title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: Some of the reconnaissance units of the British Fourteenth Army in Burma operated LVT-1s. Although originally planned to fight against the Japanese on the Burmese coast at the end of 1943, this part of the operations plan was cancelled and no LVT-1s were used in combat. In 1945, the Royal Marines Amphibious support unit was created. Its LVT-4s and LVT(A)-4s supported Royal Marines landings in Burma and Malaya.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: Some LVT-3s, LVT-3Cs, and modified LVT(A)-5s saw action in the Korean War. The French Army used the U.S.-supplied LVT-4s and LVT(A)-4s in the Indochina War and in the Suez Crisis. During the Korean War, LVT(3)Cs and LVT(A)s were used for the landing in Incheon and subsequent Han River crossing to re-take Seoul. It was also used in the evacuation of Hungnam Harbour when Chinese forces attacked. The LVT(3)C was used by USMC in Korea as both an amphibious vehicle, and in the role of an armored personnel carrier while on land. Nationalist China (ROC) forces used some US-provided LVT-4s and LVT(A)-4s during China's civil war against communist Chinese troops. Many were captured by communist Chinese forces, with at least several dozen refitted with a Soviet ZiS-2 57 mm anti-tank gun in place of the original US 75 mm howitzer-gun following their successful capture of mainland China from the Chinese Nationalists in 1949.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: French armored units developed the use of amphibious tracked vehicles in Indochina: The amphibious C model of the M29 Weasel (armed either with Chaterrault M1924/29, Bren or Browning M1919 machine guns and with 57mm M18A1 recoilless guns), LVT-4s (equipped with two M2 and two M1919 machine guns, and sometimes equipped with 40mm Bofors guns or 57 mm recoilless guns) and LVT(A)-4 (with 75 mm howitzer) were used to great effect by "1er Régiment Etrangers de Cavalerie". In 1950, the French Army received a number of LVT-4s and LVT(A)-4s from the US to supplement M29Cs. In September 1951, the first French mixed unit ("1er Groupement Autonome") was created, consisting of two squadrons of Weasels (33 each), three squadrons of LVT-4 (11 each) and one fire support platoon of 6 LVT(A)-4. Later a second group was created in Tonkin when more LVTs were received. Both these groups participated in Mekong and Red River delta operations and in landing operations on Vietnam shores. The also deployed a platoon of LVTs. LVTs were known as "alligators" in French armed forces.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: During the 1956 Suez Canal crisis, 40 and 42 Commando of the Royal Marines made a landing in Port Said in LVTs, supported by a number of Centurion tanks from the Royal Tank Regiment. The French Navy assigned 13 LVT-4s to the Force H, to be used by the "1ère compagnie du 1er R.E.P." and "3eme Marine Commando" during their assault on Port Fuad.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: At the end of the war, the oldest LVT versions were disposed as surplus and sold to other countries. Only LVT-3 and LVT(A)-5s remained in operational use in the US armed forces. In 1947 a dozen Buffalo LTV's were being used by the British Army who were working to fix a breach in the flood defences at Crowland in Lincolnshire fens following the terrible winter that year. Five LTV's were swept away and lost in flood waters. On 29 April 2021 one of the missing units was excavated from 30 feet below the surface after being located in an English field. (See also #Preservation.) During Operation Highjump, the United States Navy Antarctic Developments Program from 1946 to 1947, LVT-3's and LVT-4's were tested in Antarctic conditions.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: In the 1950s, LVTs still in service were replaced by the LVTP-5 family of vehicles, which in turn were followed by the LVT-7 family, eventually redesignated Amphibious Assault Vehicle (AAV). The AAV is manufactured by BAE Systems Land and Armaments, which is the successor company to FMC.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: In 1958, the US Navy tested the largest LVT ever produced, the LVT(U)X2 "Goliath" produced by Pacific Car and Foundry. The Goliath was large enough to transport any load the conventional Landing Craft Utility could carry, including a 60-ton main battle tank, from a landing dock ship to shore and across beach barriers. Only one Goliath was built and it never became operational.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: Currently, many of the world's militaries employ more modern versions of the amtrack. One of the latest is the now cancelled United States Marine Corps Expeditionary Fighting Vehicle, that was slated to begin replacing the AAV in 2015 but was cancelled in 2011 after going significantly over budget.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: The US Army used a different naming system from the Navy but instead of using the usual Army system of Model (M)-numbers, they referred to the LVTs by Mark number using Roman numerals rather than Arabic numerals. Hence the LVT-4 was the "Mark IV". In British service LVTs were given service names and mark numbers to distinguish them.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: The first military model. Traveling at a respectable laden in the water and on land, it could deliver 20 fully equipped assault troops to the beach and supply supporting fire from two .30 M1919 Browning machine guns though it was only intended for delivering supplies inland until wheeled vehicles could be brought ashore. It was powered by a Hercules WXLC six-cylinder petrol engine, mounted in a housing in the rear cargo hold. The LVT-1 was propelled on both land and water by tracks which were fitted with Roebling patented oblique shoes that gave good grip on land as well as good drive in the water. Apart of the forward driver's compartment, the bulk of the unarmoured steel hull was given over to a cargo area 21 ft 6 in by 9 ft 10 in which could be laden to . The hold was divided into several watertight compartments. 1,225 LVT-1s were built between 1941 and 1943, 485 were transferred to the US Army and 200 to the British Army. The LVT-1 had a maximum speed of on land or in water; and a range of on land or in water.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: No armor or weapons were included in its design as its role was cargo transport from ship to shore. Many vehicles were refitted prior to the Tarawa landing to hold two Browning heavy machine guns forward, with the .30 guns aft. The vehicle was not armored and its thin steel hull offered virtually no protection, although prior to Tarawa some vehicles received of armor plating to the cab. Tracks performed well on sand, but not on tough surfaces. The rigid suspension threw tracks and roller bearings corroded in salt water. Proper maintenance of the new machine was often an issue, as few Marines were trained to work on it, and early models suffered frequent breakdowns. As LVT-1 vehicles experienced many breakdowns they were gradually phased out of operational use before 1945.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: This was an improved version of LVT-1. It featured a new powertrain (to save time and to simplify production it was the same Continental radial 7-cylinder engine as that in the M3A1 Stuart light tank) in the rear of the hull with a propshaft along the centreline to the transmission at the front, and torsilastic suspension. The aluminium track grousers were bolted on, making changes much easier since they wore out quickly on land and even more so on coral. Hard terrain performance was much better compared to the LVT-1. 2,962 units were produced for the US Navy, who then proceeded to transfer 1,507 to the US Army and 100 to the British Army. With a maximum speed of on land and on water) and an operational endurance of 150 miles on land (or on water) the LVT-2 could carry a normal payload of or 24 fully equipped troops. Portable plating of "10 lb" rating on the sponson sides and hull rear and '20 lb' on the front and cab could be fitted.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: Rails for mounting machine guns ran round the sides and rear of the cargo space and across the back of the cab,


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: LVT-2s participated in more campaigns that any other LVT variant, including Tarawa, Roi-Namur, Cape Gloucester, Northern Kwajalein, Saipan, Guam, Tinian, Peleliu, Iwo Jima, Okinawa and in some parts of Europe, such as the Rhine crossing of Operation Plunder.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: The LVT(A) Mark 1 was the first infantry support LVT. With the first experience of Pacific amphibious operations it was clear heavier firepower than the usual .50 in guns was needed. Based on the LVT-2, "A" standing for 'armored', this fire support version had a hull with plate on the bow, cab and turret and of armor elsewhere. It was fitted with a turret nearly identical to that of the Light Tank M3, with a 37 mm Gun M6 in an M44 mount and coaxial 0,30-inch machine gun. Two more 0.30-inch machine guns on ring mounts on the rear deck behind the turret, 509 units were produced. It was powered by a air-cooled petrol engine. Due to the limitations imposed by the turret, it could carry only a limited payload of of but maintained the same speed of on land and in water of the Mark 2, with an operational endurance of on land or in water.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: These vehicles were intended to provide fire support to the assaulting Marines in the early stages of establishing a beachhead. It was common, however, for the LVT(A)s to commence firing whilst still in the water.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: At Roi-Namur, the 24th Marines had support of LVT(A)-1s, but they could not close up enough to effectively support the troops from the beaches. Other LVT(A)-1s supported the 22nd Marines landing at Engebi. By mid-1944, all LVT(A)-1s had been replaced by much more capable 75mm gun armed LVT(A)-4s.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: This was an armored version of the LVT-2, following the US Army's request for an armored variant of the LVT-2. Service in the South Pacific soon indicated more protection was needed. This version had the driver's cab protected by of armor plate, and the rest of the hull with armor plate. By 1944, shields were added to protect the front gunners. Surprisingly the additional of armor, added to the weight of the unarmored LVT-2, had no impact on performance and only caused the craft to draw an additional of water when afloat. The LVT(A)-2 had a capacity of 18 troops. 450 units produced.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: FMC modified an LVT-2 in August 1943 by moving the engine forward and adding a large ramp door in the rear, allowing troops to exit from the rear of the vehicle. Capacity went from 16 troops in the LVT-2 to 30, making earlier LVTs largely obsolete. This innovation also greatly facilitated the loading and unloading of cargo. Some vehicles received armor kits. It was by far the most numerous version of the LVT, with 8,348 units delivered; the US Army received 6,083, and the British Army 500. Many of the British LVT-4 were armed with a 20 mm Polsten cannon and two .30 in (7.62 mm) Browning machine guns. Removable 20 lb and 10 lb armor kits could be fitted.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: Since no major changes were made to the engine and transmission of the LVT-2, the LVT-4 was completed much quicker than the LVT-3, with the first machines going into action at Saipan in June 1944.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: The Sea Serpent was designed by the 79th Armoured Division for use by the British in the Far East. Its armament was two "Wasp" flamethrowers and a machine gun. These would have been used by the "flame battery" of the 34th Amphibian Support Regiment, Royal Marines in any assault on the Japanese mainland but the war ended before they were used.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: Developed by the Borg Warner Corporation as their Model B in April 1943. To allow for rear loading, the engines were moved to the sponsons and a ramp installed in the rear, and the cargo area was slightly wider to provide room for a Jeep to be carried in the cargo hold. Some received armor kits. First used in combat in Okinawa in April 1945. The twin Cadillac V-8 petrol engines were connected by driveshafts to the transmission (the same as the M5 light tank) in the front of the hull. It could carry a payload of or 30 fully armed soldiers. 2,962 units produced, with many remaining in US service until 1955 when they were finally superseded by the LVTP-5. It performed with efficiency and greater reliability, as more maintenance time was generally available than during World War II. The LVT(3)C remained standard with the Marine Corps until the introduction of the first major post—war design, the LVT(P)5, in 1953. Overall weight of the craft was , and its maximum speed was on land or on water, with an operational range of on land or on water.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: The 37 mm gun of the LVT(A)-1 was inadequate for fire support version so the turret of the 75 mm Howitzer Motor Carriage M8armed with a 75 mm howitzerwas used to produce the LVT(A)-4. In some cases, the 75 mm was replaced with the Canadian Ronson flamethrower. A single .50 cal machine gun was installed on the ring mount above the turret rear. In late production vehicles, the heavy machine gun was replaced with two .30 caliber M1919A4 machine guns on pintle mounts on the sides of the turret, and one more in the bow. 1,890 units produced, with 1,307 were transferred to the US Army and 50 to the British Army. The hull was armoured as the Mark 1 but the open-topped M8 turret was up to 1-inch thick.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: The Chinese PLA captured several from Nationalist forces during the Civil War and placed them in service, eventually modifying some by replacing the 75 mm howitzer with the 37 mm M6 tank gun and others with the ZiS-2 57 mm anti-tank gun, complete with shield, the conversion also necessitating the removal of the original mantlet.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: Introduced in 1945, the LVT(A)-5 was a LVT(A)-4 with a powered turret and a gyrostabilizer for the howitzer. Some were upgraded in the late 1940s by modifying the armor configuration. 269 units produced.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: Modified LVT-3. An armored roof was fitted and the bow was extended to improve buoyancy. Armament included a .30 inch machine gun in a turret and another in a ball mount in the bow. 1,200 LVT-3s were converted.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: A British vehicle based on the LVT-4, known as the "Neptune", was built by Nuffield. Only a handful of the 2,000 ordered were completed. The "Sealion" was a recovery version, and the "Turtle" a workshop version.


title: Landing Vehicle Tracked

text: In 1947, a Buffalo LVT being used in flood defence work in Crowland, Lincolnshire, UK, was swept away and buried. In 2021, it was excavated and retrieved, and volunteers are planning to preserve and restore it to running order. In June 2022 it was put on display in Thorney, Cambridgeshire, as part of the commemoration of the 75th anniversary of the floods. A second vehicle may also be recovered from the site.


title: Gríma Wormtongue

text: Gríma, called (the) Wormtongue, is a fictional character in J. R. R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings". He serves as the secondary antagonist of "The Two Towers" and a minor antagonist in "The Return of the King", and his role is expanded in "Unfinished Tales". He is introduced in "The Two Towers" as the chief advisor to King Théoden of Rohan and henchman of Saruman.


title: Gríma Wormtongue

text: To some psychologists, Wormtongue serves as an archetypal sycophant. Tolkien scholars note that Tolkien based Wormtongue on the untrustworthy character Unferth in "Beowulf". He is presumptive, behaving as if he already rules Rohan, and exemplifies lechery, as correctly guessed by Gandalf; he hopes to become rich, and to take Éowyn as the woman he desires.


title: Gríma Wormtongue

text: The name "Gríma" derives from the Old English or Icelandic word meaning "mask", "helmet" or "spectre".


title: Gríma Wormtongue

text: Gríma, son of Gálmód, was at first a faithful servant, but he eventually fell in league with Saruman, and from then on worked to weaken Théoden and his kingdom through lies and persuasion, in his position as chief advisor to the King.


title: Gríma Wormtongue

text: Tolkien describes him as "a wizened figure of a man, with a pale wise face, and heavy lidded eyes", and a "long pale tongue". Gríma was widely disliked in Edoras; everyone except Théoden called him "Wormtongue". In Old English "wyrm" means "serpent, snake, dragon", and Gandalf repeatedly compares him to a snake:


title: Gríma Wormtongue

text: Saruman had promised him Éowyn, the king's niece, as a reward for his services. Her brother Éomer accused him of "watching her under his lids and haunting her steps". His schemes were foiled when Gandalf the White and his companions arrived at Edoras, and convinced the king that he was not as weak as his adviser had made him seem. Upon Théoden's restoration, "many things which men had missed" were found locked in Gríma's trunk, including the king's sword, Herugrim. Théoden decided to go forth to battle at the Fords of Isen, and Gríma was given a choice: prove his loyalty and ride into battle with the king, or ride into exile. Choosing the latter, he went to Saruman at Orthanc. Following the confrontation between Saruman and Gandalf, Gríma mistakenly threw the "palantír" of Orthanc at the Rohirrim accompanying Gandalf, or possibly at Saruman himself, and so permitted its capture by Peregrin Took.


title: Gríma Wormtongue

text: Gríma accompanied Saruman to the Shire, where Saruman sought revenge for his defeat at Orthanc in petty tyranny over the Hobbits. During this time, Saruman shortened Gríma's nickname to "Worm". When Saruman was overthrown by a hobbit rebellion and ordered to leave, Frodo Baggins implored Gríma not to follow him, and even offered him food and shelter. Saruman countered by revealing to the Hobbits that Gríma had murdered and possibly eaten Lotho Sackville-Baggins, a kinsman of Frodo; whereupon Gríma killed Saruman and was shot by Hobbit archers.


title: Gríma Wormtongue

text: Gríma played a major role in the back-story to "The Lord of the Rings", prior to his first appearance in "The Two Towers". In "Unfinished Tales" Tolkien writes that Gríma was captured by the Nazgûl in the fields of the Rohirrim, while on his way to Isengard to inform Saruman of Gandalf's arrival at Edoras. He divulged what he knew of Saruman's plans to the Nazgûl, specifically his interest in the Shire, and its location. Gríma was set free, and the Nazgûl set out immediately for the Shire. In another version within the same chapter, this role is given to the "squint-eyed southerner" that the hobbits encounter at Bree. Tolkien further suggests that Gríma may have given Théoden "subtle poisons" that caused him to age at an accelerated pace.


title: Gríma Wormtongue

text: To the psychologists Deborah and Mark Parker, Wormtongue serves as an archetypal sycophant, flatterer, liar, and manipulator.


title: Gríma Wormtongue

text: Tolkien scholars have noted that Wormtongue's interaction with Gandalf in Meduseld has an Old English counterpart in the epic poem "Beowulf": the account is closely based on the hero Beowulf's dealings with Unferth in Heorot, where Unferth is King Hrothgar's "ambiguous" spokesman; Unferth is thoroughly discredited by Beowulf, as Wormtongue is by Gandalf.


title: Gríma Wormtongue

text: The critic Charles W. Nelson describes Wormtongue's attitude as an example of presumption, behaving "as if he were already on the throne" of Rohan. Nelson notes that Richard Purtill suggests that Tolkien is intentionally embodying the seven deadly sins in his characters. He quotes from one of Tolkien's letters to this effect: "the encouragement of good morals in this real world, by the ancient device of exemplifying them in unfamiliar embodiments, that may tend to 'bring them home.'" Clark writes that Dwarves exemplify greed, Men pride, Elves envy, Ents sloth, Hobbits gluttony, Orcs anger, and Wormtongue lechery. That lechery is, Nelson notes, correctly guessed by Gandalf: that he would gain a large share in Meduseld's treasure, and Éowyn's hand in marriage, "on whose person Grima had long cast lecherous eyes and lascivious looks", and indeed in Éomer's words that Grima had "haunted her steps".


title: Gríma Wormtongue

text: In Ralph Bakshi's 1978 animated film adaptation of "The Lord of the Rings", Wormtongue was voiced by Michael Deacon.


title: Gríma Wormtongue

text: In Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" films, Wormtongue was played by Brad Dourif, described in "The Guardian" as an "unnerving presence" and in "The Independent" as a "snivelling sidekick urging his master on to acts of increasing depravity". According to Dourif, Jackson encouraged him to shave off his eyebrows so that the audience would immediately have a subliminal reaction of unease to the character.


title: Gríma Wormtongue

text: "The Scouring of the Shire" episode with the deaths of both Saruman and Wormtongue does not appear in the film version; the deaths were moved to an earlier scene, "The Voice of Saruman". The cut scene can be found on the Extended Edition DVD of "".


title: Gríma Wormtongue

text: In December 2022, business magnate Elon Musk expressed his view that prior to his acquisition of the social media site, Twitter, that the site acted as "Wormtongue to the World".


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: In mathematics, brackets of various typographical forms, such as parentheses ( ), square brackets [ ], braces { } and angle brackets ⟨ ⟩, are frequently used in mathematical notation. Generally, such bracketing denotes some form of grouping: in evaluating an expression containing a bracketed sub-expression, the operators in the sub-expression take precedence over those surrounding it. Sometimes, for the clarity of reading, different kinds of brackets are used to express the same meaning of precedence in a single expression with deep nesting of sub-expressions.


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: Historically, other notations, such as the vinculum, were similarly used for grouping. In present-day use, these notations all have specific meanings. The earliest use of brackets to indicate aggregation (i.e. grouping) was suggested in 1608 by Christopher Clavius, and in 1629 by Albert Girard.


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: A variety of different symbols are used to represent angle brackets. In e-mail and other ASCII text, it is common to use the less-than (codice_1) and greater-than (codice_2) signs to represent angle brackets, because ASCII does not include angle brackets.


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: Unicode has pairs of dedicated characters; other than less-than and greater-than symbols, these include:


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: There are additional dingbats with increased line thickness, and some angle quotation marks and deprecated characters.


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: In elementary algebra, parentheses ( ) are used to specify the order of operations. Terms inside the bracket are evaluated first; hence 2×(3 + 4) is 14, is 2 and (2×3) + 4 is 10. This notation is extended to cover more general algebra involving variables: for example . Square brackets are also often used in place of a second set of parentheses when they are nested—so as to provide a visual distinction.


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: In mathematical expressions in general, parentheses are also used to indicate grouping (i.e., which parts belong together) when necessary to avoid ambiguities and improve clarity. For example, in the formula formula_2, used in the definition of composition of two natural transformations, the parentheses around formula_3 serve to indicate that the indexing by "formula_4" is applied to the composition formula_3, and not just its last component formula_6.


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: The arguments to a function are frequently surrounded by brackets: formula_7. When there is little chance of ambiguity, it is common to omit the parentheses around the argument altogether (e.g., formula_8).


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: In the Cartesian coordinate system, brackets are used to specify the coordinates of a point. For example, (2,3) denotes the point with "x"-coordinate 2 and "y"-coordinate 3.


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: The inner product of two vectors is commonly written as formula_9, but the notation ("a", "b") is also used.


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: Both parentheses, ( ), and square brackets, [ ], can also be used to denote an interval. The notation formula_10 is used to indicate an interval from a to c that is inclusive of formula_11—but exclusive of formula_12. That is, formula_13 would be the set of all real numbers between 5 and 12, including 5 but not 12. Here, the numbers may come as close as they like to 12, including 11.999 and so forth (with any finite number of 9s), but 12.0 is not included.


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: In some European countries, the notation formula_14 is also used for this, and wherever comma is used as decimal separator, semicolon might be used as a separator to avoid ambiguity (e.g., formula_15).


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: The endpoint adjoining the square bracket is known as "closed", while the endpoint adjoining the parenthesis is known as "open". If both types of brackets are the same, the entire interval may be referred to as "closed" or "open" as appropriate. Whenever infinity or negative infinity is used as an endpoint (in the case of intervals on the real number line), it is always considered "open" and adjoined to a parenthesis. The endpoint can be closed when considering intervals on the extended real number line.


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: A common convention in discrete mathematics is to define formula_16 as the set of positive integer numbers less or equal than formula_17. That is, formula_18 would correspond to the set formula_19.


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: Braces { } are used to identify the elements of a set. For example, {"a","b","c"} denotes a set of three elements "a", "b" and "c".


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: Angle brackets ⟨ ⟩ are used in group theory and commutative algebra to specify group presentations, and to denote the subgroup or ideal generated by a collection of elements.


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: stands for the "n"-th derivative of function "f", applied to argument "x". So, for example, if formula_22, then formula_23. This is to be contrasted with formula_24, the "n"-fold application of "f" to argument "x".


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: The notation formula_25 is used to denote the "falling factorial", an "n"-th degree polynomial defined by


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: Alternatively, the same notation may be encountered as representing the "rising factorial", also called "Pochhammer symbol". Another notation for the same is formula_27. It can be defined by


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: In quantum mechanics, angle brackets are also used as part of Dirac's formalism, bra–ket notation, to denote vectors from the dual spaces of the bra formula_29 and the ket formula_30.


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: Square brackets are used to contain the variable(s) in polynomial rings. For example, formula_31 is the ring of polynomials with real number coefficients and variable formula_32.


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: If is a subring of a ring , and is an element of , then denotes the subring of generated by and . This subring consists of all the elements that can be obtained, starting from the elements of and , by repeated addition and multiplication; equivalently, it is the smallest subring of that contains and . For example, formula_33 is the smallest subring of containing all the integers and formula_34; it consists of all numbers of the form formula_35, where and are arbitrary integers. Another example: formula_36 is the subring of consisting of all rational numbers whose denominator is a power of .


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: More generally, if is a subring of a ring , and formula_37, then formula_38 denotes the subring of generated by and formula_37. Even more generally, if is a subset of , then is the subring of generated by and .


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: In group theory and ring theory, square brackets are used to denote the commutator. In group theory, the commutator <nowiki>[</nowiki>"g","h"<nowiki>]</nowiki> is commonly defined as "g""h""gh". In ring theory, the commutator <nowiki>[</nowiki>"a","b"<nowiki>]</nowiki> is defined as "ab" − "ba". Furthermore, braces may be used to denote the anticommutator: {"a","b"} is defined as "ab" + "ba".


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: The Lie bracket of a Lie algebra is a binary operation denoted by formula_40. By using the commutator as a Lie bracket, every associative algebra can be turned into a Lie algebra. There are many different forms of Lie bracket, in particular the Lie derivative and the Jacobi–Lie bracket.


title: Bracket (mathematics)

text: Square brackets, as in , are sometimes used to denote the floor function, which rounds a real number down to the next integer. Respectively, some authors use outwards pointing square brackets to denote the ceiling function, as in . However, the floor and ceiling functions are usually typeset with left and right square brackets where only the lower (for floor function) or upper (for ceiling function) horizontal bars are displayed, as in or .


title: Sami Yusuf

text: Sami Yusuf (born 21 July 1980) is a British singer, songwriter, multi-instrumentalist and composer. He gained international attention with the release of his debut album, "Al-Muʽallim", in 2003. As of 2020, he has released eight studio albums, five live albums and one compilation album. His studio albums were mostly released by Andante Records, with the first two being released by Awakening Records. He has sold over 34 million albums as of 2016.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: Besides English, Yusuf has performed in Arabic, Azerbaijani, Persian, Turkish, Punjabi, as well as, Urdu, sometimes in the same work, as was the case with his hit, "Hasbi Rabbi." His work is marked by blending different musical styles and genres, including elements from Sufi, folk, and Rock music. He used his multilingual and multi-instrumentalist style to address social, spiritual, and humanitarian issues. In recognition of his philanthropy, in 2014, Yusuf was appointed United Nations Global Ambassador for the World Food Programme.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: Sami Yusuf was born in 21 July 1980 in Tehran to Azerbaijani parents. His grandparents are from Baku, Azerbaijan, from which they left to Iran when it was captured by the Bolsheviks following World War I. Yusuf and his parents later arrived in Ealing, West London, in the early 1980s, after the Islamic Revolution in Iran. From an early age, Yusuf showed great interest in music. He was influenced by the wide range of musical genres available to him in Ealing, immersing himself especially in Western classical music and Middle Eastern music. He learned the piano and violin as well as traditional instruments including the oud, setar, and tonbak. At the age of 16, Yusuf experienced a spiritual revival that made him become a "more committed Muslim". In 2003, although considering pursuing a career in law, he produced and released his first album. It quickly became an international success and launched Yusuf's professional music career. Yusuf studied music as a composition student at the prestigious Royal Academy, as well as at Salford University in north-west England.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: In 2003, Yusuf released his debut album, "Al-Muʽallim", an album that he produced, wrote, and performed. Its feature song, "Al-Mu'allim", became a hit in the Middle East, North Africa, and South-East Asia, topping the charts in Egypt and Turkey for twelve consecutive weeks, selling millions of copies worldwide and reaching a diverse audience. The last track of the album, "Supplication", was used in the Golden-Globe award-nominated film, "The Kite Runner".


title: Sami Yusuf

text: Yusuf garnered increased worldwide recognition following the release of his second album, "My Ummah", in 2005. The album, using both Eastern and Western sounds, utilized wide-ranging musical instrumentation. Considered a breakthrough album, it sold over four million copies globally and was well received particularly by young people, who identified closely with the themes of Yusuf's lyrics.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: Yusuf left Awakening Records following a controversy over "Without You", an album that he claimed was released without his knowledge or consent.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: "Wherever You Are", Yusuf's third official album, was released in March 2010. "Rolling Stone" called the album "beautifully produced". With its release, Yusuf welcomed what he termed a "new chapter" in his professional career and music.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: Yusuf's fourth album, "Salaam", was released in December 2012. Within four months of its launch it achieved platinum status in Southeast Asia and was the best-selling album in the Middle East and North Africa. The album includes the song "Hear Your Call," composed by Yusuf to call attention to the situation of people who are affected by natural disasters.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: "The Centre" was released in 2014 and is a collection of 13 songs in which Yusuf hopes his listeners will find inspiration to seek their individual spiritual centres. It is a new sound that has multicultural influences, employing traditional as well as contemporary Middle Eastern, North African, and European poetry, instrumentation, and melodies.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: Yusuf's sixth album, "Songs of the Way", was released in January 2015. All lyrics are by the noted philosopher Seyyed Hossein Nasr and are from his books of poetry, "Poems of the Way" and "The Pilgrimage of Life". Except for two tracks in Persian and Arabic, the songs are in English.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: "Barakah", Yusuf's seventh album, was released in February 2016 by Andante Records. It is the result of extensive research into the traditional music and poetry contained in the album. Yusuf said it is his musical response to the increasing chaos and noise of today's world, and his wish is that these music and lyrics offer a window onto an inner oasis of peace and harmony. The song "Mast Qalandar" from "Barakah" reached #1 on World Music charts on iTunes and BBC Music.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: According to Yusuf, the new album aims "to respond to the growing extremism in our world with a call for a return to harmony and balance."


title: Sami Yusuf

text: In 2018, Yusuf released his new EP, "SAMi", as a side project that grew out of his desire to explore his British musical roots. The song collection, with its accessible sounds and direct lyricism, finds Yusuf's exploring the western sounds emanating from his childhood growing up in London.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: "SAMi" has sold well and topped a number of iTunes charts since its release, and Yusuf says he is grateful and somewhat surprised that he wasn't criticised for the commercial nature of the project.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: Yusuf performed in Baku, Azerbaijan, in 2019 ("A Timeless Presence") with nine new songs exploring Azerbaijani culture and all instruments except for the piano being Azerbaijani.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: In November 2020, Yusuf gave an online concert from his studio at home. He performed his singles "Al Faqir" and "The 99 Names", released in May 2018 and May 2020 respectively.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: Yusuf has said that he plans to release a new album by the name of "Ecstasy". While originally planned for 2019, the project was delayed to 2022.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: Playing in Farum Arena, Denmark, Grugahalle in Germany, and De Doelen in the Netherlands, Yusuf introduced his forthcoming album, "Wherever You Are".


title: Sami Yusuf

text: He performed in Azerbaijan for the first time in 2006, for the second time in 2015 (14–15 March), and 22 March 2017 in Heydar Aliyev Palace in Baku, 250,000 people attended his performance in Taksim Square in Istanbul to see Yusuf perform in 2013. Yusuf has played across four continents, packing venues such as Wembley Arena in London, Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles and The Velodrome in Cape Town, South Africa. He sings in English, Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Azerbaijani, Malay and Urdu and is backed by a range of both classical and ethnic instruments. Yusuf also performed in Washington DC.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: Yusuf performed in Dubai for the first time in December 2016. He premiered the song "Glorification", inspired by the poetry of His Highness Shaikh Mohammad Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Vice-President and Prime Minister of the UAE and Ruler of Dubai.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: Since early in his professional career, Yusuf has participated in humanitarian initiatives by performing benefit concerts, releasing charity singles, and acting on behalf of organizations to relieve suffering and poverty. In response to the 2010 Pakistan floods that wreaked havoc in the country and affected 20 million lives in the summer of 2010, he promptly released a charity single entitled "Hear Your Call", performed in English and Urdu, to raise funds for the displaced Pakistanis in a joint-effort with the UN-sponsored charity organization Save the Children.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: Sami spoke of his background as "diverse" and cited this as evidence for his "tendency to bring people together".


title: Sami Yusuf

text: Sami Yusuf married in . His wife is of German origin and had converted to Islam before she met Yusuf.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: Sami Yusuf has gained widespread popularity throughout the Muslim world for his spiritual music. But artists like him and Maher Zain have faced some opposition from conservative Muslims who deem music impermissible. In 2006, Yvonne Ridley, a British journalist and a convert to Islam, wrote a censurious article in opposition to what she perceived as a pop culture that demeans Islam. She considered Sami's open national affiliation to be lackadaisical about conflicts in the Islamic region in which Britain was participating, like the Iraq war. In response, Sami wrote an open letter extensively discussing his stance on music and the modern art industry in general from both an Islamic jurisprudence perspective and a social one. The response was commended by several commentators.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: In a previous interview, Yusuf described himself as generally apolitical. Later in 2017, he wrote an open letter criticizing the Trump Muslim ban. Quoting First they came, Yusuf emphasized solidarity between the Western and Muslim worlds and opposed Trumpism.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: In 2009, Yusuf was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters in recognition of his "extraordinary contributions to the field of music" by Roehampton University, London. Silatech appointed him as their first Global Ambassador in the same year, later joining Ahmad Al Shugairi in the same position.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: Widely regarded as the highest profile Muslim musician in the UK, Yusuf has appeared each year since 2010 on the list of the "World's 500 Most Influential Muslims".


title: Sami Yusuf

text: In 2014, the United Nations appointed him Global Ambassador Against Hunger, and in 2015 the UN appointed him as an "Elite Ambassador" for the UN World Interfaith Harmony Week.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: In 2016, Yusuf received a Recognition Award for his contributions to promoting the message of peace and tolerance as part of the Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum World Peace Initiative.


title: Sami Yusuf

text: In 2019, Yusuf received an honorary diploma from the First Vice President of Azerbaijan for his contributions to promote Azerbaijani music and culture.


title: Millisecond

text: A millisecond (from "milli-" and second; symbol: ms) is a unit of time in the International System of Units (SI) equal to one thousandth (0.001 or 10 or /) of a second and to 1000 microseconds.


title: Millisecond

text: A unit of 10 milliseconds may be called a centisecond, and one of 100 milliseconds a decisecond, but these names are rarely used.


title: Millisecond

text: To help compare orders of magnitude of different times, this page lists times between 10 seconds and 10 seconds (1 milli<nowiki>second</nowiki> and one second). "See also" times of other orders of magnitude.


title: Millisecond

text: The Apollo Guidance Computer used metric units internally, with centiseconds used for time calculation and measurement.


title: Pedobear

text: Pedobear is an Internet meme that became popular through the imageboard 4chan. As the name suggests ("pedo" being short for "pedophile"), it is portrayed as a pedophilic cartoon bear. It is a concept used to mock child sex offenders or people who have any sexual interest in children or "jailbait". The bear image has been likened to bait used to lure children or as a mascot for pedophiles.


title: Pedobear

text: The bear character originates from the popular textboard website "2channel" in Japan, where it was introduced, in the form of Shift_JIS art, as "" ("Kumā"), an interjection of the word 熊 ("Kuma") meaning "bear" in Japanese. Unlike Pedobear, "Kumā" has no sexual connotations, pedophilic or otherwise.


title: Pedobear

text: Eventually, posting Kuma Shift_JIS art evolved into a response to "fishing" posts submitted as "bait" to attract people (fishing for attention), which is why the bear is depicted as literally running into the forum to get the bait.


title: Pedobear

text: The Kuma character was adopted by 4chan and quickly became a meme there, especially on the /b/ board. On 2ch, Kuma was often depicted in images sleeping with children, and this was promptly exploited on 4chan to create the Pedobear persona. Soon it gained its representation as an image rather than text art, and started being superimposed in pictures depicting children (especially if these pictures could be interpreted as sexually suggestive, such as when involving swimsuits, underwear or child beauty pageants). Another common use of the character was to mock or otherwise signal the posting of borderline child erotica content, sometimes with references to the FBI or Chris Hansen, the host of the TV show "To Catch a Predator".


title: Pedobear

text: Pedobear eventually became known outside 4chan as it was referenced by newspapers and prominent websites. In the media it was frequently claimed to be a mascot of child sex offenders, which is contested by meme catalogs who note that its intent is actually to mock pedophiles.


title: Pedobear

text: On 3 July 2009, Canadian artist Michael R. Barrick created two composite images depicting Pedobear grouped together with the mascots of 2010 Winter Olympic and Paralympic Games. One is based on the official art, and the other is based on fanart created by Angela Melick. This image was then mistakenly used by other media, most notably the Polish newspaper "Gazeta Olsztyńska" for a 4 February 2010 front-page story about the Olympics in Vancouver.


title: Pedobear

text: On 24 July 2009, a column in the far-right Taki's Magazine by conservative commentator Pat Buchanan about the early months of Barack Obama's presidency included an image of Pedobear, which generated considerable reaction from non-political commentators.


title: Pedobear

text: Other uses of Pedobear include an iStockphoto wallpaper, a cover of the auto magazine "Import Tuner", and a flyer of a costume store in Portland, Oregon which accidentally featured a Pedobear-like figure. The incident in Portland was covered by a local news station, which provided a detailed history of Pedobear, and even interviewed Cheezburger Network's CEO Ben Huh about Pedobear's cultural significance.


title: Pedobear

text: In September 2010 cosplay participants dressed as the character were accused of being potential child sex offenders, after the San Luis Obispo County Sheriff's Department issued a warning that Pedobear was a sign of the presence of pedophiles and other people with inappropriate sexual behavior, and suggested that Pedobear was a kind of mascot among pedophiles. Law enforcement officials in San Diego later sent a warning to local media, warning parents that the image can indicate the presence of predators. It also issued a bulletin:


title: Pedobear

text: Gawker later reported that it had spoken to the San Luis Obispo Sheriff's Department, and that the department knew it was an "Internet joke", despite the fact that they had referred to pedophiles adopting it as a mascot. Two local television stations, KSBY and KCOY-TV, passed on the warning to their viewers. In Tulsa, Oklahoma, Sgt. John Adams of the Tulsa Police Department Child Exploitation Unit falsely told local television stations KOKI-TV and KOTV that the person wearing the costume was a registered sex offender, a claim which was later retracted.


title: Pedobear

text: On March 22, 2011, the blog Urlesque posted a photograph of a coupon book advertisement for "CP Distributor", a computer repair business in Polk County, Florida, that prominently featured the Pedobear image. "CP" when paired with the Pedobear meme normally stands for child porn.


title: Pedobear

text: In July 2011, a Pedobear iPhone application, released a few weeks earlier on June 25, was removed from Apple's App Store. It contained a series of dance moves and background music, with the mascot branded as "Cuddle Bear".


title: Pedobear

text: On December 15, 2011, a citywide alert was issued by the Pierre Police Department after images of Pedobear had been sighted in certain parts of the city.


title: Pedobear

text: In March 2012, a primary school in Christchurch, New Zealand, was notified by the public of the meaning of a student-created poster portraying Pedobear in a classroom window. The poster was left displayed to the public for some time.


title: Pedobear

text: On July 19, 2012, the Nestlé food company took down the inaugural Instagram photo from its Kit Kat chocolate bar's Facebook page because it featured a person dressed as a bear that some Internet users quickly pointed out resembled the Pedobear cartoon. Nestlé itself had produced the image, and officials claimed they were completely unaware of the Pedobear meme.


title: Ugali

text: Ugali or Posho or sima (for others, see ) is a type of maize meal made from maize or corn flour in several countries in Africa. Sima is sometimes made from other flours, such as millet or sorghum flour, and is sometimes mixed with cassava flour. It is cooked in boiling water or milk until it reaches a stiff or firm dough-like consistency. In 2017, the dish was added to the UNESCO Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity, one of a few foods in the list.


title: Ugali

text: The word "ugali" is an African language term derived from Swahili; it is also widely known as "nsima" in Malawian languages such as Chichewa and Chitumbuka. In parts of Kenya, the dish also goes by the informal, "street" name of "nguna" or donee. The Afrikaans name "(mielie)pap" comes from Dutch, where the term means "(corn) porridge".


title: Ugali

text: Ugali was introduced shortly after maize was introduced in Africa by the Portuguese. The Luhyas in Kenya were the first to end up with ugali, as they tried to cook thick porridge from maize flour. Maize was introduced to Africa from the Americas between the 16th and 17th century. Before this, sorghum and millet were the staple cereals in most of Sub-Saharan Africa. Maize was readily accepted by African farmers as its cultivation was very similar to that of sorghum but with significantly higher yields. Eventually, maize displaced sorghum as the primary cereal in all but the drier regions. The full replacement of these crops with maize took place in the latter half of the twentieth century. In Malawi, they have a saying 'chimanga ndi moyo' which translates to 'maize is life'. Nshima/nsima is still sometimes made from sorghum flour though it is quite uncommon to find this. Cassava, which was also introduced from the Americas, can also be used to make nshima/nsima, either exclusively or mixed with maize flour. In Malawi nsima made from cassava (chinangwa) is localized to the lakeshore areas, however, when maize harvests are poor, cassava nsima can be found all over the country.


title: Ugali

text: Ugali (when it is cooked as porridge, it is called uji) is served with sweet potatoes, ripe bananas, Irish potatoes and even bread. Solid ugali is usually served with traditional vegetables, stew or sukumawiki (also known as kale). It is the most common staple starch featured in the local cuisines of the African Great Lakes region and Southern Africa. When ugali is made from another starch, it is usually given a specific regional name.


title: Ugali

text: The traditional method of eating ugali (and the most common in the rural areas) is to roll a lump into a ball with the right hand and then dip it into a sauce or stew of vegetables or meat. Making a depression with the thumb allows the ugali to be used to scoop, and to wrap around pieces of meat to pick them up in the same way that flatbread is used in other cultures. Leftover ugali can also be eaten with tea the following morning.


title: Ugali

text: Ugali is relatively inexpensive and thus easily accessible to the poor, who usually combine it with a meat or vegetable stew (e.g., sukuma wiki in Kenya) to make a filling meal. Ugali is easy to make, and the flour can last for a considerable time in average conditions.


title: Ugali

text: "Sagtulga" (Hausa:"tuo zaafi"), or "diehuo", is a popular main dish for the people of Ghana. Sagtulga is a main meal eaten with soupy accompaniments such as okro soup. It is most common in the country's three northern regions: Northern Region, Upper East Region, and Upper West Region. The dish is usually eaten for dinner, yet some people (for example, farmers and manual workers) like to have it for breakfast or lunch. It is usually eaten with blended "Corchorus olitorius" leaves (Dagbani: "salinvogu", Hausa: "ayoyo", "molokai") and okro ("Abelmoschus esculentus") with stew on the side.


title: Ugali

text: The dish consists of cooked maize dough with a little dried cassava dough and water without salt. Traditionally, it is prepared with millet dough which is indigenous to Ghana's north.


title: Ugali

text: It is mainly eaten with green vegetable soup made from bitter leaves, or sometimes freshly pounded cassava leaves. It can be accompanied, however, with a variety of soups including okra and groundnut soup.


title: Ugali

text: In Luhya culture, it is the most common staple starch, but it is also a key part of Luhya wedding traditions; "obusuma" prepared from millet (known as "obusuma bwo bule") was traditionally included among delicacies on a bride's high table. "Obusuma" can also be prepared from other starches like sorghum or cassava ("obusuma bwo 'muoko"). "Obusuma" is commonly served with "tsimboka", or "etsifwa", "eliani" (vegetables), "inyama" (meat), "inyeni" (fish), "thimena" (whitebait) or "omrere" (jute leaves). For distinguished guests or visitors, it is usually served with "ingokho" (chicken).


title: Ugali

text: Ugali is prepared from ground white corn similar to how tamales are made from yellow corn in Central America. In most homes the ugali makes up most of the meal, with vegetables or meat as accompaniments. In wealthier homes, or for special occasions, the ugali is served with abundant savory vegetables and meats in a spicy gravy. It resembles mashed potatoes served in American homes. In Kenya, a smidgen of thick ugali is grasped in hand and the thumb is depressed in the center to form a spoon for scooping—a form of edible silverware. While the thumb and fingers may get a bit messy with this method, the way of eating food is culturally significant in the region.


title: Ugali

text: Nsima is a dish made from maize flour (white cornmeal) and water and is a staple food in Zambia (nshima/nsima/ubwali) and Malawi (nsima).


title: Ugali

text: The maize flour is first boiled with water into a porridge. and, in Zambia, left to simmer for a few minutes before it is 'paddled,' to create a thick paste with the addition of more flour. This process requires the maker to pull the thick paste against the side of a pot with a flat wooden spoon (nthiko in Malawi, m'tiko/umwiko in Zambia) quickly whilst it continues to sit over the heat. Once cooked the resulting nshima/nsima is portioned using a wooden/plastic spoon dipped in water or coated in oil called a chipande(Malawi), and chipampa(Zambia). In Malawi each of these portions is called a ntanda.


title: Ugali

text: Nsima is always eaten with side dishes, known as "relish". These can be mushrooms such as kabansa, tente, chitondo, and ichikolowa; protein sources such as game, beef, poultry, fish, groundnuts (peanuts), chikanda (orchid and peanut dish), beans; and vegetables such as pumpkin leaves, bean leaves, white garden eggs known as impwa in Zambia (these are small oblong shaped white solanum fruit), amaranth leaves, mustard leaves, cabbage, etc. In Zambia, sides are called "ndiyo" in nyanja/chewa and umunani in bemba. "Ndiwo" in Malawi refers to the protein dishes and the vegetable sides are known as "masamba". The protein dishes are usually grilled, or in the form of stew. In both Malawi and Zambia, nsima is often eaten with dried fish ("utaka", Malawi) or dried vegetables. Hot peppers or condiments like homemade hot pepper sauces from peri-peri or Kambuzi chili peppers or commercial chili sauces like Nali Sauce are usually served with the nshima meal.


title: Ugali

text: Traditionally, diners sit around a table or on the floor surrounding the meal. The diners have to wash their hands as nshima/nsima is eaten with bare hands. This is done with a bowl of water. Alternatively the host or one of the younger people present pours water from a jug over the hands of the elders or guests into a bowl. Eating is done by taking a small lump into one's right palm, rolling it into a ball and dipping it into the relish. Using the right thumb to indent the nshima ball is a technique used by advanced nshima diners in order to easily scoop the relish or sauce of the dish. In Zambia, "umuto" (Bemba language) refers to the drippings/broth/sauce of a side dish or stew; and the act of scooping an ample amount of it with a nshima ball is called "inkondwa". The statement, ""umuto wankondwa"" loosely translates to "sauce to allow for "inkondwa"". As with many African traditions, age is very important. Washing before the meal, eating, and washing after the meal generally starts with the oldest person, followed by everyone else in turn by age.


title: Ugali

text: Nshima/nsima is relatively cheap and affordable for most of the population, although occasionally prices have risen due to shortages, contributing to economic and political instability.


title: Ugali

text: In Nigeria, "akamu", "ogi" or "Koko" has a consistency similar to that of American pudding. Ogi/Akamu in Nigeria is generally accompanied with "moin moin", a bean pudding, or "akara", which is a bean cake.


title: Ugali

text: There is also the thicker variety, called Eko among the Yorubas, Agidi among the Igbos. The pudding is cooked on heat until it is thicken. It is traditionally wrapped in leaves with botanical name Thaumatococcus daniellii. Yorubas call it "Ewe Eran" while the Igbos call it "Akwukwo Elele". It is usually paired with a variety of vegetables soups and sauces for a light meal or it can be eaten with beans or its by products.


title: Ugali

text: Pap , also known as "mieliepap" (Afrikaans for maize porridge) in South Africa, is a traditional porridge/polenta and a staple food of the African peoples of Southern Africa (the Afrikaans word "pap" is taken from Dutch and means merely "porridge") made from maize-meal (coarsely ground maize). Many traditional Southern African dishes include pap, such as smooth maize meal porridge (also called "slap pap" or soft porridge), pap with a very thick consistency that can be held in hand ("stywe pap" or firm porridge) and a more dry crumbly phuthu pap (). Phuthu dishes are usually found in the coastal areas of South Africa.


title: Ugali

text: A variety of savouries can be used to accompany pap, made from green vegetables, and flavored with chili.


title: Ugali

text: South Africans in the northern parts of South Africa eat it as the breakfast staple, with milk, butter, and sugar, but also serve it with meat and tomato stew (usually tomato and onion) at other meals. When they have a braai, "Bogobe" or "Stywe" (stiff) pap with a savoury sauce like tomato and onion or mushroom is an important part of the meal. Phutu pap is popularly served with boerewors, a combination that later became known as pap en wors (also called "pap en vleis", which can include other braaied or stewed meats).


title: Ugali

text: In the Cape Province of South Africa, it is almost exclusively seen as a breakfast food. Since mielie-meal is inexpensive, poor people combine it with vegetables. It can be served hot or, after it has cooled, it can be fried. Phutu porridge is sometimes enjoyed with chakalaka as a side dish with braais.


title: Ugali

text: In the northern provinces pap is usually soft and made using a fermented maize batter which prevents the pap from spoiling quick due to the fact that northern provinces are much hotter than the south.


title: Ugali

text: Uphuthu is a South African method of cooking mealie meal whereby the end product is a finely textured coarse grain-like meal which is typically enjoyed with an accompaniment of vegetables and meat in Kwa Zulu Natal and Eastern Cape regions of South Africa or as the star of the dish with amasi or maas in the Gauteng regions. Some cultures add sugar to uphuthu and amasi to enjoy it as a sweet treat that would resemble cereal, however the corn-based stable is typically enjoyed as is with amasi.


title: Ugali

text: Phuthu or Uphuthu (), also incorrectly spelled as putu or phutu, is a traditional preparation method of maize meal in South African cuisine. It is a crumbly or grainy type of pap or porridge, eaten by most cultural groups in South Africa. Phuthu is often eaten with meat, beans, gravy and sour milk.


title: Ugali

text: The texture and consistency of uphuthu is often a deciding factor in what dishes will accompany it. For example, amasi or mass is usually prepared with a more finely-textured phuthu, whereas stews and curries are often served with a more clumped variety, leaning towards stiff-pap. Finely-textured phuthu has a tendency of being severely dehydrated (dry), depending on the cook's skill in working the dish. Such a severely dehydrated phuthu would often be served with stews, leafy vegetables, and many other savoury dishes containing moisture. Conversely, such dehydrated phuthu would not be suited to a dish of amasi or mass, because the steeping or soaking process would result in a paste-like dish, whereas amasi is preferred to be chewy.


title: Ugali

text: Isitshwala in isiNdebele or sadza in Shona, is a cooked maize meal that is the staple food in Zimbabwe.


title: Ugali

text: Isitshwala is made with finely ground dry maize/corn maize (mealie-meal). This maize meal is referred to as "impuphu" in Ndebele or hupfu in Shona. Despite the fact that maize is an imported food crop to Zimbabwe (c. 1890), it has become the chief source of carbohydrate and the most popular meal for indigenous people. Locals either purchase the mealie meal in retail outlets or produce it in a grinding mill from their own maize.


title: Ugali

text: Zimbabweans prefer white maize meal. However, during times of famine or hardship, they resorted to eating yellow maize meal, which is sometimes called "Kenya", because it was once imported from that nation. Before the introduction of maize, isitshwala was made from "inyawuthi" finger millet.


title: Ugali

text: Isitshwala is typically served on individual plates, but traditionally isitshwala was eaten from a communal bowl, a tradition that is still maintained by some families mainly in the rural areas. It is generally eaten with the right hand without the aid of cutlery; often rolled into a ball before being dipped into a variety of condiments such as sauce/gravy, sour milk, or stewed vegetables.


title: Ugali

text: Similar dishes are polenta, from northern Italy, gh'omi (ღომი) from Georgia and grits in the southern United States.


title: Ugali

text: "Fufu", a starch-based food from West and Central Africa, may also be made from maize meal, in which case it may be called "fufu corn". In the Caribbean, similar dishes are "cou-cou" (Barbados), "funchi" (Curaçao), and "funjie" (Virgin Islands). It is known as "funche" in Puerto Rican cuisine and "mayi moulin" in Haitian cuisine.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: Livingston currently play in the Scottish Premiership and were founded in 1943 as Ferranti Thistle, a works team. The club was admitted to the Scottish Football League and renamed as Meadowbank Thistle in 1974, and played its matches at Meadowbank Stadium in Edinburgh. In 1995, the club was relocated to Livingston, West Lothian and renamed after the town. Since then Livingston have played their home games at Almondvale Stadium. In the ten years following the move to Livingston the club enjoyed notable success, winning promotion to the Scottish Premier League in 2001, qualifying for the UEFA Cup in its maiden season in the top flight (finishing third behind Celtic and Rangers) and winning the 2004 Scottish League Cup. However, the club hit financial problems in 2004, and was relegated to the Scottish First Division in 2006. In July 2009 the club faced further financial problems and were on the verge of suffering a liquidation event before a deal was struck. Livingston were subsequently demoted to the Scottish Third Division, but the club achieved consecutive promotions and went on to regain its place in the top tier after winning the 2017–18 Scottish Premiership play-offs.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: The club began life as Ferranti Amateurs in 1943. A works team of the Ferranti engineering company, they initially played in the Edinburgh FA's Amateur Second Division. In 1948 the club became known as Ferranti Thistle and began competing in the Edinburgh and District Welfare Association where they competed for five seasons, before moving to senior football in 1953 joining the East of Scotland League. During this period the club won the East of Scotland Qualifying Cup in 1963. In 1969 the club moved to the City Park ground in Edinburgh.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: In 1972 the club became members of SFA which allowed them to enter the Scottish Qualifying Cup which they won in 1973 which previously had not been open to them. The club's first match in the Scottish Cup was on 16 December 1972 against Duns.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: In 1974, as a result of the demise of Third Lanark seven years earlier, and the new three-tier format of the Scottish Football League, a place opened up in the second division of the competition. After beating off competition from four Highland League sides, Hawick Royal Albert and Gateshead United, Ferranti Thistle were accepted into the league by a vote of 21–16 over Inverness Thistle. The club faced a number of obstacles before they could join the Division as their name did not meet stringent SFL rules on overt sponsorship of teams at the time and the City Ground was not up to standard. The local council offered use of Meadowbank Stadium, a modern stadium built in 1970. After an "Edinburgh Evening News" campaign to find a name for the club, the name Meadowbank Thistle was chosen. This was approved by the SFL in time for the new season.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: Having had little time to form a squad from the existing Ferranti squad, the first Meadowbank Thistle manager John Bain faced an uphill task to produce a competitive squad in time for the new season. Meadowbank played their first competitive match in the League Cup, eventually losing 1–0 to Albion Rovers. In 1983 the club achieved promotion to the First Division but ultimately were relegated back to the Second Division at the end of the 1984–85 season.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: In the 1986–87 season, Meadowbank won the Second Division championship and won promotion to the First Division. They finished runners-up in the First Division in the following season, but were denied promotion to the Premier Division due to league reconstruction.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: The part-time club began to struggle, and it became a limited company in 1993 but was relegated a short time after at the end of the 1992–93 season to the Second Division. Meadowbank suffered a second relegation in 1994–95, finishing second from bottom in the Second Division and due to the creation of a Third Division were relegated. After this, Chairman Bill Hunter claimed Meadowbank had run into severe financial difficulties and were facing closure as a result. In the face of significant opposition from many Meadowbank fans who objected to the dropping of the club name and the team moving from Edinburgh, in 1995 Meadowbank Thistle relocated to a new stadium in the new town of Livingston and changed name again, to Livingston Football Club.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: In their first season as Livingston they were crowned champions of the Third Division for the 1995–96 season. Three years later, in 1998–99, they won promotion again as Second Division champions. Another promotion followed in 2000–01 when the club finished champions of First Division and gained promotion to the Scottish Premier League (SPL), just six seasons after the relocation to Livingston. Livingston's first SPL campaign, 2001–02, brought more success as they finished third in the league (behind the Old Firm) and qualified for the UEFA Cup for the first time. Jim Leishman's side gave a competent showing in the UEFA Cup. After disposing of FC Vaduz of Liechtenstein on the away goal rule after a 1–1 draw, they came up against SK Sturm Graz of Austria, and after a 14-goal, two-leg affair they missed out on the second round, going out on the wrong side of an 8–6 aggregate scoreline. The club avoided relegation the following season finishing 9th. After this season, manager Jim Leishman became the club's director of football and was replaced by Brazilian manager Márcio Máximo, who resigned only a few months into the following campaign and was in turn replaced by Leishman's former assistant, Davie Hay. Under Hay's management, Livingston won their first national trophy in 2004 by winning the 2003–04 League Cup after a 2–0 win over Hibernian at Hampden Park. The goals in the final were scored by Derek Lilley and Jamie McAllister.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: The club's rise was short-lived as they were plunged into administration on 3 February 2004. It was 13 May 2005 before Livingston emerged from administration, following a period of financial turmoil in which the previous boardroom occupants were ousted to make way for Pearse Flynn's Lionheart Consortium. Flynn's first decision was to sack Davie Hay, stating that he wanted a younger man in charge, and to that end appointed Allan Preston as the club's new manager. While Preston's term as Livingston manager started brightly with a 3–0 win over newly promoted Inverness Caledonian Thistle, the club failed to win another league game under his management, resulting in his dismissal in November with the club rooted to the bottom of the SPL. Richard Gough succeeded Preston and steered the club to survival on the last day of the season with a 1–1 draw with Dundee that relegated Dundee in their place, but Gough refused to stay as manager past the end of that season due to family problems and returned to the US, and former Celtic player Paul Lambert succeeded him. On 11 February 2006, Lambert resigned as Livingston manager after seven straight defeats leaving Livingston bottom of the Scottish Premier League. He was replaced by former player and coach John Robertson. Despite his best efforts, Livingston were relegated for the first time in May 2006 after only picking up 18 points that season. It was the worst record since the SPL began and was only beaten during the 2007–08 season by Gretna, after they were deducted 10 points for going into administration.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: A poor showing in the 2006–07 First Division saw John Robertson removed as Livingston manager on 15 April 2007. His successor was announced on 22 May 2007 as former Hibernian assistant coach Mark Proctor. Proctor appointed Curtis Fleming as his assistant on 26 June 2007, but both were sacked in June 2008 after a disappointing season in which they finished seventh. Livingston were taken over that summer by Italian majority shareholders Angelo Massone, Tommaso Bruno, Alessandro Di Mattia, and Tommaso Angelini after Pearse Flynn sold his shares in June 2008. The Italians were thought to be close to appointing fellow Italian Roberto Landi as head coach in June and he was made manager of the First Division side on 11 June 2008. He and assistant Valter Berlini were then fired on 1 December 2008 after just five months in charge. Paul Hegarty was linked with the job on 3 December 2008, and formally appointed two days later. Hegarty was subsequently suspended as manager on 26 April 2009 and his contract allowed to expire.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: John Murphy was appointed head coach on 30 June 2009, the same day the club faced a deadline to pay debt to West Lothian Council who owned Almondvale Stadium. After that was not met, legal proceedings were carried out against the club to come to an arrangement over the debt within fourteen days or potentially face again going into administration. Livingston were placed into administration on 24 July 2009 by the Court of Session in Edinburgh, and faced relegation to the Third Division, a points deduction or being removed from the Scottish Football League entirely.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: On 27 July 2009, it was revealed that the club were likely to go into liquidation after owner Angelo Massone said he would refuse a £25,000 offer for the club from their administrator. On 28 July 2009, Massone yet again refused the offer and the administrator subsequently started the liquidation process. While Livingston seemed doomed, a meeting with the Scottish Football League on 30 July 2009 secured their future, as they agreed to allow prospective new owners Gordon McDougall and Neil Rankine (part of the Livingston 5 Consortium) to run the club for the following season. The next day, Massone sold his shares to the new owners and left the club, and it was also announced that John Murphy had been appointed back to his previous role as goalkeeping coach, with ex-player Gary Bollan becoming the club's new manager. In the first game after the new owners took over, Livingston were on the wrong end of a cup shock in the Scottish League Cup first round, losing 3–0 to Albion Rovers, a team two divisions below them.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: Despite the prospective new owners ensuring that Livingston's future as a professional football club would be secure for the next year at least by paying a £720,000 bond to the SFL, on 5 August 2009 the Scottish Football League took the unprecedented move to demote Livingston to the Third Division. A breach of rules on insolvency was the main reason behind the decision. The administrator of the club, Donald McGruther, admitted his concern after the decision, saying that "In my view, this represents the death knell of Livingston Football Club". Gordon McDougall, a member of the Livingston 5 Consortium stated that "We've got to consider all the options that are open to us – it makes it very, very difficult". It was feared that the club could not survive in the Third Division due to a significant loss of revenue. However, despite the decision and the likely financial impacts, the consortium continued with their bid to take over the club. An appeal was lodged and as a result the club refused to play their opening Division Three fixture against East Stirlingshire on 8 August 2009. Because of this, the club were threatened with a points deduction, but in the event they were given a £3,000 fine for their actions. This was later overturned on appeal, meaning that the club ultimately escaped any punishment for their boycott of the match. On 7 September 2009 a further appeal to the SFA was dismissed, and the club finally accepted their Third Division fate.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: On 15 August 2009, Livingston opened their Third Division campaign against Montrose at home and ran out comfortable 2–0 winners. On 17 April 2010, Livingston won the Scottish Third Division title after drawing 0–0 at home to Berwick Rangers. Goalkeeper Roddy McKenzie saved a last minute penalty to ensure the title was on its way to Almondvale. The Lions ended the season on 78 points, 15 points ahead of second placed Forfar Athletic. The following season on 9 April 2011, Livingston secured the Second Division title with a second consecutive title win to earn promotion back to the Scottish First Division with a 3–0 victory over Stenhousemuir at Ochilview Park. On 9 February 2012, Bollan was sacked as manager after two and a half years in charge. Nine days later on 14 February 2012, John Hughes and John Collins were appointed as manager and director of football respectively. However, on 13 November 2012, it was announced that Hughes had left the club to take charge of Hartlepool United. Gareth Evans became manager after being promoted from his position as assistant manager but he was sacked on 28 February 2013 due to ‘concerns over his stewardship’. Collins subsequently resigned from his position as director of football. On 25 March 2013, Richie Burke was appointed as manager along with Mark Burchill as assistant manager. Livingston ended season 2012–13 with a 4th-place finish in the First Division, their highest league finish since they were relegated from the SPL in 2006. On 12 September 2013, Burke resigned from his post as manager and was subsequently replaced by John McGlynn. When McGlynn took over Livingston were bottom of the Scottish Championship with only 1 point. Improved performances under his leadership took the club into contention for the promotion play-offs. As a result he was awarded an extended contract in January 2014. Livingston eventually finished in 6th place in 2013–14.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: However Livingston struggled the following season and were in severe danger of relegation. McGlynn left Livingston by mutual consent in December 2014, following a 1–0 home defeat by Falkirk, which left the club bottom of the league, four points behind second bottom Cowdenbeath. Mark Burchill replaced McGlynn as the club's manager. Off the field problems also once again plagued the club during this season. The club were deducted 5 points by the SPFL for failing to pay tax on bonuses paid during the 2010–11 season. Former club director Ged Nixon tried to get the courts to freeze the clubs bank accounts as he claimed the club owed him £300,000. This sparked fears that the club would go into administration for a third time. Nixon lost his court case in April 2015, saving the club from this fate. Livingston won the 2014–15 Scottish Challenge Cup, defeating Alloa 4-0 in the final at McDiarmid Park. With two games of the season remaining Livingston were still adrift at the bottom of the league, three points behind relegation rivals Alloa and four behind Cowdenbeath. A 4–0 win away at Raith Rovers moved the club into 9th place on goal difference going into the final game of the season. Livingston won their final game of the season 1–0 at home to Queen of the South to pull off the great escape and finish in 8th place, avoiding both automatic relegation and the relegation play-off.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: Livingston were struggling against relegation again in season 2015–16. Burchill was sacked in December 2015 following a 1–1 draw with Dumbarton as Livingston sat second bottom of the league. David Hopkin replaced him as manager. However there was to be no great escape this season. Livingston finished in 9th place in the Championship, which meant they had to contest the Championship Play-Off to avoid relegation to Scottish League One. They faced Stranraer in the play-off semi-final. Livingston lost the first leg 5–2 away at Stranraer, giving themselves a very difficult task for the second leg. In the second leg Livingston won 4–1 in 90 minutes to take the tie to extra time. However two extra time Stranraer goals took the score to 4–3 on the day and 6–8 on aggregate, confirming Livingston's relegation to League One, ending a five year stint in the second tier.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: Despite relegation, Livingston decided to stay as a full-time football club, and David Hopkin was retained as manager for the 2016–17 season, as Livingston aimed to bounce back to the Championship. Livingston went on to win the league comfortably and secured the title in April 2017 following a 2–1 win at home to Alloa Athletic. Livingston finished 19 points clear at the top of the league.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: Livingston continued this impressive form into the Championship in 2017–18 and sat in the play-off places in joint 3rd in the league after 20 games. The club also reached the quarter-finals of the Scottish League Cup, where they were unlucky to go down 3–2 at Hibernian. It was the first time they reached this stage of the league cup since 2005–06.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: On 21 April 2018 Livingston secured second place in the Championship after a 3–0 win over already relegated Brechin City.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: Qualifying for the Premiership play-off final, they faced Partick Thistle, who escaped automatic relegation in their final game. Despite this, Livingston won 3–1 on aggregate, 2–1 at home and 1–0 away, earning the final place in the Scottish Premiership and their first season of top-flight football since 2006, relegating Partick Thistle to the Championship in the process, ending Thistle's five-year stint in the Premiership.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: Livingston retained their status as a top flight club in season 2018–19 with a 9th place finish. This was bettered the following season with the club sitting in 5th before the season was curtailed as a result of COVID-19. The points per game ruling confirmed this placing as Livi's first top 6 finish since 2001–02. In 2020–21, the feat was repeated with a sixth place finish. The season was also notable for the club reaching the Scottish League Cup final for the first time since 2004.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: The predominant club colours are amber and black, which have been used since the formation of the club in 1943. The strip typically has an amber top, with the shorts normally black and the socks amber, usually with some black detail. The original strip for the club during the first couple of season in the Ferranti Thistle era was amber and black hoops. After this, solid amber shirts, black shorts and amber socks (occasionally black) became established as the club's home kit. During the recent Livingston era the club have also used all black home strips, and a white and orange kit was used during 2002–03 season. The colours of white, black, purple, blue and red have been mainly used in the away strips.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: The badge used to identify the club has changed four times in the club's history. The Ferranti Thistle badge featured a black circular base. Three symbols were incorporated into the badge; a football, a thistle and a lion rampant in the centre holding aloft a Scottish flag. A new badge was then formed as the club changed their name to Meadowbank Thistle. The badge was based on a traditional shield shape with a black being the predominant colour and amber on the outer-trim. The badge features a thistle as the centre piece, with the flower part of the plant being replaced with a football. As the club moved to Livingston, the badge was changed again. The design of the thistle and the football is altered slightly; with the one major change being the addition of a Latin club motto "Fortitier omnia vincit" with the English translation meaning "Bravely conquers all". The current badge is modernised from the original Livingston badge but most of the features remain. The present badge also reintroduced the lion rampant in the centre of the laurel.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: In the Meadowbank Thistle era between 1973 and 1995, the club sourced various shirt sponsorship deals largely from small business such as Ferranti, Sports Conscious, Park & Milton, Raj Restaurant, ACA and PAR Scaffolding. Mitsubishi became the first major shirt sponsor of the club for the first three seasons of the Livingston era. Motorola then sponsored the club for the next four years. However, Motorola withdrew their shirt sponsorship at the end of the 2001–02 season, after the company’s decline in the area. In 2002, Intelligent Finance, one of the largest employers in the West Lothian area, agreed an initial two-year sponsorship deal with the club worth an undisclosed six-figure sum. The company extended their shirt sponsorship for three more years, making their total sponsorship span over a five-year period.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: Smarter Loans became the club's main sponsor during the 2007–08 season, before the IT company, RDF, signed a two-year deal to become main sponsors for seasons 2008–09 and 2009–10. However they withdrew their sponsorship after only one year, as a result of the ongoing financial crisis at the club that summer. Local company Fasteq became the new main sponsor for season 2009–10 after the arrival of the new club owners. After four successful years as sponsors, Fasteq withdrew their sponsorship and Livingston announced that they were looking for new shirt sponsors for season 2013–14. Local business Energy Assets were confirmed as new main sponsors on a three-year deal in June 2013.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: The club have had three main grounds in their history; as Ferranti Thistle, the club initially played in local parks before finding a home at City Park in Edinburgh in 1969, then moving to Meadowbank Stadium in 1974 which was built for the 1970 Commonwealth Games.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: Livingston currently play their home games at the Almondvale Stadium in Livingston. It is currently known as the Tony Macaroni Arena due to a sponsorship deal. The 9,512 capacity stadium was constructed in 1995 as a joint venture between Meadowbank Thistle and the Livingston Development Corporation (LDC). Part of the deal involved the relocation of Meadowbank Thistle to the town and a name change to Livingston. When the LDC was wound up, ownership of the Stadium was transferred to West Lothian Council and the council have since rented the stadium to the club. The ground has hosted Scotland under-21, under-19, under-17s and Ladies matches, as well as one home game for Gretna due to problems with their ground share at Fir Park. In April 2011 it was revealed that it was possible Livingston would relocate to a new stadium around one mile from the current site due to West Lothian Council looking to sell the current site to a supermarket chain.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: "For a complete list of former and current Livingston F.C. non-playing staff with a Wikipedia article, see .


title: Livingston F.C.

text: From major national honours to reserve league wins, Livingston have been successful in recent history, and were the first club in Scotland to win all three divisions (Third Division 1995–96, Second Division 1998–99 and First Division 2000–01) in their rise to the Scottish Premier League in 2001. Their most notable trophy win being the Scottish League Cup in 2004, where they triumphed in a 2–0 victory over Hibernian at Hampden Park. Their most recent honour was the Scottish League One title in season 2016–17.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: In 2015 Livingston lifted the Scottish Challenge Cup recording a 4–0 victory over Alloa Athletic at McDiarmid Park.


title: Livingston F.C.

text: Livingston are undefeated at home in European competitions. They have qualified for a UEFA club competition on one occasion. The club finished third in the Scottish Premier League (behind Celtic and Rangers) in season 2001–02 and hence qualified for a place in the UEFA Cup for the following season. They entered at the qualifying round stage and were drawn against FC Vaduz of Liechtenstein. Livingston narrowly overcame their opponents after drawing 1–1 on aggregate, going through to the next round on the away goals rule. After drawing the home leg 0–0 Oscar Rubio scored the decisive away goal. In the following round they were drawn against Austrian side SK Sturm Graz. They were defeated 8–6 on aggregate, losing the first leg 5–2 in Austria at the Arnold Schwarzenegger Stadium before winning the return leg 4–3 at Almondvale. Barry Wilson scored two goals against Sturm Graz, making him Livingston’s highest goalscorer in European competitions to date.


title: Diving bell

text: A diving bell is a rigid chamber used to transport divers from the surface to depth and back in open water, usually for the purpose of performing underwater work. The most common types are the open-bottomed wet bell and the closed bell, which can maintain an internal pressure greater than the external ambient. Diving bells are usually suspended by a cable, and lifted and lowered by a winch from a surface support platform. Unlike a submersible, the diving bell is not designed to move under the control of its occupants, nor to operate independently of its launch and recovery system.


title: Diving bell

text: The wet bell is a structure with an airtight chamber which is open to the water at the bottom, that is lowered underwater to operate as a base or a means of transport for a small number of divers. Air is trapped inside the bell by pressure of the water at the interface. These were the first type of diving chamber, and are still in use in modified form.


title: Diving bell

text: The closed bell is a pressure vessel for human occupation, which may be used for bounce diving or saturation diving, with access to the water through a hatch at the bottom. The hatch is sealed before ascent to retain internal pressure. At the surface, this type of bell can lock on to a hyperbaric chamber where the divers live under saturation or are decompressed. The bell is mated with the chamber system via the bottom hatchway or a side hatchway, and the trunking in between is pressurized to enable the divers to transfer through to the chamber under pressure. In saturation diving the bell is merely the ride to and from the job, and the chamber system is the living quarters. If the dive is relatively short (a bounce dive), decompression can be done in the bell in exactly the same way it would be done in the chamber.


title: Diving bell

text: A third type is the rescue bell, used for the rescue of personnel from sunk submarines which have maintained structural integrity. These bells may operate at atmospheric internal pressure and must withstand the ambient water pressure.


title: Diving bell

text: The diving bell is one of the earliest types of equipment for underwater work and exploration. Its use was first described by Aristotle in the 4th century BC: "they enable the divers to respire equally well by letting down a cauldron, for this does not fill with water, but retains the air, for it is forced straight down into the water." Recurring legends about Alexander the Great (including some versions of the "Alexander Romance") tell he explored the sea in some closed vessel, lowered from his ships. Their origin is hard to determine, but some of the earliest dated works are from the early middle ages. In 1535, Guglielmo de Lorena created and used what is considered to be the first modern diving bell.


title: Diving bell

text: In 1642, John Winthrop reports one Edward Bendall building two large wooden barrels, weighted with lead and open at their bottoms, to salvage a ship "Mary Rose" which had exploded and sunk, blocking the harbor of Charlestown, Boston. Bendall undertook the work on condition that he be awarded all the value of the salvage should he succeed in unblocking the harbor, or half the value he could salvage if he could not.


title: Diving bell

text: In 1658, Albrecht von Treileben was permitted to salvage the warship "Vasa", which sank in Stockholm harbor on its maiden voyage in 1628. Between 1663 and 1665 von Treileben's divers were successful in raising most of the cannon, working from a diving bell.


title: Diving bell

text: In late 1686, Sir William Phipps convinced investors to fund an expedition to what is now Haiti and the Dominican Republic to find sunken treasure, despite the location of the shipwreck being based entirely on rumor and speculation. In January 1687, Phipps found the wreck of the Spanish galleon "Nuestra Señora de la Concepción" off the coast of Santo Domingo. Some sources say they used an inverted container for the salvage operation while others say the crew was assisted by Indian divers in the shallow waters. The operation lasted from February to April 1687 during which time they salvaged jewels, some gold and 30 tons of silver which, at the time, was worth over £200,000.


title: Diving bell

text: In 1689, Denis Papin suggested that the pressure and fresh air inside a diving bell could be maintained by a force pump or bellows. Engineer John Smeaton utilized this concept in 1789.


title: Diving bell

text: In 1691, Dr. Edmond Halley completed plans for a diving bell capable of remaining submerged for extended periods of time, and fitted with a window for the purpose of undersea exploration. In Halley's design, atmosphere is replenished by sending weighted barrels of air down from the surface.


title: Diving bell

text: In 1775, Charles Spalding, an Edinburgh confectioner, improved on Halley's design by adding a system of balance-weights to ease the raising and lowering of the bell, along with a series of ropes for signaling the surface crew. Spalding and his nephew, Ebenezer Watson, later suffocated off the coast of Dublin in 1783 doing salvage work in a diving bell of Spalding's design.


title: Diving bell

text: The bell is lowered into the water by cables from a crane, gantry or A-frame attached to a floating platform or shore structure. The bell is ballasted so as to remain upright in the water and to be negatively buoyant, so that it will sink even when full of air.


title: Diving bell

text: Hoses, supplied by gas compressors or banks of high pressure storage cylinders at the surface, provide breathing gas to the bell, serving two functions:


title: Diving bell

text: The physics of the diving bell applies also to an underwater habitat equipped with a moon pool, which is like a diving bell enlarged to the size of a room or two, and with the water–air interface at the bottom confined to a section rather than forming the entire bottom of the structure.


title: Diving bell

text: A wet bell is a platform for lowering and lifting divers to and from the underwater workplace, which has an air filled space, open at the bottom, where the divers can stand or sit with their heads out of the water. The air space is at ambient pressure at all times, so there are no great pressure differences, and the greatest structural loads are usually self weight and the buoyancy of the air space. A fairly heavy ballast is often required to counteract the buoyancy of the airspace, and this is usually set low at the bottom of the bell, which helps with stability. The base of the bell is usually a grating or deck which the divers can stand on, and folding seats may be fitted for the divers' comfort during ascent, as in-water decompression may be long. Other equipment that is carried on the bell include cylinders with the emergency gas supply, and racks or boxes for tools and equipment to be used on the job. There may be a tackle for hoisting and supporting a disabled diver so that their head projects into the air space.


title: Diving bell

text: The type 1 wet bell does not have an umbilical supplying the bell, because diver's umbilicals supply the divers directly from the surface, similar to a diving stage. Divers deploying from a type 1 bell will exit on the opposite side to where the umbilicals enter the bell so that the umbilicals pass through the bell and the divers can find their way back to the bell at all times by following the umbilical. Bailout from a type 1 bell is done by exiting the bell on the side that the umbilicals enter the bell so they no longer pass through the bell, leaving the divers free to surface.


title: Diving bell

text: A gas panel inside the bell is supplied by the bell umbilical and the emergency gas cylinders, and supplies the divers' umbilicals and sometimes BIBS sets. There will be racks to hang the divers' excursion umbilicals, which for this application must not be buoyant. Abandonment of a type 2 wet bell requires the divers to manage their own umbilicals as they ascend along a remaining connection to the surface.


title: Diving bell

text: The bell with divers on board is deployed from the working platform (usually a vessel) by a crane, davit, or other mechanism with a man-rated winch. The bell is lowered into the water and to the working depth at a rate recommended by the decompression schedule, and which allows the divers to equalize comfortably. Wet bells with an air space will have the air space topped up as the bell descends and the air is compressed by increasing hydrostatic pressure. The air will also be refreshed as required to keep the carbon dioxide level acceptable to the occupants. The oxygen content is also replenished, but this is not the limiting factor, as the oxygen partial pressure will be higher than in surface air due to the depth.


title: Diving bell

text: When the bell is raised, the pressure will drop and excess air due to expansion will automatically spill under the edges. If the divers are breathing from the bell airspace at the time, it may need to be vented with additional air to maintain a low carbon dioxide level. The decrease in pressure is proportional to the depth as the airspace is at ambient pressure, and the ascent must be conducted according to the planned decompression schedule appropriate to the depth and duration of the diving operation.


title: Diving bell

text: A closed or dry bell is a pressure vessel for human occupation which is lowered into the sea to the workplace, equalised in pressure to the environment, and opened to allow the divers in and out. These functional requirements dictate the structure and arrangement. The internal pressure requires a strong structure, and a sphere or spherically ended cylinder is most efficient for this purpose. When the bell is underwater, it must be possible for the occupants to get in or out without flooding the entire interior. This requires a pressure hatch at the bottom. The requirement that the bell retain its internal pressure when the external pressure is lowered dictates that the hatch open inward, so that internal pressure will hold it closed. The bell sinks through the water to working depth, so must be negatively buoyant. This may require additional ballast, which may be attached by a system that can be released from inside the bell in an emergency, without losing pressure, to allow the bell to float back to the surface.


title: Diving bell

text: Locking onto a decompression chamber at the surface is possible either from the bottom or the side. Using the bell bottom hatch for this purpose has the advantage of only needing one hatch, and the disadvantage of having to lift the bell up and place it over a vertical entry to the chamber. A bell used in this way may be called a personnel transfer capsule. If decompression is done inside the bell, it may be referred to as a submersible decompression chamber.


title: Diving bell

text: The bell bottom hatch must be wide enough for a large diver fully kitted with appropriate bailout cylinders, to get in and out without undue difficulty, and it can not be closed while the diver is outside as the umbilical is tended through the hatch by the bellman. It must also be possible for the bellman to lift the working diver in through the hatch if he is unconscious, and close the hatch after him, so that the bell can be raised and pressurised for the ascent. A lifting tackle is usually fitted inside the bell for this purpose, and the bell may be partially flooded to assist the procedure.


title: Diving bell

text: The internal space must be large enough for a fully kitted diver and bellman (the stand-by diver responsible for manning the bell while the working diver is locked out) to sit, and for their umbilicals to be stowed neatly on racks, and the hatch to be opened inwards while they are inside. Anything bigger will make the bell heavier than it really needs to be, so all equipment that does not need to be inside is mounted outside. This includes a framework to support the ancillary equipment and protect the bell from impact and snagging on obstacles, and the emergency gas and power supplies, which are usually racked around the framework. The emergency gas supply (EGS) is connected via manifolds to the internal gas panel. The part of the framework that keeps the lower hatch off the bottom is called the bell stage. It may be removable, which can facilitate connection to a vertical access chamber lock. The bell umbilical is connected to the bell via through hull fittings (hull penetrations), which must withstand all operating pressures without leaking. The internal gas panel connects to the hull penetrations and the diver's umbilicals. The umbilicals will carry main breathing gas supply, a communications cable, a pneumofathometer hose, hot water supply for suit heating, power for helmet mounted lights, and possibly gas reclaim hose and video cable. The bell umbilical will usually also carry a power cable for internal and external bell lighting. Hydraulic power lines for tools do not have to pass into the interior of the bell as they will never be used there, and tools can also be stored outside. There may be an emergency through-water communications system with a battery power supply, and a location transponder working on the international standard 37.5 kHz. The bell may also have viewports and a medical lock.