title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: The color pattern consists of a brownish, brownish-yellow, brownish-gray or olive ground color, overlaid with a series of 24–35 dark brown to black diamonds with slightly lighter centers. Each of these diamond-shaped blotches is outlined with a row of cream or yellowish scales. Posteriorly, the diamond shapes become more like crossbands and are followed by 5–10 bands around the tail. The belly is a yellowish or cream-colored, with diffused, dark mottling along the sides. The head has a dark postocular stripe that extends from behind the eye backwards and downwards to the lip; the back of the stripe touches the angle of the mouth. Anteriorly and posteriorly, the postocular stripe is bordered by distinct white or yellow stripes. The rattle at the end of their tail is made of hard, loosely attached, hollow segments which break off frequently and are completely replaced when the snake sheds.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: Other common names for this snake species include eastern diamond-backed rattlesnake, eastern diamondback, diamond rattlesnake, diamond-back rattlesnake, common rattlesnake, diamond-back, diamond(-patch) rattler, eastern diamond-back (rattlesnake), eastern diamond rattlesnake, Florida diamond-back (rattlesnake), Florida rattlesnake, lozenge-spotted rattlesnake, rattler, rattlesnake, southeastern diamond-backed rattlesnake, southeastern diamond-backed rattler, southern woodland rattler, timber rattler, water rattle, water rattlesnake, and diamondback rattlesnake.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: The eastern diamondback rattlesnake is found in the Southeastern United States from southeastern North Carolina, south along the coastal plain through peninsular Florida to the Florida Keys, and west along the Gulf Coast through southern Alabama and Mississippi to southeastern Louisiana. The original description for the species does not include a type locality, although Schmidt (1953) proposed it be restricted to "Charleston, South Carolina" (USA).


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: This snake species is classified as Least Concern on the IUCN Red List (v3.1, 2001). Species are listed as such owing to their wide distribution or presumed large population, or because they are unlikely to be declining fast enough to qualify for listing in a more threatened category. The population trend was down when assessed in 2007.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: In North Carolina, the eastern diamondback rattlesnake is protected by state law and considered endangered within the state. It is likely extirpated in Louisiana, having last been observed there in 1995. In fact some scientists and conservationists believe it may even be extirpated in North Carolina, having last been observed there in the early 1990s.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: This species is currently under review for being added to the Endangered Species List by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service owing to its recent decline, and the current population represents only 3% of the historical population.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: The eastern diamondback rattlesnake inhabits upland dry pine forest, pine and palmetto flatwoods, sandhills and coastal maritime hammocks, longleaf pine/turkey oak habitats, grass-sedge marshes and swamp forest, cypress swamps, mesic hammocks, sandy mixed woodlands, xeric hammocks, and salt marshes, as well as wet prairies during dry periods. In many areas, it seems to use burrows made by gophers and gopher tortoises during the summer and winter.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: The eastern diamondback rattlesnake frequently shelters by tunneling in gopher and tortoise burrows, emerging in the early morning or afternoon to bask.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: Like most rattlesnakes, this species is terrestrial and not adept at climbing. However, it has on occasion been reported in bushes and trees, apparently in search of prey. Even large specimens have been spotted as high as above the ground.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: It is also known to be an excellent swimmer. Specimens have often been spotted crossing stretches of water between barrier islands and the mainland off the Georgia coast, in the Gulf of Mexico and in the Florida Keys, sometimes miles from land.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: Individual disposition varies, with some allowing close approach while remaining silent, and others starting to rattle at a distance of . The rattle is well developed and can be heard from relatively far away. When threatened, it raises the anterior half of the body off the ground in an S-shaped coil, and can strike to a distance of at least a third of its body length. Many will stand their ground and may strike repeatedly, but if given the opportunity, they will usually retreat while facing the intruder and moving backwards towards shelter, after which they disappear.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: One popular myth is that the eastern diamondback rattlesnake must rattle before striking. To the contrary, it is quite capable of striking while remaining completely silent.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: Hawks, eagles, and other snakes have been known to prey upon young and adolescent specimens of the eastern diamondback rattlesnake.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: The eastern diamondback rattlesnake forages actively or lies in ambush for small mammals, especially rabbits and rice rats ("Oryzomys"). The diet also includes birds. Prey is struck and released, after which the snake follows the scent trail left by the dying prey.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: Because of their large size, adults have no problem eating prey as large as fully grown cottontail rabbits. As the juveniles are capable of swallowing adult mice, they do not often resort to eating slimmer prey, such as lizards. In fact, eastern cottontails and marsh rabbits ("Sylvilagus") form the bulk of the diet in most parts of Florida. Squirrels, rats, and mice are also eaten, along with birds such as towhees and bobwhite quail. Other prey that have been reported include a king rail, a young wild turkey, and a mother woodpecker along with four of her eggs.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: Rattlesnakes, including the eastern diamondback, are ovoviviparous. Gestation lasts six or seven months and broods average about a dozen young. However, the young only stay with the mother 10–20 days before they set off on their own to hunt and find cover.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: Females give birth to between 7 and 21 young at a time, usually between July and early October. Neonates are in length and are similar in appearance to the adults, except for having only a small button instead of a rattle on the tip of their tails.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: The eastern diamondback can live beyond 20 years, but life expectancy in the wild is now typically shorter because of hunting and human expansion.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: Adult wild-caught specimens are often difficult to maintain in captivity, but captive-born individuals do quite well and feed readily on killed laboratory rodents. The eastern diamondback requires a dry and well-ventilated cage with a hide-box, maintained at a temperature of for normal activity.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: The eastern diamondback rattlesnake has the reputation of being the most dangerous venomous snake in North America. While not usually aggressive, it is large and powerful. Wright and Wright mentioned a mortality rate of 30%, but other studies show a mortality rate of 10–20% (untreated).


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: In proportion to its length, it has the longest fangs of any rattlesnake species, with calculations leading one to expect an specimen would have fangs with a total length of over . For comparison, a specimen had fangs measuring in length. It has a very high venom yield, an average of 400–450 mg, with a maximum of 858–1,000 mg. Brown gives an average venom yield of 410 mg (dried venom), along with values of 1.3–2.4 mg/kg IV, 1.7–3.0 mg/kg IP and 14.5–10 mg/kg SC for toxicity. The estimated human lethal dose is 100–150 mg.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: The venom contains a thrombin-like enzyme, "crotalase", capable of clotting fibrinogen, leading to the secondary activation of plasminogen from endothelial cells. Although the venom does not activate platelets, the production of fibrin strands can result in a reduced platelet count, as well as the hemolysis of red blood cells (see article on MAHA). Even with this defibrination, however, clinically significant bleeding is uncommon. Nevertheless, the venom does exhibit high hemorrhagic activity. It also contains a low-molecular-weight basic peptide that impedes neuromuscular transmission and can in theory lead to cardiac failure. This peptide is similar to crotamine from "C. durrisus terrificus", and makes up 2–8% of the protein found in the venom. In general, the venom can be described as highly necrotizing, mildly proteolytic and containing a large phosphodiesterase fraction. It stimulates the release of bradykinin that can result in severe pain, as well as profound, transient hypotension.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: Klauber described one case in which the symptoms included instant pain "like two hot hypodermic needles", spontaneous bleeding from the bite site, intense internal pain, bleeding from the mouth, hypotension, a weak pulse, swelling and discoloration of the affected limb, and associated severe pain. The symptoms were further described as strongly hemolytic and hemorrhagic.


title: Eastern diamondback rattlesnake

text: CroFab, ANAVIP, and Wyeth's ACP are effective antivenins against bites from this species, although massive doses may be needed to manage severe cases of envenomation. Generally, ACP is very effective at countering the defibrination syndrome that is often seen, but may do little for low platelet counts. Wyeth's ACP is no longer being manufactured.


title: Soulja Slim

text: James Adarryl Tapp Jr. (September 9, 1977 – November 26, 2003), better known by his stage name Soulja Slim, was an American rapper and songwriter. He is perhaps best known for featuring on the U.S. number one hit "Slow Motion".


title: Soulja Slim

text: James A'Darryl Tapp Jr. was born in New Orleans on September 9, 1977, to James and Linda Tapp. He was raised in the Magnolia Projects in New Orleans and attended Cohen Senior High School before dropping out of school in the 11th grade. He began selling drugs, as well as forming an addiction to heroin and cocaine. By 1993, he was rapping as "Magnolia Slim" in venues and block parties in the projects. His first recordings, however, would be on Parkway Pumpin', an independent label run by legendary producer KLC and also featuring 39 Posse, Fiend, Mac, Mystikal Mike (later Mystikal), Mr. Serv-On and Da Hound. Soulja Slim's solo debut was "Soulja Fa Lyfe" was released in 1994 by Parkway Pumpin' and Hype Enough Records. The album did well, selling 90,000 units independently. In 1995, he released the four-song EP "The Dark Side" by Hype Enough Records.


title: Soulja Slim

text: In the same year, the song "You Got It" appeared on a No Limit Records double-CD compilation "Down South Hustlers: Bouncin' and Swingin' ". In 1998, Tapp, now calling himself Soulja Slim, released "Give It 2 'Em Raw" by No Limit Records with his single and his music video "From What I Was Told" and a single called "Street Life". The album debuted at number 13 on the "Billboard" 200 and sold 82,000 in the first week. At that time, Soulja Slim was convicted of armed robbery and incarcerated. He reappeared three years later with "Streets Made Me", which was again released on the No Limit label. From there, he started his own label, Cut Throat Comitty Records and released "Years Later" in late 2002. In 2003, he released "Years Later...A Few Months After", his last album before his death. The album featured the song "I'll Pay for It". In 2003, he also collaborated with fellow New Orleans rapper Juvenile to make the song "Slow Motion". The song was released on Juvenile's album "Juve the Great" and reached the number one spot on the "Billboard" Hot 100. It was Soulja Slim and Juvenile's first number one hit, and as the song was released after Soulja Slim's death he became only the sixth artist to have a posthumous number one song.


title: Soulja Slim

text: Tapp died on November 26, 2003, after an assailant shot him four times, three in the face and once in the chest, on the front lawn of the home of his mother and stepfather, Phillip "Tuba Phil" Frazier of Rebirth Brass Band, in the Gentilly neighborhood. Tapp was buried with his Cut Throat Comitty charm and jewelry, and the outfit he wore on the cover of "Give It 2 'Em Raw".


title: Soulja Slim

text: On December 31, 2003, police arrested 22-year-old Garelle Smith in connection with Tapp's murder. Police discovered a stolen police pistol in Smith's possession with a scratched-off serial number. A ballistics test matched bullets from that gun to the ones that killed Tapp, but no witnesses would testify against him. By 2008, Smith had been arrested for three more murders, and, in each case, charges were dropped and he was released due to lack of witnesses and the New Orleans 60-day law. Smith's murders, including that of Tapp, became cold cases. Smith himself was found shot to death on August 13, 2011.


title: Just Dance 2020

text: Just Dance 2020 is a 2019 dance rhythm game developed and published by Ubisoft. It was unveiled on June 10, 2019, during its E3 press conference as the eleventh main installment of the series, in celebration of the "Just Dance" series' tenth anniversary, and released on November 5, 2019 for Nintendo Switch, Wii, PlayStation 4, Xbox One and Stadia. It was also the first game in the series to be released on Stadia. The game was exclusively released on the Nintendo Switch in Japan on March 12, 2020, and in China on December 24, 2020, in the latter of which the game is simply titled "Just Dance".


title: Just Dance 2020

text: "Just Dance 2020" was the final Wii video game released physically in North America. It was reported in 2020 that Nintendo of America was no longer able to physically distribute Wii video games in that region because some of its departments no longer had the ability to retrieve the necessary equipment to do so. Consequently, this was the final video game in the main "Just Dance" series released on the Wii console, the platform where the series made its debut in 2009. By extension, this was the final Wii video game to be published by Ubisoft, the final "Just Dance" game to be released on a seventh-generation console, and the final "Just Dance" game to be available on a Nintendo optical disc.


title: Just Dance 2020

text: As with the previous installments of the franchise, players must mimic the on-screen dancer's choreography to a chosen song using either motion controllers (excluding Stadia) or the game's associated smartphone app (except on the Nintendo Wii, in which is based on "Just Dance 2015", with the exclusion of the game's online features (the "Just Dance Wall" feature, the "challenge" feature, and the "World Dance Floor" mode). The Stadia version also allows the use of a gamepad and a keyboard for menu navigation.


title: Just Dance 2020

text: Its user interface and features in the current gen version are largely identical to "Just Dance 2019", with the addition of a new "All Stars" mode commemorating the franchise's tenth anniversary (which features a playlist of eleven songs: "Hot N Cold (Chick Version)" from "Just Dance", "Rasputin" from "Just Dance 2", "California Gurls" from "Just Dance 3", "You're The First, The Last, My Everything" from "Just Dance 4", "Starships" from "Just Dance 2014", "Built For This" from "Just Dance 2015", "Chiwawa" from "Just Dance 2016", "Lean On" from "Just Dance 2017", "Swish Swish" from "Just Dance 2018", "Bang Bang Bang" from "Just Dance 2019", and "High Hopes" from "Just Dance 2020"). The story of this mode follows the Panda on a trip across eleven planets aboard the "dance party bus", as he brings over coaches from each aftermentioned song featured in previous installments of the series to throw a dance party at the coliseum in the final planet. In the ending, the Reindeer jumped into the party via his ship, as another dance party was found on another galaxy, as they head towards the ship and sets off. Completing the mode will unlock "High Hopes" in Just Dance mode, which is also unlocked by entering the code before completing it. Co-op mode, returning from "Just Dance 2016" and "Just Dance 2017", has been revamped, using its traditional scoring system, allowing players to earn stars as a team.


title: Just Dance 2020

text: The Chinese version doesn't feature the traditional karaoke-styled lyrics and is instead replaced with scrolling lyrics that are translated to Chinese, even when in Kids Mode and the "World Dance Floor" mode, which is only matched with players across China in the Chinese version instead of being matched with players across the world in the International version. The "Just Dance Unlimited" service for the Chinese version is different than the International version, but it can't be used between both versions, as it's separate versions of the service. Furthermore, online multiplayer is added as an exclusive feature to the Chinese version to coincide with the release of "Just Dance 2023 Edition". Unlike the said game, it's played in public parties of up to six players in custom playlists. However, the Chinese version's menu design is based on the current installment of the main series, which changes alongside its release, albeit with seasonal events, which temporary replaces it with a special menu design based on the current seasonal event. Starting from Season 7, the Sweat Mode is removed and it's instead replaced with a built-in kCal tracker shown below the player's name.


title: Just Dance 2020

text: Kris Wu's "Big Bowl Thick Noodle" (also known as "Da Wan Kuan Mian") was included in initial pressings of the Chinese version of the game, but was removed shortly after its alternate version was released on China's "Just Dance Unlimited" servers due to sexual assault allegations against the artist. Following this, Phoenix Legend's "Coolest Ethnic" (also known as "Zui Xun Min Zu Feng"), which was previously exclusive to China's "Just Dance Unlimited" servers from February 5, 2021, was made available for free indefinitely.


title: Just Dance 2020

text: "Just Dance Unlimited" continues to be offered on "2020" for eighth-generation consoles, featuring a streaming library of new and existing songs.


title: Just Dance 2020

text: "Just Dance 2020" debuted at #15 in the UK, with the Nintendo Switch version accounting for 55% of sales, followed by the Nintendo Wii at 21%, PlayStation 4 at 14%, and the Xbox One at 10%. The Nintendo Switch version of the game debuted at #3 in Taiwan, while the PlayStation 4 version debuted at #4 in South Korea. In Japan, the Switch version sold 2,533 copies during its first week of release, which made it the 26th bestselling retail game of the week.


title: Just Dance 2020

text: The game was nominated for "Best Family/Social Game" at the 2019 Titanium Awards, and for "Best Game-as-a-Service" at the Pégases Awards 2020.


title: Oresuki

text: Oresuki (俺好き), short for , is a Japanese harem, romantic comedy light novel series written by Rakuda and illustrated by Buriki. ASCII Media Works published seventeen volumes from February 2016 to January 2022 under their Dengeki Bunko imprint.


title: Oresuki

text: A manga adaptation with illustration by Yū Ijima was serialized via Shueisha's online manga app "Shōnen Jump+" from February 2017 to August 2020. It has been collected in six "tankōbon" volumes. An anime television series adaptation by Connect aired from October to December 2019. An OVA was released in September 2020.


title: Oresuki

text: "Oresuki" revolves around Amatsuyu "Joro" Kisaragi, an ordinary high school student who is invited out alone by two beautiful girls: the upperclassman Sakura "Cosmos" Akino and his childhood friend Aoi "Himawari" Hinata. Expecting to hear their confessions, he triumphantly goes to meet each of them in turn. However, both Cosmos and Himawari confess to Joro that they like his best friend, Taiyо̄ "Sun-chan" Ōga, instead of him. He reluctantly agrees to help both girls pursue Sun-chan in the hope of dating the loser, only to suddenly be confessed to by the unremarkable bookworm Sumireko "Pansy" Sanshokuin, who is the girl Sun-chan is in love with.


title: Oresuki

text: "Ore wo Suki Nano wa Omae Dake ka yo" is written by Rakuda and illustrated by Buriki. ASCII Media Works published the first volume on February 10, 2016 under their Dengeki Bunko imprint. The seventeenth and last volume was published on January 8, 2022.


title: Oresuki

text: A manga adaptation, illustrated by Yū Ijima, was serialized on Shueisha's online manga app "Shōnen Jump+" from February 26, 2017 to August 23, 2020. The manga was compiled into six "tankōbon" volumes.


title: Oresuki

text: An anime television series adaptation was announced at the "Dengeki Bunko 25th Anniversary Fall Dengeki Festival" event on October 7, 2018. The series was animated by Connect and directed by Noriaki Akitaya, with Rakuda handling series composition, Shoko Takimoto designing the characters, and Yoshiaki Fujisawa composing the music. The series aired from October 3 to December 26, 2019 on Tokyo MX, GYT, GTV, BS11, TVA, and ytv. Shuka Saitō performed the series' opening theme song "Papapa", while Haruka Tomatsu, Haruka Shiraishi, and Sachika Misawa performed the series' ending theme song "Hanakotoba". Aniplex of America licensed the series for distribution in English speaking regions, and streamed the series on Crunchyroll, FunimationNow in North America and the United Kingdom, HIDIVE in North America, and AnimeLab in Australia and New Zealand. An OVA was set to premiere on May 23, 2020, but was delayed to September 2, 2020.


title: FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

text: The FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup is an international association football tournament for female players under the age of 17. It is organized by Fédération Internationale de Football Association (FIFA). The tournament is held in even-numbered years, starting in 2008. The current champions are Spain, which won its second title at the 2022 tournament in India.


title: FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

text: In 2003 after the inaugural success of the 2002 FIFA U-19 Women's World Championship, held in Canada, FIFA proposed adding a second youth tournament for girls. Continental confederations told FIFA it would be difficult to create a second championship, with the age limits in place at the time. Therefore, FIFA created the U-17 Women's World Cup and the U-20 Women's World Championship (renamed the "U-20 Women's World Cup" in 2007), the same age groups as its men's youth tournaments. Accordingly, the age limit for the U-19 championship was increased to 20, effective with the 2006 FIFA U-20 Women's World Championship in Russia. FIFA committed to creating a U-17 women's championship, stated to begin in 2008.


title: FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

text: The first tournament was held in 2008 in New Zealand from 28 October to 16 November. Four cities hosted matches during the inaugural tournament – North Shore City (North Harbour Stadium), Hamilton (Waikato Stadium), Wellington (Wellington Stadium) and Christchurch (QEII Park). New Zealand won hosting rights at the same time that Chile received hosting honours for the 2008 FIFA U-20 Women's World Cup; Ecuador also bid for the event.


title: FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

text: On 4 April 2020, FIFA announced the decision of postponing the 2020 World Cup which was originally scheduled in five venues to be held from 2 to 21 November in India. The tournament was initially postponed to 2021, subject to further monitoring. On 17 November 2020, FIFA announced that the 2020 edition of the tournamenth would be cancelled, and India were appointed as hosts of the next edition of the tournament in 2022. However, on 16 August 2022, India were stripped of their hosting rights for 2022 as the All India Football Federation was suspended by FIFA. The rights were given back to India on 26 August 2022 as the AIFF was reinstated by FIFA.


title: FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

text: In this ranking 3 points are awarded for a win, 1 for a draw and 0 for a loss. As per statistical convention in football, matches decided in extra time are counted as wins and losses, while matches decided by penalty shoot-outs are counted as draws. Teams are ranked by total points, then by goal difference, then by goals scored.


title: FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup

text: For each tournament, the flag of the host country and the number of teams in each finals tournament (in brackets) are shown.


title: To Kill a Mockingbird (2018 play)

text: To Kill a Mockingbird is a 2018 play based on the 1960 novel of the same name by Harper Lee, adapted for the stage by Aaron Sorkin. It opened on Broadway at the Shubert Theatre on December 13, 2018. The play opened in London's West End at the Gielgud Theatre in March 2022. The show follows the story of Atticus Finch, a lawyer in 1930s Alabama, as he defends Tom Robinson, a black man falsely accused of rape. Varying from the book, the play has Atticus as the protagonist, not his daughter Scout, allowing his character to change throughout the show. During development the show was involved in two legal disputes, the first with the Lee estate over the faithfulness of the play to the original book, and the second was due to exclusivity to the rights with productions using the script by Christopher Sergel. During opening week, the production garnered more than $1.5 million in box office sales and reviews by publications such as the "New York Times", "LA Times" and "AMNY" were positive but not without criticism.


title: To Kill a Mockingbird (2018 play)

text: It was announced in February 2016 that Aaron Sorkin would bring the Pulitzer Prize-winning novel to Broadway, in a new production produced by Scott Rudin and directed by Bartlett Sher. The book had previously been adapted for the stage but Rudin specified that this production would be completely unrelated to the prior pieces. On February 15, 2018, it was announced that Jeff Daniels would star in the production as Atticus Finch. Celia Keenan-Bolger and Will Pullen were also announced to play Scout and Jem Finch, respectively. The production began previews at the Shubert Theatre on November 1, 2018, prior to an official opening on December 13, 2018.


title: To Kill a Mockingbird (2018 play)

text: During production the show was involved in two legal disputes, one with the Harper Lee estate, and the other against licensed productions of the Christopher Sergel adaptation.


title: To Kill a Mockingbird (2018 play)

text: On March 12, 2020, the play suspended production due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The play resumed performances on October 5, 2021 at the Shubert Theatre, with the original cast of Jeff Daniels and Celia Keenan-Bolger returning. A new executive producer, Orin Wolf, took over. On January 12, 2022, it was announced the show would play its final performance at the Shubert Theatre on January 16, and reopen at the Belasco Theatre on June 1. Greg Kinnear was set to resume as Atticus Finch when the production reopened. However, "Girl From the North Country's" run at the Belasco is slated to run through June 11 and a new opening date for "Mockingbird" has not been announced. On July 29, 2022, it was reported the Broadway production would not reopen after producer Scott Rudin decided that he did not have confidence in the climate for plays the following winter.


title: To Kill a Mockingbird (2018 play)

text: In 2019 it was announced that the production would transfer to London's West End to the Gielgud Theatre opening in May 2020 with Rhys Ifans as Atticus Finch before being postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic.


title: To Kill a Mockingbird (2018 play)

text: It eventually opened on 31 March 2022 with Rafe Spall replacing Ifans as Atticus Finch, and Gwyneth Keyworth as Scout.


title: To Kill a Mockingbird (2018 play)

text: During development of the play, the Lee estate believed that the proposed script varied too much from the book, and a complaint was filed in an Alabama federal court in March 2018. In discussion with Sorkin about the terms of use for the rights to produce a play, it was specified by the estate that the character of Atticus should not deviate from the original character created by Harper Lee. The Lee estate alleged that Sorkin had made too many changes to the original story by framing Atticus as the main character instead of Scout. Sorkin describes how the evolution of Atticus was viewed by the Lee estate as being "far less dignified" than the original character but the show's lawyers disputed this point stating his character "does not derogate or depart from the spirit of the novel." Because the Lee estate lawsuit was jeopardizing the release of the show, a countersuit of $10 million was filed by Sorkin's lawyers in April 2018. In May 2018, the premiere of the show was confirmed after an agreement was reached between the two parties, and both lawsuits were settled.


title: To Kill a Mockingbird (2018 play)

text: Before Sorkin adapted "To Kill a Mockingbird" for the theatre, a different adaptation of the novel by playwright Christopher Sergel had been available for license for over 50 years. Claiming worldwide exclusivity for the professional stage rights to any adaptation of Lee's novel, lawyers acting for the company Scott Rudin formed to produce Sorkin's adaptation, Atticus LLC (ALLC), moved to shut down productions of the Sergel adaption staged within 25 miles of any city that ALLC determined to be a major metropolitan center that might eventually host a production of Sorkin's adaptation, even if that company had already paid the rights holders. Dozens of community and non-profit theaters across the US cancelled productions of Sergel's adaptation, as well as a professional tour planned in the UK. After a public outcry, Scott Rudin offered to "ameliorate the hurt caused" by making Sorkin's adaptation available to regional producers.


title: To Kill a Mockingbird (2018 play)

text: While some critics criticized the liberties taken by Sorkin, the "Los Angeles Times" theater critic Charles McNulty however wrote that Sorkin's adaptation "moves as confidently as it speaks even if it doesn't completely add up dramatically." McNulty disputes those who take issue with the changes Sorkin made to the story by stating that Sorkin "created something impeccably fresh." Jesse Green, a theater critic from the "New York Times" articulated that Sorkin's choice to start with the trial and provide backstory through scenes going back in time was "very effective" for telling the story on stage. Matt Windman argues that "some of Sorkin's choices are questionable" and that the set design was "too distracting to be effective." Windman also articulates that the show "proves to be an engrossing, provocative, and uniformly well-acted adaptation."


title: To Kill a Mockingbird (2018 play)

text: The show opened on December 13, 2018, during the week ending on December 23, the production grossed over $1.5 million, breaking the record for box office grosses for a non-musical play in a theater owned by The Shubert Organization. Prior to opening, $22 million were made in advance ticket sales at the box office.


title: Warrick Dunn

text: Warrick De'Mon Dunn (born January 5, 1975) is an American former professional football player who was a running back in the National Football League (NFL) for twelve seasons. He was drafted by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers 12th overall in the 1997 NFL Draft, after playing college football for the Florida State Seminoles. Dunn was named AP NFL Offensive Rookie of the Year in 1997 and earned three Pro Bowl selections in his career. After his playing career, Dunn took a minority stake in the Falcons' ownership group led by Arthur Blank.


title: Warrick Dunn

text: At Catholic High in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Dunn played quarterback, cornerback, and running back. During his sophomore year, he helped lead Catholic High to the state 4A championship game for the first time in its history. He was an All-America honorable mention selection by "USA Today" as a senior.


title: Warrick Dunn

text: On January 7, 1993, two days after Dunn's eighteenth birthday, his mother Betty Smothers, a Baton Rogue Police Officer, was murdered while working an off-duty security job. Dunn became the head of his family and raised his siblings. He later met with one of his mother's killers, Kevan Brumfield, and offered his forgiveness.


title: Warrick Dunn

text: Dunn played college football at Florida State University, where he rushed for over 1,000 yards in 3 straight seasons. He graduated in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in information studies. He was a three-time All-ACC selection.


title: Warrick Dunn

text: Dunn's jersey, along with those of other Seminoles players such as Fred Biletnikoff, Ron Sellers, Ron Simmons, Charlie Ward, Deion Sanders, and Chris Weinke, has been retired by the university. His number (28) may still be worn by Seminole players, but his jersey will be displayed in the Moore Athletic Center at FSU. He also won a national championship in 1993 with Florida State.


title: Warrick Dunn

text: Warrick Dunn was also an accomplished track and field star, named as an Associated Press All-American as a member of Florida State's men's 4x100m relay team. Dunn competed on the Seminoles' track & field team as a sprinter during all four years he was enrolled at Florida State. His personal best in the 100 meters is 10.3 seconds.


title: Warrick Dunn

text: Dunn was selected in the first round of the 1997 NFL Draft with the 12th overall pick by the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. Dunn had a highly successful rookie season, was selected to the NFC Pro Bowl team, and named the Associated Press Offensive Rookie of the Year. Dunn spent the next four years of his career in Tampa Bay, and was again named to the Pro Bowl in 2000. In game 13 of that season, he had a career-best 210 yards rushing against the Dallas Cowboys (then, 2nd most in franchise history).


title: Warrick Dunn

text: A free agent in the 2002 offseason, Dunn signed with the Atlanta Falcons. Once again, he made a positive impact on his team with 9 total TDs and in that year, he led the league with a 5.4 yards per carry average. Dunn scored the most rushing touchdowns in his career, 9, in the 2004 season despite splitting carries with T.J. Duckett and also led the team in rushing with 1,106 yards. Having led his team in rushing yards again in 2005, Dunn was named the NFC's Pro Bowl team, marking his third selection to the team. For his career, Dunn has only missed 10 games and has a total of 2,256 carries for 9,461 yards 43 touchdowns and a 4.2 average. Dunn finished his first 10 seasons with over 1,000 combined rushing and receiving yards. During the 2007 season, with Falcons starting quarterback Byron Leftwich out with a high ankle sprain, Dunn served as the third string emergency quarterback behind Joey Harrington and Chris Redman, a position he played in high school.


title: Warrick Dunn

text: On March 3, 2008, the Falcons released Dunn per his request. This came a day after the Falcons signed former San Diego Chargers backup running back Michael Turner. On December 17, 2009, he became a minority owner of the Atlanta Falcons.


title: Warrick Dunn

text: On March 10, 2008, Dunn returned to the Buccaneers after signing a two-year, $6 million contract. In week 6 against the Carolina Panthers, Dunn had his first 100-yard game since re-joining the Buccaneers. Dunn was released by the Buccaneers on February 25, 2009. He retired from the NFL 14th all-time in all-purpose yards with 15,306 (20th ) and 19th in rushing yards with 10,967 (23rd ).


title: Warrick Dunn

text: Dunn established the Homes for the Holidays (HFTH) program in 1997, and started Warrick Dunn Charities (WDC) in 2002 as a way to grow programs and services. The HFTH program rewards single-parent families for reaching first-time homeownership. HFTH recipient families are chosen through a partnership with Habitat for Humanity affiliates and WDC with complete home furnishings and down-payment assistance. As of July 2012, HFTH has assisted over 150 single parents and over 300 dependents in Atlanta, Baton Rouge, Tampa and Tallahassee. By providing families with a positive home environment, WDC believes that children can thrive educationally, socially and economically. In 2006, one of those homes happened to go to the family of future NFL player Deshaun Watson. Watson went on to play quarterback for Clemson and win the 2017 College Football Playoff National Championship.


title: Warrick Dunn

text: Dunn's achievements have been recognized over the years. He received a Giant Steps Award in civic leadership from former President Bill Clinton for his program. In 2005, Dunn was presented with the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award. This award is the only NFL award that recognizes a player for his community service as well as for his excellence on the field. In the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, Dunn challenged all NFL players, except for those who play for the New Orleans Saints, to donate at least $5,000 to the effort. The effort received over $5 million in contributions.


title: Warrick Dunn

text: In 2007, Dunn, along with Andre Agassi, Muhammad Ali, Lance Armstrong, Jeff Gordon, Mia Hamm, Tony Hawk, Andrea Jaeger, Jackie Joyner-Kersee, Mario Lemieux, Alonzo Mourning and Cal Ripken Jr., founded Athletes for Hope, a charitable organization that helps professional athletes, sports industry professionals and fans get involved in charitable causes.


title: Warrick Dunn

text: For his exceptional involvement on and off the field, Dunn was awarded with the 2009 Bart Starr Award. He also received a Jefferson Award for Outstanding Athlete in Service and Philanthropy in 2011.


title: Warrick Dunn

text: Dunn's 2008 autobiography, "Running For My Life" , details his mother's murder and his battles with depression throughout his life.


title: Pattern recognition

text: Pattern recognition is the automated recognition of patterns and regularities in data. It has applications in statistical data analysis, signal processing, image analysis, information retrieval, bioinformatics, data compression, computer graphics and machine learning. Pattern recognition has its origins in statistics and engineering; some modern approaches to pattern recognition include the use of machine learning, due to the increased availability of big data and a new abundance of processing power. These activities can be viewed as two facets of the same field of application, and they have undergone substantial development over the past few decades.


title: Pattern recognition

text: Pattern recognition systems are commonly trained from labeled "training" data. When no labeled data are available, other algorithms can be used to discover previously unknown patterns. KDD and data mining have a larger focus on unsupervised methods and stronger connection to business use. Pattern recognition focuses more on the signal and also takes acquisition and signal processing into consideration. It originated in engineering, and the term is popular in the context of computer vision: a leading computer vision conference is named Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition.


title: Pattern recognition

text: In machine learning, pattern recognition is the assignment of a label to a given input value. In statistics, discriminant analysis was introduced for this same purpose in 1936. An example of pattern recognition is classification, which attempts to assign each input value to one of a given set of "classes" (for example, determine whether a given email is "spam"). Pattern recognition is a more general problem that encompasses other types of output as well. Other examples are regression, which assigns a real-valued output to each input; sequence labeling, which assigns a class to each member of a sequence of values (for example, part of speech tagging, which assigns a part of speech to each word in an input sentence); and parsing, which assigns a parse tree to an input sentence, describing the syntactic structure of the sentence.


title: Pattern recognition

text: Pattern recognition algorithms generally aim to provide a reasonable answer for all possible inputs and to perform "most likely" matching of the inputs, taking into account their statistical variation. This is opposed to "pattern matching" algorithms, which look for exact matches in the input with pre-existing patterns. A common example of a pattern-matching algorithm is regular expression matching, which looks for patterns of a given sort in textual data and is included in the search capabilities of many text editors and word processors.


title: Pattern recognition

text: Pattern recognition is generally categorized according to the type of learning procedure used to generate the output value. "Supervised learning" assumes that a set of training data (the training set) has been provided, consisting of a set of instances that have been properly labeled by hand with the correct output. A learning procedure then generates a model that attempts to meet two sometimes conflicting objectives: Perform as well as possible on the training data, and generalize as well as possible to new data (usually, this means being as simple as possible, for some technical definition of "simple", in accordance with Occam's Razor, discussed below). Unsupervised learning, on the other hand, assumes training data that has not been hand-labeled, and attempts to find inherent patterns in the data that can then be used to determine the correct output value for new data instances. A combination of the two that has been explored is semi-supervised learning, which uses a combination of labeled and unlabeled data (typically a small set of labeled data combined with a large amount of unlabeled data). In cases of unsupervised learning, there may be no training data at all.


title: Pattern recognition

text: Sometimes different terms are used to describe the corresponding supervised and unsupervised learning procedures for the same type of output. The unsupervised equivalent of classification is normally known as "clustering", based on the common perception of the task as involving no training data to speak of, and of grouping the input data into clusters based on some inherent similarity measure (e.g. the distance between instances, considered as vectors in a multi-dimensional vector space), rather than assigning each input instance into one of a set of pre-defined classes. In some fields, the terminology is different. In community ecology, the term "classification" is used to refer to what is commonly known as "clustering".


title: Pattern recognition

text: The piece of input data for which an output value is generated is formally termed an "instance". The instance is formally described by a vector of features, which together constitute a description of all known characteristics of the instance. These feature vectors can be seen as defining points in an appropriate multidimensional space, and methods for manipulating vectors in vector spaces can be correspondingly applied to them, such as computing the dot product or the angle between two vectors. Features typically are either categorical (also known as nominal, i.e., consisting of one of a set of unordered items, such as a gender of "male" or "female", or a blood type of "A", "B", "AB" or "O"), ordinal (consisting of one of a set of ordered items, e.g., "large", "medium" or "small"), integer-valued (e.g., a count of the number of occurrences of a particular word in an email) or real-valued (e.g., a measurement of blood pressure). Often, categorical and ordinal data are grouped together, and this is also the case for integer-valued and real-valued data. Many algorithms work only in terms of categorical data and require that real-valued or integer-valued data be "discretized" into groups (e.g., less than 5, between 5 and 10, or greater than 10).


title: Pattern recognition

text: Many common pattern recognition algorithms are "probabilistic" in nature, in that they use statistical inference to find the best label for a given instance. Unlike other algorithms, which simply output a "best" label, often probabilistic algorithms also output a probability of the instance being described by the given label. In addition, many probabilistic algorithms output a list of the "N"-best labels with associated probabilities, for some value of "N", instead of simply a single best label. When the number of possible labels is fairly small (e.g., in the case of classification), "N" may be set so that the probability of all possible labels is output. Probabilistic algorithms have many advantages over non-probabilistic algorithms:


title: Pattern recognition

text: Feature selection algorithms attempt to directly prune out redundant or irrelevant features. A general introduction to feature selection which summarizes approaches and challenges, has been given. The complexity of feature-selection is, because of its non-monotonous character, an optimization problem where given a total of formula_1 features the powerset consisting of all formula_2 subsets of features need to be explored. The Branch-and-Bound algorithm does reduce this complexity but is intractable for medium to large values of the number of available features formula_1


title: Pattern recognition

text: Techniques to transform the raw feature vectors (feature extraction) are sometimes used prior to application of the pattern-matching algorithm. Feature extraction algorithms attempt to reduce a large-dimensionality feature vector into a smaller-dimensionality vector that is easier to work with and encodes less redundancy, using mathematical techniques such as principal components analysis (PCA). The distinction between feature selection and feature extraction is that the resulting features after feature extraction has taken place are of a different sort than the original features and may not easily be interpretable, while the features left after feature selection are simply a subset of the original features.


title: Pattern recognition

text: The problem of pattern recognition can be stated as follows: Given an unknown function formula_4 (the "ground truth") that maps input instances formula_5 to output labels formula_6, along with training data formula_7 assumed to represent accurate examples of the mapping, produce a function formula_8 that approximates as closely as possible the correct mapping formula_9. (For example, if the problem is filtering spam, then formula_10 is some representation of an email and formula_11 is either "spam" or "non-spam"). In order for this to be a well-defined problem, "approximates as closely as possible" needs to be defined rigorously. In decision theory, this is defined by specifying a loss function or cost function that assigns a specific value to "loss" resulting from producing an incorrect label. The goal then is to minimize the expected loss, with the expectation taken over the probability distribution of formula_12. In practice, neither the distribution of formula_12 nor the ground truth function formula_4 are known exactly, but can be computed only empirically by collecting a large number of samples of formula_12 and hand-labeling them using the correct value of formula_16 (a time-consuming process, which is typically the limiting factor in the amount of data of this sort that can be collected). The particular loss function depends on the type of label being predicted. For example, in the case of classification, the simple zero-one loss function is often sufficient. This corresponds simply to assigning a loss of 1 to any incorrect labeling and implies that the optimal classifier minimizes the error rate on independent test data (i.e. counting up the fraction of instances that the learned function formula_8 labels wrongly, which is equivalent to maximizing the number of correctly classified instances). The goal of the learning procedure is then to minimize the error rate (maximize the correctness) on a "typical" test set.


title: Pattern recognition

text: For a probabilistic pattern recognizer, the problem is instead to estimate the probability of each possible output label given a particular input instance, i.e., to estimate a function of the form


title: Pattern recognition

text: where the feature vector input is formula_19, and the function "f" is typically parameterized by some parameters formula_20. In a discriminative approach to the problem, "f" is estimated directly. In a generative approach, however, the inverse probability formula_21 is instead estimated and combined with the prior probability formula_22 using Bayes' rule, as follows:


title: Pattern recognition

text: When the labels are continuously distributed (e.g., in regression analysis), the denominator involves integration rather than summation:


title: Pattern recognition

text: The value of formula_25 is typically learned using maximum a posteriori (MAP) estimation. This finds the best value that simultaneously meets two conflicting objects: To perform as well as possible on the training data (smallest error-rate) and to find the simplest possible model. Essentially, this combines maximum likelihood estimation with a regularization procedure that favors simpler models over more complex models. In a Bayesian context, the regularization procedure can be viewed as placing a prior probability formula_26 on different values of formula_25. Mathematically:


title: Pattern recognition

text: where formula_29 is the value used for formula_25 in the subsequent evaluation procedure, and formula_31, the posterior probability of formula_25, is given by


title: Pattern recognition

text: In the Bayesian approach to this problem, instead of choosing a single parameter vector formula_34, the probability of a given label for a new instance formula_19 is computed by integrating over all possible values of formula_25, weighted according to the posterior probability:


title: Pattern recognition

text: The first pattern classifier – the linear discriminant presented by Fisher – was developed in the frequentist tradition. The frequentist approach entails that the model parameters are considered unknown, but objective. The parameters are then computed (estimated) from the collected data. For the linear discriminant, these parameters are precisely the mean vectors and the covariance matrix. Also the probability of each class formula_22 is estimated from the collected dataset. Note that the usage of 'Bayes rule' in a pattern classifier does not make the classification approach Bayesian.


title: Pattern recognition

text: Bayesian statistics has its origin in Greek philosophy where a distinction was already made between the 'a priori' and the 'a posteriori' knowledge. Later Kant defined his distinction between what is a priori known – before observation – and the empirical knowledge gained from observations. In a Bayesian pattern classifier, the class probabilities formula_22 can be chosen by the user, which are then a priori. Moreover, experience quantified as a priori parameter values can be weighted with empirical observations – using e.g., the Beta- (conjugate prior) and Dirichlet-distributions. The Bayesian approach facilitates a seamless intermixing between expert knowledge in the form of subjective probabilities, and objective observations.


title: Pattern recognition

text: Within medical science, pattern recognition is the basis for computer-aided diagnosis (CAD) systems. CAD describes a procedure that supports the doctor's interpretations and findings. Other typical applications of pattern recognition techniques are automatic speech recognition, speaker identification, classification of text into several categories (e.g., spam or non-spam email messages), the automatic recognition of handwriting on postal envelopes, automatic recognition of images of human faces, or handwriting image extraction from medical forms. The last two examples form the subtopic image analysis of pattern recognition that deals with digital images as input to pattern recognition systems.


title: Pattern recognition

text: Optical character recognition is an example of the application of a pattern classifier. The method of signing one's name was captured with stylus and overlay starting in 1990. The strokes, speed, relative min, relative max, acceleration and pressure is used to uniquely identify and confirm identity. Banks were first offered this technology, but were content to collect from the FDIC for any bank fraud and did not want to inconvenience customers.


title: Pattern recognition

text: In psychology, pattern recognition is used to make sense of and identify objects, and is closely related to perception. This explains how the sensory inputs humans receive are made meaningful. Pattern recognition can be thought of in two different ways. The first concerns template matching and the second concerns feature detection. A template is a pattern used to produce items of the same proportions. The template-matching hypothesis suggests that incoming stimuli are compared with templates in the long-term memory. If there is a match, the stimulus is identified. Feature detection models, such as the Pandemonium system for classifying letters (Selfridge, 1959), suggest that the stimuli are broken down into their component parts for identification. One observation is a capital E having three horizontal lines and one vertical line.


title: Pattern recognition

text: Algorithms for pattern recognition depend on the type of label output, on whether learning is supervised or unsupervised, and on whether the algorithm is statistical or non-statistical in nature. Statistical algorithms can further be categorized as generative or discriminative.


title: Ink Master (season 7)

text: Ink Master: Revenge is the seventh season of the tattoo reality competition "Ink Master" that aired on Spike on March 1 and concluded on May 24, 2016 with a total of 13 episodes. The show is hosted and judged by Jane's Addiction guitarist Dave Navarro, with accomplished tattoo artists Chris Núñez and Oliver Peck serving as series regular judges. The winner will receive a $100,000 prize, a feature in "Inked" Magazine and the title of Ink Master.


title: Ink Master (season 7)

text: The premise of this season was featuring eight contestants competing against eight returning veterans in an elimination-style competition.


title: Ink Master (season 7)

text: This season saw the return of eight veterans; season one contestant James Vaughn, who originally finished the competition in 3rd place, season two contestants Sarah Miller and Jesse Smith, who originally finished the competition as the runner-up and in 5th place respectively, season three contestant Jime Litwalk, who originally finished the competition as the runner-up, season four contestants Walter "Sausage" Frank and Matti Hixson, who originally finished the competition as the runner-up and in 3rd place respectively, season five contestant James "Cleen Rock One" Steinke, who originally finished the competition as the runner-up, and season six contestant Mark S. "St. MarQ" Agee, who originally finished the competition in 12th place.


title: Ink Master (season 7)

text: The winner of the seventh season of "Ink Master" was Anthony Michaels, with James "Cleen Rock One" Steinke being the runner-up.


title: Ink Master (season 7)

text: The judging panel is responsible for passing judgement on each artist. They collaborate and use information from their own perception, the audience vote, human canvas vote, and the winner's worst vote to determine who should be sent home. Weight of decisions is set by the terms of the challenge skill.


title: Ink Master (season 7)

text: After the tattoos are completed, the canvases for the challenge gather and vote on the best and worst of that day's tattoos. While the primary judges have the final say, the weight of the canvas vote does affect the judging panels final decision.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: A Yagi–Uda antenna or simply Yagi antenna, is a directional antenna consisting of two or more parallel resonant antenna elements in an end-fire array; these elements are most often metal rods acting as half-wave dipoles. Yagi–Uda antennas consist of a single driven element connected to a radio transmitter and/or receiver through a transmission line, and additional "passive radiators" with no electrical connection, usually including one so-called "reflector" and any number of "directors". It was invented in 1926 by Shintaro Uda of Tohoku Imperial University, Japan, with a lesser role played by his guidance Hidetsugu Yagi.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: Reflector elements (usually only one is used) are slightly longer than the driven dipole and placed behind the driven element, "opposite" the direction of intended transmission. Directors, on the other hand, are a little shorter and placed in front of the driven element "in" the intended direction. These parasitic elements are typically off-tuned short-circuited dipole elements, that is, instead of a break at the feedpoint (like the driven element) a solid rod is used. They receive and reradiate the radio waves from the driven element but in a different phase determined by their exact lengths. Their effect is to modify the driven element's radiation pattern. The waves from the multiple elements superpose and interfere to enhance radiation in a single direction, increasing the antenna's gain in that direction.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: Also called a beam antenna and parasitic array, the Yagi is very widely used as a directional antenna on the HF, VHF and UHF bands. It has moderate to high gain of up to 20 dBi, depending on the number of elements used, and a front-to-back ratio of up to 20 dB. It radiates linearly polarized radio waves, and can be mounted for either horizontal or vertical polarization. It is relatively lightweight, inexpensive and simple to construct. The bandwidth of a Yagi antenna, the frequency range over which it maintains its gain and feedpoint impedance, is narrow, just a few percent of the center frequency, decreasing for models with higher gain, making it ideal for fixed-frequency applications. The largest and best-known use is as rooftop terrestrial television antennas, but it is also used for point-to-point fixed communication links, in radar antennas, and for long distance shortwave communication by shortwave broadcasting stations and radio amateurs.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: The antenna was invented by Shintaro Uda of Tohoku Imperial University, Japan, in 1926 with a lesser role played by Hidetsugu Yagi.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: However, the name "Yagi" has become more familiar, with the name of Uda who applied the idea in practice or established the conception through experiment is often omitted. This appears to have been due to the fact that Yagi based on Uda's pre-announcement and developed the principle of the absorption phenomenon he had announced, Yagi filing a patent on the new idea in Japan without Uda's name in it, and later transferring the patent to the Marconi Company in the UK. Incidentally, in the US, the patent was transferred to RCA Corporation.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: Yagi antennas were first widely used during World War II in radar systems by the Japanese, Germans, British and US. After the war they saw extensive development as home television antennas.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: The Yagi–Uda antenna typically consists of a number of parallel thin rod elements, each approximately a half wave in length. Often they are supported on a perpendicular crossbar or "boom" along their centers. Usually there is a single dipole driven element consisting of two collinear rods each connected to one side of the transmission line, and a variable number of parasitic elements, "reflectors" on one side and optionally one or more "directors" on the other side. The parasitic elements are not electrically connected to the transmission line, and serve as passive radiators, reradiating the radio waves to modify the radiation pattern. Typical spacings between elements vary from about to of a wavelength, depending on the specific design. The directors are slightly shorter than the driven element, while the reflector(s) are slightly longer. The radiation pattern is unidirectional, with the main lobe along the axis perpendicular to the elements in the plane of the elements, off the end with the directors.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: Conveniently, the dipole parasitic elements have a node (point of zero RF voltage) at their centre, so they can be attached to a conductive metal support at that point without need of insulation, without disturbing their electrical operation. They are usually bolted or welded to the antenna's central support boom. The most common form of the driven element is one fed at its centre so its two halves must be insulated where the boom supports them.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: The gain increases with the number of parasitic elements used. Only one reflector is normally used since the improvement of gain with additional reflectors is small, but more reflectors may be employed for other reasons such as wider bandwidth. Yagis have been built with up to 30–40 directors.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: The bandwidth of an antenna is, by one definition, the width of the band of frequencies having a gain within 3 dB (one-half the power) of its maximum gain. The Yagi–Uda array in its basic form has very narrow bandwidth, 2–3 percent of the centre frequency. There is a tradeoff between gain and bandwidth, with the bandwidth narrowing as more elements are used. For applications that require wider bandwidths, such as terrestrial television, Yagi–Uda antennas commonly feature trigonal reflectors, and larger diameter conductors, in order to cover the relevant portions of the VHF and UHF bands. Wider bandwidth can also be achieved by the use of "traps", as described below.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: Yagi–Uda antennas used for amateur radio are sometimes designed to operate on multiple bands. These elaborate designs create electrical breaks along each element (both sides) at which point a parallel LC (inductor and capacitor) circuit is inserted. This so-called "trap" has the effect of truncating the element at the higher frequency band, making it approximately a half wavelength in length. At the lower frequency, the entire element (including the remaining inductance due to the trap) is close to half-wave resonance, implementing a "different" Yagi–Uda antenna. Using a second set of traps, a "triband" antenna can be resonant at three different bands. Given the associated costs of erecting an antenna and rotator system above a tower, the combination of antennas for three amateur bands in one unit is a very practical solution. The use of traps is not without disadvantages, however, as they reduce the bandwidth of the antenna on the individual bands and reduce the antenna's electrical efficiency and subject the antenna to additional mechanical considerations (wind loading, water and insect ingress).


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: Consider a Yagi–Uda consisting of a reflector, driven element and a single director as shown here. The driven element is typically a "λ" dipole or folded dipole and is the only member of the structure that is directly excited (electrically connected to the feedline). All the other elements are considered "parasitic". That is, they reradiate power which they receive from the driven element. They also interact with each other, but this mutual coupling is neglected in the following simplified explanation, which applies to far-field conditions.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: One way of thinking about the operation of such an antenna is to consider a parasitic element to be a normal dipole element of finite diameter fed at its centre, with a short circuit across its feed point. The principal part of the current in a loaded receiving antenna is distributed as in a center-driven antenna. It is proportional to the effective length of the antenna and is in phase with the incident electric field if the passive dipole is excited exactly at its resonance frequency. Now we imagine the current as the source of a power wave at the (short-circuited) port of the antenna. As is well known in transmission line theory, a short circuit reflects the incident voltage 180 degrees out of phase. So one could as well model the operation of the parasitic element as the superposition of a dipole element receiving power and sending it down a transmission line to a matched load, and a transmitter sending the same amount of power up the transmission line back toward the antenna element. If the transmitted voltage wave were 180 degrees out of phase with the received wave at that point, the superposition of the two voltage waves would give zero voltage, equivalent to shorting out the dipole at the feedpoint (making it a solid element, as it is). However, the current of the backward wave is in phase with the current of the incident wave. This current drives the reradiation of the (passive) dipole element. At some distance, the reradiated electric field is described by the far-field component of the radiation field of a dipole antenna. Its phase includes the propagation delay (relating to the current) and an additional 90 degrees lagging phase offset. Thus, the reradiated field may be thought as having a 90 degrees lagging phase with respect to the incident field.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: Parasitic elements involved in Yagi–Uda antennas are not exactly resonant but are somewhat shorter (or longer) than "λ" so that the phase of the element's current is modified with respect to its excitation from the driven element. The so-called "reflector" element, being longer than "λ", has an inductive reactance, which means the phase of its current lags the phase of the open-circuit voltage that would be induced by the received field. The phase delay is thus larger than 90 degrees and, if the reflector element is made sufficiently long, the phase delay may be imagined to approach 180 degrees, so that the incident wave and the wave reemitted by the reflector interfere destructively in the forward direction (i.e. looking from the driven element towards the passive element). The "director" element, on the other hand, being shorter than "λ", has a capacitive reactance with the voltage phase lagging that of the current. The phase delay is thus smaller than 90 degrees and, if the director element is made sufficiently short, the phase delay may be imagined to approach zero and the incident wave and the wave reemitted by the reflector interfere constructively in the forward direction.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: Interference also occurs in the backward direction. This interference is influenced by the distance between the driven and the passive element, because the propagation delays of the incident wave (from the driven element to the passive element) and of the reradiated wave (from the passive element back to the driven element) have to be taken into account. To illustrate the effect, we assume zero and 180 degrees phase delay for the reemission of director and reflector, respectively, and assume a distance of a quarter wavelength between the driven and the passive element. Under these conditions the wave reemitted by the director interferes destructively with the wave emitted by the driven element in the backward direction (away from the passive element), and the wave reemitted by the reflector interferes constructively.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: In reality, the phase delay of passive dipole elements does not reach the extreme values of zero and 180 degrees. Thus, the elements are given the correct lengths and spacings so that the radio waves radiated by the driven element and those re-radiated by the parasitic elements all arrive at the front of the antenna in-phase, so they superpose and add, increasing signal strength in the forward direction. In other words, the crest of the forward wave from the reflector element reaches the driven element just as the crest of the wave is emitted from that element. These waves reach the first director element just as the crest of the wave is emitted from that element, and so on. The waves in the reverse direction interfere destructively, cancelling out, so the signal strength radiated in the reverse direction is small. Thus the antenna radiates a unidirectional beam of radio waves from the front (director end) of the antenna.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: While the above qualitative explanation is useful for understanding how parasitic elements can enhance the driven elements' radiation in one direction at the expense of the other, the assumption of an additional 90 degrees (leading or lagging) phase shift of the reemitted wave is not valid. Typically, the phase shift in the passive element is much smaller. Moreover, to increase the effect of the passive radiators, they should be placed close to the driven element, so that they can collect and reemit a significant part of the primary radiation.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: A more realistic model of a Yagi–Uda array using just a driven element and a director is illustrated in the accompanying diagram. The wave generated by the driven element (green) propagates in both the forward and reverse directions (as well as other directions, not shown). The director receives that wave slightly delayed in time (amounting to a phase delay of about 45° which will be important for the reverse direction calculations later). Due to the director's shorter length, the current generated in the director is advanced in phase (by about 20°) with respect to the incident field and emits an electromagnetic field, which lags (under far-field conditions) this current by 90°. The net effect is a wave emitted by the director (blue) which is about 70° (20° - 90°) retarded with respect to that from the driven element (green), in this particular design. These waves combine to produce the net forward wave (bottom, right) with an amplitude somewhat larger than the individual waves.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: In the reverse direction, on the other hand, the additional delay of the wave from the director (blue) due to the spacing between the two elements (about 45° of phase delay traversed twice) causes it to be about 160° (70° + 2 × 45°) out of phase with the wave from the driven element (green). The net effect of these two waves, when added (bottom, left), is partial cancellation. The combination of the director's position and shorter length has thus obtained a unidirectional rather than the bidirectional response of the driven (half-wave dipole) element alone.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: When a passive radiator is placed close (less than a quarter wavelength distance) to the driven dipole, it interacts with the near field, in which the phase-to-distance relation is not governed by propagation delay, as would be the case in the far field. Thus, the amplitude and phase relation between the driven and the passive element cannot be understood with a model of successive collection and reemission of a wave that has become completely disconnected from the primary radiating element. Instead, the two antenna elements form a coupled system, in which, for example, the self-impedance (or radiation resistance) of the driven element is strongly influenced by the passive element. A full analysis of such a system requires computing the "mutual impedances" between the dipole elements which implicitly takes into account the propagation delay due to the finite spacing between elements and near-field coupling effects. We model element number "j" as having a feedpoint at the centre with a voltage "V" and a current "I" flowing into it. Just considering two such elements we can write the voltage at each feedpoint in terms of the currents using the mutual impedances "Z":


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: "Z" and "Z" are simply the ordinary driving point impedances of a dipole, thus 73 + j43 ohms for a half-wave element (or purely resistive for one slightly shorter, as is usually desired for the driven element). Due to the differences in the elements' lengths "Z" and "Z" have a substantially different reactive component. Due to reciprocity we know that "Z" = "Z". Now the difficult computation is in determining that mutual impedance "Z" which requires a numerical solution. This has been computed for two exact half-wave dipole elements at various spacings in the accompanying graph.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: The solution of the system then is as follows. Let the driven element be designated 1 so that "V" and "I" are the voltage and current supplied by the transmitter. The parasitic element is designated 2, and since it is shorted at its "feedpoint" we can write that "V" = 0. Using the above relationships, then, we can solve for "I" in terms of "I":


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: This is the current induced in the parasitic element due to the current "I" in the driven element. We can also solve for the voltage "V" at the feedpoint of the driven element using the earlier equation:


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: where we have substituted "Z" = "Z". The ratio of voltage to current at this point is the "driving point impedance Z" of the 2-element Yagi:


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: With only the driven element present the driving point impedance would have simply been "Z", but has now been modified by the presence of the parasitic element. And now knowing the phase (and amplitude) of "I" in relation to "I" as computed above allows us to determine the radiation pattern (gain as a function of direction) due to the currents flowing in these two elements. Solution of such an antenna with more than two elements proceeds along the same lines, setting each "V" = 0 for all but the driven element, and solving for the currents in each element (and the voltage "V" at the feedpoint). Generally the mutual coupling tends to lower the impedance of the primary radiator and thus, folded dipole antennas are frequently used because of their large radiation resistance, which is reduced to the typical 50 to 75 Ohm range by coupling with the passive elements.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: There are no simple formulas for designing Yagi–Uda antennas due to the complex relationships between physical parameters such as


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: However using the above kinds of iterative analysis, one can calculate the performance of a given a set of parameters and adjust them to optimize the gain (perhaps subject to some constraints). Since with an element Yagi–Uda antenna, there are parameters to adjust (the element lengths and relative spacings), this iterative analysis method is not straightforward. The mutual impedances plotted above only apply to length elements, so these might need to be recomputed to get good accuracy.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: The current distribution along a real antenna element is only approximately given by the usual assumption of a classical standing wave, requiring a solution of Hallen's integral equation taking into account the other conductors. Such a complete exact analysis, considering all of the interactions mentioned, is rather overwhelming, and approximations are inevitable on the path to finding a usable antenna. Consequently, these antennas are often empirical designs using an element of trial and error, often starting with an existing design modified according to one's hunch. The result might be checked by direct measurement or by computer simulation.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: A well-known reference employed in the latter approach is a report published by the United States National Bureau of Standards (NBS) (now the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST)) that provides six basic designs derived from measurements conducted at 400 MHz and procedures for adapting these designs to other frequencies. These designs, and those derived from them, are sometimes referred to as "NBS yagis."


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: By adjusting the distance between the adjacent directors it is possible to reduce the back lobe of the radiation pattern.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: The Yagi–Uda antenna was invented in 1926 by Shintaro Uda of Tohoku Imperial University, Sendai, Japan, with the guidance of Hidetsugu Yagi, also of Tohoku Imperial University. Yagi and Uda published their first report on the wave projector directional antenna. Yagi demonstrated a proof of concept, but the engineering problems proved to be more onerous than conventional systems.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: Yagi published the first English-language reference on the antenna in a 1928 survey article on short wave research in Japan and it came to be associated with his name. However, Yagi who provided the conception which was originally vague expression to Uda, always acknowledged Uda's principal contribution towards the design which will currently be recognized as the reduction to practice, and if the novelty is not considered, the proper name for the antenna is, as above, the Yagi–Uda antenna (or array).


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: The Yagi was first widely used during World War II for airborne radar sets, because of its simplicity and directionality. Despite its being invented in Japan, many Japanese radar engineers were unaware of the design until very late in the war, partly due to rivalry between the Army and Navy. The Japanese military authorities first became aware of this technology after the Battle of Singapore when they captured the notes of a British radar technician that mentioned "yagi antenna". Japanese intelligence officers did not even recognise that Yagi was a Japanese name in this context. When questioned, the technician said it was an antenna named after a Japanese professor.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: A horizontally polarized array can be seen under the leading edge of Grumman TBF Avenger carrier-based US Navy aircraft and the Consolidated PBY Catalina long range patrol seaplane. Vertically polarized arrays can be seen on the cheeks of the P-61 and on the nose cones of many WWII aircraft, notably the Lichtenstein radar-equipped examples of the German Junkers Ju 88R-1 fighter-bomber, and the British Bristol Beaufighter night-fighter and Short Sunderland flying-boat. Indeed, the latter had so many antenna elements arranged on its back – in addition to its formidable turreted defensive armament in the nose and tail, and atop the hull – it was nicknamed the "fliegendes Stachelschwein", or "Flying Porcupine" by German airmen. The experimental "Morgenstern" German AI VHF-band radar antenna of 1943–44 used a "double-Yagi" structure from its 90° angled pairs of Yagi antennas formed from six discrete dipole elements, making it possible to fit the array within a conical, rubber-covered plywood radome on an aircraft's nose, with the extreme tips of the "Morgenstern's" antenna elements protruding from the radome's surface, with an NJG 4 Ju 88G-6 of the wing's staff flight using it late in the war for its Lichtenstein SN-2 AI radar.


title: Yagi–Uda antenna

text: After World War 2, the advent of television broadcasting motivated extensive adaptation of the Yagi–Uda design for rooftop television reception in the VHF band (and later for UHF television) and also as an FM radio antenna in fringe areas. A major drawback was the Yagi's inherently narrow bandwidth, eventually solved by the adoption of the very wideband log-periodic dipole array (LPDA). Yet the Yagi's higher gain compared to the LPDA makes it still required for the best fringe reception, and very complicated Yagi designs and combination with other antenna technologies have been developed to permit its operation over the broad television bands.


title: Canadian Armed Forces ranks and insignia

text: This is a table of the ranks and insignia of the Canadian Armed Forces. As the Canadian Armed Forces is officially bilingual, the French language ranks are presented following the English (in italics).


text: The Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Armed Forces () rank insignia is a special sleeve braid embellished with the crest of the Royal arms of Canada and this same embroidered crest is worn on the shoulder straps.


text: The following are the rank insignia for non-commissioned members for the navy, army and air force respectively.


text: NCM rank insignia for the rank of petty officer 1st class/warrant officer and above are worn on the lower sleeve, while those for the rank of petty officer 2nd class/sergeant and below are worn on the upper sleeve. The Royal Canadian Navy has directed its personnel to use the English rank titles for OR-1 through OR-5, but they are not yet legally in force pursuant to the National Defence Act, as they are not yet updated in the King's Regulations and Orders issued by the Governor-in-Council.


text: The tables above describe the rank insignia worn on the service dress jacket. On DEU shirts, sweaters, and outerwear; and operational dress shirts and jackets, rank insignia are worn on slip-ons with the word "CANADA" or a regimental/branch title embroidered underneath. Flag/general officers' slip-ons include only the crown, crossed sabre and baton, and maple leaves worn on the shoulder straps; they do not include the braid worn on the sleeve. Army NCM slip-ons for DEU shirts, sweaters, and outerwear display only the word "CANADA" or a regimental/branch title, rank insignia being worn instead as enamelled metal pins on collar points or lapels.


text: From 1955 to 1968 Militia personnel were permitted to wear service insignia on the right jacket sleeve. There were one to five silver chevrons on drab backing for every two years of service or a maple leaf in silver thread on a drab cloth circle to represent 10 years of service. Chevron points were worn either up or down; even official documents and photos were confused on the matter. Further awards after 10 years were believed covered by the Canadian Forces Decoration, which was awarded after 12 years and a clasp added for every 10 years afterwards.


text: Qualifying service could include prior active service in the active reserves of the Royal Canadian Navy and Royal Canadian Air Force or the regular or territorial forces of a fellow Commonwealth member nation. Service in Canadian Army reserve forces units (like the regular reserve, supplementary reserve and reserve militia) did not count. The awarding of Service Stripes ceased in 1968 after the unification of the Canadian Armed Forces.


text: Every branch or corps of the Canadian Army uses a distinctive colour. Applicable only to officers, they are indicated by coloured borders of rank insignia on DEU shirt and sweater slip-ons and on mess dress.


text: Additionally, the Royal Regiment of Canadian Artillery uses "bombardier" for corporals and "master bombardier" for master corporal. In the guard regiments, warrant officers are known as "colour sergeants" and second lieutenants are known as "ensigns".


text: Except for those who acquired the Canadian Forces mess dress between 1968 and 2010, naval officers have always worn the Royal Navy-style executive curl rank insignia on mess uniforms (see Royal Navy officer rank insignia). The colour designations for specialist officers are not used except for naval medical officers who may use a variant of the standard rank slip-ons and shoulder boards incorporating a scarlet red background between the gold braid of their rank insignia and naval medical service officers (nursing officers, pharmacy officers, health care administration officers, social work officers, physiotherapy officers, and bioscience officers) who have shoulder boards incorporating a dull cherry red background between the strips of their rank.


text: When the Canadian Navy was established in 1910 it was natural to adopt the same straight rings with the executive curl for the permanent navy that was designated as the Royal Canadian Navy (RCN) in August 1911 and subsequently the "wavy" shaped rings for the Royal Canadian Naval Volunteer Reserve (RCNVR) and the rings of narrow interwoven gold lace for the Royal Canadian Navy Reserve (RCNR). Other variations in rank insignia included sky blue lace with a diamond shaped loop for officers of the Women's Royal Canadian Naval Service, and warranted Royal Canadian Sea Cadet Corps officers, who had a small anchor in place of the executive curl.


text: Following the Second World War, the Royal Canadian Navy was reorganized with a single reserve component. In 1946 the distinctive wavy gold braid of the reserves gave way to the straight braided executive curl of the regular force until 1968. With the integration of the Canadian Forces the sea element was designated as Canadian Forces Maritime Command. Unembellished straight braid became the common rank insignia for officers of both the regular and reserve forces. The executive curl rank insignia has been in continuous use in the Royal Canadian Navy, but from 1968 to 2010 it appeared only on navy mess dress.


text: On 5 March 2010, the Canadian House of Commons passed a motion (moved by Guy Lauzon) recommending the executive curl be reinstated on the Canadian navy uniform. Subsequently, in recognition of the Canadian Naval centennial, Peter MacKay, Minister of National Defence, authorized the use of the executive curl for the Canadian Navy on 2 May 2010. The insignia became effective on 11 June 2010, on the occasion of the Pacific Canadian Naval International Fleet Review parade of nations in Victoria, B.C.


text: More than 54 countries, including Canada and 18 other of the 22 Commonwealth navies, use the insignia. Most navies that do not use the executive curl insignia, such as the United States Navy and the French Navy, substitute a star or other national device above the top row of lace.


text: The Minister of National Defence, Peter MacKay, announced on 8 July 2013 the intention to reintroduce a more traditional style Canadian Army officers' rank insignia. Instead of the sleeve stripe rank insignia used since unification, officers would use the older St Edward's Crown and Star of the Order of the Bath insignia, commonly called "pips and crowns". The traditional gorget patches were also restored for officers of the rank of colonel or higher. The reinstated insignia for officers, instead of using the current British rank insignia for brigadier (used in the Canadian Army until 1968), had the pre-1920 brigadier-general insignia (crossed sabre and baton) instead.


text: On 2 April 2016, the Commander of the Canadian Army announced that general officers would revert to the unification-era rank insignia worn between 1968 and 2013. This rank insignia is based on the shoulder board rank insignia of Royal Canadian Navy flag officers. The rank insignia of general officers now consists of a crown, crossed sabre and baton, and a series of maple leaves on shoulder straps. Additionally, general officers wear one broad gold band on each of the lower sleeves of the service dress tunic.


text: On the centenary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, 9 April 2017, the Bath Star pip was replaced by the "Vimy Star". It depicts a maple leaf and is surrounded by the Latin motto ("we stand on guard for thee"). Commissioned officers of the household guard regiments (Governor General's Foot Guards, Canadian Grenadier Guards, and Governor General's Horse Guards), plus Army personnel stationed to the seasonal Ceremonial Guard, use the Guards Star in place of the Vimy Star on their shoulder boards.


text: In April 2015, the Royal Canadian Air Force adopted new rank insignia reminiscent of the pre-unification RCAF system. The new officer rank insignia uses pearl-grey-on-black rank stripes instead of gold. Non-commissioned members (NCMs) rank insignia is pearl grey instead of gold. The colour gold found elsewhere on the uniform was also changed to pearl-grey. The air force rank of private, formerly indicated by one chevron, became aviator (Fr: "aviateur"), and is indicated by a horizontally-aligned two-bladed propeller. All other ranks titles remain as they were.


text: Contrary to the Royal Canadian Navy and the Canadian Army, mess dress uniform ranks for officers of the Royal Canadian Air Force follow the naval pattern, without the executive curl. General officers do not wear shoulder straps with this order of dress.


title: Don (river)

text: The Don () is the fifth-longest river in Europe. Flowing from Central Russia to the Sea of Azov in Southern Russia, it is one of Russia's largest rivers and played an important role for traders from the Byzantine Empire.


title: Don (river)

text: Its basin is between the Dnieper basin to the west, the lower Volga basin immediately to the east, and the Oka basin (tributary of the Volga) to the north. Native to much of the basin were Slavic nomads.


title: Don (river)

text: The Don rises in the town of Novomoskovsk southeast of Tula (in turn south of Moscow), and flows 1,870 kilometres to the Sea of Azov. The river's upper half ribbles (meanders subtly) south; however, its lower half consists of a great eastern curve, including Voronezh, making its final stretch, an estuary, run west south-west. The main city on the river is Rostov-on-Don. Its main tributary is the Seversky Donets, centred on the mid-eastern end of Ukraine, thus the other country in the overall basin. To the east of a series of three great ship locks and associated ponds is the Volga-Don Canal.


title: Don (river)

text: According to the Kurgan hypothesis, the Volga-Don river region was the homeland of the Proto-Indo-Europeans around 4000 BC. The Don river functioned as a fertile cradle of civilization where the Neolithic farmer culture of the Near East fused with the hunter-gatherer culture of Siberian groups, resulting in the nomadic pastoralism of the Proto-Indo-Europeans. The east Slavic tribe of the Antes inhabited the Don and other areas of Southern and Central Russia. The area around the Don was influenced by the Byzantine Empire because the river was important for traders from Byzantium.


title: Don (river)

text: In antiquity, the river was viewed as the border between Europe and Asia by some ancient Greek geographers. In the Book of Jubilees, it is mentioned as being part of the border, beginning with its easternmost point up to its mouth, between the allotments of the sons of Noah, that of Japheth to the north and that of Shem to the south. During the times of the old Scythians it was known in Greek as the "Tanaïs" () and has been a major trading route ever since. "Tanais" appears in ancient Greek sources as both the name of the river and of a city on it, situated in the Maeotian marshes. Greeks also called the river "Iazartes" ().


title: Don (river)

text: According to an anonymous Greek source, which historically (but not certainly) has been attributed to Plutarch, the Don was home to the legendary Amazons of Greek mythology.


title: Don (river)

text: The area around the estuary has been speculated to be the source of the Black Death in the mid-14th century.


title: Don (river)

text: While the lower Don was well known to ancient geographers, its middle and upper reaches were not mapped with any accuracy before the gradual conquest of the area by Muscovy in the 16th century.


title: Don (river)

text: The Don Cossacks, who settled the fertile valley of the river in the 16th and 17th centuries, were named after the river.


title: Don (river)

text: The fort of "Donkov" was founded by the princes of Ryazan in the late 14th century. The fort stood on the left bank of the Don, about from the modern town of Dankov, until 1568, when it was destroyed by the Crimean Tatars, but was soon restored at a better fortified location. It is shown as "Donko" in Mercator's "Atlas" (1596).


title: Don (river)

text: Both Blaeu and Mercator follow the 16th-century cartographic tradition of letting the Don originate in a great lake, labeled "Resanskoy ozera" by Blaeu. Mercator follows Giacomo Gastaldo (1551) in showing a waterway connecting this lake (by Gastaldo labeled "Ioanis Lago", by Mercator "Odoium lac. Iwanowo et Jeztoro") to Ryazan and the Oka River. Mercator shows Mtsensk ("Msczene") as a great city on this waterway, suggesting a system of canals connecting the Don with the Zusha ("Schat") and Upa ("Uppa") centered on a settlement "Odoium", reported


title: Don (river)

text: as "Odoium lacum" ("Juanow ozero") in the map made by Baron Augustin von Mayerberg, leader of an embassy to Muscovy in 1661.


title: Don (river)

text: In modern literature, the Don region was featured in the work "And Quiet Flows the Don" by Mikhail Aleksandrovich Sholokhov, a Nobel-prize winning writer from the stanitsa of Veshenskaya.


title: Don (river)

text: At its easternmost point, the Don comes within of the Volga. The Volga-Don Canal, 101 kilometres (65 mi), connects the two. It is a broad, deep waterway capable of transporting oil tanker size vessels. It is one of two which enables ships to depart the Caspian Sea, the other, a series, connected to the Baltic Sea. The level of the Don where connected is raised by the Tsimlyansk Dam, forming the Tsimlyansk Reservoir.


title: Don (river)

text: For the next below the Tsimlyansk Dam, the sufficient depth of the Don is maintained by the sequence of three dam-and-ship-lock complexes: the Nikolayevsky Ship Lock (Николаевский гидроузел), Konstantinovsk Ship Lock (Константиновский гидроузел), and the best known of the three, the Kochetovsky Ship Lock (Кочетовский гидроузел). The Kochetovsky Lock, built in 1914–19 and doubled in 2004–08, is downstream of the discharge of the Seversky Donets and upstream of Rostov-on-Don. It is at . This facility, with its dam, maintains a navigable head of water locally and into the lowermost stretch of the Seversky Donets. This is presently the last lock on the Don; below it, deep-draught navigation is maintained by dredging.


title: Don (river)

text: In order to improve shipping conditions in the lower reaches of the Don, the waterway authorities support plans for one or two more low dams with locks. These will be in Bagayevsky District and possibly Aksaysky District.


title: Martha Hyer

text: Martha Hyer (August 10, 1924 – May 31, 2014) was an American actress who played Gwen French in "Some Came Running" (1958), for which she was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. Her autobiography, "Finding My Way: A Hollywood Memoir", was published in 1990.


title: Martha Hyer

text: Martha Hyer was born in Fort Worth, Texas, into a wealthy family, the daughter of Julien Capers Hyer, an attorney and judge, and Agnes Rebecca (née Barnhart). She was the middle of three sisters, with Agnes Ann and Jeanne. The Hyers were active in the Methodist church, where her father was a highly respected Sunday school teacher. Hyer graduated from Arlington Heights High School and then from Northwestern University with a degree in drama. She was in the sorority Pi Beta Phi with actress Patricia Neal. She then moved to California to study at the Pasadena Playhouse, and soon after was signed to a film contract with RKO. She was married twice, first to producer C. Ray Stahl and later to producer Hal B. Wallis. She converted to Judaism, Wallis's religion, after their marriage. Wallis and Hyer remained together until his death in 1986. Hyer and Wallis contributed funds towards the construction of The Hal and Martha Hyer Wallis Theatre, a black box theater, at Northwestern University. She had no children.


title: Martha Hyer

text: Hyer's first film appearance was an uncredited speaking part in "The Locket" (1946). She appeared in uncredited and bit roles in B-movies for the next few years, occasionally working on television, as well. Eventually, she moved up the ranks, and starting in 1954, began receiving better roles, becoming a popular actress in Hollywood for the next decade.


title: Martha Hyer

text: Hyer had a supporting role in the drama "So Big" (1953), which stars Jane Wyman, and was directed by Robert Wise. She appeared as Janie in "Abbott and Costello Go To Mars" (also 1953). Hyer followed this with Westerns, "Wyoming Renegades" (1954) and "The Battle of Rogue River" (1954), and a musical comedy, "Lucky Me" (1954), which stars Doris Day. She then played Elizabeth Tyson, a socialite who almost loses her fiancé (William Holden) to Audrey Hepburn, in the Oscar-winning film "Sabrina" (1954). She next starred opposite Donald O'Connor in the comedy "Francis in the Navy" (1955) and in a 1956 televised version of "Jezebel" for "Lux Video Theatre" in which she played the lead role of Julie.


title: Martha Hyer

text: She had supporting roles in the war story "Battle Hymn" (1957) with Rock Hudson and in the drama "Mister Cory" (1957) with Tony Curtis, directed by Blake Edwards. She was featured in "Kelly and Me", a comedy with Van Johnson, and as Cornelia Bullock in the 1957 remake of "My Man Godfrey" with David Niven. In 1958, Hyer appeared in a "Playhouse 90" televised version of "Reunion" by Merle Miller, along with Frances Farmer. She next appeared in "Paris Holiday" (1958) with Bob Hope and "Houseboat" (1958) with Cary Grant. Hyer was the foil for soon-to-be TV icons Dan Rowan and Dick Martin of "Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In" fame in their "Once Upon a Horse..." (1958) Western film by Hal Kanter. For the 1958 drama "Some Came Running", directed by Vincente Minnelli, Hyer was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress.


title: Martha Hyer

text: Soon after, she had supporting roles in "The Big Fisherman" (1959) and "The Best of Everything" (1959) with Joan Crawford. Also in 1959 Martha played the role of Hannah Haley in "Rawhide (TV series)" S1 Ep 8 Incident West Of Lano.


title: Martha Hyer

text: Hyer started the 1960s with a supporting role in "Ice Palace" (1960), a drama with Richard Burton, and "The Last Time I Saw Archie" (1961), a comedy with Robert Mitchum. Next she was in "A Girl Named Tamiko" (1962), "Wives and Lovers", and "The Carpetbaggers" (1964).