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E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (video game)

E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial is a 1982 adventure video game developed and published by Atari, Inc. for the Atari 2600 and based on the film of the same name. The game's objective is to guide the eponymous character through various screens to collect three pieces of an interplanetary telephone that will allow him to contact his home planet.

The game was designed by Howard Scott Warshaw, who intended it to be an innovative adaptation, but Atari held unrealistic expectations for sales based on the international box-office success of the film. Negotiations for the game rights ended in late July 1982, giving Warshaw just over five weeks to develop the game in time to meet the production schedule for the 1982 Christmas season. The final release received negative reviews. The game is often cited as one of the worst of all time and one of the biggest commercial failures in video game history. It is cited as a major contributing factor to the video game crash of 1983, and has been frequently referenced and mocked in popular culture as a cautionary tale about the dangers of rushed game development and studio interference.

In what was once deemed only an urban legend, reports from 1983 stated that as a result of overproduction and returns, unsold cartridges were secretly buried in a landfill in Alamogordo, New Mexico, and covered with a layer of concrete. In April 2014, diggers hired to investigate the claim confirmed that the landfill contained several E.T. cartridges, among other games. James Heller, the former Atari manager who was in charge of the burial, was at the excavation, and admitted to the Associated Press that 728,000 cartridges of various games (not just E.T.) were buried. Marty Goldberg, co-author of the book Atari Inc.: Business Is Fun, added that the dump was in fact a clearing out of the Texas Atari manufacturing plant's unused cartridge stock of a number of titles, as well as console and computer parts. According to the 2014 documentary Atari: Game Over, only 10% of the approximately 1,300 recovered were E.T. cartridges.

Gameplay

E.T. is an adventure game in which players control the alien E.T. from a top-down perspective. The objective is to collect three pieces of an interplanetary telephone. The pieces are found scattered randomly throughout various pits (also referred to as wells). There is no overall time limit. The player is provided with an on-screen energy bar, which decreases when E.T. performs any actions (including moving, teleporting, or falling into a pit, as well as levitating back to the top). To prevent this, E.T. can collect Reese's Pieces, which are used to restore his energy or, when nine are collected, E.T. can call Elliott to obtain a piece of the telephone, or the player can save the candy pieces for bonus points at the end. After the three phone pieces have been collected, the player must guide E.T. to an area where he can use the phone, which allows him to call his home planet. Once the call is made, a clock appears at the top right of the screen; E.T. has to arrive at the landing zone before it reaches zero. Once E.T. gets to the forest where his ship abandoned him and stands and waits in the designated area for the ship to come, the ship will appear on-screen and take him back to his home planet. Then the game starts over, with the same difficulty level, while changing the location of the telephone pieces. The score obtained during the round is carried over to the next iteration. E.T. has three lives and if he dies within those three lives Elliott will come in and revive him. E.T. can get a fourth life if the player finds a geranium in one of the wells. According to the manual, the game ends "when E.T. runs out of energy or when you decide to quit playing".

The game is divided into six environments, each representing a different setting from the film. To accomplish the objective, the player must guide E.T. into the wells. Once all items found in a well are collected, the player must levitate E.T. out of them. An icon at the top of each screen represents the current area, each area enabling the player to perform different actions. Antagonists include a scientist who takes E.T. for observation and an FBI agent who chases the alien to confiscate one of the collected telephone pieces, or candy. The game offers diverse difficulty settings that affect the number and speed of humans present, and the conditions needed to accomplish the objective.

Development
Following the commercial success of E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial in June 1982, Steve Ross, CEO of Atari's parent company Warner Communications, began negotiations with the film's director Steven Spielberg and its distributor Universal Pictures to acquire a license to produce a video game based on the film. Later that month, Warner announced its exclusive worldwide rights to market coin-operated and console games based on E.T. Although the exact details of the transaction were not disclosed in the announcement, it was later reported that Atari had paid US$20–25 million (US$– million when adjusted for inflation to ) for the rights, a high figure for video game licensing at the time. When asked by Ross what he thought about making an E.T.-based video game, Atari CEO Ray Kassar replied: "I think it's a dumb idea. We've never really made an action game out of a movie." An arcade game based on the E.T. property had also been planned, but this was deemed to be impossible given the short deadline.

On July 27, 1982, after negotiations were completed, Kassar called Howard Scott Warshaw to commission him as developer of the video game adaptation. Kassar informed him that Spielberg asked for Warshaw specifically and that development had to be completed by September 1 to meet a production schedule for the Christmas holiday season. Although Warshaw had spent over a year working on consecutive development schedules for games (seven months working on Yars' Revenge and six months on Raiders of the Lost Ark), he accepted the offer based on the challenge of completing a game in a short time frame and at Spielberg's request. Warshaw considered it an opportunity to develop an innovative Atari 2600 game based on a film he enjoyed, "provided we reach the right arrangement". Kassar reportedly offered Warshaw US$200,000 and an all-expenses-paid vacation to Hawaii in compensation. Warshaw was flown via private jet to Warner Brothers Studios to meet with Spielberg.

Warshaw used those days to design the structure and segmented the concept into four ideas: world, objective, the path to achieve the objective, and obstacles. He envisioned a six-sided world that players could "float" around as the setting, and adapted part of the film's plot, E.T. phoning home, as the goal. The player would need to gather parts for a phone to call his ship and arrive at a special landing site to achieve this goal. Warshaw considered obstacles as an element that would determine the success of a game, and experienced difficulties when taking into account the time constraints and technical limitations of the console. Inspired by the film, adults were implemented as antagonists that would chase the alien. Pits were devised as an element to hide the pieces of the phone as well as expand the game world.

Warshaw and other Atari executives presented this design to Spielberg, who was not enthusiastic. According to Warshaw, Spielberg asked him: "Couldn't you do something more like Pac-Man?" Believing the concept too derivative of a common game design, Warshaw proceeded with his concept, which he believed would capture the sentimentality he saw in the original film. (Warshaw later stated that, in retrospect, Spielberg's idea might have had merit.) He spent the remaining time programming. Atari graphic designer Jerome Domurat assisted Warshaw with creating graphics for the game. Atari anticipated enormous sales based on the popularity of the film, as well as the stability of the video game industry at the time. Due to time limitations, Atari skipped audience testing. Emanual Gerard, then part of the Office of the President of Warner, later suggested that the company had fallen into a false sense of security by the success of its previous releases, particularly its console version of Pac-Man, which was commercially successful despite poor critical reaction.

Reception

Anticipation for the E.T. video game was high, and Atari was hoping it would be a sought-after Christmas gift. In early December 1982, The New York Times reported that video games based on successful films, specifically E.T., would become "an increasingly profitable source" for video game development. At first, retailers ordered more supplies than what was expected to be sold, but Atari received an increasing number of order cancellations as new competitors entered the market, which the company had not anticipated. John Hubner and William Kistner of InfoWorld have attributed the cancellations to changes Atari initiated in its relationship to distributors. On November 1, 1982, Atari informed them that their contracts were canceled and that exclusive deals would be established with select distributors. Hubner and Kistner believed the action prompted retailers to cancel orders, which Atari had not properly tracked.

E.T. was met with initial commercial success, being among the top four on Billboard magazine's "Top 15 Video Games" sales list in December 1982 and January 1983. The game sold over 2.6 million copies by the end of 1982. However, at least 669,000 copies were later returned in 1983. One retailer said that "mostly grandmothers" bought the game; because of word-of-mouth, children preferred the best-selling Pitfall!

Hubner and Kistner commented that the large number of produced cartridges may have resulted in excess inventory regardless of E.T.'s success. Even though the game was a bestseller during the holiday season, retailers still stated that its sales figures did not meet expectations. Warner Communications also expressed disappointment at the number of sales. Lower-than-expected sales figures combined with excess inventory, which produced a negative supply and demand event, prompted retailers to repeatedly discount price. According to Ray Kassar, about 3.5 million of the four million produced were sent back to the company as unsold inventory or customer returns. Despite sales figures, the quantity of unsold merchandise, coupled with the expensive film license and the large number of returns, made E.T. a major financial failure for Atari.

Critical response
While reviews of the film were acclaimed, the game was largely received negatively by critics, with common complaints focused on the gameplay and visuals. In contemporary reviews, New York's Nicholas Pileggi described it as a loser when compared to other games Atari could have released during the time period, such as Donkey Kong and Frogger, and Video Games called it "really for kids (the littler ones)". In 1984, Softline readers named the game the second-worst Atari program of 1983, after Congo Bongo.

Nevertheless, the game received some positive contemporary reviews. An editor for The Miami Herald described it as a difficult game to learn to play, but believed it was worth dedicating the time. Vidiot's Kevin Christopher criticized the protagonist's repeated falling down back into holes, but considered it "about the only flaw with an otherwise A-1 game." Arcade Express scored it six out of ten in December 1982. Len Albin of TV Guide wrote that "after seeing the motion picture E.T. 14 times, there's no more suspense left—unless you bring home this one-player cartridge", adding that "it’s certain that your patience won't run out—if you're a kid. (Adults may prefer to wait for a game based on My Dinner with Andre.)"

In much later reviews, Kevin Bowen of GameSpy's Classic Gaming called the gameplay "convoluted and inane", also criticizing its story for departing from the serious tone of the film, and author Steven Kent described the game as "infamous" within the industry, citing "primitive" graphics, "dull" gameplay, and a "disappointing story". Modern critics have also bemoaned the gameplay's repetitive use of falling down holes. Emru Townsend of PC World discussed the game with a group, and found a universal dislike for the pits that E.T. falls into, describing it as "monotonous". Writer Sean "Seanbaby" Reiley also criticized the pits, claiming that they are "time-consuming" and "difficult to leave without falling back in". Trent Ward, a former Next Generation reviewer, commented that this element prompted him to immediately return the game for a refund after purchasing it in his youth, and the children who found games in the New Mexico landfill gave the E.T. cartridges away because, as one later said, the "game sucked ... you couldn't finish it". Classic Gaming argued that despite the negative reception, the game can be enjoyable after the player has learned to navigate the pits.

In published materials written more than a decade after its initial release, E.T. has been universally panned by critics and is frequently listed as the worst video game ever made. Reiley ranked it number one in a list of the 20 worst games of all time in Electronic Gaming Monthly's 150th issue. Michael Dolan, deputy editor of FHM magazine, said it was the worst video game of all time. Townsend placed E.T. at the top of his list of worst video games, and said that "about a third of the people I quizzed came up with this title almost instantly, and it's not hard to see why." GameTrailers ranked it second worst on their "Top Ten Best and Worst Games of All Time" list.

Critics often attribute the poor quality to the short development time. Townsend commented that the rushed development was very apparent. Warshaw's contributions have been met with mixed responses. Classic Gaming called the game poorly designed, while IGN's Levi Buchanan stated the "impossibly tight schedule" given to Warshaw absolves him of blame. Warshaw does not express regret for his part in E.T., and believes he created a good game given the time available to him.

Impact
E.T. is often cited as one of the most important video games. GamePro, GameTrailers and Bowen cite the game as the first poor quality-film–video-game tie-in. Patrick O'Luanaigh of SCi Games called it the most famous disaster story among film-inspired video games as well as within the industry. GamePro publication named it second-worst movie game ever, citing it as an example of how poor gameplay can bring negative reception to strong licenses.

Effect on Atari
As early as January 1983, after Atari admitted that the game had sold poorly, an industry executive said that "the lesson of E.T. has not been lost on the industry". The game is associated as a cause of the video game industry crisis of 1983. Billboard magazine's Earl Paige reported that the large number of unsold E.T. games, along with an increase in competition, prompted retailers to demand official return programs from video game manufacturers. However, even before E.T was released, the industry was in an overall economic downturn from multiple factors, and E.T itself did not contribute greatly to the collapse, outside of Atari, by mid-1983. The release timing led to the game gaining the reputation of being responsible for the 1983 crash.

By the end of 1982, Atari had begun to lose dominance as more competitors entered the market. GameSpy's Classic Gaming called E.T. Atari's biggest mistake, as well as the largest financial failure in the industry. Reiley commented that the game's poor quality was responsible for ending the product life of the Atari 2600. Occurring soon after Pac-Mans negative critical response on the Atari 2600, E.T.s poor reception was attributed by Kent to have had a negative impact on Atari's reputation and profitability. Authors Nick Montfort and Ian Bogost echoed similar comments about Pac-Man and E.T.'s combined effect on the company's reputation and the industry's reaction. Buchanan also cited the game as a factor in Atari and the industry's crash. He stated that the large amount of unsold merchandise was a financial burden to Atari, which pushed the company into debt.

Atari video game burial
In September 1983, the Alamogordo Daily News of Alamogordo, New Mexico, reported in a series of articles that between ten and twenty semi-trailer truckloads of Atari boxes, cartridges, and systems from an Atari storehouse in El Paso, Texas, were crushed and buried at the landfill within the city, which was covered with concrete. It was Atari's first dealings with the landfill, which was chosen because no scavenging was allowed and its garbage was crushed and buried nightly. Atari officials and others gave differing reports of what was buried, but it has been speculated that most unsold copies of E.T. are buried in this landfill, crushed and encased in cement. The story of the buried cartridges was erroneously regarded by some as an urban legend, with skeptics—including Warshaw—disregarding the official accounts.

On May 28, 2013, the Alamogordo City Commission approved Fuel Industries, an Ottawa-based entertainment company, for six months of landfill access both to create a documentary about the legend and to excavate the burial site. On April 26, 2014, remnants of E.T. and other Atari games were discovered in the early hours of the excavation. The burial of the E.T. cartridges was also the basis for the independent 2014 science fiction comedy Angry Video Game Nerd: The Movie, based on the webseries of the same name, and featured Howard Scott Warshaw.

In December 2014, the Smithsonian Institution added an excavated cartridge of E.T. to their collection. In 2015, The Henry Ford museum added several excavated cartridges and a video touchpad, a sample of landfill dirt taken from the site of the burial, and items of clothing worn by the excavation team to their collection. A selection of these items are on permanent display. The Centre for Computing History in Cambridge, England, also received some artefacts from the desert, which are on permanent display in the museum gallery.

Attempts to improve the game
In 2006, Dennis Debro disassembled E.T., added comments to the generated source code, and released it to the public. In January 2013, programmer David Richardson released several unofficial fixes for the game. Patches included the removal of pixel-perfect collision detection, which caused E.T. to fall into a pit every time his sprite touched a pit entry.

Periodicals

 * Archived 2005-04-01.
 * Archived 2005-04-01.

title: E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial (video game)


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Ultracentrifuge

An ultracentrifuge is a centrifuge optimized for spinning a rotor at very high speeds, capable of generating acceleration as high as 1 000 000 g (approx. 9 800 km/s²). There are two kinds of ultracentrifuges, the preparative and the analytical ultracentrifuge. Both classes of instruments find important uses in molecular biology, biochemistry, and polymer science.

History
In 1924 Theodor Svedberg built a centrifuge capable of generating 7,000 g (at 12,000 rpm), and called it the ultracentrifuge, to juxtapose it with the Ultramicroscope that had been developed previously. In 1925-1926 Svedberg constructed a new ultracentrifuge that permitted fields up to 100,000 g (42,000 rpm). Modern ultracentrifuges are typically classified as allowing greater than 100,000 g. Svedberg won the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 1926 for his research on colloids and proteins using the ultracentrifuge.

In early 1930s, Émile Henriot found that suitably placed jets of compressed air can spin a bearingless top to very high speeds and developed an ultracentrifuge on that principle. Jesse Beams from the Physics Department at the University of Virginia first adapted that principle to a high-speed camera, and then started improving Henriot's ultracentrifuge, but his rotors consistently overheated.

Beam's student Edward Greydon Pickels solved the problem in 1935 by vacuumizing the system, which allowed a reduction in friction generated at high speeds. Vacuum systems also enabled the maintenance of constant temperature across the sample, eliminating convection currents that interfered with the interpretation of sedimentation results.

In 1946, Pickels cofounded Spinco (Specialized Instruments Corp.) to market analytical and preparative ultracentrifuges based on his design. Pickels considered his design to be too complicated for commercial use and developed a more easily operated, “foolproof” version. But even with the enhanced design, sales of analytical centrifuges remained low, and Spinco almost went bankrupt. The company survived by concentrating on sales of preparative ultracentrifuge models, which were becoming popular as workhorses in biomedical laboratories. In 1949, Spinco introduced the Model L, the first preparative ultracentrifuge to reach a maximum speed of 40,000 rpm. In 1954, Beckman Instruments (later Beckman Coulter) purchased the company, forming the basis of its Spinco centrifuge division.

Instrumentation
Ultracentrifuges are available with a wide variety of rotors suitable for a great range of experiments. Most rotors are designed to hold tubes that contain the samples. Swinging bucket rotors allow the tubes to hang on hinges so the tubes reorient to the horizontal as the rotor initially accelerate. Fixed angle rotors are made of a single block of material and hold the tubes in cavities bored at a predetermined angle. Zonal rotors are designed to contain a large volume of sample in a single central cavity rather than in tubes. Some zonal rotors are capable of dynamic loading and unloading of samples while the rotor is spinning at high speed.

Preparative rotors are used in biology for pelleting of fine particulate fractions, such as cellular organelles (mitochondria, microsomes, ribosomes) and viruses. They can also be used for gradient separations, in which the tubes are filled from top to bottom with an increasing concentration of a dense substance in solution. Sucrose gradients are typically used for separation of cellular organelles. Gradients of caesium salts are used for separation of nucleic acids. After the sample has spun at high speed for sufficient time to produce the separation, the rotor is allowed to come to a smooth stop and the gradient is gently pumped out of each tube to isolate the separated components.

Hazards
The tremendous rotational kinetic energy of the rotor in an operating ultracentrifuge makes the catastrophic failure of a spinning rotor a serious concern, as it can explode spectacularly. Rotors conventionally have been made from high strength-to-weight metals such as aluminum or titanium. The stresses of routine use and harsh chemical solutions eventually cause rotors to deteriorate. Proper use of the instrument and rotors within recommended limits and careful maintenance of rotors to prevent corrosion and to detect deterioration is necessary to mitigate this risk.

More recently some rotors have been made of lightweight carbon fiber composite material, which are up to 60% lighter, resulting in faster acceleration/deceleration rates. Carbon fiber composite rotors also are corrosion-resistant, eliminating a major cause of rotor failure.

license: Creative Commons - Attribution Share-Alike - https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

title: Ultracentrifuge


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Catecholamine

A catecholamine (abbreviated CA) is a monoamine neurotransmitter, an organic compound that has a catechol (benzene with two hydroxyl side groups next to each other) and a side-chain amine.

Catechol can be either a free molecule or a substituent of a larger molecule, where it represents a 1,2-dihydroxybenzene group.

Catecholamines are derived from the amino acid tyrosine, which is derived from dietary sources as well as synthesis from phenylalanine. Catecholamines are water-soluble and are 50% bound to plasma proteins in circulation.

Included among catecholamines are epinephrine (adrenaline), norepinephrine (noradrenaline), and dopamine. Release of the hormones epinephrine and norepinephrine from the adrenal medulla of the adrenal glands is part of the fight-or-flight response.

Tyrosine is created from phenylalanine by hydroxylation by the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase. Tyrosine is also ingested directly from dietary protein. Catecholamine-secreting cells use several reactions to convert tyrosine serially to L -DOPA and then to dopamine. Depending on the cell type, dopamine may be further converted to norepinephrine or even further converted to epinephrine.

Various stimulant drugs (such as a number of substituted amphetamines) are catecholamine analogues.

Structure
Catecholamines have the distinct structure of a benzene ring with two hydroxyl groups, an intermediate ethyl chain, and a terminal amine group. Phenylethanolamines such as norepinephrine have a hydroxyl group on the ethyl chain.

Location
Catecholamines are produced mainly by the chromaffin cells of the adrenal medulla and the postganglionic fibers of the sympathetic nervous system. Dopamine, which acts as a neurotransmitter in the central nervous system, is largely produced in neuronal cell bodies in two areas of the brainstem: the ventral tegmental area and the substantia nigra, the latter of which contains neuromelanin-pigmented neurons. The similarly neuromelanin-pigmented cell bodies of the locus coeruleus produce norepinephrine. Epinephrine is produced in small groups of neurons in the human brain which express its synthesizing enzyme, phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase; these neurons project from a nucleus that is adjacent (ventrolateral) to the area postrema and from a nucleus in the dorsal region of the solitary tract.

Biosynthesis
Dopamine is the first catecholamine synthesized from DOPA. In turn, norepinephrine and epinephrine are derived from further metabolic modification of dopamine. The enzyme dopamine hydroxylase requires copper as a cofactor (not shown in the diagram) and DOPA decarboxylase requires PLP (not shown in the diagram). The rate limiting step in catecholamine biosynthesis through the predominant metabolic pathway is the hydroxylation of L -tyrosine to L -DOPA.

Catecholamine synthesis is inhibited by alpha-methyl-p-tyrosine (AMPT), which inhibits tyrosine hydroxylase.

The amino acids phenylalanine and tyrosine are precursors for catecholamines. Both amino acids are found in high concentrations in blood plasma and the brain. In mammals, tyrosine can be formed from dietary phenylalanine by the enzyme phenylalanine hydroxylase, found in large amounts in the liver. Insufficient amounts of phenylalanine hydroxylase result in phenylketonuria, a metabolic disorder that leads to intellectual deficits unless treated by dietary manipulation. Catecholamine synthesis is usually considered to begin with tyrosine. The enzyme tyrosine hydroxylase (TH) converts the amino acid L -tyrosine into 3,4-dihydroxyphenylalanine ( L -DOPA). The hydroxylation of L -tyrosine by TH results in the formation of the DA precursor L -DOPA, which is metabolized by aromatic L -amino acid decarboxylase (AADC; see Cooper et al., 2002) to the transmitter dopamine. This step occurs so rapidly that it is difficult to measure L -DOPA in the brain without first inhibiting AADC. In neurons that use DA as the transmitter, the decarboxylation of L -DOPA to dopamine is the final step in formation of the transmitter; however, in those neurons using norepinephrine (noradrenaline) or epinephrine (adrenaline) as transmitters, the enzyme dopamine β-hydroxylase (DBH), which converts dopamine to yield norepinephrine, is also present. In still other neurons in which epinephrine is the transmitter, a third enzyme phenylethanolamine N-methyltransferase (PNMT) converts norepinephrine into epinephrine. Thus, a cell that uses epinephrine as its transmitter contains four enzymes (TH, AADC, DBH, and PNMT), whereas norepinephrine neurons contain only three enzymes (lacking PNMT) and dopamine cells only two (TH and AADC).

Degradation
Catecholamines have a half-life of a few minutes when circulating in the blood. They can be degraded either by methylation by catechol-O-methyltransferases (COMT) or by deamination by monoamine oxidases (MAO).

MAOIs bind to MAO, thereby preventing it from breaking down catecholamines and other monoamines.

Catabolism of catecholamines is mediated by two main enzymes: catechol-O-methyltransferase (COMT) which is present in the synaptic cleft and cytosol of the cell and monoamine oxidase (MAO) which is located in the mitochondrial membrane. Both enzymes require cofactors: COMT uses Mg2+ as a cofactor while MAO uses FAD. The first step of the catabolic process is mediated by either MAO or COMT which depends on the tissue and location of catecholamines (for example degradation of catecholamines in the synaptic cleft is mediated by COMT because MAO is a mitochondrial enzyme). The next catabolic steps in the pathway involve alcohol dehydrogenase, aldehyde dehydrogenase and aldehyde reductase. The end product of epinephrine and norepinephrine is vanillylmandelic acid (VMA) which is excreted in the urine. Dopamine catabolism leads to the production of homovanillic acid (HVA).

Modality
Two catecholamines, norepinephrine and dopamine, act as neuromodulators in the central nervous system and as hormones in the blood circulation. The catecholamine norepinephrine is a neuromodulator of the peripheral sympathetic nervous system but is also present in the blood (mostly through "spillover" from the synapses of the sympathetic system).

High catecholamine levels in blood are associated with stress, which can be induced from psychological reactions or environmental stressors such as elevated sound levels, intense light, or low blood sugar levels.

Extremely high levels of catecholamines (also known as catecholamine toxicity) can occur in central nervous system trauma due to stimulation or damage of nuclei in the brainstem, in particular, those nuclei affecting the sympathetic nervous system. In emergency medicine, this occurrence is widely known as a "catecholamine dump".

Extremely high levels of catecholamine can also be caused by neuroendocrine tumors in the adrenal medulla, a treatable condition known as pheochromocytoma.

High levels of catecholamines can also be caused by monoamine oxidase A (MAO-A) deficiency, known as Brunner syndrome. As MAO-A is one of the enzymes responsible for degradation of these neurotransmitters, its deficiency increases the bioavailability of these neurotransmitters considerably. It occurs in the absence of pheochromocytoma, neuroendocrine tumors, and carcinoid syndrome, but it looks similar to carcinoid syndrome with symptoms such as facial flushing and aggression.

Acute porphyria can cause elevated catecholamines.

Effects
Catecholamines cause general physiological changes that prepare the body for physical activity (the fight-or-flight response). Some typical effects are increases in heart rate, blood pressure, blood glucose levels, and a general reaction of the sympathetic nervous system. Some drugs, like tolcapone (a central COMT-inhibitor), raise the levels of all the catecholamines. Increased catecholamines may also cause an increased respiratory rate (tachypnoea) in patients.

Catecholamine is secreted into urine after being broken down, and its secretion level can be measured for the diagnosis of illnesses associated with catecholamine levels in the body. Urine testing for catecholamine is used to detect pheochromocytoma.

Function in plants
"'They have been found in 44 plant families, but no essential metabolic function has been established for them. They are precursors of benzo[c]phenanthridine alkaloids, which are the active principal ingredients of many medicinal plant extracts. CAs have been implicated to have a possible protective role against insect predators, injuries, and nitrogen detoxification. They have been shown to promote plant tissue growth, somatic embryogenesis from in vitro cultures, and flowering. CAs inhibit indole-3-acetic acid oxidation and enhance ethylene biosynthesis. They have also been shown to enhance synergistically various effects of gibberellins.'"

Testing for catecholamines
Catecholamines are secreted by cells in tissues of different systems of the human body, mostly by the nervous and the endocrine systems. The adrenal glands secrete certain catecholamines into the blood when the person is physically or mentally stressed and this is usually a healthy physiological response. However, acute or chronic excess of circulating catecholamines can potentially increase blood pressure and heart rate to very high levels and eventually provoke dangerous effects. Tests for fractionated plasma free metanephrines or the urine metanephrines are used to confirm or exclude certain diseases when the doctor identifies signs of hypertension and tachycardia that don't adequately respond to treatment. Each of the tests measure the amount of adrenaline and noradrenaline metabolites, respectively called metanephrine and normetanephrine.

Blood tests are also done to analyze the amount of catecholamines present in the body.

Catecholamine tests are done to identify rare tumors at the adrenal gland or in the nervous system. Catecholamine tests provide information relative to tumors such as: pheochromocytoma, paraganglioma, and neuroblastoma.

title: Catecholamine


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GDR (disambiguation)

The German Democratic Republic (GDR, 1949–1990) was the official name for East Germany, a state during the Cold War.

GDR may also refer to:
 * General Distribution Release, a concept in software engineering
 * Georgian Democratic Republic (or Democratic Republic of Georgia, 1918–1921), the first modern establishment of a Republic of Georgia
 * Giant Dipole Resonance, collective oscillation of all protons against all neutrons in a nucleus
 * Global depository receipt, a concept in international banking
 * Greenhouse Development Rights, a climate change policy concept
 * Gudur Junction railway station, in Andhra Pradesh, India
 * Democratic and Republican Left group (Groupe de la Gauche démocrate et républicaine), a French parliamentary group
 * Great Dividing Range, the fifth-longest land-based mountain range in the world, situated in eastern Australia
 * Graphics display resolution, a comparison of screen resolutions, measured in pixels

title: GDR (disambiguation)


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Joint Tactical Information Distribution System

The Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS) is an L band Distributed Time Division Multiple Access (DTDMA) network radio system used by the United States Department of Defense and their allies to support data communications needs, principally in the air and missile defense community. It produces a spread spectrum signal using Frequency-shift keying (FSK) and Phase-shift keying (PSK) to spread the radiated power over a wider spectrum (range of frequencies) than normal radio transmissions. This reduces susceptibility to noise, jamming, and interception. In JTIDS Time Division Multiple Access (TDMA) (similar to cell phone technology), each time interval (e.g., 1 second) is divided into time slots (e.g. 128 per second). Together, all 1536 time slots in a 12-second interval are called a "frame". Each time slot is "bursted" (transmitted) at several different carrier frequencies sequentially. Within each slot, the phase angle of the transmission burst is varied to provide PSK. Each type of data to be transmitted is assigned a slot or block of slots (channel) to manage information exchanges among user participation groups. In traditional TDMA, the slot frequencies remain fixed from second to second (frame to frame). In JTIDS TDMA, the slot frequencies and/or slot assignments for each channel do not remain fixed from frame to frame but are varied in a pseudo-random manner. The slot assignments, frequencies, and information are all encrypted to provide computer-to-computer connectivity in support of every type of military platform to include Air Force fighters and Navy submarines.

The full development of JTIDS commenced in 1981 when a contract was placed with Singer-Kearfott (later GEC-Marconi Electronic Systems, now BAE Systems E&IS). Fielding proceeded slowly throughout the late 1980s and early 1990s with rapid expansion (following 9/11) in preparation for Operation Enduring Freedom (Afghanistan) and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Development is now carried out by Data Link Solutions, a joint BAE/Rockwell Collins company, ViaSat, and the MIDS International consortium.

About
JTIDS is one of the family of radio equipment implementing what is called Link 16. Link 16, a highly-survivable radio communications design to meet the most stringent requirements of modern combat, provides reliable Situational Awareness (SA) for fast-moving forces. Link 16 equipment has proven, in detailed field demonstrations as well as in the AWACS and JSTARS deployment in Desert Storm, the capability of basic Link 16 to exchange user data at 115 kbit/s, error-correction-coded. (Compare this to typical tactical systems at 16 kbit/s, which also have to accommodate overheads in excess of 50% to supply the same transmission reliability.)

While principally a data network, Link 16 radios can provide high quality voice channels and navigation services as accurate as any in the inventory. Every Link 16 user can identify itself to other similarly equipped platforms at ranges well beyond what Mark XII Identification Friend or Foe (IFF) systems can provide. Additionally, Link 16-equipped platforms capable of identification through other means (such as radar and TENCAP Blue Force Tracking) can pass that "indirect" identification data as part of its SA exchange. The capabilities of Link 16 are best represented by the JTIDS or its follow-on Multifunctional Information Distribution System (MIDS) terminals. The TADIL-J message format forms the basis for the mandates in the DoD Tactical Data Link Management Plan.

There are benefits to the full-scale implementation of the two key elements of Link-16: (1) the message "catalog" and (2) the specific radio waveform (i.e., frequency hopped, Lx-band CPSM, spread-spectrum and Reed–Solomon coding, omni-directional broadcast). Link 16 terminals implement the "NI" node-to-node protocols as well as one or more of the ICD-compliant user interfaces.

"In a typical theater of operations combat forces and elements that are deployed to gather information tend to be scattered, are not always associated with a single unit, may even belong to different services and are not always well coordinated. As a result considerable information may exist about both friendly and enemy forces but the elements that possess that information often are not aware of the combat units who need it. Conversely, combat elements need information about both friendly and enemy forces but have no knowledge about who has it. Classically these "disconnects" have often made the difference between success and failure of a particular military mission. Conventional circuit oriented communications cannot solve this problem. With JTIDS people who have information can broadcast it without explicitly knowing where it is going and combat elements can filter the composite data stream to extract exactly what they need (and no more). One could argue that this is inefficient since more information is being conveyed over the network that any single user wants or needs but given the inability to precisely coordinate information sources and information users JTIDS is the only available architecture that meets the information distribution needs of the modern battlefield. There are situations where specific circuit oriented communications are necessary. For instance the transmission of a command to a combat unit to attack a specific target. It is also reasonable to attempt to exploit the security and jam resistance of JTIDS to accommodate some present communications such as voice. As a result these circuit oriented capabilities were included in the design. At the time this was done, there was concern that operators who were used to dealing with conventional communications would gravitate toward replicating the circuits they were used to over JTIDS at the expense of the new and more responsive architecture. To some degree this seems to have happened. I don't know how to fix it but the capacity concerns and overloading are a symptom of this problem. JTIDS needs to be viewed as a unique and precious resource that does a specific and necessary job better than any other system. For emerging communications needs they should be evaluated and if the specific JTIDS benefits are not needed the problem should be solved by a more conventional approach. JTIDS is bound by a set of parameters dictated by its unique properties in a way that makes it extremely difficult to make significant adjustments to its parameters. It has sufficient capacity to accomplish its primary task (situational awareness) and has some modest additional capacity to accommodate communication tasks that would not justify adding more equipment to a combat unit. This capability, however needs to be used sparingly and carefully so that the primary JTIDS objective is not compromised."

- A description of the JTIDS system from the original MITRE program manager Eric Ellingson

Origin and history
JTIDS began with an advanced planning study sponsored by the Air Force Electronic Systems Division (ESD) Advanced Plans (XR) at L.G. Hanscom Air Force Base. The study was conducted by the MITRE Corporation in 1967 and the principal investigators were Vic Desmarines who later became MITRE President and Gordon Welchman who had been instrumental in breaking the German Enigma machine code as the head of "Hut 6" at Bletchley Park, England. Gordon wrote a book titled "The Hut 6 Story" which described his activities and contains some additional information about his work at MITRE. The study concluded that on the battlefield valuable information was available that was not getting to the combat forces that needed it because of fundamental deficiencies in communications architecture. Gordon suggested a radical architecture where elements that had critical information could broadcast it and units that needed the information could selectively process what was of immediate value. This was a significant departure from the circuit-oriented communications architectures then in use and a way to eliminate overcrowding and confusion in the radio nets used to interconnect aircraft and some ground forces. A second recommendation was the need for a consistent and reliable basis for position which was available to all combat elements dubbed a "Common Position Grid". The overall study was called "Control and Surveillance of Friendly Forces" CASOFF.

The advanced planning study was well received both at MITRE and ESD and it was decided to pursue a practical design to see if these ideas could be translated into a usable system. In 1968 MITRE Technical Director John H. Monahan appointed C. Eric Ellingson to head this effort and Ellingson put together a technical team to pursue these ideas. Early on it became apparent that the CASOFF architecture was sufficiently radical that a "proof of concept" activity was needed to better understand and ultimately demonstrate the feasibility and benefits of such an approach. The demonstration system used a synchronized Time Division Multiple Access architecture and incorporated position location as an integral part of the communications process. Because funds were extremely limited every effort was made to use already available equipment. Transmitters were surplus AN/APX-25 IFF transponders and data processing was accomplished using surplus IBM 4piTC-2 computers that were obtained from the F-111 terrain avoidance program. The unique components called the Control and Display Units (CDU) were built in the MITRE laboratory.

By 1970 an operating TDMA system had been constructed and ground stations were installed at Boston Hill in Andover MA, Millstone Hill in Groton MA, MITRE in Bedford, MA and Prospect Hill in Waltham, MA. An airborne terminal was also installed in an ESD T-29 Navigation Trainer. Tests of both the communications architecture and position location capability were conducted and the overall system design was shown to be practical. Note that this demonstration preceded GPS, Ethernet and the internet each of which incorporated similar principles. It is also worth noting that these experiments would not have been possible without the support of John Klotz of DOD/DDR&E.

In 1972 General Ken Russell, the AWACS System Program Office chief asked Ellingson if MITRE could support a 1973 demonstration of AWACS to key NATO personnel in Europe. The idea was to bring the AWACS data to the ground command and control centers in selected locations throughout Europe to show how AWACS could augment their existing air defense capability. Russell thought that the MITRE CASOFF demonstration system could do the job. Ellingson responded in the affirmative and immediately set about to implement the needed interfaces with the various NATO systems and equipping a KC135 aircraft that was to be used as a relay.

In 1973 the AWACS demonstration took place with interfaces to the British Linesman system, the French Strida II system, the NATO Ground Environment System in Germany and an element of the U.S. 407L Tactical Command and Control System in Belgium and 407L systems at Sembach and Neu Ulm in Germany. An Army NIKE site at the Fliegerhorst Caserne near Hanau Germany was also equipped. The demonstration was very successful and generated great NATO interest in both AWACS and JTIDS.

During this period the name of the program underwent several iterations. John Klotz didn't like acronyms and dubbed the program Tactical Position Location/Common Grid Capability which immediately became Tipplekeg. Next the program was called Position Location Reporting and Control of Tactical Aircraft (PLRACTA). At the time of the first European demonstration the program was known as Seek Bus. Finally in 1973 DOD created a joint program office with the Air Force as Executive agent and Col. Breeden Brentnall was appointed as System Program Office Chief. The Joint Service SPO was co-located with Ellingson's development group at MITRE. From then on, the program was officially known as Joint Tactical Information Distribution System (JTIDS). However, since NATO didn't use the term "joint" in their system descriptions, the Class 1 Hughes Improved Terminal (HIT) installed on the NATO E-3A was referred to in Boeing documentation as the "ECM Resistant Communications System (ERCS)."

A second European demonstration of AWACS and JTIDS was conducted in 1975 under the direction of AWACS SPO Director Gen. (Larry) Lawrence A. Skantze. An interface with the Navy NTDS system was added and demonstrated aboard a Guided Missile Cruiser in the Mediterranean. Dignitaries were able to view AWACS data at various NTDS locations including a Nuclear Aircraft Carrier. As a result of these demonstrations, and resulting NATO interest, a NATO JTIDS program was instituted called Multifunction Information Distribution System (MIDS).

During this period contracts were awarded to Hughes Aircraft (Ground Systems Group) to develop a terminal suitable for operational use in AWACS and ground command and control systems and to Singer Kearfott Corporation, now BAE Systems, to develop a terminal suitable for fighter aircraft installation. The Hughes effort was led by Bob Kramp and the Singer effort by John Sputz. In concert with contractor efforts a MITRE team led by Myron Leiter and consisting of communications and digital signal processing engineers refined the JTIDS design to optimize interference rejection and link performance. The results of these efforts were incorporated into performance specifications and provided guidance to the contractors. Operational considerations were provided by experienced Air Force combat pilots Col. Ken Kronlund and Col. Cliff Miller as well as valuable inputs from the Air Force Tactical Fighter Weapons Center. A pair of jet instrument trainers were equipped with F-15 like displays and were used to evaluate display techniques and understand pilot work load and benefits.

Ellingson was promoted to Associate Technical Director of the MITRE Command and Control Division in 1979, became Technical Director for the MITRE Communications Division in 1982 and in 1986 Technical Director for the MITRE Command and Control Division. During this period he did not have day-to-day management responsibility for the program but did have oversight responsibility. Ellingson retired from MITRE in 1989.

JTIDS was not created by a single individual. Rather it was the culmination of a group of individuals each having expertise in specific disciplines including but not limited to system engineering, operational analysis, cost benefit analysis, message standards, software development, communications, signal processing, vulnerability analysis, error detection and correction, antenna design, multipath analysis, electromagnetic compatibility mechanical engineering, navigation, specification generation and others. For a considerable period during JTIDS conception as many as 50 people were employed full-time in its development with as many as 50 more in part-time supporting roles. In the ensuing years the program has transitioned from an intensive development effort to a more classical acquisition effort. Development has continued but efforts have been oriented more toward incorporation of breakthroughs in technology and efforts to improve quality and reduce size, weight and cost. In the early 1990s the Navy took over the executive management of the program. As the program has expanded throughout the U.S services and NATO a great deal on operational innovation has occurred driven by the basic flexibility of the architecture and the imagination of the operational user. As a result, the operational utility of the system has been enhanced over what was originally envisioned by the early developers. Although the JTIDS system has been a long time in development most of the technology is still "state of the art" and the system should be viable for the foreseeable future.

JTIDS is also used by other members of NATO.


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Rostock

Rostock (Polabian: Roztoc), officially the Hanseatic and University City of Rostock (Hanse- und Universitätsstadt Rostock), is the largest city in the German state of Mecklenburg-Vorpommern and lies in the Mecklenburgian part of the state, close to the border with Pomerania. With around 210,000 inhabitants, it is the third-largest city on the German Baltic coast after Kiel and Lübeck, the eighth-largest city in the area of former East Germany, as well as the 39th-largest city of Germany. Rostock was the largest coastal and most important port city in East Germany.

Rostock stands on the estuary of the River Warnow into the Bay of Mecklenburg of the Baltic Sea. The city stretches for about 16 km along the river. The river flows into the sea in the very north of the city, between the boroughs of Warnemünde and Hohe Düne. The city center lies further upstream, in the very south of the city. Most of Rostock's inhabitants live on the western side of the Warnow; the area east of the river is dominated by the port, industrial estates, and the forested Rostock Heath. The city's coastline east and west of the river mouth is relatively undeveloped, with long sandy beaches prevailing. The name of the city is of Slavic origin.

Rostock is the economic center of Mecklenburg-Western Pomerania and the state's only regiopolis (a city outside the core of a metropolitan area). The port of Rostock is the fourth largest port in Germany after the North Sea ports of Hamburg, Bremen/Bremerhaven, and Wilhelmshaven, and the largest port on the German Baltic coast. The ferry routes between Rostock to Gedser in Denmark and to Trelleborg in Southern Sweden are among the busiest between Germany and Scandinavia. Rostock–Laage Airport lies in a rural region southeast of the city.

The city is home to the oldest university in the Baltic region and one of the oldest universities in the world, the University of Rostock, founded in 1419. The university's hospital, Universitätsmedizin Rostock, is one of two university hospitals in the state, along with Universitätsmedizin Greifswald of the University of Greifswald in Western Pomerania.

Early history
In the 11th century Polabian Slavs founded a settlement at the Warnow river called Roztoc (*ras-tokŭ, Slavic for "fork of a river"); the name Rostock is derived from that designation.

The Danish king Valdemar I set the town on fire in 1161. Afterwards the place was settled by German traders. Initially there were three separate cities:
 * Altstadt (Old Town) around the Alter Markt (Old Market), which had St. Petri (St. Peter's Church),
 * Mittelstadt (Middle Town) around the Neuer Markt (New Market), with St. Marien (St. Mary's Church) and
 * Neustadt (New Town) around the Hopfenmarkt (Hop Market, now University Square), with St. Jakobi (St. James's Church, demolished after World War II).

In 1218, Rostock was granted Lübeck law city rights by Heinrich Borwin, prince of Mecklenburg.

Hanseatic League
During the first partition of Mecklenburg following the death of Henry Borwin II of Mecklenburg in 1226, Rostock became the seat of the Lordship of Rostock, which survived for almost a century. In 1251, the city became a member of the Hanseatic League. In the 14th century it was a powerful seaport town with 12,000 inhabitants and the largest city in Mecklenburg. Ships for cruising the Baltic Sea were constructed in Rostock. The formerly independent fishing village of Warnemünde at the Baltic Sea became a part of Rostock in 1323, to secure the city's access to the sea.

In 1419, the University of Rostock was founded, the oldest university in continental northern Europe and the Baltic Sea area.

15th to 18th centuries
At the end of the 15th century, the dukes of Mecklenburg succeeded in enforcing their rule over the town of Rostock, which had until then been only nominally subject to their rule and essentially independent. They took advantage of a riot known as Domfehde, a failed uprising of the impoverished population. Subsequent quarrels with the dukes and persistent plundering led ultimately to a loss of the city's economic and political power.

In 1565 there were further clashes with Schwerin that had far-reaching consequences. Among other things, the nobility introduced a beer excise that favoured the dukes. John Albert I advanced on the city with 500 horsemen, after Rostock had refused to take the formal oath of allegiance, and had the city wall razed (slighted) to have a fortress built. The conflict did not end until the first Rostock Inheritance Agreement of 21 September 1573, in which the state princes were guaranteed hereditary rule over the city for centuries and recognizing them as the supreme judicial authority; this bound Rostock for a long time. The citizens razed (or slighted) the fortress the following spring.

From 1575 to 1577 the city walls were rebuilt, as was the Lagebusch tower and the Stein Gate, in the Dutch Renaissance style. The inscription sit intra te concordia et publica felicitas ("Let there be harmony and public happiness within you"), can still be read on the gate, and refers directly to the conflict with the Duke. In 1584 the Second Rostock Inheritance Agreement was enforced, which resulted in a further loss of former city tax privileges. At the same time, these inheritance contracts put paid to Rostock's ambition of achieving imperial immediacy, as Lübeck had done in 1226.

The strategic location of Rostock provoked the envy of its rivals. Danes and Swedes occupied the city twice, first during the Thirty Years' War (1618–48) and again from 1700 to 1721. Later in the early 19th century, the French, under Napoleon, occupied the town for about a decade until 1813. In nearby Lübeck-Ratekau, Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, who was born in Rostock and who was one of few generals to fight on after defeat at the Battle of Jena, surrendered to the French in 1806. This was only after furious street fighting in the Battle of Lübeck, in which he led some of the cavalry charges himself. By the time of the surrender, the exhausted Prussians had neither food nor ammunition.

19th century
In the first half of the 19th century, Rostock regained much of its economic importance, due at first to the wheat trade, then, from the 1850s, to industry, especially its shipyards. The first propeller-driven steamers in Germany were constructed here.

The city grew in area and population, with new quarters developing in the south and west of the ancient borders of the city. Two notable developments were added to house the increasing population at around 1900:
 * Steintor-Vorstadt in the south, stretching from the old city wall to the facilities of the new Lloydbahnhof (Lloyd Railway Station, now Rostock Hauptbahnhof), was designed as a living quarter. It consisted mostly of large single houses, once inhabited by wealthy citizens.
 * Kröpeliner-Tor-Vorstadt in the west, was designed to house the working population as well as to provide smaller and larger industrial facilities, such as the Mahn & Ohlerich's Brewery (now Hanseatische Brauerei Rostock). The main shipyard, Neptun, was nearby at the shore of the river.

20th century
In the 20th century, important aircraft manufacturing facilities were situated in the city, such as the Arado Flugzeugwerke in Warnemünde and the Heinkel Works with facilities at various places, including their secondary Heinkel-Süd facility in Schwechat, Austria, as the original Heinkel firm's Rostock facilities had been renamed Heinkel-Nord. The world's first airworthy jet plane prototype made its test flights at their facilities in what used to be named the Rostock-Marienehe neighborhood (today's Rostock-Schmarl community, along the west bank of the Unterwarnow estuary).

In the early 1930s, the Nazi Party gained in popularity among Rostock's voters, many of whom had suffered economic hardship during the 1920s. In elections in the summer of 1932, when the Nazis achieved 37.3 percent, their greatest national showing in a free election, they polled 40.3 percent in Rostock. A year later, after the Nazi seizure of power and the suppression of other political parties, the Rostock city council (Stadtrat) was composed entirely of Nazis. During Kristallnacht on 10 November 1938, the synagogue in Rostock's Augustenstrasse was destroyed by arson and dozens of Jews were beaten and imprisoned.

Feverish rearmament by the Nazi regime boosted Rostock's industrial importance in the late 1930s, and employment soared at the Heinkel and Arado factories, and at the Neptunwerft shipyard. The city's population grew from 100,000 in 1935 to 121,192 in 1939.

During World War II, Rostock was subjected to repeated and increasingly heavy bombing attacks, especially by the British Royal Air Force. Targets included the Heinkel and Arado plants and the shipyard, but churches and other historic structures in the city centre were also heavily damaged, among them the 14th-century Nikolaikirche (St Nicholas Church) and Jakobikirche (St Jacob's Church). The ruins of the latter were pulled down in 1960.

The city was eventually captured by the Soviet 2nd Belorussian Front on 2 May 1945 during the Stettin-Rostock offensive operation.

After the war, Rostock – now in the German Democratic Republic – became East Germany's largest seaport. The state expanded the national shipyards in the district of Warnemünde. The city's population, boosted in part by resettled ethnic German refugees who had been expelled from territories in the east, increased in the GDR years to a peak of 260,000. Following the reunification of Germany in 1990, Rostock lost its privileged position as the No. 1 port of the GDR, and the city's population declined to about 200,000. However, after 2006, the population increased again. Today, Rostock and Warnemünde are significant tourist destinations on the Baltic Sea.

Since the late 20th century migrants have come to Germany from Turkey and Africa seeking work. In response to high rates of joblessness and increased levels of crime, some Germans took part in the Rostock-Lichtenhagen riots which occurred from 22 to 24 August 1992.

Population
Rostock has a population of about 210,000 people and is the largest city in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern state. Rostock became a member of Hanseatic League in 15th century, which made Rostock a larger city. Rostock reached its peak of over 100,000 in 1935. In the East Germany era, Rostock was the largest and most important port of East Germany where many sailors and boatmen moved to this city. It also brought many harbour and other industiries to Rostock. Rostock reached its historical peak of population in 1988 with population of about 254,000. After the German Reunification, population Rostock decline due to many people who moved to former West Germany. Since 2003, Rostock's population starts to grow again due to students and new companies.

Symbols

Rostock has had three different coats of arms, known as the Signum, the Secretum and the Sigillum. The Signum, which can be traced back to 1367, was developed last and is to this day the coat of arms of the city.

The Signum depicts a golden griffin on a blue background, with bars of silver and red, the colours of the Hanseatic League, below. It can be seen not only on flags and houses, and at bus stops, but also on bridges, gullies, fences, ships and restaurants.

Administration
Since the 13th century, the governing body of the city has been the city council (Rat), first consisting of ten, later of 24 elected aldermen (Ratsherren). The chairman of the city council was the city mayor. In the 19th century there were three mayors. Since 1925, the head of the city has borne the title of Lord Mayor. Having been elected by the city council for centuries, since 2002 this position is now elected directly by the citizens of Rostock, following a reform. If a candidate does not achieve an absolute majority in the first round, the two candidates with the most votes stand in a second round.

The current Lord Mayor of Rostock is Eva-Maria Kröger of The Left, who was elected mayor in 2022 and took office on 1 February 2023. She won in the second round with 58.4% of votes against senior police officer Michael Ebert, an independent backed by the Christian Democratic Union, Independent Citizens for Rostock, and Free Democratic Party.

The most recent mayoral election was held on 13 November 2022, with a runoff held on 27 November, and the results were as follows:

! rowspan=2 colspan=2| Candidate ! rowspan=2| Party ! colspan=2| First round ! colspan=2| Second round ! Votes ! % ! Votes ! % ! colspan=3| Valid votes ! 71,585 ! 99.4 ! 62,628 ! 99.1 ! colspan=3| Invalid votes ! 476 ! 0.6 ! 563 ! 0.9 ! colspan=3| Total ! 75,061 ! 100.0 ! 63,191 ! 100.0 ! colspan=3| Electorate/voter turnout ! 171,884 ! 43.7 ! 171,464 ! 36.9
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Eva-Maria Kröger
 * align=left| The Left
 * 18,885
 * 25.3
 * 36,546
 * 58.4
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Michael Ebert
 * align=left| Independent (CDU/UFR/FDP)
 * 17,598
 * 23.6
 * 26,082
 * 41.6
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Carmen-Alina Botezatu
 * align=left| Social Democratic Party
 * 12,339
 * 16.5
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Claudia Müller
 * align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens
 * 6,414
 * 8.6
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Michael Meister
 * align=left| Alternative for Germany
 * 4,812
 * 6.5
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Jörg Kibellus
 * align=left| Independent
 * 3,836
 * 5.1
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Jens Kaufmann
 * align=left| Independent
 * 3,007
 * 4.0
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Robert Uhde
 * align=left| Independent
 * 1,807
 * 2.4
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Karol Langnickel
 * align=left| Independent
 * 1,442
 * 1.9
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Holger Luckstein
 * align=left| Independent
 * 1,182
 * 1.6
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Niels Burmeister
 * align=left| Independent
 * 1,109
 * 1.5
 * align=left| Rebecca Thoß
 * align=left| German Beer Drinkers Union
 * 669
 * 0.9
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Niklas Zimathis
 * align=left| Independent
 * 453
 * 0.6
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Roland Ulrich
 * align=left| Independent
 * 369
 * 0.5
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Matthias Bräuer
 * align=left| Independent
 * 312
 * 0.4
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Kai Oppermann
 * align=left| Independent
 * 196
 * 0.3
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Alina Kreis
 * align=left| Independent
 * 155
 * 0.2
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Matthias Bräuer
 * align=left| Independent
 * 312
 * 0.4
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Kai Oppermann
 * align=left| Independent
 * 196
 * 0.3
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Alina Kreis
 * align=left| Independent
 * 155
 * 0.2
 * align=left| Independent
 * 155
 * 0.2
 * colspan=7| Source: City of Rostock (1st round, 2nd round)
 * }
 * }

The city parliament (Bürgerschaft) represents the citizens. Representative are elected for five years. The number of representatives is currently 53. The city parliament is presided by the Präsident der Bürgerschaft, who heads and prepares the sessions and, together with the Lord Mayor, represents the city. The most recent city council election was held on 26 May 2019, and the results were as follows:

! colspan=2| Party ! Votes ! % ! +/- ! Seats ! +/- ! colspan=2| Valid votes ! 293,275 ! 98.6 ! ! ! ! colspan=2| Invalid votes ! 4,179 ! 1.4 ! ! ! ! colspan=2| Total ! 102,304 ! 100.0 ! ! 53 ! ±0 ! colspan=2| Electorate/voter turnout ! 173,650 ! 58.9 ! 18.4 ! !
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| The Left (Die Linke)
 * 58,405
 * 19.9
 * 6.5
 * 11
 * 3
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Alliance 90/The Greens (Grüne)
 * 55,616
 * 19.0
 * 7.5
 * 10
 * 4
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Christian Democratic Union (CDU)
 * 42,422
 * 14.5
 * 6.0
 * 8
 * 3
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Social Democratic Party (SPD)
 * 42,269
 * 14.4
 * 2.5
 * 8
 * 1
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Alternative for Germany (AfD)
 * 28,294
 * 9.6
 * 5.2
 * 5
 * 3
 * align=left| Independent Citizens for Rostock (UFR)
 * 21,483
 * 7.3
 * 0.8
 * 4
 * ±0
 * align=left| Rostock Alliance (RB)
 * 12,086
 * 4.1
 * 0.5
 * 2
 * 1
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Free Democratic Party (FDP)
 * 9,645
 * 3.3
 * 0.8
 * 2
 * 1
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Die PARTEI (PARTEI)
 * 7,373
 * 2.5
 * New
 * 1
 * New
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Free Voters (FW)
 * 3,790
 * 1.3
 * New
 * 1
 * New
 * align=left| New Start 09 (A'09)
 * 2,897
 * 1.0
 * 0.5
 * 1
 * ±0
 * colspan=7 bgcolor=lightgrey|
 * align=left| The Grays - For All Generations (Graue)
 * 1,869
 * 0.6
 * 0.1
 * 0
 * 1
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Pirate Party Germany (Piraten)
 * 1,714
 * 0.6
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| National Democratic Party (NPD)
 * 1,633
 * 0.6
 * 1.2
 * 0
 * 1
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Independents
 * 3,779
 * 1.3
 * 0
 * ±0
 * 1,714
 * 0.6
 * New
 * 0
 * New
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| National Democratic Party (NPD)
 * 1,633
 * 0.6
 * 1.2
 * 0
 * 1
 * bgcolor=|
 * align=left| Independents
 * 3,779
 * 1.3
 * 0
 * ±0
 * 0
 * ±0
 * ±0
 * colspan=7| Source: City of Rostock
 * }
 * }

Regiopolis Rostock
Rostock is the first city region that defines itself not only as a city in its boundaries, but as a regiopolis, with a supra-regional sphere of influence. A regiopolis can be compared to a metropolis, but on a smaller scale. This is a sign for the inter-regional cooperation and economic dynamics that can be found in the Rostock area. A taskforce with different actors such as the hanseatic city of Rostock, the administrative district of Rostock, the Regional Planning Association Middle Mecklenburg/Rostock and the local business organisations are working on the promotion and advancement of the concept.

Geographic location
Rostock is located nearly centrally on Mecklenburg-Vorpommern's Baltic Sea coast. The city is crossed by the Warnow.

The seaside part of Rostock, Rostock-Warnemünde, is about 16 km to the north of the historic city centre. The west and the southeast are the most densely populated parts of town. The overseas port is to the east of Rostock. Rostock stretches 21.6 km from the Baltic Sea to the south and 19.4 km from east to west.

Climate
Rostock has an oceanic climate (Köppen: Cfb) with strong influence of the Baltic Sea, more similar to Denmark and far southern Sweden than to the rest of Germany. The main difference with lower Scandinavia is that the continuous landmass to the south and east enables stronger bursts of heat during summer. In spite of this, the Warnemünde station is generally less warm on the average summer day than on the northern side of the sea. In addition, the maritime influence of the Baltic Sea tempers any Arctic blasts, ensuring slightly milder winters. The Warnemünde station is located on the open sea and thus has a stronger maritime influence and slightly smaller variations than the downtown that is further inland.

Rostock
One of the most picturesque places in Rostock is the Neuer Markt (New Market Square), with the Town Hall – that was originally built in the 13th century in Brick Gothic style, but extensively transformed in the 18th century, with the addition of a Baroque façade and a banqueting hall. The square also preserved six original, carefully restored gable houses from the 15th and 16th centuries. The other historical houses in Hanseatic style that once bordered the square were destroyed in an Allied air-raid in 1942, and rebuilt in a simplified manner.

The 15th-century Kerkhofhaus (at Große Wasserstraße, behind the Town Hall) is considered the best-preserved brick Gothic house in Rostock.

St. Mary's Church Marienkirche, on Ziegenmarkt, is an imposing Brick Gothic church. Built in the 13th century, it was enlarged and modified at the end of the 14th century into the present cross-shaped basilica. The huge tower was not completed until the end of the 18th century. Inside there is an astronomical clock erected in 1472 by Hans Düringer.

The main pedestrian precinct is Kröpeliner Straße, which runs east from the Neuer Markt to the 14th-century Kröpeliner Tor, a former town gate. The main buildings of Rostock University lie at Universitätsplatz, near the middle of the street, in front of the lively fountain of zest for life (Brunnen der Lebensfreude), known colloquially as Pornobrunn (fountain of pornography), for its nude sculptures.

The Kloster St Katharinen (Convent of St. Catherine), is an old Franciscan monastery founded in 1243, and extended several times during the 14th and 15th centuries. Now used as the seat of the Academy of Music and Theatre (HMT-Rostock).

The Brick Gothic Nikolaikirche (St. Nicholas Church), which is the oldest church in Rostock, was built in the mid-13th century. Heavily damaged during World War II and subsequently restored, the building is now used as an exhibition centre and concert hall, due to its outstanding acoustics.

Some parts of the medieval city wall, with four city gates, have survived to the present day. The city has a large population of herring gulls that squawk loudly most days throughout the year.

Warnemünde
Warnemünde is the seaside part of Rostock and a major attraction of the city. Locals and tourists alike enjoy the maritime flair of old houses, a large beach, a lighthouse and the old fisherman's port.

Economy
The economy is mainly characterised by maritime industries (especially shipbuilding), high-tech industries (IT, biotechnology/life sciences, medical engineering), the University of Rostock, tourism and the service sector. Major companies include:

 * Maritime Industry
 * Caterpillar Inc., manufacturer of diesel engines for ships
 * Deutsche Seereederei Rostock, transport, cruises, property and tourism holding
 * F. Laeisz
 * Neptun Werft, shipyard belonging to Meyer Neptun Group
 * Nordic Yards Warnemünde, shipyard
 * Schiffselektronik Rostock
 * Tamsen Maritim shipyard
 * AIDA Cruises

 * Other engineering
 * Nordex SE, a major producer of wind turbines
 * Suzlon, world's 5th largest wind turbine manufacturer
 * Liebherr, manufacturer of cranes

 * Tourism industry
 * AIDA Cruises, German company for cruises
 * Scandlines, German-Danish ferry operator (by Scandferries Holding)

 * Others
 * Hanseatische Brauerei Rostock, German brewery belonging to the Oetker-Gruppe
 * Rostock University Hospital (Universitätsmedizin)
 * Yara International, supplier of plant nutrients

Education
Rostock is home to one of the oldest universities in the world. Founded in 1419, the University of Rostock is the third oldest university in Germany in continuous operation, and one of the oldest universities of the world. It also maintains a botanical garden, the Botanischer Garten Universität Rostock.

The Academy of Music and Theatre (Hochschule für Musik und Theater) offers graduate degrees in artistic fields. Founded in 1994, the institution combined Ernst Busch, the former drama school, and the outpost school of the Hanns Eisler Music School Berlin. Today, the combined school is a member of the Association of Baltic Academies of Music (ABAM), a union of 17 music conservatories at the Baltic Sea and Israel. Unique in Europe is the postgraduate degree in piano duo performance. The school possesses a large opera stage (Katharinensaal) and two chamber music halls. There are concerts every day throughout the year.

Rostock also hosts the Max Planck Institute for Demographic Research and the Leibniz Institute for Catalysis, as well as two branches of Fraunhofer Institutes, one for Computer Graphics and one for Large Structures in Production Technology.

Theatre
The municipal theatre is the Volkstheater Rostock where the Norddeutsche Philharmonie Rostock plays.

Events
The city is home to the annual Hanse Sail festival, during which many large sailing ships and museum vessels are brought out to sea, drawing over 1.5 million visitors.

An annual jazz festival, Ostsee-Jazz ("Baltic Sea Jazz"), takes place in June.

Cinemas
The Lichtspieltheater Wundervoll is the art house cinema of Rostock. It opened in 1993 and offers a daily programme in two venues, the Metropol and the Frieda 23 with three cinemas. At Frieda 23 is the Institut für neue Medien (IFNM), Rostock's Institute for New Media, which includes a media workshop. Both Liwu and IFNM are active members of the Landesverband Filmkommunikation Mecklenburg-Vorpommern. Special screenings for schools, educational programmes and special programmes are offered as well. It is the central venue for Rostock's Film Festival, the Festival im Stadthafen (FISH), the German Federal Festival for Young German Film.

Museums and zoo

 * Rostock Art Gallery (Kunsthalle Rostock)
 * Museum of Cultural History (Kulturhistorisches Museum)
 * Stasi Museum (Dokumentations- und Gedenkstätte der Bundesbeauftragten für die Unterlagen des Staatssicherheitsdienstes der ehemaligen Deutschen Demokratischen Republik)
 * Warnemünde Local History Museum (Heimatmuseum Warnemünde)
 * Shipbuilding and Shipping Museum (Schiffbau- und Schifffahrtsmuseum)
 * Rostock Zoo
 * Walter Kempowski Archive
 * Max-Samuel-Haus, Rostock Jewish Heritage Centre

Food and drink
Rostock manufactures its own local beer, called Rostocker Pilsner, manufactured at the Hanseatische Brauerei Rostock GmbH (Rostock Hanseatic Brewery Ltd.). The beer is well known throughout the city and is also sold in cities nearby. To celebrate Rostock's 800th birthday, a special light beer called Heller Freude was brewed to commemorate the occasion.

Car
Rostock can be reached by motorway (Autobahn) A 1 from Hamburg via Lübeck on A 20 and by A 19 from Berlin and A 20 from Szczecin in Poland.

Public transport
Rostock Hauptbahnhof offers fast rail connections to Hamburg and Berlin and from there to almost any other European city.

Rostock is served by the Rostock tramway network, with six tram lines that serve the inner city as well as the suburbs. The city is also served by an extensive bus fleet, as well as a handful of ferries that cross the Warnow.

Ferry/ship
Rostock is Germany's largest Baltic port. Rostock is also home to a large ferry port. It is a main base for ferry operators Scandlines and TT-Line, which both connect Rostock with major Scandinavian destinations. Furthermore, Rostock receives the highest number of cruise tourists in Germany every year.

Ferries leave for
 * Helsinki, Finland
 * Gedser, Denmark
 * Trelleborg, Sweden
 * Nynäshamn, Sweden
 * Visby, Sweden

Air
The Rostock–Laage Airport offers connections to major German and international destinations; regular flights to e.g. Munich are offered. The nearest larger international airports are in Hamburg and Berlin. There are also a number of airfields for smaller aircraft, such as Purkshof.

Twin towns - sister cities
Rostock is twinned with:

 * 🇵🇱 Szczecin, Poland (1957)
 * 🇫🇮 Turku, Finland (1959)
 * 🇫🇷 Dunkirk, France (1960)
 * Riga, Latvia (1961)
 * 🇧🇪 Antwerp, Belgium (1963)
 * Aarhus, Denmark (1964)
 * 🇸🇪 Gothenburg, Sweden (1965)
 * 🇳🇴 Bergen, Norway (1965)
 * Rijeka, Croatia (1966)
 * 🇧🇬 Varna, Bulgaria (1966)
 * 🇩🇪 Bremen, Germany (1987)
 * 🇨🇳 Dalian, China (1988)
 * 🇺🇸 Raleigh, United States (2001)
 * Guldborgsund, Denmark (2014)

Public service & thinking

 * Henry Borwin I, Lord of Mecklenburg (??–1227), Lord of Mecklenburg
 * Carl Friedrich Behrens (1701-1750), a German sailor and soldier, landed in Easter Island
 * Franz Aepinus (1724–1802), German-Russian natural philosopher.
 * Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher (1742–1819), Prussian field marshal.
 * Moritz Wiggers (1816–1894), politician, lawyer and notary
 * Rudolph Sohm (1841–1917), jurist, Church historian and theologian
 * Mathilde Mann (1859–1925), prominent German translator and editor
 * Carl Brockelmann (1868–1956), semiticist and orientalist
 * Hans Paasche (1881–1920), politician and pacifist
 * Ernst Heinkel (1888–1958), aviation pioneer, worked in Warnemünde
 * Erika Fuchs (1906–2005), translator
 * Duchess Woizlawa Feodora of Mecklenburg (1918–2019), member of the House of Mecklenburg-Schwerin
 * Berndt von Staden (1919–2014), diplomat, Ambassador to the United States 1973–1979
 * Peter Schulz (1930–2013), politician (SPD) and first Mayor of Hamburg 1971–1974
 * Klaus Kilimann (born 1938), politician (SPD), physicist and Mayor of Rostock 1990–1993
 * Joachim Gauck (born 1940), politician, civil rights activist and President of Germany 2012–2017
 * Heinz Eggert (born 1946), theologian and CDU politician
 * Eva-Maria Kröger (born 1982), politician, Mayor of Rostock since February 2023.

Science and academia

 * Simon Paulli (1603–1680), Danish physician and naturalist
 * Matthias Christian Sprengel (1746–1803), geographer and historian
 * Christian Martin Frähn (1782–1851), German-Russian numismatist and historian.
 * Sir Ferdinand Jacob Heinrich von Mueller (1825–1896), German-Australian physician, geographer and botanist.
 * Clara Wehl (1833–1901), Australian botanist.
 * Johann Georg Noel Dragendorff (1836–1898), pharmacist and chemist
 * Hermann von Maltzan (1843–1891), malacologist, worked in the field of conchology
 * Albrecht Kossel (1853–1927), biochemist and pioneer in genetics, recipient of 1910 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for determining the chemical composition of nucleic acids
 * Paul Walden (1863–1957), Latvian-German chemist, lived and worked in Rostock
 * Gustav Mie (1868–1957), physicist, worked on electromagnetic waves
 * Karl Leo Heinrich Lehmann (1894–1960), American art historian, archaeologist and professor
 * Arthur R. von Hippel (1898–2003), German-American materials scientist and physicist
 * Hans von Ohain (1911–1998), physicist and engineer, worked in Warnemünde
 * Egbert Brieskorn (1936–2013), mathematician who introduced Brieskorn spheres
 * Sibylle Günter (born 1964), theoretical physicist, since 2011 heads the Max Planck Institute for Plasma Physics

The Arts

 * Francis Cleyn (ca.1582 – 1658), painter and tapestry designer.
 * Johann Heinrich Bartholomäus Walther (1734–1802), Baltic-German architect, worked in Tartu
 * John Brinckman (1814–1870), poet and short story writer in Low German
 * brothers Friedrich Eggers (1819-1872, art historian & Karl Eggers (1826–1900), lyric poet.
 * Paul Tischbein (1820–1874), illustrator and painter primarily of landscapes; part of the Tischbein family
 * Adolf Wilbrandt (1837–1911), a German novelist and dramatist.
 * Edvard Munch (1863–1944), Norwegian painter, lived in Rostock 1907/08.
 * Heinrich Tessenow (1876–1950), architect, professor and urban planner
 * Paul Wallat (1879–1964), landscape artist, draftsman and sculptor
 * Margarete Scheel (1881–1969), artist, specializing in sculpture and ceramics
 * Bruno Gimpel, (DE Wiki) (1886–1943), painter and illustrator.
 * Egon Tschirch (1889–1948), painter and illustrator.
 * Dörte Helm (1898–1941), Bauhaus artist, painter and graphic designer.
 * Jessie Rindom (1903–1981), a Danish film actress.
 * Marianne Hoppe (1909–2002), actress
 * Peter Borgelt (1927–1994), actor
 * Jo Jastram (1928–2011), sculptor
 * Walter Kempowski (1929–2007), writer
 * Erik Smith (1931–2004), British record producer, pianist and harpsichordist.
 * Mario Frank (born 1958), writer, CEO of Der Spiegel 2007/8; now a political biographer
 * Franziska Knuppe (born 1974), fashion model
 * Hinnerk Schönemann (born 1974), actor
 * Marteria (born 1982), hip hop artist

Sports
Germany women]]
 * Friedrich Wilhelm Rahe (1888–1949), tennis and field hockey player
 * Siegfried Brietzke (born 1952), a German rower and Olympic team gold medallist
 * Hansjörg Kunze (born 1959), track and field athlete, bronze medallist at the 1988 Summer Olympics
 * Frank Rohde (born 1960), footballer and coach, played over 250 games and 42 for East Germany
 * Martina Proeber (born 1963), diver, silver medallist at the 1980 Summer Olympics
 * Christian Schenk (born 1965), decathlete, gold medallist at the 1988 Summer Olympics
 * Ramona Portwich (born 1967), canoe sprinter and multiple team medallist at three Summer Olympics
 * Andreas Tews (born 1968), flyweight boxer, won two medals at two Summer Olympics
 * Jörn Lenz (born 1969), footballer who played over 430 games
 * Jan Quast (born 1970), light flyweight boxer, bronze medallist at the 1992 Summer Olympics
 * Steffen Baumgart (born 1972), football manager and former player who played 535 games
 * Rolf Kohnert (born 1938), cyclist, 3 times Australian Masters Champion
 * Jan Ullrich (born 1973), cyclist, Tour de France winner, won two medals at the 2000 Summer Olympics
 * Dörte Lindner (born 1974), diver, bronze medallist at the 2000 Summer Olympics
 * Annika Walter (born 1975), diver silver medallist at the 1996 Summer Olympics
 * Britta Kamrau (born 1979), long-distance swimmer
 * André Greipel (born 1982), road bicycle racer
 * Jennifer Zietz (born 1983), footballer, played 278 games and 15 for [[Germany women's national football team|
 * Hannes Ocik (born 1991), rower, three-time world champion, twice an Olympic team silver medallist

title: Rostock


text:
Scheveningen

Scheveningen is one of the eight districts of The Hague, Netherlands, as well as a subdistrict (wijk) of that city. Scheveningen is a modern seaside resort with a long, sandy beach, an esplanade, a pier, and a lighthouse. The beach is popular for water sports such as windsurfing and kiteboarding. The harbour is used for both fishing and tourism.

History

The earliest reference to the name Sceveninghe goes back to around 1280. The first inhabitants may have been Anglo-Saxons. Other historians favour a Scandinavian origin. Fishing was the main source of food and income.

The Battle of Scheveningen was fought between English and Dutch fleets off the coast of the village on 10 August 1653. Thousands of people gathered on the shore to watch. In 1660 Montagu's flagship picked up the English king at Scheveningen in order to accomplish the Restoration.

A road to neighbouring The Hague was constructed in 1663 (current name: Scheveningseweg).

In 1470, a heavy storm destroyed the church and half the houses. The village was again hit by storms in 1570, 1775, 1825, 1860, 1881, and 1894. After this last storm, the villagers decided to build a harbour. Until then, the fishing boats had had a flat bottom (bomschuiten), and were pulled up the beach. By around 1870, over 150 of these boats were in use. Once the harbour had been constructed in 1904, more modern ships replaced the bomschuiten.

In 1818, Jacob Pronk constructed a wooden building on a dune near the sea, from where people could bathe from four separate rooms. It marked the start of Scheveningen as a bathing resort. Since then, Scheveningen has attracted numerous tourists from all over Europe, notably from Germany. The hotel Kurhaus was opened in 1886. The village attracted a number of Dutch artists over the centuries, who painted the bomschuiten drawn up on the beach, or fishermen at work in the North Sea. Notable painters who recorded the village include Adriaen van de Velde, Simon de Vlieger, and Hendrik Willem Mesdag, whose large panorama, 14 m high and 120 m wide, preserved the view of Scheveningen in 1881.

The International Skating Union was founded in Scheveningen in 1892.

Anecdotal evidence exists of the name Scheveningen being used as a shibboleth during World War II to identify German spies: they would pronounce the initial "Sch" as one consonant (the voiceless palato-alveolar fricative, pronounced approximately like "Sh"), rather than the native Dutch sequence of the voiceless alveolar sibilant followed by the voiceless uvular fricative, "Skh", as in "Genghis Khan".

Scheveningen was never an independent municipality, but it has its own coat of arms, officially recognised by The Hague local council (proposal 136 of 23 March 1984); even in the Middle Ages, it was part of the same administrative region as The Hague.

Nevertheless, Scheveningen always had a strong identity of its own. For instance, it had its own football club, playing in the highest Dutch division (its name was "Scheveningen Holland Sport"). In the course of the second half of the 20th century, this club was forced to merge with ADO Den Haag.

From 21 April 1960, the pirate radio station Radio Veronica broadcast its programmes from an anchorage in the North Sea about four miles off the Scheveningen coast, originally calling itself Vrije Radio Omroep Nederland (VRON), Free Radio Station [of the] Netherlands. It was joined by Radio Noordzee Internationaal in 1970 and the relaunched Radio Caroline in late 1972. When the Netherlands ratified the Treaty of Strasbourg on 1 September 1974, Veronica applied for legal status and became the VOO, Caroline moved anchorage to the English coast, and RNI closed down. Memorable episodes during this period included the stranding of Radio Veronica's ship, the Norderney, which lost its anchor in a storm and ran aground on Scheveningen beach on 2 April 1973, and a firebomb attack on RNI's ship, the Mebo II, on 15 May 1971.

Since the 1970s the population of the original Scheveningen changed as the fishing industry declined and some artists and professionals moved in. Most of the fishermen, captains and trawler owners houses were demolished. Some still remain and have been protected by the authorities, including some of the original 'hofjes', in an enclosed area with small row houses on each side.

Slobodan Milošević, the 3rd president of Serbia and Montenegro was found dead in his prison cell on 11 March 2006 while he was being held in the UN war crimes tribunal's detention center in Scheveningen.

Culture
Until recently, some elderly women still wore local Scheveningen costume, while the local Scheveningen dialect is hardly spoken by young people anymore.

Because of the closedness of the original village community, many shared the same surnames. This led to the introduction of nicknames in order to distinguish families better. For example, certain members from the Pronk family were known as 'the horse man', 'Piet the mouse', 'Born without a tooth' or 'Gerrit de sermon'. Some common 'typical Scheveningen' family names are, for example, Bal, Dijkhuizen, Groen, Korving, Den Heijer, Knoester, De Niet, Plugge, Pronk, Rog, Spaans, Taal, Toet, Vrolijk, Zuurmond and Van der Zwan. Through the opening up of the fishing village from the beginning of the 20th century, this phenomenon has gradually become obsolete.

Events and attractions
Annual events include: A visit to Scheveningen can include: Night life includes the Pathé Scheveningen movie theatre, and the sea-front boulevard with its bars, restaurants, casino and other entertainment.
 * Winter swim on New Year's Day, locally known as Nieuwjaarsduik (New Year's dive). The event is sponsored by Unox who provide soup and oliebollen (to participants. They also give out signature orange Unox beanies, which apart from their aesthetic value also help rescuers identify swimmers.
 * Flags Day in spring when the first new herring of the year is auctioned
 * Fireworks in summer: once a week and several days during a festival week
 * Vreugdevuur from second Christmas Day to New Year's Eve: a large competition between two subdivisions of Scheveningen (Duindorp and Scheveningen dorp) to build the largest tower made out of pallets and then light it on fire to signal the beginning of the year, Duindorp currently holds the world record.
 * The Muzee Museum (official museum of Scheveningen)
 * The pier
 * Bungy jumping
 * Ziplining
 * The miniature city Madurodam
 * The sculptures at sea museum Beelden aan Zee
 * The Panorama Mesdag
 * The four different beaches of Scheveningen
 * Our Lady of Lourdes (RC) Silent Center, housing a replica of the Lourdes Grotto in Massabielle (France).

Museums

 * Atlantikwall Museum Scheveningen
 * Bunker Museum Den Haag
 * Beelden aan Zee
 * Muzee Scheveningen
 * Museumschip Hr. Ms. Mercuur, former Aggressive-class minesweeper

Lighthouse
The light beam flashes at alternate intervals of 2.5 and 7.5 seconds. The location is 52.10412°N, 4.26825°W.

Chess
In the game of chess, the Scheveningen Variation of the Sicilian Defense takes its name from a 1923 chess tournament played in the district. During the tournament, the variation was played by several players, for instance by the future Dutch world chess champion Max Euwe.

Subdistricts
The subdistricts of district Scheveningen are:
 * Scheveningen
 * Duinoord
 * Statenkwartier
 * Belgisch Park
 * Oostduinen
 * Maduroplein
 * Duindorp
 * Van Stolkpark
 * Westbroekpark

Noted natives

 * Machiel de Graaf (b. 1969), politician
 * Romy Haag (b. 1948), dancer, singer and actress
 * Theo Jansen (b. 1948), artist
 * Cornelis Jol (1597–1641), admiral and privateer
 * Dick Jol (b. 1956), football referee
 * Martin Jol (b. 1956), football manager and player
 * Wim Kan (1911–1983), cabaret artist
 * Bert Pronk (1950–2005), cyclist
 * Jan Pronk (b. 1940), politician and diplomat
 * Tim Smit (b.1954), businessman, composer, environmentalist and archaeologist
 * Hans Heinrich Thyssen-Bornemisza (1921–2001), industrialist

title: Scheveningen


text:
Talk:Ultracentrifuge

Nuclear purposes
Oct 17, 2002: I wondered if it makes sense to mention the use of ultracentrifuge for nuclear purposes (selection of "heavy uranium") Teun Spaans

Gas centrifuges

 * These Gas centrifuges are ultracentrifuges of very specialized type (also see Zippe-type centrifuge, although here again it looks like 2 articles need to be merged). Unlike continuous-flow ultracentrifuges used in life science research and industry (which generally produce accelerations well under 1E5 gravities), they handle gas (instead of aqueous solutions/suspensions) and produce much higher accelerations (see Talk:Zippe-type_centrifuge.  Lchiarav 06:26, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

Preparative ultracentrifuges are by far the most common; this article needs a major cleanup and update
Analytical ultracentrifuges may be of most theoretical importance, but preparative ultracentrifuges by far dominate all of the biological laboratories that I have seen (that is, they dominate to the extent that they have not been marginalized by non-centrifugation technologies). The Sorvall/Kendro and Beckman Coulter web sites do not even have links to analytical ultracentrifuges.

In addition to needing explanation of preparative ultracentrifuges, this article also needs an explanation of principles of centrifugation, and the Vacuum ultracentrifuge article should probably be merged into it, since the finer separations (analytical or preparative) simply will not work without the vacuum technology (due to heating and resulting convection). Hazards of operation also needs an update. Unfortunately, I do not have time to do all of this right now. Lchiarav 06:16, 28 November 2005 (UTC)

Merged vacuum centrifugation article as per Lchiarav's suggestion. Added link to Beckman Coulter's product page. Agree that additional work is needed on theory of UC and use in preparative work.RMF 19:18, 11 February 2007 (UTC)

It is clear that the article is about ultracentrifuges commonly used in biology labs. In that case, the max speed (RCF) given (1 million g) is wrong. Most commercial ultracentrifuges used in biology labs are under 100K (g). The 1,000,000g speed (RCF) is often claimed for gas ultracentrifuges and they are not commercially available.Ck.mitra (talk) 03:06, 25 April 2009 (UTC)

balancing
How is balanced established and maintained such that these don't destroy themselves as they spin up? 1 gram at 100,000 Gs = 100 kg. s there some active balancing mechanism or do you just have to set them up very carefully? Also, perhaps relatedly, what quantities of liquids do they take? 78.149.133.18 (talk) 23:38, 8 May 2016 (UTC)
 * I'm still curious, could someone let me know please 79.75.102.124 (talk) 08:34, 18 September 2017 (UTC)

The shaft is relatively thin and flexible. This reference describes the drive motor: https://books.google.com/books?id=PYQo5l3vsXYC&pg=PA21&lpg=PA21&dq=optima+ultracentrifuge+flexible+shaft&source=bl&ots=tlWV1oEGpi&sig=-JzI_CHWbCCpzJZa_wRTzAgB7yY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwiJ9vT-4fTYAhVBTWMKHVbiCy0Q6AEIOzAB#v=onepage&q=optima%20ultracentrifuge%20flexible%20shaft&f=false

Types of centrifuges
"There are two kinds of ultracentrifuges, the preparative and the analytical ultracentrifuge."

Nowhere in the article is the difference explained.

2601:600:C880:34E0:29C7:4378:891D:1A3F (talk) 00:43, 4 October 2022 (UTC)

title: Talk:Ultracentrifuge