Overview.

The entire project is 8.6 km long. There are four tunnels (two sets of twin tunnels), the 3.5 km long western set and the 1.6 km long eastern set, containing two lanes of traffic in each tunnel. The tunnels were bored in Mount Carmel, essentially under the city of Haifa and have three portals: one from the west, near the MATAM business park (with a connection to the Coastal Highway and the Old Haifa–Tel Aviv Highway), one in the center off Ruppin Road (next to the Grand Canyon Shopping Mall), and from the east connecting to the Krayot (aka the "Checkpost") interchange and Highway 22 at the Yadin/Mevo Carmel interchange.  The project was built by Carmelton, a subsidiary of Ashtrom and Shikun UVinui, two of the largest infrastructure companies in Israel, and the tunnels were bored by China Civil Engineering Construction Corporation (CCECC), a Chinese company specializing in tunnel boring.  In January 2009, boring was completed on the westbound tunnel in the eastern portion of the project. Boring of the last tunnel was completed on June 1, 2009. The cost for drivers is 8.7 NIS for each segment (a drive to the central portal is considered one segment and driving the entire east-west route is composed of two segments). Payment can be made in cash at a toll booth or by video tolling using automatic number plate recognition for subscribers who arrange a billing relationship or by video or transponder tolling for Highway 6 subscribers. The total cost of the project was estimated at approximately 1.2 billion NIS (approx. US$300 million in 2008 dollars).  In early March 2014 construction was completed on a connector between the tunnels' eastern portal and Highway 22. This connector is the final link between a series of controlled-access highways that together form an inter-city highway corridor stretching along most of Israel's Mediterranean coast, from Acre (Akko) in the north to Ashdod in the south. This corridor consists of whole or parts of highways 22, 23, 2, 20 and 4.

History.

Plans for the tunnels were first proposed as early as 1992, and the winning tender for the construction of the tunnels was awarded to Carmelton in 1997. In 1999 Carmelton obtained financing for the project, however construction was delayed due to objections and other legal matters, at which point Israel Discount Bank backed out of its obligation to provide credit for the project. A lengthy legal suit followed, which eventually forced the bank to carry out its financial obligations.  Six hundred Chinese workers were brought in for the project by CCECC. The project was first delayed just one week after the cornerstone was laid in April 2007, following concerns over electromagnetic radiation standards. Work finally resumed on June 19, 2007.  The project was once again delayed in September 2008, when CCECC demanded that the contract with Carmelton be re-negotiated due to the increase in costs which CCECC had to deal with, mainly due to a rise in construction materials costs. Construction work was disrupted for over a month, first slowing down and eventually stopping completely. Work was resumed on October 23, 2008.  Despite these delays, Carmelton managed to open the tunnels on December 1, 2010, six months ahead of schedule.

Highway 23, more-commonly known as the ""Carmel Tunnels"" (, "Minharot HaCarmel"), are a set of toll tunnels in Haifa, Israel. The tunnels' purpose is to reduce road congestion in the Haifa area and to provide an alternate route of reaching the eastern and central parts of the city, Haifa Bay and the Krayot area to and from Israel's central coastal plain without having to travel through traffic-congested downtown Haifa, having to drive up and across Mount Carmel, or bypassing Haifa from the east – along the edge of the Jezreel Valley (via Highway 70 for example). The tunnels cut the travel time from the Haifa South interchange in the west to the Checkpost interchange in the east from 30–50 minutes down to 6 minutes.


Early life.

Romijn was born on November 6, 1972, in Berkeley, California. Her mother, Elizabeth Romijn (née Kuizenga), is a community college instructor of English as a Second Language (ESL) and textbook author. Rebecca's father, Jaap Romijn, is a custom furniture maker. Her father is a native of Barneveld, the Netherlands, while her mother is an American of Dutch and English ancestry. Her mother met Rebecca's father as a teenager while living in the Netherlands on a student exchange program. Romijn's maternal grandfather, Henry Bernard Kuizenga, was a Presbyterian minister and seminary professor.  On "The Ellen DeGeneres Show", when questioned about always being glamorous and beautiful, Romijn revealed that in her early teens, she was in fact an insecure "drama geek" and that, as a result of her growth spurt, she suffered from scoliosis and was constantly in pain. Many sources say that she was once nicknamed the "Jolly Blonde Giant" because of her height, but she has admitted to making that up "for a laugh". While studying Music (Voice) at the University of California, Santa Cruz, she became involved with fashion modeling and eventually moved to Paris, where she lived for more than three years.

Career.

Among other jobs, Romijn started her modeling career in 1991. She has appeared on the covers of American, French, Spanish, Russian and Swedish editions of "Elle", "Marie Claire", American, Italian, Spanish, German, Portuguese, Russian, Greek, and Mexican editions of "Cosmopolitan", Allure", Glamour", "GQ", "Esquire", and "Sports Illustrated".  She has appeared in advertising campaigns for Escada, Christian Dior, La Perla, Tommy Hilfiger, Furla, Liz Claiborne, J. Crew, Victoria's Secret, bebe, La Senza, Dillard's, Pantene, Got Milk?, Miller Lite, and Maybelline. She has also walked for Giorgio Armani, Sonia Rykiel, and Anna Molinari along with the likes of Claudia Schiffer, Stephanie Seymour, Karen Mulder, Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, Linda Evangelista, Cindy Crawford, Helena Christensen and Christy Turlington. She also was the host of MTV's "House of Style" from 1998 to 2000. Romijn has been featured numerous times in annual lists of the world's most beautiful women by publications such as "Maxim" (2003–2007), AskMen.com (2001–2003, 2005–2006), and "FHM" (2000–2005). She also appeared as a guest in the animated talk show "Space Ghost Coast to Coast" episode "Chinatown".  In 2000's "X-Men" Romijn had her first major movie role as Mystique; she returned to the role in 2003's sequel "X2", and again for "" (2006). In these films, her costume consisted of blue makeup and some strategically placed prosthetics on her otherwise nude body. In "X2" she shows up in a bar in one scene in her "normal" look, and in "X-Men: The Last Stand", she appears as a dark-haired "de-powered" Mystique. The role has since been recast with Jennifer Lawrence playing the younger version of the character. She had her first leading role in Brian De Palma's "Femme Fatale" (2002). She also has starred in movies such as "Rollerball", "The Punisher" playing a woman named Joan (Joan and Mystique are both characters from Marvel Comics) and "Godsend". She played the leading role in "Pepper Dennis", a short-lived TV series on The WB Television Network.  In January 2007, Romijn made her first appearance on the ABC series "Ugly Betty" as a full-time regular cast member. She played Alexis Meade, a transgender woman and the sister of lead character Daniel Meade. In April 2008, however, it was reported that Romijn would only be appearing as a recurring character in Season 3 due to a change in direction by the writing staff (aligning, fortuitously enough, with Romijn's pregnancy, which would have been inconsistent with her character's storyline). In November 2007, Romijn made a guest appearance on the ABC series "Carpoolers", where she played the ex-wife of the character Laird, played by her real-life husband Jerry O'Connell.  Romijn starred in the ABC series "Eastwick", reuniting her with her former "Pepper Dennis" co-star, Lindsay Price, before ABC canceled the show on November 9, 2009. She appears in an uncredited cameo in the 2011 feature film "", appearing as an older version of the character played by Jennifer Lawrence. Romijn appeared as lab worker Jessie on the Adult Swim live-action show "" for two seasons. Between June and September 2013, she starred in TNT's series "King & Maxwell" as Michelle Maxwell, a former Secret Service agent who works as a private investigator.  In addition to her film ventures, Romijn has also recorded music, performing a cover of Prince's "Darling Nikki" for the 2005 album "Electro Goth Tribute to Prince". She was also featured on the song "Color Me Love" for RuPaul's eighth studio album "Realness" in 2015. She starred as Eve Baird, the guardian of the eponymous group in "The Librarians", a direct spin-off of "The Librarian" film series. She is also currently the host of GSN's original series and reality show "Skin Wars". Romijn has also been confirmed to voice Lois Lane in the latest movie in the DC Universe Animated Original Movies, an adaptation of "The Death of Superman". In 2019 she joined the cast of "", playing the role of Number One, first officer of the USS "Enterprise".

Personal life.

Romijn began dating actor John Stamos in 1994, after they met at a Victoria's Secret fashion show in which she was modeling. Romijn and Stamos became engaged on Christmas Eve 1997, and they married on September 19, 1998 at the Beverly Hills Hotel. During the marriage, she used the name Rebecca Romijn-Stamos in both her personal and professional life. The couple announced their separation in April 2004. Stamos filed for divorce in August 2004, and it became final on March 1, 2005. Romijn subsequently resumed using only her maiden name, but revealed in an August 2013 interview on "Conan" that she had never legally changed her name back from Romijn-Stamos after a "Conan" staff member noticed "Romijn-Stamos" on her driver's license.  In 2004 Romijn started dating actor Jerry O'Connell. They became engaged in September 2005, and married at their home in Calabasas, California, on July 14, 2007. Romijn and O'Connell have twin daughters born in 2008.

Rebecca Alie Romijn ( ; ; born November 6, 1972) is an American actress and former model. She is known for her role as Mystique in the trilogy of the "X-Men" film series, and as Joan from "The Punisher" (2004), both of which are based on Marvel Comics. She also had a recurring role as Alexis Meade on the television series "Ugly Betty", and as Number One on "". Her other major roles include Eve Baird on the TNT series "The Librarians", which ran for four seasons, voicing Lois Lane in some DC Universe Animated Original Movies and as the host of the game show "Skin Wars".


Description and simple example.

Servant is used for providing some behavior to a group of classes. Instead of defining that behavior in each class - or when we cannot factor out this behavior in the common parent class - it is defined once in the Servant.  For example: we have a few classes representing geometric objects (rectangle, ellipse, and triangle). We can draw these objects on some canvas. When we need to provide a “move” method for these objects we could implement this method in each class, or we can define an interface they implement and then offer the “move” functionality in a servant. An interface is defined to ensure that serviced classes have methods, that servant needs to provide desired behavior. If we continue in our example, we define an Interface “Movable” specifying that every class implementing this interface needs to implement method “getPosition” and “setPosition”. The first method gets the position of an object on a canvas and second one sets the position of an object and draws it on a canvas. Then we define a servant class “MoveServant”, which has two methods “moveTo(Movable movedObject, Position where)” and moveBy(Movable movedObject, int dx, int dy). The Servant class can now be used to move every object which implements the Movable. Thus the “moving” code appears in only one class which respects the “Separation of Concerns” rule.

Two ways of implementation.

There are two ways to implement this design pattern.

Example.

This simple example shows the situation described above. This example is only illustrative and will not offer any actual drawing of geometric objects, nor specification of what they look like.  // Servant class, offering its functionality to classes implementing // Movable Interface public class MoveServant {  // Interface specifying what serviced classes needs to implement, to be // serviced by servant. public interface Movable {  // One of geometric classes public class Triangle implements Movable {  // One of geometric classes public class Ellipse implements Movable {  // One of geometric classes public class Rectangle implements Movable {  // Just a very simple container class for position. public class Position {

Similar design pattern: Command.

Design patterns Command and Servant are very similar and implementations of them are often virtually the same. The difference between them is the approach to the problem.  Even though design patterns Command and Servant are similar it doesn’t mean it’s always like that. There are a number of situations where use of design pattern Command doesn’t relate to the design pattern Servant. In these situations we usually need to pass to called methods just a reference to another method, which it will need in accomplishing its goal. Since we can’t pass references to methods in many languages, we have to pass an object implementing an interface which declares the signature of passed method.

In software engineering, the servant pattern defines an object used to offer some functionality to a group of classes without defining that functionality in each of them. A Servant is a class whose instance (or even just class) provides methods that take care of a desired service, while objects for which (or with whom) the servant does something, are taken as parameters.


Life and career.

Roarke was born in Brooklyn, New York, where he was a street gang member during his youth. His father was a vaudeville comedian and his mother was a chorine, showgirl.  Roarke began his acting career under the name Jordan Gerler and then Jordan Grant; however, when he signed on with Universal Studios in 1957, he was told that he needed to change the name, because the studios already had one Mr. Grant (Cary Grant) under contract. Roarke appeared in a number of television series during the late 1950s and early 1960s, including the role of Communications Officer Garrison in the original "Star Trek" pilot. He appeared in a string of AIP biker pictures along with Peter Fonda, Jack Nicholson, and Bruce Dern in the late 1960s, beginning with "Hells Angels on Wheels" (1967), and culminating with "The Losers" (subsequently retitled "Nam's Angels") in 1970. In 1974, Roarke appeared in the financially successful car chase film "Dirty Mary, Crazy Larry", with Fonda and Susan George, a role which showcased his range of acting skill.  His breakout role came in 1980 when he portrayed Raymond Bailey, a self-important leading man whose stunt double was played by Steve Railsback in "The Stunt Man". Peter O'Toole befriended Roarke during filming, and the two became drinking pals. Unfortunately, Roarke was unable to keep up with O’Toole, and was hospitalized with delirium tremens before shooting was concluded. Word spread around Hollywood quickly, and Roarke had difficulty finding work as a result. However, an offer to work on a low-budget independent film brought him to Austin, Texas in 1982. At the time, Texas had a burgeoning movie industry—billing itself as the "Third Coast"—but lacked any real opportunities for aspiring film actors to learn their craft from industry veterans. Recognizing this need, Roarke opened the "Film Actors Lab" in the Dallas Communications Complex at the Studios in Las Colinas. "Graduates" of his program include Darryl Cox, Benton Jennings, Lar Park Lincoln and Lou Diamond Phillips.  In 1989 Roarke married Carla DeLane and they had one child together. A child from Roarke’s previous marriage, Jordan Gerler, was also an actor, appearing in "Rolling Thunder" in 1977. Roarke died in Euless, Texas of an apparent heart attack.

Adam Roarke (born Richard Jordan Gerler, August 8, 1937 – April 27, 1996) was an American actor and film director.


Geography.

Tel Qashish is situated on the north bank of the Kishon River, where the stream bends and bounds the site from its southern and western sides. This poses an excellent strategic position, next to Tel Yokneam some 2 km away, the major site in the region, on which Tel Qashish was most probably dependent. The mound covers an area of 10.7 acres (or around 43 dunams) and has an elongated shape, 270 meters long, 160 meters wide at its base. Its western half is about 5 meters higher than the eastern half. The mound slopes steeply on all sides, except on the northeast, where the approach road to the site was probably located.  During most of the Jezreel Valley's history, the majority of the sites, including Tel Qashish, were located on the edges of the valley and not in its middle. One reason for this may be drainage problems which cause soil instability. Another reason may be the presence of seasonal swamps, and another is the difficulty to defend against a human threat.

Archaeology.

Farmers from nearby agricultural settlements annually plowed the surface of the tell, causing damage to the remains of the later settlements on the mound, and in some cases even affecting Late Bronze Age remains.

Ein Qashish - Palaeolithic (Mousterian).

Excavations at Ein Qashish have uncovered multiple campsites of the Mousterian culture (70,000–60,000 BCE) containing animal bones and flint tools. The site has a number of archaeological layers, which implies humans were drawn to this site during the Middle and Upper Palaeolithic periods. The humans who camped there, probably for short periods during summertime, when the Kishon river does not flood, were mostly hunting, based on the remains of animal bones there. Just like other sites of this kind, they left many man-made stone tools. According to a study, the flint was imported to the site from a more western area, next to Mount Carmel. One unique discovery was a cluster of human bones and remains of clay paint indicating some unusual, maybe ritual activity.

Neolithic.

Flint tools, including microliths and arrow-heads from the Neolithic period (12,000–4,500 BCE) were uncovered sitting on the mound's bedrock.

Early Bronze Age.

Tel Qashish's earliest unearthed settlement is from the Early Bronze Age I period (3300–3000 BCE). The settlement seems to have been unfortified and seemingly covered the largest area in the sites' history. Not enough remains were unearthed to determine the plan of the settlement, but the randomly placed, one-room houses hint a dense plan, similar to other sites of that period. The ceramics are mostly of domestic Canaanite ware. Due to its location on an international trade route, it is mostly influenced from northern, possibly Lebanese cultures. The settlement was self-sustaining, based on agriculture.  Unlike all other sites in the Jezreel Valley, Tel Qashish was not depopulated during the transition between the Early Bronze Age I to the Early Bronze Age II period (3000–2700 BCE), maybe due to its strategic location. In the transition between the periods, the settlement shrank and no longer covered the mound's surrounding area, but only occupied the mound itself. Unlike the Early Bronze Age I settlement, the new settlement was planned and fortified. A difference in the plan of the structures between the lower part and upper part of the mound may indicate a social structure that distinguishes the residents of the upper and lower settlement. This, however, is not seen in the ceramic findings, which include mostly plates, bowls and jars. The settlement had a small pottery industry, probably at the household level. As it seems, the villagers didn't own many luxury items - only a carnelian bead and a decorated bone from the entire Early Bronze Age were found.  The transition to the Early Bronze Age III period (2700–2200 BCE) was peaceful and gradual. The village plan remained pretty much the same. Some extensions of the fortification plan were made, rooms were enlarged and installations were built. The village was probably abandoned sometime before the end of the Early Bronze Age III period as no signs of destruction are seen. It was about this time that the nearby, much more significant settlement at Tel Yokneam began. The villagers may probably choose to move to the nearby settlement, located on a better-defended position. Another reason may be the unstable political status of that time, as cities competed against each other due to the halt in economic ties with Egypt during Early Bronze Age II period.  Agriculture was important in the Early Bronze Age settlement. This is seen in the stone objects from this period, of which 40% are sickle blades. Intensive sharpening and retouching are signs of their intensive use. The remains of edible plants include olive, barley, wheat and vetch seeds. These were probably grown next to the mound. These crops (excluding vetch) were being grown throughout the entire Early Bronze Age period (3300–2200 BCE).

Middle Bronze Age.

The settlement at Tel Qashish was rebuilt in the Middle Bronze Age. The first supposed layer of that period includes only floors and no clear architectural elements such as buildings or walls. A considerable amount of pottery was found on these floors, and there is a possibility that other buildings or a defensive system from this layer are located outside of the excavation area. The ceramics date this layer to end of the Middle Bronze Age IIA period (2000–1750 BCE), meaning Tel Qashish was not settled for almost 500 years, or at least, very poorly settled.  During the transition period between the Middle Bronze Age IIA and IIB, a fortified settlement was built at Tel Qashish. The wall was made of stone, was 1.7 meters wide and featured a glacis. One of the wall's towers was discovered. The residents of this settlement buried the dead in a common Canaanite way, by placing the dead in jars and interring them in a tomb. Two tombs were found well preserved, one of a two-year-old infant, and the other of a forty-years-old female.

Late Bronze Age.

After the transition to the Late Bronze Age I period (1550 – 1400 BCE), the Middle Bronze Age fortifications system went out of use and houses were built on top of it, with thicker walls than in previous periods.  A small cave was discovered north of the mound with ceramics from the Late Bronze Age II period (1400–1200 BCE). The cave is 3 meters long, 1.4 – 2 meters wide and is up to 3 meters high. Its ceiling has collapsed in ancient times. The cave contains some 200 complete ritual tools. Six high pedestals with "windows" were found. These probably served as a base for other ceramics and their high shape, with a height of 60-80 cm, and the "windows" may indicate that they represent towers. Some 40 goblets were discovered. One particular goblet has a very detailed shape of a face. These finds indicate a minor ritual activity for probably a short period of time, conveniently during an era of peace.

Iron Age.

The Iron Age remains were severely damaged and its remains are poor. With this remains, it is notable that Tel Qashish at the Iron Age was much less significant than in the Bronze Age. The settlement during the early Iron Age (1200 – 1000 BCE) was a farm with a few structures. Most of the remains were found on the higher part of the mound, which may suggest it was the main part of this small village. During the late Iron Age (1000 – 539 BCE) the village expanded to occupy both the higher and lower parts of the mound. The ceramics from this period included pottery that was most likely used for rituals rather than everyday use.

Later periods.

The site may have been occupied during the Persian period (539–332 BCE), but only minor findings from this period were discovered in pits. Same goes for the Hellenistic period (332–70 BCE), which left a few coins. On the surface, some remains from the Mamluk and Ottoman periods were found on the ground. These represent some human activity, but with that said, no architectural remains from any of these periods were found.  The site was used during the 1948 War as a military post. Defensive positions and trenches were dug and a concrete bunker built at the highest point is still there today.

History of archaeological research.

British archaeologist John Garstang conducted a trial excavation in the 1920s. In two trenches he found exclusively Early Bronze Age pottery (3300–2100 BCE). German-Israeli archaeologist Raphael Giveon surveyed the site in the early 1950s and found pottery ranging from the Middle Bronze Age (2100–1550 BCE) to the Hellenistic period (330–31 BCE). Avner Raban surveyed the site in the 1970s and confirmed Giveon's findings, as part of the Yoqne'am Regional Project that surveyed Tel Yokneam and Tel Qiri in addition to Tel Qashish and a survey of the western Jezreel Valley. Eight seasons of extensive excavation were conducted between 1978 and 1987. They were headed by Amnon Ben-Tor and sponsored by the Institute of Archaeology of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and the Israel Exploration Society. In February 2004 a team of the Israel Antiquities Authority discovered the site of Ein Qashish, some 100 meters south of the mound and the Kishon River. The site was surveyed before a major road and railway project was undertaken. Flint tools from the Middle Palaeolithic period were found scattered. In 2010 the Israel Antiquities Authority has conducted a rescue excavation north of the mound, where a gas pipeline was to be constructed, and discovered remains of Early Bronze Age ritual activity.

Tel Qashish, also spelled Tel Kashish (from the ) or Tell el-Qassis in Arabic, is a tell, or archaeological mound, located in the northwestern section of the Jezreel Valley, on the north bank of the Kishon River. The ancient settlement at Tel Qashish is considered a daughter of the ancient city of Yokneam, some 2 kilometres south of Tel Qashish. Yohanan Aharoni Identified the site with "Helkath" from the list of 119 cities conquered by Pharaoh Thutmose III. According to other studies, the site should be identified with "Dabeshet" from the Book of Joshua. Next to the mound is a spring called Ein Qashish, with remains of prehistorical human activity from the Middle Palaeolithic.


Facts, circumstances, and the "balance of probabilities".

In most jurisdictions, it is usually necessary to obtain a court order directing the registrar to issue a death certificate in the absence of a physician's certification that an identified individual has died. However, if there is circumstantial evidence that would lead a reasonable person to believe that the individual is deceased on the balance of probabilities, jurisdictions may agree to issue death certificates without any such order. For example, passengers and crew of the RMS "Titanic" who were not rescued by the RMS "Carpathia" were declared legally dead soon after "Carpathia" arrived at New York City. More recently, death certificates for those who perished in the September 11 attacks were issued by the State of New York within days of the tragedy. The same is usually true of soldiers missing after a major battle, especially if the enemy keeps an accurate record of its prisoners of war.  If there is not sufficient evidence that death has taken place, it may take somewhat longer, as simple absence does not necessarily prove death. The requirements for declaring an individual legally dead may vary depending on numerous details including the following:  Most countries have a set period of time (seven years in many common law jurisdictions) after which an individual is presumed dead if there is no evidence to the contrary. However, if the missing individual is the owner of a significant estate, the court may delay ordering the issuing of a death certificate if there has been no real effort to locate the missing person. If the death is thought to have taken place in international waters or in a location without a centralized and reliable police force or vital statistics registration system, other laws may apply.

Legal aspects.

China.

The Chinese law treats declaratory judgment of death and disappearance differently. Relevant provisions can be found in Section 3 ("Declaration of Disappearance and Declaration of Death"), Chapter 2 ("Natural Persons") of the "General Provisions of the Civil Law of the People's Republic of China" enacted in 2017.  In terms of the declaration of disappearance, where a natural person has disappeared for two years, an interested party may apply to a people's court for a declaration of absence of the natural person. The period of disappearance of a natural person shall be counted from the day when he or she is not heard from. If a person disappears during a war, the period of disappearance shall be counted from the day when the war ends or from the date of absence as confirmed by the relevant authority.  As for the declaration of death, where a natural person falls under any of the following circumstances, an interested party may apply to a people's court for a declaration of death of the natural person:  Where a person has disappeared from an accident, and it is impossible for the person to survive the accident as certified by the relevant authority, an application for a declaration of death of the person is not subject to the two-year period.  In the event of contradictory applications for declaration, meaning that both an application for a declaration of death and an application for a declaration of absence of the same natural person are filed by the interested parties with a people's court, the people's court shall declare the death of the person if the conditions for a declaration of death as set out in this Law are met.  The Chinese law specifically talks about the return of the absentee. The validity of the previous declaratory judgment of death is not imperiled by the sheer fact of return. The absentee or interested party (or parties) must apply for the revocation of the said declaratory judgment, then can it be annulled. The legal consequence of revoking declaratory judgment is essentially about restoration, i.e. the return of property and restoration of marriage. Chinese legislator made a rather peculiar choice to restore marriage between the absentee and his or her spouse, providing that the spouse has not remarried or declared unwillingness of restoring marriage. This is quite unusual among the legal regimes around the world.

Germany.

Conditions for declaration of death according to the disappearance law ("Verschollenheitsgesetz"):

India.

Presumption of death is governed by sections 107 and 108 of the Evidence Act, which allows for presumption of death for a person missing for 7 years to be raised in appropriate proceedings before the court.

Ireland.

If there is strong evidence a missing person is dead the coroner may request an inquest under Section 23 of the Coroners Act 1962. If the Minister for Justice grants the inquest then the person may be declared legally dead if that is the outcome of the inquest. As an alternative an application may be made to the high court, normally this is after at least 7 years of going missing, but exceptionally may be earlier if there is strong implication from the circumstances the person is dead.

Italy.

It takes twenty years to declare a missing person dead. After ten years from someone's disappearance, a motion to declare the person legally dead can be filed in court. After that, another ten years must pass before the person can be declared legally dead.

Poland.

Declaration of presumed death is stipulated in articles 29–32 of the Polish Civil Code and pronounced as a court judgment. In general, a period of 10 years is required to pass for a legal declaration to be made, with the following exceptions: A court's declaration of death comes into effect retroactively and is subject to legal consequences from before the date of the declaration, going back to the assumed date of death, as declared by the court.

Russia.

According to article 45 of Civil Code of Russia, a person may be declared dead only by a court decision, on the following grounds:  A legal date of death is considered to be the date when the court decision declaring person dead was made. If a person disappeared under life-threatening circumstances, the day of his or her actual disappearance may also be considered the legal date of death.  The declaration of death by the court has the same legal consequences as if the fact of death was proven:  If such decision was a mistake and the person later returns, the decision is nullified and the person becomes eligible to request most of his assets back. However, if the husband or wife of such person married again, the marriage will not be restored. His funds and securities, taken under bona fide circumstances, also cannot be requested back.

United Kingdom.

Before 2013.

Prior to 2013, English law generally assumed a person was dead if, after seven years: This was a rebuttable presumption at common law – if the person subsequently appeared, the law no longer considered them dead.  Otherwise, courts could have granted leave to applicants to swear that a person was dead (within or after the seven-year period). For example, an executor may have made such an application so they could have been granted probate for the will. This kind of application would only have been made sooner than seven years where death was probable, but not definitive (such as an unrecovered plane crash at sea), following an inquest (see below). Such an application was specific to the court where it was made – thus separate applications had to be made at a coroner's inquest, for proceedings under the Matrimonial Causes and Civil Partnership Acts (for remarriage), for probate, and under the Social Security Act.

Presumption of Death Act 2013.

These processes were not considered satisfactory, and so in February–March 2013, the Presumption of Death Act 2013 was passed to simplify this process. The new act, which is based on the Presumption of Death (Scotland) Act 1977, allows applying to the High Court to declare a person presumed dead. This declaration is conclusive and cannot be appealed. It is recorded on a new Register of Presumed Deaths, and has the same effect as a registration of death. Death is taken to occur on (a) the last day that they could have been alive (if the court is satisfied that they are dead), or (b) the day seven years after the date they were last seen (if death is presumed by the elapse of time).  In England and Wales, if the authorities believe there should be an inquest, the local coroner files a report. This may be done to help a family receive a death certificate that may bring some closure. An inquest strives to bring any suspicious circumstances to light. The coroner then applies to the Secretary of State for Justice, under the Coroners Act 1988 section 15, for an inquest with no body. The seven years rule only applies in the High Court of Justice on the settlement of an estate. According to a spokesman for the Ministry of Justice, the number of requests received each year is fewer than ten, but few of these are refused. Without a body, an inquest relies mostly on evidence provided by the police, and whether senior officers believe the missing person is dead. One notable person presumed dead under the Act is the 7th Earl of Lucan (Lord Lucan), who was last seen alive in 1974 (although there have been numerous alleged sightings since that time), and whose death certificate was issued in February 2016.  The incidence of presumed death in England and Wales is considered low – in September 2011, it was estimated that only 1% of the 200,000 missing persons each year remained unaccounted for after 12 months, with a cumulative total of 5,500 missing persons by September 2011.

Scotland.

In Scotland, legal aspects of the presumption of death are outlined in the Presumption of Death (Scotland) Act 1977. If a person lived in Scotland on the date they were last known to be alive, authorities can use this act to declare the person legally dead after the standard period of seven years.

United States.

The declaration of a missing person as legally dead falls under the jurisdiction of the individual states unless there is a reason for the federal government to have jurisdiction (e.g. military personnel missing in combat).  People who disappear are typically called "missing", or sometimes "absent". Several criteria are evaluated to determine whether a person may be declared legally dead:  Professor Jeanne Carriere, in "The Rights of the Living Dead: Absent Persons in Civil Law" (published in the "Louisiana Law Review"), stated that as of 1990, the number of such cases in the United States was estimated at between 60,000 and 100,000.  According to Edgar Sentell, a retired senior vice-president and general counsel of Southern Farm Bureau Life Insurance Company, almost all states recognize the presumption of death, by statute or judicial recognition of the common law rule. Some states have amended their statutes to reduce the seven-year period to five consecutive years missing, and some, such as Minnesota and Georgia, have reduced the period to four years.  If someone disappears, those interested can file a petition to have them declared legally dead. They must prove by the criteria above that the person is in fact dead. There are constitutional limitations to these procedures: The presumption must arise only after a reasonable amount of time has elapsed. The absent person must be notified. Courts permit notifying claimants by publication. Adequate safeguards concerning property provisions must be made in the case that an absent person shows up.  Some states require those who receive the missing person's assets to return them if the person turned out to be alive. If a person is declared dead when only missing, their estate is distributed as if they were dead. In some cases, the presumption of death can be rebutted. According to Sentell, courts will consider evidence that the absent person was a fugitive from justice, had money troubles, had a bad relationship, or had no family ties or connection to a community as reasons not to presume death.  A person can be declared legally dead after they are exposed to "imminent peril" and fail to return—as in a plane crash, as portrayed in the movie "Cast Away". In these cases courts generally assume the person was killed, even though the usual waiting time to declare someone dead has not elapsed. Sentell also says, "The element of peril accelerates the presumption of death." This rule was enacted after the attack on the World Trade Center, so that authorities could release death certificates. Although people presumed dead sometimes turn up alive, it is not as common as it used to be. In one case where this occurred, a man named John Burney disappeared in 1976 while having financial problems, and later reappeared in December 1982. His company and wife had already received the death benefits—so, on returning, the life insurance company sued him, his wife, and his company. In the end, the court ruled Burney's actions fraudulent.

Reappearance.

Missing persons have on rare occasions been found alive after being declared legally dead (see below). Prisoners of war, people with mental illnesses who become homeless, and in extremely rare circumstances kidnapping victims may be located years after their disappearance. Some people have even faked their deaths to avoid paying taxes, debts, etc.

A presumption of death occurs when a person is legally declared dead despite the absence of direct proof of the person's death, such as the finding of remains (e.g., a corpse or skeleton) attributable to that person. Such a declaration is typically made when a person has been missing for an extended period and in the absence of any evidence that the person is still alive – or after a much shorter period but where the circumstances surrounding a person's disappearance overwhelmingly support the belief that the person has died (e.g., an airplane crash).


Geology and mineralogy.

The lava historically erupted from Izalco consists of vesicular vitrophyric olivine basalts. Izalco's formation was preceded by fumorolic activity in 1658, before Izalco was born in 1770. Today, Izalco experiences only fumarolic activity in the form of rainwater seeping into the volcano and contacting hot rocks, rather than steam emissions from underground gases. The fumarole deposits of the volcano are noted as sources for several rare minerals. It is the type locality for the copper vanadium minerals: bannermanite, blossite, fingerite, howardevansite, lyonsite, mcbirneyite, stoiberite and ziesite.

Tourism.

The volcano is visited and climbed regularly by tourists to El Salvador via the Cerro Verde National Park and is a national icon of the country, even featured on the 10 colón bank note (US dollars replaced the colon in 2001, so the bank note is no longer in circulation). The volcano is currently quiescent but may erupt again.  A hotel was built on the nearby Cerro Verde to provide accommodation with a view of the erupting volcano, but the volcano ceased to erupt shortly before the hotel was completed.

Izalco Volcano National Symbolism.

The volcano on the stamps' central oval design is an allegorical representation of the coat of arms existing at the time; the stamps depict the Izalco volcano, popularly known as "El Faro del Pacífico" - "The Lighthouse of the Pacific". This argument is based on the fact that the decree signed by Francisco Duenas, creating the coat of arms, specifically mentions the Izalco volcano as the inspiration for its design, and also on the idea that the Izalco volcano was (and still is) one of the symbols of the country. Covers genuinely used with these stamps are rare. So far, only 37 have been recorded.

Izalco is an active stratovolcano on the side of the Santa Ana Volcano, which is located in western El Salvador. It is situated on the southern flank of the Santa Ana volcano. Izalco erupted almost continuously from 1770 (when it formed) to 1958 earning it the nickname of "Lighthouse of the Pacific", and experienced a flank eruption in 1966. During an eruption in 1926, the village of Matazano was buried and 56 people were killed. The formation of the volcano actually occupied highly arable land on the southern slope of the Santa Ana volcano which was used for the production of coffee, cacao and sugar cane.


Composition.

"The Flood" was written by Priscilla Hamilton and Wayne Wilkins, who also produced the song, along with Antwoine "T-Wiz" Collins. It is a pop song with synthesised strings. The song composed in the key of C major and is set in time signature of common time with a tempo of 80 beats per minute. The song has a basic sequence of C–C–G/D–Am–C/E as its chord progression. Cole's vocals range from G4-D6. The lyrical content of the song was described as "a massive, strong-laden, Christmassy tear-jerker about 'wreckage', 'drowning' and 'natural disaster love.'" "The Flood" received comparisons to songs by singer-songwriter Natalie Imbruglia.

Critical reception.

The song received a positive review from "Digital Spy" reviewer Nick Levine who gave the song four out of five stars. He wrote, "Cole's no Leona of course, but she more than holds her own vocally as she delivers an extended and just-slightly-strained love-as-h20 metaphor." Critics questioned Cole's effectiveness as a balladeer. "The Guardian"'s Maddy Costa criticized the song's "lacklustre quality exacerbated by Cole's weakness as a balladeer and her (understandable) difficulty injecting feeling into a love song." Tom Hocknell of BBC Music wrote, Cole "loses focus with The Flood, stretching a shipwreck analogy over an uncomfortable four minutes." Luke Turner of "NME" gave the song a negative review comparing it to "a flood of stool."

Chart performance.

On the week of 13 November 2010, "The Flood" debuted at number eighty-one in the United Kingdom. The song peaked at number eighteen six weeks later, making it the first solo single by Cole not to reach the top five in the UK. It also became only the second single in her entire career to miss the Top 10 in the United Kingdom, the first being "Untouchable" two years before with Girls Aloud. "The Flood" was Cole's lowest-charting single, until it was surpassed by "Only Human", which peaked at number 70 in 2014. The song also peaked at number twenty-six in Ireland.

Music video.

Before the release of the album, a preview of "The Flood" was first premiered through Cole's official website. Later, the music video for the song, directed by Sophie Muller, premiered on 24 November 2010, three weeks after the album's release. It was filmed against a backdrop of white cliffs on England's south coast.

Live performances.

"The Flood" was performed at the 82nd annual Royal Variety Performance, held at the London Palladium theatre with Charles, Prince of Wales and Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall in attendance. She wore a gown from Roberto Cavalli's spring 2011 collection with jewelry by David Morris. Cole also performed on the 20 December 2010 episode of "", singing "The Flood" and an acoustic version of "Promise This".

Credits and personnel.

Source:

"The Flood" is a song by English recording artist Cheryl Cole. The song was written by Priscilla Hamilton and Wayne Wilkins, for Cole's second studio album, "Messy Little Raindrops" (2010). It was released on 2 January 2011 through Fascination Records (Polydor Records), as the album's second and final single. The song, produced by Wilkins and Antwoine Collins, has lyrics that refer to a "natural disaster love" and make many allusions to shipwreck, the sea, and water.


Author's note.

I had almost completed writing Ranger’s Apprentice Book 6: The Siege of Macindaw when I realized I had neglected an important period in Will and Halt’s lives. Books 1-4 deal with Will’s early years as an apprentice. Books 5 and 6 describe his first mission as a graduate Ranger. But there was a gap between them. I realized that as Will approached the moment when he would become a Ranger in his own right, he would be troubled by the worry that he wasn’t ready for the responsibility that this would entail. In addition, I wondered about Halt. As a graduate Ranger, Will would move on to his own fief. How would Halt deal with the loss of his cheerful, lively influence—one that had become so much a part of his day-to-day existence?  These questions were too important for me to ignore. So this book goes back a little in time, to the period before Books 5 and 6. It’s set a few months prior to the moment when Will is due to graduate. Halt is making his own plans to fill the empty space that Will’s imminent reassignment will leave in his life. Will is beginning to worry that he’s not ready to move away from the comforting shelter of Halt’s presence. Other characters, too, are chafing at the changes that have taken place in their lives. Principal among these is Erak, Oberjarl of the Skandians. And it’s Erak’s restlessness and dissatisfaction that precipitate the chain of events described in this book.  -John Flanagan

Plot summary.

Skandian Oberjarl Erak Starfollower becomes tired of paperwork. He decides to go on one last raid to the desert country of Arrida. His raiding party walks into an ambush and is captured; Erak's crew are eventually released in order to obtain a ransom for Erak, who is left behind. Meanwhile, at Castle Redmont, senior Ranger Halt and diplomat Lady Pauline are getting married. During the wedding after-party, Svengal, Erak's first mate, appears. In a small meeting with Ranger Will and the knight Horace, he reveals Erak's kidnapping, and also tells them that Erak thinks he was betrayed.  Princess Cassandra begs her father, King Duncan to supply the money for Erak's release. Duncan agrees, but is unable to go himself as he is in talks with the Hibernian kings. Cassandra eventually volunteers herself, much to Duncan's chagrin. Will, Cassandra, Halt, Svengal, Horace, the ranger Gilan as well as thirty of Erak's men go to deliver the ransom. Once in Arrida, they learn from Arridi leader Seley el'then that Erak had been sent to Mararoc, a fort in the desert. The party, guided by Seley el'then and his men, head to Mararoc.  During the journey, a sandstorm causes Will to lose his horse Tug. In an attempt to find him, Will gets lost and loses consciousness. A group of nomads called the Bedullin find and restores him, revealing that they have also found Tug. Will manages to reclaim Tug after winning a riding race against Hassan, who had found Tug and claimed him as his own.  Meanwhile, the others continue their journey to Mararoc. On the way they discover the corpses of the people escorting Erak. Seley el'then deduces that they were attacked by the Tualaghi, a nomadic tribe. Gilan scouts and discovers the Tualaghis, however, the Tualaghi also discover the Arridi party. The Tualaghis attack, though the Arridi group wins the first battle. However, the leader of the Tualaghi, Yusal, negotiates with Seley el'then, who is forced to surrender as their group is running out of water and cannot fight a sustained battle against Yusal. A Bedullin scout relays this information to the Bedullin, and the nomads offer to help rescue Will's friends. On the way, they find and rescue Seley el'then's soldiers, who had been betrayed and left to die by Yusal after surrendering.  The Tualaghis come into a desert town and locks the party in a storehouse where they had also put Erak. Toshak, a Skandian, reveals himself and boasts of betraying Erak. Meanwhile, Will, the Bedullins, and the Arridi devise a plan to attack the town. Erak and the other prisoners are scheduled for execution. When the execution were scheduled they built a platform for the execution. As Halt is pulled forward to be executed, Will shoots the executioner. Mayhem ensues, with Arridi and Bedullins mixed in with the crowd revealing themselves and fighting the Tualaghi. The captured prisoners join in the fight, and turn the tide against the Tualaghi. Erak kills Toshak, while Cassandra wounds Yusal, who is captured.

Erak's Ransom is the seventh novel in the continuing "Ranger's Apprentice" series by Australian author John Flanagan. The book was released in Australia on 1 November 2007 and in the United States on 5 January 2010. It is set between book four in the series, "Oakleaf Bearers" and book five, "The Sorcerer of the North".


Creation and casting.

Leonard is named after actor/producer Sheldon Leonard, and Nobel Prize in Physics Laureate Robert Hofstadter. Johnny Galecki was originally asked to play the role of Sheldon Cooper, but thought he would be "better suited" for the character of Leonard. Leonard is one of four characters to appear in every episode of the series, along with Sheldon, Howard Wolowitz and Raj Koothrappali.

Characterization.

Personality.

Originally from New Jersey and a graduate of Princeton University, Leonard works as a Caltech experimental physicist, mainly working with lasers, and shares an apartment with colleague Sheldon Cooper in Pasadena, California. He is usually seen wearing his characteristic black thick-framed glasses, low-cut black Converse All Stars sneakers, pastel hoodies or neutral-colored sweat jackets (i.e. jackets with integrated hoodies) or a combination of the two, brown or red trousers, or (less frequently) jeans and physics-themed T-shirts, at night Leonard wears a white t shirt and a maroon robe with white socks. His various girlfriends have tried to change his outfits: Penny had no success while Stephanie got him to wear dress shirts and sweaters (which he found uncomfortable), and Priya got him to briefly switch to dress shirts, waistcoats and dark slacks; he reverted to his original outfits after she left for India, but started eschewing his hoodies in favor of button-down shirts and non-hooded jackets towards the end of the seventh season, a trend that continued into successive seasons.  Although Leonard feels at home with his geek colleagues, he wants to be more social. Among the main characters, he is the one who has almost no difficulty interacting with "non-geek" individuals. He is instantly captivated by Penny, and from the beginning sets out to date her.  In early episodes, Leonard is reluctant to let Penny know about his recreational activities (such as "Klingon" Boggle), as he does not want her to see him as a geek. While certainly a geek by most definitions, he is far less socially inept than Sheldon (who is unable to grasp social norms and is often even dismissive of them), Raj (who was unable to talk to women unless he was under the influence of alcohol or anti-anxiety prescription drugs, and even after getting over his handicap still tended to speak inappropriately), and Howard (who was often seen as "creepy" when flirting with women, including Penny).  Leonard is also musically inclined, as he can play the cello. As seen in the season 1 episode "The Hamburger Postulate", he and Leslie Winkle practice their instruments and then leave to have sex, which Leonard calls "a little musical foreplay".  Despite his attempts to not appear to be a geek, Leonard owns, among other things, "Star Wars" hygiene products, a prop of the One Ring, Star Trek and officer's uniforms, an expansive Superman comic book collection and a "Battlestar Galactica" Colonial warrior's flight suit. Early in the series, Leonard tried to get rid of his collectables to impress Penny with his maturity. However, he changed his mind when he saw that Penny was already dating another man.  Because he has lived with Sheldon for several years, Leonard knows him better than his other colleagues: this has led Sheldon to believe (slightly erroneously) that Leonard is his best friend. Nevertheless, Leonard often finds himself explaining Sheldon's behavior or serving as a mediator between him and other people in many situations. For instance, when Penny and Sheldon engaged in a fierce dispute, Leonard gave Penny Sheldon's mother's phone number so she would call her son and scold him for his behavior, thus ending the fight. "The Staircase Implementation" features a flashback to when Leonard first moved in with Sheldon. Leonard explains to Penny that he moved in despite the difficulty of living with Sheldon because the rent was so reasonable. Shortly after moving in, during a rocketry experiment Leonard, Raj and Howard conducted, Sheldon observed miscalculations Leonard made in mixing the rocket fuel and managed to avert disaster by grabbing the fuel and placing it in their apartment building's elevator. The resulting explosion disabled the elevator, thus explaining why the elevator is out of order for the duration of the series. Leonard explains that Sheldon, despite his tendency to alienate others, kept quiet about Leonard's destruction of the elevator. (Leonard cites: "He didn't rat me out to the landlord, or the police... or Homeland Security.")  Despite Leonard's reasonable and friendly personality, he occasionally demonstrates a mean streak. These include deliberately triggering Sheldon's obsessive compulsive problems, mocking Howard and Raj whenever they slip up, and making sniping comments when Penny's commitment issues flare up. He is also prone to jealousy, often feeling insecure and defensive whenever Penny interacts with other men, and on one occasion trying to frighten off a British college student she was doing a project with, because Penny commented positively on his accent.  Leonard's primary health concern is his lactose intolerance: his consuming melon or any dairy products (and according to the pilot episode, even corn) results in flatulence. Leonard wears eyeglasses because of myopia, and cannot see without them. On one occasion, when his glasses were broken at the movie theater, he had to surreptitiously return to his apartment and retrieve his backup glasses. In order to avoid detection by a sick Sheldon and Penny, who was nursing him, Howard and Raj helped him to navigate through the living room by using a helmet camera. Leonard also states in one episode that he suffers from sleep apnea. During his relationship with Leslie Winkle, he tells her that many members of his family have died from heart disease and thus he has a genetic disposition to the condition.  Leonard plays the cello. He claims that his parents made him take cello lessons when he was young.

Family.

All of the members of Leonard's family are accomplished scientists, except for his younger brother Michael, who is a tenured law professor at Harvard University.  Leonard's mother, Dr. Beverly Hofstadter, is a psychiatrist and neuroscientist. She has a personality almost identical to Sheldon's, including strict speech patterns, lack of social conventions, and attention to detail, and she is principally responsible for Leonard's difficult childhood. Sheldon and Beverly have a friendly relationship where they share details of each other's lives, with Sheldon often failing to pass on significant information to Leonard such as Leonard's parents divorcing and the family dog Mitsy's death. Leonard is upset with the fact that she tells Sheldon more than she tells him, but later decides it's okay. After a night out of bonding and drinking with Penny in which she notices an attractive busboy, Beverly kisses Sheldon but realizes she "would rather have the busboy".  Due to his mother's views, Leonard never celebrated his birthday or Christmas when he was a child, and when she visited him she was not impressed with his unoriginal research. Leonard revealed to Penny that he built a "hugging machine" when he was young in order to compensate for the lack of affection from his mother. He further stated that his father used to borrow it. Beverly also belittles Leonard by pointing out that his brother and sister are more successful in their respective fields than he is. Leonard's brother, Michael, is a Harvard law professor and is engaged to the youngest appellate court judge in New Jersey history (and has since gone on to work with a Habitat for Humanity-esque organisation), and his older sister, whose name is unknown, is a cutting-edge medical researcher working with gibbons to cure diabetes. However, Beverly admits in season 11 that Leonard married the best out of his siblings, after she develops a genuine friendship with Penny. Leonard also dislikes his memories of Christmas, not just because he never celebrated it, but also because instead of gifts the Hofstadter kids had to turn in papers to "Santa" which were graded the next day. Over the course of six years he never got over a "C minus", which according to Sheldon was a true gift, because by Sheldon's lights he never deserved anything better. It is implied that at the end of the episode "The Peanut Reaction", Leonard begins to celebrate his birthday after Penny decided to throw him one after hearing that he had never had one; And one implication is at the end of the episode "The Russian Rocket Reaction" when Leonard asked Brent Spiner to come to his birthday party. As for Christmas, Leonard has learned and come to love it as an adult, unlike Sheldon. Leonard had two childhood pets, a cat named Dr. Boots Hofstadter and a dog named Mitsy. Near the end of season 12, in "The Maternal Conclusion", Leonard's mother seem to be more supportive of her son's new job as co-lead of the University's Photon entanglement project, even spending time with Leonard as he shows her around his new laboratory. However, she reveals that she is doing research for her new book that highlights her parenting technique although difficult most of the time, directly resulted in the success of her children. This deeply upsets Leonard and Penny who thought that Beverly was making a genuine effort in bettering their mother-son relationship. Leonard finally confronts his mother, telling her of the many ways she has hurt him. After calming down, Leonard tearfully forgives his mother and himself for the emotional toll he has carried for most of his life. Beverly thanked her son for forgiving her and hugged him thus seemingly repairing their relationship.  Leonard's father, Dr. Alfred Hofstadter is an anthropologist. Sheldon reveals that Leonard's middle name, "Leakey", comes from famed anthropologist Louis Leakey, with whom Leonard's father had worked. Leonard is embarrassed by his middle name and its humorous connotations, and rarely mentions it, as the name is an obvious embarrassment. Apparently his father was not very affectionate towards him either; he mentions that he had to compete with the bones of an Etruscan boy for his father's attention, but this was likely because his father was away from home a lot for work and wasn't able to get to know his children well. However, they seem to have developed a good, affectionate rapport by the time of Leonard and Penny's impending second wedding ceremony in the season 9 finale.  Though little is known about Leonard's extended family, a few references to it have been made. In the first episode, Sheldon and Leonard discuss Leonard's grandmother, who had visited them on Thanksgiving the year before. She has Alzheimer's disease and apparently "had an episode" during her visit, which resulted in her stripping off her clothes and carving the turkey. On Beverly's first visit, she tells Leonard that his uncle Floyd has died, which greatly upsets him (according to him, Floyd was the only family member he really liked and of whom Leonard has warm memories from his childhood). Leonard also has several other uncles, whom Sheldon says are all very bald; when they gather together, they look "like a half carton of eggs." Leonard describes his aunt, however, as "one of the hairiest women you'll ever meet". He also mentioned an Aunt Nancy, apparently a "crazy cat lady" who had 25 cats, died, and was eaten by them.

Work.

Leonard has an IQ of 173, and was 24 years old when he received his PhD from Princeton University. Leonard also received a dissertation of the year award for his doctoral paper on experimental particle physics.  Leonard has been established to have been a child prodigy, and a gifted scientist with an impressive knowledge of theoretical physics. His work as an experimental physicist often includes the use of lasers, such as a helium–neon laser or free-electron laser, and his research topics have varied from Bose–Einstein condensates and foundations of quantum mechanics to soft cosmic rays at sea level and development of novel rocket propellants. Leonard designs experiments in order to test theories but, according to Sheldon, his work is mostly derivative and thus unimportant.  Although Leonard's attempts to disprove the existence of dark matter were made moot by the work of another physicist, Leonard helped to solidify proof of the hypothetical matter's existence with a photomultiplier, and was invited as keynote speaker to a topical conference by the Institute of Experimental Physics for his successful research on super solids.  From the season 6 finale, "The Bon Voyage Reaction" Leonard heads to the United Kingdom to work on a physics project seeking the hydrodynamics equivalent of the Unruh effect, sponsored by Professor Stephen Hawking, for three months on a ship in the North Sea.  In season 8, Leonard has a revelation about Superfluid Vacuum and with Sheldon's help was able to come up with a paper that impresses the scientific community including Stephen Hawking. This theory was later used as a foundation for a Quantum Guidance System that Sheldon, Leonard and Howard develops for the US Air Force in Season 10.  Near the end of season 12, Leonard was given the co-leadership of the University's Photon Entanglement project.

Relationships.

Leonard became interested in Penny almost immediately after seeing her for the first time. His infatuation with Penny becomes the major force that drives the series during the first few seasons. By the end of the first season, Leonard finally manages to ask Penny out, and they have their first date. Subsequently, they don't go on any future dates because Penny felt she was not as smart as Leonard would like.  Besides Penny, Leonard has been involved with only a few other women. One of Leonard's former girlfriends who is mentioned on several occasions is Joyce Kim, who did not appear until the third season. Leonard's friends recalled on many occasions that they were together for only 27 days, after which Joyce, later revealed to be a spy, defected to North Korea.  Initially, after feeling that Penny was not for him, Leonard turned his attention to fellow scientist Leslie Winkle. The first time Leonard asks Leslie out, she rejects him, and his further relationships with her proved to be only short-lived casual sexual encounters that only happened to satisfy Leslie's libido. Leslie briefly started dating Leonard in Season 2, but when he failed to back her up in an argument with Sheldon, she dumped him.  In the second season, Leonard began a stable relationship with a physician named Stephanie Barnett (Sara Rue). Although the relationship went well, even earning Sheldon's approval, Leonard felt uncomfortable with Stephanie moving in with him, and the relationship ended.  On another occasion, when Leonard's mother was visiting, he and Penny came very close to having sex, but Leonard ruined the moment by suggesting that they were burying their lifelong issues with their parents by doing so, which offended Penny. In the second-season finale, when Leonard, Sheldon, Howard, and Raj were due to leave for a three-month scientific expedition to the North Pole, Penny privately expresses sadness, and wishes that he would not leave.  In the third season premiere, Leonard and Penny finally started a romantic relationship and had intercourse for the first time. However, the relationship ended after eight months, after Leonard told Penny he loved her and took umbrage at her inability to reciprocate, which led to friction that was exploited by guest star Wil Wheaton who appeared as a fictionalized version of himself, who observed and exacerbated it in order to break them up in the middle of a bowling match Wheaton's team was having against Leonard, Penny, Sheldon, Howard and Raj.  Shortly after his breakup with Penny, in "The Plimpton Stimulation", Leonard has a one-night stand with Dr. Elizabeth Plimpton (Judy Greer), a physicist he admires, when Sheldon invited her to stay in their apartment for a brief visit. This encounter causes some tension between Leonard and Penny, who is somewhat judgmental of Leonard's doing so. However, the two later resolve their feelings and their friendship continues.  In the third-season finale, "The Lunar Excitation", after Penny's failed attempts to move on from her relationship with Leonard, she becomes intoxicated and has sex with him. In the morning, Leonard believes that their relationship has resumed, though Penny tells him that the previous night was a mistake. This causes a strain on their friendship; at the end of the episode, Leonard becomes intoxicated and tries to have intercourse with her, prompting Penny to push him out of her apartment, to which Leonard suspects a double standard. He immediately makes the same advances towards Leslie Winkle, who replies, 'Let me think about it" and slams the door in his face.  Throughout the fourth season, it becomes obvious that Penny is still in love with Leonard. It is unclear whether or not Leonard has noticed this, though he clearly is still interested in Penny. In "The Benefactor Factor", an older rich woman (Jessica Walter) propositions Leonard in exchange for a large donation to the physics department; he initially resists and she admits that she planned to make the donation anyway, after which they engage in a one-night stand. Leonard arrives home the next morning, whereupon Penny recognizes his "walk of shame" and Sheldon thinks Leonard has a future in becoming a gigolo to rich ladies in exchange for donations.  Leonard also has an affair with Raj's younger sister Priya (apparently every time she comes to town), despite a pinky swear with Howard that neither of them would attempt to make a move on her, and Raj giving his strong disapproval. When Priya returns, she and Leonard begin a relationship. Raj strongly opposes this, and Penny is secretly uncomfortable with Leonard dating someone else, eventually breaking down and crying while talking with her friend Amy Farrah Fowler. Once again, Leonard is unaware of Penny's true feelings. Subsequently, Priya pressures Leonard into ending his friendship with Penny, which he attempts with extreme reluctance. Penny complies, though it is clear that she does not want Leonard out of her life. Penny eventually resolves to stay in Leonard's life by ingratiating herself to Priya.  In the Season 4 finale, Leonard runs into Penny and Raj as they come out of his room in the morning after having slept together, just after Leonard and Priya appear to break up upon Leonard's learning that Priya is soon moving back to India. At the start of Season 5, it's revealed Raj and Penny didn't actually sleep together. Leonard and Priya try to maintain a long-distance relationship via Skype (including a failed attempt at cybersex) with Priya continuing to treat Leonard like a submissive partner. Despite being the most eager to have sex, Leonard proves he is quite awkward in these situations. Leonard later goes to a wedding with Amy, and they seem to take a liking to each other, though Sheldon disapproves, karate-chopping Leonard and saying, "She's not for you...not for you!". Later, despite feeling that he and Priya were in love and might get married, Leonard finds himself attracted to a comic book artist named Alice. The attraction is mutual, and they even share a kiss. Right when they are about to have sex, however, he tells Alice that he has a girlfriend, thus ending the relationship. Leonard then decides to confess his behavior to Priya via Skype, but he is shocked to learn that Priya has also betrayed him, sleeping with her former boyfriend; Priya defends that they both slipped up a little, but Leonard corrects her saying that he slipped a little, while she slipped a lot, bringing the conversation to a strained end. In the next episode, Leonard tells Sheldon that he is single, implying that he and Priya have broken up; his actions since then have confirmed their split occurred.  Through the fourth and fifth seasons, Penny was still single and dating, however it's evident she still loves Leonard, as she confesses drunkenly that she regrets breaking up with Leonard. In "The Ornithophobia Diffusion", Leonard and Penny go to the movies as friends. Leonard decides that since they are no longer dating, he can be honest and does not have to pay for everything or do whatever Penny wants. The two bicker all evening and sabotage each other's attempts to chat up people in the bar. Penny admits that she likes the new, more assertive Leonard. Leonard sees this as another opportunity to grovel and try to get Penny to sleep with him, so she leaves.  On the spur of the moment in "The Recombination Hypothesis", Leonard asks Penny out on a date after he imagines what getting back with her might be like. Their real date ends successfully and they agree to take their relationship slow in "The Beta Test Initiation." During their renewed relationship Penny has dismissed comments about him ever leaving or dumping her or about worrying about his unfaithfulness around other women and strippers as in the episode "The Stag Convergence". After Penny suggested having sex in "The Launch Acceleration", Leonard breaks the mood by proposing to her accidentally. They later meet and Penny does have the courage to tell him "no" and not break up with him as she did two years previously when he told her that he loved her. However, their relationship is still obviously strained. In the season 5 finale, Leonard and Penny watch Howard being launched into space while holding hands to comfort each other. With the start of season 6, he wants a reluctant Penny to define their relationship in "The Date Night Variable".  In the "Higgs Boson Observation", Sheldon hires grad student Alex Jensen to review his childhood journals for any potential ideas that might win him a Nobel Prize. After Amy and Penny observes Alex and Leonard in the Caltech cafeteria talking, Penny, although having reservations with her relationship with Leonard is bothered with the thought of him with another woman. Later that day, Alex comes home with Sheldon to work in apartment 4A where Leonard and Penny are. Penny introduces herself to Alex (subtly implying that Leonard is hers) and drags Leonard to her apartment to have sex. Penny finally does admit her love to Leonard, in "The 43 Peculiarity". Penny and Leonard awkwardly stare at each other before running off in opposite directions. Leonard, though, is buoyed by optimism over Penny's admission. Alex Jensen asks Leonard out to dinner in "The Egg Salad Equivalency", which boosts Leonard's ego because two beautiful women are interested in him, however, Alex's interest makes Penny insecure. Leonard later confirms his commitment to Penny and reassures her that nothing will happen between him and Alex. After another dispute with Sheldon, Leonard tries to move in with Penny in "The Spoiler Alert Segmentation", however she is not ready. During their Valentine's Day dinner in "The Tangible Affection Proof", Leonard again tries to propose to Penny and she cuts him off quickly. She admits that she is very happy with him, but she also admits to commitment issues and the thought of being married forever really "freaks" her out. Leonard then tells her that when she is ready to get married, she can propose to him. In the season finale, Leonard leaves for an overseas job for four months and Penny is confident enough in their relationship to wait for him. In "The Gorilla Dissolution", Leonard and Penny become engaged. Throughout season 8, a running gag is their reluctance to decide upon a wedding date. In the season 8 finale, Penny asks Leonard to marry her that night in Las Vegas. Leonard happily accepts, but during the journey, after Penny expresses happiness that they will get married while knowing everything about each other, Leonard confesses to having shared a drunken kiss with another woman while on the boat in Europe, though he adds that the woman started it and he rejected her. Penny becomes hurt by the revelation, and even though she claims to forgive Leonard, there is clearly tension between them, leaving the season ending in a cliffhanger as to whether or not they will go through with the wedding.  At the beginning of season 9, Leonard and Penny marry, although not without some initial problems. They both reveal that they were subconsciously trying to sabotage their relationship, feeling unworthy of the other. Leonard, concerned that he was trying to sabotage his relationship with Penny, meets with the woman he kissed on the boat. She barely remembers the incident and quickly grows bored with Leonard's ramblings, taking a sarcastic and dismissive tone toward him. From that meeting Leonard comes to terms with his insecurities and he and Penny are able to become more comfortable in dealing with their mutual fears about their relationship. Leonard seriously tries to move into Penny's apartment though Sheldon has serious objections and makes them compromise to spend multiple nights a week in Leonard's old room. Early in season 10, the couple is very happy to be finally living alone after Sheldon moves in with Amy.  In season 11, Leonard, Howard and Raj are trying to recover the bitcoin they mined years ago (now worth thousands of dollars). It is revealed that the bitcoin is in Leonard's old laptop which he gave to Penny while they were dating in Season 3. Penny then said that she gave the laptop to Zack after her breakup with Leonard. After retrieving the laptop from Zack, he shows the couple a video in the laptop that Penny made after her breakup with Leonard showing a drunk Penny apologizing to Leonard and regrets breaking up with him. Leonard is touched by the video and realizes that Penny genuinely loves him and not just out of desperation or pity.  In season 12, Penny announces that she doesn't want to have any children which Leonard somewhat reluctantly supports her decision. Later Penny's old boyfriend Zack Johnson and his new wife wants Leonard to be a surrogate father to their kid since Zack is infertile. Penny reluctantly agrees to let Leonard do it until Leonard finally changes his mind not wanting a child in the world that he can't raise. At the end of the season; however, Penny accidentally gets pregnant with Leonard's child, and changes her mind about wanting children.

Leonard Leakey Hofstadter, Ph.D., is a fictional character in the CBS sitcom "The Big Bang Theory", in which he is portrayed by actor Johnny Galecki. Leonard is an experimental physicist, who shares an apartment with colleague and best friend Dr. Sheldon Cooper (Jim Parsons). For his portrayal, Galecki was nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award and a Golden Globe Award in 2011.


Geographic range.

"L. longipes" is found in southern Mexico (Colima, Oaxaca, Veracruz, Yucatán), Belize, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.

Description.

Long and thin, "L. longipes" can reach 70 cm (27.5 in) in total length, two-thirds of which is a thin tail.  The scales on the forehead are much larger than those on the back of the head. No projecting triangular scales occur on the posterior border of the head. The gular scales are bicarinate or tricarinate.  Sexual dimorphism is present, but is difficult to observe. Males have a somewhat thicker tail root than females, and the hemipenes are sometimes visible when lifting the tail gently.

Habitat.

The eastern casquehead iguana inhabits tropical wet, moist, and seasonally dry forests. It can persist in secondary growth when suitable trees are present.

Behavior.

The eastern casquehead iguana is an arboreal species occurring high up in the trees. Rather slow, it sits on trees and bushes above water courses, licking water drops on leaves, and catching insects that walk nearby. "L. longipes" lives individually, or in a territory with one male and one to three females. Usually, however, males and females only meet for mating, which can happen several times per year.

Subspecies.

Two subspecies are recognized, including the nominotypical subspecies.

Etymology.

The subspecific name, "deborrei", is in honor of Belgian entomologist Alfred Preudhomme de Borre (1833–1905). The subspecific name, "waltersi", is in honor of Leon L. Walters, who collected the type specimen with Karl P. Schmidt.

Captivity.

The eastern casquehead iguana is sometimes bred in captivity, but it is not a good terrarium companion for beginners, as it quickly and often dehydrates. Daily misting or a water-dropping system is essential. Temperatures should range between 25 and 35 °C (77 and 95 °F) during the day, and between 20 and 23 °C (68 and 73.4 °F) during the night. Humidity should range between 70 and 90%. "L. longipes" is a great cricket eater and should receive at least four or five adult crickets every day. It also needs UVA and UVB lighting and an additional vitamin and calcium feed once a week.

The eastern casquehead iguana ("Laemanctus longipes") is a species of lizard in the family Corytophanidae. The species is endemic to Central America and Mexico.


Name.

The name "Zgornja Šiška" literally means 'upper Šiška', distinguishing the settlement from neighboring Spodnja Šiška (literally, 'lower Šiška'). The name "Šiška" was attested in 1308 as "ze Cheis" (and as "Cheysse" in 1330 and "pey Keysk" in 1331). The name is derived from "*Hiška", a diminutive of the common noun "hiša" 'house'. The phonological change of "H-" > "Š-" may be due to Upper Carniolan palatalization, discontinuous assimilation, or both. The semantic motivation of the name is attributed to a single small house that originally stood in the settlement. In the past the German name was "Oberschischka".

History.

A Roman aqueduct passed through Zgornja Šiška to supply Emona. The name "Jama" 'cave' was attested for Zgornja Šiška in 1414, referring to pits and tunnels in the area. During the Ottoman wars in Europe, these pits were used to besiege Ljubljana in 1472. A school was established in Zgornja Šiška in 1882, and a four-year lower secondary school was established in 1929. Zgornja Šiška was annexed by the City of Ljubljana in 1935, ending its existence as an independent settlement.

Castle.

The pits in Zgornja Šiška were also the source of the name of Pit Castle (), also known as the Galle Manor (). The manor was the property of the governors of Carniola, and was then owned by the Augustinian order until 1657, which then built a monastery in Ljubljana and sold the property to Johann Benaglia. It stood adjacent to another manor known as the Luckmann Castle (). This was owned by the Apfaltrer family and then inherited by the Luckmann family. The two structures were combined in 1787. After the First World War, it was acquired by the Ursuline order and then by the School Sisters of St. Francis of Christ the King. The building was confiscated and nationalized after the Second World War, the nuns were expelled, and it was used to train police dogs. Following various medical uses and renovations, the structure is now the Peter Držaj Hospital ().

Notable people.

Notable people from Zgornja Šiška include:

Zgornja Šiška (; ) is a formerly independent settlement in the northwest part of the capital Ljubljana in central Slovenia. It was part of the traditional region of Upper Carniola and is now included with the rest of the municipality in the Central Slovenia Statistical Region.


Early life.

Kohout studied electrical engineering at the College of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering, Plzen (now the University of West Bohemia). He was active in the Czech underground, as part of a movement known as the Second Culture. As a result of his political activities, he was forced to work in blue-collar occupations, such as several years working as a coal stoker at the Ethnographic Museum in Prague. In 1986 he was exiled from Czechoslovakia by the secret police, and spent two years in the Traiskirchen refugee camp in Austria.

In the United States.

He was granted political asylum in the United States, and moved to Boston, gaining a diploma from Tufts School of the Museum of Fine Arts in 1993. He has taught performance art as political action at Tufts School and at the Massachusetts College of Art and Design, and video production at the New England Institute of Art. During his years in Boston he created was engaged in experimental performance art, focused mainly on politics, human rights, and criticism of religious organizations and ideologies.  Between 1992 and 2003 he worked as a camera operator, video technician, and producer for news and public affairs cable TV channel C-SPAN. He has written a series of interviews for the Czech magazine "Xantypa" with subjects such as Noam Chomsky and Kurt Vonnegut Jr..

Artwork and later career.

Since 1994 he has been a member of the Mobius art group. He has participated in several international festivals and art programs (including festivals in China, Croatia, Poland, Taiwan, Cuba, Thailand, Israel, Canada, Mexico, and the United States). He has also lectured at the University of West Bohemia in Plzen.  Kohout's art criticises the US economy, religion, the media, the politics of oil, racism and social prejudice. His works include a performance art piece critical of the segregation wall in Usti nad Labem, Czech Republic, where in 1999, as a protest against the segregation of Czech Roma, he cut the flag of the Czech Republic in half, and was subsequently accused of defaming the state symbol. In 2007 he was arrested in Boston after his performance "Nooses on Sale", which was critical of the conduct of US banks during the sub-prime mortgage crisis. The performance involved Kohout selling nooses outside a branch of the Bank of America, and after the bank reported him to the police, he was prosecuted for peddling goods without a licence. After a four-month trial he was found not guilty.  In 2011, he recorded a five-part autobiographical show for Czech Radio. He also appeared in the documentary film "Radical Jesters", about political performance artists in the United States. In 2015 he appeared on the Czech TV show "You Have the Word", arguing in favour of the Czech Republic accepting large numbers of refugees. Kohout described this as a political performance, but it sparked a negative reaction from the public and in the media. In September 2016 Kohout announced his candidacy for the 2018 Czech presidential elections, though in the event he did not start campaigning and was not a candidate in the election.

Milan Kohout (born 1955 in Plzeň, Czechoslovakia) is a Czech–American performance artist, writer, and university lecturer. He was a signatory of the Charter 77 human rights declaration against the communist government of Czechoslovakia.


Life.

In 1328, Maria married King Alfonso XI. As part of the dower, King Alfonso gave her Guadalajara, Talavera de la Reina and Olmedo.  The relationship between Maria and Alfonso was unhappy: from 1327 before their marriage, Alfonso had a relationship with Leonor de Guzmán who gave him ten children, including the future King Henry II of Castile. Maria did not participate in the affairs of the court, being relegated by the royal mistress Leonor and it is quite likely that she spent long periods secluded at the Royal Monastery of San Clemente in Seville.  In 1335, Maria returned to her father in Évora, who demanded that Alfonso separated from Leonor by use of alliances with the Pope, the Muslims and rebels inside Castile, and finally by an invasion. In the peace treaty of Seville in July 1340, Alfonso agreed to have Leonor imprisoned in a convent, thereby securing the support of the king of Portugal in the Battle of Río Salado which was fought on 30 October 1340, although, once the military conflict had been resolved, he returned to his lover and did not fulfill the promise he had made to the Portuguese monarch.  At the death of Alfonso 26 March 1350, Maria secured a power position by exerting influence upon the leader of her son's council, João Afonso de Albuquerque. She participated in the rebellion against her son in 1354, and turned over Toro to the rebels, which caused his imprisonment. After this, she returned to Portugal.

Death and Burial.

María had executed a will in Valladolid on 8 November 1351 in which she asked to be buried at the Royal Chapel of the Cathedral of Seville where her husband Alfonso XI had been buried and that, if his remains were transferred to another church, hers should also be transferred and buried alongside her husband.  She died in Évora on 18 January 1357 and was buried there until, against the wishes expressed in her will, her remains were transferred to the Royal Monastery of San Clemente in Seville. In 1371, King Henry II had ordered that his father, King Alfonso XI, should receive burial at the Royal Collegiate Church of Saint Hippolytus in Córdoba and at the same time, he probably decided that María, who had been responsible for his mother's death, should be buried at the monastery in Seville. The gravestone made of simple tiles at the monastery mentions that she is buried there with two "tender infants".

Maria of Portugal () (9 February 1313 – 18 January 1357) was a Portuguese princess who became Queen of Castile upon her marriage to Alfonso XI in 1328. She was the first daughter of King Afonso IV of Portugal and his first wife Beatrice of Castile.


Background.

The party was founded after Shmuel Flatto-Sharon had fled to Israel from France in 1976 after being charged with embezzling $60 million. In order to prevent his extradition, which France had requested, and despite hardly speaking Hebrew, he decided to run in the 1977 Knesset elections, hoping to gain parliamentary immunity.  Named after himself, Flatto-Sharon's party ran on right-wing populism (he was a supporter of the Gush Emunim settlement movement) and promises to provide apartments to young voters.  The new party won 2% of the vote, enough for two seats. However, as it was a one-man list, only one seat was taken. It has been suggested that the surprising level of support that the party won was a response to France's refusal to extradite Abu Daoud, who was wanted in Israel for the murder of 11 Israeli Olympic athletes in Munich. Once ensconced in the Knesset, Flatto-Sharon joined Menachem Begin's coalition, with one of his first acts being to vote in favour of a law that prohibited the extradition of Israeli citizens.  Later during the Knesset session he renamed the party "Development and Peace" and also helped in negotiations to free Israeli POWs. However, after serving for two years, Flatto-Sharon was convicted of vote buying, sentenced to nine months in prison and suspended from the Knesset. After several appeals, he was finally jailed for three months in 1984.  The party ran in the 1981 and 1984 elections, but did not pass the electoral threshold of 1% in either, and subsequently disappeared. Flatto-Sharon was never extradited to France to serve the five-year sentence given to him in his absence, as the five-year statute of limitations had expired. He was an established businessman and billionaire until his death in 2018.

Development and Peace (, "Pituah VeShalom"), originally known as Flatto-Sharon (Hebrew: פלאטו שרון) was a right wing one-man political party in Israel.


Biography.

Born in Odessa in the Russian Empire (today in Ukraine), Shekhterman made aliyah to Mandatory Palestine in 1924. He attended high school in Tel Aviv and in 1927 he joined Betar, later becoming one of its commanders. He studied civil engineering at Ghent University, where he chaired the Jewish Students Organisation, as well as working as a Betar instructor in Antwerp.  He helped establish Kfar Yavetz in 1932. In 1936 he joined the Betar faction of the Haganah, later becoming an Irgun member after it broke away from the Haganah. In 1938 he became political editor of the "HaMashkif" newspaper, the publication of the Revisionist Party.  Shekhterman was involved in promoting aviation in Palestine. In preparation for establishing a Jewish air force, he used his contacts to convince the British Mandate's Department of Civilian Aviation to approve a flight school at an airfield in Lod.  Between 1939 and 1945 he chaired the Tel Aviv Pilots Club.

Political career.

Shekhterman served as a member of the Assembly of Representatives. In 1955 he was elected to Tel Aviv city council, remaining a member until 1965 and serving as deputy mayor between 1957 and 1959. In 1969 he was elected to the Knesset on the Gahal list. He was re-elected in 1973, by which time Gahal had merged into Likud, but lost his seat in the 1977 elections.

Business career.

Between 1943 and 1946 he managed the Potash Company at the Dead Sea.

Avraham Shekhterman (, born 1910, died 7 December 1986) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for Gahal and Likud between 1969 and 1977. He was the older brother of Herzl Shafir, a former IDF general.


First battle in December.

The village of Summa was a gateway to the city of Viipuri. The Finns had built 41 reinforced concrete bunkers in the Summa area, and the defense line was stronger than elsewhere in the Karelian Isthmus. However, the Finns had made mistakes in planning and nearby Munasuo swamp, east of Summa, had a kilometer wide gap in the line. At least 20 tanks drove through the line in the first day of battle, but the Soviets did not have proper co-operation between branches of service; tanks, artillery and troops fought their own battles. The Finns stood still in trenches and allowed the Soviet tanks to move behind the defense line on December 19th, as they did not have proper anti-tank weapons. After that the Finns repelled the Soviet main troops. Soviet tanks cut-off behind the line aimlessly attacked Finnish strongpoints, but once these were eliminated the threat was over. The Finns won the battle on 22 December.

Second battle in February.

As the Soviets found it too difficult to breach the line at the Summa sector, they attacked 10 km to the east in a sector known as Lähde. If they broke through there then they could encircle the Finns holding the Summa position. Timoschenko knew he could beat the Finns in a battle of attrition. His plan was to wear them down and go for an intense final attack.  First large probing actions were launched against the Finnish lines. For over ten days the line held every position. On 11 February, the Soviets began their major assault.  On 12 February, a minor breach in the Finnish lines in the Lähde sector led to disaster. By that time, so many breaches had occurred in the Mannerheim Line that the reports concerning them were virtually disregarded. The following morning, a Finnish counter-attack was supposed to be launched by the entire 5th Division, the only reserve in easy reach of the front-line, but only one of the three regiments was available as the other two regiments had to be dispatched elsewhere.  Only two Finnish battalions launched a counter-attack against two well supplied Soviet regiments that were equipped with armor and artillery. The attack was thrown back with heavy Finnish casualties. The Soviets made efforts to exploit this prominently. One tank regiment proceeded as far as the Lähde road junction but then halted. Although complete victory was in their grasp, the Soviets stopped their armoured spearhead.  Many Finnish companies were reduced to half their original strength. One company had lost 86 out of 110 men. Over-night from the 14th to the 15th, the Finns began withdrawing from the Summa position. On the morning of the 15th the Soviets attacked an empty position at Summa with more than 100 tanks and two divisions. That afternoon, Mannerheim ordered a general retreat to the Intermediate Line.

The Battle of Summa was fought between the Soviet Union and Finland, in two phases, first in December 1939 and then in February 1940. It was part of the Winter War and was fought near the village of Summa (now Soldatskoye) along the main road leading from Leningrad to Viipuri.


Biography.

Born in London in the United Kingdom, Harman studied at the London School of Economics before migrating to Mandatory Palestine, where she was employed as a social worker in Jerusalem's Jewish Community Centre between 1941 and 1943. From 1943 until 1949, she worked in Youth Aliyah first as assistant to its head, Henrietta Szold, until her death and then in other positions. In 1951, she became a member of the Israeli delegation to the United Nations, where she worked until 1955. During that time, she was elected to the board of UNICEF as the Israel representative. She was elected Chair of the Program Committee and then became Chairman of the Executive Board from 1964 to 1966. In that latter capacity, she accepted the Nobel Peace Prize awarded to UNICEF in 1965. From 1956 to 1957, she was deputy director of Technical Assistance in the Prime Minister's Office, before heading the Department of International Organizations in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs between 1957 and 1959. In 1959, she was appointed Head of the National Center for Demography and served on the Prime Minister's Commission on Social Policy and as Vice-President of the International Council on Social Welfare and the International Commission on the Status of Women.  In 1969 she was elected to the Knesset on the Alignment list and served for one term. Following her term in the Knesset, she founded and chaired the Jerusalem Council for the Welfare of Children and then served for 25 years as the Israel Representative of the United Nations Commission for Refugees.  Harman was married to Avraham Harman, an Israeli ambassador to the United States and President of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She has three children: Ilana, Director of the Internal Medicine Department at Soroka Hospital, Naomi Chazan, a professor of Political Science who also served as a member of the Knesset for Meretz and David, a professor of education.

Zina Harman (, née Stern, 28 August 1914 – 21 January 2013) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset for the Alignment between 1969 and 1974 and as Chairman of UNICEF from 1964 to 1966.


Biography.

Hacohen was born in Gomel in the Russian Empire (today in Belarus). He studied at a local heder, before his family immigrated to Ottoman-controlled Palestine in 1907. He then attended Herzliya Hebrew High School. In 1916 he joined the Ottoman Army and fought in World War I. Following the war, he studied law and economics in London between 1919 and 1923.  After returning to Palestine he became Director of the Office of Public Works and Planning, which later became a company under the name Solel Boneh. He also became a member of the Haganah, which operated an underground radio station from his home in Haifa, and was elected to Haifa City Council. During World War II he was an officer in the British Army, serving as a liaison between the British Army and the Haganah. However, following the war he was arrested by the British authorities during Operation Agatha in 1946 and imprisoned.  In 1949 Hacohen was elected to the first Knesset on the Mapai list. He was re-elected in 1951 elections, but resigned from the Knesset on 1 December 1953 after he was appointed Israeli ambassador to Burma, a post he held until 1955. That year he was returned to the Knesset on the Mapai list, and was subsequently re-elected in 1959, 1961 and 1965, by which time Mapai had formed the Alignment alliance with Ahdut HaAvoda, serving until the 1969 elections. During his time as an MK, he was a delegate to the Inter-Parliamentary Union and served on its executive board.  Hacohen died in 1984 at the age of 85.

David Hacohen (, born 20 October 1898, died 19 February 1984) was an Israeli politician who served as a member of the Knesset between 1949 and 1953, and again from 1955 until 1969.