title: Collaborative filtering

text: One typical problem caused by the data sparsity is the cold start problem. As collaborative filtering methods recommend items based on users' past preferences, new users will need to rate a sufficient number of items to enable the system to capture their preferences accurately and thus provides reliable recommendations.


title: Collaborative filtering

text: Similarly, new items also have the same problem. When new items are added to the system, they need to be rated by a substantial number of users before they could be recommended to users who have similar tastes to the ones who rated them. The new item problem does not affect content-based recommendations, because the recommendation of an item is based on its discrete set of descriptive qualities rather than its ratings.


title: Collaborative filtering

text: As the numbers of users and items grow, traditional CF algorithms will suffer serious scalability problems. For example, with tens of millions of customers formula_9 and millions of items formula_10, a CF algorithm with the complexity of formula_11 is already too large. As well, many systems need to react immediately to online requirements and make recommendations for all users regardless of their millions of users, with most computations happening in very large memory machines.


title: Collaborative filtering

text: Synonyms refers to the tendency of a number of the same or very similar items to have different names or entries. Most recommender systems are unable to discover this latent association and thus treat these products differently.


title: Collaborative filtering

text: For example, the seemingly different items "children's movie" and "children's film" are actually referring to the same item. Indeed, the degree of variability in descriptive term usage is greater than commonly suspected. The prevalence of synonyms decreases the recommendation performance of CF systems. Topic Modeling (like the Latent Dirichlet Allocation technique) could solve this by grouping different words belonging to the same topic.


title: Collaborative filtering

text: Gray sheep refers to the users whose opinions do not consistently agree or disagree with any group of people and thus do not benefit from collaborative filtering. Black sheep are a group whose idiosyncratic tastes make recommendations nearly impossible. Although this is a failure of the recommender system, non-electronic recommenders also have great problems in these cases, so having black sheep is an acceptable failure.


title: Collaborative filtering

text: In a recommendation system where everyone can give the ratings, people may give many positive ratings for their own items and negative ratings for their competitors'. It is often necessary for the collaborative filtering systems to introduce precautions to discourage such manipulations.


title: Collaborative filtering

text: Collaborative filters are expected to increase diversity because they help us discover new products. Some algorithms, however, may unintentionally do the opposite. Because collaborative filters recommend products based on past sales or ratings, they cannot usually recommend products with limited historical data. This can create a rich-get-richer effect for popular products, akin to positive feedback. This bias toward popularity can prevent what are otherwise better consumer-product matches. A Wharton study details this phenomenon along with several ideas that may promote diversity and the "long tail." Several collaborative filtering algorithms have been developed to promote diversity and the "long tail" by recommending novel, unexpected, and serendipitous items.


title: Collaborative filtering

text: User-item matrix is a basic foundation of traditional collaborative filtering techniques, and it suffers from data sparsity problem (i.e. cold start). As a consequence, except for user-item matrix, researchers are trying to gather more auxiliary information to help boost recommendation performance and develop personalized recommender systems. Generally, there are two popular auxiliary information: attribute information and interaction information. Attribute information describes a user's or an item's properties. For example, user attribute might include general profile (e.g. gender and age) and social contacts (e.g. followers or friends in social networks); Item attribute means properties like category, brand or content. In addition, interaction information refers to the implicit data showing how users interplay with the item. Widely used interaction information contains tags, comments or reviews and browsing history etc. Auxiliary information plays a significant role in a variety of aspects. Explicit social links, as a reliable representative of trust or friendship, is always employed in similarity calculation to find similar persons who share interest with the target user. The interaction-associated information - tags - is taken as a third dimension (in addition to user and item) in advanced collaborative filtering to construct a 3-dimensional tensor structure for exploration of recommendation.


title: Panzergrenadier

text: Panzergrenadier (), abbreviated as PzG (WWII) or PzGren (modern), meaning ""Armour"-ed fighting vehicle "Grenadier"", is a German term for mechanized infantry units of armoured forces who specialize in fighting from and in conjunction with infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) – that is, armoured troop carriers designed to carry a mechanized squad of six to eight soldiers into combat while providing direct fire support for those troops.


title: Panzergrenadier

text: Panzergrenadier combat is conducted in close cooperation with IFVs. Each Panzergrenadier squad has its own designated IFV during battle. Combat can be conducted either from within the vehicle (so-called ""mounted combat"") using portholes in the walls or hatches on the roof, etc, or from outside the vehicle in its vicinity (so-called ""dismounted combat"") using dismount-hatches at the back of the vehicle. Combat missions consist of ambushing, fire support, reconnaissance, spearhead attacks, etc. Depending on the armament, the IFV can have a varying degree of active participation in the battle. Early examples simply featured a pair of rifle-calibre machine guns. Modern day examples traditionally use medium-caliber () autocannons and integrated missile-systems in a revolving turret. Unlike traditional mechanized infantry, Panzergrenadiers do not use armoured personnel carriers (APCs) in their doctrine, as such per-design lack the ability for mounted combat, being intended as "armoured taxis".


title: Panzergrenadier

text: The "Panzergrenadier" doctrine and name is primarily used in the armies of Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Sweden, in the latter under the native forms ""pansarskytte"" ( = ) and ""pansarinfanteri"" ("armour infantry"). In the modern German Army, "Panzergrenadier" ("Pzg") is the lowest rank of enlisted men ("Mannschaften") in the "Panzergrenadiertruppe", comparable to NATO Other Rank-1 level.


title: Panzergrenadier

text: The "Panzergrenadier" doctrine was introduced by the German Army during the second half of the 1930s, initially being simple infantry () belonging to the armoured force (so-called "armoured infantry"), serving either as mechanized or motorized infantry depending on their mode of transportation (infantry fighting vehicle vs unarmoured vehicle). IFVs () were the preferred vehicle of transportation for the armoured infantry, but due to shortages, most units had to be transported in trucks as motorised infantry. The role of the armoured infantry was to escort and protect the armoured force from enemy infantry, allowing allied armour to deal with heavier threats. Mounted combat in IFVs could also be used in advancing assaults on to the enemy flanks. The success of this tactic during the first years of World War II lead to the introduction of a new troop type specialising in IFV combat, called ""Panzergrenadier"". All mechanized and motorised infantry in the armoured force were reclassified as such in 1942, changing their classification from infantry to armoured unit. Sweden also adopted the Panzergrenadier doctrine in 1942, to some extent indepentantly, although lacking dedicated infantry fighting vehicles until 1943.


title: Panzergrenadier

text: The term "Panzergrenadier" was not adopted until 1942. Infantry in panzer divisions from 1937 onwards were known as "Schützen" (literally in German: Gunners) Regiments; they wore the same rose pink piping on their uniforms as the tank crews (with an "S" cypher that distinguished the "Schützen" from the tank and anti-tank units that also wore that colour). Soldiers in special Motorized Infantry units wore the standard white piping of the Infantry. In 1942, when Infantry Regiments were renamed as Grenadier Regiments by Hitler as a historical homage to Frederick the Great's Army, the Schützen regiments (and the soldiers in them) began to be redesignated as Panzergrenadier regiments, as did Motorized Infantry units and soldiers. Their "Waffenfarbe" was also changed from either white (in the case of Motorized Infantry) or rose pink to a meadow-green shade previously worn by motorcycle troops. Some units did not change over their designations and/or "Waffenfarbe" accoutrements until 1943, and many veteran "Schützen" ignored regulations and kept their rose-pink until the end of the war.


title: Panzergrenadier

text: The term "Panzergrenadier" had been introduced in 1942, and was applied equally to the infantry component of Panzer divisions as well as the new divisions known as "Panzergrenadier Divisions". Most of the Heer's PzGren. divisions evolved via upgrades from ordinary infantry divisions, first to Motorized Infantry divisions and then to PzGren. divisions, retaining their numerical designation within the series for infantry divisions throughout the process. This included the 3rd, 10th, 14th, 15th, 16th, 18th, 20th, 25th, and 29th divisions. Others, such as the "Großdeutschland Division", were built up over the course of the war by repeatedly augmenting the size of an elite regiment or battalion. The Waffen-SS also created several PzGren. divisions by the same methods, or by creating new divisions from scratch later in the war. A number of PzGren. divisions in both the Heer and Waffen-SS were upgraded to Panzer divisions as the war progressed.


title: Panzergrenadier

text: The Panzergrenadier divisions were organized as combined arms formations, usually with six battalions of truck-mounted infantry organized into either two or three regiments, a battalion of tanks, and an ordinary division's complement of artillery, reconnaissance units, combat engineers, anti-tank and anti-aircraft artillery, and so forth. All these support elements would also be mechanized in a PzGren. division, though most of the artillery, anti-tank, and anti-aircraft elements were equipped with weapons towed by trucks rather than the relatively rare armored and self-propelled models. In practice the PzGren. divisions were often equipped with heavy assault guns rather than tanks, one armoured regiment with three battalions of 14 assault guns each one of them due to a chronic shortage of tanks throughout the German armed forces. A few elite units, on the other hand, might have the tanks "plus" a battalion of heavy assault guns for their anti-tank element, and armored carriers for some of their infantry battalions as well.


title: Panzergrenadier

text: On paper a "Panzergrenadier" division had one tank battalion less than a Panzer division, but two more infantry battalions, and thus was almost as strong as a Panzer division, especially on the defensive. Of 226 panzergrenadier battalions in the whole of the German Army, Luftwaffe and Waffen SS in September 1943, only 26 were equipped with armoured half tracks, or just over 11 percent. The rest were equipped with trucks.


title: Panzergrenadier

text: The use of armoured half-tracks was rare in the German Army, and even the elite "Großdeutschland Division", with two panzergrenadier regiments, only mustered a few companies' worth of the vehicles, generally Sd.Kfz. 251 troop carriers. The vast majority of Schützen/Panzergrenadier soldiers were mounted in trucks. Additionally, vehicles in the early war period suffered from poor off-road performance.


title: Panzergrenadier

text: In 1944 a couple of Panzer Divisions based in France had more than the standard one battalion mounted in Sd.Kfz. 251 troop carriers. The Panzer Lehr Division's infantry and engineers were entirely mounted in Sd.Kfz. 251 troop carriers, while the 1st Battalion in both Panzergrenadier regiments in 2. Panzer Division and 21. Panzer Division were half-equipped with armoured halftracks (Sd.Kfz. 251 troop carriers for "2. Panzer", U304(f) light armoured personnel carriers for "21. Panzer").


title: Panzergrenadier

text: When the armed forces of West Germany was formed as the Bundeswehr in late 1955, it was decided to readopt the Panzergrenadier doctrine instead of adopting the American doctrine of mechanized infantry using armoured personnel carriers as simple "battlefield taxis" and not as assault vehicles. This lead to the development of the Schützenpanzer, lang, Typ 12-3 infantry fighting vehicle, introduced in 1960, followed by the Schützenpanzer Marder 1 in 1971, followed by the cancelled Marder 2 in 1991, followed by the Schützenpanzer Puma in 2010.


title: Panzergrenadier

text: In the German army, "Panzergrenadiere" act as mechanized infantry and escort for tanks and other armoured fighting vehicles.


title: Panzergrenadier

text: According to the German central army regulation "HDv 100/100" (2000 edition), the "Panzergrenadiertruppe" and their co-operation with other armoured troops is characterized as following:


title: Panzergrenadier

text: According to the "HDv 231/100", the fighting of a "Panzergrenadier" Battalion is characterized by the following aspects:


title: Panzergrenadier

text: After the newest phase of the transformation process the German Army will be fielding the following active Panzergrenadier battalions:


title: Panzergrenadier

text: Training and development of the Panzergrenadiertruppe is usually performed by the Armoured Corps Training Centre ("Ausbildungszentrum Panzertruppen") in Munster, its commander holding the title of General der Panzertruppen. Some essential training courses, especially for urban warfare and fighting in forested terrain, are held at the "Ausbildungszentrum Infanterie" ("Infantry Training Centre") at Hammelburg.


title: Panzergrenadier

text: The main weapon system of the German Panzergrenadiers is the Schützenpanzer Puma infantry fighting vehicles. It was introduced beginning in 2010, intended to replace the Schützenpanzer Marder 1 IFV, with equipping to be completed by 2025. Due to the design of the Puma, Panzergrenadiers cannot exceed a height of 1.84 meters.


title: Panzergrenadier

text: The G36 assault rifle is the standard weapon of German infantrymen and also used by "Panzergrenadier" units. Each dismounted fireteam usually also deploys a MG3 machine gun. To fight armored vehicles or other hard targets the Panzerfaust 3 rocket-propelled grenade and the MILAN Anti-tank guided missile are in use. The "MILAN"-ATGM is used by dismounted "Panzergrenadier" fireteams (which consist of six soldiers due to the number of soldiers carried by the "Marder" and "Puma" IFVs), as well as attached to the "Marder" turret to provide the IFV with enhanced anti-armour capabilities. In tandem with the replacement of the "Marder" by the "Puma", the "MILAN" is similarly being replaced by the Spike-ATGM for mounted and dismounted use.


title: Panzergrenadier

text: As part of the Future Soldier-program, the German Infanterist der Zukunft program is also intended to be introduced into "Panzergrenadier" units and is already deployed with German soldiers in Afghanistan.


title: Panzergrenadier

text: The two existing Panzergrenadier battalions of the Austrian Bundesheer use the Ulan armoured fighting vehicle. The Waffenfarbe of the Austrian Panzergrenadiers is black.


title: Panzergrenadier

text: In 2000, the Swiss Army purchased 186 CV 90 infantry fighting vehicles from Hägglunds of Sweden. They are in use with Panzergrenadier troops.


title: Panzergrenadier

text: The Swedish Army has used infantry in its armored force since 1942, so-called "armoured infantry" (). In 1943 the first Swedish dedicated infantry fighting vehicle was introduced, namely the tgb m/42 KP. Infantry serving with it were called "armoured schütze soldiers" (). The tgb m/42 KP was generally a good design for its time but it lacked an armored roof for the troop compartment. Its wheeled design also limited its use alongside tanks when in terrain. By the late 1950s a replacement design was needed. This lead to the development of the pbv 301 and 302 IFVs, featuring tracked chassises and enclosed troop compartments. By the 1980s the next generation of Swedish IFV was in development, ultimately resulting in the strf 90 IFV, internationally known as the CV90. For a brief period, Sweden also serviced ex East German BMP-1 IFVs from the Soviet Union, under the Swedish designation pbv 501, while waiting for more strf 90s to be produced.


title: Mazda CX-7

text: The Mazda CX-7 is a mid-size crossover SUV from Mazda, and is the production version of the MX-Crossport concept car. It was shown publicly for the first time at the 2006 LA Auto Show in January. Production officially began on February 20, 2006 in Mazda's Ujina #2 factory in Hiroshima, and went on sale in April 2006 as a 2007 model. The CX-7 was Mazda's first mid-size SUV since the Navajo was discontinued in 1994.


title: Mazda CX-7

text: The CX-7 was positioned below the larger Mazda CX-9; the vehicles did not share platforms. Instead, it used the Ford C1 platform that underpinned the Ford Focus and Mazda3. The CX-7 was discontinued in August 2012 in favor of the new Mazda CX-5.


title: Mazda CX-7

text: Power comes from the same 2.3 L inline-4 "MZR L3-VDT" DISI engine used in the Mazdaspeed3 and Mazdaspeed6 coupled with a six-speed Aisin F21 automatic transmission, and tuned to produce 244 hp or 182 kW (Australian model 175 kW) at 5000 rpm and 258 lb·ft (350 N·m) of torque at a low 2500 rpm, 99% of the maximum torque is available to 5000 rpm.


title: Mazda CX-7

text: The MZR 2.3L DISI turbo engine was retuned in the North American specification CX-7 to deliver torque at a lower rpm for less turbo lag off the line, at the cost of power. This was achieved thanks to a redesigned, smaller K04 turbocharger. United Kingdom specification CX-7s featured the same, larger K04 turbocharger and transmission found in the Mazdaspeed line.


title: Mazda CX-7

text: The CX-7 shares the front suspension of the Mazda MPV minivan, and the rear suspension from the Mazda5.


title: Mazda CX-7

text: The pre-facelift CX-7's steering wheel is shared with the third generation Mazda MX-5 and the Biante.


title: Mazda CX-7

text: The CX-7 features fully independent suspension, four wheel ventilated disc brakes with standard anti-lock brakes, electronic stability control, and traction control, and a choice of either front-wheel drive, or Mazda's Active Torque Split all-wheel drive system. With the Active Torque Split system, two computer controlled magnetic clutches feed up to 50% of the engine's torque to the rear wheels.


title: Mazda CX-7

text: The Australian combined cycle official fuel economy is , similar to the Holden Captiva. But real world fuel economy is nearer to , as much or more than the Ford Territory.


title: Mazda CX-7

text: As of the model of 2010, there are four trim levels (model), "iSV", "iSport", "sTouring", and "sGrand Touring" in ascending equipment levels. Touring and Grand Touring models are available with all wheel drive and are offered with the 2.3L turbocharged engines. SV and Sport trims come with a 2.5 L "MZR L5-VE" naturally aspirated DOHC inline four engine.


title: Mazda CX-7

text: Canadian models included GS Front Wheel Drive, GS All Wheel Drive, GT Front Wheel Drive, GT All Wheel Drive. Australian models (AWD only) included "CX-7 Classic" Base trim and "CX-7 Luxury" upper trim. Models for the United Kingdom (AWD only) were not offered at the same time and included 2.3T and 2.2D 'Sport Tech'.


title: Mazda CX-7

text: The front and rear exterior fascias were revised with the front adopting the larger five point grille design similar in appearance to the contemporary RX-8, MX-5 and Mazda3/Axela.


title: Mazda CX-7

text: The interior gauges were revised, with blackout meters that featured three dimensional dials, a 3.5 inch super twisted nematic (STN) monochrome and 4.1 inch thin film transistor (TFT) color Multi Information Display (MID), (positioned at the top of the instrument panel), Bluetooth compatibility, and a Blind Spot Monitoring System.


title: Mazda CX-7

text: The car was unveiled at the February 2009 Canadian International AutoShow. The diesel version included a manual transmission, and was sold in Europe from 2009 to 2012.


title: Mazda CX-7

text: While officially classed as a 'Mid size crossover SUV', the Mazda CX-7 is considered as a 'Soft Roader' by automotive sources. The CX-7 featured an active torque split four wheel drive system, which sends up to 50% of the torque to the rear wheels on a slippery surface, to ensure a consistency of grip.


title: Mazda CX-7

text: Engine choices include 2.5 litre MZR four cylinder engine, that produces and of torque and the same MZR 2.3L DISI Turbo engine from before. Transmission is a five speed automatic for the 2.5, and a six speed automatic for the 2.3 DISI Turbo engine.


title: Mazda CX-7

text: Initially, it was expected the CX-7 nameplate would be reused on an all new seven seater based on a stretched Mazda CX-5, due to the growing popularity of three row crossovers. However, in mid 2017, Mazda instead announced the Mazda CX-8 three row crossover, which is essentially a long wheelbase version of the second generation CX-5, and was released in Japan on September 14, 2017.


title: Douglas Gresham

text: Douglas Howard Gresham (born November 10, 1945) is an American British stage and voice-over actor, biographer, film producer, and executive record producer. He is one of the two stepsons of C. S. Lewis.


title: Douglas Gresham

text: Gresham was born in New York City, the son of writers William Lindsay Gresham and Joy Davidman. William Gresham was the author of "Nightmare Alley", the classic of American noir literature, while Joy Davidman was best known for her book "Smoke on the Mountain", about the Ten Commandments. The couple were separated in 1954, and Joy moved to England with her two sons. His mother was of Jewish descent.


title: Douglas Gresham

text: Gresham's mother had become friends with C. S. Lewis through correspondence, and the friendship blossomed, eventually leading to marriage in 1956. Gresham's mother died of cancer in 1960, and Lewis continued to raise Douglas and his elder brother David. (Lewis had adopted the boys when he married, and "The Horse and His Boy" is dedicated to them both.) At Lewis's death in 1963, his estate went to his brother Major Warren Hamilton Lewis. The Major in turn passed the estate to Douglas and David ten years later.


title: Douglas Gresham

text: Douglas Gresham is a Christian, as were Lewis and his mother, while David returned to the Orthodox Judaism of their mother's ancestors while still a child in Lewis's home. Lewis made an effort to find kosher food for him.


title: Douglas Gresham

text: Gresham hosted Focus on the Family's radio adaptations of his stepfather's most famous works, and his interest in media versions thereof was later shown again when he was named co-producer for the series of theatrical films adaptations of "The Chronicles of Narnia"; he also made a cameo in the as a radio newscaster, the as a "Telmarine crier" and the as a slaver.


title: Douglas Gresham

text: Gresham came on as executive producer of recording artist Meg Sutherland's debut album in 2014, successfully signing her to Sprig Music in March with producer Christopher Hopper. He has responded to Sutherland's music by saying that it "sings from and about the heart. Sometimes it hurts. Sometimes it fills with joy. But then, beauty is like that.”


title: Douglas Gresham

text: Douglas Gresham and his wife, Merrie, lived at Rathvinden House in Leighlinbridge, County Carlow, Ireland, before moving to their house in Malta in 2008. They have five children: three sons, James, Timothy, and Dominick, and two daughters, Lucinda, and Melodie. Prior to this he owned four farms in Tasmania, Australia, with his wife Merrie and their four children.


title: Douglas Gresham

text: Gresham has written an autobiography, "Lenten Lands", of his life to the age of 28 in 1973. A fictionalized young Douglas Gresham is a character in the 1993 film "Shadowlands", in part derived from "Lenten Lands". In the film, Gresham is played by the American actor Joseph Mazzello. There is no character derived from Douglas' brother David in the film or in the stage play on which the film was based, although both Douglas and David were portrayed in the original teleplay (1985) on which the stage play was based.


title: Douglas Gresham

text: Douglas Gresham acknowledged in a 15 November 2005 interview on NPR that he and his brother, David, had been estranged, although in a 4 December 2005 interview he did say that they had been in email contact. After David's death Gresham revealed that his brother had been diagnosed as paranoid schizophrenic, and had often tried to harm him. David died in a Swiss mental hospital.


title: Sara Sampaio

text: Sara Pinto Sampaio (born 21 July 1991) is a Portuguese model best known for being a Victoria's Secret Angel. Sampaio is a Giorgio Armani beauty ambassador and works for Calzedonia. She was the first Portuguese model in the "Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue" (2014).


title: Sara Sampaio

text: Sampaio was named Best Female Model at the "Globos de Ouro" (Portuguese Golden Globes) in 2011, 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2016. In 2019, Sampaio was the winner for Fashion Personality of the Year.


title: Sara Sampaio

text: Sampaio grew up in the outskirts of Porto. After completing high school, Sampaio attended the University of Lisbon.


title: Sara Sampaio

text: Sampaio was first discovered at the age of 15, though she was not allowed to compete in modeling competitions until the age of 16. At 16, she won a hair modeling contest in Portugal called "Cabelos Pantene 2007". After the contest, she acted in a commercial in Portugal. Afterward, she was signed to an agency; however, her parents encouraged her to finish high school before becoming a professional model.


title: Sara Sampaio

text: Sampaio's dream was to work for Victoria's Secret. After her agency sent in headshots, she was asked to audition. However, she did not make it into the Fashion Show. She continued to pursue the runway and made her debut in the 2013 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show, where she walked in one segment. During her sophomore performance in 2014, she walked in two segments. In 2015, she was chosen as one of the newest Angels for the 2015 runway, and in December of the same year, she walked for the brand for the first time as an Angel. On 24 October 2016, it was announced that Sara would be walking with the other Angels in the 2016 Fashion Show in Paris, France.


title: Sara Sampaio

text: She has been featured prominently in television ads for Axe body spray in the United States. In 2012, she was chosen for the cover of the April edition of Portuguese "Vogue" and to be the face of the international advertising campaign for Calzedonia Mar, Summer 2012, which was photographed by Raphael Mazzucco in Greece and in Jamaica. She was the face of Calzedonia again in 2013, 2014, and 2015. She also appeared in the Replay Fall/Winter 11/12 campaign, alongside Irina Shayk, in the Blumarine Fall/Winter 11/12 campaign, with Adriana Lima and in the Armani Fall/Winter 11/12 campaign. In 2013, she appeared in the first edition of the year of the Portuguese "GQ", where she was presented as the "eighth wonder of the world". She appeared in Rosa Cha 2013 campaign alongside Barbara Palvin.


title: Sara Sampaio

text: On 13 November 2013, she made her debut in the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show 2013. She walked in the Pink segment. She walked the following year in two segments. In 2015, she walked in two segments, for the first year, as an Angel. She has appeared in the 2014 and 2015 editions of the "Sports Illustrated Swimsuit" edition and won the "Rookie of the year" award in 2014. Sampaio has been on the cover of "L'Officiel", "Vogue", "Marie Claire", "Glamour", "Elle", "Harper's Bazaar", "GQ", "Telva", etc. In 2015, "Maxim" honored the 20th anniversary of the brand Victoria's Secret and included Sampaio on the list "The 20 Most beautiful Angels of All time".


title: Sara Sampaio

text: In interviews with "Vogue", Sampaio talk's about being photographed nude. She considers her modelling a form of artistic expression, and nudity empowering. Sara said in the interview, "At the end of the day, we were born naked, and that's the way we are gonna go". However, she accused "Lui" magazine of sexual harassment and bullying her into posing nude for their cover when she requested that her contract stipulate a no nudity clause. She believes that everyone should feel comfortable in their own skin no matter their shapes or sizes. For this reason, Sara has spoken out against skinny shaming and mentioned in an interview that the amount of hate that she and other Victoria's Secret (VS) models experience is ridiculous. She says that "everybody is different and every metabolism is different". The model was part of "The Perfect Body" VS campaign that was later changed to "A Body for Everybody".


title: Sara Sampaio

text: Sampaio has stated on Instagram that she suffers from trichotillomania. She was praised by fans and the media for raising awareness of the little-known condition and has received many messages of support from fellow sufferers.


title: Sara Sampaio

text: Since 2015, she has been in a relationship with the entrepreneur Oliver Ripley, who ended their relationship at the end of 2020, due to their professional commitments, since end of April 2022, she has been with the American producer Zac Frognowski.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: Anatoly Borisovich Chubais (; born 16 June 1955) is a Russian politician and economist who was responsible for privatization in Russia as an influential member of Boris Yeltsin's administration in the early 1990s. During this period, he was a key figure in introducing a market economy and the principles of private ownership to Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: From 1998 to 2008, he headed the state-owned electrical power monopoly RAO UES. A 2004 survey conducted by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the "Financial Times" named Chubais the world's 54th most respected business leader. He was the head of the Russian Nanotechnology Corporation (RUSNANO) in 2008–2020. He was a member of the Advisory Council for JPMorgan Chase from September 2008 until 2013. From December 2020, he served as a special envoy of the Russian president for relations with international organisations.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: On 23 March 2022, Chubais resigned from his position of special envoy and left Russia due to his opposition to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, according to media reports. He is the highest ranked Russian figure to resign due to the invasion.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: Chubais was born on 16 June 1955 in the town of Borisov, Belarus, which was then part of the Soviet Union, the son of Raisa Efimovna (Sagal) and Boris Matveyevich Chubais. His father was Russian and his mother was Lithuanian Jewish. His father, a retired army colonel and veteran of World War II, was in the military at the time of Chubais' birth, and later worked as a lecturer of Philosophy. Though his mother received a degree in economics at university, she opted to stay home to care for their children on the military bases where her husband was regularly assigned. Anatoly Chubais has an older brother, Igor Chubais (born 1947), a philosopher.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: In 1977, Chubais graduated from the Leningrad Institute of Engineering and Economics (LEEI) in present-day St. Petersburg and joined the Communist Party of the Soviet Union until 1991 when he left it.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: While later working at LEEI, Chubais started a club called Reforma, which helped turn the city of Leningrad into a model of political reform by constructing platforms for both local and national elections. Reforma also engaged in drafting reformist legislation, an important step down the road when Chubais would work in the city government. In 1982, he attained the rank of Associate Professor (доцент) at LEEI, while in 1983, he received his Candidate of Sciences (Ph.D.) degree in Economics for the dissertation entitled "Исследование и разработка методов планирования совершенствования управления в отраслевых научно-технических организациях" (Research and Development of Methods for the Planned Improvement of Management in Industrial Research and Development Organizations).


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: Starting in the early 1980s, Chubais became a leader of an informal circle of market-oriented economists in Leningrad. In 1982, together with economists Yury Yarmagayev and Grigory Glazkov, he published an article titled "Вопросы расширения хозяйственной самостоятельности предприятий в условиях научно-технического прогресса" (Questions of Expanding the Autonomy of Business Enterprises under the conditions of Scientific and Technological Progress) in which the authors argue that no amount of central planning can predict the end-demand for products. In 1982, Chubais was introduced to the future Prime Minister of Russia Yegor Gaidar, who was invited to and attended seminars led by Chubais.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: By 1987, Chubais had become the organiser of the Leningrad chapter of the club Perestroyka, whose mission was to promote and discuss democratic ideas among the local intelligentsia. Among the people involved were his brother, Igor, who had founded the Moscow-based chapter of the Perestroyka and Perestroyka-88 clubs, future Russian Deputy Prime Minister Alexei Kudrin, future Chubais associates Pyotr Mostovoy and Alexander Kazakov, the future President of Saint Petersburg bank Vladimir Kogan, future Minister of Anti-Monopoly Policy and Entrepreneurship Support Ilya Yuzhanov, and future Deputy Governor of Saint Petersburg Mikhail Manevich.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: The dissident economists organized a tulip farm to finance their seminars. In the four days before the International Women's Day (8 March), they managed to get income equivalent to the price of several Lada cars. The tulip money was used to finance the elections of Anatoly Sobchak, Yury Boldyrev and many other democratic candidates. As a result, 2/3 of the deputies winning the 1990 elections to Leningrad Soviet were from the opposition. Chubais himself later stated that he personally did not participate in growing or selling of the flowers.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: At the end of 1990, the economist Vitaly Nayshul proposed the idea of using vouchers to facilitate mass privatization in order to transform the Soviet Union into a market economy. Chubais strongly criticized the scheme at the time, citing the inevitable inequality and social tensions that would result if implemented as proposed. Ironically, Chubais would later become the champion of the same concept just several years later.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: In 1990, upon the election of Anatoly Sobchak as Chairman of the Leningrad City Council, Chubais assumed the position of his Deputy. He was trying to implement Sobchak's idea of creating a Free Economic Zone in Leningrad. In 1991, Chubais declined the offer to become the Chairman of Leningrad Ispolkom to instead become an advisor to the mayoral administration in Leningrad (by now renamed St. Petersburg) where Sobchak had just been elected mayor. At the same time, Chubais worked as the president of newly established Wassily Leontief Center for Research in Economics.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: In November 1991, Chubais became a minister in the Yeltsin Cabinet where he managed the portfolio of Rosimushchestvo (the Committee for the Management of State Property) which was handling privatization in Russia.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: Chubais originally advocated rapid privatization in order to raise revenue, similar to the model used in Hungary. However, the Congress of People's Deputies of Russia rejected this model. Eventually, a compromise was proposed in the form of a voucher privatization program akin to the program used in the Czech Republic at the time. On 11 June 1991, the Supreme Soviet of Russia adopted this compromise and the massive program was officially initiated by decree of President Boris Yeltsin on 19 August 1991. This privatization program later came under heavy criticism. While most Russian citizens lost their savings in only a few weeks, a few oligarchs rapidly became billionaires by arbitraging the vast difference between the old domestic prices for Russian commodities versus the prices prevailing on the world market. The people who benefited from this arbitrage became known as "kleptocrats" because they stashed billions of dollars in Swiss bank accounts rather than investing in the Russian economy.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: From November 1994 until January 1996, Chubais held the position of deputy prime minister for economic and financial policy in the Russian government. Thanks to liberalizing reforms carried out in 1995, the Russian Government was finally enjoying a measure of financial stability, something its politicians had been seeking ever since the resignation of Yegor Gaidar in 1993. By the end of 1995, the average annual inflation rate had declined from 18% down to 3%.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: From April 1995 until February 1996, Chubais also represented Russia in two international financial institutions – the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD) and the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA).


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: After resigning as deputy prime minister in January 1996, Chubais agreed to manage Boris Yeltsin's reelection campaign. By this time according to public opinion surveys, Yeltsin's approval rating had fallen to roughly 3%. Chubais established the Civil Society Foundation as well as Yeltsin's Campaign Analytical Group, which became one part of the Foundation. The group helped Yeltsin regain popularity and win re-election in the second round of the polls on 3 July 1994, capturing 53.82% of the popular vote.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: From July 1996 until March 1997, Chubais was the chief of the Russian Presidential Administration. During his tenure, his office grew increasingly influential.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: Chubais participated in the Bilderberg Club session in Turnberry, Scotland in 1998, and co-chaired the Round Table of Industrialists of Russia and the EU during the joint session of the Government Commission of the Russian Federation and the European Union. He was also elected to the Board of Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs in 2000.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: According to Yeltsin's daughter and chief of staff Tatyana Yumasheva, Chubais opposed the nomination of Vladimir Putin as Prime Minister of Russia and Yeltsin's successor in 1999. Although Chubais believed Putin was qualified for the position, he feared that his appointment would be rejected by the State Duma, allow the Communist Party of the Russian Federation to gain a large enough parliamentary majority to amend the constitution, and start a civil war.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: In 1998, Chubais was elected to the chairman of the board of RAO UES of Russia, the state-owned electricity monopoly, at a special general meeting of shareholders; he soon was also appointed chairman of the board.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: Since 2000, Chubais consistently defended the need for further reform, which included dis-aggregating power generation, transmission, and distribution activities from the monopoly holding company in order to facilitate the subsequent sale of a majority of shares to private investors. Chubais was convinced that the un-bundling and privatization of the state monopoly were the only mechanisms able to raise the substantial funds needed to modernize Russia's electricity sector.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: He was elected president of the CIS Electric Power Council (2000), and later was repeatedly re-elected to that post from 2001 to 2004.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: In addition to reforms, Chubais and his team raised more than $30 billion in private investments for the Russian electric power sector. The funds were used to finance the construction of new facilities: 130 new units with a total capacity of about 29,000 MW, 10,000 kilometers of transmission lines, 60,000 kilometers of distribution network lines, and thousands of electrical sub-stations of all classes of voltage. His reforms also helped eliminate the use of barter payments and significantly reduced the number of payment defaults in the sector.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: On 17 March 2005, he survived an assassination attempt. Vladimir Kvachkov was charged for the crime, but was acquitted by a jury.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: In 2007, the Russian newspaper Vedomosti named Chubais the "Professional of the Year". The paper called him the only professional reformer in Russia because of his achievements in breaking of one monopoly into dozens of independent entities, introducing market forces into the electricity distribution system, and transforming a government institution structure into one attractive for private investment and management.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: The official business of the corporation is to promote innovation and modernization in Russia's economy in several areas. For example, RUSNANO forms an important part of the government's strategy to find economic alternatives to fossil fuels. The corporation has set a target of 900 billions rubles in sales by 2015. In the past, Chubais has compared RUSNANO to a garden in which the corporation cultivates innovative business ventures. Over its eight years of operation (2007–2015), RUSNANO has completed over 100 investment projects which resulted in the opening of 68 new plants and 28 R&D centers. As stated in the annual RUSNANO groups' financial report, the value of RUSNANO's portfolio was estimated in 2015 at 227.7 billion rubles and its net income at 17 billion rubles.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: Chubais has been a member of the Skolkovo Foundation Council since 2010, and in 2011 was elected chairman of the board of LTD RUSNANO.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: On 23 March 2022, after Russia launched a large-scale invasion of Ukraine, Chubais quit his official positions, including that as climate envoy, stating that he was opposed to the invasion, according to media reports. Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov confirmed that Chubais had resigned, but did not specify why, stating: "Whether he left or not is his personal matter". Chubais left Russia, arriving in Istanbul, Turkey, on the same day, planning to remain abroad. Alexei Navalny's spokesperson, Kira Yarmysh, suggested that Chubais had "left Russia only out of fear for his own skin and his own money". He was the highest ranked Kremlin official to resign following the start of the invasion, though he is not a member of Putin's inner circle.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: Chubais is married to Dunya Smirnova (a screenwriter and TV presenter), and has two children from his first marriage: a son, Aleksey, and a daughter, Olga.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: On 1 August 2022, Chubais told Russian journalist Ksenia Sobchak that he had been hospitalised with the neurological disorder Guillain-Barré syndrome, though Sardinian newspaper "L’Unione Sarda" reported that Italian authorities had not yet ruled out poisoning, and Italian intelligence services are awaiting his blood toxicology results in order to make sure he was not poisoned.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: In June 1993, Anatoly Chubais co-founded the "Russia's Choice" electoral bloc (Vybor Rossii), which was headed by Yegor Gaidar. In December 1993, running under this bloc, Chubais was elected as a deputy to the Russian State Duma in its first convocation.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: On 12–13 July 1994, Chubais was elected to the governing council of the party "Democratic Choice of Russia", which had been built off the electoral bloc "Russia's Choice". In December 1998, Chubais became a member of the Organizing Committee of Right Cause coalition and was elected to the Steering Committee of the Organizing Committee of this coalition.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: In May 2000, Chubais was elected co-chairman of the Coordinating Council of the Russian National Political Organization "Union of Right Forces" at its founding congress. He was also later elected co-president and a member of the Federal Political Council on 26 May 2001, during the founding congress of the "Union of Right Forces" Party (SPS).


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: On 24 January 2004, he resigned from his post as co-chair of the party but remained on the Federal Political Council of the SPS party.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: In May 2010, Chubais became the chairman of the board of trustees of the Gaidar Foundation, jointly established by the Gaidar Institute for Economic Policy and Maria Strugatsky.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: In December 2001, Chubais was awarded an honorary diploma of International Award by the International Union of Economists for his significant contributions to the Russian Federation, specifically his work applying advanced international experience to introduce contemporary methods of organizing administration, economics, finances and production processes.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: In 2008, Chubais was awarded a Presidential Commendation for helping draft part of the Russian Constitution as well as his overall contributions to democracy in Russia.


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: In 2010, Chubais was honored by with IV degree Order For Merit to the Fatherland "for outstanding contribution to the implementation of state policy in the field of nanotechnology and many years of favorable work".


title: Anatoly Chubais

text: Chubais received three presidential commendations (awarded in 1995, 1997 and 1998) and as well as one honorary Ph.D. from the St. Petersburg State Engineering and Economic University.


title: Karelian question

text: The Karelian question or Karelian issue (, ) is a dispute in Finnish politics over whether to try to regain control over eastern Finnish Karelia and other territories ceded to the Soviet Union in the Winter War and the Continuation War. Despite the name "Karelian question", the term may refer also to the return of Petsamo, ceded parts of Salla and Kuusamo, and four islands in the Gulf of Finland. Sometimes the phrase "debate on the return of the ceded territories" (, ) is used. The Karelian question remains a matter of public debate rather than a political issue.


title: Karelian question

text: The Karelian question arose when Finland was forced to cede territories to the Soviet Union after the Winter War in the Moscow peace treaty in 1940. Most Finnish citizens were evacuated from the ceded areas. Most of them returned during the Continuation War and eventually were evacuated again in 1944. The Soviet Union insisted the ceded areas be completely evacuated in 10 days. The evacuees were partly compensated for their losses; farmers, for example, received land in proportion to their earlier holdings. Usually, the compensation was about one third of the original farm. Compensation for movable property was much less. However, all evacuee families had a right to receive a small farm, and/or a plot for a detached house or a flat. The land used for these grants was confiscated by the state from municipalities and private owners. Financial compensation was funded by a general property tax of 10 to 30%, levied over a period of several years. Because the vast majority of the evacuees who had to settle in the rest of Finland were from ceded Karelia, the question was labeled "The Karelian Question". After the Winter War, Karelian municipalities and parishes established Karjalan Liitto (the Karelian Association) to defend the rights of Karelians in Finland.


title: Karelian question

text: During the Cold War, the Karelian-born Finnish politician Johannes Virolainen lobbied for the return of Karelia. President Urho Kekkonen also tried to reacquire the territory, especially when the Soviet Union returned the peninsula of Porkkala to Finland in 1956. There was, however, no significant public controversy about the case, because Kekkonen wanted to keep it quiet. The last time Kekkonen tried to raise it was in 1972, but he had no success, and public discussion died out in the 1970s.


title: Karelian question

text: After the breakup of the Soviet Union, the Karelian question somewhat re-surfaced in Finland. According to an article by the Finnish newspaper "Helsingin Sanomat" in August 2007, the Russian president Boris Yeltsin unofficially offered to sell ceded Karelia to Finland in 1991 but was declined. However, according to many Finnish political leaders and the Russian vice Prime Minister of the time, there were no such offers, only unofficial probing of the idea. Andrei Fyodorov, an advisor of Boris Yeltsin, told the "Helsingin Sanomat" that he was part of a group that was tasked by the government of Russia in 1991–1992 with calculating the price of returning Karelia to Finland. This price was set at 15 billion US dollars. According to Fyodorov, Finnish president Mauno Koivisto and Finnish foreign minister Paavo Väyrynen were aware of these unofficial discussions.


title: Karelian question

text: Karjalan Liitto is an interest group of Karelian evacuees which hopes that Karelia will once again become part of Finland at some point, but does not openly demand it. Some smaller groups, such as ProKarelia, continue to campaign for the peaceful return of Karelia. However, no serious political party has openly supported this goal, and Finnish politicians generally say there is no need for it, citing Finland's peace treaty with Russia. There are some individual politicians who support the return of Karelia, such as MEP Ari Vatanen, and two candidates in the presidential election of 2006: Timo Soini and Arto Lahti. Other candidates have stated that Finland has signed a peace treaty and should not campaign for the return of what are now Russian-developed territories. During a debate prior to the 2012 presidential election Timo Soini reiterated his view that, if elected, he would advance the issue.


title: Karelian question

text: Both Russia and Finland have repeatedly stated that no open territorial dispute exists between the two countries. Finland's official stance is that the borders may be changed through peaceful negotiations, although there is currently no need to hold open talks, as Russia has shown no intention of returning the ceded areas, or discussing the question. In 1994 Boris Yeltsin commented that the "seizure of Finnish Karelia" was an example of Stalin's totalitarian and aggressive politics. Later in 1997 he stated that the matter was closed. In 2000 President Putin stated that such discussions may endanger Finnish–Russian relations, and in 2001 he said that "changing borders is not the best way to resolve problems", but that possible solutions would be "integration and cooperation".


title: Karelian question

text: In 1998 Finnish President Martti Ahtisaari said that "Finland's official position is that it does not have territorial demands on Russia. However, if Russia wants to discuss returning the ceded areas, Finland is ready for that." Several other politicians holding government office, such as the former foreign minister Erkki Tuomioja and prime minister Matti Vanhanen, have made statements along the same lines.


title: Karelian question

text: When commenting on poll results on 18 January 2005, the Foreign Minister of Russia Sergei Lavrov stated that if Russia were to be asked to return the ceded areas, "the answer would be absolutely negative".


title: Karelian question

text: The latest polls show that approximately 26% to 38% of Finns would like to see Karelia return to Finnish control and some 51% to 62% would oppose such a move. In Russia, people associate the word "Karelia" with the Republic of Karelia instead of Finnish Karelia, which makes conducting polls more difficult. In a 1999 poll by MTV3, 34% of the people of Vyborg supported returning Karelia to Finland and 57% were opposed. Vyborg and the rest of the ceded Karelia outside the Republic of Karelia nowadays contain very few ethnic Finns, and is almost exclusively inhabited by people who moved there during the Soviet era and their descendants.


title: Karelian question

text: In a poll conducted by the newspaper "Karjala" and the research institute "MC-Info Oy" on 13 October 2005, 36% of Finns supported the return of ceded territories, compared to 51% who are opposed. In August 2005, a poll by "Helsingin Sanomat" and Suomen Gallup, determined that 30% of Finns supported and 62% opposed the return. In a poll by Taloustutkimus and Karjalan Liitto conducted in May 2005, support was 26% while 58% were opposed. A year earlier, a poll by STT showed 38% supporting and 57% opposing. A poll by Taloustutkimus was criticized by ProKarelia for asking leading questions, such as, "Do you support the return of Karelia, even if it would mean more tense relations or even war with Russia?" 5% of supporters and of those who declined to respond supported the return even under these circumstances (2.1% of all replies).


title: Karelian question

text: Many of the people who were born in Karelia and were evacuated want Karelia to become part of Finland. According to polls, older people (ages 65 and up) and young people (15-25) support the idea more strongly than the generation of their parents (25–65) who grew up during the Cold War. Former President Mauno Koivisto was against a discussion about the question. Support for regaining the ceded areas is also strong among minor nationalist right-wing groups.


title: Karelian question

text: One of the main reasons for opposing the return is the fear of the costs it would bring. According to another poll conducted by "Helsingin Sanomat", 42% of Finns opposing the return list that as the most important single reason. The standard of living on the Russian side of the border is much lower than on the Finnish side. The GDP (PPP) per capita in Finland is about double that of Russia.


title: Karelian question

text: The costs of bringing Karelia to the same level with the rest of Finland have been researched only by supporters of the idea. According to a survey conducted by ProKarelia, the area has natural advantages that, under Finnish rule, would make it a centre of trade with Russia and industry and thus bring economic growth fast enough to solve the entire problem. According to both ProKarelian research and Arto Lahti's estimate, the price of return would be about 30 billion euro.


title: Karelian question

text: The area is inhabited mostly by people who moved there from Ukraine, Belarus and Russia, and their descendants. The fate of these people is a major issue in discussions of the return of Karelia to Finland. According to the poll by "Helsingin Sanomat", 14% of people opposing return consider its greatest flaw the tensions that would be caused by a Russian-speaking minority being formed in Finland. In 2004, there were about 370,000 Russians living in the region.


title: Karelian question

text: If the inhabitants were allowed to stay in their homes, Finland would receive a few hundred thousand new Russian-speaking people with no experience of living in Finnish society. If services for them in their own language were to be provided, Finland would need many more officials capable of speaking Russian. In ProKarelia's vision, nearly half of the Russian population in Karelia would be estimated to choose to move to Russia, and even more would leave if Finland paid their expenses for doing so. However most of the Russian speaking population of Karelia were born there and have spent all their life in the region.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: The Shwedagon Pagoda (, ); ; officially named Shwedagon Zedi Daw (, , ) and also known as the Great Dagon Pagoda and the Golden Pagoda is a gilded stupa located in Yangon, Myanmar.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: The Shwedagon is the most sacred Buddhist pagoda in Myanmar, as it is believed to contain relics of the four previous Buddhas of the present kalpa. These relics include the staff of Kakusandha, the water filter of Koṇāgamana, a piece of the robe of Kassapa, and eight strands of hair from the head of Gautama.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: Built on the high Singuttara Hill, the tall pagoda stands above sea level, and dominates the Yangon skyline. Yangon's zoning regulations, which cap the maximum height of buildings to above sea level (75% of the pagoda's sea level height), ensure the Shwedagon's prominence in the city's skyline.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: According to tradition, the Shwedagon Pagoda was constructed more than 2,500 years ago, which would make it the oldest Buddhist stupa in the world. The story goes that two merchant brothers Tapussa and Bhallika met the Gautama Buddha during his lifetime and received eight strands of the Buddha's hairs. The brothers presented the eight strands of hair to King Okkalapa of Dagon who enshrined the strands along with some relics of the three preceding Buddhas of the Gautama Buddha in a stupa on the Singuttara Hill in present-day Myanmar.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: The first mention of the pagoda in the royal chronicles dates only to 1362/63 CE (724 ME) when King Binnya U of Martaban–Hanthawaddy raised the pagoda to . Contemporary inscriptional evidence, the Shwedagon Pagoda Inscriptions from the reign of King Dhammazedi of Hanthawaddy (r. 1471–1492), shows a list of repairs of the pagoda going back to 1436. In particular, Queen Shin Saw Pu (r. 1454–1471) raised its height to , and gilded the new structure. By the beginning of the 16th century, Shwedagon Pagoda had become the most famous Buddhist pilgrimage site in Burma.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: A series of earthquakes during the following centuries caused damage. The worst damage was caused by a 1768 earthquake that brought down the top of the stupa, but King Hsinbyushin in 1775 raised it to its current height of (without counting the height of the "hti" (crown umbrella)). A new "hti" was donated by King Mindon in 1871, nearly two decades after the annexation of Lower Burma by the British. A moderate earthquake in October 1970 left the shaft of the "hti" out of alignment; extensive repairs were needed to rectify the problem.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: The Shwedagon Pagoda Festival, which is the largest pagoda festival in the country, begins during the new moon of the month of Tabaung in the traditional Burmese calendar and continues until the full moon. The pagoda is on the Yangon City Heritage List.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: The stupa's plinth is made of bricks covered with gold plates. Above the base are terraces that only monks and other males can access. Next is the bell-shaped part of the stupa. Above that is the turban, then the inverted almsbowl, inverted and upright lotus petals, the banana bud and then the umbrella crown. The crown is tipped with 5,448 diamonds and 2,317 rubies. Immediately before the diamond bud is a flag-shaped vane. The very top—the diamond bud—is tipped with a 76 carat (15 g) diamond.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: The gold seen on the stupa is made of genuine gold plates, covering the brick structure and attached by traditional rivets. People all over the country, as well as successive monarchs, starting from Queen Shin Saw Pu, have donated gold to the pagoda to maintain it.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: There are four entrances, each leading up a flight of steps to the platform on Singuttara Hill. A pair of giant leogryphs guards each entrance. The eastern and southern approaches have vendors selling books, good luck charms, images of the Buddha, candles, gold leaf, incense sticks, prayer flags, streamers, miniature umbrellas and flowers.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: It is customary to circumnavigate Buddhist stupas in a clockwise direction. In accordance with this principle, one may begin at the eastern directional shrine, which houses a statue of Kakusandha, the first Buddha of the present kalpa. Next, at the southern directional shrine, is a statue of the second Buddha, Koṇāgamana. Next, at the western directional shrine, is that of the third Buddha, Kassapa. Finally, at the northern directional shrine, is that of the fourth Buddha, Gautama.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: Though most Burmese are Theravada Buddhists, many also follow practices which originated in Hindu astrology. The Burmese astrology recognizes the seven planets of astrology — the Sun, Moon, Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, and in addition, two other planets, Rahu and Ketu. All the names of the planets are borrowed from Hindu astrology, but the Burmese Rahu and Ketu are different from the Hindu Rahu and Ketu. The Burmese consider them to be distinct and separate planets, whereas Hindu astrology considers them to be either the Dragon's Head and Tails, or Ascending and Descending Nodes. To the Burmese, Ketu is the king of all planets. As in many other languages, the Burmese name the seven days of their week after the seven planets, but Burmese astrology recognizes an eight-day week, with Wednesday being divided into two days: until 6:00p.m. it is Wednesday, but from 6:00p.m. until midnight it is Rahu's day.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: It is important for Burmese Buddhists to know on which day of the week they were born, as this determines their planetary post. There are eight planetary posts, as Wednesday is split in two (a.m. and p.m.). They are marked by animals that represent the day — garuda for Sunday, tiger for Monday, lion for Tuesday, tusked elephant for Wednesday morning, tuskless elephant for Wednesday afternoon, mouse for Thursday, guinea pig for Friday and nāga for Saturday. Each planetary post has a Buddha image and devotees offer flowers and prayer flags and pour water on the image with a prayer and a wish called a Blessing Ritual. At the base of the post behind the image is a guardian angel, and underneath the image is the animal representing that particular day. The plinth of the stupa is octagonal and also surrounded by eight small shrines (one for each planetary post). It is customary to circumnavigate Buddhist stupas in a clockwise direction. Many devotees perform a blessing ritual by pouring water at their planetary post.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: The pilgrim, on his way up the steps of the pagoda, buys flowers, candles, coloured flags and streamers. These are to be placed at the stupa in a symbolic act of giving, an important aspect of Buddhist teaching. There are donation boxes located in various places around the pagoda to receive voluntary offerings which may be given to the pagoda for general purposes. In December 2017, foreigners were charged a Ks.10,000/- (approx. US$7) entrance fee.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: Rudyard Kipling described his 1889 visit to Shwedagon Pagoda ten years later in "From Sea to Sea and Other Sketches, Letters of Travel"


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: In 1608 the Portuguese adventurer Filipe de Brito e Nicote, known as "Nga Zinka" to the Burmese, plundered the Shwedagon Pagoda. His men took the 300-ton Great Bell of Dhammazedi, donated in 1485 by the Mon King Dhammazedi. De Brito's intention was to melt the bell down to make cannons, but it fell into the Bago River when he was carrying it across. To this date, it has not been recovered.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: Two centuries later, the British landed on May 11, 1824, during the First Anglo-Burmese War. They immediately seized and occupied the Shwedagon Pagoda and used it as a fortress until they left two years later. There was pillaging and vandalism, and one officer's excuse for digging a tunnel into the depths of the stupa was to find out if it could be used as a gunpowder magazine. The Maha Gandha (lit. great sweet sound) Bell, a 23-ton bronze bell cast in 1779 and donated by King Singu and popularly known as the Singu Min Bell, was carried off with the intention to ship it to Kolkata. It met the same fate as the Dhammazedi Bell and fell into the river. When the British failed in their attempts to recover it, the people offered to help provided it could be restored to the stupa. The British, thinking it would be in vain, agreed, upon which divers went in to tie hundreds of bamboo poles underneath the bell and floated it to the surface. There has been much confusion over this bell and the 42-ton Tharrawaddy Min Bell donated in 1841 by Tharrawaddy Min along with 20 kg of gold plating; this massive ornate bell hangs in its pavilion in the northeast corner of the stupa. A different but less plausible version of the account of the Singu Min Bell was given by Lt. J.E. Alexander in 1827. This bell can be seen hung in another pavilion in the northwest of the pagoda platform.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: The Second Anglo-Burmese War saw the British re-occupation of the Shwedagon in April 1852, only this time the stupa was to remain under their military control for 77 years, until 1929, although the people were given access to the Paya.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: During the British occupation and fortification of the Pagoda, Lord Maung Htaw Lay, the most prominent Mon-Burmese in British Burma, successfully prevented the British Army from looting of the treasures; he eventually restored the Pagoda to its former glory and status with the financial help from the British rulers. This extract is from the book “A Twentieth Century Burmese Matriarch” written by his great-great-great grand daughter Khin Thida.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: In 1920, students from Burma's only university met at a pavilion on the southwest corner of the Shwedagon pagoda and planned a protest strike against the new University Act which they believed would only benefit the elite and perpetuate colonial rule. This place is now commemorated by a memorial. The result of the ensuing University Boycott was the establishment of "national schools" financed and run by the Burmese people; this day has been commemorated as the Burmese National Day since. During the second university students strike in history of 1936, the terraces of the Shwedagon were again where the student strikers camped out.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: In 1938, oilfield workers on strike hiked all the way from the oilfields of Chauk and Yenangyaung in central Burma to Rangoon to establish a strike camp at the Shwedagon Pagoda. This strike, supported by the public as well as students and came to be known as the '1300 Revolution' after the Burmese calendar year, was broken up by the police who, in their boots whereas Burmese would remove their shoes in pagoda precincts, raided the strike camps on the pagoda.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: The "shoe question" on the pagoda has always been a sensitive issue to the Burmese people since colonial times. The Burmese people had always removed shoes at all Buddhist pagodas. Hiram Cox, the British envoy to the Burmese Court, in 1796, observed the tradition by not visiting the pagoda rather than take off his shoes. However, after the annexation of lower Burma, European visitors as well as troops posted at the pagoda openly flouted the tradition. U Dhammaloka publicly confronted a police officer over wearing shoes at the pagoda in 1902. It was not until 1919 that the British authorities finally issued a regulation prohibiting footwear in the precincts of the pagoda. However, they put in an exception that employees of the government on official business were allowed footwear. The regulation and its exception clause moved to stir up the people and played a role in the beginnings of the nationalist movement. Today, no footwear or socks are allowed on the pagoda.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: In January 1946, General Aung San addressed a mass meeting at the stupa, demanding "independence now" from the British with a thinly veiled threat of a general strike and uprising. Forty-two years later, on August 26, 1988, his daughter, Aung San Suu Kyi addressed another mass meeting of 500,000 people at the stupa, demanding democracy from the military regime and calling the 8888 Uprising the second struggle for independence.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: In September 2007, during nationwide demonstrations against the military regime and its recently enacted price increases, protesting monks were denied access to the pagoda for several days before the government finally relented and permitted them in.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: On September 24, 2007, 20,000 bhikkhus and thilashins (the largest protest in 20 years) marched at the Shwedagon Pagoda, Yangon. On Monday, 30,000 people led by 15,000 monks marched from Shwedagon Pagoda and past the offices of Aung San Suu Kyi's opposition National League for Democracy (NLD) party. Comedian Zarganar and star Kyaw Thu brought food and water to the monks. On Saturday, monks marched to greet Aung San Suu Kyi, who is under house arrest. On Sunday, about 150 nuns joined the marchers. On September 25, 2007, 2,000 monks and supporters defied threats from Myanmar's junta. They marched to Yangon streets at Shwedagon Pagoda amid army trucks and the warning of Brigadier-General Myint Maung not to violate Buddhist ""rules and regulations"."


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: On September 26, 2007, clashes between security forces and thousands of protesters led by Buddhist monks in Myanmar have left at least five protesters dead by Myanmar security forces, according to opposition reports, in an anticipated crackdown. Earlier in the day security authorities used tear gas, warning shots and force to break up a peaceful demonstration by scores of monks gathered around the Shwedagon Pagoda.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: The web site reports that protesting "monks were beaten and bundled into waiting army trucks," adding about 50 monks were arrested and taken to undisclosed locations.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: In addition, the opposition said "soldiers with assault rifles have sealed off sacred Buddhist monasteries ... as well as other flashpoints of anti-government protests."


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: It reports that the violent crackdown came as about 100 monks defied a ban by venturing into a cordoned-off area around the Shwedagon Pagoda, Myanmar's holiest Buddhist shrine.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: It says that authorities ordered the crowd to disperse, but witnesses said the monks sat down and began praying, defying the military government's ban on public assembly.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: Security forces at the pagoda "struck out at demonstrators" and attacked "several hundred other monks and supporters," the opposition web site detailed.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: Monks were ushered away by authorities and loaded into waiting trucks while several hundred onlookers watched, witnesses said. Some managed to escape and headed towards the Sule Pagoda, a Buddhist monument and landmark located in Yangon's city centre.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: Uppatasanti Pagoda—located in Naypyidaw, the capital of Myanmar—is a replica of Shwedagon Pagoda. Completed in 2009, it is similar in many aspects to Shwedagon Pagoda, but its height is less than that of Shwedagon.


title: Shwedagon Pagoda

text: Another replica of Shwedagon Pagoda, in height, was constructed at Lumbini Natural Park in Berastagi, North Sumatra, Indonesia. Completed in 2010, the construction materials for this pagoda, were imported from Myanmar.


title: Aptiv

text: Aptiv PLC is an Irish-American automotive technology supplier with headquarters in Dublin. Aptiv grew out of the now-defunct American company, Delphi Automotive Systems, which itself was formerly a component of General Motors.


title: Aptiv

text: The company was established as General Motors' Automotive Components Group in 1994, which changed its name to Delphi Automotive Systems in 1995. Delphi disclosed some irregular accounting practices in 2005. A number of executives, including CFO Alan Dawes, resigned. Delphi Chairman J.T. Battenberg retired. Delphi then filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection to reorganize its struggling U.S. operations. As a result of this action, the Securities and Exchange Commission granted an application by the New York Stock Exchange to delist Delphi's common stock and bonds.


title: Aptiv

text: Plants in Puerto Real, Cádiz, Spain, closed, with a loss of 1,600 direct jobs, and more than 2,500 indirect jobs in February 2007, despite having agreed to continue its manufacturing operations until 2010 and receiving more than from various public administrations in order to guarantee its workers' jobs. The Regional Government of Andalusia announced it would begin legal action against the company for breach of local labor laws.


title: Aptiv

text: Delphi sued its investors for US$2.55 billion in securities to aid Delphi as it sought to come out of bankruptcy in May 2008. U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Robert Drain in New York allowed Delphi to seek payments through a contract against Appaloosa Management LP as well as denying an investors' request for a cap of $250 million for damages. In April 2009 CoolIT Systems announced the acquisition of the assets of Delphi Thermal Liquid Cooling including intellectual property, machinery, and equipment.


title: Aptiv

text: A group of private investors purchased Delphi's core assets to create a new Delphi Corporation in October 2009. Some of its non-core steering operations sold to General Motors Company, the successor to the bankrupt Motors Liquidation Company that was formerly General Motors Corporation. The stock was cancelled. The old Delphi Corporation was renamed DPH Holdings Corporation. The new Delphi incorporated in the United Kingdom.


title: Aptiv

text: Delphi sold its Thermal Business unit to Mahle-Behr GmbH in July 2015. Together, the Mahle-Behr and Delphi Thermal merger represented the second largest supplier of automotive thermal management systems including interior HVAC components, under-hood powertrain cooling and compressors. The company announced improvements to self driving technology under development in December 2015. In the same month Delphi bought HellermannTyton for $1.7 billion.


title: Aptiv

text: Delphi entered into a partnership agreement with Carbon in June 2016 to allow use of Carbon's Continuous Liquid Interface Production technology and printers. The company then bought the self-driving startup NuTonomy for $450 million in October 2017.


title: Aptiv

text: The company divested its powertrain division and aftermarket related businesses (now Borg Warner's Delphi Technologies division) in December 2017 and changed its name to Aptiv PLC. In August 2019, Aptiv and Hyundai Motor Group announced plans to establish a $4 billion autonomous driving joint venture in which the firms would each have a 50% stake. The companies said the joint venture, which would have its headquarters in Boston, would focus on advancing the “design, development and commercialization of SAE Level 4 and 5 autonomous technologies.” The joint venture closed in March 2020 and was named Motional in August 2020.


title: Aptiv

text: In January 2021, Aptiv revealed a new platform for automated driving that can be applied on various vehicles and that carmakers can upgrade wirelessly.


title: Aptiv

text: On 11 January 2022, Aptiv announced that they had acquired Wind River Systems, a company known for its development of real-time operating systems.


title: Aptiv

text: On 4 March 2005, Delphi said it had fired its CFO and would restate earnings between 1999, when Delphi spun off from General Motors Corp (GM), and 2004 for improper reporting of rebates, credits, or other payments from suppliers. In June, 2006, Delphi said in a filing that it would restate its 2005 report, which would increase Delphi's reported 2004 net loss by $65 million. In 2013, Delphi became involved in an ongoing lawsuit against GM, because it manufactures ignition switches for the Chevrolet Cobalt, whose original design is alleged to be defective.


title: Aptiv

text: In 2009, as a result of its bankruptcy agreement, "Delphi surrendered its pension obligations to the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation." A group of about 20,000 salaried employees, principally in Ohio, Michigan, New York and Indiana, have been involved in litigation since then seeking restoration of their full pension rights.


title: Aptiv

text: Researchers at the University of Massachusetts Amherst allegedly identified Delphi corp. as the 21st-largest corporate producer of air pollution in the United States in 2002. According to the study, the manufacturer's most toxic emissions included asbestos (542 lb/yr), chromium compounds (1,082 lb/yr), lead compounds (8,466 lb/yr), and sulfuric acid (17,600 lbs/year), while the most massive emissions were glycol ethers (111,520 lbs/year) and hydrochloric acid (80,000 lb/yr).


title: Agrawal

text: Agrawal (anglicised as Agarwal, Agerwal, Agrawala, Agarwala, Agarwalla, Aggarwal, Agarawal, Agarawala) is a Bania community found throughout northern, central and western India, mainly in the states of Rajasthan, Haryana, Punjab, Chandigarh, Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh. Members of the Agrawal community were also found in what are now the Pakistani provinces of Punjab and Sindh, though at the time of the partition of India, most of them migrated across the newly created border to independent India. The majority religions followed by the Agrawals include Vaishnava Hinduism and Jainism. Agrawals are divided into eighteen exogamous clans (gotras). Many members of this community use their clan name Agrawal as their surname, while others use that of their gotras.


title: Agrawal

text: Members of the Agrawal community are known for their business acumen and have for many years been influential and prosperous in India. Even in modern-day tech and ecommerce companies, they continue to dominate. It was reported in 2013, that for every 100 in funding for e-commerce companies in India, 40 went to firms founded by Agrawals.


title: Agrawal

text: During the era of Islamic administrative rule in India, some Agrawal, as with the Saraogi, migrated to the Bikaner State. The Malkana include Muslim Agrawals, who converted from Hinduism to Islam during this time and were given land tracts along the Yamuna by Afghan rulers.


title: Agrawal

text: In the early 15th century, Agrawals flourished as a Halwai trader community, under the Tomaras of Gwalior. According to several Sanskrit inscription at the Gwalior Fort in Gwalior District, several traders (Sanghavi Kamala Simha, Khela Brahmachari, Sandhadhip Namadas etc.) belonging to "Agrotavansha" (Agrawal clan) supported the sculptures and carving of idols at the place.


title: Agrawal

text: Later, during the Mughal rule, and during the British East India Company administration, some Agrawals migrated to Bihar and Calcutta, who became the major component of the Marwaris.


title: Agrawal

text: Agrawals belong to various gotras, traditionally said to be seventeen and a half in number. According to Bharatendu Harishchandra's "Agarwalon ki Utpatti" (1871), Agrasen - the legendary progenitor of the community - performed 17 sacrifices and left the eighteenth incomplete, resulting in this number. Bharatendu also mentions that Agrasen had 17 queens and a junior queen, but does not mention any connection between the number of gotras and the number of queens, or describe how the sacrifices led to the formation of the gotras. Another popular legend claims that a boy and girl from the Goyan gotra married each other by mistake, which led to the formation of a new "half" gotra.


title: Agrawal

text: Historically, there has been no unanimity regarding number and names of these seventeen and a half gotras, and there are regional differences between the list of gotras. The Akhil Bhartiya Agrawal Sammelan, a major organization of Agrawals, has created a standardized list of gotras, which was adopted as an official list by a vote at the organization's 1983 convention. Because the classification of any particular gotra as "half" is considered insulting, the Sammelan provides a list of following 18 gotras:


title: Agrawal

text: The existence of all the gotras mentioned in the list is controversial, and the list does not include several existing clans such as Kotrivala, Pasari, Mudgal, Tibreval, and Singhla.


title: Karen Austin

text: Karen Austin is an American actress. She played Lana Wagner on the sitcom "Night Court" in 1984. Her film appearances include "Summer Rental" (1985), "Jagged Edge" (1985), and "The Ladies Club" (1986).


title: Karen Austin

text: Austin first gained notability in the late 1970s with a string of television guest appearances on highly rated programs such as "Happy Days", "The Rockford Files", "Chip's", and "Dallas".


title: Karen Austin

text: In the 1980s, she was a regular on the first season of the successful NBC comedy series "Night Court", where she played court clerk Lana Wagner for 10 episodes before leaving the series. Her character was replaced by Mac Robinson (Charles Robinson) for the remaining eight seasons. She had a lead role as the wife of John Candy's character in "Summer Rental" (1985).


title: Mantle (geology)

text: A mantle is a layer inside a planetary body bounded below by a core and above by a crust. Mantles are made of rock or ices, and are generally the largest and most massive layer of the planetary body. Mantles are characteristic of planetary bodies that have undergone differentiation by density. All terrestrial planets (including Earth), a number of asteroids, and some planetary moons have mantles.


title: Mantle (geology)

text: The Earth's mantle is a layer of silicate rock between the crust and the outer core. Its mass of 4.01 × 10 kg is 67% the mass of the Earth. It has a thickness of making up about 84% of Earth's volume. It is predominantly solid, but in geological time it behaves as a viscous fluid. Partial melting of the mantle at mid-ocean ridges produces oceanic crust, and partial melting of the mantle at subduction zones produces continental crust.


title: Mantle (geology)

text: Mercury has a silicate mantle approximately thick, constituting only 28% of its mass. Venus's silicate mantle is approximately thick, constituting around 70% of its mass. Mars's silicate mantle is approximately thick, constituting ~74–88% of its mass, and may be represented by chassignite meteorites.


title: Mantle (geology)

text: Jupiter's moons Io, Europa, and Ganymede have silicate mantles; Io's ~ silicate mantle is overlain by a volcanic crust, Ganymede's ~ thick silicate mantle is overlain by ~ of ice, and Europa's ~ km silicate mantle is overlain by ~ of ice and possibly liquid water.


title: Mantle (geology)

text: The silicate mantle of the Earth's moon is approximately 1300–1400 km thick, and is the source of mare basalts. The lunar mantle might be exposed in the South Pole-Aitken basin or the Crisium basin. The lunar mantle contains a seismic discontinuity at ~ depth, most likely related to a change in composition.


title: Mantle (geology)

text: Some of the largest asteroids have mantles; for example, Vesta has a silicate mantle similar in composition to diogenite meteorites.


title: End Times (Breaking Bad)

text: "End Times" is the twelfth and penultimate episode of the fourth season of the American television drama series "Breaking Bad", and the 45th overall episode of the series. It originally aired on AMC in the United States on October 2, 2011. "GQ", and "Salon.com" named "End Times" as one of the best television episodes of 2011.


title: End Times (Breaking Bad)

text: After receiving an anonymous warning from Saul Goodman about Hank Schrader having been targeted by a drug cartel, the DEA dispatches a squad of agents to guard Hank and Marie Schrader's house. The White family is also brought to the Schrader household for protection, but Walter White convinces Skyler White to let him stay behind at their own house, ready to face the consequences of his actions. Walt sits nervously in the backyard, spinning a gun on the table that keeps pointing at him, but takes note when it points at a potted plant. Hank deduces that his investigation of Gus Fring is the reason for the threat on his life, so he asks Steve "Gomey" Gomez to search the industrial laundromat for him.


title: End Times (Breaking Bad)

text: Gomez and an officer with a drug-sniffing dog later check out the laundromat but don't find anything, although Jesse Pinkman and Tyrus Kitt were below them in the hidden meth lab. Gus, in a phone call to Jesse, implies the police attention is Walter's fault, and Walter must be killed to protect themselves, but Jesse again refuses to cook if Walter is killed. Saul later hands Jesse's entire share of the meth profits to Jesse, since Saul is planning to temporarily flee Albuquerque until the feud between Walter and Gus is over. Saul reveals that Gus took Walter to the desert and threatened his family, a revelation by which Jesse is taken aback. Jesse later receives a call from Andrea Cantillo that her son, Brock Cantillo, has become seriously ill and is in the hospital. Jesse discovers the ricin cigarette, which he kept handy to poison Gus, is missing and concludes that Brock somehow ingested the ricin.


title: End Times (Breaking Bad)

text: Jesse confronts a paranoid Walter at the Whites' house. Jesse grabs Walter's gun and points it at him, accusing him of poisoning Brock out of spite. Walter claims that Gus must have planned Brock's poisoning and framed Walter for it in order to manipulate Jesse into killing him; the cameras around the lab probably spotted the cigarette, and Tyrus must have taken it out of Jesse's locker, tracked down Brock, and poisoned him. Walter and Jesse know Gus is not above killing children, after the death of Andrea's younger brother, Tomás Cantillo, and Jesse ultimately decides that Walter is innocent. The two team up to kill Gus.


title: End Times (Breaking Bad)

text: Jesse visits the hospital daily, but Andrea will not let him see Brock after he divulges knowledge about the ricin poisoning. Jesse refuses to leave the hospital, which ruins the latest meth cook and says he will only leave if Gus orders him to in person. When Gus arrives at the hospital, Walter plants a homemade bomb under Gus' car and watches from a nearby rooftop for the right moment to detonate it. As Gus and his bodyguards return to the car, Gus senses something is amiss and leaves the area, leaving Walter distraught about missing his chance.


title: End Times (Breaking Bad)

text: On the "Breaking Bad Insider Podcast", director Vince Gilligan reveals that the crew faced time constraints during this episode's production. Consequently, Gilligan decided during filming to cut a scripted scene wherein Walt and Jesse formulate a plan to kill Gus. In addition, the episode was filmed concurrently with the following episode, "Face Off", in order to save time.


title: End Times (Breaking Bad)

text: The episode received critical acclaim and it is regarded as one of Season 4's best episodes. Critics praised Aaron Paul's performance, the ending with Walt and Gus and the revelation in the episode that Brock is poisoned. Seth Amitin of "IGN" gave the episode a 9 out of 10.


title: End Times (Breaking Bad)

text: Aaron Paul won the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actor in a Drama Series at the 64th Primetime Emmy Awards for his performance in this episode.<br>Kelley Dixon was also nominated for the Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Single-Camera Picture Editing for a Drama Series for this episode.


title: Congress of Berlin

text: The Congress of Berlin (13 June – 13 July 1878) was a diplomatic conference to reorganise the states in the Balkan Peninsula after the Russo-Turkish War of 1877–78, which had been won by Russia against the Ottoman Empire. Represented at the meeting were Europe's then six great powers: Russia, Great Britain, France, Austria-Hungary, Italy and Germany; the Ottomans; and four Balkan states: Greece, Serbia, Romania and Montenegro. The congress concluded with the signing of the Treaty of Berlin, replacing the preliminary Treaty of San Stefano that had been signed three months earlier.


title: Congress of Berlin

text: The leader of the congress, German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck, sought to stabilise the Balkans, reduce the role of the defeated Ottoman Empire in the region, and balance the distinct interests of Britain, Russia and Austria-Hungary. He also wanted to avoid domination of the Balkans by Russia or the formation of a Greater Bulgaria, and to keep Constantinople in Ottoman hands. Finally Bismarck wanted to encourage the development of civil rights for Jews in the region. Under Bismarck's influence, the congress stripped the Ottomans of many of their European possessions, but refused to grant them to Russia and massively reduced the gains of Bulgaria (compared to the Principality of Bulgaria envisaged by the preliminary San Stefano treaty).


title: Congress of Berlin

text: The affected territories were instead granted varying degrees of independence. Romania became fully independent, though was forced to give part of Bessarabia to Russia, and gained Northern Dobruja. Serbia and Montenegro were also granted full independence but lost territory, with Austria-Hungary occupying the Sandžak region along with Bosnia and Herzegovina. Britain took possession of Cyprus. Of the territory that remained within the Ottoman Empire, Bulgaria was made a semi-independent principality, Eastern Rumelia became a special administration, and the region of Macedonia was returned to the Ottomans on condition of reforms to its governance.


title: Congress of Berlin

text: The results were initially hailed as a success for peace in the region, but most of the participants were not satisfied with the outcome. The Ottomans were humiliated and had their weakness confirmed as the "sick man of Europe". Russia resented the lack of rewards, despite having won the war that the conference was supposed to resolve, and humiliated by the other great powers in their rejection of the San Stefano settlement. Serbia, Bulgaria and Greece all received far less than they thought they deserved, especially Bulgaria which was left with less than half of the territory envisioned by the Treaty of San Stefano. Bismarck became hated by Russian nationalists and Pan-Slavists, and later found that he had tied Germany too closely to Austria-Hungary in the Balkans. Although Austria-Hungary gained substantial territory, this angered the South Slavs and led to decades of tensions in Bosnia and Herzegovina, culminating in the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.


title: Congress of Berlin

text: In the long term, the settlement led to rising tensions between Russia and Austria-Hungary, and disputes over nationalism in the Balkans. Grievances with the results of the congress festered until they exploded in the First and Second Balkan Wars (1912 and 1913 respectively). Continuing nationalism in the Balkans was one of the causes of the First World War in 1914.


title: Congress of Berlin

text: In the decades leading up to the congress, Russia and the Balkans had been gripped by Pan-Slavism, a movement to unite all the Balkan Slavs under one rule. The Treaty of San Stefano, which had created a "Greater Bulgaria", was opposed as a display of Pan-Slavic hegemonic ambition in southeastern Europe. In Imperial Russia, Pan-Slavism meant the creation of a unified Slavic state, under Russian direction, and was essentially a byword for Russian conquest of the Balkan peninsula. The realisation of the goal would have given Russia control of the Dardanelles and the Bosphorus, thus economic control of the Black Sea and substantially greater geopolitical power. That desire evolved similarly to the Pan-Germanism and Pan-Italianism, which had resulted in two unifications, took different forms in the various Slavic nations.


title: Congress of Berlin

text: Balkan Slavs felt they needed both an equivalent to Piedmont to serve as a base and an outside sponsor corresponding to France. The state that was meant to serve as the locus for unification of the Balkans under a "Slavic" rule was not always clear, as initiative wafted between Serbia and Bulgaria. Italian rhetoric by contrast cast Romania as Latin, a "second Piedmont".


title: Congress of Berlin

text: The recognition of the Bulgarian Exarchate by the Ottomans in 1870 had been intended to separate the Bulgarians, religiously from the Greek patriarch, and politically from Serbia. Pan-Slavism required the end of Ottoman rule in the Balkans. How and whether that goal would be realised was the major question to be answered at the Congress of Berlin.


title: Congress of Berlin

text: The Balkans were a major stage for competition between the European great powers in the second half of the 19th century. Britain and Russia had interests in the fate of the Balkans. Russia was interested in the region, both ideologically, as a pan-Slavist unifier, and practically, to secure greater control of the Mediterranean. Britain was interested in preventing Russia from accomplishing its goals. Furthermore, the Unifications of Italy and of Germany had stymied the ability of a third European power, Austria-Hungary, to expand its domain to the southwest any further. Germany, as the most powerful continental nation since the 1871 Franco-Prussian War had little direct interest in the settlement and so was the only power that could mediate the Balkan question credibly.


title: Congress of Berlin

text: Russia and Austria-Hungary, the two powers that were most invested in the fate of the Balkans, were allied with Germany in the conservative League of Three Emperors, which had been founded to preserve the monarchies of Continental Europe. The Congress of Berlin was thus mainly a dispute among supposed allies of Bismarck and his German Empire, the arbiter of the discussion, would thus have to choose before the end of the congress which of their allies to support. That decision was to have direct consequences on the future of European geopolitics.


title: Congress of Berlin

text: Ottoman brutality in the Serbian–Ottoman War and the violent suppression of the Herzegovina Uprising fomented political pressure within Russia, which saw itself as the protector of the Serbs, to act against the Ottoman Empire. David MacKenzie wrote that "sympathy for the Serbian Christians existed in Court circles, among nationalist diplomats, and in the lower classes, and was actively expressed through the Slav committees".


title: Congress of Berlin

text: Eventually, Russia sought and obtained Austria-Hungary's pledge of benevolent neutrality in the coming war, in return for ceding Bosnia Herzegovina to Austria-Hungary in the Budapest Convention of 1877. act: The Berlin Congress in effect postponed resolution of the Bosnian question and left Bosnia and Herzegovina under Habsburg control. This was the goal of Hungarian Count Gyula Andrássy.


title: Congress of Berlin

text: After the Bulgarian April Uprising in 1876 and the Russian victory in the Russo-Turkish War in 1877–1878, Russia had liberated almost all of the Ottoman European possessions. The Ottomans recognised Montenegro, Romania and Serbia as independent, and the territories of all three of them were expanded. Russia created a large Principality of Bulgaria as an autonomous vassal of the sultan. That expanded Russia's sphere of influence to encompass the entire Balkans, which alarmed other powers in Europe. Britain, which had threatened war with Russia if it occupied Constantinople, and France did not want another power meddling in either the Mediterranean or the Middle East, where both powers were prepared to make large colonial gains. Austria-Hungary desired Habsburg control over the Balkans, and Germany wanted to prevent its ally from going to war. German Chancellor Otto von Bismarck thus called the Congress of Berlin to discuss the partition of the Ottoman Balkans among the European powers and to preserve the League of Three Emperors in the face of the spread of European liberalism.


title: Congress of Berlin

text: The Congress was attended by Britain, Austria-Hungary, France, Germany, Italy, Russia and the Ottoman Empire. Delegates from Greece, Romania, Serbia and Montenegro attended the sessions that concerned their states, but they were not members.


title: Congress of Berlin

text: The Congress was solicited by Russia's rivals, particularly Austria-Hungary and Britain, and was hosted in 1878 by Bismarck. It proposed and ratified the Treaty of Berlin. The meetings were held at Bismarck's Reich Chancellery, the former Radziwill Palace, from 13 June to 13 July 1878. The congress revised or eliminated 18 of the 29 articles in the Treaty of San Stefano. Furthermore, by using as a foundation the Treaties of Paris (1856) and of Washington (1871), the treaty rearranged the East.


title: Congress of Berlin

text: The principal mission of the participants at the Congress was to deal a fatal blow to the burgeoning movement of pan-Slavism. The movement caused serious concern in Berlin and even more so in Vienna, which was afraid that the repressed Slavic nationalities would revolt against the Habsburgs. The British and the French governments were nervous about both the diminishing influence of the Ottoman Empire and the cultural expansion of Russia to the south, where both Britain and France were poised to colonise Egypt and Palestine. By the Treaty of San Stefano, the Russians, led by Chancellor Alexander Gorchakov, had managed to create in Bulgaria an autonomous principality, under the nominal rule of the Ottoman Empire.


title: Congress of Berlin

text: That sparked the Great Game, the massive British fear of the growing Russian influence in the Middle East. The new principality, including a very large portion of Macedonia as well as access to the Aegean Sea, could easily threaten the Dardanelles Straits, which separate the Black Sea from the Mediterranean Sea.