title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: However, soon afterwards, Deathbird manages to convince him to at least delay his plan for vengeance, after the two become romantically involved. Vulcan then uses his powers to heal D'Ken's injuries. Afterwards, a grateful D'Ken asks Vulcan to marry Deathbird. After his wedding, Vulcan throws Professor Xavier into the M'Kraan Crystal, kills D'Ken, and names himself Emperor of the Shi'ar. Darwin leaps into the Crystal after Xavier, and soon after emerges with him. During the battle Vulcan kills Corsair, claiming he does not have a father and blaming Corsair for letting his mother die. Now with Xavier's lost telepathy restored by the Crystal, he, along with Nightcrawler, Warpath, Darwin, and Hepzibah, are sent back to Earth by Lilandra locking the ship's programming. Meanwhile, Havok, Marvel Girl, Polaris, Ch'od, Raza, and Korvus form a new team of Starjammers bent on defeating Gabriel (Vulcan) once and for all, and salvaging the remains of the crippled Shi'ar Empire.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: The civil war between Vulcan's forces and those loyal to the dethroned Lilandra rages on. Led by Havok and the Starjammers, Lilandra's forces gradually whittle away at Vulcan's forces, which are plagued by defections. The Shi'ar, contrary to Vulcan's expectations, are not happy to have an outsider as their ruler. Vulcan is discouraged by this, but Deathbird convinces him that they will come to accept him.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: Warned in advance of a rebel raid on Feather's Edge, Vulcan and his fleet ambush the Starjammers. However, in the middle of the battle, his ship, the "Hammer", is destroyed by the Scy'ar Tal (translates as "Death to the Shi'ar"). Vulcan and Gladiator attack the leader of the Scy'ar Tal and are easily defeated, whereupon they retreat deeper into Shi'ar space.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: Marvel Girl makes contact with the Eldest Scy'ar Tal and discovers their true origin: the Scy'ar Tal were originally called the M'Kraan. Early in their history, the Shi'ar attacked them, killing many and causing the rest to flee for their lives. Eventually the Shi'ar, taking over the planet, took the M'kraan Crystal as their own, declaring it the sacred gift of the deities Sharra and K'ythri.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: The M'Kraan, changing their name to Scy'ar Tal, then devoted their culture and society to the destruction of the Shi'ar Empire. Even though it is later revealed to the reader that the Scy'ar Tal discovered the M'Kraan Crystal some 13,000 years earlier and eradicated the then-inhabiting species on the planet since they considered the planet to be "holy" — the same thing that the Shi'ar have done to them. With their first attack, they destroyed Feather's Edge by transporting a star to obliterate it.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: Vulcan makes contact with the Starjammers to call a temporary ceasefire. Under the ceasefire, the Shi'ar and the Starjammers decide to take out the Finality, thus crippling the Scy'ar's biggest threat. Once Havok and Vulcan are in position to destroy Finality, the Eldest Scy'ar tries to stop them, but Vulcan, discovering the source of the Eldest's power, severs the connection between the Eldest and his brothers, rendering the Eldest powerless and the Scy'ar disorganized. The tide of the battle shifts to the Shi'ar, who proceed to attack not only the Scy'ar, but also the Starjammers. Meanwhile, Vulcan blasts Havok into a sun.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: Vulcan decides to use Finality to destroy the Scy'ar by using the weapon to place a star in the middle of their fleet. Havok returns, and, having absorbed enough power to burn him, decides to end things with Vulcan. While they battle, Rachael and Korvus attempt but fail to stop the beacon that will initiate the attack by the Shi'ar. The Shi'ar Imperial Guard end Havok's battle with Vulcan by appearing with the Starjammers in captivity, threatening to kill them. Before surrendering, Havok destroys Finality. With Havok and the Starjammers in custody, Vulcan declares that he will return the Shi'ar Empire to its former glory.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: Vulcan appears on a monitor of Havok's cell on a prison and taunts him by telling him the events of "". He says the baby, and all of mutantkind's hope is lost. Havok destroys the monitor and says that if one baby can be born so can another, that there is always hope.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: Vulcan begins an aggressive war of conquest to expand the Shi'ar Empire, occupying, among other races, the Z'Nox. All the while, he becomes obsessed with making Havok acknowledge his superiority, which Havok refuses to do. The Starjammers escape their prison, nearly killing Vulcan in the process, and severely wounding Deathbird, but being forced to flee to the Kree Imperium.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: After learning of the devastation of the Skrull fleet and the takeover of Hala by the Inhumans, Vulcan launches a surprise attack on the Kree, now ruled by Black Bolt and the Inhuman population of Attilan. The Imperial Guard retrieves Lilandra, whom Vulcan plans to execute. However, he is stopped by one of his admirals, stating that doing so will only make her a martyr and incite factions loyal to her to overthrow him around a similar figurehead. He also abducts Adam Warlock and attacks him.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: Soon enough, Lilandra is assassinated in an attempt to usurp Vulcan. Immediately, a civil war ignites in the Imperium between factions loyal to her and Vulcan. Though advised by the Fraternity of Raptors and his admirals to sue for peace and return to their planets to restore order, Vulcan refuses to listen and flies off to engage the Inhumans. He finds Black Bolt with his T-Bomb. Believing Black Bolt intends to destroy his empire, Vulcan engages him. They both apparently die in the resulting explosion that tears a hole in the fabric of space and time. Gladiator then takes Vulcan's place as Majestor of the Shi'ar. It is later revealed that Black Bolt did not die but was instead trapped in the fault, while Vulcan's fate remained unknown.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: Sometime later, Cyclops wrote Vulcan's name as one of several threats the X-Men have to solve, at a time when almost all X-Men disappeared and are presumed dead while trapped in a realm created by Nate Grey, which indicates that Vulcan is in fact alive or simply that Cyclops doesn't know what happened to him during the War of Kings event. Soon afterwards after Xavier used Krakoa's unique abilities to create a new nation for mutants, it is revealed through an infograph that lists off all of the Omega Level mutants known to exist, that Gabriel is indeed alive and mysteriously back on Earth. He is also a loyal citizen of Krakoa and was reunited with his family and his psychotic mind apparently stabilized. Vulcan was accepted with a few acquaintances from the Krakoan mainland who have stretched the acceptable boundaries of decorum. He also appears to have no memory of his time as the mad Emperor of the Shi'ar, although he has the same recurring dream every night of being stuck in the Fault after the War of Kings event, which made him to be prone to heavy drinking. Also, while it wasn't a particularly a trait of his in the past, Vulcan has something of a tendency toward grandiose dialogue and talks incessantly about the fire inside him, which doesn't seem like entirely a stable behavior of his. To complicate matters, a Shi'ar Battle Record of Vulcan's defeat reveals that while the Emperor Vulcan fell into the Fault with Black Bolt, he – like Black Bolt – never died. Later while on the moon, Vulcan finds the Cotati and sees them getting ready to invade Earth. He warns them against invading Krakoa but they capture him and accidentally awaken his fire, allowing him to remember what was done to him in the breach. As it turns out, while in the Fault, Vulcan was plucked to another dimensional plane by a trinity of lovecraftian beings of ancient power and malice known as the Many-Angled-Ones, who plan to use him to conquer the Marvel Universe. They also implied to have tried to captured Black Bolt, but the Midnight King was rescued in time. The alien conclave cast a covetous eye upon Vulcan's power, seeking to turn him into a tool for their own purposes. They teared Vulcan apart on a molecular level to peer into his soul. While assessing his potential for good and for evil, they find a fire within him which they consider "A true power inside a broken and twisted host". Disturbingly, they apparently are only interested in Vulcan's evil side, even considering the potential for good to be a flaw in his existence. They rewrote Vulcan's mind, creating the "good" exterior he has been presenting to the X-Men all this time, a false identity beneath which was subsumed his true persona and returned him back to his universe. Back in the present, Vulcan unleashes his repressed fire and torches all of the Cotati, killing them all. When the rest of the Cotati find out Vulcan has killed their whole battalion, they get ready to invade Krakoa.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: Vulcan is an Omega-level mutant with the ability to psionically manipulate, control, and absorb vast amounts of energy. In addition to traditional energies of the electromagnetic spectrum, Vulcan has displayed control over exotic energies such as Cyclops' optic blasts and magical energy.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: Vulcan has used his powers to produce light, heat, force, and electricity, as well as warp or disable large amounts and different types of existing energy sources, tap into and suppress mutant energies, survive in the vacuum of space, and fly. Outside a planetary atmosphere his flight speed can even reach near the speed of light. He can track energy signatures over vast interstellar distances, as demonstrated when he located a trio of starships. He is able to go without food for long periods by directly absorbing energy, and can generate protective force fields for interstellar travel. He can manipulate electricity within a person's brain and use the powers of others by manipulating their own energy sources, although he needs to be in their presence to achieve this. The exact limits of his power replication abilities are unknown, but he was capable of utilising Marvel Girl's telepathy without her consent. Vulcan also possesses the capability of solidifying energy into solid shapes, in effect simulating telekinesis. When he uses his powers, his eyes glow. He has been confirmed as an Omega level mutant, his powers elevated to said level thanks to absorbing a massive amount of mutant energies from M-Day.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: Vulcan is able to use his psionic abilities for a variety of uses. Despite little (if any) formal training in the use of his mental powers, Vulcan has demonstrated feats such as completely resisting mental manipulation/assault by far more experienced telepathic beings, and he was also able to restore former Shi'ar emperor D'Ken from a catatonic state, something the most powerful/skilled telepaths of the entire Shi'ar empire had previously been unable to accomplish. Vulcan does not possess any innate telepathic abilities, but can manipulate the telepathic energies of others (which enables him to shield his mind from outside attacks). In the instance with D'Ken, he used his energy powers to reactivate the electrical connections in the neurons of D'Ken's brain that had been damaged by the M'Krann Crystal.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: All three Summers brothers have similar powers, as they are each able to absorb certain kinds of celestial energies and re-channel that energy from their bodies. While his brothers Alex and Scott are known to be immune to each other's powers, they are apparently not immune to Vulcan's; nor is Vulcan immune to Alex's.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: Vulcan is capable of absorbing vast amounts of energy in any form. In an engagement, Vulcan forced Adam Warlock to flee after robbing him of most of his power within seconds. Vulcan's absorption abilities, though vast, have limits. He was unable to absorb or deflect a powerful blast from his brother Havok (although at the time Havok was powered beyond his normal levels), leaving Vulcan wounded and at the mercy of his brother. Though high-order energy projection rapidly depletes his reserves, as demonstrated in his fight against Shi'ar warships and later the Imperial Guard, Vulcan's energy manipulation abilities are not based on said energy reserves. He can continue to manipulate external sources of energy even when they are depleted, though he is noticeably weaker when this occurs. Nevertheless, he has been shown to be easily capable of defeating multiple advanced Shi'ar starships when in such a state.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: After being swallowed by the soil of Krakoa, he absorbed the powers of his teammates Sway, Darwin, and Petra, giving him their powers of time manipulation, physical adaptation, and earth manipulation respectively. These powers were lost when Rachel Summers was able to give Darwin's psyche the necessary boost to separate himself from Vulcan.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: When not in possession of Darwin's powers, Vulcan's body is as vulnerable as any normal human as far as durability is concerned. Blows from Black Bolt were shown to be capable of drawing blood and chipping teeth. When battling the X-Men, Vulcan has been susceptible to physical blows. However, Vulcan can use his energy abilities to create force fields or to rebuild damaged/destroyed portions of his body, the total extent of which is unknown, as Vulcan still required a prosthetic eye after a strike from Gladiator.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: According to information from his creator, Ed Brubaker, Vulcan has a "hidden potential" which allows him to fully generate and have control over seven elements (fire, earth, electricity, wind, water, darkness, and light).


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: "What If? Deadly Genesis" explores what would have happened if Vulcan and his team had survived their venture on Krakoa. In this reality, Vulcan and his team make their way through the island, surviving its assault. Vulcan becomes separated from the group and finds the captured X-Men. After accidentally killing them all in a panic, Vulcan escapes the temple and, with the rest of his team, the island itself. Krakoa is then jettisoned into deep space, where it remains untouched for years until being discovered by the Silver Surfer. There, Sway finds a time pocket and uses her powers to replay the events of Vulcan's killings. After confronting and disabling him of his powers, Professor Xavier banishes Vulcan to the island, where he is forced, as punishment, to replay the transpired murders of the X-Men every time he requires food.


title: Vulcan (Marvel Comics)

text: A second story, "What If? Rise and Fall of the Shi'ar Empire", examines what would have happened to the Shi'ar Empire if Vulcan had absorbed the energies of the M'Kraan Crystal instead of Professor Xavier, and become the Phoenix.


title: Duván Zapata

text: Duván Esteban Zapata Banguero (; born 1 April 1991) is a Colombian professional footballer who plays as a striker for club Atalanta and the Colombia national team.


title: Duván Zapata

text: After starting his career with Colombian club América de Cali, he later played for Estudiantes in Argentina. From 2013, he played in Italy's Serie A, for Napoli, Udinese, Sampdoria, and Atalanta.


title: Duván Zapata

text: At international level, Zapata made his senior debut for Colombia in 2017, and took part at the 2019 and 2021 Copa América.


title: Duván Zapata

text: Zapata joined América de Cali's youth academy aged 13 in 2004, and made his debut with the first team on 18 May 2008, during a 3–2 loss against Boyaca Chico, where he also scored a goal. In July 2008, Zapata started in both legs of the finals against Boyaca Chico, who later beat America on penalties to win the league title. In December 2008, America de Cali won the league title by beating Independiente Medellín in the finals, but Zapata didn't participate in either match.


title: Duván Zapata

text: On 13 February 2011, he scored a hat-trick, the first of his career, in a 3–2 home victory against Deportivo Pereira at Estadio Pascual Guerrero. At the end of the 2011 Apertura, Zapata left the club.


title: Duván Zapata

text: On 27 July 2011, joined Estudiantes on loan for a $120,000 loan fee with an option for Estudiantes to purchase for $1.2 million. On his debut, Zapata scored a goal in a 3–2 win over Belgrano. During his first year with Estudiantes, Zapata would occasionally make appearances with their reserve team. Despite this, he still managed to score four goals in eight matches in the Torneo Clausura 2012. That year, within both the Apertura and Clasura, Zapata scored 5 goals in 11 matches. During the summer of 2012, Estudiantes purchased half of Zapata's playing rights from América de Cali.


title: Duván Zapata

text: For the 2013–13 season, Zapata featured in Estudiantes' starting 11, eventually turning into a fundamental part of the team and attracting interest from many European clubs like Beşiktaş, after scoring 16 goals in 33 games.


title: Duván Zapata

text: In July 2013, Premier League club West Ham United applied for a British work permit for Zapata ahead of a possible transfer from Estudiantes. Although not meeting the usual requirements for a permit, West Ham attempted to secure his arrival by claiming he was a "special talent" who would enhance the English game. However, West Ham's owners soon announced on social media they were pulling out of the deal, even after agreeing a ₤6.7 million fee with Estudiantes.


title: Duván Zapata

text: On 25 August 2013, Zapata transferred to Serie A club Napoli for an undisclosed fee. He made his first start in Serie A on 28 September, in a 2–0 Napoli win against Genoa. On 22 October, he scored his first goal in the UEFA Champions League, against Marseille in a 2–1 away win.


title: Duván Zapata

text: Zapata scored his first league goals for the "Partenopei" on 26 March 2014, two in a 4–2 win at Catania in which his team got all their goals in the first half. He finished the season with five to his name, including two more in the last match, a 5–1 win over Hellas Verona at the Stadio San Paolo.


title: Duván Zapata

text: On 22 July 2015, Zapata joined Udinese on a two-year loan deal with the option to purchase him after his first year at the club.


title: Duván Zapata

text: On 31 August 2017, Zapata joined Sampdoria on a season-long loan deal with an obligation to purchase.


title: Duván Zapata

text: On 26 December 2018, Zapata scored twice in a 2–2 draw against Juventus. Later on 20 January 2019, Zapata scored four goals in a 5–0 away win versus Frosinone, becoming the first Atalanta player since Hasse Jeppson in 1952 to achieve this feat in Serie A. The goals lifted his tally up to 14 goals, all scored consecutively in his last 8 matches, making him the top scorer of the league jointly with Cristiano Ronaldo and Fabio Quagliarella.


title: Duván Zapata

text: On 30 January 2019, Zapata scored twice in a 3–0 win against holders Juventus in the quarter final stage of Coppa Italia. After helping Atalanta to reach the 2019 Coppa Italia Final, and achieve a third-place finish in Serie A, and consequently a spot in the Champions League, scoring 23 league goals in the process, Zapata was awarded a spot in the Serie A team of the year at the end of the season.


title: Duván Zapata

text: On 1 October 2019, Zapata scored Atalanta's first ever goal in the UEFA Champions League in a 2–1 loss against Shakhtar Donetsk.


title: Duván Zapata

text: On 17 January 2020, Atalanta exercised their option to purchase Zapata's rights on a permanent basis. A week later, he scored his first goal since his return from a three-month injury in a 7–0 rout of Torino. On 11 July, Zapata scored his 15th goal of the season in a 2–2 draw against Juventus, making it the first time since Juventus in 1952 that a Serie A club had three players with 15 or more goals in a season (Muriel, Iličić, Zapata). On 27 October 2020, he scored a brace in a 2–2 draw against Ajax in the 2020–21 UEFA Champions League. Zapata became Atalanta's joint-highest non-Italian goalscorer in Serie A on 15 May 2021, alongside Germán Denis, scoring his 56th league goal for the club against Genoa.


title: Duván Zapata

text: Zapata received his first call-up to the Colombia national team for 2018 FIFA World Cup qualifying matches against Bolivia and Ecuador in March 2017. He made his debut on 23 March, as a 64th-minute substitute for Mateus Uribe in a 1–0 home win over Bolivia.


title: Duván Zapata

text: In May 2018, Zapata was named in Colombia's preliminary 35-man squad for the 2018 World Cup tournament proper, in Russia. However, he did not make the final 23-man squad.


title: Duván Zapata

text: On 30 May 2019, Zapata was included in the 23-man final Colombia squad for the 2019 Copa América. In a pre-tournament friendly on 9 June he scored his first international goal at the end of a 3–0 win away to Peru, having replaced Radamel Falcao at half time. He then scored in the first two group games in Brazil, against Argentina (2–0) and Qatar (1–0).


title: Duván Zapata

text: In June 2021, he was included in Colombia's squad for the 2021 Copa América in Brazil. He successfully converted Colombia's first penalty kick in the quarter-final shoot-out against Uruguay. Colombia would eventually eliminate Uruguay 4–2 on penalties following a 0–0 draw. Ultimately, Colombia achieved a third-place finish with Zapata failing to score despite appearing in a total of 7 matches.


title: Duván Zapata

text: Zapata is primarily known for his speed, offensive movement, physicality, and goalscoring ability as a striker. He usually plays in a central role, and possesses a powerful and accurate shot. He is also known for his ability in the air, courtesy of his height, strength, and powerful physique, which also aids him in defending the ball with his back to goal, and enables him to hold up possession and bring his teammates into the game with his link-up play; he is also adept in one on one situations due to his technique and agility. Moreover, he is known for is defensive work-rate and willingness to press opponents off the ball.


title: Duván Zapata

text: Zapata is the cousin of fellow Colombia international footballer and current San Lorenzo defender Cristián Zapata.


title: Hydrogel

text: A hydrogel is a crosslinked hydrophilic polymer that does not dissolve in water. They are highly absorbent yet maintain well defined structures. These properties underpin several applications, especially in the biomedical area. Many hydrogels are synthetic, but some are derived from nature. The term 'hydrogel' was coined in 1894.


title: Hydrogel

text: The crosslinks which bond the polymers of a hydrogel fall under two general categories: physical and chemical. Chemical hydrogels have covalent cross-linking bonds, whereas physical hydrogels have non-covalent bonds. Chemical hydrogels result in strong irreversible gels due to the covalent bonding, and they may also possess harmful properties which makes them unfavourable for medical applications. Physical hydrogels on the other hand have high biocompatibility, aren’t toxic, and are also easily reversible, by simply changing an external stimulus such as pH or temperature; thus they are favourable for use in medical applications. Physical crosslinks consist of hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic interactions, and chain entanglements (among others). A hydrogel generated through the use of physical crosslinks is sometimes called a 'reversible' hydrogel. Chemical crosslinks consist of covalent bonds between polymer strands. Hydrogels generated in this manner are sometimes called 'permanent' hydrogels.


title: Hydrogel

text: Hydrogels are prepared using a variety of polymeric materials, which can be divided broadly into two categories according to their origin: natural or synthetic polymers. Natural polymers for hydrogel preparation include hyaluronic acid, chitosan, heparin, alginate, and fibrin. Common synthetic polymers include polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene glycol, sodium polyacrylate, acrylate polymers and copolymers thereof.


title: Hydrogel

text: There are two suggested mechanisms behind physical hydrogel formation, the first one being the gelation of nanofibrous peptide assemblies, usually observed for oligopeptide precursors. The precursors self-assemble into fibers, tapes, tubes, or ribbons that entangle to form non-covalent cross-links. The second mechanism involves non-covalent interactions of cross-linked domains that are separated by water-soluble linkers, and this is usually observed in longer multi-domain structures. Tuning of the supramolecular interactions to produce a self-supporting network that does not precipitate, and is also able to immobilize water which is vital for to gel formation. Most oligopeptide hydrogels have a β-sheet structure, and assemble to form fibers, although α-helical peptides have also been reported. The typical mechanism of gelation involves the oligopeptide precursors self-assemble into fibers that become elongated, and entangle to form cross-linked gels.


title: Hydrogel

text: One notable method of initiating a polymerization fuving involves the use of light as a stimulus. In this method, photoinitiators, compounds that cleave from the absorption of photons, are added to the precursor solution which will become the hydrogel. When the precursor solution is exposed to a concentrated source of light, the photoinitiators will cleave and form free radicals, which will begin a polymerization reaction that forms crosslinks between polymer strands. This reaction will cease if the light source is removed, allowing the amount of crosslinks formed in the hydrogel to be controlled. The properties of a hydrogel are highly dependent on the type and quantity of its crosslinks, making photopolymerization a popular choice for fine-tuning hydrogels. This technique has seen considerable use in cell and tissue engineering applications due to the ability to inject or mold a precursor solution loaded with cells into a wound site, then solidify it in situ.


title: Hydrogel

text: Peptides based hydrogels possess exceptional biocompatibility and biodegradability qualities, giving rise to their wide use of applications, particularly in biomedicine; as such, their physical properties can be fine-tuned in order to maximise their use. Methods to do this are: modulation of the amino acid sequence, pH, chirality, and increasing the number of aromatic residues. The order of amino acids within the sequence is crucial for gelation, as has been shown many times. In one example, a short peptide sequence Fmoc-Phe-Gly readily formed a hydrogel, whereas Fmoc-Gly-Phe failed to do so as a result of the two adjacent aromatic moieties being moved, hindering the aromatic interactions. Altering the pH can also have similar effects, an example involved the use of the naphthalene (Nap) modified dipeptides Nap-Gly-Ala, and Nap- Ala-Gly, where a drop in pH induced gelation of the former, but led to crystallisation of the latter. 74 A controlled pH decrease method using glucono-δ-lactone (GdL), where the GdL is hydrolysed to gluconic acid in water is a recent strategy that has been developed as a way to form homogeneous and reproducible hydrogels. The hydrolysis is slow, which allows for a uniform pH change, and thus resulting in reproducible homogenous gels. In addition to this, the desired pH can be achieved by altering the amount of GdL added. The use of GdL has been used various times for the hydrogelation of Fmoc and Nap-dipeptides. In another direction, Morris et al reported the use of GdL as a ‘molecular trigger’ to predict and control the order of gelation. Chirality also plays an essential role in gel formation, and even changing the chirality of a single amino acid from its natural L-amino acid to its unnatural D-amino acid can significantly impact the gelation properties, with the natural forms not forming gels. Furthermore, aromatic interactions play a key role in hydrogel formation as a result of π- π stacking driving gelation, shown by many studies.


title: Hydrogel

text: Hydrogels also possess a degree of flexibility very similar to natural tissue due to their significant water content. As responsive "smart materials", hydrogels can encapsulate chemical systems which upon stimulation by external factors such as a change of pH may cause specific compounds such as glucose to be liberated to the environment, in most cases by a gel–sol transition to the liquid state. Chemomechanical polymers are mostly also hydrogels, which upon stimulation change their volume and can serve as actuators or sensors.


title: Hydrogel

text: Hydrogels have been investigated for diverse applications. By modifying the polymer concentration of a hydrogel (or conversely, the water concentration), the Young's modulus, shear modulus, and storage modulus can vary from 10 Pa to 3 MPa, a range of about five orders of magnitude. A similar effect can be seen by altering the crosslinking concentration. This much variability of the mechanical stiffness is why hydrogels are so appealing for biomedical applications, where it is vital for implants to match the mechanical properties of the surrounding tissues. Characterizing the mechanical properties of hydrogels can be difficult especially due to the differences in mechanical behavior that hydrogels have in comparison to other traditional engineering materials. In addition to its rubber elasticity and viscoelasticity, hydrogels have an additional time dependent deformation mechanism which is dependent on fluid flow called poroelasticity. These properties are extremely important to consider while performing mechanical experiments. Some common mechanical testing experiments for hydrogels are tension, compression (confined or unconfined), indentation, shear rheometry or dynamic mechanical analysis.


title: Hydrogel

text: In the unswollen state, hydrogels can be modelled as highly crosslinked chemical gels, in which the system can be described as one continuous polymer network. In this case:


title: Hydrogel

text: where "G" is the shear modulus, "k" is the Boltzmann constant, "T" is temperature, "N" is the number of polymer chains per unit volume, "ρ" is the density, "R" is the ideal gas constant, and formula_2 is the (number) average molecular weight between two adjacent cross-linking points. formula_2 can be calculated from the swell ratio, "Q", which is relatively easy to test and measure.


title: Hydrogel

text: In a simple uniaxial extension or compression test, the true stress, formula_5, and engineering stress, formula_6, can be calculated as:


title: Hydrogel

text: For hydrogels, their elasticity comes from the solid polymer matrix while the viscosity originates from the polymer network mobility and the water and other components that make up the aqueous phase. Viscoelastic properties of a hydrogel is highly dependent on the nature of the applied mechanical motion. Thus, the time dependence of these applied forces is extremely important for evaluating the viscoelasticity of the material.


title: Hydrogel

text: Physical models for viscoelasticity attempt to capture the elastic and viscous material properties of a material. In an elastic material, the stress is proportional to the strain while in a viscous material, the stress is proportional to the strain rate. The Maxwell model is one developed mathematical model for linear viscoelastic response. In this model, viscoelasticity is modeled analogous to an electrical circuit with a Hookean spring, that represents the Young's modulus, and a Newtonian dashpot that represents the viscosity. A material that exhibit properties described in this model is a Maxwell material. Another physical model used is called the Kelvin-Voigt Model and a material that follow this model is called a Kelvin–Voigt material. In order to describe the time-dependent creep and stress-relaxation behavior of hydrogel, a variety of physical lumped parameter models can be used. These modeling methods vary greatly and are extremely complex, so the empirical Prony Series description is commonly used to describe the viscoelastic behavior in hydrogels.


title: Hydrogel

text: In order to measure the time-dependent viscoelastic behavior of polymers dynamic mechanical analysis is often performed. Typically, in these measurements the one side of the hydrogel is subjected to a sinusoidal load in shear mode while the applied stress is measured with a stress transducer and the change in sample length is measured with a strain transducer. One notation used to model the sinusoidal response to the periodic stress or strain is:


title: Hydrogel

text: Poroelasticity is a characteristic of materials related to the migration of solvent through a porous material and the concurrent deformation that occurs. Poroelasticity in hydrated materials such as hydrogels occurs due to friction between the polymer and water as the water moves through the porous matrix upon compression. This causes a decrease in water pressure, which adds additional stress upon compression. Similar to viscoelasticity, this behavior is time dependent, thus poroelasticity is dependent on compression rate: a hydrogel shows softness upon slow compression, but fast compression makes the hydrogel stiffer. This phenomenon is due to the friction between the water and the porous matrix is proportional to the flow of water, which in turn is dependent on compression rate. Thus, a common way to measure poroelasticity is to do compression tests at varying compression rates. Pore size is an important factor in influencing poroelasticity. The Kozeny–Carman equation has been used to predict pore size by relating the pressure drop to the difference in stress between two compression rates.


title: Hydrogel

text: Poroelasticity is described by several coupled equations, thus there are few mechanical tests that relate directly to the poroelastic behavior of the material, thus more complicated tests such as indentation testing, numerical or computational models are utilized. Numerical or computational methods attempt to simulate the three dimensional permeability of the hydrogel network.


title: Hydrogel

text: The most commonly seen environmental sensitivity in hydrogels is a response to temperature. Many polymers/hydrogels exhibit a temperature dependent phase transition, which can be classified as either an upper critical solution temperature (UCST) or lower critical solution temperature (LCST). UCST polymers increase in their water-solubility at higher temperatures, which lead to UCST hydrogels transitioning from a gel (solid) to a solution (liquid) as the temperature is increased (similar to the melting point behavior of pure materials). This phenomenon also causes UCST hydrogels to expand (increase their swell ratio) as temperature increases while they are below their UCST. However, polymers with LCSTs display an inverse (or negative) temperature-dependence, where their water-solubility decreases at higher temperatures. LCST hydrogels transition from a liquid solution to a solid gel as the temperature is increased, and they also shrink (decrease their swell ratio) as the temperature increases while they are above their LCST.


title: Hydrogel

text: Applications can dictate for diverse thermal responses. For example, in the biomedical field, LCST hydrogels are being investigated as drug delivery systems due to being injectable (liquid) at room temp and then solidifying into a rigid gel upon exposure to the higher temperatures of the human body. There are many other stimuli that hydrogels can be responsive to, including: pH, glucose, electrical signals, light, pressure, ions, antigens, and more.


title: Hydrogel

text: The mechanical properties of hydrogels can be fine-tuned in many ways beginning with attention to their hydrophobic properties. Another method of modifying the strength or elasticity of hydrogels is to graft or surface coat them onto a stronger/stiffer support, or by making superporous hydrogel (SPH) composites, in which a cross-linkable matrix swelling additive is added. Other additives, such as nanoparticles and microparticles, have been shown to significantly modify the stiffness and gelation temperature of certain hydrogels used in biomedical applications.


title: Hydrogel

text: While a hydrogel's mechanical properties can be tuned and modified through crosslink concentration and additives, these properties can also be enhanced or optimized for various applications through specific processing techniques. These techniques include electro-spinning, 3D/4D printing, self-assembly, and freeze-casting. One unique processing technique is through the formation of multi-layered hydrogels to create a spatially-varying matrix composition and by extension, mechanical properties. This can be done by polymerizing the hydrogel matrixes in a layer by layer fashion via UV polymerization. This technique can be useful in creating hydrogels that mimic articular cartilage, enabling a material with three separate zones of distinct mechanical properties.


title: Hydrogel

text: Another emerging technique to optimize hydrogel mechanical properties is by taking advantage of the Hofmeister series. Due to this phenomenon, through the addition of salt solution, the polymer chains of a hydrogel aggregate and crystallize, which increases the toughness of the hydrogel. This method, called "salting out", has been applied to poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogels by adding a sodium sulfate salt solution. Some of these processing techniques can be used synergistically with each other to yield optimal mechanical properties. Directional freezing or freeze-casting is another method in which a directional temperature gradient is applied to the hydrogel is another way to form materials with anisotropic mechanical properties. Utilizing both the freeze-casting and salting-out processing techniques on poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogels to induce hierarchical morphologies and anisotropic mechanical properties. Directional freezing of the hydrogels helps to align and coalesce the polymer chains, creating anisotropic array honeycomb tube-like structures while salting out the hydrogel yielded out a nano-fibril network on the surface of these honeycomb tube-like structures. While maintaining a water content of over 70%, these hydrogels' toughness values are well above those of water-free polymers such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), Kevlar, and synthetic rubber. The values also surpass the toughness of natural tendon and spider silk.


title: Hydrogel

text: The dominant material for contact lenses are acrylate-siloxane hydrogels. They have replaced hard contact lenses. One of their most attractive properties is oxygen permeability, which is required since the cornea lacks vasculature.


title: Hydrogel

text: Hydrogels have been investigated for drug delivery. Polymeric drug delivery systems have overcome challenge due to their biodegradability, biocompatibility, and anti-toxicity. Materials such as collagen, chitosan, cellulose, and poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) have been implemented extensively for drug delivery to organs such as eye, nose, kidneys, lungs, intestines, skin and brain. Future work is focused on reducing toxicity, improving biocompatibility, expanding assembly techniques


title: Hydrogel

text: Hydrogels have been considered as vehicles for drug delivery. They can also be made to mimic animal mucosal tissues to be used for testing mucoadhesive properties. They have been examined for use as reservoirs in topical drug delivery; particularly ionic drugs, delivered by iontophoresis.


title: Victoria Osteen

text: Victoria Osteen (born March 28, 1961) is an American author and the co-pastor of Lakewood Church in Houston, Texas. She is the wife of Joel Osteen and the daughter-in-law of John Osteen.


title: Victoria Osteen

text: Victoria Osteen was born Victoria Iloff on March 28, 1961 in Huntsville, Alabama. She lived near Marshall Space Flight Center where her father, Donald Iloff – a mathematician with General Electric – was a member of GE’s Saturn rocket project team led by German rocket scientist Wernher von Braun. In 1963, at the age of two, Osteen moved with her family to Houston, Texas, when her father took a position with the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). She grew up in a southeastern suburb of Houston, near the Manned Spacecraft Center (now known as the Johnson Space Center).


title: Victoria Osteen

text: Growing up, Osteen attended a nearby Church of Christ, a relatively conservative church, where her mother, Georgine Iloff, taught Sunday school and her father served as a deacon. Osteen attended (though did not graduate from) the University of Houston where she studied psychology while working in her mother’s jewelry business. It was while working in the jewelry store that she met Joel Osteen in 1985 when he came in to buy a new watch battery.


title: Victoria Osteen

text: Osteen founded the Lakewood Church Women’s Ministry in 2003, where she currently serves as co-pastor. Her part of the service can be seen on a one-hour program broadcast on the Daystar Television Network and through a live Internet feed.


title: Victoria Osteen

text: Her other activities include a regular feature on Houston radio station 89.3 KSBJ. She also supports the organizations Feed the Children and The Bridge, a shelter for battered women.


title: Victoria Osteen

text: Osteen’s first book, entitled "Love Your Life: Living Happy, Healthy, and Whole" () was published by Simon & Schuster and released for sale on October 14, 2008. It debuted at number 2 on the New York Times Bestsellers list. With 750,000 copies, the initial printing of "Love Your Life" was one of the largest by any US publisher in 2008.


title: Victoria Osteen

text: In January 2009, Osteen released children’s books published by Simon & Schuster's Little Simon imprint. Her five-year agreement with Simon & Schuster covers 13 books for children, including a Bible.


title: Victoria Osteen

text: On April 4, 1987, Victoria Osteen (née Iloff) married Joel Osteen, with whom she would later become co-pastors of Lakewood Church. They have a son and daughter.


title: Victoria Osteen

text: In December 2005, on a Continental Airlines flight from Houston to Vail, a flight attendant accused Osteen of shoving her after a request was made about liquid on her armrest; this claim was disputed by witnesses. The FAA fined Osteen $3,000, and the flight attendant, Sharon Brown, subsequently filed a civil suit against Osteen, seeking $405,000 in damages. A Houston jury sided with Osteen, with the foreman calling the lawsuit a waste of time, clearing her of civil liability in August 2008.


title: Niles Fitch

text: Niles Fitch (born July 12, 2001) is an American actor who began his career as a child actor. He gained prominence through his role in the NBC series "This Is Us". He received praise for his role as Quinton in the drama film "The Fallout" (2021).


title: Niles Fitch

text: Fitch was born in Atlanta, Georgia to Frederick and Nakata Fitch, who encouraged his modelling career after noticing he received numerous compliments from strangers regarding his smile. Seeing that he enjoyed the arts, they invested in him by downsizing and moving to New York City where his career manifested in television and on broadway. Niles currently lives in Los Angeles, California where he studies at the University of Southern California, School of Cinematic Arts. He has expressed a desire to be known as a separate entity from creative labels and hence, is dabbling in behind-the-camera work in addition to acting and related artistic endeavours. His father, Frederick, died from lupus when Niles was 12 years old. He has since collaborated with Lupus LA as an ambassador in spreading awareness- contributing to the lives of people who live with lupus.


title: Niles Fitch

text: Fitch was the cousin of Rayshard Brooks, a 27-year-old African American man fatally shot by Atlanta Police Department (APD) on June 12, 2020.


title: Niles Fitch

text: Fitch started print modeling when he was four years old. His first job was in a back-to-school ad for Parisian. He then made his stage debut in the 2012 North American tour of "The Lion King" as Young Simba's replacement. He also played Emmanuel in the 2014 Off-Broadway show, "Our Lady of Kibeho".


title: Niles Fitch

text: He made his television debut with a guest appearance in "Tyler Perry's House of Payne", followed by a recurring role in Season 7 of "Army Wives". His early film credits include "St. Vincent" and "Roman J. Israel, Esq."


title: Niles Fitch

text: Fitch was cast to play a young version of Randall Pearson in the NBC series "This Is Us", a role that has won him an ensemble Screen Actors Guild Award. He, along with the rest of the teenage cast, was promoted to series regular from Season 2 onwards.


title: Niles Fitch

text: Fitch had roles in 2019 films "If Not Now, When?" and "Miss Virginia". In May 2019, it was announced that Fitch would star as Prince Tuma in the 2020 Disney+ film "Secret Society of Second-Born Royals". In August 2020 it was announced that Fitch had begun filming "The Fallout".


title: Vaginal fornix

text: The fornices of the vagina (sing. fornix of the vagina or fornix vaginae) are the superior portions of the vagina, extending into the recesses created by the vaginal portion of cervix. The word "fornix" is Latin for "arch".


title: Vaginal fornix

text: During sexual intercourse in the missionary position, the tip of the penis reaches the anterior fornix, while in the rear-entry position it reaches the posterior fornix.


title: Vaginal fornix

text: The fornices appear to be close to one reported erogenous zone, the cul-de-sac, which is near the posterior fornix.


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: Jeff Scott Soto (born November 4, 1965) is an American rock singer of Puerto Rican descent. He is best known for being the vocalist on Yngwie Malmsteen's first two albums, and (briefly) the lead vocalist for Journey in 2006–2007. Soto also sang lead vocals in the band Eyes. He also had a long tenure as the front man of hard rock band Talisman. Currently he works as solo artist, with his self-named band SOTO and as the vocalist of super-groups W.E.T., Sons of Apollo and Trans-Siberian Orchestra.


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: His style ranges from hard rock to power metal, being influenced by classic soul singers as Sam Cooke as well as Journey's Steve Perry, and Freddie Mercury of Queen.


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: In 1982, after performing in several local cover bands, Soto recorded several songs as lead singer for the band Kanan. In 1984, Soto provided vocals for virtuoso guitarist Yngwie Malmsteen's debut album "Rising Force" and his next album "Marching Out" a year later.


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: Soto has performed with a wide variety of bands, including Panther, Axel Rudi Pell, Eyes, Talisman, Takara, Humanimal, Human Clay, Kryst The Conqueror, Redlist, The Boogie Knights, Soul SirkUS and Octavision. As a session musician, Soto also performed backing vocals for artists such as Lita Ford, Steelheart, Glass Tiger, House of Lords, Stryper, and Saigon Kick.


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: He also sang for the fictional band Steel Dragon, which featured Zakk Wylde, Jeff Pilson and Jason Bonham for the soundtrack of the movie "Rock Star" along with Michael Matijevic of the band Steelheart, whose second album featured Soto on background vocals.


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: Soto performed at the 2000 annual OIQFC 'Freddie Mercury Birthday Party' at Reading in the UK, where he performed "Dragon Attack" with Brian May. Since then, Soto has joined Queen sideman Spike Edney's band, the Spike All Stars. Soto then appeared with Brian May and Roger Taylor at the 'Hollywood Walk of Fame' bash for the Official International Queen Fan Club. In 2012 Taylor hired Soto as one of the four singers chosen for the official tribute band Queen Extravaganza. The band was formed via internet auditions and features Freddie Mercury soundalike Marc Martel. Soto and singer Yvan Pedneault were added to the lineup to augment the selected singers, in an effort to better emulate Queen songs live. However, Soto only did one tour with the group; they continued with a smaller production and line up.


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: Soto's solo album "Damage Control" was released on Frontiers Records in March 2012. His next solo album "SOTO" was released on January 30, 2015. The album was co-written alongside Gus G and other members of his solo band. The solo project soon morphed into a band called SOTO. In 2016, they released "DIVAK" on earMusic. They toured afterwards, opening for Winery Dogs in May 2016.


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: In 2015, Soto recorded vocals for Joel Hoekstra's 13, contributing to the album "Dying to Live". Soto split vocal duties with Russell Allen on the album.


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: Soto released another solo album, "Retribution" in November 2017. In early 2020 he completed work on his 7th solo album as well as scheduled a live album for release in July.


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: 2020 saw the release of 2 solo albums on Frontiers Records, ""Jeff Scott Soto - Loud & Live In Milan 2019"", recorded live at the annual Frontiers Rock Festival and ""Wide Awake (In My Dreamland)"" co-written and produced by Alessandro Del Vecchio.


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: Soto was one of the founding members of Talisman in 1989. He was in the group up until their disbandment in 2007.


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: Talisman regrouped in December 2019 to record a tribute track for bassist Marcel Jacob on the 10th anniversary of his death.


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: In 2006, Soto replaced Steve Augeri in Journey after Augeri left the tour due to an acute throat infection. After months of being a tour replacement, Soto was officially hired as the band's singer in December 2006. However, the stint was short-lived, as he was fired from the band on June 12, 2007. Soto stated on his website "it seems they wanted something different than I brought to the table. No love lost though, they know what's best for the preservation of their legacy." He later mentioned the gig did not work out because former vocalist Steve Perry was still alive and could hypothetically rejoin the band, hurting fan expectations of any replacement singers. Although he was officially introduced as the lead singer of Journey, the band has not mentioned Soto in recent lookbacks and biographies, skipping over him entirely for his replacement Arnel Pineda.


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: Soto joined Trans-Siberian Orchestra as a touring singer in 2008. Soto has continually toured with the group, stating "I will be a part of Trans-Siberian Orchestra as long as they'll have me."


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: Alongside members of Work Of Art and Eclipse, Soto founded W.E.T. The group, named after the initials of the band involved, Soto's representing Talisman, released a self-titled debut album in November 2009. In 2013, they released their second album "Rise Up", and their third studio album "Earthrage" followed in 2018.


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: In May 2017, he joined a progressive metal supergroup named Sons of Apollo with Derek Sherinian, bassist Billy Sheehan, drummer Mike Portnoy and guitarist Ron "Bumblefoot" Thal. Their debut album, "Psychotic Symphony", was released October 20, 2017, with Inside Out/Sony.


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: After releasing a live album in 2019, Sons of Apollo released their second album "MMXX" in January 2020.


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: In 2020, alongside his Sons Of Apollo co-bandmate Billy Sheehan, Soto was invited by a Glendale, California based Armenian guitarist Hovak Alaverdyan to participate in his progressive metal project Octavision. There, Soto performed vocal duties on two tracks - "Coexist" and "Apocalyptus". The album titled "Coexist" was released on December 29, 2020.


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: Soto was born in Brooklyn, New York, his family moved to Los Angeles when he was a child. He spent his youth singing, learning trumpet and keyboards.


title: Jeff Scott Soto

text: In 2012, he married his long-term girlfriend Elena. He has a son from a previous marriage, and two step-children.


title: KJ Smith

text: Smith was born and raised in Tallahassee, Florida. She studied Business Marketing at Florida State University. where she earned her bachelor's degree and later went on to work in corporate America. Smith later went back to further her education at Florida A&M University where she studied journalism. Early in her career Smith realized she was unhappy and made choices for others and not herself so she later moved to Los Angeles and began her acting career appearing on comedy shows include "Conan", "Real Husbands of Hollywood", "Jimmy Kimmel Live!", "Survivor's Remorse" and "It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia". In 2016, she had a recurring role in the Oprah Winfrey Network drama series "Queen Sugar". She later guest starred on "Being Mary Jane", "Saints & Sinners", "Dynasty", "" and "Black-ish". From 2015 to 2018, Smith had a recurring role in the Bounce TV sitcom "Family Time".


title: KJ Smith

text: In 2019, Smith starred in "A Madea Family Funeral", the eleventh and final installment of the Madea film series. Later she was cast in the BET drama series "The Family Business" and had a recurring role in the ABC drama series "The Fix". Smith also filmed and produced her first film leading role in the drama film "The Available Wife". Later in 2019, Smith was cast in a leading role in the BET comedy-drama series, "Sistas", that premiered in October 2019. In 2020, Smith starred in the Netflix psychological thriller film "Fatal Affair".


title: Douglas Stuart (writer)

text: Douglas Stuart (born 31 May 1976) is a Scottish-American writer and fashion designer. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, he studied at the Scottish College of Textiles and at London's Royal College of Art, before moving at the age of 24 to New York City, where he built a successful career in fashion design, while also beginning to write. His debut novel, "Shuggie Bain" – which had initially been turned down by many publishers on both sides of the Atlantic – was awarded the 2020 Booker Prize. His second novel, "Young Mungo", was published in April 2022.


title: Douglas Stuart (writer)

text: Stuart was born in 1976 in Sighthill, a housing estate in Glasgow, Scotland. He was the youngest of three siblings. His father left him and his family when Stuart was young, and he was raised by a single mother who was battling alcoholism and addiction. His mother died from alcoholism-related health issues when he was 16. Subsequently, when he went on to write his debut Booker Prize-winning novel, "Shuggie Bain", the book would be inspired by his struggles, his mother's struggles as she battled alcoholism and his relationship with his mother. Speaking about his mother, he says: "My mother died very quietly of addiction one day." After his mother's death, he lived with his older brother before moving into a boarding house when he was 17.


title: Douglas Stuart (writer)

text: Writing on "Literary Hub" about working-class living in the late 1970s and 1980s, Stuart notes that he grew up in a house without books and surrounded by poverty. This was the time when Thatcher-era economic policies had "decimated the working man", moving industry away from the west coast of Scotland, leaving behind mass unemployment, alcoholism, and drug abuse.


title: Douglas Stuart (writer)

text: He received a bachelor's degree from the Scottish College of Textiles (now Heriot-Watt University) and a master's degree from the Royal College of Art in London. He had no formal education in literature, and notes that while he wanted to study English literature in college, he was discouraged from choosing the subject by a teacher who mentioned that it would "not suit someone from his background", resulting in Stuart subsequently studying textiles instead.


title: Douglas Stuart (writer)

text: Stuart moved to New York City at the age of 24 to begin a career in fashion design. He worked for many brands, including Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Banana Republic and Jack Spade, for more than 20 years. Stuart secretly started to write his first novel while he was balancing 12-hour shifts as a senior director of design at Banana Republic.


title: Douglas Stuart (writer)

text: Prior to his first novel being published, his works were featured on "The New Yorker" and on "LitHub".


title: Douglas Stuart (writer)

text: His first novel, "Shuggie Bain", won the 2020 Booker Prize, chosen by a judging panel comprising Margaret Busby (chair), Lee Child, Sameer Rahim, Lemn Sissay, and Emily Wilson. Stuart became the second Scottish author to win the Booker Prize in its 51-year history, after it was awarded in 1994 to James Kelman for "How Late It Was, How Late", a book Stuart has credited with changing his life, since it was "one of the first times he had seen his people and dialect on the page". Stuart said: "When James won in the mid-90s, Scottish voices were seen as disruptive and outside the norm."


title: Douglas Stuart (writer)

text: "Shuggie Bain" was also longlisted for the 2021 Andrew Carnegie Medal for Excellence in Fiction, shortlisted for the 2020 Center for Fiction First Novel Prize, and was a finalist for both the 2020 Kirkus Prize and the 2020 National Book Award for Fiction. However, when Stuart wrote the novel, responses from publishers were not as encouraging, with the book being rejected by 32 US publishing companies (as well as a dozen in the UK), before it was finally sold to American independent publisher Grove Atlantic, who published it in hardcover on 11 February 2020. "Shuggie Bain" was later published in the United Kingdom by the Picador imprint of Pan Macmillan. As of April 2022, "Shuggie Bain" has sold more than 1.5 million copies globally.


title: Douglas Stuart (writer)

text: The novel received generally favourable review coverage once it was published, including in "The Observer", "The New York Times", "The Scotsman", the "TLS", "The Hindu", and elsewhere. The book was praised for its authentic portrayal of post-industrial working-class Glasgow of the 1980s and early 1990s, and also for his capture of the "wry, indefatigable Glaswegian voice in all its various shades of wit, anger and hope." Speaking at the Booker Prize award ceremony, Margaret Busby, chair of the panel, noted that the book was destined to be a classic, and went on to describe the work as a "moving, immersive and nuanced portrait of a tight-knit social world, its people and its values."


title: Douglas Stuart (writer)

text: In a conversation with 2019 Booker winner Bernardine Evaristo on 23 November, livestreamed as a Southbank Centre event, Stuart said: "One of my biggest regrets I think is that growing up so poor I almost had to elevate myself to the middle class to turn around to tell a working-class story." Discussing the "middle-class" publishers' rejections he had received for "Shuggie Bain", he told Evaristo: "Everyone was writing these really gorgeous letters. They were saying 'Oh my god this will win all of the awards and it's such an amazing book and I have never read anything like that, but I have no idea how to market it'." Stuart said in a 2021 conversation with the Duchess of Cornwall that winning the Booker Prize transformed his life.


title: Douglas Stuart (writer)

text: In November 2020, Stuart revealed that he had finished his second novel, tentatively titled "Loch Awe", also set in mid-1990s Glasgow. The book is a love story between two young men, set against the backdrop of post-industrial Glasgow, with its territorial gangs, and divisions across sectarian lines. In his words, the book is about "toxic masculinity" and the violence that can stem from pressures on working-class boys to "man-up". The novel was published under the title "Young Mungo" by Grove Press on 5 April 2022, and by Picador on 14 April 2022. Prior to its publication, it was described by "Oprah Daily" as "a beautiful novel about family love and the dangers of being different in a violent, hyper-masculine world", and "Kirkus Reviews" concluded: "Romantic, terrifying, brutal, tender, and, in the end, sneakily hopeful. What a writer."


title: Douglas Stuart (writer)

text: In November 2022, it was confirmed that "Shuggie Bain" was to be made into a television drama series, adapted by Stuart himself, to be filmed in Scotland and broadcast on BBC One and iPlayer.


title: Douglas Stuart (writer)

text: Stuart was the subject of a film profile entitled "Douglas Stuart: Love, Hope and Grit", first shown in November 2022 in Alan Yentob's BBC One television arts documentary series "Imagine".


title: Douglas Stuart (writer)

text: Stuart holds dual British and American citizenship. He lives in East Village, Manhattan, with his husband, Michael Cary, an art curator at the Gagosian Gallery.


title: Dying Light: The Following

text: Dying Light: The Following is an expansion pack for the 2015 survival horror game "Dying Light". The game was developed by Techland, published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment, and released for Linux, Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on February 9, 2016. The expansion adds characters, a story campaign, weapons, and gameplay mechanics.


title: Dying Light: The Following

text: "Dying Light: The Following – Enhanced Edition" includes "Dying Light", "Dying Light: The Following", and downloadable content released for the original game, except for three DLCs: "Harran Ranger Bundle", "Gun Psycho Bundle", and "Volatile Hunter Bundle".


title: Dying Light: The Following

text: Set in a map that is twice as large as the two previous maps of "Dying Light", "The Following"'s gameplay is similar to that of the main game where the infected are slow and fragile during daytime, and become aggressive and fast at night time. Players can use parkour movements, such as climbing ledges, leaping, sliding, jumping and zip-lining, to move between places and kill enemies. One of the new features introduced is a drivable dune buggy. Players can use them to travel across the game's world quickly and mow down enemies. It has its own separate skill tree, and weapons, including spikes, flamethrowers, UV lights, electrical cages and other upgrades can be added to the buggy to increase its combat abilities. The buggy's performance and efficiency are affected by factors including the power of its suspension, engine, and brakes. Players can also choose from 40 different paintjobs to customize their car, and must collect fuel in order to drive the buggy.


title: Dying Light: The Following

text: The game features several new weapons, such as a crossbow and a variety of new firearms such as submachine guns and revolvers. A new "bounty" mode, which split missions into three different categories: "Basic", "Dailies", and "Community", is introduced. The missions and objectives included in this mode change every day, and players gain experience points by completing them. The game also features a new difficulty mode named "Nightmare Mode", which extends the duration of nighttime, and increases the strength and health of enemies. Every action made in this mode drains stamina from the player's character. Players do not have to complete the base game before starting the expansion; however, the character progression players earned in "The Following" will be carried to the base game. Similar to the first game, the game supports a four-player cooperative multiplayer mode. The asymmetrical multiplayer mode from the first game, Be The Zombie, also returns in "The Following".


title: Dying Light: The Following

text: Protagonist Kyle Crane learns from a survivor near death about a supposed cure to the virus. With the Tower running short on Antizin and Camden's efforts to produce a cure still unsuccessful, Crane decides to go investigate this supposed immunity. He heads out to the countryside, where he discovers that many of the survivors out there have converted to a religious cult called the Children of the Sun, who worship the Mother which is apparently the source of their immunity to the virus. In order to earn the cult's trust and learn more about the immunity, Crane decides to assist the survivors. Eventually, one of the Faceless, the high-ranking members of the cult, approaches Crane and privately admits that their immunity is gained through a special elixir they had discovered, but like Antizin, it only suppresses the infection and does not fully cure it. The Faceless also reveal that they are working on a permanent cure, and promise that in exchange for his help, they will give Crane the cure to take back to Harran.


title: Dying Light: The Following

text: Crane is then tasked with assisting a man named Atilla, who is working on an important project for the Mother. Atilla tells Crane that the Children of the Sun believe in a prophecy where a chosen one would rise up to become the prophet of the God of the Sun and purify the infection. He also reveals that the Mother was Jasmine, the wife of a local military Colonel who was involved in the experiments that caused the outbreak, but was bitten during the outbreak. Before succumbing to the infection himself, the Colonel gave Atilla a secret code that Atilla passes on to Crane. Attila then commits suicide in an attempt to invoke the prophecy, but it fails to occur. Crane then discovers that the remnants of Rais' gang have also traveled to the countryside to search for the supposed cure as well. Rais' thugs stage an attack on the Mother's base in a nearby dam, but when Crane arrives, he finds both Rais' bandits and the Faceless all dead.


title: Dying Light: The Following

text: Entering the dam, Crane discovers that the Mother has been turned into a sentient volatile. She reveals that the dam was a secret military facility that held a special chemical substance. However, rather than being a cure for the virus, the elixir instead slowly turns whoever uses it into a sentient volatile, like it did to the Mother. During the day, she is able to retain her mental faculties and has been given telepathic abilities in order to communicate, but at night, she becomes an uncontrollable feral monster. The Mother tells Crane that the only way to stop the infection is to summon the God of the Sun to purify the land, sacrificing everybody in Harran in the process. At this point, Crane can choose to either listen to the Mother, or defy her.


title: Dying Light: The Following

text: If Crane chooses to defy the Mother, the Mother attacks, forces him to drink the elixir and attempts to kill him, but Crane eventually prevails and kills her. Taking what's left of the elixir, Crane leaves the dam, suffering continuous blackouts, and finds himself in a populated area seemingly outside the quarantine, but discovers that his exposure to the elixir has already turned him into a sentient volatile. As night falls, the infected Crane lets out a feral scream as a nearby mother and her children watch in terror.


title: Dying Light: The Following

text: If Crane chooses to listen to the Mother, she leads him to a nuclear warhead that was originally meant to be a fail-safe to contain the outbreak. Crane inputs the code Atilla had given him, which activates the warhead, presumably destroying all of Harran and killing all of the survivors and infected, taking the virus with them.


title: Dying Light: The Following

text: "The Following" was developed by Techland and published by Warner Bros. Interactive Entertainment. According to lead designer Maciej Binkowski, the team decided to implement a dune buggy into "The Following" as they felt that it was a "fantasy" of the zombie genre, and they missed the opportunity when developing the base game. The process of implementing them was described as "hard", as they must ensure that the new system must work functionally with other gameplay mechanics, most notably the parkour system. The development team looked at players' feedback and requests regarding the first "Dying Light", and decided to add the most demanded features, including a new story and new firearms, to the game. The new campaign lasts for at least ten hours, and centers around the theme "mystery". Gameplay elements from "The Following" were originally part of the core "Dying Light" game, but were later left behind as the core game was becoming too large for the team to handle. According to Binkowski, the development of the game continued after the release of the first game, and numerous improvements were made to the parkour system, animation, artificial intelligence and graphics.


title: Dying Light: The Following

text: In May 2015, it was announced that the development of another Techland video game, "Hellraid", had been put on hold so as to allow the studio to allocate resources and time to concentrate on the development of the "Dying Light" franchise. The game was teased by Techland on July 23, 2015, before being officially announced a week later. To reflect the increased scope and scale of the expansion, Techland raised the game's price on November 25, 2015. Although the game can be bought separately, it was included in "Dying Light: The Following – Enhanced Edition", which bundles "The Following" with the base game and its downloadable content, except for three DLCs: Harran Ranger Bundle, Gun Psycho Bundle and Volatile Hunter Bundle. Players of the original game can upgrade to the Enhanced Edition for free. "The Following" is also free for players who have purchased the base game's Season Pass. The Enhanced Edition were released on February 9, 2016.


title: Dying Light: The Following

text: "Dying Light: The Following" received "generally favorable reviews" from critics, according to review aggregator Metacritic.


title: Dying Light: The Following

text: Kevin Dunsmore of "Hardcore Gamer" gave the game a 4 out of 5 saying, "The Following expands Dying Light in a meaningful new way, giving fans something fun to salivate over." Scott Butterworth from "GameSpot" rated the game an 8/10 saying, "The Following evolves Dying Light's formula by adding substantial new mechanics that or even reframe familiar gameplay elements."


title: Franz Stigler

text: Oberleutnant Ludwig Franz Stigler (21 August 1915 – 22 March 2008) was a German fighter pilot and fighter ace in World War II.


title: Franz Stigler

text: He is best known for his role in a December 1943 incident in which he spared the crew of a severely damaged B-17 bomber. He escorted the plane to safety over enemy lines. The story was kept secret for many years, but in 1990 the two pilots finally reunited and were close friends until their deaths in 2008. Stigler died in Canada, where he moved after the war.


title: Franz Stigler

text: Stigler was born on 21 August 1915 in Regensburg, Bavaria. His father was a World War I pilot/observer.


title: Franz Stigler

text: Stigler began flying gliders when he was 12, and in 1933, he piloted a biplane. He flew for Deutsche Luft Hansa (the predecessor of Lufthansa) before joining the Luftwaffe in 1940.


title: Franz Stigler

text: In the Luftwaffe, Stigler became an instructor pilot. One of his students was Gerhard Barkhorn, who went on to down over 300 planes in combat. Stigler himself flew 487 combat missions, downing 28 planes while himself being shot down 17 times (he bailed out six times and landed in a damaged plane 11 times). His brother, August, who was also a pilot, was killed in the crash of a Ju 88 in August 1940.


title: Franz Stigler

text: As a member of "Jagdgeschwader" (JG) 27 in North Africa as well as Europe, and of the "Jagdverband" (JV) 44 jet fighter squadron, the aircraft Stigler flew in combat were the Bf 109 and Me 262.


title: Franz Stigler

text: Stigler—under the spelling Stiegler—is alleged to have been a member of a group of II/JG 27 pilots who made false kill claims in the Western Desert. From 10 July 1942 to 16 August 1942, Stiegler made at least 14 kill claims that have little or no confirmation in UK records. The II/JG group was prevented from flying together after 59-kill ace Hans-Arnold Stahlschmidt reported that he saw them shooting into the dunes of the desert during a mission in which they claimed 12 kills (two by Stiegler).


title: Franz Stigler

text: On 20 December 1943, Stigler met a B-17 bomber nicknamed "Ye Olde Pub" and its American pilot Charles "Charlie" Brown for the first time. Stigler had shot down two B-17s earlier that day and he soon caught up to a wounded B-17 flown by Brown. Lining up to finish the bomber and shoot it down, he noticed the tail gunner never moved the guns. Upon further inspection of the airplane, he saw through large holes in the fuselage a frantic crew trying to save the lives of their fellow airmen, and decided not to fire.


title: Franz Stigler

text: Stigler is quoted as saying "and for me it would have been the same as shooting at a parachute", in reference to a statement by his commander and mentor Gustav Rödel; "If I hear of one of you shooting a man in a parachute, I'll shoot you myself!". Stigler motioned to Brown to land his airplane in neutral Sweden because of the extensive damage. However, Brown didn't understand and decided to keep flying towards England. Stigler escorted the B-17 and its crew to the North Sea coast, protecting it from German anti-aircraft gunners (who recognized the silhouette of his BF-109 and held fire). Once they were over water, Stigler saluted Brown, then left to return to base.


title: Franz Stigler

text: Stigler never spoke of the incident as he could have been court-martialed and executed. Brown told his commanding officers, who chose to keep the incident secret. Years later, in 1990, Brown searched for the German pilot who let them live that day, and eventually the two pilots, along with the "Pub" crew, met face to face, half a century later.


title: Franz Stigler

text: Between 1990 and 2008, Brown and Stigler became close friends and remained so until their deaths within several months of each other in 2008.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: Maria Amalia "Melina" Mercouri (, 18 October 1920 – 6 March 1994) was a Greek actress, singer, activist, and politician. She came from a political family that was prominent over multiple generations. She received an Academy Award nomination and won a Cannes Film Festival Best Actress Award for her performance in the film "Never on Sunday" (1960). Mercouri was also nominated for one Tony Award, three Golden Globes and two BAFTA Awards in her acting career. In 1987 she was awarded a special prize in the first edition of the Europe Theatre Prize.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: As a politician, she was a member of the PASOK and the Hellenic Parliament. In October 1981, Mercouri became the first female Minister of Culture and Sports. She was the longest-lived Minister of Culture in Greece - serving during the years 1981-89 and 1993 till her death in 1994, in all PASOK governments.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: The Mercouri were a prominent Greek family, originating in Argolida. Its members had fought in the revolution of 1821. Melina's grandfather, Spyridon Mercouris, had served for many years as mayor of Athens. Her father, Stamatis Mercouris, was an officer of the cavalry and served as a member of parliament and minister (People's Party, National Radical Party), while for many years he participated in the administration of the Panathinaikos team. During the occupation, Stamatis Mercouris founded the resistance organisation called 'Radical Organisation' in January 1942.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: Her uncle, George S. Mercouris, held extreme right-wing political views. He was a founder of the Greek National Socialist Party and a governor of the National Bank during the Occupation, which so angered the Mercouri family that they refused to attend his funeral in 1943. Her mother, Irene Lappa, was the sister of Admiral Pyrros Lappa, who served as Chief of the Naval Staff, Secretary General of the Olympic Games Committee and Chief of the Military House of King Paul.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: In September 1938, she was accepted at the Drama School of the National Theatre with fellow students including Despo Diamantidou and Alexis Damianos.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: In the winter of 1939 she married the much older wealthy landowner Panagis Harokopos. She travelled as Melina Harokopou or Melina Charocopou. During the occupation, the young Melina, a student of the drama school of the National Theatre, became romantically involved with businessman Phidias Yadikiaroglou while still married to Harokopos although their marital relationship had effectively ended. Cynical, opportunistic but at the same time very charming, he was of the opinion, which for him was a way of life, that "We are young and life is short - let's live it. Let's enjoy it while there is still time!"


title: Melina Mercouri

text: For this particular period Melina was strongly accused of living in the comforts of a 400 sq. m. apartment at avenue Akademias 4, much of which had been commandeered by the Germans at a time when the Greek people were starving, and of not contributing to the national resistance. Melina had commented on this period of her life, both in her autobiography, "I was born a Greek," and on television as Minister of Culture. With disarming candour she took responsibility for her non-participation in the Resistance during the Occupation.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: This account of herself, given to journalist George Doatzis, is riveting: " [...]I am not proud of what I did during the Occupation. That is another conversation, which will be explained one day. I want to tell you that in the Occupation, those children who were us were tough and sensitive together. And that has become a life consciousness, for what happened and beyond. The Greece that we have known is terrible, its occupations, its three occupations. You could see the people in the carts, the bodies of the people and you passed by. I tell you, I was bold, I was privately bold. I was not for Greece, I did not resist and maybe that is the only regret I have in my life[...] "


title: Melina Mercouri

text: For her proverbial honesty and especially for that period of her life, Vassilis Diamantopoulos said that "It was in her character. She was an open person, she didn't hide anything." Lycurgos Kallergis, a member of EAM and the Left during the Occupation, said: "Although I was and am a left-winger, the issue of the opulence in which she lived did not bother me. After all, Melina was hosting people, feeding people, helping friends.[...] " The great Greek writer Alkis Zei also agrees with this view, stating that during the period of occupation, Melina was hiding left-wingers and giving them money.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: At the same time, her brother, Spyros Mercouris, had joined the Resistance as a member of the EPON. Many times, according to testimonies, Melina would secretly take Yadikiaroglou's money and give it to her brother for the Resistance, hiding both him and his comrades in the organization while helping her impoverished colleagues. It was known that during the occupation, despite her then husband's objections, Melina's house, on her own instruction, was always open and welcoming to many people in need, providing them with food and shelter.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: Despite occasional criticisms, her dislike of the Nazi occupiers is demonstrated through an incident during the occupation where SS men attempted to execute her in cold blood. One afternoon while Melina was in a bar in Omonia with her close friends Despo Diamantidou and Andreas Filippidis, and her then boyfriend Phidias (Alexis), three SS men entered with an Alsatian dog. Phidias began to tease the dog by speaking in German. When they heard that someone in the group was speaking German, they ordered them to come to the table.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: Everyone obeyed the order, except Melina. "You too!" they shouted at her. She stubbornly continued to ignore their order. "I will count to three and shoot," a German warned her, pulling out a revolver, which he then pointed at her. Melina remained in her position. After a moment, the man fired, shattering the glass next to her elbow. Melina angrily jumped up and began cursing at him, overlooking the fact that he might shoot her again. At the same time the bartender had called the Military Police, who rounded up the SS men. As she described in her autobiography, she turned towards Phidias and slapped him in the face in front of the bar's patrons.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: Criticism of her lifestyle during the Occupation was intense and often harsh, yet a number of people with strong resistance activities during the Occupation became close friends of hers, who never accused her or were bothered by her earlier "turbulent" life. From the great writer Iakovos Kambanellis (who wrote 'Stella with the Red Gloves' especially for her), the actress Olympia Papadouka, the great Greek actor Manos Katrakis, the actor and secretary of the EAM theatre Dimitris Myrat, the writer Alkis Zei, the director Nikos Koundouros, to Manolis Glezos, were her friends for many years.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: During the civil war, although Melina Mercouri lived in Kolonaki, which was controlled by the British, she visited her friends and colleagues who had been arrested for their political beliefs. Years later, Aleka Paizi gratefully recounted Melina's visit to the prison where she was being held, to support her.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: In the late 1940s, Melina met Pyrros Spyromilios, with whom she was a couple for seven years. For many, he was the great love of her life before she met Jules Dassin. Pyrros Spyromilios was a naval officer and a hero of the Albanian front. He died in March 1961 due to heart hypertrophy, which devastated Melina, even though five years had passed since their final separation.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: In 1955 was the landmark year of her career and life. It was the year she starred in her first feature film, Stella. The film competed at the Cannes Film Festival and during its screening, she met and fell in love with Julius "Jules" Dassin, with whom she was married until the end of her life.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: After her graduation, Mercouri joined the National Theatre of Greece and played the role of Electra in Eugene O'Neill's play "Mourning Becomes Electra" in 1945. In 1949, she had her first major success in the theatre playing Blanche DuBois in "A Streetcar Named Desire", written by Tennessee Williams and staged by Karolos Koun's Art Theatre. Until 1950, she also worked in the same theatre in other plays by Aldous Huxley, Arthur Miller and André Roussin.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: She then moved to Paris, where she appeared in boulevard plays by Jacques Deval and Marcel Achard, and met French playwrights and novelists such as Jean Cocteau, Jean-Paul Sartre, Colette and Françoise Sagan. In 1953, Mercouri received the Marika Kotopouli Prize. Mercouri returned to Greece in 1955. At the Kotopouli-Rex Theatre, Mercouri starred in "Macbeth" by William Shakespeare and "L'Alouette" by Jean Anouilh.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: Mercouri's first film was the Greek language film "Stella" (1955), directed by Michael Cacoyannis, later known for "Zorba the Greek" (1964). The motion picture received special praise at the 1956 Cannes Film Festival, where she met expatriate American film director Jules Dassin, with whom she would share not only her career but also her life. Their first professional pairing was "He Who Must Die" (1957). Other films by Dassin and featuring Mercouri followed, such as "The Law" (1959).


title: Melina Mercouri

text: She garnered international acclaim when she starred in "Never on Sunday" (1960), of which Dassin was the director and co-star. For this film, she earned the Best Actress Award at the 1960 Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress and the BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a Leading Role.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: After this, she starred in "Phaedra" (1962), for which she was nominated again for Best Actress in the BAFTA and Golden Globe nominations. Her role in "Topkapi" (1964) garnered her a nomination for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress in Motion Picture Musical or Comedy. Mercouri worked with such directors as Joseph Losey, Vittorio De Sica, Ronald Neame, Carl Foreman, and Norman Jewison. She starred the Spanish language film "The Uninhibited" (1965) by Juan Antonio Bardem.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: Mercouri continued her stage career in the Greek production of Tennessee Williams's "Sweet Bird of Youth" (1960), under the direction of Karolos Koun. In 1967, she played the leading role in "Illya Darling" (from 11 April 1967 to 13 January 1968) on Broadway, for which she was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Performance by a Leading Actress in a Musical. Mercouri's performance in "Promise at Dawn" (1970) earned her another Golden Globe Award nomination.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: Mercouri concentrated on her stage career in the following years, playing in the Greek productions of "The Threepenny Opera" and, for a second time, "Sweet Bird of Youth", in addition to the ancient Greek tragedies "Medea" and "Oresteia". She retired from film acting after her role in her last film, "A Dream of Passion" (1978), directed by her husband, Jules Dassin.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: In 1987 the jury of the Europe Theatre Prize awarded her a special prize of the presidency with the motivation: "For the devotion and the commitment of an artist who joins her own theatrical experience with the political belief and the ideal of European culture.".


title: Melina Mercouri

text: Mercouri's last performance on stage was in the opera "Pylades" at the Athens Concert Hall in 1992, portraying Clytemnestra.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: One of her first songs was by Manos Hadjidakis and Nikos Gatsos. It was titled "Hartino to Fengaraki" ("Papermoon") and was a part of the Greek production of "A Streetcar Named Desire" in 1949, in which she starred as Blanche DuBois. The first official recording of this song was made by Nana Mouskouri in 1960, although the company Sirius, created by Manos Hadjidakis, issued, in 2004, a recording Mercouri made for French television during the 1960s.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: Her recordings of "Athenes, ma Ville", a collaboration with Vangelis, and "Melinaki", were popular in France. Her recording of "Feggari mou, Agapi mou" (Phaedra) was later covered by Marinella in 1965.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: At the time of the coup d'état in Greece by a group of colonels of the Greek military on 21 April 1967, she was in the United States, playing in "Illya Darling in Broadway." She immediately joined the struggle against the Greek military junta and started an international campaign, travelling all over the world to inform the public and contribute to the isolation and fall of the colonels. As a result, the dictatorial regime revoked her Greek citizenship and confiscated her property.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: When her Greek citizenship was revoked, she said: "I was born a Greek and I will die a Greek. Those bastards were born fascists and they will die fascists". In London, she worked with Amalia Fleming and Helen Vlachos of Kathimerini against the junta of the colonels.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: After the fall of the Junta and during the "metapolitefsi" in 1974, Mercouri settled in Greece and was one of the founding members of the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), a centre-left political party. She was a member of the party's Central Committee and a rapporteur for the Culture Section, while being involved in the women's movement as well.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: In the Greek legislative elections of 1974, she was a PASOK candidate in the Piraeus B constituency, but the 7,500 votes were not enough to secure a seat for her in the Hellenic Parliament (she needed 33 more votes), but she was successful in the elections of 1977, after conducting a grass-roots campaign.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: When PASOK won the elections of 1981, Mercouri was appointed Minister for Culture of Greece, being the first woman in the post. She would serve in that position for two terms until 1989, when PASOK lost the elections and New Democracy formed a cabinet.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: As Minister for Culture, Mercouri took advantage of her earlier career to promote Greece to other European leaders. She strongly advocated the return to Athens of the Parthenon Marbles, that were removed from Parthenon and other buildings on the Acropolis of Athens by Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, and are now part of the British Museum collection in London.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: In 1983, she engaged in a televised debate with the then director of the British Museum, David M. Wilson, which was interpreted by many as a public relations disaster for the British Museum. In anticipation of the return of the marbles, she held an international competition for the construction of the New Acropolis Museum, designated to display them and finally established in 2008.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: One of her greatest achievements was the establishment of the institution of the European Capital of Culture within the framework of cultural policy of the European Union, that she had conceived and proposed in 1983, with Athens inaugurating this institution being the first title-holder in 1985, while she was a devoted supporter of the Athens bid to host the Centennial Olympic Games.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: In 1983, during the first Greek presidency of the Council of the European Union, Mercouri invited the Ministers for Culture of the other nine member states of the European Union at Zappeion, in order to increase the people's cultural awareness, since there was not any reference to cultural questions in the Treaty of Rome, which led to the establishment of formal sessions between the Ministers of Culture of the European Union.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: During the second presidency of Greece in 1988, she supported the cooperation between Eastern Europe and the European Union, which was finally implemented one year later with the celebration of the Month of Culture in Eastern countries.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: Mercouri commissioned a study for the integration of all the archaeological sites of Athens to create a traffic-free archaeological park to promote the Greek culture. She introduced free access to museums and archaeological sites for Greek citizens, organized a series of exhibitions of Greek cultural heritage and modern Greek art worldwide, supported the restoration of buildings of special architectural interest and the completion of the Athens Concert Hall, and backed the establishment of the Museum of Byzantine culture in Thessaloniki.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: In June 1986, Melina Mercouri spoke at the Oxford Union, the debating society, on the matter of the Parthenon Marbles and whether they should remain in London or be returned to Greece. She argued passionately for the Marbles' reunification. She said the Marbles are more to Greece than just works of art: they are an essential element of Greek heritage, which ties directly into cultural identity. She said: "You must understand what the Parthenon Marbles mean to us. They are our pride. They are our sacrifices. They are our noblest symbol of excellence. They are a tribute to the democratic philosophy. They are our aspirations and our name. They are the essence of Greekness."


title: Melina Mercouri

text: In the legislative elections of November 1989, PASOK lost and Mercouri was elected a member of the Hellenic Parliament and remained a member of the party's Executive Bureau. In 1990, she was a candidate for Mayor of Athens but she was defeated by Antonis Tritsis.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: After PASOK's win in the election of 1993, she was reappointed to the Ministry for Culture. Her major goals in this brief second term in office were: to create a cultural park in the Aegean Sea in order to protect and enhance the environment and civilization of the Aegean Islands, and to link culture with education at all education levels, introducing a system of post-training of teachers.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: Mercouri died on 6 March 1994 at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, New York City, from lung cancer.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: Her sole immediate survivor was her husband, Jules Dassin. The couple had no children. She received a state funeral with Prime Minister's honors. She was buried at the First Cemetery of Athens four days later.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: The Melina Mercouri Foundation was founded by her widower. After her death, UNESCO established the Melina Mercouri International Prize for the Safeguarding and Management of Cultural Landscapes (UNESCO-Greece) which rewards outstanding examples of action to safeguard and enhance the world's major cultural landscapes.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: The song "Melina" by Camilo Sesto (from the 1975 album "Amor libre") is dedicated to Melína Merkoúri.


title: Melina Mercouri

text: In Freddie Mercury's social circle at Garden Lodge, he was nicknamed 'Melina' due to his admiration of Mercouri and similarity in surname.


title: Road to Avonlea

text: Road to Avonlea is a Canadian television series first broadcast in Canada between January 7, 1990, and March 31, 1996, as part of the "CBC Family Hour" anthology series, and in the United States starting on March 5, 1990. It was created by Kevin Sullivan and produced by Sullivan Films (later Sullivan Entertainment) in association with the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) and the Disney Channel, with additional funding from Telefilm Canada. It follows the adventures of Sara Stanley, a young girl sent to live with her relatives in early 20th-century eastern Canada. It was loosely adapted from novels by Lucy Maud Montgomery, with many characters and episodes inspired by her stories.


title: Road to Avonlea

text: Some episodes were turned into independent books by various authors; around 30 titles have been released.


title: Road to Avonlea

text: In the United States, its title was shortened to "Avonlea", and a number of episodes were retitled and reordered. The series was released on VHS and DVD there as "Tales from Avonlea".


title: Road to Avonlea

text: The series was initially loosely inspired from a number of books by Lucy Maud Montgomery, primarily "The Story Girl" and "The Golden Road", both of which feature the character of Sara Stanley, as well as Felicity, Felix, and Cecily. These books, while set in Prince Edward Island, did not take place in the village of Avonlea. Many of the series' episodes and situations were adapted from stories recounted in Montgomery's "Chronicles of Avonlea" and "Further Chronicles of Avonlea".


title: Road to Avonlea

text: Many supporting characters were sourced from Montgomery's "Anne of Green Gables" series. The show is set within the same continuity as Sullivan's 1985 film and its based on the "Anne" novels. Rachel Lynde, Marilla Cuthbert, and Muriel Stacy all originally appeared in Montgomery's debut novel "Anne of Green Gables", with Rachel and Marilla being briefly mentioned in passing in "Chronicles of Avonlea". Patricia Hamilton, Colleen Dewhurst, and Marilyn Lightstone, who had played the characters in the films, returned for "Road to Avonlea". The characters of Davy and Dora Keith were originally from "Anne of Avonlea", the first sequel to "Anne Of Green Gables". Anne Shirley herself never appeared, although she was referred to on rare occasions.


title: Road to Avonlea

text: Some episodes of the show were turned into independent books by different authors. Around 30 titles have been released.


title: Road to Avonlea

text: In the United States, its title was shortened to simply "Avonlea", and a number of episodes were retitled and reordered. When the series was released on VHS and DVD in the United States, the title changed from "Road to Avonlea" to "Tales from Avonlea".


title: Road to Avonlea

text: The series is set in the fictional small town of Avonlea, Prince Edward Island, in the early 20th century (1903–1912). Ten-year-old Montreal heiress Sara Stanley (Sarah Polley) is sent by her wealthy father to live with her two maiden aunts, Hetty and Olivia King, to be near her late mother's side of the family after an embezzlement scandal results in him being placed under house arrest. The show's focus shifted over the years from Sara's interactions with locals to stories about the King family. Later seasons of the show focused more on residents of Avonlea who were connected to the King family. Sarah Polley left the show in 1994, returning for a guest appearance in the sixth season as well as the series finale episode.


title: Road to Avonlea

text: The "Road to Avonlea" set was constructed in Uxbridge, Ontario—the town where Lucy Maud Montgomery lived and wrote for a decade after moving from Prince Edward Island. The town of Avonlea was adapted from existing buildings. Its roads were painted red in an attempt to match the distinctive color of the island's iron-rich soil. Filming also took place regularly at Westfield Heritage Centre in Flamborough, Ontario. Photography and enhanced digital matter work married second-unit scenes of Prince Edward Island with the Leaskdale location where necessary.


title: Road to Avonlea

text: Sullivan Entertainment released all seven seasons on DVD in Region 1 for the first time between 2005 and 2006. In 2009, they began re-releasing the series in wide screen format. As of December 2012, all seven seasons and the Christmas special had been released in widescreen format.


title: Road to Avonlea

text: In 2016, Sullivan Entertainment announced it would launch their own streaming service called "Gazebo TV" that would feature the "Road to Avonlea" series among other titles produced by the company. The service launched in early 2017.


title: Up All Night (One Direction album)

text: Up All Night is the debut studio album by English-Irish boy band One Direction, released by Syco Records in November 2011 in Ireland and the United Kingdom, followed by a worldwide release during 2012. Four months after finishing third in the seventh series of British reality singing contest "The X Factor" in December 2010, One Direction began recording the album in Sweden, the UK, and the United States, working with a variety of writers and producers. The album's lyrical content regards being young, relationships, heartbreak and empowerment.