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Ventricular system

In neuroanatomy, the ventricular system is a set of four interconnected cavities known as cerebral ventricles in the brain. Within each ventricle is a region of choroid plexus which produces the circulating cerebrospinal fluid (CSF). The ventricular system is continuous with the central canal of the spinal cord from the fourth ventricle, allowing for the flow of CSF to circulate.

All of the ventricular system and the central canal of the spinal cord are lined with ependyma, a specialised form of epithelium connected by tight junctions that make up the blood–cerebrospinal fluid barrier.

Structure

The system comprises four ventricles:
 * lateral ventricles right and left (one for each hemisphere)
 * third ventricle
 * fourth ventricle

There are several foramina, openings acting as channels, that connect the ventricles. The interventricular foramina (also called the foramina of Monro) connect the lateral ventricles to the third ventricle through which the cerebrospinal fluid can flow.

Ventricles
The four cavities of the human brain are called ventricles. The two largest are the lateral ventricles in the cerebrum, the third ventricle is in the diencephalon of the forebrain between the right and left thalamus, and the fourth ventricle is located at the back of the pons and upper half of the medulla oblongata of the hindbrain. The ventricles are concerned with the production and circulation of cerebrospinal fluid.

Development
The structures of the ventricular system are embryologically derived from the neural canal, the centre of the neural tube.

As the part of the primitive neural tube that will develop into the brainstem, the neural canal expands dorsally and laterally, creating the fourth ventricle, whereas the neural canal that does not expand and remains the same at the level of the midbrain superior to the fourth ventricle forms the cerebral aqueduct. The fourth ventricle narrows at the obex (in the caudal medulla), to become the central canal of the spinal cord.

In more detail, around the third week of development, the embryo is a three-layered disc. The embryo is covered on the dorsal surface by a layer of cells called ectoderm. In the middle of the dorsal surface of the embryo is a linear structure called the notochord. As the ectoderm proliferates, the notochord is dragged into the middle of the developing embryo.

As the brain develops, by the fourth week of embryological development three swellings known as brain vesicles have formed within the embryo around the canal, near where the head will develop. The three primary brain vesicles represent different components of the central nervous system: the prosencephalon, mesencephalon and rhombencephalon. These in turn divide into five secondary vesicles. As these sections develop around the neural canal, the inner neural canal becomes known as primitive ventricles. These form the ventricular system of the brain: The neural stem cells of the developing brain, principally radial glial cells, line the developing ventricular system in a transient zone called the ventricular zone.
 * The prosencephalon divides into the telencephalon, which forms the cortex of the developed brain, and the diencephalon. The ventricles contained within the telencephalon become the lateral ventricles, and the ventricles within the diencephalon become the third ventricle.
 * The rhombencephalon divides into a metencephalon and myelencephalon. The ventricles contained within the rhombencephalon become the fourth ventricle, and the ventricles contained within the mesencephalon become the aqueduct of Sylvius.

Separating the anterior horns of the lateral ventricles is the septum pellucidum: a thin, triangular, vertical membrane which runs as a sheet from the corpus callosum down to the fornix. During the third month of fetal development, a space forms between two septal laminae, known as the cave of septum pellucidum (CSP), which is a marker for fetal neural maldevelopment. During the fifth month of development, the laminae start to close and this closure completes from about three to six months after birth. Fusion of the septal laminae is attributed to rapid development of the alvei of the hippocampus, amygdala, septal nuclei, fornix, corpus callosum and other midline structures. Lack of such limbic development interrupts this posterior-to-anterior fusion, resulting in the continuation of the CSP into adulthood.

Flow of cerebrospinal fluid
The ventricles are filled with cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) which bathes and cushions the brain and spinal cord within their bony confines. CSF is produced by modified ependymal cells of the choroid plexus found in all components of the ventricular system except for the cerebral aqueduct and the posterior and anterior horns of the lateral ventricles. CSF flows from the lateral ventricles via the interventricular foramina into the third ventricle, and then the fourth ventricle via the cerebral aqueduct in the midbrain. From the fourth ventricle it can pass into the central canal of the spinal cord or into the subarachnoid cisterns via three small foramina: the central median aperture and the two lateral apertures. According to the traditional understanding of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) physiology, the majority of CSF is produced by the choroid plexus, circulates through the ventricles, the cisterns, and the subarachnoid space to be absorbed into the blood by the arachnoid villi.

The fluid then flows around the superior sagittal sinus to be reabsorbed via the arachnoid granulations (or arachnoid villi) into the venous sinuses, after which it passes through the jugular vein and major venous system. CSF within the spinal cord can flow all the way down to the lumbar cistern at the end of the cord around the cauda equina where lumbar punctures are performed.

The cerebral aqueduct between the third and fourth ventricles is very small, as are the foramina, which means that they can be easily blocked.

Protection of the brain
The brain and spinal cord are covered by the meninges, the three protective membranes of the tough dura mater, the arachnoid mater and the pia mater. The cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) within the skull and spine provides further protection and also buoyancy, and is found in the subarachnoid space between the pia mater and the arachnoid mater.

The CSF that is produced in the ventricular system is also necessary for chemical stability, and the provision of nutrients needed by the brain. The CSF helps to protect the brain from jolts and knocks to the head and also provides buoyancy and support to the brain against gravity. (Since the brain and CSF are similar in density, the brain floats in neutral buoyancy, suspended in the CSF.) This allows the brain to grow in size and weight without resting on the floor of the cranium, which would destroy nervous tissue.

Clinical significance
The narrowness of the cerebral aqueduct and foramina means that they can become blocked, for example, by blood following a hemorrhagic stroke. As cerebrospinal fluid is continually produced by the choroid plexus within the ventricles, a blockage of outflow leads to increasingly high pressure in the lateral ventricles. As a consequence, this commonly leads in turn to hydrocephalus. Medically one would call this post-haemorrhagic acquired hydrocephalus, but is often referred to colloquially by the layperson as "water on the brain". This is an extremely serious condition regardless of the cause of blockage. An endoscopic third ventriculostomy is a surgical procedure for the treatment of hydrocephalus in which an opening is created in the floor of the third ventricle using an endoscope placed within the ventricular system through a burr hole. This allows the cerebrospinal fluid to flow directly to the basal cisterns, thereby bypassing any obstruction. A surgical procedure to make an entry hole to access any of the ventricles is called a ventriculostomy. This is done to drain accumulated cerebrospinal fluid either through a temporary catheter or a permanent shunt.

Other diseases of the ventricular system include inflammation of the membranes (meningitis) or of the ventricles (ventriculitis) caused by infection or the introduction of blood following trauma or haemorrhage (cerebral haemorrhage or subarachnoid haemorrhage).

During embryogenesis in the choroid plexus of the ventricles, choroid plexus cysts can form.

The scientific study of CT scans of the ventricles in the late 1970s gave new insight into the study of mental disorders. Researchers found that individuals with schizophrenia had (in terms of group averages) larger than usual ventricles. This became the first "evidence" that schizophrenia was biological in origin and led to a renewed interest in its study via the use of imaging techniques. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) has superseded the use of CT in research in the role of detecting ventricular abnormalities in psychiatric illness.

Whether the enlarged ventricles is a cause or a result of schizophrenia has not yet been established. Enlarged ventricles are also found in organic dementia and have been explained largely in terms of environmental factors. They have also been found to be extremely diverse between individuals, such that the percentage difference in group averages in schizophrenia studies (+16%) has been described as "not a very profound difference in the context of normal variation" (ranging from 25% to 350% of the mean average).

The cave of septum pellucidum has been loosely associated with schizophrenia, post-traumatic stress disorder, traumatic brain injury, as well as with antisocial personality disorder. CSP is one of the distinguishing features of individuals displaying symptoms of dementia pugilistica.

title: Ventricular system


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Uppland County

Uppland County, or Upplands län, was a county of the Swedish Empire from 1634 to 1641, and from 1654 to 1714. Between 1641 and 1654, and after 1714, it was split into the Uppsala County and the Stockholm County.

Governors

 * Lars Eriksson Sparre av Rossvik (1634-1641)
 * Lars Claesson Fleming af Liebelitz (1654)
 * Gustaf Persson Banér (1654-1656)
 * Svante Svantesson Banér (1656-1660)
 * Claes Rålamb (1660-1664)
 * Göran Gyllenstierna (1664-1666)
 * Axel Axelsson Lillie (1666-1679)
 * Carl Gabriel Bååt (acting 1678–1679)
 * Gustaf Lilliecrona (1679-1681)
 * Lars Claesson Fleming af Liebelitz (1681)
 * Fabian Wrede af Elimä (1681-1685)
 * Olof Arvidsson Thegner (1685-1689)
 * Jakob Gyllenborg (1689-1695)
 * Johan Hoghusen (1695-1714)

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

title: Uppland County


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Talk:Bulgarian lev

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion
The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion: Participate in the deletion discussion at the. —Community Tech bot (talk) 11:53, 23 March 2023 (UTC)
 * Bulgarian lev 1lev banknote.jpg

title: Talk:Bulgarian lev


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User:EvanProdromou/Tools

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''This article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by fixing it.''

title: User:EvanProdromou/Tools


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Monika Schnarre

Monika Schnarre (born May 27, 1971) is a Canadian model, actress, television host, and real estate agent.

Career
In 1986, at age 15, Schnarre won the Ford Models "Supermodel of the World" contest, becoming the youngest model to ever win. She appeared on the cover of American Vogue and in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue.

In 1989, she wrote a book about her modelling experiences titled Monika: Between You and Me.

She became an actress, appearing in over 50 film and television roles including The Bold and the Beautiful and Beastmaster, and made guest appearances on Beverly Hills 90210, Andromeda, Caroline in the City, The King of Queens and Cracked. Schnarre has also made a number of movies, with roles in Love on the Side, Waxwork II: Lost in Time and Junior. She played Oxanna Kristos in the video game Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun.

Schnarre went on to study television broadcast journalism at University of California, Los Angeles, and was co-host of Celebrity RSVP, a Canadian entertainment news program. She also was a guest correspondent on etalk and ET Canada.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Schnarre became a licensed real estate agent and joined the Collingwood, Ontario, office of the luxury realtor Engel & Völkers.

Personal life
Schnarre attended Woburn Collegiate Institute to get her diploma and finished with honours. After that, she moved to California to pursue a career in acting.

She married real estate broker Storey Badger in 2010, and subsequently divorced. Her son, Bode, was born on May 8, 2013.

title: Monika Schnarre


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Kathy Ireland

Kathleen Marie Ireland (born March 20, 1963) is an American actress, author, entrepreneur, fashion designer, philanthropist, and former fashion model. Ireland was a supermodel in the 1980s and 1990s, initially known for appearing in 13 consecutive Sports Illustrated swimsuit issues, including three covers. In 1993, she founded a brand licensing company, kathy ireland Worldwide (kiWW), which has made her one of the wealthiest former models in the world. As a result of her career in business, she earned a $420 million personal fortune by 2015. In 2021 alone, her company generated retail sales of $3.1 billion. The brand became ranked number 15 in the world and Ireland entered the Licensing Hall of Fame.

Early life
Kathy Ireland was born in Glendale, California, the middle child of three daughters. Ireland's parents are John and Barbara Ireland, a labor relationships executive and a nurse, respectively. The family moved to Santa Barbara, where they continue to live today.

Modeling
When Ireland was sixteen in 1979, she was scouted at her high school by Elite Model Management.

She has appeared on covers for Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Shape Fitness, Harper's Bazaar, Mademoiselle, Teen and Seventeen. Forbes, and Mademoiselle.

According to Ireland, a photographer once "crossed the line" with her when she was a teenager and wanted her to pose topless. She did not feel comfortable and he did not respect her "no". He reportedly pushed her and got physical and she "decked him".

During Sports Illustrated swimsuit's 50th Anniversary event, Ireland's 1989 cover was awarded "The Greatest Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Cover Of All Time" by its publisher.

Ireland's successful transformation from a cover girl to a multimillion-dollar entrepreneur has been explicitly cited as inspiring by several active fashion models. After appearing on the cover of Sports Illustrated magazine in 2012, in a subsequent Today show interview, Kate Upton stated that she would like to follow in the footsteps of other cover girls, specifically Heidi Klum and Ireland. Three years later, in an interview with Matt Lauer, Hannah Jeter, the 2015 Sports Illustrated swimsuit cover model, likewise stated that she "would like to model [her] career after someone like Kathy Ireland."

Film and television
Ireland has appeared in a number of television and film roles. Her first film, 1988's Alien from L.A., was later featured during the fifth season of Mystery Science Theater 3000.

Ireland's other appearances include Melrose Place, Boy Meets World, The Larry Sanders Show, Muppets Tonight, Side Out, Mr. Destiny, Necessary Roughness, Mom and Dad Save the World, National Lampoon's Loaded Weapon 1, Once Upon a Christmas, and its sequel Twice Upon a Christmas.

She also participated in the ninth season of Dancing with the Stars, where Ireland and her partner Tony Dovolani were the third couple eliminated in the second week of competition. Kathy has two TV series, Worldwide Business and Modern Living, which air on Fox Business and Bloomberg.

In 2016, she made an appearance in the sixth episode of the fourth season of The Profit, offering advice for the CEO of Murchison-Hume, Max Kater.

Kathy Ireland Worldwide
Founded in 1993 as a brand marketing firm in an exclusive business relationship with Kmart, Kathy Ireland Worldwide (or kiWW, for short) became a global licensor after cutting its ties to the department store chain in 2003. In 2019, it stood at No. 26 on License Global's "Top 150 Global Licensors" 2019 list with $2.6 billion in retail sales.

1993–2003
In 1993, after a line of socks bearing Ireland's name sold 100 million pairs, Kmart took notice and gave Ireland her own clothing line.

Buoyed by the initial success, Ireland founded Kathy Ireland Worldwide, at the beginning a brand marketing firm, which she and her related trusts own in its entirety. The company concentrated on building its business in home products after 2003, when it cut its exclusive ties to Kmart.

2003–2013
At the advice of Warren Buffett, Ireland's friend and mentor, Kathy Ireland Worldwide entered into the home furnishings business.

Forbes described Ireland as a "prototype for model-turned-mogul" in a 2006 article about the trend of modelpreneurs. By 2004, Kathy Ireland Worldwide was marketing products from 16 manufacturers—including those of Nourison and Pacific Coast Lighting —selling them in over 34,000 retail locations in as many as 14 countries.

Between 2005 and 2012, products bearing Ireland's brand generated $2 billion in annual retail sales. In a May 2012 British Vogue article, Ireland was called the world's richest model.

Ireland launched her line of wedding gowns by presenting a runway fashion show at the Festival of Brides held in Disneyland Resort in 2012.

American Legend launched a Kathy Ireland collection in 2011. Ireland is chief designer for Royal Footwear & Accessories (The RFA Group). She has established a relationship with manufacturer Gorham designing dinnerware, glassware and flatware.

Ireland designed collections of jewelry inspired by Elizabeth Taylor. Ireland launched a collection of pet products called Loved Ones. She teamed up with Worldwise Inc., a pet products company based in San Rafael, California, to create the pet collection.

2013–present
In 2013, Kathy Ireland Worldwide entered into a licensing agreement with rug manufacturer Nourison, to create a new collection of area rugs.

In 2015, Forbes named Ireland one of America's 50 most successful self-made women (as measured by their net worth) in its first ever list of the kind. Lending her name to several thousands of different products, her company was listed as the 26th biggest licensor in the world in 2019 by License Global.

In 2016, in association with Paul Raps New York, Yaron Turgeman from Taly Diamonds and Roland Krainz from Krainz Creations, Kathy Ireland launched "Diamonds by Kathy Ireland", a collection of jewelry pieces. The collection premiered at the 2017 Luxury and JCK shows in Las Vegas.

In January 2017, Ireland teamed with Michael Amini to create a new home-furnishings line. The line debuted in October 2017, at the High Point Market trade show. Also in January 2017, American Family Insurance tapped Kathy Ireland for an ambassador role. To launch their relationship, Ireland was the keynote speaker for their Dream Fearlessly campaign. In July 2018, Fox Business reported that Ireland had ventured into the shipping container business, partnering with SG Blocks, a company which has been designing and constructing container-based buildings and structures in the United States.

On May 8, 2019, singer and actress Vanessa Williams signed a management and partnership agreement with Kathy Ireland Worldwide.

In late 2019, Padlist launched with Kathy Ireland as the Chief Editor & Brand Strategist alongside Co-founders Blake Van Leer and Lindsay Van Leer. In 2020, Ireland's company entered into a partnership with Camping World to bring her collections of RV furniture to retail locations and online stores.

In February 2022 Kathy Ireland teamed up with Bagatelle for Outerwear, Dresses and Denim

Record label
In April 2021, Marilyn McCoo and Billy Davis Jr. released a new album called Blackbird Lennon-McCartney Icons for the first time in 30 years under Ireland's record label EE1 in partnership with BMG. It was produced by Nic Mendoza. The album hit No 1 on its first day on the iTunes R&B Album chart.

Fitness videos
Since 1994, Ireland has published several fitness videos that led to her design of athletic apparel and launched her brand licensing of fitness equipment.

Writing
Ireland has written numerous books, most of them for children. In 2020, Ireland released her first novel Fashion Jungle with author Rachel Van Dyken. The novel is based on events from her career in the modeling industry.

Public speaking
Ireland spoke at the fourth Youth Assembly at the United Nations Headquarters on August 13, 2007, encouraging young people to engage in activities aimed at ending poverty. She delivered the keynote at Licensing International Expo 2012 in Las Vegas.

Ireland was a key speaker at the 2012 AIPAC policy conference in Washington, DC, where she expressed her support for the Israeli people and warned against the dangers posed by the lack of knowledge about the history of the land of Israel.

Philanthropy
Kathy Ireland's charity work and philanthropic activities have included pro bono work for the non-profit organizations March of Dimes, PTA, Feed the Children and City of Hope.

In addition, Ireland has lent her estates to charitable organizations such as the US Marine Corps' Toys for Tots to generate funds for charity. According to Major Bill Grein of the US Marine Corps, Ireland's company and her book business partner Bendon Publishing International donated $10 million to supplement the 2013 annual Toys for Tots gathering and distribution of Christmas gifts for millions of at-risk children and youths.

On World AIDS Day 2017, Ireland donated $100,000 to the Elizabeth Taylor AIDS Foundation (ETAF).

Activism and ambassador roles
Ireland is an ambassador for 9-1-1 For Kids, a non-profit organization that specializes in making educational materials to assist emergency dispatchers in teaching children the proper use of 9-1-1 and other general emergency preparedness tips. In an effort to encourage equality in women's athletics, Ireland has hosted several LPGA Golf Tournaments, including the Kathy Ireland Championship from 1999 to 2001 and the Kathy Ireland Greens.com LPGA Classic in 2000. On October 15, 2009, Ireland became an international ambassador for the Friends of Sheba Medical Center. The following year, she traveled to Israel to film a promotional documentary for the center; titled Holy Land Heroes, the film aims to reveal the work done at Sheba with wounded soldiers and terror victims. In 2019, Ireland was added as the first woman to the board of NFL Players Association. Ireland also joined the Women's National Basketball Players Association's (WNBPA) Board of Advocates that same year. Kathy Ireland joined the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation in 2020 as International Youth Chair. In March 2022, Ireland launched the National Pediatric Cancer Foundation's “Music Funds the Cure’ and joined NPCF's International Youth Chair.

Honors and awards
On June 23, 2011, Ireland was honored by the Anti-Defamation League with the American Heritage Award, presented by the National Home Furnishings Industry. In 2012, Ireland received the Messenger of Peace Award at the Jewish National Fund Tree of Life Gala. The same year, Ireland was presented with an honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters by the California State University, which stated that she "generously uses her power and influence to benefit others, supporting social causes including empowering women, supporting young girls through mentoring, and providing opportunities for girls and women at risk." Ireland has been nominated as one of 17 finalists for the first Global Business & Interfaith Peace Award given by the Religious Freedom & Business Foundation (a U.S.-based nonprofit), and the United Nations Global Compact Business for Peace initiative. On October 13, 2017, at the "Meet Kathy Ireland Event" hosted by Amini, Ireland was presented with the key to the city of High Point, North Carolina. On July 15, 2021, Kathy Ireland was awarded the inaugural Business IRF Champion Award at the IRF Summit in Washington DC.

Personal life
Ireland married physician Greg Olsen in 1988, and they have three children: Erik, Lily and Chloe. She is a devout Christian and an anti-abortion advocate.

Friendship with Elizabeth Taylor
Elizabeth Taylor and Ireland had a close friendship and attended public events together. After Ireland received outspoken criticism for her uneven performance as an on-air host of ABC's 2010 pre-Oscar special, Taylor publicly defended Ireland; "I have never seen anyone epitomize glamour and grace and professionalism like she did." Ireland publicly credits Taylor as her mentor and for part of her success in life, business, design and philanthropy. Taylor bequeathed her Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award to Ireland, in addition to leaving her a diamond jewelry collection, which Ireland wore at the 2018 American Heart Association's "Go Red for Women" Dress Show.

title: Kathy Ireland


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Talk:Maid of honor

It seems to me (I admit, I don't know huge amounts about weddings) that the Maid of Honor is not a married or older bridesmaid. The maid of honor is an unmarried woman who is the closest attendant to the bride, isn't she? And if married, isn't she the matron of honor? Like I said, I may not know what I'm saying, but it seems to me this is how the title's been used at the weddings I've attended. Jwrosenzweig 17:00 24 Jul 2003 (UTC)

I think this is a UK-USA difference. Text changed.

 * I've corrected this -- "matron of honour" is still in common usage in the UK for mature bridesmaids. "Maid of honour", which originally meant a royal attendant, may occasionally be used instead of "bridesmaid", but is still unusual. Deb 20:34 24 Jul 2003 (UTC)

title: Talk:Maid of honor


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User:Mandark~enwiki

I am a research scientist at the National Institute of Mental Health in Bethesda, MD USA. My specialty is brain imaging (functional MRI) and the genetic underpinnings of normal cognition and schizophrenia. I have authored numerous publications on schizophrenia, genes, and imaging. My current contributions to the Wikipedia include: brain imaging, ventricular system, parts of schizophrenia.

title: User:Mandark~enwiki


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User:Barbarchen

Hello, my name is Barbara Helisova, and I am a Czech (barely anymore) living currently in Southern California. I have a degree in Spanish with minors in German, Creative Writing and International Studies. I am very interested in the world around me and most domains of human knowledge, especially the arts, literature, music, psychology, philosophy, and yoga. I love travelling and learning new languages, and I quite enjoy being a foreigner (although a very well-adjusted one), because there's always something new to learn, and you never quite fit in the box (which can be a nice advantage sometimes.)

I think creating Wikipedia was an excellent idea. I like the fact that it reaches out to everyone (at least everyone that has an access to a computer,) and makes it a world-wide project. I also like its ambition to trust its creators and members. A perfect example of how anarchy can function! There's no need for editing and correction from one authority... anything unsound and incorrect gets automatically straightened out in the process. I am glad to join.

title: User:Barbarchen


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User:Lazarkl

I was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1944. Both of my parents were active in the Jewish labor movement. My mom, who was born in Philadelphia, led the first female clerical workers strike - at least the first in Philadelphia. My dad was born in Vilna (now Lithuania) in 1880, at that time part of Tsarist Russia. He was involved in the anti-Tsarist revolutionary movement and the anti-German underground during the First World war. He was the Bundist ([socialist]) vice-president of the Vilna kehillah after the war. After doing a bit of wandering, he wound up in the United States in 1927, teaching in the Arbeiter Ring schools until his death in 1962.

As for me, I am now retired. I spent the last 40 years working in civil rights law enforcement. I have some expertise in discrimination and hate crimes, and, for the past two years, worked with local, state and federal agencies around issues of terrorism and backlash discrimination. I have also been married for 36 years to a brilliant scholar and teacher. We have three sons, three grandsons and a granddaughter. - Postscript: the author, Lazar Kleit, passed away in September 2012. Two obituaries of Mr. Kleit were published - one in Philadelphia's Jewish Exponent, "Lazar Kleit, 67, Head of City’s Human Relations Commission," dated September 27, 2012 and online here: http://www.jewishexponent.com/lazar-kleit-67-head-city%E2%80%99s-human-relations-commission and one the Philadelphia Inquirer, "Lazar Kleit, 67; ran human relations body," dated September 19, 2012 and online here: http://articles.philly.com/2012-09-19/news/33926911_1_human-relations-graduate-student-administrative-assistant

title: User:Lazarkl


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Polariton

In physics, polaritons are quasiparticles resulting from strong coupling of electromagnetic waves with an electric or magnetic dipole-carrying excitation. They are an expression of the common quantum phenomenon known as level repulsion, also known as the avoided crossing principle. Polaritons describe the crossing of the dispersion of light with any interacting resonance. To this extent polaritons can also be thought of as the new normal modes of a given material or structure arising from the strong coupling of the bare modes, which are the photon and the dipolar oscillation. The polariton is a bosonic quasiparticle, and should not be confused with the polaron (a fermionic quasiparticle), which is an electron plus an attached phonon cloud.

Whenever the polariton picture is valid (i.e., when the weak coupling limit is an invalid approximation), the model of photons propagating freely in crystals is insufficient. A major feature of polaritons is a strong dependency of the propagation speed of light through the crystal on the frequency of the photon. For exciton-polaritons, a wealth of experimental results on various aspects have been gained in the case of copper(I) oxide.

History
Oscillations in ionized gases were observed by Lewi Tonks and Irving Langmuir in 1929. Polaritons were first considered theoretically by Kirill Borisovich Tolpygo. They were termed light-excitons in Soviet scientific literature. That name was suggested by Solomon Isaakovich Pekar, but the term polariton, proposed by John Hopfield, was adopted. Coupled states of electromagnetic waves and phonons in ionic crystals and their dispersion relation, now known as phonon polaritons, were obtained by Tolpygo in 1950 and, independently, by Huang Kun in 1951. Collective interactions were published by David Pines and David Bohm in 1952, and plasmons were described in silver by Herbert Fröhlich and H. Pelzer in 1955. R.H Ritchie predicted surface plasmons in 1957, then Ritchie and H.B. Eldridge published experiments and predictions of emitted photons from irradiated metal foils in 1962. Otto first published on surface plasmon-polaritons in 1968. Room-temperature superfluidity of polaritons was observed in 2016 by Giovanni Lerario et al., at CNR NANOTEC Institute of Nanotechnology, using an organic microcavity supporting stable Frenkel exciton-polaritons at room temperature. In February 2018, scientists reported the discovery of a new three-photon form of light, which may involve polaritons, that could be useful in the development of quantum computers.

Types
A polariton is the result of the combination of a photon with a polar excitation in a material. The following are types of polaritons:
 * Phonon polaritons result from coupling of an infrared photon with an optical phonon;
 * Exciton polaritons result from coupling of visible light with an exciton;
 * Intersubband polaritons result from coupling of an infrared or terahertz photon with an intersubband excitation;
 * Surface plasmon polaritons result from coupling of surface plasmons with light (the wavelength depends on the substance and its geometry);
 * Bragg polaritons ("Braggoritons") result from coupling of Bragg photon modes with bulk excitons;
 * Plexcitons result from coupling plasmons with excitons;
 * Magnon polaritons result from coupling of magnon with light;
 * pi-tons result from coupling of alternating charge or spin fluctuations with light, distinctly different from magnon or exciton polaritons;
 * Cavity polaritons.

title: Polariton


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Kate Mosse

Katherine Louise Mosse (born 1961) is a British novelist, non-fiction and short story writer and broadcaster. She is best known for her 2005 novel Labyrinth, which has been translated into more than 37 languages. She co-founded in 1996 the annual award for best UK-published English-language novel by a woman that is now known as the Women's Prize for Fiction.

Early life and career
Mosse was born in Chichester, and raised in Fishbourne, West Sussex, the eldest of three sisters born to a solicitor, Richard (1920–2011) and Barbara (1931–2014). Mosse's aunt was involved in the campaign for the ordination of women and her grandfather was a vicar. She was educated at Chichester High School For Girls and New College, Oxford, from where she graduated in 1984 with a BA (Hons) in English. After leaving university, she spent seven years working in publishing in London for Hodder & Stoughton, then Century, and finally as an editorial director at Hutchinson, part of the Random House Group. She was a member of the National Union of Journalists (NUJ) and Women in Publishing.

She left publishing in 1992, for a writing career beginning with the non-fiction, Becoming a Mother.

Early writing and the Languedoc Trilogy
Although best known for her adventure and ghost fiction, inspired by real history, Mosse's first two works were non-fiction. Becoming A Mother (in its seventh edition) was published by Virago in 1993, followed in 1995 by The House: Behind the Scenes at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, published by BBC Books to accompany the BBC 2 The House. She then wrote two contemporary novels. Eskimo Kissing, about a young, adopted woman searching for her background, was well received when it was published in 1996. This was followed in 1998 by the biotech thriller, Crucifix Lane.

The first of the Languedoc Trilogy, Labyrinth, appeared in 2005. A number one bestseller internationally, it has sold millions of copies and was the bestselling title in the UK for 2006. It also won the Richard & Judy Best Book at the British Book Awards 2006 and was named as one of Waterstones Top 25 books of the past 25 years. A Labyrinth miniseries was broadcast in 2013.

In October 2007, the second novel in the trilogy, Sepulchre, was published. A tale of haunting and Tarot set in fin-de-siècle and 20th-century France, it was also a number one bestseller in the UK and an international bestseller. While Mosse was researching the third and final novel in the trilogy, she released her novel The Winter Ghosts in 2009, based on a novella she previously contributed to the Quick Reads Initiative. Film rights have been sold to Ruby Films. Citadel, the third novel in the trilogy, came out in 2012 and was also an international bestseller. Inspired by the real history of the resistance in Carcassonne during World War II, it tells the story of an imagined all-female resistance unit.

In October 2013, Mosse's collection of short stories, The Mistletoe Bride & Other Haunting Tales, was published – a collection of ghost stories inspired by traditional folk tales and country legends from England and France, throughout Sussex, Brittany and the Languedoc.

In September 2014, Mosse published her gothic thriller The Taxidermist's Daughter, set in 1912 in Fishbourne and Chichester.

In June 2019, Mosse released The Burning Chambers, the first of a series of novels, beginning in the French Wars of Religion, spanning 300 years from 1562 in Carcassonne, via Amsterdam to 1862 in Franschhoek, Western Cape, South Africa. The second in the series, The City of Tears, was published in 2020.

Other writing and plays
Mosse has also contributed a number of essays and stories to anthologies and collections, including Modern Delight (a book inspired by J. B. Priestley's 1949 book Delight) published by Waterstone's to raise money for Dyslexia Action and the London Library; Little Black Dress (edited by Susie Maguire); Midsummer Nights (edited by Jeanette Winterson), a collection to celebrate the 75th anniversary of Glyndebourne Opera House in East Sussex; The Best Little Book Club in Town and The Coffee Shop Book Club in aid of Breast Cancer Care and Why Willows Weep (edited by Tracy Chevalier) in aid of the Woodland Trust (2011), Write (Guardian Books), Virago at 40 (edited by Lennie Goodings), Fifty Shades of Feminism (edited by Lisa Appignanesi, Rachel Holmes and Susie Orbach), Writing Historical Fiction (edited by Celia Brayfield and Duncan Sprott) and Anthology of World War I Literature for Children (edited by Michael Morpurgo) in 2014, in aid of the Royal British Legion and SSAFA.

Mosse has also written introductions to reissues of a number of works of fiction and non-fiction including Writers' & Artists Yearbook 2009, Captain Blood by Rafael Sabatini, We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver, Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson, Goldfinger by Ian Fleming, Night Falls on the City by Sarah Gainham, A Chichester Miscellany by Phil Hewitt, Chichester Harbour: England's Coastal Gem by Liz Sagues, One Hundred Great Plays by Women by Lucy Kerbel.

In 2012, she published an anniversary book to celebrate 50 years of the Chichester Festival Theatre. Chichester Festival Theatre at Fifty is published by the crowd-funding publishing company Unbound.

Her first play, Syrinx, was part of the SkyArts Theatre Live project, devised by Sandi Toksvig. First performed in July 2009, it won a broadcasting press publicity award that same year. Mosse's second play Endpapers was part of the Bush Theatre's 2011 project Sixty-Six Books. Her monologue was inspired by the Book of Revelation, the final book in the Bible.

In September 2020, Mosse's own adaptation of her 2014 gothic thriller The Taxidermist's Daughter, set in 1912 in Fishbourne and Chichester, will première at Chichester Festival Theatre.

Journalism and broadcasting
Mosse writes for various newspapers and magazines, including The Times, Telegraph, Guardian and The Sunday Times and from 2008 to 2011 she wrote a regular column for the book trade magazine, The Bookseller. A regular guest on UK radio and television, she presented the BBC Four literary chat show Readers' and Writers' Roadshow and appears on the BBC Breakfast News and BBC2's The Review Show. She is a guest presenter for A Good Read on BBC Radio 4. Mosse was the captain of the winning team of alumni from New College, Oxford, on Christmas Celebrity University Challenge in 2012. The team included the novelists Rachel Johnson and Patrick Gale.In January 2021, Kate Mosse launched #WomanInHistory, a global campaign of celebration inviting people to nominate a woman from history they thought should be better known.

Honours and awards
Mosse was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to literature and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2024 New Year Honours for services to literature, women and charity.

In 2000, she was named European Woman of Achievement for her contribution to the arts. In 2006, she was nominated for a Quill Award and won the British Book Awards Best Read of the Year for Labyrinth. She holds an Honorary MA from the University of Chichester. She was also the 2012 winner of "The Spirit of Everywoman Award", awarded by NatWest. In 2013, she was named as one of publishing Top 100 most influential people by the Bookseller and has appeared in every list since. She was named one of London's 1000 most influential people in the arts in 2013 by the Evening Standard.

In 2019, she was appointed visiting professor of Contemporary Literature and Creative Writing at the University of Chichester.

Personal life
She is married to playwright Greg Mosse and has two adult children.

In 1989, she and her husband bought a small house in Carcassonne in the Languedoc region of southwest France, the inspiration for her bestselling trilogy of historical timeslip novels. She moved back to her home town of Chichester in 1998 when she became the first female executive director of Chichester Festival Theatre.

Media
In June 2023 Mosse was the invited guest on BBC Radio 4's long running radio series Desert Island Discs hosted by Lauren Laverne.

Fiction

 * Eskimo Kissing (1996)
 * Crucifix Lane (1998)
 * The Cave (Quick Reads Initiative novella, 2009)
 * The Winter Ghosts (2009)
 * The Mistletoe Bride & Other Haunting Tales (short stories, 2013)
 * The Taxidermist's Daughter (2014)

Languedoc trilogy

 * 1) Labyrinth (2005)
 * 2) Sepulchre (2007)
 * 3) Citadel (2012)

The Burning Chambers series

 * 1) The Burning Chambers (2018)
 * 2) The City of Tears (2020)
 * 3) The Ghost Ship (2023)

Non-fiction

 * Becoming a Mother (1993)
 * The House: Behind the Scenes at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden (1995)
 * Chichester Festival Theatre at Fifty (2012)
 * Warrior Queens & Quiet Revolutionaries: How Women (Also) Built the World (2022)

Plays

 * Syrinx (2009)
 * Endpapers (2011)
 * The Taxidermist's Daughter – adaptation (2020)

title: Kate Mosse


text:
User talk:Laussy

'''Please do not hesitate to comment on whatever seems fit related to me and my contributions to Wikipedia. My replies are in dark green.'''

Exciton
Hello. An article already exists at exciton (most entries are created with their singular form), perhaps you can merge your article with the existing one? I would attempt it, but, well, let's just say physics (let alone theoretical physics) isn't exactly my subject :). -- Notheruser 17:15 24 Jul 2003 (UTC)

Thanks a lot. I am sorry I introduced inadvertently the plural for a page already existing. But since my excitons was not pointing to exciton I thought the page did not exist. Since linking with the plural redirects to existing non-plural page, I thought the creation process was working likewise.

Explain everything in a single sentence
I've been following some of the threads off the home page, and I have to say that your physics articles all share an unfortunate property -- they don't say anything about what they are actually about.

For instance, the article on coherent state is not understandable to anyone without some QM background. You should state clearly and suscinctly in your first paragraph a broad overview of the topic and the topic space the term comes from. For instance...

Coherent space is a physicsl term used in quantum mechanics to describe...

The current article has no definition, it rests entirely on reference to other equally non-defined articles. Cohernent space is a Fock space is a Hilbert space which is a...

a Hilbert space is an inner product space that is complete with respect to the norm defined by the inner product

What the hell does that mean?

I have to stress that the wikipedia is an encyclopedia, not a game magazine|movie review site|physics textbook. KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE!

Thanks for you concerns.

You will agree that without a QM background it might be difficult to understand the deeper and most subtle corners of the field, and that if everything is to remain at the level of the uninitiated, then most material of human knowledge does not belong to this encyclopedia. I think that you and me agree that the purpose of Wikipedia is to address from simple to extremely advanced, and not just whatever who that can read, can understand.

However I agree with you that whenever possible, some introductory material must be included to allow the layman in as far as possible. I tried much to include vivid, physically intuitive meaning in my article. In the coherent state you will notice that I wrote it is the most classical state allowed by quantum physics, since it has lowest uncertainty in its conjuguate variables, and it can be located in the complex plane as the position in the phase space of the quantum oscillator and also ''Coherent states describe coherent fields, especially they describe classical fields since those are usually understood as sine waves. This is therefore the quantum state of light emitted by an ideal laser. It is a state with undeterminate number of photon.'' Also you criticize my Fock space article, but then please refer to the previous version and tell me if you think it was better? It actually consists only of pure mathematical definitions. No to mention that also there I tried to include some intuitively sounding explanations but more importantly, I gave a clear mathematical definition. The previous material from the mathematical point of view was not only sounding pedantic, as you can believe my articles are, but it was so vague that it was close to just false. At least to whoever has some background in QM, I believe my article now brings an accurate description and explanation, whereas previously not only it was unclear to the layman, it was also unclear to the expert. To end with, most advanced mathematical or physics articles I read were in the same format as mine. The fact that you reproach to me the Hilbert space article in which I did not edit even a comma proves this true.

I know your comment is in the intent of making the encyclopedia better and that your bitter tone shows how important the project is to you. I will try to move around some of the "vague, introductory, tutorial" material towards the beginning so that one can grasp what it is about without perusing the whole content, although in some cases it can severely affect the coherence of the article structure, since the most important and that should appear first and be emphasized is the exact scientifical meaning, not the approximate, intuitive, everybody's vague understanding. Thanks.

WP:PHYS
Hi, I notice that you had some interest in physics. Might I interest you in joining WikiProject Physics?Headbomb {{{sup|ταλκ}}κοντριβς – WP Physics} 06:58, 1 March 2009 (UTC)

Orphaned non-free image File:TheDeadFather.png
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It was used in the Dead Father page for the cover, I believe in fair use. I'm not sure why it was removed but it has been replaced by the cover of the 1st edition, so it doesn't matter much.

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Thanks, fixed.

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Small business

Small businesses are types of corporations, partnerships, or sole proprietorships which have a small number of employees and/or less annual revenue than a regular-sized business or corporation. Businesses are defined as "small" in terms of being able to apply for government support and qualify for preferential tax policy. The qualifications vary depending on the country and industry. Small businesses range from fifteen employees under the Australian Fair Work Act 2009, fifty employees according to the definition used by the European Union, and fewer than five hundred employees to qualify for many U.S. Small Business Administration programs. While small businesses can be classified according to other methods, such as annual revenues, shipments, sales, assets, annual gross, net revenue, net profits, the number of employees is one of the most widely used measures.

Small businesses in many countries include service or retail operations such as convenience stores, gun shops, antique shops, small grocery stores, bakeries or delicatessens, barbers, hairdressers or tradespeople (e.g., mechanics, plumbers, carpenters, electricians), car dealerships, laundromats, dry cleaners, restaurants, motels, photographers, very small-scale manufacturing, and Internet-related businesses such as web design and computer programming. Some professionals operate as small businesses, such as lawyers, accountants, dentists, medical doctors and developers (although these professionals can also work for large organizations or companies). Small businesses vary a great deal in terms of size, revenues, and regulatory authorization, both within a country and from country to country. Some small businesses, such as a home accounting business, may only require a business license. On the other hand, other small businesses, such as day cares, retirement homes, and restaurants serving liquor are more heavily regulated and may require inspection and certification from various government authorities.

Characteristics

Researchers and analysts of small or owner-managed businesses generally behave as if nominal organizational forms (e.g., partnership, sole-trader, or corporation), and the consequent legal and accounting boundaries of owner-managed firms are consistently meaningful. However, owner-managers often do not distinguish between their personal and business interests. Lenders also often skirt organizational (corporate) boundaries by seeking personal guarantees or accepting privately held assets as collateral. Because of this behavior, researchers and analysts may wish to be cautious in assessing the organizational types and implied boundaries relating to owner-managed firms. This includes the analysis of traditional accounting disclosures and studies that treat the firm as defined by a formal organizational structure.

Concepts of small business, self-employment, entrepreneurship, and startup

The concepts of small business, self-employment, entrepreneurship, and startup overlap but carry important distinctions. These four concepts are often conflated.Their key differences can be summarized as:
 * self-employment: an organization created primarily to provide income to the founders, i.e. sole proprietor operations.
 * entrepreneurship: all new organizations.
 * startup: a new organization created to grow (and have employees).
 * small business: an organization that is small (in employees or revenue) and may or may not have the intention to grow.

Many small businesses are sole proprietor operations consisting only of the owner, but many have additional employees. Some small businesses that offer a product, process or service, do not have growth as their primary objective. In contrast, a business that is created to become a big firm is known as a startup. Startups aim for growth and often offer an innovative product, process, or service. The entrepreneurs of startups typically aim to scale up the company by adding employees, seeking international sales, and so on, a process which is often but not always financed by venture capital and angel investments. Successful entrepreneurs have the ability to lead a business in a positive direction by proper planning, adapting to changing environments, and understand their own strengths and weakness. Spectacular success stories stem from startups that expanded in growth. Examples would be Microsoft, Genentech, and Federal Express which all embody the sense of new venture creation on small businesses.

Self-employment provides work primarily for the founders. Entrepreneurship refers to all new businesses, including self-employment and businesses that never intend to grow big or become registered, but startups refer to new businesses that intend to grow beyond the founders, to have employees, and grow large.

Size definitions
The legal definition of "small business" varies by country and by industry. In addition to the number of employees, methods used to classify small companies include annual sales (turnover), the value of assets and net profit (balance sheet), alone or as a combination of factors.

 * In India, all the manufacturing and service enterprises having investment "Not more than Rs 10 crore" and Annual Turnover "not more than Rs 50 crore" come under this category.
 * In the United States, the Small Business Administration establishes small business size standards on an industry-by-industry basis but generally specifies a small business as having fewer than 500 employees for manufacturing businesses and less than $7.5 million in annual receipts for most non-manufacturing businesses. The definition can vary by circumstance—for example, a small business having fewer than 25 full-time equivalent employees with average annual wages below $50,000 qualifies for a tax credit under the health care reform bill Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. By comparison, a medium-sized business or mid-sized business has fewer than 500 employees.
 * The European Union generally defines a small business as one that has fewer than fifty employees and either turnover or balance sheet less than €10 m. but the European Commission is undertaking a review of this definition. By comparison, a medium-sized business has fewer than 250 employees and either turnover less than €50 m. or balance sheet less than €43 m.
 * In Australia, a small business is defined by the Fair Work Act 2009 as one with fewer than 15 employees, although the Australian Bureau of Statistics uses less than 20 employees as its threshold. By comparison, a medium-sized business or mid-sized business has fewer than two hundred employees.
 * In South Africa, the National Small Business Amendment Act (Act 26 of 2003) defines businesses in a variety of ways using five categories previously established by the National Small Business Act (Act 102 of 1996), namely, standard industrial sector and subsector classification, size of class, equivalent of paid employees, turnover and asset value excluding fixed property.

Small businesses usually do not dominate their field.

The following table serves as a guide to business size nomenclature.

Business size definitions (by number of employees)
 * Most cells reflect sizes not defined in legislation.
 * Some definitions are multi-parameter, e.g., by industry, revenue, or market share.

Demographics
In 2016 a study that examined the demographic of small business owners was published. The study showed that the median American small business owners were above the age of 50. The ages were distributed as 51% over 50 years old, 33% between the ages 35–49, and 16% being under the age of 35. As for sex: 55% were owned by males, 36% by females, and 9% being equal ownership of both males and females. As for race: 72% were white/Caucasian, 13.5% were Latinos, 6.3% were African American, 6.2% were Asian, and 2% as other. As for educational background: 39% had obtained a bachelor's degree or higher, 33% had some college background, and 28% received at least a high school diploma.

The United States census data for the years 2014 and 2015 shows the women's ownership share of small businesses by firm size. The data explains percentages owned by women along with the number of employees including the owner. Generally, the smaller the business, the more likely it to be owned by a woman. The data shows that about 22% of small businesses with 100-500 employees were owned by women, a percentage that rises the smaller the business. 41% of businesses with just 2-4 employees were run by women, and in businesses with just one person, that person was a woman in 51% of cases.

Franchise businesses
Franchising is a way for small business owners to benefit from the economies of scale of the big corporation (franchiser). McDonald's and Subway are examples of a franchise. The small business owner can leverage a strong brand name and purchasing power of the larger company while keeping their own investment affordable. However, some franchisees conclude that they suffer the "worst of both worlds" feeling they are too restricted by corporate mandates and lack true independence. It is an assumption that small business is just franchisees, but the truth is many franchisers are also small businesses. Although considered to be a successful way of doing business, literature has proved that there is a high failure rate in franchising as well, especially in the UK, where research indicates that out of 1658 franchising companies operating in 1984, only 601 remained in 1998, a mere 36%.

Retailers' cooperative
A retailers' cooperative is a type of cooperative that employs economies of scale on behalf of its retailer members. Retailers' cooperatives use their purchasing power to acquire discounts from manufacturers and often share marketing expenses. They are often recognized as "local groups" because they own their own stores within the community. It is common for locally owned grocery stores, hardware stores, and pharmacies to participate in retailers' cooperatives. Ace Hardware, True Value, and NAPA are examples of a retailers' cooperative. Retail cooperatives allow consumers to supply their own earnings and gain bargaining power outside of the business sector. Retail cooperatives mainly reside within small communities where local businesses are often shut down.

Advantages and disadvantages

Many small businesses can be started at a low cost and on a part-time basis, while a person continues a regular job with an employer or provides care for family members in the home. In developing countries, many small businesses are sole-proprietor operations such as selling products at a market stall or preparing hot food to sell on the street, which provide a small income. In the 2000s, a small business was well suited to Internet marketing; because, it can easily serve specialized niches, something that would have been more difficult before the Internet revolution which began in the late 1990s. Internet marketing gives small businesses the ability to market with smaller budgets. Adapting to change is crucial in business and particularly small business; not being tied to the bureaucratic inertia associated with large corporations, small businesses can respond to changing marketplace demand more quickly. Small business proprietors tend to be in closer personal contact with their customers and clients than large corporations, as small business owners see their customers in person each week.

One study showed that small, local businesses are better for a local economy than the introduction of new chain stores. By opening up new national level chain stores, the profits of locally owned businesses greatly decrease and many businesses end up failing and having to close. This creates an exponential effect. When one store closes, people lose their jobs, other businesses lose business from the failed business, and so on. In many cases, large firms displace just as many jobs as they create.

A disadvantage of having a small business is the challenge of finding and keeping talented employees. Small tech companies have difficulty in retention when larger companies are interested in the same talent. Workers can be acquired from out of country but strict immigration rules are limiting.

Independence
Independence is another advantage of owning a small business. A small business owner does not have to report to a supervisor, manager, or a board to report to, which is the situation for a corporation's CEO. Many people desire to make their own decisions, take their own risks, and reap the rewards of their efforts. Small business owners possess the flexibility and freedom to make their own decisions within the constraints imposed by economic and other environmental factors. However, entrepreneurs have to work for very long hours and understand that ultimately their customers are their bosses.

Small businesses (often carried out by family members) may adjust quicker to the changing conditions; however, they may also be closed to the absorption of new knowledge and employing new labor from outside.

Financial reporting
Small businesses benefit from less extensive accounting and financial reporting requirements than those faced by larger businesses.

The European Union's Directive on annual financial statements of 2013 aims to "limit administrative burdens and provide for simple and robust accounting rules, especially for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)". In the UK, the Companies, Partnerships and Groups (Accounts and Reports) Regulations 2015 transposed the EU Directive into UK law and amended the reporting regime for reduced disclosure accounts for any accounting period commencing on or after 1 January 2016. "Abbreviated accounts" were permitted for smaller entities under "FRSSE", the Financial Reporting Standard for Smaller Entities). Until 2015, companies deemed small under the UK Companies Act 2006 were allowed to use this standard. For accounting years ending on or after 1 January 2016, FRSSE is no longer available, but there are options known as "abridged accounts" and "filleted accounts": Alternatively, the smallest companies are able to file "micro-entity accounts". FRS 105 is a Financial Reporting Standard applicable to the Micro-entities Regime.
 * Abridged accounts: accounting for profit / loss begins with the declaration of gross profit or loss, not turnover
 * Filleted financial statements or filleted accounts: profit and loss accounts are excluded, but balance sheet and balance sheet notes are to be disclosed.

Challenges
Small businesses often face a variety of problems, some of which are related to their size. A frequent cause of bankruptcy is under capitalization. This is often a result of poor planning rather than economic conditions. It is a common rule of thumb that the entrepreneur should have access to a sum of money at least equal to the projected revenue for the first year of business in addition to the anticipated expenses. For example, prospective owners anticipating 100,000 in revenue the first year with 150,000 in start up expenses should have at least 250,000 available. Start-up expenses are often grossly underestimated adding to the burden of the business. Failure to provide this level of funding for the company could leave the owner liable for all of the company's debt in bankruptcy court under the theory of undercapitalization.

In addition to ensuring that the business has enough capital, the small business owner must be mindful of contribution margin (sales minus variable costs). To break even, the business must be able to reach a level of sales where the contribution margin equals fixed costs. When they first start, many small business owners underprice their products to a point where even at their maximum capacity, it would be impossible to break even. Cost controls or price increases often resolve this problem.

In the United States, some of the largest concerns of small business owners are insurance costs (such as liability and health), energy costs, taxes, and tax compliance. In the United Kingdom and Australia, small business owners tend to be more concerned with perceived excessive governmental red tape.

Contracting fraud has been an ongoing problem for small businesses in the United States. Small businesses are legally obligated to receive a fair portion (23 per cent) of the total value of all the government's prime contracts as mandated by the Small Business Act of 1953. Since 2002, a series of federal investigations have found fraud, abuse, loopholes, and a lack of oversight in federal small business contracting, which has led to the diversion of billions of dollars in small business contracts to large corporations.

Another problem for many small businesses is termed the 'Entrepreneurial Myth' or E-Myth. The mythic assumption is that an expert in a given technical field will be an expert at running that kind of business. Additional business management skills are needed to keep a business running smoothly. Some of this misunderstanding arises from the failure to distinguish between small business managers as entrepreneurs or capitalists. While nearly all owner-managers of small firms are obliged to assume the role of capitalist, only a minority will act as entrepreneurs. The line between an owner-manager and an entrepreneur can be defined by whether or not their business is growth-oriented. In general, small business owners are primarily focused on surviving rather than growing; therefore, not experiencing the five stages of the corporate life cycle (birth, growth, maturity, revival, and decline) as an entrepreneur would.

Another problem for many small businesses is the capacity of much larger businesses to influence or sometimes determine their chances for success. Business networking and social media has been used as a major tool by small businesses in the UK, but most of them just use a "scattergun" approach in a desperate attempt to exploit the market which is not that successful. Over half of small firms lack a business plan, a tool that is considered one of the most important factors for a venture's success. Business planning is associated with improved growth prospects. Funders and investors usually require a business plan. A plan also serves as a strategic planning document for owners and CEOs, which can be used as a "bible" for decision-making

An international trade survey indicated that the British share of businesses that are exporting rose from 32% in 2012 to 39% in 2013. Although this may seem positive, in reality, the growth is slow, as small business owners shy away from exporting due to actual and perceived barriers. Learning the basics of a foreign language could be the solution to open doors to new trade markets, it is a reality that not all foreign business partners speak English. China is stated to grow by 7.6% in 2013 and still, 95% of business owners who want to export to China have no desire and no knowledge to learn their local language.

Bankruptcy
When the small business fails, the owner may file for bankruptcy. In most cases, this can be handled through a personal bankruptcy filing. Corporations can file bankruptcy, but if it is out of business and valuable corporate assets are likely to be repossessed by secured creditors, there is little advantage to going to the expense of a corporate bankruptcy. Many states offer exemptions for small business assets so they can continue to operate during and after personal bankruptcy. However, corporate assets are normally not exempt; hence, it may be more difficult to continue operating an incorporated business if the owner files bankruptcy. Researchers have examined small business failures in some depth, with attempts to model the predictability of failure.

Social responsibility
Small businesses can encounter several problems related to engaging in corporate social responsibility, due to characteristics inherent in their size. Owners of small businesses often participate heavily in the day-to-day operations of their companies. This results in a lack of time for the owner to coordinate socially responsible efforts, such as supporting local charities or not-for-profit activities. Additionally, a small business owner's expertise often falls outside the realm of socially responsible practices, which can contribute to a lack of participation. Small businesses also face a form of peer pressure from larger forces in their respective industries, making it difficult to oppose and work against industry expectations. Furthermore, small businesses undergo stress from shareholder expectations. Because small businesses have more personal relationships with their patrons and local shareholders, they must be prepared to withstand closer scrutiny if they want to share in the benefits of committing to socially responsible practices or not.

Job quality
While small businesses employ over half the workforce in the US and have been established as a main driving force behind job creation, the quality of the jobs these businesses create has been called into question. Small businesses generally employ individuals from the Secondary labor market. As a result, in the U.S., wages are 49% higher for employees of large firms. Additionally, many small businesses struggle or are unable to provide employees with benefits they would be given at larger firms. Research from the U.S. Small Business Administration indicates that employees of large firms are 17% more likely to receive benefits including salary, paid leave, paid vacation, bonuses, insurance, and retirement plans. Both lower wages and fewer benefits combine to create a job turnover rate among U.S. small businesses that is three times higher than large firms. Employees of small businesses must adapt to the higher failure rate of small firms, which means that they are more likely to lose their job due to the firm going under. In the U.S. 69% of small businesses last at least two years, but this percentage drops to 51% for firms reaching five years in operation. The U.S. Small Business Administration counts companies with as much as $35.5 million in sales and 1,500 employees as "small businesses", depending on the industry. Outside government, companies with less than $7 million in sales and fewer than five hundred employees are widely considered small businesses.

Cyber crime
Cybercrime in the business world can be broken down into 4 main categories. They include loss of reputation and consumer confidence, cost of fixing the issue, loss of capital and assets, and legal difficulties that can come from these problems. Loss of reputation and consumer confidence can be impacted greatly after one attack. Many small businesses will struggle to gain confidence and trust in their customers after being known for having problems prior. The cost of fixing the cyber attack would require experts outside of their field to further the investigation and find the problem. Being down for a business means losing money at the same time. This could halt the online operations and mean the business could potentially be down for a long period of time. Loss of capital and assets ties well in with the cost of fixing the issue. During a cyberattack, a business may lose its funds for that business. Worst-case scenario, a business may actually lose all its working capital and funds. The legal difficulties involved with cybercrime can become pricy and hurt the business itself for not having standard security measures and standards. Security not only for the business but more importantly the customer should be the number one priority when dealing with security protocol.

The monetary dollar damage caused by cybercrime in 2016 equaled out to be over 1.33 billion dollars in the United States alone. In 2016, California alone had over 255 million dollars reported to the IC3. Certain cyber attacks can vary on how long it takes to solve a problem. It can take upwards to 69 days for an average everyday attack on a business. The types of attacks include viruses and malware issues. Employee activities within the workspace can also render a cyber attack. Employees using mobile devices or remote work access off the job makes it easier for a cyber attack to occur.

Marketing
Although small businesses have close relationships with their existing customers, finding new customers and reaching new markets is a major challenge for small business owners. Small businesses typically find themselves strapped for time to do marketing, as they have to run the day-to-day aspects of the business. To create a continual stream of new business and find new clients and customers, they must work on marketing their business continuously. Low sales (the result of poor marketing) is one of the major reasons for small business failure. Common marketing techniques for small business include business networking (e.g., attending Chamber of Commerce events or trade fairs), "word of mouth" promotion by existing customers, customer referrals, Yellow pages directories, television, radio, and outdoor ads (e.g., roadside billboards), print ads, email, and Internet marketing. TV ads can be quite expensive, so they are normally intended to create awareness of a product or service. Another means by which small businesses can advertise is through the use of "deal of the day" websites such as Groupon and Living Social. These Internet deals encourage customers to patronize small businesses.

Many small business owners find internet marketing more affordable. Google AdWords and Yahoo! Search Marketing are two popular options of getting small business products or services in front of motivated web searchers. Social media has become an affordable route of marketing for small businesses. It is a fraction of the cost of traditional marketing and small businesses can do it themselves or find small social marketing agencies that they can hire out for a small fee. Statistically, social media marketing has a higher lead-to-close rate than traditional media. Successful online small business marketers are adept at utilizing the most relevant keywords in their website content. Advertising on niche websites that are frequented by potential customers can be effective, but with the long tail of the Internet, it can be time-intensive to advertise on enough websites to garner an effective reach.

Creating a business website has become increasingly affordable with many do-it-yourself programs now available for beginners. A website can provide significant marketing exposure for small businesses when marketed through the Internet and other channels. Some popular services are WordPress, Joomla, Squarespace, and Wix. Social media has proven to be very useful in gaining additional exposure for many small businesses. Many small business owners use Facebook and Twitter as a way to reach out to their loyal customers to give them news about specials of the day or special coupons, generate repeat business and reach out to new potential clients. The relational nature of social media, along with its immediacy and twenty-four-hour presence lend an intimacy to the relationships small businesses can have with their customers while making it more efficient for them to communicate with greater numbers. Facebook ads are a very cost-effective way for small business owners to reach a targeted audience with a very specific message. In addition to the social networking sites, blogs have become a highly effective way for small businesses to position themselves as experts on issues that are important to their customers. This can be done with a proprietary blog and/or by using a back-link strategy wherein the marketer comments on other blogs and leaves a link to the small business's own website. Posting to a blog about the company's business or service area regularly can increase web traffic to a company website.

Marketing plan
 * Market research – To produce a marketing plan for small businesses, research needs to be done on similar businesses, which should include desk research (done online or with directories) and field research. This gives an insight into the target group's behavior and shopping patterns. Analyzing the competitor's marketing strategies makes it easier for small businesses to gain market share.
 * Marketing mix – Marketing mix is a crucial factor for any business to be successful. Especially for a small business, examining a competitor's marketing mix can be very helpful. An appropriate market mix, which uses different types of marketing, can help to boost sales.
 * Product life cycle – After the launch of the business, crucial points of focus should be the growth phase (adding customers, adding products or services, and/or expanding to new markets) and working towards the maturity phase. Once the business reaches the maturity stage, an extension strategy should be in place. Re-launching is also an option at this stage. Pricing strategy should be flexible and based on the different stages of the product life cycle.
 * Promotion techniques – It is preferable to keep promotion expenses as low as possible. ‘Word of mouth’, ‘email marketing’, ‘print-ads’ in local newspapers, etc. can be effective.
 * Channels of distribution – Selecting an effective channel of distribution may reduce the promotional expenses as well as overall expenses for a small business.

Contribution to the economy
In the US, small businesses (fewer than five hundred employees) account for more than half the non-farm, private GDP and around half the private sector employment. Regarding small business, the top job provider is those with fewer than ten employees, and those with ten or more but fewer than twenty employees comes in as the second, and those with twenty or more but fewer than one hundred employees comes in as the third (interpolation of data from the following references). The most recent data shows firms with fewer than twenty employees account for slightly more than 18% of the employment.

According to "The Family Business Review", "there are approximately seventeen million sole-proprietorship in the US. It can be argued that a sole-proprietorship (an unincorporated business owned by a single person) is a type of family business" and "there are twenty-two million small businesses (fewer than five hundred employees) in the US and approximately 14,000 big businesses". It has been found that small businesses created the newest jobs in communities, "In 1979, David Birch published the first empirical evidence that small firms (fewer than 100 employees) created the newest jobs", and Edmiston claimed that "perhaps the greatest generator of interest in entrepreneurship and small business is the widely held belief that small businesses in the United States create most new jobs. The evidence suggests that small businesses indeed create a substantial majority of net new jobs in an average year." The U.S. Small Business Administration has found small businesses have created two-thirds of net new private-sector jobs in the US since 2007. Local businesses provide competition to each other and challenge corporate giants. Of the 5,369,068 employer firms in 1995, 78.8 per cent had fewer than ten employees, and 99.7 per cent had fewer than five hundred employees.

Sources of funding

Small businesses use various sources available for start-up capital:
 * Self-financing by the owner through cash savings, equity loan on his or her home, and or other assets
 * Loans or financial gifts from friends or relatives
 * Grants from private foundations, government, or other sources
 * Private stock issue
 * Forming partnerships
 * Angel investors
 * Loans from banks, credit unions, or other financial institutions
 * SME finance, including collateral-based lending and venture capital, given sufficiently sound business venture plans

Some small businesses are further financed through credit card debt—usually a risky choice, given that the interest rate on credit cards is often several times the rate that would be paid on a line of credit at a bank or a bank loan and terms can change unpredictably. Recent research suggests that the use of credit scores in small business lending by community banks is surprisingly widespread. Moreover, the scores employed tend to be the consumer credit scores of the small business owners rather than the more encompassing small business credit scores that include data on the firms as well as on the owners. Many owners seek a bank loan in the name of their business; however, banks will usually insist on a personal guarantee by the business owner.

In October 2010, Alejandro Cremades and Tanya Prive founded the first equity crowdfunding platform for small businesses in history as an alternative source of financing. The platform operates under the name of Rock The Post.

Government support
Several organizations in the United States provide help for the small business sector, such as the Internal Revenue Service's Small Business and Self-Employed One-Stop Resource. The Small Business Administration (SBA) runs several loan programs that may help a small business secure loans. In these programs, the SBA guarantees a portion of the loan to the issuing bank, and thus, relieves the bank of some of the risk of extending the loan to a small business. The SBA requires business owners to pledge personal assets and sign as a personal guarantee for the loan. The 8(a) Business Development Program assists in the development of small businesses owned and operated by African Americans, Hispanics, and Asians.

Canadian small businesses can take advantage of federally funded programs and services. See Federal financing for small businesses in Canada (grants and loans).

In the United Kingdom, the Small Business Commissioner (SBC) provides information and advice for small businesses and deals with complaints resolution with specific reference to late payment problems and other unfavourable payment practices. The SBC's role is to make non-binding recommendations advising on how the parties can resolve a dispute.

Small businesses are encouraged per public policy on taxation. For example, from January 1, 2020, Armenia introduced a special micro-entrepreneurship tax system with a non-taxable base of 24 million AMD. Accordingly, a micro-business will be exempted from taxes other than income tax which will not exceed 5,000 AMD per employee.

Business networks and advocacy groups
Small businesses often join or come together to form organizations to advocate for their causes or to achieve economies of scale that larger businesses benefit from, such as the opportunity to buy cheaper health insurance in bulk. There was a study research done between 1990 to 2002 about how relationships like partnerships and alliances can make a big difference for small businesses. They go deep into the three main ideas, of how a business owns its own resources help, how much they have to rely on outside help and how changes in these relationships affect the businesses . These organizations include local or regional groups such as Chambers of Commerce and independent business alliances, as well as national or international industry-specific organizations. Such groups often serve a dual purpose, as business networks to provide marketing and connect members to potential sales leads and suppliers, and as advocacy groups, bringing together many small businesses to provide a stronger voice in regional or national politics. In the case of independent business alliances, promoting the value of locally owned, independent business (not necessarily small) through public education campaigns is integral to their work.

The largest regional small business group in the United States is the Council of Smaller Enterprises, located in Greater Cleveland.

United Kingdom Trade and Investment gives out research in different markets around the world, and research in program planning and promotional activities to exporters. The BEXA's (British Exporters Association) role is to connect new exporters to expert services. It can provide details about regional export contacts, who could be made informally to discuss issues. Trade associations and all major banks often provide links to international groups in foreign markets, and some help set up joint ventures and trade fairs.

Several youth organizations, including 4-H, Junior Achievement, and Scouting, have interactive programs and training to help young people run their own small business under adult supervision.

Historiography

 * Blackford, Mansel G. "Small business in America: A historiographic survey." Business History Review 65.1 (1991): 1-26.

title: Small business