History.

On April 3, 1991, Parex Bank received the first licence issued to a private company for currency exchange operations in the territory of the Soviet Union – issued by the second President of the Bank of Latvia,. In May, Parex opened the first exchange office which is also visited by many clients from all over USSR.  In August 1991, Valērijs Kargins, along with Viktors Krasovickis and his wife Nina Kondratyev, reorganized Parex and became the new bank AS PAREX's sole owners. Kargins owned half of the shares, while the remaining 50% were distributed in similar amounts between Viktors Krosovickis and his wife.  In January 1992, Parex Bank was founded, with the owners Valērijs Kargins and Viktors Krasovickis having equal shares in the bank. Krasovicki`s wife Nina did not participate in the bank`s future activities as they divorced that year. However, she continued to hold significant deposit in it.  In 1993, about 30% of Parex Bank`s shares were bought by offshore company Europe Holdings Ltd and by the year 2001 its share (without voting rights) reached 51%. The company remained in the list of owners until 2002, when Kargins and Krasovickis formally repurchased parts of Europe Holdings Ltd, again becoming the sole owners of the bank. However, by the end of 2007, around 14% of the Bank`s total paid-in share capital was in the hands of 59 small shareholders.

2008-2010 Financial Crisis and PAREX takeover.

Background.

By the beginning of 2008, Britain had fully nationalized Northern Rock to save it from bankruptcy. In the second half of 2008, a number of large and pre-eminent banks and financial institutions went bankrupt, such as Lehman Brothers in the United States and Carnegie in Sweden.  In autumn of 2008, after the bankruptcy of several major banks and financial institutions, the global financial crisis began in earnest. Several countries in the world had to seek international financial assistance, many countries provided support or even took over state-controlled banks and other credit institutions. In October 2008, the European Commission agreed on a plan to allow governments to engage in bank rescue.

Following events.

On July 30, 2008, in a letter from Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC) to the Chairman of the Board of Parex Bank titled, "On the results of the risk assessment of the bank," it was stated that an inspection had been carried out for the period from 12 November, 2007 to 18 January, 2008 and that the test results indicated that "the bank's performance [was] characterized by a moderate level of risk, and the methods used by the institution to manage risk [were] satisfactory, although improvements [were] needed in some areas."  From August 18 until October 3, 2008, the FCMC conducted an inspection with the aim of reviewing and evaluating Parex's lending process. The inspection revealed significant shortcomings in the lending process; as the economic situation in Latvia and the world changed and the solvency of borrowers worsened, Parex had not set up the amount of provisions corresponding to the quality of the loan portfolio (40 million lats shortfall), as well as weaknesses in credit risk management.  On October 14, 2008, the FCMC authorized Parex to include audited profit for the first half of 2008 in Tier 1 capital and to include Parex Group's audited profit for the first half of 2008 in Tier 1 capital of Parex Consolidation Group. This decision showed that Parex's capital adequacy position was relatively stable in mid-October 2008.  On October 20, 2008, as a result of the inspection, more accurate information was obtained about the current or current financial situation of Parex. The FCMC informed Parex of the deficiencies found during the inspection and invited Parex representatives to negotiate the improvements of deficiencies. After the initial refusal, a meeting between FCMC and Parex representatives took place only a week later.

Request for state support.

On October 22, 2008, Parex owners privately requested state support to maintain the bank's solvency by proposing a state treasury deposit to Parex Bank. The Ministry of Finance rejected this suggestion. The outflow of money from Parex continued. Finance Minister Atis Slakteris discussed the situation with the FCMC and the Bank of Latvia, and on October 28 the Minister of Finance informed Prime Minister Ivars Godmanis. The authorities involved at the beginning of November concluded that Parex needs to be taken over by the state. Several options were considered - the full takeover of Parex banka into state ownership, the transfer of 51% of Parex banka's shares to the Mortgage and Land Bank, as well as the refusal of assistance. In the latter case, the state would have to pay the bank's customers at least LVL 660 million as a state guarantee for deposits. The Cabinet of Ministers supported the takeover of the bank into state ownership. It was considered that there would be no security for the use of public funds if the bank remained in the hands of its shareholders.  On October 27, 2008, withdrawals from Parex began to accelerate rapidly. Due to the risk of default of capital adequacy ratios and taking into account the promise of Parex's major shareholders to increase the capital base in case of necessity, FCMC requested Parex to submit by 29 October 2008 the "Parex Capital Adequacy Recovery Plan". On this day along, around 29 million lats of capital left Parex.

Government takeover.

In early November 2008, it was already clear that Parex's problems were so serious that it would involve the Cabinet of Ministers, and that Parex's takeover could be one of the most effective options for stabilizing the Latvian financial system by providing support to Parex.  On November 8, 2008, the Cabinet of Ministers decided to acquire a controlling interest in Parex Bank. The country, represented by the Privatization Agency, became the largest shareholder of Parex Bank. The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) also acquired a share in Parex Bank over time.

Split into Reverta and Citadele.

As a result of the restructuring carried out on August 1, 2010, Parex was split into two separate institutions; "Reverta" was founded as a "solution bank" with the aim of recovering the public funds invested in its rescue. At the same time, Parex's "good" assets along with its credit institution services such as account and deposit servicing, credit lending were taken on by "Citadele".  In December 2010, Reverta paid LVL 9.7 million in interest payments on the use of the state deposit.  Reverta had recovered 58 million lats by the end of the reporting period within five months of August 1, 2010.  On December 28, 2011, a Reverta shareholders' meeting made a decision on voluntary withdrawal from the credit institution's license.  On March 15, 2012, the Financial and Capital Market Commission (FCMC) supports the request of Parex banka and revokes the license of the bank's credit institution. The change of the company's operating model was a natural and carefully considered step, considering that the services characteristic of credit institutions are not provided by Parex since 1 August 2010.  May 8, 2012 marked a major milestone in Parex banka's operations: the bank is starting to work as a professional asset management company - Reverta Joint Stock Company. With an active portfolio of nearly one billion euros, Reverta is the largest asset manager in the Baltic region and ranked among the leading analogue companies in Eastern and Central Europe.

Causes of Parex's demise.

According to investigations carried out in the wake of the crisis, it has been suggested that causes included

Economic effects.

The state takeover of Parex has been seen as one of the major causes of the 2008-2010 financial crisis in Latvia, causing a chain reaction in the Latvian economy and requiring the government to take a €4.5 billion in bailout loans from the International Monetary Fund, the European Union and the World Bank.

Parex Bank was a Latvian bank founded in 1992 by Valērijs Kargins and Viktors Krasovickis as a privately owned full-service banking company in Riga, Latvia. Its services were marketed both locally and to international clients in both the West and Russia. Its failure and state takeover was one of the major events of the 2008-2010 Latvian financial crisis crisis in Latvia.


Biography.

Rivka Menashe (later Riki Gal) was born in 1950 to an Orthodox family in the poor neighborhood of Mea Shearim in Jerusalem. In her early years, Gal experienced a hard childhood: her parents divorced when she was two years old and she was taken to an institution in Kfar Saba along with her brother Menachem. Her mother was then able to raise the children on her own, but later could not afford the cost of growth, so she handed her children over to the nuns who raised them with strict discipline.  In 1968, at the age of seventeen, Gal was drafted into the navy, where she began her music career. After completing her military service in 1971, she married Yisrael Poliakov of the HaGashash HaHiver trio. The couple divorced in 1975. Following the divorce, Gal flew to New York, where she got married the second time. This marriage also ended in a divorce. Subsequently, Gal returned to Israel. From 1990 to 2002, she was married the news reporter of Channel 1 Ori Cohen Aharonov. In 1991, they had a daughter named Leary.

Music career.

Gal began her music career in the entertainment troupe of the Israeli Navy. After her discharge from the IDF, she released her first single and an album called "World of Jacques Brel." She has collaborated with Matti Caspi, Ehud Manor and Louie Lahav. She played Mama Morton in the Beit Lessin Theater production of "Chicago" and was a judge on Israel's version of A Star is Born, Kokhav Nolad. She was one of the stars of "Les Miserables," a musical by Alain Boublil based on the Victor Hugo novel.  Gal's album "" (I love you more) was a co-production with Matti Caspi, who was responsible for most of the compositions, arrangements and instrumental accompaniment.  The title song of Gal's album "Seeing the Years" (2009) is "Imazman," a tribute to Gal's mother and also a play on words (ima = mom, zman = time, im hazman = over time). The song begins with words from the popular song "Que Sera, Sera" (Whatever Will Be, Will Be) and continues in Spanish.

Riki Gal (, born July 7, 1950 in Jerusalem) is an Israeli singer. Gal, who reached the height of her career in the 1980s, sings a mix of blues, folk and pop.


Early life and family.

Thompson was born Flora Jane Timms in Juniper Hill in northeast Oxfordshire, the eldest child of Albert and Emma Timms, a stonemason and nursemaid respectively. Albert and Emma had twelve children, but only six survived childhood. One of her younger sisters was Betty Timms, best known for her children's book "The Little Grey Men of the Moor". The young Flora's early education was at the parish school in the village of Cottisford where she was described as 'altogether her father's child'.  In 1891, at the age of 14, Flora moved to take up a position as counter clerk at the post office in Fringford, a village about northeast of Bicester, under the tutelage of the postmistress, Mrs Kezia Whitton. She later served at various other post offices, including offices at Grayshott, Yateley, and Bournemouth.  In 1903 she married John William Thompson, a post office clerk and telegraphist from the Isle of Wight, at Twickenham Parish Church, after which they moved to Bournemouth where they had a daughter, Winifred Grace (1903), and a son, Henry Basil (1909). In 1916 they moved to Liphook where their second son Peter Redmond was born (1918). Thompson's favourite brother, Edwin, was killed near Ypres in 1916.

Literary output.

A self-taught and a largely self-educated writer, Thompson was thinking, as early as 1922, about writing of her childhood. In 1911 she had won an essay competition in "The Ladies Companion" for a 300-word essay about Jane Austen. Her younger sister, Ethel Elizabeth 'Betty' Timms shared her love of writing, and Betty's success with a children's book, 'The Little Grey Men of the Moor', published in 1926, encouraged Flora to write her books.  She later wrote extensively, publishing short stories and magazine and newspaper articles. She was also a keen self-taught naturalist; many of her nature articles were anthologised in 1986.  In 1938 Thompson sent some essays on her country childhood to Oxford University Press. They were accepted and published in three separate volumes, "Lark Rise" (1939), "Over to Candleford" (1941), and "Candleford Green" (1943). In 1945 the books were republished as a trilogy under the title "Lark Rise to Candleford". The trilogy is a lightly disguised story of the author's own youth, describing life in a hamlet, a village, and a country town in the 1880s.  Two of Thompson's later lesser-known works were published posthumously: "Heatherley", recounting her time in the post office at Grayshott at the turn of the 20th century when several of her lifelong interests took shape, the longing for education and culture and the desire to become a writer; and her last book "Still Glides the Stream".

Critical reception.

H. J. Massingham said of Thompson in 1944, "...she possesses the attributes both of sympathetic presentation and literary power to such a degree that her claims can hardly be questioned". Thompson's essays have been said to reveal an impressive knowledge of English literature and a gift for writing intelligent but accessible prose for a general audience. She approached novel writing as an artistic process and her descriptions of nature are notably poetic.  Thompson's biographer, Gillian Lindsay, says, "...this girl whose elementary education was not enough to allow her to take a Civil Service examination, had written a classic book, a piece of enduring literature," while Shuckburgh considers that it was her 'passion and control' that made Thompson such a good writer. Her entry in the ODNB says of the trilogy that "Few works better or more elegantly capture the decay of Victorian agrarian England".  Thompson's trilogy has been widely used as a primary source for the social history of the period, although some historians have expressed reservations as to its validity for that purpose.

Death.

The death of Thompson's younger son during the Second World War affected her deeply and overshadowed her final years. She died in 1947 of a heart attack in Brixham, and is buried at Longcross Cemetery, Dartmouth, Devon.

Flora Thompson (5 December 1876 – 21 May 1947) was an English novelist and poet best known for her semi-autobiographical trilogy about the English countryside, "Lark Rise to Candleford".


Route description.

State Route 266 begins at the western terminus of Nevada State Route 266 at the Nevada state line. The route travels west-northwest, then turns to the west for another before approaching Oasis, the only community that the route passes through. At Oasis, SR 266 intersects SR 168, which serves as the gateway into the Owens Valley from Nevada. Upon leaving Oasis, SR 266 continues to the west briefly, then turns north-northwest. Within the last, SR 266 slowly curves northwest as the route approaches the Nevada state line. The route ends at the state line at the southern terminus of Nevada State Route 264. As the route has more connections to Nevada than the rest of California, Caltrans and the Nevada DOT have entered into a joint agreement on snow removal and other short term maintenance duties for the route.  The section of SR 266 from the western terminus to the junction with SR 168 is designated by the California State Legislature as eligible by law for the State Scenic Highway System; but it is not officially designated as a scenic highway by the California Department of Transportation. The entire route, consisting of two lanes for two-way traffic, traverses on the flat land in the Fish Lake Valley east of the White Mountains, and it can serve as transportation of agricultural goods between California and Nevada via the route's only junction State Route 168. In the event that SR 168 is closed, SR 266 connects to Nevada State Route 264, which intersects with U.S. Route 6 in order to provide an alternate access to California.

History.

The southern half of modern SR 266 (from Oasis to Nevada State Route 266 near Lida, Nevada) predates the era of numbered highways and formed part of the Midland Trail, one of the first auto trails crossing the entire country. Construction for a road from Oasis to the Nevada state line to be added to the State Highway System was authorized in 1931. This road was initially designated Legislative Route 63 and later signed as California State Route 168. In 1965, route 266 was designated incorporating what is the northern half of modern SR 266 connecting with modern Nevada State Route 264, using the alignment of an existing Mono County road. In 1986, the definition of SR 266 was extended to its modern form, with both termini at the Nevada state line, absorbing what was previously a portion of SR 168. With this change Nevada and California routes 266 connected at the state line.

State Route 266 (SR 266) is a state highway in the U.S. state of California. The route traverses Fish Lake Valley, which is part in California and part in Nevada. The route connects two Nevada state routes that traverse the Nevada portion of the valley, NV 264 and NV 266. The only connection from SR 266 to the rest of California's road network is via SR 168 in the community of Oasis. Prior to 1986 the southern and northern halves of modern SR 266 had separate numerical designations. The southern portion of the highway, along with modern SR 168, dates to the auto trail era, forming part of the Midland Trail.


Rafting missions.

In its early years, the group actively rescued rafters from Cuba and claims to have saved thousands of Cubans, who were emigrating from the country. Eventually, the group's focus shifted after changes in US immigration policy meant that rafters would be sent back to Cuba.  The group's founder has stated that after August 1995, it stopped seeing rafters in the water. Heavily dependent on funding for rafting activities, the group's funding rapidly dropped to $320,455 in 1995, down from $1.5 million the year before. As a result, the group focused more on civil disobedience against the Cuban government. At least once, the group's founder dropped leaflets on Cuba.

Roque and Wasp Network.

One of the group's pilots, Cuban Juan Pablo Roque, a former major in the Cuban air force, unexpectedly left on February 23, 1996, the day before the two planes were shot down, and he turned up in Havana where he condemned the group. Roque had left Cuba four years earlier and was shortly after recruited by Brothers, where he flew several missions.  Despite being dismissed as a Cuban agent by US officials, Roque denied working for the Cuban government and claimed to have returned home after being disillusioned with the Brothers. He claimed that they had plans to carry out attacks on military bases in Cuba and to disrupt its defence communications.  Roque appeared on Cuban television on February 26, 1996, where he denounced the Brothers as an illegal and anti-Cuban organization the fundamental purpose of which is to provoke incidents that aggravated relations between Cuba and United States. In an interview with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), he stated that the group had planned to introduce anti-personnel weapons into Cuba and blow up high tension pylons to interrupt the energy supply.  While in Miami, Roque had contacts with and was paid by the FBI. His claims brought questions about the role of agencies such as the FBI and CIA in the activities of the exile community. However, White House spokesperson David Johnson said that "there does not exist, nor has there existed, any tie between the North American intelligence services and Hermanos al Rescate," adding that the organization is "not a front" for those services, nor is it financed by them. José Basulto agrees with US officials that Roque was a Cuban spy who, along with the Wasp Network, infiltrated the Brothers.  Promoted to Lieutenant Colonel after the shoot down, Roque has lived in a government-provided home with security since the incident. In an interview with "The Miami Herald" in 2012, he expressed remorse for the shootdown. "If I could travel in a time machine," he said, "I'd get those boys off the planes that were shot down." In 1999, he was indicted on federal charges of defrauding the FBI and failing to register as a foreign agent. However, Cuba has refused to extradite him. To this day, the Cuban exile community in South Florida considers Roque a traitor.  Rene Gonzalez, another Wasp Network spy, also infiltrated Brothers to the Rescue and regularly sabotaged aircraft and reported on its activities until his subsequent arrest.

1996 shootdown incident.

On February 24, 1996, two of the Brothers to the Rescue Cessna Skymasters involved in releasing leaflets to fall on Cuba, were shot down by a Cuban Air Force MiG-29UB. They were pilots Carlos Costa; Armando Alejandre, Jr.;Mario de la Peña; and Pablo Morales.

Brothers to the Rescue () is a Miami-based activist nonprofit right wing organization headed by José Basulto. Formed by Cuban exiles, the group is widely known for its opposition to the Cuban government and its former leader Fidel Castro. The group describes itself as a humanitarian organization aiming to assist and rescue raft refugees emigrating from Cuba and to "support the efforts of the Cuban people to free themselves from dictatorship through the use of active non-violence". Brothers to the Rescue, Inc., was founded in May 1991 "after several pilots were touched by the death of" fifteen-year-old Gregorio Perez Ricardo, who "fleeing Castro's Cuba on a raft, perished of severe dehydration in the hands of U.S. Coast Guard officers who were attempting to save his life."


History.

Dissatisfied with the state of the music scene in their hometown of Tel Aviv, the Israeli trio Monotonix formed in November 2005. They began by playing shows at local venues. They frequently set up on the floor among the crowd, playing shows raucous enough to result in the power being shut off or the police called in.  Eventually, finding themselves banned from most of the venues in Tel Aviv, the band decided to leave Israel and tour the United States and Europe. In 2006 and 2007, Monotonix played over 300 shows around the world, including appearances at festivals in the US and Europe, and a few tours with Silver Jews, for whom they opened in Israel and befriended. Monotonix were known for setting themselves and their equipment on fire, stealing drinks from audience members to pour on themselves, turning their shows into frenzied dance parties, and, later, for their unique take on raw garage rock.  In 2008, the band signed to Drag City and released "Body Language". The track was recorded by Tim Green of the Fucking Champs. They never let up on their nonstop touring though, playing over 250 shows that year alone.  On September 1, 2009, having recently released their first full length, "Where Were You When It Happened", they opened (along with Dinosaur Jr.) for the reunited Faith No More at a sold-out concert at the Israel Trade Fairs & Convention Center in Tel Aviv, Israel, and followed that show with tours in the US, Canada, Europe and Australia. "Set Me Free" from "Where Were You When It Happened" was used in the opening scene of an episode of cult TV show House.  In 2009, their song "Body Language" was featured on the video game "" and on "" on the fictional indie radio station Radio Broker.  In 2009, their song "Set Me Free" was the music over the opening parkour scene in "House M.D." (Brave Heart episode (06), season 06).  In January 2010, while performing in Florida, singer Ami Shalev broke his leg, leading the band to cancel one subsequent show in Athens, Georgia. The rest of the tour continued in equal manic energy with Shalev sometimes singing while atop venue bars on crutches.  Between tours that year, the band rented a studio space in the center of Tel Aviv and wrote the 10 songs that would appear on their next album. It was recorded at Electrical Audio in Chicago with engineer Steve Albini. Two 7-inch releases of these sessions came out in April and June 2010, serving as the appetizer for the band's second full length, "Not Yet", which was released on January 25, 2011.  During their US tour supporting "Not Yet" the band announced multiple times that the tour would be their last, first in Echoplex in Los Angeles, and afterward in sold out shows in San Francisco and New York City. The US tour was followed by a final tour of Europe. March 6, 2011, the band's final concert took place in London and became 15 minutes of complete chaos which completely destroyed the band's equipment and got shut down by the venue, ending with the band gifting their remaining tour merchandise and equipment to the audience. Shalev and Fershtman returned to Israel the next day, while Gat stayed in Europe and eventually would move to New York.  On March 25, 2011, the band posted a picture in a post on their Myspace blog showing a sign saying "The End" above the band's name. The post was titled "THANK YOU!".  In 2014, band founder and guitarist Yonatan Gat released the "Iberian Passage" EP under his own name. The album was recorded by Yonatan himself in Portugal with Portuguese drummer Igor Domingues. He followed it up with "Director" a year later, and embarked on extensive tours of the United States and Europe. Steve Albini produced an EP for Gat the same year titled "Physical Copy". Gat released his second full-length album on Joyful Noise Recordings, "Universalists", in 2018 to critical acclaim.

Monotonix were a garage rock band from Tel Aviv, Israel. The band — singer Ami Shalev, guitarist Yonatan Gat, and drummer Ran Shimoni (later replaced by Haggai Fershtman) — released their debut EP in 2008 and toured mostly in the United States and Europe, including notable appearances at SXSW. Monotonix subsequently released two full-length records: "Where Were You When It Happened?" and "Not Yet". Over the span of five years (ending in 2011 with the breakup of the band), Monotonix played 1000 shows. They were famously dubbed, "the most exciting live band in rock 'n' roll" by Spin Magazine. The band is also noted as guitarist and co-founder Yonatan Gat's first band, before he continued to a prolific solo career.


Overview.

The design is based upon earlier ADtranz Incentro models and like them, the Flexity Berlin is built from modules. The Berlin public transport operator Berliner Verkehrsbetriebe (BVG) ordered four different prototypes for testing. The variants are one each of 30-metre and 40-metre lengths in double-ended, or single-ended design. The shorter versions use five modules and the longer versions are built with seven modules. Cab and door arrangement can be either bidirectional (two cab) or unidirectional (single cab) format depending upon the intended route. The first were rolled out during the InnoTrans 2008 railway trade fair. The appearance of the trams was especially designed for use in Berlin.  If the new Flexity tram tests are successful, then Bombardier's Hennigsdorf factory is scheduled to produce a further 206 units. The order would allow BVG to replace 452 high-floor ČKD Tatra KT4 trams. The Tatra trams being replaced are shorter and normally operated in pairs.  In 2009 BVG placed an order for an initial 99 trams for delivery from May 2011. The actual roll-in started on 5 September 2011. At the time of the initial order the BVG intended to order 33 more trams after 2017.  In June 2012 the BVG placed a second order for 39 trams – the last tram of the first contract arrived on 10 September 2012 and the first tram of the second contract arrived on 7 September 2012. The second contract included only long versions so that the amount of trams is enough to replace all of the old Tatra trams by 2017. The purchase is fully funded by the Bundesland Berlin at an amount of 439.1 million euros.  The nearby Strausberg Railway joined the delivery framework of the BVG Berlin Transport Company ordering 2 trams on 5 September 2011. The two short double-ended two-cab trams were delivered in February and March 2013 replacing its older trams (mostly Tatra KT8D5). The purchase is part of a 20-year contract with the county ensuring the financial basis. The contract for the two trams is at an amount of about 5.5 million euros.  The pilot batch was assembled in Bautzen which was later building the chassis for further assembly in Hennigsdorf near Berlin using some parts like motors from Bombardier facilities in Mannheim and Siegen. The factory in Hennigsdorf will deliver about 20 to 24 trains per year (with the last train from the second Berlin batch to be delivered during 2017).

The Bombardier Flexity Berlin is a tram type constructed for the Berlin tramway network. It was developed by Bombardier Transportation during the late 2000s and is based on the Bombardier Flexity family of 100% low-floor trams.


Connection between A15 and A18.

In governmental plans, the A15 and A18 together were meant to be one long motorway from the Europoort harbor near Rotterdam towards the town of Varsseveld in the east of the country. However, the section between the interchange Ressen and Zevenaar was not completed. To avoid confusion for drivers, the eastern part of the road has been given a different number: A18. In 2018, the Dutch government announced plans to extend the A15 by from the A325 south of Arnhem to the A12 northwest of Zevenaar as a toll motorway, which will provide a connection onward to the A18; the A12 will also be widened from Westervoort to the Oud-Dijk interchange with the A18, and a new Zevenaar-East exit will be built to replace the existing Zevenaar exit. Construction of the extension began in 2019 and is planned for completion between 2021 and 2023. It is unclear whether the A18 route will be renumbered as the A15 once the connection to the A12 is made.

Section A15 (and N15).

The westernmost part of the road, between the Maasvlakte and exit 8 is officially not an "Autosnelweg" (motorway), and is therefore known as the N15. However, it has most characteristics of a motorway, such as a central barrier and a hard shoulder until it crosses the Coloradoweg on the Maasvlakte. As of exit 8, the road becomes an official motorway, called A15. Together with the Betuweroute, which runs parallel on several stretches, the A15 is a main transport corridor from the Port of Rotterdam to the east.

Reconstruction works.

In 2010, the A15 motorway near Rotterdam has been widened between the exit Brielle and the interchange Vaanplein. To the western part, between Brielle and Spijkenisse, one lane in each direction will be added, making it a 2x3 road. As for the eastern part of the section, between Spijkenisse and the Vaanplein, the current 2x3 road has been upgraded to a 2x5 road. The complex project in this highly industrialized part of Rotterdam caused an extensive loss of €103 million to one of the main contractors of the project, Ballast Nedam, in the year 2014.

Section A18 (and N18).

The A18 motorway is a short motorway, with only 5 exits and 20 kilometers. The western terminus, interchange Oud-Dijk, can only be used by traffic to and from the western part of the A12. Traffic to/from the A12 east of this interchange (most likely from the German BAB 3 road) will have to use local roads to get from the A18 to the A12 or vice versa.  After its eastern terminus near Varsseveld, road number 18 continues as a regional non-motorway road, therefore being called N18. This road passes the towns Harreveld, Lichtenvoorde, Groenlo, and Eibergen on its way to the city Enschede.

The Dutch A15 motorway (Rijksweg 15) is a set of two motorways in the Netherlands, the A15 and the A18.


Amateur career.

Demetrius Andrade obtained arguably the most successful amateur boxing reputation amongst all Rhode Island fighters in history. A Providence native of Cape Verdean descent, southpaw Andrade began boxing in 1994 at the age of 6. His nickname "Boo Boo" quickly became well known amongst the locals and he later became a recognized name across the United States.  Andrade won the United States Amateur Boxing Championship in 2005, and repeated it in 2006 when he also won the National Golden Gloves. He again won the National Golden Gloves in 2007, but did not compete in the U.S. Amateurs that year due to injury.  Andrade initially struggled at the international level, losing to Eastern Europe opponents at the World Cup in 2005 and 2006. However, he won the silver medal at the 2007 Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro, losing in the gold medal match to Brazilian hometown favorite Pedro Lima by a narrow 7-6 margin.  He won Gold at the 2007 World Amateur Boxing Championships, where he beat Kakhaber Zhvania, Dmitrijs Sostaks, 2005 silver medalist Magomed Nurutdinov, future champion Jack Culcay-Keth, and Adem Kılıççı in the semifinal round. He beat Non Boonjumnong of Thailand in the finals, a match in which Andrade inflicted a standing eight count upon Boonjumnong and was leading by a score of 11-3 in the second round when Boonjumnong retired with an injury to his right arm.  Andrade attempted one last amateur endeavor before deciding to become professional. At the Olympic trials he defeated hard-punching Keith Thurman 27:13 In 2008, Demetrius Andrade was honored with the satisfaction of representing the USA in the 2008 Beijing Olympics and he became known as one of the favorites to win a gold medal. He overcame Kakhaber Zhvania and the highly regarded Russian Andrey Balanov 14:3 to advance to the quarterfinals but he was shocked by Korean veteran Kim Jung-Joo 9:11 (Olympic results) in a controversial loss. Though unable to win an Olympic Gold Medal that year, Andrade decided to end his exceptional amateur campaign and become a professional.

Professional career.

Light middleweight.

Early career.

Demetrius Andrade became a professional boxer and had his first pro fight in October 2008.  He defeated Patrick Cape at Northern Quest Casino, Airway Heights, Washington in a second-round knockout. He went on to win a TKO over Eric Marriott before making his Friday Night Fights debut against Tom Joseph on March 6 with a 1st-round TKO victory. Only 2 weeks later, Demetrius beat Arnulfo Javier Romero in a second-round KO. On June 19, 2009 he won in a unanimous decision against Tony Hirsch and followed up with another KO against Chad Greenleaf in the second round.  Andrade went on to defeat John Williams by TKO in the 6th round, and Chris Chatman by unanimous decision. Andrade’s record jumped to an impressive 9-0 record after demolishing Italian boxer Bernardo Guereca, with a 1st-round KO. Demetrius defeated his next ten opponents, including five fights ending by KO and the others ending by unanimous decision.

Andrade vs. Martirosyan.

An opportunity arose in the Summer of 2013 when the vacant WBO light middleweight title would be decided by one match between Andrade and Armenian contender Vanes Martirosyan (33-0-1, 21 KOs). Andrade was scheduled to fight titlist Zaurbek Baysangurov on July 6 in Kiev, Ukraine. Baysangurov was stripped after suffering a back injury and being sidelined for an extended period of time. The fight took place on November 9, 2013, at the American Bank Center in Texas. The fight was originally scheduled to take place on September 7 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Andrade defeated Martirosyan via split decision with scores of 114-113, 117-110 and 112-115 to win the vacant WBO title. Andrade was knocked down in the first round from a left hook by Martirosyan after dominating the entire round. Andrade used his jab and quickness to dominate and control the rest of fight.

Andrade vs. Rose.

On March 20, 2014 it was confirmed that British boxer and mandatory challenger Brian Rose (25-1-1, 7 KO) would be the first defence of Andrade's world title reign. The fight would take place on June 14 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn. Andrade dominated Rose, a British native via 7th-round TKO. Andrade was ahead on all scorecards (60-51 & 60-52 twice) at the time of stoppage. Rose was dropped hard by straight left hand from Andrade in the first round. In round 3, Andrade connected with a counter right hook, which put Rose on the canvas a second time. Referee Michael Griffin stepped in to put an end to the one-sided beatdown in round 7. Compubox showed Andrade landed 149 of 452 total punches (33%), while Rose connected on a minor 30 of 179 total punches (17%). The fight advanced Andrade to an outstanding 21-0 with 14 knockouts. Andrade put in a dominant performance to claim his place as a top champion in order to lure a future fight with the division best including Canelo Álvarez and Floyd Mayweather. For the fight, Andrade earned $200,000 compared to Rose, who earned a $100,000 purse. The fight averaged 882,000 viewers on HBO.

Andrade vs. Charlo negotiations.

Andrade was scheduled to fight Jermell Charlo (24-0, 11 KOs) at Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino on December 13, 2014, defending his WBO title. On November 16 was cancelled due to purse issues. Andrade was reportedly offered $250,000, but later increased to what would be a career high $300,000 purse. In January 2015, Banner Promotions stated the fight was back on and likely to take place in the Spring of 2015. The following month, Star Boxing and Banner Promotions announced a deal was being worked out, however a fight did not materialise.

Inactivity and comeback.

After 13 months with no title defenses and none scheduled, Andrade was stripped of the title by the World Boxing Organization Committee.  On September 16, 2015 Banner Promotions and Star Boxing announced that Andrade would return to the ring after 16 months of inactivity against 28 year old Argentine boxer Dario Fabian Pucheta (20-2, 11 KOs) for the vacant WBA International light middleweight title at the Mohegan Sun Casino in Uncasville, Connecticut on October 17. In a statement, Andrade said, "It's about time that I get back in the ring. I am happy to be fighting [near] home in front of my fans." Andrade headlined the card. Andrade won the vacant regional title by knocking out Pucheta in the second round. Andrade started strong dropping Pucheta in round 1 following a straight left. Pucheta was dropped again in the opening round when Andrade landed a right uppercut. Another right hand in round 2 ended the bout.

Andrade vs. Nelson.

ESPN reported that Andrade would take part in a Showtime-televised tripleheader in a WBC light middleweight final eliminatoragainst 28 year old contender Willie Nelson (25-2-1, 15 KOs) on June 11, 2016 at the Turning Stone Resort & Casino in Verona, New York. Andrade defeated Nelson via a 12th round stoppage. The win put Andrade in line for a WBC title shot against then-newly crowned champion Jermell Charlo. Andrade knocked Nelson down four times throughout the fight before it finally came to an end. The final knockdown occurred in round 12 following a right hand. Referee Dick Pakozdi then stopped the fight at 1:38 of the round. The other knockdowns appeared in round 1, 11 and 12, before the final knockdown. With Nelson looking hesitant to throw punches, it allowed Andrade to work over and continiusly land at will. Following the fight, Andrade said, "I’m coming to get those belts.People can’t run no more. The best have to fight the best. I’m coming for them. I came back, I’m stronger. Me and my team worked hard. We figured out what we need to do to take it to the next level. I’m ready for the Charlo brothers. I want them."  Andrade, although he was mandatory for the WBC title, made it known that he was also targeting a fight with long-time WBA'super' champion Erislany Lara (23-2-2, 13 KOs), who was also regarded one of the best at 154 pounds. Andrade's promoter Artie Pellulo told ESPN, "I'm going to ask Stephen (Espinoza) if he is interested in doing a fight between Demetrius and Lara."

Andrade vs. Culcay.

Andrade agreed terms to fight Jack Culcay (22-1, 11 KOs) for the WBA 'Regular' light middleweight title at the MBS Arena in Potsdam, Brandenburg on November 5, 2016. Sauerland Event won the purse bid for the fight at $425,144, 25% of which will go to Andrade. Showtime confirmed they would not be broadcasting the fight, despite interest in Andrade, due to them not wanting to go head to head with Manny Pacquiao's return on that same date. Andrade defeated Culcay in the amateurs on the way to winning gold at the 2007 World Championships. The fight was cancelled after it was revealed Andrade's camp had failed to meet several deadlines the WBA had set for the official contracts to be signed. The contract was eventually signed, however as they have failed to meet the deadlines given by the WBA and Team Sauerland, the fight remained cancelled.  On January 14, 2017 reports suggested that a contract had been signed between Andrade and Culcay to fight for the WBA 'Regular' title on March 11. The fight was officially confirmed weeks later to take place at the Freidrich-Ebert-Halle in Ludwigshafen, Germany. Andrade became a two time world champion after winning the WBA 'Regular' title via split decision. Two judges scored the bout 116-112, 116-112 for Andrade whilst the third had it 115-114 for Culcay. The fight was regarded as close, with as many as five rounds being tossed between the two. Sky Sports pundits had Andrade a clear close winner as he outworked Culcay. In the post fight interview, Andrade credited his performance, "I thought I did everything that I needed to do. I came to Germany and took the title. Culcay came like a champion, but I was the better man. I outlanded him and I came out with the victory." He also stated that he was happy to be back in the world title mix and defend against the best 154 pound fighters.

Middleweight.

Andrade vs. Fox.

On September 14, 2017 it was announced that Andrade would appear on a HBO card, as part of his new multi-fight deal on October 21 as a co-feature to Jezreel Corrales vs. Alberto Machado at the Turning Stone in Verona, New York. His opponent was revealed to be Alantez Fox (23-0-1, 11 KOs), who would be taking a significant step up in competition. It was also revealed the fight would be a non-title fight at middleweight. Fox, a natural middleweight, has been fighting at the weight since 2012. On fight night, Andrade put in a drudge perfornance, winning the fight after 12 rounds via unanimous decision. The three judges' scored the fight 118-110, 118-109, and 116-111 in his favour. Andrade hurt Fox in the opening round and looked as though he would be able finish the fight inside the distance. Instead, Fox went to defense mode and made Andrade work for the decision. In round 7, Andrade slipped during an exchange with Fox. When Andrade got back to his feet, he was shocked to see the referee counting, ruling the slip as an official knockdown. Replays showed that Fox did not land a punch in the exchange. Andrade continued to use his jab and left hand to control the fight. ComputBox stats showed that through the 12 rounds, Fox 52 of 301 punches thrown (17%). Andrade, who was the clear winner after 12 rounds, landed 158 of his 572 thrown (27%), which included 49% of his power punches landed.  Andrade felt he did well in his debut at middleweight and believed there was always room for improvement. He said, "I did everything I needed to do. It was a great experience to go 12 rounds at this weight. Fox is a tough kid, and after I hurt him early in the first round, he recovered well. He wasn't sloppy and he knew how to survive, so that is why I did not finish him." It was revealed that Andrade vacated his WBA 'Regular' light middleweight title before the fight, in order to get ranked immediately at middleweight, which would eventually earn him a title opportunity. The fight drew an average of 613,000 viewers and peaked at 685,000 viewers on HBO.  On November 29, 2017 Keith Connolly, manager of middleweight prospect Sergiy Derevyanchenko (11-0, 9 KOs) spoke to Boxing Scene claiming that Andrade had pulled out of a deal to fight Derevyanchenko on December 16 in Laval, Quebec on the Saunders-Lemieux WBO middleweight championship undercard. Although a deal was not fully agreed, Connolly stated the reason behind the fight not going ahead was because Andrade believed he would not have had the time to prepare for a tough fight against Derevyanchenko. According to Connolly, negotiations started in late October, just after Andrade defeated Fox, which would have mean it was seven weeks from the proposed fight date. Connolly said, “He claimed he didn’t have enough time [to get ready], but these negotiations took place seven weeks before the fight date. So that’s plenty of time. If you think you’re gonna take the fight, you start training right away.” HBO's Peter Nelson liked the idea of the fight and hoped it would take place in early 2018. Matt Rowland of Banner Promotions reacted to the statements made by Connolly. Rowland claimed the negotiations around the second week of November and HBO told them there was no Andrade fight until 2018. Rowland went on to say the negotiations will resume and the fight would take place in the first quarter.

Promotional changes.

On June 20, 2018 it was reported by ESPN's Dan Rafael that HBO would air Andrade against 2012 Olympic bronze medalist Yamaguchi Falcao (15-0, 7 KOs) on the undercard of Jaime Munguia's WBO light middleweight title defence against Liam Smith on July 21 at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas. The fight was confirmed on June 26, however a day later, Andrade announced that he had split with Star Boxing & Banner Promotions, who had both co-promoted Andrade for 10 years. It was a mutual decision from all parties. Andrade said, “It’s been a long journey. I’ve learned a lot and I really appreciate everything that Artie (Pelullo of Banner Promotions) and Joe (DeGuardia of Star Boxing) did for me and my career. Sometimes it seemed like it was us against the whole world trying to get the top fighters to get in the ring with me but at the end of the day Artie and Joe guided me to two World Championships and I really want to thank them for all their efforts! I’m hoping to be back in the ring again very soon and get an opportunity to show the world that I’m going to be a World Champion once again!" Andrade declared himself a promotional free agent. According to The Ring, Andrade bought out the remainder of his contract. The fight with Falcao was cancelled.

Andrade vs. Kautondokwa.

On July 12, the WBO ordered Billy Joe Saunders (26-0, 12 KOs) to make a mandatory defence against Andrade, with both sides having 10 days to reach a deal. On July 13, it was reported that Andrade would be unveiled as one of Eddie Hearn's Matchroom Boxing USA's signing with a deal that would see him fighting on DAZN. On July 17, at the official launch, Andrade was introduced as one of Matchroom Boxing USA's signings. At this point, it was revealed Andrade would likely make his ring return in October 2018 however there was no confirmation whether Hearn would participate in the purse bid for Saunders vs. Andrade. On 25 July, the purse bid, which was scheduled for the evening, was cancelled after it was revealed that Eddie Hearn and Frank Warren had reached a deal for the fight to take place in USA under the Matchroom USA banner on DAZN. It was said that representatives of Top Rank were scheduled to be present at the purse bid to try and secure the fight for ESPN+. With Matchroom USA having promotional rights on the fight, Warren confirmed the fight would take place on Sky Sports in the United Kingdom and not BT Sport. On 9 August, according to Hearn, the fight would take place at the TD Garden in Boston, Massachusetts on 20 October.  On 27 September, ESPN's Dan Rafael first reported that Saunders had tested positive for banned substance oxilofrine, known as a stimulant. The test was carried out by the Voluntary Anti-Doping Association (VADA) on 30 August. Hearn stated he would wait to see if the Massachusetts commission will allow Saunders to fight, however confirmed Andrade would still appear in the main event, whether it be a vacant world title or a non-title bout. Promoter Warren claimed the positive test was due to a nasal spray and was permitted by UKAD. The BBBofC also stated Saunders was not in breach of their regulations. At a hearing, the MSAC denied Saunders a license, meaning he could not defend his title against Andrade. According to reports, the cancellation meant Saunders team would be losing around $2.3 million. WBO president, Paco Valcarcel told ESPN, Saunders would not be stripped immediately, as Saunders would likely appeal and Andrade's fight against Namibian boxer Walter Kautondokwa (17-0, 16 KOs), who at the time was ranked #2 with the WBO, would be for the vacant WBO intertim title. On October 11, Saunders voluntarily vacated the title, which meant the bout would be for the full WBO title. According to sources, Andrade was still set to receive his $800,000 purse for the fight.  In front of 6,874 in attendance, Andrade became a two-weight world champion, capturing the vacant WBO title after he dropped Kautondokwa four times in the fight en route to winning via unanimous decision. The scorecards read 120-104, 120-104 and 119-105 in Andrade's favour. At least two of the knockdowns were due to balance issues. In the opening round, Andrade dropped Kautondokwa with a left to the head. While Kautondokwa was on the canvas, Andrade hit him again with a shot to the head that badly hurt him.Referee Steve Willis did not acknowledge the foul. Late in round 3, Andrade landed left hand to the jaw that dropped Kautondokwa for a second time. Reaching the 2 minute mark in round 4, Andrade landed overhand left that sent Kautondokwa to the canvas for the third rime in the fight. At the same time, Kautondokwa landed a left hand which forced Andrade's glove to touch the canvas, however referee Willis did not credit Kautondokwa's knockdown. Kautondokwa got up, but shortly hit with a straight left, sending him down again. At the midway point of the fight, Andrade had wide lead on the scorecards. He then stayed away from Kautondokwa’s powerful right hand by circling the ring in the last half of the contest. Occasionally, Andrade was hit hard by Kautondokwa, but he was able to handle his power. After the fight, Andrade said, "After a one-year layoff, my second bout at 160, [I am] the new middleweight champion of the world, Demetrius Andrade. I feel good. I definitely think I carried my power well, and we're just going to keep building and growing for the 160-pound division, and I want to fight the best out there." He also praised Kautondokwa for his toughness. According to CompuBox, Andrade landed 152 of 501 punches thrown (30%), and Kautondokwa landed 45 of his 325 thrown (14%). Kautondokwa did not land more than 8 punches in a single round.

Outside of boxing.

On December 6, 2018 it was reported that Andrade had been arrested after he was caught driving in his Mercedes with a glock 19 pistol. The pistol was found in a Louis Vuitton bag. After doing some checks, the Providence Police found that Andrade did not have a permit to hold the gun. According to the reports, Andrade told the police he had the gun because of his 'fame and wealth', however the detective Maj. David Lapatin explained there was no reason not to have a permit regardless. Two policemen, who were driving along the road at 2:30 a.m. local time, originally came over to Andrade's car after he was seen blocking traffic talking to another person in a Mercedes. The police also found a magazine with 10 rounds in the bag. Andrade was released on bail the same day.

Demetrius Cesar Andrade ( ; born February 26, 1988) is an American professional boxer. He has held multiple world championships in two weight classes, including the WBO middleweight title since 2018, and previously the WBA (Regular) and WBO light middleweight titles between 2013 and 2017. As an amateur he won the U.S. national championships and Golden Gloves twice each, a gold medal at the 2007 World Championships, and represented the U.S. at the 2008 Olympics; all in the welterweight division.


Franke History.

Founding years.

Hermann Franke founded a sheet metal business in his name in Rorschach, Switzerland, in 1911. In the late 1920s the economic upturn in the industry and construction sector led to the incorporation of a sanitary installations department. Franke began with the production of oven tops, skylights and dormer windows.  In the 1930s Franke started production of the first sink units in nickeline, monel-metal and later in stainless steel. Franke built a new factory with offices and residential building, and the company's ten employees relocated to Aarburg, Switzerland. Franke initiated the first production series and the first fully welded, smooth sink unit.  Hermann Franke died on January 25, 1939, and his son Walter took over the business. The Second World War led to great difficulties in obtaining materials. During the years after the war the company's factory facilities expanded and the production of complete kitchens began. Franke started to export products to European countries.

Expansion years.

The construction sector developed encouragingly. Business expanded rapidly. Franke sold kitchen sinks. In 1950 the Washroom and Sanitary Equipment product group was established as part of Franke with products for communal washrooms and WCs. Production of components for propulsion systems began. Franke saw its first foreign investment in Germany and by 1955 had 500 employees.  In the late 1950s, Franke's production doubled. Factory facilities were expanded further. A "Commercial Kitchens" division was founded. By 1961 Franke had 750 employees.  Over the next twelve years Franke experienced rapid growth: 13 new subsidiaries were established and two companies began manufacturing under license. In 1972, Franke built and installed the first kitchen for McDonald's in Munich. By 1974 the company had 2,600 employees. In 1975 Franke ownership changes: Walter Franke's friend and business partner Willi Pieper took over. Four subsidiaries and two licensees were added to the group. In 1979 the Franke compact sink system was introduced. In the late 1980s the divisional organization was established.

Today.

Michael Pieper joined Group Management in 1989. Rapid and consistent expansion transformed Franke into a corporate group with worldwide operations. Today Franke consists of approx. 10,500 employees in over 70 companies in Europe, South America, North America, Africa, Australia and Asia.

Franke Companies.

Switzerland.

Franke Artemis Group has its headquarters in Aarburg/Switzerland.

UK.

Franke took over the Sissons company based in Chesterfield, who are a manufacturer of stainless steel catering sinks and washroom systems. Sissons were one of the first companies to manufacture stainless steel sinks in the 1930s, and were founded in Sheffield, England. The company is known as Franke Sissons Ltd. In 1990 it bought the Falkirk-based Carron Phoenix.  Franke Coffee Systems UK are based in St Albans, Hertfordshire and sell and service bean-to-cup, pod and traditional style coffee machines.

France.

The company has also bought the companies Blinox and Roblin (producing hoods).

Franke Holding AG, based in Aarburg, Switzerland, is an industrial manufacturer with companies located around the world. Franke has about 10,500 employees working in 68 companies in Europe, South and North America, Africa, Australia and Asia.


Background.

Engelhardt wrote a book called "A Carefree Future" in 1898, which described a colony of fruit and vegetable eaters, specifically cocoivores (coconut eaters) he was founding in the then Bismarck Archipelago (now Papua New Guinea) in the South Pacific a place known for its headhunters. After graduating from Erlangen University in physics and chemistry, he conducted an 18-year experiment on Kabakon island, living a natural life on coconuts. However, in the writings of Engelhardt's contemporary Arnold Ehret, a pioneer of Vitalism, the lack of transition diet contributed to his weakened vitality.

Early life and education.

Engelhardt was born on 27 November 1875 in Nuremberg, the son of a factory owner manufacturing paints and varnish. He left the gymnasium, to study physics and chemistry at Erlangen University, before working as a pharmacy assistant. From this he developed an interest in health, issues that were being promoted by the lifestyle reform movement, which included writers such as Gustav Schlickeysen, author of "Obst und Brod: eine wissenschaftliche Diätetik" (Fruit And Bread: A Scientific Diet) in 1877. The book proposed that a frugivorous diet was the rational and natural diet for man. In particular, he heard of a new philosophy developing in the United States called cocoivorism.  In the fall of 1899, Engelhardt joined the "Jungborn" ("Fountain of Youth") in the Harz mountains, Eckental, an association for wild living, which was founded by brothers Adolf Just and Rudolf Just and whose basic principles were vegetarianism and nudism. There he preached his idea that humans might live best in a "natural state" eating only coconuts, and gave public lectures in Leipzig and Nuremberg, where he was ridiculed. The Jungborn later experienced legal complications that led to its dissolution, as the practice of nudism was considered illegal and immoral. Adolf Just was convicted of improper activities as a naturopath and sent to jail. It is likely that these events led Engelhardt to a place away from the constraints and conventions of Europe where he could realize his ideas of natural living. Engelhardt was also part of the Monte Verità movement.

Pacific islands.

After serving for one year in the 14th Infantry Regiment, with a substantial inheritance, the 24-year-old took a trip on board the mail steamer "Empire" in July 1902. On 15 September 1902, Engelhardt arrived in German New Guinea in the West Pacific via Ceylon. There he hoped to find the conditions that he had envisaged to conduct a coconut eating and tropical living experiment. He obtained on 2 October 1902, from Queen Emma Kolbe's Forsayth Company, a coconut and banana plantation of 75 hectares on the coral island of Kaka Kon (Kabakon) for 41,000 marks. Kabakon was in Neu-Lauenburg (the Duke of York Islands in the Bismarck Archipelago, now part of Papua New Guinea) and 28 miles from Herbertshöhe (today Kokopo), where the German New Guinea imperial administration was based at that time. The other 50 hectares were a protected nature reservation inhabited by natives.  On Kabakon, as the only white man among 40 Melanesians, he built a three-room hut and began implementing his ideas of living close to nature. He gave up clothes completely and fed exclusively on a vegetarian diet, mostly from coconuts. He developed a philosophy that assumed that the sun was the venerable source of all life, and since the coconut was the fruit that grows nearest the sun, it must be the most perfect food for people. This view, called cocoivorism, culminated in Engelhardt's statement that the constant consumption of coconuts leads man to immortality. Engelhardt also made a living trading in coconuts, dried coconut, and coconut oil. After developing an ulcer on his right leg, he adopted a coconut monodiet, blaming tropical fruits for his condition.  According to a "New York Times" article from 15 October 1905: "His plan was to have his sect worship the sun. He held that man was a tropical animal, not intended to live in caves called houses, but to wander, as Adam did, with the sun beating upon him all day and the dews of heaven for a mantle at night. Living such a life, he believed that the healing and curative powers of the sun would in time render a man so immune that sickness could be overcome". The further Engelhardt's philosophy developed, the more dramatic was his testimony. He claimed that the noblest organ of the human body was the brain, because it is nearest to the sun, and he denied that such a noble part of the body receives its strength from the deep and dirty digestive tract. He suggested instead that the brain receives its energy from the hair roots, which in turn are fed by sunlight.

Rise and fall of the coconut cult.

Although he had brought 1200 books with him, Engelhardt felt isolated and wanted a community of like-minded people, an "Order of the sun", for which he wrote promotional literature published in Europe. His inheritance allowed him to support passage for his followers. In 1903, the first newcomers arrived on the island, including nature writer August von Bethmann-Alsleben (born 21 April 1864), from Heligoland, with whom Engelhardt wrote his main book "The Carefree Future" (1898). According to the "New Zealand Herald": "The long-haired, naked vegetarians, thought to number no more than 30, were a stark contrast to Kaiser Wilhelm's rigid turn-of-the-century Germany – and modern-day perceptions of German colonisers in the Pacific as military men, traders or administrators." In June 1905, Heinrich Conrad joined Engelhardt, but returned to Germany in October. Wilhelm Heine joined the colony in November 1905, but died two months later.  With Bethmann, Engelhardt continued his promotional work. Bethmann wrote enthusiastic accounts of life on Kabakon, which were published in Germany. Bethmann later started to have doubts about the nudist living on Kabakon. He told a German civil servant of the government, that by June 1906 he would leave on the next available steamer for Germany, but died, possibly of malaria, in September 1906. There seems to have been a quarrel between Engelhardt and Bethmann, probably about Bethmann's wife, Anna Schwab. Bethmann married her after her arrival in mid-1906, and she encouraged him to eat tropical fruits rather than just coconuts. Engelhardt believed the fruits were the catalyst for his demise. Schwab returned to Germany two months later, to criticise the cult. As a result, the governor of the island ordered a halt to new immigrants. Engelhardt was again alone on the island.

New members.

Engelhardt's cult was restarted with the coming of Heinrich Eukens and Max Lützow. Eukens, was a 24-year-old vegetarian, originally from Heligoland, and then a student in Bavaria. Lützow was a conductor, violinist and pianist with the well-known Lützow Orchestra of Berlin; in glowing letters to Germany he talked about Kabakon and published a letter in the most-read vegetarian magazine in Germany. Other newcomers arrived until the community reached its peak of up to 30 members. However, disillusion quickly set in, with the members experiencing disease and accidents. Six weeks after his arrival, Eukens had died, after developing a cold then a fever, although the cause of death was undetermined. Lützow became seriously ill after being stranded for two days in a boat during a storm. After returning to the island, he wanted to visit the hospital in Herbertshöhe, once he could reach the island Lamassa, but had succumbed to the effects of the storm. Other members later left, so that the nudist community was near its end.

Change of weather.

In 1904, Engelhardt became ill, after a drought reduced the fruit crop in 1903 with the remaining fruit crop wiped out in a storm in spring 1904. Only at the insistence of Bethmann, who had not yet departed, Engelhardt went to the hospital in Herbertshöhe where he was found in alarmingly poor health: Engelhardt, at a height of, was only. His whole body was itching and he had skin ulcers, as well as being exhausted and unable to walk. In summer 1905, he was taken to Herbershohe to be treated by Dr Wendland. With intensive care, he recovered before fleeing the hospital returning to Kabakon. Dempwolff, a German doctor at the hospital in Herbertshöhe, judged Engelhardt "a paranoid wreck". According to "The New York Times" (15 October 1905), "For nearly two years more he continued to live the 'pure, natural life'". He only attended to his plantation, but the coconut apostle became a point of interest for tourists in German New Guinea including painter Emil Nolde. It was a "must" for everybody to go to Kabakon and be photographed with the only remaining cocoivore.

Evolving writings.

On recovery, Engelhardt founded "Sonnenorden Kabakon" (Order of the Sun Kabakon) at Kabakon, but was refused official status by the island's German governor. Nevertheless, Ernst Schweizer from Switzerland arrived in 1908, but died a month later. Engelhardt continued to publish promotional literature including the bi-monthly "Für Sonne, Tropen u(nd) Kokosnuss!" between 1909 and 1913, co-funded by plantation manager, Wilhelm Bradtke, but his writings seemed increasingly confused. Engelhardt again started a publicity campaign to find followers, but now the German government was cautious. A new follower of Engelhardt had first to deposit 1,400 Goldmarks for possible cost of hospital and the trip back. He announced he wanted to establish an "international tropical colonial empire of frugivores" for nudism and sun-worship, which should include the entire Pacific, South America, Southeast Asia and Central Africa. All civil servants were requested to warn every newly arriving settler of Kabakon, since Engelhardt had become unmistakably insane. The German colonial administration wanted to ensure that no further arrivals reach his island.  In 1909, Engelhardt closed down his "Order of the Sun" colony and visited German New Guinea. His plantation operated since 1909 as Engelhardt & Company and was farmed by manager Wilhelm Bradtke, a vegetarian who had arrived in Kabakon in March 1905. After nearly three months, Bradtke had decided against the lifestyle and began working for Queen Emma as manager of the Ralum Plantation. Writing in a vegetarian magazine in 1906, Bradtke documented Engelhardt's major leg wounds, gout in the fingers, skin rashes, fever and seizures. Four weeks later, Bradtke experienced similar symptoms, due to the mosquitoes and sandflies. He tried to convince Engelhardt to eat meat to improve his health. Bradkte's motto was "better to eat pork and live, than to eat coconuts and die." Engelhardt's health worsened, and allegedly he followed Bradkte's advice. Bradkte managed to make the plantation profitable in 1909. In 1910, Engelhardt tried to register a plot of 50 hectares on the island Towalik (west of Kabakon) as his property, in the land register. By 1913, Engelhardt had lost money on the magazine, and he fell into a depression. An admission fee of 3,000 marks had been imposed to prospective members of the colony by Wilhelm Bradtke, causing a shortage of newcomers. Engelhardt and Bradtke separated. Other plantation managers and converts arrived, but either returned or died.  According to the "New Zealand Herald": "After Engelhardt fell seriously ill, the group's numbers dwindled; by 1913, before the outbreak of World War One, he was alone. He turned his attention to the cultivation of plants and their healing powers, interviewing many of the local people on the subject." In 1914, Engelhardt received a letter from Benedict Lust, leader of an American society of vegetarians about possible migration, but World War One stopped their plans. In 1913, Lust had published Engelhardt's book in English.

World War One.

German New Guinea was captured on 11 September 1914. In early 1915, during World War I, Engelhardt was interned for three weeks in an Australian camp in Rabaul as a prisoner of war, but was dismissed as a crank. He then returned to Kabakon now occupied by Australia, where Gordon Thomas of the Rabaul Times visited him, also in 1915. His plantation was now managed by another German planter, Wilhelm Mirow, who later sold it to his Australian wife to escape expropriation by the Australians. Engelhardt continued to study the indigenous medicinal plants and homeopathy, and sent a lot of specimens to the botanic gardens of Brisbane and Sydney.

Engelhardt departs.

Engelhardt continued to advocate sun worship and coconuts until he died in early May 1919 in his mid-40s. His body was found on the sixth of May. He was buried in Inabui Cemetery on Mioko, Duke of York islands, but there is no burial site, which was possibly destroyed in World War Two. Bradtke, his final follower, died on 10 May in Bitalolo Hospital near Herbertshohe. Bradtke is buried in the German cemetery in Herbertshöhe (now Kokopo).  Engelhardt was erroneously alleged to have died sometime after 1904, in a 1905 newspaper account, aboard a German government ship, near Herbertshohe: "Engelhardt refused all nourishment to the last, refused all medicine, and accused the missionary of interfering with his convictions. He wrought himself up to a great frenzy, fell upon the deck and was restrained only with difficulty from flinging himself overboard and swimming back to the island. Before the beach had sunk below the horizon the man was dead." According to "The New York Times", "Wrapped in a German flag, Engelhardt, founder and survivor of the sun worshippers, was laid to rest beside Lutzow and Eukens on the beach at Kahakua (Kabakon)".

Expropriation.

Mirow, on 26 July 1919, was appointed as executor. Through the Australian law on expropriation of German property (expropriation ordinance), the plantation and remaining assets of £6 fell on 6 May 1920 to the Australian state. Engelhardt's plantation was worthless. He left all his personal possessions, writings and paintings to Dr Berewenger in Berlin. Despite requests for these, nothing had been received as late as 1938.

Legacy.

Swiss author Christian Kracht's 2012 novel "Imperium" is inspired by the life of Engelhardt. An English translation, "Imperium - A Fiction of the South Seas", was published by Farrar Straus Giroux in 2015. Engelhardt appears as a major character in Adrian McKinty's 2014 novel "The Sun Is God" (), whose plot revolves around real life suspicious deaths at the colony. McKinty visited the site of the Kabakon colony in 2014 and found few traces remaining of the Cocovore encampment.

Criticisms.

Arnold Ehret maintained that Engelhardt's ill-health resulted from a failure to transition to a fruit diet.

August Engelhardt (27 November 1875 – 6 May 1919) was a German author and founder of a sect of sun worshipers.


Postage stamps and postal history of Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika

First K.U.T. stamps.

The first stamps marked Kenya, Uganda and Tanganyika were issued in 1935, in the form of common design commemoratives for the Silver Jubilee of King George V as well as a definitive series featuring a profile of the king and local scenes. They replaced stamps marked "East Africa and Uganda Protectorates" and "Kenya and Uganda". The definitives included a dramatic departure from the usual engraved stamps of the period; the 10c and £1 stamp were typographed and had a silhouette of a lion, with color combinations of black/yellow and black/red, respectively.

George VI.

The same designs were reissued in 1938 with a profile of George VI. Wartime exigencies forced the use of surcharges on four South African stamps in 1941 and 1942, but after the war the usual common types (Peace Issue, Silver Wedding Issue, etc.) resumed.

Queen Elizabeth II.

A definitive series, with new designs, was issued in 1954 for Queen Elizabeth, and in 1958 a pair of commemoratives marked the 100th anniversary of the discovery (from a European perspective) of the Great Lakes of Africa by Burton and Speke.  A new definitive series in 1960 used simpler and more symbolic designs, and was followed in 1963 by three sets of commemoratives. At this point postal service was taken over by the East African Common Services Organization, which issued commemoratives for the 1964 Summer Olympics inscribed "Uganda, Kenya, Tanganyika, Zanzibar", even though they were never actually used in Zanzibar. After Tanganyika merged with Zanzibar to form Tanzania, subsequent stamps were inscribed "Uganda, Kenya, Tanzania", with the three names being listed in randomly varying orders.  These stamps were issued in parallel with stamps from each of the newly independent nations. The Common Services Organization continued to issue various commemoratives, at the rate of about 10-12 per year, until early in 1976.

Kenya, Uganda, Tanganyika (KUT) is the name on British postage stamps made for use in the British colonies of Kenya, Uganda, and Tanganyika. The stamps were circulated between 1935 and 1963 by the joint postal service of the three colonies, the East African Posts and Telecommunications Administration, reconstituted as part of the East African High Commission from 1948 to 1961, the East African Common Services Organization from 1961 to 1967, and the East African Community from 1967 to 1977. Even after independence, the new separate nations continued to use the KUT stamps, and they remained valid for postage until 1977.


Early life.

Germer studied in a university, worked as a military intelligence officer in the First World War and received first and second class Iron Crosses for his service. In 1923 he sold his Vienna property and founded the publishing house Pansophia Verlag in Munich. Germer stayed with his first wife at the Abbey of Thelema from the beginning of January until February 1926.

Immigration to the United States: 1926–1935.

In 1926, Germer got married for the second time and immigrated to the USA, his wife being an American citizen. By 1927 Germer and his wife Cora Eaton were living in New York where Germer worked as a merchant of machinery. There, in his capacity of Grand Treasurer General of the O.T.O. Germer begun raising funds for the Order. Money was always a problem but Germer saw that Crowley must have it so that the work could go on and the books could be published. He raised funds for Crowley in one way or another, his own or the money of O.T.O members whom he could interest in donating it to the O.T.O.  By 1930, Germer and his second wife travelled to Europe had stayed with Crowley for a short while to raise funds for the exhibition of Crowley’s paintings in Germany. Germer wanted to help Crowley to be published, and help Thelema to be put across by his art work and by the distribution of Crowley’s publications. Since he had business experience, he did well at this, even though he did not have enough funds during much of that time.

Holocaust and the aftermath: 1935–1940.

Rise of Nazi Germany.

Germer's US visa expired and he had to return to Germany in 1935. When Adolf Hitler came to power, Germer came under suspicion because of his association with Crowley and teaching Thelema in Germany. Hitler was given a copy of Liber AL, the Holy Book of Thelema, by Martha Kuntzel who enjoyed a high reputation in Germany amongst aristocrats. Kunzel had been working for some years on translations of Crowley's works into German. She had also presented Liber AL to Hitler as she thought highly of him before he came to power. Liber AL was known well enough in higher German circles after Kunzel translated and introduced it to German public and soon after the start of World War II, Hitler banned it in Germany, as well as the books on religion, qabala, astrology, esoteric studies and gematria.  Hitler knew enough about Thelema to ban Liber AL in Germany and thus Germer became his enemy when his religious beliefs became known. On Hitler’s orders Germer was arrested by the Gestapo on 13 February 1935 in Leipzig and incarcerated. He was first held at the Columbia-Haus prison in Berlin. There he was allowed to work a short time on an architect’s office.

Esterwegen concentration camp.

Having seen too much of Hitler’s brutality at Columbia-Haus, Germer wrote to his wife about it. At around the same time, his wife Cora contacted the American Consulate in Berlin who pleaded for Germer’s return to the US as his wife was a US citizen. This was seen as a crime by the Nazis and they punished Germer even further, deporting him to the Esterwegen concentration camp on the Dutch Frontier where thousands of Hitler’s so-called political enemies were deported by the Nazis. Germer remained there for seven months, witnessing cruelties of various sorts on the Nazi side. His wife Cora now did not know where he was and there was nothing else for her to do but to return to America, where she again began her appeal to various US authorities. When they helped her to find out where he was, she sent Germer a cable. Germer wrote a reply to her and it was read by the Nazis which resulted in Germer being placed in solitary confinement. He was no longer allowed to read and for six weeks, he never saw the day nor was allowed in the open air.

Years in Belgium and France.

At the end of August of that year Germer was temporarily freed from detention at Esterwegen, his case being that be had been a Major in World War I on the German side and was also of pure German blood, therefore the charges were too vague to get any real case against him. Germer moved to Belgium where he took an apartment and started working as an exporter of heavy farm machinery in Brussels, making frequent trips to England and Ireland. This was with great difficulty as the war and Hitler's movements were making travel difficult. In Brussels Germer had the means to store his personal belongings, his diaries and other things at a friend's house. Between 1939 and 1940 he wrote 223 pages of his autobiographical book "Protective Prisoner No 303" about his experiences in the concentration camp, which he wanted to publish. On May 10, 1940, when the Germans marched into Belgium Germer was again incarcerated. As the Germans advanced, Germer was transferred to the French authorities who held him in a French concentration camp of Lévitan and was later sent to the camp of Saint-Cyprien camp in the Pyrénées-Orientales where 90,000 Spanish refugees were interned in March 1939. It was officially closed on 19 December 1940 for "sanitary reasons". Its occupants, including Germer, were transferred to the Camp of Gurs where in October 1940 thousands of Jewish women, children, and the elderly, who had not gone to the Nazi concentration camps in Germany, were deported from the Baden region of Germany as per official Nazi policy which was overseen by Adolf Eichmann.

Liberation and return to the United States.

On September 1, 1941 a non-quota immigration visa had been obtained for Germer by his American wife. But French authorities made it almost impossible for Germer to obtain the permit before, despite all kinds of urgent steps that were undertaken by his wife and the American Ambassador and Consul. French authorities only gave him permission to go to Marseille to see the American Consul four months after the visa was granted. After being released from the Nazi concentration camp in February 1941, Germer returned to the United States. Securing a job as a merchant of machinery upon his return to New York, Germer continued his fundraising activities for Crowley who appointed him his personal representative in the United States.

Later life: 1941–1962.

Grand Treasurer General of O.T.O..

Germer had seen that Crowley needed aid to finish his publishing work in his later years. In his capacity of Grand Treasurer General of Ordo Templi Orientis, Germer raised over $25,000 for publishing Crowley's works, as well as support and maintenance. In July 13, 1942, Germer's wife Cora Eaton died of a heart attack. Two months later, on September 23, 1942, Germer married Vienna piano teacher Sascha Ernestine Andre. For many years, he and Sascha sent at least $200 monthly to Crowley, being Crowley’s most devoted supporters of their time.

O.H.O. of O.T.O..

In 1942, Crowley appointed Germer as his successor as the Head of Ordo Templi Orientis and he fulfilled that position after Crowley's death in 1947. Germer was also a special appointee of the Order with jurisdiction over Agape Lodge. Germer had had a lot of trouble getting reports from Agape Lodge and answers to his letters from Wilfred Talbot Smith who was the lodge master. Instead, Germer kept in touch with Jane Wolfe who was one of the founding members. Through Wolfe he made acquaintance and good friendship of Phyllis Seckler. Their friendship begun by correspondence when Seckler was in college.  Crowley died on December 1, 1947. Since his death, Germer became the Outer Head of the order (O.H.O.) and started working on preservation of Crowley’s literary remains and getting his books published. At the time of Crowley's death there were still many important manuscripts which had not been published and Germer sent those to various publishers, getting these works of Crowley published for the first time.  In 1953 Germer was introduced to Marcelo Motta and took him as his student in the A.:.A.:.

Move to Southern California.

In 1954 Germer retired from his job in New Jersey and moved to California on advice of Jane Wolfe and her student Phyllis Seckler who were his confidants. After about 2 years he found a house in West Point, California where he set up a Head Office of the O.T.O and put together the Order’s library containing Crowley works and O.T.O. files which later became a subject of a dispute due to Germer’s will being lost or stolen after his death. In January of 1957 Marcelo Motta visited Germer at his new headquarters in West Point and in the early January of 1957 Germer, Jane Wolfe and Motta visited Phyllis Seckler at Livermore, California. It was their last meeting before Germer died.

Final years.

In his letters Germer often mentioned his task in life was to support Crowley, and to do his best to publish Crowley's writings. He did not expect to die before accomplishing this task the way he envisaged it, and therefore did not name a successor in his will.

Death.

Germer died as a result of prostate cancer in late October 1962. By 1962 the average rate of cancer among Holocaust survivors was nearly two and a half times the national average, while the average rate of colon cancer, attributed to the victims' experience of starvation and extreme stress, was nine times higher.

Germer Estate.

The will Germer made to dispose of Crowley's literary remains kept at his estate provided that all of the Crowley materials should go to the Heads of the Ordo Templi Orientis. Sascha Germer and Frederick Mellinger of Swiss O.T.O. were appointed to act as executors of the will. All Germer’s personal property was to be left to Sascha Germer.

Personal life.

Over the course of his life, Germer married and divorced three times; his late wife Schasha Germer was named as one of the executors of his will, in charge of his literary remains. He had no children.

Legacy.

Germer, who was a Holocaust survivor, worked tirelessly to preserve and publish Crowley’s work. For quite a few years he had been Grand Treasurer of the Ordo Templi Orientis in charge of Crlowley’s literary remains, and was so named in Crowley's will.  During World War II, at the time of oppression and tyranny by the Nazi party, Germer memorised Liber AL, Liber LXV, and Liber VII, reciting it daily from memory. When Hitler confined him to a solitary state in a German concentration camp, he recited the Holy Books of Thelema to himself, which aided him in performing one of the central tasks of the A∴A∴, being the attainment of the experience known as "the Knowledge and Conversation of the Holy Guardian Angel”, the attainment of which is the central theme of the order's official instructions.

Karl Johannes Germer (22 January 1885 – 25 October 1962), also known as "Frater Saturnus", was a German occultist and the United States representative and later a successor of author and occultist Aleister Crowley as the Outer Head of the Order (OHO) of Ordo Templi Orientis from 1947 until his death in 1962. He was born in Elberfeld, Germany and died in West Point, California.


Advantages and disadvantages.

The greatest benefit of Distributed Power—and the reason for development of the original concept—is the reduction of drawgear draft forces, permitting a wholesale increase in the size of trains without exceeding draw-gear strength, through the use of mid- or end-of-train locomotives. There are also potential train-handling benefits. Over an undulating track profile, a skillful operator can manipulate the relative power outputs (as well as dynamic- and air-brake applications) to minimize run-in and run-out of coupler slack throughout the train."  Reduced draft forces along a train will reduce the lateral force between wheel and rail on curves, thus reducing fuel consumption and wear on various running-gear components as well as the potential for a'stringline' derailment.  Another benefit is quicker application of air brakes. With all braking control on a conventional train being established at the head-end, it can take several seconds for brake pipe pressure changes initiated by the operator to propagate along the train. Under radio-controlled DP operation, the brakes are set at remote locomotives almost simultaneously with the command initiated on the lead locomotive, providing a more uniform air brake response throughout the train.  The main disadvantage is the operational time needed, and track configuration required, to add and remove additional locomotive units. Secondary disadvantages are the costs associated with equipping locomotives with the extra control apparatus and the potential for the intermittent loss of the telemetry signal. This latter is known as 'Communication Interrupt' and is coped with by fail-safe software program inclusions.

History.

Since the 1960s, railroad distributed power technology has been dominated by one company, Harris Controls (originally Harris Corporation — Controls & Composition Division, later purchased by General Electric—the division now known as GE Transportation) who have manufactured and marketed a patented radio-control system with the trade-name of LOCOTROL, that is the predominant wireless DP system in use around the world today.  With its origins in the early days of SCADA technology for the remote control of pipelines and electric utilities, and from an early concept of Southern Railway President D.W. Brosnan, Locotrol was a product of the North Electric Company (Galion, Ohio) which was later purchased by Radiation Inc. (Melbourne, Florida) and—in turn—purchased by Harris Corporation (also headquartered in Melbourne, FL). The nascent technology was first tested on the Southern Railway in 1963, and the first production systems were installed on the Southern Railway in 1965.  In the early years of this technology, Wabco also had—for a relatively brief period—a competing system called 'RMU' (Remote Multiple Uniter) which was installed on a few North American railroads. However this system did not prevail and soon went out of production. Prior to the advent by North Electric of the proprietary 'LOCOTROL' name, the product was referred to as 'RCE' (Radio Controlled Equipment) or 'RCS' (Radio Control System) and the Lead and Remote units as'master' and'slave'. The colloquial'master' and'slave' terms, though, were not formally used by the manufacturer. In some U.S. railroad parlance, Locotrol trains are referred to as 'radio trains'.

Technology.

Distributed Power should not be confused with Multiple Unit operation, which is a capability generally found on all locomotives owned and operated by railroads that connect multiple locomotives directly together via MU cables and air brake control lines. MU operation in North America is designed so that any two locomotives so equipped, and regardless of age and manufacturer, can be coupled together and operated as a single locomotive by one operator in the cab of the lead unit. This is accomplished via a 27-pin MU cable and the connection of three additional air lines separate from the brake pipe (sometimes also called the "train line"). DP is an entirely separate arrangement to control locomotives that are physically separated from the lead unit(s) and therefore impossible to connect via Multiple-Uniting.  The first locomotive at the head of the train is called the "Lead unit", and "Remote units" can be located at separate positions throughout the train. Each DP Remote unit can be MU-connected to other units at that position to provide a "Remote consist" or several Remote consists.  The setup and linking of the DP Lead and Remote units is fairly straightforward, and the air brakes of the Remote units also have to be properly configured to enable the system to function correctly. The system automatically chooses an available frequency during the linking process so that other DP trains nearby are unaffected. In a crowded yard or in hilly or mountainous terrain, it is not uncommon for the link to be temporarily lost and to take some (usually brief) time to re-establish.  As long as there is not an emergency or penalty brake application that eliminates the link, the system will reconnect automatically or the operator can attempt to reconnect manually. Originally the loss of connection would result in the Remote units remaining in their last commanded throttle or dynamic braking position. Later system versions and software updates typically see the Remote unit power setting reduced to Notch 4 by default if the link is lost.  Although the DP signals from Lead to Remote units (and vice versa) are nominally "instantaneous", in reality it generally takes at least a few seconds for a Remote unit to respond to a signal from the Lead and for the change in status to show up on the DP display in the Lead locomotive cab.  Distributed power was originally able to be provided at only one intermediate location within a train. These forerunner systems (Locotrol 102-105 and Locotrol II) required a radio-relay car to be attached via standard MU jumper cabling to the Remote locomotive(s) to provide the radio-control commands and to facilitate feedback signals. Later, Locotrol II evolved into the 'Universal' system in which the radio-control equipment was able to be installed on the locomotives themselves With this option, the relay car—variously referred-to as an RCU (Remote Control Unit) or LRC (Locomotive Remote Control)—was rendered redundant.  Locotrol III was the next development, compatible with both the Knorr-Bremse/New York Air Brake CCB, and Wabtec's EPIC electronic locomotive brake equipment, and permitting multiple Remote unit locations as described above. The latest incarnation of this equipment is LEB (Locotrol Electronic Brake), which integrates the GE Locotrol technology with K-B/NYAB's CCBII brake.

Users.

Distributed Power (as 'Locotrol') is used in the United States and Canada, China, Australia (Queensland, the Pilbara region of Western Australia, and in the southwest of Western Australia), Brazil, Germany, Russia, Japan and South Africa. It is also (or has been) in regular unit-train operation in India, Mauritania, and Mexico, and almost made it into operation in both pre- and post-revolutionary Iran.  In the south of Western Australia, Locotrol is used in the 'top-and-tail' configuration rather than specifically for long-train operation. With the recent advent of electronically-controlled pneumatic brakes (ECP)—either hard-wired or radio-controlled—and integrated electronics for locomotive control and operator's cab display systems, DP can now be provided via the ECP brake communication media, and other manufacturers are able to provide this capability. A recent DP system from Wabtec, called PowerLink (which can be either wired or wireless) is in use in Queensland on narrow-gauge coal trains and in the North of Western Australia on standard-gauge iron ore trains.  Distributed Power in a wired configuration (using the ECP trainline) is becoming increasingly common in North America and Australian heavy-haul unit-train operations.

Other similar operations.

'Top and tail' is a phrase used to describe an operation where there is a locomotive at each end of the train, usually to make it easier to change direction at a terminal location where it is not possible to run the motive power 'around' the train (i.e. swap the locomotives from one end of the train to the other); this arrangement is not used specifically to operate longer or heavier trains. 'Top-and-Tail' operation is not generally utilised with Distributed Power, although such a configuration could be used as such. One use of a distributed power Top-and-Tail configuration has been in Western Australia's wheatbelt, in which Locotrol has been used to provide an operational solution rather than increasing the train size.  The description should not be confused with 'push-pull', which refers specifically to a train configuration (usually associated with passenger trains) in which the motive power is located at one end of the train only. In this latter configuration, the train is able to be operated from the 'non-powered' end by use of an operator's control position (the 'cab-car') located at that end of the train.

Distributed traction.

In a distributed traction system there are no locomotives but power is distributed along the train by multiple traction motors. An electric multiple unit is an example of this system.

In rail transport, distributed power (DP) is a generic term referring to the physical distribution—at intermediate points throughout the length of a train—of separate motive power groups. Such 'groups' may be single units or multiple consists, and are remotely controlled from the leading locomotive. The practice allows locomotives to be placed anywhere within the length of a train when standard multiple-unit (MU) operation is impossible or impractical. DP can be achieved by wireless (RF connectivity) or wired (trainlined) means. Wired systems now provided by various suppliers use the cabling already extant throughout an ECP train.


History.

ThinApp (previously known as Thinstall) was originally developed by Jitit Inc. and was acquired by VMware on January 15, 2008. VMware later used the code name "VMware Project North Star" while the product was in beta. On June 10, 2008, VMware announced that the final name for the product was going to be "VMware ThinApp". The trial version of "Thinstall" was initially available only to corporations, then VMware offered a public trial version. Now, ThinApp is only available with the Horizon suite of products.

Technology.

VMware ThinApp is an application virtualization solution. ThinApp is able to execute applications without them being installed in the traditional sense by virtualizing resources such as environment variables, files and Windows Registry keys. The virtual environment presented to the client is a merged view of the underlying physical and virtual resources, thereby allowing the virtualization layer to fool the application into thinking that it is running as if it were fully installed. ThinApp does not have any pre-installed components and does not require the installation of device drivers allowing applications to run from USB flash drives or network shares without ever requiring Administrator rights. ThinApp converts standard application installers such as.msi files into self-contained EXE files which includes everything required to run. Also it is able to scan a system before and after an application's installation and create a portable executable based upon changes made to the systems files and registry. Unlike self-extracting ZIP files, ThinApp does not extract files to disk or require system registry changes in order to run applications. ThinApp supports Windows XP and later, as well as Windows Server 2003 and later. ThinApp supports all released Windows systems from Windows NT4, 2000, XP (64/32), Vista (64/32), Server 2003, Server 2008 (64), Server 2008 R2 (64), Windows 7 (64/32), Windows 8/8.1 (64/32, but not RT), and Windows 2012.

Editions.

The most "basic" version of ThinApp is "VMware ThinApp Starter Edition", offered for free with any purchase of VMware Workstation, while the most "advanced" version is "VMware ThinApp Enterprise Edition", which adds support for "AppSync updating", "Active Directory integration" and allows usage by multiple users (both for the "ThinApp Packager" and "ThinApp Client").

VMware ThinApp (formerly "Thinstall") is an application virtualization and portable application creator suite by VMware that can package conventional applications so that they become portable applications. According to VMware, the product has a success rate of about 90–95 % in packaging applications.


Career.

Judith Herman is best known for her contributions to the understanding of trauma and its victims, as set out in her second book, "Trauma and Recovery". There she distinguishes between single-incident traumas – one-off events – which she termed Type I traumas, and complex or repeated traumas (Type II). Type I trauma, according to the United States Veterans Administration's Center for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, "accurately describes the symptoms that result when a person experiences a short-lived psychological trauma". Type II – the concept of complex post-traumatic stress disorder (CPTSD) – includes "the syndrome that follows upon prolonged, repeated trauma". Although not yet accepted by DSM-IV as a separate diagnostic category, the notion of complex traumas has been found useful in clinical practice.  Herman equally influentially set out a three-stage sequence of trauma treatment and recovery. The first involved regaining a sense of safety, whether through a therapeutic relationship, medication, relaxation exercises or a combination of all three. The second phase involved active work upon the trauma, fostered by that secure base, and employing any of a range of psychological techniques. The final stage was represented by an advance to a new post-traumatic life, possibly broadened by the experience of surviving the trauma and all it involved.  Herman was interviewed by Harry Kreisler, Executive Director of the Institute of International Studies at the University of California at Berkeley, for his ongoing series "Conversations with History" at the Institute of International Studies, UC Berkeley. She is currently working on a study into the effects of the justice system on victims of sexual violence, with a view to discovering a better way for victims of crimes to be allowed to interact with what she perceives as an 'adversarial' system of crime and punishment in the U.S.

Judith Lewis Herman (born 1942) is an American psychiatrist, researcher, teacher, and author who has focused on the understanding and treatment of incest and traumatic stress.