History.

The history of metro in Turin begins in 1930s, when the first project of an underground railway was put forward. However, only a part of the first tunnel was built, and the actual project was put aside. Nowadays, the tunnel is part of an underground parking system.  A new company committed to the development of a metro system in Turin was founded in 1960s. Several projects and feasibility studies were made for a 7 km underground line under the city centre and then for a line connecting FIAT factories to surrounding neighborhoods, but eventually all the proposals were rejected.  In the mid-1980s a new proposal for a system of 5 fast tram lines at-grade was approved. However, only the planned line 3 was built following the original project, while the others eventually were built either as regular tram lines, with no dedicated lane, or as bus lines.  A new project was approved in 1995 for a line running from "Campo Volo" on the west border of the city to "Porta Nuova", the main railway station in Turin. The project was put in hold due to lack of funds.  The project for the underground line was resumed in April 1999 with a longer route to Lingotto based on the VAL system. Works on the line began on 19 December 2000, part of the works for the Turin 2006 Winter Olympics. The first section from "Fermi" to "XVIII Dicembre" was opened on 4 February 2006, while the second section on the south to "Porta Nuova" opened on 5 October 2007. "Porta Susa" station opened later on 9 September 2011. The last part of the line on the south to "Lingotto" was inaugurated on 6 March 2011.

Service.

Ticketing.

The single journey ticket costed €1.50 and was valid also outside of the metro for unlimited trips on other public transport in the city for 90 minutes. From May 2018 the single journey ticket costs €1.70 and it includes the urban line and the suburban line for 100 minutes. Moreover, any form of urban transport season ticket is valid also for the metro system.

Opening hours.

Turin metro starts operating at 5:30 from Monday to Saturday and at 7:00 on Sundays. It closes at 22:00 on Mondays, at 00:30 from Tuesday to Thursday, at 1:30 on Friday and Saturday and at 1:00 on Sundays.

Plans.

Line 1.

Lingotto – Bengasi southern extension.

Two additional stations, reaching the Southern boundary of the city, are currently under construction. These stations will be known as Italia '61, serving the new Piedmont Region Headquarters, and Bengasi, named for the piazza under which it will be located. Recent estimates suggest this southern extension will be completed not before February 2021.

Collegno – Cascine Vica westward extension.

A further Western extension is planned to reach the boundaries of Collegno and the city of Rivoli. In December 2017, the city approved the first stage of the project, valued at €123.7 million, to construct two already named stations: Certosa, which will interchange with the central railway station of the city of Collegno, and Collegno Centro, serving its central market area. An additional two stations, including one in the Leumann Village neighbourhood and another in the Cascine Vica district of Rivoli, were allocated €148 million. The Ministry of Infrastructure and Transport expects the extension to Cascine Vica to be completed by Summer 2023.

Line 2.

On 30 August 2017, a contract to create the preliminary design for a second line was awarded to Systra, a French conglomerate. The line will connect South-Western suburbs of the city (Orbassano and Beinasco) with the northern district of "Barriera di Milano". The first 26 stations had already been defined, starting from Mirafiori Sud district to Barriera di Milano, crossing the Line 1 at "Porta Nuova" station and serving key points as Politecnico di Torino University and Piazza Castello, one of the major central squares of the city.  Part of the Southern track will be elevated to reduce building costs (starting from Piazza Cattaneo to Cimitero Sud). On Northern side, from Vanchiglia to Rebaudengo, it will follow an old (currently abandoned) railway track, which was used to connect the old and abandoned scalo Vanchiglia to the main Turin railway.  Preliminary analysis conducted by Systra in the Spring of 2018 resulted in some changes to this original alignment. The following June, public consultations were announced and the new alignment, with the list of 23 planned stations was published on the city's website. In December 2018, the preliminary project was submitted to the Ministry of Transportation for funding approval, with an objective to start the bidding process by 2021. In 2019 the Italian government committed to €828 million of funding for Line 2's total projected €3 billion cost, with construction due to begin in 2021 for a 2028 opening.  In the future, a 4 station extension could cover suburbs of Beinasco and Orbassano to reach terminus "Pasta di Rivalta" in the city of Rivalta di Torino.

Potential Line 3.

The current mayor of Turin, Chiara Appendino, publicly supports the idea of a third line for the city's Metro system. Campaign literature, published on the then candidate's website during the Turin municipal election, 2016, show Line 3 using tracks that formally served the Ferrovia Torino-Ceres railway. Potential stations would serve the community of Venaria Reale, the Juventus Stadium and Turin International Airport. Since the election, Deputy Mayor and Chief of Urban Planning Guido Montanari has expressed interest in readapting the Torino-Ceres line to be part of the city's Metro network. After which the city council decided to keep the railway line Torino-Ceres with a new tunnel and a new station, called Torino Grosseto.  In 2019 the mayor of Venaria, together with the first citizens of Pianezza, Druento, Cafasse, Alpignano, Fiano and Val della Torre, presented a new proposal of metro to the mayor of Turin Chiara Appendino. The area will include the west part of the city: Torino Dora railway station, Juventus Stadium, Amedeo di Savoia Hospital, Maria Vittoria Hospital, The Court of Turin, Cenisia district, San Paolo district and the Torino Lingotto railway station. The metro will would provide for interchange in three stations: Bernini, Pitagora and Italia ‘61.

The Turin Metro () is the modern VAL rapid transit system serving Turin. It is operated by Gruppo Torinese Trasporti (GTT), a public company controlled by the municipality of Turin. The system comprises one line with 21 stations connecting Fermi station in Collegno with the Lingotto multifunctional centre in Turin.


Strategy set.

A player's strategy set defines what strategies are available for them to play.  A player has a finite strategy set if they have a number of discrete strategies available to them. For instance, a game of rock paper scissors comprises a single move by each player—and each player's move is made without knowledge of the other's, not as a response—so each player has the finite strategy set {rock paper scissors}.  A strategy set is infinite otherwise. For instance the cake cutting game has a bounded continuum of strategies in the strategy set {Cut anywhere between zero percent and 100 percent of the cake}.  In a dynamic game, the strategy set consists of the possible rules a player could give to a robot or agent on how to play the game. For instance, in the ultimatum game, the strategy set for the second player would consist of every possible rule for which offers to accept and which to reject.  In a Bayesian game, the strategy set is similar to that in a dynamic game. It consists of rules for what action to take for any possible private information.

Choosing a strategy set.

In applied game theory, the definition of the strategy sets is an important part of the art of making a game simultaneously solvable and meaningful. The game theorist can use knowledge of the overall problem to limit the strategy spaces, and ease the solution.  For instance, strictly speaking in the Ultimatum game a player can have strategies such as: "Reject offers of ($1, $3, $5,..., $19), accept offers of ($0, $2, $4,..., $20)". Including all such strategies makes for a very large strategy space and a somewhat difficult problem. A game theorist might instead believe they can limit the strategy set to: {Reject any offer ≤ "x", accept any offer > "x"; for "x" in ($0, $1, $2,..., $20)}.

Pure and mixed strategies.

A pure strategy provides a complete definition of how a player will play a game. In particular, it determines the move a player will make for any situation they could face. A player's strategy set is the set of pure strategies available to that player.  A mixed strategy is an assignment of a probability to each pure strategy. This allows for a player to randomly select a pure strategy. (See the following section for an illustration.) Since probabilities are continuous, there are infinitely many mixed strategies available to a player.  Of course, one can regard a pure strategy as a degenerate case of a mixed strategy, in which that particular pure strategy is selected with probability "1" and every other strategy with probability "0".  A totally mixed strategy is a mixed strategy in which the player assigns a strictly positive probability to every pure strategy. (Totally mixed strategies are important for equilibrium refinement such as trembling hand perfect equilibrium.)

Mixed strategy.

Illustration.

Consider the payoff matrix pictured to the right (known as a coordination game). Here one player chooses the row and the other chooses a column. The row player receives the first payoff, the column player the second. If row opts to play A with probability 1 (i.e. play A for sure), then he is said to be playing a pure strategy. If column opts to flip a coin and play A if the coin lands heads and B if the coin lands tails, then he is said to be playing a mixed strategy, and not a pure strategy.

Significance.

In his famous paper, John Forbes Nash proved that there is an equilibrium for every finite game. One can divide Nash equilibria into two types. "Pure strategy Nash equilibria" are Nash equilibria where all players are playing pure strategies. "Mixed strategy Nash equilibria" are equilibria where at least one player is playing a mixed strategy. While Nash proved that every finite game has a Nash equilibrium, not all have pure strategy Nash equilibria. For an example of a game that does not have a Nash equilibrium in pure strategies, see Matching pennies. However, many games do have pure strategy Nash equilibria (e.g. the Coordination game, the Prisoner's dilemma, the Stag hunt). Further, games can have both pure strategy and mixed strategy equilibria. An easy example is the pure coordination game, where in addition to the pure strategies (A,A) and (B,B) a mixed equilibrium exists in which both players play either strategy with probability 1/2.

A disputed meaning.

During the 1980s, the concept of mixed strategies came under heavy fire for being "intuitively problematic". Randomization, central in mixed strategies, lacks behavioral support. Seldom do people make their choices following a lottery. This behavioral problem is compounded by the cognitive difficulty that people are unable to generate random outcomes without the aid of a random or pseudo-random generator.  In 1991, game theorist Ariel Rubinstein described alternative ways of understanding the concept. The first, due to Harsanyi (1973), is called "purification", and supposes that the mixed strategies interpretation merely reflects our lack of knowledge of the players' information and decision-making process. Apparently random choices are then seen as consequences of non-specified, payoff-irrelevant exogenous factors. However, it is unsatisfying to have results that hang on unspecified factors.  A second interpretation imagines the game players standing for a large population of agents. Each of the agents chooses a pure strategy, and the payoff depends on the fraction of agents choosing each strategy. The mixed strategy hence represents the distribution of pure strategies chosen by each population. However, this does not provide any justification for the case when players are individual agents.  Later, Aumann and Brandenburger (1995), re-interpreted Nash equilibrium as an equilibrium in "beliefs", rather than actions. For instance, in rock paper scissors an equilibrium in beliefs would have each player "believing" the other was equally likely to play each strategy. This interpretation weakens the predictive power of Nash equilibrium, however, since it is possible in such an equilibrium for each player to "actually" play a pure strategy of Rock.  Ever since, game theorists' attitude towards mixed strategies-based results have been ambivalent. Mixed strategies are still widely used for their capacity to provide Nash equilibria in games where no equilibrium in pure strategies exists, but the model does not specify why and how players randomize their decisions.

Behavior strategy.

While a mixed strategy assigns a probability distribution over pure strategies, a behavior strategy assigns at each information set a probability distribution over the set of possible actions. While the two concepts are very closely related in the context of normal form games, they have very different implications for extensive form games. Roughly, a mixed strategy randomly chooses a deterministic path through the game tree, while a behavior strategy can be seen as a stochastic path.  The relationship between mixed and behavior strategies is the subject of Kuhn's theorem. The result establishes that in any finite extensive-form game with perfect recall, for any player and any mixed strategy, there exists a behavior strategy that, against all profiles of strategies (of other players), induces the same distribution over terminal nodes as the mixed strategy does. The converse is also true.  A famous example of why perfect recall is required for the equivalence is given by Piccione and Rubinstein (1997) with their "Absent-Minded Driver" game.

In game theory, a player's strategy is any of the options which he or she chooses in a setting where the outcome depends "not only" on their own actions "but" on the actions of others. A player's strategy will determine the action which the player will take at any stage of the game.


Biography.

Licklider was born on March 11, 1915, in St. Louis, Missouri, United States. He was the only child of Joseph Parron Licklider, a Baptist minister, and Margaret Robnett Licklider. Despite his father's religious background, he was not religious in later life.  He studied at Washington University in St. Louis, where he received a B.A. with a triple major in physics, mathematics, and psychology in 1937 and an M.A. in psychology in 1938. He received a Ph.D. in psychoacoustics from the University of Rochester in 1942. Thereafter, he worked at Harvard University as a research fellow and lecturer in the Psycho-Acoustic Laboratory from 1943 to 1950.  He became interested in information technology, and moved to MIT in 1950 as an associate professor, where he served on a committee that established MIT Lincoln Laboratory and a psychology program for engineering students. While at MIT, Licklider was involved in the SAGE project as head of the team concerned with human factors.  In 1957, he received the Franklin V. Taylor Award from the Society of Engineering Psychologists. In 1958, he was elected President of the Acoustical Society of America, and in 1990 he received the Commonwealth Award for Distinguished Service.  Licklider left MIT to become a vice president at Bolt Beranek and Newman in 1957. He learned about time-sharing from Christopher Strachey at a UNESCO-sponsored conference on Information Processing in Paris in 1959. At BBN, he developed the BBN Time-Sharing System and conducted the first public demonstration of time-sharing.  In October 1962, Licklider was appointed head of the Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO) at ARPA, the United States Department of Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, an appointment he kept through July 1964. In April 1963, he sent a memo to his colleagues in outlining the early challenges presented in establishing a time-sharing network of computers with the software of that time. Ultimately, his vision led to ARPANet, the precursor of today's Internet.  After serving as manager of information sciences, systems and applications at IBM's Thomas J. Watson Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York from 1964 to 1967, Licklider rejoined MIT as a professor of electrical engineering in 1968. During this period, he concurrently served as director of Project MAC until 1970. Project MAC had produced the first computer time-sharing system, CTSS, and one of the first online setups with the development of Multics (work on which commenced in 1964). Multics provided inspiration for some elements of the Unix operating system developed at Bell Labs by Ken Thompson and Dennis Ritchie in 1970.  Following a second stint as IPTO director (1974–1975), his MIT faculty line was transferred to the Institute's Laboratory for Computer Science, where he was based for the remainder of his career. He was a founder member of Infocom in 1979, known for their interactive fiction computer games. He retired and became professor emeritus in 1985. He died in 1990 in Arlington, Massachusetts; his cremated remains are interred in Mount Auburn Cemetery.

Work.

Psychoacoustics.

In the psychoacoustics field, Licklider is most remembered for his 1951 "Duplex Theory of Pitch Perception", presented in a paper that has been cited hundreds of times, was reprinted in a 1979 book, and formed the basis for modern models of pitch perception. He was also the first to report binaural unmasking of speech.

Semi-Automatic Ground Environment.

While at MIT in the 1950s, Licklider worked on Semi-Automatic Ground Environment (SAGE), a Cold War project to create a computer-aided air defense system. The SAGE system included computers that collected and presented data to a human operator, who then chose the appropriate response. Licklider worked as a human factors expert, which helped convince him of the great potential for human/computer interfaces.

Information technology.

Licklider became interested in information technology early in his career. His ideas foretold of graphical computing, point-and-click interfaces, digital libraries, e-commerce, online banking, and software that would exist on a network and migrate wherever it was needed. Much like Vannevar Bush's, Licklider's contribution to the development of the Internet consists of ideas, not inventions. He foresaw the need for networked computers with easy user interfaces.  Licklider was instrumental in conceiving, funding and managing the research that led to modern personal computers and the Internet. In 1960 his seminal paper on "Man-Computer Symbiosis" foreshadowed interactive computing, and he went on to fund early efforts in time-sharing and application development, most notably the work of Douglas Engelbart, who founded the Augmentation Research Center at Stanford Research Institute and created the famous On-Line System where the computer mouse was invented.  He also did some seminal early work for the Council on Library Resources, imagining what libraries of the future might look like, which he had described as "thinking centers" in his 1960 paper.

Man–computer symbiosis.

In "Man-Computer Symbiosis", Licklider outlined the need for simpler interaction between computers and computer users. Licklider has been credited as an early pioneer of cybernetics and artificial intelligence (AI), but unlike many AI practitioners, Licklider never felt that men would be replaced by computer-based beings. As he wrote in that article: "Men will set the goals, formulate the hypotheses, determine the criteria, and perform the evaluations. Computing machines will do the routinizable work that must be done to prepare the way for insights and decisions in technical and scientific thinking". This approach, focusing on effective use of information technology in augmenting human intelligence, is sometimes called Intelligence amplification (IA).

Project MAC.

During his time as director of ARPA's Information Processing Techniques Office (IPTO) from 1962 to 1964, he funded Project MAC at MIT. A large mainframe computer was designed to be shared by up to 30 simultaneous users, each sitting at a separate "typewriter terminal". He also funded similar projects at Stanford University, UCLA, UC Berkeley, and the AN/FSQ-32 at System Development Corporation.

Global computer network.

Licklider played a similar role in conceiving of and funding early networking research. He formulated the earliest ideas of a global computer network in August 1962 at BBN, in a series of memos discussing the "Intergalactic Computer Network" concept. These ideas contained almost everything that the Internet is today, including cloud computing.  While at IPTO, he convinced Ivan Sutherland, Bob Taylor, and Lawrence G. Roberts that an all-encompassing computer network was a very important concept. He met with Donald Davies in 1965 and inspired his interest in data communications.  In 1967 Licklider submitted the paper "Televistas: Looking ahead through side windows" to the Carnegie Commission on Educational Television. This paper describes a radical departure from the "broadcast" model of television. Instead, Licklider advocates a two-way communications network. The Carnegie Commission led to the creation of the Corporation for Public Broadcasting. Although the Commission's report explains that "Dr. Licklider's paper was completed after the Commission had formulated its own conclusions," President Johnson said at the signing of the Public Broadcasting Act of 1967, "So I think we must consider new ways to build a great network for knowledge—not just a broadcast system, but one that employs every means of sending and of storing information that the individual can use".  His 1968 paper "The Computer as a Communication Device" illustrates his vision of network applications and predicts the use of computer networks to support communities of common interest and collaboration without regard to location.  The Licklider Transmission Protocol is named after him.

Publications.

Licklider wrote numerous articles and lectures, and one book:  Articles, a selection:

Joseph Carl Robnett Licklider (; March 11, 1915 – June 26, 1990), known simply as J. C. R. or "Lick", was an American psychologist and computer scientist who is considered one of the most important figures in computer science and general computing history.


Name.

"Yazd" means "clean" and "holy"; Yazd city means god city and holy land.

History.

The name is derived from Yazdegerd I, a Sassanid ruler of Persia. The city has been a center for Zoroastrianism since the 3rd century AD. The word "yazd" means God. After the Arab conquest of Iran, many Zoroastrians migrated to Yazd from neighboring provinces. By paying a levy, Yazd was allowed to remain Zoroastrian even after its conquest, and Islam only gradually became the dominant religion in the city.  Because of its remote desert location and the difficulty of access, Yazd remained largely immune to large battles and the destruction and ravages of war. For instance, it was a haven for those fleeing from destruction in other parts of Persian Empire during the Mongol invasion. In 1272 it was visited by Marco Polo, who remarked on the city's fine silk-weaving industry. In the book "The Travels of Marco Polo", he described Yazd in the following way:  Yazd briefly served as the capital of the Muzaffarid Dynasty in the fourteenth century, and was unsuccessfully besieged in 1350–1351 by the Injuids under Shaikh Abu Ishaq. The Friday (or Congregation) mosque, arguably the city's greatest architectural landmark, as well as other important buildings, date to this period. During the Qajar dynasty (18th century AD) it was ruled by the Bakhtiari Khans.  Under the rule of the Safavid (16th century), some people migrated from Yazd and settled in an area that is today on the Iran-Afghanistan border. The settlement, which was named Yazdi, was located in what is now Farah City in the province of the same name in Afghanistan. Even today, people from this area speak with an accent very similar to that of the people of Yazd.  One of the notable things about Yazd is its family-centered culture. According to official statistics from Iran's National Organization for Civil Registration, Yazd is among the three cities with the lowest divorce rates in Iran.

Demographics.

Language and ethnic groups.

The majority of the people of Yazd are Persians, and they speak Persian with Yazdi accent different from Persian accent of Tehran.

Religion.

The majority of people in Yazd are Muslims. There is also a sizable population of Zoroastrians in the city. In 2013, Sepanta Niknam was elected to the city council of Yazd and became the first Zoroastrian councillor in Iran. There was once a relatively large Jewish-Yazdi community, however, after the creation of Israel, many have moved there for varying reasons. Former president of Israel Moshe Katsav is an example.  The Pir-e-Naraki sanctuary is one the important pilgrimage destinations for Zoroastrians, where an annual congregation is held and frequent visits are made during the year; it is now also a famous tourist spot.  The story of the last Persian prince to come to Yazd before the arrival of Islam adds to its importance. Such a transformation has occurred several times.  Several other city traditions are the Muslim parades and gatherings, which are mainly processions called "azadari" held to commemorate the events experienced by the main Islamic martyrs and other important figures. These huge public gatherings created a series of spaces which, since most are near important urban monuments, are used at other times as hubs from which visitors can tour the main spots in the city.

Population.

According to the Iranian Census of 2011 the population of Yazd is 486,152 people from 168,528 families, which includes 297,546 men and 285,136 women.

Historical sites.

Yazd is an important centre of Persian architecture. Because of its climate, it has one of the largest networks of "qanats" in the world, and Yazdi "qanat" makers are considered the most skilled in Iran.  To deal with the extremely hot summers, many old buildings in Yazd have magnificent wind towers and large underground areas.  The city is also home to prime examples of "yakhchals", which were used to store ice retrieved from glaciers in the nearby mountains. Yazd is also one of the largest cities built almost entirely out of adobe.  Yazd's heritage as a center of Zoroastrianism is also important. There is a Tower of Silence on the outskirts, and the city has an "ateshkadeh" which holds a fire that has been kept alight continuously since 470 AD. Zoroastrians make up a significant minority of the population, around 20,000–40,000 or 5 to 10 percent.  The 11th-century brick mausoleum and shrine Davāzdah Imām is the oldest dated building in the city.  Built in 12th century and still in use, Jame Mosque of Yazd is an example of the finest Persian mosaics and excellent architecture. Its minarets are the highest in the country.

Geography.

Climate.

Yazd has a hot desert climate (Köppen climate classification "BWh"). It is the driest major city in Iran, with a yearly precipitation amount of and only 23 days of precipitation, with summer temperatures very frequently above in blazing sunshine with no humidity. Even at night the temperatures in summer are rather uncomfortable. In the winter, the days remain mild and sunny, but in the morning the thin air and low cloudiness cause cold temperatures that can sometimes fall well below.

Economy.

Always known for the quality of its silk and carpets, Yazd today is one of Iran's industrial centers for textiles. There is also a considerable ceramics and construction materials industry and unique confectionery and jewellery industries. A significant portion of the population is also employed in other industries including agriculture, dairy, metal works, and machine manufacturing. There are a number of companies involved in the growing information technology industry, mainly manufacturing primary materials such as cables and connectors. Currently Yazd is the home of the largest manufacturer of fibre optics in Iran.  Yazd's confectioneries have a tremendous following throughout Iran and have been a source of tourism for the city. Confectioners workshops ("khalifehs", or experts) keep their recipes a guarded secret, and there are many that have remained a private family business for many generations. Baklava, ghotab and pashmak are the most popular sweets made in the city.  In 2000 the Yazd Water Museum opened; it features exhibits of water storage vessels and historical technologies related to water.  Yazd has expanded its industrial fields since the 1980s. With at least three main industrial areas each containing over 70 different factories, Yazd has become one of the most technologically advanced cities of Iran.

Transportation.

In addition to its connection with major Iranian cities via Iranian Railways, Yazd is served by the Shahid Sadooghi Airport.

Education.

The University of Yazd was established in 1988. It has a college of architecture specializing in traditional Persian art and architecture. Yazd and its nearby towns contain the following institutes of higher education:

Twin towns – sister cities.

Yazd is twinned with:

Yazd ( ), formerly also known as Yezd, is the capital of Yazd Province, Iran. The city is located southeast of Esfahan. At the 2011 census, the population was 529,673, and it is currently the 15th largest city in Iran. Since 2017, the historical city of Yazd is recognized as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO.


Origins.

Born in London and descended from an old Norfolk family, Gresham was one of two sons and two daughters of Sir Richard Gresham, a leading City merchant mercer and Lord Mayor of London, who was knighted by King Henry VIII for negotiating favourable loans with foreign merchants.

Education.

Gresham was educated at St Paul's School. After this, although his father wanted Thomas to become a merchant, Sir Richard first sent him to university at Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge. He was concurrently apprenticed in the Mercers' Company to his uncle Sir John Gresham, founder of Gresham's School, while he was still at Cambridge.

Agent in the Low Countries.

In 1543 the Mercers' Company admitted the 24-year-old Gresham as a liveryman, and later that year he left England for the Low Countries, where, either on his own account or that of his father or uncle, he both carried on business as a merchant whilst acting in various matters as agent for King Henry VIII. In 1544 he married Anne Ferneley, widow of the London merchant Sir William Read, but maintained residence principally in the Low Countries, basing his headquarters at Antwerp in present-day Belgium (then the Spanish Netherlands), where he became renowned for his adept market-play.

Financial acumen.

Rescues the pound.

When in 1551 the mismanagement of Sir William Dansell, King's Merchant to the Low Countries, had caused the English Government much financial embarrassment, the authorities called Gresham for advice, thereafter following his proposals. Gresham advocated the adoption of various methods – highly ingenious, but quite arbitrary and unfair — for raising the value of the pound sterling on the Antwerp bourse which proved so successful that in just a few years King Edward VI had discharged almost all of his debts. The Government sought Gresham's advice in all their money difficulties, and also frequently employed him in various diplomatic missions. He had no stated salary, but in reward of his services received from King Edward various grants of lands, the annual value of which at that time amounted ultimately to about 400 pounds a year.

Later services to the Crown.

On the accession of Queen Mary in 1553 Gresham fell out of favour at Court for a short time with Alderman William Dauntsey displacing him. But Dauntsey's financial operations proved unsuccessful and Gresham was soon re-instated; and as he professed his zealous desire to serve the Queen, and manifested great adroitness both in negotiating loans and in smuggling money, arms and foreign goods, not only were his services retained throughout her reign (1553–1558), but besides his salary of twenty shillings "per diem" he received grants of church lands to the yearly value of 200 pounds. Under Queen Elizabeth's reign (1558–1603), besides continuing in his post as financial agent of the Crown, Gresham acted as Ambassador Plenipotentiary to the Court of Duchess Margaret of Parma, Governor of the Netherlands, and was appointed a Knight Bachelor in 1559 prior to his departure. The unsettled times preceding the Dutch revolt compelled him to leave Antwerp on 10 March 1567; but, though he spent the remainder of his life in London, he continued his business as merchant and government financial agent in much the same way as he had always done. His enterprises made him one of the richest men of his generation in England.  Queen Elizabeth also found Gresham's abilities useful in a variety of other ways, including acting as gaoler to Lady Mary Grey (sister of Lady Jane Grey), who, as a punishment for marrying Thomas Keyes the sergeant-porter, was imprisoned in his house from June 1569 to the end of 1572.

Founding of the Royal Exchange.

In 1565 Gresham made a proposal to the City's Court of Aldermen to build, at his own expense, a bourse or exchange – what became the Royal Exchange, modelled on the Antwerp bourse;– on condition that the Corporation provided for this purpose a suitable location. In this proposal he seems to have had a good eye for his self-interest as well as for the general good of the City's merchants, for by a yearly rental of £700 obtained for the shops in the upper part of the building he received more than sufficient return for his trouble and expense.  The foundation of the Royal Exchange is the background of Thomas Heywood's play: "If You Know Not Me, You Know Nobody part 2", in which a Lord extols the quality of the building when asked if he has ever seen "a goodlier frame":

Marriage and progeny.

In 1544 he married Anne Ferneley, widow of Sir William Read, a London merchant. By his wife he had an only son who predeceased him. He also had an illegitimate daughter who married Sir Nathaniel Bacon ("c." 1546–1622), half-brother of Francis Bacon, 1st Viscount St Albans, becoming "Anne, Lady Bacon".

Death and burial.

Gresham died suddenly, apparently of apoplexy, on 21 November 1579 and was buried at St Helen's Church, Bishopsgate in the City of London.

Bequest for the foundation of Gresham College.

Apart from some small sums to various charities, Gresham bequeathed the bulk of his property (consisting of estates in London and around England giving an income of more than 2,300 pounds a year) to his widow and her heirs, with the stipulation that after her death his own house in Bishopsgate Street and the rents from the Royal Exchange should be vested in the Corporation of London and the Mercers Company, for the purpose of instituting a college in which seven professors should read lectures, one each day of the week, in astronomy, geometry, physic, law, divinity, rhetoric and music. Thus, Gresham College, the first institution of higher learning in London, came to be established in 1597.

Gresham's Law.

Gresham's Law (stated simply as: "Bad money drives out good") takes its name from him (although others, including the astronomer Nicolaus Copernicus, had recognised the concept for years) because he urged Queen Elizabeth to restore the debased currency of England. However, Sir Thomas never formulated anything like "Gresham's Law," which was the 1857 conception of Henry Dunning Macleod, an economist with a knack for reading into a text that which was not written.

The Gresham grasshopper.

The Gresham family crest is: "On a Mount Vert a Grasshopper Or", (a golden grasshopper on a green mound); it is displayed by Gresham College, which he founded, and also forms the weathervane on the Royal Exchange in the City of London, also founded by him in 1565. The Faneuil Hall at Boston, Massachusetts, has also borrowed this heraldic device. The Gresham coat of arms is blazoned: "Argent, a Chevron Erminés between three Mullets pierced Sable".  According to ancient legend, the founder of the family, Roger de Gresham, was a foundling abandoned as a new-born baby among long grass in Norfolk during the 13th century and found there by a woman whose attention was drawn to the child by a grasshopper. Although a beautiful story, it is more likely that the grasshopper is simply a canting heraldic crest playing on the sound "grassh-" and "Gresh-". The Gresham family uses as its motto "Fiat Voluntas Tua" ('Thy will be done').

Sir Thomas Gresham the Elder (; c. 1519 – 21 November 1579), was an English merchant and financier who acted on behalf of King Edward VI (1547–1553) and Edward's half-sisters, queens Mary I (1553–1558) and Elizabeth I (1558–1603).


Description.

"H. brasiliensis" is a tall deciduous tree growing to a height of up to in the wild, but cultivated trees are usually much smaller because drawing off the latex restricts the growth of the tree. The trunk is cylindrical and may have a swollen, bottle-shaped base. The bark is some shade of brown, and the inner bark oozes latex when damaged. The leaves have three leaflets and are spirally arranged. The inflorescence include separate male and female flowers. The flowers are pungent, creamy-yellow and have no petals. The fruit is a capsule that contains three large seeds; it opens explosively when ripe.

Rubber Tree plantation.

In the wild, the tree can reach a height of up to. The white or yellow latex occurs in latex vessels in the bark, mostly outside the phloem. These vessels spiral up the tree in a right-handed helix which forms an angle of about 30 degrees with the horizontal, and can grow as high as 45 ft.  In plantations, the trees are generally smaller for two reasons: 1) trees grow more slowly when they are tapped for latex, and 2) trees are generally cut down after only 30 years, because latex production declines as trees age, and they are no longer economically productive. The tree requires a tropical or subtropical climate with a minimum of about 1,200 mm per year of rainfall, and no frost. If frost does occur, the results can be disastrous for production. One frost can cause the rubber from an entire plantation to become brittle and break once it has been refined."

Latex tapping.

The natural rubber tree takes between seven and ten years to deliver the first harvest. Harvesters make incisions across the latex vessels, just deep enough to tap the vessels without harming the tree's growth, and the latex is collected in small buckets. This process is known as rubber tapping. Latex production is highly variable from tree to tree and across clone types.

Wood harvesting.

As latex production declines with age, rubber trees are generally felled when they reach the age of 25 to 30 years. The earlier practice was to burn the trees, but in recent decades, the wood has been harvested for furniture making.

History.

The South American rubber tree grew only in the Amazon rainforest, and increasing demand and the discovery of the vulcanization procedure in 1839 led to the rubber boom in that region, enriching the cities of Belém, Santarém, Manaus in Brazil and Iquitos, Peru, from 1840 to 1913. In Brazil, before the name was changed to 'Seringueira' the initial name of the plant was 'pará rubber tree', derived from the name of the state Pará. In Peru, the tree was called 'árbol del caucho', and the latex extracted from it was called 'caucho'. The tree was used to obtain rubber by the natives who inhabited its geographical distribution. The Olmec people of Mesoamerica extracted and produced similar forms of primitive rubber from analogous latex-producing trees such as "Castilla elastica" as early as 3,600 years ago. The rubber was used, among other things, to make the balls used in the Mesoamerican ballgame. Early attempts were made in 1873 to grow "H. brasilensis" outside Brazil. After some effort, 12 seedlings were germinated at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. These were sent to India for cultivation, but died. A second attempt was then made, some 70,000 seeds being smuggled to Kew in 1875, by Henry Wickham, in the service of the British Empire. About four percent of these germinated, and in 1876, about 2,000 seedlings were sent, in Wardian cases, to Ceylon (modern day Sri Lanka) and 22 were sent to the Botanic Gardens in Singapore.  Once established outside its native country, rubber was extensively propagated in the British colonies. Rubber trees were brought to the botanical gardens at Buitenzorg, Java, in 1883. By 1898, a rubber plantation had been established in Malaya, with imported Chinese field workers being the dominant work force in rubber production in the early 20th-century.  The cultivation of the tree in South America (Amazon) ended early in the 20th century because of indigenous blights that targeted the rubber tree. The blight, called South American leaf blight, is caused by the ascomycetes "Microcyclus ulei",also called "Pseudocercospora ulei" or "Dothidella ulei". Rubber production then moved to parts of the world where it is not indigenous, and therefore not affected by local plant diseases. Today, most rubber tree plantations are in South and Southeast Asia, the top rubber producing countries in 2011 being Thailand, Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Vietnam.

Environmental concerns.

The toxicity of arsenic to insects, bacteria, and fungi has led to the heavy use of arsenic trioxide on rubber plantations, especially in Malaysia.  The majority of the rubber trees in Southeast Asia are clones of varieties highly susceptible to the South American leaf blight—"Microcyclus ulei". For these reasons, environmental historian Charles C. Mann, in his 2011 book, "1493: Uncovering the New World Columbus Created", predicted that the Southeast Asian rubber plantations will be ravaged by the blight in the not-too-distant future, thus creating a potential calamity for international industry.

Synonyms.

The genus "Hevea" is also known as:

Hevea brasiliensis, the Pará rubber tree, "sharinga" tree, seringueira, or, most commonly, the rubber tree or rubber plant, is a flowering plant belonging to the spurge family Euphorbiaceae. It is the most economically important member of the genus "Hevea" because the milky latex extracted from the tree is the primary source of natural rubber.


Taxonomy.

The thorny devil was first described by the biologist John Edward Gray in 1841. While it is the only species contained in the genus "Moloch", many taxonomists suspect another species might remain to be found in the wild. The thorny devil is only distantly related to the morphologically similar North American horned lizards of the genus "Phrynosoma". This similarity is usually thought of as an example of convergent evolution.  The names given to this lizard reflect its appearance: the two large horned scales on its head complete the illusion of a dragon or devil. The name Moloch was used for a deity of the ancient Near East, usually depicted as a hideous beast. The thorny devil also has other nicknames people have given it such as the "devil lizard", "horned lizard", and the "thorny toad".

Description.

The thorny devil grows up to in total length (including tail), and can live for 15 to 20 years. The females are larger than the males. Most specimens are coloured in camouflaging shades of desert browns and tans. These colours change from pale colours during warm weather to darker colours during cold weather. The thorny devil is covered entirely with conical spines that are mostly uncalcified. An intimidating array of spikes covers the entire upper side of the body of the thorny devil. These thorny scales also help to defend it from predators. Camouflage and deception may also be used to evade predation. This lizard's unusual gait involves freezing and rocking as it moves about slowly in search of food, water, and mates.  The thorny devil also features a spiny "false head" on the back of its neck, and the lizard presents this to potential predators by dipping its real head. The "false head" is made of soft tissue.  The thorny devil's scales are ridged, enabling the animal to collect water by simply touching it with any part of the body, usually the limbs; the capillary principle allows the water to be transported to the mouth through the skin.

Distribution and habitat.

The thorny devil usually lives in the arid scrubland and desert that covers most of central Australia, sandplain and sandridge desert in the deep interior and the mallee belt.  The habitat of the thorny devil coincides more with the regions of sandy loam soils than with a particular climate in Western Australia.

Self-defense.

The thorny devil is covered in hard, rather sharp spines that dissuade attacks by predators by making it difficult to swallow. It also has a false head on its back. When it feels threatened by other animals, it lowers its head between its front legs, and then presents its false head. Predators that consume the thorny devil include wild birds and goannas.

Diet.

The thorny devil mainly subsists on ants, especially "Ochetellus flavipes" and other species in the "Iridomyrmex" or "Ochetellus" genera. Thorny devils often eat thousands of ants in one day.  The thorny devil collects moisture in the dry desert by the condensation of dew. This dew forms on its skin in the early morning as it begins to warm outside. Then the dew is channeled to its mouth in hygroscopic grooves between its spines. During rainfalls, capillary action allows the thorny devil to absorb water from all over its body. Capillary action also allows the thorny devil to absorb water from damp sand. Absorption through sand is the thorny devils main source of water intake.

Reproduction.

The female thorny devil lays a clutch of three to ten eggs between September and December. She puts these in a nesting burrow about 30 cm underground. The eggs hatch after about three to four months.

Popular reference.

The popular appeal of the thorny devil is the basis of an anecdotal petty scam. American servicemen stationed in Southwest Australia decades ago (such as during World War II) were supposedly sold the thorny fruits of a species of weeds, the so-called "double gee" ("Emex australis"), but those were called "thorny devil eggs" as a part of the scam. Thorny devils have been kept in captivity.

The thorny devil ("Moloch horridus"), also known commonly as the mountain devil, thorny lizard, thorny dragon, and moloch, is a species of lizard in the family Agamidae. The species is endemic to Australia. It is the sole species in the genus Moloch. It grows up to in total length (including tail), with females generally larger than males.


Biography.

"The Life of Milarepa".

Milarepa's life-story is famous in the Tibetan culture, and retold many times. The best-known biography, "The Life of Milarepa", written by Tsangnyön Heruka (1452–1507) in the fifteenth century and drawing from older biographies, is still very popular. Most of the present-day stories on Milarepa come from this single source, with oral lineage predominating this as well as relics including his bear skinned coat. While "very little [is known] about him as a historical person at all," Milarepa is venerated by all Tibetan schools "as an exemplar of religious dedication and mastery," and his lifestory established the lineage of the Kagyu sect and its key figures.  According to "The Life of Milarepa", Milarepa was born in western Tibet to a prosperous family. When his father died, his family was deprived of their wealth by his aunt and uncle. At his mother's request, Milarepa left home and studied sorcery to take revenge, killing many people. Later he felt sorrow about his deeds, and became student of Marpa the Translator. Before Marpa would teach Milarepa, he had him undergo abuse and trials, such as letting him build and then demolish three towers in turn. Milarepa was asked to build one final multi-story tower by Marpa at Lhodrag, which still stands. Eventually, Marpa accepted him, explaining that the trials were a means to purify Milarepa's negative karma. Marpa transmitted Tantric initiations and instructions to Milarepa, including "tummo" ("yogic heat"), the "aural transmissions" (), and "mahamudra". Marpa told Milarepa to practice solitary meditation in caves and mountain retreats, which, according to the biography, after many years of practice resulted in "a deep experiential realization about the true nature of reality." Thereafter he lived as a fully realized yogi, and eventually even forgave his aunt, who caused the misfortune of his family.  According to Lopez, "The Life of Milarepa" represents "Buddhism as it was understood and practiced in Tibet in the fifteenth century, projected back in time," and contains "many of the key terms and doctrines of Buddhism." Tsangnyön Heruka did his best to establish a lineage of teachers which connects the Kagyu tradition with the Indian "siddha" tradition, portraying Marpa as a student of Naropa, though Naropa had already died when Marpa went to India.  Lopez notes that Tsangnyön Heruka used stylistic elements from the biography of Gautama Buddha to portray Milarepa effectively as a Tibetan Buddha, "born and enlightened in Tibet, without going to India or receiving the direct instructions of an Indian master." The lifestory of Milarepa portrays "the rapid method of the Tantric path," in which liberation is gained in one lifetime. It describes how Milarepa practiced the generation stage and completion stage, to achieve "mahamudra", "spontaneous realization of the most profound nature of mind." Yet, in his instructions to his Tibetan audiences, Milarepa refers to the basic Buddhist teachings of "impermanence, the sufferings of "saṃsāra", the certainty of death and the uncertainty of its arrival, the frightful rebirth that is the direct result of our benighted deeds." But, his own life also is an example that even a murderer can transform into a Buddha. Lopez further notes that "The Life of Milarepa" portrays two parallel worlds, a profane world and a sacred world, which are ultimately one, showing that the world itself is sacred.

"The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa".

Previous biographies of Milarepa were enlarged with religious poetry and song cycles, which doubled the volume of biographical information. Tsangnyön Heruka published these songs in a separate volume as "The Hundred Thousand Songs of Milarepa", summarizing the various song cycles in chapter eleven of "The Life of Milarepa".

Historical context.

Milarepa lived during the so-called second dissemination of Buddhism in Tibet (10th–12th century), when Buddhism was re-introduced. Three pivotal figures in this Tibetan Renaissance were Rinchen Zangpo (958–1055), who translated sutras, tantras and commentaries; Atiśa (982–1054), whose student Dromtön founded the Kadam school of Tibetan Buddhism; and Marpa the Translator, the teacher of Milarepa, and himself regarded as student of Naropa. Marpa introduced tantric texts and oral instructions from the Bengali siddha tradition into Tibet, and Marpa's purported connection with Naropa established the lineage of the Kagyu school, thereby reaching back to the Buddha himself.

Jetsun Milarepa (, 1028/40–1111/23) was a Tibetan siddha, who famously was a murderer as a young man then turned to Buddhism to become an accomplished buddhist disciple despite his past. He is generally considered as one of Tibet's most famous yogis and poets, serving as an example for the Buddhist life. He was a student of Marpa Lotsawa, and a major figure in the history of the Kagyu school of Tibetan Buddhism. He is also famous for climbing the great Mount Kailash.


History.

The earliest recorded mention of Buchach is in 1260 by Bartosz Paprocki in his book "Gniazdo Cnoty, zkąd herby Rycerstwa Polskiego swój początek mają", Kraków, 1578. The validity of this date was reasonably refuted by the Polish scientist Józef Apolinary Rolle.  In 1349, the region of Halychyna (Galicia) became part of the Kingdom of Poland. As a part of Ruthenian Voivodeship remained in Poland from 1434 until 1772 (see Partitions of Poland). It was during this time that the area experienced a large influx of Polish, Jewish and Armenian settlers. In the late 14th century, Polish nobleman (szlachta), Michał Awdaniec, Abdank coat of arms became the owner of the town on 1360-s or 1370-s. On July 28, 1379, Michał Awdaniec founded a Roman Catholic parish church, and built a castle. agreed to grant Magdeburg rights to Buchach (Buczacz): it was first Magdeburg-style city, located in the Halych Land. In the early 15th century, the Awdaniec family of Buchach changed its last name into Buczacki, after its main residence. Frequent invasions of the Crimean Tatars brought destruction to the town, and in 1515, it once again received the Magdeburg rights. In 1558 Katarzyna Tworowska nee Buczacka get the king's grant for market in Buchach. In 1580, local castle was rebuilt: the castle was twice besieged by the Tatars (1665, 1667), who finally captured it in 1672, during the Polish–Ottoman War (1672–1676). Buchach was a temporary residence of Mehmed IV; here, on October 18, 1672, the Treaty of Buchach was signed between Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth and the Ottoman Empire. According to this treaty, Poland handed the provinces of Ukraine and Podolia to Turkey.  In the 17th and 18th centuries, Buchach belonged to the Potocki family. Mikołaj Bazyli Potocki, the Starosta of Kaniv, Bohuslav, the son of Stefan Aleksander Potocki, Voivode of Belz, who became a Greek-Catholic about 1758, built here Buchach cityhall with a 35-meter tower (near 1751), a late Baroque Roman Catholic Church of Assumption of Mary (1761–1763), and rebuilt the castle, destroyed by the Turks. With the unification of Poland and Lithuania in 1569, the newly united kingdom extended from the Baltic to the Black Sea. Owing to its importance as a market town, Buchach had become a prominent trading centre linking Poland and the Ottoman Empire.  In 1772, Eastern Galicia together with other areas of south-western Poland, became a part of Kingdom of Galicia and Lodomeria — a crownland of the Habsburg Monarchy as part of the First Partition of Poland. Industry came to Buchach around the end of the 19th century. Among the small-scale industries there included a brickworks, and candle and soap factory, (modern) flour mills, a textile plant, and a necktie factory. The town also boasted a brewery and a winery. The largest factory was established early in the 1900s, when the Hilfesverein concern of Vienna set up a plant for the manufacture of wooden toys in Buchach employing some 200 workers, mainly young girls. In 1912 the Stanislaviv-based Savings and Credit Union opened a branch in Buchach, and this served as a bank for local industrialists and business.  Buchach remained a part of Austria and its successor states until the end of the First World War in 1918. The town was briefly a part of the independent West Ukrainian People's Republic before it was captured by the Republic of Poland in July 1919 after Ukrainian-Polish War. Also, between August 10 and September 15, 1920, it was occupied by the Red Army (see Polish-Soviet War). In the Second Polish Republic, Buchach was the seat of a county (powiat) in Tarnopol Voivodeship. In the 1920s, Buchach was inhabited by Jews (~60%), Poles (~25%), and Ukrainians (~15%). On September 18, 1939, during the Soviet Invasion of Poland, Buchach was occupied by the Red Army, and incorporated into the Ukrainian SSR (see Molotov–Ribbentrop Pact). In 1941, it was invaded by Nazi Germany. Before World War II, approximately 10,000 Jews (half of the local population) lived in Buchach. According to the Soviet Extraordinary Commission, approximately 7,000 Jews were killed in Buchach during the Nazi occupation. Some were sent to Belzec, others murdered in the streets or in killing places in the forests. A few escaped to the Soviet Union or lived in the forests and fields. In May 1943, Buchach was proclaimed Judenfrei town. When Soviets retook the town on July 21, 1944, only about 100 Jewish survivors remained. In 1945, its Polish residents were resettled into the lands of western Poland that had previously been German, and Communist authorities closed the parish church, turning it into a storage facility. Bones of the members of the Potocki family, kept in the church cellar, were thrown out, and later buried at the local cemetery.  In 1965, the neighboring village of Nahirianka was annexed to Buchach. After the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991, Buchach became a part of independent Ukraine, and new, Ukrainian government returned the church to its rightful owners.

Coat of arms.

The coat of arms of Buchach originated from the Piława coat of arms, which was used by the Potocki family.

Religion.

The city has religious communities of different churches: Ukrainian Greek Catholic Church, Ukrainian Autocephalous Orthodox Church, Ukrainian Orthodox Church – Kyiv Patriarchate, Adventist Church and others.

Communications.

The closest international airports are:

International relations.

Twin towns and sister cities.

Buchach is currently twinned with:

Buchach (; ; or (Bitshtosh); "Buch'ach"; ) is a city located on the Strypa River (a tributary of the Dniester) in Ternopil Oblast (province) of Western Ukraine. It is the administrative center of the Buchach Raion, and rests south-east of Lviv, in the historic region of Halychyna (Galicia). The city was located in Habsburg Monarchy (1772—1804), Austrian empire (1804—1867), Austro-Hungary (1867—1918), West Ukrainian People's Republic (1918—1919), and Poland (1919—1939). The estimated population was around 12,500, according to the 2001 Ukrainian census.


History.

Originally the church was named "Sancta Maria in Capitolio", since it was sited on the Capitoline Hill (Campidoglio, in Italian) of Ancient Rome; by the 14th century it had been renamed. A medieval legend included in the mid-12th-century guide to Rome, "Mirabilia Urbis Romae", claimed that the church was built over an Augustan "Ara primogeniti Dei", in the place where the Tiburtine Sibyl prophesied to Augustus the coming of the Christ. "For this reason the figures of Augustus and of the Tiburtine sibyl are painted on either side of the arch above the high altar" (Lanciani chapter 1). A later legend substituted an apparition of the Virgin Mary.  In "The History of Money", anthropologist Jack Weatherford goes into some detail about the church's previous incarnation as the temple of Juno Moneta—on the Arx—after whom Money is named.  According to Roman historians, in the fourth century B.C., the irritated honking of the sacred geese around Juno's temple on Capitoline Hill warned the people of an impending night attack by the Gauls, who were secretly scaling the walls of the citadel. From this event, the goddess acquired [the] surname-Juno Moneta, from Latin monere (to warn)...As patroness of the state, Juno Moneta presided over various activities of the state, including the primary activity of issuing money. ... from Moneta came the modem English words mint and money and, ultimately, from the Latin word meaning warning.  Today, the site of the Temple of Juno Moneta, the source of the great stream of Roman currency, has given way to the ancient... brick church of Santa Maria in Aracoeli. Centuries ago, church architects incorporated the ruins of the ancient temple into the new building.  The church is also thought to have replaced the "auguraculum", the seat of the augurs.  The foundation of the church was laid on the site of a Byzantine abbey mentioned in 574. Many buildings were built around the first church; in the upper part they gave rise to a cloister, while on the slopes of the hill a little quarter and a market grew up. Remains of these buildings - such as the little church of San Biagio de Mercato and the underlying "Insula Romana") - were discovered in the 1930s. At first the church followed the Greek rite, a sign of the power of the Byzantine exarch. Taken over by the papacy by the 9th century, the church was given first to the Benedictines, then, by papal bull to the Franciscans in 1249–1250; under the Franciscans it received its Romanesque-Gothic aspect. The arches that divide the nave from the aisles are supported on columns, no two precisely alike, scavenged from Roman ruins.  During the Middle Ages, this church became the centre of the religious and civil life of the city. in particular during the republican experience of the 14th century, when self-proclaimed Tribune and reviver of the Roman Republic Cola di Rienzo inaugurated the monumental stairway of 124 steps in front of the church, designed in 1348 by Simone Andreozzi, on the occasion of the Black Death. Condemned criminals were executed at the foot of the steps; there Cola di Rienzo met his death, near the spot where his statue commemorates him.  In 1571, Santa Maria in Aracoeli hosted the celebrations honoring Marcantonio Colonna after the victorious Battle of Lepanto over the Turkish fleet. Marking this occasion, the compartmented ceiling was gilded and painted (finished 1575), to thank the Blessed Virgin for the victory. In 1797, with the Roman Republic, the basilica was deconsecrated and turned into a stable.

Interior.

The original unfinished façade has lost the mosaics and subsequent frescoes that originally decorated it, save a mosaic in the tympanum of the main door, one of three doors that are later additions. The Gothic window is the main detail that tourists can see from the bottom of the stairs, but it is the sole truly Gothic detail of the church.  The church is built as a nave and two aisles that are divided by Roman columns, all different, taken from diverse antique monuments. Among its numerous treasures are Pinturicchio's 15th-century frescoes depicting the life of Saint Bernardino of Siena in the Bufalini Chapel, the first chapel on the right. Other features are the wooden ceiling, the inlaid cosmatesque floor, a "Transfiguration" painted on wood by Girolamo Siciolante da Sermoneta, and works by other artists like Pietro Cavallini (of his frescoes only one survives), Benozzo Gozzoli and Giulio Romano.  It houses also "Madonna Aracoeli" (Our Lady of the Golden Hands), (Byzantian icon, the 10-11th-century) in the Altar. This Marian image was Pontifically crowned on 29 March 1636 by Pope Urban VIII. Pope Pius XII consecrated the people of Rome to the Most Blessed Virgin Mary and her Immaculate Heart in front of this image in 1948, May 30. In the transept there is a sepulchral monument by Arnolfo di Cambio. The church was also famous in Rome for the wooden statue of the Santo Bambino of Aracoeli, carved in the 15th century of olive wood coming from the Gethsemane garden and covered with valuable "ex-votos". Many people of Rome believed in the power of this statue. It had been taken by the French in 1797, was later recovered, yet stolen again in February 1994. A copy was made from Gethsemane wood, which is now displayed in its own chapel by the sacristy. At midnight Mass on Christmas Eve the image is brought out to a throne before the high altar and unveiled at the "Gloria". Until Epiphany the jewel-encrusted image resides in the Nativity crib in the left nave.  The relics of Saint Helena, mother of Constantine the Great are housed at Santa Maria in Aracoeli, as is the tablet with the monogram of Jesus that Saint Bernardino of Siena used to promote devotion to the Holy Name of Jesus is kept in Aracoeli.

The Basilica of St. Mary of the Altar of Heaven (, ) is a titular basilica in Rome, located on the highest summit of the Campidoglio. It is still the designated Church of the city council of Rome, which uses the ancient title of "Senatus Populusque Romanus". The present Cardinal Priest of the "Titulus Sanctae Mariae de Aracoeli" is Salvatore De Giorgi.


Development.

The RIM-116 was developed by General Dynamics Pomona and Valley Systems divisions under a July 1976 agreement with Denmark and West Germany (the General Dynamics missile business was later acquired by Hughes Aircraft and is today part of Raytheon). Denmark dropped out of the program, but the US Navy joined in as the major partner. The Mk 49 launcher was evaluated on board the destroyer in the late 1980s. The first 30 missiles were built in FY85 and they became operational on 14 November 1992, on board.

Service.

The RIM-116 is in service on several American and 30 German warships. All new German Navy warships will be equipped with the RAM, such as the new s, which will mount two RAM launchers per ship. The Greek Navy has equipped the new Super Vita–class fast attack craft with the RAM. South Korea has signed license-production contracts for their navy's KDX-II, KDX-III, and.

US Navy.

The U.S. Navy plans to purchase a total of about 1,600 RAMs and 115 launchers to equip 74 ships. The missile is currently active aboard s, s, s, ships,, s, and littoral combat ships (LCS).

Variants.

Block 0.

The original version of the missile, called "Block 0", was based on the AIM-9 Sidewinder air-to-air missile, whose rocket motor, fuze, and warhead were used. Block 0 missiles were designed to initially home in on radiation emitted from a target (such as the active radar of an incoming antiship missile), switching to an infrared seeker derived from that of the FIM-92 Stinger missile for terminal guidance. In test firings, the Block 0 missiles achieved hit rates of over 95%.

Block 1.

The "Block 1" (RIM-116B) is an improved version of the RAM missile that adds an overall infrared-only guidance system that enables it to intercept missiles that are not emitting any radar signals. The Block 0's radar homing capabilities have been retained.

Block 2.

The RAM Block 2 is an upgraded version of the RAM missile aimed at more effectively countering more maneuverable antiship missiles through a four-axis independent control actuator system, increased rocket motor capability, an improved passive radio frequency seeker and upgraded components of the infrared seeker, and advanced kinematics. On 8 May 2007, the US Navy awarded Raytheon Missile Systems a $105 million development contract; development was expected to be completed by December 2010. LRIP began in 2012. 51 missiles were initially ordered. On 22 October 2012, the RAM Block 2 completed its third guided test vehicle flight, firing two missiles in a salvo and directly hitting the target, to verify the system's command and control capabilities, kinematic performance, guidance system, and airframe capabilities. Raytheon was scheduled to deliver 25 Block 2 missiles during the program's integrated testing phase. The Block 2 RAM was delivered to the U.S. Navy in August 2014, with 502 missiles to be acquired from 2015 to 2019. Initial Operational Capability (IOC) for the Block 2 RAM was achieved on 15 May 2015.  In early 2018 the U.S. State Department approved the sale of RIM-116 Block II to the Mexican Navy for use on their future Sigma-class design frigates, the first of which was jointly built by Damen Schelde Naval Shipbuilding and launched in November 2018.

HAS mode.

In 1998, a memorandum of understanding was signed by the defense departments of Germany and the United States to improve the system, so that it could also engage so-called "HAS", Helicopter, Aircraft, and Surface targets. As developed, the "HAS" upgrade just required software modifications that can be applied to all Block 1 RAM missiles.

SeaRAM weapon system.

The SeaRAM combines the radar and electrooptical system of the Phalanx CIWS Mk-15 Block 1B (CRDC) with an 11-cell RAM launcher to produce an autonomous system—one which does not need any external information to engage threats. Like the Phalanx, SeaRAM can be fitted to any class of ship. In 2008, the first SeaRAM system was delivered to be installed on., one SeaRAM is fitted to each "Independence"-class vessel. In late 2014, the Navy revealed it had chosen to install the SeaRAM on its Small Surface Combatant LCS follow-on ships. Beginning in November 2015, the Navy will complete installation of a SeaRAM on the first of four s patrolling within the U.S. 6th Fleet. The SeaRAM will equip the Royal Saudi Navy's multi-mission surface combat (MMSC) based on the s.

The RIM-116 Rolling Airframe Missile (RAM) is a small, lightweight, infrared homing surface-to-air missile in use by the German, Japanese, Greek, Turkish, South Korean, Saudi Arabian, Egyptian, Mexican and U.S. Navies. It was intended originally and used primarily as a point-defense weapon against antiship cruise missiles. The missile is so named because it rolls around its longitudinal axis to stabilize its flight path, much like a bullet fired from a rifled barrel., it is the only U.S. Navy missile to operate in this manner.


Biography.

Background and early life.

Mikołajczyk's family came from Poznań in western Poland, which in the 19th century was part of the German Empire and known as the Province of Posen. He was born in Westphalia in western Germany, where his parents had gone to look for work in the wealthy mining regions, as many Poles—known as Ruhr Poles—did in the 19th century. He returned to Poznań as a boy of ten.  As a teenager he worked in a sugar beet refinery and was active in Polish patriotic organisations. He was 18 when Poland recovered its independence, and in 1920 he joined the Polish Army and took part in the Polish–Soviet War. He was discharged after being wounded near Warsaw and returned to inherit his father's farm near Poznań.

Early political career.

In the 1920s Mikołajczyk became active in the Polish People's Party "Piast" (PSL), and after holding a number of offices in the government of Poznań province, he was elected to the Sejm (the Polish Parliament) in 1929. In 1935 he became Vice-Chairman of the executive committee of the PSL, and in 1937 he became party President. He was an active opponent of the authoritarian regime established in Poland after the death of Józef Piłsudski in 1935.

World War II.

When Nazi Germany invaded Poland in September of 1939, Mikołajczyk was a private in the Polish army, and served in the defence of Warsaw. After the fall of Warsaw he escaped to Hungary, where he was interned. He soon escaped and made his way to Paris via Yugoslavia and Italy. By the end of November, Mikołajczyk had reached France where he was immediately asked to join the Polish government in exile as deputy Chairman of the Polish National Council. In 1941 he was appointed Minister of the Interior and became Prime Minister Władysław Sikorski's Deputy Prime Minister. In April 1943 the Germans had announced that they had discovered the graves of almost 22,000 Polish officers who had been murdered by the Soviets at Katyń Wood. The Soviet government said that the Germans had fabricated the discovery. The Allied governments, for diplomatic reasons, formally accepted this, but Mikołajczyk's government refused to do so, and Stalin then severed relations with the government in exile.

Prime Minister in exile.

When Sikorski was killed in a plane crash in July 1943, Mikołajczyk was appointed as his successor. "We do not wish to see only a formal democracy in Poland," he said in his broadcast to Poland on taking office, "but a social democracy which will put into practice not only political, religious and personal freedom but also social and economic freedom, the Four Freedoms of which Franklin Delano Roosevelt spoke so finely. In any case there is and will be no place in Poland for any kind of totalitarian government in any shape or form."  But Mikołajczyk faced daunting challenges. It was obvious by this time that the Soviet armed forces, not those of the western Allies, would seize Poland from German occupation, and the Poles feared that Stalin intended both imposing Communism on Poland and annexing Poland's eastern territories, which were populated by Poles, Ukrainians and Belarusians.  During 1944 the Allied leaders, particularly Winston Churchill, tried to bring about a resumption talks between Mikołajczyk and Stalin, but these efforts broke down over several issues. One was the Katyń massacre. Another was Poland's postwar borders. Stalin insisted that the eastern territories should remain in Soviet hands. Mikołajczyk also opposed Stalin's plan to set up a Communist government in postwar Poland.  As a result, Stalin agreed that there would be a coalition government in the Soviet seized territories of Poland. A Socialist, Edward Osóbka-Morawski, became Prime Minister of the new Provisional Government of National Unity ("Tymczasowy Rząd Jedności Narodowej" – TRJN), and the Communist leader Władysław Gomułka became one of two Deputy Prime Ministers. Mikołajczyk resigned as Prime Minister of the government in exile to return to Poland and become the other Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture. Many of the Polish exiles opposed this action, believing that this government was a façade for the establishment of Communist rule in Poland. The government in exile maintained its existence, although it no longer had diplomatic recognition as the legal government of Poland.

Return to Poland.

Mikołajczyk immediately set about reviving the PSL, which soon became by far the largest party in Poland. He was helped, ironically, by the radical land reform pushed through with the support of the Communists, which created a new class of small farmers who became a firm political base for the PSL. The Communists knew they would never win a free election in Poland, and so they set about preventing one, despite the pledges given by Stalin at the Yalta Conference.  In June 1946 the 3xTAK referendum was held on a number of issues. The PSL decided to oppose the referendum calling for the abolition of the Senate as a test of strength against the Communists: two-thirds of voters supported Mikołajczyk, but the Communist-controlled Interior Ministry issued faked results showing the opposite result. Between then and the January 1947 general elections, the PSL was subjected to ruthless persecution, and hundreds of its candidates were prevented from campaigning.  From 1946 to 1948, military courts sentenced 32,477 people, most of them members of democratic parties for 'crimes against the state'. Only then the elections were held. In order to be sure that the elections would produce the 'correct' results, the Polish security apparatus recruited 47% of the members of electoral committees as agents.  The elections produced a parliament with 394 seats for the Communist-controlled "Democratic Bloc" and 28 for the PSL, a result which everyone knew could only been obtained through massive electoral fraud. Indeed, the opposition claimed that it would have won as much as 80 percent of the vote had the election been conducted in a fair manner.

Later life.

Mikołajczyk, who would have likely become Prime Minister had the election been honest, immediately resigned from the government in protest. Facing arrest, he left the country in April. Winston Churchill, upon seeing him in London, remarked: "I am surprised you made it out alive". In London the Polish government in exile regarded him as a traitor for having co-operated with the Communists. He emigrated to the United States, where he died in 1966. In June 2000 his remains were returned for burial in Poland. His papers are in the Hoover Institution on War, Revolution and Peace at Stanford University.  A film, "The Right to Vote" ("O Prawo Głosu", 2008, directed by Janusz Petelski), tells the story of Mikołajczyk's (played by Adam Ferency) struggle.

Stanisław Mikołajczyk (18 July 1901 – 13 December 1966; ) was a Polish politician. He was Prime Minister of the Polish government in exile during World War II, and later Deputy Prime Minister in post-war Poland until 1947.


Description.

"Plumeria" flowers are most fragrant at night in order to lure sphinx moths to pollinate them. The flowers yield no nectar, however, and simply trick their pollinators. The moths inadvertently pollinate them by transferring pollen from flower to flower in their fruitless search for nectar. Insects or human pollination can help create new varieties of plumeria. Plumeria trees from cross pollinated seeds may show characteristics of the mother tree or their flowers might just have a totally new look.  "Plumeria" species may be propagated easily by cutting leafless stem tips in spring. Cuttings are allowed to dry at the base before planting in well-drained soil. Cuttings are particularly susceptible to rot in moist soil. One optional method to root cuttings is applying rooting hormone to the clean fresh-cut end to enable callusing. Plumeria cuttings could also be propagated by grafting a cutting to an already rooted system. The Plumeria Society of America lists 368 registered cultivars of "Plumeria" as of 2009.

Etymology and common names.

The genus is named in honor of the seventeenth-century French botanist and Catholic monk Charles Plumier, who traveled to the New World documenting many plant and animal species. The common name "frangipani" comes from a sixteenth-century marquis of the noble family in Italy who claimed to invent a plumeria-scented perfume, but in reality made a synthetic perfume that was said at the time to resemble the odor of the recently discovered flowers. Many English speakers also simply use the generic name "plumeria".  In South East Asia this tree and its flower is considered sacred. A relief in Penataran temple in East Java shows a plumeria tree with its distinct flower-petals and skeleton-like branches. Another relief in Borobudur, at the west side, 1st zone also depict plumeria. These reliefs, which were created before European exploration (Brobudur constructed in ~ 9th CE and Penataran in ~ 14 CE) makes a difficult question about when plumeria came to South East Asia.  In eastern India and Bangladesh,it is traditionally considered as a variety of champak flower, the golok chapa (গোলোক চাঁপা), meaning the champaka that resides the heavenly home of Sree Krishna, a hindu god residing at the highest realm of heaven. This flower is considered sacred and also adorned by the name of gulancha and kath golap (literally, wood rose)!

In culture.

In Mesoamerica, plumerias have carried complex symbolic significance for over two millennia, with striking examples from the Maya and Aztec periods into the present. Among the Maya, plumerias have been associated with deities representing life and fertility, and the flowers also became strongly connected with female sexuality. Nahuatl-speaking people during the height of the Aztec Empire used plumerias to signify elite status, and planted plumeria trees in the gardens of nobles.  These are now common naturalized plants in southern and southeastern Asia. In local folk beliefs they provide shelter to ghosts and demons. They are also associated with temples in both Hindu, Jain, and Buddhist cultures.  In several Pacific islands, such as Tahiti, Fiji, Samoa, Hawaii, New Zealand, Tonga, and the Cook Islands plumeria species are used for making leis. In modern Polynesian culture, the flower can be worn by women to indicate their relationship status—over the right ear if seeking a relationship, and over the left if taken.  "Plumeria rubra" is the national flower of Nicaragua, where it is known under the local name ""sacuanjoche"".  "Plumeria alba" is the national flower of Laos, where it is known under the local name "champa" or "dok champa".  In Bengali culture, most white flowers, and in particular, plumeria (Bengali, চম্পা "chômpa" or চাঁপা "chãpa"), are associated with funerals and death.  Also in the Philippines, Indonesia and Malaysia, the plumeria is often associated with ghosts and cemeteries. Plumerias often are planted on burial grounds in all three nations. They are also common ornamental plants in houses, parks, parking lots and other open-air establishments in the Philippines. Balinese Hindus use the flowers in their temple offerings. The plumeria's fragrance is also associated with the kuntilanak, an evil vampiric spirit of a dead mother in Malaysian-Indonesian folklores.  Indian incenses fragranced with "Plumeria rubra" have ""champa"" in their names. For example, "Nag Champa" is an incense containing a fragrance combining plumeria and sandalwood. While plumeria is an ingredient in Indian "champa" incense, the extent of its use varies between family recipes. Most "champa" incenses also incorporate other tree resins, such as Halmaddi ("Ailanthus triphysa") and benzoin resin, as well as other floral ingredients, including champaca ("Magnolia champaca"), geranium ("Pelargonium graveolens"), and vanilla ("Vanilla planifolia") to produce a more intense, plumeria-like aroma.  In the Western Ghats of Karnataka, the bride and groom exchange garlands of cream-coloured plumeria during weddings. Red colored flowers are not used in weddings. Plumeria plants are found in most of the temples in these regions.  In Sri Lankan tradition, plumeria is associated with worship. One of the heavenly damsels in the frescoes of the fifth-century rock fortress Sigiriya holds a 5-petalled flower in her right hand that is indistinguishable from plumeria.  In Eastern Africa, frangipani are sometimes referred to in Swahili love poems.  Some species of plumeria have been studied for their potential medicinal value.  There are a few more new hybrids now (Nui Delight, Nui's Diamond Rose, Nui's Dragon Heart, Nui's Light of Hope), named after Nui Leera from Thailand, who has planted over 100,000 plumeria seeds (2018).

Taxonomy.

The genus "Plumeria" includes about a dozen accepted species, and one or two dozen open to review, with over a hundred regarded as synonyms.  "Plumeria" species have a milky latex that, like many other Apocynaceae contains poisonous compounds that irritate the eyes and skin. The various species differ in their leaf shape and arrangement. The leaves of "Plumeria alba" are narrow and corrugated, whereas leaves of "Plumeria pudica" have an elongated shape and glossy, dark-green color. "Plumeria pudica" is one of the everblooming types with non-deciduous, evergreen leaves. Another species that retains leaves and flowers in winter is "Plumeria obtusa"; though its common name is "Singapore," it is originally from Colombia.

Species.

"Plants of the World Online" lists the following:

Plumeria () is a genus of flowering plants in the family Apocynaceae. Most species are deciduous shrubs or small trees. The species variously are endemic to Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, and as far south as Brazil and north as Florida, but are grown as cosmopolitan ornamentals in warm regions. Common names for plants in the genus vary widely according to region, variety, and whim, but frangipani or variations on that theme are the most common. Plumeria is also used as a common name, especially in horticultural circles.


Biography.

Marr was born on 25 December 1864 in Kutaisi, Georgia (then part of the Russian Empire). His father, James Murray (phonetically adapted: Marr), was a Scot and was 71 at the time of Marr's birth, and his mother was a young Georgian woman (Agrafina Magularia). James Marr founded the botanical garden of Kutaisi. Marr's parents spoke different languages (James spoke English and Agrafina spoke the Gurian dialect of Georgian), and thus could hardly understand each other. Having graduated from the St Petersburg University, he taught there beginning in 1891, becoming dean of the Oriental faculty in 1911 and member of the Russian Academy of Sciences in 1912. Between 1904 and 1917 he undertook yearly excavations at the ancient Armenian capital of Ani.  After a visit to Turkey in 1933 Marr developed influenza, followed several months later by a stroke. He died from complications of these ailments in Leningrad on 20 December 1934.

Japhetic theory.

Marr gained some recognition with his Japhetic theory, postulating the common origin of Caucasian, Semitic-Hamitic, and Basque languages. In 1924, he went even further and proclaimed that all the languages of the world descended from a single proto-language which had consisted of four "diffused exclamations": "sal, ber, yon, rosh". Although the languages undergo certain stages of development, his method of "linguistic paleontology" claims to make it possible to discern elements of primordial exclamations in any given language. One of his followers was Valerian Borisovich Aptekar, and one of his opponents was Arnold Chikobava.

Publications.

Selected works:

Nikolai Yakovlevich Marr (, "Nikolay Yakovlevich Marr";, "Nikoloz Iak'obis dze Mari"; – 20 December 1934) was a Georgia-born historian and linguist who gained a reputation as a scholar of the Caucasus during the 1910s before embarking on his "Japhetic theory" on the origin of language (from 1924), now considered as pseudo-scientific, and related speculative linguistic hypotheses.


History.

St Peter's Abbey was founded in 696 by Saint Rupert at the site of a Late Antique church stemming from the first Christianization in the area in the days of Severinus of Noricum. Likewise the establishment of the monastery was meant to forward the missionary work in the Eastern Alps. Until 987, the office of the abbot was joined to that of the Archbishop of Salzburg: the two were always held together by one man.  In the Middle Ages, St Peter's was known for its exceptional writing school. In 1074, Archbishop Gebhard of Salzburg sent several monks to the newly established filial monastery of Admont in the March of Styria. In the 15th century, the abbey adopted the Melk Reforms. In 1623, Archbishop Paris Graf von Lodron founded the Benedictine University of Salzburg, which until its dissolution in 1810 was closely connected to the abbey.  From 1641, the abbey was a member of the Salzburg Congregation, merged in 1930 into the present Austrian Congregation (of which it is the principal house) of the Benedictine Confederation.  In 1926, the endeavours for the establishment of a Catholic university led to the foundation of the Benedictine college (""Kolleg St. Benedikt""), on which later the re-foundation of the University of Salzburg was based. In 1927, St Peter's was raised to the status of an Archabbey. Upon the Austrian "Anschluss" to Nazi Germany in 1938, the premises were seized and the monks expelled. Nevertheless, the monastery was not dissolved and the monks returned after the war.

Abbey church.

The present-day Romanesque abbey church at the northern foot of the Mönchsberg was erected from about 1130 onwards at the site of a previous Carolingian church building, it was dedicated to Saint Peter in 1147. One of the organs had been built on the rood screen in 1444 by Heinrich Traxdorf of Mainz. While the steeple received its onion dome in 1756, the interior, already re-modelled several times, was refurbished in the Rococo style between 1760 and 1782 under Abbot Beda Seeauer by Franz Xaver König, Lorenz Härmbler, Johann Högler, Benedikt Zöpf and others. The high altar is a work by Martin Johann Schmidt. The St Mary's Chapel contains the grave of Abbot Johann von Staupitz (d. 1524), a friend of Martin Luther.  Mozart's "Great Mass in C minor" was scheduled to premiere in the church, probably on 26 October 1783, with his wife Constanze singing first soprano. However, the work remained incomplete.  Next to the altar where St. Rupert is entombed lies the tombs of Mozart's sister Maria Anna Mozart ("Nannerl"), and Johann Michael Haydn. Also entombed at St. Peter's Abbey is St. Vitalis.

Library, archives and other collections.

Library.

St Peter's houses the oldest library in Austria. Among the 800 manuscripts the most precious is the "Verbrüderungsbuch", which was deposited in 784 by Bishop Virgil. Through continual acquisition, the library has grown to 100,000 volumes, focusing particularly on Benedictine monasticism, medieval church history, history of art, and items relating to the local history of Salzburg, or "Salisburgensia". Special collections include incunabula and early editions, graphics including the devotional images collection of Father Gregor Reitlechner and the map collection.  In 1768, Abbot Beda Seeauer had the medieval "Zellenbibliothek" converted to the Rococo style. In 1999, it was restored and is now only accessible by special permission.

Archives.

The archive is for the purposes of abbey administration and the researching of its history. It contains documents from the 8th to the 20th centuries, in the following series:

Music archive.

As a result of contact with notable musicians of Salzburg, St Peter's possesses a significant collection, much of it in holograph, with works by Johann Ernst Eberlin, Anton Cajetan Adlgasser, Leopold and Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Joseph Haydn, Sigismund von Neukomm, Robert Führer, and Karl Santner.

Other collections.

The abbey also owns collections of paintings, church treasures, artworks, minerals, furniture, musical instruments, a coin cabinet, and a cabinet of natural curiosities (not accessible).

Institutes in St Peter's.

Institute for Benedictine Studies.

In order to give young German-speaking Benedictine monks and nuns the opportunity to advance their education on monastic subjects, the Salzburg Abbots' Conference of 2000 set up the Institute for Benedictine Studies to serve the study of and research into the Rule of St Benedict ("Regula Benedicti"). The director is Dr. Michaela Puzicha OSB.

Austrian Liturgical Institute.

Through the endeavours of Father Adalbero Raffelsberger, St Peter's was one of the earliest homes of liturgical revival in Austria. In 2001, the Liturgical Institute of the Austrian Bishops' Conference was attached to it.

Cemetery.

The "Petersfriedhof" was probably laid out during the foundation of the monastery about 700. The burial ground was first mentioned under the rule of Archbishop Conrad I in 1139, with the oldest preserved graves from 1288 and 1300. It is centred around Lathe Gothic St Margaret's Chapel and the Chapel of the Cross, dedicated about 1170 and refurbished as a mausoleum according to plans by Santino Solari in 1614/15. Several tombs are located in arcades built at the foot of the Festungsberg hill.  The cemetery grounds are known for its 'catacombs' carved out of the conglomerate rocks of the Festungsberg. They probably date back to Late Antiquity, when they served as an Early Christian place of assembly and hermitage. The include two chapels dedicated to Saint Gertrude and one Christian martyr Maximus by Archbishop Conrad of Wittelsbach in 1172 and 1178.

Stiftskulinarium.

The "St. Peter Stiftskulinarium" was first mentioned in an 803 deed issued by Alcuin of York, an English scholar attendant Emperor Charlemagne; it therefore claims to be the oldest restaurant in Central Europe.

St Peter's Abbey (), or St Peter's Archabbey (German: "Erzabtei Sankt Peter", ), is a Benedictine monastery and former cathedral in the Austrian city of Salzburg. It is considered one of the oldest monasteries in the German-speaking area, and in fact the oldest with a continuous history since its foundation in 696.


Playing.

The pot is usually placed on the lap of the performer, with the mouth facing the belly. The performer uses the fingers, thumbs, palms, and heels of the hands to strike its outer surface to produce different sounds. Different tones can be produced by hitting areas of the pot with different parts of the hands. Sometimes the ghatam is turned around so that the mouth faces the audience and the performer plays on the neck of the instrument. The ghatam can be moved to other positions while being played. Occasionally, the performer will, to the amusement of the audience, toss the instrument up in the air and catch it. The ghatam is ideal for playing rhythmic patterns in very fast tempo.

Etymology.

The word "ghaṭa" in Sanskrit means "pot". Variations of this term are used in modern Indian languages.

Similar instruments.

The "madga" is a north Indian version of the south Indian "ghaṭam" and is made from a very special clay. The maker sometimes adds some kind of metal or graphite dust to the clay which is responsible for the blue-gray appearance and for the special sound.  The "madga" can be played similarly to the "ghaṭam". Loud bass tones can be produced if one hits with the flat hand the opening at the top of the instrument. The madga can be played with mallets (sticks) and there are many sounds which can be produced with this instrument. It is thinner than a ghaṭam but very stable and not as fragile as one might think.  In Gujarat and Rajasthan,

The ghaṭam ( "ghatam", "ghaṭah", "ghatam", "ghatam",, "ghatam") is a percussion instrument used in various repertoires across India. A variant played in Punjab and known as "gharha" as is a part of Punjabi folk traditions. Its analogue in Rajasthan is known as the "madga" and "pani mataqa" ("water jug").