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Moorish Science Temple of America

The Moorish Science Temple of America is an American national and religious organization founded by Noble Drew Ali (born as Timothy Drew) in the early 20th century. He based it on the premise that African Americans are descendants of the Moabites and thus are "Moorish" by nationality, and Islamic by faith. Ali put together elements of major traditions to develop a message of personal transformation through historical education, racial pride, and spiritual uplift. His doctrine was also intended to provide African Americans with a sense of identity in the world and to promote civic involvement.

An organization with headquarters in Baltimore, Maryland, claiming to be "the ONLY Moorish Science Temple teaching the full National side of the Moorish Movement", is the Moorish Science Temple, with registered business names of the Divine and National Movement of North America, Inc., and Moorish American National Republic.

One primary tenet of the Moorish Science Temple is the belief that African Americans are of "Moorish" descent, specifically from the "Moroccan Empire". According to Ali, this area included other countries around Northwest Africa. To join the movement, individuals had to proclaim their "Moorish nationality". They were given "nationality cards". In religious texts, adherents refer to themselves racially as "Asiatics", as the Middle East is also western Asia. Adherents of this movement are known as "Moorish-American Moslems" and are called "Moorish Scientists" in some circles.

The Moorish Science Temple of America was incorporated under the Illinois Religious Corporation Act 805 ILCS 110. Timothy Drew, known to its members as Prophet Noble Drew Ali, founded the Moorish Science Temple of America in 1913 in Newark, New Jersey, a booming industrial city. After some difficulties, Ali moved to Chicago, establishing a center there, as well as temples in other major cities. The movement expanded rapidly during the late 1920s. The quick expansion of the Moorish Science Temple arose in large part from the search for identity and context among black Americans at the time of the Great Migration to northern cities, as they were becoming an urbanized people.

Competing factions developed among the congregations and leaders, especially after the death of the charismatic Ali. Three independent organizations developed from this ferment. The founding of the Nation of Islam by Wallace Fard Muhammad in 1930 also created competition for members. In the 1930s membership was estimated at 30,000, with one third in Chicago. During the postwar years, the Moorish Science Temple of America continued to increase in membership, albeit at a slower rate.

Biography of Drew
Timothy Drew was believed to have been born on January 8, 1886, in North Carolina, United States. Sources differ as to his background and upbringing: one reports he was the son of two former slaves who was adopted by a tribe of Cherokee; another describes Drew as the son of a Moroccan Muslim father and a Cherokee mother. In 2014 an article in the online Journal of Race Ethnicity and Religion attempted to link Timothy Drew to one Thomas Drew, born January 8, 1886, using census records, a World War I draft card, and street directory records.

Founding of the Moorish Science Temple
Drew Ali reported that during his travels, he met with a high priest of Egyptian magic. In one version of Drew Ali's biography, the leader saw him as a reincarnation of the founder. In others, he says that the priest considered him a reincarnation of Jesus, the Buddha, Muhammad and other religious prophets. According to the biography, the high priest trained Ali in mysticism and gave him a "lost section" of the Quran.

This text came to be known as the Holy Koran of the Moorish Science Temple of America. It is also known as the "Circle Seven Koran" because of its cover, which features a red "7" surrounded by a blue circle. The first 19 chapters are from The Aquarian Gospel of Jesus the Christ, published in 1908 by esoteric Ohio preacher Levi Dowling. In The Aquarian Gospel, Dowling described Jesus' supposed travels in India, Egypt, and Palestine during the years of his life which are not accounted for by the New Testament.

Chapters 20 through 45 are borrowed from the Rosicrucian work, Unto Thee I Grant with minor changes in style and wording. They are instructions on how to live, and the education and duties of adherents.

Drew Ali wrote the last four chapters of the Circle Seven Koran himself. In these he wrote:

"The fallen sons and daughters of the Asiatic Nation of North America need to learn to love instead of hate; and to know of their higher self and lower self. This is the uniting of the Holy Koran of Mecca for teaching and instructing all Moorish Americans, etc. The key of civilization was and is in the hands of the Asiatic nations. The Moorish, who were the ancient Moabites, and the founders of the Holy City of Mecca."

Drew Ali and his followers used this material to claim, "Jesus and his followers were Asiatic." ("Asiatic" was the term Drew Ali used for all dark or olive-colored people; he labeled all whites as European. He suggested that all Asiatics should be allied.)

Drew Ali crafted Moorish Science from a variety of sources, a "network of alternative spiritualities that focused on the power of the individual to bring about personal transformation through mystical knowledge of the divine within". In the inter-war years in Chicago and other major cities, he used these concepts to preach racial pride and uplift. His approach appealed to thousands of African Americans who had left severely oppressive conditions in the South through the Great Migration and faced struggles in new urban environments.

Practices and beliefs
Ali believed that African Americans are all Moors, who he claimed were descended from the ancient Moabites (the kingdom of which he says is now known as Morocco, as opposed to the ancient Canaanite kingdom of Moab, as the name suggests). This claim does not align with scientific studies of human history, such as the genetics of African-Americans and genetic history of sub-Saharan Africa. He claimed that Islam and its teachings are more beneficial to their earthly salvation, and that their "true nature" had been "withheld" from them. In the traditions he founded, male members of the Temple wear a fez or turban as head covering; women wear a turban.

They added the suffixes Bey or El to their surnames, to signify Moorish heritage as well as their taking on the new life as Moorish Americans. It was also a way to claim and proclaim a new identity over that lost to the enslavement of their ancestors. These suffixes were a sign to others that while one's African tribal name may never be known to them, European names given by their enslavers were not theirs, either.

As Drew Ali began his version of teaching the Moorish-Americans to become better citizens, he made speeches like, "A Divine Warning By the Prophet for the Nations", in which he urged them to reject derogatory labels, such as "Black", "colored", and "Negro". He urged Americans of all races to reject hate and embrace love. He believed that Chicago would become a second Mecca.

The ushers of the Temple wore black fezzes. The leader of a particular temple was known as a Grand Sheik, or Governor. Noble Drew Ali had several wives. According to The Chicago Defender, he claimed the power to marry and divorce at will.

Early history
In 1913, Drew Ali formed the Canaanite Temple in Newark, New Jersey. He left the city after agitating people with his views on race. Drew Ali and his followers migrated, while planting congregations in Philadelphia; Washington, D.C., and Detroit. Finally, Drew Ali settled in Chicago in 1925, saying the Midwest was "closer to Islam". The following year he officially registered Temple No. 9.

There he instructed followers not to be confrontational but to build up their people to be respected. In this way, they might take their place in the United States by developing a cultural identity that was congruent with Drew Ali's beliefs on personhood. In the late 1920s, journalists estimated the Moorish Science Temple had 35,000 members in 17 temples in cities across the Midwest and upper South. It was reportedly studied and watched by the Chicago police.

Building Moorish-American businesses was part of their program, and in that was similar to Marcus Garvey's Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League and the later Nation of Islam. By 1928, members of the Moorish Science Temple of America had obtained some respectability within Chicago and Illinois, as they were featured prominently and favorably in the pages of The Chicago Defender, an African-American newspaper, and conspicuously collaborated with African American politician and businessman Daniel Jackson.

Drew Ali attended the January 1929 inauguration of Louis L. Emmerson, as 27th Governor of Illinois in the state capital of Springfield. The Chicago Defender stated that his trip included "interviews with many distinguished citizens from Chicago, who greeted him on every hand." With the growth in its population and membership, Chicago was established as the center of the movement.

Internal split and murder
In early 1929, following a conflict over funds, Claude Green-Bey, the business manager of Chicago Temple No. 1 split from the Moorish Science Temple of America. He declared himself Grand Sheik and took a number of members with him. On March 15, Green-Bey was stabbed to death at the Unity Hall of the Moorish Science Temple, on Indiana Avenue in Chicago.

Drew Ali was out of town at the time, as he was dealing with former Supreme Grand Governor Lomax Bey (professor Ezaldine Muhammad), who had supported Green-Bey's attempted coup. When Drew Ali returned to Chicago, the police arrested him and other members of the community on suspicion of having instigated the killing. No indictment was sworn for Drew Ali at that time.

The death of Drew Ali
Shortly after his release by the police, Drew Ali died at age 43 at his home in Chicago on July 20, 1929. Although the exact circumstances of his death are unknown, the Certificate of Death stated that Noble Drew Ali died from "tuberculosis broncho-pneumonia". Despite the official report, many of his followers speculated that his death was caused by injuries from the police or from other members of the faith. Others thought it was due to pneumonia. One Moor told The Chicago Defender, "The Prophet was not ill; his work was done and he laid his head upon the lap of one of his followers and passed out."

Succession and schism

The death of Drew Ali brought out a number of candidates to succeed him. Brother Edward Mealy El stated that he had been declared Drew Ali's successor by Drew Ali himself. In August, within a month of Drew Ali's death, John Givens El, Drew Ali's chauffeur, declared that he was Drew Ali reincarnated. He is said to have fainted while working on Drew Ali's automobile and "the sign of the star and crescent [appeared] in his eyes".

At the September Unity Conference, Givens again made his claim of reincarnation. However, the governors of the Moorish Science Temple of America declared Charles Kirkman Bey to be the successor to Drew Ali and named him Grand Advisor.

With the support of several temples each, Mealy El and Givens El both went on to lead separate factions of the Moorish Science Temple. All three factions (Kirkman Bey, Mealy El, and Givens El) are active today.

On September 25, 1929, Kirkman Bey's wife reported to the Chicago police his apparent kidnapping by one Ira Johnson. Accompanied by two Moorish Science members, the police visited the home of Johnson, when they were met by gunfire. The attack escalated into a shoot-out that spilled into the surrounding neighborhood. In the end, a policeman as well as a member were killed in the gun battle, and a second policeman later died of his wounds. The police took 60 people into police custody, and a reported 1000 police officers patrolled the Chicago South Side that evening. Johnson and two others were later convicted of murder.

Kirkman Bey went on to serve as Grand Advisor of one of the most important factions until 1959, when the reins were given to F. Nelson-Bey.

Nation of Islam
The community was further split when Wallace Fard Muhammad, known within the temple as David Ford-el, also claimed (or was taken by some) to be the reincarnation of Drew Ali. When his leadership was rejected, Ford El broke away from the Moorish Science Temple. He moved to Detroit, where he formed his own group, an organization that would become the Nation of Islam. The Nation of Islam denied any historical connection with the Moorish Science Temple until February 26, 2014, when Louis Farrakhan acknowledged the contribution(s) of Noble Drew Ali to the Nation of Islam and their founding principles.

The 1930s
Despite the turmoil and defections, the movement continued to grow in the 1930s. It is estimated that membership in the 1930s reached 30,000. There were major congregations in Philadelphia, Detroit, and Chicago.

One-third of the members, or 10,000, lived in Chicago, the center of the movement. There were congregations in numerous other cities where African Americans had migrated in the early 20th century. The group published several magazines: one was the Moorish Guide National. During the 1930s and 1940s, continued surveillance by police (and later the FBI) caused the Moors to become more withdrawn and critical of the government.

FBI surveillance
During the 1940s, the Moorish Science Temple (specifically the Kirkman Bey faction) came to the attention of the FBI, who investigated claims of members committing subversive activities by adhering to and spreading of Japanese propaganda. The investigation failed to find any substantial evidence, and the investigations were dropped. The federal agency later investigated the organization in 1953 for violation of the Selective Service Act of 1948 and sedition. In September 1953, the Department of Justice determined that prosecution was not warranted for the alleged violations. The file that the FBI created on the temple grew to 3,117 pages during its lifetime. They never found any evidence of any connection or much sympathy of the temple's members for Japan.

El Rukn connection
In 1976 Jeff Fort, leader of Chicago's Black P Stone Nation, announced at his parole from prison in 1976 that he had converted to Islam. Moving to Milwaukee, Fort associated himself with the Moorish Science Temple of America. It is unclear whether he officially joined or was instead rejected by its members.

In 1978, Fort returned to Chicago and changed the name of his gang to El Rukn ("the foundation" in Arabic), also known as "Circle Seven El Rukn Moorish Science Temple of America" and the "Moorish Science Temple, El Rukn tribe". Scholars are divided over the nature of the relationship, if any, between El Rukn and the Moorish Science Temple of America. Fort reportedly hoped that an apparent affiliation with a religious organization would discourage law enforcement.

1980–2000s

In 1984 the Chicago congregation bought a building from Buddhist monks in Ukrainian Village, which continues to be used for Temple No. 9. Demographic and cultural changes have decreased the attraction of young people to the Moorish Science Temple. Only about 200 members attended a convention in 2007, rather than the thousands of the past. In the early 2000s, the temples in Chicago, Philadelphia, Detroit, and Washington, D.C., had about 200 members each, and many were older people.

On July 15, 2019, Philadelphia mayor Jim Kenney, as part of a diversity program, proclaimed July 15 to be "Morocco Day". The city mistakenly invited members of the local Moorish Science temple to the ceremony, believing them to be of actual Moroccan descent.

Moorish sovereign citizens
During the 1990s, some former followers of the Moorish Science Temple of America and the Washitaw Nation formed an offshoot of the sovereign citizen movement which came to be known as Moorish sovereign citizens. Members believe the United States federal government to be illegitimate, which they attribute to a variety of factors including Reconstruction following the U.S. Civil War and the abandonment of the gold standard in the 1930s. The number of Moorish sovereign citizens is uncertain but possibly ranges between 3,000 and 6,000 organized mostly in small groups of several dozen. Moorish sovereign citizens believe black people constitute an elite class within American society, despite the fact that much of their underlying ideology originated among white supremacist groups.

The Southern Poverty Law Center classifies Moorish sovereign citizens as an extremist anti-government group. Tactics used by the group include filing false deeds and property claims, false liens against government officials, frivolous legal motions to overwhelm courts, and invented legalese used in court appearances and filings. Various groups and individuals identifying as Moorish sovereign citizens have used the unorthodox "quantum grammar" created by David Wynn Miller. An article syndicated by the Associated Press states that the Temple has disavowed any affiliation with those responsible, calling them "radical and subversive fringe groups" and also states that "Moorish leaders are looking into legal remedies." The article also quotes an academic who has been advising authorities on how to distinguish registered Temple members from impostors in the sovereign citizen movement.

title: Moorish Science Temple of America


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Biosignature

A biosignature (sometimes called chemical fossil or molecular fossil) is any substance – such as an element, isotope, molecule, or phenomenon – that provides scientific evidence of past or present life on a planet. Measurable attributes of life include its complex physical or chemical structures, its use of free energy, and the production of biomass and wastes.

The field of astrobiology uses biosignatures as evidence in the search for past or present extraterrestrial life.

Types
In general, biosignatures can be grouped into ten broad categories:

 * 1) Isotope patterns: Isotopic evidence or patterns that require biological processes.
 * 2) Chemistry: Chemical features that require biological activity.
 * 3) Organic matter: Organics formed by biological processes.
 * 4) Minerals: Minerals or biomineral-phases whose composition and/or morphology indicate biological activity (e.g., biomagnetite).
 * 5) Microscopic structures and textures: Biologically formed cements, microtextures, microfossils, and films.
 * 6) Macroscopic physical structures and textures: Structures that indicate microbial ecosystems, biofilms (e.g., stromatolites), or fossils of larger organisms.
 * 7) Temporal variability: Variations in time of atmospheric gases, reflectivity, or macroscopic appearance that indicates life's presence.
 * 8) Surface reflectance features: Large-scale reflectance features due to biological pigments could be detected remotely.
 * 9) Atmospheric gases: Gases formed by metabolic and/or aqueous processes, which may be present on a planet-wide scale.
 * 10) Technosignatures: Signatures that indicate a technologically advanced civilization.

Viability
Determining whether a potential biosignature is worth investigating is a fundamentally complicated process. Scientists must consider any and every possible alternate explanation before concluding that something is a true biosignature. Such consideration entails investigating the minute details that make other planets unique and understanding when there is a deviation from the expected non-biological processes present on a planet. In the case of a planet with life, these differences can be extremely small or not present at all, adding to the difficulties of discovering a biosignature. Years of scientific studies have culminated in three criteria that a potential biosignature must meet to be considered viable for further research: Reliability, survivability, and detectability.

Reliability
A biosignature must be able to dominate over all other processes that may produce similar physical, spectral, and chemical features. When investigating a potential biosignature, scientists must carefully consider all other possible origins of the biosignature in question. Many forms of life are known to mimic geochemical reactions. One of the theories on the origin of life involves molecules developing the ability to catalyse geochemical reactions to exploit the energy being released by them. These are some of the earliest known metabolisms (see methanogenesis). In such case, scientists might search for a disequilibrium in the geochemical cycle, which would point to a reaction happening more or less often than it should. A disequilibrium such as this could be interpreted as an indication of life.

Survivability
A biosignature must be able to last for long enough so that a probe, telescope, or human can be able to detect it. A consequence of a biological organism's use of metabolic reactions for energy is the production of metabolic waste. In addition, the structure of an organism can be preserved as a fossil and we know that some fossils on Earth are as old as 3.5 billion years. These byproducts can make excellent biosignatures since they provide direct evidence for life. However, in order to be a viable biosignature, a byproduct must subsequently remain intact so that scientists may discover it.

Detectability
A biosignature must be detectable with the current technology to be relevant in scientific investigation. This seems to be an obvious statement, however, there are many scenarios in which life may be present on a planet yet remain undetectable because of human-caused limitations.

False positives
Every possible biosignature is associated with its own set of unique false positive mechanisms or non-biological processes that can mimic the detectable feature of a biosignature. An important example is using oxygen as a biosignature. On Earth, the majority of life is centred around oxygen. It is a byproduct of photosynthesis and is subsequently used by other life forms to breathe. Oxygen is also readily detectable in spectra, with multiple bands across a relatively wide wavelength range, therefore, it makes a very good biosignature. However, finding oxygen alone in a planet's atmosphere is not enough to confirm a biosignature because of the false-positive mechanisms associated with it. One possibility is that oxygen can build up abiotically via photolysis if there is a low inventory of non-condensable gasses or if the planet loses a lot of water. Finding and distinguishing a biosignature from its potential false-positive mechanisms is one of the most complicated parts of testing for viability because it relies on human ingenuity to break an abiotic-biological degeneracy, if nature allows.

False negatives
Opposite to false positives, false negative biosignatures arise in a scenario where life may be present on another planet, but some processes on that planet make potential biosignatures undetectable. This is an ongoing problem and area of research in preparation for future telescopes that will be capable of observing exoplanetary atmospheres.

Human limitations
There are many ways in which humans may limit the viability of a potential biosignature. The resolution of a telescope becomes important when vetting certain false-positive mechanisms, and many current telescopes do not have the capabilities to observe at the resolution needed to investigate some of these. In addition, probes and telescopes are worked on by huge collaborations of scientists with varying interests. As a result, new probes and telescopes carry a variety of instruments that are a compromise to everyone's unique inputs. For a different type of scientist to detect something unrelated to biosignatures, a sacrifice may have to be made in the capability of an instrument to search for biosignatures.

Geomicrobiology
The ancient record on Earth provides an opportunity to see what geochemical signatures are produced by microbial life and how these signatures are preserved over geologic time. Some related disciplines such as geochemistry, geobiology, and geomicrobiology often use biosignatures to determine if living organisms are or were present in a sample. These possible biosignatures include: (a) microfossils and stromatolites; (b) molecular structures (biomarkers) and isotopic compositions of carbon, nitrogen and hydrogen in organic matter; (c) multiple sulfur and oxygen isotope ratios of minerals; and (d) abundance relationships and isotopic compositions of redox-sensitive metals (e.g., Fe, Mo, Cr, and rare earth elements).

For example, the particular fatty acids measured in a sample can indicate which types of bacteria and archaea live in that environment. Another example is the long-chain fatty alcohols with more than 23 atoms that are produced by planktonic bacteria. When used in this sense, geochemists often prefer the term biomarker. Another example is the presence of straight-chain lipids in the form of alkanes, alcohols, and fatty acids with 20–36 carbon atoms in soils or sediments. Peat deposits are an indication of originating from the epicuticular wax of higher plants.

Life processes may produce a range of biosignatures such as nucleic acids, lipids, proteins, amino acids, kerogen-like material and various morphological features that are detectable in rocks and sediments. Microbes often interact with geochemical processes, leaving features in the rock record indicative of biosignatures. For example, bacterial micrometer-sized pores in carbonate rocks resemble inclusions under transmitted light, but have distinct sizes, shapes, and patterns (swirling or dendritic) and are distributed differently from common fluid inclusions. A potential biosignature is a phenomenon that may have been produced by life, but for which alternate abiotic origins may also be possible.

Morphology
Another possible biosignature might be morphology since the shape and size of certain objects may potentially indicate the presence of past or present life. For example, microscopic magnetite crystals in the Martian meteorite ALH84001 are one of the longest-debated of several potential biosignatures in that specimen. The possible biomineral studied in the Martian ALH84001 meteorite includes putative microbial fossils, tiny rock-like structures whose shape was a potential biosignature because it resembled known bacteria. Most scientists ultimately concluded that these were far too small to be fossilized cells. A consensus that has emerged from these discussions, and is now seen as a critical requirement, is the demand for further lines of evidence in addition to any morphological data that supports such extraordinary claims. Currently, the scientific consensus is that "morphology alone cannot be used unambiguously as a tool for primitive life detection". Interpretation of morphology is notoriously subjective, and its use alone has led to numerous errors of interpretation.

Chemistry
No single compound will prove life once existed. Rather, it will be distinctive patterns present in any organic compounds showing a process of selection. For example, membrane lipids left behind by degraded cells will be concentrated, have a limited size range, and comprise an even number of carbons. Similarly, life only uses left-handed amino acids. Biosignatures need not be chemical, however, and can also be suggested by a distinctive magnetic biosignature.

Chemical biosignatures include any suite of complex organic compounds composed of carbon, hydrogen, and other elements or heteroatoms such as oxygen, nitrogen, and sulfur, which are found in crude oils, bitumen, petroleum source rock and eventually show simplification in molecular structure from the parent organic molecules found in all living organisms. They are complex carbon-based molecules derived from formerly living organisms. Each biomarker is quite distinctive when compared to its counterparts, as the time required for organic matter to convert to crude oil is characteristic. Most biomarkers also usually have high molecular mass.

Some examples of biomarkers found in petroleum are pristane, triterpanes, steranes, phytane and porphyrin. Such petroleum biomarkers are produced via chemical synthesis using biochemical compounds as their main constituents. For instance, triterpenes are derived from biochemical compounds found on land angiosperm plants. The abundance of petroleum biomarkers in small amounts in its reservoir or source rock make it necessary to use sensitive and differential approaches to analyze the presence of those compounds. The techniques typically used include gas chromatography and mass spectrometry.

Petroleum biomarkers are highly important in petroleum inspection as they help indicate the depositional territories and determine the geological properties of oils. For instance, they provide more details concerning their maturity and the source material. In addition to that they can also be good parameters of age, hence they are technically referred to as "chemical fossils". The ratio of pristane to phytane (pr:ph) is the geochemical factor that allows petroleum biomarkers to be successful indicators of their depositional environments.

Geologists and geochemists use biomarker traces found in crude oils and their related source rock to unravel the stratigraphic origin and migration patterns of presently existing petroleum deposits. The dispersion of biomarker molecules is also quite distinctive for each type of oil and its source; hence, they display unique fingerprints. Another factor that makes petroleum biomarkers more preferable than their counterparts is that they have a high tolerance to environmental weathering and corrosion. Such biomarkers are very advantageous and often used in the detection of oil spillage in the major waterways. The same biomarkers can also be used to identify contamination in lubricant oils. However, biomarker analysis of untreated rock cuttings can be expected to produce misleading results. This is due to potential hydrocarbon contamination and biodegradation in the rock samples.

Atmospheric
The atmospheric properties of exoplanets are of particular importance, as atmospheres provide the most likely observables for the near future, including habitability indicators and biosignatures. Over billions of years, the processes of life on a planet would result in a mixture of chemicals unlike anything that could form in an ordinary chemical equilibrium. For example, large amounts of oxygen and small amounts of methane are generated by life on Earth.

An exoplanet's color—or reflectance spectrum—can also be used as a biosignature due to the effect of pigments that are uniquely biologic in origin such as the pigments of phototrophic and photosynthetic life forms. Scientists use the Earth as an example of this when looked at from far away (see Pale Blue Dot) as a comparison to worlds observed outside of our solar system. Ultraviolet radiation on life forms could also induce biofluorescence in visible wavelengths that may be detected by the new generation of space observatories under development.

Some scientists have reported methods of detecting hydrogen and methane in extraterrestrial atmospheres. Habitability indicators and biosignatures must be interpreted within a planetary and environmental context. For example, the presence of oxygen and methane together could indicate the kind of extreme thermochemical disequilibrium generated by life. Two of the top 14,000 proposed atmospheric biosignatures are dimethyl sulfide and chloromethane. An alternative biosignature is the combination of methane and carbon dioxide.

The detection of phosphine in the atmosphere of Venus is being investigated as a possible biosignature.

Atmospheric disequilibrium
A disequilibrium in the abundance of gas species in an atmosphere can be interpreted as a biosignature. Life has greatly altered the atmosphere on Earth in a way that would be unlikely for any other processes to replicate. Therefore, a departure from equilibrium is evidence for a biosignature. For example, the abundance of methane in the Earth's atmosphere is orders of magnitude above the equilibrium value due to the constant methane flux that life on the surface emits. Depending on the host star, a disequilibrium in the methane abundance on another planet may indicate a biosignature.

Agnostic biosignatures
Because the only form of known life is that on Earth, the search for biosignatures is heavily influenced by the products that life produces on Earth. However, life that is different than life on Earth may still produce biosignatures that are detectable by humans, even though nothing is known about their specific biology. This form of biosignature is called an "agnostic biosignature" because it is independent of the form of life that produces it. It is widely agreed that all life–no matter how different it is from life on Earth–needs a source of energy to thrive. This must involve some sort of chemical disequilibrium, which can be exploited for metabolism. Geological processes are independent of life, and if scientists can constrain the geology well enough on another planet, then they know what the particular geologic equilibrium for that planet should be. A deviation from geological equilibrium can be interpreted as an atmospheric disequilibrium and agnostic biosignature.

Antibiosignatures
In the same way that detecting a biosignature would be a significant discovery about a planet, finding evidence that life is not present can also be an important discovery about a planet. Life relies on redox imbalances to metabolize the resources available into energy. The evidence that nothing on an earth is taking advantage of the "free lunch" available due to an observed redox imbalance is called antibiosignatures.

Polyelectrolytes
The Polyelectrolyte theory of the gene is a proposed generic biosignature. In 2002, Steven A. Benner and Daniel Hutter proposed that for a linear genetic biopolymer dissolved in water, such as DNA, to undergo Darwinian evolution anywhere in the universe, it must be a polyelectrolyte, a polymer containing repeating ionic charges. Benner and others proposed methods for concentrating and analyzing these polyelectrolyte genetic biopolymers on Mars, Enceladus, and Europa.

Methane on Mars
The presence of methane in the atmosphere of Mars is an area of ongoing research and a highly contentious subject. Because of its tendency to be destroyed in the atmosphere by photochemistry, the presence of excess methane on a planet can indicate that there must be an active source. With life being the strongest source of methane on Earth, observing a disequilibrium in the methane abundance on another planet could be a viable biosignature.

Since 2004, there have been several detections of methane in the Mars atmosphere by a variety of instruments onboard orbiters and ground-based landers on the Martian surface as well as Earth-based telescopes. These missions reported values anywhere between a 'background level' ranging between 0.24 and 0.65 parts per billion by volume (p.p.b.v.) to as much as 45 ± 10 p.p.b.v.

However, recent measurements using the ACS and NOMAD instruments on board the ESA-Roscosmos ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter have failed to detect any methane over a range of latitudes and longitudes on both Martian hemispheres. These highly sensitive instruments were able to put an upper bound on the overall methane abundance at 0.05 p.p.b.v. This nondetection is a major contradiction to what was previously observed with less sensitive instruments and will remain a strong argument in the ongoing debate over the presence of methane in the Martian atmosphere.

Furthermore, current photochemical models cannot explain the presence of methane in the atmosphere of Mars and its reported rapid variations in space and time. Neither its fast appearance nor disappearance can be explained yet. To rule out a biogenic origin for the methane, a future probe or lander hosting a mass spectrometer will be needed, as the isotopic proportions of carbon-12 to carbon-14 in methane could distinguish between a biogenic and non-biogenic origin, similarly to the use of the δ13C standard for recognizing biogenic methane on Earth.

Martian atmosphere
The Martian atmosphere contains high abundances of photochemically produced CO and H2, which are reducing molecules. Mars' atmosphere is otherwise mostly oxidizing, leading to a source of untapped energy that life could exploit if it used by a metabolism compatible with one or both of these reducing molecules. Because these molecules can be observed, scientists use this as evidence for an antibiosignature. Scientists have used this concept as an argument against life on Mars.

Missions inside the Solar System
Astrobiological exploration is founded upon the premise that biosignatures encountered in space will be recognizable as extraterrestrial life. The usefulness of a biosignature is determined not only by the probability of life creating it but also by the improbability of non-biological (abiotic) processes producing it. Concluding that evidence of an extraterrestrial life form (past or present) has been discovered requires proving that a possible biosignature was produced by the activities or remains of life. As with most scientific discoveries, discovery of a biosignature will require evidence building up until no other explanation exists.

Possible examples of a biosignature include complex organic molecules or structures whose formation is virtually unachievable in the absence of life:

 * 1) Cellular and extracellular morphologies
 * 2) Biomolecules in rocks
 * 3) Bio-organic molecular structures
 * 4) Chirality
 * 5) Biogenic minerals
 * 6) Biogenic isotope patterns in minerals and organic compounds
 * 7) Atmospheric gases
 * 8) Photosynthetic pigments

The Viking missions to Mars
The Viking missions to Mars in the 1970s conducted the first experiments which were explicitly designed to look for biosignatures on another planet. Each of the two Viking landers carried three life-detection experiments which looked for signs of metabolism; however, the results were declared inconclusive.

Mars Science Laboratory
The Curiosity rover from the Mars Science Laboratory mission, with its Curiosity rover is currently assessing the potential past and present habitability of the Martian environment and is attempting to detect biosignatures on the surface of Mars. Considering the MSL instrument payload package, the following classes of biosignatures are within the MSL detection window: organism morphologies (cells, body fossils, casts), biofabrics (including microbial mats), diagnostic organic molecules, isotopic signatures, evidence of biomineralization and bioalteration, spatial patterns in chemistry, and biogenic gases. The Curiosity rover targets outcrops to maximize the probability of detecting 'fossilized' organic matter preserved in sedimentary deposits.

ExoMars Orbiter
The 2016 ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter (TGO) is a Mars telecommunications orbiter and atmospheric gas analyzer mission. It delivered the Schiaparelli EDM lander and then began to settle into its science orbit to map the sources of methane on Mars and other gases, and in doing so, will help select the landing site for the Rosalind Franklin rover to be launched in 2022. The primary objective of the Rosalind Franklin rover mission is the search for biosignatures on the surface and subsurface by using a drill able to collect samples down to a depth of 2 m, away from the destructive radiation that bathes the surface.

Mars 2020 Rover
The Mars 2020 rover, which launched in 2020, is intended to investigate an astrobiologically relevant ancient environment on Mars, investigate its surface geological processes and history, including the assessment of its past habitability, the possibility of past life on Mars, and potential for preservation of biosignatures within accessible geological materials. In addition, it will cache the most interesting samples for possible future transport to Earth.

Titan Dragonfly
NASA's Dragonfly lander/aircraft concept is proposed to launch in 2025 and would seek evidence of biosignatures on the organic-rich surface and atmosphere of Titan, as well as study its possible prebiotic primordial soup. Titan is the largest moon of Saturn and is widely believed to have a large subsurface ocean consisting of a salty brine. In addition, scientists believe that Titan may have the conditions necessary to promote prebiotic chemistry, making it a prime candidate for biosignature discovery.

Europa Clipper
NASA's Europa Clipper probe is designed as a flyby mission to Jupiter's smallest Galilean moon, Europa. Set to launch in 2024, this probe will investigate the potential for habitability on Europa. Europa is one of the best candidates for biosignature discovery in the Solar System because of the scientific consensus that it retains a subsurface ocean, with two to three times the volume of water on Earth. Evidence for this subsurface ocean includes:

 * Voyager 1 (1979): The first close-up photos of Europa are taken. Scientists propose that a subsurface ocean could cause the tectonic-like marks on the surface.
 * Galileo (1997): The magnetometer aboard this probe detected a subtle change in the magnetic field near Europa. This was later interpreted as a disruption in the expected magnetic field due to the current induction in a conducting layer on Europa. The composition of this conducting layer is consistent with a salty subsurface ocean.
 * Hubble Space Telescope (2012): An image was taken of Europa which showed evidence for a plume of water vapor coming off the surface.

The Europa Clipper probe will carry instruments to help confirm the existence and composition of a subsurface ocean and thick icy layer. In addition, it will map the surface to study features that may point to tectonic activity due to a subsurface ocean.

Enceladus
Although there are no set plans to search for biosignatures on Saturn's sixth-largest moon, Enceladus, the prospects of biosignature discovery there are exciting enough to warrant several mission concepts that may be funded in the future. Similar to Jupiter's moon Europa, there is much evidence for a subsurface ocean to also exist on Enceladus. Plumes of water vapor were first observed in 2005 by the Cassini mission and were later determined to contain salt as well as organic compounds. In 2014, more evidence was presented using gravimetric measurements on Enceladus to conclude that there is in fact a large reservoir of water underneath an icy surface. Mission design concepts include:

 * Enceladus Life Finder (ELF)
 * Enceladus Life Signatures and Habitability
 * Enceladus Organic Analyzer
 * Enceladus Explorer (En-Ex)
 * Explorer of Enceladus and Titan (E2T)
 * Journey to Enceladus and Titan (JET)
 * Life Investigation For Enceladus (LIFE)
 * Testing the Habitability of Enceladus's Ocean (THEO)

All of these concept missions have similar science goals: To assess the habitability of Enceladus and search for biosignatures, in line with the strategic map for exploring the ocean-world Enceladus.

Searching outside of the Solar System
At 4.2 light-years (1.3 parsecs, 40 trillion km, or 25 trillion miles) away from Earth, the closest potentially habitable exoplanet is Proxima Centauri b, which was discovered in 2016. This means it would take more than 18,100 years to get there if a vessel could consistently travel as fast as the Juno spacecraft (250,000 kilometers per hour or 150,000 miles per hour). It is currently not feasible to send humans or even probes to search for biosignatures outside of the Solar System. The only way to search for biosignatures outside of the Solar System is by observing exoplanets with telescopes.

There have been no plausible or confirmed biosignature detections outside of the Solar System. Despite this, it is a rapidly growing field of research due to the prospects of the next generation of telescopes. The James Webb Space Telescope, which launched in December 2021, will be a promising next step in the search for biosignatures. Although its wavelength range and resolution will not be compatible with some of the more important atmospheric biosignature gas bands like oxygen, it will still be able to detect some evidence for oxygen false positive mechanisms.

The new generation of ground-based 30-meter class telescopes (Thirty Meter Telescope and Extremely Large Telescope) will have the ability to take high-resolution spectra of exoplanet atmospheres at a variety of wavelengths. These telescopes will be capable of distinguishing some of the more difficult false positive mechanisms such as the abiotic buildup of oxygen via photolysis. In addition, their large collecting area will enable high angular resolution, making direct imaging studies more feasible.

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

title: Biosignature


text:
Zona Gale

Zona Gale (August 26, 1874 – December 27, 1938), also known by her married name, Zona Gale Breese, was an American novelist, short story writer, and playwright. She became the first woman to win the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1921. The close relationship she had with her parents set the tone for her writing and her personal life. Her books based upon her home town were found to be charming and had an intimate sense of realism, in which she captures the underlying feelings and motivations of her characters. All of her works were written under her maiden name, Zona Gale.

She became a single parent when she adopted a girl. Her parents died in 1923 and 1929. After her parents died, she became interested in mysticism, which changed her writing style, to the chagrin of the critics who had enjoyed her previous work. She was unmarried until she was in her fifties, when she married a childhood friend who was a widower. She supported political and social causes, like women's rights, pacifism, and education.

Early life and education
Gale was born on August 26, 1874, in Portage, Wisconsin to Charles Franklin and Eliza Beers Gale. She was very close to her parents, who were the inspiration for the "charming elderly couple" in her book The Loves of Pelleas and Etare. She began writing and illustrating stories at the age of 7. Her first story was printed in pencil, because she did not know how to write yet, and the manila pages were bound into a book that was held together by a ribbon.

Gale submitted a short story, "Bob", to the Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin when she was sixteen, and was paid $3 for the story. She attended Wayland Academy in Beaver Dam, Wisconsin before she entered the University of Wisconsin, where she received a Bachelor of Literature or Library Science degree in 1895. She received a master's degree in Library Science in 1899 and another master's degree in 1901. While a student, her poems were published in university publications. She received an honorary degree from the University of Wisconsin in 1929.

Career
After college, Gale wrote for Milwaukee Evening Wisconsin. She got the job by showing up at the city editor's desk each day. After two weeks, the city editor asked her to write a story about a flower show. After a total of six weeks, she was given a job on the paper. In 1896, she worked for the Milwaukee Journal. She went to New York City in 1901 and applied to get on every paper in the city. To get a job, she prepared a list of story ideas relevant for that day for the New York World and persisted until she got two assignments, and then a job.

"All of this was so largely sheer adventure and pioneering that none of it now seems to me to have been either will or purpose, but sheer delight."

- Zona Gale

Hired as a secretary to Edmund Clarence Stedman, she met people from his literary circle, including Ridgely Torrence, with whom she would have a relationship, and Richard Le Gallienne. She returned to her hometown in 1903 and saw it in a new light that changed her direction as a writer. She found that her "old world was full of new possibilities." She returned to Portage permanently in 1904, where she wrote her stories full-time.

She published Romance Island, her first novel, in 1906, and began the popular "Friendship Village" series of stories which were thought to be based upon Portage, although Gale stated that Friendship Village was not based upon any one town, but typical of a small town. She won first prize, worth $2,000, in 1910 for "The Ancient Dawn" in the short fiction contest by the Delineator. In 1920, she published the novel Miss Lulu Bett, which depicts life in the Midwestern United States, after spending time at Bonnie Oaks. Her novel, appreciated for its realism, was compared to the works of Sinclair Lewis and Theodore Dreiser. She adapted it as a play, which was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1921. For the time, she had a rare skill in the way she wrote about common daily experiences of ordinary people in a small town. Her early works were considered sentimental, but also, like Jane Austen's work, in touch with the deeper meanings of her character's expressions during tea-table banter. Frederick Tabor Cooper said, "We bask for a few hours in that human exhilarating sunshine that radiates straight from the heart of people who are real and true and big of soul."

Preface to a Life, published in 1926 was based on a new-found mysticism that grew after the death of her mother in 1923 and her father in 1929. The main character mistakes his inner wisdom and mysticism for madness. She published essays based upon mysticism. In these works, people's problems could be solved through a kind of transcendentalist enlightenment. Critics, who did not enjoy her book and essays, viewed her work unfavorably from that point forward, even when she tried to return to realism.

She wrote a book about a friend, Frank Augustus Miller, the founder of the Mission Inn Hotel, after his death in 1935. The biography, titled Frank Miller of Mission Inn, was published in 1938. Throughout her career, she wrote under her maiden name, Zona Gale.

Political and suffrage efforts
She was a suffragist, an activist, and a liberal Democrat, who supported the La Follettes, including Robert Sr. and his two sons Robert Jr. and Philip. She spoke for them at events and on the radio when they were campaigning for office.

She was an active member of the National Woman's Party, and she lobbied extensively for the 1921 Wisconsin Equal Rights Law. In the same year, she attended the founding meeting (in New York) of the Lucy Stone League and became a member of its executive committee. Her activism on behalf of women was her way to help solve "a problem she returned to repeatedly in her novels: women's frustration at their lack of opportunities."

She became a pacifist during World War I. She was a director of the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom. She also criticized the inclusion of military training in college curriculums. She was on the executive committee of the American Union Against Militarism and a member of the Fellowship of Reconciliation and the Women's Peace Society.

"Zona Gale did not belong to a war torn world. Her influence for peace and good will lives on. That in no way will affect our love for her or her love for humanity."

- Ada James, social work leader, December 28, 1938

She was against racial prejudice and promoted improved means of communication among races. She served on the Wisconsin Free Library Commission. In 1922, she established Zona Gale scholarships to pay towards talented young adult's education.

University of Wisconsin
She later became a regent of the university and became embroiled in the ouster of the president, Dr. Glenn Frank. Governor Philip La Follette convinced other regents, some of who he had appointed, to call for the removal of Frank. Gale stood by Frank and criticized the governor.

Personal life
In 1902, she met Ridgely Torrence in New York, with whom she developed a "deeply felt spiritual love", but when considering whether to stay in New York or return to Portage, she returned to her family. Construction began on a house for her and her parents in 1906. Located along the shore of the Wisconsin River in Portage, she lived in the house most of her adult life.

Her mother died in 1923. In 1926, she began caring for a girl, Leslyn, who was a relative. She formally adopted her in 1931. On June 12, 1928, at the age of 54, she married William L. Breese, who was a platonic friend from her childhood and a widower. He was a wealthy banker and hosiery manufacturer. They lived in a house on MacFarlane Road in Portage after their marriage. She became a step mother to William's daughter, Juliette Blackman Breese, who married Cecil Bennett in 1930. Her father died in 1929. She became interested in philosophy after the death of her parents.

She enjoyed travel to California, New York, Japan and other places. Gale, a frequent visitor to the Mission Inn Hotel in Riverside, California, became a friend of Frank Augustus Miller, the founder of the hotel.

Death and legacy
Gale came to Chicago in mid-December 1938 for treatment of an ailment and contracted pneumonia about December 20. She died of pneumonia in Passavant Hospital in Chicago on December 27. Dr. Glenn Frank, former president of the University of Wisconsin, presided over her funeral. She was buried at Silver Lake Cemetery in Portage. Most of her estate of $60,000 went to Leslyn, age 12, and Juliette. Leslyn was to receive Gale's personal effects and the Zona Gale house upon her marriage. Juliette was bequeathed another house. Some money was set aside for the Zona Gale scholarships. William Breese died on October 1, 1954, at the age of 90. By the time of Breese's death, Leslyn married Robert Keie of Saginaw, Michigan.

In her memory, William Breese established the Zona Gale Breese Library in Portage. He donated two houses, one of which was the Zona Gale house that went to the Women's Civic League. The performing arts center in Portage was named after her. A historic marker at Commerce Plaza Park in Portage memorializes her life.

Novels

 * Romance Island (1906)
 * Christmas: A Story (1912)
 * Heart's Kindred (1915)
 * A Daughter of the Morning (1917)
 * Birth (1918)
 * Miss Lulu Bett (1920)
 * Faint Perfume (1923)
 * Preface to a Life (1926)
 * Borgia (1929)
 * Papa La Fleur (1933)
 * Light Woman (1937)
 * Magna (1939)

Short stories

 * "The Loves of Pelleas and Etarre" (1907)
 * "Friendship Village" (1908)
 * "Friendship Village Love Stories" (1909)
 * "Mothers to Men" (1911)
 * "When I Was a Little Girl" (1913)
 * "Neighborhood Stories" (1914)
 * "Peace in Friendship Village" (1919)
 * "The Neighbors" (1920)
 * "Yellow Gentians and Blue" (1927)
 * "Bill" (1927)
 * Bridal Pond (1930) [a collection of 13 stories]
 * "Old-Fashioned Tales" (1933)
 * "The Parting"

Plays

 * The Neighbors (1914) (in Wisconsin Plays, edited by T.H. Dickinson)
 * Miss Lulu Bett (1920) (dramatization of her novel)
 * Uncle Jimmy (1922)
 * Mr. Pitt (1925)
 * The Clouds (1932)
 * Evening Clothes (1932)
 * Faint Perfume (1934) (dramatization of her novel)

Essays and non-fiction

 * Civic Improvement in the Little Towns (1913) (pamphlet)
 * What Women Won in Wisconsin (1922) (pamphlet)
 * "The Novel of Tomorrow" (1922) (in The Novel of Tomorrow and the Scope of Fiction by Twelve American Novelists)
 * Portage, Wisconsin and Other Essays (1928)
 * Frank Miller of the Mission Inn (biography) (1938)

Poetry

 * The Secret Way (1921)

title: Zona Gale


text:
Hafsa bint Umar

Hafsa bint Umar (حفصة بنت عمر; c. 605–665) was the fourth wife of Muhammad and a daughter of the second caliph Umar ((r. 634 – 644)). In Islamic writings, her name is thus often prefixed by the title "Mother of the Believers" (Arabic: أمّ المؤمنين, romanized: ʾumm al-muʾminīn).

Early life
Hafsa was the daughter and eldest child of 'Umar ibn al-Khattab and Zaynab bint Maz'un. She was born "when Quraysh were building the House Kaʿbah, five years before the Prophet was sent," i.e., in 605.

Marriage
She was married to Khunays ibn Hudhafa but became a widow in August 624.

As soon as Hafsa had completed her waiting period, her father Umar offered her hand to Uthman ibn 'Affan, and thereafter to Abu Bakr; but they both refused her. When Umar went to Muhammad to complain about this, Muhammad replied, "Hafsa will marry one better than Uthman and Uthman will marry one better than Hafsa."

Muhammad married Hafsa in Sha'ban AH 3 (late January or early February 625). This marriage "gave the Prophet the chance of allying himself with this faithful follower," i.e., Umar, who now became his father-in-law.

Notable work
Uthman, when he became Caliph, used Hafsa's copy when he standardized the text of Qur'an. She is also said to have narrated sixty hadiths from Muhammad.

Death
She died in Sha'ban AH 45, i.e., in October or November 665. She is buried in Al-Baqi Cemetery next to the other Mothers of the Faithful.

Sunni View
Hafsa is seen as scholarly and inquisitive by the Sunnis. She is also respected as a Mother of The Believers.

Shi'a View
Due to certain actions of disobedience to the Prophet, Shi'as have a negative view of Hafsa.

title: Hafsa bint Umar


text:
Category:Croatian tennis players

This category lists tennis players with Wikipedia articles who have notably represented the Republic of Croatia. Note that articles are sub-categorized by whether a player has done so in male or female competition, and also by particular notable competitions.

title: Category:Croatian tennis players


text:
Giovanni Vitelleschi

Giovanni Maria Vitelleschi (1396 – 2 April 1440) was an Italian cardinal and condottiere.

Biography
Vitelleschi was born in Corneto (modern Tarquinia, then part of the Papal States), some kilometres north of Rome, as a member of the Vitelleschi noble family. He received a military education, which he refined as apostolic protonotary under Pope Martin V. The fighting bishop of Recanati from 1431, and afterwards made a cardinal, he was commander of the papal armies of Pope Eugene IV when the Colonna faction at Rome, infuriated by the reversal of their fortunes when Eugene succeeded Martin V (a member of the Colonna), backed an insurrection that raised a temporary republic at Rome and forced Eugene into exile at Florence in May 1434. The city was restored to obedience by Giovanni Vitelleschi in the following October, in a display of ferocious cruelty. Vitelleschi abrogated all Roman rights and had the Roman Senate declare him tertius pater patriae post Romulum ("the third Father of his Country since Romulus"). He commanded the papal troops against René of Anjou, who claimed the throne of Naples. In 1439 he was sent by the Pope to expel the rebel Corrado IV Trinci from Foligno, which he besieged and captured. The nobleman was beheaded and the city restored to Papal authority.

Vitelleschi had received his military training as a youth in the banda of Tartaglia and refined his education under the tutelage of Pope Martin V, who made him apostolic pronotary. His success at putting down the republicans at Rome earned him the purely honorary title Latin Patriarch of Alexandria and the more immediate one of archbishop of Florence. He was made a cardinal on 9 August 1437 and was called the "Cardinal of Florence" where, according to Machiavelli, he was regarded with deep distrust: "He was bold and cunning; and, having obtained great influence, was appointed to command all the forces of the church, and conduct all the enterprises of the pontiff, whether in Tuscany, Romagna, the kingdom of Naples, or in Rome. Hence he acquired so much power over the pontiff, and the papal troops, that the former was afraid of commanding him, and the latter obeyed no one else"

Florence's spies kept a close watch over the mail and soon intercepted letters from the Patriarch to Niccolò Piccinino, who was currently ravaging Tuscany with his warband. The correspondence was in cypher and full of circumlocutions but was interpreted as dangerous to the Pope himself. Eugene IV determined to incarcerate the Patriarch. The manner in which he was caught at Castel Sant'Angelo in Rome by its castellan, Antonio Rido of Padua, is recounted by Machiavelli "The patriarch, having determined to go into Tuscany, prepared to leave Rome on the following day, and ordered the castellan to be upon the drawbridge of the fortress in the morning, for he wished to speak with him as he passed. Antonio perceived this to be the favourable moment, informed his people what they were to do, and awaited the arrival of the patriarch upon the bridge, which adjoined the building, and might for the purpose of security be raised or lowered as occasion required. The appointed time found him punctual; and Antonio, having drawn him, as if for the convenience of conversation, on to the bridge, gave a signal to his men, who immediately raised it, and in a moment the cardinal, from being a commander of armies, found himself a prisoner of the castellan. The patriarch's followers at first began to use threats, but being informed of the pope's directions they were appeased. The castellan comforting him with kind words, he replied, that 'the great do not make each other prisoners to let them go again; and that those whom it is proper to take, it is not well to set free.' He shortly afterwards died in prison."

Vitelleschi died in 1440 and was succeeded by Ludovico Trevisan. The Vitelleschi clan retained considerable weight in Central Italy. Vitelleschi's nephew, Bartolomeo Vitelleschi (died 13 December 1463), bishop of Corneto and Montefiascone, was made a cardinal on 6 April 1444. Giovanni Vitelleschi commissioned Filippo Lippi to paint the famous Madonna and Child Enthroned (now in Palazzo Barberini, Rome) for his palace in Tarquinia.

title: Giovanni Vitelleschi


text:
Wikipedia:WikiProject Latter Day Saint movement

Scope
This is a WikiProject on elements of the Latter Day Saint movement, Mormonism, Latter Day Saint history, doctrine, practices, and other cultural effects inspired by Joseph Smith.

Project guidelines
Some quick points to remember:
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 * Articles should not be limited to a single Latter Day Saint denomination, unless including the entire Latter Day Saint movement is impractical or awkward. For example, instead of "Restoration (Community of Christ)" or "Restoration (LDS Church)", you would call the article Restoration (Latter Day Saints).
 * In article names, references to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints should capitalize the initial The and include a hyphen and a lower-case "d".
 * In general, use the term Mormon or its derivatives only when referring to people or denominations with historical ties to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints based in Utah.
 * Deadlinks are discouraged as they tend to attract POV material on religious subjects.
 * Apply the LDS-stub boilerplate message at the end of stubs.
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All articles related to this WikiProject should be in one of the many subcategories of Category:Latter Day Saint movement. We also try to keep List of Latter Day Saint movement topics up to date, but it doesn't always reflect the most current state as well as the categories. As long as LDSproject (or the longer form WikiProject Latter Day Saint movement) is found on the talk page for the article, list, category, etc... it will also be available thru the grid in the recognized content section below. This will also add the articles to Category:WikiProject Latter Day Saint movement articles and it's subcategories.

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Departments

 * The Latter Day Saint movement Assessment Unit


text:
Tropical medicine

Tropical medicine is an interdisciplinary branch of medicine that deals with health issues that occur uniquely, are more widespread, or are more difficult to control in tropical and subtropical regions.

Physicians in this field diagnose and treat a variety of diseases and ailments. Most infections they deal with are endemic to the tropics. A few of the most well-known include malaria, HIV/AIDS, and tuberculosis. They must be knowledgeable in the 18 lesser known neglected tropical diseases, which include Chagas disease, rabies, and dengue. Poor living conditions in developing regions of tropical countries have led to a rising number of non-communicable diseases as well as the prevalence of neglected tropical diseases. These diseases include cancer and cardiovascular disease, which, in the past, have been more of a worry in developed countries. Physicians trained in tropical medicine must also be prepared to diagnose and treat these diseases.

Training for physicians wishing to specialize in tropical medicine varies widely over the different countries. They must study epidemiology, virology, parasitology, and statistics, as well as the training required of an ordinary MD. Research on tropical diseases and how to treat them comes from both field research and research centers, including those of the military.

Sir Patrick Manson is recognized as the father of tropical medicine. He founded the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine in 1899. He is credited with discovering the vector by which elephantiasis was being passed to humans. He learned it was a microscopic nematode worm called Filaria sanguinis hominis. He continued to study this worm and its life cycle and determined the worms underwent metamorphosis within female Culex fatigans mosquitoes. Thus he discovered mosquitoes as a vector for elephantiasis. After this discovery, he collaborated with Ronald Ross to examine the transmission of malaria via mosquito vector. His work with discovering vectors as modes of transmission was critical in the founding of tropical medicine and our current understanding of many tropical diseases.

Training
Training in tropical medicine is quite different between countries. Most physicians are trained at institutes of tropical medicine or incorporated into the training of infectious diseases. In the UK, if a physician wants to specialize in tropical medicine, they must first train in general internal medicine and get accepted into the Royal College of Physicians. They must simultaneously study the specialty of infectious diseases while completing a full-time course load to receive their Diploma of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene. Their studies are carried out at either the London or Liverpool schools of tropical medicine. Additionally, they must spend two years at one of the UK centers approved for tropical medicine (located in London, Liverpool, or Birmingham). Physicians in the UK who wish to be certified in tropical medicine must spend at least a year abroad in an area lacking resources. Only then can they become certified in tropical medicine.

The training of United States tropical doctors is similar, though it is not a board recognized specialty in America. Physicians must first complete medical school and a program focusing on infectious diseases. Once completed, physicians can take the certification exam from the American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene in order to receive the Certificate of Knowledge in Clinical Tropical Medicine and Travelers' Health.

HIV
In developing countries alone, 22 million people are living with HIV. Most infections are still in Africa, but Europe, Asia, Latin America, and the Caribbean are now seeing large numbers of infections as well. 95% of expected new infections will occur in the low-income countries in the tropics. The expected number of new infections is 3-4 million per year. Risk factors such as needle use and unprotected sex are much more prevalent in tropical and underdeveloped areas. Once HIV is transmitted to a tropical area it is spread throughout the sexually active population. Though how fast and how far it spreads varies, some African countries have an HIV prevalence of 10%. More alarming still, in urban areas, prevalence among pregnant women can get as high as 30%. Healthcare professionals themselves are at great risk of exposure to HIV. An HIV prevalence of 10% means any given workforce will also have a 10% prevalence, and this does not exclude the healthcare team. Tuberculosis is thought to cause a more rapid disease progression. Tuberculosis is prevalent in tropical and under-developed countries, only making HIV more devastating. Without the expensive and high-tech medical equipment of developed, western countries, physicians in the tropics are left with few options. If they are able to catch an HIV-related bacterial or mycobacterial disease they can diagnose and manage the disease with basic drugs and standard treatment protocol. Many under-developed countries do not have a care strategy, and of those that do, they aren't as effective as they need to be to stop the spread of HIV.

Malaria
Malaria is a parasitic disease transmitted by an Anopheles mosquito to a human host. The parasite that causes malaria belongs to the genus Plasmodium. Once infected, malaria can take a wide variety of forms and symptoms. The disease is placed into the uncomplicated category or the severe category. If quickly diagnosed and treated, malaria can be cured. However, some of the more serious symptoms, such as acute kidney failure, severe anemia, and acute respiratory distress syndrome can be fatal if not dealt with swiftly and properly. Certain types of Plasmodium can leave dormant parasites in the liver that can reawaken months or years later, causing additional relapses of the disease. In the World Malaria Report of 2016, the World Health Organization reported a malaria infection rate of 212 million, 90% of which occurred in the African region. However, malaria infection rates had fallen 21% since 2010 at the time of the report. The WHO also reported an estimated mortality rate of 429,000 deaths in the year 2015. The malaria mortality rate had fallen 29% globally since 2010. Children under 5 contract the malaria disease more easily than others, and in the year 2015, an estimated 303,000 children under the age of 5 were killed by malaria. Since the year 2010 however, the mortality rate of children under 5 fell by an estimated 35%.

Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis (TB) is an infectious bacterial disease that can affect any part of the body, though it primarily affects the lungs. It is a disease that affects the poor and weak, and is far more common in developing countries. TB can either be in its latent or active form. TB can be latent for years, sometimes over a decade. Though TB research receives a mere 1/6th the funding of HIV research, the disease has killed more people in the last 200 years than any other infectious disease. According to the Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine, an estimated 9 million people were infected with TB in the year 2013 alone. That same year 1.5 million people died from TB. Of those 1.5 million, 360,000 were HIV positive. Tuberculosis is extremely expensive to treat, and treatments are now becoming ineffective due to drug-resistant TB strains. In the year 2016, 1.3 million people died from TB. An additional 374,000 people died who were co-infected with both TB and HIV. Research has shown that if the subject is infected with HIV, the risk of latent TB becoming active TB is between 12 and 20 times higher.

Non-communicable diseases
Non-communicable diseases are a series of chronic illnesses such as cardiovascular disease, cancer, injuries, and respiratory diseases, among others. Historically these diseases have plagued developed countries far more than developing countries. In the Global Burden of Disease Study of 2001, it was discovered that 20% of deaths in sub-Saharan Africa were caused by non-communicable diseases. In 2005, the World Health Organization performed a study that showed 80% of chronic disease deaths occurred in low to middle income countries. Non-communicable disease prevalence has been rising in under-developed countries for a variety of reasons. Lack of education and preventive medicine in under-developed countries, along with malnutrition or poor diet lead to many risk factors for non-communicable diseases.

Neglected tropical diseases
Neglected tropical diseases (NTDs) have been identified by the World Health Organization (WHO) as 18 tropical diseases, affecting over a billion people worldwide, especially in developing countries. These diseases are heterogeneous, meaning originating outside the organism affected by the disease. NTDs are caused by parasites, viruses, and bacteria. NTDs are neglected because they are not normally fatal on their own but are disabling. Persons with these diseases become more susceptible to other NTDs and fatal diseases such as HIV or malaria.

Neglected tropical diseases effect can be measured in disability-adjusted life year (DALY). Each DALY corresponds to one lost year of healthy life, whether by death or disability. In the year 2010, it was estimated 26.6 million DALYs were lost. In addition to this, it is estimated NTDs cause a loss of 15–30% of productivity in countries that NTDs are endemic too. According to the CDC, 100% of countries categorized as 'low income' were affected by 5 different NTDs at once.

Interdisciplinary approach
Tropical medicine requires an interdisciplinary approach, as the infections and diseases tropical medicine faces are both broad and unique. Tropical medicine requires research and assistance from the fields of epidemiology, microbiology, virology, parasitology, and logistics. Physicians of tropical medicine must have effective communication skills, as many of the patients they interact with do not speak English comfortably. They must be proficient in their knowledge of clinical and diagnostic skills, as they are often without high-tech diagnostic tools when in the field. For example, in an attempt to manage the Chagas disease being brought into the almost Chagas-free Brazilian city São Paulo by Bolivian immigrants, an interdisciplinary team was set up. The Bolivian immigrant population in São Paulo had a prevalence of Chagas disease of 4.4%, while Chagas disease transmission in São Paulo has been under control since the 1970s. This influx of Chagas disease led to an interdisciplinary team being brought together, This team tested the feasibility of managing Chagas disease and transmission at the primary healthcare level. The interdisciplinary team consisted of community health agents and clerical healthcare workers to recruit Chagas infected persons for the study, physicians, nurses, lab workers, and community agents. A pediatrician and cardiologist were also on call. Each were trained in pathology, parasitology, ecoepidemiology, and how to prevent, diagnose, and control Chagas disease. Training from experts in these respective fields was required. They examined reasons for lack of adherence to treatment, and used this knowledge to improve the effectiveness of their interventions. This interdisciplinary approach has been used to train many teams across Brazil in the management of Chagas disease.

Tropical medicine also consists of a preventive approach, especially in an educational aspect. For example, from 2009 to 2011, the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine did an interventional study on a cohort of female sex workers (FSW) in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, a country in Western Africa. 321 HIV-unaffected FSWs were provided with peer-led HIV/STI education, HIV/STI testing and care, psychological support, general healthcare, and services for reproductive health. The same cohort would continue to follow up, quarterly, for 21 months. At each follow-up they were tested for HIV and were able to utilize the preventive interventions if need be. Using models based on the same study population had their been no interventions, the expected prevalence of HIV infections was 1.23 infection per 100 person years. In the actual cohort with access to interventions not a single HIV infection was observed in the collective 409 person-years of follow-up.

Tropical research in the military
Throughout history, American military forces have been affected by many tropical diseases. In World War II alone, it was estimated almost one million soldiers had been infected by a tropical disease while serving. Most affected soldiers served in the Pacific, especially in the Philippines and New Guinea. Malaria was especially widespread in the Pacific, though soldiers in Southern Europe and Northern Africa also contracted tropical diseases. Many diseases now known as neglected tropical diseases affected American soldiers as well. These included helminthiasis, schistosomiasis, dengue, and lymphatic filariasis. Lymphatic filariasis was such a problem it caused a $100 million evacuation of U.S. troops out of New Guinea and the Tonga Islands.

In both the Korean and Vietnam Wars the United States army continued to be affected by tropical diseases. The most prevalent diseases to affect their military were malaria and dengue. Hepatitis A, scrub typhus, and hookworm infections were among the other tropical infections picked up by troops in these conflicts.

To combat the significant effects tropical diseases were having on their forces, the United States Military worked hard to develop drugs, vaccines, and other methods of disease control. Research done at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC), and various affiliated research centers have greatly improved the military's preparedness against tropical disease. In 1967, Captain Robert Phillips earned the Lasker Award for developing a type of IV therapy that reduced cholera's fatality rate from 60% to less than 1%. Other interventions licensed by the US Army include vaccines for hepatitis A and Japanese encephalitis. They have also developed the drugs mefloquine and malarone, both used in the treatment of malaria.

Looking forward, the United States military currently has clinical trials testing for vaccines of malaria, adenovirus infection, dengue, and HIV/AIDS underway. However, with massive budget cuts to their military, these research centers are getting less and less funding and have lost many contractors already.

Organizations

 * American Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene – Arlington, Virginia, USA
 * The Australasian College of Tropical Medicine
 * Australian Institute of Tropical Health and Medicine, Townsville and Cairns, Queensland, Australia
 * Anton Breinl Centre for Public Health and Tropical Medicine
 * Bernhard Nocht Institute for Tropical Medicine – Hamburg, Germany
 * Faculty of Tropical Medicine, Mahidol University – Bangkok, Thailand
 * Institute of Tropical Medicine, Nagasaki University – Nagasaki, Japan
 * Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine – New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
 * Liverpool School of Tropical Medicine – Liverpool, United Kingdom
 * London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine – London, United Kingdom
 * Institute of Tropical Medicine – Antwerp, Belgium
 * Research Institute for Tropical Medicine – Muntinlupa, Philippines
 * Royal Society of Tropical Medicine and Hygiene – London, United Kingdom
 * Walter Reed Tropical Medicine Course – Silver Spring, Maryland, USA
 * Société Francophone de Médecine Tropicale et Santé Internationale – France

title: Tropical medicine


text:
2004 California Proposition 60A

Proposition 60A was an amendment of the Constitution of California, enacted in 2004, relating to funds from the sale of government property. It was proposed by the California Legislature and approved by the voters in a referendum held as part of the November 2004 election, by a majority of 73%.

Provisions
The law directed funds collected from the sale of surplus government property toward repaying the $15 billion in bonds authorized by the passage of Proposition 57 in March 2004. The official summary of the proposition reads:

To do this the amendment added to the state constitution Article III, Section 9, stating that

The Summary of Legislative Analyst's Estimate of Net State and Local Government Fiscal Impact predicted "Net savings over the longer term-potentially low. Tens of millions of dollars-from accelerated repayment of existing bonds".

Process of enactment
In 2004 the state legislature proposed a constitutional amendment called Senate Constitutional Amendment 18. This contained provisions relating to both primary elections and funds from the sale of government property. This was to be put to voters as a single measure called Proposition 60. However Californians for an Open Primary challenged the measure as a violation of the rule that ballot propositions must deal with only a single subject. The group wished to have Proposition 60 removed from the ballot. Instead, in Californians for an Open Primary v. Shelley, the Third District Court of Appeals ordered that the proposition be split, so that the provisions relating to government property would become a separate measure, called Proposition 60A.

Senate Constitutional Amendment 18 (which included the provisions that would become Proposition 60A) was approved by the California Assembly by a vote of 55-21 and by the State Senate by a vote of 28–3. On November 2, 2004, it was approved by the electorate with 7,776,374 (73.3%) votes in favor and 2,843,435 (26.7%) against.

title: 2004 California Proposition 60A


text:
Sawdah bint Zam'ah

Sawdah bint Zamʿah (سودة بنت زمعة) was the second wife of Muhammad and regarded as "Umm-ul-Mu'mineen" (Arabic: أمّ المؤمنين, romanized: ʾumm al-muʾminīn), "Mother of the Believers".

Early life
Sawdah was born and raised in Mecca in Pre-Islamic Arabia. There is a disagreement as to when she was born. According to one source, when she was married to Muhammad, her age was around 50, other sources claim her age during the marriage to be around 40 to 55 years old, which would only narrow her birthday to around 566-580 CE. Her father, Zam'ah ibn Qays, was from the Banu Amir ibn Lu'ayy clan of the Quraysh tribe in Mecca. Her mother, Al-Shamus bint Qays, was from the Najjar clan of the Khazraj tribe in Madina.

First husband and first Hijra
She married As-Sakran ibn Amr, who was one of the early converts to Islam. They had two sons, Abdur Rahman ibn as-Sakran and Abd ibn as-Sakran, who much later died in the Battle of Jalula in 637 against the Sassanids.

Migration to Abyssinia
Sawdah and Sakran emigrated to Abyssinia when Muhammad ordered many of the Muslims to perform Hijra in order to avoid persecution by the Quraysh. Sakran left for Abyssinia by sea with Waqqas. Sawdah was one of the first women to immigrate to Abyssinia in the way of Allah. Few years later they returned to Mecca, where As-Sakran died, and she became a widow for the first time in her life.

Marriage to Muhammad
Soon after Khadija's death, Muhammad married Sawdah in the same month of Ramadan of the 10th year after the start of his prophethood. Sawdah was hesitant to accept at first, as she already had six children and feared that they would disturb Muhammad. But Muhammad convinced her by saying, “The best women ever to have ridden the backs of camels are the virtuous women of the Quraysh, who are the most affectionate toward small children and the most excellent in doing good to their husbands when they [the women] are wealthy.”

When Sawdah became old, some time after Muhammad's marriage to Umm Salama, and Qur’an 4:128–9 was revealed. Other traditions, on the other hand, hold that Muhammad did not truly repudiate her but that she was afraid he would, and it was not repudiation that was being considered in the verse revelation but rather some kind of compromise on the divorce so long as she could remain his wife in name.

Later life and death
After the death of Muhammad, Sawdah along with other wives received a gift of money annually from the Caliphate, which she spent on charity. She, Aisha, Hafsa, and Safiyya always remained very close. She lived a long life and died in 54 AH in Medina, where she was buried in Jannat-al-Baqi. Ibn Sa'd puts her date of death to the year 674. After her death, Muawiyah I, the reigning first caliph of the Umayyad dynasty, bought her house in Medina for 180,000 dirhams. According to other sources, she died in Medina towards the end of caliph 'Umar's reign in 22 AH, 644 CE.

title: Sawdah bint Zam'ah


text:
John Bolton (disambiguation)

John Bolton (born 1948) is a former U.S. National Security Advisor and United States Ambassador to the United Nations.

John Bolton may also refer to:

Politicians

 * John Bolton (York MP), English Member of Parliament for the City of York in 1399 and 1407
 * John Bolton (Haverfordwest MP) (fl. 1524–1556), MP for Haverfordwest
 * John Bolton (Canadian politician) (1824–1872), member of the Canadian House of Commons
 * Sir John Bolton (Manx politician) (c. 1901–1980), Chairman of the Isle of Man Finance Board
 * John M. Bolton (1901–1936), Member of the Illinois House of Representatives and businessman

Others

 * John Bolton of Reading, imprisoned 1554 in Foxes Book of Martyrs
 * John Bolton (priest) (1665–1724), Dean of Derry
 * John Bolton, code name of Benjamin Tallmadge (1754–1835), George Washington's spymaster
 * John Bolton (merchant) (1756–1837), Liverpool merchant, slaver, landowner, and lieutenant-colonel
 * John Bolton, brother and co-worker of William Jay Bolton (1816–1884), American glassworker
 * John Bolton (cricketer) (1881–1935), Australian cricketer
 * John Gatenby Bolton (1922–1993), British-Australian astronomer
 * John Bolton (weightlifter) (born 1945), New Zealand weightlifter
 * John Bolton (illustrator) (born 1951), British comic and graphic artist
 * John Bolton (actor) (born 1965), American actor
 * John Bolton (Australian actor), winner of the Kenneth Myer Medallion for the Performing Arts in 2002

title: John Bolton (disambiguation)


text:
Category:Brazilian tennis players

This category lists tennis players with Wikipedia articles who have notably represented Brazil. Note that articles are sub-categorized by whether a player has done so in male or female competition, and also by particular notable competitions.

title: Category:Brazilian tennis players


text: Category:Olympic tennis players for Brazil


text:
Superacid

In chemistry, a superacid (according to the original definition) is an acid with an acidity greater than that of 100% pure sulfuric acid (H2SO4), which has a Hammett acidity function (H0) of −12. According to the modern definition, a superacid is a medium in which the chemical potential of the proton is higher than in pure sulfuric acid. Commercially available superacids include trifluoromethanesulfonic acid (CF3SO3H), also known as triflic acid, and fluorosulfuric acid (HSO3F), both of which are about a thousand times stronger (i.e. have more negative H0 values) than sulfuric acid. Most strong superacids are prepared by the combination of a strong Lewis acid and a strong Brønsted acid. A strong superacid of this kind is fluoroantimonic acid. Another group of superacids, the carborane acid group, contains some of the strongest known acids. Finally, when treated with anhydrous acid, zeolites (microporous aluminosilicate minerals) will contain superacidic sites within their pores. These materials are used on massive scale by the petrochemical industry in the upgrading of hydrocarbons to make fuels.

History
The term superacid was originally coined by James Bryant Conant in 1927 to describe acids that were stronger than conventional mineral acids. This definition was refined by Ronald Gillespie in 1971, as any acid with an H0 value lower than that of 100% sulfuric acid (−11.93). George A. Olah prepared the so-called "magic acid", so named for its ability to attack hydrocarbons, by mixing antimony pentafluoride (SbF5) and fluorosulfonic acid (FSO3H). The name was coined after a candle was placed in a sample of magic acid after a Christmas party. The candle dissolved, showing the ability of the acid to protonate alkanes, which under normal acidic conditions do not protonate to any extent.

At 140 °C (284 °F), FSO3H–SbF5 protonates methane to give the tertiary-butyl carbocation, a reaction that begins with the protonation of methane:
 * CH4 +  H+  →
 * →   +  H2
 * + 3 CH4  →  (CH3)3C+  +  3H2

Common uses of superacids include providing an environment to create, maintain, and characterize carbocations. Carbocations are intermediates in numerous useful reactions such as those forming plastics and in the production of high-octane gasoline.

Origin of extreme acid strength
Traditionally, superacids are made from mixing a Brønsted acid with a Lewis acid. The function of the Lewis acid is to bind to and stabilize the anion that is formed upon dissociation of the Brønsted acid, thereby removing a proton acceptor from the solution and strengthening the proton donating ability of the solution. For example, fluoroantimonic acid, nominally, can produce solutions with a H0 lower than –28, giving it a protonating ability over a billion times greater than 100% sulfuric acid. Fluoroantimonic acid is made by dissolving antimony pentafluoride (SbF5) in anhydrous hydrogen fluoride (HF). In this mixture, HF releases its proton (H+) concomitant with the binding of F− by the antimony pentafluoride. The resulting anion delocalizes charge effectively and holds onto its electron pairs tightly, making it an extremely poor nucleophile and base. The mixture owes its extraordinary acidity to the weakness of proton acceptors (and electron pair donors) (Brønsted or Lewis bases) in solution. Because of this, the protons in fluoroantimonic acid and other superacids are popularly described as "naked", being readily donated to substances not normally regarded as proton acceptors, like the C–H bonds of hydrocarbons. However, even for superacidic solutions, protons in the condensed phase are far from being unbound. For instance, in fluoroantimonic acid, they are bound to one or more molecules of hydrogen fluoride. Though hydrogen fluoride is normally regarded as an exceptionally weak proton acceptor (though a somewhat better one than the SbF6– anion), dissociation of its protonated form, the fluoronium ion H2F+ to HF and the truly naked H+ is still a highly endothermic process (ΔG° = +113 kcal/mol), and imagining the proton in the condensed phase as being "naked" or "unbound", like charged particles in a plasma, is highly inaccurate and misleading.

More recently, carborane acids have been prepared as single component superacids that owe their strength to the extraordinary stability of the carboranate anion, a family of anions stabilized by three-dimensional aromaticity, as well as by electron-withdrawing group typically attached thereto.

In superacids, the proton is shuttled rapidly from proton acceptor to proton acceptor by tunneling through a hydrogen bond via the Grotthuss mechanism, just as in other hydrogen-bonded networks, like water or ammonia.

Applications
In petrochemistry, superacidic media are used as catalysts, especially for alkylations. Typical catalysts are sulfated oxides of titanium and zirconium or specially treated alumina or zeolites. The solid acids are used for alkylating benzene with ethene and propene as well as difficult acylations, e.g. of chlorobenzene. In Organic Chemistry, superacids are used as a means of protonating alkanes to promote the use of carbocations in situ during reactions. The resulting carbocations are of much use in organic synthesis of numerous organic compounds, the high acidity of the superacids helps to stabilize the highly reactive and unstable carbocations for future reactions.

Examples
The following are examples of superacids. Each is listed with its Hammett acidity function, where a smaller value of H0 (in these cases, more negative) indicates a stronger acid.

 * Helium hydride ion (HeH+, H0 = -63)
 * Fluoroantimonic acid (HF:SbF5, H0 = -28)
 * Magic acid (HSO3F:SbF5, H0 = −23)
 * Triflidic acid (CH(CF3SO2)3, H0 = −18.6)
 * Carborane acids (H(HCB11X11), H0 ≤ −18, indirectly determined and depends on substituents)
 * Fluoroboric acid (HF:BF3, H0 = −16.6)
 * Bistriflimidic acid (NH(CF3SO2)2, H0 = -15.8. Estimated value calculated from pKa values in 1,2-dichloroethane in comparison to triflic acid)
 * Fluorosulfuric acid (FSO3H, H0 = −15.1)
 * Hydrogen fluoride (HF, H0 = −15.1)
 * Triflic acid (HOSO2CF3, H0 = −14.9)
 * Oleum (SO3:H2SO4, H0 = −14.5)
 * Perchloric acid (HClO4, H0 = −13)
 * Sulfuric acid (H2SO4, H0 = −11.9)

title: Superacid


text:
Zaynab bint Khuzayma

Zaynab bint Khuzayma (زينب بنت خزيمة) (c. 596 – 625), also known as Umm al-Masākīn (أم المساكين, "Mother of the Poor"), was the fifth wife of  Muhammad. As a result of her early death, less is known about her than about his other wives.

Early life
Zaynab was the first of Muhammad’s wives who was not from the Quraysh tribe. Her father, Khuzayma ibn al-Harith, was from the Hilal tribe in Mecca. Her mother is sometimes said to have been Hind bint Awf, but this tradition is weak.

Her first husband was her cousin, Jahm ibn ‘Amr ibn al-Harith.

While Zaynab was still a polytheist, she acquired a reputation for extreme generosity. "She was called 'Mother of the Beggars' because of her kindness to them and her pity for them."

It is not known exactly when Zaynab converted to Islam, but her second husband was a prominent Muslim, Abdullah ibn Jahsh. This marriage must have ended in divorce, since Zaynab was already remarried at the time of Abdullah’s death; and she is not listed among the people whom he took to Medina in 622.

Zaynab's next husband was Tufayl ibn al-Harith, a Muslim from the Muttalib clan; but this marriage also ended in divorce.

Afterwards Zaynab married Tufayl's brother, Ubayda, who was more than thirty years older than herself. In 622 they joined the general emigration to Medina, where they lived on a plot of land that was shared with Ubayda's two brothers. Ubayda was killed at the Battle of Badr in March 624, and Zaynab remained a widow for nearly a year.

Marriage to Muhammad
There are conflicting reports as to whether Zaynab was "beautiful" and refused many offers of marriage or whether she was shunned. However, in February 625 her cousin Qubaysa (brother of her first husband) arranged for her to marry Muhammad, who gave her a dower of either 400 dirhams or 12½ aowqiyas. This was about a month after his marriage to Hafsa bint Umar.

It has been suggested that Muhammad proposed or agreed to the match in order to provide for a deserving widow who would otherwise have been reduced to poverty. It was said the marriage was meant to reassure his followers that their deaths in battle would not mean their families would starve and be neglected. An alternative suggestion is that the marriage was politically motivated, "cultivating good relations with her own tribe of ‘Amir b. Sa’sa’ah."

One story about their married life tells how a poor man came to Zaynab’s house to beg for some flour. She gave him the last of what she had and had no food for herself that night. Moved by her compassion, Muhammad told his other wives about it, saying: "If you have faith in Allah ... he will provide for your sustenance even as he does for the birds, who leave their nest hungry in the morning but return full at night".

Death

Zaynab's marriage to Muhammad lasted only a few months. She died at aged about thirty. Muhammad carried her to Jannat al-Baqi and recited the funeral prayers, then three of her brothers descended into her grave to lay the corpse.

Her house at the mosque remained empty for six months until Muhammad's sixth wife, Umm Salama, was moved into it.

title: Zaynab bint Khuzayma


text: Category:History of Bosnia and Herzegovina


text:
2004 California Proposition 61

Proposition 61 was a California ballot proposition on the November 2, 2004 ballot. It passed with 6,629,095 (58.3%) votes in favor and 4,750,309 (41.7%) against. The proposition was the result of an initiative and authorized the sale of $750 million in bonds to provide funding for children's hospitals. It was officially known as the Children's Hospital Bond Act of 2004.

Official summary
Summary of Legislative Analyst's Estimate of Net State and Local Government Fiscal Impact:
 * Authorizes $750,000,000 in general obligation bonds, to be repaid from state's General Fund, for grants to eligible children's hospitals for construction, expansion, remodeling, renovation, furnishing and equipping children's hospitals.
 * 20% of bonds are for grants to specified University of California general acute care hospitals; 80% of bonds are for grants to general acute care hospitals that focus on children with illnesses such as leukemia, heart defects, sickle cell anemia and cystic fibrosis, provide comprehensive services to a high volume of children eligible for government programs, and that meet other stated requirements.
 * State cost of about $1.5 billion over 30 years to pay off both the principal ($750 million) and the interest ($756 million) costs of the bonds. Payments of about $50 million per year.

title: 2004 California Proposition 61