title: Book of Numbers

text: The longer the Israelites stay on the plains of Shittim, the more they intermarry with the local Moabites, and the more they participate in the local religion, worshipping a deity known as Baal-Peor. God sends a plague in retaliation, and Moses tells the judges to kill anyone participating in this practice. When one of Aaron's grandsons, Phinehas, finds out a Simeonite prince named Zimri has married a Midianite woman named Cozbi, he enters their tent and runs a spear through them. God rewards him by giving his descendants an everlasting priesthood. God also tells the Israelites to consider the Midianites their enemies.


title: Book of Numbers

text: A new census gives the total number of males from twenty years and upward as 601,730, and the number of the Levites from the age of one month and upward as 23,000. The land shall be divided by lot. The daughters of Zelophehad, who had no sons, are to share in the allotment. Moses is ordered to appoint Joshua as his successor. Prescriptions for the observance of the feasts and the offerings for different occasions are enumerated. Moses orders the Israelites to massacre the people of Midian, in retaliation for the Baal-Peor incident. The Reubenites and the Gadites request Moses to assign them the land east of the Jordan. Moses grants their request after they promise to help in the conquest of the land west of the Jordan. The land east of the Jordan is divided among the tribes of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh. Moses recalls the stations at which the Israelites halted during their forty years' wanderings and instructs the Israelites to exterminate the Canaanites and destroy their idols. The boundaries of the land are spelled out; the land is to be divided under the supervision of Eleazar, Joshua, and twelve princes, one of each tribe.


title: Book of Numbers

text: The majority of modern biblical scholars believe that the Torah (the books of Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy) reached its present form in the post-Exilic period (i.e., after c.520 BC), based on pre-existing written and oral traditions, as well as contemporary geographical and political realities. The five books are often described as being drawn from four "sources" - schools of writers rather than individuals - the Yahwist and the Elohist (frequently treated as a single source), the Priestly source and the Deuteronomist. There is an ongoing dispute over the origins of the non-Priestly source(s), but it is generally agreed that the Priestly source is post-exilic.


title: Book of Numbers

text: David A. Clines, in his influential "The Themes of the Pentateuch" (1978), identified the overarching theme of the five books as the partial fulfilment of a promise made by God to the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. The promise has three elements: posterity (i.e., descendants – Abraham is told that his descendants will be as innumerable as the stars), divine-human relationship (Israel is to be God's chosen people), and land (the land of Canaan, cursed by Noah immediately after the Deluge).


title: Book of Numbers

text: The theme of the divine-human relationship is expressed, or managed, through a series of covenants (meaning treaties, legally binding agreements) stretching from Genesis to Deuteronomy and beyond. The first is the covenant between God and Noah immediately after the Deluge in which God agrees never again to destroy the Earth with water. The next is between God and Abraham, and the third between God and all Israel at Mount Sinai. In this third covenant, unlike the first two, God hands down an elaborate set of laws (scattered through Exodus, Leviticus, and Numbers), which the Israelites are to observe; they are also to remain faithful to Yahweh, the god of Israel, meaning, among other things, that they must put their trust in his help.


title: Book of Numbers

text: The theme of descendants marks the first event in Numbers, the census of Israel's fighting men: the huge number which results (over 600,000) demonstrates the fulfillment of God's promise to Abraham of innumerable descendants, as well as serving as God's guarantee of victory in Canaan. As chapters 1–10 progress, the theme of God's presence with Israel comes to the fore: these chapters describe how Israel is to be organized around the Sanctuary, God's dwelling-place in their midst, under the charge of the Levites and priests, in preparation for the conquest of the land.


title: Book of Numbers

text: The Israelites then set out to conquer the land, but almost immediately they refuse to enter it, and Yahweh condemns the whole generation who left Egypt to die in the wilderness. The message is clear: failure was not due to any fault in the preparation, because Yahweh had foreseen everything, but to Israel's sin of unfaithfulness. In the final section, the Israelites of the new generation follow Yahweh's instructions as given through Moses and are successful in all they attempt. The last five chapters are exclusively concerned with land: instructions for the extermination of the Canaanites, the demarcation of the boundaries of the land, how the land is to be divided, holy cities for the Levites and "cities of refuge", the problem of pollution of the land by blood, and regulations for inheritance when a male heir is lacking.


title: Ethiopian calendar

text: The Ethiopian calendar (; Oromo: Akka Lakkofsa Itoophiyaatti; Ge'ez: ዓዉደ ወርሕ; Tigrinya: ዓዉደ ኣዋርሕ), or Ge'ez calendar (Ge'ez: ዓዉደ ወርሕ; Tigrinya: ዓዉደ ኣዋርሕ; Amharic: የኢትዮጲያ ዘመን ኣቆጣጠር), is the official calendar in Ethiopia. It is used as both the civil calendar (in Ethiopia) and an ecclesiastical calendar (in Ethiopia and Eritrea). It is the liturgical year for Ethiopian and Eritrean Christians belonging to the Orthodox Tewahedo Churches (Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church and Eritrean Orthodox Tewahedo Church), Eastern Catholic Churches (Eritrean Catholic Church and Ethiopian Catholic Church), and Eastern Protestant Christian P'ent'ay (Ethiopian-Eritrean Evangelical) Churches. Most Protestants in the diaspora have the option of choosing the Ethiopian calendar or the Gregorian calendar for religious holidays, with this option being used given that the corresponding eastern celebration is not a public holiday in the western world. The Ethiopian calendar is a solar calendar that has more in common with the Coptic calendar of the Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria and Coptic Catholic Church, but like the Julian calendar, it adds a leap day every four years without exception, and begins the year on 29 August or 30 August in the Julian calendar. A gap of seven to eight years between the Ethiopian and Gregorian calendars results from an alternative calculation in determining the date of the Annunciation.


title: Ethiopian calendar

text: The Ethiopian calendar has twelve months of thirty days plus five or six epagomenal days, which comprise a thirteenth month. The Ethiopian months begin on the same days as those of the Coptic calendar, but their names are in Ge'ez. A sixth epagomenal day is added every four years, without exception, on 29 August of the Julian calendar, six months before the corresponding Julian leap day. Thus the first day of the Ethiopian calendar year, 1 Mäskäräm, for years between 1900 and 2099 (inclusive), is usually 11 September (Gregorian). It falls on 12 September in years before the Gregorian leap year, however.


title: Ethiopian calendar

text: The Ethiopian New Year is called Kudus Yohannes in Ge'ez and Tigrinya, while in Amharic, the official language of Ethiopia it is called Enkutatash meaning "Gift of jewels". It occurs on 11 September in the Gregorian Calendar; except for the year preceding a leap year, when it occurs on 12 September. The Ethiopian Calendar Year 1998 "Amätä Məhrät" ("Year of Mercy") began on the Gregorian Calendar Year on 11 September 2005. The Ethiopian calendar Years 1992 and 1996, however, began on the Gregorian Dates of '12 September 1999' and '2003' respectively.


title: Ethiopian calendar

text: This date correspondence applies for the Gregorian years 1900 to 2099. The Ethiopian calendar leap year is every four without exception, while Gregorian centurial years are only leap years when exactly divisible by 400; thus a set of corresponding dates will most often apply for a single century. As the Gregorian year 2000 is a leap year, the current correspondence lasts two centuries instead.


title: Ethiopian calendar

text: The start of the Ethiopian calendar year (Feast of El-Nayrouz) falls on 29 or 30 August (in the year just before the Julian leap year). This date corresponds to the Old-Style Julian Calendar; therefore, the start of the year has been transferred forward in the currently used Gregorian Calendar to 11 or 12 September (in the year just before the Gregorian leap year). This deviation between the Julian and the Gregorian Calendar will increase with the passing of the time.


title: Ethiopian calendar

text: To indicate the year, followers of the Ethiopian and Eritrean churches today use the "Incarnation Era", which dates from the Annunciation or Incarnation of Jesus on 25 March AD 9 (Julian), as calculated by Annianus of Alexandria "c." 400; thus its first civil year began seven months earlier on 29 August AD 8. Meanwhile, Europeans eventually adopted the calculations made by Dionysius Exiguus in AD 525 instead, which placed the Annunciation eight years earlier than had Annianus. This causes the Ethiopian year number to be eight years less than the Gregorian year number from January 1 until 10 or 11 September, then seven years less for the remainder of the Gregorian year.


title: Ethiopian calendar

text: In the past, a number of other eras for numbering years were also widely used in Ethiopia, Eritrea, and the Kingdom of Aksum.


title: Ethiopian calendar

text: The most important era – once widely used by Eastern Christianity, and still used by the Coptic Orthodox Church of Egypt was the Era of Martyrs, also known as the Diocletian Era, or the era of Diocletian and the Martyrs, whose first year began on 29 October 328.


title: Ethiopian calendar

text: Respective to the Gregorian and Julian New Year's Days, 3 to 4 months later, the difference between the Era of Martyrs and the Anno Domini is 285 years (285= 15×19). This is because in AD 525, Dionysius Exiguus decided to add 15 Metonic cycles to the existing 13 Metonic cycles of the Diocletian Era (15×19 + 13×19 = 532) to obtain an entire 532 year medieval Easter cycle, whose first cycle ended with the year Era of Martyrs 247 (= 13×20) equal to year DXXXI. It is also because 532 is the product of the Metonic cycle of 20 years and the solar cycle of 28 years. It has 13 months in a year.


title: Ethiopian calendar

text: Around AD 400, an Alexandrine monk called Panodoros fixed the Alexandrian Era (Anno Mundi = in the year of the world), the date of creation, on 29 August 5493 BC. After the 6th century AD, the era was used by Egyptian, Ethiopian, and Eritrean chronologists. The twelfth 532 year-cycle of this era began on 29 August AD 360, and so 4×19 years after the Era of Martyrs.


title: Ethiopian calendar

text: Bishop Anianos preferred the Annunciation style as New Year's Day, 25 March "(see above)". Thus he shifted the Panodoros era by about six months, to begin on 25 March 5492 BC. In the Ethiopian calendar this was equivalent to 15 Magabit 5501 B.C. (E.C.). The Anno Mundi era remained in usage until the late 19th century.


title: Ethiopian calendar

text: The four-year leap-year cycle is associated with the four Evangelists: the first year after an Ethiopian leap year is named the John-year, followed by the Matthew-year, and then the Mark-year. The year with the sixth epagomenal day is traditionally designated as the Luke-year.


title: Ethiopian calendar

text: There are no exceptions to the four-year leap-year cycle, like the Julian calendar but unlike the Gregorian calendar.


title: Ethiopian calendar

text: Unlike both the Gregorian calendar and Julian calendar though, every 700 years, the month of Pwagme adds a 7th day, which equates to February 30, for further accuracy.


title: Ethiopian calendar

text: These dates are valid only from March 1900 to February 2100. This is because 1900 and 2100 are not leap years in the Gregorian calendar, while they are still leap years in the Ethiopian calendar, meaning dates before 1900 and after 2100 will be offset.


title: Dead Cells

text: Dead Cells is a 2018 roguelike-Metroidvania game developed and published by Motion Twin. The game was released for Linux, macOS, Microsoft Windows, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One on August 7, 2018. A mobile port for iOS was released on August 28, 2019, and an Android port was released on June 3, 2020. In the game, the player takes the role of an amorphous creature called the Prisoner. As the Prisoner, the player must fight their way out of a diseased island in order to slay the island's King. The player gains weapons, treasure and other tools through exploration of the procedurally-generated levels, using them to fight various mutated creatures. "Dead Cells" uses a permadeath system, causing the player to lose all items and other currencies upon dying.


title: Dead Cells

text: Production of "Dead Cells" began after Motion Twin planned development for a follow-up to their previous browser game "Die2Nite." Inspirations for the game included "Team Fortress 2", "The Binding of Isaac", and the "Dark Souls" series. After release, Motion Twin supported the game with several updates and expansions. The game received positive reviews from critics, who praised its combat style and level design, with specific praise being directed towards the randomized levels and weapons. By March 2021, the game had sold 5 million copies.


title: Dead Cells

text: "Dead Cells" is a 2D side-scrolling "roguevania", a combination of procedurally-generated roguelike games and action-exploration-based Metroidvania games. The player controls the Prisoner, an amorphous creature that can possess human corpses. The Prisoner explores a fictional island infested with mutated monsters, which must be traversed so the Prisoner can kill the island's King. When the player dies, they lose all weapons and upgrades obtained in a playthrough, excluding a few permanent items. Weapons primarily include swords, bows, shields, and placeable traps that harm enemies that come near them. The Prisoner can move across the ground to engage in melee combat, or can use ranged weapons and traps to harm enemies from a distance. The Prisoner can dodge across the ground to avoid the attacks of enemies, or jump over the attacks. Dodging into an enemy's space allows the Prisoner to move through them and attack from behind. When falling from a height, the Prisoner can slam into the ground, allowing them to hit enemies and stun them, or allow the Prisoner to fall from heights without getting stunned themselves.


title: Dead Cells

text: The game's combat is comparable to the "Dark Souls" series, with difficult enemies possessing certain behaviors the player can learn, and where frequent player-character death is a fundamental part of the game. As they explore a series of dungeon levels and fight the creatures within, the player can collect an in-game currency called Cells from defeated enemies. Cells can be used to purchase permanent items such as potions that restore hit points or additional weapons that may be randomly obtained during a playthrough. These Cells must be spent at the end of a dungeon section; if the player dies before then, they lose all collected Cells. Blueprints can be collected from inside dungeons, which must be taken out of the dungeon to be collected. Collecting Blueprints allows for more weapons and items to be purchased from shops.


title: Dead Cells

text: Levels are procedurally generated by the merging of predesigned sections in a random configuration, creating dungeons with many different placements of enemies and items. Between dungeons, the player can obtain a limited number of mutations, upgrades which grant unique bonuses to the Prisoner's capabilities that last until the player dies. The player can reforge weapons during this time, giving the reforged weapons new effects during combat. Inside the dungeons, the player can find hidden Power Scrolls, which increase the Prisoner's hit points and increase the damage of weapons depending upon the tool's classification of Brutality, Tactics, or Survival. The player can also find multiple permanent upgrades called Runes, which allow for new methods of travel in the game's levels. Runes can be obtained by defeating powerful Elite enemies, which are located inside the game's levels. Each upgrade requires the previous Rune in order to obtain the next one.


title: Dead Cells

text: Taking place on an unnamed island, the player character is the Beheaded, an amorphous creature capable of possessing dead bodies located in the depths of the island. While the "head" of the Beheaded is immortal, the bodies it possesses are not, and "dying" will force the Beheaded to return back to the Prisoners' Quarters to find another corpse. The Beheaded itself does not speak, limiting its interactions with non-player characters (NPCs) to gestures and body language alone. The player is also occasionally shown the thoughts of the Beheaded through dialogue boxes.


title: Dead Cells

text: The Beheaded awakens in the depths of the island's prison, suffering from amnesia. A soldier encounters the Beheaded, and mentions that they can no longer die. The Beheaded then tries to escape the prison, but their head is forced back to the depths as soon as its body is destroyed. Between subsequent escape attempts, the Beheaded learns that the island was once a mighty kingdom that fell when a plague known as "The Malaise" transformed most of the kingdom's citizens into mutated monsters.


title: Dead Cells

text: After escaping the Prisoners' Quarters, the Beheaded decides to kill the island's reclusive King, believing that his death will cause something on the island to "change". While leaving the Quarters, the Beheaded meets with the Collector, a hooded figure that trades Cells in exchange for items and weaponry. After fighting through island's Malaise-infected locales, the Beheaded reaches the King's throne room and succeeds in slaying the comatose monarch. However, the King's corpse violently explodes in the process, destroying the Beheaded's host body. The Beheaded's head crawls out from the burning fragments of the destroyed throne, where it exits the throne room through a fountain's drain. The drain leads back to the Prisoners' Quarters, where the resurrected Beheaded ponders the consequences of the King's death.


title: Dead Cells

text: The "Rise of the Giant" downloadable content expands the plot of "Dead Cells", providing the game with alternative endings. The Prisoner gains access to a new area of the island, the Cavern, which houses a titanic undead Giant. Upon his defeat, the Giant reveals that the Prisoner is actually the King himself, and blames him for the destruction of the kingdom. After defeating the final boss, the Prisoner can collect Boss Cells, in-game modifiers that are used to increase the difficulty of the game. If the player collects all five Boss Cells and reaches the throne room, they are able to gain access to an additional level called the Astrolab. At the top of the Astrolab, the Prisoner meets the Collector; he tells the Prisoner that he has been trading for Cells in order to create the Panacea, the ultimate cure for the Malaise. Upon producing the Panacea and drinking it, the Collector goes mad and attacks the Prisoner. The Prisoner manages to ingest some of the Panacea before the Collector's defeat, which causes their host body to disappear. Disappointed with the Panacea, the head returns to the Quarters to possess another corpse.


title: Dead Cells

text: After the Beheaded is about to exit the starting area, the Time Keeper, another boss, suddenly summons a portal that sucks the Beheaded in. The Beheaded is scolded by the Time Keeper about how killing the Collector was killing their last chance to save the island, and says that she will have to "Mess with the loop." A portal opens behind the Beheaded, made by the Time Keeper, but the Beheaded is accidentally pushed in. The Beheaded is confused, but starts another run anyway. When the Prisoner reaches the throne room again, they discover that the King's body has reappeared undamaged. The head of the Prisoner abandons its host body and attaches to the King's, restoring the Prisoner's memories and allowing him to speak. However, the King's body is infected with the Malaise, and he continues to the Astrolab to face the Collector. This time, upon the Collector's defeat, the Panacea cures the King and "binds his body and soul". The King returns to his throne, where he is confronted by a look-alike of the Prisoner intent on slaying him. The King and the look-alike battle each other in a duel.


title: Dead Cells

text: "The Queen and the Sea" downloadable content adds three additional levels to the game, as well as an alternative ending. The Prisoner finds a letter inviting them to a meeting in the sewers beneath the prison. When the Prisoner arrives, they meet an aquatic creature called the Fisherman, who offers them a way to escape the island through the kingdom's lighthouse. After the Prisoner finds the Lighthouse Key and meets the Fisherman again at the King's castle, the latter uses his boat to take the Prisoner to the lighthouse. Inside, the Prisoner accidentally knocks over a flaming chandelier, alerting three hostile warriors named Calliope, Euterpe, and Kleio. The three chase the Prisoner to the top of the now-burning lighthouse, where the Prisoner defeats them in combat. The Prisoner enters the upper chambers of the lighthouse to light its beacon, but the island's Queen reveals herself and challenges them to a duel. The Prisoner defeats the Queen before throwing her off the lighthouse's balcony, causing a catastrophic explosion that activates the structure's beacon. The Prisoner uses the beacon to attract a ship passing by the island.


title: Dead Cells

text: "Dead Cells" developer Motion Twin had been developing games for the browser and mobile gaming market since 2001. The studio found that competition in the mobile market required more investment to make profitable games, and decided to switch focus to develop what they considered their "passion project", a game that was "something hardcore, ultra-niche, with pixel art and ridiculous difficulty" that they thought would be a potential risk for gaining player interest.


title: Dead Cells

text: Initially, Motion Twin had set out to make a follow-up to their browser game "Die2Nite", which was a cooperative tower defense game for up to forty players released in 2008; for most of the game, players would work together to form defenses around a town, and then during the game's night phase, wait to see if the town survived waves of attacks by zombies. Motion Twin wanted to have improve the sequel by allowing players to take actions and fight during the night phase, while also implementing free to play mechanics. While this version worked well with large number of players, Motion Twin found it was not very exciting for single players. In 2014, they stripped down the game to a single-player experience between preparation and combat, and took it to an event called the Big Indie Pitch, where the idea came in second place in a contest. Motion Twin then decided to remove the preparation phase and focus the game around constant action. The process of figuring out how to keep and work with combat elements took a year up through the end of 2015.


title: Dead Cells

text: To tighten the gameplay, Motion Twin took inspiration of the Engineer character class from "Team Fortress 2", where the use of turrets and other buildable items helps to strengthen the character's abilities, and remade "Dead Cells" into an action platform game where the player used weapons along with a variety of skills (including some elements they had developed for the tower defense approach). They did not want players to get used to having a single weapon/skill combination that they used indefinitely, and arranged the roguelike elements to require the player to try out new combinations of weapons and skills as they progressed. Motion Twin's producer Steve Filby cited "The Binding of Isaac" as a significant influence, highlighting its player-determined and item-driven gameplay. To give the player enough options, the developers crafted about 50 different weapons, avoiding having too much duplication in how each weapon worked so that there would be unique gameplay possibilities with each. The team used an iterative process in gameplay, graphics, and art so that each of these weapons also exhibited unique animations or behavior.


title: Dead Cells

text: Motion Twin opted to use Steam's early access approach to both gauge player interest and to obtain feedback on game features and the balance from procedural generation. The team feared the stigma around indie games at the time, fueled by industry speculation of an "indiepocalypse" where too many indie games would have caused a collapse of the video game market around 2015, an event which never occurred. Motion Twin did not want to release too early within early access, and made sure the first version available, while only about 30 to 40% complete, had tight combat and gameplay controls that players would appreciate. This allowed the team to address balance issues, as the developers did not want to punish players for a specific style of play, and used feedback to address this. This allowed them to design short combat encounters, and assure that maneuvering within the game's levels itself was not a challenge to the player. Motion Twin planned for the game to spend about a year in early access before its full release, during which time the content was created and incorporated after player feedback on both bug reports and feature suggestions. Lead designer Sébastien Bénard estimated that 40 to 50% of the features in the final game were drawn from feedback during early access.


title: Dead Cells

text: The early access period was launched on May 10, 2017, with support for Microsoft Windows, and released macOS and Linux versions in early access on June 26, 2018. In November 2017, the game was released on GOG.com as part of their drive to provide an alternate way to purchase games that are in development. In January 2018, Motion Twin announced their plans on console development for the Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One, with a release predicted in August 2018 to correspond with the Windows' version leaving early access. Motion Twin does not anticipate creating a sequel, and instead focused on adding a robust modding system for the personal computer versions to allow players to expand the game following release. "Dead Cells" was released on August 7, 2018, for PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and Nintendo Switch. Retail editions were released in August 2018. The base game included Twitch integration at launch, allowing viewers, via the stream's chat, to influence the game, such as voting for which Power Scroll weapon class option the player should take.


title: Dead Cells

text: Motion Twin released a free downloadable content update to the game called "Rise of the Giant" in mid-2019. The developers announced plans to port the title to mobile devices running iOS and Android, modifying the game's interface to support touch controls as well as remote controllers. The iOS version was released on August 28, 2019, and the Android version was released on June 3, 2020. The game's first paid downloadable content, "The Bad Seed", was released on February 11, 2020, adding two new biomes, as well as a boss for early game content. The new content included weapons, enemies and game mechanics. On the same day, a new physical package for the game, the "Prisoner's Edition" was announced for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, which in addition to the game and DLC, includes the soundtrack, an art book, and a figurine of the player-character. A second paid DLC expansion "Fatal Falls" was released on January 26, 2021, which added new levels, weapons, and a boss. On the same date, a bundle called "The Fatal Seed Bundle" was released that contains the base game and all three DLCs.


title: Dead Cells

text: Around January 2019, Motion Twin started work on their next title while still developing "Dead Cells". When they expanded by hiring more developers, Motion Twin wanted to keep "Dead Cells" development team to between eight to ten people in order to stay a manageable worker cooperative. The team then spun-off a new studio called Evil Empire to help co-develop the game. Motion Twin released a free update on September 16, 2021, titled "Practice Makes Perfect" which added a training room, world map and many other quality of life changes. A free "Everyone Is Here" update on November 22, 2021, introduced character skins and mechanics based on characters from other indie games as "guest characters". These games included "Hyper Light Drifter", "Guacamelee!", "Curse of the Dead Gods", "Blasphemous", "", and "Hollow Knight". For example, a character outfit based on the Drifter can be gained as well as the Drifter's blaster as a weapon. Celebrating the 20th anniversary of Motion Twin, the developers revealed the final DLC called "The Queen and the Sea", which released on January 7, 2022. Another free content update, "Break the Bank", released in March 2022. The update added a new level that can be randomly encountered while playing, which grants the player an opportunity to earn significant sums of gold. On October 26, 2022, Motion Twin released a free boss rush update, which allows the Prisoner to fight the bosses of the game in a new mode. A free "Everyone is Here Vol. 2" update in November 2022 added more homages to other indie games, including "Terraria", "Hotline Miami", "Slay the Spire", "Shovel Knight", "Risk of Rain", and "Katana Zero".


title: Dead Cells

text: Another expansion, "Return to Castlevania", is planned for release in Q1 2023, and will feature characters, weapons, and enemies from the "Castlevania" series, under official license from Konami.


title: Dead Cells

text: "Dead Cells" received positive reviews from critics. The Xbox One version received "universal acclaim", and the PlayStation 4, PC, Nintendo Switch, and iOS versions received "generally favorable" reviews according to review aggregator website "Metacritic". Brandin Tyrrel of "IGN" praised the game for its engaging gameplay premise, and randomized layout declaring "The placement and order of its levels are "Dead Cells" skeletal frame, but the ever-changing layouts and enemy and item placements are the blood that pumps through its heart." The action and combat of "Dead Cells" received acclaim as "distinct", "fluid", and "agile". Reviewers compared the game to the "Dark Souls", "Diablo", and "Castlevania" series due to its difficulty and constantly changing levels, while giving specific praise to the visuals and sound design.


title: Dead Cells

text: The plot of "Dead Cells" was criticized, with critics calling it lacking and vague. Kirk Hamilton of "Kotaku" found the story disappointing, stating "Aside from some sparse worldbuilding, the only story here is the story of moving forward, killing things, and gradually getting better at it". Some commentators considered progression beyond the first few hours as "nebulous", and the game's difficulty "callous". Chris Carter of "Destructoid" noted the game's difficulty, stating "There's those moments where you have a perfect run with all of the items you prefer. Then you get to a boss you've never seen before and bam – he smashes you to a pulp."


title: Dead Cells

text: Other critics drew attention to the permadeath feature as a rewarding system, as it provided the player with permanent upgrades, the opportunity to experience all of the game's content, and gain full knowledge of its systems. Neal Ronaghan of "Nintendo World Report" enjoyed the permadeath feature, saying "Every run is engrossing and fun and when I die, the only thought rushing through my brain is to start over and try again, pushing as far past my previous run as I can."


title: Dead Cells

text: About a year from its early access release, "Dead Cells" sold over 730,000 units, and exceeded 850,000 units just prior to its full release. By May 2019, within ten months of its full release, "Dead Cells" had accumulated sales of two million units. In March 2021, "Dead Cells" had sold 5 million copies during the announcement of their last DLC.


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: Huang Xiaoming or Mark Huang (, born 13 November 1977) is a Chinese actor, singer, and model. He graduated from the Performance Institute of the Beijing Film Academy in 2000. Huang first rose to prominence in 2001 for playing Emperor Wu of Han in the television series "The Prince of Han Dynasty". In 2007, Huang signed a contract with Huayi Brothers and began focusing on his film career, appearing in films like "The Sniper" (2009), "The Message" (2010), and "Sacrifice" (2010).


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: Huang is best known for his roles in television as Yang Guo in "The Return of the Condor Heroes" (2006), Xu Wenqiang in "Shanghai Bund" (2007), Luo Xi in "Summer's Desire" (2010), Yue Fei in "The Patriot Yue Fei" (2013) and Zuo Zhen in "Cruel Romance" (2015); as well as his roles in films "American Dreams in China" (2013) and "Xuanzang" (2016).


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: Huang was born in Qingdao, Shandong and is an only child. His father was an engineer while his mother was an accountant. At age nine, he was selected by a film studio to play the child protagonist in a movie. Throughout his school life, Huang planned to become a scientist, but his language teacher encouraged him to apply to the Beijing Film Academy, which infrequently came to Qingdao to recruit students. A week before his entrance examination, his foot was run over and crushed by a jeep; the injury was not serious because he was wearing army boots. While studying at the Beijing Film Academy, Huang recalls the person who had the greatest influence on him, a teacher named Cui Xinqin. He was close friends and classmates with Zhao Wei and Chen Kun; the trio was known as the "Three Musketeers".


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: In 1984, Huang was initially chosen by a producer to star in a drama as a child actor, but was dropped later because of his shy and introverted


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: personality. In 1996, Huang auditioned for Beijing Film Academy and joined in the same year. He later debuted in the 1998 drama "Love is Not a Game".


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: Huang began to gain attention when he was chosen to replace Lu Yi for the leading role in "The Prince of Han Dynasty", which earned high ratings. He later starred in all three installments of the series from 2001 to 2005, and went from an unknown newbie to a front-line actor. He also played Tang Bohu in the drama "Merry Wanderer Tang Bohu" (2003), for which he won the Outstanding Actor award at the 14th


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: Huang's most controversial and difficult, but most critically acclaimed role was in "Shanghai Bund" (2007), a remake of the 1980 Hong Kong television series "The Bund", which starred Chow Yun-fat. Because Chow was his idol, he felt nervous, excited, and pressured about portraying the same role his idol had.


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: In 2008, Huang portrayed the iconic Wei Xiaobao in "Royal Tramp", adopted from Louis Cha's wuxia novel "The Deer and the Cauldron".


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: After achieving success in television, Huang decided to focus his career on the big screen. His first major role was in the historical film "The Banquet" as the antagonist.


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: He also starred in the Hong Kong action film "The Sniper" (2009), martial arts film "Ip Man 2" (2010) and the historical epic "Sacrifice" (2010) directed by Chen Kaige.


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: Huang made a comeback to television with Taiwanese idol drama "Summer's Desire" (2011), based on the novel of the same name by Ming Xiaoxi. Although originally slated to play Ou Chen, Huang asked if he could play Luo Xi instead. Huang later admitted that he lowered his acting fee to participate in this series.


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: His performance as a bandit leader who can't see further than making money from plunder and kidnapping won him the Best Actor award at the 4th China Image Film Festival. Huang also starred in martial arts epic "The Guillotines" and played the younger version of Chow Yun-fat's character in "The Last Tycoon".


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: The same year, Huang was selected as the ambassador of the Changchun Film Festival. He also became the first mainland actor to have his wax figure displayed in Hong Kong's Madam Tussauds museum.


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: Huang starred in the film "American Dreams in China" (2013) by Peter Chan. The success of the film brought a new impetus into Huang's career, and won him the Best Actor award at the 29th Golden Rooster Awards, 15th Huabiao Awards, 12th Changchun Film Festival and 32nd Hundred Flowers Awards. The same year Huang starred in another television project, playing the titular hero in the historical drama "The Patriot Yue Fei".


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: Huang next starred in John Woo's "The Crossing" (2014). Set in 1930s Shanghai, the romantic epic is based on the true story of the Taiping steamer collision and follows six characters and their intertwining love stories; Huang plays a successful general who romances a wealthy debutante (played by Korean actress Song Hye-kyo). Another romance film followed; where Huang starred next to Fan Bingbing in "The White Haired Witch of Lunar Kingdom", adapted from Baifa Monü Zhuan.


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: Huang returned to TV in the period romance drama, "Cruel Romance" (2015), starring alongside actress Joe Chen. The series was commercially successful, and recorded high ratings. The same year, Huang starred alongside long-time friend Zhao Wei in the action comedy film "Hollywood Adventures".


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: In 2017, Huang starred in the historical wuxia drama "Nirvana in Fire 2". The series was critically acclaimed for its storyline and performance, including Huang who won positive reviews for his acting.


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: In 2018, Huang starred in the drama film "Forever Young", which tells stories of four generations of students from Tsinghua University. Huang received good reviews for his performance as a bashful boy who suffered from the cultural revolution, and once again affirmed his reputation on the big screen.


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: In 2019, Huang starred in the disaster film "The Bravest" as a fire fighter. In 2020, Huang starred in the period romance drama "Winter Begonia" produced by Yu Zheng.


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: In 2009, Huang donated one million yuan to adopt two panda cubs and was named an ambassador to China's Panda Protection Research Center.


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: In 2010, Huang donated 200,000 yuan for earthquake relief to support for victims of the Yushu temblor in Northwest China's Qinghai province.


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: In 2016, Huang was named a UNAIDS National Goodwill Ambassador for China. The same year, he was appointed as an advocate for anti-trafficking by the Ministry of Public Security.


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: On 28 February 2014, Huang announced his relationship with Angelababy. They registered their marriage with Qingdao Civil Affairs Authority on 27 May 2015 and on October of the same year, they had their wedding at Shanghai Exhibition Centre. On their 1st anniversary, Huang announced Angelababy's pregnancy on Weibo. Their son was born on 17 January 2017 in Hong Kong.


title: Huang Xiaoming

text: Huang Xiaoming's younger second cousin Chen Meng is the world's No.1 ranked female table tennis player. Their paternal grandmothers are sisters.


title: Pigment

text: A pigment is a colored material that is completely or nearly insoluble in water. In contrast, dyes are typically soluble, at least at some stage in their use. Generally dyes are often organic compounds whereas pigments are often inorganic compounds. Pigments of prehistoric and historic value include ochre, charcoal, and lapis lazuli.


title: Pigment

text: In 2006, around 7.4 million tons of inorganic, organic, and special pigments were marketed worldwide. Estimated at around US$14.86 billion in 2018 and will rise at over 4.9% CAGR from 2019 to 2026. The global demand for pigments was roughly US$20.5 billion in 2009. According to an April 2018 report by "Bloomberg Businessweek", the estimated value of the pigment industry globally is $30 billion. The value of titanium dioxide – used to enhance the white brightness of many products – was placed at $13.2 billion per year, while the color Ferrari red is valued at $300 million each year.


title: Pigment

text: Like all materials, the color of pigments arises because they absorb only certain wavelengths of visible light. The bonding properties of the material determine the wavelength and efficiency of light absorption. Light of other wavelengths are reflected or scattered. The reflected light spectrum defines the color that we observe.


title: Pigment

text: The appearance of pigments is sensitive to the source light. Sunlight has a high color temperature and a fairly uniform spectrum. Sunlight is considered a standard for white light. Artificial light sources are less uniform.


title: Pigment

text: Color spaces used to represent colors numerically must specify their light source. Lab color measurements, unless otherwise noted, assume that the measurement was recorded under a D65 light source, or "Daylight 6500 K", which is roughly the color temperature of sunlight.


title: Pigment

text: Other properties of a color, such as its saturation or lightness, may be determined by the other substances that accompany pigments. Binders and fillers can affect the color.


title: Pigment

text: Minerals have been used as colorants since prehistoric times. Early humans used paint for aesthetic purposes such as body decoration. Pigments and paint grinding equipment believed to be between 350,000 and 400,000 years old have been reported in a cave at Twin Rivers, near Lusaka, Zambia. Ochre, iron oxide, was the first color of paint. A favored blue pigment was derived from lapis lazuli. Pigments based on minerals and clays often bear the name of the city or region where they were originally mined. Raw Sienna and Burnt Sienna came from Siena, Italy, while Raw Umber and Burnt Umber came from Umbria. These pigments were among the easiest to synthesize, and chemists created modern colors based on the originals. These were more consistent than colors mined from the original ore bodies, but the place names remained. Also found in many Paleolithic and Neolithic cave paintings are Red Ochre, anhydrous FeO, and the hydrated Yellow Ochre (FeOHO). Charcoal—or carbon black—has also been used as a black pigment since prehistoric times.


title: Pigment

text: The first known synthetic pigment was Egyptian blue, which is first attested on an alabaster bowl in Egypt dated to Naqada III ("circa" 3250 BC). Egyptian blue (blue frit), calcium copper silicate CaCuSiO, made by heating a mixture of quartz sand, lime, a flux and a copper source, such as malachite. Already invented in the Predynastic Period of Egypt, its use became widespread by the 4th Dynasty. It was the blue pigment par excellence of Roman antiquity; its art technological traces vanished in the course of the Middle Ages until its rediscovery in the context of the Egyptian campaign and the excavations in Pompeii and Herculaneum. Later premodern synthetic pigments include white lead (basic lead carbonate, (PbCO)Pb(OH)), vermilion, verdigris, and lead-tin-yellow. Vermilion, a mercury sulfide, was originally made by grinding a powder of natural cinnabar. From the 17th century on, it was also synthesized from the elements. It was favored by old masters such as Titian. Indian yellow was once produced by collecting the urine of cattle that had been fed only mango leaves. Dutch and Flemish painters of the 17th and 18th centuries favored it for its luminescent qualities, and often used it to represent sunlight. Since mango leaves are nutritionally inadequate for cattle, the practice of harvesting Indian yellow was eventually declared to be inhumane. Modern hues of Indian yellow are made from synthetic pigments. Vermillion has been partially replaced in by cadmium reds.


title: Pigment

text: Because of the cost of lapis lazuli, substitutes were often used. Prussian blue, the oldest modern synthetic pigment, was discovered by accident in 1704. By the early 19th century, synthetic and metallic blue pigments included French ultramarine, a synthetic form of lapis lazuli. Ultramarine was manufactured by treating aluminium silicate with sulfur. Various forms of Cobalt and Cerulean blue were also introduced. In the early 20th century, Phthalo Blue, a synthetic metallo-organic pigment was prepared. At the same time, Royal Blue, another name once given to tints produced from lapis lazuli, has evolved to signify a much lighter and brighter color, and is usually mixed from Phthalo Blue and titanium dioxide, or from inexpensive synthetic blue dyes.


title: Pigment

text: The discovery in 1856 of mauveine, the first aniline dye, was a forerunner for the development of hundreds of synthetic dyes and pigments like azo and diazo compounds. These dyes ushered in the flourishing of organic chemistry, including systematic designs of colorants. The development of organic chemistry diminished the dependence on inorganic pigments.


title: Pigment

text: Before the development of synthetic pigments, and the refinement of techniques for extracting mineral pigments, batches of color were often inconsistent. With the development of a modern color industry, manufacturers and professionals have cooperated to create international standards for identifying, producing, measuring, and testing colors.


title: Pigment

text: First published in 1905, the Munsell color system became the foundation for a series of color models, providing objective methods for the measurement of color. The Munsell system describes a color in three dimensions, hue, value (lightness), and chroma (color purity), where chroma is the difference from gray at a given hue and value.


title: Pigment

text: By the middle 20th century, standardized methods for pigment chemistry were available, part of an international movement to create such standards in industry. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) develops technical standards for the manufacture of pigments and dyes. ISO standards define various industrial and chemical properties, and how to test for them. The principal ISO standards that relate to all pigments are as follows:


title: Pigment

text: Other ISO standards pertain to particular classes or categories of pigments, based on their chemical composition, such as ultramarine pigments, titanium dioxide, iron oxide pigments, and so forth.


title: Pigment

text: Many manufacturers of paints, inks, textiles, plastics, and colors have voluntarily adopted the Colour Index International (CII) as a standard for identifying the pigments that they use in manufacturing particular colors. First published in 1925—and now published jointly on the web by the Society of Dyers and Colourists (United Kingdom) and the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (USA)—this index is recognized internationally as the authoritative reference on colorants. It encompasses more than 27,000 products under more than 13,000 generic color index names.


title: Pigment

text: In the CII schema, each pigment has a generic index number that identifies it chemically, regardless of proprietary and historic names. For example, Phthalocyanine Blue BN has been known by a variety of generic and proprietary names since its discovery in the 1930s. In much of Europe, phthalocyanine blue is better known as Helio Blue, or by a proprietary name such as Winsor Blue. An American paint manufacturer, Grumbacher, registered an alternate spelling (Thanos Blue) as a trademark. Colour Index International resolves all these conflicting historic, generic, and proprietary names so that manufacturers and consumers can identify the pigment (or dye) used in a particular color product. In the CII, all phthalocyanine blue pigments are designated by a generic color index number as either PB15 or PB16, short for pigment blue 15 and pigment blue 16; these two numbers reflect slight variations in molecular structure, which produce a slightly more greenish or reddish blue.


title: Pigment

text: The following are some of the attributes of pigments that determine their suitability for particular manufacturing processes and applications:


title: Pigment

text: Swatches are used to communicate colors accurately. The types of swatches are dictated by the media, i.e., printing, computers, plastics, and textiles. Generally, the medium that offers the broadest gamut of color shades is widely used across diverse media.


title: Pigment

text: Reference standards are provided by printed swatches of color shades. PANTONE, RAL, Munsell, etc. are widely used standards of color communication across diverse media like printing, plastics, and textiles.


title: Pigment

text: Companies manufacturing color masterbatches and pigments for plastics offer plastic swatches in injection molded color chips. These color chips are supplied to the designer or customer to choose and select the color for their specific plastic products.


title: Pigment

text: Plastic swatches are available in various special effects like pearl, metallic, fluorescent, sparkle, mosaic etc. However, these effects are difficult to replicate on other media like print and computer display. Plastic swatches have been created by 3D modelling to including various special effects.


title: Pigment

text: The appearance of pigments in natural light is difficult to replicate on a computer display. Approximations are required. The Munsell Color System provides an objective measure of color in three dimensions: hue, value (or lightness), and chroma. Computer displays in general fail to show the true chroma of many pigments, but the hue and lightness can be reproduced with relative accuracy. However, when the gamma of a computer display deviates from the reference value, the hue is also systematically biased.


title: Pigment

text: The following approximations assume a display device at gamma 2.2, using the sRGB color space. The further a display device deviates from these standards, the less accurate these swatches will be. Swatches are based on the average measurements of several lots of single-pigment watercolor paints, converted from Lab color space to sRGB color space for viewing on a computer display. The appearance of a pigment may depend on the brand and even the batch. Furthermore, pigments have inherently complex reflectance spectra that will render their color appearance greatly different depending on the spectrum of the source illumination, a property called metamerism. Averaged measurements of pigment samples will only yield approximations of their true appearance under a specific source of illumination. Computer display systems use a technique called chromatic adaptation transforms to emulate the correlated color temperature of illumination sources, and cannot perfectly reproduce the intricate spectral combinations originally seen. In many cases, the perceived color of a pigment falls outside of the gamut of computer displays and a method called gamut mapping is used to approximate the true appearance. Gamut mapping trades off any one of lightness, hue, or saturation accuracy to render the color on screen, depending on the priority chosen in the conversion's ICC rendering intent.


title: Pigment

text: In biology, a pigment is any colored material of plant or animal cells. Many biological structures, such as skin, eyes, fur, and hair contain pigments (such as melanin).


title: Pigment

text: Animal skin coloration often comes about through specialized cells called chromatophores, which animals such as the octopus and chameleon can control to vary the animal's color. Many conditions affect the levels or nature of pigments in plant, animal, some protista, or fungus cells. For instance, the disorder called albinism affects the level of melanin production in animals.


title: Pigment

text: Pigmentation in organisms serves many biological purposes, including camouflage, mimicry, aposematism (warning), sexual selection and other forms of signalling, photosynthesis (in plants), as well as basic physical purposes such as protection from sunburn.


title: Pigment

text: Pigment color differs from structural color in that pigment color is the same for all viewing angles, whereas structural color is the result of selective reflection or iridescence, usually because of multilayer structures. For example, butterfly wings typically contain structural color, although many butterflies have cells that contain pigment as well.


title: Electric power distribution

text: Electric power distribution is the final stage in the delivery of electric power; it carries electricity from the transmission system to individual consumers. Distribution substations connect to the transmission system and lower the transmission voltage to medium voltage ranging between and with the use of transformers. "Primary" distribution lines carry this medium voltage power to distribution transformers located near the customer's premises. Distribution transformers again lower the voltage to the utilization voltage used by lighting, industrial equipment and household appliances. Often several customers are supplied from one transformer through "secondary" distribution lines. Commercial and residential customers are connected to the secondary distribution lines through service drops. Customers demanding a much larger amount of power may be connected directly to the primary distribution level or the subtransmission level.


title: Electric power distribution

text: The transition from transmission to distribution happens in a power substation, which has the following functions:


title: Electric power distribution

text: Urban distribution is mainly underground, sometimes in common utility ducts. Rural distribution is mostly above ground with utility poles, and suburban distribution is a mix.


title: Electric power distribution

text: Closer to the customer, a distribution transformer steps the primary distribution power down to a low-voltage secondary circuit, usually 120/240 V in the US for residential customers. The power comes to the customer via a service drop and an electricity meter. The final circuit in an urban system may be less than , but may be over for a rural customer.


title: Electric power distribution

text: Electric power distribution became necessary only in the 1880s when electricity started being generated at power stations. Before that, electricity was usually generated where it was used. The first power distribution systems installed in European and US cities were used to supply lighting: arc lighting running on very high voltage (around 3000 volts) alternating current (AC) or direct current (DC), and incandescent lighting running on low voltage (100 volt) direct current. Both were supplanting gas lighting systems, with arc lighting taking over large area and street lighting, and incandescent lighting replacing gas for business and residential lighting.


title: Electric power distribution

text: Due to the high voltages used in arc lighting, a single generating station could supply a long string of lights, up to long circuits. Each doubling of the voltage would allow the same size cable to transmit the same amount of power four times the distance for a given power loss. Direct current indoor incandescent lighting systems, for example the first Edison Pearl Street Station installed in 1882, had difficulty supplying customers more than a mile away. This was due to the low 110 volt system being used throughout the system, from the generators to the final use. The Edison DC system needed thick copper conductor cables, and the generating plants needed to be within about of the farthest customer to avoid excessively large and expensive conductors.


title: Electric power distribution

text: Transmitting electricity a long distance at high voltage and then reducing it to a lower voltage for lighting became a recognized engineering roadblock to electric power distribution with many, not very satisfactory, solutions tested by lighting companies. The mid-1880s saw a breakthrough with the development of functional transformers that allowed the AC voltage to be "stepped up" to much higher transmission voltages and then dropped down to a lower end user voltage. With much cheaper transmission costs and the greater economies of scale of having large generating plants supply whole cities and regions, the use of AC spread rapidly.


title: Electric power distribution

text: In the US the competition between direct current and alternating current took a personal turn in the late 1880s in the form of a "war of currents" when Thomas Edison started attacking George Westinghouse and his development of the first US AC transformer systems, pointing out all the deaths caused by high-voltage AC systems over the years and claiming any AC system was inherently dangerous. Edison's propaganda campaign was short-lived, with his company switching over to AC in 1892.


title: Electric power distribution

text: AC became the dominant form of transmission of power with innovations in Europe and the US in electric motor designs and the development of engineered "universal systems" allowing the large number of legacy systems to be connected to large AC grids.


title: Electric power distribution

text: In the first half of the 20th century, in many places the electric power industry was vertically integrated, meaning that one company did generation, transmission, distribution, metering and billing. Starting in the 1970s and 1980s, nations began the process of deregulation and privatisation, leading to electricity markets. The distribution system would remain regulated, but generation, retail, and sometimes transmission systems were transformed into competitive markets.


title: Electric power distribution

text: Electric power begins at a generating station, where the potential difference can be as high as 33,000 volts. AC is usually used. Users of large amounts of DC power such as some railway electrification systems, telephone exchanges and industrial processes such as aluminium smelting use rectifiers to derive DC from the public AC supply, or may have their own generation systems. High-voltage DC can be advantageous for isolating alternating-current systems or controlling the quantity of electricity transmitted. For example, Hydro-Québec has a direct-current line which goes from the James Bay region to Boston.


title: Electric power distribution

text: From the generating station it goes to the generating station's switchyard where a step-up transformer increases the voltage to a level suitable for transmission, from 44 kV to 765 kV. Once in the transmission system, electricity from each generating station is combined with electricity produced elsewhere. Electricity is consumed as soon as it is produced. It is transmitted at a very high speed, close to the speed of light.


title: Electric power distribution

text: Primary distribution voltages range from 4 kV to 35 kV phase-to-phase (2.4 kV to 20 kV phase-to-neutral) Only large consumers are fed directly from distribution voltages; most utility customers are connected to a transformer, which reduces the distribution voltage to the low voltage "utilization voltage", "supply voltage" or "mains voltage" used by lighting and interior wiring systems.


title: Electric power distribution

text: Distribution networks are divided into two types, radial or network. A radial system is arranged like a tree where each customer has one source of supply. A network system has multiple sources of supply operating in parallel. Spot networks are used for concentrated loads. Radial systems are commonly used in rural or suburban areas.


title: Electric power distribution

text: Radial systems usually include emergency connections where the system can be reconfigured in case of problems, such as a fault or planned maintenance. This can be done by opening and closing switches to isolate a certain section from the grid.


title: Electric power distribution

text: Long feeders experience voltage drop (power factor distortion) requiring capacitors or voltage regulators to be installed.


title: Electric power distribution

text: Reconfiguration, by exchanging the functional links between the elements of the system, represents one of the most important measures which can improve the operational performance of a distribution system. The problem of optimization through the reconfiguration of a power distribution system, in terms of its definition, is a historical single objective problem with constraints. Since 1975, when Merlin and Back introduced the idea of distribution system reconfiguration for active power loss reduction, until nowadays, a lot of researchers have proposed diverse methods and algorithms to solve the reconfiguration problem as a single objective problem. Some authors have proposed Pareto optimality based approaches (including active power losses and reliability indices as objectives). For this purpose, different artificial intelligence based methods have been used: microgenetic, branch exchange, particle swarm optimization and non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm.


title: Electric power distribution

text: Rural electrification systems tend to use higher distribution voltages because of the longer distances covered by distribution lines (see Rural Electrification Administration). 7.2, 12.47, 25, and 34.5 kV distribution is common in the United States; 11 kV and 33 kV are common in the UK, Australia and New Zealand; 11 kV and 22 kV are common in South Africa; 10, 20 and 35 kV are common in China. Other voltages are occasionally used.


title: Electric power distribution

text: Rural services normally try to minimize the number of poles and wires. It uses higher voltages (than urban distribution), which in turn permits use of galvanized steel wire. The strong steel wire allows for less expensive wide pole spacing. In rural areas a pole-mount transformer may serve only one customer. In New Zealand, Australia, Saskatchewan, Canada, and South Africa, Single-wire earth return systems (SWER) are used to electrify remote rural areas.


title: Electric power distribution

text: Three phase service provides power for large agricultural facilities, petroleum pumping facilities, water plants, or other customers that have large loads (Three phase equipment).


title: Electric power distribution

text: In North America, overhead distribution systems may be three phase, four wire, with a neutral conductor. Rural distribution system may have long runs of one phase conductor and a neutral.


title: Electric power distribution

text: In other countries or in extreme rural areas the neutral wire is connected to the ground to use that as a return (Single-wire earth return). This is called an ungrounded wye system.


title: Electric power distribution

text: Electricity is delivered at a frequency of either 50 or 60 Hz, depending on the region. It is delivered to domestic customers as single-phase electric power. In some countries as in Europe a three phase supply may be made available for larger properties. Seen with an oscilloscope, the domestic power supply in North America would look like a sine wave, oscillating between −170 volts and 170 volts, giving an effective voltage of 120 volts RMS. Three-phase electric power is more efficient in terms of power delivered per cable used, and is more suited to running large electric motors. Some large European appliances may be powered by three-phase power, such as electric stoves and clothes dryers.


title: Electric power distribution

text: A ground connection is normally provided for the customer's system as well as for the equipment owned by the utility. The purpose of connecting the customer's system to ground is to limit the voltage that may develop if high voltage conductors fall down onto lower-voltage conductors which are usually mounted lower to the ground, or if a failure occurs within a distribution transformer. Earthing systems can be TT, TN-S, TN-C-S or TN-C.


title: Electric power distribution

text: Most of the world uses 50 Hz 220 or 230 V single phase, or 400 V 3 phase for residential and light industrial services. In this system, the primary distribution network supplies a few substations per area, and the 230 V / 400 V power from each substation is directly distributed to end users over a region of normally less than 1 km radius. Three live (hot) wires and the neutral are connected to the building for a three phase service. Single-phase distribution, with one live wire and the neutral is used domestically where total loads are light. In Europe, electricity is normally distributed for industry and domestic use by the three-phase, four wire system. This gives a phase-to-phase voltage of wye service and a single-phase voltage of between any one phase and neutral. In the UK a typical urban or suburban low-voltage substation would normally be rated between 150 kVA and 1 MVA and supply a whole neighbourhood of a few hundred houses. Transformers are typically sized on an average load of 1 to 2 kW per household, and the service fuses and cable is sized to allow any one property to draw a peak load of perhaps ten times this.


title: Electric power distribution

text: Most of the Americas use 60 Hz AC, the 120/240 volt split-phase system domestically and three phase for larger installations. North American transformers usually power homes at 240 volts, similar to Europe's 230 volts. It is the split-phase that allows use of 120 volts in the home.


title: Electric power distribution

text: In the electricity sector in Japan, the standard voltage is 100 V, with both 50 and 60 Hz AC frequencies being used. Parts of the country use 50 Hz, while other parts use 60 Hz. This is a relic from the 1890s. Some local providers in Tokyo imported 50 Hz German equipment, while the local power providers in Osaka brought in 60 Hz generators from the United States. The grids grew until eventually the entire country was wired. Today the frequency is 50 Hz in Eastern Japan (including Tokyo, Yokohama, Tohoku, and Hokkaido) and 60 Hz in Western Japan (including Nagoya, Osaka, Kyoto, Hiroshima, Shikoku, and Kyushu).


title: Electric power distribution

text: Most household appliances are made to work on either frequency. The problem of incompatibility came into the public eye when the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami knocked out about a third of the east's capacity, and power in the west could not be fully shared with the east, since the country does not have a common frequency.


title: Electric power distribution

text: There are four high-voltage direct current (HVDC) converter stations that move power across Japan's AC frequency border. Shin Shinano is a back-to-back HVDC facility in Japan which forms one of four frequency changer stations that link Japan's western and eastern power grids. The other three are at Higashi-Shimizu, Minami-Fukumitsu and Sakuma Dam. Together they can move up to 1.2 GW of power east or west.


title: Electric power distribution

text: Most modern North American homes are wired to receive 240 volts from the transformer, and through the use of split-phase electrical power, can have both 120 volt receptacles and 240 volt receptacles. The 120 volts is typically used for lighting and most wall outlets. The 240 volt circuits are typically used for appliances requiring high watt heat output such as ovens and heaters. They may also be used to supply an electric car charger.


title: Electric power distribution

text: Traditionally, the distribution systems would only operate as simple distribution lines where the electricity from the transmission networks would be shared among the customers. Today's distribution systems are heavily integrated with renewable energy generations at the distribution level of the power systems by the means of distributed generation resources, such as solar energy and wind energy. As a result, distribution systems are becoming more independent from the transmission networks day-by-day. Balancing the supply-demand relationship at these modern distribution networks (sometimes referred to as microgrids) is extremely challenging, and it requires the use of various technological and operational means to operate. Such tools include battery storage power station, data analytics, optimization tools, etc.


title: Intel Quick Sync Video

text: Intel Quick Sync Video is Intel's brand for its dedicated video encoding and decoding hardware core. Quick Sync was introduced with the Sandy Bridge CPU microarchitecture on 9 January 2011 and has been found on the die of Intel CPUs ever since.


title: Intel Quick Sync Video

text: The name "Quick Sync" refers to the use case of quickly transcoding ("converting") a video from, for example, a DVD or Blu-ray Disc to a format appropriate to, for example, a smartphone. This becomes critically important in the professional video workplace, in which source material may have been shot in any number of video formats, all of which must be brought into a common format (commonly H.264) for inter-cutting.


title: Intel Quick Sync Video

text: Unlike video encoding on a CPU or a general-purpose GPU, Quick Sync is a dedicated hardware core on the processor die. This allows for much more power-efficient video processing.


title: Intel Quick Sync Video

text: Quick Sync Video is available on Core i3, Core i5 & Core i7 processors starting with Sandy Bridge, and Celeron & Pentium processors starting with Haswell,


title: Intel Quick Sync Video

text: Like most desktop hardware-accelerated encoders, Quick Sync has been praised for its speed. The eighth annual MPEG-4 AVC/H.264 video codecs comparison showed that Quick Sync was comparable to x264 superfast preset in terms of speed, compression ratio and quality (SSIM); tests were performed on an Intel Core i7 3770 (Ivy Bridge) processor. However, Quick Sync could not be configured to spend more time to achieve higher quality, whereas x264 improved significantly when allowed to use more time using the recommended settings.


title: Intel Quick Sync Video

text: A 2012 evaluation by AnandTech showed that QuickSync on Intel's Ivy Bridge produced similar image quality compared to the NVENC encoder on Nvidia's GTX 680 while performing much better at resolutions lower than 1080p.


title: Intel Quick Sync Video

text: Quick Sync was first unveiled at Intel Developer Forum 2010 (September 13) but, according to "Tom's Hardware", Quick Sync had been conceptualized five years before that. The older Clarkdale microarchitecture had hardware video decoding support, but no hardware encoding support; it was known as Intel Clear Video.


title: Intel Quick Sync Video

text: The Quick Sync Video SIP core needs to be supported by the device driver. The device driver provides one or more interfaces, for example VDPAU, Video Acceleration API (VA-API) or DXVA for video decoding, and OpenMAX IL or VA API for video encoding. One of these interfaces is then used by end-user software, for example VLC media player or GStreamer, to access the Quick Sync Video hardware and make use of it.


title: Intel Quick Sync Video

text: Quick Sync support on Linux is available by both Intel VAAPI Driver (legacy, pre-Broadwell) and Intel Media Driver (Broadwell and newer) which also uses VA-API, and through the Intel Media SDK. it is supported by Wowza Streaming Engine (formerly known as Wowza Media Server) for transcoding of media streams using their transcoder add-on.


title: Intel Quick Sync Video

text: Microsoft offers support for Quick Sync in Windows (in Windows Vista and later) based on supporting driver software from Intel and support through both DirectX as well as WMF (Windows Media Foundation). A wide range of applications are based upon this base support for the technology in Windows.


title: Intel Quick Sync Video

text: Apple added Quick Sync support in OS X Mountain Lion for AirPlay, FaceTime, iTunes, Safari, QuickTime X, iMovie, Final Cut Pro X, Motion and Compressor. Third party software includes Adobe Premiere Pro, Adobe Media Encoder, DaVinci Resolve and others.


title: Intel Quick Sync Video

text: Support for Quick Sync hardware accelerated decoding of H.264, MPEG-2, and VC-1 video is widely available. One common way to gain access to the technology on Microsoft Windows is by use of the free ffdshow filter. Some other free software like VLC media player (since version 2.1.0 "Rincewind") supports Quick Sync as well. Many commercial applications also benefit from the technology today, including CyberLink PowerDVD, CyberLink PowerDirector and MacroMotion Bogart "gold" edition.


title: Intel Quick Sync Video

text: According to the ffdshow documentation, Quick Sync has very low CPU utilization while being about twice as fast as libavcodec.


title: Intel Quick Sync Video

text: Support for hardware-assisted media encoding tailored for Quick Sync is widely available. Examples of such software with Quick Sync support during encoding processes are Emby Media Server, Plex Media Server, Badaboom Media Converter, CyberLink MediaShow, CyberLink MediaEspresso, ArcSoft MediaConverter, MAGIX Video Pro X, Pinnacle Studio (since version 18), Roxio Toast, Roxio Creator, XSplit Broadcaster, XSplit Gamecaster (all commercial) and projects like HandBrake, Open Broadcaster Software or applications for operation with a video content entering in Adobe CC2018.


title: Intel Quick Sync Video

text: The following table shows fixed-function encode/decode support for various Intel platforms. Support for hybrid and/or partial decode/encode are not detailed.


title: Intel Quick Sync Video

text: Certain low-end and high-end parts (including multi-socket Xeons and some Extreme Edition CPUs expected to be used with a dedicated GPU) do not contain the hardware core to support Quick Sync.


title: Nonfiction

text: Nonfiction, or non-fiction, is any document or media content that attempts, in good faith, to provide information (and sometimes opinions) grounded only in facts and real life, rather than in imagination. Nonfiction is often associated with being presented more objectively, like historical, scientific, or otherwise straightforward and accurate information, but sometimes, can be presented more subjectively, like sincerely held beliefs and thoughts on a real-world topic. One prominent usage of nonfiction is as one of the two fundamental divisions of narrative (storytelling)—often, specifically, prose writing—in contrast to narrative fiction, which is largely populated by imaginary characters and events, though sometimes ambiguous regarding its basis in reality. Some typical examples of nonfiction include diaries, biographies, news stories, documentary films, textbooks, travel books, recipes, and scientific journals.


title: Nonfiction

text: While specific claims in a nonfiction work may prove inaccurate, the typical author genuinely aims to be truthful at the time of their composition, offering accounts of historical or empirical fact. Systematic reporting of the beliefs of others in a nonfiction format is not necessarily an endorsement of the veracity of those beliefs, but rather an exercise in representing the topic. Works of nonfiction are not limited to written text, since statements expressed in audio or video may purport to present a factual account of a subject.


title: Nonfiction

text: The numerous literary and creative devices used within fiction are generally thought inappropriate for use in nonfiction. They are still present particularly in older works but they are often muted so as not to overshadow the information within the work. Simplicity, clarity and directness are some of the most important considerations when producing nonfiction. Audience is important in any artistic or descriptive endeavor, but it is perhaps most important in nonfiction. In fiction, the writer believes that readers will make an effort to follow and interpret an indirectly or abstractly presented progression of theme, whereas the production of nonfiction has more to do with the direct provision of information. Understanding of the potential readers' use for the work and their existing knowledge of a subject are both fundamental for effective nonfiction. Despite the claim to truth of nonfiction, it is often necessary to persuade the reader to agree with the ideas and so a balanced, coherent and informed argument is vital. However, the boundaries between fiction and nonfiction are continually blurred and argued upon, especially in the field of biography; as Virginia Woolf said: "if we think of truth as something of granite-like solidity and of personality as something of rainbow-like intangibility and reflect that the aim of biography is to weld these two into one seamless whole, we shall admit that the problem is a stiff one and that we need not wonder if biographers, for the most part failed to solve it."


title: Nonfiction

text: Semi-fiction is fiction implementing a great deal of nonfiction, e.g., a fictional description based on a true story.


title: Nonfiction

text: Common literary examples of nonfiction include expository, argumentative, functional, and opinion pieces; essays on art or literature; biographies; memoirs; journalism; and historical, scientific, technical, or economic writings (including electronic ones).


title: Nonfiction

text: Including information that the author knows to be untrue within any of these works is usually regarded as dishonest. Other works can legitimately be either fiction or nonfiction, such as journals of self-expression, letters, magazine articles, and other expressions of imagination. Though such works are mostly either one or the other, a blend of both is also possible. Some fiction may include nonfictional elements. Some nonfiction may include elements of unverified supposition, deduction, or imagination for the purpose of smoothing out a narrative, but the inclusion of open falsehoods would discredit it as a work of nonfiction. The publishing and the bookselling businesses sometimes use the phrase "literary nonfiction" to distinguish works with a more literary or intellectual bent, as opposed to the bulk of nonfiction subjects.


title: Tetraplegia

text: Tetraplegia, also known as quadriplegia, is defined as the dysfunction or loss of motor and/or sensory function in the cervical area of the spinal cord. A loss of motor function can present as either weakness or paralysis leading to partial or total loss of function in the arms, legs, trunk, and pelvis; paraplegia is similar but affects the thoracic, lumbar, and sacral segments of the spinal cord and arm function is spared. The paralysis may be flaccid or spastic. A loss of sensory function can present as an impairment or complete inability to sense light touch, pressure, heat, pinprick/pain, and proprioception. In these types of spinal cord injury, it is common to have a loss of both sensation and motor control.


title: Tetraplegia

text: Although the most obvious symptom is impairment of the limbs, functioning is also impaired in the trunk and pelvic organs. This can lead to loss or impairment of controlling bowel and bladder, sexual function, digestion, breathing and other autonomic functions. Furthermore, sensation is usually impaired in affected areas. This may manifest as numbness, reduced sensation or neuropathic pain. Secondarily, because of their depressed functioning and immobility, people with tetraplegia are often more vulnerable to pressure sores, osteoporosis and fractures, frozen joints, spasticity, respiratory complications, infections, autonomic dysreflexia, deep vein thrombosis, and cardiovascular disease.


title: Tetraplegia

text: The severity of the condition depends on both the level at which the spinal cord is injured and the extent of the injury. An individual with an injury at C1 (the highest cervical vertebra, at the base of the skull) will probably lose function from the neck down and be ventilator-dependent. An individual with a C7 injury may lose function from the chest down but still retain use of the arms and much of the hands. An individual in between, with a C5 injury may lose some function from the chest down and fine motor skills in his/her hands but still have flexion and extension abilities of certain muscles around the back or arm area.


title: Tetraplegia

text: The extent of the injury is also important. A complete severing of the spinal cord will result in complete loss of function from that vertebra down. A partial severing or even bruising of the spinal cord results in varying degrees of mixed function and paralysis. A common misconception with tetraplegia is that the victim cannot move legs, arms or any of the major function; this is often not the case. Some individuals with tetraplegia can walk and use their hands, as though they did not have a spinal cord injury, while others may use wheelchairs and they can still have function of their arms and mild finger movement; again, this varies based on the degree of damage to the spinal cord and is mostly seen with incomplete tetraplegia.


title: Tetraplegia

text: It is common to have movement in limbs, such as the ability to move the arms but not the hands, or to be able to use the fingers but not to the same extent as before the injury. Furthermore, the deficit in the limbs may not be the same on both sides of the body; either left or right side may be more affected, depending on the location of the lesion on the spinal cord.


title: Tetraplegia

text: Another important fact to keep in mind would be the possibility to see a person with quadriplegia moving any areas affected by the injury sporadically. One of the main causes for this would be myoclonus, or muscle spasms. "After a spinal cord injury, the normal flow of signals is disrupted, and the message does not reach the brain. Instead, the signals are sent back to the motor cells in the spinal cord and cause a reflex muscle spasm. This can result in a twitch, jerk or stiffening of the muscle."


title: Tetraplegia

text: Tetraplegia is caused by damage to the brain or the spinal cord at a high level. The injury, which is known as a lesion, causes the loss of partial or total function of all four limbs, meaning the arms and the legs. Typical causes of this damage are trauma (such as a traffic collision, diving into shallow water, a fall, a sports injury), disease (such as transverse myelitis, Guillain–Barré syndrome, multiple sclerosis, or polio), or congenital disorders (such as muscular dystrophy).


title: Tetraplegia

text: Tetraplegia is defined in many ways; C1–C4 usually affects arm movement more so than a C5–C7 injury; however, all tetraplegics have or have had some kind of finger dysfunction. So, it is not uncommon to have a tetraplegic with fully functional arms but no nervous control of their fingers and thumbs. It is possible to have a broken neck without becoming tetraplegic if the vertebrae are fractured or dislocated but the spinal cord is not damaged. Conversely, it is possible to injure the spinal cord without breaking the spine, for example when a ruptured disc or bone spur on the vertebra protrudes into the spinal column.


title: Tetraplegia

text: Since tetraplegia is defined as dysfunction in the cervical spinal cord, this section will focus on the anatomy of the cervical spinal cord. To understand how tetraplegia presents after injury, it is imperative to have a broad knowledge of the cervical spinal roots and it's many functions. In the cervical spine, nerve roots exit the spine above the associated vertebra (i.e. the C6 nerve root exits above the C6 vertebra). By evaluating what nerve root of the cervical spine is injured, the affected muscle groups and dermatomes can be determined. This informs the evaluator as to what activities may be limited as a result of the injury. This is typically done at 72 hours post-injury; exams done prior to this time have been found to be inaccurate due to the presence of swelling and other confounding factors. For example, an injury at the C6 nerve root level will affect the function of the triceps (elbow extension) but the biceps (elbow flexion) will be spared; in this case, an injury at the C6 root level affects all function at that level and below whereas the C5 nerve root, which controls the biceps, is spared since it is above the C6 level in the spinal column. When classifying an individual's level of function, there are numerous functional assessment tools that may be used in a clinical setting and it is often up to the clinician's discretion as to which tools are used. A comprehensive list of these tools may be found on the ShirleyRyan AbilityLab website.


title: Tetraplegia

text: Spinal cord injuries are classified as complete and incomplete by the American Spinal Injury Association (ASIA) classification. The ASIA scale grades patients based on their functional impairment as a result of the injury, grading a patient from A to D. This has considerable consequences for surgical planning and therapy. After a comprehensive neurologic exam testing segments of the body corresponding to spinal nerve roots, the examiner will determine the patient's motor level and sensory level (i.e. motor level C6, sensory level C7). These levels are unique for the patient's left and right side. This level is assigned based on the lowest (closest to the patient's feet) intact motor and sensory level. After this assignment, a neurological level of injury (NLI) is determined. The NLI is the lowest segment with intact sensory and motor function provided there is normal sensory and motor function above this segment.


title: Tetraplegia

text: As in the above ASIA chart, a complete spinal cord injury is any injury which has absent motor and sensory function in the sacral segments S4 and S5. This is verified during the physical exam by the absence of all three of: voluntary anal contraction, deep anal pressure, and pinprick+light touch sensation in the perineal area. S4 and S5 are both sacral nerve roots found at the lowest portion of the spinal cord. In simpler terms, "complete" is meant as a way to express that the spinal cord is injured such that no signal, motor or sensory, is carried to or from the level of injury to these lower levels of the spinal cord.


title: Tetraplegia

text: Incomplete spinal cord injuries result in varied post injury presentations. There are three main syndromes described, depending on the exact site and extent of the lesion.


title: Tetraplegia

text: For most patients with ASIA A (complete) tetraplegia, ASIA B (incomplete) tetraplegia and ASIA C (incomplete) tetraplegia, the International Classification level of the patient can be established without great difficulty. The surgical procedures according to the International Classification level can be performed. In contrast, for patients with ASIA D (incomplete) tetraplegia it is difficult to assign an International Classification other than International Classification level X (others). Therefore, it is more difficult to decide which surgical procedures should be performed. A far more personalized approach is needed for these patients. Decisions must be based more on experience than on texts or journals.


title: Tetraplegia

text: The results of tendon transfers for patients with complete injuries are predictable. On the other hand, it is well known that muscles lacking normal excitation perform unreliably after surgical tendon transfers. Despite the unpredictable aspect in incomplete lesions, tendon transfers may be useful. The surgeon should be confident that the muscle to be transferred has enough power and is under good voluntary control. Pre-operative assessment is more difficult to assess in incomplete lesions.


title: Tetraplegia

text: Patients with an incomplete lesion also often need therapy or surgery before the procedure to restore function to correct the consequences of the injury. These consequences are hypertonicity/spasticity, contractures, painful hyperesthesias and paralyzed proximal upper limb muscles with distal muscle sparing.


title: Tetraplegia

text: Spasticity is a frequent consequence of incomplete injuries. Spasticity often decreases function, but sometimes a patient can control the spasticity in a way that it is useful to their function. The location and the effect of the spasticity should be analyzed carefully before treatment is planned. An injection of Botulinum toxin (Botox) into spastic muscles is a treatment to reduce spasticity. This can be used to prevent muscle shortening and early contractures.


title: Tetraplegia

text: Over the last ten years, an increase in traumatic incomplete lesions is seen, due to the better protection in traffic.


title: Tetraplegia

text: Upper limb paralysis refers to the loss of function of the elbow and hand. When upper limb function is absent as a result of a spinal cord injury it is a major barrier to regain autonomy. People with tetraplegia should be examined and informed concerning the options for reconstructive surgery of the tetraplegic arms and hands.


title: Tetraplegia

text: Delayed diagnosis of cervical spine injury has grave consequences for the victim. About one in 20 cervical fractures are missed and about two-thirds of these patients have further spinal-cord damage as a result. About 30% of cases of delayed diagnosis of cervical spine injury develop permanent neurological deficits. In high-level cervical injuries, total paralysis from the neck can result. High-level tetraplegics (C4 and higher) will likely need constant care and assistance in activities of daily living (ADLs), such as getting dressed, eating, and bowel/bladder care. Individuals with C5 injuries retain some function in their biceps, deltoids, and other muscles; they typically can perform many ADLs including feeding, bathing, and grooming but require total assistance with bowel/bladder care. The C6 level adds function in the extensor carpi radialis, longus, and other muscles allowing for wrist extension, scapular abduction, and wrist flexion; typically, these patients have modified independent feeding and grooming with adaptive equipment, independent with dressing, can use both a manual and power wheelchair but require assistance with some activities of daily living. The C7 level is where function is retained in the triceps allowing for arm extension; C7 is considered the key level at which most activities can be performed independently with a wheelchair and assistive devices; activities include feeding, grooming, dressing, light meal preparation, and transfers on level surfaces. Even in complete spinal cord injury, it is common for individuals to recover up to 1 level of motor function.


title: Tetraplegia

text: Even with "complete" injuries, in some rare cases, through intensive rehabilitation, function can be regained through "rewiring" neural connections, as in the case of actor Christopher Reeve.


title: Tetraplegia

text: In the case of cerebral palsy, which is caused by damage to the motor cortex either before, during (10%), or after birth, some people with incomplete tetraplegia are gradually able to learn to stand or walk through physical therapy.


title: Tetraplegia

text: Quadriplegics can improve muscle strength by performing resistance training at least three times per week. Combining resistance training with proper nutrition intake can greatly reduce co-morbidities such as obesity and type 2 diabetes.


title: Tetraplegia

text: There are an estimated 17,700 spinal cord injuries each year in the United States; the total number of people affected by spinal cord injuries is estimated to be approximately 290,000 people.


title: Tetraplegia

text: In the US, spinal cord injuries alone cost approximately US$40.5 billion each year, which is a 317 percent increase from costs estimated in 1998 ($9.7 billion).


title: Tetraplegia

text: The estimated lifetime costs for a 25-year-old in 2018 is $3.6 million when affected by low tetraplegia and $4.9 million when affected by high tetraplegia. In 2009, it was estimated that the lifetime care of a 25-year-old rendered with low tetraplegia was about $1.7 million, and $3.1 million with high tetraplegia.


title: Tetraplegia

text: There are about 1,000 people affected each year in the UK (~1 in 60,000—assuming a population of 60 million).


title: Tetraplegia

text: The condition of paralysis affecting four limbs is alternately termed "tetraplegia" or "quadriplegia". Quadriplegia combines the Latin root "quadra", for "four", with the Greek root πληγία "plegia", for "paralysis". Tetraplegia uses the Greek root τετρα "tetra" for "four". In the past, tetraplegia and quadriplegia were used interchangeably in the medical literature. Medical literature favors using tetraplegia as the standardized term as it is frowned upon to mix Greek and Latin roots, although quadriplegia remains in use.


title: Tetraplegia

text: Tetraplegia, meaning the paralysis of four limbs, may be confused with tetraparesis, meaning the weakness of four limbs. In medicine, it is important to not use these terms when making a diagnosis. When diagnosing and classifying spinal cord injuries, the ASIA classification is used to make the distinction of weakness vs. no weakness as well as to classify neurologically complete vs. incomplete lesions . Use of tetraparesis is discouraged as it inaccurately describes an incomplete lesion and incorrectly implies tetraplegia applies only to cases of complete lesions.


title: Bill James

text: George William James (born October 5, 1949) is an American baseball writer, historian, and statistician whose work has been widely influential. Since 1977, James has written more than two dozen books devoted to baseball history and statistics. His approach, which he termed sabermetrics in reference to the Society for American Baseball Research (SABR), scientifically analyzes and studies baseball, often through the use of statistical data, in an attempt to determine why teams win and lose.


title: Bill James

text: In 2006, "Time" named him in the "Time" 100 as one of the most influential people in the world. In 2003, James was hired as senior advisor on Baseball Operations for the Boston Red Sox and worked for the team for 17 years during which they won four World Series championships.


title: Bill James

text: James was born in Holton, Kansas; his mother died in 1954 when he was five. His father was a janitor and a handyman. After four years at the University of Kansas (KU) residing at Stephenson Scholarship Hall, James joined the Army in 1971. He was the last person in Kansas to be sent to fight in the Vietnam War, although he never saw action there. Instead, he spent two years stationed in South Korea, during which time he wrote to KU about taking his final class. He was told he actually had met all his graduation requirements, so he returned to Lawrence in 1973 with degrees in English and economics. He also finished an education degree in 1975, also from the University of Kansas.


title: Bill James

text: An aspiring writer and obsessive fan, James began writing baseball articles after leaving the United States Army in his mid-twenties. Many of his first baseball writings came while he was doing night shifts as a security guard at the Stokely-Van Camp's pork and beans cannery. Unlike most writers, his pieces did not recount games in epic terms or offer insights gleaned from interviews with players. A typical James piece posed a question ("e.g.," "Which pitchers and catchers allow runners to steal the most bases?"), and then presented data and analysis that offered an answer.


title: Bill James

text: Editors considered James's pieces so unusual that few believed them suitable for their readers. In an effort to reach a wider audience, James began self-publishing an annual book titled "The Bill James Baseball Abstract", beginning in 1977. The first edition, titled "1977 Baseball Abstract: Featuring 18 categories of statistical information that you just can't find anywhere else", presented 68 pages of in-depth statistics compiled from James's study of box scores from the preceding season and was offered for sale through a small advertisement in "The Sporting News". Seventy-five people purchased the booklet. The 1978 edition, subtitled "The 2nd annual edition of baseball's most informative and imaginative review", sold 250 copies. Beginning in 1979, James wrote an annual preview of the baseball season for "Esquire", and continued to do so through 1984.


title: Bill James

text: The first three editions of the "Baseball Abstract" garnered respect for James's work, including a very favorable review by Daniel Okrent in "Sports Illustrated". New annual editions added essays on teams and players. By 1982 sales had increased tenfold, and a media conglomerate agreed to publish and distribute future editions.


title: Bill James

text: While writers had published books about baseball statistics before (most notably Earnshaw Cook's "Percentage Baseball", in the 1960s), few had ever reached a mass audience. Attempts to imitate James's work spawned a flood of books and articles that continues to this day.


title: Bill James

text: In 1988, James ceased writing the "Abstract", citing workload-related burnout and concern about the volume of statistics on the market. He has continued to publish hardcover books about baseball history, which have sold well and received admiring reviews. These books include three editions of "The Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract" (1985, 1988, 2001, the last entitled "The New Bill James Historical Baseball Abstract").


title: Bill James

text: In 2008, James launched Bill James Online. Subscribers can read James's new, original writing and interact with one another—as well as with James—in a question-and-answer format. The web site also offers new "profiles" of teams and players full of facts and statistics that hope to one day map what James has termed "the lost island of baseball statistics."


title: Bill James

text: In an essay published in the 1984 "Abstract", James vented his frustration about Major League Baseball's refusal to publish play-by-play accounts of every game. James proposed the creation of Project Scoresheet, a network of fans that would work together to collect and distribute this information.