Taxonomy.

Long known to the Aboriginal Australians, for Europeans, the western grey kangaroo was the centre of a great deal of sometimes comical taxonomic confusion for almost 200 years. It was first noted by European explorers when Matthew Flinders landed on Kangaroo Island in 1802. Flinders shot several for food but assumed that they were eastern grey kangaroos. In 1803, French explorers captured several Kangaroo Island western grey kangaroos and shipped them to Paris, where they lived in the "Ménagerie du Jardin des Plantes" for some years. Eventually, researchers at the Paris Museum of Natural History recognized that these animals were indeed distinct from the eastern grey kangaroo and formally described the species as "Macropus fuliginosus" in 1817. For reasons that remain unclear, the species was incorrectly described as native to Tasmania.  There the matter rested for over 100 years, and it was not until 1917 that researchers realized that the "forester kangaroo" of Tasmania was in fact "Macropus giganteus", the same eastern grey kangaroo that was, and still is, widespread in the southeastern part of the mainland. By 1971, it was understood that the Kangaroo Island kangaroo belonged to the same species as the kangaroos of southern and Western Australia, and that this population extended through much of the eastern part of the continent as well (see range map). For a time, three subspecies were described, two on the mainland and one on Kangaroo Island. The current classification scheme emerged in the 1990s.  The western grey kangaroo is not found in the north or the far southeast of Australia, and the eastern grey does not extend beyond the New South Wales–South Australia border, but the two species are both common in the Murray–Darling basin area. They never interbreed in the wild, although it has proved possible to produce hybrids between eastern grey females and western grey males in captivity.

Subspecies.

There are two subspecies of the western grey kangaroo:

Description.

The western grey kangaroo is one of the largest macropods in Australia. It weighs and its length is with a tail, standing approximately tall. It exhibits sexual dimorphism with the male up to twice the size of female. It has thick, coarse fur with colour ranging from pale grey to brown; its throat, chest and belly have a paler colour.  This species is difficult to distinguish from its sibling species, the eastern grey kangaroo ("Macropus giganteus"). However, the western grey kangaroo has darker grey-brown fur, darker colouration around the head, and sometimes has a blackish patch around the elbow.

Ecology and behaviour.

Diet.

It feeds at night, mainly on grasses but also on leafy shrubs and low trees. It has a nickname "stinker" because mature males have a distinctive curry-like odour.

Reproduction and development.

The kangaroo lives in groups of up to 15. The males compete for females during the breeding season. During these "boxing" contests, they lock arms and try to push each other over. Usually, only the dominant male in the group mates. The gestation period is 30–31 days, after which, the incompletely developed fetus (referred to as a "joey") attaches to the teat in the pouch for 130–150 days. Females sexually mature between 26 and 36 months while males mature at around 72 months.  Western grey kangaroo is closely related to eastern grey kangaroo ("M. giganteus"), and their distribution overlaps extensively, especially in the Murray–Darling basin. However, the two species interbreed only rarely in the wild. Although hybridisation occurs in both directions in the overlap zone between the two species in the wild, this does not seem to be the case with captive animals. Although interbreeding between the two species does occasionally occur in captive animals, viable offspring are only produced when the mating pair consists of a female eastern grey kangaroo and a male western grey kangaroo. This is an example of unidirectional hybridisation.

Relationship with humans.

Western grey kangaroo is classified as Least Concern by IUCN Red List, with a population showing an increasing trend. Total population is estimated to 2,348,393 individuals.  Though the feeding habits of "M. fuliginosus" can be problematic for agriculture, it is protected and controlled exclusively by the state faunal authorities. Because it is considered a competitor for water and pasture by ranchers, this species is considered a pest in some areas. To limit agricultural damage, kangaroo culling has been allowed under license every year.  Commercial hunting for meat and skin also allowed under regulation, with skins providing a high-quality, long-lasting leather. About 40% of harvested meat is using for human consumption; leather is used as a material for handbags, briefcases, and belts.  Commercial hunting is permitted in New South Wales, South Australia, and Western Australia, but disallowed in Tasmania, Northern Territory and Kangaroo Island.

The western grey kangaroo ("Macropus fuliginosus"), also referred to as a western grey giant kangaroo, black-faced kangaroo, mallee kangaroo, and sooty kangaroo, is a large and very common kangaroo found across almost the entire southern part of Australia, from just south of Shark Bay through coastal Western Australia and South Australia, into western Victoria, and in the entire Murray–Darling basin in New South Wales and Queensland.


Description.

Commonly called "jicama" in Ecuador, yacón is sometimes confused with that unrelated plant ("Pachyrhizus erosus"), which is a bean. The yacón, in contrast, is a close relative of the sunflower and Jerusalem artichoke. The plant produces a perennial rhizome to which are attached the edible, succulent storage roots, the principal economic product of the plant. The rhizome develops just under the surface of the soil and continuously produces aerial shoots. Dry and/or cold seasons cause the aerial shoots to die back, but the plant resprouts from the rhizome under favourable conditions of temperature and moisture. The edible storage tubers are large and typically weigh from a few hundred grams to a kilogram or so. The tubers contain fructooligosaccharide, an indigestible polysaccharide made up of fructose. Fructooligosaccharides taste sweet, but pass through the human digestive tract unmetabolised, hence have very little caloric value. Moreover, fructooligosaccharides have a prebiotic effect, meaning they are used by beneficial bacteria that enhance colon health and aid digestion. Yacón plants can grow to over 2 m in height and produce small, inconspicuous yellow flowers at the end of the growing season. Unlike many other root vegetables domesticated by the indigenous peoples of the Andes (ulluco, oca, and mashua), yacón is not photoperiod sensitive, and can produce a commercial yield in the subtropics, as well.  Traditionally, yacón roots are grown by farmers at midelevations on the eastern slopes of the Andes descending toward the Amazon. It is grown occasionally along field borders where the juicy tubers provide a welcome source of refreshment during field work. Until as recently as the early 2000s, yacón was hardly known outside of its limited native range, and was not available from urban markets; however, press reports of its use in Japan for its purported antihyperglycemic properties made the crop more widely known in Lima and other Peruvian cities. Companies have also developed novel products such as yacón syrup and yacón tea. Both products are popular among diabetics and dieters.

Cultivation.

Yacón can easily be grown in gardens in climates with only gentle frosts. It grows well in Kathmandu, Nepal and southern Australia (including Tasmania) and New Zealand, where the climate is mild and the growing season long. The plant was introduced to Japan in the 1980s, and from there, its cultivation spread to other Asian countries, notably South Korea, China, and the Philippines, and is now widely available in markets in those countries. Yacón has also recently been introduced into farmers' markets and natural food stores in the United States and has been available from niche online health food stores in the United Kingdom since 2007.  Yacon is also grown on the Atherton tablelands in Queensland. The plant can be grown using cuttings and the purple corms at the bottom of the stalks. It will not reproduce from the tubers which, if not harvested, rot in the ground providing fertilizer for following crops.  Yacon should be planted in a well-dug bed in early spring, near the time of the last expected frost. While aerial parts are damaged by frost, the tubers are not harmed unless they freeze solid. Yacón is a vigorous grower much like Jerusalem artichokes. The plants grow best with fertilizer.  After the first few frosts, the tops will die and the tuberous storage roots are ready for digging up. It is generally best to leave the perennial rhizomes in the ground for propagating the following spring, or, alternatively, they can be kept in the refrigerator or buried away from frost until spring. While usable-sized edible tubers develop fairly early in the season, they taste much sweeter after they have matured and have been exposed to some frost. After harvest tubers left in the sun to harden taste much better than those eaten immediately.

Chemistry.

The leaves of the yacón contain quantities of protocatechuic, chlorogenic, caffeic, and ferulic acids, which gives tisanes made from the leaves prebiotic and antioxidant properties.

Religious use.

In colonial times, yacón consumption was identified with a Catholic religious celebration held at the time of an earlier Inca feast. In the Moche era, it may have been food for a special occasion. Effigies of edible food may have been placed at Moche burials for the nourishment of the dead, as offerings to lords of the other world, or in commemoration of a certain occasion. Moche depicted such yacón on their ceramics.

The yacón ("Smallanthus sonchifolius") is a species of perennial daisy traditionally grown in the northern and central Andes from Colombia to northern Argentina for its crisp, sweet-tasting, tuberous roots. Their texture and flavour are very similar to jicama, mainly differing in that yacón has some slightly sweet, resinous, and floral (similar to violet) undertones to its flavour, probably due to the presence of inulin, which produces the sweet taste of the roots of elecampane, as well. Another name for yacón is Peruvian ground apple, possibly from the French name of potato, "pomme de terre" (ground apple). The tuber is composed mostly of water and fructooligosaccharide.


History.

Albert, former Grand Master of the Teutonic Knights and first Duke of Prussia since 1525, had purchased a piece of land behind Königsberg Cathedral on the Kneiphof island of the Pregel River from the Samland chapter, where he had an academic gymnasium (school) erected in 1542. He issued the deed of foundation of the "Collegium Albertinum" on 20 July 1544, after which the university was inaugurated on 17 August.  The newly established Protestant duchy was a fiefdom of the Crown of the Kingdom of Poland and the university served as a Lutheran counterpart to the Catholic Cracow Academy. Its first rector was the poet Georg Sabinus, son-in-law of Philipp Melanchthon. Lithuanian scholars Stanislovas Rapalionis and Abraomas Kulvietis were among the first professors of university. All professors had to take an oath on the Augsburg Confession. Since the Prussian lands lay beyond the borders of the Holy Roman Empire, both Emperor Charles V and Pope Paul III withheld their approval, nevertheless the Königsberg academy received the royal privilege by King Sigismund II Augustus of Poland on 28 March 1560.  From 1618 the Prussian duchy was ruled in personal union by the Margraves of Brandenburg and in 1657 the "Great Elector" Frederick William of Brandenburg finally acquired full sovereignty over Prussia from Poland by the Treaty of Wehlau. The "Albertina" was the second oldest university (after the University of Frankfurt (Oder)) and intellectual centre of Protestant Brandenburg-Prussia. Initially it comprised four colleges: Theology, Medicine, Philosophy and Law, later also natural sciences. Subsequent rectors included numerous Hohenzollern Prussian royals (at last Crown Prince William 1908–1918), who had never been to the university, usually represented by a prorector in charge of academic affairs.  The Prussian lands remained unharmed by the disastrous Thirty Years' War, which gained the Königsberg university an increasing popularity among students. In the 17th century, it was known as a home to Simon Dach, serving as rector in 1656/57, and his fellow poets. Tsar Peter I of Russia visited the "Albertina" in 1697, leading to increased contacts between Prussia and the Russian Empire. Notable Russian students at Königbserg were Kirill Razumovsky, later president of the Russian Academy of Sciences and General Mikhail Andreyevich Miloradovich. The university and the city had profound impact on the development of Lithuanian culture. The first book in Lithuanian language was printed here in 1547 and several important Lithuanian writers attended the "Albertina". The university was also the preferred educational institution of the Baltic German nobility.  The 18th century went down in cultural history as the "Königsberg Century" of Enlightenment, a heyday initiated by the "Albertina" student Johann Christoph Gottsched and continued by the philosopher Johann Georg Hamann and writer Theodor Gottlieb von Hippel the Elder. Notable alumni were Johann Gottfried Herder, Zacharias Werner, Johann Friedrich Reichardt, E. T. A. Hoffmann, and foremost the philosopher Immanuel Kant, rector in 1786 and 1788. These scholars laid the foundations for the later Weimar Classicism and German Romanticism movements.  The "Albertina"'s magnificent botanical garden was inaugurated in 1811 during the Napoleonic Wars. Two years later, Friedrich Wilhelm Bessel established his outstanding observatory next door to the garden. Other university professors included such giants of the science world as the philosopher Johann Gottlieb Fichte (1806–07), the biologist Karl Ernst von Baer (1817–34), the mathematician Carl Gustav Jacobi (1829–42), the mineralogist Franz Ernst Neumann (1828–76) and the physicist Hermann von Helmholtz (1849–55).  In the 19th and 20th centuries, the university was most famous for its school of Mathematics, founded by Carl Gustav Jacob Jacobi, and continued by his pupils Ludwig Otto Hesse, Friedrich Richelot, Johann G. Rosenhain and Philipp Ludwig von Seidel. It was later associated with the names of Hermann Minkowski (Albert Einstein's teacher), Adolf Hurwitz, Ferdinand von Lindemann and David Hilbert, who was one of the greatest modern mathematicians. The mathematicians Alfred Clebsch and Carl Gottfried Neumann (both born in Königsberg and educated under Ludwig Otto Hesse) founded the "Mathematische Annalen" in 1868, which soon became the most influential mathematical journal of the time.  Celebrating the university's 300 years jubilee 0n 31 August 1844, King Frederick William IV of Prussia laid the foundation for the new main building of the "Albertina", which was inaugurated in 1862 by Crown Prince Frederick and Prorector Johann Karl Friedrich Rosenkranz. The building on central Paradeplatz was erected in a neo-Renaissance style according to plans designed by Friedrich August Stüler. The facade was adorned by an equestrian figure in relief of Albert of Prussia. Below it were niches containing statues of the Protestant reformers Martin Luther and Philipp Melanchthon. Inside was a handsome staircase, borne by marble columns. The Senate Hall contained a portrait of Emperor Frederick III by Lauchert and a bust of Immanuel Kant by Hagemann, a student of Schadow. The adjacent hall ("Aula") was adorned with frescoes painted in 1870.  The university library was situated on Mitteltragheim in 1901 and contained over 230,000 volumes. On Dritte Fliess Strasse was the Palästra Albertina, established in 1898 for the encouragement of the higher forms of sport among the students and citizens. Nearby were the government offices, adorned with mural paintings by Knorr and Schmidt. In 1900, the university had 900 students.  During the university's last years, the "Albertina" faculty and the German Student Union after the territorial separation of the Province of East Prussia by the Treaty of Versailles stressed its affiliation with the Reich, pushing intellectual life towards German nationalism. On 10 July 1944, the university celebrated its 400th anniversary in presence of Reich Minister Walther Funk. A few weeks later, during the nights of 26/27 and 29/30 August, Königsberg was extensively bombed by the Royal Air Force. From January to April 1945 the city was further devastated by the East Prussian Offensive of the Red Army and the final Battle of Königsberg. When General Otto Lasch signed the capitulation on April 9, the historic inner city was destroyed by the attacks, and 80% of the university campus lay in ruins. The faculty had fled, many of them were received at the University of Göttingen.  The remaining premises including the "Albertina" main building were used by the Kaliningrad State Pedagogical Institute from 1948, which in 1967 received the status of a Kaliningrad State University.

The University of Königsberg () was the university of Königsberg in East Prussia. It was founded in 1544 as the world's second Protestant academy (after the University of Marburg) by Duke Albert of Prussia, and was commonly known as the Albertina.


Biography.

Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten trained first with his father Dirk van Hoogstraten and stayed in Dordrecht until about 1640. On the death of his father, he moved to Amsterdam where he entered the workshop of Rembrandt. A short time later, he started out on his own as a master and painter of portraits.  He later made several travels which took him (1651) to Vienna, Rome and London, finally retiring to Dordrecht. There he married in 1656, and held an appointment as provost of the mint.

Paintings and etches.

A sufficient number of Van Hoogstraten's works have been preserved to show that he strove to imitate different styles at different times. In a portrait dated 1645, currently in the Lichtenstein collection in Vienna, he imitates Rembrandt. He continued in this vein until as late as 1653 when he produced a figure of a bearded man looking out of a window. This, one of the more characteristic examples of his style, is exhibited in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna. He was also skilled at Tromp-l'oeil still lifes.  A view of the Vienna Hofburg, dated 1652, displays his skill as a painter of architecture. In contrast, a piece at the Hague representing a "Lady Reading a Letter as she crosses a Courtyard" (Mauritshuis) or a "Lady Consulting a Doctor," (in the Rijksmuseum at Amsterdam), imitates de Hooch. One of his last remaining works is a portrait of Mathys van den Brouck, dated 1670.  Hoogstraten also employed his skill with perspective to construct "peepshows", or "perspective boxes". For example, "A Peepshow with Views of the Interior of a Dutch House" is a box with convincing 3D views of the interior of a Dutch house when viewed through peepholes on either end of the box. One of his perspective boxes is on show at the National Gallery in London. It shows the interior of a typical Dutch house of his time.  He produced many etchings as well, and some of his plates are still preserved. His self-portrait, engraved by himself at the age of fifty, still exists.  His pupils were his younger brother Jan van Hoogstraten, Aert de Gelder, Cornelis van der Meulen, and Godfried Schalcken.

Literary work.

Art theoretician.

Van Hoogstraten's fame derives from his versatile career as a painter, poet and zealous social climber. Besides painting and directing a mint, he devoted some of his time to literary labours. His "magnum opus" is a book on painting, the "Introduction to the Academy of Painting, or the Visible World" (original title: 'Inleyding tot de hooge schoole der schilderkonst: anders de zichtbaere werelt', Rotterdam, 1678) which is in length and theoretical scope one of the most ambitious treatises on the art of painting published in the Dutch Republic in the seventeenth century. It covers issues such as pictorial persuasion and illusionism, the painter's moral standards and the relation of painting to philosophy, referring to various ancient and modern authors. While reacting to international, mainly Southern European ideas on painting which Van Hoogstraten may have encountered during his travels, the treatise also reflects contemporary talk and thought on art from Dutch studios. He wrote it as a sequel to Karel van Mander's early-17th-century book on painting and painters entitled "Het Schilder-Boeck". One of van Hoogstraten's many students, Arnold Houbraken, later wrote the book entitled "The Great Theatre of Dutch Painters", which included a biography of his teacher. This biography is the basis of most of the information that we have about van Hoogstraten today.

Sonnets and tragedies.

Van Hoogstraten also composed sonnets and tragedies. We are indebted to him for some of the familiar sayings of Rembrandt.

Samuel Dirksz van Hoogstraten (2 August 1627, Dordrecht – 19 October 1678, Dordrecht) was a Dutch painter of the Golden Age, who was also a poet and author on art theory.


Life and political activity.

Frunze was born in 1885 in Pishpek (present-day Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan), then a small Imperial Russian garrison town in the Kyrgyz part of Russian Turkestan (Semirechye Oblast). His father was a Romanian para-medic (feldsher) (originally from the Kherson Governorate) and his mother was Russian. Frunze began his higher studies at Verniy (present-day Almaty), and in 1904 he attended the Saint Petersburg Polytechnical University. Frunze became active in the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party (RSDLP). At the Second Congress of the RSDLP in London (1903), Vladimir Lenin and Julius Martov, the two main leaders, confronted each other in an ideological split over party tactics (Martov argued for a large party of activists, whilst Lenin wanted a small group of professional revolutionaries with a large fringe group of sympathisers). Frunze at the age of 18 sided with Lenin's majority, the so-called "Bolsheviks" ("majoritarians"), as opposed to Martov's minority, the "Mensheviks" (or "minoritarians").  Two years after the Second Congress, Frunze became an important leader in the 1905 Revolution. He led striking textile workers in Shuya and Ivanovo. Following the end of the movement, Frunze was arrested in 1907 and sentenced to death; he was imprisoned and spent several months on death row awaiting his execution. His sentence was commuted to life at hard labour. After 10 years in Siberian prisons, Frunze escaped to Chita. There he became editor of the Bolshevik weekly newspaper "Vostochnoe Obozrenie" (Eastern Review).  During the February Revolution of 1917, Frunze headed the Minsk civilian militia before his election as president of the Byelorussian Soviet. He later went to Moscow and led an armed force of workers to aid in the struggle for control of the city.

Russian Civil War.

After the October Revolution of 1917, Frunze was appointed in 1918 as Military Commissar for the Ivanovo-Voznesensk Province. In the course of the Russian Civil War of 1917-1922, he was appointed as head of the Southern Army Group of the (March 1919). After Frunze's troops defeated Admiral Alexander Kolchak and the White Army in Omsk, Leon Trotsky (the head of the Red Army) gave overall command of the Eastern Front to him (19 July 1919). Frunze drove out Basmachi insurgents and White Army troops from his native Turkestan. He captured Khiva in February and Bukhara in September 1920.  In November 1920, Frunze's army took the Crimea and managed to push White general Pyotr Wrangel and his troops out of Russia. As commander of the southern front, Frunze also led the destruction of Nestor Makhno's anarchist movement in Ukraine and the nationalist movement of Symon Petliura.  In December 1921, Frunze visited Ankara, during Turkish War of Independence, as an ambassador of the Ukrainian SSR, and established Turkish–Soviet relations. Mustafa Kemal Ataturk valued him as an ally and a friend, to the extent that he placed a statue of Frunze as a part of the Republic Monument at the Taksim Square, in Istanbul.  In 1921, Frunze was elected to the Central Committee of the Russian Bolshevik Party. On 2 June 1924 he became candidate member of the Politburo and in January 1925, became the Chairman of the Revolutionary Military Council.  Frunze's support of Grigory Zinoviev brought him into conflict with Joseph Stalin, one of Zinoviev's chief opponents. They had previously been on amiable terms, as Stalin had displayed respect towards his fellow "old guard" revolutionary and former prisoner.

Death.

Frunze had been noted among communist leaders as possessing a very creative and almost unorthodox view on matters of implementation and policy. He gained the respect and admiration of his comrades thanks to his fearless and successful pursuit of complicated military objectives, and his endurance during the period when the Communist party was illegal. He had been considered as a potential successor to Lenin, due to his strength in both theoretical and practical matters of advancing the Communist party agenda, and his seeming lack of personal ambition separate from the party.  Frunze suffered from a chronic ulcer. Although doctors recommended surgery, he favoured more conservative treatments. After an especially severe episode in 1925, Frunze was hospitalised. Stalin and Anastas Mikoyan both came to visit him, and impressed on him the need for an operation.  Not long before his death, Frunze wrote to his wife: "At present I am feeling absolutely healthy, and it seems ridiculous to even think of, and even more-so to undergo an operation. Nevertheless, both party representatives are requiring it."  Frunze died during surgery on 31 October 1925. Given the internecine politics, there were rumours that Stalin or another rival had secretly ordered his death, but V. Topolyansky, in his 2006 book, said there is no evidence to support this. But a 26 October 2010 article in "Izvestiya" reported that Frunze had been administered a chloroform dose that exceeded the normal dose by sevenfold.  Frunze was buried in the Kremlin Wall Necropolis.

Legacy.

In 1926, the capital city of Bishkek, Kyrgyzstan, was renamed "Frunze" in his honour. It reverted to its former name in 1991, after dissolution of the Soviet Union. Frunze is still commemorated in the city: his equestrian statue stands in front of the main railway station. A street and a museum in the centre of the city are named after him. In addition, the museum contains his childhood home, a cottage that was installed inside a larger modern structure.  Shuya is home to another memorial museum dedicated to Frunze.  Multiple villages in Russia were named for him. Streets in many Russian cities are named after him.  The Frunze Military Academy in Moscow, one of the most respected in the former Soviet Union, was named in his honour.  The Soviet 2nd Rifle Division was formerly known as 2nd Belarusian Red Banner Rifle Division in the name of M.V. Frunze.  There are stations named "Frunzenskaya" in his honour on the Moscow Metro, Saint Petersburg Metro and Minsk Metro, and a stone carving of his likeness stands at one end of the station.  After his death, the first name for boys Frunzik (roughly "Little Frunze") became quite popular in the Caucusus and Soviet Turkestan. The most notable of these is probably Frunzik Mkrtchyan.  The Russian battleship Poltava was renamed "Frunze" in his honour in January 1926, as was the second Kirov-class nuclear battlecruiser (now the "Admiral Lazarev") in 1981.  General Frunze is also honoured with a place right behind Ataturk, in the Monument of the Republic, located at the heart of Taksim Square, in Istanbul, Turkey.

Literary depictions.

Boris Pilnyak's story "The Tale of the Unextinguished Moon" was based on Frunze's death. His death also forms the central element of the first two chapters of Vasily Aksyonov's novel "Generations of Winter".  Marxist activist Tariq Ali featured Frunze in his 2017 biography of Vladimir Lenin, "The Dilemmas of Lenin". Ali portrays Frunze as a significant figure in developing the military tactics of the Red Army during the civil war. He emphasizes Frunze's concept of Marxist military tactics, which strongly influenced Soviet military organization.

Mikhail Vasilyevich Frunze (; 2 February 1885 – 31 October 1925) was a Bolshevik leader during and just prior to the Russian Revolution of 1917. Frunze was born in modern-day Kyrgyzstan. He became active with the Bolsheviks and rose to the rank of a major Red Army commander in the Russian Civil War of 1917-1918. He is best known for defeating Baron Peter von Wrangel in Crimea. The capital of the Kyrghyz SSR (modern Bishkek) was named in his honor from 1926 until 1991, when the Soviet Union was dissolved.


History.

The school was established in Paris on 1 December 1819 as the world's first business school by a group of economic scholars and businessmen including the well-known economist Jean-Baptiste Say and the celebrated trader Vital Roux. It was modeled on the first Grande École, the École Polytechnique founded by Lazare Carnot and Gaspard Monge, but was initially much more modest, mainly because it had not been supported by the state. It gradually gained in stature and importance during the 19th century and moved to its current Parisian location on Avenue de la République in 1898.  In 1828, the project to put the school under the authority of the French Ministry of Commerce and Industry failed. The school remained independent by the intervention of Jérôme-Adolphe Blanqui who took it over. Several times during the first half of the 19th century, French politics planned on grouping ESCP with French elite engineering schools such as École Polytechnique or École Centrale Paris, but that never occurred. From 1838, the French state began to give scholarships to ESCP's students and in 1852 it accredited ESCP's programs.  Finally, in 1869 the Paris Chamber of Commerce bought the school to train future business leaders to modern commercial methods. Until 1870 there was only one business school in France: ESCP. In 1892, ESCP set up selective admission processes which still take the form of competitive exams.  On 5 April 1973 the concept of a multi-campus business school was founded with the consecutive inaugurations of campuses in the United Kingdom (London in 1974, move to Oxford in 1975) and in Germany (Düsseldorf in 1975, move to Berlin in 1985). Since then, the school has deepened its European presence to become an integrated pan-European business school:

Campus.

ESCP students can study in campuses in France (Paris), in the UK (London), Spain (Madrid), Germany (Berlin), Italy (Turin), and Poland (Warsaw). They can spend either 6 months or 1 year on each campus according to their study choices. Each campus has its own specifics and develops programs with local academic institutions. For instance, in Spain ESCP provides a Master in Business Project Management co-delivered with the Technical University of Madrid and in Italy a double-degree program is availabe for engineers together with Polytechnic University of Turin.  Since 2017, ESCP has two campuses in Paris. One near the Place de la République (11th arrondissement of Paris) and another one near the Montparnasse Tower (15th arrondissement of Paris). Each campus is dedicated to a specific range of programs. The campus in the 11th arrondissement hosts all the graduate programs whereas the campus in the 15th arrondissement hosts the undergraduate education, the executive education and the school's start-up Incubator, the Blue Factory. This organization is unique to Paris. In every other school undergraduate, graduate and executive education are dispensed in the same campus.

Notable alumni.

Politics

ESCP Business School is a European school of management with campuses in Paris, Berlin, London, Madrid, Turin, and Warsaw. In France, ESCP is one of the most selective French Grandes écoles and referred to in France as one of the "trois Parisiennes" (three Parisians), together with HEC Paris and ESSEC Business School. Established in 1819, it is considered as the world's oldest business school.


Characteristics.

The kiang is the largest of the wild asses, with an average height at the withers of. They range from high at the withers, with a body long, and a tail of. Kiangs have only slight sexual dimorphism, with the males weighing from, while females weigh. They have a large head, with a blunt muzzle and a convex nose. The mane is upright and relatively short. The coat is a rich chestnut colour, darker brown in winter and a sleek reddish brown in late summer, when the animal moults its woolly fur. The summer coat is 1.5 cm long and the winter coat is double that length. The legs, underparts, end of the muzzle, and the inside of the ears are all white. A broad, dark chocolate-coloured dorsal stripe extends from the mane to the end of the tail, which ends in a tuft of blackish brown hairs.

Evolution.

The genus "Equus", which includes all extant equines, is believed to have evolved from "Dinohippus", via the intermediate form "Plesippus". One of the oldest species is "Equus simplicidens", described as zebra-like with a donkey-shaped head. The oldest fossil to date is ~3.5 million years old from Idaho, USA. The genus appears to have spread quickly into the Old World, with the similarly aged "Equus livenzovensis" documented from western Europe and Russia.  Molecular phylogenies indicate the most recent common ancestor of all modern equids (members of the genus "Equus") lived ~5.6 (3.9–7.8) mya. Direct paleogenomic sequencing of a 700,000-year-old middle Pleistocene horse metapodial bone from Canada implies a more recent 4.07 Myr before present date for the most recent common ancestor (MRCA) within the range of 4.0 to 4.5 Myr BP. The oldest divergencies are the Asian hemiones (subgenus "E. (Asinus)", including the kulan, onager, and kiang), followed by the African zebras (subgenera "E. (Dolichohippus)", and "E. (Hippotigris)"). All other modern forms including the domesticated horse (and many fossil Pliocene and Pleistocene forms) belong to the subgenus "E. (Equus)" which diverged ~4.8 (3.2–6.5) million years ago.

Taxonomy.

The kiang is closely related to the onager ("Equus hemionus"), and in some classifications it is considered a subspecies, "E. hemionus kiang". Molecular studies, however, indicate that it is a distinct species. An even closer relative, however, may be the extinct "Equus conversidens" of Pleistocene America, to which it bears a number of striking similarities; however, such a relationship would require kiangs to have crossed Beringia during the Ice Age, for which little evidence exists. Kiangs can crossbreed with onagers, horses, donkeys, and Burchell's zebras in captivity, although, like mules, the resulting offspring are sterile. Kiangs have never been domesticated.

Distribution and habitat.

Kiangs are found on the Tibetan Plateau, between the Himalayas in the south and the Kunlun Mountains in the north. This restricts them almost entirely to China, but numbers up to 2500 to 3000 are found across the borders in the Ladakh and Sikkim regions of India, and smaller numbers along the northern frontier of Nepal.  Three subspecies of kiangs are currently recognised:  The eastern kiang is the largest subspecies; the southern kiang is the smallest. The western kiang is slightly smaller than the eastern and also has a darker coat. However, no genetic information confirms the validity of the three subspecies, which may simply represent a cline, with gradual variation between the three forms.  Kiangs inhabit alpine meadows and steppe country between elevation. They prefer relatively flat plateaus, wide valleys, and low hills, dominated by grasses, sedges, and smaller amounts of other low-lying vegetation. This open terrain, in addition to supplying them with suitable forage absent in the more arid regions of central Asia, may make it easier for them to detect, and flee from, predators.

Behavior.

Like all equids, kiangs are herbivores, feeding on grasses and sedges, especially "Stipa", but also including other local plants such as bog sedges, true sedges, and meadow grasses. When little grass is available, such as during winter or in the more arid margins of their native habitat, they have been observed eating shrubs, herbs, and even "Oxytropis" roots, dug from the ground. Although they do sometimes drink from waterholes, such sources of water are rare on the Tibetan Plateau, and they likely obtain most of their water from the plants they eat, or possibly from snow in winter.  Their only real predator other than humans is the wolf. Kiangs defend themselves by forming a circle, and with heads down, kick out violently. As a result, wolves usually attack single animals that have strayed from the group. Kiangs sometimes gather together in large herds, which may number several hundred individuals. However, these herds are not permanent groupings, but temporary aggregations, consisting either of young males only, or of mothers and their foals. Older males are typically solitary, defending a territory of about from rivals, and dominating any local groups of females. Territorial males sometimes become aggressive towards intruders, kicking and biting at them, but more commonly chase them away after a threat display that involves flattening the ears and braying.

Reproduction.

Kiangs mate between late July and late August, when older males tend reproductive females by trotting around them, and then chasing them prior to mating. The length of gestation has been variously reported as seven to 12 months, and results in the birth of a single foal. Females are able to breed again almost immediately after birth, although births every other year are more common. Foals weigh up to at birth, and are able to walk within a few hours. The age of sexual maturity is unknown, although probably around three or four years, as it is in the closely related onager. Kiang live for up to 20 years in the wild.

Travellers' accounts.

Natural historian Chris Lavers points to travellers' tales of the kiang as one source of inspiration for the unicorn, first described in Indika by the Ancient Greek physician Ctesias.  Ekai Kawaguchi, a Japanese monk who traveled in Tibet from July, 1900 to June 1902, reported:  Thubten Jigme Norbu, the elder brother of Tenzin Gyatso the 14th Dalai Lama, reporting on his trip from Kumbum Monastery in Amdo to Lhasa in 1950, said:

The kiang ("Equus kiang") is the largest of the wild asses. It is native to the Tibetan Plateau, where it inhabits montane and alpine grasslands. Its current range is restricted to plains of the Tibetan plateau and Ladakh, India, and northern Nepal along the Tibetan border. Other common names for this species include Tibetan wild ass, khyang and gorkhar. Travellers' accounts of the kiang are one inspiration for the unicorn.


Biography.

Antonio di Pietro Averlino was born c. 1400 in Florence where he probably trained as a craftsman. Sources suggest that he worked in Florence under the Italian painter, architect, and biographer Lorenzo Ghiberti, who gave him his more famous name “Filarete” which means “a lover of virtue”. In the mid 15th century, Filarete was expelled from Rome after being accused of attempting to steal the head of John the Baptist and he moved to Venice and then eventually to Milan. There he became a ducal engineer and worked on a variety of architectural projects for the next fifteen years. According to his biographer, Vasari, Filarete died in Rome c. 1469.

Works.

Bronze doors of Old St. Peter's Basilica.

A commission granted by Pope Eugene IV meant that Filarete, over the course of twelve years, cast the bronze central doors for Old St. Peter's Basilica in Rome, which were completed in 1445. Although they were created during the Renaissance, the doors have distinct Byzantine influences and seem tied to the Medieval era. Some critics have noted that the doors offer a glimpse into the mind of Filarete, claiming that they show his “mind of medieval complexity crammed full of exciting but not quite assimilated classical learning”.

Architectural works.

In Milan Filarete built the Ospedale Maggiore (c. 1456), the overall form of which was rationally planned as a cross within a square, with the hospital church at the center of the plan. Some of the surviving sections of the much-rebuilt structure show the Gothic detail of Milan's "Quattrocento" craft traditions, which are at odds with Filarete's design "all'antica" or "after the Antique". Filarete also worked on the Castello Sforzesco or Sforza Castle and on the Duomo di Milano or Milan Cathedral.

Filarete's treatise on architecture and the ideal city of Sforzinda.

Filarete completed his substantial book on architecture sometime around 1464, which he referred to as his "Libro architettonico" ("Architectonic book"). Neither he nor his immediate contemporaries ever referred to it as a "Trattato" ("Treatise"), though it is usually now called such. The "Libro", which comprises twenty-five volumes, enjoyed a fairly wide circulation in manuscript form during the Renaissance. The most well known and best preserved copy of the "Libro" is a profusely illustrated manuscript known as the "Codex Magliabechiano" (probably drafted c. 1465; now held in the archives of the Biblioteca Nazionale Centrale di Firenze). The fact that the "Codex Magliabechiano" is dedicated to Piero de' Medici and was conserved in Florence suggests that Filarete was well regarded in his native Florence despite his loyalty to Milan. The book, which is written as a fictional narrative, consists principally of a detailed account of the technical aspects of architecture (e.g., site and material selection, drawing, construction methods, and so on) and a sustained polemic against the Gothic style of Northern Italy, which Filarete calls the "barbarous modern style." Filarete argues instead for the use of classical Roman models.  The most famous part of his book is his plan for Sforzinda, an ideal city named after Francesco Sforza, then Duke of Milan. Although Sforzinda was never built, certain aspects of its design are described in considerable detail. The basic layout of the city is an eight-point star, created by overlaying two squares so that all the corners were equidistant. This shape is then inscribed within a perfect circular moat. This shape is iconographic and probably ties to Filarete’s interest in magic and astrology. Consistent with "Quattrocento" or fifteenth century notions concerning the talismanic power of geometry and the crucial importance of astrology, Filarete provides, in addition to pragmatic advice on materials, construction, and fortifications, notes on how to propitiate celestial harmony within Sforzinda. His architectonical drawings and even more his allegorical drawings traced on the margins of the Codex Magliabechianus - such as the Allegory of Vertue and the Allegory of the Reason and Will - Filarete shows a remarkable possession of classical sources, maybe known also through the advice of his friend Francesco Filelfo da Tolentino, the main humanist then at the court of Milan.  In terms of planning, each of the outer points of the star had towers, while the inner angles had gates. Each of the gates was an outlet of radial avenues that each passed through a market square, dedicated to certain goods. All the avenues finally converged in a large square which was centrally located. The town contained three squares – one for the prince’s palace, one for the cathedral, and one for the market. Because the Renaissance was much taken with the idea of the canal town, in Filarete's Sforzinda every other street had a canal for cargo transport. The canal system also connected with the river, and thus the outside world, for the import and export of goods. The city also contained many buildings, including parishes and separate schools for boys and girls. An example of a building that appears in the treatise is Filarete’s House of Vice and Virtue, a ten-storey structure with a brothel on the bottom and an academy of learning on the higher levels. Filarete did much study on representation of Vices and Virtues, and there are suggestions that his radial design for the city was inspired by St. Augustine’s Earthly City, whose circular shape was divided into sections, each of which had its own Vice and Virtue.  The design of Sforzinda may have been in part a direct response to the Italian cities of the Medieval period, whose growth did not necessarily depend on city planning as such, which meant they could be difficult to navigate. In part, the Renaissance humanist interest in classical texts may have stimulated preoccupations with geometry in city layouts, as for example, in Plato's description of Atlantis. Filarete’s ideal plan was meant to reflect on society – where a perfect city form would be the image of a perfect society, an idea that was typical of the humanist views prevalent during the High Renaissance. The Renaissance ideal city implied the centralized power of a prince in its organization, an idea following closely on the heels of Dante’s that “The human race is at its best under a monarch.” Thus it could be argued that the Renaissance ideal city form was tensioned between the perceived need for a centralized power and the potential reality of tyranny.

Influence on architecture and urbanism.

Filarete's plan of Sforzinda was the first ideal city plan of the Renaissance and his thorough organization of its layout embodied a greater level of conscious city planning than anyone before him. Despite the many references to medieval symbolism incorporated into Sforzinda's design, the city's principles became the archetype for the humanist city during the High Renaissance. The treatise gained interest from many important leaders such as Giangaleazzo Sforza and Piero de' Medici and later when Francesco di Giorgio and Leonardo da Vinci began to plan their ideal cities they borrowed ideas from Filarete.  Although it was never built, Sforzinda served as an inspiration for many future city plans. For example, in the 16th century, Renaissance military engineers and architects combined Filarete's ideal city schemes with defensive fortifications deriving from a more sociopolitical agenda. This notion of combining the ideal and the fortified city became widely disseminated throughout Europe and beyond.

Antonio di Pietro Aver(u)lino (; – ), known as Filarete (; from, meaning "lover of excellence"), was a Florentine Renaissance architect, sculptor, medallist, and architectural theorist. He is perhaps best remembered for his design of the ideal city of Sforzinda, the first ideal city plan of the Renaissance.


Career.

The group was formed in Canton, Ohio, in 1958 while its members were attending Canton McKinley High School. Originally known as The Mascots, and then The Triumphs, the friends began recording with "Miracles" in 1961, which was a moderate hit in the Cleveland area. In 1963, they took the name "The O'Jays," in tribute to Cleveland radio disc jockey Eddie O'Jay who was part of the powerful management team of Frankie Crocker, Herb Hamlett & Eddie O'Jay, (Toop, 1991). In 1963, The O'Jays released "Lonely Drifter," their first national chart hit on the " Billboard" Hot 100, peaking at #93. Their debut album, released shortly thereafter was "Comin' Through."  Throughout the 1960s, they continued to chart with minor hits such as "Lipstick Traces," (which they performed nationally on the ABC Television program, "Shivaree"), "Stand In For Love," "Stand Tall," "Let It All Out," "I'll Be Sweeter Tomorrow," "Look Over Your Shoulder," "Deeper In Love With You," and "One Night Affair." However, while they issued dozens of singles throughout the decade, they never hit the US top 40 (although "Lipstick Traces" made it to #19 in Canada). On the R&B charts, The O'Jays were somewhat more prominent, but their only top 10 R&B single prior to 1972 was 1968's "I'll Be Sweeter Tomorrow."  In spite of their success as a touring group and on the R&B charts, the group had been considering quitting the music industry in 1972. Around that time, original members Bill Isles and Bobby Massey departed, leaving the group a trio. The remaining three original members, Eddie Levert, William Powell, and Walter Williams, soldiered on and Gamble & Huff, a team of producers and songwriters with whom the O'Jays had been working for several years, signed them to their Philadelphia International label. Suddenly, The O'Jays' fortunes changed, and they finally scored with their first million-seller, "Back Stabbers," from the album of the same name. This album produced several more hit singles, including "992 Arguments," "Sunshine," "Time To Get Down," and the #1 pop smash, "Love Train."  During the remainder of the 1970s, the O'Jays continued releasing hit singles, including "Put Your Hands Together" (Pop #10), "For the Love of Money" (Pop #9), "Give the People What They Want," "Let Me Make Love To You," "I Love Music" (Pop #5), "Livin' for the Weekend," "Message in Our Music," and "Darlin' Darlin' Baby (Sweet Tender Love)." Original member William Powell died of cancer in 1977 at age 35.  After adding Sammy Strain (born December 9, 1939) (of Little Anthony and the Imperials), the O'Jays continued recording, though with limited success. In 1978, the group released "Use ta Be My Girl," which was their final Top-Five hit, though they continued placing songs on the R&B charts throughout the 1980s. The O'Jays' success was not confined to the United States, as they also logged up nine hit singles in the United Kingdom between 1972 and 1983, including four tracks that reached the Top 20 in the UK Singles Chart. Their 1987 album, "Let Me Touch You," was a breakthrough of sorts, and included the #1 R&B hit "Lovin' You." Though they continued charting on the R&B charts in the late 1980s and early 1990s, the O'Jays never again achieved pop success. In 1992, Sammy Strain left the group and returned to the Imperials. Strain's departure was filled by Nathaniel Best, who was later replaced by Eric Grant. Later in the 1990s, the group did little recording, though they remained a popular live draw. Their latest album was "Imagination" that was released in 2004.  In 2003, the trio co-starred in the movie "The Fighting Temptations," which starred Cuba Gooding Jr. and Beyoncé Knowles. In the film, they played three barbers with incredible vocal harmony who joined the local church choir to help out the film's protagonists: Darrin (Gooding) and Lilly (Knowles), who were the choir director and lead singer, respectively.  In 2005, the O'Jays were inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Original members Eddie Levert, Walter Williams, Bobby Massey and, posthumously, William Powell, were inducted. In a note of controversy, Sammy Strain was also inducted with the group, while original member Bill Isles was not. (Strain is one of the few artists in popular music history who is a double RRHOF inductee: with The O'Jays in 2005, and Little Anthony and the Imperials in 2009). In 2006, the O'Jays performed at the ESPY awards, hosted by Lance Armstrong. "For the Love of Money" was the theme song to the hit reality TV show "The Apprentice," starring Donald Trump, and the group once performed the song live on the show.  On February 23, 2007, Radio-Canada's website reported that Canadian Industry Minister, Jim Prentice, had used the song "For The Love of Money" without the group's permission during a political event, a faux pas since Prentice is responsible for the application of the Copyright Act in Canada. Radio-Canada also reported that Prentice has since been contacted by the attorneys for both the O'Jays and Warner/Chappell Music.  On June 28, 2009, at the 2009 BET Award Show in the Shrine Auditorium the O'Jays were honored with BET's 2009 Life Time Achievement Award. Tevin Campbell, Trey Songz, Tyrese Gibson, and Johnny Gill performed a medley of the group's songs, followed by the presentation of the award by Don Cornelius. The group reminisced, joked with the audience, and accepted their award before performing renditions of their hit songs.  On October 30, 2010, the group performed at Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert's Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear in Washington, D.C. In Cleveland, Ohio, on August 17, 2013, The O'Jays were inducted into The National Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame. The O'Jays are also two-time Grammy Hall of Fame Inductees for their songs ""Love Train" " (inducted 2006) and ""For the Love of Money"" (inducted 2016).  On June 25, 2019, "The New York Times Magazine" listed The O'Jays among hundreds of artists whose material was reportedly destroyed in the 2008 Universal fire.

Discography.

Top Twenty singles.

The following singles reached the Top Twenty on either the United States "Billboard" Hot 100 pop singles chart or the United Kingdom's UK Singles Chart.

Top Twenty albums.

The following albums reached the Top Twenty on the United States "Billboard" 200 pop albums chart.

Gold and platinum records.

Gold discs, signifying sales in excess of five hundred thousand copies (USA) were awarded to their singles "Back Stabbers," "Love Train," "For the Love of Money," "I Love Music," and "Use ta Be My Girl;" plus for the albums' "Back Stabbers," "Ship Ahoy," "The O'Jays Live in London," "Survival," "Travelin' at the Speed of Thought," "Message in the Music," "Emotionally Yours," and "Family Reunion." "For the Love of Money" was used as the theme for the two reality shows "The Apprentice" and "The Celebrity Apprentice" on NBC-TV.  The following albums by The O'Jays have received the RIAA Platinum Record Award indicating sales in excess of one million copies: "Ship Ahoy," "Family Reunion," "Identify Yourself," and "So Full Of Love."

The O'Jays are an American R&B group from Canton, Ohio, formed in 1958 and originally consisting of Eddie Levert (born June 16, 1942), Walter Lee Williams (born August 25, 1943), William Powell (January 20, 1942 – May 26, 1977), Bobby Massey (born 1942, Canton) and Bill Isles (January 4, 1941 – March 28, 2019). The O'Jays made their first chart appearance with "Lonely Drifter" in 1963, but reached their greatest level of success once Gamble & Huff, a team of producers and songwriters, signed them to their Philadelphia International label in 1972. With Gamble & Huff, the O'Jays (now a trio after the departure of Isles and Massey) emerged at the forefront of Philadelphia soul with "Back Stabbers" (1972), and topped the "Billboard" Hot 100 the following year with what some consider to be the first disco hit song, "Love Train." Numerous other hits followed through the 1970s and into the 1980s and 1990s, and The O'Jays were inducted into the Vocal Group Hall of Fame in 2004, and The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2005 and in 2013 they were inducted into National Rhythm and Blues Hall of Fame.


Early life.

Isabelle Collin Dufresne was brought up in a strict religious upper-middle-class family, but she rebelled at an early age. She was instructed at a Catholic school, and then a reform school. In 1953, she received a BA in Art at "Le Sacré Cœur" in Grenoble, France. She soon left France to live with an older sister in New York City.

Salvador Dalí and New York City.

In 1954, after a meeting with Salvador Dalí, she became his "muse", pupil, studio assistant, and lover in both Port Lligat, Spain, and in New York City. Later, she would recall, "I realized that I was'surreal', which I never knew until I met Dalí". In the 1960s, Dufresne began to follow the progressive American Pop Art scene including Jasper Johns, Robert Rauschenberg and James Rosenquist.

Warhol and "The Factory".

In 1963, Dalí introduced Dufresne to Andy Warhol, and soon she moved into the orbit of his unorthodox studio, "The Factory". In 1964 she selected the stage name "Ultra Violet" at Warhol's suggestion, because it was her preferred fashion — her hair color at the time was often violet or lilac. She became one of many "superstars" in Warhol's Factory, and played multiple roles in over a dozen films between 1965 and 1974.  In 1967 Ultra Violet played a part (with, among others, Taylor Mead) in the surrealistic play "Desire Caught by the Tail" by Pablo Picasso when it was set for the first time in France at a festival in Saint-Tropez. She would eventually appear in more than 20 films, not counting numerous documentaries made at the Factory.  At various points in her career she would meet numerous celebrities, including John Graham, John Chamberlain, Edward Ruscha, Rudolf Nureyev, Miloš Forman, Howard Hughes, Richard Nixon, Aristotle Onassis, Maria Callas, Marcel Duchamp, Man Ray, Marc Chagall, Bob Dylan, John Lennon and Yoko Ono. In later reminiscences, she would name Ruscha, Nureyev, and Forman among her past lovers.  In 1969, she was "dethroned" as Warhol's primary muse by Viva, a more recent discovery.  Although a full participant in activities at the Factory, she generally avoided the heavy drug usage prevalent at the time, saying that her body reacted badly to drugs. She had tried smoking as a rebellious teen, had gotten very sick as a result, and resolved to abstain from drug usage. She would later observe, "If I had lived like all those young people, I would be dead today".  In the 1980s, she gradually drifted away from the Factory scene, taking a lower profile and working independently on her own art. In her autobiography, published the year after Warhol's unexpected demise in 1987, she chronicled the activities of many Warhol superstars, including several untimely deaths during and after the Factory years.

Later career.

In 1988, Ultra Violet published her autobiography, "Famous for 15 Minutes: My Years with Andy Warhol". This autobiography was edited extensively and partially translated from French to English by her New York penthouse roommate Natalie Durkee. After a review of the book in the "New York Times", it was published worldwide, eventually in 17 languages. After a book tour, she returned to France; in 1990 she opened a studio in Nice and wrote another book detailing her own ideas about art, "L'Ultratique". She lived and worked as an artist in New York City, and also maintained a studio in Nice for the rest of her life.  In 2000, she was featured in "Message to Andy Warhol", a "concept art documentary" by Laurent Foissac. On April 10, 2005 she joined a panel discussion "Reminiscences of Dalí: A Conversation with Friends of the Artist" as part of a symposium "The Dalí Renaissance" for a major retrospective show at the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Her conversation with another former Dalí protégée, French singer/actress Amanda Lear, is recorded in the 236-page exhibition catalog, "The Dalí Renaissance: New Perspectives on His Life and Art after 1940".  In 2006, she had a solo show at Stefan Stux Gallery in Chelsea, Manhattan. In 2007 she gave a retrospective lecture at the New York Institute of Technology.  In 2010, filmmaker David Henry Gerson released "Ultra Violet for Sixteen Minutes", a short documentary showing her perspectives on fame, art, religion, and her current artistic practice.  In 2011, she was featured in a brief article about the surviving former Warhol "Superstars". Regarding her famous past and her artwork today, she has said, "People always want to know about the past, but I'm much more interested in tomorrow". In 2011, she exhibited a series of artworks as her personal memorial of the September 11 attacks, which were displayed in the exhibit "Memorial IX XI" at Queensborough Community College.  In a 2012 interview, she said, "I'm a New Yorker, I'm an American, and I'm an artist. Because of those three things, I had to do something about 9/11, and the question was what to do, which is not simple".  On August 12, 2014 independent record label Refinersfire released a posthumous limited edition 2-disc collection of original music and private conversations of Ultra Violet and Andy Warhol. The music was recorded in the late 1960s and early 1970s, and features cover performances of "La vie en Rose", "Mojo Queen", and the original songs "Famous for Fifteen Minutes" and "Moon Rock". Ultra Violet also had recorded private telephone conversations between herself and Andy Warhol, which feature topics such as police harassment, their films, the business of art, the RFK assassination, and Valerie Solanas and her attempt on Warhol's life.  She gave her last TV-interview for the German documentary "Wie ich lernte, die Zahlen zu lieben/How I Learned to Love the Numbers" about OCD by Oliver Sechting & Max Taubert.  Her last exhibition in New York, "Ultra Violet: The Studio Recreated", closed three weeks before her death. It included paintings, sculptures, photographs, films, and neon art.

Personal life.

In 1973, a near-death experience and a bout with depression launched Ultra Violet on a spiritual quest, culminating in her baptism in 1981. For the rest of her life, she was a practicing member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.  Dufresne died on 14 June 2014 in New York City at the age of 78, from cancer. She had never married. Dufresne was survived by two sisters. She is buried in Saint-Égrève near Grenoble.

Isabelle Collin Dufresne (stage name Ultra Violet; 6 September 1935 – 14 June 2014) was a French-American artist, author, and both a colleague of Andy Warhol and one of the pop artist's so-called superstars. Earlier in her career, she worked for and studied with surrealist artist Salvador Dalí. Dufresne lived and worked in New York City, and also had a studio in Nice, France.


Geography.

The town is situated on the Mediterranean coast, about east of Marseille. Cap Canaille, between Cassis and La Ciotat ("the "civitas"") is one of the highest maritime bluffs in Europe, a sailor's landmark for millennia. It is east of Marseille and in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône. One of its main beach, called "Bestouan" is made cooler by a karstic source.

History.

The site where Cassis now sits was first occupied between 500 and 600 BC by the Ligures, who constructed a fortified habitation at the top of the Baou Redon. These people lived by fishing, hunting, and by farming.  The current site of Cassis could have been inhabited by the Greeks, though no proof has yet been found.  During the Roman times, Cassis was part of the maritime route made by the Emperor Antoninus Pius. It was a small village, established mainly around the Arena and Corton beaches. The principal livelihood was fishing and maritime trade with North Africa and the Middle East. Several archaeological discoveries attest to this.  From the 5th to the 10th century, invasions by foreign tribes led the population to seek refuge in the "castrum", a fortified city that, in 1223, became the property of the Seigneurie des Les Baux-de-Provence.  In the fifteenth century, Cassis was ceded to the Counts of Provence, then René of Anjou gave the town to the Bishops of Marseille, who ruled the town until the Revolution of 1789.

Industrial Revolution.

In the eighteenth century, Cassis started to develop outside the ramparts of the fortified city and around the port. After the Bourbon Restoration, new industries developed here, including the drying of cod, the manufacture of olive oil and clothing, coral work, wine-making and the exploitation of local stone (cement, limestone). "Stone of Cassis", which was quarried here since antiquity made the town famous. It has been used for the quays of the large Mediterranean ports (Alexandria, Algiers, Piraeus, Marseille, and Port Said). A claim that it was used for the base of the Statue of Liberty in New York City gained wide circulation but has been proved apocryphal. Today, the stone is used more for domestic purposes such as the construction of sinks and fireplaces.  In the twentieth century, as these industries began to disappear, the workforce turned to tourism and wine making. Cassis was one of the first three vineyards to profit from the "appellation d'origine contrôlée" (label of controlled origin) introduced in 1936.

Origin of the name.

The oldest form is Tutelæ Charsitanæ, attested since the first century. It then drifts into Carsicis (15th century) and Castrum Cassitis (1323). These place names suggest a Car-s theme derived from the pre-Indo-European *Kar meaning stone or rock, to which has been added the suffix -ite. The French language has retained the Provençal Cassis spelling, which is identical in both the classical and Mistralian standards.  The final "s" is not pronounced in the local variant of Provençal but is pronounced in the general Provençal. This pronunciation of the final "s" is found in the motto of the city that rhymes Paris, Cassis and vist with each other (pronunciation in Provençal "mistralien": /pa.ʁis/, /ka.sis/, /vis/). In French, the two pronunciations are combined.  The Provençal motto of the commune attributed to Frédéric Mistral is "Qu a vist Paris, se noun a vist Cassis, n'a rèn vist", which means "Who has seen Paris and not Cassis, has not seen anything".

Twin towns/sister cities.

Cassis is twinned with:

Cassis (; Occitan: "Cassís") is a commune situated east of Marseille in the department of Bouches-du-Rhône in the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, whose coastline is known in English as the French Riviera, in Southern France. In 2016, it had a population of 7,265.


Life and career.

Bonaparte was the son of Lucien Bonaparte and Alexandrine de Bleschamp, and a nephew of Emperor Napoleon I. Born in Paris, he was raised in Italy. On 29 June 1822, he married his cousin, Zénaïde, in Brussels. Soon after the marriage, the couple left for Philadelphia in the United States to live with Zénaïde's father, Joseph Bonaparte. Before leaving Italy, Carlo had already discovered a warbler new to science, the moustached warbler, and on the voyage he collected specimens of a new storm-petrel. On arrival in the United States, he presented a paper on this new bird, which was later named after Alexander Wilson.  Bonaparte then set about studying the ornithology of the United States and updating Wilson's "Ornithology or History of the Birds of the United States". The revised edition was published between 1825 and 1833. His other publications included "Observations on the Nomenclature of Wilson's Ornithology" (in the Journal of the Philadelphia Academy) and "Synopsis of the Birds of the United States" (in the Annals of the Lyceum of New York). In 1824, Bonaparte tried to get the then unknown John James Audubon accepted by the Academy of Natural Sciences, but this was opposed by the ornithologist George Ord who disliked Audubon's dramatic bird poses and considered him to be a "a back-country upstart who romanticized his subject matter," according to the Audubon Galleries.  At the end of 1826, Bonaparte and his family returned to Europe. He visited Germany, where he met Philipp Jakob Cretzschmar, and England, where he met John Edward Gray at the British Museum, and renewed his acquaintance with Audubon. In 1828, the family settled in Rome. In Italy, he was the originator of several scientific congresses, and lectured and wrote extensively on American and European ornithology and other branches of natural history. Between 1832 and 1841, Bonaparte published his work on the animals of Italy, "Iconografia della Fauna Italica". He had also published "Specchio Comparativo delle Ornithologie di Roma e di Filadelfia" (Pisa, 1827), presenting a comparison between birds of the latitude of Philadelphia and Italian species. He created the genus "Zenaida", after his wife, for the mourning dove and its relatives. He was elected a member of the American Antiquarian Society in 1845.  In 1840, he became Prince of Canino and Musignano after his father's death and became involved in politics, particularly the anti-Austrian party which he joined in 1848. He did not, however, lose interest in his favourite studies for he organized and presided over several scientific congresses in Italy.  In 1849, he was elected to the Roman Assembly and participated in the creation of the Roman Republic. According to Jasper Ridley, when the Assembly convened for the first time: "When the name of Carlo Bonaparte, who was a member for Viterbo, was called, he replied to the roll-call by calling out "Long live the Republic!"" ("Viva la Repubblica!"). He participated in the defense of Rome against the 40,000 French troops sent by his cousin Louis Napoleon. He left Rome after the Republican army was defeated in July 1849. He landed at Marseilles, but was ordered to leave the country by Louis Napoleon. He reaffirmed his political beliefs the following year in naming Wilson's bird-of-paradise ("Cicinnurus respublica") in honor of the republican idea.  He travelled to the United Kingdom, attending the meeting of the British Association in Birmingham. He then visited Sir William Jardine in southern Scotland. Charles then began work on preparing a methodical classification of all the birds in the world, visiting museums across Europe to study the collections. In 1850, he was allowed to return to France and made Paris his home for the rest of his life. In 1854, he became director of the Jardin des Plantes. In 1855, he was made a foreign member of the Royal Swedish Academy of Sciences. He published the first volume of his "Conspectus Generum Avium" before his death, the second volume being edited by Hermann Schlegel.  Bonaparte also studied amphibians and reptiles, and is the author of "Vipera ursinii", commonly known as Orsini's viper.  Bonaparte was extremely prolific and is responsible for coining Latin names for a large number of bird species. As of August 2019, in the online list of birds maintained by Frank Gill and David Donsker on behalf of the International Ornithological Committee (IOC), Bonaparte is credited as the authority for 165 genera, 203 species and 262 subspecies.  Lucien Charles Bonaparte died in Paris at age 54.

Family.

Prince Charles and Princess Zénaïde Bonaparte had twelve children, listed below :

Works.

In conjunction with M. de Pouancé, he also prepared descriptive catalogue of pigeons and one of parrots which were published after his death. Among his papers published are:  He published several scientific papers on ornithological topics in the Bolognese journal "Nuovi annali delle scienze naturali", as Carlo Luciano Bonaparte.

See also.

Several birds are named after him:

Charles Lucien Jules Laurent Bonaparte, 2nd Prince of Canino and Musignano (24 May 1803 – 29 July 1857), was a French biologist and ornithologist. Lucien and his wife had twelve children, including Cardinal Lucien Bonaparte.


Taxonomy.

The description of the species was published in the 1807 report of a French expedition to Australia. The authors, zoologist François Péron and illustrator Charles Lesueur, described a specimen collected at Bernier Island during their visit to the region in 1801, naming the new species as "Kangurus faciatus".  Evidence suggested that the mernine was the only living member of the sthenurine subfamily, and a recent osteology-based phylogeny of macropodids found that the banded hare-wallaby was indeed a bastion of an ancient lineage, agreeing with other (molecular) appraisals of the evolutionary history of "L. fasciatus". However, the authors analysis did not support the placement of the mernine within Sthenurinae, but suggest it belongs to a plesiomorphic clade which branched off from other macropodids in the early Miocene and put forward the new subfamily Lagostrophinae. Recent analysis of mtDNA extracted from fossils of the sthenurine "Simosthenurus" supports this conclusion. This new subfamily includes the banded hare-wallaby and the fossil genus "Troposodon".

Description.

The average banded hare-wallaby weighs 1.7 kg, females weigh more than the males. It measures about 800 mm from the head to the end of the tail, with the tail almost the same length (averaging 375 mm) as the body. It has a short nose; its long, grey fur is speckled with yellow and silver and fades into a light grey on the underbelly. No colour variation is seen on the face or head, and its colouring is solid grey. Dark, horizontal stripes of fur start at the middle of the back and stop at the base of the tail.

Behavior.

The banded hare-wallaby is nocturnal and tends to live in groups at nesting sites; this species is quite social. Nesting occurs in thickets under very dense brush. This macropod prefers to live in "Acacia ligulata" scrub. Males are extremely aggressive.

Distribution.

The species was once found on the mainland, in the southwest of Western Australia and South Australia, but is now restricted to Bernier Island and Dorre Island off Western Australia. Although the banded hare-wallaby was once found across the south-western portion of Australia, it is believed to have been extinct on the mainland since 1963, and the last recorded evidence of the banded hare-wallaby on the Australian mainland was in 1906. The devastation of the species possibly can be attributed to the loss of habitat to the clearing of vegetation, the loss of food (due to competition with other animals), and predators.

Diversity.

Two subspecies are recognized: "L. f. fasciatus" and "L. f. baudinettei".

Feeding.

This diprotodontian is a vegetarian and receives most of its water from food. It prefers to eat various grasses, fruit, and other vegetation. Male aggression is usually brought out in competition for food with other males and is very rarely expressed toward females.

Reproduction.

Mating season starts in December and ends in September. The banded hare-wallaby reaches maturity at one year of age, breeding usually starts in the second year. Gestation appears to last several months and mothers generally raise one young each year, although females may produce two young per year. Young remain in their mother's pouch for six months and continue to be weaned for another three months. In situations where a mother's young dies, some mothers have an extra embryo to possibly rear another.

The banded hare-wallaby, mernine, or munning ("Lagostrophus fasciatus") is a marsupial currently found on the Islands of Bernier and Dorre off western Australia. A small population has recently been established on Faure Island, and it appears to have been successful. It has also been reintroduced to Wadderin Sanctuary, near Narembeen in the central wheatbelt, in 2013.


Life.

Gallen-Kallela was born Axel Waldemar Gallén in Pori, Finland in a Swedish-speaking family. His father Peter Gallén worked as police chief and lawyer. Gallen-Kallela was raised in Tyrvää. At the age of 11 he was sent to Helsinki to study at a grammar school, because his father opposed his ambition to become a painter. After his father's death in 1879, Gallen-Kallela attended drawing classes at the Finnish Art Society (1881–1884) and studied privately under Adolf von Becker.  In 1884 he moved to Paris, to study at the Académie Julian. In Paris he became friends with the Finnish painter Albert Edelfelt, the Norwegian painter Carl Dörnberger, and the Swedish writer August Strindberg.  He married Mary Slöör in 1890. The couple had three children, Impi Marjatta, Kirsti and Jorma. On their honeymoon to East Karelia, Gallen-Kallela started collecting material for his depictions of the "Kalevala". This period is characterized by romantic paintings of the "Kalevala", like the "Aino Myth", and by several landscape paintings. In December 1894, Gallen-Kallela moved to Berlin to oversee the joint exhibition of his works with the works of Norwegian painter Edvard Munch. Here he became acquainted with the Symbolists.  In March 1895, he received a telegram that his daughter Impi Marjatta had died from diphtheria. This would prove to be a turning point in his work. While his works had previously been romantic, after his daughter's death Gallen-Kallela painted more aggressive works like "the Defense of the Sampo", "Joukahainen's Revenge", "Kullervo Cursing" and "Lemminkäinen's Mother".  On his return from Germany, Gallen studied print-making and visited London to deepen his knowledge, and in 1898 studied fresco-painting in Italy.

Career.

For the Paris World Fair in 1900, Gallen-Kallela painted frescoes for the Finnish Pavilion. In these frescoes, his political ideas became most apparent. One of the vipers in the fresco "Ilmarinen Plowing the Field of Vipers" is wearing the Romanov crown, and the process of removing the vipers from the field was a clear reference to his wish for an independent Finland.  The Paris Exposition secured Gallen-Kallela's stature as the leading Finnish artist. In 1901 he was commissioned to paint the fresco, "Kullervo Goes to War", for the concert hall of the Helsinki Student's Union. Between 1901 and 1903 he painted the frescoes for the Jusélius Mausoleum in Pori, memorializing the 11-year-old daughter of the industrialist F.A. Jusélius. (The frescoes were soon damaged by dampness, and were completely destroyed by fire in December 1931. Jusélius assigned the artist's son Jorma to repaint them from the original sketches. The reconstruction was completed just before Jorma's death in 1939.)  Gallen-Kallela officially finnicized his name to the more Finnish-sounding Akseli Gallen-Kallela in 1907.  In 1909, Gallen-Kallela moved to Nairobi in Kenya with his family, he was the first Finnish artist to travel south of the Sahara, and there he painted over 150 expressionist oil paintings and bought many east African artefacts. But he returned to Finland after a couple of years, because he realized Finland was his main inspiration. Between 1911 and 1913 he designed and built a studio and house at Tarvaspää, about 10 km northwest of the centre of Helsinki.  In 1918, Gallen-Kallela and his son Jorma took part in the fighting at the front of the Finnish Civil War. When the regent, General Mannerheim, later heard about this, he invited Gallen-Kallela to design the flags, official decorations and uniforms for the newly independent Finland. For the flag, Gallen-Kallela proposed a white-blue cross flag, with colors inverted (white cross on blue), but this was considered too similar to the Swedish flag and particularly the Greek flag of the time. In 1919 he was appointed aide-de-camp to Mannerheim.  From December 1923 to May 1926, Gallen-Kallela lived in the United States, where an exhibition of his work toured several cities, and where he visited the Taos art-colony in New Mexico to study indigenous American art. In 1925 he began the illustrations for his "Great Kalevala". This was still unfinished when he died of pneumonia in Stockholm on 7 March 1931, while returning from a lecture in Copenhagen, Denmark.  His studio and house at Tarvaspää was opened as the Gallen-Kallela Museum in 1961; it houses some of his works and research facilities on Gallen-Kallela himself.

Akseli Gallen-Kallela (26 April 1865 – 7 March 1931) was a Finnish painter who is best known for his illustrations of the "Kalevala", the Finnish national epic ("illustration, below"). His work is considered very important for the Finnish national identity. He changed his name from Gallén to Gallen-Kallela in 1907.


Motivation.

Consider the linear system  where formula_1 is an formula_9 matrix and formula_10 the column space of formula_1. If formula_1 is nonsingular (which implies formula_13) then formula_14 will be the solution of the system. Note that, if formula_1 is nonsingular, then  Now suppose formula_1 is rectangular (formula_18), or square and singular. Then we need a right candidate formula_19 of order formula_20 such that for all formula_10  That is, formula_23 is a solution of the linear system formula_7. Equivalently, we need a matrix formula_19 of order formula_26 such that  Hence we can define the generalized inverse or g-inverse as follows: Given an formula_9 matrix formula_1, an formula_20 matrix formula_19 is said to be a generalized inverse of formula_1 if formula_27 The matrix formula_34 has been termed a regular inverse of formula_1 by some authors.

Types.

The Penrose conditions define different generalized inverses for formula_2 and formula_37  where formula_42 indicates conjugate transpose. If formula_4 satisfies the first condition, then it is a generalized inverse of formula_1. If it satisfies the first two conditions, then it is a reflexive generalized inverse of formula_1. If it satisfies all four conditions, then it is the pseudoinverse of formula_1. A pseudoinverse is sometimes called the Moore–Penrose inverse, after the pioneering works by E. H. Moore and Roger Penrose.  When formula_1 is non-singular, any generalized inverse formula_48 and is unique, but in all other cases, there are an infinite number of matrices that satisfy condition (1). However, the Moore–Penrose inverse is unique.  There are other kinds of generalized inverse:

Examples.

Reflexive generalized inverse.

Let  Since formula_68, formula_69 is singular and has no regular inverse. However, formula_69 and formula_71 satisfy conditions (1) and (2), but not (3) or (4). Hence, formula_71 is a reflexive generalized inverse of formula_69.

One-sided inverse.

Let  Since formula_69 is not square, formula_69 has no regular inverse. However, formula_77 is a right inverse of formula_69. The matrix formula_69 has no left inverse.

Construction.

The following characterizations are easy to verify:

Uses.

Any generalized inverse can be used to determine whether a system of linear equations has any solutions, and if so to give all of them. If any solutions exist for the "n" × "m" linear system  with vector formula_81 of unknowns and vector formula_82 of constants, all solutions are given by  parametric on the arbitrary vector formula_84, where formula_4 is any generalized inverse of formula_1. Solutions exist if and only if formula_87 is a solution, that is, if and only if formula_88. If "A" has full column rank, the bracketed expression in this equation is the zero matrix and so the solution is unique.

Transformation consistency properties.

In practical applications it is necessary to identify the class of matrix transformations that must be preserved by a generalized inverse. For example, the Moore-Penrose inverse, formula_89 satisfies the following definition of consistency with respect to transformations involving unitary matrices "U" and "V":  The Drazin inverse, formula_91 satisfies the following definition of consistency with respect to similarity transformations involving a nonsingular matrix "S":  The unit-consistent (UC) inverse, formula_93 satisfies the following definition of consistency with respect to transformations involving nonsingular diagonal matrices "D" and "E":  The fact that the Moore-Penrose inverse provides consistency with respect to rotations (which are orthonormal transformations) explains its widespread use in physics and other applications in which Euclidean distances must be preserved. The UC inverse, by contrast, is applicable when system behavior is expected to be invariant with respect to the choice of units on different state variables, e.g., miles versus kilometers.

In mathematics, and in particular, algebra, a generalized inverse of an element "x" is an element "y" that has some properties of an inverse element but not necessarily all of them. Generalized inverses can be defined in any mathematical structure that involves associative multiplication, that is, in a semigroup. This article describes generalized inverses of a matrix formula_1.


Types.

By affected component.

In reality, immunodeficiency often affects multiple components, with notable examples including severe combined immunodeficiency (which is primary) and acquired immune deficiency syndrome (which is secondary).

Primary or secondary.

Distinction between primary versus secondary immunodeficiencies are based on, respectively, whether the cause originates in the immune system itself or is, in turn, due to insufficiency of a supporting component of it or an external decreasing factor of it.

Primary immunodeficiency.

A number of rare diseases feature a heightened susceptibility to infections from childhood onward. Primary Immunodeficiency is also known as congenital immunodeficiencies. Many of these disorders are hereditary and are autosomal recessive or X-linked. There are over 95 recognised primary immunodeficiency syndromes; they are generally grouped by the part of the immune system that is malfunctioning, such as lymphocytes or granulocytes.  The treatment of primary immunodeficiencies depends on the nature of the defect, and may involve antibody infusions, long-term antibiotics and (in some cases) stem cell transplantation. The characteristics of lacking and/or impaired antibody functions can be related to illnesses such as X-Linked Agammaglobulinemia and Common Variable Immune Deficiency

Secondary immunodeficiencies.

Secondary immunodeficiencies, also known as acquired immunodeficiencies, can result from various immunosuppressive agents, for example, malnutrition, aging, particular medications (e.g., chemotherapy, disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs, immunosuppressive drugs after organ transplants, glucocorticoids) and environmental toxins like mercury and other heavy metals, pesticides and petrochemicals like styrene, dichlorobenzene, xylene, and ethylphenol. For medications, the term "immunosuppression" generally refers to both beneficial and potential adverse effects of decreasing the function of the immune system, while the term "immunodeficiency" generally refers solely to the adverse effect of increased risk for infection.  Many specific diseases directly or indirectly cause immunosuppression. This includes many types of cancer, particularly those of the bone marrow and blood cells (leukemia, lymphoma, multiple myeloma), and certain chronic infections. Immunodeficiency is also the hallmark of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS), caused by the human immunodeficiency virus (HIV). HIV directly infects a small number of T helper cells, and also impairs other immune system responses indirectly.  Various hormonal and metabolic disorders can also result in immune deficiency including anemia, hypothyroidism and hyperglycemia.  Smoking, alcoholism and drug abuse also depress immune response.

Immunodeficiency and autoimmunity.

There are a large number of immunodeficiency syndromes that present clinical and laboratory characteristics of autoimmunity. The decreased ability of the immune system to clear infections in these patients may be responsible for causing autoimmunity through perpetual immune system activation.  One example is common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) where multiple autoimmune diseases are seen, e.g., inflammatory bowel disease, autoimmune thrombocytopenia, and autoimmune thyroid disease. Familial hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, an autosomal recessive primary immunodeficiency, is another example. Low blood levels of red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets, rashes, lymph node enlargement, and enlargement of the liver and spleen are commonly seen in these patients. Presence of multiple uncleared viral infections due to lack of perforin are thought to be responsible. In addition to chronic and/or recurrent infections many autoimmune diseases including arthritis, autoimmune hemolytic anemia, scleroderma and type 1 diabetes are also seen in X-linked agammaglobulinemia (XLA). Recurrent bacterial and fungal infections and chronic inflammation of the gut and lungs are seen in chronic granulomatous disease (CGD) as well. CGD is caused by a decreased production of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH) oxidase by neutrophils. Hypomorphic RAG mutations are seen in patients with midline granulomatous disease; an autoimmune disorder that is commonly seen in patients with granulomatosis with polyangiitis and NK/T cell lymphomas. Wiskott–Aldrich syndrome (WAS) patients also present with eczema, autoimmune manifestations, recurrent bacterial infections and lymphoma. In autoimmune polyendocrinopathy-candidiasis-ectodermal dystrophy (APECED) also autoimmunity and infections coexist: organ-specific autoimmune manifestations (e.g., hypoparathyroidism and adrenocortical failure) and chronic mucocutaneous candidiasis. Finally, IgA deficiency is also sometimes associated with the development of autoimmune and atopic phenomena.

Causes.

The cause of immunodeficiency varies depending on the nature of the disorder. The cause can be either genetic or acquired by malnutrition and poor sanitary conditions. Only for some genetic causes, the exact genes are known.

Treatment.

Available treatment falls into two modalities: treating infections and boosting the immune system.  Prevention of Pneumocystis pneumonia using trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole is useful in those who are immunocompromised. In the early 1950s Immunoglobulin(Ig) was used by doctors to treat patients with primary immunodeficiency through intramuscular injection. Ig replacement therapy are infusions that can be either subcutaneous or intravenously administrated, resulting in higher Ig levels for about three to four weeks, although this varies with each patient.

Prognosis.

Prognosis depends greatly on the nature and severity of the condition. Some deficiencies cause early mortality (before age one), others with or even without treatment are lifelong conditions that cause little mortality or morbidity. Newer stem cell transplant technologies may lead to gene based treatments of debilitating and fatal genetic immune deficiencies. Prognosis of acquired immune deficiencies depends on avoiding or treating the causative agent or condition (like AIDS).

Immunodeficiency or immunocompromise is a state in which the immune system's ability to fight infectious disease and cancer is compromised or entirely absent. Most cases of immunodeficiency are acquired ("secondary") due to extrinsic factors that affect the patient's immune system. Examples of these extrinsic factors include HIV infection and environmental factors, such as nutrition. In the clinical setting, the immunosuppression by some drugs, such as steroids, can be either an adverse effect or the intended purpose of the treatment. Examples of such use is in organ transplant surgery as an anti-rejection measure and in patients suffering from an overactive immune system, as in autoimmune diseases. Some people are born with intrinsic defects in their immune system, or primary immunodeficiency. A person who has an immunodeficiency of any kind is said to be immunocompromised. An immunocompromised person may be particularly vulnerable to opportunistic infections, in addition to normal infections that could affect everyone. Immunodeficiency also decreases cancer immunosurveillance, in which the immune system scans the body's cells and kills neoplastic ones.


Early life and association with Hitler.

A watchmaker by trade, Maurice was a close early associate of Adolf Hitler; their personal friendship dated back to 1919 when they were both members of the German Workers Party (DAP). Maurice officially joined the DAP on 1 December 1919 and his party number was 594 (the count began at 501). With the founding of the "Sturmabteilung" in 1920, Maurice became the first "Oberster SA-Führer" (Supreme SA Leader). Maurice led the SA stormtroopers in fights that were known to break out with other groups during those early days. Hitler later in his book "Mein Kampf" mentions one fight in particular from November 1921 where Maurice was at the forefront of the SA unit during the fighting. Back in July 1921, Maurice became a personal chauffeur for Adolf Hitler. In March 1923, Maurice also became a member of the "Stabswache" (Staff Guard), a small separate bodyguard dedicated to Hitler's service rather than "a suspect mass" of the party, such as the SA. It was given the task of guarding Hitler at Nazi parties and rallies. In May 1923, the unit was renamed "Stoßtrupp" (Shock Troop) 'Adolf Hitler'. Maurice, Julius Schreck, Joseph Berchtold, and Erhard Heiden, were all members of the "Stoßtrupp". On 9 November 1923, the "Stoßtrupp", along with the SA and several other paramilitary units, took part in the abortive Beer Hall Putsch in Munich. In the aftermath of the putsch, Hitler, Rudolf Hess, Maurice and other Nazi leaders were incarcerated at Landsberg Prison. The Nazi Party and all associated formations, including the "Stoßtrupp", were officially disbanded. After Hitler's release from prison, the Nazi Party was officially refounded. In 1925, Hitler ordered the formation of a new bodyguard unit, the "Schutzkommando" (protection command). It was formed by Julius Schreck and included old "Stoßtrupp" members, Maurice and Heiden. That same year, the "Schutzkommando" was expanded to a national level. It was renamed successively the "Sturmstaffel" (storm squadron), and finally on 9 November the "Schutzstaffel" (SS). Hitler became SS member No. 1 and Emil Maurice became SS member No. 2. At that time, Maurice became an SS-"Führer" in the new organization, although the leadership of the SS was assumed by Schreck, the first "Reichsführer-SS". Maurice became Hitler's permanent chauffeur in 1925. Later when Maurice informed Hitler in December 1927 that he was having a relationship with Hitler's half-niece Geli Raubal, Hitler forced an end to the affair. Maurice was dismissed from Hitler's personal service in 1928, but allowed to remain a member of the SS.  When the SS was reorganized and expanded in 1932, Maurice became a senior SS officer and would eventually be promoted to the rank SS-"Oberführer". While Maurice never became a top commander of the SS, his status as SS member #2 effectively credited him as an actual founder of the organization. Heinrich Himmler, who ultimately would become the most recognized leader of the SS, was SS member #168.

Conflict with Himmler over Jewish heritage.

After Himmler had become "Reichsführer-SS", Maurice fell afoul of Himmler's racial purity rules for SS officers when he had to submit details of his family history before he was allowed to marry in 1935. Himmler stated, "without question...Maurice is, according to his ancestral table, not of Aryan descent". All SS officers had to prove racial purity back to 1750, and it turned out that Maurice had Jewish ancestry: Charles Maurice Schwartzenberger (1805–1896), the founder of the Thalia Theater in Hamburg, was his great-grandfather.  Even though Maurice had been a party member since 1919, taken part in the abortive Beer Hall Putsch, for which he was awarded the prestigious Blood Order, and been a bodyguard for Hitler, Himmler considered him to be a serious security risk given his "Jewish ancestry". Himmler recommended that Maurice be expelled from the SS, along with other members of his family. To Himmler's annoyance, Hitler stood by his old friend. In a secret letter written on 31 August 1935, Hitler compelled Himmler to make an exception for Maurice and his brothers, who were informally declared "Honorary Aryans" and allowed to stay in the SS.

Later life.

Maurice became engaged on 31 March 1935 to the medical student – later doctor – Hedwig Maria Anna Ploetz, the daughter of Colonel Rudolf Ploetz. They married on 5 November 1935 in Munich. In 1936, he became a Reichstag deputy for Leipzig and from 1937 was the chairman of the Munich Chamber of Commerce. From 1940 to 1942, he served in the "Luftwaffe" as an officer. After the war, in 1948, he was sentenced to four years in a labour camp and had 30% of his assets confiscated. In 1951, he owned a watch shop in Munich. He died on 6 February 1972 in Germany.

References.

Notes Bibliography

Emil Maurice (19 January 1897 – 6 February 1972) was an early member of the National Socialist German Workers' Party (Nazi Party) and a founding member of the "Schutzstaffel" (SS). He was Hitler's first personal chauffeur, succeeded first by Julius Schreck and then Erich Kempka. He was one of the few persons of mixed Jewish and ethnic German ancestry to serve in the SS.