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Tax file number

A tax file number (TFN) is a unique identifier issued by the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) to each taxpaying entity—an individual, company, superannuation fund, partnership, or trust. Not all individuals have a TFN, and a business has both a TFN and an Australian Business Number (ABN). If a business earns income as part of carrying on its business, it may quote its ABN instead of its TFN.

The TFN was introduced initially to facilitate file tracking at the ATO, but has since been expanded to encompass income and other data matching. The TFN consists of a nine digit number, usually presented in the format nnn nnn nnn. Strict laws require that TFNs may be recorded or used only for specifically authorised tax-related purposes.

The TFN serves a purpose similar to the American Social Security number, but its use is strictly limited by law to avoid the functionality creep which has affected the US counterpart. It also serves a similar function as national insurance in the UK.

History
TFNs have been used by the ATO since the 1930s. At some point in time between 1972 and 1983 the format of tax file numbers changed. The earlier format was still in use in 1972, and the later format was in use by 1983. Under the later format, the TFN itself was either 8 or 9 digits, with a check digit. Individuals received a 9 digit TFN and non-individuals received an 8 digit TFN. The quote of the TFN was not obligatory when, for example, lodging a tax return, though failing to quote one may delay the processing of the tax return.

In May 1988, following the demise of the Australia Card scheme, the Treasurer Paul Keating announced that the Government intended to introduce an enhanced TFN scheme, and legislation establishing the scheme was passed that year.

When the legislation was introduced in 1988 the 8 and 9 digit TFN scheme still applied. However, as the 8 digit TFNs were becoming exhausted, all new taxpayers are issued 9 digit TFNs. The numbers now do not have any embedded meaning.

Amnesty 1988
One implication of the enhanced system using TFNs to match interest and dividend income with tax file numbers and their corresponding entities – or absence of TFNs/corresponding entities as the case may be – was that it would be increasingly difficult to hide such income from the ATO. There was also a risk that in cases where the undisclosed past tax liabilities were large, offenders could be identified and pursued for arrears plus severe penalties (a percentage of the arrears, plus interest on the arrears). In view of the new legislation, the ATO offered an amnesty from these penalties as incentive for affected persons to amend their returns for preceding years – by including previously undeclared interest income – pay their outstanding tax – without the available penalties being imposed on the increased tax liabilities.

Between May 1988 and October 31 1988 the ATO conducted this amnesty so that taxpayers who had previously failed to fully declare passive income such as bank interest, share dividends and so forth and other non-taxpayer persons who had failed to submit income tax returns in previous years could lodge retrospective amendments to returns or lodge retrospective returns. In such cases, persons claiming relief under the amnesty became liable for outstanding income tax, but were generally excused from fines and penalties that would have been imposed in the absence of the amnesty.

The amnesty was subsequently extended beyond October 31 1988, with late enrolled amnesty participants being given until April 15 1989 to lodge amended tax returns or lodge formerly missing returns disclosing additional previously undeclared income.

In 2014 the ATO conducted a second amnesty, known as Project DOIT (Disclose Offshore Income Today). The 2014 Amnesty was directed at income overseas. The 2014 Amnesty is said to be the ATO's last amnesty.

Data matching
The primary purpose of the enhanced TFN system is to allow the ATO to collect income and other information for taxpayers (officially known as "data matching"). This is done by the ATO requiring paying entities (e.g., banks, employers, public companies, superannuation funds, Centrelink and others) to electronically provide the ATO with information of certain types of payments made by them, together with the associated TFN of the recipient. When taxpayers file their income tax returns at the end of the financial year, the ATO can electronically match the income reported by the taxpayer against the payments reported by the paying entities.

The types of income payments covered by the TFN data matching rules include:

 * Wages and salaries from employers (see PAYG), including fringe benefit and superannuation information
 * Interest from banks and similar institutions, from all account types, including term deposits
 * Interest from bonds and debentures
 * Dividends from public companies
 * Distributions from unit trusts, including cash management trusts
 * Superannuation payments (amounts paid out to a beneficiary)
 * Some government benefits, in particular unemployment benefits.

Other information provided to the ATO using the TFN includes health insurance information, as well as the purchase and sale of property, such as real estate and shares.

Because of the community backlash against the aborted Australia Card scheme, the expanded TFN rules are technically optional. The taxpayer entitled to such income payments has a choice between quoting the TFN, or not doing so. As a general rule taxpayers quote their TFN. Institutions usually help by reminding or inviting clients to do so on any new source of income (e.g., new accounts, new debentures, new shareholdings). Forms for quoting include a reminder of the key provisions of the system, for example from Computershare:

 * It is not an offence to withhold your TFN or, where the securities are held for a business purpose, your ABN. However, if you do not provide your TFN or ABN, tax may be deducted from payments of interest and the unfranked portion of dividends and distributions at the highest marginal rate.

If an account is held in the names of multiple investors, each may choose whether to quote or not, but tax is withheld unless at least two have done so.

TFN withholding tax
In the few cases that a payee has not supplied the paying entity with their TFN by the time payment is to be made, unless if the payment is exempt, the paying entity is legally required to withhold a TFN withholding tax amount at the highest marginal tax rate (currently 47%) from the payment the paying entity is about to make. Similar but stricter rules apply to businesses which do not supply their customers with an ABN.

The paying entity would report the TFN and ABN withheld amounts on its next Business Activity Statement (BAS) and add the withheld amounts to the payment it needs to make to the ATO. The paying entity would also advise the recipient of the TFN withheld amount.

The TFN withheld amount becomes a prepayment of tax by the taxpayer whose funds have been withheld. When the taxpayer files an income tax return he or she would need to claim the so-called "TFN amounts" against his or her final tax liability, and any excess is refunded. The taxpayer needs to file an income tax return to get back the excess of tax.

Exemptions
Some people and organisations are exempt from TFN withholding; they may state their exemption category instead of quoting a TFN. This includes:

 * Income tax exempt organisations (e.g., schools, museums).
 * Non-profit organisations.
 * Recipients of government pensions who are 80 years and older.
 * Children under 16 (earning up to $420 per year of interest, in 2005).
 * Foreign residents for interest and dividends (they are subject to non-resident withholding tax instead).

People and organisations in these categories may still need to submit a tax return, but generally speaking these exemptions mean those not needing to submit a tax return don't need to get a tax file number.

The exemption for children does not apply to company dividends, and if a bank account is held in more than one name, it is only exempt if all account holders are under 16. Children can apply for a TFN and quote it in the same way as anyone else, if they wish.

For some forms of income, small earnings are exempt from TFN withholding for any account holder. For example, bank interest up to $120 per year is exempt. (However such amounts are still taxable income.)

Issuing
TFNs are issued by the Australian Taxation Office. A new taxpayer receives a tax file number within about a month of making an application and providing proof of identity.

Centrelink helps those applying for certain benefits to apply for a TFN at the same time, if they do not already have one. For example, unemployment benefits are subject to the TFN withholding rules if a TFN is not quoted. A young person applying for such a benefit for the first time may have never previously needed a TFN.

Foreigners in Australia whose visas permit them to work can apply for a TFN online, using their passport number and visa number. Proof of identity is established by the ATO confirming those numbers with the Department of Immigration.

Check digit
As is the case with many identification numbers, the TFN includes a check digit for detecting erroneous numbers. The algorithm is based on simple modulo 11 arithmetic per many other digit checksum schemes.

Example
The validity of the example TFN '123456782' can be checked by the following process

The sum of the numbers is 253 (1 + 8 + 9 + 28 + 25 + 48 + 42 + 72 + 20 = 253). 253 is a multiple of 11 (11 × 23 = 253). Therefore, the number is valid.

title: Tax file number


text:
TFN

TFN may refer to:

Television

 * The Fight Network, an MMA digital cable television channel
 * The Football Network, a cable television channel based in Baton Rouge, Louisiana

Internet

 * TheForce.Net, a Star Wars news site
 * Tribe Flood Network, a DDoS tool

Other uses

 * Tenerife North Airport (Los Rodeos) (IATA airport code)
 * Tax file number, issued by the Australian Taxation Office
 * The TFN Group, a facility management company based in France
 * Toll free number, a telephone number you can call in for free within a certain area
 * Transferrin, (biology) the protein product of the TF gene
 * Trust for Nature, Victoria, Australia
 * Dena'ina language of Alaska (ISO code: tfn)
 * Texas Freedom Network, religious freedom and civil liberties group
 * The Freecycle Network, a worldwide organisation promoting reuse of goods instead of disposal
 * Thornton Fractional North High School, a public school in Calumet City, Illinois
 * Transport for the North, styled TfN, a transport agency in the United Kingdom
 * Twelve Foot Ninja, a metal band from Melbourne, Australia
 * Tsawwassen First Nation, sometimes abbreviated TFN
 * Try For New, a South-Korean boy group

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

title: TFN


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Utricularia

Utricularia, commonly and collectively called the bladderworts, is a genus of carnivorous plants consisting of approximately 233 species (precise counts differ based on classification opinions; a 2001 publication lists 215 species). They occur in fresh water and wet soil as terrestrial or aquatic species across every continent except Antarctica. Utricularia are cultivated for their flowers, which are often compared with those of snapdragons and orchids, especially amongst carnivorous plant enthusiasts.

All Utricularia are carnivorous and capture small organisms by means of bladder-like traps. Terrestrial species tend to have tiny traps that feed on minute prey such as protozoa and rotifers swimming in water-saturated soil. The traps can range in size from 0.02 to 1.2 cm. Aquatic species, such as U. vulgaris (common bladderwort), possess bladders that are usually larger and can feed on more substantial prey such as water fleas (Daphnia), nematodes and even fish fry, mosquito larvae and young tadpoles. Despite their small size, the traps are extremely sophisticated. In the active traps of the aquatic species, prey brush against trigger hairs connected to the trapdoor. The bladder, when "set", is under negative pressure in relation to its environment so that when the trapdoor is mechanically triggered, the prey, along with the water surrounding it, is sucked into the bladder. Once the bladder is full of water, the door closes again, the whole process taking only ten to fifteen milliseconds.

Bladderworts are unusual and highly specialized plants, and the vegetative organs are not clearly separated into roots, leaves, and stems as in most other angiosperms. Utricularia lack a root system. Bladder traps are recognized as one of the most sophisticated structures in the plant kingdom.

Description
The main part of a bladderwort plant always lies beneath the surface of its substrate. Terrestrial species sometimes produce a few photosynthetic leaf-shoots. The aquatic species can be observed below the surfaces of ponds and streams.

Plant structure
Most species form long, thin, sometimes branching stems or stolons beneath the surface of their substrate, whether that be pond water or dripping moss in the canopy of a tropical rainforest. To these stolons are attached both the bladder traps and photosynthetic leaf-shoots, and in terrestrial species the shoots are thrust upward through the soil into the air or along the surface.

The name bladderwort refers to the bladder-like traps. The aquatic members of the genus have the largest and most obvious bladders, and these were initially thought to be flotation devices before their carnivorous nature was discovered.

Etymology
The generic name Utricularia is derived from the Latin utriculus, a word which has many related meanings but which most commonly means wine flask, leather bottle or bagpipe.

Flowers
Flowers are the only part of the plant clear of the underlying soil or water. They are usually produced at the end of thin, often vertical inflorescences. They can range in size from 0.2 to 10 cm wide, and have two asymmetric labiate (unequal, lip-like) petals, the lower usually significantly larger than the upper. They can be of any colour, or of many colours, and are similar in structure to the flowers of a related carnivorous genus, Pinguicula.

The flowers of aquatic varieties like U. vulgaris are often described as similar to small yellow snapdragons, and the Australian species U. dichotoma can produce the effect of a field full of violets on nodding stems. The epiphytic species of South America, however, are generally considered to have the showiest, as well as the largest, flowers. It is these species that are frequently compared with orchids.

Certain plants in particular seasons might produce closed, self-pollinating (cleistogamous) flowers; but the same plant or species might produce open, insect-pollinated flowers elsewhere or at a different time of year, and with no obvious pattern. Sometimes, individual plants have both types of flower at the same time: aquatic species such as U. dimorphantha and U. geminiscapa, for example, usually have open flowers riding clear of the water and one or more closed, self-pollinating flowers beneath the water. Seeds are numerous and small and for the majority of species are 0.2 to 1 mm long.

Distribution and habitat
Utricularia can survive almost anywhere where there is fresh water for at least part of the year; only Antarctica and some oceanic islands have no native species. The greatest species diversity for the genus is seen in South America, with Australia coming a close second. In common with most carnivorous plants, they grow in moist soils which are poor in dissolved minerals, where their carnivorous nature gives them a competitive advantage; terrestrial varieties of Utricularia can frequently be found alongside representatives of the carnivorous genera–Sarracenia, Drosera and others–in very wet areas where continuously moving water removes most soluble minerals from the soil.

Utricularia has a variety of life forms, including terrestrial, lithophytic, aquatic, epiphytic, and rheophytic forms which are all highly adapted for their environments.

About 80% of the species are terrestrial, and most inhabit waterlogged or wet soils, where their tiny bladders can be permanently exposed to water in the substrate. Frequently they will be found in marshy areas where the water table is very close to the surface. Most of the terrestrial species are tropical, although they occur worldwide.

Approximately 20% of the species are aquatic. Most of these drift freely over the surface of ponds and other still, muddy-bottomed waters and only protrude above the surface when flowering, although a few species are lithophytic and adapted to rapidly moving streams or even waterfalls. The plants are usually found in acidic waters, but they are quite capable of growing in alkaline waters and would very likely do so were it not for the higher level of competition from other plants in such areas. Aquatic Utricularia are often split into two categories: suspended and affixed aquatic. Suspended aquatics are species which are not rooted into the ground and are free-floating, often found in nutrient poor sites. Conversely, fixed aquatics are species which have at least some of their shoots rooted into the ground. These plants often have dimorphic shoots, some which are leafy, green, and often bladderless which float in the water, and others which are white and coated with bladders that affix the plant to the ground. Utricularia vulgaris is an aquatic species and grows into branching rafts with individual stolons up to one metre or longer in ponds and ditches throughout Eurasia.

Some South American tropical species are epiphytes, and can be found growing in wet moss and spongy bark on trees in rainforests, or even in the watery leaf-rosettes of other epiphytes such as various Tillandsia (a type of bromeliad) species. Epiphytic Utricularia are often known for their orchid-like flowers and are the most ornamentally sought after. Rosette-forming epiphytes such as U. nelumbifolia put out runners, searching for other nearby bromeliads to colonise.

There are also a few lithophytic species which live on wet surfaces of cliffs and mossy rocks and rheophytic species which live in shallow rivers and streams.

The plants are as highly adapted in their methods of surviving seasonally inclement conditions as they are in their structure and feeding habits. Temperate perennials can require a winter period in which they die back each year, and they will weaken in cultivation if they are not given it; tropical and warm-temperate species, on the other hand, require no dormancy. Floating bladderworts in cold temperate zones such as the UK and Siberia can produce winter buds called turions at the extremities of their stems: as the autumnal light fails and growth slows down, the main plant may rot away or be killed by freezing conditions, but the turions will separate and sink to the bottom of the pond to rest beneath the coming ice until the spring, when they will return to the surface and resume growth. Many Australian species will grow only during the wet season, reducing themselves to tubers only 10 mm long to wait out the dry season. Other species are annual, returning from seed each year.

Dispersal and life form evolution
The ancestral line of Utricularia is thought to have been terrestrial. From terrestrial forms, epiphytic forms evolved independently three times and aquatic life forms arose four times in genus Utricularia.

Biogeographic patterns associated with the boreotropic hypothesis lists the origin of Lentibulariaceae to temperate Eurasia or tropical America. Based on fossilised pollen and insular separation, the last common ancestor of Genlisea-Utricularia clade was found to be a South American lineage that arose 39 mya. Utricularia probably diverged from its sister genus 30 mya and subsequently dispersed to Australia, represented by subgenus Polypompholyx, and to Africa. There were most likely other transcontinental dispersals, one of which is represented by ''sect. Nelipus''. The colonization of Utricularia to North America probably occurred 12mya from South America. The dispersal of Utricularia to Eurasia probably occurred through the Bering Strait via long-distance dispersal 4.7 mya.

Physical description of the trap
Authorities on the genus, such as botanists Peter Taylor and Francis Ernest Lloyd, agree that the vacuum-driven bladders of Utricularia are the most sophisticated carnivorous trapping mechanism to be found anywhere in the plant kingdom. The bladders are usually shaped similarly to broad beans (though they come in various shapes) and attach to the submerged stolons by slender stalks.

Bladders are hollow underwater suction cups, also known as utricles, that possess a valve with bristles that open and close. The bladder walls are very thin and transparent but are sufficiently inflexible to maintain the bladder's shape despite the vacuum created within. The entrance, or 'mouth', of the trap is a circular or oval flap whose upper half is joined to the body of the trap by very flexible, yielding cells which form an effective hinge. The door rests on a platform formed by the thickening of the bladder wall immediately underneath. A soft but substantial membrane called the velum stretches in a curve around the middle of this platform, and helps seal the door. A second band of springy cells crosses the door just above its lower edge and provides the flexibility for the bottom of the door to become a bendable 'lip' which can make a perfect seal with the velum.

The outer cells of the whole trap excrete mucilage and under the door, this is produced in greater quantities and contains sugars. The mucilage certainly contributes towards the seal, and the sugars may help to attract prey.

Terrestrial species, like U. sandersonii have tiny traps (sometimes as small as 0.2 mm; 1/100") with a broad beak-like structure extending and curving down over the entrance; this forms a passageway to the trapdoor and may help prevent the trapping and ingestion of inorganic particles. Aquatic species, like U. inflata tend to have larger bladders—up to 1.2 cm —and the mouth of the trap is usually surrounded not by a beak but by branching antennae, which serve both to guide prey animals to the trap's entrance and to fend the trap mouth away from larger bodies which might trigger the mechanism needlessly. Epiphytic species have unbranched antennae which curve in front of the mouth and probably serve the same purpose, although it has been observed that they are also capable of holding a pocket of water in front of the mouth by capillary action, and that this assists with the trapping action.

Trapping mechanism
The trapping mechanism of Utricularia is purely mechanical; no reaction from the plant (irritability) is required in the presence of prey, in contrast with the triggered mechanisms employed by Venus flytraps (Dionaea), waterwheels (Aldrovanda), and many sundews (Drosera). The only active mechanism involved is the constant pumping out of water through the bladder walls by active transport.

As water is pumped out, the bladder's walls are sucked inwards by the negative pressure created, and any dissolved material inside the bladder becomes more concentrated. The sides of the bladder bend inwards, storing potential energy like a spring. Eventually, no more water can be extracted, and the bladder trap is 'fully set' (technically, osmotic pressure rather than physical pressure is the limiting factor).

Extending outwards from the bottom of the trapdoor are several long bristle-stiff protuberances that are sometimes referred to as trigger hairs or antennae but which have no similarity to the sensitive triggers found in Dionaea and Aldrovanda. In fact, these bristles are simply levers. The suction force exerted by the primed bladder on the door is resisted by the adhesion of its flexible bottom against the soft-sealing velum. The equilibrium depends quite literally on a hair trigger, and the slightest touch to one of the lever hairs will deform the flexible door lip enough to create a tiny gap, breaking the seal.

Once the seal is disturbed, the bladder walls instantly spring back to a more rounded shape; the door flies open and a column of water is sucked into the bladder. The animal which touched the lever, if small enough, is inevitably drawn in, and as soon as the trap is filled, the door resumes its closed position—the whole operation being completed in as little as one-hundredth of a second.

Once inside, the prey is dissolved by digestive secretions. This generally occurs within a few hours, although some protozoa appear to be highly resistant and have been observed to live for several days inside the trap. All the time, the trap walls continue to pump out water, and the bladder can be ready for its next capture in as little as 15 to 30 minutes.

Microbial relationships
The bladders of Utricularia often culture a mutualistic community of microbes, which may be a very important factor in digestion of prey within Utricularia. Bacteria consume dissolved organic material which is not able to be directly ingested by larger organisms. When bacteria absorb dissolved organic material, they also release nutrients, which facilitates photo-autotrophic growth. As Utricularia’s trap is sealed and contains all the needed components of a microbial food web, one can assume that much enzyme activity and available nutrients in Utricularia’s trap fluid are derived from these microbial communities. Additionally, Utricularia traps often collect a diversity of microplankton and detritus. When this periphyton is dissolved into basic nutrients within the bladder environment, bacterial enzymes help aid in digestion. Therefore, carbon secretion and periphyton utilization in the utricles enable Utricularia to live with relatively little competition.

Mutualism could have been an important association in aquatic Utricularia trap evolution as these microbes may have allowed these plants to acquire the needed nutrients when they lost their roots, as they may have had issues acquiring phosphorus. Phosphorus was found to be the most important factor in Utricularia nutrition, which helps explain why Utricularia bladders are found with a wide diversity of bacteria to aid in phosphorus digestion.

Enhanced respiration
Utricularia have significantly greater respiration rates than most vegetative tissue, primarily due to their complex energy-dependent traps. Upon triggering, prey is captured through a two-step ATP-driven ion-pumping process where organisms are sucked in by internal negative pressure achieved by pumping water out of the trap and into the external environment. Recent research suggests that COX subunit I (COX1), a rate limiting enzyme in the cellular respiration pathway associated with the synthesis of ATP, has evolved under positive Darwinian selection in the Utricularia–Genlisea clade. There appear to be adaptive substitutions of two contiguous cysteines (C-C motif) at the docking point of COX1 helix 3 and cytochrome c. This C-C motif, absent in ~99.9% of databased Eukaryota, Archaea, and Bacteria, suggests a conformational change that might decouple electron transport from proton pumping. By doing so, the intermembrane space could sequester protons are store them until the ATP is needed. Such decoupling would allow Utricularia to optimize power output (energy × rate) during times of need, albeit with a 20% cost in energy efficiency.

According to the ROS mutation hypothesis, the sequestration of these protons has cellular consequences, which could lead to nucleotide substitutions. Oxidative phosphorylation is an imperfect process, which allows electrons to leak into the lumen, and only partially reduce oxygen. This partially reduced oxygen is a reactive oxygen species (ROS) which can be very harmful, unlike its fully reduced counterpart, the water molecule. When there is greater potential change between the lumen and intermembrane space, the leakiness of the electron transport chain also increases, therefore creating a higher production of ROS in the mitochondria of Utricularia. ROS is harmful to cells, as it produces damage to nucleotides and helical DNA. Therefore, the increased cellular respiration of Utricularia bladders combined with the unique sequestration of protons could lead to its high nucleotide substitution rates, and therefore its wide diversity.

This structural evolution seems highly unlikely to have arisen by chance alone; therefore, many researchers suggest this key adaption in Utricularia allowed for radical morphological evolution of relatively simple trap structures to highly complex and efficient snares. This adaptation may have enhanced the genus' fitness by increasing its range of prey, rate of capture, and retention of nutrients during prey decomposition.

Lloyd's experiments
In the 1940s, Francis Ernest Lloyd conducted extensive experiments with carnivorous plants, including Utricularia, and settled many points which had previously been the subject of conjecture. He proved that the mechanism of the trap was purely mechanical by both killing the trigger hairs with iodine and subsequently showing that the response was unaffected, and by demonstrating that the trap could be made ready to spring a second (or third) time immediately after being set off if the bladder's excretion of water were helped by a gentle squeeze; in other words, the delay of at least fifteen minutes between trap springings is due solely to the time needed to excrete water, and the triggers need no time to recover irritability (unlike the reactive trigger hairs of Venus Flytraps, for example).

He tested the role of the velum by showing that the trap will never set if small cuts are made to it; and showed that the excretion of water can be continued under all conditions likely to be found in the natural environment, but can be prevented by driving the osmotic pressure in the trap beyond normal limits by the introduction of glycerine.

Ingestion of larger prey
Lloyd devoted several studies to the possibility, often recounted but never previously accounted for under scientific conditions, that Utricularia can consume larger prey such as young tadpoles and mosquito larvae by catching them by the tail, and ingesting them bit by bit.

Prior to Lloyd, several authors had reported this phenomenon and had attempted to explain it by positing that creatures caught by the tail repeatedly set off the trap as they thrash about in an attempt to escape—even as their tails are actively digested by the plant. Lloyd, however, demonstrated that the plant is quite capable of ingestion by stages without the need of multiple stimuli. He produced suitable artificial "prey" for his experiments by stirring albumen (egg white) into hot water and selecting shreds of an appropriate length and thickness. When caught by one end, the strand would gradually be drawn in, sometimes in sudden jumps, and at other times by a slow and continuous motion. Strands of albumen would often be fully ingested in as little as twenty minutes.

Mosquito larvae, caught by the tail, would be engulfed bit by bit. A typical example given by Lloyd showed that a larva of a size at the upper limit of what the trap could manage would be ingested stage by stage over the course of about twenty-four hours; but that the head, being rigid, would often prove too large for the mouth of the trap and would remain outside, plugging the door. When this happened, the trap evidently formed an effective seal with the head of the larva as it could still excrete water and become flattened, but it would nevertheless die within about ten days "evidently due to overfeeding".

Softer-bodied prey of the same size such as small tadpoles could be ingested completely, because they have no rigid parts and the head, although capable of plugging the door for a time, will soften and yield and finally be drawn in.

Very thin strands of albumen could be soft and fine enough to allow the trapdoor to close completely; these would not be drawn in any further unless the trigger hairs were indeed stimulated again. On the other hand, a human hair, finer still but relatively hard and unyielding, could prevent a seal being formed; these would prevent the trap from resetting at all due to leakage of water.

Lloyd concluded that the sucking action produced by the excretion of water from the bladder was sufficient to draw larger soft-bodied prey into the trap without the need for a second or further touch to the trigger levers. An animal long enough not to be fully engulfed upon first springing the trap, but thin and soft enough to allow the door to return fully to its set position, would indeed be left partly outside the trap until it or another body triggered the mechanism once again. However, the capture of hard bodies not fully drawn into the trap would prevent its further operation.

Genetics
Chris Whitewoods has developed a computational model of possible genetic regulation in Utricularia gibba to show how genes may control the formation of the upper and lower surfaces of flat leaves and how cup-shaped traps may have evolved from flat leaves. Changes in the gene expression of Utricularia can explain these structural changes. U. gibba leaves appear similar early in development but may develop into either a spherical trap or a cylindrical leaflet at later stages. Directional expansion of the leaf is suggested to be a crucial driver of the trap's morphogenesis. The upper and lower faces of the leaf are differentially associated with genetic markers. The marker UgPHV1 is associated with the upper leaf face. Trap primordia become spherical in shape, due to growth in both the longitudinal and transverse directions, when UgPHV1 / PHAVOLUTA (PHV) is restricted. Expression of UgPHV1 inhibits trap development and leads to the formation of leaflets. The same model can be used to describe shape development of other leaf shapes, including the pitcher-shaped Sarracenia trap, in terms of the spatial regulation of gene expression.

Increased respiration rates caused by mutated COXI may have caused two additional traits in the Utricularia–Genlisea clade: i) greatly increased rates of nucleotide substitution and ii) a dynamic decrease of genome size, including Utricularia species with some of the smallest haploid angiosperm genomes known. A recent study conducted three cDNA libraries from different organs of U. gibba (~80Mb) as part of a large scale Utricularia nuclear genome sequencing project. They recorded increased nucleotide substitution rates in chloroplast, mitochondrial, and cellular genomes. They also recorded increased levels of DNA repair-associated proteins and reactive oxygen species (ROS)-detox. ROS is a product of cellular metabolism that can potentially cause cellular damage when accumulated in high amounts. They determined the expression of DNA repair and ROS detox was ubiquitous rather than trap-specific. Due to this ubiquitous expression, relative ROS detoxification is expected to be lower in trap structures due to the high respiratory rate caused by trap activations, eventually leading to higher toxic effects and mutagenesis. Mutagenic action of enhanced ROS production may explain both high rates of nucleotide substitution and the dynamic evolution of genome size (via double strand breaks).

The dramatic shift in genome size and high mutation rates may have allowed for the variations observed in Utricularia bladder size, root structure, and relaxed body formation. Overall, the introduction of mutated COXI and high mutation rates provide a strong evolutionary hypothesis for the variability found in Utricularia species.

Species
Utricularia is the largest genus of carnivorous plants. It is one of the three genera that make up the Bladderwort family (Lentibulariaceae), along with the butterworts (Pinguicula) and corkscrew plants (Genlisea).

This genus was considered to have 250 species until Peter Taylor reduced the number to 214 in his exhaustive study The genus Utricularia – a taxonomic monograph, published by Her Majesty's Stationery Office in 1989. Taylor's classification is now generally accepted with modifications based on phylogenetic studies (see below).

The genus Polypompholyx, the pink petticoats, contained just two species of carnivorous plant, Polypompholyx tenella and Polypompholyx multifida, previously distinguished from the otherwise similar genus Utricularia by their possession of four calyx lobes rather than two. The genus has now been subsumed into Utricularia.

The genus Biovularia contained the species Biovularia olivacea (also known as B. brasiliensis or B. minima) and Biovularia cymbantha. The genus has been subsumed into Utricularia.

Phylogenetics
The following cladogram shows the relationship between various subgenera and sections. It summarizes the results of two studies (Jobson et al. 2003; Müller et al. 2004), following Müller et al. 2006. Since the sections Aranella and Vesiculina are polyphyletic, they show up multiple times in the cladogram (*). Some monotypic sections have not been included in the study, so that their place in this system is unclear. Sections that are not included below are Candollea, Chelidon, Choristothecae, Kamienskia, Martinia, Meionula, Mirabiles, Oliveria, Setiscapella, Sprucea, Steyermarkia, and Stylotheca in subgenus Utricularia; Minutae in subgenus Bivalvaria; and Tridentaria in subgenus Polypompholyx.

title: Utricularia


text:
Eyre Evans Crowe

Eyre Evans Crowe (1799 – February 25, 1868) was an English journalist and historian.

Life
The son of an Army officer of Anglo-Irish ancestry, Crowe was born in Southampton and educated at Trinity College, Dublin. In the 1820s he turned to writing novels: Vittoria Colonna, To-Day in Ireland (1825), The English in Italy (1825), Yesterday in Ireland (1829), and The English at Home (1830). His work appeared as well in Blackwood's Magazine. He commenced his work as a writer for the London newspaper press as Paris correspondent for the Morning Chronicle in 1832, and he afterwards became a leading contributor to The Examiner and the Daily News. Of the latter journal he was principal editor for some time previous to his death.

The department he specially cultivated was that of continental history and foreign politics. He published Lives of Foreign Statesmen (1830), The Greek and the Turk (1853), and ''Reigns of Louis XVIII. and Charles X.'' (1854). These were followed by his most important work, the History of France (5 vols., 1858–1868). It was founded upon original sources, in order to consult which the author resided for a considerable time in Paris.

Family
Among his children were Eyre Crowe (1824–1910), Sir Joseph Archer Crowe (1825–1896), and George Crowe (1840–1889), husband of the actress Kate Bateman.

title: Eyre Evans Crowe


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Fiorenzo di Lorenzo

Fiorenzo di Lorenzo (c. 1440 – 1522) was an Italian painter, of the Umbrian school. He lived and worked at Perugia, where most of his authentic works are still preserved in the Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria.

Fiorenzo is known from a few signed works, including the Madonna of the Recommended (1476) and a niche with lunette, two wings and predella (1487), as well as from the documentary evidence that he was decemvir of that city in 1472, in which year he entered into a contract to paint an altarpiece for the church of Santa Maria Nuova, the pentatych of the Madonna and Saints.

Of his birth and death and pupilage nothing is known. Renaissance art biographer Giorgio Vasari does not even mention Fiorenzo's name, though he probably refers to him when he says that Cristofano, Perugino's father, sent his son to be the shop drudge of a painter in Perugia, who was not particularly distinguished in his calling, but held the art in great veneration and highly honoured the men who excelled therein. Certain it is that the early works both of Perugino and of Pinturicchio show certain mannerisms which point towards Fiorenzo's influence, if not to his direct teaching.

The list of some fifty pictures which modern critics have ascribed to Fiorenzo includes works of such widely varied character that the scholars' suggestions of the masters under whom Fiorenzo is supposed to have studied varies. Pisanello, Verrocchio, Benozzo Gozzoli, Antonio del Pollaiuolo, Benedetto Bonfigli, Andrea Mantegna, Francesco Squarcione, Filippo Lippi, Luca Signorelli and Domenico Ghirlandaio have all been mentioned.

According to the Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition : "Fiorenzo's authentic works are remarkable for their sense of space and for the expression of that peculiar clear, soft atmosphere which is so marked a feature in the work of Perugino. But Fiorenzo has an intensity of feeling and a power of expressing character which are far removed from the somewhat affected grace of Perugino. Of the forty-five pictures bearing Fiorenzo's name in the Pinacoteca of Perugia, the eight charming St Bernardino panels are so different from his well-authenticated works, so Florentine in conception and movement, that the Perugian's authorship is very questionable."

title: Fiorenzo di Lorenzo


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Osteophyte

Osteophytes are exostoses (bony projections) that form along joint margins. They should not be confused with enthesophytes, which are bony projections that form at the attachment of a tendon or ligament. Osteophytes are not always distinguished from exostoses in any definite way, although in many cases there are a number of differences. Osteophytes are typically intra-articular (within the joint capsule).

Cause
A range of bone-formation processes are associated with aging, degeneration, mechanical instability, and disease (such as diffuse idiopathic skeletal hyperostosis). Osteophyte formation has classically been related to sequential and consequential changes in such processes. Often osteophytes form in osteoarthritic joints as a result of damage and wear from inflammation. Calcification and new bone formation can also occur in response to mechanical damage in joints.

Pathophysiology
Osteophytes form because of the increase in a damaged joint's surface area. This is most common from the onset of arthritis. Osteophytes usually limit joint movement and typically cause pain.

Osteophytes form naturally on the back of the spine as a person ages and are a clinical sign of degeneration in the spine. In this case, the osteophytes are commonly not the source of back pains, but instead are a sign of an underlying problem. However, osteophytes on the spine can impinge on nerves that leave the spine for other parts of the body. This impingement can cause pain in both upper and lower limbs and a numbness or tingling sensations in the hands and feet because the nerves are supplying sensation to their dermatomes.

Osteophytes on the fingers or toes are known as Heberden's nodes (if on the distal interphalangeal joint) or Bouchard's nodes (if on the proximal interphalangeal joints).

Treatments
Normally, asymptomatic cases are not treated. Non-steroidal anti-inflammatory drugs and surgery are two typical options for cases requiring treatment.

title: Osteophyte


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Pisanello

Pisanello (c. 1380/1395), born Antonio di Puccio Pisano or Antonio di Puccio da Cereto, also erroneously called Vittore Pisano by Giorgio Vasari, was one of the most distinguished painters of the early Italian Renaissance and Quattrocento. He was acclaimed by poets such as Guarino da Verona and praised by humanists of his time, who compared him to such illustrious names as Cimabue, Phidias and Praxiteles.

Pisanello is known for his resplendent frescoes in large murals, elegant portraits, small easel pictures, and many brilliant drawings such as those in the Codex Vallardi (Louvre). He is the most important commemorative portrait medallist in the first half of the 15th century, and he can claim to have originated this important genre.

He was employed by the Doge of Venice, the Pope in the Vatican and the courts of Verona, Ferrara, Mantua, Milan, Rimini, and by the King of Naples. He stood in high esteem in the Gonzaga and Este families.

Pisanello had many of his works wrongly ascribed to other artists such as Piero della Francesca, Albrecht Dürer and Leonardo da Vinci, to name a few. While most of his paintings have perished, a good many of his drawings and medals have survived.

Early life
Pisanello's life is somewhat shrouded in mystery. He was born between 1380 and 1395 and died between 1450 and 1455 (probably between 14 July and 8 October 1455). He was a native of Pisa but spent his early years in San Vigilio sul Lago in the territory of Verona. He was probably given his early training by a Veronese painter (perhaps Altichiero or Stefano da Verona) as his early style is in the tradition of Veronese painting.

Training
Between 1415 and 1420, Pisanello was the assistant of the renowned painter and illuminator Gentile da Fabriano from whom he acquired his refined, delicate, detailed style. Pisanello also acquired from him a taste for precious materials and beautiful fabrics that can be found in his later paintings. The frescoes in the Doge's Palace at Venice, on which they worked together, have perished as well as the frescoes in the Basilica of St. John Lateran and the palaces of Mantua and Pavia.

In 1422, Pisanello was reported to be in Mantua in the service of young Ludovico Gonzaga, son of the Marchese of Mantua Gianfrancesco Gonzaga. He continued to work for the Gonzaga family till the 1440s.

Giorgio Vasari, an artist and biographer of the Italian Renaissance, states that Pisanello also worked in the workshop of Andrea del Castagno, author of the painted equestrian monument of Niccolò da Tolentino (1456) in the Cathedral in Florence. He must also have known Paolo Uccello, the painter of the Battle of San Romano with its many horses. Pisanello's love of drawing horses probably finds its origin in this relationship; but as there is so much unknown of his life, this attribution by Vasari is not reliable and may only be a legend.

Pisanello's Madonna of the Quail, now in the Museo di Castelvecchio in Verona, is signed by "Antonius Pisanus". It is tentatively dated at c. 1420. The style is a blend of the styles of Gentile da Fabriano and Stefano da Verona. This might show that Pisanello was also a pupil of the latter in Verona.

Pisanello stayed again in Verona in 1424. However, according to some scholars, he painted frescoes about hunting and fishing and jousts in Pavia the same year. These were commissioned by the Duke of Milan Filippo Maria Visconti. There is no trace of these frescoes left.

Back in Mantua with the Gonzagas between 1424 and 1426, Pisanello painted one of his important surviving works: the fresco Annunciation in San Fermo, Verona. It was used to embellish the funeral monument of Nicolò di Brenzoni by the Florentine sculptor Nanni di Bartolo.

When Gentile da Fabriano died in Rome between August and October 1427, his work at the Basilica of St. John Lateran was unfinished. Pisanello completed the frescoes of his former master between 1431 and 1432. All these frescoes were destroyed when the basilica was rebuilt in the 17th century by Francesco Borromini. The Kupferstichkabinet in Berlin has a pale sketch of this fresco, drawn by Borromini. While in Rome, he became more and more influenced by the classical style of Renaissance art.

Style
Pisanello's drawings are generally prized as jewels of the quattrocento, and provide evidence of the elegant garb of the time, including spectacular hats. In contrast with his contemporaries, his drawings are not drafts for future paintings but are autonomous works of art. He compiled several books of drawings, detailed and accurate studies of fauna and flora drawn with poetic naturalism, and elegant costumes.

Nobility
Pisanello travelled to several Italian cities and was introduced to a number of courts. He stayed for a while in Florence. In this period he painted two important portraits: Emperor Sigismund, now in the Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna (but the attribution is still contested) and Portrait of a Man (now in the Palazzo Rosso, Genoa).

Pisanello returned to Verona between 1433 and 1438. His fresco masterpiece from this period is Saint George and the Princess of Trebizond (c. 1433–1438) at the Pellegrini Chapel, church of Sant'Anastasia, Verona. It had to be restored after water seepage badly damaged the fresco at the end of the 19th century. He prepared for this painting with a large number of drawings, many of which are on display in the Louvre Museum, Paris.

Portraits and medal making
From 1435, Pisanello became more and more interested in portraiture and medal making. He was introduced to Leonello d'Este, Marquess of Ferrara. His famous Portrait of an Este Princess dates from this period.

Pisanello was one of the greatest medalists of all time, perhaps the greatest ever, as evidenced by art historians such as Federico Zeri. He was the first to reinvent the genre as we still understand it today: a portrait on the front and a symbolic feat on the reverse.

The medals of the lords of the Italian courts (Gonzaga, Este, Malatesta, Crown of Aragon, etc.) had an extraordinary success, thanks to the perfectly balanced combination of idealization and realism. The powerful people of his time were depicted in profile on the front, as in Roman coins, while on the reverse there were allegorical scenes or highly evocative symbolic figures. All this was often correlated by mottos, symbols and various attributes, according to a cultured, concise and never rhetorical celebratory program, which makes each specimen a true masterpiece.

Pisanello's The Vision of Saint Eustace, now at the National Gallery in London, long ascribed to Albrecht Dürer because of its perfection of this very fine panel, shows most animals in profile or defined poses with miniature-like delicacy. The story in this small painting (egg tempera on wood) is probably only a pretext for showing "noble" animals (horses, hunting dogs, stag, bear...) and the noblest creature of all: the hunting courtier.

In 1439, the Council of Florence negotiated with the Byzantine Emperor John VIII Palaiologos. On this occasion, Pisanello struck a commemorative medal of the emperor, the earliest portrait medal of post-classical times. He also made some drawings with portraits of the emperor and his retinue (Louvre and Chicago), suggesting he had a commission for a painting or fresco for the Este residence.

Pisanello thus became the inventor of the fields of portrait medals and related medallic art. During his lifetime Pisanello was best known for his medals. He has been copied many times in later generations. The medalist art declined when it deviated from the art of Pisanello. Before him, the few medals made were struck like minted coins. Pisanello, on the other hand, melted his medals the same as a bronze low-relief, clearly showing the work of a painter and a modeller. He even signed his medals with Opus Pisani pictoris (made by the painter Pisano). In his view, the portraits in his medals equal the portraits in his paintings. He even adds allegories at the reverse of his medals, such as the unicorn in the Cecilia Gonzaga medal, underlying the noble character of the princess.

Political unrest
In 1438, a war broke out between the ruler of Milan Filippo Maria Visconti and the republic of Venice. Pisanello was in Mantua with Gianfancresco Gonzaga. They decided to play a part in the capture of Verona. Consequently, the Venetian government called him a rebel and threatened him with a stiff sentence. Only an intercession by a powerful friend could preserve him.

After a stay in Milan between 1440 and 1441, Pisanello went back to Ferrara in 1441. There he painted his acclaimed portrait of Lionello d'Este, now on display at the Accademia Carrara, Bergamo. His Madonna and Child with Two Saints (National Gallery, London) probably dated from the same period. The impressive fresco cycle Scenes of War and Chivalry in the Palazzo Ducale di Mantova, Mantua probably dates from 1447.

Later life
From December 1448 until the end of his life he lived in Naples, where he enjoyed great repute at the Aragon court. The poet Porcellio even wrote an ode in his honour. He may have lived five or six years longer, but there is no more mention of him in the records.

Legacy
Specimens of Pisanello's work as a painter still exist in Rome, Venice, Verona, Pistoia and two in the National Gallery, London (The Vision of Saint Eustace and The Virgin and Child with Saint George and Saint Anthony Abbot). Many of his drawings can now be found at the Biblioteca Ambrosiana in Milan, Italy and the Louvre, Paris.

Pisanello influenced many of his contemporaries, but he did not create his own school. His genius shone briefly and after his death, he was quickly forgotten in the rise of the humanistic and classical culture of the Renaissance. He is now considered the last and most magnificent artist of the courtly style of the Gothic art in the 15th century, called the International Gothic style. On the other hand, he may also be considered as one of the first leaders of the Renaissance movement.

title: Pisanello


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Valentín Paniagua

Valentín Toribio Demetrio Agustin Paniagua Corazao (23 September 1936 – 16 October 2006) was a Peruvian lawyer and politician who briefly served as 55th President of Peru from 2000 to 2001. Elected President of Congress on 16 November 2000, he ascended to the presidency as incumbent Alberto Fujimori and both his Vice Presidents resigned by 22 November 2000.

Due to Fujimori shortening his presidential term in order to expire on 28 July 2001, Paniagua's main task was to oversee the new elections. Paniagua was a longtime member of Popular Action, serving as Secretary General and Party President.

Early life and education
Paniagua's father was born in Bolivia but lived most of his life in Peru. Valentín Paniagua was born in Cusco and attended high school at Salesian School of Cusco. He went on to study law at the Universidad Nacional San Antonio Abad in Cusco, and subsequently transferred to the Universidad Mayor de San Marcos in Lima, where he completed his law degree. In the following years, he worked in his private practice as a lawyer and started a political career. In addition, he completed a master's degree in political science at the University of Indiana.

In August 1955, as a student leader, he was one of the founders of the Frente Universitario Reformista Independiente, a social-Christian reform organization, opposed to landowners' rights, to the communists and to the APRA. Paniagua became a member of the Christian Democrat Party (PDC), which was best aligned to his Roman Catholic and reformist ideals.

Political career
In June 1963 he was elected to Congress as a representative for Cusco in the joint list of Acción Popular (AP) and PDC, an alliance that catapulted the leader of AP, Fernando Belaúnde, to the presidency of the country. Despite Paniagua's youth, Belaúnde appointed him Minister of Justice and Cult in his first government.

In 1966, a section of the PDC led by the then-mayor of Lima, Luis Bedoya Reyes, cut ties with the leadership of Héctor Cornejo Chávez and founded the Partido Popular Cristiano (PPC). However, Paniagua remained in the ranks of the government.

The coup d'état of General Juan Velasco Alvarado on 3 October 1968, sent Paniagua out of Congress and for some years he was left out of politics. His loyalty to the constitutional legality of Belaúnde led him to abandon the PDC on 27 July 1974, in protest of its acceptance of the military government. Some time later he became a member of AP, and kept on a civil protest against Velasco and his 1975 successor, General Francisco Morales-Bermúdez.

In the elections of 18 May 1980, he was re-elected to Congress, and his party boss, Belaúnde, won his second presidency.

In July 1982, after being part of the Constitutional Commission of the Chamber of Deputies, he became President of the Chamber of Deputies.

On 10 May 1985, he became Minister of Education. In October of that year he resigned to return to his parliamentary activities. He was given the Orden del Sol in the Gran Cruz grade.

The defeat of AP in the 14 April 1985 elections and arrival to power of Alan García's APRA sent Paniagua to the opposition. Over the following five years he remained a strong foe of the government and worked as a prestigious lawyer in academic and political circles, as well as a professor of constitutional law at the universities of San Marcos, Femenina del Sagrado Corazón and Pontificia Católica.

In the national elections of 1990, together with most of Acción Popular, Paniagua supported the candidacy of Mario Vargas Llosa for president. When Alberto Fujimori was elected President, Paniagua was part of the opposition, but became a strong opponent after Fujimori's auto-coup in April 1992.

Presidency (2000–2001)
Fujimori was reelected once again in the controversial national elections of 2000. Paniagua was a prominent member of the opposition.

On 14 September the nation was rocked by evidence that Fujimori's security chief, Vladimiro Montesinos, had bribed an opposition congressman to switch to Fujimori's party, Perú 2000. Fujimori's support evaporated at this point, and he was forced to announce he would step down after new presidential elections in 2001. An OAS mission was sent to deal with the political crisis.

Fujimori's allies lost control of Congress after numerous defections to the opposition. On 15 November 2000, a majority of the Congress dismissed the acting President of the Peruvian Congress, a Fujimori supporter. After an internal discussion among the political forces, Paniagua was elected the new President of the Peruvian Congress. He was elected because all parties considered him to have a fair but strong character, needed in such times of crisis. A few days later, Fujimori submitted his resignation by fax. However, Congress voted 62-9 to reject Fujimori's resignation and remove him from office on grounds that he was "permanently morally unfit." According to the line of succession, First Vice President Francisco Tudela should have succeeded to the presidency, but he had also resigned a few days before after breaking with Fujimori. Second Vice President Ricardo Márquez then claimed the presidency. However, Congress refused to recognize him since he was one of the few who were still loyal to Fujimori. When it became apparent that Congress would not allow Márquez to take office, he resigned as well. Therefore, since the President of Congress stood third in the line of succession, Paniagua became acting president.

Paniagua formed a Unity and National Reconciliation Government that received the support of almost all the political parties of the time. He then proceeded to form a broad-based cabinet, which involved non-partisan technologists and low-profile politicians. It was headed by former UN Secretary General Javier Pérez de Cuéllar as Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs, who was chosen to avoid the increasing political pressure from the different political parties. He also dismissed the remaining military commanders who had had any type of involvement with or political connection to Montesinos.

Paniagua had to work with Fujimori's Peru 2000 party in Congress, since it still was the most important political organization (even though it no longer had a majority). Additionally, during most of his period, an important number of the infamous Vladivideos were published and investigated, since most of them recorded acts of corruption involving politicians, members of the clergy and important businessmen.

Paniagua was also involved in the repeal of much of the anti-terrorist legislation enforced by Fujimori, which included trials by faceless judges and juries. This allowed the re-trial of several members of Shining Path, who were already in prison, in civilian courts instead of military ones. Paniagua also established a Truth and Reconciliation Commission to investigate the internal conflict in Peru.

Later political career
When his time as President of the Republic came to an end, he transferred the government to the democratically elected president and winner of the national elections of 2001, Alejandro Toledo. In the same year, he was elected Secretary General of Acción Popular, replacing the long-time leader Fernando Belaúnde as the national leader of the political organization.

For a brief period of time, it was speculated that the Peruvian government would support his candidacy for Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) in the 2005 Secretary General election. He declined this in order to participate in the 2006 election, as Frente de Centro's presidential candidate in an unsuccessful campaign, in which he came in fifth place, receiving 5.75% of the vote.

He became a member of the Club of Madrid.

Death
On 21 August 2006, he fell seriously ill and was hospitalized for a week with a respiratory infection. A congressman wrongly reported that he had died and Congress observed a moment of silence in his honor, but he had not died and his health had in fact improved. However, in early October 2006, the country learned from a medical spokesperson that Mr. Paniagua's condition had not improved significantly.

Valentín Paniagua died in the early hours of 16 October 2006 in a hospital in Lima at the age of 70.

title: Valentín Paniagua


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The Gambler

The Gambler may refer to:

 * Gambler, a person who gambles

Films

 * The Gambler (1919 film), a German silent film
 * The Gambler (1938 film), a German film
 * The Gambler (1958 film), a French-Italian film
 * Gambler (film), a 1971 Indian Bollywood film directed by Amarjeet
 * The Gambler (1974 film), an American film starring James Caan and Paul Sorvino
 * The Gambler (film series), a 1980–1994 American TV movie series starring Kenny Rogers, based on his song "The Gambler"
 * Kenny Rogers as The Gambler, the first film in the series, also known as The Gambler
 * The Gambler (1989 film), a Russian film directed by Sergei Bodrov
 * The Gambler (1995 film), a Bollywood film directed by Dayal Nihalani
 * The Gambler (1997 film), a Dutch-Hungarian-British film about Dostoyevsky writing his novella, directed by Károly Makk
 * The Gambler (2013 film), a Lithuanian film directed by Ignas Jonynas
 * The Gambler (2014 film), an American remake of the 1974 film
 * The Gambler (2019 film), an Indian Malayalam-language superhero film

Television episodes

 * "The Gambler", ALF season 1, episode 23 (1987)
 * "The Gambler", Angie season 2, episode 12 (1979)
 * "The Gambler", Big Timber season 2, episode 7 (2021)
 * "The Gambler", Clipped episode 8 (2015)
 * "The Gambler", Colditz series 2, episode 8 (1974)
 * "The Gambler", Dead Man's Gun season 1, episode 19 (1998)
 * "The Gambler", Echo 3 episode 3 (2022)
 * "The Gambler", Family Ties season 3, episode 1 (1984)
 * "The Gambler", Festival season 2, episode 4 (1962)
 * "The Gambler", Forensic Files season 11, episode 10 (2006)
 * "The Gambler", Gold Rush season 7, special 1 (2016)
 * "The Gambler", Hardcore Pawn season 5, episode 6 (2011)
 * "The Gambler", Hart of Dixie season 2, episode 15 (2013)
 * "The Gambler", He-Man and the Masters of the Universe season 2, episode 42 (1984)
 * "The Gambler", In the House season 2, episode 3 (1995)
 * "The Gambler", King of Kensington season 1, episode 10 (1975)
 * "The Gambler", Long Island Medium season 4, episode 5 (2013)
 * "The Gambler", Matlock season 2, episode 12 (1987)
 * "The Gambler", Pawnography season 1, episode 6 (2014)
 * "The Gambler", Spin City season 5, episode 13 (2001)
 * "The Gambler", Sue Thomas: F.B.Eye season 2, episode 9 (2004)
 * "The Gambler", Tales of Wells Fargo season 3, episode 1 (1958))
 * "The Gambler", The Big Easy season 1, episode 7 (1996)
 * "The Gambler", The Flintstones season 2, episode 16 (1962)
 * "The Gambler", The Life and Legend of Wyatt Earp season 1, episode 7 (1955)
 * "The Gambler", The Transformers season 2, episode 31 (1985)
 * "The Gambler", Trump: An American Dream episode 2 (2017)

Novels

 * The Gambler (novel), an 1867 short novel by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
 * The Gambler, a 1905 novel by Katherine Cecil Thurston
 * The Gambler, a 1924 novel by Max Brand
 * The Gambler, a 1937 novel by Anne Meredith
 * The Gambler, a 1950 novel by William Krasner
 * The Gambler: An Autobiography 1920-1939, a 1973 non-fiction book by Stuart Cloete
 * The Gambler, a 1996 novel by Christine Dwyer Hickey
 * The Gambler, a 1998 novel by J. R. Roberts
 * "The Gambler" (Bacigalupi story), a 2008 novelette by Paolo Bacigalupi
 * The Gambler, a. k. a. Tyler O'Neill's Redemption, a 2010 novel by Molly O'Keefe

Plays

 * The Gambler (Betti), a 1950 play by Ugo Betti
 * The Gambler (Il giocatore), a 1950 play by Ugo Betti

Magazines

 * Gambler (comics), two DC Comics supervillains
 * Gambler (magazine), a 1993–1999 Polish video game monthly

Music

 * The Gambler (Prokofiev), a 1917 opera by Prokofiev based on Dostoyevsky's novella
 * The Gambler (album), by Kenny Rogers, 1978
 * "The Gambler" (song), the title song
 * Gambler (album), a musical by Eric Woolfson, 1996
 * The Gambler (EP), by Mike Doughty, 2005
 * "Gambler" (song), by Madonna, 1985
 * "Gambler", a song by Monsta X from One of a Kind, 2021
 * "The Gambler", a song by Fun from Aim and Ignite, 2009
 * "The Gambler", a song by Ray Manzarek from The Whole Thing Started with Rock & Roll Now It's Out of Control, 1974

People

 * The Gambler (wrestler), Jeffrey Gann, American professional wrestler
 * Kenny Rogers (1938–2020), country singer
 * Kenny Rogers (baseball) (born 1964)

Other uses

 * Gambler (board game), a 1975 Parker Brothers game
 * The Gambler (custom car), winner of the 1988 Detroit Autorama Ridler Award

title: The Gambler


text:
Genlisea

Genlisea is a genus of carnivorous plants also known as corkscrew plants. The 30 or so species grow in wet terrestrial to semi-aquatic environments distributed throughout Africa and Central and South America. The plants use highly modified underground leaves to attract, trap and digest minute microfauna, particularly protozoans. Although suggested a century earlier by Charles Darwin, carnivory in the genus was not proven until 1998.

The generic name Genlisea honors the French writer and educator Stéphanie Félicité Ducrest de St-Albin, comtesse de Genlis.

Several species in the genus, including G. margaretae, G. aurea, and G. tuberosa, possess the smallest known genomes of all flowering plants.

As stated, Genlisea has a wide range of genetic diversity which can be shown in various phenotypic traits. For example, G. tuberosa develops tubers, one to three occurring per plant. This allows for carbohydrate and water storage as it is found in areas prone to fire. Other species present with a thickened stolon.

Description
Genlisea are small herbs, growing from a slender rhizome and bearing two morphologically distinct leaf typesphotosynthetic foliage leaves aboveground and highly modified subterranean leaves used to trap prey. The plants lack roots, although the subterranean traps perform many of the functions normally performed by roots, such as anchorage and absorption of water and nutrients.

Several to many flowers are held by a slender, erect, and often tall inflorescence. As in other members of the bladderwort family, the corolla is fused into a bilobed tube tapering to a spur, with the lower lip of the corolla having three lobes. The calyx is five-lobed, in contrast to Utricularia's three-lobed calyx. Corolla colors are generally yellow or violet to mauve, although a few species are white or cream. The lower lip forms a palate that functions as the guide to the spur that contains the nectar by providing olfactory and mechanical stimuli for nearby pollinators like bees and flies. At a microscopic level, the palate has glandular trichomes, which are small hairs that store and secrete secondary metabolites in order to provide protection from herbivory. The glandular trichomes contain no nectar secretion, suggesting that they are scent glands. These above ground structures are not shown to be directly participating in carnivorous activities.

Depending on species, the photosynthetic leaves are linear to spatulate in shape and 0.5–5 cm ($1/4$–2 in) in length.

The subterranean traps are white, lacking chlorophyll or any other pigmentation. They consist of a cylindrical stalk, widening at some distance below the surface into a hollow bulb-like utricle, and continuing as a hollow cylinder some further distance. At this point the stalk bifurcates into two furrowed spirals, between which the cylinder opening acts as the trap entrance. The furrows of the spiraled trap arms are lined with hairs pointing inward and toward the bifurcation. The hollow cylinder section leading from the bifurcation to the utricle is likewise lined with upward-pointing curved hairs. Some species produce two trap forms, one shorter and one longer, which probably target different prey groups. These corkscrew-like structures passively capture protozoa and other metazoan. Since these traps occur in soil, they are continuously stimulated due to the vast microfauna found in the soil. Due to continuous stimulation, the plant actively secretes digestive enzymes in order to aid with digestion to gain more nitrogen, phosphorus, and other minerals. Phosphatase has been detected in all types of glands, allowing for the breakdown of prey and uptake of phosphorus in low-nutrient soils. Although not completely understood, the oxygen concentration inside Genlisea traps is negligible. For this reason, it is thought that anoxic conditions could be the mechanisms in which prey are killed. At the same time, anaerobic bacteria survive.

Taxonomy
Twenty-nine species are currently recognised in the genus. Two varieties are also considered valid: G. aurea var. minor and the autonymous G. aurea var. aurea. Intraspecific determination depends almost wholly upon the inflorescence, particularly upon the indumentum. Genetic variation is an interesting area of attention as it has an incredible high rate of nucleotide substitution rates across nucleus, chloroplast, and mitochondria when compared to other angiosperms. Due to a mutation leading to changes in phenotypic traits found in the mitochondria, reactive oxygen species are produced which ultimately lead to DNA damage and further mutations.

Botanical history
The genus was discovered by Augustin François César Prouvençal de Saint-Hilaire, who in 1833 described four species: G. aurea, G. filiformis, G. pygmaea, and G. violacea.

Genome size range
The genus has a 25-fold range in genome size among its species and notably includes some of the smallest known plant genomes. For example, the genome of G. nigrocaulis  is 86 Mbp (1C; 2n = 40) while that of its close relative G. hispidula (1C; 2n = 40) is 1550 Mbp, 18-fold larger. More than one genome size has been measured in G. aurea and G. repens, suggesting that di- and tetraploid individuals exist.

Host–microbiome interactions
Genlisea traps host a microbe community of bacteria (dominant species consisting of anaerobic Clostridium sp. and pectolytic Dickeya sp. ), green algae, microbial fungi, protists of SAR group, and minute metazoans. Through extensive research, the trap's bacterial community has been discovered as serving the ecological importance of being prey due to Genlisea plants relying on the digestive enzymatic systems from microbes in order to aid their own carnivorous digestion.

title: Genlisea


text:
Mare Erythraeum

Mare Erythraeum is a very large dark dusky region of Mars that can be viewed by even a small telescope. Its name comes from the Latin for the Erythraean Sea because it was originally thought to be a large sea of liquid water. It was included in Percival Lowell's 1895 map of Mars.

Under the name of De La Rue Ocean it was included in Procter's 1905 map of Mars.

title: Mare Erythraeum


text:
Maria Schneider (musician)

Maria Lynn Schneider (born November 27, 1960) is an American composer and jazz orchestra leader who has won multiple Grammy Awards.

Biography
Born in Windom, Minnesota, Schneider studied music theory and composition at the University of Minnesota, graduating in 1983, then earned a master's degree in Music in 1985 from the Eastman School of Music, studying for one year as well at the University of Miami. After leaving Eastman, she was hired by Gil Evans as his copyist and assistant.

She collaborated with Evans for the next few years, working with him on music for a tour with Sting and assisting him as he scored the film The Color of Money. Before she became one of the most acclaimed composers and bandleaders of her generation, Schneider received an NEA Apprenticeship Grant to study with Bob Brookmeyer in 1985.

In 1988, Schneider formed her first band in collaboration with her then-husband, jazz trombonist John Fedchock, and that group appeared at Visiones in Greenwich Village. Both that group and her marriage would dissolve, but Schneider followed up in 1992 by forming the Maria Schneider Jazz Orchestra, which would appear weekly at Visiones from 1993 until the venue closed in 1998. Albums by the group have been released as by the Maria Schneider Orchestra since 2000.

From 2005 through 2019, the Maria Schneider Orchestra performed an annual Thanksgiving week-long gig at the Jazz Standard in New York City. The orchestra has also performed at jazz festivals and concert halls in Europe, South America, and Asia. Schneider has performed with over 80 groups in over 30 countries and has taught at universities worldwide. In 2013, she received an honorary doctorate from the University of Minnesota.

Although three of the orchestra's albums had been previously nominated, Schneider's Concert in the Garden (2004) was the first to win a Grammy Award. It was also the first such award-winning album produced by ArtistShare, a fan funded platform that has (as of 2017) received 30 Grammy Award nominations and 10 Grammy Award wins.

Aside from her jazz orchestral works, Schneider's Winter Morning Walks (2013) album featured soprano Dawn Upshaw, the Saint Paul and Australian Chamber Orchestras, bassist Jay Anderson, pianist Frank Kimbrough, and multi-instrumentalist Scott Robinson. The album accompanied poetry written by U.S. Poet Laureate Ted Kooser and was funded by ArtistShare. It won Schneider a Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition. Dawn Upshaw also won a Grammy for her vocal performance, while the Grammy Award for Best Engineered Album, Classical award went to David Frost, Tim Martyn, and Brian Losch.

Advocacy for musicians
Schneider has been a strong advocate for musicians' rights and copyright. She has testified before Congress, and has been asked to participate in several round tables conducted by the United States Copyright Office. Schneider has been outspoken against YouTube and so-called "freemium" streaming models. She has published several open letters and white papers on these topics.

Schneider has been a board member of the National Academy of Recording Arts & Sciences for the New York local chapter and has been involved in many of the NARAS advocacy initiatives, including Grammys on the Hill. In April 2014, on behalf of NARAS, Schneider testified on Section 512 of Section 17 before the House Subcommittee on Courts, Intellectual Property and the Internet.

Schneider's advocacy against big data companies and their impact on music, culture and privacy is reflected in some of her compositions of the late 2010s, including pieces entitled "Data Lords", commissioned by the U.S. Library of Congress (2016); "Don't Be Evil"; and "Sputnik". Several of these compositions appeared on the 2020 album Data Lords.

Class action lawsuit against YouTube
On July 2, 2020, Maria Schneider filed a class action lawsuit with Pirate Monitor Ltd. against YouTube arguing that smaller copyright holders are unable to access YouTube's Content ID system which would allow them to publish, monetize, and block infringing material. Schneider and Pirate Monitor claimed that they and other small copyright rights holders were denied access to Content ID, leaving them only the options of self-policing or ignoring infringement of their own property. They also argued that Content ID's weak punishments encourage repeat infringement and that YouTube did not qualify for DMCA safe harbor.

Pirate Monitor Ltd voluntarily withdrew from the class action lawsuit on March 8, 2021, while Maria Schneider continued with the case. The case was dismissed in June 2023 before going to trial.

Personal life
Schneider is an avid birdwatcher and enlisted band members to contribute bird calls to "Cerulean Skies" on her album Sky Blue. Other bird-related songs on her albums include "Waxwing" on Coming About, "Bird Count" on Days of Wine and Roses - Live at the Jazz Standard, and "Arbiters of Evolution" on The Thompson Fields.

Awards and honors

 * Best Composer, Best Arranger, Best Big Band, DownBeat magazine Annual Critics' Poll, 2006–2012; 2016
 * Jazz Album of the Year, Composer of the Year, Arranger of the Year, Large Jazz Ensemble of the Year, Jazz Journalists Association, 2005
 * Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, Concert in the Garden, 2004
 * Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition, "Cerulean Skies", 2007
 * Grammy Award for Best Classical Contemporary Composition, Winter Morning Walks, 2013
 * Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, The Thompson Fields, 2015
 * Grammy Award for Best Arrangement, Instrumental and Vocals, "Sue (Or in a Season of Crime)" (David Bowie) from Nothing Has Changed 2015
 * 2019 NEA Jazz Masters Fellowship
 * Concert in the Garden was inducted into the National Recording Registry in 2019
 * Grammy Award for Best Instrumental Composition, "Sputnik", 2020
 * Grammy Award for Best Large Jazz Ensemble Album, Data Lords, 2020
 * Finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Music for Data Lords, 2021
 * Elected member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters, 2023

Discography

 * Evanescence (Enja, 1994)
 * Coming About (Enja, 1996)
 * Days of Wine and Roses - Live at the Jazz Standard (ArtistShare, 2000 [limited edition], 2005 [regular release])
 * Allégresse (Enja, 2000)
 * Concert in the Garden (ArtistShare, 2004)
 * Sky Blue (ArtistShare, 2007)
 * Winter Morning Walks (ArtistShare, 2013)
 * The Thompson Fields (ArtistShare, 2015)
 * Data Lords (ArtistShare, 2020)
 * Decades (ArtistShare, 2024)

title: Maria Schneider (musician)


text: Talk:San Leon, Texas

title: Talk:San Leon, Texas


text:
Cruthin

The Cruthin (Cruithnig or Cruithni; Cruithne ) were a people of early medieval Ireland. Their heartland was in Ulster and included parts of the present-day counties of Antrim, Down and Londonderry. They are also said to have lived in parts of Leinster and Connacht. Their name is the Irish equivalent of *Pritanī, the reconstructed native name of the Celtic Britons, and Cruthin was sometimes used to refer to the Picts, but there is a debate among scholars as to the relationship of the Cruthin with the Britons and Picts.

The Cruthin comprised several túatha (territories), which included the Dál nAraidi of County Antrim and the Uí Echach Cobo of County Down. Early sources distinguish between the Cruthin and the Ulaid, who gave their name to the over-kingdom, although the Dál nAraidi would later claim in their genealogies to be na fír Ulaid, "the true Ulaid". The Loígis, who gave their name to County Laois in Leinster, and the Sogain of Leinster and Connacht, are also claimed as Cruthin in early Irish genealogies.

By 773 AD, the annals had stopped using the term Cruthin in favour of the term Dál nAraidi, who had secured their over-kingship of the Cruthin.

Etymology
In medieval Irish writings, the plural form of the name is variously spelt Cruthin, Cruithin, Cruthini, Cruthni, Cruithni or Cruithini (modern Irish: Cruithne ). The singular form is Cruithen (modern Irish: Cruithean ). The adjectival form is Cruithnech (modern Irish: Cruithneach ), which is also used as a noun. It is thought to relate to the Irish word cruth, meaning "form, figure, shape". The name is believed to derive from *Qritani, a reconstructed Goidelic/Q-Celtic version of the Brittonic/P-Celtic *Pritani. Ancient Greek geographer Pytheas called the Celtic Britons the Pretanoí, which became Britanni in Latin. It is suggested that Cruthin was not what the people called themselves, but was what their neighbours called them.

The name Cruthin survives in the placenames Duncrun (Dún Cruithean, "fort of the Cruthin") and Drumcroon (Droim Cruithean, "ridge of the Cruthin") in County Londonderry, and Ballycrune (Bealach Cruithean, "pass of the Cruthin") and Crown Mound (Áth Cruithean, "ford of the Cruthin") in County Down. These placenames are believed to mark the edges of Cruthin territory.

References in the Irish annals
By the start of the historic period in Ireland in the 6th century, the over-kingdom of Ulaid was largely confined to the east of the River Bann in north-eastern Ireland. The Cruthin still held territory west of the Bann in County Londonderry, and their emergence may have concealed the dominance of earlier tribal groupings.

A certain Dubsloit of the Cruthin is said to have killed the son of High King Diarmait mac Cerbaill in 555 or 558, and Diarmait himself was killed by a Cruthin over-king of Ulster, Áed Dub mac Suibni, in 565.

In 563, according to the Annals of Ulster, an apparent internal struggle amongst the Cruthin resulted in Báetán mac Cinn making a deal with the Northern Uí Néill, promising them the territories of Ard Eólairg (Magilligan peninsula) and the Lee, both west of the River Bann in County Londonderry. As a result, the battle of Móin Daire Lothair (modern-day Moneymore) was fought between them and an alliance of Cruthin kings, in which the Cruthin suffered a devastating defeat. Afterwards the Northern Uí Néill settled their Airgíalla allies in the Cruthin territory of Eilne, which lay between the River Bann and the River Bush. The defeated Cruthin alliance meanwhile consolidated itself within the Dál nAraidi dynasty.

Their most powerful historical king was Fiachnae mac Báetáin, King of Ulster and effective High King of Ireland. Under their king, Congal Cláen, they were routed by the Uí Néill at Dún Cethirnn (between Limavady and Coleraine) in 629, although Congal survived. The same year, the Cruthin king Mael Caích defeated Connad Cerr of the Dál Riata at Fid Eóin, but in 637 an alliance between Congal Cláen and Domnall Brecc of the Dál Riata was defeated, and Congal was killed, by Domnall mac Aedo of the northern Uí Néill at Mag Roth (Moira, County Down), establishing the supremacy of the Uí Neill in the north. In 681 another Dál nAraide king, Dúngal Eilni, and his allies were killed by the Uí Néill in what the annals call "the burning of the kings at Dún Cethirnn". The ethnic term "Cruthin" was by this stage giving way to the dynastic name of the Dál nAraide. The Annals record a battle between the Cruthin and the Ulaid at Belfast in 668, but the last use of the term is in 773, when the death of Flathruae mac Fiachrach, "rex Cruithne", is noted. By the twelfth century it had fallen into disuse as an ethnonym, and was remembered only as an alternative name for the Dál nAraide.

The Pictish Chronicle names the first king of the Picts as the eponymous "Cruidne filius Cinge".

Possible relationship to other groups
Early Irish writers used the name Cruthin to refer to both the north-eastern Irish group and to the Picts of Scotland. Likewise, the Scottish Gaelic word for a Pict is Cruithen or Cruithneach, and Pictland is Cruithentúath. It has thus been suggested that the Cruthin and Picts were the same people or were in some way linked. Professor T. F. O'Rahilly argued that the Qritani/Pritani were "the earliest inhabitants of these islands to whom a name can be assigned".

Other scholars disagree. Historian Francis John Byrne notes that although in Irish both groups were called by the same name, in Latin they had different names, with Picti being reserved for the Picts. Professor Dáibhí Ó Cróinín says the "notion that the Cruthin were 'Irish Picts' and were closely connected with the Picts of Scotland is quite mistaken", while Professor Kenneth H. Jackson wrote that the Cruthin "were not Picts, had no connection with the Picts, linguistic or otherwise, and are never called Picti by Irish writers". There is no archaeological evidence of a Pictish link and in archaeology the Cruthin are indistinguishable from their neighbours in Ireland. The records show that the Cruthin bore Irish names, spoke Irish and followed the Irish derbfine system of inheritance rather than the matrilineal system sometimes attributed to the Picts.

Possible linguistic connection between Cruthin and Picts is nevertheless mentioned in St. Andomnán's Life of St. Columba (c. 697-700 AD), in which it is stated that Columba needed to speak through an interpreter on his mission into Pictland (section XXXIII) (signifying that he could not understand the Pictish language), and that he brought with him two Irish Cruthin (St. Comgall and St. Canice) to translate for him.

Historian Alex Woolf suggested that the Dál Riata were a part of the Cruthin and that they were descended from the Epidii. Dál Riata was a Gaelic kingdom that included parts of western Scotland and northeastern Ireland. The Irish part of the kingdom was surrounded by Cruthin territory.

Modern politics and culture
In the 1970s, Unionist politician Ian Adamson proposed that the Cruthin were a British people who spoke a non-Celtic language and were the original inhabitants of Ulster. He argues that they were at war with the Irish Gaels for centuries, seeing the story of the Táin Bó Cúailnge as representing this; and argues that most of the Cruthin were driven to Scotland after the Battle of Moira (637), only for their descendants to return 1,000 years later in the Plantation of Ulster. Adamson suggests that the Gaelic Irish are not really native to Ulster and that the Ulster Scots have merely returned to their ancient lands. His theory has been adopted by some Ulster loyalists and Ulster Scots activists to counter Irish nationalism, and was promoted by elements in the Ulster Defence Association (UDA). They saw this new 'origin myth' as "a justification for their presence in Ireland and for partition of the country".

Historians, archaeologists and anthropologists have widely rejected Adamson's theory. Prof. Stephen Howe of the University of Bristol argues it was designed to provide ancient underpinnings for a militantly separate Ulster identity. Historian Peter Berresford Ellis likens it to Zionism. Archaeologists such as J. P. Mallory and T. E. McNeil note that the Cruthin are "archaeologically invisible"; there is no evidence of them being a distinct group and "there is not a single object or site that an archaeologist can declare to be distinctly Cruthin"; they further considered Adamson's claims "quite remarkable".

Much of Adamson's theories are based on the historical model put forward by Irish linguist T. F. O'Rahilly in 1946. Where Adamson differs is his claim that the Cruthin or Priteni were pre-Celtic as opposed to Celts themselves. However, this model has since been refuted by authors such as Kenneth H. Jackson and John T. Koch. There is a lack of archaeological evidence for O'Rahilly's theory, and it was conclusively shown to be false in the landmark 2017 publication of the "Irish DNA Atlas", which sets out in great detail the genealogical history and modern day makeup of the British Isles.

The asteroid 3753 Cruithne was named after the group.

Robert E. Howard's pulp hero Bran Mak Morn was characterised as "chief of the Cruithni Picts".

title: Cruthin


text:
Benozzo Gozzoli

Benozzo Gozzoli (born Benozzo di Lese; c. 1421 – 4 October 1497) was an Italian Renaissance painter from Florence. A pupil of Fra Angelico, Gozzoli is best known for a series of murals in the Magi Chapel of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi, depicting festive, vibrant processions with fine attention to detail and a pronounced International Gothic influence. The chapel's fresco cycle reveals a new Renaissance interest in nature with its realistic depiction of landscapes and vivid human portraits. Gozzoli is considered one of the most prolific fresco painters of his generation. While he was mainly active in Tuscany, he also worked in Umbria and Rome.

Apprenticeship
Gozzoli was born Benozzo di Lese, son of a tailor, in the village of Sant'Ilario a Colombano around 1421. His family moved to nearby Florence in 1427. According to the 16th century Italian biographer Giorgio Vasari, Gozzoli was a pupil and assistant of Fra Angelico in the early part of his career.

Gozzoli assisted Angelico in the execution of fresco decorations in the dormitory cells of the Convent of San Marco in Florence. Established contributions here include The Adoration of the Magi in Cosimo de' Medici's cell and the Women at the Tomb in a larger depiction of the Resurrection of Christ in cell 8. Like many other Early Renaissance painters, Benozzo was initially trained as a goldsmith as well as a painter.

Between 1444 and 1447, he was therefore able to collaborate with Lorenzo Ghiberti on the famous Gates of Paradise of the Florence Baptistery.

On 23 May 1447, Benozzo was with Fra Angelico in Rome, to where they were called by Pope Eugene IV to carry out fresco decorations in a chapel in the Vatican Palace. This chapel was later demolished, so nothing of these works remains. He then accompanied Angelico to Umbria, where they decorated a chapel vault in the Orvieto Cathedral.

Due to political complications in the city, they completed only two of the four vault webs and were again summoned to the Vatican, where the pair worked for Nicholas V in the Niccoline Chapel until June 1448. Gozzoli is assumed to have made significant contributions in the chapel's frescoes. Furthermore, the attribution of a 1449 Madonna and Child Giving Blessings in the church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva is disputed between Gozzoli and Fra Angelico. In Rome, Gozzoli also executed a fresco of St Anthony of Padua in the Basilica of Santa Maria in Aracoeli.

Both Fra Angelico and Lorenzo Ghiberti were to influence much of Gozzoli's work for the rest of his life. From Ghiberti he learned precision in depicting the finest details and how to illustrate a story vividly, while from Fra Angelico, he took his bright color palette, transferring it to the art of fresco painting.

In Umbria
In 1449, Gozzoli left Angelico and moved to Umbria. In the hilltown of Narni there is an Annunciation from 1450, signed OPU[S] BENOT[I] DE FLORENT[IA]. In the monastery of San Fortunato, near Montefalco, Gozzoli painted a Madonna and Child between St. Francis and St. Bernardine of Siena, and three other works. One of these, the altarpiece Madonna of the Girdle, is now in the Vatican Museums and shows the affinity of Benozzo's early style to Angelico's.

In 1450, Gozzoli received his first major independent commission from the monastery of S. Francesco in Montefalco. There, he filled the choir chapel with three registers of episodes from the life of St Francis of Assisi and various accessories, including portrait heads of Dante, Petrarch and Giotto. These works were completed in 1452, and are still marked by the style of Angelico, crossed here and there with a more distinctly Giottesque influence. In the same church, in the chapel of Saint Jerome, there is a fresco by Gozzoli of the Virgin and Saints, the Crucifixion and other subjects.

Gozzoli probably remained at Montefalco (with an interval at Viterbo) until 1456, employing Pier Antonio Mezzastris as an assistant. Then, he went to Perugia and painted a Virgin and Saints that is now in the local academy.

Return to Florence
That same year, Benozzo returned to his native city Florence, the epicenter of Quattrocento art. Between 1459 and 1461, Gozzoli painted what may be considered his most important works, the frescoes in the Magi Chapel of the Palazzo Medici-Riccardi. There, in his Journey of the Magi to Bethlehem and Angels in Adoration, he mastered a combination of complexity and subtlety, portraying a wealthy scene that encompasses realistic depictions of nature and vivid human portraits. In his Journey of the Magi, Gozzoli incorporated numerous portraits of his Medici patrons, their allies and prominent contemporary figures. Furthermore, he also included his self-portrait in the procession, with his name written around the rim of his cap. His frescoes in the Magi Chapel brought Gozzoli a great amount of fame and ensured him of new important commissions. One of these was an altarpiece for the Confraternity of the Purification in Florence, originally housed in the Convent of San Marco. The Virgin and Child Enthroned among Angels and Saints that he produced between 1461 and 1462 for this occasion now houses in the National Gallery, London.

San Gimignano
In 1463, likely in fear of the plague, Gozzoli left Florence for San Gimignano, where he executed some extensive works. Most prominent of these is his seventeen-panel fresco cycle on The Life of St Augustine, covering the entire apsidal chapel in the church of Sant'Agostino. In that same church Gozzoli also completed a composition of St. Sebastian Protecting the City from the Plague, in which he depicted St. Sebastian fully clothed and unhurt, thereby going against iconographic canon. In 1465, at the town's heart in the Collegiate Church of Santa Maria Assunta, Gozzoli furthermore painted a fresco of the Martyrdom of Sebastian. He stayed in San Gimignano until 1467, completing some further works in the city and its vicinity.

Pisa
In 1469, Gozzoli moved to Pisa and began working on his most extensive commission: the vast series of mural paintings in the Campo Santo edifice of Pisa. There, he depicted twenty-four subjects from the Old Testament, ranging from the Invention of Wine by Noah to the Visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon. He was contracted to paint three subjects per year for about ten ducats each. It appears, however, that this contract was not strictly adhered to, for the actual rate of painting was only three pictures in two years. Perhaps the great multitude of figures and accessories was accepted as a set-off against the slower rate of production.

By January 1470 he had executed the fresco of Noah and his Family, followed by the Curse of Ham, the Building of the Tower of Babel (which contains portraits of Cosimo de' Medici, the young Lorenzo, Angelo Poliziano and others), the Destruction of Sodom, the Victory of Abraham, the Marriages of Rebecca and of Rachel, the Life of Moses, etc. In the Cappella Ammannati, facing a gate of the Campo Santo, he also painted an Adoration of the Magi, wherein appears a portrait of himself.

All this enormous mass of work, in which Benozzo was probably assisted by Zanobi Machiavelli, was performed, in addition to several other pictures during his stay in Pisa (including the Glory of St. Thomas Aquinas, now in the Louvre), in sixteen years, lasting up to 1485. This is the latest date which can with certainty be assigned to any work from his hand. Gozzoli died in Pistoia in 1497, perhaps of a pestilence.

In 1478, as a token of their regard, the Pisan authorities had given him a tomb in the Campo Santo. He likewise had a house of his own in Pisa, and houses and land in Florence.

Trivia

 * The painters Francesco, Gerolamo, and Alesso di Benozzo were his sons and assisted him on various commissions.
 * The Master of the Small Figures identified by Longhi is the same painter called Alunno di Benozzo (pupil of Benozzo) by Berenson. The name is based on stylistic grounds.

Works

 * Women at the Tomb (1440–1441) – Fresco, San Marco, Florence
 * Adoration of the Magi (1440–1441) – Fresco, San Marco, Florence
 * Gates of Paradise (1444–1447, collaboration) – Gilded bronze doors, Museo dell'Opera del Duomo, Florence
 * Chapel of the Madonna di San Brizio (1447, collaboration) – Fresco, Orvieto Cathedral, Orvieto
 * Niccoline Chapel (1447–1449, collaboration) – Fresco, Apostolic Palace, Vatican City
 * The Virgin and Child with Angels (1447–1450) – Tempera on wood, 29.2 x 21.6 cm, National Gallery, London
 * Madonna and Child Giving Blessings (1449) – Tempera on silk on a wooden mount, 254 x 130 cm, Santa Maria sopra Minerva, Rome
 * St. Anthony of Padua (1450) – Panel, Santa Maria in Aracoeli, Rome
 * Madonna and Child between St Francis and St Bernardine of Siena (1450) – Fresco, San Fortunato, Montefalco
 * St Fortunatus Enthroned (1450) – Fresco, 200 x 110 cm, San Fortunato, Montefalco
 * Madonna and Child (1450) – Fresco, 250 x 135 cm, San Fortunato, Montefalco
 * Madonna of the Girdle (1450–1452) – Tempera on panel, 133 x 164 cm, Pinacoteca Vaticana, Vatican City
 * Madonna and Child Surrounded by Saints (1452) – Fresco, Cappella di San Gerolamo, San Francesco, Montefalco
 * The Departure of St Jerome from Antioch (1452) – Fresco, Cappella di San Gerolamo, San Francesco, Montefalco
 * St Jerome Pulling a Thorn from a Lion's Paw (1452) – Fresco, Cappella di San Gerolamo, San Francesco, Montefalco
 * Madonna and Child with Sts Francis and Bernardine, and Fra Jacopo (c. 1452) – Tempera on panel, 34 x 54 cm, Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
 * Madonna and Child with Sts John the Baptist, Peter, Jerome, and Paul (1456) – Tempera on panel, 122 x 212 cm, Galleria Nazionale dell'Umbria, Perugia
 * Procession of the Magi (1459–1460) – Frescoes, Magi Chapel, Palazzo Medici Riccardi, Florence
 * Madonna and Child (c. 1460) – Tempera on panel, 84.8 x 50.6 cm, Detroit Institute of Arts, Detroit
 * The Virgin and Child Enthroned among Angels and Saints (1461–1462) – Tempera on panel, 161.9 x 170.2 cm, National Gallery, London
 * St. Dominic Reuscitates Napoleone Orsini (1461) – Tempera on panel, 25 x 35 cm, Pinacoteca di Brera, Milan
 * Fall of Simon Magus (1461–1462) – Tempera on panel, 24 x 35,5 cm, Royal Collection, Hampton Court Palace, London
 * The Dance of Salome (1461–1462) – Tempera on panel, 23.8 x 34.3 cm, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
 * Histories of St. Augustine (1464–1465) – Frescoes, Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano
 * Four Evangelists (1464–1465) – Fresco, Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano
 * Saints (1464–1465) – Frescoes, Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano
 * St. Sebastian Intercessor (1464–1466) – Fresco, 527 x 248 cm, Sant'Agostino, San Gimignano
 * Martyrdom of St Sebastian (1465) – Tempera on panel, 525 x 378 cm, Collegiate Church, San Gimignano
 * Mystical Marriage of St. Catherine (1466) – Tempera on panel, 90 x 50 cm, Palazzo Gazzoli, Pinacoteca Comunale, Terni
 * Madonna and Child between Sts. Andrew and Prosper (Madonna dell'Umiltà; 1466) – Tempera on panel, 137 x 138 cm, Museo Civico, San Gimignano
 * Triumph of St. Thomas Aquinas (1471) – Tempera on panel, 230 x 102 cm, Louvre, Paris
 * The Vintage and Drunkenness of Noah (1469–1484) – Fresco, Campo Santo, Pisa
 * Histories of the Holy Virgin, Tabernacle with the Madonna della Tosse (1484) – Transferred frescoes, Museo Benozzo Gozzoli di Castelfiorentino
 * Deposition of Christ (1491) – Also called Descent from the Cross. Oil on canvas, 180 x 300 cm, Museo Horne, Florence.

title: Benozzo Gozzoli