History.

The first match between two local US clubs was played in 1996 between Cincinnati and Louisville. In the first year the Mid American Australian Football League was formed. Many of the local players had found out about the game in the 1980s on television via the then-nascent ESPN cable network. Although the local game grew, ESPN no longer broadcast AFL matches, and in response the lobby group, Australian Football Association of North America was formed.  In 1997, the first club national championships were held in Cincinnati. Nashville hosted the first Australian Grand Final Festival in the same year. The United States Australian Football League (USAFL) was formed in 1997 to govern the code in the country.  The involvement of many well-known Australians has helped boost the relations between the USAFL and AFL. In the early days, Paul Roos was a key figure.  Robert DiPierdomenico, Leigh Matthews and Michael Voss are official USAFL ambassadors.

National teams.

USAFL is responsible for the co-ordination of the National Teams, the USA Revolution men's team and the USA Freedom women's team. The team plays in international tournaments and exhibition matches against other countries. National team players are selected from the best US-born players from the club teams across the country.  With close proximity to Canada, the Revolution & Freedom participate in the annual 49th Parallel Cup against Canada each year except for years of the International Cup in Australia.  The Revolution competed in the 2002 Australian Football International Cup, finishing 5th out of 11 countries and in the 2005 Australian Football International Cup finishing 3rd out of 10 countries. They competed in the 2008 Australian Football International Cup where the Revolution finished 7th out of 16 countries. At the 2011 Australian Football International Cup, the Revolution finished 4th in an increased field of 18 countries. The Revolution finished 8th at the 2014 Australian Football International Cup, again with 18 countries participating.

The United States Australian Football League (USAFL) is the governing body for Australian rules football in the United States. It was conceived in 1996 and organized in 1997. It is based in Sun Prairie, Wisconsin.


Description.

The border starts in the west at the CAR tripoint, proceeding overland in a broadly south-eastwards direction, and then eastwards directions via series of irregular lines, terminating at the tripoint with Uganda. The boundary roughly follows the division between the Nile and Congo drainage divide.

History.

The border first emerged during the Scramble for Africa, a period of intense competition between European powers in the later 19th century for territory and influence in Africa. The process culminated in the Berlin Conference of 1884, in which the European nations concerned agreed upon their respective territorial claims and the rules of engagements going forward. At this time the area of the modern DRC was controlled by the Congo Free State, a state held under the personal rule of Belgian King Leopold II, who had sponsored various explorations in the region under the guise of humanitarianism. Sudan (including South Sudan) was conquered by Britain in the 1890s, who then created a condominium with Egypt called Anglo-Egyptian Sudan in January 1899. Britain has already signed a treaty with King Leopold on 12 May 1894 outlining their respective spheres of influence in Central Africa, roughly divided along the Nile-Congo drainage divide. However the treaty also leased large areas of land in Central Africa to the Congo Free State, including the Lado Enclave. The current boundary was confirmed further by a treaty of 9 May 1906.  Administration of the Congo Free State was taken over by the Belgian government in 1908 following controversies engendered by the atrocities committed by Leopold's forces there. The Belgian lease over Lado was terminated by an Anglo-Belgian treaty of 14 May 1910, and the area was thereafter annexed to Sudan.  Sudan gained independence in 1956, followed by the Belgian Congo (as the Republic of the Congo, later renamed Democratic Republic of the Congo) on 30 June 1960. In 2011 South Sudan declared independence from Sudan, and thereby inherited the border with the DRC. The porous boundary today is extremely insecure owing to the after-effects of civil wars in South Sudan, DRC and CAR, as well as the Lord's Resistance Army insurgency which has spilled over from Uganda.

The Democratic Republic of the Congo–South Sudan border is 714 km (444 m) in length and runs from the tripoint with the Central African Republic in the west to the tripoint with the Uganda in the east.


Life.

Frans de Costere was received into the Society of Jesus by St. Ignatius on 7 November 1552. While still a young man he was sent to Cologne (western Germany) and lectured there on Sacred Scripture and astronomy. His reputation as a professor was established within a very short time, and on 10 December 1564, the university of Cologne conferred on him the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and Theology.  He was ever ready to defend the teaching of the Catholic Church, which at this period was engaged in the struggle with Protestant 'new ideas', and by word and by writing he brought people back to Catholicism. He was for two terms provincial of the Jesuit province of Belgium, for one term provincial of that of the Rhine, and assisted at three General Congregation of his order.  In 1575 he was recalled to Cologne to lead the College of the Three Crowns, after its previous rector was murdered. While there he established two local sodalities, the Sodality of the Blessed Sacrament and the Sodality of the Blessed Virgin.

Works.

The catalogue of his writings (De Backer, I, 218) mentions forty-two titles. They include works on ascetical subjects, meditations on the Blessed Virgin Mary, and sermons on the Gospel for each Sunday of the year.  Probably the most famous was his "Enchiridion controversiarum præcipuarum nostri temporis de Religione" (Cologne, 1585, 1587, 1589, 1593). This was afterwards revised and enlarged by its author in 1596, 1605, 1608; and was translated into various languages.  To each of the attacks made upon it by Protestant writers, such as Philip Marbach, Franciscus Gommar or Lucas Osiander, Coster gave an able reply. His works directed against these opponents are entitled: "Liber de Ecclesiâ contra Franciscum Gommarum" (Cologne, 1604); "Apologia adversus Lucæ Osiandri hæretici lutherani refutationum octo propositionum catholicarum" (Cologne, 1606); "Annotationes in N. T. et in præcipua loca, quæ rapi possent in controversiam" (Antwerp, 1614).

Francis Coster (or Frans de Costere, ) (Mechelen, 16 June 1532 (1531) - Brussels, 16 December 1619) was a Flemish Jesuit, theologian and author.


Reworked tracks.

The two key hit tracks from the EP ("Beat Box" and "Moments in Love") were subsequently featured on the group's first LP, "Who's Afraid of the Art of Noise?", except for the EP, "Beat Box" was remixed, reconstructed and substantially modified to concentrate more on musical experimentation rather than the raw hip-hop sound of the original. The LP version was designated "Diversion One", while the original EP version of "Beat Box" has since (unofficially) become known as "Diversion Zero."

Reissues.

In 1986, "Who's Afraid" was combined with portions of "Into Battle..." and the 1985 "Moments in Love" 12-inch single, to form the "Daft" compilation.  In 2003, the original "Into Battle..." EP was issued on CD for the first time on a German-only release, but the release inexplicably included "Diversion One" of "Beat Box" in place of "Diversion Zero."  "Into Battle..." also features as part of disc four of the 2006 Art of Noise boxed set "And What Have You Done with My Body, God?". The project was conceived, researched and compiled by music journalist (and Art of Noise aficionado) Ian Peel – sourced from the original masters – and restored the original version of "Beat Box" and features the 5:10 edit of "Moments in Love" from the cassette issue of the EP, neither track having been officially released on CD before.  In April 2011, Peel continued his archiving of ZTT material, now named the Element Series, with a Deluxe Edition reissue of "Into Battle with the Art of Noise". As part of Record Store Day (16 April 2011), this Deluxe Edition was also released as a Limited Edition 2 LP vinyl version: both the original EP and the "Worship" material LP on 180g blue vinyl, limited to 500 copies worldwide.

Cover art.

The artwork depicted on the original EP sleeve was derived from the Ghent Altarpiece.

Parody.

The EP's title and elements of its visual and musical style were parodied by the group Mainframe with their 1984 12-inch single, "Into Trouble with the Noise of Art".

Reception.

Allmusic reviewer Ned Raggett had positive views on the EP, stating "One listen to into Battle With the Art of Noise and some of the influences in industrial, hip-hop, techno, and pop become clearer."

Track listing.

All songs except "Donna" were written by Anne Dudley, Trevor Horn, J.J. Jeczalik, Gary Langan, and Paul Morley.

US/UK Vinyl.

Side 1  Side 2

UK cassette.

Side 1  Side 2

US cassette.

Side 1  Side 2

2011 Deluxe CD/Vinyl Record Store Day Reissue.

Into Battle  Worshi

Into Battle with the Art of Noise is a 1983 EP by the Art of Noise—its first release, and also the first release by ZTT Records. The record represented the first instalment in the ZTT's Incidental Series (catalogue number ZTIS 100).


Network and partners.

Spot Image is a worldwide distributor of products and services using imagery from Earth observation satellites and works through a network of subsidiaries, local offices (Australia, Brazil, China, United States, Japan, Peru, Singapore), and partners. The goal is to provide on-the-spot service with worldwide availability.  Spot Image works with a network of more than 30 direct receiving stations handling images acquired by the SPOT satellites.  Spot Image collaborates with ESA's GMES programme, shares geographic information with the OGC and contributes to the interoperability of web services; with Infoterra Global it continues to offer services for precision-agriculture.

Satellites.

The 3 SPOT satellites in orbit (Spot 5, 6, and 7) provide images with a large choice of resolutions – from 2.5 m to 10 m. Spot Image also distributes multiresolution data from other optical satellites, in particular from Formosat-2 (Taiwan) and Kompsat-2 (South Korea), for which it has exclusive distribution rights, and from radar satellites (TerraSAR-X, ERS, Envisat, Radarsat). Spot Image is also the exclusive distributor of data from the very-high resolution Pleiades satellites. The launch of Pléiades-1, via a Soyuz rocket, was confirmed on December 16, 2011. The second (Pléiades-2) was launched mid-2012. Spot Image also offers infrastructures for receiving and processing, as well as added value options.

Products.

In addition to images, Spot Image proposes innovative added-value products to meet new user-needs:  Among the services offered by Spot File: On-line services:

Planet Action, an initiative launched by Spot Image.

Its goal is to encourage the Earth observation industry and geographic information professionals to support local projects searching for adaptive solutions to climate change problems. The products and materials available to these professionals – satellite images, geographic information systems, image processing and display software – are indispensable for studying the impact of global warming on our planet, on local and global scales. Planet Action supports projects that study:  Planet Action Web Site

Spot Image, a public limited company created in 1982 by the French Space Agency, Centre National d'Etudes Spatiales (CNES), the IGN, and Space Manufacturers (Matra, Alcatel, SSC, etc.) is a subsidiary of Airbus Defence and Space (99%). The company is the commercial operator for the SPOT Earth observation satellites.


Organization.

The Denver Health and Hospital Authority is an integrated health care system that consisting of a main hospital, 911 response and EMS, poison and toxicology, family health centers, school-based clinics, detoxification services, correctional care, and medical response to terrorism, mass casualties and epidemics.  The Denver Department of Environmental Health (DEH), a Denver government agency, manages and oversees the operating agreement to contract with Denver Health and Hospital Authority (DHHA) to provide services related to the medical investigations and medical services for disease control (including clinics) and the administration of vital birth and death records. DEH and Denver Public Health work together to conduct communicable disease reporting, investigation, and control for Denver. Public and environmental health functions and regulatory authority remains with DEH. DHHA provides communicable disease surveillance and medically oriented public health functions through their Denver Public Health (DPH) department.  Through grant-funded programs, DPH conducts research on infectious diseases, including hepatitis surveillance; tuberculosis clinical trials; HIV/AIDS prevention, counseling, testing and treatment; and vaccine trials.  DHHA's Denver Health Paramedic Division, a hospital based paramedic service, is based out of Denver Health.

Governance.

The health system is named Denver Health and Hospital Authority (DHHA), created by the Colorado General Assembly in 1994, and transitioned from the Denver Department of Health and Hospitals to an independent authority in 1997. The DHHA is governed by a nine-member Board of Directors, who are appointed for five years by the Mayor of Denver and confirmed by the Denver City Council.

History.

Denver General was established in 1860. The hospital was founded near 11th and Wazee, but in 1873, a new medical center was built at the corner of 6th Avenue and Cherokee; this is where Denver Health is located to this day.  The hospital was well known for founding the first nursing school west of the Mississippi and for being one of the earliest facilities for treating Tuberculosis.  The hospital employed many health care visionaries, including Florence Sabin who was instrumental in creating a functional Public Health department.  In 1989 a book was written about The Denver General emergency room, "The Knife and Gun Club, Scenes from an Emergency Room" by photographer Eugene Richards which received an Award of Excellence from the American College of Emergency Physicians. The book is a collection of stories taken from the emergency department and ambulances. The emergency room of Denver Health gained the nickname "Knife and Gun Club" due to the frequency of knife and gun related injuries.  On January 1, 1997, Denver General became a political subdivision of the state, and was renamed Denver Health and Hospital Authority.

Denver Health operates the Denver Health Medical Center, a hospital in the Lincoln Park neighborhood of Denver, founded in 1860. It is one of five Level I Trauma Centers in Colorado. Denver Health is one of the primary teaching hospitals in Denver and is affiliated with the University of Colorado Denver, Children's Hospital Colorado, and the Veteran's Affairs Hospital in Aurora, Colorado. Denver Health's CEO is Robin D. Wittenstein, Ed.D., FACHE.


History.

The outlying islands of Pulau Ayer Chawan, Pulau Ayer Merbau, Pulau Merlimau and Pulau Seraya were used to house fishing communities comprising small villages up to the 1960s. The villagers lived in Malay-style wooden stilt houses on the palm-fringed islands. Between the late-1960s and early-1970s, three big oil companies planned to house their facilities on Pulau Ayer Chawan for Esso, Pulau Merlimau for Singapore Refinery Company and Pulau Pesek for Mobil Oil.  The Government of Singapore then took the opportunity to grow the petrochemical industry as a choice that would significantly produce economic growth. This was proven by the success of starting off the petroleum industries in the 1970s.  By the 1980s, after a decade of rapid industrialisation, industrial land was growing scarce on Singapore mainland. The idea of joining the southern islands off Jurong to form one colossal island to create more industrial land was therefore conceived.  In 1991, JTC Corporation (formerly Jurong Town Corporation) was appointed the agent of the Jurong Island project. JTC planned and coordinated with various government agencies in providing the necessary infrastructure and services to the island.  Physical land reclamation began in 1995, and Jurong Island was officially opened on 14 October 2000 by then Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong. From the 9.91 km2 land area of the original seven islets, as of completion of the land reclamation on 25 September 2009, Jurong Island currently has a total land area of 30 km2. Penta-Ocean Construction was the major contractor and reclamation was completed 20 years ahead of schedule.

Petrochemical industries.

Today, Jurong Island is home to many companies such as LANXESS, Afton Chemical, BASF, BP, Celanese, Evonik, ExxonMobil, DuPont, Mitsui Chemicals, Chevron Oronite, Shell, Singapore Petroleum Company Singapore Refining Company, Stepan Company, Petrochemical Corporation of Singapore, The Polyolefin Company, Chevron Phillips, Mitsui Elastomer and Sumitomo Chemical. Clusters of gigantic cylindrical tanks amid a maze of pipelines now dot the island; investment totalled S$31 billion in 2010. Resident companies produce a vast range of items, from petroleum products to polycarbonate resins used in CDs, DVDs and LCD TV panels, and super-absorbent polymers that go into diapers and sanitary napkins. ExxonMobil, which has invested S$4 billion in a refinery and cracker plant, makes industrial and automotive lubricants including a product used in Formula One racing cars. DuPont has invested S$1 billion, and manufactures Zytel nylon resin, a versatile engineering plastic used in automobile components, appliances, wire insulation, sporting gear and home furnishings. Afton Chemical is constructing a new manufacturing facility, expected to become operational in January 2016, to produce petroleum additives for the Asia-Pacific and Middle East markets. Output for the chemicals cluster—which cover oil and gas, petrochemicals and speciality chemicals—totalled S$66.5 billion in 2005, an increase of 31 per cent from 2004. This accounted for almost 32 per cent of production in Singapore's manufacturing sector. Powered by the cluster, Singapore is currently one of the world's top three oil refining centres despite not having a single drop of crude deposits. Jurong Island's refineries process of crude oil per day, turning it into petrol, kerosene and jet fuel sold locally and abroad. Cracker plants break down the molecules of other oil-and gas-related substances such as naphtha into additives that give unique characteristics to certain products, from printer inks to plastic mouldings, semiconductors and aircraft materials. Apart from imported crude, natural gas from Indonesia's West Natuna field arrives at Jurong Island via a 640 km undersea pipeline. Some of it is refined to provide a source of cleaner and cheaper fuel, while the rest is sent to crackers that make other petrochemical products. The country's first refilling station for compressed natural gas (CNG) opened on Jurong Island in 2002. As most of the 2500+ cars running on CNG in Singapore are not allowed to enter the island because the drivers do not have the necessary security pass, four more CNG stations opened on the main island leading up to September 2009.

Security.

Jurong Island was gazetted as a Protected Place in October 2001 following the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks in the United States. Access control is contracted to a private security company, while the Singapore Army helps to protect the island. The Police Coast Guard also conducts regular patrols around the island to ensure no unauthorised vessels are allowed access within a restricted area of waters surrounding it.  Access to the island is limited to staff and visitors, and they are issued with security passes. Other security restrictions include that any photographic equipment brought to the island must be declared. Without permission from Island Security it is forbidden to take photographs or videos on Jurong Island. Anyone getting caught taking pictures or videos is handed over to the police, and subsequently has their Jurong Island pass confiscated and their permission to enter Jurong Island revoked.  Jurong Island and the southwestern waters were to be used for Exercise Northstar 8 from 21 November to 25 November 2011. However, Exercise Northstar 8 was only carried out on 25 November 2011 after 4pm at Jurong Island, up to 7.30pm.

Infrastructure.

Jurong Island has two fire stations, and an amenity centre known as "Oasis@Sakra" that houses a food court, a medical clinic and a free-of-charge multi-storey carpark. The island also houses the Pulau Seraya Power Station, Singapore's first offshore power station, which was built in phases on the former Pulau Seraya since 1986.  The island has a network of pipelines that allows for seamless integration among companies. For example, Japan's Teijin can make polycarbonates from chlorine piped in directly from CIFE and bisphenol A from Mitsui Chemicals elsewhere on the island. Red pipes carry water for firefighting and green pipes, sea water for cooling. Huge silver pipes carry steam and small silver pipes bring product lines.  There are two major cargo jetties on Jurong Island, namely Sakra Jetty and Banyan Jetty. Sakra Jetty is managed and controlled by ExxonMobil.  Jurong Island is linked to the main island by a 2.3 km causeway known as the Jurong Island Highway, opened in March 1999. Several public bus services run between Jurong Island and the mainland, operated by Woodlands Transport.

Jurong Rock Caverns.

Construction work on Jurong Rock Caverns (JRC), Singapore's first underground rock caverns for storage of crude oil, condensates, naphtha and gas-oil, started on 8 February 2007. JTC Corporation has been appointed by the Singapore government to undertake the construction of JRC.  Located beneath the seabed of Banyan Basin, off Jurong Island, JRC was completed in phases beginning in 2013, and was officially opened on 2 September 2014. As a result of this first phase of work, the caverns reportedly have a storage capacity of 1.47 million cubic metres. Phase 2, which has the potential to add another 1.32 million cubic metres, is being explored.

Plans.

To raise its competitive edge, Singapore is moving to produce higher-value-added speciality products, including chemicals that would go into animal vaccines, animal feeds, consumer care items such as cosmetics and industrial enzymes to support the biomedical sector. As part of this effort to move up the value chain, the Institute of Chemical and Engineering Science (an A*STAR research institute) has been set up on Jurong Island.  There have also been plans to build a second causeway to link the Western end of Jurong Island Highway with Gul Road in Jurong Industrial Estate on mainland Singapore, but these have been shelved. The investment earmarked for the second causeway has been re-allocated to the building of HDB flats at Western Water Catchment later in the decade.

<mapframe text="Map of Jurong Island in Singapore" width=300 height=250 zoom=12 latitude= 1.25478 longitude=103.69544> </mapframe> Jurong Island is an island located to the southwest of the main island of Singapore. It was formed from the amalgamation of seven offshore islands, the islands of Pulau Ayer Chawan, Pulau Ayer Merbau, Pulau Merlimau, Pulau Pesek, Pulau Pesek Kechil (also called Terumbu Pesek), Pulau Sakra (which was a previous merger of Pulau Sakra and Pulau Bakau), Pulau Seraya, Pulau Meskol, Pulau Mesemut Laut, Pulau Mesemut Darat and Anak Pulau. This was done through Singapore's land reclamation efforts. Land reclamation on Jurong Island was completed on 25 September 2009, 20 years earlier than scheduled. Pulau Buaya was joined to Jurong Island via reclamation in 2010. Jurong Island forms a land area of about from an initial area of less than, and is the largest of Singapore's outlying islands.


Background.

The equation relating thermal energy to thermal mass is: where "Q" is the thermal energy transferred, "C" is the thermal mass of the body, and Δ"T" is the change in temperature.  For example, if 250 J of heat energy is added to a copper gear with a thermal mass of 38.46 J/°C, its temperature will rise by 6.50 °C. If the body consists of a homogeneous material with sufficiently known physical properties, the thermal mass is simply the mass of material present times the specific heat capacity of that material. For bodies made of many materials, the sum of heat capacities for their pure components may be used in the calculation, or in some cases (as for a whole animal, for example) the number may simply be measured for the entire body in question, directly.  As an extensive property, heat capacity is characteristic of an object; its corresponding intensive property is specific heat capacity, expressed in terms of a measure of the amount of material such as mass or number of moles, which must be multiplied by similar units to give the heat capacity of the entire body of material. Thus the heat capacity can be equivalently calculated as the product of the mass "m" of the body and the specific heat capacity "c" for the material, or the product of the number of moles of molecules present "n" and the molar specific heat capacity formula_2. For discussion of "why" the thermal energy storage abilities of pure substances vary, see factors that affect specific heat capacity.  For a body of uniform composition, formula_3 can be approximated by where formula_5 is the mass of the body and formula_6 is the isobaric specific heat capacity of the material averaged over temperature range in question. For bodies composed of numerous different materials, the thermal masses for the different components can just be added together.

Thermal mass in buildings.

Thermal mass is effective in improving building comfort in any place that experiences these types of daily temperature fluctuations—both in winter as well as in summer. When used well and combined with passive solar design, thermal mass can play an important role in major reductions to energy use in active heating and cooling systems. The use of materials with thermal mass is most advantageous where there is a big difference in outdoor temperatures from day to night (or, where nighttime temperatures are at least 10 degrees cooler than the thermostat set point).The terms "heavy-weight" and "light-weight" are often used to describe buildings with different thermal mass strategies, and affects the choice of numerical factors used in subsequent calculations to describe their thermal response to heating and cooling. In building services engineering, the use of dynamic simulation computational modelling software has allowed for the accurate calculation of the environmental performance within buildings with different constructions and for different annual climate data sets. This allows the architect or engineer to explore in detail the relationship between heavy-weight and light-weight constructions, as well as insulation levels, in reducing energy consumption for mechanical heating or cooling systems, or even removing the need for such systems altogether.

Properties required for good thermal mass.

Ideal materials for thermal mass are those materials that have: Any solid, liquid, or gas that has mass will have some thermal mass. A common misconception is that only concrete or earth soil has thermal mass; even air has thermal mass (although very little).  A table of volumetric heat capacity for building materials is available, but note that their definition of thermal mass is slightly different.

Use of thermal mass in different climates.

The correct use and application of thermal mass is dependent on the prevailing climate in a district.

Temperate and cold temperate climates.

Solar-exposed thermal mass.

Thermal mass is ideally placed within the building and situated where it still can be exposed to low-angle winter sunlight (via windows) but insulated from heat loss. In summer the same thermal mass should be obscured from higher-angle summer sunlight in order to prevent overheating of the structure.  The thermal mass is warmed passively by the sun or additionally by internal heating systems during the day. Thermal energy stored in the mass is then released back into the interior during the night. It is essential that it be used in conjunction with the standard principles of passive solar design.  Any form of thermal mass can be used. A concrete slab foundation either left exposed or covered with conductive materials, e.g. tiles, is one easy solution. Another novel method is to place the masonry facade of a timber-framed house on the inside ('reverse-brick veneer'). Thermal mass in this situation is best applied over a large area rather than in large volumes or thicknesses. 7.5–10 cm (3-4") is often adequate.  Since the most important source of thermal energy is the Sun, the ratio of glazing to thermal mass is an important factor to consider. Various formulas have been devised to determine this. As a general rule, additional solar-exposed thermal mass needs to be applied in a ratio from 6:1 to 8:1 for any area of sun-facing (north-facing in Southern Hemisphere or south-facing in Northern Hemisphere) glazing above 7% of the total floor area. For example, a 200 m house with 20 m of sun-facing glazing has 10% of glazing by total floor area; 6 m of that glazing will require additional thermal mass. Therefore, using the 6:1 to 8:1 ratio above, an additional 36–48 m of solar-exposed thermal mass is required. The exact requirements vary from climate to climate.

Thermal mass for limiting summertime overheating.

Thermal mass is ideally placed within a building where it is shielded from direct solar gain but exposed to the building occupants. It is therefore most commonly associated with solid concrete floor slabs in naturally ventilated or low-energy mechanically ventilated buildings where the concrete soffit is left exposed to the occupied space.  During the day heat is gained from the sun, the occupants of the building, and any electrical lighting and equipment, causing the air temperatures within the space to increase, but this heat is absorbed by the exposed concrete slab above, thus limiting the temperature rise within the space to be within acceptable levels for human thermal comfort. In addition the lower surface temperature of the concrete slab also absorbs radiant heat directly from the occupants, also benefiting their thermal comfort.  By the end of the day the slab has in turn warmed up, and now, as external temperatures decrease, the heat can be released and the slab cooled down, ready for the start of the next day. However this "regeneration" process is only effective if the building ventilation system is operated at night to carry away the heat from the slab. In naturally ventilated buildings it is normal to provide automated window openings to facilitate this process automatically.

Hot, arid climates (e.g. desert).

This is a classical use of thermal mass. Examples include adobe or rammed earth houses. Its function is highly dependent on marked diurnal temperature variations. The wall predominantly acts to retard heat transfer from the exterior to the interior during the day. The high volumetric heat capacity and thickness prevents thermal energy from reaching the inner surface. When temperatures fall at night, the walls re-radiate the thermal energy back into the night sky. In this application it is important for such walls to be massive to prevent heat transfer into the interior.

Hot humid climates (e.g. sub-tropical and tropical).

The use of thermal mass is the most challenging in this environment where night temperatures remain elevated. Its use is primarily as a temporary heat sink. However, it needs to be strategically located to prevent overheating. It should be placed in an area that is not directly exposed to solar gain and also allows adequate ventilation at night to carry away stored energy without increasing internal temperatures any further. If to be used at all it should be used in judicious amounts and again not in large thicknesses.

Seasonal energy storage.

If enough mass is used it can create a seasonal advantage. That is, it can heat in the winter and cool in the summer. This is sometimes called passive annual heat storage or PAHS. The PAHS system has been successfully used at 7000 ft. in Colorado and in a number of homes in Montana. The Earthships of New Mexico utilize passive heating and cooling as well as using recycled tires for foundation wall yielding a maximum PAHS/STES. It has also been used successfully in the UK at Hockerton Housing Project.

In building design, thermal mass is a property of the mass of a building which enables it to store heat, providing "inertia" against temperature fluctuations. It is sometimes known as the thermal flywheel effect. For example, when outside temperatures are fluctuating throughout the day, a large thermal mass within the insulated portion of a house can serve to "flatten out" the daily temperature fluctuations, since the thermal mass will absorb thermal energy when the surroundings are higher in temperature than the mass, and give thermal energy back when the surroundings are cooler, without reaching thermal equilibrium. This is distinct from a material's insulative value, which reduces a building's thermal conductivity, allowing it to be heated or cooled relatively separate from the outside, or even just retain the occupants' thermal energy longer.


Design.

The W71 design emerged in the mid-1960s as the result of studies of earlier high-altitude nuclear tests carried out before the Partial Nuclear Test Ban Treaty of 1963. A number of tests, especially those of Operation Fishbowl in 1962, demonstrated a number of previously poorly understood or underestimated effects. Among these was the behaviour of x-rays created during the explosion. These tended to react with the atmosphere within a few tens of meters at low altitudes (see rope trick effect). At high altitudes, lacking an atmosphere to interact with, the mean free path of the x-rays could be on the order of tens of kilometers.  This presented a new method of attacking enemy nuclear reentry vehicles (RVs) while still at long range from their targets. X-rays hitting the warhead's outermost layer will react by heating a thin layer of the material so rapidly that shock waves develop that can cause the heat shield material on the outside of the RV to separate or flake off. The RV would then break up during reentry. The major advantage of this attack is that it takes place over long distances, as great as, which covers the majority of the "threat tube" containing the warhead and the various radar decoys and clutter material that accompanies it. Previously the ABM had to approach within less than of the warhead to damage it through neutron heating, which presented a serious problem attempting to locate the warhead within a threat tube that was typically at least a kilometer across and about ten long.  Bell received a contract to begin conversion of the earlier LIM-49 Nike Zeus missile for the extended range role in March 1965. The result was the Zeus EX, or DM-15X2, which used the original Zeus' first stage as the second stage along with a new first stage to offer much greater range. The design was renamed Spartan in January 1967, keeping the original LIM-49 designation. Tests of the new missile started in April 1970 from Meck Island, part of the Kwajalein Test Range that had been set up to test the earlier Nike Zeus system. Because of a perceived need to rapidly deploy the system, the team took a "do it once, do it right" approach in which the original test items were designed to be the production models.  The warhead for Spartan was designed by Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), drawing on previous experience from Operation Plowshare. A nuclear explosion at high altitude has the disadvantage of creating a significant amount of electronic noise and an effect known as "nuclear blackout" that blinds radars over a large area. Some of these effects are due to the fission fragments being released by the explosion, so care was taken to design the bomb to be "clean" to reduce these effects. Project Plowshares had previously explored the design of such clean bombs as part of an effort to use nuclear explosives for civilian uses where the production of long-lived radionuclides had to be minimized.  To maximize the production of x-rays, the W-71 is reported to have used a gold tamper, rather than the usual depleted uranium or lead. The lining normally serves the primary purpose of capturing x-ray energy within the bomb casing while the primary is exploding and triggering the secondary. For this purpose, almost any high-Z metal will work, and depleted uranium is often used because the neutrons released by the secondary will cause fission in this material and add a significant amount of energy to the total explosive release. In this case the increase in blast energy would have no effect as there is little or no atmosphere to carry that energy, so this reaction is of little value. The use of gold maximizes the production of x-rays as gold efficiently radiates thermal x-rays (see Moseley's law). This efficient release of x-rays when heated is the same reason that inertial confinement fusion experiments like the National Ignition Facility use gold-covered targets. In Congressional testimony on potential dismantling of the W71, a DOE official described the warhead as "a gold mine".  Another advantage of using a gold tamper and lining is that neutron capture events generally form Au-198 which has a half life of 2.697 days and beta decay energy of 0.41 MeV, which is in the hard x-ray to gamma ray spectrum. This helps reduce the nuclear blackout effects.  In 2008, the United States Department of Energy declassified the fact that the radiation case of the W71 contained thorium metal.

Lethality.

Under good conditions, the W-71 warhead had a lethal exo-atmospheric radius as much as, although it was later stated to be against "soft" targets, and as little as against hardened warheads.

Production & service history.

There were 30 to 39 units produced between 1974 and 1975. The weapons went into service, but were then taken right back out of service in 1975 and the warheads stored until 1992 when they were dismantled. The short service life of the W-71-Spartan and Safeguard Program in general, is believed to have been partly tied to it largely becoming obsolete with the development of Soviet offensive MIRV (Multiple independent re-entry vehicles) warheads, that unlike MRVs (multiple re-entry vehicles), can create a substantial spacing distance between each warhead once they arrive in space - and therefore would require at least about one Spartan missile launch to intercept each MIRV warhead. Fatally though, as the cost of the Spartan missile interceptor and an enemy ICBM were roughly the same, an adversary could afford to simply overwhelm the ABM system by adding ICBMs with MIRV warheads to its nuclear arsenal.

Proof-test "Cannikin".

Prior to the W71 test, a calibration test known as Milrow of Operation Mandrel was conducted in 1969. Despite political and pressure group opposition to both tests, and in particular the full yield W71, coming from then US Senator Mike Gravel and the nascent Greenpeace, a Supreme Court decision led to the test shot getting the go-ahead, and a W71 prototype was successfully tested on 6 November 1971 in Project Cannikin of Operation Grommet in the world's largest underground nuclear test, on Amchitka Island in the Aleutian Islands off Alaska. The second highest-yield underground test known occurred in 1973, when the USSR tested a 4 Mt device "392"  The W71 was lowered down a borehole into a man-made cavern in diameter. A instrumentation system monitored the detonation. The full yield test was conducted at 11:00am local time November 6, 1971 and resulted in a vertical ground motion of more than at a distance of from the borehole, equivalent to an earthquake of magnitude 7.0 on the Richter scale. A and crater formed two days later.  Film of the test has been declassified and can be seen in the third of the Atomic Journeys documentaries Welcome To Ground Zero.

The W-71 nuclear warhead was a US thermonuclear warhead developed at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California and deployed on the LIM-49A Spartan missile, a component of the Safeguard Program, an anti-ballistic missile (ABM) defense system briefly deployed by the US in the 1970s.


Early life.

Sonya Butt was born in Kent on 14 May 1924. When war broke out in 1939, she was 15 years old, though by then the family had moved to Woking.

Service in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force.

Butt was only a schoolgirl at the start of the war, and would not be due to join up for at least a couple of years. Her preference was for the Women's Auxiliary Air Force (WAAF), as her father had served in the RAF himself, but the minimum age join the WAAF was 171⁄2. Butt joined up the very day she became eligible: 14 November 1941, becoming 454240 Aircraftwoman (ACW) Butt. She served in the Administrative Branch. In 1941, women were banned from front-line service. In April 1942, however, this provision was changed and one of the first organisations to take advantage of this was the Special Operations Executive (SOE). SOE trained teams to operate 'behind the lines' in countries under Nazi occupation. The role of courier was particularly important, as movements around a district were likely to encounter German check-points, and a male of military or working age attracted adverse attention; a woman on a bicycle, however, was less likely to be suspected, and if she attracted attention at all, it was usually the sort that makes a besotted sentry forget to check papers and luggage properly. SOE began to look for potential female couriers, but the work was highly dangerous and required toughness mind and body to perform under such pressure, so SOE had to be very demanding, very selective and very secretive. It did not advertise its vacancies and recruited by 'the usual methods': word of mouth, and other quiet and roundabout means; a skill in the appropriate language was a good starting point.  Whilst working at RAF Gosforth (alongside another future SOE agent, Patricia O'Sullivan), Butt had been advertising her fluency in French in an attempt to get attached to the Free French squadrons and escape her dreary routine. She failed in this bid, but this did bring her to the attention of SOE, and she was soon accepted for training. She was given an honorary commission as an Assistant Section Officer.

Special Operations Executive.

Butt joined SOE, aged 19, on 11 December 1943. Her training followed the usual programme of tough outdoor training to develop stamina and basic soldiering skills, followed by specialist training according to the operation requirements, plus familiarisation with the routine of life in occupied Europe. Recruits could not discuss their training with outsiders, and in any case, this sort of training was unheard of for women, so at the time few would understand or even believe the full details of the armed and unarmed combat training they received. Only fellow students could give meaningful support. Sonya's colleagues in the SOE included Nancy Wake and Violette Szabo, as well as the French-Canadian army officer Captain Guy D'Artois, whom she would later marry.  On 28 May 1944, Butt was parachuted into the department of the Sarthe in the area of Le Mans to work as a courier, under the codename "Blanche", for Christopher Hudson (codename Albin), the organizer of the Reseau (Circuit) Headmaster. She was one of the last WAAFs landed in France before the Allied invasion, only nine days before D-Day. After one of the other agents dropped with her was shot during a battle between the Maquis and the Germans, Sonya took on the additional role of weapons instructor. She later said, "I filled in wherever the need arose." As a courier, her primary responsibilities were to carry money, pass messages and maintain contact with the SOE agents, Maquis and local operatives working with the circuit.  In June 1944, whilst delivering messages around the countryside, she was stopped by two Germans and detained for questioning. This was a very dangerous moment, but her cover story and false papers withstood the examination, and she was eventually released.  In due course, the Allied ground forces broke out from Normandy and Sonya's district was liberated. In October 1944, she returned to England on the successful completion of her mission.

Honours and awards.

Her work and bravery were recognised with the award of the MBE and a Mention in Dispatches. She was still only 20 years old.

Postwar life.

Much to the annoyance of her superiors, Butt left to marry Guy d'Artois without signing off. After the war, Sonya and Guy went to live in Canada. Guy d'Artois had parachuted into another district of France about the same time as Butt. For the success of his mission, he was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and the Croix de Guerre. In 1947, he received another very senior decoration, the George Medal (GM) for his work in rescuing an injured missionary in northern Canada. After a tour in Japan, Guy served in the Korean War, before the couple settled down again in Canada. Guy and Sonia (an alternative spelling of her name) had six children, three boys and three girls. In Canada, she also used the name Toni D'Artois.  Butt's husband died at the Sainte-Anne-de-Bellevue Veterans hospital in March 1999. Sonya Butt died on 21 December 2014 at the age of 90. She was survived by the couple's six children. She was described, incorrectly, in her obituary of being the last surviving female British spy of the Second World War.

Sonya Esmée Florence Butt (born 14 May 1924 – died 21 December 2014), also known as Sonia d'Artois, code named "Blanche," was an agent of the clandestine Special Operations Executive during the Second World War. SOE agents allied themselves with groups resisting the occupation of their countries by Axis powers. The purpose of SOE was to conduct espionage, sabotage, and reconnaissance in occupied countries. The SOE supplied resistance groups with weapons and equipment parachuted in from England.


History.

The location is one of Malaysia's few pristine forests, with a high level of biodiversity, first recognised by the botanist H. N. Ridley in 1897.  Fraser's Hill derives its name from Louis James Fraser, a solitary Scottish pioneer, who set up a tin-ore trading post in the 1890s. The British army had not explored the Titiwangsa Range, so Fraser recruited guides and labourers for an expedition to the upper ridges, prospecting for gold or other valuable metals. At the top he found an ancient forest of moss-draped trees and ferns with a prehistoric appearance, kept constantly moist in the cloud layer.  He also found rich tin deposits, and recruited Chinese workers to open a mine. A steep track was constructed for mules to transport the tin ore down to The Gap and on to Raub, the nearest town. Fraser operated a gambling and opium den at the workers' camp, through which he profited a second time from the wages paid to his coolies.  Fraser vanished without trace some 25 years later. In 1917 C. J. Ferguson-Davie, Bishop of Singapore, led a trek up from the Gap to look for his site, and did not find him, but reported that the place was perfect for a hill station–a retreat from the heat of the lowlands. In 1919, work started on the access road to the hill station from The Gap and by 1922, the hill station named Fraser's Hill was opened to visitors. The hill station covered 140 hectares of land and had over 50 km of jungle paths. The 1927 "Handbook to British Malaya" recorded that there were 9 bungalows for the use of government officials, 4 houses built with the help of the Red Cross for ex-servicemen and women, 3 private homes, a country club, a golf course, water supply and a post office.  In 1951, during the Malayan Emergency, the British High Commissioner in Malaya Sir Henry Gurney was killed near Fraser's Hill in a random assassination by Communist guerillas. The 1970s saw another burst of development with buildings and golf courses. Faced with growing evidence of the effects of environmental damage at the Malaysia's largest hill resort, Cameron Highlands, the Pahang state government in 2010 ruled out further development of virgin forest at Fraser's Hill. Frasers Hill was also had a rest centre for the British Forces based in Malaya and Singapore during the 1960s. The centre was run by NAAFI (Navy Army and Air Force)beside accommodation it had a swimming pool, built by volunteers from the forces and a tennis court.

Location.

Fraser's Hill includes seven peaks, with altitudes between 1,220 and 1,524 meters above sea level. The Meteorological Department station is measured at 1,280 m. Year round temperatures are between 17°C~25°C / 63°F~77°F.  The resort is situated from the national capital city Kuala Lumpur and 236 km from the state capital Kuantan. At the foot of the steep ascent, at an altitude of only 800m, is The Gap, where a colonial resthouse used to be. The winding 8 km single-track road up from The Gap is open in alternate directions each hour; odds hours for going up and even hours for going down. The drive from The Gap to Fraser's Hill takes less than 20 minutes. Some visitors prefer to walk up, spotting birds and enjoying the noticeable fall in temperature. A new alternative road was opened in 2001, but from time to time this is closed due to landslides; landslides however are a rare occurrence today. The old Gap-Fraser Hill road today serves as one way ingress to Fraser Hill while a new road opened in 2000 was made a one way egress.

Recreational activities.

Cool and invigorating throughout the year, Fraser's Hill remains popular with Malaysians and Singaporeans for company retreats and weekend breaks.

Golfing.

Malaysia's earliest highland golf course was constructed on Fraser's Hill in 1925. The 9-hole course was built on former tin mines. In the 1970s, an 18-hole course was added at Jeriau, about 3 km from the main town.

Walking.

There are several hiking trails around the hill; their entrance is usually marked by signboards. There is also an accessible waterfall. Trails range from the Hemmant Trail, a short walk, to the Pine Tree Trail, a full day's trek.

Bird watching.

Fraser's Hill is a notable centre for birdwatching aficionados. The hill station has over 270 species of local and migratory birds flocking here together. The annual International Bird Race is held in the second weekend of June each year, organized by the Fraser's Hill Development Corporation in collaboration with WWF It sees participants throughout the world converging on the hill station in a team competition to sight, identify and record the highest number of species of birds stated in the official checklist. There is a special spot for the birdwatchers which is a metal-framed hanging bridge that has completed its construction but still awaiting for some approvals before being granted for opening to the public.

Accommodation.

Accommodation at Fraser's Hill includes colonial-era bungalows for rent, modern apartments, inns and a small hotel.

The Fraser's Hill (,, ) is a hill resort located on the Titiwangsa Ridge in Raub District, Pahang, Malaysia.


Service history.

1934–1945.

"Potomac" was built in 1934 by the Manitowoc Ship Building Company, Manitowoc, Wisconsin as the United States Coast Guard Cutter "Electra". "Electra" was a submarine chaser commissioned on October 25, 1934, which served in anti-bootlegging operations. She was chosen to be the new presidential yacht after the Secret Service deemed a fire hazard. The thought of having a wooden boat that could easily catch fire was not appealing to Franklin Delano Roosevelt who as a child witnessed his aunt burn to death in an oil lamp accident. He also wanted a vessel in which he could move independently and take fishing trips. "Electra" was officially renamed USS "Potomac" on January 30, 1936, converted to serve as a presidential yacht and commissioned into the United States Navy on March 2, 1936.  There were approximately $60,000 in upgrades made while converting the ship into a presidential yacht to make the vessel wheel chair accessible and more accommodating. These upgrades included the addition of a false smokestack, a new salon, installation of brass fixtures, the presidential stateroom and bath, three guest cabins and teak decks. Additions to the fantail include a vast leather settee, patio furniture and bullet-proof glass. In the additional smokestack, there was an elevator with a pulley system designed so that President Franklin D. Roosevelt could transport himself to the boat deck. The fantail couch is designed so that each sitting party has their legs completely stretched out when sitting back and the president could sit equally as his guests with his legs supported. An antiaircraft machine gun was installed and mounted when the president was onboard. Ship ballast was added to the vessel to account for these upgrades.  In the following years, "Potomac" was heavily used by President Franklin D. Roosevelt, for fishing trips and informal political meetings. USS "Potomac" served as a place where relationships were built and deals were made. In 1939 the United Kingdom's King George VI and Queen Elizabeth travelled with the Roosevelts aboard "Potomac" to George Washington's home at Mount Vernon. This was the first visit by British royalty to an American president. The ship now commissioned USS "Potomac" was categorized as AG-25 which indicates the Navy ship designation of Auxiliary Miscellaneous and number 25th in this designation, known informally as the “Floating Whitehouse”.  It is rumored that the National Labor Relations Act of 1935 was signed onboard the ship. Ship logs have been recovered documenting voyages to the Gulf of Mexico and Dry Tortugas, Florida. On March 28, 1941, President Roosevelt delivered a Fireside Chat to the nation from the radio room of USS "Potomac" in which he stated "the time calls for courage and more courage." After the bombing of Pearl Harbor, the yacht was considered a potential target and used more cautiously by the president.  On 3 August 1941, President Roosevelt left Washington to board "Potomac" at the submarine base at New London. "Potomac" then sailed for Appogansett Bay where the President did some fishing and entertained guests including Crown Princess Märtha of Norway. Eventually "Potomac" anchored in Menemsha Bight in Vineyard Sound, where the heavy cruiser already lay at anchor. In the early hours of 5 August "Potomac" came alongside "Augusta" and the President and his party transferred to the warship. "Augusta" then proceeded at high speed to Newfoundland for a clandestine meeting with Winston Churchill. During this meeting, Roosevelt and Churchill agreed to the Atlantic Charter, laying out the principles of the Allied partnership during World War II and setting the scene for the United Nations to plan the post-war peace.  In the meantime and for security purposes, the President's flag continued to be flown from "Potomac" while she transited the Cape Cod Canal in New England waters. A Secret Serviceman, approximating the President in size and affecting his mannerisms when visible from a distance, played a starring role in the deception. Press releases issued daily from "Potomac" led all who read them to believe that the President was really embarked in his yacht on a pleasure cruise. After the meetings, "Augusta" returned the President to "Potomac" on 14 August.  After President Roosevelt's death, "Potomac" was decommissioned by the Navy, and returned to US Coast Guard in November 1945.

1945–1980.

USS "Potomac" was decommissioned by President Truman who chose the larger as his presidential yacht. The date of the decommission by the Coast Guard was May 23, 1946. After being decommissioned, "Potomac" remained docked in Cambridge, Maryland and served with the Maryland Tidewater Fisheries Commission as one of forty fishery enforcement boats for the clam, crab, fish and oyster fisherman of the area until 1960. To accommodate President Roosevelt's need for wheelchair accessibility, a concealed elevator had been installed inside what had been one of "Potomac"s smokestacks to carry the president from the main deck to the boat deck. This smokestack-elevator shaft was removed and now sits in Cambridge at Long Wharf park as a monument to the former president and his 1935 visit to Cambridge on another presidential yacht,.  "Potomac" was sold to Warren G. Toone in April 1960 and used as a private ferry boat between Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands. In 1963, she was registered by Hydro-Capital in Newport Beach, California as a museum ship with call sign WA9710.  In January 1964 she was purchased by Elvis Presley for US$55,000. Presley offered it to the March of Dimes who could not use it. He then gave it to St. Jude Children's Hospital, in Memphis, to sell as a fund raiser. The hospital was able to sell it that same year for US$65,000. The "Potomac" was then registered to Marie Augustina Pagliasso in 1967 in Sanger, California with the call sign WA9710. Records show "Potomac"s home port was Los Angeles from 1963 to 1967. In January 1970, the vessel was out of documentation. It is rumored that a certain owner planned on turning the yacht into a floating disco. In 1962, there was a failed attempt to attend World's Fair in Seattle due to engine trouble in Long Beach.  By 1980, she was involved in drug smuggling and was seized by the United States Customs Service in San Francisco, then towed to Treasure Island, where she sank.

1980–present.

In 1980, USS "Potomac" was involved in a large scale drug running operation in Mexico which led to a drug bust at San Francisco's Pier 26. Although, there were no drugs found aboard the yacht but there was aboard the yacht it had been traveling with, the vessel was confiscated by law enforcement and taken to Treasure Island.  The vessel is said to have sunk due to a hull that had not been properly maintained and experienced thinning. The vessel was taking in water for some time before it finally sank alongside Treasure Island.  After being refloated by the U.S. Navy just two weeks later, "Potomac" was sold to the first and only bidder, the Port of Oakland, for $15,000 and underwent a major restoration.  "Potomac" was used in June 2011 to film shipboard scenes of the Paul Thomas Anderson film "The Master". Actors Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and others shot scenes aboard the yacht while docked and under way.

The Preservation of the Presidential Yacht Potomac Association.

With a $2.5 million government grant, James Roosevelt, FDR's eldest son, began restoring the yacht. In April 1993, the restored "Potomac" sailed her first cruise as a restored vessel. The yacht became a culturally significant tourist attraction in Oakland when it was open to the public at Jack London Square in Summer 1995.  She is now preserved by the non-profit Potomac Association, and berthed at Jack London Square in Oakland. She is open to dockside tours and regular cruises on the San Francisco Bay. Michael Roosevelt, a grandson of FDR, is the chair of the Preservation of the Presidential Yacht Potomac where a team of volunteers, crew and donors work to uphold the legacy of the historic presidential yacht.

USS "Potomac" (AG-25), formerly USCGC "Electra", was Franklin D. Roosevelt's presidential yacht from 1936 until his death in 1945. In January 2016 was scrapped leaving USS "Potomac" and as the last two still existing presidential yachts. On 3 August 1941, she played a decoy role while Roosevelt held a secret conference to develop the Atlantic Charter. She is now preserved in Oakland, California, as a National Historic Landmark and the only presidential yacht open to the public.


Description.

"Corymbia polycarpa" is a tree that typically grows to a height of, sometimes, and forms a lignotuber. It has rough, tessellated, flaky and brownish bark on the trunk and branches. Older bark is grey brown and newer bark is red-brown in colour. Young plants and coppice regrowth have elliptic to lance-shaped leaves that are up to long, wide and petiolate. Adult leaves are usually glossy green, paler on the lower surface, lance-shaped to curved, long and wide, tapering to a petiole long. The flower buds are arranged on the ends of the branchlets on a branched peduncle long, each branch of the peduncle with seven or nine buds on pedicels long. Mature buds are oval to pear-shaped, long and wide with a rounded to conical operculum. The buds have a whitish scaly surface due to the fragmenting rubber cuticle. Flowering occurs from April to August and the flowers are white or cream-coloured. The fruit is a woody, elongated barrel-shaped capsule long and wide on a pedicel long with the four valves enclosed in the fruit. The seeds are brown, ellipsoidal and long with a wing on the end.  This species is distinguished from "C. clarksoniana". "C. ligans" and "C. novoguinensis" in the basis of fruit shape.

Taxonomy.

The species was first formally described as "Eucalyptus polycarpa" by the botanist Ferdinand von Mueller in 1859 in the "Journal of the Proceedings of the Linnean Society, Botany". It was reclassified into the genus "Corymbia" in 1995 by Ken Hill and Lawrence Alexander Sidney Johnson in the journal "Telopea".

Distribution.

"Corymbia polycarpa" is found in Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and northwestern New South Wales. The species is quite common between Broome and Derby in Western Australia through the Kimberley region of Western Australia extending east over the Top End of the Northern Territory including nearby islands and across the Gulf of Carpentaria and southern Cape York Peninsula in Queensland. It is found near watercourses, in depressions or on floodplains growing in sandy or silty alluvium and less commonly in cracking clays and in skeletal sandstone or lateritic soils.

Uses.

The timber from the tree is a very durable, with an above-ground life expectancy in excess of 40 years which drops to 25 years when used in-ground. The timber is vulnerable to termite attack and untreated sapwood is prone to damage by lyctine borers. It is a hardwood and difficult to work with hand tools. It is mostly used as round timber rather than sawn timber as a result of the numerous kino veins. It has been used as poles, railway sleepers, mining supports, for fencing and house stumps. Indigenous Australians used the gum medicinally as an antiseptic liquid to treat cuts, sores, burns, ulcers and yaws.

See also.

List of "Corymbia" species

Corymbia polycarpa, also known as the long-fruited bloodwood or small-flowered bloodwood, is a species of tree that is endemic to northern Australia. Indigenous Australians of different language groups have different names for the tree. The Nungali peoples know the tree as narrga or gunjid, the Mulluk-Mulluk know it as dawart, the Yangman know it as bodog, the Gurindji peoples as jadburru and the Wagiman as jagatjjin. It is a medium-sized tree with rough, tessellated bark on the trunk and branches, lance-shaped to curved adult leaves, flower buds in groups of seven or nine, white or cream-coloured flowers and barrel-shaped fruit.


Taxonomy.

The rufous-vented grass babbler was described by the English zoologist Edward Blyth in 1844 under the binomial name "Eurycercus burnesii".  Two subspecies are recognised:

Description.

Rufous-vented grass babblers average long with a wing length from the bend to the tip of (females) or (males) to. Adults are a cool brown colour above except that a buffy region on the back of the neck and upper back forms a distinct collar. Bold dark streaking starts at the forehead and fades on the back. The underparts are whitish with a tawny hue and dark streaking on the flanks. The undertail coverts are bright rufous or chestnut. The upper surface of the wings has barring formed by the covert feathers and their paler fringes. The wing linings are a faintly tawny off-white. The flight feathers of the wings are greyish brown; when the wing is folded, the primaries barely extend beyond the tertials. Those of the tail may be greyish or olive-brown and have rufous tips. The tail is long and strongly graduated, that is, the outermost pair of feathers is only one-third as long as the central pair. The head shows a conspicuous white eye-ring, whitish lores, and dark-streaked whitish cheeks.  The upper mandible is horn-brown; the lower, straw-brown or flesh-brown. The eyes are brown, varying a little in lightness. The legs are flesh-colored or pale brown.  From July to September the plumage is worn, especially the tail, which may be much shorter than in fresh plumage and missing the rufous tips. The moult is usually complete by October.  Juveniles are similar but have loose, fluffy plumage. They have little or no streaking on the back and their tail tips are rufous, not tawny. They molt into adult head and body plumage, retaining their flight feathers, about 4 to 6 weeks after fledging.  Calls include "a wheezy "feez", and a quiet, very rapid nasal rattle." The song is described as a warble about 4 seconds long, liquid and loud, comparable to that of a dunnock.

Range and habitat.

As treated here, this bird is found only in the plains of the Indus in Pakistan and adjacent in Punjab (India). (However, the swamp grass babbler of Assam and Bangladesh is often combined with this species.) It inhabits a variety of long grasslands, notably plains of sarkhan ("Saccharum") but also plains of elephant grass and ekra grass, sometimes where mixed with acacias and tamarisks. It can even occur in deserts with scattered patches of tall grass, and reedbeds. It prefers the vicinity of large rivers and their tributaries or swamps.

Behaviour.

This species skulks low in grass tussocks, hopping and threading its way through, often in small groups, feeding on insects. It usually holds its tail slightly cocked. When it flies, something that is hard to cause, it goes only to a nearby tussock. It is easiest to find in the breeding season, when it sings in the mornings and evenings.

Status.

The conservation status of the rufous-vented grass babbler is rated at near threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. It is locally common or abundant in the Punjab and northern Sindh but much rarer in southern Sindh.

The rufous-vented grass babbler or rufous-vented prinia ("Laticilla burnesii") is a small warbler in the family Pellorneidae that occurs in Pakistan, northwestern India and Nepal.


As part of Muzion.

As part of band Muzion that was formed in 1999, Imposs had great success with the band signing a contract with BMG. The debut album "Mentalité Moune Morne" in 1999 was a hit and Imposs became well known in the urban scene throughout Canada and in Quebec in particular. After winning the "Album of the Year - Hip Hop" Félix Award, the band released their second album "J'Rêvolutionne" that got critical acclaim and again won the "Best Album of the Year -Hip Hop" in 2002. Imposs and Muzion toured France with IV My People, follow-up to the cult band NTM. In 2004, Wyclef Jean invited Muzion to collaborate with him on Wyclef Jean's hit "24 Heures à vivre". The francophone hit of Wyclef Jean witnessed huge success in France and internationally about the life of immigrants. The song won the "Prix Mirroir de la chanson d'expression française" (the Mirror Prize for song in French expression).

Solo career.

Imposs launched his solo career with an album entitled "Mon Poing D'Vue" through K'Maro's music label K-Pone Inc with coverage in the Quebec media including interview at TQS.  He took part in "Festival d'Eté du Quebec" that called him "widely respected and most influential performer on the Quebec hip hop scene"  His first single / video release was ""Faut qu'j'men aille"" released in 2007. He followed that with another single release called "Rien d'interdit" also in 2007. Rapper K-Maro appears in the video as a cameo.  When on 11 August 2008, Freddy Villanueva an 18-year-old youth lost his life by Montreal police bullets and as a result riots ensued in Montreal-Nord district with a large concentration of minorities, Imposs was one of the first to intervene and was interviewed by the Quebec media as one of the opinion leaders presenting the Haitian and other minority communities. He also explained the grievances in Montreal's "La Presse" daily newspaper on 13 August 2008. Television stations held interviews with him about the incidents on Radio-Canada and RDI 24-hours news channel.  Imposs's new album "Peace-Tolet" debuted at number 76 on the Canadian Albums Chart.

Nominations and awards.

During the period with Muzion:  As a solo act:  For 2 consecutive years (2008 and 2009), rapper Imposs won the prize for "Best francophone artist of the year", during the Quebec Sounds of Blackness Awards (S.O.B.A) specializing in urban and hip hop culture. The award is the most prestigious distributed annually.

Festivals and Shows.

Imposs has given more than 300 shows throughout Canada and in France. He notably is featured in a number of well-attended festivals including:

Collaborations.

Imposs has collaborated with a number of artists. However the most notable remains with another international artist of Haitian origin Wyclef Jean. It started when Imposs was in Muzion. In 2004 Wyclef Jean invited the band to collaborate with him on Wyclef Hean's hit "24 Heures à vivre". The francophone hit of Wyclef Jean witnessed huge success in France and internationally and went to win the "Prix Mirroir de la chanson d'expression française" (the Mirror Prize for song in French expression). In the remix of Wyclef Jean's hit "Let Me Touch Your Button" Imposs is featured alongside will.i.am (of The Black Eyed Peas) and Jimmy O. (of Rap Kreyol)  Imposs is also featured in K'Maro's song "Love It Or Leave It" appearing in the latter's 2008 album Perfect Stranger

Discography.

Albums.

With Muzion.

The albums were released under the "VIK Recordings" music label:

Solo.

The album was released under K.Pone Inc music label:  Tracks:  Tracks:

Stanley Rimsky Salgado, known by his stage name Imposs, is a Canadian rapper of Haitian origin based in Quebec. Before becoming a solo artist, he was part of Muzion, one of the well-known hip hop bands of Quebec. He has collaborated on many occasions with Wyclef Jean during Muzion days and as a solo artist. He is also well known for dubbing the phrase "Real City" for Montreal. He is signed to Sony


History.

Luna Park was built by American showmen J D Williams, together with the Phillips brothers Harold, Leon and Herman. Not much is known of their background, but they were involved in the building of picture theatres in Spokane, Washington and Vancouver before coming to Sydney in 1909 and quickly establishing a chain of luxury cinemas in that city and then Melbourne. They then took the lease of the Dreamland site, a failed amusement park on the St Kilda foreshore, and reputedly brought out experts directly from the birthplace of the amusement park, Coney Island in New York, to build an up to date attraction. It was to be named Luna Park, perhaps after the first park of that name, the 1903 Luna Park on Coney Island, or Luna Park, Seattle, opened in 1906. Melbourne's Luna Park opened on 13 December 1912, to huge crowds and was an immediate success.  It is not clear exactly who designed the famous mouth entrance; T H Eslick is credited with the design of the park in the opening day brochure, and as the 'engineer-in-chief' in contemporary newspaper reports, while Vernon Churchill was described as the scenic artist "in whose fertile brain the various attractions have been arranged".  In the years before World War I, the park was a great success, with attractions such as the Scenic Railway, Palais de Folies (later Giggle Palace), River Caves of the World, Penny Arcade, a Whitney Bros 'while-u-wait' photo booth, the American Bowl Slide, as well as live performances in the Palace of Illusions and on a permanent high-wire. Williams returned to the US around 1913, and helped found First National Films which subsequently became Warner Brothers. The Phillips brothers stayed on and ran the park until their deaths in the 1950s.  Luna Park closed for the war, although the Scenic Railway continued to operate, and the park itself was still used for "patriotic or fund-raising events". It did not re-open until an extensive overhaul in 1923 added new and improved attractions, such as the Big Dipper roller coaster, a Water Chute, a Noah's Ark, and a 4-row Carousel made in 1913 by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (that had previously been at White City in Sydney).  Between the wars, a number of new attractions were made, including Dodgem cars in 1926-7, and in 1934, a Ghost Train. In the 1950s, the park was refurbished, including the addition of The Rotor in 1951. The park remained popular throughout the 1950s, 1960s and into the late 1970s, when some of the earlier attractions began to be replaced by modern mechanical rides. A fire in 1981 destroyed the Giggle Palace, and in the same year the River Caves were declared unsafe, and demolished. In 1989, the Big Dipper was demolished in anticipation of a new large roller coaster which never eventuated. The ride was also demolished due to safety concerns with its age, following a major derailment, that injured 20 people, on the older rollercoaster, the Scenic Railway.  The main historic features of the park to remain include the iconic "Mr Moon" face entry and flanking towers (1912, restored 1999), the Scenic Railway (1912), which is the oldest continuously operating roller coaster in the world, and the carousel (1913 restored 2000). Other historic attractions include the Ghost Train (1934), and the fairytale castle-style Dodgem's Building constructed to house the newly patented ride in 1927 (the ride itself was relocated from the first floor of this building to the ground level in the late 1990s).  The park also includes many modern attractions such as the Coney Drop, the Spider, a Ferris wheel, and other mechanical thrill-rides. The park remains popular with children and their parents who have fond memories of the park from their youth.  The remaining 28 years of a 50 years lease for Luna Park was sold in 1998, when two superannuation funds represented by BCR Asset Management bought it for $3 million. They spent $10 million on extensive refurbishments, upgrading the services and safety for the first time in decades, upgrading existing rides and installing new ones, whilst retaining the fun-fair, fantasy themes. The Scenic Railway was overhauled, the face rebuilt as a new fibreglass version placed over the remnants of the original plaster one, and the towers repainted in their traditional primary colours. The carousel was also restored, returning the horses and the painted decoration to their original 1913 appearance.  A consortium headed by Melbourne transport magnate Lindsay Fox bought Luna Park in early 2005, pledging to restore it to the glory he remembers from his 1940s youth, spent in nearby Windsor. Since the multimillion-dollar purchase, there has been no major overhaul, but the Scenic Railway Station was given a facelift, in 2010 the Coney Island Top Drop (a replica of Coney Tower at Coney Island's Luna Park) was purchased directly from Zamperla, and a major section of the Scenic Railway underwent major repairs between December 2007 and June 2008.  The park's triangular beachfront site is on government land, bounded by the O'Donnell Gardens on one side and Cavell Street on the other. Across this street is a larger triangle of foreshore crown land known as the 'Triangle Site', occupied by the grand 1920s Palais Theatre, the 1970s Palace nightclub (burned down in 2007), and car parking. The City of Port Phillip in consultation with the Victorian State Government ran a tender process in 2007 to restore the Palais Theatre and redevelop the remainder of the site. Lindsay Fox was part of a consortium that submitted a proposal which was unsuccessful.  The remaining heritage features of the park are listed on the National Trust of Australia, and the face and towers and scenic railway, and the carousel and its canopy, are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register.  In 2011 and 2012 Luna Park's sign was rebuilt in fibreglass. Work was done on the face while under scaffolding with a material with Mr Moon and the towers printed on it. On 13 December 2012, the amusement park celebrated its centenary. In August 2013, it was announced that a new permanent thrill ride would be installed in the coming months. The ride replaced the G-Force and was revealed to be a permanent installation of the Power Surge, which had previously been a seasonal ride.  In 2014–15 the 'House of Carnivale' was built in the site that had once been the Jack'n'Jill, and later the Pinball Arcade, with food venues on the ground level and a function room upstairs. This was the first permanent building on the Luna Park site since the Ghost Train in 1936.

Other Luna Parks.

Luna Park in St Kilda spawned three other Luna Parks that were eventually built or planned around Australia, and there were another two places that used the name.  In 1930 the Phillips brother's branched out and built a second Luna Park in the Adelaide seaside suburb of Glenelg, managed by David Atkins. In the face of Council's refusal to lower the rental, and local opposition, when a site in Sydney became available in Milsons Point Sydney, they dismantled the rides and relocated the venture. With a new face entrance and a version of the Giggle Palace and the Dodgem's called the Crystal Palace, the park was an immediate success, and still operates, albeit with the loss of some original rides.  In 1940 T H Eslick reappeared in Australia and built the Cloudland Ballroom which was originally called Luna Park, and had a few rides clustered around it. WW2 intervened, and the park was soon closed, with the ballroom reopening in 1942 to become a popular part of the Brisbane entertainment scene until it's shock demolition in 1982.  In 1944 a small cluster of amusements on the foreshore of the seaside Brisbane suburb of Redcliffe adopted the name Luna Park, and operated until the last ride closed in the late 1960s.  Another collection of rides, complete with a much simplified version of the mouth entrance, opened in the Perth seaside suburb of Scarborough, Western Australia in 1939. It lasted 33 years before being demolished in 1972 for a shopping centre.

Luna Park Melbourne is a historic amusement park located on the foreshore of Port Phillip Bay in St Kilda, Melbourne, Victoria. It opened on 13 December 1912, with a formal opening a week later, and has been operating almost continuously ever since.


Role.

The position was created, along with the Secretariat itself, after the fourteenth Commonwealth Prime Ministers Conference in London in 1965, issued a memorandum describing the role of the Secretary-General: The headquarters of the Secretary-General, as with the Secretariat generally, is Marlborough House, a former royal residence in London, which was placed at the disposal of the Secretariat by Queen Elizabeth II. However, as the building cannot house all of the Secretariat's staff in London, additional space is rented elsewhere in London. From this operational base, a large part of the Secretary-General's work involves travelling around the Commonwealth keeping in personal contact with those at the heart of the governments of member states.  The Secretary-General receives a salary of nearly £160,000 (2015) and a four‐storey mansion, Garden House, in Mayfair as an official residence.

Staff and responsibility.

The Secretary-General leads the Commonwealth Secretariat, and all Secretariat staff are responsible and answerable to him or her. He or she is supported by three Deputy Secretaries-General, which are elected by the Heads of Government via the members' High Commissioners in London. Currently, the three Deputy Secretaries-General are Deodat Maharaj, Gary Dunn and Josephine Ojiambo. Until 2014, only two Deputy Secretaries-General were appointed along with an Assistant Secretary-General for Corporate Affairs. The Secretary-General may appoint junior staff at their own discretion, provided the Secretariat can afford it, whilst more senior staff may be appointed only from a shortlist of nominations from the Heads of Government. In practice, the Secretary-General has more power than this; member governments consult the Secretary-General on nominations, and the Secretary-General has also at times submitted nominations of his own.  Formally, the Secretary-General is given the same rank as a High Commissioner or ambassador. However, in practice, his or her rank is considerably higher. At CHOGMs, he or she is the equal of the Heads of Government, except with preference deferred to the longest-serving Head of Government. At other ministerial meetings, he or she is considered "primus inter pares". But for the first 3 years (of the job's existence) the Foreign Office refused to invite the Secretary-General to the Queen's annual diplomatic reception at Buckingham Palace, much to Arnold Smith's irritation, until in 1968 this refusal was over-ridden by the Queen herself  The Secretary-General was originally required to submit annual reports to the Heads of Government, but this has since been changed to reporting at biennial Commonwealth Heads of Government Meetings (CHOGM). The Secretary-General is held responsible by the Commonwealth's Board of Governors in London.

Election.

Since the 1993 CHOGM, it has been decided that the Secretary-General is elected to a maximum of two four-year terms. The election is held by the assembled Heads of Government and other ministerial representatives at every other CHOGM. Nominations are received from the member states' governments, who sponsor the nomination through the election process and are responsible for withdrawing their candidate as they see fit.  The election is held in a Restricted Session of the CHOGM, in which only Heads of Government or ministerial representatives thereof may be present. The Chair of the CHOGM (the Head of Government of the host nation) is responsible for ascertaining which candidate has the greatest support, through the conduct of negotiations and secret straw polls.  There is usually a convention that an incumbent seeking a second term in office is elected unopposed for his or her second term. However, this was broken by a Zimbabwe-backed bid for Sri Lankan Lakshman Kadirgamar to displace New Zealand's Don McKinnon in 2003. At the vote, however, Kadirgamar was easily defeated by McKinnon, with only 11 members voting for him against 40 for McKinnon.  At the 2011 CHOGM, India's Kamalesh Sharma was re-elected to his second term unopposed. Sharma had won the position at the 2007 CHOGM, when he defeated Malta's Michael Frendo to replace McKinnon, who had served the maximum two terms.  At the 2015 CHOGM, Patricia Scotland, a former British cabinet minister, was nominated for Commonwealth Secretary-General by her native country of Dominica and defeated Antiguan diplomat Sir Ronald Sanders and former deputy secretary-general for political affairs Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba of Botswana to become the 6th Commonwealth Secretary-General and the first woman to hold the post. She took office on 1 April 2016.

The Commonwealth Secretary-General is the head of the Commonwealth Secretariat, the central body which has served the Commonwealth of Nations since its establishment in 1965, and responsible for representing the Commonwealth publicly. The Commonwealth Secretary-General should not be confused with the Head of the Commonwealth, who is currently Elizabeth II.


Geography.

Sweetwater is located at (25.765977, -80.373624).  According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.8 square miles (2.1 km2), all land, until December 2010. The city tripled in size upon the annexation of additional areas, including where Dolphin Mall is located. The annexed area is roughly bounded by Northwest Seventh and 25th streets, 107th Avenue and Florida's Turnpike extension.

History.

The history of Sweetwater actually began during the Florida land boom of the 1920s when the Miami-Pittsburgh Land Company purchased land and laid out the original plat of "Sweetwater Groves." However, the 1926 Miami Hurricane and subsequent South Florida real estate "bust" put an abrupt end to the development venture.  In 1938, Clyde Andrews acquired most of the "Sweetwater Groves" tract and began to market lots. Among his buyers was a troupe of Russian dwarves seeking a place to retire after a career with the circus. They built several mini-scaled homes suited to their needs. For years, Sweetwater was known as the "midget" community.  In 1941, Sweetwater held a successful election for incorporation. The new town's first mayor was Joe Sanderlin, the midgets' guardian and manager. By 1959, Sweetwater had attracted 500 residents and contained a town hall, church, grocery store, service station and 183 homes. It also had a two-man police force and a volunteer fire department. In 1970, Sweetwater was still a relatively small community of about 3,000 residents.  During the 1970s, several events dramatically changed the "sleepy little country town" of Sweetwater forever. These events included the establishment of Florida International University to the south of the city, the construction of the two major expressways to the north and west, and the discovery of Sweetwater by Dade County's Hispanic community. The growth and development which was precipitated by these occurrences caused Sweetwater to more than double in population and lead all other Dade cities in growth during the 1970s.  In March 1996, Sweetwater made national news as 69 animals were found dead on 2 properties in the city. Dade County police and the local zoologist blamed a large dog, while many residents blamed the killings on the Chupacabra.  In the 2010s, there are only a few vacant lots left to develop. In 2010, the city's population has burgeoned to 13,499 persons, of which 95.5% are of Hispanic origin. The City can now boast of having their own full-service police department, as well as four parks, an elementary school, a county fire station, 4,353 residential housing units, 14 shopping centers, over 600 businesses, several churches and a bank. There are three 24-hour diners in Sweetwater, which are Rey's Pizza (Cuban Style Pizza) and La Esquinita Havanera (Cuban Cuisine) and Latin Restaurant (Cuban Cuisine). All three are located a short distance from each other off 107th Avenue. Sweetwater is also located near Miami International Mall. After a December 2010 vote, Dolphin Mall is now part of the city.

Demographics.

Sweetwater is a city in Miami-Dade County, in the South Florida metro area.  As of 2010, there were 4,195 households out of which 1.9% were vacant. In 2000, 39.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 57.7% were married couples living together, 19.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 16.8% were non-families. 12.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 7.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 3.33 and the average family size was 3.55.  In 2000, the City population was spread out with 24.2% under the age of 18, 9.6% from 18 to 24, 29.7% from 25 to 44, 23.0% from 45 to 64, and 13.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.9 males.  In 2000, the median income for a household in the city was $29,333, and the median income for a family was $30,823. Males had a median income of $22,378 versus $17,020 for females. The per capita income for the city was $11,098. About 08.4% of families and 11.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 21.3% of those under age 18 and 21.7% of those age 65 or over.  As of 2013, Spanish was the mother tongue for 95.30% of the population, while English was spoken by 2.90% of all residents. Speakers of other Indo-European languages accounted for 0.30%, while the combined total of those who spoke an Asian language or Pacific Islander language made up 0.80%. The rest of the people who spoke any other languages in Sweetwater were at 0.70%. In total, 97.10% of the populace spoke something other than English as their first language.  As of 2000, 16.63% of Sweetwater residents identified as being of Nicaraguan heritage. This was the highest percentage of Nicaraguans and Nicaraguan Americans of any place in the country. As a result, Sweetwater is locally known as "Little Managua" after Managua, the Nicaraguan capital. It had the tenth highest percentage of Cuban residents in the US, at 49.92% of the city's population, and the ninety-sixth highest percentage of Colombian residents in the US, at 1.72% of its population (tied with Davie and Maywood, New Jersey.) It also had the twenty-ninth most Hondurans in the US, at 1.31% of all residents.

Education.

Sweetwater is within the Dade County Public Schools.  Percentage of College Graduates 13% of Sweetwater residents age 25 and older have a bachelor's or advanced college degree.  Elementary Schools  Public Middle Schools  Public High Schools  Universities  The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Miami previously operated Our Lady of Divine Providence School in Fontainebleau CDP, in proximity to Sweetwater. It closed in 2009.

Sweetwater is a city in Miami-Dade County, Florida, United States. As of 2010, the population recorded by the U.S. Census Bureau is 13,499. Sweetwater is home to the largest concentration of Nicaraguans and Nicaraguan Americans in the U.S., as a result, it is locally known as "Little Managua".


Early career.

Before his political career, Brancher was a Pauline priest. He was a key figure in the publication of the Paulines' magazine, "Famiglia Cristiana". After leaving the priesthood, he worked for Berlusconi's advertising house, Publitalia '80, before moving on to Berlusconi's holding company, Fininvest.  In 1993, while working for Fininvest, Brancher was caught up in the Tangentopoli political corruption scandal. He served three months in San Vittore prison for false accounting and for illegally funding the Italian Socialist Party, but was released on a technicality following a ruling by the Court of Cassation.

Political career.

Brancher was elected to the 14th legislature of the Italian Chamber of Deputies in May 2001 and was re-elected in April 2006 and April 2008. He was appointed as a Secretary of State with responsibility for reform on 12 May 2008.  Brancher was named as a minister without portfolio, with specific responsibility for federalism, on 18 June 2010. A few days later, his responsibility was changed to decentralisation as the Lega Nord – partners in Berlusconi's coalition Government – was concerned that his role would conflict with that of its leader, Umberto Bossi, who was Minister for Federal Reforms. At the time of his appointment, Brancher was facing trial for alleged embezzlement during the 2005 takeover of Antonveneta. When, just a few days later, Brancher invoked an immunity law that protects ministers from prosecution, the opposition accused Berlusconi of making the appointment solely to save his friend from the court hearing. Giorgio Napolitano, the President of Italy, rejected Brancher's invocation of the right to immunity, suggesting that, as Brancher was a minister without portfolio, there was no actual Ministry work preventing him from standing trial. Following the President’s comments, the opposition, along with members of Brancher’s own party, threatened a motion of no confidence unless he resigned. Brancher acquiesced and announced his resignation during the opening day of his trial on 5 July 2010.

Aldo Brancher (born 30 May 1943; Trichiana, Veneto) is an Italian politician. He served as a minister without portfolio in the Government of Silvio Berlusconi for 17 days in June/July 2010, but was forced to resign due to a pending court case.