title: Island (Huxley novel)

text: Farnaby and Murugan recognise each other from a recent meeting with Colonel Dipa, the military dictator of a threatening country called Rendang-Lobo that neighbours Pala—another force coveting Pala's oil. In private, Murugan reveals to Farnaby that he is in fact the Rani's son and will be assuming control over Pala in a few days as its new Raja. Both the Rani and Murugan were raised outside of Palanese culture, however, and so both are largely westernised, with Murugan especially influenced by materialism and consumerist greed. Contrary to these philosophies, most Palanese islanders engage in peaceful living, intellectual pursuits, and deep spiritualism that avoids superstition. The kingdom has no military and its inhabitants have cultivated a nearly utopian society by blending the most applicable elements from western science and eastern Mahayana Buddhism, also adopting a multiple-parents child-rearing strategy of mutual adoption clubs (MACs), as well as a bilingual culture of English and Palanese. Palanese citizens strive to live always in the moment, to directly confront suffering and death, to meditate often, to engage shamelessly in coitus reservatus called "maithuna", and to use "moksha"-medicine—a local psychedelic drug or entheogen—to help achieve these other goals. The Rani, however, who comes to visit Farnaby and is theatrical, larger-than-life, and more traditionally religious, is disgusted by these mainstream Palanese values and wishes to reform the country. Farnaby convinces her that Joe Aldehyde's oil money will help her in her quest to "save" the nation from blasphemy.


title: Island (Huxley novel)

text: As he recuperates, Farnaby reads Dr. Robert's copy of the Old Raja's "Notes on What's What, and What It Might be Reasonable to do about What's What", which outlines Palanese practical philosophies for self-improvement and self-actualisation. He then tours the island's educational system, which merges the sciences, the arts, and self-control techniques with the personal search for spiritual self-fulfillment. Dr. Robert recounts the island's history, including how his own Scottish grandfather, Dr. Andrew MacPhail, was called to the island over a century ago to treat the Old Raja's facial tumour using both trance-based mesmerization and actual surgery; this first brought scientific practices and the English language into Palanese culture.


title: Island (Huxley novel)

text: Farnaby sees many other aspects of Palanese society as well, including a marionette version of "Oedipus Rex" called "Oedipus in Pala" with a revised and happy ending. The Palanese are so intimately connected with the reality of the moment that they even have taught the local myna birds to say "Attention" and "Karuṇā", to remind the people to stay focused on the here-and-now and to have compassion. The Palanese people are well aware that they will likely be invaded soon by Colonel Dipa's forces from Rendang, though they are resigned to pacifism. Farnaby too has been accepting the potential downfall of the island as a given, though he realises with discomfort that he may be an instrumental factor in causing such a downfall.


title: Island (Huxley novel)

text: Farnaby begins to establish a strong bond with Susila, who directs Farnaby to re-explore his own troubled past, including the death of his wife, Molly, on the night he confessed to cheating on her and his whole hateful childhood; Susila guides him through his painful memories. In the meantime, Susila's mother-in-law and Dr. Robert's wife, Lakshmi, is now also dying, due to cancer. One night, when the Rani urgently sends a letter to Farnaby to meet with her, he decides to finally take a stand against the exploitation of the island by Aldehyde and Dipa, and so he ignores her letter, instead going to visit the quickly-fading Lakshmi who, surrounded by her family, finally dies.


title: Island (Huxley novel)

text: Susila then invites Farnaby to try the "moksha"-medicine at last. His ensuing hallucinatory visions are vividly philosophical and unspeakably vibrant; he feels a loss of self in the oneness of everything and "knowledgeless understanding", and he also horrifically watches a nearby mantis sexually cannibalise her partner, before Susila encourages him to let the medicine help him see the beauty in all things. As morning approaches, they suddenly hear gunfire and spot a caravan of military vehicles. Murugan's voice through a loudspeaker encourages the people to remain calm and welcome the invading forces, while announcing the formation of the new United Kingdom of Rendang and Pala with himself as the monarch and Colonel Dipa as its prime minister. The caravan stops to fire shots at Dr. Robert's house and then moves on, Susila horror-stricken, as a myna cries "Attention" one final time.


title: Island (Huxley novel)

text: "Island" explores many of the themes and ideas that interested Huxley in the post-World War II decades and were the subject of many of his nonfiction books of essays, including "Brave New World Revisited", "Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow", "The Doors of Perception", and "The Perennial Philosophy". Some of these themes and ideas include overpopulation, ecology, modernity, democracy, mysticism, entheogens, and somatotypes.


title: Island (Huxley novel)

text: Common background elements occur in both "Island" and "Brave New World"; they were used for good in the former and for ill in the latter. Such elements include:


title: Island (Huxley novel)

text: Huxley's mother Julia Huxley died when he was ten and she was 46. She wrote a letter to Aldous as she was dying and he carried this with him for the rest of his life. It included the thought "Judge not too much and love more". Scholars of Aldous's works see his mother's death in his cynical attitude and his books including "Brave New World" and the utopian "Island".


title: Island (Huxley novel)

text: The culture of Pala is the offspring of a Scottish secular humanist medical doctor, who made a medical visit to the island in the 19th century and decided to stay and work with its Raja, who embodies the island's Mahayana Buddhist tradition, to create a society that merges the best of East and West. The Old Raja's treatise, "Notes on What's What", is a book within the book that explains Pala's philosophical foundations.


title: Island (Huxley novel)

text: A central element of Palanese society is restrained industrialisation, undertaken with the goal of providing fulfilling work and time for leisure and contemplation. For the Palanese, progress means a selective attitude towards technology, which Huxley contrasts to the underdeveloped poverty of the neighbouring island of Rendang, and with the alienating overdevelopment of the industrialised West, chiefly through Will Farnaby's recollections of London. The Palanese embrace modern science and technology to improve medicine and nutrition, but have rejected widespread industrialisation. For example, hydroelectricity is made available for refrigeration, so that surplus fresh food can be stored, improving nutrition and protecting against food shortages. Huxley viewed this selective modernisation as essential for his "sane" society, even if it means that such a society is unable to militarily defend itself from its "insane" neighbours who wish to steal its natural resources.


title: Island (Huxley novel)

text: The Palanese also circumspectly incorporated the use of "moksha medicine", a fictional entheogen taken ceremonially in rites of passage for mystical and cosmological insight. The moksha mushroom is described as "yellow" and not "those lovely red toadstools", e.g. the "Amanita muscaria"; this description of the moksha medicine is suggestive of "Psilocybe" mushrooms, a psychoactive that captivated Huxley during the latter half of his life. The recommended dosage of 400 mg, however, is in the dosage range of mescaline as opposed to psilocybin. Huxley had also been fascinated towards the end of his life by the potential benefit to humanity of substances such as mescaline and LSD. "Brave New World" and most of Huxley's other books were written before he first tried a psychedelic drug in 1953.


title: Island (Huxley novel)

text: Many of the ideas used to describe Pala as a utopia in "Island" appear also in "Brave New World Revisited"'s last chapter, which aims to propose actions which could be taken to prevent a democracy from turning into a totalitarian world like the one described in "Brave New World".


title: Island (Huxley novel)

text: Huxley used a scene of two mantids ("Gongylus gongyloides") mating to make philosophical observations about the nature of death. In another memorable scene, Will Farnaby watches a Palanese version of "Oedipus Rex" with a little girl. Will points out that in his version Oedipus pokes his eyes out. The girl replies that that is silly, since all the king had to do was stop being married to his mother.


title: You Again

text: You Again is a 2010 American comedy film produced by John J. Strauss and Eric Tannenbaum and directed by Andy Fickman with music by Nathan Wang and written by Moe Jelline. The film stars Kristen Bell, Jamie Lee Curtis, Sigourney Weaver, Odette Yustman, James Wolk, Victor Garber, Billy Unger, Kyle Bornheimer, Kristin Chenoweth, and Betty White in her final live-action film acting role before her death in 2021.


title: You Again

text: The film was released on September 24, 2010, by Touchstone Pictures to negative reviews from critics and it earned $32 million against a production budget of $20 million. It was the last solo Touchstone Pictures project before working on subsequent films in association with Miramax, DreamWorks, Studio Ghibli and Lucasfilm. As a result of this, Touchstone signed a deal with DreamWorks Pictures in 2011, starting with "I Am Number Four".


title: You Again

text: In 2002, Marni Olsen is an acne-riddled high school sophomore in Ridgefield, California, with glasses and braces, being tormented and bullied by the entire school, specifically senior popular mean girl J.J.. Her protective older brother, Will, was very popular as a handsome basketball player, catching J.J.'s attention, although he for the most part is oblivious to Marni's torment at her hands. At a very important basketball game, J.J. pushes Marni, dressed as the mascot, who runs into Will, resulting in a loss of the game.


title: You Again

text: Eight years later, in 2010, Marni is a successful public relations executive in Los Angeles, recently promoted to a job in New York. She returns to Ridgefield to celebrate Will's upcoming wedding to fiancée Joanna, an apparently amazing woman. Having never met Joanna, Marni discovers on the flight back home that Will is about to marry her former bully, J.J. being a nickname that Joanna went by in high school. Marni is upset to see that Joanna not only gets along very well with the family during her welcome home dinner, but apparently doesn’t remember her, delaying the ‘apology’ Marni has been waiting for. Gail, Marni and Will's mother, also discovers that Joanna's beloved aunt, Ramona, a successful and wealthy businesswoman who is also in town for the wedding, is a former high school friend of hers, although their friendship ended on bad terms.


title: You Again

text: Marni is unwilling to forget the things Joanna did to her in high school unless she apologizes, and tries to let her brother know of Joanna's bullying past. Soon, Marni grows suspicious of Joanna and, after Joanna plays a song she had used to torment Marni in high school, realizes that Joanna does indeed remember her. Marni then remembers that a time capsule buried during her senior year contains a video tape of Joanna acting as a bully, so she decides to uncover the capsule. Meanwhile, Gail comes to Ramona's hotel room for "closure" about anything bad between them that happened in the past. They appear to make up, but Ramona still seems not to be too fond of Gail.


title: You Again

text: Will and Marni's grandmother Bunny meet Joanna's ex-boyfriend Tim, who appears devastated when he hears that she's marrying Will. Afterwards, at Joanna’s bridal shower, Marni confronts Joanna in the bathroom about her past and Joanna finally relents, admitting that she did remember Marni but instead of apologizing, she threatens Marni to not interfere with her and Will’s relationship. This ultimately convinces Marni that Joanna has not changed and becomes determined to ruin the wedding under the presumption that she’d be ‘protecting’ Will as he had done many times for her. To set a wrench in things, Marni invites Tim as her plus-one to the upcoming rehearsal dinner, hoping his presence there will throw a wrench into things. At the rehearsal dinner, when it is time for guests to make a toast to the bride and groom, an emotional Tim reveals in his toast that Joanna left him at the altar, much to Joanna’s embarrassment and Will’s chagrin. Later, the video recovered from their old high school's time capsule reveals Joanna confessing her true nature as a bully, with footage of her tormenting Marni and other students, including the big basketball game. The footage shocks the guests (including Marni’s family), and Will, confused and upset, leaves the rehearsal dinner, saying he needs to get some air.


title: You Again

text: Going outside, Marni confronts Joanna once again and the two fight, eventually finding their way inside the rehearsal venue, throwing plates and glasses at each other. While there, Marni claims that Joanna is still the same old bully from high school, backing up her point with the fact that Joanna pretended to forget her, but a remorseful Joanna claims that she only pretended to forget Marni so they could start over. After Marni wrecks one of the wedding gifts in retaliation, Joanna intentionally dumps a bowl of cold soup on Marni's head. As this is happening, Will walks in. He scolds both of them for ruining the night before storming out and calling off the wedding, much to Joanna's devastation. Ramona and Gail argue after the rehearsal dinner, and Ramona accuses Gail of trying to ruin her life throughout high school via her popularity, including by stealing her high school crush, Richie Phillips. A fight ensues, with both of them falling into the pool. They revisit the past and make up when Gail's husband, Mark, shows up. At home, he angrily "grounds" Marni and Gail.


title: You Again

text: Later that night, Marni finds Joanna in the kitchen wearing her wedding dress, crying and binging on junk food. She finally admits to Marni that she feels awful for bullying and tormenting her when they were in high school. Joanna tells Marni that she turned over a new leaf after the death of her parents, hoping to be the kind of person that they could be proud of. Joanna also says that she pretended not to know Marni because she was afraid that the revelation of her bullying past would lead to her losing Will and his family, saying that she loves them all, and that they made her feel like she had a family again. Marni finally forgives her and promises to get them back together. Marni apologizes to Will for her actions as well, admitting that she was only trying to protect him from what she thought Joanna had been.


title: You Again

text: Joanna and Will reconcile in the family's old tree house, but Will and Marni’s younger brother Ben reveals that he loosened the screws so as to avoid having Will and Joanna take it away, and as a result, the treehouse collapses and injures the couple. They are both forced to stay at a hospital, which delays the wedding. However, Marni puts together a makeshift wedding at the hospital. Gail surprises Ramona with Richie Phillips, and the two seemingly start a relationship with each other. Meanwhile, Marni appears to start a relationship with Charlie, her brother's best friend and the only person besides her brother who was ever nice to her back in high school. Joanna introduces Bunny to an elderly woman, Helen. Helen and Bunny are revealed to have been rivals in high school. Bunny finally gets her revenge when she cuts in on Helen's dance and takes her partner, while Helen swears that the game is not yet over.


title: You Again

text: "You Again" was completed on April 3, 2010. The rivalry between the two grandmothers, Betty White and Cloris Leachman, is a reference to the conflict between the two on "The Mary Tyler Moore Show". Three of the cast members from the sitcom "Step by Step" (Patrick Duffy, Staci Keanan, and Christine Lakin) appeared in the movie in a "mini-reunion".


title: You Again

text: Rotten Tomatoes gives "You Again" an approval rating of 19% based on reviews from 96 critics, with an average score of 4.00/10. The critical consensus reads: ""You Again" represents a rare opportunity to see some of Hollywood's finest female veterans together onscreen - and, unfortunately, wastes their talents almost completely." On Metacritic, it had a weighted average score of 28 out of 100, based on 25 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B+" on an A+ to F scale.


title: You Again

text: Jamie Lee Curtis and Kristen Bell were praised for their roles. "The New York Times" critic Stephen Holden wrote that "There is not a laugh to be found in this rancid, misogynistic revenge comedy," declaring "Like so many Disney movies, 'You Again' exalts shallow, materialistic values, then tries to camouflage its essentially poisonous content with several layers of sugar coating and weepy reconciliation." Richard Roeper gave the film an F and stated that it was one of the worst movies he'd ever seen. Among the more favorable reviews was Lana Berkowitz of "The San Francisco Chronicle", who wrote that she enjoyed the mix of slapstick, musical numbers and surprise cameo appearances. Bill Goodykoontz of "The Arizona Republic" praised the cast for taking "a by-the-numbers comedy" and making it better than it has any right to be.


title: You Again

text: The film opened at the box office at 5 with $8,407,513 and would go on to gross a domestic total of $25,702,053; with an international gross of $6,303,195, "You Again" grossed $32,005,248 worldwide; against a $20 million production budget.


title: You Again

text: The film was released by Touchstone Home Entertainment in a two-disc Blu-ray and DVD combo pack on February 8, 2011. Bonus features include deleted scenes, bloopers, and a question-and-answer (Q&A) feature entitled "Ask the Cast".


title: Iram of the Pillars

text: Iram of the Pillars (, ; an alternative translation is "Iram of the tentpoles"), also called "Irum", "Irem", "Erum", "Ubar", or the "City of the pillars", is considered a lost city, region or tribe mentioned in the Quran.


title: Iram of the Pillars

text: There are several explanations for the reference to "Iram – who had lofty pillars". Some see this as a geographic location, either a city or an area, others as the name of a tribe. Those identifying it as a city have made various suggestions as to where or what city it was, ranging from Alexandria or Damascus to a city which actually moved or a city called Ubar. As an area, it has been identified with the biblical region known as Aram. It has also been identified as a tribe, possibly the tribe of ʿĀd, with the pillars referring to tent pillars. The Nabataeans were one of the many nomadic Bedouin tribes who roamed the Arabian Desert and took their herds to where they could find grassland and water. They became familiar with their area as the seasons passed, and they struggled to survive during bad years when seasonal rainfall decreased. Although the Nabataeans were initially embedded in the Aramean culture, theories that they have Aramean roots are rejected by modern scholars. Instead, archaeological, religious and linguistic evidence confirms that they are a North Arabian tribe.


title: Iram of the Pillars

text: "The identification of Wadi Rum with Iram and the tribe of ʿĀd, mentioned in the Quran, has been proposed by scholars who have translated Thamudic and Nabataean inscriptions referring to both the place Iram and the tribes of ʿĀd and Thamud by name."


title: Iram of the Pillars

text: The mystic ad-Dabbagh has suggested that these verses refer to ʿĀd's tents with pillars, both of which are gold-plated. He claims that coins made of this gold remain buried and that Iram is the name of a tribe of ʿĀd and not a location.


title: Iram of the Pillars

text: Iram became widely known to Western literature with the translation of the story "The City of Many-Columned Iram and Abdullah Son of Abi Kilabah" in "The Book of One Thousand and One Nights".


title: Iram of the Pillars

text: The oldest mention of the city of Iram was found in the Ebla tablets, dated from c. 2500 BCE to c. 2250 BCE. In November 1991, the remains of a settlement were discovered in southern Oman which was hypothesized to be the legendary lost city claimed to have been destroyed by God. In 1992 Ranulph Fiennes wrote a book called "Atlantis of the Sands" about the expedition. The term Atlantis of the Sands had originally been coined by T. E. Lawrence.


title: Iram of the Pillars

text: By 2007, following further research and excavation, a study authored in part by Zarins could be summarised as follows:


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: The Dutch Shepherd is a herding dog of Dutch origin. They were used by shepherds and farmers who needed a versatile dog, with few demands, and a dog that was able to adapt to a harsh and meager existence.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: The Dutch Shepherd was discovered as a naturally occurring shepherd's dog type living in the rural parts of the historic region of the Netherlands (which includes the modern-day Kingdom of the Netherlands). When the first breed standard was written in 1898, the coat could be any colour, but in 1914, it was decided to allow only brindle to distinguish the breed from the then-similar German Shepherd and Belgian Shepherds. The breeds eventually diverged into the six distinct breeds as they are known today. However, the Dutch Shepherd remains nearly the same dog it was more than 100 years ago; it is distinguished from the Belgian Shepherds and German Shepherd by the details specified in the breed standard, primarily of the head.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: Originally, the main function of the Dutch Shepherd was that of a shepherd's dog in the countryside. From early times, the Dutch had an arable culture that was maintained by flocks of sheep. The dogs had to keep the flock away, and stay the flock away from the crops, which they did by patrolling the borders of the roads and fields. They also accompanied the flocks on their way to the common meadows, markets, and ports.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: At the farm, they kept the hens away from the kitchen garden, herded the cows together for milking, and pulled the milk carts. They also alerted the farmers when strangers entered the farmyard. Around 1900, sheep flocks had, for the greater part, disappeared in the Netherlands. The versatile skills of the Dutch Shepherds made them suitable for dog training, which was then starting to become popular. They were then trained and used as police dogs, search and tracking dogs, and guide dogs for the blind. They are, however, still capable of herding sheep.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: The population of the Dutch Shepherd was greatly reduced due to modern farming techniques nearly eliminating the need for the breed as a sheep tender, and in the 1940s and 1950s, the breed was almost exterminated. The Second World War put a stop to breeding of most dog breeds in the Netherlands. Dogs died from lack of food, or were taken to Germany by the German military. Many bloodlines became extinct.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: They were also used in World War II. After the war, breeding began anew and new blood was needed to diversify the gene pool. Sometimes, dogs of unknown origin were used. The Belgian Malinois was used for a time, but the practice was stopped because the buyers of those puppies did not have the same goals as the Dutch Breed Club. In 1959, with permission from the breed club, a Belgian Laekenois was used to expand the rough-haired variety. With time, the popularity of the breed grew and expanded into other countries.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: Today, the Dutch Shepherd is still a rare breed. The Dutch Breed Club encourages all owners of dogs meeting the minimum conformation standards to breed them and guidelines are laid out so as to increase their number and diversify the gene pool, while preserving the health of the breed.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: The Dutch Shepherd on average weigh between and the height varies between 55–63 cm (approximately 22 to 25 inches tall at the withers). Depending on the coat, the breed can be distinguished as short-haired, long-haired, or rough-haired.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: Short-haired: All over the body, quite hard, close-fitting, with woolly undercoat. Ruff, breeches and tail plume are clearly visible.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: Long-haired: All over the body, long, straight, well-fitting, harsh to the touch, without curls or waves and with a woolly undercoat. Distinct ruff and breeches. Tail abundantly coated. Head, ears and feet and also the hind legs below the hocks are short and densely coated. The backsides of the forelegs show a strongly developed coat, shortening in length towards the feet, the so-called feathering. No fringes at the ears.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: Rough-haired: Dense, harsh tousled coat and a woolly, dense undercoat all over the body except for the head. Upper and lower lip should be well-covered with hair, the whiskers and beard, and two well-defined, coarse rough eyebrows that are distinct but not exaggerated. Furnishings are not soft. The hair on the skull and on the cheeks is less strongly developed. In profile it seems as if the head has a more square appearance. Strongly developed breeches are desirable. Tail is covered all round with hair. The brindle colour may be less pronounced because of the tousled coat.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: Brindle: The basic colour is golden or silver and can vary from a near-white, light sand-colour to chestnut red. A "true silver brindle" is very rare, because having too much white is considered a fault. The brindle is clearly present all over the body, in the ruff, breeches, and tail. Too much black is undesirable. A black mask is preferable. Heavy white markings on the chest or feet are not desirable.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: Dutch Shepherds are loyal, reliable, alert, watchful, active, independent, intelligent, and intuitive. Obedience and discipline can be achieved with remarkable results. Gifted with a true shepherding temperament, they can work willingly together with their owners and can deal independently with any task they are assigned, being neither aggressive nor shy. They have a strong character and independence passed down from their herding ancestry.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: The Dutch Breed Club initiated a hotline in 2008 for reporting health and behavioral problems. Most genetic health problems occur at a low rate in this breed. Confirmed genetic diseases diagnosed in Dutch Shepherds include allergies (atopy), masticatory myositis, pannus, cryptorchidism and inflammatory bowel disease.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: Within the rough-haired variety care should be taken to screen for goniodysplasia before breeding. This is a condition where the outflow of fluid from the eye is restricted and under certain circumstances can cause blindness. The link between genetics and goniodysplasia is uncertain. Two dogs who have a risk of goniodysplasia can still have puppies who are not at risk. The Dutch Breed Club regulations requires the testing for GD for rough-hairs.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: The Orthopedic Foundation for Animals reports hip dysplasia is present at an overall rate of 8.1 percent on 432 dogs evaluated from Jan. 1974 through Dec. 2018 and elbow dysplasia is present at a rate of 4.3 percent on 329 dogs evaluated from Jan. 1974 through Dec. 2018.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: A previously unknown inflammatory and necrotizing myopathy affecting Dutch Shepherds was genetically mapped in 2018 by the University of Minnesota Canine Genetics Laboratory who identifies this disease as IM: Inflammatory Myopathy (Myositis). The disease causes progressive, painful inflammation of skeletal muscle tissue. The first symptoms of the disease, which usually present between three and eight months of age, include a “bunny hopping” gait and rear leg stiffness, then, it escalates to include muscle tremors, progressive weakness and severe muscle atrophy. The Dutch Shepherd Dog Club of America financed genetic research to analyze and interpret molecular information to identify this disease, which was spearheaded by Dutch Shepherd Dog Club of America veterinary counsel Karen Wroblewski DVM.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: Dr. Wroblewski orchestrated a nationwide collaboration of veterinary professionals, breeders and Dutch Shepherd fanciers resulting in the description of this new condition, discovery of the causative mutated gene, definition of the mode of inheritance (autosomal recessive), and now, availability of a new DNA screening test available through University of Minnesota. The UMN College of Veterinary Medicine has updated their Canine Genetic Testing webpage to include submission forms and instructions for submitting samples for Dutch Shepherd Inflammatory Myopathy testing to identify carriers of the disease. Both parents must be carriers to produce affected offspring, but as long as one of the two parents is IM clear, affected offspring will NOT be produced. The University of Minnesota Canine Genetics Laboratory has also coordinated with the Orthopedic Foundation for Animals to have the IM test results listed on the OFA website.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: The short-haired variety needs occasional combing, with the exception during the shedding period in the spring and fall when a daily thorough brushing is needed. The long-haired variety needs to be groomed about once a week, or more frequently depending on work and environment. The rough-hair variety needs to be thoroughly brushed once a week, and twice a year the dead hair will need to be hand stripped.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: Dutch Shepherds are an active and versatile breed. They compete in dog agility, obedience, rally obedience, flyball, dock jumping, disc dog, tracking, search and rescue, nosework, and weight pulling, along with protection sports such as "Schutzhund", French Ring, Belgian Ring, mondioring, PSA, and others. In the Netherlands, they are still employed as herders and this instinct is still strong in the breed.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: Internationally, the Dutch Shepherd is best known for use in law enforcement under the KNPV program. The Koninklijke Nederlandse Politiehond Vereniging (KNPV), or Royal Dutch Policedog Association, was founded 27 October 1907, as an organization to oversee and test dogs for their suitability for police work. Dutch Shepherds with KNPV titles are sought-after candidates throughout the world for police and military use, as well as sport competitors and personal-protection dogs. The KNPV began a dog registration program in 2014 for KNPV member dogs, making registration mandatory for all dogs born after 1 April 2013.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: The Fédération Cynologique Internationale (FCI) is an overseeing entity for many international purebred dog breed registries, including the Dutch Kennel Club ("Raad van Beheer"). The FCI itself is not a registry and does not issue pedigrees; instead, the FCI has 90 members and contract partners (one member per country) that each issues its own pedigrees and trains its own judges. The 'owner' countries of the breeds write the breed standards that are used as reference for judges at shows held in FCI member countries. Some member countries have an open studbook by which dogs can be registered based on appearance, and other FCI member countries have closed studbooks. The Dutch studbooks were closed on 1 February 1971. The goal of the FCI is, in part, ‘to protect the use, the keeping, and the breeding of purebred dogs in the countries where the FCI has a member or a contract partner’. The United States is not an FCI member or contract partner.


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: The kennel club of registry for the Dutch Shepherd in the United States is the United Kennel Club, having first published their breed standard on 1 January 1995. Established in 1898, the United Kennel Club is the largest all-breed, performance-dog registry in the world, registering dogs from all 50 U.S. states and 25 foreign countries. More than 60% of its nearly 16,000 annually licensed events are tests of hunting ability, training, and instinct. UKC-registered Dutch Shepherds successfully compete in conformation, obedience, agility, rally, weight pull, nosework, dock jumping, lure coursing, and previously in protection/police dog events through the now-defunct Dog Sport program. The Dutch Shepherd Dog Club of America UKC Provisional National Breed Club reveals that the UKC reflects 1,629 permanently registered Dutch Shepherds in their archives, but indicates the number of active (under the age of 12) Dutch Shepherds totals 1,167 dogs (as of 31 December 2018).


title: Dutch Shepherd

text: As of 2012, the Dutch Shepherd is being recorded by the American Kennel Club in their Foundation Stock Service, accepting pedigrees from some FCI members as eligibility, but declining membership to dogs with pedigrees from certain other FCI member countries. FSS breeds are not eligible for AKC registration, but once individually registered under the FSS program, a Dutch Shepherd is able to compete in the AKC companion events of obedience, tracking, agility, and rally. The American Dutch Shepherd Association states they maintain a listing of the dogs registered in the American Kennel Club's FSS database and in 2017 reflected a total of 230 Dutch Shepherds registered in the U.S. and Canada. The American Kennel Club board of directors voted their approval on 16 January 2016 of moving the Dutch Shepherd to the Miscellaneous Class effective 1 January 2017 and has designated the American Dutch Shepherd Association as the AKC Parent Club for the breed.


title: Laura Ramsey

text: Laura Ramsey is an American film and television actress. She is best known for her roles in films such as 2006's "She's the Man" and "The Covenant", 2008's "The Ruins", 2009's "Middle Men", 2011's "Kill the Irishman", and 2013's "Are You Here".


title: Laura Ramsey

text: Ramsey was born in Brandon, Wisconsin, the daughter of Jill and Mark Ramsey. She graduated from Laconia High School in Rosendale, Wisconsin, in 2001 and then attended Ripon College in Ripon, Wisconsin.


title: Laura Ramsey

text: During her appearance on "The Real Cancun", when asked how people in her town would describe her, she grinningly replied "naughty".


title: Laura Ramsey

text: Ramsey was spotted while working in a restaurant on Sunset Boulevard and got an audition the next day, for a role she won—"The Real Cancun", a documentary that revolves around the true exploits of several American youths in Mexico She then began a role in ABC's television series, "The Days" before making her feature-film acting debut with Catherine Hardwicke's "Lords of Dogtown". She returned to television and made a memorable appearance in an episode ("The Jet Set") of the AMC series "Mad Men". In 2015, Ramsey starred as Becca Brady on the VH1 scripted series "Hindsight". After taking a 8-year hiatus from acting, Ramsey will star in Lifetime's upcoming 2023 television movie "A Rose for Her Grave" based on the book of the same name.


title: Alan Rosenberg

text: Alan Rosenberg (born October 4, 1950) is an American actor. Rosenberg is perhaps best known for his character Eli Levinson which appeared in both the series "Civil Wars" and the popular "L.A. Law". From 2005 to 2009, he was president of the Screen Actors Guild, the principal motion picture industry on-screen performers' union.


title: Alan Rosenberg

text: Rosenberg was born on October 4, 1950 and raised in Passaic, New Jersey. He was raised in Conservative Judaism. Rosenberg's late brother, Mark, was a political activist in the 1960s, later a film producer. Their first cousin, also from Passaic, is musician/songwriter Donald Fagen, co-founder of the group Steely Dan.


title: Alan Rosenberg

text: Rosenberg's parents gave him money to apply to graduate school. Rosenberg said that upon graduating in 1972 from Case Western Reserve University, he found another passion, poker, and subsequently gambled away most of the money his parents sent him, leaving him only able to afford one application, to the Yale School of Drama. Rosenberg dropped out halfway through his second year at Yale. His "greatest influence and best friend" while there was classmate Meryl Streep.


title: Alan Rosenberg

text: In 1979, Rosenberg appeared in the movie "The Wanderers", as Turkey. He is also well known for his character Ira Woodbine in the sitcom "Cybill". More recently, he was seen in the legal drama "The Guardian" as Alvin Masterson.


title: Alan Rosenberg

text: Rosenberg supplied the voice of the bounty hunter Boba Fett on NPR's adaptation of "The Empire Strikes Back". Rosenberg is also known for his appearance as the crazed "Mad Bomber" in the 1986 cult-classic "Stewardess School" and Paul Bartel's screwball comedy "Not for Publication" opposite Nancy Allen (1984).


title: Alan Rosenberg

text: In 1995, he received an Emmy Award nomination for a guest-starring role in the hit drama "ER". He starred in the Temptations miniseries in 1998, as long-time manager Shelly Berger.


title: Alan Rosenberg

text: In 1999, he began a recurring role as the hospital legal counsel, Stuart Brickman, on "Chicago Hope". Halfway through their final season, he was added to the opening titles as a series regular.


title: Alan Rosenberg

text: He appeared on Broadway in "What's Wrong With This Picture" and "Lost In Yonkers", and off-Broadway in "Isn't It Romantic", "A Prayer for My Daughter", and "Kid Champion". He most recently starred at the Delaware Theatre Company production of "Partners", written by Allan Katz.


title: Alan Rosenberg

text: He was elected the 24th president of Screen Actors Guild (SAG) on September 23, 2005. Rosenberg succeeded Melissa Gilbert, who had served as president since 2001 and chose not to run for a third two-year term. Rosenberg received 39.99 percent (10,748 total votes) of the nationwide vote of the Guild's general membership, defeating Morgan Fairchild and Robert Conrad.


title: Alan Rosenberg

text: In 2005, he appeared as shady defense attorney Adam Novak in an episode of "" co-starring alongside his real-life wife Marg Helgenberger. Novak was portrayed as a womanizer who encountered Catherine (Helgenberger) in a bar and later became the prime suspect in two homicides. In a 2007 episode "Leaving Las Vegas" he appeared as a lawyer defending a client who turned out to be guilty of two separate crimes, and yet the evidence failed to pin him down, resulting in a not guilty verdict which annoyed Catherine so much that she began to undertake further investigation.


title: Alan Rosenberg

text: In 2006, he appeared in a recurring role as Bruce Steinerman, the divorce attorney of Dr. James Wilson in the television-series "House M.D." He has hosted episodes of the public television program, "Life: Part 2", which began in 2007 and is produced in St. Paul, Minnesota. The show features panel discussions about issues that baby boomers face as they age.


title: Alan Rosenberg

text: In 2015, he appeared as Dr. William Golliher in the Amazon original series "Bosch". In 2016, he had a recurring role as shady investor William Sutter on the USA Network drama "Suits".


title: Alan Rosenberg

text: From 2016 to 2017, he had a recurring role in the Showtime cable series "Shameless (seasons 6 - 8)". He portrayed Professor Youens, an alcoholic college professor and mentor to Lip Gallagher.


title: Alan Rosenberg

text: He met Marg Helgenberger in New York City in 1984, while guest-starring on her soap "Ryan's Hope". The two became friends and started dating in 1986. They married in 1989 and have one son, Hugh Howard Rosenberg (born October 21, 1990). On December 1, 2008, Rosenberg and Helgenberger announced their separation. On March 25, 2009, Helgenberger filed for divorce. The divorce was finalized in February 2010.


title: Alan Rosenberg

text: As a result of Helgenberger's mother's 27-year battle with breast cancer, Helgenberger and Rosenberg became involved in the fight against the disease. They have hosted a benefit called "Marg and Alan's Celebrity Weekend" every year in Omaha, Nebraska since 1999.


title: Airplay

text: Airplay is how frequently a song is being played through broadcasting on radio stations. A song which is being played several times every day (spins) would have a significant amount of airplay. Music which became very popular on jukeboxes, in nightclubs and at discotheques between the 1940s and 1960s would also have airplay.


title: Airplay

text: For commercial broadcasting, airplay is usually the result of being placed into rotation, also called adding it to the station's playlist by the music director, possibly as the result of a Pay for Play sponsored by the record label. For student radio and other community radio or indie radio stations, it is often the selection by each disc jockey, usually at the suggestion of a music director.


title: Airplay

text: Most countries have at least one radio airplay chart in existence, although larger countries such as Canada, the United States, the United Kingdom, Germany, Australia, Japan, and Brazil have several, to cover different genres and areas of the country.


title: Airplay

text: A song which was successful in the airplay charts but weak in sales was commonly known as a "turntable hit" when radio stations played only vinyl singles.


title: Airplay

text: Airplay can be a crucial element in securing a singer's 'hit', and alongside social networking websites it is an effective method that artists use to make their name known.


title: Airplay

text: Aaliyah's "Try Again" (2000) was the first song ever to reach number one on the "Billboard" Hot 100 based solely on the strength of its radio airplay.


title: Airplay

text: Radio airplay is monitored through audio fingerprinting technology with the help of automatic content recognition service. World recognizable video


title: Airplay

text: There is a symbiotic relationship between the airplay of records and sales. The record industry utilises airplay on the radio to promote artists and records to radio listeners. Airplay can stimulate the purchase of music, merchandise and concert tickets to its listening audience. The record industry profits from the exposure provided by radio airplay.


title: Airplay

text: The amount of airplay a record receives may significantly impact other factors, including age, race, geographical location, and income. The effect of airplay on sales revenue can range between $1.5 to $2.4 billion annually. A significant portion of album and track sales are impacted by radio airplay, with a minimum of 14% and a high of 23%. Performing artists and record labels indirectly profit from airplay as it promotes, distributes and sells records. Airplay's impact on music sales links to the mere-exposure effect. The term describes a preference for familiar things. The mere-exposure effect is noticed when radio and airplay act as an advertising medium by allowing listeners to try out newly released music. This exposure typically links to an increase in sales.


title: Airplay

text: The popularity of the Dixie Chicks was impacted by radio airplay in America. In March 2003, the Dixie Chicks were number one on the Country and Adult Contemporary radio airplay charts, as published in the ‘Radio and Records’ trade journal. However, the band's presence on the charts dropped rapidly when lead singer Natalie Maines told the audience of a London nightclub, "Just so you know, we’re ashamed the president of the United States is from Texas". Following this, the Associated Press noted that radio stations had begun blacklisting the Dixie Chicks in response to the comment. As a result, the Dixie Chicks’ total airplay across America dropped to one-fifth of what it was before the controversy, with their album no longer appearing on the charts. The radio response to the statement was accused of corporate censorship, attributing the blacklisting as evidence of politically mobilising right-wing social movements. The controversy and response demonstrate the impact of airplay on an artist's popularity.


title: Airplay

text: Record companies and artists can pay for airplay from radio stations. Pay-to-play is a common practice utilised by the record industry to pass money or goods to influence airplay. The transactions are directed through intermediaries ("indies") who are independent promotes for the record labels or artists. Relationships are formed by promoters with radio stations to enable pay-to-play transactions, which may not include the direct transfer of funds or goods to conceal the nature of the deal. After developing a relationship, a promoter may engage in calls with the radio station to request their record is treated favourably. Requesting a record to be played is an unlikely favour to ask without an established relationship. Informal relationships are formed between indies and stations to avoid payola, which is the illegal practice in U.S. law of paying a radio station for airplay without the station disclosing this information. Paying radio stations for airplay is a historical phenomenon. In the 1960s, it was a common practice for record companies to bribe radio station employees to increase a song's airplay. In 1934, U.S. Congress passed the Communications Act, which forbids radio stations from taking payment to air certain content unless the broadcast was commercial. However, the act did not restrict independent disc jockeys from taking payments in exchange for airplay. As a result, record labels would approach disc jockeys instead of directly contacting the radio stations. In 1960, the U.S. Congress amended the act to include the provision of illegal bribes for airplay, which became known as payola. In this pay-to-play model, airplay becomes similar to advertising and can be subject to scandal.


title: Airplay

text: Airplay is measured by the number of spins and detections. The Broadcast Data Systems (BDS, also known as Nielsen BDS) is a U.S. broadcasting service that measures airplay according to these two attributes. In addition, airplay is tracked using a patented digital pattern recognition technology. The service, a unit of MRC Data, contributes to the publishing of songs on the Billboard Charts, the most used music chart in America. The recognition technology implemented by Nielsen monitors airplay in radio stations in more than 140 markets across the United States. The charts determine the position of a single based on airplay data, sales, and streaming data. Since the service debuted in 1992, it has become a universal standard for measuring airplay due to its accuracy in detecting, tracking and monitoring songs and has provided the Billboard charts with data on sales, downloads and streams.


title: Airplay

text: There is a distinction between sales charts and airplay charts. When a record label has a number one single, it earns that designation based on its position on a sales chart. If that record is number one on the radio station, it reaches that position based on its airplay, location of the radio station, and how many singles it sold. "Billboard" has the most widely used airplay charts and includes every significant music genre. "Billboard" has 25 airplay charts that detect airplay across 140 radio markets. To compile the airplay charts, "Billboard" monitors 140 radio markets, over 1,600 radio stations to see over 100 million songs each year. To ensure airplay detection, label marketers must register their recorded music with the Broadcast Data Systems (BDS), the technology provider of "Billboard". "Billboard"s weekly airplay charts rank singles according to the amount of airplay they receive on monitored radio stations and the resulting size of the combined audience that heard the song being played.


title: Plains zebra

text: The plains zebra (Equus quagga, formerly "Equus burchellii"), also known as the common zebra, is the most common and geographically widespread species of zebra. Its range is fragmented, but spans much of southern and eastern Africa south of the Sahara. Six or seven subspecies have been recognised, including the extinct quagga which was thought to be a separate species. More recent research supports variations in zebra populations being clines rather than subspecies.


title: Plains zebra

text: The plains zebra is intermediate in size between the larger Grévy's zebra and the smaller mountain zebra and tends to have broader stripes than both. Great variation in coat patterns exists between clines and individuals. The plain zebra's habitat is generally, but not exclusively, treeless grasslands and savanna woodlands, both tropical and temperate. They generally avoid desert, dense rainforest and permanent wetlands. Zebras are preyed upon by lions and spotted hyenas, Nile crocodiles and, to a lesser extent, leopards, cheetahs and African wild dogs.


title: Plains zebra

text: The plains zebra is a highly social species, forming harems with a single stallion, several mares and their recent offspring; bachelor groups also form. Groups may come together to form herds. The animals keep watch for predators; they bark or snort when they see a predator and the harem stallion attacks predators to defend his harem.


title: Plains zebra

text: The plains zebra remains common in game reserves, but is threatened by human activities such as hunting for its meat and hide, as well as competition with livestock and encroachment by farming on much of its habitat. The species population is stable and not endangered, though populations in most countries have declined sharply. As of 2016, the plains zebra is classified as near threatened by IUCN.


title: Plains zebra

text: The plains zebra was formally classified by British zoologist John Edward Gray in 1824 as "Equus burchellii". After the quagga, described by Pieter Boddaert in 1785, was found to be the same species in the 21st century, the plains zebra was reclassified as "Equus quagga" due to the principle of priority. The plains zebra and mountain zebra were traditionally placed in the subgenus "Hippotigris", in contrast to Grévy's zebra, which was considered the sole species of the subgenus "Dolichohippus"; however, recent (2013) phylogenetic evidence finds that plains zebras are more closely related to Grévy's zebras than mountain zebras. Groves and Bell (2004) place all three species in the subgenus "Hippotigris", and zebras appear to be a monophyletic lineage. In areas where plains zebras are sympatric with Grévy's zebras, finding them in the same herds is not unusual, and fertile hybrids occur.


title: Plains zebra

text: In their 2004 study of cranial and pelage differences between specimens, Groves and Bell found support for the division of the plains zebra into six subspecies:


title: Plains zebra

text: Burchell's zebra was thought to have been hunted to extinction. However, Groves and Bell concluded that "the extinct true Burchell's zebra is a phantom". Careful study of the original zebra populations in Zululand and Eswatini and of skins harvested on game farms in Zululand and Natal has revealed that a certain small proportion shows similarity to what now is regarded as typical "burchellii". The type localities of the subspecies "Equus quagga burchellii" and "Equus quagga antiquorum" are so close to each other that the two are in fact one and that, therefore, the older of the two names should take precedence over the younger. They suggested that the correct name for the subspecies must be "burchellii", not "antiquorum".


title: Plains zebra

text: A 2005 genetic study confirmed the quagga being the same species as the plains zebra. It showed that the quagga had little genetic diversity and that it diverged from the other plains zebra subspecies only 120,000–290,000 years ago, during the Pleistocene and, possibly, the penultimate glacial maximum. Its distinct coat pattern may have evolved rapidly because of geographical isolation and/or adaptation to a drier environment. In addition, plains zebra subspecies tend to have less striping the further south they live, and the quagga was the most southern-living of them all.


title: Plains zebra

text: The simplified cladogram below is based on the 2005 analysis (some taxa shared haplotypes and could therefore not be differentiated):


title: Plains zebra

text: A 2018 DNA study found no evidence for a subspecies structure in plains zebras but, instead, observed a north–south genetic continuum. Modern plains zebra populations appear to have originated from Southern Africa around 370,000 years ago with plains zebras in Uganda, the most northern population, being the most distinct.


title: Plains zebra

text: The plains zebra stands at a height of with a head-body length of and a tail length of . Males weigh while females weigh . The species is intermediate in size between the larger Grévy's zebra and the smaller mountain zebra. It is dumpy bodied with relatively short legs and a skull with a convex forehead and a somewhat concave nose profile. The neck is thicker in males than in females. The ears are upright and have rounded tips. They are shorter than in the mountain zebra and narrower than in Grévy's zebra. As with all wild equids, the plains zebra has an erect mane along the neck and a tuft of hair at the end of the tail. The body hair of a zebra is , shorter than in other African ungulates.


title: Plains zebra

text: Like all zebras, they are boldly striped in black and white and no two individuals look exactly alike. Compared to other species, the plains zebra has broader stripes. The stripes are vertical on the fore part of the body, and tend towards the horizontal on the hindquarters. Northern zebra populations have narrower and more defined striping; southern populations have varied but lesser amounts of striping on the under parts, the legs and the hindquarters. Southern populations also have brown "shadow" stripes between the black and white colouring. These are absent or poorly expressed in northern zebras. The natal coat of a foal is brown and white and the brown darkens with age.


title: Plains zebra

text: Various abnormalities of the patterns have been documented in plains zebras. Melanistic zebras have high concentrations of dark stripes on the torso but low concentrations on the legs. "Spotted" individuals display interruptions in black striping patterns. There have even been morphs with white spots on dark backgrounds. Striping abnormalities have been linked to inbreeding. Albino zebras have been recorded in the forests of Mount Kenya, with the dark stripes being blonde. The quagga had brown and white stripes on the head and neck, brown upper parts and a white belly, tail and legs.


title: Plains zebra

text: The plains zebra's range stops short of the Sahara from South Sudan and southern Ethiopia extending south along eastern Africa, as far as Zambia, Mozambique, and Malawi, before spreading into most southern African countries. They may have lived in Algeria in the Neolithic era. Plains zebras generally live in treeless grasslands and savanna woodlands, but can be found in a variety of habitats, both tropical and temperate. However, they are generally absent from deserts, dense rainforests, and permanent wetlands. They generally prefer Acacieae woodlands over "Commiphora". They are water-dependent and live in more mesic environments than other African equids. They seldom wander from a water source. Zebras also live in elevations from sea level to on Mount Kenya.


title: Plains zebra

text: Depending on the population, zebra herds may be sedentary, being highly dense with small ranges, or migratory, being less populated with separate, extensive dry and wet home ranges. When migrating, zebras appear to rely on some memory of the locations where foraging conditions were best and may predict conditions months before their arrival.


title: Plains zebra

text: Plains zebras primarily feed on grass; preferred species being "Themeda triandra", "Cynodon dactylon", "Eragrostis superba" and "Cenchrus ciliaris". Zebra sometimes browse or dig for corms and rhizomes during the dry season. They appear to partial to eating scorched "Colophospermum mopane" and "Pterocarpus rotundifolius", consuming both the leaves and twigs.


title: Plains zebra

text: Plains zebras are adapted for grazing on both long, tough grass stems and newly emerging short grass. In some areas, it rarely feeds below to ground level. It ranges more widely than many other species, even into woodlands, and it is often the first grazing species to appear in a well-vegetated area. The flexible upper lip allows them to push plant material between the incisors to cut. Zebras have a less efficient digestive system than ruminants but food passage is twice as fast. Thus, zebras are less selective in foraging, but they do spend much time eating. The zebra is a pioneer grazer and prepares the way for more specialised grazers such as blue wildebeests and Thomson's gazelles.


title: Plains zebra

text: The plains zebra's major predators are lions and spotted hyenas. Lions are most successful when targeting lone individuals, usually an old male while hyenas chase and isolate an individual from the group, usually a female or foal. Nile crocodiles also prey on zebras when they are near water. Less common predators include cheetahs and African wild dogs, which mostly hunt foals. When in the presence of a lion, zebras remain alert and stand in a semi-circle at as much as and no less than . Stallions sometimes try to drive lions away with bluff charges. By contrast, zebras may approach cheetahs and wild dogs and a single hyena is allowed to come within a few metres. To escape from predators, an adult zebra can run at . When being hunted by hyenas or wild dogs, a zebra harem stays close together and cooperates to protect threatened members, particularly the young. The harem stallion goes on the offensive and attacks the dogs or hyenas.


title: Plains zebra

text: Plains zebras are nomadic and non-territoral, home ranges vary from to , depending on the area and if the population is migratory. They are more active during the day and spend most of their time feeding. Other activities include dust bathing, rubbing, drinking and intermittent resting which is very brief. At night, zebra activity is subdued except when threatened by predators. They may rest or sleep laying down, while one individual keeps guard.


title: Plains zebra

text: The plains zebra is highly social and usually forms small family groups called harems, which consist of a single stallion, several mares and their recent offspring. The adult membership of a harem is highly stable, typically remaining together for months to years. Groups of all-male "bachelors" also exist. These are stable groups of up to 15 males with an age-based hierarchy, led by a young male. These males stay in their groups until they are ready to start a harem. The bachelors prepare for their adult roles with play fights and greeting/challenge rituals, which take up most of their activities.


title: Plains zebra

text: Multiple harems and bachelor groups come together to form larger herds of hundreds of animals, especially during migrations. Plains zebras are unusual among harem-holding species in forming these groups. In addition, pairs of harems may create temporarily stable subgroups within a herd, allowing individuals to interact with those outside their group. Among harem-holding species, this has only been observed in primates such as the gelada and the hamadryas baboon. Bachelor groups tend to be at the periphery of herds and when the herd moves, the bachelors trail behind.


title: Plains zebra

text: Stallions form and expand their harems by abducting young mares from their natal harems. When a mare reaches sexual maturity and has her first oestrous cycle, she attracts the attention of nearby stallions, both bachelors and harem leaders. Her family stallion (likely her father) chases off or fights stallions attempting to abduct her. Even after a young mare is isolated from her natal harem, the fight over her continues until her oestrous cycle is over and it starts again with the next estrous cycle. It is rare that the mare's original abductor keeps her for long. When the mare finally ovulates, the male that impregnates her keeps her for good. Thus, the mare becomes a permanent member of a new harem. Oestrus in a female becomes less noticeable to outside males as she gets older, hence competition for older females is virtually nonexistent.


title: Plains zebra

text: Mares exist in a hierarchy, with the alpha female being the first to mate with the harem stallion and being the one to lead the group. When new mares are added to the group, they are met with hostility by the other mares. Thus, the harem stallion must shield the new mares until the aggression subsides. The most recently added females rank lowest. Females that become unfit or weak may drop in their rank, though. The female membership of a harem stays intact, even if a new stallion takes over. During herd gatherings, family stallions may be cordial towards each other, while the mares are less tolerant.


title: Plains zebra

text: A stallion defends his harem from other males. When challenged, the stallion issues a warning to the invader by rubbing nose or shoulder with him. If the warning is not heeded, a fight breaks out. Zebra fights often become very violent, with the animals biting at each other's necks, heads, or legs, wrestling to the ground and occasional kicking. Sometimes, a stallion lies still on the ground as if surrendering, but once the other male lets up, he strikes and continues the fight. Most fighting occurs over young mares in oestrus and as long as a harem stallion is healthy, he usually is not challenged. Only unhealthy stallions have their harems taken over and even then, the new stallion gradually takes over, pushing the old one out without a fight.


title: Plains zebra

text: At least six different calls have been documented for the plains zebra. One of which is its distinctive, high-pitched, contact call (commonly called "barking") heard as "a-"ha", a-"ha", a-"ha"" or "kwa-ha, kaw-ha, ha, ha" also transcribed as "kwahaah", or "oug-ga". The species name "quagga" is derived from the Khoikhoi word for "zebra" and is onomatopoeic for its call. When a predator is sighted, a zebra makes a two-syllable alarm call. A loud snort is made when moving in cover of potential danger. When in contentment, a zebra makes a more drawn-out snort. Males make a short, high-pitched squeal when hurt, and foals emit a drawn-out wail when in distress.


title: Plains zebra

text: Two main facial expressions are made by zebras; the greeting and threat. In both cases, the lips are pulled back and chewing motions are made. Greeting involves the ears sticking up and directing forward; while the threat involves the ears down. Zebras strengthen their social bonds with grooming. Members of a harem nip and scrape along the neck, withers, and back with their teeth and lips. Mothers and foals groom the most often, followed by siblings. Grooming shows social status and eases aggressive behaviour.


title: Plains zebra

text: The stallion mates with all his mares. Males exhibit the flehmen response to test for female receptivity, which involves the upper lip curling back to smell for urine (via the vomeronasal organ). The female signals her readiness for copulation by straddling her legs and raising her tail. The gestation period lasts around a year, and a single young is produced. Mares may give birth to one foal every twelve months. The birthing peak is during the rainy season. A mare gives birth within the vicinity of her group and while lying down on her side. The newborn foal weighs and the afterbirth is rarely consumed.


title: Plains zebra

text: A newborn is capable of standing almost immediately and starts to eat grass within a week. Early on, a mother zebra keeps any other zebra away from her foal, including the stallion, the other mares, and even her previous offspring. Later, though, they all bond. Within the group, a foal has the same rank as its mother. The stallion is generally intolerant of foals that are not his, and zebras may practice infanticide and feticide.


title: Plains zebra

text: Mortality for foals is high in their first year of life and is usually caused by predation. However, zebra young are afforded more protection than those of species like wildebeest and hartebeest. A foal is usually weaned at around eleven months, but may suckle for longer. Females reach puberty before three years, and males after five or six. Young male zebras eventually leave their family groups as the relationship with their mothers fades after the birth of a sibling. The young stallion then seeks out other young stallions for company. Young females may stay in the harem until they are abducted by another stallion. Plains zebras have an average lifespan of 25 years in the wild.


title: Plains zebra

text: In 2016, the plains zebra was classified as near threatened by the IUCN. As of that year, the total population is estimated to be around 500,000 individuals. The species remains common throughout its range but has experienced population declines in 10 of the 17 countries where it is native. They are stable in Ethiopia, Malawi, and South Africa and possibly Angola; stable or increasing in Mozambique, Namibia and Eswatini; and decreasing in Botswana, DR Congo, Kenya, Rwanda, Somalia, South Sudan, Tanzania, Uganda, Zambia, and Zimbabwe. They are extinct in Burundi, Lesotho and possibly Somalia.


title: Plains zebra

text: Zebras are threatened by hunting for their hide and meat, and habitat change from farming. They also compete with livestock for food, and fencing blocks migration routes. Civil wars in some countries have also caused declines in zebra populations. The zebra can be found in numerous protected areas across its range, including the Serengeti National Park in Tanzania, Tsavo and Masai Mara in Kenya, Hwange National Park in Zimbabwe, Etosha National Park in Namibia, and Kruger National Park in South Africa. Some stable populations live in unprotected areas.


title: Plains zebra

text: The quagga was hunted by early Dutch settlers and later by Afrikaners to provide meat or for their skins. The skins were traded or used locally. The quagga was probably vulnerable to extinction due to its limited distribution, and it may have competed with domestic livestock for forage. The last known wild quagga died in 1878. The last captive quagga, a female in Amsterdam's Natura Artis Magistra zoo, lived there from 9 May 1867 until it died on 12 August 1883, but its origin and cause of death are unclear. In 1984, the quagga was the first extinct animal to have its DNA analysed, and the Quagga Project is trying to recreate the phenotype of hair coat pattern and related characteristics by selectively breeding Burchell's zebras.


title: Plains zebra

text: Zebras have been featured in African art and culture for millennia. They have been depicted in rock art in Southern Africa (modern Botswana, Namibia and South Africa) dating from 20,000–28,000 years ago, though not as commonly as antelope species like eland. How the zebra got its stripes has been the subject of folk tales, some of which involve it being scorched by fire. The San people associated zebra stripes with water, rain and lighting due to its dazzling pattern.


title: Plains zebra

text: The plains zebra is the national animal of the Republic of Botswana and its stripes are depicted on the country's flag. The flag stripes also represent racial harmony in the country. The zebra has also been associated with beauty and the women of various societies would paint much of their bodies in stripes. For the Shona people of Zimbabwe, the zebra is a totem animal, along with the eland, buffalo, lion and monkey. The zebra is praised in a poem as an "iridescent and glittering creature". Its stripes have symbolised the joining of male and female and at Great Zimbabwe, zebra stripes decorate what is believed to be a "domba", a premarital school meant to initiate woman into adulthood. In the Shona language, the name "madhuve" means "woman/women of the zebra totem" and is a given name for girls in Zimbabwe.


title: Plains zebra

text: Zebras have also been represented in Western culture. They have been thought of as a more exotic alternative to horse; the comic book character Sheena, Queen of the Jungle is depicted riding a zebra. The film "Racing Stripes" features a captive zebra ostracised from the horses and end up being ridden by a rebellious girl. In the film "Fantasia", two centaurs are depicted being half human and half zebra, instead of the typical half human and half horse. Zebras have been featured as characters in other animated films like "Khumba", "The Lion King" and the "Madagascar" films.


title: Church (building)

text: A church, church building or church house is a building used for Christian worship services and other Christian religious activities. The earliest identified Christian church is a house church founded between 233 and 256. From the 11th through the 14th centuries, there was a wave of church construction in Western Europe.


title: Church (building)

text: Sometimes, the word "church" is used by analogy for the buildings of other religions. "Church" is also used to describe the Christian religious community as a whole, or a body or an assembly of Christian believers around the world.


title: Church (building)

text: In traditional Christian architecture, the plan view of a church often forms a Christian cross; the center aisle and seating representing the vertical beam with the bema and altar forming the horizontal. Towers or domes may inspire contemplation of the heavens. Modern churches have a variety of architectural styles and layouts. Some buildings designed for other purposes have been converted to churches, while many original church buildings have been put to other uses.


title: Church (building)

text: The word "church" is derived from Old English , "place of assemblage set aside for Christian worship", from the Proto-Germanic "kirika". This was probably borrowed via the Gothic from the Greek , , "the Lord's (house)", from , "ruler, lord". in turn comes from the Proto-Indo-European language root meaning "to swell".


title: Church (building)

text: The Greek , "of the Lord", was used of houses of Christian worship since , especially in the East, although it was less common in this sense than or .


title: Church (building)

text: The earliest archeologically identified Christian church is a house church ("domus ecclesiae"), the Dura-Europos church, founded between 233 and 256.


title: Church (building)

text: In the second half of the 3rd century AD, the first purpose-built halls for Christian worship ("aula ecclesiae") began to be constructed. Although many of these were destroyed early in the next century during the Diocletianic Persecution. Even larger and more elaborate churches began to appear during the reign of the Emperor Constantine the Great.


title: Church (building)

text: From the 11th through the 14th centuries, a wave of cathedral-building and construction of smaller parish churches occurred across Western Europe. Besides serving as a place of worship, the cathedral or parish church was frequently employed as a general gathering-place by the communities in which they were located, hosting such events as guild meetings, banquets, mystery plays, and fairs. Church grounds and buildings were also used for the threshing and storage of grain.


title: Church (building)

text: Between 1000 and 1200 the romanesque style became popular across Europe. The romanesque style is defined by large and bulky edifices that are typically made up of simple, compact, sparsely decorated geometric structures. Frequent features of the Romanesque church include circular arches, round or octagonal towers and cushion capitals on pillars. In the early romanesque era, coffering on the ceiling was fashionable, while later in the same era, groined vault gained popularity. Interiors widened and the motifs of sculptures took on more epic traits and themes.


title: Church (building)

text: The Gothic style emerged around 1140 in Île-de-France and subsequently spread throughout Europe. Gothic churches lost the compact qualities of the romanesque era and decorations often contained symbolic and allegorical features. The first pointed arches, rib vaults and buttresses began to appear, all possessing geometric properties that reduced the need for large, rigid walls to ensure structural stability. This also permitted the size of windows to increase, producing brighter and lighter interiors. Nave ceilings became higher and pillars and steeples grew taller. Many architects used these developments to push the limits of structural possibility, an inclination which resulted in the collapse of several towers possessing designs that had unwittingly exceeded the boundaries of soundness. In Germany, the Netherlands, and Spain, it became popular to build hall churches, a style in which every vault would be built to the same height.


title: Church (building)

text: Gothic cathedrals were lavishly designed, as in the romanesque era, and many share romanesque traits. However, several also exhibit unprecedented degrees of detail and complexity in decoration. The Notre-Dame de Paris and Notre-Dame de Reims in France, as well as the San Francesco d’Assisi in Palermo, and the Salisbury Cathedral and Wool Church in England and Santhome Church in Chennai, India shows the elaborate stylings characteristic of Gothic cathedrals.


title: Church (building)

text: Some of the most well-known gothic churches remained unfinished for centuries, after the gothic style fell out of popularity. The construction of the Cologne Cathedral, which was begun in 1248, halted in 1473, and not resumed until 1842 is one such example.


title: Church (building)

text: In the 15th and 16th century, the change in ethics and society due to the Renaissance and the Reformation also influenced the building of churches. The common style was much like the gothic style, but in a simplified way. The basilica was not the most popular type of church anymore, but instead hall churches were built. Typical features are columns and classical capitals.


title: Church (building)

text: In Protestant churches, where the proclamation of God's Word is of special importance, the visitor's line of view is directed towards the pulpit.


title: Church (building)

text: The Baroque style was first used in Italy around 1575. From there it spread to the rest of Europe and to the European colonies. During the baroque era, the building industry increased heavily. Buildings, even churches, were used as indicators for wealth, authority and influence. The use of forms known from the renaissance were extremely exaggerated. Domes and capitals were decorated with moulding and the former stucco sculptures were replaced by fresco paintings on the ceilings. For the first time, churches were seen as one connected work of art and consistent artistic concepts were developed. Instead of long buildings, more central-plan buildings were created. The sprawling decoration with floral ornamentation and mythological motives raised until about 1720 to the Rococo era.


title: Church (building)

text: The Protestant parishes preferred lateral churches, in which all the visitors could be as close as possible to the pulpit and the altar.


title: Church (building)

text: A common architecture for churches is the shape of a cross (a long central rectangle, with side rectangles, and a rectangle in front for the altar space or sanctuary). These churches also often have a dome or other large vaulted space in the interior to represent or draw attention to the heavens. Other common shapes for churches include a circle, to represent eternity, or an octagon or similar star shape, to represent the church's bringing light to the world. Another common feature is the spire, a tall tower on the "west" end of the church or over the crossing.


title: Church (building)

text: Often, the altar will not be oriented due east, but in the direction of sunrise. This tradition originated in Byzantium in the 4th century, and became prevalent in the West in the 8th to 9th century.


title: Church (building)

text: The old Roman custom of having the altar at the west end and the entrance at the east was sometimes followed as late as the 11th century even in areas of northern Europe under Frankish rule, as seen in Petershausen (Constance), Bamberg Cathedral, Augsburg Cathedral, Regensburg Cathedral, and Hildesheim Cathedral.


title: Church (building)

text: The Latin word "basilica" was originally used to describe a Roman public building usually located in the forum of a Roman town. After the Roman Empire became officially Christian, the term came by extension to refer to a large and important church that has been given special ceremonial rights by the Pope. The word thus retains two senses today, one architectural and the other ecclesiastical.


title: Church (building)

text: A cathedral is a church, usually Catholic, Anglican, Oriental Orthodox or Eastern Orthodox, housing the seat of a bishop. The word cathedral takes its name from "cathedra", or Bishop's Throne (In ). The term is sometimes (improperly) used to refer to any church of great size.


title: Church (building)

text: A church that has the function of cathedral is not necessarily a large building. It might be as small as Christ Church Cathedral in Oxford, England, Porvoo Cathedral in Porvoo, Finland, Sacred Heart Cathedral in Raleigh, United States, or Chur Cathedral in Switzerland. However, frequently, the cathedral along with some of the abbey churches, was the largest building in any region.


title: Church (building)

text: A pilgrimage church is a church to which pilgrimages are regularly made, or a church along a pilgrimage route, often located at the tomb of a saints, or holding icons or relics to which miraculous properties are ascribed, the site of Marian apparitions, etc.


title: Church (building)

text: A conventual church (or monastery church, minster, "katholikon") is the main church in a Christian monastery or abbey.


title: Church (building)

text: During the Middle Ages, a proprietary church was a church, abbey or cloister built on private ground by a feudal lord, over which he retained proprietary interests.


title: Church (building)

text: A collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons, which may be presided over by a dean or provost.


title: Church (building)

text: Collegiate churches were often supported by extensive lands held by the church, or by tithe income from appropriated benefices. They commonly provide distinct spaces for congregational worship and for the choir offices of their clerical community.


title: Church (building)

text: The architecture of evangelical places of worship is mainly characterized by its sobriety. The Latin cross is a well known Christian symbol that can usually be seen on the building of an evangelical church and that identifies the place's belonging. Some services take place in theaters, schools or multipurpose rooms, rented for Sunday only. There is usually a baptistery at the front of the church (in what is known as the chancel in historic traditions) or in a separate room for baptisms by immersion.


title: Church (building)

text: Worship services take on impressive proportions in the megachurches (churches where more than 2,000 people gather every Sunday). In some of these megachurches, more than 10,000 people gather every Sunday. The term gigachurch is sometimes used. For example, Lakewood Church (United States) or Yoido Full Gospel Church (South Korea).


title: Church (building)

text: In some countries of the world which apply sharia or communism, government authorizations for worship are complex for Christians. Because of persecution of Christians, Evangelical house churches have thus developed. For example, there is the Evangelical house churches in China movement. The meetings thus take place in private houses, in secret and in "illegality".


title: Church (building)

text: Old and disused church buildings can be seen as an interesting proposition for developers as the architecture and location often provide for attractive homes or city centre entertainment venues. On the other hand, many newer churches have decided to host meetings in public buildings such as schools, universities, cinemas or theatres.


title: Church (building)

text: There is another trend to convert old buildings for worship rather than face the construction costs and planning difficulties of a new build. Unusual venues in the UK include a former tram power station, a former bus garage, a former cinema and bingo hall, a former Territorial Army drill hall, and a former synagogue. served as a floating church for mariners at Liverpool from 1827 until she sank in 1872. A windmill has also been converted into a church at Reigate Heath.


title: Church (building)

text: There has been an increase in partnerships between church management and private real estate companies to redevelop church properties into mixed uses. While it has garnered criticism from some, the partnership offers congregations the opportunity to increase revenue while preserving the property.


title: Grief

text: Grief is the response to loss, particularly to the loss of someone or some living thing that has died, to which a bond or affection was formed. Although conventionally focused on the emotional response to loss, grief also has physical, cognitive, behavioral, social, cultural, spiritual and philosophical dimensions. While the terms are often used interchangeably, bereavement refers to the state of loss, while grief is the reaction to that loss.


title: Grief

text: The grief associated with death is familiar to most people, but individuals grieve in connection with a variety of losses throughout their lives, such as unemployment, ill health or the end of a relationship. Loss can be categorized as either physical or abstract; physical loss is related to something that the individual can touch or measure, such as losing a spouse through death, while other types of loss are more abstract, possibly relating to aspects of a person's social interactions.


title: Grief

text: Between 1996 and 2006, there was extensive skepticism about a universal and predictable "emotional pathway" that leads from distress to "recovery" with an appreciation that grief is a more complex process of adapting to loss than stage and phase models have previously suggested. The two-track model of bereavement, created by Simon Shimshon Rubin in 1981, is a grief theory that provided a deeper focus on the grieving process. The model examines the long-term effects of bereavement by measuring how well the person is adapting to the loss of a significant person in their life. The main objective of the two-track model of bereavement is for the individual to "manage and live in reality in which the deceased is absent" as well as returning to normal biological functioning.


title: Grief

text: Track One is focused on the biopsychosocial functioning of grief. This focuses on the anxiety, depression, somatic concerns, traumatic responses, familial relationships, interpersonal relationships, self-esteem, meaning structure, work, and investment in life tasks. Rubin (2010) points out, "Track 1, the range of aspects of the individuals functioning across affective, interpersonal, somatic and classical psychiatric indicators is considered". All of the terms listed above are noted for the importance they have in relation to people's responses to grief and loss.


title: Grief

text: The significance of the closeness between the bereaved and the deceased is important to Track 1 because this could determine the severity of the mourning and grief the bereaved will endure. This first track is the response to the extremely stressful life events and requires adaptation along with change and integration. The second track focuses on the ongoing relationship between the griever and the deceased. Track two mainly focuses on how the bereaved was connected to the deceased, and on what level of closeness was shared. The two main components considered are memories, both positive and negative, and emotional involvement shared with the decedent. The stronger the relationship to the deceased, the greater the evaluation of the relationship with heightened shock.


title: Grief

text: Any memory could be a trigger for the bereaved, the way the bereaved chose to remember their loved ones, and how the bereaved integrate the memory of their loved ones into their daily lives.


title: Grief

text: Ten main attributes to this track include: imagery/memory, emotional distance, positive effect, negative effect, preoccupation with the loss, conflict, idealization, memorialization/transformation of the loss, impact on self-perception and loss process (shock, searching, disorganized). An outcome of this track is being able to recognize how transformation has occurred beyond grief and mourning. By outlining the main aspects of the bereavement process into two interactive tracks, individuals can examine and understand how grief has affected their life following loss and begin to adapt to this post-loss life. The Model offers a better understanding with the duration of time in the wake of one's loss and the outcomes that evolve from death. By using this model, researchers can effectively examine the response to an individual's loss by assessing the behavioral-psychological functioning and the relationship with the deceased.


title: Grief

text: The authors from "What's Your Grief?", Litza Williams and Eleanor Haley, state in their understanding of the clinical and therapeutic uses of the model:


title: Grief

text: "The Two-Track Model of Bereavement can help specify areas of mutuality (how people respond affectivity to trauma and change) and also difference (how bereaved people may be preoccupied with the deceased following loss compared to how they may be preoccupied with trauma following the exposure to it)" (Rubin, S.S, 1999).


title: Grief

text: While the grief response is considered a natural way of dealing with loss, prolonged, highly intense grief may at times become debilitating enough to be considered a disorder.


title: Grief

text: Crying is a normal and natural part of grieving. It has also been found, however, that crying and talking about the loss is not the only healthy response and, if forced or excessive, can be harmful. Responses or actions in the affected person, called "coping ugly" by researcher George Bonanno, may seem counter-intuitive or even appear dysfunctional, e.g., celebratory responses, laughter, or self-serving bias in interpreting events. Lack of crying is also a natural, healthy reaction, potentially protective of the individual, and may also be seen as a sign of resilience.


title: Grief

text: Science has found that some healthy people who are grieving do not spontaneously talk about the loss. Pressing people to cry or retell the experience of a loss can be damaging. Genuine laughter is healthy. When a loved one dies, it is not unusual for the bereaved to report that they have "seen" or "heard" the person they have lost. Most people who have experienced this report feeling comforted. In a 2008 survey conducted by Amanda Barusch, 27% of respondents who had lost a loved one reported having had this kind of "contact" experience.


title: Grief

text: George Bonanno, a professor of clinical psychology at Columbia University, conducted more than two decades of scientific studies on grief and trauma, which have been published in several papers in the most respected peer-reviewed journals in the field of psychology, such as "Psychological Science" and "The Journal of Abnormal Psychology". Subjects of his studies number in the several thousand and include people who have suffered losses in the U.S. and cross-cultural studies in various countries around the world, such as Israel, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and China. His subjects suffered losses through war, terrorism, deaths of children, premature deaths of spouses, sexual abuse, childhood diagnoses of AIDS, and other potentially devastating loss events or potential trauma events.


title: Grief

text: In Bonanno's book, "The Other Side of Sadness: What the New Science of Bereavement Tells Us About Life After a Loss", he summarizes his research. His findings include that a natural resilience is the main component of grief and trauma reactions. The first researcher to use pre-loss data, he outlined four trajectories of grief. Bonanno's work has also demonstrated that absence of grief or trauma symptoms is a healthy outcome, rather than something to be feared as has been the thought and practice until his research. Because grief responses can take many forms, including laughter, celebration, and bawdiness, in addition to sadness, Bonanno coined the phrase "coping ugly" to describe the idea that some forms of coping may seem counter intuitive. Bonanno has found that resilience is natural to humans, suggesting that it cannot be "taught" through specialized programs and that there is virtually no existing research with which to design resilience training, nor is there existing research to support major investment in such things as military resilience training programs.


title: Grief

text: The Kübler-Ross model, commonly known as the five stages of grief, is a theory first introduced by Elisabeth Kübler-Ross in her 1969 book, "On Death and Dying". Based on the uncredited earlier work of John Bowlby and Colin Murray-Parkes, Kübler-Ross actually applied the stages to persons who were dying, not persons who were grieving. Her studies involved her work with the terminally ill. The popular but empirically unsupported model describes in five distinct stages how people deal with their impending death.


title: Grief

text: The theory holds that the stages are a part of the framework that helps people learn to live without what they have lost.


title: Grief

text: The stages model, which came about in the 1960s, is a theory based on observation of people who are dying, not people who experienced the death of a loved one. This model found limited empirical support in a study by Maciejewski et al. That is that the sequence was correct although Acceptance was highest at all points throughout the persons experience. The research of George Bonanno, however, is acknowledged as debunking the five stages of grief because his large body of peer-reviewed studies show that the vast majority of people who have experienced a loss are resilient and that there are multiple trajectories following loss.


title: Grief

text: Studies of fMRI scans of women from whom grief was elicited about the death of a mother or a sister in the past 5 years resulted in the conclusion that grief produced a local inflammation response as measured by salivary concentrations of pro-inflammatory cytokines. These responses were correlated with activation in the anterior cingulate cortex and orbitofrontal cortex. This activation also correlated with the free recall of grief-related word stimuli. This suggests that grief can cause stress, and that this reaction is linked to the emotional processing parts of the frontal lobe. Activation of the anterior cingulate cortex and vagus nerve is similarly implicated in the experience of heartbreak whether due to social rejection or bereavement.


title: Grief

text: Among those persons who have been bereaved within the previous three months of a given report, those who report many intrusive thoughts about the deceased show ventral amygdala and rostral anterior cingulate cortex hyperactivity to reminders of their loss. In the case of the amygdala, this links to their sadness intensity. In those individuals who avoid such thoughts, there is a related opposite type of pattern in which there is a decrease in the activation of the dorsal amygdala and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex.


title: Grief

text: In those not so emotionally affected by reminders of their loss, studies of fMRI scans have been used to conclude that there is a high functional connectivity between the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex and amygdala activity, suggesting that the former regulates activity in the latter. In those people who had greater intensity of sadness, there was a low functional connection between the rostral anterior cingulate cortex and amygdala activity, suggesting a lack of regulation of the former part of the brain upon the latter.


title: Grief

text: From an evolutionary perspective, grief is perplexing because it appears costly, and it is not clear what benefits it provides the sufferer. Several researchers have proposed functional explanations for grief, attempting to solve this puzzle. Sigmund Freud argued that grief is a process of libidinal reinvestment. The griever must, Freud argued, disinvest from the deceased, which is a painful process. But this disinvestment allows the griever to use libidinal energies on other, possibly new attachments, so it provides a valuable function. John Archer, approaching grief from an attachment theory perspective, argued that grief is a byproduct of the human attachment system. Generally, a grief-type response is adaptive because it compels a social organism to search for a lost individual (e.g., a mother or a child). However, in the case of death, the response is maladaptive because the individual is not simply lost and the griever cannot reunite with the deceased. Grief, from this perspective, is a painful cost of the human capacity to form commitments.


title: Grief

text: Other researchers such as Randolph Nesse have proposed that grief is a kind of psychological pain that orients the sufferer to a new existence without the deceased and creates a painful but instructive memory. If, for example, leaving an offspring alone at a watering hole led to the offspring's death, grief creates an intensively painful memory of the event, dissuading a parent from ever again leaving an offspring alone at a watering hole. More recently, Bo Winegard and colleagues argued that grief might be a socially selected signal of an individual's propensity for forming strong, committed relationships. From this social signaling perspective, grief targets old and new social partners, informing them that the griever is capable of forming strong social commitments. That is, because grief signals a person's capacity to form strong and faithful social bonds, those who displayed prolonged grief responses were preferentially chosen by alliance partners. The authors argue that throughout human evolution, grief was therefore shaped and elaborated by the social decisions of selective alliance partners.


title: Grief

text: Bereavement, while a normal part of life, carries a degree of risk when severe. Severe reactions affect approximately 10% to 15% of people. Severe reactions mainly occur in people with depression present before the loss event. Severe grief reactions may carry over into family relations. Some researchers have found an increased risk of marital breakup following the death of a child, for example. Others have found no increase. John James, author of the Grief Recovery Handbook and founder of the Grief Recovery Institute, reported that his marriage broke up after the death of his infant son.


title: Grief

text: Many studies have looked at the bereaved in terms of increased risks for stress-related illnesses. Colin Murray Parkes in the 1960s and 1970s in England noted increased doctor visits, with symptoms such as abdominal pain, breathing difficulties, and so forth in the first six months following a death. Others have noted increased mortality rates (Ward, A.W. 1976) and Bunch et al. found a five times greater risk of suicide in teens following the death of a parent. Bereavement also increases the risk of heart attack.


title: Grief

text: Prolonged grief disorder (PGD), formerly known as complicated grief disorder (CGD), is a pathological reaction to loss representing a cluster of empirically derived symptoms that have been associated with long-term physical and psycho-social dysfunction. Individuals with PGD experience severe grief symptoms for at least six months and are stuck in a maladaptive state. An attempt is being made to create a diagnosis category for complicated grief in the DSM-5. It is currently an "area for further study" in the DSM, under the name Persistent Complex Bereavement Disorder. Critics of including the diagnosis of complicated grief in the DSM-5 say that doing so will constitute characterizing a natural response as a pathology, and will result in wholesale medicating of people who are essentially normal.


title: Grief

text: Shear and colleagues found an effective treatment for complicated grief, by treating the reactions in the same way as trauma reactions.