Implementation.

As the remainder of this article discusses the details of an implementation technique for Algorithm X, the reader is strongly encouraged to read the Algorithm X article first.

Main ideas.

The idea of DLX is based on the observation that in a circular doubly linked list of nodes,  will remove node "x" from the list, while  will restore "x"'s position in the list, assuming that x.right and x.left have been left unmodified. This works regardless of the number of elements in the list, even if that number is 1.  Knuth observed that a naive implementation of his Algorithm X would spend an inordinate amount of time searching for 1's. When selecting a column, the entire matrix had to be searched for 1's. When selecting a row, an entire column had to be searched for 1's. After selecting a row, that row and a number of columns had to be searched for 1's. To improve this search time from complexity O(n) to O(1), Knuth implemented a sparse matrix where only 1's are stored.  At all times, each node in the matrix will point to the adjacent nodes to the left and right (1's in the same row), above and below (1's in the same column), and the header for its column (described below). Each row and column in the matrix will consist of a circular doubly-linked list of nodes.

Header.

Each column will have a special node known as the "column header," which will be included in the column list, and will form a special row ("control row") consisting of all the columns which still exist in the matrix.  Finally, each column header may optionally track the number of nodes in its column, so that locating a column with the lowest number of nodes is of complexity O("n") rather than O("n"×"m") where "n" is the number of columns and "m" is the number of rows. Selecting a column with a low node count is a heuristic which improves performance in some cases, but is not essential to the algorithm.

Exploring.

In Algorithm X, rows and columns are regularly eliminated from and restored to the matrix. Eliminations are determined by selecting a column and a row in that column. If a selected column doesn't have any rows, the current matrix is unsolvable and must be backtracked. When an elimination occurs, all columns for which the selected row contains a 1 are removed, along with all rows (including the selected row) that contain a 1 in any of the removed columns. The columns are removed because they have been filled, and the rows are removed because they conflict with the selected row. To remove a single column, first remove the selected column's header. Next, for each row where the selected column contains a 1, traverse the row and remove it from other columns (this makes those rows inaccessible and is how conflicts are prevented). Repeat this column removal for each column where the selected row contains a 1. This order ensures that any removed node is removed exactly once and in a predictable order, so it can be backtracked appropriately. If the resulting matrix has no columns, then they have all been filled and the selected rows form the solution.

Backtracking.

To backtrack, the above process must be reversed using the second algorithm stated above. One requirement of using that algorithm is that backtracking must be done as an exact reversal of eliminations. Knuth's paper gives a clear picture of these relationships and how the node removal and reinsertion works, and provides a slight relaxation of this limitation.

Optional constraints.

It is also possible to solve one-cover problems in which a particular constraint is optional, but can be satisfied no more than once. Dancing Links accommodates these with primary columns which must be filled and secondary columns which are optional. This alters the algorithm's solution test from a matrix having no columns to a matrix having no primary columns and if the heuristic of minimum one's in a column is being used then it needs to be checked only within primary columns. Knuth discusses optional constraints as applied to the "n" queens problem. The chessboard diagonals represent optional constraints, as some diagonals may not be occupied. If a diagonal is occupied, it can be occupied only once.

In computer science, dancing links is a technique for reverting the operation of deleting a node from a circular doubly linked list. It is particularly useful for efficiently implementing backtracking algorithms, such as Donald Knuth's Algorithm X for the exact cover problem. Algorithm X is a recursive, nondeterministic, depth-first, backtracking algorithm that finds all solutions to the exact cover problem. Some of the better-known exact cover problems include tiling, the "n" queens problem, and Sudoku.

Tanz der Kanten ist eine Technik zum effektiven Umgang mit Listen in der Informatik. Sie ermöglicht es auf unkomplizierte Weise, Elemente in Listen zu entfernen oder einzufügen.


Early career.

Fidalgo was born in La Seu d'Urgell in the province of Lleida, Catalonia, Spain, the heir of a noble Navarrese family. He entered joined the Spanish Navy as a guardiamarina (midshipman) at the Real Colegio de Guardiamarinas in Cádiz. He graduated in 1775 and given the rank of Alférez de Fragata (Frigate Ensign).  He was chosen to be a member of Vicente Tofiño's team of cartographers working during the 1780s on the first atlas of Spain's ports and coastal waters. He served on various assignments in the Mediterranean and saw action against the British and Portuguese. In 1778 he was promoted to Teniente de Navío (Lieutenant) and assigned to the Spanish naval station at San Blas, Mexico.

Spain and the Pacific Northwest.

The Spanish claim to Alaska and the Pacific Northwest had dated back to a 1493 papal bull (Inter caetera) and rights contained in the 1494 Treaty of Tordesillas; these two formal acts gave Spain the exclusive rights to colonize all of the Western Hemisphere (excluding Brazil), including the exclusive rights to colonize all of the west coast of North America. The first European expedition to actually reach the west coast of North America was led by the Spaniard Vasco Núñez de Balboa, which achieved the Pacific coast of Panama in 1513. Balboa claimed the Pacific Ocean for the Spanish Crown, as well as the lands touching it, including all of the west coast of North America. This action of Balboa further solidified the Spanish claim of exclusive control over the entire west coast of North America.  The claims unchallenged, the Spanish Empire did not explore or settle the northwest coast of North America in the 250 years after Balboa's claim. By the late 18th century, however, learning of Russian Empire and British arrivals along the Pacific coast, Spain finally grew sufficiently concerned about their claims to the Pacific Northwest and set out to learn the extent of the Russian and British encroachment.

Fidalgo expedition of 1790.

In 1790, at the direction of Juan Vicente de Güemes Padilla Horcasitas y Aguayo, 2nd Count of Revillagigedo, the Viceroy of New Spain, Fidalgo was sent to New Spain's northernmost settlement, San Lorenzo de Nootka, just off today's Vancouver Island. In May 1790, Fidalgo sailed out of Nootka and some weeks later, anchored off present-day Cordova, Alaska. The expedition found no signs of Russian presence, and traded with natives in the area. On June 3, 1790, they put ashore on today's Orca Inlet, and in a solemn ceremony, Fidalgo erected a large wooden cross, re-asserted Spanish sovereignty, and named the area "Puerto Córdova." Fidalgo continued along the Alaskan coast, reaching today's Gravina Point, where the same ceremony re-asserting Spanish sovereignty was performed. On June 15, 1790, they discovered a port, which they named "Puerto Valdez", after Antonio Valdés, then Minister of the Spanish Navy.  On July 4, 1790, the expedition made their first contact with the Russians, on the southwestern coast of the Kenai Peninsula, which Fidalgo named "Puerto Revillagigedo". The expedition pressed on to the main Russian settlement of the time on Kodiak Island, in today's Three Saints Bay. Fidalgo entertained the Russians aboard his ship, and then on July 5, 1790, conducted another ceremony of sovereignty, near the Russian outpost of Alexandrovsk (today's English Bay or Nanwalek, Alaska), southwest of today's Anchorage on the Kenai Peninsula.  Fidalgo led the expedition back to San Blas, arriving on November 15, 1790.

Neah Bay.

In 1792 Salvador Fidalgo was assigned to establish a Spanish post at Neah Bay (the Spanish name was "Bahía de Núñez Gaona"), on the southwestern coast of the Strait of Juan de Fuca in present-day U.S. state of Washington. He arrived from San Blas on the corvette "Princesa" on May 28, 1792. The post soon had cleared land for a garden, a livestock enclosure with a number of cows, sheep, hogs, and goats, and a stockade with a small garrison.  The post was established during the Nootka Convention negotiations between Spain and Britain in the wake of the Nootka Crisis. It was uncertain whether the Spanish post at Nootka Sound would be ceded to the British or not. Fidalgo's work at Neah Bay was in preparation for a possible relocation of Spain's Nootka Sound post.  Later during the autumn of 1792 a conflict occurred between the Makah, natives of Neah Bay, and the Spanish. Fidalgo's second in command, Pilot Antonio Serantes, was killed and in retaliation Fidalgo ordered an attack on the Makah, inflicting many casualties. For this action Fidalgo was later reprimanded by his superior officers. The post at Neah Bay was abandoned and Fidalgo was recalled to Nootka Sound.

Later life.

In 1794 Salvador Fidalgo was promoted to Capitán de Fragata (Frigate Captain or Commander). In 1795 he sailed to the Philippines to deliver diplomatic documents. In 1801 he suppressed a Native American rebellion at the Tiburón Island in the Gulf of California.

Death.

He died on September 27, 1803 in Tacubaya, near Mexico City.

Legacy.

Fidalgo Island, near Puget Sound, was named in his honor.

Salvador Fidalgo y Lopegarcía (6 August 1756 – 27 September 1803) was a Spanish explorer. He commanded an exploring expedition for Spain to Alaska and the Pacific Northwest during the late 18th century.

Kapitän Don Salvador Fidalgo (* 1756; † 1803) war ein spanischer Seefahrer, Entdecker und Hydrograph im Auftrag der spanischen Krone.


Life.

Sommer was born in 1949 in Haifa, Israel, the son of Jewish parents. His mother had fled Bessarabia (now Moldavia) in 1943 and his father had emigrated from Würzburg to Palestine in 1935. After his parents separated, Sommer moved with his mother and her new partner to Vienna, where he adopted the name of his stepfather, studying mathematics at the University of Vienna and was awarded a doctorate at the age of 21 in 1971 with the title "Limit theorems on the entropy of number-theoretic transformations." Sommer's PhD supervisor was.

Career.

Nixdorf & Sony.

Sommer moved to New York at the age of 24 to work for Q1 Corp., a small computer company that was taken over in 1974 by the German Nixdorf Computer AG. After a brief stopover in Germany, he became head of the Nixdorf branch in Paris for two years in 1977, later heading overseas. In 1980 Sommer moved to the Japanese Sony Group, where ten years later he became the executive chair in the United States and in 1993 President and COO of Sony Europe.

Deutsche Telekom.

On May 16, 1995, Sommer became CEO of Deutsche Telekom. Initially successful, Sommer resigned on 16 July 2002 from his post on the grounds that the relationship of trust with the Supervisory Board was disrupted. The German government, Deutsche Telekom's main shareholder, had pushed Sommer to resign after massive losses due to the stock market crisis from 2001 and Deutsche Telekom's high corporate debt levels. After initial speculation, denied by Deutsche Telekom, that Sommer would receive compensation of 65 million euros, Sommer's severance pay was only 11.6 million euros. In May 2008, it became known that during Sommer's tenure as chief executive officer of Deutsche Telekom, staff and journalists were systematically spied on to uncover potential sources of leaked information within the company.

Supervisory board mandates and consulting contracts.

Sommer is a member of the Supervisory Board of Munich Re. From May 2004 to December 31, 2006, he was a member of the supervisory board of the former German chemical company Celanese. Since July 2004 Sommer has been a member of the board of directors of the US group Motorola. Since May 2003, he has been Chairman of the International Advisory Council of the Russian Sistema Group. As a consultant, Sommer is closely associated with the investment firm The Blackstone Group LP, which holds interests in Celanese and Deutsche Telekom. Since September 2006, Sommer has been a member of the board of directors of the Indian company Tata Consultancy Services.

Ron Sommer (born July 29, 1949 in Haifa, Israel, as Aaron Lebowitsch) is a manager and former CEO of Deutsche Telekom. Sommer is Chairman of the International Advisory Council of the Russian Sistema Group, where he was elected to the Executive Board in June 2005.

Ron Sommer (* 29. Juli 1949 in Haifa, Israel, als "Aaron Lebowitsch") ist ein Manager und ehemaliger Vorstandsvorsitzender der Deutschen Telekom. Seit Mai 2003 ist er Vorsitzender im internationalen Beirat (Chairman of the International Advisory Council) des russischen Konzerns Sistema und wurde dort im Juni 2005 zum Vorstandsmitglied gewählt.


Career.

F. R. David began his career as Robert Fitoussi, a Tunisian-born singer-songwriter and guitarist with French garage band Les Trèfles. After one E.P., they mutated into Les Boots, but achieved very little commercial success. Adopting his new stage name, he went solo in 1967 and recorded some orchestral pop psych with Michel Colombier, including a version of The Beatles' "Strawberry Fields Forever" (Il Est Plus Facile). He enjoyed minor hits with the Éric Charden penned "Symphonie" and a cover of The Bee Gees' "Sir Geoffrey Saved the World", but this success did not last. He then created Aztec Records with Sonopress & Carrer and started producing with Michael Haubrich and they wrote and produced several groups. The first was called Cockpit, followed by David Cast, Doc & Prohibition Group, Ragga, Alain Maria, Freddy Meyer, and DD Daughterdydawn with Vangelis Papathanassiou. During the early 1970s, he formed the progressive rock group David Explosion but their one album was not a success. He worked with Vangelis for a while, appearing as vocalist on some of his early 1970s albums, and then joined French rock band Les Variations, appearing on their final album "Café De Paris" (1975), which featured an early rock-disco crossover "Superman, Superman". When the band broke up, he went solo again. His personal "trademarks" are his sunglasses and his guitar (a white Fender Stratocaster).  His most recognised song was his hit "Words" in 1982, which sold eight million records worldwide, topped various charts around Europe in late 1982, and reached No. 2 in the UK Singles Chart in spring 1983, covering a rival version by 1960s hitmakers The Tremeloes, and going on to becoming the 22nd best-selling single in the UK during 1983. The song appears in the Oscar-nominated film for Best Picture, "Call Me By Your Name". The song is a catchy, slightly plaintive synth-led mid-tempo ballad sung in a slender, high-pitched voice. F. R. David's voice is also heard on the 1974 45rpm single "Who" by Vangelis under the name 'Odyssey'.  In 1983, Thomas Anders covered F. R. David's song "Pick Up the Phone" in German. In 2007, Mr. Oizo of Ed Banger Records sampled the song "Don't Go" on his song "First Love", which features singer Uffie.  During the 1990s, he took time out from his own music career and focused on writing and composing for other well known artists. F. R. David released another album "Words – '99 Version" in 2000 which contained mostly covers. In 2009, he released the album "Numbers", which was in collaboration with other musicians and featured songs that F. R. David himself most preferred.  Between 2010 and 2011, he went on a national French tour of 52 concerts.

"F. R." David (born Elli Robert Fitoussi 1 January 1947, Menzel Bourguiba, Tunisia) is a Tunisian-born French singer. He is best known for his 1982 hit single "Words".

F. R. David (* 1. Januar 1947 als "Eli Robert David Fitoussi" in Menzel Bourguiba, Französisch-Nordafrika) ist ein französisch-tunesischer Sänger und Songwriter. 1982 hatte er mit "Words" einen Nummer-eins-Hit in Deutschland, Österreich und der Schweiz. Er variierte seinen Künstlernamen häufig etwas, seine Veröffentlichungen erfolgten zu Beginn seiner Karriere unter F-R David, später auch als F.R. David oder FR. David.


Life.

Melani was born in Pistoia, the third of seven sons of a local bell-ringer. He was castrated at a young age so that he could become a singer. Three other brothers also became castrati, along with two cousins. His brothers Alessandro Melani and Jacopo Melani both became celebrated composers.  He soon attracted the patronage of nobleman Mattias de' Medici. Roger Freitas argues that the "circumstantial evidence is convincing" that Melano has an affair with Duke Carlo II of Mantua: Melani indicated that "both men had sex with the same (unidentified) page at the court of Innsbruck".  Melani quickly became famous nevertheless and exaggerated stories circulated that his voice was the result of being bitten by a snake. His most celebrated role on stage was as Orfeo in the opera by Luigi Rossi which premiered in 1647. His fame took Melani to France and an introduction to the court of Louis XIV, effectively presented as a gift from the Medici dukes to the opera-loving Queen Anne. Cardinal Mazarin thereupon introduced him to the world of espionage, where Melani quickly shone as he had in music; Melani able to move secretly around European states under cover of his singing. He took advantage of concerts held in the various courts to send messages and discover secrets. In 1657, he was sent by Mazarin to Bavaria to persuade the prince elector Ferdinand, a friend and ally of France, to put himself forward as candidate for Holy Roman Emperor. Although the operation ultimately failed, Mazarin came to appreciate Melani's diplomatic abilities.  Mazarin's death reversed Melani's fortunes. Especially damaging was his closeness to the superintendent of finances, Nicolas Fouquet, who was arrested and imprisoned. Louis had known Melani from his infancy and therefore had confidence in him, but after discovering Melani had copied his letters to Fouquet decided to publicly exile him. There is also some suggestion that the husband of Hortense Mancini convinced Louis to exile Melani, apparently out of suspicion that the latter was having an affair with his wife.  Melani left France for Rome, where he spent the next 15 years. He entered the formal service of Cardinal Giulio Rospigliosi, also from Pistoia, but continued to enjoy favour with Maria Mancini (another niece of Mazarin), with whom he maintained a correspondence of more than forty years.  After the death of Pope Alexander VII, Melani's patron Rospigliosi rose to the papacy as Clement IX. Melani took part in the conclave as an assistant, but it is unknown if he played a role in influencing the election. Nevertheless Louis, content at the outcome of the conclave, removed the ban on Melani and awarded him the title of Abbot with an annual stipend.  In 1668, Melani sang publicly for the last time at Palazzo Colonna, and from then on dedicated himself exclusively to politics and diplomacy, writing several books on Rome, advising the King of France, mediating with the German princes, and acting as go-between among the Italian States. He finally died at the age of 88 in 1714 in Paris. The assets he left in his will were significant: besides rich buildings and warehouses in Italy and France, he also left a large library.

In fiction.

Melani has been the object in recent years in the novels by Rita Monaldi and Francesco Sorti beginning with "Imprimatur" and continuing with "Secretum" and "Veritas". The two authors published some documents written from Melani including a letter to Louis XIV.

Atto Melani (30 March 1626 in Pistoia – 4 January 1714 in Paris) was a famous Italian castrato opera singer, also employed as a diplomat and a spy.

Atto Melani (* 31. März 1626 in Pistoia; † Januar 1714 in Paris) war ein italienischer Kastratensänger, Diplomat, Spion und Schriftsteller.


Signs and symptoms.

People with SPD are often aloof, cold and indifferent, which causes interpersonal difficulty. Most individuals diagnosed with SPD have trouble establishing personal relationships or expressing their feelings meaningfully. They may remain passive in the face of unfavorable situations. Their communication with other people may be indifferent and terse at times. Schizoid personality types are challenged to achieve the ability to assess the impact of their own actions in social situations.  When someone violates the personal space of an individual with SPD, it suffocates them and they must free themselves to be independent. People who have SPD tend to be happiest when in relationships in which their partner places few emotional or intimate demands on them and doesn't expect phatic or social niceties. It is not necessarily people they want to avoid, but negative "or" positive emotional expectations, emotional intimacy and self-disclosure. Therefore, it is possible for individuals with SPD to form relationships with others based on intellectual, physical, familial, occupational or recreational activities, as long as there is no need for emotional intimacy. Donald Winnicott explains this is because schizoid individuals "prefer to make relationships on their own terms and not in terms of the impulses of other people." Failing to attain that, they prefer isolation. In general, friendship among schizoids is usually limited to one person, often also schizoid, forming what has been called a union of two eccentrics; "within it – the ecstatic cult of personality, outside it – everything is sharply rejected and despised".  Although there is the belief people with schizoid personality disorder are complacent and unaware of their feelings, many recognize their differences from others. Some individuals with SPD who are in treatment say "life passes them by" or they feel like living inside of a shell; they see themselves as "missing the bus" and speak of observing life from a distance.  Aaron Beck and his colleagues report that people with SPD seem comfortable with their aloof lifestyle and consider themselves observers, rather than participants, in the world around them. But they also mention that many of their schizoid patients recognize themselves as socially deviant (or even defective) when confronted with the different lives of ordinary people – especially when they read books or see movies focusing on relationships. Even when schizoid individuals may not long for closeness, they can become weary of being "on the outside, looking in". These feelings may lead to depression or depersonalisation. If they do, schizoid people often experience feeling "like a robot" or "going through life in a dream".  According to Guntrip, Klein and others, people with SPD may possess a hidden sense of superiority and lack dependence on other people's opinions. This is very different from the grandiosity seen in narcissistic personality disorder, which is described as "burdened with envy" and with a desire to destroy or put down others. Additionally, schizoids do not go out of their way to achieve social validation. Unlike the narcissist, the schizoid will often keep their creations private to avoid unwelcome attention or the feeling that their ideas and thoughts are being appropriated by the public.  The related schizotypal personality disorder and schizophrenia are reported to have ties to creative thinking, and it is speculated that the internal fantasy aspect of schizoid personality disorder may also be reflective of this thinking. Alternatively, there has been an especially large contribution of people with schizoid symptoms to science and theoretical areas of knowledge, including maths, physics, economics, etc. At the same time, people with SPD are helpless at many practical activities due to their symptoms.

Causes.

Some evidence suggests the cluster A personality disorders have shared genetic and environmental risk factors, and there is an increased prevalence of schizoid personality disorder in relatives of people with schizophrenia and schizotypal personality disorder. Twin studies with schizoid personality disorder traits (e.g. low sociability and low warmth) suggest these are inherited. Besides this indirect evidence, the direct heritability estimates of SPD range from 50 to 59%. To Sula Wolff, who

Diagnosis.

DSM-5 criteria.

The "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders" is a widely used manual for diagnosing mental disorders. DSM- 5 still includes schizoid personality disorder with the same criteria as in DSM-IV. In the DSM-5, SPD is described as a pervasive pattern of detachment from social relationships and a restricted range of expression of emotions in interpersonal settings, beginning by early adulthood and present in a

ICD-10 criteria.

The of ICD-10 lists schizoid personality disorder under (F60.1).  The general criteria

Guntrip criteria.

Ralph Klein, Clinical Director of the Masterson Institute, delineates the following nine characteristics of the schizoid personality as described by Harry Guntrip:  The description of Guntrip's nine characteristics should clarify some

Millon's subtypes.

Theodore Millon restricted the term "schizoid" to those personalities who lack the capacity to form social relationships. He characterizes their way of thinking as being vague and void of thoughts and as sometimes having a "defective perceptual scanning". Because they often do not perceive cues that trigger affective responses, they experience fewer emotional reactions.  For Millon, SPD is

Differential diagnosis.

While SPD shares several symptoms with

Comorbidity.

SPD is often found to be comorbid with at least one of several disorders or pathologies. Sometimes, a person with SPD may meet criteria for an additional personality disorder; when this happens, it is most often avoidant, schizotypal or paranoid PD. Alexithymia (the inability to identify and describe emotions) is often present in SPD. Sharon Ekleberry suggests that some people with schizoid personality features may occasionally experience instances of brief reactive psychosis when under stress.

Substance use disorder.

Very little data exists for rates of substance use disorder among people with SPD, but existing studies suggest they are less likely to have substance abuse problems than the general population. One study found that significantly fewer boys with SPD had alcohol problems than a control group of non-schizoids. Another study evaluating personality disorder profiles in substance abusers found that substance abusers who showed schizoid symptoms were more likely to abuse one substance rather than many,

Suicide.

Suicide may be a running theme for schizoid individuals, in part due to the knowledge of the large-scale ostracism that would result if their idiosyncratic views were revealed and their experience that most, if not all people, are unrelatable or have polar opposite reactions to them on societally sensitive issues, though they are not likely to actually attempt one. They might be down and depressed when all possible connections have been cut off, but as long as there is some relationship or even hope for one the risk will be low. The idea of suicide is a driving

Asperger syndrome.

Several studies have reported an overlap or comorbidity with the autism spectrum disorder Asperger syndrome.Asperger syndrome had traditionally been called "schizoid disorder of childhood", and Eugen Bleuler coined both the terms "autism" and "schizoid" to describe withdrawal to an internal fantasy, against which any influence from outside becomes an intolerable disturbance. In a 2012 study of a sample of 54 young adults with Asperger syndrome, it was found that 26% of them also met criteria for SPD, the highest comorbidity out of any personality disorder in the sample. Additionally, twice as many men with Asperger syndrome met criteria for SPD than women. While 41% of the whole sample were unemployed with no occupation, this rose to 62% for the Asperger's and SPD comorbid group. Tantam suggested that Asperger syndrome may confer an increased

Low weight.

A study which looked at the body mass index (BMI) of a sample of both male adolescents diagnosed with SPD and those diagnosed with Asperger syndrome found that the BMI of all patients was significantly below normal. Clinical records indicated abnormal eating behaviour by

Anti-social conduct.

Another study looked at rates of anti-social conduct in boys with either schizoid personality disorder or Asperger syndrome compared with a control group of non-schizoid individuals and found the incidence of anti-social conduct to be the same in both groups. However, the schizoid boys stole significantly less. Upon follow-up in adulthood, out of a matched group of 19 boys with SPD and 19 boys without, four of the schizoid boys reported having exclusively internal violent fantasies (concerned with Zulu wars, abattoirs, fascists and communists and a collection of knives, respectively), which were pursued entirely by themselves, while the only non-schizoid subject to report a violent fantasy life shared his with a group of young men (dressing up and riding motorcycles as a self-styled "panzer" group).  An absent parent or socio-economic disadvantage did not seem to affect the risk of anti-social conduct in schizoid individuals as much as it did in non-schizoid individuals. Absent parents and parental socio-economic disadvantage were also less common in the schizoid group.

Controversy.

The original concept of the schizoid character developed by Ernst Kretschmer in the 1920s comprised an amalgamation of avoidant, schizotypal and schizoid traits. It was not until 1980 and the work of Theodore Millon that led to splitting this concept into three personality disorders (now schizoid, schizotypal and avoidant). This caused debate about whether this was accurate or if these traits were different expressions of a single personality disorder.  A 2012 article suggested that two different disorders may better represent SPD: one affect-constricted disorder (belonging to schizotypal PD) and a seclusive disorder (belonging to avoidant PD). They called for the replacement of the SPD category from future editions

Treatment.

People with schizoid personality disorder rarely seek treatment for their condition. This is an issue found in many personality disorders, which prevents many people who are afflicted with these conditions from coming forward for treatment: they tend to view their condition as not conflicting with their self-image and their abnormal perceptions and behaviors as rational and appropriate. There are little data on the effectiveness of various treatments on this personality disorder because it is seldom seen in clinical settings. However, those in treatment have the option of medication and psychotherapy.

Medication.

No medications are indicated for directly treating schizoid personality disorder, but certain medications may reduce the symptoms of SPD as well as treat co-occurring mental disorders. The symptoms of SPD mirror the negative symptoms of schizophrenia, such as anhedonia, blunted affect and low energy, and SPD is thought to be part of the "schizophrenic spectrum" of disorders, which also includes the schizotypal and paranoid personality disorders, and may benefit from the medications indicated for schizophrenia. Originally, low doses of atypical antipsychotics like

Psychotherapy.

Despite the relative emotional comfort, psychoanalytic therapy of schizoid individuals takes a long time and causes many difficulties. Schizoids are generally poorly involved in psychotherapy due to difficulties in establishing empathic relations with a psychotherapist and low motivation for treatment.  Supportive psychotherapy is used in an inpatient or outpatient setting by a trained professional that focuses on areas such as coping skills, improvement of social skills and social interactions, communication and self-esteem issues. People with SPD may also have a perceptual tendency to miss subtle differences in expression. That causes an inability to pick up hints from the environment because social cues from others that might normally provoke an emotional response are not perceived. That in turn limits their own emotional experience. The perception of varied events only increases

Shorter-term treatment.

The concept of "closer compromise" means that the schizoid patient may be encouraged to experience intermediate positions between the extremes of emotional closeness and permanent exile. A lack of injections of interpersonal reality causes an impoverishment in which the schizoid individual's self-image becomes increasingly empty and volatilized and leads the individual to feel unreal. To create a more adaptive and self-enriching interaction with others in which one "feels real", the patient is encouraged to take risks through greater connection, communication and sharing of ideas, feelings and actions. Closer compromise means that while the patient's vulnerability to

Longer-term therapy.

Klein suggests that "working through" is the second longer-term tier of psychotherapeutic work with schizoid patients. Its goals are to change fundamentally the old ways of feeling and thinking and to rid oneself of the vulnerability to those emotions associated with old feelings and thoughts. A new therapeutic operation of "remembering with feeling" that draws on D. W. Winnicott's concepts of false self and true self is called for. The patient must remember with feeling the emergence of his or her false self through childhood and remember the conditions and proscriptions that were imposed on the individual's freedom to experience the self in company with others.  Remembering with feeling ultimately leads the patient to understand that he or she had no opportunity to choose from a selection of possible ways of experiencing the self and of relating with others and had few, if any, options other than to develop a schizoid stance toward others. The false self was simply the best way in which the patient could experience the repetitive predictable acknowledgement, affirmation and approval necessary for emotional survival while warding off the effects associated with the abandonment depression.  If the goal of shorter-term therapy is for patients to understand that they are not the way they appear to be and can act differently, then the longer-term goal of working through is for patients to understand who and what they are as human beings, what they truly are like and

Development and course.

SPD can be first apparent in childhood and adolescence with solitariness, poor peer relationships and underachievement in school. This may mark these children as different and make

Epidemiology.

SPD is uncommon in clinical settings (about 2.2%) and occurs more commonly in males. It is rare compared with other personality disorders, with a prevalence estimated at less than 1% of the general population.  Philip Manfield suggests that the "schizoid condition", which roughly includes the DSM schizoid, avoidant and schizotypal personality disorders, is represented by "as many as forty percent of all personality disorders." Manfield adds "This huge discrepancy [from the ten percent reported by therapists for the condition] is probably largely because someone with a schizoid disorder is less likely to seek treatment than someone with other axis-II

History.

The term "schizoid" was coined in 1908 by Eugen Bleuler to designate a human tendency to direct attention toward one's inner life and away from the external world, a concept akin to introversion in that it was not viewed in terms of psychopathology. Bleuler labeled the exaggeration of this tendency the "schizoid personality". He described these personalities as "comfortably dull and at the same time sensitive, people who in a narrow manner pursue vague purposes".  In 1910, August Hoch introduced a very similar concept called the "shut-in" personality. Characteristics of it were reticence, seclusiveness, shyness and a preference for living in fantasy worlds, among others. In 1925, Russian psychiatrist Grunja Sukhareva described a "schizoid psychopathy" in a group of children, resembling today's SPD and Asperger's. About a decade later Pyotr Gannushkin also included "Schizoids" and "Dreamers" in his detailed typology of personality types.  Studies on the schizoid personality have developed along two distinct paths. The ""descriptive psychiatry" tradition" focuses on overtly observable, behavioral and describable symptoms and finds its clearest exposition in the DSM-5. The "dynamic psychiatry tradition" includes the exploration of covert or unconscious motivations and character structure as elaborated by classic psychoanalysis and object-relations theory.  The descriptive tradition began in 1925 with the description of observable schizoid behaviors by Ernst Kretschmer. He organized those into three groups of characteristics:  These characteristics were the precursors of the DSM-III division of the schizoid character into three distinct personality disorders: schizotypal, avoidant and schizoid. Kretschmer himself, however, did not conceive of separating these behaviors to the point of radical isolation but considered them to be simultaneously present as varying potentials in schizoid individuals. For Kretschmer, the majority of schizoids are not "either" oversensitive "or" cold, but they are oversensitive and cold "at the same time" in quite different relative proportions, with a tendency to move along these dimensions from one behavior to the other.  The second path, that of dynamic psychiatry, began in 1924 with observations by Eugen Bleuler, who observed that the schizoid person and schizoid pathology were not things to be set apart. Ronald Fairbairn's seminal work on the schizoid personality, from which most of what is known today about schizoid phenomena is derived, was presented in 1940. Here, Fairbairn delineated four central schizoid themes: Following Fairbairn, the dynamic psychiatry tradition has continued to produce rich explorations on the schizoid character, most notably from writers Nannarello (1953), Laing (1965), Winnicott (1965), Guntrip (1969), Khan (1974), Akhtar (1987), Seinfeld (1991), Manfield (1992) and Klein (1995).

Schizoid personality disorder (, often abbreviated as SPD or SzPD) is a personality disorder characterized by a lack of interest in social relationships, a tendency toward a solitary or sheltered lifestyle, secretiveness, emotional coldness, detachment and apathy. Affected individuals may be unable to form intimate attachments to others and simultaneously possess a rich and elaborate but exclusively internal fantasy world. Other associated features include stilted speech, a lack of deriving enjoyment from most activities, feeling as though one is an "observer" rather than a participant in life, an inability to tolerate emotional expectations of others, apparent indifference when praised or criticized, a degree of asexuality and idiosyncratic moral or political beliefs. Symptoms typically start in late childhood or adolescence.

Die schizoide Persönlichkeitsstörung (SPS) zeichnet sich durch einen Rückzug von gefühlsbetonten und zwischenmenschlichen Kontakten aus. Das äußert sich in übermäßiger Vorliebe für Fantasie und Selbstbeobachtung, Einzelgängertum und einer in sich gekehrten Zurückhaltung. Die Betroffenen verfügen nur über ein begrenztes Vermögen, Gefühle auszudrücken und Freude zu zeigen.


Early life.

Uhry was born in Atlanta, Georgia, the son of Alene (Fox), a social worker, and Ralph K. Uhry, a furniture designer and artist. He was born into a German Jewish family with one sister, the author Ann Uhry Abrams. Uhry graduated from Druid Hills High School in 1954 and subsequently graduated from Brown University where he wrote two original musicals with Brownbrokers. Druid Hills High School's Uhry Theater is named in honor of Uhry. During his first years in New York City, learning the craft of lyric-writing, Uhry received a stipend from Frank Loesser; after his eventual success, Uhry often praised Loesser's generosity and encouragement.

Career.

Uhry's early work for the stage was as a lyricist and librettist for a number of commercially unsuccessful musicals, including a revival of "Little Johnny Jones" starring Donny Osmond (1982) which ran for one performance on Broadway.  His first collaboration with Robert Waldman was the 1968 musical "Here's Where I Belong", which closed after one performance (and 20 previews) on Broadway. They had considerably better success with "The Robber Bridegroom", which premiered on Broadway in both 1975 and 1976, had a year-long national tour, and garnered Uhry his first Tony Award nomination, for best book of a musical in 1976. "America's Sweetheart", with music by Robert Waldman and with the book co-written by Uhry with John Weidman, ran at the Hartford Stage, Hartford, Connecticut in March 1985 to April 1985, and then at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, Miami, Florida, where it closed.  "The Robber Bridegroom" was revived Off-Broadway in March 2016 at the Roundabout Theatre Company and directed by Alex Timbers. This production won three Lucille Lortel Awards including Outstanding Revival.

Atlanta Trilogy.

"Driving Miss Daisy" (1987) is the first in what is known as his "Atlanta Trilogy" of plays, all set during the first half of the 20th century. Produced Off-Broadway at Playwrights Horizons, the play earned him the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It deals with the relationship between an elderly Jewish woman and her black chauffeur. He adapted it into the screenplay for a 1989 film starring Jessica Tandy and Morgan Freeman, an adaptation which was awarded the Academy Award for Writing Adapted Screenplay, in addition to the Academy Award for Tandy as best actress.  The second of the trilogy, "The Last Night of Ballyhoo" (1996), is set in 1939 during the premiere of the film "Gone with the Wind". It deals with a Jewish family during an important social event. It was commissioned for the Cultural Olympiad in Atlanta which coincided with the 1996 Summer Olympics, and received the Tony Award for Best Play when produced on Broadway in 1997.  The third is the 1998 musical "Parade", about the 1913 trial of Jewish factory manager Leo Frank. The libretto earned him a Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical. The music was written by Jason Robert Brown.

Additional theatre.

Uhry's play "Edgardo Mine" is based on the true story of Edgardo Mortara, an Italian child taken by police from his Jewish family in 1858 because one of their domestic servants had baptized him. The play, directed by Doug Hughes, opened at Hartford Stage, Hartford, Connecticut in November 2002.  The Manhattan Theatre Club produced Uhry's musical "LoveMusik" on Broadway in 2007. The story depicts the relationship between composer Kurt Weill and his wife, Lotte Lenya, using Weill's music.  "Apples & Oranges" premiered on October 10, 2012 at the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta. This new play is about the rediscovery of a sibling relationship.  "Angel Reapers", a collaboration with director/choreographer Martha Clarke, ran Off-Broadway at the Signature Theatre from February 2 to March 20, 2016. This production won the Lucille Lortel Award for "Outstanding Alternative Theatrical Experience".

Film.

Uhry wrote the screenplay for the 1989 film version of "Driving Miss Daisy" and for the 1992 film "Rich in Love"; he co-wrote the screenplay for the 1988 film "Mystic Pizza".  His next screenplay is for a film announced in 2009, "From Swastika to Jim Crow", a dramatization of a documentary about Jewish professors who flee Nazi Germany, find posts in the Southern US, and identify with their African-American students and their struggle under Jim Crow.

Personal life.

Uhry is married to Joanna Kellogg. They have four daughters and live in New York City.

Alfred Fox Uhry (born December 3, 1936) is an American playwright and screenwriter. He has received an Academy Award, two Tony Awards and the 1988 Pulitzer Prize for dramatic writing for "Driving Miss Daisy". He is a member of the Fellowship of Southern Writers.

Alfred Fox Uhry (* 3. Dezember 1936 in Atlanta, Georgia) ist ein amerikanischer Schriftsteller. Durch sein mit dem Pulitzer-Preis ausgezeichnetes Schauspiel "Driving Miss Daisy" wurde er international bekannt.


Development.

Medium Capacity bombs.

Medium Capacity (M.C.) bombs were designed to address the shortcomings of General Purpose (G.P.) bombs, which had a charge-to-weight ratio of about 27 per cent (contemporary German bombs had a ratio of fifty per cent). M.C. bombs were to have a charge-to-weight ratio of at least forty per cent and use explosives of greater power, although shortages led often to inferior explosive types being used. High Capacity (H.C.) bombs had a charge-to-weight ratio of up to 75 per cent. M.C. bombs had greater blast effect than G.P. bombs but had casings which were robust enough to confer a considerable capacity to penetrate.

Grand Slam.

On 18 July 1943, work started on a larger version of the Tallboy bomb, which became the Grand Slam. As with the earlier Tallboy, the fins of the Grand Slam generated a stabilising spin. The bomb had a thicker case than a G.P. bomb, which allowed deeper penetration and the Grand Slam had a charge-to-weight ratio of nearly fifty per cent. The Grand Slam was so heavy that in the air, the wing tips of the Lancaster bent upwards by until the bomb was released; the aircraft then leapt. After release, the Grand Slam would reach a near-supersonic speed of and would penetrate deep underground before detonating. The explosion could form a camouflet (cavern) and shift the ground, undermining the foundations of the target. The first Grand Slam was tested at the Ashley Range in the New Forest, on 13 March 1945 and left a hole deep with a diameter of. The first successful Grand Slam operation was flown the next day.

Tactics.

A modified Avro Lancaster B.Mk 1 (Special) bomber was designed for the Grand Slam, equipped with Merlin 24 engines, minus front and mid-upper turrets and the crew reduced to five; the bomb bay doors were removed and a stronger undercarriage installed. Like the Tallboy, after hot molten Torpex was poured into the casing, the explosive took a month to cool and set. Aircrews were told to land with an unused bomb on board rather than jettison them into the sea if a sortie was aborted. The commander of 617 Squadron, John "Johnny" Fauquier gave orders that if returning with a bomb, an aircraft would divert from RAF Woodhall Spa in Lincolnshire, and use the longer runway at RAF Carnaby near the coast at Bridlington in East Yorkshire.

Grand Slam operations, 1945.

Bielefeld, 14 March.

By mid-March 1945, over had been dropped on the Bielefeld viaduct in 54 attacks and damage from 17 hits in one raid was repaired in 24 hours. After abortive attempts on 9 and 13 March, on the next day, fifteen Lancasters of 617 Squadron carrying 14 Tallboys and a Grand Slam fuzed for an 11-second delay, returned. A Mosquito of 627 Squadron was present to film the attack along with four Oboe Mosquitoes of 8 (Pathfinder Force) Group to mark the target, escorted by eight squadrons of P-51 Mustangs. The cloud base was at and the air was quite hazy; at the viaduct cloud at the north end precluded a north-to-south bombing run. The Lancaster carrying the Grand Slam, flown by Squadron Leader C. C. Calder, made a run from the south and dropped the Grand Slam bomb from, a height far from ideal, at. The Lancaster rose suddenly as the bomb left the aircraft. The pilot of the filming aircraft, which recorded the attack from called that the bomb had destroyed the viaduct. The effect of the Grand Slam could not be distinguished from the eleven Tallboys but photographic reconnaissance later showed that of the north viaduct and of the south viaduct had been demolished.

Arnsberg, 15 and 19 March.

On 15 March, in poor weather, two aircraft of 617 Squadron carried Grand Slams with 14 Lancasters of 9 Squadron carrying Tallboys to attack the railway viaduct at Arnsberg. The -long viaduct, built from brick and stone faced with concrete, crossed the Ruhr in five spans. A Grand Slam was dropped from at on the fourth attempt and the second bomb was brought home because of cloud cover. Ten Tallboys were also dropped with no effect and no aircraft were lost. On 19 March, 19 Lancasters of 617 Squadron, six with Grand Slams and 13 with Tallboys, attacked the viaduct again. A photographic aircraft from the Australian 463 Squadron filmed the Grand Slams falling and showed one hitting the west end of the viaduct. Another Grand Slam hit the side of the bridge and two dropped slightly short; one Lancaster tried to bomb twice but the release mechanism failed. Two spans of a length of about were brought down into the water and the embankment was destroyed for about and the rail lines severely damaged; after the war one Grand Slam casing was found at the site, thought to have landed flat on the road, only the filling at the rear of the casing having exploded. The crews had been briefed to avoid a hospital near the viaduct and managed to do so.

Arbergen, 21 March.

Twenty Lancasters of 617 Squadron, two carrying Grand Slams and the rest Tallboys, flew in clear weather to Bremen to attack a railway bridge, which crossed the Weser near Nienburg. The first Grand Slam was dropped from, landing short and the second fell off target to the north, due to (anti-aircraft fire) and aiming problems. The Tallboys hit the middle of the bridge and the ends were blown off their piers, the one to the east collapsed onto the ground and the western one was twisted and sagged to the ground at one place; part of the railway track, above the embankment and the first pier on the west side, was wrecked. One Lancaster was shot down near Okel and left a crater deep; five Lancasters were damaged by and an attack by a Messerschmitt Me 262 jet fighter.

Nienburg, 22 March.

Twenty Lancasters of 617 Squadron, six carrying Grand Slams fuzed for 25–30 seconds' delay and 14 carried Tallboys with one-hour delay fuzes, attacked the railway bridge at Nienburg, between Bremen and Hanover in atmospheric conditions ideal for bombing. One Lancaster crew claimed a near miss with a Grand Slam and another a hit. A third Lancaster crew found that their bomb would not fall off at the first two attempts and the bridge collapsed before the third, the crew bringing back the bomb. A fourth Grand Slam was reported to have hit the east end of the structure. Reconnaissance photographs showed that the bridge had been destroyed.

Bremen, 23 March.

The Grand Slam Lancasters of 617 Squadron were fitted with Avro Lincoln undercarriages, with tyres at, double that of Lancaster tires. Another railway Bridge near Bremen was attacked later in the day by twenty 617 Squadron Lancasters, six carrying Grand Slams and 14 with Tallboys in weather that was as good for the Breman anti-aircraft defences as it was for bombing. Lancaster NG489 was hit by and the crew jettisoned the Grand Slam to regain control. Several other Lancasters were hit by anti-aircraft fire and four others were attacked by Me 262s, fifteen of which were seen on the flight to the target. Crews reported three hits and two near-misses to the south and the bridge was brought down by a Tallboy.

Farge, 27 March.

Twenty Lancasters of 617 Squadron attacked the Valentin submarine pens ( was the code name for Vegesack) at Farge, north of Bremen-Vegesack. The pen was intended to be the assembly plant for the Type XXI submarine and work had commenced in 1942. The plant was long and wide, with of the structure above ground and below. The roof was made of reinforced concrete with arched trusses on the walls, filled with concrete. Twenty Lancasters, thirteen with Grand Slams, seven with Tallboys fuzed for one hour, were escorted by eight RAF Mustang squadrons to the target. The weather was good over Farge, with slight and no fighter opposition. One Lancaster returned soon after take-off and another turned back over the target with engine-trouble, ditching the Grand Slam in the North sea. Two of the fourteen hits on the pens were by Grand Slams, which landed near the middle of the roof and exploded deep in the concrete, each causing about of the roof to fall in and leaving large holes; no aircraft were lost.

Hamburg, 9 April.

Number 617 Squadron dispatched 17 Lancasters to bomb the U-boat pens at Hamburg, two with Grand Slams and the rest with Tallboys. The formation was escorted by Spitfire and Mustang fighters. fighters, including jets, attempted to intercept the formation. Five hits were claimed but the Grand Slams appear to have missed; reconnaissance photographs revealed seven hits, four through the roof. Many buildings to the north and west of the pens were destroyed or damaged. Six Lancasters were hit by but no aircraft were lost.

Heligoland, 19 April.

An attack on coastal gun-batteries on Heligoland and Düne in the Heligoland Bight, the south-eastern extremity of the North Sea, was planned by the RAF. The military installations on the main island comprised a radar installation covering the Elbe and Weser rivers, an airfield and a coastal battery each of and guns. To ensure that Allied ships could enter the Elbe and Weser estuaries, Bomber Command intended to attack the island with bombs but at least forty heavy anti-aircraft guns on the islands had to be silenced. The gun positions had a diameter of about and only hits or near-misses could damage them. On 18 April, 953 bombers attacked the anti-aircraft guns and achieved some hits. The next day, twenty Lancasters of 617 Squadron, six carrying Grand Slams and the rest Tallboys, along with 16 aircraft from 9 Squadron, escorted by six squadrons of Spitfires and one of Mustangs, attacked the islands and achieved more hits; no aircraft were lost.

Aftermath.

Analysis.

In March, 156 day sorties were flown, 31 with Grand Slams and 40 with Tallboys. An analysis of the bombing accuracy of 617 Squadron and 9 Squadron on Tallboy sorties. The squadrons used different bomb sights and bombed from heights between and the comparison showed that 1 per cent of the Tallboys dropped by 617 Squadron were gross errors, defined as missing the aiming point by more than against 10 per cent of the Tallboys dropped by 9 Squadron. Unlike the Tallboy, the Grand Slam was designed to penetrate concrete roofs and was more effective against fortifications than earlier bombs. By the end of the war, 41 Grand Slams had been dropped on operations.

Project Ruby.

Beginning in March 1946, Project Ruby was a joint Anglo–American project to investigate the use of penetration bombs against heavily protected, concrete targets. The submarine pens near Bremen were chosen as a target, having become unusable and abandoned since the attack on 27 March 1945. Grand Slams were carried by Lancasters from 15 Squadron and US B-29 bombers. Around 140 sorties were flown, testing bombs including the rocket-assisted Disney bomb.

Examples.

Five complete Grand Slam bombs are preserved and displayed in the United Kingdom at the RAF Museum, London; Brooklands Museum; RAF Lossiemouth; Dumfries and Galloway Aviation Museum and the Battle of Britain Memorial Flight Visitors' Centre at RAF Coningsby. Main portions of these bombs, without their lightweight tails, can be seen at the Kelham Island Museum in Sheffield and Yorkshire Air Museum at Elvington. The T-14 bomb is an American-made variant of the Grand Slam; an example is displayed at the Air Force Armament Museum in the United States.

The Bomb, Medium Capacity, (Grand Slam) was a earthquake bomb used by RAF Bomber Command against German targets during the Second World War. The Grand Slam was a larger version of the Tallboy bomb and closer to the size that its inventor, Barnes Wallis, had envisaged when he developed the idea of an earthquake bomb.

Die Grand Slam (engl. „Großer Schlag“) ist mit über zehn Tonnen Gewicht die bis heute schwerste in einem Krieg eingesetzte Fliegerbombe. Die mit konventionellem Sprengstoff gefüllte Sprengbombe wurde Ende 1944 entwickelt und im Zweiten Weltkrieg von den britischen Luftstreitkräften gegen Großziele wie schwer gepanzerte Bunker und Brücken eingesetzt.


Early life.

Othmar Spann was the son of Josef Spann, a manufacturer and inventor. Spann grew up in Altmannsdorf, a suburban area of Vienna, Austria which is 15 minutes outside of the central city. Spann attended a "Bürgerschule" (citizen school) and graduated in 1898. After that he studied philosophy in Vienna, followed by Political Sciences in Zürich, Bern, and Tübingen. He received his doctorate in Political Science in 1903.  From 1904 to 1907, Spann worked for the "Center for Private Welfare Service" in Frankfurt am Main. He was responsible for empirical studies of this population of workers. By the end of 1904 Spann, along with Hermann Beck and Hanns Dorn founded a newspaper called "Critical Pages for the whole Social Sciences."  In 1907, Spann wrote his "Habilitation in Political Economy" for the Hochschule in Brünn. From 1907 to 1909 he was given the position of ""privatdozent"" which allowed him to teach and collect fees from students. As early as 1908 Spann began working as the full-time imperial-royal vice-secretary of the statistic central commission in Vienna. He was given the position of creating a new census for Austria between 1909 and 1910.  From 1914 to 1918, during the First World War, Spann was a first lieutenant of the reserve. He was hurt during a conflict in Lemberg, Ukraine on 27 August 1914. When he recovered he was first a commander of a company of Russian prisoners and then until later in 1918 he was given a position on the "scientific committee for wartime economy" with the war Ministry in Vienna.  In 1919, Spann was appointed to a position at the University of Vienna, where he taught until 1938.  Spann was popular with students, not only for his lectures which would spill out into the hallways at the University, but also for mid-summer festivals which he would hold in the woods where he would teach that "the ability to intuit essences was nurtured by jumping over the fire..." (Caldwell 2004, 138-9)

Activism.

Repeatedly, Spann tried to draw the ruling powers' attention to his authoritarian theory of a corporate state, which he thought should be introduced immediately for the benefit of all. In 1928, he joined the Militant League for German Culture. Around 1930, he also joined the Nazi Party. In 1933 the Austro-Hungarian social philosopher Karl Polanyi wrote that Spann had given Fascism its first comprehensive philosophical system, and that his idea of "anti-individualism" had become its guiding principle.

Removal from teaching.

Although to a large degree in tune with the "Zeitgeist", he repeatedly met with disapproval until, in 1938, right after the "Anschluss", he was briefly imprisoned by the Nazis and eventually barred from his professorship at the University of Vienna, which he had held since 1919. Living as a recluse till the end of the war, Spann tried to get his university post back in 1945, aged 67. However, he was not allowed to resume his teaching and died in 1950, disappointed and embittered.

Othmar Spann (1 October 1878 – 8 July 1950) was a conservative Austrian philosopher, sociologist and economist whose radical anti-liberal and anti-Socialist views, based on early 19th century Romantic ideas expressed by Adam Müller et al. and popularized in his books and lecture courses, helped antagonise political factions in Austria during the interwar years.

Othmar Spann (* 1. Oktober 1878 in Wien-Altmannsdorf; † 8. Juli 1950 in Neustift bei Schlaining) war ein österreichischer Nationalökonom, Soziologe und Philosoph. Als Theoretiker des Ständestaates wird Spann zu den geistigen Wegbereitern des „Austrofaschismus“ gerechnet.


Concept.

Different cultural groups have material culture items that differ both functionally and aesthetically due to varying cultural and social practices. This notion is observably true on the broadest scales. For example, the equipment associated with the brewing of tea varies greatly across the world. Social relations to material culture often include notions of identity and status.  Advocates of culture-historical archaeology use the notion to argue that sets of material culture can be used to trace ancient groups of people that were either self-identifying societies or ethnic groups. The classic definition of this idea comes from Gordon Childe:  The concept of an archaeological culture was crucial to linking the typological analysis of archaeological evidence to mechanisms that attempted to explain why they change through time. The key explanations favoured by culture-historians were the diffusion of forms from one group to another or the migration of the peoples themselves. A simplistic example of the process might be that if one pottery-type had handles very similar to those of a neighbouring type but decoration similar to a different neighbour, the idea for the two features might have diffused from the neighbours. Conversely, if one pottery-type suddenly replaces a great diversity of pottery types in an entire region, that might be interpreted as a new group migrating in with this new style.  Archaeological cultures were generally equated with separate 'peoples' (ethnic groups or races) leading in some cases to distinct nationalist archaeologies.  Most archaeological cultures are named after either the type artifact or type site that defines the culture. For example, cultures may be named after pottery types such as Linear Pottery Culture or Funnel beaker culture. More frequently, they are named after the site at which the culture was first defined such as the Halstatt culture or Clovis culture.  Since the term "culture" has many different meanings, scholars have also coined a more specific term paleoculture, as a specific designation for prehistoric cultures. Critics argue that cultural taxonomies lack a strong consensus on the epistemological aims of cultural taxonomy,

Development.

The use of the term "culture" entered archaeology through 19th-century German ethnography, where the "Kultur" of tribal groups and rural peasants was distinguished from the "Zivilisation" of urbanised peoples. In contrast to the broader use of the word that was introduced to English-language anthropology by Edward Burnett Tylor, "Kultur" was used by German ethnologists to describe the distinctive ways of life of a particular people or "Volk", in this sense equivalent to the French "civilisation". Works of "Kulturgeschichte" (culture history) were produced by a number of German scholars, particularly Gustav Klemm, from 1780 onwards, reflecting a growing interest in ethnicity in 19th-century Europe.  The first use of "culture" in an archaeological context was in Christian Thomsen's 1836 work "Ledetraad til Nordisk Oldkyndighed" (). In the later half of the 19th century archaeologists in Scandinavia and central Europe increasingly made use of the German concept of culture to describe the different groups they distinguished in the archaeological record of particular sites and regions, often alongside and as a synonym of "civilisation". It was not until the 20th century and the works of German prehistorian and fervent nationalist Gustaf Kossinna that the idea of archaeological cultures became central to the discipline. Kossinna saw the archaeological record as a mosaic of clearly defined cultures (or "Kultur-Gruppen", culture groups) that were strongly associated with race. He was particularly interested in reconstructing the movements of what he saw as the direct prehistoric ancestors of Germans, Slavs, Celts and other major Indo-European ethnic groups in order to trace the Aryan race to its homeland or "urheimat".  The strongly racist character of Kossinna's work meant it had little direct influence outside of Germany at the time (the Nazi Party enthusiastically embraced his theories), or at all after World War II. However, the more general "culture history" approach to archaeology that he began did replace social evolutionism as the dominant paradigm for much of the 20th century. Kossinna's basic concept of the archaeological culture, stripped of its racial aspects, was adopted by Vere Gordon Childe and Franz Boas, at the time the most influential archaeologists in Britain and America respectively. Childe, in particular, was responsible for formulating the definition of archaeological culture that is still largely applies today: Though he was sceptical about identifying particular ethnicities in the archaeological record and inclined much more to diffusionism than migrationism to explain culture change, Childe and later culture-historical archaeologists, like Kossinna, still equated separate archaeological cultures with separate "peoples". Later archaeologists have questioned the straightforward relationship between material culture and human societies. The definition of archaeological cultures and their relationship to past people has become less clear; in some cases, what was believed to be a monolithic culture is shown by further study to be discrete societies. For example, the Windmill Hill culture now serves as a general label for several different groups that occupied southern Great Britain during the Neolithic. Conversely, some archaeologists have argued that some supposedly distinctive cultures are manifestations of a wider culture, but they show local differences based on environmental factors such as those related to Clactonian man. Conversely, archaeologists may make a distinction between material cultures that actually belonged to a single cultural group. It has been highlighted, for example, that village-dwelling and nomadic Bedouin Arabs have radically different material cultures even if in other respects, they are very similar. In the past, such synchronous findings were often interpreted as representing intrusion by other groups.

An archaeological culture is a recurring assemblage of artifacts from a specific time and place that may constitute the material culture remains of a particular past human society. The connection between the artifacts is based on archaeologists' understanding and interpretation and does not necessarily relate to real groups of humans in the past. The concept of archaeological culture is fundamental to culture-historical archaeology.

Als archäologische Kultur wird in erster Linie ein räumlich und zeitlich begrenzter Ausschnitt der "materiellen Kultur" bezeichnet. Sie bezeichnet also keineswegs kulturelle oder soziopolitische Entitäten, auch wenn die kartografische Verarbeitung dies suggeriert. Die Abgrenzung erfolgt in den meisten Fällen willkürlich und wird, wenn sie sich in der Forschung durchsetzt, als Konvention benutzt.


Production.

The monomer is typically made from fermented plant starch such as from corn, cassava, sugarcane or sugar beet pulp.  Several industrial routes afford usable (i.e. high molecular weight) PLA. Two main monomers are used: lactic acid, and the cyclic di-ester, lactide. The most common route to PLA is the ring-opening polymerization of lactide with various metal catalysts (typically tin octoate) in solution or as a suspension. The metal-catalyzed reaction tends to cause racemization of the PLA, reducing its stereoregularity compared to the starting material (usually corn starch).  Another route to PLA is the direct condensation of lactic acid monomers. This process needs to be carried out at less than 200 °C; above that temperature, the entropically favored lactide monomer is generated. This reaction generates one equivalent of water for every condensation (esterification) step. The condensation reaction is reversible and subject to equilibrium, so removal of water is required to generate high molecular weight species. Water removal by application of a vacuum or by azeotropic distillation is required to drive the reaction toward polycondensation. Molecular weights of 130 kDa can be obtained this way. Even higher molecular weights can be attained by carefully crystallizing the crude polymer from the melt. Carboxylic acid and alcohol end groups are thus concentrated in the amorphous region of the solid polymer, and so they can react. Molecular weights of 128–152 kDa are obtainable thus.  Polymerization of a racemic mixture of L- and D-lactides usually leads to the synthesis of poly-DL-lactide (PDLLA), which is amorphous. Use of stereospecific catalysts can lead to heterotactic PLA which has been found to show crystallinity. The degree of crystallinity, and hence many important properties, is largely controlled by the ratio of D to L enantiomers used, and to a lesser extent on the type of catalyst used. Apart from lactic acid and lactide, lactic acid "O"-carboxyanhydride ("lac-OCA"), a five-membered cyclic compound has been used academically as well. This compound is more reactive than lactide, because its polymerization is driven by the loss of one equivalent of carbon dioxide per equivalent of lactic acid. Water is not a co-product.  The direct biosynthesis of PLA similar to the poly(hydroxyalkanoate)s has been reported as well.  Another method devised is by contacting lactic acid with a zeolite. This condensation reaction is a one-step process, and runs about 100 °C lower in temperature.

Properties.

Chemical properties.

Due to the chiral nature of lactic acid, several distinct forms of polylactide exist: poly--lactide (PLLA) is the product resulting from polymerization of,-lactide (also known as -lactide). PLA is soluble in solvents, hot benzene, tetrahydrofuran, and dioxane.

Physical and mechanical properties.

PLA polymers range from amorphous glassy polymer to semi-crystalline and highly crystalline polymer with a glass transition 60–65 °C, a melting temperature 130-180 °C, and a tensile modulus 2.7–16 GPa. Heat-resistant PLA can withstand temperatures of 110 °C. The basic mechanical properties of PLA are between those of polystyrene and PET. The melting temperature of PLLA can be increased by 40–50 °C and its heat deflection temperature can be increased from approximately 60 °C to up to 190 °C by physically blending the polymer with PDLA (poly--lactide). PDLA and PLLA form a highly regular stereocomplex with increased crystallinity. The temperature stability is maximised when a 1:1 blend is used, but even at lower concentrations of 3–10% of PDLA, there is still a substantial improvement. In the latter case, PDLA acts as a nucleating agent, thereby increasing the crystallization rate. Biodegradation of PDLA is slower than for PLA due to the higher crystallinity of PDLA. The flexural modulus of PLA is higher than polystyrene and PLA has good heat sealability.  Several technologies such as annealing, adding nucleating agents, forming composites with fibers or nano-particles, chain extending and introducing crosslink structures have been used to enhance the mechanical properties of PLA polymers. Polylactic acid can be processed like most thermoplastics into fiber (for example, using conventional melt spinning processes) and film. PLA has similar mechanical properties to PETE polymer, but has a significantly lower maximum continuous use temperature. With high surface energy, PLA has easy printability which makes it widely used in 3-D printing. The tensile strength for 3-D printed PLA was previously determined.  There is also poly(-lactide-"co"-,-lactide) (PLDLLA) – used as PLDLLA/TCP scaffolds for bone engineering.

Solvent welding.

PLA can be solvent welded using dichloromethane.

Organic solvents for PLA.

PLA is soluble in a range of organic solvents. Ethylacetate, due to its ease of access and low risk of use, is of most interest. If the filament is soaked in a small amount of ethylacetate, it will dissolve and can be used to clean 3D printing extruder heads or remove PLA supports. The boiling point of ethylacetate is low enough to also smooth PLA in a vapor chamber, similar to ABS and acetone. Other safe solvents to use include propylene carbonate, which is safer than ethylacetate but is difficult to purchase commercially. Pyridine can also be used however this is less safe than ethylacetate and propylene carbonate. It also has a distinct bad fish odor.

Applications.

PLA is used as a feedstock material in desktop fused filament fabrication 3D printers (e.g. RepRap). PLA-printed solids can be encased in plaster-like moulding materials, then burned out in a furnace, so that the resulting void can be filled with molten metal. This is known as "lost PLA casting", a type of investment casting.  PLA can degrade into innocuous lactic acid, so it is used as medical implants in the form of anchors, screws, plates, pins, rods, and as a mesh. Depending on the exact type used, it breaks down inside the body within 6 months to 2 years. This gradual degradation is desirable for a support structure, because it gradually transfers the load to the body (e.g. the bone) as that area heals. The strength characteristics of PLA and PLLA implants are well documented.  PLA can also be used as a decomposable packaging material, either cast, injection-molded, or spun. Cups and bags have been made from this material. In the form of a film, it shrinks upon heating, allowing it to be used in shrink tunnels. It is useful for producing loose-fill packaging, compost bags, food packaging, and disposable tableware. In the form of fibers and nonwoven fabrics, PLA also has many potential uses, for example as upholstery, disposable garments, awnings, feminine hygiene products, and diapers. Thanks to its bio-compatibility and biodegradability, PLA has also found ample interest as a polymeric scaffold for drug delivery purposes.  Racemic and regular PLLA has a low glass transition temperature, which is undesirable. A stereocomplex of PDLA and PLLA has a higher glass transition temperatures, lending it more mechanical strength. It has a wide range of applications, such as woven shirts (ironability), microwavable trays, hot-fill applications and even engineering plastics (in this case, the stereocomplex is blended with a rubber-like polymer such as ABS). Such blends also have good form stability and visual transparency, making them useful for low-end packaging applications. Pure poly-L-lactic acid (PLLA), on the other hand, is the main ingredient in Sculptra, a long-lasting facial volume enhancer, primarily used for treating lipoatrophy of cheeks. Progress in biotechnology has resulted in the development of commercial production of the D enantiomer form, something that was not possible until recently.

Degradation.

PLA is degraded abiotically by three mechanisms:  The hydrolytic reaction is:  <chem>-COO + H2O -> - COOH + -OH-</chem>  The degradation rate is very slow in ambient temperatures. A 2017 study found that at 25 °C in seawater, PLA showed no degradation over a year.  Pure PLA foams are selectively hydrolysed in Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) supplemented with fetal bovine serum (FBS) (a solution mimicking body fluid). After 30 days of submersion in DMEM+FBS, a PLLA scaffold lost about 20% of its weight.  PLA samples of various molecular weights were degraded into methyl lactate (a green solvent) by using a metal complex catalyst.  PLA also be degraded by some bacteria, such as "Amycolatopsis" and "Saccharothrix". A purified protease from "Amycolatopsis" sp., PLA depolymerase, can also degrade PLA. Enzymes such as pronase and most effectively proteinase K from "Tritirachium album" degrade PLA.

End of life.

Four possible end of life scenarios are the most common:

Polylactic acid, or polylactide (PLA) is a thermoplastic polyester with backbone formula or, formally obtained by condensation of lactic acid with loss of water (hence its name). It can also be prepared by ring-opening polymerization of lactide, the cyclic dimer of the basic repeating unit.

Polylactide, umgangssprachlich auch Polymilchsäuren (kurz PLA, vom englischen Wort "polylactic acid") genannt, sind synthetische Polymere, die zu den Polyestern zählen. Sie sind aus vielen, chemisch aneinander gebundenen Milchsäuremolekülen aufgebaut. Daher ist die Bezeichnung "Polymilchsäure" nach IUPAC-Nomenklatur irreführend, da es sich nicht um ein Polymer mit mehreren sauren Gruppen handelt.<ref name="DOI10.1016/S0032-3861(01)00086-6">O. Martin, L. Avérous: "Poly(lactic acid): plasticization and properties of biodegradable multiphase systems." In: "Polymer." 42, 2001, S. 6209,. Polylactide und Polymilchsäuren werden durch unterschiedliche Verfahren erzeugt.


Overview.

The Export–Import Bank of the United States (EXIM) is a government agency that provides a variety of tools intended to aid the export of American goods and services. The mission of the Bank is to create and sustain U.S. jobs by financing sales of U.S. exports to international buyers. EXIM equips U.S exporters and their customers with tools such as buyer financing, export credit insurance, and access to working capital. Second, when U.S exporters face foreign competition backed by other governments, EXIM provides buyer financing to match or counter the financing offered by almost 96 ECAs around the world. The Bank is chartered as a government corporation by the Congress of the United States; it was last chartered for a three-year term in 2012. The Charter details the Bank's authorities and limitations. Among them is the principle that EXIM does not compete with private sector lenders, but rather provides financing for transactions that would otherwise not occur because commercial lenders are either unable or unwilling to accept the political or commercial risk inherent in the deal.  The EXIM's products are intended to assist export sales for any American export company regardless of size. The bank's charter provides that EXIM makes available "not less than 20%" of its lending authority to small businesses although they have often fallen short of the 20% threshold. In fiscal year 2013 however, 76% of the value of loans and guarantees went to the top 10 recipients.  Similar banks, known generally as export credit agencies (ECAs), are operated by 60 foreign countries. As the United States is a member of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) they conduct their activities by obeying OECD rules and principles. The goal is to permit exporters in various countries to compete on the basis of the quality of their goods and services, not on preferential financing terms. ECAs of countries, which are not participants of the OECD, such as the China Exim Bank, Ex-Im Bank of Russia, Brazil, and India, are not required by their governments to follow OECD rules.

Offices.

The bank has offices in Chicago, Detroit, Minneapolis, New York, Miami, Atlanta, Houston, McKinney (Dallas), Orange County (California), San Diego, San Francisco and Seattle.

History.

Early history (1934–1944).

EXIM was organized originally as a District of Columbia banking corporation by Executive Order 6581 from Franklin D. Roosevelt on February 2, 1934, under the name Export–Import Bank of Washington. The stated goal was "to aid in financing and to facilitate exports and imports and the exchange of commodities between the United States and other Nations or the agencies or nationals thereof", with the immediate goal of making loans to the USSR and Latin America. Roosevelt created a Second Export–Import Bank of Washington with Executive Order 6638 on March 9, 1934, with the specific goal of aiding trade with Cuba. The Bank's first transaction was a $3.8 million loan to Cuba in 1935 for the purchase of U.S. silver ingots. The First and Second Export–Import Banks were combined in 1936 when Congress transferred the obligations of the Second Export–Import Bank to the first. Congress continued the bank as a government agency, using a series of laws between 1935 and 1943 to make it subordinate to various government departments.

Independent agency (1945–present).

Congress made the bank an independent agency on July 31, 1945, with the Export–Import Bank Act of 1945. On March 13, 1968, further legislation changed the name to "Export–Import Bank of the United States". EXIM became a self-sustaining (self-funding) agency in 2007, though the loans remain backed by the government.  The Government Corporation Control Act of 1945 requires the Bank to be reauthorized by Congress every four to five years. Reauthorizations were approved in 1947, 1951, 1957, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1974, 1978, 1983, 1986, 1992, 1997, 2002, 2006, 2012, 2014, 2015, and 2019:

Projects assisted.

Pan-American Highway.

The Pan-American Highway runs from Alaska to Chile through 14 countries with important transportation links to nearly all of continental Latin America. The highway was constructed beginning in 1936 with the last phase complete in 1980.  EXIM Bank credits and loans supported construction of the Pan-American Highway in Mexico, Honduras, Guatemala, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru and Chile. In Paraguay, Argentina, and Bolivia EXIM supported construction of highway spurs connected to the Pan-American Highway. EXIM approved twenty credits to U.S. companies including Caterpillar, Koehring Co., Allis-Chalmers Manufacturing, The Galion Iron Works, and Thew Shovel to help build the highway.

Burma Road.

Constructed between 1937 and 1938, the 717-mile Burma Road links Lashio in present-day Myanmar (previously Burma) to Kunming in Yunnan Province, China. Construction of the road began in 1937 at the start of the second Sino-Japanese War (1937–1945). With Japan able to control port access in China and most of Southeast Asia, the Chinese built a road that would allow transportation of men and goods from a railhead at Rangoon that had access to Burma's ports. From 1939 to 1942 the Burma Road served as a lifeline for military goods and support in the fight against the Japanese in the Far East.  The $25 million credit approved by EXIM in December 1938 was crucial in ensuring that the supply route remained open by providing the transportation vehicles and support material to operate the new road and by providing China with purchasing power during WWII. An additional $20 million to the Universal Trading Corporation was approved in 1940. A 1939 journal article in Foreign Affairs noted that China used part of the $25 million to purchase 2,000 three-ton trucks from Ford, Chrysler, and General Motors.

Post-WWII reconstruction and the Marshall Plan.

EXIM played a critical role during the years between the end of Lend-Lease (September 1945) and the beginning of the Marshall Plan and the World Bank's first authorizations (May 1947–1948). At the end of WWII, it was recognized that the U.S. did not have a credit facility capable of handling the demand that would result from the cessation of hostilities. One of the major rationales behind the Export–Import Bank Act of 1945, the basis of EXIM's current charter document, was the necessity to dramatically increase EXIM's lending capacity to adequately respond to Europe's post-war reconstruction needs. The 1945 EXIM Annual Report predicated EXIM's role in the immediate post-WWII period: "the Export–Import Bank was to be the principal source of long-term dollar loans for an extended period of time." This assertion was based on the lack of interest by private capital in lending to foreign government buyers and delays in ratification of the Articles of Agreement for the International Monetary Fund and the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development. The Export–Import Bank Act of 1945 increased lending authority from $750 million to $3.5 billion, almost a fourfold increase to help address these shortfalls.  In 1945 and 1946 credit was offered to France, Denmark, Norway, Belgium, the Netherlands, Turkey, Czechoslovakia, Finland, Italy, Ethiopia, Greece, Poland and Austria to purchase equipment, facilities, and services from the United States. The financing was designed to aid reconstruction of the nations and to repair their import and export capability through the purchase of new machinery, currency exchange, and improvements and repairs to infrastructure and transportation systems.  When the Marshall Plan was initiated in 1948, EXIM concentrated its lending on non-Economic Recovery Act nations in North and South America.

First credits to post-Soviet nations.

When the Berlin Wall fell in 1989 and the USSR was dissolved in 1991, U.S. companies were able to conduct business freely with Eastern Europe for the first time since the end of WWII. EXIM was one of the first financial institutions to provide financing for exports to the former Soviet Union, Poland, Czechoslovakia and the newly independent nations that emerged after 1991. In 1990, President George H.W. Bush waived the Jackson-Vanik Amendment, which had officially blocked normal trade relations with communist countries since 1975. This waiver permitted all E guarantee and insurance programs to U.S. companies wanting to do business with the USSR and several former communist countries.  EXIM resumed business with Czechoslovakia in March 1990. On January 25, 1991, EXIM approved the first transaction to Czechoslovakia since 1947. Financed by First Interstate Bank of Los Angeles, CA, the guarantee allowed Tonak Hat Company to purchase computers from a U.S. company, Digital Equipment Corporation of Massachusetts. Since 1991, EXIM has supported exports to 25 of the nations that emerged after the fall of the Iron Curtain.

First credit to India.

After a visit to India in January 2015, President Obama announced that the EXIM will finance $1 billion of exports of 'Made-in-America' products, the U.S. Overseas Private Investment Corporation will lend $1 billion to small- and medium-sized rural enterprises and the U.S. Trade and Development Agency will commit $2 billion for renewable energy. Obama and Modi agreed on issues that had previously stopped U.S. companies from establishing nuclear reactors in India.

Support.

Supporters say that the bank emphasizes trying to help small and medium size businesses expand their exporting capabilities. CEO and President of the National Association of Manufacturers, Jay Timmons stated: "The EXIM plays a critical role in manufacturer's ability to export to new markets and keep up with growing global competition. The Bank assists nearly 290,000 export related jobs and each year is helping more and more small and medium-sized manufacturers grow their businesses and hire new workers. More than 85% of all EXIM transactions directly benefit small business exporters—the economic engine that powers our economy and job creation."  When Obama was campaigning for President in 2008, he stated that the Export–Import Bank had "become little more than a fund for corporate welfare." During the Bank's reauthorization struggle, May 2012, he said that the Export–Import Bank plays a very important role in reaching his goal of doubling exports over 5 years. At the reauthorization ceremony Obama stated: "We're helping thousands of businesses sell more of their products and services overseas, in the process, we're helping them create jobs here at home. And we're doing it at no extra cost to the taxpayer."

Criticism.

Special interests-based criticism.

The Bank has been criticized for favoring special interests. These interests have included corporations such as Boeing or Enron as well as foreign governments and nationals, such as a 1996 $120 million low-interest loan to the China National Nuclear Power Corporation (CNNP) supporting the export of US-made technology.  More recently the bank authorized $33.6 million in loans to Abengoa, a Spanish Green energy company on which former Governor Bill Richardson is a member of the board of directors. As of May 2014, Richardson was also listed as a member of the advisory committee of the Export Import Bank.

Boeing.

65% of loan guarantees over 2007 and 2008 went to companies purchasing Boeing aircraft. In 2012, the Bank's loan guarantees became even more skewed, with 82 percent of them going to Boeing customers.  However, EXIM supporters note that Boeing is the largest exporter in the United States by dollar value, and must be protected in their capacity as the only remaining comprehensive U.S. commercial aircraft manufacturer. Support of Boeing is seen as particularly critical as Comac, China's state-owned and heavily subsidized commercial aircraft manufacturer, aggressively seeks to leech market share from both Boeing and Airbus. Also important to note, Boeing is not the only US aircraft manufacturer previously supported by EXIM. During the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, EXIM supported other US aviation manufacturers such as the Douglas Aircraft Company, the Consolidated Vultee Aircraft Company (Convair), and the Lockheed Aircraft Corporation, before the firms were driven out of existence by competition or acquisition.  The cost and effectiveness of the bank are controversial. While the EXIM projects will earn the U.S. government an average of $1.4 billion per year for the next 10 years, an alternative analysis from the Congressional Budget Office found that the program would lose about $2 billion during the same period, partly due to discrepancies in how credit risk is accounted for. Both conservative and liberal groups have been critical of the bank, and some continue to demand its termination.

Budget-based criticism.

Critics also purport the existence of "unseen" costs created by the Export–Import Bank's subsidies, including artificially raising the price of new airplanes and potentially adding $2 billion to the deficit over the next decade.  Forbes contributor Doug Bandow wrote in 2014, "The agency piously claims not to provide subsidies since it charges fees and interest, but it exists only to offer business a better credit deal than is available in the marketplace. The Bank uses its ability to borrow at government rates to provide loans, loan guarantees, working capital guarantees, and loan insurance."  If the normal principles of economics or finance are applied, then it is seen by critics as unlikely that the bank has profited and most unlikely that it makes the annual profit that it has stated, because the bank's calculations of profit fail to make proper adjustment for risk. Best practice in finance and economics, as well as in banking, is to adjust the cost of capital or discount rate to reflect risk, or, equivalently, to use a fair-value estimate. On this basis the criticism is that "This simple approach—which is based on a method outlined in a National Bureau of Economic Research paper by Debbie Lucas of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology—suggests that the EXIM's long-term loan guarantee program actually provides guarantees at a loss for taxpayers, not a profit. Moreover, this analysis reveals that the EXIM's loan guarantees are made at sufficiently generous terms that borrowers receive subsidies of about 1% of the amount borrowed. That translates into a $200 million cost for taxpayers on the $21 billion in loans that the bank will make in 2012."

Environment-based criticism.

In February 2009, the EXIM settled a seven-year-long legal proceeding brought by Friends of the Earth, Greenpeace together with the cities of Boulder, Arcata and Oakland. The plaintiffs said that the EXIM and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation provided financial assistance to oil and other fossil fuel projects without first evaluating the projects' climate change impacts. In 2005, the plaintiffs were granted legal standing to sue. This is considered a landmark decision because it is the first time that a federal court has specifically granted legal standing for a lawsuit exclusively challenging the federal government's failure to evaluate the impacts of its actions on the Earth's climate and U.S. citizens. In its settlement agreement, the EXIM agrees to evaluate the carbon dioxide emissions as part of its determination for qualification for a project. However, EXIM fossil fuel financing and associated greenhouse gas emissions grew swiftly after the settlement agreement, coinciding with Chairman Hochberg's tenure. Between 2009 and 2012, EXIM fossil fuel financing grew from $2.56 billion to nearly $10 billion.  Environmental groups say that the EXIM is currently on a "fossil fuel binge", which "makes a mockery" of President Obama's stated commitment to phase out fossil fuel subsidies. In December 2009, EXIM Directors approved $3 billion in financing for the ExxonMobil-led Papua New Guinea Liquid Gas project in December 2009. The project has reportedly caused violence and in April 2012, the Papua New Guinea government ordered in troops to quell opposition from villagers after a landslide linked to a quarry that had been used by the project killed an estimated 25 people.  In 2010, environmental groups criticized the EXIM Directors for approving $917 million worth of financing for the 3,960 megawatt coal-fired Sasan Ultra Mega Power Project in India after initially rejecting the project on climate change grounds. Environmental groups say that in reversing the decision the agency's Chairman, Fred Hochberg and Board of Directors "caved in" to political pressure from Wisconsin politicians. In 2011, several environmental groups protested at Export–Import Bank headquarters, unsuccessfully urging Chairman Hochberg and Board of Directors to reject $805 million in financing for the 4,800 megawatt Kusile coal-fired power plant in South Africa, which environmental groups say is the largest carbon emitting project in the agency's history, which will not alleviate poverty but will emit excessive local air pollution, which health experts say causes damage the respiratory, cardiovascular, and nervous systems and deaths resulting from heart disease, cancer, stroke, and chronic lower respiratory diseases.  In December 2012, the Center for Biological Diversity, Pacific Environment, and Turtle Island Restoration Network filed a lawsuit against Chairman Hochberg and the EXIM for the agency's financing of Australia Pacific LNG's liquid natural gas projects inside the Great Barrier Reef World Heritage Area. The lawsuit alleged that EXIM financing for the projects violates U.S. environmental and cultural heritage laws. Their amended lawsuit included EXIM's loan for the Australia Pacific LNG project and a $1.8 billion loan for the Queensland Curtis which together totaled $4.8 billion. In March 2016, a California federal judge ruled against the environmentalists arguing that the EXIM financing represented only 10% of the project which is backed by ConocoPhillips, Origin Energy Ltd. and Sinopec and rejecting the loan would not stop the project. The environmentalists appealed the decision.  In 2019 Friends of the Earth (US) criticized EXIM President Kimberly A Reed for supporting the liquid natural gas (LNG) industry despite the lifecycle climate impacts of the fossil fuel, citing the U.S. government’s Fourth National Climate Assessment finding that more frequent and extreme weather events are severely damaging the environment and the economy, while increasing harm to human health and loss of life. Friends of the Earth (US) also criticized EXIM for approving $5 billion in financing the Mozambique LNG project, citing the project’s damage to the surrounding ecosystem (including to endangered species), displacement of local communities, and lack of economic benefits for local people.

Criticism of green energy-based financings.

Conversely the EXIM has also faced scrutiny for pursuing green energy projects. The EXIM provided $10 million of loan guarantees in 2011 to Solyndra, a company that ultimately became bankrupt. However, as any other governmental institution with lending authority, EXIM reserves a portion of fees collected in expectation that a percentage of loans will result in claims.

The Export–Import Bank of the United States (abbreviated as EXIM or known as the Bank) is the official export credit agency (ECA) of the United States federal government. Operating as a wholly owned federal government corporation, the Bank "assists in financing and facilitating U.S. exports of goods and services". EXIM intervenes when private sector lenders are unable or unwilling to provide financing, equipping American businesses with the financing tools necessary to compete for global sales. EXIM's aim is to promote U.S. goods and services at no cost to U.S. taxpayers, protecting “made in America” products against foreign competition in overseas markets and encouraging the creation of American jobs. Its current chairman and president, Kimberly A. Reed, was nominated by President Donald J. Trump on January 16, 2019, and sworn in on May 9, 2019.

Die Export-Import Bank of the United States ("Ex-Im Bank") ist ein staatliches Kreditinstitut in den USA. Es wurde 1934 durch Erlass des US-Präsidenten gegründet. Seit 13. März 1968 ist sie eine „Unabhängige Behörde“.