Overview.

IEEE standard 802.15.4 intends to offer the fundamental lower network layers of a type of wireless personal area network (WPAN) which focuses on low-cost, low-speed ubiquitous communication between devices. It can be contrasted with other approaches, such as Wi-Fi, which offer more bandwidth and require more power. The emphasis is on very low cost communication of nearby devices with little to no underlying infrastructure, intending to exploit this to lower power consumption even more.  The basic framework conceives a 10-meter communications range with a transfer rate of 250 kbit/s. Tradeoffs are possible to favor more radically embedded devices with even lower power requirements, through the definition of not one, but several physical layers. Lower transfer rates of 20 and 40 kbit/s were initially defined, with the 100 kbit/s rate being added in the current revision.  Even lower rates can be considered with the resulting effect on power consumption. As already mentioned, the main identifying feature of IEEE 802.15.4 among WPANs is the importance of achieving extremely low manufacturing and operation costs and technological simplicity, without sacrificing flexibility or generality.  Important features include real-time suitability by reservation of Guaranteed Time Slots (GTS), collision avoidance through CSMA/CA and integrated support for secure communications. Devices also include power management functions such as link quality and energy detection. The standard does have provisions for supporting time and rate sensitive applications because of its ability to operate in pure CSMA/CA or TDMA access modes. The TDMA mode of operation is supported via the GTS feature of the standard.  IEEE 802.15.4-conformant devices may use one of three possible frequency bands for operation (868/915/2450 MHz).

Protocol architecture.

Devices are conceived to interact with each other over a conceptually simple wireless network. The definition of the network layers is based on the OSI model; although only the lower layers are defined in the standard, interaction with upper layers is intended, possibly using an IEEE 802.2 logical link control sublayer accessing the MAC through a convergence sublayer. Implementations may rely on external devices or be purely embedded, self-functioning devices.

The physical layer.

The physical layer is the initial layer in the OSI reference model used worldwide. The "physical layer" (PHY) ultimately provides the data transmission service, as well as the interface to the "physical layer management entity", which offers access to every layer management function and maintains a database of information on related personal area networks. Thus, the PHY manages the physical RF transceiver and performs channel selection and energy and signal management functions. It operates on one of three possible unlicensed frequency bands: The original 2003 version of the standard specifies two physical layers based on "direct sequence spread spectrum" (DSSS) techniques: one working in the 868/915 MHz bands with transfer rates of 20 and 40 kbit/s, and one in the 2450 MHz band with a rate of 250 kbit/s.  The 2006 revision improves the maximum data rates of the 868/915 MHz bands, bringing them up to support 100 and 250 kbit/s as well. Moreover, it goes on to define four physical layers depending on the modulation method used. Three of them preserve the DSSS approach: in the 868/915 MHz bands, using either binary or offset quadrature phase shift keying (the second of which is optional); in the 2450 MHz band, using the latter. An alternative, optional 868/915 MHz layer is defined using a combination of binary keying and amplitude shift keying (thus based on parallel, not sequential spread spectrum, PSSS). Dynamic switching between supported 868/915 MHz PHYs is possible.  Beyond these three bands, the IEEE 802.15.4c study group considered the newly opened 314–316 MHz, 430–434 MHz, and 779–787 MHz bands in China, while the IEEE 802.15 Task Group 4d defined an amendment to 802.15.4-2006 to support the new 950–956 MHz band in Japan. First standard amendments by these groups were released in April 2009.  In August 2007, IEEE 802.15.4a was released expanding the four PHYs available in the earlier 2006 version to six, including one PHY using Direct Sequence ultra-wideband (UWB) and another using chirp spread spectrum (CSS). The UWB PHY is allocated frequencies in three ranges: below 1 GHz, between 3 and 5 GHz, and between 6 and 10 GHz. The CSS PHY is allocated spectrum in the 2450 MHz ISM band.  In April, 2009 IEEE 802.15.4c and IEEE 802.15.4d were released expanding the available PHYs with several additional PHYs: one for 780 MHz band using O-QPSK or MPSK, another for 950 MHz using GFSK or BPSK.  IEEE 802.15.4e was chartered to define a MAC amendment to the existing standard 802.15.4-2006 which adopts channel hopping strategy to improve support for the industrial markets, increases robustness against external interference and persistent multi-path fading. On February 6, 2012 the IEEE Standards Association Board approved the IEEE 802.15.4e which concluded all Task Group 4e efforts.

The MAC layer.

The medium access control (MAC) enables the transmission of MAC frames through the use of the physical channel. Besides the data service, it offers a management interface and itself manages access to the physical channel and network beaconing. It also controls frame validation, guarantees time slots and handles node associations. Finally, it offers hook points for secure services.  Note that the IEEE 802.15 standard does "not" use 802.1D or 802.1Q, i.e., it does not exchange standard Ethernet frames. The physical frame-format is specified in IEEE802.15.4-2011 in section 5.2. It is tailored to the fact that most IEEE 802.15.4 PHYs only support frames of up to 127 bytes (adaptation layer protocols such as 6LoWPAN provide fragmentation schemes to support larger network layer packets).

Higher layers.

No higher-level layers and interoperability sublayers are defined in the standard. Other specifications - such as ZigBee, SNAP, and 6LoWPAN/Thread - build on this standard. RIOT, OpenWSN, TinyOS, Unison RTOS, DSPnano RTOS, nanoQplus, Contiki and Zephyr operating systems also use a few items of IEEE 802.15.4 hardware and software.

Network model.

Node types.

The standard defines two types of network node.  The first one is the full-function device (FFD). It can serve as the coordinator of a personal area network just as it may function as a common node. It implements a general model of communication which allows it to talk to any other device: it may also relay messages, in which case it is dubbed a coordinator (PAN coordinator when it is in charge of the whole network).  On the other hand, there are reduced-function devices (RFD). These are meant to be extremely simple devices with very modest resource and communication requirements; due to this, they can only communicate with FFDs and can never act as coordinators.

Topologies.

Networks can be built as either peer-to-peer or star networks. However, every network needs at least one FFD to work as the coordinator of the network. Networks are thus formed by groups of devices separated by suitable distances. Each device has a unique 64-bit identifier, and if some conditions are met, short 16-bit identifiers can be used within a restricted environment. Namely, within each PAN domain, communications will probably use short identifiers.  Peer-to-peer (or point-to-point) networks can form arbitrary patterns of connections, and their extension is only limited by the distance between each pair of nodes. They are meant to serve as the basis for ad hoc networks capable of performing self-management and organization. Since the standard does not define a network layer, routing is not directly supported, but such an additional layer can add support for multihop communications. Further topological restrictions may be added; the standard mentions the cluster tree as a structure which exploits the fact that an RFD may only be associated with one FFD at a time to form a network where RFDs are exclusively leaves of a tree, and most of the nodes are FFDs. The structure can be extended as a generic mesh network whose nodes are cluster tree networks with a local coordinator for each cluster, in addition to the global coordinator.  A more structured star pattern is also supported, where the coordinator of the network will necessarily be the central node. Such a network can originate when an FFD decides to create its own PAN and declare itself its coordinator, after choosing a unique PAN identifier. After that, other devices can join the network, which is fully independent from all other star networks.

Data transport architecture.

Frames are the basic unit of data transport, of which there are four fundamental types (data, acknowledgment, beacon and MAC command frames), which provide a reasonable tradeoff between simplicity and robustness. Additionally, a superframe structure, defined by the coordinator, may be used, in which case two beacons act as its limits and provide synchronization to other devices as well as configuration information. A superframe consists of sixteen equal-length slots, which can be further divided into an active part and an inactive part, during which the coordinator may enter power saving mode, not needing to control its network.  Within superframes contention occurs between their limits, and is resolved by CSMA/CA. Every transmission must end before the arrival of the second beacon. As mentioned before, applications with well-defined bandwidth needs can use up to seven domains of one or more contentionless guaranteed time slots, trailing at the end of the superframe. The first part of the superframe must be sufficient to give service to the network structure and its devices. Superframes are typically utilized within the context of low-latency devices, whose associations must be kept even if inactive for long periods of time.  Data transfers to the coordinator require a beacon synchronization phase, if applicable, followed by CSMA/CA transmission (by means of slots if superframes are in use); acknowledgment is optional. Data transfers from the coordinator usually follow device requests: if beacons are in use, these are used to signal requests; the coordinator acknowledges the request and then sends the data in packets which are acknowledged by the device. The same is done when superframes are not in use, only in this case there are no beacons to keep track of pending messages.  Point-to-point networks may either use unslotted CSMA/CA or synchronization mechanisms; in this case, communication between any two devices is possible, whereas in "structured" modes one of the devices must be the network coordinator.  In general, all implemented procedures follow a typical request-confirm/indication-response classification.

Reliability and security.

The physical medium is accessed through a CSMA/CA protocol. Networks which are not using beaconing mechanisms utilize an unslotted variation which is based on the listening of the medium, leveraged by a random exponential backoff algorithm; acknowledgments do not adhere to this discipline. Common data transmission utilizes unallocated slots when beaconing is in use; again, confirmations do not follow the same process.  Confirmation messages may be optional under certain circumstances, in which case a success assumption is made. Whatever the case, if a device is unable to process a frame at a given time, it simply does not confirm its reception: timeout-based retransmission can be performed a number of times, following after that a decision of whether to abort or keep trying.  Because the predicted environment of these devices demands maximization of battery life, the protocols tend to favor the methods which lead to it, implementing periodic checks for pending messages, the frequency of which depends on application needs.  Regarding secure communications, the MAC sublayer offers facilities which can be harnessed by upper layers to achieve the desired level of security. Higher-layer processes may specify keys to perform symmetric cryptography to protect the payload and restrict it to a group of devices or just a point-to-point link; these groups of devices can be specified in access control lists. Furthermore, MAC computes "freshness checks" between successive receptions to ensure that presumably old frames, or data which is no longer considered valid, does not transcend to higher layers.  In addition to this secure mode, there is another, insecure MAC mode, which allows access control lists merely as a means to decide on the acceptance of frames according to their (presumed) source.

IEEE 802.15.4 is a technical standard which defines the operation of low-rate wireless personal area networks (LR-WPANs). It specifies the physical layer and media access control for LR-WPANs, and is maintained by the IEEE 802.15 working group, which defined the standard in 2003. It is the basis for the Zigbee, ISA100.11a, WirelessHART, MiWi, 6LoWPAN, Thread and SNAP specifications, each of which further extends the standard by developing the upper layers which are not defined in IEEE 802.15.4. In particular, 6LoWPAN defines a binding for the IPv6 version of the Internet Protocol (IP) over WPANs, and is itself used by upper layers like Thread.

Der Standard IEEE 802.15.4 beschreibt ein Übertragungsprotokoll für Wireless Personal Area Networks (WPAN). Er definiert die untersten beiden Schichten des OSI-Modells, den Bitübertragungs- und den MAC-Layer. Höhere Protokollebenen mit Funktionen zum Routing und einer Anwendungsschnittstelle obliegen anderen Standards für Funknetze wie ZigBee. Wesentliche Entwicklungsziele für das Protokoll sind geringe Leistungsaufnahme für einen langen Betrieb über Batterieversorgung, kostengünstige Hardware, sichere Übertragung, Nutzung der lizenzfreien ISM-Bänder und Parallelbetrieb mit anderen Sendern auf diesen Frequenzen, insbesondere WLAN und Bluetooth. Durch diese Eigenschaften eignet sich der Standard IEEE 802.15.4 vor allem für drahtlose Sensornetze (WSN) und für direkt am Körper getragene Sensoren und Aktoren (WBAN, Wireless Body Area Network).


Indycar.

IndyCar Series.

The League's premier series debuted in 1996 under the name Indy Racing League. The series adopted the name Indy Racing League IndyCar Series in 2003. With Verizon as corporate sponsor from 2014 through 2018, the series has been known as the Verizon IndyCar Series. On January 15, 2019, it was announced that NTT Corporation (Nippon Telegraph and Telephone) would become the title sponsor and the series will become the NTT IndyCar Series.  The series initially raced exclusively on oval tracks, as the series was founded partly in response to the increasing prominence of road and street courses on the CART schedule. In 2005, the series abandoned its unofficial ovals-only stance, and added three road–street course events. By 2009, the series had a roughly 50/50 split of ovals and road/street courses. Presently, the series currently runs one-third of its schedule on ovals and the rest on road and street circuits.

Indy Lights.

Indy Lights is the development series for the IndyCar series. The Indy Lights concept traces its roots back the USAC Mini Indy Series of the late 1970, and the CART ARS/Indy Lights series that began in 1986. The current Indy Lights series debuted in 2002 under the name Infiniti Pro Series. After the 2008 open wheel unification, the Indy Lights name returned. The Indy Lights typically run as support races to IndyCar Series races, but occasionally has run stand-alone races, or as a support race of other events. The series is now promoted by Andersen Promotions.

Indy Pro 2000.

The Indy Pro 2000 Championship presented is an open-wheel racecar driver development series in North America. Competitors use spec cars built by Tatuus. The original series, using first-generation tube-frame cars started in the early 1990s. The second-gen, high-tech, carbon-fiber car was released in 2004. From 2017, the series has used spec Tatuus PM-18s. The series has historically included road courses, street courses, and ovals. The series' primary sponsors is Cooper Tire and the cars, while purpose built for the track with carbon fiber monocoques, are powered by 275 horsepower Mazda-prepared 2 liter MZR-PM18A engines. The series' stated goal is "to develop new race driving talent." In 2010, the series became a part of The Road to Indy. In 2013 the series' promotion was taken over by Andersen Promotions. In 2019, following the departure of Mazda as an official sponsor, the series was rebranded as Indy Pro 2000 from its previous Pro Mazda name.

U.S. F2000.

USF2000 is a series the organisation started sanctioning in 2010. Originally started in 1991 and folded in 2006, it was restarted in 2010 as part of the "Road to Indy" ladder series promoted by Andersen Promotions. The series utilizes tube frame Formula Ford chassis fitted with larger Mazda MZR four cylinder engines and wings and slicks and was originally based on the Formula Continental rules formula.

History.

IndyCar name.

The term "Indy Car" began as a nickname for the cars that competed in USAC's "Championship" division of open-wheel auto racing in the United States, deriving from the sport's most popular competition, the Indianapolis 500. The division's link with Indianapolis soon resulted in the term supplanting the official descriptor, "champ car," in common use and promotions.  The term continued to be used by USAC's replacement as the dominant governing body for open-wheel racing, Championship Auto Racing Teams, which called its main series the "CART PPG Indy Car World Series" despite the body not sanctioning the 500. In 1992, during an attempt by CART to broaden their board membership, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway registered the camel case trademark "IndyCar" with the United States Patent and Trademark Office and licensed it to CART as their new tradename.  In 1996, Indianapolis Motor Speedway President Tony George launched a new national championship racing series, the USAC sanctioned Indy Racing League. This resulted in a legal battle over the "IndyCar" trademark: In March 1996, CART filed a lawsuit against the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in an effort to protect their license to the "IndyCar" mark after the Indianapolis Motor Speedway had attempted to terminate it. In April, the Indianapolis Motor Speedway filed a separate lawsuit against CART to prevent them from further use of the mark.  Eventually a settlement was reached in which CART agreed to give up the use of the "IndyCar" mark following the 1996 season and the IRL agreeing not to use the name before the end of the 2002 season. CART returned to branding as simply CART for 1997, and resurrected the term "champ car" to describe their vehicles.  Following a six-year hiatus, the Indy Racing League announced it would rename their premier series the IndyCar Series for the 2003 racing season; CART followed suit by renaming their main series the Champ Car World Series.  Post-unification, a heavy emphasis has been placed on deemphasizing the legal entity name and its initials and replacing it with the IndyCar name. This became official on January 1, 2011, as Indy Racing League LLC adopted as its trade name INDYCAR. On November 1, 2013, the company's legal name was changed to INDYCAR LLC.

Split with CART.

The dispute between CART and IRL centered on the Indianapolis 500, long considered the flagship race of the sport. From 1980 until 1995, the Indy 500 continued to be sanctioned by USAC while being run predominantly with drivers from CART and counting toward CART's standings. George felt that his opinions regarding increasing costs, and revenue sharing were being ignored, while CAR teams owners felt George used his influence over USAC to have a disproportionate impact on the general operation of the sport.  After a number of attempts at a compromise board failed, IMS formed the Indy Racing League in 1994, with the series being slated to begin racing in 1996. CART had primarily sanctioned Indy car racing since 1979, when the organization broke away from USAC. George blueprinted the IRL as a lower-cost open-wheel alternative to CART, which he viewed had become technology-driven and dominated by a few wealthy multi-car teams. The IRL was designed only to run on oval tracks to promote American drivers from the midget and sprint car ranks to graduate to Indycars the way that of Indy racing A.J. Foyt, Mario Andretti, Johnny Rutherford, and the Unsers had in the 1960s.  Starting with the first IRL season, the league proclaimed that 25 of the 33 spots in the Indy 500 starting grid for cars from full-time IRL teams. In 1996, CART retaliated by scheduling what was supposed to become its new showcase event, the U.S. 500, at Michigan International Speedway on Memorial Day, the traditional date for the Indy 500.  The new 1997 technical rules featured less expensive chassis and "production-based" engines that were purchased rather than leased, but most importantly, were technically incompatible with CART specifications. The IRL's early seasons consisted of sparse schedules and inexperienced teams, with the degradation in quality especially apparent during the Indianapolis 500, which saw a dramatic decline in prestige.  The IRL began to draw top teams from CART starting in 2002, contributing to the latter's bankruptcy, re-branding as Champ Car in 2003, and ultimate demise and absorption by the IRL in 2008.  After absorbing Champ Car, the IndyCar Series became similar in many ways to the CART series from which it separated and its related European open-wheel formula counterparts: former prominent CART teams such as Chip Ganassi Racing and Team Penske are frequent race winners, there is a strong contingent of foreign-born drivers, the cars are increasingly electronic and aero dependent and the schedule includes more road and street courses than oval tracks.

Unification with Champ Car.

On January 23, 2008, Tony George offered Champ Car management a proposal that included free cars and engine leases to Champ Car teams willing to run the entire 2008 IndyCar Series schedule in exchange for adding Champ Car's dates at Long Beach, Toronto, Edmonton, and Australia to the IndyCar Series schedule, effectively reuniting American open-wheel car racing. The offer was initially made in November 2007. On February 10, 2008, Tony George, along with IRL representatives Terry Angstadt and Brian Barnhart, plus former Honda executive Robert Clarke, traveled to Japan to discuss moving the Indy Japan 300 at Twin Ring Motegi. Moving that race, or postponing it, would be required in order to accommodate the Long Beach Grand Prix, which was scheduled for the same weekend. Optimism following the meeting was high.  In February 2008, Indy Racing League founder and CEO Tony George and owners of the Champ Car World Series completed an agreement to unify the sport for 2008. The result was that the Champ Car World Series was suspended except for the Long Beach Grand Prix. Many of the former Champ Car teams moved to the IndyCar Series using equipment provided by the League.  Randy Bernard was announced as the new IRL CEO in February 2010. In 2011, the sanctioning body dropped the Indy Racing League name, becoming IndyCar to reflect the merged series. The new Dallara DW12 racecar was introduced for the 2012 season. IndyCar collaborated with DreamWorks Animation to launch comedy film Turbo in 2013. Bernard was fired in October 2012, and replaced by Mark Miles.

Driver safety.

Driver safety has also been a major point of concern, with a number of drivers seriously injured, particularly in the early years of the series. There have been five fatal crashes in the history of the series. Compared to road racing venues, the lack of run-offs on oval tracks, coupled with higher speeds due to the long straights and banked turns, means that there is far less margin for error. Car design was attributed as a leading cause of early injuries, and the series made improvements to chassis design to address those safety concerns. Following a series of spectacular high-profile accidents in 2003, including American racing legend Mario Andretti and former champion Kenny Bräck, as well as the death of Tony Renna in testing at Indianapolis, the IRL made additional changes to reduce speeds and increase safety.  IndyCar was the first racing series to adopt the SAFER soft wall safety system, which debuted at the Indianapolis 500 and has now been installed at almost all major oval racing circuits. The SAFER system research and design was supported and funded in large part by the Hulman-George family and the Indianapolis Motor Speedway.

INDYCAR, LLC, is an American-based auto racing sanctioning body for Indy car racing and other disciplines of open wheel car racing. The organization sanctions five racing series: the premier IndyCar Series with its centerpiece the Indianapolis 500, developmental series Indy Lights, the Indy Pro 2000 Championship and the U.S. F2000 National Championship, which are all a part of The Road To Indy & the Global Mazda MX-5 Cup. IndyCar is recognized as a member organization of the FIA through ACCUS.

IndyCar ist der Name eines in den Vereinigten Staaten angesiedelten Monoposto-Automobilsport Veranstalters. Der Veranstalter wurde 1996 unter dem Namen Indy Racing League (IRL) gegründet und trug diesen Namen bis 2010. Der Veranstalter gehört Hulman and Co. Chef von IndyCar ist seit 2010 der US-Amerikaner Randy Bernard.


Meloria shoal.

The Meloria shoal is an attractive archaeological, naturalistic and historical region that makes part, since 2010, of the "Area Marina Protetta Secche della Meloria" (Meloria shoal Marine Protected Area) assigned to the "Parco naturale di Migliarino, San Rossore, Massaciuccoli" (Natural Park of Migliarino, San Rossore, Massaciuccoli) for the management. The shoal is formed by a rocky bank surrounded by swallow water sandy and muddy of the surface of 9,372 hectare extending up to 12 km offshore. The seabed varies from 2 meters to 30 meters and the habitat is an alternating of rocky areas with characteristic basins seabed with prairies of Posidonia. The sea flora consists mainly of "Posidonia" and "Caulerpa racemosa" while the fauna has a rich variety as: "Symphodus roissali", "Serranus cabrilla", "Scorpaena scrofa", "Muraena helena", "Coris julis", "Aphia minuta", "Pelagia noctiluca" and others.  Geologically the Meloria consists of a calcareous sandstone bench corresponding to an active undersea fault called Rift of Meloria which caused numerous local earthquakes up to 3,5 in the Richter magnitude scale.

Meloria Tower.

The Pisans built in 1157 on a surfacing rock of the Meloria shoal a lighthouse in order to avoid the wrecking of the ships directed to Porto Pisano. It was decided to keep a navigational light giving the task to the Augustinians monks of the hermitage of "San Jacopo in Acquaviva" by Livorno signing a written agreement for the work.  The tower was destroyed by the Genoese. A second tower was built in 1598 on order of Ferdinando I de' Medici, Grand Duke of Tuscany, which in its turn was destroyed by the bad weather. The current tower was built in 1709 by Cosimo III de' Medici and has a characteristic form; it is formed by four quadrangular pillars connected by Gothic arches above which arise the tower 15 meters high. The tower was built on the pillars to allow the flow of the waves but had no signalling light. On the south side of the tower is the Latin inscription: “"Pro navigntium securitate ad latentes copulo evitandos"” (For the sailors safety pay attention to the reef). In 1986 the tower underwent to a complete renovation.

Meloria Naval battles.

First Battle of Meloria.

The first Battle of Meloria, on May 3, 1241, was fought between the fleet of the emperor Frederick II, surnamed Stupor Mundi, in alliance with Pisa, against a Genoese squadron and ended with a Pisan and Imperial victory.

Second Battle of Meloria.

The second battle, fought on Sunday August 6, 1284, was of higher historical importance. Usually, "Battle of Meloria" refers to this battle. It was a typical medieval sea-fight, and accomplished the ruin of Pisa as a naval power, in favour of Genoa.

Meloria air crash.

On 9 November 1971, a Royal Air Force Lockheed Hercules C.1 crashed into the sea off the coast of Livorno on the Meloria shoal, killing all 46 passengers and 6 crew. At the time it was described by Italian officials as the worst military air disaster in Italy in peacetime.

Meloria is a rocky skerry, surrounded by a shoal, off the Tuscan coast, in the Ligurian sea, north-west of Livorno.

Meloria ist ein kleiner Felsen im Tyrrhenischen Meer, der sich ungefähr sieben Kilometer vor dem Hafen von Livorno aus einem Gebiet mit Untiefen (den sogenannten "Secche della Meloria") erhebt. Administrativ gehört Meloria zur Gemeinde Livorno, geographisch kann man den Felsen zum Toskanischen Archipel zählen.


History.

The first generation of Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid was built between 2006-2008. From the second half of 2008 the models are built in the second generation. They have been produced by the use of the similarities of the Solaris Urbino 18.  The characteristic of the Urbino 18 is a green dachshund. Various hybrid versions include specific symbols. The hybrid models have a dachshund which is in between two hearts which symbolise the two type of power.  During the production of the Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid model there have been implemented four types of hybrid power systems. The different versions can be distinguished by the difference in the interior, like that of the Paris transportation system BRT type - BHNS, which differentiates from the Solaris Urbino series bus family.  From the autumn of 2010 18 buses have been produced with the Allison I i Allison II systems.

Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid Allison.

In the Autumn of 2006 on the trade fairs in Hannover the world premier occurred of the Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid with hybrid power. The model was made with the cooperation with Allison Transmission and Cummins, which already had been engaged in previous hybrid bus models in North America. The main part of the model is the Cummins ISLe4 engine with 8.9 litre displacement which generates 248 kW (340 HP) of power. The second main part of this model is the EP50 system of Allison Transmission with the Allison Ev50 engine. The concept is created by the use of one diesel engine and two electric engines with each having 75 kW of power output, which links with the Ev DRIVE module. The system also uses the produced energy when braking, which is accumulated in a nickel-metal hydride batteries located on the roof in the front of the vehicle. The prototype appeared in mid-2006 and went into production in 2007. The location of the electric and diesel engines is in the front part of the bus between the two doors.  The first Solaris Urbino Hybrid 18 was sold in 2006 to Dresden. In 2007 3 buses were sold to Leipzig and Bochum (delivered in January 2008) in Germany and Lenzburg in the Swiss canton of Aargau. In 2008 the modernised model came to Bern, Glonn, Hannover, Munich and Poznań. In 2009 a test vehicle of the Solaris company was given to PKM Sosnowiec from 2008.  In second half of 2008 the Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid model went through several levels of modernisation and now it is considered to be at the second generation by the producer. Most of the changes are that of the power system of the electric hybrid engine, making a smaller and lighter engine, the Cummins ISBe5 250B with a volume of 6.7 litre and the power of 178 kW. The changes meant even lower fuel consumption - the older engine has reduced fuel usage by 15% compared to purely diesel propulsion while the new engine saves 23-24%. Thanks to further optimisation the Solaris is planning to reduce fuel consumption by 30%. Due to a lighter engine, the other power systems, like the batteries and Dual Power Inverter Module which are on the roof, work at an increased rate and produce more power. Due to this the model has also undergone a makeover of the general body, such as the aerodynamics, meaning only an air conditioning module can be fitted on the front of the bus. The estimated time for future modernisation, when new modules will be able to be added, is said to be about in 6–7 years, with an average usage of 60000 km per year.  The hybrid power system of the second generation without includes besides the diesel engine the following elements: Ev, batteries, DPIM, and a control module. The Ev system looks like an ordinary transmission where the torque summation of the internal combustion engine and the electric motor is performed. It consists of two electric motors, two synchronous clutches and three planetary gears. Rechargeable nickel-metal hydride batteries weighing 410 kg store energy recovered during the braking process. By this they do not require additional charging from external power sources. The service life of the battery set is about 6 years depending on the characteristics of the bus. Dual inverter module DPIM (Dual Power Inverter Module) consists of two modules of AC/DC - DC/AC weighing 75 kg in total. It is cooled with oil. The control unit consists of 2 control modules of the Allison 1000/2000 series. The first of these controls manage the operation of the hybrid engine, while the second unit is responsible for cooperation of the other vehicle systems.  All axles used come from ZF. Electrical system are based on CAN-Bus.

Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid MetroStyle.

In 2010, a prototype model of the Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid MetroStyle with a higher service standard adapted to support rapid and dedicated bus network BHNS (French Bus Haut à Niveau de Service, High Level Service Bus) of the Type RTD in Paris. However the model was only presented in February 2011, when the company began its annual Transdev tests in Paris. The bus model Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid MetroStyle in 2011, was also tested in Grudziądz in Poland.  The market premiere took place in mid-October 2011, during the exhibition RNTP in Strasbourg in France (October 12) and the Trade Fair Busworld Kortrijk 2011 in Belgium (October 21). The bus model has a completely new design of the front and rear panels, referring to the Solaris tram Tramino styling. It results from the wishes of the consumer to visually resemble a bus tram. The drive system uses a hybrid system of the Allison II Generation.  The bus has the 1-2-2-2 door configuration. The end of the bus has been designed to the style of the tram Tramino. The bus is 18 metres long. The front of the bus, including the roof has a more elegant and bow style making the bus look more streamline. There are covers over the wheels. The bus was fitted with Hübner lighting system which can be turned on at night to give orange lights under the bus.

Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid Vossloh Kiepe.

In the autumn of 2010 debuted the new German company Vossloh Kiepe hybrid system model. It can be distinguished by additional overhead panels inside. In the engine compartment next to the Cummins engine is an electric traction system, which allows itself to be turned off by the use of the hybrid engine.  The following systems were eliminated to work with the diesel powered engine: air compressor, radiator coolers, additional pump and air conditioning battery. There is an optional electric passenger and driver air conditioning system.  In the doors, produced by the Bode company, there had been installed new electric engines in the vals, and not over the doorway. Therefore, the whole mechanism is lighter, easier to build and upkeep and the system takes up less space.  There has been fitted a two screen information panel which shows a visualisation of the state of the hybrid power system.  The vehicle has a fitted router in the chassis, which allows connection to the system of the Vossloh Kiepe company, in the need to read the state of the hybrid system.

Solaris Urbino 18 DIWAhybrid (Voith).

At the end of 2010 the new model Solaris Urbino DIWAhybrid was fitted with a hybrid power system from Voith Turbo. In the second half of 2011 the first bus with this system was delivered to the Bogestra passenger transportation company in Bochum. The first deliver will include 10 models of the bus. It is presumed that 50 buses will have the system.  The vehicle is powered by a Cummins ISB engine with a capacity of 6.7 dm and maximum power of 250 hp and meets the EEV emissions standard. Together with an electric motor engine with a maximum power of 150 kW.  In the drive line thanks to recuperation during braking the kinetic energy is converted into electrical energy, accumulated in supercapacitors placed on the roof. Supercapacitors are composed of five 125-volt modules that can store energy of 0.5 kWh. Their total weight is 410 kg.  Despite being heavier by 600 kg, compared to the standard Solaris Urbino 18, Urbino 18 DIWAhybrid model can take 161 passengers, with 51 seated.

Solaris Urbino 18 Hybrid is a family of low-floor articulated hybrid buses from the Solaris Urbino series for city communication services. The production began in 2006 by Solaris Bus & Coach in Bolechowo near Poznań in Poland. From 2008 the buses of second generation are being produced.

Der Urbino 18 Hybrid ist ein niederfluriger Gelenklinienbus mit Hybridantrieb, der vom polnischen Omnibushersteller Solaris Bus & Coach hergestellt wird. Der Urbino 18 Hybrid wurde 2006 erstmals vorgestellt und war der erste Hybridbus in Europa, der ein serienmäßiges Hybridsystem verwendet. Er verwendet ein Antriebssystem von Allison Transmission, in dem zwei Elektromotoren und ein Dieselmotor zusammenwirken.


Background.

After France had invaded the General States in 1672 as retribution for the outcome of the War of Devolution, an alliance formed up against her. The conflict escalated into the Dutch War. In order to relieve her increasingly stretched forces, therefore, France urged its traditional ally, Sweden, to go to war against her enemies, who, in addition to the States General, included the House of Habsburg and the Electorate of Brandenburg. At the end of 1674, a Swedish army under the imperial commander, Carl Gustav Wrangel, invaded the Margraviate of Brandenburg which was militarily almost unprotected, while the Brandenburg army under Elector Frederick William I found itself at war with France. In a short summer campaign in 1675, Frederick William succeeded in defeating the Swedish army and pushing it back to Swedish Pomerania.  Encouraged by the Brandenburg victory, on 17 July 1675 the imperial ban was imposed on the Swedish king in his capacity as an imperial prince in Pomerania, Mecklenburg and Bremen-Verden. A "Reichsexekution" was declared by the Holy Roman Empire against Sweden. The Westphalian and Upper Saxon Circles were charged with the enforcement of the ban against the Swedes. A little later came the declaration of war by Denmark on Sweden.  In this large-scale war, the Allies, Denmark and Brandenburg, initially intended to conquer the Swedish possessions in northern Germany, then turn use their full might in the theatres of war in Scania. But with the conquest of Bremen-Verden, located on the southern border of Denmark, Sweden would have secured a potential springboard against Denmark. Another political power factor was that it would give the Swedes opportunities to recruit mercenaries.  The war planning that took place on the Swedish homeland envisaged military victory being achieved through the deployment of the Swedish fleet which was likely to defeat the Danish fleet in the Baltic Sea, thus relieving Sweden's North German possessions, so it could then, in a further step, land on Zealand, the heart of the Danish kingdom. Sweden's chances in the Duchy of Bremen-Verden, therefore, lay principally in the strength of her own fleet, which was to have ensured a military victory by dispatching additional troops from the motherland. However, since the Swedish fleet could not sail due to delays in equipment, Bremen-Verden was not reinforced and had to rely on its in-place forces.  Sweden's forces in the Duchy of Bremen-Verden were numerically weak and distributed across several fortified bases. The bulk of the Swedish army was in Stade, Carlsburg and seven other small fortresses. They would only be able to oppose large scale offensive operations with delaying tactics. The Swedish defence plans were based on siege warfare. The number of the fortified places would force her potential opponents, to fight a series of arduous, small sieges, but it also fragmented the troops available to the defenders and prevented them from forming a mobile field army.

Diplomatic preparations.

The Roman Catholic Prince-Bishop of Münster, Christoph Bernhard von Galen, who was intent on extending his power and who, until 22 April 1674, sided with France in battle against the Netherlands, signed an agreement on 7 June 1675 with the imperial court in Vienna that obliged him to supply 9,000 troops ""to the Emperor and for Imperial Service"". As a result of this obligation, the bishop was made to participate in the war against Sweden. On 11/21 September 1675 a treaty of neutrality was signed between the Allies, the Prince-Bishopric of Münster, Denmark and Brandenburg on the one hand and John Frederick of Brunswick-Lüneburg on the other. Brunswick-Lüneburg, which hitherto had been on the Swedish side, therefore, agreed to remain neutral in the upcoming fight against Sweden.  That treaty between the four allies was signed primarily because it was in the political interests of the imperial princes involved, rather than in discharge of their obligation to defend the circle or empire. Thus the execution of the imperial ban was carried out by the respective territorial armies, while the circle troops took no significant part in the fighting.

Autumn 1675 campaign.

Invasion of Bremen-Verden by the Münster army.

The campaign began on 15 September 1675 in the southwest of the Swedish territory when, according to the reports of the "Theatrum Europaeum", about 10,000 men – according to other records 4,000 men – of the Prince-Bishop of Münster passed through Haselünne and invaded the Swedish "Amt" of Wildeshausen. They continued their advance to the River Weser unimpeded. On 25 September at Bremen, Münster's artillery fired across the Weser.  A Brandenburg force of 1,600 infantry and 700 cavalry under Major General Freiherr von Spaen, coming from Westphalian territory, also arrived in Bremen at the end of September. The Danes participated with 2,500 men under the orders of Count Gustavus Adolphus of Baudissin.  The Münster troops under Prince-Bishop von Galen marched from neutral Bremen to the fortress of Langwedel on the Weser, capturing it on 27 and 28 September. With that, the way into the state of the former Prince-Bishopric of Verden was open. Verden upon Aller itself fell into Allied hands on 27 September. Münster forces suddenly invaded the town and established themselves at one of the town gates.  After Verden the town of Rotenburg was conquered, falling after some resistance. From there the marching column pressed on immediately towards Ottersberg, which was taken on 3 October 1675 by the now seasoned troops of the Prince-Bishop of Münster. The roughly 140 man Swedish garrison were taken prisoner. The Allied army then marched in a northeasterly direction with Buxtehude as their objective, reaching it on 12 October.  Buxtehude was well fortified, had plenty of food and munitions and, according to the "Theatrum Europaeum", a garrison of nearly 400 men. A siege appeared inevitable. After occupying an important eminence in front of the town that same day, the Allies drew up all their artillery of 14 mortars and 37 cannon into battery positions. Shelling commenced on the morning of 13 October, setting fire to over 60 houses. On 14 October a total of 100 mortar bombs and 60 artillery shells were fired into the town from howitzers and mortars, again wreaking much damage, but without causing a single fatality. On 15 October, fire was lifted in order for the trenches necessary for an assault on the town to be prepared and in order to launch an all-out attack. Because the shelling had already resulted in heavy damage, the Buxtehude commandant, Hamelton, was forced to surrender the town having been implored by its citizens and his German mercenaries who had learned of the pronouncement of the Imperial Ban on Sweden. The garrison was permitted to withdraw to Stade taking its belongings and side arms. On 16 October the Allies entered the town, 24 cannon and their munitions falling into their hands as a result.  After the fall of Buxtehude several Allied regiments pushed forward towards Bremervörde. On 25 October the siege of Bremervörde Fortress began. After three days of heavy shelling the mercenaries, who were mainly German, refused to render military service for the garrison. The Allies sent a trumpeter into the town as a parlimentaire. He threatened the garrison that all German combatants would be executed when the fortress was captured. The threat was based on the fact that they had used their weapons in the service of an outlaw against the Holy Roman Empire. In view of the situation, the Swedish commander had no choice but to surrender the place. The Swedish officers and men were given free passage with all their possessions and weapons, whilst most of the Germans transferred to the Allied side. As the result of a previous agreement amongst the Allies, the town had been promised to the Lüneburg troops who entered Buxtehude with 500 men. At this time on the fortresses of Carlsburg and Stade remained in Swedish hands.

Brandenburg and Danish landing operations.

In parallel with the advance of Münster, Brandenburg and Danish troops, there were two unsuccessful landing attempts by Danish and Brandenburg forces, that were repulsed by the Swedes with heavy losses. The first landing operation, at the end of September, was carried out near Carlshagen by a Brandenburg formation under Admiral Simon de Bolfey, in order to conquer the strategically important Carlsburg Fortress on the Weser. This Swedish fortress had been first constructed in 1672 with the task of controlling the mouth of the Weser. Approaching from the River Elbe, a Brandenburg squadron of seven ships appeared, with a landing force of 534 men; together with the ships' complements, the whole force comprised about 800–900 men.  On 28 September, the troops were landed near Lehe, north of Carlsburg. Because the Swedish commander of Carlsburg, which was relatively strongly defended by about 800 soldiers, refused to surrender, the Brandenburg admiral, de Bolfey, had his troops erect earthworks in front of the town and, on 30 September, opened fire with several salvoes from his ships' guns. However, on the same day the landing force pulled back from its positions in front of the fortress, in the course of which 30 Brandenburg soldiers switched sides to join the Swedes. Encouraged by the statements of these deserters, on 1 October the Swedes launched an attack with 200 men, but had to withdraw with losses after a brief fight.  In order to relieve Carlsburg Fortress, 13 squadrons of cavalry were dispatched there from Stade under the command of Lieutenant Colonel Sidon. The Brandenburgers, who were now clearly outnumbered, were informed by scouts of the approaching force. They lifted the siege and embarked on the ships again on 2 October. Due to unfavourable winds, the ships, now loaded with the infantry, found themselves close to the shore as the Swedish reinforcements arrived. Consequently, they were attacked by the Swedes and, after resisting a short time, had to capitulate to superior forces. Total losses suffered by the Brandenburg force during this operation came to 314 men, the majority taken prisoner.  Roughly at the same time, a Danish flotilla landed six companies of infantry under Lieutenant Colonel Harwich on the territory of Land Wursten. But after their successful defence of Carlsburg, the Swedish units under Sidon attacked these Danish mercenaries. After several battles on 4 October, the Swedes succeeded in defeating the Danes and taking 400 of them prisoner. Of these, 200 were then taken into Swedish service and ordered to reinforce the garrison at Carlsburg. The other prisoners were held ("untergesteckt") in Stade. The main body of the Swedish troops returned to Stade on 7 October. The naval blockade of Carlsburg was lifted and the seven Brandenburg ships repaired instead to the River Elbe in order to cut off the seaward supply route to the town of Stade. By contrast, Carlsburg was besieged again in late October, despite the Swedes previous successful defence of the town.

Allied change of command.

In October about 3,000 men of the Principality of Lüneburg under the command of Duke George William of Brunswick-Lüneburg arrived in the theatre of war from the Rhineland. As the appointed circle colonel of the Lower Saxon Circle, the duke took overall command of the now 12,000 strong Allied army.  In the headquarters of Prince-Bishop von Galen in Rotenburg a secret treaty was signed on 14 October, wherein the Prince-Bishop, Duke George William and Duke Rudolph Augustus of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel agreed to provide mutual support to one another in the ensuing campaign. Furthermore, a provisional division of the conquests was negotiated that excluded Denmark and Brandenburg.  In the aftermath of this campaign there was considerable disagreement and distrust, as the Protestant federated princes did not want to give the Roman Catholic Prince-Bishop von Galen too much influence in a Protestant Imperial Circle.

Attacks on Stade, the Siege of Carlsburg, Swedish raids.

On 4 November the Allies advanced on Stade, the HQ of the Swedish regional government of Bremen-Verden. The Stade garrison under Field Marshal Henrik Horn, the Swedish governor general of the Duchy, had 5,624 soldiers and 600 militia at his disposal.  In the face of the threat, Horn had the town thoroughly prepared for defence. To prevent the desertion of German mercenaries in Stade upon arrival of the Allies, the marshal used material incentives and propaganda. Since Sweden had been declared an enemy of the Empire and Emperor Leopold I, in declaring the "Mandata Avocatoria", had ordered that all subjects of the Holy Roman Empire had to renounce Swedish service, German mercenaries were deserting the Swedish forces in droves. So, at the beginning of November, Horn had the former Buxtehude commander, Hamelton, publicly executed for surrendering the fortress in Stade prematurely. All German mercenaries in Stade had to publicly reswear their oath of allegiance to the Swedish crown. By adopting this brutal approach, Field Marshal Horn was able to discipline his garrison force for the time being and ensure its serious defence.  Repeated attacks on the fortress of Stade on 6 and 7 November 1675 were unsuccessful, and the Allies could not agree on continuing the siege of the town because of its stubborn resistance and the onset of winter. Finally, on 9 November, the Allies withdrew their troops into winter quarters. The hitherto captured forts remained under Allied occupation, in order to maintain the blockade of Stade. The Brandenburg troops left the theatre of war heading for the Duchy of Cleves and Principality of Minden.  The Swedes took advantage of the lull around their garrisoned fortresses to temporarily wrest back the initiative. They repeatedly carried out raids and sent out foraging parties. Individual companies went upriver to Buxtehude, Cranz and Altona, and downriver to Bielenberg and Kollmar, burning and pillaging. Their exploits included the destruction or capture of several Danish and Dutch ships on the Elbe.  In early January, Colonel Sydau, with about 400 dragoons and 400 infantrymen, led another Swedish expedition to Freiburg/Elbe in Kehdingen against about 500 entrenched Münster soldiers under Lieutenant Colonel Lamsdorff. Following the failure of a frontal assault by the Swedes, Sydau ordered his dragoons to circumvent the position and attack the rear of the Danish position. After the dragoons had taken their assault position in the village as per their orders, a Swedish attack was launched on the earthworks from all sides. The Münster troops sustained heavy losses, gave up the position and fled. Pursued by Swedish cavalry, 260 were captured. By contrast, the Swedes lost just 50 men in the Battle of Freiburg on the Elbe. Among the prisoners, were 15 mercenaries who had originally joined up for Swedish service, but had changed sides after the fall of Bremervörde. They were made an example of: one of the deserters was quartered in Stade as a deterrent, five were hanged and nine were branded.  This successful phase for the Swedes came to an end when Carlsburg, which had been besieged since the end of October, capitulated. A lack of ammunition, food and soldiers resulted in the surrender of the fortress on 22 January by its commander, the Frenchman, Colonel Jean Mell, to the united Münster, Danish and Lüneburg siege troops. The Swedish garrison, still about 380 strong (of which 200 were unfit to fight), were given free passage. At the surrender of the fortress 80 cannon fell into the hands of the Allies. In accordance with the treaty a mixed Münster and Lüneburg garrison took over.

Allied disagreements.

Because the Prince-Bishopric of Münster and the Duchy of Lüneburg had agreed in advance to exclude Denmark and Brandenburg from the future division of Bremen-Verden, there were serious arguments amongst the Allies, which affected and endangered the continuation of hostilities against Sweden. For example, the Prince-Bishopric of Münster demanded the former Prince-Bishopric of Verden (later Verden duchy), the "Ämter" ("districts") of Wildeshausen, Burg, Bremervörde, Ottersberg and Thedinghausen The rest was to be annexed by Lüneburg-Celle. Denmark and Brandenburg, on the other hand, argued for an equal distribution of Allied conquests. Denmark demanded Carlsburg and Stade, and thus the control of the Weser and Elbe estuaries, in order to be able exchange them later in return for the deployment of auxiliary troops from Münster and Lüneburg for the Pomeranian War (Swedish-Brandenburg War).  This dispute involving conflicting territorial claims escalated to such an extent that it threatened to come to open war between the Allies. The General States endeavoured to mediate between the parties to this situation, so as not to jeopardize the war against France. They therefore sent ambassadors, initially van der Tocht and, later, Amerongen, to Bremen for the negotiations. The statthalter ("governor") of the Netherlands, William III of Orange, proposed that all fortresses in Bremen-Verden should be slighted, to negotiate the final apportionment of territory at the peace congress in Nijmegen and to transfer provisional administration of both duchies to Lüneburg-Celle and Münster. Brandenburg and Denmark were expressly entitled to retain their rights to territorial interests in Bremen-Verden if, contrary to expectations, they did not achieve "compensation" in Swedish Pomerania and Scania. Although Brandenburg's envoy wanted to reach a provisional breakdown of the areas in question in the Hague, on 28 March he gave his approval to the treaty because he saw no other way to achieve an end to the dispute between the Allies, something which was essential for the continuation of the campaign.  Although the Elector of Brandenburg did not ratify the decision of his envoy, he dropped his objections to the deployment of Lüneburg auxiliaries to Bremen-Verden in the light of the favourable progress being made in the war against Sweden in Swedish Pomerania.  Nevertheless, the Elector secured Denmark's support in a secret agreement in early 1677 that Brandenburg should get "at least one fifth of territory to be divided in Bremen-Verden."

Siege of Stade, 1676.

The ongoing dispute over the distribution of Bremen-Verden amongst the allies delayed the onset of the siege of Stade until spring 1676. The Allies agreed the terms on 28 April and 8 May in Bremervörde. This envisaged the attack on the last Swedish possession to be carried out with 16,000 infantry and 4,000 cavalry. The conquered fortress was to be filled equally by troops from Denmark, Brandenburg, Lüneburg-Celle and Munster. In early April the Lüneburg commander, Lieutenant General Chauvet, implemented measures to blockade the town. As a consequence, there were almost daily skirmishes and Swedish raids with varying degrees of success. At the same time, the besiegers began to build earthworks.  Stade had access to the sea by virtue of its location at the mouth of the Schwinge, a tributary of the Elbe. Part of the Swedish fortifications also included a fieldwork that guarded the mouth of the Schwinge in Stadersand. Under its protection, several Swedish ships were able to reach the town, providing much needed supplies during the course of the siege. So to prevent access to Stade from the sea and thus tighten the stranglehold of the siege, the Allies decided to seize the Schwinge fieldwork. To this end, they called for artillery from Glückstadt and also brought in two 18-gun Lüneburg ships into the mouth of the Schwinge. All Swedish attempts to disrupt the preparations were repulsed. The Allies drew closer and closer to the hill and established a battery that opened a continual fire on the Swedish position. On 23 April the Swedes carried out a new raid with 300 horsemen, but were again driven back after initial success, with a loss of 46 men, according to contemporary sources. On 4 July, the Allies completed their earthworks and shelled the Schwinge position so heavily that its roughly 100-man-unit capitulated. With the loss of the Schwinge fieldwork, the resupply of Stade from the sea was no longer possible. When three Swedish warships, held up by unfavourable winds, and six other transport ships loaded with supplies, reached the mouth of the Schwinge, they were shelled by Allied batteries stationed on the banks of the Schwinge estuary. The Swedish fleet had to withdraw from Stade and, after a few raids into the area around the Elbe, they left.  Cut off from all resupply, the situation in the fortress of Stade deteriorated considerably. An outbreak of shigellosis reduced the strength of the garrison to around 3,000 soldiers. With the deterioration in the material situation, moral amongst the besieged fell. Twice there were mutinies amongst the Swedish soldiers which could only be put down with the use of repressive measures. The desertion of German mercenaries now grew to such an extent that active defence with patrols and raids was no longer possible.  In June, the earthworks on the Allied side were so far advanced that they reached the town moats. However, the town was not shelled, because they intended to starve its citizens and not storm it in order to protect their own forces. Countermeasures by the Swedish garrison consisted of flooding the surrounding area by opening the locks on the river. However, their besiegers succeeded in draining the water through two channels to the Elbe.  As the supply situation in the town became ever more critical, the Stade citizens and the garrison's governor general, Horn, were forced to negotiate with their besiegers. The negotiations began on 13/23 July. However, they were delayed at the behest of population who, despite the tougher conditions preferred to be garrisoned by Protestant Lüneburg troops rather than Catholic Munster forces. As a result of the surrender negotiations, the town was to be occupied by nine Lüneburg companies under General Chauvet. The German mercenaries had to terminate their Swedish service. In the early morning of 13 August 1676, Field Marshal Horn, with 10 cannon and 800 Swedish soldiers, pulled out. The 1,400 German mercenaries were either detained ("untergesteckt") or released. The last Swedish bastion in Bremen-Verden was now in Allied hands.

Aftermath.

Following the conquest of Stade, 3,000 Lüneburg troops under the command of Major General von Ende were sent to Swedish Pomerania to support the local Brandenburg troops. The rest went at the end of September, with some Münster troops, to fight the French at Wetzlar on the River Lahn.  During the occupation of Stade, Prince-Bishop von Galen led a re-Catholicization of the area he controlled, and Catholic services were reintroduced in many places. At the end of the war, Bremen-Verden remained in Allied possession. Denmark left 3,000 men as garrison troops in the Duchy of Bremen.  The plans for the division of Bremen-Verden were dashed when Lüneburg-Celle concluded a peace treaty in Celle on 28 January 1679. Lüneburg undertook to leave all its occupied territories after the conclusion of the general peace treaty. After French troops had invaded Westphalia, the new Prince-Bishop of Münster, Ferdinand of Fürstenberg returned all his conquests to Sweden in the Peace of Nijmegen on 29 March 1679. The Prince-Bishopric of Münster was only allowed to keep the "Amt" of Wildeshausen as a pledge until the payment of a war indemnity of 100,000 Reichstalers by Sweden. This payment was not made until 1699. France promised the Bishop of Munster that they would work for the preservation of the newly created Catholic institutions in the Duchy of Bremen and Principality of Verden.  Verden, Langwedel and Rotenburg were cleared of Münster troops on 14 January 1680, Bremervörde followed on 15 January and Ottersberg and Carlsburg on 17 January. The departure of Lüneburg soldiers from Stade was delayed until 10 March 1680.

The Bremen-Verden Campaign () was a conflict during the Northern Wars in Europe. From 15 September 1675 to 13 August 1676 an anti-Swedish coalition comprising Brandenburg-Prussia, the neighbouring imperial princedoms of Lüneburg and Münster, and the Kingdom of Denmark, conquered the Duchies of Bremen and Verden.

Der Bremen-Verdener Feldzug war eine Auseinandersetzung im Rahmen des Nordischen Krieges. Vom 15. September 1675 bis zum 13. August 1676 eroberte eine antischwedische Koalition aus Brandenburg-Preußen, den benachbarten Reichsfürstentümern Lüneburg und Münster sowie Dänemark das Herzogtum Bremen-Verden.


Early life.

Collison was born in Evanston, Illinois, the son of Peg, a publicist, director, and English teacher, and John Collison, a speech therapist, actor, and writer. Collison played his first role as a six-month-old mascot at The Tent Theatre in Granville, Ohio. His mother directed him in a number of plays as a youth in Virginia and Ohio. When he was a young boy, he assisted his father touring with his one-man Abraham Lincoln show. His father was chosen to play Lincoln for the centennial celebration of Lincoln's first inauguration in Washington, DC; Frank played the young Tad Lincoln.

Career.

Stage.

Collison trained at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, earning a BA in theatre from the San Francisco State University. He then helped to establish a summer theatre company in the Sierra Nevadas, and went on to gain an MFA in acting at University of California, San Diego. Between acting jobs he has worked as a substitute teacher, diaper service dispatcher and forest firefighter. Appearing in over 150 productions, he has worked off Broadway and in regional theatres in California, Boston, and Denver. His theatrical roles have been as varied as "Jacob Marley" in "A Christmas Carol" to "Miss Havisham" in "Great Expectations" to "Puck" in "A Midsummer Night's Dream". Collison is a founding member of the Pacific Resident Theatre in Venice, California, which has won over 25 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Awards.

Film.

Collison's films include "The Blob", "Elvira, Mistress of the Dark", "Alien Nation", "Wild at Heart", "Mobsters", "The Last Boy Scout", "Buddy", "Diggstown", "My Summer Story", "O Brother, Where Art Thou?", "The Majestic", "The Whole Ten Yards", "Hidalgo", "Hope Springs", "The Village", "Suspect Zero", "The Happening", "Radio Free Albemuth", "Hesher", "Hitchcock" and "L.A. Slasher".

Television.

Collison is best known to TV audiences as Horace Bing, the bumbling telegraph operator, on CBS's long-running series "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman". His numerous other television appearances have included guest-starring roles on "Monk", HBO's "Carnivàle", "", "Criminal Minds", "Seventh Heaven", Matlock, "NYPD Blue", "Hill Street Blues", "Stargate Atlantis" and "Good Luck Charlie". In 2016 he appeared in the sixth season of the anthological series "American Horror Story" (""). He is a recurring voice actor by voicing Grandpa Goodman and Mr. Bojenkins in the Adult Swim original "Mr. Pickles".

Personal life.

Collison lives in Los Angeles with his wife, actress Laura Gardner, and their three children. Gabe Collison, his youngest child, is a member of the Crescenta Valley track team, colloquially known as the "dream team". He remains active in theatre while pursuing a film career.

Frank Collison (born February 14, 1950) is an American actor known to television audiences as the hapless telegrapher Horace Bing in the series "Dr. Quinn, Medicine Woman".

Frank Collison (* 14. Februar 1950 in Evanston, Illinois, USA) ist ein US-amerikanischer Theater- und Filmschauspieler. Eine seiner bekanntesten Rollen ist die des Telegraphisten Horace Bing in der Serie "Dr. Quinn – Ärztin aus Leidenschaft."


Background.

After the Geneva Conference in 1954, Air Force Colonel Edward Lansdale was sent by the then CIA director Allen Dulles as Deputy Director of the Office of Special Operations (under the CIA), to initiate a series of clandestine operations against North Vietnam. These operations, codenamed 'Nautilus', consisted of raids conducted by commandos (South Vietnam recruits), and the insertion of CIA-recruited spies.  In July 1963, the Department of Defense (DOD) and the CIA determined that operational control should be transferred to the DOD. On January 1, 1964, Military Assistance Command, Vietnam – Studies and Observations Group (MACV-SOG) took command of the operation (MACV-SOG was a cover name for a multi-service unconventional warfare task force under the direct guidance and control of the Pentagon).

Operation.

Once the MACV-SOG took control, the Pentagon (under which MACV-SOG operated) issued an Operational Plan (OPLAN 34-63), which entailed commando raids of a similar sort to what had been happening under the CIA. Most of these raids tended to be unsuccessful, with the Republic of Vietnam (RVN or South Vietnam) commandos usually being captured or killed (the actual commandos themselves were always people of South Vietnam ethnicities, so as to maintain the deniability of the American involvement in the operation). A U.S. Navy base was set up in Da Nang, to serve as a base for the operations, and was staffed with U.S. Navy SEALs, U.S. Marine intelligence officers, and other guerrilla warfare specialists. The Navy also donated several Nasty-class PT boats, and training crews for them, for operational purposes. At the same time, the operational plan was expanded, with much more and more ambitious missions, into what became known as Operational Plan (OPLAN) 34A, which essentially shifted the focus to offshore assaults on coastal installations of the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV or North Vietnam), while agent insertion operations still continued. These however, were discontinued after they realized that most of the agents they were running had been captured and/or turned, and psychological operations were stepped up. These consisted mostly of spreading anti-communist propaganda, and deception operations, for example, the creation of a "Sacred Sword of Patriotic League", which was a fictitious resistance movement against the communists, designed to spread discontent and provoke paranoia among the civilians and military of North Vietnam.  Starting in mid-1962, the U.S. Navy began conducting electronic surveillance operations conducted by a division of ocean-going minesweepers (MSO) operating along the coast of North and South Vietnam. The minesweepers were equipped with portable vans containing highly sophisticated electronic surveillance equipment. The minesweepers fueled on occasion at a South Vietnamese fueling station located near the fishing port (Da Nang) and took on evidence from CIA operatives which allegedly tended to prove that China and Russia were supplying the Viet Cong with weapons and other material. Occasionally, usually between midnight and 3 a.m., DRVN gunboats would approach the minesweepers at high speed and then peel off and return to a DRVN naval base operating on an island north of the 30th parallel. The gunboats made threatening maneuvers but never actually attacked the minesweepers. The maneuvers were reported to CINCPAC and the Pentagon in nightly Top Secret cryptograph messages. The minesweepers were essentially defenseless should an attack occur. In early 1963, the minesweepers were relieved by a division of destroyers (the DESOTO patrols) which appear to have carried out the same electronic surveillance operations conducted by the minesweepers.  Although the two sets of operations were at least nominally independent of one another, the patrols often gathered intelligence that was crucial to OPLAN 34A. The attacks carried out by the patrol boats provoked responses by the North Vietnamese military that were monitored by the American destroyers, thus providing very useful intelligence on DRV military capabilities. The situation swiftly escalated as the DRV deployed heavy gunboats and torpedo equipped frigates to observe the U.S. maneuvers.

Gulf of Tonkin Incident.

On the morning of 2 August 1964, the morning after OPLAN commandos raided a North Vietnamese radio transmitter located on an offshore island, one of these destroyers, the USS "Maddox", was reported to have come under attack by DRV naval patrol boats in the Gulf of Tonkin. There was a second alleged attack on August 4, which was later shown to be a falsehood. These attacks, and the ensuing naval actions, known as the Gulf of Tonkin Incident, were seized upon by President Lyndon Johnson to secure passage by the U.S. Congress of the Southeast Asia Resolution (better known as the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution) on 7 August 1964, leading to a dramatic escalation of the Vietnam War. It has since been alleged that the Gulf of Tonkin Incident was partly a fabrication, including testimony by participants, such as squadron commander James Stockdale, in the events themselves. Even the attacks that did happen were not unprovoked, but a result of the OPLAN 34A raids, which was in essence an American operation.

Operation 34A (full name, Operational Plan 34A, also known as OPLAN 34-Alpha) was a highly classified United States program of covert actions against the Democratic Republic of Vietnam (DRV or North Vietnam), consisting of agent team insertions, aerial reconnaissance missions and naval sabotage operations.

Operation 34A (vollständiger Name "Operational Plan 34A", auch bekannt als "OPLAN 34Alpha") war ein von der CIA als streng geheim eingestuftes Programm der USA, um verdeckte Aktionen im Vorfeld des Vietnamkrieges gegen Nordvietnam durchzuführen.


Landmarks.

There are many historic buildings along the road, many of them listed. On the corner of the market square, the Sparkasse am Markt is a gabled building reconstructed in 1958 by Eberhard Gildemeister who made use of a Baroque facade originally located at 31B, An der Schlachte. The facade was built by the stonemason Theophilus Wilhelm Frese in 1755 with bay windows, a wigged upper gable and Rococo decorations.  The Kontorhaus am Markt stretching from No. 2 to No. 8 consists of a group of buildings designed by Richard Bielenberg and Josef Moser in the Neo-Renaissance style and completed in 1912. First used as a bank, the Kontorhaus complex has now been converted into a shopping centre with office accommodation. Of special interest is the portal flanked by columns and decorated with allegorical sculptures.  The Stadtwaage at No. 13 is a former weigh house used for weighing goods for the purpose of levying taxes. The original brick building from 1588 in the Weser Renaissance style was almost completely destroyed in 1944 apart from its outer walls. The new building constructed in 1960 maintains the original gable. It is now used as a cultural centre.  The Deutsche Factoring Bank building (earlier Bankhaus Martens & Weyhausen) which covers the section from No. 15 to No. 21 was reconstructed in 1955 after serious war damage. It contains the Renaissance Essighaus portal with bay windows from 1618 and the gable of the former Sonnenapotheke (1770).  The Suding & Soeken building at No. 28 (from c. 1620) is noted for its projecting bay window and its two-tiered Baroque stairway ascending from the hallway.  Other listed buildings of note are the house at No. 16 in the Renaissance style from 1715, and the Bank für Handel und Gewerbe, Bankverein für Nordwestdeutschland, Bremer Bankverein at No. 3 to 5 (first built 1912),

The Langenstraße is a historical street in the old town of Bremen in the north of Germany. First mentioned in 1234, it is one of Bremen's oldest streets and one of the most important for the city's merchants. It no doubt originated at the time when the first settlements grew up on the north bank of the Balge. It runs west from the Marktplatz parallel to the River Weser over Bürgermeister-Smidt-Straße to Geeren. Many of the street's historic buildings were seriously damaged during aerial bombings in the Second World War but were carefully reconstructed in the postwar period.

Die Langenstraße ist eine historische Straße in der Altstadt von Bremen. Sie führt parallel zur Obernstraße und der Weser vom Marktplatz in westlicher Richtung zum Geeren und dem Stephaniviertel.


Background.

Larsson was commissioned to decorate all the walls of the central staircase in the museum except for one, and he wanted to decorate the last wall as well. He intended the last wall to present a contrast to the other illustrations of the staircase. Whereas the painting "Gustav Vasa enters Stockholm 1523" presented a midsummer theme with a triumphant king, Larsson wanted the last illustration to be a midwinter theme with a king who sacrificed himself for his people.

Sources and inspiration.

Larsson went to Copenhagen to visit the National Museum of Denmark where he copied the ornamentation of an Iron Age fibula. The literary sources that inspired Larsson were Adam of Bremen and Snorri Sturluson. On the subject of the Temple at Uppsala, Adam of Bremen had written:  In this temple, built entirely of gold, the people worship the statues of three gods. These images are arranged so that Thor, the most powerful, has his throne in the middle of the group of three. On either side of him sit Othin and Freyr. [...] Near that temple is a very large tree with widespread branches which are always green both in winter and summer. What kind of tree it is nobody knows. There is also a spring there where the pagan are accustomed to perform sacrifices and to immerse a human being alive. As long as his body is not found, the request of the people will be fulfilled.  Snorri Sturluson wrote on the subject of the sacrifice of the king:  Domald took the heritage left by his father Visbur, and ruled over the land. As in his time there was great famine and distress, the Swedes made great offerings of sacrifice at Upsal. The first autumn they sacrificed oxen, but the succeeding season was not improved thereby. The following autumn they sacrificed men, but the succeeding year was rather worse. The third autumn, when the offer of sacrifices should begin, a great multitude of Swedes came to Upsal; and now the chiefs held consultations with each other, and all agreed that the times of scarcity were on account of their king Domald, and they resolved to offer him for good seasons, and to assault and kill him, and sprinkle the stalle of the gods with his blood. And they did so.

Evolution of the work.

First version.

The earliest known sketch (No 236) is made in graphite and is located in the Carl Larsson museum in Sundborn. It was dated by Karl Axel Arvidsson to a time shortly after the visit to Copenhagen in 1910. In July, Larsson started to paint a large version, which was finished in January 1911, but it is only preserved in a photograph. It is based on the early sketch but it presents a richer set of figures in the foreground. The early version was put on display in Nationalmuseum without receiving any official comments. There was no formal order and no official contest had been declared, and the initiative was only Larsson's.  An anonymous writer calling himself "Archaeologist" voiced harsh criticism in "Dagens Nyheter" on February 20, 1911. The writer stated that there were several anachronisms in the painting and which had been combined freely. The anonymous writer called the temple a "summer restaurant" decorated with motives from the Biological museum in Stockholm and he considered the dresses in the painting to be as preposterous as a Swedish farm with camels walking around the dunghill.

Second version.

The criticism against the artistic freedom of giving a personal interpretation of a distant historic event, could have been directed at many other historic paintings of the 19th century. The criticism against Midvinterblot would be in the same vein during the following years. Larsson retorted that he would happily delegate the task to a younger talent—but he made a second version in oil (No 237) in which he made the temple wider and where he added an executioner in the centre. The sets of characters were more closely assembled and the frieze-like quality was enhanced.

Third version.

Some major changes were introduced in a third watercolour painting (No 238) which he made during the autumn of 1913. This version was given the text "En drömsyn. En konung offras för folket" ("a dream vision, a king sacrificed for his people"), a text which was possibly added in the hope that it would not be considered to be an attempt at a historically faithful reconstruction.  The most essential change consisted of a more monumental composition. The temple had been enlarged considerably and given a more stern shape, and the figures had been more closely assembled and they formed an unbroken relief-like row. The sketch was put on exhibition in the museum in November 1913 and in a letter to Ludvig Looström, the director of the museum, Larsson offered the painting for 35,000 Swedish kronor.  This version was criticised even before the museum board had had time to present their own view. August Brunius, who had expressed his enthusiasm for the Gustav Vasa painting, reacted against the choice of subject, like most critics. The choice of subject was only aggravated by the way it was presented. Brunius felt the painting to be unreal, unbelievable and not very relevant for the modern Swedes of the early 20th century.  On January 17, 1914, the museum's board presented their ambivalent view on the painting. The majority of the board seconded the motion that Larsson was to finish "Midvinterblot" for the museum wall, but they added the reservation that the main scene with the sacrifice of a king should be excluded or downplayed. The director of the museum, Looström, objected to the board's ruling, and he declared the painting to illustrate a "ritual killing" and he would rather the wall remain empty. Carl Larsson received the ruling of the board as a confirmation that the museum accepted his painting, but he declared that he would not make the suggested changes, nor would he accept the suggestion that the painting should be installed in the Stockholm City Hall instead.  Even Larsson's good friend and biographist Georg Nordensvan joined the critics, but he could not sway Larsson's determination either, although Larsson probably took his criticism hardest. The archaeologist Bror Schnittger, who was probably identical to the anonymous writer who had initiated the criticism, launched additional criticism in "Svenska Dagbladet" against the lack of historical authenticity in the painting. The distance in dating between the objects in the painting were given as at least 2000 years and Schnittger thought that the painting was unacceptable in the museum building. Larsson stated that he intentionally included objects that would be from the distant past in relation to the setting of the painting, and that he did not see these as anachronisms, because he imagined the subjects would be antiquarians who kept ancient items as ritual objects.  On March 1, 1914, Larsson, who was by then ostracized, wrote a letter to the minister of religious affairs and declared that he resigned from the task of illustrating the museum wall.

The final versions and rejection.

In May 1914, Carl Larsson resumed the work on the painting on his own initiative. During 1915, he presented a painted sketch (No 239), which was largely consistent with the previous painting. The king had been remade based on an oil painting (No 240) that Larsson had made with a male model named Rydberg in 1914. The king's position was more pathetically composed and expressive and it agreed more with the change of emphasis that had taken place during the evolution of the work after Larsson's decision that the sacrifice was voluntary.  A new figure, a wizard, had been added to the left of the sleighs and the lion guardians at the entry of the temple, which had received a noticeably Chinese character. The colours are forceful and there are considerable amounts of gold, something that Larsson intended as a disclaimer of the common notion that pre-history was gray.  Before the final decision, both the board and Carl Larsson knew that the Minister of Education (at the time called Minister of Religious Affairs) was favourable towards the new painting. However, a majority of the board, including the former director Looström and his successor Richard Bergh, was against it, and only two were in favour. Instead, the board asked Larsson to make a different painting. Larsson did not answer initially, but he declared in the press that he still considered "Midvinterblot" to be among the greatest and most beautiful works he had ever made.  The minister asked for expert advice and the debate continued in the newspapers. There were suspicions that there was a political side to the animosity between Bergh and Larsson, but these suspicions were convincingly dispelled much later by Prince Eugén, Duke of Närke in a personal letter.  A book published by Nationalmuseum in 1992 on Carl Larsson claims that the most immediate and natural explanation for the ultimate rejection of the painting was the fact that time had rendered the painting unfashionable. Because of the long debate, the painting became a survivor from a time past and it could not meet the modernist ideals of the new century.  The final version was exhibited where it was intended to be in June 1915. In the following year, it was shown at the art gallery Liljevalchs konsthall as its first exhibit was dedicated to Carl Larsson, Bruno Liljefors and Anders Zorn. It was tentatively shown again in Nationalmuseum during the period 1925–1933. In 1942, the painting was stored at the "Archive for Public Decorative Art" (now renamed the "Museum of Sketches") in Lund, where it was prominently on show for forty years.  According to the book by Nationalmuseum, the controversy concerned Carl Larsson's personal prestige and the ideals that he stood for, but his contemporaries would turn more and more indifferent to these ideals. The events embittered his last years and he declared in his autobiography that the controversy broke him down and that he admitted it with anger. It is clear that he began to identify himself with the work and it is possible that he also identified himself with the sacrificed king, as he primarily saw conspiracies and bad intentions behind the opposition. This identification was made apparent in his self-portrait, in 1916, where he presented himself as king Domalde, and which he donated to Sundborn parish where he lived.

The later controversy and eventual acceptance.

During 1983–1984, the painting was exhibited at the Swedish Museum of National Antiquities in Stockholm, and after this exhibit an art dealer offered to donate or sell the painting to Nationalmuseum. The board rejected the offer with the statement that the Old Norse motif was more appropriate for the Museum of National Antiquities, which at the time still shared the same building as Nationalmuseum. When the Museum of National Antiquities had been moved to a building of its own, the painting should be moved there too.  After this rejection, the painting was sold to a Swedish art collector who offered to sell it to the Museum of National Antiquities for 12 million Swedish kronor. This offer caused a controversy in which people debated if the painting belonged to Nationalmuseum or the Museum of National Antiquities. In this debate where there were exaggerations in both directions, people claimed that the painting was both an unsurpassed masterpiece of Swedish art and a work of suspect morality. In 1987, it was sold by Sotheby's in London to a Japanese art collector.  In 1992, Nationalmuseum celebrated its bicentennial anniversary and dedicated the exhibit to Carl Larsson. The Japanese owner lent the painting to the museum and when the 300,000 visitors of the late 20th century could see the work for the first time in the hall where it was intended to be, the general opinion changed.  In 1997, Nationalmuseum bought the painting from the collector ordered a frame for stretching the canvas from Per Målare, a carpenter in Gagnef, Dalarna, and installed it permanently where Carl Larsson had intended it to be.  The painting provides the background for the book "Midwinterblood" by Marcus Sedgwick, published in 2011.

Midvinterblot (Swedish for "Midwinter sacrifice") is a painting by the Swedish painter Carl Larsson, created in 1915 for the hall of the central staircase in Nationalmuseum in Stockholm. It has been called Sweden's most controversial painting.

Midvinterblot („Mittwinteropfer“) ist ein Gemälde des schwedischen Malers Carl Larsson, das seit 1997 im Nationalmuseum von Stockholm ausgestellt ist. Schon Larssons ursprüngliche Intention war die Aufhängung des Werkes im oberen Bereich der Treppenhalle des Museums, doch eine Reihe von unterschiedlichen Gründen führte zur mehrmaligen Ablehnung des Gemäldes.


Beliefs.

This New Religious Movement was a mix of Buddhism, Taoism, and UFOlogy. It emphasized transmigration of souls (with three souls per person) and placed great emphasis on spiritual energy. Adherents also believed in "outside souls," who basically acted as bad influences, or even as demons, in the human world.  Chen believed that Earth went through five tribulations going back to the age of the dinosaurs. Each of these tribulations was survived by beings living in North America who were rescued by God in a flying saucer. He believed the solar system is 4.5 trillion years old, or roughly 300 times the age science gives for the Universe. He believed that the solar system was created by a nuclear war.

Failed prophecy.

The group is best known for a highly publicized, and failed, millennial prophecy. Shortly after moving to Garland in August 1997, Chen predicted that at 12:01 a.m. on March 31, 1998, God would be seen on a single television channel all across North America. Whether or not the person had cable service was irrelevant to God's appearance on that channel.  The group reportedly moved to Garland because the name sounded like "God Land." At the time the group had roughly 160 members, 40 of which were children. Members purchased more than 20 homes in an upper-middle-class south Garland neighborhood. Like their neighbors, these followers were white-collar professionals, some of whom were reportedly wealthy. "They dressed in white, wore cowboy hats and drove luxury cars," according to "The Dallas Morning News". "They reportedly believed that two young boys in their group were the reincarnations of Jesus and Buddha. They told reporters they had come to Garland to watch God come to Earth and take human form at 10 a.m. on March 31, 1998, at the home of Mr. Chen, a former college professor."  The Garland Police Department, understanding the potential gravity of the situation, coordinated resources, including Southern Methodist University religious studies professor Lonnie Kliever, and were on stand-by when the international media began arriving in what had previously been an upper-middle-class section of the Dallas suburb. "Its presence unsettled many Garland residents," wrote Adam Szubin in a law enforcement case study. "They did not understand the group's different style of dress and behavior, and many feared violence. Throughout the group's stay, the [police] department maintained contact with community members and informed them of investigation developments and contingency plans for the community's well being."  When the predicted appearance did not occur, the group became confused. "The Chen Tao leader announced that he obviously had misunderstood God's plans, and members quietly returned to their homes," wrote Szubin. Chen offered to be stoned or crucified for the event, but no one took him up on this offer. He had earlier made a false prediction of finding a "Jesus of the West," who would look like Abraham Lincoln.

Aftermath.

Unlike other millennial religious groups, such as Millerites, Chen Tao seems to have effectively fallen apart after its leader's prophecies went unfulfilled. Immediately after the failed prediction, some of the members had to return to Taiwan owing to visa problems; in total, roughly two-thirds abandoned the group. Later the remaining members moved to Lockport, New York. They continued to wear cowboy hats but began stating that a war between China and Taiwan would lead to a nuclear holocaust that would result in much death, but also God's arrival in a "God plane" to save the members. They originally stated that this would occur in 1999, but later revised the date.  Whether Chen Tao still exists is uncertain. The group entered a sharp decline after the failed prophecies, and virtually nothing was heard of it after 2001. The current whereabouts of Hon-Ming Chen are unknown.

Chen Tao (真道, or "True Way") was a UFO religion that originated in Taiwan. It was founded by Hon-Ming Chen (陳恆明 born 1955), who first associated it with UFOs and later had the group misrepresented as a New Age UFO cult. Chen was a former professor who claimed to be an atheist until he joined a religious cultivation group that dated back for two generations to the original female founder, Teacher Yu-Hsia Chen. But he broke with the group, headed by the third-generation teacher, in 1993 and created, with another fellow-cultivator, Tao-hung Ma, their own groups. It was later, when he broke with Ma and decided to move to the US, that new elements, such as the pseudo-scientific information of cosmology and flying saucers, as well as Christian motifs of the prophecy of the end and the great tribulation, etc., were introduced into the group.

Chen Tao (), auch als God's Salvation Church bekannt, ist eine neureligiöse Bewegung, die Ende der 1990er Jahre aufgrund apokalyptischer Voraussagen bekannt wurde.