History.

On February 22, 1840, Hudson County was formed by an Act of the New Jersey Legislature. The newly created county was created from territories that had been Bergen Township since 1691, as well as and from the southern portion of Lodi Township. The portion of Lodi Township taken at this time formed the new Harrison Township in Hudson County. The border between the newly created Harrison Township in Hudson County and the portion of Lodi Township remaining in Bergen County was the New Barbadoes Turnpike, which is now called Paterson Plank Road. Some of the residents of the northern portion of Harrison Township requested to be returned to Bergen County. On February 19, 1852, this area — which had been part of Lodi Township — was returned to Bergen County to become the newly formed Union Township.  On September 21, 1881, Rutherford became the first borough to be formed under the terms of the New Jersey Legislature's Borough Act of 1878, based on a referendum of voters that passed the previous day. Rutherford Borough was fully separated from the township form of government in 1890 and acquired an additional portion of Union Township in that year. On April 17, 1889, Boiling Springs Township was created from the northern portion of Union Township. This township was dissolved with the creation of the coterminous Borough of East Rutherford as of March 28, 1894. The borough of North Arlington was created as of March 11, 1896, as the result of a referendum that took place two days earlier. Finally, on March 27, 1917, the residents of the remaining portions of Union Township passed a referendum to change the name to Lyndhurst Township, which became effective as of May 15, 1917. The township is named for Lord Lyndhurst.  Kingsland is a former post village within the township. The Kingsland family possessed a large tract of land in the area known as Kingsland Manor. In 1872, the Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad established a railway through the township, and erected a depot in the area named "Kingsland" in honor of the family. A railroad shop was built, and houses erected for the railroad employees. Church services were held in the train depot.

Kingsland explosion.

On January 11, 1917, a fire started in Building 30 of the Canadian Car and Foundry Company, in what is now Lyndhurst, in a plant that was producing munitions for sale to the United Kingdom and the Russian Empire during World War I. After a spill of flammable liquid started a fire in a building where shells were cleaned, about 500,000, three-inch (76 mm) explosive shells were discharged in about four hours, destroying the entire facility. It was said to have been a spectacle more magnificent than the explosion at Black Tom in Jersey City, New Jersey.  Tessie McNamara, who operated the company switchboard, was credited with saving 1,400 lives, contacting each of the buildings and shouting the warning, "Get out or go up!" Thanks to her dedication, no one was killed in the fire. The Lyndhurst Historical Society has created a vest pocket park dedicated to the memory of McNamara. The park is located on Clay Avenue, between Valley Brook Avenue and Wall Street West. The brick stack can be seen from this park.

Geography.

According to the United States Census Bureau, the township had a total area of 4.894 square miles (12.676 km), including 4.558 square miles (11.806 km) of land and 0.336 square miles (0.870 km) of water (6.86%).  Unincorporated communities, localities and place names located partially or completely within the township include Kingsland and South Rutherford.  The township borders North Arlington and Rutherford in Bergen County; Belleville and Nutley in Essex County; Kearny and Secaucus in Hudson County; and Clifton in Passaic County.  The Passaic River, crossed by the Avondale Bridge and the Lyndhurst Draw, creates the municipal and county border at the west. The eastern portion of the municipality is part of the uninhabited wetlands in the New Jersey Meadowlands.

Demographics.

2010 Census.

The Census Bureau's 2006–2010 American Community Survey showed that (in 2010 inflation-adjusted dollars) median household income was $68,177 (with a margin of error of +/- $6,370) and the median family income was $79,579 (+/- $4,878). Males had a median income of $56,299 (+/- $6,347) versus $44,468 (+/- $2,406) for females. The per capita income for the township was $34,233 (+/- $2,119). About 3.8% of families and 4.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.6% of those under age 18 and 6.7% of those age 65 or over.  Same-sex couples headed 58 households in 2010, an increase from the 35 counted in 2000.

2000 Census.

As of the 2000 United States Census there were 19,383 people, 7,877 households, and 5,206 families residing in the township. The population density was 4,169.7 people per square mile (1,609.4/km). There were 8,103 housing units at an average density of 1,743.1 per square mile (672.8/km). The racial makeup of the township was 89.94% White, 9.0% Hispanic or Latino, 5.40% Asian, 0.61% African American, 0.05% Native American, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 1.95% from two or more races, and 2.05% from other races.  As of the 2000 Census, 33.8% of township residents were of Italian ancestry, the 19th-highest percentage of any municipality in the United States, and eighth-highest in New Jersey, among all places with more than 1,000 residents identifying their ancestry.  There were 7,877 households out of which 25.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 51.1% were married couples living together, 11.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.9% were non-families. 28.8% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.46 and the average family size was 3.06.  In the township the age distribution of the population shows 19.1% under the age of 18, 7.6% from 18 to 24, 32.4% from 25 to 44, 23.1% from 45 to 64, and 17.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.1 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.2 males. Lyndhurst has the highest proportion of single females ages 18–25.  The median income for a household in the township was $53,375, and the median income for a family was $63,758. Males had a median income of $42,359 versus $35,429 for females. The per capita income for the township was $25,940. About 2.8% of families and 4.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 4.2% of those under age 18 and 7.6% of those aged 65 or over.

Economy.

Lyndhurst was historically home to manufacturers of machinery and metal products.  Lyndhurst is also home to several locally owned and operated businesses such as Mazur's Bakery and the Lyndhurst Pastry Shop, which produces regionally-acclaimed Italian cakes and pastries, homemade Italian Ice during the spring, summer and fall. The main business sections are Valley Brook Avenue, Ridge Road, and Stuyvesant Avenue. Lyndhurst has many neighborhood delis, eateries, restaurants, and stores which allow residents the ability to walk rather than drive.  Because portions of the township are located in the New Jersey Meadowlands, a number of radio stations have their transmitters and towers located in Lyndhurst. These include AM stations WINS-1010, WSNR-620, and WLIB-1190 along with as Amateur Radio and HD TV station W2INS.  Lyndhurst Meadowlands is home to one of nine Medieval Times dinner theaters nationwide.  Lyndhurst, together with North Arlington and Rutherford, was the site of the EnCap project, an effort to remediate landfills on the site and construct homes and golf courses on top of the cleaned-up site. On May 27, 2008, the New Jersey Meadowlands Commission terminated its agreement with EnCap Golf Holdings, the company that had the contract to redevelop the site, after the company had missed targets to clean up the landfills as part of the project.  At one time LJN Toys had its headquarters in Lyndhurst.  From 1946 until 1966, Lyndhurst was home to the BUR Barbell Company, the second-largest producer of weight training equipment in the United States.

Sports.

Town mascot and names include the Lyndhurst Golden Bears/Lyndhurst Post 139/Lyndhurst Cubs

Lyndhurst baseball.

American Legion, Cricket, Stellatos, Savinos, I.A.C.L, Bergen County Glass, Carucci, and Century 21 make up Lyndhurst Little League as of 2017.  On July 14, 2006, the Lyndhurst-American Little League baseball team ended their 17-year drought to become district champs. Throughout the nine district playoff games, Lyndhurst-American hit 14 home runs and eventually emerged as sectional finalists; two wins away from appearing on national television.

Lyndhurst Youth Soccer.

Lyndhurst Youth Soccer has approximately 600 players from age 5 to age 13 and several travel teams.

Parks and recreation.

Riverside County Park is a Bergen County park covering located on Riverside Avenue between Lyndhurst and North Arlington. It has a playground, athletic fields, tennis courts, a Bocce ball court, and fitness center.  The township named Lewandowski Park and Lewandowski Street in honor of the three Lewandowski brothers, who were killed while serving in the armed forces during World War II.

Government.

Local government.

The Township of Lyndhurst has been governed under the Walsh Act form of New Jersey municipal government since 1913. All committee members are elected concurrently at-large on a non-partisan basis to four-year terms of office as part of the May municipal election, with the five members selecting a mayor from amongst its members at a reorganization meeting held after each election. , members of the Township Committee are Mayor Robert B. Giangeruso (Commissioner of Public Safety), Thomas A. DiMaggio (Commissioner of Parks and Public Property), Karen Haggerty (Commissioner of Public Affairs), Richard Jarvis Sr. (Commissioner of Public Works) and John J. Montillo Jr. (Commissioner of Revenue and Finance), all of whom are serving concurrent terms of office that end on May 16, 2021.

Federal, state and county representation.

Lyndhurst is located in the 9th Congressional District and is part of New Jersey's 36th state legislative district.

Politics.

As of March 23, 2011, there were a total of 11,595 registered voters in Lyndhurst Township, of which 3,237 (27.9% vs. 31.7% countywide) were registered as Democrats, 2,308 (19.9% vs. 21.1%) were registered as Republicans and 6,044 (52.1% vs. 47.1%) were registered as Unaffiliated. There were 6 voters registered to other parties. Among the township's 2010 Census population, 56.4% (vs. 57.1% in Bergen County) were registered to vote, including 69.6% of those ages 18 and over (vs. 73.7% countywide).  In the 2016 presidential election, Republican Donald Trump received 4,818 votes (51.3% vs. 41.1% countywide), ahead of Democrat Hillary Clinton with 4,229 votes (45.1% vs. 54.2%) and other candidates with 337 votes (4.5% vs. 4.6%), among the 9,501 ballots cast by the borough's 13,215 registered voters, for a turnout of 71.9% (vs. 72.5% in Bergen County). In the 2012 presidential election, Democrat Barack Obama received 4,689 votes (55.8% vs. 54.8% countywide), ahead of Republican Mitt Romney with 3,536 votes (42.1% vs. 43.5%) and other candidates with 113 votes (1.3% vs. 0.9%), among the 8,409 ballots cast by the township's 12,126 registered voters, for a turnout of 69.3% (vs. 70.4% in Bergen County). In the 2008 presidential election, Republican John McCain received 4,531 votes (49.6% vs. 44.5% countywide), ahead of Democrat Barack Obama with 4,434 votes (48.6% vs. 53.9%) and other candidates with 80 votes (0.9% vs. 0.8%), among the 9,131 ballots cast by the township's 12,250 registered voters, for a turnout of 74.5% (vs. 76.8% in Bergen County). In the 2004 presidential election, Republican George W. Bush received 4,346 votes (50.5% vs. 47.2% countywide), ahead of Democrat John Kerry with 4,163 votes (48.3% vs. 51.7%) and other candidates with 81 votes (0.9% vs. 0.7%), among the 8,612 ballots cast by the township's 11,721 registered voters, for a turnout of 73.5% (vs. 76.9% in the whole county).  In the 2013 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 60.4% of the vote (2,949 cast), ahead of Democrat Barbara Buono with 38.4% (1,876 votes), and other candidates with 1.2% (61 votes), among the 5,012 ballots cast by the township's 11,693 registered voters (126 ballots were spoiled), for a turnout of 42.9%. In the 2009 gubernatorial election, Republican Chris Christie received 2,628 votes (48.9% vs. 45.8% countywide), ahead of Democrat Jon Corzine with 2,389 votes (44.5% vs. 48.0%), Independent Chris Daggett with 303 votes (5.6% vs. 4.7%) and other candidates with 29 votes (0.5% vs. 0.5%), among the 5,374 ballots cast by the township's 11,916 registered voters, yielding a 45.1% turnout (vs. 50.0% in the county).

Education.

The Lyndhurst School District serves students in pre-kindergarten through twelfth grade. As of the 2015–16 school year, the district and its eight schools had an enrollment of 2,484 students and 186.0 classroom teachers (on an FTE basis), for a student–teacher ratio of 13.4:1. Schools in the district (with 2015-16 enrollment data from the National Center for Education Statistics) are Columbus School (161 students; in grades PreK-3), Franklin School (216; K-3), Memorial Camous (159; 3), Washington School (194; K-3), Jefferson School (266; 4-8), Lincoln School (267; 4-8), Roosevelt School (401; 4-8) and Lyndhurst High School (737; 9-12)  Public school students from the borough, and all of Bergen County, are eligible to attend the secondary education programs offered by the Bergen County Technical Schools, which include the Bergen County Academies in Hackensack, and the Bergen Tech campus in Teterboro or Paramus. The district offers programs on a shared-time or full-time basis, with admission based on a selective application process and tuition covered by the student's home school district.  Founded in 1956, Sacred Heart School is a Catholic elementary school serving students in grades K-8 that operates under the auspices of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Newark.  Bergen Community College has a campus in Lyndhurst. Nearby colleges and universities include Farleigh Dickinson University (Teaneck / Hackensack campus) and Felician College in Lodi and Rutherford.

Emergency services.

Police.

The Lyndhurst Police Department (LPD) provides emergency and protective services to the township of Lyndhurst and is led by Chief James B. O'Connor. The LPD was established on January 1, 1907, under the laws of Union Township. The department has lost four officers in the line of duty; which is higher than any other municipality in Bergen County.  A Police Auxiliary Unit falls under the Police Department and the Office of Emergency Management. Lyndhurst Police Auxiliary is headed by Deputy Chief Wayne Alexander. The Police Auxiliary members augment the services of the Police Department, with participants required to dedicate at least 16 hours a month for patrols on weekends, evenings and at township events and functions.

Fire.

The Lyndhurst Fire Department (LFD) is an all-volunteer fire department. The LFD was organized in February 1886. The department is staffed by 70 fully trained firefighters and responds to an average of 600 calls per year.

Ambulance.

The township of Lyndhurst runs both a volunteer and a paid ambulance service. Residents can use the Lyndhurst Police Emergency Squad for emergency services. The volunteers respond to medical calls from 6pm to 6am Monday through Friday and on a 24-hour basis on weekends, while the paid division is staffed from 6am-6pm during the week. Residents do not pay for services provided.

Transportation.

Roads and highways.

, the township had a total of of roadways, of which were maintained by the municipality, by Bergen County and by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and by the New Jersey Turnpike Authority.  Route 17 and County Route 507 pass through Lyndhurst. Route 3 is just over the northern border of Lyndhurst in neighboring Rutherford. Route 21 is across the Passaic River in neighboring Nutley and Clifton.  The New Jersey Turnpike Western Spur (Interstate 95) passes through the southeastern part, but the closest interchanges are in East Rutherford (Exit 16W) and Kearny (Exit 15W).  The Avondale-DeJessa Bridge, which connects Lyndhurst and Nutley over the Passaic River with one lane in each direction, carries more than 26,000 vehicles a day, and is among 22 bridges in Bergen County that have been classified as "structurally deficient".

Public transportation.

NJ Transit has two train stations in Lyndhurst, located at Lyndhurst Station and Kingsland Station. Trains at both stations operate on the Main Line to Hoboken Terminal, with transfers available at Secaucus Junction to New York Penn Station, Newark Penn Station, and Newark Airport, with transfers at Hoboken to PATH trains, Hudson Bergen Light Rail, and New York Waterway ferries. The trains travel over the Lyndhurst Draw, a railroad bridge crossing the Passaic River between Clifton and Lyndhurst that was constructed in 1901 and is owned and operated by NJ Transit Rail Operations.  New Jersey Transit offers buses serving Newark on the 76 route and to the Port Authority Bus Terminal in Midtown Manhattan on the 191, 192, 193 and 195 routes. Lyndhurst is also served by DeCamp Bus Lines routes 32, 44 and 99.

Notable people.

People who were born in, residents of, or otherwise closely associated with Lyndhurst include:

Historic sites.

Lyndhurst is home to the following locations on the National Register of Historic Places:

Television.

Lyndhurst has made several appearances on the hit TV series "The Sopranos".

Lyndhurst is a township in Bergen County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township's population was 20,554, reflecting an increase of 1,171 (+6.0%) from the 19,383 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 1,121 (+6.1%) from the 18,262 counted in the 1990 Census.

Lyndhurst ist ein Township im Bergen County, New Jersey, USA. Bei der Volkszählung von 2000 wurde eine Bevölkerungszahl von 19.383 registriert.


Basic idea.

In universal algebra, an algebra (or algebraic structure) is a set "A" together with a collection of operations on "A". An "n"-ary operation on "A" is a function that takes "n" elements of "A" and returns a single element of "A". Thus, a 0-ary operation (or "nullary operation") can be represented simply as an element of "A", or a "constant", often denoted by a letter like "a". A 1-ary operation (or "unary operation") is simply a function from "A" to "A", often denoted by a symbol placed in front of its argument, like ~"x". A 2-ary operation (or "binary operation") is often denoted by a symbol placed between its arguments, like "x" ∗ "y". Operations of higher or unspecified "arity" are usually denoted by function symbols, with the arguments placed in parentheses and separated by commas, like "f"("x","y","z") or "f"("x"...,"x"). Some researchers allow infinitary operations, such as formula_1 where "J" is an infinite index set, thus leading into the algebraic theory of complete lattices. One way of talking about an algebra, then, is by referring to it as an algebra of a certain type formula_2, where formula_2 is an ordered sequence of natural numbers representing the arity of the operations of the algebra.

Equations.

After the operations have been specified, the nature of the algebra is further defined by axioms, which in universal algebra often take the form of identities, or equational laws. An example is the associative axiom for a binary operation, which is given by the equation "x" ∗ ("y" ∗ "z") = ("x" ∗ "y") ∗ "z". The axiom is intended to hold for all elements "x", "y", and "z" of the set "A".

Varieties.

A collection of algebraic structures defined by identities is called a variety or equational class. Some authors consider varieties to be the main focus of universal algebra.  Restricting one's study to varieties rules out:  The study of equational classes can be seen as a special branch of model theory, typically dealing with structures having operations only (i.e. the type can have symbols for functions but not for relations other than equality), and in which the language used to talk about these structures uses equations only.  Not all algebraic structures in a wider sense fall into this scope. For example, ordered groups involve an ordering relation, so would not fall within this scope.  The class of fields is not an equational class because there is no type (or "signature") in which all field laws can be written as equations (inverses of elements are defined for all "non-zero" elements in a field, so inversion cannot be added to the type).  One advantage of this restriction is that the structures studied in universal algebra can be defined in any category that has "finite products". For example, a topological group is just a group in the category of topological spaces.

Examples.

Most of the usual algebraic systems of mathematics are examples of varieties, but not always in an obvious way, since the usual definitions often involve quantification or inequalities.

Groups.

As an example, consider the definition of a group. Usually a group is defined in terms of a single binary operation ∗, subject to the axioms:  This definition of a group does not immediately fit the point of view of universal algebra, because the axioms of the identity element and inversion are not stated purely in terms of equational laws which hold universally "for all..." elements, but also involve the existential quantifier "there exists...". The group axioms can be phrased as universally quantified equations by specifying, in addition to the binary operation ∗, a nullary operation "e" and a unary operation ~, with ~"x" usually written as "x". The axioms become:  To summarize, the usual definition has:  while the universal algebra definition has:  A key point is that the extra operations do not add information, but follow uniquely from the usual definition of a group. Although the usual definition did not uniquely specify the identity element "e", an easy exercise shows it is unique, as is each inverse element.  The universal algebra point of view is well adapted to category theory. For example, when defining a group object in category theory, where the object in question may not be a set, one must use equational laws (which make sense in general categories), rather than quantified laws (which refer to individual elements). Further, the inverse and identity are specified as morphisms in the category. For example, in a topological group, the inverse must not only exist element-wise, but must give a continuous mapping (a morphism). Some authors also require the identity map to be a closed inclusion (a cofibration).

Other examples.

Most algebraic structures are examples of universal algebras.  Examples of relational algebras include semilattices, lattices, and Boolean algebras.

Basic constructions.

We assume that the type, formula_2, has been fixed. Then there are three basic constructions in universal algebra: homomorphic image, subalgebra, and product.  A homomorphism between two algebras "A" and "B" is a function "h": "A" → "B" from the set A to the set B such that, for every operation "f" of A and corresponding "f" of B (of arity, say, "n"), "h"("f"("x"...,"x")) = "f"("h"("x")...,"h"("x")). (Sometimes the subscripts on "f" are taken off when it is clear from context which algebra the function is from.) For example, if "e" is a constant (nullary operation), then "h"("e") = "e". If ~ is a unary operation, then "h"(~"x") = ~"h"("x"). If ∗ is a binary operation, then "h"("x" ∗ "y") = "h"("x") ∗ "h"("y"). And so on. A few of the things that can be done with homomorphisms, as well as definitions of certain special kinds of homomorphisms, are listed under the entry Homomorphism. In particular, we can take the homomorphic image of an algebra, "h"("A").  A subalgebra of "A" is a subset of "A" that is closed under all the operations of "A". A product of some set of algebraic structures is the cartesian product of the sets with the operations defined coordinatewise.

Motivations and applications.

In addition to its unifying approach, universal algebra also gives deep theorems and important examples and counterexamples. It provides a useful framework for those who intend to start the study of new classes of algebras. It can enable the use of methods invented for some particular classes of algebras to other classes of algebras, by recasting the methods in terms of universal algebra (if possible), and then interpreting these as applied to other classes. It has also provided conceptual clarification; as J.D.H. Smith puts it, ""What looks messy and complicated in a particular framework may turn out to be simple and obvious in the proper general one.""  In particular, universal algebra can be applied to the study of monoids, rings, and lattices. Before universal algebra came along, many theorems (most notably the isomorphism theorems) were proved separately in all of these classes, but with universal algebra, they can be proven once and for all for every kind of algebraic system.  The 1956 paper by Higgins referenced below has been well followed up for its framework for a range of particular algebraic systems, while his 1963 paper is notable for its discussion of algebras with operations which are only partially defined, typical examples for this being categories and groupoids. This leads on to the subject of higher-dimensional algebra which can be defined as the study of algebraic theories with partial operations whose domains are defined under geometric conditions. Notable examples of these are various forms of higher-dimensional categories and groupoids.

Constraint satisfaction problem.

Universal algebra provides a natural language for the constraint satisfaction problem (CSP). CSP refers to an important class of computational problems where, given a relational algebra and an existential sentence formula_7 over this algebra, the question is to find out whether formula_7 can be satisfied in. The algebra is often fixed, so that refers to the problem whose instance is only the existential sentence formula_7.  It is proved that every computational problem can be formulated as for some algebra.  For example, the "n"-coloring problem can be stated as CSP of the algebra formula_10, i.e. an algebra with formula_11 elements and a single relation, inequality.  The dichotomy conjecture (proved in April 2017) states that if is a finite algebra, then is either P or NP-complete.

Generalizations.

Universal algebra has also been studied using the techniques of category theory. In this approach, instead of writing a list of operations and equations obeyed by those operations, one can describe an algebraic structure using categories of a special sort, known as Lawvere theories or more generally algebraic theories. Alternatively, one can describe algebraic structures using monads. The two approaches are closely related, with each having their own advantages. In particular, every Lawvere theory gives a monad on the category of sets, while any "finitary" monad on the category of sets arises from a Lawvere theory. However, a monad describes algebraic structures within one particular category (for example the category of sets), while algebraic theories describe structure within any of a large class of categories (namely those having finite products).  A more recent development in category theory is operad theory – an operad is a set of operations, similar to a universal algebra, but restricted in that equations are only allowed between expressions with the variables, with no duplication or omission of variables allowed. Thus, rings can be described as the so-called "algebras" of some operad, but not groups, since the law formula_12 duplicates the variable "g" on the left side and omits it on the right side. At first this may seem to be a troublesome restriction, but the payoff is that operads have certain advantages: for example, one can hybridize the concepts of ring and vector space to obtain the concept of associative algebra, but one cannot form a similar hybrid of the concepts of group and vector space.  Another development is partial algebra where the operators can be partial functions. Certain partial functions can also be handled by a generalization of Lawvere theories known as essentially algebraic theories.  Another generalization of universal algebra is model theory, which is sometimes described as "universal algebra + logic".

History.

In Alfred North Whitehead's book "A Treatise on Universal Algebra," published in 1898, the term "universal algebra" had essentially the same meaning that it has today. Whitehead credits William Rowan Hamilton and Augustus De Morgan as originators of the subject matter, and James Joseph Sylvester with coining the term itself.  At the time structures such as Lie algebras and hyperbolic quaternions drew attention to the need to expand algebraic structures beyond the associatively multiplicative class. In a review Alexander Macfarlane wrote: "The main idea of the work is not unification of the several methods, nor generalization of ordinary algebra so as to include them, but rather the comparative study of their several structures." At the time George Boole's algebra of logic made a strong counterpoint to ordinary number algebra, so the term "universal" served to calm strained sensibilities.  Whitehead's early work sought to unify quaternions (due to Hamilton), Grassmann's Ausdehnungslehre, and Boole's algebra of logic. Whitehead wrote in his book:  Whitehead, however, had no results of a general nature. Work on the subject was minimal until the early 1930s, when Garrett Birkhoff and Øystein Ore began publishing on universal algebras. Developments in metamathematics and category theory in the 1940s and 1950s furthered the field, particularly the work of Abraham Robinson, Alfred Tarski, Andrzej Mostowski, and their students.  In the period between 1935 and 1950, most papers were written along the lines suggested by Birkhoff's papers, dealing with free algebras, congruence and subalgebra lattices, and homomorphism theorems. Although the development of mathematical logic had made applications to algebra possible, they came about slowly; results published by Anatoly Maltsev in the 1940s went unnoticed because of the war. Tarski's lecture at the 1950 International Congress of Mathematicians in Cambridge ushered in a new period in which model-theoretic aspects were developed, mainly by Tarski himself, as well as C.C. Chang, Leon Henkin, Bjarni Jónsson, Roger Lyndon, and others.  In the late 1950s, Edward Marczewski emphasized the importance of free algebras, leading to the publication of more than 50 papers on the algebraic theory of free algebras by Marczewski himself, together with Jan Mycielski, Władysław Narkiewicz, Witold Nitka, J. Płonka, S. Świerczkowski, K. Urbanik, and others.  Starting with William Lawvere's thesis in 1963, techniques from category theory have become important in universal algebra.

Universal algebra (sometimes called general algebra) is the field of mathematics that studies algebraic structures themselves, not examples ("models") of algebraic structures. For instance, rather than take particular groups as the object of study, in universal algebra one takes the class of groups as an object of study.

Die universelle Algebra (auch allgemeine Algebra) ist ein Teilgebiet der Mathematik, genauer der Algebra, das sich mit allgemeinen algebraischen Strukturen und ihren Homomorphismen sowie gewissen Verallgemeinerungen befasst.


Description.

It is a crepuscular dragonfly, active in the dusk. This species can be easily distinguished by the multicolored upper surface of frons and by the shape and relative lengths of the anal appendages. Its labium and labrum are golden-yellow and face and frons are greenish yellow and eyes are green, bluish when aged. Its thorax is pale olivaceous brown with dark brown sutures. Its segment two of the abdomen is turquoise blue. Segment three has a large blue patch at each side. Segments 4 to 9 have an irregular black middorsal stripe. Segment 10 is black.

Comparison with "Anax imperator".

"A. parthenope" is smaller and less colourful than "Anax imperator". In general appearance, especially when seen on the wing, "A. parthenope" is similar to "A. imperator", but "A. parthenope" tends to hold its abdomen straighter than 'A. imperator". A large dragonfly seen in flight with a bent abdomen is most likely to be "A. imperator" rather than "A. parthenope". "A. parthenope" has a blue saddle at S2 and S3 which can be seen in flight, which is in contrast to the rest of the abdomen, which is brown. A yellow ring is at the base of S2. The eyes are green. It is similar to "A. ephippiger", although "A. ephippiger" is slightly smaller and slenderer and its blue saddle does not wrap around S2, but is mostly blue on top. "A. ephippiger" has brown eyes.

Distribution and habitat.

This species occurs in much of southern and central Europe, including most Mediterranean islands, across Asia to Japan, the Korean Peninsula, and China, and on to North Africa. It has been found on the Canary Islands and the Madeira Archipelago. It is spreading north and was first seen in Great Britain in 1996, where it has since bred.

Behaviour.

In the south of its range "A. parthenope" can be on the wing in March. It is most commonly seen from June to September, but can still be around in November. Often seen patrolling around ponds, lakes, and other still water, it occurs with "A. imperator", but it is usually less abundant. When "A. parthenope" and "A. imperator" occur at the same ponds, "A. imperator" is dominant. Males and females mate in the normal dragonfly manner and after mating, the pair stay in tandem and egg-laying usually occurs whilst still in tandem. This behaviour not seen in other European hawkers with the exception of "Aeshna affinis", although two migrants to Europe, "A. ephippiger" and "A. junius" also oviposit in tandem. Eggs are inserted into plants or in mud and hatch out in two months. Larval development takes two years.

Anax parthenope, the lesser emperor, is a dragonfly of the family Aeshnidae. It is found in Southern Europe, North Africa, and Asia.

Die Kleine Königslibelle ("Anax parthenope") ist eine Libellenart aus der Familie der Edellibellen (Aeshnidae), welche der Unterordnung der Großlibellen (Anisoptera) angehören. Es handelt sich dabei um eine der größten in Mitteleuropa beheimateten Libellen mit einer Flügelspannweite von maximal elf Zentimetern.


Background.

According to Heidegger's statement in "Being and Time", the work was made possible by his study of Husserl's "Logical Investigations" (1900–1901). "Being and Time" was originally intended to consist of two major parts, each part consisting of three divisions. Heidegger was forced to prepare the book for publication when he had completed only the first two divisions of part one. The remaining divisions planned for "Being and Time" (particularly the divisions on time and being, Immanuel Kant, and Aristotle) were never published, although in many respects they were addressed in one form or another in Heidegger's other works. In terms of structure, "Being and Time" remains as it was when it first appeared in print; it consists of the lengthy two-part introduction, followed by Division One, the "Preparatory Fundamental Analysis of Dasein," and Division Two, "Dasein and Temporality."

Summary.

Being.

Heidegger describes his project in the following way: "our aim in the following treatise is to work out the question of the sense of "being" and to do so concretely." Heidegger claims that traditional ontology has prejudicially overlooked this question, dismissing it on the basis that being is the most universal and emptiest concept, that is indefinable or obvious.  Instead Heidegger proposes to understand being itself, as distinguished from any specific entities (beings). "'Being' is not something like a being." Being, Heidegger claims, is "what determines beings as beings, that in terms of which beings are already understood." Heidegger is seeking to identify the criteria or conditions by which any specific entity can show up at all (see world disclosure).  If we grasp Being, we will clarify the meaning of being, or "sense" of being ("Sinn des Seins"), where by "sense" Heidegger means that "in terms of which something becomes intelligible as something." Presented in relation to the quality of knowledge, according to Heidegger, this sense of being precedes any notions of how or in what manner any particular being or beings exist, and is thus pre-scientific. Thus, in Heidegger's view, the question of the meaning of being would be an explanation of the understanding preceding any other way of knowing, such as the use of logic, theory, specific regional ontology. At the same time, there is no access to being other than via beings themselves—hence pursuing the question of being inevitably means questioning a being with regard to its being. Heidegger argues that a true understanding of being ("Seinsverständnis") can only proceed by referring to particular beings, and that the best method of pursuing being must inevitably, he says, involve a kind of hermeneutic circle, that is (as he explains in his critique of prior work in the field of hermeneutics), it must rely upon repetitive yet progressive acts of interpretation. "The methodological sense of phenomenological description is "interpretation"."

"Dasein".

Thus the question Heidegger asks in the introduction to "Being and Time" is: what is the being that will give access to the question of the meaning of Being? Heidegger's answer is that it can only be that being for whom the question of Being is important, the being for whom Being matters. As this answer already indicates, the being for whom Being is a question is not a "what", but a "who". Heidegger calls this being "Dasein" (an ordinary German word literally meaning "being-there," i.e., "existence"), and the method pursued in "Being and Time" consists in the attempt to delimit the characteristics of "Dasein", in order thereby to approach the meaning of Being itself through an interpretation of the temporality of Dasein. "Dasein" is not "man," but is nothing other than "man"—it is this distinction that enables Heidegger to claim that "Being and Time" is something other than philosophical anthropology.  Heidegger's account of Dasein passes through a dissection of the experiences of "Angst" and mortality, and then through an analysis of the structure of "care" as such. From there he raises the problem of "authenticity," that is, the potentiality or otherwise for mortal "Dasein" to exist "fully" enough that it might actually understand being. Heidegger is clear throughout the book that nothing makes certain that "Dasein" is capable of this understanding.

Time.

Finally, this question of the authenticity of individual "Dasein" cannot be separated from the "historicality" of "Dasein". On the one hand, "Dasein", as mortal, is "stretched along" between birth and death, and thrown into its world, that is, thrown into its "possibilities", possibilities which "Dasein" is charged with the task of assuming. On the other hand, "Dasein's" access to this world and these possibilities is always via a history and a tradition—this is the question of "world historicality," and among its consequences is Heidegger's argument that "Dasein's" potential for authenticity lies in the possibility of choosing a "hero."  Thus, more generally, the outcome of the progression of Heidegger's argument is the thought that the being of "Dasein" is time. Nevertheless, Heidegger concludes his work with a set of enigmatic questions foreshadowing the necessity of a destruction (that is, a transformation) of the history of philosophy in relation to temporality—these were the questions to be taken up in the never completed continuation of his project:

Phenomenology in Heidegger and Husserl.

Although Heidegger describes his method in "Being and Time" as phenomenological, the question of its relation to the phenomenology of Husserl is complex. The fact that Heidegger believes that ontology includes an irreducible hermeneutic (interpretative) aspect, for example, might be thought to run counter to Husserl's claim that phenomenological description is capable of a form of scientific positivity. On the other hand, however, several aspects of the approach and method of "Being and Time" seem to relate more directly to Husserl's work.  The central Husserlian concept of the directedness of all thought—intentionality—for example, while scarcely mentioned in "Being and Time", has been identified by some with Heidegger's central notion of "Sorge" ("cura", care or concern). However, for Heidegger, "theoretical" knowledge represents only one kind of intentional behaviour, and he asserts that it is grounded in more fundamental modes of behaviour and forms of practical engagement with the surrounding world. Whereas a theoretical understanding of things grasps them according to "presence," for example, this may conceal that our first experience of a being may be in terms of its being "ready-to-hand." Thus, for instance, when someone reaches for a tool such as a hammer, their understanding of what a hammer "is" is not determined by a theoretical understanding of its presence, but by the fact that it is something we need at the moment we wish to do hammering. Only a "later" understanding might come to contemplate a hammer "as" an object.

Hermeneutics.

The total understanding of being results from an explication of the implicit knowledge of being that inheres in "Dasein". Philosophy thus becomes a form of interpretation, but since there is no external reference point outside being from which to begin this interpretation, the question becomes to know in which way to proceed with this interpretation. This is the problem of the "hermeneutic circle," and the necessity for the interpretation of the meaning of being to proceed in stages: this is why Heidegger's technique in "Being and Time" is sometimes referred to as hermeneutical phenomenology.

Destructuring of metaphysics.

As part of his ontological project, Heidegger undertakes a reinterpretation of previous Western philosophy. He wants to explain why and how theoretical knowledge came to seem like the most fundamental relation to being. This explanation takes the form of a destructuring ("Destruktion") of the philosophical tradition, an interpretative strategy that reveals the fundamental experience of being at the base of previous philosophies that had become entrenched and hidden within the theoretical attitude of the metaphysics of presence. This use of the word "Destruktion" is meant to signify not a negative operation but rather a positive transformation or recovery.  In "Being and Time" Heidegger briefly undertakes a destructuring of the philosophy of René Descartes, but the second volume, which was intended to be a "Destruktion" of Western philosophy in all its stages, was never written. In later works Heidegger uses this approach to interpret the philosophies of Aristotle, Kant, Hegel, Plato, Nietzsche, and Hölderlin, among others.

Related work.

"Being and Time" is the major achievement of Heidegger's early career, but he produced other important works during this period:  Although Heidegger did not complete the project outlined in "Being and Time", later works explicitly addressed the themes and concepts of "Being and Time". Most important among the works which do so are the following:

Influence and reception.

The critic George Steiner argues that "Being and Time" is a product of the crisis of German culture following Germany's defeat in World War I, similar in this respect to works such as Ernst Bloch's "The Spirit of Utopia" (1918), Oswald Spengler's "The Decline of the West" (1918), Franz Rosenzweig's "The Star of Redemption" (1921), Karl Barth's "The Epistle to the Romans" (1922), and Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" (1925). Upon its publication, it was recognized as a groundbreaking philosophical work, with reviewers crediting Heidegger with "brilliance" and "genius". The book, which has been described as the "most influential version of existential philosophy", quickly became "the focus of debates and controversy". Heidegger claimed in the 1930s that commentators had attempted to show similarities between his views and those of Hegel in order to undermine the idea that "Being and Time" was an original work. In response, Heidegger maintained that his thesis that the essence of being is time is the opposite of Hegel's view that being is the essence of time. Karl Jaspers, writing in the first volume of his work "Philosophy" (1932), credited Heidegger with making essential points about "being in the world" and also about "existence and historicity".  Heidegger's work has been suggested as a possible influence on Herbert Marcuse's "Hegel's Ontology and the Theory of Historicity" (1932), though Marcuse later questioned the political implications of Heidegger's work. Jean-Paul Sartre, who wrote "Being and Nothingness" (1943) under the influence of Heidegger's work, has been said to have responded to "Being and Time" with "a sense of shock". Sartre's existentialism has been described as "a version and variant of the idiom and propositions" in "Being and Time". Because of Heidegger's revival of the question of being, "Being and Time" also influenced other philosophers of Sartre's generation, and it altered the course of French philosophy. Maurice Merleau-Ponty argued in "Phenomenology of Perception" (1945) that "Being and Time", "springs from an indication given by Husserl and amounts to no more than an explicit account of the 'natürlicher Weltbegriff' or the 'Lebenswelt' which Husserl, towards the end of his life, identified as the central theme of phenomenology". Heidegger influenced psychoanalysis through Jacques Lacan, who quotes from "Being and Time" in a 1953 text.  The publication of the English translation of the work by John Macquarrie and Edward Robinson in 1962, helped to shape the way in which Heidegger's work was discussed in English. Gilles Deleuze's "Difference and Repetition" (1968) was influenced by Heidegger's "Being and Time", though Deleuze replaces Heidegger's key terms of being and time with difference and repetition respectively. Frank Herbert's science fiction novel "The Santaroga Barrier" (1968) was loosely based on the ideas of "Being and Time". The philosopher Lucien Goldmann argued in his posthumously published "" (1973) that the concept of reification as employed in "Being and Time" showed the strong influence of György Lukács' "History and Class Consciousness" (1923), though Goldmann's suggestion has been disputed. "Being and Time" influenced Alain Badiou's work "Being and Event" (1988). Roger Scruton writes that "Being and Time" is "the most complex of the many works inspired, directly or indirectly, by Kant's theory of time as 'the form of inner sense'." He considers Heidegger's language "metaphorical" and almost incomprehensible. Scruton suggests that this necessarily follows from the nature of Heidegger's phenomenological method. He finds Heidegger's "description of the world of phenomena" to be "fascinating, but maddeningly abstract". He suggests that much of "Being and Time" is a "description of a private spiritual journey" rather than genuine philosophy, and notes that Heidegger's assertions are unsupported by argument.  Stephen Houlgate compares Heidegger's achievements in "Being and Time" to those of Kant in the "Critique of Pure Reason" (1781) and Hegel in "The Phenomenology of Spirit" (1807) and "Science of Logic" (1812-1816). Simon Critchley calls the work Heidegger's "magnum opus", and writes that it is impossible to understand developments in continental philosophy after Heidegger without understanding it. Dennis J. Schmidt praises the "range and subtlety" of "Being and Time", and describes its importance by quoting a comment the writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe made in a different context, "from here and today a new epoch of world history sets forth." Heidegger has become common background for the political movement concerned with protection of the environment, and his narrative of the history of Being frequently appears when capitalism, consumerism and technology are thoughtfully opposed. Michael E. Zimmerman writes that, "Because he criticized technological modernity’s domineering attitude toward nature, and because he envisioned a postmodern era in which people would “let things be,” Heidegger has sometimes been read as an intellectual forerunner of today’s “deep ecology” movement.  "Being and Time" also influenced the enactivist approach to cognition.

References.

Informational notes Citations Bibliography

Being and Time () is a 1927 book by the German philosopher Martin Heidegger, in which the author seeks to analyse the concept of Being. Heidegger maintains that this has fundamental importance for philosophy and that, since the time of the Ancient Greeks, philosophy has avoided the question, turning instead to the analysis of particular beings. Heidegger attempts to revive ontology through a reawakening of the question of the meaning of being. He approaches this through a fundamental ontology that is a preliminary analysis of the being of the being to whom the question of being is important, i.e., "Dasein".

Sein und Zeit ist das Hauptwerk der frühen Philosophie von Martin Heidegger (1889–1976). 1927 erschienen, gehört es seitdem zu den Jahrhundertwerken der Philosophie im 20. Jahrhundert.


Early life.

Joan de Beauvoir deHavilland was born on 22 October 1917, in Tokyo, in the then Empire of Japan to English parents. Her father, Walter de Havilland (1872–1968), was educated at the University of Cambridge and served as an English professor at the Imperial University in Tokyo before becoming a patent attorney. Her mother, Lilian Augusta Ruse de Havilland Fontaine (1886–1975), was educated at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in London, and became a stage actress who left her career after going to Tokyo with her husband. Her mother returned to work with the stage name "Lillian Fontaine" after her daughters achieved prominence in the 1940s. Joan's paternal cousin was Sir Geoffrey de Havilland (1882–1965), an aircraft designer known for the de Havilland Mosquito, and founder of the aircraft company which bore his name. Her paternal grandfather, the Reverend Charles Richard deHavilland, was from a family from Guernsey, in the Channel Islands.  De Havilland's parents married in 1914 and separated in 1919 when she was two, when Lilian decided to end the marriage after discovering that her husband used the sexual services of geishas; the divorce was not finalized, however, until February 1925.  Taking a physician's advice, Lilian deHavilland moved Joanreportedly a sickly child who had developed anaemia following a combined attack of the measles and a streptococcal infectionand her elder sister, Olivia, to the United States. The family settled in Saratoga, California, and Fontaine's health improved dramatically by her teen years. She was educated at nearby Los Gatos High School, and was soon taking diction lessons alongside her elder sister. When she was 16 years old, deHavilland returned to Japan to live with her father. There she attended the Tokyo School for Foreign Children, graduating in 1935.

Career.

Fontaine made her stage debut in the West Coast production of "Call It a Day" (1935) and made her film debut in MGM's "No More Ladies" (1935) in which she was credited as Joan Burfield. She was Herman Brix's leading lady in a low budget independent film, "A Million to One" (1937).

RKO.

Fontaine signed a contract with RKO Pictures. Her first film for the studio was "Quality Street" (1937) starring Katharine Hepburn, in which Fontaine had a small unbilled role.  The studio considered her a rising star, and touted "The Man Who Found Himself" (1937) with John Beal as her first starring role, placing a special screen introduction, billed as the "new RKO screen personality" after the end credit. Fontaine later said it had "an A budget but a Z story."  RKO put her in "You Can't Beat Love" (1937) with Preston Foster and "Music for Madame" (1937) with Nino Martini.  She next appeared in a major role alongside Fred Astaire in his first RKO film without Ginger Rogers, "A Damsel in Distress" (1937). Despite being directed by George Stevens, audiences were disappointed and the film flopped. She was top billed in the comedies "Maid's Night Out" (1938) and "Blond Cheat" (1938) then was Richard Dix's leading lady in "Sky Giant" (1938).  Edward Small borrowed her to play Louis Hayward's love interest in "The Duke of West Point" (1938), then Stevens used her at RKO in "Gunga Din" (1939) as Douglas Fairbanks Jr.'s love interest. The film was a huge hit, but Fontaine's part was relatively small. Republic borrowed her to support Dix in "Man of Conquest" (1939) but her part was small. George Cukor gave her a small role in MGM's "The Women" (1939).

David O. Selznick and Hitchcock.

Fontaine's luck changed one night at a dinner party when she found herself seated next to producer David O. Selznick. Selznick and she began discussing the Daphne du Maurier novel "Rebecca", and Selznick asked her to audition for the part of the unnamed heroine. She endured a grueling six-month series of film tests, along with hundreds of other actresses, before securing the part sometime before her 22nd birthday.  "Rebecca" (1940), starring Laurence Olivier alongside Fontaine, marked the American debut of British director Alfred Hitchcock. The film was released to glowing reviews, and Fontaine was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actress. Fontaine did not win that year (Ginger Rogers took home the award for "Kitty Foyle"), but she did win the following year for Best Actress in "Suspicion", which co-starred Cary Grant and was also directed by Hitchcock. This was the only Academy Award-winning acting performance to have been directed by Hitchcock.  Fontaine was now one of the biggest female stars in Hollywood, although she was typed in female melodrama. "They seemed to want to make me cry the whole Atlantic," she later said.  20th Century Fox borrowed her to appear opposite Tyrone Power in "This Above All" (1942) then she went to Warner Brothers to star alongside Charles Boyer in "The Constant Nymph". She was nominated for a third Academy Award for her performance in this film.  She also starred as the titular protagonist in the film "Jane Eyre" that year, which was developed by Selznick then sold to Fox.  During the war she occasionally worked as a nurse's aide.  Fontaine starred in the film "Frenchman's Creek" (1944). Like "Rebecca", this was also based on a novel by Daphne du Maurier. Fontaine personally considered "Frenchman's Creek" one of her least favorites among the films she starred in.  Selznick wanted to cast her in "I'll Be Seeing You" (1944) but she refused, saying she was "sick of playing the sad sack." Selznick suspended her for eight months. Eventually she went back to work in "The Affairs of Susan" (1945) for Hal Wallis at Paramount, her first comedy. She returned to RKO for "From This Day Forward" (1946).

Rampart Productions.

In August 1946 Fontaine set up her own company, Rampart Productions, with her then husband William Dozier. Her contract with Selznick ended in February 1947 and Fontaine would work exclusively for Rampart apart from one film a year for RKO.  Their first film was "Ivy" (1947), a thriller where she played an unsympathetic part.  The most memorable film Fontaine starred in during the late 1940s is "Letter from an Unknown Woman" (1948) directed by Max Ophüls, produced by John Houseman and co starring Louis Jourdan. It was made by Rampart Productions who released through Universal. It is today considered to be a classic with one of the finest performance in her career.  At Paramount, she appeared opposite Bing Crosby in Billy Wilder's "The Emperor Waltz" (1948) then went to Universal for another film for Rampart, "You Gotta Stay Happy" (1948), a comedy with James Stewart.  Fontaine went to England to make "Kiss the Blood Off My Hands" (1948) with Burt Lancaster. At Paramount she did "September Affair" (1950) with Joseph Cotten for Wallis, "Darling, How Could You!" (1951) and "Something to Live For" (1952), a third film with George Stevens. At RKO she was a femme fatale in "Born to Be Bad" (1950).  MGM hired Fontaine to play the love interest in "Ivanhoe" (1952), a big success. She was reunited with Jourdan in "Decameron Nights" (1953) then went to Paramount for the low budget "Flight to Tangier" (1953) with Jack Palance.

TV and Theatre.

Fontaine made "The Bigamist" (1953), directed by Ida Lupino. She began appearing on TV shows such as "Four Star Playhouse", "Ford Theatre", "Star Stage", "The 20th Century Fox Hour" "The Joseph Cotten Show", and "General Electric Theater".  She won good reviews for her role on Broadway in 1954 as Laura in "Tea and Sympathy", playing the role originated by Deborah Kerr. She appeared opposite Anthony Perkins and toured the show for a few months.  She was Bob Hope's leading lady in "Casanova's Big Night" (1956) then supported Mario Lanza in "Serenade" (1956). She was in Fritz Lang's "Beyond a Reasonable Doubt" (1956) at RKO.  Fontaine had a big hit with "Island in the Sun" (1957) having a romance with Harry Belafonte. At MGM she appeared with Jean Simmons and Paul Newman in "Until They Sail" (1957) then she made "A Certain Smile" (1958) at Fox.

1960s.

Fontaine had the female lead in the popular "Voyage to the Bottom of the Sea" (1961) at Fox. She had a key role in "Tender Is the Night" (1962) also at Fox.  Most of her 1960s work was done on television or stage. TV shows included "General Electric Theater","Westinghouse Desilu Playhouse", "Startime", "", "Checkmate", "The Dick Powell Show", "Kraft Television Theatre", "Wagon Train", "Alfred Hitchcock Presents", and "The Bing Crosby Show".  In October 1964 she returned to Broadway to appear in "A Severed Head".  She tried a Hammer horror film, "The Witches" (1966) which she also co produced.  Her stage work included "Cactus Flower" and an Austrian production of "The Lion in Winter".  In 1967 she was in "Dial M for Murder" in Chicago. The following year she did "Private Lives".  She played "Forty Carats" on Broadway.

Later career.

In the 1970s Fontaine appeared in stage shows and toured with a poetry reading.  She returned to Hollywood for the first time in 15 years in 1975 to appear in an episode of "Cannon" especially written for her. She was in "The Users" (1978) and was nominated for an Emmy Award for the soap opera "Ryan's Hope" in 1980.  Fontaine's autobiography, "No Bed of Roses", was published in 1978. In 1982, she traveled to Berlin, Germany and served as a jury president for the Berlin International Film Festival.  In the early 1980s, after 25 years in New York, she moved to Carmel, California. "I have no family ties anymore, so I want to work," she said. "I still host an interview show for cable in New York. I lecture all over the country. But it wasn't enough. My theory is that if you stay busy, you haven't time to grow old. Or at least you don't notice it."  She starred in "Aloha Paradise", "Bare Essence", and "Crossings" (1986). She played the lead in a TV movie, "Dark Crossings" (1986), replacing Loretta Young. She said, "At my time in life, I don't want to do bit parts. Also, Rosalind Russell once said, 'Always escape the mother parts.' And I've avoided them."  Fontaine's last role for television was in the 1994 TV film "Good King Wenceslas", after which she retired to her estate, Villa Fontana, in Carmel Highlands, California, where she spent time in her gardens and with her dogs.  For her contribution to the motion picture industry, Fontaine has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame at 1645 Vine Street. She left her hand and foot prints in front of the Grauman's Chinese Theatre on 26 May 1942.  She was a practicing Episcopalian and a member of Episcopal Actors Guild.  Fontaine was a Democrat who not only supported the run of Adlai Stevenson but also had a personal relationship as well, stating,  We had a tenderness for each other that grew into something rather serious. There was so much speculation about our marrying in the press that over lunch at his apartment in the Waldorf Towers he told me he could not marry an actress. He still had political ambitions and the "little old ladies from Oshkosh" wouldn't approve. I told him it was just as well. My family would hardly approve of my marrying a politician.

Personal life.

Fontaine held dual citizenship; she was British by birthright (both her parents were British) and became an American citizen in April 1943. Outside of acting, Fontaine was also noted as being a licensed pilot, an accomplished interior decorator, and a Cordon Bleu-level chef.

Marriages and children.

Fontaine was married and divorced four times. Her first marriage was to actor Brian Aherne, in 1939 in Del Monte, California; they divorced in April 1945.  In May 1946, she married actor/producer William Dozier in Mexico City. They had a daughter, Deborah Leslie, in 1948, and separated in 1949. Deborah is Fontaine's only biological child. The following year, Fontaine filed for divorce, charging Dozier with desertion. Their divorce was final in January 1951. The two of them had a custody battle over their child which lingered through the 1950s.  Fontaine's third marriage was to producer and writer Collier Young on November 12, 1952. They separated in May 1960, and Fontaine filed for divorce in November 1960. Their divorce was final in January 1961.  Fontaine's fourth and final marriage was to "Sports Illustrated" golf editor Alfred Wright, Jr, on January 23, 1964, in Elkton, Maryland; they divorced in 1969.  While in South America for a film festival in 1951, Fontaine met a four-year-old Peruvian girl named Martita, and informally adopted her. Fontaine met Martita while visiting Incan ruins where Martita's father worked as a caretaker. Martita's parents allowed Fontaine to become Martita's legal guardian to give the child a better life. Fontaine promised Martita's parents she would send the girl back to Peru to visit when she was 16 years old. When Martita turned 16, Fontaine bought her a round-trip ticket to Peru, but Martita refused to go and opted to run away. Fontaine and Martita became estranged following the incident. While promoting her autobiography in 1978, Fontaine addressed the issue, stating, "Until my adopted daughter goes back to see her parents, she's not welcome. I promised her parents. I do not forgive somebody who makes me break my word."

Sibling rivalry.

Fontaine and her sister, Olivia deHavilland, are the only set of siblings to have won lead acting Academy Awards. Olivia was the first to become an actress; when Fontaine tried to follow her lead, their mother, who allegedly favored Olivia, refused to let Joan use the family name. Subsequently, Fontaine had to invent a name, taking first Joan Burfield, and later Joan Fontaine. Biographer Charles Higham records that the sisters had an uneasy relationship from early childhood, when Olivia would rip up the clothes Joan had to wear as hand-me-downs, forcing Joan to sew them back together. A large part of the friction between the sisters allegedly stemmed from Fontaine's belief that Olivia was their mother's favorite child.  De Havilland and Fontaine were both nominated for the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1942. Fontaine won for her role in Alfred Hitchcock's "Suspicion" over deHavilland's performance in "Hold Back the Dawn". Higham states that Fontaine "felt guilty about winning given her lack of obsessive career drive...". Higham has described the events of the awards ceremony, stating that as Fontaine stepped forward to collect her award, she pointedly rejected deHavilland's attempts at congratulating her and that deHavilland was both offended and embarrassed by her behavior. Fontaine, however, tells a different story in her autobiography, explaining that she was paralyzed with surprise when she won the Academy Award, and that deHavilland insisted she get up to accept it. "Olivia took the situation very graciously," Fontaine wrote. "I was appalled that I'd won over my sister." Several years later, however, deHavilland apparently remembered what she perceived as a slight and exacted her own revenge by brushing past Fontaine, who was waiting with her hand extended, because deHavilland allegedly took offense at a comment Fontaine had made about deHavilland's husband.  Contrary to press reports, the sisters continued their relationship after the 1940s. After Fontaine's separation from her husband in 1952, deHavilland came to her apartment in New York often, and at least once they spent Christmas together there, in 1961. They were photographed laughing together at a party for Marlene Dietrich in 1967. Fontaine also went to visit deHavilland in Paris in 1969.  The sisters reportedly did not completely stop speaking to each other until 1975, after their mother's funeral, to which Joan, who was out of the country, was not invited.  Both sisters largely refused to comment publicly about their relationship. In a 1978 interview, however, Fontaine said of the sibling rivalry, "I married first, won the Oscar before Olivia did, and if I die first, she'll undoubtedly be livid because I beat her to it!" The following year, in a 1979 interview, Fontaine claimed the reason her sister and she stopped speaking to each other was that deHavilland wanted their mother (who was suffering from cancer) to be treated surgically at the advanced age of 88, which Fontaine apparently did not think was a good idea. Fontaine claims that after their mother died, deHavilland did not bother to try to find where Fontaine could be reached (Fontaine was on tour in a play). Instead, deHavilland sent a telegram, which did not arrive until two weeks later at Fontaine's next stop. According to Fontaine, deHavilland did not invite her to a memorial service for their mother. DeHavilland claims she informed Fontaine, but Fontaine brushed her off, claiming she was too busy to attend. Higham records that Fontaine had an estranged relationship with her own daughters, as well, possibly because she discovered that they were secretly maintaining a relationship with deHavilland.

Death.

On December 15, 2013, Fontaine died in her sleep of natural causes at the age of 96 in her Carmel Highlands home. Her longtime friend Noel Beutel said, "She had been fading in recent days and died peacefully." After Fontaine's death, deHavilland released a statement saying she was "shocked and saddened" by the news.  Fontaine's Academy Award for Best Actress in "Suspicion" was initially going to be sold at an animal rights auction; however, the Academy threatened to sue since it was not offered back to them for $1 and Fontaine's estate retained possession.

Radio appearances.

1953 general electric theater enchanted cottage  1953 lux radio theater the president's lady  1954 Gunsmoke The handcuffs

Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland (October 22, 1917 – December 15, 2013), known professionally as Joan Fontaine, was a British-American actress who is best known for her starring roles in Hollywood films during the "Golden Age". Fontaine appeared in more than 45 films in a career that spanned five decades. She was the younger sister of actress Olivia de Havilland. Their alleged rivalry was well-documented in the media at the height of Fontaine's career.

Joan Fontaine (* 22. Oktober 1917 in Tokio; † 15. Dezember 2013 in Carmel-by-the-Sea, Kalifornien; eigentlich "Joan de Beauvoir de Havilland") war eine britisch-US-amerikanische Schauspielerin. Ihre bekanntesten Rollen spielte die Schwester von Olivia de Havilland unter der Regie von Alfred Hitchcock in "Rebecca" und "Verdacht". Für letztere wurde sie 1942 mit dem Oscar als beste Hauptdarstellerin ausgezeichnet.


Concept history.

The concept of "success factors" was developed by D. Ronald Daniel of McKinsey & Company in 1961. The process was refined into critical success factors by John F. Rockart between 1979 and 1981. In 1995, James A. Johnson and Michael Friesen applied it to many sector settings, including healthcare.

Relation to Key Success Area and Key Success Factors.

The Critical Success Factor is basically the main system to achieve successes in a company, but to make that possible is necessary to put together the Key Success Factor that needs to be personalized depending of the department, each role has their own Key Success Area. These systems try to achieve success for the company based in standards and rules that need to be followed step by step to guarantee a better service for the clients or partners.

Key Result Area (KRAs).

Key result areas or KRAs refer to the rules for a specific role in a company. The terms highlight the scope of the job profile for the employee, enabling them to have a better view of their possible role in the company. Which KRA will defer from each other depending of the department.  The Key Result Area is a specific role which each department need to follow to deliver the goods or services in perfect condition to the final customer or to another department which will have different KSFs.

Key Success Factors (KSFs).

In project management, multiple cross-cultural studies spread over decades have shown that the basic Key Success Factors can be summarized as follows:

Steps to achieve the Key Success Factors.

The company needs to be aware that it is essential to pull together the team that will be working with the CSFs, its necessary to have employees submit their ideas or give feedback. Never forget to have multiple frameworks to examine the key elements of your long-term goals. Before implementing your company-wide strategic plan with your critical success factors in mind, determine which factors are key in achieving your long-term organizational plan.

Skills.

The leader needs to be trained and prepared to put the company in the line of success. Some of the skills that can be learned are financial management, marketing sales, and customer service, communication and negotiation, project management and planning, leadership, problem-solving and, lastly, but one of the most important skills, networking.

Communication.

The company needs to put together all the staffs, all of the giving opinions about what could be better to achieve their goal. The company needs to pay attention in two parts of the communication process: the Initial Launch Communications, which will set the plan to be achieved and the Ongoing Communications, which will be the part where the KSF progress (Contact us is a way to know if the KSF is working well).

Planning.

To use the CSFs everything needs to be planned, how employees will do it and why. Tools can be used to make planning work faster and easier. A strategy for each department can be planned separately.

Team Work.

A good teamwork is the key to success, when all the staff collaborate more ideas and opinions can be discussed to find the best way to achieve success.

Process.

A business process or business method is a collection of related, structured activities or tasks by people or equipment which in a specific sequence produce a service or product (serves a particular business goal) for a particular customer or customers. Business processes occur at all organizational levels and may or may not be visible to the customers. A business process may often be visualized (modeled) as a flowchart of a sequence of activities with interleaving decision points or as a process matrix of a sequence of activities with relevance rules based on data in the process. The benefits of using business processes include improved customer satisfaction and improved agility for reacting to rapid market change.

Critical success factor (CSF) is a management term for an element that is necessary for an organization or project to achieve its mission. To achieve their goals they need to be aware of each key success factor (KSF) and the variations between the keys and the different roles key result area (KRA). A CSF is a critical factor or activity required for ensuring the success of a company or an organization. The term was initially used in the world of data analysis and business analysis. For example, a CSF for a successful Information Technology project is user involvement.

Ein kritischer Erfolgsfaktor (KEF) ist eine Eigenschaft einer Organisation, die bei ausreichend guten Werten das Erreichen der Ziele der Organisation ermöglicht, beispielsweise Gewinnmaximierung, Kommunikation, Qualität, Kostenführerschaft etc.


History.

The name of the town is believed to derive from the name of a Saxon chief called Beda, and a ford crossing the River Great Ouse. Bedford was a market town for the surrounding agricultural region from the early Middle Ages. The Anglo-Saxon King Offa of Mercia was buried in the town in 796; this is believed to be in his new minster, now the Church of St Paul, or on the banks of the Great Ouse where his tomb was soon lost to the river. In 886 it became a boundary town separating Wessex and Danelaw. It was the seat of the Barony of Bedford. In 919 Edward the Elder built the town's first known fortress, on the south side of the River Great Ouse and there received the area's submission. This fortress was destroyed by the Danes. William II gave the barony of Bedford to Paine de Beauchamp, who built a new, strong castle.  Bedford traces its borough charter in 1166 by Henry II and elected two members to the unreformed House of Commons. The new Bedford Castle was razed in 1224 and today only a mound remains. From the 16th century Bedford and much of Bedfordshire became one of the main centres of England's lace industry, and lace continued to be an important industry in Bedford until the early 20th century. In 1660 John Bunyan was imprisoned for 12 years in Bedford Gaol. It was here that he wrote "The Pilgrim's Progress". The River Great Ouse became navigable as far as Bedford in 1689. Wool declined in importance with brewing becoming a major industry in the town. The 19th century saw Bedford transform into an important engineering hub. In 1832 gas lighting was introduced, and the railway reached Bedford in 1846. The first corn exchange was built 1849, and the first drains and sewers were dug in 1864.

Governance.

Bedford is the largest settlement in Borough of Bedford. The borough council is led by a directly elected mayor who holds the title 'Mayor of Bedford', an office which was first held by Frank Branston, until his death in 2009. The current Mayor of Bedford is Dave Hodgson from the Liberal Democrats.  Bedford itself is divided into 10 wards: Brickhill, Castle, Cauldwell, De Parys, Goldington, Harpur, Kingsbrook, Newnham, Putnoe, Queens Park, Kempston East and Kempston West. Brickhill elects its own parish council, while the rest (and majority) of Bedford is an unparished area.  Bedford is served by Bedfordshire Police. The Bedfordshire Police and Crime Commissioner of that force is Kathryn Holloway.  Bedford forms part of the Bedford constituency, represented in the House of Commons of the United Kingdom Parliament. The current Member of Parliament (MP) for Bedford is Mohammad Yasin, who is a member of the Labour Party.

Geography.

Bedford is 46 miles (74 km) miles north-northwest of London, 65 miles (105 km) southeast of Birmingham, 25 miles (40 km) west of Cambridge and 19 miles (31 km) east-southeast of Northampton. The town of Kempston is adjacent to Bedford, as are the villages of Elstow, Renhold and Ravensden. Wixams is a new town which is being developed to the south of Bedford. Villages in the Borough of Bedford with populations of more than 2,000 as of 2005 were Biddenham, Bromham, Clapham, Elstow, Oakley, Sharnbrook, Shortstown, Wilstead, and Wootton. There are also many smaller villages in the borough. The villages in the borough are popular with commuters to Bedford, and also with people who commute to Milton Keynes, London and towns in Northamptonshire and Cambridgeshire.

Climate.

As with the rest of the United Kingdom, Bedford has a maritime climate, with a limited range of temperatures, and generally even rainfall throughout the year. The nearest Met Office weather station to Bedford is Bedford (Thurleigh) airport, about 6.5 miles north of Bedford town centre at an elevation of 85 metres. Since 1206, temperature extremes at the site have ranged from 35.9 °C(97F) in August 2003 and 35.3 °C(95F) during July 2006 down to −15.3 °C(4F) in January 1982. However, such extremes would likely be superseded if longer term records were available – Historically, the nearest weather station to Bedford was Cardington about 2.4 miles south south east of the town centre with an elevation of 30 metres. This location recorded a minimum of −18.3 °C(-1F) during January 1963.  Rainfall averages around 585mm (23.03 in) a year, with an excess of 1mm (.04in) falling on 109 days.  Sunshine at around 1500 hours a year is typical of inland areas of southern-central England.

Demography.

Bedford is home to one of the largest concentrations of Italian immigrants in the United Kingdom. According to the 2001 census, almost 30% of Bedford's population were of at least partial Italian descent. This is mainly as a result of labour recruitment in the early 1950s by the London Brick Company from Southern Italy. From 1954 to 2008 Bedford had its own Italian vice-consulate.  At the 2011 Census, the ethnic mix of the Bedford urban area was 74.4% white, 4% mixed, 15% Asian/Asian British, 5% Black/African/Caribbean/Black British, and 1% "other ethnic group". In terms of national identity, just over 50% identified as English only, 24% as British only and 15% only as a non-UK identity; just over 8% had a "British and other" identity. In terms of religious affiliation, 56% were Christian, almost 8% were Muslim, almost 3% Sikh and 2% Hindu; almost 30% had no religion or declined to answer.

Landmarks.

Bedford Park is the town's largest urban park and is located directly to the north of the town centre. The park retains many original features from its Victorian design and construction, including a cricket pavilion and bandstand which are both still in use. Priory Country Park is a large country park located on the northern bank of the River Great Ouse in eastern Bedford. Both parks have been awarded Green Flag status.  Bedford's principal church is St Paul's, in the square of the same name at the historic centre of the town. It is the Civic Church of the Borough of Bedford and County of Bedfordshire and has a tall, iconic spire which is one of the dominant features of the town. There was an early Minster church on the site by 1066 and work on the present structure began in the early 13th century, but little remains from that period. John Bunyan and John Wesley both preached in the church. In 1865–1868 the tower and spire were completely rebuilt and the two transepts added and lesser alterations have been made since. From 1941 to the end of the Second World War the BBC's daily service was broadcast from St. Paul's. Another notable local church is St Peter's, on St Peter's Street, which contains some of the oldest architectural remains in Bedford, the most ancient being the two monoliths. St. Paul's Church also hosts the town's Visitor Information Centre.  Just outside the town lie the Cardington airship hangars. The hangars have been used to shoot scenes for movies such as "Star Wars", "Batman Begins", "The Dark Knight", and "Inception". The hangars can be seen from the Bedford Bypass.  Despite being far upriver from the sea, seals have occasionally been reported as swimming as far inland as Bedford.

River Great Ouse.

The River Great Ouse passes through the town centre and is lined with gardens known as the Embankment. Within these gardens, opposite Rothsay Road, stands a war memorial to the men of the town killed in the First World War. The memorial was designed in 1921 by the sculptor Charles Sargeant Jagger and depicts the Anglo Saxon Lady Athelflaed, who ruled Mercia,killing a dragon. The inscription reads

Bedford Castle.

Bedford Castle Mound is the remnant of Bedford's medieval castle, located close to the centre of the modern town, less than a hundred yards from Bedford Bridge and the High Street. In around 2000 Bedford Borough Council built a sloping retaining wall on the south side, facing the river. Although almost completely modern, the wall does incorporate a few pieces of historic masonry. A paved path leads round the side of the mound up to the top, which is a flat circular grassy area. A small wooden structure of the same date at the top of the wall, much like a bus shelter, protects tourists from the rain while they view the river embankment.

Transport.

Transport in Bedford provides links between the town and other parts of England. Road access to the town is provided by the A6 road & the A421 road. The town is served by two railway stations and a network of bus services.

Bedford bus station.

Bedford bus station serves the town of Bedford, and was reopened on 29 March 2015 after undergoing £8.8million regeneration which began in 2013. The new Greyfriars surface car park and the refurbished Allhallows multi-story car park both implement a pay on foot system. Greyfriars occupies 142 parking spaces, including 7 designated disabled spaces, although there is a 2-hour per day parking limit. The main operator at Bedford bus station is Stagecoach in Bedford and Stagecoach in Northants.

Education.

Bedford previously operated a three-tier education system, which was arranged into lower, middle and upper schools, as recommended in the Plowden Report of 1967. The arrangement was put to the vote in 2006 with a view to moving to the two-tier model, but was rejected. On 17 November 2009, borough councillors voted 19 to 17 in favour of a two tier system, which would then be phased in. However, following the defeat of the Labour Government in 2010, the new coalition government announced that the funding necessary for the switch to a two-tier system would no longer be available. As a result, the switch proceeded on a school by school basis as national funding was due to cover most of the cost. However, in July 2015, the Council announced the intention to support the transition to a system of two tier education across the whole Borough in a coordinated way. At the time, only the Wootton cluster of schools chose to not to transition. As of September 2018 all of the towns schools have converted to two-tier. The secondary schools currently operating in the town are Bedford Academy, Bedford Free School, Biddenham International School, Castle Newnham School, Goldington Academy, Mark Rutherford School and St Thomas More Catholic School.  Bedford is home to four private schools run by the Harpur Trust charity, endowed by Bedfordian Sir William Harpur in the 16th century. These are:  Smaller private institutions include Rushmoor School (boys aged 3–16, girls 3–11) St. Andrew's School (girls aged 3–16, boys 3–9), and Polam School (boys and girls aged 12 months to 9 years), none of which are part of the Harpur Trust.  Bedford hosts a campus of the University of Bedfordshire, which prior to a merger with the University of Luton in 2006 had been a campus of De Montfort University (itself now solely based in Leicester). For further education, the town is served by Bedford College. Additionally, Stella Mann College is a private college, which offers a range of further education courses relating to the performing arts.

Religious sites.

The town has a high number of Christian churches: including the Civic and County Church of St Paul's and the Church of St Peter's, both already noted above. There are three from the Newfrontiers network, as well as Polish, Arab, Portuguese, Spanish and Italian Roman Catholic churches, LDS (Mormon) meeting houses, Greek and Russian Orthodox churches, Anglican churches and various independent churches and other places of worship that cater to the different ethnic and language groups. There are four mosques in the town. There are also Buddhist and Hindu temples in the town.  Bedford has the largest Sikh gurudwara in the United Kingdom outside London, alongside two other Sikh gurudwaras; one of which is in Kempston. Bedford has Guru Ravidass and Valmiki temples.  There are Quaker, Jehovah's Witness and Wiccan communities who meet and have their own places of worship in the town. There is no longer a synagogue in Bedford, but Bedfordshire Progressive Synagogue, based in Luton, meets in Bedford once a month for the town's Jewish community. The nearest Orthodox synagogue is the Luton Hebrew Congregation, a Lubavitch synagogue in Luton. Bedford is the former headquarters of the Panacea Society who believed that the town would have an important role in the Second Coming of Jesus Christ, and that Bedford was the original location of the Garden of Eden.

Culture.

The Higgins Art Gallery & Museum, Bedford is housed in the recreated Victorian home of the Higgins family of Victorian brewers and in a modern extension. The museum has local history collections, while the galleries have notable collections of watercolours, prints and drawings, ceramics, glass and lace.  The Panacea Museum tells the story of the Panacea Society, a religious community formed in the early twentieth century.  The Bedford Corn Exchange is the largest entertainment venue in the town and plays host to a variety of performances, meetings, conferences, concerts and private functions. The venue has been host to many great entertainers such as Glenn Miller and Bob Hope.  The University of Bedfordshire Theatre is the largest theatre in Bedford and hosts many larger productions as well as projects from the university. There is an active amdram (community theatre) scene, with groups such as the Swan Theatre Company, Bedford Drama Company (formerly Bedford Dramatic Club), Bedford Marianettes and ShowCo Bedford producing plays and musicals in venues like the Place Theatre and the Corn Exchange. The Bedford Pantomime Company produces a traditional pantomime at the Bedford Corn Exchange each Christmas. Esquires (one of the town's premier live music venues) regularly plays host to many notable bands and acts from all over the United Kingdom as well as showcasing local live music.  Every two years, an event called the "Bedford River Festival" is held near the river in Bedford during early July. The event lasts for two days and regularly attracts about 250,000 visitors. The event includes sports, funfairs and live music. It is the second-largest regular outdoor event in the United Kingdom, beaten in numbers only by the Notting Hill Carnival. The Bedford Regatta each May is Britain's largest one-day river rowing regatta.  Other annual events include "Bedford by the Sea" (when large quantities of sand are deposited in the town centre), the "Bedford International Kite Festival" and "Bedford Festival of Motoring" in June. "Proms in the Park", held in early August, is a popular musical event.  Bedford's special brand of the ordinary has resulted in regular small TV and radio appearances, for instance the joyful episode of Mark Steel's in Town contrasting with the less enthusiastic treatment in "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert". The "Bedford of Bedfordshire's Community Calendar" segment of this US show featured Bedford born John Oliver.

Sports.

There is a long-standing sporting heritage in Bedford Borough with long-established rugby and football clubs. Bedford has four rugby union teams called Bedford Blues, Bedford Queens, Bedford Swifts and Bedford Athletic, and, since 2004, also has a rugby league team, Bedford Tigers, who compete one tier below the National Conference. Bedford Blues are currently in the second tier of English rugby, but have previously been in the top division. Bedford Blues RFC's Goldington Road ground holds in the region of 5,000 spectators with an average gate of 3,000 for home games.  Taking into account the size of its overall urban area, Bedford is one of the largest towns in England without a fully professional football team. Bedford Town F.C. currently plays at the eighth level of the English football league system and Bedford F.C. play at the 11th level. Rowing is also a major part of the sports scene with a number of regatta events hosted throughout the year from February to October; the most significant of these being Bedford Regatta, which in terms of numbers of crews participating is the second largest in the country. It was on Bedford's River Great Ouse that Olympic rower, Tim Foster, honed his skills as a student of Bedford Modern and member of star club; indeed the borough has produced many other champions of sport past and present including Stephanie Cook, Gail Emms, Liz Yelling and Paula Radcliffe who is Life Vice-President of Bedford & County Athletic Club  Viking Kayak Club organise the Bedford Kayak Marathon with canoe racing held along the Embankment on Bedford's riverside and organise national ranking Canoe Slalom events at the Cardington Artificial Slalom Course (CASC), which was the first artificial whitewater course in the United Kingdom. CASC is also the venue each year for the United Kingdom's National Inter Clubs Slalom Finals, the largest canoe slalom event by participation in the United Kingdom. Etienne Stott – 2012 Olympic Gold Medallist's Club.  Bedford and the surrounding borough was a major host of national teams preparing for the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. The Maldives National Olympic Committee based its competing athletes in the town and borough, while Paralympic athletes from Angola, the Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the Congo, the Gambia, Ghana, Ivory Coast, Jamaica, Lesotho, Morocco, Niger, Pakistan, Senegal, Tunisia and Uganda were also be based in the area. With the exception of Weymouth (which hosted various sailing events) Bedford accommodated more Olympic teams in 2012 than any other town or borough in the United Kingdom.  It is also home to the United Kingdom's largest outdoor fitness company, Be Military Fit which operates in Bedford Park.

Public services.

Bedford Hospital is a district general hospital that operates from two sites in the town, providing a wide range of services, although patients requiring advanced health services are referred to specialist units elsewhere, particularly Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge, which has a partnership with Bedford Hospital. Bedford Hospital's catchment area is based on the Borough of Bedford and parts of Central Bedfordshire.  The Bedfordshire Police is responsible for policing in Bedford, and operates a main police station in the town centre. Fire and rescue services in Bedford are coordinated by the Bedfordshire and Luton Fire and Rescue Service. Bedford's fire station is in the Newnham area of the town, and is staffed 24 hours a day.

Bedford is a historic market and the county town of Bedfordshire, England. At the 2011 Census, the population of the Bedford built-up area was 106,940, while that within its traditional boundary was 87,590. At the same census, the Borough of Bedford had a population of 157,479.

Bedford (engl./kelt. für "Birkenfurt") ist die Hauptstadt der englischen Grafschaft Bedfordshire. Die 87.703 Einwohner (Stand: 2011) zählende Stadt ist das Verwaltungszentrum des Borough of Bedford. Die Einwohnerzahl ist in den letzten Jahrzehnten erheblich gestiegen.