text:
Peptide mass fingerprinting

Peptide mass fingerprinting (PMF), also known as protein fingerprinting, is an analytical technique for protein identification in which the unknown protein of interest is first cleaved into smaller peptides, whose absolute masses can be accurately measured with a mass spectrometer such as MALDI-TOF or ESI-TOF. The method was developed in 1993 by several groups independently. The peptide masses are compared to either a database containing known protein sequences or even the genome. This is achieved by using computer programs that translate the known genome of the organism into proteins, then theoretically cut the proteins into peptides, and calculate the absolute masses of the peptides from each protein. They then compare the masses of the peptides of the unknown protein to the theoretical peptide masses of each protein encoded in the genome. The results are statistically analyzed to find the best match.

The advantage of this method is that only the masses of the peptides have to be known. A disadvantage is that the protein sequence has to be present in the database of interest. Additionally most PMF algorithms assume that the peptides come from a single protein. The presence of a mixture can significantly complicate the analysis and potentially compromise the results. Typical for the PMF-based protein identification is the requirement for an isolated protein. Mixtures exceeding a number of 2–3 proteins typically require the additional use of MS/MS-based protein identification to achieve sufficient specificity of identification. Therefore, typical PMF samples are isolated proteins from two-dimensional gel electrophoresis (2D gels) or isolated SDS-PAGE bands. Additional analyses by MS/MS can either be direct, e.g., MALDI-TOF/TOF analysis or downstream nanoLC-ESI-MS/MS analysis of gel spot eluates.

Origins
Due to the long, tedious process of analyzing proteins, peptide mass fingerprinting was developed. Edman degradation was used in protein analysis, and it required almost an hour to analyze one amino acid residue. SDS-PAGE was also used to separate proteins in very complex mixtures, which also employed methods of electroblotting and staining. Then, bands would be extracted from the gel and sequenced, automatically. A recurring problem in the process was that interfering proteins would also purify with the protein of interest. The sequences of these interfering proteins were compiled into what came to known as the Dayhoff database. Ultimately, having the sequences of these known protein contaminants in databases decreased instrument time and expenses involved in protein analysis.

Sample preparation
Protein samples can be derived from SDS-PAGE or reversed phase HPLC, and are then subject to some chemical modifications. Disulfide bridges in proteins are reduced and cysteine amino acids are carbamidomethylated chemically or acrylamidated during the gel electrophoresis.

Then the proteins are cut into several fragments using proteolytic enzymes such as trypsin, chymotrypsin or Glu-C. A typical sample:protease ratio is 50:1. The proteolysis is typically carried out overnight and the resulting peptides are extracted with acetonitrile and dried under vacuum. The peptides are then dissolved in a small amount of distilled water or further concentrated and purified and are ready for mass spectrometric analysis.

Mass spectrometric analysis
The digested protein can be analyzed with different types of mass spectrometers such as ESI-TOF or MALDI-TOF. MALDI-TOF is often the preferred instrument because it allows a high sample throughput and several proteins can be analyzed in a single experiment, if complemented by MS/MS analysis. LC/ESI-MS and CE/ESI-MS are also great techniques for peptide mass fingerprinting.

A small fraction of the peptide (usually 1 microliter or less) is pipetted onto a MALDI target and a chemical called a matrix is added to the peptide mix. Common matrices are sinapinic acid, Alpha-Cyano-4-hydroxycinnamic acid, and 2,3-Dihydroxybenzoic acid. The matrix molecules are required for the desorption of the peptide molecules. Matrix and peptide molecules co-crystallize on the MALDI target and are ready to be analyzed. There is one predominantly MALDI-MS sample preparation technique, namely dried droplet technique. The target is inserted into the vacuum chamber of the mass spectrometer and the desorption and ionisation of the polypeptide fragments is initiated by a pulsed laser beam which transfers high amounts of energy into the matrix molecules. The energy transfer is sufficient to promote the ionisation and transition of matrix molecules and peptides from the solid phase into the gas phase. The ions are accelerated in the electric field of the mass spectrometer and fly towards an ion detector where their arrival is detected as an electric signal. Their mass-to-charge ratio is proportional to their time of flight (TOF) in the drift tube and can be calculated accordingly.

Coupling ESI with capillary LC can separate peptides from protein digests, while obtaining their molecular masses at the same time. Capillary electrophoresis coupled with ESI-MS is another technique; however, it works best when analyzing small amounts of proteins.

Computational analysis
The mass spectrometric analysis produces a list of molecular weights which is often called a peak list. The peptide masses are compared to protein databases such as Swissprot, which contain protein sequence information. Software performs in silico digests on proteins in the database with the same enzyme (e.g. trypsin) used in the chemical cleavage reaction. The mass of these peptides is then calculated and compared to the peak list of measured masses. The results are statistically analyzed and possible matches are returned in a results table.

title: Peptide mass fingerprinting


text:
Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment

Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment was an online gambling company, formed by the March 2011 merger of PartyGaming plc and Bwin Interactive Entertainment AG. Formerly the world's largest publicly traded online gambling firm, it was best known for its online poker room PartyPoker, World Poker Tour and its sports betting brand Bwin (officially styled bwin).

The company was headquartered in Gibraltar and quoted on the London Stock Exchange. PartyGaming Plc was founded in 1997 with the launch of Starluck Casino. Prior to passage of the Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act of 2006 by the U.S. Congress, the firm was the world's largest online poker brand, based on cash game revenue and number of players. Its market share has fallen since then, but it remains the third largest online poker room in the world, behind PokerStars and Full Tilt Poker.

The new company became the world's largest publicly traded online gaming firm in 2010, 48.4% owned by existing PartyGaming shareholders and 51.6% by bwin shareholders. The merged company was listed on the London Stock Exchange, with joint CEOs Norbert Teufelberger and Jim Ryan.

Following a protracted bidding process between 888 Holdings and Entain, Bwin.Party confirmed on 4 September 2015 that it had accepted GVC's bid for £1.1 billion. The transaction was completed on 1 February 2016.

History
Party Gaming and Bwin merged on 31 March 2011. The rumors of a planned Bwin and Party merger began in November 2009, but were not confirmed until a joint statement was issued 26 August 2010. In December 2010 shareholders were sent a 478-page document with details and an outline of planned merger. On 28 Jan 2011 the merger was approved by shareholders and then completed on 31 March 2011.

In October 2012, bwin announced the sale of its leading online poker network, Ongame, to Amaya Gaming Group in a deal worth up to €25 million.

In November 2013 it was announced that bwin.party had applied for an online gaming licence for the state of New Jersey in July, and on 8 November had been awarded a transactional waiver by the New Jersey Division of Gaming Enforcement allowing it to participate in the online gaming market in the state, prior to a full licence being granted. The group launched both poker and casino games under the land-based casino licence of its New Jersey partner, Borgata Casino, the launch included both Borgata's and its own brands, including partypoker.com. By the end of December, the new partypoker site had acquired 50% of the cash game traffic in New Jersey.

Following a protracted bidding process between 888 Holdings and GVC Holdings, Bwin.Party confirmed on 4 September 2015 that it had accepted GVC's bid for £1.1 billion. The transaction was completed on 1 February 2016, as indicated by cancellation of LSE traded shares on 2 February 2016.

Sports betting
Sports bets were the core business at bwin, with a sports betting lineup including more than 90 different sports; the principal customer interest is soccer. In order to boost bwin's presence in the UK football betting market, the company launched bwinbetting.com in 2011. Other sports included all popular ball-related sports, US sports as well as all major winter sports and motorsports ranging from Formula 1 to MotoGP. "Exotic" sports such as roller hockey, futsal and darts were also included in the daily lineup. Customers could also find odds on a range of events outside of sports. These included bets on politics and entertainment such as the Oscars, talent shows, the Eurovision Song Contest and "Miss" events.

Poker
The following types of games were offered at bwin Poker: Texas Hold'em, Omaha, Omaha Hi/Lo, Seven Card Stud, Seven Card Stud Hi/Lo and Five-card draw, plus house variations like Double (three hole cards, choose two, halfway between Hold'em and Omaha). In terms of stakes, users could choose between Fixed Limit, Pot Limit or No Limit tables. A "play money" version of the games was also available for users to try out for free. bwin offered poker tournaments, both Sit & Go and scheduled, and cash games (ring games). Sit & Go tournaments began as soon as the table was completely occupied. Scheduled tournaments began at a specified time and allowed for higher numbers of participants and the highest prize pools. In cash games the players could join and leave whenever they wanted. bwin Poker could be played using the Mac OS X Poker Client, the Windows Poker Client, the Java Poker Client or the Poker app for Android or the iPhone. The Mac and Windows version offered an extensive selection of features such as statistics and a mini-table function. The Java client was platform-independent as it was a browser-based solution. In January 2011, bwin launched a dedicated Poker app for the iPhone to allow real money poker. This was followed in July 2011 by a similar application for Android-based devices. The mobile client allowed customers to play cash games on their mobile phones. Both apps were restricted to limited territories as permitted by local laws.

PokerRoom.com
PokerRoom.com was an online poker cardroom founded in 1999. Licensed by the Kahnawake Gaming Commission, PokerRoom offered both play and real money formats. Tournaments and ring games were available in both web-browser and download client platforms, with support for both Macintosh and Linux. PokerRoom was one of the first online poker sites to provide multi-language support, and catered to Danish, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Russian, and Swedish speakers. These languages were accessed via "regional sites", many of them showing local sponsoring for the selected region. After 10 years of operation, bwin announced the closure of PokerRoom.com on 14 April 2009. It was relaunched in 2012 but shut down again on 19 February 2013.

Bingo
Following the acquisition of Cashcade in 2009, bwin.party took control of a B2C portfolio of online bingo brands including Foxy Bingo, PartyBingo and Cheeky Bingo. Cashcade was the first company to promote online bingo to a mass market via television advertising and was first to develop the "free bingo" concept to attract new customers. Bwin began offering bingo at the end of December 2009 when its Italian subsidiary, Gioco Digitale, launched bingo as the first authorised Italian private online gaming operator.

Casino games
bwin offered more than 100 games, ranging from classics such as roulette or blackjack to slot machines and casino tournaments. The casino has a longstanding tradition at bwin: In 2001, it was introduced as a second product, after sports betting. The biggest ever casino jackpot win happened in 2014 when an individual won a little over 6 million Euros.

Soft games
bwin offered more than 60 games divided into the categories of Fortune Games, Skill Games, Mini Games and "ParaDice", as well as Backgammon. This was the product group with the biggest potential for innovation and expansion on the market.

Legal Status
As the global legal framework for internet gambling is a complicated mix of laws and regulations, bwin's situation varied depending on the country concerned. Recently, Italy extended its online licences to include poker tournaments, and countries such as Denmark and Spain announced their intention to permit private operators access to their markets under stringent conditions and controls. On the other hand, other countries maintain a state monopoly on internet gaming, or ban it completely.

On 15 September 2006, Norbert Teufelberger and Manfred Bodner were arrested at a press conference in La Turbie, France, for allegedly breaking French gambling laws. After an investigation, a judge released them three days later. When France opened their market for private online gaming in June 2010, bwin became the first operator there.

In February 2013, the Australian Communications and Media Authority referred the Bwin arm of bwin.party to the Australian Federal Police for contraventions of the Interactive Gambling Act. The Act prohibits gambling companies from providing 'interactive' gambling services to those in Australia. Penalties for each breach, which can be for each day, are $220,000 for individuals and $1.1 million for corporations.

Sponsorship
Bwin recently sponsored football giants Real Madrid, A.C. Milan and Bayern Munich and more recently Olympique de Marseille. In October 2010, Bwin announced a sponsorship for the upcoming three football seasons in which it would be the title sponsor of the Taça de Portugal, named the "Bwin Cup". Italy's second tier, Serie B, has already been re-branded "Serie bwin" after a two-year sponsorship deal was signed in July 2010.

On 16 August 2012, bwin announced it was entering into a digital partnership with Manchester United to become the club's official online gaming and betting partner.

In the past, many other top events in the international and local sports world were supported by the corporation. Bwin also sponsored the Portuguese first football league (bwinLIGA) and has been partner to clubs such as Juventus and Werder Bremen.

Bwin cooperated with the International Basketball Association (FIBA) and has sponsored the European and World Basketball Championships since 2006. A second basketball sponsorship is Euroleague Basketball. Bwin's marketing and media rights agreement for Euroleague events expired in June 2014.

In the area of motorsport, the company was one of the main sponsors of the MotoGP series. In 2012, it was the title sponsor of the races in Jerez and GP in Brno and official partner of the Misano, Mugello and Silverstone. In December 2011, bwin announced it would be extending its Moto GP sponsorships through 2013.

In addition, Bwin organised numerous poker events both online and offline. One of the biggest regular online tournaments was the ChampionChip. Special poker tournaments like the Weekly Country Showdown or the Bwin Dailies offered a range of tournaments adjusted to country specifics and buy-in levels. Periodically, there were launched new types and variations of Sit & Go's. Also, several online qualifiers the Bwin user could qualify for offline events like the World Series of Poker (WSOP), the Aussie Millions and events on the World Poker Tour. For "poker newbies", Bwin offered the Rookie Challenge where a new poker player had the chance to climb up several stages for free to earn real money tickets.

The company faced some opposition in Europe over sponsorship of sports, especially football. In 2006, the German city of Bremen banned its top football club, Werder Bremen, from carrying the Bwin logo on its shirts.

In January 2014, the company announced major sponsorship deals with the New Jersey Devils and Philadelphia 76ers. The combined deals included major advertising to the fans of both teams and the creation of the Dream Seat Series, which was a series of online poker tournaments offering ticket packages to winners and other prizes to runners-up before every home game.

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

title: Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment


text:
Alan Devonshire

Alan Ernest Devonshire (born 13 April 1956) is an English former professional footballer who is the manager of Maidenhead United. He was a wide midfielder who played for West Ham United, with whom he won the FA Cup in 1980, and Watford, where he finished his career in 1992. Devonshire won eight caps for England between 1980 and 1983. He subsequently became a manager with Maidenhead United, Hampton & Richmond Borough and Braintree Town.

Early career
Born in Park Royal, then a part of Middlesex, Crystal Palace rejected Devonshire at age 14 for being too small. He returned to Selhurst Park two years later and played a couple of youth team games but was again released by the club, this time by former West Ham player and Palace manager, Malcolm Allison. Devonshire started playing for non-league Southall and caught the attention of League clubs such as Reading, Southampton, and Brentford. By day, he worked as a forklift truck driver at the Hoover Factory in Perivale, Middlesex. During this period, two West Ham United scouts, Eddie Baily and Charlie Faulkner, spotted him playing for Southall and recommended him to Ron Greenwood. Devonshire signed for West Ham United in 1976 for a fee of £5,000; "West Ham's best ever buy", according to some.

West Ham United
Devonshire debuted for West Ham on 27 October 1976 in a League Cup tie against Queens Park Rangers, which West Ham lost 2–0. He made his League debut three days later, on 30 October 1976, against West Bromwich Albion, where he played in a 3–0 defeat. He soon became a fan favourite, referred to by his nickname "Dev". His down-to-earth attitude was one to which the fans could relate. He also enhanced his rapport with supporters by travelling to home games on the London Underground from his West London home.

He played 29 games in all competitions without scoring in his first season. 1976–77 was a poor season for West Ham, finishing 17th and only two points clear of relegation in the First Division. The following season, 1977–78, saw Devonshire's first goals for the club in a 3–3 at Upton Park on 12 November 1977. It also saw him play 38 games in all competitions, scoring three goals. Unfortunately for West Ham, his efforts could not prevent relegation to the Second Division after they finished in 20th place. The 1978–79 season saw West Ham rebuilding their side following relegation. Devonshire was a regular in the team that finished 5th in the Second Division. He played 41 out of a possible 42 league games and won the Hammer of the Season award. West Ham failed to gain promotion again in the 1979–80 season. However, they did get to the 1980 FA Cup Final, where Devonshire collected an FA Cup winner's medal as West Ham beat the favourites, holders, and Cup Winners Cup finalists Arsenal 1–0 at Wembley with a Trevor Brooking header from a Devonshire cross. Devonshire had scored in the semi-final replay at Elland Road in a 2–1 win against Everton.

In the 1980–81 season Devonshire's career flourished. His partnership with Trevor Brooking formed the cornerstone of West Ham's push for promotion back to the First Division. He also played in European football for the first time and was a member of the side which reached the 1981 League Cup Final. He collected a Second Division title medal as they won promotion, losing only four games. Devonshire continued to be a regular member of the West Ham side in the First Division until 7 January 1984. Playing against Wigan Athletic in the FA Cup, he snapped three ligaments in his right knee. He tried to make a comeback in March 1985 in two cup games against Wimbledon but again broke down. It was 19 months from his first injury to his return to full fitness against Birmingham City on 17 August 1985. His long spell out injured resulted in him losing some of his speed but still maintaining his ability to pass the ball well. He made the final pass for several goals scored by teammates Tony Cottee and Frank McAvennie in the 1985–86 season as West Ham finished third in the First Division.

Injury struck Devonshire again in the first game of the 1987–88 season. He snapped his Achilles tendon fifteen minutes into a match against Queens Park Rangers. That forced him out of the game for over a year, and by the time of his return, the West Ham team were in decline. The 1988–89 season saw him play only 20 league games without scoring as the Hammers were relegated to the Second Division. For the 1989–90 season, Lou Macari replaced John Lyall, and the side went through another rebuild. Devonshire made only seven league appearances that season. Billy Bonds replaced Macari, and Devonshire's former teammate granted him a free transfer in May 1990. Devonshire's last appearance for West Ham came on 14 February 1990 when he appeared as a substitute for Gary Strodder in a 6–0 away defeat to Oldham Athletic in a League Cup semi-final. His performance, and that of other experienced West Ham players Liam Brady, Phil Parkes, Alvin Martin and Julian Dicks, was described as "embarrassingly helpless" in a game known as the "St. Valentine's Day massacre". Devonshire had played 448 competitive games over 14 years, scoring 32 goals.

Watford
Devonshire signed for Watford in 1990. He played for two more years before dropping out of league football. He went on to serve the non-league club Chippenham Sports as a player-coach.

International career
Devonshire was selected to play for England by Ron Greenwood, his former manager at West Ham. He debuted on 20 May 1980 in a 1–1 draw against Northern Ireland. Greenwood selected him again on 31 May 1980 in a friendly game against Australia, which England won 2–1. Unfortunately for Devonshire, his position and style of play were similar to those of Glenn Hoddle, and he often found himself playing second fiddle to the Tottenham man. He would have to wait two years for his next cap, on 25 May 1982, in a 2–0 win against the Netherlands. Another game followed on 2 June 1982, a 1–1 draw against Iceland. These games were warm-up matches for the 1982 World Cup, but Devonshire was missing from England's final squad for the tournament. Bobby Robson, England's new manager, attempting to rebuild an ageing team, selected Devonshire in October 1982. The game against West Germany finished in a 2–1 defeat. His final two appearances, against Greece and Luxembourg, came towards the end of 1983. These were qualifiers for the 1984 UEFA European Football Championship and Devonshire's only appearances in competitive international games.

Management career
Devonshire began his management career in charge of Brentford Women and the non-league club Osterley. He was appointed joint manager of Maidenhead United in the summer of 1996 alongside Martyn Busby, taking sole charge in March 1997. Under Devonshire, the Magpies ended a 27-year trophy drought by winning the Isthmian League Full Members Cup in 1996–97 and earned a historic promotion to the Isthmian League Premier Division after a third-place finish in 1999–00. The club also won four Berks & Bucks Senior Cups (1997–98, 1998–99, 2001–02, 2002–03). After the Chairman, Roger Coombs, announced his decision to step down at the end of the 2002–03 season, Devonshire followed suit. He then became the manager of Hampton & Richmond Borough in the Conference South, taking the Maidenhead first team squad with him, bar four – Ryan Ashe, Brian Connor, Adam Durrant and Lawrence Yaku – who stayed at York Road, and three – Richard Barnard, Andy Cook and Matty Glynn – who signed for Aldershot Town, Hendon and St Albans City respectively. Devonshire was inducted into the Maidenhead United Hall of Fame, alongside Connor, in January 2010.

As manager of Hampton & Richmond, he took the club from Isthmian League Division One South to the play-off-final of the Conference South. He guided them to fifth place in the Isthmian Division One South in his first season. Due to the re-organisation of the non-league pyramid, that was enough to see the club promoted to the Isthmian League Premier Division. He then guided the club to a sixth-placed finish in their debut season at that level, missing out on the play-offs on goal difference on the final day. The 2005–06 season would see Devonshire take the team into the play-offs: having won a dramatic play-off semi-final on penalties away to Heybridge Swifts, the team lost 3–0 at Fisher Athletic. Devonshire finally got Hampton & Richmond Borough promoted in style the following season, bringing the 2006–07 Isthmian Premier Division title to the Beveree. In their debut season in the Conference South, he guided his team to third place in the league and into the play-offs for the Conference National.

On 23 May 2011, Devonshire became manager of the newly promoted Conference National club Braintree Town. During his four-season spell at Cressing Road, Devonshire led the Iron to finishes of 12th, 9th, 6th, and 14th. Having declined a new contract, Devonshire left the club on 17 April 2015.

Devonshire's second spell as Maidenhead United manager began in May 2015. On his return to United, his team brought Port Vale back to York Road for an FA Cup 1st Round replay in November 2015 after an unforgettable draw at Vale Park. A final league position of 7th in 2015–16 served notice of a tilt at promotion. After first topping the table in August, the Magpies held on to beat the challenge of Ebbsfleet United to win the 2016–17 title on the final day of the season, with Devonshire securing the National League South Manager of the Season award in the process. Maidenhead also won the Berks & Bucks Senior Cup in 2017 after beating Hungerford Town in the final at Slough. Devonshire then led the Magpies to a top-half finish in their inaugural National League season, winning the Manager of the Month award in April 2018. In June 2021, Devonshire signed a new three-year contract until the end of the 2023–24 season, which was a reward for keeping the part-time club safe from relegation at the top level of non-league football. The occasional scalps of big ex-league teams (particularly at York Road) have resulted in the use of the phrase "You've been Devonshired".

Career statistics

Personal life
Devonshire's father, Les, was a professional footballer with clubs including Chester City and Crystal Palace.

He has a race horse named after him.

Player
West Ham United
 * Second Division: 1980–81
 * FA Cup: 1979–80
 * League Cup runner-up: 1980–81

Manager
Maidenhead United
 * National League South: 2016–17

title: Alan Devonshire


text:
Neck stiffness

Neck stiffness, stiff neck and nuchal rigidity are terms often used interchangeably to describe the medical condition when one experiences discomfort or pain when trying to turn, move, or flex the neck. Possible causes include muscle strain or sprain, cervical spine disorder, meningitis, and subarachnoid hemorrhage.

Nuchal rigidity due to irritation of the lining of the brain and spinal cord is one of the main symptoms of meningitis.

title: Neck stiffness


text:
Outlaw Golf

Outlaw Golf is a series of golf video games developed by Hypnotix, that are intended for adults and mature teens. Outlaw Golf was released for the Xbox on June 11, 2002; for GameCube on October 30, 2002; and for Microsoft Windows on September 30, 2003. A standalone expansion, Outlaw Golf: 9 Holes of X-Mas was released December 23, 2002 exclusively to Blockbuster. A second standalone expansion, Outlaw Golf: 9 More Holes of X-Mas, was released November 15, 2003 also exclusively to Blockbuster. An official sequel, Outlaw Golf 2, was released for Xbox on October 21, 2004, and for PlayStation 2 on November 25, 2004. The games are part of the Outlaw series, and other titles include Outlaw Volleyball and Outlaw Tennis. The Xbox version was released in Japan as part of Xbox World Collection series.

Gameplay
Outlaw Golf supports single player and multiplayer with 1-4 players, and Outlaw Golf 2 supports single player, online and offline multiplayer with 1-4 players. Players take control one of several characters, each with their own unique caddy. The series is noted for its crude humor, particularly in regard to the characters, most of whom fall under an exaggerated archetype. These include a stripper, a hippie, a biker, and more. Unique to the series is the Composure Meter. As players do well, the player character's composure meter increases. The maximum distance rating for each club increases or decreases in relation to the player character's composure. As the player misses shots, the Composure Meter decreases; this is designed to simulate frustration: the more shots missed, the more frustrated the player character gets and the worse they perform. In order to counteract this, the player character can beat or humiliate their caddy in some way, which raises the composure meter. Hitting a perfect shot results in the ball bursting into flames as it travels; the flames extinguishing when the turn is over. Outlaw Golf 2 includes new courses and additional golfers and caddies.

Actor and comedian Steve Carell provides the commentator track for the original Outlaw Golf, and comedian Dave Attell takes over announcing duties in Outlaw Golf 2.

Outlaw Golf
The GameCube and Xbox versions of Outlaw Golf received "average" reviews according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.

Outlaw Golf 2
The sequel received "mixed or average reviews" on both platforms according to video game review aggregator Metacritic.

title: Outlaw Golf


text:
Talk:Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment

Opening comment
Hope this doesn't look like an advert for PartyPoker. Although I do in fact have an account there, it's not my favourite Poker site - I just created this page on the news that PartyGaming is going to float some shares... Evercat 13:21, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Skin split, software update, affiliate issues
There have been some major changes at PartyGaming over the past few weeks, including the Empire settlement, the new software platform, and an apparent controversy over the old Empire affiliates.

''On 20 February 2006, revoked its certification of PartyGaming due to the company's policy not to pay existing affiliates of Empire Online. These affiliates had contractual agreements with Empire online to be paid a % of player revenues for the life of the player. Upon purchasing Empire's "skin" operations PartyGaming announced they will not honor the affiliate contracts made with Empire Online.

Do we really need to include such issues at this time? The dust hasn't even settled from the skin split and software upgrade yet. This decision may not remain permanent. SmartGuy 19:25, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

 * Such an entry is both off topic and nonsensical, and should not be included. This article isn't about Empire Online's contractual responsibilities. It is about Party Gaming, and even in that it isn't about trivia of any kind or the interpretive POV of anyone, especially since this POV entry is false on its face.  The affiliate contracts say they can be terminated at any time for ANY reason.  Obviously we should not include clearly false entries in the article.  I reverted back to before the anon POV addition. 2005 19:34, 21 February 2006 (UTC)

 * Seems our spam vandal is back at it again. These people seriously are irritating. SmartGuy 13:43, 23 February 2006 (UTC)

3rd Party programs
Does the Partypoker program come attached with 3rd party progs like spyware?

 * No. 2005 00:17, 22 July 2006 (UTC)

Personally, have had no problems... But ZoneAlarm Security Suite is telling me it is adware. Are they simply misinformed? 198.54.202.242 (talk) 07:38, 29 November 2007 (UTC)

Nice, free advert for party poker
Nothing about bots, etc... this is basically an ad for them. This should be edited for a NPOV or pulled. Firstly Party Poker is not poker. Poker is considered a game of skill and not chance because the game involves personal contact where one is confronted with an opponents mannerisms,voice characteristics,facial expressions etc.,called "tells" in actual poker. In this online "poker" none of this exists and thus it is not poker. Secondly,since there is no personal contact,there is a great risk of the opponents using multiple handles to manipulate the outcome of each hand.There are other means used to create unfair advantage for players and there have been cases recently of employees of online poker actually viewing each players hands during play and raking up millions in profit. This entire article is a huge puff piece for a very risky site which isn't even real poker.BrianAlex (talk)

 * I will edit out some of the advertising. It remains an important article because this company is listed on the London Stock Exchange and readers need to know the facts - from a neutral point of view of course Dormskirk (talk) 17:51, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

US players
Doesn't the source article just say that they're going to ban US players IF the legislation is signed in 2 weeks? The wikipedia entry makes it sound like Party is banning US players no matter what, with no indication of when.
 * It's pretty much a foregone conclusion that Bush is going to sign the Safe Ports Act, the bill which Bill Frist used to shovel the I-gaming legislation through Congress as a rider. There's no "IF" about it.  Barring major legal action by the big online cardrooms, it's going to get signed into law.  Given that the industry in general has been very non-responsive in regards to the threat of a U.S. ban, that is probably not going to happen. SmartGuy 14:02, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

 * I could have added "if" for a few days, but it is 100% likely to be signed. 2005 19:07, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

 * Unfortunately 2005 you are right. Sigh.  It's been a hell of a ride, though. SmartGuy 19:10, 2 October 2006 (UTC)

 * Sigh indeed ... But the safe port act, or at least the affect on online poker, really needs an article of its own. This is huge news to millions of US poker players, and it deserves more content on wikipedia.  -1123

 * I agree. Both the Safe Port Act and the internet gambling rider merit articles. SmartGuy 15:27, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

 * There is an article Safe Port Act. 2005 21:24, 3 October 2006 (UTC)

PartyPoker money cheat
People on PartyPoker would just login and gain money every second. Something should be included on this. --70.111.218.254 03:39, 17 November 2006 (UTC)

 * Thats only with play money. A minor exploit since play money tables are a garunteed gong show anyway.

Fair use rationale for Image:PartyPokerLogo.png
Image:PartyPokerLogo.png is being used on this article. I notice the image page specifies that the image is being used under fair use but there is no explanation or rationale as to why its use in this Wikipedia article constitutes fair use. In addition to the boilerplate fair use template, you must also write out on the image description page a specific explanation or rationale for why using this image in each article is consistent with fair use.

Please go to the image description page and edit it to include a fair use rationale. Using one of the templates at Fair use rationale guideline is an easy way to insure that your image is in compliance with Wikipedia policy, but remember that you must complete the template. Do not simply insert a blank template on an image page.

If there is other other fair use media, consider checking that you have specified the fair use rationale on the other images used on this page. Note that any fair use images uploaded after 4 May, 2006, and lacking such an explanation will be deleted one week after they have been uploaded, as described on criteria for speedy deletion. If you have any questions please ask them at the Media copyright questions page. Thank you.BetacommandBot 07:13, 6 June 2007 (UTC)
 * I have addressed this. --best, kevin [kzollman][talk] 16:55, 6 June 2007 (UTC)

100,000 players at a time?
The article claims that at peak times, 100,000 players are playing at a time on partypoker. This was true, back before partypoker was forced to pull out of the US market. Does anyone have any sources showing their current peak number of players? I highly doubt it's back up to 100,000, but I could be wrong. --Xyzzyplugh 07:40, 17 June 2007 (UTC)

Party Poker issues
This section seem the be opinion / original research then anything else, I've tagged but it may need to be removed without sources to the claim. ▪◦▪ ≡ЅiREX≡Talk 06:10, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
 * I removed it as it was opinion rather than original research. Use of the word "plagued" is inappropriate, as is even the opinion that playing shortstacked is bad. 2005 07:23, 7 November 2007 (UTC)
 * You are correct I should had removed it there and then, the part that saw as OR was "software is also considered to be inefficient by some" if this opinion was written by an authority in the poker world (ie cardplayer, bluff etc) it could be quoted as such but other then that has no bases in being in the article, with the "plagued" comment about short stack poker you are quite right on that point too, I don't know what I was thinking.(slap head)▪◦▪ ≡ЅiREX≡Talk 07:49, 7 November 2007 (UTC)

Bill Frist legislation
If you visit PartyGaming or Party Poker today, from the United States, you can in fact play for money on your credit card.

I think something has changed which is not reflected in your article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 209.247.5.138 (talk) 20:30, 11 July 2008 (UTC)

PartyBets.com
I believe PartyBets.com is another of their interests. —  SMcCandlish  [talk] [cont] ‹(-¿-)› 16:17, 2 September 2008 (UTC)

New name or parent company
This now appears to have either been renamed WPC Productions Limited, or WPC owns PartyGaming PLC, or vice versa. Article needs to be updated, and possibly moved, depending upon what the situation is. —  SMcCandlish  [talk] [cont] ‹(-¿-)› 08:42, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

 * It still is traded as PartyGaming. WPC looks like a copyright subsidiary, so that could be mentioned here, but WPC seems to get little press. 2005 (talk) 08:58, 4 October 2008 (UTC)

Operating / net income
I'm not really a financial expert, but it struck me odd that the info box says operating income is US$5.3 million and net income is US$41.6 million. Isn't operating income supposed to be less than net income by definition? Murgorgum (talk) 01:51, 9 December 2008 (UTC)
 * Net income is higher in this case because it is stated after including income from discontinued operations Dormskirk (talk) 17:49, 22 February 2009 (UTC)

Popups
I dont care bout poker, or how much this company makes, when i hear 'partypoker' i automatically get reminded of their almost legendary spyware popups. Should be mentioned within the main article, since im fairly sure that the number of times the name 'partypoker' is mentioned on adware forums will be very close to their anual capital income.

I think the 3rd party programs they are paying to advertise the partypoker website are a big problem. Partypoker popups appear after installation of spyware or adware. This suggests partypoker funds spyware/adware producers in exchange for directing poeple to their website. Another questionable method used to advertise the partypoker website is to have 3rd parties create shockwave flash objects (usually video) that produce unblockable popup windows when users play them.195.241.123.113 (talk) 12:16, 10 December 2009 (UTC)

Merger proposal
I propose that InterTrader be merged into Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment. InterTrader does not appear to be notable in its own right. I think that the content in the InterTrader article can easily be explained in the context of Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment, and the Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment article is of a reasonable size that the merging of InterTrader will not cause any problems as far as article size or undue weight is concerned. Hobbes Goodyear (talk) 22:50, 20 January 2013 (UTC)
 * I do not really have strong views on this but would prefer if the articles were not merged as we would lose the history of InterTrader. Dormskirk (talk) 20:43, 23 March 2013 (UTC)

title: Talk:Bwin.Party Digital Entertainment


text:
Hancock County–Bar Harbor Airport

Hancock County–Bar Harbor Airport is a county-owned, public-use airport located in Trenton, Maine, eight nautical miles (9 mi, 15 km) northwest of the central business district of Bar Harbor, a city in Hancock County, Maine, United States. It serves the residents of Hancock County with commercial and charter aviation services. During the summer months, the airport becomes one of Maine's busiest, with significant private jet operations bringing visitors to the numerous summer colonies in the county, which includes Mount Desert Island. Scheduled passenger airline service is subsidized by the Essential Air Service program.

As per Federal Aviation Administration records, the airport had 10,562 passenger boardings (enplanements) in calendar year 2008, 10,100 enplanements in 2009, and 11,109 in 2010. It is included in the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2017–2021, in which it is categorized as a non-primary commercial service facility.

History
The airport operated as Bar Harbor Naval Auxiliary Air Facility (NAAF) supporting operations of Naval Air Station Brunswick from September 1, 1943 until November 15, 1945.

In July 2010, sitting United States president Barack Obama landed at the airport, in a smaller version of Air Force One, for a vacation with his family.

Facilities and aircraft
Hancock County–Bar Harbor Airport covers an area of 468 acres (189 ha) at an elevation of 83 feet (25 m) above mean sea level. It has two asphalt paved runways: 4/22 is 5,200 by 100 feet (1,585 x 30 m) and 17/35 is 3,253 by 75 feet (992 x 23 m). The airport is uncontrolled.

For the 12-month period ending September 30, 2016, the airport had 21,250 aircraft operations, an average of 58 per day: 84% general aviation, 8% scheduled commercial, 7% air taxi, and <1% military. In September 2017, there were 33 aircraft based at this airport: 32 single-engine and 1 glider.

Airlines and destinations
Cape Air operates Cessna 402 twin prop aircraft with code sharing agreements with American Airlines, JetBlue Airways and United Airlines. Previously, the airport was additionally served by Silver Airways Saab 340 and PenAir during the summer months.

Other sources

 * Essential Air Service documents (Docket OST-2011-0185) from the U.S. Department of Transportation:
 * Order 2011-11-26 (November 22, 2011): prohibiting Colgan Air, Inc., operating as US Airways Express, from terminating its subsidized service at Bar Harbor and Presque Isle/Houlton, Maine (Presque Isle), and Plattsburgh, New York, and requesting proposals from airlines interested in providing replacement essential air service (EAS) at any or all of the communities, with or without subsidy.
 * Order 2012-3-2 (March 2, 2012): making Essential Air Service (EAS) air carrier selections at Bar Harbor and Presque Isle, Maine, and Plattsburgh, New York. At Bar Harbor, Hyannis Air Service Inc., operating as Cape Air, and Peninsula Airways, Inc. (PenAir) will jointly provide EAS for a four-year term beginning when either carrier begins providing full EAS. PenAir will operate only the peak summer months from Memorial Day through Labor Day, and will operate two daily nonstop round trips to Boston using 34-seat Saab 340 aircraft subsidy free. Cape Air will operate on a year-round basis, providing one daily round trip (seven a week) from Memorial Day through Labor Day, and three daily round trips (21 a week) from September through May using 9-seat Cessna 402 aircraft for an annual subsidy rate of $1,631,223.

title: Hancock County–Bar Harbor Airport


text:
Fulacht fiadh

Fulacht fiadh (fulacht fiadh or fulacht fian; plural: fulachtaí fia or, in older texts, fulachta fiadh) is the name given to one of many burned mounds, dating from the Bronze Age, found in Ireland. Most surviving examples consist of a low horseshoe-shaped mound of charcoal-enriched soil, and heat-shattered stone, with a cooking pit located in a slight depression at its centre. In ploughed fields, they are apparent as black spreads of earth interspersed with small sharp stones.

There are multiple examples of fulacht fiadh Ireland. The majority were constructed during the mid to late Bronze Age (c.1500- c. 500 BC), though some Neolithic and a few medieval examples are known. In Great Britain and the Isle of Man they are known as burnt mounds, and similar objects are found in Sweden. Permanent structures are rarely found near to fulachtaí fiadh, but small hut sites are common and it is unknown whether early sites were built by permanent settlements or nomadic hunters.

Etymology
Many historians suggest that the Irish word "fulacht" denotes a cooking pit. In modern Irish, it is one word for a barbecue. "Fiadh" in Old Irish meant something like "wild", often relating to animals such as deer. However, all acknowledge the difficulties in deriving a genuine etymology for the word "fulacht". As some historical texts clearly use the term "fulacht" to describe a cooking spit, a close reading of these accounts suggests that the term actually derives from a word meaning support and probably carries a deliberate reference to the Irish words for blood (fuil) and meat (feoil).

Siting
Fulachtaí fiadh are usually found close to water sources, such as springs, rivers and streams, or waterlogged ground. They were also sited close to sources of suitable stone where it could be obtained close to the surface. They required a source of fuel, so would have been close to woodland. They would also have to be in proximity to whatever was being processed by boiling in the trough. Once these conditions were met a fulacht fiadh could be constructed. Once the use of a fulacht fiadh had ended it was common for people to continue to make use of the local landscape, therefore fulachtaí fiadh tend to be found in groups strung out along water courses.

Construction
Fulachtaí fiadh generally consist of three main elements: a mound of stones, a hearth used to heat the stones, and a trough, often lined with wood or stone, which was filled with water and into which the heated stones were placed to warm the water. Troughs may be cut into subsoil or, more rarely, into bedrock. The site may contain the remains of structures such as stone enclosures or even small buildings, and sometimes multiple hearths and additional, smaller pits. They are almost always found near running water, or in marshy areas where a hole dug into the ground would quickly fill with water.

A number of the fulachtaí fiadh pits are approximately a metre wide by 2 metres long and maybe half a metre or more in depth. However, size can vary a great deal from site to site, from rather small pits lined with stones to pools conceivably large enough for people to bathe in.

Function
It is postulated that these pits were filled with water and heated stones thrown in to create a pool of boiling water in which meat was cooked. This is because when excavated, fulachtaí fiadh are found with associated charred, scorched and broken rocks. The Ballyvourney reconstruction also included successful attempts at heating the water and cooking meat in this manner.

Other theories suggest that the sites may have been used for bathing, the washing and dyeing of cloth, and leather working. Supporters of these theories point to the fact that no remains of foodstuffs have been found at the fulacht fiadh sites. Some researchers believe the fulachtaí fiadh were multi-purpose and could have, at least in some cases, been used for all of these activities - cooking, bathing, dyeing, or anything involving hot water. Some fulacht fiadh reconstructions, such as the one at Ballyvourney, include circular, hut-type structures based on the post holes found at the sites; some believe these small buildings were used for the storing and preparation of foodstuffs. Another theory is that the small buildings on site were used for enclosing heat and steam in a manner similar to the Tigh 'n Alluis Gaelic sweat-houses (which were built of stone), however, this theory does not take into account the fact that the hot water trough is located outside the buildings (when a building is even present at all).

In August 2007, two Galway based archaeologists suggested that fulachtaí fiadh were used primarily for the brewing of beer, and experimented by filling a large wooden trough with water and adding heated stones. Once the water had reached approximately 65 degrees Celsius they added barley and after 45 minutes transferred it to separate vessels to ferment, first adding wild plant flavourings and yeast. Some days later they discovered that it had transformed into a drinkable light ale.

This method of brewing with hot stones is widely documented across Europe in the modern period, and survives as a living tradition in Finland, Latvia, and Russia.

title: Fulacht fiadh


text:
Difference gel electrophoresis

Difference gel electrophoresis (DIGE) is a form of gel electrophoresis where up to three different protein samples can be labeled with size-matched, charge-matched spectrally resolvable fluorescent dyes (for example Cy3, Cy5, Cy2) prior to two dimensional gel electrophoresis.

Procedure
The three samples are mixed and loaded onto IEF (isoelectric focusing chromatography) for first dimension and the strip is transferred to a SDS PAGE. After the gel electrophoresis, the gel is scanned with the excitation wavelength of each dye one after the other, so each sample can be seen separately (if we scan the gel at the excitation wavelength of the Cy3 dye, we will see in the gel only the sample that was labeled with that dye). This technique is used to see changes in protein abundance (for example, between a sample of a healthy person and a sample of a person with disease), post-translational modifications, truncations and any modification that might change the size or isoelectric point of proteins. The binary shifts might be left to right (change in isoelectric point), vertical (change in size) or diagonal (change in both size and isoelectric point). Reciprocal Labeling is done to make sure the changes seen are not due to dye-dependent interactions.

Advantages
It overcomes limitations in traditional 2D electrophoresis that are due to inter-gel variation. This can be considerable even with identical samples. Since the proteins from the different sample types (e.g. healthy/diseased, virulent/non-virulent) are run on the same gel they can be directly compared. To do this with traditional 2D electrophoresis requires large numbers of time-consuming repeats.

Standards
In experiments comprising several gels, a common technique is to include an internal standard in each gel. The internal standard is prepared by mixing together several or all of the samples in the experiment. This allows the measurement of the abundance of a protein in each sample relative to the internal standard. Since the amounts of each protein in the internal standard is known to be the same in every gel, this method reduces inter-gel variation.

title: Difference gel electrophoresis


text:
Posti Group

Posti Group Oyj (previously Suomen Posti during 1994–2007 and Itella during 2007–2015), trading internationally as Posti Group Corporation, is the main Finnish postal service delivering mail and parcels in Finland. The State of Finland is the sole shareholder of the company. Posti has a universal service obligation that entails weekday deliveries of letters in all of Finland's municipalities. Posti's head office is located in Pohjois-Pasila in Helsinki. Posti's history spans nearly 400 years.

The Finnish company is divided into three business groups: Postal Services, Parcel and Logistics Services, and OpusCapita. Posti's net sales in 2016 amounted to EUR 1,647 million. Posti has 20,300 employees. Of the net sales, approximately 96% comes from businesses and organizations. The company's key customer sectors are commerce, services and media.

, the group is headed by Heikki Malinen, and Arto Markku Pohjola is Chairman of the Board of Directors. The company has operations in ten countries: Finland, Sweden, Norway, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Germany, Switzerland and United States. Åland Post is the independent postal operator for the Åland Islands.

Operations
Postal Services handles the delivery of letters, direct mail, and newspapers and magazines in Finland through its subsidiary Posti Oy. Delivery personnel also offer check-in and assistance services for the elderly, and in 2016 ran a pilot program offering lawn mowing. Home services help public and private home care providers be more efficient and flexible in producing their services

Parcel and Logistics Services offers parcel and e-commerce services, transport services, international road, air, sea and rail freight services, warehousing or supplementary services and customs clearance services.

OpusCapita provides financial process automation. OpusCapita has operations in eight European countries (Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Norway, Poland and Sweden) and a network of international partners covering the globe.

Historical background

 * On 6 September 1638, Governor-General Per Brahe the Younger established postal services in Finland, part of the Kingdom of Sweden at the time.
 * The Posti headquarters in Helsinki (Postintaival) have their main auditorium named after Brahe and his portrait by David Beck.
 * In 1811, a central postal administration was established within the postal services of autonomous Finland.
 * In 1845, postal service for parcels began.
 * In 1856, stamps were introduced. (Finland began issuing its own national stamps in autumn 1917, before independence was declared on 6 December 1917.)
 * In 1858, home delivery of letters and newspapers began.
 * Posti was one of the first institutions to hire women as employees, doing so since the 1860s.
 * In 1927, the Telegraph was merged with the Finnish Post (Posti).
 * In 1981, Post and Telegraph was renamed Post and Telecommunications.
 * In 1990, Posti-Tele became a state-owned enterprise no longer dependent on the state budget.
 * In 1994, Post and Telecommunications became Suomen PT Oy, with the subsidiaries Finland Post Corporation, providing postal services, and Telecom Finland Oy (later Sonera Oy), engaged in telecommunications.
 * In 1998, Suomen PT Group was demerged. Finland Post Corporation and Sonera Oy became state-owned enterprises.
 * In 2001, Finland Post became a public company (as Finland Post Corporation).
 * On 1 June 2007, the company's name was changed to Itella Corporation. The group's more diversified and internationalised business operations were the reason for the change of name.
 * In 2008, Itella acquired in Russia the logistics company NLC (National Logistic Company) and Connexions company, specialising in direct marketing services. In Poland Itella acquired BusinessPoint S.A., specialising in printing and document management.
 * In 2011, Finnish postal services have been transferred to a new company, Itella Posti Oy.
 * In 2011, Itella Information acquired OpusCapita, Itella Information acquired OpusCapita expanding services to cash flow automation.
 * Itella Bank started as a deposit bank in the beginning of 2012.
 * In 2013, Itella divested the entire share capital of Itella Bank Ltd to Finnish Savings Bank Group.
 * In 2013, Itella Information was renamed OpusCapita. It operates as a subgroup of Itella Group.
 * On 1 January 2015, Itella Oyj changed its name to Posti Group Oyj. Subsidiaries Itella Posti Oy and Itella Logistics Oy were merged and renamed to Posti Oy.
 * In 2015, Posti sold its Scandinavian road freight business operations to the Danish Nordic Transport Group (NTG).
 * Posti launched the first municipal cooperation within Posti's new home services with the South Karelia Social and Health Care District Eksote.
 * Posti acquired Kuljetus Kovalainen and Veine, a company specializing in temperature-regulated logistics.

Postal Services
Domestic postal services were centralized in Posti Oy. Posti has more than 1,400 service points: post offices, of which most are in conjunction with companies run by local entrepreneurs, Parcel Points, and pick-up outlets. There are SmartPOST automatic parcel terminals also in Estonia.

As of February 2011, Finland will be the first country in the world to receive all letters, publications, packages and direct advertisements through carbon-neutral delivery by Posti. This does not involve any extra fees to the customers.

Posti Group is solely responsible for providing postal services. In its current form, the Post Act entered into force in 2011. By virtue of this act, postal services must be provided on a permanent basis and for reasonable prices to all users, throughout the country. In each municipality there must be at least one outlet providing postal services.

The responsibility for the general steering and development of postal services belongs to the Ministry of Transport and Communications. Also the Finnish Communications Regulatory Authority, acting under this ministry, participates in the development of postal services. Among its tasks are monitoring to ensure that the Act on Postal Services and its regulations and provisions are complied with, as well as handling customer feedback.

The basic mail delivery is open to competition and some companies are starting to deliver business letters in populated areas.

International operations
In 2016, Posti established a network of pickup points in the Baltic countries.

 * 🇪🇪 Estonia: Itella Eesti
 * 🇫🇮 Finland: Posti
 * 🇱🇻 Latvia: Itella Latvija
 * 🇱🇹 Lithuania: Itella Lietuva

Wages
According to Taloussanomat, Posti Group CEO Heikki Malinen compensation increased 65% in four years to €990,000 in 2019. Heikki Malinen resigned on 2 October 2019.

A strike stopped letters and packets delivery in Finland and from abroad on 11–27 November 2019. The Posti management wanted to reduce salaries 30–50%. The Rinne government denied wage dumping. The minister in charge, Sirpa Paatero, resigned on 29 November 2019.

Revenue
According to Finnish Television New MOT Posti made during 2008–2015 over €170 million losses in logistic business when traditional postal services made €500 million profit. Since 2016 Posti does not specify the logistics financial values of company.

title: Posti Group


text: Category:Governors of the Falkland Islands


text:
Category:Members of Parliament for Reading

Members of Parliament for the English town of Reading in the county of Berkshire, both current and historic.


text:
File:Shellac-Terraform.jpg

Cover of the Shellac album Terraform, artwork by Chesley Bonestell, ~1952.

title: File:Shellac-Terraform.jpg


text:
Glider Pilot Regiment

The Glider Pilot Regiment was a British airborne forces unit of the Second World War, which was responsible for crewing the British Army's military gliders and saw action in the European theatre in support of Allied airborne operations. Established during the war in 1942, the regiment was disbanded in 1957.

Formation
The German military was one of the pioneers of the use of airborne formations, conducting several successful airborne operations during the Battle of France in 1940, including the Battle of Fort Eben-Emael. Impressed by the success of German airborne operations, the Allied governments decided to form their own airborne formations. This decision would eventually lead to the creation of two British airborne divisions, as well as a number of smaller units. The British airborne establishment began development on 22 June 1940, when the new British Prime Minister, Winston Churchill, directed a memorandum to the War Office to investigate the possibility of creating a corps of 5,000 parachute troops.

On 21 June 1941, the Central Landing Establishment was formed at Ringway airfield near Manchester; although tasked primarily with training parachute troops, it was also directed to investigate the possibilities of using gliders to transport troops into battle. It had been decided that the Royal Air Force (RAF) and the British Army would co-operate in forming the airborne establishment. Squadron Leader Louis Strange and Major J.F. Rock were tasked with gathering together potential glider pilots and forming a glider unit; this was achieved by searching for members of the armed forces who had pre-war experience of flying gliders, or were interested in learning to do so.

The two officers and their newly formed unit were provided with four obsolescent Armstrong Whitworth Whitley bombers and a small number of Tiger Moth and Avro 504 biplanes, for towing purposes. Around this time the War Office and Air Ministry began to draw up specifications for several types of military gliders to be used by the unit. The resulting gliders were the General Aircraft Hotspur, General Aircraft Hamilcar, Airspeed Horsa and the Slingsby Hengist. These designs would take some time to be implemented and produced, however, and for the time being the fledgling unit was forced to improvise.

A Glider Training Squadron was formed, and the first test-flights were conducted using Swallow light aircraft which had their propellers removed to simulate the flight characteristics of a glider; they were towed by the Whitleys using tow-ropes of varying number and length for experimentation purposes. Appeals were made throughout the United Kingdom for civilian gliders to be donated to the squadron, and the first four arrived in August 1941; three of them had been manufactured in pre-war Germany. Soon several more were donated, and these were put to use training instructors, glider pilots and newly formed ground crews. Accidents were quite frequent in these early months, primarily due to the hemp tow-ropes breaking during flight; these problems were only solved with the introduction of nylon tow-ropes imported from the USA. The first demonstration of the squadron's abilities took place on 26 September, when Prince George, Duke of Kent witnessed a demonstration of the fledgling airborne establishment's capabilities: four parachute-drops were conducted, and then two gliders were towed by civilian aircraft. This was followed on 26 October by a night exercise being conducted by the squadron, with two Avro 504s towing four gliders, and on 13 December five gliders were towed to Tatton Park, where they landed alongside sixteen parachutists dropped from two Whitley bombers.

There was a certain carefree atmosphere in the squadron in the first few months of its existence; new recruits were not obliged to pass a medical test to join the squadron, and it attracted a number of adventurous-minded men with a passion for flying. That one sergeant claimed to have flown a Messerschmitt during the Spanish Civil War, suggested that volunteers' accounts of their past flying experience were not always subject to significant scrutiny with regard to accuracy, let alone questions of loyalty. These first pilots had been volunteers recruited from all branches of the armed forces, primarily the Army, but as the squadron began to conduct training exercises, arguments broke out between the RAF and the Army over the pilots. In the view of the RAF, gliders were aircraft and therefore came under their jurisdiction and should be controlled by them; the Army argued that as the glider pilots would subsequently be fighting alongside the troops they had transported, they should come under Army control. After much debate, a compromise was brokered between the two services: the pilots would be recruited from the Army but would be trained by the RAF.

Volunteers were sought from the Army and had to be passed by RAF selection procedures before entering the full 11-week RAF Elementary Flying Training Course training on Tiger Moth and Miles Magister powered aircraft. Once qualified they were given further training on gliders: another 12-week course to qualify on the General Aircraft Hotspur. After a while they would then go to a Heavy Glider Conversion Unit for a six-week course so they were qualified for the Airspeed Horsa.

Higher formations
In 1942 the Glider Pilot Regiment came under a newly formed administrative corps, the Army Air Corps, alongside the Parachute Regiment and wartime Special Air Service, and the air observation post squadrons of the Royal Artillery. In 1949, the AAC was broken up and the regiment formed part of the Glider Pilot and Parachute Corps. In 1957 the Glider Pilot Regiment and the air observation post squadrons of the Royal Artillery amalgamated to form the current Army Air Corps.

Regimental Association
Veterans of the regiment were represented by the Glider Pilot Regimental Association. The association published a journal entitled "The Eagle", operated a benevolent fund and organised pilgrimages to locations where the regiment had fought, particularly Normandy and Arnhem. Due to the declining number of veterans and lack of external support, the members of the association voted in favour of winding it down. It closed on 31 December 2016.

Family members of veterans, who had previously been permitted to join the association as associate members, gathered together to form a civilian society named The Glider Pilot Regiment Society which officially opened on 1 January 2017 with the approval of a large number of veterans. The objective of the society is to preserve and promote the heritage of The Glider Pilot Regiment through education and engagement and create a network for veterans of the Glider Pilot Regiment and their families to engage with one another. The society produces a magazine entitled "Glider Pilot's Notes", arranges trips for veterans and organises events every year to mark key anniversaries relating to the regiment's history.

Battle honours
The regiment was awarded the following battle honours for its service during the Second World War:
 * Landing in Sicily
 * Sicily 1943
 * Normandy Landing
 * Pegasus Bridge
 * Merville Battery
 * Southern France
 * Arnhem 1944
 * Rhine
 * North-West Europe campaign of 1944–45

title: Glider Pilot Regiment


text:
Doop (character)

Doop is a fictional character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character appears in the Marvel Universe, created by writer Peter Milligan and artist Mike Allred. He made his debut in X-Force #116. He is a green, floating reniform creature of unknown origins who speaks in a "language" all his own (represented in text by a special font).

Publication history
Doop first appeared in X-Force #116, and appeared in every issue until the end of the series, and then appeared in all issues of X-Statix. Doop also appeared alongside Wolverine in a two-issue limited series and then in Wolverine & the X-Men, and had his own comic book mini series called "All New Doop".

Fictional character biography
Doop was said to be the product of a Cold War era U.S. military experiment, becoming instrumental in the fall of the Soviet Union.

He later served as the cameraman for the celebrity mutant superhero team X-Statix (formerly known as X-Force). He films a mission to North Africa which is later criticized by then-team leader Zeitgeist; he feels Doop should not be going for artistic shots. The next X-Force mission is to New York, where they are to rescue the boy band "Boyz R Us" from hostage takers. While in the briefing room, U-Go Girl asks Doop not to keep shooting her rear from a low angle. Doop replies in his language only the characters know, while inexplicably mouthing some of his recording equipment.

The building is attacked by a helicopter gunship, killing the hostages and many of the terrorists. Most of the team dies also, with the exception of Doop, U-Go Girl and Anarchist. Doop gets high-quality images of the two slaying the remaining killers.

Plush Doop dolls are seen on sale at the X-Statix cafe, for five dollars apiece. One of these is vandalized by Wolverine.

At one point, Doop secretly videotapes the rookie X-Statix member El Guapo succumbing to the temptations of fame and having a threesome. The released video destroys El Guapo's relationship with his original girlfriend.

A section of X-Force headquarters is set aside for Doop's family, who are never seen in panel. This part is talked about very little by the team. The team hides in this area when they believed themselves to be in supernatural danger.

Corkscrew
In a training/audition session for X-Statix, one of the applicants, Corkscrew, needlessly kills an opponent. It is discussed that Doop would take care of matters. Despite the seriousness of an innocent man having just died, Doop makes a joke in his language, which greatly entertains the team members present.

Doop is sent on a camping trip with Corkscrew. At the end he simply kills Corkscrew with an axe, but not before subjecting the mentally unstable mutant to psychological torture. Part of this is tricking the man into killing wild horses.

Brain power
In one incident, Doop's brain explodes, and parts of it land all across the world. X-Statix and Avengers fight each other to gain control of the brain pieces. Doop, running on a backup brain in his butt and now capable of human speech, joins in. He fights Thor to a standstill, sucking in his hammer Mjolnir and recreating multiple copies. Captain America states that Doop was an American-created super-weapon that was capable of destroying the entire planet. The Avengers, in the end, allow Doop back in to X-Statix custody, after they show courage and responsibility in facing the Asgardian threat of the "Three Sisters".

He is acquainted with Wolverine, and the two even teamed up in a two-issue miniseries.

It was revealed that at some indeterminate point in Doop's life, he had an affair with a beautiful married woman. Her husband hired a private investigator, Chandler, to spy on his errant wife. Chandler found himself falling in love with Doop. In the end, Doop ditched the woman to have an affair with the detective.

Doop and Daap
After the incident with the Avengers, X-Statix holds a farewell party, attended by fans and multiple superheroes. They are hired for one last mission, ridding a billionaire's mansion of terrorists that have taken control of the building. Doop's teammate Anarchist notes that this resembles a mission in the past where all but two X-Force members die. Not only is the mansion full of gunmen, it is also surrounded by attack helicopters. The uniforms of the gunmen are identical to the ones that the 'Boyz R Us' hostage takers wore. During the mission everyone — Doop included — apparently perishes. Doop is seen sprawled in a chair with a large stomach wound.

However, the vacationing X-Men Havok and Polaris encounter a Doop-like entity when it crashes to Earth from outer space. Polaris immediately identifies the creature as the same being she had previously seen in space and calls it Daap. Havok eventually blasts it to pieces but it begins to reform itself. Its amorphous jelly-like remains then fly off with both Polaris and the mutant-hating Leper Queen. The true identity of Daap and any connection it has with Doop is left unrevealed.

Return
Doop returns in a story published in the Nation X anthology series, where he is brought onboard Utopia as a private investigator. The story is revealed to be nothing more than a dream, and that Doop is later shown living with a beautiful woman elsewhere. The first issue of Wolverine and the X-Men lists Doop as an adjunct member of the teaching staff at the Jean Grey Institute for Higher Learning. He is eventually shown substituting for Kitty Pryde's "Introduction to Religion" class, though, under Doop, the course largely consists of watching films while Doop takes naps. The students are shown to be comically unable to decipher Doop's lesson plan. Teaching, however, is a cover for Doop's real position. Wolverine alone knows that Doop is actually the secret protector of the school, spending most of his time gathering and acting upon information regarding possible threats to the students. He again protects the unwary students from a super-villain attack, post-graduation, using sonics.

Doop makes a comeback in Young Avengers as the designated driver at the end of the Young Avengers' party. He is seen waiting with his arms crossed on the jet's loading ramp as Transonic carries an asleep Pixie on board.

After semi-regular appearances in Wolverine and the X-Men, Doop returned in April 2014 in his own 5-issue mini-series, All New Doop, written by creator Peter Milligan, penciled by David Lafuente, with covers by Mike Allred. This series focuses on Doop's romantic feelings for Kitty Pryde. It also has the return of Doop's old teammate, the Anarchist.

Powers and abilities
Doop's abilities displayed in the comics thus far have included superhuman strength and durability, flight, regeneration, physical malleability, a vaguely defined ability to manipulate time and/or space, and the ability to replicate physical objects by unknown means. In the "'Nuff Said" issue of X-Force, he accidentally sucked the entire team into his body or mind via a popped pimple. He entered himself by picking at the pimple, and rescued his teammates from their own subconscious minds. When they were restored to reality, none but Doop was aware of what had occurred, and only a fraction of a second had actually passed.

Doop uses his mouth as a storage space for his camera equipment, among other items; it is unknown whether these items are simply stored inside his physical body or are actually transported to another dimension like the one to which his teammates were transported.

In the "Lacuna" storyline in X-Force, Lacuna's ability to stop time does not affect Doop. Whatever his control over time or space may be, it is apparently not powerful enough for the team to use him for teleporting the group; they relied first on U-Go Girl and later on Venus Dee Milo for long-distance travel.

In the "X-Statix vs. Avengers" storyline in X-Statix, Doop's brain was removed from his body and forced to project energy blasts at his teammates (a power that he did not demonstrate previously or afterwards). The brain was accidentally smashed into fragments by Thor, but his second brain (in his hindquarters) was temporarily installed in his head until the original brain could be reassembled, though it was stated that this second brain would only keep him alive for a short time. Later, when Thor struck Doop with his hammer, Mjolnir, Doop absorbed the hammer into his body and fired Mjolnir and a number of duplicate hammers from his mouth at Thor.

Doop has stretched his facial features and tongue on numerous occasions, and once plucked an eye from his head and then replaced it. He expanded his body into a cushion in the Wolverine/Doop miniseries. It is unknown if Doop possesses any other powers. On the one instance where he was forced to kill someone, he apparently used an ordinary axe, although the killing itself was not actually depicted on-panel. Some time later, when Doop thought that Wolverine was dangerously insane, he was prepared to attack the X-Man with a broken glass bottle.

Doopspeak
In 2001, several websites claimed to have deciphered Doopspeak. Series editor Axel Alonso responded in an October 8, 2001 article by Eric J. Moreels on the X-Fan site (now Comixfan) which was previously part of Cinescape.com:

"It was brought to our attention only last week that some folks were popping over to Blambot.com to ostensibly decode the enigma of 'Doop Speak'. Do not be fooled. Says [series writer] Peter Milligan, and I quote: 'Any such alphabet that purports to exist is to 'Doop Speak' what a Greek Restaurant menu is to The Iliad. The complexities and nuances of Doop Speak — understood only by an initiated few — cannot be encompassed or delineated by any one image system.' Folks should 'translate' at their own risk."

However, Doopspeak was revealed in 2014, at the back of Essential X-Men #57.

Merchandise
A figure of Doop was included with the Marvel Legends Series VI Deadpool figure.

A Marvel Mini-Bust of DOOP by Bowen Designs was released in October 2004, as part of Phase II, Bust # 88 and sculpted by Randy Bowen.

Fictional merchandise
Doop merchandise is popular in the Marvel universe, particularly among children; Paco Perez was seen wearing a Doop T-shirt, while Molly Hayes is the known owner of both a stuffed Doop doll and Doop poster. Jean Grey has also been seen with a Doop keychain. All members of X-Statix were fully merchandised.

Doop starred in his own action movie called 'Doop Hard'.

Television

 * Doop makes a non-speaking cameo appearance in the Ultimate Spider-Man episode "Back in Black".

Video games

 * Doop appears in Marvel Heroes.
 * Doop appears in Marvel Puzzle Quest.

title: Doop (character)


text: User talk:66.147.10.2

title: User talk:66.147.10.2


text:
Chamberlain v Surrey School District No 36

Chamberlain v Surrey School District No 36, [2002] 4 S.C.R. 710, 2002 SCC 86, was a case in which the Supreme Court of Canada held that a local school board could not impose its religious values by refusing to permit the use of books that sought to promote tolerance of same-sex relationships.

Background
In 1997, James Chamberlain, a primary school teacher in Surrey, British Columbia, sought permission from School District 36 Surrey to use three books in his Kindergarten and Grade one classes. The books, Asha's Mums, Belinda's Bouquet and One Dad, Two Dads, Brown Dad, Blue Dads, each presented families where both parents were of the same sex. Chamberlain asserted that the books were necessary to reflect the realities of today's families and to teach his pupils about diversity and tolerance. A 4–2 majority of the board voted to deny the request.

Opinion of the Court
A legal battle to overturn the decision to ban the three books went all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada, where the school board's decision at the British Columbia Court of Appeal was overturned in favour of the original lower court judgment. The judgment cited the need for families headed by same-sex couples to be respected. Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin dismissed the board's concerns that children would be confused or misled by classroom information about same-sex parents. She pointed out that the children of same-sex parents are rubbing shoulders with children from more traditional families and wrote: "Tolerance is always age-appropriate, children cannot learn unless they are exposed to views that differ from those they are taught at home." The legal fees ended up costing Surrey taxpayers over $1,200,000.


text:
Talk:HMS King George V (1911)

for comment on HMS Audacious I modified page to say off "northern coast of Ireland", instead of "off coast of Northern Ireland". The main reason for this is that HMS Audacious sunk off the coast of Donegal (which is not part of Northern Ireland) and the wreck is in Irish Territorial Waters. -Paul

title: Talk:HMS King George V (1911)


text:
Talk:Hersile

Is this the same person as Hersilia? If so, the page needs to be merged; if not, the story needs to be clarified. Russ Blau (talk) 13:36, Jun 3, 2005 (UTC)
 * Where precisely is the Aeneid citation for her? I've been trawling right through it and can't find it. Neddyseagoon - talk |contributions 21:49, 24 November 2006 (UTC)
 * Plus, if she was Numitor's daughter, she would be Rhea Silvia's sister, and Romulus's and Remus's aunt not sister. Neddyseagoon - talk 21:57, 24 November 2006 (UTC)

title: Talk:Hersile


text:
Talk:General Confederation of Labour (Spain)

Trade union or federation?
Is CGT a trade union, like the article currently states, or is it actually a federation of more or less independent regional and sectoral trade unions? My Spanish is a bit rusty, but judging from the name and the organisation's homepage it seems like the latter case. / Alarm 13:36, 3 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I would say it is both. I mean, in Spain, large national trade unions like the CGT, UGT and CC.OO. operate in a decentralised way, but nobody would think of them as a federation. We always think of them as trade unions. In fact, the term "federación" (federation) means "subdivision" when it comes to Spanish trade unions. For example: la federación del metal, "the metal (workers') subdivision of our union" which is free to sign their collective bargaining agreement as they please, unless we have agreed to a national all-economy-encompassing agreement. elroble@planet-save.com

Renaming this article
In accordance with Naming conventions (use English), I would like to move this article to General Confederation of Labour. The current WP policy states, in part, "If you are talking about a person, country, town, film, book, or video game, use the most commonly used English version of the name for the article, as you would find it in other encyclopedias and reference works. This makes it easy to find, and easy to compare information with other sources." Does anyone object? - N1h1l (talk) 23:19, 10 January 2008 (UTC)

 * Oppose, most English sources would use the name in the original. - Francis Tyers · 10:36, 9 August 2008 (UTC)

External links modified
Hello fellow Wikipedians,

I have just modified 1 one external link on Confederación General del Trabajo. Please take a moment to review my edit. If you have any questions, or need the bot to ignore the links, or the page altogether, please visit this simple FaQ for additional information. I made the following changes:
 * Added archive https://web.archive.org/web/20050511055300/http://www.infoshop.org:80/inews/article.php?story=04/11/11/9459137 to http://www.infoshop.org/inews/article.php?story=04/11/11/9459137

When you have finished reviewing my changes, please set the checked parameter below to true or failed to let others know (documentation at ).

Cheers.— InternetArchiveBot  (Report bug) 13:33, 29 November 2016 (UTC)


text:
Partition (database)

A partition is a division of a logical database or its constituent elements into distinct independent parts. Database partitioning is normally done for manageability, performance or availability reasons, or for load balancing. It is popular in distributed database management systems, where each partition may be spread over multiple nodes, with users at the node performing local transactions on the partition. This increases performance for sites that have regular transactions involving certain views of data, whilst maintaining availability and security.

Partitioning criteria
Current high-end relational database management systems provide for different criteria to split the database. They take a partitioning key and assign a partition based on certain criteria. Some common criteria include:

 * Range partitioning: selects a partition by determining if the partitioning key is within a certain range. An example could be a partition for all rows where the "zipcode" column has a value between 70000 and 79999. It distributes tuples based on the value intervals (ranges) of some attribute. In addition to supporting exact-match queries (as in hashing), it is well-suited for range queries. For instance, a query with a predicate “A between A1 and A2” may be processed by the only node(s) containing tuples.
 * List partitioning: a partition is assigned a list of values. If the partitioning key has one of these values, the partition is chosen. For example, all rows where the column  is either ,  ,  ,   or   could build a partition for the Nordic countries.
 * Composite partitioning: allows for certain combinations of the above partitioning schemes, by for example first applying a range partitioning and then a hash partitioning. Consistent hashing could be considered a composite of hash and list partitioning where the hash reduces the key space to a size that can be listed.
 * Round-robin partitioning: the simplest strategy, it ensures uniform data distribution. With  partitions, the  th tuple in insertion order is assigned to partition  . This strategy enables the sequential access to a relation to be done in parallel. However, the direct access to individual tuples, based on a predicate, requires accessing the entire relation.
 * Hash partitioning: applies a hash function to some attribute that yields the partition number. This strategy allows exact-match queries on the selection attribute to be processed by exactly one node and all other queries to be processed by all the nodes in parallel.

Partitioning methods
The partitioning can be done by either building separate smaller databases (each with its own tables, indices, and transaction logs), or by splitting selected elements, for example just one table.

Horizontal partitioning
Horizontal partitioning involves putting different rows into different tables. For example, customers with ZIP codes less than 50000 are stored in CustomersEast, while customers with ZIP codes greater than or equal to 50000 are stored in CustomersWest. The two partition tables are then CustomersEast and CustomersWest, while a view with a union might be created over both of them to provide a complete view of all customers.

Vertical partitioning
Vertical partitioning involves creating tables with fewer columns and using additional tables to store the remaining columns. Generally, this practice is known as normalization. However, vertical partitioning extends further, and partitions columns even when already normalized. This type of partitioning is also called "row splitting", since rows get split by their columns, and might be performed explicitly or implicitly. Distinct physical machines might be used to realize vertical partitioning: storing infrequently used or very wide columns, taking up a significant amount of memory, on a different machine, for example, is a method of vertical partitioning. A common form of vertical partitioning is to split static data from dynamic data, since the former is faster to access than the latter, particularly for a table where the dynamic data is not used as often as the static. Creating a view across the two newly created tables restores the original table with a performance penalty, but accessing the static data alone will show higher performance. A columnar database can be regarded as a database that has been vertically partitioned until each column is stored in its own table.

title: Partition (database)


text:
Franciszek Leja

Franciszek Leja (27 January 1885 in Grodzisko Górne near Leżajsk – 11 October 1979 in Kraków, Poland) was a Polish mathematician.

He was born to a poor peasant family in the southeastern Poland. After graduating from the University of Lwów he was a teacher of mathematics and physics in high schools from 1910 until 1923, among others in Kraków. From 1924 until 1936 he was a professor at the Warsaw University of Technology and Warsaw University, from 1936 until 1960 in the Jagiellonian University.

He was captured by German Nazi during Sonderaktion Krakau and sent with 183 Polish professors of the Jagiellonian University and University of Technology to Sachsenhausen concentration camp. After international protest by prominent Italians including Benito Mussolini and the Vatican, 101 professors who were older than 40 were released from Sachsenhausen on February 8, 1940. Unfortunately Leja, older than 40, was not in the group of released prisoners. He stayed in a concentration camp until May 1940 when he returned to Kraków. In Kraków bad news were waiting for him: the university was closed, Leja's apartment was taken over by Nazi. The homeless couple with no income decided to move to Grodzisko Górne where they have a small house and garden. They got a permission from Gestapo and left Kraków. In Grodzisko Leja wrote the book on the calculus Rachunek różniczkowy i całkowy ze wstępem do równań różniczkowych.

Since 1948 he worked for the Institute of Mathematics of the Polish Academy of Sciences. He was a co-founder of the Polish Mathematics Society in 1919 and from 1963 until 1965 the President. Since 1931, he was a member of the Warsaw Science Society (TNW).

His main scientific interests concentrated on analytic functions, in particular the method of extremal points and transfinite diameters. He was also interested in topology; he introduced the definition of topological group

Works

 * Rachunek różniczkowy i całkowy ze wstępem do równań różniczkowych, first edition in 1947, Polish Mathematical Society, 17 edition in 2008 PWN.
 * Funkcje zespolone (pub. 1967, pub. 5 1979).
 * Teoria funkcji analitycznych, PWN, Warszawa 1957.

title: Franciszek Leja