History.

According to Jānis-Ēriks Piebalgs, President of Latvian Novuss Federation, the game was first played in Northern Europe, particularly Latvia and Estonia around 1925–1927. According to "Korona õpetus" (1930) novus was brought to the Baltic countries from Northern Europe by the seamen. Among the countries Germany and Sweden are mentioned.  The game appears to have developed from billiards as a ship-board game. The compact size of the board and comparatively stationary nature of the discs in response to the rocking of the vessel on the water made it practical as an onboard game. It has been called the equivalent of "sea billiards" in some languages such as Russian.  Latvian seamen, while visiting ports of England, played a similar game in the local pubs. The first tables were made from blueprints brought back from England. In the beginning, novuss was played in the port cities Ventspils, Liepāja, and Tallinn. In some countries, novuss is also known by Estonian name'(archaic for 'crown', modern ') or a local variant. The oldest known record of the rules of the game printed in a book dates to 1930 (book in Estonian, called "Korona õpetus"). Before that the rules were printed in Estonian magazines and newspapers. In Estonia the first known novus clubs were formed in 1927. The first competitions were held before the year 1930 (mentioned in "Korona õpetus") and official rules were needed. In Latvia, the game spread even more quickly than in Estonia, and soon emerged as a national sport. The first professional competition took place in 1932, in which Albert Raminsch won 1st place. The Finnish toy company Juho Jussila introduced the game, known as "korona", in Finland in 1944. The Latvian Novuss Federation was founded on 6 December 1963. National Championships have been held since 1964 in singles and since 1966 in team competitions. Men's, women's and junior's (up to 15 years old) divisions have been established.  In 1980, the Novuss community contained around 55,000 members. In the meantime, district, city, national and world championships are regularly organized. Novuss became one of the three most popular sports in Latvia.  The game is further establishing itself in the United States, Canada, Israel, Georgia, Ukraine, Australia, England, Russia, Finland and Germany. The International Novuss Championship has been held annually, beginning in 1993, with teams from countries where Novuss has a large following, especially Latvia and Estonia.  Novuss was integrated into the roster of the first Baltic Children's Olympics on 30 September 2006.

' (also known as'or ) is a two-player (or four-player, doubles) game of physical skill which is closely related to carrom and pocket billiards. Novuss is a national sport in Latvia. The board is approximately square, typically made of wood, has in each corner, and lines marked on the surface. The board is usually placed on a stand, but may be placed on a barrel or other surface that allows the pockets to hang down properly. It uses small discs instead of balls, and each player has a small puck instead of the used in other cue sports. Players use a small cue stick to propel their pucks into their colored object discs (the novuss equivalent of s), knocking them into the pockets. The winner is the first one to sink all eight of their object discs (of which there are sixteen in total in two different-coloured sets, plus the two pucks).

康乐球,又名康乐棋、克郎球、克郎棋,是一项技巧性的撞击球运动,使用球杆将球打入球台四角的洞内,以达成特定目的,打法与规则类似于台球,流行于中国,有「中国斯诺克」、「平民斯诺克」之称。


Definition for non-negative integer parameters l and "m".

These functions are denoted formula_3, where the superscript indicates the order, and not a power of "P". Their most straightforward definition is in terms of derivatives of ordinary Legendre polynomials ("m" ≥ 0)  The (−1) factor in this formula is known as the Condon–Shortley phase. Some authors omit it. The functions described by this equation satisfy the general Legendre differential equation with the indicated values of the parameters l and "m" follows by differentiating "m" times the Legendre equation for "P":  Moreover, since by Rodrigues' formula,  the "P" can be expressed in the form  This equation allows extension of the range of "m" to: −l ≤ "m" ≤ l. The definitions of "P", resulting from this expression by substitution of ±"m", are proportional. Indeed, equate the coefficients of equal powers on the left and right hand side of then it follows that the proportionality constant is so that

Alternative notations.

The following alternative notations are also used in literature:

Closed Form.

The Associated Legendre Polynomial can also be written as: with simple monomials and the generalized form of the binomial coefficient.

Orthogonality.

Assuming 0 ≤ "m" ≤ l, they satisfy the orthogonality condition for fixed "m":  Where δ is the Kronecker delta.  Also, they satisfy the orthogonality condition for fixed l:

Negative "m" and/or negative l.

The differential equation is clearly invariant under a change in sign of "m".  The functions for negative "m" were shown above to be proportional to those of positive "m":  formula_16  The differential equation is also invariant under a change from l to −l − 1, and the functions for negative l are defined by

Parity.

From their definition, one can verify that the Associated Legendre functions are either even or odd according to

The first few associated Legendre functions.

The first few associated Legendre functions, including those for negative values of "m", are:

Recurrence formula.

These functions have a number of recurrence properties:  Helpful identities (initial values for the first recursion):  with!! the double factorial.

Gaunt's formula.

The integral over the product of three associated Legendre polynomials (with orders matching as shown below) is a necessary ingredient when developing products of Legendre polynomials into a series linear in the Legendre polynomials. For instance, this turns out to be necessary when doing atomic calculations of the Hartree–Fock variety where matrix elements of the Coulomb operator are needed. For this we have Gaunt's formula  This formula is to be used under the following assumptions:  Other quantities appearing in the formula are defined as  The integral is zero unless  Dong and Lemus (2002) generalized the derivation of this formula to integrals over a product of an arbitrary number of associated Legendre polynomials.

Generalization via hypergeometric functions.

These functions may actually be defined for general complex parameters and argument:  where formula_72 is the gamma function and formula_73 is the hypergeometric function  They are called the Legendre functions when defined in this more general way. They satisfy the same differential equation as before:  Since this is a second order differential equation, it has a second solution, formula_76, defined as:  formula_78 and formula_76 both obey the various recurrence formulas given previously.

Reparameterization in terms of angles.

These functions are most useful when the argument is reparameterized in terms of angles, letting formula_80:  Using the relation formula_82, the list given above yields the first few polynomials, parameterized this way, as:  The orthogonality relations given above become in this formulation: for fixed "m", formula_84 are orthogonal, parameterized by θ over formula_85, with weight formula_86:  Also, for fixed l:  In terms of θ, formula_89 are solutions of  More precisely, given an integer "m"formula_910, the above equation has nonsingular solutions only when formula_92 for l an integer ≥ "m", and those solutions are proportional to formula_89.

Applications in physics: spherical harmonics.

In many occasions in physics, associated Legendre polynomials in terms of angles occur where spherical symmetry is involved. The colatitude angle in spherical coordinates is the angle formula_94 used above. The longitude angle, formula_95, appears in a multiplying factor. Together, they make a set of functions called spherical harmonics. These functions express the symmetry of the two-sphere under the action of the Lie group SO(3).  What makes these functions useful is that they are central to the solution of the equation formula_96 on the surface of a sphere. In spherical coordinates θ (colatitude) and φ (longitude), the Laplacian is  When the partial differential equation  is solved by the method of separation of variables, one gets a φ-dependent part formula_99 or formula_100 for integer m≥0, and an equation for the θ-dependent part  for which the solutions are formula_89 with formula_103 and formula_104.  Therefore, the equation  has nonsingular separated solutions only when formula_104, and those solutions are proportional to  and  For each choice of l, there are functions for the various values of "m" and choices of sine and cosine. They are all orthogonal in both l and "m" when integrated over the surface of the sphere.  The solutions are usually written in terms of complex exponentials:  The functions formula_110 are the spherical harmonics, and the quantity in the square root is a normalizing factor. Recalling the relation between the associated Legendre functions of positive and negative "m", it is easily shown that the spherical harmonics satisfy the identity  The spherical harmonic functions form a complete orthonormal set of functions in the sense of Fourier series. Workers in the fields of geodesy, geomagnetism and spectral analysis use a different phase and normalization factor than given here (see spherical harmonics).  When a 3-dimensional spherically symmetric partial differential equation is solved by the method of separation of variables in spherical coordinates, the part that remains after removal of the radial part is typically of the form  and hence the solutions are spherical harmonics.

Generalizations.

The Legendre polynomials are closely related to hypergeometric series. In the form of spherical harmonics, they express the symmetry of the two-sphere under the action of the Lie group SO(3). There are many other Lie groups besides SO(3), and an analogous generalization of the Legendre polynomials exist to express the symmetries of semi-simple Lie groups and Riemannian symmetric spaces. Crudely speaking, one may define a Laplacian on symmetric spaces; the eigenfunctions of the Laplacian can be thought of as generalizations of the spherical harmonics to other settings.

In mathematics, the associated Legendre polynomials are the canonical solutions of the general Legendre equation

伴随勒让德多项式(Associated Legendre polynomials,又译缔合勒让德多项式、连带勒让德多项式、关联勒让德多项式)是数学上对如下形式常微分方程解函数序列的称呼: 该方程是在球坐标系下求解拉普拉斯方程时得到的,在数学和理论物理学中有重要的意义。


Life.

Grigoris Balakian was born in Tokat in the Ottoman Empire, and graduated from the Sanasarian College in Erzurum. He had been studying architecture in Germany for two years and got a degree in civil engineering. He became a celibate priest ordained under the monastic name Grigoris Balakian. On 24 April 1915 he was among the group of 250 leading Armenian figures of Constantinople who were arrested and deported.  One group was deported to Ayaş. Balakian was deported to Çankırı, north-east of Ankara with the rest of the 190 other deportees from the capital. Only 16 of them would survive. He marched with 48 deportees from Çankırı in the direction of Deir ez-Zor in the Syrian desert. On the way Balakian won the confidence of captain of constabulary Shukri Bey and learned about the Ottoman government's plan to exterminate the whole Armenian population. Balakian was able to flee toward Islahie. He joined a group of workers on the Bagdad-railway where Turkish deserters did forced labor alongside Armenian refugees. While Armenian workers between Marash and Bartche were being slain, Balakian fled to another construction site on the Bagdad railway. He was helped by German engineers and finally succeeded – disguised as Herr Bernstein – in escaping from Constantinople to Paris.  At the 1921 trial in Berlin against Soghomon Tehlirian, the murderer of Talât Pasha, Balakian appeared as a witness for the defendant together with Johannes Lepsius. Soghomon Tehlirian was ultimately acquitted.  Balakian became prelate of Manchester, London and finally bishop of Marseille. Two churches were built under his guidance in Marseille and Nice (St. Mary, 1928) as well as a number of chapels and schools. He died in Marseille.  Balakian is the granduncle of literary critics Anna Balakian (an expert on symbolism and surrealism who chaired New York University's Department of Comparative Literature) and Nona Balakian (an editor at the New York Times Sunday Book Review and a founder of the National Book Critics Circle) as well as the great-granduncle of Peter Balakian, an Armenian-American writer and winner of the 2016 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

Achievements.

Balakian's memoirs in "Armenian Golgotha" are an important eyewitness account of the genocide. He describes his experiences during the deportation. Balakian was one of the few surviving leaders of the Armenian community who gave an account of the deportation.  Komitas Vartapet belonged to the same group of detainees as Balakian. His information about the traumatization of the famous composer and founder of modern Armenian classical music are of eminent importance

Grigoris Balakian () 1875 – 8 October 1934), was a bishop of the Armenian Apostolic Church, in addition to being a survivor and memoirist of the Armenian Genocide.

格里戈里·巴拉希扬(英语:Grigoris Balakian,,1875年-1934年-10月8日),亚美尼亚使徒教会的主教,亚美尼亚大屠杀幸存者,撰有回忆录。


Description.

The groundhog is by far the largest sciurid in its geographical range, excepting British Columbia where its range may abut that of its somewhat larger cousin, the hoary marmot. Adults may measure from in total length including a tail of. Weights of adult groundhogs, typically at least, fall between.  Male groundhogs average slightly larger than females and, like all marmots, they are considerably heavier during autumn (when engaged in autumn hyperphagia) than when emerging from hibernation in spring. Adult males average year-around weight, with spring to fall average weights of while females average, with spring to fall averages of. Seasonal weight changes indicate circannual deposition and use of fat. Groundhogs attain progressively higher weights each year for the first two or three years, after which weight plateaus.  Groundhogs have four incisor teeth which grow 1.5 mm ( inch) per week. Constant usage wears them down again by about that much each week. Unlike the incisors of many other rodents, the incisors of groundhogs are white to ivory-white. Groundhogs are well-adapted for digging, with short, powerful limbs and curved, thick claws. Unlike other sciurids, the groundhog's tail is comparably shorter—only about one-fourth of body length.

Etymology.

The etymology of the name "woodchuck" is unrelated to wood or chucking. It stems from an Algonquian (possibly Narragansett) name for the animal, "wuchak". The similarity between the words has led to the popular tongue-twister:

Distribution and habitat.

The groundhog prefers open country and the edges of woodland, and is rarely far from a burrow entrance. "Marmota monax" has a wide geographic range. It is typically found in low-elevation forests, small woodlots, fields, pastures and hedgerows. It constructs dens in well-drained soil, and most have summer and winter dens. Human activity has increased food access and abundance allowing "M. monax" to thrive.

Survival.

In the wild, groundhogs can live up to six years with two or three being average. In captivity, groundhogs reportedly live up to 14 years. Human development, which often produces openings juxtaposed with second growth trees that are incidentally also favored by groundhogs, often ensures that groundhogs in well-developed areas are nearly free of predators, beyond humans (through various forms of pest control or roadkills) or mid-to-large sized dogs.  Wild predators of adult groundhogs in most of eastern North America include coyotes, badgers, bobcats and foxes (largely only red fox). Many of these predators are successful stealth stalkers so can catch groundhogs by surprise before the large rodents can escape to their burrows; badgers likely hunt them by digging them out from their burrows. Coyotes in particular are sizable enough to overpower any groundhog, with the latter being the third most significant prey species per a statewide study in Pennsylvania.  Large predators such as gray wolf and eastern cougar are basically extirpated in the east but still may hunt groundhogs on occasion in Canada. Golden eagles can also prey on adult groundhogs but seldom occurs in the range of this marmot as can reportedly great horned owls, but this owl rarely does especially given the temporal differences of its nocturnal habits.  Young groundhogs (usually those less than a couple months) may also be taken by American mink, perhaps other smallish mustelids, cats, timber rattlesnakes and hawks, though red-tailed hawks can take groundhogs at least of up to the size of yearling juveniles and northern goshawks can take up to perhaps weak emergent adult groundhogs in spring.  Groundhogs, beyond their large size have several successful anti-predator behaviors, usually retreating to the safety of their burrow which most predators will not attempt to enter but will readily fight off any of those who press the attack with their sharp claws and large incisors. They can also scale trees to escape a threat.  Occasionally woodchucks may suffer from parasitism and a woodchuck may die from infestation or from bacteria transmitted by vectors. In areas of intensive agriculture and dairying regions of the state of Wisconsin, particularly the southern parts, the woodchuck by 1950 had been almost extirpated. Jackson (1961) suggested the amount of damage done by the woodchuck had been exaggerated and that excessive persecution by people substantially reduced its numbers in Wisconsin.  In some areas marmots are important game animals and are killed regularly for sport, food, or fur. In Kentucky an estimated 267,500 "M. monax" were taken annually from 1964 to 1971 (Barbour and Davis 1974) Woodchucks had protected status in the state of Wisconsin until 2017. Woodchuck numbers appear to have decreased in Illinois.

Behavior.

The time spent observing groundhogs by field biologists represents only a small fraction of time devoted to the field research. W.J. Schoonmaker reports that groundhogs may hide when they see, smell or hear the observer. Ken Armitage, marmot researcher, states that the social biology of the groundhog is poorly studied. Despite their heavy-bodied appearance, groundhogs are accomplished swimmers and occasionally climb trees when escaping predators or when they want to survey their surroundings. They prefer to retreat to their burrows when threatened; if the burrow is invaded, the groundhog tenaciously defends itself with its two large incisors and front claws. Groundhogs are generally agonistic and territorial among their own species and may skirmish to establish dominance. Outside their burrow, individuals are alert when not actively feeding. It is common to see one or more nearly-motionless individuals standing erect on their hind feet watching for danger. When alarmed, they use a high-pitched whistle to warn the rest of the colony, hence the name "whistle-pig". Groundhogs may squeal when fighting, seriously injured, or caught by a predator. Other sounds groundhogs may make are low barks and a sound produced by grinding their teeth. David P. Barash wrote he witnessed only two occasions of upright play-fighting among woodchucks and that the upright posture of play-fighting involves sustained physical contact between individuals and may require a degree of social tolerance virtually unknown in "M. monax". He said it was possible to conclude, alternatively, that upright play-fighting is part of the woodchuck's behavioral repertory but rarely shown because of physical spacing and/or low social tolerance.

Diet.

Mostly herbivorous, groundhogs eat primarily wild grasses and other vegetation, including berries and agricultural crops, when available. In early spring, dandelion and coltsfoot are important groundhog food items. Some additional foods include sheep sorrel, timothy-grass, buttercup, tearthumb, agrimony, red and black raspberries, mulberries, buckwheat, plantain, wild lettuce, all varieties of clover, and alfalfa. Groundhogs also occasionally eat grubs, grasshoppers, insects, snails and other small animals, but are not as omnivorous as many other Sciuridae.  Groundhogs will occasionally eat baby birds they come upon by accident. An adult groundhog will eat more than a pound of vegetation daily. In early June, woodchucks' metabolism slows, food intake increases, their weight increases by as much as 100% as they produce fat deposits to sustain them during hibernation and late winter. Instead of storing food, groundhogs stuff themselves to survive the winter without eating. Thought not to drink water, groundhogs are reported to obtain needed liquids from the juices of food-plants, aided by their sprinkling with rain or dew.

Burrows.

Groundhogs are excellent burrowers, using burrows for sleeping, rearing young, and hibernating. W. J. Schoonmaker excavated 11 dens finding the earth removed from these averaged six cubic feet or four and eight-tenths bushels per den. The longest burrow was 24 feet plus 2 short side galleries. The amount of soil taken from this den was eight bushels and it weighed 640 pounds. The average weight of the earth taken from all eleven dens was 384 pounds. Though groundhogs are the most solitary of the marmots, several individuals may occupy the same burrow. Groundhog burrows usually have two to five entrances, providing groundhogs their primary means of escape from predators. Burrows can pose a serious threat to agricultural and residential development by damaging farm machinery and even undermining building foundations. In a June 7, 2009 Humane Society of the United States article, "How to Humanely Chuck a Woodchuck Out of Your Yard", John Griffin, director of Humane Wildlife Services, stated you would have to have a lot of woodchucks working over a lot of years to create tunnel systems that would pose any risk to a structure.  The burrow is used for safety, retreat in bad weather, hibernating, sleeping, love nest, and nursery. In addition to the nest, there is an excrement chamber. The nest chamber may be about twenty inches to three feet below ground surface. It is about sixteen inches wide and fourteen inches high. There are typically two burrow openings or holes. One is the main entrance, the other a spy hole. Description of the length of the burrow often includes side galleries. Excluding side galleries, Schoonmaker reports the longest was twenty-four feet, and the average length of eleven dens was fourteen feet. W. H. Fisher investigated nine burrows, finding the deepest point forty-nine inches down. The longest, including side galleries, was forty-seven feet, eleven and one half inches. Numbers of burrows per individual groundhog decreases with urbanization.  Bachman mentioned that when the young groundhogs are a few months old, they prepare for separation, digging a number of holes in the area of their early home. Some of these holes were only a few feet deep and never occupied but the numerous burrows gave the impression that groundhogs live in communities.

Hibernation.

Groundhogs are one of the few species that enter into true hibernation, and often build a separate "winter burrow" for this purpose. This burrow is usually in a wooded or brushy area and is dug below the frost line and remains at a stable temperature well above freezing during the winter months. In most areas, groundhogs hibernate from October to March or April, but in more temperate areas, they may hibernate as little as three months. Groundhogs hibernate longer in northern latitudes than southern latitudes. To survive the winter, they are at their maximum weight shortly before entering hibernation. When the groundhog enters hibernation, there is a drop in body temperature to as low as 35 degrees Fahrenheit, heart rate falls to 4–10 beats per minute and breathing rate falls to one breath every six minutes. During hibernation, they experience periods of torpor and arousal. Hibernating woodchucks lose as much as half their body weight by February. They emerge from hibernation with some remaining body fat to live on until the warmer spring weather produces abundant plant materials for food. Males emerge from hibernation before females. Groundhogs are mostly diurnal, and are often active early in the morning or late afternoon.

Reproduction.

Usually groundhogs breed in their second year, but a small proportion may breed in their first. The breeding season extends from early March to mid- or late April, after hibernation. A mated pair remains in the same den throughout the 31- to 32-day gestation period. As birth of the young approaches in April or May, the male leaves the den. One litter is produced annually, usually containing two to six blind, hairless and helpless young. Groundhog mothers introduce their young to the wild once their fur is grown in and they can see. At this time, if at all, the father groundhog comes back to the family. By the end of August, the family breaks up; or at least, the larger number scatter, to burrow on their own.

Relationship with humans.

Both their diet and habit of burrowing make them serious nuisance animals around farms and gardens. They will eat many commonly grown vegetables, and their burrows can destroy farm ponds and undermine foundations.  Very often the dens of groundhogs provide homes for other animals including skunks, red foxes, and cottontail rabbits. The fox and skunk feed upon field mice, grasshoppers, beetles and other creatures that destroy farm crops. In aiding these animals, the groundhog indirectly helps the farmer. In addition to providing homes for itself and other animals, the groundhog aids in soil improvement by bringing subsoil to the surface. The groundhog is also a valuable game animal and is considered a difficult sport when hunted in a fair manner. In some parts of the U.S., they have been eaten.  A report in 1883 by the New Hampshire Legislative Woodchuck Committee humorously describes the groundhog's objectionable character:  The committee concludes that "a small bounty will prove of incalculable good; at all events, even as an experiment, it is certainly worth trying; therefore your committee would respectfully recommend that the accompanying bill be passed."  Groundhogs may be raised in captivity, but their aggressive nature can pose problems. Doug Schwartz, a zookeeper and groundhog trainer at the Staten Island Zoo, has been quoted as saying "They’re known for their aggression, so you’re starting from a hard place. His natural impulse is to kill ’em all and let God sort ’em out. You have to work to produce the sweet and cuddly." Groundhogs cared for in wildlife rehabilitation that survive but cannot be returned to the wild may remain with their caregivers and become educational ambassadors.  In the United States and Canada, the yearly February 2 Groundhog Day celebration has given the groundhog recognition and popularity. The most popularly known of these groundhogs are Punxsutawney Phil, Wiarton Willie, Jimmy the Groundhog, Dunkirk Dave, and Staten Island Chuck kept as part of Groundhog Day festivities in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania; Wiarton, Ontario; Sun Prairie, Wisconsin; Dunkirk, New York; and Staten Island respectively. The 1993 comedy film "Groundhog Day" references several events related to Groundhog Day, and portrays both Punxsutawney Phil himself, and the annual Groundhog Day ceremony. Famous Southern groundhogs include General Beauregard Lee, based at the Dauset Trails Nature Center outside Atlanta, Georgia.  Groundhogs are used in medical research on hepatitis B-induced liver cancer. A percentage of the woodchuck population is infected with the woodchuck hepatitis virus (WHV), similar to human hepatitis B virus. Humans do not receive hepatitis from woodchucks with WHV but the virus and its effects on the liver make the woodchuck the best available animal for the study of viral hepatitis in humans. The only other animal model for hepatitis B virus studies is the chimpanzee, an endangered species. Woodchucks are also used in biomedical research investigating metabolic function, obesity, energy balance, the endocrine system, reproduction, neurology, cardiovascular disease, cerebrovascular disease, and neoplastic disease. Researching the hibernation patterns of groundhogs may lead to benefits for humans, including lowering of the heart rate in complicated surgical procedures.  Groundhog burrows have revealed at least two archaeological sites, the Ufferman Site in the U.S. state of Ohio and Meadowcroft Rockshelter in Pennsylvania. Archaeologists have never excavated the Ufferman Site, but the activities of local groundhogs have revealed numerous artifacts. They favor the loose soil of the esker at the site lies, and their burrow digging has brought many objects to the surface: human and animal bones, pottery, and bits of stone. Woodchuck remains were found in the Indian mounds at Aztalan, Jefferson County, Wisconsin.  Robert Frost's poem "A Drumlin Woodchuck" uses the imagery of a groundhog dug into a small ridge as a metaphor for his emotional reticence.

The groundhog ("Marmota monax"), also known as a woodchuck, is a rodent of the family Sciuridae, belonging to the group of large ground squirrels known as marmots. It was first scientifically described by Carl Linnaeus in 1758.

美洲旱獭(学名 "Marmota monax")又称北美土拨鼠,是旱獭属的一种哺乳动物。其毛呈灰褐色,体态肥胖,一般北美土拨鼠体长40到65厘米,重约2到4千克,一些大型的品种体长达80厘米,重14千克。其前爪灵活有力,擅长挖洞。这种土拨鼠分布于美国和加拿大。


Club career.

Early career.

Born in Pamplona, Navarre, Almunia started his senior career with CA Osasuna's reserves in 1995, going on to spend four seasons with the team in Segunda División B. Subsequently, he stayed in the same level, where he represented FC Cartagonova and CE Sabadell FC.  In the summer of 2001, Almunia first reached La Liga, after signing with RC Celta de Vigo. He never represented the club officially however, being loaned to SD Eibar (where he won the Ricardo Zamora Trophy in Segunda División for the 2001–02 campaign), Recreativo de Huelva and Albacete Balompié, the last two in the top flight.  Playing understudy to José Antonio Luque and César at "Recre", Almunia's debut in the Spanish top flight came on 17 November 2002, following a red card to the latter in a 0–3 away loss against Deportivo Alavés. It was one of only two league appearances during the season, as the Andalusians suffered relegation after ranking 18th.  At Albacete Balompié, Almunia started as backup to Carlos Roa. However, after the Argentine came down with illness he became first-choice, going on to help his team easily escape relegation through a 14th-place finish; his first league appearance was on 9 November 2003, in a 0–1 home defeat to Málaga CF as Roa was suspended.

Arsenal.

Almunia joined Arsenal on 14 July 2004 for an undisclosed sum, to provide backup to Jens Lehmann. He made his debut for his new team on 27 October in a 2–1 win at Manchester City for the season's League Cup, and his maiden Premier League appearance came on 4 December against Birmingham City; the highlight of his first year came in the fifth round of the FA Cup, a replay at Sheffield United: with the game finishing 0–0 after extra time and heading to penalties, he saved Alan Quinn and Jon Harley's attempts to book his team a place in the quarter-finals, and was an unused substitute in the final win over Manchester United.  In the 2005–06 campaign, Almunia continued as second-choice to Lehmann, but found himself thrust into the spotlight when he replaced Robert Pires in the 20th minute of the final of the UEFA Champions League against FC Barcelona, as the German was sent off. He performed well for the most part, only conceding both goals in the 1–2 loss late in the game.  2006–07 brought Almunia 14 appearances in all competitions. This included the League Cup final, lost to Chelsea. He and Lehmann were by all accounts rivals off the pitch as well. In an interview with German television in October 2007, speaking about manager Arsène Wenger's decision to drop him in favour of the Spaniard, Lehmann said: “It’s possible that some day I’ll feel like talking about the whole issue. But at the moment I’m just swallowing it all as part of the humiliation. But I think – and this is aimed at my dear manager – one shouldn’t humiliate players for too long. I won’t just fade away quietly. Almunia has not yet showed he can win matches for us. I’ve experienced this before and know what the others are expecting from the goalkeeper.” Five months later, Almunia responded: “I treat people the way I would like to be treated myself. To have someone here who hates me is just amazing. Every morning I wake up I know it is going to be the same. But I don’t care any more. I come into training and work with Łukasz Fabiański and Vito Mannone. They are better than him anyway.”  Almunia finally won the battle for first-choice duties in the 2007–08 season. Highlights included saving a penalty from Robbie Keane to help Arsenal beat Tottenham Hotspur 2–1. He was given the number one shirt after Lehmann left for VfB Stuttgart at the beginning of the 2008–09 campaign, and he saved another important penalty on 21 March 2009, this time from Newcastle United's Obafemi Martins in a 3–1 victory. In June 2008 he signed a new four-year contract with the English club, but his subsequent performances were highly inconsistent, with brilliant displays in the Champions League semi-final first leg against Manchester United and the 2010 Champions League quarter-finals against Barcelona, and poorly received ones which resulted in rumours arising that he would be sold. Despite the speculation, Almunia started 2010–11 as first-choice. However, on 25 September against West Bromwich Albion, he conceded a penalty (which he saved), let a weak shot slip through the near post and was caught out of position in the opposition's third goal; he lost his place through injury and, upon his return, found himself third-choice behind the Polish duo of Fabiański and Wojciech Szczęsny.  Almunia made a return to the team on 30 January 2011 against Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup, and went on to play both games in the next round against Leyton Orient. On 8 March, he came on as a 19th-minute substitute for the injured Szczęsny against Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League last-16 stage, and made a series of saves as Arsenal lost 1–3 at the Camp Nou to exit the tournament, 3–4 on aggregate; he was voted man of the match by fans on the club's official website.  With Szczęsny (dislocated finger), Fabianski (shoulder) and Mannone all out with injury, Almunia again became Arsenal's first-choice. On 19 March, during a 2–2 draw at West Bromwich, he was caught out of position along with Sébastien Squillaci, gifting the home team their second goal; already with Lehmann back in the club as an emergency signing, he injured his knee during warm-up of the fixture against Blackpool, and did not appear in any more matches for the rest of the season.  On 30 September 2011, Almunia signed an initial one-month emergency loan deal with Championship club West Ham United after Robert Green was ruled out for six weeks with a knee cartilage injury. He made his debut for the Hammers on 1 October in a 2–2 away draw against Crystal Palace but, at the end of October and with Green's return to fitness, he returned to Arsenal.  On 22 May 2012, Arsenal announced that Almunia and six other players would be released from their contracts as of 30 June.

Watford.

In July 2012, aged 35, Almunia signed a one-year contract with Championship's Watford, replacing Scott Loach who had moved to Ipswich Town. He played his first game on 11 August in a League Cup tie at home to Wycombe Wanderers, and kept a clean sheet.  Having appeared in all thirty four of Watford's league games, Almunia injured his hamstring against Derby County on 23 February 2013. He missed the next six contests as youngster Jonathan Bond deputised in his absence, returning in a 0–0 home draw against Cardiff City on 6 April 2013.  On 12 May 2013, in the play-off semi-final second leg at home to Leicester City, Almunia made a double save from Anthony Knockaert's penalty in injury time, with Watford leading 2–1 but still level on aggregate. Watford counter-attacked from the resulting saves and Troy Deeney's goal to put his team in the decisive match against Crystal Palace, where a Kevin Phillips penalty in extra time resulted in a 0–1 loss.  Watford announced that Almunia had signed a new twelve-month deal on 5 July 2013, to keep him at the club for one further season. Manager Gianfranco Zola commented: "His experience and influence are so important for us and the impact he had at Watford last season was magnificent." He left in June of the following year, as his link expired.  Almunia retired on 28 August 2014 on medical advice, after a rare heart condition was picked up during a medical with Serie A side Cagliari Calcio.

International career.

Almunia did not represent Spain at any level. He stated on more than one occasion his desire to play for England, only provided that he did not receive a call-up from his nation of birth first.

Personal life.

Almunia, whose brother served in the United Nations Peacekeeping Operations in Kosovo, has an interest in the Second World War and regularly visited sites associated with the conflict before European games with Arsenal.

Honours.

Arsenal  Individual

Manuel Almunia Rivero (born 19 May 1977) is a Spanish former footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

曼努埃尔·里贝罗·阿穆尼亚(,1977年-5月19日)出生于西班牙北部的潘普洛纳,西班牙足球运动员,司职门将,现已退役。


Taxonomy.

The species was named by Carl Linnaeus in 1753 with the epithet as a Latin translation of the metaphorical "tear of Job"., four varieties are accepted by the World Checklist of Selected Plant Families:

Uses.

Besides the use for ornamental purposes, Job's tears grains are useful as a source of food (cereals) and folk medicine.  Throughout East Asia, Job's tears are available in dried form and cooked as a grain. The grains are generally spherical, with a groove on one end, and polished white in color, though in Japan unpolished "yuuki hatomugi", which is unpolished and brown in color, is also available.  In Korea, a thick drink called "yulmu cha" (율무차, literally "Job's tears tea") is made from powdered Job's tears. A similar drink, called "yi ren jiang " (薏仁漿), also appears in Chinese cuisine, and is made by simmering whole polished Job's tears in water and sweetening the resulting thin, cloudy liquid with sugar. The grains are usually strained from the liquid but may also be consumed separately or together.  In both Korea and China, distilled liquors are also made from the grain. One such example is the Korean liquor called "okroju" (옥로주; hanja: 玉露酒), which is made from rice and Job's tears. An ancient Chinese beer recipe included the grain as an ingredient. In Japan, an aged vinegar is made from the grain.  In southern Vietnam, a sweet, cold soup called "sâm bổ lượng" has Job's tears as one of its ingredients. This dish derives from the southern Chinese "tong sui" called "qīng bǔ liáng" (清補涼; Cantonese: ching1 bou2 leung4).  In Cambodia, where it is known as "skuay" (ស្គួយ), it is used both as part of herbal medicine and as an ingredient in desserts.  In Thailand, it is often consumed in teas and other drinks, such as soy milk.  It is also used alongside other herbs in traditional Chinese medicine. Particularly "Coix lacryma-jobi" var. "ma-yuen" has been used in the traditional Chinese medicine to invigorate the spleen function and promote urination, alleviate arthritis, arrest diarrhea, remove heat and facilitate the drainage of pus.  In both the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians and the Cherokee Nation in Oklahoma, the beads of Job's tears are called "corn beads" or "Cherokee corn beads" and have been used for personal adornment.

Job's tears (US) or Job's-tears (UK), scientific name Coix lacryma-jobi, also known as adlay or adlay millet, is a tall grain-bearing perennial tropical plant of the family Poaceae (grass family). It is native to Southeast Asia but elsewhere is cultivated in gardens as an annual. It has been naturalized in the southern United States and the New World tropics. In its native environment it is grown in higher areas where rice and corn do not grow well. Other common names include coixseed, tear grass and Yi Yi (from Chinese 薏苡 "yìyǐ"). Job's tears are also commonly sold as Chinese pearl barley in Asian supermarkets, although "C. lacryma-jobi" is not closely related to barley ("Hordeum vulgare").

薏苡(学名:""),别名:草黍子(东北)、六谷子(四川)、菩提珠(江苏)、草珠子(山东)、薏米(福建)、薏仁米、薏仁(台湾)、沟子米。属禾本科薏苡属。


History.

Launch.

British television at the time of BBC2's launch consisted of two channels: the BBC Television Service and the ITV network made up of smaller regional companies. Both channels had existed in a state of competition since ITV's launch in 1955, and both had aimed for a populist approach in response. The 1962 Pilkington Report on the future of broadcasting noticed this, and that ITV lacked any culturally relevant programming. It therefore decided that Britain's third television station should be awarded to the BBC.  Prior to its launch, the new BBC2 was promoted on the BBC Television Service: the soon to be renamed BBC1. The animated adverts featured the campaign mascots "Hullabaloo", a mother kangaroo, and "Custard", her joey. Prior to, and several years after, the channel's formal launch, the channel broadcast "Trade Test Transmissions", short films made externally by companies such as Shell and BP, which served to enable engineers to test reception, but became cult viewing.  The channel was scheduled to begin at 19:20 on 20 April 1964, showing an evening of light entertainment, starting with the comedy show "The Alberts", a performance from Soviet comedian Arkady Raikin, and a production of Cole Porter's "Kiss Me, Kate", culminating with a fireworks display. However, at around 18:45 a huge power failure, originating from a fire at Battersea Power Station, caused Television Centre, and indeed much of west London, to lose all power. BBC1 was able to continue broadcasting via its facilities at Alexandra Palace, but all attempts to show the scheduled programmes on the new channel failed. Associated-Rediffusion, the London weekday ITV franchise-holder, offered to transmit on the BBC's behalf, but their gesture was rejected. At 22:00 programming was officially postponed until the following morning. As the BBC's news centre at Alexandra Palace was unaffected, they did in fact broadcast brief bulletins on BBC2 that evening, beginning with an announcement by the newsreader Gerald Priestland at around 19:25. There was believed to be no recording made of this bulletin, but a videotape was discovered in early 2003.  By 11:00 on 21 April, power had been restored to the studios and programming began, thus making "Play School" the first programme to be shown officially on the channel. The launch schedule, postponed from the night before, was then successfully shown that evening, albeit with minor changes. In reference to the power cut, the transmission opened with a shot of a lit candle which was then sarcastically blown out by presenter Denis Tuohy. To establish the new channel's identity and draw viewers to it, the BBC decided that a widely promoted, lavish series would be essential in its earliest days. The production chosen was "The Forsyte Saga" (1967), a no-expense-spared adaptation of the novels by John Galsworthy, featuring well-established actors Kenneth More and Eric Porter. Critically for the future of the fledgling channel, the BBC's gamble was hugely successful, with an average of six million viewers tuning in per episode: a feat made more prominent by the fact that only 9 million were able to receive the channel at the time.

Technological advancements.

Unlike BBC1 and ITV, BBC2 was broadcast only on the 625 line UHF system, so was not available to viewers still using sets on the 405-line VHF system. This created a market for dual standard receivers which could switch between the two systems. Set manufacturers increased production of UHF sets in anticipation of a large market demand for the new BBC2, but the market did not materialise. The early technical problems, which included being unable to transmit US-recorded videotapes due to a lack of system conversion from the US NTSC system, were resolved by a committee headed by James Redmond.  On 1 July 1967, during the Wimbledon Championships, BBC2 became the first channel in Europe to begin regular broadcasts in colour, using the PAL system. The thirteen-part series "" (1969) was created as a celebration of two millennia of western art and culture to showpiece the new colour technology. BBC1 and ITV later joined BBC2 on 625-line UHF band but continued to simulcast on 405-line VHF until 1985. BBC1 and ITV simultaneously introduced PAL colour on UHF on 15 November 1969, although they both had broadcast some programmes in colour "unofficially" since September 1969.  In 1979, the station adopted the first computer-generated channel identification (ident) in Britain, with its use of the double striped, orange '2' logo. The ident, created in house by BBC engineers, lasted until March 1986 and heralded the start of computer-generated logos.  As the switch to digital-only terrestrial transmission progressed, BBC Two was (in each region in turn) the first analogue TV channel to be replaced with the BBC multiplex, at first four, then two weeks ahead of the other four channels. This was required for those relay transmitters that had no current Freeview service giving viewers time to purchase the equipment unless they had already selected a satellite or cable service. The last region for BBC Two to end on analogue terrestrial television was Northern Ireland on 10 October 2012.  At the 2012 Edinburgh International Television Festival, BBC Two was named "Terrestrial Channel of the Year".  A high-definition simulcast of BBC Two began broadcasting on 26 March 2013, replacing the standalone BBC HD channel., there are 3 variations of BBC Two HD (Wales, Northern Ireland, and England).

Operation.

The channel controllers have been:  Adam Barker served as Acting Controller of the channel after Janice Hadlow left the channel in March 2014 and until Kim Shillinglaw began as the new permanent occupant of the post.  Since 2013, the Controller of BBC Two has been given the expanded title Controller of BBC Two and BBC Four, with ultimate oversight of the BBC Four service added to their duties (a BBC Four "Channel Editor", reporting up to this Controller, has day-to-day operational control of Four).  The channel forms part of the BBC Television executive group and is answerable to the head of that department, and to the BBC Trust.  On 20 January 2016, Kim Shillinglaw announced that she has decided to leave the BBC as the Controller of BBC Two & BBC Four and, as a result of the reorganisation, the posts of Controller of BBC Two and Four have been closed.  Patrick Holland became Channel Controller of BBC Two in March 2017, following his earlier appointment as Channel Editor in July 2016.

Programming.

BBC Two's remit historically was one screening programmes targeting the arts, culture, some comedy and drama, and appealing to audiences not already served by BBC One or ITV. Over its first thirty or so years the channel developed a reputation for screening highly praised and prestigious drama series, among these "Boys from the Blackstuff" (1982), 1991's highly successful "The Men's Room", a spectacular costume drama "Middlemarch" (1994) or 1996's critically acclaimed "Our Friends in the North". The channel's "highbrow" profile is also in part attributable to a long history of demanding documentaries of all types, beginning with "" and "The Ascent of Man" in the 1960s. Like the early Channel 4, BBC Two also established for itself a reputation as a champion of independent and international cinema, under the "Screen 2" brand.  The channel has sometimes been judged, increasingly in more recent years, to have moved away from this original role and closer to the mainstream. Since the launch of the digital-only BBC Four, the BBC has been accused in particular of shifting its more highbrow output to the new channel, which, until the end of the UK's digital TV switchover in October 2012, a minority (7.5% in the final quarter of 2010) of viewers did not receive. BBC Four's remit is very similar to that of the earlier remit of BBC2 and contains many documentaries and arts programmes. It has been perceived by some that this strategy is to allow BBC Two to show more popular programmes and to secure higher ratings. Since 2004 there have been some signs of an attempt to return closer to parts of BBC Two's earlier output with the arts strand "The Culture Show". Its most popular programme at the moment is "Top Gear".  Much of BBC Two's output has previously or subsequently been shown on other channels. Some of these programmes are repeats of popular or flagship programmes from BBC Four in a late-night strand, originally called "BBC Four on Two" but now unbranded, for the benefit of audiences without access to BBC Four. Other programmes are moved to the channel as a result of their success on BBC Three or Four, so that subsequent series are well received. An example of this is the BBC Three series "Torchwood" that was transferred to the channel following the success of the first series. BBC Two is also used as a testing ground for programmes prior to their moving to the flagship BBC One: such examples include "Have I Got News for You" and popular comedies "Absolutely Fabulous" and "Miranda", which moved to BBC One after success on Two. Also in August 2014 "The Great British Bake Off" moved to BBC One due to its success the previous year on BBC Two. In 2017, Bake Off moved from BBC One to Channel 4.  Another founding part of BBC Two was to provide educational and community programming on the BBC, as part of its public service remit. The educational section of this commitment saw BBC2 broadcast a large amount of programming for the Open University, who co-produced programming with the corporation, and saw the channel broadcast BBC Schools programmes from 1983 until the programmes were transferred to the BBC Learning Zone in 2010.  As a result of the channel's commitment to community broadcasting, the channel produced the symbolic "Open Space" series, a strand developed in the early 1970s in which members of the public would be allotted half an hour of television time, and given a level of editorial and technical training in order to produce for themselves a film on an issue most important to them. BBC2's Community Programme Unit kept this aspect of the channel's tradition alive into the 1990s in the form of "Video Diaries" and later "Video Nation". The Community Programmes Unit was disbanded in 2004.  Since January 2013, BBC Two stopped showing children's programmes and replaced the weekday morning schedule with repeats of the previous BBC One daytime schedule. They also started showing "Sign Zone" in the early hours, which BBC One used to show before 2013.  From October 2013, BBC Two has shown classic programmes like "Bergerac", "Cagney and Lacey", "The Rockford Files", "'Allo 'Allo!", and "Are You Being Served?" on weekday afternoons, with the retro logos from 1970s and 1980s, between the current programmes.  In October 2014, "Russell Howard's Good News" and "Backchat" moved to BBC Two from BBC Three.  In 2014, BBC Two commissioned Britain's first transgender sitcom, "Boy Meets Girl", which follows the developing relationship between Leo, a 26-year-old man, and Judy, a 40-year-old transgender woman.  From 7 April 2015, the morning "Sign Zone" was shown before "Victoria Derbyshire" between 8:00am-9:00 am including "See Hear" on Wednesday morning.  BBC Two is also known for broadcasting some news and current affairs programmes. Every morning at 9 am (Monday to Friday) it broadcasts "BBC News at Nine", with the latest news stories with breaking news as it happens. It returns at 11 am as "BBC Newsroom Live". At 10 am Victoria Derbyshire hosts her current affairs programme of the same name. At 12:15 pm political debate happens with "Politics Live", and at 10:30 pm, late-night current affairs with "Newsnight".  From 2017 until 2019, it broadcast the UK selection show for the Eurovision Song Contest, "Eurovision: You Decide." The channel stopped broadcasting the show after the 2019 edition due to the fact that the BBC opted for an internal selection in collaboration with BMG Rights Management.  In 2020, it was reported that "Victoria Derbyshire" would come to an end as part of the BBC's £80m cuts.

Presentation.

As well as programmes, BBC Two has also proved memorable for its numerous idents—various short sequences shown between programme junctions that serve as the channel identity. Nearly all of the identity packages used since the channel's launch in 1964 have featured a prominent numeral "2" in the design. Notable designs include the electronic double-striped "2", the white "TWO" ident (the only ident not to use a numeral "2"), and most notably the 1991 "2"s.  The 1991 idents featured a sans-serif numeral "2" at the centre of an initially art-related scene; however, the idents moved away from this style as the station's style changed. Although highly praised, this expansive set of idents was ended in November 2001. The BBC corporate logo was updated within the idents in October 1997, though the idents moved away from the original viridian colour scheme in these latter years. The subsequent presentation style was introduced on 19 November 2001 and kept the same figure "2", but in a yellow background and given a personality. At the time, BBC Two became the first BBC channel to feature a box logo.  In 2007, BBC Two debuted the new theme, a "Window on the World", with the "2" numeral providing that view. Introduced on 18 February 2007, the new look also had the channel adopt a teal-coloured box logo, featuring the BBC logo above the word "TWO", in the font Avenir.  In 2014, in honour of the channel's 50th anniversary, some of the 1990s idents were re-introduced and from 2015, BBC Two Northern Ireland opted to use nearly forty idents from the 1991–2001 set.  On 27 September 2018, the 1991–2001 idents were retired once again and BBC Two introduced a new set of idents, based on scenes incorporating a curve motif resembling the number 2. The new branding is designed to reflect BBC Two's "constant evolution, constant eclecticism, [and] constant sense of quality". The new idents are produced by various artists and studios, including Aardman Animations, The Mill and others. The new identity was co-developed by BBC Creative and Superunion.

Regional variations.

BBC Two also has regional variations in Wales and Northern Ireland. These versions of BBC Two share the same idents, but with the nation name in the BBC Two box. BBC Two Scotland showed a lot of specifically Scottish programming on the channel, as well as its sister channel BBC One Scotland, and the schedules were often mixed around to match. BBC Two Northern Ireland and BBC Two Wales both have the option to opt-out of the main network schedule but generally stick to it, only opting out a couple of times each week. Until December 2008, BBC Wales broadcast a special, digital-only channel, BBC 2W, which contained more opt-outs than analogue-only BBC Two Wales. BBC Two Scotland existed until February 2019 when it was replaced with the national BBC Two feed in preparation for the launch of the BBC Scotland channel.  In England, many of the BBC English regions were combined to form "super-regions", such as the entire North or Midlands. These had the option to opt-out of the network programming on the analogue feed, and replace it with local programming. However this was usually only done in exceptional circumstances, as all regular regional programming has been transferred to BBC One, and the English regions are not available on digital on BBC Two. There is no specific "BBC Two England"; this role is fulfilled by the network version of BBC Two.

Availability outside the UK.

BBC Two is widely available in the Republic of Ireland on satellite and cable, as well as being received directly in areas bordering Northern Ireland, or in coastal areas from Wales. It is also available on cable and IPTV in the Netherlands, Belgium, Switzerland, Monaco and Liechtenstein. On 27 March 2013, it began being carried by British Forces Broadcasting Service (BFBS) to members of HM Forces and their families around the world, replacing the BFBS2 TV channel, which already carried a selection of BBC Two programmes. It shares a channel with CBBC, which broadcasts from early morning until the early evening.

Accessibility.

The BBC announced in May 2008 that it had achieved its aim for all programming to have subtitles for viewers with hearing difficulties. These are available on the BBC Red Button, and until 23 October 2012, via the Ceefax teletext service.  The BBC also offers audio description on some popular programmes for visually impaired-viewers as well as sign language interpretation on some of its programmes for deaf and hard-of-hearing viewers. The percentage of the BBC's total television output with audio description available is 10%, having been increased from 8% in 2008.

BBC Two HD.

Originally, programmes from BBC Two were shown in high definition on the dedicated BBC HD channel, alongside programmes from BBC Three and BBC Four, as well as some select series from CBBC and CBeebies. However, in plans outlined by the director general Mark Thompson on 6 October 2011, BBC HD would close to be replaced by "BBC Two HD", a high-definition simulcast of BBC Two that would work much the same way as BBC One HD. This move allowed the corporation to save £2.1 million, used to count towards its budget deficit following the freezing of the licence fee and the additional financial responsibility of addition services.  On 19 February 2013, it was announced that BBC Two HD would replace BBC HD from 6.05 am on 26 March 2013. Channel numbers for the BBC's HD channels also changed on Sky, to allow BBC One HD and BBC Two HD to sit side-by-side on channels 141, and 142 respectively on the EPG.  On 16 July 2013, the BBC indicated that it wants to launch Northern Irish, Scottish and Welsh variations of BBC Two HD; however, this would require the approval of the BBC Trust, with a proposal due to be presented within six months.  On 10 December 2013, BBC Two HD was swapped with the SD channel in England on Sky's EPG for HD subscribers.  In October 2018, the BBC announced that regional variants of BBC Two HD in Wales and Northern Ireland would launch at the end of November that year on terrestrial, satellite (Wales only) and iPlayer. BBC Two HD in these regions were swapped with the SD channel on Sky's EPG for HD subscribers. Due to the impending launch of the new BBC Scotland channel in February 2019, replacing the opt-outs on BBC Two Scotland, no Scottish HD variant was required.

BBC Two is the second flagship television channel of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands. It covers a wide range of subject matter, but tends to broadcast more "highbrow" programmes than the more mainstream and popular BBC One. Like the BBC's other domestic TV and radio channels, it is funded by the television licence, and is therefore free of commercial advertising. It is a comparatively well-funded public-service network, regularly attaining a much higher audience share than most public-service networks worldwide.

英国广播公司第二台(英语:BBC Two,旧名BBC2)是英国广播公司的旗下频道,分英格兰/苏格兰共享版、威尔士版和北爱尔兰版。


罗伯托·曼格贝拉·昂格尔

Biography.

Family.

Unger's maternal grandfather was Octávio Mangabeira, who served as Brazil's minister of foreign affairs in the late 1920s before the dictatorship of Getúlio Vargas subjected him to a series of imprisonments and exiles in Europe and the United States. After returning to Brazil in 1945, he co-founded a center-left

Early life.

Roberto Mangabeira Unger was born in Rio de Janeiro in 1947, and spent his childhood on Manhattan's Upper East Side. He attended the private Allen-Stevenson School. When he was eleven, his father died and his mother moved the family back to Brazil. He attended a Jesuit school and went on to law

Academic career.

The beginning of Unger's academic career began with the books "Knowledge and Politics" and "", published in 1975 and 1976 respectively. These works led to the co-founding of Critical Legal Studies (CLS) with Duncan Kennedy and Morton Horwitz. The movement stirred up controversy in legal schools across America as it challenged standard legal scholarship and made radical proposals for legal education. By the early 1980s, the CLS movement touched off a heated internal debate at Harvard, pitting the CLS scholars against the older, more traditional scholars.  Throughout much of the 1980s, Unger worked on his magnum opus, "", a three volume work that assessed classical social

Intellectual influences.

Unger's model of philosophical practice is closest to those philosophers who sought to form a view of the whole of reality, and to do so by using and resisting the specialized knowledge of their time.<ref name="Robin/Perry 1990">Robin W. Lovin and Michael J. Perry (eds.), "Critique and Construction: A

Philosophical work.

Social theory.

Unger's social theory is premised on the idea of classical social theory that society is an artifact and can be created and recreated. Whereas previous thinkers such as Hegel or Marx backslid at some point and held onto the notion that there was a necessary institutional or historical social development, Unger, in the words of one critic, seeks to "take the idea to the hilt and produce a theory of emancipation that will escape the limitations of liberal and Marxist theories." That limitation is the search for an ideal structure of society that can be foreseen and centrally planned; whereas the emancipation leads to societies with

Legal thought.

Unger's work on law has sought to denaturalize the concept of law and how it is represented through particular institutions. He begins by inquiring into why modern societies have legal systems with distinctions between institutions, such as legislature and court, as well as a special caste of lawyers possessing a method of reasoning about social problems. Whereas thinkers such as Marx and Weber had argued that such legal arrangements were a product of economic necessity to secure property rights and the autonomy of the individual, Unger shows that this liberal legal order emerged in Europe as a result of the indeterminate relations between monarchy, aristocracy, and bourgeoisie. It took the particular form that it did by emerging out of the long tradition of

Economic thought.

At the center of Unger's thought about the economy is the commitment to reimagining and remaking the institutional arrangements of how humans produce and exchange. For Unger, economic institutions have no inherent or natural forms, and he rejects the necessitarian tendencies of classical and neo-classical economists, seeking instead alternatives to the arrangements of contemporary societies. In his writings, he has aimed to revise ideas on the importance of market economies and the division of labor in the workplace and national and global economies.

Critique of economics.

Unger's critique of economics begins with the identification of a key moment in economic history, when the analysis of production and exchange turned away from social theory and engaged in a quest for scientific objectivity. In Unger's analysis, classical economics focused on the causal relations among social activities, which were connected with the production and distribution of wealth. Classical economists asked questions about the true basis of value, activities that contributed to national wealth, systems of rights, or about the forms of government under which people grow rich. In the late-nineteenth century, in response to attacks from socialist ideas and debates about how society works, and as a means to escape the conundrums of value theory and to answer how values could become prices, marginalist economics arose. This movement in economics disengaged economics from prescriptive and normative commitments to withdraw the study of economies from debates about how society worked and what kind of society we wanted to live in. For Unger, this moment in the history of economics robbed it of any

Reorientating economics.

Unger's vision of economics is that it cannot be unhinged from ideas about the individual and social life. Human activity and political organization must be incorporated into any analysis of trade and economies. In remaking the discipline, he calls for a

Reconstructing economic institutions.

For Unger, the economy is not only a device for wealth but also permanent innovation and discovery. It should allow the greatest freedom of the recombination of people and resources, and allow people to innovate in institutional settings. The market economy should not be single dogmatic version of itself.  Unger has presented a number of general institutional proposals that aim to restructure the world trade regime and introduce new alternatives in the market economy. For international and global trade, Unger calls for the

On the twenty-first-century economic stimulus.

Most recently, in a YouTube video titled

"Illusions of necessity in the economic order".

Unger's first writing on economic theory was the article "Illusions of necessity in the economic order" in the May 1978 issue of "American Economic Review". In the article he makes a case for the need of contemporary economic thought to imitate classical political economy in which theories of exchange should be incorporated into theories of power and perception.  The article articulates the problem of the American economy as one of the inability to realize democracy of production and community in the workplace. This failure, according to Unger, is the result of the lack of a comprehensive program that encompasses production, society, and state, so that immediate attempts to address inequality get swallowed up and appropriated by the status quo in the course of winning immediate gains for the organization or constituency, e.g. unions.  To realize a democracy in the workplace and the abolition of wealth and poverty, Unger argues

Programmatic thought.

Key in Unger's thinking is the need to re-imagine social institutions before attempting to revise them. This calls for a program, or programmatic thought. In building this program, however, we must not entertain complete revolutionary overhaul, lest we be plagued by three false assumptions:  To think about social transformation programmatically, one must first mark the direction one wants society to move in, and then identify the first steps with which we can move in that direction. In this way we can formulate proposals at points along the trajectory, be they relatively close to how things are now or relatively far away. This provides a third way between revolution and reform. It is revolutionary reform, where one has a revolutionary vision, but acts on that vision in a sequence of piecemeal reforms. As Unger puts it, transformative politics is "not about blueprints; it is about pathways. It is not architecture; it is music".

The two Lefts.

Unger sees two main Lefts in the world today, a recalcitrant Left and a humanizing Left. The recalcitrant Left seeks to slow down the march of markets and globalization, and to return to a time of greater government involvement and stronger social programs. The humanizing Left (or'reformist Left') accepts the world in its present form, taking the market economy and globalization as unavoidable, and attempts to humanize their effects through tax-and-transfer policies.  Unger finds the two major orientations of contemporary Leftism inadequate and calls for a 'Reconstructive Left' – one which would insist

The "Left Alternative" program.

Unger has laid out concrete policy proposals in areas of economic development, education, civil society, and political democracy.

Theoretical philosophy.

At the core of Unger's theoretical philosophy are two key conceptions: first the infinity of the individual, and secondly the singularity of the world and the reality of time. The premise behind the infinity of the individual is that we exist within social contexts but we are more than the roles that these contexts may define for us—we can overcome them. In Unger's terms, we are both "context-bound and context-transcending; "we appear as "the embodied spirit;" as "the infinite imprisoned within the finite." For Unger, there is no natural state of the individual and his social being. Rather, we are infinite in spirit and

The self and human nature.

In "Passion: An Essay on Personality", Unger explores the individual and his relation to society from the perspective of the root human predicament of the need to establish oneself as a unique individual in the world but

Religion and the human condition.

Unger has written and spoken extensively on religion and the human condition.  Religion, Unger argues, is a vision of the world within which we anchor our orientation to life. It is within this orientation that we deal with our greatest terrors and highest hopes. Because we are doomed to die, we hope for eternal life; because we are unable to grasp to totality of existence or of the universe, we try to dispel the mystery and provide a comprehensible explanation; because we have an insatiable desire, we cry for an object that is worthy of this desire, one that is infinite. Humans initially invested religious discourse in nature and the human susceptibility to nature. But as

The religion of the future.

The spiritual orientation of the struggle with the world has given rise to the secular movements of emancipation in the modern world, and it is here that Unger sees the religion of the future. The problem Unger sees, however, is that as an established religion, this orientation has betrayed its ideological underpinnings and has made peace with existing order. It has accepted the hierarchies of class structure in society, accepted the transfer of money as serving as the basis of solidarity, and reaffirmed the basis of existing political, economic, and social institutions by investing in a conservative position of their preservation. Thus, "to be faithful to what made this orientation persuasive and powerful in the first

Natural philosophy.

Unger's philosophy of space and time presented in The Singular Universe and the Reality of Time argues for the singularity of the world and the reality of time. His arguments are grounded in the tradition of natural philosophy. He takes on the Newtonian idea of the independent observer standing outside of time and space, addresses the skepticism of David Hume, rejects the position of Kant, and attacks speculations about parallel universes of contemporary cosmology. At stake is the laying of the foundations for a view of the world and causality that is open to all possibilities; that is not a closed system of options in which our future is governed by deterministic laws and typologies. It is an understanding of society that rejects the naturalness and necessity of current social arrangements; "a form of understanding of society and history that refuses to explain the present arrangements in a manner that vindicates their naturalness and necessity."  The thesis of the singularity of the world states that there is one real world. Such a thesis stands in stark contrast to contemporary theoretical physics and cosmology, which speculate about multiple universes out of the dilemma of how to have law like explanations if the universe is unique—laws will be universal because they don't just apply to this unique universe but to all universes. However, there is no empirical evidence for

Political engagement.

Unger has a long history of political activity in Brazil. He worked in early opposition parties in the 1970s/80s against the Brazilian military dictatorship, and drafted the founding manifesto for the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) in 1980. He served as an intimate adviser to two presidential candidates, and launched exploratory bids himself in 2000 and 2006. He was the Secretary for Strategic Affairs in the Lula administration from 2007–09, and is currently working on a number of social and developmental projects in the state of Rondônia.  Driving Unger's political engagement is the idea that society can be made and remade. Unlike Mill or Marx, who posited a particular class as the agent of history, Unger does not see a single vehicle for transformative politics. He advocates world-wide revolution, but does not see this happening as a single cataclysmic event or undertaken by a class agent, like the Communist movement. Rather, he sees the possibility of piecemeal change, where institutions can be replaced one at a time, and permanent plasticity can be built into the institutional infrastructure.

Early political activity, 1970s and 1980s.

Unger's engagement in Brazilian politics began in the late 1970s as Brazil started to democratize. In 1979, he presented himself to the main opposition party, the Brazilian Democratic Movement (MDB), and was appointed chief of staff by party leader Ulysses Guimaraes. His initial work was to develop the positions of the party and draft policy proposals for their party's congressional representatives. When the military regime dissolved the two-party system and established a multi-party system later that year, Unger worked to unite progressive liberals and the independent, non-communist left into the Brazilian Democratic Movement Party (PMDB). As a co-founder of the party, he authored its first manifesto. Unger left the party after the rise of a conservative faction, which was a part of the MDB but had

Political campaigns, 1990s and 2000s.

In 1990, Unger ran a symbolic campaign for a seat in the national chamber of deputies. He had no money, no structure, and only campaigned for eight weeks. He ran on a platform of reforming the slums, and went around the slum neighborhoods giving lectures. He received 9,000 votes, just 1,000 votes short of winning the seat. None of the votes came from the slums, however. All his votes had come from the middle class, although he had never campaigned in those neighborhoods or to that constituency. Recalling the experience, Unger says "it was kind of absurd... I had no money, no staff, and I would go into these slums, alone, to hand out pamphlets, often to the local drug pushers." It is an experience that Unger cites as leading to his belief that the system and possibilities were much more open than he had previously imagined.  Unger served as Brizola's campaign organizer and primary political adviser in his bids for the Brazilian Presidency in 1989 and 1994. In 1989,

As Minister of Strategic Affairs in the Lula administration.

Unger found President Lula's first term to be conservative and riddled with scandal. He wrote articles calling Lula's administration "the most corrupt of Brazil's history" and called for his impeachment.  Despite the criticism, many advisers to Lula insisted that he should invite Unger to join his administration. In June 2007, after winning his second term, Lula appointed Unger as head of the newly established Long-term Planning Secretariat (a post which would eventually be called The Minister of Strategic Affairs).  Unger's work in

Engagement outside Brazil.

Unger's attempts to develop global social, political, and economic alternatives have led him in episodic engagements in national debates around the world. His approach in these engagements recognizes that the problems facing contemporary societies are not distinct from nation to nation, and that general structural arrangements can first be implemented, which will allow for local innovation, flexibility, and development in social, economic, and political arenas. There is no institutional blueprint for Unger, however, only a direction that can be pointed to and general proposals that can be implemented to allow further institutional innovation and experimentation. Unger's guiding principle is that institutional flexibility needs to be built into the implemented system, and in this way a diversity of local experiments would take hold the world over.  One of Unger's more promising engagements was the "Latin American Alternative" in the late 1990s. Unger and Mexican politician and political scientist Jorge Castañeda Gutman assembled an informal network of

Current engagement.

Unger's recent political work has focused on the north-western Brazilian state of Rondônia. He sees the human and natural resources of the state meeting all the conditions to serve as the vanguard of a new model of development for Brazil. Speaking to "News Rondônia" he said, "Rondônia is a state formed by a multitude of small and medium entrepreneurs together with the Brazilian government, and that is something truly unique in our country."  He has been traveling

Circumstance and influence.

Unger's philosophical work grapples with some of the most fundamental and enduring problems of human existence. It has been put into direct dialogue with Kant's moral law, and said to have provided one answer to Hume's Guillotine. Unger's analysis of liberalism and the philosophical program he builds around rethinking the individual has also inspired new thinking and approaches to psychiatry.  In 1987, the "Northwestern University Law Review" devoted an issue to Unger's work, analysing his three volume publication "". Michael J. Perry, a professor of law at Northwestern University, praises Unger for producing a vast work of social theory that combines law, history, politics, and philosophy within a single narrative.  Early reviewers of "Politics" questioned Unger's seeming predicament of criticizing a system of thought and its historical tradition without subjecting himself to the same critical gaze. "There is little acknowledgement that he himself is writing in a particular socio-historical context", wrote one reviewer, and another asked, "in what context Unger himself is situated and why that context itself is not offered up to the sledgehammer."  Critics also balked at the lack of example or concrete vision of his social and political proposals. As one critic wrote, "it is difficult to imagine what Unger's argument would mean in practice", and that "he does not tell us what to make." Others have suggested that the lack of imagination of such readers is precisely what is at stake.

Roberto Mangabeira Unger (; born 24 March 1947) is a Brazilian philosopher and politician. He has developed his views and positions across many fields including legal theory, philosophy and religion, social and political theory, progressive alternatives, and economics.

罗伯托·曼格贝拉·昂格尔(,1947年-3月24日)是巴西政治人物、哲学家,社会理论家。他的著作开辟了看待人类本性的另一视角,并且提出了针对当代社会、政治和经济制度的结构性替代方案。 他的十余本著作,主题是追求对马克思主义的彻底替代, 也涉及如美国哲学家理乍得·罗蒂曾说过的「一个比历史著作中与某个这类转变世界的事件联系最紧密的际遇更好的机会。」昂格尔投身巴西政坛并参与世界事务,力图实现国家层面和全球层面的多种替代方案。


History.

First described by the renowned Chinese parasitologist Hsin-Tao Chen (1904–1977) in 1935, after examining Cantonese rat specimens, the nematode "Angiostrongylus cantonensis" was identified in the cerebrospinal fluid of a patient with eosinophilic meningitis by Nomura and Lim in Taiwan in 1944. They noted that raw food eaten by the patient may have been contaminated by rats. In 1955, Mackerass and Sanders identified the lifecycle of the worm in rats, defining snails and slugs as the intermediate hosts, and noting the path of transmission through the blood, brain, and lungs in rats.

Infectious agent.

"A. cantonensis" is a helminth of the phylum Nematoda, order Strongylida, and superfamily Metastrongyloidea. Nematodes are roundworms characterized by a tough outer cuticle, unsegmented bodies, and a fully developed gastrointestinal tract. The order Strongylida includes hookworms and lungworms. Metastrongyloidea are characterized as 2-cm-long, slender, threadlike worms that reside in the lungs of the definitive host. "Angiostrongylus costaricensis" is a closely related worm that causes intestinal angiostrongyliasis in Central and South America.

Epidemiology and pathogenesis.

Following World War II, "A. cantonensis" spread throughout Southeast Asia and Western Pacific Islands, including Australia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia. Cases were soon reported in New Caledonia, the Philippines, Rarotonga, Saipan, Sumatra, Taiwan, and Tahiti. In the 1960s, even more cases were reported from the region from locations such as Cambodia, Guam, Hawaii, Java, Thailand, Sarawak, Vietnam, and Vanuatu.  In 1961, an epidemiological study of eosinophilic meningitis in humans was conducted by Rosen, Laigret, and Bories, who hypothesized that the parasite causing these infections was carried by fish. However, Alicata noted that raw fish was consumed by large numbers of people in Hawaii without apparent consequences, and patients presenting with meningitis symptoms had a history of eating raw snails or prawns in the weeks before presenting with symptoms. This observation, along with epidemiology and autopsy of infected brains, confirmed "A. cantonensis" infection in humans as the cause of the majority of eosinophilic meningitis cases in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands.  Since then, cases of "A. cantonensis" infestations have appeared in American Samoa, Australia, Hong Kong, Bombay, Fiji, Hawaii, Honshu, India, Kyushu, New Britain, Okinawa, Ryukyu Islands, Western Samoa, and most recently mainland China. Other sporadic occurrences of the parasite in its rat hosts have been reported in Cuba, Egypt, Louisiana, Madagascar, Nigeria, New Orleans, and Puerto Rico.  In 2013, "A. cantonensis" was confirmed present in Florida, USA, where its range and prevalence are expanding. In 2018, a case was found in a New Yorker who had visited Hawaii.  In recent years, the parasite has been shown to be proliferating at an alarming rate due to modern food-consumption trends and global transportation of food products. Scientists are calling for a more thorough study of the epidemiology of "A. cantonensis", stricter food-safety policies, and the increase of knowledge on how to properly consume products commonly infested by the parasite, such as snails and slugs that act as intermediate hosts or those that act as paratenic hosts, such as fish, frogs, or freshwater prawns. Ingestion of food items that can be contaminated by the mucus excretions of intermediate or paratenic hosts, such as snails and slugs, or by the feces of rats that act as definitive hosts, can lead to infection of "A. cantonensis". The most common route of infection of "A. cantonesis" in humans is by ingestion of either intermediate or paratenic hosts of the larvae. Unwashed fruits and vegetables, especially romaine lettuce, can be contaminated with snail and slug mucus or can result in accidental ingestion of these intermediate and paratenic hosts. These items need to be properly washed and handled to prevent accidental ingestion of "A. cantonensis" larvae or the larvae-containing hosts. The best mechanism of prevention of "A. cantonesis" outbreak is to institute an aggressive control of snail and slug population, proper cooking of intermediate and paratenic hosts such as fish, freshwater prawn, frogs, molluscs, and snails along with proper food-handling techniques. The common prevention techniques for diarrheal illness is very effective in preventing "A. cantonensis" infection. Not much is known about why it targets the brain in humans, but a chemically induced chemotaxis has been implicated recently. Acetylcholine has been previously reported to enhance motility of this worm via nicotinic acetylcholine receptors. Experimental assays in animal models are needed to validate a chemically induced chemotaxis by use of anticholinergic drugs to prevent cerebral infection following infections by "A. cantonesis".

Hosts.

Intermediate hosts of larvae of for "A. cantonensis" include:  Definitive host of "A. cantonensis" include wild rodents, especially the brown rat ("Rattus norvegicus") and the black rat ("Rattus rattus").  Paratenic hosts of "A. cantonensis" include: predatory land flatworm "Platydemus manokwari" and amphibians "Bufo asiaticus", "Rana catesbeiana", "Rhacophorus leucomystax" and "Rana limnocharis".  In 2004, a captive yellow-tailed black cockatoo ("Calyptorhynchus funereus") and two free-living tawny frogmouths ("Podargus strigoides") suffering neurological symptoms were shown to have the parasite. They were the first avian hosts discovered for the organism.  The Hawaiʻi Dept. of Health states that it is the fresh water opihi that can carry the parasite, as well as other aquatic organisms such as prawns, frogs, and water monitor lizards. House pets may interact with A. cantonensis carrying animals yet not well studied. Cats are known to carry and spread feline lungworm in rat and snail interactions.

Pathogenesis of human angiostrongylosis.

The presence of parasitic worms burrowed in the neural tissue of the human central nervous system (CNS) causes obvious complications. All of the following result in damage to the CNS:

Eosinophilic meningitis.

Although the clinical disease caused by "Angiostrongylus" invasion into the CNS is commonly referred to as "eosinophilic meningitis", the actual pathophysiology is of a meningoencephalitis with invasion not just of the meninges, or superficial lining of the brain, but also deeper brain tissue. Initial invasion through the lining of the brain, the meninges, may cause a typical inflammation of the meninges and a classic meningitis picture of headache, stiff neck, and often fever. The parasites subsequently invade deeper into the brain tissue, causing specific localizing neurological symptoms depending on where in the brain parenchyma they migrate. Neurologic findings and symptoms wax and wane as initial damage is done by the physical in-migration of the worms and secondary damage is done by the inflammatory response to the presence of dead and dying worms. This inflammation can lead in the short term to paralysis, bladder dysfunction, visual disturbance, and coma and in the long term to permanent nerve damage, mental retardation, nerve damage, permanent brain damage, or death.  Eosinophilic meningitis is commonly defined by the increased number of eosinophils in the cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). In most cases, eosinophil levels rise to 10 or more eosinophils per μl in the CSF, accounting for at least 10% of the total CSF leukocyte (white blood cell) count. The chemical analysis of the CSF typically resembles the findings in "aseptic meningitis" with slightly elevated protein levels, normal glucose levels, and negative bacterial cultures. Presence of a significantly decreased glucose on CSF analysis is an indicator of severe meningoencephalitis and may indicate a poor medical outcome. Initial CSF analysis early in the disease process may occasionally show no increase of eosinophils, only to have classical increases in eosinophils in subsequent CSF analysis. Caution should be advised in using eosinophilic meningitis as the only criterion for diagnosing angiostrongylus infestation in someone with classic symptoms, as the disease evolves with the migration of the worms into the CNS.  Eosinophils are specialized white blood cells of the granulocytic cell line, which contain granules in their cytoplasm. These granules contain proteins that are toxic to parasites. When these granules degranulate, or break down, chemicals are released that combat parasites such as "A. cantonensis". Eosinophils, which are located throughout the body, are guided to sites of inflammation by chemokines when the body is infested with parasites such as "A. cantonensis". Once at the site of inflammation, type 2 cytokines are released from helper T cells, which communicate with the eosinophils, signaling them to activate. Once activated, eosinophils can begin the process of degranulation, releasing their toxic proteins in the fight against the foreign parasite.

Clinical signs and symptoms.

According to a group case study, the most common symptoms in mild eosinophilic meningitis tend to be headache (with 100% of people in the study suffering from this symptom), photophobia or visual disturbance (92%), neck stiffness (83%), fatigue (83%), hyperesthesias (75%), vomiting (67%), and paresthesias (50%). Incubation period is often 3 weeks, but can be 3–36 days and even 80 days.  Possible clinical signs and symptoms of mild and severe eosinophilic meningitis are:

Treatment.

The severity and clinical course of "Angiostrongylus" disease depends significantly on the ingested load of third-stage larvae, creating great variability from case to case, making clinical trials difficult to design, and effectiveness of treatments difficult to discern. Typical conservative medical management including analgesics and sedatives provide minimal relief for the headaches and hyperesthesias. Removing cerebrospinal fluid at regular 3- to 7-day intervals is the only proven method of significantly reducing intracranial pressure and can be used for symptomatic treatment of headaches. This process may be repeated until improvement is shown. There is growing evidence of moderate quality that suggests corticosteroid therapy using prednisolone or dexamethasone has beneficial effect in treating the CNS symptoms related to "A. cantonensis" infections. Although early research did not show treatment with antihelminthic agents (parasite-killing drugs) such as thiobendazole or albendazole effective in improving the clinical course of the illness, a number of recent studies from Thailand and China show that the combination of glucocorticoids and antihelminthics is safe and decreases the duration of headaches and the number of patients who had significant headache. Although the addition of antihelminthic agents for management of "A. cantonensis" infection has a theoretic risk of precipitating a neurologic crisis by releasing an overwhelming load of antigens through simultaneous death of the larvae, no study has shown this to exist in the clinical setting. Additionally, the failure to kill parasites before they attempt to migrate out of the CNS increases the risk of mechanical damage by migrating larvae. Although combination therapy using albendazole and prednisolone has no significant advantage compared to treatment using prednisolone alone in mild cases, the treatment with antihelminthics is demonstrably safe and may have significant benefit for patients with high parasite loads at risk for permanent disability or death.

Diagnosis.

The diagnosis of disease caused by "A. cantonensis" infestation is often difficult and relies heavily on the history of a likely ingestion of a commonly infested host and the presence of typical features of the disease. The presumptive diagnosis is particularly strong when eosinophilic meningoencephalitis can be confirmed. The diagnosis of eosinophilic meningitis can be arrived at through detection of elevated cranial pressure and increased numbers of eosinophils. The diagnosis of the cause of eosinophilic meningitis and the presence of "A. cantonensis" is remarkably more difficult. A spinal tap, or a sample of CSF, must be taken to search for "A. cantonensis" worms or larvae. "A. cantonensis" is undetectable in the CSF of more than half of the infected individuals. Current methods of detecting specific antigens associated with "A. cantonensis" are also unreliable. Consequently, alternative approaches to detect antigen-antibody reactions are being explored, such as immuno-PCR. A rapid dot-blot ELISA test is also available for quick, effective, and economical on-site diagnosis of "A. cantonensis".

Angiostrongylus cantonensis is a parasitic nematode (roundworm) that causes angiostrongyliasis, the most common cause of eosinophilic meningitis in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Basin. The nematode commonly resides in the pulmonary arteries of rats, giving it the common name rat lungworm. Snails are the primary intermediate hosts, where larvae develop until they are infectious.

广东住血线虫(学名:')是住血线虫属的一种寄生虫,因为生活周期中会寄生在老鼠肺部,所以又叫鼠肺虫(英语:Rat lungworm),可引起的病名称为广州管圆线虫病,病征包括嗜伊红性脑膜脑炎和脑膜炎。旧属后圆线虫科,今属后圆线虫总科的住血线虫科。