title: Irish Guards

text: Except in wartime, the presentation of shamrock is traditionally made by a member of the Royal Family. This task was first performed in 1901 by Queen Alexandra and later by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. After the latter's death, the presentation was made by the Princess Royal. Starting in 2012, the presentation has been made by the then Duchess of Cambridge.


title: Irish Guards

text: In 1950 George VI marked the fiftieth anniversary of the formation of the Irish Guards by presenting the shamrocks on St Patrick's Day. This honour was mirrored by King George's surviving wife, Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, fifty years later when she presented shamrocks to the regiment on St. Patrick's Day in their centenary year of 2000.


title: Irish Guards

text: King Edward VII assumed the colonelcy-in-chief of the regiment on his accession, and subsequent monarchs have also been colonel-in-chief.


title: Irish Guards

text: British Army regiments typically have an honorary colonel, often a member of the Royal Family or a prominent retired military officer with connections to the regiment.


title: Irish Guards

text: The Irish Guards and other Guards regiments have a long-standing connection to The Parachute Regiment. Irish Guardsmen who have completed P Company can be seconded to the Guards Parachute Platoon, which is currently attached to the 3rd Battalion, The Parachute Regiment. The Guards Parachute Platoon maintains the tradition established by Number 1 (Guards) Independent Parachute Company that was part of the original Pathfinder Group of 16th Parachute Brigade, which has since been designated as the 16th Air Assault Brigade.


title: ThunderCats (2011 TV series)

text: ThunderCats is an animated television series, developed by Ethan Spaulding and Michael Jelenic for Cartoon Network. A reboot of the original 1980s TV series of the same name (which ran from 1985 to 1989), "ThunderCats" was produced and developed by American studio Warner Bros. Animation and animated by Japanese studio Studio 4°C, and combined elements of western animation with Japanese anime. The series began with an hour-long premiere on Cartoon Network on July 29, 2011. It is the final animated collaboration of both Arthur Rankin Jr. and Jules Bass, as Arthur Rankin Jr. died on January 30, 2014, and Jules Bass died on October 25, 2022.


title: ThunderCats (2011 TV series)

text: Following the destruction of their home, the kingdom of Thundera, the ThunderCats (a group of humanoid felidaes) are forced to roam the planet Third Earth, in order to find a way to defeat the evil sorcerer Mumm-Ra, who plans on taking over the universe. Story-wise the series attempts to take a much darker and more cinematic approach than the original show, featuring a lot more focus on characterization and more sophisticated themes.


title: ThunderCats (2011 TV series)

text: Initially planned for 52 episodes, it was confirmed by "ThunderCats" art-director Dan Norton in early 2013 that the show had been cancelled after only one season. Reruns of the show later aired on Adult Swim's Toonami block along with "Sym-Bionic Titan".


title: ThunderCats (2011 TV series)

text: On the planet known as Third Earth, the Cats have lived and thrived for generations in the kingdom of Thundera. The Cats are led by Claudus, with his son and heir Lion-O. One night the kingdom is attacked by the Lizard army led by the evil sorcerer Mumm-Ra. With them, the Lizards bring technology (a concept unfamiliar to the Cats). Because of this, Thundera is destroyed, Claudus is killed by Mumm-Ra, and the rest of the Cats are enslaved. A small band of surviving Thunderians led by Lion-O (who wields the powerful Sword of Omens) flee the destroyed city in order to seek out the Book of Omens which is said to have the knowledge needed to defeat Mumm-Ra. Once they find it, the ThunderCats realize that in order for them to defeat Mumm-Ra, they must unite all the different species living on Third Earth. The ThunderCats also discover that they have to find three stones of power which if found by Mumm-Ra will give him power to become the most powerful being in the universe.


title: ThunderCats (2011 TV series)

text: Despite being based on the original 1980s TV series, the 2011 version differs greatly from it, with many aspects of the original show's story and characters being different. When comparing the original series to the 2011 reboot, producer Michael Jelenic stated that "the old show felt more like a Saturday morning animated series and this feels more like a movie". Jelenic also said, that their take "is definitely darker but we've put a lot more focus on the characters and the arc, and because of that, we might have a few more sophisticated themes going on in this". Michael Jelenic stated that before work even began on the series, the makers mapped out an entire beginning, middle and end for the show's storyline, which was then broken-up into 13-episode arcs. Some stories from the original show were seen in these arcs.


title: ThunderCats (2011 TV series)

text: The animation for the series was done by Warner Bros. Animation and Studio 4°C. According to supervising director of Studio 4 °C, Shinichi Matsumi, they were handed the basic concepts for the show by Warner Bros. and were assigned to adjust them into the Japanese anime design. Matsumi believed that they succeeded in pushing the style of anime in the show with a variety of visual elements, such as scene compositions, effects and colors, as well as the action scenes. Kevin Kliesch composed the music for "ThunderCats", for which he took inspiration from John Williams, James Horner and Jerry Goldsmith, among others. Despite being orchestral, Kliesch also incorporated elements of electronics into the series' music.


title: ThunderCats (2011 TV series)

text: "ThunderCats" premiered on July 29, 2011 and attained a rating of 0.8, with over 2.4 million viewers. The highest rated show for that night received a 1.1, which makes the "ThunderCats" 0.8 a successful showing. The premiere episode of "ThunderCats" received very positive reviews, with some calling it "amazing" and "epic".


title: ThunderCats (2011 TV series)

text: One of the things the premiere was praised for was its anime-inspired visuals. "ComicBookMovies.com" called the animation "beautiful" and "very fluid in motion", while Jeff Hidek, of "Star News Online", described it as "sleekier(sic) [and] edgier", than the animation of the 1980s show. Brian Lowry, of "Variety", also felt that the show had a "cool look". Many were also happy with the changes made to the story and characters. Kenneth Carter of "The Birmingham News" called the story "multi-faceted", and the characters layered and flawed. He also felt that the character's introductions didn't seem rushed, and that "we get a chance to get to know them a little before the action begins". Edward Adams of "Creative Loafing" described the show as "moody and character driven, highlighting the all-too-human flaws you'd expect from an action series like this", while IGN's Matt Fowler described the show's re-imagined world as "so original and strange, that even clichés tend to come across like revelations".


title: ThunderCats (2011 TV series)

text: "ThunderCats" was also praised for the changes it made to its source material. Jeff Hidek felt that "ThunderCats" "successfully echoes the fun, wonder and all-around coolness of the original characters while ditching some of the dated trappings of '80s-syndication". Ken Tucker of "Entertainment Weekly" called the show "a rather canny rethinking of a series that probably didn't take a lot of thinking to conceive in the first place", while Edward Adams also said that "where in the original series the environment was bright and colorful, in the pilot episodes [of the 2011 series], the tones are much darker". Despite the changes the show made to the original TV series, many still recommended the 2011 series to fans of the original. Both Kenneth Carter and Edward Adams called the show "a pleasant surprise", with Carter adding that "if you have fond memories of "ThunderCats", then you’ll love what you see here". Matt Fowler felt similarly, saying that "if you have an affinity for the old series, then you'll find "ThunderCats" somewhat entertaining".


title: ThunderCats (2011 TV series)

text: Despite the positive response, some aspects of the show were criticized. Variety's Brian Lowry felt the series was designed as a marketing ploy for a new "ThunderCats" toyline, and that the show "represents a throwback to the drearily toy-driven 1980s, a period that seems destined to keep returning as much out of pragmatism as nostalgia".


title: ThunderCats (2011 TV series)

text: A two-disc soundtrack album of Kevin Kleisch's music was released by La-La Land Records in October 2012, featuring suites from all but two of the episodes ("Trials of Lion-O, Part 2" and "The Pit"). The series' theme, by Jules Bass and Bernard Hoffer, also features.


title: ThunderCats (2011 TV series)

text: Following the end of the show's first season, "ThunderCats" was not immediately renewed for a second, which led to speculations that the series would be cancelled. During the 2012 San Diego Comic-Con, Michael Jelenic and Jeff Prezenkowski announced that "ThunderCats" had been put on hiatus as they had not yet received any word from Cartoon Network about the future of the series. In March 2013, Dan Norton posted that further work on the series is unlikely in the near future. The first season "ThunderCats" episodes briefly aired in the new Toonami block on Adult Swim along with "Sym-Bionic Titan". It was confirmed by "ThunderCats" art-director Dan Norton in early 2013 that the show had been cancelled after only one season.


title: ThunderCats (2011 TV series)

text: In an interview with Dan Norton, Shannon Eric Denton, and Larry Kenney at Power-Con, they mentioned that if there was a season two, it would detail Mumm-Ra's hand in the creation of the Snarfs, Slithe's history with Lynx-O (which would also explain how Slithe and the Lizards sided with Mumm-Ra), Mumm-Ra tricking the ThunderKittens into bringing the Sword of Omens to him, so that he could send them to El Dara, and Pumyra being transformed into a wicked insectoid monster on a mission to capture the ThunderCats. The name of the final stone was also revealed as the Soul Stone.


title: Minke whale

text: The minke whale (), or lesser rorqual, is a species complex of baleen whale. The two species of minke whale are the common (or northern) minke whale and the Antarctic (or southern) minke whale. The minke whale was first described by the Danish naturalist Otto Fabricius in 1780, who assumed it must be an already known species and assigned his specimen to "Balaena rostrata", a name given to the northern bottlenose whale by Otto Friedrich Müller in 1776. In 1804, Bernard Germain de Lacépède described a juvenile specimen of "Balaenoptera acuto-rostrata". The name is a partial translation of Norwegian "minkehval", possibly after a Norwegian whaler named Meincke, who mistook a northern minke whale for a blue whale.


title: Minke whale

text: Taxonomists further categorize the common minke whale into two or three subspecies; the North Atlantic minke whale, the North Pacific minke whale and dwarf minke whale. All minke whales are part of the rorquals, a family that includes the humpback whale, the fin whale, the Bryde's whale, the sei whale and the blue whale.


title: Minke whale

text: The junior synonyms for "B. acutorostrata" are "B. davidsoni" (Scammon 1872), "B. minimia" (Rapp, 1837) and "B. rostrata" (Fabricius, 1780). There is one synonym for "B. bonaerensis" - "B. huttoni" (Gray 1874).


title: Minke whale

text: Writing in his 1998 classification, Rice recognized two of the subspecies of the common minke whale - "B. a. scammoni" (Scammon's minke whale) and a further taxonomically unnamed subspecies found in the Southern Hemisphere, the dwarf minke whale (first described by Best as "Type 3", 1985).


title: Minke whale

text: On at least one occasion, an Antarctic minke whale has been confirmed migrating to the Arctic. In addition, at least two wild hybrids between a common minke whale and an Antarctic minke whale have been confirmed.


title: Minke whale

text: The minke whales are the second smallest baleen whale; only the pygmy right whale is smaller. Upon reaching sexual maturity (7–8 years of age), males measure an average of and and females measure an average of and in length and body mass, respectively; estimated maximum size for females suggest that they can reach lengths exceeding and weigh more than in body mass.


title: Minke whale

text: The minke whale is a black/gray/purple color. Common minke whales (Northern Hemisphere variety) are distinguished from other whales by a white band on each flipper. The body is usually black or dark-gray above and white underneath. Minke whales have between 240 and 360 baleen plates on each side of their mouths. Most of the length of the back, including dorsal fin and blowholes, appears at once when the whale surfaces to breathe.


title: Minke whale

text: Minke whales typically live between 30-50 years, but in some cases, they may live for up to 60 years. They have a gestation and calving period of approximately 10-11 months and 2 years, respectively.


title: Minke whale

text: Minke whales have a digestive system composed of four compartments with a high density of anaerobic bacteria throughout. The presence of the bacteria suggests minke whales rely on microbial digestion to extract nutrients provided by their food.


title: Minke whale

text: As with most Mysticetes, the auditory system for the minke whale is not well understood. However, magnetic resonance imaging points to evidence that the minke whale has fat deposits in their jaws intended for sound reception, much like Odontocetes.


title: Minke whale

text: The brains of minke whales have around 12.8 billion neocortical neurons and 98.2 billion neocortical glia.


title: Minke whale

text: Additionally, despite its relatively large size, the minke whale is very fast, capable of swimming at speeds of , and their surfacing can be sporadic and hard to follow.


title: Minke whale

text: The whale breathes three to five times at short intervals before 'deep-diving' for 2 to 20 minutes. Deep dives are preceded by a pronounced arching of the back. The maximum swimming speed of minkes has been estimated at .


title: Minke whale

text: Both species undertake seasonal migration routes to the poles during spring and towards the tropics during fall and winter. Difference between the timing of the seasons may prevent the two closely related species from mixing. A long-term photo identification study on the British Columbian and Washington coasts showed that some individuals travel as far as 424 km north in the spring, and 398 km south to warmer waters in the autumn. Many specifics about migration in this species still remain unclear.


title: Minke whale

text: The gestation period for minke whales is ten months, and calves measure at birth. The newborns nurse for five to ten months. Breeding peaks during the summer months. Calving is thought to occur every two years.


title: Minke whale

text: In the North Atlantic, conception takes place from December to May with a peak month of February with birth taking place from October to March with a peak in December. In the North Pacific off Japan there appears to be two phases of conception, the majority of which occurs from February to March but also from August to September, with births occurring from December to January and June to July. In the Yellow Sea stock these two phases have not been noted with conception occurring from July to September and birth peaking from May to June.


title: Minke whale

text: In the Southern Hemisphere conception takes place from June to December with a peak in August and September. Peak birth time occurs from July to August.


title: Minke whale

text: Killer whale predation on minke whales has been well documented. A study in 1975 found that in 49 killer whale stomachs, 84% had consumed minke whale. Minke whale carcasses investigated after attacks show that killer whales have an affinity for minke tongues and lower jaw. The anti-predatory mechanism of the minke whale is strictly a flight response, as when this fails no physical retaliation is observed. Chases most commonly lead into open ocean, although there have been records of minke whales inadvertently swimming into confined, shallow waters. There have been two recorded instances of minke whales ending high speed chases by hiding under a ship's hull, however, both instances were unsuccessful.


title: Minke whale

text: Minke whales in the north Atlantic are observed to take a variety of food items. Before 1993, minke whales in the north Barents Sea fed predominantly on capelin until stocks collapsed and the whales switched to krill as their primary prey type. The minke whale population in the Norwegian Sea primarily feeds on adult herring while krill, capelin, and sand eels are also recorded prey types. In Scotland, sand eels are the most commonly observed prey species, followed by herring and sprat. Seasonal variations are observed off of Finnmark, with krill the most popular prey type in the summer and cod in the autumn. Stable isotope analysis from 2003 shows minke whales in the north Atlantic also feed on prey from lower trophic levels as well.


title: Minke whale

text: Two stocks of minke whale are observed in the North Pacific: the "J stock" (Sea of Japan - Yellow Sea - East China sea) and the "O stock" (Okhotsk sea - west Pacific). Seasonal variations in diet exist. J stock whales' primary prey type is Japanese anchovy during May and June, Pacific saury in July and August, and krill in September. O stock whales primarily feed on krill in July and August. Most minke whales observed in 2002 (90.4%) fed solely on one prey species.


title: Minke whale

text: Antarctic minke whales are diurnal feeders. This minke whale population mainly feeds on Antarctic krill in offshore areas and ice krill in coastal areas on the continental shelf such as the Ross sea and Prydz bay. The population has been recorded to forage on ten known species: five fish (Antarctic silverfish, Antarctic jonasfish, Antarctic lanternfish, Chionodraco, and Notothenia), four euphausiids (Antarctic krill, ice krill, Euphausia frigida, Thysanoessa macrura), and one amphipod ("Themisto gaudichaudii)."


title: Minke whale

text: As of 2018, the IUCN Red List labels the common minke whale as Least Concern and the Antarctic minke whale as Near Threatened.


title: Minke whale

text: COSEWIC puts both species in the Not At Risk category . NatureServe lists them as G5 which means the species is secure on global range .


title: Minke whale

text: Population estimates are generated by the Scientific Committee of the International Whaling Commission. The 2004 estimate yielded 515,000 individuals for the Antarctic minke stock.


title: Minke whale

text: Whaling was mentioned in Norwegian written sources as early as the year 800, and hunting minke whales with harpoons was common in the 11th century. In the 19th century, they were considered too small to chase, and received their name from a young Norwegian whale-spotter in the crew of Svend Foyn, who harpooned one, mistaking it for a blue whale and was derided for it.


title: Minke whale

text: By the end of the 1930s, they were the target of coastal whaling by Brazil, Canada, China, Greenland, Japan, Korea, Norway, and South Africa. Minke whales were not then regularly hunted by the large-scale whaling operations in the Southern Ocean because of their relatively small size. However, by the early 1970s, following the overhunting of larger whales such as the sei, fin, and blue whales, minkes became a more attractive target of whalers. By 1979, the minke was the only whale caught by Southern Ocean fleets. Hunting continued apace until the general moratorium on whaling began in 1986.


title: Minke whale

text: Following the moratorium, most hunting of minke whales ceased. Japan continued catching whales under the special research permit clause in the IWC convention, though in significantly smaller numbers. The stated purpose of the research is to establish data to support a case for the resumption of sustainable commercial whaling. Environmental organizations and several governments contend that research whaling is simply a cover for commercial whaling. The 2006 catch by Japanese whalers included 505 Antarctic minke whales. Between November 2017 and March 2018, Japan reported catches of a total of 333 Minke whales, of which 122 were pregnant females.


title: Minke whale

text: Although Norway initially followed the moratorium, they had placed an objection to it with the IWC and resumed a commercial hunt of the Common minke whale in 1993. The quota for 2006 was set at 1,052 animals, but only 546 were taken. The quota for 2011 was set at 1286. In August 2003, Iceland announced it would start research catches to estimate whether the stocks around the island could sustain hunting. Three years later, in 2006, Iceland resumed commercial whaling.


title: Minke whale

text: A 2007 analysis of DNA fingerprinting of whale meat estimated South Korean fishermen caught 827 minke between 1999 and 2003, approximately twice the officially reported number. This raised concerns that some whales were being caught deliberately.


title: Minke whale

text: In July 2019, Japan resumed commercial whaling activities. The permitted catch for the initial season (July 1 – December 31, 2019) is 227 whales, of which 52 can be minke.


title: Minke whale

text: Due to their relative abundance, minke whales are often the focus of whale-watching cruises setting sail from, for instance, the Isle of Mull in Scotland, County Cork in Ireland and Húsavík in Iceland, and tours taken on the east coast of Canada. They are also one of the most commonly sighted whales seen on whale-watches from New England and eastern Canada. In contrast to humpback whales, minkes do not raise their flukes out of the water when diving and are less likely to breach (jump clear of the sea surface).


title: Minke whale

text: In the northern Great Barrier Reef (Australia), a swim-with-whales tourism industry has developed based on the June and July migration of dwarf minke whales. A limited number of reef tourism operators (based in Port Douglas and Cairns) have been granted permits by the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority to conduct these swims, given strict adherence to a code of practice, and that operators report details of all sightings as part of a monitoring program.


title: Minke whale

text: Scientists from James Cook University and the Museum of Tropical Queensland have worked closely with participating operators and the Authority, researching tourism impacts and implementing management protocols to ensure these interactions are ecologically sustainable.


title: Minke whale

text: Minke whales are also occasionally sighted in Pacific waters, in and around the Haro Strait of British Columbia and Washington state.


title: Vespers

text: Vespers is a service of evening prayer, one of the canonical hours in Eastern Orthodox, Oriental Orthodox, Catholic (both Latin and Eastern), Lutheran, and Anglican liturgies. The word for this fixed prayer time comes from the Latin , meaning "evening".


title: Vespers

text: Vespers typically follows a set order that focuses on the performance of psalms and other biblical canticles. Eastern Orthodox services advertised as 'vespers' often conclude with compline, especially the all-night vigil. Performing these services together without break was also a common practice in medieval Europe, especially secular churches and cathedrals.


title: Vespers

text: Old English speakers translated the Latin word as , which became evensong in modern English. The term is now usually applied to the Anglican variant of the service that combines vespers with compline, following the conception of early sixteenth-century worshippers that conceived these as a single unit. The term can also apply to the pre-Reformation form of vespers or forms of evening prayer from other denominations.


title: Vespers

text: Vespers is usually prayed around sunset. In Oriental Orthodox Christianity and Oriental Protestant Christianity, the office is known as Ramsho in the Indian and Syriac traditions; it is prayed facing the east by all members in these denominations, both clergy and laity, being one of the seven fixed prayer times.


title: Vespers

text: Vespers, also called Evening Prayer, takes place as dusk begins to fall. Evening Prayer gives thanks for the day just past and makes an evening sacrifice of praise to God (Psalm 141:1).


title: Vespers

text: Sundays and solemnities have two Vespers. The church worship day begins in the evening with the setting of the sun or at sunset. This practice follows the tradition of the Old Testament which says in the story of creation: "Evening came, and morning followed—the first day." (Gen1:5). The solemnity begins with First Vespers prayed around sunset on the day before the observance, with Second Vespers held around sunset on the day itself.


title: Vespers

text: The Byzantine Rite has three basic types of vespers: great, daily, and small. Great vespers is used on Sundays and major feast days (those when the Polyeleos is prescribed at matins) when it may be celebrated alone or as part of an All-Night Vigil, as well as on a handful of special days "e.g.", Good Friday and Pascha afternoon; on certain days of strict fasting when, in theory, fasting before communion should be day-long, vespers also commences the divine liturgy and always commences the Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts. Daily vespers is otherwise used. Small vespers, which is seldom used except in monasteries, is a very abbreviated form used only on the afternoon before a vigil and is redundant to the subsequent great vespers, being a placeholder between the ninth hour and compline.


title: Vespers

text: Since the liturgical day begins at sunset, vespers is a day's first service and its hymns introduce the day's themes.


title: Vespers

text: On strict fast days when food and drink are prohibited before vespers, "e.g.", Christmas Eve, the Annunciation when it falls on a weekday of great lent, or Holy Saturday, Vespers is joined to the Divine Liturgy, functioning in place of the typica as the framework of the hymns of the Liturgy of the Catechumens. After the readings from the Old Testament, the Trisagion is chanted, followed by the Epistle and Gospel, and the Divine Liturgy proceeds normally from that point. On these occasions, as at other times when the Gospel is read at vespers, the Little Entrance is made with the Gospel Book instead of the censer.


title: Vespers

text: The Liturgy of the Presanctified Gifts always is similarly combined with Vespers, with the first half of Vespers (up to and including the Old Testament readings) making up a significant portion of the service.


title: Vespers

text: Vespers are known by the Aramaic or Syriac term "Ramsha" in the East Syriac liturgy which was used historically in the Church of the East and remains in use in Churches descended from it, namely the Assyrian Church of the East, the Ancient Church of the East, the Chaldean Catholic Church, and the Syro-Malabar Catholic Church.


title: Vespers

text: The office of vespers Armenian commemorates the hour when “the Son of God descended from the Cross, and was wrapped in the winding sheet, and laid in the tomb.”


title: Vespers

text: Vespers is the only service in the Armenian daily office other than the Morning Service which has hymns proper to the commemoration, feast, or tone assigned to it: a vespers hymn after Psalm 142 (or after Gladsome Light if it is appointed for the day) and the “Lifting-up Hymn” after Psalm 121.


title: Vespers

text: Vespers undergoes a wide range of changes depending on the liturgical season. The following outline contains only some of these variations.


title: Vespers

text: Psalm 55:16 “I cried unto God, and he heard me in the evening...()”; Psalm 55:17 “I waited for my God...()”; “Glory to the Father...Now and always...Amen.”; “And again in peace...”; “Blessing and glory to the Father...Now and always...Amen.”; “Peace to all.”


title: Vespers

text: Psalm 86; “Glory to the Father...Now and always...Amen.”; “Glory to you, O God, glory to you. For all things, Lord, glory to you.”; “And again in peace...”; “Blessing and glory...Now and always...Amen.”; “Peace to all.”


title: Vespers

text: Psalm 140 “Rescue me...(...)”; Psalm 141 “Lord I called unto you...(...)”; Psalm 142 “With my voice I called out unto the Lord...(...)”; “Glory to the Father...Now and always...Amen.”


title: Vespers

text: "At Sunday Vespers (Saturday Evening):" “Alleluia, Alleluia. Gladsome light...(...)”; Exhortation for the blessing of candles: “Blessed Lord who dwells in the heights...(...)”; Proclamation: “Having assembled...(...)”; Exhortation: “Having assembled...(...)”


title: Vespers

text: "At Sunday Vespers (Saturday Night):" Proclamation: “Let us all say...(...)”; Exhortation: “We have the intercessions...(...)”


title: Vespers

text: "During Fasts:" Proclamation: “Let us beseech almighty God...(Aghach`ests`ouk` zamenakaln Astouats...)”


title: Vespers

text: Prayer: “Hear our voices...(...)”; “Holy God...(varies)”; “Glorified and praised ever-virgin...(...)”; Exhortation: “Save us...(...)”; Proclamation: “And again in peace...That the Lord will hearken to the voice of our entreaty...(...)”; “Blessing and Glory to the Father...Now and always...Amen.”; “Peace to all.”


title: Vespers

text: Hymn After Psalm 121 (varies); Proclamation: “For the peace of the whole world...(...)”; Prayer: “Father compassionate...(...)”


title: Vespers

text: The Prayer of Manasseh; “Glory to the Father...Now and always...Amen.”; Exhortation; Proclamation; Prayer; “Remember your ministers...(...)”; “Merciful and compassionate God (...)”


title: Vespers

text: Psalm 134: “Now bless the Lord, all you servants of the Lord...(...)”; Psalm 138; Psalm 54; Psalm 86:16-17; “Glory to the Father...Now and always...Amen.”; Proclamation: “Let us entreat...(...)”


title: Vespers

text: Vespers, as a whole, is an introduction and preparation for the Liturgy, consisting of a collection of prayers, praises and Thanksgiving prayers which request the Lord's blessings upon the sacramental service.


title: Vespers

text: Since its inception, the Anglican communion has maintained an evening office, which is called evening prayer (or "evensong"). There are prescribed forms of the service in the Anglican prayer book. A similar form of the service is found in the Vespers section of The Lutheran Hymnal. The "Anglican Breviary" contains Vespers in English according to the pre-1970 Roman Rite. For information on that service, see above, as in the Roman breviary. The Liberal Catholic Rite also includes Vespers, including the Te Deum as an alternative to the Magnificat.


title: Vespers

text: Daily office books that conform to the historic structure of Vespers have also been published by the Pilgrim Press (The New Century Psalter) and Westminster John Knox Press (Book of Common Worship Daily Prayer). Both publishing houses are affiliated with churches in the Reformed tradition.


title: Vespers

text: From its traditional usage, the term "vespers" has come to be used more broadly for various evening services of other churches, some of which model their evening services on the traditional Latin Catholic form. Presbyterians and Methodists, as well as congregationalist religious bodies such as Unitarian Universalism, often include congregational singing, readings, and a period of silent meditation, contemplation, or prayer.


title: Vespers

text: Some regular community vespers services are completely areligious (or at least are not sponsored by any church) and serve simply as a time for quiet contemplation in the evening hours.


title: Vespers

text: In addition, during the 19th and early 20th centuries, synagogues in the Classical Reform tradition sometimes referred to their Friday evening worship services as "vespers". Nowadays, such services are instead called "kabbalat shabbat", which means "welcoming the Sabbath".


title: Vespers

text: "This section incorporates information from the Catholic Encyclopedia of 1917. References to psalms follow the numbering system of the Septuagint, and said in the Latin of the Vulgate."


title: Vespers

text: From the time of the early Church, the practice of seven fixed prayer times have been taught; in "Apostolic Tradition", Hippolytus instructed Christians to pray seven times a day "on rising, at the lighting of the evening lamp, at bedtime, at midnight" and "the third, sixth and ninth hours of the day, being hours associated with Christ's Passion."


title: Vespers

text: Before the fourth century allusions to the evening prayer are found in the earlier Fathers, Clement I of Rome ("Clemens Romanus"), St. Ignatius, Clement of Alexandria, Tertullian, Origen, the Canons of St. Hippolytus, St. Cyprian. Vespers is, therefore, together with Vigil, the most ancient Office known in the Church.


title: Vespers

text: The Rule of St. Benedict was written about 530–43. Much earlier than this we find an evening Office corresponding to both that of Vespers and that of Compline. Its name varies. John Cassian calls it "Vespertina synaxis", or "Vespertina solemnitas". Benedict used the name "vespera" which has prevailed, whence the French word "vêpres" and the English vespers. The name, however, by which it was most widely known during that period was "Lucernalis" or "Lucernaria hora". It was so called because at this hour candles were lit, not only to give light, but also for symbolical purposes. The ""Peregrinatio"", the date of which is probably the 4th century, gives the liturgical order as practised at Jerusalem. The author states that this Office took place at the tenth hour (four o'clock in the evening); it is really the "Office des lumières", i.e. of the lights; it was celebrated in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre; all the lamps and torches of the church were lighted, making, as the author says, "an infinite light". In the "Antiphonary of Bangor", an Irish document of the 6th century, Vespers are called "hora duodecima", which corresponds to six o'clock in the evening, or "hora incensi", or again "ad cereum benedicendum". All these names are interesting to note. The "hora incensi" recalls the custom of burning incense at this hour, while at the same time the candles were lighted. The ceremony of the lights at Vespers was symbolic and very solemn.


title: Vespers

text: Vespers, then, was the most solemn office of the day and was composed of the psalms called "Lucernales" (Psalm 140 is called "psalmus lucernalis" by the Apostolic Constitutions). Cassian describes this Office as it was celebrated by the monks of Egypt and says they recited twelve psalms as at the vigil (matins). Then two lessons were read as at vigils, one from the Old, and the other from the New Testament. Each psalm was followed by a short prayer. Cassian says the Office was recited towards five or six o'clock and that all the lights were lit. The use of incense, candles, and other lights would seem to suggest the Jewish rites which accompanied the evening sacrifice (Exodus 29:39; Numbers 28:4; Psalm 140:2; Daniel 9:21; 1 Chronicles 23:30). It may thus be seen that the "Lucernarium" was, together with Vigil, the most important part of the Offices of the day, being composed of almost the same elements as the latter, at least in certain regions. Its existence in the fourth century is also confirmed by St. Augustine, St. Ambrose, St. Basil, St. Ephraem, and, a little later, by several councils in Gaul and Spain, and by the various monastic rules.


title: Vespers

text: In the sixth century the Office of Vespers in the Latin Church was almost the same as it has been throughout the Middle Ages and up to the present day. In a document of unquestionable authority of that period the Office is described as follows: The evening hour, or "vespertina synaxis", is composed of four psalms, a "capitulum", a response, a hymn, a versicle, a canticle from the Gospel, litany ("Kyrie eleison, Christe eleison"), "Pater" with the ordinary finale, "oratio", or prayer, and dismissal ("Regula Sancti Benedicti", xvii). The psalms recited are taken from the series of psalms from Pss. 109 to 147 (with the exception of the groups 117 to 127 and 133 to 142); Pss. 138, 143, 144 are each divided into two portions, whilst the Pss. 115 and 116 are united to form one. This disposition is almost the same as that of the ""Ordo Romanus"", except that the number of psalms recited is five instead of four. They are taken, however, from the series 109 to 147. Here, too, we find the "capitulum", versicle, and canticle of the ""Magnificat"". The hymn is a more recent introduction in the Roman Vespers; the finale (litanies, "Pater", versicles, prayers) seems all to have existed from this epoch as in the Benedictine "cursus". Like the other hours, therefore, Vespers is divided into two parts; the psalmody, or singing of the psalms, forming the first part, and the "capitulum" and "formulæ" the second. Vesper time varied according to the season between the tenth hour (4 p.m.) and the twelfth (6 p.m.). As a matter of fact it was no longer the evening hour, but the sunset hour, so that it was celebrated before the day had departed and consequently before there was any necessity for artificial light ("Regula S. Benedicti", xli). This is a point to be noted, as it was an innovation. Before this epoch this evening "synaxis" was celebrated with all the torches alight. The reason of this is that St Benedict introduced in the cursus, another hour—that of Compline—which was prescribed to be celebrated in the evening, and which might be considered as a kind of doubling of the Office of Lucernarium.


title: Vespers

text: As has already been remarked, the institution of the office of compline transformed the "lucernarium" by taking from it something of its importance and symbolism, the latter at the same time losing its original sense. St. Benedict called it only "Vespera", the name which has prevailed over that of "lucernarium" ("cf." Ducange, ""Glossarium med. et inf. lat."", "s.v. Vesperae"). The Gallican liturgy, the Mozarabic Liturgy, and, to a certain extent, the Milanese, have preserved the "lucernarium" ("cf." Bäumer-Biron, l. c., 358). The Eastern Orthodox Church retains the ""Lumen hilare"" and some other traces of the ancient "lucernarium" in the offices of vespers and compline ("cf." Smith, "Dict. Christ. Antiq.", "s.v." Office, Divine). In the Rule of St. Columbanus, dated about 590, Vespers still has twelve psalms, amongst which are Pss. cxii and cxiii, the Gradual psalms, Pss. cxix "sqq." ("cf." Gougaud, ""Les chrétientés celtiques"", 309; ""Dict. d'arch. chrét. et de liturgie"", "s.v. Celtique", 3015). The "Antiphonary of Bangor", a document of Irish origin, gives for vespers Ps. cxii and also the ""Gloria in Excelsis"". For modifications since the 12th century, "cf." Bäumer-Biron, l. c., II, 54 "sqq."


title: Vespers

text: The decree ""Divino afflatu"" (November 1, 1911) involves important changes in the old Roman Rite office. There is an entire rearrangement of the psalms (see Reform of the Roman Breviary by Pope Pius X) with new ones appointed for each day of the week. These psalms are to be recited with their antiphons, not only at the "Office de tempore" (Sundays and "feriæ") but also on feasts of a lesser rite than doubles of the second class, that is to say, on simples, semidoubles (double minors), and double majors. On feasts which are doubles of the second class and a fortiori of the first class, as well as on feasts of the Blessed Virgin Mary, the Holy Angels, and Apostles, the psalms are proper to the feast as heretofore. On all feasts, of whatever rite, the second part of vespers, that is, the "capitulum", hymn, antiphon of the ""Magnificat"", is taken from the Sanctorale. On semi-doubles and those of a lesser rite the suffrages are now reduced to a single antiphon and orison which is common to all the saints heretofore commemorated, whilst the preces (""Miserere"" and versicles) formerly imposed on the greater feriæ are now suppressed.


title: Vespers

text: The office of Vespers in general use before 1970 continues to be used today by those adhering to the Roman Rite as in 1962 or to earlier versions. The structure of Vespers prior to 1970 is as follows:


title: Vespers

text: Notwithstanding the changes brought about in the course of time, Vespers still remains the great and important Office of the evening. As already pointed out, it recalls the "sacrificium vespertinum" of the Old Law. In the same manner as the night is consecrated to God by the Office of the Vigil, so also is the end of the day by Vespers. It terminates, as Matins formerly terminated, and Lauds at present terminates, by a lection, or reading, from the Gospel, or "canticum evangelii", which, for Vespers, is always the ""Magnificat"". This is one of the characteristic traits of Vespers, one of the liturgical elements which this particular Office has retained in almost all regions and at all times. There are, however, a few exceptions, as in some liturgies the ""Magnificat"" is sung at Lauds ("cf." Cabrol in ""Dict. d'arch. et de liturgie"", "s.v. Cantiques évangéliques"). This place of honour accorded so persistently to the canticle of Mary from such remote antiquity is but one of the many, and of the least striking, proofs of the devotion which has always been paid to the Blessed Virgin Mary in the Church. The psalms used at Vespers have been selected, from time immemorial, from Pss. cix to cxlvii, with the exception of Ps. cxviii, which on account of its unusual length does not square with the others, and is consequently ordinarily divided up into parts and recited at the little hours. Pss. i to cviii are consecrated to Matins and Lauds, whilst the three last psalms, cxlviii to cl, belong invariably to Lauds.


title: Vespers

text: The series of hymns consecrated to Vespers in the Roman Breviary also form a class apart and help to give us some hints as to the symbolism of this hour. The hymns are very ancient, dating probably, for the most part, from the 6th century. They have this particular characteristic—they are all devoted to the praise of one of the days of the Creation as described in the Genesis creation narrative, according to the day of the week, thus:


title: Vespers

text: On weekdays that are not major feasts Vespers features hardly any ceremonies and the celebrant wears the usual choir dress. However, on Sundays and greater feasts Vespers may be solemn. Solemn Vespers differ in that the celebrant wears the cope, he is assisted by assistants also in copes, incense is used, and two acolytes, a thurifer, and at least one master of ceremonies are needed. On ordinary Sundays only two assistants are needed while on greater feasts four or six assistants may be used. The celebrant and assistants vest in the surplice and the cope, which is of the color of the day. The celebrant sits at the sedile, in front of which is placed a lectern, covered with a cloth in the color of the day. The assistants sit on benches or stools facing the altar, or if there are two assistants, they may sit at the sedile next to the celebrant (the first assistant in the place of the deacon and the second assistant in place of the subdeacon).


title: Vespers

text: The celebrant and assistants follow the acolytes into the church wearing the biretta. Upon arriving in the sanctuary the acolytes place their candles on the lowest altar step, after which they are extinguished. The celebrant and assistants kneel on the lowest step and recite the "Aperi Domine" silently, after which they go to their places and recite the "Pater noster" and "Ave Maria" silently. A curious practice which exists from ancient times is the intoning of the antiphons and psalms to the celebrant. The rubrics presuppose that the first assistant or cantors will intone all which the celebrant must sing by singing it to him first in a soft voice after which the celebrant sings it again aloud. The five antiphons and psalms are sung with the first assistant intoning the antiphons and the cantors intoning the psalms. During the singing of the psalms all sit. After the psalms, the acolytes relight their candles and carry them to each side of the lectern for the chapter. The assistants follow, standing facing each other in front of the lectern. The celebrant then sings the chapter, after which all return to their places. The first assistant intones the hymn to the celebrant, and all stand while the hymn is sung. The first assistant intones the "Magnificat" to the celebrant, who sings the first line aloud. The celebrant and the first two assistants go to altar, and the altar is then incensed as at Mass while the first two assistants hold the ends of the cope. Other altars in the church may be incensed as well. The first assistant then incenses the celebrant, after which the thurifer incenses the others as at Mass. If there are commemorations, the acolytes and assistants again go to the lectern as described above for the chapter. The choir sings the antiphons, the cantors sing the versicles, and the celebrant sings the collects. After all commemorations, the celebrant sings "Dominus vobiscum", the cantor sings "Benedicamus Domino", and the celebrant sings "Fidelium animae...". The Marian antiphon is said in the low voice. Especially in English-speaking countries, Benediction of the Blessed Sacrament often follows Solemn Vespers.


title: Vespers

text: The psalms and hymns of the Vespers service have attracted the interest of many composers, including Claudio Monteverdi, Antonio Vivaldi, Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and Anton Bruckner. (Sergei Rachmaninoff's "Vespers" is really a setting of the Eastern Orthodox all-night vigil; calling it "Vespers" was an error in judgement made by a translator.)


title: Mobile banking

text: Mobile banking is a service provided by a bank or other financial institution that allows its customers to conduct financial transactions remotely using a mobile device such as a smartphone or tablet. Unlike the related internet banking it uses software, usually called an app, provided by the financial institution for the purpose. Mobile banking is usually available on a 24-hour basis. Some financial institutions have restrictions on which accounts may be accessed through mobile banking, as well as a limit on the amount that can be transacted. Mobile banking is dependent on the availability of an internet or data connection to the mobile device.


title: Mobile banking

text: Transactions through mobile banking depend on the features of the mobile banking app provided and typically includes obtaining account balances and lists of latest transactions, electronic bill payments, remote check deposits, P2P payments, and funds transfers between a customer's or another's accounts. Some apps also enable copies of statements to be downloaded and sometimes printed at the customer's premises. Using a mobile banking app increases ease of use, speed, flexibility and also improves security because it integrates with the user built-in mobile device security mechanisms.


title: Mobile banking

text: From the bank's point of view, mobile banking reduces the cost of handling transactions by reducing the need for customers to visit a bank branch for non-cash withdrawal and deposit transactions. Mobile banking does not handle transactions involving cash, and a customer needs to visit an ATM or bank branch for cash withdrawals or deposits. Many apps now have a remote deposit option; using the device's camera to digitally transmit cheques to their financial institution.


title: Mobile banking

text: Mobile banking differs from mobile payments, which involves the use of a mobile device to pay for goods or services either at the point of sale or remotely, analogously to the use of a debit or credit card to effect an EFTPOS payment.


title: Mobile banking

text: The earliest mobile banking services used SMS, a service known as SMS banking. With the introduction of smart phones with WAP support enabling the use of the mobile web in 1999, the first European banks started to offer mobile banking on this platform to their customers.


title: Mobile banking

text: Mobile banking before 2010 was most often performed via SMS or the mobile web. Apple's initial success with iPhone and the rapid growth of phones based on Google's Android (operating system) have led to increasing use of special mobile apps, downloaded to the mobile device. With that said, advancements in web technologies such as HTML5, CSS3 and JavaScript have seen more banks launching mobile web based services to complement native applications. These applications are consisted of a web application module in JSP such as J2EE and functions of another module J2ME.


title: Mobile banking

text: A recent study (May 2012) by Mapa Research suggests that over a third of banks have mobile device detection upon visiting the banks' main website. A number of things can happen on mobile detection such as redirecting to an app store, redirection to a mobile banking specific website or providing a menu of mobile banking options for the user to choose from.


title: Mobile banking

text: Mobile Banking refers to provision and availment of banking- and financial services with the help of mobile telecommunication devices.The scope of offered services may include facilities to conduct bank and stock market transactions, to administer accounts and to access customised information."


title: Mobile banking

text: Most services in the categories designated "accounting" and "brokerage" are transaction-based. The non-transaction-based services of an informational nature are however essential for conducting transactions – for instance, balance inquiries might be needed before committing a money remittance. The accounting and brokerage services are therefore offered invariably in combination with information services. Information services, on the other hand, may be offered as an independent module.


title: Mobile banking

text: A report by the US Federal Reserve (March 2012) found that 21 percent of mobile phone owners had used mobile banking in the past 12 months. Based on a survey conducted by Forrester, mobile banking will be attractive mainly to the younger, more "tech-savvy" customer segment. A third of mobile phone users say that they may consider performing some kind of financial transaction through their mobile phone. But most of the users are interested in performing basic transactions such as querying for account balance and making bill.


title: Mobile banking

text: There are a large number of different mobile phone devices and it is a big challenge for banks to offer a mobile banking solution on any type of device. Some of these devices support Java ME and others support SIM Application Toolkit, a WAP browser, or only SMS.


title: Mobile banking

text: Initial interoperability issues however have been localized, with countries like India using portals like "R-World" to enable the limitations of low end java based phones, while focus on areas such as South Africa have defaulted to the USSD as a basis of communication achievable with any phone.


title: Mobile banking

text: The desire for interoperability is largely dependent on the banks themselves, where installed applications(Java based or native) provide better security, are easier to use and allow development of more complex capabilities similar to those of internet banking while SMS can provide the basics but becomes difficult to operate with more complex transactions.


title: Mobile banking

text: There is a myth that there is a challenge of interoperability between mobile banking applications due to perceived lack of common technology standards for mobile banking. In practice it is too early in the service lifecycle for interoperability to be addressed within an individual country, as very few countries have more than one mobile banking service provider. In practice, banking interfaces are well defined and money movements between banks follow the IS0-8583 standard. As mobile banking matures, money movements between service providers will naturally adopt the same standards as in the banking world.


title: Mobile banking

text: In January 2009, Mobile Marketing Association (MMA) Banking Sub-Committee, chaired by CellTrust and VeriSign Inc., published the Mobile Banking Overview for financial institutions in which it discussed the advantages and disadvantages of Mobile Channel Platforms such as Short Message Services (SMS), Mobile Web, Mobile Client Applications, SMS with Mobile Web and Secure SMS.


title: Mobile banking

text: As with most internet-connected devices, as well as mobile-telephony devices, cybercrime rates are escalating year-on-year. The types of cybercrimes which may affect mobile-banking might range from unauthorized use while the owner is using the mobile banking, to remote-hacking, or even jamming or interference via the internet or telephone network data streams. This is demonstrated by the malware called "SMSZombie.A", which infected Chinese Android devices. It was embedded in wallpaper apps and installed itself so it can exploit the weaknesses of China Mobile SMS Payment system, stealing banks credit card numbers and information linked to financial transactions. One of the most advanced malwares discovered recently was the Trojan called "Bankbot". It went past Google's protections in its Android app marketplace and targeted Wells Fargo, Chase, and Citibank customers on Android devices worldwide before its removal by Google in September 2017. This malicious app was activated when users opened a banking app, overlaying it so it can steal banking credentials.


title: Mobile banking

text: Security of financial transactions, being executed from some remote location and transmission of financial information over the air, are the most complicated challenges that need to be addressed jointly by mobile application developers, wireless network service providers and the banks' IT departments.


title: Mobile banking

text: One-time passwords (OTPs) are one tool used by financial and banking service providers in the fight against cyber fraud. Instead of relying on traditional memorized passwords, OTPs are requested by consumers each time they want to perform transactions using the online or mobile banking interface. When the request is received the password is sent to the consumer's phone via SMS. The password is expired once it has been used or once its scheduled life-cycle has expired.


title: Mobile banking

text: Another challenge for the CIOs and CTOs of the banks is to scale-up the mobile banking infrastructure to handle exponential growth of the customer base. With mobile banking, the customer may be sitting in any part of the world (true anytime, anywhere banking) and hence banks need to ensure that the systems are up and running in a true 24 × 7 fashion. As customers will find mobile banking more and more useful, their expectations from the solution will increase. Banks unable to meet the performance and reliability expectations may lose customer confidence. There are systems such as Mobile Transaction Platform which allow quick and secure mobile enabling of various banking services. Recently in India there has been a phenomenal growth in the use of Mobile Banking applications, with leading banks adopting Mobile Transaction Platform and the Central Bank publishing guidelines for mobile banking operations.


title: Mobile banking

text: Due to the nature of the connectivity between bank and its customers, it would be impractical to expect customers to regularly visit banks or connect to a web site for regular upgrade of their mobile banking application. It will be expected that the mobile application itself check the upgrades and updates and download necessary patches (so called "Over The Air" updates). However, there could be many issues to implement this approach such as upgrade / synchronization of other dependent components.


title: Mobile banking

text: Studies have shown that a huge concerning factor of having mobile banking more widely used, is a banking customer's unwillingness to adapt. Many consumers, whether they are misinformed or not, do not want to begin using mobile banking for several reasons. These can include the learning curve associated with new technology, having fears about possible security compromises, just simply not wanting to start using technology, etc.


title: Mobile banking

text: This is a list of countries by mobile banking usage as measured by the percentage of people who had non-SMS mobile banking transactions in the previous three months. The data is sourced from Bain, Research Now and Bain along with GMI NPS surveys in 2012.


title: Mobile banking

text: African nations such as Kenya would rank highly if SMS mobile banking were included in the above list. Kenya has 38% of the population as subscribers to M-Pesa as of 2011.


title: Mobile banking

text: Though as of 2016 mobile banking applications have seen a tremendous growth in Kenyan banking sector who have capitalised on android play store and apple store to put their applications. Kenyan banks like Equity Bank Kenya Limited Eazzy banking application and The Co-operative Bank Mco-op cash application have proved to be a success mobile banking applications.


title: Mobile banking

text: Mobile banking is used in many parts of the world with little or no infrastructure, especially remote and rural areas. This aspect of mobile commerce is also popular in countries where most of their population is unbanked. In most of these places, banks can only be found in big cities, and customers have to travel hundreds of miles to the nearest bank.


title: Mobile banking

text: In Iran, banks such as Parsian, Tejarat, Pasargad Bank, Mellat, Saderat, Sepah, Edbi, and Bankmelli offer the service. Banco Industrial provides the service in Guatemala. Citizens of Mexico can access mobile banking with Omnilife, Bancomer and MPower Venture.


title: Mobile banking

text: Kenya's Safaricom (part of the Vodafone Group) has the M-Pesa Service, which is mainly used to transfer limited amounts of money, but increasingly used to pay utility bills as well. In 2009, Zain launched their own mobile money transfer business, known as ZAP, in Kenya and other African countries. Several other players in Kenya such as Tangerine, MobiKash and Funtrench Limited also have network-independent mobile money transfer. In Somalia, the many telecom companies provide mobile banking, the most prominent being Hormuud Telecom and its ZAAD service.


title: Mobile banking

text: Telenor Pakistan has also launched a mobile banking solution, in coordination with Taameer Bank, under the label Easy Paisa, which was begun in Q4 2009. Eko India Financial Services, the business correspondent of State Bank of India (SBI) and ICICI Bank, provides bank accounts, deposit, withdrawal and remittance services, micro-insurance, and micro-finance facilities to its customers (nearly 80% of whom are migrants or the unbanked section of the population) through mobile banking.


title: Mobile banking

text: In a year of 2010, mobile banking users soared over 100 percent in Kenya, China, Brazil and United States with 200 percent, 150 percent, 110 percent and 100 percent respectively.


title: Mobile banking

text: Dutch Bangla Bank launched the first mobile banking service in Bangladesh on 31 March 2011. This service is launched with 'Agent' and 'Network' support from mobile operators, Banglalink and Citycell. Sybase 365, a subsidiary of Sybase, Inc. has provided software solution with their local partner Neurosoft Technologies Ltd. There are around 160 million people in Bangladesh, of which, only 13 per cent have bank accounts. With this solution, Dutch-Bangla Bank can now reach out to the rural and unbanked population, of which, 45 per cent are mobile phone users. Under the service, any mobile handset with subscription to any of the six existing mobile operators of Bangladesh would be able to utilize the service. Under the mobile banking services, bank-nominated Banking agent performs banking activities on its behalf, like opening mobile banking accounts, providing cash services (receipts and payments) and dealing with small credits. Cash withdrawal from a mobile account can also be done from an ATM validating each transaction by 'mobile phone & PIN' instead of 'card & PIN'. Other services that are being delivered through mobile banking system are person-to-person (e.g. fund transfer), person-to-business (e.g. merchant payment, utility bill payment), business-to-person (e.g. salary/commission disbursement), government-to-person (disbursement of government allowance) transactions.


title: Mobile banking

text: One of the most recent mobile technological wonders (Shaikh and Karjaluoto, 2015) and one of the most recent financial services sector innovations which has added a pure mobility element to service consumption (Mishra and Bisht, 2013; Oliveira et al., 2014) that in return enabled customers to have a convenient access to different value-added banking services is mobile banking (MB) or m-banking (Anderson, 2010). M-banking is defined as “a feed where the consumer communicates with a bank using a mobile device, such as a mobile phone or personal digital assistant. In that sense, it can be seen as a subset of electronic banking and an extension of internet banking with its own unique characteristics (Laukkanen & Pasanen, 2008). It is one of the newest approaches to the concern of financial services through information computer technology (ICT), made possible by the extensive adoption of mobile phones even in low income countries (Anderson, 2010).


title: Mobile banking

text: In May 2012, Laxmi Bank Limited launched the very first mobile banking in Nepal with its product Mobile Khata. Mobile Khata currently runs on a third-party platform called Hello Paisa that is interoperable with all the telecoms in Nepal viz. Nepal Telecom, NCell, Smart Tel and UTL, and is also interoperable with various banks in the country. The initial joining members to the platform after Laxmi Bank Limited were Siddartha Bank, Bank of Kathmandu, Commerz and Trust Bank Nepal and International Leasing and Finance Company. In country with roughly 30 million population, over 5 million have subscribed to mobile banking in Nepal as per the recent data from Nepal Rastra Bank, the central bank of Nepal.


title: Mobile banking

text: Barclays offers a service called Barclays Pingit, and Hello Money offering services in Africa, allowing transfer of money from the United Kingdom to many parts of the world with a mobile phone. Pingit is owned by a consortium of banks. In April 2014, the UK Payments Council launched the Paym mobile payment system, allowing mobile payments between customers of several banks and building societies using the recipient's mobile phone number. in past some US research proved that in the United States, people focusing in on adaptable banking (m-banking), this work contemplates responses from three undeniable buyer parcels, including – 1) customers living in Egypt, 2) purchasers from Egypt who are living in the U.S. in addition, 3) U.S. customers. The conceptual model was developed by the technology acceptance model (TAM), task-technology fit model (TTF), theory of planned behavior model (TPB), the diffusion of innovation model (DOI).


title: Mobile banking

text: In November 2017, the State Bank of India launched an integrated banking platform in India called YONO offering conventional banking functions but also payment services for things such as online shopping, travel planning, taxi booking or online education.


title: Mobile banking

text: In January 2019, the German direct bank N26 overtook Revolut as the most valuable mobile bank in Europe with a valuation of $2.7 billion and 1.5 million users.


title: Mobile banking

text: Following is a list showing the share of people using mobile banking apps during the last three months in selected countries worldwide in 2014. The list is based on a survey conducted by statista.com including 82,914 respondents.


title: Flip-flops

text: Flip-flops are a type of light sandal, typically worn as a form of casual footwear. They consist of a flat sole held loosely on the foot by a Y-shaped strap known as a toe thong that passes between the first and second toes and around both sides of the foot or can be a rigid base with a strap across all the toes.


title: Flip-flops

text: This style of footwear has been worn by the people of many cultures throughout the world, originating as early as the ancient Egyptians in 1,500 B.C.


title: Flip-flops

text: In the United States the flip-flop has been popularized from the Japanese "zōri", after World War II as soldiers brought them back from Japan. They became a prominent unisex summer footwear starting in the 1960s.


title: Flip-flops

text: Although the Beach Boys 1964 song All Summer Long mentions "T-shirts, cut-offs, and a pair of thongs", the term "flip-flop" has been used in American and British English since the 1960s to describe the thong or no-heel-strap sandal. This type of footwear is also known as "slides" or "sliders". "Flip-flop" may be an onomatopoeia of the sound made by the sandals when walking in them. They are also called "thongs" (sometimes "pluggers") in Australia, "jandals" (originally a trademarked name derived from "Japanese sandals") in New Zealand, "slops" or “plakkies” in South Africa and Zimbabwe, and "tsinelas" in the Philippines (or, in some Visayan localities, "smagol", from the word "smuggled").


title: Flip-flops

text: Throughout the world, they are known by a variety of other names, including "slippers" in the Philippines, Hawaii, Bahamas, Jamaica, and Trinidad and Tobago.


title: Flip-flops

text: Thong sandals have been worn for thousands of years, dating back to pictures of them in ancient Egyptian murals from 4,000 BC. A pair found in Europe was made of papyrus leaves and dated to be approximately 1,500 years old. These early versions of flip-flops were made from a wide variety of materials. Ancient Egyptian sandals were made from papyrus and palm leaves. The Maasai people of Africa made them out of rawhide. In India, they were made from wood. In China and Japan, rice straw was used. The leaves of the sisal plant were used to make twine for sandals in South America, while the natives of Mexico used the yucca plant.


title: Flip-flops

text: The Ancient Greeks and Romans wore versions of flip-flops as well. In Greek sandals, the toe strap was worn between the first and second toes, while Roman sandals had the strap between the second and third toes. These differ from the sandals worn by the Mesopotamians, with the strap between the third and fourth toes. In India, a related "chappal" ("toe knob") sandal was common, with no straps but a small knob sitting between the first and second toes. They are known as Padukas.


title: Flip-flops

text: The modern flip-flop became popular in the United States as soldiers returning from World War II brought Japanese zōri with them. It caught on in the 1950s during the postwar boom and after the end of hostilities of the Korean War. As they became adopted into American popular culture, the sandals were redesigned and changed into the bright colors that dominated 1950s design. They quickly became popular due to their convenience and comfort, and were popular in beach-themed stores and as summer shoes. During the 1960s, flip-flops became firmly associated with the beach lifestyle of California. As such, they were promoted as primarily a casual accessory, typically worn with shorts, bathing suits, or summer dresses. As they became more popular, some people started wearing them for dressier or more formal occasions.


title: Flip-flops

text: In 1962, Alpargatas S.A. marketed a version of flip-flops known as Havaianas in Brazil. By 2010, more than 150 million pairs of Havaianas were produced each year. Flip-flops quickly became popular as casual footwear of young adults. Girls would often decorate their flip-flops with metallic finishes, charms, chains, beads, rhinestones, or other jewelry. Modern flip-flops are available in leather, suede, and synthetic materials. Platform and high-heeled variants of the sandals began to appear in the 1990s, and in the late 2010s, kitten heeled "kit-flops".


title: Flip-flops

text: A minor controversy erupted in 2005 when some members of Northwestern University's national champion women's lacrosse team visited the White House wearing flip-flops. The team responded to critics by auctioning off their flip-flops on eBay, raising US$1,653 for young cancer patient, Jaclyn Murphy of Hopewell Junction, New York, who was befriended by the team. There is still a debate over whether this signaled a fundamental change in American culture — many youth feel that flip-flops are dressier and can be worn in a variety of social contexts, while older generations feel that wearing them at formal occasions signifies laziness and comfort over style. In 2011, while vacationing in his native Hawaii, Barack Obama became the first President of the United States to be photographed wearing a pair of flip-flops. The Dalai Lama of Tibet is also a frequent wearer of flip-flops and has met with several U.S. presidents, including George W. Bush and Barack Obama, while wearing the sandals.


title: Flip-flops

text: While exact sales figures for flip-flops are difficult to obtain due to the large number of stores and manufacturers involved, the Atlanta-based company Flip Flop Shops claimed that the shoes were responsible for a $20 billion industry in 2009. Furthermore, sales of flip-flops exceeded those of sneakers for the first time in 2006. If these figures are accurate, it is remarkable considering the low cost of most flip-flops.


title: Flip-flops

text: The modern flip-flop has a straightforward design, consisting of a thin rubber sole with two straps running in a Y shape from the sides of the foot to the gap between the big toe and the one beside it. They typically do not have a strap around the heel, although heeled varieties are available, as well as flip-flops designed for sports, which come with added support common to athletic shoes, with the thong between the toes. Most modern flip-flops are inexpensive, costing as little as US$5 or less in some parts of the world.


title: Flip-flops

text: They are made from a wide variety of materials, as were the ancient thong sandals. The modern sandals are made of more modern materials, such as rubber, foam, plastic, leather, suede, and even fabric. Thongs made of polyurethane have caused some environmental concerns; because polyurethane is a number 7 resin, they can't be easily discarded, and they persist in landfills for a very long time. In response to these concerns, some companies have begun selling flip-flops made from recycled rubber, such as that from used bicycle tires, or even hemp, and some offer a recycling program for used flip flops.


title: Flip-flops

text: Because of the strap between the toes, flip-flops are typically not worn with socks. In colder weather, however, some people wear flip-flops with toe socks or merely pull standard socks forward and bunch them up between the toes. The Japanese commonly wear "tabi", a type of sock with a single slot for the thong, with their "zōri".


title: Flip-flops

text: While flip-flops do provide the wearer with some mild protection from hazards on the ground, such as hot sand at the beach, glass, thumb tacks or even fungi and wart-causing viruses in locker rooms or community pools, their simple design is responsible for discomfort and injuries of the foot and lower leg.


title: Flip-flops

text: Walking for long periods in flip-flops can be very tough on the feet, resulting in pain in the ankles, legs, and feet. A 2009 study at Auburn University found that flip-flop wearers took shorter steps and their heels hit the ground with less vertical force than those wearing athletic shoes. Individuals with flat feet or other foot issues are advised to wear a shoe with better support.


title: Flip-flops

text: The lack of support provided by thong sandals is thought by some to be a major cause of injuries. Some flip-flops have a spongy sole, causing the foot to roll further inward than normal when it hits the ground (over-pronation). Flip-flops can cause a person to overuse the tendons in their feet, resulting in tendonitis.


title: Flip-flops

text: Ankle sprains or broken bones are common injuries due to stepping off a curb or tumbling; the ankle bends, but the flip-flop neither holds on to nor supports it. The flip-flop straps may cause frictional issues, such as rubbing, during walking. The open-toed nature of the thongs may result in cuts, scrapes, bruises, or stubbed toes. Despite all of these issues, flip-flops do not have to be avoided completely. Many podiatrists recommend avoiding the inexpensive drug store varieties and spending more on sandals with thick-cushioned soles, as well as ones with a strap that's not canvas and that comes back almost to the ankle.


title: Million Dollar Extreme

text: Million Dollar Extreme (MDE) is an American sketch comedy troupe. The group consists of Sam Hyde, Nick Rochefort, and formerly Charls Carroll. The group remains largely inactive since the cancellation of their show in 2016. They are known for their online videos, anti-comedy, and public pranks mainly uploaded on their several related YouTube channels. They are also controversial for their support from alt-right and white supremacist fans, and Sam Hyde's connections to the alt-right. The group's first YouTube channel was permanently banned in 2018 for violating the website's community guidelines.


title: Million Dollar Extreme

text: Million Dollar Extreme started out making sketch comedy videos on their YouTube channel, which David Weigel described as "absurdist" and "transgressive", often centering around themes mocking political correctness. Sam Hyde's monologues, recorded on his iPhone, were also a staple for video content on the channel.


title: Million Dollar Extreme

text: Hyde also performed numerous public pranks that he uploaded to the MDE YouTube channel. Most notably in 2013, Hyde delivered a fake TEDx talk titled "2070 Paradigm Shift" at Drexel University.


title: Million Dollar Extreme

text: The troupe has run into various issues with online terms of service violations due to their content and fanbase. On May 4, 2018, the MDE channel was permanently removed from YouTube for a violation of the site's community guidelines. On September 10, 2018, the group's subreddit on Reddit was permanently removed for violations of their policy regarding violent content.


title: Million Dollar Extreme

text: On May 7, 2015, it was announced that MDE were slated to have their own live action 15-minute sketch show on the cable network Adult Swim. It was to be set in a post-apocalyptic nightmare world that satirizes the current political climate. Titled "", the series premiered on August 5, 2016. Three weeks later, after "World Peace" was subject to internal controversy at Adult Swim due to Sam Hyde's connections to the alt-right, it was announced that the show would not be renewed for a second season.


title: Million Dollar Extreme

text: Christian Williams of "The A.V. Club" describes them: "Some videos borrow "Wonder Showzen"s toolkit, wielding subliminal blips and eye-straining text in service of subversive ends. Some make use of the "Tim And Eric Awesome Show, Great Job!" aesthetic, and some are surprisingly slick, with excellent, eardrum-shredding music courtesy of talented mystery-men like Orangy and Vaervaf." In the view of Philly Mag's Andrew Thompson: "The mission of Million Dollar Extreme has always seemed a spin on afflicting the comfortable, except its targets usually aren’t the comfortably powerful. To the extent that satire exists in MDEs comedy, it feels like more of rationalization than a reason for the shock itself."


title: Kutty Story

text: Kutty Story () is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language romantic anthology film, consisting of four short film segments directed by Gautham Vasudev Menon, Vijay, Venkat Prabhu and Nalan Kumarasamy and produced by Ishari K. Ganesh under the banner of Vels Film International. The film stars Menon, Amala Paul, Vinoth Kishan, Amitash Pradhan, Megha Akash, Sunaina, Varun, Sakshi Agarwal, Vijay Sethupathi and Aditi Balan. The film was released on 12 February 2021.


title: Kutty Story

text: Aadhi (Vinoth Kishan) and Mrinalini (Amala Paul) are engineering students and best friends. Though they get along well and spend most of their time together, they believe that there is an invisible line between love and friendship and they should not cross it for any reason. Aadhi insists the same to his friends and says that a man and woman can just be friends no matter what. However, the events that unfold in the later stage of his life destroy his theory and make him understand that there is love between the two.


title: Kutty Story

text: Preethi (Megha Akash), a final-year student, discovers that she is three months pregnant and informs her boyfriend Vikram (Amitash Pradhan) about the same. Within a few minutes, unfortunate circumstances put Vikram in non-reachable mode, forcing Preethi to seek an abortion. Does destiny help her live with her loved one or put her in trouble?


title: Kutty Story

text: Adam (Varun) is a gamer who tries to find the whereabouts of his girlfriend Eve (Sangeetha), whom he met in a video game. The film begins with an interview of Adam, one of the top gamers in the city, and the first to complete the game called Logam. He credits his girlfriend for all the success and says that he dedicates the victory to her. But who is this girlfriend and what does she do? Does this girl exist only in the game or is she real and in love with him as well?


title: Kutty Story

text: Ninja Manick (Vijay Sethupathi) and Kuchu (Aditi Balan) are a happily married couple. However, they go through a bad phase in life after knowing that Manick is cheating on Kuchu. The writing is typical of Nalan's films - characters who are on the grey side of the law, twists where you least expect them, and a bizarre plot. Kuchu impersonates her husband's paramour to confirm that he is indeed having an affair.


title: Kutty Story

text: On 2 September 2020, Vels Film International announced that they were producing an anthology film with directors Gautham Vasudev Menon, A. L. Vijay, Venkat Prabhu and Nalan Kumarasamy being brought on board for the project. The same day, the studio revealed the conceptual promo of the film was titled as "Kutty Love Story". The shooting for the film already wrapped up before the announcement of the series, but the makers did not decipher the details of the lead cast and crew. On 6 September, the makers revealed the official cast and crew members with Gautham Menon, Amala Paul, Vijay Sethupathi, Megha Akash, Amitash Pradhan, Sakshi Agarwal and Varun being roped in for the film. Out of the four films Prabhu's anthology is said to be made in a science-fiction angle with computer graphics being involved.


title: Kutty Story

text: The film features a promotional single titled "Maayangal" composed by Karthik and written by Vivek, which was sung by Karthik, Nakul Abhyankar and Krishna.K. It was released on 10 February 2021. Another song "Nee Naan Nee" composed by Karthik, was featured in the anthology's first segment "Edhirpaara Muththam". The song written by Madhan Karky and sung by Rajaganapathy was released on 22 February 2021. There is also Navz-47 song on the last story.


title: Kutty Story

text: The makers discussed with leading OTT platforms to distribute the film, in order to schedule for a release in December 2020. However, it was later announced that the film will be scheduled for a theatrical release during the Valentine's Day weekend, on 12 February 2021.


title: Kutty Story

text: M. Suganth of "The Times of India" gave 2.5 out of 5 and stated "Except for Nalan Kumarasamy and Gautham Menon's works, the anthology is underwhelming." Ranjani Krishnakumar of "Firstpost" gave 3.5 out of 5 and wrote "Within the constraints of an urban, middle class, heterosexual romance, Kutty Story is an interesting mix of shorts." Srinivasa Ramanujam of "The Hindu" wrote "Nalan Kumarasamy and Gautham Menon deliver what is expected of them in this Tamil anthology, but there’s not much beyond that." Haricharan Pudipeddi of "Hindustan Times" reviewed "Kutty Story is a cocktail of love stories with some quirky twists. Except for Nalan’s refreshing short on male insecurity in a marriage, other shorts come across as promising but never work wholesomely."


title: Kutty Story

text: "Behindwoods" gave the film 2.75 out of 5 and stated "Kutty Story is a worthy romantic anthology with interesting scripts." "Sify" gave a rating of 3 out of 5 stating "Kutty Story's best episode belongs to Nalan Kumarasamy but the rest of the stories fail to excite us much." "Indiaglitz" gave 3 out of 5 to the film stating "Kutty Story with a top notch cast and crew is needless to add that the technical aspects of all the four stories are of the highest quality. Though the stories work within themselves and are also fairly engaging one cannot fault the audiences for expecting much better than whats on show considering the big names involved."


title: Multicollinearity

text: In statistics, multicollinearity (also collinearity) is a phenomenon in which one predictor variable in a multiple regression model can be linearly predicted from the others with a substantial degree of accuracy. In this situation, the coefficient estimates of the multiple regression may change erratically in response to small changes in the model or the data. Multicollinearity does not reduce the predictive power or reliability of the model as a whole, at least within the sample data set; it only affects calculations regarding individual predictors. That is, a multivariate regression model with collinear predictors can indicate how well the entire bundle of predictors predicts the outcome variable, but it may not give valid results about any individual predictor, or about which predictors are redundant with respect to others.


title: Multicollinearity

text: Note that in statements of the assumptions underlying regression analyses such as ordinary least squares, the phrase "no multicollinearity" usually refers to the absence of multicollinearity, which is an exact (non-stochastic) linear relation among the predictors. In such a case, the design matrix formula_1 has less than full rank, and therefore the moment matrix formula_2 cannot be inverted. Under these circumstances, for a general linear model formula_3, the ordinary least squares estimator formula_4 does not exist.


title: Multicollinearity

text: In any case, multicollinearity is a characteristic of the design matrix, not the underlying statistical model.


title: Multicollinearity

text: Collinearity is a linear association between explanatory variables. Two variables are perfectly collinear if there is an exact linear relationship between them. For example, formula_5 and formula_6 are perfectly collinear if there exist parameters formula_7 and formula_8 such that, for all observations "formula_9",


title: Multicollinearity

text: Multicollinearity refers to a situation in which explanatory variables in a multiple regression model are highly linearly related. There is perfect multicollinearity if, for example as in the equation above, the correlation between two independent variables equals 1 or −1. In practice, perfect multicollinearity in a data set is rare. More commonly, the issue of multicollinearity arises when there is an approximate linear relationship among two or more independent variables.


title: Multicollinearity

text: Mathematically, a set of variables is perfectly multicollinear if there exist one or more exact linear relationships among some of the variables. That is, for all observations "formula_9",


title: Multicollinearity

text: where formula_12 are constants and formula_13 is the "formula_14" observation on the "formula_15" explanatory variable.


title: Multicollinearity

text: To explore one issue caused by multicollinearity, consider the process of attempting to obtain estimates for the parameters of the multiple regression equation


title: Multicollinearity

text: is an "formula_19" matrix, where "formula_20" is the number of observations, "formula_21" is the number of explanatory variables, and "formula_22". If there is an exact linear relationship (perfect multicollinearity) among the independent variables, then at least one of the columns of formula_23 is a linear combination of the others, and so the rank of formula_23 (and therefore of formula_2) is less than "formula_26", and the matrix formula_2 will not be invertible.


title: Multicollinearity

text: Perfect multicollinearity is fairly common when working with raw datasets, which frequently contain redundant information. Once redundancies are identified and removed, however, nearly multicollinear variables often remain due to correlations inherent in the system being studied. In such a case, Equation () may be modified to include an error term formula_28:


title: Multicollinearity

text: In this case, there is no exact linear relationship among the variables, but the formula_30 variables are nearly perfectly multicollinear if the variance of formula_28 is small for some set of values for the formula_32's. In this case, the matrix formula_2 has an inverse, but is ill-conditioned so that a given computer algorithm may or may not be able to compute an approximate inverse; if it can, the resulting computed inverse may be highly sensitive to slight variations in the data (due to magnified effects of either rounding error or slight variations in the sampled data points) and so may be inaccurate or sample-dependent.


title: Multicollinearity

text: One consequence of a high degree of multicollinearity is that, even if the matrix formula_2 is invertible, a computer algorithm may be unsuccessful in obtaining an approximate inverse, and if it does obtain one, the inverse may be numerically inaccurate. But even in the presence of an accurate formula_2 matrix, the following consequences arise.


title: Multicollinearity

text: The usual interpretation of a regression coefficient is that it estimates the effect of a one-unit change in an independent variable, formula_39, holding the other variables constant. In the presence of multicollinearity, this tends to be less precise than if predictors were uncorrelated with one another. If formula_39 is highly correlated with another independent variable formula_41 in the given data set, then formula_39 and formula_41 have a particular linear stochastic relationship in the set. In other words, changes in formula_39 are "not" independent of changes in formula_41. This correlation creates an imprecise estimate of the effect of independent changes in formula_39.


title: Multicollinearity

text: In some sense, the collinear variables contain the same information about the dependent variable. If nominally "different" measures quantify the same phenomenon, then they are redundant. Alternatively, if the variables are accorded different names and perhaps employ different numeric measurement scales but are highly correlated with each other, then they suffer from redundancy.


title: Multicollinearity

text: One of the features of multicollinearity is that the standard errors of the affected coefficients tend to be large. In this case, the test of the hypothesis that the coefficient is equal to zero may lead to a failure to reject a false null hypothesis of no effect of the explanator, a type II error.


title: Multicollinearity

text: Another issue with multicollinearity is that small changes to the input data can lead to large changes in the model, even resulting in changes in the sign of parameter estimates.


title: Multicollinearity

text: A principal danger of such data redundancy is overfitting in regression analysis models. The best regression models are those in which the predictor variables each correlate highly with the dependent variable (outcome) but correlate only minimally with each other. Such a model is often called "low noise" and will be statistically robust (that is, it will predict reliably across numerous samples of variable sets drawn from the same statistical population).


title: Multicollinearity

text: So long as the underlying specification is correct, multicollinearity does not bias results; it just produces large standard errors in the related independent variables. More importantly, the usual use of regression is to take coefficients from the model and then apply them to other data. Since multicollinearity causes imprecise estimates of coefficient values, the resulting out-of-sample predictions will also be imprecise. And if the pattern of multicollinearity in the new data differs from that in the data that was fitted, such extrapolation may introduce large errors in the predictions.


title: Multicollinearity

text: However, if the underlying specification is anything less than complete and correct, multicollinearity amplifies misspecification biases. Even though not often recognized in methods texts, this is a common problem in the social sciences where a complete, correct specification of an OLS regression model is rarely known and at least some relevant variables will be unobservable. As a result, the estimated coefficients of correlated independent variables in an OLS regression will be biased by multicollinearity. As the correlation approaches one, the coefficient estimates will misleadingly tend toward infinite magnitudes in opposite directions, even if the variables’ true effects are small and of the same sign.


title: Multicollinearity

text: Strongly correlated predictor variables appear naturally as a group. Their collective impact on the response variable can be measured by group effects. For a group of predictor variables formula_51, a group effect is defined as a linear combination of their parameters:


title: Multicollinearity

text: where formula_53 is a weight vector satisfying formula_54. It has an interpretation as the expected change in the response variable formula_55 when variables in the group formula_56 change by the amount formula_57, respectively, at the same time with variables not in the group held constant. Group effects generalize the individual effects in that (1) if formula_58, then the group effect reduces to an individual effect, and (2) if formula_59 and formula_60 for formula_61, then the group effect also reduces to an individual effect. A group effect is said to be meaningful if the underlying simultaneous changes of the formula_62 variables represented by the weight vector formula_63 are probable. When formula_51 is a group of strongly correlated variables, formula_65 is not meaningful as a group effect since its underlying simultaneous changes represented by formula_66 are not probable. This is because, due to their strong correlations, it is unlikely that other variables in the group will remain unchanged when formula_67 increases by one unit. This observation also applies to parameters of other variables in the group.


title: Multicollinearity

text: For strongly correlated predictor variables, group effects that are not meaningful, such as the formula_68's, cannot be accurately estimated by the least squares regression. On the other hand, meaningful group effects can be accurately estimated by the least squares regression. This shows that strongly correlated predictor variables should be handled as a group, and multicollinearity is not a problem at the group level. For a discussion on how to identify meaningful group effects, see linear regression.


title: Multicollinearity

text: Multicollinearity may represent a serious issue in survival analysis. The problem is that time-varying covariates may change their value over the timeline of the study. A special procedure is recommended to assess the impact of multicollinearity on the results.


title: Multicollinearity

text: In various situations, it might be hypothesized that multiple interest rates of various terms to maturity all influence some economic decision, such as the amount of money or some other financial asset to hold, or the amount of fixed investment spending to engage in. In this case, including these various interest rates will in general create a substantial multicollinearity problem because interest rates tend to move together. If each of the interest rates has its separate effect on the dependent variable, it can be extremely difficult to separate out their effects.


title: Multicollinearity

text: The bias-amplifying combination of multicollinearity and misspecification may occur when studies attempt to tease out the effects of two independent variables that (1) are linked by a substantive common factor, and (2) contain unobservable but substantive components (not mere error terms) that are orthogonal to the common factor and that affect the dependent variable separately from any effect of the common factor.


title: Multicollinearity

text: For example, studies sometimes include the same variable twice in a regression, measured at two different points in time. A time-invariant factor common to both variables causes the multicollinearity, while the unobservable nature of the common factor or the time-specific orthogonal components causes the misspecification. The same structure may apply to other substantive variable pairs with a common factor such as two types of knowledge, intelligence, conflict, or financial measures (such as the interest rates mentioned above).


title: Multicollinearity

text: The two main implications of the presence of such common factors among independent variables of a regression analysis are that, as the correlation of independent variables approaches one due to a sizeable common factor, (1) their coefficient estimates will misleadingly tend toward infinite magnitudes in opposite directions, even if the variables’ true effects are small and of the same sign, and (2) the magnitudes of the biased coefficients will be amplified at a similar pace to the standard errors and therefore t-statistics may remain artificially large. Counter-intuitive type I errors are a likely result, rather than the type II errors typically associated with multicollinearity.


title: Multicollinearity

text: To convince readers that this form of multicollinearity is not biasing results, studies should not merely "drop" one of the collinear variables. Rather, they should present separate regression results with each of the collinear variables in isolation followed by a regression that contains both variables. Consistent coefficient signs and magnitudes across these specifications represent strong evidence that common-factor multicollinearity is not biasing results.


title: Multicollinearity

text: The concept of "lateral collinearity" expands on the traditional view of multicollinearity, comprising also collinearity between explanatory and criteria (i.e., explained) variables, in the sense that they may be measuring almost the same thing as each other.


title: Stingray phone tracker

text: The StingRay is an IMSI-catcher, a cellular phone surveillance device, manufactured by Harris Corporation. Initially developed for the military and intelligence community, the StingRay and similar Harris devices are in widespread use by local and state law enforcement agencies across Canada, the United States, and in the United Kingdom. Stingray has also become a generic name to describe these kinds of devices.


title: Stingray phone tracker

text: The StingRay is an IMSI-catcher with both passive (digital analyzer) and active (cell-site simulator) capabilities. When operating in active mode, the device mimics a wireless carrier cell tower in order to force all nearby mobile phones and other cellular data devices to connect to it.


title: Stingray phone tracker

text: The StingRay family of devices can be mounted in vehicles, on airplanes, helicopters and unmanned aerial vehicles. Hand-carried versions are referred to under the trade name KingFish.


title: Stingray phone tracker

text: In active mode, the StingRay will force each compatible cellular device in a given area to disconnect from its service provider cell site (e.g., operated by Verizon, AT&T, etc.) and establish a new connection with the StingRay. In most cases, this is accomplished by having the StingRay broadcast a pilot signal that is either stronger than, or made to appear stronger than, the pilot signals being broadcast by legitimate cell sites operating in the area. A common function of all cellular communications protocols is to have the cellular device connect to the cell site offering the strongest signal. StingRays exploit this function as a means to force temporary connections with cellular devices within a limited area.


title: Stingray phone tracker

text: During the process of forcing connections from all compatible cellular devices in a given area, the StingRay operator needs to determine which device is the desired surveillance target. This is accomplished by downloading the IMSI, ESN, or other identifying data from each of the devices connected to the StingRay. In this context, the IMSI or equivalent identifier is not obtained from the cellular service provider or from any other third-party. The StingRay downloads this data directly from the device using radio waves.


title: Stingray phone tracker

text: In some cases, the IMSI or equivalent identifier of a target device is known to the StingRay operator beforehand. When this is the case, the operator will download the IMSI or equivalent identifier from each device as it connects to the StingRay. When the downloaded IMSI matches the known IMSI of the desired target, the dragnet will end and the operator will proceed to conduct specific surveillance operations on just the target device.


title: Stingray phone tracker

text: In other cases, the IMSI or equivalent identifier of a target is not known to the StingRay operator and the goal of the surveillance operation is to identify one or more cellular devices being used in a known area. For example, if visual surveillance is being conducted on a group of protestors, a StingRay can be used to download the IMSI or equivalent identifier from each phone within the protest area. After identifying the phones, locating and tracking operations can be conducted, and service providers can be forced to turn over account information identifying the phone users.