De facto official versions of PDDL.

PDDL1.2.

This was the official language of the 1st and 2nd IPC in 1998 and 2000 respectively. It separated the model of the planning problem in two major parts: (1) domain description and (2) the related problem description. Such a division of the model allows for an intuitive separation of those elements, which are (1) present in every specific problem of the problem-domain (these elements are contained in the domain-description), and those elements, which (2) determine the specific planning-problem (these elements are contained in the problem-description). Thus several problem-descriptions may be connected to the same domain-description (just like several instances may exist of a class in OOP (Object Oriented Programming) or in OWL (Web Ontology Language) for example). Thus a domain and a connecting problem description forms the PDDL-model of a planning-problem, and eventually this is the input of a planner (usually domain-independent AI planner) software, which aims to solve the given planning-problem via some appropriate planning algorithm. The output of the planner is not specified by PDDL, but it is usually a totally or partially ordered plan (a sequence of actions, some of which may be executed even in parallel sometimes). Now lets take a look at the contents of a PDDL1.2 domain and problem description in general...(1) The domain description consisted of a domain-name definition, definition of requirements (to declare those model-elements to the planner which the PDDL-model is actually using), definition of object-type hierarchy (just like a class-hierarchy in OOP), definition of constant objects (which are present in every problem in the domain), definition of predicates (templates for logical facts), and also the definition of possible actions (operator-schemas with parameters, which should be grounded/instantiated during execution). Actions had parameters (variables that may be instantiated with objects), preconditions and effects. The effects of actions could be also conditional (when-effects).(2) The problem description consisted of a problem-name definition, the definition of the related domain-name, the definition of all the possible objects (atoms in the logical universe), initial conditions (the initial state of the planning environment, a conjunction of true/false facts), and the definition of goal-states (a logical expression over facts that should be true/false in a goal-state of the planning environment). Thus eventually PDDL1.2 captured the "physics" of a deterministic single-agent discrete fully accessible planning environment.

PDDL2.1.

This was the official language of the 3rd IPC in 2002. It introduced numeric fluents (e.g. to model non-binary resources such as fuel-level, time, energy, distance, weight,...), plan-metrics (to allow quantitative evaluation of plans, and not just goal-driven, but utility-driven planning, i.e. optimization, metric-minimization/maximization), and durative/continuous actions (which could have variable, non-discrete length, conditions and effects). Eventually PDDL2.1 allowed the representation and solution of many more real-world problems than the original version of the language.

PDDL2.2.

This was the official language of the deterministic track of the 4th IPC in 2004. It introduced derived predicates (to model the dependency of given facts from other facts, e.g. if A is reachable from B, and B is reachable from C, then A is reachable from C (transitivity)), and timed initial literals (to model exogenous events occurring at given time independently from plan-execution). Eventually PDDL2.2 extended the language with a few important elements, but wasn't a radical evolution compared to PDDL2.1 after PDDL1.2.

PDDL3.0.

This was the official language of the deterministic track of the 5th IPC in 2006. It introduced state-trajectory constraints (hard-constraints in form of modal-logic expressions, which should be true for the state-trajectory produced during the execution of a plan, which is a solution of the given planning problem) and preferences (soft-constraints in form of logical expressions, similar to hard-constraints, but their satisfaction wasn't necessary, although it could be incorporated into the plan-metric e.g. to maximize the number of satisfied preferences, or to just measure the quality of a plan) to enable preference-based planning. Eventually PDDL3.0 updated the expressiveness of the language to be able to cope with recent, important developments in planning.

PDDL3.1.

This was the official language of the deterministic track of the 6th and 7th IPC in 2008 and 2011 respectively. It introduced object-fluents (i.e. functions' range now could be not only numerical (integer or real), but it could be any object-type also). Thus PDDL3.1 adapted the language even more to modern expectations with a syntactically seemingly small, but semantically quite significant change in expressiveness.

Current situation.

The latest version of the language is PDDL3.1. The BNF (Backus–Naur Form) syntax definition of PDDL3.1 can be found among the resources of the IPC-2011 homepage or the IPC-2014 homepage.

Successors/variants/extensions of PDDL.

PDDL+.

This extension of PDDL2.1 from around 2002–2006 provides a more flexible model of continuous change through the use of autonomous processes and events. The key this extension provides is the ability to model the interaction between the agent's behaviour and changes that are initiated by the agent's environment. Processes run over time and have a continuous effect on numeric values. They are initiated and terminated either by the direct action of the agent or by events triggered in the environment. This 3-part structure is referred to as the "start-process-stop model". Distinctions are made between logical and numeric states: transitions between logical states are assumed to be instantaneous whilst occupation of a given logical state can endure over time. Thus in PDDL+ continuous update expressions are restricted to occur only in process effects. Actions and events, which are instantaneous, are restricted to the expression of discrete change. This introduces the before mentioned 3-part modelling of periods of continuous change: (1) an action or event starts a period of continuous change on a numeric variable expressed by means of a process; (2) the process realizes the continuous change of the numeric variable; (3) an action or event finally stops the execution of the process and terminates its effect on the numeric variable. Comment: the goals of the plan might be achieved before an active process is stopped.

NDDL.

NDDL (New Domain Definition Language) is NASA's response to PDDL from around 2002. Its representation differs from PDDL in several respects: 1) it uses a variable/value representation (timelines/activities) rather than a propositional/first-order logic, and 2) there is no concept of states or actions, only of intervals (activities) and constraints between those activities. In this respect, models in NDDL look more like schemas for SAT encodings of planning problems rather than PDDL models. Because of the mentioned differences planning and execution of plans (e.g. during critical space missions) may be more robust when using NDDL, but the correspondence to standard planning-problem representations other than PDDL may be much less intuitive than in case of PDDL.

MAPL.

MAPL (Multi-Agent Planning Language, pronounced "maple") is an extension of PDDL2.1 from around 2003. It is a quite serious modification of the original language. It introduces non-propositional state-variables (which may be n-ary: true, false, unknown, or anything else). It introduces a temporal model given with modal operators (before, after, etc.). Nonetheless in PDDL3.0 a more thorough temporal model was given, which is also compatible with the original PDDL syntax (and it is just an optional addition). MAPL also introduces actions whose duration will be determined in runtime and explicit plan synchronization which is realized through speech act based communication among agents. This assumption may be artificial, since agents executing concurrent plans shouldn't necessarily communicate to be able to function in a multi-agent environment. Finally, MAPL introduces events (endogenous and exogenous) for the sake of handling concurrency of actions. Thus events become part of plans explicitly, and are assigned to agents by a control function, which is also part of the plan.

OPT.

OPT (Ontology with Polymorphic Types) was a profound extension of PDDL2.1 by Drew McDermott from around 2003–2005 (with some similarities to PDDL+). It was an attempt to create a general-purpose notation for creating ontologies, defined as formalized conceptual frameworks for planning domains about which planning applications are to reason. Its syntax was based on PDDL, but it had a much more elaborate type system, which allowed users to make use of higher-order constructs such as explicit λ-expressions allowing for efficient type inference (i.e. not only domain objects had types ("level 0 types"), but also the functions/fluents defined above these objects had types in the form of arbitrary mappings ("level 1 types"), which could be generic, so their parameters (the domain and range of the generic mapping) could be defined with variables, which could have an even higher level type ("level 2 type") not to speak of that the mappings could be arbitrary, i.e. the domain or range of a function (e.g. predicate, numeric fluent) could be any level 0/1/2 type. For example, functions could map from arbitrary functions to arbitrary functions...). OPT was basically intended to be (almost) upwardly compatible with PDDL2.1. The notation for processes and durative actions was borrowed mainly from PDDL+ and PDDL2.1, but beyond that OPT offered many other significant extensions (e.g. data-structures, non-Boolean fluents, return-values for actions, links between actions, hierarchical action expansion, hierarchy of domain definitions, the use of namespaces for compatibility with the semantic web).

PPDDL.

PPDDL (Probabilistic PDDL) 1.0 was the official language of the probabilistic track of the 4th and 5th IPC in 2004 and 2006 respectively. It extended PDDL2.1 with probabilistic effects (discrete, general probability distributions over possible effects of an action), reward fluents (for incrementing or decrementing the total reward of a plan in the effects of the actions), goal rewards (for rewarding a state-trajectory, which incorporates at least one goal-state), and goal-achieved fluents (which were true, if the state-trajectory incorporated at least one goal-state). Eventually these changes allowed PPDDL1.0 to realize Markov Decision Process (MDP) planning, where there may be uncertainty in the state-transitions, but the environment is fully observable for the planner/agent.

APPL.

APPL (Abstract Plan Preparation Language) is a newer variant of NDDL from 2006, which is more abstract than most existing planning languages such as PDDL or NDDL. The goal of this language was to simplify the formal analysis and specification of planning problems that are intended for safety-critical applications such as power management or automated rendezvous in future manned spacecraft. APPL used the same concepts as NDDL with the extension of actions, and also some other concepts, but still its expressive power is much less than PDDL's (in hope of staying robust and formally verifiable).

RDDL.

RDDL (Relational Dynamic influence Diagram Language) was the official language of the uncertainty track of the 7th IPC in 2011. Conceptually it is based on PPDDL1.0 and PDDL3.0, but practically it is a completely different language both syntactically and semantically. The introduction of partial observability is one of the most important changes in RDDL compared to PPDDL1.0. It allows efficient description of Markov Decision Processes (MDPs) and Partially Observable Markov Decision Processes (POMDPs) by representing everything (state-fluents, observations, actions,...) with variables. This way RDDL departs from PDDL significantly. Grounded RDDL corresponds to Dynamic Bayesian Networks (DBNs) similarly to PPDDL1.0, but RDDL is more expressive than PPDDL1.0.

MA-PDDL.

MA-PDDL (Multi Agent PDDL) is a minimalistic, modular extension of PDDL3.1 introduced in 2012 (i.e. a new codice_1 requirement) that allows "planning by and for" multiple agents. The addition is compatible with all the features of PDDL3.1 and addresses most of the issues of MAPL. It adds the possibility to distinguish between the possibly different actions of different agents (i.e. different capabilities). Similarly different agents may have different goals and/or metrics. The preconditions of actions now may directly refer to concurrent actions (e.g. the actions of other agents) and thus actions with interacting effects can be represented in a general, flexible way (e.g. suppose that at least 2 agents are needed to execute a codice_2 action to lift a heavy table into the air, or otherwise the table would remain on the ground (this is an example of constructive synergy, but destructive synergy can be also easily represented in MA-PDDL)). Moreover, as kind of syntactic sugar, a simple mechanism for the inheritance and polymorphism of actions, goals and metrics was also introduced in MA-PDDL (assuming codice_3 is declared). Since PDDL3.1 assumes that the environment is deterministic and fully observable, the same holds for MA-PDDL, i.e. every agent can access the value of every state fluent at every time-instant and observe every previously executed action of each agent, and also the concurrent actions of agents unambiguously determine the next state of the environment. This was improved later by the addition of partial-observability and probabilistic effects (again, in form of two new modular requirements, codice_4 and codice_5, respectively, the latter being inspired by PPDDL1.0, and both being compatible with all the previous features of the language, including codice_1).

Example.

This is the domain definition of a STRIPS instance for the automated planning of a robot with two gripper arms. And this is the problem definition that instantiates the previous domain definition with a concrete environment with two rooms and two balls.

The Planning Domain Definition Language (PDDL) is an attempt to standardize Artificial Intelligence (AI) planning languages. It was first developed by Drew McDermott and his colleagues in 1998 (inspired by STRIPS and ADL among others) mainly to make the 1998/2000 International Planning Competition (IPC) possible, and then evolved with each competition. ""The adoption of a common formalism for describing planning domains fosters far greater reuse of research and allows more direct comparison of systems and approaches, and therefore supports faster progress in the field. A common formalism is a compromise between expressive power (in which development is strongly driven by potential applications) and the progress of basic research (which encourages development from well-understood foundations). The role of a common formalism as a communication medium for exchange demands that it is provided with a clear semantics.""


Club "brand update".

In conjunction with the recruitment of Pep Guardiola, the manager whom City's executives had sought to hire since they joined the club four years previously and the man synonymous with the style of football they wanted the club to espouse, Manchester City announced a series of adjustments to the club's "brand" as of the start of the season.  On 15 October 2015, the club announced that they intended to enter into a consultation with their fans over the designing of a new badge to replace the design that had been brought in 1997 and which had largely been unpopular since. The result of the online-based consultation was a design bearing many of the hallmarks of the crest replaced in 1997, plus some elements of the style established by the other club badges of fellow City Football Group teams Melbourne City FC and New York City FC. While many praised the logo for its simplicity and similarity to the beloved previous design, it was criticised from other corners for its slightly amateurish appearance, its removal of the words "Football Club" and for its failure to more closely replicate the earlier badge.  On 30 June 2016, the club unexpectedly announced the renaming of their Twitter accounts and website. Replacing the old "branding" of MCFC (the initials of the club), both social media outlets were rechristened "ManCity". While the move was popular among many, especially the club's more recent foreign fans for whom the styling was already their preferred abbreviation of the club's name, the change provoked another mixed reaction from the Manchester-based core supporter base, with many criticising the decision to use a wording often used by the club's rivals, as well as highlighting the decision to again remove the "Football Club" wording.

Non-competitive.

Pre-season.

On 20 July 2016, Manchester City began their pre-season with a 0–1 defeat against Bayern Munich. Due to weather during the International Champions Cup, the derby against Manchester United was cancelled, and City went on to play Borussia Dortmund in their next cup match, which they would go on to win 6–5 on penalties after drawing 1–1 at the end of regular time. A match was played on 7 August against Arsenal in the 2016 Supermatchen, which ended 3–2 to Arsenal. To replace the game against Manchester United, which was cancelled, City arranged a friendly against St Johnstone, which was played behind closed doors.

Competitions.

Overall.

Premier League.

Matches.

38 matches are played, 2 against each other team in the league; one at home and one away.

FA Cup.

As a Premier League club, Manchester City entered the competition in the third round, drawing West Ham United away from home.

League Cup.

As a European club, Manchester City entered the competition in the third round, drawing Swansea City away from home.

UEFA Champions League.

Play-off Round.

The draw for the Champions League play-off round took place on 5 August 2016. Manchester City were a seeded team in the league route. They were drawn against Steaua București of Romania.

Group stage.

The group stage draw was made on 25 August 2016 in Monaco. Manchester City were drawn with Barcelona (pot 1), Borussia Mönchengladbach (pot 3), and Celtic (pot 4).

Squad information.

First team squad.

Awards.

Premier League "Player of the Month" award.

"Awarded monthly to the player who was chosen by a panel assembled by the Premier League's sponsor"

Premier League "Manager of the Month" award.

"Awarded monthly to the manager who was chosen by a panel assembled by the Premier League's sponsor"

Etihad "Player of the Month" awards.

"Awarded to the player that receives the most votes in a poll conducted each month on the club's official website"

Etihad "Player of the Season".

"In association with the Official Manchester City Supporters Club"

Transfers and loans.

Transfers in.

Total spending: £171,500,000

Transfers out.

Total earnings: £28,000,000

The 2016–17 season was Manchester City's 115th season of competitive football, 88th season in the top division of English football and 20th season in the Premier League since the league was first created with City as one of the original 22 founder-members. They competed in all three domestic competitions, as well as the UEFA Champions League for the sixth year in a row.


Plot.

A burglar, Scott Muller (Steven Bauer), teams up with Buddy Calamara (David Caruso), a valet at a high-society restaurant. Buddy keeps an eye on Mickey and Ray Davis, a rich married couple, while Scott robs their home.  One night, one of the items Scott takes is a diary belonging to the wife (Barbara Williams). Scott reads the diary and discovers that the wife, Mickey, an interior designer, yearns for a more interesting life. He quickly becomes infatuated with her. The diary is full of her fantasies and dreams, so Scott plans to turn these into reality.  Mickey's husband, children's book author Ray Davis (John Getz), gets too involved in his work and neglects his wife's needs. Scott uses his inside knowledge to seduce her, using the pretext of needing someone to re-design his apartment, and posing as a school supply company CEO. The forbidden romance soon blossoms into a passionate sexual relationship, as Ray becomes suspicious.  During another robbery, Buddy kills a policeman who spotted them. Scott becomes more and more tense when Mickey starts asking questions about him and his past. Ray decides to follow Scott with his friend and publisher Marty Morrison (George Wendt). They snoop around the building used by the robbers and find out Scott is the thief who stole his belongings.  Buddy sees Ray there. He tells Scott, who, visibly agitated, goes to see Mickey, asking her to leave the city with him, revealing he was the one who stole her diary. Her husband arrives and fights with Scott, and when Mickey comes to her husband's aid, Scott leaves.  When the Davises go to a restaurant, Scott breaks into their home and reads Mickey's latest diary entry. Buddy intends to rob them again and Scott tries to stop him. They fight and one gets stabbed with Buddy's knife. The married couple come home to find the last standing intruder still in the house.  Mickey gets out her pistol and aims at the masked man. A gunshot is heard and the man stumbles down. The police arrives and it is revealed that the man shot was Buddy. Mickey goes to the bedroom and finds out that Scott is there, alive but wounded. Rather than be arrested for having shot Buddy, he escapes from the police through the window as Mickey watches him running in the dark.

DVD release.

Thief of Hearts was released on DVD on April 16, 2002. The DVD release is heavily edited, especially the gun range scene.

Production.

Douglas Day Stewart wrote and directed the film off the back of his successful scripts for "The Blue Lagoon" and especially "An Officer and a Gentleman". The latter was produced by Jerry Bruckheimer who produced "Thief of Hearts". Stewart called the film "an unusual romantic drama best described as an American "Last Tango in Paris"... I never try to write to the market. I just write love-themed material. I think my last project shows there has been terrible starvation for love themed projects in the movies."  Stewart said "The story started for me about 12 years ago, when I was robbed. You start to try to put faces to the people that came in and walked around and lifted your personal possessions. They might have touched the bed where you slept, or looked at that intimate photo in that drawer. That was the beginning of the story, but I didn't quite have a handle on it for many years until I added the element of the journals."  Stewart says "read all those books about women's sexual fantasies. I talked to women about their fantasies. I read journal entries. It proved to me that women lived so much inside their fantasies that men didn't realize it."  Stewart estimated he did 23 drafts. Filming started 13 February 1984 in San Francisco. It was made by the team of Simpson-Bruckheimer who were coming off a big success with "Flashdance".

Reception.

The film was the only flop from Simpson and Bruckheimer in their early days. Simpson later dismissed Stewart in an interview as "a man with nice hair. He should probably stick to writing."

Thief of Hearts is a 1984 film erotic drama film produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer. It was written and directed by Douglas Day Stewart.


Early studies.

From 1945 to 1956, Vazsonyi attended the Franz Liszt Academy of Music from which he earned an Artist Diploma. He made his debut in Budapest at age 12 with the F minor Concerto of J.S. Bach. On 15 December 1956, Vazsonyi fled Budapest on foot for Austria, where he became a pianist in the refugee Philharmonia Hungarica under conductor Antal Doráti. He studied at the Vienna Music Academy with Professor Richard Hauser from 1957–58 and made his Western debut in the Großer Musikvereinssaal, Vienna in January 1958 as soloist with L'Orchestre de la Suisse Romande under conductor Volkmar Andreae. In 1960, upon receiving a scholarship to study with Ernő Dohnányi at the School of Music at Florida State University, Vazsonyi moved to the United States, earning a Master of Music degree. Among the last pupils of the master, Vazsonyi became one of the last links in a tradition that stretched back to Franz Liszt. At FSU, he met another Dohnányi student, Barbara Whittington, whom he married on 26 February 1960.

Early career.

From 1960 to 1962, Vazsonyi resided in Zürich, Switzerland and in Wiesbaden, Germany, giving concerts and recording in Europe. From 1962-64, he became Pianist-in-Residence at the newly formed Interlochen Arts Academy where his son, Nicholas Vazsonyi, was born in 1963. He became an American citizen in Ann Arbor, Michigan in 1964 and was awarded the Liberty Bell Award the same year. In 1964-78, Vazsonyi moved to London, England with his family for private studies with pianist Dame Myra Hess, from 1964 to her death in 1965. London remained his home base for concertizing in Europe, England, America, and South Africa, recording, and presiding over master classes at Harvard, Yale, Dartmouth, New England Conservatory, Catholic University, Peabody, and the University of Washington.

Professorship.

From 1978 to 1984, Vazsonyi was invited to be Professor of Music at Indiana University, Bloomington School of Music where, as well as having a private piano studio, he conducted all doctoral seminars in Piano Literature. In 1982, while still teaching at Indiana University, Bloomington, Balint Vazsonyi earned a Ph.D in History from the University of Budapest, based in part on his seminal monograph of Ernő Dohnányi, which resulted in a street next to the Franz Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest being named for his mentor as well as an official absolving (2002) of false Nazi-sympathizer charges against Ernő Dohnányi made after World War II. While a professor at Indiana University School of Music, Vazsonyi held a master class in piano performance. In this weekly seminar, performances were offered critical comments from students and from Professor Vazsonyi. No stranger to the political arena, he exposed his piano students to the realities of the international political climate.

Entrepreneurship – Telemusic, Inc..

In 1983-92, Vazsonyi, founder/CEO of Telemusic, Inc., wrote/produced, along with video conceptualizer and director Nicholas Vazsonyi, four TV/Home Video/DVD films on the lives of Mozart (scripted by Nicholas Vazsonyi), Beethoven (European portions directed by Cash Baxter), Schubert, and Brahms (see TV/Video titles below). With the English actor Sir Anthony Quayle, he leads the viewer through cities of Europe in search of the life and soul of these composers, using costume drama, music video, and musical selections.

Mayoral run.

In 1991, Bloomington, Indiana's Republican mayoral candidate having stepped down with 100 days (31⁄2 months) remaining, Vazsonyi, based on several articles published in Bloomington's "The Herald-Times" regarding the First Gulf War, was recruited to run. Although his opponent won, he claimed the experience taught him how the U.S. works full circle.

Deanship.

In 1993, Balint Vazsonyi became Dean of Music at the New World School of the Arts in Miami, Florida. In 1995, he was appointed Senior Fellow to the Potomac Foundation in McLean, Virginia and wrote his first political treatise, "The Battle for America's Soul". Between 1993-95, he was Honorary Cultural Counselor in America for Hungary (The Republic of Hungary), and a member of the Board of Directors of the Chopin Foundation of the United States and of the Washington Bach Consort.

Political philosopher.

In 1995–2003, he moved to Washington, D.C. as Senior Fellow of the McLean, Virginia think tank, Potomac Foundation. He then co-founded and became Director of the Center for the American Founding. Vazsonyi stated: ""We advocate and practice discussion of national issues as they relate to America's founding principles. For continued success, we believe this nation needs to return to the Rule of Law, Individual Rights, the Security of Property, and the same American Identity for all its citizens... As time progressed, the creation of commissar positions in America acquired the dimensions of a growth industry. The avalanche began with affirmative action officers, equal opportunity officers, judicial inquiry officers, and civil rights divisions. These positions exist for the sole purpose of enforcing a political agenda - an occupation at odds with the very nature of America. Certain college and university departments - departments of education, of communications, of journalism, social studies, and urban planning - became the reliable producers of commissars. Law schools, too, began to churn out graduates trained to serve a specific political agenda, rather than jurisprudence... Soon, entire government departments were created to function as Commissariats, such as the Department of Education, Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Energy, and the Department of Commerce. Several other federal agencies, such as the National Endowment for the Arts, and its sister outfit, for the Humanities, fall into the same category. All these agencies offer services people find useful and employ many capable professionals along with commissars. But they are of the same cloth, for they provide a platform for commissars, lack constitutional legitimacy, and are virtually immune to citizen complaints. Eventually, commissar types found their way into legislatures, the Supreme Court, and the White House. The recent acquisition of the Department of justice as a commissariat, and the growing multitude of commissar judges on federal benches, complete this massive force whose effectiveness - unlike the armies and submarines of the Third Reich or the ICBMs of the Soviet Union - has proved a match for America's awesome industrial, financial, and spiritual strength.""

Last years.

During those years he published and lectured extensively on cultural and political subjects, appeared in "The Wall Street Journal" and "National Review". He wrote a bi-weekly column for "The Washington Times", and wrote a weekly, nationally syndicated column for Scripps Howard. His proposals for the application of America's founding principles to the national debates have been printed in the "Congressional Record", "Heritage Foundation", and "Representative American Speeches". His book, "America's 30 Years War: Who is Winning?", defining the source of alien ideas subverting America's culture and society, was published by Regnery in 1998. He was a frequent guest on national talk radio and appeared on television shows such as "NBC Today", "Booknotes" on C-SPAN with Brian Lamb, "Washington Journal", MSNBC, and "Insights" with Robert Novak. In 2000, he toured the nation's capitals to promote a national conversation he called Re-Elect America!. The one-hour television documentary about the tour has been aired on WETA-TV, Washington's PBS station.

Death.

Vazsonyi died on 17 January 2003, aged 66, survived by his wife, the couple's son Nicholas and daughter-in-law, Agnes, and several grandchildren. According to his "Washington Times" obituary, he once played all of Beethoven's 32 piano sonatas in the order they were composed over the course of a single weekend.

Balint Vázsonyi (7 March 193617 January 2003) was a Hungarian-born naturalized American pianist, educator, international recitalist/soloist with leading orchestras, and political activist and journalist. He made performance history in playing chronological cycles of all 32 piano sonatas by Beethoven over two days in New York, Boston, and London. During the last six years of his life, he became a commentator in Washington, D.C., on the state of American politics.


Sony Computer Entertainment, Inc. v. Connectix Corp.

Background of the case.

In July 1998, Connectix started the development of the Virtual Game Station (VGS) as a Macintosh software application that emulates Sony's popular PlayStation video games console's hardware and firmware. This would make it possible for VGS users to play games developed for the PlayStation on Macintosh hardware, with plans to release a Windows PC compatible version at a later date. Connectix's development strategy was based upon reverse engineering the PlayStation's BIOS firmware, first by using the unchanged BIOS to develop emulation for the hardware, and then by developing a BIOS of their own using the original firmware as an aid for debugging. During the development work, Connectix contacted Sony, requesting "technical assistance" for completing the VGS, but this request was eventually declined in September 1998.  The Video Game Station development reached completion in December 1998, with the software being commercially released in the following month, January 1999. Sony perceived the VGS as a threat to its video game business, and filed a complaint alleging copyright infringement as well as violations of intellectual property against Connectix on January 27, 1999. Sony drew support from fellow video game hardware manufacturers Nintendo, Sega, and 3dfx Interactive, while Connectix was backed by fellow software firms and trade associations.  The district court awarded Sony an injunction blocking Connectix  The district court also impounded all of Connectix's copies of the Sony BIOS and all copies of works based upon or incorporating Sony BIOS. Connectix then successfully appealed the ruling, with the United States Courts of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reversing the earlier decision.

The court's decision.

The Ninth Circuit Court's 3-0 ruling centered on deciding whether or not Connectix's copying of the PlayStation firmware while reverse engineering it had been protected by fair use. The court relied heavily on the similar case between Sega Enterprises Ltd. v. Accolade Inc. in 1992, where the key finding relating to Connectix v. Sony was that copying for the purpose of reverse engineering was within fair use.  Each of the four components of fair use were considered by the court individually. The components are the nature of the copyrighted work, the amount and substantiality of the portion used, the purpose and character of the use and the effect of the use on the potential market.

1. Nature of the copyrighted work.

While the Ninth District Court did acknowledge that software code does deserve copyright protection, the court, following the precedent of Sega vs. Accolade, deemed that the PlayStation firmware fell under a lowered degree of copyright protection because it contained unprotected parts (functional elements) that could not be examined without copying. The court also rejected the semantic distinction between "studying" and "use" made by the district court, finding it to be artificial. The court case states, "[T]hey disassembled Sony's code not just to study the concepts. They actually used that code in the development of [their] product."

2. Amount and substantiality of the portion used.

The court saw this criterion as being of little significance to the case at hand. While Connectix did disassemble and copy the Sony BIOS repeatedly over the course of reverse engineering, the final product of the Virtual Game Station contained no infringing material. As a result, "this factor [held]... very little weight." in determining the decision.

3. Purpose and character of the use.

Sony had argued that Connectix infringed Sony's copyright by making numerous intermediate copies (that is, copies of copyrighted computer code created to aid the development of a non-infringing product) of the PlayStation BIOS during the reverse engineering process. The court rejected this notion, ruling that such a copy-grounded basis for what qualified as fair use would result in software engineers choosing inefficient engineering methods that minimized the number of intermediate copies. Preventing such "wasted effort", they argued, was the very purpose of fair use.  In addition, the court found that the ultimate purpose and character of Connectix's use of Sony's BIOS - in that it created a new platform for Sony PlayStation games - qualified as "modestly transformative." This factor of fair use, therefore, lay in Connectix's favor.

4. Effect of the use upon the potential market.

The court held in favor of Connectix on this point as well. While the Virtual Game Station might very well lower Sony's PlayStation console sales, its transformative status- allowing PlayStation games to be played on Mac - rendered it a legitimate competitor in the market for Sony and Sony-licensed games: "For this reason, some economic loss by Sony as a result of this competition does not compel a finding of no fair use. Sony understandably seeks control over the market for devices that play games Sony produces or licenses. The copyright law, however, does not confer such a monopoly."  The Ninth Circuit Court also reversed the district court's ruling that the Video Game Station tarnished Sony's "PlayStation" trademark. Sony had to show that (1) the PlayStation "mark is famous"; (2) Connectix is "making commercial use of the mark"; (3) Connectix's "use began after the mark became famous"; and that (4) Connectix's "use of the mark dilutes the quality of the mark by diminishing the capacity of the mark to identify and distinguish goods and services." As the first three points were not under debate (Connectix conceded points (1) and (3) ), the court addressed only the fourth point.  The court also took the opinion that the provided studies were lacking sufficient evidence of diluting the PlayStation trademark: "The evidence here fails to show or suggest that Sony's mark or product was regarded or was likely to be regarded negatively because of its performance on Connectix's Virtual Game Station. The evidence is not even substantial on the quality of that performance.... Sony's tarnishment claim cannot support the injunction."

Conclusion and aftermath.

The Ninth Circuit Court reversed the district court's decision both on the copyright infringement and the trademark tarnishing claims, lifting the injunction against Connectix. Connectix immediately filed a motion with the district court to summarily dismiss Sony's lawsuit. After a failed attempt by Sony to appeal the case to the Supreme Court, the two companies settled out of court about a year later. On March 15, 2001, Sony purchased the VGS rights from Connectix. They discontinued the product June 30 of that year. Connectix itself closed in August 2003.  Video game emulation advocates have asserted that Sony vs. Connectix established the legality of emulators within the United States.

Sony Computer Entertainment v. Connectix Corporation, 203 F.3d 596 (2000), is a decision by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals which ruled that the copying of a copyrighted BIOS software during the development of an emulator software does not constitute copyright infringement, but is covered by fair use. The court also ruled that Sony's PlayStation trademark had not been tarnished by Connectix Corp.'s sale of its emulator software, the Virtual Game Station.


Early life.

Dumas was born in Ghana and spent her early childhood in Accra, Ghana. She had her basic education at Morning Star School and proceeded to the Archbishop Porter Girls High School where she became the Entertainment Prefect. Joselyn furthered her studies in the United States where she studied to earn a Degree in Administrative Law.

Career.

TV career.

Joselyn Dumas was a practicing paralegal until she relocated to Ghana to follow her dreams of becoming a Television personality. She made her debut on Television as the host of Charter House's "Rhythmz", an entertainment show, which saw her interview many celebrities. She was head hunted by the defunct TV Network, ViaSat 1 to host their first own produced flagship Talk show, "The One Show", which was aired from 2010 to 2014. She was the host for the TV talk show "At Home with Joselyn Dumas" which was aired across Africa and parts of Europe

Film career.

Her role in "Perfect Picture", made a lasting impression on the director which led to subsequent key roles in other movies. Her big break came two years later in the Shirley Frimpong-Manso movie series "Adams Apples". The role of "Jennifer Adams" in "Adams Apples" got her nominated for Best Actress in a lead role alongside Hollywood Actress Kimberly Elise at the 2011 Ghana Movie Awards. Ever since Joselyn Dumas came unto the acting scene in Ghana. She has played key roles in movies and series such as "Love or Something Like That", "A Sting in a Tale", "Perfect Picture", "A Northern Affair" and "Lekki Wives". She has starred alongside some of Africa's actors, including John Dumelo, Majid Michel of Ghana and OC Ukeje of Nigeria.

Producer.

She co-produced Miss Malaika Ghana, one of the most prestigious beauty pageant in Ghana, from 2008 to 2010. She is also the founder and CEO of Virgo Sun Company Limited, a production entity which under her directorship, has already co-produced its first movie "Love or Something Like that", endorsed by the UNAIDS. She hopes to produce as well as invest in more television programs or series like "V Republic", an edgy television series produced by Sparrow Productions with Executive Production by VirgoSun.

Special Appearance.

Dumas featured as the bride in Lynxx hit song "Fine Lady" featuring Wizkid.

Endorsements.

She is currently the Brand ambassador of Range Rover Evoque Ghana and Jobberman Ghana, a jobs advertisement company.

Events and shows.

She was a co-host with Ayo Makun at the 2018 Golden Movie Awards Africa held at the Movenpick Ambassador Hotel in Accra on June 2, 2018, Ghana

Foundation.

She believes in giving back to society, especially where children are concerned. Her passion for philanthropic work led to the establishment of The Joselyn Canfor-Dumas Foundation (JCDF) to help address the needs of vulnerable children from all backgrounds and regions of Ghana. The JCD foundation is currently undertaking a project with focus on Autism.

Joselyn Dumas (; born 31 August) is a Ghanaian television host and actress. In 2014 she starred in a "A Northern Affair", a role that earned her a Ghana Movie Award and an Africa Movie Academy Award nomination for Best Actress.


Career.

Buck began his career as a sitcom writer. He joined the staff of "Six Feet Under" as a writer and supervising producer in 2002 for the show's second season. He wrote the second season episode "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year". He remained a supervising producer for the third season in 2003 and wrote two further episodes "You Never Know" and "Everyone Leaves". He was promoted to co-executive producer for the fourth season in 2004. He wrote two more episodes "That's My Dog" and "Bomb Shelter". He was nominated for both an individual WGA award, as well as WGA awards for Best Writing Staff. He received a Peabody Award for his work on Six Feet Under. He remained a co-executive producer for the fifth and final season in 2005 and contributed two more episodes – "Dancing for Me" and "Singing For Our Lives". He contributed seven episodes to the series in total.  Buck worked as a co-executive producer on the second season of HBO's "Rome" in 2007. He wrote two episodes for the series ("These Being the Words of Marcus Tullius Cicero" and "Death Mask") before it was canceled.  He moved on to work as a co-executive producer and writer on the second season of Showtime's "Dexter" later in 2007, remaining as a co-executive producer for the third season in 2008, and an executive producer for the fourth season in 2009. In 2008, 2009 and 2010, "Dexter" was nominated for a Writers Guild of America Award for Best Dramatic Series (with the writing team including Buck credited on the nomination) but lost to "The Wire" and "Mad Men". Buck was promoted to showrunner in season six of "Dexter", and served in that role for the show's last three seasons.  In December 2015, Buck was hired to serve as showrunner and executive producer for the Marvel and Netflix television series "Iron Fist". Netflix reported that "Iron Fist" was their most-binged drama premiere. In December 2016, Buck was named showrunner and executive producer for the Marvel, IMAX Corporation, and ABC television series "Inhumans". "Inhumans" premiered in September 2017, and ran for one season of a planned three before cancellation.

Scott Randall Buck is an American television writer. Buck has written for several television series including HBO's "Six Feet Under", "Rome", Showtime's "Dexter", "Everybody Loves Raymond", "Coach", "Inhumans", "The Oblongs" and "Iron Fist".


History.

The first suggestion of ADP-ribosylation surfaced during the early 1960s. At this time, Pierre Chambon and coworkers observed the incorporation of ATP into hen liver nuclei extract. After extensive studies on the acid insoluble fraction, several different research laboratories were able to identify ADP-ribose, derived from NAD+, as the incorporated group. Several years later, the enzymes responsible for this incorporation were identified and given the name poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase. Originally, this group was thought to be a linear sequence of ADP-ribose units covalently bonded through a ribose glycosidic bond. It was later reported that branching can occur every 20 to 30 ADP residues.  The first appearance of mono-ADP-ribosylation occurred a year later during a study of toxins: corynebacterium diphtheria diphtheria toxin was shown to be dependent on NAD+ in order for it to be completely effective, leading to the discovery of enzymatic conjugation of a single ADP-ribose group by mono-ADP-ribosyl transferase.  It was initially thought that ADP-ribosylation was a post translational modification involved solely in gene regulation. However, as more enzymes with the ability to ADP-ribosylate proteins were discovered, the multifunctional nature of ADP-ribosylation became apparent. The first mammalian enzyme with poly-ADP-ribose transferase activity was discovered during the late 1980s. For the next 15 years, it was thought to be the only enzyme capable of adding a chain of ADP-ribose in mammalian cells. During the late 1980s, ADP-ribosyl cyclases, which catalyze the addition of cyclic-ADP-ribose groups to proteins, were discovered. Finally, sirtuins, a family of enzymes that also possess NAD+-dependent deacylation activity, were discovered to also possess mono-ADP-ribosyl transferase activity.

Catalytic mechanism.

The source of ADP-ribose for most enzymes that perform this modification is the redox cofactor NAD. In this transfer reaction, the N-glycosidic bond of NAD that bridges the ADP-ribose molecule and the nicotinamide group is cleaved, followed by nucleophilic attack by the target amino acid side chain. ADP-ribosyltransferases can perform two types of modifications: mono-ADP ribosylation and poly-ADP ribosylation.

Mono ADP-ribosylation.

Mono-ADP ribosyltransferases commonly catalyze the addition of ADP-ribose to arginine side chains using a highly conserved R-S-EXE motif of the enzyme. The reaction proceeds by breaking the bond between nicotinamide and ribose to form an oxonium ion. Next, the arginine side chain of the target protein then acts a nucleophile, attacking the electrophilic carbon adjacent to the oxonium ion. In order for this step to occur, the arginine nucleophile is deprotonated by a glutamate residue on the catalyzing enzyme. Another conserved glutamate residue forms a hydrogen bond with one of the hydroxyl groups on the ribose chain to further facilitate this nucleophilic attack. As a result of the cleavage reaction, nicotinamide is released. The modification can be reversed by ADP-ribosylhydrolases, which cleave the N-glycosidic bond between arginine and ribose to release ADP-ribose and unmodified protein; NAD+ is not restored by the reverse reaction.

Poly ADP-ribosylation.

Poly-(ADP-ribose) polymerases (PARPs) are found mostly in eukaryotes and catalyze the transfer of multiple ADP-ribose molecules to target proteins. As with mono-ADP ribosylation, the source of ADP-ribose is NAD. PARPs use a catalytic triad of His-Tyr-Glu to facilitate binding of NAD and positioning of the end of the existing poly-ADP ribose chain on the target protein; the Glu facilitates catalysis and formation of a (1->2) O-glycosidic linkage between two ribose molecules. There are several other enzymes that recognize poly-ADP ribose chains, hydrolyse them or form branches; over 800 proteins have been annotated to contain the loosely defined poly ADP-ribose binding motif; therefore, in addition to this modification altering target protein conformation and structure, it may also be used as a tag to recruit other proteins or for regulation of the target protein.

Amino acid specificity.

Many different amino acid side chains have been described as ADP-ribose acceptors. From a chemical perspective, this modification represents protein glycosylation: the transfer of ADP-ribose occurs onto amino acid side chains with a nucleophilic oxygen, nitrogen, or sulfur, resulting in N-, O-, or S-glycosidic linkage to the ribose of the ADP-ribose. Originally, acidic amino acids (glutamate and aspartate) were described as the main sites of ADP-ribosylation. However, many other ADP-ribose acceptor sites such as serine, arginine, cysteine, lysine, diphthamide, phosphoserine, and asparagine have been identified in subsequent works.

Function.

Apoptosis.

During DNA damage or cellular stress PARPs are activated, leading to an increase in the amount of poly-ADP-ribose and a decrease in the amount of NAD+. For over a decade it was thought that PARP1 was the only poly-ADP-ribose polymerase in mammalian cells, therefore this enzyme has been the most studied. Caspases are a family of cysteine proteases that are known to play an essential role in programmed cell death. This protease cleaves PARP-1 into two fragments, leaving it completely inactive, to limit poly-ADP-ribose production. One of its fragments migrates from the nucleus to the cytoplasm and is thought to become a target of autoimmunity.  During caspase-independent apoptosis, also called parthanatos, poly-ADP-ribose accumulation can occur due to activation of PARPs or inactivation of poly(ADP-ribose) glycohydrolase, an enzyme that hydrolyses poly(ADP-ribose) to produce free ADP-ribose. Studies have shown poly-ADP-ribose drives the translocation of the apoptosis inducing factor protein to the nucleus where it will mediate DNA fragmentation. It has been suggested that if a failure of caspase activation under stress conditions were to occur, necroptosis would take place. Overactivation of PARPs has led to a necrotic cell death regulated by the tumor necrosis factor protein. Though the mechanism is not yet understood, PARP inhibitors have been shown to affect necroptosis.

Gene regulation.

ADP-ribosylation can affect gene expression at nearly every level of regulation, including chromatin organization, transcription factor recruitment and binding, and mRNA processing.  The organization of nucleosomes is key to regulation of gene expression: the spacing and organization of nucleosomes changes what regions of DNA are available for transcription machinery to bind and transcribe DNA. PARP1, a poly-ADP ribose polymerase, has been shown to affect chromatin structure and promote changes in the organization of nucleosomes through modification of histones. PARPs have been shown to affect transcription factor structure and cause recruitment of many transcription factors to form complexes at DNA and elicit transcription. Mono ADP-ribosyltransferases are also shown to affect transcription factor binding at promoters. For example, PARP14, a mono ADP-ribosyltransferase, has been shown to affect STAT transcription factor binding.  Other ADP-ribosyltransferases have been shown to modify proteins that bind mRNA, which can cause silencing of that gene transcript.

DNA repair.

Poly-ADP-ribose polymerases (PARPs) can function in DNA repair of single strand breaks as well as double strand breaks. In single-strand break repair (base excision repair) the PARP can either facilitate removal of an oxidized sugar or strand cleavage. PARP1 binds the single-strand breaks and pulls any nearby base excision repair intermediates close. These intermediates include XRCC1 and APLF and they can be recruited directly or through the PBZ domain of the APLF. This leads to the synthesis of poly-ADP ribose. The PBZ domain is present in many proteins involved in DNA repair and allows for the binding of the PARP and thus ADP-ribosylation which recruits repair factors to interact at the break site. PARP2 is a secondary responder to DNA damage but serves to provide functional redundancy in DNA repair.  There are many mechanisms for the repair of damaged double stranded DNA. PARP1 may function as a synapsis factor in alternative non-homologous end joining. Additionally, It has been proposed that PARP1 is required to slow replication forks following DNA damage and promotes homologous recombination at replication forks that may be dysfunctional. It is possible that PARP1 and PARP3 work together in repair of double-stranded DNA and it has been shown that PARP3 is critical for double-stranded break resolution. There are two hypotheses by which PARP1 and PARP3 coincide. The first hypothesis states that the two ADP-ribosyltransferases serve to function for each other's inactivity. If PARP3 is lost, this results in single-strand breaks, and thus the recruitment of PARP1. A second hypothesis suggests that the two enzyme work together; PARP3 catalyzes mono-ADP ribosylation and short poly-ADP ribosylation and serves to activate PARP1.  The PARPs have many protein targets at the site of DNA damage. KU protein and DNA-PKcs are both double-stranded break repair components with unknown sites of ADP-ribosylation. Histones are another protein target of the PARPs. All core histones and linker histone H1 are ADP-ribosylated following DNA damage. The function of these modifications is still unknown, but it has been proposed that ADP-ribosylation modulates higher-order chromatin structure in efforts to facilitate more accessible sites for repair factors to migrate to the DNA damage.

Protein degradation.

The ubiquitin-proteasome system (UPS) figures prominently in protein degradation. The 26S proteasome consists of a catalytic subunit (the 20S core particle), and a regulatory subunit (the 19S cap). Poly-ubiquitin chains tag proteins for degradation by the proteasome, which causes hydrolysis of tagged proteins into smaller peptides.  Tankyrase (TNKS), an ADP-ribosyltransferase, interacts with proteasome regulator PI31. Evidence in "Drosophila" and human cell lines demonstrates that the Ankyrin domain (ANK) of TNKS facilitates interaction with the N-terminal TNKS-binding motif and C-terminal HbYX domain of PI31. This promotes ADP-ribosylation of PI31 by the PARP domain of TNKS. In addition, it was shown that treatment of "Drosophila" cells with a TNKS inhibitor, XAV939, attenuated 26S proteasome activity. Moreover, ADP-ribosylation of PI31 has been demonstrated to block PI31-mediated inhibition of α-subunits of the 20S particle. Therefore, a working hypothesis is that tankyrase-mediated ADP-ribosylation reduces PI31's activity, which in turn decreases protein degradation performed by the proteasome.

Clinical significance.

Cancer.

PARP1 is involved in base excision repair (BER), single- and double-strand break repair, and chromosomal stability. It is also involved in transcriptional regulation through its facilitation of protein–protein interactions. PARP1 uses NAD+ in order to perform its function in apoptosis. If a PARP becomes overactive the cell will have decreased levels of NAD+ cofactor as well as decreased levels of ATP and thus will undergo necrosis. This is important in carcinogenesis because it could lead to the selection of PARP1 deficient cells (but not depleted) due to their survival advantage during cancer growth.  Susceptibility to carcinogenesis under PARP1 deficiency depends significantly on the type of DNA damage incurred. There are many implications that various PARPs are involved in preventing carcinogenesis. As stated previously, PARP1 and PARP2 are involved in BER and chromosomal stability. PARP3 is involved in centrosome regulation. Tankyrase is another ADP-ribose polymerase that is involved in telomere length regulation.  PARP1 inhibition has also been widely studied in anticancer therapeutics. The mechanism of action of a PARP1 inhibitor is to enhance the damage done by chemotherapy on the cancerous DNA by disallowing the reparative function of PARP1 in BRCA1/2 deficient individuals.  PARP14 is another ADP-ribosylating enzyme that has been well-studied in regards to cancer therapy targets; it is a signal transducer and activator of STAT6 transcription-interacting protein, and was shown to be associated with the aggressiveness of B-cell lymphomas.

Bacterial toxins.

Bacterial ADP-ribosylating exotoxins (bAREs) covalently transfer an ADP-Ribose moiety of NAD+ to target proteins of infected eukaryotes, to yield nicotinamide and a free hydrogen ion. bAREs are produced as enzyme precursors, consisting of a "A" and "B" domains: the "A" domain is responsible for ADP-Ribosylation activity; and, the "B" domain for translocation of the enzyme across the membrane of the cell. These domains can exist in concert in three forms: first, as single polypeptide chains with A and B domains covalently linked; second, in multi-protein complexes with A and B domains bound by non-covalent interactions; and, third, in multi-protein complexes with A and B domains not directly interacting, prior to processing.  Upon activation, bAREs ADP-ribosylate any number of eukaryotic proteins; such mechanism is crucial to the instigation of the diseased states associated with ADP-ribosylation. GTP-binding proteins, in particular, are well-established in bAREs pathophysiology. For examples, cholera and heat-labile enterotoxin target the α-subunit of Gs of heterotrimeric GTP-binding proteins. As the α-subunit is ADP-ribosylated, it is permanently in an "active", GTP-bound state; subsequent activation of intracellular cyclic AMP stimulates the release of fluid and ions from intestinal epithelial cells. Furthermore, C. Botulinum C3 ADP-ribosylates GTP-binding proteins Rho and Ras, and Pertussis toxin ADP-Ribosylates Gi, Go, and Gt. Diphtheria toxin ADP-ribosylates ribosomal elongation factor EF-2, which attenuates protein synthesis.  There are a variety of bacteria which employ bAREs in infection: CARDS toxin of Mycoplasma pneumoniae, cholera toxin of vibrio cholera; heat-labile enterotoxin of E.Coli; Exotoxin A of Pseudomonas aeruginosa; Pertussis toxin of B. Pertussis; C3 toxin of C. botulinum; and Diphtheria toxin of Corynebacterium diphtheriae.

ADP-ribosylation is the addition of one or more ADP-ribose moieties to a protein. It is a reversible post-translational modification that is involved in many cellular processes, including cell signaling, DNA repair, gene regulation and apoptosis. Improper ADP-ribosylation has been implicated in some forms of cancer. It is also the basis for the toxicity of bacterial compounds such as cholera toxin, diphtheria toxin, and others.


Background.

Under Vander Zalm's leadership, Socred's control shifted from urban fiscal conservatives to social conservatives. Vander Zalm seemingly cruised to victory in the 1986 provincial election, held just a month after he was sworn in. In truth, however, a number of more moderate Socreds were not at home with the party's rightward turn on social issues, and began defecting to the Liberals.  This process was exacerbated by Vander Zalm's eccentricity, and the constant scandals that plagued his government. As well, Vander Zalm allowed his principal secretary, David Poole, to amass a substantial amount of power, despite being unelected.  Vander Zalm resigned in April 1991 amid a conflict of interest scandal surrounding the sale of a theme park that he owned. Socred members elected the lesser-known Deputy Premier Rita Johnston, a close ally of Vander Zalm, to be their new leader, over Grace McCarthy, a longtime associate of former Premier Bill Bennett. Many viewed this as a mistake, as Johnston was close to the Vander Zalm legacy; even NDP leader Mike Harcourt admitted later that he preferred Johnston over McCarthy, as the latter would be a much tougher opponent in an election.

Campaign.

Johnston had little time to make up ground in the polls or distance herself from the now-detested Vander Zalm. Additionally, the Socreds were still bitterly divided over the bruising leadership contest.  The Liberals, who had not been represented in the legislature since 1979, gained slightly in the polls due to great resentment against the ruling Socreds and skepticism towards the NDP. A turning point came when Wilson successfully took legal action to be included in the televised leaders' debate, which took place on 8 October. During the debate Johnston and Harcourt exchanged many bitter attacks, while Wilson, still not considered a serious contender, was able to successfully portray himself as an "outsider" who was above the partisan bickering of the other two parties. Liberal support surged dramatically as a result of Wilson's performance. One of the memorable moments of the debate came as Harcourt and Johnston argued loudly amongst each other, when Wilson pointed towards them and declared, "Here's a classic example of why nothing ever gets done in the province of British Columbia."

Results.

The Socreds were swept from power in a massive NDP landslide. This was not due to the NDP winning a higher percentage of the vote as much as it was due to Socred support collapsing in favour of the BC Liberals, splitting the vote. The defeat was magnified by moderate Socred supporters voting Liberal, continuing a shift that dated to early in Vander Zalm's tenure. The combined effect was to decimate the Socred caucus, which was reduced from 47 members to only seven—only three over the minimum for official party status. Johnston herself lost her own seat in Surrey-Newton to NDP challenger Penny Priddy, and all but five members of her cabinet were defeated.  The Liberals returned to the legislature as the official opposition after a 12-year absence, replacing Social Credit as the main alternative to the NDP in the province.  Notes: x - less than 0.005% of the popular vote.  <nowiki>*</nowiki> Party did not nominate candidates in the previous election.

Legacy.

This was considered a realigning election due to the high turnover in MLAs and the effective end of the Socreds as a political force. The party was completely shut out of the legislature in the 1996 election, never to return. Meanwhile, the Liberals replaced them as the main non-socialist party in British Columbia. The NDP and Liberals have been the two main parties in the province since then.  However, neither Harcourt, Wilson, or Johnston would contest the subsequent 1996 election as leaders of the major parties, with Johnston and Harcourt having retired from politics by that campaign. Johnston, having lost her seat, resigned the leadership of the Socreds immediately in early 1992. Harcourt resigned as premier in 1996 due to a scandal among the MLAs in his caucus. Wilson proved unable to consolidate the party's leadership due to inexperience and he was eventually deposed in 1993, and he crossed to the NDP in 1997 after a brief spell as founder, leader and sole MLA of the Progressive Democratic Alliance. He served as an MLA and minister until his defeat in 2001. Wilson was also a candidate for the NDP's leadership in 2000, won by Ujjal Dosanjh.

The 1991 British Columbia general election was the 35th provincial election in the Province of British Columbia, Canada. It was held to elect members of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia. The election was called on September 19, 1991, and held on October 17, 1991. The incumbent Social Credit Party of British Columbia, which had been beset by scandals during Bill Vander Zalm's only term as premier, was defeated by the New Democratic Party of Mike Harcourt. Liberal Party leader Gordon Wilson surprised observers by leading his party to winning one-third of the votes cast, and forming the official opposition in the legislature. The new legislature met for the first time on March 17, 1992.


Early life and education.

Zdravko Marić was born on February 3, 1977 in Slavonski Brod. After finishing elementary and high school in his hometown, he enrolled in Zagreb Faculty of Economics and Business from which he graduated finances in 2000. He gained his master's degree in operational research in 2004 with thesis ""Analysis of Capital Flows in Transition Countries Through the Impact on Investment"". In 2007, Marić attended executive education program „Public Financial Management" on the John F. Kennedy School of Government at the Harvard University. Marić gained his Ph.D. in 2008 from the Zagreb Faculty of Economics and Business with thesis ""The Impact of Foreign Direct Investments on the Productivity of Croatian Companies"".

Career.

Zdravko Marić gained his first working experience as an assistant at the Zagreb Institute of Economics where he worked from 2001 to 2006 on a number of scientific and commercial projects. During this period, he also worked as occasional lecturer at the Zagreb School of Economics and Management and the International Graduate Business School Zagreb. In year 2006, he became Assistant for Macroeconomic Analysis and Planning to finance minister Ivan Šuker (HDZ). His main responsibility was to bring macroeconomic forecasting and work on the state budget, as well as direct cooperation with the European Commission in the field of economic dialogue. In year 2008, Marić was promoted to the position of state secretary which gave him more responsibilities, including the overall state budget, the financial system and cooperation with international financial institutions (IMF, WB, IADB, EBRD, EIB, CEB). In addition, he became a leader of the working group for the Croatian negotiation process with the European Union for Chapter 33: Budget and Financial Regulations. After HDZ lost 2011 parliamentary election, Slavko Linić from SDP was appointed new finance minister, and although he offered Marić to stay state secretary, Marić refused and got a job in the largest Croatian retail joint-stock company Agrokor where he worked as Executive Director for Strategy and Capital. Fields of his responsibilities were international finances, relations with investors and mergers and acquisitions. When HDZ managed to form coalition Government with Bridge of Independent Lists (MOST) after 2015 parliamentary election, Marić was appointed Minister of Finance instead of Ivan Šuker whose appointment was opposed by MOST, although MOST also opposed Marić's appointment at first. According to poll conducted in April 2016 by IPSOS Puls for Nova TV, Marić was considered the second most popular member of the Government after Prime Minister Tihomir Orešković.  On June 10, 2016 in light of the government crisis caused by a call to start motion of no confidence against First Deputy Prime Minister Tomislav Karamarko due to his conflict of interest in an affair involving his wife Ana Šarić and Josip Petrović, special adviser and lobbyist of the MOL Group, a Hungarian oil corporation that gained control of Croatia's national oil company INA through a corruption scandal, and the insuring calls on the Prime Minister Orešković himself to resign, HDZ planned to nominate Marić as their candidate for the new Prime Minister pending the removal of Orešković. However, since it was clear that Marić would not get support of 76 MPs', the idea was abandoned which led to the dissolution of the Croatian Parliament, and new elections.  Following 2016 extraordinary parliamentary election and creation of Cabinet of Andrej Plenković, Marić continued to serve as Minister of Finance. On April 20, 2017, 46 MP's from the SDP, HNS, HSS, HSU, ŽZ and SNAGA backed by the 15 MP's from MOST, submitted a Proposal for initiation of a motion of no confidence against minister Marić after Committee on Conflict of Interest concluded that Marić, who served as an Executive Director for Strategy and Capital in Agrokor prior to taking office as a minister, participated in the Government session held on April 10, 2017 on which the Government was deciding on the proposal for appointing the extraordinary manager in the Agrokor by which Marić violated provisions of the Law on Prevention of Conflicts of Interest which stipulated that state official had to exempt himself from all proceedings which could directly or indirectly affect company in which he worked prior to taking state office. In addition, MP's stated that Marić, at a time when Agrokor's financial statements were tempered with, had the task of presenting those statements to third parties andtheir active usage in order to secure Agrokor's stable financing, as well as that Marić, upon taking office as a finance minister, postponed regulations that could indicate the existence of a crisis in Agrokor. On May 4, 2017, the Parliament voted on a proposal in a tie — 75 MP's voted in favor, 75 voted against — so Marić remained minister since 76 MP's had to vote in favor of the motion in order for it to succeed. Following the vote, Speaker Božo Petrov stated that the vote has shown that the HDZ no longer had a majority in the parliament and that the only right thing to do would be to call new election. However, afterwards Petrov resigned his position citing "moral obligation", MOST left the Government and moved to the opposition, and HNS started supporting government.

Personal life.

Marić is married with two children. He speaks Croatian, English, and Italian fluently.

Zdravko Marić (; born 3 February 1977) is a Croatian economist who has been Minister of Finance since 2016. He assumed the position in the Cabinet of Tihomir Orešković and continued to hold the position in the Cabinet of Andrej Plenković. He also serves as Deputy Prime Minister since 2019, thus becoming the first non-partisan holder of the office in Croatia's post-independent history.


Origins.

Walter Barylli (born in Vienna in 1921) studied at the Vienna Music Academy with the Philharmonic Konzertmeister Franz Mairecker, and in Munich with Florizel von Reuter. In 1936 Barylli gave his first public performance as a soloist in Munich, and made his first gramophone recordings in Berlin. Over the next two years he made an international career as a soloist: but realizing the difficulty of a career as a travelling soloist in the turmoil of the late 1930s he instead won a place at the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra, of which he became "Konzertmeister" in 1939. The quartet was first formed from leading members of the Vienna Philharmonic, during the war. It was then reformed in 1945, but its work in public performance was mainly confined to the period 1951-1960.  Closely associated with the Vienna Musikverein, their work was principally with classic repertoire such as Beethoven, Mozart, Schubert, Schumann and Brahms. They gave many concerts in Europe and overseas. Among their various recordings are a complete Beethoven cycle for Westminster Records and a near-complete Mozart cycle. They performed at the Salzburg Festival, from which at least two live concerts (from 1956, Mozart Quintet with Antoine de Bavier, and 1958, of Beethoven, Schubert and Hindemith), have also survived as recordings. Their principal collaborations in chamber music were with Antoine de Bavier, Edith Farnadi, Jörg Demus, Paul Badura-Skoda and the violist Wilhelm Hübner.  Emanuel Brabec, the group's cellist in 1958, taught at the Vienna Academy and was teacher of Nikolaus Harnoncourt.

The Barylli Quartet was a celebrated Austrian string quartet classical musical ensemble. It was first brought together in Vienna during the War by Walter Barylli, Konzertmeister of the Vienna Philharmonic Orchestra from 1939, but was re-founded in 1945. The reformed quartet actually appeared in public performance only from 1951 to 1960. In that period it was the 'home' quartet of the Vienna Musikverein.


Tourism and history.

Paradise is the most popular destination for visitors to Mount Rainier National Park. 62% of the over 1.3 million people who visited the park in 2000 went to Paradise. The road from the Nisqually entrance of the National Park to Paradise (State Route 706) is one of the few roads in the park open to automobiles in the winter.  Paradise is the location of the historic Paradise Inn (built 1916), Paradise Guide House (built 1920) and Henry M. Jackson Visitor Center (built 1966; replaced 2008; original building demolished 2009). The inn is listed in the National Register of Historic Places. The historic center of Paradise was designated the Paradise Historic District.  In 1931, a golf course was built in the area and in 1936 a ski rope tow was installed. These were both added as facilities for use by the guests of the inn. From 1942 to 1943 the U.S. Army used the inn to house troops training for winter mountain conditions. The National Park Service undertook a two-year, $30 million project to perform renovations and structural work to allow the inn withstand a large earthquake and to replace the "flying saucer-shaped" Henry M. Jackson Visitor Center with a new building of the same name complementing the historic lodge. The inn re-opened in 2008, along with the new visitor center. The old visitor center was demolished in 2009.

Climate.

The National Park Service says that "Paradise is the snowiest place on Earth where snowfall is measured regularly." of snow fell during the winter of 1971-1972, setting a world record at the time. The minimum annual snowfall at Paradise was 266 inches in the winter of 2014-15, and the maximum snowpack was 367 inches (30.6 ft, 9.3 m) in March, 1956. No snowfall measurements were made from 1943 to 1946 as the road to Paradise was closed during World War II. The high snowfall is in spite of no month recording average highs below freezing. Under the Köppen climate classification Paradise has a subpolar oceanic climate that may also be described as "subarctic" or "subalpine".

Paradise is the name of an area at approximately on the south slope of Mount Rainier in Mount Rainier National Park in Washington, United States. The area lies on the border of Pierce and Lewis counties and includes the Paradise Valley and the Paradise Glacier which is the source of the Paradise River. Virinda Longmire named Paradise in the summer of 1885 while she viewed the wildflowers in the alpine meadows there. Paradise also offers views of Mount Rainier and the Tatoosh Range.


Early life.

Amyot was born on January 28, 1856 to parents Dominique Amyotin and Louise Nolin in Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, where he lived and worked on a farm until he was 10 years old. In 1866, his family moved to Sainte-Catherine, where he would live and attend school (being taught English by Irish priests) until he was 14 years of age. In 1870, Amyot moved to Quebec City and was apprenticed to a saddler, Louis Girard. Eventually, Amyot joined into a partnership with Louis Tanguay. In 1874, Amyot moved to New Haven, Connecticut to live with his brother, Bernard, subsequently moving to Springfield, Massachusetts in search of better business opportunities. Three years later, in 1877, Amyot returned to Quebec, and in Montreal was employed as a clerk in wrought iron and boot/shoe businesses. After two years in Montreal, Amyot moved back to Quebec City and was employed by his cousins Joseph and George-Élie Amyot, who were in the business of importing novelty goods. Amyot founded his own store in 1885, but was quickly bankrupted, in large part through the work of Isidore Thibaudeau. Amyot would eventually pay back his creditors in 1894.

Dominion Corset.

In mid October 1886, Léon Dyonnet and Amyot went into the corset making business, under the name Dyonnet et Amyot (Léon's wife, Hélène Goullioud ran a corset factory). The agreement stipulated that " Each contributed $2,000 in capital, was entitled to half the profits, and could withdraw $800 a year for his personal expenses." and Dyonnet was to teach Amyot “ all the manufacturing details and secrets and let him benefit from the experience he had gained in the said production process.” In 1888, the company employed about 60 people. One year later, in late March 1889, Dyonnet left for Brazil, and Amyot renamed the company Dominion Corset. Amyot would become the sole owner of Dominion in 1897, after two of his sisters (Odile and Mary-Louise) joined but subsequently left the company. The company grew rapidly, with sales more than quintupling over an eight year period (from $21,000 in 1887 to $58,000 in 1891 and $130,000 in 1895.) Dominion Corset expanded in the Saint-Roch ward, eventually buying the factory of Guillaume Bresse. Amyot began to expand into other related industries, starting a paper box company in 1904, and a steel rod company in 1916. In 1910, the company had a value of $500,000. However, the factory was destroyed by a fire in 1911, leading to losses of 250,000. Amyot rebuilt, and sales soared to 1.6 million in 1918, and 2.6 million in 1919. In 1924, Amyot handed over his company to his son, Adjutor.

Other business activities.

In 1895, Amyot opened a brewery, presumably to ensure his financial well being in the event Dominion Corset failed. Along with a partner, Pierre-Joseph Côté, the brewery was founded in the Saint-Sauveur ward. Eventually, Côté left, and was replaced by Michel Gauvin. The company (then known as Amyot et Gauvin) "produced and distributed Fox Head beers, both ale and porter." In 1909, Amyot was the sole owner of the company, and he sold it to National Breweries Limited for $226,500. He invested large amounts of money in real estate, as well as buying 700,000 dollars of Victory Loan subscriptions. Amyot also invested "in numerous railway, shipping, and mining companies."

Politics.

In 1887, Amyot did his first work in politics, as a Liberal Party organizer and fundraiser. He was active in the debate over Canadian–American Reciprocity, as well as being a member of the Canadian Manufactures Association, and president of the Quebec Chamber of Commerce in 1906 and 1907. When a by-election was called to fill the seat vacated by Charles Fitzpatrick, Amyot was the nominee, however he was defeated. In 1911, Louis Gouin appointed Amyot legislative councillor for La Durantaye. In 1922, he was chosen to save the Banque Nationale from bankruptcy. The bank was near bankrupt as its largest client, Machine Agricole Nationale Limitée was in large financial trouble. Amyot was appointed president of the bank, and in the end it was merged with Banque d'Hochelaga, with Amyot as vice president of the new bank.

Personal life.

Amyot married Joséphine Tanguay in 1885. He had six children.

Death.

He died on March 28, 1930, in Palm Beach, Florida. He is buried in Notre-Dame de Belmont cemetery. Senator Frédéric Liguori Béique said:

Georges-Élie Amyot (January 28, 1856 – March 28, 1930) was a French Canadian businessman and politician, and founder of Dominion Corset. He was worth $8 million in 1930, at the time of his death.


Club career.

Born in Glasgow, Slater played for the youth teams at St Mirren "since the age of five or six". On leaving school in 2010 at the age of 16, he signed professional terms and a two-year contract. However, he said "going into training every day just wasn't enjoyable any more and I felt as if I wasn't going anywhere with the club" and asked to have his contract terminated in 2012. He briefly trained with Rangers but he left with the club suffering financial difficulty, before joining Kilmarnock.

Kilmarnock.

Slater made his professional debut for Kilmarnock on 29 December 2012, in an away match against Motherwell coming on as a substitute in a 2–2 draw. He made one further appearance for Killie during the 2012–13 season, starting in their 3–1 home defeat by Hibernian on 15 May 2013.  In the 2013–14 season, after a substitute appearance on the opening day of the season, Slater began to establish himself in the first-team during the Autumn of 2013, and in February 2014, he was named as the SPFL Young Player of the Month for January. He scored his first career goal on 29 March when he scored the winning goal in injury time in Kilmarnock's 2–1 win away to Motherwell. He ended the season having made 22 league appearances and one cup appearance.<ref name="2013/14"></ref>  Slater scored on the opening day of the 2014–15 season in the 1–1 draw with Dundee. He received his first red card on 1 January 2015 against his former employers St Mirren. He had just converted a penalty kick to put Kilmarnock 2–0 up, but he was shown a second yellow card after running to celebrate with supporters. He scored two more goals to bring his tally to four for the season in his 27 appearances.<ref name="2014/15"></ref>  Slater scored in his first game of the season for the second successive season with a goal in Kilmarnock's 4–1 League Cup win against Berwick Rangers on 25 August 2015. He scored four goals in 32 appearances.<ref name="2015/16"></ref> After helping his side to Scottish Premiership survival by beating Falkirk 4–1 on aggregate, on 23 May 2016, Slater announced that he was to leave Kilmarnock. He had rejected the offer of a new deal.

Colchester United.

On 7 July 2016, Slater joined English League Two club Colchester United, signing a two-year contract. He made his debut for Colchester on 6 August in their 1–1 draw with Hartlepool United at Victoria Park on the opening day of the season. He scored his first Colchester goal with a free kick in their 2–1 defeat to Plymouth Argyle at Home Park on 29 October. He was ruled out for the remainder of the 2016–17 season in March 2017 following an operation for a double hernia and groin problems, having scored three goals in 32 games in all competitions.  On 3 January 2018, Slater joined Scottish Championship club Dundee United on loan until the end of the 2017–18 season. He made his debut on 6 January in United's 6–1 defeat at Falkirk and was substituted off after 59-minutes. He scored his first goal for the club on 28 April in United's 2–0 win over Livingston.  At the end of the 2017–18 season he was released by Colchester.  On 2 July 2018 he joined Danish Superliga side AC Horsens for a short trial.

Partick Thistle.

Slater joined Scottish Championship side Partick Thistle on a one-year deal in July 2018. He left the club in January 2020.

Queens Park.

Later that month hs signed for Queens Park.

International career.

Slater has represented Scotland at under-16, under-17, under-19 and under-21 levels.  He made his under-16 debut against Jersey on 18 August 2009, and made four appearances in total.  Slater made ten appearances for the under-17 team between his debut against Iceland in July 2009 and March 2011. He scored one goal for the team in Scotland's 2–1 win against the United States in November 2010.  Slater played one game for Scotland's under-19 team on 9 April 2013 when they defeated their Serbian counterparts 2–1.  On 5 March 2014, Slater made his debut for the Scotland under-21 side, starting in a 2–2 draw against Hungary at Tannadice. Between 2014 and 2016, he made ten appearances for the under-21s.

Craig Slater (born 26 April 1994) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a midfielder for Queens Park in Scottish League Two.


Career.

Club career.

Dyer is a product of the Northampton Town's youth system and agreed a professional contract in 2007. In April 2008 he has been awarded for 'Coca-Cola League Two Apprentice of the Month'. He made his debut on 29 August 2007 in a 2–0 League Cup defeat to Middlesbrough at the Riverside Stadium, and scored his first goal in a 2–1 win against Luton Town the same season. He signed a two-year contract extension with Northampton in February 2009. During the 2009–10 season, Dyer was more of a first team player due to Northampton Town being in League Two, playing 20 games and scoring two goals against Notts County and Bradford City. He was released by the club on 12 May 2010 along with five other players, with manager Ian Sampson stating that he hadn't progressed as has hoped and that younger players like teammate Michael Jacobs should be given a chance. Dyer joined Grimsby Town on trial following his release from Northampton, but after playing in one match he was let go having failed to impress the club's management. Subsequently, Dyer went on to sign for Wealdstone in the Isthmian League Premier Division. After 32 goals in 117 games for Wealdstone, he signed for newly promoted Conference National side Welling United, who clinched the Conference South title the previous year.  On 11 December 2013, it was announced that Dyer would be departing Welling United in order to join Swedish tier two side Östersunds FK.  On 4 March 2019, Dyer joined Eliteserien side Lillestrøm on loan from Elfsborg until 1 August.

International career.

Dyer was called up to the Montserrat national football team in 2011, for their 2014 FIFA World Cup CONCACAF First Round qualifiers against Belize. He made his debut against Belize on 15 June, in their home fixture, which was played at Ato Boldon Stadium in Couva, Trinidad and Tobago. Montserrat lost 5–2.

Alex James Dyer (born 11 June 1990) is a Montserratian footballer who plays as a midfielder for Al Tadhamon. He represents Montserrat internationally.


Plot description.

Alex (Henry) and his father (Ron McLarty) are devoted Detroit Tigers fans, even now as they are struggling. Alex's favorite player is aging star Billy Young (Scheider), who is having a sub-par season, which is also his last. His only remaining wish is to play in the World Series before retiring.  Alex's father dies unexpectedly, but not before he tells Alex that he should always believe. Consequently, Alex decides to visit every Tiger home game. Every time Young comes to the plate, Alex closes his eyes and wishes hard, and Young ends up hitting a home run. Thanks to Young's rejuvenated play, the Tigers start winning again.  But there is a price. Alex, who now believes that if he doesn't go to the games, the team will lose (explaining the Tigers' pitiful road trips); finds himself the subject of ridicule by classmates, since he often sneaks out of school early to watch the Tigers play. Nevertheless, thanks to Billy Young, the Tigers claw their way back into the pennant race. The final game of the season, against the Baltimore Orioles, would decide the pennant.  Alex has his ticket and school lets out early so kids can watch the game, but as Alex leaves school, he is detained by a gang of bullies who take his ticket and his money. Only when Alex gets his principal's attention is he released and forced to run all the way to Tiger Stadium. Bribing a little girl for her bike and hanging onto the back of a city bus gets Alex to the stadium in time for the ninth inning, where Young is up and the Tigers are trailing. Young makes contact with the ball just as Alex gets to the front of the stadium aisle, and Young ends up clearing the bases, giving the Tigers the pennant and securing Young's wish to play in the World Series.

Cameos.

Several Detroit broadcasters and celebrities appear as themselves in the movie. Tigers manager Sparky Anderson appears frequently in the movie. Mary Wilson, a former Supreme, sings the national anthem before the final game. Also appearing are Ernie Harwell, the legendary play-by-play radio voice of the Tigers; Detroit sportscaster Ray Lane, as Ernie's partner; and then-WDIV sportscaster Al Ackerman — who would help coin the rally cry “Bless You Boys” for the 1984 season.  Harwell and Lane were paired in the radio booth calling games on WJR radio from 1967 to 1972.  Ackerman was a sports anchor for Detroit's WXYZ-TV and WDIV-TV in the 1970s and 1980s.

Tiger Town is a 1983 American made-for-television sports drama film and is the first television film produced for the Disney Channel. It was awarded a CableACE Award in 1984 for Best Dramatic Film. The film stars Roy Scheider as Billy Young, an aging baseball player for the Detroit Tigers, and Justin Henry as Alex, a young fan who believes in him. "Tiger Town" originally aired October 9, 1983 on the Disney Channel.


History.

Western scholar Josias Leslie Porter identified al-Qurayya with the Biblical "Kerioth" mentioned by Jeremiah as one of the cities in the plain of Moab. The prophet Amos wrote that he would "devour the palaces of Kerioth." The city is later mentioned in the 4th-century CE as "Koreath," a village belonging to Bosra in the Roman province Arabia Petraea. However, this "Koreath" has also been identified with the nearby palace of Ein Qarata to the south of the Lejat plain. On streets and alleyways throughout the village were the remains of several columns. A Greek inscription was found on one of the stones and dated back to 296 CE.

Ottoman era.

In 1596 al-Qurayya appeared in the Ottoman tax registers being part of the "nahiya" of Bani Nasiyya in the Qada of Hauran. It had an entirely Muslim population consisting of 65 households and 36 bachelors. Taxes were paid on wheat, barley, summer crops, fruit- or other trees.  In 1810 al-Qurayya contained a few Druze families and was the chief village in the areas south and southwest of 'Ara in Jabal al-Arab. Between the 1830s and 1840s, the prominent al-Atrash clan chose the village as their principal residence. It was granted to them by the initial Druze rulers of the village, the al-Hamdan clan. It was still subject to raids by Bedouin nomads at that time. In April 1838, while young Druze fighters from al-Qurayya were confronting the Egyptian army of Ibrahim Pasha, the village was looted and several of its inhabitants were killed in a raid by Sheikh Ibn Sumayr and his 'Anza Bedouin tribe. Further major raids against al-Qurayya occurred in 1842 and 1846.  Only in the 1850s did relative stability take root. In 1852 al-Qurayya, then seat of Ismail al-Atrash, became the headquarters of Druze resistance against an Ottoman conscription decree. According to Porter, who visited al-Qurayya in 1853, the village had shrunk from one of the major towns of the Hauran plain to a small village. Many of its houses were built from ancient materials. Its chief in the 1850s was Sami Faruq Pasha al-Atrash, the most powerful Druze sheikh in the Hauran. In 1856-57 al-Qurayya served as the base for the Druze in their offensive against the Muslim villages of the Hauran.

Modern era.

The French Mandate authorities bombed al-Qurayya and destroyed the home of its sheikh Sultan Pasha al-Atrash in a clash in 1921. During the Great Syrian Revolt of 1925-27, which was spearheaded by Sultan Pasha, al-Qurayya served as the chief meeting place for the sheikhs of local rebel clans.

Al-Qurayya (; also spelled al-Qrayya or Kureiyeh) is a town in southern Syria, administratively part of the al-Suwayda Governorate, located south of al-Suwayda. Nearby localities include Bosra to the southwest, Hout to the south, Salkhad to the southeast, al-Kafr, Hibran and Sahwat al-Khudr to the northeast, Sahwat Bilata and Rasas to the north and 'Ara and al-Mujaymer to the northwest. According to the Syria Central Bureau of Statistics (CBS), al-Qurayya had a population of 6,789 in the 2004 census. The town is also the administrative center of the al-Qurayya "nahiyah" which consists of four towns with a combined population of 9,892.


Medals.

The design for the Olympic medals for the 2016 Summer Olympics featured the largest medals in terms of diameter of any medal presented at the Olympics. The golds are purer than any presented at all preceding Olympics. The silvers were made from recycling mirrors, solder, and X-ray plates. Much of the copper used in the bronzes came from recycling waste from the mint that minted the medals. The obverse of the medals features Nike, the Greek goddess of victory.

Medal table.

This is the table of the medal count of the 2016 Summer Olympics, based on the medal count of the International Olympic Committee (IOC). These rankings sort by the number of gold medals, earned by a National Olympic Committee (NOC). The number of silver medals is taken into consideration next and then the number of bronze medals. If, after the above, countries are still tied, equal ranking is given and they are listed alphabetically by IOC Country Code. Although this information is provided by the IOC, the IOC itself does not recognize or endorse any ranking system.  The 2016 Summer Olympic program featured 28 sports with 41 disciplines, and a total of 306 events, tentatively resulting in 306 medal sets to be distributed. Athletes from 87 countries won medals, and 59 of them won at least one gold medal. Both of these categories set new records.  Two gold medals were awarded for a first-place tie in the women's 100 metre freestyle swimming event. No silver medal was awarded as a consequence.  Three silver medals were awarded for a second-place tie in the men's 100 metre butterfly swimming event. No bronze medal was awarded as a consequence.  In boxing (13 disciplines), judo (14), taekwondo (8), and wrestling (18), two bronze medals are awarded in each event (53 additional bronze medals total). Additionally, two bronze medals were awarded for a third-place tie in the women's 100 metre backstroke swimming and in the men's K-1 200 metres canoeing events.  <onlyinclude></onlyinclude

The following medal table is a list of National Olympic Committees (NOCs) and one non-NOC team ranked by the number of gold medals won by their athletes during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, from 5 to 21 August 2016.


Description.

The Anteosauria are distinguished from the Tapinocephalia by a number of features, such as very large canines, cheek teeth with bulbous crowns, and an upturning of the premaxilla, so that the front of mouth curves strongly upwards. There is a tendency especially in more advanced forms such as "Anteosaurus" towards thickening of the bones of the top of the skull, indicating head-butting behaviour. There is a large canal for the pineal organ (third eye); probably tied in with the animal's diurnal and seasonal cycles.  The shoulder girdle is fairly light, with a narrow interclavicle, clavicle, and scapular blade. The femur (thigh bone) is slender and curved. These were, in spite of their size, probably quite agile animals. The limbs are short and the skull long, narrow, and heavy. The tail is very long in at least some genera.

Evolutionary relationships.

The early Russian (Boonstra 1972) and Chinese (Rubidge & Sidor 2001) anteosaurs are generally considered the most primitive of the dinocephalians, although it has also been suggested (Kemp, 1982, King 1988) that the estemmenosuchids are more basal. They have featured in common with pelycosaurs (Carroll 1988) and Biarmosuchians (Chudinov 1965), and, with the Tapinocehalia, are part of the first major evolutionary radiation of the Therapsida (Rubidge & Sidor 2001). So far, little work has been done on detailed phylogenetic relationships between the various taxa.

Palaeobiology.

Ecology.

The stance of a typical anteosaur, such as "Titanophoneus", was primitive. Rather than the limbs being drawn in under the body, the stance was more sprawling. Olson (1962) notes that the Russian dinocephalian assemblages indicate environments tied to water, and Boonstra considered that the roughly contemporary "Anteosaurus" was a slinking crocodile-like semi-aquatic form. The long tail, weak limbs, and sprawling posture do indeed suggest some sort of crocodile-like existence. However, the thickened skull-roof indicates that these animals were quite able to get about on land, if they were to practice the typically dinocephalian head-butting behavior. All other head-butters; pachycephalosaurian dinosaurs, titanothere ungulates, and goats were or are completely terrestrial. Perhaps these animals spent some time in the water but were active on land during the mating season, and probably quite able to get about on land to hunt for prey.

Feeding.

Anteosaurs were evolved to prey on particularly large animals and were among the most highly predaceous of all synapsids (Sennikov, 1996), potential prey included the bull-sized armored pareiasaurs (Lee, 1997) and enormous tapinocephalid dinocephalians (Rubidge, 1995).  The large anteosaurs were efficient predators, more specialized than earlier and more primitive biarmosuchid and eotitanosuchid carnivorous therapsids, as the temporal opening behind the eye socket was larger, indicating a greater muscle mass available for closing the lower jaw. Large pterygoid flanges indicate a well-developed KI system in anteosaurs, and increased vertical alignment of the temporalis muscles suggests an expanded SP component of the bite cycle.

Classification.

Phylogeny.

James Hopson and Herbert Barghusen in 1986 provided the first cladistic study of the Therapsida. They used the term "Anteosauria" and synonymised the families Brithopodidae and Anteosauridae. In 2010, Christian Kammerer published a re-evaluation of anteosaurian relationships.  The cladogram below follows an updated (2012) version of Kammerer's analysis by Juan Carolos Cisneros and colleagues.

Taxonomy.

The group was originally defined as a superfamily by L. D. Boonstra in 1962 to include the families Brithopodidae and Anteosauridae.  Gillian King in a 1988 review of the Anomodontia (including the Dinocephalia - however the view that the Dinocephalia are a subset of the Anomodontia is no longer held) as part of Gutsav Fischer Verlag's ongoing "Encyclopedia of Paleoherpetology" series of volumes, uses a more traditional Linnaean arrangement, but includes the herbivorous forms under the superfamily Anteosauroidea as well. The "Titanosuchidae" here is equivalent to the "Tapinocephalia".  After Kammerer et al., 2011.

Anteosaurs are a group of large, primitive carnivorous dinocephalian therapsids with large canines and incisors and short limbs, that are known from the Middle Permian of South Africa, Russia, China, and Brazil. Some grew very large, with skulls long, and were the largest predators of their time. They died out at the end of the Middle Permian, possibly as a result of the extinction of the herbivorous Tapinocephalia on which they may have fed.