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Juiz de Fora

Juiz de Fora (, Outsider Judge), also known as J.F., is a city in the southeastern Brazilian state of Minas Gerais, approximately 40 km from the state border with Rio de Janeiro. According to the 2022 census the current population is 540,756 inhabitants. The geographical area of the municipality is 1437 km2.

The city's location was a key factor in its economic and demographic development since it is situated between the three most important financial and economic metropolises of southeast Brazil (and also the three largest urban sprawls of the country): Rio de Janeiro (189 km), Belo Horizonte (260 km) and São Paulo (486 km). Major highways connect Juiz de Fora with these three metropolitan areas, the most important being the BR 040 which connects Brasília with Rio de Janeiro via Belo Horizonte. The city is built on the Paraibuna, a major tributary of the Paraíba do Sul river.

History

The origins of Juiz de Fora can be traced back to the beginnings of the 18th century, when the Caminho Novo (New Way) road was opened linking Rio de Janeiro to the gold rush area of Minas Gerais around Vila Rica (now Ouro Preto). The region was covered with dense forest (hence its name; "Zona da Mata", Forest Zone). Despite the opening of the new route the area remained largely uninhabited and most of its scarce settlement was centered on the road itself. The first permanent inhabitants of the municipality were merchants and farmers who supplied the travelers' needs on the long road between the coast and the gold region.

Further development would only take place after the decline of gold mining in the central zone of Minas Gerais. The capital previously invested in the mines was now invested in coffee plantations, and the region of Zona da Mata became a fertile ground to invest in. The position of the village then called Santo Antônio do Paraibuna was favourable due to the road connection with the capital of the country and its harbour.

In 1850 the small village was officially elevated to city status. Progress continued in 1861 with the completion of the first macadamized road in Latin America, the Estrada União e Indústria (Union and Industry), replacing the Caminho Novo. Its name reflected the newfound wealth of the city, for industry replaced coffee-related agriculture as its economic heart. Five years later a new railway, the Estrada de Ferro Dom Pedro II, reached the city and in 1889 the first hydroelectric powerplant of Latin America (Marmelos Zero) was built on the Paraibuna river on the outskirts of the city along the Estrada União e Indústria.

As both foreign and domestic capital fueled the industrial boom the city became a major centre (becoming the largest urban area of the state). By first decade of the 20th century Juiz de Fora was among the main textile and industrial producers in South America and in Brazil particularly. The city's wealth was second only to major cities such as São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro. But as the coffee rush frontier moved southwestwards it reached the state of São Paulo and its immensely fertile plateaus which became the richest in the federation and industry flourished there as it had in Juiz de Fora itself. The city of Juiz de Fora became the major industrial centre in a state that was being much surpassed by São Paulo in industrial output, and worse still much of the wealth generated by the state (a large bulk by Juiz de Fora itself) was being used in the building of the new state capital Belo Horizonte (replacing Ouro Preto at the centre of the gold region), founded at the end of the 19th century and which, in the Brazilian and Latin-American tradition of centralization, was intended to be the largest city of the state. The Great Depression of the 30s worsened the city's decay which would only be overcome five decades later. By the 1940s the city had lost its nationwide influence due to the continued growth of Belo Horizonte and the loss of industry.

The city's decay can be seen in the figures for its population which remained stagnant from the early 1930s to the late 1960s. By the mid-1970s, the city started to experience new growth, which continues to this day. This new era began with the establishment of a federal university (UFJF) in the city and the decision by the Brazilian military junta (1964–1985) to promote the city as a major military centre. This sparked a phenomenon rarely experienced by post-industrial towns: the industrial rebirth of the city, this time following Brazilian industrialization itself, based on heavy-industry such as steel and engineering.

Recently, the city seems to be experiencing a new era in its history, again following a boom in Brazilian economy, and is reinventing itself as a major centre for services (such as telecommunications, with an important call centre) and education (following the federal university, private colleges have been established in the city).

Today Juiz de Fora is an important commercial centre for the surrounding region and is the core of an unofficial metropolitan area of more than 1 million inhabitants.

Geography
According to the modern (2017) geographic classification by Brazil's National Institute of Geography and Statistics (IBGE), the city is the main municipality in the Intermediate Geographic Region of Juiz de Fora.

Location
Juiz de Fora is located in southeast of Minas Gerais state. It is in a strategic location close to the important metropolitan areas of Rio de Janeiro, Belo Horizonte and São Paulo and on the main route from Rio de Janeiro to Belo Horizonte and Brasília. The distance of Juiz de Fora to important cities is:
 * Rio de Janeiro: 184 km
 * Belo Horizonte: 272 km
 * São Paulo: 506 km
 * Vitória: 519 km
 * Brasília: 992 km

Climate
Although lying within tropical latitudes the climate is relatively mild. The altitude of 700 to 900 m makes the weather usually cooler and rainier than the lower surrounding areas. Under the Köppen climate classification Juiz de Fora's climate is classified as a humid subtropical climate with two distinct seasons, one hotter and rainier (October to April) and one cooler and drier (May to September). The average annual temperature is around 19 C with an average high of 24 C and an average low of 15 C. It is very humid with average humidity of 80%. The annual rainfall varies between 1300 and 1500 mm.

Economy
Juiz de Fora is the third most important industrial center in the state of Minas Gerais, despite being the fourth largest in terms of population. It was once the state's largest city, a position which was held up until the beginning of the 20th century (it held the second position until the 1980s). There are important steel mills and automotive factories (Mercedes-Benz being the most famous) in the city, along with several textile factories.

The city is also an important trade center with a considerable area of influence, being considered the capital of the Zona da Mata region of the state. It has four big shopping malls, several hyper-marts and many smaller shops.

Major Roads

 * BR-040, linking JF to north–south cities in the middle part of the states of Minas Gerais and Rio de Janeiro, such as Belo Horizonte, Congonhas, Conselheiro Lafaiete, Barbacena, Santos Dumont, Sete Lagoas, Três Rios, Petrópolis, Rio de Janeiro and Brasília.
 * BR-267, linking JF to east–west cities in the southern part of Minas Gerais, such as Leopoldina, Bicas, Lima Duarte, Bom Jardim de Minas, Liberdade and Caxambu.

Railways

 * MRS Logística. Freight only.

Airports

 * Francisco Álvares de Assis Airport, known popularly as "Serrinha", located within the city limits, approximately 7 km to the southwest of the centre in the district of "Aeroporto". Currently, the airport doesn't have any operation of commercial flights.
 * Pres. Itamar Franco Airport located 35 km north in the municipality of Goianá. Azul Linhas Áereas Brasileiras operates flights to Campinas (VCP) and GOL Linhas Áereas Inteligentes to Belo Horizonte (PLU) and São Paulo-Congonhas (CGH).

Culture
The massive presence of immigrants – especially from Portugal, Italy, Germany, Syria and Lebanon and more recently China – throughout its history has given the city a cosmopolitan spirit and diverse cuisine. Walking down Rio Branco Avenue, (the city's several kilometers long main avenue) one can find typical German, Italian, Arabic, Portuguese, Chinese and Japanese restaurants, as well as traditional Brazilian and vegetarian cuisine.

Juiz de Fora is an important regional cultural center, one of the few towns in south-east Minas Gerais to have permanently functional cinemas, theatres, music venues and light entertainment. There is a nationally important museum (Museu Mariano Procópio) and a Philharmonic Orchestra (Orquestra Filarmônica Pró-Musica). The city also hosts a yearly classical music festival, the Festival Internacional de Música Brasileira Colonial e Música Antiga (International Festival of Brazilian Colonial Music and Early Music). It is home to the "Meninos Cantores da Academia" the second oldest choir in this category in Brazil and to the Coral Universitário da Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora an eclectic and neat choir with a remarkable musical legacy of 50 years in the city. Cultural life is also boosted by many cinema, gastronomic and rock festivals like: "Primeiro Plano Juiz de fora Cinema Festival", "JF Sabor", "Deutsches Fest" (The festival celebrates and preserves the cultural customs, the gastronomy and everything related to the German traditions. In 2018, the party celebrated 160 years of the German immigration to Juiz de Fora), "Comida di Buteco JF" and "Festival de Bandas Novas". The rock festival has been supporting the local music scene and promoting countless new bands since 1999.

The Federal University and several private-owned colleges in Juiz de Fora turn it in a highly sought destination for students. Some of the courses at the Universidade Federal de Juiz de Fora are reputedly among the best in Brazil, considered the second best university in the state of Minas Gerais and 14th position among Brazilian universities according to international ranking in 2018. The cultural life of Juiz de Fora is marked by great eclecticism, which can be seen in its architecture. Art Nouveau buildings dating from the first decade of the 20th century are intermingled with those in Art Deco style from the mid-20th century, and many modern concrete edifices including one building by Oscar Niemeyer.

Football
Juiz de Fora is the home of Tupi and Tupynambás. Tupi was the 1932 runner-up of Campeonato Mineiro, and has won several city championships. Tupi won the Campeonato Mineiro Módulo II in 2001, was 3rd place in 2008 Campeonato Mineiro and won Taça Minas Gerais in 2008. It is widely regarded as one of the most important teams of the state, despite lacking national prestige. They won the 2011 Campeonato Brasileiro Série D (national fourth division) after beating Santa Cruz in both legs of the final, having qualified for the tournament after América de Teófilo Otoni withdrew before the start of the competition. In 2015, they finished 3rd place at the 2015 Campeonato Brasileiro Série C, achieving promotion for the Brazilian second tier for the first time in the team history,. However, they finished 18th in the 2016 Campeonato Brasileiro Série B and was relegated back to Série C. After missing promotion in the final stage in 2017, the next year saw Tupi relegated to Série D due to goal difference.

Meanwhile, after the 60s, Tupynambás had sporadically played at Campeonato Mineiro Módulo II with their football department closed most of the years. They returned to professional football in 2016 after receiving a percentage fee from sale of Danilo, who started his youth career at the club, from Porto to Real Madrid and were promoted from the third division of Campeonato Mineiro in the same year. In 2018, Tupynambás finished in 2nd place at the second division of Campeonato Mineiro, earning promotion to the 2019 Campeonato Mineiro.

In 2019, with both teams together in Minas Gerais first division since 1970, Tupi had a disappointing campaign after failing to win a single match and being relegated after finishing in the last place; meanwhile Tupynambás won their first match by 5–1 against Villa Nova, defeated their city rivals in the second match by 1-0 and finished in the 8th place, being beaten by Atlético Mineiro in the quarter-finals.

Volleyball
In 2011, UFJF volleyball team won promotion to Superliga Brasileira de Voleibol for the first time. In its first season, UFJF finished 11th from 12 teams and is pending invitation to stay at the top division for 2012/13 season. Later on the team changed its name to JF Vôlei and it was ranked # 7 in the superliga 2016/2017,the team's best performance so far.

Demography
Ethnic groups found in Juiz de Fora include: Portuguese, Italians, Africans, Germans, Lebanese, Syrians, others Arabs, Japanese and more recently Chinese.

The population was 238,510 in 1970 with 7.6% living in rural areas. As of the 2022 census, there were 540,756 people living in Juiz de Fora. The racial composition of the city in 2010 was:

The population of Juiz de Fora since the first census, in 1872 (also including estimates):

Notable people

 * Geraldo Majella Agnelo (cardinal and papabile) in the 2013 papal conclave
 * Felipe Roque (volleyball player)
 * Scheila Carvalho (model, dancer)
 * Fernando Cedrola (footballer)
 * Daniel (former professional footballer, murdered in 2018)
 * Bernardo Faria (Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion)
 * Cafuringa (former professional footballer)
 * Itamar Franco (former Brazilian President and former mayor of the city)
 * Márcia Fu (former Brazilian female volleyball player)
 * Larissa Oliveira (former Brazilian female swimmer)
 * Giovane Gávio (former Brazilian volleyball player)
 * Natália Guimarães (Miss Brazil 2007, 1st runner up Miss Universe 2007)
 * Zé Carlos, Brazilian football player.
 * Júlia Horta (Miss Brasil 2019)
 * Andrade, former footballer
 * Hudson (professional footballer, currently at São Paulo)
 * Marcelo (former footballer and one of the victims of Chapecoense plane crash)
 * Fab Melo (former NBA basketball player)
 * Murilo Mendes (poet)
 * Guilherme Marques (beach volleyball player, world champion)
 * Heitor Canalli, the first football player from Minas Gerais to participate in a World Cup.
 * Lara Rodrigues (actress)
 * Thomás (professional footballer, currently at Greek club Apollon Smyrnis)
 * Wesley (professional footballer, currently at English club Aston Villa)

title: Juiz de Fora


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Project Vela

Project Vela was a United States Department of Defense project to monitor Soviet Union compliance with the 1963 Partial Test Ban Treaty. The treaty banned the testing of nuclear weapons in the atmosphere, in outer space, and underwater, but permitted underground testing.

Early history
In August 1959, several groups focused on detecting underground nuclear tests were established within the US Department of Defense; on September 2, 1959, the Secretary of Defense assigned the research responsibilities to the Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA). This initial assignment involved seven tasks: creating a worldwide network of standardized seismological stations; conduct research relating to underground test detection, and on seismic detection stations; conduct nuclear and chemical underground tests to expand knowledge of seismic signatures; and three tasks of a more administrative nature. From the beginning, however, and through 1960, ARPA pressed to add research for testing surface-based, atmospheric, and outer-space detonations, and advocated satellites as a potential platform for such detections.

The Vela Project started as a small budget research program within the DARPA Projects Agencies until 1961 when it was granted greater funding and resources through the authority of the Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army. This was likely prompted by increased caution over Domestic Nuclear Affairs resulting from the 1961 Goldsboro B-52 crash as well as in anticipation of the 1963 PTB Treaty.

The initial project was limited to the development of the Vela Satellites, but was later expanded and reorganized into three distinct levels of monitoring:

 * 1) Vela Uniform, which was the portion of the project dedicated towards monitoring seismic signals, in order to detect underground and underwater nuclear testing
 * 2) Vela Hotel, which was a continuation of the satellite program to detect nuclear testing solely beyond the atmosphere at an extended range
 * 3) Vela Sierra, which was a set of advanced satellites that were designed to detect testing both in the close reaches of outer space and within the atmosphere of the planet itself.

The project's space and atmospheric divisions operated until the emplacement of satellites in the Defense Support Program (DSP), and were later integrated into the Global Positioning System set of satellites. Currently, all satellites under Project Vela are under the management of IONDS. The seismic division of Project Vela remains in activity today.

In 2020, National Security Science magazine featured an article on Project Vela titled "Cold War watchmen" that contained a description of the project history focusing on the contributions made at Los Alamos National Laboratory, as well as commentary from scientists that worked on the project. In the article astrophysicist Ed Fenimore states "Vela was the prototypical project that made Los Alamos the premier scientific national security laboratory in the world." Data from Project Vela is still used for national security work, and sensors, such as those developed in the project, are still an important part of nuclear detonation detection.

Vela Hotel and the Initial Vela Project
There is very little documentation which directly addresses the topic of the initial Vela Project due to its low funding, staffing, resources and status of priority. The first sensor package sent into space, labelled the "Vela Hotel" experiment, was launched aboard the Ranger 1 lunar probe in August of 1961 and returned useful data. It is known that the majority of the work done on the initial Vela Project was implemented into Vela Hotel, which monitored outer space for nuclear tests. The Vela Hotel satellite program was primarily developed at Los Alamos Scientific Laboratory, under the supervision of the United States Air Force. A system of X-ray, Neutron, and Gamma-Ray detection monitored for nuclear testing beyond the atmosphere.

The satellites' instrumentation count included 12 X-ray detectors, 18 internal Neutron and Gamma-ray detectors, data transmission equipment to send the information back to Earth, and a set of solar panels which generated 90 watts to power the instrumentation on each satellite. Six of the Vela Hotel series satellites were manufactured, each with a design life of six months, and they were launched a week after the PTB Treaty on October 17, 1963. After deployment these satellites remained operational and online for 5 years before being shut down.

The Vela Hotel series of satellites never detected any weapons being tested in outer space, but they did provide the scientific community with valuable data regarding the mechanics of the solar system. Importantly, this series of satellites was responsible for discovering Gamma-Ray Bursts, markers of collapsing stars and black holes which are now recognized as the most violent events in the universe. The discovery of Gamma-Ray Bursts enabled scientists with unprecedented ability to map the universe as they augmented existing methods of measuring light to identify deep space objects.

Vela Sierra and the Advanced Vela Series
After the completion of development on the first set of Vela Satellites in the Hotel series, DARPA began work on the next phase of the Vela satellite program, namely, on Vela Sierra, which was intended to monitor the atmosphere for covert nuclear tests. Following the deployment of the Hotel series, Los Alamos resumed development on the satellites, this time working towards the Advanced Vela series. These new satellites were created with the intention that they would replace the Hotel Series, as well as function as the satellites that would complete the objectives of the Vela Sierra subset.

The new set of Advanced Vela satellites were equipped with the same detection equipment as the Hotel series, those being the 12 X-ray detectors and 18 internal Neutron and Gamma-Ray detectors, but were also equipped with a new set of instruments. The Advanced Vela series came equipped with two non-imaging photodiode sensors called bhangmeters. These measured light levels over sub-millisecond intervals, and could detect a nuclear explosion to within 3,000 miles. This addition was necessary due to the singular effects that atmospheric nuclear explosions produce, called either the "Double Flash" or the "Double-Humped Curve", which is a pair of flashes of light caused by an explosion, one lasting a millisecond which is quite intense and bright, the other far more prolonged and less intense. This "Double Flash" is what distinguishes atmospheric nuclear explosions from other kinds of explosions in the atmosphere, along with radiation, since the only feasible event that could theoretically produce a double event like an atmospheric nuclear explosion would be something incredibly rare like a meteoroid generated lightning superbolt. However, radiation in the atmosphere is far less easy to calculate, as the Van Allen radiation belts can mask radioactive wavelengths and signatures. The Advanced Vela satellites were additionally fitted with larger solar panels, since the new design required 120 watts as opposed to the Hotel series' 90 watts, as well as electromagnetic sensors for detecting an electromagnetic pulse from an in-atmosphere detonation. The new set of satellites had a design life of 18 months, but instead lasted on average 7 years, with the longest lasting of the set (Vehicle 9) being shut down in 1984, lasting around 15 years before being shut down.

Vela Sierra's most famous actual event was the "Double Flash" detected on September 22, 1979, by Vela satellite 6911 near the Prince Edward Islands. However, due to the lack of any corroborating evidence that a bomb ever went off in the area other than the readings the satellite provided, it is widely regarded as either a malfunction or a magnetospheric event affecting the instruments aboard the satellite. At the time of the event, President Jimmy Carter deemed the event evidence of a joint Israeli-South African nuclear test, though since then no evidence has been uncovered to corroborate whether that is true or untrue.

Vela Uniform
Vela Uniform was the second half of Project Vela that began its development soon after the PTB Treaty was put into effect. Vela Uniform was created with the intention of monitoring seismic activity in order to determine the magnitude and location of any covert nuclear weapons tests beneath the surface of the earth. Underground tests have been illegal under international law since the widespread ratification of the Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBT). Vela Uniform can also detect underwater tests conducted at any point on the Earth's surface. The methods DARPA used to create a system with which they could determine the difference between a regular seismic event and an underground covert nuclear test involved the rigorous measurement of seven nuclear tests in the continental United States, as well as numerous smaller experiments using conventional high explosives rather than nuclear explosions. Over time, Vela Uniform's methods and techniques for measuring seismic activity to determine the existence and location of covert underground nuclear tests have improved, and stations for seismographical monitoring exist all around the world. This has had the effect of giving more nations the ability to better understand their own country's seismic activities, and has given more and more countries access to aid in situations of earthquakes, tsunamis, and other such events, as well as ensuring the detection of any future covert underground nuclear tests.

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

title: Project Vela


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Kaplan, Inc.

Kaplan, Inc. is an international educational services company that provides educational and training services to colleges, universities, businesses and individuals around the world. Founded in 1938 by Stanley Kaplan, the company offers a variety of test preparation, certifications, and student support services. The company is headquartered in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Graham Holdings Company.

History
Kaplan, Inc. was founded in 1938 by Stanley H. Kaplan, a first-generation son of immigrants who began tutoring his classmates at age 14, operating from the basement of his parents' Brooklyn home. He originally aspired to be a doctor, but was rejected from all medical schools he applied to, despite his exceptional academic record, because of anti-Semitic admissions policies at the time. When a student introduced him to the SAT, he wrote in his autobiography, Test Pilot, that he fell in love with the test, as it tested skills he knew how to teach. His business grew as many students sought help in preparing for college admission tests, particularly after World War II when U.S. government passed the G.I. Bill giving education to returning veterans. His business boomed, and he expanded it across the U.S. and abroad. In 1984, Kaplan sold the company to The Washington Post Company, now the Graham Holdings Company.

1990s–present
In 1990s, the company expanded abroad and grew beyond test preparation, expanding its training and publishing businesses, diversifying into English language training, higher education, pathways programs, online learning and other services. It launched the first online law school, Concord Law School, in 1998. Over the years, it has purchased several other educational companies and schools worldwide, expanding its operations and delivery of courses and programs in markets beyond North America including the UK, Ireland, Singapore, Australia, and New Zealand. The company's leader during this expansion period was Jonathan Grayer.

In 2003, Kaplan acquired the Financial Training Company, an established provider of financial services training in the UK, with operations in Hong Kong, Shanghai and Singapore. Later that year, the company's acquisition of Dublin Business School in Ireland launched its entry into Europe's private college market.

Kaplan expanded its private education offerings and global reach in 2005 with the acquisition of Asia Pacific Management Institute, a Singapore-based business school (later renamed to Kaplan Singapore). In 2005 Kaplan also expanded into international student pathways programs, partnering with Nottingham Trent University to set up Nottingham Trent International College, created to prepare students for university enrollment through English language training and academic preparation for A-level standards.

In 2006, Kaplan expanded its English language business with the acquisition of Aspect Education, a global languages school with schools in the UK, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the US.

In 2016, Kaplan partnered with ACT, the ACT college admissions test maker, to make low-cost, online test prep free for low-income students.

In 2017, Purdue University announced the acquisition of Kaplan University, and the sale was completed in 2018. The new institution became Purdue University Global, providing students with accredited distance learning worldwide.

In 2018, as part of an effort to overhaul UK legal education and create a common standard for professional qualification, the Solicitors Regulation Authority (SRA) selected Kaplan to develop and deliver the Solicitors Qualifying Exam (SQE). Introduced in September 2021, the exam is the qualifying assessment for professionals seeking to become solicitors in England or Wales.

During the pandemic in 2020, Kaplan partnered with Hexco Academic to host its first national online spelling bee. The winner of the Kaplan Online Spelling Bee, Zaila Avant-garde, went on to become the first African American to win the Scripps National Spelling Bee in 2021. Runner up Harini Logan went on to win the Scripps Bee the following year.

In 2021, Kaplan launched Career Core, a shared career services model, in partnership with Wake Forest University, Adelphi University, Florida International University, Point Loma Nazarene University, University of Arizona, University of Montana, Alpha Tau Omega, and Kappa Alpha Order.

In 2022, Amazon announced a partnership with Kaplan to make academic and career coaching services available to its 750,000 hourly employees in the U.S. as part of its Career Choice upskilling program.

Products and services
Kaplan offers a variety of educational and training products and services, including tutoring, on-site classes, live programs, print books, online products, and more, to individuals, universities, and businesses.

For students and individuals

 * Preparation for standardized admissions tests, including the ACT, SAT, GRE, GMAT, LSAT, MCAT, and many others
 * Professional training and preparation for licensure exams and industry certification in nursing, medicine, law insurance, real estate, architecture, engineering, finance, accounting, wealth management and others
 * Language training for English, French, German and Spanish, online and in-person around the world
 * Higher education degree programs focused on career advancement through Dublin Business School (Ireland), Kaplan Business School (Australia) and Kaplan Singapore (formerly Asia Pacific Management Institute) (Singapore)
 * Accredited college study and degrees through Kaplan Open Learning, which delivers online higher education degree programs through the University of Essex and the University of Liverpool.  Kaplan also supports online degree programs at Purdue University Global,  Wake Forest University, Lynn University  and Creighton University.
 * University pathways programs that allow international students who want to study in English-speaking countries to take English courses while also taking courses that will count as credits toward their undergraduate degree

For educational institutions
For educational institutions, Kaplan operates the following.

 * International student recruiting through university pathways programs or direct admittance services for universities across the U.S., Canada, U.K., Australia and New Zealand
 * University-wide "all access" licensing for Kaplan test prep, licensure and credentialing programs
 * Online program enablement including student recruitment, technology, and back-end administrative services
 * University sponsored, scalable pre-college online career exploration programs for high school students
 * Hosted campuses in Singapore for affiliated educational institutions in Australia, Ireland and the UK to provide teaching and residential sites
 * Campus facilities, including student residences and teaching centers, which are designed, built and managed by Kaplan Living

For businesses
For businesses, Kaplan operates the following.

 * Professional training and certification for financial advisory professionals, as well as training to qualify for professional certification in securities, accounting, insurance, real estate, engineering, architecture and other sectors
 * Education-as-benefit programs brokered with university partners, including customized degree and certificate programs
 * Apprenticeship programs, in collaboration with the UK government and employers
 * Career coaching and college advising for employees

Corporate overview
Kaplan has over 10,000 employees in 27 countries, and partners include more than 12,000 businesses and 4000 educational institutions. The company's chairman and CEO is Andrew S. Rosen, and its 2020 revenue was $1.3 billion. Kaplan operates through two major divisions: Kaplan North America and Kaplan International. A third division, Kaplan Corporate, manages investment activities in education technology companies.

Kaplan North America (KNA)
Kaplan North America encompasses two segments: Higher Education and Supplemental Education.

KNA higher education provides operations support services for online pre-college, certificate, undergraduate and graduate programs to various educational and training institutions, including Purdue University, Wake Forest University, and others. In its support agreement with Purdue University Global, which operates largely online as a public university affiliated with the Purdue University system, KNA provides support for technology, admissions, help-desk, marketing, human resources, financial aid processing, recruiting, and other functions.

KNA supplemental education products include test preparation, publishing, professional licensure training and preparation (including healthcare simulation programs), corporate training and continuing education. KNA's test preparation services are branded through Kaplan Test Prep, Manhattan Prep and Barron's Educational Series. In total, Kaplan's test prep offerings prepare students for more than 233 standardized tests, most of which are U.S. focused. Kaplan Publishing focuses on print and digital test preparation and reference resources.

Kaplan International (KI)
Kaplan International is based in London and operates educational businesses in North America, Europe, Asia Pacific, and the Middle East. Its language business supports students from 150 nationalities, delivering 16 different language learning programs. It operates 19 English language schools in the U.S., Canada, UK and Ireland and delivers on and off-campus pathways programs with 24 universities in the U.S., U.K., Australia, and New Zealand. Kaplan International recruits up to 100,000 international students annually for U.S., U.K. Australian university programs, transnational programs in Singapore and Hong Kong and language training programs worldwide.

KI operates English language training schools and university pathways programs in North America.

Europe
In Europe, KI operates: In the Middle East, Kaplan operates a financial training business in Dubai, United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia.
 * Kaplan Professional UK includes Kaplan Financial, which provides training and test preparation services for professionals in accounting, financial services, securities trading, insurance and other financial services. Kaplan UK also provides apprenticeship training in banking and financial services, accountancy and tax, and data and technology industries. Additionally, it operates Kaplan Assessments, the assessment provider for the Solicitors Qualifying Examination for all candidates seeking to become a solicitor in England and Wales.
 * KI Pathways offers academic preparation programs especially designed for international students who wish to study for degrees from universities in English-speaking countries.
 * KI Languages Group provides English-language training, academic preparation programs and test preparation for English proficiency exams, principally for students wishing to study and travel in English-speaking countries. It also offers instruction in Spanish, French and German.
 * Mander Portman Woodward, a U.K. independent sixth-form college that prepares domestic and international students for A-level examinations that are required for admission to U.K. universities.
 * Dublin Business School, a private college in Ireland that provides a range of full-time and part-time undergraduate and postgraduate programmes, with courses in subject areas such as business, law, accounting, event management, IT, arts, media studies and psychology
 * Kaplan Open Learning, an online learning institution offering accredited online higher education degree programs through the University of Essex and University of Liverpool
 * BridgeU, an adaptive guidance platform that connects universities with international secondary schools

Asia and Oceania
In Asia and Oceania, Kaplan operates primarily in Singapore, Australia, and Hong Kong.

In Singapore, Kaplan operates two business units:
 * Kaplan Higher Education Academy (KHEA) offers full-time programmes to local students in Singapore and international students who wish to study in Singapore. Such programmes are suitable for students who are able to attend classes in the daytime during weekdays.
 * Kaplan Higher Education Institute (KHEI) offers part-time programmes to local students in Singapore. Such programmes help working professionals balance part-time studies with personal or work commitments. Classes are held in the evenings and on weekends for such programmes.

In Hong Kong, Kaplan operates:
 * Kaplan Financial, which delivers preparatory courses for students and business executives seeking to earn professional qualifications in accountancy, financial markets designations and other professional fields
 * Language training, which offers test prep for overseas study and college applications, including TOEFL, IELTS, SAT, and GMAT
 * Higher education offers full-time and part-time programs to students studying for bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees from leading Western universities in Hong Kong.

In Australia, Kaplan operates:
 * Kaplan Professional, which delivers financial services education and professional development courses
 * Kaplan Business School, which delivers higher education programs in business, accounting, hospitality, and tourism and management
 * English language training schools across five locations in Australia and one in New Zealand
 * Kaplan Australia Pathways, which is part of KI Pathways
 * Red Marker, an AI-powered marketing compliance platform with real-time reporting and remediation capabilities

Controversies
In 2007, a class-action lawsuit was settled for $30 million by Kaplan and BarBri, a company offering bar exam preparation. Among the allegations was a federal antitrust violation claiming that Kaplan had agreed not to compete in the bar review business while BarBri agreed it would not compete in the LSAT business. Both West Publishing Company (parent of BarBri) and Kaplan denied the allegations and the matter was resolved without any findings of wrongdoing.

In a 2010 investigation by the Government Accountability Office (GAO) found deceptive practices at 15 for-profit college campuses, including two owned by Kaplan. Footage from undercover videos revealed that recruiters from Kaplan in California and Florida had made false or dubious claims to prospective students, such as suggesting massage therapists earn $100 per hour and that student loans do not have to be repaid. Kaplan took steps to address these failures, including firing those responsible, halting recruiting, offering full tuition rebates, retraining individuals, bringing in outside accountants to conduct its own "mystery shopping", and implementing a debt-free trial period.

In 2011, a federal judge in Miami has refused to dismiss the lawsuits filed by former employees of Kaplan University and Kaplan Higher Education Corp, who allege that the companies have violated the Higher Education Act in order to gain federal funding and profits. Judge Patricia A. Seitz has denied the accusations related to Kaplan's manipulation of students' academic records and job-placement statistics, or their incentive payments based on student enrollment numbers. However, she has allowed the whistleblowers to continue to pursue claims of retaliation and other violations. Since 2006, several ex-employees alleged that Kaplan had broken the law and breached its agreement with the U.S. Department of Education by recruiting unqualified students, misleading students about their academic progress, manipulating job placement statistics, and offering bonuses to recruiters based on how many students they enrolled, in order to get the most out of federal funding. In November 2006, two former instructors sued Kaplan for allegedly submitting false claims to the government and not adhering to the Higher Education Act's requirements for payment. The plaintiffs, who were previously employed at Kaplan's Pittsburgh-based campus, claimed that Kaplan had breached the 70 Percent Rule, which requires eligible schools to have a minimum graduation rate and job placement rate of 70%. Furthermore, they argued that Kaplan Career Institute had advertised job-placement rates without providing prospective students with job-placement statistics or state licensing requirements.

In 2012, the North Carolina Attorney General determined that Kaplan had lied to students about the credentials they would earn in the Dental Assistant program. Following the investigation Kaplan College Charlotte campus surrendered its license to operate a school. Kaplan refunded students the cost of tuition, books, and fees, and agreed to pay the program's graduates $9,000 stipends. Students claimed they were told the school would soon obtain ADA accreditation. The program had never been accredited by the American Dental Association, and had never been scheduled for the initial site visit required for accreditation.

In 2010, the Florida Attorney General started an investigation into whether five for-profit colleges, including Kaplan, violated Florida's Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by making misleading statements, misrepresentations, and omitting or failed to disclose material information related to market their programs and schools. In 2014, Kaplan agreed to voluntarily comply with the Attorney General and made several required changes as part of the settlement. Kaplan agreed to "clearly and conspicuously disclose true and accurate information relating to the school's accreditation, program costs, financial aid, and the scope and nature of employment services they provide." During the course of the investigation Kaplan waived $6 million in tuition and fees for more than 2,400 Florida students, and reimbursed the Florida Attorney General's office for attorney costs, while impacted students were offered retraining or a separate arbitration process.

In 2015, Kaplan paid $1.375 million to the Massachusetts Attorney General's office to resolve complaints that Kaplan engaged in "unfair or deceptive practices designed to induce enrollment of students" including "harassing sales tactics and false and misleading representations" in the operation of the Kaplan Career Institute campus in Boston, Massachusetts. Also in 2015, Kaplan paid $1.3 million, with $1 million going toward tuition refunds to 289 students, to resolve allegations that it hired instructors who were not qualified. The United States Department of Justice began investigating Kaplan following a Qui tam suit filed by a whistleblower under the False Claims Act. The whistleblower alleged Kaplan employed unqualified instructors to teach Medical Assistant courses at its San Antonio campuses and knowingly requested, received, and retained federal funds for courses taught by individuals who did not meet the minimum requirements established by Texas law.

Also in 2015, the United States Department of Justice began investigating Kaplan following a Qui tam suit filed by a whistleblower under the False Claims Act. The whistleblower alleged Kaplan employed unqualified instructors to teach Medical Assistant courses at its San Antonio campuses and knowingly requested, received, and retained federal funds for courses taught by individuals who did not meet the minimum requirements established by Texas law. While Kaplan paid $1.3 million to resolve the allegations, with $1 million going towards tuition refunds, Acting U.S. Attorney Richard L. Durbin Jr. stated that the settlement was not an admission of liability by Kaplan or its affiliates, and that the company had fully cooperated with the government's investigation and negotiated the settlement in good faith.

Kaplan Educational Foundation (KEF)
The Kaplan Educational Foundation (KEF) is an independent 501(c)(3) charity that offers undergraduate and graduate educational scholarship opportunities and other assistance to community college students in the New York City area who are traditionally overlooked, underserved and underrepresented, including African American, Latino, and Native American students. KEF's Kaplan Leadership Program helps high-potential, low-income community college students from underrepresented communities complete their associate degrees and successfully transfer to the nation's most highly selective schools. Kaplan scholars receive a comprehensive array of financial and academic support, transfer admissions advising, and leadership skills development. The foundation partners with dozens of higher educational institutions around the United States. Since its inception in 2006, the Kaplan Leadership Program has helped more than 100 Scholars gain admission to the country's most competitive schools, including Yale, Stanford, Brown, Amherst, Cornell, Mount Holyoke, Smith and many others.

The foundation's executive director, Nolvia Delgado, is a former Kaplan Leadership Program scholar, Borough of Manhattan Community College graduate and alumna of Smith College.

In addition to support from its partners and benefactors, the foundation is supported through an endowment fund. The foundation also publishes a guide to college transfer. The guide profiles top U.S. schools and their transfer policies, and is a resource for students and school administrators to navigate the complex transfer process, including credits and graduation requirements. The guide provides specialized advice to non-traditional students, including veterans, students raising families, and students with unique immigration needs. Private citizens may donate these guides to deserving students, and all proceeds from sales are used to support the foundation.

Awards, rankings and honors
Kaplan has been received numerous awards and recognition for its businesses, products and services, including:

 * Singapore's best employers 2022
 * Fast Company's Best Workplaces for Innovators 2022: 10 Large Company Standouts
 * PQ Magazine 2022 Shortlists: Study Resource of the Year, Innovation in Accountancy, Best Use of Social Media, Graduate/Apprentice Training Programme
 * 1EdTech Learning Impact 2022 Honorable Mention, Kaplans MCAT Live Online course
 * 2022 Digital Health Silver Awards, Health Resources Mobile Apps (Projects in Knowledge)
 * Newsweek's 100 Most Loved Workplaces 2022
 * Newsweek's 100 Most Loved Workplaces 2021
 * Sun-Sentinel's South Florida Top Workplaces 2022
 * Sun-Sentinel's South Florida Top Workplaces 2021
 * Chicago Tribune's Best SAT Test Prep Book for 2021 and 2020
 * PQ Magazine's Private Sector Accountancy College of the Year, 2021
 * Learning Technologies 2021, Gold Award, Best Learning Game, Kaplan UK
 * PQ Magazine Editor's Special Awards 2020, Kaplan Financial
 * Learning Technologies 2020, Bronze Award, Best UK digital transformation of a training programme in response to COVID-19
 * Chicago Tribune's Best MCAT Test Prep Book 2019
 * Fast Company's Most Innovative Education Company 2014

title: Kaplan, Inc.


text:
Peterson's

Peterson's is an American company that has print and digital products and services, including test preparation, memory retention techniques, and financial aid and scholarship searches. Peterson's is currently headquartered in Denver, Colorado. It was formerly headquartered for many years in Lawrence Township, New Jersey.

Peterson's has negotiated contracts with the U.S. Military to offer individualized portals for enlisted Army, Navy, Marine Corps, Coast Guard, and Air Force personnel. Online test prep is available for the ASVAB and various college readiness exams.

History
Peterson's was privately held until its 1995 purchase by The Thomson Corporation. It became part of Thomson Learning (spun off in 2007 as Cengage Learning).

On July 27, 2006, Peterson's was acquired by the Nelnet family of companies.

Peterson's has acquired several companies in the educational space, including the Dean Vaughn Total Retention System in 2015 and the Peterson's Velocity (formerly Mind Streams) in 2016.

On December 31, 2017, Peterson's was acquired by Triangle Digital Ventures.

In 2019, Peterson's acquired B.E.S. Publishing.

title: Peterson's


text:
Sully Island

Sully Island (Ynys Sili) is a small tidal island of 14.5 acre by the hamlet of Swanbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan. It is located 400 m off the northern coast of the Bristol Channel, midway between the towns of Penarth and Barry and 10 km south of the Welsh capital city of Cardiff. It is part of the parish of Sully, after which it is named, and is registered as a Site of Special Scientific Interest. Sully island is one of 43 (unbridged) tidal islands that can be reached on foot from the mainland of Great Britain.

Access to the island is on foot at low tide from the car park of the Captain's Wife public house. A rocky causeway connecting the island to the mainland is uncovered for approximately 3 hours either side of low tide, the island being cut off from the mainland for the rest of the day. A tide table is displayed to indicate when it is safe to cross.

During the 13th century, the island was the base for Alfredo de Marisco, a Norman pirate known locally as The Night Hawk. In the Middle Ages the island was well known for its involvement in the local smuggling trade.

Origins
There is evidence that the island was frequently visited by both Romans and Vikings and there is archeological evidence for remains of a Saxon multivallate promontory fort occupying the eastern end of the Island, on the summit of which is a Bronze Age barrow. It has been suggested by some that this was an armed stronghold, but it was more likely to have been a defended residence and farm homestead.

Port of Swanbridge
Swanbridge and the waterfront protected by Sully Island had been used as a commercial harbour and port for several hundred years, although there is no sign of this today. Cargo arrived and departed via the St Mary's Well Bay Road, which is now blocked off to through traffic, en route for the traditional market at Canton Cross in Cardiff. As late as the early 1970s the harbour's iron mooring rings could still be seen at the eastern end of the bay.

During the 16th century several historical records show that the trader masters were supposed to pay an import duty to local officials, but many attempted to avoid the payments by smuggling the cargoes ashore. In 1569 court records show that the harbour official seized contraband consisting of 28000 lb of cheese and eighty barrels of butter arriving illegally at Swanbridge. In 1658 the harbour was being used as a landing place for illegal immigrants, described at the time as "undesirables".

A small fleet of fishing vessels were located at Swanbridge harbour and it is likely that the row of cottages, that were converted during 1976 and 1977 into the Captain's Wife public house, were the traditional homes of the local fishermen and their families.

SY Scotia
Owing to the tricky tides and narrow access many ships have sunk in the vicinity of the island. Several sources record that the famous Antarctic survey vessel, the SY Scotia, was wrecked on the island during 18 January 1916. Local elderly residents from as far away as Barry remember arriving at Swanbridge as children, with sacks to harvest coal spilled on the foreshore from the wreck, over several weeks. There is a skeleton of a wreck still visible on the island's north foreshore facing Swanbridge, but this vessel's keel is too short to have been the Scotia.

The survey ship that the oceanographer Dr William Speirs Bruce used on the Scottish National Antarctic Expedition, 1902–04, was originally a sealer named Hekla, built in Norway in 1872. In 1889 the Norwegian skipper Ragnvald Knudsen explored the northeast coast of Greenland between latitudes 74° and 75°, and in 1891–92 the ship was used by the Danish naval officer, Lieutenant C. Ryder, to explore the inner recesses of Scoresby Sund, finally visiting Angmagssalik.

In 1902, renamed Survey Yacht Scotia and captained by Tam Robertson from Peterhead, she sailed to the Weddell Sea under the leadership of Bruce. The southern winter of 1903 was spent at Laurie Island in the South Orkney Islands, and in March–April 1904 the party discovered 150 mi of previously unknown coastline of the Antarctic continent, reaching a farthest south of 74°01′S, 22°00′W. An extensive programme of marine survey and biological research was carried out. Back in the UK, Bruce sold the ship, and she returned to sealing, based in Dundee until appointed to be the first international North Atlantic Ice Patrol ship after the tragedy of RMS Titanic. The Great War caused her to become a freighter in the English Channel area until she caught fire and was burnt out on Sully Island.

20th century
From 1890 until the end of the 1960s Swanbridge was connected northward to Penarth and Cardiff and westward to Barry and the South Wales Valleys by an extension of the Taff Vale Railway line. The coastal spur fell victim to the sweeping Beeching Axe in 1968. Swanbridge railway station near the main Lavernock Road junction was closed and is now overgrown with weeds and brambles. The redundant rail track bed has mostly been sold into private ownership and built on, with any unsold stretches being overgrown and impassable as far as the Fort Road bridge at Lavernock. Between Lavernock and Penarth the track bed is a rural greenway and cycle track.

When the rail link arrived at the start of the 20th century the bays of Swanbridge, St Mary's Well and Lavernock became popular summer time destination for day trippers from Cardiff, Penarth and the South Wales valleys particularly at weekends and on Bank Holidays. For nearly a hundred years there was a busy and profitable cafe and ice cream parlour, located at the St Mary's Well Bay end of the Swanbridge carpark, that was closed and demolished around 1970 when the through road was blocked off to traffic.

Watercolour artist Thomas Frederick Worrall, who lived in Barry from 1913, painted many views of the island.

Flora and fauna
The noted British biologist Brian J. Ford used to live and write at Swanbridge and explored Sully Island frequently. He also carried out extensive ecological studies, while surveying and mapping both the island and the foreshore. Ford recorded many plants unusual for the area, including the bee orchid, the marine spleenwort and the adder's tongue fern.

The island once supported a vast colony of rabbits. When the disease myxomatosis arrived in Britain, during 1953 from France, the mainland population of rabbits was quickly decimated. Mostly because of its remoteness from the mainland the Sully Island rabbits survived for many years until the disease finally arrived on the island, some suspect through a human agency. From time to time new rabbit colonies set up home on Sully Island but at nowhere near the early 1950s levels.

The waters around Sully Island are fished for species such as cod, whiting, pouting, dogfish, conger eel and bass.

Any trees that grew on the island have been long cut down and even scrubby bushes struggle to gain a foothold on the sandy and loamy surface. Most of the island is covered with a coarse grass. A damp central depression on the island supports a reed bed about 0.5 ha in extent.

Geology
The sea cliff exposures of Sully Island provide an excellent insight into the environment of the area in Triassic times, approximately 200 million years ago. Red mudstones, sandstones and breccias (rocks made from angular pebbles) indicate that this area was a beach situated on the margin between steep semi-desert land and a large shallow lake or marine lagoon. These Triassic rocks were deposited on top of much older Carboniferous limestone which can be seen at the base of the cliffs.

Recent history
In 1985 the Vale of Glamorgan Council refused an application for outline planning permission for a Health and Holiday Hydro facility on Sully Island.

In July 2011, the island was marketed for sale by a firm of local chartered surveyors, Cooke & Arkwright. The island was advertised as comprising 14.5 acre. An initial guide price of £1.25 million was reduced to just £95,000, due to lack of interest. Grassroots campaign "Save Sully Island" attempted to raise the purchase price, but failed. However, a mystery buyer stepped in at the last minute with a bid well in excess of the guide price. The buyer, a sailor, had contributed to the grassroots campaign, and promised to keep the island open to the public.

title: Sully Island


text:
B.E.S. Publishing

B.E.S. Publishing is an American publishing company, founded in 1939 as Barron's Educational Services, a publisher of materials to help students to prepare for college entrance examinations. In recent years, Barron's expanded into many other publishing fields, with 2,000 titles in a wide range of categories. In 2018, Barron's sold its brand name and its test prep list to Kaplan Test Prep; the company was renamed B.E.S. Publishing. The company was acquired by Peterson's Publishing in 2019. In 2021, Peterson's Publishing sold B.E.S. Publishing to Illinois-based publisher Sourcebooks, LLC.

B.E.S. Publishing's headquarters were in Hauppauge, New York. Several present and past series include:

 * Step-by-Step cookbooks, including both ethnic and appliance-based titles
 * Made Easy educational books, which cover numerous school subjects, particularly on high school and college level, in concise form
 * 1001 Pitfalls, foreign-language grammars focusing on common student pitfalls. The 501 Verbs series functions as companion volumes, and abbreviated pocket-sized grammars, verb tables, and vocabulary books based on these are also available
 * Master the Basics, foreign-language self-instruction
 * E-Z Series, a series of self-teaching textbooks designed to help students master a variety of subjects.
 * Painless, a reference-oriented review of numerous academic subjects
 * MazeToons Series, cartoon illustrated books of mazes by Joe Wos. Titles include "A-Maze-Ing Animals", "Myths and Monsters", "Maze-O-Zoic", “A-Maze-Ing America", and “Mega Maze Challenge.”

title: B.E.S. Publishing


text:
Joe Bellino

Joseph Michael Bellino (March 13, 1938 – March 27, 2019) was an American professional football player who was a halfback in the American Football League (AFL) for the Boston Patriots. He played college football for the Navy Midshipmen, where he won the Heisman Trophy in 1960. He was inducted into the College Football Hall of Fame in 1977.

Early life
Bellino was born in Winchester, Massachusetts, attended the town's public schools, and was a three-sport star at Winchester High School. In baseball he batted well over .400 and was courted by major league teams. He was offered a contract by the Pittsburgh Pirates after high school.

The basketball team on which he starred won the state championship his sophomore and junior years. They moved up to the Class A (largest schools) tournament his senior year, where the team's 55-game winning streak came to an end at the hands of much larger B.M.C. Durfee High School of Fall River.

He was a dominant halfback on Winchester's outstanding football team, although his senior season was shortened by the 1955 polio epidemic. He was recruited by several Big Ten schools, Notre Dame, Ivy League schools as well as the U.S. Military Academy, but his first choice all along was Navy.

College career
During his 1956–57 year at Columbian Prep in Washington, D.C., Bellino starred in both football and basketball. On November 25, Bellino scored three touchdowns in Columbian's upset win over the Navy Plebes, 34–33.

In the fall of 1957, Bellino entered the United States Naval Academy in Annapolis, Maryland, along with his former high-school teammate, Frank Dattilo. During his freshman year, the Plebes matched up against the Penn State freshmen. Penn State won the game 23–13, but Bellino took a lateral from his Columbian teammate Harry Dietz and scored on an 85-yard kickoff return.

He was an outstanding baseball player at Navy, but his legendary exploits occurred on the football field. In his senior year, he rushed for 834 yards, caught 15 passes for 264 yards and three touchdowns, threw two touchdown passes, averaged 47.1 yards as a punter, and returned kicks and punts. He won the 1960 Heisman Trophy by a wide margin, garnering the most votes in each of the five national voting regions. In Bellino's final college football game, Navy's loss to the University of Missouri in the 1961 Orange Bowl, he scored his team's final touchdown with a spectacular diving catch in the end zone.

Following graduation, Ensign Bellino began his four years of active Navy service, until he was discharged to reserve duty.

Professional career
Bellino was selected in 17th round of the 1961 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins, as well as in the 19th round of the 1961 AFL Draft by the Boston Patriots. He decided to join the Patriots of the American Football League, and played three seasons, primarily as a kick returner. Due to his five-year commitment to the U.S. Navy following graduation, he remains the lowest drafted Heisman Trophy winner in the history of the National Football League (NFL).

Bellino also played for the Providence Steamrollers semi-pro team in Providence, Rhode Island.

Bellino is the only past Heisman Trophy winning running back to have played for the Patriots. He caught a 15-yard pass from past Heisman Trophy winner John Huarte in the Patriots 38–14 rout of the Houston Oilers on December 11, 1966. Bellino caught a deflected pass on his back that allowed the Patriots to continue a drive that resulted in a touchdown in their 14–3 win over the Buffalo Bills in "The Game" at Fenway Park on December 4, 1966.

He had the Patriots longest kickoff return in 1966 and caught a 25-yard TD pass in the Patriots 20–10 win over the Buffalo Bills at War Memorial Stadium on October 8, 1966.

Bellino was selected by the Cincinnati Bengals in the 1968 AFL expansion draft.

After football
Bellino served a total of 28 years in the United States Navy and the Naval Reserve, and retired with the rank of captain.

After the close of his playing career, he was a successful businessman in the Boston area, where he was also active in charitable organizations. He and his wife, Ann Tansey, had two children, Therese and John, and lived in Bedford, Massachusetts.

In 1976 Bellino also coached Saint Columbkille, a small Catholic school. In 1991, he was the first inductee into his high school's Winchester Sports Foundation Hall of Fame. Bellino Park in Winchester was dedicated in his honor in November 2004.

Bellino died on March 27, 2019, at the age of 81.

title: Joe Bellino


text:
Douglass Houghton

Douglass Houghton (September 21, 1809 – October 13, 1845) was an American geologist and physician, primarily known for his exploration of the Keweenaw Peninsula of Michigan. It was the site of a copper boom and extensive copper mining beginning in the 19th century. He was appointed in 1839 as the first state geologist of Michigan, after it was admitted to the union, and served in that position for the rest of his life.

Early life and education
Douglass Houghton was born in Troy, New York, the son of Jacob Houghton, a lawyer and later a county judge, and Mary Lydia (Douglass). Raised in a close-knit, cultured home in Fredonia, New York, Douglass was a small person with a nervous, active temperament inclined toward the practical and scientific. He exhibited early his lifelong interest in the natural world. In spite of a slight speech impediment and facial scarring from a youthful experiment with gunpowder, he was at ease with all levels of society.

In 1829 Houghton entered the Rensselaer School in Troy, where, under the direction of Amos Eaton, scientific training was emphasized, particularly in geology. That same year he received both the bachelor's degree and a teaching appointment in chemistry and natural history at the school. He also studied medicine with a doctor friend of his family, and in 1831 received a license to practice.

Career
In 1830 the city fathers of Detroit consulted with Eaton about their search for a public lecturer on science; he strongly recommended the youthful Houghton. He was enthusiastically received in Detroit and rapidly became one of its best-known citizens, with the young men of his acquaintance soon styling themselves "the Houghton boys".

Houghton quickly was selected by Henry Rowe Schoolcraft, US Indian Agent and geologist, to act as physician-naturalist on expeditions through Lake Superior and the upper Mississippi valley in 1831 and 1832. On these trips Houghton did extensive botanical collecting, investigated the Lake Superior copper deposits of Michigan's Upper Peninsula, and provided medical care to the Indian tribes they encountered. Houghton administered more than 2,000 smallpox vaccinations to Indians in the Chippewa region over the course of his two months exploring with Henry Schoolcraft in 1832, undoubtedly saving many Indian lives. Houghton estimated that the disease had appeared among the Chippewa at least five times in the previous 60 years.

In 1833 Houghton married his childhood friend Harriet Stevens; they had two daughters together. He established a flourishing medical practice in Detroit and earned the affectionate description: "the little doctor, our Dr. Houghton". By 1836 he had largely set aside the medical profession to concentrate on real estate speculation. His scientific interests remained strong, however. As Michigan achieved statehood in 1837, Houghton returned to public life and his love of the natural world.

One of the first acts of the new Michigan state government was to organize a state geological survey, following a pattern already established in other states. Houghton's appointment as the first state geologist was unanimously hailed, and he occupied that position for the remainder of his life.

In 1839 he was also named the first professor of geology, mineralogy, and chemistry at the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor. He continued to reside in Detroit. He and his survey assistants spent many weeks in the field each season, mapping and evaluating Michigan's natural resources, and his personal influence with state legislators kept the project moving in the face of many financial difficulties. His fourth annual report, based on field work done in 1840, appeared February 1, 1841. It helped trigger the first great mining boom of American history, and earned him the title of "father of copper mining in the United States".

He was a founding member and treasurer of the Association of American Geologists and Naturalists (the predecessor of the American Association for the Advancement of Science) and served on several of its committees. A lifelong Episcopalian and staunch Democrat, he was elected to a term as mayor of Detroit in 1842, apparently against his wishes. He administered competently, raising the possibility of higher political office, perhaps governor.

Death
In 1845, with the state survey moribund because of the lack of funds, Houghton organized a combined linear and geological survey of the Lake Superior region that was funded by the federal government. While working on that survey, he and two companions drowned in Lake Superior near Eagle River, Michigan, when their small boat capsized in a storm. His demise sent waves of shock through Michigan and the entire country. His reluctance to yield to the expressed concerns of his voyageurs about the worsening weather conditions may have contributed to the disaster. His remains were discovered on the shoreline the next spring 1846 and returned to Detroit, where they were buried in Elmwood Cemetery. Neither of the surveys on which he was working at the time was ever completed.

Legacy
Although Houghton resided in Detroit during his years in Michigan, he is strongly associated with the Keweenaw Peninsula. He explored the area in 1831 and 1832, and conducted a survey of the peninsula in 1840 as State Geologist of the newly formed state. Houghton's 1841 survey report was 88 pages in length; for more than 27 pages he discussed the copper and copper ore he had seen in his travels. He famously concluded, "the copper ores are not only of superior quality, but also that their associations are such as to render them easily reduced". He noted that samples of ore he had tested were richer than the copper ore then being mined in Cornwall. His warning against prospectors rushing to the area in hopes of striking it rich became famous during the copper boom: "look closely before the step is taken, which will most certainly end in disappointment and ruin". However, to his death Houghton never came to realize that in the Keweenaw ores like those in Cornwall were present in vanishingly small amounts, and all the copper mined turned out to be native, pure copper. Nevertheless, Houghton's report prompted a major rush of settlers to the peninsula.

Houghton's place in American history is somewhat problematic. Although he was the state geologist of Michigan for eight years, he never completed a comprehensive final report of his findings. One major reason may have been his early and unexpected death at the age of 36. He had multiple skills to apply, but he was not always successful in reconciling the conflicting demands of the various roles he filled. As a scientist his potential seems to have been considerable, but his death prevented that potential from being fully realized.

 * The city of Houghton, Houghton County, Houghton Lake, the largest inland lake in the state, and Douglass Houghton Falls, southeast of Calumet, are among many Michigan features named in his honor.
 * Douglass Houghton Hall, a residence hall at Michigan Technological University, was named for him.
 * A plaque commemorating Houghton is at the entrance to the Department of Geological Sciences (now Earth and Environmental Sciences) at the University of Michigan.
 * A plaque embedded into a stone monument was erected in the town of Eagle River, just a few miles from where his boat sank.
 * He and three other professors are memorialized by a monument near the University of Michigan's Graduate Library, which features a broken pillar symbolizing lives cut short.
 * In 2006 the University created the Douglass Houghton Scholars Program, designed to encourage students interested in careers in science.
 * Houghton's goldenrod (Solidago houghtonii) was named for him; he discovered this plant variety along the southern shore of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, during his 1839 expedition.
 * A portrait of Houghton hangs in the chamber of the Michigan House of Representatives.
 * Douglass Houghton Elementary School in Waterford, Michigan, is named in his honor.

title: Douglass Houghton


text:
Government of Ireland Bill 1886

The Government of Ireland Bill 1886, commonly known as the First Home Rule Bill, was the first major attempt made by a British government to enact a law creating home rule for part of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. It was introduced on 8 April 1886 by Liberal Prime Minister William Gladstone to create a devolved assembly for Ireland which would govern Ireland in specified areas. The Irish Parliamentary Party had been campaigning for home rule for Ireland since the 1860s.

The bill, like his Irish Land Act 1870, was very much the work of Gladstone, who excluded both the Irish MPs and his own ministers from participation in the drafting. Following the Purchase of Land (Ireland) Act 1885 it was to be introduced alongside a new Land Purchase Bill to reform tenant rights, but the latter was abandoned.

Key aspects
The key aspects of the 1886 bill were:

Legislative

 * A unicameral assembly (deliberately not called a parliament to avoid links with the former Irish parliament abolished in 1800 under the Act of Union) consisting of two Orders which could meet either together or separately.
 * The first Order was to consist of the 28 Irish representative peers (the Irish peers traditionally elected by all Irish peers to sit in the House of Lords at Westminster) plus 75 members elected through a highly restricted franchise. It could delay the passage of legislation for 3 years.
 * The second Order was to consist of either 204 or 206 members. It had not been decided whether to have two members elected by the graduates of the Royal University to match the two members traditionally elected by graduates of Dublin University (Trinity College).
 * All Irish MPs would be excluded from Westminster altogether.

Executive

 * Executive power would be possessed by the Lord Lieutenant of Ireland whose executive would not be responsible to either Order.

Reserve powers

 * Britain would still retain control over a range of issues including peace, war, defence, treaties with foreign states, trade and coinage.
 * No special provision was made for Ulster.
 * Britain would retain control of the Royal Irish Constabulary until it deemed it safe for control to pass to Dublin. The Dublin Metropolitan Police would pass to Irish control.

Reaction
When the bill was introduced, Charles Stewart Parnell had a mixed reaction. He said that it had great faults but was prepared to vote for it. In his famous Irish Home Rule speech, Gladstone beseeched Parliament to pass it and grant Home Rule to Ireland in honour rather than being compelled to one day in humiliation. Unionists and the Orange Order were fierce in their resistance; for them, any measure of Home Rule was denounced as nothing other than Rome Rule. In the staunchly loyalist town of Portadown, the so-called 'Orange Citadel' where the Orange Order was founded in 1795, Orangemen and their supporters celebrated the Bill's defeat by 'Storming the Tunnel'. This was the headline in the local paper where it was reported that a mob attacked the small Catholic/Nationalist ghetto of Obins Street.

The vote on the Bill took place after two months of debate and, on 8 June 1886, 341 voted against it (including 93 Liberals) while 311 voted for it. Parliament was dissolved on 26 June and the 1886 United Kingdom general election was called. The Liberal Unionist Party was formed to contest the election and won 77 seats. They formed a coalition government with the Conservatives and continued allying with them in subsequent elections until the parties merged in 1912.

Historians have suggested that the 1886 Home Rule Bill was fatally flawed by the secretive manner of its drafting, with Gladstone alienating Liberal figures like Joseph Chamberlain who, along with a colleague, resigned in protest from the ministry, while producing a Bill viewed privately by the Irish as badly drafted and deeply flawed.

title: Government of Ireland Bill 1886


text:
User:ABE~enwiki

ABE

title: User:ABE~enwiki


text:
Leicester South (UK Parliament constituency)

Leicester South is a constituency, recreated in 1974, represented in the House of Commons of the UK Parliament from 2024 by Shockat Adam.

It had been held from 2011 by Jonathan Ashworth of the Labour Co-op Party (which denotes he is a member of the Labour Party and Co-operative Party, one of 38 such current Labour MPs, and requires members to contribute practically to a cooperative business). A previous version of the seat existed between 1918 and 1950. Except for a 2004 by-election when it was won by the Liberal Democrats, Leicester South was held by the Labour Party from 1987 to 2024, when it was taken with a narrow majority by Shockat Adam standing as an independent.

Boundaries
1918–1950: The county borough of Leicester wards of Aylestone, Castle, Charnwood, De Montfort, Knighton, Martin's, and Wycliffe.

The initial report of the Boundary Commission for England dated October 1947 and published in December 1947 recommended that Leicester retain three seats, including a revised Leicester South constituency consisting of the wards of Aylestone, De Montfort, Knighton, North Braunstone and Spinney Hill, giving an electorate of 67,574 as of the review date of 15 October 1946. When the Representation of the People Bill enacting the commission's recommendations was debated in the House of Commons, the Government brought forward amendments at Committee stage on 24 March 1948 to allow 17 more constituencies in England. Home Secretary James Chuter Ede announced that the Boundary Commission would be invited to consider an additional constituency to each of nine cities, including Leicester. The Government issued a White Paper proposing the new boundaries which created new borough constituencies of Leicester South East and Leicester South West in place of Leicester South. The Boundary Commission recommended no alteration to the proposals, and the revised constituencies were therefore enacted.

In 1969, the Second Periodical Report of the Parliamentary Boundary Commission for England reduced Leicester from four seats to three, and recreated Leicester South as a borough constituency.

1974–1983: The county borough of Leicester wards of Aylestone, De Montfort, Knighton, Spinney Hill, The Castle, and Wycliffe wards of Leicester.

1983–2010: The City of Leicester wards of Aylestone, Castle, Crown Hills, East Knighton, Eyres Monsell, Saffron, Spinney Hill, Stoneygate, West Knighton and Wycliffe.

Minor boundary changes were made as a result of the Third Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission in 1983. The new constituency took in about 3,000 voters who were previously in other Leicester seats. No changes were made in the Fourth Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission in 1995.

2010–2024: The City of Leicester wards of Aylestone, Castle, Eyres Monsell, Freemen, Knighton, Spinney Hills, and Stoneygate.

In the Fifth Periodical Report of the Boundary Commission in 2007, the constituency had only minor changes with 73 voters being added from Leicester West.

Further to a local government boundary review which became effective in May 2015, the Freemen ward was replaced by the Saffron ward and the additional Wycliffe ward was created, largely split off from the Spinney Hills ward.

Current
Following the 2023 Periodic Review of Westminster constituencies, which came into effect for the 2024 general election, the size of the constituency was reduced with the transfer of Aylestone ward to Leicester West. To partly compensate, polling district EVF in Evington ward was added from Leicester East.

Constituency profile
Leicester South has a population of 120,090 in an area of 19.2 km2, making it the 51st smallest parliamentary constituency by area. Mainly built-up (92%), its land also has 6% green areas or leisure facilities and just 1% agricultural.

By broad ethnic group, most people are Asian (43.5%) or White (39.0%), with 9.2% Black, African or Caribbean.

The rate of child poverty in Leicester South is high. At 43.4% in 2022–3, it is more than twice the overall UK rate of 20.1%. The claimant rate for unemployment benefit is 15.9%, higher than the UK average of 11.3%.

In 2020, the most affluent part of the constituency, Knighton, reports estimated average household incomes after housing costs of £35,900, with Clarendon Park & Stoneygate South averaging £29,600. By contrast, households in neighbouring Saffron Lane average just £18,600.

History
The seat was held by Derek Spencer for the Conservative Party between the general elections of 1983 and 1987. Its electorate demonstrated increased Labour support thereafter in local and national elections. A 2004 by-election caused by the death of Labour MP Jim Marshall was fought under the shadow of the Iraq War, and was won by Parmjit Singh Gill who became at the time the only Liberal Democrat MP from an ethnic minority. He held the seat for a year before being defeated by Labour candidate Sir Peter Soulsby at the 2005 general election. Soulsby subsequently resigned in order to seek election as Mayor of Leicester in 2011, giving Leicester South its second by-election in the space of seven years; this time the seat was safely held by Labour.

The expansion of the city's suburbs and commuter belt has altered the incomes and other demographic measures of the constituency. The seat saw close contests between Conservative and Labour candidates in the 1980s, with Jim Marshall losing the seat by 7 votes to the Conservatives in the 1983 general election, but regaining it in 1987.

Marshall died in 2004, and the resulting by-election was fiercely contested. As in a by-election in Birmingham Hodge Hill held on the same day, the Liberal Democrat candidates hoped—despite having additional competition for the anti-Iraq War vote from Respect—to build on their previous by-election gain at Brent East. The seat was won by the Liberal Democrat Parmjit Singh Gill, with a majority of 1,654.

Sir Peter Soulsby won the seat at the 2005 election, and was re-elected in 2010. Sir Peter resigned to seek election for the new position of Mayor of Leicester in 2011, triggering a by-election on 5 May 2011, that coincided with the referendum on the voting system. Jonathan Ashworth was elected as his successor, holding the seat for the Labour Party; he was re-elected in 2015 and 2017.

Despite being the only seat in Leicester served by three major parties in the past 35 years, Leicester South became regarded as the safest of the Labour seats in the city, with a majority in 2017 of 26,261 votes (52.0%), falling to 22,675 (45.2%) in 2019.

However, the historic volatility continued, with Ashworth suffering a surprise defeat in the July 2024 General Election. The seat was won by Shockat Adam standing as an independent, with a narrow majority of 979 votes (2.3%).

MPs 1918–1950
Leicester prior to 1918

MPs since 1974
Leicester South East and Leicester South West prior to 1974

Elections in the 1980s
The Conservatives' 7 vote majority made Leicester South their most marginal constituency after the 1983 election and was the closest result in any constituency in the United Kingdom in the election.


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Crow Rock

Crow Rock is a rock located off of Linney Head, Pembrokeshire, in west Wales. It is considered to be a good diving location, because of its deep gullies, ravines and surrounding shipwrecks (including the S.S. Tormes and S.S. Prince Cadwgan). It is also known for its population of crayfish. Crow Rock is not more than 20 feet wide.

title: Crow Rock


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PSR B1257+12

PSR B1257+12, previously designated PSR 1257+12, alternatively designated PSR J1300+1240, is a millisecond pulsar located 2300 ly from the Sun in the constellation of Virgo, rotating at about 161 times per second (faster than a blender's blade). It is also named Lich, after a powerful, fictional undead creature of the same name.

The pulsar has a planetary system with three known pulsar planets, named "Draugr" (PSR B1257+12 b or PSR B1257+12 A), "Poltergeist" (PSR B1257+12 c, or PSR B1257+12 B), and "Phobetor" (PSR B1257+12 d, or PSR B1257+12 C), respectively. They were both the first extrasolar planets and the first pulsar planets to be discovered; B and C in 1992 and A in 1994. A is the lowest-mass planet yet discovered by any observational technique, with somewhat less than twice the mass of Earth's moon.

Nomenclature
The convention that arose for designating pulsars was that of using the letters PSR (Pulsating Source of Radio) followed by the pulsar's right ascension and degrees of declination. The modern convention prefixes the older numbers with a B meaning the coordinates are for the 1950.0 epoch. All new pulsars have a J indicating 2000.0 coordinates and also have declination including minutes. Pulsars that were discovered before 1993 tend to retain their B names rather than use their J names, but all pulsars have a J name that provides more precise coordinates of its location in the sky.

On their discovery, the planets were designated PSR 1257+12 A, B, and C, ordered by increasing distance. They were discovered before the convention that extrasolar planets receive designations consisting of the star's name followed by lower-case Roman letters starting from "b", in order of discovery, was established. However, they are listed under the latter convention on astronomical databases such as SIMBAD and the Extrasolar Planets Encyclopaedia, with A becoming b, B becoming c, and C becoming d.

In July 2014, the International Astronomical Union launched NameExoWorlds, a process for giving proper names to certain exoplanets and their host stars. The process involved public nomination and voting for the new names. In December 2015, the IAU announced the winning names, submitted by the Planetarium Südtirol Alto Adige in Karneid, Italy, were Lich for the pulsar and Draugr, Poltergeist, and Phobetor for planets A, B, and C, respectively:
 * A lich is an undead creature known for controlling other undead creatures with magic.
 * Draugr refers to undead creatures in Norse mythology.
 * Poltergeist is a name for supernatural beings that create physical disturbances, from the German for "noisy ghost".
 * Phobetor is, in Ovid's Metamorphoses, one of the thousand sons of Somnus (Sleep) who appears in dreams in the form of beasts.

In 2016, the IAU organized a Working Group on Star Names (WGSN) to catalog and standardize proper names for stars (including stellar remnants). In its first bulletin of July 2016, the WGSN explicitly recognized the names of exoplanets and their host stars approved by the Executive Committee Working Group Public Naming of Planets and Planetary Satellites, including the names of stars adopted during the 2015 NameExoWorlds campaign. This stellar remnant is now so entered in the IAU Catalog of Star Names.

Discovery
PSR B1257+12 was discovered by the Polish astronomer Aleksander Wolszczan on 9 February 1990 using the Arecibo radio telescope. It is a millisecond pulsar, a kind of neutron star, with a rotation period of 6.22 milliseconds (9,650 rpm), and was found to have anomalies in the pulsation period, which led to investigations as to the cause of the irregular pulses. In 1992, Wolszczan and Dale Frail published a famous paper on the first confirmed discovery of planets outside the Solar System. Using refined methods one more planet was found orbiting this pulsar in 1994.

Characteristics
The pulsar is estimated to have a mass of 1.4, which is typical for most neutron stars and pulsars. The radius is estimated to be around 10 km ($46.44$), also common for pulsars and neutron stars. The pulsar is extremely hot, with a surface temperature of up to around 28,856 K. The pulsar formed one to three billion years ago from a white dwarf merger, a pair of white dwarfs colliding and collapsing to form a rapidly spinning pulsar.

The discovery stimulated a search for planets orbiting other pulsars, but it turned out such planets are rare; only five other pulsar planets, orbiting PSR B1620−26, PSR B0943+10, PSR B0329+54, and PSR J1719−1438, have been confirmed.

Planets

In 1992, Wolszczan and Frail discovered that the pulsar had two planets. These were the first discovery of extrasolar planets to be confirmed; as pulsar planets, they surprised many astronomers who expected to find planets only around main-sequence stars. Additional uncertainty surrounded the system, because of a claim of an earlier pulsar planet around PSR 1829-10 that had to be retracted due to errors in calculations. In 1994, an additional planet was discovered. Additionally, this system may have an asteroid belt or a Kuiper belt.

The planets are believed to be the result of a second round of planetary system formation as a result of two white dwarfs merging with each other into a pulsar and a resulting disk of material in orbit around the star. Other scenarios include unusual supernova remnants or a quark-nova. However, the white dwarf–white dwarf merge model seems to be the most likely cause of the formation of the planets.

Retracted claim of fourth orbital body
In 1996, a possible Saturn-like (100 Earth mass) gas giant was announced orbiting the pulsar at a distance of about 40 AU. The original hypothesis was retracted; a reinterpretation of the data led to a new hypothesis of a dwarf planet one-fifth the size of Pluto orbiting PSR B1257+12. It would have an average orbital distance of 2.4 AU with an orbital period of approximately 4.6 years. The dwarf planet hypothesis was also retracted because further observations showed that the pulsation anomalies previously thought to reveal a fourth orbital body are "not periodic and can be fully explained in terms of slow changes in the pulsar's dispersion measure".

title: PSR B1257+12