title: Venus figurine

text: Another modern interpretation, providing an explanation for visible weight variety amongst the figurines, comes from Johnson et al. Here, they argue that differences in the statues can be said to relate to human adaption to climate change. This is because figurines that are seen to be obese or pregnant originate to the earlier art from 38,000 to 14,000 BP - a period where nutritional stress arose as a result of falling temperatures. Accordingly, they found a correlation between an increase in distance from glacial fronts and a decrease in obesity of the figurines. This was justified as survival and reproduction, in glacial, colder areas, required sufficient nutrition and, consequently, over-nourished woman may have been seen as the ideal of beauty in these areas.


title: Venus figurine

text: Some scholars suggest a direct continuity between Palaeolithic female figurines and later examples of female depictions from the Neolithic or Bronze Age.


title: Venus figurine

text: A female figurine which has 'no practical use and is portable' and has the common elements of a Venus figurine (a strong accent or exaggeration of female sex linked traits, and the lack of complete lower limbs) may be considered to be a Venus figurine, even if archaeological evidence suggests it was produced after the main Palaeolithic period. Some figurines matching this definition originate from the Neolithic era and into the Bronze Age. The period and location in which a figurine was produced helps guide archaeologists to reach conclusions as to whether the art piece found can be defined as a Venus figurine or not. For example, ceramic figurines from the late ceramic Neolithic may be accepted as Venus figurines, while stone figurines from later periods are not. This is a matter of ongoing debate given the strong similarity between many figurines from the Palaeolithic, Neolithic and beyond. A reworked endocast of a brachiopod from around 6000 BCE in Norway has been identified as a late Venus figurine.


title: Venus figurine

text: This means that a given female figurine may or may not be classified as a Venus figure by any given archaeologist, regardless of its date, though most archaeologists disqualify figurines which date later than the Palaeolithic, even though their purpose could have been the same.


title: Social change

text: Social change is the alteration of the social order of a society which may include changes in social institutions, social behaviours or social relations.


title: Social change

text: Social change may not refer to the notion of social progress or sociocultural evolution, the philosophical idea that society moves forward by evolutionary means. It may refer to a paradigmatic change in the socio-economic structure, for instance the transition from feudalism to capitalism, or hypothetical future transition to some form of post-capitalism.


title: Social change

text: Social development refers to how people develop social and emotional skills across the lifespan, with particular attention to childhood and adolescence. Healthy social development allows us to form positive relationships with family, friends, teachers, and other people in our lives.


title: Social change

text: Accordingly, it may also refer to social revolution, such as the Socialist revolution presented in Marxism, or to other social movements, such as women's suffrage or the civil rights movement. Social change may be driven through cultural, religious, economic, environmental, scientific or technological forces.


title: Social change

text: Change comes from two sources. One source is unique factors such as climate, weather, or the presence of specific groups of people. Another source is systematic factors. For example, successful development generally has the same requirements, such as a stable and flexible government, enough free and available resources, and a diverse social organization of society. On the whole, social change is usually a combination of systematic factors along with some random or unique factors.


title: Social change

text: Many theories attempt to explain social change. One view suggests that a theory of change should include elements such as structural aspects of change (like population shifts), processes and mechanisms of social change, and directions of change.


title: Social change

text: Some research on the various types of social change focuses on social organizations such as corporations.


title: Social change

text: From a systems perspective, change in a system can be organized based on whether it is internally- or externally-driven and non-structural or structural. As a result, a living (ecological, social) system can undergo four types of change:


title: Social change

text: One of the most obvious changes currently occurring is the change in the relative global population distribution between countries. In recent decades, developing countries have become a larger proportion of the world population, increasing from 68% in 1950 to 82% in 2010, and the population of the developed countries has declined from 32% of the total world population in 1950 to 18% in 2010. China and India continue to be the largest countries, followed by the US as a distant third. However, population growth throughout the world is slowing. Population growth among developed countries has been slowing since the 1950s and is now at 0.3% annual growth. Population growth among the less developed countries excluding the least developed ones has also been slowing since 1960 and is now at 1.3% annually. Population growth among the least developed countries has slowed relatively little and is the highest at 2.7% annual growth.


title: Social change

text: In much of the developed world, changes from distinct men's work and women's work to more gender equal patterns have been economically important since the mid-20th century. Both men and women are considered to be great contributors to social change worldwide.


title: Nigerian Army

text: The Nigerian Army (NA) is the land force of the Nigerian Armed Forces. It is governed by the Nigerian Army Council (NAC). The Chief of Army Staff is the highest ranking military officer of the Nigerian Army.


title: Nigerian Army

text: The Nigerian Army traces its history to Lieutenant John Hawley Glover's Constabulary Force, which was largely composed of freed Hausa slaves in 1863. The Constabulary Force was established with the primary goal of protecting the Royal Niger Company and its assets from constant military incursions by the neighboring Ashanti Empire. This policing force would slowly grow in size and capability to meet the needs of the British Empire in its West African territories, and would later form the nucleus of both the Gold Coast and the Hausa Constabulary, both of which would become the Ghana Regiment and Southern Nigeria Regiment respectively by 1879. These regiments would be incorporated into the Royal West African Frontier Force (RWAFF) in 1900 by the British Colonial Office, following British military experiences in the Benin Expedition of 1897, as well as wider British efforts of complete reorganization of its African colonial units such as that of the Egyptian Army earlier in the year. During the Second World War, British-trained Nigerian troops saw action with the 1st (West Africa) Infantry Brigade, the 81st and the 82nd (West Africa) Divisions which fought in the East African Campaign (World War II) and in the Far East.


title: Nigerian Army

text: The roots of the ethnic cleavages which started to rip through the army after independence had some of their origins in colonial recruiting practices, with line infantry and the artillery being raised from the North, but during the expansion of the force during the Second World War a large proportion of more educated southerners being brought in to take up posts that required more technical training. Like in Ghana, there was significant pressure to "Nigerianize" the armed forces, with, for example, two officers being promoted to Brigadier as a concession to public opinion on the occasion of the last British commander arriving in Lagos. From a force of 8,000 in five infantry battalions and supporting units, strength rose to around 120,000 in three divisions by the end of the Nigerian Civil War in 1970. In terms of doctrine, the task of the Federal Nigerian army did not fundamentally change: its task remained to close with and defeat an organized enemy.


title: Nigerian Army

text: The rapid expansion of the Nigerian Army in the wake of the civil war witnessed a severe decline in troop quality. The expansion process overseen by the Nigerian army command staff led to an extreme shortage of commissioned officers, with newly created lieutenant-colonels commanding brigades, and platoons and companies often commanded by sergeants and warrant officers. This resulted in tentative command-and-control and in rudimentary staff work by Nigerian army personnel. One result of the weak direction was that the federal government's three field divisions fought independently, and competed for men and material. Writing in a 1984 study, Major Michael Stafford of the United States Marine Corps noted the following: "Inexperienced, poorly trained and ineptly led soldiers manifested their lack of professionalism and indiscipline by massacres of innocent civilians and a failure to effectively execute infantry tactics." Among the results of this failure of command experience and professionalism was the 1967 Asaba massacre, resulting in the deaths of some one thousand civilians and individuals of Igbo descent.


title: Nigerian Army

text: In November 1970, the U.S. intelligence community concluded the following: "The Nigerian Civil War ended with surprisingly little rancor. The defeated Igbos are accepted as fellow citizens in many parts of Nigeria, but not in some areas of former Biafra where they were once dominant. [Iboland] is an overpoperated, economically depressed area, where massive unemployment is likely to prevail for some years." Furthermore, U.S. analysts would go on to state that: "Nigeria is still very much a tribal society, in which clan, tribal and regional jealousies, hostilities and interests count for more than national attachment. General Gowon, Head of the Federal Military Government (FMG), is the accepted national leader and his popularity has grown since the end of the war. The FMG is neither very efficient nor dynamic, but the recent announcement that it intends to retain power for six more years has generated little opposition so far. The Nigerian Army, vastly expanded during the war, is both the main support to the FMG and the chief threat to it. The troops are poorly trained and disciplined and some of the officers are turning to conspiracies and plotting. We think Gowon will have great difficulty in staying in office through the period which he said is necessary before the turnover of power to civilians. His sudden removal would dim the prospects for Nigerian stability."


title: Nigerian Army

text: The influence of individual personalities is generally greater in the armies of developing states, as they tend to have weaker institutional frameworks. Key personalities involved in Nigeria included then-Colonel Olusegun Obasanjo. Obasanjo was particularly important due to his efforts to reorganize his command, 3 Division, during the civil war to improve its logistics and administration. The reorganization he instituted permitted 3 Division to successfully conduct the offensive operations that would ultimately lead to the end the civil war in Nigeria. The Nigerian Army fought the Civil War significantly under-resourced; Obasanjo's memoirs chronicle the lack of any stocks of extra equipment for mobilisation and the "haphazard and unreliable system of procurement and provisioning" which lasted for the entire period of the war. Arms embargoes imposed by several Western countries made the situation more difficult.


title: Nigerian Army

text: At the end of the Civil War, the three divisions of the Army were reorganised into four divisions, with each controlling territories running from North to South in order to deemphasise the former regional structure. Each division thus had access to the sea thereby making triservice cooperation and logistic support easier. This deployment formula was later abandoned in favour of the present assignment of sectors to the divisions. Thus 1 Division with HQ at Kaduna is allocated the North West sector; 2 Division with HQ at Ibadan South West sector, 3 Division with HQ at Jos North East sector and 82 Division with HQ at Enugu South East sector.


title: Nigerian Army

text: Its formations include the 1 Division, headquartered in Kaduna in the north-west, and 2 Division (HQ Ibadan in the South-West, which includes 32 Artillery Brigade at Abeokuta). 2nd Division also possibly includes 4 Brigade at Benin City, with 19 Battalion at Okitipupa and 195 Battalion at Agenebode. 52 Signal Regiment may be the divisional signals unit. 3 Division's headquarters is at Rukuba Cantonment, Jos, in the North-East, and includes 21 Armoured Brigade Maiduguri, 23 Brigade Yola, and 33 Artillery Brigades. 81st Division (Amphibious) HQ in Lagos, which includes the 9 Brigade, based at Ikeja Cantonment in northern Lagos, 82nd Division (Airborne and Amphibious) HQ in Enugu in the South-East, which includes the 2 Brigade at Port Harcourt, 13 Brigade at Calabar and the 34th Artillery Brigade at Obinze/Owerri. The Composite Division at Enugu was formed in 1964 as 4 Division, in 1975 became Lagos Garrison Organization; in 1981 became 4 Composite Division; became a Composite Division in May 2002. 3rd Armoured Division was responsible in 1983 for the security of areas bordering Chad.


title: Nigerian Army

text: Lagos and Abuja have garrison commands, with the Lagos garrison as large as a division. 81st Division was previously the youngest division, formed on 26 May 2002 when the Lagos Garrison Command (as it then was) was upgraded to divisional status. The Division, therefore, inherited the security roles hitherto performed by the defunct Lagos Garrison Command. However a later undated article in a Nigerian online newspaper says the 81st Division was later again renamed the Lagos Garrison Command. In the 1980s, the Army's brigades included the 7th Infantry Brigade in Sokoto. There are also Divisional Artillery Brigades, among which are the 32 and 34 Artillery Brigades, ordnance corps units as well as Combat Engineer Regiments, and many other service support units spread across the country.


title: Nigerian Army

text: The 7th Division (also known as JTF-RO) was established in August 2013 for the war against Boko Haram. The creation of the new division brought to six the number of divisions. The 7th division is headquartered in Maiduguri. The division includes a combat motorcycle unit as part of its 25th Task Force Brigade. The purpose of this unit is stated as securing roads in Yobe and serving as a force multiplier in combat operations. Training and Doctrine Command formed in 1981, and is located at Minna. It supervises the Army's schools, including the Depot. The Army sponsors the Nigerian Military School at Zaria and Command Secondary Schools all over the federation.


title: Nigerian Army

text: The Nigerian Army as of 2016 consisted of some 6,000 officers and 150,000 enlisted personnel. The army itself is governed by the Nigerian Army Council (NAC). The Nigerian Army is functionally organized into combat arms, which are infantry and armoured; the combat support arms, which are artillery, engineers, signals, and intelligence; the combat support services comprise the Nigerian Army Medical Corps, supply and transport, ordinance and finance. Others include the military police, physical training, chaplains, public relations and the Nigerian Army Band Corps. The Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) located in Minna is responsible for doctrinal, training and combat development, and supervises training centers. There are 17 Corps Training Schools and the Nigerian Army College of Logistics (NACOL).


title: Nigerian Army

text: The Nigerian Army said its newly created the 6 Division in Port Harcourt was established to organize and improve its internal security operations in four states of the Niger Delta. The division will cover the army's 2 Brigade in Akwa Ibom, 16 Brigade in Bayelsa, and 63 Brigade in Delta respectively; while the divisional headquarters will be located in Port Harcourt. This arrangement will help to curtail activities of militants, banditry, inter-communal clashes, illegal bunkering, kidnapping, robberies, Niger Delta Avengers and pipeline vandalism prevalent in the area. Insecurity in these states negatively impacts on the national economy resulting from sabotage by criminal entities within the region.


title: Nigerian Army

text: In December 1983 the new régime of the Head of State of Nigeria, Major General Muhammadu Buhari, announced that Nigeria could no longer afford an activist anti-colonial role in Africa. Anglophone members of the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) established ECOMOG, dominated by the Nigerian Army, in 1990 to intervene in the civil war in Liberia. Smaller army forces had previously carried out UN and ECOWAS deployments in the former Yugoslavia, Angola, Rwanda, Somalia, and Sierra Leone.


title: Nigerian Army

text: The anti-colonial policy statement did not deter Nigeria under Generals Ibrahim Babangida in 1990 and Sani Abacha in 1997 from sending peacekeeping troops as part of ECOMOG under the auspices of ECOWAS into Liberia and later into Sierra Leone when civil wars broke out in those countries. President Olusegun Obasanjo in August 2003 committed Nigerian troops once again into Liberia, at the urging of the United States, to provide an interim presence until the UN's force UNMIL arrived. Charles Taylor was subsequently eased out of power by U.S. pressure and exiled to Nigeria.


title: Nigerian Army

text: In October 2004, Nigerian troops were deployed into Darfur, Sudan to spearhead an African Union force to protect civilians there.


title: Nigerian Army

text: In January 2013, Nigeria began to deploy troops to Mali as part of the African-led International Support Mission to Mali.


title: Nigerian Army

text: Nigeria claimed to have contributed more than twenty thousand troops and police officers to various UN missions since 1960. The Nigeria Police Force and troops have served in places like UNIPOM (UN India-Pakistan Observer mission) 1965, UNIFIL in Lebanon 1978, the UN observer mission, UNIIMOG supervising the Iran-Iraq ceasefire in 1988, former Yugoslavia 1998, East Timor 1999, and in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC) 2004.


title: Nigerian Army

text: Nigerian Army officers have served as chiefs of defence in other countries, with Brigadier General Maxwell Khobe serving as Sierra Leone chief of staff in 1998–1999, and Nigerian officers acting as Command Officer-in-Charge of the Armed Forces of Liberia from at least 2007.


title: Nigerian Army

text: Following is a chronological list of officers holding the position of General Officer Commanding (GOC) or Chief of Army Staff (COAS).


title: Nigerian Army

text: Despite a disproportionate emphasis on the materiel and sophistication of the Nigerian Armed Forces, and despite possessing some formidable hardware, the Army has been hamstrung by technical deficiency and an exceptionally poor standard of maintenance. Its overabundance of foreign suppliers, including Austria, Brazil, France, Germany, Italy, Sweden, Switzerland, Romania, Turkey, Ukraine, the former Soviet Union, the United States and the United Kingdom, has also complicated logistics. Calculating the size and scope of replacement inventories alone is impossible given the menagerie of equipment in use.


title: Nigerian Army

text: The Nigerian Army maintains at least eighty-two different weapon systems and 194 types of ammunition, of sixty-two different categories, from fourteen manufacturers.


title: Sinoatrial node

text: The sinoatrial node (also known as the sinuatrial node, SA node or sinus node) is an oval shaped region of special cardiac muscle in the upper back wall of the right atrium made up of cells known as pacemaker cells. The sinus node is approximately fifteen mm long, three mm wide, and one mm thick, located directly below and to the side of the superior vena cava.


title: Sinoatrial node

text: These cells can produce an electrical impulse an action potential known as a cardiac action potential that travels through the electrical conduction system of the heart, causing it to contract. In a healthy heart, the SA node continuously produces action potentials, setting the rhythm of the heart (sinus rhythm), and so is known as the heart's natural pacemaker. The rate of action potentials produced (and therefore the heart rate) is influenced by the nerves that supply it.


title: Sinoatrial node

text: The sinoatrial node is a oval-shaped structure that is approximately fifteen mm long, three mm wide, and one mm thick, located directly below and to the side of the superior vena cava. The size can vary but is usually between 10-30 millimeters (mm) long, 5–7 mm wide, and 1–2 mm deep.


title: Sinoatrial node

text: The SA node is located in the wall (epicardium) of the right atrium, laterally to the entrance of the superior vena cava in a region called the sinus venarum (hence "sino-" + "atrial)". It is positioned roughly between a groove called the crista terminalis located on the internal surface of the heart and the corresponding sulcus terminalis, on the external surface. These grooves run between the entrance of the superior vena cava and the inferior vena cava.


title: Sinoatrial node

text: The cells of the SA node are spread out within a mesh of connective tissue, containing nerves, blood vessels, collagen and fat. Immediately surrounding the SA node cells are paranodal cells. These cells have structures intermediate between that of the SA node cells and the rest of the atrium. The connective tissue, along with the paranodal cells, insulate the SA node from the rest of the atrium, preventing the electrical activity of the atrial cells from affecting the SA node cells. The SA node cells are smaller and paler than the surrounding atrial cells, with the average cell being around 8 micrometers in diameter and 20-30 micrometers in length (1 micrometer= 0.000001 meter). Unlike the atrial cells, SA node cells contain fewer mitochondria and myofibers, as well as a smaller sarcoplasmic reticulum. This means that the SA node cells are less equipped to contract compared to the atrial and ventricular cells.


title: Sinoatrial node

text: Action potentials pass from one cardiac cell to the next through pores known as gap junctions. These gap junctions are made of proteins called connexins. There are fewer gap junctions within the SA node and they are smaller in size. This is again important in insulating the SA node from the surrounding atrial cells.


title: Sinoatrial node

text: The sinoatrial node receives its blood supply from the sinoatrial nodal artery. This blood supply, however, can differ hugely between individuals. For example, in most humans, this is a single artery, although in some cases there have been either 2 or 3 sinoatrial node arteries supplying the SA node. Also, the SA node artery mainly originates as a branch of the right coronary artery; however in some individuals it has arisen from the circumflex artery, which is a branch of the left coronary artery. Finally, the SA node artery commonly passes behind the superior vena cava, before reaching the SA node; however in some instances it passes in front. Despite these many differences, there doesn’t appear to be any advantage to how many sinoatrial nodal arteries an individual has, or where they originate


title: Sinoatrial node

text: There are no large veins that drain blood away from the SA node. Instead, smaller venules drain the blood directly into the right atrium.


title: Sinoatrial node

text: The main role of a sinoatrial node cell is to initiate action potentials of the heart that can pass through cardiac muscle cells and cause contraction. An action potential is a rapid change in membrane potential, produced by the movement of charged atoms (ions). In the absence of stimulation, non-pacemaker cells (including the ventricular and atrial cells) have a relatively constant membrane potential; this is known as a resting potential. This resting phase (see cardiac action potential, phase 4) ends when an action potential reaches the cell. This produces a positive change in membrane potential, known as depolarization, which is propagated throughout the heart and initiates muscle contraction. Pacemaker cells, however, do not have a resting potential. Instead, immediately after repolarization, the membrane potential of these cells begins to depolarise again automatically, a phenomenon known as the pacemaker potential. Once the pacemaker potential reaches a set value, the threshold potential, it produces an action potential. Other cells within the heart (including the Purkinje fibers and atrioventricular node) can also initiate action potentials; however, they do so at a slower rate and therefore, if the SA node is functioning properly, its action potentials usually override those that would be produced by other tissues.


title: Sinoatrial node

text: Outlined below are the 3 phases of a sinoatrial node action potential. In the cardiac action potential, there are 5 phases (labelled 0-4), however pacemaker action potentials do not have an obvious phase 1 or 2.


title: Sinoatrial node

text: This phase is also known as the pacemaker potential. Immediately following repolarization, when the membrane potential is very negative (it is hyperpolarised), the voltage slowly begins to increase. This is initially due to the closing of potassium channels, which reduces the flow of potassium ions (I) out of the cell (see phase 2, below). Hyperpolarization also causes activation of hyperpolarisation-activated cyclic nucleotide–gated (HCN) channels. The activation of ion channels at very negative membrane potentials is unusual, therefore the flow of sodium (Na) and some K through the activated HCN channel is referred to as a "funny current" (I). This funny current causes the membrane potential of the cell to gradually increase, as the positive charge (Na and K) is flowing into the cell. Another mechanism involved in pacemaker potential is known as the calcium clock. This refers to the spontaneous release of calcium from the sarcoplasmic reticulum (a calcium store) into the cytoplasm, also known as calcium sparks. This increase in calcium within the cell then activates a sodium-calcium exchanger (NCX), which removes one Ca from the cell, and exchanges it for 3 Na into the cell (therefore removing a charge of +2 from the cell, but allowing a charge of +3 to enter the cell) further increasing the membrane potential. Calcium later reenters the cell via SERCA and calcium channels located on the cell membrane. The increase in membrane potential produced by these mechanisms, activates T-type calcium channels and then L-type calcium channels (which open very slowly). These channels allow a flow of Ca into the cell, making the membrane potential even more positive.


title: Sinoatrial node

text: This is the depolarization phase. When the membrane potential reaches the threshold potential (around -20 to -50 mV), the cell begins to rapidly depolarise (become more positive). This is mainly due to the flow of Ca through L-type calcium channels, which are now fully open. During this stage, T-type calcium channels and HCN channels deactivate.


title: Sinoatrial node

text: This phase is the repolarization phase. This occurs due to the inactivation of L-type calcium channels (preventing the movement of Ca into the cell) and the activation of potassium channels, which allows the flow of K out of the cell, making the membrane potential more negative.


title: Sinoatrial node

text: Heart rate depends on the rate at which the sinoatrial node produces action potentials. At rest, heart rate is between 60 and 100 beats per minute. This is a result of the activity of two sets of nerves, one acting to slow down action potential production (these are parasympathetic nerves) and the other acting to speed up action potential production (sympathetic nerves).


title: Sinoatrial node

text: Modulation of heart rate by ANS is carried by two types of channel: Kir and HCN (members of the CNG gated channels).


title: Sinoatrial node

text: The sympathetic nerves begin in the thoracic region of the spinal cord (in particular T1-T4). These nerves release a neurotransmitter called noradrenaline (NA). This binds to a receptor on the SA node membrane, called a beta-1adrenoceptor. Binding of NA to this receptor activates a G-protein (in particular a G-Protein, S for stimulatory) which initiates a series of reactions (known as the cAMP pathway) that results in the production of a molecule called cyclic adenosinemonophosphate (cAMP). This cAMP binds to the HCN channel (see above). Binding of cAMP to the HCN increases the flow of Na and K into the cell, speeding up the pacemaker potential, so producing action potentials at a quicker rate and increasing heart rate. An increase in heart rate is known as positive chronotropy.


title: Sinoatrial node

text: The parasympathetic nerves supplying the SA node (in particular the Vagus nerves) originate in the brain. These nerves release a neurotransmitter called acetylcholine (ACh). ACh binds to a receptor called an M2 muscarinic receptor, located on the SA node membrane. Activation of this M2 receptor then activates a protein called a G-protein (in particular G protein, i for inhibitory). Activation of this G-protein blocks the cAMP pathway, reducing its effects, therefore inhibiting sympathetic activity and slowing action potential production. The G-protein also activates a potassium channel GIRK-1 and GIRK-4, which allows K to flow out of the cell, making the membrane potential more negative and slowing the pacemaker potential, therefore decreasing the rate of action potential production and therefore decreasing heart rate. A decrease in heart rate is known as negative chronotropy.


title: Sinoatrial node

text: The first cell to produce the action potential in the SA node isn't always the same; this is known as pacemaker shift. In certain species of animals—for example, in dogs—a superior shift (i.e., the cell that produces the fastest action potential in the SA node is higher than previously) usually produces an increased heart rate whereas an inferior shift (i.e. the cell producing the fastest action potential within the SA node is further down than previously) produces a decreased heart rate.


title: Sinoatrial node

text: Sinus node dysfunction also known as "sick sinus syndrome" is a group of irregular heartbeat conditions caused by faulty electrical signals of the heart. When the heart's sinoatrial node is defective, the heart's rhythms become abnormal—typically too slow or exhibiting pauses in its function or a combination, and very rarely faster than normal.


title: Sinoatrial node

text: Blockage of the arterial blood supply to the SA node (most commonly due to a myocardial infarction or progressive coronary artery disease) can therefore cause ischemia and cell death in the SA node. This can disrupt the electrical pacemaker function of the SA node, and can result in sinus node dysfunction.


title: Sinoatrial node

text: If the SA node does not function or the impulse generated in the SA node is blocked before it travels down the electrical conduction system, a group of cells further down the heart will become its pacemaker.


title: Sinoatrial node

text: The sinoatrial node was first discovered by a young medical student, Martin Flack, in the heart of a mole, whilst his mentor, Sir Arthur Keith, was on a bicycle ride with his wife. They made the discovery in a makeshift laboratory set up in a farmhouse in Kent, England, called Mann's Place. Their discovery was published in 1907.


title: Martha Graham

text: Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer and choreographer. Her style, the Graham technique, reshaped American dance and is still taught worldwide.


title: Martha Graham

text: Graham danced and taught for over seventy years. She was the first dancer to perform at the White House, travel abroad as a cultural ambassador, and receive the highest civilian award of the US: the Presidential Medal of Freedom with Distinction. In her lifetime she received honors ranging from the Key to the City of Paris to Japan's Imperial Order of the Precious Crown. She said, in the 1994 documentary "The Dancer Revealed": "I have spent all my life with dance and being a dancer. It's permitting life to use you in a very intense way. Sometimes it is not pleasant. Sometimes it is fearful. But nevertheless it is inevitable." Founded in 1926 (the same year as Graham's professional dance company), the Martha Graham School is the oldest school of dance in the United States. First located in a small studio within Carnegie Hall, the school currently has two different studios in New York City.


title: Martha Graham

text: Graham was born in Allegheny City – later to become part of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania – in 1894. Her father, George Graham, practiced as what in the Victorian era was known as an "alienist", a practitioner of an early form of psychiatry. The Grahams were strict Presbyterians. Dr. Graham was a third-generation American of Irish descent. Graham's mother, Jane Beers, was a second-generation American of Irish, Scots-Irish, and English ancestry, and who claimed descent from Myles Standish. While her parents provided a comfortable environment in her youth, it was not one that encouraged dancing.


title: Martha Graham

text: The Graham family moved to Santa Barbara, California when Martha was fourteen years old. In 1911, she attended the first dance performance of her life, watching Ruth St. Denis perform at the Mason Opera House in Los Angeles. In the mid-1910s, Martha Graham began her studies at the newly created Denishawn School of Dancing and Related Arts, founded by Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn, at which she would stay until 1923. In 1922, Graham performed one of Shawn's Egyptian dances with Lillian Powell in a short silent film by Hugo Riesenfeld that attempted to synchronize a dance routine on film with a live orchestra and an onscreen conductor.


title: Martha Graham

text: When she left the Denishawn establishment in 1923, Graham did so with an urge to make dance an art form that was more grounded in the rawness of the human experience as opposed to just a mere form of entertainment. This motivated Graham to strip away the more decorative movements of ballet and of her training at the Denishawn school and focus more on the foundational aspects of movement.


title: Martha Graham

text: In 1925, Graham was employed at the Eastman School of Music where Rouben Mamoulian was head of the School of Drama. Among other performances, together Mamoulian and Graham produced a short two-color film called "The Flute of Krishna," featuring Eastman students. Mamoulian left Eastman shortly thereafter and Graham chose to leave also, even though she was asked to stay on.


title: Martha Graham

text: In 1926, the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance was established, in a small studio on the Upper East Side of New York City. On April 18 of the same year Graham debuted her first independent concert, consisting of 18 short solos and trios that she had choreographed. This performance took place at the 48th Street Theatre in Manhattan. She would later say of the concert: "Everything I did was influenced by Denishawn." On November 28, 1926, Martha Graham and others in her company gave a dance recital at the Klaw Theatre in New York City. Around the same time she entered an extended collaboration with Japanese-American pictorialist photographer Soichi Sunami, and over the next five years they together created some of the most iconic images of early modern dance. Graham was on the faculty of Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theatre when it opened in 1928.


title: Martha Graham

text: One of Graham's students was heiress Bethsabée de Rothschild with whom she became close friends. When Rothschild moved to Israel and established the Batsheva Dance Company in 1965, Graham became the company's first director.


title: Martha Graham

text: Graham's technique pioneered a principle known as "contraction and release" in modern dance, which was derived from a stylized conception of breathing.


title: Martha Graham

text: The desire to highlight a more base aspect of human movement led Graham to create the "contraction and release", for which she would become known. Each movement could separately be used to express either positive or negative, freeing or constricting emotions depending on the placement of the head. The contraction and release were both the basis for Graham's weighted and grounded style, which is in direct opposition to classical ballet techniques that typically aim to create an illusion of weightlessness. To counter the more percussive and staccato movements, Graham eventually added the spiral shape to the vocabulary of her technique to incorporate a sense of fluidity.


title: Martha Graham

text: Following her first concert made up of solos, Graham created "Heretic" (1929), the first group piece of many that showcased a clear diversion from her days with Denishawn, and served as an insight to her work that would follow in the future. Made up of constricted and sharp movement with the dancers clothed unglamorously, the piece centered around the theme of rejection—one that would reoccur in other Graham works down the line.


title: Martha Graham

text: As time went on Graham moved away from the more stark design aesthetic she initially embraced and began incorporating more elaborate sets and scenery to her work. To do this, she collaborated often with Isamu Noguchi—a Japanese American designer—whose eye for set design was a complementary match to Graham's choreography.


title: Martha Graham

text: Within the many themes which Graham incorporated into her work, there were two that she seemed to adhere to the most—Americana and Greek mythology. One of Graham's most known pieces that incorporates the American life theme is "Appalachian Spring" (1944). She collaborated with the composer Aaron Copland—who won a Pulitzer Prize for his work on the piece—and Noguchi, who created the nonliteral set. As she did often, Graham placed herself in her own piece as the bride of a newly married couple whose optimism for starting a new life together is countered by a grounded pioneer woman and a sermon-giving revivalist. Two of Graham's pieces—"Cave of Heart" (1946) and "Night Journey" (1947)—display her intrigue not only with Greek mythology but also with the psyche of a woman, as both pieces retell Greek myths from a woman's point of view.


title: Martha Graham

text: In 1936, Graham created "Chronicle", which brought serious issues to the stage in a dramatic manner. Influenced by the Wall Street Crash of 1929, the Great Depression that followed, and the Spanish Civil War, the dance focused on depression and isolation, reflected in the dark nature of both the set and costumes.


title: Martha Graham

text: That same year, in conjunction with the 1936 Summer Olympic Games in Berlin, the German government wanted to include dance in the Art Competitions that took place during the Olympics, an event that previously included architecture, sculpture, painting, music, and literature. Although Joseph Goebbels, Reich Minister of Propaganda, was not appreciative of the modern dance art form and changed Germany's dance from more avant-garde to traditional, he and Adolf Hitler still agreed to invite Graham to represent the United States. The United States resulted in not being represented in the Art Competitions as Martha Graham refused the invitation by stating:


title: Martha Graham

text: I would find it impossible to dance in Germany at the present time. So many artists whom I respect and admire have been persecuted, have been deprived of the right to work for ridiculous and unsatisfactory reasons, that I should consider it impossible to identify myself, by accepting the invitation, with the regime that has made such things possible. In addition, some of my concert group would not be welcomed in Germany.


title: Martha Graham

text: Goebbels himself wrote her a letter assuring her that her Jewish dancers would "receive complete immunity", however, it was not enough for Graham to accept such invitation.


title: Martha Graham

text: Stimulated by the occurrences of the 1936 Olympic Games, and the propaganda that she heard through the radio from the Axis Powers, Martha Graham creates American Document in 1938. The dance expresses American ideals and democracy as Graham realized that it could empower men and inspire them to fight fascist and Nazi ideologies. American Document ended up as a patriotic statement focusing on rights and injustices of the time, representing the American people including its Native-American heritage and slavery. During the performance, excerpts from "The Declaration of Independence", Lincoln's "Gettysburg Address", and the "Emancipation Proclamation" were read. These were passages that highlighted the American ideals and represented what made the American people American. For Graham, a dance needed to "reveal certain national characteristics because without these characteristics the dance would have no validity, no roots, no direct relation to life".


title: Martha Graham

text: The beginning of American Document marks modern concepts of performance art joining dance, theater and literature and clearly defining the roles of the spectator and the actors/dancers. The narrator/actor starts with "establishing an awareness of the present place and time, which serves not only as a bridge between past and present, but also between individual and collective, particular and general". Together with her unique technique, this sociological and philosophical innovation sets dance as a clear expression of current ideas and places and Graham as a pillar of the modern dance revolution.


title: Martha Graham

text: 1938 became a big year for Graham; the Roosevelts invited Graham to dance at the White House, making her the first dancer to perform there. Also, in 1938, Erick Hawkins became the first man to dance with her company. He officially joined her troupe the following year, dancing male lead in a number of Graham's works. They were married in July 1948 after the New York premiere of "Night Journey". He left her troupe in 1951 and they divorced in 1954.


title: Martha Graham

text: On April 1, 1958, the Martha Graham Dance Company premiered the ballet "Clytemnestra", based on the ancient Greek legend Clytemnestra and it became a huge success and great accomplishment for Graham. With a score by Egyptian-born composer Halim El-Dabh, this ballet was a large scale work and the only full-length work in Graham's career. Graham choreographed and danced the title role, spending almost the entire duration of the performance on the stage. The ballet was based on the Greek mythology of the same title and tells the story of Queen Clytemnestra who is married to King Agamemnon. Agamemnon sacrifices their daughter, Iphigenia, on a pyre, as an offering to the gods to assure fair winds to Troy, where the Trojan War rages. Upon Agamemnon's return after 10 years, Clytemnestra kills Agamemnon to avenge the murder of Iphigenia. Clytemnestra is then murdered by her son, Orestes, and the audience experiences Clytemnestra in the afterworld. This ballet was deemed a masterpiece of 20th-century American modernism and was so successful it had a limited engagement showing at the 54th Street Theatre on Broadway, conducted by Robert Irving, voice parts sung by Rosalia Maresca and Ronald Holgate.


title: Martha Graham

text: Graham collaborated with many composers including Aaron Copland on "Appalachian Spring", Louis Horst, Samuel Barber, William Schuman, Carlos Surinach, Norman Dello Joio, and Gian Carlo Menotti. Graham's mother died in Santa Barbara in 1958. Her oldest friend and musical collaborator Louis Horst died in 1964. She said of Horst: "His sympathy and understanding, but primarily his faith, gave me a landscape to move in. Without it, I should certainly have been lost."


title: Martha Graham

text: Graham resisted requests for her dances to be recorded because she believed that live performances should only exist on stage as they are experienced. There were a few notable exceptions. For example, in addition to her collaboration with Sunami in the 1920s, she also worked on a limited basis with still photographers Imogen Cunningham in the 1930s, and Barbara Morgan in the 1940s. Graham considered Philippe Halsman's photographs of "Dark Meadow" the most complete photographic record of any of her dances. Halsman also photographed in the 1940s "Letter to the World", "Cave of the Heart", "Night Journey" and "Every Soul is a Circus". In later years her thinking on the matter evolved and others convinced her to let them recreate some of what was lost. In 1952 Graham allowed taping of her meeting and cultural exchange with famed deafblind author, activist and lecturer Helen Keller, who, after a visit to one of Graham's company rehearsals became a close friend and supporter. Graham was inspired by Keller's joy from and interpretation of dance, utilizing her body to feel the vibration of drums and of feet and movement moving the air around her.


title: Martha Graham

text: In her biography "Martha", Agnes de Mille cites Graham's last performance as having occurred on the evening of May 25, 1968, in "Time of Snow". But in "A Dancer's Life", biographer Russell Freedman lists the year of Graham's final performance as 1969. In her 1991 autobiography, "Blood Memory", Graham herself lists her final performance as her 1970 appearance in "Cortege of Eagles" when she was 76 years old. Graham's choreographies span 181 compositions.


title: Martha Graham

text: In the years that followed her departure from the stage, Graham sank into a deep depression fueled by views from the wings of young dancers performing many of the dances she had choreographed for herself and her former husband. Graham's health declined precipitously as she abused alcohol to numb her pain. In "Blood Memory" she wrote,


title: Martha Graham

text: It wasn't until years after I had relinquished a ballet that I could bear to watch someone else dance it. I believe in never looking back, never indulging in nostalgia, or reminiscing. Yet how can you avoid it when you look on stage and see a dancer made up to look as you did thirty years ago, dancing a ballet you created with someone you were then deeply in love with, your husband? I think that is a circle of hell Dante omitted.


title: Martha Graham

text: [When I stopped dancing] I had lost my will to live. I stayed home alone, ate very little, and drank too much and brooded. My face was ruined, and people say I looked odd, which I agreed with. Finally my system just gave in. I was in the hospital for a long time, much of it in a coma.


title: Martha Graham

text: Graham not only survived her hospital stay, but she rallied. In 1972, she quit drinking, returned to her studio, reorganized her company, and went on to choreograph ten new ballets and many revivals. Her last completed ballet was 1990's "Maple Leaf Rag".


title: Martha Graham

text: Graham choreographed until her death in New York City from pneumonia in 1991, aged 96. Just before she became sick with pneumonia, she finished the final draft of her autobiography, "Blood Memory", which was published posthumously in the fall of 1991. She was cremated, and her ashes were spread over the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico.


title: Martha Graham

text: Graham has been sometimes termed the "Picasso of Dance" in that her importance and influence to modern dance can be considered equivalent to what Pablo Picasso was to modern visual arts. Her impact has been also compared to the influence of Stravinsky on music and Frank Lloyd Wright on architecture.


title: Martha Graham

text: In 2013, the dance films by her were selected for preservation in the National Film Registry by the registry's owner, The Library of Congress.


title: Martha Graham

text: To celebrate what would have been her 117th birthday on May 11, 2011, Google's logo for one day was turned into one dedicated to Graham's life and legacy.


title: Martha Graham

text: Graham has been said to be the one that brought dance into the 20th century. Due to the work of her assistants, Linda Hodes, Pearl Lang, Diane Gray, Yuriko, and others, much of Graham's work and technique have been preserved. They taped interviews of Graham describing her entire technique and videos of her performances. As Glen Tetley told Agnes de Mille, "The wonderful thing about Martha in her good days was her generosity. So many people stole Martha's unique personal vocabulary, consciously or unconsciously, and performed it in concerts. I have never once heard Martha say, 'So-and-so has used my choreography.'" An entire movement was created by her that revolutionized the dance world and created what is known today as modern dance. Now, dancers all over the world study and perform modern dance. Choreographers and professional dancers look to her for inspiration.


title: Martha Graham

text: The greatest thing [Graham] ever said to me was in 1943 after the opening of "Oklahoma!", when I suddenly had unexpected, flamboyant success for a work I thought was only fairly good, after years of neglect for work I thought was fine. I was bewildered and worried that my entire scale of values was untrustworthy. I talked to Martha. I remember the conversation well. It was in a Schrafft's restaurant over a soda. I confessed that I had a burning desire to be excellent, but no faith that I could be. Martha said to me, very quietly: "There is a vitality, a life force, an energy, a quickening that is translated through you into action, and because there is only one of you in all of time, this expression is unique. And if you block it, it will never exist through any other medium and it will be lost. The world will not have it. It is not your business to determine how good it is nor how valuable nor how it compares with other expressions. It is your business to keep it yours clearly and directly, to keep the channel open. You do not even have to believe in yourself or your work. You have to keep yourself open and aware to the urges that motivate you. Keep the channel open ... No artist is pleased. [There is] no satisfaction whatever at any time. There is only a queer divine dissatisfaction, a blessed unrest that keeps us marching and makes us more alive than the others."


title: Martha Graham

text: The Martha Graham Dance Company is the oldest dance company in America, founded in 1926. It has helped develop many famous dancers and choreographers of the 20th and 21st centuries including Erick Hawkins, Anna Sokolow, Merce Cunningham, Lila York, and Paul Taylor. It continues to perform, including at the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in June 2008. The company also performed in 2007 at the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, with a program consisting of: "Appalachian Spring", "Embattled Garden", "Errand into the Maze", and "American Original".


title: Martha Graham

text: Graham's original female dancers consisted of Bessie Schonberg, Evelyn Sabin, Martha Hill, Gertrude Shurr, Anna Sokolow, Nelle Fisher, Dorothy Bird, Bonnie Bird, Sophie Maslow, May O'Donnell, Jane Dudley, Anita Alvarez, Pearl Lang, and Marjorie G. Mazia. A second group included Yuriko, Ethel Butler, Ethel Winter, Jean Erdman, Patricia Birch, Nina Fonaroff, Matt Turney, Mary Hinkson. The group of men dancers was made up of Erick Hawkins, Merce Cunningham, David Campbell, John Butler, Robert Cohan, Stuart Hodes, Glen Tetley, Bertram Ross, Paul Taylor, Donald McKayle, Mark Ryder, and William Carter.


title: Martha Graham

text: In 1957, Graham was elected a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1976 by President Gerald Ford (the First Lady Betty Ford had danced with Graham in her youth). Ford declared her "a national treasure".


title: Martha Graham

text: Graham was the first recipient of the American Dance Festival's award for her lifetime achievement in 1981.


title: Martha Graham

text: In 1984 Graham was awarded the highest French order of merit, the Legion of Honour by then Minister of culture Jack Lang.


title: Martha Graham

text: Graham was inducted into the National Museum of Dance's Mr. & Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame in 1987.


title: Martha Graham

text: In 1990 the Council of Fashion Designers of America awarded Graham with the Geoffrey Beene Lifetime Achievement Award.


title: Martha Graham

text: In 1998 Graham was posthumously named "Dancer of the Century" by "Time" magazine, and one of the female "Icons of the Century" by "People".


title: Martha Graham

text: On May 11, 2020, on what would have been Graham's 126th birthday, the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts announced it had acquired Graham's archives for its Jerome Robbins Dance Division. The archive consists mainly of paper-based material, photographs and films, including rare footage of Graham dancing in works such as "Appalachian Spring" and "Hérodiade"; her script for "Night Journey"; and her handwritten notes for "American Document".


title: Martha Graham

text: This excerpt from John Martin's reviews in "The New York Times" provides insight on Graham's choreographic style. "Frequently the vividness and intensity of her purpose are so potent that on the rise of the curtain they strike like a blow, and in that moment one must decide whether he is for or against her. She boils down her moods and movements until they are devoid of all extraneous substances and are concentrated to the highest degree." Graham created 181 ballets.


title: Cheri Beasley

text: Cheri Lynn Beasley (born February 14, 1966) is an American attorney and jurist who served as the chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court from 2019 to 2020; she was appointed an associate justice in 2012. Beasley had previously served on the North Carolina Court of Appeals and as a district court judge in Cumberland County, North Carolina.


title: Cheri Beasley

text: Beasley was the Democratic nominee in the 2022 United States Senate election in North Carolina. She lost to Republican nominee Ted Budd.


title: Cheri Beasley

text: Beasley earned a Bachelor of Arts in political science and economics at Douglass College of Rutgers University–New Brunswick in 1988 and a Juris Doctor from the University of Tennessee College of Law in 1991. She also earned a Master of Laws from Duke University School of Law in 2018.


title: Cheri Beasley

text: Beasley spent her first years after law school as an assistant public defender in Cumberland County, North Carolina. She was first appointed to the bench as a state district court judge by Governor Jim Hunt in 1999, and then elected in a 2002 election. She was reelected without opposition in 2006. She served as a Judge in District 12 (Cumberland County) until her election to the Court of Appeals.


title: Cheri Beasley

text: In 2008, Beasley was elected to the North Carolina Court of Appeals, defeating incumbent Douglas McCullough by a 15-point margin. In that election, she became the first Black woman to win election to statewide office in North Carolina without first being appointed by a governor. In December 2012, after four years on the Court of Appeals, Beasley was appointed to the North Carolina Supreme Court by Governor Beverly Perdue, filling the vacancy created by Justice Patricia Timmons-Goodson's retirement. She was elected to a full eight-year term in 2014.


title: Cheri Beasley

text: On February 12, 2019, Governor Roy Cooper appointed Beasley to the position of chief justice after Mark Martin retired, making her the first African-American woman to serve as chief justice of the North Carolina Supreme Court.


title: Cheri Beasley

text: Beasley ran for a full term as chief justice in the 2020 election, losing by 401 votes to Associate Justice Paul Martin Newby. After leaving office, she joined McGuireWoods as a partner in the law firm's Raleigh office.


title: Cheri Beasley

text: In February 2021, various media outlets reported that Beasley was considering running in the 2022 U.S. Senate election in North Carolina. "The News & Observer" reported in March 2021 that Beasley had decided to enter the race for the Senate seat being vacated by retiring Senator Richard Burr. She launched her campaign on April 27, 2021. On May 17, she won the Democratic primary election. In November 2022, she narrowly lost the general election to Republican nominee Ted Budd.


title: Cheri Beasley

text: Beasley is married to Curtis Owens, a scientist. They have twin sons. In 2014, Beasley was the featured speaker at Saint Augustine's University's Lyceum Leadership Speaker Series. She was the commencement speaker to the 2018 class of University of Tennessee College of Law. Beasley was also the keynote speaker at Samford University’s Cumberland School of Law Black Law Students Association's 24th Annual Thurgood Marshall Symposium. In 2019, she was the undergraduate commencement speaker for nearly 900 graduates at Fayettesville State University and the commencement speaker for Elon University's School of Law.


title: Ruthenian language

text: Ruthenian (Belarusian: руская мова; Ukrainian: руська мова; Ruthenian: руска(ѧ) мова; also see other names) is an exonymic linguonym for a closely-related group of East Slavic linguistic varieties, particularly those spoken from the 15th to 18th centuries in the Grand Duchy of Lithuania and in East Slavic regions of the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth. Regional distribution of those varieties, both in their literary and vernacular forms, corresponded approximately to the territories of the modern states of Belarus and Ukraine. By the end of the 18th century, they gradually diverged into regional variants, which subsequently developed into the modern Belarusian, Ukrainian, and Rusyn languages.


title: Ruthenian language

text: In the Austrian and Austro-Hungarian Empires, the same term (, ) was employed continuously (up to 1918) as an official exonym for the entire East Slavic linguistic body within the borders of the Monarchy.


title: Ruthenian language

text: Several linguistic issues are debated among linguists: various questions related to classification of literary and vernacular varieties of this language; issues related to meanings and proper uses of various endonymic (native) and exonymic (foreign) linguonyms (names of languages and linguistic varieties); questions on its relation to modern East Slavic languages, and its relation to Old East Slavic (the colloquial language used in Kievan Rus' in the 10th through 13th centuries).


title: Ruthenian language

text: Since the term "Ruthenian language" was exonymic (foreign, both in origin and nature), its use was very complex, both in historical and modern scholarly terminology.


title: Ruthenian language

text: Contemporary names, that were used for this language from the 15th to 18th centuries, can be divided into two basic linguistic categories, the first being endonyms (native names, used by native speakers as self-designations for their language), and the second exonyms (names in foreign languages).


title: Ruthenian language

text: Modern names of this language and its varieties, that are used by scholars (mainly linguists), can also be divided in two basic categories, the first including those that are derived from endonymic (native) names, and the second encompassing those that are derived from exonymic (foreign) names.


title: Ruthenian language

text: Terminological dichotomy, embodied in parallel uses of various endoymic and exonymic terms, resulted in a vast variety of ambiguous, overlapping or even contrary meanings, that were applied to particular terms by different scholars. That complex situation is addressed by most English and other western scholars by preferring the exonymic "Ruthenian" designations.


title: Ruthenian language

text: George Shevelov gives a chronology for Ukrainian based on the character of contemporary written sources, ultimately reflecting socio-historical developments: Proto-Ukrainian, up to the mid-11th century, Old Ukrainian, to the 14th c., Early Middle Ukrainian, to the mid-16th c., Middle Ukrainian, to the early 18th c., Late Middle Ukrainian, rest of the 18th c., and Modern Ukrainian.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: Ranveer Singh Brar (born 8 February 1978) is a Lucknow-born and bred Indian celebrity chef, Masterchef India judge, author and restaurateur. He is well known as the host of popular Television food shows and as a judge in two seasons (four & six) of "MasterChef India", alongside fellow chefs Sanjeev Kapoor (Season 4), Vikas Khanna (both seasons) & Vineet Bhatia (Season 6) .


title: Ranveer Brar

text: Born in Lucknow, India, into a Jatt Sikh family to Ishwar Singh and Surinder Kaur, Brar was inspired by the local Kebab vendors in Lucknow at a young age which led him to pursue his love for food. He did his schooling from HAL school Lucknow.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: Though his family initially resisted, they finally gave in, leading Brar to join Institute of Hotel Management, Lucknow, for a more formal initiation into the culinary world.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: After completing his education at IHM, Brar began his career at the Taj Mahal Hotel. In 2001, at Fort Aguada Beach Resort in Goa, he opened "Morisco" a seafood restaurant, "il Camino" an Italian restaurant and "Fishtail" a small open air barbeque eatery. Back in Delhi in 2003, he was part of the newly opened Radisson Blu Hotel, Noida. He also became the youngest executive chef of his time in the country at the age of 25.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: He then left for Boston, Massachusetts, where he opened "Banq", a fine Franco-Asian restaurant. Banq won numerous awards including the Best New Restaurant in the World by the magazine "Wallpaper". The restaurant is now permanently closed.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: Following this, he was appointed Corporate Chef for the One World Hospitality Group, one of the oldest restaurant groups in Boston. Back in India, he joined Novotel, Juhu Beach, Mumbai, as the Senior Executive Chef.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: Brar designed a menu for the MTV India chain of restaurants, launched by Viacom 18 consumer products wing. FLYP @ MTV, the first restaurant opened in Delhi in mid-December 2015, with the next launch in Chandigarh, and the third instalment in Mumbai fall of 2017.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: He created and launched an 'artisan' line of meal kits in association with Haute Chef in December 2015.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: He also launched a premium patisserie called "English Vinglish" in Mumbai in spring 2016 featuring fusion Indian desserts, breads and bakes.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: He opened an all-vegetarian fine-dining restaurant in Mumbai in Dec 2016 called TAG Gourmart Kitchen by Ranveer Brar, as well as the restaurant Mayura (now closed) in the Greater Toronto Area, Canada in 2017.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: Brar was responsible for the F&B conceptualization for the restaurants at the heritage property Alila at Bishangarh by Alila Hotels and Resorts


title: Ranveer Brar

text: He was brought on board Royal Caribbean International for curating gourmet Indian food on two of their cruise liners on their Singapore sailings. He also associated with Thomas Cook India for curating the menu for niche Indian travelers traveling abroad.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: Brar toured different cities in India alongside Mercedes-Benz India via the "Ranveer Brar Culinary Academy", hosting cooking workshops and demos pan India, as part of the former's Luxe Drive Live campaign.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: He has hosted various cookery shows on Zee Zest (formerly known as Zee Khana Khazana Channel and "Living Foodz"):


title: Ranveer Brar

text: Brar has hosted Seasons 1, 2 and 3 of "Thank God Its Fryday" in association with Philips India on Zoom (TV channel), where he visited iconic eateries across India and recreated his own versions of their famous dishes in the Philips Airfryer


title: Ranveer Brar

text: He was a judge on "MasterChef India" along with chefs Sanjeev Kapoor and Vikas Khanna for Season 4 and Season 6 with chefs Vineet Bhatia and Vikas Khanna


title: Ranveer Brar

text: In the summer of 2018, he curated and presented "Secrets Behind Food" for Sony BBC Earth comprising three shows: Supermarket Secrets, Food Factory Supersized and Food Detectives.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: Hosted 2 seasons of a back to roots and explorative food show for Epic TV titled "Raja Rasoi Aur Andaaz Anokha" which saw him recreating food history and traditional recipes from across Indian regions set in an idyllic bungalow complete with traditional cooking implements


title: Ranveer Brar

text: Featured as a Judge in a cooking based reality show on Colors TV (Viacom 18) called "Rasoi ki Jung Mummyon ke Sung" in November 2017.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: Launched a new mini-video series on Twitter titled "Ranveer On The Road", in July 2016, covering his culinary sojourn through Australia, Seychelles, Turkey and Thailand.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: Hosted a similar digital series presenting festival special recipes from homemakers across different cuisines for TLC (TV network) India YouTube channel


title: Ranveer Brar

text: Co-hosted Seasons 2 & 3 of "You Got Chef'd" by Gobble in association with Dewar's along with John Dewar's sons India brand ambassador Greg Benson. The show brings together celebs from the digital & reel world in a fun format, wherein they are challenged by Brar and Greg to complete 'tasks' to earn points and get "Chefd"


title: Ranveer Brar

text: Ranveer Brar co-starred alongside Pratik Gandhi in one of the 6 stories, directed by Hansal Mehta. The episode centers around a gay couple finding their footing in a society that is not so welcoming of their relationship


title: Ranveer Brar

text: Launched his first book titled "Come Into My Kitchen" in summer 2016, an auto biography covering his journey from the streets of Lucknow, through Boston to Mumbai and his culinary adventures and memories in route.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: This was followed by a second book titled "A Traditional Twist" in association with Bertolli India, showcasing a myriad of recipes, both Indian and Global


title: Ranveer Brar

text: Launched his own mobile app at the beginning of 2019, in collaboration with Hungama Digital Media which is a near exhaustive repository of all his recipes, presented in Text and visual formats.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: Brar is an Honorary member at the James Beard Foundation and recognised by the same for his culinary contribution.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: He has received recognition for his contribution to various cuisines by several institutions such as AIWF, AICA, as also the Mayor of Boston. In addition he has also represented India at the WPF.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: He has handled banquets at the Rashtrapati Bhawan and at the Prime Minister's residence, plus cooked for several Hollywood and Bollywood celebrities, both in the US and India.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: Ranveer Brar has been associated with several brands in the capacity of culinary consultant and brand ambassador. Brands he has been associated with are - Mercedes-Benz India (past), Bertolli Olive oil (past), SunGold Kiwifruit in India marketed by Zespri International (past), Gadre Marine Export Pvt Ltd (past), Philips India Kitchen Appliances (current), Parag Milk Foods (current), Victorinox (Current), among others.


title: Ranveer Brar

text: In 2021, Brarwas awarded for "Outstanding Contribution to the Food and Beverage Industry" 2021 by Food Connoisseurs India Convention


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: Ashes to Ashes is a British fantasy crime drama and police procedural drama television series, serving as the sequel to "Life on Mars".


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: The series began airing on BBC One in February 2008. A second series began broadcasting in April 2009. A third and final series was broadcast from 2 April to 21 May 2010 on BBC One and BBC HD.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: The series tells the story of Alex Drake (Keeley Hawes), a police officer in service with the London Metropolitan Police, who is shot in 2008 by a man called Arthur Layton and inexplicably regains consciousness in 1981.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: The first episode of the series reveals that, in the present day, Drake has been studying records of the events seen in the series "Life on Mars" through reports made by Sam Tyler (John Simm) after he regained consciousness in the present. Upon waking in the past she is surprised to meet the returning characters of Gene Hunt (Philip Glenister), Ray Carling (Dean Andrews) and Chris Skelton (Marshall Lancaster), all of whom she has learnt about from her research, the trio having transferred from the Manchester setting of "Life on Mars" (Manchester and Salford Police) to London.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: Tension between Drake and Hunt is built through the unsatisfactory explanation of Sam Tyler's absence and the perceived underhandedness and shoddy work of Hunt in contrast to the methodical, ethical and modern Drake. Continuing the theme of "Life on Mars", throughout the series, it is ambiguous to both Drake and the audience whether the character is dead or alive in the present day and to what extent her actions influence future events.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: The final episode reveals that the "Life on Mars"/"Ashes to Ashes" world is a form of limbo or purgatory, for "restless dead" police officers. These restless dead include Drake, Sam Tyler and the main characters Gene, Ray, Chris, and Shaz (Montserrat Lombard), all of whom died in violent circumstances.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: The revelation of their deaths comes as a surprise to all except Gene, who knew they were all dead but who had forgotten the circumstances of his own death, due to the passage of time. All except Hunt "move on" as he is a psychopomp (a spirit guide), an Archangel Michael-like figure, to all of his officers, helping them on their way to The Railway Arms pub (standing for heaven).


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: During the final series, the character of DCI Jim Keats was introduced, originally appearing to be assessing the capabilities of Gene's division. However, in reality, Keats was the devil who was attempting to bring down Gene and his world, dragging Hunt's colleagues down to 'his department' (hell). When he is finally defeated, Keats slinks into the night, laughing insanely and singing to Gene "We'll meet again, don't know where, don't know when."


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: Finally Gene returns to his office, where a newly dead officer arrives, demanding his iPhone (implying that he is from the present) and asking where his office has gone, in a very similar manner to the arrival of Sam Tyler in the first episode of "Life on Mars". In fact, Gene's last words — "A word in your shell-like, pal" — are the same as his first words to Sam Tyler in the first episode of "Life on Mars".


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: Throughout the first series, "Ashes to Ashes" was broadcast weekly on Thursdays on BBC One at 9:00 pm, with the episodes directed by Jonny Campbell, Bille Eltringham and Catherine Morshead.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: Filming for the second series began in 2008, and began airing on 20 April 2009 in the same timeslot. The second series takes place six months after the first, set in 1982 during the Falklands War.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: A third, and final, series was commissioned, and filming of the eight 60-minute episodes began in late 2009, premiering on 2 April 2010. This final series was shot in Super 16 again but telecined and mastered for high definition. In an interview with "SFX", series co-creator and executive producer Matthew Graham stated that he was considering making a 3D episode. Once again, the series moved on a year, this time to 1983. Philip Glenister, speaking on the BBC One "Breakfast" TV programme on 8 June 2009, announced that the third series would be the last. Producers revealed the climax of the show would reveal who the character of Gene Hunt really is. The third series concluded on 21 May 2010.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: The Audi Quattro was not available in right-hand drive in the United Kingdom in 1981, only in left-hand drive. The car shown in the TV series is the 1983 model, with slight changes to the headlights and other features.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: The programme premiered in America on 7 March 2009, available on both cable and satellite. The second series began broadcasting on BBC America on 11 May 2010 at 10:00 pm ET.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: In Australia, Series 1 of "Ashes to Ashes" commenced on 10 August 2009 on ABC1, with the second series shown directly after. The third series commenced on 13 January 2011 on ABC1.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: In Denmark, series 1 was shown for the first time on DR2 at 19.05 each weekday evening from 25 November 2011 under the title "En hård nyser: Kommissær Hunt" and is currently (May 2012) being repeated on the same channel.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: In Portugal, the show is broadcast by Fox Life, while in Latin America, the series is shown on HBO Plus.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: The first series, set in 1981, consists of eight episodes, written mainly by creators Ashley Pharoah (episodes 2 & 8) and Matthew Graham (episodes 1 & 7). Other writers for the series were Julie Rutterford (episode three) and Mark Greig (episodes 4 & 5), who worked on the parent series, "Life on Mars". The remaining episode (6) was written by freelance writer Mick Ford. In this series Alex tries to figure out what happened to her parents, whose lives are connected to the political unrest of the time, especially Margaret Thatcher's campaign and Lord Scarman's attacks on the police. Alex is haunted by a mysterious figure who seems to be the Clown from the music video of David Bowie's "Ashes to Ashes", reminiscent of the Test-Card Girl who bedevilled Sam Tyler in "Life on Mars". (The clown's identity is revealed in the last episode of the first series.)


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: The second series of eight episodes is set in 1982, against the political background of the Falklands War. The first episode, written by Ashley Pharoah, deals with the cover-up of the killing of a police officer in a nightclub. As the series progresses, Alex's comatose body is found in present-day 2008. Gene finds himself confronting a corrupted force and Alex begins receiving a string of phone calls from a man called Martin Summers, another patient at the hospital to which she has been moved, and a key figure in the web of corruption Hunt is trying to bring down. Summers proves to be a formidable adversary, whose actions eventually lead to a murder and an extremely tense confrontation between Alex and Gene. The series ends with Alex awakening in what seems to be the present, but she is horrified to find Gene's face on monitors, pleading for help.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: In the third and final series, set yet another year forward in 1983, DCI Gene Hunt, DI Alex Drake and the rest of the team all return, joined by a new addition, DCI Jim Keats, a discipline and complaints officer. Alex returns to the 1980s after being brought round by Gene, and she comes to believe the 2008 she woke up in was only a dream. Her connection to the present seems weaker than before, while Hunt is trying to stop his department crumbling from within due to Keats' presence. Although Jim is ostensibly friendly with Hunt's officers, he makes no effort to conceal his hatred of Gene when the two are alone, and attempts to turn Alex against him. Prompted by the haunting of a dead policeman and visions of stars, Alex becomes suspicious of the role Gene played in Sam Tyler's death following his return to the past, and, urged on by Jim, she eventually discovers the truth of Gene Hunt, her colleagues and the world she has been transported to.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: In addition, the main cast appeared in short sketches for Children in Need 2008 (with Richard Hammond as himself) and Sport Relief 2010 (with Dickie Davies, Daley Thompson, Duncan Goodhew, Steve Cram, David Gower, Michael Parkinson, Sam Torrance, Tony Hadley, Paul Daniels and Debbie McGee as 1983 versions of themselves).


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: The soundtrack features contemporary songs by British groups of the period such as punk period survivors The Clash and The Stranglers, New Romantics such as Duran Duran and Ultravox, synthpop such as Jon & Vangelis, OMD, later period Roxy Music and The Passions' sole hit single, "I'm in Love with a German Film Star", from 1981. A scene in the second episode, "The Happy Day", set at The Blitz features Steve Strange playing himself performing "Fade to Grey" by Visage. The last episode in Series 1 ends with "Take the Long Way Home" from Supertramp's "Breakfast in America" 1979 album. Episode 2 also contains the classic Madness song "The Prince". The final episode of Series 3 plays out to David Bowie's "Heroes". Philip Glenister said that one of the reasons the series moved on to 1982 was due to running out of good songs and feared that they'd end up having to use Bucks Fizz's "The Land of Make Believe" (a brief snippet of the song is indeed used in the second series, as well as the same group's "Making Your Mind Up" being used in series one).


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: A CD soundtrack, "Ashes to Ashes (Original Soundtrack)", from the first series of the show was released on 17 March 2008. A CD soundtrack, "Ashes to Ashes – Series 2 (Original Soundtrack)", from the second series of the show was released on 20 April 2009. A CD soundtrack, "Ashes to Ashes – Series 3 (Original Soundtrack)", from the third series of the show was released on 12 April 2010.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: During the second and third series, 1980s background music (some of which had been used during the show) was available to UK digital TV viewers by using the red button immediately after the show. Clips from "Top of the Pops", "The Old Grey Whistle Test" and other 1980s BBC TV music programmes, introduced by Philip Glenister in his guise as DCI Gene Hunt, were looped for the remainder of the evening of transmission.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: Based on overnight returns, "The Guardian" reported that audience figures for the 7 February 2008 broadcast of the first episode—in a 9 pm slot on the flagship channel, BBC One—were 7 million: about 29% of viewers. The figure was "in line with the final episode of "Life on Mars" in April last year, though well up on the earlier show's second series debut of 5.7 million two months earlier", but "The Guardian" noted "the heavy publicity blitz this week for "Ashes to Ashes"" as a factor in its success.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: Critical reception to the first episode of the series was mixed, with positive reviews from "The Daily Telegraph", "The Herald", "The Spectator", and the "New Statesman", and negative reviews from "The Times", "The Sunday Times," "Newsnight Review", "The Guardian", and "The Observer", which criticised the episode's direction, structure, and tone (although it did praise the costumes and art direction). The national free sheet, "Metro", gave the episode four stars as "a vote of faith" on what it described as "a dodgy start".


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: "The Guardian" reported on 15 February 2008 that, with 6.1 million viewers and a 25% audience share, the ratings for the second episode, shown on 14 February, were down by almost one million on the first, comparing overnight returns. It still did well against the Lynda La Plante police procedural "Trial & Retribution", which fell to a series low on ITV. The fifth episode, broadcast 6 March 2008, attracted 6.6 million viewers according to overnight returns. With this episode, "The Daily Telegraph" stated that ""Ashes to Ashes" stepped out of the shadow of "Life on Mars"."


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: Addressing press complaints about the quality of Keeley Hawes' performance, Philip Glenister defended his co-star, stating, "It's a hellishly difficult thing to come into and I've seen how hard she works and how brilliant she is. To all those detractors, they're just plain wrong."


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: Entertainment news website Digital Spy praised the show's return, with cult editor Ben Rawson-Jones describing the opening episode of the second series as "greatly promising". It was watched by 7.01 million viewers.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: The second series was nominated for The TV Dagger at the 2009 Crime Thriller Awards. Keeley Hawes and Philip Glenister received nominations in the Best Actress and Best Actor categories respectively.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: The finale of "Ashes To Ashes", which finished in 2010, has been described by Dean Andrews as "genius". He explained on GMTV: "Everything is tied up. You get all of the answers from "Life on Mars" and "Ashes To Ashes"."


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: When interviewed by "SFX Magazine" in May 2010, Matthew Graham spoke of teasing the BBC with a third set of series called "The Laughing Gnome" (the title suggests a prequel set in the 1960s), and claimed that they made "the whole title page and copyrighted it and everything". He said the BBC responded well to the joke, replying "Yeah, it's commissioned!".


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: In 2010, the Labour Party used an edited image of Gene Hunt on the Quattro with David Cameron's face as part of its general election campaign, with the words "Don't let him take Britain back to the 1980s". The slogan links the Conservative leader with memories of social unrest and youth unemployment. In response to this, the Conservatives posted a slightly modified version of the image with the words "Fire up the Quattro. It's time for Change. Vote for Change. Vote Conservative." Subsequently, Kudos Productions—which owns the copyright to the Gene Hunt character—wrote to both parties requiring them to cease using the image.


title: Ashes to Ashes (British TV series)

text: Philip Glenister was introduced to David Cameron, future UK Prime Minister, at the 2009 Police Bravery Awards. Glenister explained that Gene Hunt was popular with real police officers because he spent his time catching criminals rather than doing paperwork. He later quipped 'Six months later, he's (Cameron) on Radio 5 Live saying exactly what I've just said. Bastard nicked my line!"


title: Mom and Dad (2017 film)

text: Mom and Dad is a 2017 comedy horror film written and directed by Brian Taylor. Starring Nicolas Cage and Selma Blair, the film premiered in the Midnight Madness section at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival, and was theatrically released on January 19, 2018 by Momentum Pictures. A joint British and American production, the film underperformed at the box office but received generally positive reviews from critics.


title: Mom and Dad (2017 film)

text: The film begins with a mother putting on music for her child as she sets her car on railroad tracks and leaves the child in the car to die. This is foreshadowing the mysterious plague that affects all parents in a suburban town.


title: Mom and Dad (2017 film)

text: The Ryans are a family of four with a strained relationship. Brent, the father, does not approve of his daughter Carly's new boyfriend Damon. He is also going through a slight mid-life crisis that has him working on his sportscar in the garage and refinishing the basement with a pool table. Carly considers her mother Kendall out of touch, fights with her younger brother Josh (who often teases her and causes trouble), and is currently upset about canceling plans with her boyfriend because her grandparents are visiting. Kendall is trying to find hobbies that occupy her time such as taking fitness classes. She's also anticipating the delivery of her sister's new baby.


title: Mom and Dad (2017 film)

text: While Carly is at school, radios and TV screens suddenly start transmitting unexplained static. The effect is seen as the Ryans' housekeeper murders her own daughter in front of a terrified Josh. Meanwhile, a mob of parents rushes to Carly's school to kill their children. However before they can, Carly sees one classmate being stabbed by his mother with her car keys after he scales a fence to reach her. Carly escapes with her friend Riley, whose mother strangles her when the two girls reach Riley's house. Carly runs home in terror and finds Damon, whose father earlier tried to kill him with a broken bottle but accidentally cut his own throat. Telling Carly that the parents only want to kill their own kids, Damon accompanies Carly into the house to get Josh somewhere safe.


title: Mom and Dad (2017 film)

text: Kendall goes to the hospital where her sister Jeannie is giving birth, but the static transmits just afterward, causing her to attempt to kill her newborn daughter as Kendall tries to save her. Kendall escapes the hospital after seeing television reports of the mass hysteria: the static compels parents to slaughter and harm their children. Kendall heads home to protect her own children.


title: Mom and Dad (2017 film)

text: Seeing Carly at home with Damon, the hysteria overtakes Brent and he knocks Damon out and attacks Carly. Kendall, having been exposed to the static, joins him when she gets home. Carly and Josh lock themselves in the basement and Brent and Kendall use a Sawzall to get through the door. Josh pulls out Brent's gun and fires through the door, wounding his mother. Kendall and Brent, bonding over their shared filicidal desire, run a hose from their oven's gas pump to the basement to poison the kids. When Carly sees the gas, she rigs up a trap with matches at the door and hides with Josh in the ventilation system. Brent cuts the lock off and opens the door, igniting the gas and triggering an explosion that knocks both parents out and awakens Damon.


title: Mom and Dad (2017 film)

text: Damon helps Carly and Josh evade their parents, but Kendall awakens, stabs him in the cheek, and knocks him out again. As the parents close in on their kids, the doorbell rings. When Brent opens the door, his mother pepper-sprays him and his father stabs him; the hysteria affects them as well. Everyone chases one another through the house: Josh evades Brent, who attempts to hide from his father in the garage; Kendall chases Carly and hits her on the head before her mother-in-law knocks her out.


title: Mom and Dad (2017 film)

text: Brent starts the car and crashes it, killing both his parents and knocking himself out. Kendall prepares to finish Carly off, but Damon knocks her out with a shovel.


title: Mom and Dad (2017 film)

text: Kendall and Brent wake up to find themselves restrained in the basement with Carly, Josh, and Damon watching them. They continue to exhibit symptoms of the hysteria, and the kids refuse to let them go. Kendall tearfully tells the children she loves them, and Brent continues: "But sometimes we just want to—" The film ends before he can finish his sentence.


title: Mom and Dad (2017 film)

text: On February 12, 2016, Nicolas Cage was set to star in the film and June 22, 2016 saw Selma Blair sign on. Principal photography began in July 2016, and took place in Louisville, Kentucky.


title: Mom and Dad (2017 film)

text: The film premiered at the 2017 Toronto International Film Festival on September 9, 2017, and was theatrically released by Momentum Pictures on January 19, 2018.


title: Mom and Dad (2017 film)

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an approval rating of 75% based on 135 reviews, with an average rating of 6.1/10. The website's critical consensus reads, ""Mom and Dad"s gonzo premise serves as an effective springboard for a wickedly dark, bloody comedy—and an appropriately over-the-top performance from Nicolas Cage". On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 59 out of 100, based on 30 critics, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Mom and Dad (2017 film)

text: Adam White of "The Daily Telegraph" gave the 4/5 stars, saying that it was "Both a torrid exploitation cinema throwback, and a metaphor for a generation of kids screwed over by their elders." Tara Brady of "The Irish Times" also gave it 4/5 stars, writing: "Think back on the most unhinged screen moments of Nicolas Cage's career... Multiply all these scenes together and you still can't match the awesome lunacy of Nic Cage killing a pool table in the delightfully delirious "Mom and Dad"." Simran Hans of "The Observer" gave it 3/5 stars, writing: "Almost ugly ultra-HD, a dated dubstep soundtrack and ketchup-splatter special effects might make a lesser film less appealing, but here these lowbrow touches work to "Mom and Dad"'s advantage." Bruce DeMara of the "Toronto Star" gave it 3.5/4 stars, calling it "a madly satisfying mélange of suspense and comedy, though perhaps not recommended for family viewing." Charlotte O'Sullivan of the "Evening Standard" called it "a hilarious, knowing bit of schlock about a plague that turns parents into predators", and wrote: ""Mom and Dad" is like Andrey Zvyagintsev's "Loveless" but with more dead people and far fewer trees."


title: Mom and Dad (2017 film)

text: Barry Hertz of "The Globe and Mail" gave it 1.5/4 stars, writing: "Nicolas Cage does crazy like no one else, but his descent into insanity here - not too far from how his character acts at the beginning of the film, really - can't elevate Taylor's juvenile take on adulthood." Kevin Maher of "The Times" gave it 2/5 stars, saying that its social satire was "briefly compelling", but added: "The 'joke' soon wears thin, however, and the film, with few actual ideas to express, resorts to slapdash plotting and dead-end gore." Rex Reed of "The New York Observer" gave it 0/4 stars, writing: "With an agonizing rupture of craft and common sense, it showcases a performance of screaming, over-the-top hysteria by Nicolas Cage that must be seen to be fully believed, but that is not a recommendation."


title: Synthetic-aperture radar

text: Synthetic-aperture radar (SAR) is a form of radar that is used to create two-dimensional images or three-dimensional reconstructions of objects, such as landscapes. SAR uses the motion of the radar antenna over a target region to provide finer spatial resolution than conventional stationary beam-scanning radars. SAR is typically mounted on a moving platform, such as an aircraft or spacecraft, and has its origins in an advanced form of side looking airborne radar (SLAR). The distance the SAR device travels over a target during the period when the target scene is illuminated creates the large "synthetic" antenna aperture (the "size" of the antenna). Typically, the larger the aperture, the higher the image resolution will be, regardless of whether the aperture is physical (a large antenna) or synthetic (a moving antenna) – this allows SAR to create high-resolution images with comparatively small physical antennas. For a fixed antenna size and orientation, objects which are further away remain illuminated longer - therefore SAR has the property of creating larger synthetic apertures for more distant objects, which results in a consistent spatial resolution over a range of viewing distances.


title: Synthetic-aperture radar

text: To create a SAR image, successive pulses of radio waves are transmitted to "illuminate" a target scene, and the echo of each pulse is received and recorded. The pulses are transmitted and the echoes received using a single beam-forming antenna, with wavelengths of a meter down to several millimeters. As the SAR device on board the aircraft or spacecraft moves, the antenna location relative to the target changes with time. Signal processing of the successive recorded radar echoes allows the combining of the recordings from these multiple antenna positions. This process forms the "synthetic antenna aperture" and allows the creation of higher-resolution images than would otherwise be possible with a given physical antenna.


title: Synthetic-aperture radar

text: SAR is capable of high-resolution remote sensing, independent of flight altitude, and independent of weather, as SAR can select frequencies to avoid weather-caused signal attenuation. SAR has day and night imaging capability as illumination is provided by the SAR.


title: Synthetic-aperture radar

text: SAR images have wide applications in remote sensing and mapping of surfaces of the Earth and other planets. Applications of SAR are numerous. Examples include topography, oceanography, glaciology, geology (for example, terrain discrimination and subsurface imaging). SAR can also be used in forestry to determine forest height, biomass, and deforestation. Volcano and earthquake monitoring use differential interferometry. SAR can also be applied for monitoring civil infrastructure stability such as bridges. SAR is useful in environment monitoring such as oil spills, flooding, urban growth, military surveillance: including strategic policy and tactical assessment. SAR can be implemented as inverse SAR by observing a moving target over a substantial time with a stationary antenna.


title: Synthetic-aperture radar

text: A "synthetic-aperture radar" is an imaging radar mounted on an instant moving platform. Electromagnetic waves are transmitted sequentially, the echoes are collected and the system electronics digitizes and stores the data for subsequent processing. As transmission and reception occur at different times, they map to different small positions. The well ordered combination of the received signals builds a virtual aperture that is much longer than the physical antenna width. That is the source of the term "synthetic aperture," giving it the property of an imaging radar. The range direction is perpendicular to the flight track and perpendicular to the azimuth direction, which is also known as the "along-track" direction because it is in line with the position of the object within the antenna's field of view.


title: Synthetic-aperture radar

text: The 3D processing is done in two stages. The azimuth and range direction are focused for the generation of 2D (azimuth-range) high-resolution images, after which a digital elevation model (DEM) is used to measure the phase differences between complex images, which is determined from different look angles to recover the height information. This height information, along with the azimuth-range coordinates provided by 2-D SAR focusing, gives the third dimension, which is the elevation. The first step requires only standard processing algorithms, for the second step, additional pre-processing such as image co-registration and phase calibration is used.


title: Synthetic-aperture radar

text: In addition, multiple baselines can be used to extend 3D imaging to the "time dimension". 4D and multi-D SAR imaging allows imaging of complex scenarios, such as urban areas, and has improved performance with respect to classical interferometric techniques such as persistent scatterer interferometry (PSI).


title: Synthetic-aperture radar

text: A three-dimensional array (a volume) of scene elements is defined, which will represent the volume of space within which targets exist. Each element of the array is a cubical voxel representing the probability (a "density") of a reflective surface being at that location in space. (Note that two-dimensional SARs are also possible, showing only a top-down view of the target area.)


title: Synthetic-aperture radar

text: Initially, the SAR algorithm gives each voxel a density of zero; then, for each captured waveform, the entire volume is iterated. For a given waveform and voxel, the distance from the position represented by that voxel to the antenna(s) used to capture that waveform is calculated. That distance represents a time delay into the waveform. The sample value at that position in the waveform is then added to the voxel's density value. This represents a possible echo from a target at that position. Note there are several optional approaches here, depending on the precision of the waveform timing, among other things. For example, if phase cannot be accurately determined, only the envelope magnitude (with the help of a Hilbert transform) of the waveform sample might be added to the voxel. If waveform polarization and phase are known and are accurate enough, then these values might be added to a more complex voxel that holds such measurements separately.


title: Synthetic-aperture radar

text: After all waveforms have been iterated over all voxels, the basic SAR processing is complete. What remains, in the simplest approach, is to decide what voxel density value represents a solid object. Voxels whose density is below that threshold are ignored. Note the threshold level chosen must be higher than the peak energy of any single wave, otherwise that wave peak would appear as a sphere (or ellipse, in the case of multistatic operation) of false "density" across the entire volume. Thus to detect a point on a target, there must be at least two different antenna echoes from that point. Consequently, there is a need for large numbers of antenna positions to properly characterize a target.


title: Synthetic-aperture radar

text: The voxels that passed the threshold criteria are visualized in 2D or 3D. Optionally, added visual quality can sometimes be had by use of a surface detection algorithm like marching cubes.