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John Mercer Johnson

John Mercer Johnson (October 1818 – November 8, 1868) was a Canadian lawyer and politician from the Province of New Brunswick, and a Father of Confederation. He represented Northumberland in the Legislative Assembly of New Brunswick from 1850 to 1865, and again from 1866 to 1867, each time elected as a candidate aligned with the liberal movement. Johnson was appointed to the Executive Council of New Brunswick and became the province's solicitor general, postmaster, minister without portfolio and attorney general. He attended all three conferences for Canadian Confederation and supported Canada's creation. In the first parliament for the country of Canada, Johnson was elected to represent Northumberland, serving in the role from 1867 to 1868 as a Liberal member. Plaques have been erected in his honour in Chatham, his hometown, and a mountain in Northumberland county was named for him.

Early life and education
Johnson was born in Liverpool, England, in October 1818. His father was also named John Mercer Johnson, and he was a merchant and public official in Chatham, New Brunswick; his mother was named Ellen. The younger Johnson emigrated to Chatham, New Brunswick, in 1821. He studied at Northumberland County Grammar School, then in the law office of John Ambrose Street. In 1837, he became the secretary of the Young Men's Debating Society in Chatham. He became an attorney on October 13, 1838, and a barrister in October 1840.

Legal career
In 1840, Johnson opened a law office in Chatham and joined a professional partnership with C. A. Harding, but the partnership ended two years later. In 1842 he became the second lieutenant of the 1st Battalion of New Brunswick Rifle Company. In 1846, he became the secretary of the Chatham Mechanics' institute and lectured on phrenology, a belief that bumps on the skull can predict mental traits. In October 1847, he joined a legal partnership with Peter Mitchell, which ended in 1852 when Mitchell wanted to pursue a business in lumbering and shipbuilding. In 1851, he donated land for the construction of a temperance hall.

New Brunswick politics
On July 22, 1850, Johnson was elected to the New Brunswick assembly as one of the representatives from Northumberland. The assembly was non-partisan but Johnson was considered a liberal candidate and campaigned on implementing responsible government. He won his reelection on June 20, 1854. Under the premiership of Charles Fisher, Johnson was appointed to the Executive Council of New Brunswick on October 31, 1854, and became the province's solicitor general. This council, which included Johnson, Samuel Leonard Tilley, John William Ritchie and William Steeves, became known as the Smashers administration. He was reelected in the election on June 27, 1856, but was not reappointed to the council when a conservative government won the majority of seats in the New Brunswick assembly. He was reelected on May 5, 1857, and returned to the executive council on June 1, 1857, as postmaster general. Johnson was uninterested in running the department, leaving administrative tasks to the clerks. This led to a chaotic ministry and his opponents accused him of collecting a salary without doing the work his office required. He resigned from this position in November 1858 and remained on the colony's executive council as a minister without portfolio.

On February 11, 1859, Johnson was elected as the speaker of the New Brunswick assembly and resigned from the council. In 1860 he was appointed as a judge for the Inferior Court of Common Pleas and became captain of the revived 1st Battalion, which became known as the Chatham Rifles. In 1862 he became a trustee of the County Grammar School. He was re-elected as the assembly's speaker on February 12, 1862, but resigned later that year when he was appointed to be the attorney general under the premiership of Tilley. He won a subsequent election for his seat, caused by accepting a position as a minister. He remained the attorney general until 1865.

Canadian confederation
Johnson represented New Brunswick at the Charlottetown Conference and the Quebec Conference in 1864 to discuss the merger of the eastern British colonies of North America into a confederation of                                                                                Canada. His participation in these conferences gives him the status of a Father of Confederation in Canada. In the Charlottetown Conference, he favoured a legislative union of the colonies and suggested that provinces might be dissolved or merged. He suggested that Prince Edward Island merge with New Brunswick, which irritated the other delegates at the conference and was rejected.

He changed his mind before the Quebec Conference and thought the legislative union would be impractical. In the Quebec conference, he supported a strong, centralised federal government that would have control of the court system. His argument followed social contract ideas, where the provinces should forfeit some of their national rights as individual provinces to create a better society. Other delegates disagreed with him and wanted more provincial control of the courts. This led to a compromise where the federal government enacts criminal laws and appoints county judges, while the provinces enact civil laws and administer the courts.

He was defeated in the re-election for his seat on March 18, 1865, by an anti-confederation candidate. He won the subsequent election for his Northumberland seat on May 25, 1866. He continued advocating for the Canadian confederation, and encouraged the British colonies to remove their provincial identities and unite under a single Canadian federal government. He stated his belief that the American Civil War was caused by a weak central government. He also believed that if Canada adopted an American model of government they would either eventually merge with America or become a republic. His goal was to maintain Canada's connection to Britain, declaring that British institutions were more democratic than American ones. He also opposed the establishment of a judicial system that could override the other branches of government; if the rights of local governments were interfered with by federal law, the government could appeal to the British parliament. His belief was that parliament reflected citizens' political opinions, instead of each parliamentarian just representing their constituencies, and that referendums were not required to change the constitution of Canada or to enact new policies.

He attended the London Conference of 1866, making him one of eleven Fathers of Confederation to have attended all three conferences that led to the establishment of the Constitution Act, 1867. While in London he entertained the other members and the public with poetry presentations and ice-skating performances. He resigned from the New Brunswick assembly in June 1867 to run for the Canadian legislature.

Canadian politics
On September 4, 1867, Johnson was elected as the first representative for Northumberland in the Canadian House of Commons as part of the Liberal Party of Canada. He defeated Thomas F. Gillespie in the election. Johnson and Peter Mitchell were given the moniker "the Northumberland County Smashers" for their work in representing Miramichi, one of the cities in Johnson's Northumberland constituency.

Personal life and death
On October 9, 1845, he married Henrietta Shirreff; they had twelve children, of which six children survived into adulthood. Their children included Ada E. Johnson, a teacher and organist, Andrew H., a lawyer, and Edward, who ran a stationery business in Chatham.

Johnson's health deteriorated for more than a year before he became seriously ill in September 1868, and died in his home in Chatham on November 8, 1868. The cause of death was a buildup of fluid in the stomach, blamed on "social excess". This might refer to Johnson's alleged excessive drinking and gambling habits. He was buried at St. Paul's Anglican Church in Chatham.

In memoriam
A plaque was placed in 1927 for Johnson's honour at St. Paul's Church in Chatham by the Imperial Order Daughters of the Empire. In the 1940s, a bronze plaque was installed on the post office in Chatham dedicated to Johnson. A street is named after him in the Chatham neighbourhood. In 1964, the provincial names authority named Mount Johnson, a mountain south of Nepisiguit River in New Brunswick, after Johnson, and the Order in Council for the mountain's name took effect on September 1, 1964, in honour of the 100th anniversary of the New Brunswick delegates arrival to the Charlottetown Conference.

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title: John Mercer Johnson


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Jack Morris

John Scott Morris (born May 16, 1955) is an American former professional baseball starting pitcher. He played in Major League Baseball (MLB) between 1977 and 1994, mainly for the Detroit Tigers. Morris won 254 games throughout his career.

Armed with a fastball, a slider, and a forkball, Morris was a five-time All-Star (1981, 1984, 1985, 1987, and 1991), and played on three World Series Championship teams (1984 Tigers, 1991 Minnesota Twins, and 1992 Toronto Blue Jays). He went 3–0 in the 1984 postseason with two complete-game victories in the 1984 World Series, and 4–0 in the 1991 postseason with a ten-inning complete-game victory in Game 7 of the 1991 World Series. Morris won the Babe Ruth Award in both 1984 and 1991, and was named World Series MVP in 1991. While he gave up the most hits, most earned runs, and most home runs of any pitcher in the 1980s, he also started the most games, pitched the most innings, and had the most wins of any pitcher in that decade. He is one of ten players in MLB history to have won back-to back World Series championships on different teams, with the other nine being Allie Clark, Clem Labine, Bill Skowron, Don Gullett, Ryan Theriot, Jake Peavy, Ben Zobrist, Joc Pederson, and Will Smith.

Since retiring as a player, Morris has worked as a broadcast color analyst for the Blue Jays, Twins, and Tigers. He has also been an analyst for MLB broadcasts on Fox Sports 1. Morris was inducted into the Baseball Hall of Fame in 2018.

Amateur career
Morris attended Highland Park High School in Saint Paul, Minnesota, graduating in 1973. He then attended Brigham Young University (BYU), and played college baseball for the BYU Cougars.

Detroit Tigers
The Detroit Tigers selected Morris in the fifth round of the 1976 MLB draft. He was first called up to the Tigers in 1977 after Mark Fidrych was placed on the disabled list with an injury. Morris broke into the Tigers' starting rotation in 1979, posting a 17–7 record and a 3.29 ERA and establishing himself as the ace of the Detroit staff. Morris, along with catcher Lance Parrish, shortstop Alan Trammell, second baseman Lou Whitaker, outfielder Kirk Gibson, and manager Sparky Anderson, played a notable role in turning the Tigers into a contending team for most of the 1980s. In 1980, Morris learned to throw the split-finger fastball from newly hired pitching coach Roger Craig, and it became an effective pitch for the rest of Morris' career. He led the major leagues with 14 wins in the strike-shortened 1981 season.

Despite playing for the notorious "Captain Hook" (Anderson), nicknamed because of his tendency to pull his starters at the first sign of weakness, Morris was known for finishing games. He racked up 175 complete games in his career (154 with Detroit). He compiled double-digit complete game totals in 10 of his 12 full seasons as a Tiger. In 1983, Morris completed 20 of his 37 starts. That year, he led the league in innings pitched (293.2), batters faced (1204) and strikeouts (232), while posting his first 20-win season.

On April 7, 1984 (on NBC's nationally televised Game of the Week), Morris no-hit the Chicago White Sox at Comiskey Park, beginning what would be an excellent season for both him and the Tigers. The no-hitter was the first by a Tiger since Jim Bunning in 1958. By the end of the 1984 campaign, he had notched 19 wins and a 3.60 ERA, leading Detroit into the postseason. He scored a win over the Kansas City Royals in the ALCS, and added two more complete-game victories in the World Series against the San Diego Padres as the Tigers concluded their wire-to-wire 1984 campaign with the World Championship. While teammate Alan Trammell was named World Series MVP, Morris was given the Babe Ruth Award for most outstanding performance in the 1984 postseason.

In 1986, Morris went 21–8 with a 3.27 ERA and 223 strikeouts. His career-high six shutouts that season included a stretch from July 9–18 in which he threw a complete-game shutout in three consecutive starts. The Tigers headed to the postseason again in 1987 behind a team-leading 18 wins from Morris, but this time Morris' postseason performance was below expectations. He lost his only start in the ALCS, surrendering six runs in eight innings to the eventual World Champion Minnesota Twins. Despite a sub-par season in 1989 when he made only 24 starts and won just 6 games, he finished the 1980s with 162 wins, the most by a major league pitcher during the decade. In 1990, his final season in Detroit, Morris lost a career-high 18 games, though he also led the Tiger staff with 15 wins and led the AL with 11 complete games.

Morris had a 3–1 post-season record as a Tiger, with a 2.73 ERA.

Minnesota Twins
In 1991, Morris signed a one-year contract with his hometown Minnesota Twins. He enjoyed another great season, posting 18 wins with a 3.43 ERA, and an even better postseason after Minnesota won the AL West. Morris won both of his starts over the Toronto Blue Jays in the ALCS, and his team went on to face the Atlanta Braves in the World Series. Morris started for the Twins three times in the series, going 2–0 with a 1.17 ERA, making his final outing in the deciding Game 7. In a postseason performance for the ages, the 36-year-old hurler threw 10 innings of shutout baseball against the Braves, as the Twins won the game 1–0 on a 10th-inning single by Gene Larkin that scored Dan Gladden. Morris was named the World Series MVP for his performance, and joined fellow pitcher Sandy Koufax as the only players to win the Babe Ruth Award twice. He holds the record for most wins by a Twin in a single postseason, with four in 1991.

Toronto Blue Jays
Following the 1991 season, Morris signed a two-year contract with the Toronto Blue Jays. In the 1992 season, he earned 21 wins for the second time in his career (the first ever 20-win season for a Blue Jays pitcher) with only six losses, though he rode a wave of superior run support from his offense, given his 4.04 ERA that year. The Blue Jays reached the 1992 World Series against the Braves. Despite a subpar post-season performance (he went 0–3, including two World Series losses), Morris won a third World Series ring as Toronto beat Atlanta in six games. He won a fourth ring in 1993, as the Blue Jays repeated as World Champions with a victory over the Philadelphia Phillies in six games. However, Morris was not a factor in the Blue Jays World Series repeat: he pitched poorly for the team in the regular season, finishing 7–12 with a 6.19 ERA, and was not used at all in the postseason due to a season-ending injury.

On April 6, 1993, Morris set a major league record by making his 14th consecutive opening day start, an impressive achievement since he played on numerous title-contending teams. The Opening Day start is usually given to either the best pitcher in the rotation or the pitcher with the highest level of respect among the players and coaches.

Cleveland Indians and Cincinnati Reds
Morris joined the Cleveland Indians in 1994, but was released by the team on August 9, three days before the season was ended by a strike. Morris finished the season with a 10–6 record and an ERA of 5.60. He signed a one-year, $600,000 contract with the Cincinnati Reds on December 22, 1994. After an abortive attempt at a comeback with the Reds during spring training of 1995, Morris retired. In 1996, he made a brief return to professional baseball, this time playing with his hometown St. Paul Saints of the independent Northern League. The 41-year-old Morris went 5–1 in 10 starts, with a 2.69 ERA, before retiring for good.

Salary
Morris was the highest-paid pitcher in the American League on at least four occasions: 1987, 1988, 1991, and 1993.

Wildness
The split-finger pitch was responsible for Morris leading the league in wild pitches on six separate occasions. His 206 wild pitches in his career rank eighth in baseball history.

Awards and highlights

 * 1981 – The Sporting News Pitcher of the Year
 * 1984 – Babe Ruth Award
 * 1986 – Tiger of the Year by the BBWAA-Detroit Chapter
 * 1991 – Babe Ruth Award
 * 1991 – World Series Most Valuable Player
 * World Series Champion - 1984, 1991, 1992
 * All-Star: 1981, 1984, 1985, 1987, 1991
 * AL Wins Leader: 1981, 1992
 * AL Strikeouts Leader: 1983
 * AL Shutouts Leader: 1986
 * AL Complete Games Leader: 1990
 * Holds the major league record for consecutive opening day starts, with 14 (1980–1993)
 * Ranks No. 8 on the all time MLB list for wild pitches with 206
 * Ranks No. 1 in Detroit Tigers history for wild pitches (155) and balks (23).
 * Holds Tigers' all-time record for most times leading the team in wins – 11 (1979–88, 1990).
 * Morris is the only pitcher with 2,000-plus strikeouts who did not face a single pitcher in his career.
 * Baseball Hall Of Fame Inductee - 2018 (Modern Era Committee)

Post-career activities
Morris has spent time as a color analyst for the Minnesota Twins. He also spent time in Lakeland, Florida, as a part-time coach for the Detroit Tigers during spring training.

In 2013, Morris joined Sportsnet as a color analyst for Toronto Blue Jays radio broadcasts, as well as making appearances on television broadcasts. In 2014, he served as a pre- and post-game analyst for Twins telecasts on Bally Sports North (as well as a part-time substitute for regular game analyst Bert Blyleven) and as a regular on-air contributor on KTWN-FM and the Twins Radio Network.

On February 10, 2015, it was announced that Morris had been hired as a part-time analyst for Detroit Tigers telecasts on Fox Sports Detroit, along with former teammate Kirk Gibson. In a unique arrangement, Morris continued to work part-time for the Twins' television crew as well as the Tigers'. In 2017, it was announced that Morris would no longer do Tigers telecasts. On January 15, 2019, Morris was once again named a color commentator for the Tigers.

On August 17, 2021, Morris used an accent that some deemed insensitive during a broadcast while Shohei Ohtani of the Los Angeles Angels was at bat. Later during the broadcast, he issued an on-air apology. Ohtani said (through an interpreter), "Personally, I'm not offended and I didn't take anything personally." Following this incident, Morris was suspended indefinitely from the Tigers' broadcast booth, though he returned in less than a month's time. After the 2022 season, Morris parted ways from the Tigers broadcast team.

Morris has two sons from his first marriage and one with his second. He is known for his love of hunting and fishing, especially in his native Minnesota.

Hall of Fame candidacy
Morris was eligible for the National Baseball Hall of Fame from 2000 to 2014, but did not receive the required 75% of the vote; from 2000 to 2003, he never received greater than 30%. But his vote totals slowly crept upwards as the years went by, receiving 40% of the vote for the first time in 2006. In 2010, he managed 52.3% of the vote. In 2012, he received 67% of the vote, and 67.7% a year later. On January 8, 2014, Morris received 61.5% of the vote in his last year of eligibility. After falling off the regular ballot, Morris was elected to the Hall by the Modern Era portion of the Veterans Committee in December 2017. He was inducted (as a Detroit Tiger) in 2018 along with former Tigers teammate Alan Trammell. His 3.90 career ERA is the highest of any player elected to the Hall of Fame as a pitcher.

As a result of being the first Hall of Fame pitcher to have played all of his games in the American League following the introduction of the designated hitter rule and before the start of interleague play, Morris has the fewest MLB regular-season at-bats of any inductee: one. On April 30, 1987, Morris pitched a complete game victory over the California Angels; in the eighth, DH Mike Heath moved to first base, thus eliminating the designated hitter for the rest of the contest. Morris came up with two out in the ninth, hitting a foul fly to right; it was his first time in the batter's box since playing for the minor-league Evansville Triplets in 1977. (Morris also logged 19 appearances as a pinch runner in his career, scoring four times. This makes him the only Hall of Fame player to have more runs than plate appearances.)

title: Jack Morris


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Oligopeptide

An oligopeptide (oligo-, "a few"), is a peptide consisting of two to twenty amino acids, including dipeptides, tripeptides, tetrapeptides, and other polypeptides. Some of the major classes of naturally occurring oligopeptides include aeruginosins, cyanopeptolins, microcystins, microviridins, microginins, anabaenopeptins, and cyclamides. Microcystins are best studied because of their potential toxicity impact in drinking water. A review of some oligopeptides found that the largest class are the cyanopeptolins (40.1%), followed by microcystins (13.4%).

Production
Oligopeptide classes are produced by nonribosomal peptides synthases (NRPS), except cyclamides and microviridins are synthesized through ribosomic pathways.

Examples
Examples of oligopeptides include:

 * Amanitins - Cyclic peptides taken from carpophores of several different mushroom species. They are potent inhibitors of RNA polymerases in most eukaryotic species, the prevent the production of mRNA and protein synthesis. These peptides are important in the study of transcription. Alpha-amanitin is the main toxin from the species Amanita phalloides, poisonous if ingested by humans or animals.
 * Antipain - An oligopeptide produced by various bacteria which acts as a protease inhibitor.
 * Ceruletide - A specific decapeptide found in the skin of Hyla caerulea, the Australian green tree frog. Ceruletide has very much in common with regards to action and composition to cholecystokinin. It stimulates gastric, biliary, and pancreatic secretion; and certain smooth muscle. It is used to induce pancreatitis in experimental animal models.
 * Glutathione - A tripeptide with many roles in cells. It conjugates to drugs to make them more soluble for excretion, is a cofactor for some enzymes, is involved in protein disulfide bond rearrangement and reduces peroxides.
 * Leupeptins - A group of acylated oligopeptides produced by Actinomycetes that function as protease inhibitors. They have been known to inhibit to varying degrees trypsin, plasmin, kallikreins, papain and the cathepsins.
 * Netropsin - A basic oligopeptide isolated from Streptomyces netropsis. It is cytotoxic and its strong, specific binding to A-T areas of DNA is useful to genetics research.
 * Pepstatins - N-acylated oligopeptides isolated from culture filtrates of Actinomycetes, which act specifically to inhibit acid proteases such as pepsin and renin.
 * Peptide T - N-(N-(N(2)-(N-(N-(N-(N- D -Alanyl L -seryl)- L -threonyl)- L -threonyl) L -threonyl)- L -asparaginyl)- L -tyrosyl) L -threonine. Octapeptide sharing sequence homology with HIV envelope protein gp120. It may be useful as antiviral agent in AIDS therapy. The core pentapeptide sequence, TTNYT, consisting of amino acids 4-8 in peptide T, is the HIV envelope sequence required for attachment to the CD4 receptor.
 * Phalloidin - A very toxic polypeptide isolated mainly from Amanita phalloides (Agaricaceae) or death cap; causes fatal liver, kidney and CNS damage in mushroom poisoning; used in the study of liver damage.
 * Teprotide - A man-made nonapeptide (Pyr-Trp-Pro-Arg-Pro-Gln-Ile-Pro-Pro) which is exactly the same as the peptide from the venom of the snake, Bothrops jararaca. It inhibits kininase II and angiotensin I and has been proposed as an antihypertensive agent.
 * Tuftsin - N(2)-((1-(N(2)- L -Threonyl)- L -lysyl)- L -prolyl)- L -arginine. A tetrapeptide manufactured in the spleen by enzymatic cleavage of a leukophilic gamma-globulin. It stimulates the phagocytic activity of blood polymorphonuclear leukocytes and neutrophils in particular. The peptide is located in the Fd fragment of the gamma-globulin molecule.

title: Oligopeptide


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Kasaragod

Kasaragod is a municipal town and administrative headquarters of Kasaragod district in the state of Kerala, India. Established in 1966, Kasaragod was the first municipal town in the district. It is the northernmost district of Kerala and is also known as Sapta Bhasha Sangama Bhumi ('The Land of seven Languages').

Situated in the rich biodiversity of Western Ghats, it is known for the Chandragiri and Bekal Fort, Chandragiri River, historic Kolathiri Rajas, natural environment of Ranipuram and Kottancheri Hills, historical and religious sites like the Madiyan Kulom temple, Madhur Temple, Ananthapuram Lake Temple and Malik Deenar Mosque. The historic hill of Ezhimala is located on the southern portion of Kavvayi Backwaters of Nileshwaram.

Kasaragod is located 90 km north of Kannur city corporation and 50 km south of the Mangalore. Kasaragod district has the maximum number of rivers in Kerala - 12. The town is located on the estuary where the Chandragiri River, which is also the longest river in the district, empties into the Arabian Sea. Kasaragod is home to several forts, including Arikady fort, Bekal Fort, Chandragiri Fort, and Hosdurg Fort. Bekal Fort is the largest fort in Kerala. Talakaveri, which is home to Talakaveri Wildlife Sanctuary where the 805 km long Kaveri river originates, is located closer to Ranipuram on the Kerala-Karnataka border.

Robert Caldwell describes the extent of Malayalam in the 19th century as extending from Chandragiri (fort and river) in the north to Neyyar river beyond Thiruvananthapuram in the south and from Malabar Coast in the west to Western Ghats in the east besides the inhabited islands of Lakshadweep in the Arabian Sea.

Etymology
There are different views on the derivation of the name Kasaragod though none accepted.

Kasaragod was known as Kāññirakkōṭŭ (The land of kāññiram trees) in Malayalam. kāññiram is Malayalam for Kasaraka trees (Kannada name) found in abundance here.

Kasaragod was under the Kumbla dynasty until the 16th century, which was vassal to the kingdom of Kolathunadu based at Kannur. Kannada kingdoms focused on the port and surroundings in the 16th century CE.

Ancient era

The ancient Tamil works of the Sangam Age record that the area covering the district was part of Puzhinadu which consists of the coastal belt from Kozhikode to Mangalore. Politically the area was part of the Ezhimala Kingdom with its capital at Ezhimala in present-day Kannur district. The most famous king of Ezhimala was Nannan whose kingdom extended up to Gudalur and northern parts of Coimbatore. Poozhinad, along with Karkanad which included the eastern regions of Ezhimala dynasty (Wayanad-Gudalur region with some portions of Kodagu), had its capital at Ezhimala. The Mooshaka kings were considered descendants of Nannan. By the 14th century, Mooshaka Kingdom was known as Kolathirinad and the rulers as Kolathiris. The Kolathunad Kingdom at the peak of its power reportedly extended from Netravati River (Mangalore) in the north to Korapuzha (Kozhikode) in the south with Arabian Sea on the west and Kodagu hills on the eastern boundary, also including the isolated islands of Lakshadweep in Arabian Sea.

Medieval era

Kasaragod, about 50 km south of Mangalore city, was an important centre of trade in earlier times. Ramacharitam, probably the oldest literary work written in Old Malayalam, which dates back to the 12th century CE, is thought to have written in Kasaragod district as its manuscripts were discovered from Nileshwaram and the poem mentions about Ananthapura Lake Temple in Kumbla in detail. Kasaragod was known to the Arabs by the name Harkwillia. The Malik Dinar Mosque in Kasaragod town is one of the oldest Masjids in the Indian subcontinent. According to Qissat Shakarwati Farmad, the Masjids at Kodungallur, Kollam, Madayi, Barkur, Mangalore, Kasaragod, Kannur, Dharmadam, Panthalayini, and Chaliyam, were built during the era of Malik Dinar, and they are among the oldest Masjids in the Indian subcontinent. It is believed that Malik Dinar died at Thalangara in Kasaragod town. Many Arab travelers visiting Kerala between the 9th and the 14th centuries visited Kasaragod, being an important trade centre then. Duarte Barbosa, a Portuguese traveler who visited Kumbla, near Kasaragod Town in 1514 recorded that rice being exported for coir to Maldives. According to Barbosa, the people in the southwestern Malabar coast of India from Chandragiri in the north to Kanyakumari in the south spoke a unique language, which they called as "Maliama" (Malayalam).

Until the 16th century CE, Kasaragod town was known by the name Kanhirakode (may be by the meaning, 'the land of Kanhira trees') in Malayalam. The Kumbla dynasty, who swayed over the land of southern Tulu Nadu wedged between Chandragiri River and Netravati River (including present-day taluks of Manjeshwar and Kasaragod) from Maipady Palace at Kumbla, had also been vassals to the Kolathunadu kingdom of North Malabar, before the Carnatic conquests of Vijayanagara Empire. The Kumbla dynasty had a mixed lineage of Malayali Nairs and Tuluva Brahmins. They also claimed their origin from Cheraman Perumals of Kerala. Francis Buchanan-Hamilton states that the customs of Kumbla dynasty were similar to those of the contemporary Malayali kings.

The Kolathiri Dominion emerged into ten independent principalities, i.e. Kadathanadu (Vadakara), Randathara or Poyanad (Dharmadom), Kottayam (Thalassery), Nileshwaram, Iruvazhinadu (Panoor), Kurumbranad etc., under separate royal chieftains due to the outcome of internal dissensions. Many portions of the present-day Hosdurg taluk (Kanhangad) and Vellarikundu were parts of the Nileshwaram dynasty, who were relatives to both Kolathunadu as well as Zamorin of Calicut, in the early medieval period. The areas north to the Chandragiri river (present-day Taluks of Manjeshwaram and Kasaragod) were ruled by the Kumbala dynasty.

The Chandragiri Fort is built on the southern bank of the estuary of Chandragiri River, just opposite to Kasaragod town. The Bekal Fort at Bekal, Pallikkara, which is situated midway between Kasaragod and Kanhangad, and which is largest fort in Kerala, was built in 1650 by Shivappa Nayaka of Keladi.

Colonial era

Francis Buchanan, the family doctor of Arthur Wellesley, visited Kasaragod in 1800. In his travelogue, he recorded information on places like Athiraparambu, Kavvayi, Nileshwaram, Bekal, Chandragiri and Manjeshwar.

Hosdurg and Vellarikundu was part of Kolathunadu (south of Chandragiri river) and Kasaragod and Manjeshwaram was in the Tulu Nadu region (north of Chandragiri river).

In 1763, Hyder Ali raided Bedanoor (Bidnur), the capital of the Ikkery Naiks. His son Tippu Sultan raided much of Malabar region in Kerala. As per the Treaty of Seringapatam of 1792, Tippu surrendered Malabar, except Kanara to the British. The British occupied Kanara only after the death of Tippu Sultan. it is said that Kinavoor Molom (Sree Dharma Shashtha Temple) is belonging to Karinthalam (one of 64 Brahmin villages in old Kerala). Initially South Canara was placed under the Bombay presidency. Later on 16 April 1862, South Canara was transferred to Madras Presidency and Kasaragod taluk was formed by replacing the erstwhile Bekal taluk. Kasaragod was the second-most populated Taluk in South Canara only after to Mangalore taluk, and also the second-largest Taluk.

Post-Independence

Before the formation of Kerala, Kasaragod was a part of South Canara district of erstwhile Madras Presidency. However, in the 19th century CE, Kasaragod Taluk witnessed many struggles to separate the region from South Canara and to merge it with the Malabar District as it was the only Malayalam-majority region in South Canara. Kasaragod became a part of Kannur district of Kerala following the reorganization of states and the formation of Kerala on 1 November 1956. Later Kasaragod was divided into two taluks for the ease of administration - Kasaragod and Hosdurg. Kasaragod was declared a district in 1984. The inclusion of Kasaragod with Kerala has been a contentious issue as there is a sizeable population that speaks Tulu and Kannada. At the time of 1951 Census of India, only 72.0% of the district's population chose their mother tongue as Malayalam. 14.2% chose Tulu and 6.3% chose Kannada. But it is noted that as per the 2011 census report only 8.8% and 4.2% of the total population in the district speak Tulu and Kannada respectively as their mother tongue. In 2012, the Second Oommen Chandy ministry appointed a commission under the leadership the former Chief Secretary P. Prabhakaran to study about the backwardness and issues faced by this northernmost district of Kerala and to draw up special package for the district. In 2013, two more Taluks, namely Manjeshwaram and Vellarikundu were formed in the district.

Climate
Kasaragod experiences a tropical monsoon climate under the Köppen climate classification. It receives a generous 3825 mm of rain annually.

Rivers
Kasaragod has the maximum number of rivers in Kerala - 12. All of them are west-flowing rivers. The longest of them is Chandragiri River (105 km long). The Kasaragod town is located on the estuary of Chandragiri river. It empties into the Arabian Sea at Thalangara. The Chandragiri Fort is built on its bank. The river originates at Pattimala in Kodagu (Coorg). The smallest river of Kerala is also in the district.

Science and research

Kasaragod district comes under the jurisdiction of Kannur University. Kasaragod is home to the Central Plantation Crops Research Institute, originally established in 1916 as the Coconut Research Station. It is part of India's National Agricultural Research System under the Indian Council of Agricultural Research. According to the institute, Kerala "lies in the heart of the major coconut growing areas of the country." It is also home to the Indian Society for Plantation Crops, which publishes the Journal of Plantation Crops and holds symposiums on the subject. The Central University of Kerala is also located in Kasaragod(Periya hills).
 * The Central Plantation Crops Research Institute at Kasaragod was established in 1916.
 * Government College Kasaragod was established in 1957.
 * The Central University of Kerala was established in 2009.
 * Malik Deenar Institute of Management Studies is located at Seethamgoly, Kasaragod.
 * Lal Bahadur Shastry college of engineering, Kasaragod, was established in 1993.
 * College of Engineering Trikaripur was established in 2000.
 * Khansa Women's College For Advanced Studies, Kasaragod
 * Jamia Sa Adiya Arts and Science College, Kasaragod
 * Sharaf Arts & Science College, Padanna
 * Zainab Memorial B.Ed. Centre, Kasaragod
 * Peoples Arts & Science College, Munnad, Kasaragod
 * Co-operative Arts & Science College, Badiadka, Kasaragod
 * St. Gregorios College of Engineering, Perla, Kasaragod

Transport

The National Highway 66 which connects the western coast of India from Mumbai to Kanyakumari passes through coastal area of the district connecting the major coastal towns of Manjeshwar, Uppala, Kumbla, Kasaragod, Udma, Bekal, Kanhangad, Nileshwaram, and Thrikaripur. It enters the district at Thalappady and goes out through Payyanur. There are State highways starting/ending at Kasaragod and Kanhangad. Total length of Major District Road (MDR) of Kasaragod is around 1460 km and it accounts for around 11.2 km of MDR for every 10,000 people in the district. The Kerala State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) has stations to operate its service in the district. The railway goes through coastal area. Kasaragod railway station lies in Palakkad railway division of southern zone on Mangalore-Shoranur line. Kasaragod district is home to three of the 13 minor ports in Kerala - Manjeshwar, Kasaragod, and Nileshwaram. The nearest international airports are situated at Mangalore (65 km away) and Kannur (110 km away).

Demographics
As of 2011 Census, Kasaragod municipality had a population of 54,172 which constitutes 26,319 males and 27,853 females. Kasaragod municipality spreads over an area of 16.69 km2 with 10,202 families residing in it. The municipality is divided into 35 wards for which elections are held every 5 years. The female sex ratio was 1058 against state average of 1084. Population in the age group 0-6 was 7,234 (13.4%) where 3,716 are males and 3,518 are females. The literacy rate of Kasaragod town was 94.76% higher than state average of 94%. Male literacy stands at 96.5% and female literacy was 93.1%.

Politics

The current Municipal Chairman of Kasaragod municipality is Adv. V. M. Muneer of IUML and the deputy chairperson is Shamseeda Feroz.

The major political parties are Indian Union Muslim League, CPI(M), INC, CPI, and BJP. North Kasaragod is dominated by IUML which is followed by BJP, and the south is dominated by CPI(M). N. A. Nellikkunnu is the present Member of Legislative Assembly, from Kasaragod Assembly Constituency. It is a part of Kasaragod (Lok Sabha constituency). Indian National Congress (INC) member Rajmohan Unnithan is the present MP from Kasaragod (2019 elections).

Backwardness
Kasaragod district is the northernmost district of Kerala, which is much away from Thiruvananthapuram, the state headquarters, which is located in the southernmost tip of state. Manjeshwaram town is located about 600 km north of the state headquarters Thiruvananthapuram, about 30 km south of Mangalore, about 350 km west of Bangalore, the headquarters of the neighbouring state Karnataka, and about 950 km south of Mumbai city. In 2012, the Second Oommen Chandy ministry appointed a commission under the leadership of the former Chief Secretary P. Prabhakaran to study about the backwardness and issues faced by this northernmost district of Kerala and to draw up a special package for the district. In 2013, two more Taluks, namely Manjeshwaram and Vellarikundu were formed in the district. Before this, the district had only two taluks. The decision to implement a gas-based power plant at Cheemeni was taken by the second Chandy government. A government medical college was allowed for Kasaragod district, as a part of the government's new policy to establish at ensure availability of at least one government medical college in all 14 districts of the state in 2013.

Tourism

 * Ananthapuram Lake Temple
 * Arikady fort
 * Bekal Fort
 * Chandragiri Fort
 * Edayilakkad Island
 * Kanwatheertha beach
 * Kappil beach
 * Kottanchery hills
 * Malik Dinar Mosque
 * Mayipady palace
 * Nileshwaram Estuary beach
 * Our Lady of Sorrows Church
 * Pallikkara beach
 * Ranipuram Hill Station
 * Valiyaparamba Island

Notable people

 * Ambikasuthan Mangad – Malayalam writer
 * Anil Kumble – former Indian cricketer, coach, and commentator
 * Arya – Indian actor
 * Asif Kottayil – Indian footballer
 * Bellikoth Raghunath Shenoy – Indian economist
 * D. K. Chowta – Indian businessman
 * E. Chandrasekharan – minister of Kerala
 * Harikumar Pallathadka – RTI activist
 * K. K. Venugopal – Attorney General of India
 * Kanayi Kunhiraman – Indian artist
 * Kavya Madhavan – Indian actress
 * Kayyar Kinhanna Rai – Indian Independence activist
 * Mahima Nambiar – Indian actress
 * Mirshad Michu – Indian football goalkeeper
 * Mohammed Rafi – Indian footballer
 * Mohammed Azharuddeen – Indian cricketer
 * P. Kunhiraman Nair – Malayalam poet
 * Pallathadka Pramoda Kumari – scientist
 * Prakash Bare – actor
 * Roopesh Shetty – actor in the Kannada, Tulu film industry, radio jockey in Mangalore, and model
 * Santhosh Echikkanam – Malayalam short story writer
 * Sara Aboobacker – Kannada writer
 * Sathya – Indian actor
 * Vysakh – Malayalam film director

General

 * Manorama Yearbook 1995 (Malayalam Edition).
 * Manorama Yearbook 2003 (English Edition) ISBN 81-900461-8-7.

title: Kasaragod


text:
Cost–benefit analysis

Cost–benefit analysis (CBA), sometimes also called benefit–cost analysis, is a systematic approach to estimating the strengths and weaknesses of alternatives. It is used to determine options which provide the best approach to achieving benefits while preserving savings in, for example, transactions, activities, and functional business requirements. A CBA may be used to compare completed or potential courses of action, and to estimate or evaluate the value against the cost of a decision, project, or policy. It is commonly used to evaluate business or policy decisions (particularly public policy), commercial transactions, and project investments. For example, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission must conduct cost-benefit analyses before instituting regulations or deregulations.

CBA has two main applications:
 * 1) To determine if an investment (or decision) is sound, ascertaining if – and by how much – its benefits outweigh its costs.
 * 2) To provide a basis for comparing investments (or decisions), comparing the total expected cost of each option with its total expected benefits.

CBA is related to cost-effectiveness analysis. Benefits and costs in CBA are expressed in monetary terms and are adjusted for the time value of money; all flows of benefits and costs over time are expressed on a common basis in terms of their net present value, regardless of whether they are incurred at different times. Other related techniques include cost–utility analysis, risk–benefit analysis, economic impact analysis, fiscal impact analysis, and social return on investment (SROI) analysis.

Cost–benefit analysis is often used by organizations to appraise the desirability of a given policy. It is an analysis of the expected balance of benefits and costs, including an account of any alternatives and the status quo. CBA helps predict whether the benefits of a policy outweigh its costs (and by how much), relative to other alternatives. This allows the ranking of alternative policies in terms of a cost–benefit ratio. Generally, accurate cost–benefit analysis identifies choices which increase welfare from a utilitarian perspective. Assuming an accurate CBA, changing the status quo by implementing the alternative with the lowest cost–benefit ratio can improve Pareto efficiency. Although CBA can offer an informed estimate of the best alternative, a perfect appraisal of all present and future costs and benefits is difficult; perfection, in economic efficiency and social welfare, is not guaranteed.

The value of a cost–benefit analysis depends on the accuracy of the individual cost and benefit estimates. Comparative studies indicate that such estimates are often flawed, preventing improvements in Pareto and Kaldor–Hicks efficiency. Interest groups may attempt to include (or exclude) significant costs in an analysis to influence its outcome.

History
The concept of CBA dates back to an 1848 article by Jules Dupuit, and was formalized in subsequent works by Alfred Marshall. Jules Dupuit pioneered this approach by first calculating "the social profitability of a project like the construction of a road or bridge" In an attempt to answer this, Dupuit began to look at the utility users would gain from the project. He determined that the best method of measuring utility is by learning one's willingness to pay for something. By taking the sum of each user's willingness to pay, Dupuit illustrated that the social benefit of the thing (bridge or road or canal) could be measured. Some users may be willing to pay nearly nothing, others much more, but the sum of these would shed light on the benefit of it. It should be reiterated that Dupuit was not suggesting that the government perfectly price-discriminate and charge each user exactly what they would pay. Rather, their willingness to pay provided a theoretical foundation on the societal worth or benefit of a project. The cost of the project proved much simpler to calculate. Simply taking the sum of the materials and labor, in addition to the maintenance afterward, would give one the cost. Now, the costs and benefits of the project could be accurately analyzed, and an informed decision could be made.

The Corps of Engineers initiated the use of CBA in the US, after the Federal Navigation Act of 1936 mandated cost–benefit analysis for proposed federal-waterway infrastructure. The Flood Control Act of 1939 was instrumental in establishing CBA as federal policy, requiring that "the benefits to whomever they accrue [be] in excess of the estimated costs."

More recently, cost-benefit analysis has been applied to decisions regarding investments in cybersecurity-related activities (e.g., see the Gordon–Loeb model for decisions concerning cybersecurity investments).

Public policy
CBA's application to broader public policy began with the work of Otto Eckstein, who laid out a welfare economics foundation for CBA and its application to water-resource development in 1958. It was applied in the US to water quality, recreational travel, and land conservation during the 1960s, and the concept of option value was developed to represent the non-tangible value of resources such as national parks.

CBA was expanded to address the intangible and tangible benefits of public policies relating to mental illness, substance abuse, college education, and chemical waste. In the US, the National Environmental Policy Act of 1969 required CBA for regulatory programs; since then, other governments have enacted similar rules. Government guidebooks for the application of CBA to public policies include the Canadian guide for regulatory analysis, the Australian guide for regulation and finance, and the US guides for health-care and emergency-management programs.

Transportation investment
CBA for transport investment began in the UK with the M1 motorway project and was later used for many projects, including the London Underground's Victoria line. The New Approach to Appraisal (NATA) was later introduced by the Department for Transport, Environment and the Regions. This presented balanced cost–benefit results and detailed environmental impact assessments. NATA was first applied to national road schemes in the 1998 Roads Review, and was subsequently rolled out to all transport modes. Maintained and developed by the Department for Transport, it was a cornerstone of UK transport appraisal in 2011.

The European Union's Developing Harmonised European Approaches for Transport Costing and Project Assessment (HEATCO) project, part of the EU's Sixth Framework Programme, reviewed transport appraisal guidance of EU member states and found significant national differences. HEATCO aimed to develop guidelines to harmonise transport appraisal practice across the EU.

Transport Canada promoted CBA for major transport investments with the 1994 publication of its guidebook. US federal and state transport departments commonly apply CBA with a variety of software tools, including HERS, BCA.Net, StatBenCost, Cal-BC, and TREDIS. Guides are available from the Federal Highway Administration, Federal Aviation Administration, Minnesota Department of Transportation, California Department of Transportation (Caltrans), and the Transportation Research Board's Transportation Economics Committee.

Accuracy
In health economics, CBA may be an inadequate measure because willingness-to-pay methods of determining the value of human life can be influenced by income level. Variants, such as cost–utility analysis, QALY and DALY to analyze the effects of health policies, may be more suitable.

For some environmental effects, cost–benefit analysis can be replaced by cost-effectiveness analysis. This is especially true when one type of physical outcome is sought, such as a reduction in energy use by an increase in energy efficiency. Using cost-effectiveness analysis is less laborious and time-consuming, since it does not involve the monetization of outcomes (which can be difficult in some cases).

It has been argued that if modern cost–benefit analyses had been applied to decisions such as whether to mandate the removal of lead from gasoline, block the construction of two proposed dams just above and below the Grand Canyon on the Colorado River, and regulate workers' exposure to vinyl chloride, the measures would not have been implemented (although all are considered highly successful). The US Clean Air Act has been cited in retrospective studies as a case in which benefits exceeded costs, but knowledge of the benefits (attributable largely to the benefits of reducing particulate pollution) was not available until many years later.

Process
A generic cost–benefit analysis has the following steps:
 * 1) Define the goals and objectives of the action.
 * 2) List alternative actions.
 * 3) List stakeholders.
 * 4) Select measurement(s) and measure all cost and benefit elements.
 * 5) Predict outcome of costs and benefits over the relevant time period.
 * 6) Convert all costs and benefits into a common currency.
 * 7) Apply discount rate.
 * 8) Calculate the net present value of actions under consideration.
 * 9) Perform sensitivity analysis.
 * 10) Adopt the recommended course of action.

In United States regulatory policy, cost-benefit analysis is governed by OMB Circular A-4.

Evaluation
CBA attempts to measure the positive or negative consequences of a project. A similar approach is used in the environmental analysis of total economic value. Both costs and benefits can be diverse. Costs tend to be most thoroughly represented in cost–benefit analyses due to relatively-abundant market data. The net benefits of a project may incorporate cost savings, public willingness to pay (implying that the public has no legal right to the benefits of the policy), or willingness to accept compensation (implying that the public has a right to the benefits of the policy) for the policy's welfare change. The guiding principle of evaluating benefits is to list all parties affected by an intervention and add the positive or negative value (usually monetary) that they ascribe to its effect on their welfare.

The actual compensation an individual would require to have their welfare unchanged by a policy is inexact at best. Surveys (stated preferences) or market behavior (revealed preferences) are often used to estimate compensation associated with a policy. Stated preferences are a direct way of assessing willingness to pay for an environmental feature, for example. Survey respondents often misreport their true preferences, however, and market behavior does not provide information about important non-market welfare impacts. Revealed preference is an indirect approach to individual willingness to pay. People make market choices of items with different environmental characteristics, for example, revealing the value placed on environmental factors.

The value of human life is controversial when assessing road-safety measures or life-saving medicines. Controversy can sometimes be avoided by using the related technique of cost–utility analysis, in which benefits are expressed in non-monetary units such as quality-adjusted life years. Road safety can be measured in cost per life saved, without assigning a financial value to the life. However, non-monetary metrics have limited usefulness for evaluating policies with substantially different outcomes. Other benefits may also accrue from a policy, and metrics such as cost per life saved may lead to a substantially different ranking of alternatives than CBA.In some cases, in addition to changing the benefit indicator, the cost-benefit analysis strategy is directly abandoned as a measure. In the 1980s, to ensure workers' safety, the US Supreme Court made an important decision to abandon the consideration of return on investment and instead seek the lowest cost-benefit to meet specific standards.

Another metric is valuing the environment, which in the 21st century is typically assessed by valuing ecosystem services to humans (such as air and water quality and pollution). Monetary values may also be assigned to other intangible effects such as business reputation, market penetration, or long-term enterprise strategy alignment.

Time and discounting
CBA generally attempts to put all relevant costs and benefits on a common temporal footing, using time value of money calculations. This is often done by converting the future expected streams of costs ($$C$$) and benefits ($$B$$) into a present value amount with a discount rate ($$r$$) and the net present value defined as:$$\text{NPV} = \sum_{t=0}^{\infty}{B_{t}-C_{t}\over{(1+r)^{t}}}$$The selection of a discount rate for this calculation is subjective. A smaller rate values the current generation and future generations equally. Larger rates (a market rate of return, for example) reflects human present bias or hyperbolic discounting: valuing money which they will receive in the near future more than money they will receive in the distant future. Empirical studies suggest that people discount future benefits in a way similar to these calculations. The choice makes a large difference in assessing interventions with long-term effects. An example is the equity premium puzzle, which suggests that long-term returns on equities may be higher than they should be after controlling for risk and uncertainty. If so, market rates of return should not be used to determine the discount rate because they would undervalue the distant future.

Methods for choosing a discount rate
For publicly traded companies, it is possible to find a project's discount rate by using an equilibrium asset pricing model to find the required return on equity for the company and then assuming that the risk profile of a given project is similar to that the company faces. Commonly used models include the capital asset pricing model (CAPM):$$r = r_{f} + \beta\left[\mathbb{E}(r_{M}) - r_{f} \right]$$and the Fama-French model:$$r = \underbrace{r_{f}}_{\text{Risk-Free Rate}} + \beta_{M}\underbrace{\left[\mathbb{E}(r_{M}) - r_{f} \right]}_{\text{Market Risk}} + \beta_{SMB}\underbrace{\left[\mathbb{E}(r_{S}) - \mathbb{E}(r_{B}) \right]}_{\text{Size Factor}} + \beta_{HML}\underbrace{\left[\mathbb{E}(r_{H}) - \mathbb{E}(r_{L}) \right]}_{\text{Value Factor}}$$where the $$\beta_{i}$$ terms correspond to the factor loadings. A generalization of these methods can be found in arbitrage pricing theory, which allows for an arbitrary number of risk premiums in the calculation of the required return.

Risk and uncertainty
Risk associated with project outcomes is usually handled with probability theory. Although it can be factored into the discount rate (to have uncertainty increasing over time), it is usually considered separately. Particular consideration is often given to agent risk aversion: preferring a situation with less uncertainty to one with greater uncertainty, even if the latter has a higher expected return.

Uncertainty in CBA parameters can be evaluated with a sensitivity analysis, which indicates how results respond to parameter changes. A more formal risk analysis may also be undertaken with the Monte Carlo method. However, even a low parameter of uncertainty does not guarantee the success of a project.

Principle of maximum entropy
Suppose that we have sources of uncertainty in a CBA that are best treated with the Monte Carlo method, and the distributions describing uncertainty are all continuous. How do we go about choosing the appropriate distribution to represent the sources of uncertainty? One popular method is to make use of the principle of maximum entropy, which states that the distribution with the best representation of current knowledge is the one with the largest entropy - defined for continuous distributions as:$$H(X) = \mathbb{E}\left[ -\log f(X) \right] = -\int_{\mathcal{S}}f(x)\log f(x) dx$$where $$\mathcal{S}$$ is the support set of a probability density function $$f(x)$$. Suppose that we impose a series of constraints that must be satisfied:

 * 1) $$f(x) \geq 0$$, with equality outside of $$\mathcal{S}$$
 * 2) $$\int_{\mathcal{S}}f(x) dx =1$$
 * 3) $$\int_{\mathcal{S}}r_{i}(x)f(x) dx = \alpha_{i}, \quad i = 1,...,m$$

where the last equality is a series of moment conditions. Maximizing the entropy with these constraints leads to the functional: $$J = \max_{f} \; \int_{\mathcal{S}} \left( -f\log f + \lambda_{0}f + \sum_{i=1}^{m}\lambda_{i}r_{i}f\right) dx$$where the $$\lambda_{i}$$ are Lagrange multipliers. Maximizing this functional leads to the form of a maximum entropy distribution:$$f(x) = \exp\left[ \lambda_{0} - 1 + \sum_{i=1}^{m}\lambda_{i}r_{i}(x) \right]$$There is a direct correspondence between the form of a maximum entropy distribution and the exponential family. Examples of commonly used continuous maximum entropy distributions in simulations include:

 * Uniform distribution
 * No constraints are imposed over the support set $$\mathcal{S}\in[a,b]$$
 * It is assumed that we have maximum ignorance about the uncertainty
 * Exponential distribution
 * Specified mean $$\mathbb{E}(X)$$ over the support set $$\mathcal{S}\in[0,\infty)$$
 * Gamma distribution
 * Specified mean $$\mathbb{E}(X)$$ and log mean $$\mathbb{E}(\log X)$$ over the support set $$\mathcal{S}\in[0,\infty)$$
 * The exponential distribution is a special case
 * Normal distribution
 * Specified mean $$\mathbb{E}(X)$$ and variance $$\text{Var}(X)$$ over the support set $$\mathcal{S}\in(-\infty,\infty)$$
 * If we have a specified mean and variance on the log scale, then the lognormal distribution is the maximum entropy distribution

CBA under US administrations
The increased use of CBA in the US regulatory process is often associated with President Ronald Reagan's administration. Although CBA in US policy-making dates back several decades, Reagan's Executive Order 12291 mandated its use in the regulatory process. After campaigning on a deregulation platform, he issued the 1981 EO authorizing the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) to review agency regulations and requiring federal agencies to produce regulatory impact analyses when the estimated annual impact exceeded $100 million. During the 1980s, academic and institutional critiques of CBA emerged. The three main criticisms were:
 * 1) That CBA could be used for political goals. Debates on the merits of cost and benefit comparisons can be used to sidestep political or philosophical goals, rules and regulations.
 * 2) That CBA is inherently anti-regulatory, and therefore a biased tool. The monetization of policy impacts is an inappropriate tool for assessing mortality risks and distributional impacts.
 * 3) That the length of time necessary to complete CBA can create significant delays, which can impede policy regulation.

These criticisms continued under the Clinton administration during the 1990s. Clinton furthered the anti-regulatory environment with his Executive Order 12866. The order changed some of Reagan's language, requiring benefits to justify (rather than exceeding) costs and adding "reduction of discrimination or bias" as a benefit to be analyzed. Criticisms of CBA (including uncertainty valuations, discounting future values, and the calculation of risk) were used to argue that it should play no part in the regulatory process. The use of CBA in the regulatory process continued under the Obama administration, along with the debate about its practical and objective value. Some analysts oppose the use of CBA in policy-making, and those in favor of it support improvements in analysis and calculations.

Criticisms
As a concept in economics, cost-benefit analysis has provided a valuable reference for many public construction and governmental decisions, but its application has gradually revealed a number of drawbacks and limitations. A number of critical arguments have been put forward in response. That include concerns about measuring the distribution of costs and benefits, discounting the costs and benefits to future generations, and accounting for the diminishing marginal utility of income. in addition, relying solely on cost-benefit analysis may lead to neglecting the multifaceted value factors of a project.

Distribution
CBA has been criticized in some disciplines as it relies on the Kaldor-Hicks criterion which does not take into account distributional issues. This means, that positive net-benefits are decisive, independent of who benefits and who loses when a certain policy or project is put into place. Phaneuf and Requate phrased it as follows "CBA today relies on the Kaldor-Hicks criteria to make statements about efficiency without addressing issues of income distribution. This has allowed economists to stay silent on issues of equity, while focusing on the more familiar task of measuring costs and benefits". The challenge raised is that it is possible for the benefits of successive policies to consistently accrue to the same group of individuals, and CBA is ambivalent between providing benefits to those that have received them in the past and those that have been consistently excluded. Policy solutions, such as progressive taxation can address some of these concerns.

Discounting and future generations
Others have critiqued the practice of discounting future costs and benefits for a variety of reasons, including the potential undervaluing of the temporally distant cost of climate change and other environmental damage, and the concern that such a practice effectively ignores the preferences of future generations. Some scholars argue that the use of discounting makes CBA biased against future generations, and understates the potential harmful impacts of climate change. The growing relevance of climate change has led to a re-examination of the practice of discounting in CBA. These biases can lead to biased resource allocation.

Marginal utility
The main criticism stems from the diminishing marginal utility of income. According to this critique, without using weights in the CBA, it is not the case that everyone "matters" the same but rather that people with greater ability to pay receive a higher weight. One reason for this is that for high income people, one monetary unit is worth less relative to low income people, so they are more willing to give up one unit in order to make a change that is favourable for them. This means that there is no symmetry in agents, i.e. some people benefit more from the same absolute monetary benefit. Any welfare change, no matter positive or negative, affects people with a lower income stronger than people with a higher income, even if the exact monetary impacts are identical. This is more than just a challenge to the distribution of benefits in CBA, it is a critique of the ability of CBA to accurately measure benefits as, according to this critique, using unweighted absolute willingness to pay overstates the costs and benefits to the wealthy, and understates those costs and benefits to the poor. Sometimes this is framed in terms of an argument about democracy, that each person's preferences should be given the same weight in an analysis (one person one vote), while under a standard CBA model the preferences of the wealthy are given greater weight.

Taken together, according to this objection, not using weights is a decision in itself – richer people receive de facto a bigger weight. To compensate for this difference in valuation, it is possible to use different methods. One is to use weights, and there are a number of different approaches for calculating these weights. Often, a Bergson-Samuelson social welfare function is used and weights are calculated according to the willingness-to-pay of people. Another method is to use percentage willingness to pay, where willingness to pay is measured as a percentage of total income or wealth to control for income. These methods would also help to address distributional concerns raised by the Kaldor-Hick criterion.

Limitations in the scope of assessment
Economic cost-benefit analysis tends to limit the assessment of benefits to economic values, ignoring the importance of other value factors such as the wishes of minority groups, inclusiveness and respect for the rights of others. These value factors are difficult to rank and measure in terms of weighting, yet cost-benefit analysis suffers from the inability to consider these factors comprehensively, thus lacking the integrity and comprehensiveness of social welfare judgements. Therefore, for projects with a higher standard of evaluation, other evaluation methods need to be used and referred to in order to compensate for these shortcomings and to assess the impact of the project on society in a more comprehensive and integrated manner.

title: Cost–benefit analysis


text:
Dream Center

The Dream Center is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit Christian Pentecostal network of community centers based in Los Angeles, California, established in 1994. The president of Dream Center is Matthew Barnett.

History
The organization was founded in 1994 by Pastor Matthew Barnett and Tommy Barnett of Dream City Church as a home missions project of the Southern California District of the Assemblies of God.

In 1996, after purchasing the old Queen of Angels Hospital in Echo Park, it transformed it into a social center for the homeless, prostitutes and members of street gangs.

In 2001, Pastor Matthew Barnett and the International Church of the Foursquare Gospel merged the Dream Center with the Angelus Temple, making Barnett the senior pastor over Angelus Temple as well as the Dream Center.

Associated Dream Centers have been established in other cities. As of 2022, the organization has established 84 centers in other cities and countries around the world.

Programs
Dream Center offers a food bank, clothing and assistance programs for victims of disaster, domestic violence, drug addiction, human trafficking and prisoners.

Controversy
In 2005, some Hurricane Katrina evacuees staying at the Dream Center said they had difficulty receiving donations. In response to the complaints several social activists, led by Ted Hayes, an advocate for the homeless, called a news conference demanding an investigation of the Dream Center. After visiting the Dream Center, however, and being given a tour of the facility, the activists concluded that the accusations were groundless. "There is no basis to the complaints we've heard," Hayes said, "The horror stories reported to us do not exist."

In 2017, a subsidiary of the Dream Center, in partnership with a private equity fund, purchased the Art Institutes, South University, and Argosy University systems of for-profit colleges from Education Management Corporation. The transaction received significant scrutiny, due to concerns about Dream Center's ability to successfully manage the acquired schools, and criticism that the transaction was designed to allow the schools to avoid increased regulation of for-profit colleges. The transaction, which was not approved by the Department of Education under the Obama administration, was approved in 2017 by Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos. In 2019, at least 30 of the art institutes and related colleges were closed, with some closures announced abruptly in the middle of the academic year. Some of the Art Institute programs were transferred to Studio Enterprise, a Los Angeles creative arts training firm funded by principals of the  private equity firm Colbeck Capital Management.

title: Dream Center


text:
Aberfeldy

Aberfeldy may refer to:

Places

 * Aberfeldy, Victoria, Australia
 * Aberfeldy, Ontario, Canada
 * Aberfeldy Village, London, England
 * Aberfeldy, Perth and Kinross, Scotland
 * Aberfeldy, Free State, South Africa

Other uses

 * Aberfeldy (band), a Scottish indie/chamber pop band
 * Aberfeldy (whisky), a brand of Scottish Malt Whisky
 * Aberfeldy River, Victoria, Australia

title: Aberfeldy