title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: In February 2016, it was reported that an airborne battalion would be deployed to Dzhankoy, Crimea in 2017–18 on a permanent basis and be upgraded to a regiment in 2020. In May 2017, Shamanov announced that the battalion would be formed at Feodosiya by 1 December 2017 as part of the 7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division, and would be expanded into the 97th Air Assault Regiment with three battalions by late 2019. Since the 2014 annexation, the status of Crimea is under dispute between Russia and Ukraine; Ukraine and the majority of the international community considers Crimea an integral part of Ukraine, while Russia, on the other hand, considers Crimea an integral part of Russia.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: In August 2016, Russian paratroopers placed 1st place in the Airborne Platoon competition during the International Army games in Russia. In the process the Russian paratroopers defeated teams from China, Iran, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: On 4 October 2016, Colonel General Andrey Serdyukov was appointed new commander of the Russian Airborne Forces, replacing Shamanov, who became chief of the Duma Committee on Defense.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: During 2016, three reconnaissance battalions and six tank companies, and two companies of electronic warfare and unmanned aerial vehicles were formed. 188 new and upgraded armored vehicles were also delivered, with the Russian Airborne Forces equipment level of modern weapons at 47%. From 2015 to 2016 five intelligence units and six tank units have been formed, over 3,000 new pieces of weaponry and special military equipment were supplied, the number of contract servicemen had grown by 1.5 times, while the troops' training intensity had risen by 20 percent.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: The Russian Airborne Forces have received over eleven thousand new and upgraded weapons in 2017. The share of modern armaments and hardware comprises 62 percent. In two years four battalion sets of 120 BMD-4M and BTR-MDM Rakushka vehicles were supplied. Besides that, the force received over 100 upgraded weapons, including 2S9-1M self-propelled guns. From 2015 to 2017 the air defense units received close to 500 modern automated reconnaissance and command complexes, new Verba portable missiles, and over 30 upgraded Strela-10MN missile complexes.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: On December 1, 2017, the organizational events to create a separate airborne assault battalion in Novorosiisk mountain division deployed in Feodosiya and a separate repairs and maintenance battalion in the Moscow region have been completed. Contracted servicemen comprise over 70 percent of the troops. Barnaul-T R&D produced a planning module paradropped to airborne units to simultaneously track a hundred of air objects and a paradroppable reconnaissance and command module to detect targets in a 40-km range which is deployed in five minutes.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: State tests of a new Bakhcha-U-PDS parachute platform for the BMD-4M and BTR-MDM vehicles were completed in May 2018. Deliveries of new ‘heavy drop’ systems PBS-950U and PBS-955 began in 2020. In 2019, two battalion sets of BMD-4M airborne combat vehicles and BTR-MDM Rakushka armored personnel carriers, more than 200 units of various automotive equipment, including special armored vehicles, army snowmobiles, four-wheelers and buggies and more than 9 thousand parachute systems D-10 and "Arbalet-2" were delivered to the troops.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: In April 2020, military personnel from the Russian Airborne Forces, performed the world's first HALO paradrop from the lower border of the Arctic stratosphere. The Russian commando group used "next-generation special-purpose parachute system", military tested oxygen equipment, navigation devices, special equipment, and uniforms. This was the first high-altitude landing in the Arctic latitudes over 10 km in the history of Russian aviation. The crews of Il-76 aircraft landed at the northernmost airfield of the country on the island of Franz Josef Land.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: As part of its mission in the Arctic region, the aircrew provided landing of airborne units from altitudes of 10 and 1.8 thousand meters, as well as landing of cargo with a total weight of about 18 tons. After conducting practical combat training, the Il-76 aircrews landed at the Nagurskoe airfield in the northern part of the island of Franz Josef Land. The high-altitude landing was dedicated to the 75th anniversary of the victory in the Great Patriotic war of 1941–1945 and the 90th anniversary of the formation of the Airborne troops.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: In 2020, the VDV continued to modernize and re-equip its command posts, started to receive the Stayer high-altitude parachute system which enables airdrops from up to 10 km altitude and completed receiving special purpose controllable parachute systems.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: Two air assault regiments have been set up in Pskov and Crimea as part of air assault divisions in 2021. The Russian Defense Ministry has also accepted the Zavet-D artillery fire control vehicle for the Airborne Forces. In 2021, the Airborne Forces received more than 13 thousand sets of landing equipment and parachute systems.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: The VDV participated heavily in the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine. In the opening hours of the invasion, the VDV attempted to secure key airports and support assaults around Ukraine. These paratroopers were recognizable by the orange-and-black Saint George ribbons decorating their helmets and arms.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: The VDV attempted to paradrop and transport troops with Mi-8 and Mi-17 helicopters and take the Hostomel Airport in northern Kyiv, in order to use the airport to airlift more troops and heavy equipment to take Kyiv as a form of forward "air bridge" that would enable rapid deployment of Russian forces far in advance of the Russian land front, in an action that became known as the Battle of Antonov Airport. The VDV troops at the airport then engaged the Ukrainian National Guard's 4th Rapid Reaction Brigade, which with the help of the Ukrainian Air Force encircled the unsupported VDV troops and recaptured the airport, with the Russians escaping to nearby woods.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: The next day battle resumed, and the VDV again attempted to land troops at the airport. Deploying around 200 helicopters and with support from the Ground Forces arriving from the north (Belarus and Chernobyl), they finally broke through the Ukrainian defenses and established Russian control over the airport. In the end, however, the Ukrainians claimed that the airport became too damaged from the battle to be used as an air strip.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: 40 kilometers south of Kyiv in Vasylkiv, VDV paratroopers dropped in an attempt to secure the Vasylkiv Air Base. Without any support from air or ground forces, the VDV troops in Vasylkiv were eventually encircled and were unsuccessful in achieving their objectives, giving victory in the Battle of Vasylkiv to the Ukrainians.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: On February 27, VDV troops with BMD-2s and BTR-Ds were seen south of Hostomel in Bucha. The VDV and Ground Forces' units were hit on the same day by Bayraktar air strikes. The Ukrainian government claimed that "more than 100 units of enemy equipment were destroyed”. On the following weeks the VDV served as Mechanized infantry and Light infantry roles during the Kyiv offensive.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: During the Battle of Kharkiv, VDV paratroopers landed in Kharkiv on March 2 in an attempt to capture the contested city. They attempted a raid on a local military hospital but were repelled by local Ukrainian forces.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: On March 3, it was reported that Major General Andrei Sukhovetsky of the VDV's 7th Guards Mountain Air Assault Division, who was the appointed deputy commander of the 41st Combined Arms Army, was killed in action in Ukraine. His death is attributed either to sniper fire near Mariupol (which was besieged by Russian forces) or Hostomel during the Kyiv offensive. Ukrainian sources claimed he was killed on March 2 and his death was first confirmed on VKontakte by "Combat Brotherhood", a Russian veterans group, and later by President Vladimir Putin. The VDV suffered similar losses in Bucha and Irpin with poor command and control being cited. The VDV also joined the assault on the city of Mykolaiv during the Battle of Mykolaiv, but were pushed back by a Ukrainian counter-offensive.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: On March 18, it was reported that Colonel Sergei Sukharev along with deputy Major Sergei Krylov of the 331st Guards Airborne Regiment had been killed during fighting in Mariupol.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: In late April, Bellingcat journalist Christo Grozev reported that he "personally checked" and Russia had lost "almost 90% of its best paratroopers" in the first echelon of the invasion. A large number of helicopters were shot down by Ukrainian defenses and the paratroopers were stranded without armored vehicles or air support. In early May, the UK MoD stated that the VDV units and other elite forces had suffered high losses and that it would "probably take years for Russia to reconstitute these forces."


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: According to BBC News Russian and the Mediazona news website, 914 VDV deaths were documented by 21 July 2022.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: The Air Landing Forces combine Parachute Landing ("парашютно-десантние") and Landing Assault ("десантно-штурмовие") units. The difference between the two is that while both were airborne qualified and mechanised with BMD, BTR-D, 2S9 Nona, the parachute landing units are lighter (only quarter mechanised) and play the role of entry element, while landing assault units were fully mechanised and were intended to develop the breach opened by the parachute landing forces.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: The VDV are fully equipped with Barmitsa and Ratnik infantry combat suits as of 2018. Andromeda-D, Barnaul-T and Dozor automated control systems, AS-1 snowmobiles, four wheelers, a specially-created uniform for hot climates and Nanuk Arctic gear, reconnaissance-control and planning modules and the REX-1 counter-unmanned aerial vehicle rifle-like, man-portable jammer developed by Kalashnikov Group subsidiary ZALA Aero Group are also being introduced into service. Portable versions of the Garmony air defence radar, modernized reconnaissance and artillery fire control posts and Aistyonok and Sobolyatnik radars are being supplied to the VDV. The Russian Airborne Forces have also received new special-purpose controlled wing-type parachutes.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: There are over 1,800 armored fighting vehicles, mostly BMD-1 (since 1969), of which all but around 100 are in storage, and at least several hundred BMD-2 (since 1985). There are over 100 BMD-3 (1990) that were partially upgraded to BMD-4 level. All of them are amphibious, moving at around 10 km/h in water. The BMD-4 is capable of full, continuous fire while in deep water, unlike any other vehicle with such heavy weaponry (100 mm gun and 30 mm auto cannon). However, some units (such as those who served on peacekeeping duties in the Balkans) are known to have used BTR armored personnel carriers rather than BMD's. T-72B3 tanks supplied to the Russian Airborne Forces in 2018 have been upgraded and are equipped with Andromeda automatic control system and some of them with top-attack defence screens. As of 2021, the Russian Airborne Forces have 150 T-72B3 and 10 T-72B3 mod. 2016.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: There is a turret-less variant of the BMD-1, the BTR-D, which is used as troop carrier and serves as the basis for specialised versions such as anti-tank, command and signals. The BTR-D will be partially replaced by the new multi-purpose APC BTR-MD "Rakushka" that will also come in several different versions. Approximately 280 vehicles in all BTR-D configurations are in service. As part of the 2011 state defence order (GOZ), 10 BMD-4M and 10 "Rakushka's" have been ordered, but according to the VDV's CinC General Colonel Shamanov, Kurganmashzavod did not give a guarantee it would produce them.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: The Russian Defense Ministry adopted the BMD-4M in early December 2012. They are planning to receive 10 BMD-4M vehicles and 10 BTR-MD vehicles for final testing by mid-2013, with commissioning by the end of 2013. The Russian Airborne plans to acquire 1,000 BMD-4Ms through 2020.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: The first production batch of the new armored vehicles BMD-4M and BTR-MDM "Shell" in the amount of 24 units (12 each) transferred to the Russian Airborne Forces in 2015. The VDV equipped the first regiment with BMD-4Ms and BTR-MDMs in 2016. In 2017, they received two battalion sets of BMD-4M combat airborne vehicles and BTR-MDM APCs, over 80 Rys’ and UAZ Pickup armored automobiles.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: Russian airborne brigade-level units have received SPM-2 GAZ-233036 Tigr armored cars. They have ordered Kamaz Typhoon armored infantry transports, following modifications to meet the demands of the airborne troops and accepted them for supply in August 2021. The Russian Airborne Forces have received about 100 Tigr and Rys special armored vehicles, 200 Snegohod A-1 snow-going and AM-1 all-terrain vehicles, UAZ Patriot light motor vehicles, Toros 4x4 armored vehicles and Kamaz trucks that can be air-dropped.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: The VDV currently receives Berkyt protected snowmobiles for personnel transportation and fire support in arctic conditions. Infauna and Leer-2 EW systems alongside Aileron-3SV UAVs and P-230T command vehicles are also received. The RKhM-6 chemical reconnaissance vehicle based on the BTR-80 armored personnel carrier, the BTR-D airborne assault armored personnel carrier with a ZU-23 anti-aircraft gun and the R-149MA1 and the R-142DA command and staff vehicles were demonstrated in August 2021. The Sarmat-2 light tactical buggy participated in the Zapad-2021 drill.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: On 1 August 2013, it was reported that the Russian Airborne Forces will develop a hybrid combat vehicle that combines features of an airborne infantry fighting vehicle and a helicopter. To meet the demands of future armed conflicts, a combat module that combines a light combat vehicle and an attack helicopter is being considered, with a crew of three-four people. The vehicle will be developed for the VDV by 2030.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: The airborne self-propelled artillery guns ASU-57 and ASU-85 have been withdrawn. They had light armour and limited anti-tank capability, but provided invaluable fire support for paratroopers behind enemy lines (the caliber of the gun in mm is the number next to the ASU designation).


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: Also withdrawn were the multiple rocket launch systems RPU-14 (8U38) of 140 mm and the BM-21V "Grad-V" (9P125) of 122 mm on GAZ-66, as well as the 85 mm gun SD-44.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: The VDV is equipped with numerous types of airborne capable trucks and jeeps, for example the Ural-4320, the GAZ-66V and the GAZ-2975 "Tigr" for transporting cargo, specialist crews and equipment (e.g. mortars, ammunitions), but not infantry (all fighting paratroopers are transported in armoured vehicles). Currently, the GAZ-66 is being replaced by the KamAZ-43501.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: The service march of the airborne forces is "We Need One Victory," also known as "Our 10th Parachute Battalion". It was made by poet Bulat Okudzhava, written for the feature film Belorussian Station by Andrei Smirnov (1970). It was later adapted by Alfred Schnittke to be performed as a march to be played at the Moscow Victory Day Parade on Victory Day (9 May).


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: On Airborne Forces Day in many Russian cities, it is customary to turn off the fountains and hold veteran reunions near those fountains.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: The Combined Military Band of the Airborne Forces is an integral part of all the solemn events of the Airborne Forces. Every year, the band's personnel take part in the Victory Parade on Red Square, as well as the opening ceremony of the International Army Games. In the ranks of the combined band were musicians of the military bands of the airborne and assault formations of the Airborne Forces. There were six other military bands in the airborne forces.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: The Song and Dance Ensemble of the Airborne Forces is the theatrical troupe of the VDV. It began its creative activity in 1937, as the Red Army Song and Dance Ensemble of the Kiev Military District, numbering only 18 people. On 3 May 1945, three days after the signing of the German armistice, the ensemble gave a concert on the steps of the destroyed Reichstag.


title: Russian Airborne Forces

text: During the Cold War, the unit was known as the Song and Dance Ensemble of the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany. During this time, it had participated in concerts in the cities of East Germany, Czechoslovakia, and Poland. It gained its current status in 1994. The Song and Dance Ensemble also contains the Blue Berets musical group.


title: Ultraman

text: Ultraman, also known as the , is the collective name for all media produced by Tsuburaya Productions featuring Ultraman, his many brethren, and the myriad monsters. Debuting with "Ultra Q" and then "Ultraman" in 1966, the series is one of the most prominent "tokusatsu" superhero genre productions from Japan, along with the Toei-produced series "Kamen Rider", "Super Sentai" and the "Metal Heroes". The series is also one of the most well-known examples of the "kaiju" genre, along with Toho's "Godzilla" series and Daiei Film's "Gamera" series. However, the series also falls into the "Kyodai" Hero subgenre of "tokusatsu", a subgenre it also helped popularise.


title: Ultraman

text: In Japan, The Ultraman brand generated in merchandising revenue from 1966 to 1987, equivalent to more than adjusted for inflation. Ultraman was the world's third top-selling licensed character in the 1980s, largely due to his popularity in Asia. References to Ultraman are abundant in Japanese pop culture, much like references to Superman in U.S. culture.


title: Ultraman

text: As revealed in "", the Ultras are a technologically advanced civilization originating from a planet within the , three million light years away from Earth (not to be confused with the Messier 78 nebula)—colloquially called the —who were originally identical to humans. They had evolved into their current state of being following the activation of the Plasma Spark, which replaced their dead sun. Ultraman and his many kind are usually red-and-silver (although several color variations have been seen in recent years) and have glowing yellow almond-shaped dome eyes (although there are exceptions to both the shape and color) and various abilities, most notably firing energy beams from their crossed hands and flight. They share a strong cultural sense of justice and duty, a majority of Ultramen joining the to maintain peace in the universe from alien invaders and monsters.


title: Ultraman

text: The Ultras that are sent to other worlds are given Color Timers, or "warning lights", which blink with increasing frequency and turn from blue to red if an Ultra's energy supply dwindles or he is mortally wounded. Due to human pollution and the light filtering effects of the atmosphere, an Ultra can remain active on Earth for a limited span of minutes before their energy is depleted and they die. This forces an Ultra to either assume a human form or merge with a human host body. The latter process has healing properties that include reviving a recently dead person with their own life force.


title: Ultraman

text: Ultra beings also appear to be near-impossible to permanently kill, as several times an Ultra being has been killed, only to be revived by another member of their species. An Ultra being can be revived with a massive energy infusion, as when Mebius' allies revived him with their energy after his defeat by Alien Empera's army. Ultras always try to avoid battles in inhabited areas or near innocent bystanders, and try to minimize collateral property damage. If these concerns cannot be met, a city like Tokyo could be destroyed.


title: Ultraman

text: The show "Ultraman" was followed by many other series. Sequels to the original series are: "Ultraseven" (1967, TBS), "The Return of Ultraman" (1971, TBS), "Ultraman Ace" (1972, TBS), "Ultraman Taro" (1973, TBS), "Ultraman Leo" (1974, TBS), "Ultraman 80" (1980, TBS), "Ultraman Tiga" (1996, MBS), "Ultraman Dyna" (1997, MBS), "Ultraman Gaia" (1998, MBS), and "Ultraman Cosmos" (2001, MBS). After that, the studio tried a reinvention of the hero through the "Ultra N Project", which involved three heroes: Ultraman Noa (the "mascot" of the Ultra N Project, who appears in stage shows as well as in the final episode of "Ultraman Nexus") in late 2003, "Ultraman Nexus" (2004, CBC), and "ULTRAMAN" (2004, Shochiku Productions). This was followed by a return to the old-school series' style in the form of "Ultraman Max" (2005, CBC). In the course of the "Max" series, another new hero known as Ultraman Xenon was also introduced. April 2006 saw the 40th anniversary series, "Ultraman Mebius", which signaled a long-awaited return to the original universe. Another hero was also introduced: "Ultraman Hikari", formerly known as Hunter Knight Tsurugi.


title: Ultraman

text: The franchise has also been shown in movie theaters, starting with "Ultraman Zearth" and "Ultraman Zearth 2", "", released in 2000, as well as "ULTRAMAN", a movie that opened in December 2004. The straight-to-video market also saw the release of "Ultraman Neos" in 2000, as well as special features for Ultraman Tiga, Dyna, and Gaia, who have teamed up in theatrical features (Tiga and Dyna once, as well as the three of them all together). The "Ultraman Mebius and Ultra Brothers" movie opened in September 2006.


title: Ultraman

text: Foreign productions include the 1987 Hanna-Barbera co-production "" (in Japanese, "Ultraman USA"), an animated movie; "" (in Japanese, "Ultraman Great"), produced in Australia in 1991 and "" (in Japanese, "Ultraman Powered"), produced in the United States in 1993. The Ultraman series have also been dubbed into various languages, including Spanish, English (only "Ultra Q", the original "Ultraman", "Ultraseven", "Return of Ultraman", "Ultraman Great" and "Ultraman Tiga" were known to be translated into English), Portuguese ("Ultraman", "Ultraseven", "Return of Ultraman" and "Ultraman Tiga" in Brazil), Korean, Malay, Mandarin, Cantonese, Filipino, and Indonesian ("Ultraman", "Ultraseven", "Return of Ultraman", " Ultraman Taro", "Ultraman Tiga", "Ultraman Dyna", "Ultraman Gaia", "Ultraman Nexus", "Ultraman Max" and "Ultraman Mebius"). Also of note is the American English dub of "Ultraman Tiga" by 4Kids Entertainment that aired in 2002. The dub considerably distorted the characterization and general mood of the series, and it achieved only limited success.


title: Ultraman

text: In 1993, Tsuburaya Productions and Toei Company co-produced "Ultraman vs. Kamen Rider," a crossover with the original Ultraman and Toei's "Kamen Rider". This direct-to-video feature is co-copyrighted by both Toei (and its subordinates, Toei Video and Ishinomori Productions) and Tsuburaya Productions.


title: Ultraman

text: , Tsuburaya Productions accepts 36 Ultramen as official (counting Ultraman Legend, the combined form of Ultramen Cosmos and Justice, as a separate entity). This figure does not account for Thai-produced Ultramen (the figure is 38 if Next, Noa, and Nexus are counted as separate entities — it has been revealed in "Nexus" that all three are a single being with various modes used by different hosts). In 2013, the Ultra Series was cited in the Guinness Book of World Records as the record-holder for the most spin-off shows. The Ultraman brand generated $7.4 billion in merchandising revenue from 1966 to 1987, equivalent to more than adjusted for inflation. Ultraman was the world's third top-selling licensed character in the 1980s, largely due to his popularity in Asia.


title: Ultraman

text: In 2017, "" and "" were released on 8 January 2017 in the United States as a double feature; this was the first North American theatrical release of an Ultraman feature film in its entire 50-year history. "Ultraman Max", "Ultraman 80", "Ultraman Neos", "Ultraman Nexus", "Ultraseven X", "The Ultraman" and other series began airing in the United States on the TOKU channel.


title: Ultraman

text: The "Ultraman" manga, which began in 2011, has sold more than 2.8million copies as of 2018. At the Tokyo Comic Con on 7 December 2017, Tsuburaya Productions revealed that an anime adaptation of the manga was planned for release in 2019. It was released by Netflix.


title: Ultraman

text: Ultraman content, products and services have been distributed in more than 100 countries worldwide. Tsuburaya has officially made their Ultraman and non-Ultraman content widely available on their YouTube channel, even simulcasting several of their series with English subtitles, the channel has reached over 2 million subscribers. In China, an "Ultraman" television series received views on over-the-top media services between July 2017 and March 2018.


title: Ultraman

text: The manga author Akira Toriyama, creator of "Dragon Ball" and "Dr. Slump", cited "Ultraman" as a formative influence on his work. Peyton Reed, the director of the "Ant-Man" films in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, said that Ant-Man's costume design was influenced by Ultraman along with Inframan, another tokusatsu superhero from China. Video game designer Hideki Kamiya (known for games such as "Resident Evil 2", "Devil May Cry", "Viewtiful Joe", "Ōkami", "Bayonetta" and "The Wonderful 101") said he loved "Godzilla" and "Ultraman" as a child.


title: Ultraman

text: It was announced in November 2019 that Marvel Comics has partnered with Tsuburaya Productions to publish Ultraman comic books in 2020. , Bandai Namco has sold "Ultraman" soft figures (heroes and monsters) since 1983, while Bandai Namco Arts (including Bandai Visual) has sold "Ultraman" home video units between January 1988 and March 2021.


title: Ultraman

text: Ultraman's licensing rights outside Japan have been the subject of a prolonged legal dispute between Tsuburaya Productions and Chaiyo Productions (also called Tsuburaya Chaiyo Co. Ltd) based in Thailand. Tsuburaya had previously collaborated with Chaiyo on the production of two movies, "The 6 Ultra Brothers vs. the Monster Army" and "Jumborg Ace & Giant"—the latter of which featured another Tsuburaya superhero, Jumborg Ace—in 1974. Sompote Saengduenchai, founder/president of Chaiyo Productions, claimed and maintained that in 1976 that Noboru Tsuburaya, the son of the late Eiji Tsuburaya, had given him and his company a contract which had given him rights to everything Ultraman outside Japanese territories in exchange for a monetary loan.


title: Ultraman

text: In spite of the fact that the document failed to state clearly and specifically exactly "what" had been given to Tsuburaya in exchange for these rights, Japanese and Thai courts accepted this contract as real and binding because of the supposed hanko of the late Noboru Tsuburaya, who had died in 1995, in the document. Tsuburaya Productions insisted and maintained that the contract was a forgery (due to factual errors, including the faulty titles of the series in the document, such as "Ultra Q" being called "Ultraman 1: Ultra Q," "Ultraseven" being called "Ultraman 3: Ultraman Seven", and Tsuburaya Productions being called "Tsuburaya Prod. and Enterprises", a name the company never did business under), and repeatedly contested the issue.


title: Ultraman

text: In the course of the legal battle, Sompote presented photos of himself sharing his photos of Thai Buddhist edifices, stating that Eiji had based Ultraman's face on those edifices, a claim which he has continued to hold since the dispute began. No other evidence supporting this claim is known to exist.


title: Ultraman

text: After an eight-year battle in the courts of both countries, Sompote Saengduenchai was awarded a favorable decision on 27 April 2004. The exact ruling fell into some dispute: Some said it only gave him merchandising rights for the first six Ultra Series ("Ultra Q" through "Ultraman Taro") and "Jumborg Ace" outside Japan, and broadcasting rights of those shows within Thailand. Other accounts, usually reported in the Thai/Asian media, said that Chaiyo had gained the rights to those six shows everywhere outside Japan. The latter could be taken as Chaiyo's side of the story, as Tsuburaya was reported in the Japanese media to continue taking further action against them.


title: Ultraman

text: Tsuburaya decided not to market any of the disputed six Ultra Series outside Japan until it had completely settled the rights issues with Chaiyo, although the company continued to merchandise and distribute all of the Ultraman programs created after "Ultraman Taro", including the theatrical feature "Ultraman the Next", throughout the world. Because of the copyright struggle, importing literature on Ultraman into Singapore and Malaysia was prohibited. It also resulted in a slight backlash against Thai Ultraman fans, who were assumed to be outright Chaiyo supporters.


title: Ultraman

text: In 2005 the American company BCI Home Entertainment (BCI/Eclipse), a subsidiary of Navarre Corporation announced they had acquired the DVD license to "Ultraman" from distributor Golden Media Group Inc., a Hollywood-based distributor, who secured the rights from Tokyo-based UM Corp. Inc., acting as the global agent for Chaiyo. A three-disc box set containing the first 20 episodes of the series was released on 18 July 2006, followed by a second three-disc box set containing the remaining 19 episodes was released on 7 November 2006. Both sets feature the Japanese stereo audio, created by Tsuburaya Productions and Pioneer for their Japanese R-2 DVD release in 1999, as well as the English-dubbed version produced by United Artists for North American syndication. The original Japanese monaural was not included.


title: Ultraman

text: Unfortunately, the English audio for Episodes 5 through 39 were not all complete, as BCI sourced private home off-air audio recordings from an unknown television broadcast, which were cut to provide for more commercial time. Therefore, the episodes in question would switch to Japanese audio from English audio to cover the missing gaps. Due to these gaps, BCI's publicity department assumed the original series was edited by UA-TV when it was originally prepared for U.S. syndication. Only minor seconds of extreme violence were trimmed from three episodes, none of which contained dialogue. Tsuburaya Productions had a complete run of the UA-TV's version, which their Los Angeles office, UltraCom Inc., retrieved from a U.S. film warehouse in 1993. In 1994, they provided the English audio for the Expressions in Animation VHS release of the first four episodes, which were sourced for the corresponding episodes in the BCI release.


title: Ultraman

text: During the time of the legal battle, Chaiyo came up with three of their own Ultras: Ultraman Millennium, Dark Ultraman (an evil Ultra), and Ultraman Elite. These were not used for purposes other than stage shows and merchandise. Chaiyo also created a TV series that he called "Project Ultraman", unaired as of late March 2008, a joint project in China featuring their own Ultraman and attaching Hong Kong star Ekin Cheng to the project.


title: Ultraman

text: On 23 August 2006, Tsuburaya Productions filed a new lawsuit against Chaiyo for copyright infringement and plagiarism (concerning their three original Ultraman characters), and the court case was taken to China. The Chinese courts in Beijing opened "The Ultraman Copyright Study Group" in response to the lawsuit. In April 2007, the Thailand Intellectual Property Court ruled in favor of Tsuburaya Productions, ordering Chaiyo to cease and desist making commercial profits from Chaiyo-produced Ultraman characters such as Millennium, Dark, and Elite. The defendants were also fined THB 15,000,000 (approx. JPY 50,904,959 or US$428,673.50 c. April 2007) plus interest and attorneys' fees. "Project Ultraman" went on hiatus as a result of the ruling, which implied that, although Chaiyo owned the right to "some" of the Ultraman series, it did "not" own the right to Ultraman and his brothers, including the design. Chaiyo gained permission to merchandise the original series, but lost the right to create and market its own Ultraman, or even use the original, without Tsuburaya's consent.


title: Ultraman

text: On 5 February 2008, Thailand's Supreme Court ruled in favor of Tsuburaya Productions of Japan after they made an appeal to the initial ruling. The ruling ended the long legal battle by finding Sompote Saengduenchai was "not" a co-creator of Ultraman. The decision ended Sompote's bid to continue his enterprise, and the court gave Sompote 30 days to stop profiteering from Ultraman. The final ruling saw Tsuburaya Productions as the sole copyright owner. Sompote was also required to pay THB 10,700,000 plus interest at the rate of 7.5 percent a year starting from 16 December 1997, when the original lawsuit was filed.


title: Ultraman

text: In 2009, the Thai Intellectual Property Court and the Tokyo District Court both ruled in favour of the Thai company. This led to the Tokyo District Court on 30 September 2010, ordering Tsuburaya Productions Co. of Japan to pay damages of 16.36 million yen (Bt5.9 million) to Sompote Saengduenchai of Thailand for violating his overseas copyrights on the Ultraman characters.


title: Ultraman

text: After the announcement of the film "" in July 2017, the dispute on the ownership of the franchise has escalated. But on 20 November 2017, through a Los Angeles court ruling by Judge Andre Birotte Jr, Tsuburaya won the lawsuit against Chaiyo and affiliate groups on the rights of the series after the jury concluded that the supposed agreement between Noboru Tsuburaya and Chaiyo was "not authentic". Despite UM Corporation and Chaiyo filing a counter-dispute, on 18 April 2018, the legal court came to a definite close where a final judgement states that the dispute and the document was deemed invalid, forbidding UMC to use the Ultra Series and all its related characters and forced them to pay Tsubaraya damages for its infringement of its rights.


title: Ultraman

text: With the release of the sequel film "" (), issues between UMC, Bluearc and Tsubaraya had reignited and the company took legal actions against the two companies again. On 10 December 2019, it was confirmed by Tsuburaya that the court has rejected UMC and Bluearc's appeal for a retrial, stating the court's first verdict of regarding the rights and ownership of Ultraman to Tsuburaya is still legitimate and final, and that any future appeals by UMC and Bluearc will likely be rejected. As UMC and Bluearc failed to file a further appeal by 4 March 2020, they were to pay US$4,000,000 (approx. 400,000,000 Japanese yen) in compensatory damages, as well as other various court fees. The resulting victory has reached Thailand as well and the Thai Supreme Court ordered a ruling in favor Tsuburaya Productions as the legitimate copyright owner of the shows listed in the License Granting Agreement alongside ownership over Hanuman vs. 7 Ultraman (and its remake, Hanuman vs. 11 Ultraman) and Jumborg Ace & Giant. Sompote had made an appeal to the court over the decision, but was dismissed. Sompote believes the decision would affect the former two movies' status as national heritage items, and has appealed to both the Supreme Court and Ministry of Culture on that front.


title: Ultraman

text: On 6 March 2014, the Malaysian Ministry of Home Affairs announced that it had banned the publication of an "Ultraman" comic book "Ultraman: The Ultra Power" "due to contents that were detrimental to public order". Social media users later noticed that a page in the book described the character of Ultraman King (from the film "") as a god, which in the Malaysian language is the Arabic word "Allah". The Home Ministry later confirmed that the use of "Allah" was indeed the reason for the ban, claiming that the comparison may "confuse Muslim children and damage their faith". This highlighted the larger ban to prevent non-Muslims in Malaysia from using the word "Allah", despite its common usage in Bahasa Melayu to refer to any god, as well as a suit from the Catholic Church of Malaysia over its usage.


title: Ultraman

text: Between 1993 and 1994, Harvey Comics published two comic book series based on the 1966 "Ultraman" television series.


title: Ultraman

text: Since 2020, Marvel Comics started publishing an initial new "Ultraman" comic book limited series titled "The Rise of Ultraman", written by Kyle Higgins & Matt Groom with art by Francesco Manna. It debuted in September 2020 and concluded in January 2021.


title: Ultraman

text: A second series titled "The Trials of Ultraman" premiered in March 2021, with Higgins, Groom and Manna returning and concluded in August of the same year.


title: Ultraman

text: A third series titled "The Mystery of Ultraseven", which will be written by Higgins and Groom, and drawn by Davide Tinto, David Lopez, and Gurihiru, will be released on August 17, 2022.


title: Ultraman

text: During Anime Expo 2022, Groom announced a crossover event between the current "Ultraman" comics with the Marvel Universe for 2023.


title: Manganese

text: Manganese is a chemical element with the symbol Mn and atomic number 25. It is a hard, brittle, silvery metal, often found in minerals in combination with iron. Manganese is a transition metal with a multifaceted array of industrial alloy uses, particularly in stainless steels. It improves strength, workability, and resistance to wear. Manganese oxide is used as an oxidising agent; as a rubber additive; and in glass making, fertilisers, and ceramics. Manganese sulfate can be used as a fungicide.


title: Manganese

text: Manganese is also an essential human dietary element, important in macronutrient metabolism, bone formation, and free radical defense systems. It is a critical component in dozens of proteins and enzymes. It is found mostly in the bones, but also the liver, kidneys, and brain. In the human brain, the manganese is bound to manganese metalloproteins, most notably glutamine synthetase in astrocytes.


title: Manganese

text: Manganese was first isolated in 1774. It is familiar in the laboratory in the form of the deep violet salt potassium permanganate. It occurs at the active sites in some enzymes. Of particular interest is the use of a Mn-O cluster, the oxygen-evolving complex, in the production of oxygen by plants.


title: Manganese

text: Manganese is a silvery-gray metal that resembles iron. It is hard and very brittle, difficult to fuse, but easy to oxidize. Manganese metal and its common ions are paramagnetic. Manganese tarnishes slowly in air and oxidizes ("rusts") like iron in water containing dissolved oxygen.


title: Manganese

text: Naturally occurring manganese is composed of one stable isotope, Mn. Several radioisotopes have been isolated and described, ranging in atomic weight from 44 u (Mn) to 69 u (Mn). The most stable are Mn with a half-life of 3.7 million years, Mn with a half-life of 312.2 days, and Mn with a half-life of 5.591 days. All of the remaining radioactive isotopes have half-lives of less than three hours, and the majority of less than one minute. The primary decay mode in isotopes lighter than the most abundant stable isotope, Mn, is electron capture and the primary mode in heavier isotopes is beta decay. Manganese also has three meta states.


title: Manganese

text: Manganese is part of the iron group of elements, which are thought to be synthesized in large stars shortly before the supernova explosion. Mn decays to Cr with a half-life of 3.7 million years. Because of its relatively short half-life, Mn is relatively rare, produced by cosmic rays impact on iron. Manganese isotopic contents are typically combined with chromium isotopic contents and have found application in isotope geology and radiometric dating. Mn–Cr isotopic ratios reinforce the evidence from Al and Pd for the early history of the Solar System. Variations in Cr/Cr and Mn/Cr ratios from several meteorites suggest an initial Mn/Mn ratio, which indicate that Mn–Cr isotopic composition must result from "in situ" decay of Mn in differentiated planetary bodies. Hence, Mn provides additional evidence for nucleosynthetic processes immediately before coalescence of the Solar System.


title: Manganese

text: The most common oxidation states of manganese are +2, +3, +4, +6, and +7, though all oxidation states from −3 to +7 have been observed. Mn often competes with Mg in biological systems, with the ion also being very similar in its properties to Ca and Zn. Manganese compounds where manganese is in oxidation state +7, which are mostly restricted to the unstable oxide MnO, compounds of the intensely purple permanganate anion MnO, and a few oxyhalides (MnOF and MnOCl), are powerful oxidizing agents. Compounds with oxidation states +5 (blue) and +6 (green) are strong oxidizing agents and are vulnerable to disproportionation.


title: Manganese

text: The most stable oxidation state for manganese is +2, which has a pale pink color, and many manganese(II) compounds are known, such as manganese(II) sulfate (MnSO) and manganese(II) chloride (MnCl). This oxidation state is also seen in the mineral rhodochrosite (manganese(II) carbonate). Manganese(II) most commonly exists with a high spin, S = 5/2 ground state because of the high pairing energy for manganese(II). However, there are a few examples of low-spin, S =1/2 manganese(II). There are no spin-allowed d–d transitions in manganese(II), explaining why manganese(II) compounds are typically pale to colorless.


title: Manganese

text: The +3 oxidation state is known in compounds like manganese(III) acetate, but these are quite powerful oxidizing agents and also prone to disproportionation in solution, forming manganese(II) and manganese(IV). Solid compounds of manganese(III) are characterized by its strong purple-red color and a preference for distorted octahedral coordination resulting from the Jahn-Teller effect.


title: Manganese

text: The oxidation state +5 can be produced by dissolving manganese dioxide in molten sodium nitrite. Manganate(VI) salts can be produced by dissolving Mn compounds, such as manganese dioxide, in molten alkali while exposed to air.


title: Manganese

text: Permanganate (+7 oxidation state) compounds are purple, and can give glass a violet color. Potassium permanganate, sodium permanganate, and barium permanganate are all potent oxidizers. Potassium permanganate, also called Condy's crystals, is a commonly used laboratory reagent because of its oxidizing properties; it is used as a topical medicine (for example, in the treatment of fish diseases). Solutions of potassium permanganate were among the first stains and fixatives to be used in the preparation of biological cells and tissues for electron microscopy.


title: Manganese

text: The rare oxidation state +1 exists in some organomanganese compounds such as the MnCHCH(CO) compound cited in the table above.


title: Manganese

text: The origin of the name manganese is complex. In ancient times, two black minerals were identified from the regions of the Magnetes (either Magnesia, located within modern Greece, or Magnesia ad Sipylum, located within modern Turkey).


title: Manganese

text: They were both called "magnes" from their place of origin, but were considered to differ in sex. The male "magnes" attracted iron, and was the iron ore now known as lodestone or magnetite, and which probably gave us the term magnet. The female "magnes" ore did not attract iron, but was used to decolorize glass. This female "magnes" was later called "magnesia", known now in modern times as pyrolusite or manganese dioxide. Neither this mineral nor elemental manganese is magnetic. In the 16th century, manganese dioxide was called "manganesum" (note the two Ns instead of one) by glassmakers, possibly as a corruption and concatenation of two words, since alchemists and glassmakers eventually had to differentiate a "magnesia nigra" (the black ore) from "magnesia alba" (a white ore, also from Magnesia, also useful in glassmaking). Michele Mercati called magnesia nigra "manganesa", and finally the metal isolated from it became known as "manganese" (German: "Mangan"). The name "magnesia" eventually was then used to refer only to the white magnesia alba (magnesium oxide), which provided the name magnesium for the free element when it was isolated much later.


title: Manganese

text: Several colorful oxides of manganese, for example manganese dioxide, are abundant in nature and have been used as pigments since the Stone Age. The cave paintings in Gargas that are 30,000 to 24,000 years old contain manganese pigments.


title: Manganese

text: Manganese compounds were used by Egyptian and Roman glassmakers, either to add to, or remove, color from glass. Use as "glassmakers soap" continued through the Middle Ages until modern times and is evident in 14th-century glass from Venice.


title: Manganese

text: Because it was used in glassmaking, manganese dioxide was available for experiments by alchemists, the first chemists. Ignatius Gottfried Kaim (1770) and Johann Glauber (17th century) discovered that manganese dioxide could be converted to permanganate, a useful laboratory reagent. By the mid-18th century, the Swedish chemist Carl Wilhelm Scheele used manganese dioxide to produce chlorine. First, hydrochloric acid, or a mixture of dilute sulfuric acid and sodium chloride was made to react with manganese dioxide, and later hydrochloric acid from the Leblanc process was used and the manganese dioxide was recycled by the Weldon process. The production of chlorine and hypochlorite bleaching agents was a large consumer of manganese ores.


title: Manganese

text: By the mid-18th century, Carl Wilhelm Scheele used pyrolusite to produce chlorine. Scheele and others were aware that pyrolusite (now known to be manganese dioxide) contained a new element. Johan Gottlieb Gahn was the first to isolate an impure sample of manganese metal in 1774, which he did by reducing the dioxide with carbon.


title: Manganese

text: The manganese content of some iron ores used in Greece led to speculations that steel produced from that ore contains additional manganese, making the Spartan steel exceptionally hard. Around the beginning of the 19th century, manganese was used in steelmaking and several patents were granted. In 1816, it was documented that iron alloyed with manganese was harder but not more brittle. In 1837, British academic James Couper noted an association between miners' heavy exposure to manganese and a form of Parkinson's disease. In 1912, United States patents were granted for protecting firearms against rust and corrosion with manganese phosphate electrochemical conversion coatings, and the process has seen widespread use ever since.


title: Manganese

text: The invention of the Leclanché cell in 1866 and the subsequent improvement of batteries containing manganese dioxide as cathodic depolarizer increased the demand for manganese dioxide. Until the development of batteries with nickel-cadmium and lithium, most batteries contained manganese. The zinc–carbon battery and the alkaline battery normally use industrially produced manganese dioxide because naturally occurring manganese dioxide contains impurities. In the 20th century, manganese dioxide was widely used as the cathodic for commercial disposable dry batteries of both the standard (zinc–carbon) and alkaline types.


title: Manganese

text: Manganese comprises about 1000 ppm (0.1%) of the Earth's crust, the 12th most abundant of the crust's elements. Soil contains 7–9000 ppm of manganese with an average of 440 ppm. The atmosphere contains 0.01 μg/m. Manganese occurs principally as pyrolusite (MnO), braunite (MnMn)(SiO), psilomelane , and to a lesser extent as rhodochrosite (MnCO).


title: Manganese

text: The most important manganese ore is pyrolusite (MnO). Other economically important manganese ores usually show a close spatial relation to the iron ores, such as sphalerite. Land-based resources are large but irregularly distributed. About 80% of the known world manganese resources are in South Africa; other important manganese deposits are in Ukraine, Australia, India, China, Gabon and Brazil. According to 1978 estimate, the ocean floor has 500 billion tons of manganese nodules. Attempts to find economically viable methods of harvesting manganese nodules were abandoned in the 1970s.


title: Manganese

text: In South Africa, most identified deposits are located near Hotazel in the Northern Cape Province, with a 2011 estimate of 15 billion tons. In 2011 South Africa produced 3.4 million tons, topping all other nations.


title: Manganese

text: Manganese is mainly mined in South Africa, Australia, China, Gabon, Brazil, India, Kazakhstan, Ghana, Ukraine and Malaysia.


title: Manganese

text: For the production of ferromanganese, the manganese ore is mixed with iron ore and carbon, and then reduced either in a blast furnace or in an electric arc furnace. The resulting ferromanganese has a manganese content of 30 to 80%. Pure manganese used for the production of iron-free alloys is produced by leaching manganese ore with sulfuric acid and a subsequent electrowinning process.


title: Manganese

text: A more progressive extraction process involves directly reducing (a low grade) manganese ore by heap leaching. This is done by percolating natural gas through the bottom of the heap; the natural gas provides the heat (needs to be at least 850 °C) and the reducing agent (carbon monoxide). This reduces all of the manganese ore to manganese oxide (MnO), which is a leachable form. The ore then travels through a grinding circuit to reduce the particle size of the ore to between 150 and 250 μm, increasing the surface area to aid leaching. The ore is then added to a leach tank of sulfuric acid and ferrous iron (Fe) in a 1.6:1 ratio. The iron reacts with the manganese dioxide (MnO) to form iron hydroxide (FeO(OH)) and elemental manganese (Mn):


title: Manganese

text: This process yields approximately 92% recovery of the manganese. For further purification, the manganese can then be sent to an electrowinning facility.


title: Manganese

text: In 1972 the CIA's Project Azorian, through billionaire Howard Hughes, commissioned the ship "Hughes Glomar Explorer" with the cover story of harvesting manganese nodules from the sea floor. That triggered a rush of activity to collect manganese nodules, which was not actually practical. The real mission of "Hughes Glomar Explorer" was to raise a sunken Soviet submarine, the K-129, with the goal of retrieving Soviet code books.


title: Manganese

text: An abundant resource of manganese in the form of Mn nodules found on the ocean floor. These nodules, which are composed of 29% manganese, are located along the ocean floor and the potential impact of mining these nodules is being researched. Physical, chemical, and biological environmental impacts can occur due to this nodule mining disturbing the seafloor and causing sediment plumes to form. This suspension includes metals and inorganic nutrients, which can lead to contamination of the near-bottom waters from dissolved toxic compounds. Mn nodules are also the grazing grounds, living space, and protection for endo- and epifaunal systems. When theses nodules are removed, these systems are directly affected. Overall, this can cause species to leave the area or completely die off. Prior to the commencement of the mining itself, research is being conducted by United Nations affiliated bodies and state-sponsored companies in an attempt to fully understand environmental impacts in the hopes of mitigating these impacts.


title: Manganese

text: Many trace elements in the ocean come from metal-rich hydrothermal particles from hydrothermal vents. Dissolved manganese (dMn) is found throughout the world's oceans, 90% of which originates from hydrothermal vents. Particulate Mn develops in buoyant plumes over an active vent source, while the dMn behaves conservatively. Mn concentrations vary between the water columns of the ocean. At the surface, dMn is elevated due to input from external sources such as rivers, dust, and shelf sediments. Coastal sediments normally have lower Mn concentrations, but can increase due to anthropogenic discharges from industries such as mining and steel manufacturing, which enter the ocean from river inputs. Surface dMn concentrations can also be elevated biologically through photosynthesis and physically from coastal upwelling and wind-driven surface currents. Internal cycling such as photo-reduction from UV radiation can also elevate levels by speeding up the dissolution of Mn-oxides and oxidative scavenging, preventing Mn from sinking to deeper waters. Elevated levels at mid-depths can occur near mid-ocean ridges and hydrothermal vents. The hydrothermal vents release dMn enriched fluid into the water. The dMn can then travel up to 4,000 km due to the microbial capsules present, preventing exchange with particles, lowing the sinking rates. Dissolved Mn concentrations are even higher when oxygen levels are low. Overall, dMn concentrations are normally higher in coastal regions and decrease when moving offshore.


title: Manganese

text: Manganese occurs in soils in three oxidation states: the divalent cation, Mn and as brownish-black oxides and hydroxides containing Mn (III,IV), such as MnOOH and MnO. Soil pH and oxidation-reduction conditions affect which of these three forms of Mn is dominant in a given soil. At pH values less than 6 or under anaerobic conditions, Mn(II) dominates, while under more alkaline and aerobic conditions, Mn(III,IV) oxides and hydroxides predominate. These effects of soil acidity and aeration state on the form of Mn can be modified or controlled by microbial activity. Microbial respiration can cause both the oxidation of Mn to the oxides, and it can cause reduction of the oxides to the divalent cation.


title: Manganese

text: The Mn(III,IV) oxides exist as brownish-black stains and small nodules on sand, silt, and clay particles. These surface coatings on other soil particles have high surface area and carry negative charge. The charged sites can adsorb and retain various cations, especially heavy metals (e.g., Cr, Cu, Zn, and Pb). In addition, the oxides can adsorb organic acids and other compounds. The adsorption of the metals and organic compounds can then cause them to be oxidized while the Mn(III,IV) oxides are reduced to Mn (e.g., Cr to Cr(VI) and colorless hydroquinone to tea-colored quinone polymers).


title: Manganese

text: Manganese has no satisfactory substitute in its major applications in metallurgy. In minor applications (e.g., manganese phosphating), zinc and sometimes vanadium are viable substitutes.


title: Manganese

text: Manganese is essential to iron and steel production by virtue of its sulfur-fixing, deoxidizing, and alloying properties, as first recognized by the British metallurgist Robert Forester Mushet (1811–1891) who, in 1856, introduced the element, in the form of Spiegeleisen, into steel for the specific purpose of removing excess dissolved oxygen, sulfur, and phosphorus in order to improve its malleability. Steelmaking, including its ironmaking component, has accounted for most manganese demand, presently in the range of 85% to 90% of the total demand. Manganese is a key component of low-cost stainless steel. Often ferromanganese (usually about 80% manganese) is the intermediate in modern processes.


title: Manganese

text: Small amounts of manganese improve the workability of steel at high temperatures by forming a high-melting sulfide and preventing the formation of a liquid iron sulfide at the grain boundaries. If the manganese content reaches 4%, the embrittlement of the steel becomes a dominant feature. The embrittlement decreases at higher manganese concentrations and reaches an acceptable level at 8%. Steel containing 8 to 15% of manganese has a high tensile strength of up to 863 MPa. Steel with 12% manganese was discovered in 1882 by Robert Hadfield and is still known as Hadfield steel (mangalloy). It was used for British military steel helmets and later by the U.S. military.


title: Manganese

text: The second largest application for manganese is in aluminium alloys. Aluminium with roughly 1.5% manganese has increased resistance to corrosion through grains that absorb impurities which would lead to galvanic corrosion. The corrosion-resistant aluminium alloys 3004 and 3104 (0.8 to 1.5% manganese) are used for most beverage cans. Before 2000, more than 1.6 million tonnes of those alloys were used; at 1% manganese, this consumed 16,000 tonnes of manganese.


title: Manganese

text: Methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl is used as an additive in unleaded gasoline to boost octane rating and reduce engine knocking. The manganese in this unusual organometallic compound is in the +1 oxidation state.


title: Manganese

text: Manganese(IV) oxide (manganese dioxide, MnO) is used as a reagent in organic chemistry for the oxidation of benzylic alcohols (where the hydroxyl group is adjacent to an aromatic ring). Manganese dioxide has been used since antiquity to oxidize and neutralize the greenish tinge in glass from trace amounts of iron contamination. MnO is also used in the manufacture of oxygen and chlorine and in drying black paints. In some preparations, it is a brown pigment for paint and is a constituent of natural umber.


title: Manganese

text: Tetravalent manganese is used as an activator in red-emitting phosphors. While many compounds are known which show luminescence, the majority are not used in commercial application due to low efficiency or deep red emission. However, several Mn activated fluorides were reported as potential red-emitting phosphors for warm-white LEDs. But to this day, only KSiF:Mn is commercially available for use in warm-white LEDs.


title: Manganese

text: Manganese(IV) oxide was used in the original type of dry cell battery as an electron acceptor from zinc, and is the blackish material in carbon–zinc type flashlight cells. The manganese dioxide is reduced to the manganese oxide-hydroxide MnO(OH) during discharging, preventing the formation of hydrogen at the anode of the battery.


title: Manganese

text: The same material also functions in newer alkaline batteries (usually battery cells), which use the same basic reaction, but a different electrolyte mixture. In 2002, more than 230,000 tons of manganese dioxide was used for this purpose.


title: Manganese

text: Copper alloys of manganese, such as Manganin, are commonly found in metal element shunt resistors used for measuring relatively large amounts of current. These alloys have very low temperature coefficient of resistance and are resistant to sulfur. This makes the alloys particularly useful in harsh automotive and industrial environments.


title: Manganese

text: The metal is occasionally used in coins; until 2000, the only United States coin to use manganese was the from 1942 to 1945. An alloy of 75% copper and 25% nickel was traditionally used for the production of nickel coins. However, because of shortage of nickel metal during the war, it was substituted by more available silver and manganese, thus resulting in an alloy of 56% copper, 35% silver and 9% manganese. Since 2000, dollar coins, for example the Sacagawea dollar and the Presidential $1 coins, are made from a brass containing 7% of manganese with a pure copper core. In both cases of nickel and dollar, the use of manganese in the coin was to duplicate the electromagnetic properties of a previous identically sized and valued coin in the mechanisms of vending machines. In the case of the later U.S. dollar coins, the manganese alloy was intended to duplicate the properties of the copper/nickel alloy used in the previous Susan B. Anthony dollar.


title: Manganese

text: Manganese compounds have been used as pigments and for the coloring of ceramics and glass. The brown color of ceramic is sometimes the result of manganese compounds. In the glass industry, manganese compounds are used for two effects. Manganese(III) reacts with iron(II) to reduce strong green color in glass by forming less-colored iron(III) and slightly pink manganese(II), compensating for the residual color of the iron(III). Larger quantities of manganese are used to produce pink colored glass. In 2009, Professor Mas Subramanian and associates at Oregon State University discovered that manganese can be combined with yttrium and indium to form an intensely blue, non-toxic, inert, fade-resistant pigment, YInMn blue, the first new blue pigment discovered in 200 years.


title: Manganese

text: The classes of enzymes that have manganese cofactors include oxidoreductases, transferases, hydrolases, lyases, isomerases and ligases. Other enzymes containing manganese are arginase and Mn-containing superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD). Also the enzyme class of reverse transcriptases of many retroviruses (though not lentiviruses such as HIV) contains manganese. Manganese-containing polypeptides are the diphtheria toxin, lectins and integrins.


title: Manganese

text: Manganese is an essential human dietary element. It is present as a coenzyme in several biological processes, which include macronutrient metabolism, bone formation, and free radical defense systems. It is a critical component in dozens of proteins and enzymes. The human body contains about 12 mg of manganese, mostly in the bones. The soft tissue remainder is concentrated in the liver and kidneys. In the human brain, the manganese is bound to manganese metalloproteins, most notably glutamine synthetase in astrocytes.


title: Manganese

text: The U.S. Institute of Medicine (IOM) updated Estimated Average Requirements (EARs) and Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for minerals in 2001. For manganese there was not sufficient information to set EARs and RDAs, so needs are described as estimates for Adequate Intakes (AIs). As for safety, the IOM sets Tolerable upper intake levels (ULs) for vitamins and minerals when evidence is sufficient. In the case of manganese the adult UL is set at 11 mg/day. Collectively the EARs, RDAs, AIs and ULs are referred to as Dietary Reference Intakes (DRIs). Manganese deficiency is rare.


title: Manganese

text: The European Food Safety Authority (EFSA) refers to the collective set of information as Dietary Reference Values, with Population Reference Intake (PRI) instead of RDA, and Average Requirement instead of EAR. AI and UL defined the same as in United States. For people ages 15 and older the AI is set at 3.0 mg/day. AIs for pregnancy and lactation is 3.0 mg/day. For children ages 1–14 years the AIs increase with age from 0.5 to 2.0 mg/day. The adult AIs are higher than the U.S. RDAs. The EFSA reviewed the same safety question and decided that there was insufficient information to set a UL.


title: Manganese

text: For U.S. food and dietary supplement labeling purposes the amount in a serving is expressed as a percent of Daily Value (%DV). For manganese labeling purposes 100% of the Daily Value was 2.0 mg, but as of 27 May 2016 it was revised to 2.3 mg to bring it into agreement with the RDA. A table of the old and new adult daily values is provided at Reference Daily Intake.


title: Manganese

text: Excessive exposure or intake may lead to a condition known as manganism, a neurodegenerative disorder that causes dopaminergic neuronal death and symptoms similar to Parkinson's disease.


title: Manganese

text: Manganese deficiency in humans results in a number of medical problems. Many common vitamin and mineral supplement products fail to include manganese in their compositions. Relatively high dietary intake of other minerals such as iron, magnesium, and calcium may inhibit the proper intake of manganese. A deficiency of manganese causes skeletal deformation in animals and inhibits the production of collagen in wound healing.


title: Manganese

text: Many enzymatic systems need Mn to function, but in high levels, Mn can become toxic. One environmental reason Mn levels can increase in seawater is when hypoxic periods occur. Since 1990 there have been reports of Mn accumulation in marine organisms including fish, crustaceans, mollusks, and echinoderms. Specific tissues are targets in different species, including the gills, brain, blood, kidney, and liver/hepatopancreas. Physiological effects have been reported in these species. Mn can affect the renewal of immunocytes and their functionality, such as phagocytosis and activation of pro-phenoloxidase, suppressing the organisms' immune systems. This causes the organisms to be more susceptible to infections. As climate change occurs, pathogen distributions increase, and in order for organisms to survive and defend themselves against these pathogens, they need a healthy, strong immune system. If their systems are compromised from high Mn levels, they will not be able to fight off these pathogens and die.


title: Manganese

text: Mn-SOD is the type of SOD present in eukaryotic mitochondria, and also in most bacteria (this fact is in keeping with the bacterial-origin theory of mitochondria). The Mn-SOD enzyme is probably one of the most ancient, for nearly all organisms living in the presence of oxygen use it to deal with the toxic effects of superoxide (), formed from the 1-electron reduction of dioxygen. The exceptions, which are all bacteria, include "Lactobacillus plantarum" and related lactobacilli, which use a different nonenzymatic mechanism with manganese (Mn) ions complexed with polyphosphate, suggesting a path of evolution for this function in aerobic life.


title: Manganese

text: Manganese is also important in photosynthetic oxygen evolution in chloroplasts in plants. The oxygen-evolving complex (OEC) is a part of photosystem II contained in the thylakoid membranes of chloroplasts; it is responsible for the terminal photooxidation of water during the light reactions of photosynthesis, and has a metalloenzyme core containing four atoms of manganese. To fulfill this requirement, most broad-spectrum plant fertilizers contain manganese.


title: Manganese

text: Manganese compounds are less toxic than those of other widespread metals, such as nickel and copper. However, exposure to manganese dusts and fumes should not exceed the ceiling value of 5 mg/m even for short periods because of its toxicity level. Manganese poisoning has been linked to impaired motor skills and cognitive disorders.


title: Manganese

text: Permanganate exhibits a higher toxicity than manganese(II) compounds. The fatal dose is about 10 g, and several fatal intoxications have occurred. The strong oxidative effect leads to necrosis of the mucous membrane. For example, the esophagus is affected if the permanganate is swallowed. Only a limited amount is absorbed by the intestines, but this small amount shows severe effects on the kidneys and on the liver.


title: Manganese

text: Manganese exposure in United States is regulated by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA). People can be exposed to manganese in the workplace by breathing it in or swallowing it. OSHA has set the legal limit (permissible exposure limit) for manganese exposure in the workplace as 5 mg/m over an 8-hour workday. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health (NIOSH) has set a recommended exposure limit (REL) of 1 mg/m over an 8-hour workday and a short term limit of 3 mg/m. At levels of 500 mg/m, manganese is immediately dangerous to life and health.


title: Manganese

text: Generally, exposure to ambient Mn air concentrations in excess of 5 μg Mn/m3 can lead to Mn-induced symptoms. Increased ferroportin protein expression in human embryonic kidney (HEK293) cells is associated with decreased intracellular Mn concentration and attenuated cytotoxicity, characterized by the reversal of Mn-reduced glutamate uptake and diminished lactate dehydrogenase leakage.


title: Manganese

text: Waterborne manganese has a greater bioavailability than dietary manganese. According to results from a 2010 study, higher levels of exposure to manganese in drinking water are associated with increased intellectual impairment and reduced intelligence quotients in school-age children. It is hypothesized that long-term exposure due to inhaling the naturally occurring manganese in shower water puts up to 8.7 million Americans at risk. However, data indicates that the human body can recover from certain adverse effects of overexposure to manganese if the exposure is stopped and the body can clear the excess.


title: Manganese

text: Methylcyclopentadienyl manganese tricarbonyl (MMT) is a gasoline additive used to replace lead compounds for unleaded gasolines to improve the octane rating of low octane petroleum distillates. It reduces engine knock agent through the action of the carbonyl groups. Fuels containing manganese tend to form manganese carbides, which damage exhaust valves. Compared to 1953, levels of manganese in air have dropped.


title: Manganese

text: The tobacco plant readily absorbs and accumulates heavy metals such as manganese from the surrounding soil into its leaves. These are subsequently inhaled during tobacco smoking. While manganese is a constituent of tobacco smoke, studies have largely concluded that concentrations are not hazardous for human health.


title: Manganese

text: Manganese overexposure is most frequently associated with manganism, a rare neurological disorder associated with excessive manganese ingestion or inhalation. Historically, persons employed in the production or processing of manganese alloys have been at risk for developing manganism; however, current health and safety regulations protect workers in developed nations. The disorder was first described in 1837 by British academic John Couper, who studied two patients who were m.


title: Manganese

text: Manganism is a biphasic disorder. In its early stages, an intoxicated person may experience depression, mood swings, compulsive behaviors, and psychosis. Early neurological symptoms give way to late-stage manganism, which resembles Parkinson's disease. Symptoms include weakness, monotone and slowed speech, an expressionless face, tremor, forward-leaning gait, inability to walk backwards without falling, rigidity, and general problems with dexterity, gait and balance. Unlike Parkinson's disease, manganism is not associated with loss of the sense of smell and patients are typically unresponsive to treatment with L-DOPA. Symptoms of late-stage manganism become more severe over time even if the source of exposure is removed and brain manganese levels return to normal.


title: Manganese

text: Chronic manganese exposure has been shown to produce a parkinsonism-like illness characterized by movement abnormalities. This condition is not responsive to typical therapies used in the treatment of PD, suggesting an alternative pathway than the typical dopaminergic loss within the substantia nigra. Manganese may accumulate in the basal ganglia, leading to the abnormal movements. A mutation of the SLC30A10 gene, a manganese efflux transporter necessary for decreasing intracellular Mn, has been linked with the development of this Parkinsonism-like disease. The Lewy bodies typical to PD are not seen in Mn-induced parkinsonism.


title: Manganese

text: Animal experiments have given the opportunity to examine the consequences of manganese overexposure under controlled conditions. In (non-aggressive) rats, manganese induces mouse-killing behavior.


title: Manganese

text: Several recent studies attempt to examine the effects of chronic low-dose manganese overexposure on child development. The earliest study was conducted in the Chinese province of Shanxi. Drinking water there had been contaminated through improper sewage irrigation and contained 240–350 μg Mn/L. Although Mn concentrations at or below 300 μg Mn/L were considered safe at the time of the study by the US EPA and 400 μg Mn/L by the World Health Organization, the 92 children sampled (between 11 and 13 years of age) from this province displayed lower performance on tests of manual dexterity and rapidity, short-term memory, and visual identification, compared to children from an uncontaminated area. More recently, a study of 10-year-old children in Bangladesh showed a relationship between Mn concentration in well water and diminished IQ scores. A third study conducted in Quebec examined school children between the ages of 6 and 15 living in homes that received water from a well containing 610 μg Mn/L; controls lived in homes that received water from a 160 μg Mn/L well. Children in the experimental group showed increased hyperactive and oppositional behavior.


title: Manganese

text: A protein called DMT1 is the major transporter in manganese absorption from the intestine, and may be the major transporter of manganese across the blood–brain barrier. DMT1 also transports inhaled manganese across the nasal epithelium. The proposed mechanism for manganese toxicity is that dysregulation leads to oxidative stress, mitochondrial dysfunction, glutamate-mediated excitotoxicity, and aggregation of proteins.


title: Cappuccino

text: A cappuccino (; ; "cappuccini") is an espresso-based coffee drink that originated in Austria and was later popularized in Italy and is prepared with steamed milk foam (microfoam).


title: Cappuccino

text: Variations of the drink involve the use of cream instead of milk, using non-dairy milk substitutes and flavoring with cinnamon or chocolate powder. It is typically smaller in volume than a caffè latte, with a thicker layer of microfoam.


title: Cappuccino

text: The name comes from the Capuchin friars, referring to the colour of their habits, and in this context referring to the colour of the beverage when milk is added in small portion to dark, brewed coffee (today mostly espresso). The physical appearance of a modern cappuccino with espresso créma and steamed milk is a result of a long evolution of the drink.


title: Cappuccino

text: The Viennese bestowed the name "Kapuziner", possibly in the 18th century, on a version that included whipped cream and spices of unknown origin. The Italian cappuccino was unknown outside Italy until the 1930s, and seems to be born out of Viennese-style cafés in Trieste and other Italian areas in Austria-Hungary through the Kapuziner coffee in the early 20th century. The drink spread from Trieste, the main coffee port in Central Europe, throughout Italy, especially after World War I and later worldwide, and can be found at a number of establishments.


title: Cappuccino

text: Outside of Italy, cappuccino is a coffee drink that today is typically composed of a single espresso shot and hot milk, with the surface topped with foamed milk. Cappuccinos are most often prepared with an espresso machine. The espresso is poured into the bottom of the cup, followed by a similar amount of hot milk, which is prepared by heating and texturing the milk using the espresso machine steam wand. The top third of the drink consists of milk foam; this foam can be decorated with artistic drawings made with the same milk, called "latte art".


title: Cappuccino

text: In a traditional cappuccino, as served in Europe and artisan coffee houses in the United States, the total of espresso and milk/foam make up between approximately . Commercial coffee restaurant chains in the US more often serve the cappuccino as a drink or larger. In Italy, a cappuccino consists of of espresso; the rest of the cup is filled with equal parts of milk and foam. Outside of Italy, the ratios of espresso, milk, and foam typically equal 1/3 each.


title: Cappuccino

text: Cappuccino is traditionally small (180 ml maximum) with a thick layer of foam, while "latte" traditionally is larger (200–300 ml). Caffè latte is often served in a large glass; cappuccino mostly in a 150–180 ml cup with a handle. Cappuccino traditionally has a layer of textured milk microfoam exceeding 1 cm in thickness; microfoam is frothed/steamed milk in which the bubbles are so small and so numerous that they are not seen, but it makes the milk lighter and thicker. As a result, the microfoam will remain partly on top of the mug when the espresso is poured in correctly as well as mix well with the rest of the cappuccino.


title: Cappuccino

text: The World Barista Championships have been arranged annually since 2000, and during the course of the competition, the competing barista must produce—for four sensory judges—among other drinks four cappuccinos, defined in WBC Rules and Regulations as "[...] a coffee and milk beverage that should produce a harmonious balance of rich, sweet milk and espresso [...] The cappuccino is prepared with one (1) single shot of espresso, textured milk and foam. ("Textured milk" is milk that has been aerated to its proper foam level.) A minimum of 1 centimeter of foam depth [...] A cappuccino is a beverage between 150 ml and 180 ml in total volume [...]."


title: Cappuccino

text: 'Cappuccino' comes from Latin "Caputium", later borrowed in German/Austrian and modified into "Kapuziner". It is the diminutive form of "cappuccio" in Italian, meaning "hood" or something that covers the head, thus "cappuccino" literally means "small capuchin".


title: Cappuccino

text: The coffee beverage has its name not from the "hood" but from the "colour" of the hooded robes worn by monks and nuns of the Capuchin order. This colour is quite distinctive, and "capuchin" was a common description of the colour of red-brown in 17th century Europe. The Capuchin monks chose the particular design of their orders' robes both in colour and shape of the hood back in the 16th century, inspired by Francis of Assisi's preserved 13th century vestments. The long and pointed hood was characteristic and soon gave the brothers the nickname "capuchins" (hood-wearing). It was, however, the choice of red-brown as the order's vestment colour that, as early as the 17th century, saw "capuchin" used also as a term for a specific colour. While Francis of Assisi used uncoloured and un-bleached wool for his robes, the Capuchins coloured their vestments to differ from Augustinians, Benedictines, Franciscans, and other orders.


title: Cappuccino

text: The word "cappuccino", in its Italian form, is not known in Italian writings until the 20th century, but the German language "Kapuziner" is mentioned as a coffee beverage in the 18th century in Austria, and is described as, "coffee with sugar, egg yolks and cream", in dictionary entries from 1800 onwards. Kapuziner was by the First World War a common coffee drink in cafés in the parts of northern Italy which at that time still belonged to Austria.


title: Cappuccino

text: The use of fresh milk in coffee in cafés and restaurants is a newer phenomenon (from the 20th century), introduced when refrigeration became common. The use of full cream is known much further back in time (but not in the use as whipped cream [chantilly]), as this was a product more easily stored and frequently used also in cooking and baking. Thus, a kapuziner was prepared with a very small amount of cream to get the capuchin colour. Today, kapuziner is still served in Viennese traditional cafés, comprising still black coffee with only a few drops of cream (in some establishments developed into a dollop of whipped cream).


title: Cappuccino

text: The consumption of coffee in Europe was initially based on the traditional Ottoman preparation of the drink, by bringing to boil the mixture of coffee and water together, sometimes adding sugar. The British seem to have started filtering and steeping coffee already in the second part of the 18th century, and France and continental Europe followed suit. By the 19th century, coffee was brewed in different devices designed for both home and public cafés.


title: Cappuccino

text: Cappuccino originated as the coffee beverage kapuziner in the Viennese coffee houses in the 1700s, at the same time as the counterpart coffee beverage named Franziskaner: kapuziner shows up on coffee house menus all over the Habsburg monarchy around this time, and is in 1805 described in a "Wörterbuch" (dictionary) as "coffee with cream and sugar" (although it does not say how it is composed). Kapuziner is mentioned again in writings in the 1850s, described as "coffee with cream, spices and sugar". Around the same time, the coffee beverage melange is mentioned in writings, explained as a blend of coffee and milk, presumably similar to the modern day caffè latte or Wiener Melange. Other coffees containing cream surfaced in Vienna, and outside Austria these are referred to as "Viennese coffee" or "café Viennois", coffee with whipped cream. Predecessors of Irish coffee, sweetened coffee with different alcohols, topped with whipped cream also spread out from Vienna.


title: Cappuccino

text: Kapuziner took its name from the colour of coffee with a few drops of cream, so nicknamed because the Capuchin monks in Vienna and elsewhere wore vestments with this colour. Another popular coffee was Franziskaner, with more cream, referring to the somewhat lighter brown colour of the robes of monks of the Franciscan order. Kapuziner coffee spread throughout Central Europe and thus also in the Italian-speaking parts of the Habsburg monarchy. The main port of the empire, the city of Trieste, already had many Viennese coffee houses back then.


title: Cappuccino

text: "Cappuccino" as written today (in Italian) is first mentioned in northern Italy in the 1930s, and photographs from that time depict the drink resembling "Viennese", a coffee topped with whipped cream sprinkled with cinnamon or chocolate. The Italian cappuccino evolved and developed in the following decades: the steamed milk atop is a later addition, and in the US a slight misunderstanding has led to the naming of this "cap" of milk foam "monk's head", although it originally had nothing to do with the name of the beverage.


title: Cappuccino

text: Although coffee was brewed differently all over Europe after the Second World War, in Italy, espresso machines became widespread only during the 1950s, and "cappuccino" was redefined, now made from espresso and frothed milk (although far from the quality of "microfoam" steamed milk today). As the espresso machines improved, so did the dosing of coffee and the heating of the milk. Outside Italy, cappuccino spread but was generally made from dark coffee with whipped cream, as it still is in large parts of Europe even in 2014.


title: Cappuccino

text: Kapuziner remained unchanged on the Austrian coffee menu, even in Trieste, which by 1920 belonged to Italy, and in Bratislava, Budapest, Prague, and other cities of the former empire.


title: Cappuccino

text: Espresso machines were introduced at the beginning of the 20th century, after Luigi Bezzera of Milan filed the first patent in 1901, although the first generations of machines certainly did not make espresso the way we define it today.


title: Cappuccino

text: Coffee making in cafés changed in the first decades of the 20th century. These first machines made it possible to serve coffee espresso specifically to each customer. The cups were still the same size, and the dose of beans was ground coarse as before. The too high temperature of the boilers scalded the coffee, and several attempts at improving this came in the years after the First World War.


title: Cappuccino

text: After the Second World War, the Italians launched the "age of "crema"", as the new coffee machines could create a higher pressure, leading to a finer grind and the now classic "crema".


title: Cappuccino

text: The first small cups appeared in the 1950s, and the machines could by then also heat milk, thus, the modern cappuccino was born. In Vienna, espresso bars were introduced in the 1950s, leading to both the kapuziner and the new-born Italian cappuccino's being served as two different beverages alongside each other.


title: Cappuccino

text: In the United Kingdom, espresso coffee initially gained popularity in the form of the cappuccino, influenced by the British custom of drinking coffee with milk, the desire for a longer drink to preserve the café as a destination, and the exotic texture of the beverage.


title: Cappuccino

text: In the United States, cappuccino spread alongside espresso in Italian American neighborhoods, such as Boston's North End, New York's Little Italy, and San Francisco's North Beach. New York City's Caffe Reggio (founded 1927) claims to have introduced cappuccino to the United States, while San Francisco's Caffe Trieste (founded 1956) claims to have introduced it to the west coast; the earlier Tosca Cafe in San Francisco (founded 1919) served a "cappuccino" earlier, but this was without coffee, and instead consisted of chocolate, steamed milk, and brandy.


title: Cappuccino

text: As cappuccino is defined today, in addition to a single shot of espresso, the most important factors in preparing a cappuccino are the texture and temperature of the milk. When a barista steams the milk for a cappuccino, microfoam is created by introducing very tiny bubbles of air into the milk, giving the milk a velvety texture. The traditional cappuccino consists of a single espresso, on which the barista pours the hot foamed milk, resulting in a thick milk foam on top. Variations could be made adding another shot of espresso resulting in a double cappuccino. Attaining the correct ratio of foam requires close attention while steaming the milk, thus making the cappuccino one of the most difficult espresso-based beverages to make properly. A skilled barista may obtain artistic shapes (latte art) while pouring the milk on the top of the espresso coffee.


title: Cappuccino

text: Cappuccino was traditionally a taste largely appreciated in Europe, Australia, South America, and some of North America. By the mid-1990s, cappuccino was made more available to North Americans, as upscale coffee houses sprang up.


title: Cappuccino

text: In Italy and throughout continental Europe, cappuccino is traditionally consumed in the morning, usually as part of breakfast, often with some kind of pastry. Italians generally do not drink cappuccino with meals other than breakfast, although they often drink espresso after lunch or dinner. In Italy, cappuccino is usually consumed up to 11:00 a.m., since cappuccinos are milk-based and considered too heavy to drink later in the day. Instead, espresso is usually ordered after a meal due to the belief that the lack of milk aids in digestion. In North America, cappuccinos have become popular concurrent with the boom in the American coffee industry through the late 1990s and early 2000s, especially in the urban Pacific Northwest.


title: Cappuccino

text: Cappuccino is traditionally served in cups. By the start of the 21st century, a modified "short-cut" version was being served by fast-food chains in servings up to .


title: Cappuccino

text: Although size is what varies most among different cappuccinos, there are two main ways of preparing cappuccino: one is the traditional or classical way with a cap of milk foam; the other is the "latte art" way. The former follows the traditional idea of the cappuccino being prepared by espresso, steamed milk and milk foam. The latter follows the same recipe, but is served more often in smaller cups, and the textured milk is gently poured in and finished with a pattern in the surface "crèma". The illustrations in this article show the preparation methods.


title: Cappuccino

text: Cappuccino Freddo is the cold version of a cappuccino, and the drink usually has a small amount of cold frothed milk atop it. The drink is available in Greece, Cyprus and parts of Italy.


title: Cappuccino

text: In Rome, coffee bars have the drink already prepared and chilled. In cities of Northern Italy like Milan, the "Cappuccino Freddo" is less common. Instead, "gelato da bere" (a thick blend of gelato and espresso) or "shakerato" (espresso and ice shaken together) are more popular. The term has also spread throughout the Mediterranean region where foam is added to the drink just before serving, often varying from the Italian original. A "caffè freddo" or "freddo espresso" is a cold version of an espresso (without milk).


title: Cappuccino

text: In North America, the terms "Cappuccino Freddo" or "Iced cappuccino", if offered, may be somewhat of a misnomer if the characteristic frothed milk is omitted in the iced variation. For example, at Starbucks, without the frothed milk the drink is called an "iced latte".


title: Cappuccino

text: In Greece and Cyprus, a cold cappuccino is widespread known as "Freddo Cappuccino", as opposed to "Cappuccino Freddo". Despite its Italian name, the drink both tastes and is prepared differently from its Italian counterpart, and is uncommon in Italy and outside of Greece. The "Freddo Cappuccino" is topped with a cold milk-based foam known as "afrógala" (), which is created by blending cold milk using an electric frother. These frothers are commonplace in Greek coffee shops due to their usage during the preparation of frappé coffee. The foam is then added to espresso poured over ice.


title: Cappuccino

text: Along with the "Freddo Espresso", they were conceived in Greece in 1991 and are in higher demand during summer. Outside Greece and Cyprus, "Freddo Cappucino" or "Cappuccino Freddo" is mostly found in coffee shops and delis catering to the Greek expat community. In 2017, Starbucks added the Cappuccino Freddo to branch menus in Europe.


title: Cappuccino

text: In Canada, the Tim Hortons coffee chain sells iced coffee cappuccino under the brand name Iced Capps. The coffee drink mix comes to the stores as a thick black syrup which is mixed at three parts water to one part syrup in a Slurpee machine. The frozen coffee drink is then blended with cream at the time of service (or blended with milk, or chocolate milk upon customer request). The Ice Capp can also be prepared as a Supreme, which includes a flavour shot, whipped topping, and either caramel or chocolate syrup. The chain also carries iced coffee on both its Canadian and U.S. menus.


title: Shang-Chi

text: Zheng Shang-Chi ( ), also known as the Master of Kung Fu and Brother Hand, is a superhero appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. The character was created by writer Steve Englehart and artist Jim Starlin, debuting in "Special Marvel Edition" #15 (December 1973) in the Bronze Age of Comic Books, and starring in his own solo title until 1983. Described as the greatest martial artist alive, Shang-Chi has been trained since birth to be the ultimate fighter with a specialization in various unarmed and weaponry-based "wushu" styles, including the use of the "gùn", "nunchaku", and "jian". Shang-Chi later assumes leadership of the Five Weapons Society and acquires the Ten Rings weapons.


title: Shang-Chi

text: Shang-Chi was spun off from novelist Sax Rohmer's licensed property as the unknown son of fictional villain Dr. Fu Manchu. In later editions, his connection to Dr. Fu Manchu was underplayed after Marvel lost the comic book rights to the latter's character; to get around this problem, the publisher eventually renamed Shang-Chi's father Zheng Zu.


title: Shang-Chi

text: Shang-Chi made his live-action debut in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" (2021), where he is portrayed by Simu Liu.


title: Shang-Chi

text: In the early 1970s, writer Steve Englehart and artist Jim Starlin approached DC Comics to adapt the television series "Kung Fu" into a comic book, as DC's parent company, Warner Communications, owned the rights to the series. DC Comics, however, was not interested in their pitch, believing the show's and the martial arts genre popularity would fade quickly. The duo then approached Marvel Comics with the idea to create a kung fu-focused original comic. Editor-in-chief Roy Thomas agreed, but only if they would include the Sax Rohmer's pulp villain Dr. Fu Manchu, as Marvel had previously acquired the comic book rights to the character, and made their protagonist half-white. Englehart and Starlin agreed. They developed Shang-Chi, a master of kung fu, who was introduced as a previously unknown son of Dr. Fu Manchu. Though an original character himself, many of Shang-Chi's supporting characters (most notably Dr. Fu Manchu, Sir Denis Nayland Smith, Dr. James Petrie and Fah Lo Suee) were Rohmer creations. Starlin left the series after #17 (replaced by Paul Gulacy) and Englehart after #19 (replaced by Doug Moench). No characters from the "Kung Fu" television series were officially included in the comic series, though in the #19 issue the character Lu Sun bore such a strong resemblance to Kwai Chang Caine that to avoid copyright issues, the character was given a mustache throughout the issue. With artist Paul Gulacy, Shang-Chi's visual appearance was modeled after that of Bruce Lee.


title: Shang-Chi

text: According to Englehart, his name was influenced by his study of the I-Ching, composed of 升 (shēng), meaning "ascending", and chi, meaning vital energy.


title: Shang-Chi

text: Shang-Chi first appeared in "Special Marvel Edition" #15 (December 1973). He appeared again in issue #16, and with issue #17 (April 1974) the title was renamed to "The Hands of Shang-Chi, Master of Kung Fu". Amidst the martial arts craze in the United States in the 1970s, the book became very popular, surviving until issue #125 (June 1983), a solid run that included four "Giant-Size" issues and one "Annual". "Special Collector's Edition" #1 (1975) cover-titled as "Savage Fists of Kung Fu" reprinted stories from "The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu" #1–2; "The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu Special" #1; and "Special Marvel Edition" #15. The character did several crossovers with other Marvel martial artists, including the White Tiger, Iron Fist and the Daughters of the Dragon (Colleen Wing and Misty Knight). He appeared regularly in "The Deadly Hands of Kung Fu".


title: Shang-Chi

text: Shang-Chi had two more short series: the "Master of Kung Fu: Bleeding Black" one-shot issue (1990) and the MAX miniseries "Master of Kung Fu: Hellfire Apocalypse" (2002) with artist Paul Gulacy on art again. The character had two stories in the comics anthology series "Marvel Comics Presents", including one by Moench that ran in the series' first eight issues in 1988, and co-starred in the "Moon Knight Special" (1992).


title: Shang-Chi

text: In 1995, Shang-Chi would be one of the revival titles produced by Milestone Media, according to writer Dwayne McDuffie, the title would show Shang-Chi using firearms, inspired by gun fu style by Hong Kong filmmaker John Woo; however, according to McDuffie, the proposal was cancelled after the departure of editor-in-chief Tom DeFalco and the death of Mark Gruenwald the following year.


title: Shang-Chi

text: In 1997 a story arc starring Shang-Chi ran in "Journey into Mystery" #514–516, and was intended to lead into a miniseries for the character in 1998.


title: Shang-Chi

text: Although spun out of licensed properties, Shang-Chi is a Marvel-owned character and has been firmly established as a part of the Marvel Universe with guest appearances in numerous other titles, such as "Marvel Team-Up", "Marvel Two-in-One", "Marvel Knights" and "X-Men". Most of the original licensed characters in the supporting cast have been either phased out or renamed in the more recent series and stories.


title: Shang-Chi

text: In some of his modern appearances, mention is made of his villainous father either in cryptic terms or using a variety of new names, due to Marvel no longer having the rights to Dr. Fu Manchu. In 2010's "Secret Avengers" #6–10, writer Ed Brubaker officially sidestepped the entire issue via a storyline where the Shadow Council resurrects a zombified version of Dr. Fu Manchu, only to discover that "Dr. Fu Manchu" was only an alias and that Shang-Chi's father real name was Zheng Zu, an ancient Chinese sorcerer who discovered the secret to immortality. Similarly, Shang-Chi's half sister Fah Lo Suee was later renamed Zheng Bao Yu in 2013's "The Fearless Defenders" #8, written by Cullen Bunn, while Smith and Petrie have not appeared in any Marvel properties since the end of the "Master of Kung Fu" series in 1983.


title: Shang-Chi

text: Shang-Chi returned as a main character in the 2007 "Heroes for Hire" comic book. In 2009, the black and white one-shot "Shang-Chi: Master of Kung" Fu was released, with stories written by Jonathan Hickman, Mike Benson, Charlie Huston and Robin Furth and illustrated by Tomm Coker, C.P. Smith, Enrique Romero and Paul Gulacy.


title: Shang-Chi

text: In 2015, Shang-Chi starred in the "Master of Kung Fu" revival in the "Secret Wars" storyline. Written by Haden Blackman and illustrated by Taljic, the four-issue series is a "wuxia"-inspired story that takes place in the Battleworld domain of K'un-Lun and centered around Shang-Chi in his fight to overthrow his despotic father, Emperor Zheng Zu.


title: Shang-Chi

text: In 2017, after a 34-year gap, Shang-Chi once again starred in "Master of Kung Fu"'s 126th issue as part of the "Marvel Legacy" relaunch, written by mixed martial artist CM Punk and illustrated by Dalibor Talajic.


title: Shang-Chi

text: In 2020, Shang-Chi starred in a self-titled five issue miniseries written by "American Born Chinese" author Gene Luen Yang with art by Dike Ruan and Philip Tan. Initially set for a June 2020 release, the first issue was delayed to September due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Shang-Chi starred in a new ongoing series by Yang and Ruan in 2021, with Marcus To replacing Ruan by the 9th issue. Following the release of the Marvel Cinematic Universe film "Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings" (2021), Yang incorporated several concepts introduced in the movie into the Shang-Chi mythos, including the character as Shang-Chi's real mother, who was based on Shang-Chi's mother Ying Li, retconning Shang-Chi's white American mother and his mixed-race heritage; the heavenly realm Ta-Lo, which was previously introduced by writers Mark Gruenwald, Ralph Macchio and artist Keith Pollard in "Thor" #310 (1980); and the Ten Rings weapons.