title: Pe̍h-ōe-jī

text: Chinese phonology traditionally divides syllables in Chinese into three parts; firstly the "initial", a consonant or consonant blend which appears at the beginning of the syllable, secondly the "final", consisting of a "medial vowel" (optional), a "nucleus vowel", and an optional "ending"; and finally the tone, which is applied to the whole syllable. In terms of the non-tonal (i.e. phonemic) features, the "nucleus vowel" is the only required part of a licit syllable in Chinese varieties. Unlike Mandarin but like other southern varieties of Chinese, Taiwanese has final stop consonants with no audible release, a feature that has been preserved from Middle Chinese. There is some debate as to whether these stops are a tonal feature or a phonemic one, with some authorities distinguishing between as a tonal feature, and , , and as phonemic features. Southern Min dialects also have an optional nasal property, which is written with a superscript and usually identified as being part of the vowel. Vowel nasalisation also occurs in words that have nasal initials (⟨m-⟩, ⟨n-⟩, ⟨ng-⟩), however in this case superscript is not written, e.g. 卵 (). The letter appears at the end of a word except in some interjections, such as (), however more conservative users of Pe̍h-ōe-jī write such words as .


title: Pe̍h-ōe-jī

text: A legitimate syllable in Hokkien takes the form codice_1, where items in parentheses indicate optional components.


title: Pe̍h-ōe-jī

text: POJ has a limited amount of legitimate syllables, although sources disagree on some particular instances of these syllables. The following table contains all the licit spellings of POJ syllables, based on a number of sources:


title: Pe̍h-ōe-jī

text: In standard Amoy or Taiwanese Hokkien there are seven distinct tones, which by convention are numbered 1–8, with number 6 omitted (tone 6 used to be a distinct tone, but has long since merged with tone 7 or 2 depending on lexical register). Tones 1 and 4 are both represented without a diacritic, and can be distinguished from each other by the syllable ending, which is a vowel, , , or for tone 1, and , , , and for tone 4.


title: Pe̍h-ōe-jī

text: Southern Min dialects undergo considerable tone sandhi, i.e. changes to the tone depending on the position of the syllable in any given sentence or utterance. However, like pinyin for Mandarin Chinese, POJ always marks the citation tone (i.e. the original, pre-sandhi tone) rather than the tone which is actually spoken. This means that when reading aloud the reader must adjust the tone markings on the page to account for sandhi. Some textbooks for learners of Southern Min mark both the citation tone and the sandhi tone to assist the learner.


title: Pe̍h-ōe-jī

text: There is some debate as to the correct placement of tone marks in the case of diphthongs and triphthongs, particularly those which include and . Most modern writers follow six rules:


title: Pe̍h-ōe-jī

text: A single hyphen is used to indicate a compound. What constitutes a compound is controversial, with some authors equating it to a "word" in English, and others not willing to limit it to the English concept of a word. Examples from POJ include "forty", "circus", and "recover (from illness)". The rule-based sandhi behaviour of tones in compounds has not yet been clearly defined by linguists. A double hyphen is used when POJ is deployed as an orthography (rather than as a transcription system) to indicate that the following syllable should be pronounced in the neutral tone. It also marks to the reader that the preceding syllable does not undergo tone sandhi, as it would were the following syllable non-neutral. Morphemes following a double hyphen are often (but not always) grammatical function words.


title: Pe̍h-ōe-jī

text: In addition to the standard syllables detailed above, there are several regional variations of Hokkien which can be represented with non-standard or semi-standard spellings. In the Zhangzhou-type varieties, spoken in Zhangzhou, parts of Taiwan (particularly the northeastern coast around Yilan City), and parts of Malaysia (particularly in Penang), there is a final , for example in "egg" and "cooked rice" , which has merged with in mainstream Taiwanese. Zhangzhou-type varieties may also have the vowel /ɛ/, written as or (with a dot above right, by analogy with ), which has merged with in Taiwanese.


title: Pe̍h-ōe-jī

text: Due to POJ's origins in the church, much of the material in the script is religious in nature, including several Bible translations, books of hymns, and guides to morality. The Tainan Church Press, established in 1884, has been printing POJ materials ever since, with periods of quiet when POJ was suppressed in the early 1940s and from around 1955 to 1987. In the period to 1955, over 2.3 million volumes of POJ books were printed, and one study in 2002 catalogued 840 different POJ texts in existence. Besides in the orthography, there are teaching materials, religious texts, and books about linguistics, medicine and geography.


title: Pe̍h-ōe-jī

text: POJ was initially not well supported by word-processing applications due to the special diacritics needed to write it. Support has now improved and there are now sufficient resources to both enter and display POJ correctly. Several input methods exist to enter Unicode-compliant POJ, including OpenVanilla (macOS and Microsoft Windows), the cross-platform Tai-lo Input Method released by the Taiwanese Ministry of Education, and the Firefox add-on Transliterator, which allows in-browser POJ input. When POJ was first used in word-processing applications it was not fully supported by the Unicode standard, thus necessitating work-arounds. One employed was encoding the necessary characters in the "Private Use" section of Unicode, but this required both the writer and the reader to have the correct custom font installed. Another solution was to replace troublesome characters with near equivalents, for example substituting for or using a standard followed by an interpunct to represent . With the introduction into Unicode 4.1.0 of the combining character in 2004, all the necessary characters were present to write regular POJ without the need for workarounds. However, even after the addition of these characters, there are still relatively few fonts which are able to properly render the script, including the combining characters.


title: Pe̍h-ōe-jī

text: The following are tone characters and their respective Unicode codepoints used in POJ. The tones used by POJ should use Combining Diacritical Marks instead of Spacing Modifier Letters used by bopomofo. As POJ is not encoded in Big5, the prevalent encoding used in Traditional Chinese, some POJ letters are not directly encoded in Unicode, instead should be typed using combining diacritical marks officially.


title: Pe̍h-ōe-jī

text: Characters not directly encoded in Unicode (especially O͘ series which has 3 different permutations) requires premade glyphs in fonts in order for applications to correctly display the characters.


title: Pe̍h-ōe-jī

text: One of the most popular modern ways of writing Taiwanese is by using a mixed orthography called (; literally "Chinese-Roman"), and sometimes "Han-Romanization mixed script", a style not unlike written Japanese or (historically) Korean. In fact, the term does not describe one specific system, but covers any kind of writing in Southern Min which features both Chinese characters and romanization. That romanization is usually POJ, although recently some texts have begun appearing with Taiwanese Romanization System (Tâi-lô) spellings too. The problem with using only Chinese characters to write Southern Min is that there are many morphemes (estimated to be around 15 percent of running text) which are not definitively associated with a particular character. Various strategies have been developed to deal with the issue, including creating new characters, allocating Chinese characters used in written Mandarin with similar meanings (but dissimilar etymology) to represent the missing characters, or using romanization for the "missing 15%". There are two rationales for using mixed orthography writing, with two different aims. The first is to allow native speakers (almost all of whom can already write Chinese characters) to make use of their knowledge of characters, while replacing the missing 15% with romanization. The second is to wean character literates off using them gradually, to be replaced eventually by fully romanized text.


title: Pe̍h-ōe-jī

text: POJ has been adapted for several other varieties of Chinese, with varying degrees of success. For Hakka, missionaries and others have produced a Bible translation, hymn book, textbooks, and dictionaries. Materials produced in the orthography, called , include:


title: Pe̍h-ōe-jī

text: Most native Southern Min speakers in Taiwan are unfamiliar with POJ or any other writing system, commonly asserting that "Taiwanese has no writing", or, if they are made aware of POJ, considering romanization as the "low" form of writing, in contrast with the "high" form (Chinese characters). For those who are introduced to POJ alongside and completely Chinese character-based systems, a clear preference has been shown for all-character systems, with all-romanization systems at the bottom of the preference list, likely because of the preexisting familiarity of readers with Chinese characters.


title: Pe̍h-ōe-jī

text: POJ remains the Taiwanese orthography "with the richest inventory of written work, including dictionaries, textbooks, literature [...] and other publications in many areas". A 1999 estimate put the number of literate POJ users at around 100,000, and secular organizations have been formed to promote the use of romanization among Taiwanese speakers.


title: Pe̍h-ōe-jī

text: Outside Taiwan, POJ is rarely used. For example, in Fujian, Xiamen University uses a romanization known as , based on Pinyin. In other areas where Hokkien is spoken, such as Singapore, the Speak Mandarin Campaign is underway to actively discourage people from speaking Hokkien or other non-Mandarin varieties in favour of switching to Mandarin instead.


title: Pe̍h-ōe-jī

text: In 2006, Taiwan's Ministry of Education chose an official romanization for use in teaching Southern Min in the state school system. POJ was one of the candidate systems, along with , but a compromise system, the Taiwanese Romanization System or , was chosen in the end. Tâi-Lô retains most of the orthographic standards of POJ, including the tone marks, while changing the troublesome character for , swapping for , and replacing in diphthongs with . Supporters of Taiwanese writing are in general deeply suspicious of government involvement, given the history of official suppression of native languages, making it unclear whether or POJ will become the dominant system in the future.


title: Taksin

text: King Taksin the Great (, , ) or the King of Thonburi (, ; ; Teochew: Dên Chao; April 17, 1734 – April 7, 1782) was the only king of the Thonburi Kingdom. He had been an aristocrat in the Ayutthaya Kingdom and then was a major leader during the liberation of Siam from Burmese occupation after the Second Fall of Ayutthaya in 1767, and the subsequent unification of Siam after it fell under various warlords. He established the city of Thonburi as the new capital, as the city of Ayutthaya had been almost completely destroyed by the invaders. His reign was characterized by numerous wars; he fought to repel new Burmese invasions and to subjugate the northern Thai kingdom of Lanna, the Laotian principalities, and a threatening Cambodia.


title: Taksin

text: Although warfare occupied most of Taksin's reign, he paid a great deal of attention to politics, administration, economy, and the welfare of the country. He promoted trade and fostered relations with foreign countries. He had roads built and canals dug. Apart from restoring and renovating temples, the king attempted to revive literature, and various branches of the arts such as drama, painting, architecture and handicrafts. He also issued regulations for the collection and arrangement of various texts to promote education and religious studies.


title: Taksin

text: He was taken in a coup d'état and executed, and succeeded by his long-time friend Maha Ksatriyaseuk, who then assumed the throne, founding the Rattanakosin Kingdom and the Chakri dynasty, which has since ruled Thailand. In recognition for his deeds, he was later awarded the title of "Maharaj" (The Great).


title: Taksin

text: Taksin was born on April 17, 1734 in Ayutthaya. Taksin had Chinese Teochew, Thai and Mon ancestry. His father, Yong Saetae (; "Zhèng Yōng"), who worked as a tax-collector, was of Ethnic Teochew descent from Chenghai District, Shantou, Guangdong, China.


title: Taksin

text: His mother, Nokiang (), was of Mon-Thai descent (and was later appointed to establish the royal title of the Princess Mother Thephamat). Nokiang's mother was a Mon noblewoman who was a younger sister to Phraya Phetburi (personal name: Roeang) and Phraya Ram Chaturon (personal name: Chuan). Phraya Phetburi (Roeang) was governor of Phetburi, then the Mon population center and royal naval base in King Boromakot's reign. Phraya Ram Chaturon (Chuan) served as chief of Siam's Mon community during the reign of King Ekkathat. Nokiang's father was a Thai commoner.


title: Taksin

text: Impressed by the boy, who was the Grand Chancellor of Civil Affairs (, ) in King Boromakot's reign, adopted him and gave him the Thai name Sin (สิน) meaning money or treasure. When he was seven, Sin was assigned to a monk named Thongdi to begin his education in a Buddhist monastery called Kosawat Temple (Thai: วัดโกษาวาส) (later, Choengtha Temple (Thai: วัดเชิงท่า)). After seven years, he was sent by his stepfather to serve as a royal page. He studied Hokkien-Chinese, Vietnamese, and several Indian languages, and became fluent in them. It was the time he learnt Vietnamese, he took his name as "Trịnh Quốc Anh". When Sin and his friend Thongduang who was also a descendant of Mon aristocratic family were Buddhist novices, they reportedly met a Chinese fortune-teller who told them that both had lucky lines in their hands and would both become kings. Neither took it seriously, but Thongduang would become the successor of King Taksin, called Rama I.


title: Taksin

text: After taking the vows of a Buddhist monk for about three years, Sin joined the service of King Ekkathat and was first deputy governor and later governor of Tak, which gained him his name "Phraya Tak", the governor of Tak.


title: Taksin

text: In 1765, when the Burmese attacked Ayutthaya, Phraya Taksin defended the capital, for which he was given the title "Phraya Wachiraprakan" of Kamphaeng Phet. However, he did not have a chance to govern Kamphaeng Phet because the country was in a dire situation. For more than a year, Thai and Burmese soldiers fought fierce battles at the Siege of Ayutthaya. It was during this time that Phraya Vajiraprakarn experienced the setbacks which led him to doubt the value of his endeavors.


title: Taksin

text: On January 3, 1767, 3 months before the fall of Ayutthaya, Taksin made his way out of the city at the head of 500 followers to Rayong, on the east coast of the Gulf of Thailand. This action was never adequately explained, as the royal compound and Ayutthaya proper was on an island. How Taksin and his followers fought their way out of the Burmese encirclement remains a mystery. He travelled first to Chonburi, a town on the Gulf of Thailand's eastern coast, and then to Rayong, where he raised a small army and his supporters began to address him as Prince Tak. He planned to attack and capture Chanthaburi, according to a popular version of oral history, he said, "We are going to attack Chanthaburi tonight. Destroy all the food and utensils we have, for we will have our food in Chanthaburi tomorrow morning."


title: Taksin

text: On April 7, 1767, Ayutthaya fell to the Burmese. After the destruction of Ayutthaya and the death of the Thai king, the country was split into six parts, with Taksin controlling the east coast. Together with Thongduang, now Chao Phraya Chakri, he eventually managed to drive back the Burmese, defeat his rivals and reunify the country.


title: Taksin

text: With his soldiers he moved to Chanthaburi, and being rebuffed by the governor of the town, he made a surprise night attack on it and captured it on June 15, 1767, only two months after the sack of Ayutthaya. His army was rapidly increasing in numbers, as men of Chanthaburi and Trat, which had not been plundered and depopulated by the Burmese, naturally constituted a suitable base for him to make preparations for the liberation of his motherland.


title: Taksin

text: Having thoroughly looted Ayutthaya, the Burmese did not seem to show serious interest in holding the capital of Siam, since they left only a handful of troops under General Suki to control the shattered city. They turned their attention to the north of their own country which was soon threatened with Chinese invasion. On November 6, 1767, having amassed 5,000 troops and built 100 ships, Taksin sailed up the Chao Phraya River and seized Thonburi opposite present day Bangkok. He executed the puppet Thai governor, Thong-in, whom the Burmese had placed in charge. The taking of Thonburi was quite easy due to the garrison being Thai. He followed up his victory quickly by attacking the main Burmese camp numbering 3,000 men, led by General Suki (สุกี้) at the Battle of Pho Sam Ton (Thai: โพธิ์สามต้น) near Ayutthaya. The Burmese were defeated, General Suki was killed in the fighting, and Taksin won back Ayutthaya from the enemy within seven months of its destruction.


title: Taksin

text: King Taksin took important steps to show that he was a worthy successor to the throne. He ensured appropriate treatment to the remnants of the ex-royal family, arranged a grand cremation of the remains of the former ruler Ekkathat, and tackled the problem of establishing the capital. Taksin likely realized that the city of Ayutthaya had suffered such destruction that to restore it to its former state would have strained his resources. The Burmese were quite familiar with Ayutthaya's vulnerabilities, and in the event of renewal of a Burmese attack on it, the troops under the liberator would be inadequate for effective defense of the city. With these considerations in mind, he established his capital at Thonburi, which was closer to the sea. Not only would Thonburi be difficult to invade by land, it would also prevent an acquisition of weapons and military supplies by anyone ambitious enough to establish himself as an independent prince further up the Chao Phraya River. As Thonburi was a small town, Taksin's available forces, both soldiers and sailors, could man its fortifications, and if he found it impossible to hold it against an enemy attack, he could embark the troops and retreat to Chanthaburi.


title: Taksin

text: His successes against competitors for power were due to Taksin's abilities as a warrior, his leadership, valor, and effective organization of his forces. Usually he put himself in the front rank in an encounter with the enemy, thus inspiring his men. Among the officials who cast their fate with him during the campaigns for independence and for the elimination of the self-appointed local nobles were two personalities who subsequently played important roles in Thai history. They were the sons of an official bearing the title of Phra Acksonsuntornsmiantra (). The elder son was named Thongduang (Thai: ทองด้วง). He was born in 1737 in Ayutthaya and later was to be the founder of the Chakri Dynasty, while the younger one, Bunma (Thai: บุญมา), born six years later, served as his deputy.


title: Taksin

text: Thongduang, prior to the sacking of Ayutthaya, was ennobled as "Luang" "Yokkrabat", taking charge of royal surveillance, serving the Governor of Ratchaburi, and Bunma had a court title conferred upon him as Nai Sudchinda. Luang Yokkrabat (Thongduang) was therefore not in Ayutthaya to witness the fall of the city, while Nai Sudchinda (Bunma) made his escape from Ayutthaya. However, while King Taksin was assembling his forces at Chanthaburi, Nai Sudchinda brought his retainers to join him, thus helping to increase his fighting strength. Due to his previous acquaintance with him, the liberator was so pleased that he promoted him to be Phra Mahamontri. Just after his coronation, Taksin secured the service of Luang Yokkrabut on the recommendation of Phra Mahamontri (Thai: พระมหามนตรี) and as he was equally familiar with him as with his brother, he raised him to be Phra Rajwarin. Having rendered service to the king during his campaigns or their own expeditions against the enemies, Phra Rajwarin (Thai: พระราชวรินทร์) and Phra Mahamontri rose so quickly in the noble ranks that a few years after, the former was created Chao Phraya Chakri, the rank of the chancellor, while the latter became Chao Phraya Surasi.


title: Taksin

text: On December 28, 1767, Taksin was crowned King of Siam at Thonburi Palace in Thonburi ("Krung Thonburi Sri Maha Samut"), the new capital of Siam, yet had Siam official documents still used the official name of "Krung Pra Maha Nakhon Sri Ayutthaya". He assumed the official name of "Borommoraja IV" and "Phra Sri Samphet X", but is known to Thai history as King Taksin, a combination of his popular name, "Phraya Tak", and his first name, "Sin", or the King of Thonburi. At the time of his coronation, he was only 34 years of age. W. A. R. Wood (1924) observed that Taksin's father was Chinese or partly Chinese, and his mother Siamese, and he said, "He believed that even the forces of nature were under his control when he was destined to succeeded, and this faith led him to attempt and achieve tasks which to another man would seem impossible. Like Napoleon III, he was a man of destiny." The king elected not return to Ayutthaya but instead to make his capital at Thonburi, which being only 20 kilometers from the sea, was much better suited to seaborne commerce. He never really had time to build it into a great city, as he was occupied with suppression of internal and external enemies, as well as territorial expansion throughout his reign.


title: Taksin

text: After the sacking of Ayutthaya the country had fallen apart, due to the disappearance of central authority. In addition to Taksin, several local lords had established themselves as rulers in Phimai, Phitsanulok, Fang (Sawangkhaburi, near Uttaradit), and Nakhon Si Thammarat. From 1768 to 1771, Taksin launched campaigns to subjugate these rivals, and Thonburi emerged as the new center of power within Siam.


title: Taksin

text: In 1767, Hsinbyushin sent an army of 2,000 men under the command of Maengki Manya (Thai: แมงกี้มารหญ้า), the governor of Tavoy to invade Siam after Taksin as established Thonburi as the capital. The Burmese army advanced to the district of Bang Kung in the province of Samut Songkram to the west of the new capital, but was routed by the Thai king in the Battle of Bang Kung in 1767, which is also the site of Wat Bang Kung. When more Chinese troops invaded Burma, Hsinbyushin was forced to recall most of his troops back to resist the Chinese.


title: Taksin

text: In 1770, Thado Mindin, the governor of Chiang Mai, attacked Sawankhalok. Thado Mindin was repelled by Phraya Surasi.


title: Taksin

text: Taksin launched campaigns to stabilize the northern frontier with Lanna, whose capital Chiang Mai, under Burmese rule, served as launching bases for Burmese incursions. A prerequisite for the maintenance of peace in that region would therefore be the complete expulsion of the Burmese from Chiang Mai. In 1770, Taksin started his first expedition to capture Chiang Mai, but he was pushed back. In 1771, the Burmese governor of Chiang Mai launched an attack on the city of Phichai, beginning a series of campaigns over Siam's northern cities (Sukhothai, Phitsanulok).


title: Taksin

text: In 1772, after finishing his campaign in Luang Phrabang, Nemyo Thihapate attacked the city of Phichai, but was repelled.


title: Taksin

text: In 1773, Nemyo Thihapate attacked the city of Phichai again. During the siege, a commander named Phraya Phichai fought the Burmese until his sword broke. For that, he was given the epithet, "Phraya Phichai Dap Hak", which translates to "Phraya Phichai with the broken sword".


title: Taksin

text: In 1774, Taksin led an army to attack Chiang Mai for the second time. The city was taken. Lanna, which has been under Burmese rule for over 200 years, has fallen to the Siamese.


title: Taksin

text: In the same year, Hsinbyushin sent an army of 5,000 men to attack Siam. It was completely surrounded by the Thais at the Battle of Bangkaeo (Thai: ยุทธการที่บางแก้ว) in Ratchaburi. Due to starvation, the Burmese army capitulated to Taksin in 1775. Instead of killing all the men, Taksin paraded the prisoners around to boost the morale of his soldiers.


title: Taksin

text: Undaunted by this defeat, and aiming to retake Chiang Mai, Hsinbyushin tried again to conquer Siam, and in October 1775 the greatest Burmese invasion in the Thonburi period began under Maha Thiha Thura, known in Thai history as Azaewunky. He had distinguished himself as a first rate general in the wars with China and in the suppression of a recent Peguan rising.


title: Taksin

text: The war saw Burmese forces pushing into Siamese territory, capturing cities as south as Phitsanulok before the Siamese were able to push back, finally recapturing Chiang Mai in 1776. The war devastated Siam's northern cities, as well as Chiang Mai itself. Chiang Mai was abandoned, remaining deserted for the next fifteen years. Its remaining inhabitants were transplanted to Lampang, where Kawila was established to rule over Lan Na as a Siamese vassal.


title: Taksin

text: In 1776, the new Burmese king, Singu Min, ordered 6,000 troops to attack Chiang Mai. Phraya Wichienprakarn considered that Chiang Mai did not have many troops to that can protect the city therefore allowing people to migrate down to the city of Sawankhalok. Taksin ordered Maha Sura Singhanat, the governor of Phitsanulok to meet up with Phraya Kawila, the ruler of Lampang to retake Chiang Mai. Chiang Mai was retaken, but due to constant wars, it was heavily devastated and remained abandoned for 15 years until it was rebuilt 15 years later.


title: Taksin

text: In 1777, the ruler of Champasak, which was at that time an independent principality bordering the eastern frontier of the Thonburi Kingdom, supported the Governor of Nangrong, who had rebelled against the King Taksin. The army under Chao Phraya Chakri was ordered to move against the rebel, who was caught and executed. Having received reinforcements under Chao Phraya Surasi, he advanced to Champasak, where the rulers, Chao O and his deputy, were captured and summarily beheaded. Champasak was conquered by Siam, and as a result of Chao Phraya Chakri's successful campaign Taksin promoted him to Somdej Chao Phraya Mahakasatsuek Piluekmahima Tuknakara Ra-adet (Thai:สมเด็จเจ้าพระยามหากษัตริย์ศึก พิลึกมหึมาทุกนคราระอาเดช) (meaning the supreme Chao Phraya, Great Warrior-King who was so remarkably powerful that every city was afraid of his might)—the highest title of nobility that a commoner could achieve.


title: Taksin

text: In Vientiane, a Minister of State, , had rebelled against the ruling prince and fled to the Champasak territory, where he set himself up at Donmotdang, near the present city of Ubon Ratchathani. He made a formal submission to the Thonburi Kingdom when he annexed Champasak, but after the withdrawal of Taksin army, he was attacked and killed by troops from Vientiane. This action was instantly regarded by King Taksin as a great insult to him, and at his command, Somdej Chao Phraya Mahakasatsuek invaded Vientiane with an army of 20,000 men in 1778. Laos had been separated into the two principalities of Luang Prabang and Vientiane since the beginning of the 18th century. The Prince of Luang Prabang, who was at odds with the Prince of Vientiane, submitted to Siam for his own safety, bringing his men to join Somdej Chao Phraya Mahakasatsuek in besieging Vientiane.


title: Taksin

text: After the siege of Vientiane which took about four months, Thaksin's took Vientiane, sacked the city, and carried off the images of Emerald Buddha and Phra Bang to Thonburi. The Prince of Vientiane managed to escape and went into exile. Thus Luang Prabang and Vientiane became tributary state of the Thonburi Kingdom. Nothing definite is known about the origin of the celebrated Emerald Buddha. It is believed that this image was carved from green jasper by an artist or artists in northern India about two thousand years ago. It was taken to Ceylon and then to Chiang Rai of Lan Na kingdom where it was, in 1434, found intact in a chedi which had been struck by lightning. As an object of great veneration among Thai Buddhists, it had been deposited in monasteries in Chiang Rai, Chiang Mai, Luang Prabang, Vientiane, Thonburi, and later Bangkok.


title: Taksin

text: When King Taksin established Thonburi as his capital, people were living in abject poverty, and food and clothing were scarce. The King Taksin was well aware of the plight of his subjects, so in order to legitimize his claim for the kingdom, he made economic problems his priority. He paid high prices for rice from his own money to induce foreign traders to bring in adequate amounts of basic necessities to satisfy the need of the people. He then distributed rice and clothing to all his starving subjects. People who had been dispersed came back to their homes. Normalcy was restored. The economy of the country gradually recovered. Taksin sent three diplomatic envoys to China in 1767. In the first year of his reign, Qing dynasty denied his envoys due to him not being an heir apparent from Ban Phlu Luang Dynasty and the two Princes, Chui and Sisang, were political Asylum seekers in Hà Tiên. Six years later, China recognized Taksin as the legitimate ruler of Siam in 1772.


title: Taksin

text: The record dating from 1777 states: "Important goods from Thailand are amber, gold, colored rocks, gold nuggets, gold dust, semi-precious stones, and hard lead." During this time King Taksin actively encouraged the Chinese to settle in Siam, principally those from Chaoshan, partly with the intention to revive the stagnating economy and upgrading the local workforce. He had to fight almost constantly for most of his reign to maintain the independence of his country. As the economic influence of the immigrant Chinese community grew with time, many aristocrats, whom he took in from the Ayutthaya nobility, began to turn against him for having allied with the Chinese merchants. The opposition was led mainly by the Bunnags, a merchant-aristocratic family of Persian origin, successors of Ayutthaya's minister of Ports and Finance, or Phra Klang


title: Taksin

text: Later, Thonburi ordered some guns from England. Royal letters were exchanged and in 1777 the Viceroy of British Raj Madras, George Stratton, sent a gold scabbard decorated with gems to King Taksin. Thai galleons travelled to Portuguese colony of Surat, in Goa, India. However, formal diplomatic relations were not formed. In 1776, Francis Light of the Kingdom of Great Britain sent 1,400 flintlocks along with other goods as gifts to King Taksin.


title: Taksin

text: In 1770, natives of Terengganu and Jakarta presented Taksin with 2,200 shotguns. At that time, the Dutch Republic controlled the Java Islands.


title: Taksin

text: Simultaneously Taksin was deeply engaged in restoring law and order in the kingdom and administering a public welfare programme. Abuses in the Buddhist establishment and among the public were duly rectified and food and clothing and other necessities were distributed to those in need.


title: Taksin

text: Taksin was interested in art, including dance and drama. There is evidence that when he went to suppress the Chao Nakhon Si Thammarat faction in 1769, he brought back Chao Nakhon's female dancers. Together with dancers that he had assembled from other places, they trained and set up a royal troupe in Thonburi on the Ayutthaya model. The king wrote four episodes from the Ramakian for the royal troupe to rehearse and perform.


title: Taksin

text: When he went north to suppress the Phra Fang faction, he could see that monks in the north were lax and undisciplined. He invited ecclesiastical dignitaries from the capital to teach those monks and brought them back in line with the main teachings of Buddhism. Even though Taksin had applied himself to reforming the Buddhist religion after its period of decline following the loss of Ayutthaya to Burma, gradually bringing it back to the normalcy it enjoyed during the Ayutthaya kingdom, since his reign was so brief he was not able to do very much.


title: Taksin

text: The administration of the Sangha during the Thonburi period followed the model established in Ayutthaya, and he allowed French missionaries to enter Thailand, and like a previous Thai king, helped them build a church in 1780.


title: Taksin

text: When Ayutthaya fell to the Burmese in 1767, Thai and Chinese sources mentioned that Taksin, then the lord of Tak, broke the Burmese siege and led his troops to Chantaburi. During those years, Chinese Empire had border conflicts with Konbaung Burma. The Burmese invasion into Siam became the warning for Chinese Empire. Taksin, then, sent a tributary mission to require the royal seal, claiming that the throne of Ayutthaya Kingdom had come to an end. However, his attempt was hindered by Mạc Thiên Tứ (Mo Shilin), the governor of Hà Tiên, whom had thorough knowledge of Chinese diplomatic practices and alleged that Taksin was a usurper. Tứ also offered shelter to Prince Chao Chui, an Ayutthaya prince.


title: Taksin

text: The Chinese Court could not help but seize the chance by asking Taksin, as a 'new vassal', to be her ally in the war against the Burmese. Eventually Chinese Court approved the royal status of Taksin as the new king of Siam.


title: Taksin

text: A considerable contribution to his success came from the Teochew Chinese trading community of the region, on whom Taksin was able to call by virtue of his paternal relations; he is said to be half-Teochew himself. In the short run, the Chinese trade provided the foodstuffs and goods needed for the warfare that enabled Taksin to build up his fledgling state. In the long run, it produced income that could be used "to defray the expenses of the state and for the upkeep of the individual royal, noble, and wealthy commercial families."


title: Taksin

text: As one contemporary observed, François Henri Turpin (1771), under the famine conditions of 1767–1768 :


title: Taksin

text: A tomb containing Taksin's clothes and a family shrine were found at Chenghai district in Guangdong province in China in 1921. It is believed that a descendant of Taksin must have sent his clothes to be buried there to conform to Chinese practice. This supports the claim that the place was his father's hometown. Chinese people called it "Tomb of King Zhèng" (鄭王墓), or its official name "Cenotaph of Zhèng Xìn" (). It had been included in the list of Historical and Cultural Sites Protected at Chenghai District () since December 5, 1984. Princess Sirindhorn had visited the tomb in 1998. Now the nearby area is opened to the public as Zheng Emperor Taksin Park ().


title: Taksin

text: Thai historians indicate that the strain on him took its toll, and the king started to become a religious fanatic. In 1781 Taksin showed increasing signs of mental trouble. He believed himself to be a future Buddha, expecting to change the color of his blood from red to white. As he started practicing meditation, he even gave lectures to the monks. More seriously, he was provoking schism in Siamese Buddhism by requiring that the monkhood should recognize him as a sotāpanna or "stream-winner"—a person who has embarked on the first of the four stages of enlightenment. Monks who refused to bow to Taksin and worship him as god were demoted in status, and hundreds who refused to worship him as such were flogged and sentenced to menial labor.


title: Taksin

text: Economic tension caused by war was serious. As famine spread, looting and crimes were widespread. Corrupt officials were reportedly abundant. According to some sources, many oppressions and abuses made by officials were reported. King Taksin punished them harshly, torturing and executing high officials. Discontent among officials could be expected.


title: Taksin

text: Several historians have suggested that the tale of his 'insanity' may have been reconstructed as an excuse for his overthrow. However, the letters of a French missionary who was in Thonburi at the time support the accounts of the monarch's peculiar behavior which reported that "He (Taksin) passed all his time in prayer, fasting, and meditation, in order by these means to be able to fly through the air." Again, the missionaries describe the situation:


title: Taksin

text: Thus the terms 'insanity' or 'madness' possibly were the contemporary definition describing the monarch's actions: according to the following Rattanakosin era accounts, King Taksin was described as 'insane.' However, with the Burmese threat still prevalent a strong ruler was needed on the throne.


title: Taksin

text: Finally a faction led by Phraya San (or Phraya San, Phraya Sankhaburi) seized the capital. A coup d'état removing Taksin from the throne consequently took place, Phraya San attacked Thonburi and took control within one night. King Taksin surrendered to the rebels without resistance, and requested to be allowed to join the monkhood in Wat Chaeng (Wat Arun). However, the disturbance in Thonburi widely spread, with killing and looting prevalent. When the coup occurred, General Chao Phraya Chakri was away fighting in Cambodia, but he quickly returned to the Thai capital following being informed of the coup. Upon reaching the capital, the general ended the coup through arrests, investigations and punishments. Peace was then restored in the capital.


title: Taksin

text: According to the Royal Thai Chronicles, General Chao Phraya Chakri decided to put the deposed Taksin to death. Chao Phraya Chakri thought that the king had acted improperly and unjustly, causing great pain for the kingdom; so, it was unavoidable that he be executed. The Chronicles stated that, while being taken to the executing venue, Taksin asked for an audience with General Chao Phraya Chakri, but was turned down by the general. Taksin was beheaded in front of Wichai Prasit fortress on Wednesday, April 10, 1782, and his body was buried at Wat Bang Yi Ruea Tai. The general then seized control of the capital and declared himself king and establishing the House of Chakri.


title: Taksin

text: An alternative account (by the Official Vietnamese Chronicles) states that Taksin was ordered to be executed in the traditional Siamese way by General Chao Phraya Chakri at Wat Chaeng: by being sealed in a velvet sack and beaten to death with a scented sandalwood club. Another account claimed that Taksin was secretly sent to a palace located in the remote mountains of Nakhon Si Thammarat, where he lived until 1825, and that a substitute was beaten to death in his place. King Taksin's ashes and those of his wife are located at Wat Intharam Worawihan, Thonburi. They have been placed in two lotus bud shaped stupas which stand before the old hall.


title: Taksin

text: It was not clear what role General Chakri played in the coup. Vietnamese royal records reported that King Taksin had some kind of psychosis in his final years; he imprisoned Chakri and Surasi's family. Resentful, the brothers eventually befriended two Vietnamese generals, Nguyễn Hữu Thoại (阮有瑞) and Hồ Văn Lân (胡文璘), the four swearing to help with each other in need. Not long after the coup occurred, Chakri quickly returned to the capital, put down the rebellion, and had Taksin killed. Some Vietnamese sources stated that Taksin was assassinated by General Chakri, others that Taksin was sentenced to death and executed in a public place. Phraya San also died during this incident.


title: Taksin

text: Another contradicting view of the events is that General Chakri actually wanted to be king and had accused King Taksin of being Chinese. The late history was aimed at legitimizing the new monarch, Phraya Chakri or Rama I of Rattanakosin. According to Nidhi Eoseewong, a prominent Thai historian, writer, and political commentator, Taksin could be seen as the originator, new style of leader, promoting a 'decentralized' kingdom and new generation of the nobles, of Chinese merchant-origin, his major helpers in the wars. On the other hand, Phraya Chakri and his supporters were of the 'old' generation of the Ayutthaya nobles, discontent with these changes.


title: Taksin

text: However, this overlooks the fact that Chao Phraya Chakri was himself partly of Chinese origin, as well as being married to one of Taksin's daughters. No previous conflicts between them were mentioned in histories. Reports on the conflicts between the king and Chinese merchants were seen as being caused by the control of the price of rice during the time of famine. However, prior to returning to Thonburi, Chao Phraya Chakri had Taksin's son summoned to Cambodia and executed.


title: Taksin

text: Another view of the events is that Thailand owed China millions of baht. In order to cancel the agreement between China and Thailand, King Taksin decided to pretend to be executed.


title: Taksin

text: King Taksin was seen by some radical historians as a king who differed from the kings of Ayutthaya, in his origins, his policies, and his leadership style, as a representative of a new class. During the Bangkok Period right up until the Siamese Revolution of 1932, King Taksin was, said, not as highly honored as other Siamese kings because the leaders in the Chakri Dynasty were still concerned about their own political legitimacy. After 1932, when the absolute monarchy gave way to the democratic period, King Taksin become more honored than ever before, viewed as a national hero. This was because the leaders of that time such as Plaek Phibunsongkhram and even later military junta, on the other hand, wanted to glorify and publicize the stories of certain historical figures in order to support their own policy of nationalism, expansionism and patriotism.


title: Taksin

text: A statue of King Taksin was unveiled in the middle of Wongwian Yai (the Big Traffic Circle) in Thonburi, at the intersection of Prajadhipok/Inthara Phithak/Lat Ya/Somdet Phra Chao Taksin Roads. The king is portrayed with his right hand holding a sword, measuring approximately 9 meters in height from his horse's feet to the spire of his hat, rests on a reinforced concrete pedestal of 8.90 × 1.80 × 3.90 meters. There are four frames of stucco relief on the two sides of the pedestal. The opening ceremony of this monument was held on April 17, 1954 and the royal homage-paying fair takes place annually on December 28. The king today officially comes to pay respect to King Taksin statue.


title: Taksin

text: The monument featuring King Taksin riding on a horseback surrounded by his four trusted soldiers: Pra Chiang-ngen (later Phraya Sukhothai), Luang Pichai-asa (later Phraya Phichai), Luang Prom-sena, Luang Raj-saneha. It is located in Tungnachaey public park on Leap Mueang Road, just opposite the City Hall, Chanthaburi.


title: Taksin

text: In 1981 the Thai cabinet passed a resolution to bestow on King Taksin the honorary title of "the Great". With the intention of glorifying Thai monarchs in history who have been revered and honored with the title "the Great", the Bank of Thailand issued the 12th series of banknotes, called The Great Series, in three denominations: 10, 20 and 100 baht. The monument of King Taksin the Great in Chanthaburi's Tungnachaey recreational park appears on the back of the 20-baht note issued December 28, 1981. The date of his coronation, December 28, is the official day of homage to King Taksin, although it is not designated as a public holiday. The Maw Sukha Association on January 31, 1999, cast the "King Taksin Savior of the Nation Amulet", which sought to honor the contributions of King Taksin to Siam during his reign.


title: Taksin

text: King Taksin the Great Shrine is located on Tha Luang Road in front of Camp Taksin. It is an important place of Chantaburi in order to demonstrate binding of People in Chanthaburi to King Taksin. It is a nine-sided building. The roof is a pointed helmet. Inside of this place enshrined the statue of King Taksin.


title: Taksin

text: In addition, Royal Thai Navy has used his name to HTMS "Taksin", a modified version of the Chinese-made Type 053 frigate, for glorifying him.


title: Taksin

text: Two hospitals are named after him: Taksin Hospital in Bangkok and Somdejphrajaotaksin Maharaj Hospital in Tak Province.


title: Taksin

text: Taksin's Thai full title was Phra Sri Sanphet Somdet Borromthammikkarat Ramathibodi Boromchakraphat Bawornrajabodintr Hariharinthadathibodi Sriwibool Khunruejitr Rittirames Boromthammikkaraja Dechochai Phrommathepadithep Triphuwanathibet Lokachetwisut Makutprathetkata Maha Phutthangkul Boromnartbophit Phra Buddha Chao Yu Hua Na Krung Thep Maha Nakhon Baworn Thavarawadi Sri Ayutthaya Maha Dilokphop Noppharat Ratchathaniburirom Udom Praratchaniwet Maha Sathan ()


title: Ionic liquid

text: An ionic liquid (IL) is a salt in the liquid state. In some contexts, the term has been restricted to salts whose melting point is below a specific temperature, such as . While ordinary liquids such as water and gasoline are predominantly made of electrically neutral molecules, ionic liquids are largely made of ions. These substances are variously called liquid electrolytes, ionic melts, ionic fluids, fused salts, liquid salts, or ionic glasses.


title: Ionic liquid

text: Ionic liquids have many potential applications. They are powerful solvents and can be used as electrolytes. Salts that are liquid at near-ambient temperature are important for electric battery applications, and have been considered as sealants due to their very low vapor pressure.


title: Ionic liquid

text: Any salt that melts without decomposing or vaporizing usually yields an ionic liquid. Sodium chloride (NaCl), for example, melts at into a liquid that consists largely of sodium cations () and chloride anions (). Conversely, when an ionic liquid is cooled, it often forms an ionic solid—which may be either crystalline or glassy.


title: Ionic liquid

text: The ionic bond is usually stronger than the Van der Waals forces between the molecules of ordinary liquids. Because of these strong interactions, salts tend to have high lattice energies, manifested in high melting points. Some salts, especially those with organic cations, have low lattice energies and thus are liquid at or below room temperature. Examples include compounds based on the 1-ethyl-3-methylimidazolium (EMIM) cation and include: EMIM:Cl, EMIMAc (acetate anion), EMIM dicyanamide, ()()·, that melts at ; and 1-butyl-3,5-dimethylpyridinium bromide which becomes a glass below .


title: Ionic liquid

text: Low-temperature ionic liquids can be compared to ionic solutions, liquids that contain both ions and neutral molecules, and in particular to the so-called deep eutectic solvents, mixtures of ionic and non-ionic solid substances which have much lower melting points than the pure compounds. Certain mixtures of nitrate salts can have melting points below 100 °C.


title: Ionic liquid

text: The discovery date of the "first" ionic liquid is disputed, along with the identity of its discoverer. Ethanolammonium nitrate (m.p. 52–55 °C) was reported in 1888 by S. Gabriel and J. Weiner. One of the earliest room temperature ionic liquids was ethylammonium nitrate ()· (m.p. 12 °C), reported in 1914 by Paul Walden. In the 1970s and 1980s, ionic liquids based on alkyl-substituted imidazolium and pyridinium cations, with halide or tetrahalogenoaluminate anions, were developed as potential electrolytes in batteries.


title: Ionic liquid

text: For the imidazolium halogenoaluminate salts, their physical properties—such as viscosity, melting point, and acidity—could be adjusted by changing the alkyl substituents and the imidazolium/pyridinium and halide/halogenoaluminate ratios. Two major drawbacks for some applications were moisture sensitivity and acidity or basicity. In 1992, Wilkes and Zawarotko obtained ionic liquids with 'neutral' weakly coordinating anions such as hexafluorophosphate () and tetrafluoroborate (), allowing a much wider range of applications.


title: Ionic liquid

text: IL's are typically colorless viscous liquids. They are often moderate to poor conductors of electricity, non-ionizing. They exhibit low vapor pressure. Many have low combustibility and are thermally stable.


title: Ionic liquid

text: The solubility properties of ILs are diverse. Saturated aliphatic compounds are generally only sparingly soluble in ionic liquids, whereas alkenes show somewhat greater solubility, and aldehydes often completely miscible. Solubility differences can be exploited in biphasic catalysis, such as hydrogenation and hydrocarbonylation processes, allowing for relatively easy separation of products and/or unreacted substrate(s). Gas solubility follows the same trend, with carbon dioxide gas showing good solubility in many ionic liquids. Carbon monoxide is less soluble in ionic liquids than in many popular organic solvents, and hydrogen is only slightly soluble (similar to the solubility in water) and may vary relatively little between the more common ionic liquids.


title: Ionic liquid

text: Many classes of chemical reactions, The miscibility of ionic liquids with water or organic solvents varies with side chain lengths on the cation and with choice of anion. They can be functionalized to act as acids, bases, or ligands, and are precursors salts in the preparation of stable carbenes. Because of their distinctive properties, ionic liquids have been investigated for many applications.


title: Ionic liquid

text: Some ionic liquids can be distilled under vacuum conditions at temperatures near 300 °C. The vapor is not made up of separated ions, but consists of ion pairs.


title: Ionic liquid

text: ILs have a wide liquid range. Some ILs do not freeze down to very low temperatures (even −150 °C), The glass transition temperature was detected below −100 °C in the case of N-methyl-N-alkylpyrrolidinium cations fluorosulfonyl-trifluoromethanesulfonylimide (FTFSI). Low-temperature ionic liquids (below 130 K) have been proposed as the fluid base for an extremely large diameter spinning liquid-mirror telescope to be based on the Moon.


title: Ionic liquid

text: Water is a common impurity in ionic liquids, as it can be absorbed from the atmosphere and influences the transport properties of RTILs, even at relatively low concentrations.


title: Ionic liquid

text: Classically, IL's consist of salts of unsymmetrical, flexible organic cations with symmetrical weakly coordinating anions. Both cationic and anionic components have been widely varied.


title: Ionic liquid

text: Room-temperature ionic liquids (RTILs) are dominated by salts derived from 1-methylimidazole, i.e., 1-alkyl-3-methylimidazolium. Examples include 1-ethyl-3-methyl- (EMIM), 1-butyl-3-methyl- (BMIM), 1-octyl-3 methyl (OMIM), 1-decyl-3-methyl-(DMIM), 1-dodecyl-3-methyl- docecylMIM). Other imidazolium cations are 1-butyl-2,3-dimethylimidazolium (BMMIM or DBMIM) and 1,3-di(N,N-dimethylaminoethyl)-2-methylimidazolium (DAMI). Other N-heterocyclic cations are derived from pyridine: 4-methyl-N-butyl-pyridinium (MBPy) and N-octylpyridinium (C8Py). Conventional quaternary ammonium cations also form ILs, e.g. tetraethylammonium (TEA) and tetrabutylammonium (TBA).


title: Ionic liquid

text: Typical anions in ionic liquids include the following: tetrafluoroborate (BF), hexafluorophosphate (PF), bis-trifluoromethanesulfonimide (NTf), trifluoromethanesulfonate (OTf), dicyanamide (N(CN)), hydrogen sulphate (HSO), and ethyl sulphate (EtOSO). Magnetic ionic liquids can be synthesized by incorporating paramagnetic anions, illustrated by 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium tetrachloroferrate.


title: Ionic liquid

text: Protic ionic liquids are formed via a proton transfer from an acid to a base. In contrast to other ionic liquids, which generally are formed through a sequence of synthesis steps, protic ionic liquids can be created more easily by simply mixing the acid and base.


title: Ionic liquid

text: Phosphonium cations (RP) are less common but offer some advantageous properties. Some examples of phosphonium cations are trihexyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium (P) and tributyl(tetradecyl)phosphonium (P).


title: Ionic liquid

text: Polymerized ionic liquids, poly(ionic liquid)s or polymeric ionic liquids, all abbreviated as PIL is the polymeric form of ionic liquids. They have half of the ionicity of ionic liquids since one ion is fixed as the polymer moiety to form a polymeric chain. PILs have a similar range of applications, comparable with those of ionic liquids but the polymer architecture provides a better chance for controlling the ionic conductivity. They have extended the applications of ionic liquids for designing smart materials or solid electrolytes.


title: Ionic liquid

text: Many applications have been considered, but few have been commercialized. ILs are used in the production of gasoline by catalyzing alkylation.


title: Ionic liquid

text: An IL based on tetraalkylphosphonium iodide is a solvent for tributyltin iodide, which functions as a catalyst to rearrange the monoepoxide of butadiene. This process was commercialized as a route to 2,5-dihydrofuran, but later discontinued.


title: Ionic liquid

text: ILs improve the catalytic performance of palladium nanoparticles. Furthermore, ionic liquids can be used pre-catalysts for chemical transformations. In this regard dialkylimidazoliums such as [EMIM]Ac have been used in the combination with a base to generate N-heterocyclic carbenes (NHCs). These imidazolium based NHCs are known to catalyse a number transformations such as the Benzoin condensation and the OTHO reaction.


title: Ionic liquid

text: Recognizing that approximately 50% of commercial pharmaceuticals are salts, ionic liquid forms of a number of pharmaceuticals have been investigated. Combining a pharmaceutically active cation with a pharmaceutically active anion leads to a Dual Active ionic liquid in which the actions of two drugs are combined.


title: Ionic liquid

text: ILs can extract specific compounds from plants for pharmaceutical, nutritional and cosmetic applications, such as the antimalarial drug artemisinin from the plant "Artemisia annua".


title: Ionic liquid

text: The dissolution of cellulose by ILs has attracted interest. A patent application from 1930 showed that 1-alkylpyridinium chlorides dissolve cellulose. Following in the footsteps of the lyocell process, which uses hydrated N-Methylmorpholine N-oxide as a solvent for pulp and paper. The "valorization" of cellulose, i.e. its conversion to more valuable chemicals, has been achieved by the use of ionic liquids. Representative products are glucose esters, sorbitol, and alkylgycosides. IL 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride dissolves freeze dried banana pulp and with an additional 15% dimethyl sulfoxide, lends itself to Carbon-13 NMR analysis. In this way the entire complex of starch, sucrose, glucose, and fructose can be monitored as a function of banana ripening.


title: Ionic liquid

text: Beyond cellulose, ILs have also shown potential in the dissolution, extraction, purification, processing and modification of other biopolymers such as chitin/chitosan, starch, alginate, collagen, gelatin, keratin, and fibroin. For example, ILs allow for the preparation of biopolymer materials in different forms (e.g. sponges, films, microparticles, nanoparticles, and aerogels) and better biopolymer chemical reactions, leading to biopolymer-based drug/gene-delivery carriers. Moreover, ILs enable the synthesis of chemically modified starches with high efficiency and degrees of substitution (DS) and the development of various starch-based materials such as thermoplastic starch, composite films, solid polymer electrolytes, nanoparticles and drug carriers.


title: Ionic liquid

text: The IL 1-butyl-3-methylimidazolium chloride has been investigated for the recovery of uranium and other metals from spent nuclear fuel and other sources.


title: Ionic liquid

text: ILs are potential heat transfer and storage media in solar thermal energy systems. Concentrating solar thermal facilities such as parabolic troughs and solar power towers focus the sun's energy onto a receiver, which can generate temperatures of around . This heat can then generate electricity in a steam or other cycle. For buffering during cloudy periods or to enable generation overnight, energy can be stored by heating an intermediate fluid. Although nitrate salts have been the medium of choice since the early 1980s, they freeze at and thus require heating to prevent solidification. Ionic liquids such as [Cmim][] have more favorable liquid-phase temperature ranges (-75 to 459 °C) and could therefore be excellent liquid thermal storage media and heat transfer fluids.


title: Ionic liquid

text: ILs can aid the recycling of synthetic goods, plastics, and metals. They offer the specificity required to separate similar compounds from each other, such as separating polymers in plastic waste streams. This has been achieved using lower temperature extraction processes than current approaches and could help avoid incinerating plastics or dumping them in landfill.


title: Ionic liquid

text: ILs can replace water as the electrolyte in metal-air batteries. ILs are attractive because of their low vapor pressure. Furthermore, ILs have an electrochemical window of up to six volts (versus 1.23 for water) supporting more energy-dense metals. Energy densities from 900 to 1600 watt-hours per kilogram appear possible.


title: Ionic liquid

text: ILs can act as dispersing agents in paints to enhance finish, appearance and drying properties. ILs are used for dispersing nanomaterials at IOLITEC.


title: Ionic liquid

text: Some ionic liquids have been shown to reduce friction and wear in basic tribological testing, and their polar nature makes them candidate lubricants for tribotronic applications. While the comparatively high cost of ionic liquids currently prevents their use as neat lubricants, adding ionic liquids in concentrations as low as 0.5 wt% may significantly alter the lubricating performance of conventional base oils. Thus, the current focus of research is on using ionic liquids as additives to lubricating oils, often with the motivation to replace widely used, ecologically harmful lubricant additives. However, the claimed ecological advantage of ionic liquids has been questioned repeatedly and is yet to be demonstrated from a lifecycle perspective.


title: Ionic liquid

text: Ionic liquids' low volatility effectively eliminates a major pathway for environmental release and contamination.


title: Ionic liquid

text: Ultrasound can degrade solutions of imidazolium-based ionic liquids with hydrogen peroxide and acetic acid to relatively innocuous compounds.


title: TAI Aksungur

text: The TAI Aksungur is an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) built by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) for the Turkish Armed Forces. Using existing technology from the TAI Anka series of drones, it is the manufacturer's largest drone with payload capacity for mission-specific equipment. It is intended to be used for long-term surveillance, signals intelligence, maritime patrol missions, or as an unmanned combat aerial vehicle. TAI planned to integrate weapon packages and put the Aksungur into production in early 2020. The first unit was delivered to the Turkish Naval Forces on 20 October 2021.


title: TAI Aksungur

text: Aksungur, Turkish for gyrfalcon, is classified as a medium-altitude long-endurance (MALE) unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). It is designed and manufactured by Turkish Aerospace Industries (TAI) for tactical surveillance and reconnaissance missions of the Turkish Armed Forces. The Aksungur has twin turbocharged engines with a twin boom configuration.


title: TAI Aksungur

text: Developing the UAV took 18 months. The airframe, wing and landing gear are new designs, while control systems are from the existing TAI Anka family of drones. A new turbodiesel engine is also in development for the programme, with initial flight tests of the airframe using an existing engine. Two prototypes were manufactured for testing purposes. Its maiden flight, displaying automatic takeoff and landing capabilities, took place on 20 March 2019, and lasted four hours and twenty minutes. Reportedly, a second test flight of three hours was performed on 3 April the same year. It was introduced at the 2019 International Defence Industry Fair (IDEF) in Istanbul, Turkey, on 30 April. CNN Türk reported ongoing flight tests in July 2019, with the manufacturer anticipating a total of 50 to 60 tests by the end of the year. The UAV is planned to go into series production by the first quarter of 2020.


title: TAI Aksungur

text: The aircraft is long and high when resting on its landing gear. The high-mounted wings have a slight dihedral angle and a wingspan of . The wings end with small winglets. The centralized fuselage is under the wings and houses avionics, camera and sensors systems, with a chin-mounted camera blister. Fuel is stored in the fuselage and wings. A turbocharged engine is mounted under each wing, with the engine nacelles each extending backward into a tail boom. These tail booms terminate in vertical stabilizers, with a horizontal tailplane joining them. The tricycle landing gear retracts into the engine nacelles and the nose of the aircraft while in flight.


title: TAI Aksungur

text: The aircraft is powered by two forward-mounted PD-170 dual-turbocharged diesel engines developed by Tusaş Engine Industries (TEI), equipped with three-bladed propellers in a tractor (puller) configuration. According to the manufacturer, these enable the Aksungur to cruise at a maximum speed of and carry a maximum payload of to an altitude of , or ascend to with a payload. The aircraft's designed maximum payload is 375% greater than that of its predecessor; its maximum takeoff weight is . It is rated to stay aloft 12 hours as an attack aircraft or maritime patrol aircraft and 24 hours during signals intelligence missions.


title: TAI Aksungur

text: Remote control of the UAV is performed by DO-178B compatible software on DO-254 compatible ground control station and hardware using double backed-up encrypted digital data link. Optional beyond-visual-range operation flexibility is available via communications satellite.


title: TAI Aksungur

text: TAI expects to integrate weapon systems typical of F-4 and F-16 fighter aircraft onto Aksungur in the last quarter of 2019.


title: TAI Aksungur

text: Three hardpoints are situated under each wing for attaching external payloads, such as munitions or sonar buoys. These hardpoints are rated for loads of . Proposed armaments include TEBER-81 (laser-guided bomb Mk-81), TEBER-82 (laser-guided bomb Mk-82), LUMTAS, MAM-L, Roketsan Cirit, MAM-C, HGK-3 (precision-guided munition), KGK (82) (winged guided kit), and miniature bomb.


title: TAI Aksungur

text: On 2 September 2020, TAI Aksungur flew the fifty-ninth test flight by staying in the air for 49 hours. On 17 September 2020, TAI Aksungur flew at an altitude of 20,000 feet for 20 hours carrying 12 MAM-L smart munitions.


title: TAI Aksungur

text: TAI Aksungur carried an MK-82 bomb with a Teber guidance kit weighing 250kg and hit a target at a 30km distance.


title: Homestay

text: Homestay (also home stay and home-stay) is a form of hospitality and lodging whereby visitors share a residence with a local of the area (host) to which they are traveling. The length of stay can vary from one night to over a year and can be provided for free (gift economy), in exchange for monetary compensation, in exchange for a stay at the guest's property either simultaneously or at another time (home exchange), or in exchange for housekeeping or work on the host's property (barter economy). Homestays are examples of collaborative consumption and the sharing economy. Homestays are used by travelers; students who study abroad or participate in student exchange programs; and au pairs, who provide child care assistance and light household duties. They can be arranged via certain social networking services, online marketplaces, or academic institutions.


title: Homestay

text: Homestays offer several advantages, such as exposure to everyday life in another location, the opportunity to experience local culture and traditions, opportunities for cultural diplomacy, friendship, intercultural competence, and foreign language practice, local advice, and a lower carbon footprint compared to other types of lodging; however, they may have rules and restrictions, such as curfews, facility usage, and work requirements, and may not have the same level of comfort, amenities, and privacy as other types of lodging.


title: Homestay

text: Social networking services where hosts do not receive payments are called hospitality exchange services (HospEx). The relationships on hospitality exchange services are shaped by altruism and are related to the cyber-utopianism on the Web in its beginnings and to utopia in general.


title: Homestay

text: Non-profit hospitality exchange services have offered scientists access to their anonymized data for publication of insights to the benefit of humanity. Before becoming for-profit, CouchSurfing offered four research teams access to its social networking data. In 2015, non-profit hospitality exchange services Bewelcome and Warm Showers also provided their data for public research.


title: Homestay

text: The biggest HospEx platform in 2012, ""CouchSurfing appears to fulfil the original utopian promise of the Internet to unite strangers across geographical and cultural divides and to form a global community""


title: Homestay

text: CouchSurfing used utopian rhetoric of "better world," "sharing cultures," and of much better access to global flows and networks of all sorts. It was featured as a means to achieve a cosmopolitan utopia. Commodification of CouchSurfing terminated ""the existence of a project run as a flourishing commons, a cyber-utopian dream come true; an example of genuine exchange outside and free from the dominant logic of capital, a space highlighting cultural instead of monetary values, understanding instead of commerce. This space still exists, but instead of outside, now within the market."" After CouchSurfing became a for-profit corporation in 2011, some members urged others to join BeWelcome. Many brand ambassadors, who had become volunteers within CouchSurfing left to BeWelcome and other non-profit platforms because of the change in legal status and insufficient management transparency.


title: Nightdive Studios

text: Night Dive Studios, Inc. (doing business as Nightdive Studios) is an American video game developer based in Vancouver, Washington. The company was founded in November 2012 by Stephen and Alix Kick, former video game artists for Sony Online Entertainment, after Stephen Kick found himself unable to purchase the 1999 game "System Shock 2". He successfully negotiated with the rightsholder Star Insurance Company, which had acquired "System Shock" and other assets from the defunct developer Looking Glass Studios, and Nightdive Studios released the game via GOG.com in February 2013. The company is known for obtaining rights to abandonware video games, updating them for compatibility with modern platforms, and re-releasing them via digital distribution services.


title: Nightdive Studios

text: Nightdive Studios was founded by Stephen Kick and his wife, Alix Kick (), both former character artists at Sony Online Entertainment (SOE). Kick was with that company for three years, working on "Free Realms" and "PlanetSide 2". While Banegas had left the company earlier to establish a plushie business, Kick remained in his position until 2012. After also quitting his job, he and Banegas, then his fiancée, commenced a nine-month-long road trip from San Diego through Mexico and Central America. To pass the time during this trip, Kick brought a netbook and several classic video games to play. While staying in a hostel in Guatemala, he wished to play the 1999 game "System Shock 2" but found that the CD-ROM version he had brought no longer worked on his netbook. Kick looked for fan-made patches for the game and tried purchasing an updated version via GOG.com to no avail, and he discovered that there no longer was a legal way to obtain the game. The rights to the "System Shock" franchise had been acquired from its defunct developer, Looking Glass Studios, by Star Insurance Company (a subsidiary of Meadowbrook Insurance Group), while the trademark was retained by the game's publisher, Electronic Arts.


title: Nightdive Studios

text: Starting in October 2012, Kick sent various emails to Star Insurance Company to inquire about the status of the series' intellectual property (IP). To his surprise, the company's legal counsel responded within a few days, asking Kick what he was planning to do with the IP. Star Insurance Company had recently acquired the "System Shock" trademark from Electronic Arts but was wary of producing a new entry in the series given the high cost associated with such a production. Kick pitched the idea of updating "System Shock 2" for modern platforms and re-releasing it via digital distribution services, including GOG.com and Steam. He argued that the game was highly sought after, as over 34,000 people had placed it onto their GOG.com wishlists, and that a re-release would be profitable. The insurer was fond of this idea, so Kick and Banegas, who had then almost reached the Panama Canal, returned to the United States. Arriving in New Mexico, Kick began phoning with Star Insurance Company's legal counsel and eventually reached a deal. He raised money from his friends and family to pay the license fee for "System Shock 2" and establish a company. Subsequently, Kick and Banegas founded Night Dive Studios on November 7, 2012. Kick assumed the role of chief executive officer, while Banegas became the chief financial officer. The company name was inspired by their shared passion for diving, especially night diving, and Kick specifically recalled one night dive he had experienced in the Great Barrier Reef. Night Dive Studios was initially located in Portland, Oregon, later moving to nearby Vancouver, Washington.


title: Nightdive Studios

text: Around the time of the company's foundation, a French developer known as Le Corbeau released a patch for "System Shock 2" that allowed it to run on modern computers. Kick was unsuccessful in contacting the developer but still used the patch as the new version's groundwork, asserting that it was the IP holder's legal right to use it. Night Dive Studios worked with Kick's former SOE colleagues and GOG.com on updates and further bugs fixes. The updated version was released onto GOG.com in February 2013. According to Banegas, the game's returns in its first month painted Night Dive Studios as a viable business. Kick decided to continue Night Dive Studios in similar efforts to bring back older games to modern systems. The company's first hire was Daniel Grayshon, a writer of "System Shock" modding guides based in the United Kingdom. Night Dive Studios brought "System Shock 2" to Steam in May 2013. Later that year, it released updated versions of "I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream", Harlan Ellison's 1995 game based on his eponymous short story; "Wizardry VI", "VII", and "8;" and the Trilobyte games "The 7th Guest" and "The 11th Hour".


title: Nightdive Studios

text: In 2014, Night Dive Studios re-released 28 edutainment games from Humongous Entertainment, as well as the adventure game "Bad Mojo". The company also generated speculation that it might be planning to re-release "", as news sources took notice of a Night Dive Studios trademark filing that included material referencing the "No One Lives Forever" franchise. Kick responded to these rumors by saying that the company could not comment on future releases for the time being. Kick later revealed that they had indeed been working on trying to acquire the publishing rights for both "No One Lives Forever" and its sequel, to the point where they had the original source code to construct a remake of the title, but could not get the three companies with stake in the games' IP, Activision, 20th Century Fox, and Warner Bros., to negotiate the rights.


title: Nightdive Studios

text: 2014 also saw the company's participation in the Humble Bundle series of games collections, with a Humble Bundle package in May 2014 that featured all of the company's titles through that date, and a "flash sale" bundle in July that featured the company's Humongous Entertainment re-release titles. In December 2014, Night Dive Studios coordinated the re-release of the 1996 first-person shooter role playing hybrid game as "Strife: Veteran Edition", after acquiring rights to the game. Because the game's source code had been lost, a derivative of the Chocolate Doom subproject "Chocolate Strife" was used as the game's engine, with its original programmers being contracted to do additional coding for the re-release. The source code of "Strife: Veteran Edition" has been made available under GPLv3 on GitHub by Night Dive Studios' and Samuel "Kaiser" Villarreal on December 12, 2014. While this was the first source code opened for a Night Dive Studios release, Kick announced his commitment in recovering, preserving and also opening of more source code in a Reddit AMA in 2016.


title: Nightdive Studios

text: In February 2015, Kick announced that the studio was working on re-releasing "PowerSlave" for digital distribution services with an added bonus of porting the Saturn version into the package. Kick also announced that he was working with the original developers of "Noctropolis" and the original source code and the updated package will feature remastered music, widescreen support and bug fixes. Using the funds generated by past releases, Night Dive Studios acquired the "System Shock" IP from Star Insurance Company in August 2015, intending to create a remake of the first "System Shock". The company released an enhanced version of the original game, which adds support for more resolutions and mouselook, in September that year. Night Dive Studios has since announced it has acquired full rights to the "System Shock" series, and are considering developing a third title in the series, as well as remakes for both previous titles, working with original concept artist Robert Waters for some of the design. By December 2015, the company had licensed the "System Shock" IP to OtherSide Entertainment, headed by former Looking Glass Studios creative director Paul Neurath, for the development of "System Shock 3". In May 2016, Night Dive Studios rebranded as Nightdive Studios.


title: Nightdive Studios

text: Nightdive Studios is headquartered out of the Kicks' house in eastern Vancouver, Washington. As of February 2022, the company employs 40 people, including Larry Kuperman as the director of business development. Most staff work remotely, with locations including San Francisco and New Zealand. According to Kick, this distribution allows the studio to operate "on pretty much a 24/7 basis", while employees collaborate via GitHub, Jira, and Slack. However, he noted that this setup also caused a lack of in-office socializing and camaraderie.


title: Nightdive Studios

text: While researching for the development of an updated version of "", Nightdive Studios became aware of a reverse engineering project of the game's Nintendo 64 version by Sam "Kaiser" Villareal. The company hired him and developed his custom game engine into the KEX Engine, using which the developers can add modern features to older games. Aside from "Turok: Dinosaur Hunter", the engine has been used for the company's "", "Forsaken Remastered", "" (via a 2018 update), "", "Doom 64", "Quake", "Shadow Man Remastered", "PowerSlave Exhumed", "", and the upcoming "SiN Reloaded", "", and "". Villareal remains Nightdive Studios' lead engine developer as of February 2022.


title: Aboubakar Kamara

text: Aboubakar Kamara (born 7 March 1995) is a French-born Mauritanian footballer who plays for Greek club Olympiacos and the Mauritania national team.


title: Aboubakar Kamara

text: Kamara made his Ligue 1 debut for Monaco on 12 September 2014 against Olympique Lyonnais in a 2–1 away defeat. He replaced Yannick Carrasco after 84 minutes. In July 2015, Kamara signed a three-year contract with Belgian Pro League side K.V. Kortrijk, but returned to France only six months later, joining Championnat National side Amiens and helping the club to achieve back-to-back promotions up to Ligue 1. He scored the first goal of a dramatic 2–1 win against Stade de Reims in the last matchday, with Amiens clinching promotion after retaking the lead in the 6th minute of stoppage time. Kamara ended the season as the club's top goalscorer at the 2016–17 Ligue 2 with 10 goals.


title: Aboubakar Kamara

text: On 31 July 2017, Kamara signed for Fulham for an undisclosed fee on a four-year contract with an option for another 12 months. He chose to wear the number 47 so that his initials and number would match AK-47. On 23 September, Kamara scored his first goal for the club in a 1–1 draw against Middlesbrough, and three days later, he scored the opening goal in a 3–1 win over Nottingham Forest. On 31 October, Kamara was sent off for shoving Bailey Wright off the ball, as Fulham lost 2–0 to Bristol City. He later scored consecutive braces for Fulham in a 2–2 draw with Hull City and in a 4–1 win over Ipswich Town. On 20 January 2018, Kamara scored the final goal in a 6–0 win over Burton Albion. This turned out to be the last goal he scored for Fulham during the 2017–18 season, as he was used sparingly afterwards, with the rest of his appearances coming off the bench.


title: Aboubakar Kamara

text: On 5 December, Kamara scored his first goal of the 2018–19 season in a 1–1 draw against Leicester City, and three days later, he scored a consolation penalty in a 4–1 loss to Manchester United, after coming on at half-time for Aleksandar Mitrović. On 29 December, against Huddersfield Town, Kamara argued with Mitrović over taking a penalty; his effort was saved by Jonas Lössl. Although Fulham won the match, manager Claudio Ranieri was angered by Kamara's decision to take the penalty, stating: "He did not respect me, the club, team-mates and crowd. I spoke with him, it is not right". Mitrović was more forgiving of Kamara, referring to a similar incident he had while playing for Newcastle United. On New Year's Day, Kamara scored against Arsenal, in an eventual 4–1 loss. During January, Kamara had another altercation with Mitrović in a yoga session at the club's training ground, and as a result, was left out of the team squad for Fulham's match against Burnley. Later that month, Kamara was arrested at the club's training ground on suspicion of actual bodily harm and criminal damage and was "banned indefinitely from all club activities".


title: Aboubakar Kamara

text: Kamara had been training with the under-23 squad, and, on 31 January 2019, joined Yeni Malatyaspor on loan until the end of the season.


title: Aboubakar Kamara

text: On 16 August 2021, Super League Greece team Aris confirmed they had signed Kamara from Fulham, for a €3.5 million transfer fee. The 26-year-old scored 17 goals in 94 appearances for the Cottagers after arriving from French side Amiens in 2017. Kamara was part of two successful promotion campaigns, starting both of Fulham's play-off final victories against Aston Villa and Brentford.


title: Aboubakar Kamara

text: On 22 September, Kamara after an assist from Facundo Bertoglio, he scored the only goal in a derby game against Panathinaikos. On 24 October 2021, Kamara scored with a penalty and provided two assists in an emphatic 5–1 home win against Panetolikos. On 6 March 2022, he scored in a 2–1 home win game against Olympiacos, breaking their 25-match unbeaten run.


title: Aboubakar Kamara

text: Born in France, Kamara represents Mauritania at international level. He is also of Senegalese descent.


title: Aboubakar Kamara

text: He is a Muslim and fasted for Ramadan even before starting the 2018 Championship play-off final for Fulham.


title: Red Band Society

text: Red Band Society is an American teen medical comedy-drama television series, developed by Margaret Nagle, that aired on Fox for the 2014–15 American television season. The series premiered on September 17, 2014.


title: Red Band Society

text: Based on the Catalan drama series "Polseres vermelles", the series focuses on a group of teenagers living together as patients in a hospital's pediatric ward.


title: Red Band Society

text: On November 26, 2014, it was confirmed the show would stop production after its original 13-episode order, and the show was pulled from the schedule after episode 10.


title: Red Band Society

text: On January 13, 2015, it was announced that the show was officially canceled, and the final three episodes of the series would air starting on January 31 and ending on February 7, 2015, with a two-hour finale.


title: Red Band Society

text: A remake of "Polseres vermelles", known in English as "The Red Band Society", was originally developed for ABC in 2011 by "Friends" co-creator Marta Kauffman, but the network chose to not move forward after first production stages. In November 2013, Fox announced a new project to bring an adaptation of the Catalan television show in the United States held by "Warm Springs" and "Boardwalk Empire" writer Margaret Nagle. On January 17, 2014, the project received a pilot order, plus additional backup scripts.


title: Red Band Society

text: On Rotten Tomatoes, the show holds a rating of 58%, based on 48 reviews, but a rating of 40% based on its 25 Top Critics. The site's consensus reads, "Its premise may be questionable and its light-hearted tone is occasionally overbearing, but "Red Band Society" succeeds on the strength of its young characters." On Metacritic, the show has a score of 58 out of 100, based on 36 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Edge city

text: Edge city is a term that originated in the United States for a concentration of business, shopping, and entertainment outside a traditional downtown or central business district, in what had previously been a suburban residential or rural area. The term was popularized by the 1991 book "Edge City: Life on the New Frontier" by Joel Garreau, who established its current meaning while working as a reporter for "The Washington Post". Garreau argues that the edge city has become the standard form of urban growth worldwide, representing a 20th-century urban form unlike that of the 19th-century central downtown. Other terms for these areas include "suburban activity centers", "megacenters", and "suburban business districts". These districts have now developed in many countries.


title: Edge city

text: Most edge cities develop at or near existing or planned freeway intersections, and are especially likely to develop near major airports. They rarely include heavy industry. They often are not separate legal entities but are governed as part of surrounding counties (this is more often the case in the East than in the Midwest, South, or West). They are numerous—almost 200 in the United States, compared to 45 downtowns of comparable size—and are large geographically because they are built at automobile scale.


title: Edge city

text: Additional terms are used to refer to edge cities, such as: suburban business districts, major diversified centers, suburban cores, minicities, suburban activity centers, cities of realms, galactic cities, urban subcenters, pepperoni-pizza cities, superburbia, technoburbs, nucleations, disurbs, service cities, perimeter cities, peripheral centers, urban villages, and suburban downtowns.


title: Edge city

text: Spatially, edge cities primarily consist of mid-rise office towers (with some skyscrapers) surrounded by massive surface parking lots and meticulously manicured lawns, almost reminiscent of the designs of Le Corbusier. Instead of a traditional street grid, their street networks are hierarchical, consisting of winding parkways (often lacking sidewalks) that feed into arterial roads or freeway ramps. However, edge cities feature job density similar to that of secondary downtowns found in places such as Newark and Pasadena; indeed, Garreau writes that edge cities' development proves that "density is back!".


title: Edge city

text: Garreau shows how edge cities developed in a U.S. context. Starting in the 1950s, businesses were incentivized to open branches in the suburbs and eventually in many cases, leave traditional downtowns entirely, due to increased use of the automobile and move of middle and upper class residents to suburbs, which in turn led to frustration with downtown traffic and lack of parking. Escalating land values in central downtown areas, and the development of communications (telephone, fax, email and other electronic communication) also enabled the trend.


title: Edge city

text: Despite early examples in the 1920s, it was not until car ownership surged in the 1950s, after four decades of fast, steady growth, that it was possible for edge cities to emerge on a large scale. Whereas virtually every American central business district (CBD) or secondary downtown that developed around non-motorized transportation or the streetcar has a pedestrian-friendly grid pattern of relatively narrow streets, most edge cities instead have a hierarchical street arrangement centered on pedestrian-hostile arterial roads, making most of this generation of edge cities difficult to get to and get around with public transportation or by walking, although transit was sometimes added in later decades, such as the Silver Line metro linking Downtown Washington, D.C. with Arlington and Tysons edge cities, and government-planned edge cities in London (Canary Wharf) and Paris (La Défense) integrated transit from the start.


title: Edge city

text: The first edge city was Detroit's New Center, developed in the 1920s, three miles (5 km) north of downtown, as a new downtown for Detroit. New Center and the Miracle Mile section of Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles are considered the earliest automobile-oriented urban forms. However the two were built with radically different purposes in mind (New Center as an office park, the Miracle Mile as a retail strip). Garreau's classic example of an edge city is the information technology center Tysons, Virginia, west of Washington, DC.


title: Edge city

text: Garreau shows how edge cities have also developed in other countries, specifically citing Canada, Mexico, Australia, and cities such as Paris, London, Karachi, Jakarta, and Tianjin, China. In the cases of London and Paris he notes how these edge cities developed with government planning and with integrated public transportation.


title: Edge city

text: Edge cities planned around freeway interchanges have a history of suffering severe traffic problems if one of these freeways goes unbuilt. In particular, Century City, a pioneering 1960s edge city built on former 20th Century Fox backlot in western Los Angeles, was built with long-term plans for access via an urban rail system and the planned Beverly Hills Freeway. Neither project ever came to fruition, resulting in massive congestion on the surface streets connecting Century City to existing freeways, each two miles (3 km) distant. More than a half century later, the Purple Line subway extension will finally provide rail access, with Century City station planned to open in 2025.


title: Edge city

text: As recently as 2003, some critics believed that edge cities might turn out to have been only a 20th-century phenomenon because of their limitations. The residents of the low-density housing areas around them tend to be fiercely resistant to their outward expansion (as has been the case in Tysons and Century City), but because their internal road networks are severely limited in capacity, densification is more difficult than in the traditional grid network that characterizes traditional CBDs and secondary downtowns. As a result, construction of medium- and high-density housing in edge cities ranges was perceived to be "difficult to impossible". Because most are built at automobile scale, it was felt that "mass transit frequently could not serve them well". Pedestrian access to and circulation within an edge city was perceived to be impractical if not impossible, even if residences are nearby. Revitalization of edge cities was seen to be "the major urban renewal project of the 21st century".


title: Edge city

text: Today, many edge cities have plans for densification, sometimes around a walkable downtown-style core, often with a push for more accessibility by transit and bicycle, and addition of housing in denser, urban-style neighborhoods within the edge city. For example at Tysons, in the Washington, D.C. metro area, the plan remains to see the city become the downtown core of Fairfax County. To this point "…eight districts have been delimited, with four centered on new metro stations being transit-oriented development districts". Future plans to transportation around the area continue to be made, the accessibility of the area is on the rise with many forms of transportation being formed. "The aims of the plan are for 75% of development to be within half a mile of metro stations, an urban center of 200,000 jobs and 100,000 residents, a jobs balance of 4.0 per household".


title: Edge city

text: Despite the lessons of the American experience, in rapidly developing countries such as China and India and the United Arab Emirates, the edge city is quickly emerging as an important new development form as automobile ownership skyrockets and marginal land is bulldozed for development. For example, the outskirts of Bangalore, India are increasingly replete with mid-rise mirrored-glass office towers set amid lush gardens and sprawling parking lots where many foreign companies have set up shop. Dubai offers another example.


title: Edge city

text: The emergence of edge cities has not been without consequences to the metropolitan areas they surround. Edge cities arise from population decentralization from large major core cities and has been ongoing since the 1960s. Shifts in socioeconomics in metro areas (including rising real estate prices during periods of stagnant wages), location of metro industrial areas, and labor competition between edge cities and their more central neighbors have been attributed to their development and continued expansion. There has been a considerable debate among economists as to whether "jobs follow people or people follow jobs," but in the context of the edge city phenomenon, workers have been drawn from metropolitan business hubs in favor of the edge city economy. Developers of edge cities have been shown to strategically plan expansion of such business areas to draw workers away from more dense port cities and thereby keep profits from surrounding interests.


title: Edge city

text: Edge cities contribute greatly to urban development by creating new jobs by attracting workers from the metropolitan areas around it. Also as a result of the rise of edge cities, more department stores, hotels, apartments, and office spaces are created. There are more edge cities than their downtown counterparts of the same size. Garreau states one reason for the rise of edge cities is that, "Today, we have moved our means of creating wealth, the essence of urbanism - our jobs - out to where most of us have lived and shopped for two generations. That has led to the rise of Edge City." In comparison with urban centers edge cities offer global corporations many advantages: cheaper land, security, efficient land communications, advanced technological installations, and a high quality of life for their employees and executives. The appeal of edge cities attract large corporations as well, boosting the already growing city.


title: Edge city

text: This concept has showcased the impact that national economies have on the edge city and the surrounding areas. Through Garreau, the term edge city has provided information on how corporate players remain important to the strength of urban and regional subsets. Garreau describes that the edge city has a tendency to have a large service-oriented industry linked to the national economy. The edge city offers supplies to the local area in the form of retail facilities and consumer services. Progressively different services begin to move towards the edge city as the population of corporate businesses increase. The corporate offices fill in space in edge cities and provide connections to exterior locations if decisions are being made from those locales. Not only do corporate, service, and transportation based edge cities exist, but the innovation-driven edge cities will generate extra-metropolitan linkages. These innovative edge cities expand various corporate activities as hosts. Edge cities may create a significant growth in sophisticated retail, entertainment, and consumer service facilities, which in turn leads to a rise in local employment opportunities. The edge city has a tendency to affect the surrounding areas by procuring more opportunities within the labor market. Edge Cities are well suited to an economy which is known for a service-oriented market as well as sustaining major manufacturing sectors.


title: Edge city

text: Political groups aid the creation of the edge city in a particular way. There is usually a development commission or similar organization that operates in parallel to, and interact with standard city, county, and state government institutions. Some authors call such commissions private "proto-government" or "shadow governments". According to authors Phelps and Dear, these "shadow governments can tax, legislate for, and police their communities, but they are rarely accountable, are responsive primarily to wealth (as opposed to numbers of voters), and subject to few constitutional constraints”, as "edge cities have had substantial investments placed in them". In most cases a ‘privatopia’ is formed within edge city residential areas, where the private housing developments are administered by homeowner associations. In 1964 there were fewer than 500 associations, but “…by 1992, there were 150,000 associations privately governing approximately 32 million Americans”.


title: Edge city

text: As with any city, edge cities go through phases of growth and redevelopment. Politics within Edge Cities are unique in that they typically revolve around developing them. They contribute to a "growth machine" that spreads the urbanization of the United States. They can obscure smaller settlements that are also going through similar phases of redevelopment. Depending on the size of the settlements the modes of urban politics can change. "State interventions are important both conceptually and to the empirical matter of this article since the extent, timing, nature, and legacies of state interventions significantly shape the mode of urban politics in different places and in a single place over time". State interventions are essential to the politics in developing edge cities. Tysons, Virginia is an example that went through the process of development due to the county government's aggressive recruitment of businesses. Similar methods of development can be seen and applied to other edge cities as well. Tysons recruited businesses with the promise of growth in the future. More businesses coming in allowed for the city to grow which led to the businesses growing as well. A chain reaction was created which crafted the modern-day Tysons. This community was also an example of politics playing a role in developing an edge city. It could be traced to a special commission established at the request of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors that examined the fiscal capacity of the County vis-à-vis perceived shortfalls in collective consumption expenditures (County of Fairfax 1976a).


title: The Last Blockbuster

text: The Last Blockbuster is a 2020 documentary film about Blockbuster LLC's last store, located in Bend, Oregon. It was released on December 15, 2020, by 1091 Pictures.


title: The Last Blockbuster

text: The documentary tells the story of the rise and fall of Blockbuster Video, a video rental business that was popular during the 1990s. The documentary explores how Blockbuster put independent video rental stores out of business by striking revenue-share deals with film studios (allowing Blockbuster to negotiate lower prices in exchange for a cut of the rental fees), and how Blockbuster itself collapsed as a result of poor management and the financial crisis of 2007–2008. The film also documents the business model and continued survival of the last remaining Blockbuster store, in Bend, Oregon.


title: The Last Blockbuster

text: The film follows Sandi Harding, the general manager of the last store over the course of a number of years. Actor and "Clerks" director Kevin Smith discusses the kind of businesses that Blockbuster put out of business and how they inspired his debut film. Other interviewees include Adam Brody, Samm Levine, Ron Funches, Paul Scheer, Doug Benson, James Arnold Taylor, Jamie Kennedy, and Brian Posehn.


title: The Last Blockbuster

text: On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of based on reviews, with an average rating of . The site's consensus reads, "Slight but entertaining, "The Last Blockbuster" doesn't add much to the saga of the fallen video rental store, but should satisfy nostalgic customers in the mood for a quick diversion." Metacritic gave it a score of 59, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Grain size

text: Grain size (or particle size) is the diameter of individual grains of sediment, or the lithified particles in clastic rocks. The term may also be applied to other granular materials. This is different from the crystallite size, which refers to the size of a single crystal inside a particle or grain. A single grain can be composed of several crystals. Granular material can range from very small colloidal particles, through clay, silt, sand, gravel, and cobbles, to boulders.