title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Homosexual behavior is quite common in wild marmots. In Olympic marmots ("Marmota olympus") and hoary marmots ("Marmota caligata"), females often mount other females as well as engage in other affectionate and sexual behaviors with females of the same species. They display a high frequency of these behaviors especially when they are in heat. A homosexual encounter often begins with a greeting interaction in which one female nuzzles her nose on the other female's cheek or mouth, or both females touch noses or mouths. Additionally, a female may gently chew on the ear or neck of her partner, who responds by raising her tail. The first female may sniff the other's genital region or nuzzle that region with her mouth. She may then proceed to mount the other female, during which the mounting female gently grasps the mounted female's dorsal neck fur in her jaws while thrusting. The mounted female arches her back and holds her tail to one side to facilitate their sexual interaction.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Both male and female lions have been seen to interact homosexually. Male lions pair-bond for a number of days and initiate homosexual activity with affectionate nuzzling and caressing, leading to mounting and thrusting. About 8% of mountings have been observed to occur with other males. Pairings between females are held to be fairly common in captivity but have not been observed in the wild.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: European polecats ("Mustela putorius") were found to engage homosexually with non-sibling animals. Exclusive homosexuality with mounting and anal penetration in this solitary species serves no apparent adaptive function.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Bonobos form a matriarchal society, unusual among apes. They are fully bisexual: both males and females engage in hetero- and homosexual behavior, being noted for female–female sex in particular, including between juveniles and adults. Roughly 60% of all bonobo sexual activity occurs between two or more females. While the homosexual bonding system in bonobos represents the highest frequency of homosexuality known in any primate species, homosexuality has been reported for all great apes, as well as a number of other primate species.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Dutch primatologist Frans de Waal, who extensively observed and filmed bonobos, believed that sexual activity is the bonobo's way of avoiding conflict. Anything that arouses the interest of more than one bonobo at a time, not just food, tends to result in sexual contact. If two bonobos approach a cardboard box thrown into their enclosure, they will briefly mount each other before playing with the box. Such situations lead to squabbles in most other species. But bonobos are quite tolerant, perhaps because they use sex to divert attention and to defuse tension.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Bonobo sex often occurs in aggressive contexts totally unrelated to food. A jealous male might chase another away from a female, after which the two males reunite and engage in scrotal rubbing. Or after a female hits a juvenile, the latter's mother may lunge at the aggressor, an action that is immediately followed by genital rubbing between the two adults.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Homosexual behavior among male gorillas has been studied. This behavior occurs more often in all-male bachelor packs in the wild and it is believed to play a role in social bonding. Homosexual behavior among female mountain gorillas has also been documented.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: With the Japanese macaque, also known as the "snow monkey", same-sex relations are frequent, though rates vary between troops. Females will form "consortships" characterized by affectionate social and sexual activities. In some troops up to one quarter of the females form such bonds, which vary in duration from a few days to a few weeks. Often, strong and lasting friendships result from such pairings. Males also have same-sex relations, typically with multiple partners of the same age. Affectionate and playful activities are associated with such relations.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Homosexual behavior forms part of the natural repertoire of sexual or sociosexual behavior of orangutans. Male homosexual behavior occurs both in the wild and in captivity, and it occurs in both adolescent and mature individuals. Homosexual behavior in orangutans is not an artifact of captivity or contact with humans.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Among monkeys, Lionel Tiger and Robin Fox conducted a study on how Depo-Provera contraceptives lead to decreased male attraction to females.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: "Ovis aries" has attracted much attention due to the fact that around 8–10% of rams have an exclusive homosexual orientation. Such rams prefer to court and mount other rams only, even in the presence of estrous ewes. Moreover, around 18–22% of rams are bisexual.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Several observations indicate that male–male sexual preference in rams is sexually motivated. Rams routinely perform the same courtship behaviors (including foreleg kicks, nudges, vocalizations, anogenital sniffs and flehmen) prior to mounting other males as observed when other rams court and mount estrous females. Furthermore, pelvic thrusting and ejaculation often accompany same-sex mounts by rams.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: A number of studies have reported differences in brain structure and function between male-oriented and female-oriented rams, suggesting that sexual partner preferences are neurologically hard-wired.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: A 2003 study by Dr. Charles E. Roselli et al. (Oregon Health and Science University), states that homosexuality in male sheep is associated with a region in the rams' brains which the authors call the "ovine Sexually Dimorphic Nucleus" (oSDN) which is half the size of the corresponding region in heterosexual male sheep. Scientists found that, "The oSDN in rams that preferred females was significantly larger and contained more neurons than in male-oriented rams and ewes. In addition, the oSDN of the female-oriented rams expressed higher levels of aromatase, a substance that converts testosterone to estradiol, a form of estrogen which is believed to facilitate typical male sexual behaviors. Aromatase expression was no different between male-oriented rams and ewes [...] The dense cluster of neurons that comprise the oSDN express cytochrome P450 aromatase. Aromatase mRNA levels in the oSDN were significantly greater in female-oriented rams than in ewes, whereas male-oriented rams exhibited intermediate levels of expression." These results suggest that "... naturally occurring variations in sexual partner preferences may be related to differences in brain anatomy and its capacity for estrogen synthesis." As noted before, given the potential unagressiveness of the male population in question, the differing aromatase levels may also have been evidence of aggression levels, not sexuality. It should also be noted that the results of this particular study have not been confirmed by other studies.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: The "Merck Manual of Veterinary Medicine" appears to consider homosexuality among sheep as a routine occurrence and an issue to be dealt with as a problem of animal husbandry.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Studies have failed to identify any compelling social factors that can predict or explain the variations in sexual partner preferences of domestic rams. Homosexual orientation and same-sex mounting in rams is not related to dominance, social rank or competitive ability. Indeed, male-oriented rams are not more or less dominant than female-oriented rams. Homosexual orientation in rams is also not affected by rearing conditions, i.e., rearing males in all-male groups, rearing male and female lambs together, early exposure of adolescent males to females and early social experiences with females do not promote or prevent homosexual orientation in rams. Male-oriented partner preference also does not appear to be an artifact caused by captivity or human management of sheep.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Homosexual courtship and sexual activity routinely occur among rams of wild sheep species, such as bighorn sheep ("Ovis canadensis"), thinhorn sheep ("Ovis dalli"), mouflons and urials ("Ovis orientalis"). Usually a higher ranking older male courts a younger male using a sequence of stylized movements. To initiate homosexual courtship, a courting male approaches the other male with his head and neck lowered and extended far forward in what is called the 'low-stretch' posture. He may combine this with the 'twist,' in which the courting male sharply rotates his head and points his muzzle toward the other male, often while flicking his tongue and making grumbling sounds. The courting male also often performs a 'foreleg kick', in which he snaps his front leg up against the other male's belly or between his hind legs. He also occasionally sniffs and nuzzles the other male's genital area and may perform the flehmen response. Thinhorn rams additionally lick the penis of the male they are courting. In response, the male being courted may rub his cheeks and forehead on the courting male's face, nibble and lick him, rub his horns on the courting male's neck, chest, or shoulders, and develop an erection. Males of another wild sheep species, the Asiatic mouflons, perform similar courtship behaviors towards fellow males.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Sexual activity between wild males typically involves mounting and anal intercourse. In Thinhorn sheep, genital licking also occurs. During mounting, the larger male usually mounts the smaller male by rearing up on his hind legs and placing his front legs on his partner's flanks. The mounting male usually has an erect penis and accomplishes full anal penetration while performing pelvic thrusts that may lead to ejaculation. The mounted male arches his back to facilitate the copulation. Homosexual courtship and sexual activity can also take place in groups composed of three to ten wild rams clustered together in a circle. These non-aggressive groups are called 'huddles' and involve rams rubbing, licking, nuzzling, horning, and mounting each other. Female Mountain sheep also engage in occasional courtship activities with one another and in sexual activities such as licking each other's genitals and mounting.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: The family structure of the spotted hyena is matriarchal, and dominance relationships with strong sexual elements are routinely observed between related females. Due largely to the female spotted hyena's unique urogenital system, which looks more like a penis rather than a vagina, early naturalists thought hyenas were hermaphroditic males who commonly practiced homosexuality. Early writings such as Ovid's "Metamorphoses" and the "Physiologus" suggested that the hyena continually changed its sex and nature from male to female and back again. In "Paedagogus", Clement of Alexandria noted that the hyena (along with the hare) was "quite obsessed with sexual intercourse". Many Europeans associated the hyena with sexual deformity, prostitution, deviant sexual behavior, and even witchcraft.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: The reality behind the confusing reports is the sexually aggressive behavior between the females, including mounting between females. Research has shown that "in contrast to most other female mammals, female "Crocuta" are male-like in appearance, larger than males, and substantially more aggressive," and they have "been masculinized without being defeminized".


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Study of this unique genitalia and aggressive behavior in the female hyena has led to the understanding that more aggressive females are better able to compete for resources, including food and mating partners. Research has shown that "elevated levels of testosterone in utero" contribute to extra aggressiveness; both males and females mount members of both the same and opposite sex, who in turn are possibly acting more submissive because of lower levels of testosterone in utero.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Several species of whiptail lizard (especially in the genus "Aspidoscelis") consist only of females that have the ability to reproduce through parthenogenesis. Females engage in sexual behavior to stimulate ovulation, with their behavior following their hormonal cycles; during low levels of estrogen, these (female) lizards engage in "masculine" sexual roles. Those animals with currently high estrogen levels assume "feminine" sexual roles. Some parthenogenetic lizards that perform the courtship ritual have greater fertility than those kept in isolation due to an increase in hormones triggered by the sexual behaviors. So, even though asexual whiptail lizards populations lack males, sexual stimuli still increase reproductive success. From an evolutionary standpoint, these females are passing their full genetic code to all of their offspring (rather than the 50% of genes that would be passed in sexual reproduction). Certain species of gecko also reproduce by parthenogenesis.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Some species of sexually reproducing geckos have also been found to display homosexual behavior, e.g. the day geckos "Phelsuma laticauda" and "Phelsuma cepediana".


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Jonathan, the world's oldest tortoise (an Aldabra giant tortoise), had been mating with another tortoise named Frederica since 1991. In 2017, it was discovered that Frederica was actually probably male all along, and was renamed Frederic.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: There is evidence of same-sex sexual behavior in at least 110 species of insects and arachnids. Scharf et al. says: "Males are more frequently involved in same-sex sexual (SSS) behavior in the laboratory than in the field, and isolation, high density, and exposure to female pheromones increase its prevalence. SSS behavior is often shorter than the equivalent heterosexual behavior. Most cases can be explained via mistaken identification by the active (courting/mounting) male. Passive males often resist courting/mating attempts".


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Scharf et al. continues: "SSS behavior has been reported in most insect orders, and Bagemihl (1999) provides a list of ~100 species of insects demonstrating such behavior. Yet, this list lacks detailed descriptions, and a more comprehensive summary of its prevalence in invertebrates, as well as ethology, causes, implications, and evolution of this behavior, remains lacking".


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Male homosexuality has been inferred in several species of dragonflies (the order Odonata). The cloacal pinchers of male damselflies and dragonflies inflict characteristic head damage to females during sex. A survey of 11 species of damsel and dragonflies has revealed such mating damages in 20 to 80% of the males too, indicating a fairly high occurrence of sexual coupling between males.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Male "Drosophila melanogaster" flies bearing two copies of a mutant allele in the fruitless gene court and attempt to mate exclusively with other males. The genetic basis of animal homosexuality has been studied in the fly "D. melanogaster". Here, multiple genes have been identified that can cause homosexual courtship and mating. These genes are thought to control behavior through pheromones as well as altering the structure of the animal's brains. These studies have also investigated the influence of environment on the likelihood of flies displaying homosexual behavior.


title: Homosexual behavior in animals

text: Male bed bugs ("Cimex lectularius") are sexually attracted to any newly fed individual and this results in homosexual mounting. This occurs in heterosexual mounting by the traumatic insemination in which the male pierces the female abdomen with his needle-like penis. In homosexual mating this risks abdominal injuries as males lack the female counteradaptive spermalege structure. Males produce alarm pheromones to reduce such homosexual mating.


title: Steroid

text: A steroid is a biologically active organic compound with four rings arranged in a specific molecular configuration. Steroids have two principal biological functions: as important components of cell membranes that alter membrane fluidity; and as signaling molecules. Hundreds of steroids are found in plants, animals and fungi. All steroids are manufactured in cells from the sterols lanosterol (opisthokonts) or cycloartenol (plants). Lanosterol and cycloartenol are derived from the cyclization of the triterpene squalene.


title: Steroid

text: The steroid core structure is typically composed of seventeen carbon atoms, bonded in four "fused" rings: three six-member cyclohexane rings (rings A, B and C in the first illustration) and one five-member cyclopentane ring (the D ring). Steroids vary by the functional groups attached to this four-ring core and by the oxidation state of the rings. Sterols are forms of steroids with a hydroxy group at position three and a skeleton derived from cholestane. Steroids can also be more radically modified, such as by changes to the ring structure, for example, cutting one of the rings. Cutting Ring B produces secosteroids one of which is vitamin D.


title: Steroid

text: Examples include anabolic steroids, the lipid cholesterol, the sex hormones estradiol and testosterone, and the anti-inflammatory drug dexamethasone.


title: Steroid

text: Gonane, also known as steran or cyclopentanoperhydrophenanthrene, the simplest steroid and the nucleus of all steroids and sterols, is composed of seventeen carbon atoms in carbon-carbon bonds forming four fused rings in a three-dimensional shape. The three cyclohexane rings (A, B, and C in the first illustration) form the skeleton of a perhydro derivative of phenanthrene. The D ring has a cyclopentane structure. When the two methyl groups and eight carbon side chains (at C-17, as shown for cholesterol) are present, the steroid is said to have a cholestane framework. The two common 5α and 5β stereoisomeric forms of steroids exist because of differences in the side of the largely planar ring system where the hydrogen (H) atom at carbon-5 is attached, which results in a change in steroid A-ring conformation. Isomerisation at the C-21 side chain produces a parallel series of compounds, referred to as isosteroids.


title: Steroid

text: In addition to the ring scissions (cleavages), expansions and contractions (cleavage and reclosing to a larger or smaller rings)—all variations in the carbon-carbon bond framework—steroids can also vary:


title: Steroid

text: For instance, sterols such as cholesterol and lanosterol have a hydroxyl group attached at position C-3, while testosterone and progesterone have a carbonyl (oxo substituent) at C-3; of these, lanosterol alone has two methyl groups at C-4 and cholesterol (with a C-5 to C-6 double bond) differs from testosterone and progesterone (which have a C-4 to C-5 double bond).


title: Steroid

text: Fungal steroids include the ergosterols, which are involved in maintaining the integrity of the fungal cellular membrane. Various antifungal drugs, such as amphotericin B and azole antifungals, utilize this information to kill pathogenic fungi. Fungi can alter their ergosterol content (e.g. through loss of function mutations in the enzymes ERG3 or ERG6, inducing depletion of ergosterol, or mutations that decrease the ergosterol content) to develop resistance to drugs that target ergosterol.


title: Steroid

text: Ergosterol is analogous to the cholesterol found in the cellular membranes of animals (including humans), or the phytosterols found in the cellular membranes of plants. All mushrooms contain large quantities of ergosterol, in the range of tens to hundreds of milligrams per 100 grams of dry weight. Oxygen is necessary for the synthesis of ergosterol in fungi.


title: Steroid

text: Ergosterol is responsible for the vitamin D content found in mushrooms; ergosterol is chemically converted into provitamin D2 by exposure to ultraviolet light. Provitamin D2 spontaneously forms vitamin D2. However, not all fungi utilize ergosterol in their cellular membranes; for example, the pathogenic fungal species "Pneumocystis jirovecii" does not, which has important clinical implications (given the mechanism of action of many antifungal drugs). Using the fungus "Saccharomyces cerevisiae" as an example, other major steroids include ergosta‐5,7,22,24(28)‐tetraen‐3β‐ol, zymosterol, and lanosterol. "S. cerevisiae" utilizes 5,6‐dihydroergosterol in place of ergosterol in its cell membrane.


title: Steroid

text: Animal steroids include compounds of vertebrate and insect origin, the latter including ecdysteroids such as ecdysterone (controlling molting in some species). Vertebrate examples include the steroid hormones and cholesterol; the latter is a structural component of cell membranes that helps determine the fluidity of cell membranes and is a principal constituent of plaque (implicated in atherosclerosis). Steroid hormones include:


title: Steroid

text: Plant steroids include steroidal alkaloids found in Solanaceae and Melanthiaceae (specially the genus Veratrum), cardiac glycosides, the phytosterols and the brassinosteroids (which include several plant hormones).


title: Steroid

text: In prokaryotes, biosynthetic pathways exist for the tetracyclic steroid framework (e.g. in mycobacteria) – where its origin from eukaryotes is conjectured – and the more-common pentacyclic triterpinoid hopanoid framework.


title: Steroid

text: The major classes of steroid hormones, with prominent members and examples of related functions, are:


title: Steroid

text: Steroids can be classified based on their chemical composition. One example of how MeSH performs this classification is available at the Wikipedia MeSH catalog. Examples of this classification include:


title: Steroid

text: In biology, it is common to name the above steroid classes by the number of carbon atoms present when referring to hormones: C-steroids for the estranes (mostly estrogens), C-steroids for the androstanes (mostly androgens), and C-steroids for the pregnanes (mostly corticosteroids). The classification "17-ketosteroid" is also important in medicine.


title: Steroid

text: The gonane (steroid nucleus) is the parent 17-carbon tetracyclic hydrocarbon molecule with no alkyl sidechains.


title: Steroid

text: Secosteroids (Latin "seco", "to cut") are a subclass of steroidal compounds resulting, biosynthetically or conceptually, from scission (cleavage) of parent steroid rings (generally one of the four). Major secosteroid subclasses are defined by the steroid carbon atoms where this scission has taken place. For instance, the prototypical secosteroid cholecalciferol, vitamin D (shown), is in the 9,10-secosteroid subclass and derives from the cleavage of carbon atoms C-9 and C-10 of the steroid B-ring; 5,6-secosteroids and 13,14-steroids are similar.


title: Steroid

text: Norsteroids (nor-, L. "norma"; "normal" in chemistry, indicating carbon removal) and homosteroids (homo-, Greek "homos"; "same", indicating carbon addition) are structural subclasses of steroids formed from biosynthetic steps. The former involves enzymic ring expansion-contraction reactions, and the latter is accomplished (biomimetically) or (more frequently) through ring closures of acyclic precursors with more (or fewer) ring atoms than the parent steroid framework.


title: Steroid

text: Combinations of these ring alterations are known in nature. For instance, ewes who graze on corn lily ingest cyclopamine (shown) and veratramine, two of a sub-family of steroids where the C- and D-rings are contracted and expanded respectively via a biosynthetic migration of the original C-13 atom. Ingestion of these C-nor-D-homosteroids results in birth defects in lambs: cyclopia from cyclopamine and leg deformity from veratramine. A further C-nor-D-homosteroid (nakiterpiosin) is excreted by Okinawan cyanobacteriosponges. e.g., "Terpios hoshinota", leading to coral mortality from black coral disease. Nakiterpiosin-type steroids are active against the signaling pathway involving the smoothened and hedgehog proteins, a pathway which is hyperactive in a number of cancers.


title: Steroid

text: Steroids and their metabolites often function as signalling molecules (the most notable examples are steroid hormones), and steroids and phospholipids are components of cell membranes. Steroids such as cholesterol decrease membrane fluidity.


title: Steroid

text: Similar to lipids, steroids are highly concentrated energy stores. However, they are not typically sources of energy; in mammals, they are normally metabolized and excreted.


title: Steroid

text: Steroids play critical roles in a number of disorders, including malignancies like prostate cancer, where steroid production inside and outside the tumour promotes cancer cell aggressiveness.


title: Steroid

text: The hundreds of steroids found in animals, fungi, and plants are made from lanosterol (in animals and fungi; see examples above) or cycloartenol (in other eukaryotes). Both lanosterol and cycloartenol derive from cyclization of the triterpenoid squalene. Lanosterol and cycloartenol are sometimes called protosterols because they serve as the starting compounds for all other steroids.


title: Steroid

text: Steroid biosynthesis is an anabolic pathway which produces steroids from simple precursors. A unique biosynthetic pathway is followed in animals (compared to many other organisms), making the pathway a common target for antibiotics and other anti-infection drugs. Steroid metabolism in humans is also the target of cholesterol-lowering drugs, such as statins. In humans and other animals the biosynthesis of steroids follows the mevalonate pathway, which uses acetyl-CoA as building blocks for dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP) and isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP).


title: Steroid

text: In subsequent steps DMAPP and IPP conjugate to form farnesyl diphosphate (FPP), which further conjugates with each other to form the linear triterpenoid squalene. Squalene biosynthesis is catalyzed by squalene synthase, which belongs to the squalene/phytoene synthase family. Subsequent epoxidation and cyclization of squalene generate lanosterol, which is the starting point for additional modifications into other steroids (steroidogenesis). In other eukaryotes, the cyclization product of epoxidized squalene (oxidosqualene) is cycloartenol.


title: Steroid

text: The mevalonate pathway (also called HMG-CoA reductase pathway) begins with acetyl-CoA and ends with dimethylallyl diphosphate (DMAPP) and isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP).


title: Steroid

text: DMAPP and IPP donate isoprene units, which are assembled and modified to form terpenes and isoprenoids (a large class of lipids, which include the carotenoids and form the largest class of plant natural products. Here, the isoprene units are joined to make squalene and folded into a set of rings to make lanosterol. Lanosterol can then be converted into other steroids, such as cholesterol and ergosterol.


title: Steroid

text: Two classes of drugs target the mevalonate pathway: statins (like rosuvastatin), which are used to reduce elevated cholesterol levels, and bisphosphonates (like zoledronate), which are used to treat a number of bone-degenerative diseases.


title: Steroid

text: Steroidogenesis is the biological process by which steroids are generated from cholesterol and changed into other steroids. The pathways of steroidogenesis differ among species. The major classes of steroid hormones, as noted above (with their prominent members and functions), are the progestogens, corticosteroids (corticoids), androgens, and estrogens. Human steroidogenesis of these classes occurs in a number of locations:


title: Steroid

text: In plants and bacteria, the non-mevalonate pathway (MEP pathway) uses pyruvate and glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate as substrates to produce IPP and DMAPP.


title: Steroid

text: During diseases pathways otherwise not significant in healthy humans can become utilized. For example, in one form of congenital adrenal hyperplasia a deficiency in the 21-hydroxylase enzymatic pathway leads to an excess of 17α-Hydroxyprogesterone (17-OHP) – this pathological excess of 17-OHP in turn may be converted to dihydrotestosterone (DHT, a potent androgen) through among others 17,20 Lyase (a member of the cytochrome P450 family of enzymes), 5α-Reductase and 3α-Hydroxysteroid dehydrogenase.


title: Steroid

text: Steroids are primarily oxidized by cytochrome P450 oxidase enzymes, such as CYP3A4. These reactions introduce oxygen into the steroid ring, allowing the cholesterol to be broken up by other enzymes into bile acids. These acids can then be eliminated by secretion from the liver in bile. The expression of the oxidase gene can be upregulated by the steroid sensor PXR when there is a high blood concentration of steroids. Steroid hormones, lacking the side chain of cholesterol and bile acids, are typically hydroxylated at various ring positions or oxidized at the 17 position, conjugated with sulfate or glucuronic acid and excreted in the urine.


title: Steroid

text: Steroid "isolation", depending on context, is the isolation of chemical matter required for chemical structure elucidation, derivitzation or degradation chemistry, biological testing, and other research needs (generally milligrams to grams, but often more or the isolation of "analytical quantities" of the substance of interest (where the focus is on identifying and quantifying the substance (for example, in biological tissue or fluid). The amount isolated depends on the analytical method, but is generally less than one microgram.


title: Steroid

text: The methods of isolation to achieve the two scales of product are distinct, but include extraction, precipitation, adsorption, chromatography, and crystallization. In both cases, the isolated substance is purified to chemical homogeneity; combined separation and analytical methods, such as LC-MS, are chosen to be "orthogonal"—achieving their separations based on distinct modes of interaction between substance and isolating matrix—to detect a single species in the pure sample.


title: Steroid

text: "Structure determination" refers to the methods to determine the chemical structure of an isolated pure steroid, using an evolving array of chemical and physical methods which have included NMR and small-molecule crystallography. "Methods of analysis" overlap both of the above areas, emphasizing analytical methods to determining if a steroid is present in a mixture and determining its quantity.


title: Steroid

text: Microbial catabolism of phytosterol side chains yields C-19 steroids, C-22 steroids, and 17-ketosteroids (i.e. precursors to adrenocortical hormones and contraceptives). The addition and modification of functional groups is key when producing the wide variety of medications available within this chemical classification. These modifications are performed using conventional organic synthesis and/or biotransformation techniques.


title: Steroid

text: The semisynthesis of steroids often begins from precursors such as cholesterol, phytosterols, or sapogenins. The efforts of Syntex, a company involved in the Mexican barbasco trade, used "Dioscorea mexicana" to produce the sapogenin diosgenin in the early days of the synthetic steroid pharmaceutical industry.


title: Steroid

text: Some steroidal hormones are economically obtained only by total synthesis from petrochemicals (e.g. 13-alkyl steroids). For example, the pharmaceutical Norgestrel begins from methoxy-1-tetralone, a petrochemical derived from phenol.


title: Durban

text: Durban ( ) (, from meaning 'the port' also called for the mountain range that terminates in the area), nicknamed "Durbs", is the third most populous city in South Africa after Johannesburg and Cape Town and the largest city in KwaZulu-Natal. Durban forms part of the eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality, which includes neighbouring towns and has a population of about 3.44 million, making the combined municipality one of the largest cities on the Indian Ocean coast of the African continent. Durban was also one of the host cities of the 2010 FIFA World Cup.


title: Durban

text: Durban was formerly named Port Natal due to its position as the chief seaport of South Africa, and its location on the Natal Bay of the Indian Ocean. Durban is a highly ethnically diverse city, with large Zulu, White, and Indian/Asian populations.


title: Durban

text: Archaeological evidence from the Drakensberg mountains suggests that the Durban area has been inhabited by communities of hunter-gatherers since 100,000 BC. These people lived throughout the area of KwaZulu-Natal until the expansion of Bantu farmers and pastoralists from the north saw their gradual displacement, incorporation or extermination.


title: Durban

text: Oral history has been passed down from generation to generation by the Zulu nation, who were inhabitants of the land before colonisers, but there is no written history of the area until it was sighted by Portuguese explorer Vasco da Gama, who sailed parallel to the KwaZulu-Natal coast at Christmastide in 1497 while searching for a route from Europe to India. He named the area "Natal", or Christmas in Portuguese.


title: Durban

text: In 1686, a ship from the Dutch East India Company named "Stavenisse" was wrecked off the eastern coast of South Africa. Some of the survivors made their way to the Bay of Natal (Durban) where they were taken in by the Abambo tribe, which was led by Chief Langalibale. The crew became fluent in the tribe's language and witnessed their customs. The tribe told them that the land where the Abambo people lived was called Embo by the natives and that the people were very hospitable. On 28 October 1689, the galiot "Noord" travelled from Table Bay to the Bay of Natal to fetch the surviving crew of the "Stavenisse" and to negotiate a deal for purchasing the bay. The "Noord" arrived on 9 December 1689, whereafter the Dutch Cape Colony purchased the Bay of Natal from the Abambo people for £1,650. A formal contract was drawn up by Laurens van Swaanswyk and signed by the Chief of the Abambo people, with the crew of the "Stavenisse" acting as translators.


title: Durban

text: By 1822, Lieutenant James King, captain of a British ship named the "Salisbury", together with Lt. Francis George Farewell, both men being former Royal Navy officers from the Napoleonic Wars, were engaged in trade between the Cape and Delagoa Bay. On a return trip to the Cape in 1823, they were caught in a severe storm and decided to risk the Bar and anchor in the Bay of Natal. The crossing went off well and they found safe anchor from the storm.


title: Durban

text: Lt. King decided to map the Bay and named the "Salisbury and Farewell Islands". In 1824 Lt. Farewell, together with a trading company called J. R. Thompson & Co., decided to open trade relations with Shaka, the Zulu King, and establish a trading station at the Bay. Henry Francis Fynn, another trader at Delagoa Bay, was also involved in this venture.


title: Durban

text: Fynn left Delagoa Bay and sailed for the Bay of Natal on the brig "Julia", while Farewell followed six weeks later on the "Antelope". Between them they had 26 possible settlers, although only 18 stayed. On a visit to King Shaka, Henry Francis Fynn succeeded in befriending the king by helping him recover from a stab wound that he had suffered as a result of an assassination attempt by one of his half-brothers. As a token of his gratitude King Shaka granted Fynn a "25-mile strip of coast a hundred miles in depth". On 7 August 1824 they concluded negotiations with King Shaka for a cession of land, including the Bay of Natal and land extending ten miles south of the Bay, twenty-five miles north of the Bay and one hundred miles inland.


title: Durban

text: Farewell took possession of this grant and raised the Union Jack with a Royal Salute, which consisted of 4 cannon shots and twenty musket shots. Only six of the original eighteen would-be settlers remained, and these six can be regarded as the founders of Port Natal as a British colony. These six were joined by Lt. James Saunders King and Nathaniel Isaacs in 1825.


title: Durban

text: The modern city of Durban thus dates from 1824, when the settlement was established on the northern shores of the bay near today's Farewell Square.


title: Durban

text: During a meeting of 35 European residents in Fynn's territory on 23 June 1835, it was decided to build a capital town and name it "D'Urban" after Sir Benjamin D'Urban, who was the governor of the Cape Colony at the time.


title: Durban

text: Tension between the Voortrekkers and the Zulus prompted the governor of the Cape Colony to dispatch a force under Captain Charlton Smith to establish British rule in Natal, for fear of losing British control in Port Natal. The force arrived on 4 May 1842 and built a fortification that was later to be "The Old Fort". On the night of 23/24 May 1842 the British attacked the Voortrekker camp at Congella. The attack failed, and the British had to withdraw to their camp which was put under siege. A local trader Dick King and his servant Ndongeni were able to escape the blockade and rode to Grahamstown, a distance of in fourteen days to raise reinforcements. The reinforcements arrived in Durban 20 days later; the Voortrekkers retreated, and the siege was lifted.


title: Durban

text: Fierce conflict with the Zulu population led to the evacuation of Durban, and eventually the Afrikaners accepted British annexation in 1844 under military pressure.


title: Durban

text: When the Borough of Durban was proclaimed in 1854, the council had to procure a seal for official documents. The seal was produced in 1855 and was replaced in 1882. The new seal contained a coat of arms without helmet or mantling that combined the coats of arms of Sir Benjamin D’Urban and Sir Benjamin Pine. An application was made to register the coat of arms with the College of Arms in 1906, but this application was rejected on grounds that the design implied that D’Urban and Pine were husband and wife. Nevertheless, the coat of arms appeared on the council's stationery from about 1912. The following year, a helmet and mantling was added to the council's stationery and to the new city seal that was made in 1936. The motto reads "Debile principium melior fortuna sequitur"—"Better fortune follows a humble beginning".


title: Durban

text: The blazon of the arms registered by the South African Bureau of Heraldry and granted to Durban on 9 February 1979. The coat of arms fell into disuse with the re-organisation of the South African local government structure in 2000. The seal ceased to be used in 1995.


title: Durban

text: With the end of apartheid, Durban was subject to restructuring of local government. Its first mayor was Sipho Ngwenya. In 1996, the city became part of the "Durban UniCity" in July 1996 as part of transitional arrangements and to "eThekwini Metropolitan Municipality" in 1999, with the adoption of South Africa's new municipal governance system. In July 1996, Obed Mlaba was appointed mayor of Durban UniCity; in 1999 he was elected to mayor of the eThekwini municipality and re-elected in 2006. Following the May 2011 local elections, James Nxumalo, the former speaker of the council, was elected as the new mayor. On 23 August 2016 Zandile Gumede was elected as the new mayor until 13 August 2019. On 5 September 2019 Mxolisi Kaunda was sworn in as the new mayor.


title: Durban

text: The name of the Durban municipal government, prior to the post-apartheid reorganisations of municipalities, was the "Durban Corporation" or "City of Durban".


title: Durban

text: Durban is located on the east coast of South Africa, looking out upon the Indian Ocean. The city lies at the mouth of the Umgeni River, which demarcates parts of Durban's north city limit, while other sections of the river flow through the city itself. Durban has a natural harbour, Durban Harbour, which is the busiest port in South Africa and is the 4th-busiest in the Southern Hemisphere.


title: Durban

text: Durban has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen climate classification "Cfa"), with hot, humid summers and warm, quite dry winters, which are snow and frost-free. Durban has an annual rainfall of . The average temperature in summer ranges around , while in winter the average temperature is .


title: Durban

text: Durban is ethnically diverse, with a cultural richness of mixed beliefs and traditions. Zulus form the largest single ethnic group. It has a large number of people of British and Indian descent. The influence of Indians in Durban has been significant, bringing with them a variety of cuisine, culture and religion.


title: Durban

text: In the years following the end of apartheid, there was a population boom as black Africans were allowed to move into the city. The population grew by an annual average of 2.34% between 1996 and 2001. This led to shanty towns forming around the city which were often demolished. Between 2001 and 2011, the population growth slowed down to 1.08% per year and shanty towns have become less common as the government builds low-income housing.


title: Durban

text: The population of the city of Durban and central suburbs such as Durban North, Durban South and the Berea increased 10.9% between 2001 and 2011 from 536,644 to 595,061. The proportion of black Africans increased while the proportion of people in all the other racial groups decreased. Black Africans increased from 34.9% to 51.1%; Indians or Asians decreased from 27.3% to 24.0%; whites decreased from 25.5% to 15.3%; and Coloureds decreased from 10.26% to 8.59%. A new racial group, "Other", was included in the 2011 census at 0.93%.


title: Durban

text: The city's demographics indicate that 68% of the population is of working age, and 38% of the people in Durban are under the age of 19 years.


title: Durban

text: Durban has the highest number of dollar millionaires added per year of any South African city, with the number having increased 200 percent between 2000 and 2014.


title: Durban

text: Sugar refining is one of Durban's main industries. South Africa produces 19.9 million tons of sugar cane a year and most of it comes from KwaZulu-Natal.


title: Durban

text: Durban has a number of informal and semi-formal street vendors. The Warwick Junction Precinct is home to a number of street markets, with vendors selling goods from traditional medicine, to clothing and spices.


title: Durban

text: The city's treatment of shack dwellers was criticised in a report from the United Nations linked Centre on Housing Rights and Evictions and there has also been criticism of the city's treatment of street traders, street children and sex workers. The cannabis strain called 'Durban Poison' is named for the city.


title: Durban

text: There are a number of civil society organisations based in Durban. These include: Abahlali baseMjondolo (shack-dwellers') movement, the Diakonia Council of Churches, the Right2Know Campaign, the South Durban Community Environmental Alliance and the South African Unemployed Peoples' Movement. The Durban Art Gallery was founded in 1892.


title: Durban

text: Two major English-language daily newspapers are published in Durban, both part of the Independent Newspapers, the national group owned by Sekunjalo Investments. These are the morning editions of "The Mercury" and the afternoon "Daily News". Like most news media in South Africa, they have seen declining circulations in recent years. Major Zulu language papers comprise "Isolezwe" (Independent Newspapers), "UmAfrika" and "Ilanga". Independent Newspapers also publish "Post", a newspaper aimed largely at the Indian community. A national Sunday paper, the "Sunday Tribune" is also published by Independent Newspapers as is the "Independent on Saturday".


title: Durban

text: The national broadcaster, the SABC, has regional offices in Durban and operates two major stations there. The Zulu language Ukhozi FM has a huge national listenership of over 6.67 million, which makes it the second largest radio station in the world. The SABC also operates Radio Lotus, which is aimed at South Africans of Indian origin. The other SABC national stations have smaller regional offices in Durban, as does TV for news links and sports broadcasts. A major English language radio station, East Coast Radio, operates out of Durban and is owned by SA media giant Kagiso Media. There are a number of smaller stations which are independent, having been granted licences by ICASA, the national agency charged with the issue of broadcast licences.


title: Durban

text: Durban was initially successful in its bid to host the 2022 Commonwealth Games, but needed to withdraw in March 2017 from the role of hosts when the government withdrew its subsidy due to financial constraints. Birmingham, England replaced Durban as the host city.


title: Durban

text: Durban is home to the Sharks (rugby union), also known as the Cell C Sharks, who compete in the domestic Currie Cup competition as well as in the international United Rugby Championship and Heineken Champions Cup competition. The Sharks' home ground is the 54,000 capacity HollywoodbetsKings Park Stadium, sometimes referred to as the Shark Tank. The Sharks are home to many Springbok players such as Thomas du Toit , Bongi Mbonambi , Eben Etzebeth, Makazole Mapimipi, Lukhanyo Am and the 2019 Rugby World Cup captain Siya Kolisi.


title: Durban

text: The city is home to two clubs in the Premier Soccer League — AmaZulu, and Golden Arrows. AmaZulu play most of their home games at the Moses Mabhida Stadium. Golden Arrows play most of their home games at the King Zwelithini Stadium in the nearby township of Umlazi, but sometimes play some of their matches at Moses Mabhida Stadium or Chatsworth Stadium. It is also a home to some teams that are playing in the NFD such as Royal Eagles FC and Royal Kings


title: Durban

text: Durban is host to the KwaZulu-Natal cricket team, who play as the Dolphins when competing in the Sunfoil Series. Shaun Pollock, Jonty Rhodes, Lance Klusener, Barry Richards, Andrew Hudson, Hashim Amla, Vince van der Bijl, Kevin Pietersen, Dale Benkenstein and David Miller are all players or past players of the Natal cricket team. International cricketers representing them include Malcolm Marshall, Dwayne Bravo and Graham Onions. Cricket in Durban is played at Kingsmead cricket ground.


title: Durban

text: Durban hosted matches in the 2003 ICC Cricket World Cup. In 2007 the city hosted nine matches, including a semi-final, as part of the inaugural ICC World Twenty20. The 2009 IPL season was played in South Africa, and Durban was selected as a venue. 2010 saw the city host six matches, including a semi-final, in the 2010 Champions League Twenty20.


title: Durban

text: Durban was one of the host cities of the 2010 FIFA World Cup, and A1GP held a race on a street circuit in Durban from 2006 to 2008. Durban hosted the 123rd IOC Session in July 2011.


title: Durban

text: The city is home to Greyville Racecourse, a major Thoroughbred horse racing venue which annually hosts a number of prestigious races including the country's premier event, the July Handicap, and the premier staying event in South Africa, the Gold Cup. Clairwood racecourse, south of the city, was a popular racing venue for many years, but was sold by the KZN racing authority in 2012.


title: Durban

text: Durban hosts many famous endurance sports events annually, such as the Comrades Marathon, Dusi Canoe Marathon and the Ironman 70.3.


title: Durban

text: The city hosted several continental basketball tournaments such as the 1994 FIBA Africa Championship for Women or the 2006 FIBA Africa Under-18 Championship.


title: Durban

text: King Shaka International Airport services both domestic and international flights, with regularly scheduled services to Dubai, Doha, Istanbul and Harare as well as eight domestic destinations. Flights to Luanda start on 17 November 2022. The airport's position forms part of the Golden Triangle between Johannesburg and Cape Town, which is important for convenient travel and trade between these three major South African cities. The airport opened in May 2010. King Shaka International Airport handled 6.1 million passengers in 2019/2020, up 1.8 percent from 2018/2019. King Shaka International was constructed at La Mercy, about north of central Durban. All operations at Durban International Airport have been transferred to King Shaka International as of 1 May 2010, with plans for flights to Singapore, Mumbai, Kigali, Luanda, Lilongwe and Nairobi.


title: Durban

text: Durban has a long tradition as a port city. The Port of Durban, formerly known as the Port of Natal, is one of the few natural harbours between Port Elizabeth and Maputo, and is also located at the beginning of a particular weather phenomenon which can cause extremely violent seas. These two features made Durban an extremely busy port of call for ship repairs when the port was opened in the 1840s.


title: Durban

text: MSC Cruises bases one of their cruise ships in Durban from November to April every year. From the 2019/2020 Southern Africa cruise season MSC Cruises will be basing the MSC Orchestra in Durban. Durban is the most popular cruise hub in Southern Africa. Cruise destinations from Durban on the MSC "Orchestra" include Mozambique, Mauritius, Réunion, Madagascar and other domestic destinations such as Port Elizabeth and Cape Town. For the 2020/2021 cruise season MSC Cruises will be sending 2 ships being the MSC "Musica" & MSC "Opera" which will include additional cruise dates and Seychelles being added as a new cruise destination. Many other ships cruise through Durban every year, including some of the world's biggest, such as the RMS "Queen Mary 2", the biggest ocean liner in the world. Durban will be building a brand new R200 million cruise terminal that will be operational in October 2019, the Durban Cruise Terminal. The tender was awarded to KwaZulu Cruise Terminal (Pty) Ltd which is 70% owned by MSC Cruises SA and 30% by Africa Armada Consortium. The new cruise terminal will be able to accommodate two cruise ships at any given time.


title: Durban

text: Naval Base Durban on Salisbury Island (now joined to the mainland and part of the Port of Durban), was established as a naval base during the Second World War. It was downgraded in 2002 to a naval station. In 2012 a decision was made to renovate and expand the facilities back up to a full naval base to accommodate the South African Navy's offshore patrol flotilla. In December 2015 it was redesignated Naval Base Durban.


title: Durban

text: Durban featured the first operating steam railway in South Africa when the Natal Railway Company started operating a line between the Point and the city of Durban in 1860.


title: Durban

text: Shosholoza Meyl, the passenger rail service of Spoornet, operates two long-distance passenger rail services from Durban: a daily service to and from Johannesburg via Pietermaritzburg and Newcastle, and a weekly service to and from Cape Town via Kimberley and Bloemfontein. These trains terminate at Durban railway station.


title: Durban

text: Metrorail operates a commuter rail service in Durban and the surrounding area. The Metrorail network runs from Durban Station outwards as far as Stanger on the north coast, Kelso on the south coast, and Cato Ridge inland.


title: Durban

text: The city's main position as a port of entry onto the southern African continent has led to the development of national roads around it. The N3 Western Freeway, which links Durban with the economic hinterland of Gauteng, heads west out of the city. The N2 Outer Ring Road links Durban with the Eastern Cape to the south, and Mpumalanga in the north. The Western Freeway is particularly important because freight is shipped by truck to and from the Witwatersrand for transfer to the port.


title: Durban

text: The N3 Western Freeway starts in the central business district and heads west under Tollgate Bridge and through the suburbs of Sherwood and Mayville. The EB Cloete Interchange (which is informally nicknamed the Spaghetti Junction) lies to the west of Durban and east of Westville, allowing for transfer of traffic between the N2 Outer Ring Road and the Western Freeway.


title: Durban

text: The N2 Outer Ring Road cuts through the city from the north coast to the south coast. It provides a vital link to the coastal towns (such as Amanzimtoti, Kingsburgh, Scottburgh, Umkomaas, Ballito and KwaDukuza) that rely on Durban.


title: Durban

text: Durban also has a system of freeway and dual arterial metropolitan routes, which connect the sprawling suburbs that lie to the north, west and south of the city. The M4 exists in two segments. The northern segment, named the Ruth First Highway, starts as an alternative highway from the R102 inBallito and shortly after intersects the N2. It passes through the seaside towns and villages of La Mercy and eMdloti before becoming a dual carriageway in uMhlanga, north of Durban and ending at the northern edge of the CBD. The southern segment of the M4, the Albert Lutuli Highway, starts at the southern edge of the CBD, connecting through to the old, decommissioned Durban International Airport, where it once again reconnects at the southern end of the N2 Outer Ring Road.


title: Durban

text: The M7 connects the southern industrial basin of Durban with the N3 and Pinetown via Queensburgh via the N2. The M19 connects the inner northern suburbs of Durban with Pinetown via Westville and the M41 connects uMhlanga and Phoenix via Mount Edgecombe and the N2.


title: Durban

text: The M13 (King Cetshwayo Highway) is an untolled alternative to the N3 Western Freeway (which is tolled at Mariannhill) and is an important commuter route linking the nearby towns and suburbs to the west of Durban such as Hillcrest, Gillitts, Kloof, Pinetown and Westville to the city.


title: Durban

text: In the late 2000s 107 streets in Durban were renamed, typically to honour individuals involved in the antiapartheid or international revolutionary movements, with two-thirds of the streets named after individuals associated with the governing African National Congress. This was done in two stages; a first, smaller one, which renamed eighteen streets and was met with some trepidation by opposition parties, particularly the Democratic Alliance, the Inkatha Freedom Party, and the Minority Front, and a second, larger stage, which renamed 99 streets and was met with considerably wider opposition after the controversy of the first and the minimal time between them. The first group was met with some opposition from This process was met with outrage from both opposition parties and the parts of the general public, as well as incidents of vandalism against the new road signs. The Democratic Alliance, Inkatha Freedom Party, and Minority Front were concerned with their lack of participation in the process, and that the emphasis on individuals affiliated with the ANC presented a partisan image of the antiapartheid struggle. Among the general public there was significant opposition from middle-class white South Africans, Indian South Africans, and Zulu nationalists, who believed that the new names should have a connection to the people and the history of the locality. In response, the ANC characterized the project as a transformation and part of progressive social change, characterizing their opponents as being "antitransformation" and "pro-apartheid".


title: Durban

text: Several companies run long-distance bus services from Durban to the other cities in South Africa. Buses have a long history in Durban. Most of them have been run by Indian owners since the early 1930s. Privately owned buses which are not subsidised by the government also service the communities. Buses operate in all areas of the eThekwini Municipality. Since 2003 buses have been violently taken out of the routes and bus ranks by taxi operators.


title: Durban

text: Since 2017 the newer People Mover Bus System which runs along certain routes has been testing out free Wi-Fi for passengers.


title: Durban

text: Durban has two kinds of taxis: metered taxis and minibus taxis. Unlike in many cities, metered taxis are not allowed to drive around the city to solicit fares and instead must be called and ordered to a specific location. A number of companies service the Durban and surrounding regions. These taxis can also be called upon for airport transfers, point to point pickups and shuttles.


title: Durban

text: Mini bus taxis are the standard form of transport for the majority of the population who cannot afford private cars. With the high demand for transport by the working class of South Africa, minibus taxis are often filled over their legal passenger allowance, making for high casualty rates when they are involved in accidents. Minibuses are generally owned and operated in fleets, and inter-operator violence flares up from time to time, especially as turf wars over lucrative taxi routes occur.


title: Durban

text: Although rickshaws have been a mode of transportation since the early 1900s, they have been displaced by other forms of motorised transport. The roughly 25 remaining rickshaws mostly cater to tourists.


title: Durban

text: Among the places of worship, there are predominantly Christian churches and temples. These include: Zion Christian Church, Apostolic Faith Mission of South Africa, Assemblies of God, Baptist Union of Southern Africa (Baptist World Alliance), Methodist Church of Southern Africa (World Methodist Council), Anglican Church of Southern Africa (Anglican Communion), Presbyterian Church of Africa (World Communion of Reformed Churches), Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Durban (Catholic Church) and the Durban South Africa Temple (The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints). There are also Muslim mosques and Hindu temples.


title: Durban

text: As in other South African cities, Durban has a high murder rate. Between April 2018 and March 2019, the Ethekwini Metropolitan Municipality recorded 1,871 murders, gradually increasing from 1,349 seven years earlier and down from 2,042 in 2009.


title: Durban

text: Criminals usually avoid targeting tourists because they know that the police response will be greater.


title: Durban

text: Heist or theft is a common crime in the city. Most houses are protected by high walls and wealthier residents are often able to afford greater protection such as electric fencing, private security or gated communities. Crime rates vary widely across the city and most inner suburbs have much lower murder rates than in outlying areas of Ethekwini. Police station precincts recording the lowest murder rates per 100,000 in 2017 were Durban North (7), Mayville (8), Westville (12) and Malvern (12); Kwamashu (76) and Umlazi (69) were some of the most dangerous areas. Other crime comparisons are less valuable due to significant under-reporting especially in outlying areas.


title: Durban

text: There was a period of intense violence beginning in the 1990s, and the Durban area recorded a murder rate of 83 per 100,000 in 1999. The murder rate dropped rapidly in the 2000s before increasing rapidly throughout the 2010s. Durban is one of the main drug trafficking routes for drugs exiting and entering sub-Saharan Africa. The drug trade has increased significantly over the past 20 years.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: The Joint Chiefs of Staff (JCS) is the body of the most senior uniformed leaders within the United States Department of Defense, that advises the president of the United States, the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council and the National Security Council on military matters. The composition of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is defined by statute and consists of a chairman (CJCS), a vice chairman (VJCS), the service chiefs of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Space Force, and the chief of the National Guard Bureau. Each of the individual service chiefs, outside their JCS obligations, work directly under the secretaries of their respective military departments, e.g. the secretary of the Army, the secretary of the Navy, and the secretary of the Air Force.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: Following the Goldwater–Nichols Act in 1986, the Joint Chiefs of Staff do not have operational command authority, either individually or collectively, as the chain of command goes from the president to the secretary of defense, and from the secretary to the regional combatant commanders. Goldwater–Nichols also created the office of vice chairman, and the chairman is now designated as the principal military adviser to the secretary of defense, the Homeland Security Council, the National Security Council and the president.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: The Joint Staff (JS) is a headquarters staff in the Pentagon, composed of personnel from each of the six service branches, that assists the chairman and the vice chairman in discharging their responsibilities and is managed by the director of the Joint Staff (DJS).


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: After the 1986 reorganization of the Armed Forces undertaken by the Goldwater–Nichols Act, the Joint Chiefs of Staff does not possess operational authority over troops or other units. Responsibility for conducting military operations goes from the president to the secretary of defense directly to the commanders of the unified combatant commands and thus bypasses the Joint Chiefs of Staff completely.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: Today, their primary responsibility is to ensure personnel readiness, policy, planning and training of their respective services for the combatant commanders to utilize. In addition, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff acts as the chief military advisor to the president and the secretary of defense. In this strictly advisory role, the Joint Chiefs constitute the third-highest deliberative body for military policy, after the National Security Council and the Homeland Security Council, which includes the president and other officials besides the chairman of the Joint Chiefs.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: While serving as the chairman or vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, chief of staff of the Army, commandant of the Marine Corps, Chief of Naval Operations, chief of staff of the Air Force, or commandant of the Coast Guard, the salary is $15,583.20 a month, regardless of cumulative years of service completed under section 205 of title 37, United States Code.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: Although it is a branch of the Armed Forces pursuant to , the Coast Guard operates under the Department of Homeland Security rather than the Department of Defense, except when the president (e.g., in times of war or national emergency) transfers it to the Department of the Navy. The commandant of the Coast Guard is not a "de jure" member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff but is sometimes regarded as a "de facto" member, being entitled to the same supplemental pay as the Joint Chiefs, and occasionally will attend meetings of the JCS by invitation. Unlike the Joint Chiefs, who are not actually in the military's operational chain of command, the commandant is both the administrative and the operational commander of the service.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: As the U.S. military grew in size following the American Civil War, joint military action between the Army and Navy became increasingly difficult. The Army and Navy were unsupportive of each other at either the planning or operational level and were constrained by disagreements during the Spanish–American War in the Caribbean campaigns. The Joint Army and Navy Board was established in 1903 by President Theodore Roosevelt, comprising representatives from the military heads and chief planners of both the Navy's General Board and the Army's General Staff. The Joint Board acting as an "advisory committee" was created to plan joint operations and resolve problems of common rivalry between the two services.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: Yet, the Joint Board accomplished little, as its charter gave it no authority to enforce its decisions. The Joint Board also lacked the ability to originate its own opinions and was thus limited to commenting only on the problems submitted to it by the secretaries of war and Navy. As a result, the Joint Board had little to no impact on the manner in which the United States conducted World War I.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: After World War I, in 1919 the two secretaries agreed to reestablish and revitalize the Joint Board. The mission of the General Staff was to develop plans for mobilization for the next war; the U.S. was always designated "blue" and potential enemies were assigned various other colors.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: This time, the Joint Board's membership would include the chiefs of staff, their deputies, and the chief of war plans division for the Army and director of plans division for the Navy. Under the Joint Board would be a staff called the Joint Planning Committee to serve the board. Along with new membership, the Joint Board could initiate recommendations on its own initiative. However, the Joint Board still did not possess the legal authority to enforce its decisions.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: U.S. president Franklin D. Roosevelt and British prime minister Winston Churchill established the Combined Chiefs of Staff (CCS) during the 1942 Arcadia Conference. The CCS would serve as the supreme military body for strategic direction of the joint U.S.–UK war effort.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: The UK portion of the CCS would be composed of the British Chiefs of Staff Committee, but the United States had no equivalent body. The Joint Board's lack of authority made it of little use to the CCS, although its 1935 publication, Joint Action of the Army and Navy, did give some guidance for the joint operations during World War II. The Joint Board had little influence during the war and was ultimately disbanded in 1947.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: As a counterpart to the UK's Chiefs of Staff Committee in the CCS, and to provide better-coordinated effort and coordinated staff work for America's military effort, Admiral William D. Leahy proposed a "unified high command" in what would come to be called the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Modeled on the British Chiefs of Staff Committee, the JCS' first formal meeting was held on 9 February 1942, to coordinate operations between War and Navy Departments. The official history of the Army Air Forces noted that although there was "no official charter establishing this committee...by the end of February it had assumed responsibilities toward the American war effort comparable to the CCS on the combined level." On 20 July 1942, Admiral Leahy became the "Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief", with all individual service chiefs operating under his authority.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: Each of the members of the original Joint Chiefs was a four-star flag or general officer in his service branch. By the end of the war each had been promoted: Leahy and King to Fleet Admiral; Marshall and Arnold to General of the Army. Arnold was later appointed to the grade of General of the Air Force.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: One of the Joint Chiefs of Staff's committees was the Joint Strategic Survey Committee (JSSC). The JSSC, "one of the most influential planning agencies in the wartime armed forces", was an extraordinary JCS committee that existed from 1942 until 1947. Members included Lieutenant General Stanley D. Embick, U.S. Army, chairman, 1942–1946, Vice Admiral Russell Willson, U.S. Navy, 1942–1945, Vice Admiral Theodore Stark Wilkinson, U.S. Navy, 1946, and Major General Muir S. Fairchild, U.S. Army Air Force, 1942–?.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: With the end of World War II, the Joint Chiefs of Staff was officially established under the National Security Act of 1947. Per the National Security Act, the JCS consisted of a chairman, the chief of staff of the Army, the chief of staff of the Air Force (which was established as a separate service by the same Act), and the chief of naval operations. The commandant of the Marine Corps was to be consulted on matters concerning the Corps, but was not a regular member; General Lemuel C. Shepherd, Jr., Commandant in 1952–55, was the first to sit as an occasional member. The law was amended during the term of General Louis H. Wilson, Jr. (1975–79), making the commandant a full-time JCS member in parity with the other three DoD services.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: The position of vice chairman was created by the Goldwater–Nichols Act of 1986 to complement the CJCS, as well as to delegate some of the chairman's responsibilities, particularly resource allocation through the Joint Requirements Oversight Council (JROC).


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: General Colin L. Powell (1989–1993) was the first African American to serve on the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Charles Q. Brown Jr. was the first African-American to be appointed as Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force and the first African-American to lead any branch of the services. General Richard B. Myers (Chairman, 2001-2005) was the first Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff to serve as Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. General Peter Pace (Vice Chairman 2001–2005; Chairman, 2005–2007) was the first Marine to serve in either position. No woman has ever served on the Joint Chiefs of Staff.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: A provision in the 2012 National Defense Authorization Act added the Chief of the National Guard Bureau to the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Guard historians called it the "most significant development" for the National Guard since the Militia Act of 1903.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: The 2020 National Defense Authorization Act established the U.S. Space Force on 20 December 2019. The Space Force is headed by the chief of space operations, who reports directly to the secretary of the Air Force. Pursuant to , the chief of space operations became a statutory member of the Joint Chiefs of Staff on 20 December 2020.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff is, by law, the highest-ranking military officer of the United States Armed Forces, and the principal military adviser to the president of the United States. He leads the meetings and coordinates the efforts of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, comprising the chairman, the vice chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, the chief of staff of the United States Army, the commandant of the United States Marine Corps, the chief of naval operations, the chief of staff of the United States Air Force, the Chief of Space Operations (statutory member after December 2020), and the chief of the National Guard Bureau. The Joint Chiefs of Staff have offices in the Pentagon. The chairman outranks all service chiefs, but does not maintain authority over them, their branches or the Unified Combatant Commands. All combatant commanders receive their orders directly from the secretary of defense.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: On 20 July 1942, Fleet Admiral William D. Leahy became Chief of Staff to the Commander in Chief (20 July 1942 – 21 March 1949). He was not technically the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Leahy's office was the precursor to the post of "Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff". That post was established and first held by General of the Army Omar Bradley in 1949.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: The position of Vice Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff was created by the Goldwater–Nichols Act of 1986. The vice chairman is a four-star-general or admiral and, by law, is the second highest-ranking member of the U.S. Armed Forces (after the chairman). In the absence of the chairman, the vice chairman presides over the meetings of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. He may also perform such duties as the chairman may prescribe. It was not until the National Defense Authorization Act in 1992 that the position was made a full voting member of the JCS.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: The senior enlisted advisor to the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (SEAC) advises on all matters concerning joint and combined total force integration, utilization, development, and helps develop noncommissioned officers related joint professional education, enhance utilization of senior NCOs on joint battle staffs, and support the chairman's responsibilities as directed.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: Command Sergeant Major William Gainey, was the first SEAC, serving from 1 October 2005. The current SEAC is Ramón Colón-López, who was sworn in by General Mark Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, on 13 December 2019, replacing SEAC John W. Troxell.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: The Joint Staff (JS) is a military headquarters staff based at The Pentagon (with offices in Hampton Roads, Virginia; Fort Leavenworth, Kansas; Lackland Air Force Base, Texas; Fort Belvoir, Virginia; Fairchild Air Force Base, Washington and Fort McNair, District of Columbia) composed of personnel from all the six armed services, assisting the chairman and the vice chairman in discharging their responsibilities. They work closely with the Office of the Secretary of Defense (OSD), the military department staffs, and the Combatant Command staffs.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff (CJCS) is assisted by the director of the Joint Staff (DJS), a three-star officer who assists the chairman with the management of the Joint Staff, an organization composed of approximately equal numbers of officers contributed by the Army, the Navy and Marine Corps, the Air Force, the Space Force, and the Coast Guard, who have been assigned to assist the chairman in providing to the secretary of defense unified strategic direction, operation, and integration of the combatant land, naval, space, and air forces.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: Former Secretary of Defense Mark Esper tasked the Joint Staff with developing a Joint Warfighting Concept for the services by December 2020. Developing Joint all-domain command and control (JADC2) as a concept is a key goal of the 20th CJCS. An OSD/Joint Staff Cross-Functional Team for JADC2 is underway. Esper ordered the four services and the Joint Staff to create a new joint warfighting concept for All-domain operations, operating simultaneously in the air, land, sea, space, cyber, and the electromagnetic spectrum (EMS). The Joint Chiefs and Combatant Commanders witnessed demonstrations of the concept in September 2020.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: The Joint Staff includes the following departments where all the planning, policies, intelligence, manpower, communications and logistics functions are translated into action.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: The Joint Chiefs may recognize private citizens, organizations or career civilian government employees for significant achievements provided to the joint community with one of the following decorations/awards.


title: Joint Chiefs of Staff

text: Although, as discussed above, the commandant of the Coast Guard is not an "ex officio" member of the JCS like the other service chiefs, Coast Guard officers are legally eligible to be appointed as Chairman and Vice Chairman, pursuant to and respectively, which use the collective term "armed forces" rather than listing the eligible services, as well as to other positions on the Joint Staff. As of 2020, no Coast Guard officer has been appointed Chairman or Vice Chairman, but Coast Guard officers routinely serve on the JCS staff, including one vice admiral who was appointed to serve as J6 in 2016.


title: Cho Yi-hyun

text: Cho Yi-hyun (, born December 8, 1999) is a South Korean actress who made her acting debut in 2017. Her most notable portrayals include "Hospital Playlist" (2020–2021), "School 2021" (2021–2022), and "All of Us Are Dead" (2022).


title: Cho Yi-hyun

text: Cho made her acting debut in 2017. She signed an exclusive contract with JYP Entertainment in 2018, but the following year, she moved to Artist Company.


title: TypeScript

text: TypeScript is a free and open source programming language developed and maintained by Microsoft. It is a strict syntactical superset of JavaScript and adds optional static typing to the language. It is designed for the development of large applications and transpiles to JavaScript. As it is a superset of JavaScript, existing JavaScript programs are also valid TypeScript programs.


title: TypeScript

text: TypeScript may be used to develop JavaScript applications for both client-side and server-side execution (as with Node.js or Deno). Multiple options are available for transpilation. The default TypeScript Compiler can be used, or the Babel compiler can be invoked to convert TypeScript to JavaScript.


title: TypeScript

text: TypeScript supports definition files that can contain type information of existing JavaScript libraries, much like C++ header files can describe the structure of existing object files. This enables other programs to use the values defined in the files as if they were statically typed TypeScript entities. There are third-party header files for popular libraries such as jQuery, MongoDB, and D3.js. TypeScript headers for the Node.js library modules are also available, allowing development of Node.js programs within TypeScript.


title: TypeScript

text: The TypeScript compiler is itself written in TypeScript and compiled to JavaScript. It is licensed under the Apache License 2.0. Anders Hejlsberg, lead architect of C# and creator of Delphi and Turbo Pascal, has worked on the development of TypeScript.


title: TypeScript

text: TypeScript was released to the public in October 2012, with version 0.8, after two years of internal development at Microsoft. Soon after the initial public release, Miguel de Icaza praised the language itself, but criticized the lack of mature IDE support apart from Microsoft Visual Studio, which was not available on Linux and OS X at that time. As of April 2021 there is support in other IDEs and text editors, including Emacs, Vim, WebStorm, Atom and Microsoft's own Visual Studio Code.TypeScript 0.9, released in 2013, added support for generics.


title: TypeScript

text: TypeScript 1.0 was released at Microsoft's Build developer conference in 2014. Visual Studio 2013 Update 2 provides built-in support for TypeScript. Further improvement were made in July 2014, when the development team announced a new TypeScript compiler, asserted to have a five-fold performance increase. Simultaneously, the source code, which was initially hosted on CodePlex, was moved to GitHub.


title: TypeScript

text: On 22 September 2016, TypeScript 2.0 was released, introducing several features, including the ability for programmers to optionally enforce null safety, sometimes referred to as the billion-dollar mistake.


title: TypeScript

text: TypeScript 3.0 was released on 30 July 2018, bringing many language additions like tuples in rest parameters and spread expressions, rest parameters with tuple types, generic rest parameters and so on.


title: TypeScript

text: TypeScript 4.0 was released on 20 August 2020. While 4.0 did not introduce any breaking changes, it added language features such as Custom JSX Factories and Variadic Tuple Types.


title: TypeScript

text: TypeScript originated from the shortcomings of JavaScript for the development of large-scale applications both at Microsoft and among their external customers. Challenges with dealing with complex JavaScript code led to demand for custom tooling to ease developing of components in the language.


title: TypeScript

text: TypeScript developers sought a solution that would not break compatibility with the standard and its cross-platform support. Knowing that the current ECMAScript standard proposal promised future support for class-based programming, TypeScript was based on that proposal. That led to a JavaScript compiler with a set of syntactical language extensions, a superset based on the proposal, that transforms the extensions into regular JavaScript. In this sense the class feature of TypeScript was a preview of what to expect of ECMAScript 2015. A unique aspect not in the proposal, but added to TypeScript, is optional static typing (also known as gradual typing) that enables static language analysis to facilitate tooling and IDE support.


title: TypeScript

text: TypeScript adds support for features such as classes, modules, and an arrow function syntax as defined in the ECMAScript 2015 standard.


title: TypeScript

text: Syntactically, TypeScript is very similar to JScript .NET, another Microsoft implementation of the ECMA-262 language standard that added support for static typing and classical object-oriented language features such as classes, inheritance, interfaces, and namespaces.


title: TypeScript

text: TypeScript is a strict superset of ECMAScript 2015, which is itself a superset of ECMAScript 5, commonly referred to as JavaScript. As such, a JavaScript program is also a valid TypeScript program, and a TypeScript program can seamlessly consume JavaScript. By default the compiler targets ECMAScript 5, the current prevailing standard, but is also able to generate constructs used in ECMAScript 3 or 2015.


title: TypeScript

text: With TypeScript, it is possible to use existing JavaScript code, incorporate popular JavaScript libraries, and call TypeScript-generated code from other JavaScript. Type declarations for these libraries are provided with the source code.


title: TypeScript

text: TypeScript provides static typing through type annotations to enable type checking at compile time. This is optional and can be ignored to use the regular dynamic typing of JavaScript.


title: TypeScript

text: Type annotations can be exported to a separate "declarations file" to make type information available for TypeScript scripts using types already compiled into JavaScript. Annotations can be declared for an existing JavaScript library, as has been done for Node.js and jQuery.


title: TypeScript

text: The TypeScript compiler makes use of type inference to infer types when types are not given. For example, the codice_15 method in the code above would be inferred as returning a codice_1 even if no return type annotation had been provided. This is based on the static types of codice_17 and codice_18 being codice_19, and the compiler's knowledge that the result of adding two codice_19 is always a codice_1. However, explicitly declaring the return type allows the compiler to verify correctness.


title: TypeScript

text: If no type can be inferred because of lack of declarations, then it defaults to the dynamic codice_10 type. A value of the codice_10 type supports the same operations as a value in JavaScript and minimal static type checking is performed for operations on codice_10 values.


title: TypeScript

text: When a TypeScript script gets compiled there is an option to generate a "declaration file" (with the extension codice_25) that functions as an interface to the components in the compiled JavaScript. In the process the compiler strips away all function and method bodies and preserves only the signatures of the types that are exported. The resulting declaration file can then be used to describe the exported virtual TypeScript types of a JavaScript library or module when a third-party developer consumes it from TypeScript.


title: TypeScript

text: Type declaration files can be written by hand for existing JavaScript libraries, as has been done for jQuery and Node.js.


title: TypeScript

text: Large collections of declaration files for popular JavaScript libraries are hosted on GitHub in DefinitelyTyped.


title: TypeScript

text: TypeScript distinguishes between modules and namespaces. Both features in TypeScript support encapsulation of classes, interfaces, functions and variables into containers. Namespaces (formerly internal modules) utilize immediately-invoked function expression of JavaScript to encapsulate code, whereas modules (formerly external modules) leverage JavaScript library patterns to do so (AMD or CommonJS).


title: TypeScript

text: The TypeScript compiler, named codice_26, is written in TypeScript. As a result, it can be compiled into regular JavaScript and can then be executed in any JavaScript engine (e.g. a browser). The compiler package comes bundled with a script host that can execute the compiler. It is also available as a Node.js package that uses Node.js as a host.


title: TypeScript

text: The current version of the compiler supports ECMAScript 5 by default. An option is allowed to target ECMAScript 2015 to make use of language features exclusive to that version (e.g. generators). Classes, despite being part of the ECMAScript 2015 standard, are available in both modes.


title: TypeScript

text: Using plug-ins, TypeScript can be integrated with build automation tools, including Grunt (grunt-ts), Apache Maven (TypeScript Maven Plugin), Gulp (gulp-typescript) and Gradle (TypeScript Gradle Plugin).


title: TypeScript

text: TSLint scans TypeScript code for conformance to a set of standards and guidelines. ESLint, a standard JavaScript linter, also provided some support for TypeScript via community plugins. However, ESLint's inability to leverage TypeScript's language services precluded certain forms of semantic linting and program-wide analysis. In early 2019, the TSLint team announced the linter's deprecation in favor of codice_27, a joint effort of the TSLint, ESLint and TypeScript teams to consolidate linting under the ESLint umbrella for improved performance, community unity and developer accessibility.


title: Philology

text: Philology () is the study of language in oral and written historical sources; it is the intersection of textual criticism, literary criticism, history, and linguistics (with especially strong ties to etymology). Philology is also defined as the study of literary texts as well as oral and written records, the establishment of their authenticity and their original form, and the determination of their meaning. A person who pursues this kind of study is known as a philologist.


title: Philology

text: In older usage, especially British, philology is more general, covering comparative and historical linguistics.


title: Philology

text: Classical philology studies classical languages. Classical philology principally originated from the Library of Pergamum and the Library of Alexandria around the fourth century BC, continued by Greeks and Romans throughout the Roman/Byzantine Empire. It was eventually resumed by European scholars of the Renaissance, where it was soon joined by philologies of other European (Germanic, Celtic), Eurasian (Slavistics, etc.), Asian (Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Chinese, etc.), and African (Egyptian, Nubian, etc.) languages. Indo-European studies involve the comparative philology of all Indo-European languages.


title: Philology

text: Philology, with its focus on historical development (diachronic analysis), is contrasted with linguistics due to Ferdinand de Saussure's insistence on the importance of synchronic analysis. The contrast continued with the emergence of structuralism and Chomskyan linguistics alongside its emphasis on syntax, although research in historical linguistics is often characterized by reliance on philological materials and findings.


title: Philology

text: The term "philology" is derived from the Greek ("philología"), from the terms ("phílos") "love, affection, loved, beloved, dear, friend" and ("lógos") "word, articulation, reason", describing a love of learning, of literature, as well as of argument and reasoning, reflecting the range of activities included under the notion of . The term changed little with the Latin "philologia", and later entered the English language in the 16th century, from the Middle French "philologie", in the sense of 'love of literature'.


title: Philology

text: The adjective ("philólogos") meant 'fond of discussion or argument, talkative', in Hellenistic Greek, also implying an excessive ("sophistic") preference of argument over the love of true wisdom, ("philósophos").


title: Philology

text: As an allegory of literary erudition, "philologia" appears in fifth-century postclassical literature (Martianus Capella, "De nuptiis Philologiae et Mercurii"), an idea revived in Late Medieval literature (Chaucer, Lydgate).


title: Philology

text: The meaning of "love of learning and literature" was narrowed to "the study of the historical development of languages" (historical linguistics) in 19th-century usage of the term. Due to the rapid progress made in understanding sound laws and language change, the "golden age of philology" lasted throughout the 19th century, or "from Giacomo Leopardi and Friedrich Schlegel to Nietzsche".


title: Philology

text: The comparative linguistics branch of philology studies the relationship between languages. Similarities between Sanskrit and European languages were first noted in the early 16th century and led to speculation of a common ancestor language from which all these descended. It is now named Proto-Indo-European. Philology's interest in ancient languages led to the study of what were, in the 18th century, "exotic" languages, for the light they could cast on problems in understanding and deciphering the origins of older texts.


title: Philology

text: Philology also includes the study of texts and their history. It includes elements of textual criticism, trying to reconstruct an author's original text based on variant copies of manuscripts. This branch of research arose among ancient scholars in the Greek-speaking world of the 4th century BC, who desired to establish a standard text of popular authors for the purposes of both sound interpretation and secure transmission. Since that time, the original principles of textual criticism have been improved and applied to other widely distributed texts such as the Bible. Scholars have tried to reconstruct the original readings of the Bible from the manuscript variants. This method was applied to Classical Studies and to medieval texts as a way to reconstruct the author's original work. The method produced so-called "critical editions", which provided a reconstructed text accompanied by a "critical apparatus", i.e., footnotes that listed the various manuscript variants available, enabling scholars to gain insight into the entire manuscript tradition and argue about the variants.


title: Philology

text: A related study method known as higher criticism studies the authorship, date, and provenance of text to place such text in historical context. As these philological issues are often inseparable from issues of interpretation, there is no clear-cut boundary between philology and hermeneutics. When text has a significant political or religious influence (such as the reconstruction of Biblical texts), scholars have difficulty reaching objective conclusions.


title: Philology

text: Some scholars avoid all critical methods of textual philology, especially in historical linguistics, where it is important to study the actual recorded materials. The movement known as New Philology has rejected textual criticism because it injects editorial interpretations into the text and destroys the integrity of the individual manuscript, hence damaging the reliability of the data. Supporters of New Philology insist on a strict "diplomatic" approach: a faithful rendering of the text exactly as found in the manuscript, without emendations.


title: Philology

text: Another branch of philology, cognitive philology, studies written and oral texts. Cognitive philology considers these oral texts as the results of human mental processes. This science compares the results of textual science with the results of experimental research of both psychology and artificial intelligence production systems.


title: Philology

text: In the case of Bronze Age literature, philology includes the prior decipherment of the language under study. This has notably been the case with the Egyptian, Sumerian, Assyrian, Hittite, Ugaritic and Luwian languages. Beginning with the famous decipherment and translation of the Rosetta Stone by Jean-François Champollion in 1822, a number of individuals attempted to decipher the writing systems of the Ancient Near East and Aegean. In the case of Old Persian and Mycenaean Greek, decipherment yielded older records of languages already known from slightly more recent traditions (Middle Persian and Alphabetic Greek).


title: Philology

text: Work on the ancient languages of the Near East progressed rapidly. In the mid-19th century, Henry Rawlinson and others deciphered the Behistun Inscription, which records the same text in Old Persian, Elamite, and Akkadian, using a variation of cuneiform for each language. The elucidation of cuneiform led to the decipherment of Sumerian. Hittite was deciphered in 1915 by Bedřich Hrozný.


title: Philology

text: Linear B, a script used in the ancient Aegean, was deciphered in 1952 by Michael Ventris and John Chadwick, who demonstrated that it recorded an early form of Greek, now known as Mycenaean Greek. Linear A, the writing system that records the still-unknown language of the Minoans, resists deciphering, despite many attempts.


title: Philology

text: Work continues on scripts such as the Maya, with great progress since the initial breakthroughs of the phonetic approach championed by Yuri Knorozov and others in the 1950s. Since the late 20th century, the Maya code has been almost completely deciphered, and the Mayan languages are among the most documented and studied in Mesoamerica. The code is described as a logosyllabic style of writing, which could be used to fully express any spoken thought.


title: Philology

text: In the Anglo-Saxon world, the term philology to describe work on languages and literatures, which had become synonymous with the practices of German scholars, was abandoned as a consequence of anti-German feeling following World War I. Most continental European countries still maintain the term to designate departments, colleges, position titles, and journals. J. R. R. Tolkien opposed the nationalist reaction against philological practices, claiming that "the philological instinct" was "universal as is the use of language". In British English usage, and in British academia, "philology" remains largely synonymous with "historical linguistics", while in US English, and US academia, the wider meaning of "study of a language's grammar, history and literary tradition" remains more widespread. Based on the harsh critique of Friedrich Nietzsche, some US scholars since the 1980s have viewed philology as responsible for a narrowly scientistic study of language and literature.


title: Philology

text: Disagreements in the modern day of this branch of study are followed with the likes of how the method is treated amongst other scholars, as noted by both the philologists R.D Fulk and Leonard Neidorf who have been quoted saying "This field "philology's commitment to falsification renders it “at odds with what many literary scholars believe, because the purpose of philology is to narrow the range of possible interpretations rather than to treat all reasonable ones as equal”. This use of falsification can be seen in the debate surrounding the etymology of the Old English character Unferth from the heroic epic poem Beowulf.


title: Philology

text: James Turner further disagrees with how the use of the term is dismissed in the academic world, stating that due to its branding as a "simpleminded approach to their subject" that the term has become unknown to college-educated students, furthering the stereotypes of "scrutiny of ancient Greek or Roman texts of a nit-picking classicist" and only the "technical research into languages and families".


title: Philology

text: In the "Space Trilogy" by C.S. Lewis, the main character, Elwin Ransom, is a philologist – as was Lewis' close friend J. R. R. Tolkien.


title: Philology

text: Dr. Edward Morbius, one of the main characters in the science fiction film "Forbidden Planet", is a philologist.


title: Philology

text: Philip, the main character of Christopher Hampton's 'bourgeois comedy' The Philanthropist, is a professor of philology in an English university town.


title: Philology

text: Moritz-Maria von Igelfeld, the main character in Alexander McCall Smith's 1997 comic novel "Portuguese Irregular Verbs" is a philologist, educated at Cambridge.


title: Philology

text: The main character in the Academy Award Nominee for Best Foreign Language film in 2012, "Footnote", is a Hebrew philologist, and a significant part of the film deals with his work.


title: Philology

text: A main character of the science fiction TV show "Stargate SG-1", Dr. Daniel Jackson, is mentioned as having a PhD in philology.


title: Sara Paxton

text: Sara Paxton (born April 25, 1988) is an American actress, voice artist, and singer. She began acting at an early age, appearing in minor roles in both films and television shows, before rising to fame in 2004, after playing the title role in the television series "Darcy's Wild Life" (2004-2006) and Sarah Borden in "Summerland" (2004). Paxton's other films include "Aquamarine" (2006), "Return to Halloweentown" (2006), "Sydney White" (2007), "Superhero Movie" (2008), "The Innkeepers" (2011) and "The Front Runner" (2018).


title: Sara Paxton

text: Paxton was born in Woodland Hills, Los Angeles, California, as the only child of Lucia ( Menchaca Zuckerman) and Steve Paxton. Her mother, Lucia, was born to a Jewish family in Monterrey, Mexico and raised in the city of Ciudad Acuña. Paxton's father is of English and Scottish descent, and he converted to Judaism upon marrying her mother. Both her parents are dentists. Paxton did not have a bat mitzvah because of her filming schedule.


title: Sara Paxton

text: Paxton was raised in the San Fernando Valley. She graduated from El Camino Real High School in June 2006.


title: Sara Paxton

text: In a 2009 interview with "TeenHollywood," Paxton indicated that she had been accepted to several colleges, but decided not to attend any schools in favor of her acting career.