Etymology.

Historically, the term "match" referred to lengths of cord (later cambric) impregnated with chemicals, and allowed to burn continuously. These were used to light fires and fire guns (see matchlock) and cannons (see linstock). Such matches were characterised by their burning speed i.e. "quick match" and "slow match". Depending on its formulation, a slow match burns at a rate of around 30 cm (1 ft) per hour and a quick match at per minute.  The modern equivalent of this sort of match is the simple fuse, still used in pyrotechnics to obtain a controlled time delay before ignition. The original meaning of the word still persists in some pyrotechnics terms, such as "black match" (a black-powder-impregnated fuse) and "Bengal match" (a firework akin to sparklers producing a relatively long-burning, coloured flame). But, when friction matches became commonplace, they became the main object meant by the term.  The word "match" derives from Old French "mèche" referring to the wick of a candle.

History.

Early matches.

A note in the text "Cho Keng Lu", written in 1366, describes a sulfur match, small sticks of pinewood impregnated with sulfur, used in China by "impoverished court ladies" in AD 577 during the conquest of Northern Qi. During the Five Dynasties and Ten Kingdoms (AD 907–960), a book called the "Records of the Unworldly and the Strange" written by Chinese author Tao Gu in about 950 stated: If there occurs an emergency at night it may take some time to make a light to light a lamp. But an ingenious man devised the system of impregnating little sticks of pinewood with sulfur and storing them ready for use. At the slightest touch of fire, they burst into flame. One gets a little flame like an ear of corn. This marvelous thing was formerly called a "light-bringing slave", but afterward when it became an article of commerce its name was changed to 'fire inch-stick'. Another text, "Wu Lin Chiu Shih", dated from 1270 AD, lists sulfur matches as something that was sold in the markets of Hangzhou, around the time of Marco Polo's visit. The matches were known as "fa chu" or "tshui erh".

Chemical matches.

Prior to the use of matches, fires were sometimes lit using a burning glass (a lens) to focus the sun on tinder, a method that could only work on sunny days. Another more common method was igniting tinder with sparks produced by striking flint and steel, or by sharply increasing air pressure in a fire piston. Early work had been done by alchemist Hennig Brand, who discovered the flammable nature of phosphorus in 1669. Others, including Robert Boyle and his assistant, Ambrose Godfrey, continued these experiments in the 1680s with phosphorus and sulfur, but their efforts did not produce practical and inexpensive methods for generating fires.  A number of different ways were employed in order to light smoking tobacco: One was the use of a spill — a thin object something like a straw, rolled paper, or a thin candle, which would be lit from a nearby, already existing flame and then used to light the pipe or cigar — most often kept near the fireplace in a spill vase. Another method saw the use of a striker, a tool that looked like scissors, but with flint on one "blade" and steel on the other. These would then be rubbed together, ultimately producing sparks. If neither of these two was available, one could also use ember tongs to pick up a coal from a fire and light the tobacco directly.  The first modern, self-igniting match was invented in 1805 by Jean Chancel, assistant to Professor Louis Jacques Thénard of Paris. The head of the match consisted of a mixture of potassium chlorate, sulfur, sugar, and rubber. The match was ignited by dipping its tip in a small asbestos bottle filled with sulfuric acid. This kind of match was quite expensive, however, and its use was also relatively dangerous, so Chancel's matches never really became widely adopted or in commonplace use.  This approach to match making was further refined in the proceeding decades, culminating with the 'Promethean Match' that was patented by Samuel Jones of London in 1828. His match consisted of a small glass capsule containing a chemical composition of sulfuric acid colored with indigo and coated on the exterior with potassium chlorate, all of which was wrapped up in rolls of paper. The immediate ignition of this particular form of a match was achieved by crushing the capsule with a pair of pliers, mixing and releasing the ingredients in order for it to become alight. In London, similar matches meant for lighting cigars were introduced in 1849 by Heurtner who had a shop called the Lighthouse in the Strand. One version that he sold was called "Euperion" (sometimes "Empyrion") which was popular for kitchen use and nicknamed as "Hugh Perry", while another meant for outdoor use was called a "Vesuvian" or "flamer". The head was large and contained niter, charcoal and wood dust, and had a phosphorus tip. The handle was large and made of hardwood so as to burn vigorously and last for a while. Some even had glass stems. Both Vesuvians and Prometheans had a bulb of sulfuric acid at the tip which had to be broken to start the reaction.  Samuel Jones introduced fuzees for lighting cigars and pipes in 1832. A similar invention was patented in 1839 by John Hucks Stevens in America.  In 1832, William Newton patented the "wax vesta" in England. It consisted of a wax stem that embedded cotton threads and had a tip of phosphorus. Variants known as "candle matches" were made by Savaresse and Merckel in 1836. John Hucks Stevens also patented a safety version of the friction match in 1839.

Friction matches.

Chemical matches were unable to make the leap into mass production, due to the expense, their cumbersome nature and inherent danger. An alternative method was to produce the ignition through friction produced by rubbing two rough surfaces together. An early example was made by François Derosne in 1816. His crude match was called a briquet phosphorique and it used a sulfur-tipped match to scrape inside a tube coated internally with phosphorus. It was both inconvenient and unsafe.  The first successful friction match was invented in 1826 by John Walker, an English chemist and druggist from Stockton-on-Tees, County Durham. He developed a keen interest in trying to find a means of obtaining fire easily. Several chemical mixtures were already known which would ignite by a sudden explosion, but it had not been found possible to transmit the flame to a slow-burning substance like wood. While Walker was preparing a lighting mixture on one occasion, a match which had been dipped in it took fire by an accidental friction upon the hearth. He at once appreciated the practical value of the discovery, and started making friction matches. They consisted of wooden splints or sticks of cardboard coated with sulfur and tipped with a mixture of sulfide of antimony, chlorate of potash, and gum. The treatment with sulfur helped the splints to catch fire, and the odor was improved by the addition of camphor. The price of a box of 50 matches was one shilling. With each box was supplied a piece of sandpaper, folded double, through which the match had to be drawn to ignite it. Walker named the matches ""Congreves"" in honour of the inventor and rocket pioneer Sir William Congreve. He did not divulge the exact composition of his matches. Between 1827 and 1829, Walker made about 168 sales of his matches. It was however dangerous and flaming balls sometimes fell to the floor burning carpets and dresses, leading to their ban in France and Germany. Walker either refused or neglected to patent his invention.  In 1829, Scots inventor Sir Isaac Holden invented an improved version of Walker's match and demonstrated it to his class at Castle Academy in Reading, Berkshire. Holden did not patent his invention and claimed that one of his pupils wrote to his father Samuel Jones, a chemist in London who commercialised his process. A version of Holden's match was patented by Samuel Jones, and these were sold as "lucifer matches". These early matches had a number of problems - an initial violent reaction, an unsteady flame and unpleasant odor and fumes. Lucifers could ignite explosively, sometimes throwing sparks a considerable distance. Lucifers were manufactured in the United States by Ezekial Byam. The term "lucifer" persisted as slang in the 20th century (for example in the First World War song "Pack Up Your Troubles") and matches are still called "lucifers" in Dutch. Lucifers were, however, quickly replaced after 1830 by matches made according to the process devised by Frenchman Charles Sauria, who substituted white phosphorus for the antimony sulfide. These new phosphorus matches had to be kept in airtight metal boxes but became popular and went by the name of "loco foco" in the United States, from which was derived the name of a political party. The earliest American patent for the phosphorus friction match was granted in 1836 to Alonzo Dwight Phillips of Springfield, Massachusetts.  From 1830 to 1890, the composition of these matches remained largely unchanged, although some improvements were made. In 1843 William Ashgard replaced the sulfur with beeswax, reducing the pungency of the fumes. This was replaced by paraffin in 1862 by Charles W. Smith, resulting in what were called "parlor matches". From 1870 the end of the splint was fireproofed by impregnation with fire-retardant chemicals such as alum, sodium silicate, and other salts resulting in what was commonly called a "drunkard's match" that prevented the accidental burning of the user's fingers. Other advances were made for the mass manufacture of matches. Early matches were made from blocks of woods with cuts separating the splints but leaving their bases attached. Later versions were made in the form of thin combs. The splints would be broken away from the comb when required.  A noiseless match was invented in 1836 by the Hungarian János Irinyi, who was a student of chemistry. An unsuccessful experiment by his professor, Meissner, gave Irinyi the idea to replace potassium chlorate with lead dioxide in the head of the phosphorus match. He liquefied phosphorus in warm water and shook it in a glass vial, until it became granulated. He mixed the phosphorus with lead and gum arabic, poured the paste-like mass into a jar, and dipped the pine sticks into the mixture and let them dry. When he tried them that evening, all of them lit evenly. He sold the invention and production rights for these "noiseless matches" to István Rómer, a Hungarian pharmacist living in Vienna, for 60 forints (about 22.5 oz t of silver). As a match manufacturer, Rómer became rich, and Irinyi went on to publish articles and a textbook on chemistry, and founded several match factories.

Replacement of white phosphorus.

Those involved in the manufacture of the new phosphorus matches were afflicted with "phossy jaw" and other bone disorders, and there was enough white phosphorus in one pack to kill a person. Deaths and suicides from eating the heads of matches became frequent. The earliest report of phosphorus necrosis was made in 1845 by Lorinser in Vienna, and a New York surgeon published a pamphlet with notes on nine cases.  The conditions of working-class women at the Bryant & May factories led to the London matchgirls strike of 1888. The strike was focused on the severe health complications of working with white phosphorus, such as phossy jaw. Social activist Annie Besant published an article in her halfpenny weekly paper "The Link" on 23 June 1888. A strike fund was set up and some newspapers collected donations from readers. The women and girls also solicited contributions. Members of the Fabian Society, including George Bernard Shaw, Sidney Webb, and Graham Wallas, were involved in the distribution of the cash collected. The strike and negative publicity led to changes being made to limit the health effects of the inhalation of white phosphorus.  Attempts were made to reduce the ill-effects on workers through the introduction of inspections and regulations. Anton Schrötter von Kristelli discovered in 1850 that heating white phosphorus at 250 °C in an inert atmosphere produced a red allotropic form, which did not fume in contact with air. It was suggested that this would make a suitable substitute in match manufacture although it was slightly more expensive. Two French chemists, Henri Savene and Emile David Cahen, proved in 1898 that the addition of phosphorus sesquisulfide meant that the substance was not poisonous, that it could be used in a "strike-anywhere" match, and that the match heads were not explosive.  British company Albright and Wilson was the first company to produce phosphorus sesquisulfide matches commercially. The company developed a safe means of making commercial quantities of phosphorus sesquisulfide in 1899 and started selling it to match manufacturers. However, white phosphorus continued to be used, and its serious effects led many countries to ban its use. Finland prohibited the use of white phosphorus in 1872, followed by Denmark in 1874, France in 1897, Switzerland in 1898, and the Netherlands in 1901. An agreement, the "Berne Convention," was reached at Bern, Switzerland, in September 1906, which banned the use of white phosphorus in matches. This required each country to pass laws prohibiting the use of white phosphorus in matches. The United Kingdom passed a law in 1908 prohibiting its use in matches after 31 December 1910. The United States did not pass a law, but instead placed a "punitive tax" in 1913 on white phosphorus–based matches, one so high as to render their manufacture financially impractical, and Canada banned them in 1914. India and Japan banned them in 1919; China followed, banning them in 1925.  In 1901 Albright and Wilson started making phosphorus sesquisulfide at their Niagara Falls, New York plant for the US market, but American manufacturers continued to use white phosphorus matches. The Niagara Falls plant made them until 1910, when the United States Congress forbade the shipment of white phosphorus matches in interstate commerce.

Safety matches.

The dangers of white phosphorus in the manufacture of matches led to the development of the "hygienic" or "safety match". The major innovation in its development was the use of red phosphorus, not on the head of the match but instead on a specially designed striking surface.  Arthur Albright developed the industrial process for large-scale manufacture of red phosphorus after Schrötter's discoveries became known. By 1851, his company was producing the substance by heating white phosphorus in a sealed pot at a specific temperature. He exhibited his red phosphorus in 1851, at The Great Exhibition held at The Crystal Palace in London.  The idea of creating a specially designed striking surface was developed in 1844 by the Swede Gustaf Erik Pasch. Pasch patented the use of red phosphorus in the striking surface. He found that this could ignite heads that did not need to contain white phosphorus. Johan Edvard and his younger brother Carl Frans Lundström (1823–1917) started a large-scale match industry in Jönköping, Sweden around 1847, but the improved safety match was not introduced until around 1850–55. The Lundström brothers had obtained a sample of red phosphorus matches from Arthur Albright at The Great Exhibition, but had misplaced it and therefore they did not try the matches until just before the Paris Exhibition of 1855 when they found that the matches were still usable. In 1858 their company produced around 12 million matchboxes.  The safety of "true" "safety matches" is derived from the separation of the reactive ingredients between a match head on the end of a paraffin-impregnated splint and the special striking surface (in addition to the safety aspect of replacing the white phosphorus with red phosphorus). The idea for separating the chemicals had been introduced in 1859 in the form of two-headed matches known in France as "Allumettes Androgynes". These were sticks with one end made of potassium chlorate and the other of red phosphorus. They had to be broken and the heads rubbed together. There was however a risk of the heads rubbing each other accidentally in their box. Such dangers were removed when the striking surface was moved to the outside of the box. The development of a specialized matchbook with both matches and a striking surface occurred in the 1890s with the American Joshua Pusey, who sold his patent to the Diamond Match Company. The striking surface on modern matchboxes is typically composed of 25% powdered glass or other abrasive material, 50% red phosphorus, 5% neutralizer, 4% carbon black, and 16% binder; and the match head is typically composed of 45–55% potassium chlorate, with a little sulfur and starch, a neutralizer (ZnO or ), 20–40% of siliceous filler, diatomite, and glue. Some heads contain antimony(III) sulfide to make them burn more vigorously. Safety matches ignite due to the extreme reactivity of phosphorus with the potassium chlorate in the match head. When the match is struck the phosphorus and chlorate mix in a small amount forming something akin to the explosive Armstrong's mixture which ignites due to the friction.  The Swedes long held a virtual worldwide monopoly on safety matches, with the industry mainly situated in Jönköping, by 1903 called "Jönköpings & Vulcans Tändsticksfabriks AB." In France, they sold the rights to their safety match patent to Coigent Père & Fils of Lyon, but Coigent contested the payment in the French courts, on the basis that the invention was known in Vienna before the Lundström brothers patented it. The British match manufacturer Bryant and May visited Jönköping in 1858 to try to obtain a supply of safety matches, but it was unsuccessful. In 1862 it established its own factory and bought the rights for the British safety match patent from the Lundström brothers.

Varieties of matches today.

Friction matches made with white phosphorus as well as those made from phosphorus sesquisulfide can be struck on any suitable surface. They have remained particularly popular in the United States, even when safety matches had become common in Europe, and are still widely used today around the world, including in many developing countries, for such uses as camping, outdoor activities, emergency/survival situations, and stocking homemade survival kits. However, strike-anywhere matches are banned on all kinds of aircraft under the "dangerous goods" classification "U.N. 1331, Matches, strike-anywhere".  Safety matches are classified as dangerous goods, "U.N. 1944, Matches, safety". They are not universally forbidden on aircraft; however, they must be declared as dangerous goods and individual airlines or countries may impose tighter restrictions.  Storm matches, also known as lifeboat matches or flare matches, are often included in survival kits. They have a strikeable tip similar to a normal match, but the combustible compound – including an oxidiser – continues down the length of the stick, coating half or more of the entire matchstick. The match also has a waterproof coating (which often makes the match more difficult to light), and often storm matches are longer than standard matches. As a result of the combustible coating, storm matches burn strongly even in strong winds, and can even spontaneously re-ignite after being briefly immersed under water. The pyrotechnics compound burns self-sustained.  The hobby of collecting match-related items, such as matchcovers and matchbox labels, is known as "phillumeny".

A match is a tool for starting a fire. Typically, matches are made of small wooden sticks or stiff paper. One end is coated with a material that can be ignited by frictional heat generated by striking the match against a suitable surface. Wooden matches are packaged in matchboxes, and paper matches are partially cut into rows and stapled into matchbooks. The coated end of a match, known as the match "head", consists of a bead of active ingredients and binder; often colored for easier inspection. There are two main types of matches: safety matches, which can be struck only against a specially prepared surface, and strike-anywhere matches, for which any suitably frictional surface can be used.

Zápalka (též sirka) slouží k rozdělávání ohně. Je to podlouhlý kousek dřeva (méně často lepenky) se zápalnou látkou na jednom z jeho konců, který Dřívka jsou dále částečně nebo zcela nasycena látkou usnadňující hoření. Zápalná látka na konci dřívka, tzv. "hlavička", vzplane třením.


Background.

United States.

During fall 1967, the question whether the U.S. strategy of attrition was working in South Vietnam weighed heavily on the minds of the American public and the administration of President Lyndon B. Johnson. General William C. Westmoreland, the commander of the Military Assistance Command, Vietnam (MACV), believed that if a "crossover point" could be reached by which the number of communist troops killed or captured during military operations exceeded those recruited or replaced, the Americans would win the war. There was a discrepancy, however, between the order of battle estimates of the MACV and the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) concerning the strength of Viet Cong guerrilla forces within South Vietnam. In September, members of the MACV intelligence services and the CIA met to prepare a Special National Intelligence Estimate that would be used by the administration to gauge U.S. success in the conflict.  Provided with an enemy intelligence windfall accrued during Operations Cedar Falls and Junction City,

North Vietnam.

Party politics.

Planning in Hanoi for a winter-spring offensive during 1968 had begun in early 1967 and continued until early the following year. According to American sources, there has been an extreme reluctance among Vietnamese historians to discuss the decision-making process that led to the "General Offensive General Uprising", even decades after the event. In official Vietnamese literature, the decision to launch the Tet Offensive was usually presented as the result of a perceived U.S. failure to win the war quickly, the failure of the American bombing campaign against North Vietnam, and the anti-war sentiment that pervaded the population of the U.S. The decision to launch the general offensive, however, was much more complicated.  The decision signaled the end of a bitter, decade-long debate within the North Vietnamese Government

General Offensive and Uprising.

The operational plan for the General Offensive and Uprising had its origin as the "COSVN proposal" at Thanh's southern headquarters in April 1967 and had then been relayed to Hanoi the following month. The General was then ordered to the capital to explain his concept in person to the Military Central Commission. At a meeting in July, Thanh briefed the plan to the Politburo. On the evening of 6 July, after receiving permission to begin preparations for the offensive, Thanh attended a party and died of a heart attack after drinking too much.  After cementing their position during the Party crackdown, the militants sped up planning for a major conventional offensive to break the military deadlock. They concluded that the Saigon government and the U.S. presence were so unpopular with the population of the South that a broad-based attack would spark a spontaneous uprising of the population, which, if the offensive was successful, would enable the North Vietnamese to sweep to a quick, decisive victory. Their basis for this conclusion included: a belief that the South Vietnamese military was no longer combat-effective; the results of the September 1967 South Vietnamese presidential election (in which the Nguyễn Văn Thiệu/Nguyễn Cao Kỳ ticket had only received 24 percent of the popular vote); the Buddhist crises of 1963 and 1966; well-publicized anti-war demonstrations in Saigon; and continuous criticism of the Thiệu government in the southern press. Launching such an offensive would also finally put an end to what have been described as "dovish calls for talks, criticism of military strategy, Chinese diatribes of Soviet perfidy, and Soviet pressure to negotiate—all of which needed to be silenced."  In October, the Politburo decided on the Tet holiday as the launch date and met again in December to reaffirm its decision and formalize it at the 14th Plenary session of the Party Central Committee in January 1968. The resultant "Resolution 14" was a major blow to domestic opposition and "foreign obstruction". Concessions had been made to the center group, however, by agreeing that negotiations were possible, but the document essentially centered on the creation of "a spontaneous uprising in order to win a decisive victory in the shortest time possible."  Contrary to Western belief, General Giáp did not plan or command the offensive himself. Thanh's original plan was elaborated on by a party committee headed by Thanh's deputy, Phạm Hùng, and then modified by Giáp. The Defense Minister may have been convinced to toe the line by the arrest and imprisonment of most of the members of his staff during the Revisionist Anti-Communist Party Affair. Although Giáp went to work "reluctantly, under duress", he may have found the task easier due to the fact that he was faced with a "fait accompli". Since the Politburo had already approved the offensive, all he had to do was make it work. He combined guerrilla operations into what was basically a conventional military offensive and shifted the burden of sparking the popular uprising to

U.S. unpreparedness.

Suspicions and diversions.

Signs of impending communist action were noticed among the allied intelligence collection apparatus in Saigon. During the late summer and fall of 1967 both South Vietnamese and U.S. intelligence agencies collected clues that indicated a significant shift in communist strategic planning. By mid-December, mounting evidence convinced many in Washington and Saigon that something big was underway. During the last three months of the year intelligence agencies had observed signs of a major North Vietnamese military buildup. In addition to captured documents (a copy of "Resolution 13", for example, was captured by early October), observations of enemy logistical operations were also quite clear: in October, the number of trucks observed heading south through Laos on the Hồ Chí Minh Trail jumped from the previous monthly average of 480 to 1,116. By November this total reached 3,823

Before the offensive.

By the beginning of January 1968, the U.S. had deployed 331,098 Army personnel and 78,013 Marines in nine divisions, an armoured cavalry regiment, and two separate brigades to South Vietnam. They were joined there by the 1st Australian Task Force, a Royal Thai Army regiment, two South Korean Army infantry divisions, and the Republic of Korea Marine Corps brigade. South Vietnamese strength totaled 350,000 regulars in the Army, Air Force, Navy and Marine Corps. They were in turn supported by the 151,000-man South Vietnamese Regional Forces and 149,000-man South Vietnamese Popular Forces, which were the equivalent of regional and local militias.  In the days immediately preceding the offensive, the preparedness of allied forces was relatively relaxed. Hanoi had announced in October that it would observe a seven-day truce from 27 January to 3 February for the Tet holiday, and the South Vietnamese military made plans to allow recreational leave for approximately half of its forces. General Westmoreland, who had already cancelled the truce in I Corps, requested that South Vietnam cancel the upcoming cease-fire, but President Thiệu (who had already reduced the cease-fire to 36 hours), refused to do so, claiming that it would damage troop morale and only benefit communist propagandists.

Offensive.

Whether by accident or design, the first wave of attacks began shortly after midnight on 30 January as all five provincial capitals in II Corps and Da Nang, in I Corps, were attacked. Nha Trang, headquarters of the U.S. I Field Force, was the first to be hit, followed shortly by Ban Mê Thuột, Kon Tum, Hội An, Tuy Hòa, Da Nang, Qui Nhơn, and Pleiku. During all of these operations, the PAVN/VC followed a similar pattern: mortar or rocket attacks were closely followed by massed ground assaults conducted by battalion-strength elements of the VC, sometimes supported by PAVN regulars. These forces would join with local cadres who served as guides to lead the regulars to the most senior South Vietnamese headquarters and the radio station. The operations, however, were not well coordinated at the local level. By daylight, almost all communist forces had been driven from their objectives. General Phillip B. Davidson, the new MACV chief of intelligence, notified Westmoreland that "This is going to happen in the rest of the country tonight and tomorrow morning." All U.S. forces were placed on maximum alert and similar orders were issued to all ARVN units. The allies, however, still responded without any real sense of urgency. Orders cancelling leaves either came too late or were disregarded.  At 03:00 on 31 January PAVN/VC forces attacked Saigon, Cholon, and Gia Định in the Capital Military District; Quảng Trị (again), Huế, Quảng Tín, Tam Kỳ and Quảng Ngãi as well as U.S. bases at Phú Bài and Chu Lai in I Corps; Phan Thiết, Tuy Hòa and U.S. installations at Bong Son and An Khê in II Corps; and Cần Thơ and Vĩnh Long in IV Corps. The following day, Biên Hòa, Long Thanh, Bình Dương in III Corps and Kien Hoa, Dinh Tuong, Gò Công, Kiên Giang, Vĩnh Bình, Bến Tre, and Kien Tuong in IV Corps were assaulted. The last attack of the initial operation was launched against Bạc Liêu in IV Corps on 10 February. A total of approximately 84,000 PAVN/VC troops participated in the attacks while thousands of others stood by to act as reinforcements or as blocking forces. PAVN/VC forces also mortared or rocketed every major allied airfield and attacked 64 district capitals and scores of smaller towns.  In most cases, the defense was led by the South Vietnamese. Local militia or ARVN forces, supported by the South Vietnamese National Police, usually drove the attackers out within two or three days, sometimes within hours; but heavy fighting continued several days longer in Kon Tum, Buôn Ma Thuột, Phan Thiết, Cần Thơ, and Bến Tre. The outcome in each instance was usually dictated by the ability of local commanders—some were outstanding, others were cowardly or incompetent. During this crucial crisis, however, no South Vietnamese unit broke or defected to the communists.  According to Westmoreland, he responded to the news of the attacks with optimism, both in media presentations and in his reports to Washington. According to closer observers, however, the General was "stunned that the communists had been able to coordinate so many attacks in such secrecy", and he was "dispirited and deeply shaken." According to Clark Clifford, at the time of the initial attacks, the reaction of the U.S. military leadership "approached panic". Although Westmoreland's appraisal of the military situation was correct, he made himself look foolish by continuously maintaining his belief that Khe Sanh was the real objective of the North Vietnamese and that 155 attacks by 84,000 troops was a diversion (a position he maintained until at least 12 February). "Washington Post" reporter Peter Braestrup summed up the feelings of his colleagues by asking "How could any effort against Saigon, especially downtown Saigon, be a diversion?"

Aftermath.

Except at Huế and mopping-up operations in and around Saigon, the first surge of the offensive was over by the second week of February. The U.S. estimated that during the first phase (30 January – 8 April) approximately 45,000 PAVN/VC soldiers were killed and an unknown number were wounded. For years this figure has been held as excessively optimistic, as it represented more than half the forces involved in this battle. Stanley Karnow claims he confirmed this figure in Hanoi in 1981. Westmoreland himself claimed a smaller number of enemies disabled, estimating that during the same period 32,000 PAVN troops were killed and another 5,800 captured. The South Vietnamese suffered 2,788 killed, 8,299 wounded, and 587 missing in action. U.S. and other allied forces suffered 1,536 killed, 7,764 wounded, and 11 missing.

North Vietnam.

The leadership in Hanoi was despondent at the outcome of their offensive. Their first and most ambitious goal, producing a general uprising, had ended in a dismal failure. In total, about 85,000–100,000 PAVN/VC troops had participated in the initial onslaught and in the follow-up phases. Overall, during the "Border Battles" of 1967 and the nine-month winter-spring campaign, 45,267 PAVN/VC troops had been killed in action.  Hanoi had underestimated the strategic mobility of the allied forces, which allowed them to redeploy at will to threatened areas; their battle plan was too complex and difficult to coordinate, which was amply demonstrated by the 30 January attacks; their violation of the principle of mass, attacking everywhere instead of concentrating their forces on a few specific targets, allowed their forces to be defeated piecemeal; the launching of massed attacks headlong into the teeth of vastly superior firepower; and last, but not

South Vietnam.

South Vietnam was a nation in turmoil both during and in the aftermath of the offensive. Tragedy had compounded tragedy as the conflict reached into the nation's cities for the first time. As government troops pulled back to defend the urban areas, the VC moved in to fill the vacuum in the countryside. The violence and destruction witnessed during the offensive left a deep psychological scar on the South Vietnamese civilian population. Confidence in the government was shaken, since the offensive seemed to reveal that even with massive American support, the government could not protect its citizens.  The human and material cost to South Vietnam was staggering. The number of civilian dead was estimated by the government at 14,300 with an additional 24,000 wounded. 630,000 new refugees

United States.

The Tet Offensive created a crisis within the Johnson administration, which became increasingly unable to convince the American public that it had been a major defeat for the communists. The optimistic assessments made prior to the offensive by the administration and the Pentagon came under heavy criticism and ridicule as the "credibility gap" that had opened in 1967 widened into a chasm.  At the time of the Tet Offensive, the majority of the American public perceived that the war was not being won by the United States and its allies, despite assurances from the President and military leaders that such was the case. No matter that the PAVN/VC lost about 30,000 of their best troops in the fighting at Tet, they were capable of replacing those lost with new recruits from North Vietnam. In 1969, the year after the

Troop request.

During the first two weeks of February, Generals Westmoreland and Wheeler communicated as to the necessity for reinforcements or troop increases in Vietnam. Westmoreland insisted that he only needed those forces either in-country or already scheduled for deployment and he was puzzled by the sense of unwarranted urgency in Wheeler's queries. Westmoreland was tempted, however, when Wheeler emphasized that the White House might loosen restraints and allow operations in Laos, Cambodia, or possibly even North Vietnam itself. On 8 February, Westmoreland responded that he could use another division "if operations in Laos are authorized". Wheeler responded by

Reassessment.

To evaluate Westmoreland's request and its possible impact on domestic politics, Johnson convened the "Clifford Group" on 28 February and tasked its members with a complete policy reassessment. Some of the members argued that the offensive represented an opportunity to defeat the North Vietnamese on American terms while others pointed out that neither side could win militarily, that North Vietnam could match any troop increase, that the bombing of the North be halted, and that a change in strategy was required that would seek not victory, but the staying power required to reach a negotiated settlement. This would require a less aggressive strategy that was designed to protect the population of South Vietnam. The divided group's final report, issued on 4 March, "failed to seize the opportunity to change directions... and seemed to recommend that we continue rather haltingly down the same road."  On 1 March, Clifford had succeeded McNamara as Secretary of Defense. During the month, Clifford, who had entered office as a staunch supporter of the Vietnam commitment and who had opposed McNamara's de-escalatory views, turned against the war. According to Clifford: "The simple truth was that the military failed to sustain a respectable argument for their position." Between the results of Tet and the meetings of the group that bore his name, he became convinced that deescalation was the only solution for the United States. He believed that the troop increase would lead only to a more violent stalemate and sought out others in the administration to assist him in convincing the President to reverse the escalation, to cap force levels at 550,000 men, to seek negotiations with Hanoi, and turn responsibility for the fighting over to the South Vietnamese. Clifford quietly sought allies and was assisted in his effort by the so-called "8:30 Group" – Nitze, Warnke, Phil G. Goulding (Assistant Secretary of Defense for Public Affairs), George Elsey and Air Force Colonel Robert E. Pursely.  On 27 February, Secretary of State Dean Rusk had proposed that a partial bombing halt be implemented in North Vietnam and that an offer to negotiate be extended to Hanoi. On 4 March, Rusk reiterated the proposal, explaining that, during the rainy season in the North, bombing was less effective and that no military sacrifice would thus occur. This was purely a political ploy, however, since the North Vietnamese would probably again refuse to negotiate, casting the onus on them and "thus freeing our hand after a short period...putting the monkey firmly upon Hanoi's back for what was to follow."  While this was being deliberated, the troop request was leaked to the press and published in "The New York Times" on 10 March. The article also revealed that the request had begun a serious debate within the administration. According to it, many high-level officials believed that the U.S. troop increase would be matched by the communists and would simply maintain a stalemate at a higher level of violence. It went on to state that officials were saying in private

Phase II.

To further enhance their political posture at the Paris talks, which opened on 13 May, the North Vietnamese opened the second phase of the General Offensive in late April. U.S. intelligence sources estimated between February and May the North Vietnamese dispatched 50,000 men down the Ho Chi Minh Trail to replace losses incurred during the earlier fighting. Some of the most prolonged and vicious combat of the war opened on 29 April and lasted until 30 May when the 8,000 men

Phase III.

Phase III of the offensive began on 17 August and involved attacks in I, II and III Corps. Significantly, during this series of actions only North Vietnamese forces participated and targets were military in nature, with less concise attacks against city-targets. The main offensive was preceded by attacks on the border towns of Tây Ninh, An Lộc, and Loc Ninh, which were initiated in order to draw defensive forces from the cities. A thrust against Da Nang was preempted by the U.S. Marines' Operation Allen Brook. Continuing their border-clearing operations, three PAVN regiments asserted heavy pressure on the U.S. Special Forces camp at Bu Prang, in Quang Duc Province, five kilometers from the

External links.

General notes by O.Khiara

The Tet Offensive (), or officially called The General Offensive and Uprising of Tet Mau Than 1968 () was a major escalation and one of the largest military campaigns of the Vietnam War. It was launched on January 30, 1968 by forces of the Viet Cong (VC) and North Vietnamese People's Army of Vietnam (PAVN) against the forces of the South Vietnamese Army of the Republic of Vietnam (ARVN), the United States Armed Forces and their allies. It was a campaign of surprise attacks against military and civilian command and control centers throughout South Vietnam. The name of the offensive comes from the Tết holiday, the Vietnamese New Year, when the first major attacks took place.

Ofenzíva Tet (30. leden 1968 – 23. září 1968) byla vojenská operace během Vietnamské války. Jednalo se o ofenzívu severovietnamské armády pod velením gen. Vo Nguyen Giapa a Vietkongu pod velením gen. Tran Van Traa. Započala na Vietnamský Nový rok – Tết.


History.

A Danish religious confraternity called the Fellowship of the Mother of God, limited to about fifty members of the Danish aristocracy, was founded during the reign of Christian I during the 15th century. The badge of the confraternity showed the Virgin Mary holding her Son within a crescent moon and surrounded with the rays of the sun, and was hung from a collar of links in the form of elephants much like the present collar of the Order. After the Reformation in 1536 the confraternity died out, but a badge in the form of an elephant with his profile on its right side was still awarded by Frederick II. This latter badge may have been inspired by the badge of office of the chaplain of the confraternity which is known to have been in the form of an elephant. The order was instituted in its current form on 1 December 1693 by King Christian V as having only one class consisting of only 30 noble knights in addition to the Grand Master (i.e., the king) and his sons. The statutes of the order were amended in 1958 by a Royal Ordinance so that both men and women could be members of the order.  The elephant and castle design derives from the howdah, an carriage that is mounted in the back of an elephant. This type of carriage was mostly utilized in the Indian subcontinent, and the Danish knew about and thus had the ability to adopt this design since they ruled certain parts of India as part of their small colonial empire. The unfamiliar Indian howdah has been replaced in this instance by a familiar European castle, although the Indian rider has been kept on the elephant.

Composition.

The Danish monarch is the head of the order. The members of the royal family are members of the order, and foreign heads of state are also inducted. In very exceptional circumstances a commoner may also be admitted. The most recent member of the order who was neither a current or former head of state nor royal was Mærsk Mc-Kinney Møller, a leading industrialist and philanthropist.  The order of the Elephant has one class: Knight of the Order of the Elephant ("Ridder af Elefantordenen", usually abbreviated as "R.E." in letters et cetera). Knights of the order are granted a place in the 1st Class of the Danish order of precedence.

Insignia and habits.

Upon the death of a Knight of the Order of the Elephant, the insignia of the order must be returned. There are a few exceptions known.

Other notable knights.

Previous knights have included:

The Order of the Elephant () is a Danish order of chivalry and is Denmark's highest-ranked honour. It has origins in the 15th century, but has officially existed since 1693, and since the establishment of constitutional monarchy in 1849, is now almost exclusively used to honour royalty and heads of state.

Řád slona () je nejvyšší dánské státní vyznamenání udělované členům královské rodiny a nebo téměř výhradně cizím státním představitelům. Řád slona byl založen dánským králem Kristiánem I. již roku 1462. Dnešní řádový statut byl řádu přidělen 1. prosince 1693 králem Kristiánem V. Další významná změna stanov proběhla v roce 1958, kdy bylo umožněno ženám stávat se členkami řádu.


Description.

"Alnus glutinosa" is a tree that thrives in moist soils, and grows under favourable circumstances to a height of and exceptionally up to. Young trees have an upright habit of growth with a main axial stem but older trees develop an arched crown with crooked branches. The base of the trunk produces adventitious roots which grow down to the soil and may appear to be propping the trunk up. The bark of young trees is smooth, glossy and greenish-brown while in older trees it is dark grey and fissured. The branches are smooth and somewhat sticky, being scattered with resinous warts. The buds are purplish-brown and have short stalks. Both male and female catkins form in the autumn and remain dormant during the winter.  The leaves of the common alder are short-stalked, rounded, up to long with a slightly wedge-shaped base and a wavy, serrated margin. They have a glossy dark green upper surface and paler green underside with rusty-brown hairs in the angles of the veins. As with some other trees growing near water, the common alder keeps its leaves longer than do trees in drier situations, and the leaves remain green late into the autumn. As the Latin name "glutinosa" implies, the buds and young leaves are sticky with a resinous gum.  The species is monoecious and the flowers are wind-pollinated; the slender cylindrical male catkins are pendulous, reddish in colour and long; the female flowers are upright, broad and green, with short stalks. During the autumn they become dark brown to black in colour, hard, somewhat woody, and superficially similar to small conifer cones. They last through the winter and the small winged seeds are mostly scattered the following spring. The seeds are flattened reddish-brown nuts edged with webbing filled with pockets of air. This enables them to float for about a month which allows the seed to disperse widely.  Unlike some other species of tree, common alders do not produce shade leaves. The respiration rate of shaded foliage is the same as well-lit leaves but the rate of assimilation is lower. This means that as a tree in woodland grows taller, the lower branches die and soon decay, leaving a small crown and unbranched trunk.

Taxonomy.

"Alnus glutinosa" was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1753, as one of two varieties of alder (the other being "A. incana"), which he regarded as a single species "Betula alnus". In 1785, Jean-Baptiste Lamarck treated it as a full species under the name "Betula glutinosa". Its present scientific name is due to Joseph Gaertner, who in 1791 accepted the separation of alders from birches, and transferred the species to "Alnus". The epithet "glutinosa" means "sticky", referring particularly to the young shoots.  Within the genus "Alnus", the common alder is placed in subgenus "Alnus" as part of a closely related group of species including the grey alder, "Alnus incana", with which it hybridizes to form the hybrid "A." × "hybrida".

Distribution and habitat.

The common alder is native to almost the whole of continental Europe (except for both the extreme north and south) as well as the United Kingdom and Ireland. In Asia its range includes Turkey, Iran and Kazakhstan, and in Africa it is found in Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco. It is naturalised in the Azores. It has been introduced, either by accident or by intent, to Canada, the United States, Chile, South Africa, Australia and New Zealand. Its natural habitat is in moist ground near rivers, ponds and lakes but it can also grow in drier locations and sometimes occurs in mixed woodland and on forest edges. It tolerates a range of soil types and grows best at a pH of between 5.5 and 7.2. Because of its association with the nitrogen-fixing bacterium "Frankia alni", it can grow in nutrient-poor soils where few other trees thrive.

Ecological relationships.

The common alder is most noted for its symbiotic relationship with the bacterium "Frankia alni", which forms nodules on the tree's roots. This bacterium absorbs nitrogen from the air and fixes it in a form available to the tree. In return, the bacterium receives carbon products produced by the tree through photosynthesis. This relationship, which improves the fertility of the soil, has established the common alder as an important pioneer species in ecological succession.  The common alder is susceptible to "Phytophthora alni", a recently evolved species of oomycete plant pathogen probably of hybrid origin. This is the causal agent of phytophthora disease of alder which is causing extensive mortality of the trees in some parts of Europe. The symptoms of this infection include the death of roots and of patches of bark, dark spots near the base of the trunk, yellowing of leaves and in subsequent years, the death of branches and sometimes the whole tree. "Taphrina alni" is a fungal plant pathogen that causes alder tongue gall, a chemically induced distortion of female catkins. The gall develops on the maturing fruits and produces spores which are carried by the wind to other trees. This gall is believed to be harmless to the tree. Another, also harmless, gall is caused by a midge, "Eriophyes inangulis", which sucks sap from the leaves forming pustules.  The common alder is important to wildlife all year round and the seeds are a useful winter food for birds. Deer, sheep, hares and rabbits feed on the tree and it provides shelter for livestock in winter. It shades the water of rivers and streams, moderating the water temperature, and this benefits fish which also find safety among its exposed roots in times of flood. The common alder is the foodplant of the larvae of a number of different butterflies and moths and is associated with over 140 species of plant-eating insect. The tree is also a host to a variety of mosses and lichens which particularly flourish in the humid moist environment of streamside trees. Some common lichens found growing on the trunk and branches include tree lungwort ("Lobaria pulmonaria"), "Menneguzzia terebrata" and "Stenocybe pullatula", the last of which is restricted to alders. Some 47 species of mycorrhizal fungi have been found growing in symbiosis with the common alder, both partners benefiting from an exchange of nutrients. As well as several species of "Naucoria", these symbionts include "Russula alnetorum", the milkcaps "Lactarius obscuratus" and "Lactarius cyathula", and the alder roll-rim "Paxillus filamentosus", all of which grow nowhere else except in association with alders. In spring, the catkin cup "Ciboria amentacea" grows on fallen alder catkins.  As an introduced species, the common alder can affect the ecology of its new locality. It is a fast-growing tree and can quickly form dense woods where little light reaches the ground, and this may inhibit the growth of native plants. The presence of the nitrogen-fixing bacteria and the annual accumulation of leaf litter from the trees also alters the nutrient status of the soil. It also increases the availability of phosphorus in the ground, and the tree's dense network of roots can cause increased sedimentation in pools and waterways. It spreads easily by wind-borne seed, may be dispersed to a certain extent by birds and the woody fruits can float away from the parent tree. When the tree is felled, regrowth occurs from the stump, and logs and fallen branches can take root. "A. glutinosa" is classed as an environmental weed in New Zealand.

Cultivation and uses.

The common alder is used as a pioneer species and to stabilise river banks, to assist in flood control, to purify water in waterlogged soils and to moderate the temperature and nutrient status of water bodies. It can be grown by itself or in mixed species plantations, and the nitrogen-rich leaves falling to the ground enrich the soil and increase the production of such trees as walnut, Douglas fir and poplar on poor quality soils. Although the tree can live for up to 160 years, it is best felled for timber at 60 to 70 years before heart rot sets in.  On marshy ground it is important as coppice-wood, being cut near the base to encourage the production of straight poles. It is capable of enduring clipping as well as marine climatic conditions and may be cultivated as a fast-growing windbreak. In woodland natural regeneration is not possible as the seeds need sufficient nutrients, water and light to germinate. Such conditions are rarely found at the forest floor and as the forest matures, the alder trees in it die out. The species is cultivated as a specimen tree in parks and gardens, and the cultivar 'Imperialis' has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.

Timber.

The wood is soft, white when first cut, turning to pale red; the knots are attractively mottled. The timber is not used where strength is required in the construction industry, but is used for paper-making, the manufacture of fibreboard and the production of energy. Under water the wood is very durable and is used for deep foundations of buildings. The piles beneath the Rialto in Venice, and the foundations of several medieval cathedrals are made of alder. The Roman architect Vitruvius mentioned that the timber was used in the construction of the causeways across the Ravenna marshes. The wood is used in joinery, both as solid timber and as veneer, where its grain and colour are appreciated, and it takes dye well. As the wood is soft, flexible and somewhat light, it can be easily worked as well as split. It is valued in turnery and carving, in making furniture, window frames, clogs, toys, blocks, pencils and bowls.

Tanning and dyeing.

The bark of the common alder has long been used in tanning and dyeing. The bark and twigs contain 16 to 20% tannic acid but their usefulness in tanning is limited by the strong accompanying colour they produce. Depending on the mordant and the methods used, various shades of brown, fawn, and yellowish-orange hues can be imparted to wool, cotton and silk. Alder bark can also be used with iron sulphate to create a black dye which can substitute for the use of sumach or galls. The Laplanders are said to chew the bark and use their saliva to dye leather. The shoots of the common alder produce a yellowish or cinnamon-coloured dye if cut early in the year. Other parts of the tree are also used in dyeing; the catkins can yield a green colour and the fresh-cut wood a pinkish-fawn colour.

Other uses.

It is also the traditional wood that is burnt to produce smoked fish and other smoked foods, though in some areas other woods are now more often used. It supplies high quality charcoal.  The leaves of this tree are sticky and if they are spread on the floor of a room, their adhesive surface is said to trap fleas.  Chemical constituents of "Alnus glutinosa" include hirsutanonol, oregonin, genkwanin, rhododendrin {3-(4-hydroxyphenyl)-l-methylpropyl-β-D-glucopyranoside} and glutinic acid (2,3-pentadienedioic acid).

Health.

Pollen from the common alder, along with that from birch and hazel, is one of the main sources of tree pollen allergy. As the pollen is often present in the atmosphere at the same time as that of birch, hazel, hornbeam and oak, and they have similar physicochemical properties, it is difficult to separate out their individual effects. In central Europe, these tree pollens are the second most common cause of allergic conditions after grass pollen.  The bark of common alder has traditionally been used as an astringent, a cathartic, a hemostatic, a febrifuge, a tonic and a restorative (a substance able to restore normal health). A decoction of the bark has been used to treat swelling, inflammation and rheumatism, as an emetic, and to treat pharyngitis and sore throat. Ground up bark has been used as an ingredient in toothpaste, and the inner bark can be boiled in vinegar to provide a skin wash for treating dermatitis, lice and scabies. The leaves have been used to reduce breast discomfort in nursing mothers and folk remedies advocate the use of the leaves against various forms of cancer. Alpine farmers are said to use the leaves to alleviate rheumatism by placing a heated bag full of leaves on the affected areas. Alder leaves are consumed by cows, sheep, goats and horses though pigs refuse to eat them. According to some people, consumption of alder leaves causes blackening of the tongue and is harmful to horses.  In a research study, extracts from the seeds of the common alder have been found to be active against all the eight pathogenic bacteria against which they were tested, which included "Escherichia coli" and methicillin-resistant "Staphylococcus aureus" (MRSA). The only extract to have significant antioxidant activity was that extracted in methanol. All extracts were of low toxicity to brine shrimps. These results suggest that the seeds could be further investigated for use in the development of possible anti-MRSA drugs.

Alnus glutinosa, the common alder, black alder, European alder, European black alder, or just alder, is a species of tree in the family Betulaceae, native to most of Europe, southwest Asia and northern Africa. It thrives in wet locations where its association with the bacterium "Frankia alni" enables it to grow in poor quality soils. It is a medium size, short-lived tree growing to a height of up to 30 metres (100 ft). It has short-stalked rounded leaves and separate male and female flower in the form of catkins. The small, rounded fruits are cone-like and the seeds are dispersed by wind and water.

Olše lepkavá ("Alnus glutinosa") je listnatý opadavý strom z čeledi břízovité. Dorůstá většinou do výšky zhruba 30 metrů, dožívá se obvykle zhruba 100 let, v některých případech kolem 200 let.


Method.

In an electrodialysis stack, the dilute (D) feed stream, brine or concentrate (C) stream, and electrode (E) stream are allowed to flow through the appropriate cell compartments formed by the ion exchange membranes. Under the influence of an electrical potential difference, the negatively charged ions (e.g., chloride) in the dilute stream migrate toward the positively charged anode. These ions pass through the positively charged anion exchange membrane, but are prevented from further migration toward the anode by the negatively charged cation exchange membrane and therefore stay in the C stream, which becomes concentrated with the anions. The positively charged species (e.g., sodium) in the D stream migrate toward the negatively charged cathode and pass through the negatively charged cation exchange membrane. These cations also stay in the C stream, prevented from further migration toward the cathode by the positively charged anion exchange membrane. As a result of the anion and cation migration, electric current flows between the cathode and anode. Only an equal number of anion and cation charge equivalents are transferred from the D stream into the C stream and so the charge balance is maintained in each stream. The overall result of the electrodialysis process is an ion concentration increase in the concentrate stream with a depletion of ions in the dilute solution feed stream.  The E stream is the electrode stream that flows past each electrode in the stack. This stream may consist of the same composition as the feed stream (e.g., sodium chloride) or may be a separate solution containing a different species (e.g., sodium sulfate). Depending on the stack configuration, anions and cations from the electrode stream may be transported into the C stream, or anions and cations from the D stream may be transported into the E stream. In each case, this transport is necessary to carry current across the stack and maintain electrically neutral stack solutions.

Anode and cathode reactions.

Reactions take place at each electrode. At the cathode,  2e + 2 HO → H (g) + 2 OH  while at the anode,  HO → 2 H + 1⁄2 O (g) + 2e or 2 Cl → Cl (g) + 2e  Small amounts of hydrogen gas are generated at the cathode and small amounts of either oxygen or chlorine gas (depending on composition of the E stream and end ion exchange membrane arrangement) at the anode. These gases are typically subsequently dissipated as the E stream effluent from each electrode compartment is combined to maintain a neutral pH and discharged or re-circulated to a separate E tank. However, some (e.g.,) have proposed collection of hydrogen gas for use in energy production.

Efficiency.

Current efficiency is a measure of how effective ions are transported across the ion exchange membranes for a given applied current. Typically current efficiencies >80% are desirable in commercial stacks to minimize energy operating costs. Low current efficiencies indicate water splitting in the diluate or concentrate streams, shunt currents between the electrodes, or back-diffusion of ions from the concentrate to the diluate could be occurring.  Current efficiency is calculated according to:  formula_1  where  formula_2 = current utilization efficiency  formula_3 = charge of the ion  formula_4 = Faraday constant, 96,485 Amp-s/mol  formula_5 = dilute flow rate, L/s  formula_6 = dilute ED cell inlet concentration, mol/L  formula_7 = dilute ED cell outlet concentration, mol/L  formula_8 = number of cell pairs  formula_9 = current, Amps.  Current efficiency is generally a function of feed concentration.

Applications.

In application, electrodialysis systems can be operated as continuous production or batch production processes. In a continuous process, feed is passed through a sufficient number of stacks placed in series to produce the final desired product quality. In batch processes, the diluate and/or concentrate streams are re-circulated through the electrodialysis systems until the final product or concentrate quality is achieved.  Electrodialysis is usually applied to deionization of aqueous solutions. However, desalting of sparingly conductive aqueous organic and organic solutions is also possible. Some applications of electrodialysis include:  The major application of electrodialysis has historically been the desalination of brackish water or seawater as an alternative to RO for potable water production and seawater concentration for salt production (primarily in Japan). In normal potable water production without the requirement of high recoveries, reverse osmosis is generally believed to be more cost-effective when total dissolved solids (TDS) are 3,000 parts per million (ppm) or greater, while electrodialysis is more cost-effective for TDS feed concentrations less than 3,000 ppm or when high recoveries of the feed are required.  Another important application for electrodialysis is the production of pure water and ultrapure water by electrodeionization (EDI). In EDI, the purifying compartments and sometimes the concentrating compartments of the electrodialysis stack are filled with ion exchange resin. When fed with low TDS feed (e.g., feed purified by RO), the product can reach very high purity levels (e.g., 18 MΩ-cm). The ion exchange resins act to retain the ions, allowing these to be transported across the ion exchange membranes. The main usage of EDI systems are in electronics, pharmaceutical, power generation, and cooling tower applications.

Limitations.

Electrodialysis has inherent limitations, working best at removing low molecular weight ionic components from a feed stream. Non-charged, higher molecular weight, and less mobile ionic species will not typically be significantly removed. Also, in contrast to RO, electrodialysis becomes less economical when extremely low salt concentrations in the product are required and with sparingly conductive feeds: current density becomes limited and current utilization efficiency typically decreases as the feed salt concentration becomes lower, and with fewer ions in solution to carry current, both ion transport and energy efficiency greatly declines. Consequently, comparatively large membrane areas are required to satisfy capacity requirements for low concentration (and sparingly conductive) feed solutions. Innovative systems overcoming the inherent limitations of electrodialysis (and RO) are available; these integrated systems work synergistically, with each sub-system operating in its optimal range, providing the least overall operating and capital costs for a particular application.  As with RO, electrodialysis systems require feed pretreatment to remove species that coat, precipitate onto, or otherwise "foul" the surface of the ion exchange membranes. This fouling decreases the efficiency of the electrodialysis system. Species of concern include calcium and magnesium hardness, suspended solids, silica, and organic compounds. Water softening can be used to remove hardness, and micrometre or multimedia filtration can be used to remove suspended solids. Hardness in particular is a concern since scaling can build up on the membranes. Various chemicals are also available to help prevent scaling. Also, electrodialysis reversal systems seek to minimize scaling by periodically reversing the flows of diluate and concentrate and polarity of the electrodes.

Electrodialysis (ED) is used to transport salt ions from one solution through ion-exchange membranes to another solution under the influence of an applied electric potential difference. This is done in a configuration called an electrodialysis cell. The cell consists of a feed (dilute) compartment and a concentrate (brine) compartment formed by an anion exchange membrane and a cation exchange membrane placed between two electrodes. In almost all practical electrodialysis processes, multiple electrodialysis cells are arranged into a configuration called an electrodialysis stack, with alternating anion and cation exchange membranes forming the multiple electrodialysis cells. Electrodialysis processes are different from distillation techniques and other membrane based processes (such as reverse osmosis (RO)) in that dissolved species are moved away from the feed stream rather than the reverse. Because the quantity of dissolved species in the feed stream is far less than that of the fluid, electrodialysis offers the practical advantage of much higher feed recovery in many applications.

Elektrodialýza je elektromembránová separační metoda, která se využívá v úpravě vody. Hlavní aplikací je příprava pitné vody odsolováním mořské vody, tato metoda je zde alternativou k destilaci a reverzní osmóze. Principem je migrace iontů v elektrickém poli mezi katodou a anodou. Do cesty jsou iontům střídavě postaveny polopropustné ionexové membrány, které propouštějí selektivně pouze kationty (katexové membrány) nebo anionty (anexové membrány).


Geography.

The Aleutian Range is a highly active volcanic mountain range which runs along the entire length of the Peninsula. Within it lie Wildlife Refuges, including the Katmai National Park and Preserve, the Aniakchak National Monument and Preserve and the Becharof National Wildlife Refuge, the Alaska Peninsula National Wildlife Refuge, and the Izembek National Wildlife Refuge.  The southern side of the Alaska Peninsula is rugged and mountainous, created by the uplifting tectonic activity of the North Pacific Plate subsiding under a western section of the North American Plate; the northern side is generally flat and marshy, a result of millennia of erosion and general seismic stability. The northern and southern shores are likewise quite different. The northern Bristol Bay coastal side is generally turbid and muddy, experiences tidal extremes, and is relatively shallow; the Pacific side has relatively small tidal activity and is deep and clear.

Administration.

All of the Peninsula is organized as a part of four adjacent boroughs; the Aleutians East Borough, Bristol Bay Borough, Kodiak Island Borough, and Lake and Peninsula Borough. The Lake and Peninsula Borough includes most of the peninsula's territory.

Climate.

Average annual precipitation ranges from 24 to 65 in (610 to 1,650 mm). Coastal areas are subject to intense storms, wind, and rain. Winter temperatures average between −11°C and 1°C, and in summer between 6°C and 15°. Frosts can occur any day of the year at higher elevations. The climate can be compared to that of parts of Scotland, the Aleutian Islands, Iceland, and Tierra del Fuego.

Flora and fauna.

The Alaska Peninsula is home to some of the largest populations of native and undisturbed wildlife in the United States. Besides the famous McNeil River and Katmai Alaskan brown bear populations, large herds of caribou, moose, wolves and waterfowl inhabit the area. The bears of the peninsula and Bristol Bay are so numerous because they feed on the world's largest sockeye salmon ("Oncorhynchus nerka") runs, which occur here in large part because the many large lakes of the peninsula are an important element in their lifecycle. These salmon, after returning from their short life at sea, swim into the lakes and their contributing streams to spawn. Their offspring, or "fry", overwinter in the deep and food-abundant depths of these lakes until their migration to the sea in one or two years.  Exceptionally large seabird colonies exist along the coast.  The rugged southern half of the peninsula, and also the Kodiak Archipelago which lie off the south coast of the peninsula and are home to even more bears, constitute the Alaska Peninsula montane taiga ecoregion and contain a number of protected areas such as Katmai National Park.

Demographics.

Besides the communities on the coast ("see: Bristol Bay"), the Alaska Peninsula also is home to several well-known villages: Cold Bay, King Cove, Perryville, Chignik, Chignik Lake, Chignik Lagoon, and Port Moller. Each is primarily inhabited by Alaska Natives and each, likewise, is mostly dependent on the fishing industry for sustenance. The village of Sand Point should be included here, despite its location on Popof Island, an island of the Sumagin Islands, just off the southern coast of the Peninsula.

The Alaska Peninsula (also called Aleut Peninsula or Aleutian Peninsula, ) is a peninsula extending about to the southwest from the mainland of Alaska and ending in the Aleutian Islands. The peninsula separates the Pacific Ocean from Bristol Bay, an arm of the Bering Sea.

USS Nicholas (DD-449) byl americký torpédoborec třídy Fletcher. "Nicholas" byl druhou lodí tohoto jména v americkém námořnictvu. Celkem byl během 27 let aktivní služby nasazen ve třech válkách.


Taxonomy.

American ichthyologist Leonard Peter Schultz described the cardinal tetra in 1956 as "Cheirodon axelrodi". The specific epithet honors ichthyologist Herbert R. Axelrod. "Hyphessobrycon cardinalis" is an obsolete synonym. The fish's common name, cardinal tetra, refers to the brilliant red coloration, reminiscent of a cardinal's robes. "P. axelrodi" is also often called the red neon tetra.  The species exists in a number of different color forms or phenotypes. A "gold" and "silver-blonde" form exist in the Rio Negro drainage which has less blue in the longitudinal stripe. The normal form from the Rio Negro drainage has a blue stripe which extends to the adipose fin, while the Orinoco drainage phenotype has a stripe which stops posterior to the adipose. The Orinoco phenotype may represent a subspecies of "P. axelrodi".

Description.

The cardinal tetra has bright red ventral parts and an iridescent blue line that runs horizontally down the length of its body. The characteristic iridescence of this and related fishes, such as the neon tetra, is a structural color, caused by refraction of light within guanine crystals that develop within special cells called iridocytes in the subcutaneous layer. The exact shade of blue seen will depend on the viewing angle of the aquarist relative to the fish - if the aquarist changes viewpoint so as to look at the fish more from below, the colour will change hue, becoming more deeply sapphire blue and even indigo. Change the viewpoint to one above the fishes, however, and the color becomes more greenish. Cardinal tetras appear to grow larger in captivity than they do in the wild. They have a large stomach and small gut.

Distribution.

Cardinal tetras are found on the upper Orinoco and the Negro, which are located in Colombia & Venezuela and Brazil respectively.

Feeding.

The cardinal tetra forages in areas of slow-moving shallow water. It is predominantly predatory, generally feeding on tiny animals they find on underwater plants, roots and leaf litter. Creatures commonly eaten include the larvae of chironomid midges and microcrustaceans such as water fleas (Cladocera) of the families Moinidae, Macrotrichidae and Daphniidae, and Copepods of the family Harpacticidae. Other organisms eaten include other fly larvae, insect eggs, rotifers and testate amoebae.

Breeding and lifespan.

The cardinal tetra, in the wild, swims upstream in large numbers to parts of its native river habitat completely enclosed above by rainforest canopy. Such waters are subject to heavy shading by the rainforest trees, and virtually no sunlight reaches them. Here, the fishes spawn in large aggregations. In the aquarium, a single pair can be conditioned for breeding, but the breeding aquarium not only needs to contain water with the correct chemical parameters cited above, but the breeding aquarium also needs to be heavily shaded to mimic the low light conditions of the fish's native spawning grounds. If the fishes are ready to spawn, the male, which will be the slimmer of the two fishes in outline, will pursue the female into fine-leaved plants; her fuller outline, which usually indicates the presence of ripe eggs within her reproductive tract, should be readily apparent at this point. If the female is ready, she will allow the male to swim alongside her, and together, the pair will release eggs and sperm. Parents need to be removed after the eggs and sperm are released, otherwise they will eat the eggs.  The fish might also be effectively an annual species with a lifespan of just a single year in nature. It lives for several years in captivity.

Development.

If the eggs are fertile, and kept in darkened surroundings, they hatch in about three days at. Free-swimming fry remain photosensitive for at least the first seven days of life, and need to be introduced to increasing light levels on a gradual basis. During this time, they are approximately 4 mm in length, and require infusoria or liquid fry food. Newly hatched brine shrimp and other similar live foods, such as sifted "Daphnia", can be fed to the growing fry at between seven and 14 days of age. Growth continues at a modest rate, and the fishes assume full adult colouration only after a period of around eight to 12 weeks, depending upon quality of food and aquarium water.

Aquarium maintenance.

An entire industry is in place in Barcelos on the banks of Brazil's Rio Negro in which the local population catches fish for the aquarium trade. The cardinal fishery here is highly valued by the local people who act as stewards for the environment. The local people may not become involved in potentially environmentally damaging activities, such as deforestation, because they can make a sustainable living from the fishery.  Perhaps due to their wild-caught origins, cardinal tetras tend to be somewhat delicate in captivity. In the wild, these fish inhabit extremely soft, acidic waters, but seem to be tolerant of harder, more alkaline water conditions; a greater concern is probably polluted tank water (including high nitrate levels). They prefer warmer water temperatures [above or warmer], and will readily accept most forms of dry food. Captive-bred cardinals tend to adapt to hard water better than wild-caught cardinals.  Given the origins of the cardinal tetra, namely blackwater rivers whose chemistry is characterised by an acidic pH, low mineral content and the presence of humic acids, the species is adaptable to a wide range of conditions in captivity, though deviation from the soft, acidic water chemistry of their native range will impact severely upon breeding, fecundity, and life expectancy. The preferred temperature range of the fish is. However, if necessary they will live at. The water chemistry of the aquarium water should match that of the wild habitat – filtration of the aquarium water over peat is one means of achieving this, as is the use of reverse osmosis water.  A study conducted in Manaus, Brazil, subjected cardinal tetras to adverse water conditions for 96 hours. It found that fish perished at a low temperature of 19.6 °C and high of 33.7 °C, and pH below 2.9 or above 8.8.  As the species is a shoaling species in the wild, groups of six or more individuals should be maintained in an aquarium although bigger groups are preferred. They will shoal with their close cousins neon tetras, though, so a combination of these two species totalling at least six should suffice (again, larger groups are preferred). Tank currents can help encourage shoaling behavior. The larger the numbers present in an aquarium (subject to the usual constraints imposed by space and filtration efficiency), the better, and large shoals in any case form an impressive and visually stunning display.  The species will feed on a wide range of aquarium foods, though again, conditioning fishes of this species for breeding will usually require the use of live foods such as "Daphnia".  Apart from the stringent requirements with respect to water chemistry, one of the major difficulties in captive breeding of the species is the photosensitivity of the eggs; they will die if exposed to bright light. Consequently, after spawning, the fishes should be removed and the aquarium covered to darken it, thus providing the developing eggs with the conditions necessary for development.  Aquarium furnishings should be planned with some care. Live aquatic plants, as well as providing additional biological filtration components to assist with nitrate management, provide an environment that resembles at least part of the wild habitat, and fine-leaved plants such as "Cabomba" are usually the plants of choice, though other plants such as Amazon swordplants and "Vallisneria" are equally suitable for an aquarium housing them. Floating plants providing shade will also be welcomed by the species; this is connected with the breeding of the fish. A perfect biotope to promote breeding would be bogwood, a few live native plants, dark substrate and subdued lighting with floating plants.

The cardinal tetra ("Paracheirodon axelrodi") is a freshwater fish of the characin family (family Characidae) of order Characiformes. It is native to the upper Orinoco and Negro Rivers in South America. Growing to about total length, the cardinal tetra has the striking iridescent blue line characteristic of the genus "Paracheirodon" laterally bisecting the fish, with the body below this line being vivid red in color, hence the name "cardinal tetra". The cardinal tetra's appearance is similar to that of the closely related neon tetra, with which it is often confused; the neon's red coloration extends only about halfway to the nose, and the neon's blue stripe is a less vibrant blue.

Neonka červená ("Paracheirodon axelrodi") je drobná sladkovodní rybka z čeledi tetrovití. Jedná se akvaristy ostatní lidi velice oblíbený, nenáročný a společenský druh. Typické je pro tuto rybu zbarvení, kdy horní podélný pruh má neonový lesk.


Early life.

Maria was born on January 6, 1900, at Friedenstein Palace in Gotha, a town in Thuringia, in the German Empire. She was named after her maternal grandmother, Grand Duchess Maria Alexandrovna of Russia, and was known as "Mignon" in the family to distinguish her from her mother. Her parents were Princess Marie of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha and Prince Ferdinand of Hohenzollern-Sigmaringen. In 1914, after the death of Carol I, they became King and Queen of Romania. She had three brothers and two sisters: King Carol II of Romania; Prince Nicholas of Romania; Princess Elisabeth of Romania and future Queen of Greece; Princess Ileana of Romania and future Archduchess of Austria (Tuscan line); and another brother, Prince Mircea of Romania, who died at age three. Although plump, Maria was a noted beauty in her youth and resembled her sister Elisabeth.  During World War I, she worked as a nurse with her mother, along with her two sisters.

Marriage and children.

Maria married Alexander I, second King of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, in Belgrade on 8 June 1922, and had three sons:  Following the assassination of her husband, King Alexander I, in Marseille in 1934, her oldest son, then only 11 became Peter II of Yugoslavia, the last reigning Yugoslav king. She was given the title Queen Mother of Yugoslavia in 1941. She moved to a farm in England and lived a relatively normal life without royal extravagance. Maria was well educated. She spoke several languages fluently and enjoyed painting and sculpting under the guidance of artist Iva Despić-Simonović. She also drove a car by herself, which was very unusual for royalty at the time.  She died in exile in London on 22 June 1961 and was interred at the Royal Burial Ground at Frogmore, which adjoins Windsor Castle, before her remains were transferred to Serbia in April 2013 and re-interred on 26 May 2013 in Oplenac, Serbia.

Humanitarian work.

Queen Maria was popular and respected by the Serbian public, and is still well thought of in the region. She was regarded as an ideal wife and mother according to the contemporary Serbian ideal and described as a humble person. She was engaged in several social projects. In the eyes of the Serbian people, she remains one of the greatest patrons of charities in Serbia.  Streets are named in her memory, such as "Ulica kraljice Marije" or "Queen Maria Street", and numerous schools and other organizations still carry her name.

Maria of Romania (6 January 1900 – 22 June 1961), known in Serbo-Croatian as Marija Karađorđević (), was Queen of the Serbs, Croats and Slovenes, later Queen of Yugoslavia, as the wife of King Alexander from 1922 until his assassination in 1934. She was the mother of Peter II, the last reigning Yugoslav king. Her citizenship was revoked and her property confiscated by the Yugoslav Communist regime in 1947, but she was "rehabilitated" in 2014.

Marie Jugoslávská - princezna Marie Rumunská (6. ledna 1900 Gotha – 22. června 1961 Londýn) byla od roku 1922 až do smrti svého manžela Alexandra Karađorđeviće v roce 1934 královnou Království Jugoslávie.


Description.

As their name ("footless" in Greek) suggests, their legs are small and have limited function aside from perching. The feet are covered with bare skin rather than the scales (scutes) that other birds have. Another shared characteristic is long wings with short, stout humerus bones. The evolution of these wing characteristics has provided the hummingbird with ideal wings for hovering.  The hummingbirds, swifts, and crested swifts share other anatomical similarities with one another, as well as similarities (notably as to the skull) with their probable closest living relatives, the owlet-nightjars. The owlet-nightjars are apparently convergent with the closely related Caprimulgiformes, which form a clade Cypselomorphae with the Apodiformes.

Evolution.

The Apodiformes evolved in the Northern Hemisphere. "Eocypselus", a primitive genus known from the Late Paleocene or Early Eocene of north-central Europe, is somewhat difficult to assign; it is considered a primitive hemiprocnid. This would suggest that the major apodiform lineages diverged shortly after the Cretaceous–Paleogene boundary. However, the perching adaptation of the foot of "Eocypselus" on which this theory rests may just as well be a symplesiomorphy. Most researchers believe that presently this genus cannot be unequivocally assigned to either the Apodiformes or the Caprimulgiformes. The Early Eocene "Primapus", found in England, is similar to both a primitive swift and the aegialornithids, which are in some aspects intermediate between swifts and owlet-nightjars. Fossil evidence demonstrates the existence of swifts during that period in Europe. At that time, most of Europe had a humid, subtropical climate, possibly comparable to modern-day southern China. For a map of Early–Middle Eocene Earth, see the Paleomap project; here note that both the Caucasus mountains and the Alps did not exist yet and aegialornithids were possibly present in North America. By the late Eocene (around 35 MYA), primitive hummingbirds started to diverge from the related jungornithids; the Middle Eocene "Parargornis" (Messel, Germany) and the Late Eocene "Argornis", found in today's southernmost Russia, belong to this lineage. "Cypselavus" (Late Eocene – Early Oligocene of Quercy, France) was either a primitive hemiprocnid or an aegialornithid.  The placement of the Aegialornithidae is not quite clear. Various analyses place them sufficiently close to the Apodiformes to be included here, or into the unique owlet-nightjar lineage in the Cypselomorphae.

Taxonomy.

ORDER APODIFORMES

Traditionally, the bird order Apodiformes contained three living families: the swifts (Apodidae), the treeswifts (Hemiprocnidae), and the hummingbirds (Trochilidae). In the Sibley-Ahlquist taxonomy, this order is raised to a superorder Apodimorphae in which hummingbirds are separated as a new order, Trochiliformes. With nearly 450 species identified to date, they are the most diverse order of birds after the passerines.

Svišťouni (Apodiformes) jsou řád ptáků se srpovitými křídly. Tito ptáci patří mezi nejrychlejší a nejpohyblivější letce. Někteří z nich létají rychlostí až 220 km/h.


History.

Chuuk was one of six districts of the Trust Territory of the Pacific Islands (TTPI) which were administered by the United States under charter from the United Nations from the end of the Second World War to the mid-1980s. The termination of U.S. administration of the Chuuk, Yap, Kosrae, Pohnpei, and Mariana Islands districts of the TTPI occurred on November 3, 1986. The Federated States of Micronesia, including Chuuk, Yap, Kosrae, and Pohnpei, was established in 1979 and signed a Compact of Free Association with the U.S. (effective November 3, 1986).  On July 2, 2002, heavy rains from Tropical Storm Chataan caused more than thirty landslides that killed forty-seven people and injured dozens of others, in the state's deadliest weather disaster. The landslides occurred throughout the day, some within just minutes of each other.  As of recent times, Chuuk has been pushing harder for independence. An independence referendum was originally scheduled to coincide with federal elections on March 3, 2015, but was pushed back to March 5, 2019. The independence referendum was further pushed back to March 2022, with a date to be announced, while the constitutional legality of the proposed secession is determined.

Geography.

To the west is Yap State. To the east are Pohnpei State and Kosrae State is further east.  The main population center of Chuuk State is the Chuuk Lagoon, a large archipelago with mountainous islands surrounded by a string of islets on a barrier reef. The two major geographical and dialectic divisions of the Chuuk Lagoon are Faichuuk, the western islands, and Namoneas, the eastern islands.  Chuuk State also includes several more sparsely populated "outer island" groups, including the Mortlock Islands to the southeast, the Hall Islands (Pafeng) to the north, Namonuito Atoll to the northwest, and the Pattiw Region to west. The Pattiw Region is of particular interest in that it has some of the most traditional islands in the Pacific and is culturally related to outer islands of Yap. This group includes the islands of Pollap, Tamatam, Poluwat, and Houk. Today you can still find traditional master navigators—Poluwat and Pollap are considered to have some of the best navigators and ocean-going outrigger canoes in the Pacific. In the islands of the Pattiw Region, and some of the Islands of Yap, you will still find today the last two remaining schools of navigation, Weriyeng and Faaluush. Visiting the Pattiw Region in the west, however, is difficult due to the lack of reliable transportation. Houk probably has the most accessible airstrip in the Pattiw Region, with planes landing every one or two weeks.  The state shares its longitude with Sydney, Australia, namely the eastern portion of the city including the CBD.

Demographics.

Chuuk is the most populous of the FSM's states. At the census held on 1 April 2000, it had 53,595 inhabitants, compared with 34,486 for Pohnpei, 11,241 for Yap and 7,686 for Kosrae; at the census held on 4 April 2010, it had 48,654 inhabitants, compared with 36,196 for Pohnpei, 11,377 for Yap and 6,616 for Kosrae. There are about 600 people living in Uman. Uman was the 1st place champion in Chuuk's National Challenges 1990-2016.

Culture.

Jesuit mission at Weno.

The New York Province of the Society of Jesus (the Jesuits) maintains a mission school on the island of Weno in Chuuk. Xavier High School is housed at the former Japanese communications center. It is a coeducational institution, drawing students from all the island groups of the Federated States of Micronesia, as well as Palau and the Marshall Islands. Teachers are both Jesuit and lay and come from Micronesia, the U.S., Indonesia, Japan, and Australia.

Spirit possession.

Although Chuuk is an overwhelmingly Christian society, traditional beliefs in spirit possession by the dead still exist. Allegedly, these spirits overwhelmingly possess women, and spirit possession is usually brought on by family conflicts. The spirits, speaking through the women, typically admonish family members to treat each other better.

Cultural references.

There are some references on the Chuukese language, treating guests, and on beliefs in the sci-fi book "Reefsong" from Carol Severance.

Municipalities.

Of the 40 municipalities of the state, 16 fall within the Chuuk Lagoon and 24 in the Outer Islands. In the table below, each is followed by its population at the Census held on 1 April 2000.

Chuuk Lagoon.

Faichuk (Shichiyo) Islands.

Faichuk (Shichiyo) Islands:  Nomwisofo Islands:

Nomoneas (Shiki) Islands.

Northern Nomoneas (Shiki) Islands:  Southern Nomoneas (Shiki) Islands:

Mortlock Islands.

Lower Mortlock Islands (Nomoi Islands):  Upper Mortlock Islands (Eastern Islands):

Northwest Outer Islands.

Hall Islands (north):  Namonuito Atoll (Magur Islands) (northwest):  Pattiw Islands (Western Islands):

Education.

Chuuk State Department of Education operates public schools.  Public high schools:  Private secondary schools:  Private primary schools:

Chuuk State (also known as Truk) is one of the four states of the Federated States of Micronesia (FSM). The other states are Kosrae State, Pohnpei State, and Yap State. It consists of several island groups: Chuuk is the most populous state of the FSM with 50,000 inhabitants on. Chuuk Lagoon is where most people live. Weno Island in the Lagoon functions as state capital and is FSM's biggest city. It is scheduled to possibly vote for independence in 2022.

Chuuk (do roku 1990 Truk) je souostroví ležící v souostroví Karolíny v jihozápadní části Tichého oceánu. Jedná se o nejlidnatější ze čtyř států tvořících Federativní státy Mikronésie. Hlavním městem je Weno. Rozloha státu je 127 km2, počet obyvatel 53 595 a hustota zalidnění 420/km2. Centrem ostrovů je laguna Truk s řadou hornatých ostrovů, kterou od moře odděluje korálový útes s ostrůvky.