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University of Southern Queensland

The University of Southern Queensland (branded as UniSQ and formerly branded as USQ) is a medium-sized, regional university based in Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia, with four university campuses at Toowoomba, Springfield, and Ipswich. It offers courses in law, health, engineering, surveying and built environment, the sciences, business, education, and the arts. It operates three research institutes and nine research centres which focus on a wide range of business, agricultural, scientific, environmental, and technological issues.

The university was established in 1967 in Toowoomba as the Queensland Institute of Technology (Darling Downs) and achieved full university status as the University of Southern Queensland in 1992.

The university is recognised for having the largest Japanese-designed garden in Australia, and Australia's largest solar integrated carpark. In 2017, the university won the international Green Gown award for its approach to sustainability focusing on renewable energy, waste reduction, water retention, and integration of sustainability into strategic planning.

In 2012, the university's archaeologists discovered the oldest Australian rock art of 28,000 years old in the Northern Territory, and in 2018, the university's astronomers discovered a new planet that orbits an ancient star almost 2 billion years older than the sun.

The university has been recognised for its efforts in preventing violence against women and was cited as employer of choice for gender equality by the Federal Government's Workplace Gender Equality Agency (WGEA).

In June 2022, the university announced it was changing its branding from USQ to UniSQ, accompanied by a change in logo.

USQ consistently ranks among the top 400 universities worldwide. In the 2025 US News Best Global Universities rankings, it is positioned at 304th. In the 2025 QS World University Rankings, USQ holds the 396th spot. In the 2023 Times Higher Education (THE) World University Rankings, it is placed within the 301-350 range.

1960 to 1966: Darling Downs University Establishment Association (DDUEA)
After a meeting of over 200 members of the Toowoomba community on 2 December 1960, the Darling Downs University Establishment Association (DDUEA) was founded with the purpose of establishing a university in the Darling Downs region. Chaired by former mayor of Toowoomba Dr. Alex McGregor, the association successfully lobbied the local, state, and federal government for the establishment of an Institute of Technology located in Toowoomba. After the establishment of the Queensland Institute of Technology (Darling Downs), the association became known as the Darling Downs Association for Advanced Education (DDAAE), and later Darling Downs Unilink Limited. Darling Downs Unilink Limited went into receivership in 1996, with a subsequent auction of the organisation's art collection.

1967 to 1971: Queensland Institute of Technology (Darling Downs) (QITDD)
The Queensland Institute of Technology (Darling Downs) (QITDD) opened on 2 February 1967 in Toowoomba, beginning with 140 foundation students. By 1970, the institution provided studying programs for rural Queensland and international communities.

1971 to 1989: Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education (DDIAE)
In 1971, the institute became the Darling Downs Institute of Advanced Education (DDIAE). Managed by its own College Council, DDIAE educated 75% of the country's international students in the 1986–1987 school year.

On the evening of 11 April 1979, a fire destroyed the Administration Building (B Block). This resulted in the loss of the mailroom and switchboard. The cause of the fire was a staff member activating a bank of light switches which, unbeknownst to them, were also connected to a wall strip heater obscured by computer printout paper. While the damage was significant, student academic records were not affected and the institute was able to continue operating.

From 1980 to 1990, DDIAE grew significantly from 1,000 to 8,000 full-time student equivalents (EFTSL).

1990 to 1991: University College of Southern Queensland (UCSQ)
It became the University College of Southern Queensland (UCSQ) in 1990, under the sponsorship of the University of Queensland.

1992 to present: University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ, formerly USQ)
In 1992, the institution became the University of Southern Queensland (UniSQ) when it gained full university status. UniSQ was a founding member of the Regional Universities Network that was launched in 2011. The Network's research in 2013 showed that UniSQ generated $411.7 million into the economy of Queensland every year as well as household income of $255.4 million and 3,313 jobs in the communities of Toowoomba, Fraser Coast, and Springfield. Along with Toowoomba's investments in data centres, landscaped and business parks, air and land infrastructures, UniSQ has been contributing to making the region a centre of agribusiness, sustainable development, and trade.

Milestones

 * 2004, 8 July: Groundbreaking was held at Springfield campus.
 * 2006, 11 August: Springfield campus was officially opened by Minister for Education and Science Julie Bishop.
 * 2007, Semester 1: The first students started their studies at Springfield campus.
 * 2014, 5 March: Health & Recreation Club worth of $1.2 million and Engineering Laboratory were opened at Springfield campus.
 * 2015, 7 January: Ipswich campus was formally transferred to UniSQ.
 * 2015, 10 August: Clinical simulation labs worth of $1.7 million were opened at Ipswich campus.
 * 2015, 26 August: Building B (Awarded 6 Star Green Star by Green Building Council of Australia ) worth of $45 million was opened at Springfield campus.
 * 2016, Semester 1: Bachelor of Aviation was launched at Springfield campus and Bachelor of Midwifery was launched at Ipswich campus.
 * 2016, 20 June: Psychology and Counselling Clinic was opened at Ipswich campus.
 * 2017, 1 March: Midwifery Simulation Centre and Paramedic Simulation House were opened at Ipswich campus.
 * 2017, 27 October: Boeing 737 flight simulator worth of $1 million went into operation at Springfield campus.
 * 2017, Semester 2: The first students of Bachelor of Paramedicine were farewelled at Ipswich campus.

Campuses
UniSQ ensures that, as a regional university, its curriculum serves local and regional employment needs, as well as engaging in regional social and economic development and serving the regional community.

In stage two of the Sustainable Energy Solution project commenced in September 2017, 1198 solar panels were installed on building rooftops across UniSQ campuses in Springfield and Ipswich, generating 586,949 kilowatt hours and reducing thousands of tonnes of carbon emissions each year. As of 31 May 2018, smoking is banned in all areas at UniSQ.

Toowoomba campus
UniSQ Toowoomba is close to Toowoomba Wellcamp Airport and is approximately a two-hour drive from Brisbane. The campus has lecture theatres and syndicate rooms in the School of Business Building. The campus offers degrees in sciences, creative arts and media, business and commerce, engineering and built environment, education, health and community, information technology, humanities and communication, law and justice, English language programs, and pathway programs. There is a theatre, science laboratories, Olympic standard basketball courts, a 24 hour-access gym with high-tech equipment, a tennis centre, an aerobics centre, and netball courts at the Clive Berghofer Rec Center, social clubs, and other accommodation. It has the country's largest Japanese-designed garden (the Ju Raku En) and the Gumbi Gumbi gardens. Three co-educational residential colleges located on this campus are McGregor, Steele Rudd, and Concannon.

Springfield campus
UniSQ's Springfield campus is located at Springfield, a suburb of approximately 30 km southwest of Brisbane CBD, 1 hour from the Gold Coast, and about 20 minutes from Ipswich CBD. Springfield's public transportation includes bus services and a return train to Brisbane CBD. Serving as a hub for digital production and performance, the campus offers a range of undergraduate and postgraduate programs and includes a radio station, science and engineering laboratories, a television studio with spaces for rehearsal, collaborative teaching rooms, a fitness and recreation centre, an auditorium, and on-campus accommodation. The campus's flight simulator is helpful for aviation students to replicate both normal and abnormal scenarios of a flight with checks and procedures applied to airline pilots. Phoenix Radio at UniSQ Springfield is an online community radio station that serves the Greater Ipswich region and also provides training for students enrolled in the Bachelor of Applied Media program.

Ipswich campus
UniSQ Ipswich is located in the growing region of southeast Queensland, 40 minutes from the Brisbane CBD. The campus is home to UniSQ's health programs, which has laboratories for clinical nursing students, custom-built training facilities for paramedicine students, café, gym, and different sports fields. UniSQ Ipswich offers degrees in nursing, paramedicine, psychology, and counselling as well as tertiary preparation programs. The campus also includes a library with a rainforest and water features designed to increase air quality and contribute to the learning environment.

Business, Education Law and Arts (BELA)

 * School of Creative Arts
 * School of Commerce
 * School of Law and Justice
 * School of Management and Enterprise
 * School of Education
 * School of Humanities and Communication

Health, Engineering and Sciences (HES)

 * School of Sciences
 * School of Civil Engineering and Surveying
 * School of Health and Wellbeing
 * School of Nursing and Midwifery
 * School of Mechanical and Electrical Engineering
 * School of Psychology and Counselling

Extracurricular activities
UniSQ students, staff, and faculty members engage in a variety of extracurricular activities, such as taking part in the One Million Stars to End Violence project, organising symposiums to change people's attitude about children with autism, improving literacy for Indigenous children, and providing healthcare to disadvantaged communities in Thailand. In 2017, the Association for Tertiary Education Management (ATEM) presented UniSQ Stars Campaign to End Violence with the Engagement Australia Award for Excellence in Community Engagement. In 2015, the Enactus National Conference and Competition recognised three projects (Cash to Grow, Tertiary Texts, and Project Ignite) by eight UniSQ students (majoring in business, accounting, law, human services, psychology, and education) for creating positive impacts in local communities. The members of UniSQ's Golden Key Chapter (an invitation-only honour society, including of top 15% students from universities worldwide based on their academic achievement) also engage in a wide range of activities to serve the community, including volunteering with local schools, youth clubs, and state emergency service.

Law Society
The Law Society at UniSQ organises a yearly MOOT competition for law students and a Secondary Schools MOOT competition for young high schoolers. The winners of UniSQ's MOOT competition represent the region to take part in the Association National Championship Moot organised in Brisbane for Australian law students. The winners of UniSQ's Secondary Schools MOOT competition received scholarships to study in law programs at UniSQ. UniSQ's Law Society also organises events for law students to get career advice from professionals and learn to overcome challenges in the profession.

Sport
In the 2015 Northern Uni Games, UniSQ student-athletes won a gold medal in women's tennis, both gold and silver medals in lawn bowls, and bronze medals in both men's and women's basketball. In 2016 Northern Uni Games, UniSQ student-athletes won two gold medals in women's hockey and women's tennis, and a silver medal in open lawn bowls. In 2017 Northern Uni Games, UniSQ student-athletes won three gold medals in men's tennis, woman's tennis, and golf handicap, one silver medal in men's basketball, and another bronze medal in men's tennis. UniSQ students also competed in other sport tournaments at national and international levels, such as represented the Queensland Blades in the 2017 Australian Hockey League Championships, won the first places in ANB Qld State Championships , received the national Green and Gold merit after the annual 2016 Australian University Games, and captained Australia in the 2018 Indoor Hockey World Cup in Germany.

Change Makers
UniSQ also supports year 11 and 12 students with skills to improve the quality of life in local communities through Change Makers program. The program provides young students with financial support, guidance, and other resources to develop their visions of a better future and bring these ideas into practice. The program is an opportunity for students, especially disadvantaged students, to engage in teamwork, develop the skills of public speaking and project management. According to the National Center for Student Equity in Higher Education, twenty projects have been completed by students through Change Makers programs, including building a garden in community school to feed homeless people, raising awareness of inequality through concerts, and managing other projects dealing with pollution in community environments. The program won the CASE Circle of Excellence Silver Award for Public Relations and Community Relations Projects in 2015.

Arts and poetry
UniSQ's students produce plays, films, and entertainment shows addressing culture, gender identity, and the struggles of young people, including Ghosts of Leigh by Dallas Baker, Velvet Bourlevard by Ian Fulton, and I dated Batman by Tammy Sarah. The university also established the Bruce Dawe Poetry Prize (named after the university's first honorary professor for his contribution to the university) in 1999 to honour the most prominent poets in Australia. In addition, UniSQ Artsworx, established as an art venue and production house, supports students, artists, and community art activities through its McGregor Summer School, McGregor bursary, exhibition sponsorships at Downland Art exhibition, Hampton Art exhibition, GraduArt exhibition (annual art exhibition by UniSQ's students), and art exhibition raising funds for breast cancer treatment at St. Vincent Hospital.

Justice and gender equality
The flexible work arrangements and the program of Women's Advancement reflect the university's commitment to gender equality and the role of women in the workplace. Funded by the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade (DFAT), the Australian Centre for Sustainable Business and Development at UniSQ has conducted different international programs of approximately $1 million, such as Australian Awards Fellowship and AusAid Australian Leadership Awards Fellowship, aiming at fostering the role of women in business in accordance with Australian policies and practices.

Educational programs
It provides on-campus education that serves Darling Downs, Southern and Western Queensland as well as flexible learning programs through external learning or via off campus and overseas education partners in southern Africa, Fiji, South-east Asia, Sweden, Norway, and The Emirates. It operates the European Study Center in Bretten, Germany. UniSQ maintains accreditations for professional programs with professional and competent authorities, such as Australian Psychology Accreditation Council (APAC), Australian Nursing and Midwifery Accreditation Council (ANMAC), Legal Practitioners Admissions Board and Chief Justice of Queensland,  Chartered Institute of Management Accountants (CIMA), Association of International Accountants (AIA),  CPA Australia, Chartered Accountants Australia and New Zealand (CAANZ), Australian Computer Society, and Australian Human Resources Institute (AHRI). UniSQ won the Australian University of the Year Award in 2000–2001. UniSQ has 14 fields of research rated at and above world average standards by Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) in 2015. In the last audit, the ERA acknowledged UniSQ's pharmaceutical sciences, materials engineering, pharmacology, environmental science and management as well above world average standards. Attested with Quality System Certification of Registration, UniSQ maintains high educational standards through a program of centralised, staff-driven decision-making, discipline-based management, and quality assurance practices.A 2002 audit found that its quality assurance program could be more effective with improved systems of central monitoring and reviewing.

Beside providing a digital learning platform (partly funded with $50 million by the federal government ) for all courses and disciplines, the university also provides students with face-to-face instructions and real-life experiences, including the opportunity for students in the Bachelor of Applied Media (BMA) program to do all parts of production and direction of Connected, a lifestyle show produced for 31 Digital. Students at UniSQ took part in and won top awards at Miami and Tropfest international film competitions. The agreement between the West Wellcamp Airport and the Airline Academy of Australia includes that UniSQ provides undergraduate and post-graduate training for aviators in coordination with the academy's programs. Students in aviation program will receive professional pilot qualification issued by Australian Civil Aviation Authority after graduation and have the opportunities to take trial flights before commencing the program. They also have access to work-based training and further career development with Qantas Future Pilots Program. The university organised field trips for nursing students to provide healthcare in rural communities in Vietnam (funded through federal government's New Colombo program) and for researchers to raise awareness of root-lesion in India.

The Good Universities Guide 2018 showed that UniSQ Engineering and Psychology received high scores in graduates' full-time employment, and UniSQ received best overall ratings in the measures of graduates's full-time employment (82.5% / national average of 69.5%), starting salary, and equity. Professors and researchers at UniSQ gained important positions with regional and international organisations, such as Fulbright and Queensland's Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE). UniSQ's students benefit from partnerships and exchange programs between the university and other universities and organisations, such as Australian National University, University of California Riverside, and NASA. The university offers students a number of scholarships each year, such as School Partners Programs Scholarship and Vice-Chancellor's Principal's Recommendation Scholarship. Visitor speakers and lecturers at UniSQ come from different professional backgrounds, including NASA astronaut Colonel Robert S. Kimbrough, Chief Justice of the High Court Susan Kiefel, News Director Mike Dalton from Nine News Regional Queensland, rugby player Steve Walter, and bestselling author Steve Maraboli.

Research
UniSQ's research institutes are:
 * Digital Life Lab (DLL)
 * Institute for Life Sciences and the Environment
 * Institute for Advanced Engineering and Space Sciences
 * Institute for Resilient Regions (IRR)

UniSQ's research centres are:
 * Australian Centre for Sustainable Business and Development (ACSBD)
 * Centre for Crop Health (CHH)
 * Centre of Excellence in Engineering Fibre Composites (CEEFC)
 * Centre for Health Sciences Research (CHSR)
 * Computational Engineering and Science Research Centre (CERSC)
 * International Centre for Applied Climate Science (ICACS)
 * Centre for Future Materials (CFM)
 * Centre for Agricultural Engineering (CAE) (formerly NCEA)

The University of Southern Queensland has three research institutes and seven research centres which focus on issues such as agricultural technology, rural health, environmental management, biotechnology, education leadership, web based services, and fibre composite materials. Based on competitive grants won and industry-funded research collaborations, UniSQ has significant and core research strength in the broad area of agriculture and the environment. This core research strength generated over $10 million in new grant and industry funding, announced by vice-chancellor Bill Lovegrove in 2008. In 2003, the university established the Institute for Agriculture and the Environment (IAgE) with improved biotechnology and pathology laboratories. In 2017, the Queensland Drought Mitigation Centre (QDMC) was established as a result of collaboration between the university and the government. In 2017, as a part of the mega $15m campus expansion, the university started upgrading the Agricultural Science and Engineering Precinct (ASEP) to facilitate agricultural and material engineering development, including constructing new microbiology laboratories, glasshouses, dehumidified storage, and controlled ecological environments, developing methods of soil pathogen resistance, and applying vision sensing and robotics trials. In 2017, the university hosted Australia's first regional meeting with Australia-ASEAN Council (AAC) in Toowoomba Campus to discuss the issue of trade and agriculture in preparation for the Sydney ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in 2018. The participants addressed the global demand for food, the current problems in the industry, and the development of new technologies in environmental science, engineering, and agribusiness. In 2018, a new climate project of $8 million was established by the university, the Queensland government, and the MLA, bringing together world scientists to find better solutions for managing drought and predicting seasonal climates. UniSQ researchers undertake different roles with international climate organisations, such as the president of the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organization (with the commission to design better services for global agribusiness and climate risk management) and ocean expeditor in the Overturning in the Subpolar North Atlantic Program (with the mission to examine how ocean currents affect the world's weather). UniSQ also supports the usage of renewable energy by integrating 2MW solar power system with the carpark in Toowoomba campus to provide energy to the campus's activities, reducing the emission of carbon dioxide by 20 percent.

In addition, UniSQ has developed projects in the fields of construction industry and space research. The university's Centre for Future Materials (CFM) has researched and applied the technique of fibre reinforced polymer (FRP) in the project of Toowoomba City Hall renovation. The university, in collaboration with the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) and international researchers, has developed a project in researching green cement without reliance on clay and limestone. In 2017, the university, in collaboration with University of Sydney and University of New South Wales, received funding to build a telescope facility at Mount Kent Observatory, Darling Downs, Queensland. The new telescope facility has been supporting Australian astronomers to discover planet systems and perform an important role in NASA's TESS (Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite) mission.

Student enrolments
The university's student body includes full-time and part-time students from both Australia and overseas countries. Based upon the results of the 2013 International student barometer survey, UniSQ was named the top university for international student satisfaction in Australia that year. UniSQ's students come from a diversity of cultural backgrounds and speak different languages. In 2015, the university had around 28,203 students of which approximately 84% were domestic students, 16% were international students, 15.8 was the number of students per staff, and 1.17 was the student ratio of females to males.

Notable alumni

 * Angie Asimus – TV presenter on Seven News Sydney.
 * Alix Bidstrup – actress, starred on All Saints as Amy Fielding.
 * Kathryn Campbell – disgraced former Australian public servant, former senior officer Australian Army Reserve, 2011 Alumnus of the Year
 * Kev Carmody – Singer and songwriter, ARIA Hall of Fame
 * Teresa Hsu Chih – Singaporean social worker
 * Melanie Zanetti – Australian actress, best known for voicing Chilli Heeler on Bluey
 * Richard Dalla-Riva – Australian politician, Minister for Manufacturing, Exports and Trade from 2010 to 2013
 * Russell Dykstra – Australian actor
 * Aisake Eke – Former Minister of Finance and National Planning, Kingdom of Tonga
 * Deb Frecklington – Australian politician, first female leader of LNP
 * Jason Gann – Actor and writer
 * Stephen Hagan – Australian former diplomat, author, activist, newspaper editor, documentary maker, and university lecturer
 * Shameel Joosub – South African businessman and CEO of Vodacom, a South African telecommunications operator within Africa
 * Atul Khare – Indian Foreign Service officer, United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Field Support
 * Preetha Krishna – Indian spiritual teacher
 * Nelle Lee – Australian actress, producer and writer
 * Jamus Lim – Singaporean Member of Parliament and economist
 * Katrina Fong Lim – Lord Mayor of Darwin (3 April 2012 – 4 September 2017)
 * Paul Lucas – Former politician and Attorney-General of Queensland
 * John McVeigh – former Minister for Regional Development, Territories and Local Government
 * Stuart Mayer – Commander Australian Fleet, Royal Australian Navy, from 2014 to 2018
 * Theresa Moltoni – Businessperson, President of Chamber of Commerce & Industry Queensland, recipient of OAM in the 2016 Queens Birthday Honours
 * Claire Moore – Australian politician, Queensland senator
 * Tina Morgan – Australian taekwondo coach and former international competitor
 * Ingrid Moses – Australian academic, Chancellor of the University of Canberra from 2006 to 2011
 * Joe Roff – Rugby union footballer, CEO of John James Foundation
 * Senator the Hon Anne Ruston – Australian politician, South Australia senator
 * Sebastian Teo – Singaporean politician and President of NSP
 * Christian Thompson – Artist
 * Adam Zwar – Actor and writer

Malaysia

 * Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman

title: University of Southern Queensland


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Tibetan Plateau

The Tibetan Plateau, also known as Qinghai–Tibet Plateau and Qing–Zang Plateau, is a vast elevated plateau located at the intersection of Central, South, and East Asia covering most of the Tibet Autonomous Region, most of Qinghai, western half of Sichuan, Southern Gansu provinces in Western China, southern Xinjiang, Bhutan, the Indian regions of Ladakh and Lahaul and Spiti (Himachal Pradesh) as well as Gilgit-Baltistan in Pakistan, northwestern Nepal, eastern Tajikistan and southern Kyrgyzstan. It stretches approximately 1000 km north to south and 2500 km east to west. It is the world's highest and largest plateau above sea level, with an area of 2500000 km2 (about five times the size of Metropolitan France). With an average elevation exceeding 4500 m and being surrounded by imposing mountain ranges that harbor the world's two highest summits, Mount Everest and K2, the Tibetan Plateau is often referred to as "the Roof of the World".

The Tibetan Plateau contains the headwaters of the drainage basins of most of the streams and rivers in surrounding regions. This includes the three longest rivers in Asia (the Yellow, Yangtze, and Mekong). Its tens of thousands of glaciers and other geographical and ecological features serve as a "water tower" storing water and maintaining flow. It is sometimes termed the Third Pole because its ice fields contain the largest reserve of fresh water outside the polar regions. The impact of climate change on the Tibetan Plateau is of ongoing scientific interest.

Description
The Tibetan Plateau is surrounded by the massive mountain ranges of high-mountain Asia. The plateau is bordered to the south by the inner Himalayan range, to the north by the Kunlun Mountains, which separate it from the Tarim Basin, and to the northeast by the Qilian Mountains, which separate the plateau from the Hexi Corridor and Gobi Desert. To the east and southeast the plateau gives way to the forested gorge and ridge geography of the mountainous headwaters of the Salween, Mekong, and Yangtze rivers in northwest Yunnan and western Sichuan (the Hengduan Mountains). In the west, the curve of the rugged Karakoram range of northern Kashmir embraces the plateau. The Indus River originates in the western Tibetan Plateau in the vicinity of Lake Manasarovar.

The Tibetan Plateau is bounded in the north by a broad escarpment where the altitude drops from around 5000 m to 1500 m over a horizontal distance of less than 150 km. Along the escarpment is a range of mountains. In the west, the Kunlun Mountains separate the plateau from the Tarim Basin. About halfway across the Tarim the bounding range becomes the Altyn-Tagh and the Kunluns, by convention, continue somewhat to the south. In the 'V' formed by this split is the western part of the Qaidam Basin. The Altyn-Tagh ends near the Dangjin pass on the Dunhuang–Golmud road. To the west are short ranges called the Danghe, Yema, Shule, and Tulai Nanshans. The easternmost range is the Qilian Mountains. The line of mountains continues east of the plateau as the Qinling, which separates the Ordos Plateau from Sichuan. North of the mountains runs the Gansu or Hexi Corridor which was the main silk-road route from China proper to the West.

The plateau is a high-altitude arid steppe interspersed with mountain ranges and large brackish lakes. Annual precipitation ranges from 100 to 300 mm and falls mainly as hail. The southern and eastern edges of the steppe have grasslands that can sustainably support populations of nomadic herdsmen, although frost occurs for six months of the year. Permafrost occurs over extensive parts of the plateau. Proceeding to the north and northwest, the plateau becomes progressively higher, colder, and drier, until reaching the remote Changtang region in the northwestern part of the plateau. Here the average altitude exceeds 5000 m and winter temperatures can drop to −40 °C. As a result of this extremely inhospitable environment, the Changtang region (together with the adjoining Kekexili region) is the least populous region in Asia and the third least populous area in the world after Antarctica and northern Greenland.

Geology and geological history

The geological history of the Tibetan Plateau is closely related to that of the Himalayas. The Himalayas belong to the Alpine Orogeny and are therefore among the younger mountain ranges on the planet, consisting mostly of uplifted sedimentary and metamorphic rock. Their formation is a result of a continental collision or orogeny along the convergent boundary between the Indo-Australian Plate and the Eurasian Plate.

The collision began in the Upper Cretaceous period about 70 million years ago, when the north-moving Indo-Australian Plate, moving at about 15 cm per year, collided with the Eurasian Plate. About 50 million years ago, this fast-moving Indo-Australian plate had completely closed the Tethys Ocean, the existence of which has been determined by sedimentary rocks settled on the ocean floor, and the volcanoes that fringed its edges. Since these sediments were light, they crumpled into mountain ranges rather than sinking to the floor. During this early stage of its formation in the Late Palaeogene, Tibet consisted of a deep palaeovalley bounded by multiple mountain ranges rather than the more topographically uniform elevated flatland that it is today. The Tibetan Plateau's mean elevation continued to vary since its initial uplift in the Eocene; isotopic records show the plateau's altitude was around 3,000 metres above sea level around the Oligocene-Miocene boundary and that it fell by 900 metres between 25.5 and 21.6 million years ago, attributable to tectonic unroofing from east–west extension or to erosion from climatic weathering. The plateau subsequently rose by 500 to 1,000 metres between 21.6 and 20.4 million years ago. Palaeobotanical evidence indicates that the Nujiang Suture Zone and the Yarlung-Zangpo Suture Zone remained tropical or subtropical lowlands until the latest Oligocene or Early Miocene, enabling biotic interchange across Tibet. The age of east–west grabens in the Lhasa and Himalaya terranes suggests that the plateau's elevation was close to its modern altitude by around 14 to 8 million years ago. Erosion rates in Tibet decreased significantly around 10 million years ago. The Indo-Australian plate continues to be driven horizontally below the Tibetan Plateau, which forces the plateau to move upwards; the plateau is still rising at a rate of approximately 5 mm per year (although erosion reduces the actual increase in height).

Much of the Tibetan Plateau is of relatively low relief. The cause of this is debated among geologists. Some argue that the Tibetan Plateau is an uplifted peneplain formed at low altitude, while others argue that the low relief stems from erosion and infill of topographic depressions that occurred at already high elevations. The current tectonics of the plateau are also debated. The best-regarded explanations are provided by the block model and the alternative continuum model. According to the former, the crust of the plateau is formed of several blocks with little internal deformation separated by major strike-slip faults. In the latter, the plateau is affected by distributed deformation resulting from flow within the crust.

Environment
The Tibetan Plateau supports a variety of ecosystems, most of them classified as montane grasslands. While parts of the plateau feature an alpine tundra-like environment, other areas feature monsoon-influenced shrublands and forests. Species diversity is generally reduced on the plateau due to the elevation and low precipitation. The Tibetan Plateau hosts the Tibetan wolf, and species of snow leopard, wild yak, wild ass, cranes, vultures, hawks, geese, snakes, and water buffalo. One notable animal is the high-altitude jumping spider, that can live at elevations of over 6500 m.

Ecoregions found on the Tibetan Plateau, as defined by the World Wide Fund for Nature, are as follows:
 * The Pamir alpine desert and tundra covers the western end of the Tibetan Plateau where it transitions to the Pamir Mountains
 * The North Tibetan Plateau–Kunlun Mountains alpine desert covers the northwestern limits of the Tibetan Plateau along the Kunlun Mountains
 * The Karakoram–West Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe covers the westernmost parts of the Tibetan Plateau and Ladakh
 * The Northwestern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows on the edges mountains bordering the extreme west of the Tibetan Plateau
 * The Central Tibetan Plateau alpine steppe covers most of the central portions of the Tibetan Plateau and the eastern Changtang
 * The Western Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows covers the southwestern plateau in the Garuda Valley region
 * The Qaidam Basin semi-desert located in the Qaidam Basin on the northern Tibetan Plateau
 * The Qilian Mountains subalpine meadows covering the Qilian Mountains in the northernmost portions of the plateau
 * The Qilian Mountains conifer forests covering parts of the mountain ranges in the northeastern Tibetan Plateau
 * The Tibetan Plateau alpine shrublands and meadows covering a swath of the central and northeastern Tibetan Plateau
 * The Yarlung Tsangpo arid steppe in the Yarlung Tsangpo river Valley, where most of the permanent human population on the Tibetan Plateau lives
 * The Eastern Himalayan alpine shrub and meadows cover the southern Tibetan Plateau on the north side of the Himalayas
 * The Southeast Tibet shrub and meadows cover the southeastern and eastern parts of the plateau and are generally rainier than the other high-altitude Tibetan Plateau regions
 * The Northeastern Himalayan subalpine conifer forests reach up mountain valleys in the southern plateau and contain some of the highest altitude forests in the world
 * The Nujiang Lancang Gorge alpine conifer and mixed forests cover the mountain valleys that reach 500 km into the southeastern Tibetan Plateau
 * The Hengduan Mountains subalpine conifer forests cover the southeasternmost mountain valleys on the plateau
 * The Qionglai–Minshan conifer forests cover the eastern edges of the plateau and are the densest forests to be found anywhere on the Tibetan Plateau

Human history

Extinct humans (Denisovans) lived on the Tibetan plateau from around 200,000 to 40,000 years ago. this is according to a study published in Nature.

Nomads on the Tibetan Plateau and in the Himalayas are the remainders of nomadic practices historically once widespread in Asia and Africa. Pastoral nomads constitute about 40% of the ethnic Tibetan population. The presence of nomadic peoples on the plateau is predicated on their adaptation to survival on the world's grassland by raising livestock rather than crops, which are unsuitable to the terrain. Archaeological evidence suggests that the earliest human occupation of the plateau occurred between 30,000 and 40,000 years ago. Since colonization of the Tibetan Plateau, Tibetan culture has adapted and flourished in the western, southern, and eastern regions of the plateau. The northern portion, the Changtang, is generally too high and cold to support permanent population. One of the most notable civilizations to have developed on the Tibetan Plateau is the Tibetan Empire from the 7th century to the 9th century AD.

Role in monsoons
Monsoons are caused by the different amplitudes of surface temperature seasonal cycles between land and oceans. This differential warming occurs because heating rates differ between land and water. Ocean heating is distributed vertically through a "mixed layer" that may be 50 meters deep through the action of wind and buoyancy-generated turbulence, whereas the land surface conducts heat slowly, with the seasonal signal penetrating only a meter or so. Additionally, the specific heat capacity of liquid water is significantly greater than that of most materials that make up land. Together, these factors mean that the heat capacity of the layer participating in the seasonal cycle is much larger over the oceans than over land, with the consequence that the land warms and cools faster than the ocean. In turn, air over the land warms faster and reaches a higher temperature than does air over the ocean. The warmer air over land tends to rise, creating an area of low pressure. The pressure anomaly then causes a steady wind to blow toward the land, which brings the moist air over the ocean surface with it. Rainfall is then increased by the presence of the moist ocean air. The rainfall is stimulated by a variety of mechanisms, such as low-level air being lifted upwards by mountains, surface heating, convergence at the surface, divergence aloft, or from storm-produced outflows near the surface. When such lifting occurs, the air cools due to expansion in lower pressure, which in turn produces condensation and precipitation. In winter, the land cools off quickly, but the ocean maintains the heat longer. The hot air over the ocean rises, creating a low-pressure area and a breeze from land to ocean while a large area of drying high pressure is formed over the land, increased by wintertime cooling. Monsoons are similar to sea and land breezes, a term usually referring to the localized, diurnal cycle of circulation near coastlines everywhere, but they are much larger in scale, stronger and seasonal. The seasonal monsoon wind shift and weather associated with the heating and cooling of the Tibetan plateau is the strongest such monsoon on Earth.

Glaciology: the Ice Age and at present
Today, Tibet is an important heating surface of the atmosphere. However, during the Last Glacial Maximum, an approximately 2400000 km2 ice sheet covered the plateau. Due to its great extent, this glaciation in the subtropics was an important element of radiative forcing. With a much lower latitude, the ice in Tibet reflected at least four times more radiation energy per unit area into space than ice at higher latitudes. Thus, while the modern plateau heats the overlying atmosphere, during the Last Ice Age it helped to cool it.

This cooling had multiple effects on regional climate. Without the thermal low pressure caused by the heating, there was no monsoon over the Indian subcontinent. This lack of monsoon caused extensive rainfall over the Sahara, expansion of the Thar Desert, more dust deposited into the Arabian Sea, and a lowering of the biotic life zones on the Indian subcontinent. Animals responded to this shift in climate, with the Javan rusa migrating into India.

In addition, the glaciers in Tibet created meltwater lakes in the Qaidam Basin, the Tarim Basin, and the Gobi Desert, despite the strong evaporation caused by the low latitude. Silt and clay from the glaciers accumulated in these lakes; when the lakes dried at the end of the ice age, the silt and clay were blown by the downslope wind off the Plateau. These airborne fine grains produced the enormous amount of loess in the Chinese lowlands.

Frozen biological samples
Ice of the plateau provides a valuable window to the past. In 2015, researchers studying the Plateau reached the top of the Guliya glacier, with ice thickness of 310 m, and drilled to a depth of 50 m in order to recover ice core samples. Due to the extremely low biomass in those 15,000-year-old samples, it had taken around 5 years of research to extract 33 viruses, of which 28 were new to science. None had survived the extraction process. Phylogenetic analysis suggests those viruses infected plants or other microorganisms.

Climate change
The Tibetan Plateau contains the world's third-largest store of ice. Qin Dahe, the former head of the China Meteorological Administration, issued the following assessment in 2009: "Temperatures are rising four times faster than elsewhere in China, and the Tibetan glaciers are retreating at a higher speed than in any other part of the world. In the short term, this will cause lakes to expand and bring floods and mudflows. In the long run, the glaciers are vital lifelines for Asian rivers, including the Indus and the Ganges. Once they vanish, water supplies in those regions will be in peril."The Tibetan Plateau contains the largest area of low-latitude glaciers and is particularly vulnerable to global warming. Over the past five decades, 80% of the glaciers in the Tibetan Plateau have retreated, losing 4.5% of their combined areal coverage.

This region is also liable to suffer damages from permafrost thaw caused by climate change.

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

title: Tibetan Plateau


text:
McDonald Observatory

McDonald Observatory is an astronomical observatory located near unincorporated community of Fort Davis in Jeff Davis County, Texas, United States. The facility is located on Mount Locke in the Davis Mountains of West Texas, with additional facilities on Mount Fowlkes, approximately 1.3 km to the northeast. The observatory is part of The University of Texas at Austin. It is an organized research unit of the College of Natural Sciences.

The observatory produces StarDate, a daily syndicated radio program consisting of short segments related to astronomy that airs on both National Public Radio and commercial radio stations — about 400 affiliates in all.

History

McDonald Observatory was originally endowed by the Texas banker William Johnson McDonald (1844–1926), who left about $1 million — the bulk of his fortune — to The University of Texas at Austin to endow an astronomical observatory. Edwin Hockaday Fowlkes, step-son of the land's original owner John Chandler Prude, donated the land to the University of Texas to build the observatory. The provision of the will was challenged by McDonald's relatives, but after a long legal fight, the university received about $800,000 from the estate and construction began at Mt. Locke. The then-unnamed Otto Struve Telescope was dedicated on May 5, 1939, and at that time was the second largest telescope in the world. McDonald Observatory was operated under contract by The University of Chicago until the 1960s, when control was transferred to The University of Texas at Austin under the direction of Harlan J. Smith.

Research today at the McDonald Observatory encompasses a wide variety of topics and projects, including the search for and understanding of planetary systems, stars and stellar spectroscopy, the interstellar medium, extragalactic astronomy, and theoretical astronomy. The Hobby-Eberly Telescope Dark Energy Experiment, or HETDEX, is a multi-year undertaking to decode the nature of dark energy.

Directors
 * Otto Struve (1932–1950)
 * Gerard Peter Kuiper (Sept. 1947–Dec. 1949, Sept. 1957–Mar. 1959)
 * Bengt Georg Daniel Strömgren (Jan. 1951–Aug. 1957)
 * William Wilson Morgan (Apr. 1959–Aug. 1963)
 * Harlan James Smith (Sept. 1963–1989)
 * Frank N. Bash (1989–2003)
 * David L. Lambert (2003–2014)
 * Taft E. Armandroff (2014–present)

Observatory

McDonald Observatory is equipped with a wide range of instrumentation for imaging and spectroscopy in the optical and infrared spectra, and operates the first lunar laser ranging station. It works closely with the astronomy department of The University of Texas at Austin while maintaining administrative autonomy. The high and dry peaks of the Davis Mountains make for some of the darkest and clearest night skies in the region and provide excellent conditions for astronomical research.

The Otto Struve Telescope, dedicated in 1939, was the first large telescope built at the observatory. It is located on Mt. Locke at an altitude of 2070 m. The summit of Mt. Locke, accessed by Spur 78, is the highest point on Texas highways. The Harlan J. Smith Telescope, also on Mt. Locke, was completed in 1968.

The Hobby-Eberly Telescope (HET), dedicated in late 1997, is located on the summit of Mt. Fowlkes at 2030 m above sea level. It is operated jointly by The University of Texas at Austin, Pennsylvania State University, Ludwig Maximilian University of Munich, and Georg-August University of Göttingen. As of 2019, after upgrades the HET is tied with the Keck Telescopes as the second or third largest telescope in the world. However, its cost was about 20% that of other similarly sized telescopes in use today due to its optimization for spectroscopy.

Additionally, The University of Texas at Austin is a founding partner of the international collaboration to build the Giant Magellan Telescope. McDonald Observatory administrators, scientists, and engineers are heavily involved in the endeavor. Director Taft Armandroff currently serves as Vice Chair to the GMT Board of Directors, and has served as chair.

Telescopes

Currently, the observatory operates four research telescopes at its West Texas site:

 * 10 m Hobby-Eberly Telescope on Mt. Fowlkes
 * 107 in Harlan J. Smith Telescope on Mt. Locke
 * 82 in Otto Struve Telescope on Mt. Locke
 * 30 in large format imaging telescope on Mt. Locke

A 36 in telescope, formerly used for research, is now used for visitor programs.

Tenant telescopes
The two peaks also host a number of other instruments:

 * The 1.2 m Monitoring Network of Telescopes (MONET) North Telescope on Mt. Locke is a companion to one at the South African Astronomical Observatory in Sutherland, and was built by Halfmann Teleskoptechnik.
 * Two 1.0 m telescopes and one 0.4 m telescope located on Mt. Fowlkes are part of the Las Cumbres Observatory Global Telescope Network.
 * The McDonald Laser Ranging System (MLRS) operates a 0.76 m telescope on Mt. Fowlkes to perform satellite laser ranging and lunar laser ranging.
 * A 0.5 m Ritchey-Chretien reflector owned by Boston University on Mt. Locke is used for optical aeronomy.
 * The 0.4 m Robotic Optical Transient Search Experiment (ROTSE) reflector on Mt. Fowlkes is used to search for the optical signature of gamma-ray bursts.

Former telescopes

 * The 4.9 m Millimeter Wave Observatory (MWO) radio telescope operated on Mt. Locke until 1988. MWO was a joint project between the UT Department of Astronomy and the Department of Electrical Engineering.  The site of the dish antenna is now occupied by the BLOOMhouse, the UT School of Architecture's entry in the 2007 Solar Decathlon, which is now used for staff housing.

Climate
The observatory experiences a semi-arid climate (Köppen BSk) with cool, dry winters and hot, wetter summers.
 * Coordinates: 30.70528°N, -104.02333°W
 * Elevation: 6790 ft

Visiting

The Frank N. Bash Visitors Center, located between Mt. Locke and Mt. Fowlkes, includes a gift shop and interactive exhibit hall. The Visitors Center conducts daily live solar viewings in a large theater and tours of the observatory's largest telescopes. It also hosts evening star parties, every Tuesday, Friday, and Saturday evening which allow visitors to look through numerous telescopes of various sizes in the Rebecca Gale Telescope Park.

Special Viewing Nights, during which visitors can stay on-site (not required for the programs) and view directly through eyepieces on the 0.9 m and Struve (2.1m) telescopes, are held on a reservation-only basis.

title: McDonald Observatory


text:
Isuzu

Isuzu Motors Ltd. (いすゞ自動車株式会社), commonly known as Isuzu, is a Japanese multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Yokohama, Kanagawa Prefecture. Its principal activity is the production, marketing and sale of Isuzu commercial vehicles and diesel engines.

The company also has a number of subsidiaries and joint ventures, including UD Trucks, Anadolu Isuzu (a Turkish joint venture with Anadolu Group), Sollers-Isuzu (a Russian joint venture with Sollers JSC - Production stopped in March 2022, Isuzu stake transferred to Sollers in July 2023 ), SML Isuzu (an Indian venture formerly known as Swaraj Mazda), Jiangxi Isuzu Motors (a Chinese joint venture with Jiangling Motors Company Group), Isuzu Astra Motor Indonesia, Isuzu Malaysia (Isuzu HICOM), Industries Mécaniques Maghrébines, Isuzu UK, Isuzu South Africa, Isuzu Philippines, Taiwan Isuzu Motors, Isuzu Vietnam, Isuzu Motors India and BYD Isuzu.

Isuzu has assembly and manufacturing plants in Fujisawa, which have been there since the company was founded under earlier names, as well as in the Tochigi and Hokkaidō prefectures. Isuzu-branded vehicles are sold in most commercial markets worldwide. Isuzu's primary market focus is on commercial diesel-powered truck, buses and construction.

Named after the Isuzu River, the kanji of Isuzu (五十鈴) mean "fifty bells".

History

Isuzu Motors' history began in 1916, when Tokyo Ishikawajima Shipbuilding and Engineering Co., Ltd. planned a cooperation with the Tokyo Gas and Electric Industrial Company to build automobiles. The next step was taken in 1918, when a technical cooperation with Wolseley Motors Limited was initiated, yielding exclusive rights to the production and sales of Wolseley vehicles in East Asia from knock-down kits. In 1919 came the first ever Japan-produced passenger car, a Wolseley model, the Fifteen A9 15/40 НР at the Tokyo Ishikawajima Shipyard at the Fukagawa Factory. The Wolseley sourced CP truck followed two years later; 550 of these were built by 1927. In 1923 Japan was devastated by the Kanto earthquake which made the fledgling transportation infrastructure that was heavily reliant on government-owned railroads unusable due to the twisted tracks. Heavy construction vehicles were imported from the United States companies GMC and Ford to aid in recovery and reconstruction, and the company sought to contribute by producing locally built construction and heavy duty vehicles. In 1927 the company introduced its 2-ton load capacity "Sumida P-type truck" equipped with an A6 engine and a 1-ton vehicle "Sumida M-type No. 1 bus" equipped with an A4 engine. The name "sumida" was used from the Sumida River as the factory at Fukagawa was close by.

In 1929 IHI Corporation, separated part of its manufacturing business and merged with DAT Automobile Manufacturing (a predecessor of Nissan) and changed its name to Jidosha Kogyo Co., Ltd. (Automobile Industries Co., Ltd.) The names used for the products of this company, marketed as "Sumida" and "Chiyoda", have special significance in Japan. Chiyoda is a district in Tokyo where the Imperial Palace is located, and Sumida refers to a river that flows through Tokyo approximately 3.59 km east of the Imperial Palace. In 1934 the Tsurumi Factory opened under company name Automobile Industry Co., Ltd. and in 1937 Automobile Industries was reorganized and formed into a new company, Tokyo Automobile Industries Co., Ltd. and was founded with a capital of ¥1,000,000. The company continued to manufacture heavy duty trucks and passenger busses, realizing the need to modernize the transportation infrastructure of Japan, and was one of the primary manufacturers for the Imperial Japanese Army along with Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, and had a corporate allegiance to the Yasuda Zaibatsu. One of the vehicles it produced for the war effort was the Sumida M.2593 armored personnel carrier. In 1942, Hino Heavy Industries was split off from Tokyo Automobile Industries, becoming a separate corporation. After World War II, the company was finally renamed to Isuzu (after the Isuzu River) in 1949, following a meeting with the Japanese Government's Ministry of International Trade and Industry.

Etymology
The word Isuzu translated into English means "fifty bells"—hence the focus on "bell" in both the later Bellel and the Bellett. The name was used from the Isuzu River that flows near to the Ise Grand Shrine, one of Japan's most sacred and revered shrines.

Post World War history
Truck and bus production of the TX40 and TU60 series and the Isuzu Sumida bus resumed in 1945, with the permission of the occupation authorities. and has remained the primary focus of manufacture for the company, along with diesel engine production. In 1958 a factory was built at Fujisawa, Kanagawa, and in 1959 the Isuzu Elf was introduced as a medium duty cab over commercial truck which is still in production, and was also shared with the Isuzu Journey bus. Isuzu continued to maintain its market presence by providing commercial vehicles by introducing the Isuzu TY in 1966. The company is one of the primary manufacturers of commercial duty trucks and busses for public transportation, to include the Isuzu Cubic, Isuzu Gala and the Isuzu Erga along with the Isuzu Giga.

Corporate partnerships
Beginning in 1953 the Hillman Minx passenger car is produced under license of Rootes Group giving the company a passenger car to compete with other Japanese manufacturers, realizing that their resources were limited and therefore sought out international partnerships. The Minx remained in production until 1962, after the 1961 introduction of Isuzu's first passenger car, the Bellel, and later the sports coupe Isuzu 117 Coupé. Being a small producer making cars which were somewhat too large and pricey for the Japanese market at the time, Isuzu spent some time looking for a commercial partner. Under pressure from MITI, who were attempting to limit the number of automobile manufacturers in Japan, a cooperation with Fuji Heavy Industries (Subaru) began in 1966. This joint sales-service collaboration was seen as the first step towards an eventual merger. The Subaru 1000 was even shown in Isuzu's 1967 annual vehicle brochure, as a suitable complement to the larger Isuzu lineup. This tie-up was over by 1968, when an agreement with Mitsubishi was formed. This ended even more quickly, by 1969, and the next year an equally short-lived collaboration was entered with Nissan. A few months later, in September 1971, what was to prove a more durable capital agreement was signed with General Motors.

Linking with General Motors

While the company had a long relationship with GM going back to the 1920s, the first investment of GM taking a 34% stake in Isuzu was seen in 1972, when the Chevrolet LUV became the first Isuzu-built vehicle to be sold in the United States. To symbolize the new beginning, Isuzu also developed a new logo for 1974, with two vertical pillars as stylized representations of the first syllable in いすゞ ("Isuzu"). In 1974 Isuzu introduced the Gemini, which was co-produced with General Motors as the T-body Chevrolet Chevette. A modified version was sold in the United States as Buick's Opel by Isuzu, and in Australia as the Holden Gemini. As a result of the collaboration, certain American GM products were sold to Japanese customers through Isuzu dealerships. Holden's Statesman was also briefly sold (246 examples) with Isuzu badging in Japan during the seventies. Isuzu exports also increased considerably as a result of being able to use GM networks, from 0.7% of production in 1973 to 35.2% by 1976; this while overall production increased more than fourfold in the same period. As a result of the GM joint venture, Isuzu engines were also used by existing GM divisions (some USA-market Chevrolet automobiles had Isuzu powertrains e.g. the Chevette and early S10/S15 trucks manufactured prior to 1985).

In 1981 Isuzu began selling consumer and commercial vehicles under their own brand in the United States. The Isuzu P'Up was the first model sold to consumers as an Isuzu, rather than as a Chevrolet or Buick, along with the Isuzu Piazza sports car. Isuzu's then president Toshio Okamoto then initiated a collaboration with small-car expert Suzuki to develop a global small car for GM, the S-car. A three-way agreement of co-ownership was signed in August 1981, with Isuzu and Suzuki exchanging shares and General Motors taking a 5% share of Suzuki. Following on from this, in 1985 Isuzu and GM established the IBC Vehicles venture in the United Kingdom, producing locally built versions of Isuzu and Suzuki light vans (the Isuzu Fargo and Suzuki Carry); to be sold in the European market under Vauxhall's Bedford brand. During this period Isuzu also developed a worldwide presence as an exporter of diesel engines, with their powerplants in use by Opel/Vauxhall, Land Rover, Hindustan, and many others. Two Isuzu model lines (Gemini, Impulse) were marketed as part of the Geo division (Spectrum, Storm) when it was initially launched as a Chevrolet subsidiary. In the domestic Japanese market, OEM deals with other manufacturers were entered to aid the poorly performing passenger car arm. It led to the badging of Suzukis, beginning in 1986, and Subaru small commercial vehicles as Isuzus (Geminett, Geminett II). This OEM tie-up occurred alongside the establishment of SIA (Subaru-Isuzu Automotive), an American joint venture with Fuji Heavy Industries (the parent company of Subaru). Shortly afterwards, the Lafayette, Indiana plant became operational.

Contraction begins

Isuzu ended US sales of the Impulse (Geo Storm) in 1992, and the following year it stopped exporting the Stylus (the basis for the Geo Spectrum), the last Isuzu-built car sold in the US.

In 1993 Isuzu began a new vehicle exchange program with Honda, whereby Honda sold the Isuzu Rodeo and Isuzu Trooper as the Honda Passport and Acura SLX, respectively. In return Isuzu began selling the Honda Odyssey as the Isuzu Oasis. Thus, Honda's lineup gained two SUVs, and Isuzu's lineup gained a minivan. In the Japanese market, the Gemini (Stylus) was now a rebadged Honda Domani and the Aska (originally based on the GM J-car) was a Honda Accord, while Honda received the 2-door MU as the Jazz and the 4-door Trooper as the Horizon.

Isuzu's United States sales reached a peak in 1996 after the introduction of the Isuzu Hombre pickup, a badge-engineered GM truck (using the sheetmetal of the Brazil-market Chevrolet S10). Isuzu resurrected the beloved Amigo in 1998, before changing the name of the 2-door convertible to Rodeo Sport in 2001 in an attempt to associate it with the better selling 4-door Rodeo. The new Axiom launched in 2001, with the fictional salesman Joe Isuzu from 1980s advertising campaigns brought back to promote it. Isuzu sales began to slide due to the aging of the Rodeo and Trooper, and poor management and a lack of assistance from GM. The Rodeo Sport was discontinued in 2003, while production of the Rodeo and Axiom ceased a year later. By this point sales in North America had slowed to just 27,188, with the discontinued Rodeo and Axiom making up 71% of that total.

In 1998 GM and Isuzu formed DMAX, a joint venture to produce diesel engines. GM raised its stake in Isuzu to 49% the following year, effectively gaining control of the company, and quickly followed this up by appointing an American GM executive to head Isuzu's North American Operations. This marked the first time a non-Japanese executive had held such a high position at Isuzu. In 2001 GM and Isuzu announced plans to share distribution networks and for Chevrolet to market an Isuzu product.

The production version of the VehiCROSS was introduced to the US in 1999, but met with mixed reviews, as its high price tag, unique styling and two-door configuration did not seem to meet with market demands. Production of the VehiCROSS and other sport utility vehicles, including the Trooper, ended in 2001 as part of a major financial reorganization which eliminated almost 10,000 jobs. GM had been pushing the company to focus exclusively on producing commercial vehicles and engines.

The number of Isuzu dealerships in the US began a rapid decline, and by 2005 had only 2 models: the Ascender (a re-badged GMC Envoy) and the i-series pickup truck (a rebadged Chevrolet Colorado). At this point, Isuzu in the US was primarily a distributor of medium duty trucks such as the N-series, sourced both from Japan and US plants in Janesville, Wisconsin and Flint, Michigan. Isuzu had 290 light-vehicle dealers in the US in August 2006, and sold an average of just two Ascenders per dealer per month, and rumors of Isuzu's withdrawal from the US market were rampant. Plans to introduce a new Thai-built SUV for 2007 were shelved when Isuzu Motors Limited decided that a new SUV would be too risky, instead proceeding with the launch of the i-series trucks. Despite extremely low sales figures of 12,177 passenger vehicles for 2005 (with leftover Axiom and Rodeos making up 30% of this), Isuzu Motors America announced its first profit in years, mainly due to restructuring cuts.

In early 2002, Fuji Heavy Industries (Subaru's parent company) bought Isuzu's share of Lafayette, Indiana plant, and Subaru Isuzu Automotive (SIA) became Subaru of Indiana Automotive. After 8 years of heavy Honda Passport sales and light Isuzu Oasis sales, Honda and Isuzu cooperatively ended their vehicle exchange agreement in 2001. The Oasis was dropped, and Honda replaced the Passport with the Pilot. 2001 was Isuzu's last year for passenger vehicles in Canada, as Isuzus in Canada were mostly sold at Saturn-Saab dealerships. In late 2002 Isuzu initiated a recapitalization and debt-for-equity conversion plan to stave off a bankruptcy. GM acquired 20% of DMAX, 60% of Isuzu Motors Polska and Isuzu Motors Germany, and the rights to three types of diesel engine technology from Isuzu. by paying 50 billion yen (about US$425 million). GM also paid 10 billion yen (about US$85 million) for a 12% stake in the recapitalized company. GM wrote off its investment in Isuzu in 2001.

Production of the 7-passenger Ascender ended in February 2006 with the closure of GM's Oklahoma City Assembly plant, leaving Isuzu with the 5-passenger Ascender, built in Moraine, Ohio and the low-selling i-Series as its only retail products. The company sold just 1,504 vehicles in North America in the first two months of 2006. GM ended its equity investment in Isuzu and sold all its shares to Mitsubishi Corporation, Itochu and Mizuho Corporate Bank; both GM and Isuzu claimed the companies would continue their relationship, but there was no word as of April 12, 2006 on the effect this would have on DMAX operations.

In June 2006 Isuzu and GM agreed to establish a joint venture called "LCV Platform Engineering Corporation (LPEC)" to develop a new pickup. Isuzu said it would use its engineering expertise to develop the pickup and GM would develop derivatives based on the integrated platform. Mitsubishi Corp became Isuzu's largest shareholder in October 2006, after it converted all the preferred shares in Isuzu it had held since 2005 into common stock, increasing its shareholding from 3.5% to 15.65%.

In November 2006 Toyota purchased a 5.9% shareholding in Isuzu, becoming the third largest shareholder behind Itochu and Mitsubishi Corporation. The two companies agreed to study possible business collaboration focusing on the areas of R&D and production of diesel engines, related emissions-control, and other environmental technologies. In January 2007 Isuzu and General Motors updated the LCV range with a 3.0 litre common rail diesel engine that had far more torque and power than its predecessor. In August 2007 Isuzu and Toyota agreed to develop a 1.6-liter diesel engine for use in Toyota vehicles sold in European markets. At this point, details of development, production and supply of the diesel engine were still under discussion, but in principle, Isuzu would play the leading role, with production scheduled to begin around 2012.

On 30 January 2008, Isuzu announced its complete withdrawal from the US market, effective 31 January 2009. It would continue to provide support and parts. The decision was due to lack of sales. Some of the lack of sales was blamed on consumer experiences with low quality engines and service. Isuzu had been experiencing a slow decline since the late 1990s. In less than 10 years, they had gone from selling a complete line of cars, trucks, and SUVs, into being a specialized SUV maker, and finally selling only a pair of rebadged, General Motors Trucks. The company continued to sell commercial vehicles in the US.

Isuzu and Toyota shelved development of a clean diesel engine in December 2008.

On 29 January 2009, Isuzu and GM announced that they were in talks to transfer the operation of the medium-duty truck production line in Flint, Michigan to Isuzu for a five-year period. In June, however, GM announced that these talks failed to reach an agreement, and GM instead ceased production of the Chevrolet Kodiak and GMC Topkick vehicles on 31 July 2009.

In July 2016, Isuzu and Mazda agreed to collaborate to produce the next-generation pickup trucks for Mazda outside of North America. As a result, the third-generation Mazda BT-50 is built by Isuzu in Thailand since 2020.

Isuzu's plant in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh began operations in 2016.

In August 2018, Toyota sold off its 5.9% stake in Isuzu.

In December 2019, Isuzu announced that it had signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding which would eventually see Volvo sell UD Trucks to them. In November 2020, the companies announced that they have signed the "final agreements", making the memorandum of understanding binding. In April 2021, Isuzu completed UD Trucks acquisition.

In March 2021, Isuzu, Hino, and Hino's parent Toyota announced the creation of a strategic partnership between the three companies. Toyota acquired a 4.6% stake in Isuzu while the latter plans to acquire Toyota shares for an equivalent value. The three companies said they would form a new joint venture by April called Commercial Japan Partnership Technologies Corporation with the aim of developing fuel cell and electric light trucks. Toyota would own an 80% stake in the venture while Hino and Isuzu would own 10% each.

Market presence

In most of Asia and Africa, Isuzu is known primarily for trucks of all sizes, after Isuzu dropped all sales of sedans and compact cars in the late 1990s due to plummeting sales. In the days when Isuzu sold passenger cars, they were known for focusing on the diesel-engined niche. In 1983, for instance, long before the explosion in diesel sales, diesels represented 63.4% of their passenger car production. In 2009, Isuzu abandoned the United States consumer market due to lack of sales. Isuzu as a corporation has always been primarily a manufacturer of small to medium compact automobiles and commercial trucks of sizes medium duty and larger, but markets around the world show different needs.

Isuzu Motors America discontinued the sale of passenger vehicles in the United States on January 31, 2009. The company explained to its dealers that it had not been able to secure replacements for the Isuzu Ascender and Isuzu i-Series that would be commercially viable. Isuzu sold 7,098 cars in the year 2007. This action did not affect Isuzu's commercial vehicle or industrial diesel engine operations in the United States. Isuzu has a contract with Budget Truck Rental to manufacture their rental trucks, shared with Ford, GMC, and Navistar International.

In Australia, Isuzu was for many years a major supplier of light commercial and domestic vehicles to Holden (General Motors). However, by 2008, Holden was sourcing few Isuzus. At this time Isuzu began to sell the D-Max under the Isuzu name.

Isuzu's entry in the Thai market proved to be one of its most successful. Its presence in the country began in 1966 when it established a manufacturing facility for pick-up trucks in the Samuthprakarn province with a capacity of 155,000 units per year. The automaker quickly became a market leader so that by 2002, the company transferred its production base from its original location in Fujisawa, Japan to Thailand. Isuzu claimed the largest share of the Thai commercial vehicle market, outperforming its competitors for at least 23 years. By 2006, the company transferred to an industrial zone in Chachoengsao province to support further production expansion. By 2017, Isuzu has been exporting pick-up trucks, with shipments reaching North America, Latin America, Australia, and Japan. In the same year, it announced that its profit climbed 7 percent and has doubled its annual truck production to meet overseas demands.

Japan
The Fujisawa Plant was built and opened for production November 1961. It is located at 8 Tsuchidana, Fujisawa, Kanagawa, and is still producing commercial vehicles for domestic Japanese use and international exports. The Toghichi Plant, located at Hakuchu, Ohira-Machi, Tochigi, Tochigi, is where the engines are currently built. There was a factory at Tono Machi, Kawasaki-ku, Kawasaki-shi, Kanagawa Pref. that closed March 2005 that manufactured passenger vehicles.

Mimamori-kun online service
Mimamori-kun, which means to watch, monitor, or observe in Japanese (literally "Mr. Watcher"), is a commercial vehicle telematics service developed by Isuzu Motors for monitoring and tracking commercial vehicle operations and movements in Japan. The service uses GPS satellite tracking services, and began February 2004. It is connected to the internet and provides government mandated driver activity logs, and records how long the driver was on-duty and how much time was spent driving. The service also records when the driver took lunch breaks, where the truck stopped and for how long, and when the driver logged off for his duty shift.

The service has been modified for personal use in Japan to keep track of family members, to include the health status of elderly persons and pinpoint the location of children for safety purposes.

Some of the main features include the wireless Internet Digital Tachograph, the first of its kind in Japan, combined with hands-free communication, voice guidance, and text messages displayed from the dispatch office. The system also has a password-enabled vehicle theft prevention feature that will not let the vehicle start without the driver having entered a password.

International operations

 * DMAX (engines) - former joint venture with General Motors in United States for production of diesel engines
 * Ghandhara Industries - joint venture in Pakistan - trucks, buses
 * Guangzhou Automobile Group Bus - joint venture in China - buses
 * Industries Mécaniques Maghrébines - joint venture at Kairouan, Tunisia - trucks, SUVs
 * Isuzu (Anadolu) - joint venture in Turkey - trucks, buses
 * Isuzu Astra Motor Indonesia - joint venture in Indonesia - trucks, SUVs
 * Isuzu HICOM Malaysia - joint venture in Malaysia - trucks, SUVs
 * Isuzu Commercial Truck of America, Inc.
 * Isuzu Motors de México - joint venture in Mexico - trucks, buses
 * Isuzu Motors Saudi Arabia - joint venture in Saudi Arabia - trucks, SUVs
 * Isuzu Motors (Thailand) - joint venture in Thailand - trucks, SUVs
 * Isuzu Motorsports - Australia
 * Isuzu Philippines - joint venture in the Philippines - trucks, SUVs
 * General Motors De Portugal-FMAT S.A. at Tramagal near Abrantes (Assembling company of all Bedford and Isuzu medium to heavy diesel trucks and 4X4 Pickup models since the 1960s then vehicles are sent for sale in Portugal and Spain)
 * The assembling of Isuzu commercial trucks is carried out by the Az Universal Motors which is part of the AzGroup in Azerbaijan.
 * Isuzu Truck (UK) - at the former IBC factory Dunstable, England - trucks, SUVs
 * Isuzu Truck South Africa - joint venture in South Africa - trucks
 * Isuzu Vietnam - joint venture in Vietnam - trucks, SUVs
 * Jiangxi Isuzu - joint venture in China - trucks, SUVs
 * Qingling Motors - joint venture in China - trucks, SUVs
 * SML Isuzu - joint venture in India, formerly Swaraj Mazda
 * Sollers-Isuzu - joint venture in Russia - trucks (until July 2023 )

Former international operations

 * Subaru of Indiana Automotive, Inc. - former joint venture in United States, interest sold to Subaru - cars, SUVs
 * Isuzu Motors Polska - former joint venture in Poland - diesel engines, taken over by General Motors
 * Zexel - Japan - auto components, now part of Bosch
 * Taiwan Isuzu Motors - former joint venture in Taiwan, disbanded in 2016 - trucks
 * Thai Rung Union Car - Thailand - assembles SUVs

Isuzu Diesel Engines / Power Train division
Diesel engines are a major part of the Isuzu Motor's business with over 20 million engines worldwide. The diesel power division, known as the PowerTrain Division, of Isuzu Motors America, is located in Plymouth, Michigan.

North American Master Distributors
Southwest Products - Covering California, Nevada and Arizona.

United Engines

Mack Boring Parts

M & L Engine

Ag Equipment

 * Harrington Seed Destructor

Construction equipment

 * Paving equipment produced by CRAFCO. It manufacturers a variety of paving equipment that is powered by Isuzu diesel engines.

Current passenger vehicles

 * 2002–present, D-Max - pickup truck, a top selling diesel sold in the majority of Isuzu markets (excluding Japan and North America).
 * 2013–present MU-X - SUV, successor of Isuzu MU-7, developed from D-Max.

Current commercial vehicles

 * Como - light commercial van (rebadged Nissan Caravan)
 * Elf - light duty truck (N-series)
 * Erga - low deck heavy duty bus
 * Erga-J - heavy duty bus
 * Erga Mio - low deck medium duty bus
 * Forward - medium duty truck (F-series)
 * Giga - heavy duty truck (C-series, E-series)
 * Gala - heavy duty bus
 * Gala Mio - medium duty bus
 * Journey - light duty bus
 * Journey-J - medium duty bus
 * Reach - commercial van offering over 35 percent better fuel efficiency, assembled by Utilimaster Corporation.
 * Traga/Traviz - light commercial vehicle

UD Trucks vehicles
From April 2021 onwards, UD Trucks' products are part of the Isuzu company lineup.

Former passenger vehicles

 * 1953–1962, Minx - sedan, Isuzu produced Hillman Minx under licence.
 * 1961–1966, Bellel - sedan
 * 1963–1973, Bellett - sedan (PR10/20) and coupe (PR90 and PR91)
 * 1967–1983, Florian - sedan
 * 1968–1981, 117 - coupe
 * 1972–2002, Faster - pickup truck
 * 1974–2000, Gemini/I-Mark/Stylus - sedan/coupe/hatchback
 * 1981–1993, Piazza/Impulse/Storm - Hatchback
 * 1983–2002, Aska - sedan
 * 1983–2002, Trooper - midsize SUV
 * 1986–1993, Geminett - hatchback/wagon, a rebadged first generation Suzuki Cultus (1986–1988) and then third generation Subaru Leone wagon as Geminett II (1988–1993).
 * 1989–2004, Amigo/MU - Compact SUV, renamed to Rodeo Sport in 2001.
 * 1991–2004, Rodeo/Wizard - midsize SUV, also rebadged as the Honda Passport.
 * 1996–1999, Oasis - minivan, a rebadged Honda Odyssey.
 * 1996–2000, Hombre - pickup truck, a rebadged Chevrolet S10.
 * 1996–2001, Vertex - sedan, a rebadged Honda Integra SJ.
 * 1997–2002, Filly, a rebadged Nissan Elgrand - minivan
 * 1999–2001, VehiCROSS - SUV
 * 2001–2004, Axiom - midsize SUV
 * 2002–2008, Ascender - midsize SUV, a rebadged GMC Envoy.
 * 2006–2008, i-series - pickup truck - a product of the co-developed GMT355 platform that Isuzu sells overseas.
 * 2004–2013, MU-7 - midsize SUV, developed from D-Max platform that was on sale only in Thailand, Philippines, India and China.
 * 1991–2020, Panther - van and pickup truck, sold as the Isuzu Hi-Lander/Crosswind in the Philippines, also sold throughout the ASEAN, and in India as the Chevrolet Tavera.

Former commercial vehicles

 * Bison - light commercial pickup truck, a rebadged second generation Mitsubishi Delica pickup truck for Indonesian market (not related to fourth generation Isuzu Elf that was sold under Bison name in Indonesia in the early 1990s).
 * Fargo - light commercial van
 * H-Series - heavy duty truck in United States only (rebadged from GMC Topkick and Chevrolet Kodiak).

Race cars

 * 1969 Isuzu R7, Group 7 - racecar
 * 1970 Isuzu Bellett R6, Group 6 - racecar

Concept cars

 * 1969 Isuzu Bellett MX1600
 * 1979 Isuzu Asso di Fiori
 * 1983 Isuzu COA
 * 1985 Isuzu COA II
 * 1987 Isuzu COA III, AWD mid-engine coupe.
 * 1987 Isuzu Zero Door
 * 1989 Isuzu Costa
 * 1989 Isuzu MultiCROSS
 * 1989 4200R
 * 1991 Isuzu Como F1, a pickup-style crossover with a Lotus Formula One engine (the name was later used for the rebadged Nissan Caravan produced from 2001).
 * 1991 Isuzu Nagisa
 * 1991 Isuzu Terraza
 * 1993 Isuzu XU-1
 * 1993 Isuzu VehiCROSS
 * 1995 Isuzu Deseo
 * 1995 Isuzu Aisance
 * 1997 Isuzu VX-2
 * 1997 Isuzu ZACCAR
 * 1999 Isuzu VX-O2
 * 1999 Isuzu Kai
 * 1999 ZXS
 * 2000 Isuzu VX-4
 * 2001 Isuzu Zen
 * 2001 Isuzu GBX
 * 2001 Isuzu Axiom XSF
 * 2002 Isuzu Axiom XSR
 * 2002 Isuzu Axiom XST
 * 2011 Isuzu T-Next
 * 2020 Isuzu FLIR

Buses (Philippines)

 * LV314K
 * LV314L
 * CJM470
 * CJM500
 * LT132
 * LV423
 * LV123
 * PABFTR33PLB
 * FTR33P
 * FTR45
 * PABFVR33P

Buses (Thailand)

 * CQM275hp
 * CQA650A/T
 * JCR600YZNN
 * LT112P
 * LV223S
 * LV423R
 * LV486R
 * LV771
 * MT111L
 * MT111QB

Buses (Ukraine)

 * Bogdan buses - sold under Isuzu brand outside Ukraine

Military vehicles

 * Isuzu TW340 medium truck
 * Isuzu TWD20/25 medium truck
 * Isuzu TSD45/TSD55 medium truck
 * Isuzu HTS12G 2.5 ton truck
 * Isuzu Type 73 Heavy Truck

title: Isuzu


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text:
Talk:Uwe Johnson

I've mostly translated this. I've marked in red the few passages I either couldn't translate or where I think my translation is quite likely wrong. It still has no narrative thread. If someone wants to take on finishing this up, it's all yours. You might also find it useful to look at the German-language article. -- Jmabel 07:39, 13 Mar 2004 (UTC)
 * I took it further myself, in a more patient mood, and dealt with everything except one paragraph that still throws me. It's not actively bad as it stands but... he's a writer, and there is nothing here to indicate what he wrote about, what his ideas were, or (other than being award-winning) why anyone would want to read him. -- Jmabel 17:43, 14 Mar 2004 (UTC)

title: Talk:Uwe Johnson


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text:
Bridget Hall

Bridget Hall (born December 12, 1977) is an American model.

Early life
Hall was born in Springdale, Arkansas. At the age of 10, she was modeling in Dallas, Texas. At this time she was living in the suburb of Farmers Branch, where she briefly attended R. L. Turner High School. Shortly thereafter, she moved with her mother Donna Hall to New York City to pursue her modeling career.

Career
By the age of 17, she was listed in Forbes as one of the "best ten" moneymaking supermodels along with Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington.

Formerly with Ford Models, she signed with IMG Models and has appeared on fashion magazine covers such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, ELLE and Allure and in fashion shows in New York City, Paris and Milan. Hall has worked for a wide variety of clients including Pepsi, Guess Jeans, and Anne Klein. Hall is also signed to Independent Models in London and 1 Model Management in New York City.

She was included in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue from 2002 to 2005. She was the object/subject of Joanne Gair body painting works in several editions.

title: Bridget Hall