title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: The inhabitants of Shiraz now faced extreme hardship from the siege, and it was questionable if they would endure. Large parts of Fars were ravaged by warfare, and for three to four years a pandemic had spread around the landscape. Albeit Lotf Ali Khan's forces had gone through as much difficulty as the forces of Hajji Ebrahim whose forces had begun to desert to the Zands. Agha Mohammad Khan thus raised a large army and marched into Fars. On 5 June 1792, Lotf Ali Khan, with a small force of his men, made a bold night raid on Agha Mohammad Khan's encampment near Persepolis.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: At first, this choice seemed to be in Lotf Ali Khan's favor—he was certain that the Qajars were routed. In his delight at this, he let his men spread out and rest for the night, only to discover at daybreak that Agha Mohammad Khan still held his ground. Lotf Ali Khan then fled to Tabas through Neyriz. Agha Mohammad Khan set foot in Shiraz on 21 July 1792, and stayed there for a month, maintaining his retinue in the Bagh-e Vakil. Before leaving Shiraz, he appointed Hajji Ebrahim as the governor of Fars, and had the body of Karim Khan Zand exhumed and reburied in Tehran, where he went after his stay in Shiraz. Forces were sent to Kerman, Sistan, and Bam (although Qajar rule was not solidified in the last two places).


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: Lotf Ali Khan had fled to Khorasan and received help from the chief of Tabas. With this help, he returned in September and marched towards Yazd. The governor of Yazd sent an army to defeat him, but near Ardakan they fled back to Yazd before an engagement even took place. Lotf Ali then captured Abarkuh and marched towards Bavanat in early October. The Qajar force sent against him wasted time besieging Abarkuh and Lotf Ali captured Stahbanat, Qir, and Neyriz. He marched on Darab and besieged the fortress but was soon informed of the Qajar army sent against him and fled back to Khorasan.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: The Afghan chiefs of Bam invited Lotf Ali Khan to return and expel the Qajar yoke. With their help, Lotf Ali Khan returned to Kerman and captured the city on the 30th of March. Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar quickly heard of this and marched towards Kerman on May 14. The siege lasted four months and took a toll on Kerman's population. The city fell on 24 October, and Lotf Ali Khan quickly fled to Bam. However, the chief of Bam gave Lotf Ali Khan to the Qajars and ordered Lotf Ali Khan to be killed. Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar took revenge on the people of Kerman by ordering the eyes of 20,000 of the inhabitants. The city was brutally sacked and many beautiful buildings destroyed.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: A year later, after the Battle of Krtsanisi brought eastern Georgia and the other principal territories in the North Caucasus and South Caucasus back within the Iranian domains, he proclaimed himself "Shahanshah" ("King of Kings") on the Mughan plain, just as Nader Shah had done some sixty years earlier.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: The country of Georgia had been under Iranian vassalage for the first time in the early modern era in 1502, and under intermittent Iranian rule and suzerainty since 1555, but had been de facto independent after the disintegration of the Iranian Afsharid dynasty.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: For Agha Mohammad Khan, the resubjugation and reintegration of Georgia into the Iranian Empire was part of the same process that had brought Shiraz, Isfahan, and Tabriz under his rule. Like the Safavids and Nader Shah before him, he viewed the territories no differently than those in mainland Iran. Georgia was a province of Iran the same way Khorasan was. As the "Cambridge History of Iran" states, its permanent secession was inconceivable and had to be resisted in the same way as one would resist an attempt at the separation of Fars or Gilan. It was therefore natural for Agha Mohammad Khan to perform whatever was necessary in the Caucasus in order to subdue and reincorporate the recently lost regions following Nader Shah's death and the demise of the Zands. This included putting down what in Iranian eyes was seen as treason on the part of the "wali" of Georgia.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: Finding an interval of peace amid their own quarrels and with northern, western, and central Iran secure, the Iranians demanded the Georgian monarch Heraclius II renounce his treaty with Russia and re-accept Iranian suzerainty, in return for peace and the security of his kingdom. The Ottomans, Iran's neighboring rival, recognized Iran's rights over Kartli and Kakheti for the first time in four centuries. Heraclius II appealed then to his theoretical protector, Empress Catherine II of Russia, pleading for at least 3,000 Russian troops, but he was not listened to, leaving Georgia to fend off the Iranian threat alone. Nevertheless, Heraclius II still rejected the Khan's ultimatum.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: In August 1795, Agha Mohammad Khan crossed the Aras river with a 70,000-strong army. This force was divided in three: the left wing was sent in the direction of Erivan, the right one parallel to the Caspian Sea into the Mughan across the lower Aras towards Dagestan and Shirvan, while the Shah headed the centre force himself, advancing towards the fortress of Shusha in the Karabakh Khanate, which he besieged between 8 July and 9 August 1795. His right and left wing forced the Khans of Ganja and Erivan into an alliance. Having abandoned the siege of Shusha due to stiff resistance, which was further aided by Georgian crown prince Aleksandre, the Khan of Karabakh, Ibrahim Khan, eventually surrendered to Agha Mohammad Khan after discussions. He paid a regular tribute and surrendered hostages, though the Qajar forces were still denied entrance to Shusha. Since the main objective was Georgia, Agha Mohammad Khan was willing to have Karabakh secured by this agreement for now, for he and his army subsequently moved further. While at Ganja, having secured Shirvan, he was joined by Javad Khan Qajar and the rest of his right wing contingent. At Ganja, Mohammad Khan sent Heraclius II his last ultimatum, which he received in September 1795:


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: According to the author of the "Fārsnāma-ye Nāṣeri", Ḥasan-e Fasāʼi, a contemporary Qajar era historian, Agha Mohammad Khan had declared in the letter:


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: His advisors divided, Heraclius II ignored the ultimatum but sent couriers to St.Petersburg. Gudovich, who sat in Georgievsk at the time, instructed Heraclius II to avoid "expense and fuss", while Heraclius II, together with Solomon II and some Imeretians headed southwards of Tbilisi to fend off the Iranians.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: At the same time, Agha Mohammad Khan marched directly on Tbilisi, with half of the army he crossed the Aras river. Some estimate his army had 40,000 men instead of 35,000. They attacked the heavily fortified Georgian positions of Heraclius II and Solomon on the southwestern limits of the city. Abandoned by several of his nobles, Heraclius II managed to mobilize around 5,000 troops, including some 2,000 auxiliaries from the neighbouring Imereti under its King Solomon II, a member of the Georgian Bagrationi Dynasty and thus distantly related to Heraclius II. The Georgians offered a desperate resistance and succeeded in rolling back a series of Iranian attacks on 9 and 10 September. After that, it is said that some traitors informed the Iranians that the Georgians had no more strength to fight and the Qajar army cancelled their plan of returning to Iran. Early on 11 September, Agha Mohammad Khan personally led an all-out offensive against the Georgians. Amid an artillery duel and a fierce cavalry charge, the Iranians managed to cross the Kura River and outflanked the decimated Georgian army. Heraclius II attempted to mount a counterattack, but he had to retreat to the last available positions in the outskirts of Tbilisi. By nightfall, the Georgian forces had been exhausted and almost completely destroyed. The last surviving Georgian artillery briefly held the advancing Iranians to allow Heraclius II and his retinue of some 150 men to escape through the city to the mountains. The fighting continued in the streets of Tbilisi and at the fortress of Narikala. In a few hours, Agha Mohammad Khan was in full control of the Georgian capital, which was then completely sacked and its population massacred. The Iranian army marched back laden with spoil and carrying off some 15,000 captives. The Georgians had lost 4,000 men in the battle, the Iranians 13,000; a third of their total force.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: An eye-witness, having entered the city several days the bulk of the Iranian troops had withdrawn, described what he saw:


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: Agha Mohammad Shah now focused on Khorasan, which was under the rule of Nader Shah's blind and old grandson Shahrokh Shah. He had earlier been a vassal of the Durrani ruler, Ahmad Shah, but after the latter's death in 1772 had become a pawn of the chieftains who had taken control of the surrounding cities and towns of the Afsharid capital of Mashhad. The most prominent of these chieftains was most likely Eshaq Khan, who preserved Torbat-e Heydarieh as his center of operations. In the eastern parts of the Alborz, Kurdish chieftains ruled over several fortresses, such as Bojnord and Quchan.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: Agha Mohammad Shah first marched to Astarabad, and penalized the Turkmens who had been pillaging the city and its surroundings. He then continued to Mashhad, where the local chieftains, who knew of it was hopeless to resist, swiftly acknowledged his rule. Agha Mohammad Shah also demanded these local chieftains dispatch him hostages, who were sent to Tehran. When Agha Mohammad Shah reached Mashhad, Shahrokh, along with a prominent "mujtahid" named Mirza Mehdi, went to the Qajar encampment. There they were warmly received by Agha Mohammad Shah's nephew Hossein Qoli Khan.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: Shortly afterwards, Agha Mohammad Shah sent a force of 8,000 soldiers under Suleiman Khan Qajar, followed by Mirza Mehdi, to conquer Mashhad and affirm its citizens of the Shah's generosity. A day later, Agha Mohammad Shah, followed the customary of the famous Iranian shah Abbas I the Great, and entered Mashhad on May 14 by foot as a pilgrim to the Imam Reza shrine, whilst being teary eyed and kissing the ground. His pilgrimage continued for 23 days, where he seemed to be unaware of the politics of the country.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: However, things quickly changed. Agha Mohammad Shah ordered the exhumation of Nader Shah's corpse, and had it sent to Tehran, where it was reburied alongside Karim Khan Zand's corpse. He then forced Shahrokh to give him any riches that originally belonged to Nader Shah. Shahrokh swore that he did not possess any more of Nader Shah's riches. Agha Mohammad Shah, ruthless and revengeful, and with a desire for treasure, did not believe him. He had Shahrokh Shah hurt severely to confess the hidden locations of the last gems that had passed down to him from his grandfather. Shahrokh, however, refused to speak. Agha Mohammad Shah was personally involved in the torture and on one occasion he had Shahrokh tied to a chair, his head shaved and a crown of thick paste built on his head. He then poured a jug of molten lead into the crown. A number of Shahrokh's servants, who were struck with misery for their previous monarch, sent an admired mullah of the city to make an emotional appeal to Agha Mohammad Shah in support of Shahrokh and Shahrokh was sent to Mazandaran with his family. Shahrokh died at Damghan due to the injuries he had suffered during his torture.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: Agha Mohammad Khan restored Iran to a unity it had not had since Karim Khan. He reunited the territory of contemporary Iran and the Caucasus region which had been part of the concept of Iran for centuries. He was, however, a man of extreme violence who killed almost all who could threaten his hold on power, a trait he showed in several of his campaigns. A year after Agha Mohammad Khan re-subjugated the Caucasus, he also captured Khorasan. Shah Rukh, ruler of Khorasan and grandson of Nader Shah, was tortured to death because Agha Mohammad Khan thought that he knew of Nadir's legendary treasures.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: In 1786, Agha Mohammad Khan moved his capital from Sari in his home province of Mazandaran to Tehran. He was the first Iranian ruler to make Tehran—the successor to the great city of Ray—his capital, although both the Safavids and the Zands had expanded the town and built palaces there. One of the main reasons noted for moving the capital farther south was to remain in close reach of Azarbaijan and Iran's integral Caucasian territories in the North Caucasus and South Caucasus, at that time not yet ceded to Imperial Russia, their fate in the course of the 19th century. He was formally crowned in 1796 and founded the Qajar dynasty.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: Although the Russians briefly took and occupied Derbent and Baku during the expedition of 1796 under the command of count Valerian Zubov, Agha Mohammad Khan successfully expanded Iranian influence into the Caucasus, reasserting Iranian sovereignty over its former dependencies in the region. He was, however, a notoriously cruel ruler, who reduced Tbilisi to ashes, while massacring and carrying away its Christian population, much as he had done with his Muslim subjects. He based his strength on tribal manpower like Genghis Khan, Timur and Nader Shah.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: Agha Mohammad's successful reign was short-lived, as he was assassinated in 1797 in his tent in the city of Shusha, the capital of the Karabakh khanate, three days after he had taken the city, and less than three years after he had taken power. According to Hasan-e Fasa'i's' "Farsnama-ye Naseri", during Agha Mohammad's stay in Shusha, one night a quarrel arose between a Georgian servant named Sadegh Gorji and the valet Khodadad-e Esfahani. They raised their voices to such a pitch that the shah became angry and ordered both to be executed. Sadeq Khan-e Shaghaghi, a prominent emir, interceded on their behalf, but was not listened to. The shah, however, ordered their execution to be postponed until Saturday, as this happened to be the evening of Friday (the Islamic holy day), and ordered them back to their duties in the royal pavilion, unfettered and unchained, awaiting their execution the next day. From experience, however, they knew that the King would keep to what he had ordered, and, having no hope, they turned to boldness. When the shah was sleeping, they were joined by the valet Abbas-e Mazandarani, who was in the plot with them, and the three invaded the royal pavilion and with dagger and knife murdered the shah.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: Agha Mohammad Khan's castration at the age of six had left him permanently damaged, both physically and mentally. His body was sick and weak. He suffered from epilepsy and fell unconscious for three days in 1790/91 due to a stroke. Regardless, he was a determined figure and attempted to hide his frailty. Due to his small stature, he could be mistaken for a young boy from a far enough distance. This seemingly annoyed him to a great extent, especially if a person kept looking at him.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: He was interested in hunting and literature. During the night when Agha Mohammad Khan was on his bed, the "Shahnameh" would be read aloud to him.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: The bureaucracy remained small during the reign of Agha Mohammad Shah—apart from the grand vizier, the leading figures of the administration were the chief revenue officer ("mustaufī") and the muster-master ("lashkarnevīs") of the army. Only one person occupied each post during Agha Mohammad Shah's reign; Hajji Ebrahim, who served as grand vizier; Mirza Ismail, who served as the chief revenue officer, and Mirza Asad-Allah Nuri, who served as muster-master. Since Agha Mohammad Shah was primarily busy with his military expeditions, his court was constantly his camp, and Hajji Ebrahim, along with other officials, usually participated in his campaigns.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: During Agha Mohammad Shah's reign, provincial administration followed the same model of the Safavid one; "beglerbegis" were appointed to govern provinces. A city was under the rule of a "kalantar" and "darugha", while its quarters was under the rule of the "kadkhuda". Governorship of provinces went for the most part to tribal chieftains—this was later changed by Fath-Ali Shah Qajar, who appointed many of his relatives as governors.


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: Agha Mohammad Shah was more of a military leader than politician, and was known for his determined sovereignty, instead of a charismatic one. His military prowess was highly noticeable—Malcolm's evaluation, which was written some years after his death, says the following: "His army was inured to fatigue, and regularly paid; he had introduced excellent arrangement into all its Departments, and his known severity occasioned the utmost alacrity and promptness in the execution of orders, and had he lived a few more years, it is difficult to conjecture the progress of his arms."


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: The Scottish traveller James Baillie Fraser also says the following thing about him: "Agha Mohammad had likewise the talent of forming good and brave troops. His active and ambitious disposition kept his army constantly engaged; and they acquired a veteran hardihood and expertness, that rendered them superior to any other Asiatic troops."


title: Agha Mohammad Khan Qajar

text: Agha Mohammad Shah did not construct or repair much during his reign, due to the campaigns and battles which occupied his time. In Tehran, he ordered the creation of a mosque named the Masjid-e Shah (meaning "the Shah's mosque"), while in Mashhad he ordered the reparation of the Imam Reza shrine. In Astarabad, he repaired (or fortified) the walls, emptied the ditch, built several buildings, one of them being a palace for the governor. Furthermore, he also improved the overall condition of the city. He did something similar in Babol, Ashraf and Sari. Of all these constructions and reparations, his best and most lasting achievement is debatably making Tehran his capital, which to this day is the country's capital and largest city.


title: Greg Plitt

text: George Gregory Plitt, Jr. (November 3, 1977 January 17, 2015) was an American fitness model and actor. He starred in the Bravo television series "Work Out." He died at age 37 when he was struck by a train locomotive while filming a video.


title: Greg Plitt

text: Greg Plitt was originally from Lutherville, Maryland. His mother was an interior designer, and his father was a real estate agent. Plitt had an older sister who attended the United States Naval Academy.


title: Greg Plitt

text: Plitt said that he had been a fitness buff since his father bought a home gym when Plitt was in sixth grade; he was further inspired after seeing how his older sister changed after her first year in the Naval Academy.


title: Greg Plitt

text: Plitt was a graduate of Gilman School, Class of 1996, in Baltimore, Maryland, where he was on the football, wrestling, and golf teams. He was also a graduate of the United States Military Academy, Class of 2000, and was both Airborne and Ranger qualified.


title: Greg Plitt

text: He was a certified personal trainer in Los Angeles. He was a member of the official MET-Rx athlete and was awarded the MET-Rx Athlete of the Year award for 2012. He was the author of the workout program MFT28 as featured by Bodybuilding.com and appeared on covers and/or in editorials for "Maxim", "AXL", "American Health & Fitness", "Flaunt", "Men's Fitness", "Muscle & Fitness", "Men's Health", "FitnessRx for Men", "Instinct Magazine", and "Men's Exercise", among others.


title: Greg Plitt

text: That transformation that you see when someone becomes a soldier; many of them come in with real bad attitudes... they start changing their ways and they become the men they always wanted to be. Then other soldiers start looking up to them as role models. Then they're proud and they hold their heads high. That's more gratifying than anything I've done. That's what's so cool about it — to be able to train somebody and transform them and bring out all of the great qualities that everyone possesses.


title: Greg Plitt

text: Plitt was a global spokesperson/model for Thierry Mugler's Angel Men and ICE*Men men's fragrances. He did TV commercials for Old Spice Body Wash, ESPN's Great Outdoor Games, Under Armour, MTV, Zoli Sinks, Gold's Gym Power Flex, Bowflex, and modeled for Under Armour, Old Navy Jeans, Calvin Klein, Modell's, and Skimpies, among others.


title: Greg Plitt

text: In his later career, he had several acting roles. Images of his body were used to create Dr. Manhattan's muscular physique in the 2009 film "Watchmen", as well as the corpse of General Zod in "".


title: Greg Plitt

text: Plitt was struck and killed by a southbound Metrolink Antelope Valley Line train 268, led by Metrolink MP36PH-3C locomotive no. 888 in Burbank, California, on January 17, 2015, while running between the rails. The entire incident resulting in his death was recorded by an onboard event recorder camera mounted in the cab of the lead locomotive. After examining the video, police reportedly told TMZ Plitt may have been trying to outrace the train when it approached for a video he was shooting. He was shortly after knocked off the tracks and out of frame. He may have believed the train was coming up behind him on a parallel track, not the one he was on. The video was for a self-produced energy drink commercial.


title: Border

text: Borders are usually defined as geographical boundaries, imposed either by features such as oceans and terrain, or by political entities such as governments, sovereign states, federated states, and other subnational entities. Political borders can be established through warfare, colonization, or mutual agreements between the political entities that reside in those areas; the creation of these agreements is called boundary delimitation.


title: Border

text: Some borders—such as most states' internal administrative borders, or inter-state borders within the Schengen Area—are open and completely unguarded. Most external political borders are partially or fully controlled, and may be crossed legally only at designated border checkpoints; adjacent border zones may also be controlled.


title: Border

text: Buffer zones may be setup on borders between belligerent entities to lower the risk of escalation. While "border" refers to the boundary itself, the area around the border is called the frontier.


title: Border

text: In the pre-modern world, the term "border" was vague and could refer to either side of the boundary, thus it was necessary to specify part of it with "borderline" or "borderland". During the medieval period the government's control frequently diminished the further people got from the capital. Therefore borderland (especially impassable terrain) attracted many outlaws, as they often found sympathizers.


title: Border

text: In the past, many borders were not clearly defined lines; instead there were often intervening areas often claimed and fought over by both sides, sometimes called marchlands. Special cases in modern times were the Saudi Arabian–Iraqi neutral zone from 1922 to 1991 and the Saudi Arabian–Kuwaiti neutral zone from 1922 until 1970. In modern times, marchlands have been replaced by clearly defined and demarcated borders. For the purposes of border control, airports and seaports are also classed as borders. Most countries have some form of border control to regulate or limit the movement of people, animals, and goods into and out of the country. Under international law, each country is generally permitted to legislate the conditions that have to be met in order to cross its borders, and to prevent people from crossing its borders in violation of those laws.


title: Border

text: Some borders require presentation of legal paperwork like passports and visas, or other identity documents, for persons to cross borders. To stay or work within a country's borders aliens (foreign persons) may need special immigration documents or permits; but possession of such documents does not guarantee that the person should be allowed to cross the border.


title: Border

text: Moving goods across a border often requires the payment of excise tax, often collected by customs officials. Animals (and occasionally humans) moving across borders may need to go into quarantine to prevent the spread of exotic infectious diseases. Most countries prohibit carrying illegal drugs or endangered animals across their borders. Moving goods, animals, or people illegally across a border, without declaring them or seeking permission, or deliberately evading official inspection, constitutes smuggling. Controls on car liability insurance validity and other formalities may also take place.


title: Border

text: In places where smuggling, migration, and infiltration are a problem, many countries fortify borders with fences and barriers, and institute formal border control procedures. These can extend inland, as in the United States where the U.S. Customs and Border Protection service has jurisdiction to operate up to 100 miles from any land or sea boundary. On the other hand, some borders are merely signposted. This is common in countries within the European Schengen Area and on rural sections of the Canada–United States border. Borders may even be completely unmarked, typically in remote or forested regions; such borders are often described as "porous". Migration within territorial borders, and outside of them, represented an old and established pattern of movement in African countries, in seeking work and food, and to maintain ties with kin who had moved across the previously porous borders of their homelands. When the colonial frontiers were drawn, Western countries attempted to obtain a monopoly on the recruitment of labor in many African countries, which altered the practical and institutional context in which the old migration patterns had been followed, and some might argue, are still followed today. The frontiers were particularly porous for the physical movement of migrants, and people living in borderlands easily maintained transnational cultural and social networks.


title: Border

text: Political borders are imposed on the world through human agency. That means that although a political border may follow a river or mountain range, such a feature does not automatically define the political border, even though it may be a major physical barrier to crossing.


title: Border

text: Political borders are often classified by whether or not they follow conspicuous physical features on the earth.


title: Border

text: Natural borders are geographical features that present natural obstacles to communication and transport. Existing political borders are often a formalization of such historical, natural obstacles.


title: Border

text: Throughout history, technological advances have reduced the costs of transport and communication across the natural borders. That has reduced the significance of natural borders over time. As a result, political borders that have been formalized more recently, such as those in Africa or Americas, typically conform less to natural borders than very old borders, such as those in Europe or Asia, do.


title: Border

text: A landscape border is a mixture of political and natural borders. One example is the defensive forest created by China's Song Dynasty in the eleventh century. Such a border is political in the sense that it is human-demarcated, usually through a treaty. However, a landscape border is not demarcated by fences and walls but instead landscape features such as forests, mountains, and water bodies. It is different from a natural border, however, in the sense that the border landscape is not natural but human-engineered. Such a landscape usually differs from the borderland's natural geography and its building requires tremendous human labour and financial investment.


title: Border

text: Geometric boundaries are formed by straight lines (such as lines of latitude or longitude), or occasionally arcs (Pennsylvania/Delaware), regardless of the physical and cultural features of the area. Such political boundaries are often found around the states that developed out of colonial holdings, such as in North America, Africa and the Middle East. The Canada–United States border follows the 49th parallel for roughly from Lake of the Woods (Ontario and Minnesota) west to the Pacific Ocean.


title: Border

text: A generalization of the idea of geometric borders is the idea of fiat boundaries by which is meant any sort of boundary that does not track an underlying "bona fide" physical discontinuity ("fiat", latin for “let it be done”, a decision). Fiat boundaries are typically the product of human demarcation, such as in demarcating electoral districts or postal districts.


title: Border

text: A relic border is a former boundary, which may no longer be a legal boundary at all. However, the former presence of the boundary can still be seen in the landscape. For instance, the boundary between East and West Germany is no longer an international boundary, but it can still be seen because of historical markers on the landscape; it remains a cultural and economic demarcation in Germany. Other examples include the Demilitarized Zone between North and South Vietnam (defunct since 1975) and the border between North and South Yemen (defunct since 1990). Occasionally a relic border is reconstituted in some form, for example the border between British Somaliland and Italian Somaliland ceased to exist when the two colonies merged to form the independent state of Somalia in 1960, however when the former British Somaliland declared independence in 1991 it claimed the former British-Italian line as its eastern border.


title: Border

text: A line of control (LoC) refers to a militarized buffer border between two or more nations that has yet to achieve permanent border status. LoC borders are typically under military control and are not recognized as an official international border. Formally known as a cease-fire line, an LoC was first created with the Simla Agreement between India and Pakistan. Similar to a cease-fire line, an LoC is typically the result of war, military stalemates and unresolved land ownership conflict.


title: Border

text: A maritime border is a division enclosing an area in the ocean where a nation has exclusive rights over the mineral and biological resources, encompassing maritime features, limits and zones. Maritime borders represent the jurisdictional borders of a maritime nation and are recognized by the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.


title: Border

text: Maritime borders exist in the context of territorial waters, contiguous zones, and exclusive economic zones; however, the terminology does not encompass lake or river boundaries, which are considered within the context of land boundaries.


title: Border

text: Some maritime borders have remained indeterminate despite efforts to clarify them. This is explained by an array of factors, some of which illustrate regional problems.


title: Border

text: Airspace is the atmosphere located within a country's controlled international and maritime borders. All sovereign countries hold the right to regulate and protect air space under the international law of Air sovereignty. The horizontal boundaries of airspace are similar to the policies of "high seas" in maritime law. Airspace extends 12 nautical miles from the coast of a country and it holds responsibility for protecting its own airspace unless under NATO peacetime protection. With international agreement a country can assume the responsibility of protecting or controlling the atmosphere over International Airspaces such as the Pacific Ocean. The vertical boundaries of airspace are not officially set or regulated internationally. However, there is a general agreement of vertical airspace ending at the point of the Kármán line. The Kármán line is a peak point at the altitude of 62 mi (100 km) above the Earth's surface, setting a boundary between the atmosphere (airspace) and outer space (which is governed by space law).


title: Border

text: The frontier is a border that is open-ended to one side, identifying an expanding borderland to one side.


title: Border

text: This type of border can be fairly abstract and has been identified as a particular state of mind for human activity. As such frontiers have been applied to borderlands identifying and claiming them as terra nullius.


title: Border

text: Regulated borders have varying degrees of control on the movement of persons and trade between nations and jurisdictions. Most Industrialized nations have regulations on entry and require one or more of the following procedures: visa check, passport check or customs checks. Most regulated borders have regulations on immigration, types of wildlife and plants, and illegal objects such as drugs or weapons. Overall border regulations are placed by national and local governments and can vary depending on nation and current political or economic conditions. Some of the most regulated borders in the world include: Australia, the United States, Israel, Canada, the United Kingdom, and the United Arab Emirates. These nations have government-controlled border agencies and organizations that enforce border regulation policies on and within their borders.


title: Border

text: An open border is the deregulation and or lack of regulation on the movement of persons between nations and jurisdictions. This definition does not apply to trade or movement between privately owned land areas. Most nations have open borders for travel within their nation of travel, though more authoritarian states may limit the freedom of internal movement of its citizens, as for example in the former USSR. However, only a handful of nations have deregulated open borders with other nations, an example of this being European countries under the Schengen Agreement or the open Belarus-Russia border. Open borders used to be very common amongst all nations, however this became less common after the First World War, which led to the regulation of open borders, making them less common and no longer feasible for most industrialized nations.


title: Border

text: A demilitarized zone (DMZ) is a border separating two or more nations, groups or militaries that have agreed to prohibit the use of military activity or force within the border's bounds. A DMZ can act as a war boundary, ceasefire line, wildlife preserve, or a "de facto" international border. An example of a demilitarized international border is the 38th parallel between North and South Korea. Other notable DMZ zones include Antarctica and outer space (consisting of all space 100 miles away from the earth's surface), both are preserved for world research and exploration. The prohibition of control by nations can make a DMZ unexposed to human influence and thus developed into a natural border or wildlife preserve, such as on the Korean Demilitarized Zone, the Vietnamese Demilitarized Zone, and the Green Line in Cyprus.


title: Border

text: The presence of borders often fosters certain economic features or anomalies. Wherever two jurisdictions come into contact, special economic opportunities arise for border trade. Smuggling provides a classic case; contrariwise, a border region may flourish on the provision of excise or of import–export services — legal or quasi-legal, corrupt or legitimate. Different regulations on either side of a border may encourage services to position themselves at or near that border: thus the provision of pornography, of prostitution, of alcohol, fireworks, and/or of narcotics may cluster around borders, city limits, county lines, ports and airports. In a more planned and official context, Special Economic Zones (SEZs) often tend to cluster near borders or ports.


title: Border

text: Even if the goods are not perceived to be undesirable, states will still seek to document and regulate the cross-border trade in order to collect tariffs and benefit from foreign currency exchange revenues. Thus, there is the concept unofficial trade in goods otherwise legal; for example, the cross-border trade in livestock by pastoralists in the Horn of Africa. Ethiopia sells an estimated $250 to $300 million of livestock to Somalia, Kenya and Djibouti every year unofficially, over 100 times the official estimate.


title: Border

text: Human economic traffic across borders (apart from kidnapping) may involve mass commuting between workplaces and residential settlements. The removal of internal barriers to commerce, as in France after the French Revolution or in Europe since the 1940s, de-emphasizes border-based economic activity and fosters free trade. Euroregions are similar official structures built around commuting across boundary.


title: Border

text: Political borders have a variety of meanings for those whom they affect. Many borders in the world have checkpoints where border control agents inspect persons and/or goods crossing the boundary.


title: Border

text: In much of Europe, controls on persons were abolished by the 1985 Schengen Agreement and subsequent European Union legislation. Since the Treaty of Amsterdam, the competence to pass laws on crossing internal and external borders within the European Union and the associated Schengen Area states (Iceland, Norway, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein) lies exclusively within the jurisdiction of the European Union, except where states have used a specific right to opt out (United Kingdom and Ireland, which maintain the Common Travel Area amongst themselves).


title: Border

text: The United States has notably increased measures taken in border control on the Canada–United States border and the United States–Mexico border during its War on Terrorism (See Shantz 2010). One American writer has said that the US-Mexico border is probably "the world's longest boundary between a First World and Third World country".


title: Border

text: Historic borders such as the Great Wall of China, the Maginot Line, and Hadrian's Wall have played a great many roles and been marked in different ways. While the stone walls, the Great Wall of China and the Roman Hadrian's Wall in Britain had military functions, the entirety of the Roman borders were very porous, which encouraged Roman economic activity with neighbors. On the other hand, a border like the Maginot Line was entirely military and was meant to prevent any access in what was to be World War II to France by its neighbor, Germany; Germany ended up going around the Maginot Line through Belgium just as it had done in World War I.


title: Border

text: Border conflicts or the potential of such are the reason why many borders feature fortifications and zoning like no man's lands, demilitarized zones, demarcation lines and buffer zones.


title: Border

text: Borders have sometimes been significantly shaped by physical border constructions and openings. From border crossings, over border markers to border barriers these constructions fulfill many different functions. Such as also providing crossover.


title: Border

text: Even the most fortified borders reserve specific places to allow crossing. The many forms of borders have different ways of enabling and controlling passage.


title: Border

text: Borders can have an significant impact on and function for movement. It can enable and stop movement, across as well as along borders.


title: Border

text: The permeability of borders depends on its construction, availability of crossings, regulation and types or scope of activity. The permeability can vary, borders can be barriers for humans, but also for animal migration or types of pollution.


title: Border

text: Borders facilitate or block hybrids like border overlap and cooperation beyond mere encounter and exchange.


title: Border

text: Macro-regional integration initiatives, such as the European Union and NAFTA, have spurred the establishment of cross-border regions. These are initiatives driven by local or regional authorities, aimed at dealing with local border-transcending problems such as transport and environmental degradation. Many cross-border regions are also active in encouraging intercultural communication and dialogue as well as cross-border economic development strategies. In Europe, the European Union provides financial support to cross-border regions via its Interreg programme. The Council of Europe has issued the Outline Convention on Transfrontier Co-operation, providing a legal framework for cross-border co-operation even though it is in practice rarely used by Euroregions.


title: Border

text: There has been a renaissance in the study of borders starting with the end of the 1990s, partially from the creation of a counter-narrative to the discourse about the world becoming a borderless and deterritorialized place, which has accompanied theories about globalization. Examples of recent initiatives are the Border Regions in Transition network of scholars, the International Boundaries Research Unit at the University of Durham, the Association for Borderlands Studies based in North America, the African Borderlands Research Network and the founding of smaller border research centres at Nijmegen and Queen's University Belfast.


title: Border

text: Border art as a conceptual artistic practice, however, opens up the possibility for artists to explore similar concerns of identity and national origin(s) but whose location is not specific to the U.S-Mexico border. A border can be a division, dividing groups of people and families. Borders can include but are not limited to language, culture, social and economic class, religion, and national identity. In addition to a division, a border can also conceive a borderland area that can create a cohesive community separate from the mainstream cultures and identities portrayed in the communities away from the borders, such as the Tijuana-San Diego border between Mexico and the United States.


title: Border

text: Border art can be defined as an art that is created in reference to any number of physical or imagined boundaries. This art can but is not limited to social, political, physical, emotional and/or nationalist issues. Border art is not confined to one particular medium. Border art/artists often address the forced politicization of human bodies and physical land and the arbitrary, yet incredibly harmful, separations that are created by these borders and boundaries. These artists are often "border crossers" themselves. They may cross borders of traditional art-making (through performance, video, or a combination of mediums). They may at once be artists and activists, existing in multiple social roles at once. Many border artists defy easy classifications in their artistic practice and work.


title: Border

text: The following pictures show in how many different ways international and regional borders can be closed off, monitored, at least marked as such, or simply unremarkable.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: Chip Ganassi Racing, LLC (CGR), also sometimes branded as Chip Ganassi Racing Teams, is an American auto racing organization with teams competing in the NTT IndyCar Series, IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, FIA World Endurance Championship, and Extreme E. They have formerly competed in the NASCAR Cup and Xfinity Series, Global Rallycross Championship and the Rolex Sports Car Series. It was founded in 1990 by businessman and former racecar driver Chip Ganassi, from the assets of Patrick Racing to compete in the CART IndyCar World Series.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: After winning four consecutive CART championships from 1996 to 1999 with drivers Jimmy Vasser, Alex Zanardi and Juan Pablo Montoya, in 2000 Ganassi became the first CART organization to return to the Indianapolis 500 after the open-wheel "Split" between CART and the Indy Racing League in 1996. A dominant victory with Montoya would foresee the team's permanent switch to the IRL (now IndyCar Series), where further championships would be won with Scott Dixon, Dario Franchitti and Álex Palou, including another four straight from 2008 to 2011. In 2022, the team fielded the Nos. 8, 9, 10, and 48 Dallara-Hondas for Marcus Ericsson, Scott Dixon, Alex Palou and Jimmie Johnson full-time.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: In 2001, Ganassi bought a majority stake in Felix Sabates' Team SABCO NASCAR team, which had operated since 1989, marking his entry into that championship as Chip Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates and inheriting that organizations history, while also partnering to compete in the Grand-Am Rolex Sports Car Series. In 2009, Ganassi partnered with Dale Earnhardt, Inc. owner Teresa Earnhardt to merge their NASCAR operations into Ganassi's shop and run under the banner of Earnhardt Ganassi Racing with Felix Sabates. The NASCAR team dropped the Earnhardt name in 2014, and Ganassi revealed that Teresa was never truly involved with the team. Rob Kauffman, chairman of the Race Team Alliance, purchased a stake in the team in 2015. Sabates retired from his ownership role after the 2020 season. In 2021, Ganassi accepted an offer from former CGR Xfinity Series driver Justin Marks to sell the entire NASCAR operation to Marks' Trackhouse Racing Team, with the deal finalized after that season. The NASCAR program fielded full-time entries for notable drivers including Kyle Petty, Joe Nemechek, Sterling Marlin, Jimmy Spencer, Casey Mears, Montoya, Jamie McMurray, Kyle Larson, Kurt Busch and Ross Chastain


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: Together, they have won 14 Open Wheel titles (4 in CART, 10 in IndyCar), 5 Grand-Am sports car championships, and wins in the Indianapolis 500 (Five times), Daytona 500, Brickyard 400, 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring and a 24 Hours of Le Mans class win, and over 240 wins across all categories.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: In 1989, Chip Ganassi, who had driven in the IndyCar World Series but had his career cut short due to a career-ending crash at Michigan in 1984, joined Pat Patrick as co-owner for Emerson Fittipaldi's Marlboro IndyCar team. Patrick had announced he was going to retire at the end of the year, and the team would go completely to Ganassi. The team won the Indy 500 and the IndyCar Championship.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: By season's end, Patrick had second thoughts. Instead of retracting the sale of the team to Ganassi, he went ahead with the deal as planned and instead restarted his team by taking over the upstart Alfa Romeo IndyCar effort for 1990. Fittipaldi took the Marlboro sponsorship to Team Penske, an arrangement that was also pre-planned. (Penske had supplied Patrick with a fleet of Penske chassis for 1989 as part of the deal).


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: Ganassi officially took over the remaining assets of the team (including the 1989 Penske chassis) and renamed it Chip Ganassi Racing. He signed former Formula One driver Eddie Cheever and raced full-time in the IndyCar World series with Target as the primary sponsor.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: In 1992, Ganassi expanded to a two-car effort for the Indy 500, adding Arie Luyendyk for the Indy-only entry. Later Ganassi debuted rookie Robby Gordon in selected events. For 1993, Luyendyk replaced Cheever full-time. Luyendyk won the pole position for the Indy 500 and finished second to Fittipaldi, Ganassi's former driver in his partnership with Patrick. For 1994, Michael Andretti joined the team, immediately after returning from his failed transition to Formula One in . He scored Ganassi's first IndyCar victory at Surfers Paradise.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: Target continued to sponsor Ganassi's operation through the decade, and by the mid part of the decade, the team had risen to the top of the series. Perhaps the most impressive was Juan Pablo Montoya winning the championship in his rookie season in 1999. They won four consecutive series championships, with Jimmy Vasser (1996), Alex Zanardi (1997–1998), and Montoya in 1999, becoming the first car owner to win four consecutive CART championships. In 2000, Ganassi became the first CART team to break ranks and return to race in the Indianapolis 500, part of the rival Indy Racing League. The team saw instant success as Montoya dominated the race. Montoya also became the first driver to win the Indianapolis 500 and the Michigan 500 in the same year since Rick Mears in 1991. However, he was unable to duplicate his championship success of 1999. Vasser's performance steadily dwindled, as his lone victory at Houston was his first in nearly two years.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: The team ran from 1992 to 2002 before moving into the Indy Racing League full-time. They had run one IRL entry for former motocross racer Jeff Ward in 2002, in which Ward won one race at Texas in one of the closest finishes in IRL history.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: Chip Ganassi Racing initially entered the Indy Racing League (IRL) with Juan Pablo Montoya and Jimmy Vasser in the 2000 Indianapolis 500 won by rookie Montoya. In 2001, they returned to Indy with Vasser, Bruno Junqueira, Nicolas Minassian, and NASCAR's Tony Stewart, who would also compete in that evening's Coca-Cola 600. But in neither year did they run the entire IndyCar Series season.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: For 2002, Ganassi made the jump to the IndyCar Series full-time with Jeff Ward driving one car, with the addition of Ganassi's two CART Championship drivers Kenny Bräck and Bruno Junqueira at Indianapolis. None of those three would drive for Ganassi in 2003; the replacements were Scott Dixon – a midseason addition to Ganassi's Champ Car team in 2002 – and Tomas Scheckter. Dixon won three races and the series championship while Scheckter struggled and was released from his contract. Tony Renna was due to replace him, but was killed in a testing crash at Indianapolis. Englishman Darren Manning wound up in the seat for 2004. The team's performance suffered the next two seasons and when Manning was fired, a bevy of drivers ran in Ganassi's cars, among them former Formula One test drivers Ryan Briscoe and Giorgio Pantano, and Jaques Lazier. For 2006, Ganassi scaled back to two cars, with Dixon returning along with 2005 Indianapolis 500 Champion Dan Wheldon, whom Ganassi signed away from Andretti Green Racing in the offseason. The team also changed to Honda engines (due to series engine supplier standardization from 2006 to 2011 seasons), along with all other IndyCar teams, and Dallara chassis for 2006.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: The 2007 IndyCar Series season showed promise for Ganassi, as Dixon took 4 wins at Watkins Glen, Nashville, Mid Ohio, and Sonoma and Wheldon took 2 additional wins at Homestead and Kansas. The 2008 IndyCar season was even stronger for the team with eventual champion Dixon taking wins at Homestead, Indianapolis, Texas, Nashville, Edmonton, and Kentucky, and teammate Wheldon finishing 4th overall after winning at Kansas again and at Iowa. Shortly before the conclusion of the season it was announced that Wheldon would not return as Dixon's teammate in 2009, a role taken by 2007 IndyCar Champion and Indy 500 winner Dario Franchitti of Scotland. Franchitti teamed with Dixon for the non-championship race at Surfers' Paradise at the end of 2008.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: The Target Chip Ganassi car driven by Franchitti won the 94th running of the Indianapolis 500 on Sunday May 30, 2010.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: For 2011, Ganassi expanded, to add an additional 2-car team for Graham Rahal and Charlie Kimball housed in the race shop of NHRA drag racer Kenny Bernstein.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: Ganassi announced that in 2012, all 4 cars would be powered by Honda engines after the series decided to have multiple engine manufacturers (Honda, Chevrolet, and Lotus) for the first time since 2005.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: The Ganassi cars driven by Franchitti and Dixon came in first and second in the 2012 Indianapolis 500 on Sunday, May 27, 2012. It was Franchitti's third Indianapolis 500 win and his second win with Ganassi. Rahal left Ganassi following the season for his father's team, Rahal Letterman Lanigan Racing. In 2013, the team was dominant for the second half of the year, with Kimball's first win at Mid-Ohio, and Dixon adding four wins to overtake Hélio Castroneves for his third IndyCar title. The team also ran a fourth car, the No. 8, at Indianapolis for Briscoe, sponsored by NTT DATA. Despite the title, Ganassi was dealt a major blow when Franchitti was medically forced into retirement following a crash at Race 2 in Houston. Alex Tagliani replaced Franchitti at Auto Club.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: In 2014, Ganassi switched to Chevrolet engines. In a twist, Ganassi would hire 2013 Indy 500 winner Tony Kanaan to drive the No. 10 Target car, while Briscoe and NTT Data signed on for a full season in the No. 8 car. The team once again struggled during the first half of the season, but hit its stride during the second half, with Dixon winning at Mid-Ohio and Sonoma, while Kanaan won the season finale at Auto Club. For 2015, the team would sign Indy Lights champion Sage Karam to share the No. 8 with Sebastián Saavedra. Dixon would claim his fourth title in a tiebreaker with Juan Pablo Montoya on the strength of three wins at Long Beach, Texas, and Sonoma. Kanaan would not win that year but had two runner-up finishes at Texas and Fontana. Both Karam and Saavedra would struggle in the No. 8, save for a lone podium by Karam at Iowa. For 2016, Ganassi would replace Karam and Saavedra with former Formula 1 driver Max Chilton. 2016 would be a down year for the team, with Dixon winning twice at Phoenix and Watkins Glen, while Kanaan had only two podiums while Chilton and Kimball struggled.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: Beginning in the 2017 season, Ganassi changed engine suppliers back to Honda, retaining their four drivers. Also, 2017 marked the end of Target sponsorship in Indycar, as a new chairman elected to change the retail giant's sporting sponsorships.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: For 2018, Ganassi would downsize to two cars, with Kimball and Chilton taking their sponsorship over to Carlin due to the team's cost-efficiency. Scott Dixon remains in the No. 9 with sponsorship from PNC Bank. In addition, Ganassi signed the 2017 Indycar Rookie of the Year Ed Jones to drive the No. 10 car in 2018, with sponsorship from NTT Data, replacing Tony Kanaan. Dixon would win his fifth IndyCar title on the strength of wins at Detroit, Texas, and Toronto. Jones would only have two podiums and was released at season's end in favor of Formula E driver Felix Rosenqvist.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: For the 2019 season, Dixon would again find victory at Detroit as well as Mid-Ohio, but an inconsistent season would leave him a distant fourth in points. Rosenqvist would have a consistent season, fending off Colton Herta for Rookie of the Year honors. The 2020 season saw the return of its No. 8 entry, driven by former Alfa Romeo Racing driver Marcus Ericsson.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: Scott Dixon started the delayed 2020 season very strong, winning the first three races at Texas, Indianapolis, and Road America. Dixon also went on to win at Gateway en route to his 6th Indycar championship. In the No. 10, Rosenqvist would score his first win at Road America.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: For 2021, Felix Rosenqvist left the team to join Arrow McLaren SP with Alex Palou taking his seat. The team also expanded to 4 cars for the first time since 2017 with 7 time NASCAR Cup Series champion Jimmie Johnson driving the road and street courses in the No. 48 car. For the ovals, they have former driver Tony Kanaan. The team scored the most wins by any team in the IndyCar series. Dixon would take only one win on the season and was not able his title. His teammates Palou and Ericsson had breakout years. Ericsson took wins at Detroit and the inaugural round at Nashville while Palou would take wins at Barber, Road America, and Portland to win his first IndyCar championship. Palou would become the third Ganassi driver to win the IndyCar Series championship since the team joined the IndyCar Series and the first one other than Dixon since 2011.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: On December 20, 2006, Chip Ganassi Racing announced that it would field an Indy Lights team for the first time in 2007, with drivers Chris Festa and Pablo Pérez. Perez was severely injured in a crash in the opening race of the Indy Lights season and was not replaced. Festa finished 10th in points without winning a race in a season dominated by Alex Lloyd who was signed by Chip Ganassi Racing at the end of the season. The team partnered with Integra Motorsports in 2007 and 2008 fielding a variety of development drivers, notably New Zealanders Marc Williams and Jonny Reid.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: Initially, CGR fielded the 01 Lexus-Riley car driven by Scott Pruett and Max Papis. Their second team car, the 02, was driven by Jimmy Morales and Luis Diaz. CGR won the 2006 24 Hours of Daytona with Ganassi IRL drivers Dan Wheldon and Scott Dixon along with NASCAR driver Casey Mears. In 2007, Ganassi won the race again, this time with Pruett, former Formula 1 driver Juan Pablo Montoya, and Salvador Duran, making him the first owner to win it in back to back years since Al Holbert in 1986–87. In 2008 Chip Ganassi Racing won a third Daytona 24 in a row. Also in 2008, Chip Ganassi Racing won their 3rd Grand-Am Championship, with drivers Scott Pruett, and Memo Rojas. It was Pruett's 8th Road Racing Championship. Also participating was Memo Rojas, the first Mexican to win a major Road Racing title in North America. For the 2010 Grand-Am season the team switched from Lexus-Riley to BMW-Riley. Rojas and Pruett won 9 out of 12 races and eventually won the Grand-Am championship.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: Ganassi's Grand-Am Series team started 2011 in the best possible fashion, earning a one-two finish in the Rolex 24 Hours of Daytona endurance race. Ganassi's two cars ran towards the front of the field for the majority of the race, and driver Scott Pruett, having started third, defeated Scott Dixon by a margin of victory of over two seconds in a one-lap sprint to the finish after a late caution period.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: The victory made Ganassi the first racing team owner to win the four of the most important races in North American auto racing, the Daytona 500, Indianapolis 500, Brickyard 400, and 24 Hours of Daytona, within the same 12-month span. It was Pruett's fourth win in the event; for co-driver Memo Rojas, his second victory, while co-drivers Joey Hand and Graham Rahal won for the first time, the latter thirty years after his father, Bobby Rahal, won the event.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: CGR would field a Riley-Ford Daytona Prototype in the inaugural season of the merged United SportsCar Championship for Scott Pruett and Memo Rojas, winning three races. In 2015, Rojas was replaced by ex-BMW works driver Joey Hand, and the team fielded an "all-star car" at Daytona consisting of the teams IndyCar and NASCAR drivers.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: For 2016, the team would move to the GTLM class with the brand new Ford GT, and thus the Daytona Prototype programme officially disbanded. Long time Ganassi driver Pruett would no longer have a place on the team, as Hand would partner with Dirk Müller (another ex-BMW works driver), while Ryan Briscoe and Richard Westbrook were hired to drive the second GT. For Daytona, the team would bring out the Riley DPs one last time, the IndyCar/NASCAR "all-star car" being joined by a team of Alexander Wurz, Brendon Hartley, Andy Priaulx, and Lance Stroll, in the last Rolex 24 of the DP era.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: On 12 June 2015, at Le Mans, it was announced that Ford will return to the 2016 24 Hours of Le Mans in 2016 with a factory-supported, four-car effort operating as Ford Chip Ganassi Racing and thus marked Ford's return to international automobile road racing as a full-factory entrant since 2004 Formula One season but under Jaguar Racing F1 Team banner after eleven-year absence. The cars will be campaigned by Chip Ganassi Racing in the IMSA WeatherTech SportsCar Championship, and by Multimatic Motorsports Europe (joint-venture) in the FIA World Endurance Championship under the Ford Chip Ganassi Team UK banner.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: With the Chip Ganassi teams racing their GT, Ford has had podium wins in the FIA GT manufacturer's category both years that it has competed.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: Ganassi expressed plans to start a team in the AMA Supercross Championship, but in late 2014, Ganassi attended the Global RallyCross Championship's season-ending race in Las Vegas, and as a result, expressed interest in fielding a GRC team. On March 18, 2015, Ganassi announced the creation of a team that began competing in the GRC in 2015. The team is based in the NASCAR shop in Concord, North Carolina, and is led by former Ford World Rally Team engineer Carl Goodman. The team hired former JR Motorsports NASCAR driver Steve Arpin and 13-time X Games medalist Brian Deegan to run the No. 00 and 38 M-Sport Ford Fiestas, respectively. Arpin contested the full season, while Deegan competed in seven of the season's twelve races.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: In 2017, Ganassi announced he would shut down the Global RallyCross program to focus on other series. The team's assets were acquired by Loenbro Motorsports.


title: Chip Ganassi Racing

text: In May 2020, CGR joined the Extreme E electric racing series for its inaugural season in 2021. A month later, the team signed Sara Price to race one of two entries, making her the first confirmed Extreme E racer and the first female driver in team history. Lucas Oil Off Road Racing Series champion Kyle LeDuc joined CGR in July. CGR’s Extreme E team picked up their first series victory on July 7, 2022, with Price becoming the first woman in the organization’s history to drive a race-winning car.


title: Shameless (season 4)

text: The fourth season of "Shameless", an American comedy-drama television series based on the British series of the same name by Paul Abbott, premiered on January 12, 2014, at Sunday 9:00 p.m. EST on the Showtime television network. Executive producers are John Wells, Abbott and Andrew Stearn, with producer Michael Hissrich. The season concluded after 12 episodes on April 6, 2014. The show’s season premiere brought in 1.69 million viewers, while the episode airing February 2, "Strangers on a Train", received 1.22 million total viewers, its lowest-rated episode of the season. The season finale scored 1.93 million viewers, becoming the show’s highest-rated episode for the season.


title: Shameless (season 4)

text: Unlike previous seasons, the fourth season of Shameless begins shifting into a darker tone, with the season's core stories mainly revolving around Fiona's sudden trouble with the law and Frank's possible death. At the beginning of the season, Fiona is getting past the disappearance of Jimmy and adjusting to her new job at Worldwide Cup. Keeping the family afloat, she has begun dating her boss, Mike Pratt (Jake McDorman).


title: Shameless (season 4)

text: The lives of other characters have shifted: Lip no longer lives at the house, struggling to adjust to new life at Chicago Polytechnic. Sheila finds solace in online dating, and she meets a Native American cowboy that takes care of his junkie sister’s five children. Kevin gets full ownership of the Alibi. Veronica is pregnant with triplets, though her surrogate mother Carol is also pregnant. After Carol gives birth, Carol decides she wants to raise the baby on her own. Debbie begins pining after an older boy, Matt (James Allen McCune). Mickey is depressed over the disappearance of Ian, and he has a strained relationship with his pregnant wife, Svetlana. Mickey eventually tracks down Ian, who has gone AWOL from the Army and now works at a sketchy gay bar with a new, odd behavior. Knowing that her husband is spending time with Ian, Svetlana begins to extort money from Mickey. During an after-party for his son's christening at the Alibi, Mickey publicly comes out. Terry tries to attack Mickey over the revelation, resulting in his arrest; the other Alibi regulars seem accepting of Mickey's sexuality.


title: Shameless (season 4)

text: Frank, in declining health, is returned home by the police, to most of the family's dismay. Forced to stay on the wagon, Frank is desperate for a new liver and reveals the existence of his oldest child, Sammi (Emily Bergl). To his surprise, Frank tracks Sammi down and discovers that he has a grandson, Chuckie. Frank makes a good impression on Sammi, who does not know that Frank is her father; Sammi is initially furious when she finds out the truth, but she eventually reconciles with Frank, wanting to begin a father/daughter relationship with him. Though she isn't a viable liver donor, Sammi cares for Frank as his health begins to deteriorate; Sheila, wanting to adopt the kids of her online boyfriend, marries Frank in order to increase her chances of winning custody, though she ultimately fails to do so. Frank is eventually given a last minute liver transplant.


title: Shameless (season 4)

text: Fiona's life is drastically turned upside down on her birthday. Against her better judgement, Fiona pursues a secret affair with Mike's brother, Robbie. Mike is devastated when he learns the truth, punching Robbie in the face and breaking up with Fiona. After being gifted a baggie of cocaine from Robbie, Fiona throws a party and snorts the cocaine; Liam gets into the stash of cocaine and is found unconscious in the kitchen. As the family rushes Liam to the hospital, Fiona is arrested and lands in county jail; she refuses to give up Robbie's name. Originally put on house arrest, Fiona goes on a bender with Robbie's friends and breaks her curfew. She is sent to a correctional facility for a 90-day sentence, wrecking havoc for the rest of the family.


title: Shameless (season 4)

text: Fiona's arrest leaves parental duties on Lip. Some unexpected assistance comes from an intelligent college student, Amanda (Nichole Bloom), who Lip eventually begins dating. Lip begins to put his previous relationship with Mandy behind him; Mandy is stuck in an abusive relationship with her boyfriend, Kenyatta. Ian finally turns up and reunites with his family, but his new behavior concerns both Mickey and the family, who compare Ian's odd behavior to Monica's bipolar disorder.


title: Shameless (season 4)

text: Fiona gets an early release from the correctional facility due to overcrowding. Thanks to her parole officer, Fiona gets a job as a waitress at the Golden House Restaurant, a diner managed by Charlie Peters (Jeffrey Dean Morgan). Frank is back to drinking with his new liver, and has simultaneously brought Sammi and Chuckie into the Gallaghers' lives. Mickey and Svetlana come to an understanding on how to raise their child. During the final episode, a post-credits scene reveals Jimmy, who has been absent the whole season, watching the Gallagher home from his car with an unnamed woman.


title: Shameless (season 4)

text: On January 29, 2013, Showtime announced the series would be renewed for a fourth season. The show's fourth season began production on September 20, 2013 and began filming the following week, and premiered on Sunday, January 12, 2014.


title: Shameless (season 4)

text: Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the fourth season 100%, based on 15 reviews. The critics consensus reads, ""Shameless" shows no signs of fatigue as it barrels into its fourth season, with the Gallaghers stirring up new and novel forms of mischief."


title: IC50

text: The half maximal inhibitory concentration (IC) is a measure of the potency of a substance in inhibiting a specific biological or biochemical function. IC is a quantitative measure that indicates how much of a particular inhibitory substance (e.g. drug) is needed to inhibit, "in vitro", a given biological process or biological component by 50%. The biological component could be an enzyme, cell, cell receptor or microorganism. IC values are typically expressed as molar concentration.


title: IC50

text: IC is commonly used as a measure of antagonist drug potency in pharmacological research. IC is comparable to other measures of potency, such as EC for excitatory drugs. EC represents the dose or plasma concentration required for obtaining 50% of a maximum effect "in vivo".


title: IC50

text: Due to the minus sign, higher values of pIC indicate exponentially more potent inhibitors. pIC is usually given in terms of molar concentration (mol/L, or M), thus requiring IC in units of M.


title: IC50

text: The IC terminology is also used for some behavioral measures in vivo, such as a two bottle fluid consumption test. When animals decrease consumption from the drug-laced water bottle, the concentration of the drug that results in a 50% decrease in consumption is considered the IC for fluid consumption of that drug.


title: IC50

text: The IC of a drug can be determined by constructing a dose-response curve and examining the effect of different concentrations of antagonist on reversing agonist activity. IC values can be calculated for a given antagonist by determining the concentration needed to inhibit half of the maximum biological response of the agonist. IC values can be used to compare the potency of two antagonists.


title: IC50

text: IC values are very dependent on conditions under which they are measured. In general, "a higher concentration of inhibitor leads to lowered agonist activity." IC value increases as agonist concentration increases. Furthermore, depending on the type of inhibition, other factors may influence IC value; for ATP dependent enzymes, IC value has an interdependency with concentration of ATP, especially if inhibition is competitive.


title: IC50

text: In this type of assay, a single concentration of radioligand (usually an agonist) is used in every assay tube. The ligand is used at a low concentration, usually at or below its K value. The level of specific binding of the radioligand is then determined in the presence of a range of concentrations of other competing non-radioactive compounds (usually antagonists), in order to measure the potency with which they compete for the binding of the radioligand. Competition curves may also be computer-fitted to a logistic function as described under direct fit.


title: IC50

text: In this situation the IC is the concentration of competing ligand which displaces 50% of the specific binding of the radioligand. The IC value is converted to an absolute inhibition constant K using the Cheng-Prusoff equation formulated by Yung-Chi Cheng and William Prusoff (see K).


title: IC50

text: IC is not a direct indicator of affinity, although the two can be related at least for competitive agonists and antagonists by the Cheng-Prusoff equation. For enzymatic reactions, this equation is:


title: IC50

text: where K is the binding affinity of the inhibitor, IC is the functional strength of the inhibitor, [S] is fixed substrate concentration and K is the Michaelis constant i.e. concentration of substrate at which enzyme activity is at half maximal (but is frequently confused with substrate affinity for the enzyme, which it is not).


title: IC50

text: where [A] is the fixed concentration of agonist and EC is the concentration of agonist that results in half maximal activation of the receptor. Whereas the IC value for a compound may vary between experiments depending on experimental conditions, (e.g. substrate and enzyme concentrations) the K is an absolute value. K is the inhibition constant for a drug; the concentration of competing ligand in a competition assay which would occupy 50% of the receptors if no ligand were present.


title: IC50

text: The Cheng-Prusoff equation produces good estimates at high agonist concentrations, but over- or under-estimates K at low agonist concentrations. In these conditions, other analyses have been recommended.


title: Survivor: Guatemala

text: Survivor: Guatemala — The Maya Empire (commonly referred to as Survivor: Guatemala) is the eleventh season of the American CBS competitive reality television series "Survivor". Filming took place from June 27, 2005 through August 4, 2005 and the season premiered on September 15, 2005. It was filmed in the Yaxhá-Nakúm-Naranjo National Park near the more popular Tikal National Park, located in northern Guatemala. Originally, the season was scheduled to be filmed in a location on the Indian Ocean, with scouting taking place in Madagascar, Southern India and Sri Lanka. However, due to the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami, the plans were scrapped.


title: Survivor: Guatemala

text: This season also featured the return of "" contestants Stephenie LaGrossa and Bobby Jon Drinkard. Aside from the staple twists such as the double Tribal Council and the tribe switch, a new twist called the hidden immunity idol was introduced. The tribes merged with ten remaining players, naming their tribe Xhakúm. After the merge, they received news that an immunity idol was hidden somewhere at camp. Whoever possessed the idol had to use it before the tribe voted. After usage, the idol would be discarded. The idol was only valid until there were four remaining contestants. Danni Boatwright won the title of Sole Survivor, defeating LaGrossa in a 6–1 jury vote.


title: Survivor: Guatemala

text: While the plan for the season always included two former castaways returning for a second chance, there were several discarded concepts and themes for these returnees. Rodger Bingham and Michael Skupin, both from "", were in talks to be the returnees, as were Jonathan Libby and Wanda Shirk, both eliminated on Day 2 of "" after not being selected to join a tribe. Skupin eventually returned in "". Additionally, Hunter Ellis from "" allegedly turned down an offer to return.


title: Survivor: Guatemala

text: Notable cast members include former "" castaways, Stephenie LaGrossa and Bobby Jon Drinkard, former beauty queen and model-turned radio announcer Danni Boatwright, ex-NFL quarterback Gary Hogeboom, and film and television writer Rafe Judkins.


title: Survivor: Guatemala

text: Stephenie LaGrossa competed for her third time on "". Danni Boatwright returned for "". Outside of "Survivor", LaGrossa competed on the USA Network reality competition series, "Snake in the Grass".


title: Survivor: Guatemala

text: Sixteen of the 18 players in the game were already split into two tribes, Nakúm and Yaxhá; both tribes received one additional tribe member, Bobby Jon and Stephenie, respectively, both who had previously appeared on ""; Probst described these players as resources to help either tribe, but otherwise had no safety against being voted out. The first challenge began immediately, requiring both tribes to trek overnight through the jungle to one of the camps near Mayan ruins, along with any available supplies that they wished to carry. The trek left many of the players exhausted and dehydrated for several days following.


title: Survivor: Guatemala

text: During the first nine days, the Nakúm tribe proved more successful at the challenges losing only one immunity challenge, sending Yaxhá to Tribal Council twice. During one challenge, Danni, a sportscaster, identified Gary as a former professional quarterback, though Gary would maintain that he was just a landscaper through most of the rest of the game. A tribal switch occurred on Day Ten that left Bobby Jon, Danni, Blake, and Brandon in the majority at Yaxhá, outnumbering Brian, Amy, and Gary. At Nakúm, the tribe was split 4–4 with Margaret, Judd, Cindy, and Brooke from the original Nakúm and Stephenie, Rafe, Jamie, and Lydia from the original Yaxhá. Immediately after the swap, Stephenie and Jamie formed an alliance with Judd to take control of Nakúm, which later included Rafe, Cindy, and Lydia. Though the two tribes performances were fairly even in wins and losses, a crucial immunity challenge won by Nakúm put them in a decisive 6–4 lead into the merge over Yaxhá. On Night 18, directly after the Yaxhá tribe had voted off Amy, they left for the Nakúm campsite where the two tribes merged into the Xhákúm tribe. Upon merging, the new tribe was informed of a hidden immunity idol located in the jungle, that could be used before the votes were cast to save themselves. However, the Nakúm alliance of six held strong initially as they voted off Brandon.


title: Survivor: Guatemala

text: As a reward for winning a reward challenge, Judd received a clue to the hidden idol. To distract the other players, Judd lied about the clue's contents, which Gary was able to pick up on, locating the idol himself and using it to save himself from being eliminated at the next Tribal Council, where Bobby Jon was voted off in his place. Judd's lie became a focal point for Gary to attempt to break the original Nakúm voting block; though Gary was soon voted off, Stephenie and the other former Nakúm members felt Judd was no longer trustworthy and voted him out. At the reward challenge for the final five, a car was the reward prize. Cindy won the challenge, but was given an option by Jeff as a means to break the "Survivor" "car curse" (that no player that has won a car continued on to win the game) by exchanging her prize to give a car to each of the other four players. Cindy ultimately rejected the option, and was voted off at the next Tribal Council.


title: Survivor: Guatemala

text: After Lydia's elimination, Stephenie became concerned on an earlier deal made by Rafe and Danni to take each other to the Final Tribal Council; though she struggled to remain in the final immunity challenge and outlast Danni, she ultimately lost, becoming emotional over her failure. Rafe informed Danni that she did not have to stay true to their previous deal, and at the following Tribal Council, Danni eliminated Rafe. The jury at the Final Tribal Council considered that Stephenie has played a more devious game than Danni and had backstabbed several of them, and ultimately gave Danni's more social play the win, six votes to one.


title: Survivor: Guatemala

text: "Survivor: Guatemala" was met with a mixed reception by fans and critics. Particular criticism revolved around the social conduct of runner-up Stephenie LaGrossa, which was seen as a reversal from her heroic behavior in "Survivor Palau". The gameplay of winner Danni Boatwright also received mixed to negative reception. Her strategy of not revealing her gameplay moves to the cameras at any point helped her to go far in the game, but rendered her relatively invisible until the late-game. Boatwright ranked placed 27th out of the first 34 winners in a fan poll conducted by "Entertainment Weekly" in 2017. Dalton Ross of "Entertainment Weekly" ranked this season 33rd out of 40 due to its unlikeable cast. In 2014, Joe Reid of "The Wire" ranked this season 15th out of 27. In 2015, a poll by "Rob Has a Podcast" ranked this season 21st out of 30 with Rob Cesternino ranking this season 13th. This was updated in 2021 during Cesternino's podcast, "Survivor All-Time Top 40 Rankings", ranking 27th out of 40th. In 2020, "Survivor" fan site "Purple Rock Podcast" ranked this season 23rd out of 40. Later that same year, "Inside Survivor" ranked this season 25th out of 40 saying "it's neither horrible nor amazing. There are some great moments, ranging from the dramatic to the comedic. But sometimes those moments are forgotten due to what is relatively mediocre gameplay."


title: Malignancy

text: Malignancy is most familiar as a characterization of cancer. A "malignant" tumor contrasts with a non-cancerous benign tumor in that a malignancy is not self-limited in its growth, is capable of invading into adjacent tissues, and may be capable of spreading to distant tissues. A benign tumor has none of those properties.


title: Malignancy

text: Malignancy in cancers is characterized by anaplasia, invasiveness, and metastasis. Malignant tumors are also characterized by genome instability, so that cancers, as assessed by whole genome sequencing, frequently have between 10,000 and 100,000 mutations in their entire genomes. Cancers usually show tumour heterogeneity, containing multiple subclones. They also frequently have reduced expression of DNA repair enzymes due to epigenetic methylation of DNA repair genes or altered microRNAs that control DNA repair gene expression.


title: Malignancy

text: Tumours can be detected through the visualisation or sensation of a lump on the body. In cases where there is no obvious representation of a lump, a mammogram or an MRI test can be used to determine the presence of a tumour. In the case of an existing tumour, a biopsy would be then required to make a diagnosis as this detects if the tumour is malignant or benign. This involves examination of a small sample of the tissue in a laboratory.


title: Malignancy

text: If detected as a malignant tumour, treatment would be necessary. Treatment during early stages is most effective. Forms of treatment include chemotherapy, surgery, photoradiation and hyperthermia, amongst various others.


title: Malignancy

text: When malignant cells form, symptoms do not typically appear until there has been a significant growth of the mass. Once signs and symptoms do arise, they are dependent on the location, size and type of malignancy. Usually, it is quite general and can be associated with other illnesses or diseases and thus, can be difficult to diagnose or can be misdiagnosed.


title: Malignancy

text: Signs include observable or measurable aspects such as weight loss (without trying), a fever or unusual bleeding. On the other hand, symptoms are felt internally by the individual such as fatigue or changes in appetite. A general list of common signs and symptoms includes pain (headaches or bone aches), skin changes (new moles or bumps), coughing and unusual bleeding. There are also signs and symptoms specific to females including belly pain and bloating or breast changes i.e., the formation of a lump. Signs and symptoms specific to males include pain or growths in the scrotum or difficulty urinating.


title: Malignancy

text: Malignant cells often evolve due to a combination of reasons rather than one definitive reason. Reasons which can explain their development include genetics and family history, triggers such as infectious diseases, and exposure to risk factors.


title: Malignancy

text: Infectious diseases play a role in the development of malignancy, with agents of infectious disease being able to produce a multitude of malignant cells. These include bacterial causes, fungal and parasitic causes and, viral causes. Bacteria, fungi and similar pathogens have the ability to form an environment within states of chronic inflammation which gives rise to oncogenic potential. Viral agents are able to assist the formation of malignant tumours due to a mechanism of cell transformation. This cell transformation can occur through either "DNA integration or cellular-DNA alteration of growth regulator genes".


title: Malignancy

text: Inflammation can also play a role in triggering malignancy as it can promote stages of tumour formation. The main purpose of inflammation is to repair tissue, defend the body against pathogens and regenerate cells. At the same time, inflammatory cells can also interact with malignant cells to form an inflammatory tumour microenvironment. This environment increases the likelihood of forming malignant cells through blockage of anti-tumour immunity. Once this occurs, the inflammatory tumour microenvironment begins to send out tumour-promoting signals to epithelial cells, triggering the formation of malignant cells.


title: Malignancy

text: Traditional risk factors of developing malignancy include smoking, sun exposure and, having a history of cancer in the family. Other risk factors include developing post-transplant malignancy which occurs subsequent to solid organ transplantations.


title: Malignancy

text: Individuals who undergo organ transplant surgery have an increased risk of developing malignancy in comparison to the general population. The most common form of malignancy being "nonmelanoma skin cancer and, posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorders". The different types of malignancy developed post-transplant depend on which organ was transplanted. This is linked to recipients being at a higher risk when exposed to traditional risk factors as well as, the type and intensity of the operation, the duration of their immunosuppression post-operation and, the risk of developing oncogenic viral infections.


title: Malignancy

text: There are various treatment forms available to help manage malignancy. Common treatments include chemotherapy, radiation and surgical procedures. Photoradiation and hyperthermia are also used as treatment forms to kill or reduce malignant cells. A large portion of patients are at risk of death when diagnosed with malignancy as the disease has usually progressed for a number of years before detection.


title: Malignancy

text: Surgery can help manage or treat malignancy by either removing the tumour, localising it and/or determining whether there has been a spread to other organs. When undertaking surgery for malignancy, there are six major objectives which are considered. These include "prevention of cancer, diagnosis and staging of disease, disease cure, tumour debulking, symptom palliation and patient rehabilitation".


title: Malignancy

text: Surgical prevention of cancer largely consists of removing the organ at risk of developing malignancy. This would occur if an individual is predisposed to the formation of malignant cells as a result of inherited genetic mutations and, acquired diseases.


title: Malignancy

text: Surgical diagnosis of malignancy involves completing a biopsy. This process requires a sufficient amount of tissue to make a confident diagnosis and, the handling of specimen to expand information provided from testing. Biopsies are categorised into four different processes: "fine-needle aspirate (FNA), core needle, incisional and, excisional".


title: Malignancy

text: Curative surgery (also known as primary surgery) can be conducted when the malignant tumour has only invaded one area of the body. The objective is to remove the entirety of the malignant cells without violating the tumour; if the tumour is violated, the risk of both tumour spillage and wound implantation would increase.


title: Malignancy

text: The surgical procedure of tumour debulking can be undertaken to increase the effectiveness of postoperative forms of treatment. Symptom palliation and patient rehabilitation do not play a role in controlling or reducing malignancy growth rather, they increase the patient's quality of life.


title: Malignancy

text: Hematoporphyrin derivative (HPD) is a drug which was developed to be absorbed by malignant cells and only becomes active when exposed to light. It is commonly used to identify and localise cancers as when it is under activation of blue light the red fluorescence of the malignant tumour (due to the HPD) can be observed easily.


title: Malignancy

text: The combination of HPD with red light (photoradiation) has been used on various malignant tumours including malignant melanomas and carcinomas on a range of different organs including the breast and colon. This form of treatment produces a singlet oxygen through the photodynamic process; where the oxygen molecule exists in an electronically excited state. The singlet oxygen is a cytotoxic agent which holds the ability to eradicate malignant cells by preventing both nucleic acid and protein synthesis. The treatment process also utilises HPD's capability of accumulating at higher levels in malignant tissues compared to most other tissues.


title: Malignancy

text: In the case of deeply pigmented or larger tumours, a stronger course of this treatment process is required in order to be effective.


title: Malignancy

text: Malignancy can be treated through the use of hyperthermia by applying either surgical perfusion or interstitial techniques to the body. The use of this treatment type largely depends on the fact that malignant and normal cells have differing responses to the energy source used. This dependency is due to the intracellular changes which occur during hyperthermia; as the nucleic acids, cell membrane and cytoskeleton within each cell is affected indirectly and/or through multiple pathways. The combination of these intracellular changes means there is no specific target of cell death in the hyperthermic process.


title: Malignancy

text: Chemotherapy is commonly used as either the primary treatment or in conjunction with other treatment forms such as radiotherapy or surgery. It can be administered through "injection, intra-arterial (IA), intraperitoneal (IP), intrathecal (IT), intravenous (IV), topical or oral".


title: Malignancy

text: The purpose of chemotherapy is to use cytotoxic agents which kill rapidly dividing cells within the body. It targets the cellular mechanisms which allow the development of malignancy throughout the body. There are no specific areas which are targeted and so, there is a lack of differentiation between normal and malignant cells, resulting in a range of side effects. This includes bone marrow suppression, gastrointestinal problems and alopecia. Some side effects are specific to the anticancer drug used, the most common being bone marrow suppression as bone marrow has the ability to divide rapidly due to high growth fraction. This is because anticancer drugs have the highest activity in high growth fraction tissues.


title: Malignancy

text: Alkylating agents are used in chemotherapy as these are chemically reactive drugs which form covalent bonds when reacting with DNA. This results in breaks within DNA strands causing either inter-strand or intra-strand DNA cross-linking. The sub-classes of alkylating agents are "nitrogen mustards, oxazaphosphorines, alkyl alkane, sulphonates, nitrosoureas, tetrazines and aziridines."


title: Malignancy

text: Malignancy has been a constant global health concern for a number of years, resulting in significant social and economic impacts on individuals with malignancy and their families. The risk of developing malignancy is 20.2%. In 2018, 18 million patients were diagnosed with a malignant tumour with lung, breast and prostate being the most common form. Additionally, there were approximately 10 million mortalities due to cancer in 2020 and, there is an overall trend which demonstrated that malignant mortality has increased by 28% over the past 15 years.


title: Malignancy

text: Lung cancer has the highest mortality rate in comparison to other forms of cancer, with the leading cause of development due to smoking. The number of smokers in China is rapidly increasing with tobacco killing approximately 3000 people each day. The diagnosis of lung cancer is most common within the 50–59-year age bracket. Further, it caused 1.8 million deaths in 2020 alone.


title: Malignancy

text: In those aged 14 or younger, leukaemia is the most frequent form of malignancy with the brain and nervous system subsequent. These individuals account for approximately 1% of the cancer mortality rate – about 110,000 children each year. The 15-49-year-old age bracket most common form of malignancy is breast cancer with liver and lung cancer following. Finally, those aged 60 and over mainly develop lung, colorectal, stomach and liver malignancy.


title: Dark Castle Entertainment

text: Dark Castle Entertainment is an American film production label and a division of Silver Pictures and Warner Bros. Pictures, It was formed in 1998 by Joel Silver, Robert Zemeckis, and Gilbert Adler. Susan Downey was the Vice President of Development until February 2009, a term running congruent to her tenure as a VP of Production at parent company Silver Pictures.


title: Dark Castle Entertainment

text: Dark Castle Entertainment's name pays homage to William Castle, a horror filmmaker from the 1950s and 1960s. When first formed, the goal was to remake Castle's horror films. After two remakes, it moved on to producing original material, along with remakes of non-Castle films. Starting with "RocknRolla", the company began producing films in genres other than horror. While most of the company's films were initially poorly reviewed by critics, their 2009 film "Splice" eventually received better reviews.


title: Dark Castle Entertainment

text: Dark Castle Entertainment originally acquired the US rights to "The Loft", as they did for "Splice", with the intention of releasing the film through Warner Bros. When Joel Silver moved his office to Universal Pictures, he took Dark Castle, and the film, with him. Universal planned to release the film on August 29, 2014, but the studio pulled it from the schedule in favor of "As Above, So Below". Universal and Dark Castle dropped the film, which was then picked up by Open Road Films and released on January 30, 2015.


title: Dark Castle Entertainment

text: Jason Blum reportedly has spoken to Silver twice about a co-production with Blumhouse Productions, for Universal to distribute, but they have yet to find the right project.


title: Dark Castle Entertainment

text: When featured at the start of a film, the studio's logo is presented with the point-of-view focused a roaring gargoyle head. As the camera zooms out, it's shown that the statue is on the titular castle, with a full moon shining behind it, after which lightning strikes across the entire scene.


title: Steve James (actor)

text: Steve James (February 19, 1952 – December 18, 1993) was an American actor, stunt performer and martial artist. He starred mostly in action films such as the "American Ninja" series, "The Delta Force" (1986), "The Exterminator" (1980), and "Avenging Force" (1986). James also portrayed Kung Fu Joe in the 1988 comedy/spoof film "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka", and its 1990 television pilot spinoff "Hammer, Slammer, & Slade".


title: Steve James (actor)

text: James was born and reared in New York City. His father was trumpet player Hubie James, and his uncle was James Wall, who played Mr. Baxter on the children's television series "Captain Kangaroo". His godfather was Joe Seneca who, among many roles, played Danny Glover's character's father in "Silverado". Joe Seneca was instrumental in Steve becoming interested in action films as he took him to movies on 42nd Street when he was a child. He graduated from Power Memorial Academy in 1970, then attended C.W. Post College as an Arts and Film major.


title: Steve James (actor)

text: Upon graduating he became involved in stage work and TV commercials. James started his film career off as a stunt performer for such New York based film productions as "The Wiz", "The Warriors", and "The Wanderers." He began playing bit parts in the mid 1970s appearing in films such as "The Land That Time Forgot" (1974) and "The Warriors" (1979). In the early 1980s, he appeared in several low-budget films such as "The Exterminator" (1980), "He Knows You're Alone" (1980) and "The Soldier" (1982). He also guest-starred in episodes of television series such as "T.J. Hooker", "E/R" and "The Dukes of Hazzard". In 1993, he had a part as Ptl. Gibbons in "Vigilante".


title: Steve James (actor)

text: In 1985 he had a co-starring role alongside Michael Dudikoff in the martial arts action film "American Ninja". He reprised his role in its sequels "" (1987) and "" (1989). During this period, he was often cast as a supporting character or secondary lead in several action films. He co-starred with Chuck Norris in "The Delta Force" (1986) and "Hero and the Terror" (1988). He also played supporting roles in films of other genres such as the science-fiction comedy "The Brother From Another Planet" (1984), the drama "Mask" (1985) and the sports comedy "Johnny Be Good" (1988).


title: Steve James (actor)

text: He played Kung Fu Joe in the 1988 spoof comedy film "I'm Gonna Git You Sucka" and reprised his role in the spin-off television film "Hammer, Slammer & Slade" (1990). He played rare leading roles in the action films "Riverbend" (1989) and "Street Hunter" (1990). In 1993, he appeared in the comedy "Weekend at Bernie's II" which was the last film to be released during his lifetime.


title: Steve James (actor)

text: Shortly before his death from cancer in December 1993, he had completed filming the 1994 feature film "" with Don "The Dragon" Wilson and the pilot for the TV series "M.A.N.T.I.S.". The pilot first aired on Fox just a few weeks after his death. He was going to audition to play Jax in the Mortal Kombat film; however, his death caused the studio to have Gregory McKinney replace him.


title: Steve James (actor)

text: Eulogies at James' funeral service were delivered by Sidney Poitier (as his widow, Chris, was employed by Mr. Poitier), his father Hubie James, his friend John A. Gallagher and Christine Pan James. His urn resides on the mantle of his home in Burbank, California.


title: Receptor (biochemistry)

text: In biochemistry and pharmacology, receptors are chemical structures, composed of protein, that receive and transduce signals that may be integrated into biological systems. These signals are typically chemical messengers which bind to a receptor and cause some form of cellular/tissue response, e.g. a change in the electrical activity of a cell. There are three main ways the action of the receptor can be classified: relay of signal, amplification, or integration. Relaying sends the signal onward, amplification increases the effect of a single ligand, and integration allows the signal to be incorporated into another biochemical pathway.