Role in "The Simpsons".

Out of genuine concern for the quality of education of his students, most of Skinner's actions revolve around ensuring the school has adequate funding. His constant, desperate, and usually ineffective attempts at maintaining discipline are an effort to receive good reviews in the frequent inspections of his very strict boss, Superintendent Chalmers—who makes no effort to hide his disapproval of Skinner. These inspections usually turn awry due to Bart Simpson's elaborate pranks—which play-off Skinner's desperation for order. Over the years of pranks and inspections, though, Skinner has developed a love-hate relationship with Bart; when Skinner was fired and replaced by Ned Flanders, Bart found pranks less meaningful, due to Flanders' lax approach to discipline, while Skinner missed his constant battles with Bart. The two bonded during this time and Bart made an effort to get Skinner reinstated in the school.  One of Skinner's defining traits is that he had served as a sergeant in the United States Army during the Vietnam War, where he was captured by the Viet Cong at the Battle of Khe Sanh and spent 18 months as a prisoner of war. Seeing his entire platoon devoured by an elephant was one of the many things that led to the development of his posttraumatic stress disorder. He is also quite bitter about the treatment he and other Vietnam veterans received upon returning from the war. Skinner is a highly skilled combatant, particularly hand-to-hand, and demonstrates his abilities in several episodes. Skinner often seems weak-willed and easily suppressed, but often will use his military command experience gained in the Vietnam War to get real respect and discipline. When he and the students were snowed-in at the school, he treated them like his squad to control the chaos temporarily, before they mutinied.  Although Skinner likes to maintain the image of a strict disciplinarian, he is often weak-willed and nervous and has a very unhealthy dependence on his mother, who constantly torments him and nicknames him "Spanky". Aside from a short-lived relationship with Patty Bouvier, most of Skinner's love life has focused on Edna Krabappel. He and Edna kiss in Martin's playhouse after they are invited to a birthday party, and they are witnessed by Bart. He loses his job along with Edna when Superintendent Chalmers is advised of their romance by Chief Wiggum, after which Skinner and Edna lock themselves in the school with Bart demanding their jobs back. After Skinner is reinstated, he and Edna dated for several more years and became engaged, but later cancelled the wedding. Edna has shown she does want to continue dating Skinner, but first wants him to commit to her—namely by not letting his mother, with whom he still lives, control him anymore.  The controversial season 9 episode "The Principal and the Pauper" heavily altered Skinner's backstory, revealing him as an impostor. Born as Armin Tamzarian, he was a troubled orphan from Capital City, who was forced into the US Army during the Vietnam War. There, he served as a Green Beret under Sgt. Seymour Skinner, whom he came to idolize and befriend. When the sergeant was reported missing and presumed dead, Armin returned to Springfield to inform Skinner's mother, Agnes, but she deliberately mistook him for Seymour, so he assumed his identity and followed Skinner's dream of becoming a school principal. The real Seymour Skinner (voiced by Martin Sheen), had been alive after all, and briefly returned to Springfield to take his rightful place as Springfield Elementary School Principal, but had proved hopelessly unpopular and the Springfielders ran him out of town on the railroad. Judge Snyder granted Tamzarian Skinner's "name, and his past, present, future, and mother", and decreed that no one will mention his true identity again "under penalty of torture" (although Lisa uses the real name in the episode "I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot"). A clip from the episode was used in season eleven's "Behind the Laughter" as an example of the show's increasingly "gimmicky and nonsensical plots". The continuity of the series appears to revert to the original story of Seymour Skinner in the 2010 episode "Boy Meets Curl", as he is clearly shown to kick Agnes Skinner in utero, establishing him as Agnes' biological son after all. This is further declared in the Season 29 episode "Grampy Can Ya Hear Me" where a teenage Seymour is shown living with Agnes before going off to college.  Another part of Principal Skinner's backstory is revealed in the season 21 episode "Pranks and Greens", when Bart Simpson plays numerous pranks on teachers of the school. Principal Skinner reveals to Bart that there was a student who was an even better prankster than him, and Bart is very eager to find the identity of the prankster. Later, Groundskeeper Willie tells him a story: Years ago, Springfield Elementary School had a swimming pool and a swimming team, and Willie was the coach of the team. Back then, Skinner was quite laid back as a principal, but it all changed when Andy Hamilton, a student then and the aforementioned prankster, managed to fill the pool with worms and locked Skinner in the pool for the whole weekend. Monday was a teacher's holiday, so Skinner was not rescued until Tuesday morning. This experience caused him to become serious and almost merciless in his approach on rules, even going as far as to shut down the pool and demoting Willie, the swim teacher, to groundskeeper. From then on, Skinner became a very strict principal.

Character.

Creation.

Principal Skinner first appeared in "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", which was also the first "Simpsons" episode to air. The first drawing of Skinner was done by Matt Groening, who based him on "all the principals of [his] youth, rolled into one bland lump." Writer Jon Vitti named him after behavioral psychologist B. F. Skinner. An original idea for Skinner was that he would continually mispronounce words. He does this in the series premiere "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", but the idea was later dropped. Skinner was originally supposed to wear a toupée, but it was dropped because the writers didn't like "that type of joke". In later episodes, Skinner's behavior was based on teachers that Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein had in high school.

Development.

Superintendent Chalmers was introduced in the episode "Whacking Day" as a boss for Skinner. Harry Shearer and Hank Azaria, the voice of Chalmers, fell right into the characters and quite often ad-lib between them.

"The Principal and the Pauper".

In "The Principal and the Pauper", it is revealed that Skinner was not who he claimed to be and was really named Armin Tamzarian. The episode was pitched and written by Ken Keeler and he was inspired by the Tichborne case of 19th century England. Producers Bill Oakley and Josh Weinstein were excited about the episode because Principal Skinner was one of their favorite characters. They "spent a month immersed in the mind of Seymour Skinner" to prepare that episode, and from that point forward, took every opportunity to "tinker with [Skinner's] personality and his backstory and his homelife."  They intended for the episode to be "an experiment" and that the ending was meant to allow viewers to reset to the point before Skinner was revealed to be an impostor. The revelation that Principal Skinner was not whom the audience had long been led to believe (as well as the self-referential deus ex machina ending of the episode) was negatively received by many fans and critics, and is considered by some to be the point at which the series as a whole jumped the shark. Oakley considers "The Principal and the Pauper" the most controversial episode from his tenure as executive producer.  In April 2001, in an interview, Harry Shearer, the voice of Principal Skinner, recalled that after reading the script, he told the writers, "That's "so" wrong. You're taking something that an audience has built eight years or nine years of investment in and just tossed it in the trash can for no good reason, for a story we've done before with other characters. It's so arbitrary and gratuitous, and it's disrespectful to the audience."  The writers themselves have since mocked the inconsistencies created by the episode; in the season 15 episode "I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot", Lisa is seen writing Snowball II on a cat food dish to save money after what would be the fourth Snowball's purchase. Skinner walks by and asks "that's really a cheat, isn't it?" to which Lisa pointedly replies, "I guess you're right, Principal "Tamzarian"." Skinner then quickly excuses himself to Lisa and walks away.

References.

Bibliography

Principal W. Seymour Skinner (born Armin Tamzarian) is a recurring fictional character in the animated sitcom "The Simpsons", who is voiced by Harry Shearer. He is the principal of Springfield Elementary School, which he struggles to control, and is constantly engaged in a battle against its inadequate resources, apathetic and bitter teachers, and often rowdy and unenthusiastic students, Bart Simpson being a standout example.

Ředitel Seymour Skinner (narozen v Capital City jako Armin Tamzarian) je fiktivní postava z amerického animovaného seriálu "Simpsonovi". Hlas mu propůjčil Harry Shearer (v českém znění Dalimil Klapka).


Background.

When her family went to Ibiza on holiday, Allen told her mother that she was staying with friends but remained in Sant Antoni de Portmany instead. She earned money by working at a Plastic Fantastic record store and dealing ecstasy. Allen met her first manager, George Lamb, in Ibiza. She was rejected by several labels, which she attributed to her drinking and being the daughter of actor Keith Allen. She eventually used her father's connections to get signed to London Records in 2002. When the executive who had signed her left, the label lost interest and she left without releasing the folk songs that had been written for her, many of which were written by her father. She then studied horticulture to become a florist, but changed her mind and returned to music. Allen began writing songs, while her manager introduced her to production duo Future Cut in 2004. They worked in a small studio in the basement of an office building.

Development.

Allen's manager introduced her to production duo Future Cut in 2004. They worked in a small studio in the basement of a Manchester office building. In 2005, Allen was signed to Regal Recordings; the label gave her £25,000 to produce an album, though they were unable to provide much support for it due to their preoccupation with other releases such as Coldplay's "X&Y" and Gorillaz' "Demon Days".  Allen created an account on Myspace and began posting demos in November 2005. The demos attracted thousands of listeners, and 500 limited edition 7" vinyl singles of one of the demos, a song titled "LDN", were rush-released and sold for as much as £40. Allen also produced two mixtapes titled "My First Mixtape" and "My Second Mixtape" to promote her work, including tracks by the band Creedence Clearwater Revival and rappers Dizzee Rascal and Ludacris. As she accumulated tens of thousands of Myspace friends, "The Observer Music Monthly" ("OMM"), a magazine published in "The Observer", took interest. Few people outside of her label's A&R department had heard of Allen, so the label were slow in responding to publications who wanted to report about her.  In March 2006, "OMM" published an article about Allen's success through Myspace, and she received her first major mainstream coverage appearing in the magazine's cover story two months later. The popularity of her songs convinced her label to allow her more creative control over the album and to use some of the songs that she had written instead of attempting to work with mainstream producers. Allen found herself distracted by the publicity, so to focus on finishing the album, she travelled to the United States to work with producers Greg Kurstin and Mark Ronson. There, she was able to complete the second half of the album in approximately two weeks.  The album's title is used in a line from the second track, "Knock 'Em Out": "You look alright still, yeah what's your name?"

Music and lyrics.

In her songs, Allen develops various personas. She stated that she tried to "write about stuff that happens to people from all different backgrounds". The lyrics are conversational, with a dark sense of humour. In many of the songs, one of Allen's personae disparages someone around her. In "Smile", "Not Big", and "Shame for You", she insults an ex-boyfriend. In "Knock 'Em Out", she mocks suitors at a bar, and Lily reprimands her brother Alfie on the song of the same name.  Joe Strummer, a close friend of Allen's father Keith, played mixtapes of Brazilian music and Jamaican reggae and ska when she was young. Allen stated that she had "always been into very black music" such as ska, reggae, and hip hop music. Since she did not know how to rap, she chose to use reggae as a point of reference when making "Alright, Still". The album's music blends ska and reggae with pop melodies. Allen's melodies are influenced by the jazz improvisation techniques of American singers Blossom Dearie and Ella Fitzgerald. The album's beats are influenced by various genres such as jazz and grime.

Promotion.

In 2007, Allen played the newly launched Park Stage at the Glastonbury Festival, replacing MIA who had cancelled. During the festival she reunited two members of The Specials, an act that guitarist Lynval Golding claimed played a "massive part" in the group's 2009 reunion.  On the day "Smile" was released, Allen appeared on BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge with DJ Jo Whiley, performing an acoustic version of "Smile" and a cover of The Kooks' song "Naïve". At the Secret Garden Party, in September 2006, Allen made a rendition of the song and afterwards stated: "The festival was well good, particularly as Lester, my ex, who I wrote 'Smile' about, and subsequently sold his story to the papers, had a tent called 'the shit tent' positioned directly opposite the main stage. So he and his new girlfriend had no option but to watch me perform to a couple of thousand people singing 'Smile' back to me. Oh, it's the little things eh!" "Smile" was performed live as part of the setlist of Allen's 2007 concert tour. During the 2007 South by Southwest music festival, Allen said, "I'm so sick of this song, but I'll play it for you, Austin" before singing it. On 3 February 2007, the singer was invited as a musical guest on "Saturday Night Live", where she performed "Smile" and "LDN".

Critical reception.

"Alright, Still" received generally positive reviews from music critics. At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 79, based on 27 reviews. "The Observer"s Rosie Swash stated that Allen's "uniquely acidic brand of pop" music justified the publicity it generated and that "the icing on the cake is that brutally barbed tongue". Ron Webb wrote for "Drowned in Sound" that the album "is almost a brilliant record, easily a good one and one that promises to divide opinion like Marmite". In a review for "The Guardian", Sophie Heawood stated that "the album is rough round the edges, that amateurism serves to bring the listener in", noting that it gave the album a more personal touch. "NME"s Priya Elan remarked that "with a personality this size, this isn't the last time you'll be hearing from [Allen]".  The album generally received positive reviews from international music press. Rob Sheffield wrote for "Rolling Stone" that Allen's sense of irony was "just more proof that [she's] an original". Heather Phares of AllMusic stated that "enough of "Alright, Still" works—as pure pop and on the meta level Allen aims for—to make the album a fun, summery fling, and maybe more". Praising Allen for her "genuine personality with wit and attitude to spare", "Pitchfork"s Mark Pytlik remarked that the album "isn't anything else but a fantastic success". In his review for "Blender", Jon Dolan complimented Allen's "little-sisterly" personality, describing it as a combination "of panache and self-doubt, courage and chaos".  On the other hand, "Stylus Magazine" dismissed the album as "nothing more than pop for people who hate pop music" and "phony music for people who can't let go of their inhibitions", while "Slant Magazine" deemed it "rubbish" and called Allen "sickeningly contemptuous". The mastering of "Alright, Still", done by Tim Burrell and Tim Debney, has been criticised. In January 2007, "The Guardian" ran a piece about loudness wars, the practice of increasing the loudness of tracks which often results in distortion and the loss of dynamic range. It included "Alright, Still" in a list of CDs in which sound quality was compromised for loudness. "Rolling Stone" published a similar story in December 2007, and it also identified "Alright, Still" as an album "so unrelentingly loud that the sound is actually distorted".

Accolades.

"The Guardian" ranked it the seventh best album of the year and commented, "For her lyrical nous and her quick delivery alone, get that toast on." "Pitchfork" called it "one of 2006's most enduringly rewarding pop albums" and listed it as the 29th best album of 2006. "Rolling Stone" ranked the album 13th on its list of the best albums of 2007. "Uncut" called it "a terrific, bolshy, eclectic stew of London street pop", listing "Alright, Still" at number 38 on its "Definitive Albums of 2006". "The Observer" ranked the album tenth on its list of the best albums of 2006. At the 2008 Grammy Awards, the album was nominated for Best Alternative Music Album but lost to The White Stripes' "Icky Thump". Ronson's production on "Littlest Things" helped him win a Grammy Award for Producer of the Year, Non-Classical.

Commercial performance.

"Alright, Still" debuted at number two on the UK Albums Chart, selling 62,701 copies in its first week. During the week ending 3 February 2007, all top 10 places on the UK Albums Chart were occupied by British artists for the first time since the chart was established in 1956; "Alright, Still" was number nine that week. The British Phonographic Industry (BPI) certified it triple platinum on 14 March 2008. As of June 2018, the album had sold 1,142,062 copies in the United Kingdom.  In Ireland, the album debuted at number six on the Irish Albums Chart and was certified platinum by the Irish Recorded Music Association (IRMA). The album was less successful in continental Europe; it charted inside the top 20 in Norway, the top 30 in Belgium and the Netherlands, and the top 50 in France and Sweden. In April 2007, "Alright, Still" received a Platinum Europe Award by the International Federation of the Phonographic Industry (IFPI), denoting sales in excess of one million copies across Europe.  "Alright, Still" debuted at number 20 on the "Billboard" 200 in the United States, with first-week sales of 34,000 copies. The Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) awarded the album a gold certification on 6 December 2007, and by November 2013, it had sold 627,000 copies in the US. "Alright, Still" peaked at number seven on the Australian ARIA Albums Chart, and in 2009, it received a platinum accreditation by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA), shipping over 70,000 copies. In New Zealand, the album reached number 26 and was certified gold by the Recording Industry Association of New Zealand (RIANZ) for shipments in excess of 7,500 copies. As of February 2009, the album had sold more than 2.5 million copies worldwide.

Track listing.

Notes  Sample credits

Personnel.

Credits adapted from the liner notes of "Alright, Still".  Musicians Technical  Artwork

Alright, Still is the debut studio album by English singer Lily Allen. It was released on 13 July 2006 by Regal Recordings. After being rejected by several record labels, Allen signed to London Records, who eventually lost interest in her, leading her to meet production duo Future Cut and sign to Regal Recordings. Recording for the album began in 2004 with sessions between Allen and Future Cut, and Allen's work garnered publicity on the Internet as she posted demos to her Myspace account before they were officially released. Allen later travelled to the United States to work with Greg Kurstin and Mark Ronson, to complete the final half of the album in 2006.

Alright, Still je debutové album britské zpěvačky Lily Allenové, které vyšlo v červenci 2006. Album před svým vydáním bylo zveřejněno na osobním Myspace profilu Lily. A na konci roku 2006 byla deska za daný rok sedmadvacátá nejprodávanější ve Velké Británii. Časopis Rolling Stone označil desku za třináctou nejlepší pro rok 2007.


Provenance.

Historical origins.

Originally erected as a lasting monument at the Great Temple of Ptah in Memphis in the late eighth century BCE, the stone was at some point removed (for unknown reasons) to Alexandria. From there, it was transported by a navy vessel from Alexandria to England. It was brought back as ballast along with a capital of an Egyptian column, fragments of a Greco-Roman black basalt capital, two fragments of quartzite lintel of Senwosret III, and a black granite kneeling statue of Ramesses II. In 1805, the stone was donated to the British Museum by George Spencer, 2nd Earl Spencer (1758-1834), who was First Lord of the Admiralty and since 1794 the trustee of the museum. In 1901, the stone was deciphered, translated, and interpreted for the first time by the American egyptologist, James Henry Breasted. The monument has remained at the museum to the present day.

Dating.

The stone's dedicatory introduction claims that it is a copy of the surviving contents of a worm-ridden, decaying papyrus found by the pharaoh Shabaka in the Great Temple of Ptah. Homer W. Smith dates the original text to the First Dynasty, calling it "the oldest written record of human thought".  Breasted, Adolf Erman, Kurt Sethe, and Hermann Junker all dated the stone to the Old Kingdom. The stone is archaic, both linguistically (its language is similar to that used in the Pyramid Texts of the Old Kingdom) and politically (it alludes to the importance of Memphis as the first royal city). As such, Henri Frankfort, John Wilson, Miriam Lichtheim, and Erik Iverson have also assessed the stone to be from the Old Kingdom. However, Friedrich Junge and most other scholars since then have argued that the monument was produced in the Twenty-fifth Dynasty. Today, scholars feel it is clear that it cannot predate the Nineteenth Dynasty.

Composition.

The stela is around wide, with the left side height estimated at and the right side about. The written surface is in width and on average, in height. The rectangular hole in the center is, with eleven radiating lines ranging in length from. The area of the surface which has been completely worn-out measures across.  In 1901, James Henry Breasted identified the stone as a rectangular slab of black granite. While other scholars postulated that the monument was a slab or basalt or a conglomerate stone, a recent analysis by a scientist of the British Museum revealed the stone to be green breccia originating from Wadi Hammamat.

Content.

The text includes two main divisions with a short introduction and an ending summary. The first division relates the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt. Ptah works through Horus to accomplish this unification. The other is a creation story, the Memphite Theology or Memphite Drama, that establishes Ptah as the creator of all things, including gods.  The text stresses that it is in Memphis that the unification of Egypt took place. The inscription also states that this town was the burial-place of Osiris, after he drifted ashore.

Introduction and Titulary of the King.

The first line of the stone presents the fivefold royal titulary of the king: "The living Horus: Who prospers the Two Lands; the Two Ladies: Who prospers the Two Lands; the King of Upper and Lower Egypt: Neferkare; the Son of Re: [Shabaka], beloved of Ptah-South-of-His-Wall, who lives like Re forever." The first three names emphasize the king's manifestation as a living god (especially of the falcon-headed Horus, patron god to the Egyptian kings), while the latter two names (the king's throne name and birth name) refer to Egypt's division and unification.  The second line, a dedicatory introduction, states that the stone is a copy of the surviving contents of a worm-eaten papyrus Shabaka found as he was inspecting the Great Temple of Ptah.

The Unification of Egypt.

Lines 3 to 47 describe the unification of Upper and Lower Egypt under the god Horus at Memphis. The text first declares the political and theological supremacy of the Memphite god Ptah, the king of both Upper and Lower Egypt, and the creator of the Ennead. The inscription then describes how Horus, as a manifestation of Ptah, initially rules Lower Egypt while his rival Set rules Upper Egypt. However, Horus receives Upper Egypt from Geb, becoming the sole ruler of the land.

The Memphite Theology.

Lines 48 to 64 recount the creation myth known as the Memphite Theology. Ptah, the patron god of craftsmen, metalworkers, artisans, and architects was viewed as a creator-god, a divine craftsman of the universe who was responsible for all existence. Creation was first a spiritual and intellectual activity, facilitated by the divine heart (thought) and tongue (speech/word) of Ptah. Then, creation became a physical activity carried out by Atum, who, created by Ptah's teeth and lips, produced the Ennead from his seed and hands.

Summary.

Lines 61 through 64 summarize the text as a whole.

Purpose.

According to Ragnhild Bjerre Finnestad, there are three theories on the possible purpose of the Shabaka text: As a temple text written down and set up in the temple of Ptah, it is likely that the Shabaka Stone served a religious, cultic-theological purpose, placing its subject matter within a cultic frame of reference.

Damage.

Projecting from the rectangular hole in the center of the stone are radial rough stripes, which destroyed the inscription within a radius of 78 cm, measured from the middle of the stone. According to the secondary literature on the monument, this damage occurred because the stone was re-used as a millstone. The oldest reference speculating the stone's use as a millstone is found in the display of the British Museum of 1821. However, the stone could instead have been the foundation of something round, possibly a column or a pillar.  Some parts of the stone were intentionally cut out during the Dynastic Period. This included the name of Seth (line 7), a god which was condemned during this time. Additionally, Psamtik II or Psamtik III erased the proper name and throne name of Shabaka from the stone. Psamtik III then engraved his name onto the stone, but his name was in turn erased by the Persians during their conquest.

The Shabaka Stone, sometimes Shabaqo, is a relic incised with an ancient Egyptian religious text, which dates from the Twenty-fifth Dynasty of Egypt. In later years, the stone was likely used as a millstone, which damaged the hieroglyphs. This damage is accompanied by other intentional defacements, leaving the hieroglyphic inscription in poor condition.

Šabakova deska (též Šabakův kámen) je moderní označení užívané v egyptologii pro staroegyptskou stélu z černé žuly o výšce 66 cm a šířce 137 cm, na níž je hieroglyfickým písmem zaznamenána v kontextu dalších mýtů tzv. Mennoferská kosmologie. Název je odvozen od jména panovníka 25. dynastie Šabaky, na jehož příkaz byla deska vytesána a umístěna v mennoferském chrámu boha Ptaha. Navzdory faraonově snaze o zachování informací došlo v pozdější době ke znehodnocení nápisu na kameni, který byl používán jako mlýnský kámen. Do jeho středu byla vyvrtána díra a používání při mletí vedlo k poškození i dalších okolních hieroglyfů. Šabakova deska však stále obsahuje cenné informace o kultuře a náboženských představách starověkých Egypťanů. Dnes se nachází v Britském muzeu v Londýně.


Taxonomy.

"Hamadryas hannah" was the scientific name used by Danish naturalist Theodore Edward Cantor in 1836 who described four king cobra specimens, three captured in the Sundarbans and one in the vicinity of Kolkata. "Naja bungarus" was proposed by Hermann Schlegel in 1837 who described a king cobra zoological specimen from Java. In 1838, Cantor proposed the name "Hamadryas ophiophagus" for the king cobra and explained that it has dental features intermediate between the genera "Naja" and "Bungarus". "Naia vittata" proposed by Walter Elliot in 1840 was a king cobra caught offshore near Chennai that was floating in a basket. "Hamadryas elaps" proposed by Albert Günther in 1858 were king cobra specimens from the Philippines and Borneo. Günther considered both "N. bungarus" and "N. vittata" a variety of "H. elaps". The genus "Ophiophagus" was proposed by Günther in 1864. The name is derived from its propensity to eat snakes.  "Naja ingens" proposed by in 1882 was a king cobra captured near Tebing Tinggi in northern Sumatra.  "Ophiophagus hannah" was accepted as the valid name for the king cobra by Charles Mitchill Bogert in 1945 who argued that it differs significantly from "Naja" species. A genetic analysis using cytochrome b, and a multigene analysis showed that the king cobra was an early offshoot of a genetic lineage giving rise to the mambas, rather than the "Naja" cobras.  A phylogenetic analysis of mitochondrial DNA showed that specimens from Surattani and Nakhon Si Thammarat Provinces in southern Thailand form a deeply divergent clade from those from northern Thailand, which grouped with specimens from Myanmar and Guangdong in southern China.

Description.

The king cobra's skin is olive green with black and white bands on the trunk that converge to the head. The head is covered by 15 drab coloured and black edged shields. The muzzle is rounded, and the tongue black. It has two fangs and 3–5 maxillar teeth in the upper jaw, and two rows of teeth in the lower jaw. The nostrils are between two shields. The large eyes have a golden iris and round pupils. Its hood is oval shaped and covered with olive green smooth scales and two black spots between the two lowest scales. Its cylindrical tail is yellowish green above and marked with black. It has a pair of large occipital scales on top of the head, 17 to 19 rows of smooth oblique scales on the neck, and 15 rows on the body. Juveniles are black with chevron shaped white, yellow or buff bars that point towards the head. Adult king cobras are long. The longest known individual measured. Ventral scales are uniformly oval shaped. Dorsal scales are placed in an oblique arrangement.  The king cobra is sexually dimorphic, with males being larger and paler in particular during the breeding season. Males captured in Kerala measured up to and weighed up to. Females captured had a maximum length of and a weight of. The largest known king cobra was long and captured in Thailand. It differs from other cobra species by size and hood. It is larger, has a narrower and longer stripe on the neck.  The head of a mature snake can be quite massive and bulky in appearance. Like all snakes, it can expand its jaws to swallow large prey items. It has proteroglyph dentition, meaning it has two short, fixed fangs in the front of the mouth, which channel venom into the prey. These are behind the usual "nine-plate" arrangement typical of colubrids and elapids, and are unique to the king cobra. The king cobra typically weighs about. A captive one at the London Zoo grew to before being euthanised upon the outbreak of World War II. The heaviest wild specimen was caught at Royal Island Club in Singapore in 1951, which weighed and measured. An individual kept at Bronx Zoo weighed and was long in 1972.

Distribution and habitat.

The king cobra has a wide distribution in South and Southeast Asia. It occurs up to an elevation of from the Terai in India and southern Nepal to the Brahmaputra River basin in Bhutan and northeast India, Bangladesh and to Myanmar, southern China, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. In northern India, it was recorded in the Garhwal Himalaya in Uttarakhand, in Uttar Pradesh and Sikkim. In the Eastern Ghats, it occurs from coastal Odisha to Andhra Pradesh. In the Western Ghats, it was recorded in Maharashtra, Karnataka and Kerala. It also occurs on Baratang Island.

Behaviour and ecology.

Like other snakes, a king cobra receives chemical information via its forked tongue, which picks up scent particles and transfers them to a sensory receptor (Jacobson's organ) located in the roof of its mouth. When it detects the scent of prey, it flicks its tongue to gauge the prey's location, with the twin forks of the tongue acting in stereo. It senses earth-borne vibration and detects moving prey almost away.  Following envenomation, it swallows its prey whole. Because of its flexible jaws it can swallow prey much larger than its head. It is considered diurnal because it hunts during the day, but has also been seen at night, rarely.

Diet.

The king cobra's diet consists primarily of other snakes and lizards, including Indian cobra, banded krait, rat snake, pythons, green whip snake, keelback, banded wolf snake and Blyth's reticulated snake. It also hunts Malabar pit viper and hump-nosed pit viper by following their odour trails. In Singapore, one was observed swallowing a clouded monitor. When food is scarce, it also feeds on other small vertebrates, such as birds, and rodents. In some cases, the cobra constricts its prey, such as birds and larger rodents, using its muscular body, though this is uncommon. After a large meal, it lives for many months without another one because of its slow metabolic rate.

Defence.

The king cobra is not considered aggressive. It usually slinks off when disturbed, but is known to aggressively defend incubating eggs and attack intruders rapidly. When alarmed, it raises the front part of its body, extends the hood, shows the fangs and hisses loudly. When biting, it retains its grip for up to eight minutes. Wild king cobras encountered in Singapore appeared to be placid, but reared up and struck in self defence when cornered.  Most victims bitten by king cobras are snake charmers. Hospital records in Thailand indicate that bites from king cobras are very uncommon.  It can be easily irritated by closely approaching objects or sudden movements. When raising its body, the king cobra can still move forward to strike with a long distance, and people may misjudge the safe zone. It can deliver multiple bites in a single attack.

Growling hiss.

The hiss of the king cobra is a much lower pitch than many other snakes and many people thus liken its call to a "growl" rather than a hiss. While the hisses of most snakes are of a broad-frequency span ranging from roughly 3,000 to 13,000 Hz with a dominant frequency near 7,500 Hz, king cobra growls consist solely of frequencies below 2,500 Hz, with a dominant frequency near 600 Hz, a much lower-sounding frequency closer to that of a human voice. Comparative anatomical morphometric analysis has led to a discovery of tracheal diverticula that function as low-frequency resonating chambers in king cobra and its prey, the rat snake, both of which can make similar growls.

Reproduction.

The female is gravid for 50 to 59 days. The king cobra is the only snake that builds a nest using dry leave litter, starting from late March to late May. Most nests are located at the base of trees, are up to high in the center and wide at the base. They consist of several layers and have mostly one chamber, into which the female lays eggs. Clutch size ranges from 7 to 43 eggs, with 6 to 38 eggs hatching after incubation periods of 66 to 105 days. Temperature inside nests is not steady but varies depending on elevation from. Female stay by their nests between two and 77 days. Hatchlings are between long and weigh.  The venom of hatchlings is as potent as that of the adults. They may be brightly marked, but these colours often fade as they mature. They are alert and nervous, being highly aggressive if disturbed.  The average lifespan of a wild king cobra is about 20 years.

Venom.

The king cobra's venom consists of cytotoxins and neurotoxins, including alpha-neurotoxins and three-finger toxins. Other components have cardiotoxic effects.  It can deliver up to 420 mg venom in dry weight per bite, with a toxicity in mice of 1.28 mg/kg through intravenous injection, 1.5 to 2.18 mg/kg through subcutaneous injection, and 1.644 mg/kg through intraperitoneal injection.  The toxins affect the victim's central nervous system, resulting in severe pain, blurred vision, vertigo, drowsiness, and eventually paralysis. If the envenomation is serious, it progresses to cardiovascular collapse, and the victim falls into a coma. Death soon follows due to respiratory failure. The affected person can die within 30 minutes of envenomation. Ohanin, a protein component of the venom, causes hypolocomotion and hyperalgesia in mammals. Large quantities of antivenom may be needed to reverse the progression of symptoms.  Polyvalent antivenom of equine origin is produced by Haffkine Institute and King Institute of Preventive Medicine and Research in India. A polyvalent antivenom produced by the Thai Red Cross Society can effectively neutralize venom of the king cobra. In Thailand, a concoction of turmeric root has been clinically shown to create a strong resilience against the venom of the king cobra when ingested. Proper and immediate treatments are critical to avoid death. Successful precedents include a client who recovered and was discharged in 10 days after being treated by accurate antivenom and inpatient care.  Not all king cobra bites result in envenomation, but they are often considered of medical importance. Clinical mortality rates vary between different regions and depend on many factors, such as local medical advancement. A Thai survey reports 10 deaths out of 35 patients received for king cobra bites, whose fatality rate posed (28%) is higher than those of other cobra species. The Department of Clinical Toxinology of the University of Adelaide gives this serpent a general untreated fatality rate of 50–60%, implying that the snake has about a half chance to deliver bites involving nonfatal quantities of venom.

Threats.

In Southeast Asia, the king cobra is threatened foremost by habitat destruction owing to deforestation and expansion of agricultural land. It is also threatened by poaching for its meat, skin and for use in traditional Chinese medicine.

Conservation.

The king cobra is listed in CITES Appendix II. It is protected in China and Vietnam. In India, it is placed under Schedule II of Wildlife Protection Act, 1972. Killing a king cobra is punished with imprisonment of up to six years.

Cultural significance.

A ritual in Myanmar involves a king cobra and a female snake charmer. The charmer is a priestess who is usually tattooed with three pictograms and kisses the snake on the top of its head at the end of the ritual.  Members of the Pakokku clan tattoo themselves with ink mixed with cobra venom on their upper bodies in a weekly inoculation that potentially might protect them from the snake, though no scientific evidence supports this.  Cobra stones or gems or pearls are believed to develop from the cobra's hood.

The king cobra ("Ophiophagus hannah"), also known as the hamadryad, is a venomous snake species in the family Elapidae, endemic to forests from India through Southeast Asia. It is threatened by habitat destruction and has been listed as Vulnerable on the IUCN Red List since 2010. It is the world's longest venomous snake. Adult king cobras are long. The longest known individual measured. It is the sole member of the genus "Ophiophagus". It preys chiefly on other snakes and occasionally on some other vertebrates, such as lizards and rodents. It is a highly venomous and dangerous snake when agitated or provoked that has a fearsome reputation in its range, although it is typically shy and avoids confrontation with humans when possible. The king cobra is a prominent symbol in the mythology and folk traditions of India, Sri Lanka and Myanmar. It is the national reptile of India.

Tobogán je typ skluzavky. Většinou je skluzavka delší a často i s mnoha kroutivými zatáčkami a zpravidla bývá zakončena ve vodní nádrži.


Protective action.

Galvanizing protects the underlying iron or steel in the following main ways:

History and etymology.

The earliest known example of galvanized iron was encountered by Europeans on 17th-century Indian armour in the Royal Armouries Museum collection.  The etymology of galvanisation is via French from the name of Italian scientist Luigi Galvani. However this is an obscure back-formation; Galvani had no involvement in zinc coating.  The earliest use of the term was in late 18th-century scientific research and medical practice by Galvani and meant the stimulation of a muscle by the application of an electric current. Although Galvani was the first to study this, it was Alessandro Volta who then developed a better understanding of its cause and effect. Galvani's explanation of 'animal electricity' as a cause was replaced by Volta's invention of the electric battery and its use to stimulate animal tissue. Despite the superseding of his experimental results, it was Galvani's name rather than Volta's which became associated with the field.  The term "galvanized" continues to be used metaphorically of any stimulus which results in activity by a person or group of people, such as to "galvanize into action" meaning stimulating a complacent person or group to take action. In modern usage, the term "galvanizing" has largely come to be associated with zinc coatings, to the exclusion of other metals. Galvanic paint, a precursor to hot-dip galvanizing, was patented by Stanislas Sorel, of Paris, in December 1837, as an adoption of a term from a highly fashionable field of contemporary science, despite having no evident relation to it.

Methods.

Hot-dip galvanizing deposits a thick, robust layer of zinc iron alloys on the surface of a steel item. In the case of automobile bodies, where additional decorative coatings of paint will be applied, a thinner form of galvanizing is applied by electrogalvanizing. The hot-dip process generally does not reduce strength on a measurable scale, with the exception of high-strength steels (>1100 MPa) where hydrogen embrittlement can become a problem. This deficiency is a consideration affecting the manufacture of wire rope and other highly stressed products.  The protection provided by hot-dip galvanizing is insufficient for products that will be constantly exposed to corrosive materials such as acids, including acid rain in outdoor uses. For these applications, more expensive stainless steel is preferred. Some nails made today are galvanized. Nonetheless, electroplating is used on its own for many outdoor applications because it is cheaper than hot-dip zinc coating and looks good when new. Another reason not to use hot-dip zinc coating is that for bolts and nuts of size M10 (US 3/8") or smaller, the thick hot-dipped coating fills in too much of the threads, which reduces strength (because the dimension of the steel prior to coating must be reduced for the fasteners to fit together). This means that for cars, bicycles, and many other light mechanical products, the practical alternative to electroplating bolts and nuts is not hot-dip zinc coating, but making the fasteners from stainless steel or titanium. The size of crystallites (grains) in galvanized coatings is a visible and aesthetic feature, known as "spangle". By varying the number of particles added for heterogeneous nucleation and the rate of cooling in a hot-dip process, the spangle can be adjusted from an apparently uniform surface (crystallites too small to see with the naked eye) to grains several centimetres wide. Visible crystallites are rare in other engineering materials, even though they are usually present.  Thermal diffusion galvanizing, or Sherardizing, provides a zinc diffusion coating on iron- or copper-based materials. Parts and zinc powder are tumbled in a sealed rotating drum. Around, zinc will diffuse into the substrate to form a zinc alloy. The advance surface preparation of the goods can be carried out by shot blasting. The process is also known as "dry galvanizing", because no liquids are involved; this can avoid possible problems caused by hydrogen embrittlement. The dull-grey crystal structure of the zinc diffusion coating has a good adhesion to paint, powder coatings, or rubber. It is a preferred method for coating small, complex-shaped metals, and for smoothing rough surfaces on items formed with sintered metal.

Eventual corrosion.

Although galvanizing will inhibit attack of the underlying steel, rusting will be inevitable after some decades' exposure to weather, especially if exposed to acidic conditions. For example, corrugated iron sheet roofing will start to degrade within a few years despite the protective action of the zinc coating. Marine and salty environments also lower the lifetime of galvanized iron because the high electrical conductivity of sea water increases the rate of corrosion, primarily through converting the solid zinc to soluble zinc chloride which simply washes away. Galvanized car frames exemplify this; they corrode much faster in cold environments due to road salt, though they will last longer than unprotected steel.  Galvanized steel can last for many decades if other supplementary measures are maintained, such as paint coatings and additional sacrificial anodes. The rate of corrosion in non-salty environments is caused mainly by levels of sulfur dioxide in the air. In the most benign natural environments, such as inland low population areas, galvanized steel can last without rust for over 100 years.

Galvanized construction steel.

This is the most common use for galvanized metal, and hundreds of thousands of tons of steel products are galvanized annually worldwide. In developed countries most larger cities have several galvanizing factories, and many items of steel manufacture are galvanized for protection. Typically these include: street furniture, building frameworks, balconies, verandahs, staircases, ladders, walkways, and more. Hot dip galvanized steel is also used for making steel frames as a basic construction material for steel frame buildings.

Galvanized piping.

In the early 20th century, galvanized piping replaced previously-used cast iron and lead in cold-water plumbing. Typically, galvanized piping rusts from the inside out, building up layers of plaque on the inside of the piping, causing both water pressure problems and eventual pipe failure. These plaques can flake off, leading to visible impurities in water and a slight metallic taste. The life expectancy of galvanized piping is about 70 years, but it may vary by region due to impurities in the water supply and the proximity of electrical grids for which interior piping acts as a pathway (the flow of electricity can accelerate chemical corrosion). Pipe longevity also depends on the thickness of zinc in the original galvanizing, which ranges on a scale from G40 to G210, and whether the pipe was galvanized on both the inside and outside, or just the outside.  Since World War II, copper and plastic piping have replaced galvanized piping for interior drinking water service, but galvanized steel pipes are still used in outdoor applications requiring steel's superior mechanical strength. The use of galvanized pipes lends some truth to the urban myth that water purity in outdoor water faucets is lower, but the actual impurities (iron, zinc, calcium) are harmless.  The presence of galvanized piping detracts from the appraised value of housing stock because piping can fail, increasing the risk of water damage. Galvanized piping will eventually need to be replaced if housing stock is to outlast a 50 to 70 year life expectancy, and some jurisdictions require galvanized piping to be replaced before sale. One option to extend the life expectancy of existing galvanized piping is to line it with an epoxy resin.

Galvanization or galvanizing (also spelled galvanisation or galvanising) is the process of applying a protective zinc coating to steel or iron, to prevent rusting. The most common method is hot-dip galvanizing, in which the parts are submerged in a bath of molten hot zinc.

Icy Tower je freewarová počítačová hra vytvořená designérem Johanem Peitzem ze švédského vývojářského studia Free Lunch Design. Cílem hry je dostat se tak vysoko, jak jen to je možné. Toho lze docílit skákáním po náhodně rozmístěných plošinkách.


General design criteria.

The three nearly universal requirements of are:

Specific needs.

Other requirements may apply to specific handles:

Pull handles.

One major category of handles are "pull" handles, where one or more hands grip the handle or handles, and exert force to shorten the distance between the hands and their corresponding shoulders. The three criteria stated above are universal for pull handles.  Many pull handles are for lifting, mostly on objects to be carried.  Horizontal pull handles are widespread, including drawer pulls, handles on latchless doors and the outside of car doors. The inside controls for opening car doors from inside are usually pull handles, although their function of permitting the door to be "pushed" open is accomplished by an internal unlatching linkage.  Pull handles are also a frequent host of common door handle bacteria such as e-coli, fungal or other viral infections.  Two kinds of pull handles may involve motion in addition to the hand-focused motions described:

Twist handles.

Another category of hand-operated device requires grasping (but not pulling) and rotating the hand and either the lower arm or the whole arm, about their axis. When the grip required is a fist grip, as with a door handle that has an arm rather than a knob to twist, the term "handle" unambiguously applies. Another clear case is a rarer device seen on mechanically complicated doors like those of airliners, where (instead of the whole hand moving down as it also rotates, on the door handles just described) the axis of rotation is between the thumb and the outermost fingers, so the thumb moves up if the outer fingers move down.

Handles for wide-range motion.

The handles of bicycle grips, club-style weapons, shovels and spades, axes, hammers, mallets and hatchets, baseball bats, rackets, golf clubs, and croquet mallets involve a greater range of ergonomic issues.

A handle is a part of, or attachment to, an object that can be moved or used by hand. The design of each type of handle involves substantial ergonomic issues, even where these are dealt with intuitively or by following tradition. Handles for tools are an important part of their function, enabling the user to exploit the tools to maximum effect. Package handles allow for convenient carrying of packages.

Násada, zdrobněle násadka, je část pracovního nástroje, která tvoří rukojeť nějakého nástroje. Obvykle se jedná o dřevěnou tyč vhodně uzpůsobenou pro úchop nástroje rukama.


Description.

Adults of this species can reach a total length of up to, with the tail accounting for more than half. Sexes are not strongly dimorphic, but males can be distinguished from females as males have a wider cloacal opening, the base of the tail is wider, the head is usually larger with a larger beard and possess hemipenes. Males also have more pronounced femoral pores than females (these can be seen as waxy bumps on the underside of the back legs). Bearded dragons vary widely in colour, including brown, reddish-brown, red, yellow, white, and orange. They are capable of undergoing moderate changes in the shade of their colour to help scales along both sides of the throat, neck, and head form many narrow spines which run down the side of the body to the tail. When feeling threatened, a bearded dragon will flatten its body against the ground, puff out its spiny throat and open its jaws to make itself appear larger. The bearded dragon is so named because of the pouch-like projection (also called the guttural pouch) on the underside of the neck and chin area which typically turns darker than the rest of the body. It also boasts spiny projections. Both of these characteristics appear similar to a human's beard. Males typically have a darker "beard" than females, and during mating season and courtship it will typically darken to near-black. The bearded dragon, like most agamid lizards, has strong legs which enable it to lift its body completely off the ground while it moves. This is done to reduce the heat taken in from the ground, as well as to increase the air flow over the belly to cool itself further.  "Pogona vitticeps" was first described by Ernst Ahl in 1926, who placed it in the genus "Amphibolurus".  A studied conducted in 2014 established the existence of endogenous circadian rhythm in pigmentation changes in Pogona vitticeps. In other words, light and dark can influence the colour changes of this kind of lizards. If exposed to light, the dorsal skin of the lizard becomes darker, and if exposed to darkness, it becomes lighter. Under constant darkness (i.e. in the subjective night), the lizards’ dorsal skin becomes the lightest.

Ecology and behaviour.

This dragon is native to the semiarid woodland, arid woodland, and rocky desert regions of Central Australia. They are skilled climbers and often spend just as much time perching on tree limbs, fence posts, and in bushes as they do on the ground. They spend the morning and early evening sunning themselves on exposed branches or rocks, and retreat to shady areas or burrows during the hottest parts of the afternoon.  Bearded dragons do not vocalize, except to hiss softly when threatened. Instead, they communicate through colour displays, posture, and physical gestures, such as arm waving and head bobbing. Bearded dragons are not social animals, but will sometimes gather in groups, especially in popular feeding or basking areas. At these times, a distinct hierarchy will emerge: the highest-ranking animals will take the best – usually the highest or sunniest – basking spots, and all other individuals arrange themselves lower down. If a low-ranking animal tries to challenge one of the dominant dragons, the dominant animal will demonstrate its superiority by bobbing its head and inflating its beard, at which point the challenger may signal submission by waving one of its arms in a slow or fast circle. If the low-ranking dragon does not submit, it will return the head bob, and a standoff or fight may ensue.  The head bob gestures are:  The male will only wave to show submission to a dominant male, whereas the female will wave, followed by a slow head bob, to show she is ready to mate. Gravid females will often refuse the advances of a male by chasing him and lying on his back.  When under direct attack, the central bearded dragon opens its mouth to display its yellow membranes and extend its beard. It darkens the colour of its skin and flattens its body, and will hiss and make small jumps towards the attacker. Bearded dragons are not known to attack humans.  Adult male bearded dragons can bite more forcefully than adult females and this difference is associated with greater head dimensions.  Bearded dragons have been shown to be able to learn from watching the behaviour of conspecifics. An experiment demonstrated that after one individual was trained to open a door to reach a food item, most other bearded dragons watching this action were able to perform it as well.

Reproduction.

The age of sexual maturity has not been measured, although it is estimated to be about one or two years. Body size and growth rates are more important than age when determining sexual maturity in bearded dragons. Males will become very aggressive towards each other and will assert their dominance by inflating their beards and through fast head bobbing. Breeding typically occurs in the early spring. Females will lay a clutch of 11–30 oblong-shaped eggs in a shallow nest dug in the sand. After being laid, the eggs are buried and are left unattended. The eggs will hatch approximately 60 to 80 days later, depending on the incubation temperature. In captivity, they can be incubated in a styrofoam fish box, but without a male lizard, the female's eggs will not be fertile. However, a female bearded dragon can retain sperm, and thus produce fertile eggs even after being separated from a male.  Courtship involves the male "head bobbing" to display dominance. If the female displays submissive behaviour, the male will use his mouth to grab the back of the female's head and the male will also wrap his front legs around the female's upper torso to keep her from moving. Copulation and insemination are quick. The gestation period averages about a month and a half.

Thermally induced sex reversal.

A 2015 study showed that high-temperature incubation of eggs transforms genetically male individuals into functional females. Normally their sex is determined genetically. Males have ZZ sex chromosomes, females ZW. However, when their eggs are incubated at temperatures above 32 °C (90 °F) some genetic males are born female. These females are fertile, sometimes producing more eggs than the ZW females. As juveniles, the sex reversed ZZ females resemble ZZ males with respect to relative tail length and boldness. However, as adults sex-reversed ZZ females lack the larger head and greater bite force of ZZ males and more closely resemble ZW females.

Captive breeding.

Several of the "Pogona" genus are bred in captivity as pets; the two most popular are this species, "P. vitticeps", and the western bearded dragon ("Pogona minor minor"). The bulk of captive-bred bearded dragons today are thought to have originated from stock illegally exported from Australia during the 1970s.  Captives worldwide are threatened by Agamid adenovirus, a virus that compromises the immune system of the dragon, and leads to death from other diseases. However, the majority of the infections are subclinical. Subclinically infected animals show no symptoms, but are active carriers of the disease and will infect other bearded dragons.  When the female is ready to lay eggs, it will generally stop eating and spend most of its time trying to dig.

Pogona vitticeps, the central (or inland) bearded dragon, is a species of agamid lizard occurring in a wide range of arid to semiarid regions of Australia. This species is very popularly kept as a pet and exhibited in zoos.

Agama australská ("Pogona vitticeps") je denní ještěr z čeledi agamovitých, jiným názvem agama vousatá. Má žluté, světle hnědé až hnědočervené zbarvení (v zajetí se vyskytují variety od čistě bílé, žluté až po sytě červenou). Je převážně hmyzožravá, ale část jídelníčku tvoří i rostlinná strava. Agama, stejně jako hadi, svléká při růstu svou kůži. Ne však v celku, ale po jednotlivých částech těla (v různém časovém odstupu – hlava, ocas, tělo, končetiny). Dosahuje velikosti až 60 cm a dožívá se až 15 let. Pro svou klidnou povahu a vcelku nenáročnou péči (při dodržení několika málo podmínek) je oblíbeným domácím mazlíčkem.


Origins.

The Christian Flag was first conceived on September 26, 1897, at Brighton Chapel on Coney Island in Brooklyn, New York in the United States. The superintendent of a Sunday school, Charles C. Overton, gave an impromptu lecture to the gathered students, because the scheduled speaker had failed to arrive for the event. He gave a speech asking the students what a flag representing Christianity would look like. Overton thought about his improvised speech for many years afterward. In 1907, he and Ralph Diffendorfer, secretary of the Methodist Young People's Missionary Movement, designed and began promoting the flag. With regard to the Christian symbolism of the Christian Flag:  The ecumenical organization, Federal Council of Churches (now succeeded by the National Council of Churches and Christian Churches Together) adopted the flag on 23 January 1942; the Federal Council of Churches represented Baptist, Brethren, Eastern Orthodox, Episcopal, Methodist, Moravian, Lutheran, Oriental Orthodox, Polish National Catholic, Presbyterian, Quaker, and Reformed traditions, among others. The Christian Flag intentionally has no patent, as the designer dedicated the flag to all of Christendom. Fanny Crosby wrote the words to a hymn called "The Christian Flag" with music by R. Huntington Woodman. Like the flag, the hymn is free use. On the Sunday nearest 26 September 1997, the Christian Flag celebrated its one hundredth anniversary.

Usage.

Mainline Protestant denominations in the United States accepted the flag first, and by the 1980s many institutions had described policies for displaying it inside churches. The Federal Council of Churches recommended that if the Christian Flag is to be used alongside a national flag, that the Christian Flag should receive the place of honor. During World War II the flag was flown along with the U.S. flag in a number of Lutheran churches, many of them with German backgrounds, who wanted to show their solidarity with the United States during the war against Germany.  The Christian Flag spread outside North America with Christian missionaries. It can be seen today in or outside many Christian churches throughout the world, particularly in Latin America and in Africa. It has so far been adopted by some Protestant churches in Europe, Asia, and Africa as well.  The Christian Flag is not patented and therefore, "Anyone may manufacture it, and it may be used on all proper occasions."  In U.S. evangelical Christian schools, it is customary for the Christian flag to be displayed opposite the U.S. flag.  In Canada and the United States, accommodationists and separationists have entered impassioned debate on the legality of erecting the Christian Flag atop governmental buildings.

Pledge.

Some churches and organizations practice a "pledge of allegiance" or "affirmation of loyalty" to the Christian Flag, which is similar to the Pledge of Allegiance to the U.S. flag. The first pledge was written by Lynn Harold Hough, a Methodist minister who had heard Ralph Diffendorfer, secretary to the Methodist Young People's Missionary Movement, promoting the Christian flag at a rally. He wrote the following pledge:  Some more conservative evangelical, Lutheran, Adventist, and Baptist churches and schools may use an alternative version of the pledge:  Others use this version:

The Christian Flag is an ecumenical flag designed in the early 20th century to represent all of Christianity and Christendom. Since its adoption by the United States Federal Council of Churches in 1942, it has been used by many Christian traditions, including the Anglican, Baptist, Mennonite, Methodist, Moravian, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Quaker, Reformed, among others. Africa and the Americas are regions of the world where the flag remains popular. The flag has a white field, with a red Latin cross inside a blue canton. The shade of red on the cross symbolizes the blood that Jesus shed on Calvary. The blue represents the waters of baptism as well as the faithfulness of Jesus. The white represents Jesus' purity. The dimensions of the flag and canton have no official specifications.

Křesťanská vlajka je vlajka, která byla 26. září 1897 navržena v USA, aby reprezentovala celé křesťanstvo. V praxi je používána převážně protestantskými církvemi v Africe, Severní a Latinské Americe. Vlajka se skládá z bílého pole a červeného latinského kříže v modrém poli, umístěném v levém horním rohu. Její rozměry a poměry stran nemají žádná oficiální ustanovení.


Names.

The city has a number of other names, and some historical names are now used as names of districts of the city; among them there is the name Jiangning or Kiangning (), whose former character Jiang (, Yangtze) is the former part of the name Jiangsu and latter character Ning (, simplified form ) is the short name of Nanjing.

History.

Early history and foundation.

Archaeological discovery shows that "Nanjing Man" lived more than 500 thousand years ago. Zun, a kind of wine vessel, was found to exist in Beiyinyangying culture of Nanjing in about 5000 years ago. In the late period of Shang dynasty, Taibo of Zhou came to Jiangnan and established Wu state, and the first stop is in Nanjing area according to some historians based on discoveries in Taowu and Hushu culture. According to a legend quoted by an artist in Ming dynasty, Chen Yi, Fuchai, King of the State of Wu, founded a fort named Yecheng in

Capital of the Six Dynasties.

Nanjing first became a state capital in 229, when the state of Eastern Wu founded by Sun Quan during the Three Kingdoms period relocated its capital to Jianye (), the city extended on the basis of Jinling Yi in 211. Although conquered by the Western Jin dynasty in 280, Nanjing and its neighboring areas had been well cultivated, developing into one of the commercial, cultural and political centers of China during the Eastern Wu. This city would soon play a vital role in the following centuries.  Shortly after the unification of the region, the Western Jin dynasty collapsed. First the rebellions by eight Jin princes for the throne and later rebellions and invasion from Xiongnu and other nomadic peoples that destroyed the rule of the Jin dynasty in the north. In 317, remnants of

Destruction and revival.

The period of division ended when the Sui dynasty reunified China and almost destroyed the entire city, turning it into a small town. The city was razed after the Sui took it over. It was renamed Shengzhou () in the Tang dynasty and resuscitated during the late Tang.  It was chosen as the capital and called Jinling () during the Southern Tang (937–976), which succeeded the state of Yang Wu. It was renamed Jiangning () in the

Southern capital of Ming dynasty.

The first emperor of the Ming dynasty, Zhu Yuanzhang (the Hongwu Emperor), who overthrew the Yuan dynasty, renamed the city Yingtian (), rebuilt it, and made it the dynastic capital in 1368. He constructed a long city wall around Yingtian, as well as a new Ming Palace complex, and government halls. It took 200,000 laborers 21 years to finish the wall, which was intended to defend the city and its surrounding region from coastal pirates. The present-day City Wall of Nanjing was mainly built during that time and today it remains in good condition and has been well preserved. It is among the longest surviving city walls in China. The Jianwen Emperor ruled from 1398 to 1402.  It is believed that Nanjing was the largest city in the world from 1358 to 1425 with a population of 487,000 in 1400. In 1421, the Yongle Emperor relocated the capital to Beijing. The city began to be called the'southern capital' – Nanjing (), in comparison to the capital in the north. His successor, the Hongxi Emperor, wished to revert the

Qing dynasty and Taiping Rebellion.

Under the Qing dynasty (1644–1911), the Nanjing area was known as Jiangning and served as the seat of government for the Viceroy of Liangjiang. It was the site of a Qing Army garrison. It had been visited by the Kangxi and Qianlong emperors a number of times on their tours of the southern provinces. Nanjing was threatened to be invaded by British troops during the close of the First Opium War, which was ended by the Treaty of Nanking in 1842. As the capital of the brief-lived rebel Taiping Heavenly Kingdom in the mid-19th century, Nanjing was known as Tianjing (). The rebellion destroyed most of the former Ming imperial buildings in the city, including the Porcelain Tower of

Capital of the republic and Nanking Massacre.

The Xinhai Revolution led to the founding of the Republic of China in January 1912 with Sun Yat-sen as the first provisional president and Nanjing was selected as its new capital. However, the Qing Empire controlled large regions to the north, so revolutionaries asked Yuan Shikai to replace Sun as president in exchange for the abdication of Puyi, the last emperor. Yuan demanded the capital be Beijing (closer to his power base).  In 1927, the Kuomintang (KMT; Nationalist Party) under Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek again established Nanjing as the capital of the Republic of China, and this became internationally recognized once KMT forces took Beijing in 1928. The following decade is known as the Nanking decade. During this decade, Nanjing was of symbolic and strategic importance. The Ming dynasty had made Nanjing a capital, the republic had been established there in 1912, and Sun Yat-sen's provisional government had been there. Sun's body was brought and placed in a grand mausoleum to cement Chiang's legitimacy. Chiang was born in the neighboring province of Zhejiang and the general area had strong

Chinese Civil War and People's Republic.

On 21 April 1949, Communist forces crossed the Yangtze River. On April 23, the Communist People's Liberation Army (PLA) captured Nanjing. The KMT government retreated to Canton (Guangzhou) until October 15, Chongqing until November 25, and then Chengdu before retreating to the island of Taiwan on December 10 where Taipei was proclaimed

Geography.

Nanjing, with a total land area of, is situated in the heartland of the drainage area of the lower reaches of the Yangtze River, and in the Yangtze River Delta, one of the largest economic zones of China. The Yangtze River flows past the west side and then the north side of Nanjing City, while the Ningzheng Ridge surrounds the north, east and south sides of the city. The city is southeast of Luoyang, south-southeast of Beijing, west-northwest of Shanghai, and east-northeast of Chongqing. The Yangtze River flows downstream from Jiujiang, Jiangxi, through Anhui and Jiangsu to the East China Sea. The northern part of the lower Yangtze drainage basin is the Huai River basin and the southern part is the Zhe River basin; they are connected by the Grand Canal east of Nanjing. The area around Nanjing is called Xiajiang (, Downstream River) region, with Jianghuai dominant in the northern part and Jiangzhe dominant in the southern part. The region is also well known as Dongnan (, South East, the Southeast) and Jiangnan (, and River South, South of Yangtze).  Nanjing borders Yangzhou to the northeast (one town downstream when following the north bank of the Yangtze); Zhenjiang to the east (one town downstream when following the south bank of the Yangtze); and Changzhou to the southeast. On its western boundary is Anhui, where Nanjing borders five prefecture-level cities: Chuzhou to the northwest, Wuhu, Chaohu and Ma'anshan to the west and Xuancheng to the southwest.  Nanjing is at the intersection of the Yangtze River, an east–west water transport artery, and the Nanjing–Beijing railway, a north–south land transport artery, hence the name “door of the east and west, throat of the south and north”. Furthermore, the west part of the Ningzhen range is in Nanjing; the Loong-like Zhong Mountain curls round the east side of the city, while the tiger-like Stone Mountain crouches in the west of the city, hence the name “the Zhong Mountain, a dragon curling, and the Stone Mountain, a tiger crouching”.

Climate and environment.

Nanjing has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen "Cfa") and is influenced by the East Asian monsoon. The four seasons are distinct, with damp conditions seen throughout the year, very hot and muggy summers, cold, damp winters, and in between, spring and autumn are of reasonable length. Along with Chongqing and Wuhan, Nanjing is traditionally referred to as one of the "Three Furnaces" along the Yangtze River for the perennially high temperatures in the summertime. However, the time from mid-June to the end of July is the plum blossom blooming season in which the "meiyu" (rainy season of East Asia; literally "plum rain") occurs, during which the city experiences a period of mild rain as well as dampness. Typhoons are uncommon but possible in the late stages of summer and early part of autumn. The annual mean temperature is around, with the monthly 24-hour average temperature ranging from in January to in July. Extremes since 1951 have ranged from on 6 January 1955 to on 22 August 1959. On average precipitation falls 115 days out of the year, and

Environmental issues.

Air pollution in 2013.

A dense wave of smog began in the central and east parts of China on 2 December 2013 across a distance of around, including Tianjin, Hebei, Shandong, Jiangsu, Anhui, Shanghai and Zhejiang. A lack of cold air flow, combined with slow-moving air masses carrying industrial emissions, collected airborne pollutants to form a thick layer of smog over the region. The heavy smog heavily polluted central and southern Jiangsu Province, especially in and around Nanjing, with its AQI pollution Index at "severely polluted" for five straight days and "heavily polluted" for nine. On 3

Government.

At present, the full name of the government of Nanjing is "People's Government of Nanjing City" and the city is under the one-party rule of the CPC, with the CPC Nanjing Committee Secretary as the "de facto" governor of the city and the mayor as the executive head of the government working under the secretary.

Administrative divisions.

The sub-provincial city of

Demographics.

At the time of the 2010 census, the total population of the City of Nanjing was 8.005 million. The OECD estimated the encompassing metropolitan area at the time as 11.7 million. Official statistics in 2011 estimated the city's population to be 8.11 million. The birth rate was 8.86 percent and the death rate was 6.88 percent. The urban area had a population of

Economy.

Earlier development.

There was a massive cultivating in the area of Nanjing from the Three Kingdoms period to Southern dynasties. The sparse population led to land as royal rewards were granted for rules’ people. At first, the landless peasants benefited from it, then the senior officials and aristocratic families. Since large numbers of immigrants flooded into the area, reclamation was quite common in its remote parts, which promoted its agricultural development.  The craft industries, by contrast, had a faster growth. Especially the textiles section, there were about 200,000 craftsmen by the late Qing. Several dynasties established their imperial textiles bureaus in

Modern times.

Into the first half of the twentieth century after the establishment of ROC, Nanjing gradually shifted from being a production hub towards being a heavy consumption city, mainly because of the rapid expansion of its wealthy population after Nanjing once again regained the political spotlight of China. A number of huge department stores such as Zhongyang Shangchang sprouted up, attracting merchants from all over China to sell their products in Nanjing. In 1933, the revenue generated by the food and entertainment industry in the city exceeded the sum of the output of the manufacturing and agriculture industry. One third of the city population worked in the service industry,

Today.

The current economy of the city is basically newly developed based on the past. Service industries are dominating, accounting for about 60 percent of the GDP of the city, and financial industry, culture industry and tourism industry are top 3 of them. Industries of information technology, energy saving and environmental protection, new energy, smart power grid and intelligent equipment manufacturing have become pillar industries. Big civilian-run enterprise include Suning Commerce, Yurun, Sanpower, Fuzhong, Hiteker, 5stars, Jinpu, Tiandi, CTTQ Pharmaceutical, Nanjing Iron and Steel Company and Simcere Pharmaceutical. Big state-owned firms include Panda Electronics, Yangzi Petrochemical, Jinling Petrochemical, Nanjing Chemical, Jincheng Motors, Jinling Pharmaceutical, Chenguang and NARI. The city has also attracted foreign investment, multinational firms such as Siemens, Ericsson, Volkswagen, Iveco, A.O. Smith, and

Transport.

Nanjing is the transport hub in eastern China and the downstream Yangtze River area. Different means of transport constitute a three-dimensional transport system that includes land, water and air. As in most other Chinese cities, public transport is the dominant mode of travel for the majority of citizens. As from October 2014, Nanjing had four bridges and two tunnels over the Yangtze River, linking districts north of the river with the city center on the south bank.

Rail.

Nanjing is an important railway hub in eastern China. It serves as rail junction for the Beijing-Shanghai (Jinghu) (which is itself composed of the old Jinpu and Huning Railways), Nanjing–Tongling Railway (Ningtong), Nanjing–Qidong (Ningqi), and the Nanjing-Xi'an (Ningxi) which encompasses the Hefei–Nanjing Railway. Nanjing is connected to the national high-speed railway network by Beijing–Shanghai High-Speed Railway and Shanghai–Wuhan–Chengdu Passenger Dedicated Line, with several more high-speed rail lines under construction.  Among all 17 railway stations in Nanjing, passenger rail service

Road.

As an important regional hub in the Yangtze River Delta, Nanjing is well-connected by over 60 state and provincial highways to all parts of China.  Motorways such as Hu–Ning, Ning–He, Ning–Hang enable commuters to travel to Shanghai, Hefei, Hangzhou, and other important cities quickly and conveniently. Inside the city of Nanjing,

Public transport.

The city also boasts an efficient public transport network, which mainly consists of bus, taxi and metro systems. The bus network, which is currently run by three companies since 2011, provides more than 370 routes covering all parts of the city and suburban areas. At present, the

Air.

Nanjing's airport, Lukou International Airport, serves both national and international flights. In 2013, Nanjing airport handled 15,011,792 passengers and 255,788.6 tonnes of freight. The airport currently has 85 routes to national and international destinations, which include Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, United States and Germany. The airport is connected by a 29-kilometer (18 mi) highway directly to

Water.

The Port of Nanjing is the largest inland port in China, with annual cargo tonnage reached 191,970,000 t in 2012. The port area is in length and has 64 berths including 16 berths for ships with a tonnage of more than 10,000. Nanjing is also the biggest container port along the Yangtze River;

Yangtze River crossings.

In the 1960s, the first Nanjing Yangtze River Bridge was completed, and served as the only bridge crossing over the Lower Yangtze in eastern China at that time. The bridge was a source of pride and an important symbol of modern China, having been built and designed by the Chinese themselves following failed surveys by other nations and the reliance on and then rejection of Soviet expertise. Begun

Culture and art.

Being one of the four ancient capitals of China, Nanjing has always been a cultural center attracting intellectuals from all over the country. In the Tang and Song dynasties, Nanjing was a place where poets gathered and composed poems reminiscent of its luxurious past; during the Ming and Qing dynasties, the city was the official imperial examination center (Jiangnan Examination Hall) for the Jiangnan region, again acting as a hub where different thoughts and opinions converged and thrived.  Today, with a long cultural tradition and strong support from local educational institutions, Nanjing is commonly viewed as a "city of culture" and one of the more pleasant cities to live in China.

Art.

Some of the leading art groups of China are based in Nanjing; they include the Qianxian Dance Company, Nanjing Dance Company, Jiangsu Peking Opera Institute and Nanjing Xiaohonghua Art Company among others.  Jiangsu Province Kun Opera is one of the best theaters for Kunqu, China's oldest stage art. It is considered a

Festivals.

Many traditional festivals and customs were observed in the old times, which included climbing the City Wall on January 16, bathing in Qing Xi on March 3, hill hiking on September 9 and others (the dates are in Chinese lunar calendar). Almost none of them,

Libraries.

Nanjing Library, founded in 1907, houses more than 10 million volumes of printed materials and is the third largest library in China, after the National Library in Beijing and Shanghai Library.

Museums.

Nanjing has some of the oldest and finest museums in China. Nanjing Museum, formerly known as National Central Museum during ROC period, is the first modern museum and remains as one of the leading museums in China having 400,000 items in its permanent collection. The museum is notable for enormous collections of Ming and Qing imperial porcelain, which

Theater.

Most of Nanjing's major theaters are multi-purpose, used as convention halls, cinemas, musical halls and theaters on different occasions.

Night life.

Traditionally Nanjing's nightlife was mostly centered around Nanjing Fuzimiao (Confucius Temple) area along the Qinhuai River, where night markets, restaurants and pubs thrived. Boating at night in the river was a main attraction of the city. Thus, one can see the statues of the famous teachers and educators of the past not too far from those of the courtesans who educated the young men in the other arts.  In the past 20 years, several commercial

Food and symbolism.

The local cuisine in Nanjing is called Jinling cuisine () or Jingsu cuisine (京苏菜); it is part of Jiangsu province's cuisine. Jinling cuisine is famous for its meticulous process, emphasizing no added preservatives and its seasonality. Its duck and goose dishes are well known among Chinese for centuries. It also employs many different style of cooking methods, such as slow cooking, Chinese oven cooking, etc. Its dishes tend to be light and fresh, suitable for all. The restaurant specializing in Jinling cuisine is Ma Xiang Xing

Sports and stadiums.

Nanjing's planned 20,000 seat Youth Olympic Sports Park Gymnasium will be one of the venues for the 2019 FIBA Basketball World Cup. As a major Chinese city, Nanjing is home to many professional sports teams. Jiangsu Suning FC, the football club currently staying in Chinese Super League, is a long-term tenant of Nanjing Olympic Sports Center. Jiangsu Nangang Basketball Club is a competitive team which has long been one of the major clubs fighting for the title in China top level league, CBA. Jiangsu Volleyball men and women teams are also traditionally considered as at top level in China volleyball league.  There are two major sports centers in Nanjing, Wutaishan Sports Center and Nanjing Olympic Sports Center. Both of these two are comprehensive sports centers, including stadium, gymnasium, natatorium, tennis court, etc. Wutaishan Sports Center was established in 1952 and it was one of the oldest and most

Architecture.

The city is renowned for its wide variety of architectures which mainly contain buildings from multiple dynasties, the Republic of China, and the present.

Republic of China period.

Because it was designated as the national capital,

Education.

The educational center of southern China for more than 1,700 years, Nanjing has a large range of prestigious higher education institutions and research institutes and a large student population. Nanjing is ranked the 88th QS Best Student City in 2019. Nanjing University is considered to be one of the top national universities nationwide. According to the QS Higher Education top-ranking university, Nanjing University is ranked the seventh university in China, and 122nd overall in the world as of 2019. Southeast University is also among the most famous universities in China and is considered to be one of the best universities for Architecture and Engineering in China. Many universities in Nanjing have satellite campuses or have moved their main campus to Xianlin University City in the eastern suburb. Some of the other biggest national universities in Nanjing are: The educational center of southern China for more than 1,700 years, the city has a large range of prestigious higher education institutions and research institutes and a large student population. Private universities and colleges, such as Communication University of China, Nanjing and Hopkins-Nanjing Center are also located in the city.  Some notable high schools in Nanjing are: Nanjing Foreign Language School, High School Affiliated to Nanjing Normal University, Jinling High School, Nanjing No.1 High School, Nanjing Zhonghua High School, Caulfield Grammar School (Nanjing Campus).

Nanjing (), alternatively romanized as Nanking and Nankin, is the capital of Jiangsu province of the People's Republic of China and the second largest city in the East China region, with 11 districts, an administrative area of and a total population of 8,505,500.

Nanking (, česky Nan-ťing) je hlavní město čínské provincie Ťiang-su. Svou historií a kulturou patří mezi význačná čínská města. Během několika historických období sloužilo jako hlavní město Číny.


History.

Bar-Ilan University has Jewish-American roots: It was conceived in Atlanta in a meeting of the American Mizrahi organization in 1950, and was founded by Professor Pinkhos Churgin, an American Orthodox rabbi and educator, who was president from 1955 to 1957 where he was succeeded by Joseph H. Lookstein who was president from 1957 to 1967. When it was opened in 1955, it was described by The New York Times "as Cultural Link Between the [Israeli] Republic and America". The university was named for Rabbi Meir Bar-Ilan (originally "Meir Berlin"), a Religious Zionist leader who served as the inspiration for its establishment. Although he was trained in Orthodox seminaries in Berlin, he believed there was a need for an institution providing a dual curriculum of secular academic studies and religious Torah studies.  The founders of the university hoped to produce alumni committed to Jewish religious tradition, Zionist ideology, and science. In 1965, the professors and lecturers were all religious Jews, as were the majority of students. Yosef Burg, one of the prominent leaders of the religious Zionist movement, warned that admission of too many non-religious into the university could undermine its character: "If you spill too much water into a wine bottle, you will have no wine." Today, the student population includes secular and non-Jewish students, including Arabs. Seven courses in Jewish studies are required for graduation. In hiring senior academic staff, the university used to give preference to religious Jews, although this is no longer true, and the faculty includes many secular Jewish members, and also Arab faculty, such as Dr. Totry - Jubran Manal at the law faculty. Presidents who followed were Max Jammer (1967–77), Emanuel Rackman (1977–86), Michael Albeck (1986–89), Ernest Krausz (1989), Zvi Arad (1989–92), and Shlomo Eckstein (1992-96).  Yitzhak Rabin's convicted assassin, Yigal Amir, was a student of law and computer science at Bar-Ilan, prompting charges that the university had become a hotbed of political extremism. One of the steps taken by the university following the 1995 assassination was to encourage dialogue between left-wing and right-wing students.  Under university president Moshe Kaveh (1996-2013), Bar-Ilan underwent a major expansion, with new buildings added on the northern side of the campus. New science programs have been introduced, including an multidisciplinary brain research center and a center for nanotechnology. The university has placed archaeology as one of its priorities, and this includes excavations such as the Tell es-Safi/Gath archaeological excavations and the recently opened Bar-Ilan University/Weizmann Institute of Science joint program in Archaeological Sciences.  Bar-Ilan's Faculty of Law made headlines in 2008 by achieving the highest average Israeli Bar Exam grade of 81.9 by its graduates. Daniel Hershkowitz was university President from 2013 to 2017.  During Operation Protective Edge in 2014, the university allowed 30 of Dr. Uri Weiss’ students to switch out of his course after they accused him of being an extreme leftist and said they didn’t want to study with him.  In 2016, the university became the center of controversy over women's rights. The university announced it would allow women to read passages of text and play musical instruments at its Holocaust Remembrance Day, but would bar women from singing in order not to offend Orthodox Jewish males. Other organizations, such as Ne'emanei Torah V'Avodah, protested that it is an Israeli custom to sing at national ceremonies, and that "extreme" Jewish religious law should not be imposed on the general public.  Bar-Ilan operates a kollel for men and a midrasha for women. The kollel offers traditional yeshiva studies with an emphasis on Talmud, while the midrasha offers courses in Torah and Jewish philosophy. These programs are open to all students free of charge.  Arie Zaban became the President of the university in 2017.

Academics.

Bar-Ilan University has eight faculties: Exact Sciences, Life Sciences, Social Sciences, Humanities, Jewish Studies, Medicine, Engineering, and Law. There are also interdisciplinary studies.

Programs of study.

The center's mission is to cultivate a new generation of interdisciplinary scientists who integrate knowledge from different fields. The center offers several graduate level tracks, including a direct Ph.D. program, an M.Sc. program, and a combined program. Candidates are accepted from a variety of backgrounds, including biology, psychology, mathematics, physics, and computer science. Accepted students are exempt from tuition and receive a full scholarship during the course of their studies, allowing to fully concentrate on the research.  The Ph.D. training program builds on six single-semester required core courses, a set of preparatory courses, and a variety of elective courses. Students have to complete 8 credits in advanced courses. Additionally, students participate in a number of multidisciplinary activities including a weekly research seminar and two hands-on short-term research projects. Several advanced optional courses are available, allowing students to specialize in one of the three sub-fields:  1. Computational Neuroscience  2. Neurobiology and Behavior  3. Language and Cognition  The center also offers an undergraduate interdisciplinary program in neuroscience, providing a solid knowledge base in wide range of neuroscience related disciplines, such as life sciences, psychology, linguistics, mathematics and computer sciences, and physics, with a specialization in the field of choice.  The center takes part in the summer science research internship program, where undergraduate science majors from American universities perform research internships in Bar-Ilan labs under the mentorship of faculty members.

Special programs.

Bar-Ilan offers an International B.A. Program, taught entirely in English, and is the first university in Israel to offer a full undergraduate program taught entirely in English. Currently students can choose between a B.A. degree in interdisciplinary social sciences, where students can choose between a macro track in economics, political sciences, and sociology, or the Micro Track in Criminology, Psychology, and Sociology, or a major in communications, with a minor in either English literature or political science. The degrees are internationally recognized and are open to students from all over the world.  In addition, Bar-Ilan offers a preparatory program that readies new immigrants for Israeli colleges. The university also runs a one-year overseas program called Tochnit Torah Im Derech Eretz, which combines traditional kollel Torah studies in the morning, separate for men and women, as well as co-ed general university studies and Jewish history classes in the afternoon. Many American students enrolled in regular programs of study in the university also take these Jewish history classes to fulfill their Jewish studies requirements.

Awards and recognition.

Bar-Ilan's on-line responsa project was awarded the Israel Prize in 2007. The university's Bible project, in danger of being eliminated by continued budget cuts, was saved at the last minute by an anonymous donor.  In its capacity as a business school, Bar-Ilan was placed as the 4th best business school in Africa and the Middle East in the 2010 QS Global 200 Business Schools Report.

Leslie and Susan Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center.

The Leslie and Susan Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center (Hebrew: המרכז הרב תחומי לחקר המוח ע′′ש לסלי וסוזן גונדה) focuses on a multidisciplinary approach to neuroscience. It houses over 30 laboratories investigating brain complexity at multiple levels, from single neurons, through information processing and computations in neural networks to cognition, behavior and human mind. The center's core members and affiliates combine multiple fields that are crucial for brain understanding, including molecular and systems neuroscience, cognitive neuroscience, psychology, psychiatry, linguistics, mathematics, computer sciences, engineering and physics. Numerous research approaches are employed by the center's scientists, such as brain stimulation techniques, neuroimaging, electrophysiology, molecular techniques, computational methods, mathematical modeling and behavioral and cognitive paradigms. The center was founded in 2002 thanks to the contributions of the Gonda family, the president of Bar-Ilan University Moshe Kaveh, and Moshe Abeles, a pioneer of Israel's neuroscience research, Emet Prize laureate (2004) and the founding director of the Interdisciplinary Center for Neural Computation at the Hebrew University (1992–1999), has led the Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center for nearly a decade. Since 2011, the center is headed by Moshe Bar, a cognitive neuroscientist and an expert in brain imaging technologies. Bar returned to Israel to head the Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center as its new director after thirteen years at Harvard University.

Magnetoencephalography.

The Gonda Multidisciplinary Brain Research Center hosts the only magnetoencephalography facility in Israel, operated by the Electromagnetic Brain Imaging Unit established in 2008. Magnetoencephalography is a brain imaging technique that allows studying human brain responses by measuring the magnetic fields produced by electrical brain activity at superb (millisecond) temporal resolution. The unit is headed by Professor Abraham Goldstein. It is equipped with a 248 magnetometer sensors whole-head system, positioned inside a double-wall magnetically shielded room by IMEDCO. Once a week, magnetoencephalography is dedicated to serving the community by providing clinical and diagnostic services, such as localization of epileptic foci, via BrainMap.

Bar-Ilan University (BIU,, "Universitat Bar-Ilan") is a public research university in the city of Ramat Gan in the Tel Aviv District, Israel. Established in 1955, Bar Ilan is Israel's second-largest academic institution. It has 18,000 students and 1,350 faculty members.

Bar-Ilanova univerzita (BIU) (: אוניברסיטת בר-אילן) je izraelská univerzita ve městě Ramat Gan v Izraeli. Byla založena v roce 1955 a k roku 2009 je druhou největší izraelskou akademickou institucí. Ke stejnému roku na univerzitě studovalo 30 700 studentů (včetně 6300 studentů, kteří studovali na detašovaných pracovištích v regionech – Aškelon, Safed, Akko a Jordánské údolí) a pracovalo 1350 akademických pracovníků a 1000 technicko-administrativních zaměstnanců. Bar-Ilanova univerzita má celkem šest fakult: exaktních věd, přírodních věd, sociálních věd, humanitních věd, židovských studií a právnickou fakultu, které se dále dělí do 46 kateder.