History.

Origins, and until 2008.

BEA was co-founded in Hong Kong in 14 November 1918 and officially opened for business on 4 January 1919. The idea of a local Hong Kong bank to blend East and West, essentially by embracing the style of a Chinese, family-run bank but also adopting modern accounting and banking methods, came from Kan Tong-po (簡東浦). Kan had the necessary banking background, but needed the financial support of the Li brothers (Li Koon-chun (李冠春) and Li Tse-fong (李子方)) and the sociopolitical support of Sir Shouson Chow (周長齡), who would become co-founders, along with several other prominent local Hong Kong Chinese businessmen, including Fung Ping Shan (馮平山).  While Kan later sold his stake in the bank in the run-up to Hong Kong's handover, the Li family influence in the bank continues to run deep today, with Sir David Li (3rd generation) being Chairman, and his sons Adrian Li and Brian Li (4th generation) being co-CEO's.  BEA expanded rapidly internationally after opening. In 1920, just 1 year after the bank's official opening, BEA opened its first branches outside of Hong Kong, in Shanghai and Ho Chi Minh City. In 1952, BEA opened its Singapore branch, located in Raffles Place at 60 Robinson Road. BEA would later enter the North American market in 1991 (though operations would later be sold to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in January 2010), and mainland China in 1992.  The late 1930s to 1940s were tough on the bank, as the Second Sino-Japanese War and later Japanese occupation of Hong Kong resulted in heavy losses, with many of BEA's assets seized. Even after the war, the Chinese Civil War and later United Nations embargo on China negatively impacted Hong Kong's economy, and as a result, BEA.  In 1965, Hong Kong experienced a city-wide banking crisis which saw other local Hong Kong banks suffer bank runs and hostile takeovers, such as Hang Seng Bank. BEA, however, was undisturbed, but became much more conservative thereafter.  In 1984, after the Sino-British Joint Declaration, BEA refused to follow the lead of many leading firms at the time to move their headquarters overseas, and instead decided to double-down and reaffirm their "Hong Kong roots".  Traditionally more focused on internal growth rather than external acquisitions, in 1995, BEA made its first acquisition when it acquired United Chinese Bank, with the merger being completed in 2001. BEA also acquired First Pacific Bank in 2000, and that merger was completed in 2002.

2008 to 2018.

On 24 September 2008, BEA experienced a serious test in the form of the worst bank run in its history. BEA had to issue a statement to counter "malicious rumours" about its stability, as queues of customers seeking to withdraw funds formed outside some of its Hong Kong branches. It condemned the rumour mongers, declaring that it had sufficient funds to meet customers' requests, and noting that its capital adequacy ratio was above the industry average, at 14.6 percent. A statement by Joseph Yam, the then chief executive of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority, dismissed the rumour and strongly supported the bank, adding that funds would be made available to the bank if required but that no request had been made. Earlier in the week, the bank had been forced to restate its previous half-year's earnings downwards by nearly 12 percent after it was revealed that one of its staff had conducted unauthorised trades and then buried the losses.  In Oct 2015, BEA entered into agreement with Sinopac Securities to sell BEA Wealth Management Services (Taiwan) Limited and Tung Shing Holdings Company Limited. BEA chairman and CEO David Li said that the disposals would allow BEA to rationalise its securities business in Greater China region. There was no disclosure of the transaction amount involved in this sales.  As the banking sector and BEA continued to face challenges, BEA launched a 3-year cost-cutting plan in the beginning of 2016 to save HKD 700 million by 2018, by reducing dividend payouts, controlling costs, and trimming assets. The saving target was about 8% of its cost base in 2015. It was expected that 40% of savings coming from business alignment, 25% from restructuring middle to back offices, and remaining via branch automation and streamlining. By June 2016, BEA already slashed 180 jobs and closed down 22 securities brokerages outlets. Other key assets sold during this period of cost cutting included its holdings in Tricor, a professional services firm to private equity firm Permira for HKD 6.47 billion (profit of HKD 3.1 billion), and various consumer finance assets to China moneylender QL Finance for HKD 1.08 billion.  On 29 June 2018, after 34 years of being a constituent of the Hang Seng Index, BEA was cut during the quarterly review of Hang Seng Index composition, effective 10 September 2018. The index said that the Bank of East Asia did not meet the turnover and market capitalisation minimums.  In late 2018, BEA began to venture into investment banking by setting up a debt capital markets team based in Hong Kong.

Since 2019.

BEA began 2019 by celebrating its centennial on 2 January 2019, with a reception at the Hong Kong Convention and Exhibition Centre attended by various business and political leaders from Hong Kong.  On 1 July 2019, David Li stepped down as CEO after 38 years (but still retaining his Chairmanship), and was replaced by his sons Adrian and Brian Li as co-CEO's.  BEA faced a difficult 2019, with loan writedowns in China and unprecedented scale of protests in Hong Kong affecting business.

Business segmentation.

BEA trades through the following segments:

Headquarters.

From 1918 to 1920, the bank was headquartered in 2 Des Voeux Road Central, in Central, Hong Kong. In 1920, the bank moved its headquarters to the 29-storey Bank of East Asia Building (東亞銀行大廈) located at 10 Des Voeux Road Central, standing between New Henry House and The Landmark.  The Bank of East Asia Building has had multiple rebuilds over the years:

Mainland China operations.

Bank of East Asia began its mainland China business in 1992, and in 2007, was among the 4 foreign banks approved by China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) to establish a locally incorporated bank, the Bank of East Asia (China) Ltd (BEA China).  On 20 May 2008, BEA became the first foreign bank to issue yuan-denominated debit cards in mainland China, taking advantage of the recent removal of a key restriction on foreign banks' retail business in the country. The bank will issue the debit cards jointly with China UnionPay, the country's only bankcard network operator. The company claimed that the launch of debit cards would help attract retail banking customers by giving them greater convenience in accessing their deposits. In addition, it is the only foreign bank in mainland China to offer direct Alipay payment support and the only foreign bank in mainland China to independently issue credit cards (RMB-denominated UnionPay credit cards in 2008, and more recently Visa-branded US dollar-denominated cards in April 2011).  BEA currently operate one of the most extensive networks in mainland China for a foreign bank.

Overseas operations.

BEA operates overseas in several locations serving expatriate Hong Kong residents. From 1991 to 2010, BEA ran Bank of East Asia Canada; however, a 70% stake was sold to Industrial and Commercial Bank of China in early 2010 and all branches were renamed ICBC Canada by July 2010.  As of April 2018, BEA operates overseas branches in the following countries and markets:  Former overseas branches:

Major shareholders.

Major shareholders in BEA as of the 2019 annual report:

Leadership.

The following is a list of Chairmen and Chief Executive Officers of the bank since its founding:

Disputes and incidents.

Elliott Management.

Hedge fund activist investor Elliott Management filed a lawsuit against BEA in July 2016 in Hong Kong court over a share placement transaction. Elliott Management, which held 7% of listed shares of BEA, had included majority of the bank's directors, its CEO and chairman in the lawsuit. The transaction in question was on BEA's issuance of new shares to Japan's Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corp (SMBC) in 2015. Elliott cited "allegations of unfairly prejudicial conduct" and "alleged serious corporate governance failings". Elliott hoped to secure a declaration from the court that these placements were passed by BEA for "an improper purpose" and looked for an order requiring BEA to lift the contractual restrictions that would prevent SMBC and Caixa, another strategic investor on BEA, from reducing their stakes on BEA.  In response, BEA applied to have Elliott's petition against them struck out. This case was heard by Mr Justice Jonathan Harris from 17–19 July 2017.

2019 Hong Kong protests.

During the 2019 Hong Kong protests, several BEA outlets were accidentally targeted as protestors vandalized mainland-linked business. Protestors later spray-painted "Sorry" at the vandalized branches, after they realized BEA is locally run and owned.

The Bank of East Asia Limited, often abbreviated to BEA, is a Hong Kong-based banking and financial services company, headquartered in Central, Hong Kong. It is currently the largest independent local Hong Kong bank, and one of two remaining family-run Hong Kong banks, with the other being Dah Sing Bank. It continues to be run by 3rd and 4th generation of the Li family.

东亚银行有限公司(英语:The Bank of East Asia Limited,简称BEA,),(),是在香港交易所上市的金融公司,主要业务为提供银行及相关金融服务,以及商务、企业及投资者服务。公司成立于1918年,在香港注册,现任董事局主席兼首席执行官为李国宝。于2017年12月31日的综合资产总额达港币8,089亿元,存款总额5,717亿港元,股东权益总额1,012亿港元,纯利为105.15亿港元。


History.

In 1933, business partners Lam Bing Yim (), Ho Sin Hang (), Sheng Tsun Lin (), and Leung Chik Wai () founded Hang Seng Ngan Ho, the predecessor of Hang Seng Bank, in Hong Kong. Hang Seng means "ever-growing" in Cantonese. It commenced business as a simple money-changing shop at 70 Wing Lok Street, Sheung Wan, on 3 March 1933. In 1952, Hang Seng Bank became a private company and embarked on commercial banking. Hang Seng Bank turned into a public company in 1960. In 1965, Hang Seng Bank suffered from bank run of which depleted almost one-fourth of its deposits. Because of that, The Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corporation (HSBC) acquired a 51% interest of Hang Seng Bank, later increased to 62.14%, and owned the controlling power of Hang Seng Bank.  In 1969, the Hang Seng Index was introduced as a public service. The index is now generally known as the indicator of the Hong Kong stock market. Hang Seng Bank was listed on the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in 1972. In 1981, Hang Seng Bank was given permission to run branches in MTR stations. Hang Seng Bank began to extend its business to China in 1985, with the opening of a representative office in Shenzhen. 10 years later, Hang Seng Bank opened its first Chinese branch in Guangzhou.  In 2002, Hang Seng Bank launched personal e-Banking in Mainland China. Hang Seng Bank opened its branch in Macau in 2003. In 2006, Hang Seng Bank received authorisation to get ready for the formation of its mainland China subsidiary bank. Within the same year, Hang Seng Bank introduced a brand revitalisation program and presented a new company slogan – Managing wealth for you, with you.  The year, 2007 was significant to Hang Seng Bank. The China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) authorised the formation of Hang Seng Bank (China) Limited, the mainland China subsidiary bank of Hang Seng Bank. Which was established on 28 May 2007. In November, Hang Seng Bank opened its new Hong Kong office at MegaBox, Kowloon Bay. Hang Seng Bank became the first bank in Hong Kong to fix the renminbi (RMB) prime rate in 2010.  In February 2012, Hang Seng Bank introduced the world's first RMB gold exchange-traded fund (ETF). The brand value of Hang Seng Bank was ranked 65th globally in the 2012 Brand Finance Banking 500, the highest ranking for Hong Kong banks.

Overview.

Hang Seng Bank is a commercial bank whose major business activities include retail banking and wealth management, corporate and commercial banking, treasury services, and private banking. Hang Seng Bank operates a network of around 260 service outlets in Hong Kong. Hang Seng Bank is the only local bank to offer extensive branch services along Mass Transit Railway (MTR) stations to better serve its customers.  Hang Seng Bank established its wholly owned subsidiary Hang Seng Bank (China) Limited in 2007. The subsidiary runs a mainland China network of 46 outlets in Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Dongguan, Fuzhou, Nanjing, Hangzhou, Ningbo, Tianjin, Kunming, Foshan, Zhongshan, Huizhou, Xiamen, Zhuhai and Jiangmen with 12 branches and 34 sub-branches. For foreign currency wholesale business, Hang Seng Bank maintains branches in Shenzhen, Macau and Singapore, and also a representative office in Taipei.  The current chairman is Dr. Raymond Ch'ien Kuo Fung. The current Vice-Chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) is Ms. Louisa Cheang.

Hang Seng Bank Limited () is a Hong Kong-based banking and financial services company with headquarters in Central, Hong Kong. It is one of Hong Kong's leading public companies in terms of market capitalisation and is part of the HSBC Group, which holds a majority equity interest in the bank.

恒生银行(,)是一间香港商业银行,于1933年3月3日由林炳炎、何善衡、梁植伟、盛春霖及何添创立,曾为香港主要华资银行之一,1965年后成为汇丰集团成员,目前以香港及中国大陆业务为重点。其亦负责算出香港股市的参考指数:恒生指数。


History.

1925–1964: Stipel and early mandatory phone tax.

In 1925, the phone network was reorganised by the Benito Mussolini cabinet and the company Stipel was established in the same year. The original core of Telecom Italia included 4 companies: TIMO, Teti, TELVE and SET. Each of them operated in a specific geographical area. In 1964, these companies merged in one single group under the name of SIP.

1964–1994: SIP - Società Italiana per l'Esercizio Telefonico.

In 1964, "Società Idroelettrica Piemontese" (SIP), a former energy company founded in 1918, ceased producing energy and acquired all of the Italian telephone companies, becoming "SIP - Società Italiana per l'Esercizio Telefonico". It was run by the Italian Ministry of Finance.  SIP was a state monopoly from 1964 to 1996 and Italian people had to pay the "Canone Telecom" (a line rental charge of about €120 per year, plus hardware rental and other minor costs) in order to have a phone at home.

1994–2005: Telecom Italia, Telecom Italia Mobile and DSL services.

Telecom Italia was officially created on 27 July 1994 by the merger of several telecommunication companies among which SIP, Iritel, Italcable, Telespazio and Sirm. This was due to a reorganization plan for the telecommunication sector presented by IRI to the Minister of Finance.  In 1995, the mobile telephony division was spun off as TIM (Telecom Italia Mobile). Interbusiness, Italy's largest Internet network, was created and in the same period with TIN (Telecom Italia Net) and the first ISPs, internet access became a reality in Italy. In 1996, TIM introduced a new prepaid rechargeable phone card (GSM), and one year later launched short messaging service (SMS) capability. In 1997, under the chairmanship of Guido Rossi, Telecom Italia was privatised and was transformed into a large multimedia group.  By 2001, the company was in debt and was acquired by Marco Tronchetti Provera. The following year, the group released its DSL Flat service in Italy, Alice ADSL, with a download speed of 32 kbit/s and an upload speed of 8 kbit/s for €40/month plus a monthly based tax of €14.57, the "Canone Telecom", besides the mandatory monthly bills for home telephone numbers (a home telephone number was required for ADSL service). Telecom Italia Media, the group's multimedia company, was formed in 2003 from Seat Pagine Gialle, focussing its business on the television sector with La7 and MTV channels.  After the reorganization of editorial activities, in 2005 Telecom Italia acquired Tin.it and Virgilio from Telecom Italia Media.  The Telecom Italia Group also operates in South America; in Brazil as TIM Brasil, and in Argentina and Paraguay with Telecom Argentina Group. TIM Brasil has its local headquarters in Rio de Janeiro.

2005–2014: Telecom Italia Spa acquired by Telefónica.

Telecom Italia reported mounting debts in 2005, and, one year later, CEO Marco Tronchetti Provera resigned.  In 2007 the company was bought by Telco, a consortium of Telefónica and several Italian banks. Telefónica owned 46% of Telco, the holding company that controlled 22% of Telecom Italia.  In late 2013, Telefónica announced its intention to acquire the entirety of Telco by January 2014, potentially becoming Telecom Italia's largest shareholder. The plan, however, is being challenged by the Brazilian competition authority since Telefónica and Telecom Italia, with Vivo and TIM respectively, are the two largest telephone companies competing in Brazil.

2015–present: Rebrand.

In 2015, Telecom Italia Group started a rebranding process of the telephony and mobile businesses under the single TIM brand. In the same year, the Board of Directors approved the new company's division, the "Infrastrutture Wireless Italiane", or INWIT, which operates 11,500 wireless towers.  It was revealed in October 2015 that shareholders Vivendi would raise their stakes further in the company from its current level of 15.49%. As of May 2017, Vivendi owns 24.6% of the company with Vivendi's CEO Arnaud de Puyfontaine becoming Executive Chairman of Telecom Italia. Amos Genish is the new CEO since 28 September 2017 and he has been criticized to have fired 4500 Telecom Italia employees in June 2018. He has been substituted by Luigi Gubitosi that became the new CEO on 18 November 2018.

TIM Brand.

TIM is an Italian brand owned by Telecom Italia. Founded as a mobile telephony company in 1995, since 2015 it has become a brand that provides mobile, fixed telephony, and Internet services.  4G LTE is available in 6,849 cities (96.3% of the country) including: Ancona, Bari, Bologna, Cagliari, Catania, Florence, Genoa, Messina, Milan, Naples, Palermo, Perugia, Pescara, Reggio Calabria, Rome, Trento, Trieste, Turin, and Venice. 4G+/LTE Plus has speeds of up to 180–225 MB exploiting the 4G carrier aggregation which is now available in more than 600 cities including: Rome, Milan, Turin, Naples, Florence, Genoa, Palermo, Catania, Bari and Venice. 3G 42.2 MB/s is available in 4,282 cities (84.2%).  TIM sponsors Serie A. TIM has a subsidiary in Brazil, known as TIM Brasil, with 72.6 million customers. The brand covers over 114 million customers worldwide.

Legal problems.

Telecom Italia Mobile illegal charging money for "free" Internet providing renewals.

Telecom Italia Mobile illegally charged money for Internet providing renew subscriptions for 5 years to its customers during the "free" subscription renewals.

Fraud in Brazilian prepaid mobile lines.

On 8 August 2012, TIM Brasil became involved in a massive scandal in Brazilian news after the release of report by the Brazilian National Telecommunications Agency Anatel.  The report points that on TIM's prepaid voice plan (24.7% market share), called "Infinity" (in which the user pays roughly US$0.12 for each unlimited time call), the calls were intentionally dropped by the company, forcing the customers to make (and pay for) new calls to keep talking. In just one day, 8.1 million calls were dropped and the total profit was approximately $2 million. Upon release of the report, the Public Ministry of the Paraná State filed a lawsuit against TIM asking that it stop selling new mobile lines in Brasil and pay a multimillion-dollar fine for the damages against consumers.

Operations.

The Telecom Italia Group provides phone landline services and mobile services in Italy, GSM mobile phone services in Italy and Brazil through its TIM subsidiary, (TIM Brasil), and DSL internet and telephony services in Italy and San Marino. It also operates in international telecommunication services for other operators and corporations, through its subsidiary Telecom Italia Sparkle. In 2013, the total amount of the company's debt was about 26 billion €. Telecom Italia has 66,025 employees.  Telecom Italia also controls Olivetti, a manufacturer of computer peripherals and mobile phones. On March 31, 2014, Telecom Italia led both the direct fixed access lines market with a 62% share, and the mobile postpaid segment with a 45% market share. In the mobile “prepaid” segment Telecom Italia owned a 31.5% market share together with Vodafone.  After the merger of Wind and 3 Italia, approved on August 6, 2015, Telecom Italia is now the second country's largest carrier with 30 million customers, followed by Vodafone with 25 million customers. Telecom Italia has preserved its leadership on the direct fixed access lines market and the mobile postpaid segment.

High Debt Issue.

Telecom Italia Spa deals with a total debt of 27 billion Euro as of the end of 2019. Moody rated the debt with a B1 grade negative outlook in 2015.

Environmental practices and initiatives.

In 2002, Telecom Italia subscribed to the United Nations corporate responsibility initiative Global Compact. It is also member of a number of stock market indexes which include companies focused on corporate social responsibility, including the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes and those administered by FTSE Group's FTSE4Good. Its part-owned Brazilian subsidiary, TIM Participações, is listed in the Bovespa's ISE (Índice de Sustentabilidade Empresarial) index.  Telecom Italia promotes a sustainability strategy including both environmental and social issues: in June 2014 it signed an agreement with A2A to buy energy only from renewable sources.

TIM S.p.A., also operating under the name Telecom Italia, is an Italian telecommunications company headquartered in Rome and Milan, which provides telephony services, mobile services, and DSL data services. It is the largest Italian telecommunications services provider in revenues and subscribers. It was founded in 1994 by the merger of several state-owned telecommunications companies, the most prominent of which was Società Italiana per l'Esercizio Telefonico p.A., (known as "SIP", from the earlier "Società Idroelettrica Piemontese"), the former state monopoly telephone operator in Italy.

意大利电信()是意大利的电信公司,总部位于罗马。提供电话服务,移动通信服务和DSL数据服务。该公司成立于1994年,由数家国有电信公司合并而成,其中最重要的是意大利国际电讯公司( Società Italiana per l'Esercizio Telefonico p.A.,简称SIP)。


History.

Saga Castle.

Standing out from many cultural assets is the plains castle within the city, Saga Castle. It is one of the rare castles in Japan surrounded by a wall rather than built on one. First built between 1591 and 1593, there was a fire in 1726. Renovated in 1728, there was yet another fire in 1835. Nabeshima Naomasa, "daimyō" of the Nabeshima clan, renovated it within two years and moved in. In 1874 it was a court building and a prefectural office. 1883 saw it become a junior school. The buildings were eventually replaced by modern school buildings.

Geography.

Saga City is located in the southeast portion of Saga Prefecture. After the 2005 merger the city became very long north to south. It now borders the Ariake Sea to the south and Fukuoka Prefecture to the southeast and north. The northern half of the city contains the Sefuri Mountains.

Climate.

Saga has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification "Cfa").The annual average precipitation ranges from about 1800 mm (71 in) in the city center to about 2400 mm (94 in) in Mitsuse. The annual average temperature ranges from about 13 °C (55 °F) in Mitsuse to 17 °C (63 °F) in the city center.

Transportation.

Air.

There is one airport inside the city of Saga, Saga Airport, located in the former town of Kawasoe. Before the opening of Saga Airport, Fukuoka Airport was the nearest airport. However, many people in Saga still use Fukuoka Airport due its greater number of routes and flights offered. There is an express bus which connects the two airports.

Attractions.

Every fall Saga holds the "Saga International Balloon Fiesta" in the dry riverbed of the Kase River. A quarter of the visitors are from Saga. The number of visitors was about 15 million in 2005. Hot air balloonists from many countries enter this event.  Kakurintei Tea House located in the grounds of Kono Koen is a very quaint and picturesque Japanese tea house overlooking a pond.  Saga Castle (Also called the Saga Castle Historical Museum) is the largest reconstruction of a wooden building in Japan, with a total floor space of 2500 square meters and the historical atmosphere of the Saga Castle main keep.

Economy/Industry.

In the areas surrounding the city, the agricultural industry focuses on planting grains that make use of water. The fishery centers on seaweed cultivation using the Ariake Sea.  Originally one of the largest rice-producing areas, a large farmland has been converted it into a vegetable field in response to changes in the environment surrounding agriculture. In terms of industry, the terrain is facing the Ariake Sea, but since it is a shallow area where large vessels cannot navigate, heavy industry has not developed much. In addition, in the first half of the 20th century, coal and prefecture western flourished because there was not much competition.  On the other hand, the food industry and the textile industry have developed throughout the late 20th century. Although the food industry is still strong, the textile industry has been the main industry since the 1970's. However, since the 1990's the automobile parts industry has been growing due to the accumulation of automobiles and parts industry in northern Kyushu.  Although it is located at the prefecture capital and the service industry accounts for a large number of employees, the shipping industry in commerce is not particularly large compared to other cities of the same size. Currently, three large suburban commercial facilities with a sales floor area of 50,000 m are in competition with each other, and there is an unbalanced demand for supply.  The number of companies with head offices and main offices in the city is the largest in the prefecture, but it is not that much compared to the neighboring prefectures. There is also the tendency of branch offices to be in urban cities, which is often prefecture capitals.  In terms of percent by industry, the tertiary industry exceeds 70%, but it is the lowest among the seven prefectures of Kyushu. The proportion of secondary industries is small, while the proportion of primary industry is relatively high. (Census data: October 1, 2005)

Twin towns – sister cities.

Saga is twinned with:

Saga was the capital of Saga Domain in the Edo period, and largest city of former Hizen Province.

佐贺市()是日本九州佐贺县内的最大都市,同时也是佐贺县的县厅所在地。佐贺市最早设置于1889年(明治22年),在平成大合并时期,先后与周边的诸富町、大和町、富士町、三瀬村、川副町、东与贺町、久保田町合并。


Biography.

Childhood in the French Riviera.

Hélène Ségara was born on 26 February 1971 on her grandfather's farm in Six-Fours-les-Plages. Her father, Bernardo Rizzo, is of Italian descent and mother, Therese Kasbarian, is Armenian. She has cited her parents' divorce when she was eight and the death of her grandfather when she was 16 as defining moments of her childhood.  As she wanted to become a singer, she left school and family at the age of 14. As a teenager, her jobs included performing in the piano bars of the French Riviera.  At 18, she gave birth to Raphael, her first son. Drawing on many musical influences she was a prolific songwriter during this period, and her repertoire grew to over a thousand songs in seven languages. In 1993, her first single, "Loin", was released, but failed to achieve success.

Life in Paris.

In 1996, accompanied by her young son, she moved to Paris, where she met Christian Loigerot, who became one of her composers. She also met the famous producer Orlando Gigliotti, Dalida's brother, who gave new impetus to her career. Although impressed by the experience and professionalism of this mentor, she was still under contract with her first producer.  Ségara's first success came with "Je vous aime adieu," the first single from her debut album, "Cœur de verre" (1996), followed by the duet "Vivo per lei," performed with Andrea Bocelli. Her big break came when she was selected to play Esmeralda in Richard Cocciante's musical Notre Dame de Paris. Although she auditioned for the role in 1997, she wasn't selected until 1999, following the withdrawal of the Israeli singer Noa. "When fate knocks at the door for a second time, we must not let it get away," said Ségara.  However, her career was jeopardized after she was diagnosed with a cyst on her vocal cords although she continued to perform. During a show in Canada, she lost her voice. Her producer then resold her contract to Orlando, while a laser operation was carried out to treat her vocal cords.

A new start.

After her recovery, she recorded her second album, "Au Nom d'une femme" in 2000 which topped the charts in France. Five singles were released from the album. Ségara then began a concert tour that lasted about two years. A video recording of the concert she gave at the Olympia in Paris on this occasion was released. According to a poll made by the IFOP, Segara was the French people's favourite French singer at the time.  In March 2003, she released a third album, "Humaine", including "On n'oublie rien, on vit avec", a duet with Laura Pausini and "L'Amour est un soleil", composed by Romano Musumarra. The album sold around 700,000 copies. She began another tour in late 2003 but was forced to stop her performances because of a difficult pregnancy. In August 2003, Ségara married Mathieu Lecat (son of journalist Didier Lecat) in Ajaccio, with whom she had two further children: Matteo and Maïa.  Her fourth studio album, "Quand l'éternité..." came out in 2006. The first single from this album, "Méfie-toi de moi", was followed by "Rien n'est comme avant". This album has a different style from previous ones, with more pronounced rock influences, with lyrics largely written by the singer, discussing issues such as absence, death and hope. The album eventually achieved gold status three months after its release for more than 200,000 copies sold. In early 2007, she began a new concert tour in France, including the Palais des Sports in Paris.  In 2007, having finished the first part of her tour, two other songs from the album received radio play, despite not being released as singles: "Tu ne seras jamais libre" and "Father". In late 2007, several editions came out: a box set with of 3 CDs ("Les 50 plus belles chansons d'Hélène Segara"), two boxes consisting of two CDs with a new cover ("Cœur de verre" + "Au Nom d'une femme", "Humaine" + "Quand l'éternité...") and a CD 'Prestige' with 15 tracks. In February 2008, she released "La Moitié de nous", a duet with Bruno Pelletier, with a percentage of profits given to the charity "Rêves". The tour "Quand l'éternité..." ran until summer 2008, in France and abroad.

Il Divo.

In 2014 Hélène performed the song "Memory" musical "Cats" with the quartet Il Divo. The song was included on the disk group "A Musical Affair" (2014).

Hélène Ségara (; born Hélène Aurore Alice Rizzo on 26 February 1971) is a French singer who came to prominence playing the role of Esmeralda in the French musical "Notre Dame de Paris". She has sold over 10 million records.

伊莲·西嘉贺(,,1971年-2月26日),本名伊莲·奥罗尔·阿莉丝·里佐(Hélène Aurore Alice Rizzo),是一名法国女歌手,代表歌曲为《再续前缘》("Encore une Fois")。她也因在音乐剧《巴黎圣母院》中出演过Esmeralda一角而为人们所熟悉。


Synthesis.

Glycosylated (GPI-linked) proteins contain a signal sequence, thus directing them to the endoplasmic reticulum (ER). The protein is co-translationally inserted in the ER membrane via a translocon and is attached to the ER membrane by its hydrophobic C terminus; the majority of the protein extends into the ER lumen. The hydrophobic C-terminal sequence is then cleaved off and replaced by the GPI-anchor. As the protein processes through the secretory pathway, it is transferred via vesicles to the Golgi apparatus and finally to the plasma membrane where it remains attached to a leaflet of the cell membrane. Since the glypiation is the sole means of attachment of such proteins to the membrane, cleavage of the group by phospholipases will result in controlled release of the protein from the membrane. The latter mechanism is used "in vitro"; i.e. membrane proteins released from membranes in enzymatic assays are glypiated proteins.

Cleavage.

Phospholipase C (PLC) is an enzyme known to cleave the phospho-glycerol bond found in GPI-anchored proteins. Treatment with PLC will cause release of GPI-linked proteins from the outer cell membrane. The T-cell marker Thy-1 and acetylcholinesterase, as well as both intestinal and placental alkaline phosphatases, are known to be GPI-linked and are released by treatment with PLC. GPI-linked proteins are thought to be preferentially located in lipid rafts, suggesting a high level of organization within plasma membrane microdomains.

GPI-anchor synthesis deficiencies.

In humans.

Defects in the GPI-anchor synthesis occur in rare acquired diseases such as paroxysmal nocturnal hemoglobinuria (PNH) and congenital diseases such as hyperphosphatasia with mental retardation syndrome (HPMRS). In PNH a somatic defect in blood stem cells, which is required for GPI synthesis, results in faulty GPI linkage of decay-accelerating factor (DAF) and CD59 in red blood cells. The most common cause of PNH are somatic mutations in the X-chromosomal gene PIGA. However, a PNH case with a germline mutation in the autosomal gene PIGT and a second acquired somatic hit has also been reported. Without these proteins linked to the cell surface, the complement system can lyse the cell, and high numbers of RBCs are destroyed, leading to hemoglobinuria. For patients with HPMRS, disease-causing mutations have been reported in the genes PIGV, PIGO, PGAP2 and PGAP3.

In other species.

The variable surface glycoproteins from the sleeping sickness protozoan "Trypanosoma brucei" are attached to the plasma membrane via a GPI anchor.

Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (), or glycophosphatidylinositol, or GPI in short, is a phosphoglyceride that can be attached to the C-terminus of a protein during posttranslational modification. Proteins containing a GPI anchor play key roles in a wide variety of biological processes. GPI is composed of a phosphatidylinositol group linked through a carbohydrate-containing linker (glucosamine and mannose glycosidically bound to the inositol residue) and via an ethanolamine phosphate (EtNP) bridge to the C-terminal amino acid of a mature protein. The two fatty acids within the hydrophobic phosphatidyl-inositol group anchor the protein to the cell membrane.

糖磷脂酰肌醇(英语:Glycosylphosphatidylinositol,),或 glycophosphatidylinositol,糖基磷脂酰肌醇,缩写 GPI)是一个短链糖脂,可以连接到蛋白质的C端,作为一种转译后修饰。含有GPI的蛋白质可以锚定在细胞膜上,在各种各样的生物过程中发挥关键作用。 它是通过磷脂酰肌醇基团与糖连接,再通过磷酸乙醇胺(EtNP)桥接到蛋白质C端的氨基酸残基上。两个疏水性磷脂酰脂肪酸长链用于锚定到细胞膜中。


Overview.

Twickenham is often referred to as "the Home of England Rugby". The stadium, owned and operated by the RFU, hosts rugby union fixtures year round. It is the home of the English rugby union team, who play nearly all their home games at the stadium. Twickenham hosts England's home Six Nations matches, as well as inbound touring teams from the Southern Hemisphere, usually annually around November.  Apart from its relationship with the national team, Twickenham is the venue for a number of other domestic and international rugby union matches. It hosts the annual London leg of the World Rugby Sevens Series, the Cup (championship) final and third-place match of the annual London leg of the World Rugby Women's Sevens Series, and the domestic Middlesex Sevens competition. It is also the venue for the Premiership Rugby final as well as the season-opening London Double Header, Big Game and an annual fixture hosted by Bath Rugby. Anglo-Welsh Cup, Heineken Cup and Champions Cup finals have also been held here in the past. The stadium is also host to The Varsity Match between Oxford and Cambridge, the English schools' Daily Mail Cup Final and the Army Navy Match which forms the culmination of the annual Inter-Services Competition.

History.

Sold out Tests against New Zealand and South Africa at Crystal Palace saw the RFU realise the benefit of owning their own ground. Committee member William Williams and treasurer William Cail led the way to purchasing a 10.25 acre (4 hectare) market garden in Twickenham in 1907 for £5,500 12s 6d. The first stands were constructed the following year. Before the ground was purchased, it was used to grow cabbages, and so Twickenham Stadium is affectionately known as the Cabbage Patch. After further expenditure on roads, the first game, between Harlequins v. Richmond, was played on 2 October 1909, and the first international, England v. Wales, on 15 January 1910. At the time of the English-Welsh game, the stadium had a maximum capacity of 20,000 spectators. During World War I the ground was used for cattle, horse and sheep grazing. King George V unveiled a war memorial in 1921. In 1926, the first Middlesex Sevens took place at the ground. In 1927 the first Varsity Match took place at Twickenham for the first time. On 19 March 1938, BBC Television broadcast the EnglandScotland (Calcutta Cup) match from Twickenham, the first time that a rugby match was shown live on television. In 1959, to mark 50 years of the ground, a combined side of England and Wales beat Ireland and Scotland by 26 points to 17.  Coming into the last match of the 1988 season England had lost 15 of their previous 23 matches in the Five Nations Championship. The Twickenham crowd had only seen one solitary England try in the previous two years, and at half-time, they were 0–3 down against the Irish. During the second half, a remarkable transformation took place and England started playing an expansive game many had doubted they were capable of producing. A 0–3 deficit was turned into a 35–3 win, with England scoring six tries. This day also saw the origins of the adoption of the traditional spiritual "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" as a terrace song. In the 35–3 win against Ireland, three of England's tries were scored by Chris Oti, a black player who had made a reputation for himself that season as a speedster on the left wing. A group of boys from the Benedictine school Douai, following a tradition at their school games, sang "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" whenever a try was scored. When Oti scored his second try, amused spectators standing close to the boys joined in, and when Oti scored his hat-trick the song was heard around the ground. Since then "Swing Low, Sweet Chariot" has been a song to sing at England home games, in the same way that "Fields of Athenry" is sung in Dublin and "Cwm Rhondda" is sung in Cardiff. The United Kingdom, Ireland and France shared the hosting of the 1991 Rugby World Cup. Twickenham was used during pool A England matches. Twickenham was also host of the 1991 Rugby World Cup Final in which Australia beat England 12–6. For this game, England changed their style of play, opting for the sort of running game that had brought them victory against Ireland in the March 1988 game referred to above. During this match, with the English facing a 12–3 deficit, David Campese reached one-handed for a ball thrown to England winger, Rory Underwood. He dropped it and the ball rolled forward, gifting England a penalty that proved to be the last score of the game. Some have claimed that Campese's action should have been interpreted as a deliberate professional foul, with possible disciplinary action against the Australian player. However, on the same ground in November 1988, Campese had intercepted a similar pass and run the length of the field to score a try.  Some of the Welsh-hosted 1999 Rugby World Cup games were taken to Twickenham. These included three of England's pool B matches, the second round playoff when England defeated Fiji 45 points to 24, and both semi-finals, none of which England were involved in, having made their exit in the quarter-finals at the hands of South Africa. Under the reign of Clive Woodward, the stadium became known as 'Fortress Twickenham', as England enjoyed a run of 19 unbeaten home matches from October 1999, ending with defeat against Ireland in 2004. The IRB Rugby Aid Match was played on 5 March 2005 under the auspices of the International Rugby Board (IRB) to raise money for the United Nations World Food Programme to support its work aiding victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. Representative sides of the Northern and Southern hemispheres played at Twickenham. The final score was Northern Hemisphere 19 – Southern Hemisphere 54.

Redevelopment.

Since the ground was bought by the RFU in 1907, it has gone through a number of redevelopments. In 1921 a stand was built above the northern terrace, with workshops placed underneath. In 1927, there was an extension to the East Stand, bringing the capacity to 12,000. The south terrace was also extended to allow 20,000 spectators. In 1932 a new West Stand was completed, providing offices for the RFU, who made the ground their home. In 1937, Middlesex County Council approved a scheme submitted by Twickenham Borough Council to widen Rugby Road due to it being inadequate for traffic.  In 1965, the South Terrace was closed due to structural failings. It was found to be cheaper to build a new stand as opposed to repairing the existing one; however, planning permission was refused, due to objection from local residents. Permission was granted in 1978. A period of extensive rebuilding took place during the early 1980s which continued through to the mid-1990s. In 1981 the South Terrace was rebuilt as the South Stand. After being taken down in 1989, an extended North Stand was opened in 1990. After the 1992 Five Nations, the stadium saw the development of the new East Stand and following that the West Stand. In 1995, the stadium was completed to accommodate 75,000 people in an all-seater environment. The North, East and West stands were all built by Mowlem.  Planning permission was sought in 2002 and received in December 2004 for a new South Stand to raise capacity to 82,000, together with a hotel and conference centre, with redevelopment commencing in June 2005. The RFU's revised application to build the new south stand at £80 million was unanimously approved by Richmond Council's planning committee on 2 December. As well as increasing the stadium's capacity to 82,000, the redevelopment introduced a four-star Marriott hotel with 156 rooms and six VIP suites with views over the field, a performing arts complex, a health and leisure club, open a new rugby shop and also increase the current function space. On Sunday 10 July 2005 the south stand was demolished to make way for the new development. The festivities that were planned for the implosion of this end of the stadium were cancelled in the wake of the 7 July terror attacks in the centre of London. The new seating, which had been started by Mowlem, was completed by Carillion on 5 November 2006 in time for the England vs New Zealand game of the 2006 Autumn internationals series, in which England lost in a near-record defeat.

Rugby World Cup.

Twickenham Stadium has hosted Rugby World Cup Matches in 1991, 1999 and 2015 with England as hosts in 1991 and 2015 therefore holding the Final. The Stadium also hosted semi finals in 1999 including France's 43–31 victory over favourites New Zealand, regarded by many as the best Rugby match of all time.

Other uses.

Though Twickenham usually only hosts rugby union fixtures, it has in the past been the venue for a number of other events. In 2000, the ground hosted its first game of rugby league, in which Australia defeated England in the opening game of the 2000 Rugby League World Cup. The Rugby League Challenge Cup Final has also been played at Twickenham twice, in 2001 and 2006, and was won by St. Helens on both occasions.  Due to the construction delays of Wembley, a number of scheduled events at Wembley were moved to Twickenham. The Challenge Cup and the Rolling Stones' A Bigger Bang Tour concerts were taken to Twickenham. The Stones also played two shows at Twickenham in August and September 2003, the first of which was used as their stadium concert disc for the 2003 DVD Four Flicks. During 2007 Genesis played at Twickenham during their. The Police played at the stadium in September 2007 and Rod Stewart in June. The usual capacity for concerts is anything up to 80,000, as opposed to the 82,000 for rugby.  R.E.M. performed at Twickenham in August 2008, while New Jersey rockers Bon Jovi played two gigs at the stadium in June 2008 as part of their Lost Highway Tour, and Iron Maiden played there as part of their Somewhere Back in Time World Tour on 5 July 2008, along with a full supporting bill which included Avenged Sevenfold, Within Temptation and Lauren Harris.  Lady Gaga performed two sold-out shows at the stadium during her Born This Way Ball Tour on the 8th and 9 September 2012 with 101,250 people attending for both shows. The first date broke a record for The Fastest Selling-out Stadium Show in UK history when the 50,625 tickets for the first show sold out in 50 seconds.  Rihanna performed two shows at the stadium during her Diamonds World Tour on 15 and 16 June 2013 for 95,971 people for both nights.  Since the mid-1950s it has also hosted the Jehovah's Witnesses annual convention for the London area. Usually up to 25,000 attend to hear Bible talks.  The TV motoring show "Top Gear" used the pitch for a match of rugby, played using Kia cars. This was played prior to resurfacing.

American football.

It was announced on 3 November 2015 that the RFU and America's National Football League had agreed a three-year deal to host at least three NFL London Games. The deal began in October 2016 and gave the opportunity to host an additional two games over the three-year period of the deal.  On 23 October 2016, the Los Angeles Rams hosted the New York Giants at Twickenham Stadium. This was the second of three London Games in 2016, with the others being played at Wembley. The game was televised live in the UK on BBC Two.  The final two games of the agreement were played in 2017, with matchups announced on 13 December 2016.

World Rugby Museum.

The World Rugby Union Museum is a museum located in Twickenham Stadium. The museum covers the whole of the global game, not just English rugby union. It tells the history of the sport, including William Webb Ellis and Richard Lindon, using interactive display techniques. The museum has a rolling programme of special exhibitions which cover topical issues and offer an opportunity to display some of the obscurer items in the collection. Some unique displays include an English rugby union jersey from the first ever rugby union international in 1871 between England and Scotland, and (until 2005) the William Webb Ellis Cup which was obtained by England at the 2003 Rugby World Cup. Twickenham Stadium Tours are also available through the Museum and run four times per day (Tuesday to Saturday) and twice on Sundays. It is usually open every day of the week except for Mondays. Except match days when, for ticket holders only, a special price entry to the museum is available.

Twickenham Stadium (; usually known as Twickenham) is a rugby union stadium in Twickenham, southwest London, England. Owned by the governing body of rugby union in England, the Rugby Football Union (RFU), the stadium hosts home test matches for the England national rugby union team. Other rugby union games played at the stadium include Middlesex Sevens matches, selected Premiership Rugby fixtures, selected Anglo-Welsh Cup matches, the Varsity Match between the universities of Oxford and Cambridge, and selected European Rugby Champions Cup matches. The RFU has its headquarters at the stadium.

特维克纳姆体育场(英语:Twickenham Stadium)是位于英国伦敦郊外的一座英式橄榄球专用球场。球场竣工于1909年,在经过多次改扩建之后,现在可以容纳多达82,000人观众。这座球场是英格兰国家橄榄球队的主场球场,也曾举办过橄榄球世界杯的赛事。除了用于举办体育赛事之外,许多歌手也都在这里举办过演唱会。


History.

During the Vietnam War, the Marine Corps decided they needed a standard sniper rifle. After testing several possibilities, they ordered seven hundred Remington Model 40x rifles (target/varmint version of the Model 700 bolt-action rifle), and gave them the M40 designation. Most had a Redfield 3–9 power Accurange variable scope mounted. With time, certain weaknesses, primarily warping of the all-wood stock, became apparent.  Sometime in the early 1970s, the USMC armorers at MCB Quantico began rebuilding the original M40s into M40A1s. The process involved, among other improvements, replacing the original wood stocks with McMillan A1 fiberglass stocks, as well as replacing the original 3–9× Redfield variable-power scopes with 10× Unertl fixed-power scopes. The M40 was originally designed by Jack Cuddy and Neill Goddard. The stock featured Wichita sling swivels and a Pachmayr buttpad.  The Corps began looking at a replacement for the M40 series in 2004, but did not draft requirements until 2009 while working with SOCOM. The plans for a "21st century sniper rifle" were paused while the Army's results of SOCOM's Precision Sniper Rifle program were finalized in 2013.  In April 2018, the U.S. Marine Corps announced they would be replacing the M40 with the Mk 13 Mod 7. The Mk 13 chambered in.300 Winchester Magnum increases range from 1,000 meters with the M40 to 1,300 meters, giving Marine snipers similar capabilities to the U.S. Army M2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifle.

Variants.

M40A3.

Development of the M40A3 began in 1996 and concluded in 2001, when it was placed into service during Operation Enduring Freedom. It served in Operation Iraqi Freedom and other subsequent conflicts. Though its designation would remain M40A3 until 2009, its exact configuration varied with time. Listed here is a description of the components used in the M40A3.  Action: The M40 has always been based on the Remington 700 Short Action with.308 bolt face, and this is no different in the M40A3. These actions are tuned by Marine armorers; the trigger guard assembly is manufactured by the DD Ross Company, though several M40A3s use Badger Ordnance trigger guards. In 2007, the Marine Corps began replacing the DD Ross trigger guard assemblies with the M5 detachable magazine trigger guard manufactured by Badger Ordnance.  Barrel: The barrel is a Schneider 610; 24-inch, 6-groove, 1:12" match-grade heavy barrel.  Stock: All service M40A3s are based upon the A4 Tactical Riflestock, a benchrest-style fiberglass riflestock made by McMillan Fiberglass Stocks and cast molded in an OD Green color. The action is glass bedded into the stock with aluminum pillars, while the barrel is allowed to "float" (it is attached only to the action), ensuring it is stress free during operation. The stock has adjustable length-of-pull (through a buttstock spacer system) and a Marine manufactured adjustable saddle-type cheekpiece. The stock also has six flush mount sling swivel cups, two on each side front and back and one each on the front and rear underside. One bipod stud is located on the underside of the forend.  Sling: The Model 1907 sling that has been historically used on M40A3s has been replaced with the Quick Cuff Model Two sling manufactured by Tactical Intervention Specialists. Bipod: The M40A3s use a 6–9" Harris notched swivel type bipod, model S-BRM, with a KMW Pod-Loc, which is a push button ratcheting bipod swivel locking mechanism.  Dayscope: The M8541 Scout Sniper Day Scope is a Schmidt and Bender Police Marksman II LP 3–12×50 modified by Premier Reticles. Starting in 2007, this model replaced the Unertl MST-100 10× fixed day scope. This dayscope is mounted with Badger Ordnance USMC M40A3 34mm scope rings, which use a standard ring in the rear and a wider MAX-50 ring in front. The standard front ring cap is replaced with a SPA-Defense B634 34mm Male Dovetail, as a mounting platform for the Simrad KN200 Night Vision Weapon Sight. The scope and rings are mounted on a DD Ross 30-minute-of-angle lugged Picatinny rail.

M40A5.

The M40A5 designation superseded the M40A3 in 2009, though the evolution between the two systems occurred gradually over a longer period. The primary difference between the M40A5 and the M40A3 is the barrel: The A3's target crown has been replaced with a threaded muzzle and straight tapered barrel to allow the installation of a Surefire muzzle brake and sound suppressor. All M40A5s are fitted with a Badger Ordnance detachable magazine system and a forward rail mount for the AN/PVS-22 night vision optic.

M40A6/A7.

On 25 July 2013, the Marine Corps released a solicitation for the M40 Modular Stock Program. Upgraded features are to include a folding stock, compatible with current M40 actions and barrels, to make the rifle more compact for transportation inside confined spaces like vehicles and a full-length rail to accommodate optics and accessories; the M40A5 has only a few inches of rail space beyond the scope for a night vision optic, so extending the rail length would allow more accessories to be attached, enabling snipers to put rounds on target under any conditions. Deliveries were to begin three months after the contract being awarded, with 1,100 stocks to be purchased to upgrade the entire M40A5 inventory. The resulting weapon from the program was originally to be re-designated the M40A6. Remington was awarded the contract in November 2014. The final product will be designated the M40A7 and was planned to be fielded by 2017. The M40A6 began fielding with Marine Corps in June 2016.  Marine scout snipers had pressed for the acquisition of a longer-range sniper rifle to extend engagement capability. While the M40A5 can hit targets out to 1,000 meters, they considered the Mk 21 Precision Sniper Rifle chambered in.338 Lapua Magnum used by US SOCOM that has an effective range of 1,600 meters. Although the Mk 21 has greater range, Marine officials are continuing with upgrading the M40A-series and keeping the 7.62 NATO round, primarily due to the higher cost of larger rounds and scout sniper training that can achieve kills beyond the weapon's effective range.

Differences between M40 and M24.

The U.S. Army also used the Remington 700/40x action as the basis for its M24 Sniper Weapon System. The primary difference between the Army and the U.S. Marine Corps rifles is that while the U.S. Marine Corps M40 variants use the short-action version of the Remington 700/40x which is designed for cartridges having an overall length of or less (such as the.308 Winchester/7.62×51 mm NATO), the Army M24 uses the Remington 700 Long Action. The long action of the M24 is designed for full-length cartridges up to in overall length, such as the.30-06 Springfield, and magnum cartridges such as the 7 mm Remington Magnum and.300 Winchester Magnum, but shorter cartridges such as the 7.62×51mm NATO (the military version of the.308 Winchester) can also be used. The U.S. Army's use of the long action was the result of an original intention to chamber the M24 for.30-06 Springfield. Despite the fact that the M24 came fitted with a 7.62×51 mm NATO barrel upon issue, retaining the longer action allowed them to reconfigure the rifle in dimensionally larger cartridge chamberings if necessary (which has been the case during the longer engagement distances during Operation Enduring Freedom). In 2014 the last U.S. Army M24 rifles were reconfigured to M2010 Enhanced Sniper Rifles that are chambered for.300 Winchester Magnum. The barrels not currently fitted to the rifles are usually stored with the unit armorers. The U.S. Marine Corps M40A3 uses a Schneider barrel and the U.S. Army M24 used a Rock Creek 5R barrel.

Foreign users.

During the Iraqi insurgency, Iraqi insurgents captured two M40A1s in June 2004 and two M40A5s in August 2005 from dead U.S. Marines. In June 2006, one of the two M40A1s was recovered when an Iraqi sniper was killed by an USMC sniper. The Afghan National Army also received some USMC-issued M40A5s.

The M40 rifle is a bolt-action sniper rifle used by the United States Marine Corps. It has had four variants: the M40, M40A1, M40A3, and M40A5. The M40 was introduced in 1966. The changeover to the A1 model was completed in the 1970s, the A3 in the 2000s, and the A5 in 2009.

M40狙击步枪是雷明登700步枪的衍生型之一。1966年越战开始装备美国海军陆战队,亦是其制式狙击步枪。M40有5种改进型,1977年的M40A1、1980年的M40A1、2001年的M40A3、2009年的M40A5、2014年的M40A6及正式版本M40A7。


Club career.

Italy.

Casiraghi was born in Monza, Lombardy, and began his career with his hometown side, AC Monza, in 1985. The side were relegated to Serie C in his first season, but he helped them achieve promotion back to Serie B in 1988. He moved to Serie A giants Juventus in 1989, having scored 28 goals in 94 games for Monza.  His goalscoring record in Turin was modest, achieving a best tally of 8 goals in 24 appearances in the 1990–91 season and a total of 20 in 98 games for the club. While at Juventus, he helped the side win two UEFA Cups (in 1990 and 1993) and one Italian Cup, also in 1990. He scored in the first leg of the 1990 UEFA Cup Final to help the Turin club defeat rivals Fiorentina. He earned his first international cap for Italy during his spell with Juventus.  He signed for Lazio in 1993 and scored 41 goals in a five-year spell. His most successful season was in 1996–97, when he scored 14 goals in 28 Serie A games. With Lazio, he won another Italian Cup, in 1998. He found his opportunities limited in his final season, with manager Sven-Göran Eriksson preferring Alen Bokšić and Roberto Mancini in attack and sought a move away.

Chelsea.

Casiraghi joined English side Chelsea in May 1998 for £5.4 million. His time in west London proved luckless, and ultimately only scored one competitive goal for the club in ten appearances, which came against Liverpool in a 1–1 draw at Anfield. His Chelsea career was cut short by a cruciate ligament injury sustained during a collision with West Ham goalkeeper Shaka Hislop in November 1998. Despite going through ten operations, he was unable to make a comeback and his contract with the club was terminated in July 2000, with Chelsea receiving an insurance payout. Casiraghi criticised the club for not helping him, and in August 2000 Casiraghi explored legal action against Chelsea for unpaid wages after his contract was terminated early.

International career.

As an Italian international, Casiraghi won 7 caps, scoring 1 goal, for the Italy national under-21 football team between 1988 and 1990, and 44 caps, scoring 13 goals, for the Italy senior side between 1991 and 1998. He made his senior international debut on 13 February 1991, in a 1–0 win against Belgium, scoring his first goal for Italy in a 4–0 win over San Marino on 19 February 1992. He was a member of the Italy squad that reached the final of USA 94 under manager Arrigo Sacchi, playing in the group games against Norway and Mexico and the semi-final against Bulgaria. He was also a member of the Italy side at Euro 96, scoring both goals in a 2–1 win against Russia, but was guilty of missing a late chance against the Czech Republic that could have proved vital to the group standings, and as such the side was knocked out in the first round. Despite sealing Italy's qualification for the 1998 World Cup with the only goal in the second leg play-off against Russia to advance 2–1 on aggregate on 15 November 1997, he failed to make the squad for the final tournament under Cesare Maldini.

Style of play.

Although he was primarily deployed as a centre-forward, Casiraghi was an athletic player, who was also capable of playing anywhere along the front line, due to his versatility. Throughout his career, he became renowned for his ability in the air, and for having a penchant for scoring acrobatic goals as a striker. Although he was not particularly skilful from a technical standpoint, he was a strong, hardworking, and prolific forward, with good movement off the ball, who often utilised his physical strength to hold up the ball with his back to goal in order to open up defences, and was also capable of creating space for his teammates with his attacking runs, which in turn enabled him to provide them with assists.

Managerial career.

Casiraghi became manager of Italian Serie C2 side A.C. Legnano in May 2003. On 24 July 2006, he was appointed joint coach of the Italian Under-21 national team alongside former Chelsea teammate Gianfranco Zola, succeeding Claudio Gentile.  In his coaching tenure, Casiraghi led the "Azzurrini" into the 2007 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, ending in fifth place after having eliminated Spain U-21 in the qualifying phase. He was successively confirmed for the 2008 Olympic Games campaign, which ended in the quarter-finals with a 3–2 loss to Belgium. He also helped the Italian youth side to win the 2008 Toulon tournament. In the 2009 UEFA European Under-21 Football Championship, his side, having lost several key players through injury and suspension, narrowly lost 1–0 to Germany in the semi-finals.  In December 2016, he joined EFL Championship club Birmingham City, again reuniting with Gianfranco Zola, as he done at Al-Arabi in Qatar.

Honours.

Club.

Monza  Juventus  Lazio  Chelsea

International.

Italy

Pierluigi Casiraghi (; born 4 March 1969), also known as Gigi Casiraghi (), is an Italian football coach and former player who played as a striker. Since retirement he has become a football manager, and was Gianfranco Zola's assistant manager at Birmingham City until Zola resigned on 17 April 2017. Casiraghi left his duties at Birmingham the following day.

皮埃尔路易吉·卡西拉吉(Pierluigi Casiraghi )是一位意大利的前职业足球运动员,在球员时代担当前锋。退役后成为教练。


Publication.

Originally published in sets of ten between 1899 and 1904 and collectively in two volumes in 1904, it consists of 100 prints of various organisms, many of which were first described by Haeckel himself. Over the course of his career, over 1000 engravings were produced based on Haeckel's sketches and watercolors; many of the best of these were chosen for "Kunstformen der Natur", translated from sketch to print by lithographer Adolf Giltsch.  A second edition of "Kunstformen", containing only 30 prints, was produced in 1924.

Themes.

According to Haeckel scholar Olaf Breidbach, the work was "not just a book of illustrations but also the summation of his view of the world." The over-riding themes of the "Kunstformen" plates are symmetry and level of organization. The subjects were selected to embody these to the full, from the scale patterns of boxfishes to the spirals of ammonites to the perfect symmetries of jellies and microorganisms, while images composing each plate are arranged for maximum visual impact.  Among the notable prints are numerous radiolarians, which Haeckel helped to popularize among amateur microscopists; at least one example is found in almost every set of 10. Cnidaria also feature prominently throughout the book, including sea anemones as well as Siphonophorae, Semaeostomeae, and other medusae. The first set included "Desmonema annasethe" (now "Cyanea annasethe"), a particularly striking jellyfish that Haeckel observed and described shortly after the death of his wife Anna Sethe.

Influence.

"Kunstformen der Natur" was influential in early 20th-century art, architecture, and design, bridging the gap between science and art. In particular, many artists associated with Art Nouveau were influenced by Haeckel's images, including René Binet, Karl Blossfeldt, Hans Christiansen, and Émile Gallé. One prominent example is the Amsterdam Commodities Exchange designed by Hendrik Petrus Berlage: it was in part inspired by "Kunstformen" illustrations.

Gallery of prints.

Haeckel's original classifications appear in "italics".

Kunstformen der Natur (known in English as Art Forms in Nature) is a book of lithographic and halftone prints by German biologist Ernst Haeckel.

《自然界的艺术形态》()是由德国医生、比较解剖学、生物学家恩斯特·海克尔所出版的平板印刷插画图鉴。海克尔的生物插画最早从1899年开始以十张的集合出版,1904年出版完整的总集,包含了100幅各式各样生物的插画,其中很多物种是由海克尔首度绘制的。在海克尔的职业生涯之中,以他的水彩和素描为本,由雕版家Adolf Giltsch制作了超过1000份的雕版,其中最好的几幅收录成本书。


圣文森特角战役 (1780年)

Background.

One of Spain's principal goals upon its entry into the American War of Independence in 1779 was the recovery of Gibraltar, which had been lost to Great Britain in 1704. The Spanish planned to retake Gibraltar by blockading and starving out its garrison, which included troops from Britain and the Electorate of Hanover. The siege formally began in June 1779, with the Spanish establishing a land blockade around the Rock of Gibraltar. The matching naval blockade was comparatively weak, however, and the British discovered that small fast ships could evade the blockaders, while slower and larger supply ships generally could not. By late 1779, however, supplies in Gibraltar had become seriously depleted, and its commander, General George Eliott, appealed to London for relief. A supply convoy was organized, and in late December 1779 a large fleet sailed from England under the command of Admiral Sir George Brydges Rodney. Although Rodney's ultimate orders were to command the West Indies fleet, he had secret instructions to first resupply Gibraltar and Minorca. On 4 January 1780 the fleet divided, with ships headed for the West Indies sailing westward. This left Rodney in command of 19 ships of the line, which were to accompany the supply ships to Gibraltar.  On 8 January 1780 ships from Rodney's fleet spotted a group of sails. Giving chase with their faster copper-clad ships, the British determined these to be a Spanish supply convoy that was protected by a single ship of the line and several frigates. The entire convoy was captured, with the lone ship of the line, "Guipuzcoana", striking her colours after a perfunctory exchange of fire. "Guipuzcoana" was staffed with a small prize crew and renamed, in honour of Prince William, the third son of the King, who was serving as midshipman in the fleet. Rodney then detached and the frigate to escort most of the captured ships back to England; "Prince William" was added to his fleet, as were some of the supply ships that carried items likely to be of use to the Gibraltar garrison.  On 12 January, which had lost part of her topmast on 3 January, suffered additional damage and raised a distress flag. Assisted by, she limped into Lisbon on 16 January. The Spanish had learnt of the British relief effort. From the blockading squadron a fleet comprising 11 ships of the line under Admiral Juan de Lángara was dispatched to intercept Rodney's convoy, and the Atlantic fleet of Admiral Luis de Córdova at Cadiz was also alerted to try to catch him. Córdova learnt of the strength of Rodney's fleet, and returned to Cadiz rather than giving chase. On 16 January the fleets of Lángara and Rodney spotted each other around 1:00 pm south of Cape St. Vincent, the southwestern point of Portugal and the Iberian Peninsula. The weather was hazy, with heavy swells and occasional squalls.

Battle.

Rodney was ill, and spent the entire action in his bunk. His flag captain, Walter Young, urged Rodney to give orders to engage when the Spanish fleet was first spotted, but Rodney only gave orders to form a line abreast. Lángara started to establish a line of battle, but when he realised the size of Rodney's fleet, he gave orders to make all sail for Cadiz. Around 2:00 pm, when Rodney felt certain that the ships seen were not the vanguard of a larger fleet, he issued commands for a general chase. Rodney's instructions to his fleet were to chase at their best speed, and engage the Spanish ships from the rear as they came upon them. They were also instructed to sail to the lee side to interfere with Spanish attempts to gain the safety of a harbour, a tactic that also prevented the Spanish ships from opening their lowest gun ports. Because of their copper-sheathed hulls (which reduced marine growths and drag), the ships of the Royal Navy were faster and soon gained on the Spanish.  The chase lasted for about two hours, and the battle finally began around 4:00 pm. "Santo Domingo", trailing in the Spanish fleet, received broadsides from,, and before blowing up around 4:40, with the loss of all but one of her crew. "Marlborough" and "Ajax" then passed "Princessa" to engage other Spanish ships. "Princessa" was eventually engaged in an hour-long battle with before striking her colours at about 5:30. By 6:00 pm it was getting dark, and there was a discussion aboard, Rodney's flagship, about whether to continue the pursuit. Although Captain Young is credited in some accounts with pushing Rodney to do so, Dr. Gilbert Blane, the fleet physician, reported it as a decision of the council.  The chase continued into the dark, squally night, leading to it later being known as the "Moonlight Battle", since it was uncommon at the time for naval battles to continue after sunset. At 7:30 pm, came upon Lángara's flagship, engaging her in a battle lasting over an hour. She was broadsided in passing by and, and Lángara was wounded in the battle. "Fenix" finally surrendered to, which arrived late in the battle and shot away her mainmast. "Fenix" takeover was complicated by an outbreak of smallpox aboard "Bienfaisant". Captain John MacBride, rather than sending over a possibly infected prize crew, apprised Lángara of the situation and put him and his crew on parole. At 9:15 "Montagu" engaged "Diligente", which struck after her maintopmast was shot away. Around 11:00 pm "San Eugenio" surrendered after having all of her masts shot away by, but the difficult seas made it impossible to board a prize crew until morning.  That duel was passed by and "Prince George", which engaged "San Julián" and compelled her to surrender around 1:00 am. The last ship to surrender was "Monarca". She nearly escaped, shooting away's topmast, but was engaged in a running battle with the frigate HMS "Apollo". "Apollo" managed to keep up the unequal engagement until about the time that Rodney's flagship "Sandwich" came upon the scene around 2:00 am. "Sandwich" fired a broadside, unaware that "Monarca" had already hauled down her flag. The British took six ships. Four Spanish ships of the line and the fleet's two frigates escaped, although sources are unclear if two of the Spanish ships were even present with the fleet at the time of the battle. Lángara's report states that "San Justo" and "San Genaro" were not in his line of battle (although they are listed in Spanish records as part of his fleet). Rodney's report states that "San Justo" escaped but was damaged in battle, and that "San Genaro" escaped without damage. According to one account two of Lángara's ships (unspecified which two) were despatched to investigate other unidentified sails sometime before the action.

Aftermath.

With the arrival of daylight, it was clear that the British fleet and their prize ships were dangerously close to a lee shore with an onshore breeze. One of the prizes, "San Julián", was recorded by Rodney as too badly damaged to save, and was driven ashore. The fate of another prize, "San Eugenio", is unclear. Some sources report that she too was grounded, but others report that she was retaken by her crew and managed to reach Cadiz. A Spanish history claims that the prize crews of both ships appealed to their Spanish captives for help escaping the lee shore. The Spanish captains retook control of their ships, imprisoned the British crews, and sailed to Cadiz. The British reported their casualties in the battle as 32 killed and 102 wounded. The supply convoy sailed into Gibraltar on 19 January, driving the smaller blockading fleet to retreat to the safety of Algeciras. Rodney arrived several days later, after first stopping in Tangier. The wounded Spanish prisoners, who included Admiral Lángara, were offloaded there, and the British garrison was heartened by the arrival of the supplies and the presence of Prince William Henry.  After also resupplying Minorca, Rodney sailed for the West Indies in February, detaching part of the fleet for service in the Channel. This homebound fleet intercepted a French fleet destined for the East Indies, capturing one warship and three supply ships. Gibraltar was resupplied twice more before the siege was lifted at the end of the war in 1783. Admiral Lángara and other Spanish officers were eventually released on parole, the admiral receiving a promotion to lieutenant general. He continued his distinguished career, becoming Spanish marine minister in the French Revolutionary Wars. Admiral Rodney was lauded for his victory, the first major victory of the war by the Royal Navy over its European opponents. He distinguished himself for the remainder of the war, notably winning the 1782 Battle of the Saintes in which he captured the French Admiral Comte de Grasse. He was, however, criticised by Captain Young, who portrayed him as weak and indecisive in the battle with Lángara. (He was also rebuked by the admiralty for leaving a ship of the line at Gibraltar, against his express orders.) Rodney's observations on the benefits of copper sheathing in the victory were influential in British Admiralty decisions to deploy the technology more widely.

Order of battle.

None of the listed sources give an accurate accounting of the ships in Rodney's fleet at the time of the action. Robert Beatson lists the composition of the fleet at its departure from England, and notes which ships separated to go to the West Indies, as well as those detached to return the prizes captured on 8 January to England. He does not list two ships ("Dublin" and "Shrewsbury", identified in despatches reprinted by Syrett) that were separated from the fleet on 13 January. Furthermore, HMS "Prince William" is sometimes misunderstood to have been part of the prize escort back to England, but she was present at Gibraltar after the action. Beatson also fails to list a number of frigates, including "Apollo", which played a key role in the capture of "Monarca". There are some discrepancies between the English and Spanish sources listing the Spanish fleet, principally in the number of guns most of the vessels are claimed to mount. The table below lists the Spanish records describing Lángara's fleet. Beatson lists all of the Spanish ships of the line at 70 guns, except "Fenix", which he lists at 80 guns. One frigate, "Santa Rosalia", is listed by Beatson at 28 guns. The identify of the second Spanish frigate is different in the two listings. Beatson records her as "Santa Gertrudie", 26 guns, with captain Don Annibal Cassoni, while Duro's listing describes her as "Santa Cecilia", 34, captain Don Domingo Grandallana. Both frigates, whatever their identity, escaped the battle.

The Battle of Cape St. Vincent was a naval battle that took place off the southern coast of Portugal on 16 January 1780 during the American Revolutionary War. A British fleet under Admiral Sir George Rodney defeated a Spanish squadron under Don Juan de Lángara. The battle is sometimes referred to as the Moonlight Battle because it was unusual for naval battles in the Age of Sail to take place at night. It was also the first major naval victory for the British over their European enemies in the war and proved the value of copper-sheathing the hulls of warships.

圣文森角海战是一次发生在1780年1月16日在葡萄牙南部外海的战役。 大不列颠王国的舰队在乔治·罗德尼爵士的指挥下击溃了西班牙的舰队。 这场战役也被称作“月光海战”, 应为在风帆动力时代夜间海上作战还是比较少见的。 这也是英国皇家海军对欧洲对手的第一次重要胜利,也证实了舰身包裹铜皮的英军舰艇的优越性。


Early life.

Born in Cayey, she was raised in Salinas by her parents Jerry Rivera and Carmen Mendoza, and two brothers, Jerry, Jr. and Jose Rivera Mendoza. Prior to winning the Miss Puerto Rico title she won the local pageant for her hometown of Salinas. She had also placed as the first runner-up in the Miss Teen Puerto Rico pageant. Only eighteen years of age when she was crowned Miss Universe, Rivera is one of the youngest women to win the title.

Pageantry.

Miss Puerto Rico Universe 2006.

Rivera represented her hometown of Salinas municipality at Miss Puerto Rico Universe 2006, held on November 10, 2005 where she was crowned the winner by outgoing titleholder and Miss Universe 2005 1st Runner-Up Cynthia Olavarría. Rivera is also the second woman with noticeably to win Miss Puerto Rico Universe after Alba Reyes in 2004.

Miss Universe 2006.

Zuleyka Rivera represented Puerto Rico in the Miss Universe 2006 which was televised live internationally from the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles, California on 23 July 2006. After competing in swimsuit, evening gown and interview, she was crowned Miss Universe by outgoing titleholder Natalie Glebova of Canada. At the time she was the youngest Miss Universe winner since Amelia Vega in 2003 (until Stefanía Fernández in 2009).  Later that evening, Rivera fainted briefly during a press appearance. The incident was reportedly attributed to heat exhaustion (from the stage lights) coupled with the weight of the heavy, chained dress she was wearing.  Rivera was the fifth Puerto Rican to win the title, which makes the island the third most successful entity in the pageant (behind the United States and Venezuela). Rivera was the third consecutive delegate from Puerto Rico to make the Top 5 at Miss Universe, after Alba Reyes placed 2nd Runner-Up in 2004 and Cynthia Olavarría placed 1st Runner-Up in 2005. She is also the first winner from Puerto Rico to have noticeable mixed (African and Indigenous) heritage features, different from her four predecessors (Marisol Malaret, Deborah Carthy-Deu, Dayanara Torres, and Denise Quiñones) that have distinctly European features.  Rivera's win came only five years after Denise Quiñones, the most recent winner from Puerto Rico, won the crown. As Miss Universe, Rivera represented the Miss Universe Organization, both in the United States and internationally. She was based in New York City, where she shared an apartment with Tara Conner, Miss USA and Katie Blair, Miss Teen USA 2006.  At the Miss Universe 2007 pageant she passed her crown to Riyo Mori of Japan in Mexico City, Mexico on May 28, 2007.

Reign.

After being crowned on July 23, 2006 in Los Angeles, Zuleyka was interviewed by many news teams in Los Angeles and when she arrived at her new home in New York.  From the end of July until early August, Zuleyka traveled to Japan where she presented the Five Star Diamond Award to the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Tokyo. She also participated in a photo shoot with Kurara Chibana in San Juan, Puerto Rico and in Tokyo, Japan, the girls who became really close best friends and still keep in touch. Miss Universe Japan (and first runner-up), and Zuleyka also visited Mikimoto, the creators of her dazzling crown. In late August, Zuleyka traveled to Indonesia where she attended the opening of a new spa, met with the Minister of Culture, and attended the Miss Indonesia Universe pageant where Agni Pratistha was crowned. While in Indonesia, Zuleyka also visited Bali. On September 4, 2006, Zuleyka returned to her home, Puerto Rico for an official homecoming celebration and parade. The following day, Zuleyka returned to her hometown of Salinas.  As of April 2007, Zuleyka has traveled to the Czech Republic, France, Italy, Russia, Spain, Turkey, Greece, Kazakhstan, India, Mexico, Thailand, Brazil, Puerto Rico, Japan, and Indonesia, in addition to numerous trips around the United States.  On April 1, 2007, Rivera appeared at WrestleMania 23 along with Miss USA 2007 Rachel Smith and Miss Teen USA 2006 Katie Blair, supporting Donald Trump in the Battle of the Billionaires match against Vince McMahon.  She passed on her crown to Japan's Riyo Mori at the Miss Universe 2007 pageant, which was held in Mexico City, Mexico on May 28, 2007.

Acting career.

After finishing her reign as Miss Universe, Rivera expressed her interest in an acting career. She debuted in the 2007 telenovela "Dame Chocolate" with Carlos Ponce and Karla Monroig. In 2010, she was offered the role of antagonist Rocío Lynch in the telenovela "Alguien Te Mira". Later that year, she starred in "Aurora" as another antagonist, Diana del Valle.  After a brief hiatus due to her pregnancy, Rivera returned to acting in 2012, with a lead role in "Rosario". Rivera again plays the role of antagonist Sandra Díaz. In an interview, Rivera said that she has acknowledged she has "the skills for this kind of [antagonist] roles... I handle them pretty well." In 2013, Rivera announced she would play the antagonist lead in the upcoming telenovela "Cosita linda", which will start filming in May.  Rivera also had a small role on the film "Runner, Runner".

Personal life.

From late 2010 to 2013, Rivera dated Dallas Mavericks point guard J. J. Barea. In July 2011, the couple announced they were expecting their first child together. Rivera gave birth to her son Sebastián José Barea Rivera in Minnesota on February 18, 2012. Barea was present during the birth.  During early 2013, there was much speculation that the relationship between Rivera and Barea had ended. However, she assured on an interview that they were still together. On April 18, 2013, Barea released a statement confirming that the relationship was over. Rivera responded with a statement of her own alleging "false information" on Barea's statement. On her statement, Rivera says that "ever since I began filming the telenovela "Rosario", there weren't two consecutive weeks where I didn't travel to Minnesota, a place I considered my home, along with the father of my child." She added that she still has the satisfaction "as a woman and mother, that I gave all of me in exchange for our happiness. But this is a labor of two. Life goes on and I keep on going with my head held high."  In 2018, Rivera became a brand ambassador for Eravos.

Zuleyka Jerrís Rivera Mendoza (born October 3, 1987) is a Puerto Rican actress, TV host, dancer, model and beauty queen who won Miss Universe 2006 in Los Angeles. she previously crowned Miss Puerto Rico Universe 2006. She made her debut as a telenovela actress in Mexico's Telemundo's soap opera "Dame Chocolate" in 2007, which was followed by several other soap opera roles. In 2017 she appeared in the music video for "Despacito" by Luis Fonsi.

祖雷卡·利维拉·门多萨(1987年-10月3日)是出生于波多黎各的波多黎各环球小姐与2006年环球小姐冠军。她首次演出的长篇电视连续剧是Dame Chocolate。


Structure.

The notochord is a long, rodlike structure that develops dorsal to the gut and ventral to the neural tube. The notochord is composed primarily of a core of glycoproteins, encased in a sheath of collagen fibers wound into two opposing helices. The glycoproteins are stored in vacuolated, turgid cells. The angle between these fibers determines whether increased pressure in the core will result in shortening and thickening versus lengthening and thinning.  Contraction of these muscle fibers result in a side-to-side motion resembling swimming. The stiffened notochord prevents movement through telescoping motion, such as that of an earthworm.

Role in signaling & development.

The notochord plays a key role in signaling and coordinating development. Embryos of modern vertebrates form transient notochord structures during gastrulation. The notochord is found ventral to the neural tube.  Notogenesis is the development of the notochord by epiblasts that form the floor of the amnion cavity. The progenitor notochord is derived from cells migrating from the primitive node and pit. The notochord forms during gastrulation and soon after induces the formation of the neural plate (neurulation), synchronizing the development of the neural tube. On the ventral aspect of the neural groove an axial thickening of the endoderm takes place. (In bipedal chordates, e.g. humans, this surface is properly referred to as the anterior surface). This thickening appears as a furrow (the chordal furrow) the margins of which anastomose (come into contact), and so convert it into a solid rod of polygonal-shaped cells (the notochord) which is then separated from the endoderm.  In vertebrates, it extends throughout the entire length of the future vertebral column, and reaches as far as the anterior end of the midbrain, where it ends in a hook-like extremity in the region of the future dorsum sellae of the sphenoid bone. Initially, it exists between the neural tube and the endoderm of the yolk-sac; soon, the notochord becomes separated from them by the mesoderm, which grows medially and surrounds it. From the mesoderm surrounding the neural tube and notochord, the skull, vertebral column, and the membranes of the brain and medulla spinalis are developed.  A postembryonic vestige of the notochord is found in the nucleus pulposus of the intervertebral discs. Isolated notochordal remnants may escape their lineage-specific destination in the nucleus pulposus and instead attach to the outer surfaces of the vertebral bodies, from which notochordal cells largely regress.

In amphibians and fish.

During development of amphibians and fish, the notochord induces development of the hypochord through secretion of vascular endothelial growth factor. The hypochord is a transient structure ventral to the notochord, and is primarily responsible for correct development of the dorsal aorta.

In humans.

By the age of 4, all notochord residue is replaced by a population of chondrocyte-like cells of unclear origin. Persistence of notochordal cells within the vertebra may cause a pathologic condition: persistent notochordal canal. If the notochord and the nasopharynx do not separate properly duning embryonic development, a depression (Tornwaldt bursa) or Tornwaldt cyst may form. The cells are the likely precursors to a rare cancer called chordoma.

Neurology.

Research into the notochord has played a key role in understanding the development of the central nervous system. By transplanting and expressing a second notochord near the dorsal neural tube, 180 degrees opposite of the normal notochord location, one can induce the formation of motor neurons in the dorsal tube. Motor neuron formation generally occurs in the ventral neural tube, while the dorsal tube generally forms sensory cells.  The notochord secretes a protein called sonic hedgehog (SHH), a key morphogen regulating organogenesis and having a critical role in signaling the development of motor neurons. The secretion of SHH by the notochord establishes the ventral pole of the dorsal-ventral axis in the developing embryo.

Evolution in chordates.

The notochord is the defining feature (synapomorphy) of chordates, and was present throughout life in many of the earliest chordates. Although the stomochord of hemichordates was once thought to be homologous, it is now viewed as a convergence. Pikaia appears to have a proto-notochord, and notochords are present in several basal chordates such as Haikouella, Haikouichthys, and Myllokunmingia, all from the Cambrian.  The Ordovician oceans included many diverse species of Agnatha and early Gnathostomata which possessed notochords, either with attached bony elements or without, most notably the conodonts, placoderms, and ostracoderms. Even after the evolution of the vertebral column in chondrichthyes and osteichthyes, these taxa remained common and are well represented in the fossils record. Several species (see list below) have reverted to the primitive state, retaining the notochord into adulthood, though the reasons for this are not well understood.  Scenarios for the evolutionary origin of the notochord were comprehensively reviewed by Annona, Holland, and D'Aniello (2015). They point out that, although many of these ideas have not been well supported by advances in molecular phylogenetics and developmental genetics, two of them have actually been revived under the stimulus of modern molecular approaches (the first proposes that the notochord evolved "de novo" in chordates, and the second derives it from a homologous structure, the axochord, that was present in annelid-like ancestors of the chordates). Deciding between these two scenarios (or possibly another yet to be proposed) should be facilitated by much more thorough studies of gene regulatory networks in a wide spectrum of animals.

Post-embryonic retention.

In most vertebrates, the notochord develops into secondary structures. In other chordates, the notochord is retained as an essential anatomical structure.  The following organisms retain a post-embryonic notochord:

Within "Amphioxus".

The notochord of the lancelet protrudes beyond the anterior end of the neural tube. This projection serves a second purpose in allowing the animal to burrow within the sediment of shallow waters. There, "Amphioxus" serves as a filter feeder and spends most of its life partially submerged within the sediment.

The Urartian or Vannic language was spoken by the inhabitants of the ancient kingdom of Urartu, located in the region of Lake Van, with its capital near the site of the modern town of Van, in the Armenian Highland, modern-day Eastern Anatolia region of Turkey. It was probably dominant around Lake Van and in the areas along the upper Zab valley.

乌拉尔图语是已绝迹的胡里安-乌拉尔图语系中的一种语言,使用者为当今土耳其东部安那托利亚地区亚美尼亚高原凡湖附近乌拉尔图王国居民。乌拉尔图语最早于公元前九世纪证实,公元前585年乌拉尔图陷落后不再书写并灭绝,由亚美尼亚语替代。


爱达荷泉 (科罗拉多州)

History.

On January 5, 1859, during the Colorado gold rush, prospector George A. Jackson discovered placer gold at the present site of Idaho Springs, where Chicago Creek empties into Clear Creek. It was the first substantial gold discovery in Colorado. Jackson, a Missouri native with experience in the California gold fields, was drawn to the area by clouds of steam rising from some nearby hot springs. Jackson kept his find secret for several months, but after he paid for some supplies with gold dust, others rushed to Jackson's diggings. The location was originally known as "Jackson's Diggings". Once the location became a permanent settlement, it was variously called "Sacramento City", "Idahoe", "Idaho City", and finally "Idaho Springs".  The first placer discoveries were soon followed by discoveries of gold veins in the rocks of the canyon walls on both sides of Clear Creek. Hard rock mining became the mainstay of the town long after the gold-bearing gravels were exhausted.  The Idaho Springs miners' strike of 1903 demanding an eight-hour day erupted into violence in May 1903. This was a conflict was a part the much broader Colorado Labor Wars, where the Western Federation of Miners sought to pressure mining companies into improving conditions for miners.  The 1969 film "Downhill Racer" portrayed an alpine ski racer from Idaho Springs, played by Robert Redford; a brief scene was shot on location in Idaho Springs. Several scenes from the comedy film "The Overbrook Brothers" were filmed here in the spring of 2008.

Geography.

Idaho Springs is located in northeastern Clear Creek County along Clear Creek near the confluence of its tributary, Chicago Creek.  According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of, of which, or 1.53%, is water.

Climate.

Idaho Springs has a humid continental climate (Koppen: Dfb) with moderately cold winters and warm summers with cool nights. Annual snowfall is heavy, averaging 72 inches (183 cm).

Demographics.

As of the census of 2010, there were 1,717 people and 934 housing units. As of the census of 2000, there were 485 families residing in the city. The population density was. There were 904 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the city was 94.71% White, 0.74% Black or African American, 1.06% Native American, 0.48% Asian, 1.54% from other races, and 1.48% from two or more races. 5.03% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.  There were 841 households, out of which 27.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.8% were married couples living together, 10.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 42.3% were non-families. 33.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 8.4% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was 2.87.  In the city, the population was spread out, with 23.1% under the age of 18, 9.1% from 18 to 24, 30.3% from 25 to 44, 28.0% from 45 to 64, and 9.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 105.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 103.9 males.  The median income for a household in the city was $39,643, and the median income for a family was $48,790. Males had a median income of $35,446 versus $22,688 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,789. About 2.2% of families and 6.7% of the population were below the poverty line, including 5.4% of those under age 18 and 13.4% of those age 65 or over.

Education.

Idaho Springs Public Schools are part of the Clear Creek School District RE-1. There are two elementary schools, one middle school, one high school, and one charter school. Students attend Clear Creek High School.  Carlson Elementary School is located in Idaho Springs.  Roslin Marshall is the Interim Superintendent of Schools.

Transportation.

Idaho Springs is incorporated into the Colorado Department of Transportation's Bustang network. It is part of the West Line, which connects Denver to Grand Junction.

Cultural Reference.

In the movie Downhill Racer, Idaho Springs was referenced as the hometown of fictional character Dave Chappellet (Robert Redford). On-location shots of Idaho Springs were used in the film.

The City of Idaho Springs is a statutory city in the Western United States, the most populous municipality in Clear Creek County, Colorado. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 1,717. Idaho Springs is located in Clear Creek Canyon, in the mountains upstream from Golden, some west of Denver. Local legend is that the name of the city derived from annual visits to the radium hot springs made by a Native American chief and his tribe who journeyed there each year from Idaho to bathe in the magic healing waters.

爱达荷泉(英文:Idaho Springs),是美国科罗拉多州克利尔克里克县下属的一座城市。建市于1885年11月15日,面积大约为2.201平方英里(5.701平方公里)。根据2010年美国人口普查,该市有人口1,717人。2011年估计该市有人口1,702人,相比2010年人口增长率为?0.87%。同时,论人口该市是科罗拉多州第119大城市。