title: Histidine

text: The conjugate acid (protonated form) of the imidazole side chain in histidine has a p"K" of approximately 6.0. Thus, below a pH of 6, the imidazole ring is mostly protonated (as described by the Henderson–Hasselbalch equation). The resulting imidazolium ring bears two NH bonds and has a positive charge. The positive charge is equally distributed between both nitrogens and can be represented with two equally important resonance structures. Sometimes, the symbol Hip is used for this protonated form instead of the usual His. Above pH 6, one of the two protons is lost. The remaining proton of the imidazole ring can reside on either nitrogen, giving rise to what are known as the N1-H or N3-H tautomers. The N3-H tautomer is shown in the figure above. In the N1-H tautomer, the NH is nearer the backbone. These neutral tautomers, also referred to as Nδ and Nε, are sometimes referred to with symbols Hid and Hie, respectively. The imidazole/imidazolium ring of histidine is aromatic at all pH values.


title: Histidine

text: The acid-base properties of the imidazole side chain are relevant to the catalytic mechanism of many enzymes. In catalytic triads, the basic nitrogen of histidine abstracts a proton from serine, threonine, or cysteine to activate it as a nucleophile. In a histidine proton shuttle, histidine is used to quickly shuttle protons. It can do this by abstracting a proton with its basic nitrogen to make a positively charged intermediate and then use another molecule, a buffer, to extract the proton from its acidic nitrogen. In carbonic anhydrases, a histidine proton shuttle is utilized to rapidly shuttle protons away from a zinc-bound water molecule to quickly regenerate the active form of the enzyme. In helices E and F of haemoglobin, histidine influences binding of dioxygen as well as carbon monoxide. This interaction enhances the affinity of Fe(II) for O2 but destabilizes the binding of CO, which binds only 200 times stronger in haemoglobin, compared to 20,000 times stronger in free haem.


title: Histidine

text: The tautomerism and acid-base properties of the imidazole side chain has been characterized by N NMR spectroscopy. The two N chemical shifts are similar (about 200 ppm, relative to nitric acid on the sigma scale, on which increased shielding corresponds to increased chemical shift). NMR spectral measurements shows that the chemical shift of N1-H drops slightly, whereas the chemical shift of N3-H drops considerably (about 190 vs. 145 ppm). This change indicates that the N1-H tautomer is preferred, possibly due to hydrogen bonding to the neighboring ammonium. The shielding at N3 is substantially reduced due to the second-order paramagnetic effect, which involves a symmetry-allowed interaction between the nitrogen lone pair and the excited π* states of the aromatic ring. At pH > 9, the chemical shifts of N1 and N3 are approximately 185 and 170 ppm.


title: Histidine

text: Histidine forms complexes with many metal ions. The imidazole sidechain of the histidine residue commonly serves as a ligand in metalloproteins. One example is the axial base attached to Fe in myoglobin and hemoglobin. Poly-histidine tags (of six or more consecutive H residues) are utilized for protein purification by binding to columns with nickel or cobalt, with micromolar affinity. Natural poly-histidine peptides, found in the venom of the viper "Atheris squamigera" have been shown to bind Zn(2+), Ni(2+) and Cu(2+) and affect the function of venom metalloproteases.


title: Histidine

text: -Histidine is an essential amino acid that is not synthesized "de novo" in humans. Humans and other animals must ingest histidine or histidine-containing proteins. The biosynthesis of histidine has been widely studied in prokaryotes such as "E. coli". Histidine synthesis in "E. coli" involves eight gene products (His1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8) and it occurs in ten steps. This is possible because a single gene product has the ability to catalyze more than one reaction. For example, as shown in the pathway, His4 catalyzes 4 different steps in the pathway.


title: Histidine

text: Histidine is synthesized from phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate (PRPP), which is made from ribose-5-phosphate by ribose-phosphate diphosphokinase in the pentose phosphate pathway. The first reaction of histidine biosynthesis is the condensation of PRPP and adenosine triphosphate (ATP) by the enzyme ATP-phosphoribosyl transferase. ATP-phosphoribosyl transferase is indicated by His1 in the image. His4 gene product then hydrolyzes the product of the condensation, phosphoribosyl-ATP, producing phosphoribosyl-AMP (PRAMP), which is an irreversible step. His4 then catalyzes the formation of phosphoribosylformiminoAICAR-phosphate, which is then converted to phosphoribulosylformimino-AICAR-P by the His6 gene product. His7 splits phosphoribulosylformimino-AICAR-P to form -erythro-imidazole-glycerol-phosphate. After, His3 forms imidazole acetol-phosphate releasing water. His5 then makes -histidinol-phosphate, which is then hydrolyzed by His2 making histidinol. His4 catalyzes the oxidation of -histidinol to form -histidinal, an amino aldehyde. In the last step, -histidinal is converted to -histidine.


title: Histidine

text: Just like animals and microorganisms, plants need histidine for their growth and development. Microorganisms and plants are similar in that they can synthesize histidine. Both synthesize histidine from the biochemical intermediate phosphoribosyl pyrophosphate. In general, the histidine biosynthesis is very similar in plants and microorganisms.


title: Histidine

text: This pathway requires energy in order to occur therefore, the presence of ATP activates the first enzyme of the pathway, ATP-phosphoribosyl transferase (shown as His1 in the image on the right). ATP-phosphoribosyl transferase is the rate determining enzyme, which is regulated through feedback inhibition meaning that it is inhibited in the presence of the product, histidine.


title: Histidine

text: Histidine is one of the amino acids that can be converted to intermediates of the tricarboxylic acid (TCA) cycle (also known as the citric acid cycle). Histidine, along with other amino acids such as proline and arginine, takes part in deamination, a process in which its amino group is removed. In prokaryotes, histidine is first converted to urocanate by histidase. Then, urocanase converts urocanate to 4-imidazolone-5-propionate. Imidazolonepropionase catalyzes the reaction to form formiminoglutamate (FIGLU) from 4-imidazolone-5-propionate. The formimino group is transferred to tetrahydrofolate, and the remaining five carbons form glutamate. Overall, these reactions result in the formation of glutamate and ammonia. Glutamate can then be deaminated by glutamate dehydrogenase or transaminated to form α-ketoglutarate.


title: Histidine

text: The Food and Nutrition Board (FNB) of the U.S. Institute of Medicine set Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDAs) for essential amino acids in 2002. For histidine, for adults 19 years and older, 14 mg/kg body weight/day. Supplemental histidine is being investigated for use in a variety of different conditions, including neurological disorders, atopic dermatitis, metabolic syndrome, diabetes, uraemic anaemia, ulcers, inflammatory bowel diseases, malignancies, and muscle performance during strenuous exercise.


title: Helicopter carrier

text: A helicopter carrier is a type of aircraft carrier whose primary purpose is to operate helicopters, and has a large flight deck that occupies a substantial part of the deck, which can extend the full length of the ship like of the Royal Navy (RN), or extend only partway, usually aft, as in the Soviet Navy's or in the Chinese Navy's Type 0891A. It often also has a hangar deck for the storage of aircraft.


title: Helicopter carrier

text: Pure helicopter carriers are difficult to define in the 21st century. The advent of STOVL aircraft such as the Harrier jump jet, and now the F-35, have complicated the classification; the United States Navy's , for instance, carries six to eight Harriers as well as over 20 helicopters. Only smaller carriers unable to operate the Harrier and older pre-Harrier-era carriers can be regarded as true helicopter carriers. In many cases, other carriers, able to operate STOVL aircraft, are classified as "light aircraft carriers". Other vessels, such as the "Wasp" class, are also capable of embarking troops such as marines and landing them ashore; they are classified as amphibious assault ships.


title: Bang Bang (Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj song)

text: "Bang Bang" is a song by recording artists Jessie J, Ariana Grande and Nicki Minaj. It was written by Max Martin, Savan Kotecha, Rickard Göransson, Grande and Minaj. It was produced by Martin, Göransson, and Ilya, with Kuk Harrell serving as a vocal producer. The song was first sent to hot adult contemporary radio on 28 July 2014 through Republic Records and released as a digital download the next day by Lava and Republic Records as the lead single from Jessie J's third studio album "Sweet Talker" (2014). It is also included on the deluxe version of Grande's second studio album "My Everything" (2014), serving as the third single from that album.


text: "Bang Bang" debuted at number six and later peaked to number three on the US "Billboard" Hot 100. It debuted at number one in the United Kingdom becoming Jessie's third number one, Grande's second number one debut that year, and marked Minaj's first number one single on the chart. The song reached the top ten in multiple other countries including Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, and South Korea. The song received universal acclaim for Jessie and Grande's vocal performance, its production, and Minaj's verse. "Bang Bang" was nominated for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance at the 57th Grammy Awards in 2015 and won Favorite Song of the Year at the 2015 Kids' Choice Awards. In February 2021, "Bang Bang" was certified eight-times platinum by the RIAA, and has sold 3.5 million copies in the US since its release.


text: The song was written by Savan Kotecha, Ariana Grande, Max Martin, and Carolina Liar guitarist Rickard Göransson, while the latter two co-produced it with Ilya Salmanzadeh. Minaj added her rap later. Martin had already previously collaborated with Jessie J ("Domino"), Grande ("Problem", "Break Free"), and Minaj ("Va Va Voom", "").


text: The song was originally offered to and recorded by Grande, who didn't like the result. Republic Records EVP Wendy Goldstein then sent it to EVP Rob Stevenson who got a demo of the song played to Jessie J, which she decided to record. Following her recording, Republic Records sent it to Minaj to record her verse. Goldstein then sent it to CEO Monte Lipman, who insisted that Grande listen to it. Grande was impressed, surprised by Jessie J and Minaj also being on the song, and agreed to remain on the song. However, in interviews, Jessie J stated she recorded it first and that Martin wanted Grande on it too, so it is unclear if Jessie bent the truth or was not told by executives that Grande was first to record.


text: Jessie later said that "It was like a real females, coming together, empowering, supportive [vibe], and then Nicki jumping on it was like the icing on the cake."


text: On various dates in July 2014, each of the artists uploaded snippets of the song on each of their Instagram profiles: Jessie J on 9 July, Minaj on 23 July, and Grande on 4 July.


text: "Bang Bang" is an up-tempo, "soulful" song, that features a "clap-heavy" production, built over "big bouncy beats and horn blasts." The song mixes pop with Minaj's rap verses making it a hip pop song. It's in the key of C Mixolydian mode, with the vocals making use of the C blues scale. The tempo is 150 BPM (Allegro). The melody of the chorus has been compared to the melody of the first line of "Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go" by Wham!.


text: "Bang Bang" received widespread acclaim from critics. Rob Sheffield of "Rolling Stone" called the song a "perfect Max Martin throwdown" that "fuses Nelly's 'Country Grammar' with Wham!'s 'Wake Me Up Before You Go-Go,' which is some truly twisted pop archaeology."


text: Carolyn Menyes from "Music Times" called the song "[a] Huge successful hit of Summer 2014" and thought that "[the] song is going straight to the top of the charts." Zach Frydenlund from "Complex" praised Jessie J's and Ariana's heavenly vocals in the song but concentrated more on Nicki's "catchy killer verse" stating that "it's Nicki who really steals the show with her verse". Jason Lipshutz from "Billboard" responded positively to the song, saying that the song itself "[is] composed of piercing vocals courtesy of two contemporary crooners, as well as rapid-fire spitting from the hottest female MC on the planet, "Bang Bang" rests tidily upon the Jessie J assertion, "See anybody could be good to you/You need a bad girl to blow your mind."


text: Vulture's Lindsey Weber thought the song was "no 'Lady Marmalade,'" but praised it saying "it's catchy enough to make a splash.” Chris Martins from "Spin" stated that the song is "powerful", and credits Minaj for the song's noteworthy energy. "What makes the track so big? Well, um, ask Nicki Minaj." He goes on to further praise Minaj's performance on the song, affirming that "The 'Anaconda'-taming MC rips a few mics on the loud and proud pop-soul song." Lewis Corner from Digital Spy gave the song four and a half stars out of five and said that is "one of the year's most electrifying pop anthems."


text: In the United States, "Bang Bang" debuted atop the "Billboard" Digital Songs chart selling 230,000 digital downloads in the week ending August 3, 2014, becoming Grande's and Minaj's second chart-topper there, and Jessie J's first. Its first-week sales also marked the third-largest sales debut for a song in 2014, behind Grande's own "Problem" and Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off", both of which were co-written by Max Martin. The song launched on the US "Billboard" Hot 100 at number six, making it the second-highest new entry of 2014 on that chart at the time, also behind Grande's "Problem". The song marked Jessie J's second, Grande's third, and Minaj's tenth top ten single in the United States. It also became Grande's second consecutive top ten hit of 2014, after "Problem" which peaked at number two for five weeks. In its second week on the Hot 100, "Bang Bang" slid down to number nine selling an additional 141,000 digital downloads. The song rebounded following the release of its music video and reached a peak of number three, holding that position for two non-consecutive weeks, being kept off the top spot by Meghan Trainor's "All About That Bass" and Swift's "Shake It Off". Overall, "Bang Bang" spent sixteen consecutive weeks in the top ten, and a total of 31 weeks charting on the Hot 100.


text: On "Billboard"'s Mainstream Top 40 (Pop Songs) chart, the song debuted at number 19 and reached a peak of number two, becoming Jessie J's highest hit single since her 2012 single "Domino" also peaked at number two there. The song became Grande's second-highest peak at the time after "Problem" topped the chart. It also was Minaj's third number-two hit on that chart after her collaborations with Justin Bieber on "Beauty and a Beat" and David Guetta on "Turn Me On". Grande and Minaj would later reach number one with "Side to Side" in 2016. On the Streaming Songs chart, the song debuted at number 21 registering 3 million streams in its first week, and reached the top position on the issue dated 13 September 2014. In Canada, the single peaked at number three on the Canadian Hot 100, equaling "Problem" as Grande's highest peak in the country at the time. The song was later certified triple platinum in March 2015 for selling over 240,000 units there.


text: In the United Kingdom, "Bang Bang" debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart with 92,000 downloads, becoming Jessie J's third, Grande's second, and Minaj's first number-one single in the country. It consequently became the first song by a lead female rapper to debut at the top spot, and the third song by a female rapper to reach number one overall since Missy Elliott's feature on "I Want You Back" in 1998 and Lil' Kim's feature on "Lady Marmalade" in 2001. The single has since been certified double platinum by the BPI for shipments of over 1.2 million copies in the United Kingdom. On the Irish Singles Chart, the track reached number three. In Australia, "Bang Bang" peaked at number four on the Australian ARIA Charts, her third consecutive top-five single there. It also peaked at number one on the Urban Singles Chart and was certified triple platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association (ARIA) for shipments of over 210,000 copies. Internationally, the song has also peaked within the top ten of the charts in Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Israel, Netherlands, New Zealand, Scotland, and South Korea.


text: The song's accompanying video was shot over two days in Los Angeles, California, and was directed by Hannah Lux Davis. The video was officially previewed and teased in a Beats by Dr. Dre commercial that aired on 20 August 2014. Following the ad's airing, it was announced that the music video would arrive shortly after the trio's performance at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards. On 24 August 2014, the official video was uploaded on MTV's website and was available for international viewing. On 25 August 2014, the video was released via Jessie J's Vevo account and was Vevo-certified on 5 November, having surpassed 110 million views.


text: Jessie J, Ariana Grande, and Nicki Minaj performed the song together at the 2014 MTV Video Music Awards on 24 August 2014, in Inglewood, California alongside Grande's song Break Free and Minaj's single Anaconda, and at the 2014 American Music Awards on 23 November 2014 in Los Angeles, California. She also performed the song with Minaj at the NBA All-Star Game halftime show on 15 February 2015, as well as at the iHeartRadio Music Festival. Grande and Minaj performed the song in April 2019 at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival despite there being audio problems with Minaj's mic.


text: Grande performed the song by herself at the 2014 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in London, UK on 9 December 2014 and during her international tour, "The Honeymoon Tour". Since the start of the Dangerous Woman Tour, Grande has also performed the song herself throughout her international tour that started in early February. On 18 April 2020, Jessie J performed the song by herself in "" in her house during the COVID-19 pandemic. In November 2014, Grande performed the song with Little Big Town at the 48th Annual Country Music Association Awards.


title: Jindal Steel and Power

text: Jindal Steel and Power Limited (JSPL) is an Indian steel company based in New Delhi. JSPL is a part of OP Jindal Group, and a leading player in steel, mining, and infrastructure in India. The company produces steel through backward integration from its own captive coal and iron-ore mines.


title: Jindal Steel and Power

text: In terms of tonnage, it is the third largest private steel producer in India and only private player in India to produce rails. The company manufactures and sells sponge iron, mild steel slabs, rails, mild steel, structural, hot rolled plates, iron ore pellets and coils. Jindal Steel and Power set up the world's first coal-gasification based DRI plant at Angul, Odisha that uses the locally available high-ash coal and turns it into synthesis gas for steel making, reducing the dependence on imported coke-rich coal.


title: Jindal Steel and Power

text: JSPL's Raigarh plant is the world's largest coal-based sponge iron manufacturing facility in the world, with up to 3.6 million tonnes per annum (MTPA) steel production capacity. It has an installed 299 MW captive power plant (CPP) at Raigarh and a 540 MW CPP at Dongamauha, district Raigarh, Chhattisgarh.


title: Jindal Steel and Power

text: Equipped with in-house Design & Engineering and Quality Assurance facilities, JSPL's heavy machinery division in Raipur has expanded its manufacturing capacity & capabilities to meet the critical requirements of the industry. The division has ISO:9001:2015, ISO:14001:2015 & OHSAS18001:2007 & ISO 50001:2011 certification.


title: Jindal Steel and Power

text: Jindal Steel and Power operates India's Most Modern 6 MTPA Integrated Steel Plant at Angul – Odisha, consisting of a 4.25 MTPA Blast Furnace. The Integrated Steel Plant initially envisaged as the country's first steel plant to be based on purely locally available raw material, involved setting up the world's largest Coal Gasification Plant (CGP) for Steelmaking through the DRI (Direct Reduced Iron) route.


title: Jindal Steel and Power

text: JSPL has a 6 MTPA integrated state-of-the-art steel plant at Angul, Odisha. It has a 1.2 MTPA plate mill, 1.5 MTPA Bar Mill and 810 MW captive power plant at Angul. Its plate mill is capable of producing 5-meter-wide plates, which is the widest plate ever built in India. The facility develops special grade plates for various critical applications like boilers, petroleum pipes, shipbuilding, automotive, oil exploration, earthmovers, warships, armoured vehicles and nuclear applications.


title: Jindal Steel and Power

text: Recently Union steel minister Ram Chandra Prasad Singh inaugurated Jindal Steel's 1.4 MTPA TMT rebar mill at its integrated complex in Odisha's Angul district.


title: Jindal Steel and Power

text: The plant's production capacity will soon be expanded from 6 MTPA to 25.2 MTPA making it the largest single-location steel plant capacity in the world as per an announcement made by Naveen Jindal.


title: Jindal Steel and Power

text: JSPL's pellet plant at Barbil has a total installed capacity of 9 MTPA production for different pellet grades. The plant includes a dry grinding facility that harnesses the recuperation type of straight grate technology.


title: Jindal Steel and Power

text: Jindal Steel & Power has established a 1.6 MTPA capacity steel plant at Patratu, Jharkhand. The company plans to establish other industrial projects in this region as well.


title: Jindal Steel and Power

text: JSPL's manufacturing facility at Patratu, Jharkhand has a total finished steel capacity of 1.6 MTPA. The company operates a Wire Rod Mill (0.6 MTPA) and a Bar Rod Mill (1MTPA), along with a rebar service centre. These mills are equipped with the latest technology to offer high-quality products like TMT Rebars, Rounds, Angles, Wire Rods, and other ready-to-use products like Weld Mesh, Cut and Bend Rebars.


title: Jindal Steel and Power

text: The equity shares of JSPL are listed on the Bombay Stock Exchange and the National Stock Exchange of India.


title: Jindal Steel and Power

text: Shareholding: On 31 March 2022, the promoter group Jindal Group held 60.5% of its equity shares. 27% of the shares were owned by the Institutional Investors. Public shareholders own approx. 12.5% of its shares.


title: Jindal Steel and Power

text: Jindal Panther TMT RebarsJSPL has forayed into construction retail industry with the launch of Jindal Panther TMT Rebars for the housing segment. These rebars are manufactured in 1.0 MTPA capacity TMT Rebar mill at Patratu, Jharkhand, supplied by Siemens.


title: Jindal Steel and Power

text: Jindal Institute of Power Technology (JIPT)JIPT was established to develop a pool of technically trained power plant professionals for power utilities of India and abroad. The course authorizes the pass outs to operate or undertake maintenance of any part or whole of a generating stations of capacity 100 MW & above together with the associated sub stations. It is recognized by Central Electricity Authority (CEA), Ministry of Power as Category-l Institute.


title: Jindal Steel and Power

text: It is promoted by Jindal Education & Welfare Society, which is supported by Jindal Power Limited. The Institute possesses a simulator of 250 MW/600 MW generating units. JIPT is located in the 4X250, 4X600 MW Jindal Tamnar Thermal Power Plant in Tamnar, Raigarh, Chhattisgarh.


title: Jindal Steel and Power

text: Iron ore reserve mining in BoliviaOn 3 June 2006, Bolivia granted development rights for one of the world's largest iron ore reserves in the El Mutún region to Jindal Steel. With an initial investment of US$1.5 billion, the company plans to invest an additional US$2.1 billion over the next eight years in the South American country.


title: Jindal Steel and Power

text: Jindal Steel is likely to terminate the contract of investing $2.1 billion in setting up a steel plant in Bolivia, due to non-fulfilment of contractual obligations by the Bolivian Government.


title: Nubian pyramids

text: The Nubian pyramids were built by the rulers of the ancient Kushite kingdoms. The area of the Nile valley known as Nubia, which lies within the north of present-day Sudan, was the site of three Kushite kingdoms during antiquity. The capital of the first was at Kerma (2500–1500 BCE). The second was centered on Napata (1000–300 BCE). The third kingdom was centered on Meroë (300 BCE-AD 300). The pyramids are built of granite and sandstone.


title: Nubian pyramids

text: Heavily influenced by the Egyptians, Nubian kings built their own pyramids 1000 years after Egyptian burial methods had changed. In Nubia, pyramids were built for the first time at El Kurru in 751 BC. The Nubian-style pyramids emulated a form of Egyptian private elite family pyramid that was common during the New Kingdom. There are twice as many Nubian pyramids still standing today as there are Egyptian. Forty of the pyramids were partially demolished by an Italian treasure hunter, Giuseppe Ferlini, in the 1830s. The Nubian pyramids are a UNESCO World Heritage Site.


title: Nubian pyramids

text: The Nubian pyramids were built over a period of a few hundred years to serve as tombs for the kings and queens and wealthy citizens of Napata and Meroë.


title: Nubian pyramids

text: The first of these was built at the site of el-Kurru, including the tombs of King Kashta and his son Piye, together with Piye's successors Shabaka, Shabataka, and Tanwetamani. Fourteen pyramids were constructed for their queens, several of whom were renowned warrior queens. This can be compared to approximately 120 much larger pyramids that were constructed in Ancient Egypt over a period of 3000 years.


title: Nubian pyramids

text: Later Napatan pyramids were sited at Nuri, north on the opposite bank of the Nile. This necropolis was the burial place of 21 kings and 52 queens and princes including Anlami and Aspelta. The bodies of these kings were placed in huge granite sarcophagi. Aspelta's weighed 15.5 tons, and its lid weighed four tons. The oldest and largest pyramid at Nuri is that of the Napatan king and Twenty-fifth Dynasty pharaoh Taharqa.


title: Nubian pyramids

text: The most extensive Nubian pyramid site is at Meroë, which is located between the fifth and sixth cataracts of the Nile, approximately north of Khartoum. During the Meroitic period, over forty queens and kings were buried there.


title: Nubian pyramids

text: The physical proportions of Nubian pyramids differ markedly from the Egyptian edifices: they are built of stepped courses of horizontally positioned stone blocks and range approximately in height, but rise from fairly small foundation footprints, resulting in tall, narrow structures inclined at approximately 70°. Most also have offering temple structures abutting their base with unique Kushite characteristics. By comparison, Egyptian pyramids of similar height generally had foundation footprints that were at least five times larger and were inclined at angles between 40–50°.


title: Nubian pyramids

text: The tombs inside the pyramids of Nubia were plundered in ancient times. Wall reliefs preserved in the tomb chapels reveal that their royal occupants were mummified, covered with jewellery and laid to rest in wooden mummy cases. At the time of their exploration by archaeologists in the 19th and 20th centuries, some pyramids were found to contain the remains of bows, quivers of arrows, archers' thumb rings, horse harnesses, wooden boxes, furniture, pottery, colored glass, metal vessels, and many other artefacts attesting to extensive Meroitic trade with Egypt and the Hellenistic world.


title: Nubian pyramids

text: A pyramid excavated at Meroë included hundreds of heavy items such as large blocks decorated with rock art and 390 stones that comprised the pyramid. A cow buried complete with eye ointment was also unearthed in the area to be flooded by the Meroë Dam, as were ringing rocks that were tapped to create a melodic sound.


title: Nubian pyramids

text: In the 1830s Giuseppe Ferlini came to Meroe seeking treasure and raided and demolished a number of pyramids which had been found “in good conditions” by Frédéric Cailliaud just a few years earlier. At Wad ban Naqa, he leveled the pyramid N6 of the "kandake" Amanishakheto starting from the top, and finally found her treasure composed of dozens of gold and silver jewelry pieces. Overall, he is considered responsible for the destruction of over 40 pyramids.<br>


title: Nubian pyramids

text: Having found the treasure he was looking for, in 1836 Ferlini returned home. A year later he wrote a report of his expedition containing a catalog of his findings, which was translated in French and republished in 1838. He tried to sell the treasure, but at this time nobody believed that such high quality jewellery could be made in Sub-Saharan Africa. His finds were finally sold in Germany: part of these were purchased by king Ludwig I of Bavaria and are now in the State Museum of Egyptian Art of Munich, while the remaining – under suggestions of Karl Richard Lepsius and of Christian Charles Josias von Bunsen – was bought by the Egyptian Museum of Berlin where it still is.


title: Nubian pyramids

text: George Reisner, a Harvard archaeologist, investigated the pyramids at Nuri and mapped more than 80 royal Kushite burials in 1916–1919. Reisner started to explore burial chambers but he found they were flooded by the rising water table. He abandoned further excavation because he thought it was too dangerous, probably because a collapse of a staircase had killed five of his workers. Some of his findings were published in 1955.


title: Nubian pyramids

text: National Geographic funded explorations from 2015 to 2019 using underwater scuba diving equipment and remote controlled robots.


title: Seventh Star

text: Seventh Star is the twelfth studio album by English heavy metal band Black Sabbath. Released in January 1986, it features founding guitarist Tony Iommi alongside musicians Geoff Nicholls, Eric Singer, and Dave Spitz, playing keyboards, drums, and bass, respectively, and Glenn Hughes, ex-Deep Purple and ex-Trapeze vocalist, as lead singer. The album was the group's first release without bassist and primary lyricist Geezer Butler, who left the band in 1984 after the "Born Again" tour. It was originally written, recorded, and intended to be the first solo album by Iommi. Because of the pressures from Warner Bros. Records and the prompting of band manager Don Arden, the record was billed as "Black Sabbath featuring Tony Iommi". Later releases label the album as simply by "Black Sabbath". Despite the issues behind the release's production, it earned moderate commercial success, reaching #27 in the UK and #78 on the "Billboard" 200 chart.


title: Seventh Star

text: As was the case with its predecessor, "Born Again", this album was not intended to be a Black Sabbath record. Last-minute pressure from Warner Bros. stemmed from the belief that it was likely to sell more with the famous name. Its sound is a drastic (and intentional) departure from the trademark Sabbath sound. Many of the songs have a very hard rock sound, while some contain a bluesy feel (especially "Heart Like a Wheel"). "Seventh Star" was the first album to feature long-time keyboardist Geoff Nicholls as an official band member.


title: Seventh Star

text: "It seemed to me like the band was on its last legs and my heart just went out to Tony," recalled former drummer Bill Ward. "I thought, 'God, how much more can he take?' or 'How much more does he want?'… What I saw was a great band I just felt was diminishing."


title: Seventh Star

text: The promo-single and video version of "No Stranger to Love" had additional harmony vocals added by Hughes to make it more "radio-friendly". Actress Denise Crosby, who would later portray Tasha Yar in "", was featured in the video.


title: Seventh Star

text: A tour for the album featured Hughes only at the first few shows. He was fired five dates into the tour, and replaced by Ray Gillen, who completed the North American and European legs of the tour, though several dates in the US were cancelled. W.A.S.P. and Anthrax were opening acts on the North American tour.


title: Seventh Star

text: Hughes has performed "No Stranger to Love", "Seventh Star" and "Heart Like a Wheel" at some of his live concerts. "I really like "Seventh Star"," Tony Martin told Sabbath fanzine "Southern Cross", "mainly because I admire Glenn Hughes' voice."


title: Seventh Star

text: "Seventh Star" was rereleased in Europe on 1 November 2010, as a two-disc special edition. Disc 2 includes a concert recorded in 1986, with Gillen on vocals. The single version of "No Stranger to Love" is a bonus track on disc 1.


title: Seventh Star

text: The album peaked at #78 on the "Billboard" 200 chart. Some retrospective critical assessments of the album have been negative; for example, "The New Rolling Stone Album Guide" rated the release only two out of five stars.


title: Seventh Star

text: However, critic Eduardo Rivadavia of AllMusic gave "Seventh Star" a mixed to positive review, praising what he saw as the "fiery tunefulness" that makes "aggressive hard rockers like "In for the Kill," "Turn to Stone," and "Danger Zone" uncommonly catchy". However, he argued that the songwriting and vocal work fell flat on songs such as the album's title track. He stated generally that he found the release an "often misunderstood and underrated album".


title: Seventh Star

text: Reviews from the period were more positive. A reviewer for the magazine "Kerrang!" gave "Seventh Star" a perfect score of five out of five.


title: Seventh Star

text: Recorded at Hammersmith Odeon in London, England on 2 June 1986, featuring Ray Gillen performing vocals


title: Kirlian photography

text: Kirlian photography is a collection of photographic techniques used to capture the phenomenon of electrical coronal discharges. It is named after Semyon Kirlian, who, in 1939, accidentally discovered that if an object on a photographic plate is connected to a high-voltage source, an image is produced on the photographic plate.


title: Kirlian photography

text: Kirlian photography has been the subject of scientific research, parapsychology research, and art. Paranormal claims have been made about Kirlian photography, but these claims are rejected by the scientific community. To a large extent, it has been used in alternative medicine research.


title: Kirlian photography

text: In 1889, Czech B. Navratil coined the word "electrography". Seven years later in 1896, a French experimenter, H. Baraduc, created electrographs of hands and leaves.


title: Kirlian photography

text: In 1898, Polish-Belarusian engineer Jakub Jodko-Narkiewicz demonstrated electrography at the fifth exhibition of the Russian Technical Society.


title: Kirlian photography

text: In 1939, two Czechs, S. Pratt and J. Schlemmer published photographs showing a glow around leaves. The same year, Russian electrical engineer Semyon Kirlian and his wife Valentina developed Kirlian photography after observing a patient in Krasnodar Hospital who was receiving medical treatment from a high-frequency electrical generator. They had noticed that when the electrodes were brought near the patient's skin, there was a glow similar to that of a neon discharge tube.


title: Kirlian photography

text: The Kirlians conducted experiments in which photographic film was placed on top of a conducting plate, and another conductor was attached to a hand, a leaf or other plant material. The conductors were energized by a high-frequency high-voltage power source, producing photographic images typically showing a silhouette of the object surrounded by an aura of light.


title: Kirlian photography

text: In 1958, the Kirlians reported the results of their experiments for the first time. Their work was virtually unknown until 1970, when two Americans, Lynn Schroeder and Sheila Ostrander, published a book, "Psychic Discoveries Behind the Iron Curtain". High-voltage electrophotography soon became known to the general public as Kirlian photography. Although little interest was generated among western scientists, Russians held a conference on the subject in 1972 at Kazakh State University.


title: Kirlian photography

text: Kirlian photography was used in the former Eastern Bloc in the 1970s. The corona discharge glow at the surface of an object subjected to a high-voltage electrical field was referred to as a "Kirlian aura" in Russia and Eastern Europe. In 1975, soviet scientist Victor Adamenko wrote a dissertation titled "Research of the structure of High-frequency electric discharge (Kirlian effect) images". Scientific study of what the researchers called the Kirlian effect was conducted by Victor Inyushin at Kazakh State University.


title: Kirlian photography

text: Early in the 1970s, Thelma Moss and Kendall Johnson at the Center for Health Sciences at the UCLA conducted extensive research into Kirlian photography. Moss led an independent and unsupported parapsychology laboratory that was shut down by the university in 1979.


title: Kirlian photography

text: Kirlian photography is a technique for creating contact print photographs using high voltage. The process entails placing sheet photographic film on top of a metal discharge plate. The object to be photographed is then placed directly on top of the film. High voltage current is momentarily applied to the object, thus creating an exposure. The corona discharge between the object and the plate due to high-voltage is captured by the film. The developed film results in a Kirlian photograph of the object.


title: Kirlian photography

text: Color photographic film is calibrated to produce faithful colors when exposed to normal light. Corona discharges can interact with minute variations in the different layers of dye used in the film, resulting in a wide variety of colors depending on the local intensity of the discharge. Film and digital imaging techniques also record light produced by photons emitted during corona discharge (see Mechanism of corona discharge).


title: Kirlian photography

text: Photographs of inanimate objects such as a coins, keys and leaves can be made more effectively by grounding the object to the earth, a cold water pipe or to the opposite (polarity) side of the high-voltage source. Grounding the object creates a stronger corona discharge.


title: Kirlian photography

text: Kirlian photography does not require the use of a camera or a lens because it is a contact print process. It is possible to use a transparent electrode in place of the high-voltage discharge plate, for capturing the resulting corona discharge with a standard photo or video camera.


title: Kirlian photography

text: Visual artists such as Robert Buelteman, Ted Hiebert, and Dick Lane have used Kirlian photography to produce artistic images of a variety of subjects.


title: Kirlian photography

text: Kirlian photography has been a subject of scientific research, parapsychology research and pseudoscientific claims.


title: Kirlian photography

text: Results of scientific experiments published in 1976 involving Kirlian photography of living tissue (human finger tips) showed that most of the variations in corona discharge streamer length, density, curvature, and color can be accounted for by the moisture content on the surface of and within the living tissue.


title: Kirlian photography

text: Konstantin Korotkov developed a technique similar to Kirlian photography called "gas discharge visualization" (GDV). Korotkov's GDV camera system consists of hardware and software to directly record, process and interpret GDV images with a computer. Korotkov promotes the device and research in a medical context. Izabela Ciesielska at the Institute of Architecture of Textiles in Poland used Korotkov's GDV camera to evaluate the effects of human contact with various textiles on biological factors such as heart rate and blood pressure, as well as corona discharge images. The experiments captured corona discharge images of subjects' fingertips while the subjects wore sleeves of various natural and synthetic materials on their forearms. The results failed to establish a relationship between human contact with the textiles and the corona discharge images and were considered inconclusive.


title: Kirlian photography

text: In 1968, Thelma Moss, a psychology professor, headed the UCLA Neuropsychiatric Institute (NPI), which was later renamed the Semel Institute. The NPI had a laboratory dedicated to parapsychology research and staffed mostly with volunteers. The lab was unfunded, unsanctioned and eventually shut down by the university. Toward the end of her tenure at UCLA, Moss became interested in Kirlian photography, a technique that supposedly measured the "auras" of a living being. According to Kerry Gaynor, one of her former research assistants, "many felt Kirlian photography's effects were just a natural occurrence."


title: Kirlian photography

text: Paranormal claims of Kirlian photography have not been observed or replicated in experiments by the scientific community. The physiologist Gordon Stein has written that Kirlian photography is a hoax that has "nothing to do with health, vitality, or mood of a subject photographed."


title: Kirlian photography

text: Kirlian believed that images created by Kirlian photography might depict a conjectural energy field, or aura, thought, by some, to surround living things. Kirlian and his wife were convinced that their images showed a life force or energy field that reflected the physical and emotional states of their living subjects. They thought that these images could be used to diagnose illnesses. In 1961, they published their first article on the subject in the Russian Journal of Scientific and Applied Photography. Kirlian's claims were embraced by energy treatments practitioners.


title: Kirlian photography

text: A typical demonstration used as evidence for the existence of these energy fields involved taking Kirlian photographs of a picked leaf at set intervals. The gradual withering of the leaf was thought to correspond with a decline in the strength of the aura. In some experiments, if a section of a leaf was torn away after the first photograph, a faint image of the missing section sometimes remains when a second photograph was taken. However, if the imaging surface is cleaned of contaminants and residual moisture before the second image is taken, then no image of the missing section will appear.


title: Kirlian photography

text: The living aura theory is at least partially repudiated by demonstrating that leaf moisture content has a pronounced effect on the electric discharge coronas; more moisture creates larger corona discharges. As the leaf dehydrates, the coronas will naturally decrease in variability and intensity. As a result, the changing water content of the leaf can affect the so-called Kirlian aura. Kirlian's experiments did not provide evidence for an energy field other than the electric fields produced by chemical processes and the streaming process of coronal discharges.


title: Kirlian photography

text: The coronal discharges identified as Kirlian auras are the result of stochastic electric ionization processes and are greatly affected by many factors, including the voltage and frequency of the stimulus, the pressure with which a person or object touches the imaging surface, the local humidity around the object being imaged, how well grounded the person or object is, and other local factors affecting the conductivity of the person or object being imaged. Oils, sweat, bacteria, and other ionizing contaminants found on living tissues can also affect the resulting images.


title: Kirlian photography

text: Scientists such as Beverly Rubik have explored the idea of a human biofield using Kirlian photography research, attempting to explain the Chinese discipline of Qigong. Qigong teaches that there is a vitalistic energy called qi (or chi) that permeates all living things.


title: Kirlian photography

text: Rubik's experiments relied on Konstantin Korotkov's GDV device to produce images, which were thought to visualize these qi biofields in chronically ill patients. Rubik acknowledges that the small sample size in her experiments "was too small to permit a meaningful statistical analysis". Claims that these energies can be captured by special photographic equipment are criticized by skeptics.


title: Kirlian photography

text: Kirlian photography has appeared as a fictional element in numerous books, films, television series, and media productions, including the 1975 film "The Kirlian Force", re-released under the more sensational title "Psychic Killer". Kirlian photographs have been used as visual components in various media, such as the sleeve of George Harrison's 1973 album "Living in the Material World", which features Kirlian photographs of his hand holding a Hindu medallion on the front sleeve and American coins on the back, shot at Thelma Moss's UCLA parapsychology laboratory.


title: Kirlian photography

text: The artwork of David Bowie's 1997 album "Earthling" has reproductions of Kirlian photographs taken by Bowie. The photographs, which show a crucifix Bowie wore his neck and the imprint of his "forefinger" tip, date to April 1975 when Bowie was living in Los Angeles and fascinated with the paranormal. The photographs were taken before consuming cocaine and 30 minutes afterwards. The after photograph apparently shows a substantial increase in the "aura" around the crucifix and forefinger.


title: Kirlian photography

text: The "Cluster" novels by science fiction author Piers Anthony uses the concept of the Kirlian Aura as a way to transfer a person's personality into another body, even an alien body, across light years.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: The Scottish Premier League (SPL) was the top level league competition for professional football clubs in Scotland. The league was founded in 1998, when it broke away from the Scottish Football League (SFL). It was abolished in 2013, when the SPL and SFL merged to form the new Scottish Professional Football League, with its top division being known as the Scottish Premiership. A total of 19 clubs competed in the SPL, but only the Old Firm clubs - Celtic and Rangers - won the league championship.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: For most of its history, the Scottish Football League had a two divisional structure (Divisions One and Two) between which clubs were promoted and relegated at the end of each season. However, by the mid-1970s, this organisation was perceived to be stagnant, and it was decided to split into a three divisional structure: Premier Division (formerly Division One), First Division (formerly Division Two) and a newly added Second Division. This system came into force for the 1975–76 season. This setup continued until the 1994–95 season, when – in response to an attempt by the biggest clubs to form a breakaway 'Super League' in 1992 – a four divisional structure was introduced. This involved the creation of a Third Division, with all four divisions consisting of ten clubs.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: On 8 September 1997, the clubs in the Premier Division decided to split from the Scottish Football League and form a Scottish Premier League. This followed an earlier example in England, which came into force during the 1992–93 season. This decision was fuelled by a desire by the top clubs in Scotland to retain more of the revenue generated by the game. Originally, league sponsorship money was divided proportionally between clubs in all four divisions. After the SPL was formed, its clubs retained all of its commercial revenues except for an annual payment to the SFL and a parachute payment to recently relegated clubs.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: Teams received three points for a win and one point for a draw. No points were awarded for a loss. Teams were ranked by total points, then goal difference, and then goals scored. At the end of each season, the club with the most points was crowned league champion. If points were equal, the goal difference and then goals scored determine the winner.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: Originally the SPL contained 10 clubs, but it subsequently enlarged to 12 for the 2000–01 season and retained this structure until 2013. The increase from 10 clubs to 12 was part of the deal offered to obtain approval from SFL member clubs. After the expansion to 12 clubs, the SPL operated a "split" format. This was done to prevent the need for a 44-match schedule, based on playing each other four times. That format had been used in the Scottish Premier Division but was considered to be too high a number of matches in a league season.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: A season, which runs from August (except in 2011–12, when that season began in July) until May, was divided into two phases. During the first phase, each club played three matches against every other team, either once at home and twice away, or "vice versa". After this first phase of matches, by which time all clubs had played 33 matches, the league split into a "top six" and a "bottom six". Each club then played a further five matches against the other five teams in their own section. Points achieved during the first phase of 33 matches were carried forward to the second phase, but the teams competed only within their own sections during the second phase. After the first phase was completed, clubs could not move out of their own section in the league, even if they achieved more or fewer points than a higher or lower ranked team, respectively.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: At the beginning of each season, the SPL "predicted" the likely positions of each club in order to produce a fixture schedule that ensured the best possible chance of all clubs playing each other twice at home and twice away. This was known as the league seeding and was based on clubs' performance in previous years. If a club did not finish in the half where it was predicted to finish, it faced the possibility of playing an unequal number of home and away matches. For example, one club would sometimes play another three times at home and once away.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: There was criticism of the split season format. However, the SPL defended the split format, dismissing the possibility of expanding the league due to a lack of strong enough clubs within the Scottish Football League. In March 2008, Kilmarnock manager Jim Jefferies was the latest to call for a league revamp, claiming the potential for four matches per season against the same opponent was too many.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: The bottom placed SPL club at the end of the season was relegated, and swapped places with the winner of the Scottish First Division, provided that the winner satisfied the SPL entry criteria. These promotion criteria sometimes caused controversy. In 2003, the chairmen of the member clubs voted against Falkirk's proposed ground share with Airdrie United and stopped the club from having the 10,000 capacity stadium it required, therefore saving Motherwell from relegation.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: The same situation nearly materialised in 2004. After several votes and discussion, including threats of court cases from Partick Thistle, the team threatened with relegation, Inverness Caledonian Thistle were promoted on the basis that they would ground share with Aberdeen at Pittodrie. In 2005, the stadium size criterion for entry to the SPL was reduced to 6,000, thereby allowing Inverness Caledonian Thistle to return to their home stadium during the 2005–06 season.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: One of the main criticisms of the SPL was the dominance of the two Old Firm clubs, Celtic and Rangers. No team outside the Old Firm has won the Scottish league championship since 1985. Until Rangers were ejected from the SPL due to their liquidation, there was only one SPL season (2005–06) where both clubs failed to occupy first and second positions, with Hearts finishing second behind Celtic. While other European leagues were dominated by a few clubs in the 2000s, the Old Firm dominance in Scotland dated back to the beginning of Scottish league football, with a few exceptional periods. The average home attendances of both clubs is significantly higher than the other Scottish clubs, which resulted in the Old Firm having far greater revenues and therefore more money to spend on players. Both clubs also received significant revenues from participation in the UEFA Champions League and the UEFA Europa League.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: Despite having more resources than other Scottish clubs, the Old Firm experienced difficulty in competing with big clubs from other leagues in terms of transfer fees and player wages due to the SPL's relatively low television revenue. A recurring theme during the existence of the SPL was the prospect of the two clubs leaving the Scottish football set-up to join the English football league system, an Atlantic League with clubs from countries such as the Netherlands, Belgium and Portugal, or forming a new European Super League. While some observers believed the departure of the Old Firm from the Scottish football setup would be detrimental to Scottish football as a whole, others, such as Craig Levein, believed it would benefit Scottish football due to increased competition among the remaining clubs for the SPL title. World football's governing body FIFA ruled out the prospect of any Old Firm move to the English set-up. The duopoly was effectively broken when Rangers entered administration in 2012 and was liquidated after it failed to reach an agreement with creditors. Rangers was relaunched by a new company and were voted into the Scottish Football League Third Division.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: In March 2013, Rangers chief executive Charles Green suggested that Rangers could join the Football Conference and that EU competition law banning restraints of trade could be used to overcome any legal barriers to such a plan. Green also suggested that Rangers and Celtic would not be playing in the Scottish league system in ten years time. Scotland manager Gordon Strachan said he believed the Old Firm clubs would join a future new 38-club two-division European Super League.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: The SPL instituted a "winter break" during the January of each season, beginning with the 1998–99 season. However, this practice was removed beginning in the 2000–01 season, forcing clubs to play throughout January and sometimes resulting in postponement of matches and significant damage to clubs' pitches. Managers Martin O'Neill, Jim Duffy and Walter Smith were among those who called for the winter break to be reinstated. Alex McLeish accused the SPL of taking Scottish football "back to the Dark Ages" after its decision to scrap the mid-season hiatus.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: In the seasons after the SPL's inception, Scotland's UEFA coefficient improved significantly, having been ranked 26th in 1998–99, they reached a high of 10th at the end of the 2007–08 season. The SPL ranking thereafter declined, the league falling back to the 24th position at the end of 2012–13.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: In 2003, Celtic became the first Scottish club since Dundee United in 1987 to reach a European final, eventually losing 3–2 to Porto after extra time in the UEFA Cup final. In 2003–04, two Scottish clubs, Celtic and Rangers, qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time. In 2005–06, Rangers became the first Scottish club to reach the knockout stage of the Champions League, a feat repeated by Celtic the following two seasons. In the 2007–08 season, three Scottish clubs were competing in Europe after Christmas for the first time since 1970, while in the same season, Rangers reached the 2008 UEFA Cup final, but lost 2–0 to Russian club Zenit Saint Petersburg. During the season, Scotland's European representatives collected the most coefficient points since the 1982–83 season.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: Scottish Premier League clubs had almost complete freedom to sign whatever number and category of players they wish. There was no team or individual salary cap, no squad size limit, no age restrictions other than those applied by general employment law, no restrictions on the overall number of foreign players and few restrictions on individual foreign players. All players with EU nationality, including those able to claim an EU passport through a parent or grandparent, were eligible to play, and top players from outside the EU were able to obtain UK work permits.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: The only restriction on selection was the "Under-21 rule". This rule stated that each club must include at least three players under the age of 21 in its matchday squad. Opinions on this rule were divided among SPL managers. Walter Smith, Gus MacPherson and Jim Jefferies expressed their disapproval of the policy. John Collins approved of the ruling, claiming it is healthy for Scottish football and encouraged the development of young players.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: A decline in television revenue resulted in relatively little spending among SPL clubs, with major transfer spending mostly limited to the Old Firm clubs. As a result, most clubs became reliant on developing their own young players and selling them on for profit. This also resulted in a large proportion of SPL clubs' squads being made up of Scottish players (73% in the 2004–05 season).


title: Scottish Premier League

text: Due to its relatively low income from television and commercial partners, Scottish clubs were highly dependent on revenues from fans attending matches. More people in Scotland per head of population watched their domestic top-level league than any other European nation. All ten of the clubs that played in the 1998–99 Scottish Premier League also participated in the 2011–12 Scottish Premier League. Nine of those ten clubs recorded lower average attendance. Celtic had a 14% decline in attendance since a peak season of 2000–01, when the club won the domestic treble. Dunfermline, who were newly promoted to the SPL in 2011–12, only saw an increase of 939 in average attendance from the 2010–11 Scottish First Division season. They also attracted a bigger crowd for a Fife derby game in the First Division against Raith Rovers than any game in the SPL.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: The Bank of Scotland, which had sponsored the league since March 1999 (the League was unsponsored for most of the inaugural season), did not renew its sponsorship at the end of the 2006–07 season. Talks began with Clydesdale Bank, and a four-year contract worth £8 million came into effect from July 2007; in 2010, the contract was extended until 2013.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: During the SPL era, six of its member clubs entered administration. Serious financial difficulties first arose in 2002 when broadcaster Sky Sports withdrew its interest in the League's television rights when the SPL rejected its offer of £45 million, hoping a better deal would arise from another broadcaster. However, a superior deal failed to arise, adding to the clubs' already delicate financial position. Total debt among SPL clubs was estimated during 2001–02 to be around £132m, having been barely into double figures two years previously. Motherwell became the first SPL club to enter administration in April 2002, with debts of £11 million and a wage bill totalling 97% of the club's annual turnover. Dundee were next to follow, when in November 2003 it sacked 25 staff after debts of £20 million.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: The severity of the SPL's financial problems were revealed in September 2003 when combined losses for SPL clubs during 2001–02 was estimated to have been £60 million. A report by PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) in 2003 described five SPL clubs – Dundee, Dunfermline Athletic, Hearts, Hibernian and Livingston – as "technically insolvent". Livingston became the third SPL club to enter administration in February 2004 with debts of £3.5 million. Dunfermline Athletic's financial position also looked bleak, with several players asked to take wage-cuts, while Rangers chairman David Murray announced in September 2004 a plan to raise £57 million via a rights issue in an attempt to eliminate a large proportion of the club's debts.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: After widespread cost-cutting measures, the finances of SPL clubs began to show signs of improvement. Both Motherwell and Dundee came out of administration in April and August 2004 respectively, while Livingston ended its 15-month spell in administration in May 2005. The 2006 report on SPL finances by PWC revealed operating profits of £2.8 million among SPL clubs, the first collective operating profit made by Scotland's top-flight clubs in over a decade. Seven of the SPL's 12 clubs had a wage turnover ratio of less than 60%.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: The 2007 report by PWC revealed a collective loss of £9 million for 2005–06, although six clubs – Falkirk, Hibernian, Inverness CT, Kilmarnock, Motherwell and Rangers – made a profit. The report highlighted the increasingly precarious financial position of Hearts, describing its current finances as "unsustainable" with debt rising by £7 million to £28 million and a wage bill which represents 97% of its turnover. The figures for 2006–07 showed a collective profit of £3 million, with eight clubs making a profit.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: In March 2008, Gretna became the fourth SPL club to enter administration. The club's main benefactor, Brooks Mileson, was forced to withdraw his financial support due to failing health. The club was liquidated after it had been relegated to the Scottish Football League at the end of the 2007–08 Scottish Premier League. Gretna fans formed a new club, Gretna 2008, which entered the East of Scotland Football League.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: SPL clubs were badly affected by the late 2000s financial crisis and UK economic recession. The 21st PWC annual review found that SPL clubs made a collective loss of £22 million during the 2008–09 season, although this loss was almost entirely due to problems at two clubs. Rangers incurred a £14 million loss after losing most of their European revenues due to an early defeat by FBK Kaunas, while Hearts lost £8 million. In 2010, Hearts was described by "The Scotsman" as the only true financial "basket case" in the SPL, with the club having a wages-to-turnover ratio of 126% and debt of over three times turnover. Rangers stabilised financially in the next two seasons, thanks to income generated from Champions League participation. Rangers entered administration on 14 February 2012, owing an approximate £9 million in unpaid taxes and with an ongoing tribunal with HMRC. HMRC blocked a proposed Company Voluntary Arrangement in June 2012, forcing preferred bidder Charles Green to use a new company to buy out the business and assets of Rangers. Weeks before the SPL merged into the Scottish Professional Football League, Hearts became the sixth SPL club to enter administration.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: Between 1998–99 and 2001–02, exclusive television rights for live Scottish Premier League matches were held by Sky Sports. In January 2002, the SPL rejected a £45 million offer from Sky Sports and began considering setting up its own pay-per-view channel, dubbed "SPL TV". However, these plans broke down in April 2002 when the Old Firm clubs – Rangers and Celtic – utilised the 11–1 voting system to veto the proposals. This caused discontent among the remaining ten SPL clubs, which subsequently announced their intention to resign from the league.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: Despite a two-year television deal being agreed with BBC Scotland in July 2002 for a significant amount less than previously offered by Sky Sports, the ten non-Old Firm clubs confirmed their resignation from the SPL in August 2002, citing discontent with the voting system. The ten clubs withdrew their resignations in January 2003 after an agreement was reached to change some of the voting procedures and to change the distribution of TV revenue.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: The SPL agreed a television rights deal with Irish broadcaster Setanta Sports in February 2004 in a four-year deal worth £35 million. This deal was revised in 2006, with a two-year extension to the original deal agreed, the new four-year deal now being worth £54.5 million and running to 2010. In June 2008, it was announced that a further four-year deal would commence for the 2010–11 season, worth £125 million. Setanta lost the rights to show live SPL matches in the United Kingdom as it was unable to pay the £3 million it owed to the SPL. The SPL then agreed a deal with ESPN and Sky Sports worth £13 million per season to the clubs. This was comparable to the deal which was in place with Setanta, but it was around half the amount Setanta was due to pay from 2010. The Old Firm criticised the decision of nine of the other SPL clubs to accept that offer from Setanta, instead of taking an alternative package from Sky that would have been worth significantly more than the deal signed after Setanta went into administration.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: In 2009, Sky and ESPN agreed a five-year deal with the SPL where they would pay a total of £65 million for the rights to show 30 matches each per season. In November 2011, it was announced that a five-year extension to the contract would commence from the 2012–13 season. This deal was amended after Rangers entered insolvency and was not allowed to transfer its SPL membership to a new company. The rights held by ESPN were acquired by BT Sport in February 2013.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: BBC Scotland's Sportscene held the rights to broadcast highlights of each match first on terrestrial TV. The BBC also held the rights to show online Internet highlights to UK users for one week after each match. BBC Alba, launched in September 2008, showed one full SPL match per week in delayed coverage. BBC Alba will also showed some live matches in the 2012–13 season. The SPL was broadcast in Australia by Setanta Sports Australia, in Canada by Sportsnet World and in the United States by Fox Soccer Channel and Fox Soccer Plus.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: Radio broadcasting rights were held by BBC Radio Scotland. BBC Radio Scotland also provided internet webcasts to all Scottish Premier League matches, having become the first broadcaster to introduce such a service in June 2000. Old Firm matches were also broadcast on BBC Radio 5 Live and 102.5 Clyde 1.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: The clubs listed below competed in the Scottish Premier League. Teams in "italics" were founder members, who played in the 1998–99 competition.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: This table is a cumulative record of all SPL matches played. The table is accurate from the 1998–99 season to the end of the 2012–13 season, inclusive.


title: Scottish Premier League

text: Kilmarnock and Rangers player Kris Boyd scored the most goals in the SPL, with 167 goals. He broke the previous record of 158, set by Henrik Larsson, by scoring five goals for Rangers in a 7–1 win against Dundee United on 30 December 2009. Boyd and Larsson were the only players who scored more than 100 goals in the SPL era. There are players who scored far more goals in the predecessor Scottish Football League competition, with Jimmy McGrory holding the overall record with 408 goals in the top flight of Scottish football.


title: Charlotte Sullivan

text: Sullivan began acting professionally as a child. Her first on-screen role was an extra in a Liza Minnelli music video. She has had starring roles in the film "Harriet the Spy" (1996) and the CBS series "The New Ghostwriter Mysteries" (1997), as well as smaller parts in the films "How to Deal" (2003) and "Fever Pitch" (2005). Sullivan played Katie in the drama television series "Across the River to Motor City" (2007). She portrayed Maxima in the fourth episode of the eighth season of "Smallville" in October 2008.


title: Charlotte Sullivan

text: In 2010, Sullivan began portraying Officer Gail Peck in the police drama series "Rookie Blue", which aired on Global in Canada and on ABC in the United States. In 2011, Sullivan appeared as Marilyn Monroe in the Canadian-American miniseries "The Kennedys". She was nominated for a Canadian Screen Award for Best Supporting Actress for her role in the 2011 film "Citizen Gangster".


title: Charlotte Sullivan

text: Sullivan was born in Toronto, Ontario. Sullivan is married to Peter Stebbings. Their daughter was born in 2015.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell is a 2002 stealth video game developed by Ubi Soft Montreal and published by Ubi Soft. It is the first game in the "Splinter Cell" series. Endorsed by author Tom Clancy, it follows the activities of NSA black ops agent Sam Fisher (voiced by Michael Ironside). The game was inspired by both the "Metal Gear" series and games created by Looking Glass Studios, and was built using Unreal Engine 2.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: Originally released as an Xbox exclusive in 2002, the game was ported to Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 2, GameCube and Mac OS X in 2003. A side-scrolling adaptation developed by Gameloft was also released in 2003 for Game Boy Advance, mobile phones and N-Gage (the latter with the subtitle "Team Stealth Action"). A remastered high definition version was released on PlayStation 3 in September 2011, and an Xbox version was made available for Xbox One via backward compatibility in June 2019.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: "Splinter Cell" received critical acclaim on release and is considered as one of the best video games ever made. The success of the game lead to multiple sequels, starting with "" in 2004, and a series of novels written under the pseudonym David Michaels. A remake of "Splinter Cell" is currently in development by Ubisoft Toronto.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: The primary focus and hallmark of "Splinter Cell"s gameplay is stealth, with strong emphasis on light and darkness. The player is encouraged to move through the shadows for concealment whenever possible. The game displays a "light meter" that reflects how visible the player character is to enemies, and night vision and thermal vision goggles to help the player navigate in darkness or smoke/fog, respectively. The light meter functions even when night vision goggles is activated, and it is possible to destroy lights, thus reducing the chances of exposure significantly.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: "Splinter Cell" strongly encourages the use of stealth over brute force. Although Sam Fisher is usually equipped with firearms, he carries limited ammunition and is not frequently provided with access to additional ammo. The player begins most missions with a limited supply of less-than-lethal weapons in addition to Fisher's firearms, a suppressed FN Five-Seven sidearm that is provided for every mission, as well as a suppressed FN F2000 assault rifle during "some" missions, which includes a telescopic sight and a launcher for some of the less-lethal devices such as ring airfoil projectiles, "sticky shockers" and CS gas grenades. The weapon can even fire a camera that sticks onto surfaces, allowing Fisher to covertly perform surveillance from a safe area.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: Flexibility of movement is a focuspoint of "Splinter Cell". Fisher can sneak up on enemies from behind to grab them; allowing interrogation, quiet incapacitation, or use as a human shield. Fisher is acrobatic and physically adept, and has a variety of maneuvers including the ability to mantle onto and climb along ledges, hang from pipes and perform a "split jump" in narrow spaces to mantle up a steep wall.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: In August 2004, former U.S. Navy SEAL officer Sam Fisher joins the National Security Agency, as part of its newly formed division "Third Echelon" headed by his old friend Irving Lambert. Two months later, Fisher, aided by technical expert Anna "Grim" Grimsdóttír and field runner Vernon Wilkes Jr., is sent to Georgia to investigate the disappearance of two CIA officersAlice Madison, who had been installed in the new government of Georgian president Kombayn Nikoladze, who seized power in a bloodless coup d'état following the assassination of his predecessor earlier in the year; and Robert Blaustein, who was sent in to find her. Fisher discovers both were murdered on Nikoladze's orders by former Spetsnaz member Vyacheslav Grinko. Further investigation soon reveals that the CIA agents had discovered that Nikoladze is waging an ethnic cleansing campaign across Azerbaijan with Georgian commandos. In retaliation, NATO forces enter Azerbaijan, prompting Nikoladze to go underground.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: Third Echelon soon discovers a data exchange is taking place between a Caspian oil rig and the Georgian presidential palace, and assign Fisher to recover the data. Narrowly avoiding an airstrike by NATO, Fisher recovers a technician's laptop with files on an item called "The Ark", as well as evidence that there is a mole in the CIA. Shortly after this, North America is hit by a massive cyber warfare attack directed at military targets, to which Nikoladze claims responsibility before declaring war on the United States and its allies. Investigating the leak, Fisher discovers a back-up of data by a staff member to an unsecured laptop that was exploited by a Virginian-based network owned by Kalinatek, Inc. After Grim's efforts spook the Georgians, Fisher is sent to the company's Virginia offices to recover an encryption key from Ivan, a technician in the building, as Georgian-hired mafiosos attempt to liquidate all the incriminating evidence. In his escape, Wilkes is mortally wounded extracting him and dies soon afterwards.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: With the encryption key, the NSA discover that Nikoladze has been using a network of unconventional relays to communicate with Georgian military cells. Tracing the full relay network back to the Chinese embassy in Yangon, Myanmar, Fisher is sent in discreetly to investigate. Fisher discovers from captured U.S. soldiers and high-ranking Chinese diplomats that Nikoladze is working alongside a rogue collective of Chinese soldiers led by General Kong Feirong, after rescuing them from being executed on a live web broadcast. After killing Grinko in a firefight when he attempts to kill the Americans and Chinese, Fisher moves to capture Feirong for information on Nikoladze's location. After preventing him from committing suicide in a drunken stupor, Feirong reveals that Nikoladze had fled back to Georgia in order to activate a device codenamed "The Ark".


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: Infiltrating the Georgian presidential palace where Nikoladze and new Georgian president Varlam Cristavi are, Fisher attempts to recover the key to the Ark, which he learns is in fact a nuclear suitcase bomb that has been placed somewhere in the United States. Fisher corners Nikoladze, who bargains to give the Ark key in exchange for safe passage out of Georgia. After Cristavi's forces arrive and escort Nikoladze to safety, Lambert rescues Fisher from execution by creating a diversion via power blackout. Discovering that Nikoladze is offering the Ark's location for protection, Fisher assassinates him. The National Guard eventually locates the bomb and evacuates an apartment complex in Hope's Gate, Maryland under the pretense of a gas leak before secretly recovering the weapon. Despite a war being averted, Nikoladze's corpse sparks international backlash due to the suspicious circumstances around his death. Watching the U.S. president give a speech on the end of the crisis, Fisher then receives a secure phone call from Lambert for another assignment.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: The game originally started development as a sci-fi, James Bond type game called "The Drift", which Ubisoft intended to be "a "Metal Gear Solid 2" killer". The game's producer Mathieu Ferland said ""Metal Gear Solid" was a huge inspiration for "Splinter Cell"." The game's designer and writer Clint Hocking also said "Splinter Cell" "owes its existence to" the "Metal Gear" series, while noting he was also influenced by "System Shock", "" and "Deus Ex".


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: Because the development team was aiming for a Teen ESRB rating, the team tried to minimize the level of violence. The soundtrack for the game was composed by English composer Michael Richard Plowman.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: The PC version of "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" is fairly closely based on the original Xbox version. Both were made by Ubisoft Montreal. The GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions, released later, were developed by Ubisoft Shanghai and are similar to each other, but have many small changes over the originals with the result that they are generally easier. Some doors are moved around, guards are less likely to notice gunshots, etc.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: Each version of the game has some exclusive features. The Xbox and Windows versions have three new downloadable missions which involve a Russian nuclear sub. The PlayStation 2 version includes an exclusive level between Kalinatek and the Chinese Embassy which takes place in a nuclear power plant in the Kola Peninsula, new cinematics, a new intro cinematic with original music by the Prague Orchestra and many behind-the-scenes interviews and documentaries both about the new intro and the game itself. The GameCube version includes the same cinematics, uses the Game Boy Advance link cable to give players a real-time overhead map, a new sticky-bomb weapon and progressive scan (480p) support. Additionally, both the GameCube and PlayStation 2 versions include new binoculars items. The Windows versions also includes support for the EAX 3.0 ADVANCED HD 3D positional audio technology by Creative Labs, which available in the EMU10K2 processor-based Soundcard such as the Sound Blaster Audigy and Audigy 2 series.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: A PlayStation 3 version was announced to be part of the "Splinter Cell Trilogy" which was released in September 2011 as part of Sony's Classics HD series. It was revealed on the PlayStation Blog that it would be ported from the PC version, because it had more details and more content than the PlayStation 2 version. It was released on the European PlayStation Network on August 10, 2011. The PlayStation 3 version does not include the downloadable bonus missions that the Xbox and PC versions had.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" received positive reviews upon the game's release. GameSpot's Greg Kasavin said that "Splinter Cell" has "hands down the best lighting effects seen in any game to date." "GameSpot" later named "Splinter Cell" the second-best Xbox game of November 2002, behind "MechAssault". IGN likewise praised the game for its graphics and lighting, while also praising how it evolved "Metal Gear Solid"s third-person stealth-action gameplay. Both praised the game's audio, noting that Michael Ironside as Sam Fisher's voice suited the role perfectly. Scott Alan Marriott of AllGame gave the Xbox version four-and-a-half stars out of five and called it "one of the few games to elicit a feeling of suspense without resorting to shock techniques found in survival horror titles like "Resident Evil"."


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: Criticism of the game was also present. Greg Kasavin said that "Splinter Cell" is "sometimes reduced to frustrating bouts of trial and error." In addition, Kasavin criticized the game's cutscenes, saying that they are not up to par with the rest of the game's graphics.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: Non video-game publications also gave the game favorable reviews. "Entertainment Weekly" gave the Xbox version an A and called it "wickedly ingenious". "The Village Voice" gave the PlayStation 2 version eight out of ten and said, "If this game were any more realistic, you'd have to hold in your farts." "The Cincinnati Enquirer" gave the Game Boy Advance version all four stars and said that "While it lacks 3-D graphics and an impressive use of lighting and shadows found in its predecessors, the stealthy action game still captures the thrill of modern espionage."


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: "Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell" was a commercial success. Pre-orders reached 1.1 million units and the game sold 480,000 copies worldwide by the end of 2002, after three weeks on sale. France accounted for 60,000 units in the initial three weeks. By early January 2003, sales in North America had surpassed 1 million units, while Europe accounted for 600,000 units. By March 31, 2003, its sales had risen to 3.6 million copies. "Splinter Cell" sold 4.5 million copies by June and 5 million by the end of September, and its sales reached 6 million units by the end of March 2004. By July 2006, the Xbox version of "Splinter Cell" had sold 2.4 million copies and earned $62 million in the United States alone. "Next Generation" ranked it as the 10th highest-selling game launched for the PlayStation 2, Xbox or GameCube between January 2000 and July 2006 in that country. It remained the best-selling "Splinter Cell" game in the United States by July 2006.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: The game's PlayStation 2 and Xbox versions each received a "Platinum" sales award from the Entertainment and Leisure Software Publishers Association (ELSPA), given to titles that sell at least 300,000 copies in the United Kingdom. "Splinter Cell"s computer version received a "Silver" sales award from ELSPA, indicating sales of at least 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: "Splinter Cell" was a runner-up for "Computer Games Magazine"s list of the 10 best games of 2003. It won "GameSpot"s 2002 "Best Graphics (Technical)" and "Best Action Adventure Game" awards among Xbox games, and was nominated in the "Best Sound", "Best Graphics (Artistic)" and overall "Game of the Year on Xbox" categories.


title: Tom Clancy's Splinter Cell (video game)

text: On December 15, 2021, Ubisoft announced that a remake of the game is under development at Ubisoft Toronto using Snowdrop, the game engine behind "Tom Clancy's The Division" and "".


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: A single-lens reflex camera (SLR) is a camera that typically uses a mirror and prism system (hence "reflex" from the mirror's reflection) that permits the photographer to view through the lens and see exactly what will be captured. With twin lens reflex and rangefinder cameras, the viewed image could be significantly different from the final image. When the shutter button is pressed on most SLRs, the mirror flips out of the light path, allowing light to pass through to the light receptor and the image to be captured.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: Prior to the development of SLR, all cameras with viewfinders had two optical light paths: one path through the lens to the film, and another path positioned above (TLR or "twin-lens reflex") or to the side (rangefinder). Because the viewfinder and the film lens cannot share the same optical path, the viewing lens is aimed to intersect with the film lens at a fixed point somewhere in front of the camera. This is not problematic for pictures taken at a middle or longer distance, but parallax causes framing errors in close-up shots. Moreover, focusing the lens of a fast reflex camera when it is opened to wider apertures (such as in low light or while using low-speed film) is not easy.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: Most SLR cameras permit upright and laterally correct viewing through use of a roof pentaprism situated in the optical path between the reflex mirror and viewfinder. Light, which comes both horizontally and vertically inverted after passing through the lens, is reflected upwards by the reflex mirror, into the pentaprism where it is reflected several times to correct the inversions caused by the lens, and align the image with the viewfinder. When the shutter is released, the mirror moves out of the light path, and the light shines directly onto the film (or in the case of a DSLR, the CCD or CMOS imaging sensor). The Canon Pellix, along with several special purpose high speed cameras(such as the Canon EOS-1N RS), were an exception to the moving mirror system, wherein the mirror was a fixed beamsplitting pellicle.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: Focus can be adjusted manually by the photographer or automatically by an autofocus system. The viewfinder can include a matte focusing screen located just above the mirror system to diffuse the light. This permits accurate viewing, composing and focusing, especially useful with interchangeable lenses.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: Up until the 1990s, SLR was the most advanced photographic preview system available, but the recent development and refinement of digital imaging technology with an on-camera live LCD preview screen has overshadowed SLR's popularity. Nearly all inexpensive compact digital cameras now include an LCD preview screen allowing the photographer to see what the CCD is capturing. However, SLR is still popular in high-end and professional cameras because they are system cameras with interchangeable parts, allowing customization. They also have far less shutter lag, allowing photographs to be timed more precisely. Also the pixel resolution, contrast ratio, refresh rate, and color gamut of an LCD preview screen cannot compete with the clarity and shadow detail of a direct-viewed optical SLR viewfinder.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: Large format SLR cameras were probably first marketed with the introduction of C.R. Smith's "Monocular Duplex" (U.S., 1884). SLRs for smaller exposure formats were launched in the 1920s by several camera makers. The first 35 mm SLR available to the mass market, Leica's PLOOT reflex housing along with a 200 mm f4.5 lens paired to a 35 mm rangefinder camera body, debuted in 1935. The Soviet "Спорт" (“Sport”), also a 24 mm by 36 mm image size, was prototyped in 1934 and went to market in 1937. K. Nüchterlein's Kine Exakta (Germany, 1936) was the first integrated 35 mm SLR to enter the market. Additional Exakta models, all with waist-level finders, were produced up to and during World War II. Another ancestor of the modern SLR camera was the Swiss-made Alpa, which was innovative, and influenced the later Japanese cameras. The first eye-level SLR viewfinder was patented in Hungary on August 23, 1943, by Jenő Dulovits, who then designed the first 35 mm camera with one, the Duflex, which used a system of mirrors to provide a laterally correct, upright image in the eye-level viewfinder. The Duflex, which went into serial production in 1948, was also the world's first SLR with an instant-return (a.k.a. autoreturn) mirror.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: The first commercially produced SLR that employed a roof pentaprism was the Italian Rectaflex A.1000, shown in full working condition on Milan fair April 1948 and produced from September the same year, thus being on the market one year before the east German Zeiss Ikon VEB Contax S, announced on May 20, 1949, produced from September.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: The Japanese adopted and further developed the SLR. In 1952, Asahi developed the Asahiflex and in 1954, the Asahiflex IIB. In 1957, the Asahi Pentax combined the fixed pentaprism and the right-hand thumb wind lever. Nikon, Canon and Yashica introduced their first SLRs in 1959 (the F, Canonflex, and Pentamatic, respectively).


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: As a small matter of history, the first 35 mm camera (non-SLR) to feature through the lens light metering may have been Nikon, with a prototype rangefinder camera, the SPX. According to the website below, the camera used Nikon 'S' type rangefinder lenses.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: Through-the-lens light metering is also known as "behind-the-lens metering". In the SLR design scheme, there were various placements made for the metering cells, all of which used CdS (Cadmium sulfide) photocells. The cells were either located in the pentaprism housing, where they metered light transmitted through the focusing screen; underneath the reflex mirror glass itself, which was Topcon's design; or in front of the shutter mechanism, which was the design used by Canon with their Canon Pellix.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: Pentax was the first manufacturer to show an early prototype 35 mm behind-the-lens metering SLR camera, which was named the "Pentax Spotmatic". The camera was shown at the 1960 photokina show. However, the first Through-the-lens (TTL) light metering SLR on the market was the 1963 Topcon RE Super, which had the CdS metering cell placed behind the reflex mirror. The mirror had narrow slits cut into the surface to let the light reach the cell providing average metering. Late in the following year, a production model of the Pentax Spotmatic was shown whose CdS light meter cells were on the pentaprism, reading the light off the focusing screen providing average reading, yet keeping the Spotmatic name, but now written in one word. Another clever design appeared in 1965, the Canon Pellix employing a pellicle mirror that is semi-transparent, placing the meter cell on an arm swinging into the lightpass behind the mirror for meter reading.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: Mamiya Sekor came out with cameras such as the Mamiya Sekor TL and various other versions. Yashica introduced the TL Super. Both of these cameras used M42 screw thread lenses as did the Pentax Spotmatic. Later on Fujica introduced their ST-701, then ST-801 and ST-901 cameras. The ST-701 was the first SLR to use a silicon cell photodiode, which was more sensitive than CdS and was immune to the memory effect that the CdS cell suffered from in bright sunlight. Gradually, other 35 mm SLR camera manufacturers changed their behind-the-lens meters from CdS cells to Silicon Diode photocells.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: Other manufacturers responded and introduced their own behind-the-lens metering cameras. Nikon and Miranda, at first, simply upgraded their interchangeable pentaprisms to include behind-the-lens metering (for Nikon F, and Miranda D, F, Fv and G models) and these manufacturers also bought out other camera models with built-in behind-the-lens metering capability, such as the Nikkormat FT and the Miranda Sensorex (which used an external coupling diaphragm). Minolta introduced the SRT-101, which used Minolta's proprietary system they referred to as "CLC", which was an acronym for "contrast light compensation", which metered differently from an average metering behind-the-lens camera.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: Some German manufacturers also introduced cameras such as the Zeiss Ikon Contarex family, which was one of very few 35 mm SLR to use interchangeable film backs.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: Inexpensive leaf-shutter cameras also benefited from behind-the-lens metering as, Topcon introduced the Auto 100 with front-mount interchangeable lenses designed only for that camera, and one of the Zeiss Ikon Contaflex leaf shutter cameras. Kowa manufactured their SET-R, which had similar specifications.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: Within months, manufacturers decided to bring out models that provided limited area metering, such as Nikon's Photomic Tn finder, which concentrated 60% of the CdS cells sensitivity on the inner circle of the focusing screen and 30% on the surrounding area. Canon used spot metering in the unusual Canon Pellix camera, which also had a stationary mirror system that allowed approximately 70% of the light to travel to the film plane and 30% to the photographer's eye. This system, unfortunately, degraded the native resolution of the attached lens and provided less illumination to the eyepiece. It did have the advantage of having less vibration than other SLR cameras but this was not sufficient to attract professionals to the camera in numbers.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: While auto-exposure was commonly used in the early 1960s with various 35 mm fixed lens rangefinder cameras such as the Konica Auto 'S', and other cameras such as the Polaroid Land cameras whose early models used selenium cell meters, auto-exposure for interchangeable lens SLRs was a feature that was largely absent, except for a few early leaf-shutter SLRs such as the Kowa SE-R and Topcon Auto 100.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: The types of automation found in some of these cameras consisted of the simple programmed shutter, whereby the camera's metering system would select a mechanically set series of apertures with shutter speeds, one setting of which would be sufficient for the correct exposure. In the case of the above-mentioned Kowa and Topcon, automation was semi-automatic, where the camera's CDs meter would select the correct aperture only.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: Autoexposure, technically known as semi-automatic exposure, where the camera's metering system chooses either the shutter speed or the aperture, was finally introduced by the Savoyflex and popularized by Konishiroku in the 1965 Konica Auto-Reflex. This camera was of the 'shutter-priority' type automation, which meant that the camera selected the correct aperture automatically. This model also had the interesting ability to photograph in 35 mm full-frames or half-frames, all selected by a lever.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: Other SLRs soon followed, but because of limitations with their lens mounts, the manufacturers of these cameras had to choose 'aperture-priority' automation, where the camera's metering system selects the correct shutter speed. As one example, Pentax introduced the Electro Spotmatic, which was able to use the then considerable bulk of 42 mm screw-mount lenses produced by various manufacturers. Yashica, another screw-mount camera manufacturer, soon followed.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: Canon, which produced the FD lens mount (known as the breech-mount; a unique lens mounting system that combines the advantages of screw-mount and bayonet-mount) introduced their shutter priority 35 mm SLR, the Canon EF in 1976 or so. This camera's build quality was almost the equal of their flagship camera, the Canon F1, and featured a copal-square vertically travelling focal plane shutter that could synchronize electronic flash at shutter speeds up to and including 1/125 of a second, thus making this a good second-body camera for the professional photographer.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: Nikon at first produced an aperture-priority camera, but later made subtle changes on the inside of their bayonet mount, which allowed for shutter-priority automation without obsoleting the photographers lenses.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: Full-program auto-exposure soon followed with the advent of the Canon A-1 in 1978. This SLR had a 'P' mode on the shutter speed dial, and a lock on the aperture ring to allow the lens to be put on 'Auto' mode. Other manufacturers soon followed with Nikon introducing the FA, Minolta introducing the X-700 in 1981, and Pentax introducing the Super Program. Olympus, however, continued with 'aperture-priority' automation in their OM system line.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: The 1970s and 1980s saw steadily increasing use of electronics, automation, and miniaturization, including integrated motor driven film advance with the Konica FS-1 in 1979, and motor rewind functions.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: The Minolta Maxxum 7000, released in 1985, was the first 35 mm SLR with integrated autofocus and motorized film-advance winder, which became the standard configuration for SLR cameras from then on. This development had significant impact on the photographic industry.


title: Single-lens reflex camera

text: Some manufacturers discarded their existing lens systems to compete with other manufacturer's autofocus capability in their new cameras. This was the case for Canon, with its new EOS lens line. Other manufacturers chose to adapt their existing lens systems for autofocus capability, as was the case with Nikon and Pentax. This allowed photographers to continue using their existing lenses, which greatly reduced the cost of upgrading. For example, almost all Nikon lenses from the 1960s and later still function on the current Nikon bodies, only lacking autofocus. Still some manufacturers, notably Leica with its R-system lenses, and Contax with its Zeiss lenses, decided to keep their lens mounts non-autofocus.