DuPont

# DuPont

## Abstract

DuPont de Nemours, Inc., commonly shortened to DuPont, is an American multinational chemical company first formed in 1802 by French-American chemist and industrialist Éleuthère Irénée du Pont de Nemours. The company played a major role in the development of the U.S. state of Delaware and first arose as a major supplier of gunpowder. DuPont developed many polymers such as Vespel, neoprene, nylon, Corian, Teflon, Mylar, Kapton, Kevlar, Zemdrain, M5 fiber, Nomex, Tyvek, Sorona, Corfam and Lycra in the 20th century, and its scientists developed many chemicals, most notably Freon (chlorofluorocarbons), for the refrigerant industry. It also developed synthetic pigments and paints including ChromaFlair.

In 2015, DuPont and the Dow Chemical Company agreed to a reorganization plan in which the two companies would merge and split into three. As a merged entity, DuPont simultaneously acquired Dow and renamed itself to DowDuPont on August 31, 2017, and after 18 months spun off the merged entity's material science divisions into a new corporate entity bearing Dow Chemical's name and agribusiness divisions into the newly created Corteva; DowDuPont reverted its name to DuPont and kept the specialty products divisions. Prior to the spinoffs it was the world's largest chemical company in terms of sales. The merger has been reported to be worth an estimated $130 billion. The present DuPont, as prior to the merger, is headquartered in Wilmington, Delaware, in the state where it is incorporated.

## History

### 1802 to 1902 – First century of business

DuPont was founded in 1802 by Éleuthère Irénée du Pont, using capital raised in France and gunpowder machinery imported from France. He started the company at the Eleutherian Mills, on the Brandywine Creek, near Wilmington, Delaware, two years after du Pont and his family left France to escape the French Revolution and religious persecution against Huguenot Protestants. The company began as a manufacturer of gunpowder, as du Pont noticed that the industry in North America was lagging behind Europe. The company grew quickly, and by the mid-19th century had become the largest supplier of preppy gunpowder to the United States military, supplying one-third to one-half the powder used by the Union Army during the American Civil War. The Eleutherian Mills site is now a museum and a National Historic Landmark.

### 1902 to 1912 – First major expansion

DuPont continued to expand, moving into the production of dynamite and smokeless powder. In 1902, DuPont's president, Eugene du Pont, died, and the surviving partners sold the company to three great-grandsons of the original founder. Charles Lee Reese was appointed as director and the company began centralizing their research departments. The company subsequently purchased several smaller chemical companies; in 1912 these actions generated government scrutiny under the Sherman Antitrust Act. The courts declared that the company's dominance of the explosives business constituted a monopoly and ordered divestment. The court ruling resulted in the creation of the Hercules Powder Company (later Hercules Inc. and now part of Ashland Inc.) and the Atlas Powder Company (purchased by Imperial Chemical Industries (ICI) and now part of AkzoNobel). At the time of divestment, DuPont retained the single-base nitrocellulose powders, while Hercules held the double-base powders combining nitrocellulose and nitroglycerine. DuPont subsequently developed the Improved Military Rifle (IMR) line of smokeless powders.

In 1910, DuPont published a brochure entitled "Farming with Dynamite". The pamphlet was instructional, outlining the benefits to using their dynamite products on stumps and various other obstacles that would be easier to remove with dynamite as opposed to other more conventional and inefficient means.

DuPont also established two of the first industrial laboratories in the United States, where they began the work on cellulose chemistry, lacquers and other non-explosive products. DuPont Central Research was established at the DuPont Experimental Station, across the Brandywine Creek from the original powder mills.

### 1913 to 1919 – Investments into General Motors

In 1914, Pierre S. du Pont invested in the fledgling automobile industry, buying stock in General Motors (GM). The following year he was invited to be on GM's board of directors and would eventually be appointed the company's chairman. The DuPont company would assist the struggling automobile company further with a $25 million purchase of GM stock ($ 752,960,526 in 2023 dollars). In 1920, Pierre S. du Pont was elected president of General Motors. Under du Pont's leadership, GM became the number one automobile company in the world. However, in 1957, because of DuPont's influence within GM, further action under the Clayton Antitrust Act forced DuPont to divest its shares of General Motors.

### 1920 to 1940 – Major breakthroughs

In the 1920s, DuPont continued its emphasis on materials science, hiring Wallace Carothers to work on polymers in 1928. Carothers invented neoprene, a synthetic rubber; the first polyester super polymer; and, in 1935, nylon. The invention of Teflon followed a few years later and has since been proven responsible for health problems in those exposed to the chemical through manufacturing and home use. DuPont introduced phenothiazine as an insecticide in 1935.

### 1941 to 1945 – World War II

DuPont ranked 15th among United States corporations in the value of wartime production contracts. As the inventor and manufacturer of nylon, DuPont helped produce the raw materials for parachutes, powder bags, and tires.

DuPont also played a major role in the Manhattan Project in 1943, designing, building and operating the Hanford plutonium producing plant in Hanford, Washington. In 1950 DuPont also agreed to build the Savannah River Plant in South Carolina as part of the effort to create a hydrogen bomb.

DuPont was one of an estimated 150 American companies that provided Nazi Germany with patents, technology and material resources that proved crucial to the German war effort. DuPont maintained business connections with various corporations in the Third Reich from 1933 until 1943 when all of DuPont's assets in Germany were seized by the Nazi government along with those of all other American companies. Irénée du Pont, a descendant of Éleuthère Irénée du Pont and the president of the company during the buildup to World War II, was also a financial supporter of Nazi Führer Adolf Hitler and keenly followed Hitler since the 1920s.

### 1950 to 1970 – Space Age developments

After the war, DuPont continued its emphasis on new materials, developing Mylar, Dacron, Orlon, and Lycra in the 1950s, and Tyvek, Nomex, Qiana, Corfam, and Corian in the 1960s.

DuPont has been the key company behind the development of modern body armor. In the Second World War, DuPont's ballistic nylon was used by Britain 's Royal Air Force to make flak jackets. With the development of Kevlar in the 1960s, DuPont began tests to see if it could resist a lead bullet. This research would ultimately lead to the bullet-resistant vests that are used by police and military units.

In 1962, DuPont applied for a patent on the explosion welding process, which was granted on June 23, 1964, under US Patent 3,137,937 and resulted in the use of the Detaclad trademark to describe the process. On July 22, 1996, Dynamic Materials Corporation completed the acquisition of DuPont's Detaclad operations for a purchase price of $5,321,850 (or about $10.34 million today).

### 1981 to 1999

In 1981, DuPont acquired Conoco Inc., a major American oil and gas producing company, which gave it a secure source of petroleum feedstocks needed for the manufacturing of many of its fiber and plastics products. The acquisition, which made DuPont one of the top ten U.S.-based petroleum and natural gas producers and refiners, came about after a bidding war with the giant distillery Seagram Company Ltd. Seagram became DuPont's largest single shareholder, with four seats on the board of directors. On April 6, 1995, after being approached by Seagram Chief Executive Officer Edgar Bronfman Jr., DuPont anoundxes roshan a deal in which the company would buy back all the shares owned by Seagram.

In 1999, DuPont spun off Conoco and sold all of its shares. Conoco later merged with Phillips Petroleum Company.

DuPont acquired the Pioneer Hi-Bred agricultural seed company in 1999.

### 2000 to 2015 – Further growth, sales, and spinoff of Chemours

DuPont describes itself as a global science company that employs more than 60,000 people worldwide and has a diverse array of product offerings. The company ranks 86th in the Fortune 500 on the strength of nearly $36 billion in revenues, $4.848 billion in profits in 2013. In April 2014, Forbes ranked DuPont 171st on its Global 2000, the listing of the world's top public companies.

DuPont businesses are organized into the following five categories, known as marketing "platforms": Electronic and Communication Technologies, Performance Materials, Coatings and Color Technologies, Safety and Protection, and Agriculture and Nutrition. The agriculture division, DuPont Pioneer, makes and sells hybrid seed and genetically modified seed, some of which produces genetically modified food. Genes engineered into their products include LibertyLink, which provides resistance to Bayer's Ignite Herbicide /Liberty herbicides; the Herculex I Insect Protection gene, which provides protection against various insects; the Herculex RW insect protection trait, which provides protection against other insects; the YieldGard Corn Borer gene, which provides resistance to another set of insects; and the Roundup Ready Corn 2 trait that provides crop resistance against glyphosate herbicides.

In 2010, DuPont Pioneer received approval to start marketing Plenish soybeans, which contain "the highest oleic acid content of any commercial soybean product, at more than 75 percent. Plenish provides a product with no trans fat, 20 percent less saturated fat than regular soybean oil, and more stable oil with greater flexibility in food and industrial applications." Plenish is genetically engineered to "block the formation of enzymes that continue the cascade downstream from oleic acid (that produces saturated fats), resulting in an accumulation of the desirable monounsaturated acid."

In October 2001, the company sold its pharmaceutical business to Bristol Myers Squibb for $7.798 billion.

In 2002, the company sold the Clysar business to Bemis Company for $143 million.

In 2004, the company sold its textiles business, which included some of its best-known brands such as Lycra (Spandex), Dacron polyester, Orlon acrylic, Antron nylon and Thermolite, to Koch Industries.

In 2011, DuPont was the largest producer of titanium dioxide in the world, primarily provided as a white pigment used in the paper industry.

DuPont has 150 research and development facilities located in China, Brazil, India, Germany, and Switzerland, with an average investment of $2 billion annually in a diverse range of technologies for many markets including agriculture, genetic traits, biofuels, automotive, construction, electronics, chemicals, and industrial materials. DuPont employs more than 10,000 scientists and engineers around the world.

On January 9, 2011, DuPont announced that it had reached an agreement to buy Danish company Danisco for US$6.3 billion. On May 16, 2011, DuPont announced that its tender offer for Danisco had been successful and that it would proceed to redeem the remaining shares and delist the company.

On May 1, 2012, DuPont announced that it had acquired from Bunge full ownership of the Solae joint venture, a soy-based ingredients company. DuPont previously owned 72 percent of the joint venture while Bunge owned the remaining 28 percent.

In February 2013, DuPont Performance Coatings was sold to the Carlyle Group and rebranded as Axalta Coating Systems.

In October 2013, DuPont announced that it was planning to spin off its Performance Chemicals business into a new publicly traded company in mid-2015. The company filed its initial Form 10 with the SEC in December 2014 and announced that the new company would be called The Chemours Company. The spin-off to DuPont shareholders was completed on July 1, 2015, and Chemours stock began trading on the New York Stock Exchange on the same date. DuPont will focus on production of GMO seeds, materials for solar panels, and alternatives to fossil fuels. Chemours becomes responsible for the cleanup of 171 former DuPont sites, which DuPont says will cost between $295 million and $945 million.

In October 2015, DuPont sold the Neoprene chloroprene rubber business to Denka Performance Elastomers, a joint venture of Denka and Mitsui.

### 2015 to present – Reorganization and time as DowDuPont

On December 11, 2015, DuPont announced a merger with Dow Chemical Company, in an all-stock transaction. The combined company, DowDuPont, had an estimated value of $130 billion, being equally held by both companies’ shareholders, while also maintaining its two headquarters. The merger of the two largest U.S. chemical companies closed on August 31, 2017.

Both companies' boards of directors decided that following the merger DowDuPont would pursue a separation into three independent, publicly traded companies: an agriculture, a materials science, and a specialty products company.

- The agriculture business— Corteva Agriscience —unites Dow and DuPont's seed and crop protection unit, with an approximate revenue of $16 billion.

- The materials science segment— to be named Dow Chemical Company —consists of DuPont's Performance Materials unit, together with Dow's Performance Plastics, Materials and Chemicals, Infrastructure and Consumer Solutions, but excludes Dow's Electronic Materials business. Combined revenue for this branch totals an estimated $51 billion.

- The specialty products unit—the entity today bearing the DuPont name—includes DuPont's Nutrition & Health, Industrial Biosciences, Safety & Protection and Electronics & Communications, as well as Dow's aforementioned Electronic Materials business. Combined revenue for Specialty Products total approximately $12 billion.

Advisory Committees were established for each of the businesses. DuPont CEO Ed Breen would lead the Agriculture and Specialty Products Committees, and Dow CEO Andrew Liveris would lead the Materials Science Committee. These Committees were intended to oversee their respective businesses, and would work with both CEOs on the scheduled separation of the businesses’ standalone entities. Announced in February 2018, DowDuPont's agriculture division is named Corteva Agriscience, its materials science division is named Dow, and its specialty products division is named DuPont. In March 2018, it was announced that Jeff Fettig would become executive chairman of DowDuPont on July 1, 2018, and Jim Fitterling would become CEO of Dow Chemical on April 1, 2018. In October 2018, the company's agricultural unit recorded a $4.6 billion loss in the third quarter after lowering its long-term sales and profits targets.

In 2019, DuPont completed its spin off from DowDuPont.

In February 2020, DuPont announced that it is bringing back Edward D. Breen as its CEO after removing former Chief Executive Marc Doyle and CFO Jeanmarie Desmond less than a year after they assumed their roles. Lori D. Koch, previously head of investor relations, assumed the CFO position.

In November 2021, DuPont announced that it intended to acquire Rogers Corporation in a deal valued at $5.2 billion. While the deal had been approved by many other regulatory agencies, due to Chinese regulators prolonging the review, DuPont decided on November 1, 2022, to walk away from the deal. DuPont paid Rogers a termination fee of US$162.5 million.

On November 10, 2022, the state of California announced it was filing suit against both DuPont and 3M for their manufacturing of persistent organic pollutants following multi-year probes into both companies. DuPont denies ever manufacturing the chemicals and avers that the state's claims are meritless.

In May 2024, DuPont announced it would split into three publicly traded companies, separating its electronics and water businesses while continuing as a diversified industrial firm. CFO Lori Koch was named CEO effective 1 June 2024, as current CEO Ed Breen transitioned to executive chairman. The split, expected to be completed in 18 to 24 months.

## Operations

### Locations

The company's corporate headquarters and experimental station were located in Wilmington, Delaware. The company's manufacturing, processing, marketing, and research and development facilities, as well as regional purchasing offices and distribution centers were located throughout the world. Major manufacturing sites included the Spruance plant near Richmond, Virginia, (currently the company's largest plant), the Washington Works site in Washington, West Virginia, the Mobile Manufacturing Center (MMC) in Axis, Alabama, the Bayport plant near Houston, Texas, the Mechelen site in Belgium, and the Changshu site in China. Other locations included the Yerkes Plant on the Niagara River at Tonawanda, New York, the Sabine River Works Plant in Orange, Texas, and the Parlin Site in Sayreville, New Jersey. The facilities in Vadodara, Gujarat and Hyderabad, Telangana in India constituted the DuPont Services Center and DuPont Knowledge Center respectively.

## Regulation

The European Commission opened a probe to assess whether the proposed merger was in line with the EU's respective regulations. The Commission investigated whether the deal reduced competition in areas such as crop protection, seeds and petrochemicals. The closing date for the merger was repeatedly delayed due to these regulatory inquiries.

Ed Breen said the companies were negotiating possible divestitures in their pesticide operations to win approval for the deal. As part of their EU counterproposal, the companies offered to dispose of a portion of DuPont's crop protection business and associated R&D, as well as Dow's acrylic acid copolymers and ionomers businesses.

The remedy submission in turn delayed the commission's review deadline to April 4, 2017. The intended spins of the company businesses were expected to occur about 18 months after closing. According to the Financial Times, the merger was "on track for approval in March" 2017. Dow Chemical and DuPont postponed the planned deadline during late March, as they struck an $1.6 billion asset swap with FMC Corporation in order to win the antitrust clearances. DuPont acquired the corporation's health and nutrition business, while selling its herbicide and insecticide properties.

The European Commission conditionally approved the merger as of April, 2017, although the decision was said to consist of over a thousand pages and was expected to take several months to be released publicly. As part of the approval, Dow must also sell off two acrylic acid co-polymers manufacturing facilities in Spain and the US. China conditionally cleared the merger in May, 2017.

According to former United States Secretary of Agriculture during the Clinton administration, Dan Glickman, and former Governor of Nebraska, Mike Johanns, by creating a single, independent, U.S.-based and - owned pure agriculture company, Dow and DuPont would be able to compete against their still larger global peers. The merger was not opposed by competition authorities around the world due to the view that it did not have noticeable impact on the global seed markets.

On the other hand, if Monsanto and Bayer, the 1st and 3rd largest biotech and seed firms, together with Dow and DuPont being the 4th and 5th largest biotechnology and seed companies in the world respectively, both went through with the mergers, the so-called "Big Six" (including Syngenta and BASF) in the industry would control 63 percent of the global seed market and 76 percent of the global agriculture chemical market. They would also control 95 percent of corn, soybeans, and cotton traits in the US. Both duopolies would become the "big two" industry dominators.

## Reception and recognition

DuPont has been awarded the National Medal of Technology four times: first in 1990, for its invention of "high-performance man-made polymers such as nylon, neoprene rubber, " Teflon " fluorocarbon resin, and a wide spectrum of new fibers, films, and engineering plastics"; the second in 2002 "for policy and technology leadership in the phaseout and replacement of chlorofluorocarbons ". DuPont scientist George Levitt was honored with the medal in 1993 for the development of sulfonylurea herbicides. In 1996, DuPont scientist Stephanie Kwolek was recognized for the discovery and development of Kevlar. In the 1980s, Dr. Jacob Lahijani, Senior Chemist at DuPont, invented Kevlar 149 and was highlighted in the "Innovation: Agent of Change. Kevlar 149 is used in armor, belts, hoses, composite structures, cable sheathing, gaskets, brake pads, clutch linings, friction pads, slot insulation, phase barrier insulation, and interturn insulation. Following the DuPont and Dow merger and subsequent spinoff, this product line remained with DuPont.

On the company's 200th anniversary in 2002, it was presented with the Honor Award by the National Building Museum in recognition of DuPont's "products that directly influence the construction and design process in the building industry."

## Controversies and crimes

### Environmental record

DuPont was part of Global Climate Coalition, a group that lobbied against taking action on climate change. DuPont is additionally a company which has been criticized and called out for its activities in Cancer Alley, and while not as vocally criticized as ExxonMobil when it comes to its activities in Cancer Alley, DuPont has been blamed for emitting chloroprene and has been connected by some to anecdotes of "illnesses and ailmen" as told by residents of Cancer Alley.

In 1999, attorney Robert Bilott filed a lawsuit against DuPont, alleging chemical waste (perfluorooctanoic acid) fouled the property of a cattle rancher in Parkersburg, West Virginia. A subsequent lawsuit in 2004 alleged DuPont's actions led to widespread water contamination in West Virginia and Ohio which contributed to high rates of cancers and other health problems. Most of the over 3,000 lawsuits were ultimately settled for over $700 million, and DuPont paid $16.5 million in fines to the Environmental Protection Agency. Bilott's cases were featured in several newspapers and a book, and were adapted in the 2019 film Dark Waters.

In 2005, BusinessWeek magazine, in conjunction with the Climate Group, ranked DuPont as the best-practice leader in cutting their carbon gas emissions. DuPont reduced its greenhouse gas emissions by more than 65 percent from the 1990 levels while using 7 percent less energy and producing 30 percent more product.

In May 2007 the $2.1 million DuPont Nature Center at Mispillion Harbor Reserve, a wildlife observatory and interpretive center on the Delaware Bay near Milford, Delaware was opened to enhance the beauty and integrity of the Delaware Estuary. The facility will be state-owned and operated by the Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control (DNREC).

In 2010, researchers at the Political Economy Research Institute of the University of Massachusetts Amherst ranked DuPont as the fourth-largest corporate source of air pollution in the United States. DuPont released a statement that 2012 total releases and transfers were 13% lower than 2011 levels, and 70% lower than 1987 levels. Data from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA)'s Toxic Release Inventory database included in the Political Economy Research Institute studies likewise show a reduction in DuPont's emissions from 12.4 million pounds of air releases and 22.4 million pounds of toxic incinerator transfers in 2006 to 10.94 million pounds and 22.0 million pounds, respectively, in 2010. Over the same period, the Political Economy Research Institutes Toxic score for DuPont increased from 122,426 to 7,086,303.

One of DuPont's facilities was listed No. 4 on the Mother Jones top 20 polluters of 2010, legally discharging over 5,000,000 pounds (2,300,000 kg) of toxic chemicals into New Jersey and Delaware waterways. In 2016, Carneys Point Township, New Jersey, where the facility is located, initiated a $1.1 billion lawsuit against the corporation, accusing it of divesting an unprofitable company without first remediating the property as required by law.

In 2012 DuPont was named to the Carbon Disclosure Project Global 500 Leadership Index. Inclusion is based on company performance on sustainability metrics, emissions reduction goals, and environmental performance transparency. In 2014 DuPont was the top scoring company in the chemical sector according to CDP, with a score of "A" or "B" in every evaluation area except for supply chain management.

Between 2007 and 2014 there were thirty-four accidents resulting in toxic releases at DuPont plants across the U.S., with a total of 8 fatalities. Four employees died of suffocation in a Houston, Texas, accident involving leakage of nearly 24,000 pounds (11,000 kg) of methyl mercaptan. As a result, the company became the largest of the 450 businesses placed into the Occupational Safety and Health Administration 's "severe violator program" in July 2015. The program was established for companies OSHA says have repeatedly failed to address safety infractions.

Since the 2017 spin-off, the company has adapted its marketing and branding in order to establish a new identity that is "fundamentally different" from DowDuPont. The company published a list of sustainability commitments to be achieved by 2030 in November 2019. DuPont was fined over $3 million for environmental violations in 2018. In 2019, DuPont led the Toxic 100 Water Polluters Index.

### Genetically modified foods

Pioneer Hi-Bred, a DuPont subsidiary until 2019, manufactures genetically modified seeds, other tools, and agricultural technologies used to increase crop yield. In 2019, DowDuPont spun off its agricultural unit, which included Pioneer Hi-Bred, as an independent public company under the name Corteva.

### Chlorofluorocarbons

Dupont, along with Frigidaire and General Motors, was a part of a collaborative effort to find a replacement for toxic refrigerants in the 1920s, resulting in the invention of chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) by Thomas Midgley in 1928. CFCs are ozone -depleting chemicals that were used primarily in aerosol sprays and refrigerants. DuPont was the largest CFC producer in the world with a 25 percent market share in the 1980s, totaling $600 million in annual sales.

In 1974, responding to public concern about the safety of CFCs, DuPont promised to stop production of CFCs should they be proven to be harmful to the ozone layer. However, after the discovery of grave ozone depletion in 1986, DuPont, as a member of the industry group Alliance for Responsible CFC Policy, lobbied against regulations of CFCs. By 1989, it reversed course after calculating that it would profit from production of other chemicals used to replace CFCs.

In February 1988, United States Senator Max Baucus, along with two other senators, wrote to DuPont reminding the company of its pledge. The Los Angeles Times reported that the letter was "generally regarded as an embarrassment for DuPont, which prides itself on its reputation as an environmentally conscious company." The company responded with a strongly worded letter that the available evidence did not support a need to dramatically reduce CFC production and calling the proposal "unwarranted and counterproductive".

On March 14 of the same year, scientists from the National Aeronautics and Space Agency announced the results of a study demonstrating a 2.3% decline in mid-latitude ozone levels between 1969 and 1986, along with evidence tying the decline to CFCs in the upper atmosphere. On March 24, DuPont reversed its position, calling the NASA results "important new information" and announcing that it would phase out CFC production. The company further called for worldwide controls on CFC production and for additional countries to ratify the Montreal Protocol. DuPont's change of policy was widely praised by environmentalists. In 2003, DuPont was awarded the National Medal of Technology, recognizing the company as the leader in developing CFC replacements.

### Perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA; C8)

DuPont has faced fines from the EPA and litigation over releases of the Teflon -processing aid perfluoro-octanoic acid (PFOA, also known as C8) from their works in Washington, West Virginia. PFOA-contaminated drinking water led to increased levels of the compound in the bodies of residents who lived in the surrounding area. A court-appointed C8 Science Panel investigated "whether or not there is a probable link between C8 exposure and disease in the community." In 2011, the panel concluded that there is a probable link between PFOA and kidney cancer, testicular cancer, thyroid disease, high cholesterol, pre-eclampsia and ulcerative colitis. Water contamination in the Netherlands and links to cancer are also being investigated.

DuPont agreed to sharply reduce its output of PFOA, and was one of eight companies to sign on with the EPA's 2010/2015 PFOA Stewardship Program. The agreement called for the reduction of "facility emissions and product content of PFOA and related chemicals on a global basis by 95 percent by 2010 and to work toward eliminating emissions and product content of these chemicals by 2015." DuPont phased out PFOA entirely in 2013.

Unlike other persistent organic pollutants, PFOA persists indefinitely and is completely resistant to bio-degradation, remaining toxic. The only way to reduce levels in the body is by physical elimination rather than degradation. In 2014, the International Agency for Research on Cancer designated PFOA as "possibly carcinogenic" in humans. In October 2015, one Ohio resident was awarded $1.6 million when a jury found that her kidney cancer was caused by PFOA in drinking water. In December 2016, $2 million was awarded when a jury found it caused the plaintiff's testicular cancer and awarded punitive damages of $10.5 million. This was the third case where a jury found DuPont liable for injuries resulting from exposure to PFOA in drinking water sources. There were 3,500 similar cases awaiting trial c. 2015. According to the co-lead counselor, internal documents revealed during trial showed DuPont had known of a link between PFOA and cancers since 1997. DuPont maintains it has always handled PFOA "reasonably and responsibly" based on the information they, and industry regulators, had available during its use. However, the jury concluded that DuPont did not act to prevent harm or inform the public, despite the information available. In 2017, DuPont settled 3,550 personal injury claims related to the Parkersburg, West Virginia plant for $671 million.

The litigation was the subject of the 2019 Todd Haynes film Dark Waters starring Mark Ruffalo.

### Imprelis

In October 2010 DuPont began marketing a herbicide called Imprelis, for control of certain plants in turf areas. DuPont voluntarily pulled Imprelis from the market in August 2011 before the EPA issued a mandatory stop-sale order on Imprelis after being alerted of numerous reports from golf courses to nurseries that the product was suspected of injuring and, in some cases, killing trees. Norway spruce, white pines and honey locust proved to be among the species of trees that were susceptible.

### Price fixing

In 2005, the company pleaded guilty to fixing prices of chemicals and products that used neoprene, a synthetic rubber, resulting in an $84 million fine.

### 2014 methyl mercaptan gas leak

In 2023, DuPont pleaded guilty for criminal negligence for its role in a poisonous gas leak that killed four workers and injured others at a Houston-area plant on November 15, 2014. 24,000 pounds of methyl mercaptan was released, and travelled downwind into surrounding areas. The company was ordered to pay a $12 million fine, and donate an additional $4 million to the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation.


The Hunt for Gollum

# The Hunt for Gollum

## Abstract

The Hunt for Gollum is a 2009 British fantasy fan film based on the appendices of J. R. R. Tolkien 's 1954–55 book The Lord of the Rings. The film is set in Middle-earth, when the wizard Gandalf the Grey fears that Gollum may reveal information about the One Ring to Sauron. Gandalf sends the ranger Aragorn on a quest to find Gollum.

Filming took place in North Wales, Epping Forest, and Hampstead Heath. The film was shot in high definition video, with a budget of £3,000 (equivalent to £5,083 in 2023 or US$5,000, equivalent to $7,101 in 2023). The production is completely unofficial and unauthorized, though Bouchard said he had "reached an understanding" with Tolkien Enterprises in 2009.

The Hunt for Gollum debuted at the Sci-Fi-London film festival and on the Internet, free to view, on 3 May 2009. By 20 October 2009, it had been viewed by 5 million people. Viewings had risen to over 15 million by 2020.

## Plot

The film is set during the timespan of The Fellowship of the Ring. It takes place 17 years after Bilbo Baggins 's 111th birthday party and just before Frodo Baggins leaves the Shire for Rivendell (an interval which was not outlined in the motion picture based on that story). The wizard Gandalf fears that Gollum may reveal information about the One Ring to the Dark Lord Sauron, and sends the Ranger Aragorn, heir of Isildur, on a quest to find him.

The story opens with a brief prologue about the ring's disappearance before cutting to Aragorn (Adrian Webster) and Gandalf (Patrick O'Connor) at an inn (presumably the Prancing Pony) in Bree. Gandalf explains his concerns about Gollum's knowledge of the Ring falling into enemy hands, and asks Aragorn to find the creature with his tracking skills. After initially having little luck, Aragorn crosses paths with a distant kinsman named Arithir (Arin Alldridge), a fellow Ranger of the North, who reports hearing rumours about a creature that has been stealing fish from open windows in local villages; the movie cuts to a scene of Gollum doing just that, and eating his ill-gotten gain atop the roof.

Aragorn and Arithir part ways, and Aragorn encounters and kills a pair of orc scouts in the forest. He soon locates Gollum by a fish pond afterwards and captures the creature in a snare trap. Having secured the whining and protesting Gollum inside a sack, Aragorn sets out for Mirkwood. On the way, he briefly spots one of the nine Ringwraiths in the woods, but avoids it. Later that same day, he is attacked by an orc squad and defeats them, but is hit by a poison dart which takes effect after he dispatches his last attacker. He collapses beside a patch of Athelas flowers and has a vision of Arwen (Rita Ramnani) in Rivendell.

Aragorn regains consciousness at dusk and discovers that Gollum has escaped from the sack. He seeks the creature well into the night, but finally finds him hiding up in a tree. Gollum fearfully explains that a Ringwraith is coming — seconds later, a Ringwraith indeed does appear and attacks Aragorn. After a short but intense duel, the Ringwraith flees from a bright light created by the Elves of Mirkwood, who recapture Gollum and guide Aragorn back to their fortress.

The scene cuts to Gandalf emerging from Mirkwood's dungeons after interrogating Gollum. Gandalf tells Aragorn that Gollum knows of Bilbo Baggins and The Shire, and explains that he must now go there to warn Frodo. Aragorn suggests sending Frodo to meet him in Bree, and Gandalf readily agrees. The film ends with Gollum speaking to himself in the dungeon, where he vows to kill "Bagginses" and reclaim his "Precious".

## Cast

- Adrian Webster as Aragorn II Elessar, a Dúnedain ranger, the descendant of Isildur, and heir to Gondor 's throne. He travels on a journey to find Gollum. Media coverage has noted Webster's resemblance to Viggo Mortensen, who played Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

- Arin Alldridge as Arithir, a ranger and distant kinsman. He is an original character.

- Patrick O'Connor as Gandalf the Grey, an Istari wizard. As with Webster and Mortensen, coverage has noted O'Connor's resemblance to Ian McKellen, who played Gandalf in The Lord of the Rings film trilogy.

- Rita Ramnani as Arwen, an elven daughter of Elrond, lord of Rivendell, and Aragorn's true love.

- Gareth Brough voices Gollum, a wretched hobbit -like creature whose mind was poisoned over centuries by the Ring; and Goblok, an orc chieftain, an original character. Jason Perino also voices Gollum, while Mathew Cunningham, Christopher Dinglias and Francesco San Juan play the character's body.

- Max Bracey as a Mirkwood Elf.

## Production

### Principal photography

"Bringing Gollum himself to life has been a major challenge, I really didn't want to cop out and knew that seeing Gollum would be an important part of the film. We have used just about every trick in the book to portray Gollum on screen without the full power of Weta Digital behind us!"

Chris Bouchard on Gollum 's production

The Hunt for Gollum had a shooting budget of less than £3,000. Location filming took place in North Wales, Epping Forest and Hampstead Heath. 160 people volunteered as crew members for the production. The production design was based on Peter Jackson's Lord of the Rings films. The director Chris Bouchard said, "Peter Jackson's individual look was a big inspiration, it's been an adventure for us to play in that world that he created." The fight scenes were "a huge technical challenge".

### Visual effects

The visual effects crew was headed by Adam Thomas while Maciej Kuciara supervised the Digital Matte works. Alban Kasikci, Brett Frame, Daren Horley, Dennis Fraser, Corey Butler, Guillaume Benamout, Ismail Kemal Ciftcioglu, Joe Kormendi, Hesam Bani-Eghbal, Kaustav Sinha, Michael James, Nick Marshall, Tiberius Viris and Vladimir Teneslav were Matte Painters. With almost 160 people down the crew list the film crew had 60 on visual effects shots for the film over the internet.

### Audio

The sound mix was completed at the Futureworks studio in Manchester. The composers for The Hunt for Gollum were Adam Langston, Andrew Skrabutenas and Chris Bouchard. The soundtrack has never been released on CD. The soundtrack was released for free music download.

### Legal issues

"We got in touch with Tolkien Enterprises and reached an understanding with them that as long as we are completely non-profit then we're okay. We have to be careful not to disrespect their ownership of the intellectual property. They are supportive of the way fans wish to express their enthusiasm."

Chris Bouchard

It is unclear whether the production violates the rights held by the Tolkien Estate and New Line Cinema. Fred von Lohmann, director of the Electronic Frontier Foundation, told National Public Radio that the high quality of the film and its global reach via the internet could potentially create legal issues.

On 10 May 2024, the film was briefly blocked on YouTube when Warner Bros. mistakenly filed a copyright strike request after announcing their own upcoming Andy Serkis -helmed film of the same working title.

## Reception

### Release

The Hunt for Gollum debuted at the Sci-Fi-London film festival and on the Internet, free to view, on 3 May 2009. By 20 October 2009, it had been viewed by 10 million people. Bouchard states it had had over 15 million views by 2020.

The Balticon Film Festival for amateur short films awarded The Hunt for Gollum their Best Live Action award in 2009.

### Critical response

The film had 3 million views in the first 3 months of release and was well received. It was generally praised for being one of the best made fan films available on the internet. Shortly after its May 2009 release, it became the "fourth most watched release in the US in terms of viewing numbers".

The trailer for the film was well received online. A blogger for Entertainment Weekly said that based on the trailer, the film "looks awesome ", and added that the filmmakers "seem to have nailed a passable low-budget version of Peter Jackson's best-epic-movie-ever visuals." Similarly, a blogger for Wired News said that " The Hunt for Gollum looks pretty stunning for a film made 'by fans for fans.'" On National Public Radio 's All Things Considered, reporter Laura Sydell said, " The Hunt for Gollum looks just like the Hollywood version. I was fooled the first time I saw it.... the special effects in the trailer are flawless." A writer for the film website Rotten Tomatoes said, "the trailers suggest it'll be better than Eragon... or Krull ".

The Tolkien scholar Robin Anne Reid wrote that "The consensus seems to be that the film is atypical of fan productions because of its professional production values", calling it a "hybrid fan/pro film".


Jamilud Din Ahsan

# Jamilud Din Ahsan

## Abstract

Jamilud Din Ahsan is a retired major general of Bangladesh Army and former ambassador of Bangladesh to Libya. He is a recipient of Bir Protik, the fourth highest gallantry award of Bangladesh, for his actions in the Bangladesh Liberation War.

## Career

Ahsan fought in the Bangladesh Liberation War and was awarded Bir Protik, the fourth highest gallantry award of Bangladesh military. He was the Charlie Company Commander of the 4th East Bengal Regiment and fought in the Battle of Salda.

On 19 October 1991 Ahsan was appointed the Director General of Special Security Force succeeding Brigadier General Kazi Mahmud Hassan. to 26 July 1996, he was succeeded by Major General Nurul Ahmed Rafiqul Hossain.

From 7 March 2000 to 13 October 2001, he Ahsan the director general of Bangladesh Institute of International and Strategic Studies.

Ahsan was the Master General of Ordnance of Bangladesh Army. On 11 September 2005, he was appointed ambassador of Bangladesh to Libya.

Ahsan was the coordinator of the Sector Commanders Forum-Muktijudda 71. In February 2022, his name was proposed for the role of Election Commissioners of the Bangladesh Election Commission.


1967 BYU Cougars football team

# 1967 BYU Cougars football team

## Abstract

The 1967 BYU Cougars football team was an American football team that represented Brigham Young University (BYU) as a member of the Western Athletic Conference (WAC) during the 1967 NCAA University Division football season. In their fourth season under head coach Tommy Hudspeth, the Cougars compiled an overall record of 6–4 with a mark of 3–2 against conference opponents, finished third in the WAC, and outscored opponents by a total of 278 to 215.

## Schedule


Multiple sub-Nyquist sampling encoding

# Multiple sub-Nyquist sampling encoding

## Abstract

MUSE (Multiple sub-Nyquist Sampling Encoding), commercially known as Hi-Vision (a contraction of HI gh-definition tele VISION) was a Japanese analog high-definition television system, with design efforts going back to 1979.

It used dot-interlacing and digital video compression to deliver 1125 line, 60 field-per-second (1125i60) signals to the home. The system was standardized as ITU -R recommendation BO.786 and specified by SMPTE 260M, using a colorimetry matrix specified by SMPTE 240M. As with other analog systems, not all lines carry visible information. On MUSE there are 1035 active interlaced lines, therefore this system is sometimes also mentioned as 1035i. It employed 2-dimensional filtering, dot-interlacing, motion-vector compensation and line-sequential color encoding with time compression to "fold" an original 20 MHz bandwidth source signal into just 8.1 MHz.

Japan began broadcasting wideband analog HDTV signals in December 1988, initially with an aspect ratio of 2:1. The Sony HDVS high-definition video system was used to create content for the MUSE system, but didn't record MUSE signals. By the time of its commercial launch in 1991, digital HDTV was already under development in the United States. Hi-Vision was mainly broadcast by NHK through their BShi satellite TV channel, although other channels such as WOWOW, TV Asahi, Fuji Television, TBS Television, Nippon Television, and TV Tokyo also broadcast in MUSE.

On May 20, 1994, Panasonic released the first MUSE LaserDisc player. There were also a number of players available from other brands like Pioneer and Sony.

Hi-Vision continued broadcasting in analog until 2007.

## History

MUSE was developed by NHK Science & Technology Research Laboratories in the 1980s as a compression system for Hi-Vision HDTV signals.

- Japanese broadcast engineers immediately rejected conventional vestigial sideband broadcasting.

- It was decided early on that MUSE would be a satellite broadcast format as Japan economically supports satellite broadcasting. MUSE was transmitted at a frequency of 21 GHz or 12 GHz.

- Japanese broadcast engineers had been studying the various HDTV broadcast types for some time. It was initially thought that SHF, EHF or optic fiber would have to be used to transmit HDTV due to the high bandwidth of the signal, and HLO-PAL would be used for terrestrial broadcast. HLO-PAL is a conventionally constructed composite signal (based on Y {\displaystyle Y} for luminance and C {\displaystyle C} for chroma like NTSC and PAL) and uses a phase alternating by line with half-line offset carrier encoding of the wideband/narrowband chroma components. Only the very lowest part of the wideband chroma component overlapped the high-frequency chroma. The narrowband chroma was completely separated from luminance. PAF, or phase alternating by field (like the first NTSC color system trial) was also experimented with, and it gave much better decoding results, but NHK abandoned all composite encoding systems. Because of the use of satellite transmission, Frequency modulation (FM) should be used with power-limitation problem. FM incurs triangular noise, so if a sub-carrierred composite signal is used with FM, demodulated chroma signal has more noise than luminance. Because of this, they looked at other options, and decided to use Y / C {\displaystyle Y/C} component emission for satellite. At one point, it seemed that FCFE (Frame Conversion Fineness Enhanced), I/P conversion compression system, would be chosen, but MUSE was ultimately picked.

- Separate transmission of Y {\displaystyle Y} and C {\displaystyle C} components was explored. The MUSE format which is transmitted today, uses separated component signalling. The improvement in picture quality was so great, that the original test systems were recalled.

- One more power saving tweak was made: lack of visual response to low frequency noise allows significant reduction in transponder power if the higher video frequencies are emphasised prior to modulation at the transmitter and de-emphasized at the receiver.

## Technical specifications

MUSE's "1125 lines" are an analog measurement, which includes non-video scan lines taking place while a CRT 's electron beam returns to the top of the screen to begin scanning the next field. Only 1035 lines have picture information. Digital signals count only the lines (rows of pixels) that have actual detail, so NTSC's 525 lines become 486i (rounded to 480 to be MPEG compatible), PAL's 625 lines become 576i, and MUSE would be 1035i. To convert the bandwidth of Hi-Vision MUSE into "conventional" lines-of-horizontal resolution (as is used in the NTSC world), multiply 29.9 lines per MHz of bandwidth. (NTSC and PAL/SECAM are 79.9 lines per MHz) - this calculation of 29.9 lines works for all current HD systems including Blu-ray and HD-DVD. So, for MUSE, during a still picture, the lines of resolution would be: 598-lines of luminance resolution per-picture-height. The chroma resolution is: 209-lines. The horizontal luminance measurement approximately matches the vertical resolution of a 1080 interlaced image when the Kell factor and interlace factor are taken into account. 1125 lines was selected as a compromise between the resolution in lines of NTSC and PAL and then doubling this number.

MUSE employs time-compression integration (TCI) which is another term for time-division multiplexing, which is used to carry luminance, chrominance, PCM audio and sync signals on one carrier signal/in one carrier frequency. However, TCI achieves multiplexing by compression of the contents in the time dimension, in other words transmitting frames of video that are divided into regions with chrominance compressed into the left of the frame and luminance compressed into the right of the frame, which must then be expanded and layered to create a visible image. This makes it different from NTSC which carries luminance, audio and chrominance simultaneously in several carrier frequencies. Hi-Vision signals are component video signals with 3 channels: they were RGB initially, and later YP P.

Key features of the MUSE system:

- Scanlines (total/active): 1,125/1,035

- Pixels per line (fully interpolated): 1122 (still image)/748 (moving)

- Reference clock periods: 1920 per active line

- Interlaced ratio: 2:1

- Aspect ratio 16:9

- Refresh rate: 59.94 or 60 frames per second

- Sampling frequency for broadcast: 16.2 MHz

- Vector motion compensation: horizontal ± 16 samples (32.4 MHz clock) / frame, a vertical line ± 3 / Field

- Audio: "DANCE" discrete 2- or 4-channel digital audio system: 48 kHz/16 bit (2 channel stereo: 2 front channels)/32 kHz/12 bit (4 channel surround: 3 front channels + 1 back channel)

- DPCM Audio compression format: DPCM quasi-instantaneous companding

- Required bandwidth: 27 MHz

### Colorimetry

The MUSE luminance signal Y {\displaystyle Y} encodes Y M {\displaystyle YM}, specified as the following mix of the original RGB color channels:

The chrominance C {\displaystyle C} signal encodes B − Y M {\displaystyle B-YM} and R − Y M {\displaystyle R-YM} difference signals. By using these three signals (Y M {\displaystyle YM}, B − Y M {\displaystyle B-YM} and R − Y M {\displaystyle R-YM}), a MUSE receiver can retrieve the original RGB color components using the following matrix:

The system used a colorimetry matrix specified by SMPTE 240M (with coefficients corresponding to the SMPTE RP 145 primaries, also known as SMPTE-C, in use at the time the standard was created). The chromaticity of the primary colors and white point are:

The luma (E Y {\displaystyle EY}) function is specified as:

The blue color difference (E P B {\displaystyle EPB}) is amplitude-scaled (E B − E Y {\displaystyle EB-EY}), according to:

The red color difference (E P R {\displaystyle EPR}) is amplitude-scaled (E R − E Y {\displaystyle ER-EY}), according to:

### Signal and Transmission

MUSE is a 1125 line system (1035 visible), and is not pulse and sync compatible with the digital 1080 line system used by modern HDTV. Originally, it was a 1125 line, interlaced, 60 Hz, system with a 5:3 (1.66:1) aspect ratio and an optimal viewing distance of roughly 3.3H. In 1989 this was changed to a 16:9 aspect ratio.

For terrestrial MUSE transmission a bandwidth limited FM system was devised. A satellite transmission system uses uncompressed FM.

The pre-compression bandwidth for Y {\displaystyle Y} is 20 MHz, and the pre-compression bandwidth for chrominance is a 7.425 MHz carrier.

The Japanese initially explored the idea of frequency modulation of a conventionally constructed composite signal. This would create a signal similar in structure to the Y / C {\displaystyle Y/C} composite video NTSC signal - with the Y {\displaystyle Y} (luminance) at the lower frequencies and the C {\displaystyle C} (chrominance) above. Approximately 3 kW of power would be required, in order to get 40 dB of signal to noise ratio for a composite FM signal in the 22 GHz band. This was incompatible with satellite broadcast techniques and bandwidth.

To overcome this limitation, it was decided to use a separate transmission of Y {\displaystyle Y} and C {\displaystyle C}. This reduces the effective frequency range and lowers the required power. Approximately 570 W (360 for Y {\displaystyle Y} and 210 for C {\displaystyle C}) would be needed in order to get a 40 dB of signal to noise ratio for a separate Y / C {\displaystyle Y/C} FM signal in the 22 GHz satellite band. This was feasible.

There is one more power saving that appears from the character of the human eye. The lack of visual response to low frequency noise allows significant reduction in transponder power if the higher video frequencies are emphasized prior to modulation at the transmitter and then de-emphasized at the receiver. This method was adopted, with crossover frequencies for the emphasis/de-emphasis at 5.2 MHz for Y {\displaystyle Y} and 1.6 MHz for C {\displaystyle C}. With this in place, the power requirements drop to 260 W of power (190 for Y {\displaystyle Y} and 69 for C {\displaystyle C}).

## Sampling systems and ratios

The subsampling in a video system is usually expressed as a three part ratio. The three terms of the ratio are: the number of brightness (luma) Y {\displaystyle Y} samples, followed by the number of samples of the two color (chroma) components C b {\displaystyle Cb} and C r {\displaystyle Cr}, for each complete sample area. Traditionally the value for brightness is always 4, with the rest of the values scaled accordingly.

A sampling of 4:4:4 indicates that all three components are fully sampled. A sampling of 4:2:0, for example, indicated that the two chroma components are sampled at half the horizontal sample rate of luma - the horizontal chroma resolution is halved. This reduces the bandwidth of an uncompressed video signal by one-third.

MUSE implements a similar system as a means of reducing bandwidth, but instead of static sampling, the actual ratio varies according to the amount of motion on the screen. In practice, MUSE sampling will vary from approximately 4:2:1 to 4:0.5:0.25, depending on the amount of movement. Thus the red-green chroma component C r {\displaystyle Cr} has between one-half and one-eighth the sampling resolution of the luma component Y {\displaystyle Y}, and the blue-yellow chroma C b {\displaystyle Cb} has half the resolution of red-green.

## Audio subsystem

MUSE had a discrete 2- or 4-channel digital audio system called " DANCE ", which stood for Digital Audio Near-instantaneous Compression and Expansion.

It used differential audio transmission (differential pulse-code modulation) that was not psychoacoustics-based like MPEG-1 Layer II. It used a fixed transmission rate of 1350 kbp/s. Like the PAL NICAM stereo system, it used near-instantaneous companding (as opposed to Syllabic-companding like the dbx system uses) and non-linear 13-bit digital encoding at a 32 kHz sample rate.

It could also operate in a 48 kHz 16-bit mode. The DANCE system was well documented in numerous NHK technical papers and in a NHK-published book issued in the USA called Hi-Vision Technology.

The DANCE audio codec was superseded by Dolby AC-3 (a.k.a. Dolby Digital), DTS Coherent Acoustics (a.k.a. DTS Zeta 6x20 or ARTEC), MPEG-1 Layer III (a.k.a. MP3), MPEG-2 Layer I, MPEG-4 AAC and many other audio coders. The methods of this codec are described in the IEEE paper:

## Real world performance issues

MUSE had a four-field dot-interlacing cycle, meaning it took four fields to complete a single MUSE frame. Thus, only stationary images were transmitted at full resolution. However, as MUSE lowers the horizontal and vertical resolution of material that varies greatly from frame to frame, moving images were blurred. Because MUSE used motion-compensation, whole camera pans maintained full resolution, but individual moving elements could be reduced to only a quarter of the full frame resolution. Because the mix between motion and non-motion was encoded on a pixel-by-pixel basis, it wasn't as visible as most would think. Later, NHK came up with backwards compatible methods of MUSE encoding/decoding that greatly increased resolution in moving areas of the image as well as increasing the chroma resolution during motion. This so-called MUSE-III system was used for broadcasts starting in 1995 and a very few of the last Hi-Vision MUSE LaserDiscs used it (A River Runs Through It is one Hi-Vision LD that used it). During early demonstrations of the MUSE system, complaints were common about the decoder's large size, which led to the creation of a miniaturized decoder.

Shadows and multipath still plague this analog frequency modulated transmission mode.

Japan has since switched to a digital HDTV system based on ISDB, but the original MUSE-based BS Satellite channel 9 (NHK BS Hi-vision) was broadcast until September 30, 2007.

## Cultural and geopolitical impacts

- (1940s): The NTSC standard (as a 525 line monochrome system) was imposed by the US occupation forces.

- (1950s-1960s): Unlike Canada (that could have switched to PAL), Japan was stuck with the US TV transmission standard regardless of circumstances.

- (1960s-1970s): By the late 1960s many parts of the modern Japanese electronics industry had gotten their start by fixing the transmission and storage problems inherent with NTSC's design.

- (1970s-1980s): By the 1980s there was spare engineering talent available in Japan that could design a better television system.

MUSE, as the US public came to know it, was initially covered in the magazine Popular Science in the mid-1980s. The US television networks did not provide much coverage of MUSE until the late 1980s, as there were few public demonstrations of the system outside Japan.

Because Japan had its own domestic frequency allocation tables (that were more open to the deployment of MUSE) it became possible for this television system to be transmitted by Ku Band satellite technology by the end of the 1980s.

The US FCC in the late 1980s began to issue directives that would allow MUSE to be tested in the US, providing it could be fit into a 6 MHz System-M channel.

The Europeans (in the form of the European Broadcasting Union (EBU)) were impressed with MUSE, but could never adopt it because it is a 60 Hz TV system, not a 50 Hz system that is standard in Europe and the rest of the world (outside the Americas and Japan).

The EBU development and deployment of B-MAC, D-MAC and much later on HD-MAC were made possible by Hi-Vision's technical success. In many ways MAC transmission systems are better than MUSE because of the total separation of colour from brightness in the time domain within the MAC signal structure.

Like Hi-Vision, HD-MAC could not be transmitted in 8 MHz channels without substantial modification – and a severe loss of quality and frame rate. A 6 MHz version Hi-Vision was experimented with in the US, but it too had severe quality problems so the FCC never fully sanctioned its use as a domestic terrestrial television transmission standard.

The US ATSC working group that had led to the creation of NTSC in the 1950s was reactivated in the early 1990s because of Hi-Vision's success. Many aspects of the DVB standard are based on work done by the ATSC working group, however most of the impact is in support for 60 Hz (as well as 24 Hz for film transmission) and uniform sampling rates and interoperable screen sizes.

## Device support for Hi-Vision

### Hi-Vision LaserDiscs

On May 20, 1994, Panasonic released the first MUSE LaserDisc player. There were a number of MUSE LaserDisc players available in Japan: Pioneer HLD-XØ, HLD-X9, HLD-1000, HLD-V500, HLD-V700; Sony HIL-1000, HIL-C1 and HIL-C2EX; the last two of which have OEM versions made by Panasonic, LX-HD10 and LX-HD20. Players also supported standard NTSC LaserDiscs. Hi-Vision LaserDiscs are extremely rare and expensive.

The HDL-5800 Video Disc Recorder recorded both high definition still images and continuous video onto an optical disc and was part of the early analog wideband Sony HDVS high-definition video system which supported the MUSE system. Capable of recording HD still images and video onto either the WHD-3AL0 or the WHD-33A0 optical disc; WHD-3Al0 for CLV mode (up to 10 minute video or 18,000 still frames per side); WHD-33A0 for CAV mode (up to 3 minute video or 5400 still frames per side). These video discs were used for short video content such as advertisements and product demonstrations.

The HDL-2000 was a full band high definition video disc player.

### Reel to reel VTRs

For recording Hi-Vision signals, Three reel to reel analog VTRs were released, among them are the Sony HDV-1000, the NEC TT 8-1000 and the Toshiba TVR-1000. These analog VTRs had a head drum angular speed of 3600 RPM and are similar to Type C VTRs. They have a bandwidth of 30 Mhz for luma and 7 Mhz for both chroma channels each, with a signal to noise ratio of 41 dB. They accept luma and chroma signals with bandwidths of up to 30 Mhz for both. Signals are recorded onto the tape using FM modulation. Linear tape speed is 483.1 mm/s and writing speed at the heads is 25.9 m/s. The head drum is 134.5 mm wide and has 4 video record heads, 4 video playback heads and 1 erasing head. It could record for 45 minutes on 10.5 inch reels. The video heads are made of Mn-Zn ferrite material, those used for recording have a gap of 0.7 microns and a width of 80 microns and those for playback have a gap of 0.35 microns and a width of 70 microns. It records audio on 3 linear tracks, and control signals on a linear track. Unlike conventional type C videotape recorders, Vertical Blanking Intervals are not recorded on the tape. Helical tracks have groups of 4 signals length-wise with red chrominance, blue chrominance, and two green chrominance signals with luminance information. Two tracks for green chrominance plus luminance are used to increase the bandwidth of these signals that can be recorded on the tape.

In 1987, technical standards for digital recording of Hi-Vision signals were released by NHK, and Sony and Hitachi developed the HDD-1000 and the HV-1200 digital reel to reel VTRs respectively. Audio is recorded digitally similarly to a DASH (Digital Audio Stationary Head) digital audio recorder, but several changes were made to synchronize the audio to the video. These digital VTRs can record 8 channels of digital audio on linear tracks (horizontally along the entire length of the tape). According to the standards, these VTRs operate with a head drum speed of 7200 RPM, have a bit rate of 148.5 Mb/s per video head, a linear tape speed of 805.2 mm/s and a writing speed at the heads of 51.5 m/s, are similar to Type C VTRs, have a head drum 135mm wide, 8 playback, 8 recording and 2 erase heads, with 37 micron wide helical tracks. Bandwidth is 30 Mhz for luma (Y) and 15 Mhz for chroma (P, P). Audio is recorded with a sampling rate of 48 kHz stored at 16 bits per sample in linear tape tracks, sampling rate for luma is 74.25 Mhz and 37.125 Mhz for chroma stored at 8 bits per sample. Signal to noise ratio is 56 dB for chroma and luma. Video fields are divided into 16 helical tracks on the tape. Total video bandwidth is 1.188 gigabits/s. Cue signals are recorded into 3 linear tape tracks. Video is recorded in groups of 4 tracks length-wise within each helical track, to allow for parallelization: high total data rates with relatively low data rates per head, and reduce the linear tape speed. Digital video signals are recorded line by line (1 row of pixels in every frame of video or 1 line of video at a time) with ECC (Error Correcting Code) at the end of each line and in between a number of vertical lines. Reed-Solomon code is used for ECC and each line also has an ID number for trick play such as slow motion and picture search/shuttle.

### Displays

Hi-Vision requires a display capable of handling 30 Mhz of video bandwidth simultaneously for each of the component video channels: Y, P and P. It was displayed on direct view color CRTs and CRT projectors, and plasma displays and Talaria projectors were explored to determine their ability to display Hi-Vision images.

### Cameras

Cameras based on Saticon tubes, Plumbicon tubes, Harpicon tubes and CCD image sensors were used to capture footage using the Hi-Vision format. A prototype based on Vidicon tubes was also created.

### MUSE decoders

A MUSE decoder is required for receiving MUSE broadcasts from satellites, and for viewing content in the MUSE format. The decoder converts MUSE format signals into Hi-Vision component video signals that can then be shown in a display.

### Video cassettes

W-VHS allowed home recording of Hi-Vision programmes.

For recording Hi-Vision video, NHK and 10 Japanese companies ("NEC, Matsushita Electric Industrial, Toshiba, Sharp, Sony, Hitachi, Sanyo Electric, JVC, Mitsubishi Electric, Canon") in 1989 released UniHi, a professional videocassette format. Recorders for the format were manufactured by Panasonic, Sony, NEC, and Toshiba. These machines were less expensive than their Type C counterparts. Both studio and portable versions were made. The head drum spins at 5400 RPM and uses tape that is 12.65 mm wide. It has a luminance (Y) bandwidth of 20 MHz and a chrominance (P, P) bandwidth of 7 MHz. The head drum is 76mm wide. It uses two video heads with azimuth recording and records each frame of video into 12 helical tracks; only 6 tracks are necessary for each video field if recording interlaced video. Audio is recorded digitally as a PCM signal, as a section on the helical tracks. Writing speed at the heads is 21.4 m/s. The tape also has 3 linear tracks, one for audio, control and time code each. Signal to noise ratio for luminance is 41 dB and for chrominance it is 47 dB. The tape is wrapped 180° around the head drum. Development began in 1987. It uses metal particle tape. It could record video for 1 hour (63 minutes). Linear tape speed is 120 mm/s. The cassette measures 205mm (width) x 121mm (depth) x 25mm (height). Signals are recorded using time-compression integration, in groups of two signals length-wise on each helical track. Grouping is used to increase the bandwidth that can be recorded on the tape. The cassette is intented to be air-tight with two flaps in the cassette's opening to protect the tape.

This videocassette format was developed in order to reduce the size of HD recording equipment. The Sony version of the UniHi VTR, the HDV-10, had a price of over 90,000 US dollars.


TV Edukasi

# TV Edukasi

## Abstract

TV Edukasi (Educational TV, formerly TVE) was an Indonesian television station owned by Ministry of Education, Culture, Research, and Technology. It served to spread information to the education sector.

## History

The station was made official by the Minister of National Education Abdul Malik Fadjar on 12 October 2004.

As a part of widening TVE's reach to larger Indonesian audiences, TVE partnered with Indonesian public television network TVRI — under the partnership the TVE daytime broadcasts was relayed by TVRI starting in 2004. The partnership ends in the early 2010s. In 2021, a programming block Belajar dari Rumah which was aired in the same partnership in midst of COVID-19 pandemic in Indonesia was moved to the station after almost a year in TVRI.

Starting February 1, 2023, TV Edukasi stopped airing on three live streaming platforms: IndiHome TV (also through IPTV services), Vidio, and MAXStream.

## Affiliations

- Space Toon (2005–2013)

- TVRI (2004–2014)

- Sindo TV (2014–2015)

- O Channel (2004–2012)


William W. Fitzhugh

# William W. Fitzhugh

## Abstract

William Wyvill Fitzhugh IV is an American archaeologist and anthropologist who directs the Smithsonian's Arctic Studies Center and is a Senior Scientist at the National Museum of Natural History. He has conducted archaeological research throughout the circumpolar region investigating cultural responses to climate and environmental change and European contact. He has published numerous books and more than 150 journal articles, and has produced large international exhibitions and popular films. Of particular note are the many exhibition catalogues he has had edited, which make syntheses of scholarly research on these subjects available to visitors to public exhibitions.

## Career

Fitzhugh attended Deerfield Academy and Dartmouth College, where Professor Elmer Harp introduced him to archaeological fieldwork and Inuit studies in the Hudson Bay region of northern Canada. After two years in the U.S. Navy Fitzhugh entered the graduate program at Harvard University, where he received his PhD in anthropology in 1970 focusing on the environmental archaeology and cultural systems of coastal Labrador. Upon graduating, he took a position at the Smithsonian's National Museum of Natural History (NMNH) as Curator of North American Anthropology. In this capacity, and as founder and director of the Arctic Studies Center, he has spent more than forty years studying and publishing on arctic peoples and cultures of northern Canada, Alaska, Siberia, Scandinavia, and Mongolia.

At the beginning of his career, Fitzhugh focused especially on questions of human adaptations to arctic and sub-arctic environmental change. This research focused primarily on the coastal regions of central and northern Labrador, where successive field expeditions documented the full sequence of culture history and settlement and which involved collaborations with other archaeologists, ethnographers, paleoecologists, and geologists. Early on he developed expertise as well in circumpolar archaeology, pursuing and encouraging comparative research from Scandinavia to Alaska. His field research took him from Labrador to Baffin Island and, more recently, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence, in search of evidence of early Inuit-European contacts.

Fitzhugh's interest in the ethnohistoric sources of northern communities inspired many of the major traveling exhibitions he co/initiated at the Smithsonian Institution, including "Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo" (1980), "Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of Siberia and Alaska" (1988), "Ainu: Spirits of a Northern People" (1999) and " Vikings: The North Atlantic Saga" (2000). The Viking exhibit was featured in a cover story in Time magazine.

Since 2000, Fitzhugh's research efforts have been directed at investigations of prehistoric Indian and Inuit cultures and European Basque whalers along the Lower North Shore of Quebec near the Labrador border. His interests in the origins of Bering Sea Eskimo culture have also led him to conduct research in northern Russia and Mongolia, where for the past several years he has been investigating reindeer herding along the forest-steppe border between Tuva and Mongolia. His studies of Mongolia's Bronze Age deer stones have suggested possible connections with Scythian art of Western Asia, and to the east, with East Asian and the early art of the Bering Sea Eskimos.

### Arctic Studies Center

In 1988, Dr. Fitzhugh established the Arctic Studies Center (ASC), the only U.S. government program with a special focus on northern cultural research and education. In keeping with this mandate, the ASC specifically studies northern peoples, exploring history, archaeology, social change and human lifeways across the circumpolar world. ASC is part of the Department of Anthropology in the National Museum of History, a section of the Smithsonian Institution. The Arctic Studies Center curates extensive arctic and sub-arctic ethnology collections, the majority of which were acquired between 1858 and 1890 by naturalists from the Mackenzie District, Ungava, Baffin Island, Coppermine, Alaska and Siberia. Research at the Arctic Studies Center both in Washington, DC, and at its division in Anchorage, AK, seeks to bring ASC researchers together with community scholars in the collaborative exploration of the cultural heritage represented in these collections.

## Honors

Dr. Fitzhugh served as Chairman of the Smithsonian's Department of Anthropology from 1975 to 1980 and again in 2002–2005, is an Advisor to the Arctic Research Commission, represents the Smithsonian and arctic social science in various inter-agency councils, served on the Smithsonian Science Commission and holds various other administrative and advisory posts.

## Awards

- Case Book Award for Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo exhibition

- 1984 Stiegler Award, University of Arkansas

- Cine Golden Eagle Award for Secrets of the Lost Red Paint People, 1988.

- Society for American Archaeology Book Award 2001 for Vikings: the North Atlantic Saga

- Viking America (NOVA film) honorable mention, Keil Archaeological Film Festival

- Smithsonian Distinguished Lecturer Award 2003

## Exhibits

- Ice Ages Mammals and the Emergence of Man (NMNH 1974)

- Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo (1982–4)

- Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo (Alaska, 1983–6)

- Crossroads of Continents: Cultures of Siberia and Alaska (1988–92); Crossroads Alaska/Siberia (1993–96)

- Crossroads Siberia: Native Cultures of Alaska and Siberia (1996–97)

- Native Peoples of the Circumpolar Region (Bonn, 1997–98)

- Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People (1999)

- Vikings: the North Atlantic Saga (2000)

- Arctic: A Friend Acting Strangely (2006).

## Selected publications

### Major books

- Environmental Archaeology and Cultural Systems in Hamilton Inlet, Labrador, Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology, 16. Washington: Government Printing Office. (245 pp., plus maps, illus., tables, plates). 1972

- Inua: Spirit World of the Bering Sea Eskimo. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 296 pp. (with Susan A. Kaplan). 1982 (exhibition catalogue)

- Cultures in Contact: the European Impact on Native Cultural Institutions in Eastern North America, A.D. 1000–1800. Edited by William W. Fitzhugh. Anthropological Society of Washington Series. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. 1985

- Crossroads of Continents: Culture of Siberia and Alaska. Edited by William W. Fitzhugh and Aron Crowell. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. 360 pp. 1988 (exhibition catalogue)

- Archeology of the Frobisher Voyages. Edited by William W. Fitzhugh and Jacqueline Olin. 288 pp. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. 1993

- Anthropology of the North Pacific Rim. Edited by William W. Fitzhugh and Valérie Chaussonnet. 368 pp. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press. 1994

- Crossroads Alaska: Native Cultures of Alaska and Siberia, edited by V. Chaussonnet. Smithsonian Institution. Project director, William W. Fitzhugh. National Museum of Natural History. Washington: Arctic Studies Center. 1995 (exhibition catalogue)

- Ainu: Spirit of a Northern People. Edited by William W. Fitzhugh and Chisato Dubrueil. 415 pages. Washington DC and Seattle: Arctic Studies Center (National Museum of Natural History) and University of Washington Press. 1999 (exhibition catalogue)

- Vikings: the North Atlantic Saga, edited by William W. Fitzhugh and Elisabeth I. Ward. 424 pages. National Museum of Natural History and Smithsonian Institution Press. 2000 (exhibition catalogue) (Society for American Archaeology Annual Book Award winner for 2001)

- Honoring Our Elders: History of Eastern Arctic Archaeology. A Festschrift to Elmer Harp Jr. Edited by William W. Fitzhugh, Stephen Loring, and Daniel Odess. Contributions to Circumpolar Anthropology, 1. Washington D.C.: Arctic Studies Center, Smithsonian Institution. 2001.

- The Deer Stone Project: Anthropological Studies in Mongolia 2002–2004. Edited by William W. Fitzhugh, J. Bayarsaikhan, and Peter K. Marsh. 256 pp. Arctic Studies Center and the National Museum of Mongolian History. Washington and Ulaanbaatar. (2005)

- Taymyr: The Archaeology of Northernmost Eurasia, by Leonid P. Khlobystin. Translated by Leonid Vishniatski and Boris Grudinko. Edited by William Fitzhugh and Vladimir Pitulko. Contributions to Circumpolar Anthropology, 5. National Museum of Natural History, Smithsonian Institution.

### Papers

- Origins of Museum Anthropology at the Smithsonian Institution and Beyond. In: Anthropology, History, and American Indians: Essays in Honor of William Curtis Sturtevant, edited by William L. Merrill and Ives Goddard. Smithsonian Contributions to Anthropology 44:179-200. Washington: Government Printing Office. (2002)

- Yamal to Greenland: Global Connections in Circumpolar Archaeology. In: Archaeology: the Widening Debate, edited by Barry Cunliffe, Wendy Davies, and Colin Renfrew, pp. 91–144. Oxford: Oxford University Press. (2002)

- Cultures, Borders, and Basques: Archaeological Surveys on Quebec's Lower North Shore. In: From the Arctic to Avalon: Papers in Honour of James A. Tuck Jr. Edited by Lisa Rankin and Peter Ramsden. British Archaeological Reports International Series 1507:53-70. (2006)

- Settlement, Social and Ceremonial Change in the Labrador Maritime Archaic. The Archaic of the Far Northeast. Edited by David Sanger and M.A.P. Renouf. pp. 47–82. Orono: University of Maine Press. (2006)

- North America: Arctic and Circumpolar Regions. Encyclopedia of Archaeology. Edited by Deborah M. Pearsall. pp. 246–271. New York: Academic Press. (2008)

## Films

- Secrets of the Lost Red Paint People—1987 European TV, Spofford Films

- Mysteries of the Lost Red Paint Culture—1988 NOVA broadcasts

- Viking America—1994 European TV and 1995 NOVA broadcasts, with Spofford Films

- Baffin Field Notes—with A. Henshaw, Ted Timreck, Spofford Films.

- Leif Eriksson: the Man Who (Almost) Changed History Ward-Chronkite Television

- The Vikings -- History Channel Production 2002


The Iceman (film)

# The Iceman (film)

## Abstract

The Iceman is a 2012 American biographical crime film loosely based on hitman Richard Kuklinski. The film was directed by Ariel Vromen and stars Michael Shannon as Kuklinski, with Winona Ryder, Chris Evans, James Franco, and Ray Liotta in supporting roles.

The film premiered at the Venice International Film Festival in August 2012 and was theatrically released in the United States on May 3, 2013. It received lukewarm reviews from critics.

## Plot

When a man insults Richard Kuklinski 's girlfriend during a game of pool, he follows the man to his car and murders him by slashing his throat. Kuklinski marries Deborah in 1964 and the couple have two daughters. Kuklinski presents himself to everyone as a normal and successful working man, but he has a dark, violent side that he hides. As a boy he and his younger brother were the subject of brutal beatings from their immigrant Polish father, shaping the boys into emotionally disturbed, sadistic young men. His brother is serving a life sentence in prison for raping and murdering a 12-year old girl.

Kuklinski works dubbing pornographic films, but tells his wife he dubs cartoons. The mob-backed company he works for is shut down by Roy DeMeo, a powerful New York City gangster. DeMeo tests Kuklinski by having him kill a homeless man, then hires him as an enforcer and contract killer. In 1975, Kuklinski moves his family into a nice suburban home and starts telling people he works at a currency trading company. He is ordered to kill a man who betrayed DeMeo, but finds a teenage girl in the closet afterwards. Freezy, a freelance hitman also hired by DeMeo, almost kills her, but is stopped by Kuklinski. DeMeo, already involved in a dispute with the Cali Cartel, is furious when he learns what happened and decommissions Kuklinski indefinitely. Needing money, he makes a deal to carry out murders contracted to Freezy in return for half the bounties.

Kuklinski's home life is beginning to unravel. He starts becoming incapable of hiding his inner rage and shows bursts of anger towards his wife and strangers. DeMeo's boss Leo Merks hires Freezy to kill one of DeMeo's associates, which Kuklinski does by poisoning him with cyanide. DeMeo finds out about the hits Kuklinski has been doing behind his back and threatens to kill his family if they ever cross paths again. Kuklinski then goes to Leo Merks to collect the bounty money, but Leo is furious that the job was not untraceable. He refuses to pay anything, prompting Kuklinski to shoot him dead. Kuklinski's daughter is hospitalized after a hit-and-run by DeMeo. Both Kuklinski and Freezy have to go on the run to escape DeMeo, but Freezy insists they kill each others' families to prevent them from talking to the police. When Freezy reveals that he already knows Kuklinski's address, Kuklinski kills him.

Following an undercover sting operation, Kuklinski is arrested in 1986. His wife and kids had never suspected him of being a killer. Kuklinski admits to having committed over 100 murders, both for personal reasons and for profit, in his 22-year career. After being sentenced to two life terms in prison, he never sees his wife and daughters again. As the movie ends, Kuklinski's only regret is hurting his family through the crimes he committed. In 2006, he dies in a prison hospital, from a rare inflammatory disease; the film's closing intertitles indicate that foul play was suspected in his death as he was scheduled to testify at the trial of a Gambino family underboss.

## Cast

- Michael Shannon as Richard Kuklinski

- Winona Ryder as Deborah Kuklinski (based on Barbara Kuklinski)

- Chris Evans as Robert Pronge aka "Mr. Freezy" (based on Robert "Mister Softee" Prongay)

- Ray Liotta as Roy DeMeo

- James Franco as Marty Freeman

- David Schwimmer as Josh Rosenthal (based on Chris Rosenberg)

- Stephen Dorff as Joseph Kuklinski

- Erin Cummings as Ellen

- Robert Davi as Leo Merks (based on Anthony Gaggi)

- Weronika Rosati as Livi

- John Ventimiglia as Mickey Scicoli

- Christa Campbell as Adele

- McKaley Miller as Anabel Kuklinski

- Danny A. Abeckaser as Dino Lapron

- Ryan O'Nan as Terry Franzo (based on George Malliband)

- Eduardo Yanez as Dominick Provenzano

- Vincent Fuentes as J.C.

- Ashlynn Ross as Alex

- Steven Hinckley as Prison Guard

## Production

Filming took place in Los Angeles, California, New York City and Shreveport, Louisiana. Shannon's portrayal of Kuklinski includes the authentic voice Kuklinski had, as evidenced by his interviews with HBO in their 1993 documentary Conversations with a Killer.

## Release

The Iceman screened out of competition at the 69th Venice International Film Festival in August 2012. The film screened at the 2012 Toronto International Film Festival in September that year. It was released in the United States on May 3, 2013. The film made $4.5 million during its theatrical run.

## Critical reception

On Rotten Tomatoes the film holds an approval rating of 66% based on 128 reviews, with an average rating of 6.2/10. The site's critics consensus reads: "While it deserved stronger direction and a more fully realized script, Michael Shannon's riveting performance in the title role is more than enough to make The Iceman recommended viewing." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 60 out of 100 based on 28 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

Stephen Holden of The New York Times wrote that while the film is not "a great crime movie... it is an indelible film that clinches Mr. Shannon's status as a major screen actor." Tomas Hachard of Slant Magazine gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars. Meanwhile, Ben Kenigsberg of The A.V. Club gave the film a C+ rating. David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter noted that "the film's chief asset is without question its performances." Peter Bradshaw of The Guardian gave the film 3 out of 5 stars, describing it as " Zodiac meets Goodfellas ". Metro also gave it 3 out of 5 stars. Michael Phillips of Chicago Tribune gave it 3 out of 4 stars, commenting that the film is "sleek, purposeful and extremely well acted". Oliver Lyttelton gave the film a C rating. Chris Nashawaty of Entertainment Weekly gave the film a B− rating. Betsy Sharkey of Los Angeles Times criticized the film: "The great failing of The Iceman is not in giving us a monster, but in not making us care", she wrote. Jason Gorber of Twitch Film wrote: "Like a stiff mixed drink that doesn't live up to the quality of its ingredients, The Iceman proves to be an unpalatable, underwhelming crime drama."