title: Improved Outer Tactical Vest

text: In response to the large numbers of female soldiers in the army, a female-specific version of the IOTV (F-IOTV) was developed. Previously, standard tactical vests were issued to women in combat. Army soldiers found that women's movement was restricted, in ways such as bending over, getting in and out of tight spaces, or positioning their rifles against their shoulders. The long armor plates inside the vests would also rub against their hips and cut into their thighs when they sat down. Development of a model for women began in 2009. After much testing and measurements, the Army came up with a vest that is shorter to accommodate smaller torsos and has tailoring to fit closer to women's chests. The new vest eliminates gaps between the material and the body and can be fitted with smaller side ballistic inserts for small waist sizes. The vest has a lighter feel because it doesn’t rest on the female soldier's shoulders like the male vest. The first female soldier vests were given to soldiers deploying for Afghanistan in September 2012.


title: Improved Outer Tactical Vest

text: Nearly all modern military body armor is designed to prevent penetration from bullets to vital areas of the body, in addition to protection against knives and fragmentation from explosives. Typically this is accomplished through both highly durable woven synthetic fibers such as Kevlar or Dyneema, and either metal or ceramic ballistic plates. The IOTV is the standard issue torso protection component to the United States Army.


title: Improved Outer Tactical Vest

text: The IOTV is designed to take the weight of the vest off the shoulders and move it to the lower torso. The vest is also equipped with a mesh inner cover that is designed to improve airflow inside of the armor. There is also a back pad in the lower back area of the vest, which is designed to defeat fragmentation impacts to the lower back/kidney areas. However, the back pad does not provide significant ballistic protection. The vest can withstand a direct impact from a 7.62 millimeter (both NATO and ex-Soviet types) on the front or rear if using the older SAPI plates (NIJ standard III). Use of the new E-SAPI plates increase protection to armor-piercing versions of the aforementioned rounds in addition to .30-06 Springfield M2 armor-piercing rounds (NIJ standard IV). The IOTV provides, without the ballistic ceramic plates inserted, protection from small caliber rounds (i.e. 9mm) and fragmentation. The soft kevlar panels have been tested to stop 9 mm 124 grain full metal jacket bullets at 1,400 ft/s (426 m/s) with minimal deformation and has a V-50 of roughly 1,525 ft/s (465 m/s). This means that the bullet has to be traveling faster than 1,525 ft/s for it to have more than a 50% chance of breaking through the soft armor panel. These specifications are similar to the NIJ standard level III-A certification, however, military standards do not require their vests to be NIJ certified as this is primarily a law enforcement standard.


title: Improved Outer Tactical Vest

text: The modular design of the vest allows greater tactical flexibility in regards to different situations faced by ground troops. A US Army medical research report concluded that greater modular design leads to the ability to find a more effective balance between projectile protection and the physical endurance of the soldier, preventing losses in agility and mobility, and therefore reducing potential injuries or casualties.


title: Improved Outer Tactical Vest

text: E-SAPI (Enhanced Small Arms Protective Insert) plates and their smaller counterparts E-SBI (Enhanced Side Ballistic Inserts) plates, are ceramic ballistic plates that provide the bulk of the protection against projectiles when carried in an Improved Outer Tactical Vest, and are also used as part of many other body armors such as the Modular Tactical Vest. E-SAPI plates are designed to cover the vital front and back torso areas of the torso, while E-SBI plates are designed to protect the sides of the torso. The plate component itself is made of boron carbide, a widely used and extremely hard boron-carbon ceramic. Backing the plate is a layer of Spectra, a woven polymer material with extremely high tensile strength meant to stop any projectile that manages to pass through the ceramic strikeface.


title: Improved Outer Tactical Vest

text: When a bullet strikes the E-SAPI plate, the kinetic energy is dispersed throughout the ceramic layer, and the majority of military rounds in common use are stopped or broken up. If the bullet continues through the boron carbide layer, the Spectra backing either stops the bullet, or, if the bullet was powerful enough, allows the bullet to pass through into the IOTV itself, and likely the wearer. Even in the event of the E-SAPI plate failing to prevent penetration, the velocity and energy of the penetrating round is often reduced to the point where the resulting wound is non lethal. E-SAPI plates are manufactured by Armorworks Enterprises, Ceradyne, Simula, and BAE Systems.


title: Improved Outer Tactical Vest

text: Durability standards are high for E-SAPI plates, with Army requirements on environmental condition testing involving the plates being kept 6 hours at both a high temperature and a low temperature in addition to being dropped twice among a variety of other requirements. USSOCOM requirements are even more stringent, involving 24 hours at high and low temperatures.


title: Improved Outer Tactical Vest

text: While E-SAPI plates do hold significant defensive advantages over the preceding SAPI plates, the increased protection comes at the cost of increased weight and significantly increased cost. Comparing medium-sized plates, a SAPI plate weighs 1.82 kilograms while an E-SAPI plate weighs 2.5 kilograms, over a 35 percent increase in weight. In regards to cost, E-SAPI plates cost 50 percent more, coming in at approximately $600 per plate. SAPI plates were largely phased out in favor of E-SAPI plates beginning in 2005.


title: Improved Outer Tactical Vest

text: XSAPI (X Threat Small Arms Protective Insert) plates are ceramic ballistic plates that have begun replacement of the ESAPI. They are mostly issued to personnel in higher threat environments like Iraq or Afghanistan. The plates are tan colored and the first batch was shipped in the second quarter of 2009, Ceradyne receiving a $77 million contract for delivery. Its threat level is presumably against the M993 7.62 NATO penetrator, as denoted by the back's marking. In the text "7.62mm AP/WC Protection" displayed on the back of the plate, "WC" is the chemical formula for tungsten carbide, the penetrator material of the M993 projectile.


title: Improved Outer Tactical Vest

text: The Improved Outer Tactical Vest as a whole is an improvement over previous US body armor systems, with the fragmentation vest from the Vietnam War being limited to fragmentation protection, the PASGT vest being limited to pistol rounds, and the previous Outer Tactical Vest being unable to stop armor piercing rounds.


title: Improved Outer Tactical Vest

text: In response to the feedback of soldiers on the effectiveness of the armor system, the Army has continually upgraded the IOTV with new features, with Generation III involving a more intuitive quick release system and the new Operational Camouflage Pattern (OCP). Rather than producing entirely new IOTV armor sets, body armor conversion kits have been delivered at a lower cost in order to bring older Generation armor sets up to newer standards.


title: Improved Outer Tactical Vest

text: One criticism carried over from the older OTV to the newer IOTV is what is regarded as the excessive weight of the armor, especially by dismounted infantrymen who regard the armor almost as a liability. In response to this, the U.S. Army is looking into supplementing the heavy IOTV with the newer Modular Body Armor Vest (MBAV) and Soldier Plate Carrier System (SPCS) already in service in Ranger and Airborne units. The MBAV and SPCS do provide less soft body armor coverage, but are lighter than the IOTV, thus more suitable for patrol in Afghanistan. The Army plans to introduce the torso and extremity protection (TEP) system beginning in 2018, which includes a modular scalable vest, ballistic combat shirt, blast pelvic protection system, and battle belt to reduce overall weight from while maintaining coverage by reducing excess bulk. The Modular Scalable Vest, first issued in 2018, is set to replace the IOTV as the standard protective vest issued to US soldiers.


title: FC Halifax Town

text: FC Halifax Town is a professional association football club based in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England. They currently compete in and play at the Shay. They replaced Halifax Town A.F.C., which went into administration in the 2007–08 season.


title: FC Halifax Town

text: Huge tax debts buried Halifax Town A.F.C. after almost 100 years as a football club. In May 2008, it was revealed that Halifax owed over £814,000 to Her Majesty's Revenue and Customs. It was originally thought the club owed the taxman around £500,000, which might have left scope for a deal. At a meeting of the FA, discussing the makeup of the football pyramid for the 2008–09 season, it was decided that FC Halifax Town would be placed in the Northern Premier League Division One North (the eighth tier of English football) despite various appeals.


title: FC Halifax Town

text: The club's first game under the new name FC Halifax Town was a friendly defeat against Tamworth on 19 July 2008. The Shaymen's first competitive match came in a 3–0 loss to Bamber Bridge. FC Halifax's first ever season was filled with inconsistency: ending outside the play-off positions in 8th place.


title: FC Halifax Town

text: In April 2009, Neil Aspin was appointed as the new manager, which would prove to be an excellent appointment. His first season in charge was a successful one; winning the league with 100 points (scoring 108 goals in the process). Halifax reached the FA Cup 4th qualifying round that season: eventually losing to Wrexham in front of a record crowd of 2,843. The title was sealed with a 2–2 home draw against Clitheroe.


title: FC Halifax Town

text: Halifax started the 2010–11 season in the Northern Premier League, (the 7th tier of English football). New-signing Jamie Vardy (who would later play for Leicester City and the England National Team) helped fire Halifax to back-to-back promotions to the Conference North as top scorer with 22 goals. Once again, Halifax would lose in the fourth qualifying round of the FA Cup to a fifth tier side; this time it would be a narrow defeat to Mansfield Town. On New Year's Day 2011, Town beat FC United of Manchester 4–1 at the Shay which attracted a crowd of 4,023, an attendance that at the time held the record crowd for the Northern Premier League. They finally won the title after winning 2–0 at Retford United and gained automatic promotion to the Conference North.


title: FC Halifax Town

text: During pre-season, star-striker Jamie Vardy signed for Fleetwood Town. Vardy was replaced as Halifax's main striker by Lee Gregory (who would later play for Millwall and Stoke City in the Championship). Halifax had a sluggish start to their first ever season in the 6th tier. For the first ever time, Halifax reached the 1st round of the FA Cup: a televised home tie against League 1 leaders Charlton Athletic. The result was a 4–0 defeat in front of 4,601 supporters.The club rose from 13th at the start of the match to 3rd by the end of the season. Halifax lost in the play-offs to Gainsborough Trinity (3–2 on aggregate).


title: FC Halifax Town

text: The 2012–13 season was the club's second consecutive season in the 6th tier. The season was defined by successful cup-runs and another promotion. In the FA Cup, Halifax took Conference Premier side Lincoln City to a replay in the 4th qualifying round. In the FA Trophy Halifax reached the quarter-finals of the tournament, eventually losing out to 5th tier side Dartford. Due to Town's cup-runs and postponements from poor weather caused a huge back-log in fixtures. By February, Halifax had ten games in hand on certain teams. Halifax had a difficult run at the end of the season (despite playing 12 games in 27 days), reaching the play-offs in 5th. In the play-off semi-final, Halifax won 3–1 (on aggregate) against local side Guiseley. The play-off final was won 1–0 against Brackley Town with a solitary goal by Lee Gregory.


title: FC Halifax Town

text: The National League (5th tier) was the highest level that the newly formed FC Halifax Town side had played at since formation. Neil Aspin started the 2013–14 season by signing a two-year contract. Their first season in the 5th tier started with a disappointing 5–1 defeat to Cambridge United. Town's first win in the 5th tier was against Wrexham. From March onwards, the Shaymen won 9 of 10 matches (keeping 7 clean-sheets) Halifax finished their first season in the Conference play-off positions (the highest placed semi-professional team in the country). Halifax lost 2–1 to Cambridge United in the play-off semi-final, rounding off a sensational first season in the 5th tier.


title: FC Halifax Town

text: During pre-season, Lee Gregory was sold for £250,000 to Millwall after being Halifax's top scorer for three consecutive seasons (scoring 18, 20 and 29 goals respectively). Halifax started the new season with five consecutive wins, placing the Shaymen at the top of the league. In the 1st round of the FA Cup, Halifax were drawn against old rivals Bradford City. The televised match attracted 8,042 spectators (FC Halifax Town's record attendance): which Town lost 2–1. Eventually, form dropped off in the league with too many draws (15), leaving Halifax Town in 9th place at the end of the season.


title: FC Halifax Town

text: The Shaymen's third season in the National League was a poor one, culminating in relegation back to the 6th tier. Neil Aspin was sacked and replaced by Darren Kelly. Kelly oversaw disastrous results against Grimsby Town (7–0), Cheltenham Town (7–1) and Braintree Town (6–3). The Braintree defeat forced the hand of the board who sacked him after less than two months in charge. Jim Harvey became caretaker manager, he turned the club's fortunes around but couldn't prevent Halifax's relegation back to the National League North following a draw against Macclesfield Town. Meanwhile, Halifax reached the 2016 FA Trophy Final, defeating Grimsby Town 1–0 at Wembley Stadium.


title: FC Halifax Town

text: Harvey was replaced by North Ferriby United manager Billy Heath. Town made an immediate return to the National League, finishing in 3rd place. Halifax met Salford City in the play-off semi-final, drawing 1–1 (winning 3–0 on penalties). In the play-off final, Halifax beat Chorley 2–1 after extra time in front of nearly 8000 fans.


title: FC Halifax Town

text: Halifax's return to the National League was largely uneventful. Despite mid-season doubts, Halifax were never in serious danger of relegation. Billy Heath was replaced by Jamie Fullarton mid-season who guided them to 16th place. For the second consecutive season, Halifax finished the season in 16th place. Halifax were top of the league at the end of August having just switched to a hybrid full-time model. The highlight of the season was an impressive win against League Two side Morecambe.


title: FC Halifax Town

text: During pre-season, Jamie Fullarton was replaced with Pete Wild. This time though, the positive start to the season didn't end like in previous seasons. By March, the COVID-19 forced the cancellation of the season. The final league position was decided on a points per game decision, meaning Halifax would end up in the play-off positions. However, the Shaymen lost 2–1 in the play-offs to Boreham Wood. Halifax finished the following season in 10th place - four points outside the play-offs. Due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, the vast majority of fixtures were played behind closed doors during 2020–21.


title: FC Halifax Town

text: Halifax Town's traditional colours are blue and white. The club doesn't have any particular, identifiable style and as such there can be quite a change of style season upon season. For the majority of Halifax Town's existence the club has opted for blue shirts, blue shorts and blue socks with various different styles on the shirt. This rhythm was interrupted between 2011 and 2014 as in the 2011–12 season the kit was blue with black trim as opposed to white, between 2012 and 2014 the club wore blue shirts, white shorts and blue sock; in the 2019-20 season the kit was blue with golden trim before moving back to a blue kit with white trimmings for 2020-21, which continued into 2021-22. As Halifax Town (AFC) the kit was also variable, including full blue, blue with white shorts, blue and white stripes and in the 1970s the kit included orange and even full white kits with orange Away kits have no set standard or style nor colour and can come in a wide range of styles, such as the 2019-20 away kit which was orange with light blue trim which was exchanged for a pink and black kit or a gold and white shirt with hints of burgundy with burgundy socks and shorts in 2020-21, even the 1996-1997 white away kit with purple trimmings or, finally, the black and white 2011-12 away kit with lime trimmings.


title: FC Halifax Town

text: According to a survey conducted in 2003, Halifax's three main rivals are Burnley, Rochdale and Huddersfield Town. The rivalry with Burnley began in the 1980s when Burnley dropped into the Fourth Division and a number of intense affairs between the two clubs when the teams played sparked a rivalry. Despite not having met since and rarely beforehand, Halifax fans still view Burnley as being the club's biggest rival and make reference to it in several chants. Halifax have met Rochdale well over 100 times in the Football League and like the Burnley rivalry has formed due to the Yorkshire-Lancashire connection and being one of the nearest towns to Halifax, albeit over the Pennines. Rochdale are the club's oldest traditional rival and many of the older generation of supporters still see them as the primary rival. The Huddersfield rivalry comes from the proximity between the two towns, being just 8 miles apart. Like Burnley, the two clubs have rarely met due to Huddersfield usually being in a higher division but the fans still see there as being a rivalry.


title: FC Halifax Town

text: Other rivals include Bradford City and York City. Despite Bradford being a similar distance away from Halifax as Huddersfield is and having met each other far more times, isn't considered as fierce a rivalry. York, although around 35 miles away, have a competitive rivalry with Halifax, particularly as the two were the only Yorkshire representatives when playing in the Conference Premier in the mid-2000s. Barnsley and Oldham Athletic were both considered rivals in the past; neither have played Halifax in a league fixture since the 1970s.


title: FC Halifax Town

text: When Halifax were demoted to the regional leagues some of the smaller local clubs tried to form competitive rivalries but none of them really took off. The biggest of these rivalries was arguably with Guiseley as the clubs met several times and during Halifax's time in the Conference North the two clubs were both pushing for the play-offs. The rivalry has since declined and has become more of a friendly one as several ex-Halifax players now play and manage there. A small rivalry formed with Chester during their season in the Conference North as the two clubs were the two big, ex-league clubs and had gone through an almost identical fate, having been liquidated and demoted three leagues. Smaller rivalries were also formed with Bradford Park Avenue and Harrogate Town.


title: FC Halifax Town

text: The following table shows players who have made 75 league appearances or more for the club (including substitutions) in descending order:


title: FC Halifax Town

text: The following table shows players who have scored 15 league goals or more for the club (including penalties) in descending order:


title: Shameless (season 8)

text: The eighth season of "Shameless", an American comedy-drama television series based on the British series of the same name by Paul Abbott, was announced on December 19, 2016, a day after the seventh season finale. The season, which premiered on November 5, 2017, consisted of a total of 12 episodes.


title: Shameless (season 8)

text: This is also the last season to feature Isidora Goreshter as series regular, as she announced her departure from the series following the season finale.


title: Shameless (season 8)

text: Fiona begins her new role as landlord of a local apartment building; she gets to know several of the apartment tenants, including Nessa (Jessica Szohr), a lesbian resident, while regularly facing problems within the neighborhood. Nessa introduces Fiona to Ford (Richard Flood), a mysterious Irish carpenter with a colorful past. Fiona bonds with Ford, who helps Fiona deal with a family of apartment squatters trying to sue her. The two eventually begin a sexual relationship. At the end of the season, Fiona confronts Ford about the state of their relationship; Ford reveals that he's happy in their relationship, but that he'll never be "madly in love" with her or anyone.


title: Shameless (season 8)

text: Ian has begun regularly helping teens at Trevor's youth center, and he and Trevor plan to convert an abandoned church building in Fiona's neighborhood into a homeless shelter. However, Fiona—wanting to raise the profile of the neighborhood—wants to convert the empty church building into an art gallery. The argument over the church building results in an ongoing feud between the two siblings. Fiona ultimately gets one of her connections to lease a new property to Ian and Trevor.


title: Shameless (season 8)

text: Lip continues to work at Brad's motorcycle shop, though he is forced to find a new sponsor when Brad, stressed from the birth of Cami's new baby, relapses. Lip briefly begins a casual relationship with his female co-worker, Eddie (Levy Tran), but is turned off by her rough nature. Meanwhile, Professor Youens gets charged with his fifth DUI, and he is sentenced to prison after appearing in court under the influence. Youens later dies in prison from a seizure; at the memorial service, Lip is dispirited upon discovering he was not the only student to have had a mentoring relationship with the professor. Sierra has rekindled with Charlie, who reveals to Lip that he had knocked up another girl during his separation with Sierra. Lip urges Charlie to tell Sierra the truth, but this backfires when Sierra angrily dumps Charlie over the secret baby. Initially finding comfort in Lip, Sierra breaks up with him when he encourages her to give Charlie a second chance.


title: Shameless (season 8)

text: Following his breakup with Sierra, Lip discovers Eddie's young niece, Xan, sitting alone in the motorcycle shop; Brad reveals that Eddie had abandoned Xan, who is estranged from her parents, at the shop. Upon discovering that Eddie had planned for Xan to be picked up by Social Services, Lip takes in Xan and invites her into the Gallagher home.


title: Shameless (season 8)

text: Elsewhere, Frank works towards becoming a reformed man following Monica's death. He successful lands a job at a local store, but quickly regresses to his old ways when the store is shuttered by corporate. Carl begins dating Kassidi (Sammi Hanratty), who suffers from separation anxiety. Kassidi pressures Carl into marrying her, and the two falsify documents at the courthouse to get married; however, Carl breaks up with her when she goes to obsessive measures to prevent him from attending military school. Debbie becomes a welder and reunites with a newly remerged Derek, who wants joint custody of Franny. Kevin and Veronica take back the Alibi from Svetlana, who agrees to partial ownership of the bar. Kevin and Veronica later help Svetlana marry a senile elderly sugar daddy, after which Svetlana moves out of Kevin and Veronica's house.


title: Shameless (season 8)

text: As the season progresses, Ian stops taking his medication and starts to spiral; he initiates a protest against a homophobic pastor preaching gay conversion. When the protest goes viral online, Ian gains numerous supporters who agree with his message. Reeling from his newfound popularity, Ian is nicknamed "Gay Jesus" by his followers, while Frank takes advantage of the Gay Jesus movement to make a profit. Near the end of the season, Ian provides sanctuary to a runaway teen whose father is trying to harm him for being gay. Ian gets into a confrontation with the teen's father; the confrontation concludes with Ian, in a grand gesture, exploding the father's vehicle. The incident results in a warrant being placed for Ian's arrest. A concerned Trevor consults with Fiona over the warrant, while Ian begins a protest at a community college. The police quickly arrive to the protest and arrest Ian; the family witnesses Ian's arrest via television.


title: Referred pain

text: Referred pain, also called reflective pain, is pain perceived at a location other than the site of the painful stimulus. An example is the case of angina pectoris brought on by a myocardial infarction (heart attack), where pain is often felt in the left side of neck, left shoulder, and back rather than in the thorax (chest), the site of the injury. The International Association for the Study of Pain has not officially defined the term; hence several authors have defined it differently.


title: Referred pain

text: There are several proposed mechanisms for referred pain. Currently there is no definitive consensus regarding which is correct. The cardiac general visceral sensory pain fibers follow the sympathetics back to the spinal cord and have their cell bodies located in thoracic dorsal root ganglia 1-4(5).


title: Referred pain

text: As a general rule, in the thorax and abdomen, general visceral afferent (GVA) pain fibers follow sympathetic fibers back to the same spinal cord segments that gave rise to the preganglionic sympathetic fibers.


title: Referred pain

text: The central nervous system (CNS) perceives pain from the heart as coming from the somatic portion of the body supplied by the thoracic spinal cord segments 1-4(5). Classically the pain associated with a myocardial infarction is located in the mid or left side of the chest where the heart is actually located. The pain can radiate to the left side of the jaw and into the left arm. Myocardial infarction can rarely present as referred pain and this usually occurs in people with diabetes or older age. Also, the dermatomes of this region of the body wall and upper limb have their neuronal cell bodies in the same dorsal root ganglia (T1-5) and synapse in the same second order neurons in the spinal cord segments (T1-5) as the general visceral sensory fibers from the heart. The CNS does not clearly discern whether the pain is coming from the body wall or from the viscera, but it perceives the pain as coming from somewhere on the body wall, i.e. substernal pain, left arm/hand pain, jaw pain.


title: Referred pain

text: This represents one of the earliest theories on the subject of referred pain. It is based on the work of W.A. Sturge and J. Ross from 1888 and later TC Ruch in 1961. Convergent projection proposes that afferent nerve fibers from tissues converge onto the same spinal neuron, and explains why referred pain is believed to be segmented in much the same way as the spinal cord. Additionally, experimental evidence shows that when local pain (pain at the site of stimulation) is intensified the referred pain is intensified as well.


title: Referred pain

text: Criticism of this model arises from its inability to explain why there is a delay between the onset of referred pain after local pain stimulation. Experimental evidence also shows that referred pain is often unidirectional. For example, stimulated local pain in the anterior tibial muscle causes referred pain in the ventral portion of the ankle; however referred pain moving in the opposite direction has not been shown experimentally. Lastly, the threshold for the local pain stimulation and the referred pain stimulation are different, but according to this model they should both be the same.


title: Referred pain

text: Convergence facilitation was conceived in 1893 by J MacKenzie based on the ideas of Sturge and Ross. He believed that the internal organs were insensitive to stimuli. Furthermore, he believed that non-nociceptive afferent inputs to the spinal cord created what he termed "an irritable focus". This focus caused some stimuli to be perceived as referred pain. However, his ideas did not gain widespread acceptance from critics due to its dismissal of visceral pain.


title: Referred pain

text: Recently this idea has regained some credibility under a new term, central sensitization. Central sensitization occurs when neurons in the spinal cord's dorsal horn or brainstem become more responsive after repeated stimulation by peripheral neurons, so that weaker signals can trigger them. The delay in appearance of referred pain shown in laboratory experiments can be explained due to the time required to create the central sensitization.


title: Referred pain

text: Axon reflex suggests that the afferent fiber is bifurcated before connecting to the dorsal horn. Bifurcated fibers do exist in muscle, skin, and intervertebral discs. Yet these particular neurons are rare and are not representative of the whole body. Axon-Reflex also does not explain the time delay before the appearance of referred pain, threshold differences for stimulating local and referred pain, and somatosensory sensibility changes in the area of referred pain.


title: Referred pain

text: Hyperexcitability hypothesizes that referred pain has no central mechanism. However, it does say that there is one central characteristic that predominates. Experiments involving noxious stimuli and recordings from the dorsal horn of animals revealed that referred pain sensations began minutes after muscle stimulation. Pain was felt in a receptive field that was some distance away from the original receptive field. According to hyperexcitability, new receptive fields are created as a result of the opening of latent convergent afferent fibers in the dorsal horn. This signal could then be perceived as referred pain.


title: Referred pain

text: Several characteristics are in line with this mechanism of referred pain, such as dependency on stimulus and the time delay in the appearance of referred pain as compared to local pain. However, the appearance of new receptive fields, which is interpreted to be referred pain, conflicts with the majority of experimental evidence from studies including studies of healthy individuals. Furthermore, referred pain generally appears within seconds in humans as opposed to minutes in animal models. Some scientists attribute this to a mechanism or influence downstream in the supraspinal pathways. Neuroimaging techniques such as PET scans or fMRI may visualize the underlying neural processing pathways responsible in future testing.


title: Referred pain

text: Thalamic convergence suggests that referred pain is perceived as such due to the summation of neural inputs in the brain, as opposed to the spinal cord, from the injured area and the referred area. Experimental evidence on thalamic convergence is lacking. However, pain studies performed on monkeys revealed convergence of several pathways upon separate cortical and subcortical neurons.


title: Referred pain

text: Pain is studied in a laboratory setting due to the greater amount of control that can be exerted. For example, the modality, intensity, and timing of painful stimuli can be controlled with much more precision. Within this setting there are two main ways that referred pain is studied.


title: Referred pain

text: In recent years several different chemicals have been used to induce referred pain including bradykinin, substance P, capsaicin, and serotonin. However, before any of these substances became widespread in their use a solution of hypertonic saline was used instead. Through various experiments it was determined that there were multiple factors that correlated with saline administration such as infusion rate, saline concentration, pressure, and amount of saline used. The mechanism by which the saline induces a local and referred pain pair is unknown. Some researchers have commented that it could be due to osmotic differences, however that is not verified.


title: Referred pain

text: Intramuscular electrical stimulation (IMES) of muscle tissue has been used in various experimental and clinical settings. The advantage to using an IMES system over a standard such as hypertonic saline is that IMES can be turned on and off. This allows the researcher to exert a much higher degree of control and precision in terms of the stimulus and the measurement of the response. The method is easier to carry out than the injection method as it does not require special training in how it should be used. The frequency of the electrical pulse can also be controlled. For most studies a frequency of about 10 Hz is needed to stimulate both local and referred pain.


title: Referred pain

text: Using this method it has been observed that significantly higher stimulus strength is needed to obtain referred pain relative to the local pain. There is also a strong correlation between the stimulus intensity and the intensity of referred and local pain. It is also believed that this method causes a larger recruitment of nociceptor units resulting in a spatial summation. This spatial summation results in a much larger barrage of signals to the dorsal horn and brainstem neurons.


title: Referred pain

text: Referred pain can be indicative of nerve damage. A case study done on a 63-year-old man with an injury sustained during his childhood developed referred pain symptoms after his face or back was touched. After even a light touch, there was a shooting pain in his arm. The study concluded that his pain was possibly due to a neural reorganization which sensitized regions of his face and back after the nerve damage occurred. It is mentioned that this case is very similar to what phantom limb syndrome patients experience. This conclusion was based on experimental evidence gathered by V. S. Ramachandran in 1993, with the difference being that the arm that is in pain is still attached to the body.


title: Referred pain

text: From the above examples one can see why understanding of referred pain can lead to better diagnoses of various conditions and diseases. In 1981 physiotherapist Robin McKenzie described what he termed "centralization". He concluded that centralization occurs when referred pain moves from a distal to a more proximal location. Observations in support of this idea were seen when patients would bend backward and forward during an examination.


title: Referred pain

text: Studies have reported that the majority of patients that experienced centralization were able to avoid spinal surgery through isolating the area of local pain. However, the patients who did not experience centralization had to undergo surgery to diagnose and correct the problems. As a result of this study there has been a further research into the elimination of referred pain through certain body movements.


title: Referred pain

text: One example of this is referred pain in the calf. McKenzie showed that the referred pain would move closer to the spine when the patient bent backwards in full extension a few times. More importantly, the referred pain would dissipate even after the movements were stopped.


title: Referred pain

text: As with myocardial ischaemia, referred pain in a certain portion of the body can lead to a diagnosis of the correct local center. Somatic mapping of referred pain and the corresponding local centers has led to various topographic maps being produced to aid in pinpointing the location of pain based on the referred areas. For example, local pain stimulated in the esophagus is capable of producing referred pain in the upper abdomen, the oblique muscles, and the throat. Local pain in the prostate can radiate referred pain to the abdomen, lower back, and calf muscles. Kidney stones can cause visceral pain in the ureter as the stone is slowly passed into the excretory system. This can cause immense referred pain in the lower abdominal wall.


title: Referred pain

text: Further, recent research has found that ketamine, a sedative, is capable of blocking referred pain. The study was conducted on patients with fibromyalgia, a disease characterized by joint and muscle pain and fatigue. These patients were looked at specifically due to their increased sensitivity to nociceptive stimuli. Furthermore, referred pain appears in a different pattern in fibromyalgic patients than non-fibromyalgic patients. Often this difference manifests as a difference in terms of the area that the referred pain is found (distal vs. proximal) as compared to the local pain. The area is also much more exaggerated owing to the increased sensitivity.


title: Sedna (mythology)

text: Sedna ( "Sanna", previously "Sedna" or "Sidne") is the goddess of the sea and marine animals in Inuit mythology, also known as the Mother of the Sea or Mistress of the Sea. The story of Sedna, which is a creation myth, describes how she came to rule over Adlivun, the Inuit underworld.


title: Sedna (mythology)

text: Sedna is known as Arnakuagsak or Arnaqquassaaq in parts of Greenland. She's called Sassuma Arnaa ("Mother of the Deep") in West Greenlandic and Nerrivik ("Table", Inuktun) or Nuliajuk (District of Keewatin, Northwest Territories, Canada). She is sometimes known by other names by different Inuit groups such as Arnapkapfaaluk ("Big Bad Woman") of the Copper Inuit from the Coronation Gulf area and Takánakapsâluk or Takannaaluk (Igloolik). In Killiniq, Labrador, she was referred to as "Old-woman-who-lived-in-the-sea".


title: Sedna (mythology)

text: More than one version of the Sedna legend exists. Some legends have her as the daughter of a goddess named Isarrataitsoq, while others only mention her father.


title: Sedna (mythology)

text: In one legend Sedna is a giant, the daughter of the creator-god Anguta, with a great hunger that causes her to attack her parents. Angered, Anguta takes her out to sea and throws her over the side of his kayak. As she clings to the sides, he chops off her fingers and she sinks to the underworld, becoming the ruler of the monsters of the deep. Her huge fingers become the seals, walruses, and whales hunted by the Inuit.


title: Sedna (mythology)

text: In another version of the legend, she is dissatisfied with men found for her by her father and so marries a dog. Her father is so angry at this that he throws her into the sea and, when she tries to climb back into the boat, he cuts off her fingers. Her fingers become the first seals and she becomes a mighty sea goddess. When she is angered, the shaman travels to wash and comb her hair for her, after which she is placated and releases the animals to the hunters. In other versions, she's unable to comb her hair because she lacks fingers, so a shaman must brush it for her.


title: Sedna (mythology)

text: In the Netsilik region, the story states that Nuliayuk was a mistreated orphan. One day the people tried to get rid of her by attempting to drown her by chopping off her fingertips, which transformed into seals and walruses. Eventually, Nuliayuk marries a sculpin and lives in the sea controlling all sea mammals.


title: Sedna (mythology)

text: Other versions of the legend depict Sedna as a beautiful maiden who rejects marriage proposals from the hunters of her village. When an unknown hunter appears, Sedna's father agrees to give her to him as wife in return for fish. Sedna's father gives Sedna a sleeping potion and gives her to the hunter who takes her to a large nest on a cliff, revealing his true form: a great bird-spirit (variously described as a raven, a fulmar or a Kokksaut/petrel-spirit). She wakes surrounded by birds. Her father attempts to rescue her, but the bird-spirit becomes angry, causing a great storm. In desperation, Sedna's father throws her into the raging sea. Attempting to cling to the kayak, her hands freeze and her fingers fall off becoming the creatures of the sea. She falls to the bottom of the sea and grows a fishtail.


title: Sedna (mythology)

text: Sedna is kidnapped or deceived by a different bird creature in yet another version. Her father then leaves in his kayak to rescue her from the floating ice-island where she is imprisoned while the bird creature is away. The creature, enraged by her disappearance, calls to a spirit of the sea to help him. The sea spirit locates the kayak with the two humans aboard and creates huge waves to kill them. Her father throws Sedna overboard in the hope that this will appease the angry god. Sedna clings to the kayak but her father grabs a little ax and chops three of her fingers off before striking her on the head. The three fingers each become a different species of seal. The stroke to her head sends Sedna to the ocean floor where she resides, commanding the animals of the sea.


title: Sedna (mythology)

text: In one Baffin Island tradition, Sedna was in a kayak with her family when a storm started. Her parents thought she was to blame for the storm and threw her into the sea. She clung to the kayak, but her father cut her fingers off: first the tips, then the second knuckle, then the last knuckle. Her disembodied fingers turned into sea creatures. Sedna gained control over the animals. If humans angered her, she could stop the animals from coming to their hunting sites, thus causing famine.


title: Sedna (mythology)

text: The varying legends each give different rationales for Sedna's death. Yet, in each version, her father takes her to sea in his kayak, chopping off her fingers. In each version she sinks to the bottom of the sea, worshiped by hunters who depend on her goodwill to supply food. She is generally considered a vengeful goddess, and hunters must placate and pray to her to release the sea animals from the ocean depths for their hunt. At Killiniq, people threw worn-out harpoon-heads, broken knives, and morsels of meat and bone into the sea as offerings.


title: Sedna (mythology)

text: 90377 Sedna, a trans-Neptunian object discovered by Michael Brown (Caltech), Chad Trujillo (Gemini Observatory) and David Rabinowitz (Yale University) on November 14, 2003, is named after her.


title: Complete metric space

text: In mathematical analysis, a metric space is called complete (or a Cauchy space) if every Cauchy sequence of points in has a limit that is also in .


title: Complete metric space

text: Intuitively, a space is complete if there are no "points missing" from it (inside or at the boundary). For instance, the set of rational numbers is not complete, because e.g. formula_1 is "missing" from it, even though one can construct a Cauchy sequence of rational numbers that converges to it (see further examples below). It is always possible to "fill all the holes", leading to the "completion" of a given space, as explained below.


title: Complete metric space

text: A sequence formula_2 in a metric space formula_3 is called Cauchy if for every positive real number formula_4 there is a positive integer formula_5 such that for all positive integers formula_6 formula_7


title: Complete metric space

text: The space Q of rational numbers, with the standard metric given by the absolute value of the difference, is not complete.


title: Complete metric space

text: This is a Cauchy sequence of rational numbers, but it does not converge towards any rational limit: If the sequence did have a limit formula_23 then by solving formula_24 necessarily formula_25 yet no rational number has this property.


title: Complete metric space

text: However, considered as a sequence of real numbers, it does converge to the irrational number formula_1.


title: Complete metric space

text: However the closed interval is complete; for example the given sequence does have a limit in this interval and the limit is zero.


title: Complete metric space

text: The space R of real numbers and the space C of complex numbers (with the metric given by the absolute value) are complete, and so is Euclidean space R, with the usual distance metric.


title: Complete metric space

text: In contrast, infinite-dimensional normed vector spaces may or may not be complete; those that are complete are Banach spaces.


title: Complete metric space

text: The space C of continuous real-valued functions on a closed and bounded interval is a Banach space, and so a complete metric space, with respect to the supremum norm.


title: Complete metric space

text: However, the supremum norm does not give a norm on the space C of continuous functions on , for it may contain unbounded functions.


title: Complete metric space

text: Instead, with the topology of compact convergence, C can be given the structure of a Fréchet space: a locally convex topological vector space whose topology can be induced by a complete translation-invariant metric.


title: Complete metric space

text: This space completes Q with the "p"-adic metric in the same way that R completes Q with the usual metric.


title: Complete metric space

text: If formula_29 is an arbitrary set, then the set of all sequences in formula_29 becomes a complete metric space if we define the distance between the sequences formula_31 and formula_32 to be formula_33 where formula_5 is the smallest index for which formula_35 is distinct from formula_36 or formula_37 if there is no such index.


title: Complete metric space

text: This space is homeomorphic to the product of a countable number of copies of the discrete space formula_38


title: Complete metric space

text: Riemannian manifolds which are complete are called geodesic manifolds; completeness follows from the Hopf–Rinow theorem.


title: Complete metric space

text: Every compact metric space is complete, though complete spaces need not be compact. In fact, a metric space is compact if and only if it is complete and totally bounded. This is a generalization of the Heine–Borel theorem, which states that any closed and bounded subspace formula_29 of is compact and therefore complete.


title: Complete metric space

text: Let formula_3 be a complete metric space. If formula_41 is a closed set, then formula_42 is also complete.


title: Complete metric space

text: Let formula_3 be a metric space. If formula_41 is a complete subspace, then formula_42 is also closed.


title: Complete metric space

text: If formula_9 is a set and formula_47 is a complete metric space, then the set formula_48 of all bounded functions from to formula_47 is a complete metric space. Here we define the distance in formula_48 in terms of the distance in formula_47 with the supremum norm


title: Complete metric space

text: If formula_9 is a topological space and formula_47 is a complete metric space, then the set formula_55 consisting of all continuous bounded functions formula_56 is a closed subspace of formula_48 and hence also complete.


title: Complete metric space

text: The Baire category theorem says that every complete metric space is a Baire space. That is, the union of countably many nowhere dense subsets of the space has empty interior.


title: Complete metric space

text: The Banach fixed-point theorem states that a contraction mapping on a complete metric space admits a fixed point. The fixed-point theorem is often used to prove the inverse function theorem on complete metric spaces such as Banach spaces.


title: Complete metric space

text: For any metric space "M", it is possible to construct a complete metric space "M′" (which is also denoted as formula_58), which contains "M" as a dense subspace. It has the following universal property: if "N" is any complete metric space and "f" is any uniformly continuous function from "M" to "N", then there exists a unique uniformly continuous function "f′" from "M′" to "N" that extends "f". The space "M"' is determined up to isometry by this property (among all complete metric spaces isometrically containing "M"), and is called the "completion" of "M".


title: Complete metric space

text: The completion of "M" can be constructed as a set of equivalence classes of Cauchy sequences in "M". For any two Cauchy sequences formula_59 and formula_60 in "M", we may define their distance as


title: Complete metric space

text: (This limit exists because the real numbers are complete.) This is only a pseudometric, not yet a metric, since two different Cauchy sequences may have the distance 0. But "having distance 0" is an equivalence relation on the set of all Cauchy sequences, and the set of equivalence classes is a metric space, the completion of "M". The original space is embedded in this space via the identification of an element "x" of "M"' with the equivalence class of sequences in "M" converging to "x" (i.e., the equivalence class containing the sequence with constant value "x"). This defines an isometry onto a dense subspace, as required. Notice, however, that this construction makes explicit use of the completeness of the real numbers, so completion of the rational numbers needs a slightly different treatment.


title: Complete metric space

text: Cantor's construction of the real numbers is similar to the above construction; the real numbers are the completion of the rational numbers using the ordinary absolute value to measure distances. The additional subtlety to contend with is that it is not logically permissible to use the completeness of the real numbers in their own construction. Nevertheless, equivalence classes of Cauchy sequences are defined as above, and the set of equivalence classes is easily shown to be a field that has the rational numbers as a subfield. This field is complete, admits a natural total ordering, and is the unique totally ordered complete field (up to isomorphism). It is "defined" as the field of real numbers (see also Construction of the real numbers for more details). One way to visualize this identification with the real numbers as usually viewed is that the equivalence class consisting of those Cauchy sequences of rational numbers that "ought" to have a given real limit is identified with that real number. The truncations of the decimal expansion give just one choice of Cauchy sequence in the relevant equivalence class.


title: Complete metric space

text: For a prime formula_62 the -adic numbers arise by completing the rational numbers with respect to a different metric.


title: Complete metric space

text: If the earlier completion procedure is applied to a normed vector space, the result is a Banach space containing the original space as a dense subspace, and if it is applied to an inner product space, the result is a Hilbert space containing the original space as a dense subspace.


title: Complete metric space

text: Completeness is a property of the "metric" and not of the "topology", meaning that a complete metric space can be homeomorphic to a non-complete one. An example is given by the real numbers, which are complete but homeomorphic to the open interval , which is not complete.


title: Complete metric space

text: In topology one considers "completely metrizable spaces", spaces for which there exists at least one complete metric inducing the given topology. Completely metrizable spaces can be characterized as those spaces that can be written as an intersection of countably many open subsets of some complete metric space. Since the conclusion of the Baire category theorem is purely topological, it applies to these spaces as well.


title: Complete metric space

text: Completely metrizable spaces are often called "topologically complete". However, the latter term is somewhat arbitrary since metric is not the most general structure on a topological space for which one can talk about completeness (see the section Alternatives and generalizations). Indeed, some authors use the term "topologically complete" for a wider class of topological spaces, the completely uniformizable spaces.


title: Complete metric space

text: Since Cauchy sequences can also be defined in general topological groups, an alternative to relying on a metric structure for defining completeness and constructing the completion of a space is to use a group structure. This is most often seen in the context of topological vector spaces, but requires only the existence of a continuous "subtraction" operation. In this setting, the distance between two points formula_63 and formula_64 is gauged not by a real number formula_65 via the metric formula_66 in the comparison formula_67 but by an open neighbourhood formula_5 of formula_37 via subtraction in the comparison formula_70


title: Complete metric space

text: A common generalisation of these definitions can be found in the context of a uniform space, where an entourage is a set of all pairs of points that are at no more than a particular "distance" from each other.


title: Complete metric space

text: It is also possible to replace Cauchy "sequences" in the definition of completeness by Cauchy "nets" or Cauchy filters. If every Cauchy net (or equivalently every Cauchy filter) has a limit in formula_14 then formula_9 is called complete. One can furthermore construct a completion for an arbitrary uniform space similar to the completion of metric spaces. The most general situation in which Cauchy nets apply is Cauchy spaces; these too have a notion of completeness and completion just like uniform spaces.


title: Eumetazoa

text: Eumetazoa (), also known as diploblasts, Epitheliozoa, or Histozoa, are a proposed basal animal clade as a sister group of the Porifera (sponges). The basal eumetazoan clades are the Ctenophora and the ParaHoxozoa. Placozoa is now also seen as a eumetazoan in the ParaHoxozoa.


title: Eumetazoa

text: Several other extinct or obscure life forms, such as "Iotuba" and "Thectardis", appear to have emerged in the group. Characteristics of eumetazoans include true tissues organized into germ layers, the presence of neurons and muscles, and an embryo that goes through a gastrula stage.


title: Eumetazoa

text: Some phylogenists once speculated the sponges and eumetazoans evolved separately from different single-celled organisms, which would have meant that the animal kingdom does not form a clade (a complete grouping of all organisms descended from a common ancestor). However, genetic studies and some morphological characteristics, like the common presence of choanocytes, now unanimously support a common origin.


title: Eumetazoa

text: Traditionally, eumetazoans are a major group of animals in the "Five Kingdoms" classification of Lynn Margulis and K. V. Schwartz, comprising the Radiata and Bilateria – all animals except the sponges. When treated as a formal taxon Eumetazoa is typically ranked as a subkingdom. The name Metazoa has also been used to refer to this group, but more often refers to the Animalia as a whole. Many classification schemes do not include a subkingdom Eumetazoa.


title: Eumetazoa

text: A widely accepted hypothesis, based on molecular data (mostly 18S rRNA sequences), divides Bilateria into four superphyla: Deuterostomia, Ecdysozoa, Lophotrochozoa, and Platyzoa (sometimes included in Lophotrochozoa). The last three groups are also collectively known as Protostomia.


title: Eumetazoa

text: However, some skeptics emphasize inconsistencies in the new data. The zoologist Claus Nielsen argues in his 2001 book "Animal Evolution: Interrelationships of the Living Phyla" for the traditional divisions of Protostomia and Deuterostomia.


title: Eumetazoa

text: It has been suggested that one type of molecular clock and one approach to interpretation of the fossil record both place the evolutionary origins of eumetazoa in the Ediacaran. However, the earliest eumetazoans may not have left a clear impact on the fossil record and other interpretations of molecular clocks suggest the possibility of an earlier origin. The discoverers of "Vernanimalcula" describe it as the fossil of a bilateral triploblastic animal that appeared at the end of the Marinoan glaciation prior to the Ediacaran Period, implying an even earlier origin for eumetazoans.


title: Dungeon synth

text: Dungeon synth is a genre of electronic music that merges elements of black metal and dark ambient. The style emerged in the early 1990s, predominantly among members of the black metal scene, such as Mortiis, Burzum, Robert Fudali of Lord Wind and Graveland, Tomi Kalliola of Azaghal and Valar, Sigurd Wongraven of Wongraven and Satyricon, Andreas Bettinger of Grausamkeit, Silenius and Protector of Summoning, Die Verbannten Kinder Evas, Abigor, Pazuzu, and Grabesmond, Ray Heflin of Absu, and Equitant, among others.


title: Dungeon synth

text: The genre employs aesthetics and themes typically associated with black metal juxtaposed to the typical heavy tremolo-picking, blast-beats, and harsh, shrieked vocals of black metal by way of compositions of instrumental or ambient music commonly used as introductions, interludes, or "outros" in black metal, death metal, and heavy metal albums throughout the 1980s and 1990s. Though often paired with medieval and fantasy motifs throughout the 1990s onward, some prominent contemporaries of dungeon synth reject the excessive prevalence of high-fantasy themes. Dungeon synth is occasionally contentiously likened to video game music, as some very general thematic overlap may exist in sparse examples of each, but Mortiis and others have rejected the influence of video game soundtracks on dungeon synth. Mortiis (Håvard Ellefsen) is a major performer of this genre and the style is heavily prevalent in early releases such as "Født til å Herske" and later releases from the return to the "Era I" sound, chiefly "Spirit of Rebellion". Other prominent contemporaries of the genre include Old Tower, Sombre Arcane, and Galdur; each having toured or regularly performed live on top of publishing music. Mortiis, alongside Burzum, is normally cited as the "de facto" progenitor of the genre proper, and each is regularly cited as having influenced later acts associated with dungeon synth.


title: Dungeon synth

text: Since the coining of the term, dungeon synth fans have on occasion identified disparate influences on early dungeon synth pioneers and on the rare occasion, have had their suspicions corroborated. Namely, Tangerine Dream and Klaus Schulze have been cited by Mortiis as early influences, as well as Skinny Puppy and Enigma. Varg Vikernes has cited Das Ich, Dead Can Dance, Tangerine Dream and Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky among his own influences. Finnish dungeon synth musician Tuomas M. Mäkelä of Jääportit has cited Dead Can Dance and Arcana among their influences. Robert Nusslein (founding member of Ritual) of Casket of Dreams has listed Tangerine Dream, Velvet Acid Christ, Dead Can Dance, and Death in June among his influences.


title: Dungeon synth

text: Several industrial and post-punk artists are often invoked as proto-dungeon synth artists or influences on early dungeon synth pioneers including Nurse with Wound, Death in June, In the Nursery, Cocteau Twins, Throbbing Gristle, and many other prominent industrial artists of the 1970s and 1980s.


title: Dungeon synth

text: Though almost universally associated with the orchestral, atmospheric, and ambient intros, interludes, and outros of 1990s black metal albums, proto-dungeon synth can also be found heavily interspersed in many of the same sections of traditional heavy metal and other extreme metal genres of the 1970s and 1980s.


title: Dungeon synth

text: Similar instances of fantastical ambient, orchestral, or neoclassical music can also be heard in Rainbow's "Gates of Babylon" from "Long Live Rock 'n' Roll". Each of the following tracks are also examples of non-black metal heavy metal tracks which feature fantastical ambient, orchestral, or neoclassical music that could, arguably, be said to either influence artists later associated with dungeon synth.


title: Dungeon synth

text: While less prevalent in the black metal albums of the 1990s, heavy metal has borrowed heavily from high-fantasy imagery and motifs since its fledgling days. This indelible link between heavy metal and high fantasy would eventually lead to the colloquial moniker "castle metal" to describe acts of the genre that are mired in the motifs typical of high fantasy art and literature. Mortiis has cited Venom, W.A.S.P., Angel Witch, Kiss, and others among his own heavy metal influences, even citing their high-fantasy leanings on occasion. Sigurd "Satyr" Wongraven has cited Rainbow, Black Sabbath, and other heavy metal bands among his own influences, and the members of Summoning have made similar claims regarding their earliest influences.


title: Dungeon synth

text: Various musical methods of composition prevalent in dungeon synth are often attributed to German kosmische musik artists. Kosmische musik themes were largely inspired by space travel, futurism, and industrialism rather than typical fantasy tropes, but contributed to subsequent genres by way of normalizing "beatless" music which would permeate industrial music and derivative forms such as Ambient and New Age, eventually influencing earlier dungeon synth musicians (or perhaps proto-dungeon synth musicians from the 1980s) and their minimal compositions which were occasionally purely ambient. While only occasionally sharing thematic overlap, dungeon synth musicians would indelibly borrow significantly from kosmische musik by way of musicology and theory.


title: Dungeon synth

text: A few typical examples of "cosmic-oriented" dungeon synth and adjacent releases can be found in early releases, though the style is more prevalent in contemporary works. Mortiis published a seven-inch single of comparable music on his own record label Dark Dungeon Music from his early side-project Fata Morgana. Fenriz published two albums of similar music from his own side-project Neptune Towers. The works of Solanum (one half of Depressive Silence) bear comparable themes of space in the artwork, titles, and other errata, though are not as explicitly composed with sounds reminiscent of kosmische musik. The early works of black metal musician and composer Henri Sorvali also present similar characteristics which could be associated to kosmische musik, including Lunar Womb's "Astral Grief" and "Planets".


title: Dungeon synth

text: The origins of dungeon synth as a genre unto itself are largely rooted in the early 1990s with the release of a few specific pieces of music now retroactively called "dungeon synth". These include Jim Kirkwood's "Where Shadows Lie" released sometime in 1990, followed by "Master of Dragons" in 1991. During this time, Mortiis was still a member of Emperor and had yet to publish any solo material. In 1992, Kirkwood published two more releases on cassette and a new name enters the canon: Vidar Våer of Ildjarn and formerly of Thou Shalt Suffer (also connected to Emperor) and his 1992 black metal/dungeon synth demo tape "Unknown Truths". In March 1992, roughly a year-and-a-half before his murder, Euronymous published the Burzum self-titled debut album through his record label Deathlike Silence Productions, marking the first time a prominent member of the 2nd wave of black metal released material combining black metal tracks with ambient, synth-driven tracks and industrial-esque atmospheric tracks on the same record. This is also the first known use of the word "dungeon" on a record that would later be informally cited as proto-dungeon synth.


title: Dungeon synth

text: By 1993, dungeon synth as a style of black metal separate from the traditional instrumentation of black metal would become visibly apparent with the beginnings of Mortiis' "Era 1" material. Ellefsen, after his departure from Emperor, purchased a Roland keyboard and created the first Mortiis demo: "The Song Of A Long Forgotten Ghost". This first demo, clocking in at just under an hour in length, marked the first time a black metal musician would publish a work that "looked" like a typical black metal demo tape but contained entirely instrumental and non-traditional black metal instrumentation. The first iteration of this demo, self-released by Ellefsen, was circulated in an unknown number of copies on consumer-grade cassettes with a Xerox copied insert; a "do it yourself" practice typical of black metal and other genres of underground music.


title: Dungeon synth

text: The second iteration of this demo tape would be the first time Ellefsen would use the phrase "dark dungeon music" to refer to this burgeoning style of dark ambient music.


title: Dungeon synth

text: Also in 1993, and worthy of mention, is the short-lived Danish project Dark Funeral (not to be confused with the Swedish band of the same name). This demo is occasionally invoked alongside Mortiis' earliest works as another example of nascent dungeon synth but the project quickly ended after releasing two demos.


title: Dungeon synth

text: Again, in 1993, Jim Kirkwood would publish two more works which would retroactively be touted as influencing early dungeon synth music: "Through A Dark Glass" and "Tower of Darkness". Though each work can only tenuously be called dungeon synth, Kirkwood's overall influence is indelible when considering the prevalence of the "Berlin School" on dungeon synth, overall.


title: Dungeon synth

text: 1994 saw the publication of several albums, E.P.s, and demos now considered canon in dungeon synth; of particular merit is the seminal work Født til å Herske, Pazuzu's "...And All Was Silent" (featuring both Richard Lederer and Michael Gregor later of Summoning), "Tears of the Weeping Willow" and "Lost Woods" by Cernunnos Woods, and several others including Lamentation, Black Wailing, Erevos, Equitant, Asmorod, Landscape, and Wintergods.


title: Shamitabh

text: Shamitabh is a 2015 Indian Hindi-language satirical drama film written and directed by R. Balki. The film stars Amitabh Bachchan, Dhanush and debutante Akshara Haasan. The film is jointly produced by Sunil Lulla, Balki, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, R. K. Damani, Amitabh Bachchan, Abhishek Bachchan under their respective production banners. Ilaiyaraaja composed the soundtrack album and background score, while cinematography was handled by P. C. Sreeram.


title: Shamitabh

text: Danish, a mute man from Igatpuri whose childhood dream was to become a Bollywood actor, reaches Mumbai to fulfill his dream. He tries to enter Film City, but is stopped by guards. He trespasses anyway and meets an assistant director, Akshara Pandey, who is amazed by his acting. She approaches a director to request a role for Danish in a film, but the director refuses after he learns that Danish is mute.


title: Shamitabh

text: Danish and Akshara go to a voice hospital to get his check-up, but doctors declare his vocal chords are fully paralyzed and are unable to be treated. Akshara's father reveals a new "Live Voice Transfer Technology" exists in Finland; a chip will be fitted inside the patient's larynx which can help them "speak" via a borrowed voice. After getting this operation done in Finland, Akshara and Danish return to Mumbai and set out to search for a person who could speak for Danish every time, when they come across an old drunkard, Amitabh Sinha, lying on the footpath. Amitabh also wanted to become an actor but was rejected because of his voice.


title: Shamitabh

text: Danish approaches the director again, who agrees to launch him this time, but wanted him to change his name. Danish searches for a name and concludes on Shamitabh (a portmanteau of Danish and Amitabh), giving credit to the person who provided him with voice. Danish makes two films and turns out to be a hit actor to which Amitabh realises was only because of him and an ego problem between the two starts to rise.


title: Shamitabh

text: Danish arrives at London to deliver a speech which Amitabh voices for him, but Danish treats him like a servant. Amitabh later becomes inebriated and is arrested after attacking a police officer, but Danish bails him out. When the duo return to Mumbai, journalists ask Danish if he is apologetic about the incident. Danish tells Amitabh to say that he apologises from his servant, Amitabh's side. Enraged, Amitabh mischievously makes him reply in negative, much to Danish's fury. The duo parts ways; Danish plays a mute person in his next film, while Amitabh dubs for another actor in a different film. Both films fail.


title: Shamitabh

text: Akshara makes both Amitabh and Danish realise they are nothing without each other and gets them together for a film titled "Sorry", which she is directing. Meanwhile, Akshara and Danish tell that they like each other. While Amitabh and Danish are on the way to the venue of the press meet for "Sorry", a car accident occurs; Danish is killed while Amitabh's larynx is damaged, making him mute.


title: Shamitabh

text: Some time later, Amitabh paces around Danish's grave with the script of "Sorry", imagining that Danish is still alive and practising his lines for the film.


title: Shamitabh

text: In August 2013, reports announced that Dhanush would play the lead role in R. Balki's next film. But Balki denied them as rumors, citing that they may have arisen when he had shot for an advertisement featuring. In November 2013, Bachchan and Dhanush were announced as stars. The film also marked the acting debut of Kamal Haasan's second daughter, Akshara Haasan. In addition to portraying one of the film's central characters, Bachchan had also bankrolled the venture. In May 2014, Balki revealed that the film would be titled "Shamitabh", which also sounded similar to the Bollywood star's name, whilst also revealing that half the film's shooting had been completed. Bachchan lent his voice to Dhanush, who plays a dumb aspiring actor in the film. The film's title derived from the duo's names in which 'Sh' from Dhanush was added as a prefix to Amitabh, therefore becoming "Shamitabh".


title: Shamitabh

text: Besides the lead cast, it was confirmed in February 2014 that actor Rajeev Ravindranathan would appear in a small role in the film. Rajeev confirmed the same again in July 2014. In August 2014, it was reported that director Mahesh Bhatt had acted in a cameo role in the film. Later it was reported that not only Mahesh Bhatt, but Karan Johar, Anurag Basu, Rakesh Omprakash Mehra, Rajkumar Hirani, Gauri Shinde, along with lyricist Javed Akhtar and producers Boney Kapoor and Ekta Kapoor would do cameos in the film. Actress Abhinaya of "Nadodigal" (2009) fame was selected to play a crucial role in the film. Actress Rekha was selected to play a supporting role. Vandita Shrivastava, an MBA-turned-actress, stated that she had a role in the film.


title: Shamitabh

text: Principal photography commenced in February 2014 in Igatpuri. Amitabh Bachchan began shooting for his portions in the film in April 2014. "Shamitabh" became the first Bollywood film to be shot in the Lapland region of Finland and in Helsinki. The crew shot some scenes at the Seven Hills Hospital, the same place where Bachchan underwent two abdominal surgeries and saw the birth of Aaradhya, his granddaughter. Some scenes were also shot in London. The team took a break in mid-July 2014 to celebrate Dhanush's birthday and the success of his 25th film, "Velaiyilla Pattathari" (2014). In mid-August 2014, Amitabh Bachchan stated that he had completed his portions for the film, whilst also confirming that 90% percent of the film's shooting had been completed. Dhanush reportedly did a few dastardly stunts in the film. The film's cinematographer P. C. Sreeram was fascinated by Akshara's acting capability and lack of nervousness while shooting with Dhanush and Bachchan and lauded her as a "woman of substance". Akshara did her own choreography for her dance.


title: Shamitabh

text: The soundtrack album and background score were composed by Ilaiyaraaja. Illaiyaraaja began work for the film's songs on 6 January 2014 in Mumbai. Bachchan had lent his voice to a song in the film. The song "Stereophonic Sannata" was reused from the song "Aasaiya Kaathula" from the Tamil movie "Johnny."


title: Shamitabh

text: The first look of the lead actors Bachchan and Dhanush were released on 23 July 2014, and 25 July 2014, respectively. A video trailer of Bachchan sitting in a toilet and singing "piddly si baatein", a catchy, peppy song while holding the script, was released on 31 December 2014. An extended version of the trailer was released on 2 January 2015. Bachchan had been reportedly seen sporting a rugged look and wearing shabby clothes, Bachchan found the look quite difficult to preserve throughout the shooting of the film. Bachchan described every film he made with Balki as "novel, out of the ordinary and most challenging" and Shamitabh is "no different". A still featuring the lead actors was released by Amitabh Bachchan on Twitter on 20 August 2014. Eros International distributed the film worldwide.


title: Shamitabh

text: The film received mixed reviews from critics and audience. Srijana Mitra Das of "The Times of India" gave it 3.5 stars out of 5 and stated, "Shamitabh has a doubly dramatic act – but less emotion". Indian Express gave the movie 2 stars. Rajeev Masand of IBNLIVe gave the movie 2.5 stars stating "The promising film comes undone by the curse of the second half". The Guardian gave average reviews describing the movie "Amitabh Bachchan in affectionate but incoherent satire".


title: Voiced postalveolar fricative

text: A voiced postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound used in some spoken languages. The International Phonetic Association uses term "voiced postalveolar fricative" only for the sound , but it also describes the voiced postalveolar non-sibilant fricative , for which there are significant perceptual differences.


title: Voiced postalveolar fricative

text: The voiced palato-alveolar fricative or voiced domed postalveolar fricative is a type of consonantal sound, used in some spoken languages.


title: Voiced postalveolar fricative

text: The symbol in the International Phonetic Alphabet that represents this sound is the lower case form of the letter Ezh (), and the equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is codice_1. An alternative symbol used in some older and American linguistic literature is , a "z" with a caron. In some transcriptions of alphabets such as the Cyrillic, the sound is represented by the digraph .


title: Voiced postalveolar fricative

text: Although present in English, the sound is not represented by a specific letter or digraph, but is formed by yod-coalescence of and in words such as measure. It also appears in some loanwords, mainly from French (thus written with and ).


title: Voiced postalveolar fricative

text: The sound occurs in many languages and, as in English and French, may have simultaneous lip rounding (), although this is rarely indicated in transcription.


title: Voiced postalveolar fricative

text: The sound in Russian denoted by is commonly transcribed as a palato-alveolar fricative but is actually a laminal retroflex fricative.


title: Voiced postalveolar fricative

text: The voiced postalveolar non-sibilant fricative is a consonantal sound. As the International Phonetic Alphabet does not have separate symbols for the post-alveolar consonants (the same symbol is used for all coronal places of articulation that aren't palatalized), this sound is usually transcribed (retracted constricted ). The equivalent X-SAMPA symbol is codice_2.


title: Voiced postalveolar fricative

text: However, it does not have the grooved tongue and directed airflow, or the high frequencies, of a sibilant.


title: Vegas (Doja Cat song)

text: "Vegas" is a song by American rapper and singer Doja Cat. It was released through Kemosabe Records and RCA Records as the lead single from the soundtrack for Baz Luhrmann's Elvis Presley biopic, "Elvis", on May 6, 2022. The song was produced by Rogét Chahayed and Yeti Beats. It interpolates a sample of Shonka Dukureh's recording of the song "Hound Dog", which was written by Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, first recorded by Big Mama Thornton (who Dukureh plays in the film) in 1952 and notably covered by Presley. The official music video for the song was released on June 2, 2022.


title: Vegas (Doja Cat song)

text: The song's lyrics refer to a man who was an "underwhelming lover" whom Doja Cat feels "never deserved her attention".


title: Vegas (Doja Cat song)

text: Writing for "Consequence", Carys Anderson felt that Doja Cat "lives up to the challenge" of Luhrmann "pairing historical content with modern music", calling it "Ain't Shit" meets "Hound Dog". Wongo Okon of "Uproxx" remarked that Doja "raps with a vengeance".


title: Vegas (Doja Cat song)

text: "Vegas" peaked at number ten on the US "Billboard" Hot 100, becoming Doja's seventh top-ten single. The song also reached number one on the Pop Songs chart, making it the first solo soundtrack song to reach the top of that chart since Justin Timberlake's "Can't Stop the Feeling!" in 2016. It also makes her the artist with the most number ones on Pop Songs this decade among women.


title: Vegas (Doja Cat song)

text: Prior to its official release, Doja Cat performed "Vegas" for the first time during the 2022 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival. She was joined by Shonka Dukureh, who performed the sample she provided for the song.


title: Vegas (Doja Cat song)

text: The music video was released on June 2, 2022. It is directed by Child, and features a cameo by Dukureh, who portrays Big Mama Thornton in "Elvis".


title: Nicotine poisoning

text: Nicotine poisoning describes the symptoms of the toxic effects of nicotine following ingestion, inhalation, or skin contact. Nicotine poisoning can potentially be deadly, though serious or fatal overdoses are rare. Historically, most cases of nicotine poisoning have been the result of use of nicotine as an insecticide. More recent cases of poisoning typically appear to be in the form of Green Tobacco Sickness, or due to unintended ingestion of tobacco or tobacco products or consumption of nicotine-containing plants.


title: Nicotine poisoning

text: Standard textbooks, databases, and safety sheets consistently state that the lethal dose of nicotine for adults is 60 mg or less (30–60 mg), but there is overwhelming data indicating that more than 500 mg of oral nicotine is required to kill an adult.


title: Nicotine poisoning

text: Children may become ill following ingestion of one cigarette; ingestion of more than this may cause a child to become severely ill. The nicotine in the e-liquid of an electronic cigarette can be hazardous to infants and children, through accidental ingestion or skin contact. In some cases children have become poisoned by topical medicinal creams which contain nicotine.


title: Nicotine poisoning

text: People who harvest or cultivate tobacco may experience Green Tobacco Sickness (GTS), a type of nicotine poisoning caused by skin contact with wet tobacco leaves. This occurs most commonly in young, inexperienced tobacco harvesters who do not consume tobacco.


title: Nicotine poisoning

text: Nicotine poisoning tends to produce symptoms that follow a biphasic pattern. The initial symptoms are mainly due to stimulatory effects and include nausea and vomiting, excessive salivation, abdominal pain, pallor, sweating, hypertension, tachycardia, ataxia, tremor, headache, dizziness, muscle fasciculations, and seizures. After the initial stimulatory phase, a later period of depressor effects can occur and may include symptoms of hypotension and bradycardia, central nervous system depression, coma, muscular weakness and/or paralysis, with difficulty breathing or respiratory failure.


title: Nicotine poisoning

text: From September 1, 2010 to December 31, 2014, there were at least 21,106 traditional cigarette calls to US poison control centers. During the same period, the ten most frequent adverse effects to traditional cigarettes reported to US poison control centers were vomiting (80.0%), nausea (9.2%), drowsiness (7.8%), cough (7.2%), agitation (6.6%), pallor (3.0%), tachycardia (2.5%), diaphoresis (1.5%), dizziness (1.5%), and diarrhea (1.4%). 95% of traditional cigarette calls were related to children 5 years old or less. Most of the traditional cigarette calls were a minor effect.


title: Nicotine poisoning

text: Calls to US poison control centers related to e-cigarette exposures involved inhalations, eye exposures, skin exposures, and ingestion, in both adults and young children. Minor, moderate, and serious adverse effects involved adults and young children. Minor effects correlated with e-cigarette liquid poisoning were tachycardia, tremor, chest pain and hypertension. More serious effects were bradycardia, hypotension, nausea, respiratory paralysis, atrial fibrillation and dyspnea. The exact correlation is not fully known between these effects and e-cigarettes. 58% of e-cigarette calls to US poison control centers were related to children 5 years old or less. E-cigarette calls had a greater chance to report an adverse effect and a greater chance to report a moderate or major adverse effect than traditional cigarette calls. Most of the e-cigarette calls were a minor effect.


title: Nicotine poisoning

text: From September 1, 2010 to December 31, 2014, there were at least 5,970 e-cigarette calls to US poison control centers. During the same period, the ten most frequent adverse effects to e-cigarettes and e-liquid reported to US poison control centers were vomiting (40.4%), eye irritation or pain (20.3%), nausea (16.8%), red eye or conjunctivitis (10.5%), dizziness (7.5%), tachycardia (7.1%), drowsiness (7.1%), agitation (6.3%), headache (4.8%), and cough (4.5%).


title: Nicotine poisoning

text: E-cigarette exposure cases in the US National Poison Data System increased greatly between 2010 and 2014, peaking at 3,742 in 2014, fell in 2015 though 2017, and then between 2017 and 2018 e-cigarette exposure cases increased from 2,320 to 2,901. The majority of cases (65%) were in children under age five and 15% were in ages 5-24. Approximately 0.1% of cases developed life-threatening symptoms.


title: Nicotine poisoning

text: The of nicotine is 50 mg/kg for rats and 3 mg/kg for mice. 0.5–1.0 mg/kg can be a lethal dosage for adult humans, and 0.1 mg/kg for children. However the widely used human LD estimate of 0.5–1.0 mg/kg was questioned in a 2013 review, in light of several documented cases of humans surviving much higher doses; the 2013 review suggests that the lower limit causing fatal outcomes is 500–1000 mg of ingested nicotine, corresponding to 6.5–13 mg/kg orally. An accidental ingestion of only 6 mg may be lethal to children.


title: Nicotine poisoning

text: It is unlikely that a person would overdose on nicotine through smoking alone. The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stated in 2013: "There are no significant safety concerns associated with using more than one [over the counter] OTC [nicotine replacement therapy] NRT at the same time, or using an OTC NRT at the same time as another nicotine-containing product—including a cigarette." Ingestion of nicotine pharmaceuticals, tobacco products, or nicotine containing plants may also lead to poisoning. Smoking excessive amounts of tobacco has also led to poisoning; a case was reported where two brothers smoked 17 and 18 pipes of tobacco in succession and were both fatally poisoned. Spilling an extremely high concentration of nicotine onto the skin can result in intoxication or even death since nicotine readily passes into the bloodstream following skin contact.


title: Nicotine poisoning

text: The recent rise in the use of electronic cigarettes, many forms of which are designed to be refilled with nicotine-containing "e-liquid" supplied in small plastic bottles, has renewed interest in nicotine overdoses, especially the possibility of young children ingesting the liquids. A 2015 Public Health England report noted an "unconfirmed newspaper report of a fatal poisoning of a two-year old child" and two published case reports of children of similar age who had recovered after ingesting e-liquid and vomiting. They also noted case reports of suicides by nicotine, where adults drank liquid containing up to 1,500 mg of nicotine. They recovered (helped by vomiting), but an ingestion apparently of about 10,000 mg was fatal, as was an injection. They commented that "Serious nicotine poisoning seems normally prevented by the fact that relatively low doses of nicotine cause nausea and vomiting, which stops users from further intake." Four adults died in the US and Europe, after intentionally ingesting liquid. Two children, one in the US in 2014 and another in Israel in 2013, died after ingesting liquid nicotine.


title: Nicotine poisoning

text: The discrepancy between the historically stated 60-mg dose and published cases of nicotine intoxication has been noted previously (Matsushima et al. 1995; Metzler et al. 2005). Nonetheless, this value is still widely accepted over the 500mg figure as the basis for safety regulations of tobacco and other nicotine-containing products (such as the EU wide TPD, set at a maximum of 20mg/ml.


title: Nicotine poisoning

text: The symptoms of nicotine poisoning are caused by effects at nicotinic cholinergic receptors. Nicotine is an agonist at nicotinic acetylcholine receptor which are present in the central and autonomic nervous systems, and the neuromuscular junction. At low doses nicotine causes stimulatory effects on these receptors, however, higher doses or more sustained exposures can cause inhibitory effects leading to neuromuscular blockade.


title: Nicotine poisoning

text: It is sometimes reported that people poisoned by organophosphate insecticides experience the same symptoms as nicotine poisoning. Organophosphates inhibit an enzyme called acetylcholinesterase, causing a buildup of acetylcholine, excessive stimulation of all types of cholinergic neurons, and a wide range of symptoms. Nicotine is specific for nicotinic cholinergic receptors only and has some, but not all of the symptoms of organophosphate poisoning.


title: Nicotine poisoning

text: Increased nicotine or cotinine (the nicotine metabolite) is detected in urine or blood, or serum nicotine concentrations increase.


title: Nicotine poisoning

text: The initial treatment of nicotine poisoning may include the administration of activated charcoal to try to reduce gastrointestinal absorption. Treatment is mainly supportive and further care can include control of seizures with the administration of a benzodiazepine, intravenous fluids for hypotension, and administration of atropine for bradycardia. Respiratory failure may necessitate respiratory support with rapid sequence induction and mechanical ventilation. Hemodialysis, hemoperfusion or other extracorporeal techniques do not remove nicotine from the blood and are therefore not useful in enhancing elimination. Acidifying the urine could theoretically enhance nicotine excretion, although this is not recommended as it may cause complications of metabolic acidosis.


title: Nicotine poisoning

text: The prognosis is typically good when medical care is provided and patients adequately treated are unlikely to have any long-term sequelae. However, severely affected patients with prolonged seizures or respiratory failure may have ongoing impairments secondary to the hypoxia. It has been stated that if a patient survives nicotine poisoning during the first 4 hours, they usually recover completely. At least at "normal" levels, as nicotine in the human body is broken down, it has an approximate biological half-life of 1–2 hours. Cotinine is an active metabolite of nicotine that remains in the blood for 18–20 hours, making it easier to analyze due to its longer half-life.


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: The Christian Democrats ( ; KD) is a Christian-democratic political party in Sweden founded in March 1964. It first entered parliament in 1985, through electoral cooperation with the Centre Party, and in 1991 broke through to win seats by itself. The party leader since 25 April 2015 has been Ebba Busch. She succeeded Göran Hägglund, who had been leader since 2004.


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: The party name was for a long time abbreviated to KDS (standing for , Christian Democratic Unity), until 1996, when the party changed its name to the current "Christian Democrats" and its abbreviation to "KD".


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: The KD was a minor party in the centre-right Alliance coalition government led by Prime Minister Fredrik Reinfeldt between 2006 and 2014 and later a part of the centre-right opposition until it dissolved in January 2019. Since 2021 the KD mainly cooperates with the Moderate Party, Liberals and the Sweden Democrats.


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: KD's platform and policies have been shaped by the tenets of Christian democracy, stewardship, and the shared responsibility between the church and political institutions, the responsibility of solidarity towards fellow human beings and the safeguarding of civil society, permeated with socially and culturally conservative values.


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: The Christian Democrats want a flexible immigration policy, but one that is regulated and controlled. The party names a Nordic level when it comes to immigration, meaning the amount of refugees that enter Sweden should be at the same level as in the other Nordic countries. The KD also calls for a socially just but efficient asylum policy in which resources can be allocated to those in need in tandem with faster screening and quicker deportation of those who fail or abuse the asylum claiming processes, as well as increased spending on border patrol police. It also wants to introduce a special integration committee in the Riksdag and compulsory measures for refugees to learn Swedish and adopt Swedish customs and social norms. Since 2018, the party has pledged a tougher line against immigration and multiculturalism, including opposing the Islamic call to prayer in public spaces.


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: On foreign policy, the KD is largely supportive of Sweden's membership of the European Union. They were in favour of entering the eurozone during the 2003 Swedish euro referendum, but after the “No” side won the referendum in a landslide victory the party changed its stance and are now against joining the eurozone. They are calling for "a narrower and sharper EU" and that "on a number of issues, the EU need to take a step back and give more power back to the nation states”. In the European Parliament, the KD sits with the European People's Party and is a member of Centrist Democrat International internationally which contains other Christian democratic parties.


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: The party had its roots in a movement against the Swedish government's decision in 1963 to remove religious education from the elementary school syllabus. An organisation called "Christian Social Responsibility", which would later become the Christian Democratic Unity, organised several marches against the decision, one of which became one of the largest in Swedish modern history. Despite the public outcry and over 2.1 million protest signatures, the decision went through. The group that had worked in the campaign felt it was a sign that Swedish politics needed a Christian Democratic Party.


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: The political and social origins of the Swedish Christian Democrats clearly differ from those of the European continental Christian Democratic parties (as in Italy or Germany). In those countries, Christian Democracy represented the mainstream of the social-conservative political forces and was closely tied to majoritarian religious practice. In Sweden, however, Christian Democracy emerged as a minority grouping amongst the centre-right forces and was tied to minority-religious tendencies in society (particularly among voters associated with the Free Churches and likeminded Lutherans).


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: In the beginning of 1964 Lewi Pethrus, founder of the Swedish Pentecostal movement and chief editor of the Swedish newspaper "Dagen", discussed the idea of a Swedish Christian democratic party on the editorial pages of "Dagen". He stated that many people had contacted him about the idea and that the current Swedish political climate was dominated by atheist economic materialism.


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: Principal Algot Tergel hosted a conference on 7 February of the same year. The topic of the conference was "Christianity and Politics", and during the conference the idea of starting a Christian Democratic Party was discussed. A committee consisting of Pethrus and eight other Free Church leaders was formed.


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: A large and widespread debate followed the decision to create the committee. "Dagen" published an interview with Kjell Bondevik, the leader of the Norwegian Christian Democratic Party, and there were talks about creating a Christian Democratic Party in Finland as well.


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: On 20 March 1964 the party was founded as Christian Democratic Unity (). At first it was only an organisation, but at a board meeting later that year it was decided that the organisation would be revamped into a party and that it would compete in the national elections in Sweden. The first roughly 100 members elected Birger Ekstedt to the post of party chair and Lewi Pethrus to the post of vice chair.


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: During its early years the KDS was sometimes called the "Air and Water" party because of its strong emphasis on environmental politics. At that time the Green Party of Sweden did not exist, and thus the Christian Democratic Unity had a unique appeal with its environmentally friendly policies. In the Swedish national elections of 1964 the party gained 1.8% of the vote, not enough to get any seats in the Riksdag, but the party already had influence at the municipal level. In the municipal elections of 1966 the party gained 354 seats.


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: At this time the established major parties of Sweden began discussing new ways of making it more difficult for minor parties to enter the Riksdag. In 1971 the Riksdag was reformed, and with this came the D'Hondt method of allocating seats. The threshold was set at 4%, which meant that the political breakthrough was far away for the KDS.


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: Birger Ekstedt died in 1972, aged 51, only a few days after having been reelected as the party chair. An emergency congress was called; there Alf Svensson, the relatively unknown chair of the youth wing of the party, was elected chair. Svensson was to become one of the most important figures in modern Swedish politics. In the national elections of 1973 the party gained 1.8% of the vote, the same result as in the two preceding elections.


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: Before the national elections of 1976 there was a strong call for a change to a right-wing government in Sweden. The organisation "Vote right-wing" was formed to promote the change to a right-wing government. The KDS, however, announced a desire not to be placed on the traditional right-wing/left-wing scale, a measurement system it felt was outdated. Therefore, the "Vote right-wing" organisation started a campaign of negative campaigning against the KDS with the slogan "Don't vote for KDS, don't throw away your vote" as the KDS had not reached the 4% threshold at the last elections. The effect of this large campaign on a small and relatively new party like the KDS was disastrous, and it gained only 1.4% of the vote in the 1976 election.


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: At the start of the 1980s, the party revamped its entire political manifesto. The party abandoned its conservative stance on abortion and instead assumed a moderate pro-choice stance and adopted a plank to work to lower the total number of abortions in Sweden through encouragement of individual voluntary measures instead. In the 1980 nuclear power referendums the party supported the "no" campaign, which meant opposing any further construction of new nuclear power-plants in Sweden and advocating the phasing-out of all nuclear power plants in Sweden within 10 years, together with increased investments in alternative energy.


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: In 1982 the Christian Democratic Women's league was founded, and the party gained 1.9% of the votes, for the first time getting more than 100,000 votes.


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: As early as 1978 the KDS discussed the idea of electoral cooperation with the Centre Party. Similar ideas were discussed before the 1982 elections but were never put into action. One of the proponents of such a collaboration was the then secretary of information Mats Odell. The party officially took a stance against a socialist government, which effectively put them together with the right-wing block.


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: The negotiations were difficult, but in 1984 the Centre Party and KDS agreed to run under a joint banner in the next year's elections under the name ("The Centre").


title: Christian Democrats (Sweden)

text: The deal, which was heavily criticised by the Swedish Social Democratic Party, meant that each party had its own voting ticket but that the Centre Party should nominate a Christian Democratic candidate on at least five of the regional candidacy lists. The Centre Party ticket would win over the KDS ticket almost everywhere, but this way there would be at least five Christian Democrats in the Riksdag. The Centre Party did not fulfil its promise, however, and put a Christian Democrat on the list only in the municipality of Kalmar. This resulted in great tensions within the Christian Democrats; one of the party icons, the environmental activist Björn Gillberg, left the party. However, Alf Svensson managed to get into the Riksdag through the KDS party ticket in Jönköping.