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Legion of Mary

The Legion of Mary (Legio Mariae, postnominal abbreviation L.O.M.) is an international association of members of the Catholic Church who serve it on a voluntary basis. It was founded in Dublin, as a Marian movement by the layman and civil servant Frank Duff.

Today, active and auxiliary (praying) members make up a total of over 10 million members worldwide, making it the largest apostolic organization of lay people in the Catholic Church.

Membership is highest in South Korea, Philippines, Brazil, Argentina and the Democratic Republic of Congo, which each have between 250,000 and 500,000 members.

Membership is open to those who belong to the Catholic Church and believe in its teaching. Its stated mission is for active members to serve God under the banner of Mary by the corporal and spiritual works of Mercy, as mentioned in Chapter 33 of the Legion of Mary Handbook. The main apostolate of the Legion is activities directed towards Catholics and non-Catholics encouraging them in their faith or inviting them to become Catholic. This is usually done by encouraging them in prayer, attending Mass and learning more about the Catholic faith. The members of the Legion are engaged primarily in the performance of spiritual works of mercy, rather than works of material aid.

History
The Legion of Mary was founded by Frank Duff on 7 September 1921 at Myra House, Francis Street, in Dublin. His idea was to help Catholic lay people fulfil their baptismal promises to be able to live their dedication to the Church in an organized structure, which would be supported by fraternity and prayer. The Legion draws its inspiration from Louis de Montfort's book True Devotion to Mary.

The Legion first started out by visiting women with cancer in hospitals, but it soon became active among the most destitute, notably among Dublin prostitutes. Duff subsequently laid down the system of the Legion in the Handbook of the Legion of Mary in 1928.

The Legion soon spread around the world. At first, it was often met with mistrust because of its then-unusual dedication to lay apostolate. After Pope Pius XI praised it in 1931, the Legion had its mistrust quelled.

Most prominent for spreading the legion was Edel Quinn (1907-1944) for her activities in Africa in the 1930s and the 1940s. Her dedication to the mission of the legion, even in the face of her ill health (tuberculosis) brought her admiration: her beatification process is currently under way, as well as for Duff and Alfie Lambe (1932–1959), the Legion Envoy to South America.

On 27 March 2014, the Secretary of the Pontifical Council for the Laity, Bishop Josef Clemens, delivered the decree in which the Legion is recognized by the Holy See as International Association of the Faithful.

In 2021, the Legion celebrated the centennial of its founding, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, by hosting virtual talks, devotions, and masses. The group also resolved to increase its membership and engagement among young people and to pray for the beatification of Servants of God Frank Duff, Alphonsus Lambe, and Venerable Edel Quin.

Structure
The basic unit of the Legion is called a Praesidium, which is normally based in a parish. The Praesidium, usually a group of 3–20 members, meets weekly in its parish. The Curia is the next level, each supervising several Praesidia.

The next level is the Comitium, which is in charge of several Curiae, usually over an area like a medium city or a part of a province. The next level is the Regia, which is in charge of larger territories like a province or state. The Senatus is the next level, and it generally has control over the Regiae in a very large area, usually a country or a very large territory for example Senatus of Uganda takes over the whole of Uganda.

The Concilium is the highest level and has its seat in Dublin. It has control over the whole Legion.

Each level of the Legion has the same officers: the President, the Vice-President, the Secretary, the Treasurer, and the Spiritual Director. The last is always in the clergy, but all other offices are held by the laity. All positions regardless of responsibility are voluntary and the Legion has no paid workers.

Entering and leaving
Membership is open to all baptized Catholics. After visiting a Praesidium a few times, one can join the legion as a probationary member for three months. Then, a decision is made on whether to join the legion as an active member permanently. During the probationary period, probationary members learn about the legion system by reading the Handbook of the Legion of Mary and its active works by listening to reports of active works undertaken by fellow legionaries. At the end of probationary period, members say an oath of "Legion promise", a pledge of allegiance to the Holy Spirit and to Mary, and become a permanent active members.

Membership in the Legion of Mary is essentially based on discipline and commitment. Members devote their time and prayer for the intentions of Mary, Mother of Jesus.

Members can withdraw from the Legion by informing the president of his or her praesidium.

Types of membership
The Legion of Mary consists of two totally different memberships: the active and the auxiliary members. Both are essential to the Legion: "Just as a bird cannot fly without one wing, so also the Legion cannot exist without any of the other members," said Ráinel Lobo of Mumbai, India.

Active members regularly attend the weekly sessions of their Praesidium and pray daily the prayer of the Legion, the Catena Legionis, which consists essentially of the Magnificat and some shorter prayers. Their main role lies in active apostolate for the legion and the church. Active members under 18 are not allowed to give the "Legion promise" until that age. They are considered Juniors and may hold any office except President in their Praesidium. Above the level of the Praesidium, no Junior may serve as an officer.

Auxiliary members support the legion through their prayer. They pray the whole booklet of Legion prayers, the "Tessera", every day. The Tessera consists of the Invocation, prayers to the Holy Spirit, the Rosary, the Catena, and the concluding prayers of the Tessera.

Praetorians, a higher grade of active membership, pray, in addition to their duties as active members, the Rosary, the Divine Office and go to Holy Mass daily.

Adjutorians, a higher grade of auxiliary membership, additionally pray the Divine Office and go to Holy Mass daily.

Praetorians and Adjutors do not have higher status or higher rank inside the legion system. The meaning of the grades is only a desire for a more devotional life, not for higher status. Entering the grade is done by registering with a list of Praetorians/Adjutors and by subsequently observing their duties.

Meetings
The Praesidia normally meet weekly; larger entities normally monthly or more rarely.

For all sessions, the Altar of the Legion is set up. It has a statue of the Virgin Mary (represented standing on a globe, her arms extended, crushing the serpent with her foot), which is placed on a white tablecloth, which has "Legio Mariae" written on it. On the two sides of the statue are placed two vases with flowers, often roses (the flower connected with Mary). On the front ends of the cloth are two candlesticks with burning candles. On the right side of Mary, the Vexillum Legionis is placed.

During meetings, all the prayers of the Tessera are said. The sessions start out with the introductory prayers to the Holy Spirit and to Mary. They include five decades of the Rosary. The next part of the session includes a spiritual reading and administrative matters. The members tell briefly how they fulfilled their tasks assigned to them at the previous session. They also discuss and/or read a chapter from the Handbook of the Legion. Then, the Catena Legionis is prayed, and the Spiritual Director or, if absent, the President holds a short sermon about spiritual matters (allocutio). Finally, the new tasks for the legionaries are distributed. Each meeting ends with the concluding prayers of the Tessera and a prayer for Duff's beatification.

Vexillium Legionis
The Vexillum Legionis (English:the standard of the legion) is placed. The vexillum is made out of metal and onyx and shows the Holy Spirit in the form of a dove as well as the Miraculous Medal.

Spirituality
The spirituality of the Legion of Mary is essentially based on the approach of Louis de Montfort, as put forward in his True Devotion to Mary. The book promotes a "total dedication" to Christ through devotion to the Blessed Virgin Mary, which later influenced popes such as John Paul II, who mentions it in an apostolic letter, Rosarium Virginis Mariae.

Another important element that shapes its spirituality is Duff's devotion to the Holy Spirit. He promoted the adoration of the third person of the Trinity, which he considered neglected. He saw the Virgin Mary as the "visible image" of the Spirit; the Legion's introductory prayers and legion promise are directed to the Holy Spirit. The Legion's vexillium legionis bears the Holy Spirit's image in the form of a dove.

The essential aim of the Legion of Mary is the sanctification of its members through prayer, the sacraments and devotion to Mary and the Trinity, and of the whole world through the apostolate of the Legion.

The idea of a Catholic lay apostolate organization where ordinary laypeople in all situations of life would work for their own sanctification and for the conversion of the world was the first of its kind. After the Second Vatican Council (1962–65) promoted such ideas in its conciliar documents, this approach gain wider acceptance in the Catholic Church.

Note

 * Learn about the development of the Legion of Mary in the Ottawa Archdiocese HERE

title: Legion of Mary


text:
Devil facial tumour disease

Devil facial tumour disease (DFTD) is an aggressive non-viral clonally transmissible cancer which affects Tasmanian devils, a marsupial native to the Australian island of Tasmania. The cancer manifests itself as lumps of soft and ulcerating tissue around the mouth, which may invade surrounding organs and metastasise to other parts of the body. Severe genetic abnormalities exist in cancer cells—for example, DFT2 cells are tetraploid, containing twice as much genetic material as normal cells. DFTD is most often spread by bites, when teeth come into contact with cancer cells; less important pathways of transmission are ingesting of infected carcasses and sharing of food. Adult Tasmanian devils who are otherwise the fittest are most susceptible to the disease.

DFTD is estimated to have first developed in 1986. There are two currently existing strains, both appearing to be derived from Schwann cells. DFT1 is the main and older strain that infects most of the devil population. It was first described in 1996 in an animal from Mount William National Park in northeastern Tasmania. DFT2 appeared around 2011 and was first detected in 2014; all cases are limited to the area of southern Tasmania near the D'Entrecasteaux Channel. There still remain disease-free pockets in the relatively isolated south-west of the island.

The disease poses a direct threat to the survival of Tasmanian devils as a species as the disease is almost universally fatal. In the two decades since the disease was first spotted, population of Devils (Sarcophilus harrisii) declined by 80% (locally exceeding 90%), as the condition spread through virtually entire Tasmania. The Tasmanian Government, Australian universities and zoos are engaged in efforts to curb the disease. Culling infected individuals, the policy used by state officials until 2010, brought little success. Thus the main prevention method became taking hundreds of devils into captivity and then releasing some of them into the wild. There is no cure for the cancer so far. Vaccination offers some promise in the fight against the pathogen, but researchers have not found a suitable candidate yet. A 2017 vaccine trial found that only 1 in 5 devils could resist DFTD; a DFT1 oral vaccine candidate is being tested in the captive devil population.

Clinical signs
There is often more than one primary tumour. Visible signs of DFTD begin with lumps of soft tissue around the mouth, which ulcerate. Tumours are locally aggressive, destroying the underlying bone of the jaw which interferes with feeding. Tumours may also cover the eyes. Devils usually die within six months from organ failure, secondary infection, or metabolic starvation.

DFTD is rare in juveniles. It affects males and females equally.

Transmission
The most plausible route of transmission is through biting, particularly when canine teeth come into direct contact with the diseased cells. Other modes of transmission may include the ingestion of infected carcasses and the sharing of food, both of which involve an allogeneic transfer of cells between unrelated individuals. The animals most likely to become infected are the fittest devil individuals.

Pathology
DFTD tumours are large soft tissue masses which become centrally ulcerated. The tumours are composed of lobules of nodules of round to spindle-shaped cells, often within a pseudocapsule. Tumours metastasise to regional lymph nodes involvement and systemically to the lungs, spleen and heart.

Tumour characteristics

Tasmanian devil cells have 14 chromosomes; the oldest-known strain of the tumour cells have thirteen chromosomes, nine of which are recognisable and four of which are mutated "marker" chromosomes. More recently evolved strains have an additional mutant marker chromosome, for a total of fourteen chromosomes. Researchers identified the cancer as a neuroendocrine tumour, and found identical chromosomal rearrangements in all the cancer cells. The karyotype anomalies of DFTD cells are similar to those of cancer cells from canine transmissible venereal tumour (CTVT), a cancer of dogs that is transmitted by physical contact. Among the mutations present in the tumour genome is trisomy in chromosome 5p, as well as several single base mutations, and short insertions and deletions, e.g., deletions in the chromosomes 1, 2 and 3. Some of the mutated or deleted genes in DFTD are RET, FANCD2, MAST3 and BTNL9-like gene.

Classical DFTD likely originated in the Schwann cells of a single devil. Schwann cells are found in the peripheral nervous system, and produce myelin and other proteins essential for the functions of nerve cells in the peripheral nervous system. Researchers sampled 25 tumours and found that the tumours were genetically identical. Using deep sequencing technology, the study authors then profiled the tumours' transcriptome, the set of genes that are active in tumours; the transcriptomes closely matched those of Schwann cells, revealing high activity in many of the genes coding for myelin basic protein production. Several specific markers were identified, including the MBP and PRX genes, which may enable veterinarians to more easily distinguish DFTD from other types of cancer, and may eventually help identify a genetic pathway that can be targeted to treat it.

In 2015, a second genetically distinct strain of DFTD was identified, which was tetraploid, not diploid like the main form of the cancer. The tetraploid form has been linked to lower mortality rates. The cell type origin of this strain of DFTD is unknown. Increased levels of tetraploidy have been shown to exist in the oldest strain of DFTD as of 2014, which correlates with the point at which devils became involved in a DFTD removal programme. Because ploidy slows the tumour growth rate, the DFTD removal programme has been suggested as a selective pressure favouring slower-growing tumours, and more generally that disease eradication programmes aimed at DFTD may encourage the evolution of DFTD. The existence of multiple strains may complicate attempts to develop a vaccine, and there are reports of concerns that the evolution of the cancer may allow it to spread to related species such as the quoll.

In 2023 both DFTD strains were sequenced in a family tree indicating that the main strain DFT1 emerged around 1986 while DFT2 arose around 2011 and is found in only a small region of the island but it mutates around three times faster.

Preservation response
Wild Tasmanian devil populations are being monitored to track the spread of the disease and to identify changes in disease prevalence. Field monitoring involves trapping devils within a defined area to check for the presence of the disease and determine the number of affected animals. The same area is visited repeatedly to characterise the spread of the disease over time. So far, it has been established that the short-term effects of the disease in an area can be severe. Long-term monitoring at replicated sites will be essential to assess whether these effects remain, or whether populations can recover. Field workers are also testing the effectiveness of disease suppression by trapping and removing diseased devils, with the expectation that removal of diseased devils from wild populations would decrease disease prevalence, allowing devils to survive beyond juvenile years and so to breed. One study reported that a system of culling prior to 2010 did not impede disease spread.

A plan to create "insurance populations" of disease-free devils has been ongoing since 2005. As of June 2012, the insurance population has reached a combined total of 500 animals and representing over 98% of the genetic diversity of this species. Most of these devils are living in Australian zoos and wildlife reserves. Beginning in November 2012 however, in an effort to create a population that is both wild and disease-free, Tasmanian devils have been relocated to Maria Island, a mountainous island off the east coast of Tasmania. The Maria Island population has grown from a starting population of twenty-eight to 90, and experts will soon begin transferring healthy devils back to the mainland population. A study on the survival rates of the Maria Island population found that in contrast to other carnivores raised in captivity, the Tasmanian devils were not adversely affected by being born in captivity when released on Maria Island.

Due to the decreased life expectancy of the devils with DFTD, affected individuals have begun breeding at younger ages in the wild, with reports that many only live to participate in one breeding cycle. Hence, Tasmanian devils appear to have changed breeding habits in response to the disease; females had previously begun to breed annually at age two, for about three more years, dying thereafter of a variety of causes. Populations are now characterised by onset of breeding at age one, dying of DFTD, on average, shortly thereafter. Social interactions have been seen to contribute to spread of DFTD in a local area.

The decline in devil numbers is also an ecological problem, since its presence in the Tasmanian forest ecosystem is believed to have prevented the establishment of the red fox, with the most recent known organism accidentally being introduced into Tasmania in 1998. Tasmanian devil young may now be more vulnerable to red fox predation, as pups are left alone for long periods of time.

In response to the impact of DFTD on Tasmanian devil populations, 47 devils have been shipped to mainland Australian wildlife parks to attempt to preserve the genetic diversity of the species. The largest of these efforts is the Devil Ark project in Barrington Tops, New South Wales; an initiative of the Australian Reptile Park. This project aims to create a set of one thousand genetically representative devils, and is now a major focus of the insurance policy.

In August 2023, the Devil Ark at Barrington celebrated the birth of the 500th devil since the project was launched.

The Tasman peninsula is being considered as a possible "clean area" with the single narrow access point controlled by physical barriers. The Tasmanian Department of Primary Industries and Water is experimenting on culling infected animals with some signs of success.

A diagnostic blood test was developed in mid-2009 to screen for the disease. In early 2010, scientists found some Tasmanian devils, mostly in the north-west of Tasmania, that are genetically different enough for their bodies to recognise the cancer as foreign. They have only one major histocompatibility complex, whereas the cancerous cells have both.

Oocyte banking may be useful in the conservation effort for Tasmanian devils, as the survival rate of cryopreserved oocytes is 70%.

History

In 1996, a photographer from The Netherlands captured several images of devils with facial tumours near Mount William in Tasmania's northeast. Around the same time, farmers reported a decline in devil numbers. Menna Jones first encountered the disease in 1999 near Little Swanport, in 2001 capturing three devils with facial tumours on the Freycinet Peninsula.

The theory that cancer cells themselves could be an infective agent (the Allograft Theory ) was first offered in 2006 by Pearse, Swift and colleagues, who analysed DFTD cells from devils in several locations, determining that all DFTD cells sampled were genetically identical to each other, and genetically distinct from their hosts and from all other individual Tasmanian devils whose genetics had been studied; this allowed them to conclude that the cancer originated from a single individual and spread from it, rather than arising repeatedly, and independently. Twenty-one different subtypes have been identified by analysing the mitochondrial and nuclear genomes of 104 tumours from different Tasmanian devils. Researchers have also witnessed a previously uninfected devil develop tumours from lesions caused by an infected devil's bites, supporting the contention that the disease is spread by allograft, with transmission via biting, scratching, and aggressive sexual activity between individuals. During biting, infection can spread from the bitten devil to the biter.

Initially, it was suspected that devils had low genetic diversity, so that their immune system did not recognise the tumour cells as foreign. However, it was later demonstrated that devils are sufficiently genetically diverse to mount a strong immune response to foreign tissue.

Since June 2005, three females have been found that are partially resistant to DFTD.

The devil population on the peninsula decreased dramatically. In March 2003 Nick Mooney wrote a memo to be circulated within the Parks and Wildlife Services calling for more funding to study the disease, but the call for funding was edited out before the memo was presented to Bryan Green, then Tasmania's Minister for Primary Industries, Water and Environment. In April 2003, a working group was formed by the Tasmanian Government to respond to the disease. In September 2003, Nick Mooney went to the Tasmanian daily newspaper The Mercury, informing the general public of the disease and proposing a quarantine of healthy Tasmanian devils. At the time, it was thought that a retrovirus was a possible cause. David Chadwick of the state Animal Health Laboratory said that the laboratory did not have the resources needed to research the possibility of a retrovirus. The Tasmanian Conservation Trust criticised the Tasmanian government for providing insufficient funds for research and suggested that DFTD could be zoonotic, posing a threat to livestock and humans. On 14 October 2003, a workshop was held in Launceston. In 2004, Kathryn Medlock found three oddly shaped devil skulls in European museums and found a description of a devil in London Zoo dying, which showed a similarity to DFTD.

Calicivirus, 1080 poison, agricultural chemicals, and habitat fragmentation combined with a retrovirus were other proposed causes. Environmental toxins had also been suspected. In March 2006 a devil escaped from a park into an area infected with DFTD. She was recaptured with bite marks on her face, and returned to live with the other devils in the park. She wounded a male and by October both devils had DFTD, which was subsequently spread to two others (an incident that in retrospect would be understood in the context of the allograft theory of transmission).

In 2006, DFTD was classed a List B notifiable disease under the Government of Tasmania's Animal Health Act 1995. The strategy of developing an insurance population in captivity was developed. It was reassessed in 2008. A 2007 investigation into the immune system of the devils found that when combatting other pathogens, the response from the immune system was normal, leading to suspicion that the devils were not capable of detecting the cancerous cells as "non-self". In 2007, it was predicted that populations could become locally extinct within 10–15 years of DFTD occurring, and predicted that the disease would spread across the entire range of the Tasmanian devils causing the devils to become extinct within 25–35 years.

In 2016, devils are endangered as the localised populations were shown to have declined by 90 per cent and an overall species decline of more than 80 per cent in less than 20 years, with some models predicting extinction. Despite this, devil populations persist in disease-stricken areas. The devils have, in a way, fought back the extinction by developing the gene that is immune to face tumors. The genes have already existed in the Tasmanian devil as part of their immune system. They increased in frequency due to natural selection. That is, the individuals with particular forms of these genes (alleles) survived and reproduced disproportionately to those that lacked the specific variants when disease was present.

In 2018, a devil population in the far southwest of Tasmania was reported to be free of DFTD.

Society and culture
In 2008, a devil—given the name Cedric by those who treated and worked with him—was thought to have a natural immunity to the disease, but developed two facial tumours in late 2008. The tumours were removed, and officials thought Cedric was recovering well, but in September 2010, the cancer was discovered to have spread to the lungs, leading to his euthanasia.

Research directions
Vaccination with irradiated cancer cells has not proven successful.

In 2013, a study using mice as a model for Tasmanian devils suggested that a DFTD vaccine could be beneficial. In 2015, a study which mixed dead DFTD cells with an inflammatory substance stimulated an immune response in five out of six devils injected with the mixture, engendering for a vaccine against DFTD. Field testing of the potential vaccines has been undertaken as a collaborative project between the Menzies Institute for Medical Research and the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program. Strong immune responses were induced by the vaccine, but the vaccine did not protect all devils from developing DFTD. An oral bait vaccine for DFTD is in the early stages of development as of 2020.

Research by Professor Greg Woods from the University of Tasmania's Menzies Institute for Medical Research has shown encouraging evidence for the potential development of a vaccine using dead devil facial tumour disease cells to trigger an immune response in healthy devils. Field testing of the vaccine is being undertaken as a collaborative project between the Menzies Institute for Medical Research and the Save the Tasmanian Devil Program under the Wild Devil Recovery program, and aims to test the immunisation protocol as a tool in ensuring the devil's long-term survival in the wild.

In March 2017, scientists at the University of Tasmania presented an apparent first report of having successfully treated Tasmanian devils with the disease, by injecting live cancer cells into the infected devils to stimulate their immune system to recognise and fight the disease. In 2019, researchers from University of Sydney reported constricted diversity of the T cell repertoire in devils with DFTD, suggesting that DFTD may impact the host immune system directly. Several studies of immune checkpoint molecules, such as PD-1 and PD-L1, have been undertaken in devils and suggest that potential immune evasion pathways used by human cancers could also be active in DFTD.

There is some evidence suggesting that the DFTD tumour is evolving to be less fatal to the Tasmanian devils.

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

title: Devil facial tumour disease


text:
Thomas McMillen

Thomas or Tom McMillen may refer to:
 * Thomas Richard McMillen or Thomas Haden Church (born 1960), American actor, director, and writer
 * Thomas Roberts McMillen (1916–2012), U.S. District Judge
 * Tom McMillen (born 1952), American former politician and basketball player

title: Thomas McMillen


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New Boston Space Force Station

New Boston Space Force Station (BOSS) is a United States Space Force facility located in Hillsborough County in south central New Hampshire. It was transferred from the United States Air Force to the Space Force in the summer of 2020.

The installation occupies more than 2800 acre in three towns: New Boston, Amherst, and Mont Vernon. It was originally established in 1942 as a practice area for bombers and fighter planes from nearby Grenier Army Air Field (now Manchester–Boston Regional Airport). Starting in 1959, it was turned into a satellite-tracking station, providing the facility's most prominent feature, the weatherproof radomes which dot the hillside. BOSS has been providing support for northernly launches from KSC/Cape Canaveral for decades, and has supported the Shuttle and Titan IV programs. Since 2020 the facility has also provided line of sight telemetry tracking for commercial space launches by SpaceX.

New Boston SFS is operated by the 23rd Space Operations Squadron (23 SOPS), a geographically separated unit (GSU) of Space Delta 6, part of Space Base Delta 1 at Schriever Space Force Base, Colorado.

The 23rd SOPS operates and maintains the largest Satellite Control Network remote tracking station at New Boston SFS, as well as at three other GSU's located at Thule Air Base, Greenland, RAF Oakhanger, United Kingdom, and the Eastern Vehicle Checkout Facility located at Cape Canaveral, Florida. The squadron provides real-time capability to users performing on-orbit tracking, telemetry, commanding and mission data retrieval services.

Additionally, the squadron provides remote command and control capability through two Global Positioning System Control stations located at Cape Canaveral and Ascension Island in the South Atlantic Ocean. The squadron also operates and maintains a Defense Satellite Communications System Heavy Earth Terminal, and additional equipment in support of the National Oceanographic Atmospheric Administration and other mission partners.

The installation and infrastructure are said to be worth more than $106 million.

History
The New Boston Space Force Station dates back to 1942, when what was then Grenier Field in Manchester was preparing to meet the demands of World War II.

On September 5, 1941, Colonel John Moore, commanding officer of the U.S. Army Air Corps at Grenier Field, wrote a letter proposing the government create a bombing range in New Boston near Joe English Pond. "The nature of the terrain around the pond is such that aerial bombing thereon would offer the elements of surprise, concealed approach and navigation to a point," Moore wrote. "It is believed that Joe English Hill (altitude 1,245 feet) would be a satisfactory stop for any ricochet bullets from ground machine gun targets." Eventually, land belonging to 16 families, 12 of them in New Boston, was taken at a cost of $23,200.

There was no electricity on site, and water had to be brought from Dodge's store in the center of New Boston. Nail kegs were used as chairs. Locals felt so sorry for the soldiers that they donated used furniture.

During World War II, local residents remember watching fighters and bombers train at the Air Force station and learned to recognize the sounds of strafing and bombing as they went about their tasks. "I'd watch from the kitchen window," 89-year-old Evelyn Barss told the Nashua Telegraph newspaper in a 2005 story. "They would come in across the hill and drop their bombs and we would see them. These little black specks would go down, and you would hear a small discharge - they didn't use a lot of powder because it was scarce during the war."

Roland Goodwin worked at the base on and off for three decades and remembers seeing the tail fins of bombs sticking out of the pond. Planes at one time practiced dropping depth bombs for sinking submarines. "Every building we built down there in the early days ... we usually ran into a buried bomb of some kind. We'd have to bring people up from Fort Devens to detonate it." Ordnance has been detonated as late as 2010.

After the war, the station took a lower profile. The bombing range was deactivated and after a long debate about the site's future, it became home to new satellite tracking antennas. Satellite support operations at New Boston Satellite Tracking Station began April 1, 1960, using van-mounted equipment. Simultaneous with van operations, the installation of equipment in permanent facilities began under the Weapons Systems 117L program. Van operations were gradually phased out, and by June 1964, the entire station was operating in permanent facilities. By the summer of 1964, the station had dual satellite tracking, telemetry and commanding capabilities. (During the late 1970s and early 1980s it was known as Detachment 1 of the 2014th Communications Squadron located at Hanscom Air Force Base in Bedford, Massachusetts Not true, see the following) It first was the 6594th Instrumentation Squadron in 1959 and then Detachment 2 of the AFSCF in 1979 until 1987. The squadron was transferred to Air Force Space Command, and the station moved from a research and development environment into the operational Air Force Oct. 1, 1987. The 23rd Space Operations Squadron was realigned under the 50th NOG March 10, 2004, and the station celebrated its 50th anniversary. Assigned to the 50th NOG, the unit later gained responsibility and oversight of the 23rd SOPS began supporting three other AFSCN sites including 23rd SOPS Detachment 1, located at Thule Air Base, Greenland, and RAF Oakhanger, United Kingdom, Oct. 1, 2010. The third site, the Eastern Vehicle Checkout Facility is located at Cape Canaveral and ensures operation of satellites prior to and during initial launch. The 23rd SOPS began supporting two GPS ground antennas and monitor stations Aug. 1, 2011. One is located at Cape Canaveral and the other is located at Ascension Auxiliary Air Field on RAF Ascension Island.

Space Force
In July 2021 the facility was renamed from New Boston Air Force Station to New Boston Space Force Station.

On July 19, the facility was upgraded, with a new hybrid automated remote tracking system for the facility's 13 meter antenna, and a new radome installed over the antenna.

Based units
Notable units based at New Boston Space Force Station.

United States Space Force
Space Operations Command (SpOC)

 * Space Delta 6
 * 23rd Space Operations Squadron

23 SOPS is a Geographically Separate Unit, which although based at New Boston SFS, is subordinate to the Space Delta 6 based at Schriever AFB in Colorado.

Geography
A few working farms are in the vicinity; however, most of the surrounding area is heavily wooded with pockets of residential development. Commercial development consists primarily of small shopping centers with a few office complexes along NH State Route 101 to the southeast.

New Boston SFS consists mostly of undeveloped, forested land with extensive wetlands. Local, state, and federal laws governing the preservation of natural, cultural, and environmental resources play a major role in limiting development on and around the station.

The station lies within the Merrimack River watershed. Fourteen freshwater ponds fed by springs or streams, which occupy approximately 100 acres (405,000 m2), and seven miles (11 km) of streams exist on the station. The ponds are bordered by wetlands, and the streams by riparian vegetation. Riffle and pool habitats are favorable for many cold water fish species. Wetland types include freshwater emergent marshes of variable depths, wet meadows, shrub and deciduous wooded swamps such as red maple and black gum swamps, and a red spruce bog. This bog contains a deep peat layer.

Of all the water bodies on the station, only Joe English Pond appears on the list of protected water bodies under the New Hampshire Department of Environmental Services Comprehensive Shoreline Protection Act (CSPA).

title: New Boston Space Force Station


text:
Palace of Moncloa

The Palace of Moncloa or Moncloa Palace (Palacio de la Moncloa) is the official residence and workplace of the President of the Government (Spanish: Presidente del Gobierno), a position usually known in the English language as the Prime Minister of Spain. It is located in Puerta de Hierro Avenue, in the Moncloa-Aravaca district in Madrid. It has been the official residence of the Prime Minister since 1977, when Adolfo Suárez moved the residence from the Palace of Villamejor.

The Moncloa Complex includes 16 buildings, a bunker and a hospital. The Ministry of the Presidency, the Deputy Prime Minister's Office, the Cabinet Office, the Chief of Staff's Office and the Press Office are located in this complex. The weekly meetings of the Council of Ministers are also held at La Moncloa.

In Spain, 'Moncloa' is sometimes used as a metonym for the central government, especially when contrasting with the governments of the Autonomous Communities.

History
The Moncloa Palace was originally a farm for agricultural use, which, due to its good situation, later became a palace-house. In 1660 it was bought by Gaspar de Haro y Guzmán, Marquis of Carpio and Eliche, owner of the neighboring orchard of La Moncloa, a name that came from its former owners, the Counts of Monclova, which later gave rise to Moncloa, as know today.

When the two gardens were joined, Gaspar de Haro had a palace built on the highest part of the land, known first as Eliche's Palace and also as Painted House, in reference to the frescoes that adorned the exterior walls, and later as Palace of La Moncloa.

The Palace passed through different owners until reaching María del Pilar Teresa Cayetana de Silva Álvarez de Toledo, 13th Duchess of Alba de Tormes. After her death without descendants in 1802, King Charles IV acquired the mansion and the orchard and added it to the Royal Site of La Florida, which was then named the Royal Site of La Moncloa. In 1816, King Ferdinand VII ordered the restoration of the palace.

Thirty years later, Queen Isabella II ceded the property of La Moncloa to the State, and it went on to become part of the Ministry of Development. The palace was restored again in 1929, when it was reopened as a museum.

The Palace was destroyed during the Siege of Madrid in the Spanish Civil War.

A decade after its destruction, the architect Diego Méndez built, between 1949 and 1953, the present building following the model of the Casa del Labrador of Aranjuez. Then it was destined to official residence of heads of State in visits to Spain and high personalities.

By a law of July 15, 1954, the Moncloa Palace and its gardens, with an area of 58,293.81 square meters and adjoining the four cardinal points with land of the University City of Madrid, was integrated into the National Heritage. The new design was adapted to the new functions assigned to the palace, which was inaugurated by Francisco Franco in 1953. On June 3, 1954, arrived the palace's first visiting foreign head of state, Rafael Leonidas Trujillo; on November 28, 1976, the last one, Carlos Andrés Pérez.

In 1977, Prime Minister Adolfo Suárez moved the headquarters of the Presidency of the Government, located until then in the central Villamejor Palace, to the far more remote La Moncloa. The change occurred for security reasons, in the face of concern that an attack against the young prime minister, newly appointed by King Juan Carlos I. With the new palace was also established on it the official residence for the Prime Minister and his family.

Renovations
Since 1977, successive prime ministers have consistently ordered renovations and expansions of the complex. Adolfo Suarez ordered the construction of a tennis court and the renovation of the pool. He also ordered the old main courtyard be covered, which would later become the famous Hall of Columns.

During his brief tenure as prime minister in the early 1980s, Leopoldo Calvo-Sotelo installed more bedrooms on the third floor for his eight children as well as a music room. Felipe González arrived in 1982 and cultivated a small orchard of bonsais. González's major contribution, though, was the construction of an underground bunker inspired by his memory of the coup d'état attempt of February 23, 1981. He also built a new building close to the presidential residence to host the Council of Ministers, dedicating the main building to serve more as the private residence of the prime minister.

José María Aznar, Ana Botella, their three sons and two cocker dogs lived at Moncloa between 1996 and 2004. Aznar was responsible for the construction of a game room for his children as well as a paddle tennis court to practice his favorite sport. Sonsoles Espinosa, wife of the Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero, decided to radically renovate the private rooms. She favored a minimalist style, painting the rooms light colors, changing classic furniture for different designs (but retaining certain pieces such as the table of General Narváez, a gift from Juan Carlos I to Adolfo Suárez located in the Prime Minister's Office) and hung pictures of contemporary artists on the walls. Mariano Rajoy and his wife did not make many changes that are known beyond swapping out the vases.

Accessibility
Before September 19, 2018, the entrance to the palace by the public were not allowed. Only accredited personnel like journalists or public servants were allowed to enter along with universities, high schools and primary schools students. These latter usually make a short tour to know the gardens and the Press Center.

Since September 2018, the new PM Pedro Sánchez allows the public to visit the Complex, not only the Press Room and the Council of Minister's Room but the main buildings of the complex, including the Deputy PM's Office, the Ministry of the Presidency building and the Prime Minister Chief of Staff's Office.

There is a tradition in summer by which the prime minister make a tour through the Palace to the children of the employees of the Complex.

The requirements to visit the governmental complex is to be a Spanish citizen or to live in Spain, ask for a date, show the guards the ID and leave in the entrance all electronic devices.

Security
The security of the complex is carried out by the Department of Security of the Presidency of the Government, a government body responsible for the protection of the Prime Minister, Deputy Prime Minister, Government's Ministers and former Prime Ministers, along with their families. It also gives protection to the Moncloa Complex and the private and public residences of the members of the Government.

The security agents come from the Civil Guard and the National Police Corps.

Council Building
The building was built in 1989 during the premiership of Felipe González in order to differentiate the residential and working areas of the palace. The Prime Minister's Office maintains an agreement with the Reina Sofía Museum under which the decoration of the building is composed of works of this museum. The artistic collection consists of more than 140 works by authors such as Joan Miró, Eduardo Chillida, Julio González, Pablo Palazuelo or Antoni Tàpies, among others. It also has numerous furniture belonging to the National Heritage.

Council Room
The main room of the building is the Council Room where the meetings of the Council of Ministers are held.

Tapestry Room
The Tapestry Room is one of the biggest rooms of the building and it is used for receptions, official events and, occasionally, for press conferences.

Tàpies Room
The Tàpies Room is the room where the Prime Minister receives its guests.

Vice Presidency Building
It is one of the newest buildings of the Complex. It was built in 2006 under the premiership of José Luis Rodriguez Zapatero. This building currently houses the Deputy Prime Minister's Office.

Seeds Building
The Seeds Building was built in 1950 as part of the Ministry of Agriculture. Its name is because it was the place where the seeds were once stored.

It currently hosts the personal Cabinet of the Office of the Prime Minister. On the first floor is the office of the Chief of Staff, an office that was used in the 1980s by Alfonso Guerra, and before by Joaquín Garrigues Walker with prime minister Adolfo Suárez.

INIA Building
The INIA building was built in 1953 by the architect José Azpiroz. It receives this name for having housed the National Institute of Agrarian Research (INIA). It is also known as the Monastery of the Presidency because for its resemblance to a monastery.

It is currently the headquarters of the Ministry of the Presidency.

General Commission Room
Inside of the INIA building takes place the meetings of the General Commission of Secretaries of State and Undersecretaries, the body responsible for preparing the matters to be discussed in the Council of Ministers.

Spokesperson Building
It was built in 1950 as another branch of the Ministry of Agriculture, formerly the laboratory where the seeds were analyzed. When the government's headquarters were moved to Moncloa, it went on to house the Information Office. Between 1988 and 1993 and between 2000 and 2002, the building was the headquarters of a ministerial department when the Office was elevated to the rank of Ministry.

Currently the building houses the Secretariat of State for Press. Among its rooms it has the Press Room, where the journalists have their own place to work and the Press Centre, where the spokesperson and other ministers hold the press briefing after the Council of Ministers meetings.

Other buildings
The whole complex is composed of 16 buildings where the different services of the Prime Minister's Office are distributed such as security, protocol, health service, etc.

Prime Minister's Office
The Prime Minister's Office lies within the Moncloa Palace. It is staffed by a mix of career Civil Servants and Advisers. The highest ranking of the Office is the Chief of Staff, which is a political appointment on which the rest of the Office officials depend.

title: Palace of Moncloa


text:
Independence-friendly logic

Independence-friendly logic (IF logic; proposed by Jaakko Hintikka and Gabriel Sandu (philosopher) in 1989) is an extension of classical first-order logic (FOL) by means of slashed quantifiers of the form $$(\exists v/V)$$ and $$(\forall v/V)$$, where $$V$$ is a finite set of variables. The intended reading of $$(\exists v/V)$$ is "there is a $$v$$ which is functionally independent from the variables in $$V$$". IF logic allows one to express more general patterns of dependence between variables than those which are implicit in first-order logic. This greater level of generality leads to an actual increase in expressive power; the set of IF sentences can characterize the same classes of structures as existential second-order logic ($$\Sigma^1_1$$).

For example, it can express branching quantifier sentences, such as the formula $$\exists c\forall x\exists y\forall z(\exists w/\{x,y\})((x=z \leftrightarrow y=w) \land y \neq c)$$ which expresses infinity in the empty signature; this cannot be done in FOL. Therefore, first-order logic cannot, in general, express this pattern of dependency, in which $$y$$ depends only on $$x$$ and $$c$$, and $$w$$ depends only on $$z$$ and $$c$$. IF logic is more general than branching quantifiers, for example in that it can express dependencies that are not transitive, such as in the quantifier prefix $$\forall x\exists y(\exists z/\{x\})$$, which expresses that $$y$$ depends on $$x$$, and $$z$$ depends on $$y$$, but $$z$$ does not depend on $$x$$.

The introduction of IF logic was partly motivated by the attempt of extending the game semantics of first-order logic to games of imperfect information. Indeed, a semantics for IF sentences can be given in terms of these kinds of games (or, alternatively, by means of a translation procedure to existential second-order logic). A semantics for open formulas cannot be given in the form of a Tarskian semantics; an adequate semantics must specify what it means for a formula to be satisfied by a set of assignments of common variable domain (a team) rather than satisfaction by a single assignment. Such a team semantics was developed by Hodges.

Independence-friendly logic is translation equivalent, at the level of sentences, with a number of other logical systems based on team semantics, such as dependence logic, dependence-friendly logic, exclusion logic and independence logic; with the exception of the latter, IF logic is known to be equiexpressive to these logics also at the level of open formulas. However, IF logic differs from all the above-mentioned systems in that it lacks locality: the meaning of an open formula cannot be described just in terms of the free variables of the formula; it is instead dependent on the context in which the formula occurs.

Independence-friendly logic shares a number of metalogical properties with first-order logic, but there are some differences, including lack of closure under (classical, contradictory) negation and higher complexity for deciding the validity of formulas. Extended IF logic addresses the closure problem, but its game-theoretical semantics is more complicated, and such logic corresponds to a larger fragment of second-order logic, a proper subset of $\Delta_2^1$.

Hintikka argued that IF and extended IF logic should be used as a basis for the foundations of mathematics; this proposal was met in some cases with skepticism.

Syntax
A number of slightly different presentations of independence-friendly logic have appeared in the literature; here we follow Mann et al (2011).

Terms and atomic formulas
For a fixed signature σ, terms and atomic formulas are defined exactly as in first-order logic with equality.

IF formulas
Formulas of IF logic are defined as follows:

 * 1) Any atomic formula $$\varphi$$ is an IF formula.
 * 2) If $$\varphi$$ is an IF formula, then $$\lnot \varphi$$ is an IF formula.
 * 3) If $$\varphi$$ and $$\psi$$ are IF formulas, then $$\phi \wedge \psi$$ and $$\phi \vee \psi$$ are IF formulas.
 * 4) If $$\varphi$$ is a formula, $$v$$ is a variable, and $$V$$ is a finite set of variables, then $$(\exists v/V)\varphi$$ and $$(\forall v/V)\varphi$$ are also IF formulas.

Free variables
The set $$\mbox{Free}(\varphi)$$ of the free variables of an IF formula $$\varphi$$ is defined inductively as follows:
 * 1) If $$\varphi$$ is an atomic formula, then $$\mbox{Free}(\varphi)$$ is the set of all variables occurring in it.
 * 2) $$\mbox{Free}(\lnot\varphi) = \mbox{Free}(\varphi)$$;
 * 3) $$\mbox{Free}(\varphi \vee \psi) = \mbox{Free}(\varphi) \cup \mbox{Free}(\psi)$$;
 * 4) $$\mbox{Free}((\exists v/V)\varphi) = \mbox{Free}((\forall v/V)\varphi) = (\mbox{Free}(\varphi) \backslash \{v\})\cup V$$.

The last clause is the only one that differs from the clauses for first-order logic, the difference being that also the variables in the slash set $$V$$ are counted as free variables.

IF Sentences
An IF formula $$\varphi$$ such that $$\mbox{Free}(\phi) = \emptyset$$ is an IF sentence.

Semantics
Three main approaches have been proposed for the definition of the semantics of IF logic. The first two, based respectively on games of imperfect information and on Skolemization, are mainly used in the definition of IF sentences only. The former generalizes a similar approach, for first-order logic, which was based instead on games of perfect information. The third approach, team semantics, is a compositional semantics in the spirit of Tarskian semantics. However, this semantics does not define what it means for a formula to be satisfied by an assignment (rather, by a set of assignments). The first two approaches were developed in earlier publications on if logic; the third one by Hodges in 1997.

In this section, we differentiate the three approaches by writing distinct pedices, as in $$\models_{GTS},\models_{Sk},\models$$. Since the three approaches are fundamentally equivalent, only the symbol $$\models$$ will be used in the rest of the article.

Game-Theoretical Semantics
Game-Theoretical Semantics assigns truth values to IF sentences according to the properties of some 2-player games of imperfect information. For ease of presentation, it is convenient to associate games not only to sentences, but also to formulas. More precisely, one defines games $$G(\varphi, \mathcal M, s)$$ for each triple formed by an IF formula $$\varphi$$, a structure $$\mathcal M$$, and an assignment $$s:U\supseteq \mbox{Free}(\varphi)\rightarrow \mathcal M$$.

Players
The semantic game $$G(\varphi, \mathcal M, s)$$ has two players, called Eloise (or Verifier) and Abelard (or Falsifier).

Game rules
The allowed moves in the semantic game $$G(\varphi,\mathcal M,s)$$ are determined by the synctactical structure of the formula under consideration. For simplicity, we first assume that $$\varphi$$ is in negation normal form, with negations symbols occurring only in front of atomic subformulas.

 * 1) If $$\varphi$$ is a literal, the game ends, and, if $$\varphi$$ is true in $$\mathcal M$$ (in the first-order sense), then Eloise wins; otherwise, Abelard wins.
 * 2) If $$\varphi=\psi_1\land\psi_2$$, then Abelard chooses one of the subformulas $$\psi_i$$, and the corresponding game $$G(\psi_i,\mathcal M,s)$$ is played.
 * 3) If $$\varphi=\psi_1\lor\psi_2$$, then Eloises chooses one of the subformulas $$\psi_i$$, and the corresponding game $$G(\psi_i,\mathcal M,s)$$ is played.
 * 4) If $$\varphi=(\forall v/V)\psi$$, then Abelard chooses an element $$a$$ of $$\mathcal M$$, and game $$G(\psi,\mathcal M,s(a/v))$$ is played.
 * 5) If $$\varphi=(\exists v/V)\psi$$, then Eloise chooses an element $$a$$ of $$\mathcal M$$, and game $$G(\psi,\mathcal M,s(a/v))$$ is played.

More generally, if $$\varphi$$ is not in negation normal form, we can state, as a rule for negation, that, when a game $$G(\lnot\varphi,\mathcal M,s)$$ is reached, the players begin playing a dual game $$G^*(\varphi,\mathcal M,s)$$ in which the roles of Verifiers and Falsifier are switched.

Histories
Informally, a sequence of moves in a game $$G(\varphi,\mathcal M,s)$$ is a history. At the end of each history $$h$$, some subgame $$G(\psi_h,\mathcal M,s_h)$$ is played; we call $$s_h$$ the assignment associated to $$h$$, and $$\psi_h$$ the subformula occurrence associated to $$h$$. The player associated to $$h$$ is Eloise in case the most external logical operator in $$\psi_h$$ is $$\lor$$ or $$\exists$$, and Abelard in case it is $$\land$$ or $$\forall$$.

The set $$h$$ of allowed moves in a history $$h$$ is $$\mathcal M$$ if the most external operator of $$\psi_h$$ is $$\exists$$ or $$\forall$$; it is $$\{L,R\}$$ ($$L,R$$ being any two distinct objects, symbolizing 'left' and 'right') in case the most external operator of $$\psi_h$$ is $$\lor$$ or $$\land$$.

Given two assignments $$s,t$$ of same domain, and $$V\subseteq dom(s)$$ we write $$s\sim_V t$$ if $$s(w) = t(w)$$ on any variable $$w\in dom(s)\setminus V$$.

Imperfect information is introduced in the games by stipulating that certain histories are indistinguishable for the associated player; indistinguishable histories are said to form an 'information set'. Intuitively, if the history $$h$$ is in the information set $$I$$, the player associated to $$h$$ does not know whether he is in $$h$$ or in some other history of $$I$$. Consider two histories $$h,h'$$ such that the associated $$\psi_h,\psi_{h'}$$ are identical subformula occurrences of the form $$(Qv/V)\chi$$ ($$Q = \exists$$ or $$\forall$$); if furthermore $$s_h\sim_V s_{h'}$$, we write $$h\sim_\exists h'$$ (in case $$Q = \exists$$) or $$h\sim_\forall h'$$ (in case $$Q = \forall$$), in order to specify that the two histories are indistinguishable for Eloise, resp. for Abelard. We also stipulate, in general, reflexivity of this relation: if $$\psi =\chi_1\lor\chi_2$$, then $$h\sim_\exists h'$$; and if $$\psi =\chi_1\land\chi_2$$, then $$h\sim_\forall h'$$.

Strategies
For a fixed game $$G(\varphi,\mathcal M,s)$$, write $$H_\exists$$ for the set of histories to which Eloise is associated, and similarly $$H_\forall$$ for the set of histories of Abelard.

A strategy for Eloise in the game $$G(\varphi,\mathcal M,s)$$ is any function that assigns, to any possible history in which it is Eloise's turn to play, a legal move; more precisely, any function $$\sigma: H_\exists \rightarrow \prod_{h\in H_\exists}A(h)$$ such that $$\sigma(h)\in A(h)$$ for every history $$h\in H_\exists$$. One can define dually the strategies of Abelard.

A strategy for Eloise is uniform if, whenever $$h\sim_\exists h'$$, $$\sigma(h) = \sigma(h')$$; for Abelard, if $$h\sim_\forall h'$$ implies $$\sigma(h) = \sigma(h')$$.

A strategy $$\sigma$$ for Eloise is winning if Eloise wins in each terminal history that can be reached by playing according to $$\sigma$$. Similarly for Abelard.

Truth, falsity, indeterminacy
An IF sentence $$\varphi$$ is true in a structure $$\mathcal M$$ ($$\mathcal M\models_{GTS}^+\varphi$$) if Eloise has a uniform winning strategy in the game $$G(\varphi, \mathcal M, \emptyset)$$. It is false ($$\mathcal M\models_{GTS}^-\varphi$$) if Abelard has a winning strategy. It is undetermined if neither Eloise nor Abelard has a winning strategy.

Conservativity
The semantics of IF logic thus defined is a conservative extension of first-order semantics, in the following sense. If $$\varphi$$ is an IF sentence with empty slash sets, associate to it the first-order formula $$\varphi'$$ which is identical to it, except in that each IF quantifier $$(Qv/\emptyset)$$ is replaced by the corresponding first-order quantifier $$Qv$$. Then $$\mathcal M\models_{GTS}^+\varphi$$ iff $$\mathcal M\models\varphi'$$ in the Tarskian sense; and $$\mathcal M\models_{GTS}^-\varphi$$ iff $$\mathcal M\not\models\varphi'$$ in the Tarskian sense.

Open formulas
More general games can be used to assign a meaning to (possibly open) IF formulas; more exactly, it is possible to define what it means for an IF formula $$\varphi$$ to be satisfied, on a structure $$\mathcal M$$, by a team $$X$$ (a set of assignments of common variable domain $$dom(X)$$ and codomain $$\mathcal M$$). The associated games $$G(\varphi,M,X)$$ begin with the random choice of an assignment $$s\in X$$; after this initial move, the game $$G(\varphi,M,s)$$ is played. The existence of a winning strategy for Eloise defines positive satisfaction ($$M,X\models_{GTS}^+\varphi$$), and existence of a winning strategy for Abelard defines negative satisfaction ($$M,X\models_{GTS}^-\varphi$$). At this level of generality, Game-theoretical Semantics can be replaced by an algebraic approach, team semantics (defined below).

Skolem Semantics
A definition of truth for IF sentences can be given, alternatively, by means of a translation into existential second-order logic. The translation generalizes the Skolemization procedure of first-order logic. Falsity is defined by a dual procedure called Kreiselization.

Skolemization
Given an IF formula $$\varphi$$, we first define its skolemization relativized to a finite set $$U\supseteq \mbox{Free}(\varphi)$$ of variables. For every existential quantifier $$(\exists v/V)$$ occurring in $$\varphi$$, let $$f_v$$ be a new function symbol (a "Skolem function"). We write $$Subst(\varphi,v,t)$$ for the formula which is obtained substituting, in $$\varphi$$, all free occurrences of the variable $$v$$ with the term $$t$$. The Skolemization of $$\varphi$$ relative to $$U$$, denoted $$\mbox{Sk}_U(\varphi)$$, is defined by the following inductive clauses:

 * 1) $$\operatorname{Sk}_{U}(\varphi )= \varphi $$ if $$\varphi$$ is a literal.
 * 2) $$\operatorname{Sk}_{U}(\psi \lor \chi)=\operatorname{Sk}_{U}(\psi )\lor  \operatorname{Sk}_{U}(\chi)$$.
 * 3) $$\operatorname{Sk}_{U}(\psi \land \chi)=\operatorname{Sk}_{U}(\psi )\land \operatorname{Sk}_{U}(\chi)$$.
 * 4) $$\operatorname{Sk}_{U}((\forall v/V)\psi )=\forall v\operatorname{Sk}_{U\cup \{v\}}(\psi )$$.
 * 5) $$\operatorname{Sk}_{U}((\exists v/V)\psi )=Subst(\operatorname{Sk}_{U\cup \{v\}}(\psi ),v,f_v(y_{1},...,y_{n}))$$, where $$y_{1},...,y_{n}$$ is a list of the variables in $$U\setminus V$$.

If $$\varphi$$ is an IF sentence, its (unrelativized) Skolemization is defined as $$\mbox{Sk}(\varphi) = \mbox{Sk}_\varnothing(\varphi)$$.

Kreiselization
Given an IF formula $$\varphi$$, associate, to each universal quantifier $$(\forall v/V)$$ occurring in it, a new function symbol $$g_v$$ (a "Kreisel function"). Then, the Kreiselization $$\mbox{Kr}_U(\varphi)$$ of $$\varphi$$ relative to a finite set of variables $$U\supseteq\mbox{Free}(\varphi)$$, is defined by the following inductive clauses:

 * 1) $$\operatorname{Kr}_{U}(\varphi )= \lnot\varphi $$ if $$\varphi$$ is a literal.
 * 2) $$\operatorname{Kr}_{U}(\psi \land \chi)=\operatorname{Kr}_{U}(\psi )\lor \operatorname{Kr}_{U}(\chi)$$.
 * 3) $$\operatorname{Kr}_{U}(\psi \lor \chi)=\operatorname{Kr}_{U}(\psi )\land \operatorname{Kr}_{U}(\chi)$$.
 * 4) $$\operatorname{Kr}_{U}((\forall v/V)\psi )=Subst(\operatorname{Kr}_{U\cup \{v\}}(\psi ),v,g_v(y_{1},...,y_{n}))$$, where $$y_{1},...,y_{n}$$is a list of the variables in $$U\setminus V$$.
 * 5) $$\operatorname{Kr}_{U}((\exists v/V)\psi )=\forall v\operatorname{Kr}_{U\cup \{v\}}(\psi )$$

If $$\varphi$$ is an IF sentence, its (unrelativized) Kreiselization is defined as $$\mbox{Kr}(\varphi) = \mbox{Kr}_\varnothing(\varphi)$$.

Truth, falsity, indeterminacy
Given an IF sentence $$\varphi$$ with $$n$$ existential quantifiers, a structure $$\mathcal M$$, and a list $$\vec f$$of $$n$$ functions of appropriate arities, we denote as $$(\mathcal M,\vec f)$$ the expansion of $$\mathcal M$$ which assigns the functions $$\vec f$$ as interpretations for the Skolem functions of $$\varphi$$.

An IF sentence is true on a structure $$\mathcal M$$, written $$\mathcal M\models_{\mbox{Sk}}^+\varphi$$, if there is a tuple $$\vec f$$ of functions such that $$(\mathcal M,\vec f)\models \mbox{Sk}(\varphi)$$. Similarly, $$\mathcal M\models_{\mbox{Sk}}^-\varphi$$ if there is a tuple $$\vec f$$ of functions such that $$(\mathcal M,\vec f)\models \mbox{Kr}(\varphi)$$; and $$\mathcal M\models_{\mbox{Sk}}^0\varphi$$ iff neither of the previous conditions holds.

For any IF sentence, Skolem Semantics returns the same values as Game-theoretical Semantics.

Team Semantics
By means of team semantics, it is possible to give a compositional account of the semantics of IF logic. Truth and falsity are grounded on the notion of 'satisfiability of a formula by a team'.

Teams
Let $$\mathcal M $$ be a structure and let $$V = \{v_1, \ldots, v_n\}$$ be a finite set of variables. Then a team over $$\mathcal M$$ with domain $$V$$ is a set of assignments over $$\mathcal M$$ with domain $$V$$, that is, a set of functions $$s$$ from $$V$$ to $$\mathcal M$$.

Duplicating and supplementing teams
Duplicating and supplementing are two operations on teams which are related to the semantics of universal and existential quantification.

 * 1) Given a team $$X$$ over a structure $$\mathcal M$$ and a variable $$v$$, the duplicating team $$X[\mathcal M/v]$$ is the team $$\{s(a/v)|s\in X, a\in \mathcal M\}$$.
 * 2) Given a team $$X$$ over a structure $$\mathcal M$$, a function $$F:X\rightarrow \mathcal M$$ and a variable $$v$$, the supplementing team $$X[F/v]$$ is the team $$\{s(F(s)/v)|s\in X\}$$.

It is customary to replace repeated applications of these two operation with more succinct notations, such as $$X[\mathcal MF/uv]$$ for $$(X[\mathcal M/u])[F/v]$$.

Uniform functions on teams
As above, given two assignments $$s,t$$ with same variable domain, we write $$s\sim_V t$$ if $$s(w) = t(w)$$ for every variable $$w\in dom(s)\setminus V$$.

Given a team $$X$$ on a structure $$\mathcal M$$ and a finite set $$V$$ of variables, we say that a function $$F:X\rightarrow \mathcal M$$ is $$V$$-uniform if $$F(s)=F(t)$$ whenever $$s \sim_V t$$.

Semantic clauses
Team semantics is three-valued, in the sense that a formula may happen to be positively satisfied by a team on a given structure, or negatively satisfied by it, or neither. The semantics clauses for positive and negative satisfaction are defined by simultaneous induction on the synctactical structure of IF formulas.

Positive satisfaction:

 * 1) $$\!\mathcal M, X \models^+ R t_1 \ldots t_n$$ if and only if, for every assignment $$s \in X$$, $$\!\mathcal M, s \models R t_1 \ldots t_n$$ in the sense of first-order logic (that is, the tuple $$\!(s(t_1) \ldots s(t_n))$$ is in the interpretation $$R^{\mathcal M}$$ of $$R$$).
 * 2) $$\!\mathcal M,X \models^+ t_1 = t_2$$ if and only if, for every assignment $$s \in X$$, $$\!\mathcal M, s \models t_1 = t_2$$ in the sense of first-order logic (that is, $$s(t_1) = s(t_2)$$).
 * 3) $$\!\mathcal M,X \models^+ \lnot \phi$$ if and only if $$\!\mathcal M,X \models^- \phi$$.
 * 4) $$\!\mathcal M,X \models^+ \varphi \wedge \psi$$ if and only if $$\!\mathcal M,X \models^+ \varphi$$ and $$\!\mathcal M,X \models^+ \psi$$.
 * 5) $$\!\mathcal M,X \models^+ \varphi \vee \psi$$ if and only if there exist teams $$\!Y$$ and $$\!Z$$ such that $$X = Y \cup Z$$ and $$\!\mathcal M,Y \models^+ \varphi$$ and  $$\!\mathcal M,Z \models^+ \psi$$.
 * 6) $$\!\mathcal M,X \models^+ (\forall v/V) \varphi$$ if and only if $$\!\mathcal M,X[M/v] \models^+ \varphi$$.
 * 7) $$\!\mathcal M,X \models^+ (\exists v/V) \varphi$$ if and only if there exists a $$V$$-uniform function $$F: X \rightarrow M$$such that $$\!\mathcal M,X[F/v] \models^+ \phi$$.

Negative satisfaction:

 * 1) $$\!\mathcal M, X \models^- R t_1 \ldots t_n$$ if and only if, for every assignment $$s \in X$$, the tuple $$\!(s(t_1) \ldots s(t_n))$$ is not in the interpretation $$R^{\mathcal M}$$ of $$R$$.
 * 2) $$\!\mathcal M,X \models^- t_1 = t_2$$ if and only if, for every assignment $$s \in X$$,  $$s(t_1) \neq s(t_2)$$.
 * 3) $$\!\mathcal M,X \models^- \lnot \phi$$ if and only if $$\!\mathcal M,X \models^+ \phi$$.
 * 4) $$\!\mathcal M,X \models^- \varphi \wedge \psi$$ if and only if  there exist teams $$\!Y$$ and $$\!Z$$ such that $$X = Y \cup Z$$ and $$\!\mathcal M,Y \models^- \varphi$$ and  $$\!\mathcal M,Z \models^- \psi$$.
 * 5) $$\!\mathcal M,X \models^- \varphi \vee \psi$$ if and only if $$\!\mathcal M,X \models^- \varphi$$ and $$\!\mathcal M,X \models^- \psi$$.
 * 6) $$\!\mathcal M,X \models^- (\forall v/V) \varphi$$ if and only if there exists a $$V$$-uniform function $$F: X \rightarrow M$$such that $$\!\mathcal M,X[F/v] \models^- \phi$$.
 * 7) $$\!\mathcal M,X \models^- (\exists v/V) \varphi$$ if and only if $$\!\mathcal M,X[M/v] \models^- \varphi$$.

Truth, falsity, indeterminacy
According to team semantics, an IF sentence $$\varphi$$ is said to be true ($$\mathcal M\models^+ \varphi$$) on a structure $$\mathcal M$$ if it is satisfied on $$\mathcal M$$ by the singleton team $$\{\emptyset\}$$, in symbols: $$\mathcal M,\{\emptyset\}\models^+ \varphi$$. Similarly, $$\varphi$$ is said to be false ($$\mathcal M\models^- \varphi$$) on $$\mathcal M$$ if $$\mathcal M,\{\emptyset\}\models^-\varphi$$; it is said to be undetermined ($$\mathcal M\models^0 \varphi$$) if $$\mathcal M,\{\emptyset\}\not\models^+\varphi$$ and $$\mathcal M,\{\emptyset\}\not\models^-\varphi$$.

Relationship with Game-Theoretical Semantics
For any team $$X$$ on a structure $$\mathcal M$$, and any IF formula $$\varphi$$, we have: $$\mathcal M,X \models^+ \varphi$$ iff $$\mathcal M,X \models_{GTS}^+ \varphi$$ and $$\mathcal M,X \models^- \varphi$$ iff $$\mathcal M,X \models_{GTS}^- \varphi$$.

From this it immediately follows that, for sentences $$\varphi$$, $$\mathcal M\models^+ \varphi \Leftrightarrow \mathcal M\models_{GTS}^+ \varphi$$, $$\mathcal M\models^- \varphi \Leftrightarrow \mathcal M\models_{GTS}^- \varphi$$ and $$\mathcal M\models^0 \varphi \Leftrightarrow \mathcal M\models^0_{GTS} \varphi$$.

Notions of equivalence
Since IF logic is, in its usual acception, three-valued, multiple notions of formula equivalence are of interest.

Equivalence of formulas
Let $$\varphi,\psi$$ be two IF formulas.

$$\varphi\models^+\psi$$ ($$\varphi$$ truth entails $$\psi$$) if $$\mathcal M,X\models^+\varphi \Rightarrow \mathcal M,X\models^+\psi$$ for any structure $$\mathcal M$$ and any team $$X$$ such that $$dom(X)\supseteq \mbox{Free}(\varphi)\cup \mbox{Free}(\psi)$$.

$$\varphi \equiv^+\psi$$ ($$\varphi$$ is truth equivalent to $$\psi$$) if $$\varphi\models^+\psi$$ and $$\psi\models^+\varphi$$.

$$\varphi\models^-\psi$$ ($$\varphi$$ falsity entails $$\psi$$) if $$\mathcal M,X\models^-\psi \Rightarrow \mathcal M,X\models^-\varphi$$ for any structure $$\mathcal M$$ and any team $$X$$ such that $$dom(X)\supseteq \mbox{Free}(\varphi)\cup \mbox{Free}(\psi)$$.

$$\varphi \equiv^-\psi$$ ($$\varphi$$ is falsity equivalent to $$\psi$$) if $$\varphi\models^-\psi$$ and $$\psi\models^-\varphi$$.

$$\varphi\models\psi$$ ($$\varphi$$ strongly entails to $$\psi$$) if $$\varphi\models^+\psi$$ and $$\varphi\models^-\psi$$.

$$\varphi \equiv\psi$$ ($$\varphi$$ is strongly equivalent to $$\psi$$) if $$\varphi \equiv^+\psi$$ and $$\varphi \equiv^-\psi$$.

Equivalence of sentences
The definitions above specialize for IF sentences as follows. Two IF sentences $$\varphi,\psi$$ are truth equivalent if they are true in the same structures; they are falsity equivalent if they are false in the same structures; they are strongly equivalent if they are both truth and falsity equivalent.

Intuitively, using strong equivalence amounts to considering IF logic as 3-valued (true/undetermined/false), while truth equivalence treats IF sentences as if they were 2-valued (true/untrue).

Equivalence relative to a context
Many logical rules of IF logic can be adequately expressed only in terms of more restricted notions of equivalence, which take into account the context in which a formula might appear.

For example, if $$U$$ is a finite set of variables and $$U\supseteq \mbox{Free}(\varphi)\cup\mbox{Free}(\psi)$$, one can state that $$\varphi$$ is truth equivalent to $$\psi$$ relative to $$U$$ ($$\varphi \equiv_U\psi$$) in case $$\mathcal M,X\models^+\psi \Leftrightarrow \mathcal M,X\models^+\varphi$$ for any structure $$\mathcal M$$ and any team $$X$$ of domain $$U$$.

Sentence level
IF sentences can be translated in a truth-preserving fashion into sentences of (functional) existential second-order logic ($$\Sigma_1^1$$) by means of the Skolemization procedure (see above). Vice versa, every $$\Sigma_1^1$$ can be translated into an IF sentence by means of a variant of the Walkoe-Enderton translation procedure for partially-ordered quantifiers. In other words, IF logic and $$\Sigma_1^1$$ are expressively equivalent at the level of sentences. This equivalence can be used to prove many of the properties that follow; they are inherited from $$\Sigma_1^1$$ and in many cases similar to properties of FOL.

We denote by $$T$$ a (possibly infinite) set of IF sentences.

 * Löwenheim-Skolem property: if $$T$$ has an infinite model, or arbitrarily large finite models, than it has models of every infinite cardinality.
 * Existential compactness: if every finite $$T_0\subseteq T$$ has a model, then also $$T$$ has a model.
 * Failure of deductive compactness: there are $$T,\varphi$$ such that $$T\models\varphi$$, but $$T_0\not\models\varphi$$ for any finite $$T_0\subset T$$. This is a difference from FOL.
 * Separation theorem: if $$\varphi,\psi$$ are mutually inconsistent IF sentences, then there is a FOL sentence $$\theta$$ such that $$\varphi\models^+\theta$$ and $$\psi\models^+\lnot\theta$$. This is a consequence of Craig's interpolation theorem for FOL.
 * Burgess' theorem: if $$\varphi,\psi$$ are mutually inconsistent IF sentences, then there is an IF sentence $$\theta$$ such that $$\varphi\equiv^+\theta$$ and $$\psi\equiv^+\lnot\theta$$ (except possibly for one-element structures). In particular, this theorem reveals that the negation of IF logic is not a semantical operation with respect to truth equivalence (truth-equivalent sentences may have non-equivalent negations).
 * Definability of truth: there is an IF sentence $$TRUE(c)$$, in the language of Peano Arithmetic, such that, for any IF sentence $$\varphi,$$, $$\mathbb{N}\models\varphi \Leftrightarrow \mathbb{N}\models TRUE(\ulcorner\varphi\urcorner)$$ (where $$\ulcorner\urcorner$$ denotes a Gödel numbering). A weaker statement also holds for nonstandard models of Peano Arithmetic.

Formula level
The notion of satisfiability by a team has the following properties:

 * Downward closure: if $$\mathcal M,X\models^\pm \varphi$$ and $$Y\subseteq X$$, then $$\mathcal M,Y\models^\pm \varphi$$.
 * Consistency: $$\mathcal M,X\models^+ \varphi$$ and $$\mathcal M,X\models^- \varphi$$ if and only if $$X=\emptyset$$.
 * Non-locality: there are $$\mathcal M,X,\varphi$$ such that $$\mathcal M,X\models \varphi\not\Leftrightarrow M,X_{\upharpoonright \mbox{Free}(\varphi)}\models \varphi$$.

Since IF formulas are satisfied by teams and formulas of classical logics are satisfied by assignments, there is no obvious intertranslation between IF formulas and formulas of some classical logic system. However, there is a translation procedure of IF formulas into sentences of relational $$\Sigma_1^1$$ (actually, one distinct translation $$\tau_{U,R}$$ for each finite $$U\supseteq \mbox{Free}(\varphi)$$ and for each choice of a predicate symbol $$R$$ of arity $$card(U)$$). In this kind of translation, an extra n-ary predicate symbol $$R$$ is used to represent an n-variable team $$X$$. This is motivated by the fact that, once an ordering $$v_1\dots v_n$$ of the variables of $$dom(X)$$ has been fixed, it is possible to associate a relation $$Rel_{v_1\dots v_n}(X) = \{(s(v_1),\dots,s(v_n)) | s\in X\}$$ to the team $$X$$. With this conventions, an IF formula is related to its translation thus:
 * $$\mathcal M,X\models \varphi \Leftrightarrow (\mathcal M,Rel_{v_1\dots v_n}(X))\models \tau_{dom(X),R}(\varphi)$$

where $$(M,Rel_{v_1\dots v_n}(X))$$ is the expansion of $$\mathcal M$$ that assigns $$Rel_{v_1\dots v_n}(X)$$ as interpretation for the predicate $$R$$.

Through this correlation, it is possible to say that, on a structure $$\mathcal M$$, an IF formula $$\varphi$$ of n free variables defines a family of n-ary relations over $$\mathcal M$$ (the family of the relations $$Rel_{v_1\dots v_n}(X)$$ such that $$\mathcal M,X\models\varphi$$).

In 2009, Kontinen and Väänänen, showed, by means of a partial inverse translation procedure, that the families of relations that are definable by IF logic are exactly those that are nonempty, downward closed and definable in relational $$\Sigma_1^1$$ with an extra predicate $$R$$ (or, equivalently, nonempty and definable by a $$\Sigma_1^1$$ sentence in which $$R$$ occurs only negatively).

Extended IF logic
IF logic is not closed under classical negation. The boolean closure of IF logic is known as extended IF logic and it is equivalent to a proper fragment of $$\Delta_2^1$$ (Figueira et al. 2011). Hintikka (1996, p. 196) claimed that "virtually all of classical mathematics can in principle be done in extended IF first-order logic".

Properties and critique
A number of properties of IF logic follow from logical equivalence with $$\Sigma^1_1$$ and bring it closer to first-order logic including a compactness theorem, a Löwenheim–Skolem theorem, and a Craig interpolation theorem. (Väänänen, 2007, p. 86). However, Väänänen (2001) proved that the set of Gödel numbers of valid sentences of IF logic with at least one binary predicate symbol (set denoted by ValIF) is recursively isomorphic with the corresponding set of Gödel numbers of valid (full) second-order sentences in a vocabulary that contains one binary predicate symbol (set denoted by Val2). Furthermore, Väänänen showed that Val2 is the complete Π2-definable set of integers, and that it is Val2 not in $$\Sigma^m_n$$ for any finite m and n. Väänänen (2007, pp. 136–139) summarizes the complexity results as follows:

Feferman (2006) cites Väänänen's 2001 result to argue (contra Hintikka) that while satisfiability might be a first-order matter, the question of whether there is a winning strategy for Verifier over all structures in general "lands us squarely in full second order logic" (emphasis Feferman's). Feferman also attacked the claimed usefulness of the extended IF logic, because the sentences in $$\Pi_1^1$$ do not admit a game-theoretic interpretation.

title: Independence-friendly logic


text:
Nokia 3230

The Nokia 3230 is a Symbian Series 60 mobile phone announced on November 2, 2004. It was billed as the first Series 60 phone aimed at the mass-market rather than the higher-end Series 60 devices with a relatively low cost of 350 euros when released in Q1 2005. This phone was designed as a replacement for two previous youth-oriented Nokia phones - the Nokia 3660 Series 60 smartphone and the Nokia 3220 feature phone. No variant of this phone was released for the United States market.

It runs on Series 60 2nd Edition Feature Pack 1 (Version 2.1), based on Symbian OS 7.0s. It features several games (including multiplayer Bluetooth games), a 1.23-megapixel camera, Nokia Lifeblog, a 32 MB RS-MMC to store extra images and applications, Push to Talk, a 176×208 pixel 65,536-colour screen, multimedia messaging, and RealPlayer.

The Nokia 3230 is one of the first with Push to Talk over Cellular (PoC), a walkie-talkie style method of communicating, and also Visual Radio, which enhances a normal radio receiver with extra info about artists and songs delivered over GPRS.

For data transfer, the phone can use EDGE to upload up to 35.2 kbit/s and download up to 178.6 kbit/s, and is a GPRS multislot class 10, up to 80 kbit/s.

Known issues
It has been frequently reported that fine dust get into the space between the LCD screen and the transparent plastic cover. The dust can be manually removed by opening the plastic case.

In common with many phones of this type, the battery life is not as much as you would expect on older models of phones. Less than 2 days is typical whereas older 'mono screen' phones can often manage a week between recharging.

Users also reported that before the call ringtone sound, the 3230 would give a loud "beep" sound, with no way to turn it off or control its volume. The device would beep even on silent mode. This issue was most common in the early models of the phone.

Other users have reported slow response times for the camera, sudden screen blackouts and random reboots.

title: Nokia 3230


text: Category:Operas by Juan Maria Solare

title: Category:Operas by Juan Maria Solare


text:
User:Missmeme

Hello all - I am a WikiFan, and have enjoyed sharing knowledge within Wikipedia. I currently live in Seattle, Washington, where I work for a major telecommunications company. I consider myself to be an information junkie, and can be usually be found engrossed in a copy of Uncle_John's_Bathroom_Reader. I tend to enjoy information that is from a NPOV, however am usually open to opinions that challenge thoughts and perceptions. Information, within itself, is intended to give a person enough of an idea about a subject to form their own opinion regarding it. For that end, I feel it very appropriate to challenge an opinion. My job is working in Reporting and Analysis, where I use facts and data to draw conclusions and trends about the business that I work in. I try to apply this to my general daily life, where I use what I view to allow me to make decisions regarding how I live. I attempt to remain flexible when approaching situations, and allow others to give their input.

title: User:Missmeme


text:
User talk:SpikeJones/temp-casino

Comments
Vegaswikian 21:38, 1 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * 1) Will keeping the number of machines and table games by type become a problem in keping up with changes? Most casinos will change these without public notice.  A table for airport departures is being shot down for a similar reason.
 * 2) What makes a noteable restaurant? That would imply an article on that restaurant to me, or at least deserving of an article.
 * 3) Poker is a table game.
 * 4) Be aware that addresses are not encylopedic by policy on a city page. Some take that to mean on any page.
 * 5) We need an entry for arenas.
 * 6) How do we deal with something like Shark Reef?
 * 7) What about convention space, meeting rooms, pools?
 * 8) The address and web site should be at the bottom of the info box.
 * 9) Why not break up the layout so that the hotel is one half and the casino is the other? That would allow splitting the info box for casinos without hotels and hotels without casinos.  I still wonder if two boxes would be a better start.
 * 10) Year of last major renovation is important for some.
 * 11) I have always wanted to add the color of the limos to some entries like the yellow checker cabs for NY-NY or the lime green ones at the Palms.
 * 12) See McCarran International Airport for an infobox that has an easy way to provide feedback.

 * What about Bingo, Keno and Sports Books? Vegaswikian 07:03, 2 Jun 2005 (UTC)

SpikeJones 02:13, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)
 * 1) I don't think the casinos majorly change their gaming table/slots numbers that dramatically that it would be an issue. They proudly proclaim this on their PR paperwork ("over 100,000 sq ft with 2,990 slots and 13 table games") so it would be easy to track.  I see your point, though.  The sq ft should be enough.  If not, we can always add table/slots/sports/keno/bingo info if necessary.
 * 2) a notable restaurant would be one the hotel deems a signature, promotable location.  For most, the buffet certainly qualifies -- especially Excalibur's with the claim of being the largest one in the world.  For example, Mr Lucky's at the Hard Rock wouldn't necessarily qualify as being notable, but Nobu would.  Celebrity chef would certainly help qualify.  Being deemed *the* top restaurant or a significant visitor draw at each hotel would also qualify, regardless of chef status.  Margaritaville at Flamingo?  Yes.  The deli?  No.  Krispy Kreme at Excalibur?  No.
 * 3) Not listing a casino address would be like not listing the address of the Empire State Building or Grand Central Station. No big deal to not list it, but it makes sense to do so - especially on a page specific to each casino.
 * 4) Arenas and Shark Reef could be combined under 'signature attractions'? How many hotels have notable arenas besides MGM and Mandalay Bay?  Hard Rock has their major venue, but it's not an arena by any means.  And listing Caesars' theater for Celine would duplicate the Celine "permanent show" entry, just like it wouldn't make sense to list Mirage's Danny Gans Theater separately.
 * 5) Unless there was something notable about convention space and meeting rooms, I'd leave it off. Pools are mostly standard unless there's a unique feature ("wave pool", "lazy river", "topless area") worth mentioning.
 * 6) If we remove the bulk of the "gaming" info from the infobox, then there's not a real need to split the box into a 'casino' and a 'hotel' version.
 * 7) How many hotels have custom limos that would make this worth adding to the infobox instead of to the article itself?

Looks a lot cleaner. I'd say try and get more input at this point. I suspect one comment will be not enough casino and many don't have a hotel or shows.

In Vegas unique limos include the Palms, NY-NY and several others. Maybe this and other odd items worth listing could be in a box called something like other notable information. Vegaswikian 02:47, 22 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Should this be created as a template and listed in Infobox templates? Having it as a fixed template allows changes from one place into all of the articles. Probably a good idea before it hits too many articles since they would then have to be manually converted to use the common template. I would have mentioned this sooner but I found out more about this from a project I'm getting started. Vegaswikian 21:48, 26 July 2005 (UTC)

Um Spikes guy I live in Ireland and they have aired season 2 of Aaron Stone so I changed your edit —Preceding unsigned comment added by 83.71.7.37 (talk) 16:30, 13 June 2010 (UTC)

title: User talk:SpikeJones/temp-casino


text:
Wilson quotient

The Wilson quotient W(p) is defined as:

 * $$W(p) = \frac{(p-1)! + 1}{p}$$

If p is a prime number, the quotient is an integer by Wilson's theorem; moreover, if p is composite, the quotient is not an integer. If p divides W(p), it is called a Wilson prime. The integer values of W(p) are :

 * W(2) = 1
 * W(3) = 1
 * W(5) = 5
 * W(7) = 103
 * W(11) = 329891
 * W(13) = 36846277
 * W(17) = 1230752346353
 * W(19) = 336967037143579

It is known that

 * $$W(p)\equiv B_{2(p-1)}-B_{p-1}\pmod{p},$$
 * $$p-1+ptW(p)\equiv pB_{t(p-1)}\pmod{p^2},$$

where $$B_k$$ is the k-th Bernoulli number. Note that the first relation comes from the second one by subtraction, after substituting $$t=1$$ and $$t=2$$.

title: Wilson quotient


text:
Linux Users' Group of Davis

Linux Users' Group of Davis (commonly known as LUGOD) is a users' group of students and faculty from the University of California, Davis, Information technology professionals from the Sacramento region, and hobbyists interested in Linux and free and open-source software. It holds regular meetings in Davis, California, and holds installfests on a regular basis. Its members participate with each other online in numerous mailing lists and via Internet Relay Chat.

History
The group was founded in early 1999 by Peter J. Salzman, Bill Kendrick, and about a dozen others, following a USENET posting in which Peter asked whether such a group existed in the Davis area. (Salzman and Kendrick held posts as president and vice president for most of the first five years of the group's existence.)

Activities
When possible, LUGOD participates in many activities, including hands-on demos, exhibit booths at events such as LinuxWorld Expo, classes, fundraisers, and organizing the formerly annual Linux picnic in Sunnyvale, California, together with other SVLUG and other groups.

"Reasons to Avoid Microsoft"
The LUG's website maintains a collection of news articles meant to help convince users to switch from Microsoft products. Eric S. Raymond linked to this collection in his famous response to Microsoft's eighth Halloween document.

Notable speakers
Despite its distance from the Silicon Valley, numerous notable speakers have presented at LUGOD, including:

Individuals

 * Jeremy Allison
 * David Anderson of the SETI@home project
 * Donald Becker of Scyld Computer Corporation, a wholly owned subsidiary of Penguin Computing
 * Steve Coast (founder of OpenStreetMap)
 * Chris DiBona
 * Asa Dotzler of Mozilla Foundation
 * Christian Einfeldt (producer of The Digital Tipping Point)
 * Jon "maddog" Hall
 * Carsten "Rasterman" Haitzler (creator of Enlightenment)
 * Leslie Hawthorn (Open Source Project Manager at Google)
 * Valerie Henson
 * Simon Horman
 * Chander Kant of LinuxCertified
 * Bill Kendrick (creator of Tux Paint)
 * Sam Lantinga (creator of Simple DirectMedia Layer)
 * Rasmus Lerdorf
 * Don Marti of LinuxJournal
 * Norman Matloff
 * Patrick McGovern of SourceForge
 * Sean Perry of Debian
 * Dave Peticolas
 * Kyle Rankin
 * Hans Reiser
 * Greg Roelofs from PNG
 * Lawrence Rosen of Open Source Initiative
 * Bill Saphir from Lawrence Berkeley Labs
 * Richard Wallace of the A.L.I.C.E. Artificial Intelligence Foundation

Organizations and companies

 * Apple Computer
 * AMD
 * Borland
 * Cisco Systems
 * CodeWeavers (creators of CrossOver)
 * Electronic Frontier Foundation
 * Embedded Linux Consortium
 * Encore Technologies (creator of the Simputer)
 * Google
 * gumstix
 * Hitachi
 * Hewlett-Packard
 * IBM
 * Ingres
 * LynuxWorks
 * No Starch Press
 * Oracle Corporation
 * Silicon Graphics
 * Slim Devices
 * Sony Computer Entertainment
 * Sybase
 * SpectSoft
 * VA Linux

title: Linux Users' Group of Davis


text: Category:Operas by Karl-Birger Blomdahl

title: Category:Operas by Karl-Birger Blomdahl


text:
Perundurai

Perundurai is a Special Grade Town Panchayat in Erode district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Perundurai is the only special grade town panchayat among 42 in the district. Perundurai has developed as the industrial center with SIPCOT Industrial Estate and SEZ Complex. It is the Asia's Second largest SIPCOT.

Perundurai has been proposed to be developed as a Satellite Town for Erode, as per Erode Master Plan-1996.

Geography
Perundurai is located on National Highway 544, connecting Salem with Cochin. It is located 18 kilometres from Erode Central Bus Terminus via Perundurai Road, and 36 kilometres from Tiruppur and 80 kilometres from Coimbatore and Salem and 32 kilometres from Kangayam, respectively.

Demographics
India census, Perundurai had a population of 16,973. Females constitute 50% of the population. Perundurai has an average literacy rate of 72%, higher than the national average of 59.5%. Male literacy is 80%, and female literacy is 65%. In Perundurai, 9% of the population is under 6 years.

Economy
Perundurai SIPCOT was established by Tamil Nadu in July, 2000, on around 2000 acres. The population increased in the neighbourhood because of textile industries relocating from Tirupur, Coimbatore and Erode Main to Perundurai. SIPCOT acquired another 1600 acre in 2007. Parryware Roca started their manufacturing plant in 2006, their fourth in India. IRTT medical college and hospital run by Tamil Nadu State Transport Corporation is located there. The state government converted IRT medical college into the Government Erode Medical College and Hospital.

Politics
Perundurai assembly constituency is a part of Tirupur (Lok Sabha constituency) Tirupur is a neighbouring district.

Medical College

 * Government Erode Medical College
 * Nandha Medical College & Hospital
 * K M R College of Pharmacy

Engineering Colleges

 * Kongu Engineering College
 * Erode Sengunthar Engineering College
 * Nandha Engineering College
 * Surya Engineering College

Arts and Science College

 * Kongu Arts and Science College
 * Hindustan college of Arts
 * Nandha Arts and Science College

Polytechnic College

 * Konghu Velalar Polytechnic college Seenapuram Perundurai
 * Government polytechnic college

Infrastructure
The town hosts the Erode Rural DSP Office, Perundurai Police station, Court, and Subtreasury office. The town Panchayat Offices and Perundurai Taluk office are there. The weekly market operates on Sundays. The four theaters are Devichitra, Nallappas, Murugan, and Mahalakshmi.

Health care
A government hospital is there.

Transport
A bus stand reaches Erode, Coimbatore, Tirupur, and Salem.

title: Perundurai


text:
Alexander Turk

Alexander Turk (March 5, 1906 – January 1, 1988) was a professional wrestling promoter and politician in Manitoba, Canada. He served in the Legislative Assembly of Manitoba as a Liberal-Progressive from 1953 to 1958.

Born in Larne, Northern Ireland, the son of Nathaniel Turk and Mary O'Lynn, Turk came to Canada with his family in 1910 and was educated at Lord Selkirk School. In 1931, he married Annie Owens. He was a wrestling promoter and president of the Giants Baseball Club and was known in politics as a charismatic showman. Some credit him with introducing modern professional wrestling to Manitoba in 1946 with his company, the NWA-affiliated Alex Turk Promotions. In his later years, he would promote Verne Gagne, Pat O'Connor, Stu Hart, Bruno Sammartino, Haystacks Calhoun, Lou Thesz and others in the region. In 1961 and 1962, he promoted wrestling events for the American Wrestling Association. In 1963, he left the AWA and ran shows in competition with the AWA for several years. He was eventually pushed out of business by competition from the American Wrestling Association.

Turk's election to the Manitoba legislature was somewhat unexpected. In the 1953 election, he ran as a candidate of the Liberal-Progressive Party in Winnipeg North, a constituency dominated by the socialist Cooperative Commonwealth Federation and the communist Labour Progressive Party. He finished seventh out of eleven candidates on the multi-member constituency's first count, behind two other Liberal-Progressive candidates. He did well on transfers, however, and defeated fellow Liberal-Progressive J.M. Kozoriz for the final position. In the legislature, he served as a backbench supporter of Douglas Campbell's government.

Turk was on the left wing of the Liberal-Progressive Party. In 1954, he was the only member of the government caucus to support a CCF bill calling for comprehensive health insurance. The following year, he was the only Liberal-Progressive MLA to endorse a bill calling for progressive prison reforms.

Winnipeg's multi-member constituencies were eliminated in the 1958 election, and Turk lost to Steve Peters of the CCF by 856 votes in the newly created riding of Elmwood. He ran again in the 1959 election but finished third.

After leaving provincial politics, Turk was elected to the Winnipeg City Council. Though a member of the conservative Civic Election Committee, he again showed himself to be a progressive representative on issues relating to workers, pensioners, and people with disabilities, and he often voted with the CCF group. In 1964, he lost his seat on council to another CEC candidate.

title: Alexander Turk


text:
Ralph Strode

Ralph Strode (fl. 1350 – 1400), English schoolman, and putative poet, was probably a native of the West Midlands.

He was a fellow of Merton College, Oxford, before 1360, and famous as a teacher of logic and philosophy and a writer on educational subjects. He belonged, like Thomas Aquinas and Bonaventure, to that "School of the Middle" which mediated between realists and nominalists.

Besides his Logica, he wrote Consequentiae, a treatise on the syllogism, and Obligationes or Scholastica militia, a series of "formal exercises in scholastic dialectics." He had some not unfriendly controversy with his colleague John Wyclif, against whom he defended the possession of wealth by the clergy, and held that in the Church abuses were better than disturbance. He also attacked Wyclif's doctrine of predestination. His positions are gathered from Wyclif's Responsiones ad Rodolphum Strodum (MS. 3926, Vienna Imperial Library).

Chaucer dedicates his poem Troilus and Criseyde to the contemporary poet John Gower and to Strode:

Modern English translation: "O moral Gower, I permit this book to you, and to you, philosophical Strode, to correct, away from your benevolence and zealous goodness." It is quite possible that Troilus and Criseyde was dedicated to "philosophical" (in one of the manuscripts: "logical") Strode because the philosopher introduced Chaucer to some of the basic philosophical distinctions between late medieval nominalism and realism. Thus, Chaucer's literary nominalism in his longest complete poem may well be due to his acquaintance with Strode.

According to the 15th-century Vetus catalogus of fellows of Merton, Strode himself was a "poeta nobilis." John Leland and John Bale confirm this, but none of Strode's poems have survived. However, Professor Israel Gollancz suggested that the Phantasma Radulphi attributed to Strode in the Vetus Catalogus could be the 14th-century elegiac poem The Pearl, but this has found little support from later scholars and, on the basis of the poem's dialect, seems very unlikely.

From 1375 to 1385 this Strode or another of the same name was Common Serjeant of London; he died in 1387.

Works

 * Logica, (unedited apart from Consequentie and Obligationes; the manuscript can be found in Bodl. MS canon. misc. 219, fols 13r-52v).
 * Consequentie Strodi cum commento Alexandri Sermonete, Declarationes Gaetani in easdem consequentias, Dubia magistri Pauli Pergulensis, Obligationes eiusdem Strodi, Venice 1493.
 * Wallace Knight Seaton, An Edition and Translation of the "Tractatus de consequentiis" by Ralph Strode, fourteenth century logician and friend of Geoffrey Chaucer, (unpublished Doctoral dissertation, University of California, Berkeley, 1973).

title: Ralph Strode


text:
James Baldwin (baseball)

James J. Baldwin, Jr. (born July 15, 1971) is an American former professional baseball pitcher with the Chicago White Sox, Los Angeles Dodgers, Seattle Mariners, Minnesota Twins, New York Mets, Texas Rangers and Baltimore Orioles of Major League Baseball (MLB). Baldwin batted and threw right-handed.

Playing career
Drafted by the Chicago White Sox in the fourth round of the 1990 MLB draft, Baldwin made his MLB debut on April 30, 1995, for the White Sox. In spring training of that same season, Baldwin was the first pitcher to face Michael Jordan, in an intrasquad game in spring training. In, Baldwin made the All-Star Game as a member of the White Sox. He pitched the third inning of that game, giving up Chipper Jones' second hit of the game, that being the only home run of the night, which ignited a short-lived National League comeback. On January 24, 2006, Baldwin signed a minor league contract with the Toronto Blue Jays, but was released on April 22.

Coaching career
Baldwin served as the pitching coach for the baseball team at Pinecrest High School in Southern Pines, North Carolina. He joined the Cincinnati Reds organization and served as a rehabilitation coach at their Arizona complex from 2016 through 2019. He was named the pitching coach for the Louisville Bats prior to the 2020 season.

Family
His son, James Baldwin III, a center fielder from Pinecrest High School, was drafted in the fourth round and signed in 2010 by the Los Angeles Dodgers.

title: James Baldwin (baseball)


text:
Tahu

Tahu may refer to:

Geography

 * Tahu, Palpa, a village development committee in Nepal
 * Tahu, Estonia, village in Lääne-Nigula Parish, Lääne County, Estonia; Swedish name: Skåtanäs
 * Tahu Culture in southern Taiwan

People
First name
 * Tahu Hole (1906–1985), New Zealand-born BBC journalist
 * Tahu Matheson (born 1977), New Zealand pianist and conductor
 * Teddy Tahu Rhodes (born 1966), New Zealand operatic baritone

Last name
 * Matiu Parakatone Tahu (?–1863), New Zealand tribal tohunga (expert) and mission teacher
 * Timana Tahu (born 1980), Australian rugby league and rugby union player

Other

 * Tahu, a fictional character in the Bionicle franchise produced by Lego
 * Indonesian and Tamil name for tofu

title: Tahu


text: User talk:69.157.127.240

title: User talk:69.157.127.240