title: Rob Manfred

text: Following the expiration of the league's collective bargaining agreement in December 2021, team owners unanimously voted to enact a lockout at 12:01 a.m. EST on December 2, indefinitely lasting until a new CBA was signed. Manfred formally announced the lockout in a press release titled "A letter to baseball fans," an action that received criticism from various baseball media members. After several rounds of meetings between MLB and the Major League Baseball Players Association that were described as "unproductive," the league set February 28 as a deadline to complete negotiations at Roger Dean Stadium in Jupiter, Florida, or else regular season games would begin to be cancelled. MLB and the MLBPA worked late into the night on contract negotiations on February 28, ignoring the deadline and working into the early morning hours of March 1. Around 2:30 a.m. EST on March 1, the league decided that there was enough progress on negotiations to push the deadline to 5:00 p.m. on the same day. As negotiations began to resume on March 1, a players' union representative stated that the two sides were further apart on key issues than what was being reported and claimed that Manfred and MLB were pushing an overly-optimistic storyline for their own gain. Just before the 5:00 p.m. deadline, the league contingent made a final offer that was ultimately turned down by the players' union. As a result, Manfred announced in a press conference outside Roger Dean Stadium that a chunk of the season's first games (later revealed to be the first two series) would be cancelled. Manfred received online criticism for smiling and laughing before and during the press conference.


title: Rob Manfred

text: As negotiations continued, Manfred announced that March 8 was the new deadline for an agreement to be in place or else more games would be cancelled. After another marathon of negotiations beginning on March 8 and stretching into the early hours of March 9, the deadline was extended as it had been in the previous week's deadline meeting. The league and the players' union once again failed to come to an agreement by the extended deadline because of the last-second inclusion of an international player draft in the owners' proposal. As a result, Manfred cancelled another two series, tentatively pushing the 2022 season's opening day to April 14. On March 10, Manfred and the league put the possibility of a 162-game season on the table if a deal could be met soon thereafter. That evening, the players' union accepted an MLB proposal that allowed the two sides to explore the international draft idea and come to decision on it by July 2022. The owners voted unanimously to ratify the agreement, ending the lockout. Manfred announced that opening day was being reverted back to April 7 and that the original first two series of the season would be played at later dates so that a full 162-game season could be conducted. In a subsequent press conference, Manfred said that he was relieved to see the lockout end and that he desired to improve his relationship with the players.


title: Rob Manfred

text: Growing up in Upstate New York, Manfred was a fan of the New York Yankees. His father Rob Sr. led the Rome, New York, division of Revere Copper and Brass, while his mother Phyllis was a third grade teacher. He has an older sister and a younger brother.


title: Rob Manfred

text: Manfred and his wife, Colleen, have four children; Megan, Michael, Jane and Mary Clare. Megan married Timothy Petrella of Minnetonka, Minnesota, son of the president of UnitedHealthcare Community and State, at Immaculate Conception Catholic Church in Sleepy Hollow, New York.


title: Amazon Appstore

text: Amazon Appstore is an app store for Android-compatible platforms operated by Amazon.com Services, LLC, a subsidiary of Amazon.


title: Amazon Appstore

text: The store is primarily used as the storefront for Amazon's Android-based Fire OS. including Amazon Fire tablets, and Amazon Fire TV digital media players, and can be sideloaded and installed manually on third-party Android devices. Some Android devices may also be bundled with Amazon Appstore as part of compensation agreements. It is also used as a source of Android software for runtime environments on BlackBerry 10 and Windows 11.


title: Amazon Appstore

text: The Amazon Appstore launched on March 22, 2011 and was made available in nearly 200 countries. Developers are paid 70% of the list price of the app or in-app purchase. Notable features that were included on launch included a "Free App of the Day" promotion, which offered different paid apps at no charge daily, and "Test Drive", which allowed users to demo apps in a web browser using a Adobe Flash client virtualized Android instance running on Amazon EC2.


title: Amazon Appstore

text: In September 2011, Amazon announced the Amazon Fire tablet, which uses Amazon Appstore as its main source of apps. Ahead of the official release of Fire, Appstore was updated to include parental controls, a manager for subscriptions, and UI updates to adhere to the Fire's Android user interface.


title: Amazon Appstore

text: In May 2013, Amazon introduced Amazon Coins as a form of payment for purchasing apps, games, and in-app purchases from the store. In August 2013, Amazon Appstore added support for HTML5 web apps.


title: Amazon Appstore

text: The Test Drive feature was decommissioned in April 2015; Amazon stated that the service had been in decline, partly due to many apps not supporting the feature, and the increasing prevalence of the free-to-play business model making it obsolete.


title: Amazon Appstore

text: In August 2015, Amazon Appstore replaced its daily free app program with "Actually Free", which was modeled after the Kindle Unlimited program. Apps in the program were offered at no charge to users, with Amazon paying revenue to developers based on per-minute usage of the apps by end-users. By contrast, developers did not receive any revenue for apps offered under the previous free app promotions. The "Actually Free" collection was accessible via a section of Amazon Appstore on Fire OS, but required users to download the separate "Amazon Underground" app (a version of the main Amazon retail app that integrated Appstore) on other Android devices.


title: Amazon Appstore

text: In August 2017, Amazon announced that the Actually Free program would be discontinued, citing other monetization options such as Coins and Merch on Demand. The shutdown occurred in phases, with the program ending in 2019.


title: Amazon Appstore

text: When the Amazon Appstore for Android launched in March 2011, it had about 3,800 apps. It reached 80,000 apps in June 2013 and 240,000 apps in June 2014. In June 2015, the app store had nearly 334,000 apps. As of October 9, 2019, the Amazon Appstore features 487,083 applications available for download.


title: Amazon Appstore

text: Amazon Appstore has also been adopted by several operating systems as a source of Android-compatible software, in lieu of Google Play. In June 2014, BlackBerry Limited announced that it would add Amazon Appstore to BlackBerry 10 (which is based on real-time operating system QNX) beginning with version 10.3 for use with its Android runtime.


title: Amazon Appstore

text: In June 2021, Microsoft announced that Amazon Appstore would be offered via Microsoft Store on Windows 11, for use with Windows Subsystem for Android.


title: Amazon Appstore

text: Shortly after the Amazon Appstore launch, the International Game Developers Association (IGDA) published an open letter expressing concerns that were primarily aimed at Amazon's distribution terms. The main concerns about the conditions were that Appstore terms force developers to permanently lower their Appstore prices if ever they do promotions on other stores, and that Amazon could choose to lower the price of an application while deciding to reduce the developer's share without having to ask permission. Following this address, Amazon clarified the Appstore developer agreement, but this did not assuage the IGDA's concerns, which declared that "Amazon's terms represent a threat to game developers".


title: Amazon Appstore

text: In July 2011, the Swedish developer Bithack pulled its "Apparatus" application from the Appstore and published an open letter explaining that the store was a "disaster" for indie developers. The main problems related to the very slow review process, the absence of any means to filter unsupported devices, and that Amazon changed the price of the application without consulting the developer, leading to the IGDA reiterating its warnings concerning Amazon's policy once again.


title: Amazon Appstore

text: Apple filed a lawsuit against Amazon for using a similar name to the Apple App Store. Amazon claimed that the term was too generic to be trademarked, and asked the judge to dismiss the suit. Apple responded to Amazon's attempted dismissal of the lawsuit by claiming that Amazon was tarnishing the trademark by using the name. A federal judge denied Apple's request for a preliminary injunction, disagreeing with Amazon's claim that the term is generic, and citing that Apple had not established "a likelihood of confusion" with Amazon's services to obtain an injunction. Apple changed its complaint after Amazon started advertising the Kindle Fire, now saying that Amazon is trying to confuse customers further by dropping the "for Android" part of "Amazon Appstore for Android." In the amended complaint, Apple wrote that "Amazon's use is also likely to lessen the goodwill associated with Apple's App Store service and Apple products designed to utilize Apple's App Store service by associating Apple's App Store service with the inferior qualities of Amazon's service."


title: Amazon Appstore

text: In January 2013, Apple's claims were rejected by a US District judge, who argued that the company presented no evidence that Amazon had "[attempted] to mimic Apple's site or advertising", or communicated that its service "possesses the characteristics and qualities that the public has come to expect from the Apple APP STORE and/or Apple products." In July 2013, Apple dropped the case.


title: The Whistleblower

text: The Whistleblower is a 2010 biographical drama film directed by Larysa Kondracki and starring Rachel Weisz. Kondracki and Eilis Kirwan wrote the screenplay, which was inspired by the story of Kathryn Bolkovac, a Nebraska police officer who was recruited as a United Nations peacekeeper for DynCorp International in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1999. While there, she discovered a Bosnian sex trafficking ring serving and facilitated by DynCorp employees, with international peacekeepers looking the other way. Bolkovac was fired and forced out of the country after attempting to shut down the ring. She took the story to BBC News in the UK and won a wrongful dismissal lawsuit against DynCorp.


title: The Whistleblower

text: Kondracki wanted her debut film to concern human trafficking, and she encountered Bolkovac's story in college. She and Kirwan struggled to obtain financial support for the project. Eight years after Kondracki decided to produce the film, she secured funding and cast Weisz in the lead role. "The Whistleblower"a co-production of Canada, Germany, and the United Stateswas filmed in Romania from October to December 2009.


title: The Whistleblower

text: "The Whistleblower" premiered on 13 September 2010 at the Toronto International Film Festival, and Samuel Goldwyn Films distributed the film in theaters in the United States. The film was advertised as a fictionalization of events occurring during the late 1990s. Kondracki said that the facts are broadly accurate, but some details were omitted for the film; for example, a three-week "breaking-in" period for trafficking victims was not shown. The film received mixed reviews. The performances by Weisz and her co-stars were praised, but the intense violence depicted in several scenes was debated by critics, with some calling it exploitative. Kondracki and Weisz responded that what happened in Bosnia had been toned down for the film. "The Whistleblower" received several awards and nominations, including three nominations at the 2012 Genie Awards. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hosted a screening of the film and promised action would be taken to prevent further instances of human trafficking. "The Guardian" reported that other UN officials attempted to downplay the events depicted and that initiatives against trafficking in Bosnia were aborted.


title: The Whistleblower

text: Kathryn Bolkovac is a police officer from Lincoln, Nebraska, who accepts an offer to work with the United Nations International Police in post-war Bosnia and Herzegovina for a private contractor called Democra Security (a thinly-veiled allusion to DynCorp International). After successfully advocating for a Muslim woman who experienced domestic abuse, Kathryn is appointed head of the department of gender affairs.


title: The Whistleblower

text: Raya, a young Ukrainian woman, and her friend Luba are sold to a Bosnian sex-trafficking ring by a relative. Raya escapes with Irka, another girl forced into prostitution, and they are sent to a women's shelter for victims of human trafficking. While investigating their case, Kathryn uncovers a large-scale sexual slavery ring utilized by international personnel (including Americans).


title: The Whistleblower

text: Kathryn persuades Raya and Irka to testify against their traffickers in court, guaranteeing their safety; however, an indifferent UN official drops Irka at the border between Bosnia and Serbia when she cannot produce a passport. Although rescued from the woods by Kathryn, Irka is too afraid to proceed with the trial. Meanwhile, Raya is recaptured by the traffickers after a corrupt peacekeeper tips them off. To deter other girls from running away and talking to the authorities, the traffickers make an example out of Raya by brutally raping her with a metal pipe in front of them.


title: The Whistleblower

text: When she brings the scandal to the attention of the UN, Kathryn discovers that it has been covered up to protect lucrative defense and security contracts. However, she finds allies in her investigation: Madeleine Rees, head of the Human Rights Commission, and internal-affairs specialist Peter Ward. As her investigation continues, Kathryn is met with threats on her answering machine and dead ends when highers-up override and close all the Internal Affairs cases. Still, she continues to try to find Raya, and finally locates her on a raid, but Raya refuses to come with her. A few days later, Raya is found dead, having been shot in the head by one of the traffickers, Ivan.


title: The Whistleblower

text: Kathryn sends an email to fifty senior mission personnel detailing her findings; she is then fired from her job. One night, Kathryn enters DynCorp to gather evidence of the sex trafficking but is cornered by Ward and another employee. She is forced to hand the evidence to Ward, but it turns out to be a distraction planned by both him and Kathryn. They succeed in escaping before Kathryn is deported from the country where she brings her evidence to BBC News in the United Kingdom.


title: The Whistleblower

text: The final credits note that after Kathryn's departure, a number of peacekeepers were sent home (although none faced criminal charges because of immunity laws), and the U.S. continues doing business with private contractors like Democra Security (including billion-dollar contracts in Iraq and Afghanistan).


title: The Whistleblower

text: "The Whistleblower" is based on the experiences of Kathryn Bolkovac, an American police officer who in 1999 was assigned to serve as a peacekeeper with the United Nations in post-war Bosnia. While there, she reportedly discovered a sex-trafficking ring which served and was facilitated by other peacekeepers. Bolkovac was fired after trying to investigate the ring, but later won a wrongful dismissal lawsuit.


title: The Whistleblower

text: Director Larysa Kondracki and co-screenwriter Eilis Kirwan learned of Bolkovac's story while attending Columbia University, eight years before the film's production. Kondracki subsequently devoted significant time to research human trafficking and the sex trade. After Bolkovac sold her the film rights for $100, she resolved to adapt the story for the screen. Financing for the project was initially difficult to secure, although the situation improved after Rachel Weisz was cast as Bolkovac. "I was young and naïve," Kondracki said of her initial attempts to secure funding. "I thought: 'Of course they're going to make my film. It's brilliant!'"


title: The Whistleblower

text: "The Whistleblower" was described as a "fictionalized dramatic presentation" of a late-1990s scandal. The producers based it on Bolkovac's experiences, rather than on her memoir. Vanessa Redgrave played Madeleine Rees, a UN human-rights official ("one of the film's few heroic characters") who helps Bolkovac uncover the sex trade. Raya (Roxana Condurache) and Luba (Paula Schramm), two Ukrainian young women who are trafficked into Bosnia, are the primary representations of the trafficking victims encountered by Bolkovac. Neither is based on a particular person; they are composites of young women forced to work in Bosnian brothels. Kondracki's younger sister, Rayisa, also played a trafficking victim. For legal reasons the pseudonym "Democra Security" was used for DynCorp International, the organization whose employees reportedly sexually enslaved the women.


title: The Whistleblower

text: Although the producers kept the film factual, they debated how much to include. Details on the bureaucracy were removed. Kondracki said, "It was too much information and, frankly, people were bored." Another concern was how much violence against the sex-trafficking victims should be depicted in the film. Kondracki chose to bluntly portray the inhumane treatment of the young women, which she described as accurate representations of what happened. This included a graphic scene in which Raya is raped with a lead pipe after her escape and recapture. Weisz thought the reality had been toned down, "In real life there were girls doing this as young as 8 years old." Kondracki agreed, saying that she had lightened the events depicted out of fear that viewers would "tune it out":


title: The Whistleblower

text: Kondracki said that her goal for "The Whistleblower" was "information and exposure" on human trafficking. She said, "No one is putting pressure on governments to stop it, and there is no accountability. It's laziness."


title: The Whistleblower

text: "The Whistleblower" is a Canadian–German co-production. Weisz received the script from producer Amy Kaufman in 2007. Since she was pregnant with her son at the time, she initially turned down the offer. She said the story haunted her, and she later contacted Kaufman to ask if the project was still available. She signed on in August 2009, and shooting began in October 2009.


title: The Whistleblower

text: Bolkovac visited the set in Bucharest, Romania, where most of the movie was filmed. Weisz said that she made a point to spend "every waking moment" with her to accurately portray her. Weisz and Bolkovac are dissimilar in appearance: the former is dark-haired and slight, and the latter is "blond and much more voluptuous" and "much taller". As a result, the actress focused on emulating Bolkovac's accent and determination. Bolkovac later said she commended the choice to portray her and appreciated Weisz's efforts to be accurate.


title: The Whistleblower

text: Filming took around six weeks, relatively short for a thriller; Weisz said most take about three months to complete. Producers used hand-held cameras and had a lower budget than usual for the genre. Location filming took place in Eastern Europe, predominantly Romania. Scenes set in UN buildings were filmed in Toronto. Most outdoor scenes are set at night; daytime shots often appear bleak, gray and overcast. This, coupled with a grainy texture, helped create a documentary feel.


title: The Whistleblower

text: Weisz had to separate herself emotionally from the atrocities depicted in the film. "It's something you learn," she said. "It's true between 'action' and 'cut,' and after 'cut' it's just not true anymore." Bolkovac echoed Weisz's sentiments, adding that distancing oneself emotionally is a necessity when working on a police force. However, the producers wanted the audience to be affected by scenes depicting brutal treatment of the women forced into prostitution, and the character of Raya was created to give a human face to the victims. Much of the rape scene was cut after its brutality caused a viewer to faint during the film's first screening in Toronto. Weisz responded:


title: The Whistleblower

text: "The Whistleblower" focuses on sexual slavery, human trafficking, and corruption. Kondracki wanted her first project to concern sex trafficking but was unsure how to create a moving, original plot. Her mother was born in Ukraine, and she was aware of what she described as the country's "epidemic" of trafficking. Victor Malarek's book "The Natashas" inspired her to produce a film on the subject. She said of her initiative being a challenge, "No one wants to watch a film of an enslaved girl being raped for two hours." Bolkovac's experiences gave Kondracki a framework for the film and added the themes of corruption and wide-scale cover-ups. Film critic Rex Reed said that the abuse of power featured prominently in "The Whistleblower"; a number of government officials participate in the sex trade or turn a blind eye to it (including peacekeepers, UN members and mercenaries). Wallace Baine of the "Santa Cruz Sentinel" wrote that these aspects' portrayal made the movie "slippery and true-to-life". She said, "There are clear and vivid monsters in this film, but there are also those existing in the shades-of-gray middle, nice-enough guys tolerating crimes of unspeakable barbarity." Justice, another prominent theme, does not materialize by the end. The sex trafficking victim Raya is killed, and none of the peacekeepers who participated in the trafficking are prosecuted (although several are sent home). According to Baine, viewers are left with the impression that "the worst violence in Bolkovac's story was the violence done to justice".


title: The Whistleblower

text: Bolkovac is portrayed as imperfect—a "noble but screwed up" individual. In the film (which roughly mirrors her real life), her personal life is in disarray. She has lost custody of her children to her ex-husband and goes to Bosnia to earn money to move closer to them. While there, she has an affair with a fellow peacekeeper. Kondracki wanted to promote the idea of an average protagonist who acted against injustice while her peers looked the other way. Her flaws are offset by her determination to fight the sex trade, and reviewers found these aspects instrumental in making her a three-dimensional character.


title: The Whistleblower

text: Weisz compared Bolkovac's story of "one lone woman fighting injustice" to that of David and Goliath, her favorite film genre. In the film, as in real life, Bolkovac begins by investigating a case of a kidnapped girl. As the story unfolds, she discovers a wide-ranging web of corruption and faces growing obstacles. The sex trade is facilitated by a large, influential organization. When she tries to report her findings to the UN and local officials, she receives threats and is "shunned by coworkers and thwarted by higher-ups". Weisz explained that she liked the idea of an ordinary person doing something extraordinary. She said, "I love that kind of thriller, the ordinary person who, because of their character, it's their character that leads them."


title: The Whistleblower

text: "The Whistleblower" premiered on 13 September 2010, at the 2010 Toronto Film Festival. Screenings were also held at film festivals in North America, including the 2011 Human Rights Watch Film Festival in New York.


title: The Whistleblower

text: A screening was held for "The Whistleblower" in Bosnia-Herzegovina for the first time in March 2014. The film was shown in Sarajevo and Mostar, with Kathryn Bolkovac being invited to speak to the Bosnian audience.


title: The Whistleblower

text: Samuel Goldwyn Films purchased rights to distribute the film in the United States. The film had a limited release starting on 5 August 2011. It initially screened in seven theaters and expanded to a maximum of 70 theaters before drawing down. Its theatrical run lasted 12 weeks, during which it grossed .


title: The Whistleblower

text: At the time of its theatrical release, "The Whistleblower" received mixed reviews. On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 75% based on 120 reviews, with an average rating of 6.5/10; the website's critics consensus reads: "Rachel Weisz puts on a compelling smoldering act though the film suffers from a literal-minded approach to the material." Another aggregator, Metacritic, surveyed 31 critics and assessed 17 reviews as positive, 10 as mixed, and four as negative. Based on the reviews, it gave the film a score of 59 out of 100, which it said indicated "mixed or average reviews".


title: The Whistleblower

text: "The Guardian's" Ed Vulliamy called "The Whistleblower" "the most searing drama-documentary of recent years", and "The Huffington Post"'s Marshall Fine said the story was "dark, grim, and harrowing". Doris Toumarkine of "Film Journal International" called the movie a "well-told but troubling story impressively wrapped for audiences who show up in theatres for do-good cinema of a high order". Leigh Paatsch of News.com.au said, "it is Bolkovac's ferocious will to right so many wrongs (expertly channelled by Weisz) that keeps you glued to the screen". Stephenie Foster of "The Huffington Post" gave the film a highly-favorable review:


title: The Whistleblower

text: Allison Willmore of "The A.V. Club" gave "The Whistleblower" a negative review, criticizing the producers for making its antagonists one-dimensional: "There's no hint of the erosion of morality that led to this point." Peter Rainer of "The Christian Science Monitor" called the film's pace "frustratingly uneven", but commended the actors' performances: Condurache "makes Raya's fears tremblingly palpable". Stephen Holden of "The New York Times" wrote that the film "tells a story so repellent that it is almost beyond belief. Its conclusion—that in the moral quagmire of war and its aftermath, human trafficking and corruption are collateral damage—is unutterably depressing." He praised Weisz's performance as "the strongest element" of the production.


title: The Whistleblower

text: The actors' performances received overall praise from reviewers. Camerin Courtney of "Christianity Today" was dismayed that the main character engaged in a sexual relationship with a married man, but Weisz "is wonderful as Bolkovac, a no-nonsense civil servant who is stunned at what she walks into" while "Vanessa Redgrave is a needed touch of strength and warmth as her mentor Madeleine, and David Strathairn is at his government thriller best as Peter Ward, an Internal Affairs agent. Raya is heart-breaking as the young victim." Steve Rea of "The Post and Courier" praised Redgrave's acting in the supporting role of Madeleine Rees as "forceful, elegant, precise". Mick LaSalle of the "San Francisco Chronicle" said, "Weisz gives a psychologically astute performance as a woman who can't leave things alone." Rex Reed of "The Observer" called her "superb" in the lead role.


title: The Whistleblower

text: Kondracki's graphic depiction of violence was controversial. Bob Mondello of NPR called it "sobering", but felt the scenes detracted from the film and should have been more subtle. Ryan Rojas of "Tonight at the Movies" described the film as "gritty and merciless", and cautioned that certain scenes might offend some viewers: "While the scenes do work as reinforcing the horror of the events, it really just made it obvious that the way that the director was going to win over fans was to simply shock them into numbness, as scenes showing rape, mutilation, and murder are shown in very disturbing fashion." Christian Hamaker of Crosswalk.com wrote:


title: The Whistleblower

text: A review in "The Balkan Chronicle", an Internet-based newspaper reporting from the Balkans, disagreed with the opinion that the violence was unnecessarily explicit or sensationalized: "Sugarcoating it would do no one any good. Grisly authenticity is one of the film's greatest aspects." Later, when Bolkovac spoke at a screening of the film in Bosnia, it was reported that her message was well-received and discussion about the events that occurred in the late 1990s "did not fail to engage and provoke".


title: The Whistleblower

text: 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment released the film on DVD on 15 January 2012. The movie was reportedly more successful on Blu-ray Disc than in theatres, and film critic Lynette Porter said that the subject's serious nature made it better-suited for television.


title: The Whistleblower

text: Consistent with Bolkovac's account, "The Whistleblower" portrays DynCorp International employees as participants in the postwar Bosnian sex trade with the UN turning a blind eye. UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon hosted a screening of the film and promised action would be taken to prevent further instances of human trafficking. Bolkovac responded, "Unfortunately, the widespread horror is already there. This is not going to be simple or a quick fix." Kondracki added that while she wanted to be optimistic and hoped that the screening would "lead to genuine discussion and thought about the UN's involvement in sex trafficking and other crimes", she worried that it might not have the desired lasting impact: "I know we are going to hear a lot about what has been done since the time depicted in this film, but rhetoric only goes so far. The situation has escalated." Following the theatrical release of "The Whistleblower", "The Guardian" reported that other UN officials attempted to downplay the events depicted and that initiatives against trafficking in Bosnia were aborted.


title: Phocomelia

text: Phocomelia is a condition that involves malformations of human arms and legs. Although many factors can cause phocomelia, the prominent roots come from the use of the drug thalidomide and from genetic inheritance.


title: Phocomelia

text: Occurrence in an individual results in various abnormalities to the face, limbs, ears, nose, vessels and many other underdevelopments. Although operations may improve some abnormalities, many are not surgically treatable due to the lack of nerves and other related structures.


title: Phocomelia

text: The term is from Ancient Greek φώκη "phōkē", "seal (animal)" + "-o-" interfix + μέλος "melos", "limb" + English suffix "-ia"). Phocomelia is an extremely rare congenital disorder involving malformation of the limbs (dysmelia). Étienne Geoffroy Saint-Hilaire coined the term in 1836.


title: Phocomelia

text: The symptoms of phocomelia syndrome are undeveloped limbs and absent pelvic bones; however, various abnormalities can occur to the limbs and bones. Usually the upper limbs are not fully formed and sections of the "hands and arms may be missing." Short arm bones, fused fingers, and missing thumbs will often occur. Sometimes hands or fingers will be present but limp due to having no bones or being loosely attached. Legs and feet are also affected similarly to the arms and hands. Individuals with phocomelia will often lack thigh bones, and the hands or feet may be abnormally small or appear as stumps due to their close "attachment to the body."


title: Phocomelia

text: According to National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD), individuals carrying phocomelia syndrome will generally show symptoms of growth retardation previous to and after birth. The syndrome can also cause severe mental deficiencies in infants. Infants born with phocomelia will normally have a petite head with "sparse hair" that may appear "silvery-blonde." Hemangioma, the abnormal buildup of blood vessels, will possibly develop around the facial area at birth and the eyes may be set widely apart, a condition known as orbital hypertelorism. The pigment of the eyes will be a bluish white. Phocomelia can also cause: an undeveloped nose with slender nostrils, disfigured ears, irregularly petite jaws (a condition known as micrognathia), and a cleft lip with cleft palate. According to NORD, severe symptoms of phocomelia include:


title: Phocomelia

text: When an individual is born with phocomelia due to drugs or pharmaceuticals, it is known as thalidomide syndrome. The symptoms of thalidomide syndrome are defined by absent or shortened limbs; causing flipper hands and feet. According to Anthony J Perri III, and Sylvia Hsu they can additionally receive:


title: Phocomelia

text: The infants that were exposed to thalidomide during development phases had a 40% chance of survival. The McMredie-McBride hypothesis explains that the limbs of the infants become malformed as a result of the thalidomide harming the neural tissue—simply because the neural tissue has such a large impact on formation and development of the limbs.


title: Phocomelia

text: Thalidomide was released onto the market in 1958 in West Germany under the name Contergan. Primarily prescribed as a sedative or hypnotic, thalidomide also claimed to cure "anxiety, insomnia, gastritis, and tension". Afterwards it was used against nausea and to alleviate morning sickness in pregnant women. Thalidomide became an over-the-counter drug in Germany around 1960, i.e. it could be bought without a prescription. Shortly after the drug was sold, in Germany between 5,000 and 7,000 infants were born with phocomelia. Only 40% of these children survived.


title: Phocomelia

text: Research also proves that although phocomelia did exist through the 1940s and 1950s cases of severe phocomelia multiplied in the 1960s when thalidomide was released in Germany; the direct cause was traced to thalidomide. The statistic was given that "50 percent of the mothers with deformed children had taken thalidomide during the first trimester of pregnancy." Throughout Europe, Australia and the United States 10,000 cases were reported of infants with phocomelia; only 50% of the 10,000 survived. Thalidomide became effectively linked to death or severe disabilities among babies. Those subjected to thalidomide while in the womb experienced limb deficiencies in that the long limbs either were not developed or presented themselves as stumps. Other effects included deformed eyes, hearts, alimentary and urinary tracts, blindness and deafness.


title: Phocomelia

text: According to National Organization for Rare Disorders (NORD): when phocomelia is transmitted [in its familial genetic form] it is seen as an autosomal recessive trait and the mutation is linked to chromosome 8.


title: Phocomelia

text: A study of Roberts Syndrome, a genetic disorder showing similar symptoms to phocomelia, has shed light on the possible causes. An individual afflicted with Roberts Syndrome will have chromosome copies that do not connect at the centromeres, making them unable to line up accordingly. As a result, the newly made cells contain an excess or reduced number of chromosomes. In both Roberts Syndrome and phocomelia the cells cease to develop, or die, preventing proper development of the limbs, eyes, brain, palate, or other structures.


title: Phocomelia

text: Prosthesis is a synthetic alternative for missing limbs, teeth, and various other body parts. Advances in prosthetic limbs have increased greatly during the twentieth century. The use of new materials such as modern plastics, complex procedures and better pigments have created lighter in weight and more realistic looking artificial limbs. With the advancement of myoelectric prosthetic limbs, patients are able to move their limbs without the use of cords or other devices. The myoelectric limbs can detect electric signals from the nervous system and muscles. They were first used on adults, but now they are being fitted to children.


title: Phocomelia

text: Patients that receive a loss of limbs due to phocomelia are typically treated with prosthetics. Infants at the age of six months are recommended to have a prosthetic mitten fitted; enabling them to get used to the prosthesis. A hook will be added when the child reaches the age of two years. Eventually the patient may receive a myoelectric prosthetic limb. Patients are treated in this way due to the lack of understanding at a young age and the absence of necessary tissues and bones to hold the prosthetic limb.


title: Colorado City, Arizona

text: Colorado City is a town in Mohave County, Arizona, United States, and is located in a region known as the Arizona Strip. As of the 2020 census, the population of the town was 2,478, down from 4,821 in 2010. At least three Mormon fundamentalist sects are said to have been based there. A majority of residents and many local officials belong to the most prominent of these sects, the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, whose corporation also owned much of the land within and around the town until state intervention in the 2000s.


title: Colorado City, Arizona

text: Colorado City, formerly known as "Short Creek" (or the Short Creek Community), was founded in 1913 by members of the Council of Friends, a breakaway group from the Salt Lake City-based Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints (LDS Church). The Council of Friends membership desired a remote location where they could practice plural marriage, which had been publicly abandoned by the LDS Church in 1890. On July 26, 1953, Arizona Governor John Howard Pyle sent troops into the settlement to stop polygamy in what became known as the Short Creek raid. The two-year legal battle that followed became a public relations disaster that damaged Pyle's political career and set a hands-off tone toward the town in Arizona for the next 50 years.


title: Colorado City, Arizona

text: After the death of Joseph W. Musser, the community split into two groups: the Fundamentalist Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints stayed in Short Creek, while the Apostolic United Brethren relocated to Bluffdale, Utah. The FLDS changed the name of the community to Colorado City (on the Arizona side of the border) and Hildale (on the Utah side) to eliminate any ties to the Short Creek raids.


title: Colorado City, Arizona

text: In January 2004, local FLDS fundamentalist leader Warren Jeffs expelled a group of 20 men, including the mayor, and gave their wives and children to other men. Jeffs, now a convicted sexual predator, stated he was acting on the orders of God, while the men expelled claimed they were penalized for disagreeing with Jeffs. Observers stated that this was the most severe split to date within the community other than the split between Colorado City and Centennial Park. According to the Utah attorney general's office, this was not the first time Jeffs was accused of expelling men from the community; as many as 400 young men are estimated to have been expelled by Jeffs from 2001 to 2006. Most were removed for failing to follow Jeffs' rules, or for dating women without his permission. Many of these expelled men and boys were very naïve and sheltered, and often wound up homeless in nearby towns such as Hurricane and St. George, Utah. Jeffs was placed on the FBI Ten Most Wanted list and eventually arrested on August 28, 2006.


title: Colorado City, Arizona

text: Most of the property in the town was owned by the United Effort Plan, a real estate trust of the FLDS. In 2007 the state authorities began dismantling church ownership of Colorado City lands. The FLDS church retaliated and indoctrinated their followers against the state, believing they were being targeted because of their beliefs. The FLDS followers became further secluded as a result. Remaining FLDS members refuse to believe the charges against Jeffs.


title: Colorado City, Arizona

text: On April 6, 2010, law enforcement officials in Mohave County, Arizona, and Washington County, Utah, served five search warrants seeking records from town officers. The warrants were served on government officials and departments, including the Town Manager, David Darger, as well as Colorado City's fire chief Jacob Barlow. As a result of the initial warrants, the Hildale-Colorado City Department of Public Safety was shut down, and emergency responders were prohibited from responding to calls without the approval of county officials. Firefighter Glen Jeffs indicated that the warrants referenced "misuse of funds".


title: Colorado City, Arizona

text: In response to a civil rights lawsuit by the United States Justice Department alleging that the Colorado City government, including law enforcement, was taking orders from the FLDS Church, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne announced in July 2012 that he was allocating funding to allow the Mohave County Sheriff's Department to provide daily patrols in the town.


title: Colorado City, Arizona

text: On March 20, 2014, a jury hearing the case of "Cooke et al v. Colorado City, Town of et al" ruled that the towns of Colorado City and Hildale had discriminated against Ronald and Jinjer Cooke because they were not members of the FLDS Church. The Cookes were awarded $5.2 million for "religious discrimination". The Cooke family had moved to the Short Creek area in 2008 but were refused access to utilities by the towns of Colorado City and Hildale. As a result of the ruling, Arizona Attorney General Tom Horne issued a press release stating that he "wants to eradicate discrimination in two polygamous towns" and believes that the court ruling will give him the tools to do it.


title: Colorado City, Arizona

text: Colorado City is located in northeastern Mohave County at (36.99026, -112.97577) Its northern border is the Arizona–Utah state line, with the town of Hildale, Utah, to the north. Arizona State Route 389 passes through the center of town, leading east to Fredonia. To the north, Route 389 becomes Utah State Route 59, which leads northwest to Hurricane.


title: Colorado City, Arizona

text: According to the United States Census Bureau, the town has a total area of , of which , or 0.09%, are water.


title: Colorado City, Arizona

text: Colorado City has the typical cool semi-arid climate (Köppen "BSk") of the interior Mountain West, with very warm to hot summers and cool to cold winters, typified by very large diurnal temperature ranges throughout most of the year. The hottest day on record was July 5, 1985, with . Rainfall is lowest from April to June, but is never particularly high on average, though during strong extratropical low pressure systems, as much as may occasionally fall during a month. The wettest year has been 1998 with , though only 2005 has otherwise received over , whilst the driest year since 1963 has been 2009 with . Snowfall is relatively light; the most in a month was in January 1982 with and that winter had the most for a year with . The highest daily snow depth was however on February 2, 1979, with .


title: Colorado City, Arizona

text: As of the census of 2000, there were 3,334 people, 444 households, and 417 families residing in the town. The population density was . There were 457 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 96.9% white, 0.2% black or African American, 0.1% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 1.8% from other races, and 0.9% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.9% of the population.


title: Colorado City, Arizona

text: Of the 444 households, 83.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 85.8% were married couples living together, 3.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 5.9% were non-families. 4.1% of all households were made up of individuals, and 1.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 7.51 and the average family size was 7.58. Colorado City had the fourth-highest household size in the nation, based on the 2012 5-Year American Community Survey count of an average household size of 8.04 people by zip code tabulation area.


title: Colorado City, Arizona

text: In the town, the population was spread out, with 60.4% under the age of 18, 11.4% from 18 to 24, 20.2% from 25 to 44, 6.3% from 45 to 64, and 1.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 14 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.3 males.


title: Colorado City, Arizona

text: The median income for a household in the town was $32,826, and the median income for a family was $32,344. Males had a median income of $24,429 versus $22,969 for females. The per capita income for the town was $5,293. About 29.0% of families and 31.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 34.5% of those under age 18 and 6.3% of those age 65 or over.


title: Colorado City, Arizona

text: The Colorado City/Hildale, Utah area has the world's highest incidence of fumarase deficiency, an extremely rare genetic condition which causes severe intellectual disability. Geneticists attribute this to the prevalence of cousin marriage between descendants of two of the town's founders, Joseph Smith Jessop and John Y. Barlow; at least half the area's roughly 8,000 inhabitants are descended from one or both.


title: Colorado City, Arizona

text: The United States Postal Service operates the Colorado City, AZ/Hildale, UT Post Office in Colorado City.


title: Colorado City, Arizona

text: Colorado City is a part of the Colorado City Unified School District. There is only one school, the El Capitan School (formerly the Colorado City K–12 Public School), in Colorado City. Many FLDS-affiliated board members resigned due to the political takeover of the district.


title: Colorado City, Arizona

text: In addition to the district public school, there is a charter school, Masada Charter School, serving students in grades K–9. The charter school is outside of the Colorado City town limits in the community of Centennial Park.


title: Sally Wainwright

text: Sally Anne Wainwright (born 1963) is an English television writer, producer, and director from Yorkshire. Early in her career, Wainwright worked as a playwright, and as a scriptwriter on the long-running radio serial drama "The Archers". In the 1990s, Wainwright began her television career, and, in 2000, created her first original drama series "At Home with the Braithwaites" (2000–2003).


title: Sally Wainwright

text: She won the Royal Television Society's Writer of the Year Award for the 2009 mini-series "Unforgiven". Wainwright is known for her creation of the ITV drama series "Scott & Bailey" (2011–2016"), Last Tango in Halifax" (2012-2020), and "Happy Valley" (2014–present). "Last Tango in Halifax" won the British Academy Television Award for Best Drama Series in 2013, whilst "Happy Valley" won the same award in both 2015 and 2017.


title: Sally Wainwright

text: Wainwright is the creator of the 2019 HBO and BBC One television series "Gentleman Jack" starring Suranne Jones as Anne Lister and Sophie Rundle as Ann Walker.


title: Sally Wainwright

text: Wainwright was born in 1963 in Huddersfield, West Yorkshire, to Harry Wainwright and Dorothy Wainwright (née Crowther). Wainwright was brought up in Sowerby Bridge where she attended Triangle C of E Primary School and Sowerby Bridge High School. She attended the University of York, reading English and Related Literature. She has an older sister, Diane Hilton, a housing professional with The Guinness Partnership.


title: Sally Wainwright

text: Wainwright said that she had always wanted to write, and had started writing when she was young, from the time she was nine years old, and wanted to write for "Coronation Street." She said that when she was 16 years old in 1980 she saw a play called "Bastard Angel" by playwright Barrie Keeffe at the Royal Shakespeare Company and was deeply interested in its short sentences and naturalistic approach to dialogue.


title: Sally Wainwright

text: While at the University of York, Wainwright took an original play called "Hanging On" to the Edinburgh Festival and found an agent, Meg Davis, for her writing in the process. Meanwhile, she worked as a bus driver. When she was 24, she left the driving job after she started writing for the Radio 4 series "The Archers." One of her contributions was to write an atypical story for the long-running radio soap in which the village shop was robbed. After that she wrote for "Coronation Street", developing her writing skills, from 1994 to 1999. She has since said that working on continuing drama was "a great education in discipline and a lesson that great stories are hard work". She was mentored by Kay Mellor who encouraged her to stop writing for soaps and to concentrate instead on original work. She created the TV series "At Home with the Braithwaites" about a woman who had secretly won the lottery. The programme was nominated for multiple awards. In 2006, she wrote the drama series "Jane Hall", which depicts the life of a female bus driver in London. Wainwright drew on her own experiences in scripting the series.


title: Sally Wainwright

text: She won the 2009 Writer of the Year Award given by the RTS in 2009 for "Unforgiven" which took several awards including best TV series.


title: Sally Wainwright

text: Wainwright says that her strong yet flawed female characters are "almost real" to her and arrive "fully formed" in her imagination. She likes to control the television that is created and has done some directing and producing of her own work partly to ensure the scenery and dialogue reflects Yorkshire.


title: Sally Wainwright

text: In 2011, she wrote "Scott & Bailey", a series about two female police officers. The idea for the series came from the actresses Suranne Jones and Sally Lindsay and former Detective Inspector Diane Taylor, who assisted with bringing the series to air.


title: Sally Wainwright

text: Wainwright based the plot of her series "Last Tango in Halifax" on the story of her mother who was widowed in 2001. Her mother, Dorothy, moved to Oxfordshire to live with her daughter and rediscovered a lost love via Friends Reunited. With her mother's permission, Wainwright developed the story of how she remarried so rapidly, showing extracts from the series to her mother before broadcast.


title: Sally Wainwright

text: When she told the story to Nicola Shindler, she suggested she turn her mother's experience into a television series. Shindler became the series' executive producer. Both "Last Tango in Halifax" and her crime series "Scott & Bailey" were turned down by both the BBC and ITV before being accepted retrospectively. The former was voted by BAFTA to be best series in 2012 and Wainwright was given the award for best writer.


title: Sally Wainwright

text: "Happy Valley," which was shot in Yorkshire's upper Upper Calder Valley and Hebden Bridge, stars Sarah Lancashire, whom Wainwright had in mind as she wrote the role. Wainwright made her directorial debut with episode 4 of the first series. Wainwright has said that she is willing to write a third series of "Happy Valley", but she has previous commitments to work on other projects. Producer Nicola Shindler has indicated that the third series would not air until 2018 at the earliest.


title: Sally Wainwright

text: Wainwright wrote and directed a two-hour drama special for BBC One entitled "To Walk Invisible: The Bronte Sisters," which aired on BBC One in 2016 and in the US in 2017. Its subject is the Brontë family, particularly the relationship the three sisters, Anne, Emily and Charlotte, had with their brother, Branwell. While working on the drama, Wainwright said "I am thrilled beyond measure that I've been asked by the BBC to bring to life these three fascinating, talented, ingenious Yorkshire women."


title: Sally Wainwright

text: In 2019, Wainwright's "Gentleman Jack", a drama about the 18th-century Yorkshire landowner, diarist, and open lesbian, Anne Lister, played by Suranne Jones, and Lister's courtship of Ann Walker, played by Sophie Rundle, premiered on both BBC One in the UK and HBO in the US.


title: Sally Wainwright

text: Wainwright, who lives in Oxfordshire, is married to Ralph "Austin" Sherlaw-Johnson, an antiquarian sheet music dealer, son of the composer, pianist, and music scholar Robert Sherlaw Johnson. They have two sons and own two Maine Coon cats.


title: Sally Wainwright

text: Wainwright was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to writing and television.


title: Steve Walsh (musician)

text: Steve Walsh (born June 15, 1951) is an American musician, singer, and songwriter best known for his work as a longtime member of the progressive rock band Kansas; he retired from the band in 2014. He sings lead on four of Kansas' best-known hits: "Carry On Wayward Son," "Dust in the Wind", "Point of Know Return", and "All I Wanted", the last two of which he co-wrote.


title: Steve Walsh (musician)

text: Walsh was in a number of local groups prior to his joining Kansas, most notably the group White Clover that later merged with another band to form Kansas. White Clover toured frequently and developed their sound. They merged with another local band, also called Kansas, and were signed to Don Kirshner's label with the name Kansas.


title: Steve Walsh (musician)

text: During Walsh's time with the band, Kansas recorded two commercially successful albums, 1976's "Leftoverture" and 1977's "Point of Know Return". With Kansas, Walsh has released 12 studio albums, six live albums, and numerous singles. He has released three solo albums thus far. In 1978 he was invited, along with Kansas drummer Phil Ehart, to play on Steve Hackett's second solo album "Please Don't Touch". He sang on two of the LP's songs, "Narnia" and "Racing in A". Hackett released "Narnia" as a single, but not before Walsh's management insisted that Hackett re-cut the track with another vocalist so as not to confuse Kansas fans into believing the track was a new Kansas release. John Perry sang the "Narnia" vocal for the single release version.


title: Steve Walsh (musician)

text: Walsh left Kansas after 1980's "Audio-Visions" due to creative differences with the band's primary songwriter Kerry Livgren. Earlier in 1980, he released his first solo album, "Schemer-Dreamer", which included bandmates Livgren, Rich Williams and Phil Ehart, as well as guitarist Steve Morse (who in 1985 joined the revamped Kansas). It contains the song "Every Step of the Way". In 1982 he formed a rock band called Streets with guitarist Mike Slamer, which released the albums "1st" in 1983 and "Crimes in Mind" in 1985 before disbanding.


title: Steve Walsh (musician)

text: Kansas replaced Walsh with vocalist with John Elefante until their split in 1984, but reformed in 1986 with Walsh as lead singer. He remained with the band until his retirement in 2014.


title: Steve Walsh (musician)

text: Walsh released his second solo album "Glossolalia" in 2000. In 2003 he and Daniele Liverani formed the band Khymera. Walsh sang lead vocals on their first self-titled album. Adding to this album were Billy Greer and former Streets bandmate Mike Slamer. His third solo album "Shadowman" followed in 2005 (reissued in 2007 with bonus tracks), with the collaboration of Joe Franco on drums, Joel Kosche on guitars and bass, and David Ragsdale on the re-issued version of the album's bonus tracks.


title: Steve Walsh (musician)

text: In 2015 Walsh contributed vocals to the Radioactive album "F4UR", which was released on April 7, and he sings lead on the song "The Piper".


title: Steve Walsh (musician)

text: In November 2017 Walsh released a collaborative "solo" album between Walsh and Tommy Denander on the Escape Music label, entitled "Black Butterfly".


title: Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex

text: The Olympic National Sports Complex (also known as Olympic Stadium; ) is a multi-use sports and recreation facility in Kyiv, Ukraine, located on the slopes of the city's central Cherepanova Hora (Cherepanov Hill), Pecherskyi District. The Olympic National Sports Complex Stadium, the home of FC Dynamo Kyiv, is the premier sports venue in Ukraine and the sixteenth largest in Europe. Since May 2020, the stadium is also used for the home matches of Shakhtar Donetsk due to the war in Donbas. The complex beside its stadium also features several other sports facilities and is designed to host the Olympic Games (the stadium hosted some football matches at the 1980 Summer Olympics).


title: Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex

text: Following extensive renovation works, including the construction of a new roof, the stadium was reopened on 9 October 2011 with a performance by Shakira and had its international inauguration with a 3–3 friendly draw by Ukraine against Germany on 11 November 2011. It hosted the final of the UEFA Euro 2012 and the 2018 UEFA Champions League Final.


title: Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex

text: After Ukrainian independence in 1991, the stadium was given national status in 1996 and renamed again as the "Olympic" National Sports Complex. Kyivans still commonly refer to it as the "Tsentralny" (Central) or "Respublykanskyi stadion" (Republican Stadium), and the nearby metro station "Olimpiiska" that was also called "Respublykanskyi Stadion".


title: Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex

text: In 1997–99, the stadium was renovated again in accordance with FIFA guidelines, and its capacity was reduced to 83,450. The stadium continued to be the home ground of Dynamo with the Lobanovsky stadium serving as a training ground. Sometime after 1998 big changes took place as it was no longer efficient to keep and maintain the stadium as a club ground. Dynamo decided to reconstruct the Lobanovsky Dynamo Stadium as its primary ground because match attendances rarely exceeded 10,000 spectators. Since that time Olympic has been used primarily for football international matches and was lent to FC Dynamo Kyiv for high-profile home games when a high attendance was expected. However it is not the official home ground of Dynamo or any other Kyiv club, as they all have smaller home stadiums and training bases. The stadium is an official home ground of the Ukraine national football team and was the official venue of the Ukrainian Cup final until 2008. From 2008 Olympic underwent a major reconstruction in preparation for the continental championship.


title: Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex

text: Three Group C and three Group D matches, as well as a quarter-final were scheduled for here, a total of seven games. In the first match on 20 July, East Germany tied with Spain by a scoreline of 1–1. The one quarterfinal, held on 27 July 1980, saw East Germany thrash Iraq by the record-breaking score of 4–0 on the way to their third title.


title: Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex

text: On 18 April 2007, Poland and Ukraine were chosen by UEFA to co-host the finals of Euro 2012, with the Olimpiyskiy Stadium set to host the final. The reconstruction of the stadium involved the demolition and rebuilding of the lower tier, a completely new west stand with a two-level press box, luxury boxes between the two tiers, the addition of a 13-storey high-rise building to the west (to house the Sheraton Kyiv Olimpiysky Hotel), and the addition of a new roof (of unique design) covering the entire seating area. The capacity of the stadium after the reconstruction is 70,050. Reconstruction began on 1 December 2008, when the winner of a tender was announced. It was scheduled to be finished in 2011. The stadium was officially opened by Ukrainian President Viktor Yanukovych on 8 October 2011.


title: Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex

text: The three Group D matches involving Sweden, a quarter-final and the final were scheduled for here (with the other matches in Group D being played at the Donbass Arena). In the first match, Ukraine beat Sweden by a scoreline of 2–1. The final, held on 1 July 2012, saw Spain thrash Italy by the record-breaking score of 4–0 on the way to their third title.


title: Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex

text: When international music superstars or bands come to Kyiv, their concerts are often held in this stadium, as it is the biggest in Ukraine and one of the biggest in Europe. Artists to have performed here include George Michael and Shakira.


title: Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex

text: The Rolling Stones were scheduled to perform at the stadium on 25 July 2007 as part of their A Bigger Bang Tour, but the concert was moved to Warsaw, Poland because of political crisis and early parliament elections in Ukraine.


title: Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex

text: On 25 July 2012 was concert of world-famous rock-bands Red Hot Chili Peppers, Kasabian and The Vaccines.


title: Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex

text: Madonna performed a concert at the stadium on 4 August 2012 as part of her The MDNA Tour. 31,022 people visited her show.


title: Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex

text: Depeche Mode performed at the stadium on 29 June 2013 during their The Delta Machine Tour, in front of a crowd of 36,562 people.


title: Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex

text: Famous Ukrainian rock-band Okean Elzy performed and celebrate on the stadium their 20 anniversary on 21 June 2014. 71,045 people visited the show. The band again performed here the sold-out show on 18 June 2016 as a part of their 2016–2017 world tour.


title: Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex

text: Aerosmith were scheduled to perform at the stadium on 2 July 2014 as part of their Global Warming Tour, but the concert was cancelled due to Russian military intervention to Ukraine.


title: Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex

text: The stadium is located right in the centre of Kyiv on the right bank of the River Dnipro. The stadium can be approached mainly by either Velyka Vasylkivska Street or Lesi Ukrainki Boulevard. Both streets' southern ends connect to the European route E95, which is known at that part of the city as Druzhby Narodiv Boulevard. However the main arena of the complex does not have a direct access to the mentioned streets and can only be reached through several smaller streets such as Fizkultury, Saksahanskoho, Shota Rustaveli, Esplanadna Streets and Hospitalny Lane.


title: Olimpiyskiy National Sports Complex

text: There are several subway stations on the Kyiv Metro located within walking distance: "Olimpiiska" (~) and "Palats Sportu" (~). These are usually closed during matches. It is possible to use other nearby stations Klovska, Zoloti Vorota, Teatralna, Palats "Ukrayina". In December 2010, Kyiv City State Administration renamed the subway station "Respublikansky Stadion" as "Olimpiiska".


title: Hafiz (Quran)

text: Hafiz (; , pl. "ḥuffāẓ" , f. "ḥāfiẓa" ), literally meaning "memorizer", depending on the context, is a term used by Muslims for someone who has completely memorized the Quran. Hafiza is the female equivalent.


title: Hafiz (Quran)

text: Although a hafiz does not have formal authority like an aalim or a mufti, in places where the scholars are scarce, they are frequently consulted and often made an imam. Resultantly, a hafiz becomes the leader of his community and the go-to person for religious knowledge, counselling, and other religious disputes.


title: Hafiz (Quran)

text: A hafiz is given great respect by the people of the community with titles such as "Hafiz Sahb" (Sir Hafiz), "Ustadh" (أُسْتَاذ) (Teacher), "Mawlana" (مَوْلَانَا) (Master), and occasionally Sheikh (شَيْخ).


title: Hafiz (Quran)

text: "Hifz" is the memorization of the Quran. Muslims believe that whoever memorizes the Quran and acts upon it will be rewarded and honoured greatly by Allah, as Abdullah ibn Amr narrated that the Messenger of Allah said: “It shall be said - meaning to the one who memorized the Qur'an - 'Recite, and rise up, recite (melodiously) as you would recite in the world. Indeed your rank shall be at the last Ayah you recited” (Jami` at-Tirmidhi 2914)


title: Hafiz (Quran)

text: Having memorised the Quran, the "hafiz" or "hafiza" must then ensure they do not forget it. To ensure perfect recall of all the learned verses requires constant practice. The memorisation of the Quran was important to Muslims in the past and also in the present. Yearly, thousands of students master the Quran and complete the book with interpretation and also memorisation. The Quran is perhaps the only book, religious or secular, that has been memorized completely by millions of people.


title: Hafiz (Quran)

text: In Pakistan alone, Qari Hafeez Jalandhari, the general secretary of the Wafaq-ul-Madaris, which is a central board accounting for most of the religious seminaries in Pakistan, says that, in its network of madaris, "one million children have become Hafiz-e-Quran after an exam was introduced in 1982", with more than 78,000 (including 14,000 girls) every year, which he compared to the yearly output of Saudi Arabia, which is 5,000.


title: Hafiz (Quran)

text: For Muslims who are attempting to memorize certain suras but are unfamiliar with the Arabic script, the ulema have made various elucidations. There are mixed opinions on the usage of romanization of Arabic due to concerns about mispronunciations, higher approval of writing systems with close consonantal and vocalic equivalents to classical Arabic or relevant and effective diacritics, and a preference for Quran tutors or recorded recitations from qaris or any device with clear audible sound storage technology, such as CDs or cassettes.


title: Hafiz (Quran)

text: Keeping the Quran memorized has always been a challenging and, at the same time, important issue in Muslim countries. In Iran, according to Resolution 573 of the Supreme Council of the Cultural Revolution, there is at least one specialized examination of the preservation of the Quran each year, according to specific criteria. The reviewer of this evaluation is Dar al-Qur'an al-Karim, a subsidiary of the Islamic Advertising Organization. According to Article 5 of the above Decree, holders of specialized qualifications for memorizing the Quran will enjoy the benefits of one to five art degrees, subject to the approval of the 547th session of the Supreme Council for Cultural Revolution. Therefore, the approval of the Qualification Degrees 1 to 5 of the Quran are in line with the Doctoral, Master's, Bachelor, Associate's Diploma and Diploma degrees, respectively.


title: Lisa Snowdon

text: Lisa Snowdon (born Lisa Snawdon on 23 January 1972) is an English television and radio presenter and fashion model. She was the host of the Living TV reality television show "Britain's Next Top Model" from 2006 until 2009. She also co-presented "Capital Breakfast" on Capital London from August 2008 until 18 December 2015.


title: Lisa Snowdon

text: Snowdon was born in Welwyn Garden City to insurance salesman Nigel and hairdresser Lydia Snawdon. She has two younger sisters.


title: Lisa Snowdon

text: She gained a scholarship to the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts, where her classmates included Naomi Campbell. She auditioned for the "Minipops". After gaining too much additional height, and after her parents split up when she was 17, Snowdon stayed in London and worked briefly as a dance and yoga teacher.


title: Lisa Snowdon

text: A fan of Christy Turlington from age 14, Snowdon never thought about becoming a model. Spotted by a Premier Model Management agent at age 19 while pole-dancing at a rave at London's MFI club, she was auditioned and signed up. She started working with renowned photographers and became one of Britain's top fashion models.


title: Lisa Snowdon

text: Snowdon is best known for her beauty commercials and high-fashion cover and spread modelling, including cover shots for ￼"Later", "Vogue", "Marie Claire" and "Elle"; she was also the face for Gucci.' She went on to be the "elevator girl" for Lynx deodorant (Axe in certain countries) in 2003, appeared in advertisements for Mercedes-Benz, Dove soap, and Kelloggs Special K, and was the face of campaigns for Neutrogena and After Eight mint straws, the "Taxiwise" safety campaign and numerous catalogues. Her modelling career led to appearances in "Maxim", "Arena", "Loaded" and "GQ". She featured on "FHMs List of FHM 100 Sexiest Women every year between 1996 and 2007 except for 1998.


title: Lisa Snowdon

text: Snowdon returned to modelling when she became the face and model of Avon lingerie, and was one of the models for the Marks & Spencer autumn 2010 campaign. From 2010-2014 she was the face of Belvita breakfast biscuits, having appeared in adverts for the biscuits with fellow Capital FM DJ Johnny Vaughan. In 2015 she was appointed the lead-UK model for Triumph International.


title: Lisa Snowdon

text: Snowdon's first presenting role was on MTV UK's MTV Select. She would later host a number of other MTV shows before moving to do voice-overs on VH1 and host "Lisa Snowdon's All Access" for VH1. She took over the role from Lisa Butcher as the "supermodel" judge and host on "Britain's Next Top Model". Snowdon left the show to concentrate on her radio show and was replaced by Elle Macpherson as of season six. This later role led to a series of stand-in and guest presenting roles on British terrestrial television, where in June 2007 she guest-presented the BBC's Sunday morning show "Something for the Weekend," and, in August, Channel 4's tea time show "Richard & Judy" alongside David Walliams. In autumn 2007, she was announced as the new co-presenter of "Through the Keyhole" with Sir David Frost on BBC One. She was a guest panellist on "Loose Women" in November 2009. She was a guest on the 4th episode of "The Real Hustle: Celebrity Scammers" where she performed a long con where she had to convince someone that a cheap painting was worth a fortune. The scam was called 'The Art Attack'.


title: Lisa Snowdon

text: Snowdon had a starring role in Channel 4's short film "Man's Best Friend". She also had a cameo role in Channel 4 programme, "Plus One".


title: Lisa Snowdon

text: In 2014, Snowdon co-hosted "Weekend Kitchen with Waitrose" with Steve Jones. The show aired on Saturday mornings on Channel 4.


title: Lisa Snowdon

text: In August 2016, Snowdon guest presented five episodes of "Lorraine", standing in for Lorraine Kelly. In November 2016, Snowdon was confirmed as a contestant for the sixteenth series of "I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!". She was voted off as the second celebrity to leave the jungle coming in second last place to her camp-mate Danny Baker.


title: Lisa Snowdon

text: Snowdon took part in the sixth series of "Strictly Come Dancing" on the BBC paired with former champion Brendan Cole, competing against other celebrities. Snowdon started off badly, scoring only 22 points out of 40 for her salsa, but she quickly rebounded, scoring 32 points for her second dance. Snowdon's Ballroom dances in particular were very impressive, rewarded no less than 35 judges points for each dance, though most of her Latin dances weren't so warmly received.


title: Lisa Snowdon

text: Despite her mediocre performance in the first week, Snowdon continuously improved over the course of the series. She received 9 from all judges for her sixth dance, the Viennese Waltz, her first 10 (from a total of 39) for her Foxtrot, and culminating with both her Quickstep and a repeat of her Foxtrot in the finale, getting a perfect 40 out of 40 from the judges. As well as her Ballroom dances, her Latin dances also improved greatly. Snowdon finally received a 10 for her Latin dance in week 10, for her Cha-cha-cha, and later when she danced again in the finale, she received perfect 40 points as well, making Snowdon the first contestant to get three perfect scores from the judges. Despite achieving multiple perfect scores in the final three, she came third on the show.


title: Lisa Snowdon

text: In December 2015, Snowdon was announced as one of the 2015 Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special contestants, featuring six returning contestants including four former champions. She was partnered with 2014 Strictly champion Pasha Kovalev, dancing the Quickstep to "Let It Snow!". After earning 37 points from the judges, they eventually lost to series 9 winner Harry Judd.


title: Lisa Snowdon

text: At the end of August 2008, it was announced that Snowdon was to be the permanent replacement for Denise van Outen on Capital London as co-host with Jonny Vaughan. In January 2010, the pair signed a two-year deal to continue presenting the show. On 1 December 2011 it was confirmed she would remain at Capital. She was given the nickname 'Eggy' on the show by colleague Dave Berry after her penchant for boiled eggs and the smell they gave in the studio. On 13 November 2015 she announced that she would be leaving Capital Breakfast at the end of 2015.


title: Lisa Snowdon

text: In 2008, Snowdon participated in a celebrity edition of "The Apprentice" as part of the BBC's biennial Sport Relief event. In 2010, she became an Ambassador of Capital FM's Help a Capital Child charity.


title: Lisa Snowdon

text: In November 2010, after turning on the Bond Street Christmas Lights, Snowdon was rushed to hospital and diagnosed with viral meningitis. As a result, she began raising money and acting as an ambassador for the Meningitis Trust.


title: Lisa Snowdon

text: Snowdon dated Dave Loeffler from US band E.Y.C. for three years. She was also in a five-year on/off relationship with actor George Clooney from 2000 until 2005. Their relationship was well reported in the tabloids on both sides of the Atlantic. After 14 months of dating, Snowdon revealed in 2017 her engagement to her boyfriend George Smart. When Snowdon appeared on I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!, she revealed that a series of difficult relationships were what put her off having children.


title: Lisa Snowdon

text: Snowdon lives in Epping Forest, and has a flat in Camden, north London, which she uses during the week.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: In computing, load balancing is the process of distributing a set of tasks over a set of resources (computing units), with the aim of making their overall processing more efficient. Load balancing can optimize the response time and avoid unevenly overloading some compute nodes while other compute nodes are left idle.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Load balancing is the subject of research in the field of parallel computers. Two main approaches exist: static algorithms, which do not take into account the state of the different machines, and dynamic algorithms, which are usually more general and more efficient but require exchanges of information between the different computing units, at the risk of a loss of efficiency.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: A load-balancing algorithm always tries to answer a specific problem. Among other things, the nature of the tasks, the algorithmic complexity, the hardware architecture on which the algorithms will run as well as required error tolerance, must be taken into account. Therefore compromise must be found to best meet application-specific requirements.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: The efficiency of load balancing algorithms critically depends on the nature of the tasks. Therefore, the more information about the tasks is available at the time of decision making, the greater the potential for optimization.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Perfect knowledge of the execution time of each of the tasks allows to reach an optimal load distribution (see algorithm of prefix sum). Unfortunately, this is in fact an idealized case. Knowing the exact execution time of each task is an extremely rare situation.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: For this reason, there are several techniques to get an idea of the different execution times. First of all, in the fortunate scenario of having tasks of relatively homogeneous size, it is possible to consider that each of them will require approximately the average execution time. If, on the other hand, the execution time is very irregular, more sophisticated techniques must be used. One technique is to add some metadata to each task. Depending on the previous execution time for similar metadata, it is possible to make inferences for a future task based on statistics.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: In some cases, tasks depend on each other. These interdependencies can be illustrated by a directed acyclic graph. Intuitively, some tasks cannot begin until others are completed.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Assuming that the required time for each of the tasks is known in advance, an optimal execution order must lead to the minimization of the total execution time. Although this is an NP-hard problem and therefore can be difficult to be solved exactly. There are algorithms, like job scheduler, that calculate optimal task distributions using metaheuristic methods.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Another feature of the tasks critical for the design of a load balancing algorithm is their ability to be broken down into subtasks during execution. The "Tree-Shaped Computation" algorithm presented later takes great advantage of this specificity.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: A load balancing algorithm is "static" when it does not take into account the state of the system for the distribution of tasks. Thereby, the system state includes measures such as the load level (and sometimes even overload) of certain processors. Instead, assumptions about the overall system are made beforehand, such as the arrival times and resource requirements of incoming tasks. In addition, the number of processors, their respective power and communication speeds are known. Therefore, static load balancing aims to associate a known set of tasks with the available processors in order to minimize a certain performance function. The trick lies in the concept of this performance function.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Static load balancing techniques are commonly centralized around a router, or Master, which distributes the loads and optimizes the performance function. This minimization can take into account information related to the tasks to be distributed, and derive an expected execution time.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: The advantage of static algorithms is that they are easy to set up and extremely efficient in the case of fairly regular tasks (such as processing HTTP requests from a website). However, there is still some statistical variance in the assignment of tasks which can lead to the overloading of some computing units.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Unlike static load distribution algorithms, dynamic algorithms take into account the current load of each of the computing units (also called nodes) in the system. In this approach, tasks can be moved dynamically from an overloaded node to an underloaded node in order to receive faster processing. While these algorithms are much more complicated to design, they can produce excellent results, in particular, when the execution time varies greatly from one task to another.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Dynamic load balancing architecture can be more modular since it is not mandatory to have a specific node dedicated to the distribution of work. When tasks are uniquely assigned to a processor according to their state at a given moment, it is a unique assignment. If, on the other hand, the tasks can be permanently redistributed according to the state of the system and its evolution, this is called dynamic assignment. Obviously, a load balancing algorithm that requires too much communication in order to reach its decisions runs the risk of slowing down the resolution of the overall problem.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Parallel computing infrastructures are often composed of units of different computing power, which should be taken into account for the load distribution.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: For example, lower-powered units may receive requests that require a smaller amount of computation, or, in the case of homogeneous or unknown request sizes, receive fewer requests than larger units.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Parallel computers are often divided into two broad categories: those where all processors share a single common memory on which they read and write in parallel (PRAM model), and those where each computing unit has its own memory (distributed memory model), and where information is exchanged by messages.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: For shared-memory computers, managing write conflicts greatly slows down the speed of individual execution of each computing unit. However, they can work perfectly well in parallel. Conversely, in the case of message exchange, each of the processors can work at full speed. On the other hand, when it comes to collective message exchange, all processors are forced to wait for the slowest processors to start the communication phase.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: In reality, few systems fall into exactly one of the categories. In general, the processors each have an internal memory to store the data needed for the next calculations and are organized in successive clusters. Often, these processing elements are then coordinated through distributed memory and message passing. Therefore, the load balancing algorithm should be uniquely adapted to a parallel architecture. Otherwise, there is a risk that the efficiency of parallel problem solving will be greatly reduced.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Adapting to the hardware structures seen above, there are two main categories of load balancing algorithms. On the one hand, the one where tasks are assigned by “master” and executed by “workers” who keep the master informed of the progress of their work, and the master can then take charge of assigning or reassigning the workload in case of the dynamic algorithm. The literature refers to this as "Master-Worker" architecture. On the other hand, the control can be distributed between the different nodes. The load balancing algorithm is then executed on each of them and the responsibility for assigning tasks (as well as re-assigning and splitting as appropriate) is shared. The last category assumes a dynamic load balancing algorithm.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Since the design of each load balancing algorithm is unique, the previous distinction must be qualified. Thus, it is also possible to have an intermediate strategy, with, for example, "master" nodes for each sub-cluster, which are themselves subject to a global "master". There are also multi-level organizations, with an alternation between master-slave and distributed control strategies. The latter strategies quickly become complex and are rarely encountered. Designers prefer algorithms that are easier to control.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: In the context of algorithms that run over the very long term (servers, cloud...), the computer architecture evolves over time. However, it is preferable not to have to design a new algorithm each time.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: An extremely important parameter of a load balancing algorithm is therefore its ability to adapt to scalable hardware architecture. This is called the scalability of the algorithm. An algorithm is called scalable for an input parameter when its performance remains relatively independent of the size of that parameter.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: When the algorithm is capable of adapting to a varying number of computing units, but the number of computing units must be fixed before execution, it is called moldable. If, on the other hand, the algorithm is capable of dealing with a fluctuating amount of processors during its execution, the algorithm is said to be malleable. Most load balancing algorithms are at least moldable.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Especially in large-scale computing clusters, it is not tolerable to execute a parallel algorithm that cannot withstand the failure of one single component. Therefore, fault tolerant algorithms are being developed which can detect outages of processors and recover the computation.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: If the tasks are independent of each other, and if their respective execution time and the tasks can be subdivided, there is a simple and optimal algorithm.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: By dividing the tasks in such a way as to give the same amount of computation to each processor, all that remains to be done is to group the results together. Using a prefix sum algorithm, this division can be calculated in logarithmic time with respect to the number of processors.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: If, however, the tasks cannot be subdivided (i.e., they are atomic), although optimizing task assignment is a difficult problem, it is still possible to approximate a relatively fair distribution of tasks, provided that the size of each of them is much smaller than the total computation performed by each of the nodes.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Most of the time, the execution time of a task is unknown and only rough approximations are available. This algorithm, although particularly efficient, is not viable for these scenarios.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Even if the execution time is not known in advance at all, static load distribution is always possible.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: In a round-robin algorithm, the first request is sent to the first server, then the next to the second, and so on down to the last. Then it is started again, assigning the next request to the first server, and so on.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: This algorithm can be weighted such that the most powerful units receive the largest number of requests and receive them first.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Randomized static load balancing is simply a matter of randomly assigning tasks to the different servers. This method works quite well. If, on the other hand, the number of tasks is known in advance, it is even more efficient to calculate a random permutation in advance. This avoids communication costs for each assignment. There is no longer a need for a distribution master because every processor knows what task is assigned to it. Even if the number of tasks is unknown, it is still possible to avoid communication with a pseudo-random assignment generation known to all processors.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: The performance of this strategy (measured in total execution time for a given fixed set of tasks) decreases with the maximum size of the tasks.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Master-Worker schemes are among the simplest dynamic load balancing algorithms. A master distributes the workload to all workers (also sometimes referred to as "slaves"). Initially, all workers are idle and report this to the master. The master answers worker requests and distributes the tasks to them. When he has no more tasks to give, he informs the workers so that they stop asking for tasks.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: The advantage of this system is that it distributes the burden very fairly. In fact, if one does not take into account the time needed for the assignment, the execution time would be comparable to the prefix sum seen above.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: The problem with this algorithm is that it has difficulty adapting to a large number of processors because of the high amount of necessary communications. This lack of scalability makes it quickly inoperable in very large servers or very large parallel computers. The master acts as a bottleneck.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: However, the quality of the algorithm can be greatly improved by replacing the master with a task list that can be used by different processors. Although this algorithm is a little more difficult to implement, it promises much better scalability, although still insufficient for very large computing centers.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Another technique to overcome scalability problems when the time needed for task completion is unknown is work stealing.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: The approach consists of assigning to each processor a certain number of tasks in a random or predefined manner, then allowing inactive processors to "steal" work from active or overloaded processors. Several implementations of this concept exist, defined by a task division model and by the rules determining the exchange between processors. While this technique can be particularly effective, it is difficult to implement because it is necessary to ensure that communication does not become the primary occupation of the processors instead of solving the problem.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: In the case of atomic tasks, two main strategies can be distinguished, those where the processors with low load offer their computing capacity to those with the highest load, and those were the most loaded units wish to lighten the workload assigned to them. It has been shown that when the network is heavily loaded, it is more efficient for the least loaded units to offer their availability and when the network is lightly loaded, it is the overloaded processors that require support from the most inactive ones. This rule of thumb limits the number of exchanged messages.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: In the case where one starts from a single large task that cannot be divided beyond an atomic level, there is a very efficient algorithm "Tree-Shaped computation", where the parent task is distributed in a work tree.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Initially, many processors have an empty task, except one that works sequentially on it. Idle processors issue requests randomly to other processors (not necessarily active). If the latter is able to subdivide the task it is working on, it does so by sending part of its work to the node making the request. Otherwise, it returns an empty task. This induces a tree structure. It is then necessary to send a termination signal to the parent processor when the subtask is completed so that it, in turn, sends the message to its parent until it reaches the root of the tree. When the first processor, i.e. the root, has finished, a global termination message can be broadcast. In the end, it is necessary to assemble the results by going back up the tree.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: The efficiency of such an algorithm is close to the prefix sum when the job cutting and communication time is not too high compared to the work to be done. To avoid too high communication costs, it is possible to imagine a list of jobs on shared memory. Therefore, a request is simply reading from a certain position on this shared memory at the request of the master processor.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: In addition to efficient problem solving through parallel computations, load balancing algorithms are widely used in HTTP request management where a site with a large audience must be able to handle a large number of requests per second.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: One of the most commonly used applications of load balancing is to provide single Internet service from multiple servers, sometimes known as a server farm. Commonly load-balanced systems include popular web sites, large Internet Relay Chat networks, high-bandwidth File Transfer Protocol (FTP) sites, Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) servers, Domain Name System (DNS) servers, and databases.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Round-robin DNS is an alternate method of load balancing that does not require a dedicated software or hardware node. In this technique, multiple IP addresses are associated with a single domain name; clients are given IP in a round-robin fashion. IP is assigned to clients with a short expiration so the client is more likely to use a different IP the next time they access the Internet service being requested.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Another more effective technique for load-balancing using DNS is to delegate as a sub-domain whose zone is served by each of the same servers that are serving the website. This technique works particularly well where individual servers are spread geographically on the Internet. For example:


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: However, the zone file for on each server is different such that each server resolves its own IP Address as the A-record. On server "one" the zone file for reports:


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: This way, when a server is down, its DNS will not respond and the web service does not receive any traffic. If the line to one server is congested, the unreliability of DNS ensures less HTTP traffic reaches that server. Furthermore, the quickest DNS response to the resolver is nearly always the one from the network's closest server, ensuring geo-sensitive load-balancing . A short TTL on the A-record helps to ensure traffic is quickly diverted when a server goes down. Consideration must be given to the possibility that this technique may cause individual clients to switch between individual servers in mid-session.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Another approach to load balancing is to deliver a list of server IPs to the client, and then to have the client randomly select the IP from the list on each connection. This essentially relies on all clients generating similar loads, and the Law of Large Numbers to achieve a reasonably flat load distribution across servers. It has been claimed that client-side random load balancing tends to provide better load distribution than round-robin DNS; this has been attributed to caching issues with round-robin DNS, that in the case of large DNS caching servers, tend to skew the distribution for round-robin DNS, while client-side random selection remains unaffected regardless of DNS caching.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: With this approach, the method of delivery of a list of IPs to the client can vary and may be implemented as a DNS list (delivered to all the clients without any round-robin), or via hardcoding it to the list. If a "smart client" is used, detecting that a randomly selected server is down and connecting randomly again, it also provides fault tolerance.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: For Internet services, a server-side load balancer is usually a software program that is listening on the port where external clients connect to access services. The load balancer forwards requests to one of the "backend" servers, which usually replies to the load balancer. This allows the load balancer to reply to the client without the client ever knowing about the internal separation of functions. It also prevents clients from contacting back-end servers directly, which may have security benefits by hiding the structure of the internal network and preventing attacks on the kernel's network stack or unrelated services running on other ports.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Some load balancers provide a mechanism for doing something special in the event that all backend servers are unavailable. This might include forwarding to a backup load balancer or displaying a message regarding the outage.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: It is also important that the load balancer itself does not become a single point of failure. Usually, load balancers are implemented in high-availability pairs which may also replicate session persistence data if required by the specific application. Certain applications are programmed with immunity to this problem, by offsetting the load balancing point over differential sharing platforms beyond the defined network. The sequential algorithms paired to these functions are defined by flexible parameters unique to the specific database.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Numerous scheduling algorithms, also called load-balancing methods, are used by load balancers to determine which back-end server to send a request to.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Simple algorithms include random choice, round robin, or least connections. More sophisticated load balancers may take additional factors into account, such as a server's reported load, least response times, up/down status (determined by a monitoring poll of some kind), a number of active connections, geographic location, capabilities, or how much traffic it has recently been assigned.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: An important issue when operating a load-balanced service is how to handle information that must be kept across the multiple requests in a user's session. If this information is stored locally on one backend server, then subsequent requests going to different backend servers would not be able to find it. This might be cached information that can be recomputed, in which case load-balancing a request to a different backend server just introduces a performance issue.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: Ideally, the cluster of servers behind the load balancer should not be session-aware, so that if a client connects to any backend server at any time the user experience is unaffected. This is usually achieved with a shared database or an in-memory session database like Memcached.


title: Load balancing (computing)

text: One basic solution to the session data issue is to send all requests in a user session consistently to the same backend server. This is known as "persistence" or "stickiness". A significant downside to this technique is its lack of automatic failover: if a backend server goes down, its per-session information becomes inaccessible, and any sessions depending on it are lost. The same problem is usually relevant to central database servers; even if web servers are "stateless" and not "sticky", the central database is (see below).