title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: The fire brought graphic images into the public consciousness (including footage of female office staff trapped behind barred windows on the top floor) due to the store's location next to the then studios of BBC Manchester (above the National Westminster Bank) and near to those of Granada Television, the offices of the "Manchester Evening News" and the northern offices of several national newspapers.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: The disaster has become a significant object of study for academics interested in the behaviour of people in emergency situations, after research showed a number of customers (predominately in the public restaurant area) refused to leave despite the sounding of alarms, requests from staff and even the smell and visibility of smoke; some even continued to queue at an abandoned check-out. The majority of those who perished were in this area.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: The store was re-opened, but closed in 1986. The site became an amusement arcade for many years, until the building owners evicted the tenants in favour of a building renovation to house a 157-room Travelodge hotel, a Morrisons convenience store, and Zizzi and Nando's restaurants.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: On 1 October 1979, the Woolworths store located in Worcester's High Street was severely damaged in a large fire. There were no casualties but the store remained closed for several months until it re-opened in 1980. It was later discovered that the fire was purposely started by a disgruntled staff member, and was worsened by the fact there was no sprinkler system in the store.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: In 1981 a fire was discovered in a storeroom at the store in Wimbledon. Better staff training as a result of the Manchester fire led to a successful evacuation, but the building was totally destroyed by the blaze. A firefighter was killed when he and two colleagues became trapped when the upper levels of the building collapsed.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: As a result of the damage caused to the reputation of the business by these events, the American parent owners decided to sell the British operation to Paternoster Stores, which was eventually renamed Kingfisher. The company actively promoted the use of smoke detectors after these fires, a policy which helped increase their usage reduce their cost.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: As a result of the targeting of high-profile British businesses in Northern Ireland by the Irish Republican Army during The Troubles, a number of Woolworth stores suffered significant damage.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: Being the flagship Woolworths store in Northern Ireland, this suffered a series of incendiary attacks, with one such attack in 1972 gutting the store. Owing to telephoned warnings, no-one was killed in any of these attacks.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: Woolworths' store at 18/22 Main Street, Bangor, County Down, Northern Ireland (Store No. 380) was targeted by terrorists on 30 March 1974 as part of co-ordinated incendiary bomb attack on the town centre.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: At 5pm, a telephone warning was received that 15 incendiary devices had been placed in the town centre and were due to explode in 30 minutes. Immediate and successful efforts were made by the police to evacuate the commercial centre of the town, however there was inadequate time to prevent the devices from exploding. The Woolworths store was badly damaged after a device exploded on the sales floor. A policeman suffered concussion after he was blown off his feet by the blast from the device, and a female civilian was cut by flying debris.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: Other stores targeted in the attack included the town's Co-operative Department Store and FA Wellworth Department Store. The town's Woolworths store was demolished after the attack. A new store was built on the same site, which reopened in the mid 1970s.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: The rebuilt store suffered minor damage after a 200 lb car bomb exploded a short distance away, near the town's FA Wellworth's store on the evening of 21 October 1992. Nobody was injured in the explosion, which occurred after most stores in the town centre had closed for the day. However, significant damage was caused to the entrance area of the Woolworths' store, with windows being blown out, the porch roof being destroyed and a small quantity of stock toward the front of the store being damaged. Additionally, minor structural damage was caused to the store's stockroom with two internal portioning walls adjacent to the generator room and fixtures store having to be rebuilt. The store recommenced trading on 23 October 1992.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: Woolworths was for many years a leader in the UK music industry. In the 1950s and well into the 1960s, Woolworths issued recordings available only via its stores on its own label Embassy Records, produced and manufactured by Oriole Records. These releases were double-sided singles featuring two cover versions of current hit singles sold at a much cheaper price. This venture was very successful at the time, but was eventually killed off when other record companies started to issue compilation albums. However, Woolworths remained in the music business selling a wide range of singles and albums, and remained the UK's biggest music retailer well into the 1990s. Even successful nationwide music specialists stores such as Virgin Megastores and HMV did not overtake Woolworths during this time. They later suffered from strong competition in this field from the large supermarket chains Tesco and Asda.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: In the early days many Woolworths stores had cafes. However, as the years went on and many larger stores were either closed or downscaled, fewer stores had cafes. When the stores finally ceased trading in 2008/9, only around 10% of the stores had cafes. These were usually located at the back of the stores or, when a store had a second sales floor, they were located either in the basement or upstairs on the first floor. They sold the usual range of hot and cold drinks, with hot food available, including breakfasts and lunch-time meals.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: Entertainment UK (EUK) was founded as Record Merchandisers Limited in 1966 by EMI Records to distribute music to non-specialist retailers. It later became a joint venture between a number of record companies. Woolworths became Entertainment UK's largest customer and in 1986 Record Merchandisers Limited was acquired by Kingfisher plc. Record Merchandisers was renamed Entertainment UK in 1988.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: EUK became the property of Woolworths Group plc after the de-merger from Kingfisher in 2001. In 2006, Woolworths Group acquired Total Home Entertainment Distribution Limited (THE) and combined it with EUK. In November 2007 the company acquired the book wholesaler and distributor Bertram Books.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: EUK was the main supplier of Zavvi under an exclusive supply deal. As a result of EUK entering into administration, on 24 December the music retailer was also forced into administration as it was unable to source stock on favourable terms direct from suppliers. Zavvi later closed entirely.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: Streets Online, founded in 1996 by Stephen Cole, was one of the pioneers of online retailing in the UK. The company was the name behind the online bookseller Alphabetstreet and music site Audiostreet. 85% of the company was bought out by the Kingfisher Group in 2000 for £15.7 million, and then became part of the Woolworths Group with its de-merger in 2001. It then became responsible for the web operations of MVC and Tesco. When Kingfisher bought this 85%, the remaining 15% was owned by Sky New Media Ventures (part of BSkyB). In 2003 the company headquarters was moved to the EUK site in Hayes.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: 2 Entertain was established as a joint venture between the Woolworths Group, and BBC Worldwide. It combined the group's former video and music publishing and television and video production business, VCI, with BBC Worldwide's video publishing business. After negotiations with Woolworth Group's administrators, BBC Worldwide purchased Woolworths' 40% stake in 2 Entertain in March 2010 for £17 million, taking full ownership of the company.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: The Winfield brand was launched by Woolworths in 1963 and continued until the 1980s. Goods sold under the brand included household cleaners, groceries, kitchenware, perfumes and other ranges such as fishing tackle.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: Chad Valley was launched in 1991 to create an own label range of merchandise. The Chad Valley brand name, which has been in existence since 1860, is used on a range of toys and games suitable for children under 8 years old. Home Retail Group, then the parent company of Argos and Homebase, purchased the brand for £5 million on 20 January 2009. Chad Valley first appeared exclusively in the Autumn/Winter 2009 Argos catalogue.


title: Woolworths Group (United Kingdom)

text: Ladybird was a brand of children's wear for children aged 0–10 years which was sold exclusively in Woolworths stores. Before the collapse of the Woolworths chain it was ranked third overall in the childrenswear market, with a market share of 5%. Woolworths purchased rights to the Ladybird brand in 1984, purchasing it outright from Coats Viyella in 2001. The brand has a history which dates back to a trading partnership beginning in 1934 between the original firm Adolf Pasold & Son and Woolworths. On 1 February 2009, Shop Direct Group purchased the brand and whole rights from the administrators.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: Anomic aphasia (also known as dysnomia, nominal aphasia, and amnesic aphasia) is a mild, fluent type of aphasia where individuals have word retrieval failures and cannot express the words they want to say (particularly nouns and verbs). By contrast, "anomia" is a deficit of expressive language, and a symptom of all forms of aphasia, but patients whose primary deficit is word retrieval are diagnosed with anomic aphasia. Individuals with aphasia who display anomia can often describe an object in detail and maybe even use hand gestures to demonstrate how the object is used, but cannot find the appropriate word to name the object. Patients with anomic aphasia have relatively preserved speech fluency, repetition, comprehension, and grammatical speech.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: Anomic aphasia occurring by itself may be caused by damage to almost anywhere in the left hemisphere and in some cases can be seen in instances of right hemisphere damage. Anomia can be genetic or caused by damage to various parts of the parietal lobe or the temporal lobe of the brain due to traumatic injury, stroke, or a brain tumor. While anomic aphasia is primarily caused by structural lesions, they may also originate in Alzheimer's disease (anomia may be the earliest language deficit in posterior cortical atrophy variant of Alzheimer's) or other neurodegenerative diseases.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: Although the main causes are not specifically known, many researchers have found factors contributing to anomic aphasia. People with damage to the left hemisphere of the brain are more likely to have anomic aphasia. Broca's area, the speech production center in the brain, was linked to being the source for speech execution problems, with the use of functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI), now commonly used to study anomic patients. Other experts believe that damage to Wernicke's area, which is the speech comprehension area of the brain, is connected to anomia because the patients cannot comprehend the words that they are hearing.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: Although many experts have believed that damage to Broca's area or Wernicke's area are the main causes of anomia, current studies have shown that damage in the left parietal lobe is the cause of anomic aphasia. One study was conducted using a word repetition test as well as fMRI in order to see the highest level of activity as well as where the lesions are in the brain tissue. Fridrikkson, et al. saw that damage to neither Broca's area nor Wernicke's area were the sole sources of anomia in the subjects. Therefore, the original anomia model, which theorized that damage occurred on the surface of the brain in the grey matter was debunked, and it was found that the damage was in the white matter deeper in the brain, on the left hemisphere. More specifically, the damage was in a part of the nerve tract called the arcuate fasciculus, for which the mechanism of action is unknown, though it is known to connect the posterior (back) of the brain to the anterior (front) and vice versa.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: While anomic aphasia is associated with lesions throughout the left hemisphere, severe and isolated anomia has been considered a sign of deep temporal lobe or lateral temporo-occipital damage. Damage to these areas is seen in patients showing infarction limited to regions supplied by the dominant posterior cerebral artery (PCA) and is referred to as posterior cerebral artery syndrome.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: The best way to see if anomic aphasia has developed is by using verbal and imaging tests. The combination seems to be most effective, since either test done alone may give false positives or false negatives. For example, the verbal test is used to see if a speech disorder presents, and whether the problem is in speech production or comprehension. Patients with Alzheimer's disease have speech problems linked to dementia or progressive aphasias, which can include anomia. The imaging test, mostly done using MRI scans, is ideal for lesion mapping or viewing deterioration in the brain. However, imaging cannot diagnose anomia on its own because the lesions may not be located deep enough to damage the white matter or the arcuate fasciculus. However, anomic aphasia is very difficult to associate with a specific lesion location in the brain. Therefore, the combination of speech tests and imaging tests has the highest sensitivity and specificity.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: Picture-naming tests, such as the Philadelphia Naming Test (PNT), are also utilized in diagnosing aphasias. Analysis of picture-naming is compared with reading, picture categorizing, and word categorizing. There is a considerable similarity among aphasia syndromes in terms of picture-naming behavior, however anomic aphasiacs produced the fewest phonemic errors and the most multiword circumlocutions. These results suggest minimal word-production difficulty in anomic aphasia relative to other aphasia syndromes.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: Anomic aphasia has been diagnosed in some studies using the Aachen Aphasia Test (AAT), which tests language functioning after brain injury. This test aims to: identify the presence of aphasia; provide a profile of the speaker's language functioning according to different language modalities (speaking, listening, reading, writing) and different levels of linguistic description (phonology, morphology, semantics, and syntax); give a measure of severity of any breakdown. This test was administered to patients participating in a study in 2012, and researchers found that on the naming subtest of the AAT patients showed relevant naming difficulties and tended to substitute the words they could not produce with circumlocutions.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: The Western Aphasia Battery is another test that is conducted with the goal of classifying aphasia subtypes and rating the severity of the aphasiac impairment. The test is composed of four language and three performance domains. Syndrome classification is determined by the pattern of performance on the four language subtests, which assess spontaneous speech, comprehension, repetition, and naming.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: Doing a hearing test first is important, in case the patient cannot clearly hear the words or sentences needed in the speech repetition test. In the speech tests, the person is asked to repeat a sentence with common words; if the person cannot identify the word, but he or she can describe it, then the person is highly likely to have anomic aphasia. However, to be completely sure, the test is given while a test subject is in an fMRI scanner, and the exact location of the lesions and areas activated by speech are pinpointed. Few simpler or cheaper options are available, so lesion mapping and speech repetition tests are the main ways of diagnosing anomic aphasia.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: Anomic aphasia (anomia) is a type of aphasia characterized by problems recalling words, names, and numbers. Speech is fluent and receptive language is not impaired in someone with anomic aphasia. Subjects often use circumlocutions (speaking in a roundabout way) to avoid a name they cannot recall or to express a certain word they cannot remember. Sometimes, the subject can recall the name when given clues. Additionally, patients are able to speak with correct grammar; the main problem is finding the appropriate word to identify an object or person.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: Sometimes, subjects may know what to do with an object, but still not be able to give a name to the object. For example, if a subject is shown an orange and asked what it is called, the subject may be well aware that the object can be peeled and eaten, and may even be able to demonstrate this by actions or even verbal responses; however, they cannot recall that the object is called an "orange". Sometimes, when a person with this condition is multilingual, they might confuse the language they are speaking in trying to find the right word (inadvertent code-switching).


title: Anomic aphasia

text: No method is available to completely cure anomic aphasia. However, treatments can help improve word-finding skills.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: Although a person with anomia may find recalling many types of words to be difficult, such as common nouns, proper nouns, verbs, etc., many studies have shown that treatment for object words, or nouns, has shown promise in rehabilitation research. The treatment includes visual aids, such as pictures, and the patient is asked to identify the object or activity. However, if that is not possible, then the patient is shown the same picture surrounded by words associated with the object or activity. Throughout the process, positive encouragement is provided. The treatment shows an increase in word finding during treatment; however, word identifying decreased two weeks after the rehabilitation period. Therefore, it shows that rehabilitation effort needs to be continuous for word-finding abilities to improve from the baseline. The studies show that verbs are harder to recall or repeat, even with rehabilitation.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: Other methods in treating anomic aphasia include circumlocution-induced naming therapy (CIN), wherein the patient uses circumlocution to assist with his or her naming rather than just being told to name the item pictured after given some sort of cue. Results suggest that the patient does better in properly naming objects when undergoing this therapy because CIN strengthens the weakened link between semantics and phonology for patients with anomia, since they often know what an object is used for, but cannot verbally name it.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: Anomia is often challenging for the families and friends of those affected by it. One way to overcome this is computer-based treatment models, effective especially when used with clinical therapy. Leemann et al. provided anomic patients with computerized-assisted therapy (CAT) sessions, along with traditional therapy sessions using treatment lists of words. Some of the patients received a drug known to help relieve symptoms of anomia (levodopa), while others received a placebo. The researchers found that the drug had no significant effects on improvement with the treatment lists, but almost all of the patients improved after the CAT sessions. They concluded that this form of computerized treatment is effective in increasing naming abilities in anomic patients.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: Additionally, one study researched the effects of using "excitatory (anodal) transcranial direct current stimulation" over the right temporoparietal cortex, a brain area that seems to correlate to language. The electrical stimulation seemed to enhance language training outcome in patients with chronic aphasia.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: Contextual repetition priming treatment is a technique which involves repeated repetition of names of pictures that are related semantically, phonologically, or are unrelated. Patients with impaired access to lexical-semantic representations show no long-term improvement in naming, but patients with good access to semantics show long-term benefits.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: Development of self-cueing strategies can also facilitate word retrieval. Patients identify core words that can be retrieved without struggle, and establish a relationship between cue words and words that begin with the same sound but cannot be retrieved. Patients then learn to use the cue word to facilitate word retrieval for the target object.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: Many different populations can and do have anomia. For instance, deaf patients who have had a stroke can demonstrate semantic and phonological errors, much like hearing anomic patients. Researchers have called this subtype sign anomia.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: Multilingual patients typically experience anomia to a greater degree in just one of their fluent languages. However, evidence conflicts as to which language – first or second – is impacted more.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: Research on children with anomia has indicated that children who undergo treatment are, for the most part, able to gain back normal language abilities, aided by brain plasticity. However, longitudinal research on children with anomic aphasia due to head injury shows that even several years after the injury, some signs of deficient word retrieval are still observed. These remaining symptoms can sometimes cause academic difficulties later on.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: This disorder may be extremely frustrating for people with and without the disorder. Although the persons with anomic aphasia may know the specific word, they may not be able to recall it and this can be very difficult for everyone in the conversation. Positive reinforcements are helpful.


title: Anomic aphasia

text: Although not many literary cases mention anomic aphasia, many nonfiction books have been written about living with aphasia. One of them is "The Man Who Lost His Language" by Sheila Hale. It is the story of Hale's husband, John Hale, a scholar who had had a stroke and lost speech formation abilities. In her book, Hale also explains the symptoms and mechanics behind aphasia and speech formation. She adds the emotional components of dealing with a person with aphasia and how to be patient with the speech and communication.


title: Diplopia

text: Diplopia is the simultaneous perception of two images of a single object that may be displaced horizontally or vertically in relation to each other. Also called double vision, it is a loss of visual focus under regular conditions, and is often voluntary. However, when occurring involuntarily, it results in impaired function of the extraocular muscles, where both eyes are still functional, but they cannot turn to target the desired object. Problems with these muscles may be due to mechanical problems, disorders of the neuromuscular junction, disorders of the cranial nerves (III, IV, and VI) that innervate the muscles, and occasionally disorders involving the supranuclear oculomotor pathways or ingestion of toxins.


title: Diplopia

text: Diplopia can be one of the first signs of a systemic disease, particularly to a muscular or neurological process, and it may disrupt a person's balance, movement, or reading abilities.


title: Diplopia

text: Diplopia has a diverse range of ophthalmologic, infectious, autoimmune, neurological, and neoplastic causes:


title: Diplopia

text: Diplopia is diagnosed mainly by information from the patient. Doctors may use blood tests, physical examinations, computed tomography (CT), or magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) to find the underlying cause.


title: Diplopia

text: One of the first steps in diagnosing diplopia is often to see whether one of two major classifications may be eliminated. That involves blocking one eye to see which symptoms are evident in each eye alone. Persisting blurry or double vision with one eye closed is classified as monocular diplopia.


title: Diplopia

text: Binocular diplopia is double vision arising as a result of strabismus(in layman's terms "cross-eyed"), the misalignment of the two eyes relative to each other, either esotropia (inward) or exotropia (outward). In such a case while the fovea of one eye is directed at the object of regard, the fovea of the other is directed elsewhere, and the image of the object of regard falls on an extrafoveal area of the retina. Acute diplopia is a diagnostic challenge. The most common cause of acute diplopia are ocular motor nerve palsies (OMP).


title: Diplopia

text: The brain calculates the visual direction of an object based upon the position of its image relative to the fovea. Images falling on the fovea are seen as being directly ahead, while those falling on retina outside the fovea may be seen as above, below, right, or left of straight ahead depending upon the area of retina stimulated. Thus, when the eyes are misaligned, the brain perceives two images of one target object, as the target object simultaneously stimulates different, noncorresponding, retinal areas in either eye, thus producing double vision.


title: Diplopia

text: This correlation of particular areas of the retina in one eye with the same areas in the other is known as retinal correspondence. This relationship also gives rise to an associated phenomenon of binocular diplopia, although one that is rarely noted by those experiencing diplopia. Because the fovea of one eye corresponds to the fovea of the other, images falling on the two foveae are projected to the same point in space. Thus, when the eyes are misaligned, two different objects will be perceived as superimposed in the same space. This phenomenon is known as visual confusion'.


title: Diplopia

text: The brain naturally guards against double vision. In an attempt to avoid double vision, the brain can sometimes ignore the image from one eye, a process known as suppression. The ability to suppress is to be found particularly in childhood when the brain is still developing. Thus, those with childhood strabismus almost never complain of diplopia, while adults who develop strabismus almost always do. While this ability to suppress might seem an entirely positive adaptation to strabismus, in the developing child, this can prevent the proper development of vision in the affected eye, resulting in amblyopia. Some adults are also able to suppress their diplopia, but their suppression is rarely as deep or as effective and takes much longer to establish, thus they are not at risk of permanently compromising their vision. In some cases, diplopia disappears without medical intervention, but in other cases, the cause of the double vision may still be present.


title: Diplopia

text: Certain people with diplopia who cannot achieve fusion and yet do not suppress may display a certain type of spasm-like irregular movement of the eyes in the vicinity of the fixation point (see: Horror fusionis).


title: Diplopia

text: Diplopia can also occur when viewing with only one eye; this is called monocular diplopia, or where the patient perceives more than two images, monocular polyopia. While serious causes rarely may be behind monocular diplopia symptoms, this is much less often the case than with binocular diplopia. The differential diagnosis of multiple image perception includes the consideration of such conditions as corneal surface keratoconus, subluxation of the lens, a structural defect within the eye, a lesion in the anterior visual cortex, or nonorganic conditions, but diffraction-based (rather than geometrical) optical models have shown that common optical conditions, especially astigmatism, can also produce this symptom.


title: Diplopia

text: Temporary binocular diplopia can be caused by alcohol intoxication or head injuries, such as concussion (if temporary double vision does not resolve quickly, one should see an optometrist or ophthalmologist immediately). It can also be a side effect of benzodiazepines or opioids, particularly if used in larger doses for recreation, the antiepileptic drugs phenytoin and zonisamide, and the anticonvulsant drug lamotrigine, as well as the hypnotic drug zolpidem and the dissociative drugs ketamine and dextromethorphan. Temporary diplopia can also be caused by tired or strained eye muscles. If diplopia appears with other symptoms such as fatigue and acute or chronic pain, the patient should see an ophthalmologist immediately.


title: Diplopia

text: Some people are able to consciously uncouple their eyes, either by overfocusing closely (i.e. going cross-eyed) or unfocusing. Also, while looking at one object behind another object, the foremost object's image is doubled (for example, placing one's finger in front of one's face while reading text on a computer monitor). In this sense, double vision is neither dangerous nor harmful, and may even be enjoyable. It makes viewing stereograms possible.


title: Diplopia

text: Monocular diplopia may be induced in many individuals, even those with normal eyesight, with simple defocusing experiments involving fine, high-contrast lines.


title: Diplopia

text: The appropriate treatment for binocular diplopia depends upon the cause of the condition producing the symptoms. Efforts must first be made to identify and treat the underlying cause of the problem. Treatment options include eye exercises, wearing an eye patch on alternative eyes, prism correction, and in more extreme situations, surgery or botulinum toxin.


title: Diplopia

text: If diplopia turns out to be intractable, it can be managed as last resort by obscuring part of the patient's field of view. This approach is outlined in the article on diplopia occurring in association with a condition called horror fusionis.


title: A Teacher

text: A Teacher is a 2013 American drama film written and directed by Hannah Fidell, in her feature directorial debut. It revolves around a female high school teacher's illicit sexual relationship with a male student that turns from infatuation into obsession. Principal photography for the film took place in Austin, Texas. The film had its premiere at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2013. The film was released on video on demand on August 20, 2013, prior to receiving a limited release on September 6, 2013, in the United States.


title: A Teacher

text: While praise was given towards the film’s performances, cinematography, score, and its attempt to explore a complex issue, criticisms were reserved over a narrative lack of focus, exposition, and character development. In 2014, it was announced the film would be adapted as a TV series, with Fidell executive producing. Kate Mara became attached to star as the lead and also as an executive producer. "A Teacher", the resulting miniseries, premiered on FX on Hulu on November 2020.


title: A Teacher

text: Diana Watts, a high school English teacher in suburban Texas, is having an affair with Eric Tull, one of her students. In class, Diana and Eric are careful to hide their relationship, aside from sneaking glances at each other and finding time after class to be alone. Despite sometimes fearing that they could get caught, Diana is seemingly smitten with Eric and continues seeing him.


title: A Teacher

text: One day, Diana meets with her brother, Hunter, but as soon as he brings up their mother's declining health, Diana becomes overwhelmed and leaves. Sometime later, Diana's roommate, Sophia, tells Diana that she wants to introduce her to some attractive single men, Rich and Dan, at a party. While Sophia is talking, Diana walks into the bathroom to take a topless photo to send to Eric. She later attends the party with Sophia and meets Rich and Dan, both of whom she finds uninteresting. She makes an excuse to leave the party early.


title: A Teacher

text: After the holiday break, Diana is told by Jessica, a fellow teacher, that a topless photo of a student has been circulating around the school. While Jessica laments how careless young teenagers can be, Diana realizes that the photo she sent Eric could be spread just as easily. She meets with Eric after school in the parking lot and asks him to delete the photo, which he does. On another occasion, Eric tells Diana that a girl asked him to the Sadie Hawkins dance. Diana becomes jealous, but Eric reassures her that it means nothing and he is only going with this girl to avoid suspicion.


title: A Teacher

text: Diana and Eric go on a weekend getaway at his family's ranch. The next morning, as they are having sex, the ranch foreman, James, arrives at the property and, noticing Eric's car, knocks on the door. Diana hides in the bathroom while Eric speaks to James. After James leaves, Diana is visibly shaken and asks a nonchalant Eric if James will tell his father. Eric tells her there is nothing to worry about, but Diana insists that she could lose her job if they are caught. She tells him they should put their relationship on hold for a while and goes to the porch to be alone. Eric joins her and tries to seduce her, eventually becoming aggressive. She angrily pushes him away.


title: A Teacher

text: Back at school, Diana confesses to Eric that she misses him and invites him to come over later. During the conversation, Jessica comes into the classroom and accidentally interrupts them. Diana tries to play it off as a school-related meeting. Later, at her house, Diana and Eric begin having sex when she starts to act increasingly unstable. She goes from pushing him away, saying that what they are doing is wrong, to clinging to him and begging him to stay. Frustrated with her erratic behavior, Eric storms out right as Sophia is returning home. Sophia watches in shock as Diana desperately chases after Eric.


title: A Teacher

text: Diana immediately drives to Eric's house, where she parks outside and calls his mobile number. When he does not respond, she calls his family's landline. Eric's father answers and when she asks for Eric, he tells her it is late and, assuming she is a classmate, advises that she speak to him at school the next day. Diana sneaks up to Eric's bedroom window to try to get him to speak with her. Eric begrudgingly goes outside, where she pleadingly tells him that they can "work through this" and that, since he will be attending the University of Texas the following year, they can "stay together". Eric rebuffs her advances and his father comes outside to check on him, causing Diana to run back to her car and leave.


title: A Teacher

text: Diana drives to a motel, and once she checks into a room, she checks her voicemail. She has received a message from a staff member at the school, telling her that there is an issue with one of her students, Eric, whose father is at the school, and urging her to call back immediately. Diana, curled up on the bed, cries as she realizes the repercussions of her actions.


title: A Teacher

text: "A Teacher" was premiered at the 2013 Sundance Film Festival on January 20, 2013, and was subsequently screened at festivals such as SXSW Film Festival, Thessaloniki International Film Festival, Maryland Film Festival and Oldenburg International Film Festival. It was acquired for U.S. distribution by Oscilloscope Laboratories. In the Netherlands, it was distributed by Film1 Sundance Channel. The film was released in the United States through video on demand on August 20, 2013, prior to receiving a limited release on September 6, 2013.


title: A Teacher

text: The film was released in a limited release on September 6, 2013, and grossed $4,684 from two theaters, ranking number 87 on the box office chart. The film went on to earn a total domestic gross of $8,348. The film's widest release was in seven theaters.


title: A Teacher

text: The film received mixed reviews from film critics. Review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes gave the film 34% from 32 reviews. Marsha McCreadie from RogerEbert.com wrote: ""A Teacher" will leave you feeling drained, even exhausted. That's about right for a movie about obsession, one with no resolution except waiting for the other thud to drop... Much of the movie takes place in dark interiors. The love-making scenes are steamy, seemingly passionate; risqué not pornographic. Happily, a little something is left to the imagination. Though after a while you're itchy to get out of the bedroom, or the old high school staple, the car. The "one-room" claustrophobia is reminiscent of being trapped in the love-nest of "Last Tango in Paris"... To her great credit, director Fidell – named by "Filmmaker Magazine" as one of the 25 New Faces of Independent Film – takes on a tricky topic. She even gets us to empathize with the person in the power spot."


title: A Teacher

text: "The New York Post" wrote: "A teacher sexually obsessed with the high school student with whom she's having an illicit affair gradually loses her bearings in an evocative but ultimately hollow indie drama. Writer-director Hannah Fidell makes the common indie mistake of thinking that a dramatic situation is all you need for a movie, but demonstrates an impressive restraint and an ability to manufacture queasy suspense without much dialogue."


title: A Teacher

text: Ignatiy Vishnevetsky from "The A.V. Club" gave a positive review, writing: "Because contemporary indies tend to overvalue broad generational statements, "A Teacher" – which is candid, character focused, and only 75 minutes long – initially feels like a breath of fresh air. (The movie draws inevitable comparisons to the recent "The Lifeguard", which is also about a female ephebophile.) Very little time is wasted on exposition; when the movie starts, Burdge is already meeting for regular trysts with teenager Will Brittain... Writer-director Hannah Fidell works in a style that's arty but simple: naturalistic lighting, camera movement that always follows character movement, and a modernist score (by Brian McOmber, formerly of Dirty Projectors) that conveys dread without ever suggesting outright horror."


title: A Teacher

text: For "Slackerwood", journalist Jordan Gass-Pooré wrote: "Burdge's performance is like lightning in a bottle: subtle and unpredictable. There are instances where Diana alters her voice to sound younger when she's speaking with Eric. Outside of the classroom, Diana is the submissive, never speaking to Eric, but with him. She allows him to consume her little by little, and watches as he spits her out, making her emotional and physical breakdown all the more heart wrenching."


title: A Teacher

text: In February 2014, it was revealed that "A Teacher" would be adapted for television by HBO. Fidell would write and executive produce the series along with Danny Brocklehurst, the former showrunner of the UK television series "Shameless". In August 2018, it was announced Kate Mara would star in the series and serve as an executive producer, while Fidell would also direct the series, set up at FX instead of HBO. The miniseries was released FX on Hulu from November 10, 2020 to December 29, 2020.


title: Nudes-A-Poppin'

text: Nudes-A-Poppin' was an annual pageant in the United States for nude women and men competing in erotic dance. It was the best-known nude event in Indiana, and was held annually from 1975 until 2019.


title: Nudes-A-Poppin'

text: The Nudes-A-Poppin' pageant was organized by and held at Ponderosa Sun Club, a family nudist resort founded in 1964 and situated in Roselawn, Indiana. The event was first held in 1975 to attract interest in the resort and was subsequently held annually until 2019. Its "Miss Nude Galaxy" beauty contest dated back to the mid-70s. Nudes-A-Poppin' served as a fund-raiser for the resort and contributed significantly to the local economy. The resort was closed to its members during the pageant, and the one-day event tickets could only be purchased separately. The attendance fee for the event was $50 in 2005 but had risen to $60 by 2016. Up to 2003, there was one event in July and another in August, but, starting in 2004, Nudes-A-Poppin' was reduced to one weekend in July. The 2019 event was the last to be held, with the 2020 and 2021 events being cancelled as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: Nudes-A-Poppin'

text: Events held at Nudes-A-Poppin' included the amateur wet T-shirt contest, the sexiest pole dance competition, naked oil wrestling, and others. A "Miss Nude" contest judged by the audience was held here. Various trophies were awarded to the nude contestants, with titles such as "Miss Nude Galaxy", "Miss Nude Go-Go", "Miss Nude Up & Comer", "Miss Nude Rising Star", "Miss Nude Showstopper", "Miss Nude North American" and "Nude Couples Dance Contest".


title: Nudes-A-Poppin'

text: Lou Harry, writing for "Indianapolis Monthly", noted that the participants were prohibited from having sexual contact with another person attending the event or from performing explicitly. Most of the contestants were women. The spectators performed as judges and consisted mostly of men. Photography was a popular activity at the pageant. Spectators were allowed to take photographs but the use of video cameras required a permit.


title: Nudes-A-Poppin'

text: The Ponderosa Sun Club is a family naturist resort and most of its members did not attend the festival. The members agreed to the club hosting Nudes-A-Poppin' because it subsidized their membership fees. Instead local porn stars, strippers, and nudists participate in the event, attracting thousands of other spectators. By 2017 the anticipated number of attendees was around 6000, with the event drawing an international audience. The official website of the event stated that "no clothes are tolerated at the pool." Former porn star Ron Jeremy acted as emcee for Nudes-A-Poppin' for over three decades and personalities such as "Home Improvement" star Tim Allen, "The Munsters" star Al Lewis, and John Wayne Bobbitt also hosted the event.


title: Nudes-A-Poppin'

text: In a list titled "Top 10: Sex Festivals" compiled by AskMen.com, Nudes-A-Poppin' was ranked at number four.


title: Nudes-A-Poppin'

text: Roselawn, Indiana was placed 1st in the "10 Kinkiest Cities" list compiled by AlterNet.org because of this pageant, along with a high frequency of other adult festivals, adult clubs, and sexual activities such as erotic dancing, public sex, and exhibitionism.


title: The Garden (band)

text: The Garden is an American experimental rock band from Orange County, California, formed in 2011 by twin brothers Wyatt and Fletcher Shears. The duo released their debut album "The Life and Times of a Paperclip" in 2013, with several smaller releases following. In 2015, the group released their second studio album "Haha" along with the lead single "All Smiles Over Here :)" to critical acclaim after being signed to Epitaph Records. They released their third album "Mirror Might Steal Your Charm" in March 2018, and their fourth album, "Kiss My Super Bowl Ring" was released in March 2020. The group’s fifth album, "Horseshit on Route 66", was their second self-released album, being released in September 2022. The brothers have toured across the US, Europe, United Kingdom, China, Japan, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, Mexico, and in 2019, they appeared at Coachella.


title: The Garden (band)

text: Twins Wyatt and Fletcher Shears formed The Garden in 2011 aged 17 as a side project of their band M.H.V (Ms. Hannah's Victims), but eventually they departed in order to pursue The Garden full time. Their name The Garden is intended as a metaphor for their music "growing" and evolving. They began playing shows and soon, still signed to their previous band's label Burger Records, released their debut self titled EP in May, 2012 on cassette, followed by "Everything Is Perfect" in December. They released the song "I'm a Woman" with a video in late 2012 before releasing their debut album "The Life and Times of a Paperclip" in July, 2013. A month later they released the "Rules" EP, featuring "Spirit Chant" previously released on "Everything Is Perfect", and "Get Me My Blade" which was released along with a video earlier that year. They released a few more singles and EP's throughout 2014, as well as a song titled "Cloak", a track featured on their then upcoming second album.


title: The Garden (band)

text: In January 2015, The Garden twins released a 7" titled "Surprise" featuring the B-side "This Could Build Us a Home". They signed to Epitaph Records and in August 2015, they announced their second studio album "haha" and premiered the lead single, "All Smiles Over Here :)". They released a video for the song "Egg" on October 9, a day before the duo embarked on a world tour. In 2016, they released a string of singles, "Play Your Cards Right" (featuring Crazy 8), "Call This # Now" and "California Here We Go", before releasing the "U Want the Scoop?" EP in March 2017, following a video for "All Access". During September 2017, the duo opened for Mac DeMarco on his North American tour.


title: The Garden (band)

text: On January 24, 2018, The Garden released the single "No Destination" on Epitaph Records with an accompanying music video.


title: The Garden (band)

text: On February 27, they released a new music video for the single "Stallion," and announced their new album, "Mirror Might Steal Your Charm," was set to release on March 30. A third single, "Call The Dogs Out," came out three days before the album's release on March 27.


title: The Garden (band)

text: They also played songs from the album including many other songs of their’s at the ARTE concert in 2018.


title: The Garden (band)

text: The band announced the release date of their fourth studio album, "Kiss My Super Bowl Ring", on January 16, 2020. The announcement was supported by the album's first single, "Clench to Stay Awake." The album was released on March 13, 2020, and features production from 100 Gecs member Dylan Brady and Kero Kero Bonito bassist James Bulled under his side project Wharfwhit.


title: The Garden (band)

text: On July 21, 2020, The Garden announced that they would be "cutting all ties with Burger Records forever," following numerous accusations of sexual misconduct allegedly carried out by various artists on the Burger label. The Garden stated that they would "not stand with anyone, any band, or any label that enables this disgusting behavior."


title: The Garden (band)

text: The singles "Freight Yard", "Orange County Punk Rock Legend", and "Chainsaw the Door" were released ahead of their fifth studio album, "Horseshit on Route 66", which was released on September 8, 2022.


title: The Garden (band)

text: Both twins have experimental side projects: Wyatt's being Enjoy and Fletcher's being Puzzle. They’re also models, having campaigned for brands such as Yves Saint Laurent, Hugo Boss, Ugg, and Balenciaga.


title: The Garden (band)

text: The band is known for their fast, punk-influenced two-piece bass and drum songs. At some point Wyatt has stated he switched from bass to guitar, but most people didn't notice because of his playing style and use of low notes. Their later music contains synth in addition to or instead of the guitar and drums. Both their music and image is characterized by "DIY principles, thrift store-cum-glam fashion style and a vast list of influences." The brothers classify their sound as "vada vada," a philosophy which Wyatt Shears describes as "an idea that represents pure creative expression, that disregards all previously made genres and ideals". The twins have described their influences from such diverse artists as: video game composer Manabu Namiki, rappers E-40 and Mykki Blanco, country singer Johnny Paycheck and punk rock bands Minutemen and Big Boys.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: Hudson's Bay (), known colloquially and operating online as The Bay (French: ), is a Canadian luxury goods department store chain. It is the flagship brand of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), the oldest and longest-surviving company in North America as well as one of the oldest continuously operating companies in the world.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: Founded on 2 May 1670, the Hudson's Bay Company opened its first department store in 1881 in Winnipeg, Manitoba. The chain operated under the company name before being rebranded to The Bay in 1965. It operated exclusively in Western Canada until the acquisitions and conversions of department stores Morgan's, Freimans, Simpsons, Woodward's, coupled with the opening of new locations, positioned its presence nationwide in the second half of the 20th century. After nearly 50 years with The Bay brand, the chain was rebranded in 2013 to Hudson's Bay with a modernized logo. In 2021, The Bay name (but not the logo) was revived exclusively for the online website while the physical stores continue with the Hudson's Bay brand.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: , Hudson's Bay operates 86 locations in seven Canadian provinces. From 2017–2019, it operated in the Netherlands, in partnership with Austrian real estate company Signa Holding. The full-line department stores focus on high-end fashion apparel, accessories, and home goods; flagship stores carry a bigger range and selection of goods than typical locations. The flagship stores are often multi-storey, historic buildings and are located in Canada's largest cities (Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Calgary and Ottawa). The largest of the flagship stores is the Toronto store on Queen Street, at about .


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: The diversification of the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) became necessary with the decline of fur trade in the latter half of the 19th century, and the Deed of Surrender in which ownership of the North-Western Territory and Rupert's Land was transferred from HBC to the newly established country of Canada in 1870. The first Hudson's Bay Company store opened in 1881 in Winnipeg, Manitoba with an inventory consisting of dry goods, groceries, and hardware. HBC reorganized into fur trade, lands sales, and retail divisions in 1910; with the guidance of a director from the British department store Harrods, they began construction of full-line department stores in 1913. This "modernization program" resulted the "original six" department stores in Calgary and Edmonton in Alberta; Vancouver and Victoria in British Columbia; Winnipeg in Manitoba; and Saskatoon in Saskatchewan.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: Hudson's Bay Company entered the provinces of Ontario and Quebec with its acquisition of the Montreal-based Morgan's department store chain in 1960; that year, only the Morgan's stores in Ontario were converted to Hudson's Bay Company stores.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: Hudson's Bay Company stores were renamed The Bay (which was already a popular nickname) in 1965, while the Morgan's stores in Quebec were renamed La Baie in 1972. That same year, Hudson's Bay purchased Ottawa's Freimans department store and moved from the former Morgan's building on Sparks Street to the Freiman building on Rideau Street, closer to competing Ogilvy's and Caplan's.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: The Bay further expanded its presence in Eastern Canada by absorbing the Simpsons department store chain in 1978 and 1993 in Western Canada by taking over many former Woodward's outlets. The Toronto Queen Street flagship store was previously a Simpsons department store. In 1991, Hudson's Bay Company stopped selling fur. In 1997 the company reopened its fur salons, including a wider assortment of high-end designer furs. Fur salons included many exclusive fur designers, including Louis Féraud, Givenchy, Black Diamond Mink, and Grosvenor.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: On 16 July 2008, it was announced that Hudson's Bay Company had been purchased by the US firm NRDC Equity Partners, which owned Lord & Taylor.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: In August 2008, Bonnie Brooks was hired as president and chief executive officer of the Hudson's Bay Company. As the result of market research, Brooks began to focus on bolstering high-end fashion as a growth segment. These moves included a major revamp of the chain's selection of labels, and a renovation and relaunch of The Room—a luxury women's department at the Queen Street location. During the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, a heritage-oriented campaign was used to promote The Bay and an accompanying line of Olympic-themed apparel, which was considered to be a significant success. In 2010, the Queen Street location saw a 22% increase in year-over-year sales. In 2011, The Bay launched White Space—a new younger-skewing "contemporary" department—at selected locations.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: Hudson's Bay Company announced alongside its initial public offering that The Bay stores would be renamed to Hudson's Bay beginning in October 2012; replacing the stylized yellow "B" used since 1965 with the Hudson's Bay wordmark and coat of arms. The new Hudson's Bay rebranding campaign was officially launched on 6 March 2013.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: On 31 August 2019, the company announced that all 15 of its Dutch locations would be sold by year end, the final chapter of HBC's European venture.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: Hudson's Bay stores were temporarily closed beginning on 17 March 2020 in response to the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. The stores began gradually reopening on 19 May.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: In August 2021, HBC split the online business of Hudson's Bay into its own separate division. The online portion is now officially called The Bay, while the physical stores retained the Hudson's Bay name.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: Hudson's Bay operates five flagship stores in four provinces. These flagship stores are in multi-storey historic buildings in the downtowns of Canada's largest cities. The largest, the Toronto store building on the southwest corner of Yonge Street and Queen Street West, was converted from Simpsons in 1991. Considered the flagship of the chain, it currently occupies , while a fifth of previously-occupied space was converted to the Canadian Saks Fifth Avenue flagship store in 2015. Hudson's Bay Company sold the building to Cadillac Fairview, which owns the adjacent Toronto Eaton Centre, in 2014 and entered into a leaseback agreement through at least 2039. Conversely, the Ottawa store on Rideau Street occupies and is the smallest flagship that remains in a landmark building; it was converted from Freimans in 1973.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: Hudson's Bay formerly operated a store in the Hudson's Bay Centre, at the intersection of Yonge Street and Bloor Street at the east end of the Mink Mile in Toronto, opened in 1974 and succeeded the Winnipeg location to become the flagship store of the chain (despite being actually smaller in size than the former), and then was replaced as the chain's flagship by the Queen Street West store in 1991. The Hudson's Bay Centre store shuttered on 13 May 2022, with the site expected to be redeveloped in conjunction with a major overhaul of the Bloor-Yonge TTC station.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: Hudson's Bay operated flagship stores in Victoria, Edmonton (see below), Regina and Saskatoon but vacated these locations in 1999, in favor of spaces in major downtown shopping centres that were left vacant by the bankruptcy of rival department store chain Eaton's that year. After the exit of Hudson's Bay, these former flagship locations have been repurposed for other tenants. Recently in October 2020, due to changing shopping habits towards online purchasing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, the parent of Hudson's Bay has considered downsizing some stores and redeveloping the surplus space for mixed-use.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: Two flagship stores in the Canadian Prairies were announced to be phased out in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic in Canada. The 1926-built downtown Winnipeg store on Portage Avenue was the flagship of the chain between 1926 and 1974. The Winnipeg building was valued at $0 by Cushman & Wakefield in 2019, due to the expense of renovating the heritage-protected building for other uses, as well as the competition from newer commercial real estate properties in the suburbs like Polo Park. The downtown Edmonton store on Jasper Avenue was built in 1939 on land that had been occupied by Hudson's Bay Company since 1893. It closed in 1995, two years after another The Bay store opened as an anchor tenant of the Edmonton City Centre. The latter eventually relocated to the former Eaton's store of the same shopping mall in 2002. Consequently, at , it was the smallest Hudson's Bay flagship. The Winnipeg store was phased out on 30 November 2020, and the Edmonton store was phased out on 3 June 2021.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: HBC stated that it was exploring the option of a leaseback agreement for the 1927-built Vancouver store in 2017, which has yet to materialize.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: The Room is a luxury boutique found in selected Hudson's Bay locations, which features a curated selection of women's apparel from upscale brands such as Balmain, Emmanuel Ungaro, Halston, Gianfranco Ferre, Giorgio Armani, Moschino, and others. Nicholas Mellamphy is the vice-president and buying director of The Room. Its namesake at the Yonge & Queen location in Toronto was established in the 1930s as the St. Regis Room, dating back to its time as a Simpsons store. It underwent a major renovation in 2009 by the design firm Yabu Pushelberg, with an increase to in floor space, and expanding its stock from around 12 brands to 70 (including more "moderately-priced" options). The $5.3 million renovation was positioned by Brooks as part of a plan to increase The Bay's focus on high-end fashion; there were also plans to expand The Room as a featured department at other flagship locations.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: The Room opened at the downtown Vancouver location in 2011, in the north-east section of the second floor. The department includes many of the designers available in the Toronto Queen Street flagship store, and some not available in the flagship store, including DSquared², Jeremy Liang, and Sid Neigum. The Room opened in the downtown Montreal Hudson's Bay store in late 2013. The Toronto version of The Room was relocated to a different part of the store in 2015 to accommodate a new Saks Fifth Avenue location.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: The West End Shop is the men's version of The Room. The Toronto Queen Street and the Vancouver Granville West End Shops recently underwent an extensive renovation. The current collection contains labels such as Hugo Boss, Ermenegildo Zegna, Armani Collezioni, Ben Sherman, and Strellson.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: The Bay offers products from the Hudson's Bay Company Collection in a dedicated store, including items such as the iconic Point Blankets, coats, bed sheets, bags, T-shirts, lotions, scents, and candles. HBC has also partnered with Canadian companies like Virginia Johnson, Pink Tartan, and Klaxon Howl to create exclusive, limited edition merchandise. Customized canoes and oars are also available. HBC has also teamed up with international companies for limited edition products, such as Steiff (heritage teddy bear, limited run of 2 500), and Best Made Axe Co. While the Hudson's Bay Company shops appear mainly in flagship stores and its Banff, Alberta location, products from the Hudson's Bay Company Collection (not including limited edition items) are also available at other locations, most notably the Point Blanket. The four-point stripes have also been trademarked worldwide, and are planned to be sold through international retailers which including Lord & Taylor in the US, and Colette in France, in an attempt to market HBC as a brand.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: Boutiques for Ralph Lauren are in select locations, including Queen Street, Yorkdale, Bayshore Ottawa, Carrefour Laval, Galeries d'Anjou, Vancouver Downtown, Victoria Downtown, Laurier Québec, and Montreal Downtown. Each boutique contains customized decor, and dedicated company specialists.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: The Toronto Queen Street and Montreal Downtown store has opened ground floor boutiques for Burberry, Coach Leathergoods, and See by Chloé. Vancouver and Montreal ground-floor designer boutiques will follow. Hudson's Bay has ended its partnership with Saint-Laurent-based Browns Shoes, and closed all Browns locations in its stores, to allow the department store to offer a larger selection of shoes, and to partner with the Montreal-based ALDO Group. Hudson's Bay is now also offering higher-end brands, keeping in line with offerings from The Room and the West End Shop. The partnership with the Aldo Group began in spring 2011 when the revived Pegabo brand of footwear is going to be carried in Hudson's Bay and in Aldo's own FeetFirst and Locale locations. The website includes online shopping for home fashions and beauty products, and a gift registry.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: Lippincott & Margulies designed the "folk-friendly" 1965 The Bay logo, which features a stylized yellow "B" that was previously seen on the header of Hudson Bay Company's royal charter from 1670. Morgan's stores in Quebec featured a logo with an "M" stylized similarly to the "B" from 1969 until they were rebranded to La Baie in 1972.


title: Hudson's Bay (department store)

text: Lipman designed the 2013 Hudson's Bay rebranding campaign; it restores the Hudson's Bay Company coat of arms, redrawn by Mark Summers. The wordmark is used on all public-facing materials, and has been compared to the typeface used by British fashion house Burberry. The coat of arms is reserved for limited occasions. Before the official rebranding launch, the logo appeared on the exterior of the Vancouver flagship store in December 2012.


title: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141

text: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141 was a scheduled domestic passenger flight between Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas and Salt Lake City, Utah. On August 31, 1988, the flight, using a Boeing 727-200 series aircraft, crashed during takeoff, resulting in 14 deaths and 76 injuries of the 108 on board.


title: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141

text: The aircraft was a Boeing 727-200 Advanced, registration "", a three-engine narrow-body jet aircraft. It was delivered to Delta Air Lines in November 1973, and was the 992nd Boeing 727 to be manufactured. The aircraft was powered by three Pratt & Whitney JT8D-15 turbofan engines. The plane had recorded more than 43,000 flight hours before the crash.


title: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141

text: The flight crew consisted of Captain Larry Lon Davis (age 48), First Officer Carey Wilson Kirkland (37); and Flight Engineer Steven Mark Judd (30). The cabin crew consisted of four flight attendants: Dixie Dunn (56); Diana George (40); Rosilyn Marr (43); and Mary O'Neill (57).


title: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141

text: Flight 1141 was a regularly scheduled passenger flight from Jackson Municipal Airport in Jackson, Mississippi, to Salt Lake City International Airport in Salt Lake City, Utah, with an intermediate stop at Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport (DFW) in North Texas. The Wednesday morning flight from Jackson to DFW was uneventful, and Flight 1141 arrived at DFW at 07:38 CDT. For the flight from DFW to Salt Lake City, Flight 1141 had 101 passengers and seven crew members on board.


title: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141

text: At 08:30, Flight 1141 departed from the gate at DFW and was cleared by the ground controller to taxi to runway 18L. The aircraft was instructed to line up on the runway and hold for one minute due to the possibility of wake turbulence from an American Airlines DC-10 that was departing. The crew requested to extend the hold to two minutes, which was granted. The crew talked to the flight attendants for a while about what they would say on the cockpit recorder in case they crashed. Eventually this chat ceased as the crew was cleared for takeoff. The takeoff was normal until the main wheels left the ground, at which point the aircraft commenced a violent rolling motion and the right wing dropped. The aircraft's tail made contact with the runway briefly, and later, the right wingtip struck the runway. The aircraft developed compressor surges (due to breakdown of the airflow through the engine), and was unable to gain altitude or maintain stabilized flight. Approximately beyond the end of runway 18L, the plane's right wing hit the ILS localizer antenna, which set the wing on fire and caused it to start disintegrating while the plane was still in flight. The aircraft remained airborne for another before it struck the ground, sliding sideways and leaving a trail of wreckage long before finally coming to a rest from the end of the runway. Fire erupted in the right wing area and quickly spread and engulfed the rear of the aircraft. The total flight time was 22 seconds, from liftoff to the first ground impact.


title: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141

text: Two of the four flight attendants (Dunn and Marr) and 12 of the 101 passengers on board died in the crash. Medical examinations determined that all but one of the fatalities were due to smoke inhalation. One passenger, who had successfully exited the aircraft, attempted to re-enter the aircraft in order to assist his wife and other passengers still trapped inside; he suffered severe burns and died 11 days after the accident from his injuries.


title: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141

text: Captain Davis, First Officer Kirkland, two cabin crew members, and 22 passengers were seriously injured. Flight Engineer Judd and 49 passengers received minor injuries; 18 passengers received no injuries. Many of the passengers reported that impact forces were not severe and mostly concentrated towards the back of the aircraft. First Officer Kirkland was badly bruised and sustained a concussion.


title: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141

text: The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigation into the accident attempted to reconstruct the aircraft's performance based on reports from witnesses and survivors. Witnesses reported that the plane attempted to climb at a higher than normal angle, and that the plane rolled from side to side and appeared to be out of control. Based on examination of the wreckage, the NTSB determined that collision with the instrument landing system (ILS) localizer antenna array approximately beyond the departure end of the runway 18L led to the breakup of the aircraft. Leaking jet fuel started a fire that quickly engulfed the fuselage. Engine #3 had separated from the empennage. Passengers reported that the plane appeared to shake violently on takeoff. Witnesses on the ground claimed that one of the engines was on fire, but although the engine was badly crushed from ground impact, there was no sign of fire or heat damage. Delta officials quickly reacted to questions about the 727's operating and maintenance condition by pointing out that the original factory engines from 1973 (when the plane was initially purchased by the airline) had been replaced in the last few years by a newer model that ran more quietly and used less fuel. They also stated that there were no known mechanical or maintenance problems with the plane prior to the flight.


title: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141

text: The NTSB examined why the plane was unable to climb once it departed the runway. After conducting airplane performance studies, the NTSB determined that the events of Flight 1141 could only be explained by the aircraft attempting to take off without its flaps and slats extended to the proper take-off configuration. The aircraft's instability and sudden roll to the right was consistent with known performance of the Boeing 727 with the flaps and slats retracted. The captain continued to pull back on the control column in an attempt to keep the plane's nose raised, which created turbulence over the rear-mounted engines and caused the compressor surges. However, the NTSB concluded that the compressor surges would not have significantly reduced the engines' thrust, and that the plane's failure to gain speed was due to aerodynamic drag on the aircraft due to the high angle of attack, rather than a loss of engine thrust. The NTSB examined the CVR and noted that the Pilot and Co-Pilot are heard announcing the deployment of the flaps but the sound of the flap lever movement is never heard.Based on the aircraft's failure to climb at takeoff speed, its roll instability, the position of the flap's jackscrews in the fully retracted position, and the absence of sounds indicating the flaps or slats were deployed, the NTSB determined that the plane's failure to climb resulted from the flight crew's failure to deploy the flaps and slats as required by the pre-flight checklist.


title: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141

text: Based on the lack of warning sounds on the CVR, the NTSB also determined that the plane's take-off warning system (TOWS), designed to alert the crew if the engines are throttled to take-off power without the flaps and slats being correctly set, failed to alert the pilots to their improper takeoff configuration. The switch that operated the TOWS in the incident aircraft had been previously modified, per Boeing instructions, to prevent nuisance activations during aircraft taxiing. A fleet-wide Boeing 727 inspection, ordered by the Federal Aviation Administration following the Flight 1141 crash, identified 35 anomalies in the TOWS out of 1,190 aircraft examined. The FAA had recommended that the Boeing 727 TOWS be changed from a system activated by the aircraft throttles to one activated by engine pressure ratio (EPR), and while Delta owned Boeing 727s that had an EPR-activated TOWS, these were all aircraft that Delta had acquired from other airlines, and Delta did not convert its own aircraft to an EPR-activated system. The NTSB concluded that the TOWS had not activated because it had an intermittent problem that was not detected or corrected during the aircraft's last maintenance action.


title: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141

text: The NTSB investigated the relationship between crew performance and the events in the accident. FAA regulations require a sterile cockpit before takeoff, which means there is to be no conversation unrelated to the aircraft and pending flight. However, the cockpit voice recorder (CVR) tapes recorded extensive nonessential conversation, including about the CVR itself, the crash of Continental Airlines Flight 1713, and the dating habits of the flight attendants. The CVR also showed that prior to takeoff, the flight crew was distracted by chatting with a flight attendant about the upcoming presidential election, drink mixes, and various other topics unrelated to the operation of the aircraft. Of the flight crew, the first officer was most actively engaged in these nonessential conversations, with the captain only occasionally joining in. However, while the captain did not actively participate in these nonrelevant conversations, he also failed to stop the first officer's repeated interruptions and conversations with the flight attendant. The NTSB determined that, if the captain had taken a more active role in managing the cockpit, the accident might have been prevented.


title: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141

text: Shortly after an NTSB hearing in which the CVR transcripts were discussed, all three members of the flight crew were fired from Delta. However, the airline itself was also faulted. The NTSB determined that Delta did not insist on standardized crew cockpit management, and that flight crews were allowed significant latitude in their conduct of cockpit operations. This lax corporate philosophy contributed to the poor discipline and performance of Flight 1141's flight crew. The NTSB also found that the FAA was already aware of deficiencies in Delta's operations regarding flight crew performance, but that neither Delta nor the FAA had taken sufficient corrective actions to eliminate already known performance deficiencies among Delta flight crews.


title: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141

text: On September 26, 1989, the NTSB published its final accident report. In it, the NTSB ultimately determined that there were two probable causes for the accident: (1) inadequate cockpit discipline that resulted in the flight crew's failure to extend the aircraft's flaps and slats to proper take-off configuration, and (2) the failure of the plane's TOWS to sound and alert the crew that their plane was not properly configured for takeoff. Contributing to the crash was Delta's slow implementation of changes to its flight crew management programs, a lack of sufficiently aggressive FAA action to compel Delta to correct known deficiencies, and a lack of sufficient accountability within the FAA's air carrier inspection process.


title: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141

text: One member of the safety board, Jim Burnett, dissented from the NTSB's probable cause statement. While Burnett concurred with the accident report's facts and findings, he believed that the actions of the FAA and Delta were direct causes of the accident and not merely contributing factors. Burnett's dissent proposed a probable cause statement that included the two probable causes named in the main report, while adding a third probable cause:


title: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141

text: Although the NTSB specifically faulted the captain and co-pilot for the accident, and did not fault Judd (the flight engineer), Judd was unable to find work as a commercial pilot after being fired from Delta. A former Navy pilot, Judd worked as a reserve pilot at Naval Air Station Dallas while appealing his firing. Judd was later reinstated by Delta.


title: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141

text: Media broadcast of the CVR tapes, which demonstrated why the crew failed to extend the airplane's flaps or slats for takeoff, provoked such an outcry by pilots that subsequent releases of CVR data have been restricted by law and carefully vetted by the NTSB. The law prohibits the NTSB from generally releasing CVR transcripts or recordings; while an exception permits the NTSB to release transcripts related to a safety investigation, there is no exception permitting the NTSB to release copies of the actual recordings.


title: Delta Air Lines Flight 1141

text: The crash was featured in the third episode of season 18 of "Mayday". The episode is titled "Deadly Distraction".


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: Sex-selective abortion is the practice of terminating a pregnancy based upon the predicted sex of the infant. The selective abortion of female fetuses is most common where male children are valued over female children, especially in parts of East Asia and South Asia (particularly in countries such as People's Republic of China, India and Pakistan), as well as in the Caucasus, Western Balkans, and to a lesser extent North America. Based on the third National Family and Health Survey, results showed that if both partners, mother and father, or just the father, preferred male children, sex-selective abortion was more common. In cases where only the mother prefers sons, this is likely to result in sex-selective neglect in which the child is not likely to survive past infancy.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: Sex selective abortion was first documented in 1975, and became commonplace by the late 1980s in South Korea and China and around the same time or slightly later in India.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: Sex-selective abortion affects the human sex ratio—the relative number of males to females in a given age group, with China and India, the two most populous countries of the world, having unbalanced gender ratios. Studies and reports focusing on sex-selective abortion are predominantly statistical; they assume that birth sex ratio—the overall ratio of boys and girls at birth—for a regional population is an indicator of sex-selective abortion. This assumption has been questioned by some scholars. Researchers have shown that in India there are approximately 50,000 to 100,000 female abortions each year, significantly affecting the human sex ratio.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: According to demographic scholarship, the expected birth sex ratio range is 103 to 107 males to 100 females at birth.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: Sex-selective abortion affects the human sex ratio—the relative number of males to females in a given age group. Studies and reports that discuss sex-selective abortion are based on the assumption that birth sex ratio—the overall ratio of boys and girls at birth for a regional population, is an indicator of sex-selective abortion.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: The natural human sex ratio at birth was estimated, in a 2002 study, to be close to 106 boys to 100 girls. Human sex ratio at birth that is significantly different from 106 is often assumed to be correlated to the prevalence and scale of sex-selective abortion. Countries considered to have significant practices of sex-selective abortion are those with birth sex ratios of 108 and above (selective abortion of females), and 102 and below (selective abortion of males). This assumption is controversial, and the subject of continuing scientific studies.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: One school of scholars suggest that any birth sex ratio of boys to girls that is outside of the normal 105–107 range, necessarily implies sex-selective abortion. These scholars claim that both the sex ratio at birth and the population sex ratio are remarkably constant in human populations. Significant deviations in birth sex ratios from the normal range can only be explained by manipulation, that is sex-selective abortion.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: In a widely cited article, Amartya Sen compared the birth sex ratio in Europe (106) and United States (105) with those in Asia (107+) and argued that the high sex ratios in East Asia, West Asia and South Asia may be due to excessive female mortality. Sen pointed to research that had shown that if men and women receive similar nutritional and medical attention and good health care then females have better survival rates, and it is the male which is the genetically fragile sex.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: Sen estimated 'missing women' from extra women who would have survived in Asia if it had the same ratio of women to men as Europe and United States. According to Sen, the high birth sex ratio over decades, implies a female shortfall of 11% in Asia, or over 100 million women as missing from the 3 billion combined population of South Asia, West Asia, North Africa and China.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: Other scholars question whether birth sex ratio outside 103–107 can be due to natural reasons. William James and others suggest that conventional assumptions have been:


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: James cautions that available scientific evidence stands against the above assumptions and conclusions. He reports that there is an excess of males at birth in almost all human populations, and the natural sex ratio at birth is usually between 102 and 108. However the ratio may deviate significantly from this range for natural reasons such as early marriage and fertility, teenage mothers, average maternal age at birth, paternal age, age gap between father and mother, late births, ethnicity, social and economic stress, warfare, environmental and hormonal effects. This school of scholars support their alternate hypothesis with historical data when modern sex-selection technologies were unavailable, as well as birth sex ratio in sub-regions, and various ethnic groups of developed economies. They suggest that direct abortion data should be collected and studied, instead of drawing conclusions indirectly from human sex ratio at birth.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: James' hypothesis is supported by historical birth sex ratio data before technologies for ultrasonographic sex-screening were discovered and commercialized in the 1960s and 1970s, as well by reverse abnormal sex ratios currently observed in Africa. Michel Garenne reports that many African nations have, over decades, witnessed birth sex ratios below 100, that is more girls are born than boys. Angola, Botswana and Namibia have reported birth sex ratios between 94 and 99, which is quite different from the presumed 104 to 106 as natural human birth sex ratio.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: John Graunt noted that in London over a 35-year period in the 17th century (1628–62), the birth sex ratio was 1.07; while Korea's historical records suggest a birth sex ratio of 1.13, based on 5 million births, in 1920s over a 10-year period. Other historical records from Asia too support James' hypothesis. For example, Jiang et al. claim that the birth sex ratio in China was 116–121 over a 100-year period in the late 18th and early 19th centuries; in the 120–123 range in the early 20th century; falling to 112 in the 1930s.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: In the United States, the sex ratios at birth over the period 1970–2002 were 105 for the white non-Hispanic population, 104 for Mexican Americans, 103 for African Americans and Native Americans, and 107 for mothers of Chinese or Filipino ethnicity. Among Western European countries c. 2001, the ratios ranged from 104 to 107. In the aggregated results of 56 Demographic and Health Surveys in African countries, the birth sex ratio was found to be 103, though there is also considerable country-to-country, and year-to-year variation.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: In a 2005 study, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services reported sex ratio at birth in the United States from 1940 over 62 years. This statistical evidence suggested the following: For mothers having their first baby, the total sex ratio at birth was 106 overall, with some years at 107. For mothers having babies after the first, this ratio consistently decreased with each additional baby from 106 towards 103. The age of the mother affected the ratio: the overall ratio was 105 for mothers aged 25 to 35 at the time of birth; while mothers who were below the age of 15 or above 40 had babies with a sex ratio ranging between 94 and 111, and a total sex ratio of 104. This United States study also noted that American mothers of Hawaiian, Filipino, Chinese, Cuban and Japanese ethnicity had the highest sex ratio, with years as high as 114 and average sex ratio of 107 over the 62-year study period. Outside of United States, European nations with extensive birth records, such as Finland, report similar variations in birth sex ratios over a 250-year period, that is from 1751 to 1997 AD.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: In 2017, according to CIA estimates, the countries with the highest birth sex ratio were Liechtenstein (125), Northern Mariana Islands (116), China (114), Armenia (112), Falkland Islands (112), India (112), Grenada (110), Hong Kong (110), Vietnam (110), Albania (109), Azerbaijan (109), San Marino (109), Isle of Man (108), Kosovo (108) and Macedonia (108). Also in 2017 the lowest ratio (i.e. more girls born) was in Nauru at 83. There were ratios of 102 and below in several countries, most of them African countries or Black/African majority population Caribbean countries: Angola, Aruba, Barbados, Bermuda, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cabo Verde, Cameroon, Cayman Islands, Central African Republic, Chad, Comoros, Republic of the Congo, Côte d'Ivoire, Djibouti, Eritrea, Eswatini, Ethiopia, Gabon, The Gambia, Ghana, Guinea-Bissau, Haiti, Kazakhstan, Lesotho, Liberia, Madagascar, Malawi, Mali, Mauritania, Mozambique, Niger, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Senegal, Sierra Leone, Somalia, South Africa, Togo, Uganda, Zambia.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: There is controversy about the notion of the exact natural sex ratio at birth. In a study around 2002, the natural sex ratio at birth was estimated to be close to 1.06 males/female. There is controversy whether sex ratios outside the 103-107 range are due to sex-selection, as suggested by some scholars, or due to natural causes. The claims that unbalanced sex ratios are necessary due to sex selection have been questioned by some researchers. Some researchers argue that an unbalanced sex ratio should not be automatically held as evidence of prenatal sex-selection; Michel Garenne reports that many African nations have, over decades, witnessed birth sex ratios below 100, that is more girls are born than boys. Angola, Botswana and Namibia have reported birth sex ratios between 94 and 99, which is quite different than the presumed "normal" sex ratio, meaning that significantly more girls have been born in such societies.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: In addition, in many developing countries there are problems with birth registration and data collection, which can complicate the issue. With regard to the prevalence of sex selection, the media and international attention has focused mainly on a few countries, such as China, India and the Caucasus, ignoring other countries with a significant sex imbalance at birth. For example, Liechtenstein's sex ratio is far worse than that of those countries, but little has been discussed about it, and virtually no suggestions have been made that it may practice sex selection, although it is a very conservative country where women could not vote until 1984. At the same time, there have been accusations that the situation in some countries, such as Georgia, has been exaggerated. In 2017, Georgia' sex ratio at birth was 107, according to CIA statistics.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: The estimates for birth sex ratios, and thus derived sex-selective abortion, are a subject of dispute as well. For example, United States' CIA projects the birth sex ratio for Switzerland to be 106, while the Switzerland's Federal Statistical Office that tracks actual live births of boys and girls every year, reports the latest birth sex ratio for Switzerland as 107. Other variations are more significant; for example, CIA projects the birth sex ratio for Pakistan to be 105, United Nations FPA office claims the birth sex ratio for Pakistan to be 110, while the government of Pakistan claims its average birth sex ratio is 111.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: The two most studied nations with high sex ratio and sex-selective abortion are China and India. The CIA estimates a birth sex ratio of 112 for both in recent years. However, The World Bank claims the birth sex ratio for China in 2009 was 120 boys for every 100 girls; while United Nations FPA estimates China's 2011 birth sex ratio to be 118.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: For India, the United Nations FPA claims a birth sex ratio of 111 over 2008–10 period, while The World Bank and India's official 2011 Census reports a birth sex ratio of 108. These variations and data reliability is important as a rise from 108 to 109 for India, or 117 to 118 for China, each with large populations, represent a possible sex-selective abortion of about 100,000 girls.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: The earliest post-implantation test, cell free fetal DNA testing, involves taking a blood sample from the mother and isolating the small amount of fetal DNA that can be found within it. When performed after week seven of pregnancy, this method is about 98% accurate.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: Obstetric ultrasonography, either transvaginally or transabdominally, checks for various markers of fetal sex. It can be performed at or after week 12 of pregnancy. At this point, of fetal sexes can be correctly determined, according to a 2001 study. Accuracy for males is approximately 50% and for females almost 100%. When performed after week 13 of pregnancy, ultrasonography gives an accurate result in almost 100% of cases.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: The most invasive measures are chorionic villus sampling (CVS) and amniocentesis, which involve testing of the chorionic villus (found in the placenta) and amniotic fluid, respectively. Both techniques typically test for chromosomal disorders but can also reveal the sex of the child and are performed early in the pregnancy. However, they are often more expensive and more dangerous than blood sampling or ultrasonography, so they are seen less frequently than other sex determination techniques.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: Prenatal sex determination is restricted in many countries, and so is the communication of the sex of the fetus to the pregnant woman or her family, in order to prevent sex selective abortion.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: In India, prenatal sex determination is regulated under the Pre-conception and Prenatal Diagnostic Techniques (Prohibition of Sex Selection) Act 1994.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: China launched its first ultrasonography machine in 1979. Chinese health care clinics began introducing ultrasound technologies that could be used to determine prenatal sex in 1982. By 1991, Chinese companies were producing 5,000 ultrasonography machines per year. Almost every rural and urban hospital and family planning clinics in China had a good quality sex discernment equipment by 2001.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: The launch of ultrasonography technology in India too occurred in 1979, but its expansion was slower than China. Ultrasound sex discernment technologies were first introduced in major cities of India in the 1980s, its use expanded in India's urban regions in the 1990s, and became widespread in the 2000s.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: The exact prevalence of sex-selective abortion is uncertain, with the practice taking place in some societies as an open secret, without formal data on its frequency. Some authors argue that it is quite difficult to explain why this practice takes place in some cultures and not others, and that sex-selective abortion cannot be explained merely by patriarchal social norms, because most societies are male dominated, but only a minority practice sex-selective abortion. Although this practice is more common in certain cultures over other, some main reasons for choosing sex-selective abortion are inheritance rules, selected dowry systems, and the idea that mothers of sons are of higher importance than mothers of daughters.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: The total numbers of "missing women" are about 11.9 million and 10.6 million in China and India respectively, out of 23 million world-wide, according to a 2019 study. Given that the total number of recorded abortions is much lower than that, some dispute those numbers.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: China, the most populous country in the world, has a serious problem with an unbalanced sex ratio population. A 2010 BBC article stated that the sex birth ratio was 119 boys born per 100 girls, which rose to 130 boys per 100 girls in some rural areas. The Chinese Academy of Social Sciences estimated that more than 24 million Chinese men of marrying age could find themselves without spouses by 2020. In 1979, China enacted the one-child policy, which, within the country's deeply patriarchal culture, resulted in an unbalanced birth sex ratio. The one child policy was enforced throughout the years, including through forced abortions and forced sterilizations, but gradually loosened until it was formally abolished in 2015.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: When sex ratio began being studied in China in 1960, it was still within the normal range. However, it climbed to 111.9 by 1990 and to 118 by 2010 per its official census. Researchers believe that the causes of this sex ratio imbalance are increased female infant mortality, underreporting of female births and sex-selective abortion. According to Zeng et al. (1993), the most prominent cause is probably sex-selective abortion, but this is difficult to prove that in a country with little reliable birth data because of the hiding of "illegal" (under the One-Child Policy) births.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: These illegal births have led to underreporting of female infants. Zeng et al., using a reverse survival method, estimate that underreporting keeps about 2.26% male births and 5.94% female births off the books. Adjusting for unreported illegal births, they conclude that the corrected Chinese sex ratio at birth for 1989 was 111 rather than 115. These national averages over time, mask the regional sex ratio data. For example, in 2005 Anhui, Jiangxi, Shaanxi, Hunan and Guangdong, had a sex ratio at birth of more than 130.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: Traditional Chinese techniques have been used to determine sex for hundreds of years, primarily with unknown accuracy. It was not until ultrasonography became widely available in urban and rural China that sex was able to be determined scientifically. In 1986, the Ministry of Health posted the Notice on Forbidding Prenatal Sex Determination, but it was not widely followed. Three years later, the Ministry of Health outlawed the use of sex determination techniques, except for in diagnosing hereditary diseases. However, many people have personal connections to medical practitioners and strong son preference still dominates culture, leading to the widespread use of sex determination techniques.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: Hardy, Gu, and Xie suggest sex-selective abortion is more prevalent in rural China because son preference is much stronger there. Urban areas of China, on average, are moving toward greater equality for both sexes, while rural China tends to follow more traditional views of gender. This is partially due to the belief that, while sons are always part of the family, daughters are only temporary, going to a new family when they marry. Additionally, if a woman's firstborn child is a son, her position in society moves up, while the same is not true of a firstborn daughter. Families in China are aware of the critical lack of female children and its implication on marriage prospects in the future; many parents are beginning to work extra when their sons are young so that they will be able to pay for a bride for them.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: In a 2005 study, Zhu, Lu, and Hesketh found that the highest sex ratio was for those ages 1–4, and two provinces, Tibet and Xinjiang, had sex ratios within normal limits. Two other provinces had a ratio over 140, four had ratios between 130–139, and seven had ratios between 120–129, each of which is significantly higher than the natural sex ratio.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: The birth sex ratio in China, according to a 2012 news report, has decreased to 117 males born for every 100 females. The sex ratio peaked in 2004 at around 121, and had declined to around 112 in 2017. The ratio was forecast to drop below 112 by 2020 and 107 by 2030, according to the National Population Development Outline by the State Council.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: A research by Pew Research Center based on Union government data indicates foeticide of at least 9 million females in the years 2000-2019. The research found that 86.7% of these foeticides were by Hindus(80% of the population), followed by Sikhs(1.7% of the population) with 4.9%, and Muslims(14% of the population) with 6.6%. The research also indicated an overall decline in preference for sons in the time period.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: India's 2001 census revealed a national 0–6 age child sex ratio of 108, which increased to 109 according to 2011 census (927 girls per 1000 boys and 919 girls per 1000 boys respectively, compared to expected normal ratio of 943 girls per 1000 boys). The national average masks the variations in regional numbers according to 2011 census—Haryana's ratio was 120, Punjab's ratio was 118, Jammu & Kashmir was 116, and Gujarat's ratio was 111. The 2011 Census found eastern states of India had birth sex ratios between 103 and 104, lower than normal. In contrast to decadal nationwide census data, small non-random sample surveys report higher child sex ratios in India.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: The child sex ratio in India shows a regional pattern. India's 2011 census found that all eastern and southern states of India had a child sex ratio between 103 and 107, typically considered as the “natural ratio.” The highest sex ratios were observed in India's northern and northwestern states – Haryana (120), Punjab (118) and Jammu & Kashmir (116). The western states of Maharashtra and Rajasthan 2011 census found a child sex ratio of 113, Gujarat at 112 and Uttar Pradesh at 111.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: The Indian census data suggests there is a positive correlation between abnormal sex ratio and better socio-economic status and literacy. Urban India has higher child sex ratio than rural India according to 1991, 2001 and 2011 Census data, implying higher prevalence of sex selective abortion in urban India. Similarly, child sex ratio greater than 115 boys per 100 girls is found in regions where the predominant majority is Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian; furthermore "normal" child sex ratio of 104 to 106 boys per 100 girls are also found in regions where the predominant majority is Hindu, Muslim, Sikh or Christian. These data contradict any hypotheses that may suggest that sex selection is an archaic practice which takes place among uneducated, poor sections or particular religion of the Indian society.


title: Sex-selective abortion

text: Rutherford and Roy, in their 2003 paper, suggest that techniques for determining sex prenatally that were pioneered in the 1970s, gained popularity in India. These techniques, claim Rutherford and Roy, became broadly available in 17 of 29 Indian states by the early 2000s. Such prenatal sex determination techniques, claim Sudha and Rajan in a 1999 report, where available, favored male births.