History.

In 1941, the US Army Ordnance Board observed the effectiveness of submachine guns employed in Western Europe, particularly the German 9×19mm MP 40 and British Sten submachine gun and initiated a study to develop its own "Sten" type submachine gun in October 1942. The Ordnance Department requested the army submit a list of requirements for the new weapon, and Ordnance in turn received a separate list of requirements from both the infantry and cavalry branches for a shoulder fired weapon with full or semiautomatic fire capability in caliber.45 ACP or.30 Carbine.  The two lists of requirements received by Ordnance were then reviewed and amended by officials at Aberdeen Proving Ground (APG). The amended requirement called for an all metal weapon of sheet metal construction in.45 ACP, designed for fast and inexpensive production with a minimum of machining and featuring dual full automatic and semiautomatic fire, a heavy bolt to keep the cyclic rate under 500rpm and the ability to place 90% of shots fired from a standing position in full automatic mode on a 6x6 feet target at a range of 50 yards. The benchmark for testing the M3's performance would be the M1928A1 Thompson.  George Hyde of General Motors's Inland Division was given the task of designing the new weapon, while Frederick Sampson, Inland Division's chief engineer, was responsible for preparing and organizing tooling for production. The original T15 specifications of 8 October 1942 were altered to remove a semi-automatic fire function, as well as to permit installation of a kit to convert the weapon's original.45 caliber to that of 9 mm Parabellum. The new designation for the 9 mm/.45 full-automatic-only weapon was the T20.  Five prototype models of the.45 "T20" and five 9 mm conversion kits were built by General Motors for testing. At the initial military trials, the "T20" successfully completed its accuracy trials with a score of 97 out of 100. In the endurance test, the test weapon fired more than 5,000 rounds of brass-case ammunition, with only two failures to feed. Four army test boards composed of multiple army service branches independently tested and reviewed the T-20 prototype weapons including the Airborne Command, the Amphibious Warfare Board, the Infantry Board, and the Armored Forces Board. All four branches reported malfunctions caused by the M3 magazine, mostly attributed to defective or jammed magazine followers.  The T20 was formally approved by U.S. Army Ordnance for production at GM's Guide Lamp Division in Anderson, Indiana, in December 1942 as the U.S. Submachine Gun, Caliber.45, M3. Guide Lamp produced 606,694 of the M3 variant submachine gun between 1943 and 1945. Although reports of malfunctions caused by the single-feed magazine design appeared during the initial firing trials, no changes were made to the M3 magazine.  Around one thousand M3 submachine guns in caliber 9 mm Parabellum were built by Guide Lamp. These original 9 mm guns, identified by the markings U.S. 9 mm S.M.G. on the left side of the magazine well (without any model designation, such as M3), were delivered to the OSS in 1944. Additionally, Rock Island Arsenal and Buffalo Arms Corporation manufactured parts for a limited number of 9 mm conversion kits for the M3. Though 25,000 kits were originally requested for procurement, this was changed to a recommendation by the Ordnance Committee in December 1943 that only 500 9 mm conversion kits be obtained. Procurement was authorized in February 1944, but it is believed that only a limited number of kits were actually produced. These conversion kits included a new 9 mm barrel, replacement bolt and recoil springs, a magazine well adapter for use with British Sten gun 32-round magazines, and a replacement 9 mm Sten magazine of British manufacture. As the M3's sights were not altered for the new cartridge, the 9 mm M3 shot high at 100 yards, but the sighting error was deemed inconsequential. The OSS also requested approximately 1,000.45-caliber M3 submachine guns with an integral sound suppressor (designed by Bell Laboratories). Specially drilled barrels and barrel nuts were manufactured by Guide Lamp, while the High Standard Firearms Company produced the internal components and assembled the weapon. The Bell Laboratories suppressor was estimated to be only 80% as efficient as the British suppressed STEN Mk IIS.  With its stamped, riveted, and welded construction, the M3 was originally designed as a minimum-cost small arm, to be used and discarded once it became inoperative. As such, replacement parts, weapon-specific tools, and sub-assemblies were not made available to unit-, depot-, or ordnance-level commands at the time of the M3's introduction to service. In 1944, a shortage of M3 submachine guns created by the need for interim production changes forced U.S. Army Ordnance workshops to fabricate pawl springs and other parts to keep existing weapons operational.  After its introduction to service, reports of unserviceability of the M3 commenced in February 1944 with stateside units in training, who reported early failure of the cocking handle/bolt retraction mechanism on some weapons. Similar reports later came from U.S. forces in Britain who were issued the M3. An investigation revealed several deficiencies in the construction of the M3's bolt retraction mechanism, together with issues concerning barrel removal and retention as well as easily bent rear sights. As a result, several product improvements were incorporated into all new M3 production, including a new design retracting pawl with improved heat treatment, a new spring stop fitted to the right-hand brace of the retracting lever, a modified ejector featuring a cocking lever trip, a larger ratchet pad with improved heat treatment to more securely retain the barrel assembly, and strengthening gussets fitted to the sides of the fixed 'L' rear sight. After new complaints were raised about accidental magazine releases and failure of the wire buttstock to remain in place in the collapsed position, two additional changes were made to M3 production and approved by Ordnance on 31 August 1944. This included a small sheet metal guard around the magazine release button, and the inclusion of a stop between the two rods forming the wire stock at the butt end.  In December 1944, in response to field requests for further improvements to the basic M3 design, an improved, simplified variant of the M3 was introduced, the M3A1. 15,469 M3A1 submachine guns were produced before the end of World War II, and 33,200 during the Korean War.  It was originally hoped that the M3 could be produced in numbers sufficient to cancel future orders for the Thompson submachine gun, and to allow the army to gradually withdraw the more expensive Thompson from front-line service. However, due to unforeseen production delays and requests for modifications, the M3 was introduced later than expected, and purchases of the Thompson continued until February 1944. A total of 622,163 M3/M3A1 submachine guns of all types were assembled by the end of World War II. The M3A1 did not see combat in World War II, but was used in Korea and Vietnam.  The M3 and M3A1 were largely withdrawn from U.S. frontline service beginning in 1959 and into the early 1960s, but continued to be used until the mid-1990s as on vehicle equipment aboard armored vehicles. During the mid 1970s tank drivers of the 1st Battalion 67th Armored attached to the 2nd Armored Division were issued the M3A1, because of its size and portability. During the Gulf War, drivers of the 19th Engineer Battalion attached to the 1st Armored Division were equipped with the M3A1 as part of their vehicle Basic Issue Items (or BII). It was also the initial submachine gun equipping the Delta Force who prized it for its impressively quiet performance when equipped with a silencer.

Design details.

The M3 is an automatic, air-cooled blowback-operated weapon that fires from an open bolt. Constructed of plain sheet steel, the M3 receiver was stamped in two halves that were then welded together. The M3 has a fixed firing pin milled into the face of the bolt and fires using the principle of advanced primer ignition blowback operation. The bolt was drilled longitudinally to support two parallel guide rods, upon which were mounted twin return (recoil) springs. This configuration allows for larger machining tolerances while providing operating clearance in the event of dust, sand or mud ingress. The M3 features a spring-loaded extractor which is housed inside the bolt head, while the ejector is located in the trigger group. Like the British Sten, time and expense was saved by cold-swaging the M3's barrel.

Operating mechanism.

The M3 operating sequence is as follows: the bolt is cocked to the rear using the cocking handle located on the right side of the ejector housing. When the trigger is pulled, the bolt is driven forward by the recoil springs, stripping a round from the feed lips of the magazine and guiding the round into the chamber. The bolt then continues forward and the firing pin strikes the cartridge primer, igniting the round, resulting in a high-pressure impulse, forcing the bolt back against the resistance of the recoil springs and the inertial mass of the bolt. By the time the bolt and empty casing have moved far enough to the rear to open the chamber, the bullet has left the barrel and pressure in the barrel has dropped to a safe level. The M3's comparatively low cyclic rate was a function of the relatively low pressure generated by the.45 ACP round, a heavy bolt, and recoil springs with a lighter-than-normal compression rate.

Features.

The gun used metal stamping and pressing, spot welding and seam welding extensively in its construction, reducing the number of man-hours required to assemble a unit. Only the barrel, bolt and firing mechanism were precision machined. The receiver consists of two sheet metal halves welded together to form a cylinder. At the front end is a knurled metal cap which is used to retain the removable barrel. The cold-swaged, rifled barrel has four right-hand grooves. M3 and M3A1 submachine guns can be fitted with an optional, detachable flash hider, though none saw any service in World War II. A later production flash hider designated "Hider, Flash M9" was produced in time to see service during the Korean War. It proved popular in combat, as frequent night engagements emphasized the need to reduce flash signatures on small arms. In Korea, U.S. soldiers equipped with automatic weapons were taught to look above the flash of their weapon during night firing, a tactic that sometimes prevented the detection of crawling enemy infiltrators and sappers.  Projecting to the rear is a one-piece wire stock made from a formed steel rod that telescopes into tubes on both sides of the receiver. Both ends of the stock were tapped and drilled so that it can be used as a cleaning rod. It can also be used as a disassembly tool or as a wrench used to unscrew the barrel cap.  The M3's cocking handle assembly is located on the right-hand side of the receiver on the ejector housing, just forward and above the trigger, and consists of nine parts. As the handle is pulled to the rear, a pawl rises to engage a notch in the bottom of the bolt, pushing the bolt to the rear until it locks back on the sear.  The fixed sights consist of a rear aperture sight preset for firing at 100 yards (approximately 91 m) and a front blade foresight. All M3 submachine guns were test-fired for accuracy at a distance of. With the sights set at six-o'clock on a bull's-eye target, each gun was required to keep four out of five shots within or cut the edge of a bull's-eye to meet accuracy requirements.  The weapon's only safety is the hinged ejection port dust cover. This cover has a projection on the underside that engages a notch on the bolt, locking it in either its forward or rearmost positions. The M3 has no mechanical means of disabling the trigger, and the insertion of a loaded magazine loads the gun. With receiver walls made of relatively thin-gauge sheet metal, the M3/M3A1 is subject to disabling damage if dropped on an open dust cover – the covers bend easily, negating the safety feature. Dropping the gun on a sharp or hard surface can dent the receiver enough to bind the bolt.  The M3/M3A1's 30-round magazine was the source of complaints throughout the service life of the weapon. Unlike the Thompson, the M3 feeds from a double-column, single-feed detachable box magazine which holds 30 rounds and was patterned after the British Sten magazine; the single-feed design proved difficult to load by hand, and is more easily jammed by mud, dust, and dirt than double-column, double-feed designs like the Thompson. Additionally, the feed lips of the single-feed design proved more susceptible to feed malfunctions when slightly bent or damaged. Plastic dust caps were later issued to cover the feed end of the magazine and keep out dust as well as protect the sensitive feed lips.

Variants.

M3A1.

In December 1944, a modernized version of the M3 known as the M3A1 was introduced into service, with all parts except the bolt, housing assembly, and receiver interchangeable with those of the M3. The M3A1 had several improvements: At 7.95 pounds empty, the M3A1 was slightly lighter than the M3, at 8.15 pounds empty, primarily due to the simplified cocking mechanism. The M3A1 was formally approved for production on 21 December 1944.  The M3A1 modifications resulted in a more reliable, lighter weight, easier to maintain, and easier to field strip submachine gun; the original M3 needed both the trigger guard removed and the cocking crank assembly detached from the receiver housing before unscrewing the barrel, but the M3A1 only required the user unscrew the barrel. To date, only one 9 mm conversion kit for the M3A1 has been discovered.  Because it had already been issued in large numbers, the existing M3 magazine design was retained, despite demonstrated deficiencies exposed during the weapon's firing trials and its early combat service. In an effort to improve reliability, a hard plastic "Tenite" cap designated T2 was adopted in November 1944 to fit over the feed lips of loaded magazines. These caps protected the feed lips while keeping out dirt, sand, and debris. Sometime during the 1960s the hard T2 plastic cap was replaced in service with one of pliant neoprene rubber, which could be removed with less noise. Unfortunately, during service in the humid climate of Vietnam it was discovered that the rubber cap caused rust to form on the covered portion of the magazine, while causing loaded ammunition to corrode.  Initially, M3 submachine guns returned for repair were not upgraded to the M3A1 standard, but merely inspected to ensure they had the improved M3 housing assembly and magazine release shield. During the Korean War, existing M3 guns in service were converted to the improved M3A1 configuration using additional new production parts. During the conversion, armorers frequently removed the M3 cocking handle, leaving the rest of the now-redundant cocking mechanism inside the subframe. Overall, the M3A1 was seen by most soldiers and Ordnance technicians as an improvement over the M3. However, complaints of accidental discharge continued to occur even as late as the Korean War. These incidents were sometimes caused by dropping the weapon on a hard surface with an impact sufficient to knock open the ejection port cover and propel the bolt backwards (but not enough to catch the sear). The return springs would then propel the bolt forward to pick up a cartridge from the magazine and carry it into the chamber, where the bolt's fixed firing pin struck the primer upon contact.  In 1945, the Guide Lamp factory manufactured 15,469 M3A1 submachine guns before production contracts were canceled with the end of the war. During the Korean War, Ithaca Gun Co built another 33,200 complete guns as well as manufacturing thousands of parts for the repair and rebuilding of existing M3 and M3A1 weapons.

Foreign variants and derivatives.

P.A.M. 1 & 2 (Argentina).

In 1954, a variant of the U.S. M3A1 submachine gun was designed at the Argentine FMAP ("Fábrica Militar de Armas Portátiles") factory in the city of Rosario and put into production the following year as the P.A.M. 1 ("Pistola Ametrelladora Modelo 1"). Constructed of somewhat thinner-gauge steel than the U.S. M3A1, the P.A.M. 1 was in essence a 7/8 scale replica of the U.S. weapon in 9 mm Parabellum caliber, but was lighter and had a higher rate of fire. This was due to an incomplete transfer of all details to Argentina. In service, the P.A.M. 1's thinner sheet steel receiver tended to overheat with extended firing, while the gun itself proved somewhat more difficult to control in automatic fire despite the smaller caliber. Additionally, triggering the weapon to fire individual shots proved difficult owing to the increased rate of fire. Problems with accidental discharges and accuracy with the P.A.M. 1 led to an improved selective-fire version with a grip safety on the magazine housing known as the P.A.M. 2, first introduced in 1963.  Colloquially referred to as "La Engrasadora" (the Greaser), 47,688 P.A.M. 1 and P.A.M. 2 submachine guns were produced between 1955 and 1972. A number of P.A.M. 1 and P.A.M. 2 submachine guns were used by the Argentine Army during the Falkland Islands War with the United Kingdom in 1982, and captured examples were tested by British military forces.

Type 36 & 37 (China).

The Type 36 is a direct clone of the M3A1, manufactured in 1947 at the Shenyang Arsenal in Mukden. It resembles a M3A1, except that it has no flats to allow the use of a wrench for easy removal and it has no oil bottle trap in the pistol grip. Its parts are not interchangeable with the M3A1.  10,000 Type 36s were made before they were obtained by pro-Communist forces in 1949.  The Type 37 is a direct clone of the 9mm-chambered M3, made at the 60th Jinling Arsenal near Nanking. Production continued in Taiwan as the Type 39, a successor to the Type 37.

The M3 is an American.45-caliber submachine gun adopted for U.S. Army service on 12 December 1942, as the United States Submachine Gun, Cal..45, M3. The M3 was chambered for the same.45 ACP round fired by the Thompson submachine gun, but was cheaper to produce and lighter, although, contrary to popular belief, it was less accurate. This myth stems from a US Army training film portraying the M3 as more accurate than its counterparts. The M3 was commonly referred to as the "Grease Gun" or simply "the Greaser," owing to its visual similarity to the mechanic's tool.

M3冲锋枪(英语:M3 submachine gun)是美国通用汽车公司于二次大战时期大量生产的廉价.45口径冲锋枪。于1942年12月12日开始服役,取代造价昂贵的汤普森冲锋枪。由于外型像是替汽车打润滑油(黄油)的润滑油枪,也叫黄油枪(Grease Gun)。


Terminology.

The archaeologist Anders Andrén noted that "Old Norse religion" is "the conventional name" applied to the pre-Christian religions of Scandinavia. See for instance Other terms used by scholarly sources include "pre-Christian Norse religion", "Norse religion", "Norse paganism", "Nordic paganism", "Scandinavian paganism", "Scandinavian heathenism", "Scandinavian religion", "Northern paganism", "Northern heathenism", "North Germanic religion", or "North Germanic paganism". This Old Norse religion can be seen as part of a broader Germanic religion found across linguistically Germanic Europe; of the different forms of this Germanic religion, that of the Old Norse is the best-documented.  Rooted in ritual practice and oral tradition, Old Norse religion was fully integrated with other aspects of Norse life, including subsistence, warfare, and social interactions. Open codifications of Old Norse beliefs were either rare or non-existent. The practitioners of this belief system themselves had no term meaning "religion", which was only introduced with Christianity. Following Christianity's arrival, Old Norse terms that were used for the pre-Christian systems were "forn sið" ("old custom") or "heiðinn sið" ("heathen custom"), terms which suggest an emphasis on rituals, actions, and behaviours rather than belief itself. The earliest known usage of the Old Norse term "heiðinn" is in the poem "Hákonarmál"; its uses

Sources.

In Hilda Ellis Davidson's words, present-day knowledge of Old Norse religion contains "vast gaps", and we must be cautious and avoid "bas[ing] wild assumptions on isolated details".

Old Norse textual sources.

A few runic inscriptions with religious content survive from pagan Scandinavia, particularly asking Thor to hallow or protect a memorial stone; carving his hammer on the stone also served this function.  In contrast to the few runic fragments, a considerable body of literary and historical sources survive in Old Norse manuscripts using the Latin script, all of which were created after the conversion of Scandinavia, the majority in Iceland. Some of the poetic sources in particular, the "Poetic Edda" and skaldic poetry, may have been originally composed by heathens, and "Hávamál" contains both information on heathen mysticism and what Ursula Dronke referred to as "a round-up of ritual obligations". In addition there is information about pagan beliefs and practices in the sagas, which

Other textual sources.

Additional sources remain by non-Scandinavians writing in languages other than Old Norse. The earliest of these, Tacitus' "Germania", dates to around 100 CE and describes religious practices of several Germanic peoples, but has little coverage of Scandinavia. In the Middle Ages, several Christian commentators also wrote about Scandinavian paganism, mostly from a hostile perspective. The best known of

Archaeological and toponymic evidence.

Since the literary evidence that represents Old Norse sources was recorded by Christians, archaeological evidence especially of cultic sites and burials is of great importance particularly as a source of information on Norse religion before the conversion. Many aspects of material culture—including settlement locations, artefacts and buildings—may cast light on beliefs, and archaeological evidence regarding cult practices indicates chronological, geographic and class differences far greater than are suggested by the surviving texts.  Place-names are an additional source of evidence. Theophoric place-names, including instances where a pair of deity names occur in close proximity, provide an indication of the importance of the cult of

Historical development.

Iron Age origins.

Andrén described Old Norse religion as a "cultural patchwork" which emerged under a wide range of influences, both from earlier Scandinavian religions and elements introduced from elsewhere. It may have had links to Nordic Bronze Age: while the putatively solar-oriented belief system of Bronze Age Scandinavia is believed to have died out around 500 BCE, a number of Bronze Age motifs—such as the wheel cross—reappear in later Iron Age contexts. It is often regarded as having developed from earlier religious belief systems found among

Viking Age expansion.

During the Viking Age, Norse people left Scandinavia and settled elsewhere throughout Northwestern Europe. Some of these areas, such as Iceland, the Orkneys, Shetland, and the Faroe Islands, were hardly populated, whereas other areas, such as England, Southwest Wales, Scotland, the Western Isles, Isle of Man, and Ireland, were already heavily populated.  In the 870s, Norwegian settlers left their homeland and colonized Iceland, bringing their belief system with them. Place-name evidence suggests that Thor was the most popular god on the island, although there are also saga accounts of devotés of

Christianisation and decline.

The Nordic world first encountered Christianity through its settlements in the (already Christian) British Isles and through trade contacts with the eastern Christians in Novgorod and Byzantium. By the time Christianity arrived in Scandinavia it was already the accepted religion across most of Europe. It is not well understood how the Christian institutions converted these Scandinavian settlers, in part due to a lack of textual descriptions of this conversion process equivalent to Bede's description of the earlier Anglo-Saxon conversion. However, it appears that the Scandinavian migrants had converted to Christianity within the first few decades of their arrival. After Christian missionaries

Post-Christian survivals.

By the 12th century, Christianity was firmly established across Northwestern Europe. For two centuries, Scandinavian ecclesiastics continued to condemn paganism, although it is unclear whether it still constituted a viable alternative to Christian dominance. These writers often presented paganism as being based on deceit or delusion; some stated that the Old Norse gods had been humans falsely euhemerised as deities.  Old Norse mythological stories survived in oral culture for at least two centuries, to be recorded in the 13th century. How this mythology was passed down is unclear; it is possible that pockets of pagans retained their belief system throughout

Beliefs.

Norse mythology, stories of the Norse deities, is preserved in Eddic poetry and in Snorri Sturluson's guide for skalds, the "Poetic Edda". Depictions of some of these stories can be found on picture stones in Gotland and in other visual record including some early Christian crosses, which attests to how widely known they were. The myths were transmitted purely orally until the end of the period, and were subject to variation; one key poem, "Vǫluspá", is preserved in two variant versions in different manuscripts, and Snorri's retelling of the myths sometimes varies from the other textual sources that are preserved. There was no single authoritative version of a particular myth, and variation over time and from place to place is presumed, rather than "a single unified body of thought". In particular, there may have been influences from interactions with other peoples, including northern Slavs, Finns, and Anglo-Saxons, and Christian mythology exerted an increasing influence.

Deities.

Old Norse religion was polytheistic, with many anthropomorphic gods and goddesses, who express human emotions and in some cases are married and have children. One god, Baldr, is said in the myths to have died. Archaeological evidence on worship of particular gods is sparse, although placenames may also indicate locations where they were venerated. For some gods, particularly Loki, there is no evidence of worship; however, this may be changed by new archaeological discoveries. Regions, communities, and social classes likely varied in the gods they venerated more or at all. There are also accounts in sagas of individuals who devoted themselves to a single deity, described as a "fulltrúi" or "vinr" (confidant, friend) as seen in Egill Skallagrímsson's reference to his relationship with Odin in his "Sonatorrek", a tenth-century skaldic poem for example. This practice has been interpreted as heathen past influenced by the Christian cult of the saints. Although our literary sources are all relatively late, there are also indications of change over time.  Norse mythological sources, particularly Snorri

Localised and ancestral deities.

Ancestral deities were common among Finno-Ugric peoples, and remained a strong presence among the Finns and Sámi after Christianisation. Ancestor veneration may have played a part in the private religious practices of Norse people in their farmsteads and villages; in the 10th century, Norwegian pagans attempted to encourage the Christian king Haakon to take

Other beings.

The norns are female figures who determine individuals' fate. Snorri describes them as a group of three, but he and other sources also allude to larger groups of norns who decide the fate of newborns. It is uncertain whether they were worshipped.  The vættir, spirits of the land, were thought to inhabit certain rocks, waterfalls, mountains, and trees, and offerings were made to them. For many, they may have been more important in daily life than the gods. Texts also mention various kinds of elves and dwarfs.

Cosmology.

Several accounts of the Old Norse cosmogony, or creation myth, appear in surviving textual sources, but there is no evidence that these were certainly produced in the pre-Christian period. It is possible that they were developed during the encounter with Christianity, as pagans sought to establish a creation myth complex enough to rival that of Christianity. According to the account in "Völuspá", the universe was initially a void known as Ginnungagap. There then appeared a giant, Ymir, and after him the gods, who lifted the earth out of the sea. A different account is provided in "Vafþrúðnismál", which describes the world being made from the components of Ymir's body: the earth from his flesh, the mountains from his bones, the sky from his skull, and the sea from his blood. "Grímnismál" also describes the world being fashioned from Ymir's corpse, although adds the detail that the giants emerged from a spring known as Élivágar.  In Snorri's "Gylfaginning", it is again stated that the Old Norse cosmogony began with a belief in Ginnungagap, the void. From this emerged two realms, the icy, misty Niflheim and the fire-filled Muspell, the latter ruled over by fire-giant, Surtr. A river produced by these

Afterlife.

Norse religion had several fully developed ideas about death and the afterlife. Snorri refers to four realms which welcome the dead; although his descriptions reflect a likely Christian influence, the idea of multiple otherworlds is likely pre-Christian. Unlike Christianity, Old Norse religion does not appear to have adhered to the belief that moral concerns impacted an individual's afterlife destination.  Warriors who died in battle became the Einherjar and were taken to Oðinn's hall, Valhalla. There they waited until Ragnarok, when they would fight alongside the Æsir. According to the poem "Grímnismál", Valhalla had 540 doors and that a wolf stood outside its western door, while an eagle flew overhead. In that poem, it is also claimed that a boar named Sæhrímnir is eaten every day and that a goat named Heiðrún stands atop the hall's roof producing an endless supply of mead. It is unclear how widespread a belief in Valhalla was in Norse society; it may have been a literary creation designed to meet the ruling class' aspirations, since the idea

Cultic practice.

Textual accounts suggest a spectrum of rituals, from large public events to more frequent private and family rites, which would have been interwoven with daily life. However, written sources are vague about Norse rituals, and many are invisible to us now even with the assistance of archaeology. Sources mention some rituals addressed to particular deities, but understanding of the relationship between Old Norse ritual and myth remains speculative.

Religious rituals.

Sacrifice.

The primary religious ritual in Norse religion appears to have been sacrifice, or blót. Many texts, both Old Norse and other, refer to sacrifices. The "Saga of Hákon the Good" in "Heimskringla" states that there were obligatory blóts, at which animals were slaughtered and their blood, called "hlaut", sprinkled on the altars and the inside and outside walls of the temple, and ritual toasts were drunk during the ensuing sacrificial feast; the cups were passed over the fire and they and the food were consecrated with a ritual gesture by the chieftain; King Hákon, a Christian, was forced to participate but made

Deposition.

Deposition of artefacts in wetlands was a practice in Scandinavia during many periods of prehistory. In the early centuries of the Common Era, huge numbers of destroyed weapons were placed in wetlands: mostly spears and swords, but also shields, tools, and other equipment. Beginning in the 5th century, the nature of the wetland deposits changed; in Scandinavia, fibulae and bracteates were placed in or beside wetlands from the 5th to the mid-6th centuries, and again beginning in the late 8th century, when weapons as well as jewellery, coins and tools again began to be deposited, the practice lasting until the early

Rites of passage.

A child was accepted into the family via a ritual of sprinkling with water (Old Norse "ausa vatni") which is mentioned in two Eddic poems, "Rígsþula" and "Hávamál", and was afterwards given a name. The child was frequently named after a dead relative, since there was a traditional belief in rebirth, particularly in the family.  Old Norse sources also describe rituals for adoption (the Norwegian Gulaþing Law directs the adoptive father, followed by the adoptive child, then all other relatives, to step in turn into a specially made leather shoe) and blood brotherhood (a ritual standing on the bare earth under a specially cut strip of grass, called a "jarðarmen").  Weddings occur in Icelandic family sagas. The Old Norse word "brúðhlaup" has cognates in many other Germanic languages and means "bride run"; it has been suggested that this indicates a tradition of bride-stealing, but other scholars including Jan de Vries interpreted it as indicating a rite of passage conveying the bride from her birth family to that of her new husband. The bride wore a linen veil or headdress; this is mentioned in the Eddic poem "Rígsþula". Freyr and Thor are each associated with weddings in some literary sources. In Adam of Bremen's account of the pagan temple at Uppsala, offerings are said to be made to "Fricco" (presumably Freyr) on the occasion of marriages, and in the Eddic poem "Þrymskviða", Thor recovers his hammer when it is laid in his disguised lap in a ritual consecration of the marriage. "Þrymskviða" also mentions the goddess Vár as consecrating marriages; Snorri Sturluson states in "Gylfaginning" that she hears the vows men and women make to each other, but her name probably means "beloved" rather than being etymologically connected to Old Norse "várar",

Mysticism, magic, animism and shamanism.

The myth preserved in the Eddic poem "Hávamál" of Odin hanging for nine nights on Yggdrasill, sacrificed to himself and dying in order to secure knowledge of the runes and other wisdom in what resembles an initiatory rite, is evidence of mysticism in Old Norse religion.  The gods were associated with two distinct forms of magic. In "Hávamál" and elsewhere, Odin is particularly associated with the runes and with galdr. Charms, often associated with the runes, were a central part of the treatment of disease in both humans and livestock in Old Norse society. In contrast seiðr and the related spæ, which could involve both magic and divination, were practised mostly by women, known as vǫlur and spæ-wives, often in a communal gathering at a client's request. 9th- and 10th-century female graves containing iron staffs and grave goods have been identified on this basis as those of seiðr practitioners.

Cult sites.

Outdoor rites.

Cult practices often took place outdoors. For example, at Hove in Trøndelag, Norway, offerings were placed at a row of posts bearing images of gods. Terms particularly associated with outdoor worship are "vé" (shrine) and "hörgr" (cairn or stone altar). Many place-names contain these elements in association with the name of a deity, and for example at Lilla Ullevi (compounded with the name of the god Ullr) in Bro parish, Uppland, Sweden, archaeologists have found a stone-covered ritual area at which offerings including silver objects, rings, and a meat fork had been deposited. Place-name evidence suggests that cultic practices might also

Temples.

Several of the sagas refer to cult houses or temples, generally called in Old Norse by the term hof. There are detailed descriptions of large temples, including a separate area with images of gods and the sprinkling of sacrificial blood using twigs in a manner similar to the Christian use of the aspergillum, in "Kjalnesinga saga" and "Eyrbyggja saga"; Snorri's description of blót in "Heimskringla" adds more details about the blood sprinkling. Adam of Bremen's 11th-century Latin history describes at length a great temple at Uppsala at which human

Priests and kings.

There is no evidence of a professional priesthood among the Norse, and rather cultic activities were carried out by members of the community who also had other social functions and positions. In Old Norse society, religious authority was harnessed to secular authority; there was no separation between economic, political, and symbolic institutions. Both the Norwegian kings' sagas and Adam of Bremen's account claim that kings and chieftains played a prominent role in cultic sacrifices. In medieval Iceland, the goði was a social role that combined religious, political, and judicial functions, responsible for serving as a chieftain in the district, negotiating legal disputes, and maintaining

Iconography and imagery.

The most widespread religious symbol in Viking Age Old Norse religion was Mjöllnir, the hammer of Thor. This symbol first appears in the ninth century and may be a conscious response to the symbolism of the Christian cross. Although found across the Viking world, Mjöllnir pendants are most commonly found in graves from modern Denmark, south-eastern Sweden, and southern Norway; their wide distribution suggests the particular popularity of Thor. When found in inhumation graves, Mjöllnir pendants are more likely to be found in women's graves than men's. Earlier examples were made from iron, bronze, or amber, although silver pendants became fashionable in the tenth century. This may have been a response to the growing popularity of Christian cross amulets.  The two religious symbols may have co-existed closely; one piece of archaeological evidence suggesting that this is the case is a soapstone mould for casting pendants discovered from Trengården in Denmark. This mould had space for a Mjöllnir and a crucifix pendant side by side, suggesting that the artisan who produced these pendants catered for both religious communities. These have typically been interpreted as a protective

Influence.

Romanticism, aesthetics, and politics.

During the romanticist movement of the nineteenth century, various northern Europeans took an increasing interest in Old Norse religion, seeing in it an ancient pre-Christian mythology that provided an alternative to the dominant Classical mythology. As a result, artists featured Norse gods and goddesses in their paintings and sculptures, and their names were applied to streets, squares, journals, and companies throughout parts of northern Europe.  The mythological stories derived from Old Norse and other Germanic sources provided inspiration for various artists, including Richard Wagner, who used these

Scholarly study.

Research into Old Norse religion has been interdisciplinary, involving historians, archaeologists, philologists, place-name scholars, literary scholars, and historians of religion. Scholars from different disciplines have tended to take different approaches to the material; for instance, many literary scholars have been highly sceptical about how accurately Old Norse text portrays pre-Christian religion, whereas historians of religion have tended to regard these portrayals as highly accurate.  Interest in Norse mythology was revived in the eighteenth century, and scholars turned their attention to it in the early nineteenth century. Since this research appeared

Old Norse religion, also known as Norse paganism (also known as Ásatrú), is the most common name for a branch of Germanic religion which developed during the Proto-Norse period, when the North Germanic peoples separated into a distinct branch of the Germanic peoples. It was replaced by Christianity during the Christianization of Scandinavia. Scholars reconstruct aspects of North Germanic religion by historical linguistics, archaeology, toponymy, and records left by North Germanic peoples, such as runic inscriptions in the Younger Futhark, a distinctly North Germanic extension of the runic alphabet. Numerous Old Norse works dated to the 13th century record Norse mythology, a component of North Germanic religion.

北欧宗教,或称古北欧宗教、古斯堪的纳维亚宗教、古挪威宗教,为日耳曼异教(日耳曼本土宗教)之分支,出现在原始挪威文明期间,即日耳曼民族分裂出北部日耳曼族一系之时。 不过,日耳曼族本土文明被随后到来基督教文明侵蚀和取代,本土宗教亦在其中。现代学者在古斯堪纳维亚宗教及文物中寻找和获取古斯堪纳维亚历史、语言文字(如卢恩字母)、考古等学术信息,试图复原出古文明的全貌。在北欧文物当中,有许多据考证是13世纪的用古北欧语言书写的作品,记录着许多北欧神话,这些神话故事和神话体系亦是北日耳曼宗教的组成部分。


Overview.

Negi Springfield, a ten-year-old wizard, aspires to become a "Magister Magi", a special wizard who, under the guise of working under a NGO, uses his powers to help normal people. After graduating from the Merdiana Magic Academy in Wales, he is assigned the task of teaching English at Mahora Academy's middle school, where his homeroom class consists of 31 girls, each very special in her own way. The series details his time and adventures in Japan as he gains acceptance and respect from his students, helps them in their problems, and faces magical threats from inside and outside Mahora Academy. Although each of the girls has her own back story and personality, Negi's main relationship is with Asuna Kagurazaka, his student and roommate, who dislikes him initially but later accepts him as a friend and becomes his partner. He is also searching for his father who is known as the Thousand Master.  The series, while initially appearing to be another romantic comedy work featuring numerous bishōjo characters like "Love Hina", has progressed into a mix of shōnen action, fantasy, horror, romance and comedy. Akamatsu stated that he specifically wanted to do something "different" from "Love Hina". Negi himself is prepubescent, and many of his scenes with Asuna are specific subversions of the "awkward romantic scene" tendency of harem manga, quickly defused and only played for laughs. In addition, many of the girls are able to fawn over him in a childish sense without any romantic expectations from the reader.  In keeping with this style, Negi himself is seen as a contrast to "Love Hina"'s Keitaro Urashima and other typical male leads of manga. He is hardworking, capable, and treated kindly, but due to his appearance and age (well below most of his students), he feels completely non-threatening and finds it difficult to be taken seriously as a teacher; many of his students treat him as a cute little kid, if not a playmate (or play"thing").

Pactio.

The "pactio" (Latin for "Contract") system in the series enables the magician casting the spell, the "Magister Magi", to transfer some of his/her magic power to the other person involved in the "pactio", the "Minister Magi" (Latin for servant wizard), improving the Ministra's natural capabilities, and providing a magical barrier against physical attacks. The "Minister" also receives a special magical item called "Artifact", which reflects the "Minister"'s abilities and personality. The "Minister", in turn, has to protect the "Magister" from any dangers and assist him/her in any way possible. Since most Western Mages are vulnerable while chanting spells, a "Minister" primary duty is to protect the mage in combat situations. Although it is not necessary that the "Magister" and "Minister" are of different sexes, its by far the most common setup, and usually "pactio" partners end up marrying each other.  When a "pactio" is established, a card ("Charta Ministralis") is created as proof of the contract, depicting the "Minister" with his Artifact, surrounded by several magic signs and a "title" related to his/her personality. The "Magister" keeps the original card with him/herself, though copies can be made for the Minister. The card allows the "Magister" to communicate telepathically with his/her "Minister" (By touching the card to one's forehead and chanting "Telephatia") and summon him/her across great distances, within a limit of 10 km. Additionally, the card may be used by the "Minister" to with the words "Adeat" (Latin for "Let it come forth"), and "Abeat" (Latin for "Let it return") to summon and recall his Artifact respectively. An additional function allows the partner to store different costumes "within" it, for later use.  While there are many ways to form a "pactio", the most common is having both participants enter a magic circle and share a mouth-to-mouth kiss. Another known form of "pactio" formation is through exchange of blood, also referred to as a 'blood contract.' Any mishaps result in a "Mistake Pactio", which only grants a badly drawn card. If one of the participant's does not want to commit to a lifelong partnership, or is too young to make a "Permanent Pactio", a "Probationary Pactio" is created. Probationary pactio work like a permanent ones, except that there's a time limit to the activation of the contract and the contract can be broken at will. Permanent Pactio, on the other hand are lifelong, always active, and the number of contracts is limited by the "Magister"s power.  As of now, the main character Negi Springfield has formed nineteen Pactio. In order, they are Asuna Kagurazaka, Nodoka Miyazaki, Setsuna Sakurazaki, Konoka Konoe, Yue Ayase, Haruna Saotome, Chisame Hasegawa, Kazumi Asakura, Kaede Nagase, Theodora, Ku Fei, Chachamaru Karakuri, Shiori (real name Luna), Ako Izumi, Yūna Akashi, Makie Sasaki, Ayaka Yukihiro, Chizuru Naba, and Akira Okochi.

Characters.

"Negima!" includes a wide array of characters, including the 31 students from Class 2-A (later 3-A). Negi's students consist of a wide array of smart students, academically challenged, athletes, and cheerleaders. The class also includes martial artists, a ninja, a vampire, a robot, a ghost, at least one half-demon, a web idol, and a time-traveling Martian. Most of the students are associated with school clubs or sports teams. Many of these girls are eventually drawn into Negi's world of magic or were already involved with the magic world. Through interaction, Negi learns about his students in depth. Some students also make a probationary "contract" with Negi which will make them a partner and give them additional powers.  In addition to the class, more characters are introduced and become Negi's problem beyond the classroom. These characters come from magic schools, demons, and other sorts of chaos.

Manga.

Early in the production of the manga, Akamatsu began using CG background elements, for things such as crowds, buildings, and some objects. Many buildings are drawn from real-life structures all over the world, such as the Brooklyn Bridge and the Belfast City Hall. These are rendered in 3D, then characters are drawn in and around them for the panels. Many of these models are detailed in the appendix in the back of the books.  In the US and Canada, the manga was licensed and published in English by Del Rey Manga for the first 28 volumes. Newer volumes were published by Kodansha Comics and distributed through Random House Publisher Services; the first 27 volumes published by Del Rey were subsequently reprinted by Kodansha in a series of nine omnibus collections. Publishers in other countries and languages include Tong Li Comics in Hong Kong and Taiwan, Chuang Yi in Singapore, Play Press Publishing (formerly) and Star Comics (current) in Italy, Pika Édition in France, Egmont Manga & Anime in Germany, Schibsted Forlag in Norway, Glénat in Spain, Editora JBC in Brazil, Tanoshimi in the UK, and Algoritam in Croatia.  In Indonesia, The manga has been licensed and released up to volume 36 by Level Comics a division of Elex Media Komputindo, under the title "Magister Negi Magi".  In Malaysia, the Malay version of the Negima books, named 'Magic Teacher! Ahli Magik Negi Magi', are retranslations of the Chinese edition. Evidence shows the names of the characters in Chinese style, such as Asuna as Shenlao Asuna and Konoka as Munai Xiang. Instead of printing "Ken Akamatsu" as the author, the name "Chesong Jian" is used – actually a Mandarin translation of Akamatsu's name in kanji. The characters' names were corrected in volume 15.

Plot.

While looking for clues about his missing father Nagi, Negi Springfield becomes the English and homeroom teacher for Mahora Academy Class 2A (later 3A). Negi soon becomes acquainted with most of his new students including his roommates Asuna Kagurazaka and Konoka Konoe. Negi faces his first real challenge in his student Evangeline A.K. McDowell who is an immortal vampiress and one of his father's enemies. To help Negi confront Eva, Asuna agrees to become his temporary partner by performing a "Pactio", a kind of magical contract sealed with a kiss.  After dealing with Evangeline, Negi takes the class on a trip to Kyoto while searching for more information on his father's whereabouts but is forced to fight against Eastern mages aiming to kidnap Konoka with the help of other students who also become his partners including Nodoka Miyazaki, Konoka's childhood friend Setsuna Sakurazaki, and lastly with Konoka herself. The arc also introduces Fate Averruncus, another mage who looks to be around Negi's age but proves himself to be far stronger than him. Seeing his own weakness after the events in Kyoto, Negi begins to train with several students in order to become stronger while Kotaro Inugami, one of the foes he confronted there unexpectedly reappears and finds himself a family with Negi's students Natsumi and Chizuru. Kotaro also joins Negi against Wilheim, an old evil from the past who like Fate Averruncus, seems to be a pawn of an even stronger enemy.  During Mahora's cultural festival, Negi manages to partake in simultaneous events thanks to his student Chao Lingshen's latest invention, the time machine "Casseopeia". One of these events is the "Mahora Martial Arts Tournament" where he confronts a series of increasingly stronger enemies including a former member of "Ala Rubra" (Crimson Wing), a legendary brigade led by his father. After the tournament, Negi takes part in more activities at the festival until Chao she reveals herself as a time-traveler who claims she must change the present to avert a great catastrophe in the future. Despite that, Negi and his allies confront Chao and stop her. After giving, Chao bids farewell before returning to her own time.  After the festival, Negi decides to go to the Mundus Magicus (Magic World) to look for his father. His partners decide to accompany him and together they form their own brigade, the Ala Alba (White Wing). They are joined by Negi's childhood friend Anya and accidentally by other students who are oblivious to his secret. As they arrive, the team is ambushed by a group of mysterious enemies led by Fate Averruncus, leaving Negi and his group defeated and scattered across Mundus Magicus. After meeting Jack Rakan, another member of Ala Rubra, Negi decides to train in order to become stronger and specializes in Dark Magic, like Evangeline. Meanwhile, Negi's lost companions start to learn the ropes of their new environment and eventually reunite with him.  During another clash with Fate and his companions, Asuna is captured by the enemy and held captive along with Anya, with a body double posing as the real Asuna. Later Negi has an encounter with Kurt Gödel, a former member of Ala Rubra who reveals to him the story of his parents including how his mother was unjustly tried and sentenced to death before being saved by Nagi at the brink of her execution. He also learns that the Magic World is actually a magically created, inhabitable version of Mars, and just like the world itself, the majority of its inhabitants are created by magic. During another clash with Fate, Negi also learns that the main objective of his group "Cosmo Entelecheia" is to make use of Asuna's secret powers to erase the magically created inhabitants of Mundus Magicus and transfer the rest of its population to Earth before it eventually collapses.  By joining forces with the various armies of the Magic World, the members of Ala Alba storm Cosmo Entelecheia's stronghold where Asuna and Anya are being held captive, to stop their plans. During the confrontation a magic gate is opened to Earth just above Mahora, having Negi's remaining students who stayed behind along with the Academy's faculty members joining the fight. After rescuing Asuna and convincing Fate to accept a plan to save the people of the Magic World without the need of any sacrifices, Negi discovers that the true leader of Cosmo Entelecheia is none other than his father Nagi, possessed by the Mage of the Beginning, who vanishes after asking his son to look for him and release him once and for all.  After being celebrated as heroes for stopping Cosmo Entelecheia, Negi and his friends return to the Academy, but instead of resuming his duties as a teacher, Negi leaves Fate as his substitute and with the help of some of his students he starts working on his plan to terraform Mars for the people of the decaying Magic World to relocate there. The plan involves sealing Asuna's body for one hundred years, and she bids farewell to Negi and the other students after she graduates from middle school. Waking up 30 years after the estimated time, Asuna finds that Negi's plan was a success and that Negi and all her classmates had happy and bountiful lives, but had long since died, all except for the immortal Evangeline, and Chao who exists in this time and has since invented a device to jump between realities. These two appear before Asuna to take her back to the present so she can live out her days with Negi and the others.

English version.

"Negima!" was involved in a controversy surrounding the censorship of the English-translated manga in North America, typical of Akamatsu's penchant for fanservice and risqué humor. Fans fell upon initial rumors of potential edits by Del Rey, and upon receiving news of this, immediately began fighting against the changes. The compromise reached was to release the book uncensored but shrink-wrapped, which some collectors feel can cause damage to the books. Since Volume 13, the books have been released without the shrink-wrap.  Del Rey's releases contained fully translated versions of the omake(s) found in the Japanese versions (which include character sketches, fan art, and information about spells and related concepts), as well as various notes about Japanese culture and other things of interest not found in the original omake(s).  In 2010, all Kodansha manga licensed in the U.S. was transferred from Del Rey to the new "Kodansha Comics" imprint, under Random House publishing. It was announced that they would decide which series to continue translating on a title-by-title basis. On December 10, 2010, it was announced that "Negima!" would continue English releases starting in May 2011. Also, Kodansha Comics has started publishing "Negima!" Omnibus Edition with Volume 1 in June 2011.

Anime.

Introduction OVAs.

Before the beginning of the series, three OVAs were produced to introduce the characters. The first two were released on DVD bundled with two drama CDs, with the third being sold separately. It is unknown if these will be released outside of Japan.  The first OVA is a re-enactment of the first chapter, where Negi first learns of his job as a teacher and is introduced to the students of Mahora Academy 2-A. It ends with profiles of the Baka Rangers (Asuna, Makie, Yue, Ku Fei and Kaede) as well as Ayaka.  The second OVA is a re-enactment of the "love potion" incident of chapter 2, with profiles at the end of Nodoka, Konoka, the cheerleaders (Misa, Madoka, Sakurako) as well as Kazumi.  The third OVA is a re-enactment of chapter 13: Negi's Mahora tour with the Narutaki twins. The tour shows Negi to several of the students (Yuna, Akira, Chao, Satsuki, Satomi, Chizuru, Natsumi, Zazie) as well as others that he ends up missing (Sayo, Evangeline, Chachamaru, Chisame, Misora, Ako). After being chewed out by Haruna for completely skipping her, a final scene introduces Setsuna and Mana.

Television series.

The anime began airing in Japan on January 6, 2005 and ended June 29, 2005. The anime follows the story of the manga to a certain degree but also creates its own reasons for certain events happening - most of which take place towards the end of the series - which differ from the original story, as the situations addressed had yet to occur in the source material. The differences between the manga and anime are significant, and most events in the manga never occur in the anime, again due in part to the manga being incomplete during the series' production. Starting in episode 22 and continuing until the end of the series, original work was created so the series would have a conclusion. At one time it aired as part of the Funimation programming block on CoLours TV.  A second series was announced on May 9, 2006 by Shaft and directed by Akiyuki Shinbo, the director of "Pani Poni Dash!" and "Tsukuyomi -Moon Phase-". It started airing in Japan on October 4, 2006. "Negima!?" is an alternate story with different character designs and an all new storyline, albeit with the same characters. The show also focuses more towards breaking the fourth wall, action, and comedy, and less on the original series' fanservice.

Spring and Summer OVAs.

Two OVAs directed by Akiyuki Shinbo and produced by Shaft have been released, a Spring OVA and a Summer OVA. Both OVA's were released on DVD in English dub on October 14, 2008.  The Spring OVA called "Negima!? Haru" was shown to a private audience in Japan in April 2006 and was released for the public in DVD on October 25, 2006. It is based on the trip to the Southern Islands in volume 7 of the manga. The story is about how Negi makes up to Asuna after saying to Asuna that she should not mind his business.  The Summer (Natsu) OVA was also shown to a private audience in September 2006, and the DVD was released on November 22, 2006. The beginning is about Nodoka and Yue practicing casting a spell. While training, Yue convinces Nodoka that they cast a spell of the red string of fate on Nodoka. A spell which shows them who her future partner will be. One end connects to Nodoka and the other end connects to Negi. Unfortunately, this spell is not a fate connection, but just a tie-up. The rest of the OVA are about how Nodoka and Negi spend the rest of the day trying to take their bath while their hands are tied together.

"White Wing" OADs.

A third set of OVAs (officially an "OAD" or "Original Animation Disc" as these are limited edition OVA releases that are only sold with the purchase of specific volumes of the manga) called was announced by Ken Akamatsu on his website days after the end of the live-action adaptation's airing. Production was handled by Shaft in cooperation with Studio Pastoral and the entire cast from "Negima!?" reprised their roles. The new OVAs cover chapters 176 to 183, and are shown in three parts: Just like previous Negima adaptations by Shaft, Akiyuki Shinbo served as the director, together with the same staff as his previous works.  From the "Negi no Ochakai" event that was held on May 2008, Ken Akamatsu mentioned that if pre-orders for the first of the OADs exceed 50,000 the staff would consider a film adaptation, and if it exceeded 100,000 views, the staff would consider a third animated series. The counter on the official website reached 82,581 before the first OAD was released. The total sales of three volumes was 245,000 copies.

"Another World" OADs.

A fourth set of OADs was announced in the "Mahō Sensei Negima: Ala Alba" event held on February 11, 2009. The series is officially titled. This OAD series, covering the "Journey to Magic World" arc, was exclusively bundled with the manga starting with volume 27. The first episode, adapting chapters 184 through 188, was released on September 17, 2009; the second, which adapts chapters 189 through 192, was released on December 17, 2009. The third, covering chapters 193–204, was released on May 17, 2010, the fourth on August 17, 2010 and the fifth was released on November 17, 2010. Just like the previous OAD adaption, this series is produced by Shaft in cooperation with Studio Pastoral.

Film.

Akamatsu announced in his web diary that they can now initiate "the project" freely because the number of the pre-orders of the new OAD Mahou Sensei Negima! Mō Hitotsu no Sekai was large enough. He said he could not explicitly disclose what "the project" is from now since the sales data turned Akamatsu's personal desire into a real project. He had been saying that the final chapter of the OAD series will be released as a movie if the sales are successful. Weekly Shōnen Magazine announced a "full-length" anime that would be premiered in 2011 and used the term "Negima Saga Final".  On May 17, 2011 the official site opened with the new title "Mahō Sensei Negima: Anime Final" and was released in Japanese theaters on August 27, 2011 as a double-bill with Hayate the Combat Butler! Heaven Is a Place on Earth. The movie provided an alternate ending to the "Journey to Magic World" arc. A CD was released on August 24, 2011 featuring the theme songs of the movie along with the off vocal versions.

Live-action series.

A live-action series of "Mahō Sensei Negima!", distinguished from the manga, first anime television series ("Negima!, having an exclamation mark) and the second anime television series ("Negima!?, having the equivalent of an interrobang) by having two exclamation marks joined at the dot (or, "Negima!!"). The cast of all of the 31 girls was released on July 2007, while it is announced later that actress Yukina Kashiwa would play Negi, Hiroshi would portray Takamichi T. Takahata, former AV star Nao Oikawa as Shizuna Minamoto, and Gajirō Satō as the school dean. It started in TV Tokyo's late-night timeslot on October 3, 2007 and ran for 25 episodes. The 26th announced episode was a DVD exclusive.  Like "Negima!?", the live-action series has an entirely different storyline from the manga and the first anime series.

Music.

A large amount of music related to "Negima!" has been released. Aside from the numerous opening and ending theme songs used in the two anime adaptations, four OVA sets and the film, several character songs have been released.

Negima! Magister Negi Magi, known in Japan as, is a manga series written and illustrated by Ken Akamatsu, known for his best-selling title "Love Hina". It was serialized in "Weekly Shōnen Magazine" from 2003 to 2012, with the chapters collected into 38 "tankōbon" volumes by Kodansha.

《魔法老师》(),又译为《魔法先生》,是日本漫画家赤松健的漫画作品,由讲谈社《周刊少年Magazine》于2003年第13期开始连载,已连载完,共355话。该漫画是赤松健第一部全萌-{系}-主角的漫画,也是赤松健第一部大量描绘格斗场-{面}-的漫画,也是赤松健最长寿的漫画,已被改编成电视游戏、电脑游戏、两部动画及一部电视剧。该漫画的中文版由东立出版社发行。


Society.

More than 80% of the Maonan share the same surname: "Tan" (). Maonan with the surname "Tan" believe that they are descended from the old inhabitants of the province of Hunan that migrated to Guangxi and married Maonan women. Other common surnames found in this ethnic group are: "Lu" (卢/盧), "Liu" (刘/劉), "Shi" (石), "Tan" (覃) "Wei" (韦/韋) and "Yuan" (袁).  The towns of the Maonan do not surpass more than 100 dwellings. Their towns are organized by clan. Their dwellings, are very similar to those of the Zhuang, they are usually made up of two floors and constructed out of plank and clay. The upper floor is used as the living quarters while the lower one serves as a granary and stable.  Traditionally, the marriages were arranged by the parents when the future newlyweds are still children. Traditionally when a Maonan woman became a widow, the brother of her late husband took her as his wife.  During the funeral service, the children of the deceased had to "buy" water of a river to be able to wash the corpse. Before proceeding to the burial, the blood of a chicken was poured on the land to purify it and to bless the spirit of the dead person.

Cuisine.

Maonan cuisine includes many pickled dishes, of which the most famous ones are known as the "sa:m səm ta ma:una:n" (three-sour-middle-Maonan) "The Three Maonan Sour Dishes" (Lu 2008:47). These three dishes are:  Rice wine is also popular among the Maonan.

Religion.

Traditional Maonan religion is both animistic and polytheistic, with heavy Taoist influences. Many deities and rituals are borrowed from Chinese folk religion. Important figures and deities are listed below (Lu 2008:51).  Maonan household shrines are called "ji:ŋ wa" (Lu 2008:51). The shrine consists of a wooden plate on a wall facing the front entrance. Names of deities and family ancestors are written on the plate.  The Maonan people also perform a redemptive ritual called "vɛ da:u" in order to show gratitude to "ni fa:n su:i" (cf. Chinese: "Wansui Niangniang" 万岁娘娘, the birth goddess). During Maonan weddings, couples ask the birth goddess for fertility. After the couple has children, they thank the birth goddess by offering 26 animals (1 ox, 7 small pigs, and 19 chickens and ducks).

The Maonan people (; Maonan: "Anan", literally "local people") are one of the 56 ethnic groups officially recognized by the People's Republic of China. There are a total of 107,166 Maonan, mostly living northern Guangxi province in southern China.

毛南族以农业为主,以饲养业和副业为辅,主要种植杂粮、少数地区种植水稻。毛南族聚居地在广西壮族自治区西北部的环江毛南族自治县,其余散居在南丹、金城江、都安等地,贵州省平塘县卡蒲有集中分布。这个地区紧靠云贵高原东麓,中部是茅南山,东北部是九万大山,西北部是凤凰山,西南部是大石山区,属亚热带气候,适合于农耕畜牧。


Religion.

The Monpa are generally adherents of the Gelug sect of Tibetan Buddhism, which they adopted in the 17th century as a result of the influence of the Bhutanese-educated Merag Lama. The testimony to this impact was the central role of the Tawang Monastery in the daily lives of the Monpa folk. Nevertheless, both Bon and elements of the pre-Buddhist faith (often also called "Bon") remained strong among the Monpas, particularly in regions nearer to the Assamese plains.

Languages.

The languages spoken by the Monpa people are often referred to as the "Monpa languages". This is not a genealogical term, and several quite different languages are subsumed under it. "Monpa languages" include Kho-Bwa, East Bodish, and Tshangla languages. According to Blench (2014), five groups may be distinguished:

Culture.

The Monpa are known for wood carving, Thangka painting, carpet making and weaving. They manufactured paper from the pulp of the local sukso tree. A printing press can be found in the Tawang monastery, where many religious books are printed on local paper and wooden blocks, usually meant for literate Monpa Lamas, who use it for their personal correspondence and religious rituals. They are also known for their wooden bowls and bamboo weaving.  Principal Monpa festivals include the Choskar harvest festival, Losar, and Torgya. During Losar, people would generally offer prayers at the Tawang Monastery to pray for the coming of the Tibetan New Year. Pantomime dances are the principle feature of the Ajilamu festival.  The Buddhist Lamas would read religious scriptures in the Gompas for a few days during Choskar. Thereafter, the villagers walk around the cultivated fields with the sutras on their back. The significance of this festival is to pray for better cultivation and the prosperity of the villagers, and protect the grains from insects and wild animals.  It is a rule that all animals except men and tigers are allowed to be hunted. According to tradition, only one individual is allowed to hunt the tiger on an auspicious day, upon the initiation period of the shamans, which can be likened a trial of passage. After the tiger is killed, the jawbone, along with all its teeth, is used as a magic weapon. This is believed that its power will enable the tigers to evoke the power of his guiding spirit of the ancestral tiger, who will accompany and protect the boy along his way.

Society.

The traditional society of the Monpa was administered by a council which consists of six ministers locally known as "Trukdri". The members of this council were known as the "Kenpo", literally the Abbot of Tawang. The Lamas also hold a respectable position, which consists of two monks known as "Nyetsangs", and two other "Dzongpen".  The man is the head of the family and he is the one who takes all decisions. In his absence, his wife takes over all responsibilities. When a child is born, they have no strict preference for a boy or a girl.

Lifestyle and dress.

The traditional dress of the Monpa is based on the Tibetan Chuba. Both men and women wear headwear made of yak hair, with long tassels. The women tend to wear a warm jacket and a sleeveless chemise that reaches down to the calves, tying the chemise round the waist with a long and narrow piece of cloth. Ornaments include those made of silver, corals and turquoise. One can see a person wearing a cap with a single peacock feather round their felt hats.  Due to the cold climate of the Himalayas, the Monpa, like most of the other ethnic groups in the region, construct their houses of stone and wood with plank floors, often accompanied with beautifully carved doors and window frames. The roof is made with bamboo matting, keeping their house warm during the winter season. Sitting platforms and hearths in the living rooms are also found in their houses.

Economy.

The Monpa practice shifting and permanent types of cultivation. Cattle, yaks, cows, pigs, sheep and fowl are kept as domestic animals.  To prevent soil erosion by planting crops on hilly slopes, the Monpa have terraced many slopes. Cash crops such as paddy, maize, wheat, barley, millet, buckwheat, peppers, pumpkin and beans are planted.

History.

Earliest records about the area which the Monpas inhabit today indicate the existence of a kingdom known as Lhomon or Monyul which existed from 500 B.C to 600 A.D. Subsequent years saw Monyul coming under increasing Tibetan political and cultural influence, which was apparent during the years when Tsangyang Gyatso, an ethnic Monpa, became the 6th Dalai Lama. At that time, Monyul was divided into thirty two districts, all of which spanned the areas of Eastern Bhutan, Tawang, Kameng and Southern Tibet. However, Monyul, also known as the Tawang Tract, remained sparsely populated throughout its history.  In the 11th century, the Northern Monpas in Tawang came under the influence of Tibetan Buddhism of the Nyingma and Kagyu denominations. It was at this time when the Monpa adopted the Tibetan alphabet for their language. Drukpa missionaries came to the region in the 13th century, and missionaries of the Gelug school came in the 17th century. The Gelug school is the sect to which most Monpas belong today.  Monyul remained an autonomous entity, with local monks based in Tawang holding great political power within the kingdom, and direct rule over the area from Lhasa was established only in the 17th century. From this time until the early 20th century, Monyul was ruled by the authorities in Lhasa, who were themselves ruled over by the Qing dynasty until their collapse in 1912. However, in the 19th century, the area began to interest the British Raj. One of the first British-Indian travellers into Monyul, Nain Singh Rawat, who visited the area from 1875 to 1876 noted that the Monpas were a conservative people who shunned off contact with the outside world and were making efforts to monopolise trade with Tibet. Owing to its strategic position, subsequently the British sought to make their political influence felt.  In 1914, Britain and its colonial authorities in India drew the McMahon Line, which they claimed to be the border between Chinese Tibet and British India. The line divided the land in which the Monpas inhabited, and became a source of contention in the subsequent years to come owing to ambiguities to the specific location of the McMahon Line.  In subsequent years, China continued to claim the pre-McMahon border as the border between Tibet and India, while British India gradually established effective control over Monyul south of the McMahon line. Following the independence of India and a change of government in China, the dispute became a major issues in the relations between China and India. The McMahon Line was the effective line of control in this period, though the border was somewhat porous. In 1962, skirmishes along the disputed border escalated to the Sino-Indian War. During the war, China took effective control of the entire Monyul area south of the McMahon Line as well as some other surrounding areas. However, the war ended with China's voluntary withdrawal north of the McMahon Line. Negotiations on the dispute remain active.

The Monpa or Mönpa (; ) are a major ethnic group of Arunachal Pradesh in northeastern India. They are also one of the 56 officially recognized ethnic groups in China.

门巴族()是中国的一个少数民族。人口约5万人,其中中国实际控制区10561人(2010年统计)。


History.

The Graduate Record Examinations was "initiated in 1936 as a joint experiment in higher education by the graduate school deans of four Ivy League universities and the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching."  The first universities to experiment the test on their students were Harvard University, Yale University, Princeton University and Columbia University. The University of Wisconsin was the first public university to ask their students to take the test in 1938. It was first given to students at the University of Iowa in 1940, where it was analysed by psychologist Dewey Stuit. It was first taken by students at Texas Tech University in 1942. In 1943, it was taken by students at Michigan State University, where it was analyzed by Paul Dressel. It was taken by over 45,000 students applying to 500 colleges in 1948.  "Until the Educational Testing Service was established in January, 1948, the Graduate Record Examination remained a project of the Carnegie Foundation."

2011 revision.

In 2006, ETS announced plans to enact significant changes in the format of the GRE. Planned changes for the revised GRE included a longer testing time, a departure from computer-adaptive testing, a new grading scale, and an enhanced focus on reasoning skills and critical thinking for both the quantitative and qualitative sections.  On April 2, 2007, ETS announced the decision to cancel plans for revising the GRE. The announcement cited concerns over the ability to provide clear and equal access to the new test after the planned changes as an explanation for the cancellation. The ETS stated, however, that they do plan "to implement many of the planned test content improvements in the future", although specific details regarding those changes were not initially announced.  Changes to the GRE took effect on November 1, 2007, as ETS started to include new types of questions in the exam. The changes mostly centered on "fill in the blank" type answers for the mathematics section that requires the test-taker to fill in the blank directly, without being able to choose from a multiple choice list of answers. ETS announced plans to introduce two of these new types of questions in each quantitative section, while the majority of questions would be presented in the regular format.  Since January 2008, the Reading Comprehension within the verbal sections has been reformatted, passages' "line numbers will be replaced with highlighting when necessary in order to focus the test taker on specific information in the passage" to "help students more easily find the pertinent information in reading passages."  In December 2009, ETS announced plans to move forward with significant revisions to the GRE in 2011. Changes include a new 130–170 scoring scale, the elimination of certain question types such as antonyms and analogies, the addition of an online calculator, and the elimination of the CAT format of question-by-question adjustment, in favor of a section by section adjustment.  On August 1, 2011, the Revised GRE General test replaced General GRE test. The revised GRE is said to be better by design and provides a better test taking experience. The new types of questions in the revised format are intended to test the skills needed in graduate and business schools programs. From July 2012 onwards GRE announced an option for users to customize their scores called ScoreSelect.

Before October 2002.

The earliest versions of the GRE tested only for verbal and quantitative ability. For a number of years before October 2002, the GRE had a separate Analytical Ability section which tested candidates on logical and analytical reasoning abilities. This section was replaced by the Analytical Writing Assessment.

Structure.

The computer-based GRE General Test consists of six sections. The first section is always the analytical writing section involving separately timed issue and argument tasks. The next five sections consist of two verbal reasoning sections, two quantitative reasoning sections, and either an experimental or research section. These five sections may occur in any order. The experimental section does not count towards the final score but is not distinguished from the scored sections. Unlike the computer adaptive test before August 2011, the GRE General Test is a multistage test, where the examinee's performance on earlier sections determines the difficulty of subsequent sections. This format allows the examined person to freely move back and forth between questions within each section, and the testing software allows the user to "mark" questions within each section for later review if time remains. The entire testing procedure lasts about 3 hours 45 minutes. One-minute breaks are offered after each section and a 10-minute break after the third section.  The paper-based GRE General Test also consists of six sections. The analytical writing is split up into two sections, one section for each issue and argument task. The next four sections consist of two verbal and two quantitative sections in varying order. There is no experimental section on the paper-based test. This version is only available in areas where the computer-based version is unavailable.

Verbal section.

The computer-based verbal sections assess reading comprehension, critical reasoning, and vocabulary usage. The verbal test is scored on a scale of 130–170, in 1-point increments. (Before August 2011, the scale was 200–800, in 10-point increments.) In a typical examination, each verbal section consists of 20 questions to be completed in 30 minutes. Each verbal section consists of about 6 text completion, 4 sentence equivalence, and 10 critical reading questions. The changes in 2011 include a reduced emphasis on rote vocabulary knowledge and the elimination of antonyms and analogies. Text completion items have replaced sentence completions and new reading question types allowing for the selection of multiple answers were added.

Quantitative section.

The computer-based quantitative sections assess basic high school level mathematical knowledge and reasoning skills. The quantitative test is scored on a scale of 130–170, in 1-point increments (Before August 2011 the scale was 200–800, in 10-point increments). In a typical examination, each quantitative section consists of 20 questions to be completed in 35 minutes. Each quantitative section consists of about 8 quantitative comparisons, 9 problem solving items, and 3 data interpretation questions. The changes in 2011 include the addition of numeric entry items requiring the examinee to fill in the blank and multiple-choice items requiring the examinee to select multiple correct responses.

Analytical writing section.

The analytical writing section consists of two different essays, an "issue task" and an "argument task". The writing section is graded on a scale of 0–6, in half-point increments. The essays are written on a computer using a word processing program specifically designed by ETS. The program allows only basic computer functions and does not contain a spell-checker or other advanced features. Each essay is scored by at least two readers on a six-point holist scale. If the two scores are within one point, the average of the scores is taken. If the two scores differ by more than a point, a third reader examines the response.

Issue Task.

The test taker is given 30 minutes to write an essay about a selected topic. Issue topics are selected from a pool of questions, which the GRE Program has published in its entirety. Individuals preparing for the GRE may access the pool of tasks on the ETS website.

Argument Task.

The test taker will be given an argument (i.e. a series of facts and considerations leading to a conclusion) and asked to write an essay that critiques the argument. Test takers are asked to consider the argument's logic and to make suggestions about how to improve the logic of the argument. Test takers are expected to address the logical flaws of the argument and not provide a personal opinion on the subject. The time allotted for this essay is 30 minutes. The Arguments are selected from a pool of topics, which the GRE Program has published in its entirety. Individuals preparing for the GRE may access the pool of tasks on the ETS website.

Experimental section.

The experimental section, which can be either verbal or quantitative, contains new questions ETS is considering for future use. Although the experimental section does not count towards the test-taker's score, it is unidentified and appears identical to the scored sections. Because test takers have no definite way of knowing which section is experimental, it is typically advised that test takers try their best and be focused on every section. Sometimes an identified research section at the end of the test is given instead of the experimental section. There is no experimental section on the paper-based GRE.

Scoring.

An examinee can miss one or more questions on a multiple-choice section and still receive a perfect score of 170. Likewise, even if no question is answered correctly, 130 is the lowest possible score.

Scaled score percentiles.

The percentiles for the current General test and the concordance with the prior format are as follows. According to interpretive data published by ETS, from July 1, 2015 to June 30, 2018 about 2 million people have taken the test. Based on performance of individuals the mean and standard deviation of verbal section were 150.24 and 8.44. Whereas, mean and standard deviation for quantitative section were 153.07 and 9.24. Analytical writing has a mean of 3.55 with a standard deviation of 0.86.  "Field-wise distribution" of test takers is "limited to those who earned their college degrees up to two years before the test date." ETS provides no score data for "non-traditional" students who have been out of school more than two years, although its own report "RR-99-16" indicated that 22% of all test takers in 1996 were over the age of 30.

GRE Subject Tests.

In addition to the General Test, there are also six GRE Subject Tests testing knowledge in the specific areas of Biology, Chemistry, Literature in English, Mathematics, Physics, and Psychology. The length of each exam is 170 minutes.  In the past, subject tests were also offered in the areas of Computer Science, Economics, Revised Education, Engineering, Geology, History, Music, Political Science, Sociology, and Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology. In April 1998, the Revised Education and Political Science exams were discontinued. In April 2000, the History and Sociology exams were discontinued; with Economics, Engineering, Music, and Geology being discontinued in April 2001. The Computer Science exam was discontinued after April 2013. Biochemistry, Cell and Molecular Biology was discontinued in December 2016.

Use in admissions.

Many graduate schools in the United States require GRE results as part of the admissions process. The GRE is a standardized test intended to measure all graduates' abilities in tasks of general academic nature (regardless of their fields of specialization) and the extent to which undergraduate education has developed their verbal skills, quantitative skills, and abstract thinking.  In addition to GRE scores, admission to graduate schools depends on several other factors, such as GPA, letters of recommendation, and statements of purpose. Furthermore, unlike other standardized admissions tests (such as the SAT, LSAT, and MCAT), the use and weight of GRE scores vary considerably not only from school to school, but also from department to department and program to program. For instance, most business schools and economics programs require very high GRE or GMAT scores for entry, while engineering programs are known to allow more score variation. Liberal arts programs may only consider the applicant's verbal score, while mathematics and science programs may only consider quantitative ability. Some schools use the GRE in admissions decisions, but not in funding decisions; others use it for selection of scholarship and fellowship candidates, but not for admissions. In some cases, the GRE may be a general requirement for graduate admissions imposed by the university, while particular departments may not consider the scores at all. Graduate schools will typically provide the average scores of previously admitted students and information about how the GRE is considered in admissions and funding decisions. In some cases programs have hard cut off requirements for the GRE; for example, the Yale Economics PhD program requires a minimum quantitative score of 160 to apply. The best way to ascertain how a particular school or program evaluates a GRE score in the admissions process is to contact the person in charge of graduate admissions for the specific program in question.  In February 2016, the University of Arizona James E. Rogers College of Law became the first law school to accept either the GRE or the Law School Admissions Test (LSAT) from all applicants. The college made the decision after conducting a study showing that the GRE is a valid and reliable predictor of students' first-term law school grades.  In the spring of 2017, Harvard Law School announced it was joining University of Arizona Law in accepting the GRE in addition to the LSAT from applicants to its three-year J.D. program.

MBA.

GRE score can be used for MBA programs in some schools.  The GMAT (Graduate Management Admission Test) is a computer-adaptive standardized test in mathematics and the English language for measuring aptitude to succeed academically in graduate business studies. Business schools commonly use the test as one of many selection criteria for admission into an MBA program. Starting in 2009, many business schools began accepting the GRE in lieu of a GMAT score. Policies varied widely for several years. However, as of the 2014–2015 admissions season, most business schools accept both tests equally. Either a GMAT score or a GRE score can be submitted for an application to an MBA program. Business schools also accept either score for their other (non-MBA) Masters and Ph.D. programs.  The primary issue on which business school test acceptance policies vary is in how old a GRE or GMAT score can be before it is no longer accepted. The standard is that scores cannot be more than 5 years old (e.g., Wharton, MIT Sloan, Columbia Business School).

Preparation.

A variety of resources are available for those wishing to prepare for the GRE. ETS provides preparation software called PowerPrep, which contains two practice tests of retired questions, as well as further practice questions and review material. Since the software replicates both the test format and the questions used, it can be useful to predict the actual GRE scores. ETS does not license their past questions to any other company, making them the only source for official retired material. ETS used to publish the "BIG BOOK" which contained a number of actual GRE questions; however, this publishing was abandoned. Several companies provide courses, books, and other unofficial preparation materials.  Some students taking the GRE use a test preparation company. Students who do not use these courses often rely on material from university text books, GRE preparation books, sample tests, and free web resources.

Testing locations.

While the general and subject tests are held at many undergraduate institutions, the computer-based general test can be held in over 1000 locations with appropriate technological accommodations. In the United States, students in major cities or from large universities will usually find a nearby test center, while those in more isolated areas may have to travel a few hours to an urban or university location. Many industrialized countries also have test centers, but at times test-takers must cross country borders.

Criticism.

Bias.

Algorithmic bias.

Critics have claimed that the computer-adaptive methodology may discourage some test takers since the question difficulty changes with performance. For example, if the test-taker is presented with remarkably easy questions halfway into the exam, they may infer that they are not performing well, which will influence their abilities as the exam continues, even though question difficulty is subjective. By contrast, standard testing methods may discourage students by giving them more difficult items earlier on.  Critics have also stated that the computer-adaptive method of placing more weight on the first several questions is biased against test takers who typically perform poorly at the beginning of a test due to stress or confusion before becoming more comfortable as the exam continues. On the other hand, standard fixed-form tests could equally be said to be "biased" against students with less testing stamina since they would need to be approximately twice the length of an equivalent computer adaptive test to obtain a similar level of precision.

Implicit bias.

The GRE has also been subjected to the same racial bias criticisms that have been lodged against other admissions tests. In 1998, "The Journal of Blacks in Higher Education" noted that the mean score for black test-takers in 1996 was 389 on the verbal section, 409 on the quantitative section, and 423 on the analytic, while white test-takers averaged 496, 538, and 564, respectively. The National Association of Test Directors Symposia in 2004 stated a belief that simple mean score differences may not constitute evidence of bias unless the populations are known to be equal in ability. A more effective, accepted, and empirical approach is the analysis of differential test functioning, which examines the differences in item response theory curves for subgroups; the best approach for this is the DFIT framework.

Weak indicator of graduate school performance.

The GREs are criticized for not being a true measure of whether a student will be successful in graduate school. Robert Sternberg (now of Cornell University; working at Yale University at the time of the study), a long-time critic of modern intelligence testing in general, found the GRE general test was weakly predictive of success in graduate studies in psychology. The strongest relationship was found for the now-defunct analytical portion of the exam.  The ETS published a report ("What is the Value of the GRE?") that points out the predictive value of the GRE on a student's index of success at the graduate level. The problem with earlier studies is the statistical phenomena of restriction of range. A correlation coefficient is sensitive to the range sampled for the test. Specifically, if only students accepted to graduate programs are studied (in Sternberg & Williams and other research), the relationship is occluded. Validity coefficients range from.30 to.45 between the GRE and both first year and overall graduate GPA in ETS' study.  Kaplan and Saccuzzo state that the criterion that the GRE best predicts is first-year grades in graduate school. However, this correlation is only in the high tens to low twenties. "If the test correlates with a criterion at the.4 level, then it accounts for 16% of the variability in that criterion, with the other 84% resulting from unknown factors and errors" (p. 303). Graduate schools may be placing too much importance on standardized tests rather than on factors that more fully account for graduate school success, such as prior research experience, GPAs, or work experience. While graduate schools do consider these areas, many times schools will not consider applicants that score below a current score of roughly 314 (1301 prior score). Kaplan and Saccuzzo also state that "the GRE predict[s] neither clinical skill nor even the ability to solve real-world problems" (p. 303).  In 2007, a study by a university found a correlation of.30 to.45 between the GRE and both first year and overall graduate GPA. The correlation between GRE score and graduate school completion rates ranged from.11 (for the now defunct analytical section) to.39 (for the GRE subject test). Correlations with faculty ratings ranged from.35 to.50.

Historical susceptibility to cheating.

In May 1994, Kaplan, Inc warned ETS, in hearings before a New York legislative committee, that the small question pool available to the computer-adaptive test made it vulnerable to cheating. ETS assured investigators that it was using multiple sets of questions and that the test was secure. This was later discovered to be incorrect.  In December 1994, prompted by student reports of recycled questions, then Director of GRE Programs for Kaplan, Inc and current CEO of Knewton, Jose Ferreira led a team of 22 staff members deployed to 9 U.S. cities to take the exam. Kaplan, Inc then presented ETS with 150 questions, representing 70–80% of the GRE. According to early news releases, ETS appeared grateful to Stanley H. Kaplan, Inc for identifying the security problem. However, on December 31, ETS sued Kaplan, Inc for violation of a federal electronic communications privacy act, copyright laws, breach of contract, fraud, and a confidentiality agreement signed by test-takers on test day. On January 2, 1995, an agreement was reached out of court.  Additionally, in 1994, the scoring algorithm for the computer-adaptive form of the GRE was discovered to be insecure. ETS acknowledged that Kaplan, Inc employees, led by Jose Ferreira, reverse-engineered key features of the GRE scoring algorithms. The researchers found that a test taker's performance on the first few questions of the exam had a disproportionate effect on the test taker's final score. To preserve the integrity of scores, ETS revised its scoring and uses a more sophisticated scoring algorithm.

See also.

GRE Subject Tests:  Other tests:

The Graduate Record Examinations (GRE) is a standardized test that is an admissions requirement for many graduate schools in the United States and Canada. The GRE is owned and administered by Educational Testing Service (ETS). The test was established in 1936 by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.

GRE(英语:Graduate Record Examinations),中文译作美国研究生入学考试/资格考试,是由私立的美国教育考试服务中心(英语:ETS)主办的标准化考试,用来测验大学毕业生的知识技能掌握情况。在很多英语国家特别是美国,GRE成绩被作为研究生录取的标准之一。如今在欧洲,也有越来越多的大学,如德国,瑞典的大学,把GRE作为英语授课课程录取标准之一。1949年,ETS创办、并执行考试任务,旨在检测学生在长时间学习过程中积累的词汇、数量分析、分析性写作、批判性思维,但并不特定某一专业领域。GRE考试由合格的测试中心主持提供机考。


Description.

Members of this subfamily range in size from "Bitis schneideri", which grows to a maximum total length (body + tail) of only, to "Bitis gabonica", which reaches a maximum total length of over. Most species are terrestrial, but a few, such as those of the genus "Atheris", are completely arboreal.  Although the heat-sensing pits that characterize the Crotalinae are clearly lacking in the viperines, a supernasal sac with sensory function has been described in a number of species. This sac is an invagination of the skin between the supranasal and nasal scales and is connected to the ophthalmic branch of the trigeminal nerve. The nerve endings here resemble those in the labial pits of boas. The supernasal sac is present in the genera "Daboia", "Pseudocerastes" and "Causus", but is especially well developed in the genus "Bitis". Experiments have shown that strikes are not only guided by visual and chemical cues, but also by heat, with warmer targets being struck more frequently than colder ones.

Geographic range.

Viperinae are found in Europe, Asia, and Africa, but not in Madagascar.

Reproduction.

Generally, members of this subfamily are ovoviviparous, although a few, such as "Pseudocerastes", "Cerastes", and some "Echis" species are oviparous (egg-laying).

Genera.

"*) Not including the nominate subspecies."<br> ) Type genus.

Taxonomy.

Until relatively recently, two other genera were also included in the Viperinae. However, they were eventually considered so distinctive within the Viperidae, that separate subfamilies were created for them:  Nevertheless, these groups, together with the genera currently recognized as belonging to the Viperinae, are still often referred to collectively as the true vipers.

The Viperinae, or viperines, are a subfamily of venomous vipers endemic to Europe, Asia and Africa. They are distinguished by their lack of the heat-sensing pit organs that characterize their sister group, the subfamily Crotalinae. Currently, 13 genera are recognized. Most are tropical and subtropical, although one species, "Vipera berus", even occurs within the Arctic Circle.

蝰亚科(学名:),也叫真蝰亚科,是蝰蛇科的一个亚科,统称蝰蛇,其主要特征是眼与鼻孔之间不具有颊窝。