History.

Selective breeding of both plants and animals has been practiced since early prehistory; key species such as wheat, rice, and dogs have been significantly different from their wild ancestors for millennia, and maize, which required especially large changes from teosinte, its wild form, was selectively bred in Mesoamerica. Selective breeding was practiced by the Romans. Treatises as much as 2,000 years old give advice on selecting animals for different purposes, and these ancient works cite still older authorities, such as Mago the Carthaginian. The notion of selective breeding was later expressed by the Persian Muslim polymath Abu Rayhan Biruni in the 11th century. He noted the idea in his book titled "India", which included various examples.  Selective breeding was established as a scientific practice by Robert Bakewell during the British Agricultural Revolution in the 18th century. Arguably, his most important breeding program was with sheep. Using native stock, he was able to quickly select for large, yet fine-boned sheep, with long, lustrous wool. The Lincoln Longwool was improved by Bakewell, and in turn the Lincoln was used to develop the subsequent breed, named the New (or Dishley) Leicester. It was hornless and had a square, meaty body with straight top lines.  These sheep were exported widely, including to Australia and North America, and have contributed to numerous modern breeds, despite the fact that they fell quickly out of favor as market preferences in meat and textiles changed. Bloodlines of these original New Leicesters survive today as the English Leicester (or Leicester Longwool), which is primarily kept for wool production.  Bakewell was also the first to breed cattle to be used primarily for beef. Previously, cattle were first and foremost kept for pulling ploughs as oxen, but he crossed long-horned heifers and a Westmoreland bull to eventually create the Dishley Longhorn. As more and more farmers followed his lead, farm animals increased dramatically in size and quality. In 1700, the average weight of a bull sold for slaughter was 370 pounds (168 kg). By 1786, that weight had more than doubled to 840 pounds (381 kg). However, after his death, the Dishley Longhorn was replaced with short-horn versions.  He also bred the Improved Black Cart horse, which later became the Shire horse.  Charles Darwin coined the term'selective breeding'; he was interested in the process as an illustration of his proposed wider process of natural selection. Darwin noted that many domesticated animals and plants had special properties that were developed by intentional animal and plant breeding from individuals that showed desirable characteristics, and discouraging the breeding of individuals with less desirable characteristics.  Darwin used the term "artificial selection" twice in the 1859 first edition of his work "On the Origin of Species", in Chapter IV: Natural Selection, and in Chapter VI: Difficulties on Theory:

Animal breeding.

Animals with homogeneous appearance, behavior, and other characteristics are known as particular breeds or pure breeds, and they are bred through culling animals with particular traits and selecting for further breeding those with other traits. Purebred animals have a single, recognizable breed, and purebreds with recorded lineage are called pedigreed. Crossbreeds are a mix of two purebreds, whereas mixed breeds are a mix of several breeds, often unknown. Animal breeding begins with breeding stock, a group of animals used for the purpose of planned breeding. When individuals are looking to breed animals, they look for certain valuable traits in purebred stock for a certain purpose, or may intend to use some type of crossbreeding to produce a new type of stock with different, and, it is presumed, superior abilities in a given area of endeavor. For example, to breed chickens, a breeder typically intends to receive eggs, meat, and new, young birds for further reproduction. Thus, the breeder has to study different breeds and types of chickens and analyze what can be expected from a certain set of characteristics before he or she starts breeding them. Therefore, when purchasing initial breeding stock, the breeder seeks a group of birds that will most closely fit the purpose intended.  Purebred breeding aims to establish and maintain stable traits, that animals will pass to the next generation. By "breeding the best to the best," employing a certain degree of inbreeding, considerable culling, and selection for "superior" qualities, one could develop a bloodline superior in certain respects to the original base stock. Such animals can be recorded with a breed registry, the organization that maintains pedigrees and/or stud books. However, single-trait breeding, breeding for only one trait over all others, can be problematic. In one case mentioned by animal behaviorist Temple Grandin, roosters bred for fast growth or heavy muscles did not know how to perform typical rooster courtship dances, which alienated the roosters from hens and led the roosters to kill the hens after mating with them. A Soviet attempt to breed lab rats with higher intelligence led to cases of neurosis severe enough to make the animals incapable of any problem solving unless drugs like phenazepam were used.  The observable phenomenon of hybrid vigor stands in contrast to the notion of breed purity. However, on the other hand, indiscriminate breeding of crossbred or hybrid animals may also result in degradation of quality. Studies in evolutionary physiology, behavioral genetics, and other areas of organismal biology have also made use of deliberate selective breeding, though longer generation times and greater difficulty in breeding can make these projects challenging in such vertebrates as house mice.

Plant breeding.

Plant breeding has been used for thousands of years, and began with the domestication of wild plants into uniform and predictable agricultural cultigens. High-yielding varieties have been particularly important in agriculture.  Selective plant breeding is also used in research to produce transgenic animals that breed "true" (i.e., are homozygous) for artificially inserted or deleted genes.

Selective breeding in aquaculture.

Selective breeding in aquaculture holds high potential for the genetic improvement of fish and shellfish. Unlike terrestrial livestock, the potential benefits of selective breeding in aquaculture were not realized until recently. This is because high mortality led to the selection of only a few broodstock, causing inbreeding depression, which then forced the use of wild broodstock. This was evident in selective breeding programs for growth rate, which resulted in slow growth and high mortality.  Control of the reproduction cycle was one of the main reasons as it is a requisite for selective breeding programs. Artificial reproduction was not achieved because of the difficulties in hatching or feeding some farmed species such as eel and yellowtail farming. A suspected reason associated with the late realisation of success in selective breeding programs in aquaculture was the education of the concerned people – researchers, advisory personnel and fish farmers. The education of fish biologists paid less attention to quantitative genetics and breeding plans.  Another was the failure of documentation of the genetic gains in successive generations. This in turn led to failure in quantifying economic benefits that successful selective breeding programs produce. Documentation of the genetic changes was considered important as they help in fine tuning further selection schemes.

Quality traits in aquaculture.

Aquaculture species are reared for particular traits such as growth rate, survival rate, meat quality, resistance to diseases, age at sexual maturation, fecundity, shell traits like shell size, shell colour, etc.

Finfish response to selection.

Salmonids.

Gjedrem (1979) showed that selection of Atlantic salmon ("Salmo salar") led to an increase in body weight by 30% per generation. A comparative study on the performance of select Atlantic salmon with wild fish was conducted by AKVAFORSK Genetics Centre in Norway. The traits, for which the selection was done included growth rate, feed consumption, protein retention, energy retention, and feed conversion efficiency. Selected fish had a twice better growth rate, a 40% higher feed intake, and an increased protein and energy retention. This led to an overall 20% better Fed Conversion Efficiency as compared to the wild stock. Atlantic salmon have also been selected for resistance to bacterial and viral diseases. Selection was done to check resistance to Infectious Pancreatic Necrosis Virus (IPNV). The results showed 66.6% mortality for low-resistant species whereas the high-resistant species showed 29.3% mortality compared to wild species.  Rainbow trout ("S. gairdneri") was reported to show large improvements in growth rate after 7–10 generations of selection. Kincaid et al. (1977) showed that growth gains by 30% could be achieved by selectively breeding rainbow trout for three generations. A 7% increase in growth was recorded per generation for rainbow trout by Kause et al. (2005).  In Japan, high resistance to IPNV in rainbow trout has been achieved by selectively breeding the stock. Resistant strains were found to have an average mortality of 4.3% whereas 96.1% mortality was observed in a highly sensitive strain.  Coho salmon ("Oncorhynchus kisutch") increase in weight was found to be more than 60% after four generations of selective breeding. In Chile, Neira et al. (2006) conducted experiments on early spawning dates in coho salmon. After selectively breeding the fish for four generations, spawning dates were 13–15 days earlier.  Cyprinids  Selective breeding programs for the Common carp ("Cyprinus carpio") include improvement in growth, shape and resistance to disease. Experiments carried out in the USSR used crossings of broodstocks to increase genetic diversity and then selected the species for traits like growth rate, exterior traits and viability, and/or adaptation to environmental conditions like variations in temperature. Kirpichnikov "et al." (1974) and Babouchkine (1987) selected carp for fast growth and tolerance to cold, the Ropsha carp. The results showed a 30–40% to 77.4% improvement of cold tolerance but did not provide any data for growth rate. An increase in growth rate was observed in the second generation in Vietnam. Moav and Wohlfarth (1976) showed positive results when selecting for slower growth for three generations compared to selecting for faster growth. Schaperclaus (1962) showed resistance to the dropsy disease wherein selected lines suffered low mortality (11.5%) compared to unselected (57%).

Channel Catfish.

Growth was seen to increase by 12–20% in selectively bred "Iictalurus punctatus". More recently, the response of the Channel Catfish to selection for improved growth rate was found to be approximately 80%, i.e., an average of 13% per generation.

Shellfish response to selection.

Oysters.

Selection for live weight of Pacific oysters showed improvements ranging from 0.4% to 25.6% compared to the wild stock. Sydney-rock oysters ("Saccostrea commercialis") showed a 4% increase after one generation and a 15% increase after two generations. Chilean oysters ("Ostrea chilensis"), selected for improvement in live weight and shell length showed a 10–13% gain in one generation. Bonamia ostrea is a protistan parasite that causes catastrophic losses (nearly 98%) in European flat oyster "Ostrea edulis" L. This protistan parasite is endemic to three oyster-regions in Europe. Selective breeding programs show that "O. edulis" susceptibility to the infection differs across oyster strains in Europe. A study carried out by Culloty et al. showed that ‘Rossmore' oysters in Cork harbour, Ireland had better resistance compared to other Irish strains. A selective breeding program at Cork harbour uses broodstock from 3– to 4-year-old survivors and is further controlled until a viable percentage reaches market size.  Over the years ‘Rossmore' oysters have shown to develop lower prevalence of "B. ostreae" infection and percentage mortality. Ragone Calvo et al. (2003) selectively bred the eastern oyster, "Crassostrea virginica", for resistance against co-occurring parasites "Haplosporidium nelson" (MSX) and "Perkinsus marinus" (Dermo). They achieved dual resistance to the disease in four generations of selective breeding. The oysters showed higher growth and survival rates and low susceptibility to the infections. At the end of the experiment, artificially selected "C. virginica" showed a 34–48% higher survival rate.

Penaeid shrimps.

Selection for growth in Penaeid shrimps yielded successful results. A selective breeding program for "Litopenaeus stylirostris" saw an 18% increase in growth after the fourth generation and 21% growth after the fifth generation. "Marsupenaeus japonicas" showed a 10.7% increase in growth after the first generation. Argue et al. (2002) conducted a selective breeding program on the Pacific White Shrimp," Litopenaeus vannamei" at The Oceanic Institute, Waimanalo, USA from 1995 to 1998. They reported significant responses to selection compared to the unselected control shrimps. After one generation, a 21% increase was observed in growth and 18.4% increase in survival to TSV. The Taura Syndrome Virus (TSV) causes mortalities of 70% or more in shrimps. C.I. Oceanos S.A. in Colombia selected the survivors of the disease from infected ponds and used them as parents for the next generation. They achieved satisfying results in two or three generations wherein survival rates approached levels before the outbreak of the disease. The resulting heavy losses (up to 90%) caused by Infectious hypodermal and haematopoietic necrosis virus (IHHNV) caused a number of shrimp farming industries started to selectively breed shrimps resistant to this disease. Successful outcomes led to development of Super Shrimp, a selected line of "L. stylirostris" that is resistant to IHHNV infection. Tang et al. (2000) confirmed this by showing no mortalities in IHHNV- challenged Super Shrimp post larvae and juveniles.

Aquatic species versus terrestrial livestock.

Selective breeding programs for aquatic species provide better outcomes compared to terrestrial livestock. This higher response to selection of aquatic farmed species can be attributed to the following:  Selective breeding in aquaculture provide remarkable economic benefits to the industry, the primary one being that it reduces production costs due to faster turnover rates. This is because of faster growth rates, decreased maintenance rates, increased energy and protein retention, and better feed efficiency. Applying such genetic improvement program to aquaculture species will increase productivity to meet the increasing demands of growing populations.

Advantages and disadvantages.

Selective breeding is a direct way to determine if a specific trait can evolve in response to selection. A single-generation method of breeding is not as accurate or direct. The process is also more practical and easier to understand than sibling analysis. Selective breeding is better for traits such as physiology and behavior that are hard to measure because it requires fewer individuals to test than single-generation testing.  However, there are disadvantages to this process. Because a single experiment done in selective breeding cannot be used to assess an entire group of genetic variances, individual experiments must be done for every individual trait. Also, because of the necessity of selective breeding experiments to require maintaining the organisms tested in a lab or greenhouse, it is impractical to use this breeding method on many organisms. Controlled mating instances are difficult to carry out in this case and this is a necessary component of selective breeding.

Selective breeding (also called artificial selection) is the process by which humans use animal breeding and plant breeding to selectively develop particular phenotypic traits (characteristics) by choosing which typically animal or plant males and females will sexually reproduce and have offspring together. Domesticated animals are known as breeds, normally bred by a professional breeder, while domesticated plants are known as varieties, cultigens, cultivars, or breeds. Two purebred animals of different breeds produce a crossbreed, and crossbred plants are called hybrids. Flowers, vegetables and fruit-trees may be bred by amateurs and commercial or non-commercial professionals: major crops are usually the provenance of the professionals.

Als Zucht wird in der Biologie die kontrollierte Fortpflanzung mit dem Ziel der genetischen Umformung bezeichnet. Dabei sollen gewünschte Eigenschaften verstärkt und unerwünschte Eigenschaften durch entsprechende Zuchtauslese zum Verschwinden gebracht werden. Um die Ziele zu erreichen, wird entweder durch den Züchter selbst oder durch einen Zuchtverband (zum Beispiel nach einer Sortenprüfung) eine Zuchtwertschätzung durchgeführt, um dann gezielt Individuen mit gewünschten Eigenschaften auszuwählen (künstliche Selektion) und anhand eines Kreuzungsplans miteinander zu kreuzen oder zu verpaaren. Wesentliche Voraussetzung ist die Kenntnis der Mendelschen Vererbungslehre. Es können aber auch auf künstlichem Weg Mutationen ausgelöst oder Organismen gentechnisch modifiziert werden. Neue Pflanzensorten oder Tierrassen werden als Neuzüchtungen bezeichnet, diese unterliegen gesetzlichen Bestimmungen.


Biography.

Henrik August Flindt was born on 22 March 1822 in Aarhus to Brigadier General C.L.H. Flindt. He received his training as a gardener at Fredensborg Palace and Rosenborg Castle between 1839 and 1844 and was then employed as an assistant gardener at Bregentved Manor. In 1846 he embarked on a journey to Hamburg, Scotland and England. On his return to Denmark in 1851, he set up a private practice and over the following decades designed a vast number of parks and gardens, especially at manor houses around the country.  In 1877, he assumed a position as inspector at the royal gardens. From 1872 to 1889, he was active in the Royal Danish Horticultural Society and designed its new garden when it was moved to the former nursery and vegetable garden of Frederiksberg Palace in 1884. He is buried in Solbjerg Park Cemetery.

Works.

He designed the current University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden as well as Ørstedsparken and Østre Anlæg in Copenhagen's Fortification Ring, the former grounds of the city's old fortification ring which was abandoned in 1980. In 1884, he sat on a commission to make a 20-year plan for Jægersborg Dyrehave and Charlottenlund Palace gardens.  His specialty was the design of parks at manor houses, often redesigning their old Baroque gardens into English landscape gardens. Over the course of his career, he was responsible for about 200 park designs at manor houses in Denmark and abroad.  The manor houses he worked at include:

Henrik (Henry) August Flindt (24 April 1822 – 19 January 1901) was a Danish gardener and landscape architect. His specialty was manor house gardens, of which he designed around 200 in Denmark and abroad. He also designed the current University of Copenhagen Botanical Garden as well as Ørstedsparken and Østre Anlæg in Copenhagen's Fortification Ring, the former grounds of the city's old fortification ring which was abandoned in 1990

Henrik August Flindt (* 24. April 1822 in ; † 19. Januar 1901 in Frederiksberg) war ein dänischer Landschaftsarchitekt und Garteninspektor. Seine Arbeiten umfaßten etwa zweihundert Gartenprojekte, darunter große öffentliche Parkanlagen in Kopenhagen einschließlich des neuen botanischen Gartens. Die meisten seiner Entwürfe nehmen den Stil des englischen Landschaftsgartens auf.


Playing career.

Junior.

Beagle played for the Calgary Royals of the AJHL in 2003–04 and 2004–05. He then played for the University of Alaska Anchorage in 2005–06 and 2006–07.

Professional.

Beagle made his professional debut playing for the Idaho Steelheads of the ECHL in the 2006–07 season. He had 10 points in 8 games. In the 2007–08 season, Beagle played 64 games for the Hershey Bears of the American Hockey League scoring 37 points.

Washington Capitals.

Beagle made his NHL debut for the Capitals on February 11, 2009, during a 5–4 shootout loss to the New York Rangers. He registered three shots on goal. Beagle was recalled from the Hershey Bears due to an injury suffered by Alexander Semin in practice. On November 17, 2009, Beagle recorded his first NHL point, an assist on Matt Bradley's game-winning goal in the team's 4-2 win over the New York Rangers, and on November 23, he scored his first NHL goal, an unassisted tally against the Ottawa Senators.  Beagle re-signed with the Capitals to a two-year contract on July 15, 2010. In the 2010–11 season, Beagle began the year with the Hershey Bears before he was recalled from the AHL on December 15, 2010.  On July 5, 2012, Beagle was signed to a three-year extension with the Capitals. Beagle continued his tenure with the Capitals in further signing another three-year extension worth $5.25 million on June 29, 2015.  When the Washington Capitals won the Stanley Cup on June 7, 2018, Beagle became the only player to have won championships in the ECHL (2007), AHL (2009 and 2010) and NHL (2018).

Vancouver Canucks.

Having left the Capitals as a free agent after 11 seasons within the organization, on July 1, 2018, Beagle signed a four-year, $12 million contract with the Vancouver Canucks.

Personal life.

Beagle is the oldest son born to Al and Sue Beagle, and he grew up in Calgary along with one younger brother.  Beagle married his high school sweetheart Ashley in 2009, and together they have two sons and a daughter.

Jay Beagle (born October 16, 1985) is a Canadian professional ice hockey centre who currently plays for the Vancouver Canucks of the National Hockey League (NHL). As an undrafted free agent, he originally played with the Washington Capitals. When the Capitals won the 2018 Stanley Cup, he became the first player to win the Kelly Cup (ECHL), Calder Cup (AHL), and the Stanley Cup (NHL).

Jay Beagle (* 16. Oktober 1985 in Calgary, Alberta) ist ein kanadischer Eishockeyspieler, der seit Juli 2018 bei den Vancouver Canucks in der National Hockey League unter Vertrag steht. Zuvor verbrachte er acht Jahre bei den Washington Capitals, mit denen er in den Playoffs 2018 den Stanley Cup gewann.


Gameplay.

The gameplay of "Kingdom Hearts II" is similar to the action RPG and hack and slash gameplay of the first "Kingdom Hearts" game, though developers made an effort to address some of the complaints of no map and camera bugs with the previous game. The player directly controls Sora from a third-person camera angle, though first-person perspective is available via Select button. Most of the gameplay occurs on interconnected field maps where battles take place. The game is driven by a linear progression from one story event to the next, usually told via cutscenes, though there are numerous side-quests available that provide bonuses to characters.  Like many traditional role-playing video games, "Kingdom Hearts II" features an experience point system which determines character development. As enemies are defeated, the player and allies culminate experience to "level up", in which the playable characters grow stronger and gain access to new abilities.  Combat in "Kingdom Hearts II" is in real-time and involves heavy hack and slash elements with button presses which initiate attacks by the on-screen character. A role-playing game menu on the screen's bottom left, similar to those found in "Final Fantasy" games, provides other combat options such as using magic or items, summoning beings to assist in battle, or executing combination attacks with other party members. A new feature is the "Reaction Command", special enemy-specific attacks that are triggered when the player presses the triangle button at the correct time during battle. Reaction Commands can be used to defeat regular enemies or avoid damage, and are sometimes necessary to complete a boss battle. In addition to the main character, two party members are usually present who also participate in combat. Although these characters are computer-controlled, the player is allowed to customize their behavior to a certain extent through the menu screen, such as attacking the same enemy Sora targets.  In response to criticism, the "Gummi Ship" feature of the first game was re-imagined to be "more enjoyable". Although retaining its basic purpose of travel, the system was completely redone to resemble a combination of rail shooter and "Disney theme park ride". In the world map, the player must now control the Gummi Ship from a top-down view and fly to the world the player wishes to enter. Worlds are no longer open from the beginning—the player must unlock the routes to them by entering a new level, controlling the ship from a third-person point of view, and battling enemy ships. After the route is opened, travel to the world is unimpeded, unless it is blocked again due to a plot-related event. The player may also gain new Gummi Ships from completing routes, which is also a new feature from the first game.

Drive Gauge.

One of the new features is a meter known as the "Drive Gauge". The Drive Gauge has dual functions: to transform Sora into a "Drive Form" or to summon a special character. While in a Drive Form, Sora bonds with party members to become more powerful and acquire different attributes; all but two Forms also allow the use of two Keyblades. When a Drive is executed, Sora's combat statistics are heightened. Drive Forms also give Sora new abilities that can be used in normal form, called "Growth Abilities." Sora's first two Drive Forms only combine power with one party member; later-obtained Drive Forms require him to bond with both party members. When allies are used in a Drive, they are temporarily removed from battle for its duration. Unlike the HP and MP gauges, the Drive Gauge is not refilled at save points.  Like in the first game, Sora can summon a Disney character to aid him in battle. Summons will replace the two computer-controlled characters and fight alongside Sora for as long as the Drive Gauge allows, or until Sora's HP runs out. Instead of being limited to only one action, Summons now have a menu of their own and are capable of performing solo or cooperative actions with Sora. These actions are performed by pressing the triangle button. The Summon ability and each Drive Form are leveled up separately and by different criteria; obtaining higher levels allows for extended use and in the case of Drive Forms, access to new abilities.

Plot.

Setting.

"Kingdom Hearts II" begins one year after the events of "Kingdom Hearts" and "Chain of Memories". The game's setting is a collection of various levels (referred to in-game as "worlds") that the player progresses through. As in the first game, the player can travel to various Disney-based locales, along with original worlds specifically created for the series. While Disney-based worlds were primarily derived from the Disney animated features canon in the first game, "Kingdom Hearts II" introduces worlds that are based on live-action franchise "Pirates of the Caribbean" as well. Each world varies in appearance and setting, depending on the Disney film on which it is based. The graphics of the world and characters are meant to resemble the artwork style of the environments and characters from their respective Disney films. Each world is disconnected from the others and exists separately; with few exceptions, players travel from one world to another via a Gummi Ship.  Some worlds featured in the previous games reappear, but with new and expanded areas. There are also new worlds that are introduced, including the Land of Dragons (based on "Mulan"), Beast's Castle ("Beauty and the Beast"), Timeless River ("Steamboat Willie"), Port Royal (""), Pride Lands ("The Lion King"), and Space Paranoids ("Tron"). Twilight Town, an original world first seen in "Chain of Memories", has a greater role as the introductory world. The World That Never Was is a new world that serves as the headquarters of Organization XIII.

Characters.

The three protagonists of the game are Sora, a 15-year-old boy chosen as a wielder of the Keyblade, a mystical key-shaped weapon that can combat darkness; Donald Duck, the court magician of Disney Castle; and Goofy, the captain of the Disney Castle guards. Both Donald and Goofy are under orders from their missing king, Mickey Mouse, to accompany Sora and his Keyblade. which refers to Sora and his Keyblade. Other original characters include Riku, who is briefly playable at the game's climax, and Kairi, Sora's friends from his home world of Destiny Islands; Roxas, a boy who can also wield the Keyblade and is playable in the game's beginning sequence; Naminé, a girl with the power to manipulate memories; and DiZ, a man in red robes with a vendetta against Organization XIII, who is later revealed to be Ansem the Wise, the mentor of Xehanort.  As in the previous games, there are numerous appearances of characters from both Disney and Square Enix works. While some make a return from "Kingdom Hearts", new characters from Disney fiction are also introduced, such as Scar from "The Lion King" and Scrooge McDuck. Pete appears as a persistent enemy who works with the resurrected Maleficent. Nearly twenty characters from "Final Fantasy" games appear, notably Auron of "Final Fantasy X", Tifa from "Final Fantasy VII", and the return of Squall Leonhart, Cloud, and Sephiroth. It was stated that although the first game strictly stuck to characters Tetsuya Nomura designed, this time around they were going to "take some risks", implying that characters not directly designed by Nomura might make an appearance. Other new characters to series are Vivi of "Final Fantasy IX", Seifer Almasy of "Final Fantasy VIII" and Setzer of "Final Fantasy VI".  The various worlds that Sora explores often have an optional party character from the film on which the world is based. Such party members include Fa Mulan, the woman who passes as a man in order to take her ailing father's place in the army; Jack Sparrow, a pirate who seeks to reclaim his ship, the Black Pearl; Simba, the self-exiled lion who is the rightful king of the Pride Land; and "Tron", a security program in Hollow Bastion's computer network who seeks to end the dictatorship of the Master Control Program.  Organization XIII, a group of powerful Nobodies—the "empty shells" left over when a strong-hearted person becomes a Heartless—introduced in "", is established as the primary group of antagonists early on. Xemnas, the leader of Organization XIII, serves as the main antagonist and final boss of the game. Villains unique to the worlds are still prevalent, and are often presented as challenges that Sora's group must overcome.

Story.

Sora, Donald, and Goofy have been in suspended animation for the past year to regain their lost memories. Roxas, Sora's Nobody, is trapped in a virtual simulation of Twilight Town created by DiZ to merge him with his original self to restore Sora's power. DiZ's plans are threatened when Nobodies led by Axel, Roxas's former friend in Organization XIII, infiltrate the virtual town to extract Roxas. However, Roxas is able to repel the Nobodies and finally merge with Sora. Sora, Donald, and Goofy awaken in the real Twilight Town and meet King Mickey and Yen Sid, who send them on another journey; their goal is to find Riku and uncover the Organization's plans. Afterward, Maleficent is resurrected and joins with Pete to continue her quest for power.  Sora travels to familiar and unfamiliar worlds, where he resolves several problems caused by Organization XIII, the Heartless, and various local villains. During a visit to Hollow Bastion, they reunite with Mickey, who explains that the Heartless "Ansem" they defeated is an imposter named Xehanort, whose Nobody, Xemnas, is the Organization's leader. The Organization also reveal that they seek the power of Kingdom Hearts, creating one from the hearts Sora has released from the Heartless with his Keyblade, to regain their lost hearts; in addition, Sora discovers that the Organization is holding Kairi hostage to force him to comply. Sora revisits the worlds to solve lingering problems and new complications while seeking a path to Organization XIII's base of operations in the World That Never Was. Throughout his endeavors, Sora is secretly aided by a hooded figure whom Sora believes to be Riku.  Following a lead, Sora, Donald, and Goofy enter a passageway to the World That Never Was through Twilight Town, where Axel sacrifices himself to give them safe passage. Sora finds Kairi and Riku, the latter of whose appearance has been changed to that of Xehanort's Heartless as a result of capturing Roxas. Mickey encounters DiZ, who reveals himself to be the true Ansem, Xehanort's mentor. Ansem uses a device that dissipates some of Kingdom Hearts' power, but a system overload causes the device to self-destruct, both engulfing Ansem and miraculously returning Riku to his original form. Atop of the Castle That Never Was, Sora and company battle Xemnas, who uses what remains of Kingdom Hearts to fight them. After Sora and Riku destroy Xemnas, the two become trapped in the realm of darkness, where they discover a portal to the realm of light in a bottled letter sent by Kairi, allowing them to return to the Destiny Islands and reunite with their friends. In a post-credits scene, Sora, Kairi, and Riku receive and read a letter from Mickey, the contents of which are hidden from the player.

Development.

Development plans for "Kingdom Hearts II" began around the completion of "Kingdom Hearts Final Mix", but specific details were undecided until July 2003. Nomura noted several obstacles to clear before development could begin on a sequel. One such obstacle was the development team's desire to showcase Mickey Mouse more, which required Disney's approval. The game was developed by Square Enix's Product Development Division-1, with most of the original staff from the first game. The game was originally supposed to have been released after "Kingdom Hearts". Nomura had planned for the sequel to take place a year after the first and originally intended for the events of that year to be left unexplained. To bridge the gap between the two games, "Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories" was developed. To explain the loss of all the abilities from the first game at the beginning of "Kingdom Hearts II", Nomura had Sora's memories scrambled in "Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories". Many aspects of the gameplay were reworked for this sequel. Some changes were made due to user feedback and others were meant to be included in previous games but were omitted either because of time or technological constraints. The camera was switched to the right analog stick of the DualShock controller instead of the shoulder buttons and the Gummi Ship travel was reworked. The combat system was completely redone and did not use any animations from the first game. Because Sora had matured, Nomura wanted his fighting style to reflect that. Other changes included more integration between exploration and battles. The variations in combat styles associated with each Drive Form and the introduction of the Reaction Command were added to give players more choices in battles. The inclusion of worlds based on live-action Disney films was aided by technology that generated the character models from live-action pictures.

Audio.

Musical score.

Like the first game, "Kingdom Hearts II" features music by Yoko Shimomura and Hikaru Utada. The Original Soundtrack for "Kingdom Hearts II" was composed by Shimomura and released on January 25, 2006. The opening orchestration and ending credits theme were arranged and orchestrated by Kaoru Wada and performed by the Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra. The main vocal theme for the original Japanese release was "Passion", written and performed by Utada. The English version of "Passion", "Sanctuary", was used in the Western releases. Utada's involvement was announced on July 29, 2005. According to Nomura, the vocal theme ties in even more closely with the game's story than "Hikari" ("Simple and Clean") did with "Kingdom Hearts" and "Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories". The CD single for "Passion" was released on December 14, 2005 and "Sanctuary" was first previewed on MTV's official website in early 2006.

Voice cast.

"Kingdom Hearts II" features well-known voice actors for both the Japanese and English versions. Many of the original voice actors from the first "Kingdom Hearts" reprised their roles; Miyu Irino and Haley Joel Osment as Sora, Mamoru Miyano and David Gallagher as Riku, and Risa Uchida and Hayden Panettiere as Kairi. New voice actors included Kōki Uchiyama and Jesse McCartney as Roxas, Iku Nakahara and Brittany Snow as Naminé, and Genzō Wakayama and Christopher Lee as DiZ. A special effort was made to preserve the official voice actors from the Disney movies used in "Kingdom Hearts II". Many actors reprised their Disney roles for the game, including Ming-Na Wen as Mulan, James Woods as Hades, Bruce Boxleitner as Tron, Chris Sarandon as Jack Skellington and Zach Braff as Chicken Little. Some voice actors from the related television series or direct-to-video sequels were chosen over original voice actors where applicable, such as Robert Costanzo as Philoctetes rather than Danny DeVito or Cam Clarke as Simba instead of Matthew Broderick. Some characters were given new voice actors in the English version; Ansem, Aerith, Leon, Sephiroth and Hercules, who were originally voiced by Billy Zane, Mandy Moore, David Boreanaz, Lance Bass, and Sean Astin respectively in the first game, were voiced by Richard Epcar, Mena Suvari, Doug Erholtz, George Newbern, and Tate Donovan (Hercules' original voice actor), and newcomer Tifa was voiced by Rachael Leigh Cook.

Content editing.

Besides English translation and localization, the international version of "Kingdom Hearts II" differs from the original Japanese version in the content of gameplay and several scenes. The Hydra boss in the "Hercules"-themed world Olympus Coliseum had its green blood from the original Japanese version (which was taken from the film) changed into black and purple smoke in the English version. In one cutscene, Hercules fights the Hydra and uses his sword on its head, which eventually releases green blood from its mouth in the Japanese version; this was later changed into drool in the English version. There is also a scene in Disney Castle where, after chasing Donald around for missing a date, Daisy Duck pounds him on the backside in the Japanese version, whereas she merely tells him off inaudibly in the English version.  Xigbar's telescopic sight was changed from a crosshair and black shading around the sides to three glowing circles. An attack animation was also altered; in the Japanese version, Xigbar combines his two hand-held guns to create a sniper rifle, which is used to shoot the player's party during the telescoping sight sequence. In the English version, Xigbar does not combine his guns, but twirls them around and shoots at Sora with a single gun. The death of Organization XIII member Axel was slightly edited; in the original, he bursts into flames during his suicide attack, while in the English version he simply fades away after using up all of his power.  Port Royal, based on "", contains the most content edits. Cutscenes were edited to remove some of the violence, such as William Turner threatening to commit suicide while aiming a gun at his neck, as in the film. Unlike the Japanese version, the undead pirates do not catch fire when affected by Fire magic, and their muskets were modified to resemble crossbows, though the crossbows still fire with an audible musket shot sound effect.

Promotion.

An unlockable trailer in "Kingdom Hearts" and "Kingdom Hearts Final Mix" hinted at the possibility of a sequel. Rumors for a sequel on the PlayStation 2 were spurred in Japan when the video game website Quiter stated that "an internal (and anonymous source) at Square Japan" confirmed that development of "Kingdom Hearts II" had begun. It was not until "Kingdom Hearts II" was announced, along with "Chain of Memories", at the Tokyo Game Show in September 2003 that rumors were confirmed. Initial details were that it would take place some time after "Chain of Memories", which takes place directly after the first game. Other details included the return of Sora, Donald, and Goofy, as well as new costumes. Information about Mickey Mouse's involvement was kept to a minimum.  At the 2004 Square Enix E3 Press conference, producer Shinji Hashimoto said that many mysteries of the first game would be answered. Square Enix launched the official Japanese website in May 2005, followed by the English website in December 2005. The websites featured videos and information regarding characters and worlds. Commercials were aired in Japan which highlighted the numerous Disney characters in the game. Although the game was announced in September 2003, a release date for the game was not set until two years later. Nomura admitted that the game was announced too early and information regarding the game was not released until a debut period was in sight.

Release.

Within a week of its Japanese release, "Kingdom Hearts II" shipped one million copies, selling almost 730,000 copies. The NPD Group reported that "Kingdom Hearts II" was the highest-selling console game in North America during March 2006 with 614,000 copies. In the month after its release in North America, "Kingdom Hearts II" sold an estimated one million copies. GameStop listed the game as their best-selling title for the first quarter of 2006. The game was also on IGN's "Top 10 Sellers in 2006". By December 2006, over 3.5 million copies of "Kingdom Hearts II" had been shipped worldwide with 700,000 in PAL regions, 1.1 million in Japan, and 1.7 million in North America. By March 31, 2007, Square Enix had shipped over 4 million units worldwide.

Reception.

"Kingdom Hearts II" received critical acclaim upon release, garnering positive reviews. The game received numerous awards and high ratings among reviews including a Satellite Award in 2006 for "Outstanding Game Based on Existing Medium". It tied with "Resident Evil 4" as "Famitsu"s "Game of the Year" 2005. "Famitsu"s readers ranked the game 29th on their "All Time Top 100" feature, ten places below "Kingdom Hearts". It was ranked number one on IGN's 2006 "Reader's Choice" for PlayStation 2 games. "Eurogamer" ranked it 34th on their "Top 50 Games of 2006" list. Video game magazine "Electronic Gaming Monthly" awarded it "Best Sequel" of 2006, and "Game Informer" listed it among the "Top 50 games of 2006". "VideoGamer.com" featured it 10th in their article "Top 10: Role playing games". "GamePro" named it the 25th best RPG title of all time. "Kingdom Hearts II" also received a near-perfect score, 39/40, from the Japanese gaming magazine "Famitsu".  Critics commended many aspects of the game. GameSpy praised the quality of the voice acting and cited the graphics as "on par with the best of Square's productions to date." They also commented on the realistic and accurate character models for the characters from "Pirates of the Caribbean". IGN rated the graphics a 9/10 and stated that the "worlds look very much like their filmed counterparts." Japanese gaming site Gpara.com also praised the look of the worlds. G4 awarded "Kingdom Hearts II" "Best Voice Over" and "Best Soundtrack" in their 2006 "G-Phoria" awards show.  Like its predecessors, the gameplay received mixed reviews. Many compliments were directed at the new camera controls and combat interactions between party members. "GamePro" stated that the beginning was "sluggishly slow", but praised the action-oriented combat. GameSpot said that the fixed camera system and new gameplay dynamics improved the experience, but they felt the game was far too easy and that there was too much button-mashing. IGN also commented on the button-mashing aspect of the gameplay and criticized the party member's artificial intelligence, citing it as "absolutely terrible", but praised the story, presentation, and new battle features. Gpara.com had positive comments about the ease of combo attacks and complimented the steady pacing of the story and gameplay.

Versions and merchandise.

"Kingdom Hearts II" has been released in four different versions. The first three are the normal regional releases in Japan, North America, and PAL regions, which only differ nominally in content editing and localization. The European and Australian PAL releases were reformatted to run at 50 Hz to fit the definition size of PAL encoding systems. The fourth version has additional content and was released under the title "Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix". Like the previous titles, both Square and Disney released numerous types of merchandise before and after the game came out. Merchandise ranged from toys and figurines to clothing items and books. The game has also been adapted into both manga and novel series. Prior to the game's release, an "Ultimania" book titled "Kingdom Hearts Series Ultimania α ~Introduction of Kingdom Hearts II~" came out. It provides extended information on the first two "Kingdom Hearts" games, as well as information on the unreleased "Kingdom Hearts II". After the release of the game, "Kingdom Hearts II Ultimania", which focuses on the game itself, came out. Another book, titled "Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+ Ultimania", was released after the "Final Mix" version came out. Released along with "Final Mix", "Kingdom Hearts -Another Report-" was a hardback book which includes game information, visuals by Shiro Amano, and a director interview. In North America, BradyGames published two strategy guides—a standard guide and a limited edition version. The latter version was available in four different covers and included a copy of Jiminy's Journal along with 400 stickers.

"Final Mix".

Because the first game was re-released, there was speculation whether Tetsuya Nomura would do the same with "Kingdom Hearts II". In a "Weekly Shōnen Jump" interview with Nomura, he expressed interest in a possible international version of "Kingdom Hearts II," although there were no definite plans. He said that should a "Final Mix" version arise, he had a "trump card" in mind, with such features as the Mushroom Heartless found in the first "Kingdom Hearts" game. In September 2006, Square Enix announced "Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix", featuring new scenes and gameplay elements. Like the first re-release, this version would combine English audio with Japanese text and also use the "Sanctuary" theme song instead of "Passion". New cutscenes, however, used Japanese voice acting, as they mostly featured Organization XIII members from "Kingdom Hearts: Chain of Memories" who did not yet have English voice actors; these scenes were later re-dubbed into English for the "HD 2.5 Remix" release.  "Kingdom Hearts II" was re-released in Japan on March 29, 2007 as a 2-disc set titled "Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+". The first disc contains "Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix" with a new secret movie and additional battles and items. The second disc contains "Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories", a 3D PlayStation 2 remake of "" with extra scenes and voice acting. The battle system maintains the card gameplay, with the addition of Reaction Commands from "Kingdom Hearts II". Like the first game's Final Mix, the two games serve as a canonical update to the series. The book "Kingdom Hearts -Another Report-" was included along with the game for those who reserved a copy. Based on Amazon.com figures, "Final Mix+" was the number one PlayStation 2 game in sales during the week of its release in Japan. Nomura cited the presence of "Kingdom Hearts Re:Chain of Memories" to explain why "Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix+" was so popular. Nevertheless, in a "Famitsu" poll in July 2011, "Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix" was voted the most popular entry so far.  It was released for the first time outside Japan as part of "Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix".

Printed adaptations.

A manga series based on the game started its serialization in the June 2006 issue of the magazine "Monthly Shōnen Gangan", published by Square Enix. The artist is Shiro Amano, who also did the "Kingdom Hearts" and "Chain of Memories" manga series. The first volume was released in Japan in December 2006. As a result of Amano working in the "Kingdom Hearts 358/2 Days" manga, the series has been on hiatus and resumed publication in October 2012. Tokyopop licensed the manga and released volume one in North America on July 3, 2007. The second volume was released the following year.  The game has also been novelized by Tomoco Kanemaki and illustrated by Shiro Amano. The first volume, titled "Roxas—Seven Days", was released on April 22, 2006 and covers Roxas' story to when Sora wakes up and leaves Twilight Town. The novel depicts extra scenes that were added in the "Final Mix" version, such as interaction between Organization XIII members and between Axel, Naminé and Riku. The second book, "The Destruction of Hollow Bastion", was released on July 16, 2006, the third book, "Tears of Nobody," revolving around Roxas' past, was released on September 29, 2006, and the fourth book, "Anthem—Meet Again/Axel Last Stand," came out in February 2007.

"HD 2.5 Remix".

In the credits of "HD 1.5 Remix", clips of "Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix" were shown, hinting at its inclusion in another collection. On October 14, 2013, Square Enix announced "Kingdom Hearts HD 2.5 Remix", a second compilation exclusively for the PlayStation 3 after "HD 1.5 Remix", that includes both "Kingdom Hearts II Final Mix" and "Kingdom Hearts Birth by Sleep Final Mix" in HD and trophy support. Additionally, the collection includes HD cinematic scenes from "" and was released in Japan on October 2, 2014, North America on December 2, 2014, Australia on December 4, 2014, and Europe on December 5, 2014.

References.

Notes Citations

"Kingdom Hearts II" is the third game in the "Kingdom Hearts" series. It picks up one year after the events of "". Sora, the protagonist of the first two games, returns to search for his lost friends while battling the sinister Organization XIII, a group of antagonists previously introduced in "Chain of Memories". Like the previous games, "Kingdom Hearts II" features a large cast of characters from Disney and Square Enix.

Kingdom Hearts II (japanisch "Kingudamu Hātsu Tsū"; Akronym: KH II) ist ein im Jahr 2005 für die Spielkonsole PlayStation 2 veröffentlichtes Action-Rollenspiel. Es wurde von Square Enix entwickelt und von Buena Vista Games und Square Enix veröffentlicht. Das Spiel ist eine Fortsetzung zu "Kingdom Hearts" und "", die 2002 bzw. 2004 durch eine Zusammenarbeit von Square Enix und Disney Interactive bzw. Jupiter, die Disney- und "Final-Fantasy"-Elemente in einem Action-Rollenspiel verbinden, obgleich es im Ton etwas dunkler ist als seine Vorgänger. Wie zu den beiden Vorgängern erschien eine Manga- als auch eine Roman-Serie basierend auf dem Spiel.


Plot.

Cheung plays Emily Wang, a former video jockey, who has been in a tempestuous relationship for several years with Lee Hauser (played by James Johnston of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds), a rock musician. Lee's friends feel that Emily is bad for him, describing her as a junkie. Their young son, Jay, is living in Vancouver with Lee's parents.  As the film opens, the pair have arrived in Hamilton, Canada, to see Metric perform. Following an argument in their motel room, Emily walks out and, after taking heroin, falls asleep in her car. When she returns the following morning, she finds that Lee has died of a drug overdose, and the Ontario Provincial Police are investigating. As Emily attempts to force her way into the room, the Police find heroin in her bag and she is arrested.  Emily spends six months in jail and, upon release, discovers that custody of her son has been awarded to Lee's parents. She resolves to return to Paris, where she used to live. Before leaving, she briefly meets Albrecht, Lee's father (played by Nick Nolte), who tells her that he would prefer that she not see Jay for a few years.  In Paris, Emily begins work in a Chinese restaurant owned by relatives but does not enjoy it. She has become addicted to methadone and relies on her friends for prescriptions. Meanwhile, Lee's mother, Rosemary (played by Martha Henry) falls ill and she and Albrecht travel to London with Jay for medical treatment. While they are there, Albrecht decides to take Jay to meet Emily, but the boy has been told by his grandmother that Emily was responsible for his father's death and does not want to see her.  Emily eventually decides that she must get clean in order to be able to spend time with her son. She stops taking methadone and prepares for Jay's arrival. When the boy eventually meets her, she takes him to a zoo and explains her relationship with his father and why they took drugs. Emily also has become a singer; when she is given the opportunity arising from meeting a fellow musician in prison, she must make some serious decisions about her life.

Cast.

Assayas and Cheung met during the making of "Irma Vep" in 1996. They married in 1998 and divorced in 2001. "Clean" was their first collaboration since the divorce.

Music.

The songs that Maggie Cheung performs in the film were written and produced by David Roback of Mazzy Star. The soundtrack also features songs by Brian Eno, Daniel Lanois, Emily Haines, Metric, The Notwist, Britta Phillips and Tricky.

Critical response.

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 72% based on 65 reviews and an average rating of 6.6/10. The consensus statement reads, "In one of her best roles, Cheung gives a believable and arresting performance as a recovering addict." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 75 out of 100 based on 28 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".

Clean is a 2004 drama film directed by French director Olivier Assayas, starring Maggie Cheung and Nick Nolte. It was jointly funded by Canada, France, and United Kingdom sources. It was released in the United States in 2006.

Clean ist ein 2004 erschienener Film des französischen Regisseurs Olivier Assayas, die Hauptrollen spielten Nick Nolte und Maggie Cheung. Der Film startete im Wettbewerb der Internationalen Filmfestspiele von Cannes 2004.


Background.

South Africa, rich in natural resources and fertile lands, has many areas that are ideal for agricultural production. However, the steep mountainous terrain between the resource rich areas in the high veld and the coastal ports presented a transport challenge.  Before well maintained and reliable access roads had been developed, narrow gauge railways were used extensively by South African farmers to move produce from their large farms to central sorting and packing points on their own land. As a result, entrepreneurial business people created linking railways to transport the produce from the sorting and packing points to the coastal ports. Their choice of gauge was determined by the gauge that was being used in each local area and varied between the early to the later Cape gauge of.

Original operations.

Designed as part of the Natal Government Railways' (NGR) project to transport sugar cane and bananas grown in the agricultural Harding district to Port Shepstone, the NGR commissioned Stoke-on-Trent based Kerr Stuart to build seven Class NG4 4-6-2T tank locomotives, based on the 1907 Class NG3 4-6-2T.  The route of the Alfred County Railway had some curves of, but with gradients of up to 3 in 100 / 3% (ruling grade of 1 in 37 / 2.7% for after leaving the coast ), the NG4s and their replacements were often double-headed to haul the diverse freight traffic of wood, sugar cane and bananas to Port Shepstone. The line's management decided against purchasing more powerful articulated Garratt locomotives, because their longer wheelbase would make access to the sugar cane fields more difficult.  From the mid-1970s, steam was replaced by Class 91-000 diesel-electric locomotives on the SAR's longer routes, which were more powerful. Also, being shorter in chassis length, these diesel-electric locomotives were able to access the growers' farms. Therefore, the SAR decided to transfer the NG G13 and NG G16 Garratts to the Alfred County Railway in Natal.  Due to underinvestment, the Alfred County Railway became increasingly unreliable, and was closed to operations by the SAR in 1986.

Port Shepstone and Alfred County Railway.

As South Africa's farmers re-entered the global markets in the late 1980s, the quality of produce going to markets became increasingly important. As handling is a key issue in the retail quality of bananas in particular, the farmers were in favour of reviving the Alfred County Railway, to reduce the amount of handling from banana plantation to port.  To raise funds and reduce government expenditure, the Government of South Africa announced it would gradually put into private hands its huge state-owned corporations, including the state electricity corporation, Eskom, and SA Transport Services which owned SAR. The Alfred County Railway was hence chosen as the pilot railway privatisation project.  In reality, SAR/Transnet still owned the line, infrastructure and the stock as a nationally strategic asset; while the new Port Shepstone and Alfred County Railway (PSACR) was granted an operational and maintenance lease for a period of 199 years. The company inherited 25 steam locomotives - of which only one, an NG G16, was operational - plus rolling stock. The company announced a business plan expected to win back lucrative business from farmers and timber growers. In March 1988, the PSACR raised funds by offering 1.8 million shares for sale at one rand each.

Class NG G16A.

As part of their development to keep the railway competitive, the PSACR upgraded two of their existing Class NG G16 locomotives. The engineers incorporated developments proposed by L.D. Porta, including GPCS, Lempor exhaust, an improved spark arrestor, lightweight multi-ring articulated piston valves, improved valve events and improved mechanical lubrication. Two locomotives were modified: No. 141 in 1989 and No. 155 in 1990, and reclassified to Class NG G16A. In comparative testing No. 141 gave a fuel saving of 25% compared to a standard SAR Class NG G16 Garratt, and was easily maintained in regular service.

Demise to road transport.

Initially, the venture lost money heavily, but after making profits from year three, the venture decided to try to return to an all-steam powered railway. The tourism based passenger train, the Banana Express, had always been steam powered, while the advantages of power and a short wheelbase meant that PSACR decided to lease SAR 91 Class diesels to provide hauling for commercial freight services.  The revived PSACR became Spoornet’s second largest customer at Port Shepstone. This was driven by the operations of Kulu Lime and the Natal Portland Cement, plus pulpwood, poplar logs (for matchwood), creosoted telegraph poles, and manufactured wooden items from Harding. North bound inland traffic was general cargo for the farmers, such as maize, fertilizer, salt, cement, farm implements and water tanks and small parcels. The company also revived the Banana Express.  In 1991 Spoornet acquired one-million shares in PSACR, equivalent to a 28% shareholding, which gave users greater confidence in the PSACR service. The "Narrow Arrow" piggyback train was introduced for supply to the Port Shepstone pulp mill, where an entire train of 26 narrow gauge wagons was ramped onto a Spoornet train consisting of 13 wagons, having flexible connecting bridges. This eliminated the trans-shipping of timber at Port Shepstone and reduced transfer time from 14 hours to two hours. A further endeavour was the "Timbertainer," an intermodal system where pulpwood could be loaded into an open container at a plantation and taken through to the mill. Plans were in place for a similar initiative for sugar cane shipments.  However, by the mid-1990s the effects of transport deregulation began to impact of the profitability of the PSACR as larger, often overloaded, road trucks becoming ever more competitive. Although Spoornet made representations to the government, transport regulations were further relaxed to allow a higher gross vehicle mass (GVM) of, a higher axle load from, together with a 5% overload tolerance: the highest heavy vehicle mass with unlimited access to the roads of any country in the world.  As a result, Spoornet began to lose general freight traffic, and PSACR's reliance on trans-shipment increased transport times and costs. The railway began a gradual decline, eventually failing in 2001 when it lost the key Port Shepstone "Narrow Arrow" wood pulping contract, due to unreliability problems resulting from labour relation issues at Spoornet.  Suspending freight operations, the line continued to operate the Banana Express, but accumulated huge debts to Spoornet. As a result of these increasing debts, Transnet decided to legally force the venture into bankruptcy in 2004.

Banana Express.

After the termination of the PSACR lease, Patons Country Narrow Gauge Railway (PCNGR) was granted a temporary permit to continue running the Banana Express, from Port Shepstone to Paddock. The company had three locomotives available to it: NGG16 Nos.151 and 127; plus an ex-sugar estate 0-4-0T, SAR NG UVE2.  With a 6-hour journey totally devoted to tourism and enabling access to local attractions and businesses, it again became very popular with tourists because of both the scenery and the access to local businesses.  Before reaching Shelley Beach the railway traversed several river bridges along the Hibiscus Coast. The train then veered inland and chugged up through banana plantations and cane fields towards Izotsha, passed through lush sub-tropical native forests and rondavel-dotted hillsides, before stopping in Paddock for lunch and then the direct return journey.  Although PCNGR had proposals to reopen the line to Harding, in December 2005 Transnet shut the Banana Express, after they decreed a lease did not exist between SAR and PCNGR.  On 18 June 2008 a huge storm hit the coast, which resulted in large amounts of flash flooding. This damaged many of the railway's bridges along the Hibiscus Coast so that they were considered to be beyond economic repair, and washed most of the Izotsha rail bridges away.  Several steam locomotives and several carriages that were used on the Banana Express are stored at Paddock  Hamba Wehelle Express  In 2015 a short section of the railway line - between Paddock and Plains - was in use and a limited tourist service was being provided using a light weight carriage and an industrial Hunslet diesel locomotive  The service is known as the Hamba Wehelle Express (or Humba Weheli Express) and was operated in conjunction with the Gorgez View Bed and Breakfast/Conference Centre/Coffee Shop at Paddock however by 2016 the service was suspended

Alfred County Railway is an abandoned narrow gauge railway in South Africa, which runs from the southern transport hub of Port Shepstone on the Indian Ocean, via Izotsha and Paddock for to Harding, KwaZulu-Natal.

Die Alfred County Railway war eine schmalspurige eingleisige Bahnstrecke in Südafrika mit Gebirgsbahncharakter. Auf einer Länge von 122 km verband sie die Küstenstadt Port Shepstone mit Harding in den Bergen KwaZulu-Natals. Die Spurweite betrug 610 mm. Der Betrieb endete 2006.


Teams.

The following teams are mathematically confirmed to compete in the 2012–13 season:  Tom Tomsk and Spartak Nalchik were relegated at the end of the 2011–12 season after finishing the season in the bottom two places. Both teams returned to the First Division after respectively seven and six seasons in top level.  The relegated teams were replaced by 2011–12 First Division champions Mordovia Saransk and runners-up Alania Vladikavkaz. Former Russian champions Alania made their immediate return to the Premier League, while Mordovia are playing their first season at the highest football level of Russia.

Tournament format and regulations.

Basics.

The 16 teams will play a round-robin tournament whereby each team plays each one of the other teams twice, once at home and once away. Thus, a total of 240 matches will be played, with 30 matches played by each team.

Promotion and relegation.

The teams that finish 15th and 16th will be relegated to the FNL, while the top two FNL teams will be promoted to the Premier League for the 2013/14 season.  The 13th and 14th Premier League teams will play the 4th and 3rd FNL teams respectively in two playoff games with the winner securing a Premier League spot for 2013/14 (see paragraph 4.5.1 in the league regulations).

Junior teams.

According to long-standing practice, a tournament of junior teams will be held in parallel with the championship. The age limit for junior teams' players for this season is yet to be decided. Each club will be allowed to field no more than 3 field players and 1 goalkeeper older than the age limit.

Foreign players.

As of 4 July, a team will be allowed to have 7 foreign (non-Russian nationals) players on the pitch at the same time, unlike the previous season when the limit was 6 foreigners per team. The new rule will run until 2017.

Season events.

Dynamo – Zenit game.

On 17 November 2012, the game in which Dynamo Moscow was hosting Zenit St. Petersburg at Arena Khimki was abandoned at the 37th minute with Dynamo leading 1–0 through a free kick goal by Vladimir Granat when a firecracker thrown from the stands hit Dynamo goalkeeper Anton Shunin. Shunin was taken to the hospital where he was diagnosed with the chemical burns of his corneas and eyelids, conjuctivitis, and otitis of his right ear with partial loss of hearing. Dynamo insisted that the game should be awarded to them. Zenit's general director Mikhail Mitrofanov suggested that Zenit might drop out of the Russian league altogether if the game is awarded to Dynamo. According to the police, the main suspect is a female fan who was arrested after the game. The criminal investigation was opened on the charge of hooliganism. On 22 November, Russian Football Union's Control-Disciplinary Committee awarded the game to Dynamo with a score of 3–0 and fined both clubs. Dynamo had to play their next home game (against Rubin Kazan) behind closed doors and Zenit had to play their next 2 home games (against CSKA Moscow and Anzhi Makhachkala) behind closed doors as well. Yellow cards received by Bruno Alves and Roman Shirokov before the game was abandoned still count for disciplinary purposes. Shunin did not play in the remaining 3 games of 2012. Zenit only gained 2 points in their behind closed doors games, Dynamo won their behind closed doors game. Zenit filed an appeal for that decision with the Court of Arbitration for Sport, which heard their case on 9 May 2013. The appeal was denied on 14 May 2013.

League table.

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Awards.

Top 33.

On 11 June 2013 Russian Football Union named its list of 33 top players:

Annual awards.

Russian Manager of the Season.

CSKA Moscow manager Leonid Slutsky, received the Russian Manager of the Season.

Russian Player of the Season.

The Russian Player of the Season was awarded to Igor Akinfeev.

Russian Referee of the Season.

The Russian Referee of the Season was awarded to Aleksandr Egorov.

Medal squads.

"(league appearances and goals listed in brackets)"

References.

2012–13 Russian Premier League Table (Indonesia language)

The 2012–13 Russian Premier League was the 21st season of the Russian football championship since the dissolution of the Soviet Union and 11th under the current Russian Premier League name. It began on 21 July 2012 and ended on 26 May 2013, with a winter break between the weekends around 13 December 2012 and 10 March 2013.

Die Premjer-Liga 2012/13 war die 21. Spielzeit der höchsten russischen Spielklasse im Fußball. Sie startete am 20. Juli 2012 mit der Partie Mordowija Saransk gegen Lokomotive Moskau und endete am 26. Mai 2013. Vom 13. Dezember 2012 bis zum 10. März 2013 wurde sie durch die Winterpause unterbrochen.


Overview.

Duplex print devices, depending on options, software, and printer settings, can print single-sided page to single-sided page (1:1) or double-sided page to double-sided page (2:2). Many can also combine single-sided pages into a double-sided page format (1:2). Double-sided booklet formats (2:2 with a center fold) are also available, depending on optional outputs from the printer.  Duplexed documents can be printed to be bound on either the short edge or the long edge. This functionality is mostly available on printers that come with a duplexer. Long edge binding in portrait mode allows pages to be turned side-to-side like a book. Short-edge binding allows the pages to be oriented correctly if they are flipped vertically, as in a notepad. This second form of printing/binding is sometimes known as "tumble." If the printing is done in landscape mode, these concepts are transposed since the print direction is different.  Single-sided printers can print both sides of the paper by manually removing and turning over a stack of sheets after one side is printed; however, the user has to manually turn the print job over and re-initialize the printing of the document, with care to ensure that the order and orientation is correct.  In commercial printing (books, magazines, newspapers, etc.), the term applied to imparting an image to both sides of the substrate at the same time is 'perfecting' and is commonly achieved—especially in lithography—by passing the substrate through a perfecting drum, thus turning the sheet over after the first side is printed. The turned sheet then continues its way through the press, being gripped at the opposite edge whilst the second side is printed. This in effect tumbles the job; therefore, accurate sheet sizing is necessary to ensure accurate backing up of the job.  Some printers only support duplexing if an optional attachment is fitted.

External links.

What Is Duplex Printing?

Duplex printing is a feature of some computer printers and multi-function printers (MFPs) that allows the printing of a sheet of paper on both sides automatically. Print devices without this capability can only print on a single side of paper, sometimes called single-sided printing or simplex printing.

Der beidseitige Druck (engl. "duplex printing") ist ein Verfahren zum Bedrucken von Vorder- und Rückseite von Papier. Es wird von vielen Druckern und Multifunktionsgeräten unterstützt. Aufgrund der englischen Bezeichnung wird das Verfahren auch "Duplexdruck" genannt, dies kann jedoch zu Verwechslung mit dem ebenfalls Duplexdruck genannten Zweifarbdruck führen. Mittels beidseitigem Druck können Papierressourcen und Druckkosten reduziert werden. Zu unterscheiden sind hierbei das automatische Drucken mit einer Duplexeinheit und Drucken durch manuelles Wenden des Papiers.


Overview.

The accident occurred at the same time as a short cut of the rival Great Western Railway was opening, and it was claimed that the driver of the crashed train was trying to show that his railway was capable of competitive speeds. It was also rumoured that passengers – mostly rich New Yorkers travelling to London from the transatlantic port at Plymouth – had bribed the driver to run the train as fast as possible, but there was not any evidence of this, and if anything the train had lost time earlier. Conversely, it was stated that drivers often ran through Salisbury very fast on these trains to "get a run" at the following hill. The engine was a new LSWR L12 class 4-4-0 with a higher centre of gravity than the earlier T9 class. The most likely cause of the accident is that the driver simply did not realise the level of risk he was running, particularly as this was the first occasion on which he had taken a non-stopping train through Salisbury. Also, steam locomotives at this time, and for half a century afterwards, were not fitted with speedometers.  As a result of the crash, all trains were required to stop at Salisbury station from that point onwards (the boat train at the time had no passenger stops from Plymouth to London Waterloo, although locomotives were changed at Templecombe). The speed limit on the curve east of Salisbury was also reduced to, a limit still in effect today.  There is a memorial tablet to the 28 dead (including the driver, two firemen and the guard) in Salisbury Cathedral.  The accident was the second in a series of three derailments due to excessive speed at night in a 16-month period. The others were at Grantham 1906 and Shrewsbury 1907. All three resulted in deaths, including the footplate crews; the cause in each case was recorded as Driver Error but there has been much speculation since.  In 2006, historian Frogg Moody organised a memorial service at Salisbury Railway Station.

In the Salisbury rail crash of 1 July 1906, a LSWR boat train from Plymouth's Friary railway station to London Waterloo station failed to navigate a very sharp curve at the eastern end of Salisbury railway station. The curve had a maximum permitted speed of, but the express had been travelling at more than. The train was completely derailed, and smashed into a milk train and a light engine, killing 28 people.

Der Eisenbahnunfall von Salisbury am 1. Juli 1906 wurde durch überhöhte Geschwindigkeit eines "Boat Train" verursacht, der vom Bahnhof "Plymouth-Friary" in Plymouth zum Bahnhof London Waterloo unterwegs war und kurz nach dem Passieren des Bahnhofs von Salisbury in einer engen Kurve entgleiste. 28 Menschen starben bei dem Unfall, weitere wurden verletzt. Unter den Opfern waren 24 der 43 Fahrgäste, Lokführer und Heizer des "Boat Trains", ein Bremser und der Lokführer eines entgegenkommenden Güterzugs.


Early life.

Helgart Riedel was born in 1935 to Elizabeth and Harry Riedel in Beuthen, in German Silesia, which was ceded to Poland at the end of World War II. During the War her father served in the German army, while her mother left Beuthen with Riedel and her four brothers trying to find a way into West Germany. After more than a year of constant movement they finally settled in Wiedenbrück in 1947. These early years as a war refugee would have a profound impact on her artwork.  Her father, who survived the war, was able to join the family in Wiedenbrück, where he reestablished his jewelry trade, building a goldsmith studio at their house and opening a jewelry store in town. Riedel became an apprentice in her father’s workshop. Assigned the task of drawing one flower every day, she began to develop her artistic skills and passion.

Southern Germany and Italy.

In 1956, at age twenty-one, Riedel hitchhiked to southern Germany, where her brother was studying design at the art academy in Pforzheim. She enrolled in painting and drawing classes there and met her future husband, Curt Rothe, a painting professor and post-impressionist artist.  Riedel became increasingly interested in this bohemian counterculture and in the estate’s atmosphere of freedom. In 1958 Riedel married Rothe, with an agreement that she could continue to pursue her career as an artist. Their son Peter was born in 1959. While caring for her child and the estate, she developed a body of work that explored the intimacies of bodies and what she called “anatomy landscapes.” She received her first solo show in 1967, exhibiting paintings of eccentric humanoid forms depicted inside boxes.  In 1968 she was awarded the Villa Romana Prize for emerging German artists and traveled with her son to Florence. For the next year, she was provided with all the materials she needed, allowing her to develop her technique and artistic language, as well as her professional independence.

Travels to South America.

During her stay in Florence, Rothe had a series of shows in Spain facilitated by a gallery owner and curator who eventually became her lover. They traveled from Barcelona to Montevideo on a cruise ship, leaving Rothe's son with his father at the estate in southern Germany. The couple then traveled in a van around South America for nine months, but Rothe’s lover fell ill and had to go back to Europe for treatment for his alcoholism.

New York City.

Rothe left Montevideo in 1971, following advice of an artist friend who suggested she moved to New York City. Rothe began painting landscapes and skylines, and kept exploring her interest in bodies. In her early paintings in New York she began her explorations with layering, creating compositional narratives out of her experiences in the city. She started attending the ballet and expanded her interest in the body into studies of dancers in movement.  A gallery owner and friend suggested that, if she wanted to earn a living from her artwork, it might be more efficient to create prints than paintings. As she delved into different printmaking techniques, Rothe became intrigued by mezzotint, which, while requiring a high level of skill and patience working by hand directly on the copper, permits the nuance of every line and detail to be seen. Combining the knowledge from her studies in anatomy, art history, goldsmithing, and drawing, she arrived at an original process that allowed her to achieve detailed transparencies with mezzotint. Another innovation was a method of applying and hand-wiping all colors on the same plate. Her first mezzotints with transparencies were completed in 1972 and soon garnered a lot of attention.  A good friend in New York gave her the name Gatja, which she adopted in signing most of her work. Believing that people might taker her more seriously if they assumed she was a man, she then decided to use the initials G. H. and her last name.  In 1973 her husband died and her son Peter moved in with her. At the time she was designing jewelry for Tiffany’s and other jewelers. In 1976 Rothe signed a contract with Hammer Galleries in New York. She worked in a studio at 193 Second Avenue in Lower Manhattan. In 1978 she was listed in both Who’s Who in American Art and Who’s Who in America.

California and the Peak of Rothe’s Artistic Career (1978–2000).

In 1978 Rothe traveled to Los Angeles to visit her lover Maurie Symonds, who owned several galleries in California showing her work. Rothe became fascinated with Carmel-by-the-Sea, California and decided to move there, buying a house by in Carmel-by-the-Sea, although she kept a storage space and a studio in New York.  The open and rural California landscapes influenced her new mezzotints, in which she included mountains, horses and other scenes. In 1982 her son Peter bought her contract from Hammer Galleries, which no longer wanted to carry prints. The scandal caused by Salvador Dalí’s pre-signed papers had adversely affected the entire graphics industry, devaluing the worth of copies in editions. Rothe survived this issue because not only did she limit her editions to 150, but also each print was unique, since she mixed all the colors on the plate by hand. Peter became the mediator between Rothe and the art market, giving her the space to further develop her technique.  Throughout most of the 1980s and 90s, Rothe had about ten large shows each year in different US cities, and Peter regularly showed her work at the Basel Art Fair. Every month or two, she created a new edition for galleries to buy. She made all of her work with the help of one assistant. Rothe also did paintings for private commissions, but she rarely kept track of these sales. Sylvester Stallone and Clint Eastwood, who were her neighbors in Carmel, both own some of her paintings. She painted a large outdoor mural in the Hog’s Breath Inn, Clint Eastwood’s former restaurant in Carmel.  In 1987 Peter sold Rothe's art business to Paul Zueger from American Design. A year after in 1986, her brother opened Riedel Art Gallery to represent her work in Germany, and Rothe moved her New York studio from Manhattan to Brooklyn in order to have more space. She began exploring large pastel paintings and creating frescoes at her own home. Later, after a drawn-out lawsuit with Zueger, Rothe finalized her contract with them and opened her own gallery in Carmel in 1991. In 1988 and 1992 she was nominated to represent the United States as an artist at the Olympic Games in Seoul and Barcelona.

Later years and death.

In 2000, after some tiresome lawsuits had finally been settled, Rothe decided to move to Geneva, Switzerland, fulfilling a desire to return to Europe. Here, she lived off the sale of her house in Carmel. In Geneva Rothe painted mountain landscapes, massive horse paintings, portraits, and other scenes inspired by her surroundings. In 2003 Rothe was diagnosed with breast cancer, but it was a heart problem that led to her death on August 3, 2007.

Work.

Early drawings.

During her early artistic work at the Pforzheim Academy, Rothe completed a series of small, highly detailed monotypes, etchings, and drawings. These works, which she sometimes referred to as “body landscapes,” explored her own sexuality, representing nude bodies from different angles and perspectives. Her depictions of nudes in strange positions were sometimes accompanied by surreal imagery of isolated body parts such as eyes or muscles.

Mezzotints.

Rothe's highly detailed mezzotints focused on surreal landscapes, intricately rendered horses, and graceful dancers. Rothe started all her prints by sketching a simple drawing directly onto the plate with a drypoint tool. She used a rocker to develop the background, rolling and rocking it side to side and piercing the plate with tiny holes for the ink. Using a drypoint tool she further developed the fine details and figures of the drawing. Rothe spent approximately 500 hours working on each plate.  Rothe expanded the technique's possibilities to achieve transparencies and an extensive variety of tonalities. By discovering a way to mix all colors in the same plate, from the darkest to the lightest, and hand-wiping them into one another, she was able to create highlights, hues, and tones impossible to get when inking each color separately.

Paintings.

Rothe did not keep track of most of the paintings she sold, but the ones that are known show her interest in transparencies. Through allowing layers of paint to dry and using different types of strokes to achieve slight shifts in tones and hues, most of her city and nature landscapes, as well as portraits, display an intricate layering.

"Gerotica".

Completed in 1987 but never shown during her lifetime, Rothe’s tempera works are depictions of sex and intimacy between aging couples, revealing Rothe's typical layering of paint. Rothe’s son Peter discovered these erotic scenes with geriatric bodies (“gerotica”) paintings and other artworks years after her death. In November 2015 the gerotica became the center for the exhibition "Seven Drawings" at the Walter and McBean Galleries of the San Francisco Art Institute.

Graffiti doors.

Rothe was interested in the graffiti on boarded-up windows and doors she saw in New York City while she lived there in the 1970s and during her visits to her studio in Manhattan and later in Brooklyn. She sometimes negotiated with the owners to take the boards and replace them with new ones. She then intervened on these boards with painting and gold leaf. Most of these pieces went unsold. She shipped the graffiti works to Carmel for an exhibition, and eventually they were sent to Germany for an exhibition at the Riedel Art Gallery, where they have remained.

Gatja Helgart Rothe (also known as G.H. Rothe; (née Helgart Riedel) (March 15, 1935 – August 3, 2007), was a German-American artist known for her printmaking, especially mezzotint. She was also a draftswoman and painter. After living and working in Europe, she briefly traveled through South America before moving to New York City in the 1970s and later, California. Her commercial success was primarily based on mezzotints and paintings commissioned and handled by galleries, dealers, and private collectors in the United States, Europe and Japan.

Gatja Helgart Rothe, meist G. H. Rothe, (* 1935 in Beuthen, Provinz Oberschlesien als "Helgart Ute Riedel"; † 2007 in Genf) war eine deutsche Künstlerin.


Early life.

Schäuble grew up in the Southwest of Germany. He studied Political Science in Haifa in Israel, Birzeit in Palestine, as well as Berlin. He obtained his PhD in Political Science from the Freie Universität Berlin, exploring the life of two jihadists. Before his studies he worked for a German daily as a journalist.

Work.

Novels.

Schäuble has visited numerous crisis regions, interviewing and researching the plight of many refugees. His novel Endland (Carl Hanser Publishers) asks what would it look like if a nationalistic right-wing party came to govern in a modern democratic country such as Germany. The Audiobook was released simultaneously.  The novel has been adapted into a play by the Schauspiel Hannover.  With his pen name Robert M. Sonntag, he wrote the novel Die Scanner (S. Fischer Publishers). It is a dystopia from the year 2035 as told by a 25 year old Robert M. Sonntag. The book details the lives of its main characters as they negotiate modern life in a fully digitized environment. All literature has been scanned, digitized and censored while all humans are monitored by the same monolithic mega-corporation. The book is to be continued in 2019.

Non-fiction.

Schäuble`s non-fiction books focus on the intersection of politics, culture, and religion.  The book "User’s Guide for Israel and Palestine" (Piper Publishing house) is a manual for culturally sensitive travelers. "Between Borders: Walking and hitchhiking through the Middle-East conflict" (Carl Hanser publishers) is a travelogue. "Black Box Jihad: Daniel and Sa‘ed on their way to Paradise" (Carl Hanser Publishers) is the biography of two Jihadis – one Palestinian, one German. "The History of the Israelis and Palestinians" (Carl Hanser publishers) is based on eye-witness accounts reporting on the issue from both sides. The co-editor was Noah Flug.

Bibliography.

Non-fiction.

"Gebrauchsanweisung für Israel und Palästina" (2016)  "Zwischen den Grenzen. Zu Fuß durch Israel und Palästina" (2013)  "Dschihadisten. Feldforschung in den Milieus" (2011)  "Black Box Dschihad" (2011)  "Die Geschichte der Israelis und Palästinenser" (2007)

Novels.

"Endland" Carl Hanser Verlag (2017)  "Die Scanner" (Robert M. Sonntag) S. Fischer Verlag (2013)

Key awards.

2018: Nomination for the Hansjörg Martin prize for Endland  2016: Author in residence at the Goethe Institute in Moscow ("literarische Leuchttürme" in Moskau (Goethe-Institut)  2013: Stuttgart Business Club Literature House prize (Preis des Wirtschaftsclubs im Literaturhaus Stuttgart) for Die Scanner  2012: Highly commended by „Evangelischer Buchpreis“ for Black Box Dschihad  2008: Nominated for „The best Junior Scientific book of the year“ in Austria (Nominierung für „Das beste Junior-Wissenschaftsbuch des Jahres“ (Österreich)) for Die Geschichte der Israelis und Palästinenser  2007, 2011, 2013: The best 7 books for young readers (Deutschlandfunk, „Die besten 7 Bücher für junge Leser“) for DGIUP, BLACK BOX, Scanner  2000: Catholic Prize for young journalists (Katholischer Nachwuchsjournalistenpreis)

Martin Schäuble (born December 1978) is a German novelist, journalist and writer of non-fiction books. His pen name is Robert M. Sonntag. His works have been translated into several languages.

Martin Schäuble (Pseudonym: "Robert M. Sonntag"; * 7. Dezember 1978 in Lörrach) ist ein deutscher Journalist und Autor. Seine Bücher wurden in mehrere Sprachen übersetzt.


Early life and education.

Zhang was born in Jilin City, Jilin Province on 7 November 1961, but is considered a native of his ancestral home of Laoting County, Hebei province by Chinese convention. His family later moved to Tangshan, Hebei.  Zhang studied at the aircraft department of Northwestern Polytechnical University (NPU) in Xi'an from September 1978 to August 1982, majoring in aircraft design. After graduation, he was assigned to No. 603 Research Institute of the Ministry of Aerospace Industry, designing aircraft tails. Within three years he became the leader of a team that developed the FBC-1 fighter-bomber that is still in use by the People's Liberation Army Air Force.  In 1985 Zhang returned to NPU to continue his studies, and received a Master of Engineering degree in aircraft control in 1988.

Aerospace industry.

In 1988 Zhang returned to work for the Ministry of Aerospace Industry and later joined China Academy of Launch Vehicle Technology (CALT), the birthplace of China's Long March rocket. He showed exceptional talent at CALT and was credited with the 1990 launch of the AsiaSat 1 satellite for the American company Hughes Satellite Systems. It marked the first time for the Long March rocket to successfully launch a foreign satellite.  After the success with AsiaSat 1, Zhang was tasked with developing the Long March 2 rocket for China's human spaceflight program (later called the Shenzhou program). He became the deputy director of CALT in 1996, and the vice-manager of the newly established China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) in 1999. In 2001 he was appointed president of CASC, and starting in February 2002 he concurrently served as deputy chief commander of the Shenzhou program. In October 2003 Shenzhou 5 completed China's first ever human spaceflight mission, and two years later two more astronauts safely returned to earth after a five-day spaceflight on Shenzhou 6.  In August 2007 Zhang was appointed chairman of the Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND), becoming one of the youngest persons to hold a minister-level post in China. He guided the merger of COSTIND with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology in 2008. He also concurrently served as head of the Chinese Lunar Exploration Program.  In 2008 Zhang was appointed chairman of the Commercial Aircraft Corporation of China (Comac), a state-owned enterprise that was newly established to develop China's own jumbo jets. In 2009, he drew international attention after being named one of China's 40 most powerful people by "BusinessWeek".

Political career.

Zhang joined the Communist Party of China (CPC) in December 1992. In 2002, less than ten years after he joined the party, he was appointed to the 16th Central Committee of the CPC, the party's top authority. At age 41 he was the youngest full member of the committee. He has subsequently been elected to full memberships of the 17th and 18th Central Committees.  In August 2011 Zhang left Comac and was appointed acting governor of Hebei Province, replacing Chen Quanguo, who had been promoted to Party Secretary of Tibet Autonomous Region. In January 2012 he was officially elected by the Hebei Provincial Congress as governor, and reelected in January 2013. Zhang was one of the earliest examples of rocket scientists taking on major political posts in China, a trend that intensified following Xi Jinping's ascension to the General Secretary of the Communist Party of China in 2012, with many "space alumni" joining government ranks thereafter. Zhang was transferred to Heilongjiang to serve as party secretary in April 2017, becoming the fourth official born after 1960 to assume a provincial party secretary post.

Zhang Qingwei (; born 7 November 1961) is a Chinese politician, business executive, and aerospace engineer. He is the Communist Party Secretary of Heilongjiang, former Governor of Hebei, and former chairman of the Commission for Science, Technology and Industry for National Defense (COSTIND). Prior to his government career he was president of China Aerospace Science and Technology Corporation (CASC) and chairman of Comac, an aerospace manufacturer.

Zhang Qingwei (; * 1961 in Jilin, Provinz Jilin) ist ein Politiker in der Volksrepublik China. Nach dem Studium an der "Northwestern Polytechnic University" in Xi’an, welches Zhang mit dem Master in Aircraft Control and its Applications abschloss, wurde er als führender Wissenschaftler und Manager im Raumfahrtprogramm seines Landes sowie dessen Flugzeugindustrie tätig. Dabei hatte er vom 30. August 2007 bis März 2008 die Position eines Vorsitzenden im Ministerrang der dem Staatsrat und gleichzeitig der Zentralen Militärkommission zugeordneten Kommission für Wissenschaft, Technik und Industrie für Landesverteidigung inne.


History.

The world's first hypercoaster was Magnum XL-200 by Cedar Point, costing $8,000,000 USD. Cedar Point chose Arrow Dynamics to design and construct Magnum XL-200. Construction on Magnum XL-200 began in 1988, and the ride opened on May 6, 1989. Since its debut, Magnum XL-200 has served more than 36 million guests. Cedar Point's official blog states that after building the ride, "discussion was focused on just what a roller coaster such as Magnum should be called. After all, it had no loops like most of the other large steel coasters of the time and was so much bigger and faster than its non-looping brethren. After a couple of years, the name everyone agreed upon was hypercoaster."

Description.

Hypercoasters were originally built for speed and airtime, to counter the trend of constructing bigger and bigger looping coasters. To accomplish this the elements of a hypercoaster often include a large first drop, several additional drops of declining height, a large turn or helix and then many airtime-inducing hills. Hypercoasters are commonly designed with an out and back layout, although there are occasionally hypercoasters that use a twisted layout, such as Raging Bull at Six Flags Great America, and others that combine both, such as Diamondback at Kings Island.  Hypercoasters dominate the "Amusement Today" Golden Ticket Awards. For 2006,, now known as Superman the Ride (formerly Bizarro), located at Six Flags New England was ranked highest at #1. Several hypercoasters followed such as Magnum XL-200 (#3), Nitro (#4), Apollo's Chariot (#5). The hypercoasters make up the majority of the 2006 Top 10 Steel Coasters, filling 8/10 positions. By 2010, hypercoasters held all of the top 10 spots on Amusement Today's list of "Top 50 Steel Roller Coasters" and 16 of the top 20.  Hypercoasters were first manufactured by Arrow Dynamics in the late 1980s to early 1990s. Since then, a number of companies, including Bolliger & Mabillard, Intamin, D. H. Morgan Manufacturing, Giovanola and others have designed and constructed hypercoasters.  Though hypercoasters are typically steel roller coasters, "Son of Beast" at Kings Island was the first and only wooden hypercoaster. Due to a number of issues, the ride was eventually demolished in 2012. In 2018, Cedar Point opened the first hybrid hypercoaster, " Steel Vengeance". Steel Vengeance is the first hypercoaster manufactured by Rocky Mountain Construction.

List of hypercoasters.

The following is a list of roller coasters with a height of at least. Some enthusiasts do not consider shuttle-type roller coasters to be hypercoasters, so those are listed separately.

Shuttle.

<nowiki>*</nowiki> Denotes a hypercoaster that is also a giga coaster, a roller coaster that exceeds in height.  <nowiki>**</nowiki> Denotes a hypercoaster that is also a strata coaster, a roller coaster that exceeds in height.  <nowiki>***</nowiki> Denotes a hypercoaster that is not taller than 200 feet, but has a drop of over 200 feet.  <nowiki>****</nowiki> Denotes a giga coaster that is not taller than 300 feet, but has a drop of over 300 feet.

A hypercoaster is any complete circuit roller coaster with a height measuring greater than. The term was first coined by Arrow Dynamics and Cedar Point in 1989 with the release of the first full-circuit hypercoaster in the world, Magnum XL-200. Other roller coaster manufacturers developed their own models with custom names, including "Mega Coasters" from Intamin, "Hyper Coasters" from Bolliger & Mabillard, and "Hyper-Hybrid Coasters" from Rocky Mountain Construction. The competition between amusement parks to build increasingly taller roller coasters eventually led to "giga coasters" which exceed and "strata coasters" which exceed.

Ein Hyper Coaster ist eine Achterbahn, bei der die Höhe bei über 61 Meter (200 Fuß), aber unter 91 Meter (300 Fuß) liegt. Der höchste Punkt ist der Lifthill mit anschließendem First Drop. Typisch ist auch, dass es bei einem Hyper Coaster keine Inversionen gibt.