Background and development.

On March 6, 1986, at the Kensington Roof Gardens in London, during a press conference for "Shanghai Surprise", Madonna confirmed that she was working on a new album named "Live to Tell", which would be later changed to "True Blue". She collaborated with Stephen Bray, who had worked on the preceding "Like a Virgin", and with The Virgin Tour's musical director Patrick Leonard. "I was down in the basement with these idiot muso friends, working on a tune," Leonard recalled in 1992. "She liked it. And that ended up being one of the tracks on "True Blue"." Madonna wrote or co-wrote every song, although her involvement on ones such as "Papa Don't Preach" and "Open Your Heart" was limited to adding lyrics. She was also credited with co-producing every track. The album was recorded from December 1985 to April 1986, during the first year of Madonna's marriage to American actor Sean Penn. She dedicated the album to Penn, "The coolest guy in the universe." By experimenting with her image, adopting a more 'traditional' look, and incorporating classical music in her songs, Madonna tried to appeal to an older audience who had been sceptical of her music. Deemed Madonna's most girlish album yet, "True Blue" deals with Madonna's view of love, work and dreams as well as disappointments. According to Madonna, the title was from a favorite expression of her then husband Penn and his very pure vision of love. The album was her "unabashed valentine" for Penn. Most of its songs reflect this idea although each was developed separately. The first track, "Papa Don't Preach", was written by Brian Elliot, who described it as "a love song, maybe framed a little bit differently". The song is based on teenage gossip Elliot heard outside his studio, which had a large front window that doubled as a mirror where schoolgirls from the North Hollywood High School in Los Angeles regularly stopped to fix their hair and chat.  "Open Your Heart" was the first cut recorded for the album, as early as December 1985 and ultimately made it to the final released tracklist; it was originally intended for Cyndi Lauper. The third track "White Heat" was dedicated to actor James Cagney and named after the film of the same name from 1949. Two quotes from the original soundtrack were included in the song. The fourth track "Live to Tell" was written by Patrick Leonard for the soundtrack of Paramount's romantic drama film "Fire with Fire" but, after the company declined it, Leonard showed the song to Madonna. She decided to use it for "At Close Range", the new film of her husband Penn. Madonna made a demo of the song; when the film's director, James Foley, heard it, he asked Leonard to write the score for the film, as suggested by Madonna. "True Blue" was the first album where Madonna included Spanish themes as evident in the song "La Isla Bonita". The song was written for Michael Jackson's "Bad" album, but he had turned it down. While working with Leonard, Madonna accepted it in Jackson's place and re-wrote the lyrics, earning herself a co-writing credit. Madonna described it as her tribute to the "beauty and mystery of Latin American people". Originally intended as the first single, "Love Makes the World Go Round" – first performed at Live Aid a year earlier, in July 1985 – closes the album. The song recalled the antiwar music of the sixties.

Composition.

Musically "True Blue" was a different direction for Madonna. Her previous efforts had her singing in a high pitched voice. With this album, Madonna toned it down for a more bubblegum-pop voice. The songs on the album reflect this and a number of instruments were used in the songs to bring out the different moods which the lyrics emphasized. "Papa Don't Preach" features acoustic, electric, and rhythm guitars, keyboards, and string arrangements. The song samples Beethoven's "Appassionata" sonata. A continuous percussion filled structure was used in "Open Your Heart". "White Heat" sampling of the film's quotation was included with speech and gunshots. It is an uptempo dance song with synth bass and double-tracked vocals supported by male voices in the chorus. "I don't write dance music and I don't see it as contributing to the cultural growth of the world," grumbled Pat Leonard in 1992. "At the time we were doing the groove stuff on the "True Blue" album, it was semi-innovative. There wasn't a precedent that made you gag. God forbid that I might have contributed to the mess we're in now." On ballads like "Live to Tell" there is background instrumentation from a keyboard, a synthesizer, a funk guitar and a mix of synthesized and real drumming. "Where's the Party" is a standard dance track with arrangements of bass drums, synthesizer, clattering rhythms and a remixed approach to the whole composition. The title track featured instrumentation from a rhythm guitar, a synthesizer, keyboards, and drums for the bassline, with a backing track that employed a chord progression commonly used in doo-wop Cuban drums and Spanish guitar, maracas and harmonicas are used in "La Isla Bonita". "Jimmy Jimmy" has an early sixties pop influence, its lyrics a tribute to film star James Dean.  Lyrically "True Blue" reflects Madonna's ideas about love. "Where's the Party" tells of a working girl enjoying the dancefloor after work. "Jimmy Jimmy" talks about Madonna's admiration for the neighbourhood bad boy. The Spanish "La Isla Bonita" and "Love Makes the World Go Round" deal with escapism from normal life, with the latter talking about anti-war and anti-poverty and using Latin drums and samba-influenced rhythms. "White Heat" deals with firmness and quotes Clint Eastwood's "Make my day" catchphrase. "Papa Don't Preach"'s lyrics talk about a young woman who tells her father that she is pregnant out of wedlock, but is going to keep her baby.  "Live to Tell" portraits the complexity of deceit and mistrust. The song also is about childhood scars and had an extreme emotional pitch, achieving it in a divine sense. The title track had Madonna talking about romance and 1950s inspired girl group pop. The lyrics of "True Blue" are constructed in a verse-chorus form, with the theme being Madonna's feelings for Sean Penn; she even uses the 1929 archaic love word "dear" in the line "Just think back and remember, dear". Madonna expressed her sexual desires in the lyrics of "Open Your Heart" and described the beauty of a Latin paradise in "La Isla Bonita".

Packaging.

The album cover, shot by photographer Herb Ritts, is one of Madonna's most recognizable pictures. It features a picture of Madonna from the neck up. The main colors in the picture are gray, white and various shades of blue to reinforce the album's title. Madonna positioned herself in an elegant pose while wearing pale make up with red lips, tilting back her neck in a swan like pose. Jeri Heiden, who was working at Warner Bros. art department, was given the task of editing the photos and making them compatible for appearance in an album cover. She had to work with a total of 60 rolls of photos, each of size 35 mm. Heiden ordered about 30 to 40 test prints from Ritts' studio and made recommendations based on it. Several images from the photo shoot were considered for the album cover, some of which later became the single covers for "Papa Don't Preach" and "True Blue". The final photo was selected by Madonna, Heiden and Jeff Ayeroff, creative director of Warner Bros. at that time.  After the final photo was selected, Heiden commissioned two different versions of the album cover. The original image was taken in black-and-white, and Heiden experimented with a variety of treatments of the photo, to go along with the album's title, and finally arrived at the blue toned, hand tinted version of the image. The LP and CD album cover is a cropped image of a longer picture including torso, more of which is seen in the cover of the cassette tape edition, and was also included as a fold-out poster in the initial pressings of the LP. A poster of Madonna, mirroring the cover art, was included within the vinyl versions of the album.  In the US and Canada, the cover did not have any logo, but in the European nations, they were sold with Madonna's name and album title on the cover. Heiden explained in an interview with "Aperture" magazine that they thought it would be "cool" to use a shrink wrap on the US covers, so that when one took it off, there would only be the photo of Madonna. For the European nations, Warner felt that the name was needed on the cover, as they did not want to take chance with Madonna's popularity there. The back sleeve and the booklet inside featured the song titles in Heiden's own handwriting. About cropping the image for the cassette and the vinyl versions, Heiden said: "I think the image became more interesting cropped into a square—and at that time we always started with the album cover configuration. It was like she was floating—her clothing was not visible. She took on the appearance of a marble statue—Goddess like. In the vertical cropping you see her leather jacket and the wall, and it becomes more typical, editorial, earthly."  According to Lucy O'Brien, author of "Madonna: Like an Icon", the album artwork was on-par with Andy Warhol's concept of pop art. She felt that the image was a mixture of innocence and idealism, while incorporating 1950s-style Technicolor and hand tinted color, characteristic of Warhol's silkscreen printed design, prevalent in the 1960s. Jeri Heiden, the album's cover designer, commented, "She was already highly aware of the value of her image and was in control of it." O'Brien felt that the artwork heralded the arrival of a new Madonna, while drawing on the enduring appeal of her celluloid icon Marilyn Monroe. "With this picture, Madonna made explicit the connection between Warhol and herself, the vivid nexus between pop art and commerce. The late 1980s marked a new era of the pop artist as a brand, and Madonna became the first one to exploit this."  Erica Wexler from "Spin" described Madonna on the cover as "like a cobra basking in the hot sun, Madonna on the cover of her new album stretches her profile lasciviously." Author J. Randy Taraborrelli commented in "", that the album cover indicated how "True Blue" was a vehicle of growth for Madonna. He felt that the "washed out color photograph" of her with head tilted back and eyes closed was "understated", especially when compared to the sexier poses she had been associated in the past. The album's inner sleeve did not feature any photographs, and instead was dedicated to album credits and the song lyrics, since Madonna wanted to be represented by her songs on "True Blue", not her image. "Billboard" listed the cover at rank 34 on their article about the "50 Greatest Album Covers", describing it as a striking image of Madonna.

Promotion.

Live performance.

Prior to the album's release, Madonna premiered "Love Makes the World Go Round" at the 1985 Live Aid concert. The rest of the album's tracks were included on the setlist of her 1987 Who's That Girl World Tour except "Jimmy Jimmy" which remains still the only song from the album Madonna did not perform on any live appearance. It was her second concert tour and promoted "True Blue" alongside the film project "Who's That Girl". It was Madonna's first world tour, reaching Asia, North America and Europe. Musically and technically superior to her previous Virgin Tour, the Who's That Girl tour incorporated multimedia components to make the show more appealing.  Madonna trained herself physically with aerobics, jogging and weight-lifting, to cope with the choreography and the dance routines. For the costumes, she collaborated with designer Marlene Stewart, expanding on the idea of bringing her popular video characters to life onstage, reworking scenes from "True Blue", "Open Your Heart", "Papa Don't Preach" and "La Isla Bonita". The stage was huge, with four video screens, multimedia projectors and a flight of stairs in the middle. Leonard became the music director and encouraged Madonna to go with the idea of rearranging her older songs and presenting them in a new format. Madonna named the tour 'Who's That Girl', after looking up at a gigantic image of herself projected on a screen on the stage during rehearsals.  The show included song-and-dance routines and theatrics, seven costume changes, and an encore consisting of the title song "Who's That Girl" and "Holiday". The tour also addressed social causes like AIDS, during "Papa Don't Preach". Who's That Girl was critically appreciated, with reviewers commenting on the extravagant nature of the concert and complimenting Madonna for her dancing, costume changes and dynamic pacing. Who's That Girl was a commercial success, grossing a total of U.S. $25 million, with Madonna playing in front of 1.5 million people over the course of the tour. According to Pollstar, it was the second top female concert tour of 1987, behind Tina Turner's Break Every Rule Tour.  Two concerts from the tour were later released on music video, "Who's That Girl: Live in Japan" (1987), which was exclusive to the Japanese market and "" (1988) which was released internationally. Taraborrelli commented that "Many female artists behave like a diva for a period when they reach superstar status, and the 'Who's That Girl?' tour marked the beginning of Madonna's." The tour is also noted for giving rise to the new Madonna persona, a stronger and more intelligent sexual image of her former self which had given rise to the term Madonna wannabe. A statue of Madonna, wearing a conical bra was erected in her name, at the center of the town of Pacentro in Italy, where her ancestors used to live.

Singles.

"Live to Tell" was the first single released from the album in March 1986. The song was the second ballad for Madonna after "Crazy for You", and was used in the film "At Close Range" which starred her then husband Sean Penn. The song was received positively by critics with most of them calling it "her best ballad to date" as well as a "tremendous ballad that rewrites the rules of adult contemporary crossover". "Live to Tell" became Madonna's third number one single on the "Billboard" Hot 100 and her second number-one that is featured in a film after "Crazy for You". It also became a success internationally reaching the top ten in Canada, France, the Netherlands, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.  "Papa Don't Preach" was released as the second single in June 1986. It was critically appreciated with most of them declaring it as "the stand-alone song" from the album, also that "with songs like 'Papa Don't Preach', Madonna made the transition from pop tart to consummate artist, joining the ranks of 80s icons like Michael Jackson and Prince." The song became Madonna's fourth number-one single in the U.S. and also reached the top spot in Canada, Ireland, and the United Kingdom. "True Blue" was released as the album's third single in September 1986. It is a dance-pop song inspired by the Motown's girl groups from the 1960s. Critics generally received the song as a light-hearted, fun track having a 50's feeling to it, although some critics believed that it was "sassless and neutered" as compared to the other songs on the record, and that it was "merely cute and not really up to being the title track of an album". The song became another top ten hit for Madonna reaching number three on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart, and peaked at number one in Ireland and the United Kingdom.  "Open Your Heart" was the fourth single from the album released on November 19, 1986. The song was appreciated critically with critics comparing it with sweeter post-Motown valentine songs, and "perfect" for dancefloor strut. The song became Madonna's fifth number-one single on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart. Internationally, it became a top ten hit in several European countries including Belgium, Ireland, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom. "La Isla Bonita" was released as the fifth and final single in February 1987. The song describes Madonna as a tourist who prays "that the days would last, they went so fast". The first line refers to an island called San Pedro although this has not been clearly stated by Madonna in any interview. The song received positive response with critics calling it one of Madonna's greatest, most influential songs as well as the best song on the album. "La Isla Bonita" was a worldwide hit, reaching number one in Canada, France, Germany, and the United Kingdom, while reaching a peak of four on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart.

Critical reception.

"True Blue" received general critical acclaim. Jon Pareles, in a review for "The New York Times", said that "True Blue" reprised the themes of fidelity in its songs and complimented her addition of a tinge of real world storytelling in her songs, making her reach the "fringes of the permissible". Stephen Holden in another review complimented the album and said that "Madonna goes heavy on heart in this record". In a "Rolling Stone" review, Davitt Sigerson stated that Madonna was "singing better than ever". The album's songs were described as "catchy", but Sigerson also commented on the lack of "outstanding tracks". He ultimately stated that "True Blue" is a "sturdy, dependable, lovable new album" which "remains faithful to her past while shamelessly rising above it".  Stephen Thomas Erlewine, in a review for AllMusic, declared it as "one of the great dance-pop albums, a record that demonstrates Madonna's true skills as a songwriter, record-maker, provocateur, and entertainer through its wide reach, accomplishment, and sheer sense of fun." He also felt that Madonna's endeavors in "True Blue" made it "[brilliant], using the music to hook in critics." Erlewine found that the songs on the album had a poignant mixture of topics, which further solidied its popularity. Sal Cinquemani from "Slant Magazine" called the album "the supreme archetype for late '80s and early '90s pop music.[...] Time stamped with '80s-era keyboard and drum synths, True Blue, though chockfull of hits, is the most dated of Madonna's albums." He praised the album's songs for being more mature than "Material Girl", and said that the album "includes some of Madonna's greatest, most influential hits (the robust "Open Your Heart" and the timeless "La Isla Bonita"), but it's also home to some of her biggest clunkers." Michael Paoletta from "Billboard" commented in 2001 that nearly 20 years after its debut, the album is still irresistible.  "Entertainment Weekly" reviewer Jim Farber said "Though Madonna's third project finds her adding to her palette with Spanish pop ("La Isla Bonita") and messing with our heads with its seeming anti-abortion song ("Papa Don't Preach"). Also notable for 'Live to Tell,' her best ballad to date". Robert Christgau was less impressed, accusing Madonna of pandering to the "lowest common denominator" of young listeners with ambiguous lyrics and over-promotion. Robert Hilburn from "Los Angeles Times" stated that ""True Blue" isn't revolutionary music, but it is imaginative, highly energized pop that recognizes the limitations and pleasures of Top 40 fare." Erica Wexler from "Spin" commented that ""True Blue" is Madonna's rite of passage between pop adolescence and a harsher adult world. With all her contrivances and the delighted tunes that I can't exorcise from my head, her mystique is still explained by the young beefcake who told me, 'I love to pump iron to Madonna'."

Commercial performance.

In the United States, "True Blue" debuted at number 29 on the "Billboard" 200 and reached number one on the issue dated August 16, 1986. It stayed on the top position for five consecutive weeks and on the chart for a total of 82 weeks. The album also reached a peak of number 47 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. "True Blue" was certified seven times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipment of over seven million units, making it Madonna's third best-selling album in the United States, behind "Like a Virgin" (1984) and "The Immaculate Collection" (1990). After the advent of the Nielsen SoundScan era in 1991, the album sold a further 404,000 copies. In Canada, the album debuted at number 73 on the "RPM" albums chart for the issue of July 5, 1986. The album climbed rapidly upwards and reached number one on the issue dated August 9, 1986. It stayed at the top for nine weeks and was present on the chart for 77 weeks. "True Blue" was certified diamond by the Canadian Recording Industry Association (CRIA) for shipment of one million copies. Madonna became the second female artist to surpassed the 1 million mark of an album in Canada.  "True Blue" was also a commercial success in Asia and Oceania. In Japan, the album peaked at number one on the Oricon LP chart. At the 1987 Japan Gold Disc Awards held by the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ), "True Blue" received "Album of the Year Pop Solo" and "Grand Prix Album of the Year", which was given for the year's best-selling international album, while Madonna was honored the "Artist of the Year" for the year's best-selling international artist. In Hong Kong, "True Blue" was certified platinum by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry and gold in Philippines. In Australia, the album topped the Kent Music Report albums chart on the issue date of August 4, 1986, staying there for two weeks. It was certified four times platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipment of 280,000 copies. It also reached number one in New Zealand albums chart and was certified five times platinum by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) for shipment of 75,000 copies.  "True Blue" achieved its biggest commercial reception in European countries, where it topped the European Top 100 Albums chart for 34 consecutive weeks—a record that has yet to be broken—from issue dated July 19, 1986 to March 7, 1987. In the United Kingdom, "True Blue" opened at the top of the UK Albums Chart on July 12, 1986, making it the first album by American artist to debut at number one in British chart history. It remained at the summit for six weeks and on the chart for a total of 85 weeks. "True Blue" was the best-selling album of 1986 in the United Kingdom. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified it seven times platinum for shipment of 2.1 million copies and as of June 2019, it has sold over two million copies, the highest sales for any of Madonna's studio albums. "True Blue" also topped the albums chart in France and was certified diamond by the Syndicat National de l'Édition Phonographique (SNEP) for shipment of one million copies. Actual sales of the album in the country stand at 1,353,100 copies. In Germany, the album peaked at number one for eight weeks and was certified two times platinum by the Bundesverband Musikindustrie (BVMI) for shipment of one million copies. "True Blue" achieved gold status in Sweden and Ireland and silver in Denmark.

Legacy.

Stephen Thomas Erlewine noted that ""True Blue" is the album where Madonna truly became 'Madonna the Superstar'—the endlessly ambitious, fearlessly provocative entertainer that knew how to outrage, spark debates, get good reviews—and make good music while she's at it." Mark Savage from BBC stated that "True Blue" is the album which cemented Madonna's reputation as the 'First Lady of Pop'. Sal Cinquemani from Slant Magazine said that with the album "Madonna made the transition from pop tart to consummate artist, joining the ranks of '80s icons like Michael Jackson and Prince." Similarly, Robert C. Sickels, the author of "100 Entertainers Who Changed America: An Encyclopedia of Pop Culture Luminaries", wrote that the album "cemented Madonna's place as the most popular female musical star of the 1980s, shining alongside male pop icons like Prince and Michael Jackson."  Regarding Madonna's influence on the record industry and younger artists, Debbie Gibson's then manager Doug Breitbart commented: "Madonna has brought back a really strong, melodic component to pop music. She has a very youth-oriented, up, bubbly, fun sound." "Slant Magazine" listed the album at number 60 on their list of "The 100 Best Albums of the 1980s" and stated that ""True Blue" was the album on which it became readily apparent that Madonna was more than just a flash-in-the-pan pop star." They added, "It's when she began manipulating her image—and her audience—with a real sense of clarity and purpose and made sure she had quality songs to back up her calculation and world-dominating ambition."  The global success of "True Blue" marked the first time Madonna entering the "Guinness Book of World Records" in its 1988 edition, where she was dubbed as the most successful singer for 1986. The album also held the record for number one in the most countries, topping the album charts in a total of 28 countries around the world. "True Blue" was later included in the 1992 edition of "Guinness Book of World Records" as the best-selling album by a woman, with copies sold of more than 17 million until October 1990. "True Blue" was also the world's top-selling album of 1986 and the best-selling album of the 1980s by a female artist. With sales of more than 25 million copies worldwide, "True Blue" remains one of the best-selling albums of all time.  "True Blue" also made social impact through its music videos, as author John E. Semonche observed in his book "Censoring Sex" that Madonna pushed the envelope of what could be shown on television which resulted in increase of her popularity. The music video for "Open Your Heart" was a subject of analysis among scholars for its concept of the stereo-typical male gaze and voyeurism. She appeared as a stripper in the video, who escapes with a young boy from the strip parlour in the end. MTV had some reservations initially before airing the video, which was later resolved after a meeting with Warner Officials. Feminist writer Susan Bordo reacted negatively to the video, saying that the leering and pathetic men in the cubicles and Madonna's escape with the boy is "cynically and mechanically tacked on [as] a way of claiming trendy status for what is just cheesecake—or, perhaps, pornography". Author Donn Welton pointed out that the usual power relationship between the "voyeuristic male gaze and object" is destabilized by the portrayal of the male patrons of the peep show as leering and pathetic.  Author Douglas Kellner noted that the multiculturalism in her music videos and her culturally transgressive moves "turned out to be highly successful moves that endeared her to large and varied youth audiences." In the fall of 1986, Sire Records held Madonna's "Make My Video" contest that involved MTV viewers to make their own videos for "True Blue". Thousands of viewers submitted their recorded tapes which were mainly made using home-made video equipment and featured themselves or relatives as the actors. MTV publicist Peter Danielson said that many of the submissions featured teenagers imitating Madonna. Her Spanish look in the music video for "La Isla Bonita" became popular and appeared in the fashion trends at that time in the form of boleros and layered skirts accessorizing with rosary beads and crucifix like the video. In recognition of her impact on popular culture through her music videos, Madonna was honored with the Video Vanguard Award at the 1986 MTV Video Music Awards, only four years into her career. She became the first female artist to receive such career achievement from MTV.

Track listing.

Notes

Personnel.

Credits adapted from the album's liner notes.

Certifications and sales.

!scope="row"|Worldwide

True Blue is the third studio album by American singer and songwriter Madonna, released on June 30, 1986, by Sire Records. She co-wrote and produced the entire album with Stephen Bray and Patrick Leonard. "True Blue" deals with her visions of love, work, dreams as well as disappointments, and was inspired by her then husband Sean Penn, to whom Madonna dedicated the album. Musically, the songs on the album took a different direction from her previous endeavours, incorporating classical music in order to engage an older audience who had been skeptical of her music.

《忠实者》(英语:True Blue)是美国女歌手玛丹娜第3张录音室专辑,1986年6月30日由华纳兄弟唱片公司旗下子公司Sire Records发行,2001年7月该专辑推出加值版,多收录两首混音版本歌曲。《忠实者》在告示牌欧洲专辑榜(European Top 100 Albums)蝉连榜首34周之久,这纪录随着该榜在2010年底被关闭已成为历史印记,而且它在包含英美等28个国家登上榜首,吉尼斯世界纪录更以「前所未见」来形容这张专辑受欢迎的程度。《忠实者》获得全球性的成功,让玛丹娜晋身为全球乐坛呼风唤雨的超级巨星,专辑中多首脍炙人口的佳作,更成为1980年代西洋流行乐坛的永恒经典。


Exterior.

The facade in Venetian Late Baroque style, was financed by the aristocrat Gerolamo Cavazza, and erected by Giuseppe Sardi, from 1672 to 1680. The four first-floor statues, the statue of the Virgin and Child, and the statues of Saint Catherine of Siena and St Thomas Aquinas are sculpted by Bernardo Falconi.

Interior.

The first chapel to the right has a statue of St John of the Cross, attributed to Falconi. The statues of Faith, Hope, and Charity are by Tommaso Rues. The third chapel on the left has a statue of St Sebastian (1669) with bronze bas-reliefs also attributed to Falconi.

The vault.

The vault of the church nave once housed a major fresco by Giambattista Tiepolo depicting the "Translation of the House of Loreto". Tiepolo had previously worked in the church, decorating the vaults of the chapel of St Teresa in 1727-1730 and chapel of Crucifix in 1732-33. He had also painted a "Virgin of Mount Carmel" for the Carmelite church of St Aponal; thus was well known to the order. Thus in 1743, Tiepolo arranged to work alongside Gerolamo Mengozzi Colonna, who provided quadratura for 1500 ducats; Tiepolo painted a daring vision of the flying House, transported by angels, which repels falling winged figures of heresy and falsehood (completed in 1745). The frescoes were destroyed by an Austrian bombardment from the mainland during October 24, 1915. From 1929 to 1933, Ettore Tito painted canvases and frescoes to repair the damage. The remains of the fragments of Tiepolo's work are now in the Gallerie dell'Accademia.

Inside facade.

Above the door: organ with carved and gilded decorations and reliefs. Above the organ: lunette "Santa Teresa crowned by the Savior" (18th century) by G. Lazzarini.

The Choir.

The altar was completed by Giuseppe Pozzo. Choir ceiling by Giuseppe and Domenico Valeriani.

Chapels.

Chapel Mora.

Attributed to the Mora family. Built by Baldassare Longhena. The altarpiece with four columns of black jasper shows a statue of Saint John the Baptist in Carrara marble (late seventeenth century) by Melchior Barthel. A ceiling fresco depicts the eternal Father in glory (seventeenth century) by Pietro Liberi. Giambattista Mora is buried at the foot of the altar.

Chapel Ruzzini.

Attributed to the Ruzzini family. The altar was built and designed by Giuseppe Pozzo. The altarpiece: Ecstasy of Santa Teresa (1697) by Heinrich Meyring. On the vault a fresco The Gloria of St. Teresa (1720-1725) by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo. The side walls: two paintings by Niccolò Bambini; The left painting "Saint Joseph appears to Saint Teresa and saves her from a dangerous encounter" on the right: "The miracle of the host"; The consecrated host miraculously detaches itself from the priest's hands to wait for Saint Teresa (end of the seventeenth century).

Chapel Manin.

Here is buried the last doge of Venice, Ludovico Manin, died on 23 October 1802. The chapel was built by brother Giuseppe Pozzo. The altarpiece shows a sculpture of "The Virgin and Child and St. Joseph in the Clouds" by Giuseppe Torretto, the author of the two angels. On the side walls of the chapel: statues, Archangel Michael and Archangel Gabriel, from the same Giuseppe Torretto. The two blue glass candelabras are Murano glassworks.

Chapel Venier.

Built by Sebastiano Venier (not to be confused with the doge Sebastiano Venier), abbot and apostolic protonotary, which is buried in the chapel († 1664), as well as his brother Angelo. The altarpiece shows a statue of St. Sebastian (1669) by Bernardo Falconi. The main altar is enriched with bronze bas-reliefs with episodes from the life of St. Sebastian of the same Bernardo Falconi.  Other works of art include a "St Theresa in Extasis" (1697) by Heinrich Meyring and a "Crucifixion" by Giovanni Maria Morlaiter. Canvases by Tiepolo such as "Apotheosis of St. Teresa" and "Christ at Gesthemane" (1732) are displayed prominently in the church.  The ashes of Ludovico Manin, the last Doge of Venice, are entombed here.

Santa Maria di Nazareth is a Roman Catholic Carmelite church in Venice, northern Italy. It is also called Church of the Scalzi ("Chiesa degli Scalzi") being the seat in the city of the Discalced Carmelites religious order (Scalzi in Italian means "barefoot"). Located in the sestiere of Cannaregio, near Venezia Santa Lucia railway station, it was built in the mid 17th century to the designs of Baldassarre Longhena and completed in the last decades of that century.

拿撒勒圣玛利亚堂(Santa Maria di Nazareth)又名赤足教堂(Chiesa degli Scalzi),是意大利北部威尼斯的一座罗马天主教教堂,属于赤足加尔默罗会修会。它位于卡纳雷吉欧区,靠近威尼斯圣路济亚车站。它建于17世纪中叶,由Baldassarre Longhena设计,完成于该世纪最后十年。


Personal life.

Skvortsov is married to Elena Georgievna Skvortsova (née Krasnikova). They have one daughter, Anna Aleksandrovna Skvortsova, born in 1990. His father is Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Skvortsov, born in 1942 and his mother is Nina Ivanovna Skvortsova (Zabelina), born in 1938. Skvortsov's hobbies include diving, soccer, badminton, fishing, hunting, and tourism. He is also a qualified underwater diving and powered paragliding (paraborne) instructor.

Education.

Skvortsov graduated from the Stavropol Air Force Pilot and Navigator School (located at Stavropol Shpakovskoye Airport) as pilot-engineer in 1987, and in 1997 from the Military Red Banner Air Defense Academy. Currently he is working towards a law degree at the Russian Academy of Civil Service.

Awards.

Skvortsov was awarded:

Experience.

Skvortsov flew L-39, MiG-23 and Su-27 aircraft as a pilot, senior pilot and chief of aircraft formation. Skvortsov has logged around 1000 hours of flight time. He is a Class 1 Air Force pilot, a qualified diver and paraborne instructor.

Cosmonaut career.

Skvortsov completed basic space training from January 1998 to November 1999. He was qualified as a test-cosmonaut in November, 1999. Starting January 2000 he was in International Space Station advanced training. In March 2008, Skvortsov was assigned to the Expedition 21/22 backup crew as a flight engineer and Soyuz TMA commander.

Expedition 23/24.

Skvortsov served as a Flight Engineer for the International Space Station (ISS) on Expedition 23. He traveled to the ISS aboard Soyuz TMA-18 along with fellow Russian cosmonaut Mikhail Korniyenko and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell-Dyson, on April 2, 2010 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan. He celebrated his 44 birthday in space aboard the ISS on May 6, 2010.  Skvortsov was the commander of the ISS Expedition 24. At the traditional "Change of Command" ceremony held on May 31, 2010, aboard the ISS Expedition 23 commander Oleg Kotov handed over his duties to Skvortsov.  Ending Expedition 24, the Soyuz TMA-18 spacecraft carrying Commander Alexander Skvortsov, Mikhail Kornienko, and NASA astronaut Tracy Caldwell-Dyson undocked from the space station at 10:02 p.m. EDT on September 24, 2010. Following a normal descent, the Soyuz crew landed at 5:23 a.m. GMT near Arkalyk, Kazakhstan on September 25.  After returning to Earth and sharing his experiences to an audience, Skvortsov said "I love spicy food, I make really hot chili sauce myself. I missed it badly. I finished off all the spicy ketchup stock on the ISS and shocked everyone by making and eating wasabi sandwiches. That's my fuel, as good as a rocket's".

Expedition 39/40.

Skvortsov returned to space aboard Soyuz TMA-12M, along with Oleg Artemyev and Steven Swanson, as a flight engineer on the Expedition 39 crew. The mission launched on March 25, 2014, and landed on September 11, 2014.

Expedition 60/61.

Skvortsov launched on July 20, 2019 and arrived to the International Space Station on the same day,joining the Expedition 60/61 crew.

Aleksandr Aleksandrovich Skvortsov (; born May 6, 1966) is a Russian cosmonaut. He is a veteran of three spaceflights, which were long-duration missions aboard the International Space Station. His first spaceflight took place from April to September 2010, and was launched with the spacecraft Soyuz TMA-18. He arrived at the station part way through Expedition 23, of which Oleg Kotov was the Commander. When Expedition 24 began in June, Skvortsov became Commander.

亚历山大·亚历山德罗维奇·斯克沃尔佐夫(,1966年-5月6日)是俄罗斯第105位宇航员,世界第510位宇航员。


History.

Development.

Even as the Leopard 1 was just entering service, the German military was interested in producing an improved tank in the next decade. This resulted in the start of the MBT-70 development in cooperation with the United States beginning in 1963. However already in 1967 it became questionable whether the MBT-70 would enter service at any time in the foreseeable future. Therefore, the German government issued the order to research future upgrade options of the Leopard 1 to the German company Porsche in 1967. This study was named "vergoldeter Leopard" (Gilded Leopard) and focused on incorporating advanced technology into the Leopard design. The projected upgrades added an autoloader, a coaxial autocannon and an independent commander's periscope. The anti-air machine gun could be operated from inside the vehicle and a TV surveillance camera was mounted on an extendable mast. The shape of the turret and hull was optimised using cast steel armour, while the suspension, transmission and the engine exhaust vents were improved.

Prototype development.

Following the end of Gilded Leopard study in 1967, the West-German government decided to focus on the "Experimentalentwicklung" (experimental development) as feasibility study and to develop new components for upgrading the Leopard 1 and for use on a future main battle tank programme. At first 25 million DM were invested, but after the industry came to the conclusion that with such a low budget the development of the two projected testbeds was not possible, a total of 30 to 32 million DM was invested. The experimental development was contracted to the company Krauss-Maffei, but with the obligation to cooperate with Porsche for the development of the chassis and with Wegmann for the development of the turret. Two prototypes with differing components were built with the aim to improve the conception

Leopard 2AV.

In July 1973 German Federal Minister of Defence Georg Leber and his US counterpart James R. Schlesinger agreed upon a higher degree of standardization in main battle tanks being favourable to NATO. By integrating components already fully developed by German companies for the Leopard 2, the costs of the XM1 Abrams, U.S. prototype tank developed after the MBT-70, should be reduced. A German commission was sent to the US to evaluate the harmonisation of components between the XM1 and Leopard 2. However, by American law it was not possible for a public bidder to interfere in a procurement tender after a contract with intention of profits and deadline was awarded to companies of the private industry.  As a result, the modification of the Leopard 2 prototypes in order to meet the US Army requirements was investigated. Following a number of further talks, a memorandum of understanding (MOU) was signed on 11 December 1974 between

Series production.

The decision to put the Leopard 2 tank in production for the German army was made after a study was undertaken, which showed that adopting the Leopard 2 mod would result in a greater combat potential of the German army than producing more Leopard 1A4 tanks or developing an improved version of the Leopard 1A4 with 105/120 mm smoothbore gun, improved armour protection, a new fire control system and a or engine. Various changes were applied to the Leopard 2 design before the series production started. Engine, transmission and suspension

Further improvements.

While previous models only varied in detail, the Leopard 2A4 introduced a digital ballistic computer and an improved fire extinguishing system. Starting within the sixth batch tanks were fitted with an improved armour array and new side skirts. In 1984 the German military procurement agency stated a number of requirements for a future Leopard 2 upgrade. In 1989, the "Kampfwertsteigerung" (combat potential increasement) programme was initiated in Germany with the delivery of first prototypes. The official military requirements were published in March

Replacement.

The Leopard 2 first entered service in 1979, and its service life is anticipated to end around 2030. In May 2015, the German Ministry of Defence announced plans to develop a tank jointly with France as a successor to both the Leopard 2 and Leclerc tanks. Technologies and concepts will be investigated to determine what capabilities are needed in a future tank. Deployment of the new tank, titled Main Ground Combat System (MGCS), will be preceded by incremental upgrades to the Leopard 2, including a new digital turret core system and situational awareness system and an Active Protection System (APS). A short-term lethality increase will come from a higher pressure 120 mm gun firing new ammunition, expected to deliver 20 percent better performance than the L/55. Mid-term efforts will focus on a Rheinmetall 130 mm cannon concept offering 50 percent better armour penetration. With the Russian T-14 Armata being equipped with the Afghanit, an Active Protection System designed to mitigate the effectiveness of ATGM, more importance is being placed on direct fire weapons.

Exports.

Germany has fielded about 2,125 Leopard 2 main battle tanks in various versions, but most of the tanks were sold following the German reunification. Other countries bought newly or locally built tanks.  The Netherlands ordered 445 Leopard 2 tanks on 2 March 1979, after examining the results of the Leopard 2AV in the United States. It became the first export customer of the Leopard 2 and the vehicles were delivered between July 1981 and July 1986. The Swiss army decided to purchase Leopard 2 tanks over the M1A1 Abrams after trialling both tanks between August 1981 and June 1982. The Swiss decision was made on 24 August 1983 and the funding was subsequently approved by the government in 1984. Thirty-five of the tanks were delivered by Kraus-Maffei by June 1987; Eidgenössische Konstruktionswerkstätte Thun started license production of 345 additional vehicles in December 1987.  The Leopard 2 became very popular in the 1990s, when the shrinking German army offered many of its redundant Leopard 2s at a reduced price.

Combat history.

KFOR.

Starting on 12 June 1999, 28 Leopard 2A5 tanks were deployed by the German army as part of the Kosovo Force (KFOR) to Kosovo. The vehicles of Panzerbataillon 33 and 214, were sent from Macedonia to Prizren. They were used for patrols, protecting checkpoints and bases as well as part of the show of force. On 13 June 1999, two members of the Serbian paramilitary started firing from inside a

IFOR/SFOR.

The Dutch contingent in Bosnia-Hercegovina operated Leopard 2 tanks. Dutch Leopard

ISAF/OEF.

In October 2003, Canada was planning to replace its Leopard C2s with wheeled Stryker Mobile Gun Systems. However, operational experience in Afghanistan, and in particular during Operation Medusa, convinced the Canadian military of the usefulness of maintaining a tank fleet. Leopard C2s were deployed to Kandahar in December 2006, but they were by then almost 30 years old, and were nearing the end of their operational life. The Canadian government decided to borrow 20 Leopard 2A6s and three armoured recovery vehicles from Germany for rapid deployment to Afghanistan. In late August 2007, the first Leopard 2s were airlifted into Afghanistan to equip Lord

Turkish intervention in Syria.

Turkey operates 354 Leopard 2A4 tanks. Initially using other tank types including upgraded M60s, in December 2016 Turkey deployed a number of Leopard 2A4s to the Syrian Civil War against Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIS) as part of Operation Euphrates Shield. Initially, three of the Turkish Leopard 2A4s operating in Syria were destroyed or damaged by ISIS using anti-tank missile systems (possibly Fagot or Konkurs anti-tank guided missiles obtained from Syrian or Iraqi Army captured stocks). In mid-December 2016, two 2A4 tanks were captured by ISIS near al-Bab city in Syria during Euphrates Shield operations; Amaq News Agency posted video of the captured vehicles. By late December 2016, Islamic State had captured or

Design.

Protection.

The Leopard 2 uses spaced multilayer armour throughout the design. The armour consists of a combination of steel plates of different hardness, elastic materials and other non-metallic materials. Steel plates with high hardness and high ductility are used. The armour is a result of extensive research about the formation and penetration mechanism of shaped charge jets. The Leopard 2's armour might be based on the British Burlington armour, which had already been demonstrated to the Federal Republic of Germany in 1970. Later, in the mid-1970s, full details about Burlington were handed over to the West German government. The frontal arc of the Leopard 2's armour is designed to withstand large

Secondary protection.

The Leopard 2's design follows the concept of compartmentation; possible sources of fire or explosions have been moved away from the crew. In the turret, the ammunition and the hydraulics are located in compartments separated from the crew. In case of a detonation, the blow-off panels on the compartment roofs will direct the explosion and fire away from the crew. The crew is also protected against nuclear, biological and chemical (NBC) threats, as the Leopard 2 is equipped with a Dräger NBC overpressurization system, which provides up to over-pressure inside the vehicle.  Two groups of four Wegmann 76 mm

Armour upgrades.

Following the Leopard 2's introduction into service in 1979, the armour has been gradually improved over the years. A modified version of spaced multilayer armour was introduced beginning with the 97th vehicle of the 6th production batch. The same batch also introduced an improved type of heavy ballistic skirts.  The Leopard 2A5 upgrade focused on increased armour protection. While upgrading a Leopard 2 tank to the Leopard 2A5 configuration, the roof covering the armour modules is cut open and new armour modules are inserted. New additional armour modules made of laminated armour are covering the frontal arc of the turret. They have a distinctive arrowhead shape and improve the protection against both kinetic penetrators and shaped charges. The side skirts also incorporate improved armour protection. Furthermore, a 25 mm-thick spall liner reduces the danger of crew injuries in

Armour protection estimates.

Estimated levels of protection for the Leopard 2 range from 590–690 mm RHAe on the turret, 600 mm RHAe on the glacis and lower front hull on the Leopard 2A4, to 920–940 mm RHAe on the turret, 620 mm RHAe on the glacis and lower front hull on the Leopard 2A6 against kinetic projectiles.  According to a description page hosted by the Federation of American Scientists, the armour of the Leopard 2A4 is believed to provide protection equivalent to 700 mm armour steel (RHA) against kinetic energy penetrators and 1000 mm RHA against shaped charge warheads.

Armament.

Primary.

The primary armament for production versions of the Leopard 2 is the Rheinmetall 120 mm smoothbore gun—the same gun later adapted for use on the M1 Abrams—in either the L/44 variant (found on all production Leopard 2s until the A5), or the L/55 variant (as found on the Leopard 2A6 and subsequent models). Ammunition for the gun comprises 27 rounds stored in a special magazine in the forward section of the hull, to the left of the driver's station, with an additional 15 rounds stored in the left side of the turret bustle, which are separated from the fighting compartment by an electrically operated door. If the ammunition storage area is hit, a blow-off panel in the turret roof would

Secondary.

The Leopard 2 is equipped with two machine guns, one mounted co-axially, the other on an anti-aircraft mount. German models use the MG 3 7.62

Fire control.

The standard fire control system found on the Leopard 2 is the German EMES 15 fire control system with a dual magnification stabilised primary sight. The primary sight has an integrated neodymium yttrium aluminium garnet laser rangefinder and a 120 element Mercury cadmium telluride, HgCdTe (also known as CMT) Zeiss thermographic camera, both of which are linked to the tank's fire control computer. A backup 8x auxiliary telescope FERO-Z18 is mounted coaxially for the gunner. The commander has an independent periscope, the Rheinmetall/Zeiss PERI-R 17 A2. The PERI-R 17 A2 is a stabilised panoramic periscope sight designed for day/night observation and target identification; it provides an

Propulsion.

The Leopard 2 is propelled by the MTU MB 873 Ka-501 engine, which provides at 2,600 rpm and of torque at 1,600-1,700 rpm. The MTU MB 873 Ka-501 is a four-stroke, 47.7 litre, 90° V-block 12-cylinder, twin-turbocharged and intercooled, liquid-cooled diesel engine (with multi-fuel capability), which has an estimated fuel consumption rate of around 300 litres per 100 km on roads and 500 litres per 100 km across country, and is coupled to the Renk HSWL 354 gear and brake system. The Renk HSWL 354 transmission has four forward and two reverse gears, with a torque converter and is completely automatic, with the driver selecting the range. The Leopard 2 has four fuel tanks, which have a total capacity of approximately 1,160 litres, giving a maximum road range of about 500 km. The propulsion pack is capable of driving the tank to a top

Variants.

Leopard 2.

The baseline Leopard 2, sometimes informally called the "A0" to differentiate it from later versions, was the first series manufactured version. The vehicles were manufactured from October 1979 until March 1982, altogether 380 vehicles. 209 were built by Krauss Maffei and 171 by MaK. The

Leopard 2A1.

Minor modifications and the installation of the gunner's thermal sight were worked into the second batch of 450 vehicles Leopard 2, designated the A1. Krauss-Maffei built 248 (Chassis Nr. 10211 to 10458) and Mak built 202 (Chassis Nr. 20173 to 20347). Deliveries of the "2A1" models started in March 1982 and ended

Leopard 2A2.

This designation was given to upgraded vehicles of the first batch of Leopard 2s, brought up to the standard of the second and third batches. This modernisation gradually replaced the original PZB 200 sights in the first batch with thermal sights for the EMES 15 as they became available. Furthermore, the upgrade included the fitting of filler openings and caps to the

Leopard 2A3.

The fourth batch of 300 vehicles, 165 by Krauss-Maffei (Chassis Nr. 10624 to 10788) and 135 by Mak (Chassis Nr. 20510 to 20644), was delivered between December 1984 and December

Leopard 2A4.

The most widespread version of the Leopard 2 family, the 2A4 models included more substantial changes, including an automated fire and explosion suppression system, an all-digital fire control system able to handle new ammunition types, and an improved turret with flat titanium/tungsten armour. The Leopard 2s were manufactured in eight batches between 1985 and 1992. All the older models were upgraded to 2A4 standard. Until 1994, Germany operated a total of 2,125 2A4s (695 newly built and the rest modified older versions), while the Netherlands had an additional 445 tanks. The 2A4 was also license manufactured in Switzerland as the Panzer 87 "Leopard" or Pz 87. This version included Swiss-built 7.5 mm MG 87 machine guns and communications equipment, and featured improved NBC protection system. Switzerland operated 380 Pz 87 tanks.  After 2000, Germany and the Netherlands found themselves with large stocks of tanks that they had no need for after the Cold War. These tanks were sold to NATO or friendly armies around the world. Among these buyers of the surplus tanks were Turkey (purchasing 354 vehicles), Greece (183), Sweden (160), Chile (140), Finland (139), Poland (128), Austria (114), Spain (108), Canada (107), Singapore (96), Norway (52), Denmark (51), and Portugal (37). The "Pz 87WE" ("WertErhaltung") is a planned Swiss modification and upgrade of the Pz 87. The modification significantly improves protection through the addition of the Leopard 2A6M's mine protection kit, thicker armour on the front glacis, and a turret equipped with a Swiss-developed armour package using titanium alloy. The turret roof armour is improved and the smoke grenade launchers redesigned. Further improvements enhance survivability and combat capability, such as a turret electric drive similar to the Leopard 2A5, a driver rear-view camera, an independent weapons station for the loader, and enhanced command and control systems. The fire control system is also upgraded, using the Carl Zeiss Optronics GmbH PERI-R17A2 fire control system. A remote weapons station containing a fully stabilised Mg 64 0.50 in (12.7 mm) machine gun is also fitted to the tank.  The "Pz 87-140" is an experimental variant of the Swiss Pz 87 with a 140 mm gun and additional armour, which was later used on the newer production variants.  The "Leopard 2A4CHL" is the upgraded Chilean version of the Leopard 2A4 ordered by Chile in 2007. Upgrades include new electronics, sighting and information systems meant to elevate the Leopard 2A4's

Leopard 2 Marksman.

Finland has modernised its Marksman SPAAG vehicles by replacing the original T-55AM chassis with a newer Leopard 2A4 chassis. The upgraded Marksman vehicles were scheduled to enter service with

Leopard 2 Imp.

"Leopard 2 Improved" was a prototype-series for enhancing the A4, introducing a wedge-shaped, spaced add-on armour to the turret front and the frontal area of the sides. These spaced armour modules defeat a hollow

Leopard 2A5.

From the Leopard 2 Imp was then developed into the A5. There were also some improvements in the main armour composition. The interior received spall liners to reduce fragments if the armour is penetrated. The frontal "heavy" third of the side skirts was replaced with a stronger type. The commander's sight was moved to a new position behind the hatch and it received an independent thermal channel. The gunner's sight was moved to the turret roof as opposed

Stridsvagn 122.

Also based on the Leopard 2 Improved, Stridsvagn 122 is a Swedish Army tank with 120 units built, 91 of which were licence-produced in Sweden. The tank features increased armour on the turret top and front hull, and improved command-, control- and

Leopard 2-140.

In the early 1990s, Rheinmetall began development of a 140 mm smoothbore cannon for use in future tank designs. The new gun was intended to counter new Soviet tank developments, especially since the next generation of Soviet main battle tanks were rumoured to be armed with a 135 mm or 152 mm cannon. The new 140 mm cannon was part of a modernisation programme for the Leopard 2 known as the KWS III. Test firing of the new 140 mm cannon was conducted. Results showed that the gun had high penetration values, and had a muzzle velocity of around 2000 metres a second, with potential to be increased further. However, the 140 mm rounds were too heavy for the tank crew to handle effectively.  The KWS III upgrade was to feature a new turret. This new turret was equipped with the planned 140 mm cannon and an autoloader. The introduction of an autoloader reduced the tank's crew to three members, as a dedicated loader was no longer needed. The

Leopard 2A6.

The Leopard 2A6 includes the addition of the Rheinmetall 120 mm L/55 smoothbore gun and other changes. All German tank battalions of the "crisis intervention forces" are equipped with the A6. Canada purchased 20 Leopard 2A6s from the Netherlands. These were delivered in 2007. Portugal also purchased 37 Leopard 2A6 from the Dutch in 2007, with delivery in 2008. In January 2014, Finland purchased 100 L2A6s, as well as munitions, simulators, and a ten-year supply of reserve parts from the Netherlands. The tanks were delivered in batches between 2015-2019. The Leopard 2A6M is a version of the 2A6 with enhanced mine protection under the chassis, and internal enhancements to improve crew survivability. In the summer of 2007, Canada borrowed 20 A6Ms from Germany for deployment to Afghanistan. The Leopard 2 Hel is a derivative of the 2A6 that was ordered by the Greek Army in 2003 - the "Hel" stands for "Hellenic". The 170 tanks were to be delivered between 2006 and 2009. A total of 140 will be built in Greece by ELBO, which delivered

Leopard 2E.

The Leopard 2E is a derivative of the 2A6, with greater armour protection, developed under a programme of co-production between the defence industries of Spain and Germany. The programme was developed within the frame of collaboration decided in 1995 between the Defence Ministries of both countries, in which also was included the cession of use by a period of five years of 108 Leopard 2A4 from the German Army to the Spanish Army. However, this cession was extended

Leopard 2 PSO.

The new Leopard 2 PSO (Peace Support Operations) variant is designed specially for urban warfare, which had been encountered in peacekeeping operations with increasing frequency. Therefore, the Leopard 2 PSO is equipped with more effective all-around protection, a secondary weapons station,

Leopard 2A7.

The Leopard 2A7 is fundamentally different from the KMW variant 2A7+ and is not optimised for combat in urban terrain. A total of 20 vehicles are provided for converting. It involves former Dutch A6NL models returned by Canada to Germany. The original upgrade to A6M has been extended in coordination with Canada and includes a crew-compartment cooling-system from the Leopard 2 A6M-HEL series, a new 20 kW auxiliary power unit based on the Steyr Motors M12 TCA UI engine, the Saab Barracuda Mobile Camouflage System (MCS) with Heat-Transfer Reduction (HTR CoolCam) system, a

Leopard 2A7+.

The Leopard 2A7+ was first shown to the public during the Eurosatory 2010, featuring the label "Developed by KMW – tested and qualified by the German Ministry of Defence". The Leopard 2A7+ has been tested by the Bundeswehr under the name "UrbOp" (urban operations).  The Leopard 2A7+ is designed to operate both in low intensity and high intensity conflicts. The tank's protection has been increased

The Leopard 2 is a main battle tank developed by Krauss-Maffei in the 1970s for the West German Army. The tank first entered service in 1979 and succeeded the earlier Leopard 1 as the main battle tank of the German Army. It is armed with a 120 mm smoothbore cannon, and is powered by a V-12 twin-turbo diesel engine. Various versions have served in the armed forces of Germany and 12 other European countries, as well as several non-European nations, including Canada, Chile, Indonesia, Singapore, and Turkey. The Leopard 2 was used in Kosovo with the German Army, and has seen action in Afghanistan with the Dutch, Danish and Canadian contributions to the International Security Assistance Force, as well as seeing action in Syria with the Turkish Armed Forces against ISIS and the YPG.

豹2()是主要服役于德国联邦国防军的主战坦克,共有A1-A7等多个型号。被公认为当今性能最优秀和均衡的主战坦克之一。豹二在同世代的西方主战坦克中拥有极为突出的外销成绩,这也使其至今仍不断的推出修改型以满足不同的需求。


Report.

Background.

Sakon Yamamoto continued to replace Karun Chandhok at Hispania Racing, alongside Bruno Senna. The drivers' representative on the stewards' panel was Derek Warwick for the second time this season, after he was in the role at the.

Free practice.

Red Bull continued their on-track dominance in the first session, with both Sebastian Vettel and Mark Webber setting lap times over a second faster than their nearest challenger, the Renault of Robert Kubica.  Felipe Massa was the first driver to take to the circuit, where he was observed to take the stretch between the third and fourth turn – the scene of his injury in 2009 – quite slowly. After Ferrari's dominant display in Germany, the Italian team was noticeably off the pace in Budapest, with Fernando Alonso placing seventh and Massa finishing ninth at the end of the first session. At McLaren, Jenson Button led the way with the fourth-fastest time whilst Lewis Hamilton was crippled with an undisclosed technical glitch and frustrations with the balance of his car that left him eighteenth and the last driver ahead of the new teams, who were once again led by Jarno Trulli. The circuit's notoriously dusty surface triggered several spins with the most notable being Vitaly Petrov who lost control in the final bend and found himself splayed across the entrance to the front straight, though he was able to return to the pits. Force India, who were running test driver Paul di Resta in place of Vitantonio Liuzzi were fined €5,000 for another tyre mix-up when di Resta used a set of tyres that were a part of Liuzzi's Saturday allocation.  The second session was once again led by Vettel and Red Bull, though the gap to the rest of the field was considerably smaller, with Alonso half a second adrift and Webber in third ahead of Massa. The most notable performance came from Petrov who, despite his earlier spin and a time two seconds down on the leaders, placed fifth overall, just a second behind Vettel and a tenth of a second faster than teammate Kubica. Lewis Hamilton recovered from his technical problems and found a setup he was happier with to take sixth. As with the first session, the second remained incident-free. Heikki Kovalainen was forced to sit out the bulk of the ninety minutes with hydraulics problems – a recurrent theme for all of the new teams – while Alonso tore a chunk out of one of the kerbs late in the session. Several drivers ran off the road, notably at turn seven, whilst Adrian Sutil struggled with an electrical fault.

Qualifying.

Heavy rain was expected to interrupt the session, and while clouds started to materialise over the final few corners of the circuit, the hour-long session remained free of rain. Red Bull were once again the early pace-setters, with pundits and commentators expecting the fight for pole to be between Vettel and Webber and possibly Alonso, the only driver who had been in touch with them all weekend. The fight to avoid elimination was intense, with several drivers including Michael Schumacher, Jenson Button and Adrian Sutil exchanging fastest laps to avoid eighteenth position and join the Virgin, Lotus and Hispania drivers in the knockout zone. In the end, Kamui Kobayashi suffered the ignominy of being eliminated in Q1; although he had been on a flying lap at the very end of the first period that, based on sector times, would have been enough to keep his qualifying session alive, he cruelly encountered traffic in the final sequence of bends. With his lap compromised, he aborted his run and returned to the pits. In his frustration he missed the scrutineering weighbridge completely, and was later given a five-place grid penalty for the transgression, shunting him back to the last row of the grid alongside Sakon Yamamoto. Elsewhere, Timo Glock was the fastest of the new teams; the last car to set a time in the first period, he upstaged Heikki Kovalainen by just a few hundredths of a second. Where Vettel claimed the fastest time of the first period, Mark Webber was the fastest in the second, with Alonso once again in third. Renault's Vitaly Petrov was the big surprise, taking fourth place and proving that his pace in the practice sessions was genuine. Although the gap between Red Bull and everyone else remained constant at a second, it was a hard-fought battle for the minor placings as several drivers struggled to promote themselves to the final qualifying period. Sébastien Buemi and Jaime Alguersuari were busy taking fastest times out of one another, but the real fight was once again for the final places in the next period, with Button, Nico Rosberg and the Williams drivers of Rubens Barrichello and Nico Hülkenberg and fighting to stay alive. Where Hülkenberg and Rosberg slipped through, Button could only manage eleventh and his former teammate Barrichello twelfth, with the reigning World Champion missing the cut by just two thousandths of a second. Adrian Sutil was able to take thirteenth alongside countryman Michael Schumacher, with Buemi, an anonymous Vitantonio Liuzzi and Alguersuari filling up the lower midfield places.  In the third and final session, it was reported that Petrov, Pedro de la Rosa and Hülkenberg had not been expecting to advance to the final period, and were therefore out of fresh sets of the softer option tyres. Petrov and de la Rosa both opted for a one-run strategy to preserve their tyres, as did Robert Kubica in the second Renault. Hülkenberg elected to run in two stints, but as in Germany, he discovered that his tyres were too worn to set a competitive time by the end of the session. De la Rosa experienced similar difficulties, taking ninth from Hülkenberg by just two thousandths of a second. At the business end of the grid, Sebastian Vettel set his fastest time yet, which even he could not beat on his second lap even though it was still good enough for pole, whilst Mark Webber could not improve much from his Q2 time. By the end of the session, Red Bull were once again first and second, giving the team eleven pole positions from twelve attempts in. Vettel himself was over a second faster than Alonso, with Webber falling just shy of the enviable mark. These times, combined with footage broadcast by Formula One Management that showed both the Red Bulls and Ferraris running with front wings that were notably closer to the road than their rivals, re-ignited the debate over flexible front wings, with McLaren and Mercedes GP in particular approaching the FIA for clarification as to the rules.  Elsewhere, Lewis Hamilton took advantage of Jenson Button's early Q2 exit to qualify fifth behind Felipe Massa, the 2008 World Champion looking to secure a good result and put as much space between himself and his teammate as possible in the championship standings. Nico Rosberg endured the hour-long session despite coming dangerously close to elimination on two occasions to line up alongside Hamilton in sixth, whilst Vitaly Petrov became the twelfth and final man to out-qualify his teammate in 2010. An early mistake on Kubica's first flying lap saw the Pole struggle, and while his second run was quicker, Petrov hit back on used rubber to take seventh by a tenth of a second at the end of the session.

Race.

Several drivers predicted that "up to seventy percent" of the final race result would be settled in the first corner, owing to the tight and twisty nature of the Hungaroring circuit. Despite the pace of the Red Bulls in qualifying, the third-placed Fernando Alonso was able to muscle his way into second position ahead of Mark Webber by the first turn. The other big movers were Vitaly Petrov, who passed Lewis Hamilton for fifth at the first corner - though he conceded the place to the 2008 World Champion the next lap when he found he could not get heat into his tyres - and Kamui Kobayashi, who surged from 23rd on the grid to 16th. Jaime Alguersuari's race was over after just one lap, with the Ferrari engine in his Toro Rosso spewing coolant fluid across the first sector of the circuit without warning.  Sebastian Vettel streaked away from Alonso and Webber at a rate of almost a second a lap, at least partially confirming the idea that the team would have an incredibly easy race. But a disruption occurred on lap fifteen when Vitantonio Liuzzi made contact with an unidentified driver and lost his front wing at turn eleven. This prompted the deployment of the safety car and a string of pit stops. Vettel narrowly made the pit entry at the last moment. Problems began further down the order when Nico Rosberg left his garage with a loose right-rear tyre. The tyre came free almost straight away and bounced down the pit lane through the Williams pit box, and striking a mechanic, who was bruised. Renault were able to pit Vitaly Petrov and release him to the circuit in sequence, but the Renault lollipop man released Robert Kubica into the path of Adrian Sutil, who at the time was attempting to enter his own pit box immediately following the Renault pit. The collision end Sutil's participation. Renault themselves were fined US$50,000 for an unsafe pit release, and Kubica was served with a ten-second stop-go penalty for causing an avoidable pit lane accident. While most of the leaders pitted in the three laps the safety car was on the circuit, Webber remained a notable exception. Having passed Vettel when the German was in the pits, Webber was now the first on the road. Red Bull began formulating a strategy so that the Australian could pit and rejoin the circuit ahead of Alonso. Vettel was later issued a drive-through penalty after violating Article 40.9 of the Sporting Regulations. Vettel fell more than ten car lengths behind the safety car, and he was penalised. Like the controversial penalty given to Lewis Hamilton in Valencia, the rule - designed to stop teams from manipulating the field for strategy purposes under safety car conditions - has rarely been broken in the modern era of the sport, and Vettel was visibly angry about being penalised for it, feeling that it had cost him certain victory. He rejoined the circuit behind Alonso in third, and would spend the rest of the race trying to find his way around the Ferrari.  At the front of the field, Webber introduced a very simple strategy of driving as fast as he could for as long as he could, intending to dial out enough of a lead over Alonso so that he could pit without risking his position. His strategy, originally designed to secure second place for him was now offering him the very real chance of victory. Elsewhere, Renault elected to retire Kubica's car with suspected damage from the collision with Sutil so as to preserve its physical condition, whilst Lewis Hamilton retired from fourth place with a gearbox problem on the same lap. As the final retirement of the race, Hamilton's exit meant that for the first time in 2010, all three new teams would see both their cars finish the race. Lotus would once again take line honours, with Kovalainen and Trulli finishing ahead of Timo Glock, and the second Virgin of Lucas di Grassi finished between the Hispanias of Senna and Yamamoto. Vettel caught Alonso and the pair battled over second while Webber continued to extend his lead. The Australian's task was made much more difficult by the presence of backmarkers on the short, tight circuit, but when he pitted on lap 42, he emerged five seconds ahead of Alonso. The only other major position change came when Rubens Barrichello - the second front-running driver who did not pit as a response to Liuzzi's safety car - made his compulsory stop from fifth position. Williams had been attempting a similar strategy to BMW Sauber with Kamui Kobayashi in Valencia by having Barrichello pit late and charge back up through the field on super-soft tyres. Unlike Webber, Barrichello was unable to preserve his position and slipped down the order to eleventh behind Schumacher. He then attempted to glide through the field with ease, but quickly became trapped behind his former teammate. Things came to a head late in the race when Barrichello was able to get close enough to pass Schumacher on the main straight, but Schumacher attempted to pin Barrichello to the wall and force him to back off. However, Schumacher's move came too late, and Barrichello was already alongside him when the Mercedes driver moved over. Barrichello very nearly made contact with the concrete pit wall and was forced across the pit exit, but took the place from Schumacher, who was placed under investigation by the stewards for dangerous driving. He was later issued a ten-place grid penalty for his actions, to be taken at the next race in Belgium.  With Webber so far in front, he was able to coast to victory by nearly twenty seconds. Vettel could not find a way past Fernando Alonso and had to settle for third, whilst Felipe Massa was fourth for Ferrari. Petrov and Nico Hülkenberg took their career-best finishes to date with fifth and sixth places respectively, whilst Pedro de la Rosa and Kobayashi in the BMW Saubers were split by a recovering Jenson Button, all a lap down. Barrichello's late move on Schumacher netted tenth and the final points-scoring place for the Brazilian, whilst Schumacher's eleventh meant that Mercedes GP failed to score for the first time in 2010.

Post-Race.

In response to repeated questions regarding the flexible front wing row that gripped the Budapest paddock, the FIA promised to invoke a clause in the rules and regulations that would allow them to place greater stresses on the front wings of both the Red Bull and Ferrari cars at the.  Schumacher's aggressive driving in attempting to prevent Barrichello from overtaking drew strong criticism from commentators and former drivers, including triple World Champion Niki Lauda and former Schumacher teammates Eddie Irvine and Martin Brundle. Triple World Champion Jackie Stewart commented "We are never more than a millimetre away from something awful happening and for Schumacher to do what he did with Rubens Barrichello is just inviting disaster.... It was one of the most blatant abuses of another driver that I have seen. It is a terrible example from a man who has seven world titles, bully-boy tactics." Schumacher publicly defended his actions after the race and in the Stewards' hearing, but did subsequently admit that he was wrong and apologised to Barrichello. Derek Warwick, one of the stewards for the race, commented that Schumacher could have been shown the black flag, resulting in an instant disqualification, had there been more time left in the race for the stewards to review the video evidence. Schumacher was shown a black flag earlier in his career, at the 1994 British Grand Prix, for ignoring a 5-second stop-and-go penalty; he received a two race ban for ignoring the black flag and continuing to race rather than returning to the pits as instructed.

Classification.

Race.

Notes:

The 2010 Hungarian Grand Prix (formally the XXVI Eni Magyar Nagydíj) was the twelfth round of the 2010 Formula One season. It was held in Hungaroring, Hungary on 1 August 2010. Red Bull driver Mark Webber claimed his fourth victory of the season, and reclaimed the championship lead after Lewis Hamilton's retirement from the race. Pedro de la Rosa scored his last ever World Championship points at this race.

2010年匈牙利大奖赛是2010年世界一级方程序锦标赛第十二站赛事,正赛在2010年8月1日在匈牙利布达佩斯匈牙利环举行。


History.

The town is built on coal. La Salle (the former name) produced coal since the 16th century. It was exported in small quantities to Bordeaux.  Louis XIV and his successors gave mines to their mistresses. The Duke of Decazes inherited such mines, and in 1826 he created, with the help of a technician named Cabrol, the "Houillères et Fonderies de l'Aveyron" (Mines and Foundries of Aveyron) which were to make this small village into a center of ironworking.  Under Napoléon III, the city took the name of Decazeville, and a statue of Decazes dressed in a Roman toga was erected.  The high point of iron production was reached early in the 20th century, with 9000 employees and 1 million tons of steel produced. The production then decreased, and the town has since diversified its industry: metallurgy, woodworking, metal fabrication, and production of steel tubing.  Although it felt the full brunt of the decline in the mining industry, the town has much thriving industry.  A noted strike of mine workers occurred from 1961 to 1962. Some 1500 miners spent 66 days in the mines from 23 December 1961 to 26 February 1962. The last the mine closed in June 2001.  The town has a geological museum named after Pierre Vetter, its founder. It is dedicated to coal strata.  The open-pit mine "La Découverte" is open to the public.  The modern church of Notre-Dame has a celebrated painting of the Way of the Cross by Gustave Moreau.

Twin towns — sister cities.

Decazeville is twinned with:

Decazeville () is a commune in the Aveyron department in the Occitanie region in southern France.

德卡兹维尔()是法国阿韦龙省的一个市镇,位于该省西北部,属于鲁埃格自由城区。该市镇的总面积为13.88平方公里,2009年时的人口为5,360人。


Description.

"Anchisaurus" was a rather small dinosaur, with a length of just over, which helps explain why it was once mistaken for human bones. It probably weighed around. However, Marsh's species "A. major" (also known as "Ammosaurus") was larger, from and some estimates give it a weight of up to. Gregory S. Paul estimated its length at 2.2 meters and its weight at 20 kg in 2010. According to the presence of cf Otozum tracks on the Connecticut Valley the size of this animal can be even bigger. Otozoum tracks were made by a semibipedal to quadrupedal sauropodomorph close to or on the line leading toward eusauropods. Anchisaurus is one of the 2 Sauropodomorphs recognised in the zone. Based on the four known specimens of Anchisaurus, Yates estimated that this animal ranged up to 4.9 meters in length. This matches well with the estimated average size of the adult Eubrontes track-maker in the Hartford and Deerfield basins. Based on the largest known Eubrontes footprint, exceptionally large individuals of Anchisaurus probably ranged up to 6.0 meters in length (0.442 m 13.5 1⁄4 6.0 m).

Discovery and naming.

Sauropodomorph remains were first documented in North America in 1818, when some bones were uncovered by Mr. Solomon Ellsworth, Jr. while excavating a well with gunpowder in East Windsor, Connecticut. At the time of their discovery it was thought that the bones might be those of a human, but the presence of tail vertebrae falsified that idea. They are now recognized as those of an indeterminate sauropodomorph, possibly more closely related to the plateosaurian prosauropods.  In 1855, the original type specimen of "Anchisaurus polyzelus", AM 41/109, which is housed at the Amherst College Museum of Natural History, was found by William Smith in Springfield, Massachusetts during blasting a well for the waterhouse at the Springfield Armory. Unfortunately, both the East Windsor and Springfield specimens were severely damaged due to the blasting at the construction sites where they were found, and many of the bones were either accidentally thrown away by the workmen or kept by interested onlookers. As a result, these dinosaurs were only known from incomplete remains.  In 1863, the son of the ichnologist Edward Hitchcock, Edward Hitchcock Jr, described the Springfield remains in a supplement to his father's work on fossil footprints, suggesting they could explain a certain mysterious kind of reptile tracks. He then contacted the British paleontologist Richard Owen. Owen advised him to name the finds as a new genus. Owen suggested the name "Megadactylus", "large finger" in Greek, in reference to the enormous thumb of the animal. Hitchcock Jr himself then chose the specific name "polyzelus", "much sought for" in Greek, referring to the fact that his father had for many years vainly sought to discover the identity of the track-maker.  In 1877, Professor Othniel Charles Marsh had noted that the name "Megadactylus" had been preoccupied by "Megadactylus" Fitzinger 1843, a subgenus of the lizard genus "Stellio". In 1882, he replaced the name with "Amphisaurus", "near saurian", probably referring to Marsh's interpretation of it as intermediate between primitive dinosaurs — at the time the British "Palaeosaurus" was an example of what was thought to be a primitive dinosaur — and more derived dinosaurs. In 1885, Marsh had discovered that this name also had been preoccupied, by the athracosaurian "Amphisaurus" Barkas 1870, and again replaced it by "Anchisaurus", with the same meaning.  Meanwhile, nearly complete specimens had been found in Manchester, Connecticut. In 1884, a series of bridges was built over the Hop Creek. Sandstone blocks were sawed out of Wolcott's Quarry north of Buckland Station. On 20 October, an amateur paleontologist, Charles H. Owen, observed that a block had been removed containing the hind part of a skeleton. He warned Marsh who, using T.A. Bostwick as an intermediary, acquired the piece from the quarry owner, Charles O. Wolcott. Marsh tried to secure the front half of the skeleton but it had already been used in a bridge abutment. The specimen, YPM 208, was named "Anchisaurus major", "the larger one", by Marsh in 1889. Eventually, when the bridge was demolished in August 1969, John Ostrom would save the front block. Subsequently, two other dinosaur fossils were located in the quarry. Six metres south of the original find a second skeleton was visible in the quarry face. It was removed as a single block and given the inventory number YPM 1883. In Yale, the part containing the skull was split off and became specimen YPM 40313. In 1891, Marsh made "Anchisaurus major" a separate genus, "Ammosaurus", the "sand saurian". In the same publication he named YPM 1883/YPM 40313 as a new species of "Anchisaurus", "Anchisaurus colurus", "the mangled one". They served as the templates from which O.C. Marsh in 1893 restored the skeleton. The Manchester specimens are now considered conspecific with "Anchisaurus polyzelus". The East Windsor and Manchester specimens are housed at the Peabody Museum of Natural History at Yale University.  The type species is Hitchcock's "A. polyzelus". Marsh's "A. major" (also known as "Ammosaurus"), "A. solus", and "A. colurus" (also known as "Yaleosaurus"), have since been recognized as synonyms of "A. polyzelus", their supposed differences being due to misinterpretation and different stages of growth. In 2015, the ICZN formally made the more complete type specimen of "A. colurus" the neotype of the genus "Anchisaurus" and the species "A. polyzelus", rendering "A. polyzelus" and "A. colurus" objective synonyms (both names being based on exactly the same fossil).  Broom named "Gyposaurus capensis" in 1911, from bones discovered in South Africa but Peter Galton renamed these "Anchisaurus capensis" in 1976. This species has since been reclassified again and is probably a juvenile of "Massospondylus carinatus". "G. sinensis" was also referred here, but appears to be a distinct animal.  The Navajo Sandstone of Arizona is the same age as the Portland Formation, and has produced prosauropod remains that have been referred to as "Ammosaurus". However, it is possible that these actually belong to the genus "Massospondylus", otherwise known only from South Africa.  In the eastern Canadian province of Nova Scotia, scientists have unearthed prosauropods from the McCoy Brook Formation, which is about 200 to 197 million years old, from the Early Jurassic Hettangian stage. The Nova Scotia material provides clues about the diet of these animals. A large number of gastroliths, stones swallowed to grind up plant material in the gut, were found in the abdomen, as well as bone from the skull of a small sphenodont, "Clevosaurus". This indicates that these dinosaurs were omnivorous, with a diet mainly consisting of plants but with an occasional supplement of meat. However, these remains have never been fully described or illustrated and were only tentatively referred to "Ammosaurus". A further study identified them as a new taxon of sauropodomorph, "Fendusaurus eldoni".

Classification.

Due to its primitive appearance, "Anchisaurus" was previously classified as a prosauropod, a member of a group of animals related to or ancestral to the sauropods. Recent investigations show that a group of traditional prosauropods form a monophyletic sister-group to Sauropoda, and that "Anchisaurus" is instead closer to sauropods.  The family Anchisauridae was first proposed by Othniel Charles Marsh in 1885 and later defined as a clade consisting of "Anchisaurus" and its nearest relatives. However, it is not clear which other genera are included in the family; many of the dinosaurs once included have since been moved elsewhere, and the group is not used in most current taxonomies.

Paleobiology.

Fossils of "Anchisaurus" were originally discovered in the Portland Formation of the Newark Supergroup in the Connecticut River Valley. This formation preserves an arid environment with strong wet and dry seasons, from the Hettangian age into the Sinemurian age, between about 200 and 195 million years ago.  Digesting plant matter is a much more intensive biochemical process than digesting meat. This herbivore swallowed gastroliths (gizzard stones) to help break down the food in its stomach. Herbivorous dinosaurs needed a huge gut. Since this had to be positioned in front of the pelvis, balancing on two legs became increasingly difficult, as dinosaurs became larger and they gradually evolved into the quadrupedal position that characterizes the later sauropods such as "Diplodocus". Prosauropods represented a middle phase between the earliest bipedal herbivores and the later giant sauropods. As a prosauropod, "Anchisaurus" was mostly typical of this group, which flourished briefly during the late Triassic and early Jurassic. "Anchisaurus" teeth, used to rip food, were shaped like spoons. It had fewer and more widely spaced teeth than true prosauropods, and as Peter Galton and Michael Cluver observed, narrower feet. "Anchisaurus" would have spent most of its time on four legs but could have reared up on its hind legs to reach higher plants.  As a facultative biped, "Anchisaurus" had to have multi-purpose front legs. As 'hands', they could be turned inwards and be used for grasping. It had a simple reversible first 'finger', similar to a 'thumb'. As feet, the five toes could be placed flat against the floor and were strong at the ankle. This unspecialized design is typical of the early dinosaurs.

Anchisaurus is a genus of basal sauropodomorph dinosaur. It lived during the Early Jurassic Period, and its fossils have been found in the red sandstone of the Portland Formation, which was deposited from the Hettangian age into the Sinemurian age, between about 200 and 195 million years ago. Until recently it was classed as a member of Prosauropoda. The genus name "Anchisaurus" comes from the Greek "αγχι" (') ; "near, close" + Greek "σαυρος" ('); "lizard". "Anchisaurus" was coined as a replacement name for ""Amphisaurus"", which was itself a replacement name for Hitchcock's ""Megadactylus"", both of which had already been used for other animals.

近蜥龙属(属名')又译安琪龙"',是近蜥龙类恐龙的一个属,生存于侏罗纪早期,约2亿到1亿9500万年前。近蜥龙过去曾被归类于原蜥脚下目。近蜥龙的名称是代替原先所定的名称「"Amphisaurus"」及「"Megadactylus"」,这两个名称都已被其他动物所使用。属名是由希腊文的「接近」及「蜥蜴」结合而成,是根据马什的说法,他认为近蜥龙是一种较原始的恐龙("Palaeosaurus",目前是个无效名称)与进阶型恐龙的过渡型动物。


Search engine.

At launch, the search engine originally provided a combination of search results from Yahoo! and technologies from Bing and Wikipedia. Ads were delivered by Yahoo! as part of a revenue sharing agreement with the company.  Ecosia's search results are now provided by Bing and enhanced by the company's own algorithms. It is currently available as a web browser or mobile app on Android and iOS devices, as well as on PCs and Macs.  In 2018, Ecosia committed to becoming a privacy-friendly search engine. Searches are encrypted, not stored permanently, and data is not sold to third-party advertisers. The company states in its privacy policy that it does not create personal profiles based on search history, nor does it use external tracking tools like Google Analytics.  Ecosia shows advertisements next to its search results and is paid by partners every time a user is directed to an advertiser via a sponsored link. A single search on Ecosia raises approximately half a Euro cent (0.005 EUR) on average, according to Ecosia's FAQ, taking 0.22 euro (€) and 0.8 seconds to plant a tree.

Business model.

Ecosia uses 80% of its profits (47.1% of its income) from advertising revenue to support tree planting projects, the rest is put into backup reserves for unforeseen circumstances – if these reserves are not used they are channeled back into the company's tree planting fund. The company publishes monthly financial reports on its website. In October 2018, founder Christian Kroll announced that he has given part of his shares over to the Purpose Foundation. As a result, Kroll and Ecosia co-owner Tim Schumacher gave up their right to sell Ecosia or take any profits out of the company.

History.

Ecosia was launched on 7 December 2009 to coincide with UN climate talks in Copenhagen. Over time, Ecosia has supported various tree-planting programs. Until December 2010, Ecosia's funds went to a program by WWF Germany that protected the Juruena National Park in the Amazon basin. To protect this area, the organizers drew up and financed plans with timber companies and the local communities.  In 2011, the search engine had raised over 250,000€.  From July 2013 to September 2014, Ecosia donated to the Plant a Billion Trees program run by The Nature Conservancy, a program that aimed to restore the Brazilian Atlantic Forest by planting one million native trees by 2015.  In 2015, Ecosia began funding reforestation in Burkina Faso as part of the Great Green Wall project, backed by the African Union and the World Bank, that aims to prevent desertification.  According to B-labs, as of January 2015, "In donating 80 percent of its ad revenue, the search engine has raised over $1.5 million for rainforest protection since its founding in December 2009." According to Ecosia, by 2015, the search engine had almost 2.5 million active users and had planted more than 2 million trees.  In May 2015, Ecosia was shortlisted for The Europas, the European Tech Startups Awards, under the category Best European Startup Aimed At Improving Society.  On the 23rd of January 2020, Ecosia donated all of its profits from that day to ReForest Now, a local NGO that not only plans to restore the forests, but also "make the area more resilient against future fires". They claimed that the profits were used to plant 26,446 trees.

Impact.

The company works with multiple organizations, such as the Eden Reforestation Projects, Hommes et Terre, and various local partners, to plant trees in 16 countries throughout the world. Ecosia currently has one or more projects in the following countries: Peru, Nicaragua, Colombia, Haiti, Brazil, Morocco, Spain, Senegal, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Madagascar, Uganda, Tanzania, Ethiopia, Kenya, and Indonesia.  On 9 October 2018, Ecosia offered €1 million to buy the Hambach Forest from German energy company RWE AG to save it from being cut down for lignite mining.

Browser integration.

Ecosia is available on Google Chrome and Firefox as a default search engine by downloading the extension from the Chrome web store or Mozilla's Addon site respectively.  As of 21 July 2017, the web browser Brave has featured Ecosia as a default search option. With the release of version 26 (on 26 January 2016), the Pale Moon web browser added Ecosia as a default, as did version 8 of the Polarity web browser on 15 February 2016. Ecosia is the default search engine of the Waterfox web browser since version 44.0.2. Since version 1.9, Vivaldi has included Ecosia as a default search engine option. In March 2018, Firefox 59.0 added Ecosia as a search engine option for the German version.  As of 21 August 2019, Ecosia announced that it will not participate in the "search-choice" auction to appear on Android devices led by Google. This means that in 2020 European Android phone users will not have the option to set Ecosia as a default search engine. Christian Kroll explained the boycott decision saying: "We're deeply disappointed that Google has decided to exploit its dominant market position in this way. Instead of giving wide and fair access, Google have chosen to give discrimination a different form and make everyone else but themselves pay, which isn't something we can accept." Applications to participate in the "search-choice" auction were due in mid-September.  As of 12 March 2020, Ecosia will be a default search engine choice for Google Chrome in 47 markets. This addition represents the first time a not-for-profit search engine will appear as a choice to users.

Ecosia is a search engine based in Berlin, Germany, that donates 80% or more of its profits to nonprofit organizations that focus on reforestation. It considers itself a social business, is CO-negative and claims to support full financial transparency and protect the privacy of its users. Ecosia is also B Lab-certified.

Ecosia是一个网页搜索引擎,他们将至少80%的剩余所得公益捐献,目前正关注植树。


Life and Education.

Gągor was born in 1951 in Koniuszowa near Nowy Sącz.  He attended the Artillery Officers' College at Wrocław in 1973. He also held qualifications at the Adam Mickiewicz University in Poznań (1983 - Master of Arts degree in English philology); the National Defence University in Warsaw (1998 - doctorate in military science); the NATO Defense College (2001), and the National Defense University (2002) in Washington DC.

Military Service.

He served in the 2nd Tank Regiment in the 1973 as an officer in a Self-Propelled Artillery unit. Afterwards, he became an operations and executive officer responsible for planning and operational activities in United Nations missions.  In 1978 he was posted to the Mechanized Infantry Officer College in Wrocław, where he lectured on preparations and training of Polish contingents designated for peacekeeping operations until 1988 and, during that time, took an active part in UNDOF operations (1980–1981 and 1985–1986) as an operations officer.  Between 1988 and 1990 General Gągor served at UNDOF HQ as Deputy Chief of Logistics.  In 1991 he was an executive officer/second-in-command at the Polish Military Contingent for Desert Storm Operation. He later became the Deputy Sector Commander of UN Iraq-Kuwait Observation mission UNIKOM between 1991 and 1992.  In 1993, as a Colonel, he became the Chief of Polish Armed Forces Peacekeeping Division of the Polish Armed Forces.  He was a key member of the Polish Armed Forces preparations team for Polish accession to NATO, taking care of initial and first rounds of NATO Defence Planning for Poland.  He was promoted to the rank of Brigadier General in 1997. In August 2003, he returned to UNDOF after being appointed by then UN Secretary General Kofi Annan as its Head of Mission and Force Commander.  On 27 February 2006, Gagor was made Chief of General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces upon appointment by the President of Poland. He was promoted to General on 3 May 2006.  Along with Krzysztof Paszkowski, he wrote the book: "Defense Doctrine of the Polish Republic for Peacekeeping Operations." Gen. Gągor is an author of numerous articles and publications on military affairs and co-operation, defence transformation and armed forces modernization.

Personal life.

He was fluent in English, and communicated in French and Russian. He had an interest in history, English literature, skiing, tennis, volleyball and jogging. He was married to Lucyna and has two children, Katarzyna and Michał.

Franciszek Gągor (8 September 1951 – 10 April 2010) was a Polish general, Chief of the General Staff of the Polish Armed Forces between 2006 and 2010.

弗郎齐歇克·贡戈尔(Franciszek Gągor,1951年-9月8日-2010年-4月10日),波兰上将,原波兰军队总参谋长,出生于新松奇附近的Koniuszowa。


Career.

A doubles specialist on the world circuit, Xie has regularly partnered Guo Zhendong in men's doubles and Zhang Yawen in mixed doubles over the past several years. Xie and Guo have won the Polish International (2004), the China Masters (2005), and the India Open (2008) together. They were quarter-finalists at 2007 BWF World Championships, and at the 2008 Beijing Olympics narrowly lost to the eventual gold medalists, Indonesia's Markis Kido and Hendra Setiawan, in the round of sixteen.  Xie has had greater success in mixed doubles. He and Zhang have captured eight titles internationally since the beginning of 2005. They were silver medalists at the 2005 IBF World Championships, losing the gold to Indonesia's Nova Widianto and Lilyana Natsir, and were bronze medalists at the 2007 edition of the tournament.  Xie is a member of China's world champion Thomas Cup (men's international) team. At 1.88 meters and solidly built, he is one of the biggest men currently playing the game at the world level.

Achievements.

BWF World Championships.

"Mixed doubles"

World Cup.

"Men's doubles" "Mixed doubles"

Asian Games.

"Mixed doubles"

Asia Championships.

"Mixed Doubles"

World Junior Championships.

"Boys' doubles"

Asian Junior Championships.

"Boys' doubles" "Mixed doubles"

BWF Superseries.

The BWF Superseries, launched on 14 December 2006 and implemented in 2007, is a series of elite badminton tournaments, sanctioned by Badminton World Federation (BWF). BWF Superseries has two level such as Superseries and Superseries Premier. A season of Superseries features twelve tournaments around the world, which introduced since 2011, with successful players invited to the Superseries Finals held at the year end.  "Men's doubles" "Mixed doubles"

BWF Grand Prix.

The BWF Grand Prix has two levels, the Grand Prix Gold and Grand Prix. It is a series of badminton tournaments, sanctioned by the Badminton World Federation (BWF) since 2007. The World Badminton Grand Prix has been sanctioned by the International Badminton Federation since 1983.  "Men's doubles" "Mixed doubles"

IBF International.

"Men's doubles" "Mixed doubles"

Xie Zhongbo (; born 22 May 1983) is a former Chinese badminton player from Hunan and raised in Sichuan. After retired from the international tournament, he works as badminton coach in Sichuan.

谢中博(1983年-5月22日),生于湖南,成长于四川,中国退役男子羽毛球运动员。现任四川省羽毛球队教练组组长兼女队主教练。