History.

The word Taksim means "division" or "distribution". Taksim Square was originally the point where the main water lines from the north of Istanbul were collected and branched off to other parts of the city (hence the name.) This use for the area was established by Sultan Mahmud I. The square takes its name from the Ottoman era stone reservoir which is located in this area.  Another significant building that once stood on the square was the 19th century Taksim Artillery Barracks ("Taksim Kışlası", which later became the Taksim Stadium), but it was demolished in 1940 during the construction works of the Taksim Gezi Park. Taksim Gezi Park is a small green park in the midst of the concrete expanse of central Istanbul. In 2013, the city municipality, wanting to demolish the park to add further shopping venues, began forcefully removing protesters who had set up camp in the park. After news spread of the police brutality, thousands of people rallied in the Occupy Taksim movement, to stop the demolition of the park. As the current status of the demolition project is in limbo, the Justice and Development Party (AKP) government has the Police stationed in and around Taksim Square ready with riot control equipment to deter any large demonstrations.

Present day.

Taksim is a main transportation hub and a popular destination for both tourists and residents of Istanbul. İstiklal Caddesi (Independence Avenue), a long pedestrian shopping street, ends at this square, and a nostalgic tram runs from the square along the avenue, ending near the Tünel (1875) which is the world's second-oldest subway line after London's Underground (1863). In addition to serving as the main transfer point for the municipal bus system, Taksim Square is also the terminus of the Hacıosman-4. Levent-Taksim-Yenikapı subway line of the Istanbul Metro.  Taksim's position was given an extra boost on June 29, 2006, when the new Kabataş-Taksim Funicular line F1 connecting the Taksim Metro station with the Kabataş tramway station and Seabus port was opened, allowing people to ascend to Taksim in just 110 seconds.  Surrounding Taksim Square are numerous travel agencies, hotels, restaurants, pubs, and international fast food chains such as Pizza Hut, McDonald's, Subway, and Burger King. It is also home to some of Istanbul's grandest hotels including the InterContinental, the Ritz-Carlton, and The Marmara Hotel. Taksim is also a favourite location for public events such as parades, New Year celebrations, or other social gatherings. Atatürk Cultural Center ("Atatürk Kültür Merkezi"), a multi-purpose cultural center and opera house, is also located at Taksim Square.

Demonstrations and incidents.

The square has been an important venue for political protests during much of its existence. Groups from all sides of the political spectrum in Turkey, as well as many NGOs, try to demonstrate in this square in order to use its visibility for the benefit of their cause.  Following many other violent incidents, all forms of group protests were banned in the square and the police units maintained a round-the-clock presence to prevent any incidents. The ban did not apply to surrounding avenues or streets. Today, Taksim Square is once again the starting point or destination of many political demonstrations; moreover, mass meetings on Labour Day were permitted for the first time in 2010 and have been taking place peacefully ever since.  However, gatherings for events such as New Year's Eve, Republic Day celebrations, or mass-screenings of important football matches are excluded from the ban. The annual Istanbul Pride used to take place on the square as well. However, the event has been banned by the Istanbul governor since 2015.

Gezi Park protests.

In 2013, protests took place in Taksim in opposition to the reconstruction of the Ottoman era Taksim Military Barracks (demolished in 1940 for building the Gezi Park) and a shopping center on the land plot of the Gezi Park. In the early morning of May 31, the Police forces moved in on the demonstrators and people sleeping in tents, and tried to disperse them with tear gas, pepperspray and water cannons.  The demonstrators also criticized Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, who has held office for more than ten years, for his uncompromising stance on this controversial issue and for the Turkish police's excessive use of force against the demonstrators.  The large number of trees that were cut in the forests of northern Istanbul for the construction of the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge (Third Bosphorus Bridge) and the new Istanbul International Airport (the world's largest airport, with a capacity for 150 million passengers per year) were also influential in the public sensitivity for protecting Gezi Park. According to official Turkish government data, a total of 2,330,012 trees have been cut for constructing the Airport and its road connections; and a total of 381,096 trees have been cut for constructing the highway connections of the Yavuz Sultan Selim Bridge; reaching an overall total of 2,711,108 trees which were cut for the two projects.

Taksim Square (, ), situated in Beyoğlu in the European part of Istanbul, Turkey, is a major tourist and leisure district famed for its restaurants, shops, and hotels. It is considered the heart of modern Istanbul, with the central station of the Istanbul Metro network. Taksim Square is also the location of the Republic Monument () which was crafted by Pietro Canonica and inaugurated in 1928. The monument commemorates the 5th anniversary of the foundation of the Republic of Turkey in 1923, following the Turkish War of Independence.

塔克西姆广场()位于土耳其伊斯坦布尔的欧洲部分,是一个大型购物,旅游休闲区,以餐厅,商店和饭店闻名。它被认为是现代伊斯坦布尔的心脏,广场上的共和国纪念碑(Cumhuriyet Aniti)建于1928年,以纪念土耳其共和国成立。


Plot.

Nickie Ferrante (Cary Grant), a well-known playboy, meets Terry McKay (Deborah Kerr) aboard the transatlantic ocean liner en route from Europe to New York. Each is involved with someone else. After a series of meetings aboard the ship, they establish a friendship. When Terry joins Nickie on a brief visit to his grandmother, Janou, while the ship is anchored near her home at Villefranche-sur-Mer on the Mediterranean coast, she sees Nickie with new eyes and their feelings become deeper. During their visit, Janou tells Terry that Nickie is a talented painter but destroys most of his paintings because they don't meet his standards. As the ship returns to New York City, they agree to reunite at the top of the Empire State Building in six months' time if they have succeeded in ending their relationships and starting new careers.  On the day of their rendezvous, Terry, hurrying to reach the Empire State Building, is struck down by a car while crossing a street. Gravely injured, she is rushed to the hospital. Meanwhile, Nickie, waiting for her at the observation deck at the top of the building, is unaware of the accident and, after many hours, leaves at midnight, believing she has rejected him.  After the accident, Terry, now unable to walk, refuses to contact Nickie because of her disability. Instead, she finds work as a music teacher. Nickie has pursued his painting and has his work displayed by Courbet, an art gallery owner. Six months after the accident, Terry sees Nickie with his former fiancée at the ballet, which she herself is attending with her former boyfriend. Nickie does not notice her condition because she is seated, and she says hello as he passes her.  Nickie learns Terry's address and on Christmas Eve pays her a surprise visit. Although he tries to get her to explain her actions, Terry dodges the subject, never leaving the couch on which she sits. He gives her a shawl that Janou left for her after she died. As he is leaving, Nickie mentions a painting that he had been working on when they originally met, and that it was just given away to a woman who liked it but had no money. He is about to say that the woman was in a wheelchair when he pauses, suddenly suspecting why Terry has been sitting unmoving on the couch. He walks into her bedroom and sees the painting hanging on the wall. The film ends with the two in a tight embrace and Terry saying, "If you can paint, I can walk. Anything can happen, don't you think?"

Production.

The film was a remake of McCarey's 1939 film "Love Affair", starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer. "An Affair to Remember" was almost identical to "Love Affair" on a scene-to-scene basis. McCarey used the same screenplay as the original film, which was penned by Delmer Daves and Donald Ogden Stewart. Also, the character name "Terry McKay" appears in both films.  The theme song, "An Affair to Remember (Our Love Affair)", composed by Harry Warren and with lyrics by Leo McCarey and Harold Adamson, was sung by Vic Damone over opening credits and by Deborah Kerr during the film.

Critical reaction.

Contemporary reviews were mixed. Bosley Crowther of "The New York Times" found the early part of the film fairly enjoyable, with "plenty of humorous conversation that is handled crisply" by the leads, but found that the picture went wrong after the couple got off the ship, writing: "The marriage pact seems ridiculously childish for a couple of adult people to make. The lady's failure to notify her fiancé of her accident seems absurd. The fact that the man does not hear of it in some way is beyond belief. And the slowness with which he grasps the obvious when he calls upon the lady is just too thick." Richard L. Coe of "The Washington Post" agreed, writing that the film "boasts early amusing reels that ultimately become unbelievably foolish in the quest for audience tears." "Variety" disagreed, calling the romance "never maudlin" and "wholly believable" in a positive review of what it called "a winning film" with "all the ingredients that should make it an ideal women's picture." "Harrison's Reports" was also positive, calling it "more enchanting and delightful than the original," and "so powerful in the closing scenes that one is unable to fight back the tears." John McCarten of "The New Yorker" was dismissive, writing that the actors were "tolerable, but the movie is really awfully maudlin." A generally positive review in "The Monthly Film Bulletin" called the film "a lush slice of Hollywood romanticism, unashamedly following most of the familiar conventions of glossy magazine fiction. To judge it on a higher level would normally seem unfair if it were not that here the script does succeed in cutting rather deeper. The relationship between Ferrante and Terry McKay is briskly developed, with an attractive, often touching humor."  The film holds a 63% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on 30 reviews. In 1998, Jonathan Rosenbaum of the "Chicago Reader" included the film in his unranked list of the best American films not included on the AFI Top 100.

Awards and honors.

The film was nominated for Best Cinematography, Best Costume Design, Best Original Song and Best Original Score at the 30th Academy Awards.

An Affair to Remember is a 1957 American romance film directed by Leo McCarey and starring Cary Grant and Deborah Kerr. Filmed in CinemaScope, it was distributed by 20th Century Fox. It is considered one of the most romantic films of all time, according to the American Film Institute. The film was a remake of McCarey's 1939 film "Love Affair", starring Irene Dunne and Charles Boyer.

《金玉盟》(英文:An Affair to Remember),是加里·格兰特和黛博拉·寇儿于1957年主演的影片,导演是李欧·麦卡瑞。


Early life.

On May 15, 1916, Chiang was born as Faina Ipat'evna Vakhreva (, ) near Orsha, then part of the Russian Empire (now Belarus). Chiang was orphaned at a young age and raised by her older sister Anna.

Career.

At age 16, as a member of the Soviet Union's Communist Youth League, Chiang worked at the Ural Heavy Machinery Plant, where she met Chiang Ching-kuo, her supervisor.

Biography.

The couple's first child, Hsiao-wen, was born on December 1935. The couple had a daughter, Hsiao-chang (born 1938 in Nanchang), and two more sons, Hsiao-wu (born 1945 in Chongqing) and Hsiao-yung (born 1948 in Shanghai). Each of her three younger children were born in different parts of China, reflecting turbulent years as an official of China.  In December 1936, Joseph Stalin finally granted Chiang's return to China. After the couple was received by Chiang Kai-shek and his wife Soong Mei-ling in Hangzhou, they traveled to the Chiang home in Xikou, Zhejiang, where they held a second marriage ceremony. Fang-liang stayed behind to live with Chiang Ching-kuo's mother, Mao Fumei. She was assigned a tutor to learn Mandarin Chinese, but she learned the local Ningbo form of Wu Chinese instead. She reportedly got along well with Mao Fumei and did her own housework.  When Chiang Ching-kuo became President, Fang-liang rarely performed the traditional roles of First Lady. That is partly due to her lack of formal education; her husband also encouraged her not to get into politics. She largely stayed out of the public spotlight and little was ever known of her in an anti-communist atmosphere in the government. She never returned to Russia, and traveled abroad only three times in the last 50 years of her life, all to visit her children and their families. In 1992, she received a visit from a delegation including the mayor of Minsk, the capital of Belarus. It was the only time that she made contact with anyone from her homeland.  All her children were sent to study in foreign universities – Hsiao-wen to West Point and Park College, MO, Hsiao-wu to Munich, West Germany and the remaining children to the United States. All three sons died shortly after Ching-kuo's death in 1988: Hsiao-wen in April 1989, Hsiao-wu in July 1991, and Hsiao-yung in December 1996. Fang-liang then lived in the suburbs of Taipei. She received occasional visitors, such as some prominent politicians who went to pay their respects every few years. In the Taiwanese media, if she ever received coverage, she was depicted as a virtuous wife who never complained and endured her loneliness with dignity.

Personal life.

Chiang met Chiang Ching-kuo while working at the Ural Heavy Machine Plant in Yekaterinburg, Russia. On March 15, 1935 at age 18, Chiang married Chiang Ching-kuo, son of Chiang Kai-shek. On December 14, 1935, Chiang's first son Chiang Hsiao-wen was born in Russia. Chiang's other children are Chiang Hsiao-chang (b.1938 in Nanchang), Winston Hsiao-tzu Chang (b.1942 in Guilin), John Hsiao-yen Chiang (b.1942 in Guilin), Chiang Hsiao-wu (b.1945 in Chekiang) and Chiang Hsiao-yung (b.1948 in Shanghai).  Chiang's daughter Amy Hsiao-Chang was able communicate with her in Russian, and had immigrated to the United States.

Death.

Chiang died of respiratory and cardiac failure stemming from lung cancer in Taipei Veterans General Hospital at the age of 89 (or 90 according to East Asian age reckoning).

Legacy.

Chiang's funeral was held on 27 December 2004, with President Chen Shui-bian and Vice President Annette Lu in attendance. Kuomintang politicians Wang Jin-pyng, Lin Cheng-chih, P. K. Chiang, and Ma Ying-jeou draped her casket with the Kuomintang party flag, and Kuomintang party elders Lee Huan, Hau Pei-tsun, Chiu Chuang-huan, and Shih Chi-yang draped her casket with the ROC national flag. Chiang was cremated and her ashes taken to her husband's temporary mausoleum in Touliao, Taoyuan County (now Taoyuan City). They are scheduled to be buried together in the Wuchih Mountain Military Cemetery.

Faina Chiang Fang-liang (; 15 May 1916 – 15 December 2004) was the wife of President Chiang Ching-kuo and served as First Lady of the Republic of China on Taiwan from 1978 to 1988.

蒋方良(,,1916年-5月15日-2004年-12月15日),原名法伊娜·伊帕奇耶夫娜·瓦赫列娃,俄罗斯叶卡捷琳堡人,祖籍白俄罗斯奥尔沙,中华民国前总统蒋经国妻子,并与之育有三子一女。


Etymology.

The name "Camry" derives from the Japanese word "kanmuri" (, かんむり), meaning "crown". This follows Toyota's naming tradition of using the crown name for primary models starting with the Toyota Crown (1955), continuing with the Toyota Corona (1957) and Corolla (1966);

Narrow-body.

Celica Camry (A40/A50; 1979–1982).

The "Camry" nameplate originated on a four-door sedan approximate to the Toyota Celica called the Celica Camry. Toyota designated this initial application of the Camry name as the A40/A50 series. Celica Camry made its sales debut in January 1980 at "Toyota Corolla Store" retail dealerships in Japan. Production had earlier commenced in December 1979 at the Tsutsumi plant at Toyota, Aichi. Despite the marketing position, Celica Camry shares few components with its namesake—but rather the Carina (A40/A50). Toyota modified the Carina by elongating its front-end and incorporating styling cues such

V10 (1982–1986).

Toyota started production of the first generation series Camry in March 1982 at the Tsutsumi plant. Designated the model code V10, when fitted with S-series gasoline engines it was known as the SV10, SV11, or SV12 depending on the exact version. Likewise, the C-series diesel versions are identified by the CV10 and CV11 codes. Released to the Japanese market on 24 March 1982, Toyota issued the V10 series as a four-door notchback sedan retailing at the "Toyota Corolla Store" dealerships. At the same time, a twinned model—the Toyota Vista—launched as a rebadged Camry sold at separate "Toyota Vista Store" locations. Five-door liftback versions of the Vista came to the market in August 1982, although outside of export markets the Camry remained exclusively a sedan. These cars served above the comparably sized Toyota Carina and Corona in the Toyota hierarchy. Unlike the preceding Celica Camry, exports were achieved with the first generation Camry to Australia, Europe and North America.  Development of the V10 series Camry and Vista began in August 1977 following the 1973 oil crisis and would later cover the 1979 crisis. Automobile manufacturers were making the inexorable move to downsized, lighter, more fuel efficient cars with better aerodynamic performance. The industry also began wide-scale switching from the rear-wheel-drive layout to the lighter and more compact front-wheel-drive in the interest of increased fuel economy. With a development

V20 (1986–1992).

The second generation, V20 series Camry went on sale during August 1986 in Japan. As with the previous series, there was again a parallel Vista model for the home market that Toyota released simultaneously. V20 Camry and Vista sedans continued with the four-door sedan configuration. For overseas markets, Toyota issued a station wagon for the first time. The Vista also launched with a four-door pillared hardtop sedan with unique body panels all-round in lieu of the liftback offered with the previous car—a body extended to the Camry in August 1988. To attain a sportier appearance with lower and wider proportions, Toyota reduced the height of the hardtop by over the sedan. Not intended for export, this hardtop body with few changes would later form the basis of the upscale but hastily conceived Lexus ES 250 produced for North American customers from June 1989 through to 1991. Toyota rushed the ES 250 as a stopgap measure to flesh out the fledgling Lexus lineup so as not to launch the flagship LS 400 as a stand-alone model.  The V20 Camry originated from a time at Toyota when considerable cost and attention to detail was engineered into its cars such as high-quality materials and build quality to transcend the competition. Sedans retained the V10's rear quarter glass with styling less angular than before. To appease export customers, styling lost some of its Japanese legacy in its transition to a more Americanized design, with a softer and sleeker silhouette. Toyota designed the body with aerodynamics in mind, with performance of for the sedan. V20 also features headlamps and a grille that are sculptured into a gently curved hood that partially conceal the windscreen wipers, wind splitters up the ends of the windscreen, near-flush glass, and a third door seal to close the gap between the body and window frames. Body dimensions were largely unchanged from the previous model, including an identical wheelbase, although length increases. Basic sub-skin hardware is also closely related, including the platform and

V30 (1990–1994).

Introduced exclusively to Japan in July 1990, the Camry V30 carried forward the four-door sedan and a differently styled hardtop sedan. Like before, either shape could be had in a Vista branded variety with revised styling. Both bodies would also form the basis of enlarged wide-body XV10 versions from September 1991, aimed primarily at international markets. The V30 remained smaller than the XV10 to offer buyers a vehicle within the "five-number" registration category concerning exterior dimensions and engine displacement for Japanese vehicle size regulations. The rules required a body width under, length under, and engines at or below 2,000 cc. Sedans in the wide-body format would sell overseas as the Camry XV10—identical to the smaller V30 in most respects except for the front- and rear-end styling grafted to an otherwise unchanged body and interior. Hardtop sedans would engender the luxury Lexus ES 300 (XV10), which again would couple the

V40 (1994–1998).

The Camry V40 appeared in July 1994 exclusively for the Japanese market. The Toyota Vista twin continued on, although the Camry Prominent hardtop was no longer offered; only the Vista was available as a hardtop. As before in previous generations, the Camry was exclusive to "Toyota Corolla Store", while the Vista was only available at "Toyota Vista Store" locations.  V40 continued to be built around the x

V50 (1998–2003).

The V50 generation was not available as a Camry—only as a Vista—as a sedan, plus a station wagon called Vista Ardeo. 1.8 L and 2.0 L engines were available. The interior features a center instrument panel/navigation display.  Vista V50 is significant because it's one of the first fruits of Toyota's company-wide platform renewal efforts known as the MC. Studies for new front-wheel drive (FWD) platform and packaging layout began in 1993 and appeared on market in December 1997 in the Toyota Prius, but the Vista is the first

Wide-body.

XV10 (1991–1996).

Toyota replaced the compact V20 Camry with the Japanese market-only V30 series in 1990. However, international markets such as Australia and North America received a widened version of the V30, known as the XV10 series. While marginally larger than the V20, the V30 had to comply with Japanese dimension regulations, which restricted the car's width to and length to for a lower tax obligation. Particularly in the United States, this narrower model was seen as compromised, thus limiting its sales potential. As a result, the "wide-body" mid-size Camry (XV10) released to North America in 1991 was developed from early 1988 and the final design frozen later that year. It was with the XV10 that Toyota upgraded the Camry's status to its second "world car" after the Corolla, with exports starting from Australia to Southeast Asia. Japan also received the wider XV10 model, although it was sold under the Toyota Scepter name there. Toyota chose the name "Scepter" as

XV20 (1996–2002).

In late 1991, development on the XV20 commenced after launch of the XV10 under the 415T program. Design work was frozen in early 1994 and later launched in the United States in September 1996 and Japan in December 1996. It continued as a sedan and station wagon (called the Camry Gracia in Japan), though the latter model was not sold in the United States. This generation was launched in the US for the 1997 model year.  In August 1999 for the 2000 model year, the sedan models received a mid-model upgrade to the front and rear fascias, but remained otherwise similar to the 1997 to 1999 models.  In the United States, the Camry SE was dropped and the base model was renamed the "CE" for the 1997 model year. Both the "LE" and the "XLE" trims were carried over from the previous series. All trim

XV30 (2001–2006).

Toyota redesigned this series from the ground up for the first time since the V30 and XV10. Through efficiency gains such as increased computerization, and by having the XV30 ride on the K platform introduced with the Toyota Highlander (XU20) of 2000, Toyota expedited the XV30 production development stage to 26 months, down from 36 months with the XV20. As a consequence, Toyota claimed the XV30 to have cost 30 percent less to design and develop than its predecessor. XV30 also had increased parts content over the XV20, but did not cost any more to manufacture.  Until the 2003 model year, the Camry Solara remained on the XV20 series chassis, and received only minor styling upgrades to

XV40 (2006–2013).

The XV40 Camry was introduced at the 2006 North American International Auto Show alongside a hybrid version and went on sale in March 2006 for the 2007 model year.  Power comes from a choice of four and six-cylinder engines. The 2.4-liter "2AZ-FE" I4 engine was carried over and produced. It came with a five-speed manual or five-speed automatic transmission. The 3.5-liter "2GR-FE" V6 in contrast came with a new six-speed automatic and produced.  The Camry was facelifted in 2009 for the 2010 model year with a redesigned fascia, taillights, and an all-new 2.5-liter "2AR-FE" four-cylinder engine with a new six-speed automatic transmission. The 2.5-liter engine produces for the base, LE, XLE models, and

XV50 (2011–2019).

The US Camry carried over three different engine choices from the previous model. Starting with a 2.5-liter four-cylinder hybrid model rated at, a 2.5-liter four-cylinder gasoline engine rated at and, and a 3.5-liter V6 rated at and. Power output has been increased mostly by switching to electro-hydraulic power steering. The trim levels include the L, LE, SE, XLE, SE V6, XLE V6, Hybrid LE, Hybrid XLE and for 2014 a Hybrid SE model. All models except for the hybrids are standard with six-speed automatic transmissions. No manual transmissions are offered. Hybrids are equipped with an eCVT transmission. The SE model gets paddle shifters, and a stiffer suspension. The new model has increased fuel economy due

XV70 (2017–present).

The latest Camry, which is the eighth generation of the global Camry model, and known as the XV70 was introduced at the January 2017 North American International Auto Show. It was launched in Japan on 10 July 2017 and in Australia on 21 November 2017. North American production started in June 2017 and sales began in late July 2017. Due to the need to equip Toyota Motor Manufacturing Kentucky with new equipment for Toyota New Global Architecture, a small portion of the initial North American production was sourced from the Tsutsumi plant in Japan.  For the Australian market, the XV70 was imported from Japan. This followed the termination of 55 years of Toyota production in Australia, including the closure of the Camry plant at Altona, Victoria.  The XV70 Camry was launched in Thailand

Sales.

Competing with mainstream and more affordable models in Western markets, for other export markets in Asia and Latin America, the Camry is seen as a luxury car where it sells strongly (and serves as Toyota's flagship vehicle along with the Land Cruiser). In the United States, except for 2001, the Camry was the best-selling passenger car from 1997 to 2016. The Camry also sells well in Australia where it has been the best selling medium car since 1993, and more recently in the Middle East and Eastern Europe. Up until 2004, small numbers had been exported to Western Europe. Despite international success, and early success in Japan, the later wide-body models have been a low-volume model in its home market. However, since the introduction of the XV50 Camry in 2011, sales of the wide-body models in Japan have resurged, thanks, in large part, to the inclusion of Toyota's Hybrid Synergy Drive system.

The Toyota Camry (; Japanese: トヨタ・カムリ "Toyota Kamuri") is an automobile sold internationally by the Japanese manufacturer Toyota since 1982, spanning multiple generations. Originally compact in size (narrow-body), later Camry models have grown to fit the mid-size classification (wide-body)—although the two sizes co-existed in the 1990s. Since the release of the wide-bodied versions, Camry has been extolled by Toyota as the firm's second "world car" after the Corolla. In Japan, Camry was once exclusive to "Toyota Corolla Store" retail dealerships. Narrow-body cars also spawned a rebadged sibling in Japan, the Toyota Vista (トヨタ・ビスタ)—also introduced in 1982 and sold at "Toyota Vista Store" locations. Diesel fuel versions have previously retailed at "Toyota Diesel Store".

是日本丰田汽车旗下的一款中型轿车,在全球主要市场都有销售,以北美、澳洲和部分亚洲市场销售成绩最优异,而在市场上主要竞争对手为日产天籁、本田雅阁、马自达6、大众帕萨特和福特腾达(Taurus)。


History.

St. John's University was founded in 1870, by the Vincentian Fathers of the Roman Catholic Church in response to an invitation by the first Bishop of Brooklyn, John Loughlin, to provide the underprivileged youth of the city with an intellectual and moral education.  St. John's Vincentian values stem from the ideals and works of St Vincent de Paul (1581–1660), who is the patron saint of Christian charity. Following the Vincentian tradition, the university seeks to provide an education that encourages greater involvement in social justice, charity, and service. The Vincentian Center for Church and Society, located on the university's Queens campus serves as "a clearinghouse for and developer of Vincentian information, poverty research, social justice resources, and as an academic/cultural programming Center."  The English translation of the Greek on the original seal of the University is "a lamp burning and shining" or "a lamp shining brightly" a reference to St. John the Baptist. (A later seal of the university uses a Latin phrase that may be rendered "Christian education perfects the soul".)  St. John's University was founded as the College of St. John the Baptist at 75 Lewis Avenue, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. Ground was broken for St. John's College Hall, the university's first building, on May 28, 1868. The cornerstone was laid on July 25, 1869. The building was opened for educational purposes on September 5, 1870. Beginning with the law school in 1925, St. John's started founding other schools and it became a university in 1933.  In April 1936, St. John's bought the Hillcrest Golf Club's of land for about $500,000, with the intention of eventually moving the school to the new site. Under the terms of the sale, the golf club continued to operate on the site for a few years. On February 11, 1954, St. John's officially broke ground on a new campus in Queens, on the former site of the Hillcrest Golf Club. During the official groundbreaking ceremony, the shovel used was the same shovel that had broken ground on the original campus in 1868. The following year, the original school of the university, St. John's College, moved from Bedford-Stuyvesant to the new campus. The high school, now St. John's Prep, took over its former buildings and later moved to its present location in the Hillcrest-Jamaica sections in Queens.  Over approximately the next two decades, the other schools of the university, which were located at a separate campus at 96 Schermerhorn Street in Downtown Brooklyn, moved out to the new campus in Queens. The last of the schools to relocate to Queens moved there in 1972, bringing an end to the Downtown Brooklyn campus of the university. In 1959, the university established a Freedom Institute to provide lectures and programs that would focus, in the words of university president Rev. John A. Flynn, President, focus "attention on the dangers of communism threatening free institutions here and abroad," with Arpad F. Kovacs of the St. John's history department as its director. (A volume of lectures given at the Freedom Institute was edited by Kovacs and published in 1961 as "Let Freedom Ring".) The university also hired the noted historian Paul Kwan-Tsien Sih to establish an Institute of Asian Studies in 1959, and similarly set up a Center for African Studies under the directorship of the economic geographer Hugh C. Brooks.  The university received praise from "Time Magazine" in 1962 for being a Catholic university that accepted Jews with low household income. "Time" also ranked St. John's as "good−small" on a list of the nation's Catholic universities in 1962.  The St. John's University strike of 1966-1967 was a protest by faculty at the university which began on January 4, 1966, and ended in June 1967. The strike began after 31 faculty members were dismissed in the fall of 1965 without due process, dismissals which some felt were a violation of the professors' academic freedom. The strike ended without any reinstatements, but led to the widespread unionization of public college faculty in the New York City area. In 1970 arbitrators ruled that the university had not acted improperly.  On January 27, 1971, the New York State Board of Regents approved the consolidation of the university with the former Notre Dame College (New York) a private women's college and the Staten Island campus of St. John's University became a reality. Classes began in the fall of 1971, combining the original Notre Dame College with the former Brooklyn campus of St. John's, offering undergraduate degrees in liberal arts, business and education.  Circa 1989, according to Steve Fishman of "New York Magazine", "St. John’s was essentially a commuter school" but that this changed after Father Donald Harrington, a Vincentian, became the president of the university that year, replacing Father Joseph Cahill. Under Harrington the school increased its infrastructure and increased its international profile.  In 1990 the tuition and fees at St. John's was less than half of that at schools like NYU and Columbia.  In 2010 federal prosecutors charged Dr. Cecilia Chang, dean of the school's Institute of Asian Studies and a resident of Jamaica Estates, with embezzling money from the university and by coercing scholarship recipients. Chang, a graduate student alumna from Taiwan, and who naturalized in 1989, began directing the Asian Center and acted as a fundraiser in 1977. On Monday November 5, 2012, she testified in her own trial and committed suicide at age 59 the next day. Anne Hendershot of "Crisis Magazine" wrote that the information revealed that described Chang giving material benefits to other members of the administration was "even more damaging to the reputation of St. John’s University."

Presidents.

Gempesaw is the university's first lay president. Per the university's statutes, presidents must be priests from the Congregation of the Mission (Vincentians). The trustees waived this requirement due to the limited number of candidates.

Organization and administration.

St. John's University is a Roman Catholic non-profit organization controlled by privately appointed board of trustees which is chosen by the Vincentian order. Conrado "Bobby" Gempesaw, Ph.D., is the 17th president of the university, and the Very Rev. Bernard M. Tracey, C.M. is the executive vice president.  The university is organized into six colleges and schools:

Academics.

St. John's is a large, four-year, primarily nonresidential doctoral/research university. The full-time, four-year undergraduate program is balanced between arts and sciences and the professional fields. The university is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education and has 13 specialized accreditations. 93% of professors have their PhD, although a majority of the faculty is Catholic laity there is still a large amount of clergy members who serve the college.  During the 2017–18 academic year, the annual base tuition for traditional (Queens and Manhattan campuses) and distance learning students is $39,690 ($41,386 for third- and fourth-year students in The Peter J. Tobin College of Business, and $45,444 for third- to sixth-year Pharm.D. majors in the College of Pharmacy and Health Sciences). In fall 2016, 96 percent of St. John's undergraduates received some $497 million in financial aid. Seventy-four percent of student borrowers who graduated between July 1, 2015, and June 30, 2016, had an average loan debt of $34,234.

Student body.

By circa 2013 the student body originated from 122 countries. The school enrolled homeless students and in general had emphasis on enrolling students from less favorable financial circumstances.  In fall 2016, St. John's enrolled 21,087 students—16,440 undergraduates and 4,647 graduate students. There were 3,248 new undergraduates—the largest freshman class at any US Catholic college or university. Students came from 46 states, the District of Columbia, Guam, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, and 127 countries. The freshman retention rate was 84 percent. There were 1,461 new graduate students. In 2016, the University conferred more than 4,000 undergraduate and graduate degrees.  For fall 2017, St. John's received 27,000 applications for freshman admission, with an anticipated enrollment of more than 3,000 students. The average SAT score of accepted students was 1200, with an average high school GPA of 3.49.

Faculty.

St. John's employs 1,195 full- and part-time faculty members, more than 90 percent of whom possess a doctorate or other terminal degree in their field. The student-to-faculty ratio was 18:1; five University faculty members were featured in "The Princeton Review’s" “Best 300 Professors.”

Religious Faculty.

Although a majority of the faculty and staff of St. John's are lay Catholics, they still do rely on a large number of priests, brothers and sisters.

Rankings and reputation.

The Peter J. Tobin College of Business at St. John's University has been ranked by Poets&Quants in their second annual ranking of the “Best Undergraduate Business Programs of 2017.”  St. John's School of Law jumped 25 spots to 82nd place nationwide in "U.S. News & World Report’s" 2016 “Best Law Schools” rankings.  St. John's law school is ranked #38 nationwide for placing graduates in the 100 biggest law firms, making it a 2017 National Law Journal “Go-To Law School”  "U.S. News & World Report’s" listing of the “2016 Best Online Programs” ranked St. John's Internet-based graduate business, graduate education, and undergraduate programs among the top 100 in their respective categories.  In the 2016 "U.S. News & World Report" ranking of "National Universities", St. John's undergraduate program was ranked tied for 153rd in the nation, with the School of Law ranked tied for 74th and the School of Education ranked 115th.  In 2015 The business Insider ranked St. John's University 15th on the list of most underrated colleges and universities in America.  In the 2011 edition of the "Best 368 Colleges" published by "The Princeton Review", St. John's was named a "Best Northeastern College."  "Forbes" ranked St. John's 406th on its "America's Top Colleges" list in 2018.

Student life.

Students at St. John's are also encouraged to participate in service activities through Campus Ministries, or several other service organizations in New York as part of their collective education. The university also provides funding to the Student Government, Inc. (SGI) to be disseminated among 180 academic, professional, and recreational student organizations, and hosts many notable guest speakers throughout the academic year.  Although no rail station directly serves the campus, numerous stops offer one bus connections via MTA. For the subway, these stations include Kew Gardens/Union Turnpike, 169th Street and Main Street Flushing. The LIRR's Jamaica Station also provides direct bus service to campus. The St. John's Campus Shuttle runs non stop from Jamaica Station to the Queens Campus Monday through Friday.

Fraternities and sororities.

St. John's doesn't allow fraternity and sorority residences like most schools, rather offering them as clubs.

Sororities.

There are 32 recognized fraternity and sorority chapters at St. John's.

Campuses.

St. John's University locations:  Jamaica, Queens: Hillcrest, Queens – The main campus of St. John's University is located in the residential Hillcrest section of the borough of Queens of New York City. This campus houses several academic buildings, 8 residence halls, athletic facilities, and the St. Augustine Library. The Queens campus features stone buildings and student residence halls. Facilities include laboratory and classroom buildings, the main collections of its 1.7 million-volume library; and athletic facilities for students and St. John's Division I athletic teams. The University Center is the 127,000 square foot, five story D'Angelo Center, which features banquet space, classrooms, club space, a food court, game rooms, lecture halls, and a first floor lounge.  Branch campuses:

Campus renovations.

In 2008, St. John's University broke ground for the new University Center/Academic Building, one of the largest and most comprehensive construction projects in St. John's recent history. Located between Sullivan Hall and the Taffner Field House on the site that currently serves as stadium seating for lacrosse and track and field events, the 110,000 square feet (10,000 m) complex has been designed to significantly enhance student life on campus. Now completed, the building, rises dramatically over the upper campus, contains 14 technologically sophisticated, state-of-the-art classrooms with approximately 800 seats. In addition, it includes a café, lounge, recreation and entertainment spaces, student organization offices and conference and meeting rooms devoted exclusively to student use. The building is named "The D'Angelo Center" after board of trustees member Peter D'Angelo '78 MBA, and his wife Peg D'Angelo '70 Ed.  In 2005, St. John's constructed Taffner Field house, and dramatically renovated Carnesecca Arena (formerly Alumni Hall) and the University Center. Renovations to Carnesecca Hall included a. Health Center, for use by Student Life and athletics, including weight training equipment, aerobic and dance studios, and a student lounge. The University Center renovations consisted of reconfigured office and meeting space for Student Life and academic clubs, and the addition of audio/visual rooms for all varsity athletic teams. Taffner Athletic Field House was $23 million initiative. The two-story,. structure adjacent to Carnesecca Hall includes four basketball courts, academic classrooms.  The 2004–2005 academic years saw $35 million in capital projects, including the completion of St. Thomas More church, the DaSilva building, Carnesecca Hall Fitness Center, and Belson Stadium. In 2005 the science labs and student life facilities were the target of an additional $60 million in capital enhancements. In regards to its expansion plans, the university has had a contentious relationship with the surrounding community in the past. In 2007, however, it was discovered that the university was planning to lease a building under construction by a separate company for an off-campus dormitory. Residents argue that such a plan goes against the school's pledge of being a "good neighbor" towards the community. The university, however, contends that it did not break the pledge for it was only leasing the structure not building it. Nevertheless, opponents, including state Senator Frank Padavan, argue that such an explanation is "disingenuous".  The university has seen much growth on its campuses in order to attract students from outside the New York area. In 1999, the first dormitory was completed on the Queens campus. As of 2008, the campus now contains seven dorms and a townhouse complex.

Athletics.

Fishman stated that in 1989 the school was best known across the United States for its basketball team.  St. John's 17 NCAA Division I teams compete in the Big East Conference, with the exception of the fencing team, which competes in the ECAC. From 1979 to 2013, St. John's was a charter member of the original Big East Conference; in July 2013, St. John's and the other six non-FBS schools in the original Big East broke away to form the current Big East. The athletic program fields sixteen intercollegiate teams: basketball, soccer, baseball, lacrosse, tennis, golf, and fencing for men and basketball, soccer, softball, volleyball, tennis, track and field, cross country, golf, and fencing for women. In 2002, the university eliminated five men's athletic teams and one women's team in order to comply with Title IX rules prohibiting activities that receive federal assistance from discriminating on the basis of gender. Until prior to the 1994-1995 school year, the St. John's mascot was the Redmen, which referenced the red uniforms worn by the university in competition. However, the name was interpreted as a Native American reference in the 1960s, and was changed to the Red Storm after mounting pressure on colleges and universities to adopt names more sensitive to Native American culture. The Redmen name still remains popular among fans. The basketball team is the most popular collegiate basketball program in New York City and has a worldwide following. There are numerous fan forums that support the basketball program, in addition to all of the university's teams. The most popular is redmen.com which often leads the mainstream sports media in breaking news regarding its sports teams. The men's basketball team has the 7th-most NCAA tournament appearances (28), two John R. Wooden Award winners, 11 consensus All-Americans, 6 members of the College Basketball Hall of Fame, and has sent 59 players to the NBA. Even even as late as 1990 was said to not compare to other basketball powerhouses like Michigan State. However, of the top 5 teams, Kentucky, North Carolina, Kansas, Duke, and St. John's, St. John's is the only team not to win an NCAA championship for basketball, and currently holds the NCAA Division I record for most NCAA Men's Division I Basketball Championship appearances without a championship. St. John's men's basketball has won several National Championships including the 1911 Helms Athletic Foundation National Championship and the 1943 and 1944 back to back NIT National Championships. The men's basketball team has achieved success in the NCAA Tournament as well including appearing in the 1952 NCAA National Championship game, advancing to the 1985 NCAA Final Four and having appeared in the NCAA Elite Eight in 1979, 1991 & 1999. Their most recent appearance in the NCAA Tournament was in 2015. The Red Storm play most of their home games at Madison Square Garden, "The World's Most Famous Arena", while their early non-conference games are held at Carnesecca Arena on the St. John's campus in Queens. St. John's University holds the second best winning percentage for a New York City school in the NCAA basketball tournament (second to City College of New York – which won one NCAA Div 1 Championships as the CCNY Beavers men's basketball) St. John's has the most NIT appearances with 27, the most championship wins with 6, although they were stripped of one due to an NCAA infraction. In 2008, St. John's celebrated its 100th year of college basketball.  The St. John's men's soccer program has appeared in 15 consecutive NCAA tournaments, advancing to the Sweet 16 in each of the last ten seasons, and the Final Four on 3 occasions. They have captured 11 Big East Championships, including the 2006 season title as well as the 2009 season title, and in 1996, St. John's won the NCAA National Championship. Their home games are hosted at Belson Stadium, a state-of-the-art 2,300-seat stadium on the university campus. In 2006, the men's soccer team became the first American soccer team to be invited to play in Vietnam. The team played against several Vietnam Football Federation squads as well as participating in community service.  The St. John's baseball team has been to the College World Series six times, recorded 26 NCAA appearances, 6 Big East Championships and have sent over 70 players on to professional baseball careers, most recently 2014 World Series Champion Joe Panik of the San Francisco Giants. The 3,500-seat "Ballpark at St. John's" was renamed "Jack Kaiser Stadium" in 2007 after the Hall of Fame Coach and former St. John's Athletic Director. The stadium is one of the largest college baseball stadiums in the northeast, and is a featured venue on the EA Sports MVP NCAA Baseball video game. The stadium had been conceived out of a deal between the university and the Giuliani administration, wherein the latter wanted to find a location for a single-A team that would be affiliated with the New York Mets. Expressing concern about quality of life issues and the spending of public money for a private religious institution, surrounding neighborhood civic groups and local politicians protested the plan. In order to placate their concerns, however, the Mets offered to open it up to the communities for local high school games and youth programs, and the stadium was built amid many large-scale protests by community residents and by State Senator Frank Padavan, while also using city financing. The Red Storm played the first ever game at the Mets' new ballpark, Citi Field, on March 29, 2009.  The St. John's fencing program has also attained national prominence including Olympians Keeth Smart and Ivan Lee. In 2001, St. John's won the NCAA Fencing Championship. The team has ranked in the top five each of the last 10 years, and finished 2nd in the NCAA during 1995, 2000, 2002, 2007 and 2010 seasons. In addition to team accolades, St. John's has won twenty two NCAA Individual National Championship titles. On April 12, 2016, St. John's alums Daryl Homer and Dagmar Wozniak were both named to the 2016 U.S. Olympic Fencing Team, marking the second time that each has been selected as a member of the U.S squad.

Women's athletics.

The women's programs at St. John's University have also enjoyed a tremendous amount of success. The women's volleyball, soccer, tennis, basketball & softball teams have combined to win 9 Big East Championships and appear in 17 NCAA Tournaments since the 1980s.

Notable alumni.

St. John's has over 170,000 alumni, 82% of whom reside in the Greater New York Metropolitan Area. Some of the most recognized alumni are former New York Governors Hugh L. Carey and Mario M. Cuomo, former California Governor George Deukmejian, New York City Police Commissioner Raymond Kelly, former secretary of the U.S. Department of Commerce Ronald H. Brown, Queen's Borough President Melinda Katz, and Grammy-nominated artist and producer J. Cole.

St. John's University is a private Roman Catholic university in New York City. Founded and run by the Congregation of the Mission (C.M., the Vincentian Fathers) in 1870, the school was originally located in the neighborhood of Bedford–Stuyvesant in the borough of Brooklyn. In the 1950s, the school was relocated to its current site at Utopia Parkway in Hillcrest, Queens. St. John's also has campuses in Staten Island and Manhattan in New York City and overseas in Rome, Italy. In addition, the university has a Long Island Graduate Center in Hauppauge, along with academic locations in Paris, France, and Limerick, Ireland. The university is named after Saint John the Baptist.

圣若望大学 (英语:St. John's University,缩写为 SJU 或 STJ)是一所美国东部的主要综合大学,位于美国纽约州纽约市近郊皇后区;它是目前美国规模第二大的天主教会学校,前身为「遣使会」于1870年在纽约州皇后-{zh-hans:县; zh-hant:县; zh-tw:郡}-创设的学院,以及1872年遣使会成立的圣若望文学联盟(St. John's Union)。


Project history.

In 1927, when Syria was a French mandate, it was proposed to build a dam in the Euphrates near the Syro–Turkish border. After Syria became independent in 1946, the feasibility of this proposal was re-investigated, but the plan was not carried out. In 1957, the Syrian government reached an agreement with the Soviet Union for technical and financial aid for the construction of a dam in the Euphrates. Syria, as part of the United Arab Republic (UAR), signed an agreement with West Germany in 1960 for a loan to finance the construction of the dam. After Syria left the UAR in 1961, a new agreement about the financing of the dam was reached with the Soviet Union in 1965. A special government department was created in 1961 to oversee the construction of the dam. In the early 1960s Swedish geomorphologist Åke Sundborg worked as advisor in the dam project with the task of estimating the amount and fate of sediments that would enter into the dam. Sundborg developed for this purpose a mathematical model on the projected growth of a river delta in the dam.  Originally, the Tabqa Dam was conceived as a dual-purpose dam. The dam would include a hydroelectric power station with eight turbines capable of producing 824 MW in total, and would irrigate an area of on both sides of the Euphrates. Construction of the dam lasted between 1968 and 1973, while the accompanying power station was finished on 8 March 1978. The dam was constructed during the agricultural reform policies of Hafez al-Assad, who had re-routed the Euphrates river for the dam in 1974. Total cost of the dam was US$340 million of which US$100 million was in the form of a loan by the Soviet Union. The Soviet Union also provided technical expertise. During construction, up to 12 thousand Syrians and 900 Russian technicians worked on the dam. They were housed in the greatly expanded town near the construction site, which was subsequently renamed Al-Thawra. To facilitate this project, as well as the construction of irrigation works on the Khabur River, the national railway system (Chemins de Fer Syriens) was extended from Aleppo to the dam, Raqqa, Deir ez-Zor, and eventually Qamishli. The four thousand-some Arab families who had been living in the flooded part of the Euphrates Valley were resettled in other parts of northern Syria. This resettlement was part of an only partially implemented plan to establish an "Arab belt" along the borders with Turkey and Iraq in order to separate Kurds living in Syria from Kurds living in Turkey and Iraq.

Dispute with Iraq.

In 1974, Syria started to fill the lake behind the dam by reducing the flow of the Euphrates. Slightly earlier, Turkey had started filling the reservoir of the newly constructed Keban Dam, and at the same time the area was also hit by significant drought. As a result, Iraq received significantly less water from the Euphrates than normal, and complained that annual Euphrates flow had dropped from in 1973 to in 1975. Iraq asked the Arab League to intervene but Syria argued that it received less water from Turkey as well and refused to cooperate. As a result, tensions rose and Iraq and Syria sent troops to their shared border. Iraq also threatened to bomb the Tabqa Dam. Before the dispute could escalate any further, an agreement was reached in 1975 by mediation of Saudi Arabia and the Soviet Union whereby Syria immediately increased the flow from the dam and reportedly henceforth agreed to let 60 percent of the Euphrates water flow into Iraq. In 1987, Turkey, Syria and Iraq signed an agreement by which Turkey was committed to maintain an average Euphrates flow of per second into Syria, which translates into of water per year.

Rescue excavations in the Lake Assad region.

The upper part of the Syrian Euphrates valley has been intensively occupied at least since the Late Natufian period (10,800–9500 BC). Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century European travellers had already noted the presence of numerous archaeological sites in the area that would be flooded by the new reservoir. In order to preserve or at least document as many of these remains as possible, an extensive archaeological rescue programme was initiated during which more than 25 sites were excavated.  Between 1963 and 1965, archaeological sites and remains were located with the help of aerial photographs, and a ground survey was carried out as well to determine the periods that were present at each site. Between 1965 and 1970, foreign archaeological missions carried out systematic excavations at the sites of Mureybet (United States), Tell Qannas (Belgium), Habuba Kabira, Mumbaqa (Germany), Selenkahiye (Netherlands), and Emar (France). With help from UNESCO, two minarets at Mureybet and Meskene were photogrammetrically measured, and a protective glacis was built around the castle Qal'at Ja'bar. The castle was located on a hilltop that would not be flooded, but the lake would turn it in an island. The castle is now connected to the shore by a causeway. In 1971, with support from UNESCO, Syria appealed to the international community to participate in the efforts to salvage as many archaeological remains as possible before the area would disappear under the rising water of Lake Assad. To stimulate foreign participation, the Syrian antiquities law was modified so that foreign missions had the right to claim a part of the artefacts that were found during excavation. As a result, between 1971 and 1974, numerous excavations were carried out in the Lake Assad area by Syrian as well as foreign missions. Syrian archaeologists worked at the sites of Tell al-'Abd, 'Anab al-Safinah, Tell Sheikh Hassan, Qal'at Ja'bar, Dibsi Faraj and Tell Fray. There were missions from the United States on Dibsi Faraj, Tell Fray and Shams ed-Din-Tannira; from France on Mureybet and Emar; from Italy on Tell Fray; from the Netherlands on Tell Ta'as, Hadidi, Jebel 'Aruda and Selenkahiye; from Switzerland on Tell al-Hajj; from Great Britain on Abu Hureyra and Tell es-Sweyhat; and from Japan on Tell Roumeila. In addition, the minarets of Mureybet and Meskene were moved to higher locations, and Qal'at Ja'bar was further reinforced and restored. Many finds from the excavations are now on display in the National Museum of Aleppo, where a special permanent exhibition is devoted to the finds from the Lake Assad region.

Other dams in the Syrian Euphrates valley.

After the completion of the Tabqa Dam, Syria built two more dams in the Euphrates, both of which were functionally related to the Tabqa Dam. The Baath Dam, located downstream from the Tabqa Dam, was completed in 1986 and functions as a floodwater control to manage the irregular output of the Tabqa Dam and as a hydroelectric power station. The Tishrin Dam, which functions primarily as a hydroelectric power station, has been constructed south from the Syro–Turkish border and filling of the reservoir started in 1999. Its construction was partly motivated by the disappointing performance of the Tabqa Dam. The implementation of a fourth dam between Raqqa and Deir ez-Zor – the Halabiye Dam – was planned in 2009 and an appeal to archaeologists was released to excavate sites that will be flooded by the new reservoir.

Recent history.

On 11 February 2013 the dam was captured by the Syrian opposition in their fight against the government, according to The Syrian Observatory for Human Rights. In 2013, four of the dam's eight turbines were operational and the original staff continued to manage it. Dam workers still received pay from the Syrian Government, and fighting in the area temporarily ceased if repairs were needed.  As of December 2016 the village near the dam, Al-Thawrah, was occupied by the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant. January 2017 saw a raid against ISIL by combined SDF and US special forces, between the dam and nearby Al-Thawrah. In March 2017, after heavy fighting damaged the main control panel at the dam and disabled the hydroelectric power station, ISIL warned of the dam's imminent collapse during a joint US/SDF operation to capture it. SDF forces announced they captured the dam on 10 May 2017.

Characteristics of the dam and the reservoir.

The Tabqa dam is located on a spot where rocky outcrops on each side of the Euphrates Valley are less than apart. The dam is an earth-fill dam that is long, high from the riverbed ( above sea-level), wide at its base and at the top. The hydroelectric power station is located on the southern end of the dam and contains eight Kaplan turbines. The turbines' rotation speed is 125 RPM, and they can potentially generate 103 MW each. Lake Assad is long and on average wide. The reservoir can potentially hold of water, at which size its surface area would be. Annual evaporation is due to the high average summer temperature in northern Syria. This is high compared to reservoirs upstream from Lake Assad. For example, the evaporation at Keban Dam Lake is per year at roughly the same surface area.  Neither the Tabqa Dam nor Lake Assad is currently used to its full economic potential. Although the lake can potentially hold, actual capacity is, with a surface area of. The proposed irrigation scheme suffered from a number of problems, including the high gypsum content in the reclaimed soils around Lake Assad, soil salinization, the collapse of canals that distributed the water from Lake Assad, and the unwillingness of farmers to resettle in the reclaimed areas. As a result, only were irrigated from Lake Assad in 1984. In 2000, the irrigated surface had risen to, which is 19 percent of the projected. Due to lower than expected water flow from Turkey, as well as lack of maintenance, the dam generates only 150 MW instead of 800 MW. Lake Assad is the most important source of drinking water to Aleppo, providing the city through a pipeline with of drinking water per year. The lake also supports a fishing industry.

Environmental effects.

Research indicates that the salinity of the Euphrates water in Iraq has increased considerably since the nearly simultaneous construction of the Keban Dam in Turkey and the Tabqa Dam in Syria. This increase can, among other things, be related to the lower discharge of the Euphrates as a result of the construction of the Keban Dam and the dams of the Southeastern Anatolia Project (GAP) in Turkey, and to a lesser degree of the Tabqa Dam in Syria. High-salinity water is less useful for domestic and irrigation purposes.  The shore of the lake has developed into an important marshland area. On the southeastern shore, some areas have been reforested with evergreen trees including the Aleppo pine and the Euphrates poplar. Lake Assad is an important wintering location for migratory birds and the government has undertaken measures to protect small areas along the shores of Lake Assad from hunters by downgrading access roads. The island of Jazirat al-Thawra has been designated a nature reserve.

The Tabqa Dam (, "Sadd al-Ṭabqa"; ; ), or al-Thawra Dam as it is also named (, "Sadd al-thawra", literally "Dam of the Revolution"), most commonly known as Euphrates Dam (, "Sadd al-Furāt"; ; ), is an earthen dam on the Euphrates, located upstream from the city of Raqqa in Raqqa Governorate, Syria. The city of Al-Thawrah is located immediately south of the dam. The dam is high and long and is the largest dam in Syria. Its construction led to the creation of Lake Assad, Syria's largest water reservoir. The dam was constructed between 1968 and 1973 with help from the Soviet Union. At the same time, an international effort was made to excavate and document as many archaeological remains as possible in the area of the future lake before they would be flooded by the rising water. When the flow of the Euphrates was reduced in 1974 to fill the lake behind the dam, a dispute broke out between Syria and Iraq (which is downstream) that was settled by intervention from Saudi Arabia and the Soviet Union. The dam was originally built to generate hydroelectric power, as well as irrigate lands on both sides of the Euphrates. The dam has not reached its full potential in either of these objectives.

塔布卡水坝(),又称革命水坝(),为幼发拉底河上的一座土坝,位于拉卡上游处。水坝南方紧邻革命市。坝体高约,长约,为叙利亚境内最大的水坝。水坝完成后,上游集水区形成阿萨德湖,为叙利亚最大的湖泊。在苏联的援助下,塔布卡水坝始建于1968年,1973年竣工。同时跨国团队也努力将可能遭到湮没的考古遗址尽可能撤离及纪录。1974年,水坝完工后,下游的水量减少,造成伊拉克抗议,后来苏联和沙特阿拉伯介入调停。水坝最初建造目的是为了发电、灌溉,迄今两者仍尚未达到其最大潜在效率。


Russian system.

Initials.

Note that because the Russian version of the Cyrillic alphabet has no letters for "dz" or "dzh" (although ѕ and џ are found in Serbian and Macedonian Cyrillic), the digraphs цз and чж are used respectively.

Finals.

In composites, coda "ng" is transcribed нъ when the following syllable starts with a vowel. For example, the names of the cities of "Chang'an" and "Hengyang" are transcribed as Чанъань and Хэнъян.

Comparison chart.

This table establishes correspondence between the Russian Palladius system together with the two Romanization systems most commonly used in English-speaking countries: Pinyin and Wade–Giles.

Exceptions.

The names of the cities of "Beijing" and "Nanjing" are transcribed as Пеки́н (instead of Бэйцзин) and Нанки́н (instead of Наньцзин), much as "Peking" and "Nanking" were still used in English speaking countries until recently. Hong Kong (pinyin: "Xianggang") may be both Сянга́н (Xianggang) and Гонко́нг (Hong Kong); the latter is more common.  The syllable "hui" is transcribed not as хуй but as хуэй (Huizu, Хуэйцзу) or, less often, as хой (Anhui, Аньхой) for aesthetic reasons, since is a taboo word for "penis" in Russian and several other Slavic languages.  Older documents contain variants мэн — мын, мэнь — мынь, фэн — фын, фэнь — фынь, пэн — пын, hence Aomen (Macao) is traditionally spelled Аомынь in Russian. Most modern texts contain э, with some exceptions.

Ukrainian system.

Finals.

In composites, coda "ng" is transcribed нъ when the following syllable starts with a vowel. For example, the names of the cities of "Chang'an" and "Hengyang" are transcribed as Чанъань and Хенъян.

Comparison chart.

This table establishes correspondence between the Ukrainian Palladius system together with the two Romanization systems most commonly used in English-speaking countries: Pinyin and Wade–Giles. Cyrillization with the Ukrainian alphabet differs from the Russian as follows:

Belarusian system.

Cyrillization with the Belarusian alphabet differs from the Russian as follows:

Serbian system.

The Serbian system is rather different from the Russian: for example, "j, q, zh" are transcribed as ђ, ћ, џ; the Serbian letters ј, љ, њ appear where the Russian system uses я, е, ё, ю, й; final "n" and "ng" are н and нг.

Sample Texts.

Original.

Traditional:  Simplified:

English Translation.

How are you? This is a Chinese sentence written in Cyrillic alphabet.

The Cyrillization of Chinese ("Hanyu Cyril Pinyin") is the transcription of Chinese characters into the Cyrillic alphabet.

汉语西里尔字母转写系统由俄罗斯汉学家兼传教士(,Pjotr Ivanovič Kafarov,教名Palladius())制订的。这是俄罗斯官方标准的把汉语转写成俄语字母的系统。


History.

Spanish era.

During the Spanish colonization of the Philippines, municipal governments, or Cabildos were established. One such example was the Cabildo in Manila, established in 1571.  When the Philippines was under colonial rule as part of the Spanish East Indies, the colony was not given representation to the Spanish Cortes. It was only in 1809 where the colony was made an integral part of Spain and was given representation in the Cortes. While colonies such as the Philippines were selecting its delegates, substitutes were named so that the Cortes can convene. The substitutes, and first delegates for the Philippines were Pedro Pérez de Tagle and José Manuel Couto. Both had no connections to the colony.  By July 1810, Governor General Manuel González de Aguilar received the instruction to hold an election. As only the Manila Municipal Council qualified to elect a representative, it was tasked to select a delegate. Three of its representatives, the governor-general and the Archibishop of Manila selected Ventura de los Reyes as Manila's delegate to the Cortes. De los Reyes arrived in Cadiz on December 1811.  However, with Napoleon I's defeat at the Battle of Waterloo, his brother Joseph Bonaparte was removed from the Spanish throne, and the Cádiz Constitution was replaced by the Cortes on May 24, 1816 with a more conservative constitution that removed Philippine representation on the Cortes, among other things. Restoration of Philippine representation to the Cortes was one of the grievances by the Ilustrados, the educated class during the late 19th century.

Revolutionary era.

The Illustrados' campaign transformed into the Philippine Revolution that aimed to overthrow Spanish rule. Proclaiming independence on June 12, 1898, President Emilio Aguinaldo then ordered the convening of a revolutionary congress at Malolos. The Malolos Congress, among other things, approved the 1899 Constitution of the Philippines. With the approval of the Treaty of Paris, the Spanish sold the Philippines to the United States. The revolutionaries, attempting to prevent American conquest, launched the Philippine–American War, but were defeated when Aguinaldo was captured on 1901.

American era.

When the Philippines was under American colonial rule, the legislative body was the Philippine Commission which existed from 1900 to 1907. The President of the United States appointed the members of the Philippine Commission. Furthermore, two Filipinos served as Resident Commissioners to the House of Representatives of the United States from 1907 to 1935, then only one from 1935 to 1946. The Resident Commissioners had a voice in the House, but did not have voting rights.  The Philippine Bill of 1902 mandated the creation of a bicameral or a two-chamber Philippine Legislature with the Philippine Commission as the Upper House and the Philippine Assembly as the Lower House. This bicameral legislature was inaugurated in 1907. Through the leadership of then Speaker Sergio Osmeña and then-Floor Leader Manuel L. Quezon, the Rules of the 59th United States Congress were substantially adopted as the Rules of the Philippine Legislature.  In 1916, the Jones Law changed the legislative system. The Philippine Commission was abolished, and a new bicameral Philippine Legislature consisting of a House of Representatives and a Senate was established.

Commonwealth and Second Republic era.

The legislative system was changed again in 1935. The 1935 Constitution, aside from instituting the Commonwealth which gave the Filipinos more role in government, established a unicameral National Assembly. But in 1940, through an amendment to the 1935 Constitution, a bicameral Congress of the Philippines consisting of a House of Representatives and a Senate was created. Those elected in 1941 would not serve until 1945, as World War II erupted. The invading Japanese set up the Second Philippine Republic and convened its own National Assembly. With the Japanese defeat in 1945, the Commonwealth and its Congress was restored. The same setup continued until the Americans granted independence on July 4, 1946.

Independent era.

Upon the inauguration of the Republic of the Philippines on July 4, 1946, Republic Act No. 6 was enacted providing that on the date of the proclamation of the Republic of the Philippines, the existing Congress would be known as the First Congress of the Republic. Successive Congresses were elected until President Ferdinand Marcos declared martial law on September 23, 1972. Marcos then ruled by decree.  As early as 1970, Marcos had convened a constitutional convention to revise the 1935 constitution; in 1973, the Constitution was approved. It abolished the bicameral Congress and created a unicameral National Assembly, which would ultimately be known as the Batasang Pambansa in a semi-presidential system of government. The batasan elected a prime minister. The Batasang Pambansa first convened in 1978. Marcos was overthrown after the 1986 People Power Revolution; President Corazon Aquino then ruled by decree. Later that year she appointed a constitutional commission that drafted a new constitution. The Constitution was approved in a plebiscite the next year; it restored the presidential system of government together with a bicameral Congress of the Philippines. It first convened in 1987.

Timeline.

"The winners of the 1941 election first took office in 1945. See 1st Congress of the Commonwealth of the Philippines for details."

Seat.

In what could be a unique setup, the two houses of Congress meet at different places in Metro Manila, the seat of government: the Senate sits at a building shared with the Government Service Insurance System (GSIS) at Pasay, while the House of Representatives sits at the Batasang Pambansa Complex in Quezon City. The two are around apart.  The Barasoain Church in Malolos, Bulacan served as a meeting place of unicameral congress of the First Philippine Republic.  After the Americans defeated the First Republic, the US-instituted Philippine Legislature convened at the Ayuntamiento in Intramuros, Manila from 1907 to 1926, when it transferred to the Legislative Building just outside Intramuros. In the Legislative Building, the Senate occupied the upper floors while the House of Representatives used the lower floors.  Destroyed during the Battle of Manila of 1945, the Commonwealth Congress convened at the Old Japanese Schoolhouse at Sampaloc. Congress met at the school auditorium, with the Senate convening on evenings and the House of Representatives meeting every morning. Congress would return to the Legislative Building, which will be renamed as the Congress Building, on 1949 up to 1973 when President Marcos ruled by decree. Marcos built a new seat of a unicameral parliament at Quezon City, which would eventually be the Batasang Pambansa Complex. The parliament that will eventually be named as the Batasang Pambansa (National Legislature), first met at the Batasang Pambansa Complex on 1978.  With the overthrow of Marcos after the People Power Revolution, the bicameral Congress was restored. The House of Representatives inherited the Batasang Pambansa Complex, while the Senate returned to the Congress Building. On May 1997, the Senate moved to the newly constructed building owned by the GSIS on land reclaimed from Manila Bay at Pasay; the Congress Building was eventually transformed into the National Museum of Fine Arts.

Powers.

The powers of the Congress of the Philippines may be classified as:

General legislative.

It consists of the enactment of laws intended as a rule of conduct to govern the relation between individuals (i.e., civil laws, commercial laws, etc.) or between individuals and the state (i.e., criminal law, political law, etc.)

Implied.

It is essential to the effective exercise of other powers expressly granted to the assembly.

Inherent.

These are the powers which though not expressly given are nevertheless exercised by the Congress as they are necessary for its existence such as:

Specific legislative.

It has reference to powers which the Constitution expressly and specifically directs to perform or execute.  Powers enjoyed by the Congress classifiable under this category are:

Executive.

Powers of the Congress that are executive in nature are:

Supervisory.

The Congress of the Philippines exercises considerable control and supervision over the administrative branch - e.g.:

Electoral.

Considered as electoral power of the Congress of the Philippines are the Congress' power to:

Judicial.

Constitutionally, each house has judicial powers:

Miscellaneous.

The other powers of Congress mandated by the Constitution are as follows:

Voting requirements.

The vote requirements in the Congress of the Philippines are as follows:  In most cases, such as the approval of bills, only a majority of members present is needed; on some cases such as the election of presiding officers, a majority of all members, including vacant seats, is needed.

Latest elections.

Senate.

In the Philippines, the most common way to illustrate the result in a Senate election is via a tally of candidates in descending order of votes. The twelve candidates with the highest number of votes are elected.

House of Representatives.

A voter has two votes in the House of Representatives: one vote for a representative elected in the voter's congressional district (first-past-the-post), and one vote for a party in the party-list system (closed list), the so-called sectoral representatives; sectoral representatives shall comprise not more than 20% of the House of Representatives.  To determine the winning parties in the party-list election, a party must surpass the 2% election threshold of the national vote; usually, the party with the largest number of votes wins the maximum three seats, the rest two seats. If the number of seats of the parties that surpassed the 2% threshold is less than 20% of the total seats, the parties that won less than 2% of the vote gets one seat each until the 20% requirement is met.

Congress of the Philippines () is the national legislature of the Philippines. It is a bicameral body consisting of the Senate (upper chamber), and the House of Representatives (lower chamber), although colloquially, the term "Congress" commonly refers to just the latter.

菲律宾国会是菲律宾共和国的最高立法机构,成立于1971年2月21日,采用两院制,由参议院和众议院组成。


Examples.

The objective and challenges of sentiment analysis can be shown through some simple examples.

Types.

A basic task in sentiment analysis is classifying the "polarity" of a given text at the document, sentence, or feature/aspect level—whether the expressed opinion in a document, a sentence or an entity feature/aspect is positive, negative, or neutral. Advanced, "beyond polarity" sentiment classification looks, for instance, at emotional states such as "angry", "sad", and "happy".  Precursors to sentimental analysis include the General Inquirer, which provided hints toward quantifying patterns in text and, separately, psychological research that examined a person's psychological state based on analysis of their verbal behavior.  Subsequently, the method described in a patent by Volcani and Fogel, looked specifically at sentiment and identified individual words and phrases in text with respect to different emotional scales. A current system based on their work, called EffectCheck, presents synonyms that can be used to increase or decrease the level of evoked emotion in each scale.  Many other subsequent efforts were less sophisticated, using a mere polar view of sentiment, from positive to negative, such as work by Turney, and Pang who applied different methods for detecting the polarity of product reviews and movie reviews respectively. This work is at the document level. One can also classify a document's polarity on a multi-way scale, which was attempted by Pang and Snyder among others: Pang and Lee expanded the basic task of classifying a movie review as either positive or negative to predict star ratings on either a 3- or a 4-star scale, while Snyder performed an in-depth analysis of restaurant reviews, predicting ratings for various aspects of the given restaurant, such as the food and atmosphere (on a five-star scale).  First steps to bringing together various approaches—learning, lexical, knowledge-based, etc.—were taken in the 2004 AAAI Spring Symposium where linguists, computer scientists, and other interested researchers first aligned interests and proposed shared tasks and benchmark data sets for the systematic computational research on affect, appeal, subjectivity, and sentiment in text.  Even though in most statistical classification methods, the neutral class is ignored under the assumption that neutral texts lie near the boundary of the binary classifier, several researchers suggest that, as in every polarity problem, three categories must be identified. Moreover, it can be proven that specific classifiers such as the Max Entropy and SVMs can benefit from the introduction of a neutral class and improve the overall accuracy of the classification. There are in principle two ways for operating with a neutral class. Either, the algorithm proceeds by first identifying the neutral language, filtering it out and then assessing the rest in terms of positive and negative sentiments, or it builds a three-way classification in one step. This second approach often involves estimating a probability distribution over all categories (e.g. naive Bayes classifiers as implemented by the NLTK). Whether and how to use a neutral class depends on the nature of the data: if the data is clearly clustered into neutral, negative and positive language, it makes sense to filter the neutral language out and focus on the polarity between positive and negative sentiments. If, in contrast, the data are mostly neutral with small deviations towards positive and negative affect, this strategy would make it harder to clearly distinguish between the two poles.  A different method for determining sentiment is the use of a scaling system whereby words commonly associated with having a negative, neutral, or positive sentiment with them are given an associated number on a −10 to +10 scale (most negative up to most positive) or simply from 0 to a positive upper limit such as +4. This makes it possible to adjust the sentiment of a given term relative to its environment (usually on the level of the sentence). When a piece of unstructured text is analyzed using natural language processing, each concept in the specified environment is given a score based on the way sentiment words relate to the concept and its associated score. This allows movement to a more sophisticated understanding of sentiment, because it is now possible to adjust the sentiment value of a concept relative to modifications that may surround it. Words, for example, that intensify, relax or negate the sentiment expressed by the concept can affect its score. Alternatively, texts can be given a positive and negative sentiment strength score if the goal is to determine the sentiment in a text rather than the overall polarity and strength of the text.  There are various other types of sentiment analysis like- Aspect Based sentiment analysis, Grading sentiment analysis (positive,negative,neutral), Multilingual sentiment analysis and detection of emotions.

Subjectivity/objectivity identification.

This task is commonly defined as classifying a given text (usually a sentence) into one of two classes: objective or subjective. This problem can sometimes be more difficult than polarity classification. The subjectivity of words and phrases may depend on their context and an objective document may contain subjective sentences (e.g., a news article quoting people's opinions). Moreover, as mentioned by Su, results are largely dependent on the definition of subjectivity used when annotating texts. However, Pang showed that removing objective sentences from a document before classifying its polarity helped improve performance.

Feature/aspect-based.

It refers to determining the opinions or sentiments expressed on different features or aspects of entities, e.g., of a cell phone, a digital camera, or a bank. A feature or aspect is an attribute or component of an entity, e.g., the screen of a cell phone, the service for a restaurant, or the picture quality of a camera. The advantage of feature-based sentiment analysis is the possibility to capture nuances about objects of interest. Different features can generate different sentiment responses, for example a hotel can have a convenient location, but mediocre food. This problem involves several sub-problems, e.g., identifying relevant entities, extracting their features/aspects, and determining whether an opinion expressed on each feature/aspect is positive, negative or neutral. The automatic identification of features can be performed with syntactic methods, with topic modeling, or with deep learning. More detailed discussions about this level of sentiment analysis can be found in Liu's work.

Methods and features.

Existing approaches to sentiment analysis can be grouped into three main categories: knowledge-based techniques, statistical methods, and hybrid approaches. Knowledge-based techniques classify text by affect categories based on the presence of unambiguous affect words such as happy, sad, afraid, and bored. Some knowledge bases not only list obvious affect words, but also assign arbitrary words a probable "affinity" to particular emotions. Statistical methods leverage elements from machine learning such as latent semantic analysis, support vector machines, "bag of words", "Pointwise Mutual Information" for Semantic Orientation, and deep learning. More sophisticated methods try to detect the holder of a sentiment (i.e., the person who maintains that affective state) and the target (i.e., the entity about which the affect is felt). To mine the opinion in context and get the feature about which the speaker has opined, the grammatical relationships of words are used. Grammatical dependency relations are obtained by deep parsing of the text. Hybrid approaches leverage both machine learning and elements from knowledge representation such as ontologies and semantic networks in order to detect semantics that are expressed in a subtle manner, e.g., through the analysis of concepts that do not explicitly convey relevant information, but which are implicitly linked to other concepts that do so.  Open source software tools as well as range of free and paid sentiment analysis tools deploy machine learning, statistics, and natural language processing techniques to automate sentiment analysis on large collections of texts, including web pages, online news, internet discussion groups, online reviews, web blogs, and social media. Knowledge-based systems, on the other hand, make use of publicly available resources, to extract the semantic and affective information associated with natural language concepts. Sentiment analysis can also be performed on visual content, i.e., images and videos (see Multimodal sentiment analysis). One of the first approaches in this direction is SentiBank utilizing an adjective noun pair representation of visual content. In addition, the vast majority of sentiment classification approaches rely on the bag-of-words model, which disregards context, grammar and even word order. Approaches that analyses the sentiment based on how words compose the meaning of longer phrases have shown better result, but they incur an additional annotation overhead.  A human analysis component is required in sentiment analysis, as automated systems are not able to analyze historical tendencies of the individual commenter, or the platform and are often classified incorrectly in their expressed sentiment. Automation impacts approximately 23% of comments that are correctly classified by humans. However, humans often disagree, and it is argued that the inter-human agreement provides an upper bound that automated sentiment classifiers can eventually reach.  Sometimes, the structure of sentiments and topics is fairly complex. Also, the problem of sentiment analysis is non-monotonic in respect to sentence extension and stop-word substitution (compare "THEY would not let my dog stay in this hotel" vs "I would not let my dog stay in this hotel"). To address this issue a number of rule-based and reasoning-based approaches have been applied to sentiment analysis, including defeasible logic programming. Also, there is a number of tree traversal rules applied to syntactic parse tree to extract the topicality of sentiment in open domain setting.

Evaluation.

The accuracy of a sentiment analysis system is, in principle, how well it agrees with human judgments. This is usually measured by variant measures based on precision and recall over the two target categories of negative and positive texts. However, according to research human raters typically only agree about 80% of the time (see Inter-rater reliability). Thus, a program that achieves 70% accuracy in classifying sentiment is doing nearly as well as humans, even though such accuracy may not sound impressive. If a program were "right" 100% of the time, humans would still disagree with it about 20% of the time, since they disagree that much about "any" answer.  On the other hand, computer systems will make very different errors than human assessors, and thus the figures are not entirely comparable. For instance, a computer system will have trouble with negations, exaggerations, jokes, or sarcasm, which typically are easy to handle for a human reader: some errors a computer system makes will seem overly naive to a human. In general, the utility for practical commercial tasks of sentiment analysis as it is defined in academic research has been called into question, mostly since the simple one-dimensional model of sentiment from negative to positive yields rather little actionable information for a client worrying about the effect of public discourse on e.g. brand or corporate reputation.  To better fit market needs, evaluation of sentiment analysis has moved to more task-based measures, formulated together with representatives from PR agencies and market research professionals. The focus in e.g. the RepLab evaluation data set is less on the content of the text under consideration and more on the effect of the text in question on brand reputation.  Because evaluation of sentiment analysis is becoming more and more task based, each implementation needs a separate training model to get a more accurate representation of sentiment for a given data set.

Web 2.0.

The rise of social media such as blogs and social networks has fueled interest in sentiment analysis. With the proliferation of reviews, ratings, recommendations and other forms of online expression, online opinion has turned into a kind of virtual currency for businesses looking to market their products, identify new opportunities and manage their reputations. As businesses look to automate the process of filtering out the noise, understanding the conversations, identifying the relevant content and actioning it appropriately, many are now looking to the field of sentiment analysis. Further complicating the matter, is the rise of anonymous social media platforms such as 4chan and Reddit. If web 2.0 was all about democratizing publishing, then the next stage of the web may well be based on democratizing data mining of all the content that is getting published.  One step towards this aim is accomplished in research. Several research teams in universities around the world currently focus on understanding the dynamics of sentiment in e-communities through sentiment analysis. The CyberEmotions project, for instance, recently identified the role of negative emotions in driving social networks discussions.  The problem is that most sentiment analysis algorithms use simple terms to express sentiment about a product or service. However, cultural factors, linguistic nuances, and differing contexts make it extremely difficult to turn a string of written text into a simple pro or con sentiment. The fact that humans often disagree on the sentiment of text illustrates how big a task it is for computers to get this right. The shorter the string of text, the harder it becomes.  Even though short text strings might be a problem, sentiment analysis within microblogging has shown that Twitter can be seen as a valid online indicator of political sentiment. Tweets' political sentiment demonstrates close correspondence to parties' and politicians' political positions, indicating that the content of Twitter messages plausibly reflects the offline political landscape. Furthermore, sentiment analysis on Twitter has also been shown to capture the public mood behind human reproduction cycles on a planetary scale, as well as other problems of public-health relevance such as adverse drug reactions.

Application in recommender systems.

For a recommender system, sentiment analysis has been proven to be a valuable technique. A recommender system aims to predict the preference for an item of a target user. Mainstream recommender systems work on explicit data set. For example, collaborative filtering works on the rating matrix, and content-based filtering works on the meta-data of the items.  In many social networking services or e-commerce websites, users can provide text review, comment or feedback to the items. These user-generated text provide a rich source of user's sentiment opinions about numerous products and items. Potentially, for an item, such text can reveal both the related feature/aspects of the item and the users' sentiments on each feature. The item's feature/aspects described in the text play the same role with the meta-data in content-based filtering, but the former are more valuable for the recommender system. Since these features are broadly mentioned by users in their reviews, they can be seen as the most crucial features that can significantly influence the user's experience on the item, while the meta-data of the item (usually provided by the producers instead of consumers) may ignore features that are concerned by the users. For different items with common features, a user may give different sentiments. Also, a feature of the same item may receive different sentiments from different users. Users' sentiments on the features can be regarded as a multi-dimensional rating score, reflecting their preference on the items.  Based on the feature/aspects and the sentiments extracted from the user-generated text, a hybrid recommender system can be constructed. There are two types of motivation to recommend a candidate item to a user. The first motivation is the candidate item have numerous common features with the user's preferred items, while the second motivation is that the candidate item receives a high sentiment on its features. For a preferred item, it is reasonable to believe that items with the same features will have a similar function or utility. So, these items will also likely to be preferred by the user. On the other hand, for a shared feature of two candidate items, other users may give positive sentiment to one of them while giving negative sentiment to another. Clearly, the high evaluated item should be recommended to the user. Based on these two motivations, a combination ranking score of similarity and sentiment rating can be constructed for each candidate item.  Except for the difficulty of the sentiment analysis itself, applying sentiment analysis on reviews or feedback also faces the challenge of spam and biased reviews. One direction of work is focused on evaluating the helpfulness of each review. Review or feedback poorly written is hardly helpful for recommender system. Besides, a review can be designed to hinder sales of a target product, thus be harmful to the recommender system even it is well written.  Researchers also found that long and short forms of user-generated text should be treated differently. An interesting result shows that short-form reviews are sometimes more helpful than long-form, because it is easier to filter out the noise in a short-form text. For the long-form text, the growing length of the text does not always bring a proportionate increase in the number of features or sentiments in the text.  Lamba & Madhusudhan introduce a nascent way to cater the information needs of today’s library users by repackaging the results from sentiment analysis of social media platforms like Twitter and provide it as a consolidated time-based service in different formats. Further, they propose a new way of conducting marketing in libraries using social media mining and sentiment analysis.

Sentiment analysis (also known as opinion mining or emotion AI) refers to the use of natural language processing, text analysis, computational linguistics, and biometrics to systematically identify, extract, quantify, and study affective states and subjective information. Sentiment analysis is widely applied to voice of the customer materials such as reviews and survey responses, online and social media, and healthcare materials for applications that range from marketing to customer service to clinical medicine.

文本情感分析(也称为意见挖掘)是指用自然语言处理、文本挖掘以及计算机语言学等方法来识别和提取原素材中的主观信息。