title: Backpack

text: The internal frame backpack is a recent innovation, invented in 1967 by Greg Lowe, who went on to found Lowe Alpine and Lowepro, companies specializing in backpacks and other forms of carrying bags for various equipment. An internal-frame pack has a large fabric section around an internal frame composed of strips of either aluminum, titanium or plastic, sometimes with additional metal stays to reinforce the frame. A complex series of straps works with the frame to distribute the weight and hold it in place. The internal frame permits the pack to fit closely to the wearer's back and minimizes shifting of the load, which is desirable when participating in activities that involve upper-body movement such as scrambling over rocky surfaces and skiing. However, the tight fit reduces ventilation, so these type of packs tend to be more sweaty than external frame packs. The internal construction also allows for a large storage compartment; a few lash points (including webbing loops and straps for sleeping bags and other large items) may be present, but as the frame is completely integrated, it is difficult to securely lash larger and heavier items which do not fit inside the compartment to the outside of the pack. Internal frame packs originally suffered from smaller load capacity and less comfortable fit during steady walking, but newer models have improved greatly in these respects. In addition, because of their snug fit, the improved internal frame models have largely replaced external frame backpacks for many activities.


title: Backpack

text: A daypack is a smaller, frameless backpack that can hold enough contents for a day hike, or a day's worth of other activities. They are not large enough for average wilderness backpacking that use full-sized sleeping bags and backpacking tents, but may be large enough for ultralight backpacking. Padded or unpadded waist straps may be provided to distribute weight across the body.


title: Backpack

text: In many countries, backpacks are heavily identified with students, and are a primary means of transporting educational materials to and from school. In this context they are sometimes known as bookbags or schoolbags. The purchase of a suitably fashionable, attractive, and useful backpack is a crucial back-to-school ritual for many students.


title: Backpack

text: Typical school backpacks generally lack the rigid frame of an outdoor-style backpack and include only a few pockets in the front in addition to the main storage compartment. While traditionally very simple in design, school backpacks are often made with padded shoulder straps and backs as well as additional reinforcement to hold large numbers of heavy textbooks, as well as safety features such as reflective panels to make the wearer of the pack more visible at night.


title: Backpack

text: Backpacks are sometimes worn as fashion accessories, in which they perform the same function as a purse. Some such backpacks designed specifically for women are no larger than a typical purse, and are generally associated with younger women.


title: Backpack

text: Some backpacks are specifically designed to carry certain items. Common examples include backpacks for small valuable items such as laptops and cameras; backpacks designed to hold laptop computers in particular generally have a padded compartment to hold the computer and medium-sized pockets and flaps to accommodate accessories such as charger cables and mice. These are especially common in college and university settings. In order to supply these devices with electricity, a few high-end backpacks are equipped with solar panels.


title: Backpack

text: Rolling backpacks are backpacks with wheels on the bottom and an extending handle. Because of their design, rolling backpacks reduce the strain on the user, though the shoulder straps may be used to carry the pack for short distances when the terrain is not suitable for wheels. Rolling backpacks are most commonly used while traveling by airplane or train.


title: Backpack

text: Hydration backpacks are also available. These light daypacks are specifically designed to hold water in a special water bladder (also known as reservoir), and their purpose is to allow the carrier constant fluid hydration handsfree, so that the carrier can focus on their task without having to stop to get a water bottle out.


title: Backpack

text: Backpacks are a standard part of the load-bearing equipment of soldiers, especially infantry, in most countries, and military-style packs are regularly available to civilians in military surplus stores. Well-known examples include the United States ALICE field pack and the British Army PLCE rucksack attachment, both of which are widely available to civilian markets both as actual military surplus (new or used) and as replicas. Such packs are often, though not always (e.g. the USMC's ILBE pack), external-frame packs, with the pack itself lashed or pinned to a metal or plastic carrying frame. For units that are entering combat situations, packs may be loaded heavily and can weigh in excess of . Each soldier may carry extra weapons, ammunition, rations, medical supplies, tents or other shelter material, and extra clothing.


title: Backpack

text: Many police tactical units, as well as players of military-style combat games such as paintball and airsoft, use these military-style tactical backpacks and webbing for storing gear and ammunition. There is also a small but thriving industry devoted to creating historical reproductions of military gear; such companies generally produce period-appropriate uniforms and other gear in addition to backpacks.


title: Backpack

text: Some more recent military/tactical designs, especially the MOLLE and ILBE packs used by the United States armed forces, are covered with webbing loop attachment points for increased carrying capacity.


title: Backpack

text: Recently, at least one brand of backpack has been specially designed for professional cooks and culinary students. This sort of backpack is meant to safely carry knives, cooking tools, and other miscellaneous equipment such as notebooks, towels, and uniforms.


title: Backpack

text: Specialist backpacks are used by fire services for wildfire fighting, as well as by rescue services for Search and Rescue. These backpacks are generally very modular, allowing the pack to be reconfigured to the users wishes and are designed to load around the wearers hips. They may include features such as sections for water bladders and specially designed pouches, such as those used to carry personal fire shelters.


title: Backpack

text: In addition to their use in outdoors pursuits, backpacks are sometimes used in other sports as well. Hydration packs, sometimes used by athletes and military personnel, carry water (in either a bladder or a rigid bottle) and have a tube connected to them from which the wearer can drink without removing the pack; this feature is also included in some more general-purpose hiking backpacks. Backpacks that carry skateboards have also become more popular in the youth culture.


title: Sorites paradox

text: The sorites paradox (; sometimes known as the paradox of the heap) is a paradox that results from vague predicates. A typical formulation involves a heap of sand, from which grains are removed individually. With the assumption that removing a single grain does not cause a heap to become a non-heap, the paradox is to consider what happens when the process is repeated enough times that only one grain remains: is it still a heap? If not, when did it change from a heap to a non-heap?


title: Sorites paradox

text: The word "sorites" (') derives from the Greek word for 'heap' ('). The paradox is so named because of its original characterization, attributed to Eubulides of Miletus. The paradox is as follows: consider a heap of sand from which grains are removed individually. One might construct the argument, using premises, as follows:


title: Sorites paradox

text: Repeated applications of Premise 2 (each time starting with one fewer grain) eventually forces one to accept the conclusion that a heap may be composed of just one grain of sand.


title: Sorites paradox

text: Another formulation is to start with a grain of sand, which is clearly not a heap, and then assume that adding a single grain of sand to something that is not a heap does not cause it to become a heap. Inductively, this process can be repeated as much as one wants without ever constructing a heap. A more natural formulation of this variant is to assume a set of colored chips exists such that two adjacent chips vary in color too little for human eyesight to be able to distinguish between them. Then by induction on this premise, humans would not be able to distinguish between any colors.


title: Sorites paradox

text: The removal of one drop from the ocean, will not make it 'not an ocean' (it is still an ocean), but since the volume of water in the ocean is finite, eventually, after enough removals, even a litre of water left is still an ocean.


title: Sorites paradox

text: This paradox can be reconstructed for a variety of predicates, for example, with "tall", "rich", "old", "blue", "bald", and so on. Bertrand Russell argued that all of natural language, even logical connectives, is vague; moreover, representations of propositions are vague.


title: Sorites paradox

text: The continuum fallacy (also known as the fallacy of the beard, line-drawing fallacy, or decision-point fallacy) is an informal fallacy related to the sorites paradox. Both fallacies cause one to erroneously reject a vague claim simply because it is not as precise as one would like it to be. Vagueness alone does not necessarily imply invalidity. The fallacy is the argument that two states or conditions cannot be considered distinct (or do not exist at all) because between them there exists a continuum of states.


title: Sorites paradox

text: Strictly, the sorites paradox refers to situations where there are many "discrete" states (classically between 1 and 1,000,000 grains of sand, hence 1,000,000 possible states), while the continuum fallacy refers to situations where there is (or appears to be) a "continuum" of states, such as temperature. Whether any continua exist in the physical world is the classic question of atomism, and while both Newtonian physics and quantum physics model the world as continuous, there are some proposals in quantum gravity, such as loop quantum gravity, that suggest that notions of continuous length do not apply at the Planck length, and thus what appear to be continua may simply be as-yet undistinguishable discrete states.


title: Sorites paradox

text: For the purpose of the continuum fallacy, one assumes that there is in fact a continuum, though this is generally a minor distinction: in general, any argument against the sorites paradox can also be used against the continuum fallacy. One argument against the fallacy is based on the simple counterexample: there do exist bald people and people who are not bald. Another argument is that for each degree of change in states, the degree of the condition changes slightly, and these slight changes build up to shift the state from one category to another. For example, perhaps the addition of a grain of rice causes the total group of rice to be "slightly more" of a heap, and enough slight changes will certify the group's heap status – see fuzzy logic.


title: Sorites paradox

text: One may object to the first premise by denying that grains of sand makes a . But is just an arbitrary large number, and the argument will apply with any such number. So the response must outright that there are such things as heaps. Peter Unger defends this solution.


title: Sorites paradox

text: A common first response to the paradox is to term any set of grains that has more than a certain number of grains in it a heap. If one were to define the "fixed boundary" at grains then one would claim that for fewer than , it is not a heap; for or more, then it is a heap.


title: Sorites paradox

text: Collins argues that such solutions are unsatisfactory as there seems little significance to the difference between grains and grains. The boundary, wherever it may be set, remains arbitrary, and so its precision is misleading. It is objectionable on both philosophical and linguistic grounds: the former on account of its arbitrariness and the latter on the ground that it is simply not how natural language is used.


title: Sorites paradox

text: Timothy Williamson and Roy Sorensen claim that there are fixed boundaries but that they are necessarily unknowable.


title: Sorites paradox

text: Supervaluationism is a method for dealing with irreferential singular terms and vagueness. It allows one to retain the usual tautological laws even when dealing with undefined truth values.


title: Sorites paradox

text: As an example of a proposition about an irreferential singular term, consider the sentence ""Pegasus likes licorice"".


title: Sorites paradox

text: Since the name ""Pegasus"" fails to refer, no truth value can be assigned to the sentence; there is nothing in the myth that would justify any such assignment. However, there are some statements about ""Pegasus"" which have definite truth values nevertheless, such as ""Pegasus likes licorice or Pegasus doesn't like licorice"". This sentence is an instance of the tautology "formula_1", i.e. the valid schema ""formula_2 or not-formula_2"". According to supervaluationism, it should be true regardless of whether or not its components have a truth value.


title: Sorites paradox

text: By admitting sentences without defined truth values, supervaluationism avoids adjacent cases such that "n" grains of sand is a heap of sand, but "n"-1 grains is not;


title: Sorites paradox

text: for example, "" grains of sand is a heap"" may be considered a border case having no defined truth value. Nevertheless, supervaluationism is able to handle a sentence like "" grains of sand is a heap, or grains of sand is not a heap"" as a tautology, i.e. to assign it the value "true".


title: Sorites paradox

text: Let formula_4 be a classical valuation defined on every atomic sentence of the language formula_5, and let formula_6 be the number of distinct atomic sentences in formula_7. Then for every sentence formula_7, at most formula_9 distinct classical valuations can exist. A supervaluation formula_10 is a function from sentences to truth values such that, a sentence formula_7 is super-true (i.e. formula_12) if and only if formula_13 for every classical valuation formula_4; likewise for super-false. Otherwise, formula_15 is undefined—i.e. exactly when there are two classical valuations formula_4 and formula_17 such that formula_18 and formula_19.


title: Sorites paradox

text: For example, let formula_20 be the formal translation of ""Pegasus likes licorice"". Then there are exactly two classical valuations formula_4 and formula_17 on formula_20, viz. formula_24 and formula_25. So formula_20 is neither super-true nor super-false. However, the tautology formula_27 is evaluated to formula_28 by every classical valuation; it is hence super-true. Similarly, the formalization of the above heap proposition formula_29 is neither super-true nor super-false, but formula_30 is super-true.


title: Sorites paradox

text: Another method is to use a multi-valued logic. In this context, the problem is with the principle of bivalence: the sand is either a heap or is not a heap, without any shades of gray. Instead of two logical states, "heap" and "not-heap", a three value system can be used, for example "heap", "indeterminate" and "not-heap". A response to this proposed solution is that three valued systems do not truly resolve the paradox as there is still a dividing line between "heap" and "indeterminate" and also between "indeterminate" and "not-heap". The third truth-value can be understood either as a "truth-value gap" or as a "truth-value glut".


title: Sorites paradox

text: Alternatively, fuzzy logic offers a continuous spectrum of logical states represented in the unit interval of real numbers [0,1]—it is a many-valued logic with infinitely-many truth-values, and thus the sand transitions gradually from "definitely heap" to "definitely not heap", with shades in the intermediate region. Fuzzy hedges are used to divide the continuum into regions corresponding to classes like "definitely heap", "mostly heap", "partly heap", "slightly heap", and "not heap". Though the problem remains of where these borders occur; e.g. at what number of grains sand starts being 'definitely' a heap.


title: Sorites paradox

text: Another method, introduced by Raffman, is to use hysteresis, that is, knowledge of what the collection of sand started as. Equivalent amounts of sand may be termed heaps or not based on how they got there. If a large heap (indisputably described as a heap) is diminished slowly, it preserves its "heap status" to a point, even as the actual amount of sand is reduced to a smaller number of grains. For example, grains is a pile and grains is a heap. There will be an overlap for these states. So if one is reducing it from a heap to a pile, it is a heap going down until . At that point, one would stop calling it a heap and start calling it a pile. But if one replaces one grain, it would not instantly turn back into a heap. When going up it would remain a pile until grains. The numbers picked are arbitrary; the point is, that the same amount can be either a heap or a pile depending on what it was before the change. A common use of hysteresis would be the thermostat for air conditioning: the AC is set at 77 °F and it then cools the air to just below 77 °F, but does not activate again instantly when the air warms to 77.001 °F—it waits until almost 78 °F, to prevent instant change of state over and over again.


title: Sorites paradox

text: One can establish the meaning of the word "heap" by appealing to consensus. Williamson, in his epistemic solution to the paradox, assumes that the meaning of vague terms must be determined by group usage. The consensus method typically claims that a collection of grains is as much a "heap" as the proportion of people in a group who believe it to be so. In other words, the "probability" that any collection is considered a heap is the expected value of the distribution of the group's opinion.


title: Sorites paradox

text: Between the two extremes, individual members of the group may disagree with each other over whether any particular collection can be labelled a "heap". The collection can then not be definitively claimed to "be" a "heap" or "not a heap". This can be considered an appeal to descriptive linguistics rather than prescriptive linguistics, as it resolves the issue of definition based on how the population uses natural language. Indeed, if a precise prescriptive definition of "heap" is available then the group consensus will always be unanimous and the paradox does not occur.


title: Sorites paradox

text: In the economics field of utility theory, the sorites paradox arises when a person's preferences patterns are investigated.


title: Sorites paradox

text: As an example by Robert Duncan Luce, it is easy to find a person, say Peggy, who prefers in her coffee 3 grams (that is, 1 cube) of sugar to 15 grams (5 cubes), however, she will usually be indifferent between 3.00 and 3.03 grams, as well as between 3.03 and 3.06 grams, and so on, as well as finally between 14.97 and 15.00 grams.


title: Sorites paradox

text: Several kinds of relations were introduced to describe preference and indifference without running into the sorites paradox.


title: Sorites paradox

text: Abbreviating "Peggy likes "c" more than "c"" as and abbreviating or by it is reasonable that the relation ">" is a semi-order while ≥ is quasitransitive.


title: Sorites paradox

text: Conversely, from a given semi-order > the indifference relation ≈ can be reconstructed by defining if neither nor


title: Sorites paradox

text: Similarly, from a given quasitransitive relation ≥ the indifference relation ≈ can be reconstructed by defining if both and


title: Sorites paradox

text: The table to the right shows how the above color example can be modelled as a quasi-transitive relation ≥. Color differences overdone for readability. A color "X" is said to be more or equally red than a color "Y" if the table cell in row "X" and column "Y" is not empty. In that case, if it holds a "≈", then "X" and "Y" look indistinguishably equal, and if it holds a ">", then "X" looks clearly more red than "Y". The relation ≥ is the disjoint union of the symmetric relation ≈ and the transitive relation >. Using the transitivity of >, the knowledge of both > and > allows one to infer that > . However, since ≥ is not transitive, a "paradoxical" inference like " ≥ and ≥ , hence ≥ " is no longer possible. For the same reason, e.g. " ≈ and ≈ , hence ≈ " is no longer a valid inference. Similarly, to resolve the original heap variation of the paradox with this approach, the relation ""X" grains are more a heap than "Y" grains" could be considered quasitransitive rather than transitive.


title: Starter (engine)

text: A starter (also self-starter, cranking motor, or starter motor) is a device used to rotate (crank) an internal-combustion engine so as to initiate the engine's operation under its own power. Starters can be electric, pneumatic, or hydraulic. The starter can also be another internal-combustion engine in the case, for instance, of very large engines, or diesel engines in agricultural or excavation applications.


title: Starter (engine)

text: Internal combustion engines are feedback systems, which, once started, rely on the inertia from each cycle to initiate the next cycle. In a four-stroke engine, the third stroke releases energy from the fuel, powering the fourth (exhaust) stroke and also the first two (intake, compression) strokes of the next cycle, as well as powering the engine's external load. To start the first cycle at the beginning of any particular session, the first two strokes must be powered in some other way than from the engine itself. The starter motor is used for this purpose and it is not required once the engine starts running and its feedback loop becomes self-sustaining.


title: Starter (engine)

text: Before the advent of the starter motor, engines were started by various methods including wind-up springs, gunpowder cylinders, and human-powered techniques such as a removable crank handle which engaged the front of the crankshaft, pulling on an airplane propeller, or pulling a cord that was wound around an open-face pulley.


title: Starter (engine)

text: The hand-crank method was commonly used to start engines, but it was inconvenient, difficult, and dangerous. The behavior of an engine during starting is not always predictable. The engine can kick back, causing sudden reverse rotation. Many manual starters included a one-directional slip or release provision so that once engine rotation began, the starter would disengage from the engine. In the event of a kickback, the reverse rotation of the engine could suddenly engage the starter, causing the crank to unexpectedly and violently jerk, possibly injuring the operator. For cord-wound starters, a kickback could pull the operator towards the engine or machine, or swing the starter cord and handle at high speed around the starter pulley. Even though cranks had an overrun mechanism, when the engine started, the crank could begin to spin along with the crankshaft and potentially strike the person cranking the engine. Additionally, care had to be taken to retard the spark in order to prevent backfiring; with an advanced spark setting, the engine could "kick back" (run in reverse), pulling the crank with it, because the overrun safety mechanism works in one direction only.


title: Starter (engine)

text: Although users were advised to cup their fingers and thumb under the crank and pull up, it felt natural for operators to grasp the handle with the fingers on one side, the thumb on the other. Even a simple backfire could result in a broken thumb; it was possible to end up with a broken wrist, a dislocated shoulder or worse. Moreover, increasingly larger engines with higher compression ratios made hand cranking a more physically demanding endeavour.


title: Starter (engine)

text: The first electric starter was installed on an Arnold, an adaptation of the Benz Velo, built in 1896 in East Peckham, England, by electrical engineer H. J. Dowsing.


title: Starter (engine)

text: In 1911, Charles F. Kettering, with Henry M. Leland, of Dayton Engineering Laboratories Company (DELCO), invented and filed for an electric starter in America. (Kettering had replaced the hand crank on NCR's cash registers with an electric motor five years earlier.)


title: Starter (engine)

text: One aspect of the invention lay in the realization that a relatively small motor, driven with higher voltage and current than would be feasible for continuous operation, could deliver enough power to crank the engine for starting. At the voltage and current levels required, such a motor would burn out in a few minutes of continuous operation, but not during the few seconds needed to start the engine. The starters were first installed on the Cadillac Model Thirty in 1912, with the same system being adopted by Lanchester later that year. These starters also worked as generators once the engine was running, a concept that is now being revived in hybrid vehicles.


title: Starter (engine)

text: Although the electric starter motor was to come to dominate the car market, in 1912, there were several competing types of starter, with the Adams, S.C.A.T. and Wolseley cars having direct air starters, and Sunbeam introducing an air starter motor with similar approach to that used for the Delco and Scott-Crossley electrical starter motors (i.e. engaging with a toothed ring on the flywheel). The Star and Adler cars had spring motors (sometimes referred to as clockwork motors), which used the energy stored in a spring driving through a reduction gear. If the car failed to start, the starter handle could be used to wind up the spring for a further attempt.


title: Starter (engine)

text: One of the innovations on the first Dodge car, the Model 30-35 at its introduction in 1914 was an electric starter and electric lighting with a 12-volt system (against the six volts that was usual at the time) as a standard fitment on what was a relatively low-priced car. The Dodge used a combined starter-generator unit, with a direct current dynamo permanently coupled by gears to the engine's crankshaft. A system of electrical relays allowed this to be driven as a motor to rotate the engine for starting, and once the starter button was released the controlling switchgear returned the unit to operation as a generator. Because the starter-generator was directly coupled to the engine it did not need a method of engaging and disengaging the motor drive. It thus suffered negligible mechanical wear and was virtually silent in operation. The starter-generator remained a feature of Dodge cars until 1929. The disadvantage of the design was that, as a dual-purpose device, the unit was limited in both its power as a motor and its output as a generator, which became a problem as engine size and electrical demands on cars increased. Controlling the switch between motor and generator modes required dedicated and relatively complex switchgear which was more prone to failure than the heavy-duty contacts of a dedicated starter motor. While the starter-generator dropped out of favour for cars by the 1930s, the concept was still useful for smaller vehicles and was taken up by the German firm SIBA Elektrik which built similar system intended mostly for use on motorcycles, scooters, economy cars (especially those will small-capacity two-stroke engines), and marine engines. These were marketed under the 'Dynastart' name. Since motorcycles usually had small engines and limited electrical equipment, as well as restricted space and weight, the Dynastart was a useful feature. The windings for the starter-generator were usually incorporated into the engine's flywheel, thus not requiring a separate unit at all.


title: Starter (engine)

text: The Ford Model T relied on hand cranks until 1919; during the 1920s, electric starters became near-universal on most new cars, making it easier for women and elderly people to drive. It was still common for cars to be supplied with starter handles into the 1960s, and this continued much later for some makes (e.g. Citroën 2CV until end of production in 1990). In many cases, cranks were used for setting timing rather than starting the engine as growing displacements and compression ratios made this impractical. Communist bloc cars such as Ladas often still sported crank-starting as late as the 1980s.


title: Starter (engine)

text: For the first examples of production German turbojet engines later in World War II, Norbert Riedel designed a small two-stroke, opposed-twin gasoline engine to start both the Junkers Jumo 004 and BMW 003 aircraft gas turbines as a form of auxiliary power unit to get the central spindle of each engine design rotating — these were usually installed at the very front of the turbojet, and were themselves started by a pull-rope to get them running during the startup procedure for the jet engines they were fitted to.


title: Starter (engine)

text: Before Chrysler's 1949 innovation of the key-operated combination ignition-starter switch, the starter was often operated by the driver pressing a button mounted on the floor or dashboard. Some vehicles had a pedal in the floor that manually engaged the starter drive pinion with the flywheel ring gear, then completed the electrical circuit to the starter motor once the pedal reached the end of its travel. Ferguson tractors from the 1940s, including the Ferguson TE20, had an extra position on the gear lever that engaged the starter switch, ensuring safety by preventing the tractors from being started in gear.


title: Starter (engine)

text: The electric starter motor or cranking motor is the most common type used on gasoline engines and small diesel engines. The modern starter motor is either a permanent-magnet or a series-parallel wound direct current electric motor with a starter solenoid (similar to a relay) mounted on it. When DC power from the starting battery is applied to the solenoid, usually through a key-operated switch (the "ignition switch"), the solenoid engages a lever that pushes out the drive pinion on the starter driveshaft and meshes the pinion with the starter ring gear on the flywheel of the engine.


title: Starter (engine)

text: The solenoid also closes high-current contacts for the starter motor, which begins to turn. Once the engine starts, the key-operated switch is opened, a spring in the solenoid assembly pulls the pinion gear away from the ring gear, and the starter motor stops. The starter's pinion is clutched to its drive shaft through an overrunning sprag clutch which permits the pinion to transmit drive in only one direction. In this manner, drive is transmitted through the pinion to the flywheel ring gear, but if the pinion remains engaged (as for example because the operator fails to release the key as soon as the engine starts, or if there is a short and the solenoid remains engaged), the pinion will spin independently of its drive shaft. This prevents the engine driving the starter, for such backdrive would cause the starter to spin so fast as to fly apart.


title: Starter (engine)

text: The sprag clutch arrangement would preclude the use of the starter as a generator if employed in the hybrid scheme mentioned above, unless modifications were made. The standard starter motor is typically designed for intermittent use, which would preclude its use as a generator. The starter's electrical components are designed only to operate for typically under 30 seconds before overheating (by too-slow dissipation of heat from ohmic losses), to save weight and cost. Most automobile owner manuals instruct the operator to pause for at least ten seconds after each ten or fifteen seconds of cranking the engine, when trying to start an engine that does not start immediately.


title: Starter (engine)

text: This overrunning-clutch pinion arrangement was phased into use beginning in the early 1960s; before that time, a Bendix drive was used. The Bendix system places the starter drive pinion on a helically cut drive shaft. When the starter motor begins turning, the inertia of the drive pinion assembly causes it to ride forward on the helix and thus engage with the ring gear. When the engine starts, backdrive from the ring gear causes the drive pinion to exceed the rotative speed of the starter, at which point the drive pinion is forced back down the helical shaft and thus out of mesh with the ring gear. This has the disadvantage that the gears will disengage if the engine fires briefly but does not continue to run.


title: Starter (engine)

text: An intermediate development between the Bendix drive developed in the 1930s and the overrunning-clutch designs introduced in the 1960s was the Bendix Folo-Thru drive. The standard Bendix drive would disengage from the ring gear as soon as the engine fired, even if it did not continue to run. The Folo-Thru drive contains a latching mechanism and a set of flyweights in the body of the drive unit. When the starter motor begins turning and the drive unit is forced forward on the helical shaft by inertia, it is latched into the engaged position. Only once the drive unit is spun at a speed higher than that attained by the starter motor itself (i.e., it is backdriven by the running engine) will the flyweights pull radially outward, releasing the latch and permitting the overdriven drive unit to be spun out of engagement. In this manner, unwanted starter disengagement is avoided before a successful engine start.


title: Starter (engine)

text: In 1962, Chrysler introduced a starter incorporating a geartrain between the motor and the drive shaft. The motor shaft included integrally cut gear teeth forming a pinion that meshes with a larger adjacent driven gear to provide a gear reduction ratio of 3.75:1. This permitted the use of a higher-speed, lower-current, lighter and more compact motor assembly while increasing cranking torque. Variants of this starter design were used on most rear- and four-wheel-drive vehicles produced by Chrysler Corporation from 1962 through 1987. It makes a unique, distinct sound when cranking the engine, which led to it being nicknamed the "Highland Park Hummingbird"—a reference to Chrysler's headquarters in Highland Park, Michigan.


title: Starter (engine)

text: The Chrysler gear-reduction starter formed the conceptual basis for the gear-reduction starters that now predominate in vehicles on the road. Many Japanese automakers phased in gear reduction starters in the 1970s and 1980s. Light aircraft engines also made extensive use of this kind of starter, because its light weight offered an advantage.


title: Starter (engine)

text: Those starters not employing offset gear trains like the Chrysler unit generally employ planetary epicyclic gear trains instead. Direct-drive starters are almost entirely obsolete owing to their larger size, heavier weight and higher current requirements.


title: Starter (engine)

text: Ford issued a nonstandard starter, a direct-drive "movable pole shoe" design that provided cost reduction rather than electrical or mechanical benefits. This type of starter eliminated the solenoid, replacing it with a movable pole shoe and a separate starter relay. This starter operates as follows: The driver turns the key, activating the starter switch. A small electric current flows through the solenoid actuated starter relay, closing the contacts and sending large battery current to the starter motor. One of the pole shoes, hinged at the front, linked to the starter drive, and spring-loaded away from its normal operating position, is swung into position by the magnetic field created by electricity flowing through its field coil. This moves the starter drive forward to engage the flywheel ring gear, and simultaneously closes a pair of contacts supplying current to the rest of the starter motor winding. Once the engine starts and the driver releases the starter switch, a spring retracts the pole shoe, which pulls the starter drive out of engagement with the ring gear.


title: Starter (engine)

text: This starter was used on Ford vehicles from 1973 through 1990, when a gear-reduction unit conceptually similar to the Chrysler unit replaced it.


title: Starter (engine)

text: A variant on the electric starter motor is the inertia starter (not to be confused with the Bendix-type starter described above). Here the starter motor does not turn the engine directly. Instead, when energized, the motor turns a heavy flywheel built into its casing (not the main flywheel of the engine). Once the flywheel/motor unit has reached a constant speed the current to the motor is turned off and the drive between the motor and flywheel is disengaged by a freewheel mechanism. The spinning flywheel is then connected to the main engine and its inertia turns it over to start it. These stages are commonly automated by solenoid switches, with the machine operator using a two-position control switch, which is held in one position to spin the motor and then moved to the other to cut the current to the motor and engage the flywheel to the engine.


title: Starter (engine)

text: The advantage of the inertia starter is that, because the motor is not driving the engine directly, it can be of much lower power than the standard starter for an engine of the same size. This allows for a motor of much lower weight and smaller size, as well as lighter cables and smaller batteries to power the motor. This made the inertia starter a common choice for aircraft with large radial piston engines. The disadvantage is the increased time required to start the engine - spinning up the flywheel to the required speed can take between 10 and 20 seconds. If the engine does not start by the time the flywheel has lost its inertia then the process must be repeated for the next attempt.


title: Starter (engine)

text: Some gas turbine engines and diesel engines, particularly on trucks, use a pneumatic self-starter. In ground vehicles the system consists of a geared turbine, an air compressor and a pressure tank. Compressed air released from the tank is used to spin the turbine, and through a set of reduction gears, engages the ring gear on the flywheel, much like an electric starter. The engine, once running, drives the compressor to recharge the tank.


title: Starter (engine)

text: Aircraft with large gas turbine engines are typically started using a large volume of low-pressure compressed air, supplied from a very small engine referred to as an auxiliary power unit, located elsewhere in the aircraft. Alternatively, aircraft gas turbine engines can be rapidly started using a mobile ground-based pneumatic starting engine, referred to as a "start cart" or "air start cart".


title: Starter (engine)

text: On larger diesel generators found in large shore installations and especially on ships, a pneumatic starting gear is used. The air motor is normally powered by compressed air at pressures of 10–30 bar. The air motor is made up of a center drum about the size of a soup can with four or more slots cut into it to allow for the vanes to be placed radially on the drum to form chambers around the drum. The drum is offset inside a round casing so that the inlet air for starting is admitted at the area where the drum and vanes form a small chamber compared to the others. The compressed air can only expand by rotating the drum, which allows the small chamber to become larger and puts another one of the cambers in the air inlet. The air motor spins much too fast to be used directly on the flywheel of the engine; instead a large gearing reduction, such as a planetary gear, is used to lower the output speed. A Bendix gear is used to engage the flywheel.


title: Starter (engine)

text: Since large trucks typically use air brakes, the system does double duty, supplying compressed air to the brake system. Pneumatic starters have the advantages of delivering high torque, mechanical simplicity and reliability. They eliminate the need for oversized, heavy storage batteries in electrical systems.


title: Starter (engine)

text: Large Diesel generators and almost all Diesel engines used as the prime mover of ships use compressed air acting directly on the cylinder head. This is not ideal for smaller Diesels, as it provides too much cooling on starting. Also, the cylinder head needs to have enough space to support an extra valve for the air start system. The air start system is conceptually very similar to a distributor in a car. There is an air distributor that is geared to the camshaft of the Diesel engine; on the top of the air distributor is a single lobe similar to what is found on a camshaft. Arranged radially around this lobe are roller tip followers for every cylinder. When the lobe of the air distributor hits one of the followers it will send an air signal that acts upon the back of the air start valve located in the cylinder head, causing it to open. Compressed air is provided from a large reservoir that feeds into a header located along the engine. As soon as the air start valve is opened, the compressed air is admitted and the engine will begin turning. It can be used on two-cycle and four-cycle engines and on reversing engines. On large two-stroke engines less than one revolution of the crankshaft is needed for starting.


title: Starter (engine)

text: Some Diesel engines from six to 16 cylinders are started by means of a hydraulic motor. Hydraulic starters and the associated systems provide a sparkless, reliable method of engine starting over a wide temperature range. Typically hydraulic starters are found in applications such as remote generators, lifeboat propulsion engines, offshore fire pumping engines, and hydraulic fracturing rigs. The system used to support the hydraulic starter includes valves, pumps, filters, a reservoir, and piston accumulators. The operator can manually recharge the hydraulic system; this cannot readily be done with electric starting systems, so hydraulic starting systems are favored in applications wherein emergency starting is a requirement.


title: Starter (engine)

text: With various configurations, Hydraulic starters can be fitted on any engine. Hydraulic starters employ the high efficiency of the axial piston motor concept, which provides high torque at any temperature or environment, and guarantees minimal wear of the engine ring gear and the pinion.


title: Starter (engine)

text: A spring starter uses potential energy stored in a spring wound up with a crank to start an engine without a battery or alternator. Turning the crank moves the pinion into mesh with the engine's ring gear, then winds up the spring. Pulling the release lever then applies the spring tension to the pinion, turning the ring gear to start the engine. The pinion automatically disengages from the flywheel after operation. Provision is also made to allow the engine to be slowly turned over by hand for engine maintenance. This is achieved by operating the trip lever just after the pinion has engaged with the flywheel. Subsequent turning of the winding handle during this operation will not load the starter. Spring starters can be found in engine-generators, hydraulic power packs, and on lifeboat engines, with the most common application being backup starting system on seagoing vessels.


title: Starter (engine)

text: Some modern gasoline engines with twelve or more cylinders always have at least one or more pistons at the beginning of its power stroke and are able to start by injecting fuel into that cylinder and igniting it. The same procedure can be applied to engines with fewer cylinders, if the engine happens to be stopped at the correct position. This is one way of starting an engine of a car with stop-start system.


title: Aromatase inhibitor

text: Aromatase inhibitors (AIs) are a class of drugs used in the treatment of breast cancer in postmenopausal women and in men, and gynecomastia in men. They may also be used off-label to reduce estrogen conversion when supplementing testosterone exogenously. They may also be used for chemoprevention in women at high risk for breast cancer.


title: Aromatase inhibitor

text: Aromatase is the enzyme that catalyzes a key aromatization step in the synthesis of estrogen. It converts the enone ring of androgen precursors such as testosterone, to a phenol, completing the synthesis of estrogen. As such, AIs are estrogen synthesis inhibitors. Because hormone-positive breast and ovarian cancers are dependent on estrogen for growth, AIs are taken to either block the production of estrogen or block the action of estrogen on receptors.


title: Aromatase inhibitor

text: In contrast to premenopausal women, in whom most of the estrogen is produced in the ovaries, in postmenopausal women estrogen is mainly produced in peripheral tissues of the body. Because some breast cancers respond to estrogen, lowering estrogen production at the site of the cancer (i.e. the adipose tissue of the breast) with aromatase inhibitors has been proven to be an effective treatment for hormone-sensitive breast cancer in postmenopausal women.<ref name="10.1016/S0140-6736(04)17666-6"></ref> Aromatase inhibitors are generally not used to treat breast cancer in premenopausal women because, prior to menopause, the decrease in estrogen activates the hypothalamus and pituitary axis to increase gonadotropin secretion, which in turn stimulates the ovary to increase androgen production. The heightened gonadotropin levels also upregulate the aromatase promoter, increasing aromatase production in the setting of increased androgen substrate. This would counteract the effect of the aromatase inhibitor in premenopausal women, as total estrogen would increase.


title: Aromatase inhibitor

text: Ongoing areas of clinical research include optimizing adjuvant hormonal therapy in postmenopausal women with breast cancer. Tamoxifen (a SERM) traditionally was the drug treatment of choice, but the ATAC trial (Arimidex, Tamoxifen, Alone or in Combination) showed that in women with localized estrogen receptor-positive breast cancer, women receiving the AI anastrozole had better results than the tamoxifen group. Trials of AIs used as adjuvant therapy, when given to prevent relapse after surgery for breast cancer, show that they are associated with a better disease-free survival than tamoxifen, but few conventionally-analyzed clinicals trials have shown that AIs have an overall survival advantage compared with tamoxifen, and there is no good evidence they are better tolerated.


title: Aromatase inhibitor

text: Aromatase inhibitors have been approved for the treatment of gynecomastia in children and adolescents.


title: Aromatase inhibitor

text: Ovarian stimulation with the aromatase inhibitor letrozole has been proposed for ovulation induction in order to treat unexplained female infertility. In a multi-center study funded by the National Institute of Child Health and Development, ovarian stimulation with letrozole resulted in a significantly lower frequency of multiple gestation (i.e., twins or triplets) but also a lower frequency of live birth, as compared with gonadotropin but not with clomiphene.


title: Aromatase inhibitor

text: In women, side effects include an increased risk for developing osteoporosis and joint disorders such as arthritis, arthrosis, and joint pain. Men do not appear to exhibit the same adverse effects on bone health. Bisphosphonates are sometimes prescribed to prevent the osteoporosis induced by aromatase inhibitors, but also have another serious side effect, osteonecrosis of the jaw. As statins have a bone strengthening effect, combining a statin with an aromatase inhibitor could help prevent fractures and suspected cardiovascular risks, without potential of causing osteonecrosis of the jaw. The more common adverse events associated with the use of aromatase inhibitors include decreased rate of bone maturation and growth, infertility, aggressive behavior, adrenal insufficiency, kidney failure, hair loss, and liver dysfunction. Patients with liver, kidney or adrenal abnormalities are at a higher risk of developing adverse events.


title: Aromatase inhibitor

text: Aromatase inhibitors work by inhibiting the action of the enzyme aromatase, which converts androgens into estrogens by a process called aromatization. As breast tissue is stimulated by estrogens, decreasing their production is a way of suppressing recurrence of the breast tumor tissue. The main source of estrogen is the ovaries in premenopausal women, while in post-menopausal women most of the body's estrogen is produced in peripheral tissues (outside the CNS), and also a few CNS sites in various regions within the brain. Estrogen is produced and acts locally in these tissues, but any circulating estrogen, which exerts systemic estrogenic effects in men and women, is the result of estrogen escaping local metabolism and spreading to the circulatory system.


title: Aromatase inhibitor

text: In addition to pharmaceutical AIs, some natural elements have aromatase inhibiting effects, such as damiana leaves.


title: Aromatase inhibitor

text: The development of aromatase inhibitors was first pioneered by the work of British pharmacologist Angela Brodie at the University of Maryland School of Medicine, first demonstrating efficacy of Formestane in clinical trials in 1982. The drug was first marketed in 1994.


title: Aromatase inhibitor

text: Investigations and research has been undertaken to study the use of aromatase inhibitors to stimulate ovulation, and also to suppress estrogen production. Aromatase inhibitors have been shown to reverse age-related declines in testosterone, including primary hypogonadism. Extracts of certain mushrooms have been shown to inhibit aromatase when evaluated by enzyme assays, with white mushroom having shown the greatest ability to inhibit the enzyme. AIs have also been used experimentally in the treatment of adolescents with delayed puberty.


title: Aromatase inhibitor

text: Research suggests the common table mushroom has anti-aromatase properties and therefore possible anti-estrogen activity. In 2009, a case-control study of the eating habits of 2,018 women in southeast China revealed that women who consumed greater than 10 grams of fresh mushrooms or greater than 4 grams of dried mushrooms per day had an approximately 50% lower incidence of breast cancer. Chinese women who consumed mushrooms and green tea had a 90% lower incidence of breast cancer. However the study was relatively small (2,018 patients participating) and limited to Chinese women of southeast China.


title: Aromatase inhibitor

text: The extract from the herb damiana (Turnera diffusa) has been found to suppress aromatase activity, including the isolated compounds pinocembrin and acacetin.


title: President of the European Council

text: The president of the European Council is the person presiding over and driving forward the work of the European Council on the world stage. This institution comprises the college of heads of state or government of EU member states as well as the president of the European Commission, and provides political direction to the European Union (EU).


title: President of the European Council

text: From 1975 to 2009, the head of the European Council was an unofficial position (often referred to as the President-in-Office) held by the head of state or government of the member state holding the semiannually rotating presidency of the Council of the European Union at any given time. However, since the 2007 Treaty of Lisbon, article 15 of Treaty on European Union states that the European Council appoints a full-time president for a two-and-a-half-year term, with the possibility of renewal once. Appointments, as well as the removal of incumbents, require a double majority support in the European Council.


title: President of the European Council

text: On 19 November 2009, the European Council agreed that its first president under the Lisbon Treaty would be Herman Van Rompuy (European People's Party). Van Rompuy took office when the Lisbon Treaty came into force on 1 December 2009 with a term stretching until 31 May 2012. His term was later extended with a second period ending on 30 November 2014.


title: President of the European Council

text: The second holder of the office was former Polish prime minister Donald Tusk. He was originally elected to serve a term from 1 December 2014 to 31 May 2017, and was subsequently re-elected on 9 March 2017 to a second term running from 1 June 2017 until 30 November 2019.


title: President of the European Council

text: On 2 July 2019 the European Council elected Belgian prime minister Charles Michel as the successor to Donald Tusk as President of the European Council for the period from 1 December 2019 to 31 May 2022. He was re-elected in March 2022 for a second term for period from 1 June 2022 to 30 November 2024.


title: President of the European Council

text: The first meeting of all European Communities heads of state or government was held in 1961 as an informal summit, but only became formalised in 1974, when it was dubbed "European Council" by the then French president Valéry Giscard d'Estaing. With the establishment of the European Union in 1993, the presidency of the European Council was based on the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, being hosted by the member state holding the council presidency, rotating every six months. As the European Council is composed of national leaders, it was chaired by the head of state or government of the presidency state.


title: President of the European Council

text: The European Constitution, drafted by the European Convention, outlined the "president of the European Council" as a longer term and full-time chairmanship. The Constitution was rejected by voters in two Member States during ratification but the changes envisaged to the European Council presidency were retained in the Treaty of Lisbon, which came into force on 1 December 2009.


title: President of the European Council

text: The first president was expected to define the role for future office holders, as there was no clear idea of how the post would evolve. One body of thought was that the president would stick to the administrative role as outlined by the treaty, a standard bearer who would simply chair meetings and ensure the smooth running of the body and its policies. This would attract semi-retired leaders seeking a fitting climax to their career and would leave most work to the Commission rather than wield power within the institutions. However another opinion envisaged a more pro-active president within the Union and speaking for it abroad. The office would hence be quickly fashioned, according to promoters, into a "de facto" "president of Europe" and, unlike the first model, would be seen on the world stage as speaking for the EU. Persons connected to this position would be more charismatic leaders. The appointment of Herman Van Rompuy indicated a desire to see the former style of president.


title: President of the European Council

text: The Treaty of Lisbon does not define a nomination process for the president of the Council and initially several official and unofficial candidates were proposed. At the final European Council meeting on the treaty in Lisbon, on 19 November 2007, French president Nicolas Sarkozy set off public speculation on candidates by naming Tony Blair, Felipe González and Jean-Claude Juncker, and praising the three as worthy candidates with Blair in particular being a long time front runner for the post. However, he faced large scale opposition for being from a large state outside the eurozone and the Schengen Area as well as being a leader who entered the Iraq War which had split Europe. Minor opposition to other leaders such as Juncker also led to their rejection.


title: President of the European Council

text: On 19 November 2009, Herman Van Rompuy, at that time Prime Minister of Belgium, was appointed the first full-time president of the European Council. The formal decision on the appointment was made after the Treaty of Lisbon came into force on 1 December 2009. The British prime minister, Gordon Brown, said that he had unanimous backing from the 27 EU leaders at the summit in Brussels on the evening of 19 November 2009. Brown praised Van Rompuy as "a consensus builder" who had "brought a period of political stability to his country after months of uncertainty". At a press conference after his appointment, Van Rompuy commented: "Every country should emerge victorious from negotiations. A negotiation that ends with a defeated party is never a good negotiation. I will consider everyone's interests and sensitivities. Even if our unity remains our strength, our diversity remains our wealth", he said, stressing the individuality of EU member states.


title: President of the European Council

text: Van Rompuy's first council meeting was an informal gathering in the Solvay Library in Leopold Park, rather than the more usual formal gathering in the Justus Lipsius building nearby. The meeting was called to reflect on long term structural economic problems facing Europe, but was overtaken by the Greek economic crisis.


title: President of the European Council

text: The role of "President-in-Office" of the assembled European Council was performed by the head of state or government of the member state currently holding the presidency of the Council of the European Union. This presidency rotated every six months, meaning there was a new president of the European Council twice a year.


title: President of the European Council

text: The role as President-in-Office was merely a "primus inter pares" role among other European heads of state or government. However, the president-in-office represented the European Council externally and reported to the European Parliament after its meetings as well as at the beginning and at the end of the presidency.


title: President of the European Council

text: The president's role is largely political, preparing the work of the European Council, organising and chairing its meetings, seeking to find consensus among its members and reporting to the European Parliament after each meeting; the president will also ""at his level and in that capacity, ensure the external representation of the Union on issues concerning its common foreign and security policy, without prejudice to the powers of the High Representative of the Union for Foreign Affairs and Security"". Some overlap between the roles of the president of the European Council, the President of the Commission, and the High Representative—notably in foreign policy—leaves uncertainty about how much influence the President of the European Council will acquire. There is further concern over whether the president will have sufficient personnel and resources to fulfil the duties of the post effectively and that, in lacking a ministry, the president might become a "play ball" between EU leaders.


title: President of the European Council

text: With the reorganisation of leading EU posts under the Lisbon Treaty, there was some criticism of each post's vague responsibilities. Ukrainian ambassador to the EU Andriy Veselovsky praised the framework and clarified it in his own terms: The president of the European Commission speaks as the EU's "government" while the new president of the European Council is a "strategist". The High Representative specialises in "bilateral relations" while the European Commissioner for Enlargement and European Neighbourhood Policy deals in technical matters such as the free trade agreement with Ukraine. The president of the European Parliament meanwhile articulates the EU's values.


title: President of the European Council

text: The European Council president also extended his influence into financial policy, the most important area left to the rotating Council presidency, with the rotating presidency seeing a greater decrease in power than previously planned. Many of the changes introduced with the Lisbon Treaty need concretion through practical implementation by the current actors. The Spanish presidency unsuccessfully tried to challenge the European Council president's prominent post during the first rotating presidency of 2010, while the second half of the year saw a Belgian rotating presidency marked by a weakened caretaker government which did not challenge Herman van Rompuy, himself a Belgian politician. The Belgian rotating presidency announced it was taking a "backrow seat" with regards to both the European Council president and the high representative, thus fuelling hopes as well as concerns for a more communitarian character in both the council and foreign policy.


title: President of the European Council

text: Formal negotiations on the salary and privileges of the permanent presidency began in April 2008 as part of the draft of the 2009 EU budget. The outcome was that the president should enjoy the same conditions as the president of the Commission, with a basic salary of 138% of the highest civil service grade: that would be €24,874.62 per month (not including family and other allowances).


title: President of the European Council

text: The president receives a chauffeured car and around 20 dedicated staff members. He also has a housing allowance, rather than an official residence which was considered "too symbolic". Likewise, the idea of a private jet was also rejected for being symbolic and, as one diplomat pointed out, a discrepancy in privileges between the European Council and Commission presidents may only fuel rivalry between the two.


title: President of the European Council

text: The possibility of there being greater perks for the European Council president than Commission president prompted Parliament to threaten a rejection of the 2009 budget. It saw a large salary and extras as a symbolic signal that the post is intended to become more powerful, increasing intergovernmentalism at the Parliament's expense. With some in the Council suggesting a staff of up to 60, one MEP has argued in 2008 that the Committee on Constitutional Affairs ought to drop the gentlemen's agreement that Parliament and Council will not interfere in each other's budget.


title: President of the European Council

text: Although the European Council is, under the terms of the Lisbon treaty, a separate institution of the EU, it does not have its own administration. The administrative support for both the European Council and its President is provided by the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union. The president does have, however, his own private office ("cabinet") of close advisers. Van Rompuy chose as his first chief of staff ("chef de cabinet") Baron Frans van Daele, formerly Belgian ambassador to, variously, the US, the UN, the EU and NATO and chief of staff of several Belgian foreign ministers. Upon his retirement in the autumn of 2012, Didier Seeuws, former Deputy Perm Rep of Belgium to the EU and former spokesman for Belgian PM Verhofstadt, replaced him. Also in his team were the former UK Labour MEP Richard Corbett and Van Rompuy's long standing press officer Dirk De Backer.


title: President of the European Council

text: The lack of accountability to MEPs or national parliamentarians has also cast doubt as to whether national leaders will in practice stand behind the president on major issues. Under the rotational system, the presidents simply had the mandate of their member states, while the new permanent president is chosen by the members of the European Council.


title: President of the European Council

text: There have been calls by some, such as former German interior minister and current head of the Bundestag Wolfgang Schäuble, for direct elections to take place to give the President a mandate, this would strengthen the post within the European Council allowing for stronger leadership in addition to addressing the question of democratic legitimacy in the EU. However, this might cause conflict with Parliament's democratic mandate or a potential mandate for the Commission (see section below). To give a mandate to the European Council's president would signify a development of the Union's governance towards a presidential system, rather than a parliamentary system.


title: President of the European Council

text: There had been disagreement and concern over competition between the former president of the European Council Van Rompuy and the former Commission president Barroso, due to the vague language of the treaty. Some clarifications saw Van Rompuy as the "strategist" and Barroso as a head of government. In terms of economic policy, Van Rompuy saw the European Council as dealing with overall strategy and the Commission as dealing with the implementation. Despite weekly breakfasts together, there was a certain extent of rivalry between the two yet-defined posts.


title: President of the European Council

text: Although the president of the European Council may not hold a national office, such as a prime minister of a member state, there is no such restraint on European offices. For example, the president may be an MEP, or more significantly the Commission president (who already sits in the European Council). This would allow the European Council to concurrently appoint one person to the roles and powers of both president of the European Council and president of the European Commission, thus creating a single presidential position for the union as a whole.


title: President of the European Council

text: Since the creation of the European Council presidency, former president Van Rompuy and former Commission President Barroso had begun to compete with each other as Van Rompuy had benefited from the general shift in power from the Commission to the European Council yet with Barroso still holding the real powers. At international summits they continued previous practice of both going at the same time. The complicated situation had renewed some calls to merge the posts, possibly at the end of Barroso's term in 2014. However some member states had expected to oppose the creation of such a high-profile post.


title: President of the European Council

text: If the posts are not to be combined, some believe that the dual-presidential system could lead to "cohabitation" and infighting between the two offices. While it is comparable to the French model, where there is a president (the European Council president) and prime minister (the Commission president), the Council president does not hold formal powers such as the ability to directly appoint and sack the Commission president, or the ability to dissolve Parliament. The European Council president has prestige, but lacks power. The Commission president has power, but lacks the prestige of the European Council president. Some believe this problem would be increased further if the Council president were to be strengthened by a democratic mandate, as mentioned above.


title: Gran Turismo (1997 video game)

text: After five years of development time, it was well-received publicly and critically, shipping a total of 10.85 million copies worldwide (making it the best-selling PlayStation game), and scoring an average of 95% in GameRankings' aggregate, making it the highest rated racing video game at the time of the site's closure in 2019. Many publications have deemed it one of the greatest video games of all time. The game has started a series, and has spawned over 10 spin-offs and sequels.


title: Gran Turismo (1997 video game)

text: "Gran Turismo" is a racing game. The player must maneuver a car to compete against artificially intelligent drivers on various race tracks. The game uses two different modes: Arcade Mode and Simulation Mode (Gran Turismo Mode in PAL and Japanese versions). In the arcade mode, the player can freely choose the courses and vehicles they wish to use. Winning races unlocks additional cars and courses.


title: Gran Turismo (1997 video game)

text: However, simulation mode requires the player to earn different levels of driver's licenses in order to qualify for events, and earn credits (money), trophies and prize cars by winning race championships. Winning one particular championship also unlocks a video and a few additional demonstration tracks. Credits can be used to purchase additional vehicles, and for parts and tuning.


title: Gran Turismo (1997 video game)

text: "Gran Turismo" features 140 cars and 11 race tracks (as well as their reversed versions). Two Honda NSX cars from 1992 were included in the Japanese version, but were removed from the North American and European versions. There is also a 1967 Chevrolet Corvette and a 1998 Mazda Roadster exclusive to the Arcade mode.


title: Gran Turismo (1997 video game)

text: The game took five years to complete. The development personnel were largely the same team which was behind the earlier PlayStation racers "Motor Toon Grand Prix" and "Motor Toon Grand Prix 2", and "Gran Turismo" uses parts of the "Motor Toon" game engine, such as the physics model. Kazunori Yamauchi said that development of "Gran Turismo" started in the second half of 1992. Yamauchi added that at different times there were only seven to fifteen people assisting him. Since "Motor Toon Grand Prix 2" was still in development when work on "Gran Turismo" started, several people only joined the development team after the completion of "Motor Toon Grand Prix 2" freed them up to work on "Gran Turismo".


title: Gran Turismo (1997 video game)

text: When asked how difficult it was to create "Gran Turismo", Yamauchi remarked: "It took five years. In those five years, we could not see the end. I would wake up at work, go to sleep at work. It was getting cold, so I knew it must be winter. I estimate I was home only four days a year". While the team used standard PlayStation libraries in part, to get the game to run at optimal speed they had to use assembly code, and even then, they found the limitations of the PlayStation's CPU would not allow them to meet their initial goal of having 12 cars in each race. Sound design was one aspect that Yamauchi believed was compromised due to a lack of time. Although Kazunori considered the game's artificial intelligence to be superior to its competitors, he remained unsatisfied with its development.


title: Gran Turismo (1997 video game)

text: When "Gran Turismo" was released in Japan, Polyphony Digital was still a development group within Sony Computer Entertainment. The studio was established in April 1998, before the Western release of the game. Yamauchi estimated that "Gran Turismo" utilised around 75% of the PlayStation's maximum performance.


title: Gran Turismo (1997 video game)

text: "Gran Turismo" was a commercial hit. In May 1998, Sony awarded "Gran Turismo" a "Double Platinum Prize" for sales above 2 million units in Japan alone. According to "Weekly Famitsu", Japan bought 1.34 million units of "Gran Turismo" during the first half of 1998 alone, which made it the country's second-best selling game for the period. It was also a high-seller in Australia, selling over 100,000 units in the first two months and with sales exceeding 130,000 by October 1998. In the United States, it was the best-selling PlayStation game of 1998 with 1,431,483 sales and revenue. It was again the best-selling PlayStation game of 1999 in the United States, where it sold units and grossed an estimated that year, adding up to sales and about revenue in the United States by 1999.


title: Gran Turismo (1997 video game)

text: It received a "Gold" award from the Verband der Unterhaltungssoftware Deutschland (VUD) in August 1998, for sales of at least 100,000 units across Germany, Austria and Switzerland. It sold 270,000 units in the German market from January through September 1998, which made it the region's best-selling console game of the period across all systems. The VUD raised it to "Platinum" status, indicating 200,000 sales, by November. At the 1999 Milia festival in Cannes, it took home a "Platinum" prize for revenues above or in the European Union during 1998. This made it Europe's second-highest-grossing game of the year, behind "Tomb Raider III". It was again Europe's second highest-grossing game of 1999 with or grossed that year, adding up to over or grossed in Europe by 1999, and over across Europe and the United States by 1999.


title: Gran Turismo (1997 video game)

text: By March 1999, "Gran Turismo" had sold over six million units worldwide, of which two million were derived from the United States. By February 2000, it had sold units worldwide, for which it was awarded the Guinness World Record for Best-Selling Driving Simulator. By December 2000, it had sold more than copies worldwide, including units in the United States. As of April 2008, the game has shipped 2.55 million copies in Japan, 10,000 in Southeast Asia, 4.3 million in Europe, and 3.99 million in North America, for a total of 10.85 million copies. It remains the best-selling video game for the PlayStation and the fourth highest-selling game in the "Gran Turismo" franchise, behind "Gran Turismo 4", "Gran Turismo 5" and "" respectively.


title: Gran Turismo (1997 video game)

text: "Gran Turismo" received widespread acclaim from critics and consumers alike, with praise for its graphics, soundtrack, tight controls and number of cars. It was classified as "universal acclaim", according to review aggregator Metacritic.


title: Gran Turismo (1997 video game)

text: "Next Generation" reviewed the PlayStation version of the game, rating it five stars out of five, and stated that "as it stands in the Japanese version, everything about "Gran Turismo" is a class act, and it raises the bar for racing games on almost every possible level. Our highest possible recommendation".


title: Gran Turismo (1997 video game)

text: "Gran Turismo" won Best Simulation of 1999 at the Spotlight Awards, won "Best Driving Game" and "Best Graphics" of 1999 according to the staff of "PlayStation Official Magazine", and was voted the sixth best game of all time by the magazine's readers in the same issue. In 2000, readers of "Computer and Video Games" voted it the eighth best video game of all time. "Game Informer" ranked it the 21st best video game ever made in 2001. The staff felt that the racing genre had not offered as "complete [a] package" as "Gran Turismo". In 2017, Gran Turismo was declared the best driving game ever by Top Gear.


title: Gran Turismo (1997 video game)

text: In 1999, "Next Generation" listed "Gran Turismo" as number 15 on their "Top 50 Games of All Time", commenting that, ""Gran Turismo" features cars that handle better than any other racing game ever made". In 2006, "Gran Turismo" was inducted into GameSpot's list of the greatest games of all time. In 2015, IGN listed "Gran Turismo" as the second most influential racing game of all time (after "Pole Position"), calling it "the grandfather of all modern console racing sims."


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: The ninth generation of the Ford F-Series is a lineup of trucks that were produced by Ford from the 1992 to 1998 model years. The final generation of the F-Series to include a complete range of trucks from a half-ton F-150 pickup truck to a medium-duty F-800 commercial truck, this is the third generation of the F-Series body and chassis introduced for 1980.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: To improve the aerodynamics of the exterior, the front fascia underwent a substantial revision to its design. The Flareside bed design made its return, following a substantial change in its design.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: In 1996, the tenth-generation F-Series was released (including the F-150) for the 1997 model year. The ninth-generation F-250 and F-350 remained in production through the 1997 and 1998 model years, respectively. For 1999, the heavier-duty model lines were replaced by Ford Super Duty trucks, a brand also adopted for Ford medium-duty trucks.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: In the interest of aerodynamics, the lines of the hood, front fenders, and grille were rounded off for 1992. Along with the larger grille, the headlights were enlarged (with the turn signals again moving below). Inside, the interior was updated with a redesigned dashboard along with new seats. Extended-cab (SuperCab) models received larger rear side windows. A notable change included the reintroduction of the Flareside bed that returned for production since 1987. Instead of the previous classic-style bed, the Flareside bed was now a narrow-body version of the dual rear-wheel bed; the rear fenders were repositioned to fit the width of the cab. Also, unlike with the classic Flareside bed, dual gas tanks were available with it, but only for 2-wheel-drive models. There are also F-150 badges being replaced by special Flareside badging as seen on the front fenders.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: The 1994 models brought a slightly updated dashboard and the addition of a standard driver's-side airbag on F-150s and light-duty F-250s only, center high mount stop lamp (CHMSL), brake-shift interlock, and CFC-free air conditioning. New options for 1994 included remote keyless entry with alarm, a compact disc player fitted into the regular stereo system, and a power driver's seat; an electrochromic inside rear view mirror was also offered for 1994 and 1995 as part of a luxury light package.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: Ford trailed their rival General Motors in combined truck sales for much of the ninth generation, though sales steadily rose each year. 500,000 F-Series trucks were sold in 1992, but this rose to nearly 800,000 by 1996, allowing Ford to overtake combined sales of Chevrolet and GMC trucks for the first time in a decade.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: The monochromatic "Nite" package introduced in 1990 continued but was dropped at the end of the 1992 model year. As before, it featured an all-black exterior with either a pink or blue/purple stripe and "Nite" decal on the sides of the cargo box.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: For 1993, the Custom model was dropped, as the XL became the new base model. Following the lead of the Aerostar, Bronco, and Explorer, the "Eddie Bauer" trim line — featuring plusher trim and increased standard features — was reintroduced for 1995. Also in 1993, the "SVT Lightning" was introduced, slotting itself in between the Chevrolet 454SS and GMC Syclone. Ford Special Vehicles Team upgraded the Lightning from the regular F-series with heavy-duty suspension and brakes. Powertrain upgrades came from heavy-duty trucks, with a 240 hp version of the 5.8L V8 and the E4OD overdrive transmission normally paired with the 7.3L diesel and 460 7.5L V8 options.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: The F-150 4x4 continued the use of the Dana 44 Twin-Traction Beam axle from the 80–91 trucks, and the Ford 8.8" Rear Straight axle. The F-250 4x4 carried the Dana 50 Twin Traction Beam axle, the Sterling 10.25 from the previous generation for the rear; full float on heavy duty 3/4-ton trucks and the 4wd F350 used the Dana 60 Straight Axle front, and the Sterling 10.25" rear Straight axle.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: The F-150, F-250, F-250 HD, F-350, and F-Super Duty were available in many different configurations from chassis cab base models, up to XLT trimmed models with their chrome and plush seating. The trucks came with a variety of gas and diesel engines. The F-150 could be had with one of 3 gas engines, the 4.9L (300 cid) I6, the 5.0L (302 cid) V8, and the 5.8L (351 cid) V8. The same gas engine options were also available for the heavy-duty trucks along with the 7.5L (460 cid), or you could opt for the 7.3L (444 cid) diesel.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: The first version was the 7.3L IDI (Indirect Injected) V8 (1992 - 1993.5), which was produced by International Trucks. In 1993.5-1994.5 a turbocharged 7.3L IDI V8 with stronger internals was offered as emissions, power, and torque demands were increasing. In the second half of 1994, the new Direct Injected 7.3L Power Stroke V8 Turbodiesel replaced the 7.3L IDI V8. Built by Navistar, and used in Navistar International, known as the T444 E Engine.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: The F-250 HD was available from 1996 to 1997 and differed from the earlier F-250 only slightly. It had “Heavy Duty” printed on the F-250 badges, had slightly different moldings, used the F-350 4407 transfer case, and was available in different cab/bed configurations from earlier F-250 trucks. The term “Heavy Duty” was not in fact to do with an upgrade in the trucks abilities but was to differentiate it from the F-250 light duty truck, which was simply a 7-lug F-150 tenth generation. It had no relation(s) to the heavier Ford F-250, or the newer 1999 "Super Duty".


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: As part of the 4x4 off-road package, they were available with several skid plates underneath. After 1997, the heavier-duty models were split from the Ford F-150. These lines of trucks were called the 1999 Ford Super Duty. Because of these changes in design, service technicians started to refer to the first Power Strokes as an OBS or Old Body Style to avoid confusion from the similar Super Duty 7.3 Power Stroke parts. The F-150 could be had with either short (6.5') or long (8') beds with either regular or extended cab. The F-250 and F-350 trucks were only available with long beds (8 ft.) except in 1996 and 1997, the F-250 HD could be had in an extended cab/short bed or crew cab/short bed model. The crew cab short bed and extended cab short bed trucks are very rare, as they were only produced for a little over a year. Despite the OBS (ninth generation) officially ending production in 1997, models were still produced until March of 1998. These trucks had been planned out prior to the end of 1997 and are still titled as 1997 trucks, yet the manufacturing date on some trucks reads as late as 3/98.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: It also should be noted that on some F-250 single cab trucks, the front axle is not in fact the Dana 50 Twin Traction Beam, but the even lighter Dana 44 Twin Traction Beam found on the F150 and Bronco. These trucks are distinguished by their significantly smaller locking hubs.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: As a running change during the 1994 model year, Ford revised the exterior of its medium-duty (F-600 through F-800) trucks for the first time since their 1980 redesign. A tilting-cowl hood was made standard with a redesigned hood and grille; turn signals were relocated besides the headlamps. The cowl badging was revised, with a singular "F-Series" badge replacing the previous stamped model designation.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: In contrast to F-Series pickup trucks, medium-duty trucks saw few changes to the interior; the dashboard controls and steering column were retained from 1980.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: While medium-duty trucks were still offered with a 7.0L gasoline V8 (a 6.1L V8 was discontinued after 1991), the model line was primarily powered by diesel-fueled engines. Instead of the Navistar T444E V8 engine used by the F-250/F-350, the medium-duty trucks used inline-6 diesels (the Caterpillar 3126 and the Cummins 6BT/ISB).


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: For 1999, the F-600 through F-800 were discontinued alongside the derivative B-Series bus chassis. While the latter has not been replaced, Ford reentered the medium-duty truck segment for 2000 with the Ford F-650/F-750 Super Duty, developed as part of a joint venture with Navistar.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: The SVT Lightning is a sports/performance version of the F-150, designed by Ford's Truck Division and released by Ford's SVT (Special Vehicle Team) division.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: Ford introduced the Lightning in 1992 to compete with primarily the Chevrolet 454 SS, in an effort to enhance the sporty, personal-use image of the Ford F-Series pickup. This initial Lightning featured performance handling developed by world-champion driver Jackie Stewart. The Lightning was powered by a special version of the V8 engine. The Lightning shared its basic platform structure with the regular F-150, but modifications were made to many vehicle systems. A "Windsor" V8 producing and of torque replaced the standard F-150 engine. The engine was based on an existing block, but Ford engineers fitted it with high flow rate "GT40" intake and heads. Like all factory 351s, the Lightning's engine was equipped with hypereutectic pistons to increase response, output and durability. The engine was also fitted with stainless steel "shorty" headers.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: The Ford E4OD automatic transmission was the only available transmission. An aluminum driveshaft connected the transmission to 4.10:1 gear in the limited-slip differential. The suspension had custom-calibrated shocks, front and rear anti-roll bars, and a special leaf in the rear, tipped with a rubber snubber, that acted as a traction bar and controlled rear wheel hop during hard acceleration. To enhance the Lightning chassis, the thicker frame rails from the 4-wheel drive F-250 were used to increase rigidity. Additional gusseting was added to the frame at high-stress locations, such as immediately behind the front suspension and over the rear axle. Stock, the Lightning was capable of achieving 0.88 g lateral acceleration, while it retained almost all of the hauling and trailer-towing capabilities of the normal short-wheelbase F-150. Special 17" aluminum wheels with Firestone Firehawk tires, unique Lightning badging, a front air dam with fog lamps and color-matched bumpers from the Bronco, a 120-mph gauge, and blacked-out trim all differentiated the Lightning from normal F-150s. Bucket seats with electrically adjustable side bolsters and lumbar supports were part of the package. Suspension modifications provided a 1 in front and 2.5 in rear drop in ride height.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: The 1993 Lightning, launched on 15 December 1992 by Ford President Ed Hagenlocker, received more than 150 favorable articles in America's newspapers, magazines, and television outlets, and helped Ford retain leadership in the personal-use truck market. Three-time World Champion driver Jackie Stewart was highly involved in fine-tuning of the Lightning's handling.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: The 1992 redesign retained the powertrain lineup from the previous generation; the lineup of the 4.9 L inline-6, 5.0 L and 5.8 L Windsor V8s, the 7.5 L big-block V8, and the 7.3 L International IDI diesel V8 were all carried over. The diesel gained a turbocharger in mid-1993. The 1994 model year engine lineup was re-tuned to increase output. Later that year, the IDI diesel V8 was replaced by the T444E V8. Dubbed the Power Stroke by Ford, the new diesel was again supplied by Navistar International. Despite sharing identical displacement with its IDI predecessor, the turbocharged Power Stroke/T444E was an all-new design with direct fuel injection. This was the second diesel motor with electronic fuel injection to be put into a light duty truck. The GM 6.5 L Turbo Diesel with the Stanadyne DS-4 injection pump was the first, appearing in 1992. The Dodge Ram did not offer EFI in its diesel engines until 1998.


title: Ford F-Series (ninth generation)

text: As before, the 5.0 L V8 was not offered in trucks over 8500 lbs GVWR, and the F-Super Duty was available with the 7.5 and diesel only. Below 8500 lbs GVWR, the 7.5 and diesel were not available. The 4.9 was available in the F350 through 1996 as a delete option. The ninth generation was the last to offer the venerable pushrod 5.0 L engine.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: The Los Angeles Aqueduct system, comprising the Los Angeles Aqueduct (Owens Valley aqueduct) and the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct, is a water conveyance system, built and operated by the Los Angeles Department of Water and Power. The Owens Valley aqueduct was designed and built by the city's water department, at the time named The Bureau of Los Angeles Aqueduct, under the supervision of the department's Chief Engineer William Mulholland. The system delivers water from the Owens River in the Eastern Sierra Nevada Mountains to Los Angeles, California.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: The aqueduct's construction was controversial from the start, as water diversions to Los Angeles eliminated the Owens Valley as a viable farming community. Clauses in the city's charter originally stated that the city could not sell or provide surplus water to any area outside the city, forcing adjacent communities to annex themselves into Los Angeles.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: The aqueduct's infrastructure also included the completion of the St. Francis Dam in 1926 to provide storage in case of disruption to the system. The dam's collapse two years later killed at least 431 people, halted the rapid pace of annexation, and eventually led to the formation of the Metropolitan Water District of Southern California to build and operate the Colorado River Aqueduct to bring water from the Colorado River to Los Angeles County.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: The continued operation of the Los Angeles Aqueduct has led to public debate, legislation, and court battles over its environmental impacts on Mono Lake and other ecosystems.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: The aqueduct project began in 1905 when the voters of Los Angeles approved a bond for the 'purchase of lands and water and the inauguration of work on the aqueduct'. On June 12, 1907, a second bond was passed with a budget of to fund construction.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: Construction began in 1908 and was divided into eleven divisions. The city acquired three limestone quarries, two Tufa quarries and it constructed and operated a cement plant in Monolith, California which could produce 1,200 barrels of Portland cement per day. Regrinding mills were also built and operated by the city at the tufa quarries. To move 14 million ton-miles of freight, the city contracted with Southern Pacific to build a 118 mile long rail system from the Monolith mills to Olancha.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: The number of men who were on the payroll the first year was 2,629 and this number peaked at 6,060 in May 1909. In 1910, employment dropped to 1,150 due to financial reasons but rebounded later in the year. Between 1911 and 1912 employment ranged from 2,800 to 3,800 workers. The number of laborers working on the aqueduct at its peak was 3,900. In 1913, the City of Los Angeles completed construction of the first Los Angeles Aqueduct.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: The aqueduct as originally constructed consisted of six storage reservoirs and of conduit. Beginning north of Black Rock Springs, the aqueduct diverts the Owens River into an unlined canal to begin its journey south to the Lower San Fernando Reservoir. This reservoir was later renamed the Lower Van Norman Reservoir.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: The original project consisted of of open unlined canal, of lined open canal, of covered concrete conduit, of concrete tunnels, steel siphons, of railroad track, two hydroelectric plants, three cement plants, of power lines, of telephone line, of roads and was later expanded with the construction of the Mono Extension and the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: The aqueduct uses gravity alone to move the water and also uses the water to generate electricity, which makes it cost-efficient to operate.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: The construction of the Los Angeles Aqueduct effectively eliminated the Owens Valley as a viable farming community and eventually devastated the Owens Lake ecosystem. A group labeled the "San Fernando Syndicate" – including Fred Eaton, Mulholland, Harrison Otis (the publisher of The Los Angeles Times), Henry Huntington (an executive of the Pacific Electric Railroad), and other wealthy individuals – were a group of investors who bought land in the San Fernando Valley allegedly based on inside knowledge that the Los Angeles aqueduct would soon irrigate it and encourage development. Although there is disagreement over the actions of the "syndicate" as to whether they were a "diabolical" cabal or only a group that united the Los Angeles business community behind supporting the aqueduct, Eaton, Mulholland and others connected with the project have long been accused of using deceptive tactics and underhanded methods to obtain water rights and block the Bureau of Reclamation from building water infrastructure for the residents in Owens Valley.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: By the 1920s, the aggressive pursuits of the water rights and the diversion of the Owens River precipitated the outbreak of violence known as the California water wars. Farmers in Owens Valley attacked infrastructure, dynamiting the aqueduct numerous times and opening sluice gates to divert the flow of water.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: In 1917, The Bureau of Los Angeles Aqueduct sought to build a holding reservoir to regulate flow, provide hydroelectric power, and storage in case of disruption to the aqueduct system. The initial site chosen was in Long Valley, east of the Owens River, but Eaton, who had bought up much of the valley in anticipation of the need for a reservoir, refused to sell the land at the price offered by Los Angeles. Mulholland then made the decision to move the reservoir to San Francisquito Canyon above what is now Santa Clarita, California. The resulting St. Francis Dam was completed in 1926 and created a reservoir capacity of 38,000 acre-feet (47,000,000 m). On March 12, 1928, the dam catastrophically failed, sending a wall of water down the canyon, ultimately reaching the Pacific Ocean near Ventura and Oxnard, and killing at least 431 people. The resulting investigation and trial led to the retirement of William Mulholland as the head of the Los Angeles Bureau of Water Works and Supply in 1929. The dam failure is the worst man-made flood disaster in the US in the 20th century and the second largest single-event loss of life in California history after the 1906 San Francisco earthquake.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: In an effort to find more water, the city of Los Angeles reached farther north. In 1930, Los Angeles voters passed a third bond to buy land in the Mono Basin and fund the Mono Basin extension. The extension diverted flows from the Rush Creek, Lee Vining Creek, Walker and Parker Creeks that would have flowed into Mono Lake. The construction of the Mono extension consisted of an intake at Lee Vining Creek, the Lee Vining conduit to the Grant Reservoir on Rush Creek, which would have a capacity of , the Mono Craters Tunnel to the Owens River and a second reservoir, later named Crowley Lake with a capacity of in Long Valley at the head of the Owens River Gorge.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: Completed in 1940, diversions began in 1941. The Mono Extension has a design capacity of of flow to the aqueduct; however, the flow was limited to due to the limited downstream capacity of the Los Angeles Aqueduct. Full appropriation of the water could not be met until the second aqueduct was completed in 1970.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: Between 1940 and 1970, water exports through the Mono Extension averaged per year and peaked at in 1974. Export licenses granted by the State Water Resources Control Board (SWRCB) in 1974 increased exports to per year. These export levels severely impacted the region's fish habitat, lake level and air quality, which led to a series of lawsuits. The results of the litigation culminated with a SWRCB Decision to restore fishery protection (stream) flows to specified minimums, and raise Mono Lake to above sea level. The agreement limited further exports from the Mono Basin to per year.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: In 1956, the State Department of Water Resources reported that Los Angeles was only exporting of water of the available in the Owens Valley and Mono Basin. Three years later, the State Water Rights Board warned Los Angeles that they could lose rights to the water they were permitted for but not appropriating. Faced with the possible loss of future water supply, Los Angeles began the five-year construction of the aqueduct in 1965 at a cost US$89 million. Once the city received diversion permits, water exports jumped in 1970, adding 110,000 AF that year into the aqueduct system. By 1974, exports climbed to per year. Unlike the First Aqueduct which was built entirely by Public Works, the Second Los Angeles Aqueduct was primarily built on contract by various private construction firms including R.A. Wattson Co., Winston Bros., and the Griffith Co. The Los Angeles Department of Water and Power managed the project and performed some finishing construction on the Mojave conduit and Jawbone & Dove Spring pipelines.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: The aqueduct was designed to flow and begins at the Merritt Diversion Structure at the junction of the North and South Haiwee Reservoirs, south of Owens Lake, and runs roughly parallel to the first aqueduct. Water flows entirely by gravity from an elevation of at the Haiwee Reservoir through two power drops to an elevation of at the Upper Van Norman Reservoir.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: The Second Aqueduct was not built as a single contiguous conduit. For design and construction purposes the aqueduct was divided into Northern and Southern sections and the two are connected by the San Francisquito Tunnels, which are part of the First Aqueduct.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: The Northern Section carries water starting at the North Haiwee Reservoir through the Haiwee Bypass passing around the South Haiwee Reservoir. The flow then continues south through a series of pressure pipelines and concrete conduits where it connects up with the First Aqueduct at the North Portal of the Elizabeth Tunnel near the Fairmont Reservoir.


title: Los Angeles Aqueduct

text: The San Francisquito Tunnels (which includes the Elizabeth Tunnel) has a flow capacity of and is large enough to handle the flow of both aqueducts. Once the combined flow reaches the penstocks above Power Plant #2, water is diverted into the Southern Section of the second aqueduct away through the Drinkwater Tunnel to the Drinkwater Reservoir.