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Drive Like Jehu

Drive Like Jehu was an American post-hardcore band from San Diego active from 1990 to 1995 and later from 2014 to 2016. It was formed by rhythm guitarist and vocalist Rick Froberg and lead guitarist John Reis, ex-members of Pitchfork, along with bassist Mike Kennedy and drummer Mark Trombino, both from Night Soil Man, after their two bands disbanded in 1990. Drive Like Jehu's music was characterized by passionate singing, unusual song structure, indirect melodic themes, intricate guitar playing, and calculated use of tension, resulting in a distinctive sound amongst other post-hardcore acts and helped to catalyze the evolution of hardcore punk into emo.

After releasing their eponymous debut in 1991 through local record labels Cargo Music and Headhunter Records, Drive Like Jehu signed to major label Interscope Records along with Reis' other band Rocket from the Crypt. Their second album, 1994's Yank Crime, gained a cult following, but the group disbanded shortly afterward. Reis continued with Rocket from the Crypt and Trombino became a successful record producer and audio engineer, while Froberg and Kennedy pursued careers outside of music. In 1999, Reis and Froberg began playing together again in Hot Snakes, which was active from 1999 to 2005 and again from 2011 to present. Reis also re-released Yank Crime through his Swami Records label.

Formation and debut album
Prior to forming Drive Like Jehu, vocalist Rick Froberg and guitarist John Reis had played together in Pitchfork from 1986 to 1990, while bassist Mike Kennedy and drummer Mark Trombino played in Night Soil Man from 1987 to 1990. Both bands performed several times together and respected each other. Pitchfork disbanded due to creative differences and their original bassist, Don Ankrom, relocating to San Francisco; shortly afterwards Night Soil Man broke up as well for undisclosed personal reasons. John Reis began hanging out with Kennedy and discovered their mutual admiration for Richmond, Virginia punk band Honor Role. Honor Role guitarist Pen Rollings influenced Reis deeply because his style was "very soulful" and had "personality" despite being a punk guitarist. Thus, he started playing guitar alone for many hours, trying to "merge himself" with the instrument. In 1990, Reis simultaneously formed the "self-proclaimed party band" Rocket from the Crypt and, around one month later, he recruited Froberg (who was also an Honor Role fan), Kennedy and drummer Chris Bratton to form Drive Like Jehu in August 1990. They had around five songs finished but the relationship with Bratton "didn't work out" and he was replaced by former Night Soil Man drummer Mark Trombino. The band's name was derived from the biblical story of Jehu in the Books of Kings:

And the watchman told, saying, He came even unto them, and cometh not again: and the driving [is] like the driving of Jehu the son of Nimshi; for he driveth furiously.

While Froberg had sung in Pitchfork, in Drive Like Jehu he also played guitar, adding a rhythm guitar to Reis' lead. Most of the songs started with Reis' guitar ideas and the whole band developed them through jam sessions. Drive Like Jehu's eponymous debut album was released in 1991 through Cargo Music and Headhunter Records, simultaneous with Rocket from the Crypt's debut Paint as a Fragrance. Produced by Donnell Cameron and with artwork by Froberg, it was praised as "a quantum leap forward" from Reis and Froberg's work in Pitchfork. In 1992 Drive Like Jehu released the single "Hand Over Fist"/"Bullet Train to Vegas" through Merge Records and the song "Sinews" on the Cargo/Headhunter compilation album Head Start to Purgatory.

Yank Crime and breakup
Interscope Records, interested in Drive Like Jehu, pursued the band and wound up signing both them and Rocket From the Crypt. Drive Like Jehu released an album first, putting out Yank Crime in 1994. Engineered and mixed by Trombino, and again with artwork by Froberg, it had some longer, more complex songs and was described by critics as an "uncompromising maelstrom of technically intricate fury" and "as worthy and awesome as its predecessor".

In 1995 Drive Like Jehu disbanded, partly so that Reis could concentrate on Rocket from the Crypt, who put out three releases that year and continued until 2005. Drive Like Jehu never officially announced a breakup, but simply stopped playing together. Trombino became a successful record producer and audio engineer, working with bands such as Blink-182 and Jimmy Eat World, while Kennedy left music to become a chemist. Froberg briefly played in Thingy before moving to New York City to pursue a career as a visual artist and illustrator, later reuniting with Reis in the Hot Snakes from 1999 to 2005. In November 2002 Reis re-released Yank Crime through his Swami Records label, including on it the tracks from "Hand Over Fist" / "Bullet Train to Vegas" and "Sinews" from Head Start to Purgatory. Reis currently performs in The Night Marchers, Froberg in Obits, and together they perform as Hot Snakes.

Reunions
On August 31, 2014, Drive Like Jehu reunited for a performance at the Spreckels Organ Pavilion in San Diego's Balboa Park, accompanied by San Diego Civic Organist Dr. Carol Williams. The collaboration was facilitated by Dang Nguyen, who co-owns Bar Pink in San Diego's North Park neighborhood with Reis and sits on the Spreckels Organ Society board of directors. "In February or March [2014], we discussed possibilities and the topic of Jehu came up; that's where it started," said Nguyen. "It was a project they wanted to bring back together. Because, after Hot Snakes and Rocket [from the Crypt] reunited in the last couple of years, I think John and Rick felt that to do something at the organ pavilion was worth getting back together for." Reis expressed enthusiasm for the organ's sound, saying "I especially love the way the low-end sound on the organ is so massive. When I go see organ concerts in the park, I want to collaborate with that sound and with Carol. It's not necessarily a 'good idea,' but it's an idea I feel strongly about, and it's such a San Diego thing." According to Williams, "the point of the concert is to open up the (musical) boundaries, not to be narrow. The organ needs a future and any opportunities like this, I really look forward to."

The novelty of playing with the accompaniment of the organ was a key factor in bringing the band back together. "The weird thing is that we are playing, and that it took something this weird for us to decide to play a couple of songs again," said Reis. "Only two of us live in San Diego; [Rick] lives in New York and [Mark]'s in Los Angeles. [Mark and Mike] pretty much haven't played music since Jehu or since shortly thereafter. Mark didn't even have a drum set until earlier this year, and he bought one specifically for us to play with the organ." The band played a set of five songs: "Do You Compute", "Super Unison", "Sinews", "If It Kills You", and "Luau". Rob Crow, who sang backing vocals on "Luau" on Yank Crime, joined them onstage during the song to sing his parts.

Drive Like Jehu scheduled a series of performances for 2015, including April 7 and 14 at The Casbah in San Diego, California, April 8 in Pomona, California; April 11 and 18 in Indio, California at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival; and July 3 in Keflavík, Iceland at the All Tomorrow's Parties festival. On October 18, 2015, Drive Like Jehu performed on the Tunnel Stage at the Treasure Island Music Festival in San Francisco. The band continued to tour in 2016, concluding their reunion tour and effectively ending the reunion in August 2016.

Rick Froberg died of natural causes on June 30, 2023.

Musical style, influences and legacy
Drive Like Jehu's music is often classified as punk, post-hardcore, and emo. Their initial biggest influence was punk band Honor Role, particularly its guitarist Pen Rollings. Other influences included Mission of Burma, the Gories, Bastro, Slint, Sonic Youth, the Wipers, and krautrock bands such as Neu! Steve Huey of Allmusic calls them "arguably the most progressive of the leading post-hardcore bands: their lengthy, multisectioned compositions were filled with odd time signatures, orchestrated builds and releases, elliptical melodies, and other twists and turns that built on the innovations of the Dischord label. The result was one of the most distinctive and ferocious sounds in the loosely defined post-hardcore movement."

Next to contemporaries such as Fugazi and Quicksand, Drive Like Jehu was sometimes overlooked and their music was sometimes difficult for critics to place in a broader context. According to Huey, the band was influential to the development of emo even though the style's later sound was quite different from Drive Like Jehu's: "The term 'emo' hadn't yet come into wider use, and while Drive Like Jehu didn't much resemble the sound that word would later come to signify, they exerted a powerful pull on its development. Moreover, they did fit the earlier definition of emo: challenging, intricate guitar rock rooted in hardcore and performed with blistering intensity, especially the frenzied vocals." Allmusic's Ned Raggett also commented on the emo connection in his review of Yank Crime: "Perhaps even more than the debut, Yank Crime solidified Drive Like Jehu's reputation as kings of emo. While use of that term rapidly degenerated to apply to sappy miserableness by the decade's end, here the quartet capture its original sense: wired, frenetic, screaming passion, as first semi-created by the likes of Rites of Spring." Brendan Reid of Pitchfork Media also notes that "It's often easy to forget that DLJ were considered emo in their day; Froberg's howls of 'Ready, ready to let you in!' on 'Super Unison' seem like a sick parody of stylish vulnerability. Then the song mutates into a gorgeous, snare-drum rolling open sea, and everything you've ever liked (and still like) about this genre in its purest form comes flooding back."

At the Drive-In frontman Cedric Bixler-Zavala stated that "there would be no Relationship of Command without Drive Like Jehu." He declared: "I remember doing a lot of English press and people being like, 'We think you guys are exotic, the names of the songs and flannel and look is exotic.' I definitely knew what school we came from, and that people like Hot Snakes and Drive Like Jehu were our strongest influences, but they weren’t exactly huge in Europe." Isaac Brock of the indie rock band Modest Mouse said in 2007: "I love [Drive Like] Jehu. Jehu is one of my favorite all-time bands actually." Deftones covered their song "Caress" on their 2011 cover album. Brian Cook, bassist for the metalcore band Botch, stated that “Drive Like Jehu was a huge influence on Botch; their writing approach definitely mirrored what we did in terms of banging things out till we had a song." British hardcore punk group Gallows were also inspired by them and Laurent Barnard singled out John Reis as one of his five favorite guitarists. The Blood Brothers vocalist Jordan Blilie described Rick Froberg's lyrics in the band as "equal parts perplexing and relatable" and called his voice "one of my all-time favorites". He added that the early guitar playing of his own group can be mostly traced back to Jehu. Other artists who have cited them as an influence or expressed admiration for their work are Thursday, Jim Adkins of Jimmy Eat World, Justin Pearson of The Locust,  Ben Weinman of The Dillinger Escape Plan, J. Clark of Pretty Girls Make Graves, Violent Soho,  Unbroken, Akimbo and Sandrider,   KEN Mode, METZ,  Matthew Bajda of Funeral Diner, Bryan Giles of Red Fang, Steven Roche of Off Minor and Genghis Tron. Bay Area hardcore band Super Unison named itself after the Drive Like Jehu song.

Members

 * Final lineup
 * Rick Froberg – rhythm guitar, lead vocals (died 2023)
 * John Reis – lead guitar, backing vocals
 * Mike Kennedy – bass guitar
 * Mark Trombino – drums

 * Former members
 * Chris Bratton – drums (1990)

Discography
The discography of Drive Like Jehu consists of two studio albums and one single.

Other appearances
The following Drive Like Jehu songs were released on compilation albums. This is not an exhaustive list; songs that were first released on the band's albums are not included.

title: Drive Like Jehu


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Talk:Drop bear

Suggestion
Hi all, can we please carry on the hoax of drop bears. It is Australian culture to remind tourists of the dangers of drop bears and this Wikipedia page ruins this as it is the first page to appear when googling "Does Australia have drop bears?". Several other websites have made an effort to continue the idea.

I hope other Aussie Wikipedia users feel the same way.

Thanks. 94.56.252.49 (talk) 17:05, 20 October 2023 (UTC)

 * Unfortunately it becomes very hard for Wikipedia to maintain a policy towards the truth, but make exceptions for some jokes or amusing hoaxes. Someone else might think it funny to have the article on Birds tell readers that birds aren't real; this could quickly become problematic, and it would be hard for us to draw a line. — HTGS (talk) 05:13, 21 October 2023 (UTC)
 * A longer-winded explanation at WP:HOAX. Tarl N. ( discuss ) 14:06, 21 October 2023 (UTC)

1914 book
The Drop Bear Task Force is a 1914 book that seems to be based on this hoax. I realize this is OR and not a usable secondary source. --Rpresser 18:37, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

 * Never mind, it was actually published in 2014. Google Books had it wrong. --Rpresser 18:39, 29 November 2023 (UTC)
 * And the publication date is late enough to worry about WP:CITOGENESIS. The 1914 date given in the citation appears to be an effort to obscure that. Tarl N. ( discuss ) 20:35, 29 November 2023 (UTC)

Extended description of Bundaberg Rum advertisement
In, removed a lengthy paragraph which described an advertisement for Bundaberg Rum, saying "removing extended discussion of a an advertisement; presumed non-notable". This was reverted by with the justification that "It's a notable pop cultural mention of the bear". But the only source available is a YouTube clip of the advertisement itself. I am struggling to see how that makes it notable, especially how it warrants anything more than a very short mention. As it is, the paragraph mentions "Bundaberg Rum" or "Bundy" four times, which sounds excessive to me. Rather than reverting again and starting an edit war, I would like to canvas opinions - what does the Brains Trust have to say? Gronk Oz (talk) 00:53, 14 December 2023 (UTC)

 * A couple notes. One, as noted by Gronk Oz, there isn't any citation establishing notability e.g. say, mention of the advertisement in the media. I've seen advertisements that generate enough buzz for this to happen, and such things clearly can be notable enough for WP "In popular culture" sections. Two, and more the reason I initially removed it, is that such a long discussion of the advertisement comes off as Wikipedia itself advertising for the brand. Seems like something to be discouraged. CAVincent (talk) 01:17, 14 December 2023 (UTC)

 * Maybe it should be shortened, but I think it's worth including.--Jack Upland (talk) 05:40, 14 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Perhaps shorten to something like "The drop bear hoax was humorously referenced in an advertisement for Bundaberg Rum." and just leave it at that? I don't think anyone is much enlightened on the article's subject by the play-by-play ad description and knowing that "The ad ends with the entire group, including the bear, sharing Bundaberg Rum at the men's campsite." (I'd not object if the link to the YouTube video was left for WP editors who might get a laugh out of it.) CAVincent (talk) 06:43, 14 December 2023 (UTC)
 * Done.--Jack Upland (talk) 23:51, 14 December 2023 (UTC)

Just noticed that there is no evidence that the video on YouTube was owned by the person who uploaded it. It will need a new reference. I've removed it as per Copyrights. CambridgeBayWeather (solidly non-human), Uqaqtuq (talk), Huliva 06:49, 17 February 2024 (UTC)

Request
We ask just to change the description of Fictional Creature to Australian creature and rewrite the first paragraph to go along with the hoax, but then get into that its not real afterwards. If people just google and read the short and not read the full article thats their problem. I think this is a healty balance. — Preceding unsigned comment added by SteveoD83 (talk • contribs) 04:14, 2024 February 16 (UTC)
 * No. It's not Wikipeida's remit to help with Australian tourism. CambridgeBayWeather (solidly non-human), Uqaqtuq (talk), Huliva 06:49, 17 February 2024 (UTC)

Is the drop bear dangerous
Do the drop bear is hostile 103.89.237.225 (talk) 06:54, 27 June 2024 (UTC)
 * Dear IP editor - the drop bear is not real, so it cannot be dangerous. It is just a story that is told to scare tourists and city people who go to the country - but it is just a hoax.--Gronk Oz (talk) 12:58, 27 June 2024 (UTC)

Are drop bears still alive 209.206.91.29 (talk) 16:59, 15 July 2024 (UTC)

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

title: Talk:Drop bear


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Handlebody

In the mathematical field of geometric topology, a handlebody is a decomposition of a manifold into standard pieces. Handlebodies play an important role in Morse theory, cobordism theory and the surgery theory of high-dimensional manifolds. Handles are used to particularly study 3-manifolds.

Handlebodies play a similar role in the study of manifolds as simplicial complexes and CW complexes play in homotopy theory, allowing one to analyze a space in terms of individual pieces and their interactions.

n-dimensional handlebodies
If $$(W,\partial W)$$ is an $$n$$-dimensional manifold with boundary, and
 * $$S^{r-1} \times D^{n-r} \subset \partial W$$

(where $$S^{n}$$ represents an n-sphere and $$D^n$$ is an n-ball) is an embedding, the $$n$$-dimensional manifold with boundary
 * $$(W',\partial W') = ((W \cup( D^r \times D^{n-r})),(\partial W - S^{r-1} \times D^{n-r})\cup (D^r \times S^{n-r-1}))$$

is said to be obtained from
 * $$(W,\partial W)$$

by attaching an $$r$$-handle. The boundary $$\partial W'$$ is obtained from $$\partial W$$ by surgery. As trivial examples, note that attaching a 0-handle is just taking a disjoint union with a ball, and that attaching an n-handle to $$(W,\partial W)$$ is gluing in a ball along any sphere component of $$\partial W$$. Morse theory was used by Thom and Milnor to prove that every manifold (with or without boundary) is a handlebody, meaning that it has an expression as a union of handles. The expression is non-unique: the manipulation of handlebody decompositions is an essential ingredient of the proof of the Smale h-cobordism theorem, and its generalization to the s-cobordism theorem. A manifold is called a "k-handlebody" if it is the union of r-handles, for r at most k. This is not the same as the dimension of the manifold. For instance, a 4-dimensional 2-handlebody is a union of 0-handles, 1-handles and 2-handles. Any manifold is an n-handlebody, that is, any manifold is the union of handles. It isn't too hard to see that a manifold is an (n-1)-handlebody if and only if it has non-empty boundary. Any handlebody decomposition of a manifold defines a CW complex decomposition of the manifold, since attaching an r-handle is the same, up to homotopy equivalence, as attaching an r-cell. However, a handlebody decomposition gives more information than just the homotopy type of the manifold. For instance, a handlebody decomposition completely describes the manifold up to homeomorphism. In dimension four, they even describe the smooth structure, as long as the attaching maps are smooth. This is false in higher dimensions; any exotic sphere is the union of a 0-handle and an n-handle.

3-dimensional handlebodies
A handlebody can be defined as an orientable 3-manifold-with-boundary containing pairwise disjoint, properly embedded 2-discs such that the manifold resulting from cutting along the discs is a 3-ball. It's instructive to imagine how to reverse this process to get a handlebody. (Sometimes the orientability hypothesis is dropped from this last definition, and one gets a more general kind of handlebody with a non-orientable handle.)

The genus of a handlebody is the genus of its boundary surface. Up to homeomorphism, there is exactly one handlebody of any non-negative integer genus.

The importance of handlebodies in 3-manifold theory comes from their connection with Heegaard splittings. The importance of handlebodies in geometric group theory comes from the fact that their fundamental group is free.

A 3-dimensional handlebody is sometimes, particularly in older literature, referred to as a cube with handles.

Examples
Let G be a connected finite graph embedded in Euclidean space of dimension n. Let V be a closed regular neighborhood of G in the Euclidean space. Then V is an n-dimensional handlebody. The graph G is called a spine of V.

Any genus zero handlebody is homeomorphic to the three-ball B3. A genus one handlebody is homeomorphic to B2 × S1 (where S1 is the circle) and is called a solid torus. All other handlebodies may be obtained by taking the boundary-connected sum of a collection of solid tori.

title: Handlebody


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Talk:Atmospheric entry

starship active cooling
Starship is no longer planned to be actively cooled so i think that section should be removed

ceramic tiles in the "thermal soak" section??
This is not right, as the "thermal soak" states that the heat is ultimately rejected when the heat shield is "ejected", but tiles are not ejected. I am boldly splitting this section, but it would be nice if an actual expert reviews my work. -Arch dude (talk) 16:22, 5 September 2021 (UTC)

excellent reference
I'm parking this here until I (or someone?) can add this stuff to the article. this is the slide deck for an entire course on the subject. of TPS
 *

-Arch dude (talk) 15:21, 25 November 2021 (UTC)

Guided entry
The article could be improved by adding a section on "Guided entry." See e.g. https://mars.nasa.gov/resources/3646/mars-science-laboratory-guided-entry-at-mars-artists-concept/ (— 𝐬𝐝𝐒𝐝𝐬 — - talk) 01:56, 16 February 2024 (UTC)

title: Talk:Atmospheric entry


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Internet outdial

An Internet outdial is an Internet-accessible modem that can be dialled remotely. An Internet outdial that permits long-distance calling is called a global outdial (GOD).

During the 1990s, outdials were a way to connect to distant bulletin board systems without incurring per-minute charges from one's long-distance carrier. For a time, the online zine Phrack maintained a list of Internet outdials, many of which were hosted by universities.

title: Internet outdial


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Primary sclerosing cholangitis

Primary sclerosing cholangitis (PSC) is a long-term progressive disease of the liver and gallbladder characterized by inflammation and scarring of the bile ducts, which normally allow bile to drain from the gallbladder. Affected individuals may have no symptoms or may experience signs and symptoms of liver disease, such as yellow discoloration of the skin and eyes, itching, and abdominal pain.

The bile duct scarring that occurs in PSC narrows the ducts of the biliary tree and impedes the flow of bile to the intestines. Eventually, it can lead to cirrhosis of the liver and liver failure. PSC increases the risk of various cancers, including liver cancer, gallbladder carcinoma, colorectal cancer, and cholangiocarcinoma. The underlying cause of PSC is unknown. Genetic susceptibility, immune system dysfunction, and abnormal composition of the gut flora may play a role. This is further suggested by the observation that around 75% of individuals with PSC also have inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), most often ulcerative colitis.

No effective medical treatment for primary sclerosing cholangitis is known. Its most definitive treatment is a liver transplant, but disease recurrence can occur in 25-30% of cases.

PSC is a rare disease and most commonly affects people with IBD. About 3.0 to 7.5% of people with ulcerative colitis have PSC, and 80% of people with PSC have some form of IBD. Diagnosis usually occurs in people in their 30s or 40s. Individuals of Northern European ancestry are affected more often than people of Southern European or Asian descent. Men are affected more often than women. The disease was initially described in the mid-1800s, but was not fully characterized until the 1970s with the advent of improved medical-imaging techniques such as endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography.

Signs and symptoms
Nearly half of people with PSC do not have symptoms, and are often incidentally discovered to have PSC due to abnormal liver function tests; however, a substantial proportion have debilitating signs and symptoms of the disease. Signs and symptoms of PSC may include severe itching and nonspecific fatigue. Yellowing of the skin and white portion of the eyes may also be seen. Enlargement of the liver and spleen are seen in roughly 40% of affected individuals. Abdominal pain affects about 20% of people with PSC.

Multiple episodes of life-threatening acute cholangitis (infection within the bile ducts) can be seen due to impaired drainage of the bile ducts, which increases the risk of infection.
 * Dark urine due to excess conjugated bilirubin, which is water-soluble and excreted by the kidneys (i.e. choluria)
 * Malabsorption, especially of fat, and steatorrhea (fatty stool), due to an inadequate amount of bile reaching the small intestine, leading to decreased levels of the fat-soluble vitamins, A, D, E, and K.
 * Portal hypertension, a complication of cirrhosis, which can manifest with esophageal and parastomal varices as well as hepatic encephalopathy (mental status alteration/disturbance caused by liver dysfunction and shunting of blood away from the scarred liver; such that ammonia detoxification is reduced with concomitant encephalopathy) or ascites.

Cause
The exact cause of primary sclerosing cholangitis is unknown, and its pathogenesis is improperly understood. Although PSC is thought to be caused by autoimmune disease, it does not demonstrate a clear response to immunosuppressants. Thus, many experts believe it to be a complex, multifactorial (including immune-mediated) disorder and perhaps one that encompasses several different hepatobiliary diseases.

Data have provided novel insights suggesting: In addition, longstanding, well-recognized associations are seen between PSC and human leukocyte antigen alleles (A1, B8, and DR3).
 * 1) an important association between the intestinal microbiota and PSC   and
 * 2) a process referred to as cellular senescence and the senescence-associated secretory phenotype in the pathogenesis of PSC.

Pathophysiology
PSC is characterized by inflammation of the bile ducts (cholangitis) with consequent stricturing (i.e., narrowing) and hardening (sclerosis) of these ducts due to scar formation, be it inside and/or outside the liver. The resulting scarring of the bile ducts obstructs the flow of bile, which further perpetuates bile duct and liver injury. Chronic impairment of bile flow due to blockage and dysfunctional bile transport (cholestasis) causes progressive biliary fibrosis and ultimately biliary cirrhosis and liver failure.

The primary physiological function of bile is to assist in the breakdown and absorption of fat in the intestinal tract; a relative deficiency of bile can lead to fat malabsorption and deficiencies of fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, K).

Liver enlargement is seen due to portal hypertension caused by compression of portal veins by the proximate sclerosed intrahepatic bile ducts, and leads to right upper quadrant abdominal pain.

Diagnosis
PSC is generally diagnosed on the basis of having at least two of three clinical criteria after secondary causes of sclerosing cholangitis have been ruled out:
 * serum alkaline phosphatase (ALP) > 1.5x the upper limit of normal for longer than 6 months
 * cholangiography demonstrating biliary strictures or irregularity consistent with PSC
 * liver biopsy consistent with PSC (if available)

Historically, a cholangiogram would be obtained via endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP), which typically reveals "beading" (alternating strictures and dilation) of the bile ducts inside and/or outside the liver. Currently, the preferred option for diagnostic cholangiography, given its noninvasive yet highly accurate nature, is magnetic resonance cholangiopancreatography (MRCP), a magnetic resonance imaging technique. MRCP has unique strengths, including high spatial resolution, and can even be used to visualize the biliary tract of small animal models of PSC.

Most people with PSC have evidence of autoantibodies and abnormal immunoglobulin levels. For example, approximately 80% of people with PSC have perinuclear antineutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (P-ANCA); however, this and other immunoglobulin findings are not specific to those with PSC and are of unclear clinical significance/consequence. Antinuclear antibodies and anti-smooth muscle antibody are found in 20-50% of PSC patients, and likewise are not specific for the disease, but may identify a subgroup of PSC patients who also have autoimmune hepatitis (i.e. PSC-AIH overlap syndrome).

The differential diagnosis can include primary biliary cholangitis (formerly referred to as primary biliary cirrhosis), drug-induced cholestasis, cholangiocarcinoma, IgG4-related disease, post-liver transplantation nonanastomotic biliary strictures, and HIV-associated cholangiopathy. Primary sclerosing cholangitis and primary biliary cholangitis are distinct entities and exhibit important differences, including the site of tissue damage within the liver, associations with IBD, which includes ulcerative colitis and Crohn's disease, response to treatment, and risks of disease progression.

Classification
Primary sclerosing cholangitis is typically classified into three subgroups based on whether the small and/or large bile ducts are affected. The subgroups of PSC include:
 * Classic PSC
 * Small-duct PSC
 * PSC associated with autoimmune hepatitis

Management
No pharmacologic treatment has been approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for PSC. Some experts recommend a trial of ursodeoxycholic acid (UDCA), a bile acid occurring naturally in small quantities in humans, as it has been shown to lower elevated liver enzyme numbers in patients with PSC and has proven effective in other cholestatic liver diseases. However, UDCA has yet to be shown to clearly lead to improved liver histology and survival. Guidelines from the American Association for the Study of Liver Diseases and the American College of Gastroenterology do not support the use of UDCA but guidelines from the European Association for the Study of the Liver do endorse the use of moderate doses (13-15 milligrams per kilogram) of UDCA for PSC.

Supportive treatment for PSC symptoms is the cornerstone of management. These therapies are aimed at relieving symptoms such as itching with antipruritics (e.g. bile acid sequestrants such as cholestyramine); antibiotics to treat episodes of ascending cholangitis; and vitamin supplements, as people with PSC are often deficient in fat-soluble vitamins (A, D, E, and K).

ERCP and specialized techniques may also be needed to help distinguish between a benign PSC stricture and a bile-duct cancer (cholangiocarcinoma).

Liver transplantation is the only proven long-term treatment of PSC. Indications for transplantation include recurrent bacterial ascending cholangitis, decompensated cirrhosis, hepatocellular carcinoma, hilar cholangiocarcinoma, and complications of portal hypertension. Not all patients are candidates for liver transplantation, and some experience disease recurrence afterward. The reasons why some patients develop recurrent PSC remains largely obscure, but surprisingly, those without recurrence of disease (hence protected from recurrence) are characterized by an increased presence of the potentially pathogenic  Shigella species.

Prognosis
Estimated median survival from diagnosis until liver transplant or PSC-related death is 21.3 years. Various models have been developed to help predict survival, but their use is generally best suited for research and not clinical purposes. A serum alkaline phosphatase less than 1.5 times the upper limit of normal has been associated with better outcomes, but its use in predicting long-term outcomes is unclear. An IgA isotype autoantibody to the pancreatic GP2 protein (anti-GP2 IgA antibody) is the first verified prognostic biomarker in PSC. The role of anti-GP2 IgA in PSC was simultaneously investigated and reported by two research groups, and later confirmed by others. Association was demonstrated between anti-GP2 IgA and progressive liver fibrosis, cholangiocarcinoma development and shorter transplantation free survival in PSC patients.

Other markers which may be measured and monitored are a complete blood count, serum liver enzymes, bilirubin levels (usually grossly elevated), kidney function, and electrolytes. Fecal fat measurement is occasionally ordered when symptoms of malabsorption (e.g., gross steatorrhea) are prominent.

Related diseases
The development of any of the cancers associated with PSC predicts a poor prognosis. Complications from PSC-associated cancers account for 40% of deaths from PSC. Primary sclerosing cholangitis is one of the major known risk factors for cholangiocarcinoma, a cancer of the biliary tree, for which the lifetime risk among patients with PSC is 10-15%. This represents a 400-fold greater risk of developing cholangiocarcinoma compared to the general population. Surveillance for cholangiocarcinoma in patients with PSC is encouraged, with some experts recommending annual surveillance with a specialized imaging study and serum markers, although consensus regarding the modality and interval has yet to be established. Similarly, a screening colonoscopy is recommended in people who receive a new diagnosis of primary sclerosing cholangitis since their risk of colorectal cancer is 10 times higher than that of the general population.

PSC is strongly associated with IBD, in particular ulcerative colitis (UC) and to a lesser extent Crohn's disease. As many as 5% of patients with IBD are co-diagnosed with PSC, and approximately 70% of people with PSC have IBD. Of note, the presence of colitis appears to be associated with a greater risk of liver disease progression and bile duct cancer (cholangiocarcinoma) development, although this relationship remains poorly understood. Close monitoring of PSC patients is vital.

Various forms of gallbladder disease such as gallstones and gallbladder polyps are also common in those with PSC. Approximately 25% of people with PSC have gallstones. Ultrasound surveillance of the gallbladder every year is recommended for people with PSC. Any person with PSC who is found to have a mass in the gallbladder should undergo surgical removal of the gallbladder due to the high risk of cholangiocarcinoma. Osteoporosis (hepatic osteodystrophy) and hypothyroidism are also associated with PSC.

A 2–3:1 male-to-female predilection occurs in primary sclerosing cholangitis. PSC can affect men and women at any age, although it is commonly diagnosed in the fourth decade of life, most often in the presence of IBD. PSC progresses slowly and is often asymptomatic, so it can be present for years before it is diagnosed and before it causes clinically significant consequences. Relatively few data are available on the prevalence and incidence of PSC, with studies in different countries showing annual incidence of 0.068–1.3 per 100,000 people and prevalence 0.22–8.5 per 100,000; given that PSC is closely linked with ulcerative colitis, the risk is likely higher in populations where UC is more common. In the United States, an estimated 29,000 individuals have PSC.

Research
Although no curative treatment is known, several clinical trials are underway that aim to slow progression of this liver disease. Obeticholic acid is being investigated as a possible treatment for PSC due to its antifibrotic effects. Simtuzumab is a monoclonal antibody against the profibrotic enzyme LOXL2 that is being developed as a possible therapy for PSC.

Notable cases

 * Chris Klug – professional snowboarder with PSC who had liver transplant
 * Chris LeDoux – professional rodeo rider and country musician with PSC who died of cholangiocarcinoma
 * Elena Baltacha – British professional tennis player, diagnosed with PSC at age 19 and died five months after being diagnosed with PSC-associated liver cancer (specifically cholangiocarcinoma) at the age of 30
 * Walter Payton – died of complications of PSC
 * Kieron Dyer – professional footballer
 * James Redford – director and son of Robert Redford who underwent two liver transplants due to PSC
 * Lars-Göran Petrov – Swedish death metal vocalist best known for his work with Entombed

title: Primary sclerosing cholangitis


text:
Chemiosmosis

Chemiosmosis is the movement of ions across a semipermeable membrane bound structure, down their electrochemical gradient. An important example is the formation of adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by the movement of hydrogen ions (H+) across a membrane during cellular respiration or photosynthesis.

Hydrogen ions, or protons, will diffuse from a region of high proton concentration to a region of lower proton concentration, and an electrochemical concentration gradient of protons across a membrane can be harnessed to make ATP. This process is related to osmosis, the movement of water across a selective membrane, which is why it is called "chemiosmosis".

ATP synthase is the enzyme that makes ATP by chemiosmosis. It allows protons to pass through the membrane and uses the free energy difference to convert phosphorylate adenosine diphosphate (ADP) into ATP. The ATP synthase contains two parts: CF0 (present in thylakoid membrane) and CF1 (protrudes on the outer surface of thylakoid membrane). The breakdown of the proton gradient leads to conformational change in CF1—providing enough energy in the process to convert ADP to ATP. The generation of ATP by chemiosmosis occurs in mitochondria and chloroplasts, as well as in most bacteria and archaea. For instance, in chloroplasts during photosynthesis, an electron transport chain pumps H+ ions (protons) in the stroma (fluid) through the thylakoid membrane to the thylakoid spaces. The stored energy is used to photophosphorylate ADP, making ATP, as protons move through ATP synthase.

The chemiosmotic hypothesis
Peter D. Mitchell proposed the chemiosmotic hypothesis in 1961. In brief, the hypothesis was that most adenosine triphosphate (ATP) synthesis in respiring cells comes from the electrochemical gradient across the inner membranes of mitochondria by using the energy of NADH and FADH2 formed during the oxidative breakdown of energy-rich molecules such as glucose.

Molecules such as glucose are metabolized to produce acetyl CoA as a fairly energy-rich intermediate. The oxidation of acetyl coenzyme A (acetyl-CoA) in the mitochondrial matrix is coupled to the reduction of a carrier molecule such as nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) and flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD). The carriers pass electrons to the electron transport chain (ETC) in the inner mitochondrial membrane, which in turn pass them to other proteins in the ETC. The energy at every redox transfer step is used to pump protons from the matrix into the intermembrane space, storing energy in the form of a transmembrane electrochemical gradient. The protons move back across the inner membrane through the enzyme ATP synthase. The flow of protons back into the matrix of the mitochondrion via ATP synthase provides enough energy for ADP to combine with inorganic phosphate to form ATP.

This was a radical proposal at the time, and was not well accepted. The prevailing view was that the energy of electron transfer was stored as a stable high potential intermediate, a chemically more conservative concept. The problem with the older paradigm is that no high energy intermediate was ever found, and the evidence for proton pumping by the complexes of the electron transfer chain grew too great to be ignored. Eventually the weight of evidence began to favor the chemiosmotic hypothesis, and in 1978 Peter D. Mitchell was awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry.

Chemiosmotic coupling is important for ATP production in mitochondria, chloroplasts and many bacteria and archaea.

Proton-motive force

The movement of ions across the membrane depends on a combination of two factors: These two gradients taken together can be expressed as an electrochemical gradient.
 * 1) Diffusion force caused by a concentration gradient - all particles tend to diffuse from higher concentration to lower.
 * 2) Electrostatic force caused by electrical potential gradient - cations like protons H+ tend to diffuse down the electrical potential, from the positive (P) side of the membrane to the negative (N) side. Anions diffuse spontaneously in the opposite direction.

Lipid bilayers of biological membranes, however, are barriers for ions. This is why energy can be stored as a combination of these two gradients across the membrane. Only special membrane proteins like ion channels can sometimes allow ions to move across the membrane (see also: Membrane transport). In the chemiosmotic hypothesis a transmembrane ATP synthase is central to convert energy of spontaneous flow of protons through them into chemical energy of ATP bonds.

Hence researchers created the term proton-motive force (PMF), derived from the electrochemical gradient mentioned earlier. It can be described as the measure of the potential energy stored (chemiosmotic potential) as a combination of proton and voltage (electrical potential) gradients across a membrane. The electrical gradient is a consequence of the charge separation across the membrane (when the protons H+ move without a counterion, such as chloride Cl−).

In most cases the proton-motive force is generated by an electron transport chain which acts as a proton pump, using the Gibbs free energy of redox reactions to pump protons (hydrogen ions) out across the membrane, separating the charge across the membrane. In mitochondria, energy released by the electron transport chain is used to move protons from the mitochondrial matrix (N side) to the intermembrane space (P side). Moving the protons out of the mitochondrion creates a lower concentration of positively charged protons inside it, resulting in excess negative charge on the inside of the membrane. The electrical potential gradient is about -170 mV, negative inside (N). These gradients - charge difference and the proton concentration difference both create a combined electrochemical gradient across the membrane, often expressed as the proton-motive force (PMF). In mitochondria, the PMF is almost entirely made up of the electrical component but in chloroplasts the PMF is made up mostly of the pH gradient because the charge of protons H+ is neutralized by the movement of Cl− and other anions. In either case, the PMF needs to be greater than about 460 mV (45 kJ/mol) for the ATP synthase to be able to make ATP.

Equations
The proton-motive force is derived from the Gibbs free energy. Let N denote the inside of a cell, and P denote the outside. Then

 * $$\Delta\!G = zF \Delta\!\psi + RT \ln\frac{[\mathrm{X}^{z+}]_{\text{N}} }{[\mathrm{X}^{z+}]_{\text{P}}}$$

where The molar Gibbs free energy change $$\Delta\!G$$ is frequently interpreted as a molar electrochemical ion potential $$\Delta\!\mu _{\mathrm{X}^{z+}} = \Delta\!G$$.
 * $$\Delta\!G$$ is the Gibbs free energy change per unit amount of cations transferred from P to N;
 * $$z$$ is the charge number of the cation $$\mathrm{X}^{z+}$$;
 * $$\Delta\psi$$ is the electric potential of N relative to P;
 * $$[\mathrm{X}^{z+}]_{\text{P}}$$ and $$[\mathrm{X}^{z+}]_{\text{N}}$$ are the cation concentrations at P and N, respectively;
 * $$F$$ is the Faraday constant;
 * $$R$$ is the gas constant; and
 * $$T$$ is the temperature.

For an electrochemical proton gradient $$z=1$$ and as a consequence:
 * $$\Delta\!\mu _{\mathrm{H}^{+}} = F \Delta\!\psi + RT \ln \frac{[\mathrm{H}^+]_{\text{N}} }{[\mathrm{H}^+]_{\text{P}}} = F \Delta\!\psi - (\ln 10)RT \Delta \mathrm{pH}$$

where
 * $$\Delta\!\mathrm{pH} = \mathrm{pH}_{\mathrm{N}} - \mathrm{pH}_{\mathrm{P}}$$.

Mitchell defined the proton-motive force (PMF) as
 * $$\Delta\!p = -\frac{\Delta\!\mu_{\mathrm{H^{+}}}}{F}$$.

For example, $$\Delta\!\mu_{\mathrm{H}^+}=1\,\mathrm{kJ}\,\mathrm{mol}^{-1}$$ implies $$\Delta\!p = 10.4\,\mathrm{mV}$$. At $$298\,\mathrm{K}$$ this equation takes the form:

$$\Delta\!p = -\Delta\!\psi + \left(59.1\,\mathrm{mV}\right)\Delta\!\mathrm{pH}$$.

Note that for spontaneous proton import from the P side (relatively more positive and acidic) to the N side (relatively more negative and alkaline), $$\Delta\!\mu _{\mathrm{H}^+}$$ is negative (similar to $$\Delta\!G$$) whereas PMF is positive (similar to redox cell potential $$\Delta E$$).

It is worth noting that, as with any transmembrane transport process, the PMF is directional. The sign of the transmembrane electric potential difference $$\Delta\!\psi$$ is chosen to represent the change in potential energy per unit charge flowing into the cell as above. Furthermore, due to redox-driven proton pumping by coupling sites, the proton gradient is always inside-alkaline. For both of these reasons, protons flow in spontaneously, from the P side to the N side; the available free energy is used to synthesize ATP (see below). For this reason, PMF is defined for proton import, which is spontaneous. PMF for proton export, i.e., proton pumping as catalyzed by the coupling sites, is simply the negative of PMF(import).

The spontaneity of proton import (from the P to the N side) is universal in all bioenergetic membranes. This fact was not recognized before the 1990s, because the chloroplast thylakoid lumen was interpreted as an interior phase, but in fact it is topologically equivalent to the exterior of the chloroplast. Azzone et al. stressed that the inside phase (N side of the membrane) is the bacterial cytoplasm, mitochondrial matrix, or chloroplast stroma; the outside (P) side is the bacterial periplasmic space, mitochondrial intermembrane space, or chloroplast lumen. Furthermore, 3D tomography of the mitochondrial inner membrane shows its extensive invaginations to be stacked, similar to thylakoid disks; hence the mitochondrial intermembrane space is topologically quite similar to the chloroplast lumen.:

The energy expressed here as Gibbs free energy, electrochemical proton gradient, or proton-motive force (PMF), is a combination of two gradients across the membrane: When a system reaches equilibrium, $$\Delta\!\rho = 0$$; nevertheless, the concentrations on either side of the membrane need not be equal. Spontaneous movement across the potential membrane is determined by both concentration and electric potential gradients.
 * 1) the concentration gradient (via $$\Delta\!\mathrm{pH}$$) and
 * 2) electric potential gradient $$\Delta\!\psi$$.

The molar Gibbs free energy $$\Delta\!G_{\mathrm{p}}$$ of ATP synthesis
 * $$\mathrm{ADP}^{4-} + \mathrm{H}^{+} + \mathrm{HOPO}_3^{2-} \rightarrow \mathrm{ATP}^{4-} + \mathrm{H_2 O}$$

is also called phosphorylation potential. The equilibrium concentration ratio $$[\mathrm{H}^+]/[\mathrm{ATP}]$$ can be calculated by comparing $$\Delta\!p$$ and $$\Delta\!G_{\mathrm{p}}$$, for example in case of the mammalian mitochondrion:

H+ / ATP = ΔGp / (Δp / 10.4 kJ·mol−1/mV) = 40.2 kJ·mol−1 / (173.5 mV / 10.4 kJ·mol−1/mV) = 40.2 / 16.7 = 2.4. The actual ratio of the proton-binding c-subunit to the ATP-synthesizing beta-subunit copy numbers is 8/3 = 2.67, showing that under these conditions, the mitochondrion functions at 90% (2.4/2.67) efficiency.

In fact, the thermodynamic efficiency is mostly lower in eukaryotic cells because ATP must be exported from the matrix to the cytoplasm, and ADP and phosphate must be imported from the cytoplasm. This "costs" one "extra" proton import per ATP, hence the actual efficiency is only 65% (= 2.4/3.67).

In mitochondria

The complete breakdown of glucose releasing its energy is called cellular respiration. The last steps of this process occur in mitochondria. The reduced molecules NADH and FADH2 are generated by the Krebs cycle, glycolysis, and pyruvate processing. These molecules pass electrons to an electron transport chain, which releases the energy of oxygen to create a proton gradient across the inner mitochondrial membrane. ATP synthase then uses the energy stored in this gradient to make ATP. This process is called oxidative phosphorylation because it uses energy released by the oxidation of NADH and FADH2 to phosphorylate ADP into ATP.

In plants
The light reactions of photosynthesis generate ATP by the action of chemiosmosis. The photons in sunlight are received by the antenna complex of Photosystem II, which excites electrons to a higher energy level. These electrons travel down an electron transport chain, causing protons to be actively pumped across the thylakoid membrane into the thylakoid lumen. These protons then flow down their electrochemical potential gradient through an enzyme called ATP-synthase, creating ATP by the phosphorylation of ADP to ATP. The electrons from the initial light reaction reach Photosystem I, then are raised to a higher energy level by light energy and then received by an electron acceptor and reduce NADP+ to NADPH. The electrons lost from Photosystem II get replaced by the oxidation of water, which is "split" into protons and oxygen by the oxygen-evolving complex (OEC, also known as WOC, or the water-oxidizing complex). To generate one molecule of diatomic oxygen, 10 photons must be absorbed by Photosystems I and II, four electrons must move through the two photosystems, and 2 NADPH are generated (later used for carbon dioxide fixation in the Calvin Cycle).

In prokaryotes

Bacteria and archaea also can use chemiosmosis to generate ATP. Cyanobacteria, green sulfur bacteria, and purple bacteria synthesize ATP by a process called photophosphorylation. These bacteria use the energy of light to create a proton gradient using a photosynthetic electron transport chain. Non-photosynthetic bacteria such as E. coli also contain ATP synthase. In fact, mitochondria and chloroplasts are the product of endosymbiosis and trace back to incorporated prokaryotes. This process is described in the endosymbiotic theory. The origin of the mitochondrion triggered the origin of eukaryotes, and the origin of the plastid the origin of the Archaeplastida, one of the major eukaryotic supergroups.

Chemiosmotic phosphorylation is the third pathway that produces ATP from inorganic phosphate and an ADP molecule. This process is part of oxidative phosphorylation.

Thermal cycling model
A stepwise model for the emergence of chemiosmosis, a key element in the origin of life on earth, proposes that primordial organisms used thermal cycling as an energy source (thermosynthesis), functioning essentially as a heat engine:

 * self-organized convection in natural waters causing thermal cycling →
 * added β-subunit of F1 ATP Synthase
 * (generated ATP by thermal cycling of subunit during suspension in convection cell: thermosynthesis) →
 * added membrane and Fo ATP Synthase moiety
 * (generated ATP by change in electrical polarization of membrane during thermal cycling: thermosynthesis) →
 * added metastable, light-induced electric dipoles in membrane
 * (primitive photosynthesis) →
 * added quinones and membrane-spanning light-induced electric dipoles
 * (today's bacterial photosynthesis, which makes use of chemiosmosis).

External proton gradient model
Deep-sea hydrothermal vents, emitting hot acidic or alkaline water, would have created external proton gradients. These provided energy that primordial organisms could have exploited. To keep the flows separate, such an organism could have wedged itself in the rock of the hydrothermal vent, exposed to the hydrothermal flow on one side and the more alkaline water on the other. As long as the organism's membrane (or passive ion channels within it) is permeable to protons, the mechanism can function without ion pumps. Such a proto-organism could then have evolved further mechanisms such as ion pumps and ATP synthase.

Meteoritic quinones
A proposed alternative source to chemiosmotic energy developing across membranous structures is if an electron acceptor, ferricyanide, is within a vesicle and the electron donor is outside, quinones transported by carbonaceous meteorites pick up electrons and protons from the donor. They would release electrons across the lipid membrane by diffusion to ferricyanide within the vesicles and release protons which produces gradients above pH 2, the process is conducive to the development of proton gradients.

title: Chemiosmosis


text:
Unstructured Supplementary Service Data

Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD), sometimes referred to as "quick codes" or "feature codes", is a communications protocol used by GSM cellular telephones to communicate with the mobile network operator's computers. USSD can be used for WAP browsing, prepaid callback service, mobile-money services, location-based content services, menu-based information services, and as part of configuring the phone on the network. The service does not require a messaging app, and does not incur charges.

USSD messages are up to 182 alphanumeric characters long. Unlike short message service (SMS) messages, USSD messages create a real-time connection during a USSD session. The connection remains open, allowing a two-way exchange of a sequence of data. This makes USSD faster than services that use SMS.

While GSM is being phased out in the 2020s with 2G and 3G technologies, USSD services can be supported over LTE, 5G, and IMS.

Uses
When a user sends a message to the phone company network, it is received by a computer dedicated to USSD. The computer's response is sent back to the phone, generally in a basic format that can easily be seen on the phone display. Messages sent over USSD are not defined by any standardization body, so each network operator can implement whatever is most suitable for its customers.

USSD can be used to provide independent calling services such as a callback service (to reduce phone charges while roaming), enhance mobile marketing capabilities or interactive data services.

USSD is commonly used by prepaid GSM cellular phones to query the available balance. The vendor's "check balance" application hides the details of the USSD protocol from the user. On some pay as you go networks, such as Tesco Mobile, once a user performs an action that costs money, the user sees a USSD message with their new balance. USSD can also be used to refill the balance on the user's SIM card and to deliver one-time passwords or PIN codes.

Some operators use USSD to provide access to real-time updates from social-networking websites including Facebook and Twitter. Between 2012 and 2018, the Wikipedia Zero project provided access to Wikipedia articles via USSD.

USSD is sometimes used in conjunction with SMS. The user sends a request to the network via USSD, and the network replies with an acknowledgement of receipt:
 * "Thank you, your message is being processed. A message will be sent to your phone."

Subsequently, one or more mobile terminated SMS messages communicate the status and/or results of the initial request. In such cases, SMS is used to "push" a reply or updates to the handset when the network is ready to send them. In contrast, USSD is used for command-and-control only.

Technical details
Most GSM phones have USSD capability. USSD is generally associated with real-time or instant messaging services. An SMSC is not present in the processing path, so that the store-and-forward capability supported by other short-message protocols such as SMS is not available.

USSD Phase 1, as specified in GSM 02.90, only supports mobile-initiated ("pull") operations. In the core network, the message is delivered over MAP, USSD Phase 2, as specified in GSM 03.90. After entering a USSD code on a GSM handset, the reply from the GSM operator is displayed within a few seconds.

While GSM is being phased out in the 2020s with 2G and 3G, a solution is available for supporting USSD services directly from the LTE/5G/IMS network, providing a similar user experience as in GSM.

Format
A USSD message typically starts with an asterisk symbol (*) or a hash symbol (#) and is terminated with a hash symbol (#). A typical message comprises digits for commands or data; groups of digits may be separated by additional asterisks.

USSD mode
Mobile-initiated
 * USSD/ PULL or USSD/ P2A
 * when the user dials a code, e.g. *139# from a GSM mobile handset

Network-initiated
 * USSD/ PUSH or USSD/A2P
 * when the user receives a push message from the network; primarily used for promotional services

Man-Machine Interface
The codes below are not USSD codes, these are the related Man-Machine Interface (MMI); they are standardized so they are the same on every GSM phone. They are interpreted by the handset first before a corresponding command (not the code itself) is sent to the network. These codes might not always work when using an AT interface; there are standard AT commands defined for each of these actions instead.

BS is the type of bearer service, some valid values are:
 * 11 for voice
 * 13 for fax
 * 16 for SMS (only valid for barring)
 * 25 for data
 *   for all.

T is number of seconds for the No Reply Condition Timer, default is 20 seconds if not specified.

title: Unstructured Supplementary Service Data


text:
Ivan Silayev

Ivan Stepanovich Silayev (Ива́н Степа́нович Сила́ев; 21 October 1930 – 8 February 2023) was a Soviet and Russian politician. He served as Prime Minister of the Soviet Union through the offices of chairman of the Committee on the Operational Management of the Soviet economy (28 August – 25 December 1991) and chairman of the Inter-republican Economic Committee (20 September – 14 November 1991). Responsible for overseeing the economy of the Soviet Union during the late Gorbachev era, he was the last head of government of the Soviet Union, succeeding Valentin Pavlov.

After graduating in the 1950s, Silayev began his political career in the Ministry of Aviation Industry in the 1970s. During the Brezhnev Era he became Minister of Aviation Industry, Minister of Machine-Tool and Tool Building Industry, and a Central Committee member. When Nikolai Tikhonov's Second Government was dissolved, Mikhail Gorbachev appointed him in 1985 deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers in Nikolai Ryzhkov's First Government. He left all posts in the central government in October 1990 to focus in his post as chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Russian SFSR, which he had been appointed to in June of that year. There he faced several cabinet difficulties during his tenure, and while he supported the majority of Boris Yeltsin's policies, he opposed the secessionist policies of Yeltsin, which led to the disintegration of the Soviet Union, during his concurrent tenure as Soviet Premier, which he overtook in August 1991. Therefore, a month later, he was removed from the post of Prime Minister of the Russian SFSR and was replaced by acting Prime Minister Oleg Lobov.

Silayev de facto became Prime Minister of the Soviet Union on 28 August 1991 following the failed August coup and the abolishment of the Cabinet of Ministers, when no new cabinet could be formed and the new economic committee, chaired by him since 24 August, was granted the authority of the cabinet. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, he continued to work for the Yeltsin administration as the Permanent Representative of Russia to the European Community (the European Union since 1992) until his resignation in 1994. During the 2007 legislative election, Silayev ran as a candidate for the Agrarian Party of Russia.

Early life and career
Silayev was born on 21 October 1930, in Baktyzino, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. He graduated from the Kazan Aviation Institute in 1954 as a mechanical engineer. In 1959 Silayev became a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU). During his tenure at the Gorky Aviation Plant (Gorky is now Nizhny Novgorod), where he started in 1954, he advanced from the lowest level to become the plant's foreman from 1971 to 1974.

Following this, Silayev served as Deputy Minister of Aviation Industry, and was later appointed Minister of Aviation Industry in 1981 in Nikolai Tikhonov's first government. He served briefly as Minister of Machine-Tool and Tool Building Industry of the Soviet Union from 1980 to 1981. At the 26th Congress Silayev was elected to the Central Committee (CPSU). In 1985, during Mikhail Gorbachev's rule, Silayev was appointed deputy chairman of the Council of Ministers and chairman of the Machine-Building Bureau of the Council of Ministers in Nikolai Ryzhkov's first and second governments. He served in these posts until he was appointed Premier of the Russian SFSR in 1990. In 1986, he served as head of a government commission into the Chernobyl Disaster.

Appointment
The election of a Chairman of the Council of Ministers – Government of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), literally Premier of the Russian SFSR, was not considered a very important event; the Premier was elected following the election of the chairman of the Supreme Soviet of the Russian SFSR, the Supreme Soviet's deputy chairman, and after a debate on Russian agriculture. Boris Yeltsin, the chairman of the Russian SFSR Supreme Soviet, was ordered to select candidates for the post of Premier to the Supreme Soviet. Mikhail Bocharov, a successful businessman and leader of the cooperative movement, rector of the Moscow Aviation Institute Yuri Ryzhkov, and Silayev were chosen as the candidates. Ryzhkov withdrew his candidacy before the first round of voting was finished. During the election, Bocharov revealed his radical economic reform plan to the Supreme Soviet deputies; in it industry would be privatised, and subsidies to unprofitable enterprises would cease in a 100 Days reform package. Silayev did not have any similar economic reform plans but was widely considered to be Yeltsin's favourite for the post.

In the first round of voting, Silayev earned 119 votes, while Bocharov earned 86 votes. To be elected to the post, a candidate needed to win over half of the vote; neither Silayev nor Bocharov succeeded in this. Seeing that Silayev was Yeltsin's favourite, and had won more votes than Bocharov, Silayev ran unchallenged in the second election round, and was thus elected by 15 June a large margin. On June 18, the Congress of People's Deputies of the RSFSR approved the appointment of Silayev as Prime Minister.

Gorbachev tried to break the Silayev–Yeltsin alliance but to no avail. In 1989, Valentin Pavlov, the Prime Minister of the Soviet Union from 14 January to 28 August 1991, had gathered together enough information on the errors and omissions of Silayev to weaken his position as Deputy Premier. Silayev never forgave Pavlov and relations between the two grew colder when Pavlov became the Prime Minister.

Silayev's government
Silayev repeatedly opined that if he ever was given conflicting instructions by the Premier of the Soviet Union and Yeltsin, he would always "observe the laws of the RSFSR", meaning he would obey Yeltsin. During his tenure as Premier, Silayev was never the de facto leader of the government cabinet and was loyal to Yeltsin and the Supreme Soviet. In contrast to his predecessor, Aleksandr Vlasov, Silayev tried to modernise the Russian Government. Silayev decided to break with the old Soviet nomenklatura system of electing cabinet members by electing members using an "objective" and "scientific" basis. To accomplish this, Silayev asked professional psychologists to interview candidate cabinet members. Only 14 of the 200 cabinet candidates were recommended for a post in the government cabinet; even so, several of the candidates were given a post in the new government. All candidate members were selected by either Silayev, Yeltsin, or the Supreme Soviet.

Silayev's government lacked ideological unity, and several conservative members were elected to the cabinet in July 1990, among them Oleg Lobov and Gennadii Kulik. In November 1990, Grigory Yavlinsky resigned from his cabinet post, citing the failure of the 500 Days Programme. However, some commentators believe Yavlinsky resigned because of frequent conflict between him and other cabinet members. RSFSR Minister of Finance Boris Fyodorov resigned on 5 December 1990, and accused the First Deputy Premiers of taking important financial decisions on behalf of the ministry and him as minister behind his back. Lobov, the First Deputy Premier in charge of regional development, had become a de facto leader of the cabinet. Lobov was Yeltsin's favourite, and tried to weaken Silayev's position within the cabinet. With the consent of the Supreme Soviet Silayev established a 16-member Presidium for the cabinet.

Another problem facing Silayev was that the Supreme Soviet was usurping the power of the executive branch by strengthening the legislative branch. To accomplish this, the Supreme Soviet established duplicated entities, such as the Committee for Mass Media, which duplicated the functions of the Ministry of Mass Media. Viktor Kisin, the Minister of Industry, told the press that the only employee of his ministry was in fact himself. In July 1990, Silayev agreed to create parallel executive-legislative administrative bodies.

In December 1990, the Congress of People's Deputies of the Russian SFSR entrusted Silayev and his government to create a new plan for economic reform. The plan was finished in April 1991, and was referred to as the "Yeltsin–Silayev Plan". The plan was heavily influenced by the 500 Days Programme, and supported privatisation and the marketisation of the economy. The reform plan was criticised by an official from the State Committee on Economic Reform of the central government; he called the plan "a statement of intents"; instead of an economic reform, he called it a "manifesto". A Supreme Soviet deputy noted the proposed reform lacked real statistical insight. Even so, the proposed reform received a majority in a Supreme Soviet vote; Yeltsin's supporters knew that his economic reform proposal had to be accepted before the July presidential election. Following the July presidential election, the Russian government resigned, and the post of premier was once again up for election. Silayev had strong competitors for the post, such as Yurii Skokov, but won the election.

Soviet premiership
The State Committee for the State of Emergency failed to arrest Silayev or any other high-standing Russian state officials during the August Coup. Silayev was one of several leading Russian SFSR politicians who flew to Gorbachev's summer house in the immediate aftermath of the failed coup. On 24 August, the Russian SFSR Council of Ministers issued a decree transferring central government authority over economic and communications ministries to the RSFSR Government, and took control of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union and KGB archives. With the central government's authority greatly weakened, Gorbachev established a four-man committee, led by Silayev, that included Grigory Yavlinsky, Arkady Volsky, and Yuri Luzhkov, to elect a new Cabinet of Ministers. This committee was later transformed into the Committee on the Operational Management of the Soviet economy (COMSE), also chaired by Silayev, to manage the Soviet economy.

On 28 August 1991, a Supreme Soviet temporarily gave the COMSE the same authority as the Cabinet of Ministers, and Silayev became the Soviet Union's de facto Premier. The Russian-dominated COMSE was quickly surpassed in authority by the Inter-republican Economic Committee (IEC), which was better thought to work between the different member republics, as its function was to coordinate economic policy across the Soviet Union, and was created by law on 5 September, but members were not immediately selected. Silayev finally also became IEC's chairman on 20 September (while other members were different from COMSE), formally strengthening his position in the union, but he presided over a quickly disintegrating Soviet Union and was dismissed as Russian Premier only a few days later. Further disintegration of the USSR, with several republics becoming independent states, led to the transformation of the IEC into the on 14 November, which was to coordinate relations between the union republics and the republics that seceded from the USSR. Silayev remained chairman of the new IEC and was considered "Prime Minister of the Economic Community", although the office and the community had no future, with the dissolution of the Soviet Union coming only weeks later.

When he first took office, holding the Russian premiership under Boris Yeltsin at the same time, Silayev had wanted to reduce the powers of the central government and give more powers to the Soviet Republics. As he, however, saw Yeltsin's rapid actions to undermine the institutions of the Soviet Union, his view changed and he demanded that Yeltsin give back much of the authority of the central government which he had usurped following the August Coup. In this he failed, and his position as Russian SFSR Premier was severely weakened as a result, with him being replaced only a month after his accession to the Soviet premiership. Oleg Lobov, Silayev's First Deputy Premier, led the anti-Silayev faction in the Russian SFSR Council of Ministers and managed to oust him on 26 September 1991; Lobov succeeded him as acting Premier of the Russian SFSR. Silayev, as overseer of the economy, was given the task of initiating economic reforms in the Soviet Union in a way that suited both the central government and the Soviet republics. Silayev tried to maintain an integrated economy while initiating the marketisation of the economy. On 19 December 1991, Yeltsin declared the COMSE committee, which served as the Soviet Union's last government, dissolved, and Silayev retired from his post, one day after he had been appointed to his new position as a diplomat for Russia. The legality of the dissolution was unclear, as Gorbachev had not concurred with it, and so most members remained in office and continued their work. Оn 25 December 1991, Gorbachev announced his resignation from the post of President of the USSR in connection with the creation of the Commonwealth of Independent States, meaning that the union government ceased to exist.

Later career and death
On 18 December 1991, Silayev was appointed by Yeltsin as the Permanent Representative of Russia to the European Community in Brussels; he resigned from this post on 7 February 1994. In late 1994, Silayev became the President of the Machine-Building Association of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), which consisted of more than a hundred civilian and military enterprises and associations, mostly of Russian origin. He became a member of the Ecological Movement "Cedar" in 1995. From 1998, he was President of Industrial Machine, an industrial and financial group; he simultaneously headed the National Committee, which promotes economic cooperation with Latin America. On 26 September 2002, Silayev became Chairman of the Russian Union of Mechanical Engineers. During the 2007 legislative election, Silayev ran as a candidate for the Agrarian Party, but failed to get elected.

Silayev died on 8 February 2023, at the age of 92 in Nizhny Novgorod. He was buried on February 11, 2023, at the Troyekurovskoye Cemetery in Moscow next to his wife, who died on 18 March 2006. The farewell ceremony was attended by 30 to 40 people.

Recognition
Silayev was awarded an Order of Lenin on two different occasions—once in 1971, and another during a closed session of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet in 1975, when he was also awarded a Hero of Socialist Labour. He was awarded a Lenin Prize in 1972. In 1981, he was awarded the Order of the October Revolution and in 2002, the National Prize of Peter the Great. On 19 October 2000 and on 21 October 2005, Silayev was awarded the Diploma of the Government of the Russian Federation.

title: Ivan Silayev


text: Category:Computer companies

title: Category:Computer companies


text:
Extreme points of the European Union

This is a list of the extreme points of the European Union — the points that are farther north, south, east or west than any other location.

Overall
Note that most overseas territories of EU member countries are not part of the European Union, and therefore do not count here. All of these territories are as well part of Eurozone and represent its extreme points.
 * North: Nuorgam, Finland
 * South: Pointe de Langevin, Saint-Joseph, Réunion, France (21° 23′ 20″ S)
 * West: Pointe du Canonnier, Saint-Martin, France (63° 08′ W)
 * East: Pointe des Cascades, Sainte-Rose, Réunion, France (55° 50′ 11″ E)

In Europe, not including overseas territories

 * North: Nuorgam, Finland (70° 5′ 30″ N)
 * South: La Restinga, Canary Islands, Spain (27° 38′ N)
 * West: Monchique Islet, Azores Islands, Portugal (31°16′30″W)
 * East: Rizokarpaso, Cyprus de jure (34° 36′ E)

 * or Cape Greco, Ayia Napa, Cyprus de facto (34° 5′ E)

In mainland Europe
Only including the European continent proper, i.e. mainland of the 24 member states excluding islands such as Cyprus, Malta or Ireland.
 * North: Nuorgam, Finland
 * South: Punta de Tarifa, Spain (36° 0′ 15″ N)
 * West: Cabo da Roca, Portugal (9° 30′ W)
 * East: Virmajärvi, Finland (31° 35′ E)
 * Southeastern: Cape Maleas, Greece (36° 26' N", 23° 11'E)
 * Southwestern: Cape St. Vincent, Portugal (37°1′30″N 8°59′40″W)
 * Northwestern: Tripoint between Sweden and the Norwegian provinces of Nordland and Troms, near Narvik, Sweden (37°1′30″N 8°59′40″W)
 * Northeastern: Same as the Northernmost point: Nuorgam, Finland

In the Schengen Area

 * North: Knivskjellodden, Norway (71° 11′ 8″ N)
 * South: La Restinga, Canary Islands, Spain (27° 38′ N)
 * West: Monchique Islet, Azores Islands, Portugal (31°16′30″W)
 * East: Virmajärvi, Finland (31° 35′ 11″E)

Altitude

 * The EU's highest peak is Mont Blanc in the Graian Alps, 4810.45 m above sea level.
 * The lowest point (man-made) in the EU is Tagebau Hambach, 293 m below sea level, Niederzier, North Rhine-Westphalia,
 * The lowest natural point in the EU is Étang de Lavalduc in Southeastern Metropolitan France, at 10 m (33 ft) below sea level.

title: Extreme points of the European Union


text:
Hans A. Pestalozzi

Hans Adolf Pestalozzi (February 7, 1929 – July 14, 2004) was a Swiss social critic of late 20th century capitalism, which eventually led to his becoming a bestselling author (Nach uns die Zukunft, Auf die Bäume ihr Affen).

Biography
Pestalozzi was born in Zürich. After his university education at University of St. Gallen, he started working for Migros. In the 1960s he also built up the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institut, a think tank named after the Migros founder (who had died in 1962). The institute was established to investigate the range of possible shortcomings and negative effects of capitalism, in particular within Western consumer society, so that they could be combated more effectively.

Pestalozzi fulfilled that task very thoroughly, especially in his lectures, so much so that in 1977 he was fired by Migros. Rather than looking for a new job, he became a freelance writer and self-proclaimed "autonomous agitator" who sided with the fledgling European youth, peace and ecological movements. He preached "positive subversion" and, in a Kantian manner, tried to convince people that using their own intelligence was the right thing to do. Moreover, he demanded a guaranteed minimum income for everybody.

Hans A. Pestalozzi died a recluse by suicide in his home near Wattwil, Canton of St. Gallen.

title: Hans A. Pestalozzi


text:
Strategic National Stockpile

The Strategic National Stockpile (SNS), originally called the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile (NPS), is the United States' national repository of antibiotics, vaccines, chemical antidotes, antitoxins, and other critical medical supplies. Its website states: "'The Strategic National Stockpile's role is to supplement state and local supplies during public health emergencies. Many states have products stockpiled, as well. The supplies, medicines, and devices for life-saving care contained in the stockpile can be used as a short-term stopgap buffer when the immediate supply of adequate amounts of these materials may not be immediately available.'"

In at least 10 government reports published from 2003 to 2015, federal officials predicted that the U.S. would experience a shortage of ventilators and other medical supplies were a large-scale infectious disease outbreak to occur.

Locations
The actual supply of drugs and supplies that make up the SNS are located in 12 secret locations strategically placed throughout the US. The locations appear to look like ordinary commercial warehouses. Inside the warehouses, supplies are stacked on shelves that can measure five stories high. Armed personnel guard the warehouse contents and, according to NPR in 2020, during the COVID-19 global pandemic, "rows of ventilators, which can support people who are having trouble breathing, are kept charged up and ready to roll at a moment's notice."

Composition
The SNS holds a variety of items that would be helpful to the general population in the event of a widespread disease outbreak.

12-hour push pack
Each push pack weighs about 50 ST. Its contents include broad-spectrum oral and intravenous antibiotics, emergency medicines, IV fluids and kits, airway equipment, bandages, vaccines, antitoxins, and ventilators. The material deploys by unmarked trucks and airplanes within 12 hours of the receipt of a request by the CDC. The U.S. Marshals Service provides armed security from these federal sites to local destinations. The SNS has adequate vaccines and countermeasures in its stockpile, including 300 million smallpox treatment courses and enough anthrax vaccines to handle a three-city incident.

CHEMPACK
CHEMPACKs contain nerve agent antidotes to help in the event of a nerve agent attack or industrial accident. As of 2015, 1,960 CHEMPACKs were forward-deployed in more than 1,340 locations across each state and territory of the United States.

Cold War Era
During the first decade of the Cold War, the United States accumulated a civil defense medical stockpile at 32 storage facilities. The supplies began to degrade in the 1960s, and were disposed of and the stockpile program closed in 1974.

Clinton Administration
In April 1998, President Bill Clinton read the Richard Preston novel The Cobra Event, a fiction book about a mad scientist spreading a virus throughout New York City. As a result, Clinton held a meeting with scientists and cabinet officials to discuss the threat of bioterrorism. He was so impressed that he asked the experts to meet with senior-level aides at the Department of Defense and in the Department of Health and Human Services. At that time, the government had stockpiles of medications for military personnel, but did not have them for civilians. Shortly after, The Washington Post wrote that Clinton surprised many in Washington at how fast he and his National Security Council had moved to change that. By October, Clinton signed into law a new budget of $51 million for pharmaceutical and vaccine stockpiling to be carried out by the CDC.

The US Congress appropriated funds for the CDC to create a pharmaceutical and vaccine stockpile to handle biological and chemical threats from disease that could affect large numbers of the US civilian population, in Public Law 105–277 dated October 21, 1998. The original name was the National Pharmaceutical Stockpile (NPS) program, but additional materials have been added to the stockpile since the original authorization.

Bush Administration
The federal government implemented a pandemic blueprint for distribution of Personal Protective Equipment (P.P.E.) from the Strategic National Stockpile, in coordination with public and private efforts.

On March 1, 2003, the NPS was renamed the Strategic National Stockpile (SNS) program with joint management by Department of Homeland Security and Department of Health and Human Services.

In 2005 and in preparation for a predictable pandemic influenza, the Bush administration called for the coordination of domestic production and stockpiling of protective personal equipment. In 2006, the US Congress funded the integration of protective equipment to a Strategic National Stockpile: 52 million surgical masks and 104 million N95 air-filtration masks were acquired and added.

Public Health Emergency lists large-scale deployments from the SNS in response to emergencies.

The SNS successfully deployed 12-hour "push packages" to New York City and Washington, D.C., in response to the September 11 attacks, and managed inventory (MI) to numerous locations in response to the anthrax terrorist attacks of 2001.

Following the landfall of Hurricanes Katrina and Rita on the Gulf coast of Mississippi and Louisiana in September 2005, the CDC deployed SNS assets, technical assistance and response units, plus the newly developed and rapidly deployable "federal medical contingency stations" to state-approved locations near or in the disaster areas. The contingency stations, later renamed Federal Medical Stations (FMS), are caches of equipment and supplies provided by the SNS, set up in local "buildings of opportunity" and staffed by local or federal medical personnel to provide triage, low acuity care, and temporary holding of displaced patients for whom local acute care systems are damaged or destroyed.

Obama administration
Since the original deployment following Hurricane Katrina, FMSs have been deployed to support other major disaster responses including Superstorm Sandy. The FMS program is a collaboration between CDC and the Office of Emergency Management under the HHS Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response. In 2014, responding to stakeholder feedback, a 50-bed FMS cache was developed and made available in addition to the original 250-bed FMS.

The SNS released one-quarter of its antiviral drug inventory (Tamiflu and Relenza), personal protective equipment (PPE), and respiratory protection devices, to help every US state respond to the H1N1 Influenza 2009 swine influenza outbreak in the United States.

After the 2009 flu pandemic in which tens of millions of masks were distributed, fiscal constraints imposed by the agency's $600 million annual budget led officials to decide that replenishing a large inventory of N95 face masks was of less priority than stockpiling other equipment and drugs for diseases and disasters.

Trump Administration
During the Trump administration, Trump falsely claimed his administration inherited an ‘empty’ stockpile from the previous administration.

From 2017 to 2019, the Trump administration failed to replace masks and other supplies used in earlier disasters. In May 2020, in a House subcommittee meeting, whistle-blower Dr. Rick Bright, previous director of Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, explained that the Trump administration had ignored his early warnings to stock up on masks and other supplies to combat the coronavirus.

The Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) of the Department of Health and Human Services has managed the Strategic National Stockpile since October 1, 2018. Prior to that, the stockpile was managed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

2020 COVID-19 pandemic
At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, SNS was involved in providing supplies to the repatriation efforts of State Department employees from China and Japan. It also shipped thousands of N95 masks to the states of Washington, Massachusetts, and New York to respond to their surging infection rates. In March of 2020, SNS director Steven Adams said it had stockpiled 13 million masks and had placed an order for 500 million more by September of 2021. The SNS was criticized for containing over 5 million expired masks.

On March 29, 2020, HHS accepted a donation of 30 million doses of hydroxychloroquine sulfate from Sandoz and one million doses of Resochin (chloroquine phosphate) from Bayer Pharmaceuticals for use in treating hospitalized COVID-19 patients or in clinical trials. The SNS will work with the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) to deliver the doses to states. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration later withdrew Emergency Use Authorization for these drugs after studies found they had no benefit for treating COVID-19.

On April 1, 2020, Department of Homeland Security officials told reporters that the cache of personal protective equipment stored by the SNS was almost depleted due to the COVID-19 pandemic in the United States. This was later confirmed by President Donald Trump. PPE from the SNS was sent directly to health facilities across the country.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, states criticized the lack of availability of medical supplies from the federal stockpile. At a White House press conference on April 2, 2020, senior advisor Jared Kushner commented "The notion of the federal stockpile was it's supposed to be our stockpile. It's not supposed to be states' stockpiles that they then use." The idea that the stockpile was not a backup for states that run out of supplies was disputed by Governor Laura Kelly of Kansas, among others.

The description of the stockpile, as listed on its website, was changed the day after Kushner's remarks to better align with them, from: "'Strategic National Stockpile is the nation’s largest supply of life-saving pharmaceuticals and medical supplies for use in a public health emergency severe enough to cause local supplies to run out. When state, local, tribal, and territorial responders request federal assistance to support their response efforts, the stockpile ensures that the right medicines and supplies get to those who need them most during an emergency. Organized for scalable response to a variety of public health threats, this repository contains enough supplies to respond to multiple large-scale emergencies simultaneously.'" to: "'The Strategic National Stockpile's role is to supplement state and local supplies during public health emergencies. Many states have products stockpiled, as well. The supplies, medicines, and devices for life-saving care contained in the stockpile can be used as a short-term stopgap buffer when the immediate supply of adequate amounts of these materials may not be immediately available.'"

Washington State announced on April 5, 2020, that it would return more than 400 ventilators it had received from the Stockpile "... to help states facing higher numbers of COVID-19 cases."

On April 8, 2020, HHS contracted with DuPont for 2.25 million Tyvek suits to be delivered to the SNS to be used as PPE for frontline healthcare workers. By April 13, 2020, HHS used the Defense Production Act (DPA) to contract for ventilator production with General Electric, Hill-Rom, Medtronic, ResMed, and Vyaire. Additionally, they contracted with Hamilton and Zoll for ventilator production without using the DPA. The seven contracts were expected to produce 137,431 ventilators by the end of 2020 at a total cost of $1.435 billion.

Biden administration
In January 2022, amidst a surge in cases caused by the more contagious Omicron variant, the CDC updated its guidance to emphasize the greater protection from wearing N95 masks in indoor public spaces. The Biden Administration announced it would distribute 400 million N95 masks from the SNS which started arriving in late January and early February.

2022 monkeypox outbreak
The stockpile was again used during the 2022 monkeypox outbreak. In May 2022, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) confirmed the United States released some of their Jynneos monkeypox vaccine supply from their Strategic National Stockpile for people who are "high-risk". On May 27, 2022, the CDC specified the indications for the Jynneos vaccine: research laboratory personnel, clinical laboratory personnel performing diagnostic testing for orthopoxviruses, designated response team members, and health care personnel who administer live smallpox Vaccine or care for patients infected with orthopoxviruses.

Criticism
In March of 2021, the New York Times alleged mismanagement involving the Strategic National Stockpile, stating, "In one telling example, The Times found, the government approved a plan in 2015 to buy tens of millions of N95 respirators — lifesaving equipment for medical workers that has been in short supply because of Covid-19 — but the masks repeatedly lost out in the competition for funding over the years leading up to the pandemic, according to five former federal health officials involved in the effort. During the same period, Emergent sold the government nearly $1 billion in anthrax vaccines, financial disclosures show."

Related legislation
Section 403 of the Pandemic and All-Hazards Preparedness Reauthorization Act of 2013 (H.R. 307; 113th Congress) reauthorized the Strategic National Stockpile for FY2014-FY2018. It required the Secretary of Health and Human Services to:
 * 1) submit to the appropriate congressional committees, to the extent that the disclosure of such information does not compromise national security, the annual review of the contents of the Stockpile; and
 * 2) review and revise the contents of the Stockpile to ensure that the potential depletion of countermeasures currently in the Stockpile is identified and appropriately addressed, including through necessary replenishment.

title: Strategic National Stockpile


text:
Talk:Canonical commutation relation

Question
Anyone read Dirac's book on QM? I'm missing something on this derivation. -ub3rm4th  Quoted (section 22, page 93):
 * $$ (\frac{\partial}{\partial q_r})^* \left.\psi\right\rangle^*

= e^{-i\gamma}\frac{\partial}{\partial q_r} \left.\psi\right\rangle = e^{-i\gamma}\frac{\partial}{\partial q_r} e^{i\gamma}\left.\psi\right\rangle^*$$ showing that
 * $$ (\frac{\partial}{\partial q_r})^* = e^{-i\gamma}\frac{\partial}{\partial q_r} e^{i\gamma}$$

or, with the help of $$\frac{\partial}{\partial q_r}f - f\frac{\partial}{\partial q_r} = \frac{\partial f}{\partial q_r}$$,
 * $$(\frac{\partial}{\partial q_r})^* = \frac{\partial}{\partial q_r} + i\frac{\partial\gamma}{\partial q_r}$$

Question, more urgent!

 * $$\frac{\partial}{\partial q_r} \left. \psi\right\rangle = 0$$

Why?

Gauge invariant?
"The non-relativistic Hamiltonian for a particle of mass m and charge q in a classical electromagnetic field is

 * $$H=\frac{1}{2m} \left(p-\frac{qA}{c}\right)^2 +q\phi$$

where A is the three-vector potential and $$\phi$$ is the scalar potential. This form of the Hamiltonian, as well as the Schroedinger equation $$H\psi=i\hbar \partial\psi/\partial t$$, the Maxwell equations and the Lorentz force law are invariant under the gauge transformation

 * $$A\to A^\prime=A+\nabla \Lambda$$
 * $$\phi\to \phi^\prime-\frac{1}{c} \frac{\partial \Lambda}{\partial t}$$
 * $$\psi\to\psi^\prime=U\psi$$
 * $$H\to H^\prime= U HU^\dagger$$

where

 * $$U=\exp \left( \frac{iq\Lambda}{\hbar c}\right)$$

and $$\Lambda=\Lambda(x,t)$$ is the gauge function."

It is not true that this H is invariant under a gauge transformation. Substituting for the transformed potentials with simple algebra H' becomes

 * $$H^\prime= U HU^\dagger-\frac{q}{c} \frac{\partial \Lambda}{\partial t}$$

not the expression given in the article. However the Schroedinger equation, the Maxwell equations and the Lorentz force law are invariant under the gauge transformation. Xxanthippe 04:02, 11 June 2007 (UTC)

Would you mind citing some references for this? I think the text (wikipedia article) is a little bit unclear about whether the Hamiltonian or the Schrödinger equation are gauge invariant. It should be nice if someone review this section. User:143.107.229.183
 * The Hamiltonian of semi-classical electrodynamics, given above, is, by elementary algebra (consider the potential term), not gauge invariant. The field equation that it is associated with, the Schrödinger equation is gauge invariant because of the time derivative of the wavefunction that occurs in it. On the other hand, the Hamiltonian and the field equations of quantum electrodynamics are all gauge invariant. Puzzled? The reason is that semi-classical electrodynamics is an incomplete theory because it does not take account of the internal dynamics of the (electromagnetic) field as it describes the field by externally specified potentials. Quantum electrodynamics is a complete theory in this respect but it suffers from disadvantages like giving infinite results. However, it can be shown that the probability amplitudes for transitions of the matter field in semi-classical electrodynamics are gauge invariant. So semi-classical electrodynamics is a pretty good theory for most of chemistry and much of physics, so much so that some people don't realise its shortcomings. Xxanthippe (talk) 00:34, 20 June 2010 (UTC).

Proof of Canonical Commutation Relations?
The "uncertainty principle" wikipedia page explains how to derive the uncertainty principle from these commutation relations, but how does one physically prove the canonical commutation relations?

i.e. What experiments or logic led to the proposition [x,p_x] = ih/(2*pi) being accepted as true?

I ask this because I think the answer would make a great addition to this article.

 * Good point. It's too bad that it has received no response.

 * For starters, there are two things involved in your question. One is a question of math (and not exactly of logic). I think you will find your answer in Thomas F. Jordan's Quantum Mechanics in Simple Matrix Form. The situation, as well as I can understand it, is that the relationship discussed here came out of the math. If I figure it out I'll try to remember to come back and supply here what I hoped would be provided in the article.

 * The other issues is whether what is mathematically true happens to describe reality. For a long time, Euclidean geometry was taken as a description, indeed the only description, of space. Euclidean geometry can be made axiomatically valid, but so can other geometries. The question then becomes whether, e.g., at huge distances the sum of the angles of a triangle are indeed equal to 180 degrees. If space itself is curved, then that shows experimentally that some other geometry must be the correct one.

 * There is lots of discussion about how experimental verifications would have to be made in the case of pq not being equal to qp, but I don't know whether the experiments have been pursued. There is another answer, I suspect, in that the bright line spectrum lines are not perfect geometrical lines as they would be if your laser pointer produced light at exactly 660 nanometers, or if the bright lines of the hydrogen spectrum were made entirely of photons of exactly one wavelength. There are differences in fuzziness depending on the frequencies involved, too. It's all a little fuzzy in my memory, but if and when I run onto that discussion again I'll try to remember to post it here. P0M (talk) 01:54, 22 June 2009 (UTC)

 * See Jordan, p. 130-132. I think this is where the proof appears. (I wish his English was a little clearer.) P0M (talk) 06:05, 24 June 2009 (UTC)

 * See also, Aitchison, MacManus, and Snyder, "Understanding Heisenberg's 'magical' paper of July 1925," Appendix A.

 * Mehra's three volume book on the history of quantum mechanics refers over and over again to the enthusiasm and stamina with which people in Heisenberg's circle had been spectrographically investigating the hydrogen spectrum -- and that over the course of several years. So it seems likely to me that the data was already there. Planck's constant is a very small number, so they would have had to prepare the experiments very carefully and make many measurements I have one book, which I can't find at the moment, that has some details (or maybe speculation) on how experiments need to be done in this regard. P0M (talk) 05:20, 25 June 2009 (UTC)

Boundedness?
"It is relatively easy to see that two operators satisfying the canonical commutation relations cannot both be bounded." - Can anyone provide a reference for this claim? —Preceding unsigned comment added by 142.151.156.48 (talk) 00:46, 5 March 2009 (UTC)
 * Self-evident: Trace. Cuzkatzimhut (talk) 01:15, 4 March 2013 (UTC)
 * Would you like to expand for the benefit of those with less intelligence than yourself? Xxanthippe (talk) 01:22, 4 March 2013 (UTC).
 * But under no circumstances in the article: less is more. As the aside invitation to take the trace of the commutation relation suggests, the right hand side is of order N for N-dimensional vector spaces and infinite for the Hilbert space in question. The left hand side, by the cyclicity of the trace is 0 for finite dimensional spaces, and ambiguous for Hilbert space, that is as N grows infinite, the zero and the emergent delta functions conspire to yield an infinite expression equal to the right hand side. To sum up, for finite N, the commutation relation cannot hold, as seen by thus tracing, but it tends to the one given in the article provided either x or p are unbounded, in our case both. My favorite reference is where that limit emerges magnificently, but  it would be overkill to foist it on the reader right here. The reader is steered to the Stone-von Neumann theorem, and might go to standard QM texts if interested. I think just the plain statement and the exhortation to take the trace suffice to let the reader in the know recall the fact, and the one who is not to shrug it off.... One could always cite the canonical derivation of Ch VIII of Reed and Simon, ISBN 0125850506, based on this commutator, but I fear this is overkill for an elementary introduction−−maybe the cite could belong in the wiki on boundedness.  Cuzkatzimhut (talk) 12:59, 4 March 2013 (UTC)

Poor writing
Para 2 starts out: "In contrast..."

In contrast to what? How is the reader supposed to guess? P0M (talk) 01:40, 22 June 2009 (UTC)
 * ? I can't guess what your question asks. "By contast" to the two conjugate variables of the preceding paragraph, of course, which fail to commute. What else? Where is the lack of clarity hiding? Cuzkatzimhut (talk) 00:56, 3 December 2012 (UTC)

Not to mention there is ZERO motivation for the result that is the topic of this article. Berrtus (talk) 19:52, 6 May 2015 (UTC)

Also, the last equatins in Generalizations are not easy to be shown. Anyone knows the proof? 88.195.251.114 (talk) —Preceding undated comment added 23:03, 14 October 2015 (UTC)

title: Talk:Canonical commutation relation


text: Talk:Caribbean Sea

title: Talk:Caribbean Sea