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Hydrogel

A hydrogel is a biphasic material, a mixture of porous, permeable solids and at least 10% by weight or volume of interstitial fluid composed completely or mainly by water. In hydrogels the porous permeable solid is a water insoluble three dimensional network of natural or synthetic polymers and a fluid, having absorbed a large amount of water or biological fluids. These properties underpin several applications, especially in the biomedical area. Many hydrogels are synthetic, but some are derived from nature. The term 'hydrogel' was coined in 1894.

Classification
The crosslinks which bond the polymers of a hydrogel fall under two general categories: physical hydrogels and chemical hydrogels. Chemical hydrogels have covalent cross-linking bonds, whereas physical hydrogels have non-covalent bonds. Chemical hydrogels can result in strong reversible or irreversible gels due to the covalent bonding. Chemical hydrogels that contain reversible covalent cross-linking bonds such as hydrogels of thiomers being cross-linked via disulfide bonds are non-toxic and are used in numerous medicinal products. Physical hydrogels usually have high biocompatibility, are not toxic, and are also easily reversible by simply changing an external stimulus such as pH, ion concentration (alginate) or temperature (gelatine); they are also used for medical applications. Physical crosslinks consist of hydrogen bonds, hydrophobic interactions, and chain entanglements (among others). A hydrogel generated through the use of physical crosslinks is sometimes called a 'reversible' hydrogel. Chemical crosslinks consist of covalent bonds between polymer strands. Hydrogels generated in this manner are sometimes called 'permanent' hydrogels.

Hydrogels are prepared using a variety of polymeric materials, which can be divided broadly into two categories according to their origin: natural or synthetic polymers. Natural polymers for hydrogel preparation include hyaluronic acid, chitosan, heparin, alginate, gelatin and fibrin. Common synthetic polymers include polyvinyl alcohol, polyethylene glycol, sodium polyacrylate, acrylate polymers and copolymers thereof. Whereas natural hydrogels are usually non-toxic, and often provides other advantages for medical use, such as biocompatibility, biodegradability, antibiotic/antifungal effect and improve regeneration of nearby tissue, their stability and strength is usually much lower than synthetic hydrogels. There are also synthetic hydrogels than can be used for medical applications, such as polyethylene glycol (PEG), polyacrylate, and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP).

Preparation

There are two suggested mechanisms behind physical hydrogel formation, the first one being the gelation of nanofibrous peptide assemblies, usually observed for oligopeptide precursors. The precursors self-assemble into fibers, tapes, tubes, or ribbons that entangle to form non-covalent cross-links. The second mechanism involves non-covalent interactions of cross-linked domains that are separated by water-soluble linkers, and this is usually observed in longer multi-domain structures. Tuning of the supramolecular interactions to produce a self-supporting network that does not precipitate, and is also able to immobilize water which is vital for to gel formation. Most oligopeptide hydrogels have a β-sheet structure, and assemble to form fibers, although α-helical peptides have also been reported. The typical mechanism of gelation involves the oligopeptide precursors self-assemble into fibers that become elongated, and entangle to form cross-linked gels.

One notable method of initiating a polymerization fuving involves the use of light as a stimulus. In this method, photoinitiators, compounds that cleave from the absorption of photons, are added to the precursor solution which will become the hydrogel. When the precursor solution is exposed to a concentrated source of light, usually ultraviolet irradiation, the photoinitiators will cleave and form free radicals, which will begin a polymerization reaction that forms crosslinks between polymer strands. This reaction will cease if the light source is removed, allowing the amount of crosslinks formed in the hydrogel to be controlled. The properties of a hydrogel are highly dependent on the type and quantity of its crosslinks, making photopolymerization a popular choice for fine-tuning hydrogels. This technique has seen considerable use in cell and tissue engineering applications due to the ability to inject or mold a precursor solution loaded with cells into a wound site, then solidify it in situ.

Physically crosslinked hydrogels can be prepared by different methods depending on the nature of the crosslink involved. Polyvinyl alcohol hydrogels are usually produced by the freeze-thawed technique. In this, the solution is frozen for a few hours, then thawed at room temperature, and the cycle is repeated until a strong and stable hydrogel is formed. Alginate hydrogels are formed by ionic interactions between alginate and double-charged cations. A salt, usually calcium chloride, is dissolved into an aqueous sodium alginate solution, that causes the calcium ions to create ionic bonds between alginate chains. Gelatin hydrogels are formed by temperature change. A water solution of gelatin forms an hydrogel at temperatures below 37–35 °C, as Van der Waals interactions between collagen fibers become stronger than thermal molecular vibrations.

Peptides based hydrogels
Peptides based hydrogels possess exceptional biocompatibility and biodegradability qualities, giving rise to their wide use of applications, particularly in biomedicine; as such, their physical properties can be fine-tuned in order to maximise their use. Methods to do this are: modulation of the amino acid sequence, pH, chirality, and increasing the number of aromatic residues. The order of amino acids within the sequence is crucial for gelation, as has been shown many times. In one example, a short peptide sequence Fmoc-Phe-Gly readily formed a hydrogel, whereas Fmoc-Gly-Phe failed to do so as a result of the two adjacent aromatic moieties being moved, hindering the aromatic interactions. Altering the pH can also have similar effects, an example involved the use of the naphthalene (Nap) modified dipeptides Nap-Gly-Ala, and Nap- Ala-Gly, where a drop in pH induced gelation of the former, but led to crystallisation of the latter. A controlled pH decrease method using glucono-δ-lactone (GdL), where the GdL is hydrolysed to gluconic acid in water is a recent strategy that has been developed as a way to form homogeneous and reproducible hydrogels. The hydrolysis is slow, which allows for a uniform pH change, and thus resulting in reproducible homogenous gels. In addition to this, the desired pH can be achieved by altering the amount of GdL added. The use of GdL has been used various times for the hydrogelation of Fmoc and Nap-dipeptides. In another direction, Morris et al reported the use of GdL as a 'molecular trigger' to predict and control the order of gelation. Chirality also plays an essential role in gel formation, and even changing the chirality of a single amino acid from its natural L-amino acid to its unnatural D-amino acid can significantly impact the gelation properties, with the natural forms not forming gels. Furthermore, aromatic interactions play a key role in hydrogel formation as a result of π- π stacking driving gelation, shown by many studies.

Other
Hydrogels also possess a degree of flexibility very similar to natural tissue due to their significant water content. As responsive "smart materials", hydrogels can encapsulate chemical systems which upon stimulation by external factors such as a change of pH may cause specific compounds such as glucose to be liberated to the environment, in most cases by a gel–sol transition to the liquid state. Chemomechanical polymers are mostly also hydrogels, which upon stimulation change their volume and can serve as actuators or sensors.

Mechanical properties
Hydrogels have been investigated for diverse applications. By modifying the polymer concentration of a hydrogel (or conversely, the water concentration), the Young's modulus, shear modulus, and storage modulus can vary from 10 Pa to 3 MPa, a range of about five orders of magnitude. A similar effect can be seen by altering the crosslinking concentration. This much variability of the mechanical stiffness is why hydrogels are so appealing for biomedical applications, where it is vital for implants to match the mechanical properties of the surrounding tissues. Characterizing the mechanical properties of hydrogels can be difficult especially due to the differences in mechanical behavior that hydrogels have in comparison to other traditional engineering materials. In addition to its rubber elasticity and viscoelasticity, hydrogels have an additional time dependent deformation mechanism which is dependent on fluid flow called poroelasticity. These properties are extremely important to consider while performing mechanical experiments. Some common mechanical testing experiments for hydrogels are tension, compression (confined or unconfined), indentation, shear rheometry or dynamic mechanical analysis.

Hydrogels have two main regimes of mechanical properties: rubber elasticity and viscoelasticity:

Rubber elasticity
In the unswollen state, hydrogels can be modelled as highly crosslinked chemical gels, in which the system can be described as one continuous polymer network. In this case:

$$G=N_{p}kT={\rho RT \over \overline{M}_{c}}$$

where G is the shear modulus, k is the Boltzmann constant, T is temperature, Np is the number of polymer chains per unit volume, ρ is the density, R is the ideal gas constant, and $$\overline{M}_{c}$$ is the (number) average molecular weight between two adjacent cross-linking points. $$\overline{M}_{c}$$ can be calculated from the swell ratio, Q, which is relatively easy to test and measure.

For the swollen state, a perfect gel network can be modeled as:

$$G_{\textrm{swollen}}=GQ^{-1/3}$$

In a simple uniaxial extension or compression test, the true stress, $$\sigma _{t}$$, and engineering stress, $$\sigma _{e}$$, can be calculated as:

$$\sigma _{t}=G_{\textrm{swollen}}\left ( \lambda ^{2}-\lambda ^{-1} \right )$$

$$\sigma _{e}=G_{\textrm{swollen}}\left ( \lambda -\lambda ^{-2} \right )$$

where $$\lambda =l_{\textrm{current}}/l_{\textrm{original}}$$ is the stretch.

Viscoelasticity
For hydrogels, their elasticity comes from the solid polymer matrix while the viscosity originates from the polymer network mobility and the water and other components that make up the aqueous phase. Viscoelastic properties of a hydrogel is highly dependent on the nature of the applied mechanical motion. Thus, the time dependence of these applied forces is extremely important for evaluating the viscoelasticity of the material.

Physical models for viscoelasticity attempt to capture the elastic and viscous material properties of a material. In an elastic material, the stress is proportional to the strain while in a viscous material, the stress is proportional to the strain rate. The Maxwell model is one developed mathematical model for linear viscoelastic response. In this model, viscoelasticity is modeled analogous to an electrical circuit with a Hookean spring, that represents the Young's modulus, and a Newtonian dashpot that represents the viscosity. A material that exhibit properties described in this model is a Maxwell material. Another physical model used is called the Kelvin-Voigt Model and a material that follow this model is called a Kelvin–Voigt material. In order to describe the time-dependent creep and stress-relaxation behavior of hydrogel, a variety of physical lumped parameter models can be used. These modeling methods vary greatly and are extremely complex, so the empirical Prony Series description is commonly used to describe the viscoelastic behavior in hydrogels.

In order to measure the time-dependent viscoelastic behavior of polymers dynamic mechanical analysis is often performed. Typically, in these measurements the one side of the hydrogel is subjected to a sinusoidal load in shear mode while the applied stress is measured with a stress transducer and the change in sample length is measured with a strain transducer. One notation used to model the sinusoidal response to the periodic stress or strain is:
 * $$G = G' + iG''$$

in which G' is the real (elastic or storage) modulus, G" is the imaginary (viscous or loss) modulus.

Poroelasticity
Poroelasticity is a characteristic of materials related to the migration of solvent through a porous material and the concurrent deformation that occurs. Poroelasticity in hydrated materials such as hydrogels occurs due to friction between the polymer and water as the water moves through the porous matrix upon compression. This causes a decrease in water pressure, which adds additional stress upon compression. Similar to viscoelasticity, this behavior is time dependent, thus poroelasticity is dependent on compression rate: a hydrogel shows softness upon slow compression, but fast compression makes the hydrogel stiffer. This phenomenon is due to the friction between the water and the porous matrix is proportional to the flow of water, which in turn is dependent on compression rate. Thus, a common way to measure poroelasticity is to do compression tests at varying compression rates. Pore size is an important factor in influencing poroelasticity. The Kozeny–Carman equation has been used to predict pore size by relating the pressure drop to the difference in stress between two compression rates.

Poroelasticity is described by several coupled equations, thus there are few mechanical tests that relate directly to the poroelastic behavior of the material, thus more complicated tests such as indentation testing, numerical or computational models are utilized. Numerical or computational methods attempt to simulate the three dimensional permeability of the hydrogel network.

Toughness and Hysteresis
The toughness of a hydrogel refers to the ability of the hydrogel to withstand deformation or mechanical stress without fracturing or breaking apart. A hydrogel with high toughness can maintain its structural integrity and functionality under higher stress. Several factors contribute to the toughness of a hydrogel including composition, crosslink density, polymer chain structure, and hydration level. The toughness of a hydrogel is highly dependent on what polymer(s) and crosslinker(s) make up its matrix as certain polymers possess higher toughness and certain crosslinking covalent bonds are inherently stronger. Additionally, higher crosslinking density generally leads to increased toughness by restricting polymer chain mobility and enhancing resistance to deformation. The structure of the polymer chains is also a factor in that, longer chain lengths and higher molecular weight leads to a greater number of entanglements and higher toughness. A good balance (equilibrium) in the hydration of a hydrogel leads is important because too low hydration causes poor flexibility and toughness within the hydrogel, but too high of water content can cause excessive swelling, weakening the mechanical properties of the hydrogel. The hysteresis of a hydrogel refers to the phenomenon where there is a delay in the deformation and recovery of a hydrogel when it is subjected to mechanical stress and relieved of that stress. This occurs because the polymer chains within a hydrogel rearrange, and the water molecules are displaced, and energy is stored as it deforms in mechanical extension or compression. When the mechanical stress is removed, the hydrogel begins to recover its original shape, but there may be a delay in the recovery process due to factors like viscoelasticity, internal friction, etc. This leads to a difference between the stress-strain curve during loading and unloading. Hysteresis within a hydrogel is influenced by several factors including composition, crosslink density, polymer chain structure, and temperature.

The toughness and hysteresis of a hydrogel are especially important in the context of biomedical applications such as tissue engineering and drug delivery, as the hydrogel may need to withstand mechanical forces within the body, but also maintain mechanical performance and stability over time. Most typical hydrogels, both natural and synthetic, have a positive correlation between toughness and hysteresis, meaning that the higher the toughness, the longer the hydrogel takes to recover its original shape and vice versa. This is largely due to sacrificial bonds being the source of toughness within many of these hydrogels. Sacrificial bonds are non-covalent interactions such as hydrogen bonds, ionic interactions, and hydrophobic interactions, that can break and reform under mechanical stress. The reforming of these bonds takes time, especially when there are more of them, which leads to an increase in hysteresis. However, there is currently research focused on the development of highly entangled hydrogels, which instead rely on the long chain length of the polymers and their entanglement to limit the deformation of the hydrogel, thereby increasing the toughness without increasing hysteresis as there is no need for the reformation of the bonds.

Environmental response
The most commonly seen environmental sensitivity in hydrogels is a response to temperature. Many polymers/hydrogels exhibit a temperature dependent phase transition, which can be classified as either an upper critical solution temperature (UCST) or lower critical solution temperature (LCST). UCST polymers increase in their water-solubility at higher temperatures, which lead to UCST hydrogels transitioning from a gel (solid) to a solution (liquid) as the temperature is increased (similar to the melting point behavior of pure materials). This phenomenon also causes UCST hydrogels to expand (increase their swell ratio) as temperature increases while they are below their UCST. However, polymers with LCSTs display an inverse (or negative) temperature-dependence, where their water-solubility decreases at higher temperatures. LCST hydrogels transition from a liquid solution to a solid gel as the temperature is increased, and they also shrink (decrease their swell ratio) as the temperature increases while they are above their LCST.

Applications can dictate for diverse thermal responses. For example, in the biomedical field, LCST hydrogels are being investigated as drug delivery systems due to being injectable (liquid) at room temp and then solidifying into a rigid gel upon exposure to the higher temperatures of the human body. There are many other stimuli that hydrogels can be responsive to, including: pH, glucose, electrical signals, light, pressure, ions, antigens, and more.

Additives
The mechanical properties of hydrogels can be fine-tuned in many ways beginning with attention to their hydrophobic properties. Another method of modifying the strength or elasticity of hydrogels is to graft or surface coat them onto a stronger/stiffer support, or by making superporous hydrogel (SPH) composites, in which a cross-linkable matrix swelling additive is added. Other additives, such as nanoparticles and microparticles, have been shown to significantly modify the stiffness and gelation temperature of certain hydrogels used in biomedical applications.

Processing techniques
While a hydrogel's mechanical properties can be tuned and modified through crosslink concentration and additives, these properties can also be enhanced or optimized for various applications through specific processing techniques. These techniques include electro-spinning, 3D/4D printing, self-assembly, and freeze-casting. One unique processing technique is through the formation of multi-layered hydrogels to create a spatially-varying matrix composition and by extension, mechanical properties. This can be done by polymerizing the hydrogel matrixes in a layer by layer fashion via UV polymerization. This technique can be useful in creating hydrogels that mimic articular cartilage, enabling a material with three separate zones of distinct mechanical properties.

Another emerging technique to optimize hydrogel mechanical properties is by taking advantage of the Hofmeister series. Due to this phenomenon, through the addition of salt solution, the polymer chains of a hydrogel aggregate and crystallize, which increases the toughness of the hydrogel. This method, called "salting out", has been applied to poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogels by adding a sodium sulfate salt solution. Some of these processing techniques can be used synergistically with each other to yield optimal mechanical properties. Directional freezing or freeze-casting is another method in which a directional temperature gradient is applied to the hydrogel is another way to form materials with anisotropic mechanical properties. Utilizing both the freeze-casting and salting-out processing techniques on poly(vinyl alcohol) hydrogels to induce hierarchical morphologies and anisotropic mechanical properties. Directional freezing of the hydrogels helps to align and coalesce the polymer chains, creating anisotropic array honeycomb tube-like structures while salting out the hydrogel yielded out a nano-fibril network on the surface of these honeycomb tube-like structures. While maintaining a water content of over 70%, these hydrogels' toughness values are well above those of water-free polymers such as polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS), Kevlar, and synthetic rubber. The values also surpass the toughness of natural tendon and spider silk.

Soft contact lenses

The dominant material for contact lenses are acrylate-siloxane hydrogels. They have replaced hard contact lenses. One of their most attractive properties is oxygen permeability, which is required since the cornea lacks vasculature.

Research

 * Scalephobicity and antifouling
 * Coatings for gas evolution reaction electrodes for efficient bubble detachment
 * Breast implants
 * Contact lenses (silicone hydrogels, polyacrylamides, polymacon)
 * Water sustainability: Hydrogels have emerged as promising materials platforms for solar-powered water purification, water disinfection, and Atmospheric water generator.
 * Disposable diapers where they absorb urine, or in sanitary napkins
 * Dressings for healing of burn or other hard-to-heal wounds. Wound gels are excellent for helping to create or maintain a moist environment.
 * EEG and ECG medical electrodes using hydrogels composed of cross-linked polymers (polyethylene oxide, polyAMPS and polyvinylpyrrolidone)
 * Encapsulation of quantum dots
 * Environmentally sensitive hydrogels (also known as 'smart gels' or 'intelligent gels'). These hydrogels have the ability to sense changes of pH, temperature, or the concentration of metabolite and release their load as result of such a change.
 * Fibers
 * Glue
 * Granules for holding soil moisture in arid areas
 * Air bubble-repellent (superaerophobicity). Can improve the performance and stability of electrodes for water electrolysis.
 * Culturing cells: Hydrogel-coated wells have been used for cell culture.
 * Biosensors: Hydrogels that are responsive to specific molecules, such as glucose or antigens, can be used as biosensors, as well as in DDS.
 * Cell carrier: Injectable hydrogels can be used to carry drugs or cells for applications in tissue regeneration or 3D bioprinting.  Hydrogels with reversible chemistry are required to allow for fluidization during injection/printing followed by self-healing of the original hydrogel structure.
 * Investigate cell biomechanical functions combined with holotomography microscopy
 * Provide absorption, desloughing and debriding of necrotic and fibrotic tissue
 * Tissue engineering scaffolds. When used as scaffolds, hydrogels may contain human cells to repair tissue. They mimic 3D microenvironment of cells. Materials include agarose, methylcellulose, hyaluronan, elastin-like polypeptides, and other naturally derived polymers.
 * Sustained-release drug delivery systems. Ionic strength, pH and temperature can be used as a triggering factor to control the release of the drug.
 * The swelling behavior exhibited by charged hydrogels can be used as a valuable tool for investigating interactions between charged polymers and various species, including multivalent ions, peptides, and proteins. This response arises due to fluctuating osmotic swelling forces resulting from the exchange of counterions within the gel matrix. Particularly significant is its application in assessing the binding of peptide drugs to biopolymers within the body, as the swelling response of the gel can provide insights into these interactions.
 * Window coating/replacement: Hydrogels are under consideration for reducing infrared light absorption by 75%. Another approach reduced interior temperature using a temperature-responsive hydrogel.
 * Thermodynamic electricity generation: When combined with ions allows for heat dissipation for electronic devices and batteries and converting the heat exchange to an electrical charge.
 * Water gel explosives
 * Controlled release of agrochemicals (pesticides and fertilizer)
 * Talin Shock Absorbing Materials - protein-based hydrogels that can absorb supersonic impacts

Biomaterials
Implanted or injected hydrogels have the potential to support tissue regeneration by mechanical tissue support, localized drug or cell delivery, local cell recruitement or immunomodulation, or encapsulation of nanoparticles for local photothermal or brachytherapy. Polymeric drug delivery systems have overcome challenge due to their biodegradability, biocompatibility, and anti-toxicity. Materials such as collagen, chitosan, cellulose, and poly (lactic-co-glycolic acid) have been implemented extensively for drug delivery to organs such as eye, nose, kidneys, lungs, intestines, skin and brain. Future work is focused on reducing toxicity, improving biocompatibility, expanding assembly techniques

Hydrogels have been considered as vehicles for drug delivery. They can also be made to mimic animal mucosal tissues to be used for testing mucoadhesive properties. They have been examined for use as reservoirs in topical drug delivery; particularly ionic drugs, delivered by iontophoresis.

title: Hydrogel


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Billy Meier

Eduard Albert Meier (born 3 February 1937), commonly nicknamed "Billy", is the founder of a UFO religion called the "Freie Interessengemeinschaft für Grenz- und Geisteswissenschaften und Ufologiestudien" (Free Community of Interests for the Border and Spiritual Sciences and Ufological Studies) and alleged contactee whose UFO photographs are claimed to show alien spacecraft. Meier claims to be in regular contact with extraterrestrial beings he calls the Plejaren. He also presented other material during the 1970s such as metal samples, sound recordings and film footage. Meier claims to be the seventh reincarnation after six prophets common to Judaism, Christianity, and Islam: Enoch, Elijah, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Immanuel (Jesus), and Muhammad.

Meier has been widely characterized as a fraud by skeptics and ufologists, who suggest that he used models to hoax photos claimed to show alien spacecraft. Meier's prophecies repeatedly blame Jews (whom he refers to as "gypsies") for future atrocities.

Background
Meier was born in the town of Bülach in the Zürcher Unterland. Meier left public schools before finishing 6th grade. In his teens he was convicted multiple times of minor offenses. In 1953, he was convicted of thievery and forgery and sentenced to a prison term in Rheinau. After escaping from the facility, Meier illegally crossed the border and joined the French Foreign Legion. He went AWOL from the Legion to return home. In 1965, he lost his left arm in a bus accident in Turkey. Some time later, he met and married a Greek woman, Kalliope Zafiriou, with whom he had three children. The nickname "Billy" came by way of an American friend who thought Meier's cowboy style of dress reminded her of Billy the Kid.

Alleged extraterrestrial contacts
Meier claims his extraterrestrial encounters began in 1942, at the age of five, when he met an elderly Plejaren man named "Sfath". After Sfath's death in 1953, Meier said, he began communicating with an extraterrestrial woman (though not a Plejaren) called "Asket". All contacts ceased in 1964, he said, then resumed on January 28, 1975, when he met "Semjase", the granddaughter of Sfath, and shortly thereafter another Plejaren man called "Ptaah". Other extraterrestrials have since allegedly joined the dialog as well.

Meier founded a non-profit, tax-paying organization based on his alleged contacts with Semjase, called the "Freie Interessengemeinschaft für Grenz- und Geisteswissenschaften und Ufologiestudien" (Free Community of Interests for the Border and Spiritual Sciences and Ufological Studies) in the late 1970s and established his "Semjase Silver Star Center". The organization's headquarters is in Switzerland.

Photographs, films
Meier's photographs and films are claimed by him to show alien spacecraft floating above the Swiss countryside. He calls the alleged spaceships "beamships" from Plejaren. According to Meier, the Plejaren gave him permission to photograph and film their beamships so that he could produce evidence of their extraterrestrial visitations. Some of Meier's photos are claimed by him to show prehistoric Earth scenes, extraterrestrials, and celestial objects from an alleged non-Earthly vantage point. Meier's claims are widely characterized as fraudulent by scientists, skeptics, and most ufologists, who say that his photographs and films are hoaxes. In interviews with author Gary Kinder, Meier admitted to using models to recreate scenes after his wife showed photos of incomplete models he thought he had destroyed by burning. During a 2017 art exhibit about conspiracies, many of Meier's photographs were shown. Photography curator Gordon MacDonald commented on examinations from the 1970s that the photos weren't doctored saying "Just because photographs are real – ie real images made with a real camera – doesn't mean they are of what the person says they're of."

In 1997, Meier's ex-wife, Kalliope, told interviewers that his photos were of spaceship models he crafted with items like trash can lids, carpet tacks and other household objects, and that the stories he told of his adventures with the aliens were similarly fictitious. She also said that photos of purported extraterrestrial women "Asket" and "Nera" were really photos of Michelle DellaFave and Susan Lund, members of the singing and dancing troupe The Golddiggers. It was later confirmed that the women in the photographs were members of The Golddiggers performing on The Dean Martin Show.

Media
Billy Meier's story is documented in Contact, written and directed by Larry Savadove in 1987. The film is narrated by David Warner, featuring UFO researchers Lee Elders and Wendelle Stevens.

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

title: Billy Meier


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Search tree

In computer science, a search tree is a tree data structure used for locating specific keys from within a set. In order for a tree to function as a search tree, the key for each node must be greater than any keys in subtrees on the left, and less than any keys in subtrees on the right.

The advantage of search trees is their efficient search time given the tree is reasonably balanced, which is to say the leaves at either end are of comparable depths. Various search-tree data structures exist, several of which also allow efficient insertion and deletion of elements, which operations then have to maintain tree balance.

Search trees are often used to implement an associative array. The search tree algorithm uses the key from the key–value pair to find a location, and then the application stores the entire key–value pair at that particular location.

Binary search tree
A Binary Search Tree is a node-based data structure where each node contains a key and two subtrees, the left and right. For all nodes, the left subtree's key must be less than the node's key, and the right subtree's key must be greater than the node's key. These subtrees must all qualify as binary search trees.

The worst-case time complexity for searching a binary search tree is the height of the tree, which can be as small as O(log n) for a tree with n elements.

B-tree
B-trees are generalizations of binary search trees in that they can have a variable number of subtrees at each node. While child-nodes have a pre-defined range, they will not necessarily be filled with data, meaning B-trees can potentially waste some space. The advantage is that B-trees do not need to be re-balanced as frequently as other self-balancing trees.

Due to the variable range of their node length, B-trees are optimized for systems that read large blocks of data, they are also commonly used in databases.

The time complexity for searching a B-tree is O(log n).

(a,b)-tree
An (a,b)-tree is a search tree where all of its leaves are the same depth. Each node has at least a children and at most b children, while the root has at least 2 children and at most b children.

a and b can be decided with the following formula:

$$2 \le a \le \frac{(b+1)}{2}$$

The time complexity for searching an (a,b)-tree is O(log n).

Ternary search tree
A ternary search tree is a type of tree that can have 3 nodes: a low child, an equal child, and a high child. Each node stores a single character and the tree itself is ordered the same way a binary search tree is, with the exception of a possible third node.

Searching a ternary search tree involves passing in a string to test whether any path contains it.

The time complexity for searching a balanced ternary search tree is O(log n).

Searching for a specific key
Assuming the tree is ordered, we can take a key and attempt to locate it within the tree. The following algorithms are generalized for binary search trees, but the same idea can be applied to trees of other formats.

Recursive
search-recursive(key, node) if node is NULL return EMPTY_TREE if key < node.key return search-recursive(key, node.left) else if key > node.key return search-recursive(key, node.right) else return node

Iterative
searchIterative(key, node) currentNode := node while currentNode is not NULL if currentNode.key = key return currentNode else if currentNode.key > key currentNode := currentNode.left else currentNode := currentNode.right

Searching for min and max
In a sorted tree, the minimum is located at the node farthest left, while the maximum is located at the node farthest right.

Minimum
findMinimum(node) if node is NULL return EMPTY_TREE min := node while min.left is not NULL min := min.left return min.key

Maximum
findMaximum(node) if node is NULL return EMPTY_TREE max := node while max.right is not NULL max := max.right return max.key

title: Search tree


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Luigi Russolo

Luigi Carlo Filippo Russolo (30 April 1885 – 4 February 1947) was an Italian Futurist painter, composer, builder of experimental musical instruments, and the author of the manifesto The Art of Noises (1913). Russolo completed his secondary education at Seminary of Portograuro in 1901, after which he moved to Milan and began gaining interest in the arts. He is often regarded as one of the first noise music experimental composers with his performances of noise music concerts in 1913–14 and then again after World War I, notably in Paris in 1921. He designed and constructed a number of noise-generating devices called Intonarumori.

Biography

Luigi Russolo was perhaps the first noise artist. His 1913 manifesto, L'Arte dei Rumori (The Art of Noises), stated that the industrial revolution had given modern men a greater capacity to appreciate more complex sounds. Russolo found traditional melodic music confining, and he envisioned noise music as its future replacement.

Russolo designed and constructed a number of noise-generating devices called Intonarumori, and assembled a noise orchestra to perform with them. A performance of his Gran Concerto Futuristico (1917) was met with strong disapproval and violence from the audience, as Russolo himself had predicted.

None of his intoning instruments have survived: some were destroyed in World War II; while others have been lost. Replicas of the instruments have since been built and performed. (See the Intonarumori page.)

Although Russolo's works bear little resemblance to modern noise music, his pioneering creations cannot be overlooked as an essential stage in the evolution of the several genres in this category. Many artists are now familiar with Russolo's manifesto.

Connections to Fascism
Russolo, like many other Futurist artists, is often associated with Italian fascism. In addition to his association with the Futurist artist and poet F. T. Marinetti, who co-authored the Fascist Manifesto (1919), Russolo presented his work at exhibitions sponsored by Mussolini's government. His biographer Luciano Chessa argues that some have attempted to erase Russolo's involvement with fascism from scholarship, but that his permanent return to Italy in 1933 and subsequent writings signaled acceptance of and allegiance to Mussolini's regime.

Collaboration with Antonio Russolo
Antonio Russolo, another Italian Futurist composer and Luigi's brother, produced a recording of two works featuring the original Intonarumori. The phonograph recording, made in 1921, included works entitled Corale and Serenata, which combined conventional orchestral music set against the sound of the noise machines. It is the only surviving contemporaneous sound recording of Luigi Russolo's noise music. Russolo and Filippo Tommaso Marinetti gave the first concert of Futurist music, complete with intonarumori, in April 1914, causing a riot. The program comprised four Noise Networks.

title: Luigi Russolo


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Politics of Flanders

Flanders is both a cultural community and an economic region within the Belgian state, and has significant autonomy.

Historically, the contemporary Flemish community (or nation, as some Flemings see it) grew out of the Catholic southern part of the medieval XVII provinces of the Low Countries. The contemporary Belgian Flanders area was divided within several feudal states. The most important states were the County of Flanders (except for its southernmost areas), the southern part of the Duchy of Brabant (except for the area around Nivelles) and the northern part of the Bishopric of Liège. Most of these states were united from 1384 to 1530 under the Burgundian Netherlands

Today, the Flemish community has a significant amount of political autonomy. Its institutions include the Flemish Parliament and a Flemish Government, both institutions of the region and community, with legislative powers for most matters and prescribed by the Belgian constitution. Residual powers rest with the federal layer, the Belgian Parliament and Government, or on the European layer (European Union).

Since 25 July 2014, the Minister-President of Flanders has been Geert Bourgeois (N-VA), leading a coalition government of N-VA, CD&V, and Open VLD.

Political system
Flanders is a part of the Belgian federal parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, which itself is part of the European Union. The political system in Flanders has an executive branch, the Flemish Government and a representative branch, the Flemish Parliament. The Minister-President of Flanders is the head of government. Flanders has a rather fragmented pluriform multi-party system. Politics is influenced by lobby groups, such as trade unions; mutual health insurance organizations and business interests in the form of the VOKA, UNIZO and some other employer's federations.

Institutional framework
European Union legislation and the Belgian constitution form the major elements of the wider institutional environment. European Union legislation is said to currently define the scope and limits for 70% of new legislation. The Belgian constitution establishes the framework for the autonomy in both community and regional affairs. The two relevant Flemish parliamentary assemblies then immediately decided that the Flemish Community was to absorb all the competencies of the Flemish Region. Since then, the region has no 'distinctive' parliament, nor government. European Union law, Flemish legislation and the Belgian constitution thus form the primary source of law and the basis of the political system in Flanders.

Flemish Government
The executive branch of government consists of a limited number of ministers drawn from the political parties which, in practice, form the government coalition. The ministers are appointed by the Flemish Parliament. The Cabinet is chaired by the Flemish Minister-President. Ministers head executive departments of the government. Ministers must defend their policies and performance, in person, before the Chamber. The Flemish Government must receive and keep the confidence of the Flemish Parliament.

Provincial and local government
Flanders is divided into 5 provinces, plus the local Flemish institutions in Brussels (the 'Vlaamse Gemeenschaps-Commissie' (VGC), and around 300 municipalities. Provincial and local government are an exclusive competency of the regions. The provincial governments are primarily administrative units, and are politically weak. A governor is appointed by Flemish government, and approved by the Flemish parliament. One governor presides over each province. The governor is supported by an elected Provincial Council of 47 to 84 members.

Municipal governments, on the other hand, are important political entities with significant powers, and a history of independence dating from medieval times. Many national politicians have a political base in a municipality, often doubling as mayor or alderman in their own hometowns.

Electoral system
Several months before an election, each party forms a list of candidates for each district. Parties are allowed to place as many candidates on their "ticket" as there are seats available. The formation of the list is an internal process that varies with each party. The place on the list influences the election of a candidate, but its influence has diminished since the last electoral reform. Individual votes will get priority.

Political campaigns are relatively short, and there are restrictions on the use of billboards. For all of their activities, campaigns included, political parties have to rely on government subsidies and dues paid by their members. An 'electoral expenditure' law restricts expenditure of political parties during an electoral campaign. Because of the huge public bureaucracy, the high politicisation of nominations, and the widely accepted practice that political nominees spend many man-hours paid for by all tax-payers for partisan electioneering, this arrangement favours the ruling political parties. Since no single party holds an absolute majority, the strongest party or party family will usually create a coalition with other parties to form the government.

Voting is compulsory; more than 90% of the population participates. Elections for the Flemish Parliament are normally held every five years. The elections coincide with those for the European Parliament. Elections for municipal and provincial councils are held every six years. The next federal election will be held in 2024, the next community and regional elections are expected in 2024 as well and the next municipal and provincial elections in 2024.

Political parties in Flanders
Flemish_Parliament_2014.svg 2014-2019

New Flemish Alliance (N-VA) (43)

Christian Democratic and Flemish (CD&V) (27)

Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open Vld) (19)

Socialist Party Differently (sp.a) (18)

Green (Groen) (10)

Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang) (6)

Union of Francophones (UF) (1) ]]

Flemish political parties are many and varied. They operate in the Flemish region and in the bilingual Brussels-Capital Region. Francophone parties operate in Flemish Region only in a few areas bordering the latter. There are no major representative parties operating all over Belgium. Flemish politics is dominated by political parties representing the different ideologies that can be found everywhere in Flanders. There are no political parties specific for certain sub-regions.

From the creation of the Belgian state in 1830, and throughout most of the 19th century, two unified political parties dominated Belgian politics: the Catholic Party (Church-oriented and conservative) and the Liberal Party (anti-clerical and progressive). In the late 19th century the Socialist Party arose to represent the emerging industrial working class.

These three groups still dominate Belgian politics, but they have evolved substantially in character. In addition, several other parties were founded, notably the Vlaams Belang, a right wing, anti-immigration and Flemish-nationalistic party and currently the second most important party in Flanders, Volksunie, which split into the left-liberal SPIRIT and the right-conservative N-VA, for moderate Flemish nationalists, and Agalev, currently called Groen! for the Greens.

Catholics/Christian Democrats
After World War II, the Catholic (now Christian Democratic) Party severed its formal ties with the Church. It became a mass party of the centre.

In 1968, the Christian Democratic Party, responding to linguistic tensions in the country, divided into two independent parties: the Parti Social Chrétien (PSC) in French-speaking Belgium and the Christelijke Volkspartij (CVP) in Flanders. The two parties pursue the same basic policies but have wholly separate organizations.

The CVP is the larger of the two, getting more than twice as many votes as the PSC. Following the 1999 general elections, the CVP was ousted from office, bringing an end to a 40-year term on the government benches. In 2001, the CVP changed its name to CD&V (Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams). The current chairman of the CD&V is Sammy Mahdi.

Socialists/Social Democrats
The Socialist Party – Differently (SP.a, Socialistische Partij Anders) has shed nearly all of its early Marxist ideology. It is now primarily a social-democratic party, similar to labor-based parties like the German Social Democratic Party. The Socialists have been part of several postwar governments.

It was formerly known as the Socialistische Partij (SP), which in turn had branched off from the Belgische Socialistische Partij (BSP), formed by former members of the Belgische Werklieden Partij (BWP). The Socialists split along linguistic lines in 1978. The Flemish Socialists changed their party's name to SP.a (Socialistische Partij Anders) in 2002. Bruno Tobback is the current head of the Flemish Socialist Party.

As a reaction to the more centrist course of the SP.a, two former SP.a-representatives, Jef Sleeckx and Lode Van Outrive, formed, together with communist and Trotskyist activists, a new socialist movement in 2006, the Committee for Another Policy.

Liberals/Liberal Democrats
The Liberal Party chiefly appeals to business-people, property owners, shopkeepers, and the self-employed, in general. In American terms the Liberals' economic positions would be considered to reflect a moderate conservative ideology.

The Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (OpenVLD, Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten), who opened up their ranks to Volksunie defectors some years ago, were the largest political force in Flanders during the 1990s, but lost more than one third of their support after 7 years of liberal control of the post of prime minister by Guy Verhofstadt. The Open VLD is currently headed by Alexander De Croo.

Over the last decade, a number of parties originated, as break away parties from the VLD. These were Liberaal Appèl, founded by Ward Beysen, VLOTT, founded by Hugo Coveliers and Lijst Dedecker, founded by Jean-Marie Dedecker. These parties advocated classical liberal economics and a more rightwing approach to society, and accused the VLD of shifting fundamentally to the left.

Communists
The Kommunistische Partij (KP) is the successor in Flanders of the Kommunistische Partij van België (KPB), the first communist party in Belgium. This party was founded in 1921, but disappeared from the Belgian Parliament after the elections of 1985.

The most successful Maoist movement to emerge in Flanders was Alle Macht Aan De Arbeiders (AMADA - All Power To The Workers) at the end of the 1960s during a time of students protests at the University of Leuven. In 1979 this movement evolved into the Partij van de Arbeid van België (PVDA), which is at the moment the biggest marxist party in Flanders (3,24% of the popular vote in the latest federal elections) and is represented in some municipal and provincial councils in Flanders, but not in the Flemish Parliament. Through the French-speaking electoral college, the party is represented in the Federal Parliament.

Other minor communist parties are the Trotskyist Socialistische Arbeiderspartij (SAP) and the Linkse Socialistische Partij (LSP).

Linguistic parties
A specific phenomenon was the emergence of one-issue parties whose only reason for existence was the defense of the cultural, political, and economic interests of one of the linguistic groups or regions of Belgian society. See Flemish movement.

The most militant Flemish regional party in Parliament in the 1950s and 1960s, the Volksunie (People's Union), once drew nearly one-quarter of Belgium's Dutch-speaking electorate. It was in the forefront of a successful campaign by the country's Flemish population for cultural and political parity with the nation's long dominant French-speaking population. However, in recent elections the party has suffered severe setbacks. In October 2001 the party disintegrated. The left-liberal wing founded Spirit, later called the Social Liberal Party, while the more traditional Flemish nationalist wing continued under the banner Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie (N-VA). After a disappointing result in the regional elections of 2009, the Social Liberal Party decided to fuse with the Flemish ecologists of Groen!

The Vlaams Blok was another party created out of the Volksunie in 1978. In 2004 it disbanded and reformed as Vlaams Belang after a conviction for violating the Anti-Racism Law. It strongly advocated Flemish independence and the cultural assimilation of migrants. (see Nationalists/Conservatives below)

Ecologists/Greens
The Flemish ecologist party Agalev (Anders GAan LEVen - To Start Living Differently) made its parliamentary breakthrough in 1981. As a traditional green party, the three core values of Agalev were ecology, peace and participatory democracy. Following significant gains made in the 1999 general elections, the green parties of both regions joined a federal coalition cabinet for the first time in their history, but were ousted after the next elections. Agalev subsequently changed its name to Groen! (Green!).

Nationalists/Conservatives
Another nationalist party is the rightwing nationalist Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest), the successor of the Vlaams Blok (Flemish Block) which broke away from the Volksunie in 1976. Originally a mainly Flemish regionalist and republican party, the Vlaams Blok soon concentrated on anti-immigration themes, and was often accused of xenophobia and racism. Its viewpoints on ethical and moral issues is very conservative. Party chairperson was MEP Frank Vanhecke, but Filip Dewinter is considered by many to have been the party's real leader. Long dismissed as a "fringe" party by mainstream politicians, the Flemish Block shocked observers when in the 1991 elections it posted a relatively high percentage of votes in much of Flanders, especially in Antwerp. The party scored even better in later local, regional and federal elections and still seemed to be winning support in November 2006, but the party lost a seat in the federal elections in 2007.

The Vlaams Blok was found to be operating contrary to the Belgian constitution for racism. In 2004, the Belgian Supreme Court upheld a decision of the Appeal Court of Ghent ruling that three organizations associated with the Vlaams Blok were in contempt of the 1981 Belgian law on racism and xenophobia, and that the party pursued permanent incitement to discrimination and racial segregation. The party was denied state funding and was therefore disbanded. Vlaams Blok supporters saw the conviction as a politically motivated action, and point out that the constitution had to be changed to allow for the conviction. A new party (basically the same in organization, membership, initials, and party programme, excluding anything that could be seen as racist) was founded and labelled Vlaams Belang (Flemish Interest).

Linguistic minority
The Union des Francophones (Union of Francophones) or UF is a Belgian electoral list which participates in regional, provincial and municipal elections in the Province of Flemish Brabant. As the name suggests, its primary target are the French-speaking inhabitants of Flemish Brabant and particularly those who live in Halle-Vilvoorde and the predominantly French-speaking municipalities with linguistic facilities near the Brussels-Capital Region. The UF is a cooperation between the three most important French-speaking parties in Belgium: the Mouvement Réformateur, the Centre Démocrate Humaniste and the Parti Socialiste. The coalition wants an enlargement of the bilingual Brussels Capital Region through the merger of various municipalities with linguistic facilities with a large percentage of French-speakers, like Sint-Genesius-Rode, and opposes the splitting of the bilingual Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde electoral and judicial constituency.

The party currently has one representative in the Flemish Parliament, six in the provincial council of Flemish Brabant and dozens in several municipal councils.

Alliances
After the installation of a 5% electoral threshold, with private funding close to forbidden and public funding practically impossible (only for parties with at least one representative in parliament), some of the smaller parties have made alliances with a larger, more traditional party, especially in the Flemish Region. Parties in any alliance remain independent, but they would field candidates on one combined list at elections. In general, the smaller party/parties would be assured of gaining seats, and the larger party would be assured of obtaining a larger overall share of the vote. This was especially true for the CD&V / N-VA alliance, whereby CD&V became the largest party by votes in the Flemish regional elections, so therefore it could initiate coalition talks and the party could appoint the leader of the Flemish regional government.

The VLD / Vivant / Liberaal Appel alliance did not perform well in the polls. The alliance was renamed Open VLD as of February 2007. The proposed SP.a / Spirit / Groen! alliance did not happen, instead the SP.a / Spirit alliance went alone to the polls. Vlaams Belang formed an alliance with VLOTT, a break away party from the VLD, which advocates capitalist and rightwing liberal economic policies. The VB / VLOTT alliance is negotiating with Lijst Dedecker to include them in the alliance, but the outcome is in the balance and is unlikely to happen.

Representative political parties
Following parties have consistent presence in the Flemish parliament:
 * Christian-Democratic and Flemish (Christen-Democratisch en Vlaams)
 * Flemish Interest (Vlaams Belang)
 * Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats (Open Vlaamse Liberalen en Democraten)
 * Green (Groen)
 * List Dedecker (Lijst Dedecker)
 * New-Flemish Alliance (Nieuw-Vlaamse Alliantie)
 * Forward (Vooruit)
 * Union of Francophones (Union des Francophones)

Parties without representation in the Flemish Parliament

 * Belgische Unie/Union Belge (Belgian Union)
 * Committee for Another Policy (Comité voor een Andere Politiek)
 * Left Socialist Party (Linkse Socialistische Partij)
 * Liberaal Appèl (Liberal Appeal)
 * Vivant—part of the alliance VLD/VIVANT
 * VLOTT—part of the alliance VB/VLOTT
 * Workers Party of Belgium (Partij van de Arbeid van België)

title: Politics of Flanders


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Category:Futurism

Futurism was a 20th-century art movement. The Futurists explored every medium of art, including painting, sculpture, poetry, theatre, music and even gastronomy. The Italian poet Filippo Tommaso Marinetti and others all espoused a love of speed, technology and violence. The car, the plane, the industrial town were all legendary for the Futurists, because they represented the technological triumph of man over nature.

This should not be confused with Category:Futures studies (futurology).

title: Category:Futurism


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Bob Nault

Robert Daniel Nault (born November 9, 1955) is a Canadian politician.

A member of the Liberal Party of Canada, Nault began his career as city councillor for Kenora City Council. He was first elected to the House of Commons as the representative for Kenora—Rainy River in 1988, beating NDP incumbent John Parry. Following the 1988 election, Nault ran successfully in the 1993,1997, and 2000 federal elections.

Nault also served as Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development in the cabinet of Jean Chrétien from 1999 to 2003. While in cabinet, he introduced the First Nations Governance Act, a program of reform and financial accountability measures for First Nations.

In February 2004, he announced he would leave politics to set up a consulting business, Western Frontier International Group. He did not seek re-election in the 2004 election.

In January 2015, Nault announced his intention to seek the Liberal Party of Canada nomination for Kenora, which includes nearly all of his old riding, in the 2015 federal election scheduled for October 19. On May 31, 2015, Nault was nominated as the party's candidate. In the ensuing election, he edged out former provincial NDP leader Howard Hampton, who had represented the area provincially from 1987 to 2011, by only 2% to return to Parliament after a 12-year absence. Incumbent Conservative and cabinet minister Greg Rickford was pushed into third place.

In February 2016, Nault was elected Chair by committee members of the Foreign Affairs and International Development Committee.

He was defeated in the 2019 federal election.

title: Bob Nault


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Category:Art movements

An art movement is a tendency or style in the visual arts with a specific common stylistic approach, philosophy or goal, followed by a group of artists during a restricted period of time.

title: Category:Art movements


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Tel Aviv District

The Tel Aviv District (מָחוֹז תֵּל אָבִיב; منطقة تل أبيب) is the geographically smallest yet also the most densely populated of the six administrative districts of Israel, with a population of 1.35 million residents. It is 98.9% Jewish and 1.10% Arab (0.7% Muslim, 0.4% Christian). The district's capital is Tel Aviv, one of the two largest cities in Israel and the country's economic, business and technological capital. The metropolitan area created by the Tel Aviv district and its neighboring cities is locally named Gush Dan.

It is the only one of the six districts not adjacent to either the West Bank or an international border, being surrounded on the north, east, and south by the Central District and on the west by the Mediterranean Sea. The population density of the Tel Aviv district is 7,259/km2.

Administrative local authorities

 * Notes:

title: Tel Aviv District


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List of administrative divisions of Jilin

Jilin, a province of the People's Republic of China, is made up of the following administrative divisions.

Administrative divisions
All of these administrative divisions are explained in greater detail at administrative divisions of China. This chart lists all prefecture-level and county-level divisions of Jilin.


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Lester Allan Pelton

Lester Allan Pelton (September 5, 1829 – March 14, 1908) was an American inventor who contributed significantly to the development of hydroelectricity and hydropower in the American Old West as well as world-wide. In the late 1870s, he invented the Pelton water wheel, at that time the most efficient design of the impulse water turbine. Recognized as one of the fathers of hydroelectric power, he was awarded the Elliott Cresson Medal during his lifetime and is an inductee of the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

Early life
Lester A. Pelton was born in a log-cabin in rural Vermilion Twp., Erie County, Ohio. His grandfather, Captain Josiah Pelton, who lost most of his assets as a sea-captain during the War-of-1812 era, shortly later brought his family to Ohio. Lester's father was Allen Pelton, and his mother was Fanny Cuddeback, from another local early pioneer family. As a youngster, Lester worked on his family's farm and probably attended the nearby "Cuddeback" grade-school.

In 1850, young Pelton, along with several other local males, emigrated from Ohio to participate in the California gold rush. He was not successful as a gold-miner, but he fished the Sacramento River and sold his catch locally; and he worked in wood-milling and carpentry. In 1860, after the gold strikes in the nearby Sierra Nevada he relocated to Camptonville—near the Yuba River and the California Mother Lode country—where he made his living as a millwright and carpenter. Pelton spent much of his time reading and observing mining activity; his work and studies gained him critical knowledge of mining equipment and processes and related engineering principles.

Inventing the Pelton wheel

Pelton's ideas for improving the turbine water wheel came from his studies of mining equipment and operations in California's gold rush country. Summary descriptions of the local technology observed by Pelton, and of the science by which his turbine water wheel extracts kinetic energy from a coursing mountain stream follow...

Steam-heat powered much of local mining activities but required a lot of wood for fuel; nearby forests were routinely decimated. Turbine water wheels also were used to supply power, but these were inefficient in converting the kinetic energy of mountain streams to horsepower. D.P. Stern reports: "According to a 1939 article by W. F. Durand of Stanford University in Mechanical Engineering, Pelton's invention started from an accidental observation some time in the 1870s. Pelton was watching a spinning water turbine when the key holding its wheel onto its shaft slipped, causing it to become misaligned. Instead of the jet hitting the cups in their middle, the slippage made it hit near the edge; rather than the water flow being stopped, it was now deflected into a half-circle, coming out again with reversed direction. Surprisingly, the turbine now moved faster. That was Pelton's great discovery. In other turbines the jet hit the middle of the cup and the splash of the impacting water wasted energy."

Experimenting and modelling, Pelton improved upon the efficiency of the Knight wheel (developed earlier by the Knight Foundry at nearby Sutter Creek). The Knight wheel received the streamflow jet slightly off-center and at an angle into a single turbine cup. Alternatively, the Pelton wheel—by deploying a split double cup (in effect two cups side-by-side), then splitting the impinging water-jet directly onto the common vane of the double cup—captured a stream's kinetic energy more efficiently. There were two prime results of Pelton's design: it consolidated the introduction of a new physical science into the ancient human quest to develop hydropower, i.e., the science of the impulse turbine as opposed to the reaction turbine; and it revolutionized the use of turbines adapted for high head (i.e., elevation energy) sites. Before Pelton, almost all water turbines were reaction machines powered by water pressure, or head, while Pelton's wheel was powered by the kinetic energy of a high velocity water-jet which could be conveniently developed from a small mountain stream.

Building the Pelton wheel
In the late 1870s Pelton modeled, tested and manufactured his first turbine wheel, dubbed the Pelton Runner—later referring to the impulse blades only—at the Miners Foundry in Nevada City, California. In 1878, at the Mayflower Mine in Nevada City, he installed the first operational Pelton wheel. At that time the Knight Foundry wheel was being sold as the industry standard, but in a head-to-head competition staged in 1883 at the Idaho Mine in nearby Grass Valley, Pelton's design proved much more efficient. The Pelton design provided 90 percent efficiency (of converting streamflow kinetic energy to horsepower) while the next best competitor achieved less than 77 percent—at a time when most extant water wheels typically rated less than 40 percent.

The Pelton wheel also provided sustained power during (typical) lowflow conditions in a mountain stream. In 1887 a miner attached Pelton's wheel to a dynamo and produced the first hydroelectric power in the Sierra Nevada.

In 1895, the largest installation of Pelton's wheel during his lifetime was accomplished at the North Star Mine Powerhouse, Grass Valley, California, by the engineer Arthur De Wint Foote, who designed and installed an over-sized wheel of 30 feet diameter; it performed successfully, greatly increasing the hydropower delivered by the Pelton runners to produce compressed air for mining operations.

Pelton patented his wheel as well as his novel design of the double cup runner, and in 1888 formed the Pelton Water Wheel Company in San Francisco to supply the growing demand for hydropower and hydroelectricity throughout the West and world-wide. 'Pelton' is a trademark name for the products of that company, but the term is widely used generically for similar impulse turbines.

Death, legacy and awards
Pelton died in California at the age of seventy-eight and is interred at his family cemetery site in Vermilion, Ohio. His Pelton Runner design is still used to produce hydroelectric power in the United States and around the world, as shown here. Later designs such as the Turgo turbine, first patented in 1919, and the Banki turbine were inspired by the Pelton wheel.

In 1895, The Franklin Institute in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, awarded Lester Pelton the Elliott Cresson Medal, since renamed the Benjamin Franklin Medal, for Pelton's accomplishments of invention in technology. In 2006, he was posthumously inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Alexandra, Virginia, formerly in Akron, Ohio. There are memorials and monuments celebrating Pelton and the Pelton Runner mounted in Camptonvlle, California, in the Miners Foundry in Nevada City, California, and at the Smithsonian Museum in Washington D.C., California Resort at Disneyland in Anaheim, among other sites.

In 1958, the actor William Hudson was cast as Pelton in the episode "Wheel of Fortune" on the syndicated television anthology series, Death Valley Days, hosted by Stanley Andrews. The episode focuses on Pelton's development of the principles of hydraulic mining.

title: Lester Allan Pelton


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Belle de Jour (film)

Belle de Jour is a 1967 French surrealist erotic psychological drama film directed by Luis Buñuel, and starring Catherine Deneuve, Jean Sorel, and Michel Piccoli. Based on the 1928 novel Belle de Jour by Joseph Kessel, the film is about a young woman who spends her midweek afternoons as a high-class prostitute, while her husband is at work.

The title of the film is a play on words on the French term belle de nuit ("beauty of the night", i.e., a prostitute), as Séverine works during the day under the pseudonym "Belle de Jour". Her nickname can also be interpreted as a reference to the French name of the morning glory (Convolvulaceae), meaning "beauty of [the] day", a flower that blooms only during the day.

Belle de Jour is one of Buñuel's most successful and famous films. It was Deneuve's second acclaimed success after The Umbrellas of Cherbourg. It won the Golden Lion and the Pasinetti Award for Best Film at the Venice Film Festival in 1967.

Plot
Séverine Serizy, a young and beautiful housewife, is unable to share physical intimacy with her husband, Dr. Pierre Serizy, despite their love for each other. Her sexual life is restricted to elaborate fantasies involving domination, sadomasochism, and bondage. Although frustrated by his wife's frigidity toward him, he respects her wishes.

While visiting a ski resort, they meet two friends, Henri Husson and Renée. Séverine does not like Husson's manner and the way he looks at her. Back in Paris, Séverine meets up with Renée and learns that a common friend, Henriette, now works at a brothel. At her home, Séverine receives roses from Husson and is unsettled by the gesture. At the tennis courts, she meets Husson and they discuss Henriette and houses of pleasure. Husson mentions a high-class brothel to Séverine at 11 Cité Jean de Saumur. He also confesses his desire for her, but Séverine rejects his advances.

Haunted by childhood memories, including one involving a man who appears to touch her inappropriately, Séverine goes to the high-class brothel, which is run by Madame Anaïs, who names her "Belle de Jour." That afternoon Séverine services her first client. Reluctant at first, she responds to the "firm hand" of Madame Anaïs and has sex with the stranger. After staying away for a week, Séverine returns to the brothel and begins working from two to five o'clock each day, returning to her unsuspecting husband in the evenings. One day, Husson comes to visit her at home, but Séverine refuses to see him. Still, she fantasizes about having sex with him in her husband's presence. At the same time, Séverine's physical relationship with her husband is improving and she begins having sex with him.

Séverine becomes involved with a young criminal, Marcel, who offers her the kind of thrills and excitement of her fantasies. One day, Husson visits the brothel and discovers Séverine, who asks him not to tell her husband about her secret life. He agrees and rejects her services, stating he is no longer attracted to her. Séverine decides to leave the brothel, with Madame Anaïs' blessing as she believes it is due to Marcel becoming increasingly jealous and demanding. After one of his associates follows Séverine to her home, Marcel visits her and threatens to reveal her secret to her husband. Séverine pleads with him to leave, which he does, referring to her husband as "the obstacle".

Marcel waits downstairs for Pierre to return home and shoots him three times. Marcel then flees but is shot dead by police. Séverine's husband survives but is left in a coma. The police are unable to find a motive for the attempted murder. Sometime later Séverine is at home taking care of Pierre, who is now paralysed, blind and in a wheelchair. Husson visits Pierre to tell him the truth about his wife's secret life; she does not try to stop him. After Husson leaves, Séverine returns to see Pierre crying. In an ambiguous ending which is hinted to be another of her fantasies, Pierre then gets out of the wheelchair, pours himself a drink and discusses holiday plans with Séverine.

Cast

 * Catherine Deneuve as Séverine Serizy, alias Belle de Jour
 * Jean Sorel as Pierre Serizy
 * Michel Piccoli as Henri Husson
 * Geneviève Page as Madame Anaïs
 * Pierre Clémenti as Marcel
 * Françoise Fabian as Charlotte
 * Macha Méril as Renée
 * Maria Latour as Mathilde
 * Marguerite Muni as Pallas
 * Francis Blanche as Monsieur Adolphe
 * François Maistre as The professor
 * Georges Marchal as Duke
 * Francisco Rabal as Hyppolite

Production
Much of Deneuve's wardrobe was designed by Yves St. Laurent.
 * Costume design

 * Filming locations
 * 1 Plâce Albin-Cachot, Paris 13, France
 * 79 Champs-Élysées, Paris 8, France
 * Chalet de la Grande Cascade, Bois de Boulogne, Paris 16, France
 * Champs Elysées, Paris 8, France
 * Rue de Messine, Paris 8, France (Serizy's home)

Critical response
On the review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, Belle de Jour holds an approval rating of 95% based on 60 reviews, with an average rating of 8.6/10. The website's critics consensus reads, "The radiantly filmed Belle de Jour entrances even as it resists easy interpretations." Roger Ebert of RogerEbert.com gave the film 4 stars out of 4 and included it into his Great Movies list.

Home media
American director Martin Scorsese promoted a 1995 limited re-release in America and a 2002 release on DVD.

Legacy
Brooke Magnanti a former London escort who penned the 2005 book The Intimate Adventures of a London Call Girl used "Belle de Jour" as her alias and pen name. The books were later adapted into the 2007 TV series Secret Diary of a Call Girl starring Billie Piper as de Jour.

In 2006, Portuguese director Manoel de Oliveira released Belle Toujours, imagining a future encounter between the characters of Séverine and Henri Husson from the original film.

In 2010, Belle de Jour was ranked No. 56 in Empire magazine's list of the 100 Best Films of World Cinema.

title: Belle de Jour (film)


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Talk:Lovćen

Source?
This article is written more in a tourist guide kind of style and indeed I found it at Mount Lovcen. The site says Copyright (c) National Tourism Organisation of Montenegro. Do we have their permission to use it under GFDL? --Romanm 07:31, 20 Jul 2004 (UTC)

It is governmental website. They don`t have right to put copyright for the information. It is about webdesign.--[[User:Avala|Avala| ★ ]] 10:14, 20 Jul 2004 (UTC)

Actually, the national tourism organization doesn't have to be a government agency, it could be a state-owned enterprise, in which case it can hold copyright. In any event, the generic text can be rephrased. --Joy [shallot]   14:21, 22 Sep 2004 (UTC)

 * I see no evidence to support a claim that the government of Montenegro cannot hold copyright. As someone had to make a decision about it, I simply deleted the article as copyvio. -- Cyrius|✎

Will someone please note that Mount Lovchen is the "black mountain" for which Montenegro is named? - It was one of them. Lovcen, Orijen and other mountains around were covered with dark forests in medieval ages and looked black if you were looking at them from the sea so the sailors named it black mountain. This is just one story how the country got it's name, but I it's the most probable one. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 78.155.38.107 (talk) 01:38, 3 March 2010 (UTC)

Article title
Should this article be titled Mount Lovcen instead of just Lovcen? If it decided not, then it should have a redirect for it. —Mike 07:04, Jan 20, 2005 (UTC)

 * I'm not aware of any other notable landmarks called "Lovcen", so it doesn't need the "Mount" prefix to distinguish itself from other articles. I created the redirect. --Joy [shallot]   11:21, 20 Jan 2005 (UTC)

 * The same could be said of Kilimanjaro, which has no disambiguation and yet still redirects to Mount Kilimanjaro. Failing to have found anything at Naming conventions, I added a (minuscule) stub at Mount Lovcen, and a redirect here.  --Fbriere 07:08, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * Per User talk:Fbriere, I moved it back over here. Cf. also Naming conventions (common names). --Joy [shallot]   19:05, 26 Mar 2005 (UTC)

 * Hmm, there's also Lovcen cigarette brand in Serbia & Montenegro... So maybe disambig... I dunno --Dungodung 11:41, 8 May 2005 (UTC)

 * Obviously, Lovcen cigarette is named after the mount of Lovcen, so disambig would not be good, IMHO. --romanm (talk) 23:11, 8 May 2005 (UTC)

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Yves Leterme

Yves Camille Désiré Leterme (born 6 October 1960) is a Belgian politician, a leader of the Christian Democratic and Flemish party (CD&V). He was the prime minister of Belgium, from November 2009 to December 2011.

Leterme was the prime minister from March 2008 to December 2008. He has been the minister of Foreign Affairs, deputy prime minister and minister of Budget, Institutional Reforms, Transport and the North Sea in the Belgian federal government. He is a former minister-president of Flanders and Flemish minister of Agriculture and Fisheries. Despite his French name, Leterme is Flemish. He is fluent in Dutch, French and English.

On 14 July 2008, facing the imminent failure to meet a self-imposed deadline to enact "constitutional reform" consisting of further devolution of powers to the nation's three linguistic communities, Leterme tendered his resignation to King Albert II. On 17 July, King Albert, after holding a flurry of consultations with leaders of political parties, labour unions, and the employers' association, rejected Leterme's resignation. Instead, the King appointed a three-person commission of representatives of the linguistic communities to investigate how to restart the reform process. The commission was to report to the King by 31 July 2008.

On 19 December 2008 he offered his resignation to King Albert II after a crisis surrounding the sale of Fortis to BNP Paribas. On 22 December 2008 the King accepted his resignation, along with that of his entire government. He remained Prime Minister until 30 December, when Herman Van Rompuy was appointed as his successor. On 24 November 2009, it was announced that Leterme would once again become Prime Minister, succeeding Van Rompuy, who had been selected to become the first President of the European Council.

On 22 April 2010 he once again offered his resignation to King Albert II after a key Flemish party, the Open Flemish Liberals and Democrats, withdrew its support for the coalition government. An election followed in June, resulting in protracted attempts to negotiate a governing coalition. Leterme remained as caretaker Prime Minister, but on 13 September 2011 announced that he would leave the post by the end of the year to take up the position of Deputy Secretary-General at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. On 6 December 2011 Leterme was finally succeeded as Prime Minister by Elio Di Rupo, ending the longest run of a caretaker government in the developed world. The following day he was appointed to the honorary title of Minister of State.

Early life
Yves Leterme was born on 6 October 1960 in the city of Wervik in the province of West Flanders. He is half-Walloon, and grew up fluently bilingual. He studied law at the Catholic University of Leuven where he received a LL.B. degree in 1981 and then studied at Ghent University where he obtained a BSc degree in Political Science (1983), a LL.M. degree (1984), and a MPA degree in 1985.

Career
Before entering national politics, Leterme served as an auditor at the country's Court of Audit (Rekenhof, Cour des Comptes). He then became adjunct and then national secretary of the Christian People's Party until he resigned to become a civil servant with the European Union. In 1997, he went on indefinite leave from that position when he was appointed Member of the Belgian Parliament. He has been a member of the city council of Ypres since 1995. He served as alderman of Ypres from 1995 to 2001.

He was appointed to the Chamber of Representatives in 1997, elected in 1999 and 2003. After the defeat of the CD&V in the general elections of 2003, he succeeded Stefaan De Clerck as party chairman. In 2004 Yves Leterme became Minister-President of the Flemish government. Flanders has fared well during his term in office. Yves Leterme took a pragmatic course of increasing the economic dynamic and social wellbeing in Flanders. He has made the Flemish government into the 'investment government', focusing the investments on the infrastructure and logistics with respect to both the business climate and social wellbeing (notably Flanders Port Area, homes for the elderly, child care, and immigrant integration). To accelerate investment he has successfully encouraged the use of the PPP structures. Additionally, Yves Leterme's government implemented rigorous budgeting – his government started with a sizeable implicit debt in Flanders which has been reduced to zero as the result of his policies.

In the elections held on 10 June 2007, Leterme received 796,521 personal votes, leading his party to a landslide victory. This was the second highest number of personal votes ever in Belgium's national elections. On 21 December 2007, he became Vice-Prime Minister of Belgium and Minister of Budget, Transport, Institutional Reform and the North Sea. On 23 March, Leterme received confidence of the chamber as Prime Minister.

Controversies
Many French-speaking journalists have taken offence at Leterme's political opinions on the widely supported demand in Flanders for more regional autonomy. They consistently decry him for making what they say are provocative or erroneous statements.

During an interview with the French newspaper Libération in August 2006, Leterme, who is bilingual with a French-speaking father (and having a French name), made a remark about the overall failure and refusal of French-speaking inhabitants to learn and use Dutch in certain municipalities, more specifically in municipalities with language facilities. Initially, the idea was that many French speakers would adjust to the new linguistic reality. But apparently the French speakers are intellectually not capable of learning Dutch.

Most prominent Francophone politicians such as Elio Di Rupo and Isabelle Durant along with some Flemish politicians such as Pascal Smet and Guy Vanhengel objected to this remark. In the Flemish daily De Standaard of 28 August Leterme explained his words: "I am allowed to ask myself the question whether the lack of knowledge of Dutch is a matter of not wanting or not being able to."

A news report produced by the Belgian Francophone television company RTBF alleged that Leterme said in the Flemish parliament: "I don't need the King". According to Flemish newspapers, this sentence was taken out of context, because Leterme was talking about the creation of Flemish statutes (decrees): legislation approved by the Flemish parliament, unlike federal legislation, does not need the king's signature to become law. The Flemish Minister-President signs the decrees himself.

On one occasion, Leterme quipped that the only things common to all Belgians are "the King, the football team, some beers...". Upon being asked by a television journalist to name which event is commemorated by Belgium's national day (21 July), Leterme wrongly replied that it was the proclamation of the constitution, when the correct answer is the coronation of the country's first King, Leopold I of Belgium. Subsequently, he was asked if he knew the French version of the Belgian national anthem, whereupon he began to sing the Marseillaise, the French national anthem, instead of the Brabançonne.

Leterme caused controversy again in a December 2007 interview with the Concentra newspapers by denouncing the RTBF for having its own political agenda, being a propagandist for CDH politician Joëlle Milquet and being a relic of the past. Leterme further compared the broadcaster to Radio Mille Collines, which was a Rwandan propaganda outlet against the Tutsis during the Rwandan genocide, though he later mentioned he had only quoted what was said in political circles.

2007 general elections
On 6 May 2007, he officially launched his candidacy for the general election on 10 June 2007, leading his party's list of candidates. On election day, he received about 800,000 preferential votes, the second largest number of votes ever gained in the history of Belgian elections. This was one of the greatest monster tallies in recent Belgian history (the previous comparable score was obtained by Leo Tindemans).

Based on this personal tally, on the successful tally of his party, and on the general election tallies which saw progress for most parties making the strongest demands for greater Flemish autonomy, such as CD&V, New-Flemish Alliance and the new Lijst Dedecker (LDD), status quo for the left-wing Greens, and regression for the far right Vlaams Belang and parties making only modest demands for greater Flemish autonomy, such as OpenVLD and Socialist Party - Different. Leterme as formateur convened the negotiations to form a coalition government, negotiations which would turn out to be protracted and initially lead to a stalemate.

2007–2008 political stalemate
Yves Leterme was the favourite to become the next Prime Minister of Belgium following the 2007 General Election. From 16 July to 23 August 2007, Leterme led the formal coalition talks into forming a new government. But the negotiations failed over constitutional reform and on 23 August he resigned as formateur.

On 29 September, Herman Van Rompuy, "explorer" in the coalition seeking process, presented his final report to the King. Later that day, King Albert II again appointed Leterme as formateur. On 7 November, his party took the initiative and got the Flemish representatives to vote on the most crucial aspect of the negotiations, the splitting of the electoral region of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde, a measure strongly opposed by the Francophone community.

Leterme again offered his resignation to the King on 1 December, after coalition talks failed to reach an agreement on several issues.

An interim government under Guy Verhofstadt was sworn in on 21 December 2007. In it, Leterme became Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of the Budget, Institutional Reform, and Transport. He was anticipated to become Prime Minister in a new government in March 2008.

Belgium's political uncertainty further deepened when Yves Leterme was hospitalised on 14 February 2008. Rumours that he was suffering from hepatitis were formally denied by a spokesman, and it was later disclosed that he had suffered internal bleeding in the gastrointestinal tract. His duties as Minister for Budget and Institutional Reform were temporarily taken over by Jo Vandeurzen (CD&V), the Minister for Justice.

Prime Minister of Belgium, first premiership
On 18 March 2008, an agreement between five parties on the formation of the new government was announced. Leterme was sworn in as Prime Minister on 20 March, and his government was approved by the Chamber of Representatives on 22 March, with 97 votes in favour, 48 against, and one abstaining.

For Leterme, priority issues were still further devolution of power to Belgium's regions, which would require amending the national constitution, and resolving dissatisfaction with the administrative status of the districts of Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde. He set a deadline of 15 July 2008 to accomplish these goals. The deadline was not met. On 15 July 2008, King Albert II issued a communiqué that Leterme had offered his resignation to the king, and that the king was reserving his decision on whether to accept the resignation. The next day, the king held consultations with the leaders of political parties, the employers' association, and trades unions. By the end of the day, it was still not resolved whether Leterme would actually be departing from the prime ministership. Leterme declared, "It appears that the [language] communities' conflicting visions of how to give a new equilibrium to our state have become incompatible . . . state reform remains essential".

Fortis and fall of government
Along with his counterparts in the Netherlands and Luxembourg, Leterme decided to nationalise ailing financial-services company Fortis. The company was split and the Belgian government sold the Belgian part to French bank BNP Paribas. The shareholders, who were not consulted in the sale, sued the Belgian state. Although at first the government won, on appeal the court of appeal reversed the judgement of the lower court and ordered the freezing of the sale. Following the verdict, First President Ghislain Londers of the Court of Cassation indicated that government officials had tried to influence the judges. Leterme tendered his resignation and that of his government on 19 December 2008, which was accepted by King Albert II on 22 December.

Minister of Foreign Affairs and Second Premiership
With 17 July 2009 government reshuffle, Leterme succeeded Karel De Gucht, who became European Commissioner, as the minister of foreign affairs in the Van Rompuy I Government. Following Van Rompuy's assignation as president of the European Council, Leterme once again became Prime Minister of Belgium. His place as Minister of Foreign Affairs was taken by Steven Vanackere.

In complicated negotiations regarding the bilingual electoral unit Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde surrounding Belgian capital Brussels a deadline set by government party Open VLD was not met. Following the departure on 22 April 2010 of this party from the government Leterme had to offer the resignation of his government once again. On 26 April the resignation was accepted by the King after the appointed mediator Didier Reynders failed in his task and a general election was held in June 2010. Due to the longitivity of the negotiations for the government formation, Leterme headed a caretaker government for 589 days—the longest-such run for a developed country—until Elio di Rupo was finally appointed prime minister in December 2011.

Post-premiership
After Elio Di Rupo succeeded him as Prime Minister, Leterme took up the position of Deputy Secretary-General at the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), starting 1 January 2012.

Leterme still supported his party in the October 2012 municipal elections. He was the main candidate for the CD&V/N-VA list in Ypres, which maintained its absolute majority. During the election he said "Honesty commands me to tell you I cannot become mayor right away because I must honour my earlier commitment to the OECD." And so after winning the election, Leterme remained active at international level, and third runner up in the party, Jan Durnez became mayor of Ypres instead.

In 2014, Leterme became secretary-general of the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance (International IDEA). On 7 March 2016 he announced his definitive departure from political life as he did not see himself able to combine it anymore with his international career. He has since taken on a number of paid and unpaid positions:

 * Volkswagen, Member of the Sustainability Council (since 2016)
 * Kofi Annan Foundation, Vice-Chair of the Commission on Elections and Democracy in the Digital Age (since 2018)

In 2019, Leterme became co-chairman of the board of directors of the Chinese investment fund ToJoy, alongside the former Serbian president Boris Tadić and José María Figueres, former president of Costa Rica. The appointment was criticized by international relations professor Jonathan Holslag, citing the close relations between ToJoy and the Chinese political establishment.

Lebanon
On 29 November 2008, President of Lebanon Michel Sleiman discussed with Leterme the Lebanese domestic situation and its foreign relations, particularly its relations with Syria.

Vietnam
Leterme started a two-day visit to Vietnam Tuesday 11 August 2009 to boost bilateral and multifaceted co-operation between the two countries. It was his first official visit to Vietnam since Leterme took up his post as foreign minister the previous month. Leterme met with Vietnamese officials to strengthen bilateral relations and co-operation in several sectors including politics, economics, and trade and investment, as well as discussed regional and global issues that are of interest to both sides. Vietnam is currently the only Asian country receiving preferential development aid from the Belgian government for the 2007–2010 period, in the amount of 32 million euro (US$45 million). In 2008, two-way trade reached nearly $1.4 billion and Belgium is now Vietnam's fourth largest export market among EU countries.

Private life and hobbies
Leterme is known to be very fond of goats. He breeds goats in his private time in the small farm where he lives. In November 2010 the Belgian newspaper Het Nieuwsblad had some more news about Yves' favourite animals: two of his favourite goats, named Trudy and Vicky, were to appear in a play by the local theatre society of Ypres. The play is called 'Island of the goats'. In an interview Yves called goats "The poor man's cow."

title: Yves Leterme


text:
The Libertine (1968 film)

The Libertine (La matriarca) is a 1968 Italian sex comedy film directed by Pasquale Festa Campanile and starring Catherine Spaak and Jean-Louis Trintignant.

Plot
Mimi, a young widow, discovers that her recently deceased husband kept a secret apartment for his kinky desires. Frustrated that he did not explore his sexual fantasies with her, she embarks on a quest to understand perversion and sexuality. She uses her late husband's apartment to seduce various men, each time learning more about the depths of human depravation, as well as the extent of the sexual double standard for women (late in the film, she states, "I notice men only call me a whore when I say no. Or stop saying yes.")

Finally, she meets the man who shares himself fully with her, appreciates her sexual daring and accepts her for whoever she is.

Reception
Howard Thompson of The New York Times said the film was "not nearly as clever, sophisticated and amusing as it archly pretends." The Guardian called it "pseudo-sophisticated, so fake as to be positively sick making and, what is more, thoroughly unerotic." Gary Arnold of The Washington Post complained "the film's own attitudes are far too conventional". Kevin Thomas of the Los Angeles Times thought the film was "at times... pretty hot stuff... has a little more style and wit than most Radley Metzger releases." Terry Clifford of the Chicago Tribune thought the film was "more clumsy than clever... just as unimaginative as the film it attempts to parody."

title: The Libertine (1968 film)


text:
Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/27Mhz CB27/81 Bandplan

27Mhz CB27/81 Bandplan was proposed for deletion. This page is an archive of the discussion about the proposed deletion. This page is no longer live. Further comments should be made on the article's talk page rather than here so that this page is preserved as an historic record. The result of the debate was DELETE

List of CB frequencies in the UK, no context. Unencyclopedic. Moved from cleanup. Ianb 07:37, 20 Jul 2004 (UTC)

This page is now preserved as an archive of the debate and, like other '/delete' pages is no longer 'live'. Subsequent comments on the issue, the deletion or on the decision-making process should be placed on the relevant 'live' pages. Please do not edit this page.
 * Lose it. This is information that's easily found elsewhere.  And CB isn't like amateur radio in the sense that the frequency is important to the operator.  Just switch on your "ears," turn to the channel you want to talk on, and it's "breaker, breaker." - Lucky 6.9 16:59, 20 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * Keep or merge with Citizens' band radio. While someone more familiar with CBs in the UK might want to expand it, the article complements 27MHz FCC Bandplan about the US frequencies.  Smerdis of Tlön 14:17, 21 Jul 2004 (UTC)
 * Delete. It has spent months on Cleanup and unless some improvement is made in the next few days it should be removed. - SimonP 15:29, Jul 24, 2004 (UTC)