Personal life and education.

Elinor Claire Awan was born in Los Angeles, California as the only child of Leah Hopkins, a musician, and Adrian Awan, a set designer. Her parents separated early in her life, and Elinor lived with her mother most of the time. She attended a Protestant church with her mother and often spent weekends with her father's Jewish family. Growing up in the post-Depression era to divorced artisans, Ostrom described herself as a "poor kid." Her major recreational activity was swimming, where she eventually joined a swimming team and swam competitively until she started teaching swimming to earn funds to help put herself through college.  Ostrom grew up across the street from Beverly Hills High School, which she attended, graduating in 1951. She regarded this as fortunate, for the school had a very high rate of college admittance. During Ostrom's junior year, she was encouraged to join the debate team. Learning debate tactics had an important impact on her ways of thinking. It allowed her to realize there are two sides to public policy and it is imperative to have quality arguments for both sides. As a high school student, Elinor Ostrom had been discouraged from studying trigonometry, as girls without top marks in algebra and geometry were not allowed to take the subject. No one in her immediate family had any college experience, but seeing that 90% of students in her high school attended college, she saw it as the "normal" thing to do. Her mother did not wish for her to attend college, seeing no reason for it.  She attended UCLA, receiving a B.A. (with honors) in political science at UCLA in 1954. By attending multiple summer session and extra classes throughout semesters, she was able to graduate in three years. She worked at the library, dime store and bookstore in order to pay her fees which were $50 per semester. She married a classmate, Charles Scott, and worked at General Radio in Cambridge, Massachusetts, while Scott attended Harvard Law School. They divorced several years later when Ostrom began contemplating a Ph.D. After graduation, she had trouble finding a job because employers presumed that she was only looking for jobs as a teacher or secretary. She began a job as an export clerk after taking a correspondence course for shorthand, which she later found to be helpful when taking notes in face-to-face interviews on research projects. After a year, she obtained a position as assistant personnel manager in a business firm that had never before hired a woman in anything but a secretarial position. This job inspired her to think about attending graduate-level courses and eventually applying for a research assistantship and admission to a Ph.D. program.  Lacking trigonometry from high school, she was consequently rejected for an economics Ph.D. at UCLA. She was admitted to UCLA's graduate program in political science, where she was awarded an M.A. in 1962 and a Ph.D. in 1965. She married political scientist Vincent Ostrom in 1963, whom she met while assisting his research on water resource governance in Southern California. The teams of graduate students she was involved with were analyzing the political economic effects of a group of groundwater basins in Southern California. Specifically, Ostrom was assigned to look at the West Basin. She found it is very difficult to manage a common-pool resource when it is used between individuals.  In 1961 Vincent Ostrom, Charles Tiebout and Robert Warren published "The Organization of Government in Metropolitan Areas," which would go on to be an influential article and introduced themes that would be central to the Ostroms' work. However, the article aggravated a conflict with UCLA's Bureau of Governmental Research because, counter to the Bureau's interests, it advised against centralization of metropolitan areas in favor of polycentrism. This conflict prompted the Ostroms to leave UCLA. They moved to Bloomington, Indiana, in 1965, when Vincent accepted a political science professorship at Indiana University. She joined the faculty as Visiting Assistant Professor. The first course she taught was an evening class on American government.

Career.

Ostrom was richly informed by fieldwork, both her own and that of others. During her PhD at the University of California, Los Angeles, she spent years studying the water wars and pumping races going on in the 1950s in her own dry backyard. In contrast to the prevailing rational-economic predictions of Malthusianism and the tragedy of the commons, she showed cases where humans were not trapped and helpless amid diminishing supplies. In her book "Governing the Commons", she draws on studies of irrigation systems in Spain and Nepal, mountain villages in Switzerland and Japan, and fisheries in Maine and Indonesia.  In 1973, Ostrom and her husband founded the Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University. Examining the use of collective action, trust, and cooperation in the management of common pool resources (CPR), her institutional approach to public policy, known as the Institutional analysis and development framework (IAD), has been considered sufficiently distinct to be thought of as a separate school of public choice theory. She authored many books in the fields of organizational theory, political science, and public administration. Elinor Ostrom was a dedicated scholar until the very end of her life. Indeed, on the day before she died, she sent e-mail messages to at least two different sets of coauthors about papers that she was writing with them. She was the chief scientific advisor for the International Council for Science (ICSU) Planet Under Pressure meeting in London in March, and Johan Rockstrom of the Stockholm Resilience Centre wrote that "Lin, up until the very end, was heavily involved in our preparations for the Nobel laureate dialogues on global sustainability we will be hosting in Rio 17th and 18th of June during the UN Rio+20 Earth Summit. In the end, she decided she could not come in person, but was contributing sharp, enthusiastically charged, inputs, in the way only she could."  It was long unanimously held among economists that natural resources that were collectively used by their users would be over-exploited and destroyed in the long-term. Elinor Ostrom disproved this idea by conducting field studies on how people in small, local communities manage shared natural resources, such as pastures, fishing waters and forests. She showed that when natural resources are jointly used by their users, in time, rules are established for how these are to be cared for and used in a way that is both economically and ecologically sustainable.  She was senior research director of the Vincent and Elinor Ostrom Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis, Distinguished Professor and Arthur F. Bentley Professor of Political Science in the College of Arts and Sciences, and professor in the School of Public and Environmental Affairs.

Research.

Ostrom's early work emphasized the role of public choice on decisions influencing the production of public goods and services. Among her better known works in this area is her study on the polycentricity of police functions in Indianapolis. Caring for the commons had to be a multiple task, organised from the ground up and shaped to cultural norms. It had to be discussed face to face, and based on trust. Dr. Ostrom, besides poring over satellite data and quizzing lobstermen herself, enjoyed employing game theory to try to predict the behaviour of people faced with limited resources. In her Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis at Indiana University—set up with her husband Vincent, a political scientist, in 1973—her students were given shares in a national commons. When they simply discussed what they should do before they did it, their rate of return from their "investments" more than doubled. Her later, and more famous, work focused on how humans interact with ecosystems to maintain long-term sustainable resource yields. Common pool resources include many forests, fisheries, oil fields, grazing lands, and irrigation systems. She conducted her field studies on the management of pasture by locals in Africa and irrigation systems management in villages of western Nepal (e.g., Dang Deukhuri). Her work has considered how societies have developed diverse institutional arrangements for managing natural resources and avoiding ecosystem collapse in many cases, even though some arrangements have failed to prevent resource exhaustion. Her work emphasized the multifaceted nature of human–ecosystem interaction and argues against any singular "panacea" for individual social-ecological system problems.  The Workshop in Political Theory and Policy Analysis was meant to utilize diverse scholars throughout economics, political science, and other fields to collaborate and attempt to understand how institutional arrangements in a diverse set of ecological and social economic political settings affected behavior and outcomes. The goal was not to fly around the world collecting data, rather it is to create a network of scholars who live in particular areas of the world and had strong interests in forest conditions and forest policy conducted the studies.

Design principles for Common Pool Resource (CPR) institution.

Ostrom identified eight "design principles" of stable local common pool resource management:  These principles have since been slightly modified and expanded to include a number of additional variables believed to affect the success of self-organized governance systems, including effective communication, internal trust and reciprocity, and the nature of the resource system as a whole.  Ostrom and her many co-researchers have developed a comprehensive "Social-Ecological Systems (SES) framework", within which much of the still-evolving theory of common-pool resources and collective self-governance is now located.

Environmental protection.

According to the Norwegian Institute for Urban and Regional Research, "Ostrom cautioned against single governmental units at global level to solve the collective action problem of coordinating work against environmental destruction. Partly, this is due to their complexity, and partly to the diversity of actors involved. Her proposal was that of a polycentric approach, where key management decisions should be made as close to the scene of events and the actors involved as possible." Ostrom helped disprove the idea held by economists that natural resources would be over-used and destroyed in the long run. Elinor Ostrom disproved this idea by conducting field studies on how people in small, local communities manage shared natural resources, such as pastures, fishing waters in Maine and Indonesia, and forests in Nepal. She showed that when natural resources are jointly managed by their users, in time, rules are established for how these are to be cared for and used in a way that is both economically and ecologically sustainable.

Ostrom's law.

Ostrom's law is an adage that represents how Elinor Ostrom's works in economics challenge previous theoretical frameworks and assumptions about property, especially the commons. Ostrom's detailed analyses of functional examples of the commons create an alternative view of the arrangement of resources that are both practically and theoretically possible. This eponymous law is stated succinctly by Lee Anne Fennell as:  A resource arrangement that works in practice can work in theory.

Awards and recognition.

Ostrom was a member of the United States National Academy of Sciences and president of the American Political Science Association and the Public Choice Society. In 1999, she became the first woman to receive the prestigious Johan Skytte Prize in Political Science.  Ostrom was awarded the Frank E. Seidman Distinguished Award for Political Economy in 1998. Her presented paper, on "The Comparative Study of Public Economies", was followed by a discussion among Kenneth Arrow, Thomas Schelling and Amartya Sen. She was awarded the John J. Carty Award from the National Academy of Sciences in 2004, and, in 2005, received the James Madison Award by the American Political Science Association. In 2008, she became the first woman to receive the William H. Riker Prize in political science; and, the following year, she received the Tisch Civic Engagement Research Prize from the Jonathan M. Tisch College of Citizenship and Public Service at Tufts University. In 2010, the "Utne Reader" magazine included Ostrom as one of the "25 Visionaries Who Are Changing Your World". She was named one of "Time" magazine's "100 Most Influential People in the World" in 2012.  The International Institute of Social Studies (ISS) awarded its Honorary Fellowship to her in 2002.In 2008 she was awarded an honorary degree, doctor honoris causa, at the Norwegian University of Science and Technology.  In July 2019, Indiana University Bloomington announced that as part of their Bridging the Visibility Gap initiative, a statue of Ostrom would be placed outside of the building which houses the University's political science department.

Nobel Prize in Economics.

In 2009, Ostrom became the first woman to receive the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences. "The announcement of her prize caused amazement to several economists," a Princeton economics professor said, "including some prominent colleagues who had never even heard of her." The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences cited Ostrom "for her analysis of economic governance", saying her work had demonstrated how common property could be successfully managed by groups using it. Ostrom and Oliver E. Williamson shared the 10-million Swedish kronor (€990,000; $1.44 million) prize for their separate work in economic governance. As she had done with previous monetary prizes, Ostrom donated her award to the Workshop she helped to found.  The Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences said Ostrom's "research brought this topic from the fringe to the forefront of scientific attention...by showing how common resources—forests, fisheries, oil fields or grazing lands—can be managed successfully by the people who use them rather than by governments or private companies". Ostrom's work in this regard challenged conventional wisdom, showing that common resources can be successfully managed without government regulation or privatization.

Death.

Ostrom was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in October 2011. During the final year of her life, she continued to write and lecture, giving the Hayek Lecture at the Institute of Economic Affairs just eleven weeks before her death. She died at 6:40 a.m. Tuesday, June 12, 2012, at IU Health Bloomington Hospital at the age of 78. On the day of her death, she published her last article, "Green from the Grassroots," in Project Syndicate. Indiana University president Michael McRobbie wrote: "Indiana University has lost an irreplaceable and magnificent treasure with the passing of Elinor Ostrom". Her Indiana colleague Michael McGinnis commented after her death that Ostrom donated her share of the $1.4 million Nobel award money to the Workshop—the biggest, by far, of several academic prizes with monetary awards that the Ostroms had given to the center over the years. Her husband Vincent died 17 days later from complications related to cancer. He was 92.

Elinor Claire "Lin" Ostrom (née Awan; August 7, 1933 – June 12, 2012) was an American political economist whose work was associated with the New Institutional Economics and the resurgence of political economy. In 2009, she was awarded the Nobel Memorial Prize in Economic Sciences for her "analysis of economic governance, especially the commons", which she shared with Oliver E. Williamson. To date, she remains the first of only two women to win the Nobel Prize in Economics, the other being Esther Duflo.

埃莉诺·奥斯特罗姆(英语:Elinor "Lin" Ostrom,本名Elinor Claire Awan,中文名欧玲,1933年-8月7日-2012年-6月12日)是一位美国政治经济学家。


Background.

The Sword-Brothers were established in 1202 in Riga to conquer and convert pagan Baltic tribes to Christianity. By the 1230s under the leadership of Master Volkwin, the Order was coping with strained financial resources, decreasing manpower, and ill reputation. The Order was in conflict with the papacy under Pope Gregory IX and the Holy Roman Emperor, two of its biggest supporters, over Estonia. However, on 19 February 1236, Pope Gregory IX issued a papal bull declaring a crusade against Lithuania. Volkwin was reluctant to launch offensive actions against Lithuanian lands. His reluctance was determined by understanding that the Order lacked strength to wage war against the Lithuanians. The lack of strength was a result of interior conflicts with the Bishopric of Riga. Besides that, the Livonian Sword Brothers had still little knowledge of the lands lying south to the Order's territory. Volkwin delayed starting military actions for an entire summer, hoping to escape a risky operation into unexplored lands. However, the insistence of Pope Gregory IX forced him to lead a new campaign. Volkwin targeted Samogitia, planning to conquer the coast of the Baltic Sea and connect with the Teutonic Knights in Prussia. The Sword-Brothers wanted to keep expanding along the Daugava River and was somewhat reluctant to march against Samogitia. In fall of 1236 a party of crusaders from Holstein arrived in Riga; it demanded to be led into a battle. Volkwin gathered a large war party, which included troops from Pskov Republic, Livonians, Latgallians, Curonians, Estonians.

Events of the battle.

Crossing the lands of Semigallians, which were not in the Order's control, the crusaders marched southward into Samogitia, raiding and plundering local settlements. The locals had only a few days to gather troops for defense. On the knights' northward return, however, they encountered a determined group of Samogitians at a river crossing. Unwilling to risk losing their horses in the swampland, the Holsteiners refused to fight on foot, forcing the knights to camp for the night. The next morning, on the day of Saint Maurice, the main pagan forces, possibly led by Duke Vykintas, arrived at the camp. The Lithuanian light cavalry flung javelins at short range, which were highly effective against the unwieldy Livonian heavy cavalry. The swampy terrain was advantageous for the lightly armed pagans. The slaughter of the Christian troops, including Volkwin, sowed the seeds of confusion in the Livonian ranks. The lightly armed native forces under the command of the Brothers soon fled from the battle. The baptized Curonians betrayed the crusaders, attacking them from rear. Almost all members of the Order, including Volkwin, died in the battle. Those crusaders and knights who tried to flee to Riga were allegedly killed by the Semigallians. Only every tenth Crusader reached Riga.

Location.

The exact location where the battle took place is unknown. The "Chronicum Livoniae" by Hermann de Wartberge mentioned that the battle was fought in "terram Sauleorum". Traditionally, this was identified with Šiauliai (, ) in Lithuania or with the small town of Vecsaule near Bauska in what is today southern Latvia. In 1965 the German historian Friedrich Benninghoven proposed Jauniūnai village in Joniškis district, Lithuania as the battle site. The theory gained some academic support and in 2010 the Lithuanian government sponsored construction of the memorial in Jauniūnai – a tall sundial, a pond, and a park of oaks. The village of Pamūšis, situated some east of Janiūnai on the Mūša River, also claims to be the location of the battle. "Saule/Saulė" means "the Sun" in both Latvian and Lithuanian.

The Battle of Saule (; ; ) was fought on 22 September 1236, between the Livonian Brothers of the Sword and pagan troops of Samogitians and Semigallians. Between 48 and 60 knights were killed, including the Livonian Master, Volkwin. It was the earliest large-scale defeat suffered by the orders in Baltic lands. The Sword-Brothers, the first Catholic military order established in the Baltic lands, was soundly defeated and its remnants accepted incorporation into the Teutonic Order in 1237. The battle inspired rebellions among the Curonians, Semigallians, Selonians, Oeselians, tribes previously conquered by the Sword-Brothers. Some thirty years' worth of conquests on the left bank of Daugava were lost. To commemorate the battle, in 2000 the Lithuanian and Latvian parliaments declared September 22 to be the Baltic Unity Day.

苏勒战役(;;)是1236年9月22日在宝剑骑士团和异教徒萨莫吉希亚人之间展开的一场战役。 战役中,48至60位骑士战死,其中包括利沃尼亚骑士团团长沃尔克温。这是骑士团在波罗的海沿岸遭受的最早一次大规模失利。最早在波罗的海沿岸成立的军事修士会,宝剑骑士团被彻底击败,其余部在1237年同意并入条顿骑士团。早先遭宝剑骑士团征服的库洛尼亚人、瑟米加利亚人、色洛尼亚人、奥埃塞利亚人受这场战役鼓舞,发起反抗。骑士团三十余年对道加瓦河左岸的征服所带来的成果化为乌有。为纪念这场战役,2000年立陶宛议会和拉脱维亚议会宣布9月22日为波罗的联合日。


History.

The initiative to establish the Quartet evolved following the outbreak of the Second Intifada in September 2000 and the futile cease-fire attempts that followed. On October 25, 2001, representatives of the EU, UN and the US and Russian governments met Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat and jointly expressed support for his policy of implementing cease-fire and security reforms in the Palestinian Authority. During the Israeli incursions into Palestinian areas in April 2002, the representatives of the same four entities met in Madrid and again called for implementation of cease-fire agreements brokered by the US government before. In the same meeting, they also agreed to transform their quadripartite cooperation into a permanent forum for follow-up of the Israeli-Palestinian peace process.

Special Envoys.

James Wolfensohn, the former president of the World Bank, was appointed Special Envoy for Israel's disengagement from Gaza in April 2005. He stepped down the following year because of restrictions in dealing with the Islamic militant group Hamas and the withholding of money from the Palestinian Authority, risking its collapse.  Tony Blair announced that he had accepted the position of the official envoy of the Quartet, the same day he resigned as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and as a Member of Parliament on 27 June 2007. The approval came after initial objections by Russia. The United Nations were overseeing the finances and security of his mission, before his resignation on 27 May 2015.  The special envoy from November 2015 to January 2017 was the Dutch national Kito de Boer.

Peace efforts and actions.

Tony Blair periodically travelled to the Middle East following his appointment as Special Envoy. On a trip there in March 2008, he met with Israeli leaders to discuss recent violence. A planned meeting between Israeli and Palestinian businessmen was postponed due to recent fighting. In May 2008 Blair announced a new plan for peace and for Palestinian rights, based heavily on the ideas of the Peace Valley plan.  In an August 2009 interview, Blair said that he would like to see Hamas and Hezbollah included in peace talks but under the right conditions, that religious leaders should be more involved in the peace process, and that resolving the conflict could be easier than it was in Northern Ireland.  In a speech given in Israel on August 24, 2010, Blair sharply criticised the campaign of "delegitimization" being carried out by enemies of Israel and proponents of the Palestinians, which refuses to grant Israel its legitimate right to its own point of view and self-defense. "Don't apply rules to the Government of Israel that you would never dream of applying to your own country," he said. He characterized such double standards and prejudice as being an "affront to humanity" which "it is a democratic duty to counter."

Criticism and shortcomings.

Despite the significance officially attached to the Quartet's part in promoting the peace process, many of its statements are merely repetition of previous statements and no significant changes in policy by either the Israeli government or the Palestinian Authority have occurred resulting from a Quartet meeting.  The Quartet has been fiercely criticized for its ineffectiveness. When Tony Blair held the function of Quartet representative, in December 2012, Palestinian officials said that "Tony Blair shouldn't take it personally, but he should pack up his desk at the Office of the Quartet Representative in Jerusalem and go home. They said his job, and the body he represents, are ′useless, useless, useless′".  The Center for Middle East Policy said in February 2012 that "The Quartet has little to show for its decade-long involvement in the peace process.... Having spent most of the last three years in a state of near paralysis, and having failed to dissuade the Palestinians from seeking UN membership and recognition in September 2011, the Quartet has finally reached the limits of its utility.... The current mechanism is too outdated, dysfunctional, and discredited to be reformed. Instead of undertaking another vain attempt to'reactivate' the Quartet, the United States, the European Union, United Nations, and Russia should simply allow the existing mechanism to go quietly into the night,".

Main sessions.

The Quartet's meetings have been held on the following dates:

The Quartet on the Middle East or Middle East Quartet, sometimes called the Diplomatic Quartet or Madrid Quartet or simply the Quartet, is a foursome of nations and international and supranational entities involved in mediating the Israeli–Palestinian peace process. The Quartet comprises the United Nations, the United States, the European Union, and Russia. The group was established in Madrid in 2002, recalling Madrid Conference of 1991, as a result of the escalating conflict in the Middle East.

中东问题四方(英语:Quartet on the Middle East),又称中东和平四方集团,是两对分别由国际及跨民族的实体组成,参与对以色列与巴勒斯坦冲突的调解工作。四方分别是联合国、美国、俄罗斯及欧盟组成。组织在2002年成立于马德里,现任特使为Kito de Boer。


History.

Sultanate of Siak.

The origin of Pekanbaru was inseparable from the existence of the Siak River as a distributing route for commodities from the Minangkabau Highlands to the Strait of Malacca. During the 18th century, Senapelan region on the banks of the Siak River became a market for the Minangkabau merchants. Over time, the area evolved into a crowded residential area. On June 23, 1784, based on the consultative meeting of the Council of Ministers from Sultanate of Siak Sri Indrapura, consisting of four leaders ("datuk") of Minangkabau tribes (Pesisir, Limapuluh, Tanah Datar and Kampar), the area was named Pekanbaru. This date was later celebrated as the anniversary of this city.

Dutch East Indies Company.

In 1749, under the terms of a peace treaty between the Sultan of Johor and the Dutch East India Company (VOC), Siak was put under the Dutch administration. The Sultan moved residence to a palace in Senapelan built in 1760. At Senapelan Sultan Abdul Jalil Shah Alamudin unsuccessfully tried to organize a major regional fair. In the early 1780s his son Sultan Muhammad Ali managed to establish the grand fair. Due to the important commercial value for Sumatra region and Malacca Strait for general, the settlement itself was renamed Pekanbaru by the local council of tribal elders (consist of "Datuk Pesisir", "Datuk Limapuluh", "Datuk Tanah Datar" and "Datuk Kampar") on 23 June 1784. Thus, 23rd June is celebrated as the founding day of Pekanbaru.

Dutch East Indies.

Following the collapse of the Dutch East Indies Company (VOC), all company ownership of Pekanbaru was transferred to the Dutch crown. During the colonial Dutch East Indies era in the 19th and early 20th century the city remained important, especially as a major trading point: Siak river navigation conditions provide a stable relationship with shipping from the Malacca Strait. Additionally the city became a major center of the coffee industry and coal industry. The urban influence of the sultans gradually became more and more nominal, especially after the capital of the Sultanate moved to Sri Indrapura in 1830. Actual management functions were carried out by representatives of the Dutch colonial administration, i.e., by the post of assistant-resident and controller.

Second World War.

During the Second World War from February 1942 to August 1945 the city was occupied by the armed forces of Japan. In an effort to strengthen the military and logistical infrastructure in this part of Sumatra, the Japanese started the construction of a 220-kilometer-long railway, connecting Pekanbaru to the coast of Malacca Straits.  The Pekanbaru Railway was constructed under harsh conditions using forced labour. 6,500 Dutch, mostly Indo-Europeans, and British prisoners of war and over 100,000 Indonesian, mostly Javanese, forced workers called "Romusha" were put to work by the Japanese army. By the time the work was completed in August 1945 almost a third of the European POWs and over half of the Indonesian coolies had died.  George Duffy, one of the 15 Americans there and survivor of the sinking of the tells of life and death for the POW workers on MemoryArchive: malaria, dysentery, pellagra, and malnutrition/"beri-beri" were the principal maladies compounded by overwork and mistreatment. "The average age at death of the 700 [POWs] who perished on that railway was 37 years and 3 months."  The railway was never fully utilised. Today it remains unused and in an advanced state of decay.

Politics.

Since 1946, Pekanbaru has been governed by at least 15 mayors. The first mayor to rule this city was Datuk Wan Abdul Rahman who was elected on 17 May 1946. Currently, the Mayor of Pekanbaru is H. Firdaus S.T., M.T.

Reputation.

Pekanbaru is one of the cleanest big cities in Indonesia. In 2011, Pekanbaru received the "Adipura" ('cleanest city') award in the category of large city for the seventh consecutive time.  However, Pekanbaru regularly suffers from haze problems due to forest fires, particularly in the dry season, since there is very little rain to put the fires out. Large land concessions are granted to commercial interests and huge areas are under the control of palm oil companies that need to clear the land to plant palm oil and other commercial interests. These fires can be seen by satellite. They are not small fires started by local farmers. Corporate plantation owners use the slash-and-burn method to clear the land." A smoke haze that not only affects surrounding areas of Riau Province regions but also neighbouring countries like Malaysia and Singapore. These fires have been burning for 18 years. The season is known as "the burning season". Large areas of forests have been destroyed. The antipode of Pekanbaru is Quito, Ecaudor.

Demographics.

Ethnicities.

Pekanbaru is the third most populous city on Sumatra Island, after Medan and Palembang with a population of 1,093,416 recorded in 2014. The city is highly urbanised, drawing many of its people from the neighbouring province of West Sumatra. Since many centuries ago, Pekanbaru has one of the Minangkabau "rantau" (migration) area. After World War II, the number of Minangkabau people migrating to Pekanbaru surged, nearly doubling between the years 1943 and 1961. Many Minang in Pekanbaru have lived there for generations and has since assimilated into the Malay community. In addition to the Minangkabau, the Riau Malays natives are the second largest ethnic group in Pekanbaru, making up 26% of the population. The Javanese, Batak, and Tionghoa are the other main ethnic groups inhabiting Pekanbaru.

Religions.

The pluralism surrounding the city can be reflected by the variety of religions and freedom of belief among the people in Pekanbaru. Islam is the majority religion in this city, followed by Christianity (Protestantism and Catholic) as well as Buddhism and small percentage of Hinduism and Confucianism. Each religion in this city is represented by the presence of the religion's respective worship places, such as "The Great Mosque of An-Nur (Mesjid Agung An-nur)" and "Mesjid Raya Pekanbaru" for the Muslim community, "St. Maria A Fatima Church" and "St. Paulus Church" for the Catholic community, "HKBP Church" for the Protestant community as well as "Vihara Dharma Loka" and "Vihara Sasana Loka" for the Buddhist and Confucian community and "Pura Agung Jagatnatha" for the Hindu community in Pekanbaru.

Languages.

Indonesian is the official language that is spoken by the citizens of Pekanbaru. For informal use, Pekanbaru people generally use Minangkabau language in their economic and daily activities, especially in the market area. In addition the Malay languages and Javanese are also widely spoken because of the large population of Malays and Javanese people in Pekanbaru. Hokkien is mainly spoken by Tionghoa as most of the Chinese Indonesian in Pekanbaru belong to the Hokkien people. In fact, many Chinese Indonesian in Pekanbaru come from other regions in Riau such as Selat Panjang, Bengkalis and Siak, along with the Chinese Indonesian who are originally from Pekanbaru itself. Moreover, many Chinese Indonesian especially from North Sumatra, particularly the Medan and West Sumatra regions have moved to Pekanbaru due to opportunities and rapid economical growth in the area since the 1990s and 2000s.

Administrative districts.

The city is divided into twelve districts ("kecamatan"), listed below with their populations at the 2010 Census:

Climate.

Pekanbaru has a tropical rainforest climate under the Köppen climate classification. As with many cities with an equatorial climate, the temperature only varies a little throughout the year. The hottest month is May with average temperature, while the coolest month is January with average temperature. The precipitation accumulation also remains constant throughout the year with no real dry season. The month with most precipitation is November with precipitation total, while the least precipitation is July with precipitation total.

Economy.

After oil was discovered in the region in the 1930s, Pekanbaru's economy has depended heavily on oil revenues which caused the city to have the highest per capita income in Indonesia. Most of Indonesia's petroleum is produced in Riau, and much of Pekanbaru's economy is based on the petroleum industry. International oil companies, prominently Chevron from the US, as well as other Indonesian companies, have established their offices in the region. The city is connected by road to an oil refining and exporting port in Dumai. Many facilities and infrastructures such as an airport, stadiums, housing areas, schools, bridges that cross the Siak River in Pekanbaru, the roads in Rumbai and the roads to Dumai, were partially or fully financed by oil companies in the area.  Pekanbaru is really close with some of the home of mega-companies, such as PT Riau Andalan Pulp Paper, PT. Indah Kiat, PT. Chevron Pacific Indonesia, and PT Perkebunan Nusantara V and some wood-sawmill, CPOs, and rubber-processing companies, and Pekanbaru is often said to be one of the cities with the highest money and banking rotation in Indonesia.  As Pekanbaru is prominently known as a major gateway for tourists from Singapore and Malaysia, the city has become a favourite stop-over for travellers before they go further inland to other regions of Sumatra Island such as Padang and Jambi. The Pasar Pusat (Central Market) is a food-trip destination and considered a household-goods trove. Pasar Bawah and Pasar Tengah, located near to the port and Siak riverbank, are especially known for the marketplace for buying and selling of Chinese goods like ceramics and carpets.  On the other hand, there are many developments of shopping malls such as Plaza Senapelan, Plaza Citra, Plaza Sukaramai, Mal Pekanbaru, Mal SKA, Sadira Plaza, Living World, Transmart Mini Studio, Mal Ciputra Seraya, Lotte Mart, Metropolitan Trade Center, The Central, Ramayana, Robinson, Metro, and Giant Grocery Store. Additionally, there are a lot of housing areas have been developed since the 2000s surrounding the city, particularly in "Panam" area whereby the housing project along the road has been tremendously established and now becoming one of the most populous area in Pekanbaru even though it is located far from downtown.  Favorably, there are several landmarks that have been built in this city. For example, The Great Mosque of An-nur, Mesjid Raya Pekanbaru, Pasar Bawah or "Tourist Market", Riau Bank Tower, Riau Government Office Tower, Siak IV Bridge, Zapin Dance Monument and there are many more to come.

Transportation.

There are several modes of transportation in Pekanbaru such as taxi, bus, oplet (share taxi), bajaj (auto rickshaw), ojek (motorcycle taxi) and Trans Metro Pekanbaru (bus rapid transit). However, due to the rapidly increasing number of motorised vehicles, the traffic congestion that occurs on some roads such as "Jalan Sudirman", "Jalan Riau" and "Jalan HR. Subrantas" that mainly connect populous sub-districts in the city cannot be avoided any more particularly during weekends and holidays. These problems initiated the government of Pekanbaru to come up with plans to solve these matters, especially within 10 to 15 years ahead.

Education.

Pekanbaru has a formal and informal form of education. Pekanbaru currently implements a "zonation" system to assign new students in public schools. Pekanbaru has a lot of achievement from their students.

Land.

For land transport, Pekanbaru is connected to Padang, Medan, Jambi, Palembang, and other cities or regions in Riau Province and Sumatra Island by the existence of Bandar Raya Payung Sekaki Terminal Bus (Terminal AKAP). The terminal was officially open for public in 2007, replacing Pekanbaru's former "Mayang Terurai Terminal Bus" due to heavy congestion. However, the Bandar Raya Payung Sekaki Bus Terminal is not fully utilised by several prominent Bus Companies such as "Pelangi", "Makmur", "Riau Mandiri" and "Sidomulyo" as well as other bus operators because its location which is deemed by some parties to be not as strategic as Mayang Terurai Bus Terminal. These matters surely make some bus companies have no choice but to drop off the passengers outside the designated zone. This informal drop-off zone is usually called by local people as "terminal bayangan".

Rivers.

Sungai Duku Port (Pelabuhan Sungai Duku) is located by the Siak River, connecting Pekanbaru with some regions in Riau Province and Riau Islands such as Siak, Tanjung Buton, Selatpanjang, Bengkalis and Batam. In the past, there were ferry services travelling from this port directly to Malacca in Malaysia, but the service was discontinued as several ferry companies decided to move their operations to Tanjung Buton.

Air.

Sultan Syarif Kasim II International Airport serves flights in Pekanbaru from/and to several cities in Indonesia such as Batam, Medan, Bandung, Jakarta, Dumai, Yogyakarta, Surabaya, and others, and international flights to several countries such as Malaysia, Singapore, Saudi Arabia, and Sri Lanka. Several prominent domestic airlines serve the route from/and to Pekanbaru such as Citilink, Garuda Indonesia, Lion Air, Batik Air, and Indonesia Air Asia. The international flights are presently served by AirAsia, Jetstar Asia Airways, Malindo Air and SilkAir.  In 2012, the new terminal was opened, replacing the old terminal that had been used since the 1980s. The old terminal is planned to be demolished to build more spaces for the apron and more aircraft capacity. Even though the new terminal has been fully used, the aerobridges that were constructed have never been utilized as the apron expansion has not been completed yet after two years since the opening of the new terminal to the public in 2012. Thus, the airport company "PT Angkasa Pura II" is currently ferrying passengers to and from the terminal using shuttle buses until the aerobridge can be used. Pekanbaru's airport is also utilized separately as the airbase of the TNI-AU (Indonesian Air Force) and home base of the 12th Squadron, a shelter to some Hawk Mk.109s and Mk.209s. The airbase is named after the former head of Indonesian Air Force, "Roesmin Nurjadin" and formally called as "Pangkalan Udara Roesmin Nurjadin" or "Roesmin Nurjadin Airbase".

Sports.

Football is the most popular sport in Indonesia. In Pekanbaru, PSPS Pekanbaru is the local club that has been competing in Indonesian Super League since the 2000s. Kaharudin Nasution Sport Center Rumbai Stadium is the home stadium for PSPS Pekanbaru.  In 2012, 2013 AFC U-22 Asian Cup qualification, 2012 Pekan Olahraga Nasional (Indonesian National Games) and 2012 Pekan Paralympic Nasional was held in Riau Province. Since then, many sport facilities have been built in Pekanbaru because this city was the home for many sports venues used these multi-national events, such as the prominent Riau Main Stadium. Unfortunately, many sports facilities that have been developed before the 2012 Pekan Olahraga Nasional are not being managed and taken care of properly. An example would be the Riau Main Stadium, which was never used again after the event until today due to financial disputes between the local government and the contractors of the stadium.  Several golf courses can be found in Pekanbaru, such as Pekanbaru Golf Course Country Club at Kubang Kulim, Simpang Tiga Golf Course at AURI Complex, Rumbai Golf Course at IKSORA Rumbai Complex and Labersa Golf Course at Labersa Hotel and Convention Center.

Media.

The TVRI Riau (state-owned) and Riau TV (private) are some of the popular local television stations in Pekanbaru. Several local newspapers operating in Pekanbaru, such as "Riau Pos", "Haluan Riau", "Tribun Pekanbaru", "Pekanbaru Pos", "Pekanbaru MX" and "Koran Riau".

Pekanbaru is the capital of Indonesian province of Riau, and a major economic center on the eastern part of Sumatra Island. Its name is derived from the Malay words for 'new market' ('pekan' is market and 'baru' is new). It has an area of 632.26 km2 with a population of 1,035,834 at the 2010 Census, and 1,121,562 according to the latest official estimate for mid 2019. Located on the banks of the Siak River, which flows into the Strait of Malacca, Pekanbaru has direct access to the busy strait and long known as a trading port. Pekanbaru was originally built as a market by Minangkabau merchants during the 18th century.

北干巴鲁(,或称北矸,北干峇鲁,佩坎巴鲁等)为印尼廖内省的首府,同时也是苏门答腊岛内第五大城市。“北干巴鲁”在印度尼西亚语中的意思是“新城镇”,是濒临马六甲海峡的重要港口。该城市共分为12个行政区,机场有直航雅加达、巴淡岛、新加坡和马来西亚马六甲的航班。


History.

Kante created N'Ko in response to what he felt were beliefs that Africans were a culture-less people, because before then, no indigenous African writing system for his language existed. N'Ko was invented in Bingerville, Côte d'Ivoire and then brought to Kante's natal region of Kankan, Guinea before being disseminated into other Manding-speaking parts of West Africa. N'Ko Alphabet Day is April 14, relating to the date in 1949 when the script is believed to have been finalized.  The introduction of the script led to a movement promoting literacy in the N'Ko script among Manding speakers in both Anglophone and Francophone West Africa. N'Ko literacy was instrumental in shaping the Maninka cultural identity in Guinea, and it has also strengthened the Manding identity in other parts of West Africa.

Current use.

As of 2005, it is used mainly in Guinea and the Ivory Coast (respectively by Maninka and Dyula speakers), with an active user community in Mali (by Bambara-speakers). Publications include a translation of the Quran, a variety of textbooks on subjects such as physics and geography, poetic and philosophical works, descriptions of traditional medicine, a dictionary, and several local newspapers. It has been classed as the most successful of the West African scripts.  N'Ko literature generally uses a literary language register, termed "kangbe" (literally, 'clear language'), that is seen as a potential compromise dialect across Manding languages. For example, the word for 'name' in Bamanan is "tɔgɔ" and in Maninka it is "tɔɔ". In written communication each person will write it one single way in N'Ko, and yet read and pronounce it as in their own language. This literary register is thus intended as a koiné language blending elements of the principal Manding languages, which are mutually intelligible, but has a very strong Maninka flavour.  There has also been documented use of N'Ko, with additional diacritics, for traditional religious publications in the Yoruba and Fon languages of Benin and southwestern Nigeria.

Letters.

The N'Ko script is written from right to left, with letters being connected to one another.

Tones.

N'Ko uses diacritical marks to denote tonality and vowel length. Together with plain vowels, N'Ko distinguishes four tones: high, low, ascending, and descending; and two vowel lengths: long and short. However no mark exists for a short, descending tone.

Non-native sounds and letters.

N'Ko also provides a way of representing non-native sounds through the modification of its letters with diacritics. These letters are used in transliterated names and loanwords.  Two dots above a vowel, resembling a diaeresis mark, represent a foreign vowel: u-two-dots for the French /y/ sound, or e-two-dots for the French /ə/.  Diacritics are also placed above some consonant letters to cover sounds not found in Manding, such as gb-dot for /g/; gb-line for /ɣ/; gb-two-dots for /k͡p/; f-dot for /v/; rr-dot for /ʁ/; etc.

Digitization.

With the increasing use of computers and the subsequent desire to provide universal access to information technology, the challenge arose of developing ways to use the N'Ko script on computers. From the 1990s onwards, there were efforts to develop fonts and even web content by adapting other software and fonts. A DOS word processor named Koma Kuda was developed by Prof. Baba Mamadi Diané from Cairo University. However the lack of intercompatibility inherent in such solutions was a block to further development.  Pango 1.18 and GNOME 2.20 have native support for the N'Ko languages. An iOS calculator in N'Ko, N'Ko:Calc, is available on the Apple App Store. An iOS app for sending email in N'Ko is also available, called Triage-N'Ko. There is a virtual keyboard named virtual-keyboard-nko to type N'Ko characters on the Windows operating system.  A N'Ko font, Conakry, is available for Windows 8, macOS, and OpenOffice-LibreOffice's Graphite engine, which was developed by SIL International.  There is currently a language-version of Wikipedia, the. It has content 468 articles as of 9 March 2020, 4,095 edits and 435 users. It was created on 26 November 2019.

Unicode.

N'Ko script was added to the Unicode Standard in July 2006 with the release of version 5.0.  UNESCO's Programme Initiative B@bel supported preparing a proposal to encode N'Ko in Unicode. In 2004, the proposal, presented by three professors of N'Ko (Baba Mamadi Diané, Mamady Doumbouya, and Karamo Kaba Jammeh) working with Michael Everson, was approved for balloting by the ISO working group WG2. In 2006, N'Ko was approved for Unicode 5.0. The Unicode block for N'Ko is U+07C0–U+07FF:

N'Ko () is a script devised by Solomana Kante in 1949, as a writing system for the Manding languages of West Africa. The term "N'Ko", which means "I say" in all Manding languages, is also used for the Manding literary standard written in N'Ko script.

西非书面字母(西非书面文字:<unk>ߞ<unk>),亦作西非书面文字、西非书面语言或音译作吾夸字母,是一种用来记录西非曼德语族语言的字母,并且该语族的共同标准书面语也使用这种字母书写。"N'Ko"在所有的曼德语族语言中意味着 「"我说"」。


Observation history.

As it is included in the "New General Catalogue", this object has been known since at least 1888. The earliest-known study of NGC 6302 is by Edward Emerson Barnard, who drew and described it in 1907.  The nebula featured in some of the first images released after the final servicing mission of the Hubble Space Telescope in September 2009.

Characteristics.

NGC 6302 has a complex structure, which may be approximated as bipolar with two primary lobes, though there is evidence for a second pair of lobes that may have belonged to a previous phase of mass loss. A dark lane runs through the waist of the nebula obscuring the central star at all wavelengths.  The nebula contains a prominent northwest lobe which extends up to 3.0′ away from the central star and is estimated to have formed from an eruptive event around 1,900 years ago. It has a circular part whose walls are expanding such that each part has a speed proportional to its distance from the central star. At an angular distance of 1.71′ from the central star, the flow velocity of this lobe is measured to be 263 km/s. At the extreme periphery of the lobe, the outward velocity exceeds 600 km/s. The western edge of the lobe displays characteristics suggestive of a collision with pre-existing globules of gas which modified the outflow in that region.

Central star.

The central star, among the hottest stars known, had escaped detection because of a combination of its high temperature (meaning that it radiates mainly in the ultraviolet), the dusty torus (which absorbs a large fraction of the light from the central regions, especially in the ultraviolet) and the bright background from the star. It was not seen in the first Hubble Space Telescope images; the improved resolution and sensitivity of the new Wide Field Camera 3 of the same telescope later revealed the faint star at the centre. A temperature of 200,000 Kelvin is indicated, and a mass of 0.64 solar masses. The original mass of the star was much higher, but most was ejected in the event which created the planetary nebula. The luminosity and temperature of the star indicate it has ceased nuclear burning and is on its way to becoming a white dwarf, fading at a predicted rate of 1% per year.

Dust chemistry.

The prominent dark lane that runs through the centre of the nebula has been shown to have an unusual composition, showing evidence for multiple crystalline silicates, crystalline water ice and quartz, with other features which have been interpreted as the first extra-solar detection of carbonates. This detection has been disputed, due to the difficulties in forming carbonates in a non-aqueous environment. The dispute remains unresolved.  One of the characteristics of the dust detected in NGC 6302 is the existence of both oxygen-bearing silicate molecules and carbon-bearing polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). Stars are usually either oxygen-rich or carbon-rich, the change from the former to the latter occurring late in the evolution of the star due to nuclear and chemical changes in the star's atmosphere. NGC 6302 belongs to a group of objects where hydrocarbon molecules formed in an oxygen-rich environment.

NGC 6302 (also known as the Bug Nebula, Butterfly Nebula, or Caldwell 69) is a bipolar planetary nebula in the constellation Scorpius. The structure in the nebula is among the most complex ever observed in planetary nebulae. The spectrum of NGC 6302 shows that its central star is one of the hottest stars known, with a surface temperature in excess of 250,000 degrees Celsius, implying that the star from which it formed must have been very large.

NGC 6302(也称为臭虫星云或蝴蝶星云)是在天蝎座的一个双极的行星状星云,距离地球约4000光年。它是结构复杂的行星状星云,NGC 6302的光谱显示它的中心恒星是银河系内最热的天体之一,表面的温度高达200,000K,暗示形成它的恒星一定也很大。


Personal life.

Zheng graduated from the Sichuan Sports Academy in June 2000.  At Wimbledon in 2008, she gained recognition when she became the first Chinese player ever to reach the semifinals of a Grand Slam singles tournament, defeating then-world No. 1 Ana Ivanovic en route. She donated her winnings to the victims of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake in her native province.  Zheng was coached by Jiang Hong Wei, China's national women's tennis team head coach, but she is now coached by her husband Zhang Yu, who is also her hitting partner. They became close during the period after her severe ankle injury. Zheng is on the advisory staff of Yonex and uses their rackets. She wears clothing by Anta and appears in their advertising campaigns, and she is a Rolex testimonee together with Roger Federer and Ana Ivanovic.  Zheng started playing tennis when she was ten, after she had seen her older sister play and thought tennis would be good exercise. At first, it was just for exercise. Zheng was rather small (at 5', 4.5"), and she and her parents were afraid that she would not have a career in the

Playing style.

Zheng's game is characterised by consistency, intellect, quick reflexes and fighting spirit. She is not the strongest player, but makes up for this with her careful thinking of where to place her shots and willingness to change game plans if a strategy is not working. Her shots are of a lot of pace and very well placed, making Zheng an excellent defensive counterpuncher. She has one of the best footwork

Singles career.

2002.

In May 2002, she won two successive $25,000 ITF singles tournaments, at Shanghai and Tianjin, right after reaching her first $50,000 tournament

2003.

In 2003, she qualified for Hyderabad and took a love set against Mary Pierce in the main-draw first round, only to lose the match in three sets. She also qualified for Doha, but then lost to Lina Krasnoroutskaya.  Later in the year, she defeated Nuria Llagostera Vives in the first round of a $25,000 tournament, Alona Bondarenko in the first round of qualifying for Palermo, and Maria Elena Camerin at another $50,000 event in July, where she reached the quarterfinal; but it was in August at Bronx that she won her first $50,000 tournament title, beating Shenay Perry, Jamea Jackson, Akiko Morigami, Adriana Serra Zanetti and (in the final) Maria Kirilenko to

2004.

The following year brought further improvements in her singles results. She reached the quarterfinals at Hyderabad and Doha (where she comfortably beat Jelena Dokić in round 2), and the second round at Miami and Vienna (where she beat Lisa Raymond). Then at the French Open, playing only her second Grand Slam singles main draw (after gaining direct entry to the Australian Open but losing in the first

2005.

Zheng started 2005 by capturing her first WTA singles title at Hobart, after wins over Mariana Díaz Oliva, Shinobu Asagoe, Klara Koukalová, Li Na and Gisela Dulko.  She qualified for Dubai with wins over Sandra Kleinová, Maria-Elena Camerin and Virginia Ruano-Pascual, and went on to defeat Anabel Medina Garrigues in the main draw before succumbing to Lindsay Davenport. Dulko gained her revenge in the quarterfinal at Estoril in April.  But Zheng remained in fine form, and reached her second WTA final at Rabat, Morocco in May, losing to Nuria Llagostera Vives after wins over Catalina Castaño, Maureen Drake and Tathiana Garbin, followed by a walk-over against Na Li who had to retire at 3–3 from an ankle sprain.  A three-set loss to Francesca Schiavone in the first

2006: Two Grand Slam titles in doubles.

2006 started poorly for Zheng in singles, with a string of six successive first-round losses dipping her ranking to world No. 56 by the end of February. However, after a first-round loss in Indian Wells, her 2006 singles breakthrough came at Key Biscayne where she reached the quarterfinals with wins over Nathalie Dechy and Anna-Lena Grönefeld before falling to Tatiana Golovin.  Zheng's new found confidence earned a title at her next tournament in Estoril, where she defeated top-seeded Flavia Pennetta en route to the final before a victory over compatriot Li Na who was forced to retire at one set each. In Strasbourg, Zheng displayed yet reached the quarterfinals where she lost to second-seeded Czech Nicole

2007.

2007 started well for Zheng, where she reached a second Hobart quarterfinal before losing to eventual champion Anna Chakvetadze. At the Australian Open, Zheng put in an extremely disappointing performance, losing to then 97th ranked Julia Schruff of Germany, after holding match point on more than one occasion. In doubles, her title defense with Yan Zi ended in the semifinals with a defeat by Chan Yung-jan and Chuang Chia-jung – the same partnership which they managed to defeat

2008: Wimbledon semifinal.

Zheng's return to the tour was successful; in singles, she won two qualifying matches in Gold Coast before losing to Alisa Kleybanova. In doubles, she and Yan Zi reached the final, only to lose to the third seeds, Safina and Szávay. However, in Sydney, the duo won the title, beating second seeds Sugiyama and Srebotnik and reigning US Open champions Dechy and Safina along the way. At the Australian Open, the duo made it to the seminfinals, beating the Williams sisters along the way, before losing to the 12th

2009.

In January at the Australian Open, Zheng was seeded 22nd in women's singles. She advanced to the round of 16 and faced eighth seed Svetlana Kuznetsova. Zheng trailed 1–4 in the opening set, but was forced to retire with a left wrist injury after hitting the court while reaching for a ball. This was the furthest that she progressed at women's singles at this tournament in her career. In the doubles event, she and her partner Yan Zi were eliminated in the third round, by Nuria Llagostera Vives and María José Martínez Sánchez.  Zheng returned to at the Barclays Dubai Tennis Championships, and made it to the third round before losing to world No. 1 Serena Williams. She and her partner, Yan Zi, lost in the first round in doubles to the Bondarenko sisters. Seeded fourth at the Monterrey Open, she made it to the semifinals before losing to No. 2 seed Marion Bartoli. After this result, she created her highest world ranking of No. 17 at that time. Zheng was seeded 17th at the Sony Ericsson Open. She advanced to the round

2010: Australian Open semifinal.

Zheng began her season at the Moorilla Hobart International, where she made it to the quarterfinals before losing to the eventual tournament champion Alona Bondarenko. Zheng was unseeded at the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the year. After three set wins over Peng Shuai, María José Martínez Sánchez and Marion Bartoli, as well as a straights sets fourth-round win over Alona Bondarenko, Zheng made Australian open history by becoming the first Chinese player to reach an Australian Open semifinal when she took out unseeded Maria Kirilenko in the

2011.

Zheng was scheduled to compete at the Hong Kong Tennis Classic exhibition tournament in Team Asia-Pacific alongside Li Na and Mark Philippoussis, as well as competing as the third seed at the Moorilla Hobart International. Zheng hadn't rehabilitated from her wrist injury sufficiently, and withdrew from both tournaments, as well as the Australian Open, where she was a semifinalist in 2010.  Jie made a return to the tour at the PTT Pattaya Open in Thailand. She was seeded seventh but was defeated by Akgul Amanmuradova in the first round 6–4, 7–6.  Zheng next competed at the Dubai Tennis Championships. In the first round, she defeated Kristina Barrois 6–3, 2–6, 6–4. In the second, she was defeated by Patty Schnyder, 1–6, 6–0, 6–2. At the Qatar Ladies Open, Zheng lost to Flavia Pennetta 2–6, 2–6. Zheng next played at the BNP Paribas Open, where she was a quarterfinalist in 2010. Zheng continued her string of losses, falling 3–6, 2–6 to Sofia Arvidsson.  At the Sony Ericsson Open, she

2012.

At the beginning of the 2012 season, Zheng switched her racquet to the new Yonex EZONE Xi 98 model.  She began the season by winning the ASB Classic, her first WTA singles title since 2006. The unseeded Zheng defeated Ayumi Morita 4–6, 6–3, 6–4 in the first round before upsetting eighth seed Monica Niculescu in the second, 6–0, 6–2. In the quarterfinals, Zheng beat Lucie Hradecká 6–2, 6–3, and third seed Svetlana Kuznetsova 2–6, 6–3, 6–3 in the semifinals. In the final, Zheng defeated fourth seed Flavia Pennetta 2–6, 6–3, 2–0 as the Italian retired due to

2013.

Her year began in Auckland in a bid to defend her title at the ASB Classic. Despite being seeded fourth, Zheng lost in the first round in straight sets to Jamie Hampton. Zheng rebounded in Sydney by defeating sixth-seeded Sam Stosur in the first round, 6–3, 6–7, 6–4. In the second round, she lost to Madison Keys, a qualifier ranked 135, 0–6, 4–6. At the Australian Open, Zheng reached the third round after another win over Stosur, but she then lost in three sets to Germany's Julia Görges.  Following the Australian Open, Zheng struggled with poor results, losing early in Doha, Indian Wells and Miami, resulting in her falling from the top 50. Zheng began

2014.

Zheng started the year by losing early in Shenzhen and Hobart. However, she reached the third round at the Australian Open, defeating 12th-seeded Roberta Vinci and Madison Keys before losing to Casey Dellacqua. This was then followed by a string of poor results, culminating in a first-round loss to Anna Karolina Schmiedlova at the French

2015: Australian Open Doubles Final and Retirement.

Zheng played just one singles match in 2015, a first-round loss at the Australian Open to Chang Kai-chen. However, at the same tournament, she and her partner Chan Yung-jan reached the finals of the women's doubles event, where they were defeated by

Singles performance timeline.

"Only main-draw results in WTA Tour, Grand

Women's doubles performance timeline.

Mixed doubles performance timeline.

Mixed-doubles partners: Max Mirnyi Daniel Nestor Mahesh Bhupathi Rohan Bopanna Scott Lipsky Henri Kontinen

Zheng Jie (born 5 July 1983) is a retired professional tennis player from China. Her career-high singles ranking is world No. 15 which she achieved in May 2009.

郑洁(1983年-7月5日),出生于四川成都,祖籍浙江宁波,中国女子职业网球运动员。2004年初出茅庐的郑洁在当年的法国网球公开赛进入女子单打十六强,成为第一位进入网球大满贯赛事第四轮的中国选手。2006年在澳洲网球公开赛和温布尔顿网球公开赛中与搭档晏紫合作拿下两项赛事的双打冠军,并进入WTA年终总决赛女子双打四强,刷新中国网球历史,2008年手持外卡参加温布尔顿女子单打比赛的郑洁,一路爆冷,击败了包括时为世界第一伊万诺维奇,首次进入大满贯女子单打四强。北京奥林匹克运动会上协同晏紫夺得女子双打季军。2010年澳洲网球公开赛,与李娜联手再度进入女子单打四强,创造了中国网球辉煌。2015年,已经年过三十的郑洁再度打进澳洲网球公开赛女子双打决赛,以三十二岁的网坛高龄捧得大满贯亚军。在职业生涯中,郑洁拿下了四座WTA女子单打冠军以及十五座WTA女子双打冠军,包括两座大满贯双打冠军及一座大满贯双打亚军。职业生涯中二十九次打入WTA女子双打赛事决赛,两次打入大满贯赛事女单四强,三次打入大满贯女双决赛,单打最高排名十五位,双打最高排名第三位。在中国大陆的网球爱好者及网友中,郑洁素有“网球天后”之称。


Personal life.

Born in Skopje in 1970, Gruevski was brought up in a family that was neither privileged nor poor. His father worked in furniture and design and his mother was a nurse. After his parents’ divorce, he was raised by his mother. At the age of four, however, she went to work in Libya, like thousands of other Yugoslav citizens, and took him with her. After their return Gruevski completed primary and secondary education in Skopje. Having graduated from the Faculty of Economics at St. Clement of Ohrid University of Bitola in 1994 (where he dabbled in amateur theatre and boxing) he entered the nascent finance sector, and was the first person to trade on Skopje's stock exchange. During 1995 he worked as director of department in Multigroup owned Balkanbank, and became its exhibitioner till 1998. In 1996 he also acquired qualifications for the international capital market from a London Securities Institute. Gruevski founded the Brokerage Association of Macedonia in 1998 and made the first transaction on the Macedonian Stock Exchange.  On 12 December 2006, he obtained a master's degree from the Faculty of Economics at Ss. Cyril and Methodius University of Skopje.  Gruevski divorced his first wife and was married again in May 2007 to Borkica Gruevska with whom he has two daughters: Anastasija and Sofija.  Gruevski's paternal grandparents came from the Ottoman Macedonia village of Krushoradi, where his grandfather Nikolaos Grouios (Nikola Gruev) (1911–1940) was born. Until the official Greek annexation after the Second Balkan War in 1913, it was under the jurisdiction of the Bulgarian Exarchate. The Greek administration later practised an assimilative anti-Bulgarian campaign, changing the names of local villagers to the corresponding Greek names. The village itself was renamed by the Greek authorities to Achlada in 1926. Gruevski's grandfather fought in the Greco-Italian War, where he lost his life. His name is mentioned on the war memorial in Achlada among the names of the locals who were killed during World War II. Years later, during the Greek Civil War, Gruevski's grandmother and father fled north to what was then Yugoslav Macedonia, where they changed their family name to Gruevski in order to gain citizenship through assimilation, as was the Yugoslav policy at the time.  Gruevski's maternal grandfather - Mihail D. Miyalkov was a member of the Bulgarian Action Committees in 1941 and later of a "Bulgarian club" founded in Ŝtip in 1942, when the area was annexed by Bulgaria during the Second World War. His mother Nadezhda is also from Ŝtip. She is a sister of the first Minister of the Interior of the Republic of Macedonia - Jordan Mijalkov. During the administration of Nikola Gruevski, his first cousin, Sašo Mijalkov was the director of the Administration for Security and Counterintelligence of the Republic of Macedonia.

Political career.

Minister of Finance (1999–2002).

The government under Ljubčo Georgievski sold the Macedonian Telecom to Hungarian Matáv and the OKTA oil refinery to Hellenic Petroleum. Gruevski also implemented financial reforms, including the reform of the payment system and the value added tax of 18%, requiring fiscal receipts for all Macedonian businesses, which was a program designed to fight tax evasion.

Party leader (2003–2017).

Gruevski is the leader of the nationalist ruling party VMRO-DPMNE. After VMRO-DPMNE was defeated in the 2002 parliamentary election, there was a period of infighting within the party. Gruevski emerged as the pro-EU leader, and he was elected as leader of the party after Ljubčo Georgievski left the position. The former prime minister set up his own party (VMRO-People's Party), but VMRO-DPMNE retained most of the party's supporters.

Prime Minister (2006–2016).

The VMRO-DPMNE won the July 2006 parliamentary election, and on 25 August 2006 he constituted the new government. His government had many new faces, mostly in their 30s, in key ministries and other positions. In the election Gruevski earned the distinction of becoming the first elected European head of government born in the 1970s.  In June 2007, Gruevski attended a meeting in Tirana, Albania, along with President of the United States George W. Bush, Prime Minister of Albania Sali Berisha, and Prime Minister of Croatia Ivo Sanader.  The coalition led by his party, VMRO-DPMNE, won the 1 June 2008 parliamentary election, their second electoral victory in a row, winning more than half of the seats in the parliament. The polling was marred by a number of violent incidents and allegations of fraud in some ethnic Albanian dominated municipalities. Gruevski created a government with the ethnic Albanian political party Democratic Union for Integration. The coalition led by his party, VMRO-DPMNE, won the 5 June 2011 parliamentary election, their third electoral victory in a row, winning 56 out of the 123 seats in the parliament. Objections of misuse of state resources, including the blackmail of over one hundred thousand public servants to act as agitators were neglected, and the elections were declared valid. Gruevski formed the new government, again in coalition with the Democratic Union for Integration.  On 6 January 2012, Gruevski opened the triumphal arch "Porta Macedonia" in Skopje as a monument to 20th anniversary of Macedonian independence, and admitted that he personally has been the instigator of the Skopje 2014 project.  On 27 April 2014, VMRO-DPMNE won the parliamentary election, providing Gruevski another term as Prime Minister.  In 2014, Gruevski began to rush plans through Parliament to create a tax-free autonomous trade zone which falls outside the purview of both domestic and international regulators. The move raised alarm among Parliament members. The European Union's Venice Commission commented that “If all laws (other than criminal laws) are to be enacted and enforced by a managing body rather than the constitutionally recognised lawmaker and executive, this zone becomes a sort of a ‘State within a State’ separate from the existing constitutional structure” and could become “a haven for ‘dirty money.’” In 2015 the former Prime Minister and founder of the VMRO-DPMNE, Ljubčo Georgievski accused Gruevski's government it had a goal to serbianise the country, finally joining it to Serbia.

Wiretapping scandal and resignation.

In May 2015, protests occurred in Skopje against Gruevski and his government. The demonstrations began following charges being brought against Zoran Zaev, the opposition leader, who responded by alleging that Gruevski had had 20,000 Macedonian officials and other figures wiretapped, and had covered up the murder of a young man by a police officer in 2011. A major protest occurred on 5 May, with violent clashes between activists and police, causing injuries on both sides. In the days following, the opposition claimed that more anti-government actions would occur, which they did later that month. Several ministers, including the interior minister, resigned. Gruevski initially refused to step down, saying on 16 May that "if I back down it would be a cowardly move... I’ll face down the attacks." However, on 15 January 2016, Emil Dimitriev was nominated as Prime Minister and he assumed office on 18 January, following the arranged pre-electoral resignation of Gruevski from the position, as part of the Przino Agreement.

Post-premiership (since 2017).

In July 2017, a Macedonian court ordered the seizure of the passports of Gruevski and four other officials of his party, including former interior minister Gordana Jankuloska and former transportation minister Mile Janakieski, in connection with the wiretapping case.  In December 2017, Gruevski resigned as leader of the VMRO-DPMNE, following the party's major defeat by the Social Democratic Union in local elections.

Trial.

In January 2017 the Macedonian Special Prosecutor's Office launched the 'Tank' investigation in which two individuals were accused of using their official position and authority in the period from February to October 2012 to complete an illegal public procurement of a Mercedes-Benz 600 worth €600,000 and "fulfil the wishes" of Gruevski who was Prime Minister at the time. On 23 May 2018, Gruevski was sentenced to two years in prison for unlawfully influencing government officials in the purchase of the luxury bulletproof car.  On 9 November 2018, the Skopje Criminal Court rejected Gruevski's appeals for a postponement of his prison sentence and on 10 November he did not appear for the start of his two-year sentence. He had been last seen in Macedonia on 8 November at a hotel in Skopje. The Macedonian authorities issued an arrest warrant against the fugitive. VMRO-DPMNE's leader, Hristijan Mickoski defended Gruevski and described the arrest warrant and police search against him as "political persecution" and a "witch-hunt", adding that VMRO-DPMNE was "under police siege".

Fugitive.

On 13 November, Gruevski announced through his Facebook account that he had fled to Hungary, where he applied for political asylum. Gruevski was seen as having particularly close relations with the right-wing national conservative Fidesz's head, and Prime Minister of Hungary, Viktor Orbán, who opposed the Prespa agreement between Greece and Macedonia and supported VMRO-DPMNE's hardline position against it. Orbán has reportedly described Gruevski's escape as "an interesting story, exciting, like all crime stories".  Despite his passport having been confiscated, Gruevski successfully escaped and concerns arose that he probably used a Bulgarian one. However, according to Bulgarian authorities, Gruevski has never applied for Bulgarian citizenship. It was later confirmed by Albanian police that, with the aid of the Hungarian government which escorted him using Hungarian diplomatic vehicles, Gruevski had passed through Albania, Montenegro and Serbia before arriving in Hungary.  Interpol alerted that Gruevski is wanted under an international arrest warrant and the Macedonian government filed a formal extradition request. Hungary's opposition parties are calling on the Hungarian government to arrest and quickly extradite the fugitive former prime minister back to Macedonia.  On 20 November 2018, Gruevski was granted political asylum by the Hungarian authorities.  Gruevski has condemned the Prespa agreement and stated that Prime Minister Zoran Zaev "scammed" and "tricked" the Macedonian people over the name change of the country and that Greek politicians imposed an unfavourable deal upon Macedonia that outlines exclusive claims over "antique history" by Greece.  On 27 June 2019, Gruevski appeared handcuffed in a court in Budapest on a hearing closed for the public for his extradition requested by Macedonian authorities. Later that day the court in Budapest announced that his extradition was rejected. According to judge Éva Várhegyi the conditions needed for his extradition were not fulfilled.

Nikola Gruevski ( ; ; born 31 August 1970) is a politician from North Macedonia who served as Prime Minister of the then-Macedonia from 2006 to 2016, and led the VMRO-DPMNE party from 2003 to 2017. Previously, he was Minister of Finance in the VMRO-DPMNE government led by Ljubčo Georgievski until 2002.

尼古拉·格鲁埃夫斯基(Никола Груевски,1970年-8月31日),马其顿共和国前总理,马其顿内部革命组织民族统一民主党党首。


俄罗斯和白俄罗斯的能源争议

Background.

For a long time, the gas price for most of the former USSR republics was significantly lower than for the Western European countries. In 2006 Belarus paid only $46 per 1000 m3, a fraction compared to $290 per 1000 m3 paid by Germany. The annual Russian subsidies to the Belarusian economy were around $4 billion, as Russian president Vladimir Putin said on 9 January 2007. In 2006 Russia announced a higher price for 2007. After Alexander Lukashenko, President of Belarus, rejected this price change, and without a new treaty, Gazprom threatened to cut gas supplies to Belarus from 10:00 MSK on 1 January 2007. Both sides finally agreed on the following terms:  Another part of the energy dispute is the dispute over oil. In 1995, Russia and Belarus agreed that Russia would not impose any customs on oil exported to Belarus. In exchange, the revenues from this oil processed in Belarus would be shared by 15% for Belarus and 85% for Russia. In 2001, Belarus unilaterally canceled this agreement while Russia continued its duty-free exports. Lukashenko's state kept all the revenues, and many Russian oil companies moved their processing capacities to Belarus. On this arrangement, Russia also lost billions of dollars annually. Belarus imposed a tariff of US$45 per ton of oil flowing through the Druzhba pipeline, prompting Russia to claim that the move was illegal and to threaten retaliation, since it contradicts bilateral trade agreements and worldwide practice. Only imported or exported goods are being tariffed while transit goods are not objects of tariffing. Russia rejected paying the newly imposed Belarusian tariffs.  In compensation, Belarus began siphoning off oil from the pipeline. According to Semyon Vainshtok, the head of Russia's pipeline monopoly Transneft, Belarus had siphoned off 79,900 metric tons of oil since 6 January. Vainshtok said this was illegal and the move was made "without warning anyone." In response, Russia stopped oil transport on 8 January.  A Belarusian team led by Vice-Premier Andrei Kobyakov flew to Moscow on 9 January to pursue a solution but initially reported that they had not been able to start negotiations.  On 10 January, the Belarusian government lifted the tariff, and Russia agreed to start negotiations. The oil flow was resumed at 05:30 GMT on 11 January. In the wake of the dispute, Gazprom acquired 50% stake in the Belarusian gas pipeline operator Beltransgaz for 2.5 Billion USD.

August 2007 developments.

Following the alleged violation of previous agreements and the failure of negotiations, on 1 August 2007 Gazprom announced that it would cut gas supplies to Belarus by 45% from 3 August over a $456 million debt. Talks are continuing and Belarus has asked for more time to pay. Although the revived dispute is not expected to hit supplies to Europe, the European Commission is said to view the situation'very seriously'. Following overnight negotiations in Moscow, on 3 August, $190 million of the debt was repaid, and Belarus was given a further week to pay the remainder or face a 30% cut in supplies.  As of 8 August Belarus has fully paid its $460 million debt for Russian natural gas supplies, ending a dispute between the country and Gazprom [RTS: GAZP].

Related disputes.

The situation is reminiscent of other recent price tensions between Russia, one of the world's energy superpowers, and other states since the start of 2005. These have resulted in increases in the prices paid for gas by Moldova (now paying US$170 per 1,000 cubic meter), Georgia (US$235 per 1,000 cubic meter) and Ukraine (following the 2006 Russia-Ukraine gas dispute, which also resulted in a 4-day cut to European gas supplies).| with Azerbaijan having recently stopped oil exports to Russia.  On 29 July 2006 Russia shut down oil export to Mažeikių oil refinery in Lithuania after an oil spill on the Druzhba pipeline system occurred in Russia’s Bryansk oblast, near the point where a line to Belarus and Lithuania branches off the main export pipeline. Transneft said it would need one year and nine months to repair the damaged section. Although Russia cited technical reasons for stopping oil deliveries to Lithuania, Lithuania claims that the oil supply was stopped because Lithuania sold the Mažeikių refinery to Polish company PKN Orlen.

Impact.

All IEA member countries who are net oil importers have legal obligation to hold emergency oil reserves, which is equivalent to at least 90 days of net oil imports of the previous year. Furthermore, under the EU regulations there is obligation to hold reserves equivalent to 90 days of consumption, so unlike the gas dispute with Ukraine in 2006, consumers were not affected. Poland had an 80-day oil reserve. The Czech Republic reported drawing oil from its 100-day reserves. Had the dispute prolonged, it is likely that alternative supplies would have been secured. International oil prices were not significantly affected.  The involved countries have, however, expressed concerns about the reliability of the Russia-Belarus oil pipeline and Belarus as an oil middleman supplier.  The events have also provoked renewed discussion on the government policy of phasing out nuclear power in Germany.

Reaction.

The European Union has demanded an "urgent and detailed" explanation, according to a spokesman for Energy Commissioner Andris Piebalgs.  Piotr Naimski, Poland's deputy economics minister who is responsible for energy security, stated "This shows once again that arguments among various countries of the former Soviet Union between suppliers and transit countries mean that these deliveries are unreliable from our perspective."  German Economy Minister Michael Glos stated that the dispute showed that "one-side dependencies must not be allowed to develop."  Following a meeting with European Commission President José Manuel Barroso in Berlin, German Chancellor Angela Merkel condemned the action, stating "It is not acceptable when there are no consultations about such actions". Commenting on the importance of trust in energy security, she said "That always destroys trust and no trusting, undisturbed cooperation can be built on that." Merkel continued by saying "We will certainly say to our Russian partners but also to Belarus that such consultations are the minimum when there are problems, and I think that that must become normality, as it would be within the European Union." Barroso said that "while there is no immediate risk to supplies, it is not acceptable" for such actions to be undertaken without prior consultation.

The Russia–Belarus energy dispute began when Russian state-owned gas supplier Gazprom demanded an increase in gas prices paid by Belarus, a country which has been closely allied with Moscow and forms a loose union state with Russia. It escalated on 8 January 2007, when the Russian state-owned pipeline company Transneft stopped pumping oil into the Druzhba pipeline which runs through Belarus because Belarus was siphoning the oil off the pipe without mutual agreement.

俄罗斯和白俄罗斯的能源争议之开始,源于俄罗斯国营天然气供应商俄罗斯天然气工业股份公司要求增加白俄罗斯付出的天然气费用一成。事件在2007年1月8日升级。俄罗斯国家石油管道运输公司()停止将石油注入途径白俄罗斯的德鲁日巴输油管道(取名自俄语词,意指“友谊”)。


History.

The Clapp oscillator design was published by James Kilton Clapp in 1948 while he worked at General Radio. According to Vačkář, oscillators of this kind were independently developed by several inventors, and one developed by Gouriet had been in operation at the BBC since 1938.

Circuit.

The Clapp oscillator uses a single inductor and three capacitors to set its frequency. The Clapp oscillator is often drawn as a Colpitts oscillator that has an additional capacitor () placed in series with the inductor.  The oscillation frequency in Hertz (cycles per second) for the circuit in the figure, which uses a field-effect transistor (FET), is The capacitors and are usually much larger than, so the term dominates the other capacitances, and the frequency is near the series resonance of and. Clapp's paper gives an example where and are 40 times larger than ; the change makes the Clapp circuit about 400 times more stable than the Colpitts oscillator for capacitance changes of.  Capacitors, and form a voltage divider that determines the amount of feedback voltage applied to the transistor input.  Although, the Clapp circuit is used as a variable frequency oscillator (VFO) by making a variable capacitor, Vačkář states that the Clapp oscillator "can only be used for operation on fixed frequencies or at the most over narrow bands (max. about 1:1.2)." The problem is that under typical conditions, the Clapp oscillator's loop gain varies as, so wide ranges will overdrive the amplifier. For VFOs, Vačkář recommends other circuits. See Vačkář oscillator.

The Clapp oscillator or Gouriet oscillator is an LC electronic oscillator that uses a particular combination of an inductor and three capacitors to set the oscillator's frequency. LC oscillators use a transistor (or vacuum tube or other gain element) and a positive feedback network. The oscillator has good frequency stability.

克拉普振荡器是一种由晶体管(或真空管)与一组正反馈电路组成的振荡器。


Early life.

Cumming was born in Aberfeldy, Perthshire, Scotland. His mother, Mary Darling, was an insurance company secretary, and his father, Alex Cumming, was the head forester of Panmure Estate, which is located near Carnoustie, on the east coast of Scotland, and is where Cumming grew up. He has described the environment as "feudal". He has a brother, Tom, who is six years older, and a niece and two nephews. His brother is a property manager in Southampton, England. Cumming attended Monikie Primary School and Carnoustie High School.  In his autobiography "Not My Father's Son", Cumming describes the emotional and physical violence his father inflicted on him in his childhood. His mother found it impossible to obtain a divorce until she was financially independent. Cumming said that, after his early 20s, he did not have any communication with his father until just before the filming of his episode of the series "Who Do You Think You Are?" He then found out his father had believed that Cumming was not his biological son. Later, Cumming and his brother took DNA tests that proved they were indeed his biological children.  Cumming said that his difficult childhood taught him how to act by "needing to suppress my own emotions and feelings around him [his father] when I was a little boy".

Film.

Cumming made his film debut in Gillies MacKinnon's short film "Passing Glory" in 1986. His feature film debut came in 1992 when he starred alongside Sandrine Bonnaire and Bruno Ganz in Ian Sellar's "Prague", which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival and earned him the Best Actor award at the Atlantic Film Festival and a Scottish BAFTA Best Actor nomination. American audiences first saw him portraying the smarmy Sean Walsh, an unwanted suitor of Minnie Driver's character, in "Circle of Friends", an Irish film released in 1995. Also in 1995 he played Boris Ivanovih Grishenko in the James Bond film "GoldenEye". In 1996, he had a success as the Revd Mr Elton in "Emma".  His first film in the United States was 1997's "Romy and Michele's High School Reunion", playing Sandy Frink opposite Lisa Kudrow and Mira Sorvino. Cumming co-wrote, co-directed, co-produced, and co-starred in the ensemble film "The Anniversary Party" with friend and former "Cabaret" co-star Jennifer Jason Leigh, in 2001. The two starred in the film as a Hollywood couple. The film premiered at Cannes and garnered two Independent Spirit nominations and a National Board of Review award. He went on to star in and direct "Suffering Man's Charity" later released as "Ghost Writer".  He had prominent roles in the "Spy Kids" trilogy (as Fegan Floop), "X2" (as Kurt Wagner/Nightcrawler), Stanley Kubrick's "Eyes Wide Shut" and played Saturninus in the 1999 Julie Taymor film production of "Titus". His many other films include "Investigating Sex", "Josie and the Pussycats", "Get Carter", "Plunkett and Macleane", "Son of the Mask", "The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas", "Full Grown Men", "Spice World", "Burlesque", "The Tempest", "Boogie Woogie" and the animated films "", "Jackboots on Whitehall". He also voiced "Gutsy Smurf" in The Smurfs (film) and The Smurfs 2 (film).  Earlier in his career, Cumming also directed two short films, "Butter" and "Burn Your Phone". The latter began its life as a one-off drama on BBC Radio 4.

Television.

United Kingdom.

In December 1984 Cumming made his TV debut in "ITV Granada"'s "Travelling Man", before going on to appear later in the 1980s in the Scottish Television series "Take the High Road", "Taggart" and Shadow of the Stone. His breakthrough role was as Bernard Bottle in the Christmas 1991 BBC comedy "Bernard and the Genie", a Richard Curtis-scripted film in which he starred alongside Lenny Henry and Rowan Atkinson. He also featured in a comic relief sketch in 1993 on the popular UK TV show Blind Date with Atkinson playing Mr. Bean. Cumming went on to star as flight attendant Sebastian Flight in the BBC2 sitcom "The High Life" in 1995. The series was written by Cumming and co-star Forbes Masson, continuing an acting-writing partnership the two had developed since their drama school days. Also in 1995, Cumming appeared in the series "Ghosts".  Cumming returned to British TV screens in 2011 to star as Desrae, a crossdresser, on the Sky series "The Runaway". He has also made several documentaries: "My Brilliant Britain", about Scottish humour, "The Real Cabaret" in which he investigated the Weimar cabaret artistes and the BBC's "Who Do You Think You Are?" in 2010 in which he discovered his maternal grandfather was a war hero who had died playing Russian roulette.  In 2018, he also played King James on the eleventh series of "Doctor Who".

United States.

He played Eli Gold on the CBS television show "The Good Wife". He appeared as a guest star in the latter third of the first season, becoming a series regular in the show's 2010–2011 season.  In 2016 NBC's First Look travel programme visited Scotland for a special episode, fronting Alan Cumming. It featured areas of the country that are important to Alan Cumming and showcased Scotland through his eyes. The programme was named Best Lifestyle Programme at the Emmys' 60th annual awards ceremony at New York's Marriott Marquis Broadway Ballroom.  Alan Cumming was cast as the lead character in the CBS series "Instinct", as an academic seeking to help the NYPD solve crimes.

Theatre.

Cumming began his theatre career in his native Scotland, performing in seasons with the Royal Lyceum Edinburgh, Dundee Rep, The Tron Glasgow and tours with Borderline, Theatre Workshop, and Glasgow Citizens' TAG. He played Slupianek in the Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh's 1988 production of "Conquest of the South Pole", which later transferred to the Royal Court in London and earned him an Olivier Award nomination as Most Promising Newcomer. He went on to perform plays with the Bristol Old Vic and the Royal Shakespeare Company and played Valere in "La Bete" at the Lyric, Hammersmith, London. In 1991 he played The Madman in the 1990 Royal National Theatre production of "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" by Dario Fo, for which he won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Comedy Performance. He also adapted the play with director Tim Supple. In 1993 he received great critical acclaim and the TMA Best Actor award for playing title role in the 1993 English Touring Theatre's "Hamlet" (playing opposite his then-wife, Hilary Lyon, in the role of Ophelia).He played the role of The Master of Ceremonies in Sam Mendes's 1993 revival of the musical "Cabaret" in London's West End opposite Jane Horrocks as Sally Bowles. He received an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical. He reprised the role in 1998 for the Mendes-Rob Marshall Broadway revival, this time opposite Natasha Richardson as Sally Bowles. He won a Tony Award, Drama Desk Award, and Outer Critics Circle Award for his performance.  Other US stage roles include Otto in the 2001 Broadway production of "Design for Living" by Noël Coward, Mac the Knife in Bertolt Brecht-Kurt Weill musical "The Threepenny Opera" opposite Cyndi Lauper. Cumming performed alongside Dianne Wiest in Classic Stage Company's production of Anton Chekhov's "The Seagull", directed by Viacheslav Dolgachev. In 2002, Cumming and then-boyfriend British director Nick Philippou formed the production company "The Art Party". The company's first and only play was the first English production of Jean Genet's play "Elle", which Cumming had adapted from a literal translation by Terri Gordon. The company folded in 2003.  In 2006, he returned to the West End playing the lead role in "Bent", a play about homosexuals in Germany under the Nazis. In 2007, he took the lead role in the National Theatre of Scotland's production of "The Bacchae", directed by John Tiffany, which premiéred at the Edinburgh International Festival in August, transferring to the Lyric Theatre in London and then to Lincoln Center, New York, winning him Herald Archangel award.  He collaborated again with Tiffany and the National Theatre of Scotland in 2012, playing all the roles in "Macbeth". He brought this critically acclaimed production of "Macbeth "to New York's Lincoln Center in 2012 and to a 73-show Broadway engagement at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in 2013. "Macbeth" concluded its run on Broadway on 14 July 2013.  In 2014, he returned again to Broadway to star in Roundabout Theater Company's revival production of "Cabaret", directed again by Sam Mendes. Starring opposite Michelle Williams, "Cabaret" opened 24 April 2014 and closed 29 March 2015. The run was extended originally from its 24-week engagement. The role of Sally has changed throughout the production when Williams left to include Emma Stone and Sienna Miller.  In 2020, he played in Endgame at the Old Vic co-starring with Daniel Radcliffe.

Other work.

Cumming's novel, "Tommy's Tale", was published in 2002. He has also written articles for magazines, notably as a contributing editor for "Marie Claire" magazine, writing on the haute couture shows in Paris, as well as what it was like for him dressing as a woman for a day. He also contributed articles to "Newsweek", "Modern Painters", "Out", "Black Book" and "The Wall Street Journal". He has also written introductions and prefaces to various books, including the works of Nancy Mitford, Andy Warhol, and Christopher Isherwood and wrote a chapter of "If You Had Five Minutes with the President", a collection of 55+ essays by members or supporters of The Creative Coalition. In September 2017, Cumming and promoter Daniel Nardicio opened a bar in Manhattan's East Village called Club Cumming.

Personal life.

In March 2005, Cumming received the Vito Russo Award at the 16th Annual GLAAD Media Awards for outstanding contributions toward eliminating homophobia. In July of the same year, he was also presented with the HRC's Humanitarian Award in San Francisco, also for his LGBT public stance. In November 2006, Cumming received a Doctor of Arts honorary degree from the University of Abertay Dundee. He also is a patron of the Scottish Youth Theatre, Scotland's National Theatre "for and by" young people. Cumming was appointed an OBE in the 2009 Queen's Birthday Honours List for services to film, theatre and the arts, and activism for LGBT rights. Cumming has also been honored for his activism and humanitarian work by organizations such as the Trevor Project and the Matthew Shepard Foundation.  Cumming is bisexual. He lives in Manhattan with his husband, illustrator Grant Shaffer, and their dogs, Jerry and Lala. The couple dated for two years before becoming civil partners at the Old Royal Naval College in Greenwich, London, on 7 January 2007. Cumming and Shaffer legally married in New York on 7 January 2012, the fifth anniversary of their London union.  Previous relationships include an eight-year marriage to actress Hilary Lyon, a two-year relationship with actress Saffron Burrows, and a six-year relationship with theatre director Nick Philippou. In 2006, Cumming stated that he "would dearly like to adopt a child", but that his life was "too hectic" for children.  On 7 November 2008, Cumming became a dual-national and was sworn in as a citizen of the United States of America at a ceremony in New York City.  Cumming has promoted LGBT rights, MC-ing and attending fundraisers for organisations such as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), and taking part in an Equality Network video campaign, from New York, promoting the legalisation of same-sex marriage in Scotland. Cumming also supports several AIDS charities, including the American Foundation for AIDS Research (AMFAR) and Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, and is also a patron of NORM-UK, an English-registered charity concerned with foreskin health and matters related to circumcision; he has condemned the practice of routine infant circumcision, particularly in the United States where it is common.  In 2014, he was the final sitter for Sky Arts Portrait Artist of the Year winner Christian Hook. The portrait in now part of the permanent collection at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery.  Cumming has stated that since 2012 he has maintained a vegan lifestyle. PETA awarded him its Humanitarian Award in 2017.  He is a supporter of the Scottish National Party and Scottish independence. Cumming endorsed Senator Bernie Sanders in the 2016 presidential election.

Alan Cumming (born 27 January 1965) is a Scottish–American actor, comedian, singer, writer, filmmaker, and activist who has acted in numerous films, television shows, and plays. His London stage appearances include "Hamlet", the Maniac in "Accidental Death of an Anarchist" (for which he received an Olivier Award), the lead in "Bent", and The National Theatre of Scotland's "The Bacchae". On Broadway, he has appeared in "The Threepenny Opera", as the master of ceremonies in "Cabaret" (for which he won a Tony Award), "Design for Living" and a one-man adaptation of "Macbeth". His best-known film roles include his performances in "Emma", "GoldenEye", the "Spy Kids" trilogy, "Son of the Mask", and "X2". Cumming also introduces "Masterpiece Mystery!" for PBS and appeared on "The Good Wife", for which he has been nominated for three Primetime Emmy Awards, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Golden Globe Awards and a Satellite Award. A filming of his Las Vegas cabaret show, "Alan Cumming Sings Sappy Songs", aired on PBS stations in November 2016.

艾伦·康明(英语:Alan Cumming,1965年-1月27日),OBE,是一名苏格兰男演员,亦发展音乐、写作及其他事业。