title: Cement

text: A cement is a binder, a chemical substance used for construction that sets, hardens, and adheres to other materials to bind them together. Cement is seldom used on its own, but rather to bind sand and gravel (aggregate) together. Cement mixed with fine aggregate produces mortar for masonry, or with sand and gravel, produces concrete. Concrete is the most widely used material in existence and is behind only water as the planet's most-consumed resource.


title: Cement

text: Cements used in construction are usually inorganic, often lime or calcium silicate based, which can be characterized as hydraulic or the less common non-hydraulic, depending on the ability of the cement to set in the presence of water (see hydraulic and non-hydraulic lime plaster).


title: Cement

text: Hydraulic cements (e.g., Portland cement) set and become adhesive through a chemical reaction between the dry ingredients and water. The chemical reaction results in mineral hydrates that are not very water-soluble and so are quite durable in water and safe from chemical attack. This allows setting in wet conditions or under water and further protects the hardened material from chemical attack. The chemical process for hydraulic cement was found by ancient Romans who used volcanic ash (pozzolana) with added lime (calcium oxide).


title: Cement

text: Non-hydraulic cement (less common) does not set in wet conditions or under water. Rather, it sets as it dries and reacts with carbon dioxide in the air. It is resistant to attack by chemicals after setting.


title: Cement

text: The word "cement" can be traced back to the Ancient Roman term , used to describe masonry resembling modern concrete that was made from crushed rock with burnt lime as binder. The volcanic ash and pulverized brick supplements that were added to the burnt lime, to obtain a hydraulic binder, were later referred to as , , "cäment", and "cement". In modern times, organic polymers are sometimes used as cements in concrete.


title: Cement

text: World production is about four billion tonnes per year, of which about half is made in China. If the cement industry were a country, it would be the third largest carbon dioxide emitter in the world with up to 2.8 billion tonnes, surpassed only by China and the United States. The initial calcination reaction in the production of cement is responsible for about 4% of global emissions. The overall process is responsible for about 8% of global emissions, as the cement kiln in which the reaction occurs is typically fired by coal or petroleum coke because a luminous flame is required to heat the kiln by radiant heat transfer. As a result, the production of cement is a major contributor to climate change.


title: Cement

text: Cement materials can be classified into two distinct categories: hydraulic cements and non-hydraulic cements according to their respective setting and hardening mechanisms. Hydraulic cement setting and hardening involves hydration reactions and therefore requires water, while non-hydraulic cements only react with a gas and can directly set under air.


title: Cement

text: By far the most common type of cement is hydraulic cement, which hardens by hydration of the clinker minerals when water is added. Hydraulic cements (such as Portland cement) are made of a mixture of silicates and oxides, the four main mineral phases of the clinker, abbreviated in the cement chemist notation, being:


title: Cement

text: The silicates are responsible for the cement's mechanical properties — the tricalcium aluminate and brownmillerite are essential for the formation of the liquid phase during the sintering (firing) process of clinker at high temperature in the kiln. The chemistry of these reactions is not completely clear and is still the object of research.


title: Cement

text: First, the limestone (calcium carbonate) is burned to remove its carbon, producing lime (calcium oxide) in what is known as a calcination reaction. This single chemical reaction is a major emitter of global carbon dioxide emissions.


title: Cement

text: A less common form of cement is non-hydraulic cement, such as slaked lime (calcium oxide mixed with water), which hardens by carbonation in contact with carbon dioxide, which is present in the air (~ 412 vol. ppm ≃ 0.04 vol. %). First calcium oxide (lime) is produced from calcium carbonate (limestone or chalk) by calcination at temperatures above 825 °C (1,517 °F) for about 10 hours at atmospheric pressure:


title: Cement

text: The calcium oxide is then "spent" (slaked) by mixing it with water to make slaked lime (calcium hydroxide):


title: Cement

text: Once the excess water is completely evaporated (this process is technically called "setting"), the carbonation starts:


title: Cement

text: This reaction is slow, because the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the air is low (~ 0.4 millibar). The carbonation reaction requires that the dry cement be exposed to air, so the slaked lime is a non-hydraulic cement and cannot be used under water. This process is called the "lime cycle".


title: Cement

text: Perhaps the earliest known occurrence of cement is from twelve million years ago. A deposit of cement was formed after an occurrence of oil shale located adjacent to a bed of limestone burned by natural causes. These ancient deposits were investigated in the 1960s and 1970s.


title: Cement

text: Cement, chemically speaking, is a product that includes lime as the primary binding ingredient, but is far from the first material used for cementation. The Babylonians and Assyrians used bitumen to bind together burnt brick or alabaster slabs. In Ancient Egypt, stone blocks were cemented together with a mortar made of sand and roughly burnt gypsum (CaSO · 2HO), which often contained calcium carbonate (CaCO).


title: Cement

text: Lime (calcium oxide) was used on Crete and by the Ancient Greeks. There is evidence that the Minoans of Crete used crushed potsherds as an artificial pozzolan for hydraulic cement. Nobody knows who first discovered that a combination of hydrated non-hydraulic lime and a pozzolan produces a hydraulic mixture (see also: Pozzolanic reaction), but such concrete was used by the Ancient Macedonians, and three centuries later on a large scale by Roman engineers.


title: Cement

text: The Greeks used volcanic tuff from the island of Thera as their pozzolan and the Romans used crushed volcanic ash (activated aluminium silicates) with lime. This mixture could set under water, increasing its resistance to corrosion like rust. The material was called "pozzolana" from the town of Pozzuoli, west of Naples where volcanic ash was extracted. In the absence of pozzolanic ash, the Romans used powdered brick or pottery as a substitute and they may have used crushed tiles for this purpose before discovering natural sources near Rome. The huge dome of the Pantheon in Rome and the massive Baths of Caracalla are examples of ancient structures made from these concretes, many of which still stand. The vast system of Roman aqueducts also made extensive use of hydraulic cement. Roman concrete was rarely used on the outside of buildings. The normal technique was to use brick facing material as the formwork for an infill of mortar mixed with an aggregate of broken pieces of stone, brick, potsherds, recycled chunks of concrete, or other building rubble.


title: Cement

text: Any preservation of this knowledge in literature from the Middle Ages is unknown, but medieval masons and some military engineers actively used hydraulic cement in structures such as canals, fortresses, harbors, and shipbuilding facilities. A mixture of lime mortar and aggregate with brick or stone facing material was used in the Eastern Roman Empire as well as in the West into the Gothic period. The German Rhineland continued to use hydraulic mortar throughout the Middle Ages, having local pozzolana deposits called trass.


title: Cement

text: Tabby is a building material made from oyster shell lime, sand, and whole oyster shells to form a concrete. The Spanish introduced it to the Americas in the sixteenth century.


title: Cement

text: The technical knowledge for making hydraulic cement was formalized by French and British engineers in the 18th century.


title: Cement

text: John Smeaton made an important contribution to the development of cements while planning the construction of the third Eddystone Lighthouse (1755–59) in the English Channel now known as Smeaton's Tower. He needed a hydraulic mortar that would set and develop some strength in the twelve-hour period between successive high tides. He performed experiments with combinations of different limestones and additives including trass and pozzolanas and did exhaustive market research on the available hydraulic limes, visiting their production sites, and noted that the "hydraulicity" of the lime was directly related to the clay content of the limestone used to make it. Smeaton was a civil engineer by profession, and took the idea no further.


title: Cement

text: In the South Atlantic seaboard of the United States, tabby relying on the oyster-shell middens of earlier Native American populations was used in house construction from the 1730s to the 1860s.


title: Cement

text: In Britain particularly, good quality building stone became ever more expensive during a period of rapid growth, and it became a common practice to construct prestige buildings from the new industrial bricks, and to finish them with a stucco to imitate stone. Hydraulic limes were favored for this, but the need for a fast set time encouraged the development of new cements. Most famous was Parker's "Roman cement". This was developed by James Parker in the 1780s, and finally patented in 1796. It was, in fact, nothing like material used by the Romans, but was a "natural cement" made by burning septaria – nodules that are found in certain clay deposits, and that contain both clay minerals and calcium carbonate. The burnt nodules were ground to a fine powder. This product, made into a mortar with sand, set in 5–15 minutes. The success of "Roman cement" led other manufacturers to develop rival products by burning artificial hydraulic lime cements of clay and chalk.


title: Cement

text: Apparently unaware of Smeaton's work, the same principle was identified by Frenchman Louis Vicat in the first decade of the nineteenth century. Vicat went on to devise a method of combining chalk and clay into an intimate mixture, and, burning this, produced an "artificial cement" in 1817 considered the "principal forerunner" of Portland cement and "...Edgar Dobbs of Southwark patented a cement of this kind in 1811."


title: Cement

text: In Russia, Egor Cheliev created a new binder by mixing lime and clay. His results were published in 1822 in his book "A Treatise on the Art to Prepare a Good Mortar" published in St. Petersburg. A few years later in 1825, he published another book, which described various methods of making cement and concrete, and the benefits of cement in the construction of buildings and embankments.


title: Cement

text: Portland cement, the most common type of cement in general use around the world as a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, stucco, and non-speciality grout, was developed in England in the mid 19th century, and usually originates from limestone. James Frost produced what he called "British cement" in a similar manner around the same time, but did not obtain a patent until 1822. In 1824, Joseph Aspdin patented a similar material, which he called "Portland cement", because the render made from it was in color similar to the prestigious Portland stone quarried on the Isle of Portland, Dorset, England. However, Aspdins' cement was nothing like modern Portland cement but was a first step in its development, called a "proto-Portland cement". Joseph Aspdins' son William Aspdin had left his father's company and in his cement manufacturing apparently accidentally produced calcium silicates in the 1840s, a middle step in the development of Portland cement. William Aspdin's innovation was counterintuitive for manufacturers of "artificial cements", because they required more lime in the mix (a problem for his father), a much higher kiln temperature (and therefore more fuel), and the resulting clinker was very hard and rapidly wore down the millstones, which were the only available grinding technology of the time. Manufacturing costs were therefore considerably higher, but the product set reasonably slowly and developed strength quickly, thus opening up a market for use in concrete. The use of concrete in construction grew rapidly from 1850 onward, and was soon the dominant use for cements. Thus Portland cement began its predominant role. Isaac Charles Johnson further refined the production of "meso-Portland cement" (middle stage of development) and claimed he was the real father of Portland cement.


title: Cement

text: Setting time and "early strength" are important characteristics of cements. Hydraulic limes, "natural" cements, and "artificial" cements all rely on their belite (2 CaO · SiO, abbreviated as CS) content for strength development. Belite develops strength slowly. Because they were burned at temperatures below , they contained no alite (3 CaO · SiO, abbreviated as CS), which is responsible for early strength in modern cements. The first cement to consistently contain alite was made by William Aspdin in the early 1840s: This was what we call today "modern" Portland cement. Because of the air of mystery with which William Aspdin surrounded his product, others ("e.g.," Vicat and Johnson) have claimed precedence in this invention, but recent analysis of both his concrete and raw cement have shown that William Aspdin's product made at Northfleet, Kent was a true alite-based cement. However, Aspdin's methods were "rule-of-thumb": Vicat is responsible for establishing the chemical basis of these cements, and Johnson established the importance of sintering the mix in the kiln.


title: Cement

text: In the US the first large-scale use of cement was Rosendale cement, a natural cement mined from a massive deposit of dolomite discovered in the early 19th century near Rosendale, New York. Rosendale cement was extremely popular for the foundation of buildings ("e.g.", Statue of Liberty, Capitol Building, Brooklyn Bridge) and lining water pipes.


title: Cement

text: Sorel cement, or magnesia-based cement, was patented in 1867 by the Frenchman Stanislas Sorel. It was stronger than Portland cement but its poor water resistance (leaching) and corrosive properties (pitting corrosion due to the presence of leachable chloride anions and the low pH (8.5–9.5) of its pore water) limited its use as reinforced concrete for building construction.


title: Cement

text: The next development in the manufacture of Portland cement was the introduction of the rotary kiln. It produced a clinker mixture that was both stronger, because more alite (CS) is formed at the higher temperature it achieved (1450 °C), and more homogeneous. Because raw material is constantly fed into a rotary kiln, it allowed a continuous manufacturing process to replace lower capacity batch production processes.


title: Cement

text: Calcium aluminate cements were patented in 1908 in France by Jules Bied for better resistance to sulfates. Also in 1908, Thomas Edison experimented with pre-cast concrete in houses in Union, N.J.


title: Cement

text: In the US, after World War One, the long curing time of at least a month for Rosendale cement made it unpopular for constructing highways and bridges, and many states and construction firms turned to Portland cement. Because of the switch to Portland cement, by the end of the 1920s only one of the 15 Rosendale cement companies had survived. But in the early 1930s, builders discovered that, while Portland cement set faster, it was not as durable, especially for highways—to the point that some states stopped building highways and roads with cement. Bertrain H. Wait, an engineer whose company had helped construct the New York City's Catskill Aqueduct, was impressed with the durability of Rosendale cement, and came up with a blend of both Rosendale and Portland cements that had the good attributes of both. It was highly durable and had a much faster setting time. Wait convinced the New York Commissioner of Highways to construct an experimental section of highway near New Paltz, New York, using one sack of Rosendale to six sacks of Portland cement. It was a success, and for decades the Rosendale-Portland cement blend was used in highway and bridge construction.


title: Cement

text: Cementitious materials have been used as a nuclear waste immobilizing matrix for more than a half-century. Technologies of waste cementation have been developed and deployed at industrial scale in many countries. Cementitious wasteforms require a careful selection and design process adapted to each specific type of waste to satisfy the strict waste acceptance criteria for long-term storage and disposal.


title: Cement

text: Modern development of hydraulic cement began with the start of the Industrial Revolution (around 1800), driven by three main needs:


title: Cement

text: Modern cements are often Portland cement or Portland cement blends, but other cement blends are used in some industrial settings.


title: Cement

text: Portland cement, a form of hydraulic cement, is by far the most common type of cement in general use around the world. This cement is made by heating limestone (calcium carbonate) with other materials (such as clay) to in a kiln, in a process known as calcination that liberates a molecule of carbon dioxide from the calcium carbonate to form calcium oxide, or quicklime, which then chemically combines with the other materials in the mix to form calcium silicates and other cementitious compounds. The resulting hard substance, called 'clinker', is then ground with a small amount of gypsum () into a powder to make "ordinary Portland cement", the most commonly used type of cement (often referred to as OPC).


title: Cement

text: Portland cement is a basic ingredient of concrete, mortar, and most non-specialty grout. The most common use for Portland cement is to make concrete. Portland cement may be grey or white.


title: Cement

text: Portland cement blends are often available as inter-ground mixtures from cement producers, but similar formulations are often also mixed from the ground components at the concrete mixing plant.


title: Cement

text: Portland blast-furnace slag cement, or blast furnace cement (ASTM C595 and EN 197-1 nomenclature respectively), contains up to 95% ground granulated blast furnace slag, with the rest Portland clinker and a little gypsum. All compositions produce high ultimate strength, but as slag content is increased, early strength is reduced, while sulfate resistance increases and heat evolution diminishes. Used as an economic alternative to Portland sulfate-resisting and low-heat cements.


title: Cement

text: Portland-fly ash cement contains up to 40% fly ash under ASTM standards (ASTM C595), or 35% under EN standards (EN 197–1). The fly ash is pozzolanic, so that ultimate strength is maintained. Because fly ash addition allows a lower concrete water content, early strength can also be maintained. Where good quality cheap fly ash is available, this can be an economic alternative to ordinary Portland cement.


title: Cement

text: Portland pozzolan cement includes fly ash cement, since fly ash is a pozzolan, but also includes cements made from other natural or artificial pozzolans. In countries where volcanic ashes are available (e.g., Italy, Chile, Mexico, the Philippines), these cements are often the most common form in use. The maximum replacement ratios are generally defined as for Portland-fly ash cement.


title: Cement

text: Portland silica fume cement. Addition of silica fume can yield exceptionally high strengths, and cements containing 5–20% silica fume are occasionally produced, with 10% being the maximum allowed addition under EN 197–1. However, silica fume is more usually added to Portland cement at the concrete mixer.


title: Cement

text: Masonry cements are used for preparing bricklaying mortars and stuccos, and must not be used in concrete. They are usually complex proprietary formulations containing Portland clinker and a number of other ingredients that may include limestone, hydrated lime, air entrainers, retarders, waterproofers, and coloring agents. They are formulated to yield workable mortars that allow rapid and consistent masonry work. Subtle variations of masonry cement in North America are plastic cements and stucco cements. These are designed to produce a controlled bond with masonry blocks.


title: Cement

text: Expansive cements contain, in addition to Portland clinker, expansive clinkers (usually sulfoaluminate clinkers), and are designed to offset the effects of drying shrinkage normally encountered in hydraulic cements. This cement can make concrete for floor slabs (up to 60 m square) without contraction joints.


title: Cement

text: White blended cements may be made using white clinker (containing little or no iron) and white supplementary materials such as high-purity metakaolin. Colored cements serve decorative purposes. Some standards allow the addition of pigments to produce "colored Portland cement". Other standards (e.g., ASTM) do not allow pigments in Portland cement, and colored cements are sold as "blended hydraulic cements".


title: Cement

text: Very finely ground cements are cement mixed with sand or with slag or other pozzolan type minerals that are extremely finely ground together. Such cements can have the same physical characteristics as normal cement but with 50% less cement, particularly because there is more surface area for the chemical reaction. Even with intensive grinding they can use up to 50% less energy (and thus less carbon emissions) to fabricate than ordinary Portland cements.


title: Cement

text: "Pozzolan-lime cements" are mixtures of ground pozzolan and lime. These are the cements the Romans used, and are present in surviving Roman structures like the Pantheon in Rome. They develop strength slowly, but their ultimate strength can be very high. The hydration products that produce strength are essentially the same as those in Portland cement.


title: Cement

text: "Slag-lime cements"—ground granulated blast-furnace slag—are not hydraulic on their own, but are "activated" by addition of alkalis, most economically using lime. They are similar to pozzolan lime cements in their properties. Only granulated slag (i.e., water-quenched, glassy slag) is effective as a cement component.


title: Cement

text: "Supersulfated cements" contain about 80% ground granulated blast furnace slag, 15% gypsum or anhydrite and a little Portland clinker or lime as an activator. They produce strength by formation of ettringite, with strength growth similar to a slow Portland cement. They exhibit good resistance to aggressive agents, including sulfate. Calcium aluminate cements are hydraulic cements made primarily from limestone and bauxite. The active ingredients are monocalcium aluminate CaAlO (CaO · AlO or CA in cement chemist notation, CCN) and mayenite CaAlO (12 CaO · 7 AlO, or CA in CCN). Strength forms by hydration to calcium aluminate hydrates. They are well-adapted for use in refractory (high-temperature resistant) concretes, e.g., for furnace linings.


title: Cement

text: "Calcium sulfoaluminate cements" are made from clinkers that include ye'elimite (Ca(AlO)SO or CA in Cement chemist's notation) as a primary phase. They are used in expansive cements, in ultra-high early strength cements, and in "low-energy" cements. Hydration produces ettringite, and specialized physical properties (such as expansion or rapid reaction) are obtained by adjustment of the availability of calcium and sulfate ions. Their use as a low-energy alternative to Portland cement has been pioneered in China, where several million tonnes per year are produced. Energy requirements are lower because of the lower kiln temperatures required for reaction, and the lower amount of limestone (which must be endothermically decarbonated) in the mix. In addition, the lower limestone content and lower fuel consumption leads to a CO emission around half that associated with Portland clinker. However, SO emissions are usually significantly higher.


title: Cement

text: ""Natural" cements" corresponding to certain cements of the pre-Portland era, are produced by burning argillaceous limestones at moderate temperatures. The level of clay components in the limestone (around 30–35%) is such that large amounts of belite (the low-early strength, high-late strength mineral in Portland cement) are formed without the formation of excessive amounts of free lime. As with any natural material, such cements have highly variable properties.


title: Cement

text: "Geopolymer cements" are made from mixtures of water-soluble alkali metal silicates, and aluminosilicate mineral powders such as fly ash and metakaolin.


title: Cement

text: "Polymer cements" are made from organic chemicals that polymerise. Producers often use thermoset materials. While they are often significantly more expensive, they can give a water proof material that has useful tensile strength.


title: Cement

text: "Sorel Cement" is a hard, durable cement made by combining magnesium oxide and a magnesium chloride solution


title: Cement

text: "Fiber mesh cement" or fiber reinforced concrete is cement that is made up of fibrous materials like synthetic fibers, glass fibers, natural fibers, and steel fibers. This type of mesh is distributed evenly throughout the wet concrete. The purpose of fiber mesh is to reduce water loss from the concrete as well as enhance its structural integrity. When used in plasters, fiber mesh increases cohesiveness, tensile strength, impact resistance, and to reduce shrinkage; ultimately, the main purpose of these combined properties is to reduce cracking.


title: Cement

text: Cement starts to set when mixed with water, which causes a series of hydration chemical reactions. The constituents slowly hydrate and the mineral hydrates solidify and harden. The interlocking of the hydrates gives cement its strength. Contrary to popular belief, hydraulic cement does not set by drying out — proper curing requires maintaining the appropriate moisture content necessary for the hydration reactions during the setting and the hardening processes. If hydraulic cements dry out during the curing phase, the resulting product can be insufficiently hydrated and significantly weakened. A minimum temperature of 5 °C is recommended, and no more than 30 °C. The concrete at young age must be protected against water evaporation due to direct insolation, elevated temperature, low relative humidity and wind.


title: Cement

text: The "interfacial transition zone" (ITZ) is a region of the cement paste around the aggregate particles in concrete. In the zone,a gradual transition in the microstructural features occurs. This zone can be up to 35 micrometer wide. Other studies have shown that the width can be up to 50 micrometer. The average content of unreacted clinker phase decreases and porosity decreases towards the aggregate surface. Similarly, the content of ettringite increases in ITZ.


title: Cement

text: Bags of cement routinely have health and safety warnings printed on them because not only is cement highly alkaline, but the setting process is exothermic. As a result, wet cement is strongly caustic (pH = 13.5) and can easily cause severe skin burns if not promptly washed off with water. Similarly, dry cement powder in contact with mucous membranes can cause severe eye or respiratory irritation. Some trace elements, such as chromium, from impurities naturally present in the raw materials used to produce cement may cause allergic dermatitis. Reducing agents such as ferrous sulfate (FeSO) are often added to cement to convert the carcinogenic hexavalent chromate (CrO) into trivalent chromium (Cr), a less toxic chemical species. Cement users need also to wear appropriate gloves and protective clothing.


title: Cement

text: In 2010, the world production of hydraulic cement was . The top three producers were China with 1,800, India with 220, and USA with 63.5 million tonnes for a total of over half the world total by the world's three most populated states.


title: Cement

text: For the world capacity to produce cement in 2010, the situation was similar with the top three states (China, India, and USA) accounting for just under half the world total capacity.


title: Cement

text: Over 2011 and 2012, global consumption continued to climb, rising to 3585 Mt in 2011 and 3736 Mt in 2012, while annual growth rates eased to 8.3% and 4.2%, respectively.


title: Cement

text: China, representing an increasing share of world cement consumption, remains the main engine of global growth. By 2012, Chinese demand was recorded at 2160 Mt, representing 58% of world consumption. Annual growth rates, which reached 16% in 2010, appear to have softened, slowing to 5–6% over 2011 and 2012, as China's economy targets a more sustainable growth rate.


title: Cement

text: Outside of China, worldwide consumption climbed by 4.4% to 1462 Mt in 2010, 5% to 1535 Mt in 2011, and finally 2.7% to 1576 Mt in 2012.


title: Cement

text: Iran is now the 3rd largest cement producer in the world and has increased its output by over 10% from 2008 to 2011. Because of climbing energy costs in Pakistan and other major cement-producing countries, Iran is in a unique position as a trading partner, utilizing its own surplus petroleum to power clinker plants. Now a top producer in the Middle-East, Iran is further increasing its dominant position in local markets and abroad.


title: Cement

text: The performance in North America and Europe over the 2010–12 period contrasted strikingly with that of China, as the global financial crisis evolved into a sovereign debt crisis for many economies in this region and recession. Cement consumption levels for this region fell by 1.9% in 2010 to 445 Mt, recovered by 4.9% in 2011, then dipped again by 1.1% in 2012.


title: Cement

text: The performance in the rest of the world, which includes many emerging economies in Asia, Africa and Latin America and representing some 1020 Mt cement demand in 2010, was positive and more than offset the declines in North America and Europe. Annual consumption growth was recorded at 7.4% in 2010, moderating to 5.1% and 4.3% in 2011 and 2012, respectively.


title: Cement

text: As at year-end 2012, the global cement industry consisted of 5673 cement production facilities, including both integrated and grinding, of which 3900 were located in China and 1773 in the rest of the world.


title: Cement

text: Total cement capacity worldwide was recorded at 5245 Mt in 2012, with 2950 Mt located in China and 2295 Mt in the rest of the world.


title: Cement

text: "For the past 18 years, China consistently has produced more cement than any other country in the world. [...] (However,) China's cement export peaked in 1994 with 11 million tonnes shipped out and has been in steady decline ever since. Only 5.18 million tonnes were exported out of China in 2002. Offered at $34 a ton, Chinese cement is pricing itself out of the market as Thailand is asking as little as $20 for the same quality."


title: Cement

text: In 2006, it was estimated that China manufactured 1.235 billion tonnes of cement, which was 44% of the world total cement production. "Demand for cement in China is expected to advance 5.4% annually and exceed 1 billion tonnes in 2008, driven by slowing but healthy growth in construction expenditures. Cement consumed in China will amount to 44% of global demand, and China will remain the world's largest national consumer of cement by a large margin."


title: Cement

text: In 2010, 3.3 billion tonnes of cement was consumed globally. Of this, China accounted for 1.8 billion tonnes.


title: Cement

text: Cement manufacture causes environmental impacts at all stages of the process. These include emissions of airborne pollution in the form of dust, gases, noise and vibration when operating machinery and during blasting in quarries, and damage to countryside from quarrying. Equipment to reduce dust emissions during quarrying and manufacture of cement is widely used, and equipment to trap and separate exhaust gases are coming into increased use. Environmental protection also includes the re-integration of quarries into the countryside after they have been closed down by returning them to nature or re-cultivating them.


title: Cement

text: Carbon concentration in cement spans from ≈5% in cement structures to ≈8% in the case of roads in cement. Cement manufacturing releases in the atmosphere both directly when calcium carbonate is heated, producing lime and carbon dioxide, and also indirectly through the use of energy if its production involves the emission of CO. The cement industry produces about 10% of global human-made CO emissions, of which 60% is from the chemical process, and 40% from burning fuel. A Chatham House study from 2018 estimates that the 4 billion tonnes of cement produced annually account for 8% of worldwide CO emissions.


title: Cement

text: Nearly 900 kg of CO are emitted for every 1000 kg of Portland cement produced. In the European Union, the specific energy consumption for the production of cement clinker has been reduced by approximately 30% since the 1970s. This reduction in primary energy requirements is equivalent to approximately 11 million tonnes of coal per year with corresponding benefits in reduction of CO emissions. This accounts for approximately 5% of anthropogenic CO.


title: Cement

text: The majority of carbon dioxide emissions in the manufacture of Portland cement (approximately 60%) are produced from the chemical decomposition of limestone to lime, an ingredient in Portland cement clinker. These emissions may be reduced by lowering the clinker content of cement. They can also be reduced by alternative fabrication methods such as the intergrinding cement with sand or with slag or other pozzolan type minerals to a very fine powder.


title: Cement

text: To reduce the transport of heavier raw materials and to minimize the associated costs, it is more economical to build cement plants closer to the limestone quarries rather than to the consumer centers.


title: Cement

text: In certain applications, lime mortar reabsorbs some of the CO as was released in its manufacture, and has a lower energy requirement in production than mainstream cement. Newly developed cement types from Novacem and Eco-cement can absorb carbon dioxide from ambient air during hardening.


title: Cement

text: In some circumstances, mainly depending on the origin and the composition of the raw materials used, the high-temperature calcination process of limestone and clay minerals can release in the atmosphere gases and dust rich in volatile heavy metals, e.g. thallium, cadmium and mercury are the most toxic. Heavy metals (Tl, Cd, Hg, ...) and also selenium are often found as trace elements in common metal sulfides (pyrite (FeS), zinc blende (ZnS), galena (PbS), ...) present as secondary minerals in most of the raw materials. Environmental regulations exist in many countries to limit these emissions. As of 2011 in the United States, cement kilns are "legally allowed to pump more toxins into the air than are hazardous-waste incinerators."


title: Cement

text: The presence of heavy metals in the clinker arises both from the natural raw materials and from the use of recycled by-products or alternative fuels. The high pH prevailing in the cement porewater (12.5 < pH < 13.5) limits the mobility of many heavy metals by decreasing their solubility and increasing their sorption onto the cement mineral phases. Nickel, zinc and lead are commonly found in cement in non-negligible concentrations. Chromium may also directly arise as natural impurity from the raw materials or as secondary contamination from the abrasion of hard chromium steel alloys used in the ball mills when the clinker is ground. As chromate (CrO) is toxic and may cause severe skin allergies at trace concentration, it is sometimes reduced into trivalent Cr(III) by addition of ferrous sulfate (FeSO).


title: Cement

text: A cement plant consumes 3 to 6 GJ of fuel per tonne of clinker produced, depending on the raw materials and the process used. Most cement kilns today use coal and petroleum coke as primary fuels, and to a lesser extent natural gas and fuel oil. Selected waste and by-products with recoverable calorific value can be used as fuels in a cement kiln (referred to as co-processing), replacing a portion of conventional fossil fuels, like coal, if they meet strict specifications. Selected waste and by-products containing useful minerals such as calcium, silica, alumina, and iron can be used as raw materials in the kiln, replacing raw materials such as clay, shale, and limestone. Because some materials have both useful mineral content and recoverable calorific value, the distinction between alternative fuels and raw materials is not always clear. For example, sewage sludge has a low but significant calorific value, and burns to give ash containing minerals useful in the clinker matrix. Scrap automobile and truck tires are useful in cement manufacturing as they have high calorific value and the iron embedded in tires is useful as a feed stock.


title: Cement

text: Clinker is manufactured by heating raw materials inside the main burner of a kiln to a temperature of 1,450 °C. The flame reaches temperatures of 1,800 °C. The material remains at 1,200 °C for 12–15 seconds at 1,800 °C (and/ or?) for 5–8 seconds (also referred to as residence time). These characteristics of a clinker kiln offer numerous benefits and they ensure a complete destruction of organic compounds, a total neutralization of acid gases, sulphur oxides and hydrogen chloride. Furthermore, heavy metal traces are embedded in the clinker structure and no by-products, such as ash or residues, are produced.


title: Cement

text: The EU cement industry already uses more than 40% fuels derived from waste and biomass in supplying the thermal energy to the grey clinker making process. Although the choice for this so-called alternative fuels (AF) is typically cost driven, other factors are becoming more important. Use of alternative fuels provides benefits for both society and the company: CO-emissions are lower than with fossil fuels, waste can be co-processed in an efficient and sustainable manner and the demand for certain virgin materials can be reduced. Yet there are large differences in the share of alternative fuels used between the European Union (EU) member states. The societal benefits could be improved if more member states increase their alternative fuels share. The Ecofys study assessed the barriers and opportunities for further uptake of alternative fuels in 14 EU member states. The Ecofys study found that local factors constrain the market potential to a much larger extent than the technical and economic feasibility of the cement industry itself.


title: Cement

text: Ecological cement is a cementitious material that meets or exceeds the functional performance capabilities of ordinary Portland cement by incorporating and optimizing recycled materials, thereby reducing consumption of natural raw materials, water, and energy, resulting in a more sustainable construction material. One is geopolymer cement.


title: Cement

text: New manufacturing processes for producing ecological cement are being researched with the goal to reduce, or even eliminate, the production and release of damaging pollutants and greenhouse gasses, particularly CO.


title: Cement

text: Growing environmental concerns and the increasing cost of fuels of fossil origin have resulted, in many countries, in a sharp reduction of the resources needed to produce cement and effluents (dust and exhaust gases).


title: Cement

text: A team at the University of Edinburgh has developed the 'DUPE' process based on the microbial activity of "Sporosarcina pasteurii", a bacterium precipitating calcium carbonate, which, when mixed with sand and urine, can produce mortar blocks with a compressive strength 70% of that of conventional construction materials.


title: Unforgotten

text: Unforgotten is a British crime drama television series, which initially aired on ITV on 8 October 2015. It was created and written by Chris Lang and directed by Andy Wilson. The programme follows a team of London detectives led by DCI Cassie Stuart (Nicola Walker) and DI Sunny Khan (Sanjeev Bhaskar) as they solve cold cases of disappearance and murder.


title: Unforgotten

text: Each series consists of six episodes. Series 1 to 4 were broadcast in the UK in 2015, 2017, 2018 and 2021. On 30 March 2021 a fifth series was announced, scheduled for release in 2022, and it was confirmed that Sanjeev Bhaskar would reprise his role. A year later it was confirmed that Sinéad Keenan would replace Walker as Bhaskar's new partner, DCI Jessica "Jessie" James. Filming for the fifth series began on 14 March 2022.


title: Unforgotten

text: Each series deals with a new case, introducing seemingly unconnected characters who are gradually revealed to have some relationship with the victim. As the murder mystery unfolds, the emotional ramifications of the crime on the lives of those affected are also explored.


title: Unforgotten

text: "Unforgotten" has received critical acclaim. Tom Courtenay won the 2016 BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actor for the first series and Mark Bonnar won the 2017 BAFTA Scotland for Best Actor in Television for the second series.


title: Unforgotten

text: Series 1 focuses on the murder of James "Jimmy" Sullivan (Harley Alexander-Sule), a 17-year-old who disappeared in 1976. His remains are discovered during the demolition of a house in North London.


title: Unforgotten

text: Series 2 follows the murder of David Walker (Daniel Gosling), a Conservative Party consultant who went missing in 1990. His saponified remains are found in a suitcase in the River Lea in north-east London.


title: Unforgotten

text: Series 3 investigates the murder of schoolgirl Hayley Reid (Bronagh Waugh), who disappeared from a seaside resort town on New Year's Eve 1999. Her skeleton is discovered by workmen repairing the central reservation of the M1 motorway in London.


title: Unforgotten

text: Series 4 follows the discovery in 2020 of Matthew Walsh's headless and handless corpse, apparently frozen since his disappearance in 1990 when he encountered five police trainees celebrating their graduation from the academy.


title: Unforgotten

text: Series 1 to 4 include the story of DCI Cassie Stuart's personal life: of the typical but growing conflicts in her immediate family, of her spartan arms-length relationships with individuals who like her, of her drive to solve cases and of her coping both successfully and unsuccessfully with the relentless strain of her job. During the historical cold cases Cassie verbalizes her driving motives: find the truth of what happened, provide closure to the living and possibly bring a criminal to justice. An inner motive surfaces when she says she hopes solving a current case will help "... [me] move on... If we can do this right, if we can ignore who they are and do it by the book, then all the questions [and faces] might all go away. And I might be able to sleep at night."


title: Unforgotten

text: Filming for the first series began in March 2015 and lasted for twelve weeks. Locations included Liverpool, the London suburbs, Kingston upon Thames, the Essex coast, Westminster and the Fens.


title: Unforgotten

text: After the unexpected success of the initial series, ITV commissioned a second series, with Lang returning as writer and Wilson as director. It was shot on location by the River Lea, in the Cotswolds, and along the promenade in Brighton.


title: Unforgotten

text: A third series order was announced on 2 March 2017, following strong viewing figures. Scenes were set in Lymington, Hampshire (which substituted for the fictional Middenham and its estuary), Uxbridge, Middlesex, Amersham in Buckinghamshire, Clifton in Bristol, Ealing in West London, and King's Lynn and Hunstanton in Norfolk. An empty mansion at Bulstrode Park near Gerrards Cross, Buckinghamshire provided the setting for the police station and lab. Only seven weeks after filming wrapped, the third series began broadcasting in the UK on 15 July 2018.


title: Unforgotten

text: A fourth series was scheduled to be made in autumn 2019; however, ITV only confirmed in January 2020 that filming had commenced, with the planned broadcasting timeframe having been delayed. In September 2020, it was announced that filming had recommenced and the series planned on being screened in 2021, with actors Walker, Bhaskar, Reeves and Egan all reprising their roles. The new series eventually began screening in February 2021.


title: Unforgotten

text: Filming for the fifth series began on 14 March 2022, with the airing of the series due later in 2022.


title: Unforgotten

text: Episodes 1 – 5's ratings are based on 28-day data from BARB for ITV and ITV+1 and 7-day data for ITV HD. Episode 6's ratings are based on 28-day data from BARB for ITV, ITV+1 and ITV HD.


title: Unforgotten

text: Prior to the UK broadcast of the third series, the first series premiered on 8 April 2018 in the United States, as part of PBS Masterpiece Mystery. After two back-to-back episodes were aired each week, the second series was similarly broadcast as three weekly parts from 29 April 2018 to 13 May 2018. Series 3 premiered on 7 April 2019. Series 4 premiered on 11 July 2021.


title: Unforgotten

text: The first three series have been released on Region 2 DVD individually. A box-set release of the first two series was made available shortly after the broadcast of the second series. A further box-set release of the first three series came out shortly after the broadcast of the third series. The fourth series has also been released on Region 2 DVD on its own. The first four series have been made available on Amazon Prime in some countries.


title: Unforgotten

text: In 2017, it was reported that a remake was in development for ABC in the United States, with Josh Berman, Sony Pictures Television and BBC Worldwide Productions producing. Retitled "Suspects", it was to feature a new cast and crew. Chris Lang would not be involved in the United States version, and Nicola Walker would not make an appearance.


title: Female reproductive system

text: The female reproductive system is made up of the internal and external sex organs that function in the reproduction of new offspring. In humans, the female reproductive system is immature at birth and develops to maturity at puberty to be able to produce gametes, and to carry a fetus to full term. The internal sex organs are the vagina, uterus, fallopian tubes, and ovaries. The female reproductive tract includes the vagina, uterus, and fallopian tubes and is prone to infections. The vagina allows for sexual intercourse and childbirth, and is connected to the uterus at the cervix. The uterus or womb accommodates the embryo which develops into the fetus. The uterus also produces secretions which help the transit of sperm to the fallopian tubes, where sperm fertilize ova (egg cells) produced by the ovaries. The external sex organs are also known as the "genitals" and these are the organs of the vulva including the labia, clitoris, and vaginal opening.


title: Female reproductive system

text: During the menstrual cycle, the ovaries release an ovum, which transits through the fallopian tube into the uterus. If an egg cell meets with sperm on its way to the uterus, a single sperm cell can enter and merge with it, fertilizing it into a zygote.


title: Female reproductive system

text: Fertilization usually occurs in the fallopian tubes and marks the beginning of embryogenesis. The zygote will then divide over enough generations of cells to form a blastocyst, which implants itself in the wall of the uterus. This begins the period of gestation and the embryo will continue to develop until full-term. When the fetus has developed enough to survive outside the uterus, the cervix dilates and contractions of the uterus propel the newborn through the birth canal (the vagina).


title: Female reproductive system

text: The vulva consists of all of the external parts and tissues and includes the mons pubis, pudendal cleft, labia majora, labia minora, Bartholin's glands, Skene's glands, clitoris, urethra, and vaginal opening.


title: Female reproductive system

text: The vagina is a fibromuscular (made up of fibrous and muscular tissue) canal leading from the outside of the body to the cervix of the uterus or womb. It is also referred to as the birth canal in the context of pregnancy. The vagina accommodates the male penis during sexual intercourse. Semen containing spermatozoa is ejaculated from the male at orgasm, into the vagina potentially enabling fertilization of the egg cell (ovum) to take place.


title: Female reproductive system

text: The cervix is the neck of the uterus, the lower, narrow portion where it joins with the upper part of the vagina. It is cylindrical or conical in shape and protrudes through the upper anterior vaginal wall. Approximately half its length is visible, the remainder lies above the vagina beyond view. The vagina has a thick layer outside and it is the opening where the fetus emerges during delivery.


title: Female reproductive system

text: The uterus or womb is the major female reproductive organ. The uterus provides mechanical protection, nutritional support, and waste removal for the developing embryo (weeks 1 to 8) and fetus (from week 9 until the delivery). In addition, contractions in the muscular wall of the uterus are important in pushing out the fetus at the time of birth.


title: Female reproductive system

text: The uterus contains three suspensory ligaments that help stabilize the position of the uterus and limits its range of movement. The uterosacral ligaments keep the body from moving inferiorly and anteriorly. The round ligaments restrict posterior movement of the uterus. The cardinal ligaments also prevent the inferior movement of the uterus.


title: Female reproductive system

text: The uterus is a pear-shaped muscular organ. Its major function is to accept a fertilized ovum which becomes implanted into the endometrium, and derives nourishment from blood vessels which develop exclusively for this purpose. The fertilized ovum becomes an embryo, develops into a fetus and gestates until childbirth. If the egg does not embed in the wall of the uterus, a female begins menstruation.


title: Female reproductive system

text: The Fallopian tubes are two tubes leading from the ovaries into the uterus. On maturity of an ovum, the follicle and the ovary's wall rupture, allowing the ovum to escape and enter the Fallopian tube. There it travels toward the uterus, pushed along by movements of cilia on the inner lining of the tubes. This trip takes hours or days. If the ovum is fertilized while in the Fallopian tube, then it normally implants in the endometrium when it reaches the uterus, which signals the beginning of pregnancy.


title: Female reproductive system

text: The ovaries are small, paired organs located near the lateral walls of the pelvic cavity. These organs are responsible for the production of the egg cells (ova) and the secretion of hormones. The process by which the egg cell (ovum) is released is called ovulation. The speed of ovulation is periodic and impacts directly to the length of a menstrual cycle.


title: Female reproductive system

text: After ovulation, the egg cell is captured by the Fallopian tube, after traveling down the Fallopian tube to the uterus, occasionally being fertilized on its way by an incoming sperm. During fertilization the egg cell plays a role; it releases certain molecules that are essential to guiding the sperm and allows the surface of the egg to attach to the sperm's surface. The egg can then absorb the sperm and fertilization can then begin.


title: Female reproductive system

text: In the absence of fertilization, the ovum will eventually traverse the entire reproductive tract from the fallopian tube until exiting the vagina through menstruation.


title: Female reproductive system

text: The reproductive tract can be used for various transluminal procedures such as fertiloscopy, intrauterine insemination, and transluminal sterilization.


title: Female reproductive system

text: Chromosome characteristics determine the genetic sex of a fetus at conception. This is specifically based on the 23rd pair of chromosomes that is inherited. Since the mother's egg contains an X chromosome and the father's sperm contains either an X or Y chromosome, it is the male who determines the fetus's sex. If the fetus inherits the X chromosome from the father, the fetus will be a female. In this case, testosterone is not made and the Wolffian duct will degrade thus, the Müllerian duct will develop into female sex organs. The clitoris is the remnants of the Wolffian duct. On the other hand, if the fetus inherits the Y chromosome from the father, the fetus will be a male. The presence of testosterone will stimulate the Wolffian duct which will bring about the development of the male sex organs and the Müllerian duct will degrade.


title: Female reproductive system

text: Vaginitis is inflammation of the vagina and largely caused by an infection. It is the most common gynaecological condition presented. It is difficult to determine any one organism most responsible for vaginitis because it varies from range of age, sexual activity, and method of microbial identification. Vaginitis is not necessarily caused by a sexually transmitted infection as there are many infectious agents that make use of the close proximity to mucous membranes and secretions. Vaginitis is usually diagnosed based on the presence of vaginal discharge, which can have a certain color, odor, or quality.


title: Female reproductive system

text: This is a vaginal infection in women. It differs from vaginitis in that there is no inflammation. Bacterial vaginosis is polymicrobial, consisting of many bacteria species. The diagnosis for bacterial vaginosis is made if three of the following four criteria are present: (1) Homogenous, thin discharge, (2) a pH of 4.5 in the vagina, (3) epithelial cells in the vagina with bacteria attached to them, or (4) a fishy odor. It has been associated with an increased risk of other genital tract infections such as endometritis.


title: Female reproductive system

text: This is a common cause of vaginal irritation and according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention at least 75% of adult women have experienced one at least once in their lifetime. Yeast infections are caused by an overgrowth of fungus in the vagina known as Candida. Yeast infections are usually caused by an imbalance of the pH in the vagina, which is usually acidic. Other factors such as pregnancy, diabetes, weakened immune systems, tight fitting clothing, or douching can also be a cause. Symptoms of yeast infections include itching, burning, irritation, and a white cottage-cheese-like discharge from the vagina. Women have also reported that they experience painful intercourse and urination as well. Taking a sample of the vaginal secretions and placing them under a microscope for evidence of yeast can diagnose a yeast infection. Treatment varies from creams that can be applied in or around the vaginal area to oral tablets that stop the growth of fungus.


title: Female reproductive system

text: There are many practices of mutilating female genitalia in different cultures. The most common two types of genital mutilation practiced are clitoridectomy, the circumcision of the clitoris and the excision of the prepuce the skin around the clitoris. They can all involve a range of adverse health consequences such as bleeding, irreparable tissue damage, and sepsis which can sometimes prove fatal.


title: Female reproductive system

text: Genitoplasty refers to surgery that is carried out to repair damaged sex organs particularly following cancer and its treatment.


title: Female reproductive system

text: There are many types of birth control available to females. Birth control can be hormonal or physical in nature. Oral contraception can assist with management of various medical conditions, such as menorrhagia. However, oral contraceptives can have a variety of side effects, including depression.


title: Female reproductive system

text: The International Federation of Gynaecology and Obstetrics was founded in 1954 to promote the well-being of women particularly in raising the standards of gynaecological practice and care. As of 2010 there were 124 countries involved.


title: Female reproductive system

text: Reproductive rights are legal rights related to reproduction and reproductive health. Women have the right to control matters involving their sexuality including their sexual and reproductive health. Violation of these rights include forced pregnancy, forced sterilization, forced abortion and genital mutilation. Female genital mutilation is the complete or partial removal of a female's external genitals.


title: Female reproductive system

text: It is claimed in the Hippocratic writings that both males and females contribute their seed to conception; otherwise, children would not resemble either or both of their parents. Four-hundred years later, Galen "identified" the source of 'female semen' as the ovaries in female reproductive organs.


title: Kevin Conroy

text: Kevin Conroy (November 30, 1955 – November 10, 2022) was an American actor. He appeared in a variety of stage performances, television series, and television films, but earned worldwide fame for his voice portrayal of the DC Comics superhero Batman in various animated media, beginning with the acclaimed "" in 1992. Conroy went on to voice the character for multiple animated TV series, feature films, and video games over the next three decades.


title: Kevin Conroy

text: Conroy was born on November 30, 1955, in Westbury, New York, into an Irish Catholic family. He moved to Westport, Connecticut, when he was about 11 years old. He had three older siblings.


title: Kevin Conroy

text: Due to the tumultuous environment in his home, Conroy lived with a family friend during his last year of high school. Conroy's father was an alcoholic and once attempted suicide while Conroy was in high school. In adulthood Conroy was estranged from his father for many years but reconciled shortly before his father's death. Conroy was at both his mother and his father's side when they died.


title: Kevin Conroy

text: Conroy moved to New York City in 1973 when he earned a full scholarship to attend the Juilliard School's drama division, studying under actor John Houseman. While there, he roomed with Robin Williams, who was in the same group as both Conroy and Kelsey Grammer. After graduating from Juilliard in 1978, he toured with Houseman's acting group The Acting Company, and the following year he went on the national tour of Ira Levin's "Deathtrap". Conroy and his co-star Brian Bedford did not get along, and got into an on-stage brawl during the opening night performance of "Deathtrap" at the Kennedy Center.


title: Kevin Conroy

text: In 1980, after playing the role of Jerry Grove in the New York-based daytime soap opera "Another World", Conroy moved out to California to pursue further work in television. Conroy became associated with the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California, where he performed in productions of "Hamlet" and "A Midsummer Night's Dream". From 1980 to 1985, he acted in a variety of contemporary and classic theater pieces, including the Broadway productions of Edward Albee's adaptation of "Lolita and Eastern Standard". He told "The New York Times" that, as a gay man living in New York in the time of the AIDS epidemic, he "went to so many funerals that I felt such a sense of obligation" to portray the character of a TV producer secretly living with AIDS in "Eastern Standard."


title: Kevin Conroy

text: Conroy returned to television in the 1985 TV movie "Covenant" and had a role on another daytime soap drama, "Search for Tomorrow". Conroy played gay lawyer Bart Fallmont on "Dynasty" from 1985 to 1986. He was a series regular on "Ohara" in 1987, and as the company commander on "Tour of Duty" from 1987 to 1988, before starring in a series of television movies. Though initially cast as one of the show's main characters, his role on the show was reduced while it filmed in Hawaii and he ended up spending much of his time making portraits of tourists on the Honolulu boardwalk. Conroy also guest starred on shows such as "Cheers", "Search for Tomorrow", "Matlock" and "Murphy Brown".


title: Kevin Conroy

text: As a voice actor, Conroy is best known for his starring role in "" (1992–1995). He was notably the first voice actor to alter his voice tone between portraying Batman and Bruce Wayne, which Michael Keaton had previously done in Tim Burton's live-action "Batman" films. However, Conroy based his dual-voice performance on Leslie Howard in the 1934 film "The Scarlet Pimpernel". He continued to voice Batman in various animated spin-off productions, which collectively took place in what is known as the DC Animated Universe (DCAU). These spin-offs include the TV shows "The New Batman Adventures" (1997–1999), "Batman Beyond" (1999–2001, in which he portrays an elderly Bruce Wayne retired from crimefighting), "Justice League" (2001–2004), and "Justice League Unlimited" (2004–2006), as well as the theatrical film "" (1993), and the direct-to-video films "" (1998), "" (2000), and "" (2003). He also voiced Batman for the character's guest appearances in the DCAU's "", "Static Shock" and "The Zeta Project".


title: Kevin Conroy

text: Conroy went on to voice Batman in the direct-to-video DC Universe Animated Original Movies: "" (2008), "" (2009), "" (2010), "" (2012), "" (2013), "" (2014), "" (2016), "Batman and Harley Quinn" (2017), and "Justice League vs. the Fatal Five" (2019). He later returned to voicing Batman on TV for the animated series "Justice League Action" (2016-2018), along with guest appearances on "Teen Titans Go!" and "Scooby-Doo and Guess Who?". In a tally of the actor's performances that include his every episode and movie portrayal of Batman, Conroy portrayed the character longer than any other actor in live-action and animation. The previous record-holder was Olan Soule, who voiced Batman in various animated works between the late 1960s and early 1980s (including "Super Friends").


title: Kevin Conroy

text: After the September 11, 2001 attacks in New York City, Conroy participated in relief efforts by volunteering to cook for police officers and firefighters. During an audio commentary on "", Conroy expressed his surprise at the reaction of the emergency service workers to his presence. At the behest of another cook, Conroy called out from the kitchen to the dining area in his "Batman voice", reciting the iconic line, "I am vengeance! I am the night! I am Batman!" (from the "" episode "Nothing to Fear"). This was greeted by cheers and applause from emergency service personnel, many of whom had been fans of "Batman: The Animated Series" during its airing in the 1990s. Conroy confessed to being humbled and deeply flattered by the reaction.


title: Kevin Conroy

text: In preparation for the theatrical release of the 2012 live-action film "The Dark Knight Rises", Conroy re-dubbed Christian Bale's Batman lines for an animated version of one of the film's trailers.<ref name="BTAS/TDKR trailer"></ref>


title: Kevin Conroy

text: Conroy also voiced Batman for multiple video games, including the "" series. Following the release of "" (2009) and "" (2011), he stated at the 2013 Dallas Comic Con that he had been working on "the next Arkham", leading to rampant speculation that he would reprise his role in "". In June 2013, however, it was confirmed that Conroy would not be involved in "Arkham Origins", meaning Conroy may had been referring to a yet-unannounced game from the "Arkham" series. He would ultimately reprise the role for the fourth game in the series, titled "" (2015).


title: Kevin Conroy

text: He confirmed on Twitter in October 2013 that he had filmed a role on Tim Daly's web series "The Daly Show", where Conroy parodied his role as Batman in a fight with Daly parodying Superman (whom Daly previously voiced in "Superman: The Animated Series").


title: Kevin Conroy

text: Conroy portrayed Bruce Wayne of Earth-99 in live-action in the "Batwoman" episode of Arrowverse crossover "Crisis on Infinite Earths". This was his only live-action portrayal of the character.


title: Kevin Conroy

text: Mark Hamill, Conroy's frequent voice actor co-star as the Joker, spoke highly of working with Conroy. Regarding his willingness to be involved in a Batman-related project, Hamill says, "When they offer me roles now, I say, 'Is Kevin doing it?' ... I don't even have to read the script, if Kevin's doing it I'll do it."


title: Kevin Conroy

text: In a 2016 interview with "The New York Times" promoting the animated adaptation of "The Killing Joke", Conroy revealed that he was gay. As part of DC Comics' 2022 Pride anthology, Conroy wrote "Finding Batman", a story that recounted his life and experiences as a gay man. It received critical acclaim upon release. He was married to Vaughn C. Williams at the time of his death.


title: Kevin Conroy

text: Conroy made an effort to conceal his homosexuality throughout most of his career. He spoke in "Finding Batman" about the discrimination he faced once potential collaborators and employers found out about his homosexuality. Conroy said that on multiple occasions he had been removed from consideration for acting jobs due to his sexual orientation.


title: Kevin Conroy

text: Conroy made frequent appearances at comic book conventions; his last convention was in Connecticut in July 2022.


title: Kevin Conroy

text: Conroy died at Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City from colorectal cancer on November 10, 2022, at age 66. He did not publicly disclose that he was ill. Conroy's death was announced in a press release issued by Warner Bros. Discovery.


title: Kevin Conroy

text: Upon news of his death, DC Comics gave free online access to "Finding Batman" as a way to honor Conroy. His co-stars Mark Hamill and Tim Daly, and other celebrities paid tribute on social media.


title: Persian cat

text: The Persian cat (), also known as the Persian longhair, is a long-haired breed of cat characterized by a round face and short muzzle. The first documented ancestors of Persian cats were imported into Italy from Persia around 1620. Widely recognized by cat fancy since the late 19th century, Persian cats were first adopted by the British, and later by American breeders after World War II. Some cat fancier organizations' breed standards subsume the Himalayan and Exotic Shorthair as variants of this breed, while others generally treat them as separate breeds.


title: Persian cat

text: The selective breeding carried out by breeders has allowed the development of a wide variety of coat colors, but has also led to the creation of increasingly flat-faced Persian cats. Favored by fanciers, this head structure can bring with it a number of health problems. As is the case with the Siamese breed, there have been efforts by some breeders to preserve the older type of cat, the "traditional breed", having a more pronounced muzzle, which is more popular with the general public. Hereditary polycystic kidney disease is prevalent in the breed, affecting almost half of the population in some countries.


title: Persian cat

text: In 2021, Persian cats were ranked as the fourth-most popular cat breed in the world according to the Cat Fanciers' Association, an American non-profit cat registry.


title: Persian cat

text: It is not clear when long-haired cats first appeared, as there are no known long-haired specimens of the African wildcat, the ancestor of the domestic species.


title: Persian cat

text: The first documented ancestors of the Persian cat were imported from Khorasan, Persia, into the Italian Peninsula in 1620 by Pietro della Valle; and from Angora (now Ankara), Ottoman Turkey, into France by Nicolas-Claude Fabri de Peiresc at around the same time. The Khorasan cats () were grey-coated while those from Angora were white. From France, they soon reached Great Britain.


title: Persian cat

text: Recent genetic research indicates that present-day Persian cats are related not to cat breeds from the Near East, but to those from Western Europe, with researchers stating that "Even though the early Persian cat may have in fact originated from Persia, the modern Persian cat has lost its phylogeographical signature".


title: Persian cat

text: The first Persian cat was presented at the first organized cat show, in 1871 in the Crystal Palace in London, England, organized by Harrison Weir. As specimens closer to the later established Persian conformation became the more popular types, attempts were made to differentiate it from the Angora. The first breed standard (then called a "points of excellence" list) was issued in 1889 by cat show promoter Weir. Weir stated that the Persian differed from the Angora in the tail being longer, hair more full and coarse at the end, and head larger, with less pointed ears. Not all cat fanciers agreed with the distinction of the two types, and in the 1903 work, "The Book of the Cat", Francis Simpson states that "the distinctions, apparently with hardly any difference, between Angoras and Persians are of so fine a nature that I must be pardoned if I ignore the class of cat commonly called Angora".


title: Persian cat

text: Dorothy Bevill Champion lays out the difference between the two types in the 1909 "Everybody's Cat Book":


title: Persian cat

text: Our pedigree imported long-hairs of to-day are undoubtedly a cross of the Angora and Persian; the latter possesses a rounder head than the former, also the coat is of quite a different quality.


title: Persian cat

text: Bell goes on to detail the differences. Persian coats consist of a woolly under coat and a long, hairy outer coat. The coat loses all the thick underwool in the summer, and only the long hair remains. Hair on the shoulders and upper part of the hind legs is somewhat shorter. Conversely, the Angora has a very different coat which consists of long, soft hair, hanging in locks, "inclining to a slight curl or wave on the under parts of the body." The Angora's hair is much longer on the shoulders and hind legs than the Persian, which Bell considered a great improvement. However, Bell says the Angora "fails to the Persian in head," Angoras having a more wedge-shaped head and Persians having a rounder head.


title: Persian cat

text: Bell notes that Angoras and Persians have been crossbred, resulting in a decided improvement to each breed, but claimed the long-haired cat of 1909 had significantly more Persian influence than Angora.


title: Persian cat

text: Champion lamented the lack of distinction among various long-haired types by English fanciers, who in 1887, decided to group them under the umbrella term "Long-haired Cats".


title: Persian cat

text: The traditional Persian, or doll-face Persian, are somewhat recent names for what is essentially the original breed of Persian cat, without the development of extreme features.


title: Persian cat

text: As many breeders in the United States, Germany, Italy, and other parts of the world started to interpret the Persian standard differently, they developed the flat-nosed "peke-face" or "ultra-type" over time, as the result of two genetic mutations, without changing the name of the breed from "Persian". Some organizations, including the Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA), consider the peke-face type as their modern standard for the Persian breed. Thus the retronym Traditional Persian was created to refer to the original type, which is still bred, mirroring the renaming of the original-style Siamese cat as the Traditional Siamese or Thai, to distinguish it from the long-faced modern development which has taken over as simply "the Siamese".


title: Persian cat

text: Not all cat fancier groups recognize the Traditional Persian (at all, or as distinct), or give it that specific name. TICA has a very general standard that does not specify a flattened face.


title: Persian cat

text: In the late 1950s a spontaneous mutation in red tabby Persians gave rise to the "peke-faced" Persian, named after the flat-faced Pekingese dog. It was registered as a distinct breed in the CFA, but fell out of favor by the mid-1990s due to serious health issues; only 98 were registered between 1958 and 1995. Despite this, breeders took a liking to the look and started breeding towards the peke-face look. The over-accentuation of the breed's characteristics by selective breeding (called "extreme-" or "ultra-typing") produced results similar to the peke-faced Persians. The term peke-face has been used to refer to the ultra-typed Persian but it is properly used only to refer to red tabby Persians bearing the mutation. Many fanciers and CFA judges considered the shift in look "a contribution to the breed."


title: Persian cat

text: In 1958, breeder and author P. M. Soderberg wrote in "Pedigree Cats, Their Varieties, breeding and Exhibition"


title: Persian cat

text: "Perhaps in recent times there has been a tendency to over-accentuate this type of short face, with the result that a few of the cats seen at shows have faces which present a peke-like appearance. This is a type of face which is definitely recognized in the United States, and helps to form a special group within the show classification for the [Persian] breed. There are certainly disadvantages when the face has become too short, for this exaggeration of type is inclined to produce a deformity of the tear ducts, and running eyes may be the result. A cat with running eyes will never look at its best because in time the fur on each side of the nose becomes stained, and thus detracts from the general appearance [...] The nose should be short, but perhaps a plea may be made here that the nose is better if it is not too short and at the same time uptilted. A nose of this type creates an impression of grotesqueness which is not really attractive, and there is always a danger of running eyes."


title: Persian cat

text: While the looks of the Persian changed, the Persian Breed Council's standard for the Persian had remained basically the same. The Persian breed standard is, by its nature, somewhat open-ended and focused on a rounded head, large, wide-spaced round eyes with the top of the nose in alignment with the bottom of the eyes. The standard calls for a short, cobby body with short, well-boned legs, a broad chest, and a round appearance, everything about the ideal Persian cat being "round". It was not until the late 1980s that standards were changed to limit the development of the extreme appearance. In 2004, the statement that muzzles should not be overly pronounced was added to the breed standard. The standards were altered yet again in 2007, this time to reflect the flat face, and it now states that the forehead, nose, and chin should be in vertical alignment.


title: Persian cat

text: In the UK, the standard was changed by the Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) in the 1990s to disqualify Persians with the "upper edge of the nose leather above the lower edge of the eye" from Certificates or First Prizes in Kitten Open Classes.


title: Persian cat

text: While ultra-typed cats do better in the show ring, the public seems to prefer the less extreme, older "doll-face" types.


title: Persian cat

text: In 1950, the Siamese was crossed with the Persian to create a breed with the body type of the Persian but colorpoint pattern of the Siamese. It was named Himalayan, after other colorpoint animals such as the Himalayan rabbit. In the UK, the breed was recognized as the Colorpoint Longhair. The Himalayan stood as a separate breed in the US until 1984, when the CFA merged it with the Persian, to the objection of the breed councils of both breeds. Some Persian breeders were unhappy with the introduction of this crossbreed into their "pure" Persian lines.


title: Persian cat

text: The CFA set up the registration for Himalayans in a way that breeders would be able to discern a Persian with Himalayan ancestry just by looking at the pedigree registration number. This was to make it easy for breeders who do not want Himalayan blood in their breeding lines to avoid individuals who, while not necessarily exhibiting the colorpoint pattern, may be carrying the point coloration gene recessively. Persians with Himalayan ancestry have registration numbers starting with 3 and are commonly referred to by breeders as colorpoint carriers (CPC) or 3000-series cats, although not all will actually carry the recessive gene. The Siamese is also the source for the chocolate and lilac color in solid Persians.


title: Persian cat

text: The Persian was used as an outcross secretly by some American Shorthair (ASH) breeders in the late 1950s to "improve" their breed. The crossbreed look gained recognition in the show ring, but other breeders unhappy with the changes successfully pushed for new breed standards that would disqualify ASH that showed signs of crossbreeding.


title: Persian cat

text: One ASH breeder who saw the potential of the Persian/ASH cross proposed, and eventually managed, to get the CFA to recognize them as a new breed in 1966, under the name Exotic Shorthair. Regular outcrossing to the Persian has made present-day Exotic Shorthair similar to the Persian in every way, including temperament and conformation, with the exception of the short dense coat. It has even inherited much of the Persian's health problems. The easier to manage coat has made some label the Exotic Shorthair "the lazy man's Persian".


title: Persian cat

text: Because of the regular use of Persians as outcrosses, some Exotics may carry a copy of the recessive longhair gene. When two such cats mate, there is a one in four chance of each offspring being longhaired. Longhaired Exotics are not considered Persians by CFA, although The International Cat Association accepts them as Persians. Other associations register them as a separate Exotic Longhair breed.


title: Persian cat

text: The generic terms are "toy" and "teacup" Persians (terms borrowed from the dog fancy), but the individual lines are often called "palm-sized", "pocket", "mini" and "pixie", due to their relatively small size. Currently, they are not recognized as a separate breed by major registries and each breeder sets their own standards for size. These terms are considered controversial or marketing ploys as cats do not have the genetic mutations that dogs possess to produce miniature versions of themselves as cats have a strong genetic buffering mechanism that keeps the genes from mutating. Unscrupulous breeders have resorted to harmful and repetitive inbreeding to obtain smaller cats, resulting in genetically weaker cats often with severe health issues and shortened lifespans.


title: Persian cat

text: In the US, there was an attempt to establish the silver Persian as a separate breed called the Sterling, but it was not accepted. Silver and golden Persians are recognized, as such, by CFA. In South Africa, the attempt to separate the breed was more successful; the Southern Africa Cat Council (SACC) registers cats with five generations of purebred Chinchilla as a Chinchilla Longhair. The Chinchilla Longhair has a slightly longer nose than the Persian, resulting in healthy breathing and less eye tearing. Its hair is translucent with only the tips carrying black pigment, a feature that gets lost when out-crossed to other colored Persians. Out-crossing also may result in losing nose and lip liner, which is a fault in the Chinchilla Longhair breed standard. One of the distinctions of this breed is the blue-green or green eye color only with kittens having blue or blue-purple eye color.


title: Persian cat

text: In 2008, the Persian was the most popular breed of pedigree cats in the United States. In the UK, registration numbers have dwindled since the early 1990s and the Persian lost its top spot to the British Shorthair in 2001. As of 2012, it was the 6th most popular breed, behind the British Shorthair, Ragdoll, Siamese, Maine Coon and Burmese. In France, the Persian is the only breed whose registration declined between 2003 and 2007, dropping by more than a quarter.


title: Persian cat

text: The most color popular varieties, according to CFA registration data, are seal point, blue point, flame point and tortie point Himalayan, followed by black-white, shaded silvers and calico.


title: Persian cat

text: The breed standards of various cat fancier organizations may treat the Himalayan and Exotic Shorthair (or simply Exotic) as variants of the Persian, or as separate breeds. The Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA) treats the Himalayan as a color-pattern class of both the Persian and the Exotic, which have separate but nearly identical standards (differing in coat length). The Fédération Internationale Féline (FIFe) entirely subsumes what other registries call the Himalayan as simply among the allowed coloration patterns for the Persian and the Exotic, treated as separate breeds. The International Cat Association (TICA) treats them both as variants of the Persian. The World Cat Federation (WCF) treats the Persian and Exotic Shorthair as separate breeds, and subsumes the Himalayan coloration as colorpoint varieties under each.


title: Persian cat

text: Among regional and national organizations, Feline Federation Europe treats all three as separate breeds. The American Cat Fanciers Association (ACFA) has the three as separate breeds (also with a Non-pointed Himalayan that is similar to the Persian). The Australian Cat Federation (AFC) follows the FIFe practice. The Canadian Cat Federation (CCA-AFC) treats the three separately, and even has an Exotic Longhair sub-breed of the Exotic and a Non-pointed Himalayan sub-breed of the Himalayan, which differ from the Persian only in having some mixed ancestry. The (UK) Governing Council of the Cat Fancy (GCCF) does likewise.


title: Persian cat

text: A show-style Persian cat has an extremely long and thick coat, short legs, a wide head with the ears set far apart, large eyes, and an extremely shortened muzzle. The breed was originally established with a short muzzle, but over time, this characteristic has become extremely exaggerated, particularly in North America. Persian cats can have virtually any color or markings.


title: Persian cat

text: The Persian is generally described as a quiet cat. Typically placid in nature, it adapts quite well to apartment life. Himalayans tend to be more active due to the influence of Siamese traits. In a study comparing cat owner perceptions of their cats, Persians rated higher than non-pedigree cats on closeness and affection to owners, friendliness towards strangers, cleanliness, predictability, vocalization, and fussiness over food.


title: Persian cat

text: The permissible colors in the breed, in most organizations' breed standards, encompass the entire range of cat coat-pattern variations.


title: Persian cat

text: The Cat Fanciers' Association (CFA), of the United States, groups the breed into four coat-pattern divisions, but differently: solid, silver and golden (including chinchilla and shaded variants, and blued subvariants), shaded and smoke (with several variations of each, and a third sub-categorization called shell), tabby (only classic, mackerel, and patched [spotted], in various colors), parti-color (in four classes, tortoiseshell, blue-cream, chocolate tortie, and lilac-cream, mixed with other colors), calico and bi-color (in around 40 variations, broadly classified as calico, dilute calico, and bi-color), and Himalayan (white-to-fawn body with point coloration on the head, tail and limbs, in various tints). CFA base colors are white, black, blue, red, cream, chocolate, and lilac. There are around 140 named CFA coat patterns for which the Himalayan qualifies, and 20 for the Himalayan sub-breed. These coat patterns encompass virtually all of those recognized by CFA for cats generally. Any Persian permissible in TICA's more detailed system would probably be accepted in CFA's, simply with a more general name, though the organizations do not mix breed registries.


title: Persian cat

text: The International Cat Association (TICA) groups the breed into three coat-pattern divisions for judging at cat shows: traditional (with stable, rich colors), sepia ("paler and warmer than the traditional equivalents", and darkening a bit with age), and mink (much lighter than sepia, and developing noticeably with age on the face and extremities). If classified as the Himalayan sub-breed, full point coloration is required, the fourth TICA color division, with a "pale and creamy colored" body even lighter than mink, with intense coloration on the face an extremities. The four TICA categories are essentially a graduated scale of color distribution from evenly colored to mostly colored only at the points. Within each, the coloration may be further classified as solid, tortoiseshell (or "tortie"), tabby, silver or smoke, solid-and-white, tortoiseshell-and-white, tabby-and-white, or silver/smoke-and-white, with various specific colors and modifiers (e.g. chocolate tortoiseshell point, or fawn shaded mink marbled tabby-torbie). TICA-recognized tabby patterns include classic, mackerel, marbled, spotted, and ticked (in two genetic forms), while other patterns include shaded, chinchilla, and two tabbie-tortie variations, golden, and grizzled. Basic colors include white, black, brown, ruddy, bronze, "blue" (grey), chocolate, cinnamon, lilac, fawn, red, cream, with a silver or shaded variant of most. Not counting bi-color (piebald) or parti-color coats, nor combinations that are genetically impossible, there are nearly 1,000 named coat pattern variations in the TICA system for which the Persian/Himalayan qualifies. The Exotic Shorthair sub-breed qualifies for every cat coat variation that TICA recognizes.


title: Persian cat

text: Eye colors range widely, and may include blue, copper, odd-eyed blue and copper, green, blue-green, and hazel. Various TICA and CFA coat categorizations come with specific eye-color requirements.


title: Persian cat

text: Pet insurance data from Sweden puts the median lifespan of cats from the Persian group (Persians, Chinchilla, Himalayan and Exotic) at just above 12.5 years, while most cats live until they are about 15 years old. 76% of this group lived to 10 years or more and 52% lived to 12.5 years or more. Veterinary clinic data from England shows an average lifespan of 12–17 years, with a median of 14.1.


title: Persian cat

text: The modern brachycephalic Persian has a large rounded skull and shortened face and nose. This facial conformation makes the breed prone to breathing difficulties, skin and eye problems, and birthing difficulties. Anatomical abnormalities associated with brachycephalic breeds can cause shortness of breath. Malformed tear ducts cause epiphora, an overflow of tears onto the face, which is common but primarily cosmetic. Entropion, the inward folding of the eyelids, causes the eyelashes to rub against the cornea, and can lead to tearing, pain, infection and cornea damage. This condition is not uncommon in Persians, and usually involves the medial aspect of the lower eyelid. Similarly, in upper eyelid trichiasis or nasal fold trichiasis, eyelashes/hair from the eyelid and hair from the nose fold near the eye grow in a way which rubs against the cornea. Dystocia, an abnormal or difficult labor, is relatively common in Persians. Consequently, stillbirth rate is higher than normal, ranging from 16.1% to 22.1%, and one 1973 study puts kitten mortality rate (including stillborns) at 29.2%. A veterinary study in 2010 documented the serious health problems caused by the brachycephalic head.


title: Persian cat

text: As a consequence of the BBC program "Pedigree Dogs Exposed", cat breeders have also come under pressure from veterinary and animal welfare associations, with the Persian singled out as one of the breeds most affected by health problems. Animal welfare proponents have suggested changes to breed standards to prevent diseases caused by over- or ultra-typing, and prohibiting the breeding of animals outside the set limits. Apart from the GCCF standard that limits high noses, TICA and FIFe standards require nostrils to be open, with FIFe stating that nostrils should allow "free and easy passage of air." Germany's Animal Welfare Act too prohibits the breeding of brachycephalic cats in which the tip of the nose is higher than the lower eyelids.


title: Persian cat

text: Polycystic kidney disease (PKD) which causes kidney failure in affected adult cats has an incidence rate of 36–49% in the Persian breed. The breed – and derived ones, like the British Longhair and Himalayan – are especially prone to autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease (ADPKD). Cysts develop and grow in the kidney over time, replacing kidney tissues and enlarging the kidney. Kidney failure develops later in life, at an average age of 7 years old (ranging from 3 to 10 years old). Symptoms include excessive drinking and urination, reduced appetite, weight loss and depression. The disease is autosomal dominant and DNA screening is the preferred method of eliminating the gene in the breed. Because of DNA testing, most responsible Persian breeders now have cats that no longer carry the PKD gene, hence their offspring also do not have the gene. Before DNA screening was available, ultrasound was done. However, an ultrasound is only as good as the day that it is done, and many cats that were thought to be clear, were in fact, a carrier of the PKD gene. Only DNA screening and breeding cats that are negative for the PKD gene will produce kittens that are also negative for the gene, effectively removing this gene from the breeding pool.


title: Persian cat

text: Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a common heart disease in all cats. It is likely hereditary in the Persian. The disease causes thickening of the left heart chamber, which can, in some instances, lead to sudden death. It tends to affect males and mid- to old-aged individuals. Reported incidence rate in Persians is 6.5%. Unlike PKD, which can be detected even in very young cats, heart tests for HCM have to be done regularly in order to effectively track and/or remove affected individuals and their offspring from the breeding pool.


title: Persian cat

text: Early onset progressive retinal atrophy is a degenerative eye disease, with an autosomal recessive mode of inheritance in the Persian. Despite a belief among some breeders that the disease is limited to chocolate and Himalayan lines, there is no apparent link between coat color in Persians and the development of PRA. Basal-cell carcinoma is a skin cancer which shows most commonly as a growth on the head, back or upper chest. While often benign, rare cases of malignancy tends to occur in Persians. Blue smoke Persians are predisposed to Chédiak–Higashi syndrome. White cats, including white Persians, are prone to deafness, especially those with blue eyes. Persians are more prone to side effects of ringworm drug Griseofulvin.


title: Persian cat

text: As within dogs, hip dysplasia affects larger breeds, such as Maine Coons and Persians. However, the small size of cats means that they tend not to be as affected by the condition. Persians are susceptible to malocclusion (incorrect bite), which can affect their ability to grasp, hold and chew food. Even without the condition, the flat face of the Persian can make picking up food difficult, so much so that specially shaped kibble has been created by pet food companies to cater to the Persian.


title: Persian cat

text: Persian cats, known for their facial structure, raise concerns about the ethics of breeding for certain deformities.


title: Persian cat

text: Brachycephaly is a highly sought-after characteristic producing big owl-like eyes and an overall petite looking face. Though these features may be "cuter", it results in many health issues including ill-functioning nasolacrimal systems where tears buildup and flow down the face, a soft and long palate that obstructs the upper airway making breathing more difficult, and dental and jaw defects (brachygnathia) where the teeth grow outwardly in unnatural positions, making it difficult to eat and increasing the chance of plaque formation gingivitis.


title: Persian cat

text: Such health issues affect the quality of life of many Persian cats, especially those that fall into the severe category, and raise questions about the ethics and legality of these deformity breeding programs.


title: Persian cat

text: Since Persian cats have long, dense fur that they cannot effectively keep clean, they need regular grooming to prevent matting. To keep their fur in its best condition, they must be brushed frequently. An alternative is to shave the coat. Their eyes may require regular cleaning to prevent crust buildup and tear staining.


title: Persian cat

text: The art world and its patrons have long embraced their love for the Persian cat by immortalizing them in art. A 6-by-8.5-foot artwork that is purported to be the "world's largest cat painting" sold at auction for more than $820,000. The late 19th-century oil portrait is called My Wife's Lovers, and it once belonged to a wealthy philanthropist who commissioned an artist to paint her vast assortment of Turkish Angoras and Persians. Other popular Persian paintings include White Persian Cat by famous folk artist Warren Kimble and Two White Persian Cats Looking into a Goldfish Bowl by late feline portraitist Arthur Heyer. The beloved Persian cat has made its way onto the artwork of stamps around the world.


title: Utopia

text: A utopia ( ) typically describes an imaginary community or society that possesses highly desirable or nearly perfect qualities for its members. It was coined by Sir Thomas More for his 1516 book "Utopia", describing a fictional island society in the New World. However, it may also denote an intentional community. In common parlance, the word or its adjectival form may be used synonymously with "impossible", "far-fetched" or "deluded".


title: Utopia

text: Hypothetical utopias focus on—amongst other things—equality, in such categories as economics, government and justice, with the method and structure of proposed implementation varying based on ideology. Lyman Tower Sargent argues that the nature of a utopia is inherently contradictory because societies are not homogeneous and have desires which conflict and therefore cannot simultaneously be satisfied. To quote:


title: Utopia

text: The opposite of a utopia is a dystopia or cacotopia. Utopian and dystopian fiction has become a popular literary category. Despite being common parlance for something imaginary, utopianism inspired and was inspired by some reality-based fields and concepts such as architecture, file sharing, social networks, universal basic income, communes, open borders and even pirate bases.


title: Utopia

text: The word was coined in 1516 from Ancient Greek by the Englishman Sir Thomas More for his Latin text "Utopia". It literally translates as “no place”, coming from the (“not”) and τόπος (“place”), and meant any non-existent society, when ‘described in considerable detail’. However, in standard usage, the word's meaning has shifted and now usually describes a non-existent society that is intended to be viewed "as considerably better" than contemporary society.


title: Utopia

text: In his original work, More carefully pointed out the similarity of the word to "eutopia", meaning “good place”, from (“good” or “well”) and τόπος (“place”), which ostensibly would be the more appropriate term for the concept in modern English. The pronunciations of "eutopia" and "utopia" in English are identical, which may have given rise to the change in meaning. "Dystopia", a term meaning "bad place" coined in 1868, draws on this latter meaning. The opposite of a utopia, "dystopia" is a concept which surpassed "utopia" in popularity in the fictional literature from the 1950s onwards, chiefly because of the impact of George Orwell's "Nineteen Eighty-Four".


title: Utopia

text: In 1876, writer Charles Renouvier published a novel called "Uchronia" (French "Uchronie"). The neologism, using "chronos" instead of "topos", has since been used to refer to non-existent idealized times in fiction, such as Philip Roth's "The Plot Against America" (2004)"," and Philip K. Dick's "The Man in the High Castle" (1962)"."


title: Utopia

text: According to the "Philosophical Dictionary", proto-utopian ideas begin as early as the period of ancient Greece and Rome, medieval heretics, peasant revolts and establish themselves in the period of the early capitalism, reformation and Renaissance (Hus, Müntzer, More, Campanella), democratic revolutions (Meslier, Morelly, Mably, Winstanley, later Babeufists, Blanquists,) and in a period of turbulent development of capitalism that highlighted antagonisms of capitalist society (Saint-Simon, Fourier, Owen, Cabet, Lamennais, Proudhon and their followers).


title: Utopia

text: Utopian socialist Etienne Cabet in his utopian book "The Voyage to Icaria" cited the definition from the contemporary "Dictionary of ethical and political sciences":


title: Utopia

text: Chronologically, the first recorded Utopian proposal is Plato's "Republic". Part conversation, part fictional depiction and part policy proposal, "Republic" would categorize citizens into a rigid class structure of "golden," "silver," "bronze" and "iron" socioeconomic classes. The golden citizens are trained in a rigorous 50-year-long educational program to be benign oligarchs, the "philosopher-kings." Plato stressed this structure many times in statements, and in his published works, such as the "Republic". The wisdom of these rulers will supposedly eliminate poverty and deprivation through fairly distributed resources, though the details on how to do this are unclear. The educational program for the rulers is the central notion of the proposal. It has few laws, no lawyers and rarely sends its citizens to war but hires mercenaries from among its war-prone neighbors. These mercenaries were deliberately sent into dangerous situations in the hope that the more warlike populations of all surrounding countries will be weeded out, leaving peaceful peoples.