title: Ireland national rugby union team

text: The IRFU first appointed a coach in 1968. The current head coach is Andy Farrell who has been in the position since 2019.


title: Ireland national rugby union team

text: Ireland's end-of-year tests were broadcast by the BBC until 2013 when Sky Sports secured the rights. From November 2018, the TV rights to the end-of-year matches were held by Channel 4 in the UK and RTÉ in Ireland, while TV3 Ireland and BBC/ITV retained the Six Nations rights, and ITV and TV3 with Eir Sports have the rights to the Rugby World Cup. From 2022, Amazon Prime Video holds the rights for Ireland's end-of-year internationals.


title: Adrian Holmes

text: Adrian Holmes (born March 31, 1974) is a Canadian actor. He is known for his work on the Bravo television series "19-2", for which he won a Canadian Screen Award in 2017. He is also known for playing the role of Uncle Phil in the "Fresh Prince of Bel-Air" reboot "Bel-Air".


title: Adrian Holmes

text: Holmes was born to Bajan parents in Wrexham, North Wales, and moved with his family to Vancouver, British Columbia, when he was five. He studied nursing at Langara College, in part to appease his mother, who felt he needed a backup plan if his acting career was unsuccessful.


title: Adrian Holmes

text: Holmes has had a long career, but is best known for his television roles, such as Basqat on "Smallville", Marcus Mitchell on "True Justice" and Frank Pike on "Arrow". His most notable role is Nick Barron in the English Language version of "19-2" on Bravo, which garnered him a Canadian Screen Award for Best Actor in a Continuing Leading Dramatic Role in 2017. His film work includes "Red Riding Hood", "Elysium" and "The Cabin in the Woods".


title: Adrian Holmes

text: In 2021 Adrian was cast as Uncle Phil in the show Bel air, a reboot turned series drama of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air. Will Smith gave him the stamp of approval. He has recently been cast as the first live-action version of Robert April, the first captain of the USS "Enterprise", in "". (April had previously appeared in animated form in "The Counter-Clock Incident", the final episode of "", where he was voiced by James Doohan.)


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexander Cunningham who also became its first Director-General.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: ASI was founded in 1861 by Alexander Cunningham who also became its first Director-General. The first systematic research into the subcontinent's history was conducted by the Asiatic Society, which was founded by the British Indologist William Jones on 15 January 1784. Based in Calcutta, the society promoted the study of ancient Sanskrit and Persian texts and published an annual journal titled "Asiatic Researches". Notable among its early members was Charles Wilkins who published the first English translation of the "Bhagavad Gita" in 1785 with the patronage of the then Governor-General of Bengal, Warren Hastings. However, the most important of the society's achievements was the decipherment of the Brahmi script by James Prinsep in 1837. This successful decipherment inaugurated the asset.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: Armed with the knowledge of Brahmi, Alexander Cunningham, a protégé of James Prinsep, carried out a detailed survey of the Buddhist monuments which lasted for over half a century. Inspired by early amateur archaeologists like the Italian military officer, Jean-Baptiste Ventura, Cunningham excavated "stupas" along the width, the length and breadth of India. While Cunningham funded many of his early excavations himself, in the long run, he realised the need for a permanent body to oversee archaeological excavations and the conservation of Indian monuments and used his stature and influence in India to lobby for an archaeological survey. While his attempt in 1848 did not meet with success, the Archaeological Survey of India was eventually formed in 1861 by a statute passed into law by Lord Canning with Cunningham as the first Archaeological Surveyor. The survey was suspended briefly between 1865 and 1871 due to lack of funds but restored by Lord Lawrence the then Viceroy of India. In 1871, the Survey was revived as a separate department and Cunningham was appointed as its first Director-General.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: Cunningham retired in 1885 and was succeeded as Director General by James Burgess. Burgess launched a yearly journal "The Indian Antiquary" (1872) and an annual epigraphical publication "Epigraphia Indica" (1882) as a supplement to the "Indian Antiquary". The post of Director General was permanently suspended in 1889 due to a funds crunch and was not restored until 1902. In the interim period, conservation work in the different circles was carried out by the superintendents of the individual circles.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: From 1888 started severe lobbying aimed at reducing Government expenses, and at curtailing the budget of the Archaeological Survey of India, a period of about ten years known as the "Buck crisis", after the Liberal Edward Buck. In effect, this severely threatened the employment of the employees of the ASI, such as Alois Anton Führer, who had just started a family and become a father.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: In 1892, Edward Buck announced that the Archaeological Survey of India would be shut down and all ASI staff would be dismissed by 1895, in order to generate savings for the Government's budget. It was understood that only a fantastic archaeological discovery within the next three years for example might be able to turn public opinion and save the funding of the ASI.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: Great "discoveries" were indeed made with the March 1895 discovery of the Nigali Sagar inscription, which succeeded in bringing the "Buck Crisis" to an end, and the ASI was finally allowed in June 1895 to continue operations, subject to yearly approval based on successful digs every year. Georg Bühler, writing in July 1895 in the "Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society", continued to advocate for the preservation of the Archaeological Survey of India, and expressed that what was needed were "new authentic documents" from the pre-Ashokan period, and they would "only be found underground".


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: Another momentous discovery would be made in 1896, with the Lumbini pillar inscription, a major inscription on a pillar of Ashoka discovered by Alois Anton Führer. The inscription, together with other evidence, confirmed Lumbini as the birthplace of the Buddha.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: The organization was rocked when Führer was unmasked in 1898, and was found to file fraudulent reports about his investigations. Confronted by Smith about his archaeological publications and his report to the Government, Führer was obliged to admit "that every statement in it [the report] was absolutely false." Under official instructions from the Government of India, Führer was relieved of his positions, his papers seized and his offices inspected by Vincent Arthur Smith on 22 September 1898. Führer had written in 1897 a monograph on his discoveries in Nigali Sagar and Lumbini, "Monograph on Buddha Sakyamuni's birth-place in the Nepalese tarai", which was withdrawn from circulation by the Government. Führer was dismissed and returned to Europe.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: The post of Director General was restored by Lord Curzon in 1902. Breaking with tradition, Curzon chose a 26-year-old professor of classical studies at Cambridge named John Marshall to head the survey. Marshall served as Director General for a quarter of a century and during his long tenure, he replenished and invigorated the survey whose activities were fast dwindling into insignificance. Marshall established the post of Government epigraphist and encouraged epigraphical studies. The most significant event of his tenure was, however, the discovery of the Indus Valley civilization at Harappa and Mohenjodaro in 1921. The success and scale of the discoveries made ensured that the progress made in Marshall's tenure would remain unmatched. Marshall was succeeded by Harold Hargreaves in 1928. Hargreaves was succeeded by Daya Ram Sahni.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: Sahni was succeeded by J. F. Blakiston and K. N. Dikshit both of whom had participated in the excavations at Harappa and Mohenjodaro. In 1944, a British archaeologist and army officer, Mortimer Wheeler took over as Director General. Wheeler served as Director General till 1948 and during this period he excavated the Iron Age site of Arikamedu and the Stone age sites of Brahmagiri, Chandravalli and Maski in South India. Wheeler founded the journal "Ancient India" in 1946 and presided over the partitioning of ASI's assets during the Partition of India and helped establish an archaeological body for the newly formed Pakistan.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: Wheeler was succeeded by N. P. Chakravarti in 1948. The National Museum was inaugurated in New Delhi on 15 August 1949 to house the artifacts displayed at the Indian Exhibition in the United Kingdom.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: Madho Sarup Vats and Amalananda Ghosh succeeded Chakravarti. Ghosh's tenure which lasted until 1968 is noted for the excavations of Indus Valley sites at Kalibangan, Lothal and Dholavira. The "Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act" was passed in 1958 bringing the archaeological survey under the aegis of the Ministry of Culture. Ghosh was succeeded by B.B. Lal who conducted archaeological excavations at Ayodhya to investigate whether a Ram Temple preceded the Babri Masjid. During Lal's tenure, the "Antiquities and Art Treasures Act" (1972) was passed recommending central protection for monuments considered to be "of national importance". Lal was succeeded by M. N. Deshpande who served from 1972 to 1978 and B. K. Thapar who served from 1978 to 1981. On Thapar's retirement in 1981, archaeologist Debala Mitra was appointed to succeed him - she was the first woman Director General of the ASI. Mitra was succeeded by M. S. Nagaraja Rao, who had been transferred from the Karnataka State Department of Archaeology. Archaeologists J. P. Joshi and M. C. Joshi succeeded Rao. M. C. Joshi was the Director General when the Babri Masjid was demolished in 1992 triggering Hindu-Muslim violence all over India. As a fallout of the demolition, Joshi was dismissed in 1993 and controversially replaced as director general by Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer Achala Moulik, a move which inaugurated a tradition of appointing bureaucrats of the IAS instead of archaeologists to head the survey. The tradition was finally brought to an end in 2010 when Gautam Sengupta an archaeologist, replaced K.M Srivastava an IAS officer as director general. He was again succeeded by Pravin Srivastava, another IAS officer. Srivastava's successor incumbent, Rakesh Tiwari was also a professional archaeologist. His successor Usha Sharma was also a IAS officer and her successor V Vidyavathi who is the present DG of ASI is also a IAS officer.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: The Archaeological Survey of India is an attached office of the Ministry of Culture. Under the provisions of the AMASR Act of 1958, the ASI administers more than 3650 ancient monuments, archaeological sites and remains of national importance. These can include everything from temples, mosques, churches, tombs, and cemeteries to palaces, forts, step-wells, and rock-cut caves. The Survey also maintains ancient mounds and other similar sites which represent the remains of ancient habitation.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: The ASI is headed by a Director General who is assisted by an Additional Director General, two Joint Directors General, and 17 Directors.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: The ASI is divided into a total of 34 circles each headed by a Superintending Archaeologist. Each of the circles are further divided into sub-circles. The circles of the ASI are:


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: The Survey has had 29 Directors-General thus far. Its founder, Alexander Cunningham served as Archaeological Surveyor between 1861 and 1865.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: (now Kolkata) in 1814. Much of its collection was passed on to the Indian Museum, which was established in the city in 1866. The Archaeological Survey did not maintain its own museums until the tenure of its third director-general, John Marshall. He initiated the establishment of various museums at Sarnath (1904), Agra (1906), Ajmer (1908), Delhi Fort (1909), Bijapur (1912), Nalanda (1917) and Sanchi (1919). The ASI's museums are customarily located right next to the sites that their inventories are associated with "so that they may be studied amid their natural surroundings and not lose focus by being transported".


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: A dedicated Museums Branch was established in 1946 by Mortimer Wheeler, which now maintains a total of 50 museums spread across the country.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: The ASI maintains a Central Archaeological Library in the Archaeological Survey of India headquarters building in Tilak Marg, Mandi House, New Delhi. Established in 1902, its collection numbers more than 100,000 books and journals. The library is also a repository of rare books, plates, and original drawings.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: The Survey additionally maintains a library in each of its circles to cater to local academics and researchers.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: The day-to-day work of the survey was published in a series of periodical bulletins and reports. The periodicals and archaeological series published by the ASI are:


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: Apart from the ASI, archaeological work in India and conservation of monuments is also carried out in some states by state government archaeological departments. Most of these bodies were set up by the various princely states before independence. When these states were annexed to India after independence, the individual archaeological departments of these states were not integrated with the ASI. Instead, they were allowed to function as independent bodies.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: In 2013, a Comptroller and Auditor General (CAG) report found that at least 92 centrally protected monuments of historical importance across the country which have gone missing without a trace. The CAG could physically verify only 45% of the structures (1,655 out of 3,678). The CAG report said that the ASI did not have reliable information on the exact number of monuments under its protection. The CAG recommended that periodic inspection of each protected monument should be done by a suitably ranked officer. The Culture ministry accepted the proposal. Author and IIPM Director Arindam Chaudhuri said that since the ASI is unable to protect the country's museums and monuments, they should be professionally maintained by private companies or through the public-private-partnership (PPP) model.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: In May 2018, the Supreme Court of India said that the ASI was not properly discharging its duty in maintaining the World Heritage Site of Taj Mahal and asked the Government of India to consider whether some other agency be given the responsibility to protect and preserve it.


title: Archaeological Survey of India

text: The fictional character Kakababu, in Sunil Gangopadhyay's famed Kakababu series, is an ex-Director of the Archaeological Survey of India.


title: Dodge Journey

text: The Dodge Journey is a mid-size crossover SUV manufactured and marketed by Fiat Chrysler Automobiles' Dodge brand for model years 2009 to 2020 over a single generation, with a facelift for the 2011 model year. The Journey was styled by Ryan Nagode, and was marketed globally in both left and right hand drive, including as the Fiat Freemont.


title: Dodge Journey

text: Internally identified as the "JC49", the Journey shares FCA's global D-segment platform with the Dodge Avenger and a nearly identical wheelbase to the outgoing short wheel base (SWB) Dodge Caravan.


title: Dodge Journey

text: Having debuted at the 2007 Frankfurt Motor Show, the Journey subsequently appeared at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show. All models were manufactured in Mexico at FCA's Toluca Assembly facility, with just over 1.1 million manufactured before production ended in 2020.


title: Dodge Journey

text: As a mid-size CUV, the Journey was available in five and seven passenger configurations and was noted for its overall packaging and seating flexibility — which included a front passenger seat with under-cushion storage and fold-flat capability; second-row for-aft sliding, reclining, fold-flat seating with an H-point 1.6 inches (40 mm) higher than the front row (aka "theater seating"); latching under-floor storage with removable bins; available twin booster seats and single-hand-operable third row access; available twin fold-flat third-row seats and an aft under-floor storage compartment. Trim levels varied over model years, to include various options with entertainment/infotainment, cloth or heated leather seats and heated steering wheel as well. Additionally, rear doors opened to 90-degrees, rare for any offerings by the Big Three (automobile manufacturers).


title: Dodge Journey

text: Production versions of 2009 model year vehicles went on sale in early 2008 for the 2009 model-year in North America, and mid-2008 elsewhere. A version for the Chinese market debuted at Auto China in 2008, marketed as the JCUV. Initial model production began in 2009. The Freemont went on sale in Russia in 2013. The Journey was marketed in both LHD and RHD depending on the market.


title: Dodge Journey

text: From 2009 to 2010, the trim levels in North America were the "SE" (powered by a 2.4L I4), the "SXT", and the "R/T" (both powered by a 3.5L V6). The SXT and R/T were available with all-wheel drive (AWD).


title: Dodge Journey

text: Revisions for the 2011 model-year include modifications to the grille, lower front fascia, redesigned interior, suspension, steering, powertrain, and use of Dodge's new logo, launched in 2011, as well as LED Taillights (not available on base trims). "Express" and "Mainstreet" trim levels replace "SE" and "SXT" respectively, while "Crew" and "Lux" trims are also added to the lineup. The 2011 Journey received new Uconnect 3 infotainment systems with either 4.3-inch (4.3") or 8.4-inch (8.4") LCD color touchscreen displays, and a full-color LCD Electronic Vehicle Information Center (EVIC) in the instrument cluster. The Keyless Enter-'n'-Go System, with keyless access and push-button start, became standard on all Journey models.


title: Dodge Journey

text: For the 2012 model year, the Journey became Dodge's smallest SUV after FCA stopped manufacturing the Nitro. SE and SXT trims return for 2012, replacing Express and Mainstreet trims, respectively. An American Value Package (AVP) model is also added for the United States market that is priced below the SE. For the 2013 model year, Dodge released a "Blacktop" trim option, with 19-inch gloss black aluminium wheels and center caps, a gloss black grille, gloss black bezel headlamps, gloss black lower front fascia accent and gloss black exterior mirrors. In 2014, the Journey Crossroad was introduced with chrome accents along the lower part of the body and in the interior, smoked head and taillights, a black grille, rocker panels, rails for a roof rack, and a skid plate simile at the rear. Chrysler added the revised Dodge logo with two slanted rectangles for the 2013 Model Year. For the 2016 model-year, the Journey's AVP and Limited trims were discontinued and the Crossroad Plus trim was added and also for the 2017 model-year; the R/T trim is replaced by the GT trim.


title: Dodge Journey

text: For the 2020 model year, the Dodge Journey was available in two trim levels: base "SE Value" and "up-level" "Crossroad". All 2020 Journey models were powered by a 2.4-liter inline-four gasoline engine producing 173 horsepower and 166 lb. ft. of torque, with a four-speed automatic transmission, and available with front wheel drive. The optional 3.6-liter Pentastar Variable Valve Timing (VVT) V6 gasoline engine, six-speed automatic transmission, and the option for All Wheel Drive were discontinued. Journey models featured standard three-row, seven-passenger seating, which was previously optional on base trim levels. Available options and packages have been revised. In addition, the Journey (as well as the Dodge Grand Caravan) are not available in states with California emissions requirements for the 2020 model year. 2020 was the final model year for the Journey, Dodge citing the decision to transition to a performance brand.


title: Dodge Journey

text: Chrysler marketed the Mexican manufactured Journey in Europe after model year 2011 as the Fiat Freemont, debuting the rebadged variant at the 2011 Geneva Motor Show.


title: Dodge Journey

text: The Freemont launched in Italy at the end of May 2011 with two front-wheel-drive turbodiesel variants the and the version of Fiat's 2.0-liter Multijet turbodiesel. Fiat also planned on introducing an all-wheel-drive version of the diesel and the Pentastar V6.


title: Dodge Journey

text: FCA marketed the Freemont and the Journey in Australia, Brazil and China, with the Freemont available with the 2.0- and 2.4-liter four-cylinder engines in markets other than China, while the Journey is now only marketed with the Pentastar V6 engine (both engines were available before the launch of the Freemont).


title: Dodge Journey

text: The Freemont was originally available in left-hand drive (LHD) European markets only, except The Netherlands, but a right-hand drive (RHD) model was eventually introduced for Australia. The Freemont was discontinued after the 2015 model year.


title: Dodge Journey

text: The available four-cylinder is a with and of torque. This is a version of Chrysler's GEMA built, World Gasoline Engine class of four-cylinder engines shared with Hyundai and Mitsubishi.


title: Dodge Journey

text: Through 2010, the V6 offered in North America was a with a six-speed automatic transmission, producing and of torque. For 2011, it was changed to the 3.6-liter Pentastar V6, producing and torque.<ref name="media.chrysler.com/newsrelease"></ref> Other markets offer the six-speed automatic transmission with the flex-fuel (E85 compatible) 2.7-liter V6. All-wheel drive was only available with a V6.


title: Dodge Journey

text: Additionally, through 2010, a Volkswagen-sourced diesel engine was available outside of North America with an automatically shifted dual clutch transmission. Chrysler performed primary engineering for the dual-clutch transmission with support from long-time partner Getrag, which was to build the transmission in the United States. Due to funding issues, this did not happen and the factory was sold and used for other purposes.


title: Dodge Journey

text: The Dodge Journey (in the US & Canada) includes multi-stage front driver and passenger air bags, front-seat-mounted side air bags, three-row side-curtain air bags, standard four-wheel disc anti-lock brakes (ABS), electronic stability program (ESP), and electronic roll mitigation, brake assist.


title: Dodge Journey

text: Dodge Journeys marketed in Japan are known as Dodge JC, to avoid confusion with Isuzu Journey. JCs were qualified by the Japanese government to be included in Subsidy Scheme for Environmentally Friendly Vehicles.


title: Dodge Journey

text: As part of the vehicle's introductory promotion, Dario Franchitti's No. 40 Dodge Charger carried a "Journey" paint scheme for the 2008 Daytona 500 on February 17, 2008.


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: Vishal–Shekhar are an Indian music composer, production, singing and songwriting duo consisting of Vishal Dadlani and Shekhar Ravjiani from Mumbai. Known predominantly for their work as music composers in Hindi cinema, Vishal–Shekhar have also recorded in Telugu and Marathi, with the likes of Akon, The Vamps, Imogen Heap, Diplo. They have been streamed over 3 Billion times on YouTube and have had 72 number one singles and been featured on over 350 film sound tracks. They are one of the most successful music composers in history of bollywood music.


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: Their most popular soundtracks include "Jhankaar Beats" (2003), "Dus" (2005), "Bluffmaster" (2005), "Salaam Namaste" (2005), "Left Right Left" (2006), "Om Shanti Om" (2007), "Tashan" (2008), "Bachna Ae Haseeno" (2008), "Dostana" (2008), "I Hate Luv Storys" (2010), "Anjaana Anjaani" (2010), "Tees Maar Khan" (2010), "Ra.One" (2011), "Student of the Year" (2012), "Chennai Express" (2013), "Hasee Toh Phasee" (2014), "Bang Bang!" (2014), "Happy New Year" (2014), "Sultan" (2016), "Befikre" (2016), "Tiger Zinda Hai" (2017), "Student of the Year 2" (2019), "Bharat" (2019), "War" (2019) & "Baaghi 3" (2020). They have also appeared as judges on Indian Idol Junior, the stage India, MTV hustle, Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, Voice of India – Mummy Ke Superstars, Indian Idol, Jo Jeeta Wohi Superstar.


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: Vishal Dadlani is also the vocalist of Mumbai-based electronic band Pentagram. He collaborated with Imogen Heap on the song "Minds Without Fear" for an episode of The Dewarists.


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: Shekhar Ravjiani is a trained classical singer (under Ustad Niaz Ahmed Khan). He learned to play the accordion from his father, a music enthusiast, Hasmukh Ravjiani. Shekhar was a participant of Zee TV singing contest "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa" in 1997. He composed and sung Marathi songs "Saazni" in 2012 and "Saavli" (with Sunidhi Chauhan) in 2013.


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: Vishal Dadlani, along with his Pentagram teammates Shiraz Bhattacharya and Samrat, made his Bollywood debut by composing tracks for Tyger Productions' film "Pyaar Mein Kabhi Kabhi" (1999) including the hit songs "Woh Pehli Baar" and "Musu Musu Hasi". Coincidentally, Dadlani's childhood friend Shekhar Ravjiani also composed a few tracks on the same film including "Dil Se Mere Door Na Jana". The two childhood friends met in the studio while recording songs for the film where they decided to form a team together to write music for Bollywood films. They formed the musical duo Vishal-Shekhar.


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: Their first composition in Bollywood as a duo was as guest composers for Padam Kumar's "Champion", where they composed two tracks "Aisa Champion Kahan" and "Lelo Lelo". They would compose one song each as guest composers for "Rehnaa Hai Terre Dil Mein" (2001) and "Mujhe Kucch Kehna Hai" (2001). Vishal-Shekhar's first full soundtrack was "Vadh" (2002).


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: Vishal-Shekhar first got noticed in Bollywood with "Jhankaar Beats" (2003), which included hit songs such as "Tu Aashiqui Hai" and "Suno Na". They won the Filmfare RD Burman Award for New Music Talent for "Jhankaar Beats". Recognized for introducing techno music in Bollywood, Vishal-Shekhar continued further success after "Jhankaar Beats" with soundtracks like "Supari" (2003) and "Musafir" (2004). "Allah Ke Bande" from "Waisa Bhi Hota Hai Part II" also became a success during this period. Vishal-Shekhar began receiving offers from bigger banners and 2005 was hugely successful for the duo as they composed the songs for three films: "Salaam Namaste", "Dus" and "Bluffmaster". "Dus" earned them their first nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: The duo would continue to write music for successful soundtracks during this period including "" (2006), "I See You" (2006), "Ta Ra Rum Pum" (2007) and "Om Shanti Om" (2007). "Om Shanti Om" which had the hit songs "Main Agar Kahoon", "Dard-e-Disco" and "Aankhon Mein Teri" earned the duo their second nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director. They won the Best Composer Award at the 2nd Asian Film Awards for "Om Shanti Om".


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: 2008 was the year where Vishal-Shekhar established themselves among the leading music directors in Bollywood with extremely popular soundtracks for "Tashan", "De Taali", "Bachna Ae Haseeno" and "Dostana". "Tashan" had the hit song "Falak Tak Chal Saath Mere" while "Bachna Ae Haseeno" had several hit tracks including "Khuda Jaane" and "Lucky Boy" and "Dostana" had the evergreen item number "Desi Girl". "Dostana" earned them their third nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: After only one release with "Aladin" in 2009, Vishal-Shekhar continued their success in 2010. The year included "Anjaana Anjaani" which had the hit songs "Tujhe Bhula Diya" and "Aas Paas Khuda" and "I Hate Luv Storys" which had evergreen successes with "Bin Tere" and "Bahara". Both these films earned them two nominations for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director at the 56th Filmfare Awards. The same year also included "Tees Maar Khan", which included the hit item number "Sheila Ki Jawani", one of the two most popular Bollywood songs of 2010 along with "Munni Badnaam Hui".


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: Vishal-Shekhar's success continued with two major soundtracks in 2011 for "Ra.One" and "The Dirty Picture". "Ra.One" included the hit songs "Dildaara" and "Chammak Challo", which featured internationally renowned singer Akon on vocals while "The Dirty Picture" had the hit item number "Ooh La La" and "Ishq Sufiana". They were nominated for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director for "Ra.One". The following year, Vishal-Shekhar composed music for Karan Johar's "Student of the Year" (2012), which included hit tracks such as "Ishq Wala Love" and "The Disco Song", earning the duo their seventh nomination for the Filmfare Award for Best Music Director.


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: Vishal-Shekhar continued their association with Red Chillies Entertainment after "Om Shanti Om" with successful soundtracks for "Chennai Express" (2013) and "Happy New Year" (2014). They continued their success in 2016 with "Sultan" and "Befikre". "Sultan" had the hit song "Baby Ko Bass Pasand Hai" and "Jag Ghoomeya" while "Befikre" had the hugely hit song "Nashe Si Chad Gayi" which went viral and was the first Indian song to clock 300 million views and then 400  million views on YouTube. It currently has over 600 million views. During the same year, the duo collaborated with British rock band The Vamps for single "Beliya".


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: Vishal–Shekhar's music for "Tiger Zinda Hai" (2017) was a huge success with "Dil Diyan Gallan" and "Swag Se Swagat", with the latter song becoming the fastest song in the world to hit 100 million views and clocked up to 650  million views on YouTube in its first year.


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: Vishal-Shekhar have emerged as Bollywood's biggest music directors by continuing to compose successful soundtracks for "Student of the Year 2" (2019), "Bharat" (2019) and "Pathaan" (2023).


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: They have been judges on the star hunt show "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Challenge 2007" and the musical talent show "Jo Jeeta Wohi Super Star" with director and choreographer Farah Khan. They are the judges on "Voice of India – Mummy Ke Superstars". They were mentors and judges in the reality show "Sa Re Ga Ma Pa Singing Superstar" with Daler Mehndi and Sajid–Wajid.


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: They composed the Indian Premier League theme song of season 3 and the anthem of Kolkata Knight Riders.


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: Following the 2008 Mumbai attacks, Vishal Dadlani launched a petition to ban live media coverage during the rescue operations.


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: On 23 January 2012, Vishal and Shekhar performed at Spring Fest 2012 in IIT Kharagpur on 22 January 2012; they also performed at Saarang in IIT Madras. and in February 2012, at Crossroads 2012 in SRCC. On 25 March 2012, Vishal and Shekhar with Shruti Pathak performed live at Pandit Deendayal Petroleum University in Flare.


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: Vishal–Shekhar composed the IPL 6 anthem "Jumping Japaang" and the IPL 7 anthem "Chalo Bulawa Aya Hai".


title: Vishal–Shekhar

text: Both Vishal and Shekhar appeared as judges in the reality singing show for children and teens, Indian Idol Junior, Season One, while only Vishal appeared in Season Two.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: Cutthroat Island is a 1995 adventure swashbuckler film directed by Renny Harlin and written by Robert King and Marc Norman from a story by Michael Frost Beckner, James Gorman, Bruce A. Evans and Raynold Gideon. It stars Geena Davis, Matthew Modine and Frank Langella. It is a co-production between the United States, France, Germany and Italy.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: It had a notoriously troubled and chaotic production involving multiple rewrites and recasts. It received generally negative reviews from critics, who praised its high production values, action sequences, shooting locations and musical score, but criticized its script, acting, and unrealistic stunts. It was one of the biggest box office bombs in history, with losses of $147 million when adjusted for inflation. It is listed in the Guinness World Records as the biggest box-office bomb of all time, and significantly reduced the bankability and Hollywood production of pirate-themed films until 2003's "". Its failure caused the closing of Carolco Pictures.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: In 1668 Jamaica, Morgan Adams having escaped a sting operation to capture her with aid of her father's Boatswain Mr. Glasspoole and Bowen, hunts down her uncle and fellow pirate Dawg Brown, who has captured her father, Black Harry. Black Harry has one of three pieces of a map to a huge stash of gold on the remote Cutthroat Island, that only Harry and Brown's father managed to escape from. Dawg has another piece, having stolen it from the corpse of a third brother, Richard, while a fourth brother, Mordechai, has the last piece. Harry refuses to give Dawg his piece and escapes with Morgan's help, but not before being mortally wounded by Snelgrave, Dawg's one armed and one eyed First Mate. A dying Harry reveals to his daughter the location of the map piece: on his scalp. At the same time in Port Royal during a ball hosted by its corrupt Governor Ainslee, William Shaw a con man and thief is captured by Captain Trotter fleeing from the household, having fleeced several guests of their valuables.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: After scalping her dead father for the piece, Morgan, now the captain of her father's ship, the "Morning Star", sets out for the treasure. Unfortunately, the instructions appear to be in Latin, which no one on board reads. So, they go to nearby Port Royal to find a translator. There, they learn that one of the slaves up for auction, the very same named William Shaw, is fluent in Latin. After threatening a man determined to outbid her, Morgan wins the auction. Unfortunately, she is recognized from her wanted poster and is chased out of town, along with her crew and Shaw. Humiliated, Ainslee vows to find her, either to arrest her or form a partnership for half her profits. He enlists the help of chronicler John Reed, who often follows pirates to write his books.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: The crew then goes to Mordechai in Spittlefield Harbor. Before they can learn where the second piece is, Dawg appears (with Snelgrave capturing Morgan with a chain attached to his arm). A fight ensues, during which Mordechai is mortally wounded (with Dawg killing the pirate responsible) and Morgan is shot, while Shaw secretly finds the piece and keeps it to himself. After they escape on the "Morning Star", Morgan collapses from her wound, but is saved by Shaw, who is a self-proclaimed doctor. The two start a romance. Morgan figures out that the words on the map, when read backwards, spell out half the coordinates to the island. Meanwhile, Dawg takes his rage out on one of his crew (who was delaying his ship's departure due to lack of provisions) setting off after the "Morning Star"


title: Cutthroat Island

text: Dawg's ship, the "Reaper", bears down on them. Morgan directs hers toward a coral reef and a gale. Shaw manages to piece together the location of Cutthroat Island with his and Morgan's piece, but is caught and thrown in the brig. During the storm, Reed sends a carrier pigeon revealing their location to Ainslee. Meanwhile, the majority of the crew led by the treacherous Scully mutinies and maroons Morgan and those loyal to her in a boat. The tide takes them straight to Cutthroat Island, which is uncharted land northeast of Cuba.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: As Morgan goes after the treasure, Shaw, who escaped during the storm, steals the last piece from Dawg, who's on the island. Shaw falls into quicksand and Morgan, realizing he has the piece, frees him. Together, they find the gold, only for it to be stolen by Dawg, forcing them to jump off a cliff into the tide.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: After regaining consciousness, Shaw finds Reed, who leads him into a trap set by Dawg, Ainslee, and the mutineers, who have joined forces and intend to split the gold between them, with Ainslee intending to pardon Dawg and his crew by re-classing them as privateers, leaving his conflicted second Captain Trotter at a loss. As Shaw is captured and they make their way out to sea with the gold, Morgan sneaks aboard the "Morning Star" and retakes it from Scully and the mutineers, throwing them overboard to swim back to Cutthroat Island (while overpowering Captain Trotter and his soldiers killing several).


title: Cutthroat Island

text: Dawg who intends to use his newly acquired ill-gotten gains to become the new governor of Jamaica (by using its current governor to reinvent himself) convinces Ainslee to hang Shaw from his yardarm. The crew then tries to sneak attack the "Reaper", but Dawg counterattacks by forcing the "Morning Star" crew to reveal themselves (when Morgan's quartermaster Mr. Blair shoots the intended hangman). A sea fight ensues, during which Shaw escapes and Ainslee, his men, and Reed are killed by cannon fire. Realizing his future in the army is over, Captain Trotter saves Mr. Blair by killing a fellow soldier before turning on the rest his remaining comrades, while Mr. Glasspoole tricks Snelgrave into entangling himself in the anchor with his chain attached arm before dropping the anchor into the depths taking Snelgrave with it. Morgan boards the "Reaper" and blows out the ship's bottom to get to the gold. She then duels Dawg while Shaw gets trapped below in rapidly rising water with the treasure. Morgan kills Dawg with a cannon and saves Shaw, forced to abandon the treasure to escape the sinking ship. Morgan attached a marker barrel to the treasure beforehand, allowing them to retrieve it, and the newly rich crew sets sail for their next adventure in Madagascar.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: When the film was produced, Geena Davis and director Renny Harlin were married. Harlin convinced producer Mario Kassar to cast Davis, who was until then known for light comedies, hoping it would turn her into an action-adventure star. Carolco, already deeply in debt when the film entered preproduction, initially budgeted $60 million for the project and pinned its hopes for survival on its success. To fund it, the cash-starved company cancelled its only other project in production, "Crusade" starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, costing it $13 million. It also sold a $20 million interest in Paul Verhoeven's "Showgirls", "Last of the Dogmen", and "Stargate", and aggressively marketed "Cutthroat Island" to overseas distributors, promising them it would be a sure hit.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: Michael Douglas originally agreed to play Shaw under two conditions: filming had to start immediately because he was available only for a limited time, and his character had to have the same amount of screen time as Davis. Douglas eventually pulled out, claiming that Davis's role was expanded at his character's expense, while Davis wanted to quit when Douglas did, but was contractually obligated to finish the film.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: After Douglas quit, Harlin was so preoccupied with trying to find a male lead that set construction and script work were done without his input. Consequently, Harlin did not like what he saw when shooting was set to begin, leading to expensive rebuilding and rewriting.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: Tom Cruise, Keanu Reeves, Russell Crowe, Liam Neeson, Jeff Bridges, Ralph Fiennes, Charlie Sheen, Michael Keaton, Tim Robbins, Daniel Day-Lewis and Gabriel Byrne all turned down the role of Shaw before Modine agreed to do the role, partly due to his experience as a fencer.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: Oliver Reed was originally cast for a cameo as Mordechai Fingers, but was fired after getting in a bar fight and attempting to expose himself to Davis while intoxicated. George Murcell eventually took his place.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: Shooting was delayed for various reasons, allowing the budget to spiral out of control. When Harlin fired the chief camera operator following a dispute, more than two dozen crew members quit. In addition, broken pipes caused raw sewage to pour into the water tank where the actors were supposed to swim. Harlin spent $1 million of his own money to rewrite the script, as Carolco Pictures was in so much debt that they could not afford to pay further.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: The first week into production, the film's original cinematographer, Oliver Wood, fell off a crane and into one of the water tanks, breaking his leg; he had to be replaced by cinematographer Peter Levy. Wood's contributions to the film would be acknowledged in the closing credits.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: The film was shot on location in Malta and Thailand. Indoor scenes were shot at Mediterranean Film Studios in Kalkara, Malta, and models were shot at the Paddock Tank at Pinewood Studios, in Iver Heath, Buckinghamshire, England. Harlin required actors to do their own stunts whenever possible. While promoting the film, Davis appeared on talk shows with clips of her doing stunts over and over (including one take where she fell out of a window too soon, rolled down the roof and under a carriage) and described the bruises and injuries she sustained while filming.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: The film's orchestral score was composed by John Debney. It is one of the film's aspects that has been critically acclaimed, compared with the classic works of Erich Wolfgang Korngold.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: "Cutthroat Island" had a total production budget of $92–98 million million (though some put the figure as high as $115 million) and the total U.S. gross was $10,017,322. In 2014, the "Los Angeles Times" listed the film as one of the most expensive box office flops of all time. As well as making the Guinness World Record as the biggest box-office bomb of all-time. It debuted at No. 13 at the US box office.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has a 39% rating based on 41 reviews, with an average rating of 4.90/10. The site's consensus reads: ""Cutthroat Island" may aspire towards the earnest thrills of classic swashbucklers, but a distinct lack of charm and stilted script make this adventure a joyless hodgepodge of the pirate genre's flotsam and jetsam." On Metacritic the film has a score of 37% based on reviews from 20 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Critics were also unimpressed with the lack of chemistry between the leading actors, the one-dimensional villain, the unrealistic stunts (particularly a scene where Adams and Shaw jump through a scaffolding several stories high and come out unharmed) and the incoherent script. Audiences surveyed by CinemaScore gave the film a grade "B-" on scale of A to F.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: Todd McCarthy from "Variety" said: "What seemed like a dubious proposition on paper plays even more dubiously onscreen, as "Cutthroat Island" strenuously but vainly attempts to revive the thrills of old-fashioned pirate pictures. Giving most of the swashbuckling opportunities to star Geena Davis, pic does little with its reversal of gender expectations and features a seriously mismatched romantic duo in Davis and Matthew Modine." "Time Out London" commented that "we get Geena Davis doing the all-action honours, and a hotchpotch script that seems to think pirate movies are so funny in themselves the need for more humour is superfluous. The plot's well worn". Janet Maslin of "The New York Times" said that "It's not possible to believe that Ms. Davis is the highly respected captain of a pirate ship, and it's not even fun to try." Empire gave the film two stars out of five stating "It's mindless entertainment, but its critical and commercial failure doomed the pirate genre to a watery grave" complimenting though the locations and the set pieces stating that "The film is at its best in the gorgeous locations and the huge (we're talking Harlin - Die Hard 2, Cliffhanger - huge) set-pieces, concluding in a wild sea battle that is more John Woo on water".


title: Cutthroat Island

text: Roger Ebert of the "Chicago Sun-Times" gave the film a three-out-of-four-star rating, commenting: "This is, in short, a satisfactory movie – but it doesn't transcend its genre, and it's not surprising or astonishing. I saw it because that was my job and, having seen it, I grant its skill, and award it three stars on that basis. But unless you're really into pirate movies, it's not a necessary film." Susan Wloszczyna from "USA Today" stated: "If the sight of half-naked, tattooed sailors firing cannons at each other shivers your timbers, climb aboard. Even passable pirate movies don't sail by every day," awarding the film a 2.5 star rating out of 4.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: Harlin was nominated for a Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Director for his work on the film, but "lost" to Paul Verhoeven for "Showgirls".


title: Cutthroat Island

text: In a radio interview in 2011, Harlin discussed the film's box office failure. He pointed out that Carolco was in ruin before shooting even began, but had to make the film since financing from foreign investors was already in place. MGM, the film's distributor, was in the process of being sold and thus could not devote itself into financing a marketing campaign for the film. Carolco filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy a month before "Cutthroat Island"s release.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: In another interview, Matthew Modine said that other factors contributing to the production costs running out of control were Harlin always having three cameras rolling at the same time; and Harlin and Davis had several cases of V8 Vegetable Juice shipped out to the set in Malta for themselves. Towards the end of the shooting, an entire room was found to be full of unopened juice, so it had to be served to everybody.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: The failure of "Cutthroat Island" is also credited with significantly reducing the bankability and Hollywood production of pirate-themed films, which recovered only with the production of Disney's "" in 2003. Even at the time, the pirate genre was already not particularly popular due to the high costs of shooting, and even today, very few pirate movies outside of Pirates of the Caribbean franchise exist.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: Scott Mendelson of Forbes stated on the film's 25th anniversary that the film, along with "Aeon Flux", contributed to the failure of women-led films in the box office before the 21st century.


title: Cutthroat Island

text: A video game was published by Acclaim Entertainment and released for the major platforms of the time (such as the Super NES, Sega Genesis, and Game Boy) to tie in with the film. It loosely follows the events of the film.


title: Mercury – Act 1

text: Mercury – Act 1 is the fifth studio album by American pop rock band Imagine Dragons, released on September 3, 2021, by Kidinakorner and Interscope Records in the United States. Imagine Dragons recorded the album in 2018 after the previous album "Origins". The album was executive produced by Rick Rubin. The album's successor was released on July 1, 2022, titled "Mercury – Acts 1 & 2", which "Act 1" also appears on.


title: Mercury – Act 1

text: Following the conclusion of their Evolve World Tour in 2018, Imagine Dragons' fourth studio album "Origins" was released that November. Unlike their previous albums, the band did not tour in promotion of "Origins", instead opting to take time off to decompress and spend time with family.


title: Mercury – Act 1

text: On September 2, 2021, the band performance in Brooklyn for a small group of people playing 5 songs, including the tracks "Easy Come Easy Go" "It's Ok" and "One Day". On November 19, 2021, the group released an Amazon Music-exclusive EP titled "Mercury - Act 1 (Amazon Music Live)", which included recordings of the 5 songs performed.


title: Mercury – Act 1

text: Frontman Dan Reynolds described the album as split into two sides: one organic and looking inward, the other more aggressive and looking outward. The album touches on themes of loss, loneliness, and grief, while celebrating life:"I have watched my friends die to drug addiction. [...] The point of art is to share our darkest moments as well as the light ones. I believe that by singing about my own struggle with it, it hopefully will bring someone else some sort of peace or resolve. This record deals with a lot of searching and loneliness, struggling with the finite state of reality. However, I really wanted it to end on a celebratory note. Setting the foundation for a more steady and stable future. I wanted to end the record by focusing on all the things that make me happy. The simple things that keep me going every day. Looking to the future. Pointing out to myself all the beauty that surrounds me."The album's name is derived from the word “mercurial”, drawing on Reynolds’ mental health struggles and the band's lack of specific genre classification. The band enlisted Rick Rubin as the album's executive producer, whom Reynolds credited with pushing him to be less metaphorical lyrically and embrace the more “uncomfortable” aspects of songs: "Rick reminded me that over the last decade my fans have grown up with me. They not only want to grow with me, but they expected it. He told me to never worry about pushing them in uncomfortable ways. And that I really would be doing them a disservice if I ever tried to re-create the past or sugarcoat the present. I owe them vulnerability and honesty only."


title: Mercury – Act 1

text: The album was met with mixed reviews. The more positive reviews praised the album's maturity, calling it the band's best album since their debut, "Night Visions". Other negative reviews criticized the band's attempts to mix too many genres.


title: Mercury – Act 1

text: Neil Z. Yeung of AllMusic stated "While the overall tone and narrative could use a little polishing, Mercury: Act 1 is a huge step forward in their maturation process". Conversely Evan Rytlewski of "Pitchfork", was hard-pressed to find signs of maturity and unimpressed by the band’s "genre hopping". He concluded that "despite the ostensibly humanizing presence of Rick Rubin, rock's patron saint of prestige, these quintessentially Vegas showmen still sound like they're firing their emotions out of a T-shirt cannon."


title: Mercury – Act 1

text: El Hunt of "NME" gave the album two stars pointing out its lack of cohesion and originality. David Smyth of "Evening Standard" called the album "more irritating than inspiring" and stated that "there are a few songs you might like here, but a few you'll violently hate."


title: Mercury – Act 1

text: After the band's break in 2019 - 2020 on March 3, 2021, the band published a photo of them in a studio recording on official accounts. On March 5, the band published a video of cassette with a mystery melody. The next 3 days they published four videos with anagram. When the fans solved the riddles Imagine Dragons confirmed the new double single ""Follow You + Cutthroat"" would in fact be released on March 12, 2021. On March 23, the band performing for the first time the song ""Follow You"" on The Late Show. The second performing of the single in TV was on The Ellen Show on May 24, 2021. On June 29, the band published a snipped of the second single titled "Wrecked". On June 30, the band confirmed fifth album "Mercury - Act 1". On September 2, 2021, the band performance on "Amazon Music Live" for a small group. On 19 November 2021, the group released an Amazon Music-exclusive EP titled "Mercury - Act 1 (Amazon Music Live)". On September 7, the band tuned in to Jimmy Kimmel Live.


title: Mercury – Act 1

text: On 7 September 2021, after the release of "Mercury - Act 1", Imagine Dragons officially announced the Mercury Tour in 2022 to promote the album. The band had not toured for their previous album, Origins, as they had decided to break. The tour began on February 6, 2022 in Miami, Florida and is scheduled to conclude on February 4, 2023 in South Africa. Also the frontman of the band Dan Reynolds on July 17, 2022 published on Twitter that they announced many more dates worldwide.


title: Mercury – Act 1

text: The album's double-sided lead single, "Follow You" / "Cutthroat", was released on 12 March, 2021. The music video for "Follow You" came out on March 16, 2021 and "Cutthroat"'s music video came out on May 5, 2021. The second single "Wrecked", which was inspired by the death of Reynolds' sister-in-law, was released on July 2, 2021 and the music video was released on July 15, 2021. The music video for "Monday" was released on September 24, 2021. "Lonely" was sent to Italian radio as the album's fourth single on the same day.


title: Mercury – Act 1

text: The theme song from the Arcane League of Legends soundtrack, "Enemy", was released on October 28, 2021 as a promotional single with an animated video.


title: Mercury – Act 1

text: "Mercury – Act 1" debuted at No. 9 on "Billboard" 200 with 31,000 equivalent album units (17,000 pure), becoming their fifth top ten album in the US. The album also debuted within the top five across several "Billboard" charts: Top Rock Albums (No. 2), Alternative Albums (No. 2), Top Album Sales (No. 4) and Top Current Album Sales (No. 4).


title: Haematopoiesis

text: Haematopoiesis (, from Greek , 'blood' and 'to make'; also hematopoiesis in American English; sometimes also h(a)emopoiesis) is the formation of blood cellular components. All cellular blood components are derived from haematopoietic stem cells.<ref name="Birbrair n/a–n/a"></ref> In a healthy adult person, approximately – new blood cells are produced daily in order to maintain steady state levels in the peripheral circulation.


title: Haematopoiesis

text: Haematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) reside in the medulla of the bone (bone marrow) and have the unique ability to give rise to all of the different mature blood cell types and tissues. HSCs are self-renewing cells: when they differentiate, at least some of their daughter cells remain as HSCs so the pool of stem cells is not depleted. This phenomenon is called asymmetric division. The other daughters of HSCs (myeloid and lymphoid progenitor cells) can follow any of the other differentiation pathways that lead to the production of one or more specific types of blood cell, but cannot renew themselves. The pool of progenitors is heterogeneous and can be divided into two groups; long-term self-renewing HSC and only transiently self-renewing HSC, also called short-terms. This is one of the main vital processes in the body.


title: Haematopoiesis

text: Granulopoiesis (or granulocytopoiesis) is haematopoiesis of granulocytes, except of mast cells which are granulocytes but with an extramedullar maturation.


title: Haematopoiesis

text: Between 1948 and 1950, the Committee for Clarification of the Nomenclature of Cells and Diseases of the Blood and Blood-forming Organs issued reports on the nomenclature of blood cells. An overview of the terminology is shown below, from earliest to final stage of development:


title: Haematopoiesis

text: The root for erythrocyte colony-forming units (CFU-E) is "rubri", for granulocyte-monocyte colony-forming units (CFU-GM) is "granulo" or "myelo" and "mono", for lymphocyte colony-forming units (CFU-L) is "lympho" and for megakaryocyte colony-forming units (CFU-Meg) is "megakaryo". According to this terminology, the stages of red blood cell formation would be: rubriblast, prorubricyte, rubricyte, metarubricyte, and erythrocyte. However, the following nomenclature seems to be, at present, the most prevalent:


title: Haematopoiesis

text: Osteoclasts also arise from hemopoietic cells of the monocyte/neutrophil lineage, specifically CFU-GM.


title: Haematopoiesis

text: In developing embryos, blood formation occurs in aggregates of blood cells in the yolk sac, called blood islands. As development progresses, blood formation occurs in the spleen, liver and lymph nodes. When bone marrow develops, it eventually assumes the task of forming most of the blood cells for the entire organism. However, maturation, activation, and some proliferation of lymphoid cells occurs in the spleen, thymus, and lymph nodes. In children, haematopoiesis occurs in the marrow of the long bones such as the femur and tibia. In adults, it occurs mainly in the pelvis, cranium, vertebrae, and sternum.


title: Haematopoiesis

text: In some cases, the liver, thymus, and spleen may resume their haematopoietic function, if necessary. This is called "extramedullary haematopoiesis". It may cause these organs to increase in size substantially. During fetal development, since bones and thus the bone marrow develop later, the liver functions as the main haematopoetic organ. Therefore, the liver is enlarged during development. Extramedullary haematopoiesis and myelopoiesis may supply leukocytes in cardiovascular disease and inflammation during adulthood. Splenic macrophages and adhesion molecules may be involved in regulation of extramedullary myeloid cell generation in cardiovascular disease.


title: Haematopoiesis

text: As a stem cell matures it undergoes changes in gene expression that limit the cell types that it can become and moves it closer to a specific cell type (cellular differentiation). These changes can often be tracked by monitoring the presence of proteins on the surface of the cell. Each successive change moves the cell closer to the final cell type and further limits its potential to become a different cell type.


title: Haematopoiesis

text: Two models for haematopoiesis have been proposed: determinism and stochastic theory. For the stem cells and other undifferentiated blood cells in the bone marrow, the determination is generally explained by the "determinism" theory of haematopoiesis, saying that colony stimulating factors and other factors of the haematopoietic microenvironment determine the cells to follow a certain path of cell differentiation. This is the classical way of describing haematopoiesis. In "stochastic" "theory," undifferentiated blood cells differentiate to specific cell types by randomness. This theory has been supported by experiments showing that within a population of mouse haematopoietic progenitor cells, underlying stochastic variability in the distribution of Sca-1, a stem cell factor, subdivides the population into groups exhibiting variable rates of cellular differentiation. For example, under the influence of erythropoietin (an erythrocyte-differentiation factor), a subpopulation of cells (as defined by the levels of Sca-1) differentiated into erythrocytes at a sevenfold higher rate than the rest of the population. Furthermore, it was shown that if allowed to grow, this subpopulation re-established the original subpopulation of cells, supporting the theory that this is a stochastic, reversible process. Another level at which stochasticity may be important is in the process of apoptosis and self-renewal. In this case, the haematopoietic microenvironment prevails upon some of the cells to survive and some, on the other hand, to perform apoptosis and die. By regulating this balance between different cell types, the bone marrow can alter the quantity of different cells to ultimately be produced.


title: Haematopoiesis

text: Red and white blood cell production is regulated with great precision in healthy humans, and the production of leukocytes is rapidly increased during infection. The proliferation and self-renewal of these cells depend on growth factors. One of the key players in self-renewal and development of haematopoietic cells is stem cell factor (SCF), which binds to the c-kit receptor on the HSC. Absence of SCF is lethal. There are other important glycoprotein growth factors which regulate the proliferation and maturation, such as interleukins IL-2, IL-3, IL-6, IL-7. Other factors, termed colony-stimulating factors (CSFs), specifically stimulate the production of committed cells. Three CSFs are granulocyte-macrophage CSF (GM-CSF), granulocyte CSF (G-CSF) and macrophage CSF (M-CSF). These stimulate granulocyte formation and are active on either progenitor cells or end product cells.


title: Haematopoiesis

text: Erythropoietin is required for a myeloid progenitor cell to become an erythrocyte. On the other hand, thrombopoietin makes myeloid progenitor cells differentiate to megakaryocytes (thrombocyte-forming cells). The diagram to the right provides examples of cytokines and the differentiated blood cells they give rise to.


title: Haematopoiesis

text: Growth factors initiate signal transduction pathways, which lead to activation of transcription factors. Growth factors elicit different outcomes depending on the combination of factors and the cell's stage of differentiation. For example, long-term expression of PU.1 results in myeloid commitment, and short-term induction of PU.1 activity leads to the formation of immature eosinophils. Recently, it was reported that transcription factors such as NF-κB can be regulated by microRNAs (e.g., miR-125b) in haematopoiesis.


title: Haematopoiesis

text: The first key player of differentiation from HSC to a multipotent progenitor (MPP) is transcription factor CCAAT-enhancer binding protein α (C/EBPα). Mutations in C/EBPα are associated with acute myeloid leukaemia. From this point, cells can either differentiate along the Erythroid-megakaryocyte lineage or lymphoid and myeloid lineage, which have common progenitor, called lymphoid-primed multipotent progenitor. There are two main transcription factors. PU.1 for Erythroid-megakaryocyte lineage and GATA-1, which leads to a lymphoid-primed multipotent progenitor.


title: Haematopoiesis

text: Other transcription factors include Ikaros (B cell development), and Gfi1 (promotes Th2 development and inhibits Th1) or IRF8 (basophils and mast cells). Significantly, certain factors elicit different responses at different stages in the haematopoiesis. For example, CEBPα in neutrophil development or PU.1 in monocytes and dendritic cell development. It is important to note that processes are not unidirectional: differentiated cells may regain attributes of progenitor cells.


title: Haematopoiesis

text: An example is PAX5 factor, which is important in B cell development and associated with lymphomas. Surprisingly, pax5 conditional knock out mice allowed peripheral mature B cells to de-differentiate to early bone marrow progenitors. These findings show that transcription factors act as caretakers of differentiation level and not only as initiators.


title: Haematopoiesis

text: Mutations in transcription factors are tightly connected to blood cancers, as acute myeloid leukemia (AML) or acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL). For example, Ikaros is known to be regulator of numerous biological events. Mice with no Ikaros lack B cells, Natural killer and T cells. Ikaros has six zinc fingers domains, four are conserved DNA-binding domain and two are for dimerization. Very important finding is, that different zinc fingers are involved in binding to different place in DNA and this is the reason for pleiotropic effect of Ikaros and different involvement in cancer, but mainly are mutations associated with BCR-Abl patients and it is bad prognostic marker.


title: Haematopoiesis

text: In some vertebrates, haematopoiesis can occur wherever there is a loose stroma of connective tissue and slow blood supply, such as the gut, spleen or kidney.


title: Aquarium

text: An aquarium (plural: "aquariums" or "aquaria") is a vivarium of any size having at least one transparent side in which aquatic plants or animals are kept and displayed. Fishkeepers use aquaria to keep fish, invertebrates, amphibians, aquatic reptiles, such as turtles, and aquatic plants. The term "aquarium", coined by English naturalist Philip Henry Gosse, combines the Latin root , meaning 'water', with the suffix , meaning 'a place for relating to'.


title: Aquarium

text: The aquarium principle was fully developed in 1850 by the chemist Robert Warington, who explained that plants added to water in a container would give off enough oxygen to support animals, so long as the numbers of animals did not grow too large. The aquarium craze was launched in early Victorian England by Gosse, who created and stocked the first public aquarium at the London Zoo in 1853, and published the first manual, "The Aquarium: An Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Sea" in 1854. Small aquariums are kept in the home by hobbyists. There are large public aquariums in many cities. Public aquariums keep fish and other aquatic animals in large tanks. A large aquarium may have otters, turtles, dolphins, sharks, penguins, seals, and whales. Most aquarium tanks also have plants.


title: Aquarium

text: An aquarist owns fish or maintains an aquarium, typically constructed of glass or high-strength acrylic. Cuboid aquaria are also known as fish tanks or simply tanks, while bowl-shaped aquaria are also known as fish bowls. Size can range from a small glass bowl, a few liters in volume, to immense public aquaria of thousands of liters. Specialized equipment maintains appropriate water quality and other characteristics suitable for the aquarium's residents.


title: Aquarium

text: In 1369, the Hongwu Emperor of China established a porcelain company that produced large porcelain tubs for maintaining goldfish; over time, people produced tubs that approached the shape of modern fish bowls. Leonhard Baldner, who wrote "Vogel-, Fisch- und Tierbuch" (Bird, Fish, and Animal Book) in 1666, maintained weather loaches and newts. It is sometimes held that the aquarium was invented by the Romans, who are said to have kept sea barbels in marble-and-glass tanks, but this is definitely not true.


title: Aquarium

text: In 1832, Jeanne Villepreux-Power, a pioneering French marine biologist, became the first person to create aquaria for experimenting with aquatic organisms. In 1836, soon after his invention of the Wardian case, Dr. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward proposed to use his tanks for tropical animals. In 1841 he did so, though only with aquatic plants and toy fish. However, he soon housed real animals. In 1838, Félix Dujardin noted owning a saltwater aquarium, though he did not use the term. In 1846, Anne Thynne maintained stony corals and seaweed for almost three years, and was credited as the creator of the first balanced marine aquarium in London. English chemist Robert Warington experimented with a 13-gallon container, which contained goldfish, eelgrass, and snails, creating one of the first stable aquaria. The aquarium principle was fully developed by Warington, explaining that plants added to water in a container would give off enough oxygen to support animals, so long as their numbers do not grow too large. He published his findings in 1850 in the Chemical Society's journal.


title: Aquarium

text: The keeping of fish in an aquarium became a popular hobby and spread quickly. In the United Kingdom, it became popular after ornate aquaria in cast-iron frames were featured at the Great Exhibition of 1851. In 1853, the aquarium craze was launched in England by Philip Henry Gosse who created and stocked the first public aquarium in the London Zoo which came to be known as the Fish House. Gosse coined the word "aquarium", opting for this term (instead of "aquatic vivarium" or "aqua-vivarium") in 1854 in his book "The Aquariums: An Unveiling of the Wonders of the Deep Water". In this book, Gosse primarily discussed saltwater aquaria. In the 1850s, the aquarium became a fad in the United Kingdom.


title: Aquarium

text: Tank designs and techniques for maintaining water quality were developed by Warington, later cooperating with Gosse until his critical review of the tank water composition. Edward Edwards developed these glass-fronted aquaria in his 1858 patent for a "dark-water-chamber slope-back tank", with water slowly circulating to a reservoir beneath.


title: Aquarium

text: Germans soon rivaled the British in their interest. In 1854, an anonymous author had two articles published about the saltwater aquaria of the United Kingdom: "Die Gartenlaube" (The Garden House) entitled "Der Ocean auf dem Tische" (The Ocean on the Table). However, in 1856, "Der See im Glase" (The Lake in a Glass) was published, discussing freshwater aquaria, which were much easier to maintain in landlocked areas. In 1862 William Alford Lloyd, then bankrupt because of the craze in England being over, moved to Grindel Dammthor, Hamburg, to supervise the installation of the circulating system and tanks at the Hamburg Aquarium. During the 1870s, some of the first aquarist societies were appearing in Germany. The United States soon followed. Published in 1858, Henry D. Butler's "The Family Aquarium" was one of the first books written in the United States solely about the aquarium. According to the July issue of "The North American Review" of the same year, William Stimson may have owned some of the first functional aquaria, and had as many as seven or eight. The first aquarist society in the United States was founded in New York City in 1893, followed by others. The "New York Aquarium Journal", first published in October 1876, is considered to be the world's first aquarium magazine.


title: Aquarium

text: In the Victorian era in the United Kingdom, a common design for the home aquarium was a glass front with the other sides made of wood (made watertight with a pitch coating). The bottom would be made of slate and heated from below. More advanced systems soon began to be introduced, along with tanks of glass in metal frames. During the latter half of the 19th century, a variety of aquarium designs were explored, such as hanging the aquarium on a wall, mounting it as part of a window, or even combining it with a birdcage.


title: Aquarium

text: Around 1908, the first mechanical aquarium air pump was invented, powered by running water, instead of electricity. The introduction of the air pump into the hobby is considered by several historians of the hobby to be a pivotal moment in its development.


title: Aquarium

text: Aquaria became more widely popular as houses had an electricity supply after World War I. Electricity allowed artificial lighting, as well as aeration, filtration, and heating of the water. Initially, amateur aquarists kept native fish (with the exception of goldfish); the availability of exotic species from overseas further increased the popularity of the aquarium. Jugs made from a variety of materials were used to import fish from overseas, with a bicycle foot pump for aeration. Plastic shipping bags were introduced in the 1950s, making it easier to ship fish. The eventual availability of air freight allowed fish to be successfully imported from distant regions. Popular publications started by Herbert R. Axelrod influenced many more hobbyists to start keeping fish. In the 1960s, metal frames made marine aquaria almost impossible due to corrosion, but the development of tar and silicone sealant allowed the first all-glass aquaria made by Martin Horowitz in Los Angeles, CA. The frames remained, however, though purely for aesthetic reasons.


title: Aquarium

text: Japan played an increasingly important role in shaping aquarium design in the latter part of the twentieth century, with the aquascaping designs of Takashi Amano influencing fishkeepers to treat home aquariums as aesthetically pleasing compositions, rather than simply as a way of displaying fish specimens.


title: Aquarium

text: In the United States, as of 1996, aquarium keeping is the second-most popular hobby after stamp collecting. In 1999, an estimated 9.6 million US households owned an aquarium. Figures from the 2005/2006 APPMA National Pet Owners Survey report that Americans own approximately 139 million freshwater fish and 9.6 million saltwater fish. Estimates of the numbers of fish kept in aquaria in Germany suggest at least 36 million. The hobby has the strongest following in Europe, Asia, and North America. In the United States, 40% of aquarists maintain two or more tanks.


title: Aquarium

text: Over time, there has been an increasing appreciation of the usefulness of access to an aquarium to provide potential stress reduction and improvement of mood in people observing aquatic life. According to the research of having an aquarium is many health benefits like reduce stress, blood pressure and heart rate improvement, better quality sleep, reduce anxiety and pain, therapy of excited children, Alzheimer's therapy and improve productivity.


title: Aquarium

text: The very first modern aquarium made of glass was developed in the 19th century by Robert Warrington. During the Victorian age, glass aquariums commonly had slate or steel bottoms, which allowed them to be heated underneath by an open-flame heat source. These aquariums had the glass panels attached with metal frames and sealed with putty. Metal-framed aquariums were still available until the mid-1960s, when the modern, silicone-sealed style replaced them. Acrylic aquariums first became available to the public in the 1970s. Laminated glass is sometimes used, which combines the advantages of both glass and acrylic.


title: Aquarium

text: Today, most aquaria consist of glass panes bonded together by 100% silicone sealant, with plastic frames attached to the upper and lower edges for decoration. The glass aquarium is standard for sizes up to about . However, glass is brittle and has very little give before fracturing, though generally the sealant fails first. Aquaria are made in a variety of shapes, such as cuboid, hexagonal, angled to fit in a corner (L-shaped), and bow-front (the front side curves outwards). Fish bowls are generally either made of plastic or glass, and are either spherical or some other round configuration in shape.


title: Aquarium

text: Glass aquaria have been a popular choice for many home and hobbyist aquarists for many years. Once silicone sealant became strong enough to ensure a long-term water-tight seal, it eliminated the need for a structural frame. In addition to lower cost, glass aquaria are more scratch resistant than acrylic. Although the price is one of the main considerations for aquarists when deciding which of these two types of aquaria to purchase, for very large tanks, the price difference tends to disappear.


title: Aquarium

text: Acrylic aquaria are now the primary competitor with glass. Prior to the invention of UV stabilization, early acrylic aquaria discolored over time with exposure to light; this is no longer the case. Acrylic is generally stronger than glass, weighs less, and provides a certain amount of temperature insulation. In colder climates or environments, it is easier to achieve and maintain a tropical temperature and requires less capacity from an aquarium heater. Acrylic-soluble cements are used to directly fuse acrylic together. Acrylic allows for the formation of unusual shapes, such as the hexagonal tank. Acrylics are easier to scratch than glass, but unlike glass, scratches in acrylic can be polished out.


title: Aquarium

text: Large aquaria might instead use stronger materials such as fiberglass-reinforced plastics. However, this material is not transparent. Reinforced concrete is used for aquaria where weight and space are not factors. Concrete must be coated with a waterproof layer to prevent the water from breaking down the concrete, as well as preventing contamination of the water by the concrete.


title: Aquarium

text: Plywood can also be used when building aquaria. The benefits of using plywood include: lower construction costs, less weight, and better insulation. A popular positioning choice for plywood aquaria is keeping them in a wall. Here the use of plywood is hidden by sinking the aquarium inside the wall. Putting insulation between the two helps with the insulation of a heated tank.


title: Aquarium

text: Objects used for aquariums include: coffee tables, sinks, and even toilets. Another such example is the MacQuarium, an aquarium made from the shell of an Apple Macintosh computer. In recent years, elaborate custom-designed home aquariums costing hundreds of thousands of dollars have become status symbols—according to "The New York Times", "among people of means, a dazzling aquarium is one of the last surefire ways to impress their peers."


title: Aquarium

text: A kreisel tank ("kreisel" being German for "spinning top" or "gyroscope") is an aquarium shaped like a horizontal cylinder that is designed to hold delicate animals such as jellyfish and newborn seahorses. These aquariums provide slow, circular water flow with a bare minimum of interior hardware to prevent the inhabitants from becoming injured by pumps or the tank itself. The tank has no sharp angles around its sides and keeps the housed animals away from plumbing. Water moving into the tank gives a gentle flow that keeps the inhabitants suspended. Water leaves the tank through a screen which prevents animals from being drawn into the pump intake or overflow line.


title: Aquarium

text: There are several types of kreisel tanks. In a true kreisel, a circular tank has a circular, submerged lid. "Pseudokreisels" are "U" or semicircle shaped, usually without a lid. "Stretch kreisels" are a "double gyre" kreisel design, where the tank length is at least twice the height. Using two downwelling inlets on both sides of the tank lets gravity create two gyres in the tank. A single downwelling inlet may be used in the middle as well. The top of a stretch kreisel may be open or closed with a lid. There may also be screens about midway down the sides of the tank, or at the top on the sides. It is possible to combine these designs; a circular shaped tank is used without a lid or cover, and the surface of the water acts as the continuation of circular flow.


title: Aquarium

text: Another popular setup is the biotope aquarium. A biotope aquarium is a recreation of a specific natural environment. Some of the most popular biotopes are the freshwater habitats of the Amazon and Rio Negro rivers, the African rift lake environments of Lake Malawi and Lake Tanganyika, and saltwater coral reefs of Australia, the Red Sea, and the Caribbean Sea. The fish, plants, substrate, rocks, wood, coral, and any other component of the display should completely match that of the local natural environment. It can be a challenge to recreate such environments, and most "true" biotopes will only have a few (if not only one) species of fish and invertebrates.


title: Aquarium

text: Finally, an emerging concept for the home is that of a wall mounted aquarium, some of which are displayed at the Living Art Marine Center.


title: Aquarium

text: An aquarium can range from a small glass bowl containing less than of water to immense public aquaria that house entire ecosystems such as kelp forests. Relatively large home aquaria resist rapid fluctuations of temperature and pH, allowing for greater system stability. Beginner aquarists are advised to consider larger tanks to begin with, as controlling water parameters in smaller tanks can prove difficult.


title: Aquarium

text: Small, unfiltered bowl-shaped aquaria are now widely regarded as unsuitable for most fish. In order to keep water conditions at suitable levels, aquariums should contain at least two forms of filtration: biological and mechanical. Chemical filtration should also be considered under some circumstances for optimum water quality. Chemical filtration is frequently achieved via activated carbon, to filter medications, tannins, and/or other known impurities from the water.


title: Aquarium

text: Reef aquaria under have a special place in the aquarium hobby; these aquaria, termed nano reefs (when used in reefkeeping), have a small water volume, under .


title: Aquarium

text: Practical limitations, most notably the weight of water () and internal water pressure (requiring thick glass siding) of a large aquarium, restrict most home aquaria to a maximum of around 1 cubic metre in volume (1000 L, weighing or ). Some aquarists, however, have constructed aquaria of many thousands of litres.


title: Aquarium

text: Public aquariums and oceanariums designed for exhibition of large species or environments can be dramatically larger than any home aquarium. The Georgia Aquarium, for example, features an individual aquarium of .


title: Aquarium

text: A new trend is to have very small aquariums, termed mini aquariums (less than 150 litres or 40 gallons) or nano aquariums (less than 75 litres or 20 gallons). These can be either freshwater or saltwater, and are intended to display a tiny but self-contained ecosystem.


title: Aquarium

text: The typical hobbyist aquarium includes a filtration system, an artificial lighting system, an air diffuser and pump, and a heater or chiller depending on the aquarium's inhabitants. Many aquaria incorporate a hood, containing the lights, to decrease evaporation and prevent fish from leaving the aquarium (and anything else from entering the aquarium).


title: Aquarium

text: Combined biological and mechanical aquarium filtration systems are common. These either convert ammonia to nitrate (removing nitrogen at the expense of aquatic plants), or to sometimes remove phosphate. Filter media can house microbes that mediate nitrification. Filtration systems are sometimes the most complex component of home aquaria.


title: Aquarium

text: Aquarium heaters combine a heating element with a thermostat, allowing the aquarist to regulate water temperature at a level above that of the surrounding air, whereas coolers and chillers (refrigeration devices) are for use anywhere, such as cold water aquaria, where the ambient room temperature is above the desired tank temperature. Thermometers used include glass alcohol thermometers, adhesive external plastic strip thermometers, and battery-powered LCD thermometers. In addition, some aquarists use air pumps attached to airstones or water pumps to increase water circulation and supply adequate gas exchange at the water surface. Wave-making devices have also been constructed to provide wave action.


title: Aquarium

text: An aquarium's physical characteristics form another aspect of aquarium design. Size, lighting conditions, density of floating and rooted plants, placement of bog-wood, creation of caves or overhangs, type of substrate, and other factors (including an aquarium's positioning within a room) can all affect the behavior and survival of tank inhabitants.


title: Aquarium

text: An aquarium can be placed on an aquarium stand. Because of the weight of the aquarium, a stand must be strong as well as level. A tank that is not level may distort, leak, or crack. These are often built with cabinets to allow storage, available in many styles to match room decor. Simple metal tank stands are also available. Most aquaria should be placed on polystyrene to cushion any irregularities on the underlying surface or the bottom of the tank itself that may cause cracks. However, some tanks have an underframe making this unnecessary.


title: Aquarium

text: Another important consideration for aquariums is their electrical usage. Water is expensive to keep heated, along with the lights that many aquariums, especially those with live plants have. New aquarists should also pay close attention to their electrical setup for their aquarium, taking care to setup power connections with drip loops to prevent water from getting to outlets.


title: Aquarium

text: Large volumes of water enable more stability in a tank by diluting effects from death or contamination events that push an aquarium away from equilibrium. The bigger the tank, the easier such a systemic shock is to absorb, because the effects of that event are diluted. For example, the death of the only fish in an tank causes dramatic changes in the system, while the death of that same fish in a tank with many other fish in it represents only a minor change. For this reason, hobbyists often favor larger tanks, as they require less attention.


title: Aquarium

text: Several nutrient cycles are important in the aquarium. Dissolved oxygen enters the system at the surface water-air interface. Similarly, carbon dioxide escapes the system into the air. The phosphate cycle is an important, although often overlooked, nutrient cycle. Sulfur, iron, and micronutrients also cycle through the system, entering as food and exiting as waste. Appropriate handling of the nitrogen cycle, along with supplying an adequately balanced food supply and considered biological loading, is enough to keep these other nutrient cycles in approximate equilibrium.


title: Aquarium

text: An aquarium must be maintained regularly to ensure that the fish are kept healthy. Daily maintenance consists of checking the fish for signs of stress and disease. Also, aquarists must make sure that the water has a good quality and it is not cloudy or foamy and the temperature of the water is appropriate for the particular species of fish that live in the aquarium.


title: Aquarium

text: Typical weekly maintenance includes changing around 10–30% or more of the water while cleaning the gravel, or other substrate if the aquarium has one; however some manage to avoid this entirely by keeping it somewhat self-sufficient. A good habit is to remove the water being replaced by "vacuuming" the gravel with suitable implements, as this will eliminate uneaten foods and other residues that settle on the substrate. In many areas tap water is not considered to be safe for fish to live in because it contains chemicals that harm the fish. Tap water from those areas must be treated with a suitable water conditioner, such as a product which removes chlorine and chloramine and neutralizes any heavy metals present. The water conditions must be checked both in the tank and in the replacement water, to make sure they are suitable for the species.


title: Aquarium

text: The solute content of water is perhaps the most important aspect of water conditions, as total dissolved solids and other constituents dramatically impact basic water chemistry, and therefore how organisms interact with their environment. Salt content, or salinity, is the most basic measure of water conditions. An aquarium may have freshwater (salinity below 500 parts per million), simulating a lake or river environment; brackish water (a salt level of 500 to 30,000 PPM), simulating environments lying between fresh and salt, such as estuaries; and salt water or seawater (a salt level of 30,000 to 40,000 PPM), simulating an ocean environment. Rarely, higher salt concentrations are maintained in specialized tanks for raising brine organisms.


title: Aquarium

text: Saltwater is usually alkaline, while the pH (alkalinity or acidicity) of fresh water varies more. Hardness measures overall dissolved mineral content; hard or soft water may be preferred. Hard water is usually alkaline, while soft water is usually neutral to acidic. Dissolved organic content and dissolved gases content are also important factors.


title: Aquarium

text: Home aquarists typically use tap water supplied through their local water supply network to fill their tanks. Straight tap water cannot be used in localities that pipe chlorinated water. In the past, it was possible to "condition" the water by simply letting the water stand for a day or two, which allows the chlorine time to dissipate. However, chloramine is now used more often and does not leave the water as readily. Water conditioners formulated to remove chlorine or chloramine are often all that is needed to make the water ready for aquarium use. Brackish or saltwater aquaria require the addition of a commercially available mixture of salts and other minerals.


title: Aquarium

text: Some aquarists modify water's alkalinity, hardness, or dissolved content of organics and gases, before adding it to their aquaria. This can be accomplished by additives, such as sodium bicarbonate, to raise pH. Some aquarists filter or purify their water through deionization or reverse osmosis prior to using it. In contrast, public aquaria with large water needs often locate themselves near a natural water source (such as a river, lake, or ocean) to reduce the level of treatment. Some hobbyists use an algae scrubber to filter the water naturally.


title: Aquarium

text: Water temperature determines the two most basic aquarium classifications: tropical versus cold water. Most fish and plant species tolerate only a limited temperature range; tropical aquaria, with an average temperature of about , are much more common. Temperate or coldwater aquaria are for fish that are better suited to a cooler environment. Temperature consistency is more important than range. Most organisms are not accustomed to sudden changes in temperatures, which can cause shock and lead to disease. Water temperature can be regulated with a thermostat and heater (or cooler).


title: Aquarium

text: Water movement can also be important in simulating a natural ecosystem. Aquarists may prefer anything from still water up to swift currents, depending on the aquarium's inhabitants. Water movement can be controlled via aeration from air pumps, powerheads, and careful design of internal water flow (such as location of filtration system points of inflow and outflow).


title: Aquarium

text: Of primary concern to the aquarist is management of the waste produced by an aquarium's inhabitants. Fish, invertebrates, fungi, and some bacteria excrete nitrogen waste in the form of ammonia (which converts to ammonium, in water) and must then either pass through the nitrogen cycle or be removed by passing through zeolite. Ammonia is also produced through the decomposition of plant and animal matter, including fecal matter and other detritus. Nitrogen waste products become toxic to fish and other aquarium inhabitants at high concentrations. In the wild, the vast amount of water surrounding the fish dilutes ammonia and other waste materials. When fish are put into an aquarium, waste can quickly reach toxic concentrations in the enclosed environment unless the tank is cycled to remove waste.


title: Aquarium

text: A well-balanced tank contains organisms that are able to metabolize the waste products of other aquarium residents, recreating a portion of the nitrogen cycle. Bacteria known as nitrifiers (genus "Nitrosomonas") metabolize nitrogen waste. Nitrifying bacteria capture ammonia from the water and metabolize it to produce nitrite. Nitrite is toxic to fish in high concentrations. Another type of bacteria (genus "Nitrospira") converts nitrite into nitrate, a less toxic substance. ("Nitrobacter" bacteria were previously believed to fill this role. While biologically they could theoretically fill the same niche as "Nitrospira", it has recently been found that "Nitrobacter" are not present in detectable levels in established aquaria, while "Nitrospira" are plentiful.) However, commercial products sold as kits to "jump start" the nitrogen cycle often still contain "Nitrobacter".


title: Aquarium

text: Aquatic plants also eliminate nitrogen waste by metabolizing ammonia and nitrate. When plants metabolize nitrogen compounds, they remove nitrogen from the water by using it to build biomass that decays more slowly than ammonia-driven plankton already dissolved in the water. Some hobbyists also use "anoxic filtration," which relies on bacteria that live in low-oxygen environments.


title: Aquarium

text: The nitrogen cycle in an aquarium is only a portion of the complete cycle: nitrogen must be added to the system (usually through food provided to the tank inhabitants), and nitrates accumulate in the water at the end of the process, or become bound in the biomass of plants. The aquarium keeper must remove water once nitrate concentrations grow, or remove plants which have grown from the nitrates.


title: Aquarium

text: Hobbyist aquaria often do not have sufficient bacteria populations to adequately denitrify waste. This problem is most often addressed through two filtration solutions: Activated carbon filters absorb nitrogen compounds and other toxins, while biological filters provide a medium designed to enhance bacterial colonization. Activated carbon and other substances, such as ammonia absorbing resins, stop working when their pores fill, so these components have to be replaced regularly.


title: Aquarium

text: New aquaria often have problems associated with the nitrogen cycle due to insufficient beneficial bacteria. Therefore, fresh water has to be matured before stocking them with fish. There are three basic approaches to this: the "fishless cycle", the "silent cycle" and "slow growth".


title: Aquarium

text: In a fishless cycle, small amounts of ammonia are added to an unpopulated tank to feed the bacteria. During this process, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate levels are tested to monitor progress. The "silent" cycle is basically nothing more than densely stocking the aquarium with fast-growing aquatic plants and relying on them to consume the nitrogen, allowing the necessary bacterial populations time to develop. According to anecdotal reports, the plants can consume nitrogenous waste so efficiently that ammonia and nitrite level spikes seen in more traditional cycling methods are greatly reduced or disappear. "Slow growth" entails slowly increasing the population of fish over a period of 6 to 8 weeks, giving bacteria colonies time to grow and stabilize with the increase in fish waste. This method is usually done with a small starter population of hardier fish which can survive the ammonia and nitrite spikes, whether they are intended to be permanent residents or to be traded out later for the desired occupants.


title: Aquarium

text: The largest bacterial populations are found in the filter, where there is high water flow and plentiful surface available for their growth, so effective and efficient filtration is vital. Sometimes, a vigorous cleaning of the filter is enough to seriously disturb the biological balance of an aquarium. Therefore, it is recommended to rinse mechanical filters in an outside bucket of aquarium water to dislodge organic materials that contribute to nitrate problems, while preserving bacteria populations. Another safe practice consists of cleaning only half of the filter media during each service, or using two filters, only one of which is cleaned at a time.


title: Aquarium

text: The biological load, or bioload, is a measure of the burden placed on the aquarium ecosystem by its inhabitants. High biological loading presents a more complicated tank ecology, which in turn means that equilibrium is easier to upset. Several fundamental constraints on biological loading depend on aquarium size. The water's surface area limits oxygen intake. The bacteria population depends on the physical space they have available to colonize. Physically, only a limited size and number of plants and animals can fit into an aquarium while still providing room for movement. Biologically, biological loading refers to the rate of biological decay in proportion to tank volume. Adding plants to an aquarium will sometimes help greatly with taking up fish waste as plant nutrients. Although an aquarium can be overloaded with fish, an excess of plants is unlikely to cause harm. Decaying plant material, such as decaying plant leaves, can add these nutrients back into the aquarium if not promptly removed. The bioload is processed by the aquarium's biofilter filtration system.


title: Aquarium

text: Limiting factors include the oxygen availability and filtration processing. Aquarists have rules of thumb to estimate the number of fish that can be kept in an aquarium. The examples below are for small freshwater fish; larger freshwater fishes and most marine fishes need much more generous allowances.


title: Aquarium

text: Experienced aquarists warn against applying these rules too strictly because they do not consider other important issues such as growth rate, activity level, social behaviour, filtration capacity, total biomass of plant life, and so on. It is better to apply the overall mass and size of a fish per gallon of water, than simply the length. This is because fish of different sizes produce quite differing amounts of waste. Establishing maximum capacity is often a matter of slowly adding fish and monitoring water quality over time, following a trial and error approach.


title: Aquarium

text: One variable is differences between fish. Smaller fish consume more oxygen per gram of body weight than larger fish. Labyrinth fish can breathe atmospheric oxygen and do not need as much surface area (however, some of these fish are territorial, and do not appreciate crowding). Barbs also require more surface area than tetras of comparable size.


title: Aquarium

text: Oxygen exchange at the surface is an important constraint, and thus the surface area of the aquarium matters. Some aquarists claim that a deeper aquarium holds no more fish than a shallower aquarium with the same surface area. The capacity can be improved by surface movement and water circulation such as through aeration, which not only improves oxygen exchange, but also waste decomposition rates.


title: Aquarium

text: Waste density is another variable. Decomposition in solution consumes oxygen. Oxygen dissolves less readily in warmer water; this is a double-edged sword since warmer temperatures make fish more active, so they consume more oxygen.