Applications.

Military Target Tracking.

Multispectral imaging measures light emission and is often used in detecting or tracking military targets. In 2003, researchers at the United States Army Research Laboratory and the Federal Laboratory Collaborative Technology Alliance reported a dual band multispectral imaging focal plane array (FPA). This FPA allowed researchers to look at two infrared (IR) planes at the same time. Because mid-wave infrared (MWIR) and long wave infrared (LWIR) technologies measure radiation inherent to the object and require no external light source, they also are referred to as thermal imaging methods.  The brightness of the image produced by a thermal imager depends on the objects emissivity and temperature. Every material has an infrared signature that aids in the identification of the object. These signatures are less pronounced in hyperspectral systems (which image in many more bands than multispectral systems) and when exposed to wind and, more dramatically, to rain. Sometimes the surface of the target may reflect infrared energy. This reflection may misconstrue the true reading of the objects’ inherent radiation. Imaging systems that use MWIR technology function better with solar reflections on the target's surface and produce more definitive images of hot objects, such as engines, compared to LWIR technology. However, LWIR operates better in hazy environments like smoke or fog because less scattering occurs in the longer wavelengths. Researchers claim that dual-band technologies combine these advantages to provide more information from an image, particularly in the realm of target tracking.  For nighttime target detection, thermal imaging outperformed single-band multispectral imaging. Citation. Dual band MWIR and LWIR technology resulted in better visualization during the nighttime than MWIR alone. Citation Citation. The US Army reports that its dual band LWIR/MWIR FPA demonstrated better visualizing of tactical vehicles than MWIR alone after tracking them through both day and night.

Land Mine Detection.

By analyzing the emissivity of ground surfaces, multispectral imaging can detect the presence of underground missiles. Surface and sub-surface soil possess different physical and chemical properties that appear in spectral analysis. Disturbed soil has increased emissivity in the wavelength range of 8.5 to 9.5 micrometers while demonstrating no change in wavelengths greater than 10 micrometers. The US Army Research Laboratory's dual MWIR/LWIR FPA used "red" and "blue" detectors to search for areas with enhanced emissivity. The red detector acts as a backdrop, verifying realms of undisturbed soil areas, as it is sensitive to the 10.4 micrometer wavelength. The blue detector is sensitive to wavelengths of 9.3 micrometers. If the intensity of the blue image changes when scanning, that region is likely disturbed"." The scientists reported that fusing these two images increased detection capabilities.

Ballistic Missile Detection.

Intercepting an intercontinental ballistic missile (ICBM) in its boost phase requires imaging of the hard body as well as the rocket plumes. MWIR presents a strong signal from highly heated objects including rocket plumes, while LWIR produces emissions from the missile's body material. The US Army Research Laboratory reported that with their dual-band MWIR/LWIR technology, tracking of the Atlas 5 Evolved Expendable Launch Vehicles, similar in design to ICBMs, picked up both the missile body and plumage.

Space-based imaging.

Most radiometers for remote sensing (RS) acquire multispectral images. Dividing the spectrum into many bands, multispectral is the opposite of panchromatic, which records only the total intensity of radiation falling on each pixel. Usually, Earth observation satellites have three or more radiometers. Each acquires one digital image (in remote sensing, called a'scene') in a small spectral band. The bands are grouped into wavelength regions based on the origin of the light and the interests of the researchers.

Weather Forecasting.

Modern weather satellites produce imagery in a variety of spectra.  In the case of Landsat satellites, several different band designations have been used, with as many as 11 bands (Landsat 8) comprising a multispectral image. Spectral imaging with a higher radiometric resolution (involving hundreds or thousands of bands), finer spectral resolution (involving smaller bands), or wider spectral coverage may be called hyperspectral or ultraspectral.

Documents and artworks.

The technology has also assisted in the interpretation of ancient papyri, such as those found at Herculaneum, by imaging the fragments in the infrared range (1000 nm). Often, the text on the documents appears to the naked eye as black ink on black paper. At 1000 nm, the difference in how paper and ink reflect infrared light makes the text clearly readable. It has also been used to image the Archimedes palimpsest by imaging the parchment leaves in bandwidths from 365–870 nm, and then using advanced digital image processing techniques to reveal the undertext with Archimedes' work. Multispectral imaging has been used in a Mellon Foundation project at Yale University to compare inks in medieval English manuscripts.  Multispectral imaging can be employed for investigation of paintings and other works of art. The painting is irradiated by ultraviolet, visible and infrared rays and the reflected radiation is recorded in a camera sensitive in this regions of the spectrum. The image can also be registered using the transmitted instead of reflected radiation. In special cases the painting can be irradiated by UV, VIS or IR rays and the fluorescence of pigments or varnishes can be registered.  Multispectral imaging has also been used to examine discolorations and stains on old books and manuscripts. Comparing the "spectral fingerprint" of a stain to the characteristics of known chemical substances can make it possible to identify the stain. This technique has been used to examine medical and alchemical texts, seeking hints about the activities of early chemists and the possible chemical substances they may have used in their experiments. Like a cook spilling flour or vinegar on a cookbook, an early chemist might have left tangible evidence on the pages of the ingredients used to make medicines.

Spectral bands.

The wavelengths are approximate; exact values depend on the particular satellite's instruments:

Spectral band usage.

For different purposes, different combinations of spectral bands can be used. They are usually represented with red, green, and blue channels. Mapping of bands to colors depends on the purpose of the image and the personal preferences of the analysts. Thermal infrared is often omitted from consideration due to poor spatial resolution, except for special purposes. Many other combinations are in use. NIR is often shown as red, causing vegetation-covered areas to appear red.

Classification.

Unlike other Aerial photographic and satellite image interpretation work, these multispectral images do not make it easy to identify directly the feature type by visual inspection. Hence the remote sensing data has to be classified first, followed by processing by various data enhancement techniques so as to help the user to understand the features that are present in the image.  Such classification is a complex task which involves rigorous validation of the training samples depending on the classification algorithm used. The techniques can be grouped mainly into two types.  Supervised classification makes use of training samples. Training samples are areas on the ground for which there is Ground truth, that is, what is there is known. The spectral signatures of the training areas are used to search for similar signatures in the remaining pixels of the image, and we will classify accordingly. This use of training samples for classification is called supervised classification. Expert knowledge is very important in this method since the selection of the training samples and a biased selection can badly affect the accuracy of classification. Popular techniques include the Maximum likelihood principle and Convolutional neural network. The Maximum likelihood principle calculates the probability of a pixel belonging to a class (i.e. feature) and allots the pixel to its most probable class. Newer Convolutional neural network based methods account for both spatial proximity and entire spectra to determine the most likely class.  In case of unsupervised classification no prior knowledge is required for classifying the features of the image. The natural clustering or grouping of the pixel values, i.e. the gray levels of the pixels, are observed. Then a threshold is defined for adopting the number of classes in the image. The finer the threshold value, the more classes there will be. However, beyond a certain limit the same class will be represented in different classes in the sense that variation in the class is represented. After forming the clusters, ground truth validation is done to identify the class the image pixel belongs to. Thus in this unsupervised classification apriori information about the classes is not required. One of the popular methods in unsupervised classification is k-means clustering.

A multispectral image is one that captures image data within specific wavelength ranges across the electromagnetic spectrum. The wavelengths may be separated by filters or detected via the use of instruments that are sensitive to particular wavelengths, including light from frequencies beyond the visible light range, i.e. infrared and ultra-violet. Spectral imaging can allow extraction of additional information the human eye fails to capture with its visible receptors for red, green and blue. It was originally developed for military target identification and reconnaissance. Early space-based imaging platforms incorporated multispectral imaging technology to map details of the Earth related to coastal boundaries, vegetation, and landforms. Multispectral imaging has also found use in document and painting analysis.

multispektrální snímkování () je metoda, při které se měří množství elektromagnetického záření vyzařovaného nebo odraženého zemským povrchem. Zdrojem záření je každý objekt, který má větší teplotu než 0° K. Takový objekt na zemském povrchu má určité fyzikální vlastnosti, které ovlivňují odrážené elektromagnetické záření, jehož primárním zdrojem je slunce.


History.

The building of the observatory traces to 1969, with the start of the Northern Hemisphere Observatory project. After ten years of research on the site there is big international agreement with several nations to establish an international Observatory at La Palma. The observatory began operation around 1984 with the Isaac Newton Telescope, which was moved to La Palma from the Royal Greenwich Observatory site at Herstmonceux Castle in Sussex, England. The move was troubled, and it is widely recognized that it would have been cheaper to build a new telescope on-site rather than to move an existing one.  The observatory was first staffed by representatives from Spain, Sweden, Denmark and the United Kingdom. Other countries which became involved later include Germany, Italy, Norway, the Netherlands, Finland, Iceland, and the United States.  The observatory was officially inaugurated on June 29, 1985, by the Spanish royal family and six European heads of state. Four helicopter pads were built at the observatory to allow the dignitaries to arrive in comfort. The observatory has expanded considerably over time, with the 4.2m William Herschel Telescope opened in 1987, the Nordic Optical Telescope in 1988 and several smaller solar or specialized telescopes; the Galileo National Telescope opened in 1998 and the Gran Telescopio Canarias opened in 2006, with its full aperture in 2009.  A fire on the mountainside in 1997 damaged one of the gamma-ray telescopes, but subsequent fires in September 2005 and August 2009 did no serious damage to buildings or telescopes.  In 2016, the Instituto de Astrofisica de Canarias and Cherenkov Telescope Array Observatory signed an agreement to host Cherenkov Telescope Array’s northern hemisphere array at the ORM.  In 2016, the observatory was announced as the second-choice location for the Thirty Meter Telescope, in the event that the Mauna Kea site is not feasible.

Telescopes/observatories.

The Spanish island is host to the premiere collection of telescopes and observatories from around the World, for the northern hemisphere excluding the Hawaiian islands which has a different mix of telescopes. However, even the southern hemisphere there is no equal to the 10.4 meter Grand Telescope Canarias, which has the largest single aperture for an astronomical observatory in the World.

Roque de los Muchachos Observatory (Spanish: "Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos", ORM) is an astronomical observatory located in the municipality of Garafía on the island of La Palma in the Canary Islands. The observatory site is operated by the Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias, based on nearby Tenerife. ORM is part of the European Northern Observatory.

Observatoř Roque de los Muchachos (španělsky: "Observatorio del Roque de los Muchachos", ORM) je astronomická observatoř umístěná na ostrově La Palma na Kanárských ostrovech. Nachází se u vrcholu hory Roque de los Muchachos a je zde postaveno více než deset významných dalekohledů. Řídí ji Instituto de Astrofísica de Canarias sídlící na vedlejším ostrově Tenerife.


Relation to other graph families.

Claws are notable in the definition of claw-free graphs, graphs that do not have any claw as an induced subgraph. They are also one of the exceptional cases of the Whitney graph isomorphism theorem: in general, graphs with isomorphic line graphs are themselves isomorphic, with the exception of the claw and the triangle "K".  A star is a special kind of tree. As with any tree, stars may be encoded by a Prüfer sequence; the Prüfer sequence for a star "K" consists of "k" − 1 copies of the center vertex.  Several graph invariants are defined in terms of stars. Star arboricity is the minimum number of forests that a graph can be partitioned into such that each tree in each forest is a star, and the star chromatic number of a graph is the minimum number of colors needed to color its vertices in such a way that every two color classes together form a subgraph in which all connected components are stars. The graphs of branchwidth 1 are exactly the graphs in which each connected component is a star.

Other applications.

The set of distances between the vertices of a claw provides an example of a finite metric space that cannot be embedded isometrically into a Euclidean space of any dimension.  The star network, a computer network modeled after the star graph, is important in distributed computing.  A geometric realization of the star graph, formed by identifying the edges with intervals of some fixed length, is used as a local model of curves in tropical geometry. A tropical curve is defined to be a metric space that is locally isomorphic to a star shaped metric graph.

In graph theory, a star "S" is the complete bipartite graph "K": a tree with one internal node and "k" leaves (but, no internal nodes and "k" + 1 leaves when "k" ≤ 1). Alternatively, some authors define "S" to be the tree of order "k" with maximum diameter 2; in which case a star of "k" > 2 has "k" − 1 leaves.

Hvězda je v teorii grafů označení takových grafů, které mají jednoduchou podobu jediného centrálního vrcholu a na něj napojených listů. Jedná se tedy zároveň o strom a zároveň o úplný bipartitní graf. Hvězda o formula_1 listech bývá značena buď jako bipartitní graf formula_2, nebo je pro ni používána zvláštní značka formula_3.


In the Bible.

Menahem's ten-year reign is told in. When Shallum conspired against and assassinated Zechariah in Samaria, and set himself upon the throne of the northern kingdom, Menahem - who, like Shallum, had served as a captain in Zechariah's army - refused to recognize the murderous usurper. Menahem marched from Tirzah to Samaria, about six miles westwards and laid siege to Samaria. He took the city, murdered Shallum a month into his reign (), and set himself upon the throne. () According to Josephus, he was a general of the army of Israel.  He brutally suppressed a revolt at Tiphsah. He destroyed the city and put all its inhabitants to death, even ripping open the pregnant women. () The Prophet Hosea describes the drunkenness and debauchery implied in the words "he departed not from the sins of Jeroboam." ( and )  The author of the "Books of Kings" describes his rule as one of cruelty and oppression. The author is apparently synopsizing the "annals of the Kings of Israel", () and gives scant details of Menahem's reign.

Chronology.

Menahem became king of Israel in the thirty-ninth year of the reign of Azariah, king of Judah, and reigned for ten years. () According to the chronology of Kautsch, he ruled from 743 BC; according to Schrader, from 745 to 736 BC. William F. Albright has dated his reign from 745 to 738 BC, while E. R. Thiele offers the dates 752 – 742 BC.  Menahem seems to have died a natural death, and was succeeded by his son Pekahiah.

Tributary of Assyria.

Tiglath-Pileser III of Assyria began his reign in 745 BC three years before Menahem became king of Israel.  During Menahem's reign, the Assyrians first entered the kingdom of Israel, and had also invaded Aram Damascus to the north-east: "And Pul, king of the Assyrians, came into the land". () The Assyrians may have been invited into Israel by the Assyrian party. Hosea speaks of the two anti-Israelite parties, the Egyptian and Assyrian. ()  To maintain independence, Menahem was forced to pay a tribute of a thousand talents of silver () - which is about 37 tons (about 34 metric tons) of silver. It is now generally accepted that Pul referred to in is Tiglath-Pileser III of the cuneiform inscriptions. Pul was probably his personal name and the one that first reached Israel. Tiglath-Pileser records this tribute in one of his inscriptions ("ANET 283"). To pay the tribute, Menahem exacted fifty shekels of silver - about 1 pounds or 0.6 kg - from all the mighty men of wealth of the kingdom. () To collect this amount, there would have had to be at the time some 60,000 "that were mighty and rich" in the kingdom. After receiving the tribute, Tiglath-Pileser returned to Assyria. However, from that time the kingdom of Israel was a tributary of Assyria; and when Pekah some ten years later refused to pay any more tribute, it started a sequence of events which led to the destruction of the kingdom and the deportation of its population.

Menahem or Menachem (, from a Hebrew word meaning "the consoler" or "comforter"; ; Greek: "Manaem" in the Septuagint, "Manaen" in Aquila; ; full name:, "Menahem son of Gadi") was the sixteenth king of the northern Israelite Kingdom of Israel. He was the son of Gadi, and the founder of the dynasty known as the House of Gadi or House of Menahem. Some have speculated that Gadi was a scion of the tribe of Gad.

Menachém (hebrejsky:, "Menachem"), v českých překladech Bible přepisováno též jako Manahem, byl v pořadí šestnáctým králem Severního izraelského království. Jeho jméno se vykládá jako "„Utěšitel“". Dle názoru moderních historiků a archeologů vládl asi v letech 747 až 737 př. n. l. Podle kroniky Davida Ganse by však jeho kralování mělo spadat do let 3154–3164 od stvoření světa neboli do rozmezí let 608–597 před naším letopočtem, což odpovídá 10 letům vlády, jak je uvedeno v Druhé knize králů.


Biography.

Portnova was born in Leningrad on February 20, 1926. She was the daughter of a working-class Belarusian family. Her father worked at the Kirov Plant. She was a seventh-grade student at the 385th school in Leningrad in 1941, when she left for her grandmother's house in the Vitebsk region. Not long afterwards, Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. An incident with the invading Nazi troops, who hit her grandmother while they were confiscating the cattle, led her to hate the Germans.  In 1942 Portnova joined the Belarusian resistance movement, becoming a member of the local underground Komsomol organization in Obol, Vitebsk Voblast, named Young Avengers. She began by distributing Soviet propaganda leaflets in the German-occupied Belarus, collecting and hiding weapons for Soviet soldiers, and reporting on German troop movements. After learning how to use weapons and explosives from the older members of the group, Portnova participated in sabotage actions at a pump, local power plant, and brick factory. These acts are estimated to have killed upwards of 100 German soldiers.  In 1943, Portnova became employed as a kitchen aide in Obol. In August, she poisoned the food meant for the Nazi garrison stationed there. Immediately falling suspect, she said she was innocent and ate some of the food in front of the Nazis to prove it was not poisoned; after she did not fall ill immediately, they released her. Portnova became sick afterwards, vomiting heavily but eventually recovering from the poison after drinking much whey. After she did not return to work, the Germans realized she had been the culprit and started searching for her. To avoid the Germans, she became a scout of the partisan unit named after Kliment Voroshilov. In a letter sent to her parents that month, she wrote that she is "in partisan unit, beating the Nazis". In October 1943, Portnova joined the VLKSM.  In December 1943 or January 1944 Portnova was sent back to Obol to infiltrate the garrison, discover the reason for the recent Young Avengers failures, then locate and contact the remaining members. She was quickly captured. Reports of her escape vary. One is that, during Gestapo interrogation in the village of Goriany, she took the investigator's pistol off the table, then shot and killed him. When two German soldiers entered after hearing the gunshots, she shot them as well. She then attempted to escape the compound and ran into the woods, where she was caught near the banks of a river.  Another version is that the Gestapo interrogator, in a fit of rage, threw his pistol to the table after threatening to shoot her. Taking the pistol, Portnova shot him. Escaping through the door, she shot a guard in the corridor, then another in the courtyard. After the pistol misfired when Portnova attempted to shoot a guard blocking her access to the street, she was captured.  After being recaptured, Portnova was tortured, possibly for information. She was later driven into the forest and executed or killed during torture on 15 January 1944.

Legacy.

On 1 July 1958, Portnova was posthumously declared a Hero of the Soviet Union by the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet. She also received the Order of Lenin. In 1969, the village of Zuya dedicated a commemorative plaque in her honour. She also had numerous Young Pioneer groups named in her honour.  Portnova has had many school teams and groups named after her, as well the museum to the Komsomol, situated on the highway between Polotsk and Vitebsk, and a school in St. Petersburg. There are two monuments to her, a bust in Minsk and an obelisk in the village of Obol.

Zinaida Martynovna Portnova (; 20 February 1926 – 15 January 1944) was a Soviet teenager, partisan and posthumous Hero of the Soviet Union.

Zinaida Martynovna Portnová, většinou známá jako Zina Portnová (20. února 1926 Petrohrad – 15. ledna 1944 Polock), byla ruská teenagerka, sovětská partyzánka a hrdina Sovětského svazu. Proslavila tím, že zabila více než 100 nacistů jedem. Později byla zrazena a zajata, následně údajně zastřelena nacisty.


Plot.

In 2028, Earth is suffering from a global energy crisis. The space agencies of the world prepare to test the Shepard particle accelerator aboard the orbiting Cloverfield Station, which would provide Earth with infinite energy, while conspiracy theorists fear it will create the "Cloverfield Paradox", opening portals to parallel universes allowing their horrors to threaten Earth. Among the crew is Ava Hamilton, a British engineer who frets about leaving her husband Michael potentially for years, as their relationship struggles since the loss of their children to a house fire. The crew is rounded out by American commander Kiel, German physicist Ernst Schmidt, Brazilian medical doctor Monk Acosta, Irish engineer Mundy, Russian engineer Volkov, and Chinese engineer Tam.  After about two years of unsuccessful attempts to activate Shepard, the crew achieves a seemingly stable beam, but it overloads and creates a power surge on the station. After restoring basic power, they find Earth has vanished from view, and the gyroscope that aids in the station's navigation is missing. As the crew works on repairs, strange events begin to occur, including the discovery (and subsequent rescue) of an unfamiliar woman called Mina Jensen fused with wires inside a wall. Volkov's eyeballs begin moving of their own accord; he begins conversing with his own reflection in a mirror and is compelled to craft a gun using an on-board 3D printer. He uses the gun to threaten the crew, but as he does so he convulses and dies, and the station's worm colony bursts out of him. Jensen tells Hamilton not to trust Schmidt, who turns out to be a spy sent by the German government to keep Shepard shut down. Mundy's arm gets pulled into a solid wall and is severed clean off, without bleeding or pain. They find the arm roaming of its own volition. When they recognize it is trying to write something, it instructs them to "cut Volkov open". Once they do, they find the missing gyroscope. They finally locate Earth and begin restoring their communications, but transmissions state the station was destroyed and fell to Earth two days prior.  The crew determine the particle beam overload has activated the Cloverfield Paradox, and in doing so, moved the station to a parallel universe in which Jensen replaced Tam as the station's engineer, Schmidt is a spy, and Hamilton, (though still working on the mission), has remained on Earth, where her children are still alive. Believing the Paradox can be reversed and they can return to their own universe if they reactivate the Shepard, the crew sets out to make repairs. Tam is trapped in a chamber that floods with water and explodes into space, killing her. Meanwhile, Hamilton decides to return to parallel Earth with Jensen in order to prevent the fire that killed her children. As they prepare, Mundy is killed in an explosion caused by a strange magnetic field, destabilizing part of the Shepard and threatening to tear the whole station apart. Kiel sacrifices himself to save the station, leaving Hamilton in charge.  On Earth, Michael has woken up to discover a wave of destruction ravaging the planet, witnessing the silhouette of a giant monster in the distance. On his way to offer assistance at the local hospital, he stops to help a young girl named Molly at a dockyard. After learning the hospital was destroyed, he takes her to the underground shelter of a friend and tends to her wounds.  With Shepard ready to activate again, Hamilton prepares to leave with Jensen, but Jensen suddenly knocks her out. Jensen kills Monk with Volkov's gun, wounds Schmidt, and insists the station must stay in her universe to keep Shepard there. Regaining consciousness, Hamilton uses the gun to shoot out a window, ejecting Jensen into space. Hamilton decides to return to their universe with Schmidt and makes a recording for her alternate universe self, giving her the plans for Shepard and stressing the importance of her family. Hamilton and Schmidt reverse the universe shift and use Tam's modifications to finally make Shepard work. After reporting in, the two eject themselves in an evacuation capsule towards Earth.  Michael learns from mission control of the station's reappearance and his wife's return to Earth, but he lambasts them for not warning her not to return to Earth in light of the ongoing situation. As the capsule re-enters the Earth's atmosphere, a giant monster bursts through turbulent clouds, letting out a loud roar as the screen cuts to black.  Additionally, Donal Logue cameos as Mark Stambler, a conspiracy theorist discussing the "Cloverfield Paradox", the brother of Howard Stambler who was the conspiracy theorist portrayed by John Goodman in "10 Cloverfield Lane". Suzanne Cryer, who appeared as Leslie in "10 Cloverfield Lane", also appears in a brief cameo role as a newscaster who interviews Stambler. Simon Pegg and Greg Grunberg, both of whom have frequently worked with Abrams on other films and television series, provide vocal cameos as Radio Voice and Joe, respectively. Oyelowo and Logue previously portrayed Kiel and Stambler in the film's ARG campaign.

Production.

Pre-production.

The film was announced in November 2012, under the title "God Particle", based on a script by Oren Uziel and to be directed by Julius Onah. With J.J. Abrams' Bad Robot Productions as the production studio, it was set to be released under Paramount's InSurge label, limiting the film's budget to $5–10 million. At this stage, the film was established to take place on a space station in Earth's orbit and a resulting incident that causes the crew to find Earth has gone missing. Uziel said that his script had been a spec script he wrote about one year after finishing up a similar spec script for "Shimmer Lake". The pick-up of the film occurred around the same time that Paramount and Bad Robot bought the rights to the spec script "The Cellar" by Josh Campbell and Matt Stuecken, which ultimately was reworked during production to become "10 Cloverfield Lane" (2016), adding in elements to tie that script to the first "Cloverfield" film; however, when Uziel wrote his screenplay for "God Particle" it had not been attached to "Cloverfield". When Bad Robot acquired the script, J. J. Abrams had already put some thought for how it could fit into "Cloverfield" but had not come up with a way prior to filming. Abrams liked that with the script, "how something in the future could be an origin for something in the past" to establish origin stories for the other "Cloverfield" works. Abrams said that the script had "the DNA" that made it a potential "Cloverfield" film, and was looking for it to be a spiritual sequel to the original.  In March 2015, Paramount decided to close the InSurge label; "The Cellar" had been moved under the main Paramount label, but "God Particle"s fate was unclear. By February 2016, Paramount confirmed it would release the film under its own label, with a planned February 2017 release date.

Casting.

In March 2016, Gugu Mbatha-Raw and David Oyelowo were confirmed to be cast in the film.<ref name="/Film Cast"></ref> In April, "Variety" reported that John Krasinski was in early talks to join the film to play one of the astronauts, but had a possible conflict due to a commitment with a television series. In May, Elizabeth Debicki, Daniel Brühl, Chris O'Dowd, Zhang Ziyi, John Ortiz, and Aksel Hennie were announced as members of the cast. Cinematographer Dan Mindel was confirmed to join the film from his résumé.

Filming.

The film was shot in Los Angeles, California, where it received tax credits under the state's film incentive program. While filming in Los Angeles, the project was shot under the titles of "God Particle" and "Clean Pass". Filming began on June 10, 2016 and wrapped on September 23, 2016. According to Uziel, it was during production that he came to learn that the film was being connected to "Cloverfield", requiring him to rewrite a few scenes for additional shooting. Uziel speculated that the decision to connect to "Cloverfield" was due to the difficulty in marketing a stand-alone science-fiction film at the time, and felt the connection between the films was more of an anthology series similar to "The Twilight Zone", with each movie dealing with how people with complex relations deal with an other-worldly dilemma. The scenes set on Earth were added during production only after they found test audiences wanted to know what was happening on Earth during events on the space station. The final shot of the monster, similar to the creature Clover seen in the first "Cloverfield" movie, was a shot that the production team came to recognize as a further way to link the films. Among some of the film's Easter eggs includes a figurine of a "Slusho!" mascot aboard the station; the drink brand had been featured in "Cloverfield"s viral marketing.

Post-production.

The visual effects were provided by Atomic Fiction and Supervised by Ryan Tudhope, Russell Earl, Jason Snell, Stefano Trivelli and Pauline Duvall with the help of Industrial Light & Magic and Base FX.

Release.

Shortly after filming in October 2016, "The Wrap" learned from insiders of the connection of "God Particle" to "Cloverfield", though neither Paramount nor Bad Robot commented on this discovery. However, by December 2016, Paramount affirmed the film's connection; the title "God Particle" had been dropped in favor of listing the film as "2017 "Cloverfield" movie".  Alongside the renaming, Paramount reslotted the film's release from February 2017 to October 2017, to give more time for post-production. The film suffered two additional delays. In July 2017, it was announced the release had been delayed another three months to February 2018. In January 2018, the release was moved for a third time, to April 20, 2018. The reason for these latter delays was not given.  In mid-January 2018, the "Cloverfield" alternative reality game (ARG), which had been used for both of the previous films, was relaunched, and provided some hints how this film would be tied to the other two.  In late January 2018, "The Hollywood Reporter" stated that Netflix was interested in picking up the film from Paramount, following a similar deal the streaming service had worked out for the film "Annihilation". According to the "Reporter", Paramount's chairman Jim Gianopulos felt the film's budget (which had ballooned to over $40 million from an initial $5 million) was too large for the film to be profitable with a traditional theatrical release and that it still needed work done, and "while Abrams expressed an intent to get down to business in post-production, it was too little, too late". In March 2018, Paramount's COO Andrew Gumpert affirmed that Paramount, after reviewing the finished film with Abrams, had doubted the commercial viability of a theatrical release, and that "there was an ability for us to be fiscally prudent and monetize" by selling the rights to Netflix, exposing the film to a much larger audience. Following the film's release, "The Hollywood Reporter" stated that Netflix paid more than for the rights, with negotiations starting in late December 2017 and completed by mid January 2018; this offer made the film immediately profitable to Paramount. The studio retains China and home entertainment release rights. According insiders speaking to "The Wrap", Paramount executives believed handing off the release to Netflix was an easy way to get instant return on the film, and the surprise reveal and release a good way to keep in line with the mystique of the franchise. This said, they clarified that they still have intentions of having theatrical releases for future films in the series.  Around this time, speculation of the film being named "Cloverfield Station" arose, though this was not confirmed by Paramount. Further speculation circulated in Hollywood sources that work on the film was actually complete and that its first trailer would be revealed soon; "10 Cloverfield Lane" had a similar surprise trailer.  The events of the preceding month culminated on February 4, 2018, where, during a surprise advertisement during Super Bowl LII, Netflix announced it had acquired the premiere rights for the film, now titled "The Cloverfield Paradox", which would be available on the service immediately after the game. The actors themselves were not aware of this arrangement until the day of the Super Bowl and were told of the title, the advertisement, and the release that day during a morning conference call.

Home media.

On November 28, 2018, Paramount announced that the film would be receiving a DVD and Blu-ray release on February 5, 2019.

Critical reception.

On review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 20% based on 143 reviews, with an average rating of 4.53/10. The site's critical consensus states: "Brilliant casting is overshadowed by a muddled mix of genres and storylines that scratch more heads than sci-fi itches in "The Cloverfield Paradox"." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 37 out of 100, based on reviews from 27 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews."  John DeFire of "The Hollywood Reporter" called the film a "trainwreck of a sci-fi flick bent on extending a franchise that should have died a peaceful death almost exactly one decade ago." Writing for Deadline Hollywood Dino-Ray Ramos said, "The Super Bowl trailer for "Paradox" gave the impression the movie would reveal the origin of the monster that appeared in the 2008 movie and was later on hinted at in the critically acclaimed 2016 follow-up — but it barely did that. Instead, it stalls the franchise as a pastiche of sci-fi cinema veiled in clever marketing."  Cinemablend gave it a positive review, granting it 4 of 5 stars; the review noted that the ensemble cast "helps keep the wheels in motion, with a perpetual motion that never lets up", and that Ava's storyline provides a "human anchor" for the film's narrative.  While the film received negative reviews, the marketing approach of announcing the film during the Super Bowl and premiering it hours later was seen as a novel move by Netflix. IGN noted that this strategy could only work for a film in an established franchise, whereas most new films would need a significant marketing period to draw in viewers. Even knowing that the film might be a critical flop, Netflix would have been able to grab attention due to hype from the Super Bowl, and attention that the "Cloverfield" series had already had.  According to Nielsen ratings based on subscription video on demand, nearly 785,000 viewers watched "The Cloverfield Paradox" on the night of Super Bowl LII; by three days, over 2.8 million had watched it, and 5 million after a week. These ratings were not as strong as Netflix's "Bright", released 6 weeks earlier, which had 11 million viewers within 3 days. The film did not significantly draw viewers from the episode of "This is Us" on NBC after the Super Bowl game, which had been extensively marketed ahead of the night, and which drew 27 million that evening.

The Cloverfield Paradox is a 2018 American science fiction horror film directed by Julius Onah and written by Oren Uziel, from a story by Uziel and Doug Jung, and produced by J. J. Abramss Bad Robot Productions. It is the third installment in the "Cloverfield" franchise, following "Cloverfield" (2008) and "10 Cloverfield Lane" (2016). The film stars Daniel Brühl, Elizabeth Debicki, Aksel Hennie, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Chris O'Dowd, John Ortiz, David Oyelowo, and Zhang Ziyi, and follows an international group of astronauts aboard a space station who, after using a particle accelerator to try to solve Earth's energy crisis, must find a way home when the planet seemingly vanishes.

The Cloverfield Paradox je americký sci-fi hororový film z roku 2018 od režiséra Julia Onaha a scenáristů Orena Uziela a Douga Junga. Film produkovala Lindsey Weber a J. J. Abrams s jeho firmou Bad Robot Productions. Jedná se o třetí snímek ve franšíze "Cloverfield" a dějově se odehrává před, mezi a po filmech "Monstrum" z roku 2008 a "Ulice Cloverfield 10" z roku 2016. V hlavních rolích se objevili Daniel Brühl, Elizabeth Debicki, Aksel Hennie, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Chris O'Dowd, John Ortiz, David Oyelowo a Zhang Ziyi.


Geography.

Estavayer-le-Lac has an area,, of. Of this area, or 55.9% is used for agricultural purposes, while or 6.1% is forested. Of the rest of the land, or 33.5% is settled (buildings or roads), or 0.3% is either rivers or lakes and or 4.7% is unproductive land. Following the 2012 merger of Font, the total area increased to.  Of the built up area, industrial buildings made up 4.7% of the total area while housing and buildings made up 16.0% and transportation infrastructure made up 7.8%. while parks, green belts and sports fields made up 4.4%. Out of the forested land, 4.5% of the total land area is heavily forested and 1.6% is covered with orchards or small clusters of trees. Of the agricultural land, 46.9% is used for growing crops and 8.1% is pastures. All the water in the municipality is in lakes.  The municipality is located in the Broye district, on the southern bank of Lake Neuchatel at an elevation of. It is a district capital and a regional administration and business center.

Coat of arms.

The blazon of the municipal coat of arms is "Per pale Gules and Argent three bars wavy of the first, overall a double rose of the first barbed and seeded proper."

Demographics.

Estavayer-le-Lac has a population () of., 25.9% of the population are resident foreign nationals. Over the last 10 years (2000–2010) the population has changed at a rate of 19.5%. Migration accounted for 14.7%, while births and deaths accounted for 2.5%.  Most of the population () speaks French (3,602 or 81.2%) as their first language, German is the second most common (256 or 5.8%) and Albanian is the third (165 or 3.7%). There are 46 people who speak Italian and 2 people who speak Romansh. , the population was 47.9% male and 52.1% female. The population was made up of 1,699 Swiss men (32.9% of the population) and 774 (15.0%) non-Swiss men. There were 1,979 Swiss women (38.3%) and 710 (13.8%) non-Swiss women. Of the population in the municipality, 1,289 or about 29.1% were born in Estavayer-le-Lac and lived there in 2000. There were 983 or 22.2% who were born in the same canton, while 893 or 20.1% were born somewhere else in Switzerland, and 1,029 or 23.2% were born outside of Switzerland.  The age distribution,, in Estavayer-le-Lac is; 590 children or 13.3% of the population are between 0 and 9 years old and 685 teenagers or 15.4% are between 10 and 19. Of the adult population, 525 people or 11.8% of the population are between 20 and 29 years old. 712 people or 16.0% are between 30 and 39, 637 people or 14.4% are between 40 and 49, and 513 people or 11.6% are between 50 and 59. The senior population distribution is 336 people or 7.6% of the population are between 60 and 69 years old, 270 people or 6.1% are between 70 and 79, there are 143 people or 3.2% who are between 80 and 89, and there are 26 people or 0.6% who are 90 and older. , there were 2,001 people who were single and never married in the municipality. There were 1,961 married individuals, 243 widows or widowers and 232 individuals who are divorced. , there were 1,737 private households in the municipality, and an average of 2.3 persons per household. There were 626 households that consist of only one person and 149 households with five or more people., a total of 1,673 apartments (80.7% of the total) were permanently occupied, while 304 apartments (14.7%) were seasonally occupied and 96 apartments (4.6%) were empty., the construction rate of new housing units was 8.5 new units per 1000 residents. The vacancy rate for the municipality,, was 0.45%.  The historical population is given in the following chart:

Heritage sites of national significance.

The De Rivaz Chapel, the Sacré-Coeur Chapel, the Chenaux Castle, the Collegiate church of Saint-Laurent, the Convent of the Dominican nuns, the town fortifications, the House de la Dîme and the House des Sires d’Estavayer listed as Swiss heritage site of national significance. The entire town of Estavayer-le-Lac is part of the Inventory of Swiss Heritage Sites. From the 2012 merger of Font into Estavayer-le-Lac, the Gallo-Roman villa at La Vuardaz and the entire Font area (shared between Châbles and Font) were added.

Politics.

In the 2011 federal election the most popular party was the CVP which received 29.7% of the vote. The next three most popular parties were the SP (25.0%), the SVP (18.5%) and the FDP (12.8%). The CVP received about the same percentage of the vote as they did in the 2007 Federal election (31.7% in 2007 vs 29.7% in 2011). The SPS moved from third in 2007 (with 20.5%) to second in 2011, the SVP moved from second in 2007 (with 23.6%) to third and the FDP gained popularity (13.5% in 2007). A total of 1,372 votes were cast in this election, of which 16 or 1.2% were invalid.

Economy.

, Estavayer-le-Lac had an unemployment rate of 3.9%., there were 28 people employed in the primary economic sector and about 10 businesses involved in this sector. 1,343 people were employed in the secondary sector and there were 62 businesses in this sector. 1,537 people were employed in the tertiary sector, with 187 businesses in this sector. There were 2,066 residents of the municipality who were employed in some capacity, of which females made up 43.9% of the workforce. , there were 1,495 workers who commuted into the municipality and 812 workers who commuted away. The municipality is a net importer of workers, with about 1.8 workers entering the municipality for every one leaving. Of the working population, 6% used public transportation to get to work, and 58% used a private car.

Religion.

From the, 2,853 or 64.3% were Roman Catholic, while 533 or 12.0% belonged to the Swiss Reformed Church. Of the rest of the population, there were 54 members of an Orthodox church (or about 1.22% of the population), there were 6 individuals (or about 0.14% of the population) who belonged to the Christian Catholic Church, and there were 131 individuals (or about 2.95% of the population) who belonged to another Christian church. There were 2 individuals (or about 0.05% of the population) who were Jewish, and 299 (or about 6.74% of the population) who were Islamic. There were 5 individuals who were Buddhist, 3 individuals who were Hindu and 3 individuals who belonged to another church. 297 (or about 6.69% of the population) belonged to no church, are agnostic or atheist, and 315 individuals (or about 7.10% of the population) did not answer the question.

Education.

In Estavayer-le-Lac about 1,339 or (30.2%) of the population have completed non-mandatory upper secondary education, and 451 or (10.2%) have completed additional higher education (either university or a "Fachhochschule"). Of the 451 who completed tertiary schooling, 60.8% were Swiss men, 22.6% were Swiss women, 7.8% were non-Swiss men and 8.9% were non-Swiss women.  The Canton of Fribourg school system provides one year of non-obligatory Kindergarten, followed by six years of Primary school. This is followed by three years of obligatory lower Secondary school where the students are separated according to ability and aptitude. Following the lower Secondary students may attend a three or four year optional upper Secondary school. The upper Secondary school is divided into gymnasium (university preparatory) and vocational programs. After they finish the upper Secondary program, students may choose to attend a Tertiary school or continue their apprenticeship.  During the 2010-11 school year, there were a total of 1,276 students attending 72 classes in Estavayer-le-Lac. A total of 895 students from the municipality attended any school, either in the municipality or outside of it. There were 6 kindergarten classes with a total of 110 students in the municipality. The municipality had 18 primary classes and 377 students. During the same year, there were 33 lower secondary classes with a total of 683 students. There were 2 upper Secondary classes, with 33 upper Secondary students. The municipality had 13 special Tertiary classes, with 73 specialized Tertiary students. , there were 440 students in Estavayer-le-Lac who came from another municipality, while 145 residents attended schools outside the municipality.

Estavayer-le-Lac []<ref name="fc/ks">Florence Cattin/Andres Kristol, "Estavayer-le-Lac FR (La Broye)" in: "Dictionnaire toponymique des communes suisses – Lexikon der schweizerischen Gemeindenamen – Dizionario toponomastico dei comuni svizzeri (DTS|LSG)", Centre de dialectologie, Université de Neuchâtel, Verlag Huber, Frauenfeld/Stuttgart/Wien 2005, und Éditions Payot, Lausanne 2005,, S. 339–340. () is a former Swiss municipality of the canton of Fribourg, situated on the south shore of Lake Neuchâtel. Estavayer-le-Lac is located between Yverdon and Bern. It is the capital of the district of Broye. The municipality of Font merged on 1 January 2012 into the municipality of Estavayer-le-Lac. On 1 January 2017 Bussy, Morens, Murist, Rueyres-les-Prés, Vernay and Vuissens merged into the new municipality of Estavayer.

Estavayer-le-Lac je malé středověké město v kantonu Fribourg, v frankofonní části Švýcarska. Je situováno na jižním břehu Neuchatelského jezera. Od 1. ledna 2017 vznikla spojením s obcemi Bussy, Morens, Murist, Rueyres-les-Prés, Vernay a Vuissens nová obec Estavayer. Je sídlem distriktu Broye. V prosinci 2016 žilo v Estevayer-le-Lac 6 291 obyvatel.


Design.

In 1942, the success of German submarines against Allied shipping and the shortage of escorts with which to protect Allied sea lines of communication convinced US President Franklin D. Roosevelt of a need to engage mercantile shipbuilders in the construction of warships for escort duty. The United States Maritime Commission (MARCOM), which oversaw the wartime merchant shipbuilding program, proposed to meet this requirement by building a version of the British River-class frigate, a Royal Navy ship type based on a mercantile design in British shipyards experienced in building commercial ships. Two River-class ships under construction in Montreal, Quebec, Canada, as (for the Royal Navy) and (for the Royal Canadian Navy), were transferred to the US Navy in 1942, prior to completion, as prototypes for the "Tacoma" class and became the and, respectively.  The naval architecture firm of Gibbs & Cox, designed the "Tacoma" class by modifying the River class to American requirements. The "Tacoma"-class units were designed and armed to serve mostly as anti-submarine warfare (ASW) ships. They were distinguished from the River class primarily by their pole (instead of the British tripod) foremast and lighter main guns, /50 caliber gun instead of the British /40 caliber gun, and they had an American rather than British powerplant and were designed to take advantage of American construction techniques employing prefabrication. Unlike most other types of warship, the "Tacoma"s, like the Rivers, were built to mercantile standards. With the proven effectiveness of the River class on escort duty, MARCOM hoped that the mercantile design of the "Tacoma"s would allow the commercial shipyards to build them more cheaply and efficiently and that the US Navy, some members of which doubted that the commercial shipyard could build a sturdy enough warship, would accept them because of the proven service record of the River-class ships which inspired their design.  The resulting ships had a greater range than the superficially similar destroyer escorts, but the US Navy viewed them as decidedly inferior in all other respects. The "Tacoma" class had a much larger turning circle than a destroyer escort, lacked sufficient ventilation for warm-weather operations – a reflection of their original British design and its emphasis on operations in the North Atlantic Ocean – and were criticized as far too hot below decks, and, because of the mercantile style of their hulls, had far less resistance to underwater explosions than ships built to naval standards like the destroyer escorts.  Like their predecessors "Asheville" and "Natchez", the "Tacoma"-class ships built for the US Navy all were named after small cities in the United States.

Construction program.

In November 1942, MARCOM gave its West Coast Regional Office the responsibility for coordinating the construction of the ships of the "Tacoma" class, which were to be split between commercial shipyards on the United States West Coast and five shipyards on the Great Lakes, the latter in particular chosen because they had building ways available for use in the "Tacoma" program. MARCOM tendered a contract to Kaiser Cargo, Inc., of Oakland, California, to prepare detailed specifications based on the Gibbs & Cox design and to manage the overall construction program.  On 8 December 1942, MARCOM contracted for 69 "Tacoma"-class ships, for which the US Navy dropped the British "corvette" designation in favor of classifying the "Tacoma"s (along with the two "Asheville"-class ships that preceded them) as "patrol gunboats" (PG); on 15 April 1943, the two "Asheville"s and all "Tacoma"s were reclassified as "patrol frigates" (PF). Kaiser Cargo itself received an order for 12 ships; the Consolidated Steel Corporation, of Wilmington, California, received an order for 18; the American Ship Building Company, received an order for 11, with four to be built at Cleveland, Ohio, and eight at Lorain, Ohio; the Walter Butler Shipbuilding Company, of Superior, Wisconsin, received an order for 12; Froemming Brothers, Inc., of Milwaukee, received an order for four; the Globe Shipbuilding Company, of Superior, Wisconsin, received an order for eight; and the Leathem D. Smith Shipbuilding Company, of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, received an order for eight. American Shipbuilding later received an order for another six (four at Cleveland and two at Lorain), bringing the total orders for the US Navy to 79 ships, while the Walsh-Kaiser Company, of Providence, Rhode Island, received an order for 21 additional ships, all of which were to be transferred to the Royal Navy, where they were known as the Colony class, bringing the total planned construction to 100 units. Four ships scheduled for construction at Lorain, by American Shipbuilding,,,, and (ex-"Vallejo"), were cancelled in December 1943 and February 1944, dropping the ultimate total of "Tacoma"-class ships built to 96.  From the beginning, the construction program was plagued by difficulties which caused it to fall far behind schedule. Unfamiliar with the capabilities of the Great Lakes yards, Kaiser Cargo used prefabrication techniques unsuited to the Great Lakes yards smaller cranes and had to rework them. Ice prevented patrol frigates built on the Great Lakes from transiting the Soo Locks on the St. Marys River between Lake Superior and Lake Michigan, in the winter and spring, requiring them to be floated down the Mississippi River on pontoons to New Orleans or Houston, for fitting out, often doubling their construction time. Delays became so lengthy that shipyards began to deliver the ships in such an incomplete state that shakedown and post-shakedown periods of repair and alteration took months for some of them. Bilge keels that cracked in rough seas or cold weather, failures in the welds holding the deckhouse to the deck, engine trouble, and ventilation problems plagued all of the ships. As a result, no "Tacoma"-class ship was commissioned until late in 1943, none were ready for service until 1944, and the last one,, was not commissioned until March 1945. The ships Consolidated Steel built proved the most reliable, while Kaiser Cargo-built units were the most trouble-prone; among the latter, "Tacoma" took ten months of shakedown and repairs to be ready after her commissioning, and proved equally difficult to make ready for service.

Service.

By the time the first "Tacoma"-class ships were ready for front-line service in 1944, the US Navys requirement for them had passed, thanks to a decline in the threat from Axis submarines, and the availability of ample numbers of destroyers and destroyer escorts, which the Navy regarded as much superior to the "Tacoma" class. The Navy crewed all of the "Tacoma"-class ships with United States Coast Guard personnel. The Consolidated Steel-built ships, thanks to their superior reliability and performance, all saw service in the Pacific war zone where one,, teamed with the minesweeper to sink the Japanese submarine "I-12" in November 1944, but the US Navy generally relegated the patrol frigates to local training and escort responsibilities, and to duty as weather ships, for which the aft mounted 3-inch gun was removed in order to allow the installation of a weather balloon hangar.  The United States built an additional 21 "Tacoma"-class ships for the United Kingdom for service in the Royal Navy, where they were known as the Colony class, and all but one of them initially received British names, rather than the names of small US cities, while still US Navy ships; they were returned to the United States between 1946 and 1948. Eighteen of these also were quickly scrapped, but two were sold to Egypt, for use as civilian passenger ships, and one to Argentina, for service as a warship in the Argentine Navy.  As a part of Project Hula, a secret 1945 program that transferred 149 US Navy ships to the Soviet Navy at Cold Bay, Alaska, in anticipation of the Soviet Union joining the war against Japan, the US Navy transferred 28 "Tacoma"-class ships to the Soviet Navy between July and September 1945. They were the largest, most heavily armed, and most expensive ships transferred during the program. At least some of them saw action in the Soviet offensive against Japanese forces in Northeast Asia, in August 1945. The transfer of two more, and, was cancelled when transfers halted on 5 September 1945. One of the transferred ships, "EK-3" (ex-), ran aground and was damaged beyond economical repair in a November 1948 storm off Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, but the Soviet Union returned the other 27 frigates to the United States in October and November 1949.  The US Navy quickly decommissioned 23 "Tacoma"-class ships after the end of World War II, after only very brief US Navy careers, and sold them for scrap in 1947 and 1948, although one, the former, was saved from the scrapyard to become a Brazilian merchant ship. The 27 ships the Soviet Union returned in 1949 went into the US Navys Pacific Reserve Fleet in Japan; 13 of them were recommissioned for US Navy service in the Korean War, but all 27 soon were transferred to the navies of other countries. The other 25 "Tacoma"-class ships never returned to service in the US Navy and also were transferred to foreign countries. In the post-World War II era, "Tacoma"-class patrol frigates operated in the Japan Maritime Self-Defense Force, the Republic of Korea Navy, and the Argentine, Belgian, Colombian, Cuban, Dominican, Ecuadorian, French, Mexican, Royal Netherlands, Peruvian, and Royal Thai navies, and one ship operated as a civilian weather ship for the government of the Netherlands. In foreign navies, many "Tacoma"-class ships survived into the 1960s and 1970s, and the last operator of "Tacoma"-class patrol frigates, Thailand, did not retire its two ships until 2000.

List of ships.

The "Tacoma"-class ships, listed in order of US Navy hull number, and their dates of active service and fates follow. (For an alphabetical listing by ships name, sort the table by "Ship Name", "First Loan", or "Second Loan".)

The "Tacoma" class of patrol frigates served in the United States Navy during World War II and the Korean War. Originally classified as gunboats (PG), they were reclassified as patrol frigates (PF) on 15 April 1943. The class is named for its lead ship,, a Maritime Commission (MARCOM) S2-S2-AQ1 design, which in turn was named for the city of Tacoma, Washington. Twenty-one ships were transferred to the British Royal Navy, in which they were known as Colony-class frigates, and twenty-eight ships were transferred under Lend-Lease to the Soviet Navy, where they were designated as "storozhevoi korabl" ("escort ships"), during World War II. All "Tacoma"-class ships in US service during World War II were manned by United States Coast Guard crews. "Tacoma"-class ships were transferred to the United States Coast Guard and various navies post-World War II.

Třída Tacoma byla třída protiponorkových fregat námořnictva Spojených států amerických stavěných za druhé světové války. Jednalo se o upravenou verzi kanadských fregat třídy "River". Celkem bylo postaveno 96 jednotek této třídy. Část jich byla za války poskytnuta Velké Británii a provozována jako třída "Colony". Po válce další získala námořnictva dalších zemí. Dalšími zahraničními uživateli třídy byla Argentina, Belgie, Brazílie, Dominikánská republika, Ekvádor, Francie, Japonsko, Jižní Korea, Kolumbie, Kuba, Mexiko, Nizozemsko, Peru, Sovětský svaz a Thajsko.


Práva párů stejného pohlaví v amerických zemích

2018 Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling.

On 9 January 2018, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued an advisory opinion that states party to the American Convention on Human Rights must grant same-sex couples accession to all existing domestic legal systems of family registration, including marriage, along with all rights that derive from marriage. The opinion was issued after the Government of Costa Rica sought clarification of its obligations to LGBT people under the convention. The opinion sets precedent for all 23 member states, 19 of which did not recognize same-sex marriage at the time of the ruling: Barbados, Bolivia, Chile, Costa Rica, Dominica, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Grenada, Haiti, Honduras, Jamaica, Mexico, Nicaragua, Panama, Paraguay, Peru and Suriname. Of these, all but Dominica, Grenada and Jamaica recognize the jurisdiction of the Court. However, states must each individually apply the ruling before it takes effect.

Future legislation.

Marriage.

Government proposals or proposals with a parliamentary majority.

Chile: In April 2015, the Chilean Government signed a friendly agreement with the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights, wherein it pledged to legalize same-sex marriage. On 28 August 2017, President Bachelet sent a same-sex marriage bill to Congress, including full adoption rights. Following the January 2018 Inter-American Court of Human Rights ruling, which requires signatories to the American Convention on Human Rights to legalize same-sex marriage, LGBT advocacy group MOVILH urged President Piñera to implement and abide by the decision. In early March 2018, a spokesperson for the Piñera Administration announced that passing the same-sex marriage bill will not be a priority, but that the President will not veto or oppose it. On 15 January 2020, a same-sex marriage bill was approved at its first reading in the Senate by 22 votes to 16, and will now go to the Constitutional Committee.

Opposition proposals or proposals without a parliamentary majority.

Curacao: On 4 June 2019, a same-sex marriage bill was submitted to the Estates of Curaçao.

Ban on same-sex marriage.

Haiti: In August 2017, the Haitian Senate approved a bill that would ban same-sex marriage and criminalize anyone who entered or facilitated a same-sex marriage. It must be passed by the Chamber of Deputies and signed by the President before it becomes law, but as of 2019, the measure has progressed no further through the legislative process.

Recognition of same-sex unions in the Americas is widespread, with a majority of people in both North America and South America living in jurisdictions providing marriage rights to LGBT citizens.

V současné době jsou Kanada a Spojené státy americké jedinými zeměmi Severní Ameriky, které umožňují homosexuálním párům uzavřít manželství celonárodně. V Mexiku můžou homosexuální páry uzavřít manželství pouze v hlavním městě a 12 státech, ačkoliv platí federální zákon, který přikazuje jednotlivým mexickým státům vzájemné uznávání homosexuálních sňatků. Místní úřady jim navíc umožňují uspořádat si svatební obřad i v těch mexických státech, které nelegalizovaly stejnopohlavní manželství. Většina obyvatel Severní i Jižní Ameriky žije ve státech, které přiznávají LGBT občanům právo na uzavření sňatku. Stejnopohlavní manželství je legální v Karibském Nizozemsku, na Bermudách (pouze dočasně, nahrazeno domácím partnerstvím), v Grónsku, francouzských zámořských departmentech - Guadeloupe, Martiniku, Svatém Bartoloměji, francouzské části Svatého Martina a Saint Pierre a Miquelon. Aruba, Curaçao a Svatý Martin uznávají stejnopohlavní manželství uzavřené v Nizozemsku. Jeden mexický stát umožňuje homosexuálním párům uzavřít registrované partnerství.


Plot.

In 1970, "Freddie" Farrokh Bulsara, an Indian-British Parsi is working his way through art college in London. After seeing the band Smile play at a pub, Freddie notices an attractive young woman (Mary Austin) in the hallway. She tells him how to find the band and Freddie learns she works at Biba, a posh London boutique. Outside, he compliments drummer, Roger Taylor and guitarist, Brian May on their performance. Learning that their lead singer, Tim Staffell just quit, Freddie offers himself as a replacement and demonstrates his vocal ability.  Freddie sees Mary at Biba, and she helps him choose stylish clothes. They become a couple and later move in together  With Freddie as lead singer, and bassist John Deacon, the band play pub gigs across Britain. Freddie urges the band to think bigger and record an album. After selling their van, they book time late at night in a studio to produce their debut album. An A&R rep from EMI watches them record. He asks engineer Roy Thomas Baker for demos.  Freddie changes the band's name to Queen and designs their logo. He also changes his name to Freddie Mercury. The band sign with John Reid, Elton John's manager, and land a contract with EMI Records. Paul Prenter manages Queen's daily schedule. An appearance on "Top of the Pops" gives Queen a hit record, "Killer Queen". Mary and Freddie become engaged.  The album hits the charts in America, and, during the band's U.S. tour, Freddie begins questioning his sexuality.  In 1975, Queen record their fourth album, "A Night at the Opera," but leave EMI when executive Ray Foster refuses to release the six-minute song "Bohemian Rhapsody" as the album's

Production.

Development.

Plans for a film about Queen were revealed in September 2010 by the band's guitarist Brian May. Covering the period up to Live Aid in 1985, the film was to feature Sacha Baron Cohen as Freddie Mercury, with Graham King to co-produce, and Peter Morgan to write the screenplay. May confirmed in April 2011 that the production was moving forward. He approved of Baron Cohen as Mercury, but had reservations about the project's possible direction. The band's concerns focused on avoiding any harm to Mercury's legacy.  In July 2013, Baron Cohen left the project due to creative differences. Allegedly, he had wanted a "gritty R-rated tell-all" focused on Mercury, while the band hoped for a PG-rated film about the band. May said later in 2013 that Baron Cohen had left the project on good terms. Comments by May and Roger Taylor suggested that Baron Cohen was too well known as a comedian and prankster (due largely to his fictional personae Ali G and Borat), and that his presence in the film would be distracting. In March 2016, Baron Cohen spoke about misunderstandings with Queen about the subject and events of

Casting.

On 4 November 2016, it was announced that Rami Malek would star as Freddie Mercury. The producers saw his work on "Mr. Robot". He had to make a pre-recording at Abbey Road Studios, which was sent to Queen members for approval. On 21 August 2017, additional cast members were announced: Ben Hardy as drummer Roger Taylor, Gwilym Lee as lead guitarist Brian May, and Joseph Mazzello as bass guitarist John Deacon. On 30 August 2017, it was reported that Allen Leech had been cast in the film to play Mercury's personal manager, Paul Prenter, who worked for him from 1977 to 1987,

Filming.

Pre-production began in July 2017 in the United Kingdom, with principal photography commencing in London in September 2017. Queen archivist Greg Brooks was instrumental in helping recreate each scene to make it as true to life as possible. He worked daily with Fox for months from the beginning, providing answers to questions. There were about a hundred extras, who were all individually scanned 360° and digitally replicated to imitate a larger crowd. The entire Live Aid performance was filmed on a

Directing credit.

According to the Directors Guild of America, only one director can be named for a film, and the DGA has sole control over who that will be. Although Fletcher replaced Singer

Music.

John Ottman, a frequent collaborator of Singer, edited the film's soundtrack. The film lacks an original underscore, deviating from previous Singer-Ottman collaborations on which the latter has also served as composer. An official soundtrack album was released by Hollywood Records and Virgin EMI Records

Historical accuracy.

Major historical events are portrayed out of order or inaccurately in the film; McCarten said this was for dramatic effect, saying: "We're making a movie here, not

Release.

The world premiere of "Bohemian Rhapsody" took place in London at Wembley Arena, on 23 October 2018. It was released in the United Kingdom on 24 October 2018 in IMAX, and in the United States on 2 November 2018, by 20th Century Fox. The film was previously scheduled for release on 25 December 2018. In November 2018, John Ottman announced in an interview that an extended version of the film with cut-out scenes may be released, in a yet unknown format. On 1 January 2019, it was announced that there would be special sing-along screenings simultaneously in cinemas across the United Kingdom with the first screening at Leicester Square's Prince Charles Cinema with others on 11 January 2019. There were also many sing-along screenings in South Korea and Japan.  In China, the film had a limited release on 22 March 2019. Three minutes of the film was censored, including scenes depicting drugs and homosexuality. Part of Rami Malek's Oscar speech, where he referred to Freddie Mercury as "a gay man, an immigrant," was also censored in China.  In Egypt, the film was subjected to several cuts before it was permitted to be screened. As Rami Malek is of Egyptian descent, his Oscar win for his portrayal of Freddie Mercury drew congratulations from Egyptian media and government figures. However, Neela Ghoshal of Human Rights Watch stated that the country deserved "an Oscar for hypocrisy" given its prohibition on homosexuals appearing in the media. Member of Parliament Mohamed Ismail, on the other hand, criticised Malek's win, stating: "He is trying to [spread] homosexuality among the youth... The award has a specific goal, which is to corrupt morality in the Arab world. Rami Malek is a bad example. If he was in Egypt, he would have been hanged."

Home media.

20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the film in the United States on DVD, Blu-ray and Ultra HD Blu-ray on 12 February 2019; with a digital version released 22 January. The UK digital release was scheduled for 16 February 2019, with DVD and Blu-ray/4K Ultra HD on 4 March 2019. The home release includes an extended version of the Live Aid sequence, a 16-minute featurette, a 22-minute documentary and trailers.  In

Marketing.

The first trailer for the film was released on 15 May 2018 and with more than 5 million views in the first 24 hours, it was the top trend video on YouTube. Television writer and producer Bryan Fuller argued that the trailer favours Mercury's relationship with women as opposed to men, and also highlighted the absence of the singer's AIDS diagnosis from the synopsis. Instead, it's simply referred to as "a life-threatening illness". Executives stated that the

Reception.

Box office.

"Bohemian Rhapsody" grossed $216.4 million in the United States and Canada, and $687.3 million in other territories, for a total worldwide gross of $903.7 million, against a production budget of about $52 million.  On 11 November, it surpassed "Straight Outta Compton" ($201.6 million) to become the highest-grossing musical biopic of all-time worldwide. "Bohemian Rhapsody" eventually went on to set all-time box office records for the highest-grossing biographical film of all time and the highest-grossing LGBT film. It also set the record for the highest-grossing conventional drama film until it was surpassed by "Joker" only one year later. It is Fox's fourth highest-grossing film, and their fifth highest outside of North America. "Deadline Hollywood" calculated the net profit of the film to be $350.8 million, when factoring together all expenses and revenue, making it the fourth most profitable release of 2018.

United Kingdom.

In the United Kingdom, the film had preview screenings on its opening night of 24 October 2018, grossing £1.62million () from 575 venues, with a per-screen

United States and Canada.

In the United States and Canada, "Bohemian Rhapsody" was released alongside "The Nutcracker and the Four Realms" and "Nobody's Fool", and was originally projected to gross $26–30 million in its opening weekend. By the week of its release, weekend estimates had reached $35–40 million. It made $18.4 million on its first day, including $3.9 million from Thursday night previews. It went on to debut to $51.1 million, topping the box office and marking the second-best opening for a musical biographical picture, behind "Straight Outta Compton" ($60.2 million in August 2015). The film made $31.2 million in

Other territories.

In its second weekend of international release, the film topped the worldwide box office, grossing $72.5 million in international markets. New markets included France ($7.7 million), Mexico ($5.8 million), Germany ($5.7 million) and Australia ($5.7 million). By its fourth weekend the film was still holding strong, adding an additional $45.5 million from 78 markets, for a running total of $256.4 million. Through four weekends of international release, the film's largest markets were the UK ($45.3 million, passing "La La Land"), followed by South Korea ($24.5 million), France ($18.38 million), Australia ($16.8 million) and Mexico ($15.5 million). On 12 December, the film surpassed $433 million at the international box office, becoming the highest-grossing musical biopic ever overseas.  The film became the biggest 2018 release in 13 international markets, including Japan ($88.6 million), Italy ($30.5 million) and the Netherlands ($19.3 million),. The film's largest overseas markets were in East Asia,

Critical response.

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 60% based on 391 reviews, and an average rating of 6.11/10. The website's critical consensus reads: ""Bohemian Rhapsody" hits a handful of high notes, but as an in-depth look at a beloved band, it offers more of a medley than a true greatest hits collection." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 49 out of 100, based on 50 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "A" on an A+ to F scale, while PostTrak reported filmgoers gave it an 88% positive score and a 75% "definite recommend". The critical response to "Bohemian Rhapsody" made it one of the worst-reviewed films to win a Best Picture award at the Golden Globe Awards (lowest Rotten Tomatoes score since "Out of Africa" in 1986, with a 60%), as well as to be nominated for Best Picture at the Academy Awards (worst since "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close" in 2012, with a 46%).  Owen Gleiberman of "Variety" wrote: "Rami Malek does a commanding job of channeling Freddie Mercury's flamboyant rock-god bravura, but Bryan Singer's middle-of-the-road Queen biopic rarely lives up to the authenticity of its lead performance." Paul Whitington, writing for the "Irish Independent", gave the film 3/5 stars, saying: ""Bohemian Rhapsody" is not big on subtlety: it tells Freddie's story loudly, taking dramatic shortcuts, over-neatly conflating events and reducing most of the surrounding characters to single dimensions. Some of the dialogue's a bit heavy-handed too, but I must say I was thoroughly entertained."  For the "Evening Standard", Craig McLean wrote: ""Bohemian Rhapsody" is triumphant entertainment. The post-production special effects have done their job: the Live Aid scenes are convincingly epic. The actors have done their job, too, notably Malek, who oozes pure Mercury." For "Time", Stephanie Zacharek wrote: "In strict filmmaking terms, "Bohemian Rhapsody" is a bit of a mess. Some of its scenes connect awkwardly, and it hits every beat of disaster and triumph squarely, like a gong. Yet if it has many of the problems we associate with 'bad' movies, it has more ragged energy than so many good ones, largely because of Rami Malek's performance as Mercury, all glitter and muscle and nerve endings." She described it as "a movie for sensualists, not quality-control experts".  Chief "Guardian" pop critic Alexis Petridis described the portrayal of Mercury as "sanitised", writing: ""Bohemian Rhapsody" is a film that plays so fast and loose with the truth, it ends up seeming faintly ridiculous: you start out nitpicking about minor chronological errors... and end up with your jaw on the floor." "Guardian" film critic Steve Rose described it as a "rock slog with a

Accolades.

The film, which has received multiple awards and nominations, won four awards at the 91st Academy Awards for Best Actor (Rami Malek), Best Film Editing, Best Sound Editing and Best Sound Mixing, making it the film with the most wins at the ceremony; it was also nominated for Best Picture, which it lost to "Green Book". At the 76th Golden Globe Awards, the film was nominated for Best Actor – Motion Picture Drama and Best Motion Picture – Drama, winning both. At the 72nd British Academy Film Awards, the film received seven nominations, winning for Best Actor in a Leading Role and Best Sound. The film was also nominated for Best Theatrical

Bohemian Rhapsody is a 2018 biographical drama film about Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the British rock band Queen. It was directed by Bryan Singer from a screenplay by Anthony McCarten, and produced by Graham King and Queen manager Jim Beach. It stars Rami Malek as Mercury, with Lucy Boynton, Gwilym Lee, Ben Hardy, Joe Mazzello, Aidan Gillen, Tom Hollander, Allen Leech, and Mike Myers in supporting roles. Queen members Brian May and Roger Taylor served as consultants. A British-American venture, the film was produced by 20th Century Fox, Regency Enterprises, GK Films, and Queen Films, with Fox serving as distributor. The film follows the singer's life from the formation of the band up to their 1985 Live Aid performance at the original Wembley Stadium.

Bohemian Rhapsody je životopisný film z roku 2018 o britské hudební skupině Queen. Scénář k němu napsal Anthony McCarten. Zobrazuje dobu patnácti let od založení rockové hudební skupiny Queen až po koncert Live Aid, šest let před smrtí zpěváka skupiny Freddieho Mercuryho. Hlavní role hrají Rami Malek, Ben Hardy, Gwilym Lee, Joseph Mazzello, Allen Leech a Lucy Boynton. Film režíroval Bryan Singer, ale před koncem hlavního natáčení jej vystřídal Dexter Fletcher. Singer ale nakonec zůstal jediným uváděným režisérem kvůli pravidlům Directors Guild of America. Fletcher byl uveden pouze jako výkonný producent filmu.


Taxonomy.

The currently accepted scientific name for the hispid cotton rat is "Sigmodon hispidus" Say and Ord. It is a member of the family Cricetidae. Although 25 subspecies are accepted, including the type subspecies, the most distinct genetic subdivision within "S. hispidus" separates the species into two genetic lineages, an eastern one and a western one, which hybridize along a contact zone.

Distribution.

In the United States, the hispid cotton rat ranges from southern Virginia and North Carolina (especially the coastal plain) west through Tennessee, northern Missouri, Kansas, and extreme southern Nebraska to southeastern Colorado, New Mexico, and southeastern Arizona; south to the Gulf Coast; and south to northern Mexico. It does not occur on the coastal plain of North Carolina nor in the mountains of Virginia. Disjunct populations occur in southeastern Arizona and extreme southeastern California into Baja California Norte. In Kansas, it appeared within the last 50 years.

Habitat.

Hispid cotton rats occupy a wide variety of habitats within their range, but are not randomly distributed among microhabitats. They are strongly associated with grassy patches with some shrub overstory and they have little or no affinity for dicot-dominated patches. Habitat use and preference by hispid cotton rats usually appear to depend on the density of monocots. However, some studies are equivocal on the importance of other vegetation. For example, hispid cotton rats may respond favorably to a high percentage of dicots in a stand if cover remains optimal. In Kansas, hispid cotton rats increased on root-plowed prairie that experienced an increase in the diversity and biomass of early successional forbs.  Male hispid cotton rats exhibit a lower degree of habitat selectivity than females. In Texas, males were found on different habitat types (grassy, shrubby, and mixed) about in proportion to availability; females tended to choose mixed habitats more often than expected based on availability. Habitat use varies with season and breeding status. In Texas, grassy areas with some shrubs were preferred in spring and areas with more shrubby cover were preferred in fall.  In Kansas, remnant prairie the preferred habitat of hispid cotton rats has dense undergrowth and an upper layer of protective vegetation such as big bluestem ("Andropogon gerardii")/kochia ("Kochia scoparia")/annual sunflower ("Helianthus annuus"). Hispid cotton rats prefer grassy clearings, croplands, overgrown fields, and overgrown roadsides and right-of-ways. In Kansas prairies hispid cotton rats occur at relatively high abundance in ungrazed uplands and sandy mixed-grass native prairie, but also prefer disturbed areas.  The use of disturbed areas was probably important in the recent invasion of hispid cotton rats into north-central Kansas from the northern presettlement limit of their range in Oklahoma. On Texas rangelands, hispid cotton rats appeared to respond to increased biomass of standing crop and increases in the proportion of the standing crop in potential food plants such as bristlegrasses ("Setaria" spp.). Rat density was four times greater on areas planted to exotic grasses including King Range bluestem ("Bothriochloa ischaemum") and buffel grass ("Enchrus ciliaris") than on native range dominated by windmill grass ("Chloris" spp.) and Texas wintergrass ("Stipa leucotricha").  In northeastern Kansas, hispid cotton rats occurred at high population densities in tallgrass prairie (dominated by perennial grasses); population density declined to levels too low to accurately estimate over 28 years of succession to brush and trees. They are occasionally found in habitats dominated by early successional grassland species (i.e., annual grasses and forbs).  Hispid cotton rats occur in grassy areas or early-successional habitats within open woods. In the Southeast hispid cotton rat population density increases with the density of broomsedge ("Andropogon virginicus") and other low growing plants, but declines with succession to brush and trees. In Texas pine-hardwood forests, hispid cotton rats were captured most often in narrow streamside management zones which have more light and thus more ground cover, and slightly less often in wider zones. In longleaf pine-slash pine stands of central Louisiana hispid cotton rats were captured in sawtimber, sapling, and regeneration stands but not in pole-sized timber; stands with surface cover were more likely to support hispid cotton rats. Pole-sized timber is dense, little light reaches the ground, and surface cover is minimal. In Louisiana and Mississippi, hispid cotton rats were more numerous in cut than in uncut bottomland hardwoods. They were also more numerous in cottonwood ("Populus" spp.) plantations than in uncut cottonwood stands. In northern Georgia intensive site preparation following clearcutting of pine-hardwood mixtures increases forage production and increased numbers of small mammals (presumably including hispid cotton rats).  In Colorado, hispid cotton rats occupy semimoist areas with abundant grasses and weeds and appear to be restricted to relatively warm areas. In New Mexico, hispid cotton rats do not occur regularly in areas with a mean annual temperature lower than 55 degrees Fahrenheit (13 °C) and a growing season shorter than 180 days. In Trans-Pecos, Texas, hispid cotton rats occur at the warmer, low elevations in areas of moderate to dense grassy cover.  When water and wastewater are added to baldcypress ("Taxodium distichum var. distichum") domes, small mammals including hispid cotton rat move to peripheral areas that are drier. The rising water tables favor marsh rice rats ("Oryzomys palustris") over hispid cotton rats.  Cameron and McClure compiled reports of hispid cotton rat population densities. The mean hispid cotton rat population density range for all studies was 5.3 to 31.1 rats per hectare. Population density ranges in Texas include 1 to 14 rats per hectare in coastal prairie, 17 to 84 rats per hectare in unmowed right-of-ways, 9 to 29 rats per hectare in old fields, 6 to 54 rats per hectare in abandoned fields, and 0.7 to 5 rats per hectare in grass-prickly-pear ("Opuntia" spp.). In Florida population density ranges include 0 to 24 rats per hectare in sand pine scrub, 2 to 47 rats per hectare in pine flatwoods, and 27 to 94 rats per hectare in tropical hammock. In Kansas hispid cotton rat density ranges were 0.2 to 21 rats per hectare in grassland; the highest estimated density was 65.4 hispid cotton rats per hectare in favored habitat.  In a study of the effects of habitat patchiness on movement, hispid cotton rats preferred only the largest patches which were by 330 feet (50×100 m). Patches were established by mowing strips between blocks of grasses. Hispid cotton rats were present in intermediate numbers on medium-sized patches which were 39.6 feet by 79.2 feet (12×24 m), but were so scarce on the smallest patches that their movement pattern could not be analyzed.  In Kansas remnant prairie, the average annual home range of adult male hispid cotton rat was estimated as 0.969 acre (0.39 ha) and that of adult females as 0.543 acre (0.21 ha). The greatest distance traveled by an adult male was 330 feet (100 m) and by an adult female was 250.9 feet (76.4 m). In Texas male hispid cotton rats also had larger home ranges than females. Home ranges were larger in summer and winter than in spring and fall. Home range size was positively correlated with body mass and negatively correlated with population density. There was a relatively high degree of exclusivity (41%), indicating intolerance of conspecifics, particularly of the same sex. In Texas hispid cotton rats found their original home ranges (homed) from displacements of up to 5,000 feet (1,500 m). Returns were relatively high from displacements of up to 990 feet (300 m), suggesting that hispid cotton rats are familiar with the area within that distance. Hispid cotton rats released in areas with no cover homed better than hispid cotton rats released in typical hispid cotton rat habitat. Spencer and others used site fidelity as a measure of an individual's actual home range and concluded that hispid cotton rats have both single-day and multiday site fidelity and therefore establish true home ranges.

Cover requirements.

On the southern Coastal Plain, hispid cotton rats use gopher tortoise ("Gopherus polyphemus") burrows for shelter in sandhill scrub dominated by longleaf pine, bluejack oak ("Quercus incana") and sand post oak ("Q. stellata ssp. margaretta").

Plant communities.

Hispid cotton rats occur in mesquite ("Prosopis" spp.) bosques in Arizona and New Mexico. On the Coastal Plain, hispid cotton rats occupy the periphery of central ponds and more distant ecotonal areas of bald cypress ("Taxodium distichum") swamps. Hispid cotton rats are abundant in fallow rice fields in Texas, primarily near heavily overgrown canal banks and levees.  In Florida, hispid cotton rats are common in sabal palm ("Sabal palmetto")-coconut palm ("Cocos nucifera") savanna. In the Southeast, hispid cotton rats prefer grassy understories of fire-maintained loblolly pine-shortleaf pine ("Pinus taeda"-"P. echinata") and longleaf pine-slash pine ("P. palustris"-"P. elliottii") stands.  In Florida, sand pine ("P. clausa") scrub has been invaded by hispid cotton rats for short periods. Reasons for the invasion were not clear, but were probably related to increased population densities in nearby optimum habitat (pine flatwoods with a dense ground cover of grasses and herbs). Sand pine scrub has little ground cover and is marginal habitat for hispid cotton rats.

Behavior and biology.

Hispid cotton rats are mainly nocturnal, but activity has been observed at all hours. Activity patterns appear to be influenced by both biotic and abiotic factors.They are active year-round. Populations usually exhibit a bimodal breeding season, with peak litter production occurring in late spring and late summer-early fall. Reproductive peaks in March and June for hispid cotton rats; all trapped females were pregnant from March through July, but none was breeding in November and December. They do not breed in the coldest winter months. In Kansas, breeding is restricted to the frost-free months.  A nest is constructed by the female either on the ground surface or in a burrow. Nests are cup- to ball-shaped and woven of grasses. Hispid cotton rats in the northern parts of their range makethicker and denser nests, but not larger, than those of southern hispid cotton rats. Gestation in hispid cotton rats lasts about 27 days. Litter sizes range from one to 15 young, with larger litters more typical of northern populations and also of late-season litters. Neonates are well developed; they are mobile and lightly furred, but their eyes are not open. The eyes open around 18 to 36 hours after birth. They are weaned in 10 to 15 days and reach minimum adult size by about 41 days.  Some male hispid cotton rats are sexually mature by 60 days; some females are receptive by 30 to 40 days. The earliest recorded pregnancy was at 38 days. These rats have been noted as one of the most prolific mammals in the Southeast. Females bear two to several litters per year depending on latitude and local weather. Females mate within 24 hours of giving birth.  Hispid cotton rat populations are largely sedentary; population density depends mainly on current reproductive effort and not as strongly on immigration. In Kansas remnant prairie, hispid cotton rat population density was highest in fall and early winter and lowest in spring and early summer. In the northernmost parts of hispid cotton rat range, severe weather is associated with rapid population declines and local extinctions. In Kansas, most mortality was associated with severe weather in March and April. Populations in the northern part of hispid cotton rat range experience dramatic declines in the nonbreeding season. In many areas, local extinction is frequent. In Georgia, their spring abundance in old fields was lowest following drought and extreme winter cold. The reductions in populations were associated with sharp declines in vegetative biomass and cover.  In Georgia, a density of 15 hispid cotton rats per acre was considered the predator-limited carrying capacity. Mammalian predators did not have a substantial effect on population density. At densities higher than 15 per acre, mortality was high; below 15 rats per acre, predator-caused mortality was low. When diverse and mobile predators are present, they are more important than food, social interaction, or weather in limiting hispid cotton rat density. Also in Georgia, field enclosures protected from avian predators (covered with a net) were monitored for the effect of avian predators on breeding hispid cotton rat populations. The presence of the cover had no effect on seasonal recruitment or spring-summer mortality; however, autumn-winter mortality was greatly reduced with the cover in place. Avian predators, then, are apparently more important than mammalian predators. In addition, nonbreeding (winter) populations suffer substantial losses from predation, whereas breeding populations are either able to compensate by replacing lost individuals, are less vulnerable to predation, or both.

Diet.

Hispid cotton rats are omnivorous, but the major portion of their diet consists of green vegetation. They occasionally consume insects and other small animals. Field observations of hispid cotton rat diet indicate that preferred foods are the stems, foliage, and seeds of crop and wild plants. Golley reported that in the Southeast, perennial legumes and broomsedge comprised a large portion of the diet of hispid cotton rats. They also consumed roots and tubers. In Texas hispid cotton rat diets always included the lower green stems of grasses (which are relatively low in nutritive value); raspberries ("Rubus" spp.), privet ("Ligustrum" spp.) fruits, and leaves of fogfruits ("Phyla" spp.) were consumed as available.

Predators.

Hispid cotton rats are preyed on by many birds and reptiles, and by other mammals. In Oklahoma hispid cotton rats were a major prey item in the diet of Swainson's hawks ("Buteo swainsoni"). In central Missouri hispid cotton rats comprised 19% of prey items in red-tailed hawk ("Buteo jamaicensis") nests. Hispid cotton rat remains comprised a substantial portion of short-eared owl ("Asio flammeus") pellets in Arkansas. Hispid cotton rats were the third most important prey item of red wolves ("Canis rufus") in eastern Texas and Louisiana. In North Carolina, bobcats ("Lynx rufus") consumed substantial numbers of hispid cotton rats. Hispid cotton rats were a minor item in the diet of Florida panthers ("Felis concolor coryi"). In north-central Florida the only direct evidence of predation on hispid cotton rats was the presence of hispid cotton rat remains in a barred owl ("Strix varia") pellet. The authors also observed a corn snake ("Elaphe guttata guttata") killing a hispid cotton rat just after the rat was released from a trap. The snake apparently had been waiting on the runway where the trap had been set.

The hispid cotton rat ("Sigmodon hispidus") is a rodent species long thought to occur in parts of South America, Central America, and southern North America. However, recent taxonomic revisions, based on mitochondrial DNA sequence data, have split this widely distributed species into three separate species ("S. hispidus", "S. toltecus", and "S. hirsutus"). The southern edge of the "S. hispidus" distribution is likely near the Rio Grande, where it meets the northern distribution of "S. toltecus" (formerly "S. h. toltecus"). The northern extent of "S. hispidus" distribution is to the Platte River in Nebraska and from Arizona to Virginia. Adult size is total length 202–340 mm (7.9–13 in); tail 87–122 mm (3.4-4.8 in), frequently broken or stubbed; hind foot 29–35 mm (1-1.3 in); ear 16–20 mm (0.6-0.9 in); mass 50-250 g (1.7-9 oz). They have been used as laboratory animals.

Křeček bavlníkový ("Sigmodon hispidus," Say & Ord, 1825) je hlodavec z čeledi myšovití, podčeledi Sigmodontinae (američtí křečci). Vyskytuje se v Severní a Jižní Americe. Druh byl často nacházen u bavlníkových polí – odtud pochází jeho druhový název.