Components and types.

The main part of such a system is made up of large pipes (i.e. the sewers, or "sanitary sewers") that convey the sewage from the point of production to the point of treatment or discharge.  Types of sanitary sewer systems that all usually are gravity sewers include:  Sanitary sewers not relying solely on gravity include:

Maintenance and rehabilitation.

Severe constraints are applied to sewerage, which may result in premature deterioration. These include root intrusion, joint displacement, cracks, and hole formations that lead to a significant volume of leakage with an overall risk for the environment and public health. For example, it is estimated that 500 million m of contaminated water per year can leak into soil and ground-water in Germany. The rehabilitation and replacement of damaged sewers is very costly. Annual rehabilitation costs for Los Angeles County are about €400 million, and in Germany, these costs are estimated to be €100 million. Hydrogen sulfide (HS) is indirectly responsible for biogenic sulfide corrosion and consequently, sewers need rehabilitation work. Various repair options are available to owners over a large range of costs and potential durability. One option is the application of a cementitious material based on calcium aluminate cement, after a cleaning of the corroded structure to remove loose material and contaminants in order to expose a sound, rough and clean substrate. Depending on the concrete condition and contamination, the cleaning can range from simple high pressure jet water cleaning (200 bar) up to real hydro-demolition (2000 bars).  One method to ensure sound concrete is exposed is to verify that the surface pH is superior to 10.  As for any concrete repair, the state-of-the-art rules must be followed. After this cleaning step, the cementitious material is applied to the saturated-surface-dry substrate using either:

Challenges.

Water table.

Sewer system infrastructure often reduces the water table in areas, especially in densely populated areas where rainwater (from house roofs) is directly piped into the system, as opposed to being allowed to be absorbed by the soil. In certain areas it has resulted in a significant lowering of the water table. In the example of Belgium, a lowering of the water table by 100 meters has been the result. The freshwater that is accumulated by the system is then piped to the sea.  In areas where this is a concern, vacuum sewers may be used instead, due to the shallow excavation that is possible for them.

Regulations.

In many European countries, citizens are obliged to connect their home sanitation to the national sewerage where possible. This has resulted in large percentages of the population being connected. For example, the Netherlands have 99% of the population connected to the system, and 1% has an individual sewage disposal system or treatment system, e.g., septic tank. Others have slightly lower (although still substantial) percentages; e.g., 96% for Germany.

Sewerage is the infrastructure that conveys sewage or surface runoff (stormwater, meltwater, rainwater) using sewers. It encompasses components such as receiving drains, manholes, pumping stations, storm overflows, and screening chambers of the combined sewer or sanitary sewer. Sewerage ends at the entry to a sewage treatment plant or at the point of discharge into the environment. It is the system of pipes, chambers, manholes, etc. that conveys the sewage or storm water.


Imperative and procedural programming.

Procedural programming is a type of imperative programming in which the program is built from one or more procedures (also termed subroutines or functions). The terms are often used as synonyms, but the use of procedures has a dramatic effect on how imperative programs appear and how they are constructed. Heavily procedural programming, in which state changes are localized to procedures or restricted to explicit arguments and returns from procedures, is a form of structured programming. From the 1960s onwards, structured programming and modular programming in general have been promoted as techniques to improve the maintainability and overall quality of imperative programs. The concepts behind object-oriented programming attempt to extend this approach.  Procedural programming could be considered a step toward declarative programming. A programmer can often tell, simply by looking at the names, arguments, and return types of procedures (and related comments), what a particular procedure is supposed to do, without necessarily looking at the details of how it achieves its result. At the same time, a complete program is still imperative since it "fixes" the statements to be executed and their order of execution to a large extent.

Rationale and foundations of imperative programming.

The hardware implementation of almost all computers is imperative. Nearly all computer hardware is designed to execute machine code, which is native to the computer and is written in the imperative style. From this low-level perspective, the program state is defined by the contents of memory, and the statements are instructions in the native machine language of the computer. Higher-level imperative languages use variables and more complex statements, but still follow the same paradigm. Recipes and process checklists, while not computer programs, are also familiar concepts that are similar in style to imperative programming; each step is an instruction, and the physical world holds the state. Since the basic ideas of imperative programming are both conceptually familiar and directly embodied in the hardware, most computer languages are in the imperative style.  Assignment statements, in imperative paradigm, perform an operation on information located in memory and store the results in memory for later use. High-level imperative languages, in addition, permit the evaluation of complex expressions, which may consist of a combination of arithmetic operations and function evaluations, and the assignment of the resulting value to memory. Looping statements (as in while loops, do while loops, and for loops) allow a sequence of statements to be executed multiple times. Loops can either execute the statements they contain a predefined number of times, or they can execute them repeatedly until some condition changes. Conditional branching statements allow a sequence of statements to be executed only if some condition is met. Otherwise, the statements are skipped and the execution sequence continues from the statement following them. Unconditional branching statements allow an execution sequence to be transferred to another part of a program. These include the jump (called "goto" in many languages), switch, and the subprogram, subroutine, or procedure call (which usually returns to the next statement after the call).  Early in the development of high-level programming languages, the introduction of the block enabled the construction of programs in which a group of statements and declarations could be treated as if they were one statement. This, alongside the introduction of subroutines, enabled complex structures to be expressed by hierarchical decomposition into simpler procedural structures.  Many imperative programming languages (such as Fortran, BASIC, and C) are abstractions of assembly language.

History of imperative and object-oriented languages.

The earliest imperative languages were the machine languages of the original computers. In these languages, instructions were very simple, which made hardware implementation easier, but hindered the creation of complex programs. FORTRAN, developed by John Backus at International Business Machines (IBM) starting in 1954, was the first major programming language to remove the obstacles presented by machine code in the creation of complex programs. FORTRAN was a compiled language that allowed named variables, complex expressions, subprograms, and many other features now common in imperative languages. The next two decades saw the development of many other major high-level imperative programming languages. In the late 1950s and 1960s, ALGOL was developed in order to allow mathematical algorithms to be more easily expressed, and even served as the operating system's target language for some computers. MUMPS (1966) carried the imperative paradigm to a logical extreme, by not having any statements at all, relying purely on commands, even to the extent of making the IF and ELSE commands independent of each other, connected only by an intrinsic variable named $TEST. COBOL (1960) and BASIC (1964) were both attempts to make programming syntax look more like English. In the 1970s, Pascal was developed by Niklaus Wirth, and C was created by Dennis Ritchie while he was working at Bell Laboratories. Wirth went on to design Modula-2 and Oberon. For the needs of the United States Department of Defense, Jean Ichbiah and a team at Honeywell began designing Ada in 1978, after a 4-year project to define the requirements for the language. The specification was first published in 1983, with revisions in 1995, 2005 and 2012.  The 1980s saw a rapid growth in interest in object-oriented programming. These languages were imperative in style, but added features to support objects. The last two decades of the 20th century saw the development of many such languages. Smalltalk-80, originally conceived by Alan Kay in 1969, was released in 1980, by the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC). Drawing from concepts in another object-oriented language—Simula (which is considered the world's first object-oriented programming language, developed in the 1960s)—Bjarne Stroustrup designed C++, an object-oriented language based on C. Design of C++ began in 1979 and the first implementation was completed in 1983. In the late 1980s and 1990s, the notable imperative languages drawing on object-oriented concepts were Perl, released by Larry Wall in 1987; Wolfram Language, released by Wolfram Research in 1988; Python, released by Guido van Rossum in 1990; Visual Basic and Visual C++ (which included Microsoft Foundation Class Library (MFC) 2.0), released by Microsoft in 1991 and 1993 respectively; PHP, released by Rasmus Lerdorf in 1994; Java, released by Sun Microsystems in 1995, JavaScript, by Brendan Eich (Netscape), and Ruby, by Yukihiro "Matz" Matsumoto, both released in 1995. Microsoft's.NET Framework (2002) is imperative at its core, as are its main target languages, VB.NET and C# that run on it; however Microsoft's F#, a functional language, also runs on it.

In computer science, imperative programming is a programming paradigm that uses statements that change a program's state. In much the same way that the imperative mood in natural languages expresses commands, an imperative program consists of commands for the computer to perform. Imperative programming focuses on describing "how" a program operates.


Etymology.

Bequest comes from Old English "becwethan", "to declare or express in words" — cf. "quoth".

Interpreting bequests.

Part of the process of probate involves interpreting the instructions in a will. Some wordings that define the scope of a bequest have specific interpretations. "All the estate I own" would involve all of the decedent's possessions at the moment of death.  A "conditional request" is a bequest that will be granted only if a particular event has occurred by the time of its operation. For example, a testator might write in the will that "Mary will receive the house held in trust if she is married" or "if she has children," etc.  An "executory request" is a bequest that will be granted only if a particular event occurs in the future. For example, a testator might write in the will that "Mary will receive the house held in trust set when she marries" or "when she has children".  In some jurisdictions, a bequest can also be a deferred payment, as held in "Wolder v. Commissioner", which will impact its tax status.

Explaining bequests.

In microeconomics theorists have engaged the issue of bequest from the perspective of consumption theory, in which they seek to explain the phenomenon in terms of a bequest motive.

Examples.

Oudh bequest.

The Oudh Bequest is a "waqf" which led to the gradual transfer of more than six million rupees from the Indian kingdom of Oudh (Awadh) to the Shia holy cities of Najaf and Karbala between 1850 and 1903. The bequest first reached the cities in 1850. It was distributed by two "mujtahids", one from each city. The British later gradually took over the bequest and its distribution; according to scholars, they intended to use it as a "power lever" to influence Iranian "ulama" and Shia.

United States.

For the recipient.

In order to calculate a taxpayer's income tax obligation, the gross income of the taxpayer must be determined. Under Section 61 of the U.S. Internal Revenue Code gross income is "all income from whatever source derived". On its face, the receipt of a bequest would seemingly fall within gross income and thus be subject to tax. However, in other sections of the code, exceptions are made for a variety of things that do not need to be included in gross income. Section 102(a) of the Code makes an exception for bequests stating that "Gross income does not include the value of property acquired by gift, bequest, or inheritance." In general this means that the value or amount of the bequest does not need to be included in a taxpayer's gross income. This rule is not exclusive, however, and there are some exceptions under Section 102(b) of the code where the amount of value must be included. There is great debate about whether or not bequests should be included in gross income and subject to income taxes, however there has been some type of exclusion for bequests in every Federal Income Tax Act.

For the donor.

One reason that the recipient of a bequest is usually not taxed on the bequest is because the donor may be taxed on it. Donors of bequests may be taxed through other mechanisms such as federal wealth transfer taxes. Wealth Transfer taxes, however, are usually imposed against only the very wealthy.

A bequest is property given by will. Historically, the term "bequest" was used for personal property given by will and "deviser" for real property. Today, the two words are used interchangeably.


Biography.

Titov was born in the village of Verkhneye Zhilino in the Altai Krai and went to school at the Stalingrad Military Aviation School. After graduating as an air force pilot, he was selected for cosmonaut training in 1960.  He flew the Vostok 2 mission launched on 6 August 1961. It lasted for 25.3 hours and he performed 17 orbits of the Earth. His call sign was "Eagle" (). He landed close to the town of Krasny Kut in Saratov Oblast, Russia. A month short of 26 years old at launch, he remains the youngest person to fly in space. Titov was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, as were almost all the Soviet cosmonauts.  Titov was a fine sportsman, and keen on gymnastics:  He was the first person to suffer from space sickness (motion sickness in space) and was also the first person to sleep in space. He slept for roughly one orbit and was surprised to wake with his arms floating in the air due to the absence of normal gravity. He returned to sleep after putting his arms under a security belt, then slept 30 minutes more than predicted by the flight plan. He stated that "Once you have your arms and legs arranged properly, space sleep is fine... I slept like a baby". Though he had been suffering from space sickness during his orbit, Titov celebrated upon landing. His celebration is described as "a fit of euphoria" after landing, and on his return flight to Kubishev for debriefing, he alarmed the medical staff by opening and downing a beer in complete violation of the rules.  After landing, Titov landed and was sent to hospital for further testing to ensure that he was not sick. After his mission, he reportedly engaged in behaviours that could be considered unacceptable for someone working within the space programme. He is reported to have been enthralled in his love of women, excessive drinking, and fast cars which caused some to theorize that his behavior had potentially been another side effect of the space sickness he experienced from zero gravity. Further testing revealed that this was not the case.  During a widely publicized 1962 visit to Seattle to tour the Century 21 World's Fair, Titov was asked by reporters how his space flight affected his philosophy of life. He replied: "Sometimes people are saying that God is out there. I was looking around attentively all day but I didn’t find anybody there. I saw neither angels nor God." The utterance was famously used in Soviet anti-religion propaganda, but it was misattributed to Yuri Gagarin.  Following his space flight, Titov assumed various senior positions in the Soviet space programme until his retirement in 1992. In 1995, he was elected to the State Duma as a member of the Communist Party. He died of cardiac arrest in his sauna at the age of 65 in Moscow. He was buried in the Novodevichy Cemetery.

Awards and legacy.

Gherman Titov was awarded the title Hero of the Soviet Union, two Orders of Lenin, and numerous medals and foreign orders. He was bestowed the title of the Hero of Socialist Labor of Bulgaria, Hero of Labour of Vietnam, and Hero of Mongolia. Titov crater on the far side of the Moon and an island in Halong Bay are named after him, Ti Tốp Island.  On 6 August 2011, the 50th anniversary of Titov's flight, the reconstructed and expanded Gherman Titov Museum was opened in his native village of Polkovnikovo, Altai Krai.

Cultural references.

In Arthur C. Clarke's 1982 book, "" (and the 1984 film adaptation "2010"), the opening scene features a conversation between Dimitri Moisevitch of the Soviet Space Council and Dr. Heywood Floyd. When Moisevitch informs Floyd that the Soviets will be travelling to Jupiter on their new spaceship, the "Cosmonaut Alexei Leonov", Floyd is initially puzzled, claiming that he thought the ship was to be named after Gherman Titov. In the book, Moisevitch just mentioned that it had been changed to "Leonov"; in the film, he replies that Titov has fallen out of favour, though he does not elaborate.  BBC Radio 4's "Afternoon Play" on 12 April 2011," Titanium", features Titov as narrator during the training and flight of Yuri Gagarin. It was part of a week to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Gagarin's flight.

Gherman Stepanovich Titov (; 11 September 1935 – 20 September 2000) was a Soviet cosmonaut who, on 6 August 1961, became the second human to orbit the Earth, aboard Vostok 2, preceded by Yuri Gagarin on Vostok 1. He was the fourth person in space, counting suborbital voyages of US astronauts Alan Shepard and Gus Grissom.


Water level fluctuations.

In the past, rainfall and aridity caused significant floods (which in 1768 enlarged the lake to its maximum documented size of ) and significant decreases in the lake's level, although frequently there seemed to be no apparent connection with the weather situation.  Stratigraphy shows that the lake bed has totally dried up at least 100 times since its formation (18,000–14,000 BC). During recent history the lake's complete disappearance has been documented in considerable detail on several occasions, e.g. in 1740–1742, 1811–1813, and most recently in 1866, when the private diary of a local, Gottlieb Wenzel, noted that he crossed the bed of the lake on 4 June without soiling his boots. Parts of the lake bed were claimed for agriculture; wheat and turnips were being planted. However, in 1871 the lake began to return and by the spring of 1876 it had already reassumed its usual size. The last (brief and partial) vanishing took place during the summer of 1949 when the northern part of the lake bed (to the approximate latitude of Podersdorf) fell dry for a few weeks. Each time the drying-up of the lake bed caused major environmental disruptions because the humidifying and temperature buffering effect of the large water body was absent, and because the winds blew large amounts of salty dust into the surrounding villages. On earlier occasions the lake was sometimes referred to as a "swamp", suggesting a very low water level with an expansion of reeds throughout the lake bed. Two records dated to 1318 and 1324, respectively mention a "river", implying that at this time the lake might have been reduced to a central body of water running from north to south.  Today the water level is controlled by an artificial outflow, the, and a sluice on Hungarian territory near Fertőújlak, and bilateral issues are dealt with by the Austro-Hungarian water commission which was established in 1956. However, comparatively minor fluctuations of the lake's level continue to occur. In 1965 the lake gained of water within a single month, raising its level by. The water level decreased to a similar extent, by within one year as a result of the drought of 2003. Both types of events are perfectly within the normal range, and because of the shallowness of the water can be either exacerbated or compensated by the effects of wind pressure, which can temporarily raise or reduce the local water level by as much as. However, the lake remains sensitive to changes in its equilibrium, as recent climate change scenario simulations have shown. Before the regulation works of the 19th century, the lake extended in the southeast to the marshlands of the Hanság () which have been increasingly drained and claimed for agriculture from the 16th century onward. Originally, the lake was thus closely connected to the Danube and the Rába river systems.

Nature and wildlife.

Most of the lake is surrounded by reeds which serve as a habitat for wildlife (making the lake an important resting place for migratory birds) and are harvested in winter as soon as the ice is solid enough. This serves a double purpose, one ecological (removal of the bulk of organic matter that would otherwise decay in the lake) and one economic (the reed is sold for various purposes, mostly related to construction and housing). During the summer months, there are occasional reed fires, as dry reed is easily flammable, and fires spread quickly because of the almost constant wind. Water quality is determined by temperature, wind, and by the amount of salt and mud emanating with the ground water from the sediments.  Several plans for dams and other intrusive construction works which would have destroyed the lake and its biotopes were discussed during the first half of the 20th century but came to nothing. Detailed plans to divide the lake bed with earthworks so that certain parts with reasonably fertile soil could be permanently drained and claimed for agriculture while the remaining parts would be used for intensive aquaculture had been finalized and approved in 1918 but were abandoned when most of the lake became Austrian territory after World War I. In 1971 plans for a bridge across the Austrian part of the lake were thwarted by environmentalists.  In 1993 the National Park Neusiedler See-Seewinkel gained international acceptance as an IUCN Category II preserve. In 2001 the national parks in Austria and Fertő-Hanság in Hungary were together accepted as a World Heritage Site. Lake Neusiedl See and its surrounding areas in Austria also enjoy protection through the Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

Towns and villages around the lake.

Traces of human settlement around Lake Neusiedl go back to the neolithic period. The area became densely populated from the 7th century BC onward, initially by people of the Hallstatt culture and remained so throughout Roman times. In 454 Theodoric the Great, the preeminent king of the Ostrogoths, was born here. Near Fertőrákos there are two Roman villas and a 3rd-century Mithras temple open to visitors.  The more important extant towns lying on the lake's shore are Illmitz (Illmic), Podersdorf am See (Pátfalu), Weiden (Védeny), Neusiedl am See (Nezsider), Jois (Nyulas), Winden (Sásony), Breitenbrunn (Fertőszéleskút), Purbach am Neusiedlersee (Feketeváros), Donnerskirchen (Fertőfehéregyháza), Oggau (Oka), Rust (Ruszt) and Mörbisch (Fertőmeggyes) in Austria, and Sopron, Fertőrákos, Fertőboz, Fertőd, Balf and Fertőújlak in Hungary, with the communities of Illmitz, Apetlon (Mosonbánfalva) and Podersdorf am See forming the so-called Seewinkel (lake corner), which is located between the lake and the Hungarian border. Hungarian names of Austrian towns lying on the lake's shore are given in parentheses.

Tourism.

Despite remaining a protected wildlife habitat, the region of Lake Neusiedl, particularly in its Austrian part, draws significant numbers of tourists. The lake is known as the "Sea of the Viennese", as it offers ample opportunities for sailing and windsurfing at a reasonable distance from Vienna. There is also some commercial fishing.  Low water levels pose a problem for sailing and commercial shipping, as boats hit the ground more frequently and mooring sites can become temporarily unusable. However, it somewhat facilitates the annual freestyle mass crossing of the lake from Mörbisch to Illmitz. Everybody who can swim and is more than in height can participate in this event, which was revived in 2004.

Lake Neusiedl () or Fertő (; ; ; ; ) is the largest endorheic lake in Central Europe, straddling the Austrian–Hungarian border. The lake covers, of which is on the Austrian side and on the Hungarian side. The lake's drainage basin has an area of about. From north to south, the lake is about long, and it is between and wide from east to west. On average, the lake's surface is above the Adriatic Sea and the lake is no more than deep.


Etymology.

The name "Shoshone" comes from "Sosoni", a Shoshone word for high-growing grasses. Some neighboring tribes call the Shoshone "Grass House People," based on their traditional homes made from "sosoni". Shoshones call themselves "Newe", meaning "People."  Meriwether Lewis recorded the tribe as the "Sosonees or snake Indians" in 1805.

Language.

The Shoshoni language is spoken by approximately 1,000 people today. It belongs to the Central Numic branch of the Uto-Aztecan language family. Speakers are scattered from central Nevada to central Wyoming.  The largest numbers of Shoshoni speakers live on the federally recognized Duck Valley Indian Reservation, located on the border of Nevada and Idaho; and Goshute Reservation in Utah. Idaho State University also offers Shoshoni-language classes.

History.

The Shoshone are a Native American tribe, who originated in the western Great Basin and spread north and east into present-day Idaho and Wyoming. By 1500, some Eastern Shoshone had crossed the Rocky Mountains into the Great Plains. After 1750, warfare and pressure from the Blackfoot, Crow, Lakota, Cheyenne, and Arapaho pushed Eastern Shoshone south and westward. Some of them moved as far south as Texas, emerging as the Comanche by 1700.  As more European-American settlers migrated west, tensions rose with the indigenous people over competition for territory and resources. Wars occurred throughout the second half of the 19th century. The Northern Shoshone, led by Chief Pocatello, fought during the 1860s with settlers in Idaho (where the city Pocatello was named for him). As more settlers encroached on Shoshone hunting territory, the natives raided farms and ranches for food and attacked immigrants.  The warfare resulted in the Bear River Massacre (1863) when US forces attacked and killed an estimated 410 Northwestern Shoshone, who were at their winter encampment. A large number of the dead were civilians, including women and children, deliberately killed by the soldiers. This was the highest number of deaths which the Shoshone suffered at the hands of United States forces.  During the American Civil War travelers continued to migrate westward along the Westward Expansion Trails. When the Shoshone, along with the Utes participated in attacks on the mail route that ran west out of Fort Laramie, the mail route had to be relocated south of the trail through Wyoming.  Allied with the Bannock, to whom they were related, the Shoshone fought against the United States in the Snake War from 1864 to 1868. They fought US forces together in 1878 in the Bannock War. In 1876, by contrast, the Shoshone fought alongside the U.S. Army in the Battle of the Rosebud against their traditional enemies, the Lakota and Cheyenne.  In 1879 a band of approximately 300 Eastern Shoshone (known as "Sheepeaters") became involved in the Sheepeater Indian War. It was the last Indian war fought in the Pacific Northwest region of the present-day United States.  In 1911 a small group of Bannock under a leader named Mike Daggett, also known as "Shoshone Mike," killed four ranchers in Washoe County, Nevada. The settlers formed a posse and went out after the Native Americans. They caught up with the Bannock band on February 26, 1911 and killed eight. They lost one man of the posse, Ed Hogle. The posse captured three children and a woman.  A rancher donated the partial remains of three adult males, two adult females, two adolescent males, and three children (believed to be Shoshone Mike and his family, according to contemporary accounts) to the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, DC for study. In 1994, the institution repatriated the remains to the Fort Hall Idaho Shoshone-Bannock Tribe.  In 2008 the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation acquired the site of the Bear River Massacre and some surrounding land. They wanted to protect the holy land and to build a memorial to the massacre, the largest their nation had suffered. "In partnership with the American West Heritage Center and state leaders in Idaho and Utah, the tribe has developed public/private partnerships to advance tribal cultural preservation and economic development goals." They have become a leader in developing tribal renewable energy.

Historical population.

In 1845 the estimated population of Northern and Western Shoshone was 4,500, much reduced after they had suffered infectious disease epidemics and warfare. The completion of the First Transcontinental Railroad in 1869 was followed by European-American immigrants arriving in unprecedented numbers in the territory.  In 1937 the Bureau of Indian Affairs counted 3,650 Northern Shoshone and 1,201 Western Shoshone. As of the 2000 census, some 12,000 persons identified as Shoshone.

Bands.

Shoshone people are divided into traditional bands based both on their homelands and primary food sources. These include:

The Shoshone or Shoshoni ( or ) are a Native American tribe with four large cultural/linguistic divisions: They traditionally speak the Shoshoni language, part of the Numic languages branch of the large Uto-Aztecan language family. The Shoshone were sometimes called the Snake Indians by neighboring tribes and early American explorers.


Procedure.

In practice, the method of "cross-multiplying" means that we multiply the numerator of each (or one) side by the denominator of the other side, effectively crossing the terms over.  The mathematical justification for the method is from the following longer mathematical procedure. If we start with the basic equation:  we can multiply the terms on each side by the same number and the terms will remain equal. Therefore, if we multiply the fraction on each side by the product of the denominators of both sides——we get:  We can reduce the fractions to lowest terms by noting that the two occurrences of formula_6 on the left-hand side cancel, as do the two occurrences of on the right-hand side, leaving:  and we can divide both sides of the equation by any of the elements—in this case we will use —getting:  Another justification of cross-multiplication is as follows. Starting with the given equation:  multiply by = 1 on the left and by = 1 on the right, getting:  and so:  Cancel the common denominator =, leaving:  Each step in these procedures is based on a single, fundamental property of equations. Cross-multiplication is a shortcut, an easily understandable procedure that can be taught to students.

Use.

This is a common procedure in mathematics, used to reduce fractions or calculate a value for a given variable in a fraction. If we have an equation like this, where is a variable we are interested in solving for:  we can use cross multiplication to determine that:  For example, suppose we want to know how far a car will travel in 7 hours, if we know that its speed is constant and that it already travelled 90 miles in the last 3 hours. Converting the word problem into ratios we get  Cross-multiplying yields:  and so:  Note that even simple equations like this:  are solved using cross multiplication, since the missing term is implicitly equal to 1:  Any equation containing fractions or rational expressions can be simplified by multiplying both sides by the least common denominator. This step is called "clearing fractions".

Rule of Three.

The Rule of Three was a historical shorthand version for a particular form of cross-multiplication that could be taught to students by rote. It was considered the height of Colonial math education and still figures in the French national curriculum for secondary education.  For an equation of the form:  where the variable to be evaluated is in the right-hand denominator, the Rule of Three states that:  In this context, is referred to as the "extreme" of the proportion, and and are called the "means".  This rule was already known to Chinese mathematicians prior to the 2nd century CE, though it was not used in Europe until much later.  The Rule of Three gained notoriety for being particularly difficult to explain. Cocker's Arithmetick, the premier textbook in the 17th century, introduces its discussion of the Rule of Three with the problem, "If 4 Yards of Cloth cost 12 Shillings, what will 6 Yards cost at that Rate?" The Rule of Three gives the answer to this problem directly; whereas in modern arithmetic, we would solve it by introducing a variable to stand for the cost of 6 yards of cloth, writing down the equation:  and then using cross-multiplication to calculate :  An anonymous manuscript dated 1570 said: "Multiplication is vexation, / Division is as bad; / The Rule of three doth puzzle me, / And Practice drives me mad."

Double Rule of Three.

An extension to the Rule of Three was the Double Rule of Three, which involved finding an unknown value where five rather than three other values are known.  An example of such a problem might be "If 6 builders can build 8 houses in 100 days, how many days would it take 10 builders to build 20 houses at the same rate?" and this can be set up as  which, with cross-multiplication twice, gives  Lewis Carroll's "The Mad Gardener's Song" includes the lines "He thought he saw a Garden-Door / That opened with a key: / He looked again, and found it was / A double Rule of Three"

In mathematics, specifically in elementary arithmetic and elementary algebra, given an equation between two fractions or rational expressions, one can cross-multiply to simplify the equation or determine the value of a variable.


Etymology.

The first noted use of "serendipity" in the English language was by Horace Walpole on 28 January 1754. In a letter he wrote to his friend Horace Mann, Walpole explained an unexpected discovery he had made about a lost painting of Bianca Cappello by Giorgio Vasari by reference to a Persian fairy tale, "The Three Princes of Serendip". The princes, he told his correspondent, were "always making discoveries, by accidents and sagacity, of things which they were not in quest of." The name comes from "Serendip", an old name for Sri Lanka (Ceylon), hence "Sarandib" by Arab traders. It is derived from the Sanskrit "Siṃhaladvīpaḥ" (Siṃhalaḥ, Sri Lanka + dvīpaḥ, island).  The word has been exported into many other languages, with the general meaning of “unexpected discovery” or “fortunate chance”.

Applications.

Inventions.

The term "serendipity" is often applied to inventions made by chance rather than intent. Andrew Smith, editor of "The" "Oxford Companion to American Food and Drink", has speculated that most everyday products had serendipitous roots, with many early ones related to animals. The origin of cheese, for example, possibly originated in the Nomad practice of storing milk in the stomach of a dead camel that was attached to the saddle of a live one, thereby mixing rennet from the stomach with the milk stored within.  Other examples of serendipity in inventions include:

Discoveries.

Serendipity contributed to entomologist Shaun Winterton discovering "Semachrysa jade", a new species of lacewing, which he found not in its native Malaysia, but on the photo-sharing site Flickr. Winterton's discovery was aided by Flickr's ability to present images that are personalized to a user's interests, thereby increasing the odds he would chance upon the photo. Computer scientist Jaime Teevan has argued that serendipitous discovery is promoted by such personalization, writing that "people don’t know what to do with random new information. Instead, we want information that is at the fringe of what we already know, because that is when we have the cognitive structures to make sense of the new ideas."

Online activity.

Serendipity is a design principle for online activity that would present viewpoints that diverge from those participants already hold. Harvard Law professor Cass Sunstein argues that such an "architecture of serendipity" would promote a healthier democracy. Like a great city or university, "a well-functioning information market" provides exposure to new ideas, people, and ways of life, "Serendipity is crucial because it expands your horizons. You need that if you want to be free." The idea has potential application in the design of social media, information searches, and web browsing.

Related terms.

William Boyd coined the term zemblanity in the late twentieth century to mean somewhat the opposite of serendipity: "making unhappy, unlucky and expected discoveries occurring by design". A zemblanity is, effectively, an "unpleasant unsurprise". It derives from Novaya Zemlya (or Nova Zembla), a cold, barren land with many features opposite to the lush Sri Lanka (Serendip).  Bahramdipity is derived directly from Bahram Gur as characterized in "The Three Princes of Serendip". It describes the "suppression" of serendipitous discoveries or research results by powerful individuals.

Serendipity is the occurrence of an unplanned fortunate discovery. Serendipity is a common occurrence throughout the history of product invention and scientific discovery. Serendipity is also seen as a potential design principle for online activities that would present a wide array of information and viewpoints, rather than just re-enforcing a user's opinion.


History.

"Ragnita" (from Old Prussian: "ragas", "spur"), founded in 1288, was a settlement of the Baltic (Old Prussian) tribe of Skalvians. It was contested by the Grand Duchy of Lithuania since its creation in the 13th century, and on April 23, 1289 it was conquered by the Teutonic Knights, who built a Gothic castle there, which later became the seat of a "Komtur". The stronghold was called "Landeshut", but the name did not become popular and the name Ragnit, after a local river, a tributary of the Memel (outside of Prussia called Neman), continued to be used.  Although the settlement had an important castle not only guarding the Prussian lands of the State of the Teutonic Order from the north but also serving as a military base for the Knights' campaigns into adjacent Samogitia, it was living in the shadow of the nearby city of Tilsit (present-day Sovetsk). After the dissolution of the Order's State under its last Grand Master Albrecht von Hohenzollern, Ragnit on April 10, 1525 became a part of the Duchy of Prussia, which was ruled by the House of Hohenzollern as a fief of the Polish Crown until 1657. The duchy was inherited by the Hohenzollern margraves of Brandenburg in 1618, becoming an integral part of Brandenburg-Prussia, whereby remote Ragnit retained its status as a regional capital. Ragnit was devastated by Tatars during the Second Northern War in 1656 and again by Swedish forces during the Scanian War in 1678, while the "Great Elector" Frederick William of Brandenburg had achieved full sovereignty over his Prussian lands by the 1657 Treaty of Wehlau. His son and successor Elector Frederick III elevated himself to a King "in" Prussia in 1701. He granted Ragnit town privileges on April 6, 1722. It was again destroyed during the Seven Years' War, this time by Russian forces in 1757.  Incorporated into the Province of East Prussia from 1815, Ragnit became a part of the German Empire upon the Prussian-led unification of Germany in 1871. On November 1, 1892, a railroad line linking the town with Tilsit (now Sovetsk) was opened. It was built to develop the wood industry in the area, but the development did not actually start and the area's economy remained dominated by food production. When Germany had to cede the Klaipėda Region north of the Neman River to the Conference of Ambassadors according to the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, Ragnit became a border town. In 1922, it lost its status as an administrative capital in favor of Tilsit.  During World War II, on January 19, 1945, Ragnit was captured without a fight by the 3rd Belorussian Front of the Red Army in the course of the East Prussian Offensive. In accordance to the 1945 Potsdam Agreement, the town became a part of Kaliningrad Oblast of the Russian SFSR. It was renamed to Neman in 1946. Most of the local inhabitants who had not fled during the Soviet conquest of East Prussia were subsequently expelled to the western parts of Germany.

Administrative and municipal status.

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Neman serves as the administrative center of Nemansky District. As an administrative division, it is, together with nineteen rural localities, incorporated within Nemansky District as the town of district significance of Neman. As a municipal division, the town of district significance of Neman is incorporated within Nemansky Municipal District as Nemanskoye Urban Settlement.

Lithuanian minority.

Despite being a part of German-speaking states, for centuries Ragnit was an important center of Lithuanian culture. From 1549 to 1563, famous Lithuanian writer and translator (who wrote the first book in the Lithuanian language, "Catechismusa Prasty Szadei" ("The Simple Words of Catechism")) Martynas Mažvydas was priest and Archdiacon of Ragainė. While living in Ragainė he wrote "The Song of St. Ambrosy" (with a dedication in Lithuanian), translated "The Form of Baptism" from German into Lithuanian, published "The Prussian Agenda" into the prayer "Paraphrasis". One of his major works was "The Christian Songs" ("Giesmės Krikščioniškos"). In the 19th century, after the January Uprising when the Lithuanian language was banned from the office in all of Russian-ruled Lithuania, books in that language were printed in Ragnit and then smuggled to Russia by the Lithuanian book smugglers ("knygnešiai"). According to German data 17,500 Lithuanians lived in the Ragnit district in 1890 (32% of the population). In 2010 Lithuanians composed 2.8% of the town population, being the third largest ethnic group after Russians and Belarusians.

International relations.

Twin towns and sister cities.

Neman is twinned with:

Neman (), prior to 1946 known by its German name Ragnit (; ), is a town and the administrative center of Nemansky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located in the historic East Prussia, on the steep southern bank of the Neman River, where it forms the Russian border with the Klaipėda Region in Lithuania, and northeast of Kaliningrad, the administrative center of the oblast. Population figures:


History.

In the Middle Ages, the area in Old Prussia had been settled by the Nadruvian tribe of the Baltic Prussians. It was conquered by the Teutonic Knights in about 1276 and incorporated into the State of the Teutonic Order. From the 15th century onwards, the Knights largely resettled the lands with Samogitian and Lithuanian colonists.  The settlement itself was first mentioned as "Stallupoenen", or "Stallupönen", in 1539, named after a nearby river called "Stalupė" in Lithuanian. At that time, with the secularization of the Order's Prussian lands in 1525, Stallupönen had already become part of the Duchy of Prussia, a Polish fief which in 1618 was inherited by the Hohenzollern margraves of Brandenburg. Stallupönen then belonged to Brandenburg-Prussia and in 1701 became a part of the Kingdom of Prussia in 1701. King Frederick William I granted it town privileges in 1722. Like other cities in East Prussia during the Seven Years' War between 1757 and 1762, it was occupied by the Russian forces. It was administered in the Province of East Prussia beginning in 1773. During the Prussian-led unification of Germany, Stallupönen became a part of the German Empire in 1871. With the construction of railways, the town became well-acquainted to travelers, as it was the last stop on the German-Russian frontier. Here, travelers made the transfer from standard gauge railway carriages of western Europe to the broad gauge carriages of Russia.  In August 1914, the city and the surrounding area were a focal point of Battle of Stallupönen between Russian and Imperial German armies, an opening battle on the Eastern Front of World War I. It was occupied by the Russian army between August 18, 1914 and February 18, 1915.  Because of the Lithuanian minority living there, the Republic of Lithuania tried unsuccessfully to obtain the town from Germany after World War I. Because "Stallupönen" sounded too "un-German", the Nazi regime renamed the town Ebenrode in 1938.  The town was overrun by the Soviet Red Army during World War II on January 13, 1945. The region was transferred from Germany to the Russian SFSR in 1945 and made a part of Kaliningrad Oblast. In 1946, the town, whose German inhabitants had been largely evacuated or expelled, was renamed Nesterov after Sergey Nesterov, a Soviet war hero who was killed in the vicinity.

Administrative and municipal status.

Within the framework of administrative divisions, Nesterov serves as the administrative center of Nesterovsky District. As an administrative division, it is incorporated within Nesterovsky District as the town of district significance of Nesterov. As a municipal division, the town of district significance of Nesterov is incorporated within Nesterovsky Municipal District as Nesterovskoye Urban Settlement.

Culture.

Today Nesterov is one of the cultural centers of the Lithuanian minority in Russia.

Nesterov (), until 1938 known by its German name (; ) and in 1938-1946 as Ebenrode, is a town and the administrative center of Nesterovsky District in Kaliningrad Oblast, Russia, located east of Kaliningrad, near the Russian-Lithuanian border on the railway connecting Kaliningrad Oblast with Moscow. Population figures:


Species.

Species of ebony include "Diospyros ebenum" (Ceylon ebony), native to southern India and Sri Lanka; "Diospyros crassiflora" (Gabon ebony), native to western Africa; and "Diospyros celebica" (Sulawesi ebony), native to Indonesia and prized for its luxuriant, multi-colored wood grain. Mauritius ebony, "Diospyros tessellaria", was largely exploited by the Dutch in the 17th century. Some species in the genus "Diospyros" yield an ebony with similar physical properties, but striped rather than evenly black ("Diospyros ebenum").

Uses.

Ebony has a long history of use, with carved pieces having been found in Ancient Egyptian tombs.  By the end of the 16th century, fine cabinets for the luxury trade were made of ebony in Antwerp. The wood's dense hardness lent itself to refined moldings framing finely detailed pictorial panels with carving in very low relief (bas-relief), usually of allegorical subjects, or with scenes taken from classical or Christian history. Within a short time, such cabinets were also being made in Paris, where their makers became known as "ébénistes", which remains the French term for a cabinetmaker.  Modern uses are largely restricted to small items, such as crucifixes, and musical instrument parts, including black piano, Organ (music), and harpsichord keys, violin, viola, mandolin, guitar, double bass, and cello fingerboards, tailpieces, pegs, chinrests, and bow frogs. Many plectrums, or guitar picks, are made from this black wood.  Traditionally, the black pieces in chess sets were made from ebony, with boxwood or ivory being used for the white pieces. Modern East Midlands-style lace-making bobbins, also being small, are often made of ebony and look particularly decorative when bound with brass or silver wire. Due to its strength, many handgun grips and rifle fore-end tips are made of ebony, as are the butts of pool cues.  As a result of unsustainable harvesting, many species yielding ebony are now considered threatened. Africa in particular has had most of its indigenous ebony cut down illegally.

Legislation.

In Sri Lanka, ebony is a protected species and harvesting and sale of ebony is illegal and punishable by imprisonment.  In 2012, the Gibson Guitar company was raided by the US Fish and Wildlife Service for violations of the Lacey Act of 1900, which prohibits the importation of threatened woods and other materials.  An ebony and rosewood expert at the Missouri Botanical Garden calls the Madagascar wood trade the "equivalent of Africa's blood diamonds".  Ebony, when ground into fine dust (for example, during sawing), results in a flammable and toxic powder which can float about in air for several days. Due to the high toxicity of ebony in powdered form, its use in construction work requires government certification in several South Asian countries.

Ebony is a dense black/brown hardwood, most commonly yielded by several different species in the genus "Diospyros", which also contains the persimmons. Ebony is dense enough to sink in water. It is finely-textured and has a mirror finish when polished, making it valuable as an ornamental wood. The word "ebony" comes from the Ancient Egyptian ', through the Ancient Greek ('), into Latin and Middle English.


Etymology.

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition "rigging" derives from Anglo-Saxon "wrigan" or "wringing", "to clothe". The same source points out that "rigging" a sailing vessel refers to putting all the components in place to allow it to function, including the masts, spars, sails and the rigging.

Types of rigging.

Rigging is divided into two classes, "standing", which supports the mast (and bowsprit), and "running", which controls the orientation of the sails and their degree of reefing. Configurations differ for each type of rigging, between "fore-and-aft rigged" vessels and "square-rigged" vessels.

Standing.

Standing rigging is cordage which is fixed in position. Standing rigging is almost always between a mast and the deck, using tension to hold the mast firmly in place. Due to its role, standing rigging is now most commonly made of steel cable. It was historically made of the same materials as running rigging, only coated in tar for added strength and protection from the elements.

Fore-and-aft rigged vessels.

Most fore-and-aft rigged vessels have the following types of standing rigging: a forestay, a backstay, and upper and lower shrouds (side stays). Less common rigging configurations are diamond stays and jumpers. Both of these are used to keep a thin mast in column especially under the load of a large down wind sail or in strong wind. Rigging parts include swageless terminals, swage terminals, shackle toggle terminals and fail-safe wire rigging insulators.

Square-rigged vessels.

Whereas 20th-century square-rigged vessels were constructed of steel with steel standing rigging, prior vessels used wood masts with hemp-fiber standing rigging. As rigs became taller by the end of the 19th century, masts relied more heavily on successive spars, stepped one atop the other to form the whole, from bottom to top: the "lower mast", "top mast", and "topgallant mast". This construction relied heavily on support by a complex array of stays and shrouds. Each stay in either the fore-and-aft or athwartships direction had a corresponding one in the opposite direction providing counter-tension. Fore-and-aft the system of tensioning started with the stays that were anchored in front each mast. Shrouds were tensioned by pairs deadeyes, circular blocks that had the large-diameter line run around them, whilst multiple holes allowed smaller line—"lanyard"—to pass multiple times between the two and thereby allow tensioning of the shroud. In addition to overlapping the mast below, the top mast and topgallant mast were supported laterally by shrouds that passed around either a platform, called a "top", or cross-wise beams, called "crosstrees". Each additional mast segment is supported fore and aft by a series of stays that led forward. These lines were countered in tension by backstays, which were secured along the sides of the vessel behind the shrouds.

Running.

Running rigging is the cordage used to control the shape and position of the sails. Materials have evolved from the use of Manilla rope to synthetic fibers, which include dacron, nylon and kevlar. Running rigging varies between "fore-and-aft rigged" vessels and "square-rigged" vessels. They have common functions between them for supporting, shaping and orienting sails, which employ different mechanisms. For supporting sails, halyards (sometimes haulyards), are used to raise sails and control luff tension. On gaff-rigged vessels, topping lifts hold the yards across the top of the sail aloft. Sail shape is usually controlled by lines that pull at the corners of the sail, including the outhaul at the clew and the downhaul at the tack on fore-and-aft rigs. The orientation of sails to the wind is controlled primarily by sheets, but also by braces, which position the yard arms with respect to the wind on square-rigged vessels.

Rigging comprises the system of ropes, cables and chains, which support a sailing ship or sail boat's masts—"standing rigging", including shrouds and stays—and which adjust the position of the vessel's sails and spars to which they are attached—the "running rigging", including halyards, braces, sheets and vangs.


Terminology.

There are many names for the barrel organ, such as hand organ, cylinder organ, box organ (though that can also mean a positive organ), street organ, grinder organ, and Low Countries organ. In French names include "orgue à manivelle" ("crank organ") and "orgue de Barbarie" ("Barbary organ"); German names include "Drehorgel" ("crank organ"), "Leierkasten" ("brace box"), and "Walzenorgel" ("cylinder organ"); Hungarian names include "verkli" (from Austrian-German "Werkl"), "sípláda" ("whistle chest") and "kintorna" (from Bayern-Austrian "Kinterne"); Italian names include "organetto a manovella" ("crank organ") and "organo tedesco" ("German organ"); the Polish name is "katarynka". However, several of these names include types of mechanical organs for which the music is encoded as book music or by holes on a punched paper tape instead of by pins on a barrel. While many of these terms refer to the physical operation of the crank, some refer to an exotic origin. The French name "orgue de Barbarie", suggesting barbarians, has been explained as a corruption of, variously, the terms "bara" ("bread") and "gwen" ("wine") in the Breton language, the surname of an early barrel-organ manufacturer from Modena, Giovanni Barberi, or that of the English inventor John Burberry.  The term hurdy-gurdy is sometimes mistakenly applied to a small, portable barrel organ that was frequently played by organ grinders and buskers (street musicians), but the two terms should not be confused. Although the hurdy-gurdy is also powered by a crank and often used by street performers, it produces sound with a rosin-covered wheel rotated against tuned strings. Another key difference is that the hurdy-gurdy player is free to play any tune he or she desires, while the barrel organist is generally confined to pre-programmed tunes.  Some also confuse the barrel organ with the steam organ or calliope. In the United Kingdom barrel pianos, particularly those played in the streets, are frequently called barrel organs.

Barrel.

The pieces of music (or tunes) are encoded onto the barrel using metal pins and staples. Pins are used for short notes, and staples of varying lengths for longer notes. Each barrel usually carried several different tunes. Pinning such barrels was something of an art form, and the quality of the music produced by a barrel organ is largely a function of the quality of its pinning.  The organ barrels must be sturdy to maintain precise alignment over time, since they play the same programming role as music rolls and have to endure significant mechanical strain. Damage to the barrel, such as warpage, would have a direct (and usually detrimental) effect on the music produced.  The size of the barrel will depend on the number of notes in the organ and the length of the tune to be played. The more notes, the longer the barrel. The longer the tune, the greater the diameter.  Since the music is hard-coded onto the barrel, the only way for a barrel organ to play a different set of tunes is to replace the barrel with another one. While not a difficult operation, barrels are unwieldy and expensive, so many organ grinders have only one barrel for their instrument.

Operation.

A set of levers called keys is positioned just above the surface of the barrel. Each key corresponds to one pitch. A rod is connected to the rear of each key. The other end of the rod is a metal pin which operates a valve within the wind chest. When the instrument is played (by turning the crank), offsets on the crank shaft cause bellows to open and close to produce pressurized air. A reservoir/regulator maintains a constant pressure. A worm gear on the crank shaft causes the barrel to rotate slowly and its pins and staples lift the fronts of the keys. This causes the other end of the key to press down on the end of the rod which, in turn, activates the valve and allows air from the bellows to pass into the corresponding pipe. To allow different tunes to be played from one barrel, the barrel can be moved laterally to bring a different set of pins and staples under the keys. Street barrel organs usually play 7 to 9 tunes, although small organs (usually the older ones) can play up to 15 tunes. Less commonly (and usually for large orchestrions) the pinning will form one continuous spiral and the barrel will be gradually moved as it rotates so that the pins remain lined up with the keys. In this case, each barrel plays only one long tune.

Usage.

The barrel organ was the traditional instrument of organ grinders. With a few exceptions, organ grinders used one of the smaller, more portable versions of the barrel organ, containing perhaps one (or just a few) rank(s) of pipes and only 7 to 9 tunes. Use of these organs was limited by their weight. Most weighed 25 to 50 pounds but some were as heavy as 100 pounds.  There were many larger versions located in churches, fairgrounds, music halls, and other large establishments such as sports arenas and theaters. The large barrel organs were often powered by very heavy weights and springs, like a more powerful version of a longcase clock. They could also be hydraulically powered, with a turbine or waterwheel arrangement giving the mechanical force to turn the barrel and pump the bellows. The last barrel organs were electrically powered, or converted to electrical power. Eventually, many large barrel organs had their barrel actions removed and were converted to play a different format of music, such as cardboard books or paper rolls.

Combined barrel and manually played instruments.

Especially in churches, some large barrel organs were built as "barrel and finger" organs. Such instruments are furnished with a normal organ keyboard, in addition to the automatic mechanism, making it possible to play them by hand when a human organist is available. The barrels were often out of sight.  At the beginning of the 20th century, large barrel organs intended for use as fairground organs or street organs were often converted, or newly built, to play music rolls or book music rather than barrels. This allows a much greater variety of melodies to be played.

A barrel organ (also called roller organ or crank organ) is a mechanical musical instrument consisting of bellows and one or more ranks of pipes housed in a case, usually of wood, and often highly decorated. The basic principle is the same as a traditional pipe organ, but rather than being played by an organist, the barrel organ is activated either by a person turning a crank, or by clockwork driven by weights or springs. The pieces of music are encoded onto wooden barrels (or cylinders), which are analogous to the keyboard of the traditional pipe organ. A person (or in some cases, a trained animal) which plays a barrel organ is known as an organ grinder.


Skills.

Many factors affect the flexibility of performers including age, genetics, stature, and adherence to rigorous physical training routines. Most contortionists are generally categorized as "frontbenders" or "backbenders", depending on the direction in which their spine is most flexible. Relatively few performers are equally adept at both.  Skills performed by contortionists include:

Risks.

A medical publication from 2008 suggests that long-term damage to the spine is common in long-term contortion practitioners. A study of five practitioners using magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) by Peoples et al. documented limbus vertebrae, intervertebral disc bulges, and disc degeneration. Three of the five practitioners also reported back pain.

Performances.

Contortion acts are highly variable; many incorporate elements of humor, drama, shock, sensuality, or a blend of styles. Contortion may be incorporated into other types of performance, such as dance and theater.  A contortionist may perform alone or may have one or two assistants, or up to four contortionists may perform together as a group.  In the past, contortionists were associated almost exclusively with circuses and fairs, but recently they have also found work performing in nightclubs, amusement parks, in magazine advertisements, at trade shows, on television variety shows, in music videos, and as warmup acts or in the background at music concerts.  The Ross Sisters were American contortionists most famous for their musical rendition of 'Solid Potato Salad' in the 1944 movie "Broadway Rhythm". In addition, contortion photos and digital movie clips are traded by fans on the Internet, and several web sites provide original photos of contortion acts for a monthly fee, or sell videotapes of performances through the mail.  Some loose-jointed people are able to pop a joint out of its socket without pain, thereby making it difficult to determine if a joint is dislocated without medical examination such as an X-ray. However, as long as the joint socket is the right shape, most extreme bends can be achieved without dislocating the joint. Actual dislocations are rarely used during athletic contortion acts since they make the joint more unstable and prone to injury, and a dislocated limb cannot lift itself or support any weight.

Contortion (sometimes contortionism) is a performance art in which performers called contortionists showcase their skills of extreme physical flexibility. Contortion acts often accompany acrobatics, circus acts, street performers and other live performing arts. Contortion acts are typically performed in front of a live audience. An act will showcase one or more artists performing a choreographed set of moves or poses, often to music, which require extreme flexibility. The physical flexibility required to perform such acts greatly exceeds that of the general population. It is the dramatic feats of seemingly inhuman flexibility that captivate audiences.


History.

The Tasso family (from the Italian word for "badger") was a Lombard family in the area of Bergamo. The earliest records place them in Almenno in the Val Brembana around 1200 before they fled to the more distant village of Cornello to escape feuding between Bergamo's Guelf Colleoni and the Ghibelline Suardi families. Around 1290, after Milan had conquered Bergamo, Omodeo Tasso organized 32 of his relatives into the Company of Couriers ("Compagnia dei Corrieri") and linked Milan with Venice and Rome. The recipient of royal and papal patronage, his post riders were so comparatively efficient that they became known as "bergamaschi" throughout Italy.  Ruggiero de Tassis was named to the court of the emperor Frederick the Peaceful in 1443. He organized a post system between Bergamo and Vienna by 1450; from Innsbruck to Italy and Styria around 1460; and Vienna with Brussels around 1480. Upon his success, Ruggiero was knighted and made a gentleman of the Chamber. was appointed Chief Master of Postal Services at Innsbruck in 1489. Philip of Burgundy elevated Janetto's brother to captain of his post in 1502. Owing to a payment dispute with Philip, Francisco opened his post to public use in 1506. By 1516, Francisco had moved the family to Brussels in the Duchy of Brabant, where they became instrumental to Habsburg rule, linking the rich Habsburg Netherlands to the Spanish court. The normal route passed through France, but a secondary route across the Alps to Genoa was available in times of hostility.  The name "Thurn und Taxis" arose from the translation into German of the family's French title ("de La Tour et Tassis" or "de Tour et Taxis"). Charles V named Giovanni Battista de Tassis as master of his post in 1520; Maximilian I expanded their network throughout the Holy Roman Empire. In 1624, the family were elevated to "grafen" ("counts") and they formally adopted the German form of their name in 1650. They were named "princely" in 1695 at the behest of Emperor Leopold I. The family operated the Thurn-und-Taxis Post, successor to the Imperial Reichspost of the Holy Roman Empire, between 1806 and 1867. Their postal service was gradually lost over the centuries, with the Spanish network being bought by the crown in the 18th century and the German post being purchased by Prussia after the fall of the Free City of Frankfurt in 1866. The family seat was established in Regensburg, Germany, and has remained at St. Emmeram Castle there since 1748. Rainer Maria Rilke wrote his "Duino Elegies" while visiting Princess Marie of Thurn and Taxis ("née" Princess of Hohenlohe) at her family's Duino Castle. Rilke later dedicated his only novel ("The Notebooks of Malte Laurids Brigge") to the princess, who was his patroness. Princess Marie's relation to Regensburg's Thurn and Taxis family is rather distant, however – she was married to Prince Alexander of Thurn and Taxis, a member of the family's Czech branch that in the early 19th century settled in Bohemia (now the Czech Republic) and became strongly connected to Czech national culture and history.  Several members of the family have been Knights of Malta.  Until 1919, the titles of the head of the princely house were "Seine Durchlaucht der Fürst von Thurn und Taxis, Fürst zu Buchau und Fürst von Krotoszyn, Herzog zu Wörth und Donaustauf, gefürsteter Graf zu Friedberg-Scheer, Graf zu Valle-Sássina, auch zu Marchtal, Neresheim usw., Erbgeneralpostmeister" (His Serene Highness the Prince of Thurn and Taxis, Prince of Buchau and Prince of Krotoszyn, Duke of Wörth and Donaustauf, Princely Count of Friedberg-Scheer, Count of Valle-Sássina, Marchtal, Neresheim etc., Hereditary Postmaster General).  The current head of the house of Thurn and Taxis is Albert II, 12th Prince of Thurn and Taxis, son of Johannes and his wife, Gloria. The family is one of the wealthiest in Germany. The family's brewery was sold to the Paulaner Group of Munich in 1996, but it still produces beer under the brand of "Thurn und Taxis".  The Thurn and Taxis family came to massive media attention during the late 1970s through mid-1980s when the late Prince Johannes married Countess Mariae Gloria of Schönburg-Glauchau, a member of an impoverished but mediatized noble family. The couple's wild, "jet set" lifestyle and Princess Gloria's over-the-top appearance (characterized by bright hair colours and "avant-garde" clothes) earned her the nickname of "Princess TNT".

The Princely House of Thurn and Taxis ( ) is a family of German nobility that is part of the "Briefadel". It was a key player in the postal services in Europe during the 16th century, until the end of the Holy Roman Empire in 1806, and became well known as the owner of breweries and builder of many castles. The current head of the house is Albert II, 12th Prince of Thurn and Taxis. The family is one of the wealthiest in Germany and has resided at St. Emmeram Castle in Regensburg since 1748. As former sovereign family, it belongs to the "Hochadel".


Signs and symptoms.

Symptoms often occur suddenly. Affected individuals may develop a fever, shivering, chills, fatigue, headaches, vomiting and be generally unwell within 48 hours of the initial infection. The red plaque enlarges rapidly and has a sharply demarcated, raised edge. It may appear swollen, feel firm, warm and tender to touch and may have a consistency similar to orange peel. Pain may be extreme.  More severe infections can result in vesicles (pox or insect bite-like marks), blisters, and petechiae (small purple or red spots), with possible skin necrosis (death). Lymph nodes may be swollen, and lymphedema may occur. Occasionally, a red streak extending to the lymph node can be seen.  The infection may occur on any part of the skin, including the face, arms, fingers, legs and toes; it tends to favour the extremities. The umbilical stump and sites of lymphoedema are also common sites affected.  Fat tissue and facial areas, typically around the eyes, ears, and cheeks, are most susceptible to infection. Repeated infection of the extremities can lead to chronic swelling (lymphoedema).

Cause.

Most cases of erysipelas are due to "Streptococcus pyogenes", also known as "group A β-hemolytic streptococci", less commonly by group C or G streptococci and rarely due to "Staphylococcus aureus". Newborns may contract erysipelas due to "Streptococcus agalactiae", also known as "group B streptococcus" or GBS.  The infecting bacteria can enter the skin through minor trauma, human, insect or animal bites, surgical incisions, ulcers, burns and abrasions. There may be underlying eczema, athlete's foot, and it can originate from streptococci bacteria in the subject's own nasal passages or ear.  The rash is due to an exotoxin, not the "Streptococcus" bacteria, and is found in areas where no symptoms are present; e.g., the infection may be in the nasopharynx, but the rash is found usually on the epidermis and superficial lymphatics.

Risk factors.

This disease is most common among the elderly, infants, and children. People with immune deficiency, diabetes, alcoholism, skin ulceration, fungal infections, and impaired lymphatic drainage (e.g., after mastectomy, pelvic surgery, bypass grafting) are also at increased risk.

Diagnosis.

This disease is diagnosed mainly by the appearance of well-demarcated rash and inflammation. Blood cultures are unreliable for diagnosis of the disease, but may be used to test for sepsis. Erysipelas must be differentiated from herpes zoster, angioedema, contact dermatitis, erythema chronicum migrans of early Lyme disease, gout, septic arthritis, septic bursitis, vasculitis, allergic reaction to an insect bite, acute drug reaction, deep venous thrombosis and diffuse inflammatory carcinoma of the breast.

Differentiating from cellulitis.

Erysipelas can be distinguished from cellulitis by two particular features;its raised advancing edge and its sharp borders. The redness in cellulitis is not raised and its border is relatively indistinct. Bright redness of erysipelas has been described as a third differentiating feature.  Erysipelas does not affect subcutaneous tissue. It does not release pus, only serum or serous fluid. Subcutaneous edema may lead the physician to misdiagnose it as cellulitis.

Treatment.

Depending on the severity, treatment involves either oral or intravenous antibiotics, using penicillins, clindamycin, or erythromycin. While illness symptoms resolve in a day or two, the skin may take weeks to return to normal.  Because of the risk of reinfection, prophylactic antibiotics are sometimes used after resolution of the initial condition.

Prognosis.

The disease prognosis includes:

Epidemiology.

Erysipelas may affect any age, but most commonly the very young and the elderly.  Erysipelas occurs in isolation and outbreaks are rare. The fall in incidence throughout the mid-20th century is likely attributed to improved hygiene, sanitation and the development of antibiotics. The incidence began to rise in the 1980s. Four out of five cases occur on the legs, although historically the face was a more frequent site.

History.

It was historically known as St. Anthony's fire.

Erysipelas, also known as St. Anthony's fire, is a relatively common bacterial infection of the superficial layer of the skin (upper dermis), extending to the superficial lymphatic vessels within the skin, characterized by a raised, well-defined, tender, bright red rash typically on the face or legs, but can occur anywhere in skin. It is a form of cellulitis and is potentially serious.


Life.

Born in Oberplan in Bohemia (now Horní Planá in the Czech Republic), he was the eldest son of Johann Stifter, a wealthy linen weaver, and his wife, Magdalena. Johann died in 1817 after being crushed by an overturned wagon. Stifter was educated at the " Benedictine Gymnasium" at Kremsmünster, and went to the University of Vienna in 1826 to study law. In 1828 he fell in love with Fanny Greipl, but after a relationship lasting five years, her parents forbade further correspondence, a loss from which he never recovered. In 1835 he became engaged to Amalia Mohaupt, and they married in 1837, but the marriage was not a happy one. Stifter and his wife, unable to conceive, tried adopting three of Amalia's nieces at different times. One of them, Juliana, ran away several times and finally disappeared, only to be found drowned in the Danube four weeks later.  As a man of strong liberal convictions who welcomed the 1848 revolutions and allowed his name to go forward as a candidate in the Frankfurt Parliament, even suspected by others of being a radical, the cornerstone of Stifter's philosophy was Bildung. Instead of becoming a state official, he became a tutor to the aristocrats of Vienna, and was highly regarded as such. His students included Princess Maria Anna von Schwarzenberg and Richard Metternich, son of Klemens Wenzel von Metternich. He also made some money from selling paintings, and published his first story, "Der Condor", in 1840. An immediate success, it inaugurated a steady writing career.  Stifter visited Linz in 1848, and moved there permanently a year later, where he became editor of the "Linzer Zeitung" and the "Wiener Bote". In 1850 he was appointed supervisor of elementary schools for Upper Austria.  His physical and mental health began to decline in 1863, and he became seriously ill from cirrhosis of the liver in 1867. In deep depression, he slashed his neck with a razor on the night of 25 January 1868 and died three days later.

Work.

Stifter's work is characterized by the pursuit of beauty; his characters strive to be moral and move in gorgeous landscapes luxuriously described. Evil, cruelty, and suffering rarely appear on the surface of his writing, but Thomas Mann noted that "behind the quiet, inward exactitude of his descriptions of Nature in particular there is at work a predilection for the excessive, the elemental and the catastrophic, the pathological." Although considered by some to be one-dimensional compared to his more famous and realistic contemporaries, his visions of ideal worlds reflect his informal allegiance to the Biedermeier movement in literature. As Carl Schorske puts it, "To illustrate and propagate his concept of Bildung, compounded of Benedictine world piety, German humanism, and Biedermeier conventionality, Stifter gave to the world his novel "Der Nachsommer"".  The majority of his works are long stories or short novels, many of which were published in multiple versions, sometimes radically changed. His major works are the long novels "Der Nachsommer" and "Witiko".  Stifter's "Der Nachsommer" (1857) and Gottfried Keller's "Die Leute von Seldwyla" ("The People of Seldwyla") were named the two great German novels of the 19th century by Friedrich Nietzsche. "Der Nachsommer" is considered one of the finest examples of the Bildungsroman, but received a mixed reception from critics at the time. Friedrich Hebbel offered the crown of Poland to whoever could finish it, and called Stifter a writer only interested in "beetles and buttercups." The excessive detail for which Hebbel derided the novel, is, according to Christine Oertel Sjögren, "precisely a source of fascination for modern scholars, who seize upon the number of objects as the distinguishing characteristic of this novel and accord it high esteem because of the very significance of the 'things' in it. Far from being extraneous elements, as Hebbel regarded them, the art and nature objects provide a rich setting of beauty and a mirror-background to the human story in the foreground." [3]:20  "Witiko" is a historical novel set in the 12th century, a strange work panned by many critics, but praised by Hermann Hesse and Thomas Mann. Dietrich Bonhoeffer found great comfort from his reading of "Witiko" while in Tegel Prison under Nazi arrest.

Influence.

In the German edition of his "Reminiscences", Carl Schurz recalls his meeting with the daughter of the keeper of the Swiss inn he was staying at whose favorite book was Stifter's "Studien". This incident occurred prior to 1852.  He was named as an influence by W. G. Sebald, and both W. H. Auden and Marianne Moore admired his work, the latter co-translating "Bergkristall" as "Rock Crystal" with Elizabeth Mayer in 1945. Auden included Stifter in his poem "Academic Graffiti" as one of the celebrities, literary and otherwise, captured in a clerihew: Adalbert Stifter / Was no weight-lifter: / He would hire old lags / To carry his bags.  In Hermann Hesse's "Steppenwolf", the main character Harry Haller wonders "whether it isn't time to follow the example of Adalbert Stifter and have an accident while shaving".  Thomas Mann was also an admirer of Stifter, calling him "one of the most extraordinary, the most enigmatic, the most secretly daring and the most strangely gripping narrators in world literature."  Rilke and Hugo von Hofmannsthal were deeply indebted to his art.

Recent production.

In 2007 German theater director Heiner Goebbels, inspired by works of Adalbert Stifter, composed and directed a musical installation called "Stifters Dinge" ("Stifter's Things"), which premiered in 2007 at the Théâtre Vidy-Lausanne, in Lausanne, Switzerland.  Sjögren, Christine Oertel. The Marble Statue as Idea; Collected Essays on Adalbert Stifter's Der Nachsommer, Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1972.

Adalbert Stifter (; 23 October 1805 – 28 January 1868) was an Austrian writer, poet, painter, and pedagogue. He was especially notable for the vivid natural landscapes depicted in his writing and has long been popular in the German-speaking world, while remaining almost entirely unknown to English readers.


History.

The knight, along with the king and the rook, has the oldest defined movement of any chess piece, its movement being unchanged since the invention of chaturanga in India around the 6th century.  Similar pieces are found in almost all games of the chess family. The "ma" of xiangqi and janggi are slightly more restricted; conceptually, the piece is considered to pass through the adjacent orthogonal square, which must be unoccupied, rather than "jumping". Another related piece is the "keima" of shogi, which moves like a knight but may only move two squares forward followed by one square sideways, restricting its movement to two possible squares.

Names.

Colloquially it is sometimes referred to as a "horse", which is also the translation of the piece's name in several languages. Some languages refer to it as the "jumper", reflecting the knight's ability to move over pieces in its way: Polish "skoczek", Danish/Norwegian "springer", Swedish "springare", German "Springer", Luxembourgish "Sprénger", Slovene "skakač". In Sicilian it is called "sceccu", a slang term for a donkey, derived from the Arabic "sheikh", who during the Islamic period rode from village to village on donkeys collecting taxes.

Movement.

Compared to other chess pieces, the knight's movement is unique: it may move two squares vertically and one square horizontally, or two squares horizontally and one square vertically (with both forming the shape of an "L"). While moving, the knight can jump over pieces to reach its destination. Knights capture in the same way, replacing the enemy piece on the square and removing it from the board. Knights and pawns are the only pieces that can be moved in the initial position.

Strength.

Knights and bishops, collectively referred to as, are considered approximately equal in strength. Bishops utilize a longer range, but can only move to squares of one color. The knight's value increases in since it can jump over blockades. They are stronger when supported by other pieces (such as pawns) to create outposts and become more powerful when they advance (but must remain active since an inactive knight is useless, regardless of its position).

Properties.

Enemy pawns are very effective at harassing knights because a pawn attacking a knight is not itself attacked by the knight. For this reason, a knight is most effective when placed in a weakness in the opponent's pawn structure, i.e. a square which cannot be attacked by enemy pawns. In the diagram, White's knight on d5 is very powerful – more powerful than Black's bishop on g7.  Whereas two bishops cover each other's weaknesses, two knights tend not to cooperate with each other as efficiently. As such, a pair of bishops is usually considered better than a pair of knights. World Champion José Raúl Capablanca considered that a queen and a knight is usually a better combination than a queen and a bishop. However, Glenn Flear found no game of Capablanca's that supported his statement; statistics do not support the statement, either. In an endgame without other pieces or pawns, two knights generally have a better chance against a queen than two bishops or a bishop and a knight (see Fortress (chess)).  Compared to a bishop, a knight is often not as good in an endgame. A knight can only exert control over one part of the board at a time and often takes multiple moves to reposition to a new location, which often makes it less suitable in endgames with pawns on both sides of the board. However, this limitation is less important in endgames with pawns on only one side of the board. Knights are superior to bishops in an endgame if all the pawns are on one side of the board. Furthermore, knights have the advantage of being able to control squares of either color, unlike a lone bishop. Nonetheless, a disadvantage of the knight (compared to the other pieces) is that by itself it cannot lose a move to put the opponent in zugzwang (see triangulation and tempo), while a bishop can. In this position, if the knight is on a white square and it is White's turn to move, White cannot win. Similarly, if the knight was on a black square and it was Black's turn to move, White cannot win. In the other two cases, White would win. If instead of the knight, White had a bishop on either color of square, White would win with either side to move.  At the end of the game, if one side has only a king and a knight while the other side has only a king, the game is a draw since a checkmate is impossible. When a bare king faces a king and two knights, checkmate can occur only if the opponent commits a blunder by moving his king to a square where it may be checkmated on the next move. Otherwise, a checkmate can never be forced. However checkmate can be forced with a bishop and knight, or with two bishops, even though the bishop and knight are in general about equal in value. Paradoxically, checkmate with two knights sometimes "can" be forced if the weaker side has a single extra pawn, but this is a curiosity of little practical value (see two knights endgame). Pawnless endings are a rarity, and if the stronger side has even a single pawn, an extra knight should give them an easy win. A bishop can trap (although it cannot then capture) a knight on the rim (diagram), especially in the endgame.

Notation.

In algebraic notation, the usual modern way of recording chess games, the letter "N" stands for the knight ("K" is reserved for the king); in descriptive chess notation, "Kt" is sometimes used instead, mainly in older literature. In chess problems and endgame studies, the letter "S", standing for the German name for the piece, "Springer", is often used (and in some variants of fairy chess "N" is used for the popular fairy chess piece, the nightrider).

Knight variations.

Even among sets of the standard Staunton pattern, the style of the pieces varies. The knights vary considerably. Here are some examples.

Unicode.

Unicode defines two codepoints for knight:  ♘ U+2658 White Chess Knight (HTML ♘)  ♞ U+265E Black Chess Knight (HTML ♞)

The knight (♘,♞) is a piece in the game of chess and is represented by a horse's head and neck. Both players start with two knights, which are located between the rooks and bishops.


Placement and movement.

White starts with the king on the first to the right of the queen. Black starts with the king directly across from the white king. The white king starts on e1 and the black king on e8.  A king can move one square in any direction (horizontally, vertically, or diagonally) unless the square is already occupied by a friendly piece or the move would place the king in check. As a result, opposing kings may never occupy adjacent squares (see opposition), but the king can give discovered check by unmasking a bishop, rook, or queen. The king is also involved in the special move of castling.

Castling.

In conjunction with a rook, the king may make a special move called castling, in which the king moves two squares toward one of its rooks and then the rook is placed on the square over which the king crossed. Castling is allowed only when neither the king nor the castling rook previously moved, no squares between them are occupied, the king is not in check, and the king will not move across or end its movement on a square that is under enemy attack.

Status in games.

Check and checkmate.

A king that is under attack is said to be "in check", and the player in check must immediately remedy the situation. There are three possible ways to remove the king from check:  If none of the three options are available, the player's king has been "checkmated" and the player loses the game.

Stalemate.

A stalemate occurs when a player, on their turn, has no legal moves, and the player's king is not in check.  If this happens, the king is said to have been stalemated and the game ends in a draw. A player who has very little or no chance of winning will often, in order to avoid a loss, try to entice the opponent to inadvertently place the player's king in stalemate.

Role in gameplay.

In the opening and middlegame, the king will rarely play an active role in the development of an offensive or defensive position. Instead, a player will normally try to castle and seek safety on the edge of the board behind friendly pawns. In the endgame, however, the king emerges to play an active role as an offensive piece as well as assisting in the promotion of their remaining pawns.  It is not meaningful to assign a value to the king relative to the other pieces, as it cannot be captured or exchanged, and must be protected at all costs. In this sense, its value could be considered infinite. As an assessment of the king's capability as an offensive piece in the endgame, it is often considered to be slightly stronger than a bishop or knight – Emanuel Lasker gave it the value of a knight plus a pawn (i.e. four points on the scale of chess piece relative value). It is better at defending nearby pawns than the knight is, and it is better at attacking them than the bishop is.

Unicode.

Unicode defines two codepoints for king:  ♔ U+2654 White Chess King (HTML ♔)  ♚ U+265A Black Chess King (HTML ♚)

The king (♔,♚) is the most important piece in the game of chess. The object of the game is to threaten the opponent's king in such a way that escape is not possible (checkmate). If a player's king is threatened with capture, it is said to be "in check", and the player must remove the threat of on the next move. If this cannot be done, the king is said to be in checkmate, resulting in a loss for that player. Players cannot make any move that places their own king in check. Although the king is the most important piece, it is usually the weakest piece in the game until a later phase, the endgame.


History.

Prehistory.

Stone tools found in the country from hundreds of thousands of years ago show that the area around Yamoussoukro has been occupied since ancient times. Due to the desertification of the Sahara, many moved south to avoid the harsh conditions.

Colonial period.

Queen Yamoussou, the niece of Kouassi N'Go, ran the city of "N'Gokro" in 1929 at the time of French colonization. The village of N'Gokro was renamed Yamoussoukro, the suffix "Kro" meaning town in Baoule.  Diplomatic and commercial relations were then established, but in 1909, on the orders of the Chief of Djamlabo, the Akoué revolted against the administration. Bonzi station, from Yamoussoukro on the Bouaflé road, was set on fire, and the French administrator, Simon Maurice, was spared only by the intervention of Kouassi N'Go.  As the situation got worse, Maurice, judging that Bonzi had become safe, decided to transfer the French military station to Yamoussoukro, where the French Administration built a pyramid to the memory of Kouassi N'Go, Chief of the Akoué, who was assassinated in 1910 by Akoué rebels, accusing him of being too close to the French.  In 1919, the civil station of Yamoussoukro was removed. Félix Houphouët-Boigny became the leader of the village in 1939. A long period passed wherein Yamoussoukro, still a small agricultural town, remained in the shadows. This continued until after the Second World War, which saw the creation of the African Agricultural Union, as well as the first conferences of its chief. However, it was only with independence that Yamoussoukro finally started to rise.  In 1950, the village comprised 500 inhabitants.

Since independence.

After 1964, the President Félix Houphouët-Boigny made ambitious plans and started to build. One day in 1965, later called the Great Lesson of Yamoussoukro, he visited the plantations with the leaders of the county, inviting them to transpose to their own villages the efforts and agricultural achievements of the region. On 21 July 1977, Houphouët offered his plantations to the State.  In March 1983, President Houphouët-Boigny made Yamoussoukro the political and administrative capital of Ivory Coast, as the city was his birthplace. This marked the fourth movement of the country's capital city in a century. Ivory Coast's previous capital cities were Grand-Bassam (1893), Bingerville (1900), and Abidjan (1933). The majority of economic activity still takes place in Abidjan, and it is officially designated as the "economic capital" of the country.  Yamoussoukro is the seat of Yamoussoukro Department and the neighbouring Bélier Region, but Yamoussoukro itself is not part of the region.

Governance.

Beginning in 2001, the city was governed as part of the Yamoussoukro Department and incorporated into Lacs Region. In 2011, the department was abolished and the autonomous district of Yamoussoukro was created and separated from the rest of Lacs, which became a separate district.  Unlike most districts of the country, the autonomous district of Yamoussoukro is not subdivided into regions. The district, however, is divided into departments, sub-prefectures and a commune. The district consists of the departments of Attiégouakro and Yamoussoukro. The departments further divided into the sub-prefectures of Attiégouakro, Kossou, Lolobo, and Yamoussoukro. There is one commune, which is also named Yamoussoukro, and it shares the same borders as the district. In 2011, the position of Mayor of Yamoussoukro was replaced with a district governor appointed by the head of state.

Architecture.

Also noteworthy are the Kossou Dam, the PDCI-RDA House, the schools of the Félix Houphouët-Boigny National Polytechnic Institute, the Town Hall, the Protestant Temple, the Mosque, and the Palace of Hosts. The international airport had an average of six hundred passengers and 36 flights in 1995. It is one of two airports in Africa (with Gbadolite) that could accommodate the Concorde.

Places of worship.

Among the places of worship, they are predominantly Christian churches and temples : Roman Catholic Diocese of Yamoussoukro (Catholic Church), United Methodist Church Ivory Coast (World Methodist Council), Union of Missionary Baptist Churches in Ivory Coast (Baptist World Alliance), Assemblies of God. There are also Muslim mosques. Yamoussoukro is the site of the largest Christian church in the world: The Basilica of Our Lady of Peace, consecrated by Pope John Paul II on 10 September 1990.

Transports.

There is the Yamoussoukro International Airport.

Economy.

The main activities in the city are fishing, forestry, and perfume industries.

Climate.

Yamoussoukro features a tropical wet and dry climate (Aw) under the Köppen-Geiger climate classification system. The city features a lengthy wet season covering the months of March through October, and a shorter dry season that covers the remaining four months. Like many other cities in West Africa, Yamoussoukro is affected by the harmattan, which serves as a primary source of the city's dry season. Despite the lengthy wet season, Yamoussoukro does not see the level of rainfall experienced in Abidjan. Yamoussoukro on average sees roughly of precipitation annually.

Education.

The Institut National Polytechnique Félix Houphouët-Boigny was founded in 1996.

Yamoussoukro (; ) is one of the two political capitals and administrative capital of Ivory Coast and an autonomous district of the country, while the other capital of the country is Abidjan. As of the 2014 preliminary census, the district had a population of 355,573 inhabitants. Located north-west of Abidjan, the administrative centre on the coast, upon rolling hills and plains, the municipality covers.