title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Alcohol consumption is partially legal in Qatar; some five-star luxury hotels are allowed to sell alcohol to their non-Muslim customers. Muslims are not allowed to consume alcohol in Qatar, and Muslims caught consuming alcohol are liable to flogging or deportation. Non-Muslim expatriates can obtain a permit to purchase alcohol for personal consumption. The Qatar Distribution Company (a subsidiary of Qatar Airways) is permitted to import alcohol and pork; it operates the one and only liquor store in the country, which also sells pork to holders of liquor licences. Qatari officials have also indicated a willingness to allow alcohol in "fan zones" at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Up until December 2011, restaurants on the Pearl-Qatar (a man-made island near Doha) were allowed to serve alcoholic drinks, but they were then told to stop selling alcohol. No explanation was given for the ban. Speculation about the reason includes the government's desire to project a more pious image in advance of the country's first election of a royal advisory body, and rumours of a financial dispute between the government and the resort's developers.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In 2014, Qatar launched a modesty campaign to remind tourists of the modest dress code. Female tourists are advised not to wear leggings, miniskirts, sleeveless dresses and short or tight clothing in public. Men are advised against wearing only shorts and singlets.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: As of 2014, certain provisions of the Qatari Criminal Code allows punishments such as flogging and stoning to be imposed as criminal sanctions. The UN Committee Against Torture found that these practices constituted a breach of the obligations imposed by the UN Convention Against Torture. Qatar retains the death penalty, mainly for threats against national security.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: According to the US State Department, expatriate workers from nations throughout Asia and parts of Africa are routinely subjected to forced labour and, in some instances, prostitution. Most of these people voluntarily migrate to Qatar as low-skilled labourers or domestic servants, but are subsequently subjected to conditions indicative of involuntary servitude. Some of the more common labour rights violations include beatings, withholding of payment, charging workers for benefits which are nominally the responsibility of the amir, severe restrictions on freedom of movement (such as the confiscation of passports, travel documents, or exit permits), arbitrary detention, threats of legal action, and sexual assault. Many migrant workers arriving for work in Qatar have paid exorbitant fees to recruiters in their home countries – a practice that makes workers highly vulnerable to forced labour once in Qatar.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: A 2012 report by Human Rights Watch concluded that hundreds of thousands of mostly South Asian migrant workers in construction in Qatar risk serious exploitation and abuse, sometimes amounting to forced labour. In 2020, Human rights Watch drafted out a report that claimed the nation’s initiatives in labor market by allowing migrant workers to change job without employer permission and setting a higher and non-discriminatory minimum wage. Also the report included data regarding enforcement of rudimentary midday summer working hours ban.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Like other Persian Gulf nations, Qatar has sponsorship laws, which have been widely criticised as "modern-day slavery." Under the provisions of Qatar's sponsorship law, sponsors have the unilateral power to cancel workers' residency permits, deny workers' ability to change employers, report a worker as "absconded" to police authorities, and deny permission to leave the country. As a result, sponsors may restrict workers' movements and workers may be afraid to report abuses or claim their rights, which contribute to their forced labour situation.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Domestic servants are particularly vulnerable to trafficking since they are isolated inside homes and are not covered under the provisions of the labour law, but some reforms introduced in September 2020 extend to all workers, including those for ending employment contracts and changing jobs. Qatar is also a destination for women who migrate for legitimate purposes and subsequently become involved in prostitution, but the extent to which these women are subjected to forced prostitution is unknown. Some of these victims may be runaway domestic workers who have fallen prey to forced prostitution by individuals who exploit their illegal status.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: The Government states that it is doing a good job with regards to human rights and treatment of labourers. The National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) was established in 2002 to safeguard and consolidate human rights for everyone subject to the jurisdiction under the state. In a bid to combat Human trafficking, Sheikha Mozah bint Nasser Al-Missned established the Qatar Foundation on Combating Human Trafficking (QFCHT). To promote more awareness in this area, the Ritz-Carlton Doha, created the World's largest Cake for the QFCHT Sculpture.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Qatari contracting agency Barwa is building a residential area for labourers known as Barwa Al Baraha (also called Workers City). The project was launched after a recent scandal in Dubai's Labor camps, and aims to provide a reasonable standard of living as defined by the new Human Rights Legislation. The overall cost of the project is estimated at around $1.1 billion and will be an integrated city in the Industrial area of Doha. Along with 4.25 square metres of living space per person, the residential project will provide recreational areas and services for labourers. Phase one of the project is set to be completed at the end of 2008 while all phases will be complete by mid 2010.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Qatar Airways, the country's national airline, has long been criticised for its treatment of its lower level employees including flight attendants. Abuses include firing employees without apparent reason, low wages, overworking hours. Employees have been reported to be unlawfully detained by the airline without charge. Deportations by the airline of its employees to their home countries without reason have been reported.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In 2019, a Qatari diplomat working as a medical attaché since 2007 at the Qatar embassy in London was accused of racially discriminating against pensioner working at the embassy and treating him like his "personal slave". The diplomat, Abdullah Al Ansari, accepted that Mohamoud Ahmed, the pensioner, would perform tasks such as fetching Al Ansari's shopping, dropping off his dry cleaning and picking up his children from school during the week.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In 2021 the Foreign Ministry issued guidance for citizens travelling abroad with servants, nannies or drivers.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: The construction boom in Qatar began well in advance of Qatar winning the hosting rights to the 2022 FIFA World Cup. When the Emir Sheikh Hamad Al Thani took control of Qatar from his father in 1995 he opened Qatar up to foreign investment. He began the construction of the world's biggest LNG terminals in Ras Laffan with the granting of concessions to ExxonMobil, Royal Dutch Shell and Total S.A. Over 100,000 workers were brought into the country to build Ras Laffan. An estimated 1 million workers, with Qatar's total population being 2 million, are currently living in Qatar helping to build the country. In 1995, when Sheikh Hamad took control, the total migrant population was around 370,000.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In 2013, Amnesty International published reports showing that unpaid migrant workers were left to go hungry. According to the report, workers are being "treated like cattle." According to a report by the Guardian, based on documents obtained at the Nepalese embassy in Qatar, dozens of Nepalese migrant labourers had died in Qatar within the span of a few weeks around September 2013, and thousands more were enduring appalling labour abuses. According to their analysis, current construction practices will have resulted in over 4,000 deaths by the time of the 2022 event. This figure is denied by the Qatari authorities, who argue that it is misleading since it includes all causes of death in a population of close to one million and over an eight-year period. As of December 2013, FIFA has investigated but taken no action to force Qatar to improve worker conditions.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: British law firm DLA Piper was instructed in 2012 by Sheikha Moza bint Nasser, President of Qatar Foundation, to undertake a review of migrant worker conditions. Following the recommendations made, Qatar Foundation created the Migrant Workers Welfare Charter, which applies minimum requirements with respect to the recruitment, living and working conditions, as well as the general treatment of workers engaged in construction and other projects. The mandatory standards will be incorporated into agreements between Qatar Foundation and all its contractors, who are required to comply with the requirements and rules. Contractors and sub-contractors found to be violating the regulations have been blacklisted from future tenders.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: The Supreme Committee for Delivery and Legacy, the 2022 World Cup organising committee, followed this measure in mid-2014 with its own regulations and blacklisted a number of companies. A BBC reporting crew was jailed for two days without charge, after attempting to meet migrant workers.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In August 2015, the Ministry of Labour announced that all companies in Qatar would be required to pay their employees by electronic transfers. The rule is aimed at contractors who withhold salaries or make late payments.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: The Department for Human Rights at the Ministry of Labour, and the National Committee for Human Rights are responsible for the monitoring of abuses in Qatar.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In January 2022, the National Human Rights Committee (NHRC) launched "Together We Work" campaign to spread the awareness about knowledge of workers' rights and duties. The campaign highlighted legal amendments in Qatar legislation which affirmed the protection of workers' rights.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: On 16 March 2022, FIFA and the Ministry of Labour met in order to discuss the reforms taking place in Qatar's labour market. According to the latest report drafted by ESPN, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said, “I am pleased to see the strong commitment from the Qatari authorities to ensure the reforms are fully implemented across labor market”.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Qatar becoming the destination for the 2022 World Cup escalated the issue of human rights for migrant workers. Between 500,000 and 1.5 million migrant workers were employed to build the stadium. About 1,200 migrants died during the project between 2010 and 2013. The Qatar government did not take ownership of these deaths. Migrant workers involved in the world cup were forced into labor, some human trafficked, and kept against their will. Conditions of labor and number of wages was exaggerated to attract laborers; this requirement practice was not regulated by any organization.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Contractors advertise the work and rates.Qatar uses the kafala system. This system gives the network (in this case the contractor) the power to decide the treatment of the migrant workers and how they operate. The government does not get involved in the treatment. Workers were given dirty living conditions with 12 to one room and were often left with no food or pay. FIFA has changed executive members and added more people to their committee because of what has happened in Qatar.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Amid constant human rights criticisms, Qatar introduced migrant reforms that are applied to workers of all sections, including domestic workers, regardless of their nationality. These new reforms came into effect from March 2021. In August 2020 Qatar abolished the Kafala system and introduced labor reforms. Under these reforms workers can change jobs without employer’s permission and are now paid a basic minimum wage regardless of their nationality. The basic minimum wage is set at 1,000 QAR. Allowances for food and accommodation must be provided by employers, which are 300 QAR and 500 QAR respectively.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Qatar introduced a wage protection system to ensure the employers are complying with the reforms. The wage protection system monitors the workers in the private sector. This new system has reduced wage abuses and disputes among migrant labours.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: According to Amnesty international, in two different investigations on the working conditions of migrant workers, it was found that 94% of workers in Qatar are foreign nationals. Journalists found their conditions far below human standards. The workers were placed in poor communities, often without basic amenities such as running water, sewage or electricity.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Qatar is a destination for men and women from South Asia and Southeast Asia who migrate willingly, but are subsequently trafficked into involuntary servitude as domestic workers and labourers, and, to a lesser extent, commercial sexual exploitation. The most common offence was forcing workers to accept worse contract terms than those under which they were recruited. Other offences include bonded labour, withholding of pay, restrictions on movement, arbitrary detention, and physical, mental, and sexual abuse.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: According to the "Trafficking in Persons" report by the U.S. State Department, men and women who are lured into Qatar by promises of high wages are often forced into underpaid labour. The report states that Qatari laws against forced labour are rarely enforced, and that labour laws often result in the detention of victims in deportation centers, pending the completion of legal proceedings. The report places Qatar at tier 3, as one of the countries that neither satisfies the minimum standards, nor demonstrates significant efforts to come into compliance.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In a US State Department's report in 2021, Qatar government showcased an increase in its anti-trafficking capacity and was upgraded to a Tier-2 level nation. The strategies included reporting its first forced labour conviction under the anti-trafficking law, identifying victims and referring them to care at the new trafficking shelter.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: The government maintains that it is setting the benchmark when it comes to human rights and treatment of labourers.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In common with other Arab countries of the Persian Gulf, employment sponsorship laws exist in Qatar. These laws have been widely described as akin to modern-day slavery. The sponsorship system ("kafeel" or "kafala") exists throughout the GCC, apart from Bahrain, and means that a worker (not a tourist) may not enter the country without having a "kafeel". They cannot leave without the "kafeel" permission. An exit permit must first be awarded by the sponsor, or "kafeel". The sponsor has the right to ban the employee from entering Qatar within 2–5 years of his first departure. Various governmental sponsors have exercised their right to prevent employees from leaving the country, effectively holding them against their will for no good reason.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Some individuals after resigning have not been issued with exit permits, denying them the right to leave the country. Many sponsors do not allow the transfer of one employee to another sponsor. This does not apply to special sponsorship of a Qatar Financial Center-sponsored worker, where it is encouraged and regulated that sponsorship should be uninhibited and assistance should be given to allow for such transfers of sponsorship.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In May 2014, Ali bin Samikh al-Marri, Chairman of Qatar's National Human Rights Committee (NHRC), said that Doha had officially announced the end of the current sponsorship system, and had passed a new law replacing it with a new one in which contracts are signed between the workers and their employers. The exit permit was replaced with a new electronic system that will be managed by the Interior Ministry. The consequences of employers violating this system are subject to a fine of nearly $15,000.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Two laws protecting workers' rights, which included clauses on maximum working hours and rights to annual leave, were passed in August 2017. In November 2017, the United Nations' International Labour Organization (ILO) praised Qatar's commitment to workers rights protection.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In 2018, Sheikh Tamim passed Law No. 13 of 2018, abolishing exit visas for roughly 95% of the country's migrant workers. The remaining 5% of workers, which amount to approximately 174,000 people, still require their employer's permission to exit the country. While stating that more needs to be done to protect the rights of Qatar's workers, Stephen Cockburn of Amnesty claimed that the Amir had taken an "important first step towards meeting the authorities' promise to fundamentally reform the exploitative sponsorship system".


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In October 2017, Human Rights Watch praised Qatar's commitment to developing laws in line with international labour standards and the guidance of the International Labour Organization. Human Rights Watch said that Qatar had conducted a series of significant labour reforms to institute a minimum wage, to allow independent experts to monitor labour practices, and to reform the kafala system. The ILO said that Qatar is always seeking to be an ideal model for workers' rights. Human Rights Watch called on Gulf countries to follow the example of Qatar and to enhance the situation of migrant labour.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In November 2017, Qatar and the International Labour Organization started a technical cooperation programme to improve working conditions and labour rights. The ILO opened its first project office in Qatar on 30 April 2018 to support the implementation of the programme.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In January 2020, Qatar ended its exit visas requirement under the kafala system for all migrant workers. The ILO welcomed the move and appreciated the Qatari government, saying, "The removal of exit permits is an important milestone in the government's labour reform agenda".


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Labour reforms were introduced in September 2020, including allowing for migrant workers to change their jobs without first obtaining permission from their employer. The minimum wage was raised, which would apply to workers of all nationalities. The ability to change jobs, which effectively dismantles the kafala system, is regarded as a very significant change, as it underpins the system of forced labour. Although domestic servants are not covered by general labour laws, the new rules about changing jobs and terminating contracts apply to them also.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Still awaiting reform is the unfair situation caused by the requirement that it is the employers of migrant workers who enable their entry, residence, and employment permits, but it is the workers who are punished if the employer fails to do the necessary paperwork.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In April 2020, the government of Qatar provided $824 million to pay the wages of migrant workers in quarantine or undergoing treatment for COVID-19.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In August 2020, the Qatari government announced a monthly minimum wage for all workers of 1,000 riyals (US$275), an increase from the previous temporary minimum wage of 750 riyals a month. The new laws went into effect in March 2021. The International Labour Organization said "Qatar is the first country in the region to introduce a non-discriminatory minimum wage, which is a part of a series of historical reforms of the country's labour laws,"


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: The campaign group Migrant Rights said the new minimum wage was too low to meet migrant workers' need with Qatar's high cost of living. Employers are obligated to pay 300 riyals for food and 500 riyals for accommodation, if they do not provide employees with these directly. The No Objection Certificate was removed so that employees can change jobs without consent of the current employer. A Minimum Wage Committee was formed to check on the implementation.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: A problem in Qatar is a stigma behind mental health issues and how they are dealt with. Breaking new ground, Qatar joined the WHO's Mental Health Action Plan, which spanned 2013-2020. This plan, "recognizes the essential role of mental health in achieving health for all people" (World Health Organization). In Qatar, mental health typically has a stigma around it, and this was the first time the Qatar government played an active role in mental health awareness.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Studies have been done on the three groups that make up Qatar, which are the labor migrants, white collar migrants, and non-migrants. The odds of depression are significantly increased in the labor migrant and white-collar migrant groups compared to the non-migrant group. One of the explaining factors behind this difference is the quality of life. The thought process is that migrants have to face major life changes and have to adapt to living in Qatar. The 'culture shock' migrants experience is a major contributor to declining mental health.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Qatar is not as current as it could be with mental health services. In 2014, about 0.36% of the healthcare budget was spent on mental health services, which is seven times lower than the median for upper-middle-income nations. Major depressive disorder (20.4%) and generalized anxiety disorder (19.1%) are the most frequent cases seen. In undergraduate schooling for medical professions such as doctors and nurses, only 3% of training is dedicated to psychiatry, mental health, and other things related. There are a projected 13.5 mental health professionals per 100,000 population.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Women in Qatar vote and may run for public office. Qatar enfranchised women at the same time as men in connection with the May 1999 elections for a Central Municipal Council. It was the first Arab country in the Persian Gulf to allow women the right to vote. These elections—the first ever in Qatar—were deliberately held on 8 March 1999, International Women's Day.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: The first female judge in Qatar is Sheikha Maha Mansour Salman Jasim Al Thani. She is a law school graduate from Qatar University and was sworn into the post in 2010.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Labor force participation for women in Qatar is roughly 51%, which is higher than the world average, and is the highest rate in the Arab world.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Both Qatari and non-Qatari women are affected by a widening wage gap. They are paid 25% to 50% less than men, despite the fact that their working hours are comparable. The difference is due in part to the social allowances by government afforded to men as household heads, such as housing and travel allotments, which female employees are less likely to receive.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: An April 2022 report by the Federation of American scientists, observed that women in Qatar drive and own property, after reforms made in 2018, enabling women to work in government and the private sector.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In the October 2, 2021, Shura Council elections no women candidates were elected but the Amir included two women among his 15 appointments to the Council for the first time in Shura Council’s history.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Qatari women convicted for "illicit relations" (sex outside marriage) may be imprisoned for up to seven years, although usually the courts decide on one year. It is often poor domestic workers from South-east Asian countries who are convicted, even when they have been raped if the judge thinks they are lying.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Many women who get pregnant with an illegitimate child are jailed. Non-citizens who are forced to have sponsors are usually denied the right to leave Qatar and are therefore forced to seek refuge and counsel from their embassy. Despite the effort of embassies, many still land in jail. According to Najeeb al-Nuaimi, a criminal lawyer and former justice minister of Qatar, many women are able to avoid or be released from prison by marrying the father of their baby, at which point the woman is allowed to leave the country with her husband.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In October 2020, several women who were boarding flights from Doha were taken away to undergo invasive gynaecological examinations, after an abandoned newborn baby had been found in the airport toilets and officials were searching for the mother in order to punish her. This caused a diplomatic incident.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: A number of women have fled Qatar for the UK because of abuse. For example, Noof Al Maadeed left for the UK because her parents tried to force her to get married against her will. Another lady, Aisha Al Qahtani fled because her father is a senior military officer who abused her and there is little justice for her.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: The fears concerning Noof Al Maadeed's safety heightened when she spoke of receiving threats on October 13 and mysteriously vanished after returning to Qatar from the UK. Rumours suggested that she had been killed in government custody. The female Qatari activist later appeared in a series of videos and announced her health and safety on Twitter.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: A source briefed on the situation told AFP that Qatari authorities were providing assistance to Maadeed, who was being cared for at a safe, undisclosed location.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Migrant women are typically seen as a "dual minority" because of their gender and foreignness. According to a real account from a female migrant worker, "I felt estranged twice, one for not being a man, secondly for not being able to become one of the Arabs". These women have created a new classification term, FW-W for "foreign working-woman". The overlap of these identities cause this group of women to slip through the cracks unnoticed. Foreign women make up about 20 per cent of the total population and they outnumber female citizens by a ratio of nearly 1:4.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Out of the population of about 2,700,000, about 2 million are men and the rest are female. Over 90% over the population of Qatar are not actually Qatari. Workers come from India, Nepal, Bangladesh, the Philippines, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Egypt, and more. Out of this migrant population, over half of them have strong depression-like symptoms. With all of these different cultural backgrounds coming together, migrant workers most likely feel lost and have troubling find a place in their life.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: New laws passed in 2021 state that only those who have Qatari nationality since birth and are naturalized citizens with a Qatari grandparent can vote. Only those whose nationality is originally Qatari can run in elections. The migrant workers that make up the majority of Qatar are not considered citizens of the country they work so hard for.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In terms of basic human rights, people of Qatar face obstacles in communication and connection from language barriers. Not everyone in Qatar speaks Arabic and there is a heavy population of migrant workers that speak other languages; basic human rights are affected because of this lack of communication. For instance, access to health care is impacted. A patient that does not speak English or Arabic will have difficulty trying to receive treatment.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Qatar is predominantly made up of foreigners who do not speak the national languages, and they will have trouble in receiving treatment since they cannot voice their issues. Because of the language barrier patients might receive incorrect treatment or the wrong treatment for their ailment, which can make their situation even worse. Besides health care, the other interactions with important institutions that are counterproductive due to a lack of communication. According to the journal, "Patient Perspectives on Languages Discordance During Healthcare Visits: Findings From the Extremely High-Density Multicultural State of Qatar", addressing the work force of Qatar, "Qatar, … heavily in the development of its healthcare infrastructure in recent years to keep pace with rapid economic expansion. The expatriate population living and working in the country constitutes 94.14% of the total workforce (Qatar Permanent Population Committee, 2011)".


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: The majority of workers who control the forward progression of advancements of Qatar do not speak the national language. Migrant labor workers are the backbone of the country and those who are in charge of them probably cannot even communicate with them. The language barriers also create cultural and ethnic divides. About 90% of Qatar's population is made of non-citizens. Qatar has the highest population of migrants in the world and 94% of its economically active population are not Qatari natives.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Qatar has the death penalty, primarily for espionage, or other threats against national security. Apostasy, same-sex intercourse, and blasphemy are considered capital offences, but there have been no recorded applications of the death penalty for this charge.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Others crimes like murder, violent robbery resulting in death, arson, torture, kidnapping, terrorism, rape, drug trafficking, extortion by threat of accusation of a crime of honor, perjury causing wrongful execution, and treason carry a possible death sentence. However, the most recent executions that took place in Qatar were both for murder (in March 2003 and May 2020).


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Capital punishment in Qatar is done by a firing squad. Executions are rare. The last execution occurred in May 2020, after a 17-year hiatus. The executee was a murderer from Nepal.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Flogging is used in Qatar as a punishment for alcohol consumption or illicit sexual relations. According to Amnesty International, in 2012 at least six foreign nationals were sentenced to floggings of either 40 or 100 lashes.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: People convicted of sodomy can face imprisonment of up to three years. Muslims convicted of zina (unlawful sexual intercourse such as adultery and bestiality) can be sentenced to flogging. Non-Muslims can face imprisonment in such cases.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Freedom of expression is the political right to communicate one's opinions and ideas. A life sentence was handed to the Qatari poet Mohammed al-Ajami, also known as Mohammed Ibn al-Dheeb, for criticism of the government during the 2012 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Qatar. Observers were not allowed to enter the court, and al-Ajami himself was not present at the sentencing. All the information available points to Mohammed al-Ajami being a prisoner of conscience who had been placed behind bars solely for his words. Al-Ajami was released from prison in March 2016 after a royal pardon commuted his sentence.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: A cyber law which passed in late September 2014 severely limited freedom of speech and freedom of expression rights, granting the government and authorities the ability to punish "content that may harm the country" with jail time of up to 3 years, and fines around 500,000 QR. The law states that the authority may in each individual case judge whether the content is suitable or not. No guidelines or references are currently available to say what type of content is allowed.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In July 2020, Qatar International Centre for Conciliation and Arbitration (QICCA) board member for International Relations Sheikh Dr Thani bin Ali al-Thani claimed that Qatar’s legislation and laws “highly support sophisticated media activity,” guarantee freedom of opinion and expression, press and media freedom.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: The Qatari government is keen to maintain things as they are, and are concerned about a change in its conservative cultural values, so there are few ways to achieve citizenship through naturalisation. One way is through marriage to a Qatari citizen, but this does not guarantee it, especially for non-Muslims. Upon occasion, an employer can reward a good and longstanding worker who has benefited the company in a major way by ensuring a work and residence permit for them, but this is annually renewable until the employee's 60th birthday, and only in exceptional circumstances could this be extended to reside indefinitely in Qatar (although never attaining citizenship). Children of foreigners born in Qatar have to assume their parents' nationality; if one parent is Qatari, there is a path to citizenship, but it is not immediate.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Apart from fear of cultural influences, there are concerns about increased expenditure on new citizens; the government provides free education, healthcare, and housing loans for all of its citizens. Another concern is the maintenance of Qatar's political system, based on dynastic succession.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: A few foreign residents, who must be able to speak Arabic and lived in Qatar for a minimum of 25 years consecutively, may win citizenship if approved by the Emir. Elite athletes, recruited by the state in order to compete in the Olympics under the Qatari flag, have been granted citizenship in the past.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: The situation has long been debated, with especially younger Qataris questioning the restrictive laws, but analysts have suggested that as Qatar's economy becomes less dependent on oil, things might change, as "Qatar will need to attract long-term residents who can contribute to the tax base and support what will eventually become an aging population".


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Sodomy between consenting adults (regardless of gender) in Qatar is illegal, and subject to a sentence of up to five years in prison. The law is silent about sodomy between consenting female adults. Sexual orientation and gender identity are not covered in any civil rights laws and there is no recognition of same-sex marriages, civil unions or domestic partnerships.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Under Sharia Law, homosexuality in Qatar is punishable by death penalty for Muslims. The Amnesty International Report 2008 stated there were no executions for convictions of sexual offences in recent years in Qatar. According to the 2016 ILGA report, the death penalty for same-sex sexual behaviour has not been implemented in Qatar.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: "The New York Times" gay and transgender rights coverage published from April to July 2018 were censored in Qatar. The Doha edition of "The New York Times International Edition" had large empty areas in the newspaper with a note that the offending articles had been "exceptionally removed". Eight out of nine articles that were censored were on issues affecting the LGBT communities.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: In 2016, Polish Instagram star and model King Luxy was arrested and held for two months in Qatar for numerous charges, including extortion, blackmail, and cyber assault. Luxy claimed he was arrested for "wearing makeup on Snapchat and Instagram".


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Qatar is a Muslim-majority nation, with 76% of its population adhering to Islam. The government uses Sunni law as the basis of its criminal and civil regulations. However, some measure of religious toleration is granted. Foreign workers, and tourists, are free to affiliate with other faiths, i.e. Christians, Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, and Bahá'ís, as long as they are discreet and do not offend public order or morality.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: For example, in March 2008 the Roman Catholic church Our Lady of the Rosary was consecrated in Doha. However, in keeping with the need to be discreet, no missionaries are allowed and the church will not have any bells, crosses or other overtly Christian signs on its exterior.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Although abandoning Islam is considered apostasy, which is an offence subject to the death penalty, Qatar has not imposed any penalty for this offence since its independence in 1971.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Until 2005, children as young as four years old were used as jockeys in camel racing, which is a popular sport in the Gulf region. Children were also being trafficked from other countries, and often starved to keep their body weight down. The sport is a dangerous one, with the danger of hurt in a fall or being trampled underfoot. Robot jockeys created by a Swiss company were introduced to use instead of children when the then Emir of Qatar, Hamad Al Thani, introduced the ban.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: Law 39, issued in 2005, stipulated the formation of a "bureau for human rights" in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. One of its main missions is to prepare answers on the claims or reports of foreign countries and organisations on the situation of human rights inside the state.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: The National Human Rights Committee was founded in 2002 with the responsibility of overseeing and carrying out investigations on human rights abuses in the country. Their methods of advancing the country's standards of human rights include contributing to research programs related to human rights, conducting studies, and providing advice and recommendations to legislative bodies.


title: Human rights in Qatar

text: The following chart shows Qatar's ratings since 1972 in the Freedom in the World reports, published annually by Freedom House. A rating of 1 is "free"; 7, "not free".


title: Accounts receivable

text: Accounts receivable, abbreviated as AR or A/R, are legally enforceable claims for payment held by a business for goods supplied or services rendered that customers have ordered but not paid for. These are generally in the form of invoices raised by a business and delivered to the customer for payment within an agreed time frame. Accounts receivable is shown in a balance sheet as an asset. It is one of a series of accounting transactions dealing with the billing of a customer for goods and services that the customer has ordered. These may be distinguished from notes receivable, which are debts created through formal legal instruments called promissory notes.


title: Accounts receivable

text: Accounts receivable represents money owed by entities to the firm on the sale of products or services on credit. In most business entities, accounts receivable is typically executed by generating an invoice and either mailing or electronically delivering it to the customer, who, in turn, must pay it within an established timeframe, called "credit terms" or "payment terms".


title: Accounts receivable

text: The accounts receivable team is in charge of receiving funds on behalf of a company and applying it towards their current pending balances.


title: Accounts receivable

text: Collections and cashiering teams are part of the accounts receivable department. While the collections department seeks the debtor, the cashiering team applies the monies received.


title: Accounts receivable

text: Accounts receivable can make impact on liquidity of the company, thus it is important to pay attention to this metrics. Therefore the investment risk must be as small as possible.


title: Accounts receivable

text: An example of a common payment term is Net 30 days, which means that payment is due at the end of 30 days from the date of invoice. The debtor is free to pay before the due date; businesses can offer a discount for early payment. Other common payment terms include Net 45, Net 60 and 30 days end of month. The creditor may be able to charge late fees or interest if the amount is not paid by the due date.


title: Accounts receivable

text: In practice, the terms are often shown as two fractions, with the discount and the discount period comprising the first fraction and the letter 'n' and the payment due period comprising the second fraction. For instance, if a company makes a purchase and will receive a 2% discount for paying within 10 days, while the whole payment is due within 30 days, the terms would be shown as 2/10, n/30.


title: Accounts receivable

text: Booking a receivable is accomplished by a simple accounting transaction; however, the process of maintaining and collecting payments on the accounts receivable subsidiary account balances can be a full-time proposition. Depending on the industry in practice, accounts receivable payments can be received up to 10 – 15 days after the due date has been reached. These types of payment practices are sometimes developed by industry standards, corporate policy, or because of the financial condition of the client.


title: Accounts receivable

text: Since not all customer debts will be collected, businesses typically estimate the amount of and then record an allowance for doubtful accounts which appears on the balance sheet as a contra account that offsets total accounts receivable. When accounts receivable are not paid, some companies turn them over to third party collection agencies or collection attorneys who will attempt to recover the debt via negotiating payment plans, settlement offers or pursuing other legal action.


title: Accounts receivable

text: Outstanding advances are part of accounts receivable if a company gets an order from its customers with payment terms agreed upon in advance. Since billing is done to claim the advances several times, this area of collectible is not reflected in accounts receivables. Ideally, since advance payment occurs within a mutually agreed-upon term, it is the responsibility of the accounts department to periodically take out the statement showing advance collectible and should be provided to sales & marketing for collection of advances. The payment of accounts receivable can be protected either by a letter of credit or by Trade Credit Insurance.


title: Accounts receivable

text: An Accountants Receivable Age Analysis, also known as the Debtors Book is divided in categories for current, 30 days, 60 days, 90 days or longer. The analysis or report is commonly known as an Aged Trial Balance. Customers are typically listed in alphabetic order or by the amount outstanding, or according to the company chart of accounts. Zero balances are not usually shown.


title: Accounts receivable

text: On a company's balance sheet, accounts receivable are the money owed to that company by entities outside of the company. Account receivables are classified as current assets assuming that they are due within one calendar year or fiscal year. To record a journal entry for a sale on account, one must debit a receivable and credit a revenue account. When the customer pays off their accounts, one debits cash and credits the receivable in the journal entry. The ending balance on the trial balance sheet for accounts receivable is usually a debit.


title: Accounts receivable

text: Business organizations which have become too large to perform such tasks by hand (or small ones that could but prefer not to do them by hand) will generally use accounting software on a computer to perform this task.


title: Accounts receivable

text: Companies have two methods available to them for measuring the net value of accounts receivable, which is generally computed by subtracting the balance of an allowance account from the accounts receivable account.


title: Accounts receivable

text: The first method is the allowance method, which establishes a contra-asset account, "allowance for doubtful accounts", or "bad debt provision", that has the effect of reducing the balance for accounts receivable. The amount of the bad debt provision can be computed in two ways, either (1) by reviewing each individual debt and deciding whether it is doubtful (a specific provision); or (2) by providing for a fixed percentage (e.g. 2%) of total debtors (a general provision). The change in the bad debt provision from year to year is posted to the bad debt expense account in the income statement.


title: Accounts receivable

text: The allowance method can be calculated using either the income statement method, which is based upon a percentage of net credit sales; the balance sheet approach, which is based upon an aging schedule in which debts of a certain age are classified by risk, or a combination of both.


title: Accounts receivable

text: The second method is the "direct write-off method". It is simpler than the allowance method in that it allows for one simple entry to reduce accounts receivable to its net realizable value. The entry would consist of debiting a bad debt expense account and crediting the respective accounts receivable in the sales ledger. The direct write-off method is not permissible under Generally Accepted Accounting Principles.


title: Accounts receivable

text: The two methods are not mutually exclusive, and some businesses will have a provision for doubtful debts, writing off specific debts that they know to be bad (for example, if the debtor has gone into liquidation.)


title: Accounts receivable

text: Companies can use their accounts receivable as collateral when obtaining a loan (asset-based lending). They may also sell them through factoring. Pools or portfolios of accounts receivable can be sold to third parties through securitization.


title: Accounts receivable

text: For tax reporting purposes, a general provision for bad debts is not an allowable deduction from profit - a business can only get relief for specific debtors that have gone bad. However, for financial reporting purposes, companies may choose to have a general provision against bad debts consistent with their past experience of customer payments, in order to avoid over-stating debtors in the balance sheet.


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: Wuthering Heights is a 1939 American romantic period drama film directed by William Wyler, produced by Samuel Goldwyn, starring Merle Oberon, Laurence Olivier and David Niven, and based on the 1847 novel "Wuthering Heights" by Emily Brontë. The film depicts only 16 of the novel's 34 chapters, eliminating the second generation of characters. The novel was adapted for the screen by Charles MacArthur, Ben Hecht, and John Huston. The supporting cast features Flora Robson and Geraldine Fitzgerald.


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: It was primarily filmed in Thousand Oaks, California, with scenes shot in Wildwood Regional Park and at the current site of California Lutheran University.


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: The film won the 1939 New York Film Critics Award for Best Film. It earned nominations for eight Academy Awards, including for Best Picture, Best Director and Best Actor. The 1940 Academy Award for Best Cinematography, black-and-white category, was awarded to Gregg Toland for his work. Nominated for original score (but losing to "The Wizard of Oz") was the prolific film composer Alfred Newman, whose poignant "Cathy's Theme" does so much "to maintain its life as a masterpiece of romantic filmmaking."


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: In 2007, "Wuthering Heights" was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: A traveler named Lockwood is caught in the snow and stays at the estate of Wuthering Heights, despite the cold behavior of his host Heathcliff. Late that night, after being shown into an upstairs room that was once a bridal chamber, Lockwood is awakened by a cold draft and finds the window shutter flapping back and forth. Just as he is about to close it, he feels an icy hand clutching his and sees a woman outside calling, "Heathcliff, let me in! I'm lost in the moors. It's Cathy!" Lockwood calls Heathcliff and tells him what he saw, whereupon the enraged Heathcliff throws him out of the room. Once Lockwood is gone, Heathcliff frantically calls out to Cathy and runs down the stairs and into the snowstorm. Ellen, the housekeeper, tells the amazed Lockwood that he has seen the ghost of Cathy Earnshaw, Heathcliff's only great love, who died years ago. When Lockwood says that he doesn't believe in ghosts, Ellen tells him that he might if she told him the story of Cathy, and he asks her to do so, intrigued.


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: As a boy, Heathcliff is found on the streets by Mr. Earnshaw, who brings him home to live with his two children, Cathy and Hindley. At first reluctant, Cathy eventually welcomes Heathcliff, and they become very close, but Hindley treats him as an outcast, especially after Mr. Earnshaw dies. About ten years later, the now-grown Heathcliff and Cathy have fallen in love and are meeting secretly at Penniston Crag on the moors. Hindley has become dissolute and tyrannical towards Cathy and the servants and forces Heathcliff to be a stable boy out of hatred for him.


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: One night as Cathy and Heathcliff are out together, they hear music and realize that their neighbors, the Linton family, are having a party. The pair sneak inside the Lintons' estate by climbing over their garden wall, but the dogs are alerted and attack them. One of the dogs bites Cathy, and she suffers a severe leg injury. Heathcliff is forced to leave Cathy in their care. Enraged that the Lintons' glamor and wealth would so entrance Cathy, he blames the family for her injury and curses them all.


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: Cathy fully recuperates while staying for months with the Lintons, then returns home. Edgar Linton has fallen in love with Cathy and soon proposes; after Edgar takes her back to Wuthering Heights, she tells Ellen what has happened. Ellen reminds her about Heathcliff, but Cathy flippantly remarks that it would degrade her to marry him. Heathcliff overhears and leaves before he can hear Cathy realize aloud that she belongs with him, not Edgar, despite their class difference. When she discovers Heathcliff has overheard, she runs after him into the moors during a raging storm. Edgar finds her cold and ill. He summons the local doctor, Kenneth, who nurses her back to health. Soon after her recovery, Cathy and Edgar marry.


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: Heathcliff then apparently disappears forever but returns two years later, now wealthy and elegant. He has refined his appearance and manners to impress and spite Cathy, and secretly buys Wuthering Heights from Hindley, whose gambling and heavy drinking have brought him to financial ruin. Cathy remains with Edgar despite Heathcliff’s return and denies her love for him; to further spite Cathy, Heathcliff begins courting Edgar's naïve sister, Isabella. Despite Cathy's strong objections to both Isabella and Heathcliff, the two eventually marry. A brokenhearted Cathy soon falls gravely ill. Heathcliff rushes to her side against the wishes of a now disillusioned and bitter Isabella. Cathy finally tells Heathcliff that she loves only him, and they reconcile, forgiving each other. At her request, Heathcliff carries Cathy to the window, so she can see the moors for the last time before dying in Heathcliff's arms. Heathcliff asks Cathy to haunt him until the day he dies.


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: As Ellen finishes her story, Dr. Kenneth arrives and tells Ellen and Lockwood that he saw Heathcliff on the moors with a woman, only to find Heathcliff’s corpse alone in the snow. Ellen realizes that he saw the ghosts of Heathcliff and Cathy, who now haunt Penniston Crag together.


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: The film significantly shortened the plot of the novel. Originally, the book was divided into two volumes, the first involving Cathy and Heathcliff, and the second later in time involving Heathcliff's interactions with Cathy's daughter, also called Catherine; Heathcliff's son by Isabella, Linton; and Hindley's son Hareton. In the film the second volume, and thus the children and their stories, is omitted.


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: Because the film cuts that large amount, some of the characters are shifted or omitted. For example, the present-time beginning and ending of the film provide a frame for the flashback in both the film and book; but in the film, Isabella is still the supposed mistress of the household, whereas in the novel time has proceeded to the point where the younger Catherine is the primary female resident. In general, Heathcliff's apparent contact with Cathy's spirit and his subsequent death is preserved as the ending of the film, although it takes place sooner in time, and in a somewhat different way.


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: The project was initially intended as a vehicle for Merle Oberon, who was under contract with Goldwyn at the time. However, when Laurence Olivier was cast as Heathcliff, Vivien Leigh wanted to play the lead role with her then-lover and future husband. Studio executives felt the role could not go to an actress who was largely unknown in America, but they did offer Leigh the part of Isabella Linton. She declined, and Geraldine Fitzgerald was cast. Leigh was cast in "Gone with the Wind" the same year, for which she won an Academy Award for Best Actress; Merle Oberon did not receive a nomination for her performance.


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: There were clashes on the set between the actors and the director. Both of the leading players began work on the film miserable at having to leave their loved ones back in the United Kingdom; Olivier missed his fiancée Vivien Leigh, and Oberon had recently fallen in love with film producer Alexander Korda. Merle Oberon and Laurence Olivier also apparently detested each other. Witnesses recall Oberon's scolding Olivier for accidentally spitting on her during a particularly romantic balcony scene. Oberon shouted to Wyler "Tell him to stop spitting at me!" Olivier retorted by shouting "What's a little spit for Chrissake, between actors? You bloody little idiot, how dare you speak to me?" Oberon ran crying from the set after the outburst, and Wyler insisted Olivier apologize to her, which upset Olivier greatly.


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: Olivier also found himself becoming increasingly annoyed with William Wyler's exhausting and often uncommunicative style of filmmaking. One scene with Olivier was shot 72 times—with each new take called for by Wyler without any actual direction for his actor; just "again!" Finally, an exasperated Olivier is said to have exclaimed "For God's sake, I did it sitting down. I did it with a smile. I did it with a smirk. I did it scratching my ear. I did it with my back to the camera. How do you want me to do it?" Wyler's retort was "I want it better." However, in both his autobiography and his book "On Acting", Olivier credits William Wyler with teaching him how to act in films, as opposed to on the stage, and for giving him a new respect for films. Olivier had tended to "ham it up" as if he were playing to the second balcony, but Wyler showed him how to act more subtly - in part by simply wearing him down.


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: In the final sequence of "Wuthering Heights", the spirits of Heathcliff and Cathy are seen walking together hand-in-hand, obviously in love. This scene is not found in the book, and according to literary critic John Sutherland, was likely the stark opposite of what Brontë intended the reader to understand. He contends that a contemporary reader would not have seen Cathy's ghost's actions as a gesture of undying love for Heathcliff but one of towering, protective rage; Cathy haunted Heathcliff to death only to prevent him from cheating her daughter out of her inheritance. Director Wyler hated the idea of the after-life scene and didn't want to do it, but producer Samuel Goldwyn vetoed him, and the scene was added after primary filming was complete. As Laurence Olivier and Merle Oberon had moved to other projects, doubles had to be used. Goldwyn subsequently claimed, "I made "Wuthering Heights", Wyler only directed it." In fact, Goldwyn's name and producer credit appears last in the opening credits, going against the convention of the director's name appearing last. Goldwyn claimed that "Wuthering Heights" was his favorite of all his productions. Sutherland writes that this change to the ending has influenced how students view the novel and especially Cathy, who comes across as more passive and accepting of abuse than Brontë may have envisioned.


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: David Niven remembers the filming of Merle Oberon's deathbed scenes (recorded in his bestselling book "The Moon's a Balloon") as less than romantic. After telling Wyler he didn't know how to 'sob', he had been given a menthol mist substance to help it appear as if he were crying, which instead had the effect of making "green goo" come out of his nose. Oberon immediately exited the bed after witnessing it.


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: Frank S. Nugent of "The New York Times" called it "a strong and somber film, poetically written as the novel not always was, sinister and wild as it was meant to be, far more compact dramatically than Miss Brontë had made it ... It is, unquestionably, one of the most distinguished pictures of the year, one of the finest ever produced by Mr. Goldwyn, and one you should decide to see." "Variety" wrote that the film "retains all of the grim drama of the book," but believed that its "slow pace" would make for "rather dull material for general audiences." "Film Daily" reported "Brilliant screen version of Bronte novel ... William Wyler has given the love story warm, sympathetic direction, gaining fine performances from his cast." "Harrison's Reports" noted "The acting, direction, and production are all excellent; but the story is so sombre and cheerless, that most persons will leave the theatre depressed." John Mosher of "The New Yorker" wrote: "No screen version of 'Wuthering Heights' could ever touch the heart so closely, I am sure, as does a reading of the printed page; yet the Goldwyn production approximates the quality of the fierce, tempestuous story with a force one might never have expected ... Seldom has the tone of a great novel been so faithfully reproduced by the movie people."


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: "Wuthering Heights" placed fourth on "Film Daily"'s year-end nationwide poll of 542 critics naming the best films of 1939.


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: American Film Institute included the film as #73 in its AFI's 100 Years... 100 Movies and #15 in AFI's 100 Years... 100 Passions.


title: Wuthering Heights (1939 film)

text: "Wuthering Heights" was presented on "Philip Morris Playhouse" on October 17, 1941. The adaptation starred Raymond Massey and Sylvia Sidney. It was also presented on "Screen Guild Players" on February 25, 1946. That adaptation starred Merle Oberon, Cornel Wilde and Reed Hadley.


title: Perchloric acid

text: Perchloric acid is a mineral acid with the formula HClO. Usually found as an aqueous solution, this colorless compound is a stronger acid than sulfuric acid, nitric acid and hydrochloric acid. It is a powerful oxidizer when hot, but aqueous solutions up to approximately 70% by weight at room temperature are generally safe, only showing strong acid features and no oxidizing properties. Perchloric acid is useful for preparing perchlorate salts, especially ammonium perchlorate, an important rocket fuel component. Perchloric acid is dangerously corrosive and readily forms potentially explosive mixtures.


title: Perchloric acid

text: Perchloric acid was first synthesized (together with potassium perchlorate) by Austrian chemist and called "oxygenated chloric acid" in mid-1810s; French pharmacist Georges-Simon Serullas introduced the modern designation along with discovering its solid monohydrate (which he, however, mistook for an anhydride).


title: Perchloric acid

text: Perchloric acid is produced industrially by two routes. The traditional method exploits the high aqueous solubility of sodium perchlorate (209 g/100 mL of water at room temperature). Treatment of such solutions with hydrochloric acid gives perchloric acid, precipitating solid sodium chloride:


title: Perchloric acid

text: The concentrated acid can be purified by distillation. The alternative route, which is more direct and avoids salts, entails anodic oxidation of aqueous chlorine at a platinum electrode.


title: Perchloric acid

text: Treatment of barium perchlorate with sulfuric acid precipitates barium sulfate, leaving perchloric acid. It can also be made by mixing nitric acid with ammonium perchlorate and boiling while adding hydrochloric acid. The reaction gives nitrous oxide and perchloric acid due to a concurrent reaction involving the ammonium ion and can be concentrated and purified significantly by boiling off the remaining nitric and hydrochloric acids.


title: Perchloric acid

text: Anhydrous perchloric acid is an unstable oily liquid at room temperature. It forms at least five hydrates, several of which have been characterized crystallographically. These solids consist of the perchlorate anion linked via hydrogen bonds to HO and HO centers. An example is hydronium perchlorate. Perchloric acid forms an azeotrope with water, consisting of about 72.5% perchloric acid. This form of the acid is stable indefinitely and is commercially available. Such solutions are hygroscopic. Thus, if left open to the air, concentrated perchloric acid dilutes itself by absorbing water from the air.


title: Perchloric acid

text: Perchloric acid is mainly produced as a precursor to ammonium perchlorate, which is used in rocket fuel. The growth in rocketry has led to increased production of perchloric acid. Several million kilograms are produced annually. Perchloric acid is one of the most proven materials for etching of liquid crystal displays and critical electronics applications as well as ore extraction and has unique properties in analytical chemistry. Additionally it is a useful component in etching of chrome.


title: Perchloric acid

text: Perchloric acid, a superacid, is one of the strongest Brønsted–Lowry acids. That its p"K" is lower than −9 is evidenced by the fact that its monohydrate contains discrete hydronium ions and can be isolated as a stable, crystalline solid, formulated as [HO][]. The most recent estimate of its aqueous p"K" is . It provides strong acidity with minimal interference because perchlorate is weakly nucleophilic (explaining the high acidity of HClO). Other acids of noncoordinating anions, such as fluoroboric acid and hexafluorophosphoric acid are susceptible to hydrolysis, whereas perchloric acid is not. Despite hazards associated with the explosiveness of its salts, the acid is often preferred in certain syntheses. For similar reasons, it is a useful eluent in ion-exchange chromatography.


title: Perchloric acid

text: Given its strong oxidizing properties, perchloric acid is subject to extensive regulations as it can react violently with metals and flammable substances such as wood, plastics, and oils. Work conducted with perchloric acid must be conducted in fume hoods with a wash-down capability to prevent accumulation of oxidisers in the ductwork.


title: Perchloric acid

text: On February 20, 1947 in Los Angeles, California, 17 people were killed and 150 injured in the O'Connor Plating Works disaster. A bath, consisting of over 1000 litres of 75% perchloric acid and 25% acetic anhydride by volume which was being used to electro-polish aluminium furniture, exploded. Organic compounds were added to the overheating bath when an iron rack was replaced with one coated with cellulose acetobutyrate (Tenit-2 plastic). A few minutes later the bath exploded. The O'Connor Electro-Plating plant, 25 other buildings, and 40 automobiles were destroyed, and 250 nearby homes were damaged.


title: Stalagmite

text: is a type of rock formation that rises from the floor of a cave due to the accumulation of material deposited on the floor from ceiling drippings. Stalagmites are typically composed of calcium carbonate, but may consist of lava, mud, peat, pitch, sand, sinter, and amberat (crystallized urine of pack rats).


title: Stalagmite

text: The corresponding formation hanging down from the ceiling of a cave is a stalactite. Mnemonics have been developed for which word refers to which type of formation; one is that "stalactite" has a C for "ceiling", and "stalagmite" has a G for "ground", another is that, as with ants in the pants, the mites go up and the tights (tites) come down.


title: Stalagmite

text: The most common stalagmites are speleothems, which usually form in limestone caves. Stalagmite formation occurs only under certain pH conditions within the cavern. They form through deposition of calcium carbonate and other minerals, which is precipitated from mineralized water solutions. Limestone is the chief form of calcium carbonate rock, which is dissolved by water that contains carbon dioxide, forming a calcium bicarbonate solution in caverns. The partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the water must be greater than the partial pressure of carbon dioxide in the cave chamber for conventional stalagmite growth.


title: Stalagmite

text: If stalactites – the ceiling formations – grow long enough to connect with stalagmites on the floor, they form a column.


title: Stalagmite

text: Stalagmites should normally not be touched, since the rock buildup is formed by minerals precipitating out of the water solution onto the existing surface; skin oils can alter the surface tension where the mineral water clings or flows, thus affecting the growth of the formation. Oils and dirt (mud, clay) from human contact can also stain the formation and change its color permanently.


title: Stalagmite

text: Another type of stalagmite is formed in lava tubes while molten and fluid lava is still active inside. Their mineralogical composition, close to that of siliceous minerals commonly found in basalt (for example, obsidian), the main constituent of volcanic glass, is different. Their mechanism of formation/crystallization is also notably different from that of limestone stalagmites () but the common point is that it remains driven by gravity. Drops of molten lava (siliceous material, ) solidify onto the floor of the already emptied lava tube, when the lava temperature sufficiently decreases after the passage and the complete purge of the main lava flow. Essentially, it is still the gravity deposition of material onto the floor of a cave (or a void).


title: Stalagmite

text: However the difference from calcareous stalagmites is that the transport of siliceous material occurs in the molten state and not dissolved in aqueous solution; degassing does not play any significant role. With lava stalagmites, their formation also happens very quickly in only a matter of hours, days, or weeks, whereas limestone stalagmites may take up to thousands or hundred thousands of years. A key difference with lava stalagmites is that once the molten lava has ceased flowing, so too will the stalagmites cease to grow. This means that if the lava stalagmites were to be broken, they would never grow back. Stalagmites in lava tubes are rarer than their stalactite counterparts because during their formation, the dripping molten material most often falls onto still-moving lava flow which absorbs or carries the material away.


title: Stalagmite

text: The generic term "lavacicle" has been applied to lava stalactites and stalagmites indiscriminately, and evolved from the word "icicle".


title: Stalagmite

text: A common stalagmite found seasonally or year round in many caves is the ice stalagmite, commonly referred to as icicles, especially in above-ground contexts. Water seepage from the surface will penetrate into a cave and if temperatures are below freezing temperature, the water will collect on the floor into stalagmites. Deposition may also occur directly from the freezing of water vapor. Similar to lava stalagmites, ice stalagmites form very quickly within hours or days. Unlike lava stalagmites however, they may grow back as long as water and temperatures are suitable. Ice stalagmites are more common than their stalactite counterparts because warmer air rises to the ceilings of caves and may raise temperatures to above freezing.


title: Stalagmite

text: Ice stalactites may also form corresponding stalagmites below them, and given time, may grow together to form an ice column.


title: Stalagmite

text: Stalactites and stalagmites can also form on concrete ceilings and floors, although they form much more rapidly there than in the natural cave environment.


title: Stalagmite

text: The secondary deposits derived from concrete are the result of concrete degradation, where calcium ions are leached out of the concrete in solution and redeposited on the underside of a concrete structure to form stalactites and stalagmites. Calcium carbonate deposition as a stalagmite occurs when the solution carries the calcium laden leachate solution to the ground under the concrete structure. Carbon dioxide is absorbed into the alkaline leachate solution, which facilitates the chemical reactions to deposit calcium carbonate as a stalagmite. These stalagmites rarely grow taller than a few centimetres.


title: Stalagmite

text: Secondary deposits, which create stalagmites, stalactites, flowstone etc., outside the natural cave environment, are referred to as "calthemites". These concrete derived secondary deposits cannot be referred to as "speleothems" due to the definition of the word.


title: Stalagmite

text: In the Zagros Mountains of south Iran, approximately from the ancient city of Bishapur, in the Shapur cave on the fourth of five terraces stands the 3rd-century colossal statue of Shapur I, second ruler of the Sassanid Empire. The statue, carved from one stalagmite, is nearly high.


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: Southwest Florida International Airport is a major county-owned airport in the South Fort Myers area of unincorporated Lee County, Florida, United States. The airport serves the Southwest Florida region, including the Cape Coral-Fort Myers, Naples-Marco Island, and Punta Gorda metropolitan areas, and is a U.S. Customs and Border Protection port of entry. It currently is the second-busiest single-runway airport in the United States, after San Diego International Airport. In 2019, the airport served 10,225,180 passengers, the most in its history.


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: The airport sits on 13,555 acres (5,486 ha, 21.2 sq.mi.) of land just southeast of Fort Myers, making it the third-largest airport in the United States in terms of land size (after Denver and Dallas/Fort Worth). 6,000 acres of the land has been conserved as swamp lands and set aside for environmental mitigation.


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: Prior to the opening of the airport, the region was served by Page Field in Fort Myers. By the 1970s, however, it had become clear that Page Field would be too small to handle increasing future demand for commercial flights into the region. Expanding Page Field was determined to be impractical because its airfield was constrained by U.S. 41 to the west and expanding the airfield to the east would require bridging the Ten Mile Canal and relocating a railroad track.


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: A number of sites were considered for a new regional airport, including southern Charlotte County, Estero, and northeast Cape Coral near Burnt Store Marina. The government of Lee County ultimately selected a site near the end of Daniels Road which was a dirt road at the time. An advantage to this location was its proximity to Interstate 75, which was under construction and would have an interchange with Daniels Road, providing easy access (Interstate 75 was opened to traffic through Fort Myers in 1979).


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: Construction of the airport began in 1980; it opened on schedule on May 14, 1983, with a single 8400-ft runway. At the time of its opening, the airport was named Southwest Florida Regional Airport (the airport code RSW is short for "Regional South-West"). Delta Air Lines operated the first flight. The airport's original terminal was located on the north side of the runway at the end of Chamberlin Parkway and it initially included 14 gates on two concourses.


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: The airport was renamed Southwest Florida International Airport in 1993, though it had hosted international flights since 1984 and U.S. Customs since 1987. The name change coincided with the completion of a 55,000 square foot Federal Inspection facility annexed to the original terminal's Concourse A. The runway was also lengthened to 12,000 ft (3,658 m) at the same time to better accommodate international service (making it the fourth-longest runway in Florida).


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: In 1988 the airport exceeded its annual capacity of 3 million passengers; by 2004, the airport was serving nearly 7 million passengers annually. In 1998, the original terminal was expanded with a new wing added to Concourse B which included three additional gates, bringing the total to 17.


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: LTU International delivered Fort Myers its first nonstop flights to Europe in April 1994, introducing service to Germany. The inaugural flight arrived from Munich via Düsseldorf, while the return to Munich stopped in both Miami and Düsseldorf. The new route came in response to rising tourism from Germany, which Lee County had spent the past several years cultivating. The county considered Germany a natural market to target, given the sizable German-American community that lived in Southwest Florida and maintained ties with its country of origin. Condor joined LTU in 2000 with a flight to Frankfurt.


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: With the terminal operating at more than double its intended capacity, construction of a new Midfield Terminal Complex began in February 2002. The $438 million terminal opened on September 9, 2005. The terminal, designed by Spillis Candela/DMJM Aviation, has three concourses and 28 gates and can eventually expand to five concourses with 65 gates.


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: Demolition of the former terminal north of the airfield was completed in spring 2006. However, the original terminal's parking lot and other related infrastructure still stand at the end of Chamberlin Parkway. The former terminal's ramp, now known as North Ramp, is now primarily used as a base for Western Global Airlines, an Estero-based cargo airline.


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: After deciding to prioritize its service to Orlando, Condor withdrew from Fort Myers in 2007. Two years later, Air Berlin replaced LTU at the airport following the merger of the two airlines.


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: In early 2015, Terminal Access Road, the airport's main entrance road, was extended past Treeline Avenue to connect directly to Interstate 75, allowing airport-related traffic to avoid local streets. The airport can now be accessed directly from the freeway at Exit 128. Terminal Access Road was then expanded to six lanes in late 2016.


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: Air Berlin continued to serve Fort Myers until it ceased operations in 2017. Transatlantic flights resumed within a year when Eurowings opened routes to Düsseldorf, Munich, and Cologne; however, the COVID-19 pandemic caused the company to suspend flights. In mid-2021, the Lufthansa Group revealed that a new airline brand, Eurowings Discover, would link Fort Myers to Frankfurt beginning in March 2022.


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: A new $16 million Airport Rescue and Fire Fighting facility (Lee County Station 92) opened in July 2013. A parallel runway is in planning. The project includes a relocated air traffic control tower, apron expansion, crossfield taxiway system, mitigation activities and FPL electrical line relocation. The new air traffic control tower and parallel runway were expected to be completed by 2019, but this was pushed back to late 2020. The apron expansion and crossfield taxiway system were completed in late 2013. The entire project is estimated to cost $454 million.


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: In early 2018, the Lee County Port Authority (LCPA) announced plans to ease seasonal security wait times by expanding and relocating the current security checkpoints for each concourse. By relocating each checkpoint, there will be more restaurants, shops, and post-security spaces. According to the announcement by the LCPA, this expansion could cost between $150 million – $180 million.


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: Plans are in place for Skyplex – a commercial and industrial park in the location of the old terminal. Other airport-related businesses, such as a hotel, are in the planning stages. A retail gasoline outlet near the airport's entrance opened in June 2014.


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: The airport has one terminal with three concourses: Concourse B serves Air Canada, Alaska Airlines, Avelo Airlines, Eurowings, Frontier, Southwest, and Sun Country; Concourse C serves Delta, United, and WestJet; and Concourse D serves American,


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: Breeze, JetBlue, and Spirit. Customs and Immigration services for international flights are located on the lower level of Concourse B. The concourses are each completely separate and are not connected Airside. Concourses "A" and "E" designations have been reserved for the planned future expansion of the terminal.


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: Since beginning commercial airline service on May 14, 1983 through the end of 2021, over 221.8 million passengers (enplaned and deplaned) have transited through RSW. There has been over 2.84 million aircraft operations at the airport since its opening.


title: Southwest Florida International Airport

text: Recent infrastructure and road projects linked the airport's main terminal road to the southbound and northbound lanes of Interstate 75.


title: Jason Winston George

text: Jason Winston George (born February 9, 1972) is an American actor and model. He is best known for his roles as Michael Bourne on the NBC daytime soap opera "Sunset Beach", as J.T. Hunter on the UPN television sitcom "Eve", as Dr. Otis Cole on ABC's "Off the Map", and as Dr. Ben Warren on "Grey's Anatomy" and its spinoff "Station 19".


title: Jason Winston George

text: George was born in Virginia Beach, Virginia. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 1994 with a double major in Rhetoric and Communication Studies and Drama. He met his wife Vandana Khanna, an Indian-American poet, while studying at the University of Virginia. They got married on July 10, 1999, and have 3 children: Arun, Nikhil, and Jasmine.


title: Jason Winston George

text: In 1996, George was cast as lifeguard Michael Bourne on the soap opera "Sunset Beach", a role he played from the series' first episode on January 6, 1997, until the show ended on December 31, 1999.


title: Jason Winston George

text: In 2000, he made a successful stage appearance in Rita Dove's drama "The Darker Face of the Earth" at the Fountain Theatre in Los Angeles, where he played the male lead of Augustus.


title: Jason Winston George

text: From 2001 to 2002 he played the rapper Status Quo in "Off Centre". In 2002, George had a role in "Clockstoppers", a film directed by Jonathan Frakes. He has also appeared on many ABC series, such as "What About Brian", "Eli Stone", "Eastwick", "Off the Map", "Grey's Anatomy", and guest starred on "Castle" and "Desperate Housewives". He also was cast as a regular on the ABC series "Mistresses". He currently stars on Grey's Anatomy and Station 19 as Ben Warren, a doctor and a firefighter at Seattle Fire Station 19.


title: Whitney Houston albums discography

text: The American singer Whitney Houston released seven studio albums, six compilations, three soundtrack albums, five box sets, six extended plays, and 57 singles. She has sold over 200 million records worldwide, becoming one of the best-selling music artists in history. According to the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Houston is the best-selling female R&B artist of the 20th century, and has sold 100 million certified records in the United States. She is also the fourth best-selling female album artist in the US with 60 million certified album sales. In addition, until the launch of the RIAA's digital certification program in 2004, she had sold 16.5 million physical singles—more than any other female solo artist in history. According to the Official Charts Company in October 2012, Houston is the fourth-biggest-selling female singles artists of all-time list with a sales total of 8.5 million singles in that country.


title: Whitney Houston albums discography

text: In 1985, Whitney Houston released her self-titled debut album. It spent 14 weeks at No.1 on the "Billboard" 200 and was certified diamond (and 13× platinum) by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), with global sales of 25 million copies. The album produced four US top 5 singles, including three "Billboard" Hot 100 No.1 singles; "Saving All My Love for You", "How Will I Know", and "Greatest Love of All". In 1987, Houston released her second album "Whitney". The album peaked at No.1 on the "Billboard" 200 and produced five US top ten singles with the first four hitting number-one; "I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)", "Didn't We Almost Have It All", "So Emotional", and "Where Do Broken Hearts Go", which established a record seven consecutive No.1 hits by a performer. " Love Will Save The Day" became the album's fifth top ten hit. "Whitney" was certified diamond by the RIAA, giving the artist her second diamond album, and topped the charts in numerous countries and sold in excess of 20 million copies worldwide. Houston's third studio album, "I'm Your Baby Tonight" (1990), peaked at number three on the "Billboard" 200 chart and yielded three US top ten singles, two of which hit number-one; "I'm Your Baby Tonight" and "All the Man That I Need", selling 10 million units worldwide. In February 1991, Houston released "The Star Spangled Banner" performance from Super Bowl XXV as a single, it became the highest-charting rendition of the American national anthem on the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart.


title: Whitney Houston albums discography

text: "" soundtrack from her film debut, was released in November 1992. The album contains tracks by other recording artists but is considered a Houston album by "Billboard". It topped the "Billboard" 200 for 20 non-consecutive weeks, one of the longest tenures by an album in the Nielsen SoundScan era. The album was certified diamond (and 18× platinum in the United States), giving the artist her third diamond album, and sold over 45 million copies worldwide, becoming the best-selling album by a female artist, the best-selling soundtrack album of all time, and one of the top 3 best-selling albums of all time. The lead single from the soundtrack, "I Will Always Love You", topped the "Billboard" Hot 100 chart for a then-record-breaking fourteen weeks and the song alone was certified Diamond in the United States, peaked at number one on the charts in nearly every country and sold 20 million copies globally, becoming the best-selling physical single by a female act and one of the best-selling singles of all time. Houston contributed three songs, including her 11th number-one single "Exhale (Shoop Shoop)" on the 7× platinum soundtrack album, "Waiting to Exhale" (November 1995). The following year she released "" in November 1996. The soundtrack has sold six million copies worldwide, certified 3× platinum in the US, and is the best-selling gospel album of all time. In 1998, she released the studio album "My Love Is Your Love". The album went on to achieve multi-platinum status with 10 million units sold worldwide, being certified 4× platinum in the United States. From late 1998 to early 2000, the album generated five singles; "When You Believe" (duet with Mariah Carey); "Heartbreak Hotel" (with Faith Evans and Kelly Price; "It's Not Right but It's Okay"; "My Love Is Your Love"; and "I Learned from the Best".


title: Whitney Houston albums discography

text: Houston entered the 2000s with her first greatest hits compilation, "", released in May 2000. The double-disc has been certified 5× platinum in the United States. The album hit the top position on the UK Albums Chart and sold over 1.66 million copies in the UK alone. It reached number one and the top 10 in many international markets, selling 10 million copies globally. "Just Whitney", released in December 2002, became her first album after renewing her contract with Arista Records for the largest recording contract in history, a record $100 million deal in 2001. The album received platinum status in the US, and sold two million copies worldwide, but became her lowest-selling album to date. Houston released a Christmas album, "" in November 2003, which was certified gold in the US, quite a respectable number for a holiday album. In September 2009, Houston returned to the top position on the "Billboard" 200 chart with her album "I Look to You", becoming her fourth number-one album on the chart. It also topped the album charts of several European countries and was certified platinum by the RIAA. Her albums "Whitney Houston", "Whitney", "" and "" are among the top 100 certified albums according to the RIAA. In 2020, Houston became the first black artist ever to have three diamond-certified albums; "Whitney Houston", "Whitney", and "" each shipped over 10 million copies in the US alone.


The International Standard Classification of Education (ISCED) is a statistical framework for organizing information on education maintained by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). It is a member of the international family of economic and social classifications of the United Nations.


title: International Standard Classification of Education

text: The ISCED was designed in the early 1970s to serve as an instrument suitable for assembling, compiling and presenting statistics of education both within individual countries and internationally. The first version, known as ISCED 1976, was approved by the International Conference on Education (Geneva, 1975), and was subsequently endorsed by UNESCO’s 19th General Conference in 1976.


text: The second version, known as ISCED 1997, was approved by the UNESCO General Conference at its 29th session in November 1997 as part of efforts to increase the international comparability of education statistics. It covered primarily two cross-classification variables: "levels" (7) and "fields" of education (25). The UNESCO Institute for Statistics led the development of a third version, which was adopted by UNESCO’s 36th General Conference in November 2011 and which will replace ISCED 1997 in international data collections in the coming years. ISCED 2011 has 9 rather than 7 levels, created by dividing the tertiary pre-doctorate level into three levels. It also extended the lowest level (ISCED 0) to cover a new sub-category of early childhood educational development programmes, which target children below the age of 3 years.


text: During the review and revision, which led to the adoption of ISCED 2011, UNESCO Member States agreed that the fields of education should be examined in a separate process. This review is now underway with the view to establishing an independent but related classification called the ISCED Fields of Education and Training.


text: Related materials from the European Centre for the Development of Vocational Training and also Eurostat provide further information and statistical guidance for the classification of sub-fields of education as a companion to ISCED.


title: Pantera discography

text: The following is a discography of Pantera, an American heavy metal band. Pantera formed in the early 1980s and released four studio albums in their early years through its own record label, Metal Magic Records. The band's major-label debut, "Cowboys from Hell" (1990), peaked at number 27 on the US "Billboard" Heatseekers chart, and was certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA). The following year, "" was released; it included video clips produced for "Cowboys from Hell". The video was certified gold by the RIAA.


title: Pantera discography

text: Pantera's second major-label album, "Vulgar Display of Power" (1992), reached number 44 on the "Billboard" 200, and was later certified platinum by the Australian Recording Industry Association and the RIAA. "Vulgar Display of Power" produced two singles, "Mouth for War" and "Walk"; both songs have accompanying music videos included on 1993's "Vulgar Video". Like its predecessor, this video was certified platinum by the RIAA. After touring for two years, the group released "Far Beyond Driven" (1994), which debuted atop of the US "Billboard" 200 and Australian ARIA charts, reached the top five in Sweden and the United Kingdom, and was certified platinum in Canada and the U.S. The album produced three singles: "5 Minutes Alone", "I'm Broken", and the Black Sabbath cover, "Planet Caravan"; the latter reached the top 30 in the U.S. Mainstream Rock Tracks and UK singles chart. "The Great Southern Trendkill" (1996) peaked at numbers two and four on the US "Billboard" 200 and Australian ARIA charts respectively, and reached the top five on the Finland YLE lista and New Zealand RIANZ charts.


title: Pantera discography

text: "" (1997) reached the top 20 in four countries, and was certified gold by the RIAA. Later that year, the band issued "3 Watch It Go", which features music videos for all singles of "Far Beyond Driven", and another for the song "Drag the Waters" from "The Great Southern Trendkill". It was certified platinum by the RIAA. "3 Vulgar Videos from Hell" (1999) combines the band's previous home videos into a DVD. It was certified platinum in the US and Australia. Pantera's final studio album, "Reinventing the Steel" (2000), became their second release to peak at numbers two and four on the US "Billboard" 200 and Australian ARIA charts, respectively. The best-of album "" (2003), which combined the titles of the band's four major-label albums, was released in the US. Although it only reached number 38 on the "Billboard" 200, the album was certified platinum by RIAA. The of the compilation features a different track list; both albums include a bonus DVD with their music videos. Later in that year, Pantera broke up and the band members subsequently formed the groups Hellyeah, Damageplan, Down, and Superjoint Ritual.


title: Abdominal external oblique muscle

text: The abdominal external oblique muscle (also external oblique muscle, or exterior oblique) is the largest and outermost of the three flat abdominal muscles of the lateral anterior abdomen.


title: Abdominal external oblique muscle

text: The external oblique is situated on the lateral and anterior parts of the abdomen. It is broad, thin, and irregularly quadrilateral, its muscular portion occupying the side, its aponeurosis the anterior wall of the abdomen. In most humans (especially females), the oblique is not visible, due to subcutaneous fat deposits and the small size of the muscle.


title: Abdominal external oblique muscle

text: It arises from eight fleshy digitations, each from the external surfaces and inferior borders of the fifth to twelfth ribs (lower eight ribs). These digitations are arranged in an oblique line which runs inferiorly and anteriorly, with the upper digitations being attached close to the cartilages of the corresponding ribs, the lowest to the apex of the cartilage of the last rib, the intermediate ones to the ribs at some distance from their cartilages.


title: Abdominal external oblique muscle

text: The five superior serrations increase in size from above downward, and are received between corresponding processes of the serratus anterior muscle; the three lower ones diminish in size from above downward and receive between them corresponding processes from the latissimus dorsi. From these attachments the fleshy fibers proceed in various directions. Its posterior fibers from the ribs to the iliac crest form a free posterior border.


title: Abdominal external oblique muscle

text: Those from the lowest ribs pass nearly vertically downward, and are inserted into the anterior half of the outer lip of the iliac crest; the middle and upper fibers, directed downward (inferiorly) and forward (anteriorly), become aponeurotic at approximately the midclavicular line and form the anterior layer of the rectus sheath. This aponeurosis formed from fibres from either side of the external oblique decussates at the linea alba.


title: Abdominal external oblique muscle

text: The aponeurosis of the external oblique muscle forms the inguinal ligament. The muscle also contributes to the inguinal canal.


title: Abdominal external oblique muscle

text: The external oblique muscle is supplied by ventral branches of the lower six thoracoabdominal nerves and the subcostal nerve on each side.


title: Abdominal external oblique muscle

text: The cranial portion of the muscle is supplied by the lower intercostal arteries, whereas the caudal portion is supplied by a branches of either the deep circumflex iliac artery or the iliolumbar artery.


title: Abdominal external oblique muscle

text: The external oblique functions to pull the chest downwards and compress the abdominal cavity, which increases the intra-abdominal pressure as in a Valsalva maneuver. It also performs ipsilateral (same side) side-bending and contralateral (opposite side) rotation: the right external oblique would side bend to the right and rotate to the left, and vice versa. The internal oblique muscle functions similarly except it rotates ipsilaterally.


title: Abdominal external oblique muscle

text: The "oblique strain" is a common baseball injury, particularly in pitchers. In both batters and pitchers it can affect the contralateral (leading) side external oblique, or the trailing internal oblique.


title: Maser

text: A maser (, an acronym for microwave amplification by stimulated emission of radiation) is a device that produces coherent electromagnetic waves through amplification by stimulated emission. The first maser was built by Charles H. Townes, James P. Gordon, and Herbert J. Zeiger at Columbia University in 1953. Townes, Nikolay Basov and Alexander Prokhorov were awarded the 1964 Nobel Prize in Physics for theoretical work leading to the maser. Masers are also used as the timekeeping device in atomic clocks, and as extremely low-noise microwave amplifiers in radio telescopes and deep-space spacecraft communication ground stations.


title: Maser

text: Modern masers can be designed to generate electromagnetic waves at not only microwave frequencies but also radio and infrared frequencies. For this reason, Townes suggested replacing "microwave" with the word "molecular" as the first word in the acronym "maser".


title: Maser

text: The laser works by the same principle as the maser but produces higher frequency coherent radiation at visible wavelengths. The maser was the forerunner of the laser, inspiring theoretical work by Townes and Arthur Leonard Schawlow that led to the invention of the laser in 1960 by Theodore Maiman. When the coherent optical oscillator was first imagined in 1957, it was originally called the "optical maser". This was ultimately changed to for "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation". Gordon Gould is credited with creating this acronym in 1957.


title: Maser

text: The theoretical principles governing the operation of a maser were first described by Joseph Weber of the University of Maryland, College Park at the Electron Tube Research Conference in June 1952 in Ottawa, with a summary published in the June 1953 Transactions of the Institute of Radio Engineers Professional Group on Electron Devices, and simultaneously by Nikolay Basov and Alexander Prokhorov from Lebedev Institute of Physics, at an "All-Union Conference on Radio-Spectroscopy" held by the USSR Academy of Sciences in May 1952, subsequently published in October 1954.


title: Maser

text: Independently, Charles Hard Townes, James P. Gordon, and H. J. Zeiger built the first ammonia maser at Columbia University in 1953. This device used stimulated emission in a stream of energized ammonia molecules to produce amplification of microwaves at a frequency of about 24.0 gigahertz. Townes later worked with Arthur L. Schawlow to describe the principle of the "optical maser", or "laser", of which Theodore H. Maiman created the first working model in 1960.


title: Maser

text: For their research in the field of stimulated emission, Townes, Basov and Prokhorov were awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics in 1964.


title: Maser

text: The maser is based on the principle of stimulated emission proposed by Albert Einstein in 1917. When atoms have been induced into an excited energy state, they can amplify radiation at a frequency particular to the element or molecule used as the masing medium (similar to what occurs in the lasing medium in a laser).


title: Maser

text: By putting such an amplifying medium in a resonant cavity, feedback is created that can produce coherent radiation.