title: Friedrich Ebert

text: On 23 November 1918, an Order was introduced prohibiting work in bakeries between the hours of 10 p.m. and 6 am. In December 1918, the income limit for entitlement to health insurance coverage was raised from 2,500 to 5,000 marks. The right of free assembly and association, which was extended even to government workers and officials, was made universal, and all censorship was abolished. The "Gesindeordnung" (servant's ordinance promulgated in Prussia in 1810) was revoked, and all discriminatory laws against agricultural workers were removed. A Provisional Order on 24 January 1919 provided various rights for agricultural workers. In addition, provisions for labour protection (suspended during the war) were restored, and a number of decrees were issued establishing freedom of the press, religious freedom, and freedom of speech, and amnesty of political prisoners. Protections for homeworkers were also improved, and housing provision was increased.


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: A decree of 23 December 1918 regulated wage agreements, laying down that a wage agreement that had been concluded in any branch of employment between the competent trade union authority and the competent employers' authority had absolute validity, meaning that no employer could enter into any other agreement of his own initiative. In addition, an organisation of arbitral courts was set up to decide all disputes. A decree of 4 January 1919 compelled employers to reinstate their former labourers on demobilisation, while measures were devised to safeguard workers from arbitrary dismissal. Workers who felt that they had been treated unfairly could appeal to an arbitration court, and in case of necessity the demobilisation authorities "had the power to determine who should be dismissed and who should be retained in employment". On 29 November 1918, the denial of voting rights to welfare recipients was repealed.


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: A government proclamation of December 1918 ordered farmers to re-employ returning soldiers "at their former working place and to provide work for the unemployed", while an important decree was issued that same month in support of Jugendpflege (youth welfare). In December 1918, the government granted provisionally the continuation of a maternity allowance introduced during the Great War, while a decree issued in January 1919 mandated the employment of disabled veterans. A Settlement Decree was issued by the government on 29 January 1919 "concerning the acquisition of land for the settlement of workers on the land" that foresaw "the possibility of expropriating estates over 100 hectares to facilitate settlement". However, only just over 500,000 hectares were freed by 1928, benefiting 2.4% of the farming population.


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: In addition, Ebert's government got food supplies moving again and issued various decrees related to the promotion of civil aviation and restrictions on firearm possession.


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: In the weeks following the creation of the Council of the People's Deputies, Ebert and the leadership of the SPD sided with the conservative and nationalistic elements in German society (the civil servants, the armed forces, the police, the judiciary) against the forces of the revolution. The latter wanted to eliminate the challenge to the existing order posed by the workers' councils as soon as possible. Yet the majority of those in the workers' and soldiers' councils viewed themselves as supporters of the government. It was only the Spartacists who wanted a dictatorship of the workers. Ebert and Groener worked out a "program" to restore order in Berlin by having army units returning from the Western Front move in and disarm all paramilitary forces from 10 to 15 December. However, after the ten divisions had arrived, rather than remaining as a cohesive force, they dispersed. On 16 December, the "Reichsrätekongress" (congress of councils) met in Berlin and set the date for elections to the National Assembly for 19 January 1919. However, it also passed a resolution that was aimed at ensuring that the military would be under the strict control of the civilian government, i.e. the Council of the People's Deputies. It also called for a powerful position of the soldiers' councils vis-à-vis the professional officer corps. This was unacceptable to the leaders of the military and the OHL began to establish volunteer regiments in the Berlin area.


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: Fighting erupted on 24 December on the Schlossplatz in Berlin (the Skirmish of the Berlin Schloss). On 23 December, dissatisfied members of the Navy occupied the chancellery and put the Peoples' Deputies under house arrest. Ebert asked the OHL for help over the phone and troops assembled on the outskirts of the capital. During the night, Ebert then ordered these troops to attack, which they did in the morning of 24 December. When the fighting stopped in the afternoon, the Navy forces held the field, but they returned to their barracks, ending the crisis. As a result of this event, which Karl Liebknecht called "Ebert's Bloody Christmas", the USPD members left the Council of the Peoples' Deputies on 29 December. The next day, SPD members Gustav Noske and Rudolf Wissell took their place and from that point on, government communiques were signed "Reichsregierung" (i.e. federal government) instead of "Council of the Peoples' Deputies". That same day, the Spartacists severed their remaining links with the USPD and set themselves up as the Communist Party of Germany (KPD).


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: The week of 5–12 January 1919 became known as "Spartacus week", but historians view this as a misnomer. The "Spartacist uprising" was more an attempt by the Berlin workers to regain what they thought had been won in the November revolution and what they now seemed to be in the process of losing. The trigger was a trivial event: the head of the Berlin police, a member of the USPD, refused to accept his dismissal. The USPD called for a demonstration of solidarity, but was itself surprised by the reaction as hundreds of thousands, many of them armed, gathered in the city centre on 5 January. They seized the newspapers and railway stations. Representatives from the USPD and KPD decided to topple the Ebert government. However, the next day, the gathered masses did not seize government buildings, as the expected support from the military did not materialize. Ebert started to negotiate with the leaders of the uprising, but simultaneously prepared for military action. Noske was made commander of the "Freikorps" (a right-wing paramilitary organization) and Ebert worked to mobilise the regular armed forces of the Berlin area on the government's side. From 9 to 12 January on Ebert's orders, regular forces and "Freikorps" successfully and bloodily suppressed the uprising.


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: In the first German presidential election, held on 11 February 1919, five days after the "Nationalversammlung" (constituent assembly) convened in Weimar, Ebert was elected as provisional president of the German Republic. He remained in that position after the new constitution came into force and was sworn in as "Reichspräsident" on 21 August 1919. He was Germany's first-ever democratically elected head of state, and was also the first commoner, the first social democrat, the first civilian, and the first person from a proletarian background to hold that position. In the whole time of the unified German Reich's existence from 1871 to 1945, he was also the only head of state who was unequivocally committed to democracy.


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: One of Ebert's first tasks as president was to deal with the Treaty of Versailles. When the treaty's terms became public on 7 May 1919, it was cursed by Germans of all political shades as an onerous "Diktat", particularly because Germany had essentially been handed the treaty and told to sign without any negotiations. Ebert himself denounced the treaty as "unrealizable and unbearable". However, Ebert was well aware of the possibility that Germany would not be in a position to reject the treaty. He believed that the Allies would invade Germany from the west if Germany refused to sign. To appease public opinion, he asked Hindenburg if the army was capable of holding out if the Allies renewed hostilities. He promised to urge rejection of the treaty if there was even the remote possibility that the army could make a stand. Hindenburg, with some prodding from Groener, concluded that the army was not capable of resuming the war even on a limited scale. Rather than tell Ebert himself, he dispatched Groener to deliver the Army's conclusion to the president. Ebert thus advised the National Assembly to approve the treaty, which it did by a large majority on 9 July.


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: The government's fight against Communist forces, as well as recalcitrant socialists, went on after Ebert became president. From January to May 1919, in some areas through the summer, civil war in Germany continued. Since 19 January elections had returned a solid majority for the democratic parties (SPD, Zentrum, and DDP), Ebert felt that the revolutionary forces had no legitimacy left. He and Noske now used the same forces they had earlier employed in Berlin on a national scale to dissolve the workers' councils and to restore law and order.


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: In March 1920, during the right-wing Kapp Putsch by some Freikorps elements, the government, including Ebert, had to flee from Berlin. However, a refusal by civil servants to accept the self-declared government and a general strike called by the legitimate cabinet led to the collapse of the putsch. After it ended, striking workers in the Ruhr region refused to return to work. Led by members of the USPD and the KPD, they presented an armed challenge to the authority of the government. The government then sent Reichswehr and "Freikorps" troops to quell the Ruhr Uprising by force.


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: To avoid an election campaign at a critical time, the Reichstag extended his term of office on 24 October 1922 until 25 June 1925, with a qualified majority vote that changed the constitution.


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: As president, Ebert appointed centre-right figures like Wilhelm Cuno and Hans Luther as Chancellor and made rigorous use of his wide-ranging powers under Article 48 of the Weimar constitution. For instance, he used Article 48 powers to deal with the Kapp Putsch and the Beer Hall Putsch. Through 1924, he used the presidency's emergency powers a total of 134 times.


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: After the civil war, he changed his politics to a "policy of balance" between the left and the right, between the workers and the owners of business enterprises. In that endeavor, he followed a policy of brittle coalitions. This resulted in some problems, such as the acceptance, during the crisis of 1923, by the SPD of longer working hours without extra compensation while the conservative parties ultimately rejected the other element of the compromise, the introduction of special taxes for the rich.


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: Ebert suffered from gallstones and frequent bouts of cholecystitis. Vicious attacks by Ebert's right-wing adversaries, including slander and ridicule, were often condoned or even supported by the judiciary when Ebert sought redress through the court system. The constant necessity to defend himself against those attacks also undermined his health. In December 1924, a court in Magdeburg fined a journalist who had called Ebert a "traitor to his country" for his role in the January 1918 strike, but the court also said that, in terms of strict legalism, Ebert had in fact committed treason. These proceedings prevented him from seeking medical help for a while, as he wanted to be available to give evidence.


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: Ebert became acutely ill in mid-February 1925 from what was believed to be influenza. His condition deteriorated over the following two weeks, and at that time he was thought to be suffering from another episode of gallbladder disease. He became acutely septic on the night of 23 February and underwent an emergency appendectomy (which was performed by August Bier) in the early hours of the following day for what turned out to be appendicitis. Four days later, he died of septic shock, aged 54.


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: Ebert was buried in Heidelberg. Several high-ranking politicians and a trade union leader made speeches at his funeral, as did a Protestant minister: Hermann Maas, pastor at the Church of the Holy Spirit in Heidelberg (which until the 1930s was used by both Lutheran and Catholic congregations). By thus taking part in the obsequies, Maas caused something of a scandal in his church and among political conservatives, because Ebert had been an outspoken atheist (though Ebert was baptised a Catholic, he had officially abandoned Christian observance many years before his last illness).


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: Ebert's policy of balancing the political factions during the Weimar Republic is seen as an important archetype in the SPD. Today, the SPD-associated Friedrich Ebert Foundation, Germany's largest and oldest party-affiliated foundation, which, among other things, promotes students of outstanding intellectual ability and personality, is named after Ebert.


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: Some historians have defended Ebert's actions as unfortunate but inevitable if the creation of a socialist state on the model that had been promoted by Rosa Luxemburg, Karl Liebknecht and the communist Spartacists was to be prevented. Leftist historians like as well as mainstream ones like Sebastian Haffner on the other hand, have argued that organized communism was not yet politically relevant in Germany at the time. However, the actions of Ebert and his Minister of Defense, Gustav Noske, against the insurgents contributed to the radicalization of the workers and to increasing support for communistic ideas.


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: Although the Weimar constitution (which Ebert signed into law in August 1919) provided for the establishment of workers' councils on different levels of society, they did not play a major part in the political life of the Weimar Republic. Ebert always regarded the institutions of parliamentary democracy as a more legitimate expression of the will of the people; workers' councils, as a product of the revolution, were only justified in exercising power for a transitive period. "All power to all the people!" was the slogan of his party, in contrast to the slogan of the far left, "All power to the (workers') councils!".


title: Friedrich Ebert

text: In Ebert's opinion only reforms, not a revolution, could advance the causes of democracy and socialism. He therefore has been called a traitor by leftists, who claim he paved the way for the ascendancy of the far-right and even of Adolf Hitler, whereas those who think his policies were justified claim that he saved Germany from Bolshevik excesses.


title: Creosote

text: Creosote is a category of carbonaceous chemicals formed by the distillation of various tars and pyrolysis of plant-derived material, such as wood or fossil fuel. They are typically used as preservatives or antiseptics.


title: Creosote

text: Some creosote types were used historically as a treatment for components of seagoing and outdoor wood structures to prevent rot (e.g., bridgework and railroad ties, see image). Samples may be found commonly inside chimney flues, where the coal or wood burns under variable conditions, producing soot and tarry smoke. Creosotes are the principal chemicals responsible for the stability, scent, and flavor characteristic of smoked meat; the name is derived .


title: Creosote

text: The two main kinds recognized in industry are coal-tar creosote and wood-tar creosote. The coal-tar variety, having stronger and more toxic properties, has chiefly been used as a preservative for wood; coal-tar creosote was also formerly used as an escharotic, to burn malignant skin tissue, and in dentistry, to prevent necrosis, before its carcinogenic properties became known. The wood-tar variety has been used for meat preservation, ship treatment, and such medical purposes as an anaesthetic, antiseptic, astringent, expectorant, and laxative, though these have mostly been replaced by modern formulations.


title: Creosote

text: Varieties of creosote have also been made from both oil shale and petroleum, and are known as oil-tar creosote when derived from oil tar, and as water-gas-tar creosote when derived from the tar of water gas. Creosote also has been made from pre-coal formations such as lignite, yielding lignite-tar creosote, and peat, yielding peat-tar creosote.


title: Creosote

text: The term creosote has a broad range of definitions depending on the origin of the coal tar oil and end-use of the material.


title: Creosote

text: With respect to wood preservatives, the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) considers the term creosote to mean a pesticide for use as a wood preservative meeting the American Wood Protection Association (AWPA) Standards P1/P13 and P2. The AWPA Standards require that creosote "shall be a pure coal tar product derived entirely from tar produced by the carbonization of bituminous coal."


title: Creosote

text: Currently, all creosote-treated wood products—foundation and marine pilings, lumber, posts, railroad crossties, timbers, and utility poles—are manufactured using this type of wood preservative. The manufacturing process can only be a pressure process under the supervision of a licensed applicator certified by the State Departments of Agriculture. No brush-on, spray, or non-pressure uses of creosote are allowed, as specified by the EPA approved label for the use of creosote.


title: Creosote

text: The use of creosote according to the AWPA Standards does not allow for mixing with other types of "creosote type" materials—such as lignite-tar creosote, oil-tar creosote, peat-tar creosote, water-gas-tar creosote, or wood-tar creosote. The AWPA Standard P3 does however, allow blending of a high-boiling petroleum oil meeting the AWPA Standard P4.


title: Creosote

text: The information that follows describing the other various types of creosote materials and its uses should be considered as primarily being of only historical value. This history is important, because it traces the origin of these different materials used during the 19th and early 20th centuries. Furthermore, it must be considered that these other types of creosotes – lignite-tar, wood-tar, water-gas-tar, etc. – are not currently being manufactured and have either been replaced with more-economical materials, or replaced by products that are more efficacious or safer.


title: Creosote

text: For some part of their history, coal-tar creosote and wood-tar creosote were thought to have been equivalent substances—albeit of distinct origins—accounting for their common name; the two were determined only later to be chemically different. All types of creosote are composed of phenol derivatives and share some quantity of monosubstituted phenols, but these are not the only active element of creosote. For their useful effects, coal-tar creosote relies on the presence of naphthalenes and anthracenes, while wood-tar creosote relies on the presence of methyl ethers of phenol. Otherwise, either type of tar would dissolve in water.


title: Creosote

text: Creosote was first discovered in its wood-tar form in 1832, by Carl Reichenbach, when he found it both in the tar and in pyroligneous acids obtained by a dry distillation of beechwood. Because pyroligneous acid was known as an antiseptic and meat preservative, Reichenbach conducted experiments by dipping meat in a dilute solution of distilled creosote. He found that the meat was dried without undergoing putrefaction and had attained a smoky flavor. This led him to reason that creosote was the antiseptic component contained in smoke, and he further argued that the creosote he had found in wood tar was also in coal tar, as well as amber tar and animal tar, in the same abundance as in wood tar.


title: Creosote

text: Soon afterward, in 1834, Friedrich Ferdinand Runge discovered carbolic acid (phenol) in coal-tar, and Auguste Laurent obtained it from "phenylhydrate", which was soon determined to be the same compound. There was no clear view on the relationship between carbolic acid and creosote; Runge described it as having similar caustic and antiseptic properties, but noted that it was different, in that it was an acid and formed salts. Nonetheless, Reichenbach argued that creosote was also the active element, as it was in pyroligneous acid. Despite evidence to the contrary, his view held sway with most chemists, and it became commonly accepted wisdom that creosote, carbolic acid, and phenylhydrate were identical substances, with different degrees of purity.


title: Creosote

text: Carbolic acid was soon commonly sold under the name "creosote", and the scarcity of wood-tar creosote in some places led chemists to believe that it was the same substance as that described by Reichenbach. In the 1840s, Eugen Freiherr von Gorup-Besanez, after realizing that two samples of substances labelled as creosote were different, started a series of investigations to determine the chemical nature of carbolic acid, leading to a conclusion that it more resembled chlorinated quinones and must have been a different, entirely unrelated substance.


title: Creosote

text: Independently, there were investigations into the chemical nature of creosote. A study by F.K. Völkel revealed that the smell of purified creosote resembled that of guaiacol, and later studies by Heinrich Hlasiwetz identified a substance common to guaiacum and creosote that he called creosol, and he determined that creosote contained a mixture of creosol and guaiacol. Later investigations by Gorup-Besanez, A.E. Hoffmann, and Siegfried Marasse showed that wood-tar creosote also contained phenols, giving it a feature in common with coal-tar creosote.


title: Creosote

text: Historically, coal-tar creosote has been distinguished from what was thought of as creosote proper—the original substance of Reichenbach's discovery—and it has been referred to specifically as "creosote oil". But, because creosote from coal-tar and wood-tar are obtained from a similar process and have some common uses, they have also been placed in the same class of substances, with the terms "creosote" or "creosote oil" referring to either product.


title: Creosote

text: Wood-tar creosote is a colourless to yellowish greasy liquid with a smoky odor, produces a sooty flame when burned, and has a burned taste. It is non-buoyant in water, with a specific gravity of 1.037 to 1.087, retains fluidity at a very low temperature, and boils at 205-225 °C. In its purest form, it is transparent. Dissolution in water requires up to 200 times the amount of water as the base creosote. This creosote is a combination of natural phenols: primarily guaiacol and creosol (4-methylguaiacol), which will typically constitute 50% of the oil; second in prevalence are cresol and xylenol; the rest being a combination of monophenols and polyphenols.


title: Creosote

text: The simple phenols are not the only active element in wood-tar creosote. In solution, they coagulate albumin, which is a water-soluble protein found in meat, so they serve as a preserving agent, but also cause denaturation. Most of the phenols in the creosote are methoxy derivatives: they contain the methoxy group linked to the benzene nucleus (O–CH). The high level of methyl derivates created from the action of heat on wood (also apparent in the methyl alcohol produced through distillation) make wood-tar creosote substantially different from coal-tar creosote. Guaiacol is a methyl ether of pyrocatechin, while creosol is a methyl ether of methyl-pyrocatechin, the next homolog of pyrocatechin. Methyl ethers differ from simple phenols in being less hydrophilic, caustic, and poisonous. This allows meat to be successfully preserved without tissue denaturation, and allows creosote to be used as a medical ointment.


title: Creosote

text: Because wood-tar creosote is used for its guaiacol and creosol content, it is generally derived from beechwood rather than other woods, since it distills with a higher proportion of those chemicals to other phenolics. The creosote can be obtained by distilling the wood tar and treating the fraction heavier than water with a sodium hydroxide solution. The alkaline solution is then separated from the insoluble oily layer, boiled in contact with air to reduce impurities, and decomposed by diluted sulphuric acid. This produces a crude creosote, which is purified by re-solution in alkali, re-precipitation with acid, then redistilled with the fraction passing over between 200° and 225° constituting the purified creosote.


title: Creosote

text: When ferric chloride is added to a dilute solution, it will turn green: a characteristic of ortho-oxy derivatives of benzene. It dissolves in sulphuric acid to a red liquid, which slowly changes to purple-violet. Shaken with hydrochloric acid in the absence of air, it becomes red, the color changing in the presence of air to dark brown or black.


title: Creosote

text: In preparation of food by smoking, guaiacol contributes mainly to the smoky taste, while the dimethyl ether of pyrogallol, syringol, is the main chemical responsible for the smoky aroma.


title: Creosote

text: Soon after it was discovered and recognized as the principle of meat smoking, wood-tar creosote became used as a replacement for the process. Several methods were used to apply the creosote. One was to dip the meat in pyroligneous acid or a water of diluted creosote, as Reichenbach did, or brush it over with them, and within one hour the meat would have the same quality of that of traditionally smoked preparations. Sometimes the creosote was diluted in vinegar rather than water, as vinegar was also used as a preservative. Another was to place the meat in a closed box, and place with it a few drops of creosote in a small bottle. Because of the volatility of the creosote, the atmosphere was filled with a vapour containing it, and it would cover the flesh.


title: Creosote

text: The application of wood tar to seagoing vessels was practiced through the 18th century and early 19th century, before the creosote was isolated as a compound. Wood-tar creosote was found not to be as effective in wood treatments, because it was harder to infuse the creosote into the wood cells, but still experiments were done, including by many governments, because it proved to be less expensive on the market.


title: Creosote

text: Even before creosote as a chemical compound was discovered, it was the chief active component of medicinal remedies in different cultures around the world.


title: Creosote

text: In antiquity, pitches and resins were used commonly as medicines. Pliny mentions a variety of tar-like substances being used as medicine, including "cedria" and "pissinum". "Cedria" was the pitch and resin of the cedar tree, being equivalent to the oil of tar and pyroligneous acid which are used in the first stage of distilling creosote. He recommends cedria to ease the pain in a toothache, as an injection in the ear in case of hardness of hearing, to kill parasitic worms, as a preventive for infusion, as a treatment for phthiriasis and porrigo, as an antidote for the poison of the sea hare, as a liniment for elephantiasis, and as an ointment to treat ulcers both on the skin and in the lungs. He further speaks of cedria being used as the embalming agent for preparing mummies. "Pissinum" was a tar water that was made by boiling cedria, spreading wool fleeces over the vessels to catch the steam, and then wringing them out.


title: Creosote

text: The "Pharmacopée de Lyon", published in 1778, says that cedar tree oil is believed to cure vomiting and help medicate tumors and ulcers. Physicians contemporary to the discovery of creosote recommended ointments and pills made from tar or pitch to treat skin diseases. Tar water had been used as a folk remedy since the Middle Ages to treat affections like dyspepsia. Bishop Berkeley wrote several works on the medical virtues of tar water, including a philosophical work in 1744 titled "Siris: a chain of philosophical reflexions and inquiries concerning the virtues of tar water, and divers other subjects connected together and arising one from another", and a poem where he praised its virtues. Pyroligneous acid was also used at the time in a medicinal water called "Aqua Binelli".


title: Creosote

text: Given this history, and the antiseptic properties known to creosote, it became popular among physicians in the 19th century. A dilution of creosote in water was sold in pharmacies as "Aqua creosoti", as suggested by the previous use of pyroligneous acid. It was prescribed to quell the irritability of the stomach and bowels and detoxify, treat ulcers and abscesses, neutralize bad odors, and stimulate the mucous tissues of the mouth and throat. Creosote in general was listed as an irritant, styptic, antiseptic, narcotic, and diuretic, and in small doses when taken internally as a sedative and anaesthetic. It was used to treat ulcers, and as a way to sterilize the tooth and deaden the pain in case of a tooth-ache.


title: Creosote

text: Creosote was suggested as a treatment for tuberculosis by Reichenbach as early as 1833. Following Reichenbach, it was argued for by John Elliotson and Sir John Rose Cormack. Elliotson, inspired by the use of creosote to arrest vomiting during an outbreak of cholera, suggested its use for tuberculosis through inhalation. He also suggested it for epilepsy, neuralgia, diabetes, and chronic glanders. The idea of using it for tuberculosis failed to be accepted. Use for this purpose was dropped, until the idea was revived in 1876 by British doctor G. Anderson Imlay, who suggested it be applied locally by spray to the bronchial mucous membrane. This was followed up in 1877 when it was argued for in a clinical paper by Charles Bouchard and Henri Gimbert. Germ theory had been established by Pasteur in 1860, and Bouchard, arguing that a bacillus was responsible for the disease, sought to rehabilitate creosote for its use as an antiseptic to treat it. He began a series of trials with Gimbert to convince the scientific community, and claimed a promising cure rate. A number of publications in Germany confirmed his results in the following years.


title: Creosote

text: Later, a period of experimentation with different techniques and chemicals using creosote in treating tuberculosis lasted until about 1910, when radiation therapy seemed more promising. Guaiacol, instead of a full creosote solution, was suggested by Hermann Sahli in 1887. He argued it had the active chemical of creosote and had the advantage of being of definite composition and having a less unpleasant taste and odor. A number of solutions of both creosote and guaiacol appeared on the market, such as "phosphotal" and "guaicophosphal", phosphites of creosote and guaiacol; "eosot" and "geosot", valerinates of creosote and guaicol; "phosot" and "taphosot", phosphate and tannophospate of creosote; and "creosotal" and "tanosal", tannates of creosote. Creosote and eucalyptus oil were also a remedy used together, administered through a vaporizor and inhaler. Since then, more effective and safer treatments for tuberculosis have been developed.


title: Creosote

text: In the 1940s, Canadian-based Eldon Boyd experimented with guaiacol and a recent synthetic modification—glycerol guaiacolate (guaifenesin)—on animals. His data showed that both drugs were effective in increasing secretions into the airways in laboratory animals, when high enough doses were given.


title: Creosote

text: Wood-tar creosote is to some extent used for wood preservation, but it is generally mixed with coal-tar creosote, since the former is not as effective. Commercially available preparations of "liquid smoke", marketed to add a smoked flavour to meat and aid as a preservative, consist primarily of creosote and other constituents of smoke. Creosote is the ingredient that gives liquid smoke its function; guaicol lends to the taste and the creosote oils help act as the preservative. Creosote can be destroyed by treatment with chlorine, either sodium hypochlorite, or calcium hypochlorite solutions. The phenol ring is essentially opened, and the molecule is then subject to normal digestion and normal respiration.


title: Creosote

text: The guaifenesin developed by Eldon Boyd is still commonly used today as an expectorant, sold over the counter, and usually taken by mouth to assist the bringing up of phlegm from the airways in acute respiratory tract infections. Guaifenesin is a component of Mucinex, Robitussin DAC, Cheratussin DAC, Robitussin AC, Cheratussin AC, Benylin, DayQuil Mucous Control, Meltus, and Bidex 400.


title: Creosote

text: Seirogan is a popular Kampo medicine in Japan, used as an anti-diarrheal, and has 133 mg wood creosote from beech, pine, maple or oak wood per adult dose as its primary ingredient. Seirogan was first used as a gastrointestinal medication by the Imperial Japanese Army in Russia during the Russo-Japanese War of 1904 to 1905.


title: Creosote

text: Creomulsion is a cough medicine in the United States, introduced in 1925, that is still sold and contains beechwood creosote. Beechwood creosote is also found under the name "kreosotum" or "kreosote".


title: Creosote

text: Coal-tar creosote is greenish-brown liquid, with different degrees of darkness, viscosity, and fluorescence depending on how it is made. When freshly made, the creosote is a yellow oil with a greenish cast and highly fluorescent, and the fluorescence is increased by exposure to air and light. After settling, the oil is dark green by reflected light and dark red by transmitted light. To the naked eye, it generally appears brown. The creosote (often called "creosote oil") consists almost wholly of aromatic hydrocarbons, with some amount of bases and acids and other neutral oils. The flash point is 70–75 °C and burning point is 90–100 °C, and when burned it releases a greenish smoke. The smell largely depends on the naphtha content in the creosote. If there is a high amount, it will have a naphtha-like smell, otherwise it will smell more of tar.


title: Creosote

text: In the process of coal-tar distillation, the distillate is collected into four fractions; the "light oil", which remains lighter than water, the "middle oil" which passes over when the light oil is removed; the "heavy oil", which sinks; and the "anthracene oil", which when cold is mostly solid and greasy, of a buttery consistence. Creosote refers to the portion of coal tar which distills as "heavy oil", typically between 230 and 270 °C, also called "dead oil"; it sinks into water but still is fairly liquid. Carbolic acid is produced in the second fraction of distillation and is often distilled into what is referred to as "carbolic oil".


title: Creosote

text: Commercial creosote will contain substances from six groups. The two groups occur in the greatest amounts and are the products of the distillation process—the "tar acids", which distill below 205 °C and consist mainly of phenols, cresols, and xylenols, including carbolic acid—and aromatic hydrocarbons, which divide into naphthalenes, which distill approximately between 205 and 255 °C, and constituents of an anthracene nature, which distill above 255 °C. The quantity of each varies based on the quality of tar and temperatures used, but generally, the tar acids won't exceed 5%, the naphthalenes will make up 15 to 50%, and the anthracenes will make up 45% to 70%. The hydrocarbons are mainly aromatic; derivatives of benzene and related cyclic compounds such as naphthalene, anthracene, phenanthrene, acenaphthene, and fluorene. Creosotes from vertical-retort and low temperature tars contain, in addition, some paraffinic and olefinic hydrocarbons. The tar-acid content also depends on the source of the tar—it may be less than 3% in creosote from coke-oven tar and as high as 32% in creosote from vertical retort tar. All of these have antiseptic properties. The tar acids are the strongest antiseptics but have the highest degree of solubility in water and are the most volatile; so, like with wood-tar creosote, phenols are not the most valued component, as by themselves they would lend to being poor preservatives. In addition, creosote will contain several products naturally occurring in coal—nitrogen-containing heterocycles, such as acridines, carbazoles, and quinolines, referred to as the "tar bases" and generally make up about 3% of the creosote—sulfur-containing heterocycles, generally benzothiophenes—and oxygen-containing heterocycles, dibenzofurans. Lastly, creosote will contain a small number of aromatic amines produced by the other substances during the distillation process and likely resulting from a combination of thermolysis and hydrogenation. The tar bases are often extracted by washing the creosote with aqueous mineral acid, although they're also suggested to have antiseptic ability similar to the tar acids.


title: Creosote

text: Commercially used creosote is often treated to extract the carbolic acid, naphthalene, or anthracene content. The carbolic acid or naphthalene is generally extracted to be used in other commercial products. American produced creosote oils typically will have low amounts of anthracene and high amounts of naphthalene, because when forcing the distillate at a temperature that produces anthracene the soft pitch will be ruined and only the hard pitch will remain; this ruins it for use in roofing purposes, and only leaves a product which isn't commercially useful.


title: Creosote

text: The use of coal-tar creosote on a commercial scale began in 1838, when a patent covering the use of creosote oil to treat timber was taken out by inventor John Bethell. The "Bethell process"—or as it later became known, the full-cell process—involves placing wood to be treated in a sealed chamber and applying a vacuum to remove air and moisture from wood "cells". The wood is then pressure-treated to imbue it with creosote or other preservative chemicals, after which vacuum is reapplied to separate the excess treatment chemicals from the timber. Alongside the zinc chloride-based "Burnett process", use of creosoted wood prepared by the Bethell process became a principal way of preserving railway timbers (most notably railway sleepers) to increase the lifespan of the timbers, and avoiding having to regularly replace them.


title: Creosote

text: Besides treating wood, it was also used for lighting and fuel. In the beginning, it was only used for lighting needed in harbour and outdoor work, where the smoke that was produced from burning it was of little inconvenience. By 1879, lamps had been created that ensured a more complete combustion by using compressed air, removing the drawback of the smoke. Creosote was also processed into gas and used for lighting that way. As a fuel, it was used to power ships at sea and blast furnaces for different industrial needs, once it was discovered to be more efficient than unrefined coal or wood. It was also used industrially for the softening of hard pitch, and burned to produce lamp black. By 1890, the production of creosote in the United Kingdom totaled approximately 29,900,000 gallons per year.


title: Creosote

text: In 1854, Alexander McDougall and Robert Angus Smith developed and patented a product called McDougall's Powder as a sewer deodorant; it mainly consisted of carbolic acid derived from creosote. McDougall, in 1864, experimented with his solution to remove entozoa parasites from cattle pasturing on a sewage farm. This later led to widespread use of creosote as a cattle wash and sheep dip. External parasites would be killed in a creosote diluted dip, and drenching tubes would be used to administer doses to the animals' stomachs to kill internal parasites.


title: Creosote

text: Two later methods for creosoting wood were introduced after the turn of the century, referred to as empty-cell processes, because they involve compressing the air inside the wood so that the preservative can only coat the inner cell walls rather than saturating the interior cell voids. This is a less effective, though usually satisfactory, method of treating the wood, but is used because it requires less of the creosoting material. The first method, the "Rüping process" was patented in 1902, and the second, the "Lowry process" was patented in 1906. Later in 1906, the "Allardyce process" and "Card process" were patented to treat wood with a combination of both creosote and zinc chloride. In 1912, it was estimated that a total of 150,000,000 gallons were produced in the US per year.


title: Creosote

text: Coal-tar creosote, despite its toxicity, was used as a stimulant and escharotic, as a caustic agent used to treat ulcers and malignancies and cauterize wounds and prevent infection and decay. It was particularly used in dentistry to destroy tissues and arrest necrosis.


title: Creosote

text: Coal-tar creosote is the most widely used wood treatment today; both industrially, processed into wood using pressure methods such as "full-cell process" or "empty-cell process", and more commonly applied to wood through brushing. In addition to toxicity to fungi, insects, and marine borers, it serves as a natural water repellent. It is commonly used to preserve and waterproof cross ties, pilings, telephone poles, power line poles, marine pilings, and fence posts. Although suitable for use in preserving the structural timbers of buildings, it is not generally used that way because it is difficult to apply. There are also concerns about the environmental impact of the leaching of creosote into aquatic ecosystems.


title: Creosote

text: Due to its carcinogenic character, the European Union has regulated the quality of creosote for the EU market and requires that the sale of creosote be limited to professional users. The United States Environmental Protection Agency regulates the use of coal-tar creosote as a wood preservative under the provisions of the Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act. Creosote is considered a restricted-use pesticide and is only available to licensed pesticide applicators.


title: Creosote

text: Oil-tar creosote is derived from the tar that forms when using petroleum or shale oil in the manufacturing of gas. The distillation of the tar from the oil occurs at very high temperatures; around 980 °C. The tar forms at the same time as the gas, and once processed for creosotes contains a high percentage of cyclic hydrocarbons, a very low amount of tar acids and tar bases, and no true anthracenes have been identified. Historically, this has mainly been produced in the United States on the Pacific coast, where petroleum has been more abundant than coal. Limited quantities have been used industrially, either alone, mixed with coal-tar creosote, or fortified with pentachlorophenol.


title: Creosote

text: Water-gas-tar creosote is also derived from petroleum oil or shale oil, but by a different process; it is distilled during the production of water gas. The tar is a by-product resulting from enrichment of water gas with gases produced by thermal decomposition of petroleum. Of the creosotes derived from oil, it is practically the only one used for wood preservation. It has the same degree of solubility as coal-tar creosote and is easy to infuse into wood. Like standard oil-tar creosote, it has a low amount of tar acids and tar bases, and has less antiseptic qualities. Petri dish tests have shown that water-gas-tar creosote is one-sixth as anti-septically effective as that of coal-tar.


title: Creosote

text: Lignite-tar creosote is produced from lignite rather than bituminous coal, and varies considerably from coal-tar creosote. Also called "lignite oil", it has a very high content of tar acids, and has been used to increase the tar acids in normal creosote when necessary. When it has been produced, it has generally been applied in mixtures with coal-tar creosote or petroleum. Its effectiveness when used alone has not been established. In an experiment with southern yellow pine fence posts in Mississippi, straight lignite-tar creosote was giving good results after about 27 years exposure, although not as good as the standard coal-tar creosote used in the same situation.


title: Creosote

text: There have also been attempts to distill creosote from peat-tar, although mostly unsuccessful due to the problems with winning and drying peat on an industrial scale. Peat tar by itself has in the past been used as a wood preservative.


title: Creosote

text: According to the Agency for Toxic Substances and Disease Registry (ATSDR), eating food or drinking water contaminated with high levels of coal-tar creosote may cause a burning in the mouth and throat, and stomach pains. ATSDR also states that brief direct contact with large amounts of coal-tar creosote may result in a rash or severe irritation of the skin, chemical burns of the surfaces of the eyes, convulsions and mental confusion, kidney or liver problems, unconsciousness, and even death. Longer direct skin contact with low levels of creosote mixtures or their vapours can result in increased light sensitivity, damage to the cornea, and skin damage. Longer exposure to creosote vapours can cause irritation of the respiratory tract.


title: Creosote

text: The International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has determined that coal-tar creosote is probably carcinogenic to humans, based on adequate animal evidence and limited human evidence. The animal testing relied upon by IARC involved the continuous application of creosote to the shaved skin of rodents. After weeks of creosote application, the animals developed cancerous skin lesions and in one test, lesions of the lung. The United States Environmental Protection Agency has stated that coal-tar creosote is a probable human carcinogen based on both human and animal studies. As a result, the Federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has set a permissible exposure limit of 0.2 milligrams of coal-tar creosote per cubic meter of air (0.2 mg/m3) in the workplace during an 8-hour day, and the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) requires that spills or accidental releases into the environment of one pound (0.454 kg) or more of creosote be reported to them.


title: Creosote

text: There is no unique exposure pathway of children to creosote. Children exposed to creosote will probably experience the same health effects seen in adults exposed to creosote. It is unknown whether children differ from adults in their susceptibility to health effects from creosote.


title: Creosote

text: A 2005 mortality study of creosote workers found no evidence supporting an increased risk of cancer death, as a result of exposure to creosote. Based on the findings of the largest mortality study to date of workers employed in creosote wood treating plants, there is no evidence that employment at creosote wood-treating plants or exposure to creosote-based preservatives was associated with any significant mortality increase from either site-specific cancers or non-malignant diseases. The study consisted of 2,179 employees at eleven plants in the United States where wood was treated with creosote preservatives. Some workers began work in the 1940s to 1950s. The observation period of the study covered 1979–2001. The average length of employment was 12.5 years. One third of the study subjects were employed for over 15 years.


title: Creosote

text: The largest health effect of creosote is deaths caused by residential chimney fires due to chimney tar (creosote) build-up. This is entirely unconnected with its industrial production or use.


title: Creosote

text: Burning wood and fossil fuels in the absence of adequate airflow (such as in an enclosed furnace or stove), causes incomplete combustion of the oils in the wood, which are off-gassed as volatiles in the smoke. As the smoke rises through the chimney it cools, causing water, carbon, and volatiles to condense on the interior surfaces of the chimney flue. The black oily residue that builds up is referred to as creosote, which is similar in composition to the commercial products by the same name, but with a higher content of carbon black.


title: Creosote

text: Over the course of a season creosote deposits can become several inches thick. This creates a compounding problem, because the creosote deposits reduce the draft (airflow through the chimney) which increases the probability that the wood fire is not getting enough air for complete combustion. Since creosote is highly combustible, a thick accumulation creates a fire hazard. If a hot fire is built in the stove or fireplace, and the air control left wide open, this may allow hot oxygen into the chimney where it comes in contact with the creosote which then ignites—causing a chimney fire. Chimney fires often spread to the main building because the chimney gets so hot that it ignites any combustible material in direct contact with it, such as wood. The fire can also spread to the main building from sparks emitting from the chimney and landing on combustible roof surfaces. In order to properly maintain chimneys and heaters that burn wood or carbon-based fuels, the creosote buildup must be removed. Chimney sweeps perform this service for a fee.


title: Creosote

text: Even though creosote is pressurized into the wood, the release of the chemical – and resulting marine pollution – occurs due to many different events: During the lifetime of the marine piling, weathering occurs from tides and water flow which slowly opens the oily outer coating and exposes the smaller internal pores to more water flow. Frequent weathering occurs daily, but more severe weather, such as hurricanes, can cause damage or loosening of the wooden pilings. Many pilings are either broken into pieces from debris, or are completely washed away during these storms. When the pilings are washed away, they come to settle on the bottom of the body of water where they reside, and then they leach chemicals into the water slowly over a long period of time. This long-term secretion is not normally noticed because the piling is submerged beneath the surface, hidden from sight.


title: Creosote

text: The creosote is mostly insoluble in water, but the lower-molecular-weight compounds will become soluble the longer the broken wood is exposed to the water. In this case, some of the chemicals become water-soluble and further leach into the aquatic sediment while the rest of the insoluble chemicals remain together in a tar-like substance. Another source of damage comes from wood-boring fauna, such as shipworms and "Limnoria". Though creosote is used as a pesticide preservative, studies have shown that Limnoria is resistant to wood preservative pesticides and can cause small holes in the wood, through which creosote can then be released.


title: Creosote

text: Once the soluble compounds from the creosote preservative leach into the water, the compounds begin reacting with the external environment or are consumed by organisms. The reactions vary depending on the concentration of each compound that is released from the creosote, but major reactions are outlined below:


title: Creosote

text: Alkylation occurs when a molecule replaces a hydrogen atom with an alkyl group that generally comes from an organic molecule. Alkyl groups that are found naturally occurring in the environment are organometallic compounds. Organometallic compounds generally contain a methyl, ethyl, or butyl derivative which is the alkyl group that replaces the hydrogen. Other organic compounds, such as methanol, can provide alkyl groups for alkylation. Methanol is found naturally in the environment in small concentrations, and has been linked to the release from biological decomposition of waste and even a byproduct of vegetation. The following reactions are alkylations of soluble compounds found in creosote preservatives with methanol.


title: Creosote

text: The diagram above depicts a reaction between m-cresol and methanol where a c-alkylation product is produced. The c-alkylation reaction means that instead of replacing the hydrogen atom on the -OH group, the methyl group (from the methanol) replaces the hydrogen on a carbon in the benzene ring. The products of this c-alkylation can be in either a para- or ortho- orientation on the molecule, as seen in the diagram, and water, which is not shown. Isomers of the dimethylphenol (DMP) compound are the products of the para- and ortho-c-alkylation. Dimethylphenol (DMP) compound is listed as an aquatic hazard by characteristic, and is toxic with long lasting effects.


title: Creosote

text: This diagram shows an o-alkylation between phenol and methanol. Unlike the c-alkylation, the o-alkylation replaces the hydrogen atom on the -OH group with the methyl group (from the methanol). The product of the o-alkylation is methoxybenzene, better-known as anisole, and water, which is not shown in the diagram. Anisole is listed as an acute hazard to aquatic life with long-term effects.


title: Creosote

text: Bioaccumulation is the process by which an organism takes in chemicals through ingestion, exposure, and inhalation. Bioaccumulation is broken down into bioconcentration (uptake of chemicals from the environment) and biomagnification (increasing concentration of chemicals as they move up the food chain). Certain species of aquatic organisms are affected differently from the chemicals released from creosote preservatives. One of the more studied organisms is a mollusk. Mollusks attach to the wooden, marine pilings and are in direct contact with the creosote preservatives. Many studies have been conducted using polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAH), which are low molecular hydrocarbons found in some creosote-based preservatives. In a study conducted from Pensacola, Florida, a group of native mollusks were kept in a controlled environment, and a different group of native mollusks were kept in an environment contaminated with creosote preservatives. The mollusks in the contaminated environment were shown to have a bioaccumulation of up to ten times the concentration of PAH than the control species. The intake of organisms is dependent on whether the compound is in an ionized or an un-ionized form. To determine whether the compound is ionized or un-ionized, the pH of the surrounding environment must be compared to the pKa or acidity constant of the compound. If the pH of the environment is lower than the pKa, then the compound is un-ionized which means that the compound will behave as if it is non-polar. Bioaccumulation for un-ionized compounds comes from partitioning equilibrium between the aqueous phase and the lipids in the organism. If the pH is higher than the pKa, then the compound is considered to be in the ionized form. The un-ionized form is favored because the bioaccumulation is easier for the organism to intake through partitioning equilibrium. The table below shows a list of pKas from compounds found in creosote preservatives and compares them to the average pH of seawater (reported to be 8.1).


title: Creosote

text: Each of the compounds in the table above is found in creosote preservatives; all are in the favored un-ionized form. In another study, various species of small fish were tested to see how the exposure time to PAH chemicals affected the fish. This study showed that an exposure time of 24–96 hours on various shrimp and fish species affected the growth, reproduction, and survival functions of the organisms for most of the compounds tested.


title: Creosote

text: Biodegradation can be seen in some studies that biodegradation accounts for the absence of creosote preservatives on the initial surface of the sediment. In a study from Pensacola, Florida, PAHs were not detected on the surface on the aquatic sediment, but the highest concentrations were detected at a depth of 8-13 centimeters. A form an anaerobic biodegradation of m-cresol was seen in a study using sulfate-reducing and nitrate-reducing enriched environments. The reduction of m-cresol in this study was seen in under 144 hours, while additional chemical intermediates were being formed. The chemical intermediates were formed in the presence of bicarbonate. The products included 4-hydroxy-2-methylbenzoic acid and acetate compounds. Although the conditions were enriched with the reducing anaerobic compounds, sulfate and nitrate reducing bacteria are commonly found in the environment. For further information, see sulfate-reducing bacteria. The type of anaerobic bacteria ultimately determines the reduction of the creosote preservative compounds, while each individual compound may only go through reduction under certain conditions. BTEX is a mixture of benzene, toluene, ethylbenzene, and xylene, that was studied in the presence of four different anaerobic-enriched sediments. Though the compound, BTEX, is not found in creosote preservatives, the products of creosote preservatives' oxidation-reduction reactions include some of these compounds. For oxidation-reduction reactions, see the following section. In this study, it was seen that certain compounds such as benzene were only reduced under sulfate-enriched environments, while toluene was reduced under a variety of bacteria-enriched environments, not just sulfate. The biodegradation of a creosote preservative in an anaerobic enrichment depends not only on the type of bacteria enriching the environment, but also the compound that has been released from the preservative. In aerobic environments, preservative compounds are limited in the biodegradation process by the presence of free oxygen. In an aerobic environment, free oxygen comes from oxygen saturated sediments, sources of precipitation, and plume edges. The free oxygen allows for the compounds to be oxidized and decomposed into new intermediate compounds. Studies have shown that when BTEX and PAH compounds were placed in aerobic environments, the oxidation of the ring structures caused cleavage in the aromatic ring and allowed for other functional groups to attach. When an aromatic hydrocarbon was introduced to the molecular oxygen in experimental conditions, a dihydrodiol intermediate was formed, and then oxidation occurred transforming the aromatic into a catechol compound. Catechol allows for cleavage of the aromatic ring to occur, where functional groups can then add in an ortho- or meta- position.


title: Creosote

text: Even though many studies conduct testing under experimental or enriched conditions, oxidation-reduction reactions occur naturally and allow for chemicals to go through processes such as biodegradation, outlined above. Oxidation is defined as the loss of an electron to another species, while reduction is the gaining of an electron from another species. As compounds go through oxidation and reduction in sediments, the preservative compounds are altered to form new chemicals, leading to decomposition. An example of the oxidation of p-cresol and phenol can be seen in the figures below:


title: Creosote

text: This reaction shows the oxidation of p-cresol in a sulfate-enriched environment. P-cresol was seen to be the easiest to degrade through the sulfate-enriched environment, while m-cresol and o-cresol where inhibited. In the chart above, p-cresol was oxidized under an anaerobic sulfate reducing condition and formed four different intermediates. After the formation of the intermediates, the study reported further degradation of the intermediates leading to the production of carbon dioxide and methane. The p-hydroxylbenzyl alcohol, p-hydroxylbenzaldehye, p-hyrdoxylbenzoate, and benzoate intermediates all are produced from this oxidation and released into the sediments. Similar results were also produced by different studies using other forms of oxidation such as: iron-reducing organisms, Copper/Manganese Oxide catalyst, and nitrate- reducing conditions.


title: Creosote

text: This reaction shows the oxidation of phenol by iron and peroxide. This combination of iron, which comes from iron oxide in the sediment, and the peroxide, commonly released by animals and plants into the environment, is known as the Fenton Reagent. This reagent is used to oxidize phenol groups by the use of a radical hydroxide group produced from the peroxide in the p-benzoquinone. This product of phenol's oxidation is now leached into the environment while other products include iron(II) and water. P-benzoquinone is listed as being a very toxic, acute environmental hazard.


title: Creosote

text: In aquatic sediments, several reactions can transform the chemicals released by the creosote preservatives into more dangerous chemicals. Most creosote preservative compounds have hazards associated with them before they are transformed. Cresol (m-, p-, and o-), phenol, guaiacol, and xylenol (1,3,4- and 1,3,5-) all are acute aquatic hazards prior to going through chemical reactions with the sediments. Alkylation reactions allows for the compounds to transition into more toxic compounds with the addition of R-groups to the major compounds found in creosote preservatives. Compounds formed through alkylation include: 3,4-dimethylphenol, 2,3-dimethylphenol, and 2,5-dimethylphenol, which are all listed as acute environmental hazards. Biodegradation controls the rate at which the sediment holds the chemicals, and the number of reactions that are able to take place. The biodegradation process can take place under many different conditions, and vary depending on the compounds that are released. Oxidation-reduction reactions allow for the compounds to be broken down into new forms of more toxic molecules. Studies have shown oxidation-reduction reactions of creosote preservative compounds included compounds that are listed as environmental hazards, such as p-benzoquinone in the oxidation of phenol. Not only are the initial compounds in creosote hazardous to the environment, but the byproducts of the chemical reactions are environmental hazardous as well.


title: Creosote

text: From the contamination of the sediment, more of the ecosystem is affected. Organisms in the sediment are now exposed to the new chemicals. Organisms are then ingested by fish and other aquatic animals. These animals now contain concentrations of hazardous chemicals which were secreted from the creosote. Other issues with ecosystems include bioaccumulation. Bioaccumulation occurs when high levels of chemicals are passed to aquatic life near the creosote pilings. Mollusks and other smaller crustaceans are at higher risk because they are directly attached to the surface of wood pilings that are filled with creosote preservative. Studies show that mollusks in these environments take on high concentrations of chemical compounds which will then be transferred through the ecosystem's food chain. Bioaccumulation contributes to the higher concentrations of chemicals within the organisms in the aquatic ecosystems.


title: Trade winds

text: The trade winds or easterlies are the permanent east-to-west prevailing winds that flow in the Earth's equatorial region. The trade winds blow mainly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere, strengthening during the winter and when the Arctic oscillation is in its warm phase. Trade winds have been used by captains of sailing ships to cross the world's oceans for centuries. They enabled colonial expansion into the Americas, and trade routes to become established across the Atlantic Ocean and the Pacific Ocean.


title: Trade winds

text: In meteorology, they act as the steering flow for tropical storms that form over the Atlantic, Pacific, and southern Indian oceans and make landfall in North America, Southeast Asia, and Madagascar and East Africa. Shallow cumulus clouds are seen within trade wind regimes and are capped from becoming taller by a trade wind inversion, which is caused by descending air aloft from within the subtropical ridge. The weaker the trade winds become, the more rainfall can be expected in the neighboring landmasses.


title: Trade winds

text: The trade winds also transport nitrate- and phosphate-rich Saharan dust to all Latin America, the Caribbean Sea, and to parts of southeastern and southwestern North America. Sahara dust is on occasion present in sunsets across Florida. When dust from the Sahara travels over land, rainfall is suppressed and the sky changes from a blue to a white appearance which leads to an increase in red sunsets. Its presence negatively impacts air quality by adding to the count of airborne particulates.


title: Trade winds

text: The term originally derives from the early fourteenth century sense of trade (in late Middle English) still often meaning "path" or "track". The Portuguese recognized the importance of the trade winds (then the "volta do mar", meaning in Portuguese "turn of the sea" but also "return from the sea") in navigation in both the north and south Atlantic Ocean as early as the 15th century. From West Africa, the Portuguese had to sail away from continental Africa, that is, to west and northwest. They could then turn northeast, to the area around the Azores islands, and finally east to mainland Europe. They also learned that to reach South Africa, they needed to go far out in the ocean, head for Brazil, and around 30°S go east again. (This is because following the African coast southbound means sailing upwind in the Southern hemisphere.) In the Pacific Ocean, the full wind circulation, which included both the trade wind easterlies and higher-latitude westerlies, was unknown to Europeans until Andres de Urdaneta's voyage in 1565.


title: Trade winds

text: The captain of a sailing ship seeks a course along which the winds can be expected to blow in the direction of travel. During the Age of Sail, the pattern of prevailing winds made various points of the globe easy or difficult to access, and therefore had a direct effect on European empire-building and thus on modern political geography. For example, Manila galleons could not sail into the wind at all.


title: Trade winds

text: By the 18th century, the importance of the trade winds to England's merchant fleet for crossing the Atlantic Ocean had led both the general public and etymologists to identify the name with a later meaning of "trade": "(foreign) commerce". Between 1847 and 1849, Matthew Fontaine Maury collected enough information to create wind and current charts for the world's oceans.


title: Trade winds

text: As part of the Hadley cell, surface air flows toward the equator while the flow aloft is towards the poles. A low-pressure area of calm, light variable winds near the equator is known as the doldrums, near-equatorial trough, intertropical front, or the Intertropical Convergence Zone. When located within a monsoon region, this zone of low pressure and wind convergence is also known as the monsoon trough. Around 30° in both hemispheres, air begins to descend toward the surface in subtropical high-pressure belts known as subtropical ridges. The subsident (sinking) air is relatively dry because as it descends, the temperature increases, but the moisture content remains constant, which lowers the relative humidity of the air mass. This warm, dry air is known as a superior air mass and normally resides above a maritime tropical (warm and moist) air mass. An increase of temperature with height is known as a temperature inversion. When it occurs within a trade wind regime, it is known as a trade wind inversion.


title: Trade winds

text: The surface air that flows from these subtropical high-pressure belts toward the Equator is deflected toward the west in both hemispheres by the Coriolis effect. These winds blow predominantly from the northeast in the Northern Hemisphere and from the southeast in the Southern Hemisphere. Because winds are named for the direction from which the wind is blowing, these winds are called the northeasterly trade winds in the Northern Hemisphere and the southeasterly trade winds in the Southern Hemisphere. The trade winds of both hemispheres meet at the Doldrums.


title: Trade winds

text: As they blow across tropical regions, air masses heat up over lower latitudes due to more direct sunlight. Those that develop over land (continental) are drier and hotter than those that develop over oceans (maritime), and travel northward on the western periphery of the subtropical ridge. Maritime tropical air masses are sometimes referred to as trade air masses. All tropical oceans except the northern Indian Ocean have extensive areas of trade winds.


title: Trade winds

text: Clouds which form above regions within trade wind regimes are typically composed of cumulus which extend no more than in height, and are capped from being taller by the trade wind inversion. Trade winds originate more from the direction of the poles (northeast in the Northern Hemisphere, southeast in the Southern Hemisphere) during the cold season, and are stronger in the winter than the summer. As an example, the windy season in the Guianas, which lie at low latitudes in South America, occurs between January and April. When the phase of the Arctic oscillation (AO) is warm, trade winds are stronger within the tropics. The cold phase of the AO leads to weaker trade winds. When the trade winds are weaker, more extensive areas of rain fall upon landmasses within the tropics, such as Central America.


title: Trade winds

text: During mid-summer in the Northern Hemisphere (July), the westward-moving trade winds south of the northward-moving subtropical ridge expand northwestward from the Caribbean sea into southeastern North America (Florida and Gulf Coast). When dust from the Sahara moving around the southern periphery of the ridge travels over land, rainfall is suppressed and the sky changes from a blue to a white appearance which leads to an increase in red sunsets. Its presence negatively impacts air quality by adding to the count of airborne particulates. Although the Southeast USA has some of the cleanest air in North America, much of the African dust that reaches the United States affects Florida. Since 1970, dust outbreaks have worsened due to periods of drought in Africa. There is a large variability in the dust transport to the Caribbean and Florida from year to year. Dust events have been linked to a decline in the health of coral reefs across the Caribbean and Florida, primarily since the 1970s.


title: Trade winds

text: Every year, millions of tons of nutrient-rich Saharan dust cross the Atlantic Ocean, bringing vital phosphorus and other fertilizers to depleted Amazon soils.


title: Hue

text: In color theory, hue is one of the main properties (called color appearance parameters) of a color, defined technically in the CIECAM02 model as "the degree to which a stimulus can be described as similar to or different from stimuli that are described as red, orange, yellow, green, blue, violet," within certain theories of color vision.


title: Hue

text: Hue can typically be represented quantitatively by a single number, often corresponding to an angular position around a central or neutral point or axis on a color space coordinate diagram (such as a chromaticity diagram) or color wheel, or by its dominant wavelength or by that of its complementary color. The other color appearance parameters are colorfulness, saturation (also known as intensity or chroma), lightness, and brightness. Usually, colors with the same hue are distinguished with adjectives referring to their lightness or colorfulness - for example: "light blue", "pastel blue", "vivid blue", "cobalt blue". Exceptions include brown, which is a dark orange.


title: Hue

text: In painting, a hue is a "pure" pigment—one without tint or shade (added white or black pigment, respectively).


title: Hue

text: The concept of a color system with a hue was explored as early as 1830 with Philipp Otto Runge's color sphere. The Munsell color system from the 1930s was a great step forward, as it was realized that perceptual uniformity means the color space can no longer be a sphere.


title: Hue

text: In opponent color spaces in which two of the axes are perceptually orthogonal to lightness, such as the CIE 1976 ("L"*, "a"*, "b"*) (CIELAB) and 1976 ("L"*, "u"*, "v"*) (CIELUV) color spaces, hue may be computed together with chroma by converting these coordinates from rectangular form to polar form. Hue is the angular component of the polar representation, while chroma is the radial component.


title: Hue

text: Preucil describes a color hexagon, similar to a trilinear plot described by Evans, Hanson, and Brewer, which may be used to compute hue from RGB. To place red at 0°, green at 120°, and blue at 240°,


title: Hue

text: Preucil used a polar plot, which he termed a color circle. Using R, G, and B, one may compute hue angle using the following scheme: determine which of the six possible orderings of R, G, and B prevail, then apply the formula given in the table below.


title: Hue

text: Note that in each case the formula contains the fraction formula_5, where "H" is the highest of R, G, and B; "L" is the lowest, and "M" is the mid one between the other two. This is referred to as the "Preucil hue error" and was used in the computation of mask strength in photomechanical color reproduction.


title: Hue

text: Hue angles computed for the Preucil circle agree with the hue angle computed for the Preucil hexagon at integer multiples of 30° (red, yellow, green, cyan, blue, magenta, and the colors midway between contiguous pairs) and differ by approximately 1.2° at odd integer multiples of 15° (based on the circle formula), the maximal divergence between the two.


title: Hue

text: The process of converting an RGB color into an HSL color space or HSV color space is usually based on a 6-piece piecewise mapping, treating the HSV cone as a hexacone, or the HSL double cone as a double hexacone. The formulae used are those in the table above.


title: Hue

text: The hue angles below only apply to the two Preucil-style transformations of RGB, and does not apply to the more uniform Lab/LUV-based colorspaces. As illustrated by the variance in luminance, the RGB-based transformations separate the color-making attributes poorly.


title: Hue

text: Manufacturers of pigments use the word hue, for example, "cadmium yellow (hue)" to indicate that the original pigmentation ingredient, often toxic, has been replaced by safer (or cheaper) alternatives whilst retaining the hue of the original. Replacements are often used for chromium, cadmium and alizarin.


title: Hue

text: Dominant wavelength (or sometimes equivalent wavelength) is a physical analog to the perceptual attribute hue. On a chromaticity diagram, a line is drawn from a white point through the coordinates of the color in question, until it intersects the spectral locus. The wavelength at which the line intersects the spectrum locus is identified as the color's dominant wavelength if the point is on the same side of the white point as the spectral locus, and as the color's complementary wavelength if the point is on the opposite side.


title: Hue

text: There are two main ways in which hue difference is quantified. The first is the simple difference between the two hue angles. The symbol for this expression of hue difference is formula_6 in CIELAB and formula_7 in CIELUV. The other is computed as the residual total color difference after Lightness and Chroma differences have been accounted for; its symbol is formula_8 in CIELAB and formula_9 in CIELUV.


title: Hue

text: There exists some correspondence, more or less precise, between hue values and color terms (names). One approach in color science is to use traditional color terms but try to give them more precise definitions. See spectral color#Table of spectral or near-spectral colors for names of highly saturated colors with the hue from ≈ 0° (red) up to ≈ 275° (violet), and line of purples#Table of highly-saturated purple colors for color terms of the remaining part of the color wheel.


title: Hue

text: Alternative approach is to use a systematic notation. It can be a standard angle notation for certain color model such as HSL/HSV mentioned above, CIELUV, or CIECAM02. Alphanumeric notations such as of Munsell color system, NCS, and Pantone Matching System are also used.


title: Friendly fire

text: In military terminology, friendly fire or fratricide is an attack by belligerent or neutral forces on friendly troops while attempting to attack enemy/hostile targets. Examples include misidentifying the target as hostile, cross-fire while engaging an enemy, long range ranging errors or inaccuracy. Accidental fire not intended to attack enemy/hostile targets, and deliberate firing on one's own troops for disciplinary reasons, is not called friendly fire, and neither is unintentional harm to civilian or neutral targets, which is sometimes referred to as collateral damage. Training accidents and bloodless incidents also do not qualify as friendly fire in terms of casualty reporting.


title: Friendly fire

text: Use of the term "friendly" in a military context for allied personnel started during the First World War, often when shells fell short of the targeted enemy. The term "friendly fire" was originally adopted by the United States military; S.L.A. Marshall used the term in "Men Against Fire" in 1947. Many North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) militaries refer to these incidents as blue on blue, which derives from military exercises where NATO forces were identified by blue pennants and units representing Warsaw Pact forces by red pennants. In classical forms of warfare where hand-to-hand combat dominated, death from a "friendly" was rare, but in industrialized warfare, deaths from friendly fire are common.


title: Friendly fire

text: Friendly fire should not be confused with fragging, which is the "intentional" (or attempted) killing of servicemen by fellow personnel serving on the same side.


title: Friendly fire

text: Paul R. Syms argues that friendly fire is an ancient phenomenon. He notes recorded events in Ancient Greece and other early accounts of battles. He and other historians also note that weapons such as guns, artillery, and aircraft dramatically increased friendly-fire casualties.


title: Friendly fire

text: By the 20th and 21st centuries, friendly-fire casualties have likely become a significant percentage of combat injuries and fatalities. Jon Krakauer provides an overview of American casualties during and since the Second World War:


title: Friendly fire

text: In the annals of warfare, deaths at the hand of the enemy are often valorized, while those at the hand of friendly forces may be cast in shame. Moreover, because public relations and morale are important, especially in modern warfare, the military may be inclined to under-report incidents of friendly-fire, especially when in charge of both investigations and press releases:


title: Friendly fire

text: Although there may well be a longstanding history of such bias, Jon Krakauer claims "the scale and sophistication of these recent propaganda efforts, and the unabashedness of their executors" in Iraq and Afghanistan is new.


title: Friendly fire

text: Friendly fire can arise from the "fog of war" – the confusion inherent in warfare. Friendly fire that is the result of apparent recklessness or incompetence may be improperly lumped into this category. The concept of a fog of war has come under considerable criticism, as it can be used as an excuse for poor planning, weak or compromised intelligence and incompetent command.


title: Friendly fire

text: Errors of position occur when fire aimed at enemy forces may accidentally end up hitting one's own. Such incidents are exacerbated by close proximity of combatants and were relatively common during the First and Second World Wars, where troops fought in close combat and targeting was relatively inaccurate. As the accuracy of weapons improved, this class of incident has become less common but still occurs.


title: Friendly fire

text: Errors of identification happen when friendly troops are mistakenly attacked in the belief that they are the enemy. Highly mobile battles, and battles involving troops from many nations are more likely to cause this kind of incident as evidenced by incidents in the 1991 Gulf War, or the shooting down of a British aircraft by a U.S. Patriot battery during the 2003 invasion of Iraq. In the Tarnak Farm incident, four Canadian soldiers were killed and eight others injured when a U.S. Air National Guard Major dropped a 500 lb (230 kg) bomb from his F-16 onto the Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry regiment which was conducting a night firing exercise near Kandahar. Another case of such an accident was the death of Pat Tillman in Afghanistan, although the exact circumstances of that incident are yet to be definitively determined.


title: Friendly fire

text: During World War II, "invasion stripes" were painted on Allied aircraft to assist identification in preparation for the invasion of Normandy. Similar markings had been used when the Hawker Typhoon was first introduced into use as it was otherwise very similar in profile to a German aircraft. Late in the war the "protection squadron" that covered the elite German jet fighter squadron as it landed or took off were brightly painted to distinguish them from raiding Allied fighters.


title: Friendly fire

text: Errors of response inhibition have recently been proposed as another potential cause of some friendly fire accidents. These types of errors are different from visual misidentification, and instead appear to be caused by a failure to inhibit a shooting response.


title: Friendly fire

text: A number of situations can lead to or exacerbate the risk of friendly fire. Difficult terrain and visibility are major factors. Soldiers fighting on unfamiliar ground can become disoriented more easily than on familiar terrain. The direction from which enemy fire comes may not be easy to identify, and poor weather conditions and combat stress may add to the confusion, especially if fire is exchanged. Accurate navigation and fire discipline are vital. In high-risk situations, leaders need to ensure units are properly informed of the location of friendly units and must issue clear, unambiguous orders, but they must also react correctly to responses from soldiers who are capable of using their own judgement. Miscommunication can be deadly. Radios, field telephones, and signalling systems can be used to address the problem, but when these systems are used to co-ordinate multiple forces such as ground troops and aircraft, their breakdown can dramatically increase the risk of friendly fire. When allied troops are operating, the situation is even more complex, especially with language barriers to overcome.


title: Friendly fire

text: Some analyses dismiss the material impact of friendly fire, by concluding friendly-fire casualties are usually too few to affect the outcome of a battle. The effects of friendly fire, however, are not just material. Troops expect to be targeted by the enemy, but being hit by their own forces has a huge negative impact on morale. Forces doubt the competence of their command, and its prevalence makes commanders more cautious in the field.


title: Friendly fire

text: Attempts to reduce this effect by military leaders involve identifying the causes of friendly fire and overcoming repetition of the incident through training, tactics and technology.


title: Friendly fire

text: Most militaries use extensive training to ensure troop safety as part of normal coordination and planning, but are not always exposed to possible friendly-fire situations to ensure they are aware of situations where the risk is high. Difficult terrain and bad weather cannot be controlled, but soldiers must be trained to operate effectively in these conditions, as well as being trained to fight at night. Such simulated training is now commonplace for soldiers worldwide. Avoiding friendly fire can be as straightforward as ensuring fire discipline is instilled in troops, so that they fire and cease firing when they are told to. Firing ranges now also include 'Don't Fire' targets.


title: Friendly fire

text: The increasing sophistication of weaponry, and the tactics employed against American forces to deliberately confuse them has meant that while overall casualties have fallen for American soldiers in the late 20th and 21st centuries, the overall percentage of deaths due to friendly fire in American actions has risen dramatically. In the 1991 Gulf War, most of the Americans killed by their own forces were crew members of armored vehicles hit by anti-tank rounds. The response in training includes recognition training for Apache helicopter crews to help them distinguish American tanks and armored vehicles at night and in bad weather from those of the enemy. In addition, tank gunners must watch for "friendly" robotic tanks that pop out on training courses in California's Mojave Desert. They also study video footage to help them recognize American forces in battle more quickly.


title: Friendly fire

text: Improved technology to assist in identifying friendly forces is also an ongoing response to friendly fire problems.


title: Friendly fire

text: From the earliest days of warfare, identification systems were visual and developed into extremely elaborate suits of armour with distinctive heraldic patterns. During the Napoleonic Wars, Admiral Nelson ordered that ships under his command adopt a common paint scheme to reduce friendly fire incidents; this pattern became known as the Nelson Chequer. Invasion stripes served a similar function during the Allied invasion of Normandy in World War II. When radar was developed during World War II, IFF systems to identify aircraft developed into a multitude of radio beacons.


title: Friendly fire

text: Correct navigation is vital to ensuring units know where they are in relation to their own force and the enemy. Efforts to provide accurate compasses inside metal boxes in tanks and trucks has proven difficult, with GPS a major breakthrough.


title: Friendly fire

text: Other technological changes include hand-held navigational devices that use satellite signals, giving ground forces the exact location of enemy forces as well as their own. The use of infrared lights and thermal tape that are invisible to observers without night-goggles, or fibres and dyes that reflect only specific wavelengths are developing into key identifiers for friendly infantry units at night.


title: Friendly fire

text: There is also some development of remote sensors to detect enemy vehicles – the Remotely Monitored Battlefield Sensor System (REMBASS) uses a combination of acoustic, seismic vibration, and infrared to not just detect, but identify vehicles.


title: Friendly fire

text: Some tactics make friendly fire virtually inevitable, such as the practice of dropping barrages of mortars on enemy machine gun posts in the final moments before capture. This practice continued throughout the 20th century since machine guns were first used in World War I. The high friendly fire risk has generally been accepted by troops since machine gun emplacements are tactically so valuable, and at the same time so dangerous that the attackers wanted them to be shelled, considering the shells far less deadly than the machine guns.


title: Friendly fire

text: Tactical adjustments include the use of "kill boxes", or zones that are placed off-limits to ground forces while allied aircraft attack targets, which goes back to the beginning of military aircraft in World War I.


title: Friendly fire

text: The shock and awe battle tactics adopted by the American military – overwhelming power, battlefield awareness, dominant maneuvers, and spectacular displays of force – are employed because they are believed to be the best way to win a war quickly and decisively, reducing casualties on both sides. However, if the only people doing the shooting are American, then a high percentage of total casualties are bound to be the result of friendly fire, blunting the effectiveness of the shock and awe tactic. It is probably the fact that friendly fire has proven to be the only fundamental weakness of the tactics that has caused the American military to take significant steps to overturn a blasé attitude to friendly fire and assess ways to eliminate it.


title: Friendly fire

text: During Operation Husky, codename for the Allied invasion of Sicily, on the night of 11 July 1943, American C-47 transport planes were mistakenly fired upon by American ground and naval forces and 23 planes were shot down and 37 damaged, resulting in 318 casualties, with 60 airmen and 81 paratroopers killed.


title: Friendly fire

text: This led to the use of Invasion stripes that were used during D-Day as a visible way to prevent friendly fire. During the Invasion of Ukraine the Z (military symbol) has been used on Russian vehicles as a form of marking. There are various explanations as to its meaning, however, one is that both sides are using the same equipment. Ukrainian forces have responded by using visible Ukrainian flags on their vehicles. The picture has become more confused as both sides are using captured or abandoned equipment with Ukraine using captured Russian tanks.


title: Friendly fire

text: Incidents range from the killing of Royalist commander, the Earl of Kingston, by Royalist cannon fire during the English Civil War, the bombing of American troops by Eighth Air Force bombers during Operation Cobra in World War II, the eight-hour firefight between British units during the Cyprus Emergency, the sinking of the German destroyers "Leberecht Maass" and "Max Schultz" by the Luftwaffe in the North Sea during WW2, the downing of a British Army Gazelle helicopter by a British warship during the Falklands War, the downing of two U.S. Army Black Hawk helicopters by USAF fighters in 1994 during the Iraqi no-fly zones, the shooting down and killing of Italo Balbo, the Italian governor of Libya over Tobruk by Italian anti aircraft fire in 1940, the killing of a Royal Military Policeman by a British sniper during the war in Afghanistan, and the Tarnak Farm incident when US Air National Guard pilots in 2002 bombed 12 Canadian soldiers, four of whom were killed; these were the first Canadian casualties of the war in Afghanistan.


title: Friendly fire

text: Additional source: Earl R. Anderson, Friendly Fire in the Literature of War (Jefferson NC: McFairland, 2017).


title: Inverted question and exclamation marks

text: The inverted question mark, , and inverted exclamation mark, , are punctuation marks used to begin interrogative and exclamatory sentences or clauses in Spanish and some languages which have cultural ties with Spain, such as Asturian and Waray languages. The initial marks are mirrored at the end of the sentence or clause by the 'ordinary' question mark, , or exclamation mark, .


title: Inverted question and exclamation marks

text: Inverted marks are supported by various standards, including ISO-8859-1, Unicode, and HTML. They can be entered directly on keyboards designed for Spanish-speaking countries.


title: Inverted question and exclamation marks

text: The inverted question mark is written before the first letter of an interrogative sentence or clause to indicate that a question follows. It is a rotated form of the standard symbol "?" recognized by speakers of other languages written with the Latin script. A normal question mark is written at the end of the sentence or clause.


title: Inverted question and exclamation marks

text: Inverted punctuation is especially critical in Spanish since the syntax of the language means that both statements and questions or exclamations could have the same wording. "Do you like summer?" and "You like summer." are translated respectively as and (There is not always a difference between the wording of a yes–no question and the corresponding statement in Spanish.)


title: Inverted question and exclamation marks

text: In sentences that are both declarative and interrogative, the clause that asks a question is isolated with the starting-symbol inverted question mark, for example: ("If you cannot go with them, would you like to go with us?"), not This helps to recognize questions and exclamations in long sentences.


title: Inverted question and exclamation marks

text: Unlike the ending marks, which are printed along the baseline of the text, the inverted marks (¿ and ¡) descend below the line.


title: Inverted question and exclamation marks

text: In 1668, John Wilkins proposed using the inverted exclamation mark "¡" as a symbol at the end of a sentence to denote irony. He was one of many, including Desiderius Erasmus, who felt there was a need for such a punctuation mark, but Wilkins' proposal, as was true of the other attempts, failed to take hold.


title: Inverted question and exclamation marks

text: Inverted marks were originally recommended by the "Real Academia Española" (Royal Spanish Academy), published in the second edition of the (Orthography of the Castilian language) in 1754 recommending it as the symbol indicating the beginning of a question in written Spanish—e.g. ("How old are you?"). The Real Academia also ordered the same inverted-symbol system for statements of exclamation, using the symbols "¡" and "!".


title: Inverted question and exclamation marks

text: These new rules were slowly adopted; there are 19th-century books in which the writer uses neither "¡" nor "¿".


title: Inverted question and exclamation marks

text: Some writers omit the inverted question mark in the case of a short unambiguous question such as: ("Who comes?"). This is the criterion in Galician and formerly in Catalan. Certain Catalan-language authorities, such as Joan Solà i Cortassa, insist that both the opening and closing question marks be used for clarity. The current IEC prescription for Catalan is not to use the inverted marks.


title: Inverted question and exclamation marks

text: Some Spanish-language writers, among them Nobel laureate Pablo Neruda (1904–1973), refuse to use the inverted question mark.


title: Inverted question and exclamation marks

text: It is common on social media to omit the inverted question mark since it saves typing time. Some also use the ending symbol for both beginning and ending, like this: . Others may even use both the opening and closing question marks, but at the end of the sentence, giving or . Given the informal setting, this might be unimportant; however, teachers see this as a problem, fearing and claiming that contemporary young students are inappropriately and incorrectly extending the practice to academic homework and essays. (See .)


title: Inverted question and exclamation marks

text: It is acceptable in Spanish to begin a sentence with an opening inverted exclamation mark ("¡") and end it with a question mark ("?"), or vice versa, for statements that are questions but also have a clear sense of exclamation or surprise such as: ("And who do you think you are?!"). Normally, four signs are used, always with one type in the outer side and the other in the inner side (nested) (', ')


title: Inverted question and exclamation marks

text: Unicode 5.1 also includes , which is an inverted version of the interrobang, a nonstandard punctuation mark used to denote both excitement and a question in one glyph. It is also known as a "gnaborretni" () (interrobang spelled backwards).


title: Inverted question and exclamation marks

text: In Windows, an inverted question mark is valid in a file or directory name, whereas the normal question mark is a reserved character which cannot be used.


title: Inverted question and exclamation marks

text: and are available in all keyboard layouts for Spanish-speaking countries. Smart phones typically offer these if you hold down or in the on-screen keyboard. Auto-correct will often turn a normal mark typed at the start of a sentence to the inverted one.


title: Inverted question and exclamation marks

text: On systems with an AltGr key (actual or emulated via right Alt key) and Extended ( or 'International') keyboard mapping set, the symbols can be accessed directly, though the sequence varies by OS and locality: for example on Windows and US-International, use and ; on Chrome OS with UK-Extended, use and .


title: Alaya F

text: Aalia Furniturewala (born 28 November 1997), known by her stage name Alaya F, is an Indian actress who appears in Hindi films. Born into the Bedi family, she is the daughter of actress Pooja Bedi. She made her acting debut in 2020 with the comedy film "Jawaani Jaaneman", for which she won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut. She has since starred in the thriller "Freddy" (2022).


title: Alaya F

text: Alaya F was born Aalia Furniturewala on 28 November 1997, in Mumbai, Maharashtra, India to actress Pooja Bedi and businessman Farhan Ebrahim Furniturewala. She is of Parsi and Gujarati Khoja Muslim descent on her father's side and Punjabi, Haryanvi, British and Bengali descent on her mother's side. She is the granddaughter of actor Kabir Bedi and classical dancer Protima Bedi.


title: Alaya F

text: She studied at Jamnabai Narsee School in Mumbai. Before making her film debut, she earned a diploma in acting at the New York Film Academy and later changed her name to Alaya F. She is presently training to be a contemporary and kathak dancer.


title: Alaya F

text: Alaya made her film debut with Nitin Kakkar's "Jawaani Jaaneman" (2020), a family comedy-drama, in which she played a 21-year-old girl claiming a 40-year-old person who has a hatred for marriages, to be her father. The film received mixed reviews from critics. "Bollywood Hungama" noted, "Alaya makes an excellent debut and puts up a confident act. She looks gorgeous and is the only actor who moves viewers to an extent." While "India Today" mentioned "Alaya will steal your heart. She is just a natural in front of the camera." She won the Filmfare Award for Best Female Debut for her performance.


title: Alaya F

text: Alaya next played Kainaaz Irani, a women in an abusive marriage in the 2022 film "Freddy" opposite Kartik Aaryan. "News18" noted, "Alaya's performance is worth appreciating. She has done her part with utmost ease and grace." "Filmfare" say Alaya has managed to be both "vulnerable" and "cunning".


title: Alaya F

text: Alaya is a celebrity endorser for several brands and products including Lenskart and Nykaa. She became the face of Nykaa's "A Million Nakhras" campaign in 2022. Alaya was ranked 42nd in The Times of India's "Most Desirable Women List" of 2020.