title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: The 770,000 gallon natatorium is surrounded by a closed gutter filtration system which drastically reduces water turbulence helping to increase the swimmers' speed.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: The facility also houses areas for basketball, volleyball, racquetball, handball, squash, weightlifting, martial arts, aerobics, and programs for the disabled. There are over 180 fitness stations distributed throughout the building. Other on campus outdoor recreation include tennis courts at three campus locations, a frisbee golf course, and 100 acres of playing fields. Picnic areas, and boat dock facilities are available at Campus Lake.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: Connected to the Student Recreation Center on the east side of campus, the 57,000-square-foot health center offers students a continuum of care under one roof. Services include the medical clinic, pharmacy, wellness resources, psychiatry clinic, sports medicine and physical therapy and counseling and psychological services. Community partners Southern Illinois Dermatology and the Marion Eye Center also provide services in the new health center.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: The Southern Illinois Salukis are the athletic teams representing Southern Illinois University Carbondale. The university first sponsored athletic teams during the 1913–14 school year, when they were known as the "Maroons." Students and faculty began lobbying for a new mascot during the late 1940s. On March 19, 1951, the student body voted to change the official nickname to the Salukis. The saluki, the royal dog of ancient Egypt, was chosen as the mascot due to its reputation as a fast and tenacious hunter and because the southern Illinois region is known as "Little Egypt."


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: The Salukis sponsor 16 varsity teams. Most compete in the Missouri Valley Conference (MVC), specifically in men's and women's basketball, men's and women's cross country, men's and women's golf, softball, women's swimming, men's and women's tennis, men's and women's track and field, and volleyball. The football program competes in the Missouri Valley Football Conference (MVFC). Men's swimming is part of the Mid-American Conference (MAC).


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: In 2022, SIU hired former Towson athletic director Tim Leonard to be in charge of their Athletics program.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: SIU has a vibrant student culture and is home to more than 300 Registered Student Organizations (RSOs). Student groups include honor societies, sports clubs, fraternities and sororities, religious organizations, student governments, and other special interest groups. The largest RSO on campus is the Student Programming Council (SPC), which organizes events such as concerts, comedy shows, lectures, film showings, and homecoming celebrations.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: On-campus housing at SIU is provided in residence halls and apartments both on and near campus. Different housing opportunities are offered to undergraduates, graduates, international students, parents, and married couples.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: The two main residence hall areas are known as East Campus and West Campus. West Campus, also known as Thompson Point, consists of 11 three-story dormitory structures and was built between 1957 and 1962. East Campus, also known as the Brush Towers, consists of 3 seventeen-story high rises and was built between 1965 and 1968. Each site also includes a commons building and dining hall. The traditional housing contract includes a furnished room, WiFi, utilities, and a dining plan. Residence hall rooms are fully furnished, and many have been modified to meet the needs of specific types of disability. Apartment housing is available at Evergreen Terrace, Wall & Grand, and Elizabeth Apartments.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: All single students under the age of 21, not residing with their parents or legal guardians, with fewer than 26 credit hours earned after high school are required to live in University-owned and operated residence halls per university policy. This policy can be circumvented if the student is living in the permanent home of a parent or guardian, provided the home is withing 60 miles of campus. Furthermore, university apartment housing is restricted to those students who are married, parents, graduate students, or who are over the age of 21; the effect of this policy means that freshmen and sophomore students often live in dormitories, while older students reside in on and off-campus apartments.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: SIU has two primary bodies of student government responsible for advising the SIU administration on student needs. The student governments are also responsible for distributing funds collected from the student activity fee to eligible RSOs. The two student governments are:


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: Additionally, one student is elected as a student trustee and appointed by the governor to serve as a voting member of the SIU Board of Trustees.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: SIU is home to 17 registered fraternities and 10 registered sororities, including 7 multicultural fraternities and sororities. The Greek organizations are governed by the Interfraternity Council, The College Panhellenic Association, The Multicultural Greek Council, and the National Pan-Hellenic Council. They are responsible to the Dean of Students and the Office of Student Affairs. Popular events held by Greek organizations include the Go Greek Barbecue and the annual "Greek Sing" talent contest.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: All members of the Greek organizations at SIU must maintain a 2.0 GPA or higher to be members. The university rigorously restricts hazing and discriminatory induction practices. The first fraternity and sorority appeared on SIU's campus in 1923, although the introduction, chartering, and growth of many of the Greek groups on-campus today occurred during or after the 1940s.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: SIU's student-run newspaper,"The Daily Egyptian", has been printed without interruption since the spring of 1921. "The" "Daily Egyptian" is published weekly in print and online during the fall and spring semesters. It has a distribution of 7,800 copies and reaches nearly 200 locations. The paper has received more than 25 awards from the Illinois College Press Association. In 2002 it received the National Newspaper Pacemaker Award for General Excellence, and in 2017 and 2018 it received the National Online Pacemaker Award. "The Daily Egyptian" was one of only a few university newspapers in the United States to own and operate its own printing press. The press was retired in 2015 after nearly 50 years of continuous service.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: Gus Bode, a cartoon character created to give satirical commentary on the paper's articles, has appeared regularly in the paper since 1956.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: Past editions of "The Daily Egyptian" and other SIU student newspapers going back to 1888 are maintained on-campus by Morris Library.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: Founded in 1959, the Saluki Patrol is one of the oldest student security teams in the country. Organized as a form of community policing, the Saluki Patrol assists the Department of Public Safety in their duties by performing foot patrols, conducting traffic enforcement, and serving as crowd control. Members of the Saluki Patrol can often be seen on-campus in the evenings and at major on-campus sporting events.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: The Saluki Patrol has continued to evolve and become more professional, with personnel receiving some of the same police training as sworn officers. Many leaders in the law enforcement community both locally and at the state and federal level began their careers as a Saluki Patrol.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: The Great Cardboard Boat Regatta is an event held every spring semester at Campus Lake. Participants include university students and community members. The goal is to complete three trips around a 200-yard course on the lake using makeshift cardboard boats. There are three different categories for entries: canoes or kayaks, experimental boats, and instant boats (boats created on-site the day of the event).


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: The idea for a Cardboard Regatta at SIU first originated in 1974. "Commodore" Richard Archer, a professor of Art and Design, created the regatta as a final examination for students in his freshman design class. Archer was inspired by Buckminster Fuller, then a distinguished professor at SIU, who had espoused the principle of "doing the most with the least." The event grew with each subsequent year, eventually drawing crowds upwards of 20,000 people and receiving coverage on CNN's Good Morning America.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: The Saluki Startup & Weeks of Welcome are held during the first five weeks of the fall semester and include a range of activities designed to introduce new students to campus. Events include job fairs, theater and orchestra auditions, a pep rally, paint and sips, concerts, RSO fairs, a pickleball tournament, board game nights, and organized meetups between the students and faculty of each college.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: These events coincide with the DuQuoin State Fair and the annual football game between SIU and SEMO, called the "War for the Wheel". Both of these events are attended by SIU students as part of the Weeks of Welcome.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: Systems of administration at SIU have greatly evolved since the university's earliest days. The growth of the university after the appointment of President Delyte Morris led to shorter tenures and a speedier succession of leaders. Many of SIU's Chancellors after this period were selected to serve in an interim capacity, a problem which persists in limited cases to this day. The early deaths of Chancellors Paul D. Sarvela and Carlo Montemagno only exacerbated this issue. The hiring of Austin Lane to fill the position of Chancellor in 2020 ended the succession issues that began after Chancellor Rita Cheng left to become President of Northern Arizona University.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: The discrepancy between the title of President and Chancellor began after the founding of Southern Illinois University Edwardsville in 1957, along with the proliferation of associated schools and programs that were created under the tenure of SIU President Delyte Morris. Currently, both SIU Carbondale and SIU Edwardsville are led by Chancellors, who in turn report to the President of the Southern Illinois University System. The current SIU System President is Daniel F. Mahoney.


title: Southern Illinois University Carbondale

text: Many of the buildings on the SIU campus are named after former Presidents and Chancellors. These include the Allyn Building, the Parkinson Laboratory, the Shryock Auditorium, the Pulliam Hall and the Pulliam Industrial Education Building, the Morris Library, the Hiram H. Lesar Law Building, and the Guyon Auditorium in Morris Library.


title: Water supply

text: Water supply is the provision of water by public utilities, commercial organisations, community endeavors or by individuals, usually via a system of pumps and pipes. Public water supply systems are crucial to properly functioning societies. These systems are what supply drinking water to populations around the globe. Aspects of service quality include continuity of supply, water quality and water pressure. The institutional responsibility for water supply is arranged differently in different countries and regions (urban versus rural). It usually includes issues surrounding policy and regulation, service provision and standardization.


title: Water supply

text: The cost of supplying water consists, to a very large extent, of fixed costs (capital costs and personnel costs) and only to a small extent of variable costs that depend on the amount of water consumed (mainly energy and chemicals). Almost all service providers in the world charge tariffs to recover part of their costs.


title: Water supply

text: Water supply is a separate topic from irrigation, the practice and systems of water supply on a larger scale, for a wider variety of purposes, primarily agriculture.


title: Water supply

text: Water supply systems get water from a variety of locations after appropriate treatment, including groundwater (aquifers), surface water (lakes and rivers), and the sea through desalination. The water treatment steps include, in most cases, purification, disinfection through chlorination and sometimes fluoridation. Treated water then either flows by gravity or is pumped to reservoirs, which can be elevated such as water towers or on the ground (for indicators related to the efficiency of drinking water distribution see non-revenue water). Once water is used, wastewater is typically discharged in a sewer system and treated in a sewage treatment plant before being discharged into a river, lake, or the sea or reused for landscaping or irrigation.


title: Water supply

text: In the United States, the typical single family home uses about of water per day (2016 estimate) or per capita per day. This includes several common residential end use purposes (in decreasing order) like toilet use, showers, tap (faucet) use, washing machine use, leaks, other (unidentified), baths, and dishwasher use.


title: Water supply

text: During the beginning of the 21st Century, especially in areas of urban and suburban population centers, traditional centralized infrastructure have not been able to supply sufficient quantities of water to keep up with growing demand. Among several options that have been managed are the extensive use of desalination technology, this is especially prevalent in coastal areas and in "dry" countries like Australia. Decentralization of water infrastructure has grown extensively as a viable solution including Rainwater harvesting and Stormwater harvesting where policies are eventually tending towards a more rational use and sourcing of water incorporation concepts such as "Fit for Purpose".


title: Water supply

text: Water supply service quality has many dimensions: continuity; water quality; pressure; and the degree of responsiveness of service providers to customer complaints. Many people in developing countries receive a poor or very poor quality of service. Water quality is also dependant of the quality and level of pollution of the water source.


title: Water supply

text: Continuity of water supply is taken for granted in most developed countries, but is a severe problem in many developing countries, where sometimes water is only provided for a few hours every day or a few days a week. This is especially problematic for informal settlements who are often poorly connected to the water supply network and who have no means of procuring alternative sources such as private boreholes. It is estimated that about half of the population of developing countries receives water on an intermittent basis.


title: Water supply

text: Drinking water quality has a micro-biological and a physico-chemical dimension. There are thousands of parameters of water quality. In public water supply systems water should, at a minimum, be disinfected—most commonly through the use of chlorination or the use of ultraviolet light—or it may need to undergo treatment, especially in the case of surface water. For more details, please see the separate entries on water quality, water treatment and drinking water.


title: Water supply

text: Water pressures vary in different locations of a distribution system. Water mains below the street may operate at higher pressures, with a pressure reducer located at each point where the water enters a building or a house. In poorly managed systems, water pressure can be so low as to result only in a trickle of water or so high that it leads to damage to plumbing fixtures and waste of water. Pressure in an urban water system is typically maintained either by a pressurised water tank serving an urban area, by pumping the water up into a water tower and relying on gravity to maintain a constant pressure in the system or solely by pumps at the water treatment plant and repeater pumping stations.


title: Water supply

text: Typical UK pressures are 4–5 bar (60–70 PSI) for an urban supply. However, some people can get over eight bars or below one bar. A single iron main pipe may cross a deep valley, it will have the same nominal pressure, however each consumer will get a bit more or less because of the hydrostatic pressure (about 1 bar/10 m height). So people at the bottom of a hill will get about 3 bars more than those at the top.


title: Water supply

text: The effective pressure also varies because of the pressure loss due to supply resistance even for the same static pressure. An urban consumer may have 5 metres of 15 mm pipe running from the iron main, so the kitchen tap flow will be fairly unrestricted, so high flow. A rural consumer may have a kilometre of rusted and limed 22 mm iron pipe, so their kitchen tap flow will be small.


title: Water supply

text: For this reason, the UK domestic water system has traditionally (prior to 1989) employed a "cistern feed" system, where the incoming supply is connected to the kitchen sink and also a header/storage tank in the attic. Water can dribble into this tank through a 12 mm pipe, plus ball valve, and then supply the house on 22 or 28 mm pipes. Gravity water has a small pressure (say bar in the bathroom) so needs wide pipes to allow for higher flows. This is fine for baths and toilets but is frequently inadequate for showers. A booster pump or a hydrophore is installed to increase and maintain pressure. For this reason urban houses are increasingly using mains pressure boilers ("combies") which take a long time to fill a bath but suit the high back pressure of a shower.


title: Water supply

text: A great variety of institutions have responsibilities in water supply. A basic distinction is between institutions responsible for policy and regulation on the one hand; and institutions in charge of providing services on the other hand.


title: Water supply

text: Water supply policies and regulation are usually defined by one or several Ministries, in consultation with the legislative branch. In the United States the United States Environmental Protection Agency, whose administrator reports directly to the President, is responsible for water and sanitation policy and standard setting within the executive branch. In other countries responsibility for sector policy is entrusted to a Ministry of Environment (such as in Mexico and Colombia), to a Ministry of Health (such as in Panama, Honduras and Uruguay), a Ministry of Public Works (such as in Ecuador and Haiti), a Ministry of Economy (such as in German states) or a Ministry of Energy (such as in Iran). A few countries, such as Jordan and Bolivia, even have a Ministry of Water. Often several Ministries share responsibilities for water supply.


title: Water supply

text: In the European Union, important policy functions have been entrusted to the supranational level. Policy and regulatory functions include the setting of tariff rules and the approval of tariff increases; setting, monitoring and enforcing norms for quality of service and environmental protection; benchmarking the performance of service providers; and reforms in the structure of institutions responsible for service provision. The distinction between policy functions and regulatory functions is not always clear-cut. In some countries they are both entrusted to Ministries, but in others regulatory functions are entrusted to agencies that are separate from Ministries.


title: Water supply

text: Dozens of countries around the world have established regulatory agencies for infrastructure services, including often water supply and sanitation, in order to better protect consumers and to improve efficiency. Regulatory agencies can be entrusted with a variety of responsibilities, including in particular the approval of tariff increases and the management of sector information systems, including benchmarking systems. Sometimes they also have a mandate to settle complaints by consumers that have not been dealt with satisfactorily by service providers. These specialized entities are expected to be more competent and objective in regulating service providers than departments of government Ministries. Regulatory agencies are supposed to be autonomous from the executive branch of government, but in many countries have often not been able to exercise a great degree of autonomy.


title: Water supply

text: In the United States regulatory agencies for utilities have existed for almost a century at the level of states, and in Canada at the level of provinces. In both countries they cover several infrastructure sectors. In many U.S. states they are called Public Utility Commissions. For England and Wales, a regulatory agency for water (OFWAT) was created as part of the privatization of the water industry in 1989. In many developing countries, water regulatory agencies were created during the 1990s in parallel with efforts at increasing private sector participation. (for more details on regulatory agencies in Latin America, for example, please see Water and sanitation in Latin America and the regional association of water regulatory agencies ADERASA.)


title: Water supply

text: Many countries do not have regulatory agencies for water. In these countries service providers are regulated directly by local government, or the national government. This is, for example, the case in the countries of continental Europe, in China and India.


title: Water supply

text: Water supply service providers, which are often utilities, differ from each other in terms of their geographical coverage relative to administrative boundaries; their sectoral coverage; their ownership structure; and their governance arrangements.


title: Water supply

text: Many water utilities provide services in a single city, town or municipality. However, in many countries municipalities have associated in regional or inter-municipal or multi-jurisdictional utilities to benefit from economies of scale. In the United States these can take the form of special-purpose districts which may have independent taxing authority. An example of a multi-jurisdictional water utility in the United States is WASA, a utility serving Washington, D.C. and various localities in the state of Maryland. Multi-jurisdictional utilities are also common in Germany, where they are known as "Zweckverbaende", in France and in Italy.


title: Water supply

text: In some federal countries, there are water service providers covering most or all cities and towns in an entire state, such as in all states of Brazil and some states in Mexico (see Water supply and sanitation in Mexico). In England and Wales, water supply and sewerage is supplied almost entirely through ten regional companies. Some smaller countries, especially developed countries, have established service providers that cover the entire country or at least most of its cities and major towns. Such national service providers are especially prevalent in West Africa and Central America, but also exist, for example, in Tunisia, Jordan and Uruguay (see also water supply and sanitation in Uruguay). In rural areas, where about half the world population lives, water services are often not provided by utilities, but by community-based organizations which usually cover one or sometimes several villages.


title: Water supply

text: Some water utilities provide only water supply services, while sewerage is under the responsibility of a different entity. This is for example the case in Tunisia. However, in most cases water utilities also provide sewer and sewage treatment services. In some cities or countries utilities also distribute electricity. In a few cases such multi-utilities also collect solid waste and provide local telephone services. An example of such an integrated utility can be found in the Colombian city of Medellín. Utilities that provide water, sanitation and electricity can be found in Frankfurt, Germany (Mainova), in Casablanca, Morocco and in Gabon in West Africa. Multi-utilities provide certain benefits such as common billing and the option to cross-subsidize water services with revenues from electricity sales, if permitted by law.


title: Water supply

text: Water supply providers can be either public, private, mixed or cooperative. Most urban water supply services around the world are provided by public entities. As Willem-Alexander, Prince of Orange (2002) stated, "The water crisis that is affecting so many people is mainly a crisis of governance—not of water scarcity." The introduction of cost-reflective tariffs together with cross-subsidization between richer and poorer consumers is an essential governance reform in order to reduce the high levels of Unaccounted-for Water (UAW) and to provide the finance needed to extend the network to those poorest households who remain unconnected. Partnership arrangements between the public and private sector can play an important role in order to achieve this objective.


title: Water supply

text: An estimated 10 percent of urban water supply is provided by private or mixed public-private companies, usually under concessions, leases or management contracts. Under these water service contract arrangements the public entity that is legally responsible for service provision delegates certain or all aspects of service provision to the private service provider for a period typically ranging from 4 to 30 years. The public entity continues to own the assets. These arrangements are common in France and in Spain. Only in few parts of the world water supply systems have been completely sold to the private sector (privatization), such as in England and Wales as well as in Chile. The largest private water companies in the world are Suez and Veolia Environnement from France; "Aguas de Barcelona" from Spain; and Thames Water from the UK, all of which are engaged internationally (see links to website of these companies below). In recent years, a number of cities have reverted to the public sector in a process called "remunicipalization".


title: Water supply

text: 90% of urban water supply and sanitation services are currently in the public sector. They are owned by the state or local authorities, or also by collectives or cooperatives. They run without an aim for profit but are based on the ethos of providing a common good considered to be of public interest. In most middle and low-income countries, these publicly owned and managed water providers can be inefficient as a result of political interference, leading to over-staffing and low labor productivity.


title: Water supply

text: Ironically, the main losers from this institutional arrangement are the urban poor in these countries. Because they are not connected to the water supply network, they end up paying far more per liter of water than do more well-off households connected to the network who benefit from the implicit subsidies that they receive from loss-making utilities.


title: Water supply

text: The fact that we are still so far from achieving universal access to clean water and sanitation shows that public water authorities, in their current state, are not working well enough.


title: Water supply

text: Yet some are being very successful and are modelling the best forms of public management. As Ryutaro Hashimoto, former Japanese Prime Minister, notes: "Public water services currently provide more than 90 percent of water supply in the world. Modest improvement in public water operators will have immense impact on global provision of services."


title: Water supply

text: Governance arrangements for both public and private utilities can take many forms (Kurian and McCarney, 2010). Governance arrangements define the relationship between the service provider, its owners, its customers and regulatory entities. They determine the financial autonomy of the service provider and thus its ability to maintain its assets, expand services, attract and retain qualified staff, and ultimately to provide high-quality services. Key aspects of governance arrangements are the extent to which the entity in charge of providing services is insulated from arbitrary political intervention; and whether there is an explicit mandate and political will to allow the service provider to recover all or at least most of its costs through tariffs and retain these revenues. If water supply is the responsibility of a department that is integrated in the administration of a city, town or municipality, there is a risk that tariff revenues are diverted for other purposes. In some cases, there is also a risk that staff are appointed mainly on political grounds rather than based on their professional credentials.


title: Water supply

text: International standards for water supply system are covered by International Classification of Standards (ICS) 91.140.60.


title: Water supply

text: Comparing the performance of water and sanitation service providers (utilities) is needed, because the sector offers limited scope for direct competition (natural monopoly). Firms operating in competitive markets are under constant pressure to out perform each other. Water utilities are often sheltered from this pressure, and it frequently shows: some utilities are on a sustained improvement track, but many others keep falling further behind best practice. Benchmarking the performance of utilities allows the stimulation of competition, establish realistic targets for improvement and create pressure to catch up with better utilities. Information on benchmarks for water and sanitation utilities is provided by the International Benchmarking Network for Water and Sanitation Utilities.


title: Water supply

text: The cost of supplying water consists, to a very large extent, of fixed costs (capital costs and personnel costs) and only to a small extent of variable costs that depend on the amount of water consumed (mainly energy and chemicals). The full cost of supplying water in urban areas in developed countries is about US$1–2 per cubic meter depending on local costs and local water consumption levels. The cost of sanitation (sewerage and wastewater treatment) is another US$1–2 per cubic meter. These costs are somewhat lower in developing countries. Throughout the world, only part of these costs is usually billed to consumers, the remainder being financed through direct or indirect subsidies from local, regional or national governments (see section on tariffs).


title: Water supply

text: Besides subsidies water supply investments are financed through internally generated revenues as well as through debt. Debt financing can take the form of credits from commercial Banks, credits from international financial institutions such as the World Bank and regional development banks (in the case of developing countries), and bonds (in the case of some developed countries and some upper middle-income countries).


title: Water supply

text: Almost all service providers in the world charge tariffs to recover part of their costs. According to estimates by the World Bank the average (mean) global water tariff is US$0.53 per cubic meter. In developed countries the average tariff is US$1.04, while it is only U$0.11 in the poorest developing countries. The lowest tariffs in developing countries are found in South Asia (mean of US$0.09/m3), while the highest are found in Latin America (US$0.41/m3). Data for 132 cities were assessed. The tariff is estimate for a consumption level of 15 cubic meters per month. Few utilities do recover all their costs. According to the same World Bank study only 30% of utilities globally, and only 50% of utilities in developed countries, generate sufficient revenue to cover operation, maintenance and partial capital costs.


title: Water supply

text: According to another study undertaken in 2006 by NUS Consulting, the average water and sewerage tariff in 14 mainly OECD countries excluding VAT varied between US$0.66 per cubic meter in the United States and the equivalent of US$2.25 per cubic meter in Denmark. However, water consumption is much higher in the US than in Europe. Therefore, residential water bills may be very similar, even if the tariff per unit of consumption tends to be higher in Europe than in the US.


title: Water supply

text: A typical family on the US East Coast paid between US$30 and US$70 per month for water and sewer services in 2005.


title: Water supply

text: In developing countries, tariffs are usually much further from covering costs. Residential water bills for a typical consumption of 15 cubic meters per month vary between less than US$1 and US$12 per month.


title: Water supply

text: Water and sanitation tariffs, which are almost always billed together, can take many different forms. Where meters are installed, tariffs are typically volumetric (per usage), sometimes combined with a small monthly fixed charge. In the absence of meters, flat or fixed rates—which are independent of actual consumption—are being charged. In developed countries, tariffs are usually the same for different categories of users and for different levels of consumption.


title: Water supply

text: In developing countries, the situation is often characterized by cross-subsidies with the intent to make water more affordable for residential low-volume users that are assumed to be poor. For example, industrial and commercial users are often charged higher tariffs than public or residential users. Also, metered users are often charged higher tariffs for higher levels of consumption (increasing-block tariffs). However, cross-subsidies between residential users do not always reach their objective. Given the overall low level of water tariffs in developing countries even at higher levels of consumption, most consumption subsidies benefit the wealthier segments of society. Also, high industrial and commercial tariffs can provide an incentive for these users to supply water from other sources than the utility (own wells, water tankers) and thus actually erode the utility's revenue base.


title: Water supply

text: Water supply and sanitation require a huge amount of capital investment in infrastructure such as pipe networks, pumping stations and water treatment works. It is estimated that in developing countries investments of at least US$200 billion have to be made per year to replace aging water infrastructure to guarantee supply, reduce leakage rates and protect water quality.


title: Water supply

text: International attention has focused upon the needs of developing countries. To meet the Millennium Development Goals targets of halving the proportion of the population lacking access to safe drinking water and basic sanitation by 2015, current annual investment on the order of US$10 to US$15 billion would need to be roughly doubled. This does not include investments required for the maintenance of existing infrastructure.


title: Water supply

text: Once infrastructure is in place, operating water supply and sanitation systems entails significant ongoing costs to cover personnel, energy, chemicals, maintenance and other expenses. The sources of money to meet these capital and operational costs are essentially either user fees, public funds or some combination of the two. It is also important to consider is the flexibility of the water supply system.


title: Water supply

text: Metering of water supply is usually motivated by one or several of four objectives. First, it provides an incentive to conserve water which protects water resources (environmental objective). Second, it can postpone costly system expansion and saves energy and chemical costs (economic objective). Third, it allows a utility to better locate distribution losses (technical objective). Fourth, it allows suppliers to charge for water based on use, which is perceived by many as the fairest way to allocate the costs of water supply to users. Metering is considered good practice in water supply and is widespread in developed countries, except for the United Kingdom. In developing countries it is estimated that half of all urban water supply systems are metered and the tendency is increasing.


title: Water supply

text: Most cities are increasingly installing automatic meter reading (AMR) systems to prevent fraud, to lower ever-increasing labor and liability costs and to improve customer service and satisfaction.


title: Water supply

text: Water supply can get contaminated by pathogens which may originate from human excreta, for example due to a break-down or design fault in the sanitation system, or by chemical contaminants.


title: Water supply

text: Throughout history, people have devised systems to make getting and using water more convenient. Living in semi-arid regions, ancient Persians in the 1st millennium BC used qanat system to gain access to water in the mountains. Early Rome had indoor plumbing, meaning a system of aqueducts and pipes that terminated in homes and at public wells and fountains for people to use.


title: Water supply

text: Until the Enlightenment era, little progress was made in water supply and sanitation and the engineering skills of the Romans were largely neglected throughout Europe. It was in the 18th century that a rapidly growing population fueled a boom in the establishment of private water supply networks in London. London water supply infrastructure developed over many centuries from early mediaeval conduits, through major 19th-century treatment works built in response to cholera threats, to modern, large-scale reservoirs. The first screw-down water tap was patented in 1845 by Guest and Chrimes, a brass foundry in Rotherham.


title: Water supply

text: The first documented use of sand filters to purify the water supply dates to 1804, when the owner of a bleachery in Paisley, Scotland, John Gibb, installed an experimental filter, selling his unwanted surplus to the public. The first treated public water supply in the world was installed by engineer James Simpson for the Chelsea Waterworks Company in London in 1829. The practice of water treatment soon became mainstream, and the virtues of the system were made starkly apparent after the investigations of the physician John Snow during the 1854 Broad Street cholera outbreak demonstrated the role of the water supply in spreading the cholera epidemic.


title: Lim Ju-hwan

text: Lim Ju-hwan (; born May 18, 1982) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his leading roles in the television dramas "Tamra, the Island" (2009), "Ugly Alert" (2013), "Uncontrollably Fond" (2016) and "The Bride of Habaek" (2017).


title: Lim Ju-hwan

text: When he was a senior in high school, Lim joined the theater group called Kwangto, an acronym of "Kwangdae Tokkaebi" referring to traditional performers and hobgoblins in Korean, where he was first introduced to theatrical performance. Lim then played the role of the pastor in "The Good Doctor" by Neil Simon and won the prize of best performance in the Fourth Youth Theater Festival in 2000. He also directed the play, "Pay Tuition Back", at the school festival. He continues to maintain a good friendship with fellow actor Shin Dong-wook, whom he met at the time.


title: Lim Ju-hwan

text: After graduating from high school, Lim began his professional career in modeling at The Men, a modeling and acting agency. He also enrolled at Daejin University for his undergraduate and graduate studies in theatre and film.


title: Lim Ju-hwan

text: Lim made his first professional television debut on "Magic", aired on SBS in 2004, and made his film debut in "A Millionaire's First Love" in 2006, followed by a series of supporting roles, notably in "The Snow Queen" (2006) and "Boys Over Flowers" (2009). He received favorable reviews for his performance as a blind painter in episode 10 of "Auction House", a 2007 TV series revolving around the art world which aired on MBC.


title: Lim Ju-hwan

text: Lim's breakthrough came in his first leading role in the 2009 MBC series "Tamra, the Island". Set in Jeju Island, Haenam in South Jeolla Province, it was a hybrid form of TV drama that combined romantic comedy and historical fiction. It portrayed the relationship between Koreans and foreigners in 17th century Joseon. Though it received low ratings, "Tamra, the Island" gained a cult following. Lim later won New Actor of the Year at the 2009 Korean Culture and Entertainment Awards for his performance.


title: Lim Ju-hwan

text: To capitalize on his growing fan base in Japan due to "Tamra, the Island", Lim starred in the 2-episode special drama "Marriage War of Doenjang-kun and Natto-chan", about a Korean man and a Japanese woman who fall in love while working together on a Korea-Japan joint project.


title: Lim Ju-hwan

text: "What's Up", the long-delayed musical campus drama that Lim filmed in 2010, finally aired on cable channel MBN in 2011. It was written by renowned drama scribe Song Ji-na ("Sandglass") and is the story of college students learning acting and performance arts in the university's musical theatre department. Lim played the leading role of Jang Je-hun, a cynical outsider who becomes completely immersed in the world of musicals. He followed that with a supporting role as a warm-hearted homeless man with Tourette's syndrome in the film "The Suicide Forecast" in 2011.


title: Lim Ju-hwan

text: In 2011, Lim enlisted for his mandatory military service. During basic training, he fainted due to heart problems and was hospitalized for 3 months. He then completed his service despite being given the option for an early discharge. Prior to entering military service Lim left his agency Yedang Entertainment.


title: Lim Ju-hwan

text: After his military discharge he moved to Blossom Entertainment. In 2013, he made his acting comeback in the lead role as a devoted brother in 2013 SBS daily drama "Ugly Alert", followed by a villain role in the 2014 film "The Con Artists" as well as supporting roles in historical drama "Shine or Go Crazy" and romantic comedy series "Oh My Ghost" in 2015, romance melodrama "Uncontrollably Fond" in 2016, and fantasy romance series "The Bride of Habaek" in 2017. He acted as a Japanese prosecutor Fukuda in 2019 MBC's period spy drama, "Different Dreams".


title: Total Eclipse (film)

text: Total Eclipse is a 1995 erotic historic drama film directed by Agnieszka Holland, based on a 1967 play by Christopher Hampton, who also wrote the screenplay. Based on letters and poems, it presents a historically accurate account of the passionate and violent relationship between 19th-century French poets Arthur Rimbaud (Leonardo DiCaprio) and Paul Verlaine (David Thewlis), at a time of soaring creativity for both men. Warner Bros. has included the film in the catalogue of Warner Archive Collection.


title: Total Eclipse (film)

text: The older Paul Verlaine meets Arthur Rimbaud's sister, Isabelle, in a café in Paris. Isabelle and her mother want Verlaine to hand over any copies he may still have of Rimbaud's poems so that they can burn them; they fear the lewdness of his writings. Verlaine reflects on the wild relationship he formed with Rimbaud, beginning when the teenaged Rimbaud had sent his poetry to Verlaine from his home in the provinces in 1871. Verlaine, instantly fascinated, impulsively invites him to his rich father-in-law's home in Paris, where he lives with his young, pregnant wife. The wild, eccentric Rimbaud displays no sense of manners or decency whatsoever, scandalising Verlaine's pretentious, bourgeois in-laws.


title: Total Eclipse (film)

text: The 27-year-old Verlaine is seduced by the 16-year-old Rimbaud's physical body as well as by the unique originality of his mind. The staid respectability of married, heterosexual life and easy, middle class surroundings had been stifling Verlaine's admittedly sybaritic literary talent. His taking up with Rimbaud is as much a rebellion and a liberation as it is a giving in to self-indulgence and masochism. Rimbaud acts as sadistically to Verlaine as does Verlaine to his young wife, whom he eventually deserts. A violent, itinerant relationship ensues between the two poets, the sad climax of which arrives in Brussels when a drunken and enraged Verlaine shoots and wounds Rimbaud and is sentenced a fine and two years in prison for sodomy and grievous bodily harm.


title: Total Eclipse (film)

text: In prison, Verlaine converts to Christianity, to his erstwhile lover's disgust. Upon release he meets Rimbaud in Germany, vainly and mistakenly seeking to revive the relationship. The two men part, never to meet again. Bitterly renouncing literature in any form, Rimbaud travels the world alone, finally settling in Abyssinia (modern day Ethiopia) to run a "trading post". There he has a mistress and possibly a young boy-lover. A tumour in his right knee forces him back to France where his leg is amputated. Nevertheless, the cancer spreads and he dies at the age of 37. When he dies, the image of one of his most famous poems, "Le Dormeur du val", appears.


title: Total Eclipse (film)

text: During her conversation with Verlaine, Isabelle Rimbaud asserts that her brother had accepted confession from a priest right before he died, showing Christian penitence, which is why only the censored versions of his poetry should survive. Verlaine pretends to agree but tears up her card after she leaves. Later, Verlaine, drinking absinthe (to which he has become addicted), sees a vision of the sixteen-year-old Rimbaud, returned from some transcendent realm to express the love and respect Verlaine has thus posthumously earned. The film ends with the young Rimbaud walking alone on a mountain range, Verlaine proclaiming that they were both happy together, and Rimbaud claiming to have finally found eternity.


title: Total Eclipse (film)

text: Rotten Tomatoes gave the film a 22% "rotten" score with critics (four of the eighteen reviews being positive) against a 61% score with audiences.


title: Total Eclipse (film)

text: In 1999, a DVD edition of the film was released. It features both a widescreen and fullscreen version of the film on the same disc as well as the film trailer.


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: The Apu Trilogy comprises three Indian Bengali-language drama films directed by Satyajit Ray: "Pather Panchali" (1955), "Aparajito" (1956) and "The World of Apu" (1959). The original music for the films was composed by Ravi Shankar.


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: The films are based on two Bengali novels written by Bibhutibhushan Bandopadhyay: "Pather Panchali" (1929) and "Aparajito" (1932). The three films went on to win many national and international awards, including three National Film Awards and seven awards from the Cannes, Berlin and Venice Film Festivals. The films were produced on a shoestring budget ("Pather Panchali" had a budget of roughly 150,000 ($45,300—)) using an amateur cast and crew.


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: The three films comprise a "coming of age" narrative in the vein of a "bildungsroman"; they describe the childhood, education and early maturity of a young Bengali named Apu (Apurba Kumar Roy) in the early part of the 20th century.


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: Apu's early experiences in rural Bengal as the son of a poor but high caste family are presented. Apu's father Harihar, a Brahmin, has difficulty in supporting his family. After the death of Apu's sister, Durga, the family moves to the holy city of Benares.


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: The family's finances are still precarious. After his father dies there, Apu and his mother Sarbajaya come back to a village in Bengal. Despite unrelenting poverty, Apu manages to get formal schooling and turns out to be a brilliant student. He moves to Calcutta to pursue his education. He slowly distanced himself from his rural roots and his mother who was not keeping well at the time. In the process the growing Apu comes into conflict with his mother. Later he is informed that, when his mother dies too, he has to learn to live alone.


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: Attempting to become a writer, Apu unexpectedly finds himself pressured to marry a girl whose mother rejected her mentally ill bridegroom on the day of their wedding. Their blossoming marriage ends in her death in childbirth, after which the despairing Apu abandons his child, but eventually returns to accept his responsibilities.


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: In 1950, Ray had decided that "Pather Panchali", the classic coming of age story (bildungsroman) of Bengali literature, published in 1928 by Bibhutibhusan Bandopadhyay, would be the subject matter for his first film. This semi-autobiographical novel describes the growing up of Apu, a small boy in a Bengal village. He went ahead with the film after meeting Jean Renoir during filming of "The River" (1951) and after watching the Italian neorealist film "Bicycle Thieves" (1948) while he was in London. Besides the influence of European cinema and Bengali literature, Ray is also indebted to the Indian theatrical tradition, particularly the "rasa" theory of classical Sanskrit drama. The complicated doctrine of "rasa" centers predominantly on feelings experienced not only by the characters but also conveyed in a certain artistic way to the spectator. The duality of "rasa" representation shows in "The Apu Trilogy".


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: Ray gathered an inexperienced crew, although both his cameraman Subrata Mitra and art director Bansi Chandragupta went on to achieve great acclaim. The cast consisted of mostly amateur artists. Shooting started in late 1952, using Ray's personal savings. He had hoped that once the initial shots had been completed, he would be able to obtain funds to support the project; however, such funding was not forthcoming. "Pather Panchali" was shot over the unusually long period of three years, because shooting was possible only from time to time, when Ray or production manager Anil Chowdhury could arrange further money. With a loan from the West Bengal government, the film was finally completed and released in 1955 to great critical and popular success, sweeping up numerous prizes and having long runs in both India and abroad. During the making of the film, Ray refused funding from sources who demanded a change in script or the supervision of the producer, and he ignored advice from the government (which finally funded the film anyway) to incorporate a happy ending in having Apu's family join a "development project". Even greater help than Renoir's encouragement occurred when Ray showed a sequence to John Huston who was in India scouting locations for "The Man Who Would Be King". The sequence is the remarkable vision Apu and his sister have of the train running through the countryside. It was the only sequence Ray had filmed due to his small budget. Huston praised Ray to Monroe Wheeler at the New York Museum of Modern Art, saying that a major talent was on the horizon.


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: In India, the reaction to the film was enthusiastic; "The Times of India" wrote that "It is absurd to compare it with any other Indian cinema [...]. "Pather Panchali" is pure cinema". In the United Kingdom, Lindsay Anderson wrote a glowing review of the film. However, the reaction was not uniformly positive. After watching the movie, François Truffaut is reported to have said, "I don't want to see a movie of peasants eating with their hands." Bosley Crowther, then the most influential critic of "The New York Times", wrote a mixed review of the film that its distributor Ed Harrison thought would kill off the film when it got released in the United States; however, it enjoyed an exceptionally long run.


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: Ray's international career started in earnest after the success of his next film, "Aparajito" ("The Unvanquished"). This film shows the eternal struggle between the ambitions of Apu as a young man and the mother who loves him. Some critics, notably Mrinal Sen and Ritwik Ghatak, rank it even higher than the first film. Aparajito won the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. The film is also notable for its application of bounce lighting to recreate the effect of daylight on sets with the use of large scale diffusers, pioneered by the cinematographer Subrata Mitra.


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: Ray had not thought about a trilogy while making "Aparajito", and it occurred to him only after being asked about the idea in Venice. The final installation of the series, "Apur Sansar" ("The World of Apu"), was made in 1959. A number of critics find this to be the supreme achievement of the trilogy (Robin Wood, Aparna Sen). Ray introduced two of his favourite actors, Soumitra Chatterjee and Sharmila Tagore, in this film. The film finds Apu living in a nondescript Kolkata house in near-poverty. He becomes involved in an unusual marriage with Aparna, the scenes of their life together forming "one of the cinema's classic affirmative depiction of married life", but tragedy ensues. After "Apur Sansar" was harshly criticised by a Bengali critic, Ray wrote an article defending it—a rare event in Ray's filmmaking career (the other major instance involved the film "Charulata", Ray's personal favourite). His success had little influence on his personal life in the years to come. Ray continued to live with his mother, uncle and other members of his extended family in a rented house.


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: This trilogy is considered by critics around the globe to rank among the greatest achievements of Indian film, and it is established as one of the most historically important cinematic debuts. "Pather Panchali" won at least thirteen international prizes (including Best Human Document at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival), followed by eleven international prizes for "Aparajito" (including the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival) and numerous other awards for "Apur Sansar" (including the Sutherland Trophy at the London Film Festival). When Ray made "Pather Panchali", he worked with a cast and crew most of whom had never been previously involved in film. Ray himself at the time of directing "Pather Panchali" had primarily worked in the advertising industry, although he had served as assistant director on Jean Renoir's 1951 film "The River". From this foundation, Ray went on to create other highly acclaimed films, like "Charulata", "Mahanagar", and "Aranyer Din Ratri", and his international success energised other Bengal filmmakers like Mrinal Sen and Ritwik Ghatak.


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: This extract from "Youth", by South African author J. M. Coetzee, talks of the music in the "Apu trilogy", which is based on Indian classical music:


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, "Pather Panchali" has a 97% fresh rating based on an aggregate of 38 reviews and in 2009 was included in its list of top 100 foreign films. "Aparajito" has a 94% fresh rating based on an aggregate of 16 reviews, and "Apur Sansar" ("The World of Apu") has a 100% fresh rating based on an aggregate of 22 reviews. This makes "The Apu Trilogy" one of the highest-rated film trilogies of all time (97%, 94%, 100%), along with the "Toy Story" trilogy (100%, 100%, 99%), "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy (91%, 96%, 93%), the original "Star Wars" trilogy (94%, 97%, 78%), and the "Before" trilogy (100%, 95%, 98%).


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: Andre Robinson, in his book "Satyajit Ray: The Inner Eye," comments that the three films differ in their predominant moods, and he compares the trilogy to the development of an Indian classical "raga".


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: "Sight & Sound", the British Film Institute's film magazine, listed "Pather Panchali" several times in its Critics' Poll of all-time greatest films, in 1962 (ranked #11), 1982 (ranked #79), 1992 (ranked #6) and 2002 (ranked #22). "The World of Apu" appeared in 1982, ranked at #42. In the 1992 edition, both "Aparajito" and "The World of Apu" were tied at #127, while "The Apu Trilogy" was ranked separately at #88. In a combined list of "Sight & Sound" critics' and directors' poll results in 2002, "Pather Panchali" was ranked at No. 28, "The World of Apu" at No. 93 and "Aparajito" at #160. If the votes are combined, then "The Apu Trilogy" as a whole would be ranked at No. 14 in 1982, No. 4 in 1992 and No. 14 in 2002.


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: In 1988, John Kobal's poll of critics and filmmakers ranked "The Apu Trilogy" at No. 35 on their list of Top 100 Movies. In 1998, the Asian film magazine "Cinemaya"'s critics' poll of all-time greatest films ranked "The Apu Trilogy" at No. 7 on the list, while "Pather Panchali" alone was ranked at No. 2 on the same list. If the votes are combined, then "The Apu Trilogy" would be ranked at #1. In 1999, "The Village Voice" ranked "Pather Panchali" at No. 12 (tied with "The Godfather") in its top 250 "Best Films of the Century" list, based on a poll of critics, while "The Apu Trilogy" was ranked separately at No. 54 in the same poll. If the votes are combined, "The Apu Trilogy" would be ranked at #5. In 2000, an audience poll of best Asian films conducted by "MovieMail" ranked "The Apu Trilogy" at No. 2 on the list. In January 2002, the trilogy as a whole was voted at No. 70 on the list of the "Top 100 Essential Films of All Time" by the National Society of Film Critics. In 2021 the trilogy was ranked at No. 65 on "Time Out" magazine's list of "The 100 best movies of all time". "The Independent" ranked "The Apu Trilogy" at No. 4 on its list of "10 greatest movie trilogies of all time".


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: "Pather Panchali" was included in various other all-time greatest film lists, including "Time Out" magazine's "Centenary Top One Hundred Films" in 1995, the "San Francisco Chronicle"s "Hot 100 Films From the Past" in 1997, the "Rolling Stone" "100 Maverick Movies of the Last 100 Years" in 1999, and the British Film Institute's Top Fifty "Must See" Children's Films in 2005. Akira Kurosawa ranked "Pather Panchali" at No. 37 on his "Top 100 favourite films of all time" list. In 1996, "The World of Apu" was included in Movieline Magazine's "100 Greatest Foreign Films". In 2002, "Pather Panchali" and "The World of Apu" featured in "The New York Times Guide to the Best 1,000 Movies Ever Made". "The Apu Trilogy" as a whole was included in film critic Roger Ebert's list of The Great Movies in 2001 and in "Time" magazine's All-Time 100 best movies list in 2005. It was also ranked No. 17 in "Empire" magazine's "The 100 Best Films of World Cinema" in 2010. The original Trilogy has been reconstructed via the Harvard Film archive & Criterion and was shown in Kendall Square, Cambridge, MA the 1st week of July 2015.


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: "Apur Panchali" is a Bengali film based on Subir Banerjee's life, who played child "Apu" in the first installment of "Apu Trilogy". Director Kaushik Ganguly won the award of best director for "Apur Panchali" in the 44th International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in November 2013. The director mentioned in an interview that he found similarities between certain parts of the life of Subir Banerjee and the iconic character Apu. In the film actor Parambrata Chatterjee portrays a younger Subir Banerjee, while Ardhendu Bannerjee plays the role of the aged Banerjee.


title: The Apu Trilogy

text: Across the world, filmmakers such as Martin Scorsese, James Ivory, Abbas Kiarostami, Elia Kazan, Carlos Saura, Isao Takahata, Barry Jenkins, Philip Kaufman, Wes Anderson and Danny Boyle have been influenced by "The Apu Trilogy", with many others such as Akira Kurosawa praising the work. Filmmaker Martin Scorsese when talking about "The Apu Trilogy" remarked "Without a doubt, in his(Ray's) films the line between poetry and cinema, dissolved." In Gregory Nava's 1995 film "My Family", the final scene is duplicated from the final scene of "Apur Sansar". Similar influences and references to the trilogy can be found, for example, in recent works such as "Sacred Evil", Paul Auster's 2008 novel "Man in the Dark", the "Elements trilogy" of Deepa Mehta and even in films of Jean-Luc Godard. The technique of bounce lighting pioneered by Subrata Mitra, to recreate the effect of daylight on sets, has also had a profound influence on the development of cinematography. Ravi Shankar's soundtracks to the films were also a major influence on The Beatles, specifically George Harrison.


title: Azula

text: Princess Azula () is a fictional character in Nickelodeon's animated television series "", created by Michael Dante DiMartino and Bryan Konietzko, and voiced by Grey DeLisle.


title: Azula

text: In the show, Azula is the crown princess of the Fire Nation and an extremely powerful firebending prodigy. Upon Fire Lord Ozai's orders, she begins a quest with her childhood friends and Ty Lee to retrieve her banished brother Prince Zuko and his mentor, their uncle Iroh, while also attempting to capture Avatar Aang, considered the Fire Nation's greatest threat to victory in the war. Azula is known for being a skilled strategist and manipulator. As her brother Zuko states, she "always lies." Throughout the original series and the sequel comics, she is shown to be capable of highly advanced firebending, producing hotter blue flames as well as lightning.


title: Azula

text: Since she is the shadowed firebender in the series' opening sequence (though she is depicted bending red fire instead of her signature blue), Azula appears at the beginning of every episode of "". In the first season, she makes her first appearance in a flashback during 13-year-old Zuko's Agni Kai (firebending duel) against their father, Fire Lord Ozai. Azula smirks as Zuko's face is burned after he refuses to fight Ozai, who takes this as a sign of weakness and disrespect. The Fire Lord then banishes the permanently scarred Zuko and tasks him with finding the long-lost avatar. Azula makes a second brief appearance at the end of the first season when Ozai tasks her with repatriating Zuko and Iroh, who accompanied his nephew into exile and briefly cooperated with the series' protagonists.


title: Azula

text: After her first attempt to capture Zuko and Iroh is accidentally thwarted by her ship's captain, Azula enlists the help of her childhood friends, and Ty Lee. She eventually encounters the Avatar in Omashu and continues to pursue him, Zuko, and Iroh for the rest of the season. Following her initial failure to enter the Earth Kingdom capital Ba Sing Se using a giant drill to breach the city's strong outer wall, Azula comes in contact with the Kyoshi Warriors, esteemed fighters who, despite their lack of ability to bend any element, dress as and utilize the fighting style of Kyoshi, a past Avatar. Azula, Mai and Ty Lee then proceed to defeat and impersonate them.


title: Azula

text: Posing as Kyoshi Warriors, Azula and her friends infiltrate Ba Sing Se and befriend Earth King , who tells them about the planned invasion of the Fire Nation during an upcoming solar eclipse. Azula also comes to understand that the secret police and intelligence agency known as the Dai Li is the key to power in the capital. She is discovered as an infiltrator by Dai Li agents and brought before their imprisoned leader, . Having in fact intentionally exposed herself, Azula lulls him into a false sense of control and accepts his offer to help stage a coup d'état against the Earth King and the loyalist Council of Five. Immediately after her seizure of power, Azula betrays Long Feng and assumes permanent leadership of the Dai Li. She also encounters Zuko in the city and convinces him to join her in order to redeem himself. During their showdown, Azula strikes Aang with a bolt of lightning while he is in the Avatar State, though he is later revived by Katara. Azula then orders the Dai Li to tear down the walls of Ba Sing Se, exposing the city to an invasion and occupation by the Fire Nation.


title: Azula

text: In the early episodes of this season, Azula bonds with her brother and friends after their victorious return to the Fire Nation with Iroh as a prisoner. However, Azula lies to Ozai by claiming that Zuko killed Aang, as she has a hunch that Aang survived and knows that all the blame would now fall on Zuko if this were true. During the two-part episode "The Day of Black Sun," Aang assembles an elite invasion force and attacks the capital, taking advantage of a solar eclipse that renders the firebenders powerless. Having been warned by Azula, Ozai is evacuated to an underground bunker prior to the invasion. Azula and her Dai Li agents stall Aang and his friends Sokka and Toph from finding Ozai before the eclipse, which lasts only eight minutes, allowing the firebenders to retaliate with full force once they regain their bending, causing the invasion to fail. However, Zuko defects to Team Avatar after confronting Ozai during the eclipse.


title: Azula

text: Later, Azula, accompanied by Mai and Ty Lee, visits The Boiling Rock, the top security Fire Nation prison where Zuko has been captured in an attempt to infiltrate the prison and rescue the captured forces of the failed invasion. However, Zuko, Sokka, Suki (leader of the Kyoshi Warriors, who had been captured in the aftermath of their battle with Azula) and Sokka's father Hakoda manage to escape. Mai betrays Azula by aiding the group's escape, proclaiming that she is doing so out of her love for Zuko. Enraged, Azula attempts to attack Mai but is stopped by Ty Lee, who renders her incapable of bending by blocking her chi ("the energy within one which one would use for bending"). After having Mai and Ty Lee imprisoned for betraying her, Azula leads a platoon to the Western Air Temple, where she duels with Zuko. The fight ends in a draw, with Azula narrowly escaping death after falling from one of the airships while the protagonists manage to flee.


title: Azula

text: In the finale, Ozai leaves Azula behind in the Fire Nation as he sets out to conquer the world, naming her as his successor to the Fire Lord position. Soon afterward, Azula sinks into psychosis, hallucinates about her long-lost mother, and deposes nearly all of her servants and advisers. Before she is crowned as Fire Lord, Zuko and interrupt the ceremony, whereupon Azula challenges Zuko to single combat in an Agni Kai. However, Azula's attacks, while powerful, are wild and emotional while Zuko's are calm and disciplined; and when his attacks begin to overpower her, she sends a bolt of lightning toward Katara, but ends up striking down Zuko, who attempts to redirect it. She is ultimately defeated by Katara who takes her captive via waterbending, causing Azula to have a complete nervous breakdown.


title: Azula

text: Following the end of the war, Azula is admitted to a psychiatric institution, where she is closely monitored. One year after the war's end, Zuko visits Azula to request her assistance in gaining information from Ozai on the whereabouts of their long-lost mother Ursa, and Azula accepts without asking for anything in return.


title: Azula

text: When Azula visits Ozai in his prison, they are watched by Fire Lord Zuko before she asks him to leave when their father remains silent in her presence. Azula, having learned of the letters Ursa sent which falsely claims that Fire Lord Zuko is not Ozai's biological son, dodges her brother's questions while distracting him with her bending long enough to access the letters and burn them. She uses this as leverage as she convinces Zuko to allow her to join his quest to find Ursa in return for the letters' information, though she intends to use the letters' content to dethrone her brother while also murdering their mother. Her request is granted, and she becomes a protagonist by joining Team Avatar. The team eventually finds that Ursa lost her memory and assumed the identity of Noriko, starting a new family in her home village. Although Azula nearly kills Ursa, she becomes emotionally confused after her mother apologizes for not showing her enough motherly love and even more after Fire Lord Zuko reveals that he still loves his sister, despite their strained relationship. This results in a confused Azula running off into the wilderness. For several weeks, Zuko searches for Azula but fails to find her.


title: Azula

text: After several weeks, Azula helps her followers from the mental institution she was held in escape. They resurface under the guise of kemurikage (dark spirits). The "kemurikage" kidnap many children. After Zuko frees the children, Azula tells him that her motivation is to make him more like their father by relying on fear to maintain control. Azula then escapes and is last seen observing Zuko apologizing to his people for his recent actions before leaving. As Azula directly tells Zuko about her supposed intentions and seems to take his speech seriously, she is possibly acting as a stealth mentor by using reverse psychology on Zuko.


title: Azula

text: Princess Azula appears in the video games "" and "" again voiced by Grey DeLisle. Summer Bishil makes a cameo appearance as Azula at the end of live-action adaptation The Last Airbender, when Fire Lord Ozai orders her to defeat the Avatar. Writer and director M. Night Shyamalan envisioned Azula as the primary antagonist of the unmade sequel to the film.


title: Azula

text: Konietzko notes that Azula's design when compared to other main characters "came together relatively quickly." Azula was originally going to wear a heavily phoenix-themed armor, though the idea was eventually abandoned. Azula's blue firebending was meant to symbolize that she was more powerful than Zuko as well as a firebending prodigy, and also to easily distinguish her attacks from his in their fights. She was initially intended to have an arranged marriage during the third season. Both creators hold the character in high regard; Konietzko believes she is "by far the most complex, interesting, and dangerous villain in the series" while DiMartino wrote that she was his favorite villain in the series.


title: Azula

text: Azula is voiced by Grey DeLisle. DeLisle recounts that she had studied her "whole life" for well-written characters like Azula who were hard to come by. Overall, DeLisle felt her life had changed positively from the role, and association with the series, relaying this to Janet Varney who would voice Korra in the sequel series.


title: Azula

text: Although Azula's age is never stated in the series itself, the "Avatar" website, as well as the book "The Earth Kingdom Chronicles", gives her age as fourteen. She is 's great-granddaughter through Ozai, and Avatar Roku's through her mother, Ursa. In another flashback, it is revealed that she is named after her paternal grandfather Azulon, Ozai's father. Even as a child, Azula demonstrated her natural talents early in life, along with her tendency for malice and perfectionism. Her sharp wit and the skill she displayed towards Firebending gained her much attention and acclaim, often at Zuko's expense. Even when young, Azula suggests that her father would make a better Fire Lord than the heir apparent, her uncle Iroh, whom she dubbed "a quitter and a loser" for abandoning his siege of the Earth Kingdom's capital Ba Sing Se, which would have secured the Fire Nation's victory in the war, after the death of his son Lu Ten.


title: Azula

text: Azula is a firebending prodigy and a dedicated perfectionist. As one who wants nothing less than absolute control, she likewise has remarkable control of herself, seemingly able to react to any situation at a moment's notice without losing her composure. This is shown when she learns of a secret plot to invade the Fire Nation while in disguise but does not react to not blow her cover. Though it's not canonically confirmed, experts speculate that Azula's extremely strong locus of control and her subsequent loss of control was predictive of her later descent into a bout of psychosis.


title: Azula

text: Psychological analyses estimate Azula as being highly intelligent, and as having Conduct disorder with notable Machiavellian and, at times, sadistic traits. Following the betrayal by her closest friends Mai and Ty Lee, she possibly develops schizoaffective disorder, as indicated by her delusions of persecution, hallucinations of her mother speaking to her, as well as her frequent and radical intermittent mood fluctuations.


title: Azula

text: From a young age, Azula had maladaptive traits, showing almost no empathy or remorse for actions that harmed others both physically and emotionally. Azula was heavily influenced by her father, who favored her over Zuko due to her superior firebending abilities. However, Azula's father was a ruthless man incapable of true love. Azula was also constantly scolded by her mother due to her cruel nature. This shaped Azula's fears that she could not count on love from anyone, no matter how close they seemed. Unable to trust others, she instead began to control them using fear.


title: Azula

text: Although a skilled strategist and capable of predicting her enemies' moves, she is awkward in social situations, and later admits to jealousy of Ty Lee's ability to attract potential sweethearts during "The Beach" episode. She ends up seducing Chan with Ty Lee's advice to act dumb; however, she scares him away when she shows her true personality.


title: Azula

text: From childhood, Azula believed her mother favored Zuko and thought her monstrous, which she admitted to be true but hurt her deeply. After she was betrayed by Mai and Ty Lee, her mental state gradually collapsed, as her attacks became far more vicious and she was seemingly obsessed with killing Zuko. After her defeat, it is revealed in the graphic novel "The Promise" that she was admitted into a mental institution in the Fire Nation due to her poor mental state, possibly schizophrenia. Both in the series and the comics, she is shown to be disturbed by frequent hallucinations of her mother.


title: Azula

text: Azula often acts cold-hearted towards her uncle and her brother, but she appears to show some genuine concern for Zuko in the season 2 finale and early episodes of season 3. Although she seems to care about her friends, she frequently manipulates them, as seen when she threatens Ty Lee into leaving the circus in Book 2. There has been only one known occurrence of Azula showing remorse by apologizing after unintentionally insulting Ty Lee.


title: Azula

text: Azula is highly skilled in firebending, which utilizes Chinese martial arts techniques of Changquan, Shaolinquan, Lóng Xíng Mó Qiáo and Xing Yi Quan.<ref name="avatar2/index.jhtml"></ref> The series' creators consulted a professional martial artist in the design of the show's fighting style. Azula is one of the most skilled firebenders in the show and is a very difficult person to defeat in single combat. Her excellent firebending abilities, hand-to-hand combat skills, intelligence, agility and charisma make her a formidable opponent.


title: Azula

text: Azula is the only firebender who can produce blue flames, which are hotter and contain more energy (according to Planck's law) than those of other firebenders who bend normal orange flames. Her name is derived from "azul", the Spanish, Galician and Portuguese word for blue. However, Azula could not produce blue fire as a young child, as shown in flashbacks. Similarly, her grandfather Azulon was never shown to wield blue flames despite his namesake implying otherwise. Azula can also use her firebending in previously unseen ways, such as jets of flames and whirling disks. She often firebends using only two fingers, rather than a closed fist or open hand common to other firebenders. Azula can fight for long periods of time without tiring. She is also able to generate powerful shields of swirling flames, which she uses to withstand the simultaneous combined attacks of Aang, Katara, Zuko and Toph. She is even able to charge up her fire before releasing it, as was seen during one fight with Aang.


title: Azula

text: Azula is able to propel herself, using her flames, in a manner similar to a rocket. This ability has also been extended as a means to fly for short periods of time as seen in the Boiling Rock. She can also breathe fire, as shown when she is defeated by Katara and Zuko.


title: Azula

text: Azula is capable of lightning generation, one of the rarest types of firebending; Iroh notes that it isn't really possible to teach lightning generation, it's just something particularly powerful firebenders are capable of.


title: Azula

text: Azula is a skilled unarmed fighter and acrobat. In "The Avatar State," she bests Zuko in combat without resorting to firebending, and in "," she avoids the combined forces of Aang, Toph, and Sokka for several minutes without her bending to aid her. In "Appa's Lost Days," when Suki makes a stab attack at Azula with her fan, Azula jumps horizontally and knocks Suki's sword out of her hand and onto a tree. In "The Boiling Rock," Azula is able to fall and land on her hands, holding her body up horizontally, with ease.


title: Azula

text: Azula is an expert in persuasion. She is capable of using psychological warfare, intimidation, and mistruths to con other people into obeying her. She also has the ability to lie easily without causing any change in her breathing and heart rate, making it nearly impossible to detect if she's lying, which she demonstrates in "The Day of Black Sun." She is also an accomplished strategist, as she is able to conquer Ba Sing Se, a city thought to be impenetrable while usurping the Earth King and hierarchy of the Earth Kingdom capital all in one swift move.


title: Azula

text: Critical response to Azula's character has generally been positive. "Paste" Magazine ranked Azula as the ninth best character from the "Avatar" universe. Hollywood.com included Azula among the "9 Villains You Should Root For", commenting that Azula "proved to be as cunning and vicious a villain as ever appeared on children's television." She was also the only female animated character to be featured in the list. ComicsAlliance ranked Azula second in the website's "Top 10 Cartoon Bad Guys" list. Ranking the character third for "The Seven Best Animated Female Villains", The Mary Sue wrote, "Gleefully evil and efficient right up until the end. You're a thorny, flaming rose, Azula, and you were fascinating to watch." Moviepilot ranked Azula first in the "Grey Griffin's 6 Greatest Villain Roles" with writer Mara Mullikin describing her "a perfectionist", while also complimenting her "tactful mind, agility, ruthlessness, manipulative nature and fire bending prowess cemented her as probably being the series' best antagonist." The same website ranked her the fifth greatest female villain, writing that Azula is "a fantastic strategist, an excellent manipulator, and perhaps the greatest firebender the world had ever seen." Website Comicbookmovie ranked her the second best animated villains. The character was ranked 11th on Screen Rant's list of hottest superheroes and villains characters.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: In quantum computing, Grover's algorithm, also known as the quantum search algorithm, refers to a quantum algorithm for unstructured search that finds with high probability the unique input to a black box function that produces a particular output value, using just formula_1 evaluations of the function, where formula_2 is the size of the function's domain. It was devised by Lov Grover in 1996.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: The analogous problem in classical computation cannot be solved in fewer than formula_3 evaluations (because, on average, one has to check half of the domain to get a 50% chance of finding the right input). Charles H. Bennett, Ethan Bernstein, Gilles Brassard, and Umesh Vazirani proved that any quantum solution to the problem needs to evaluate the function formula_4 times, so Grover's algorithm is asymptotically optimal. Since classical algorithms for NP-complete problems require exponentially many steps, and Grover's algorithm provides at most a quadratic speedup over the classical solution for unstructured search, this suggests that Grover's algorithm by itself will not provide polynomial-time solutions for NP-complete problems (as the square root of an exponential function is an exponential, not polynomial, function).


title: Grover's algorithm

text: Unlike other quantum algorithms, which may provide exponential speedup over their classical counterparts, Grover's algorithm provides only a quadratic speedup. However, even quadratic speedup is considerable when formula_2 is large, and Grover's algorithm can be applied to speed up broad classes of algorithms. Grover's algorithm could brute-force a 128-bit symmetric cryptographic key in roughly 2 iterations, or a 256-bit key in roughly 2 iterations. As a result, it is sometimes suggested that symmetric key lengths be doubled to protect against future quantum attacks.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: Grover's algorithm, along with variants like amplitude amplification, can be used to speed up a broad range of algorithms. In particular, algorithms for NP-complete problems generally contain exhaustive search as a subroutine, which can be sped up by Grover's algorithm. The current best algorithm for 3SAT is one such example. Generic constraint satisfaction problems also see quadratic speedups with Grover. These algorithms do not require that the input be given in the form of an oracle, since Grover's algorithm is being applied with an explicit function, e.g. the function checking that a set of bits satisfies a 3SAT instance.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: Grover's algorithm can also give provable speedups for black-box problems in quantum query complexity, including element distinctness and the collision problem (solved with the Brassard–Høyer–Tapp algorithm). In these types of problems, one treats the oracle function "f" as a database, and the goal is to use the quantum query to this function as few times as possible.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: Grover's algorithm essentially solves the task of "function inversion". Roughly speaking, if we have a function formula_6 that can be evaluated on a quantum computer, Grover's algorithm allows us to calculate formula_7 when given formula_8. Consequently, Grover's algorithm gives broad asymptotic speed-ups to many kinds of brute-force attacks on symmetric-key cryptography, including collision attacks and pre-image attacks. However, this may not necessarily be the most efficient algorithm since, for example, the parallel rho algorithm is able to find a collision in SHA2 more efficiently than Grover's algorithm.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: Grover's original paper described the algorithm as a database search algorithm, and this description is still common. The database in this analogy is a table of all of the function's outputs, indexed by the corresponding input. However, this database is not represented explicitly. Instead, an oracle is invoked to evaluate an item by its index. Reading a full database item by item and converting it into such a representation may take a lot longer than Grover's search. To account for such effects, Grover's algorithm can be viewed as solving an equation or satisfying a constraint. In such applications, the oracle is a way to check the constraint and is not related to the search algorithm. This separation usually prevents algorithmic optimizations, whereas conventional search algorithms often rely on such optimizations and avoid exhaustive search.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: The major barrier to instantiating a speedup from Grover's algorithm is that the quadratic speedup achieved is too modest to overcome the large overhead of near-term quantum computers. However, later generations of fault-tolerant quantum computers with better hardware performance may be able to realize these speedups for practical instances of data.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: As input for Grover's algorithm, suppose we have a function formula_9. In the "unstructured database" analogy, the domain represent indices to a database, and if and only if the data that "x" points to satisfies the search criterion. We additionally assume that only one index satisfies , and we call this index "ω". Our goal is to identify "ω".


title: Grover's algorithm

text: We can access "f" with a subroutine (sometimes called an oracle) in the form of a unitary operator "U" that acts as follows:


title: Grover's algorithm

text: This uses the formula_2-dimensional state space formula_12, which is supplied by a register with formula_13 qubits.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: Grover's algorithm outputs "ω" with probability at least "1/2" using formula_1 applications of "U". This probability can be made arbitrarily large by running Grover's algorithm multiple times. If one runs Grover's algorithm until "ω" is found, the expected number of applications is still formula_1, since it will only be run twice on average.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: "U" is different from the standard quantum oracle for a function "f". This standard oracle, denoted here as "U", uses an ancillary qubit system. The operation then represents an inversion (NOT gate) on the main system conditioned by the value of "f"("x") from the ancillary system:


title: Grover's algorithm

text: If we are given "U" as our oracle, then we can also implement "U", since "U" is "U" when the ancillary qubit is in the state formula_21:


title: Grover's algorithm

text: So, Grover's algorithm can be run regardless of which oracle is given. If "U" is given, then we must maintain an additional qubit in the state formula_23 and apply "U" in place of "U".


title: Grover's algorithm

text: For the correctly chosen value of formula_28, the output will be formula_29 with probability approaching 1 for "N" ≫ 1. Analysis shows that this eventual value for formula_25 satisfies formula_31.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: Implementing the steps for this algorithm can be done using a number of gates linear in the number of qubits. Thus, the gate complexity of this algorithm is formula_32, or formula_33 per iteration.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: There is a geometric interpretation of Grover's algorithm, following from the observation that the quantum state of Grover's algorithm stays in a two-dimensional subspace after each step. Consider the plane spanned by formula_34 and formula_29; equivalently, the plane spanned by formula_29 and the perpendicular ket formula_37.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: Grover's algorithm begins with the initial ket formula_34, which lies in the subspace. The operator formula_39 is a reflection at the hyperplane orthogonal to formula_29 for vectors in the plane spanned by formula_41 and formula_29, i.e. it acts as a reflection across formula_41. This can be seen by writing formula_17 in the form of a Householder reflection:


title: Grover's algorithm

text: The operator formula_46 is a reflection through formula_34. Both operators formula_48 and formula_39 take states in the plane spanned by formula_41 and formula_29 to states in the plane. Therefore, Grover's algorithm stays in this plane for the entire algorithm.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: It is straightforward to check that the operator formula_52 of each Grover iteration step rotates the state vector by an angle of formula_53.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: So, with enough iterations, one can rotate from the initial state formula_34 to the desired output state formula_29. The initial ket is close to the state orthogonal to formula_29:


title: Grover's algorithm

text: We need to stop when the state vector passes close to formula_29; after this, subsequent iterations rotate the state vector "away" from formula_29, reducing the probability of obtaining the correct answer. The exact probability of measuring the correct answer is


title: Grover's algorithm

text: where "r" is the (integer) number of Grover iterations. The earliest time that we get a near-optimal measurement is therefore formula_65.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: To complete the algebraic analysis, we need to find out what happens when we repeatedly apply formula_66. A natural way to do this is by eigenvalue analysis of a matrix. Notice that during the entire computation, the state of the algorithm is a linear combination of formula_67 and formula_68. We can write the action of formula_48 and formula_17 in the space spanned by formula_71 as:


title: Grover's algorithm

text: So in the basis formula_74 (which is neither orthogonal nor a basis of the whole space) the action formula_75 of applying formula_17 followed by formula_48 is given by the matrix


title: Grover's algorithm

text: Using this form, we can use trigonometric identities to compute the probability of observing "ω" after "r" iterations mentioned in the previous section,


title: Grover's algorithm

text: Alternatively, one might reasonably imagine that a near-optimal time to distinguish would be when the angles 2"rt" and −2"rt" are as far apart as possible, which corresponds to formula_84, or formula_85. Then the system is in state


title: Grover's algorithm

text: A short calculation now shows that the observation yields the correct answer "ω" with error formula_87.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: If, instead of 1 matching entry, there are "k" matching entries, the same algorithm works, but the number of iterations must be formula_88instead of formula_89


title: Grover's algorithm

text: There are several ways to handle the case if "k" is unknown. A simple solution performs optimally up to a constant factor: run Grover's algorithm repeatedly for increasingly small values of "k", e.g., taking "k" = "N", "N"/2, "N"/4, ..., and so on, taking formula_90 for iteration "t" until a matching entry is found.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: With sufficiently high probability, a marked entry will be found by iteration formula_91 for some constant "c". Thus, the total number of iterations taken is at most


title: Grover's algorithm

text: A modification of Grover's algorithm called quantum partial search was described by Grover and Radhakrishnan in 2004. In partial search, one is not interested in finding the exact address of the target item, only the first few digits of the address. Equivalently, we can think of "chunking" the search space into blocks, and then asking "in which block is the target item?". In many applications, such a search yields enough information if the target address contains the information wanted. For instance, to use the example given by L. K. Grover, if one has a list of students organized by class rank, we may only be interested in whether a student is in the lower 25%, 25–50%, 50–75% or 75–100% percentile.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: To describe partial search, we consider a database separated into formula_93 blocks, each of size formula_94. The partial search problem is easier. Consider the approach we would take classically – we pick one block at random, and then perform a normal search through the rest of the blocks (in set theory language, the complement). If we don't find the target, then we know it's in the block we didn't search. The average number of iterations drops from formula_95 to formula_96.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: Grover's algorithm requires formula_97 iterations. Partial search will be faster by a numerical factor that depends on the number of blocks formula_93. Partial search uses formula_99 global iterations and formula_100 local iterations. The global Grover operator is designated formula_101 and the local Grover operator is designated formula_102.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: The optimal values of formula_103 and formula_104 are discussed in the paper by Grover and Radhakrishnan. One might also wonder what happens if one applies successive partial searches at different levels of "resolution". This idea was studied in detail by Vladimir Korepin and Xu, who called it binary quantum search. They proved that it is not in fact any faster than performing a single partial search.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: Grover's algorithm is optimal up to sub-constant factors. That is, any algorithm that accesses the database only by using the operator "U" must apply "U" at least a formula_107 fraction as many times as Grover's algorithm. The extension of Grover's algorithm to "k" matching entries, ("N"/"k")/4, is also optimal. This result is important in understanding the limits of quantum computation.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: If the Grover's search problem was solvable with "N" applications of "U", that would imply that NP is contained in BQP, by transforming problems in NP into Grover-type search problems. The optimality of Grover's algorithm suggests that quantum computers cannot solve NP-Complete problems in polynomial time, and thus NP is not contained in BQP.


title: Grover's algorithm

text: It has been shown that a class of non-local hidden variable quantum computers could implement a search of an formula_2-item database in at most formula_109 steps. This is faster than the formula_1 steps taken by Grover's algorithm.


title: Amine Gouiri

text: Amine Ferid Gouiri (born 16 February 2000) is a French professional footballer who plays as a striker for Ligue 1 club Rennes.


title: Amine Gouiri

text: A player of Lyon starting in 2013, Gouiri signed his first professional contract with the club on 3 July 2017 for three years.


title: Amine Gouiri

text: An internationally renowned prospect, Gouiri made the bench for Lyon in a Ligue 1 match against Bordeaux on 10 September 2016 at the age of 16, and debuted for the Lyon B team at the age of 17. He made his first team debut on 19 November 2017 in a 0–0 home draw against Montpellier in Ligue 1. He entered the field after 73 minutes replacing Tanguy Ndombele.


title: Amine Gouiri

text: On 1 July 2020, Gouiri joined fellow Ligue 1 side Nice on a four-year contract for a fee of €7 million. On 23 August 2020, he scored two goals in his first competitive match for Nice, in a 2–1 league home win over newly promoted Lens, becoming the club's youngest player in the last 70 years to have scored at least twice in his club debut in the French top flight. On 29 October 2020, he scored the only goal in a 1–0 win over Hapoel Be'er Sheva in the 2020–21 UEFA Europa League.


title: Amine Gouiri

text: A youth international for France, Gouiri was the top scorer at the 2017 UEFA European Under-17 Championship, scoring 7 goals and was the top scorer in the tournament. After his success in the tournament, Gouiri garnered attention of various European clubs and was rated one of the best young talents in the world by "The Guardian".


title: Amine Gouiri

text: Gouri also represented France at the 2017 FIFA U-17 World Cup in India, scoring a brace in his debut in the tournament against the New Caledonia U17s. In total, he scored five goals in the tournament.


title: Amine Gouiri

text: At the 2018 UEFA U19 Euro, Gouiri scored two consecutive braces against Turkey and England, in the second and third matches of the group stage, respectively.


title: Little Bear (TV series)

text: Little Bear is a Canadian educational historical children's animated series produced by Nelvana Limited in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is based on the "Little Bear" series of books, which were written by Else Holmelund Minarik and illustrated by Maurice Sendak. In the U.S., the show premiered on Nickelodeon (part of the Nick Jr. block) on November 6, 1995 until the final episode's airing on June 1, 2001. The show also aired on CBS on Saturday mornings from September 16, 2000 until September 15, 2001.


title: Little Bear (TV series)

text: Every half-hour episode of "Little Bear" is divided into three seven-minute segments. Most segments are new stories, but some are retellings of Else Holmelund Minarik's books (both she and Sendak were "closely involved in the creative process" when developing the new stories).


title: Little Bear (TV series)

text: Set in the North American wilderness around the end of the 19th century, Little Bear goes on exciting adventures and learns new things with his friends Emily, Duck, Hen, Cat, and Owl. Mother Bear is a homemaker who looks after Little Bear, while Father Bear, a fisherman, is typically away on his ship, fishing.


title: Little Bear (TV series)

text: The show premiered on Nickelodeon (part of Nick Jr. block) in 1995 until the final episode's airing in 2001 in the U.S. The show was also aired on CBS on Saturday mornings from September 16, 2000 until September 8, 2001.


title: Little Bear (TV series)

text: Nickelodeon's sister channel Noggin (now Nick Jr.) aired repeats from 2001 to 2018. In Canada, CBC aired the show in the 1990s until the early 2000s. Also, Corus-owned Treehouse TV formerly aired the show. It has been re-aired on various foreign channels, including ABC and ABC2 (Australia), RTÉ (Ireland), TV2 (New Zealand) and Children's BBC (United Kingdom).


title: Little Bear (TV series)

text: In 2001, the show was adapted into a direct-to-video film, again produced by Nelvana, called "The Little Bear Movie". It was distributed by Paramount Home Entertainment in the U.S. The film's featured song, "Great Big World," was nominated for Best Original Song at the 2001 Video Premiere Awards.


title: Little Bear (TV series)

text: Austrian composer Franz Schubert's Allegro vivace from his Violin Sonata No. 1 in D Major is used as the theme tune to Little Bear (used in the Canadian broadcast of the series). The theme was arranged for brass, wind, and strings by composer Arnold Black. A separate opening theme consisting of a classical woodwind ensemble was used in the American broadcast of the series. The music score in the series is composed by Lesley Barber. There are also excerpts of works by composers Chopin, Bach and Mozart.


title: Little Bear (TV series)

text: In Canada, Little Bear was adapted into a live theatrical show, "Little Bear: Winter Tales". It originally toured across Canada From (June 13, 2007-November 23, 2009).


title: Little Bear (TV series)

text: In 1999, The Learning Company developed two "edutainment" games based on the "Little Bear" franchise, "Rainy Day Activities" and "Preschool Thinking Adventures". In 2000, the company developed another game, this time for a younger audience, titled "Toddler Discovery Adventures".