea, with trifoliate leaves composed of three leaflets. Each leaflet is large and ovate with two to three lobes each and hair on the underside. The species can fix atmospheric nitrogen, which can supply up to 95% of leaf nitrogen to the plant in poor soils. Along the vines are nodes, points at which stems or tendrils can propagate to increase support and attach to structures. As a twining vine, kudzu uses stems or tendrils that can extend from any node on the vine to attach to and climb most surfaces. In addition, the nodes of the kudzu vine have the ability to root when exposed to soil, further anchoring the vine to the ground. The roots are tuberous and are high in starch and water content, and the twining of the plant allows for less carbon concentration in the construction of woody stems and greater concentration in roots, which aids root growth. The roots can account for up to 40% of total plant biomass.


title: Shaun Baker

text: Baker has been playing the worldwide club scene over 20 years. Together with his friend and partner Sebastian Wolter, he also produces music. This musical partnership has over the past few years given the dance scene songs such as "Xplode 2," which hit the number 1 position in every German dance chart at the same time. Other singles are "Push" (also a dance chart & sales hit) and "Bakerman", a co-op with the cult stars Laid Back from Denmark. Laid Back were so impressed with the new version of "Bakerman" they hooked Shaun Baker and Sebastian Wolter up with Lars von Trier, who produced the video clip for the original version of "Bakerman". He gave permission to use the original video for their version. It was No. 1 in most German dance charts again and the peak position in the German sale charts was 39. The next single "V.I.P.," released in February 2007, performed well in Germany but received higher results in Slovakia and the Czech Republic. "V.I.P." hit the No. 1 position in the dance, radio and sale charts in both countries. Late summer 2007 he and Sebastian Wolter found their own record label called Uptunes. The debut release from Uptunes was his next single "Power" which is based on the "Xplode" sound, but this time featuring vocals and made the peak position in various dance charts in Germany, Slovakia and the Czech Republic. "Power" also led the German dance download charts. His debut album 1 was released on 25 July 2008. The next single "Hey Hi Hello" featured a remix from Alex Christensen and was released first in Slovakia and the Czech Republic this spring and later in Germany and elsewhere.


title: Paulina Luisi

text: Luisi worked extensively with the League of Nations' Committee on the Traffic of Women and Children, serving as the Uruguayan delegate and helping to ratify the League of Nations Convention for the Suppression of the Traffic in Women and Children in Uruguay in 1921. She also attended the League of Nations' International Labour Conference in 1922 as a representative from Uruguay. While there, she proposed the demographic separation of men and women and of different age groups in data about human trafficking so that it would better reflect the vulnerability of women and children to being trafficked, noting in her proposal that "a large number of girl emigrants are sent to South America from countries like Poland, Russia, Spain and Italy for immoral purposes, under the pretext of being hired for ordinary domestic work." The proposal was ultimately withdrawn, but the International Labour Organization (ILO) did promise that it would coordinate with the advisory committee on more precise age and sex classifications.


title: Paulina Luisi

text: Luisi also became an advocate for disarmament and developed an intolerance for fascism during the 1930s and 1940s. She opposed the Japanese invasion of Manchuria in 1931 and Adolf Hitler's rise to power in 1933. She also opposed the Uruguayan "Revolution of March" led by Gabriel Terra in 1933, briefly fleeing to Europe but returning to Uruguay shortly after. In 1934, she established the Unión Femenina Contra la Guerra (UFG, transl. Union of Women Against War), an Uruguayan branch of the Comité Mondial des Femmes Contre la Guerre et le Fascisme (CMF). She also collaborated with various communist-aligned groups, viewing the rise of fascism as a means for capitalists to maintain control over the working class. In 1935, Luisi gave a speech before the Uruguayan parliament opposing the Second Italo-Ethiopian War. Then in 1936, she helped to enlist women's aid for the Republicans during the Spanish Civil War. She also helped support Terra's ouster in 1938, though she expressed concern that Uruguay still "suffer from a de facto government which leans toward fascism."


title: United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 1974

text: The show was held on 23 February 1974 and presented by Jimmy Savile as part of the BBC1 TV series Clunk, Click... As It Happens, with Olivia Newton-John selected to perform all of the entries, in part due to the recommendation of her close friend Cliff Richard. Originally, as with 1973, Cilla Black's 1974 nine-part BBC series was scheduled to feature the 'Song for Europe' process, but Black was uncomfortable at promoting another female singer (Newton-John) each week throughout the series' run and in a rather last minute decision, the BBC arranged to move the process to another show. This necessitated a truncating of the regularly established format of the chosen artist performing one song a week on the given series, so it was planned that Newton-John would perform two songs a week for three weeks once the series started. However, a BBC strike led to the cancellation of the first show, so another revision was needed and Olivia performed three songs a show over two programmes. In the final, her performances were immediately repeated before viewers were asked to cast votes via postcards through the mail to choose the winner. An extremely low postal vote led to "Long Live Love" winning with just 27,387 votes.


title: Michel de Tarnowski

text: Tarnowski was born in Nice. He was the eldest son of five children of a doctor who emigrated from Russia to Germany and then to France, and settled in Nice, where he married in 1869 with a young American painter Juliana Oakley. He studied at École Nationale des Arts Décoratifs in Villa Arson in Nice and in Paris, where his masters were Julesa Dalou and J.A. Falguière'a. In 1894-1902 he exhibited at Salon des artistes français, , and on the World Exhibition . In 1902-1910 he was a professor of sculpture at the New York University Institute of Fine Arts. Michael made a number of private persons' busts and exhibited in Madison Square Garden in 1903. He returned to France in 1910. After return he made among others sculptures on fronton of prefecture of Nice, and March 23, 1912 he signed contract with hotel Negresco in Nice. During World War I he was Military interpreter at British Army in France, and reward him Military Cross and Legion of Honour. In the latter part of World War I he made several sculptures for monuments of deceaseds of communes of Nice: (Cimiez), Moirans, Cannes i Sainte-Menehould. Circa 1939 he stopped every activity in result of blindness, and died in 1946. The street in Nice was named: Rue Michel de Tarnowski.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: Designers at MiG's OKB-155 started with the earlier MiG-9 jet fighter. The new fighter used Klimov's British-derived engines, swept wings, and a tailpipe going all the way back to a swept tail. The German Me 262 was the first fighter fitted with an 18.5° wing sweep, but it was introduced merely to adjust the center of gravity of its heavy Junkers Jumo 004 pioneering axial-compressor turbojet engines. Further experience and research during World War II later established that swept wings would give better performance at transonic speeds. At the end of World War II, the Soviets seized many of the assets of Germany's aircraft industry. The MiG team studied these plans, prototypes and documents, particularly swept-wing research and designs, even going so far as to produce a flying testbed in 1945 to investigate swept-wing design concepts as the piston-engined "pusher"-layout, MiG-8 Utka (Russian for "duck", from its tail-first canard design). The swept wing later proved to have a decisive performance advantage over straight-winged jet fighters when it was introduced into combat over Korea.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: The design that emerged had a mid-mounted 35° swept wing with a slight anhedral and a tailplane mounted up on the swept tail. Western analysts noted that it strongly resembled Kurt Tank's Focke-Wulf Ta 183, a later design than the Me 262 that never progressed beyond the design stage. While the majority of Focke-Wulf engineers (in particular, Hans Multhopp, who led the Ta 183 development team) were captured by Western armies, the Soviets did capture plans and wind-tunnel models for the Ta 183. The MiG-15 does bear a resemblance in layout, sharing the high tailplane and nose-mounted intake, although the aircraft are different in structure, details, and proportions. The MiG-15's design understandably shared features and some appearance commonalities with the MiG design bureau's own 1945–46 attempt at a Soviet-built version of the Messerschmitt Me 263 rocket fighter in the appearance of its fuselage. The new MiG retained the previous straight-winged MiG-9's wing and tailplane placement while the F-86 employed a more conventional low-winged design. To prevent confusion during the height of combat the US painted their aircraft with bright stripes to distinguish them.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: The MiG-15 was originally intended to intercept American bombers like the B-29. It was even evaluated in mock air-to-air combat trials with a captured US B-29, as well as the later Soviet B-29 copy, the Tupolev Tu-4. To ensure the destruction of such large bombers, the MiG-15 carried autocannons: two 23 mm (0.91 in) with 80 rounds per gun and a single 37 mm (1.46 in) with 40 rounds. These weapons provided tremendous punch in the interceptor role, but their limited rate of fire and relatively low velocity made it more difficult to score hits against small and manoeuvrable enemy jet fighters in air-to-air combat. The 23 mm and 37 mm also had radically different ballistics, and some United Nations (UN) pilots in Korea had the unnerving experience of 23 mm shells passing over them while the 37 mm shells flew under. The cannon were fitted into a simple pack that could be winched out of the bottom of the nose for servicing and reloading, allowing pre-prepared packs to be rapidly swapped out. Despite the shortcomings of its armament, the MiG-15's simplicity, ruggedness, and particularly the absence of fuel tanks in its wings made it a formidable air-to-air adversary; its airframe has relatively few vulnerable areas, and shooting one down using the relatively fast-firing but less potent M2 Browning machine guns common in American aircraft almost invariably required multiple hits.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: For many years, the Soviet Union actively denied that its pilots flew in Korea during the Korean War; only China and North Korea took responsibility for Korean War operations. After the end of the Cold War, Soviet pilots who participated in the conflict began to reveal their roles. Books by Chinese, Russian and ex-Soviet authors, such as Zhang Xiaoming, Leonid Krylov, Yuriy Tepsurkaev and Igor Seydov revealed details of the actual pilots and operations. From the beginning, Soviet pilots were ordered to avoid flying over areas in which they might be captured. Soviet aircraft were adorned with North Korean or Chinese markings and even the pilots inside the aircraft wore either North Korean uniforms or civilian clothes to disguise their nationality. For radio communication, they were given cards with common Korean words for various flying terms spelled out phonetically in Cyrillic letters. These subterfuges did not long survive the stresses of air-to-air combat, however. Pilots often inadvertently reverted to their native language. UN forces widely suspected the participation of Soviet aircrews, and intercepted radio traffic appeared to include combat pilots speaking Russian. In addition, USAF pilots claimed to have recognized techniques and tactics used by Soviet pilots, whom they referred to as "honchos".


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: During 1950, the Kremlin agreed to supply China and North Korea with MiG-15s, as well as train their pilots. The 50th Fighter Aviation Division (50 IAD), equipped with the MiG-15, was already based near Shanghai, as it had taken part in the Chinese Civil War (see previous section). A detachment from the 50 IAD was moved to Antung, next to the border with North Korea in August 1950. They formed the 29th Guards Fighter Regiment (29 GvIAP). When China entered the war in support of North Korea, the Soviets agreed to provide 16 operational air regiments of MiG-15s, including combat pilots. In the meantime, more MiG-15 pilots were recruited; the squadrons earmarked for Korea were drawn from elite units. The pilots had to be younger than 27, and priority was given to World War II veterans. The first large Soviet aviation unit sent to Korea, the 324th IAD, was an air defense interceptor division commanded by Colonel Ivan Kozhedub, who, with 62 victories, was the top Allied (and Soviet) ace of World War II. In November 1950, the 151st and 28th IADs plus the veteran 50th IAD were reorganized into the 64th Fighter Aviation Corps (64 IAK).


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: The USAF has claimed that the F-86 had the advantage in combat kills over Korea between 1950 and 1953. It has been acknowledged that many individual Soviet pilots had larger individual tallies than their UN counterparts, due to a number of factors, although the aggregated claims made by Soviet pilots were probably overstated. According to Soviet/Russian sources, 335 Soviet-piloted MiG-15s were lost in Korea to all causes, including accidents, AA fire and ground attacks. Chinese sources claim that 224 Chinese-piloted MiG-15s were lost over Korea. North Korean losses are not known, but according to North Korean defectors, their air force lost around 100 MiG-15s during the war. Thus, around 659 MiG-15s are admitted as being lost. While an overwhelming majority of the losses to UN fighters involved F-86 pilots, several MiG-15s were lost in, or immediately after, combat with each of several other UN fighters: F-80s, F-84s, F9Fs, Gloster Meteors and even propeller-driven F4Us and Sea Furies.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: Soviet MiG pilots were trained to attack enemy formations in coordinated attacks from different directions, using both height and high speed to their advantage. The first encounters established the main features of the aerial battles of the next two and a half years. The MiG-15 and MiG-15bis had a higher ceiling than all versions of the Sabre – 15,500 m (50,900 ft) versus 15,000 m (49,000 ft) of the F-86F – and accelerated faster than F-86A/E/Fs due to their better thrust-to-weight ratio – 1,005 km/h (624 mph) versus 972 km/h (604 mph) of the F-86F. The MiG-15's 2,800 m (9,200 ft) per minute climbing rate was also greater than the 2,200 m (7,200 ft) per minute of the F-86A and -E (the F-86F matched the MiG-15). A better turn radius above 10,000 m (33,000 ft) further distinguished the MiG-15. The MiG was slower at low altitude – 935 km/h (581 mph) in the MiG-15bis configuration as opposed to the 1,107 km/h (688 mph) of the F-86F. All Sabres could also turn tighter below 8,000 m (26,000 ft). Thus, if the MiG-15 forced the Sabre to fight in the vertical plane or in the horizontal one above 10,000 m (33,000 ft), it gained a significant advantage. Furthermore, a MiG-15 could easily escape from a Sabre by climbing to its ceiling, knowing that the F-86 could not follow. Below 8,000 m (26,000 ft), however, the Sabre had a slight advantage over the MiG in most aspects excluding climb rate, especially if the Soviet pilot made the mistake of fighting in the horizontal. The MiG also had more powerful weaponry – one 37 mm N-37 cannon and two 23 mm NR-23 cannons, versus the six 12.7 mm (.50 in) machine guns of the Sabre. However, the Soviet World War II-era ASP-1N gyroscopic gunsight was less sophisticated than the accurate A-1CM and A4 radar ranging sights of the F-86E and -F.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: US strategic bombers returned in the week of 22–27 October to neutralize the North Korean aerodromes of Namsi, Taechon and Saamchan, taking further losses to the MiG-15. On 23 October 1951, 56 MiG-15bis intercepted nine B-29s escorted by 34 F-86s and 55 F-84Es. In spite of their numerical inferiority, the Soviet airmen shot down or damaged beyond repair eight B-29As and two F-84Es, losing only one MiG in return and leading Americans to call that day "Black Tuesday". The most successful Soviet pilots that day were Lieutenant Colonel Aleksandr P. Smorchkov and 1st Lieutenant Dmitriy A. Samoylov. The former shot down a Superfortress on each of 22, 23 and 24 October. Samoylov added two F-86As to his tally on 24 October 1951, and on 27 October shot down two more aircraft: a B-29A and an F-84E. These losses among the heavy bombers forced the Far East Air Forces High Command to cancel the precision daylight attacks of the B-29s and only undertake radar-directed night raids. From November 1951 to January 1952, both sides tried to achieve air superiority over the Yalu, or at least tried to deny it to the enemy, and in consequence, the intensity of the aerial combat reached peaks not seen before between MiG-15 and F-86 pilots. During the period from November 1950 to January 1952, no fewer than 40 Soviet MiG-15 pilots were credited as aces, with five or more victories. Soviet combat records show that the first pilot to claim his fifth aerial victory was Captain Stepan Ivanovich Naumenko on 24 December 1950. The honor falls to Captain Sergei Kramarenko, when on 29 July 1951, he scored his actual fifth victory. Approximately 16 out of those 40 pilots actually became aces, the most successful being Major Nikolay Sutyagin, credited with 22 victories, 13 of which were confirmed by the US; Colonel Yevgeny Pepelyaev with 19 claims, 15 confirmed; and Major Lev Shchukin with 17 credited, 11 verified.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: The MiG-15 threat forced the Far East Air Forces to cancel B-29 daylight raids in favor of night radar-guided missions from November 1951 onward. Initially, this presented a threat to Communist defenses, as their only specialized night-fighting unit was equipped with the prop-driven Lavochkin La-11, inadequate for the task of intercepting the B-29. Part of the regiment was re-equipped with the MiG-15bis, and another night-fighting unit joined the fray, causing American heavy bombers to suffer losses again. Between 21:50 and 22:30 on 10 June 1952, four MiG-15bis attacked B-29s over Sonchon and Kwaksan. Lieutenant Colonel Mikhail Ivanovich Studilin damaged a B-29A beyond repair, forcing it to make an emergency landing at Kimpo Air Base. A few minutes later, Major Anatoly Karelin added two more Superfortresses to his tally. Studilin and Karelin's wingmen, Major L. A. Boykovets and 1st Lieutenant Zhahmany Ihsangalyev, also damaged one B-29 each. Anatoly Karelin eventually became an ace with six kills (all B-29s at night). In the aftermath of these battles, B-29 night sorties were cancelled for two months. Originally conceived to shoot down rather than escort bombers, both of America's state-of-the-art jet night fighters – the F-94 Starfire and the F3D Skyknight – were committed to protecting the Superfortresses against MiGs.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: The MiG-15 was less effective in getting past the Marine Corps ground-based two-seat F3D Skyknight night fighters assigned to escort B-29s after the F-94 Starfires proved ineffective. What the squat aircraft lacked in sheer performance, it made up for with the advantage of a search radar that enabled the Skyknight to see its targets clearly, while the MiG-15's directions to find bomber formations were of little use in seeing escorting fighters. On the night of 2–3 November 1952, a Skyknight with pilot Major William Stratton and radar operator Hans Hoagland damaged the MiG-15 of Captain V. D. Vishnyak. Five days later, Oliver R. Davis and radar operator D.F. "Ding" Fessler downed a MiG-15bis; the pilot, Lieutenant Ivan P. Kovalyov, ejected safely. Skyknights claimed five MiG kills for no losses of their own, and no B-29s escorted by them were lost to enemy fighters. However, the duel was not one-sided: on the night of 16 January 1953, an F3D almost did fall to a MiG, when the Skyknight of Captain George Cross and Master Sergeant J. A. Piekutowski suffered serious damage in an attack by a Soviet MiG-15bis; with difficulty, the Skyknight returned to Kunsan Air Base. Three and a half months later, on the night of 29 May 1953, Chinese MiG-15 pilot Hou Shujun of the PLAAF shot down an F3D-2 over Anju; Sgt. James V. Harrell's remains were found on a beach during the summer of 2001 just miles from the Kunsan base. Captain James B. Brown is still missing in action.


title: Mikoyan-Gurevich MiG-15

text: Based on Soviet archival data, 335 Soviet MiG-15s are known to have been admitted as lost over Korea. Chinese claims of their losses amount to 224 MiG-15s over Korea. North Korean losses are not known, but according to North Korean defectors their air force lost around 100 MiG-15s during the war. Thus a total of 659 MiG-15s are admitted as being lost by all causes, while USAF claims of their losses amount to 78 F-86 Sabres in air-to-air combat. Overall UN losses to MiG-15s are credited as 78 F-86 Sabres and 75 aircraft of other types. However, one modern source claims that the USAF has more recently cited 224 losses (circa 100 to air combat) out of 674 F-86s deployed to Korea. Conversely, data-matching with Soviet records shows that US pilots routinely attributed their own combat losses to "landing accidents" and "other causes". According to official US data , the USAF lost 250 F-86 fighters in Korea: 184 were lost in combat (78 in air-combat, 19 by Anti-aircraft gun, 26 were "unknown causes" and 61 were "other losses") and 66 in accidents.


title: Free content

text: In most countries, the Berne Convention grants copyright holders control over their creations by default. Therefore, copyrighted content must be explicitly declared free by the authors, which is usually accomplished by referencing or including licensing statements from within the work. The right to reuse such a work is granted by the authors in a license known as a free license, a free distribution license, or an open license, depending on the rights assigned. These freedoms given to users in the reuse of works (that is, the right to freely use, study, modify or distribute these works, possibly also for commercial purposes) are often associated with obligations (to cite the original author, to maintain the original license of the reused content) or restrictions (excluding commercial use, banning certain media) chosen by the author. There are a number of standardized licenses offering varied options that allow authors to choose the type of reuse of their work that they wish to authorize or forbid.


title: Free content

text: Copyright is a legal concept, which gives the author or creator of a work legal control over the duplication and public performance of their work. In many jurisdictions, this is limited by a time period after which the works then enter the public domain. Copyright laws are a balance between the rights of creators of intellectual and artistic works and the rights of others to build upon those works. During the time period of copyright the author's work may only be copied, modified, or publicly performed with the consent of the author, unless the use is a fair use. Traditional copyright control limits the use of the work of the author to those who either pay royalties to the author for usage of the author's content or limit their use to fair use. Secondly, it limits the use of content whose author cannot be found. Finally, it creates a perceived barrier between authors by limiting derivative works, such as mashups and collaborative content. Although open content has been described as a counterbalance to copyright, open content licenses rely on a copyright holder's power to license their work, as copyleft which also utilizes copyright for such a purpose.


title: Free content

text: In media, which includes textual, audio, and visual content, free licensing schemes such as some of the licenses made by Creative Commons have allowed for the dissemination of works under a clear set of legal permissions. Not all Creative Commons licenses are entirely free; their permissions may range from very liberal general redistribution and modification of the work to a more restrictive redistribution-only licensing. Since February 2008, Creative Commons licenses which are entirely free carry a badge indicating that they are "approved for free cultural works". Repositories exist which exclusively feature free material and provide content such as photographs, clip art, music, and literature. While extensive reuse of free content from one website in another website is legal, it is usually not sensible because of the duplicate content problem. Wikipedia is amongst the most well-known databases of user-uploaded free content on the web. While the vast majority of content on Wikipedia is free content, some copyrighted material is hosted under fair-use criteria.


title: Free content

text: Any country has its own law and legal system, sustained by its legislation, which consists of documents. In a democratic country, laws are published as open content, in principle free content; but in general, there are no explicit licenses attributed for the text of each law, so the license must be assumed as an implied license. Only a few countries have explicit licenses in their law-documents, as the UK's Open Government Licence (a CC BY compatible license). In the other countries, the implied license comes from its proper rules (general laws and rules about copyright in government works). The automatic protection provided by the Berne Convention does not apply to the texts of laws: Article 2.4 excludes the official texts from the automatic protection. It is also possible to "inherit" the license from context. The set of country's law-documents is made available through national repositories. Examples of law-document open repositories: LexML Brazil, Legislation.gov.uk, and N-Lex. In general, a law-document is offered in more than one (open) official version, but the main one is that published by a government gazette. So, law-documents can eventually inherit license expressed by the repository or by the gazette that contains it.


title: 2019 London Broncos season

text: Well-founded optimism generated from the brave loss to Hull F.C. preceded the next Super League fixture a week later, another home clash, against lowly but improving Huddersfield Giants. The upbeat mood was soon to be displaced after kick-off by the rampant visitors however, who left the Broncos spending the majority of the first half going backwards much as the clocks had done earlier in the day to signal British Summer Time, as the Yorkshiremen registered five tries. The hosts only response had been a wonderful 50 metre solo effort from full back, Alex Walker and a try from erstwhile captain, Jay Pitts, the skipper's four pointer just prior to the interval restoring hope amongst the home faithful. This was further reinforced by another long range Rhys Williams score early in the second half, the leading marksmen's fifth try of the campaign, but the away side were soon to extinguish any realistic aspirations of an unlikely comeback and the remainder of the contest saw the teams trade four tries, a Kieran Dixon brace in a season-best-to-date fourteen point personal haul unable to prevent a (26-38) defeat.


title: 2019 London Broncos season

text: The triumph in the south of France lifted the London Broncos competition points tally to twelve and had drawn them back level again with Hull Kingston Rovers and Leeds Rhinos, ahead of a crucial Sky Sports televised fixture against the East Hull side at Ealing's Trailfinders Sports Ground five days later. London Broncos were to dominate the majority of the opening stanza and led 8-0 close to half time, a Morgan Smith try, his first for the club, sandwiched between two penalties from the ever reliable boot of Kieran Dixon. The visitors, under the tutelage of the recently appointed, Tony Smith needed a riposte, and energised by a large travelling contingent, hit a purple patch either side of the interval, scoring three unanswered converted tries to leave the Broncos trailing by ten with little over half an hour left. Hull born Broncos playmaker, Jordan Abdull remained determined to showcase his skills in front of a wider TV audience and kept the hosts in the contest, Alex Walker soon reducing the deficit at the back end of a set which followed a game-changing 40/20 from the former, before the talented stand-off himself was given a benefit of doubt four point score, following a close hand-on-ball first video referee referral. Kieran Dixon added the extras to both scores to nudge the hosts back into a tenuous lead they were not to lose for a second time, a converted 75th minute Rob Butler effort, his first for the club, eventually proving sufficient despite an even later Hull Kingston Rovers' six point score. The final whistle heralded a release of tension and sparked wild celebrations, similar to those of eleven days earlier following the St. Helens home victory, and a third consecutive win (26-24) had hauled London Broncos from the foot of the Super League table for the first time in three months, ahead of a Sunday away trip to play-off chasing Castleford Tigers on the month's last day.


title: 2019 London Broncos season

text: The ensuing break for the Challenge Cup semi-finals (won by St. Helens and Warrington Wolves) had seen Head Coach, Danny Ward strengthen his squad for the final six matches of the campaign with the recruitment of highly rated former NRL rookie, Brock Lamb. The Australian's debut was not to be one to remember though as the Broncos succumbed to a heavy (28-58) defeat, 36 of those points yielded prior to half time to an impressive Red Devils outfit which effectively ended the game as a contest, the home side's only riposte, a length of the field interception try from Rhys Williams, the Welshman's 13th of the season. To their credit, the Londoners battled gamely in the second half and were rewarded with three further four point scores through Matty Fleming, Sadiq Adebiyi and Rob Butler, but the weekend was to end with London Broncos two points adrift of the field following Hull KR's dramatic (27-26) golden point victory over Castleford Tigers and Leeds Rhinos (44-0) away success at Huddersfield Giants.


title: 2019 London Broncos season

text: The southerners began the match on the front foot and two quick-fire tries from Matty Gee and Brock Lamb, the latter, whose sublime off the floor pass had set up the former's opener, were twelve points to the good inside the game's opening ten minutes. It was a lead they would hold onto until the interval, despite a converted home try midway through the half. Kieran Dixon had increased the advantage to (14-6) with a penalty just prior to the break, but any thoughts of a comfortable win were soon dispelled as Broncos' tenuous advantage was wiped out within eleven minutes of the restart as the Robins sought their own safety salvation. Trailing (14-16) and with time fast becoming their enemy, the normally reliable Kieran Dixon missed a kickable penalty albeit from distance, although ultimately it would not prove costly, as with less than three minutes left on the clock and camped under the backdrop of their own sticks, Danny Ward's men exploded up field thanks to a penetrating run from Aussie, Ryan Morgan, eventually dotting down on the left hand edge through erstwhile skipper, Jay Pitts, on the sixth and last tackle of a set they had to score from to retain any chance of saving themselves from an immediate return to the championship.


title: Paul Hackett (American football)

text: Hackett moved back to college football as head coach at USC from 1998 until 2000, prior to Pete Carroll taking over. During the first season he guided the Trojans to the 1998 Sun Bowl, losing in a major upset to TCU. Hackett's final two years at the school were difficult, as the fans and alumni base turned against him. His 1999 and 2000 Trojans football teams were the first USC teams to have consecutive non-winning seasons since 1960 and 1961. The 2000 team was tied for last place in the Pacific-10 Conference. His winning percentage as USC coach was .514, compared to the school's then all-time win percentage of .691. USC fired Hackett on November 27, 2000; to do so, it spent $800,000 to buy out the remaining two years of his five-year, $3.5-million contract. Hackett felt he was clearly not given enough time to rebuild and develop his recruits, such as Carson Palmer. "In two years, I expect to see this team explode," he said. He was proved correct; by 2002, the Trojans were ranked fourth in the country with a team built primarily around Hackett's recruits.


title: Offset binary

text: Offset binary, also referred to as excess-K, excess-N, excess-e, excess code or biased representation, is a method for signed number representation where a signed number n is represented by the bit pattern corresponding to the unsigned number n+K, K being the biasing value or offset. There is no standard for offset binary, but most often the K for an n-bit binary word is K = 2n−1 (for example, the offset for a four-digit binary number would be 23=8). This has the consequence that the minimal negative value is represented by all-zeros, the "zero" value is represented by a 1 in the most significant bit and zero in all other bits, and the maximal positive value is represented by all-ones (conveniently, this is the same as using two's complement but with the most significant bit inverted). It also has the consequence that in a logical comparison operation, one gets the same result as with a true form numerical comparison operation, whereas, in two's complement notation a logical comparison will agree with true form numerical comparison operation if and only if the numbers being compared have the same sign. Otherwise the sense of the comparison will be inverted, with all negative values being taken as being larger than all positive values.


title: Reformed Presbyterian Church of Vernon

text: Reformed Presbyterians first moved to the Vernon area in 1844. By 1847, several families (primarily from upstate New York) had arrived in the area, forming a small society of members, and the congregation was officially organized as Waukesha Reformed Presbyterian Church on 18 October 1848.: 346–348 Although the denomination already had a presbytery in Illinois, the church was part of the New York-based Rochester Presbytery, because without railroads, the Great Lakes made New York easier to reach.: 781 The congregation did not last long, however; it never had a settled pastor, and the elders died or moved away, causing the congregation to become disorganized on 18 November 1850.: 346–348 Some members remained, nevertheless: the present church building was erected in the town in Vernon in 1853, and Illinois Presbytery reorganized it as the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Vernon on 16 September 1856. Unlike before, the congregation was able to secure a pastor; ministers came and went, but the church was strong enough to continue during the times when its pulpit was vacant. The congregation was part of Iowa Presbytery from its foundation in 1863.


title: Kir'Shara

text: Like "Home", "Kir'Shara" was written by Michael Sussman and was his third script during the fourth season. David Livingston directed the episode, which was his second episode of the season having previously directed "Borderland". Most of the guest stars had appeared in the previous episode "Awakening", including Robert Foxworth as Administrator V'Las, Kara Zediker as T'Pau and John Rubinstein as Kuvak. In addition, Michael Reilly Burke resumes his role as Koss for the third time, having appeared in the role both in "Home" and "The Forge". Also appearing, having appeared in "Home", was Jack Donner as a Vulcan priest. Donner appeared in The Original Series episode "The Enterprise Incident" as the Romulan Commander Subcommander Tal. "Kir'Shara" also saw the return of Jeffrey Combs as the Andorian Commander Shran for the sixth time as well as Gary Graham as Ambassador Soval, who has appeared as a recurring character in Enterprise since the pilot episode "Broken Bow". Todd Stashwick plays Talok, later known for his role as Captain Shaw in the third season of Star Trek: Picard.


title: List of Shortland Street characters introduced in 1994

text: Dr. Johnny Marinovich was introduced as the often mentioned husband of new character Ellen Crozier (Robyn Malcolm). Before Yiakmis was cast, another actor had won the role but had dropped out. Yiakmis signed on to an initial 3 weeks, before being extended to 3 months. His contract was then extended to a further 6 months before he ended up becoming a core cast member. Johnny arrived to Ferndale in early 1994 but his marriage broke up when Ellen discovered Johnny had fathered a daughter through an affair many years beforehand. Johnny was tempted to get back with Ellen but when she had an affair he started a relationship with Jenny (Maggie Harper), who fell pregnant. Johnny would struggle to cope with the news that his father Davor (Bill Johnson) was a Nazi war criminal after being discovered by Ruth Brasch, (Joanne Briant) and his father's brain damaged state after a failed attempt at suicide. Following Jenny's abortion, Johnny started an affair with Ellen but returned to Jenny when she developed cancer. When Jenny suggested marriage, Johnny left her. He had a brief affair with teenager Ramona Derby (Ashleigh Seagar) and another with widow Julia Thornton (Elizabeth Hawthorne). Johnny had an affair with Isobel Kearney (Jennifer Ward-Lealand) and she became pregnant shortly before Johnny began to date Tiffany Warner (Alison James). The two married in 1998 and Tiffany also fell pregnant however she fell from a building and died. The baby was saved and Johnny ended up leaving with his daughter.


text: Rebecca Frost appeared as a regular character for 3 years. She arrived as the paramedic partner of Rangi Heremaia (Blair Strang) but ended up becoming Chris Warner's (Michael Galvin) nurse after his paralyzing car accident. It soon turned out Rebecca was out for revenge after Chris played around her sister. The two made up for their differences and began to date, much to the angst of Stuart Neilson (Martin Henderson) who loved Rebecca. Rebecca was hired at the hospital and left Chris for Manny Atutahi (Albert Belz). The relationship was short lived and Rebecca's heart valve started to fail, causing her to become a born again Christian. She briefly dated Erik van der Molen (Peter Daube) before finally getting heart surgery. Rebecca had a short term relationship with Kane Taiaroa (Joe Folau) before she began dating Rangi. In 1997 Rangi and Rebecca became engaged only for Rebecca to pass out and die moments later, with her death being blamed on a faulty heart valve she had received years beforehand.


title: David S. Reynolds

text: Reynolds is a proponent of cultural biography, contextualizing historical figures in their era. He was influenced by the "representative men" theory of Ralph Waldo Emerson, who writes, "the ideas of the time are in the air, and infect all who breathe it… We learn of our contemporaries what they know without effort, and almost through the pores of our skin." In Abe: Abraham Lincoln in His Times Reynolds challenges the usual view of Lincoln as the quintessential self-made man who arose, without education or guidance, from a crude background and a barren American culture that offered few nurturing materials. Instead, Reynolds shows, Lincoln learned a lot from a rich, teeming cultural environment that he absorbed and rechanneled in his brilliant presidency and his immortal speeches. Reynolds argues in John Brown, Abolitionist that Brown was not an isolated, crazed antislavery terrorist but rather an amalgam of social currents—religious, racial, reformist, political—that found explosive realization in him. In Walt Whitman's America: A Cultural Biography, Reynolds takes seriously Whitman's declarations that he was "the age transfigured" and that "in estimating my volumes, the world's current times and deeds, and their spirit, must first be profoundly estimated." Reynolds writes that Whitman's growing alarm over political controversies, corruption, and class division led him to try to heal his nation through his poetry, which absorbed images from many aspects of social and cultural life, including religion, science, city life, theater, oratory, photography, painting, reform movements, and sexual mores.


title: David S. Reynolds

text: Reynolds challenges the once-prevalent view—introduced by the New Critics and later promoted by the deconstructionists and other theorists—that literature is divorced from the author's life and contexts. His reconstruction of the cultural and social contexts of literature began with his book Faith in Fiction: The Emergence of Religious Literature in America, which explores some 250 writers from Puritan times through the late 19th century. In Beneath the American Renaissance: The Subversive Imagination in the Age of Emerson and Melville, Reynolds leverages the title of F.O. Matthiessen's best known work and expands his thesis. Here Reynolds combines elements of New Historicism and cultural studies with archival research to show that great literature is characterized by its radical openness to biographical, political, social, and cultural images, which certain responsive writers adopted and transformed, yielding such symbols as Melville's white whale, Hawthorne's scarlet letter, Poe's raven, and Whitman's grass leaves. Contesting the standard interpretation of America's great writers as marginal figures in a sentimental, proper society, Reynolds reveals that they were instead immersed in a culture that was frequently sensational, subversive, or erotic, epitomized by popular novels about city mysteries, such as the lurid best-seller The Quaker City, or The Monks of Monk Hall by the Philadelphia writer George Lippard (the subject of two other books by Reynolds).


title: Organ-on-a-chip

text: 3D cell-culture models exceed 2D culture systems by promoting higher levels of cell differentiation and tissue organization. 3D culture systems are more successful because the flexibility of the ECM gels accommodates shape changes and cell-cell connections – formerly prohibited by rigid 2D culture substrates. Nevertheless, even the best 3D culture models fail to mimic an organ's cellular properties in many aspects, including tissue-to-tissue interfaces (e.g., epithelium and vascular endothelium), spatiotemporal gradients of chemicals, and the mechanically active microenvironments (e.g. arteries' vasoconstriction and vasodilator responses to temperature differentials). The application of microfluidics in organs-on-chips enables the efficient transport and distribution of nutrients and other soluble cues throughout the viable 3D tissue constructs. Organs-on-chips are referred to as the next wave of 3D cell-culture models that mimic whole living organs' biological activities, dynamic mechanical properties and biochemical functionalities.


title: Organ-on-a-chip

text: Organotypic brain slices are an in vitro model that replicates in vivo physiology with additional throughput and optical benefits, thus pairing well with microfluidic devices. Brain slices have advantages over primary cell culture in that tissue architecture is preserved and multicellular interactions can still occur. There is flexibility in their use, as slices can be used acutely (less than 6 hours after slice harvesting) or cultured for later experimental use. Because organotypic brain slices can maintain viability for weeks, they allow for long-term effects to be studied. Slice-based systems also provide experimental access with precise control of extracellular environments, making it a suitable platform for correlating disease with neuropathological outcomes. Because approximately 10 to 20 slices can be extracted from a single brain, animal usage is significantly reduced relative to in vivo studies. Organotypic brain slices can be extracted and cultured from multiple animal species (e.g. rats), but also from humans.


title: Organ-on-a-chip

text: Microfluidic devices have been paired with organotypic slices to improve culture viability. The standard procedure for culturing organotypic brain slices (around 300 microns in thickness) uses semi-porous membranes to create an air-medium interface, but this technique results in diffusion limitations of nutrients and dissolved gases. Because microfluidic systems introduce laminar flow of these necessary nutrients and gases, transport is improved and higher tissue viability can be achieved. In addition to keeping standard slices viable, brain-on-a-chip platforms have allowed the successful culturing of thicker brain slices (approximately 700 microns), despite a significant transport barrier due to thickness. As thicker slices retain more native tissue architecture, this allows brain-on-a-chip devices to achieve more "in vivo-like" characteristics without sacrificing cell viability. Microfluidic devices support high-throughput screening and toxicological assessments in both 2D and slice cultures, leading to the development of novel therapeutics targeted for the brain. One device was able to screen the drugs pitavastatin and irinotecan combinatorically in glioblastoma multiform (the most common form of human brain cancer). These screening approaches have been combined with the modeling of the blood-brain barrier (BBB), a significant hurdle for drugs to overcome when treating the brain, allowing for drug efficacy across this barrier to be studied in vitro. Microfluidic probes have been used to deliver dyes with high regional precision, making way for localized microperfusion in drug applications. Microfluidic BBB in vitro models replicate a 3D environment for embedded cells (which provides precise control of cellular and extracellular environment), replicate shear stress, have more physiologically relevant morphology in comparison to 2D models, and provide easy incorporation of different cell types into the device. Because microfluidic devices can be designed with optical accessibility, this also allows for the visualization of morphology and processes in specific regions or individual cells. Brain-on-a-chip systems can model organ-level physiology in neurological diseases, such as Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and multiple sclerosis more accurately than with traditional 2D and 3D cell culture techniques. The ability to model these diseases in a way that is indicative of in vivo conditions is essential for the translation of therapies and treatments. Additionally, brain-on-a-chip devices have been used for medical diagnostics, such as in biomarker detection for cancer in brain tissue slices.


title: Organ-on-a-chip

text: The human gut-on-a-chip contains two microchannels that are separated by the flexible porous Extracellular Matrix (ECM)-coated membrane lined by the gut epithelial cells: Caco-2, which has been used extensively as the intestinal barrier. Caco-2 cells are cultured under spontaneous differentiation of its parental cell, a human colon adenocarcinoma, that represent the model of protective and absorptive properties of the gut. The microchannels are fabricated from polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) polymer. In order to mimic the gut microenvironment, peristalsis-like fluid flow is designed. By inducing suction in the vacuum chambers along both sides of the main cell channel bilayer, cyclic mechanical strain of stretching and relaxing are developed to mimic the gut behaviors. Furthermore, cells undergo spontaneous villus morphogenesis and differentiation, which generalizes characteristics of intestinal cells. Under the three-dimensional villi scaffold, cells not only proliferate, but metabolic activities are also enhanced. Another important player in the gut is the microbes, namely gut microbiota. Many microbial species in the gut microbiota are strict anaerobes. In order to co-culture these oxygen intolerant anaerobes with the oxygen favorable intestinal cells, a polysulfone fabricated gut-on-a-chip is designed. The system maintained the co-culture of colon epithelial cells, goblet-like cells, and bacteria Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, Eubacterium rectale, and Bacteroides thetaiotaomicron.


title: Organ-on-a-chip

text: The compartmentalization of the channels facilitates not only the flow of air as a fluid which delivers cells and nutrients to the apical surface of the epithelium, but also allows for pressure differences to exist between the middle and side channels. During normal inspiration in a human's respiratory cycle, intrapleural pressure decreases, triggering an expansion of the alveoli. As air is pulled into the lungs, alveolar epithelium and the coupled endothelium in the capillaries are stretched. Since a vacuum is connected to the side channels, a decrease in pressure will cause the middle channel to expand, thus stretching the porous membrane and subsequently, the entire alveolar-capillary interface. The pressure-driven dynamic motion behind the stretching of the membrane, also described as a cyclic mechanical strain (valued at approximately 10%), significantly increases the rate of nanoparticle translocation across the porous membrane, when compared to a static version of this device, and to a Transwell culture system.


title: Organ-on-a-chip

text: In the tubules, some substances are added to the filtrate as part of the urine formation, and some substances reabsorbed out of the filtrate and back into the blood. The first segment of these tubules is the proximal convoluted tubule. This is where the almost complete absorption of nutritionally important substances takes place. In the device, this section is merely a straight channel, but blood particles going to the filtrate have to cross the previously mentioned membrane and a layer of renal proximal tubule cells. The second segment of the tubules is the loop of Henle where the reabsorption of water and ions from the urine takes place. The device's looping channels strives to simulate the countercurrent mechanism of the loop of Henle. Likewise, the loop of Henle requires a number of different cell types because each cell type has distinct transport properties and characteristics. These include the descending limb cells, thin ascending limb cells, thick ascending limb cells, cortical collecting duct cells and medullary collecting duct cells.


title: Organ-on-a-chip

text: One recent report illustrates a biomimic nephron on hydrogel microfluidic devices with establishing the function of passive diffusion. The complex physiological function of nephron is achieved on the basis of interactions between vessels and tubules (both are hollow channels). However, conventional laboratory techniques usually focus on 2D structures, such as petri-dish that lacks capability to recapitulate real physiology that occurs in 3D. Therefore, the authors developed a new method to fabricate functional, cell-lining and perfusable microchannels inside 3D hydrogel. The vessel endothelial and renal epithelial cells are cultured inside hydrogel microchannel and form cellular coverage to mimic vessels and tubules, respectively. They employed confocal microscope to examine the passive diffusion of one small organic molecule (usually drugs) between the vessels and tubules in hydrogel. The study demonstrates the beneficial potential to mimic renal physiology for regenerative medicine and drug screening.


title: Organ-on-a-chip

text: Liver-on-a-chip devices utilize microfluidic techniques to simulate the hepatic system by imitating complex hepatic lobules that involve liver functions. Liver-on-a-chip devices provide a good model to help researchers work on dysfunction and pathogenesis of the liver with relatively low cost. Researchers use primary rat hepatocytes and other nonparenchymal cells. This coculture method is extensively studied and is proved to be beneficial for extension of hepatocytes survival time and support the performance of liver-specific functions. Many liver-on-a-chip systems are made of poly(dimethylsiloxane) (PDMS) with multiple channels and chambers based on specific design and objective. PDMS is used and has become popular because it has relatively low price for raw materials, and it is also easily molded for microfluidic devices. But PDMS can absorb important signaling molecules including proteins and hormones. Other more inert materials such as polysulfone or polycarbonate are used in liver-chips.


title: Organ-on-a-chip

text: The artery microenvironment is characterized by surrounding temperature, transmural pressure, and luminal & abluminal drug concentrations. The multiple inputs from a microenvironment cause a wide range of mechanical or chemical stimuli on the smooth muscle cells (SMCs) and endothelial cells (ECs) that line the vessel's outer and luminal walls, respectively. Endothelial cells are responsible for releasing vasoconstriction and vasodilator factors, thus modifying tone. Vascular tone is defined as the degree of constriction inside a blood vessel relative to its maximum diameter. Pathogenic concepts currently believe that subtle changes to this microenvironment have pronounced effects on arterial tone and can severely alter peripheral vascular resistance. The engineers behind this design believe that a specific strength lies in its ability to control and simulate heterogeneous spatiotemporal influences found within the microenvironment, whereas myography protocols have, by virtue of their design, only established homogeneous microenvironments. They proved that by delivering phenylephrine through only one of the two channels providing superfusion to the outer walls, the drug-facing side constricted much more than the drug opposing side.


title: Organ-on-a-chip

text: Human skin is the first line of defense against many pathogens and can itself be subject to a variety of diseases and issues, such as cancers and inflammation. As such, skin-on-a-chip (SoC) applications include testing of topical pharmaceuticals and cosmetics, studying the pathology of skin diseases and inflammation, and "creating noninvasive automated cellular assays" to test for the presence of antigens or antibodies that could denote the presence of a pathogen. Despite the wide variety of potential applications, relatively little research has gone into developing a skin-on-a-chip compared to many other organ-on-a-chips, such as lungs and kidneys. Issues such as detachment of the collagen scaffolding from microchannels, incomplete cellular differentiation, and predominant use of poly(dimethysiloxane) (PDMS) for device fabrication, which has been shown to leach chemicals into biological samples and cannot be mass-produced stymie standardization of a platform. One additional difficulty is the variability of cell-culture scaffolding, or the base substance in which to culture cells, that is used in skin-on-chip devices. In the human body, this substance is known as the extracellular matrix.


title: Organ-on-a-chip

text: The extracellular matrix (ECM) is composed primarily of collagen, and various collagen-based scaffolding has been tested in SoC models. Collagen tends to detach from the microfluidic backbone during culturing due to the contraction of fibroblasts. One study attempted to address this problem by comparing the qualities of collagen scaffolding from three different animal sources: pig skin, rat tail, and duck feet. Other studies also faced detachment issues due to contraction, which can problematic considering that the process of full skin differentiation can take up to several weeks. Contraction issues have been avoided by replacing collagen scaffolding with a fibrin-based dermal matrix, which did not contract. Greater differentiation and formation of cell layers was also reported in microfluidic culture when compared to traditional static culture, agreeing with earlier findings of improved cell-cell and cell-matrix interactions due to dynamic perfusion, or increased permeation through interstitial spaces due to the pressure from continuous media flow. This improved differentiation and growth is thought to be in part a product of shear stress created by the pressure gradient along a microchannel due to fluid flow, which may also improve nutrient supply to cells not directly adjacent to the medium. In static cultures, used in traditional skin equivalents, cells receive nutrients in the medium only through diffusion, whereas dynamic perfusion can improve nutrient flow through interstitial spaces, or gaps between cells. This perfusion has also been demonstrated to improve tight junction formation of the stratum corneum, the tough outer layer of the epidermis, which is the main barrier to penetration of the surface layer of the skin.


title: Organ-on-a-chip

text: In particular, an integrated cell culture analog (μCCA) was developed and included lung cells, drug-metabolizing liver and fat cells. The cells were linked in a 2D fluidic network with culture medium circulating as a blood surrogate, thus efficiently providing a nutritional delivery transport system, while simultaneously removing wastes from the cells. "The development of the μCCA laid the foundation for a realistic in vitro pharmacokinetic model and provided an integrated biomimetic system for culturing multiple cell types with high fidelity to in vivo situations", claim C. Zhang et al. They have developed a microfluidic human-on-a-chip, culturing four different cell types to mimic four human organs: liver, lung, kidney and fat. They focused on developing a standard serum-free culture media that would be valuable to all cell types included in the device. Optimized standard media are generally targeted to one specific cell-type, whereas a human-on-a-chip will evidently require a common medium (CM). In fact, they claim to have identified a cell culture CM that, when used to perfuse all cell cultures in the microfluidic device, maintains the cells' functional levels. Heightening the sensitivity of the in vitro cultured cells ensures the validity of the device, or that any drug injected into the microchannels will stimulate an identical physiological and metabolic reaction from the sample cells as whole organs in humans.


title: Organ-on-a-chip

text: With more extensive development of these kinds of chips, pharmaceutical companies will potentially be able to measure direct effects of one organ's reaction on another. For instance, the delivery of biochemical substances would be screened to confirm that even though it may benefit one cell type, it does not compromise the functions of others. It is probably already possible to print these organs with 3D printers, but the cost is too high. Designing whole body biomimetic devices addresses a major reservation that pharmaceutical companies have towards organs-on-chips, namely the isolation of organs. As these devices become more and more accessible, the complexity of the design increases exponentially. Systems will soon have to simultaneously provide mechanical perturbation and fluid flow through a circulatory system. "Anything that requires dynamic control rather than just static control is a challenge", says Takayama from the University of Michigan. This challenge has been partially tackled by tissue engineering Linda Griffith group from MIT. A complex multi-organ-on-a-chip was developed to have 4, 7, or 10 organs interconnected through fluidic control. The system is able to maintain the function of these organs for weeks.