title: Radiation protection

text: ALARP is an acronym for an important principle in exposure to radiation and other occupational health risks and in the UK stands for ""As Low As Reasonably Practicable"". The aim is to minimize the risk of radioactive exposure or other hazard while keeping in mind that some exposure may be acceptable in order to further the task at hand. The equivalent term ALARA, ""As Low As Reasonably Achievable"", is more commonly used outside the UK.


title: Radiation protection

text: This compromise is well illustrated in radiology. The application of radiation can aid the patient by providing doctors and other health care professionals with a medical diagnosis, but the exposure of the patient should be reasonably low enough to keep the statistical probability of cancers or sarcomas (stochastic effects) below an acceptable level, and to eliminate deterministic effects (e.g. skin reddening or cataracts). An acceptable level of incidence of stochastic effects is considered to be equal for a worker to the risk in other radiation work generally considered to be safe.


title: Radiation protection

text: This policy is based on the principle that any amount of radiation exposure, no matter how small, can increase the chance of negative biological effects such as cancer. It is also based on the principle that the probability of the occurrence of negative effects of radiation exposure increases with cumulative lifetime dose. These ideas are combined to form the linear no-threshold model which says that there is not a threshold at which there is an increase in the rate of occurrence of stochastic effects with increasing dose. At the same time, radiology and other practices that involve use of ionizing radiation bring benefits, so reducing radiation exposure can reduce the efficacy of a medical practice. The economic cost, for example of adding a barrier against radiation, must also be considered when applying the ALARP principle. Computed Tomography, better known as C.T. Scans or CAT Scans have made an enormous contribution to medicine, however not without some risk. They use ionizing radiation which can cause cancer, especially in children. When caregivers follow proper indications for their use and child safe techniques rather than adult techniques, downstream cancer can be prevented.


title: Radiation protection

text: The radiation dosimeter is an important personal dose measuring instrument. It is worn by the person being monitored and is used to estimate the external radiation dose deposited in the individual wearing the device. They are used for gamma, X-ray, beta and other strongly penetrating radiation, but not for weakly penetrating radiation such as alpha particles. Traditionally, film badges were used for long-term monitoring, and quartz fibre dosimeters for short-term monitoring. However, these have been mostly superseded by thermoluminescent dosimetry (TLD) badges and electronic dosimeters. Electronic dosimeters can give an alarm warning if a preset dose threshold has been reached, enabling safer working in potentially higher radiation levels, where the received dose must be continually monitored.


title: Radiation protection

text: Workers exposed to radiation, such as radiographers, nuclear power plant workers, doctors using radiotherapy, those in laboratories using radionuclides, and HAZMAT teams are required to wear dosimeters so a record of occupational exposure can be made. Such devices are generally termed "legal dosimeters" if they have been approved for use in recording personnel dose for regulatory purposes.


title: Radiation protection

text: Dosimeters can be worn to obtain a whole body dose and there are also specialist types that can be worn on the fingers or clipped to headgear, to measure the localised body irradiation for specific activities.


title: Radiation protection

text: Atmost any material can act as a shield from gamma or x-rays if used in sufficient amounts. Different types of ionizing radiation interact in different ways with shielding material. The effectiveness of shielding is dependent on stopping power, which varies with the type and energy of radiation and the shielding material used. Different shielding techniques are therefore used depending on the application and the type and energy of the radiation.


title: Radiation protection

text: Shielding reduces the intensity of radiation, increasing with thickness. This is an exponential relationship with gradually diminishing effect as equal slices of shielding material are added. A quantity known as the halving-thicknesses is used to calculate this. For example, a practical shield in a fallout shelter with ten halving-thicknesses of packed dirt, which is roughly , reduces gamma rays to 1/1024 of their original intensity (i.e. 2).


title: Radiation protection

text: The effectiveness of a shielding material in general increases with its atomic number, called "Z", except for neutron shielding, which is more readily shielded by the likes of neutron absorbers and moderators such as compounds of boron e.g. boric acid, cadmium, carbon and hydrogen.


title: Radiation protection

text: Graded-"Z" shielding is a laminate of several materials with different "Z" values (atomic numbers) designed to protect against ionizing radiation. Compared to single-material shielding, the same mass of graded-"Z" shielding has been shown to reduce electron penetration over 60%. It is commonly used in satellite-based particle detectors, offering several benefits:


title: Radiation protection

text: Designs vary, but typically involve a gradient from high-"Z" (usually tantalum) through successively lower-"Z" elements such as tin, steel, and copper, usually ending with aluminium. Sometimes even lighter materials such as polypropylene or boron carbide are used.


title: Radiation protection

text: In a typical graded-"Z" shield, the high-"Z" layer effectively scatters protons and electrons. It also absorbs gamma rays, which produces X-ray fluorescence. Each subsequent layer absorbs the X-ray fluorescence of the previous material, eventually reducing the energy to a suitable level. Each decrease in energy produces Bremsstrahlung and Auger electrons, which are below the detector's energy threshold. Some designs also include an outer layer of aluminium, which may simply be the skin of the satellite. The effectiveness of a material as a biological shield is related to its cross-section for scattering and absorption, and to a first approximation is proportional to the total mass of material per unit area interposed along the line of sight between the radiation source and the region to be protected. Hence, shielding strength or "thickness" is conventionally measured in units of g/cm. The radiation that manages to get through falls exponentially with the thickness of the shield. In x-ray facilities, walls surrounding the room with the x-ray generator may contain lead shielding such as lead sheets, or the plaster may contain barium sulfate. Operators view the target through a leaded glass screen, or if they must remain in the same room as the target, wear lead aprons.


title: Radiation protection

text: Particle radiation consists of a stream of charged or neutral particles, both charged ions and subatomic elementary particles. This includes solar wind, cosmic radiation, and neutron flux in nuclear reactors.


title: Radiation protection

text: Electromagnetic radiation consists of emissions of electromagnetic waves, the properties of which depend on the wavelength.


title: Radiation protection

text: In some cases, improper shielding can actually make the situation worse, when the radiation interacts with the shielding material and creates secondary radiation that absorbs in the organisms more readily. For example, although high atomic number materials are very effective in shielding photons, using them to shield beta particles may cause higher radiation exposure due to the production of Bremsstrahlung x-rays, and hence low atomic number materials are recommended. Also, using a material with a high neutron activation cross section to shield neutrons will result in the shielding material itself becoming radioactive and hence more dangerous than if it were not present.


title: Radiation protection

text: Personal Protection Equipment (PPE) includes all clothing and accessories which can be worn to prevent severe illness and injury as a result of exposure to radioactive material. These include an SR100 (protection for 1hr), SR200 (protection for 2 hours). Because radiation can affect humans through internal and external contamination, various protection strategies have been developed to protect humans from the harmful effects of radiation exposure from a spectrum of sources. A few of these strategies developed to shield from internal, external, and high energy radiation are outlined below.


title: Radiation protection

text: Internal contamination protection equipment protects against the inhalation and ingestion of radioactive material. Internal deposition of radioactive material result in direct exposure of radiation to organs and tissues inside the body. The respiratory protective equipment described below are designed to minimize the possibility of such material being inhaled or ingested as emergency workers are exposed to potentially radioactive environments.


title: Radiation protection

text: External contamination protection equipment provides a barrier to shield radioactive material from being deposited externally on the body or clothes. The dermal protective equipment described below acts as a barrier to block radioactive material from physically touching the skin, but does not protect against externally penetrating high energy radiation.


title: Radiation protection

text: There are many solutions to shielding against low-energy radiation exposure like low-energy X-rays. Lead shielding wear such as lead aprons can protect patients and clinicians from the potentially harmful radiation effects of day-to-day medical examinations. It is quite feasible to protect large surface areas of the body from radiation in the lower-energy spectrum because very little shielding material is required to provide the necessary protection. Recent studies show that copper shielding is far more effective than lead and is likely to replace it as the standard material for radiation shielding.


title: Radiation protection

text: Personal shielding against more energetic radiation such as gamma radiation is very difficult to achieve as the large mass of shielding material required to properly protect the entire body would make functional movement nearly impossible. For this, partial body shielding of radio-sensitive internal organs is the most viable protection strategy.


title: Radiation protection

text: The immediate danger of intense exposure to high-energy gamma radiation is Acute Radiation Syndrome (ARS), a result of irreversible bone marrow damage. The concept of selective shielding is based in the regenerative potential of the hematopoietic stem cells found in bone marrow. The regenerative quality of stem cells make it only necessary to protect enough bone marrow to repopulate the body with unaffected stem cells after the exposure: a similar concept which is applied in hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT), which is a common treatment for patients with leukemia. This scientific advancement allows for the development of a new class of relatively lightweight protective equipment that shields high concentrations of bone marrow to defer the hematopoietic sub-syndrome of Acute Radiation Syndrome to much higher dosages.


title: Radiation protection

text: One technique is to apply selective shielding to protect the high concentration of bone marrow stored in the hips and other radio-sensitive organs in the abdominal area. This allows first responders a safe way to perform necessary missions in radioactive environments.


title: Radiation protection

text: Practical radiation measurement using calibrated radiation protection instruments is essential in evaluating the effectiveness of protection measures, and in assessing the radiation dose likely to be received by individuals. The measuring instruments for radiation protection are both "installed" (in a fixed position) and portable (hand-held or transportable).


title: Radiation protection

text: Installed instruments are fixed in positions which are known to be important in assessing the general radiation hazard in an area. Examples are installed "area" radiation monitors, Gamma interlock monitors, personnel exit monitors, and airborne particulate monitors.


title: Radiation protection

text: The area radiation monitor will measure the ambient radiation, usually X-Ray, Gamma or neutrons; these are radiations that can have significant radiation levels over a range in excess of tens of metres from their source, and thereby cover a wide area.


title: Radiation protection

text: Gamma radiation "interlock monitors" are used in applications to prevent inadvertent exposure of workers to an excess dose by preventing personnel access to an area when a high radiation level is present. These interlock the process access directly.


title: Radiation protection

text: Airborne contamination monitors measure the concentration of radioactive particles in the ambient air to guard against radioactive particles being ingested, or deposited in the lungs of personnel. These instruments will normally give a local alarm, but are often connected to an integrated safety system so that areas of plant can be evacuated and personnel are prevented from entering an air of high airborne contamination.


title: Radiation protection

text: Personnel exit monitors (PEM) are used to monitor workers who are exiting a "contamination controlled" or potentially contaminated area. These can be in the form of hand monitors, clothing frisk probes, or whole body monitors. These monitor the surface of the workers body and clothing to check if any radioactive contamination has been deposited. These generally measure alpha or beta or gamma, or combinations of these.


title: Radiation protection

text: The UK National Physical Laboratory publishes a good practice guide through its Ionising Radiation Metrology Forum concerning the provision of such equipment and the methodology of calculating the alarm levels to be used.


title: Radiation protection

text: Portable instruments are hand-held or transportable. The hand-held instrument is generally used as a survey meter to check an object or person in detail, or assess an area where no installed instrumentation exists. They can also be used for personnel exit monitoring or personnel contamination checks in the field. These generally measure alpha, beta or gamma, or combinations of these.


title: Radiation protection

text: Transportable instruments are generally instruments that would have been permanently installed, but are temporarily placed in an area to provide continuous monitoring where it is likely there will be a hazard. Such instruments are often installed on trolleys to allow easy deployment, and are associated with temporary operational situations.


title: Radiation protection

text: In the United Kingdom the HSE has issued a user guidance note on selecting the correct radiation measurement instrument for the application concerned. This covers all radiation instrument technologies, and is a useful comparative guide.


title: Radiation protection

text: A number of commonly used detection instrument types are listed below, and are used for both fixed and survey monitoring.


title: Radiation protection

text: Spacecraft, both robotic and crewed, must cope with the high radiation environment of outer space. Radiation emitted by the Sun and other galactic sources, and trapped in radiation "belts" is more dangerous and hundreds of times more intense than radiation sources such as medical X-rays or normal cosmic radiation usually experienced on Earth. When the intensely ionizing particles found in space strike human tissue, it can result in cell damage and may eventually lead to cancer.


title: Radiation protection

text: The usual method for radiation protection is material shielding by spacecraft and equipment structures (usually aluminium), possibly augmented by polyethylene in human spaceflight where the main concern is high-energy protons and cosmic ray ions. On uncrewed spacecraft in high-electron-dose environments such as Jupiter missions, or medium Earth orbit (MEO), additional shielding with materials of a high atomic number can be effective. On long-duration crewed missions, advantage can be taken of the good shielding characteristics of liquid hydrogen fuel and water.


title: Radiation protection

text: The NASA Space Radiation Laboratory makes use of a particle accelerator that produces beams of protons or heavy ions. These ions are typical of those accelerated in cosmic sources and by the Sun. The beams of ions move through a 100 m (328-foot) transport tunnel to the 37 m (400-square-foot) shielded target hall. There, they hit the target, which may be a biological sample or shielding material. In a 2002 NASA study, it was determined that materials that have high hydrogen contents, such as polyethylene, can reduce primary and secondary radiation to a greater extent than metals, such as aluminum. The problem with this "passive shielding" method is that radiation interactions in the material generate secondary radiation.


title: Radiation protection

text: Active Shielding, that is, using magnets, high voltages, or artificial magnetospheres to slow down or deflect radiation, has been considered to potentially combat radiation in a feasible way. So far, the cost of equipment, power and weight of active shielding equipment outweigh their benefits. For example, active radiation equipment would need a habitable volume size to house it, and magnetic and electrostatic configurations often are not homogenous in intensity, allowing high-energy particles to penetrate the magnetic and electric fields from low-intensity parts, like cusps in dipolar magnetic field of Earth. As of 2012, NASA is undergoing research in superconducting magnetic architecture for potential active shielding applications.


title: Radiation protection

text: The dangers of radioactivity and radiation were not immediately recognized. The discovery of x‑rays in 1895 led to widespread experimentation by scientists, physicians, and inventors. Many people began recounting stories of burns, hair loss and worse in technical journals as early as 1896. In February of that year, Professor Daniel and Dr. Dudley of Vanderbilt University performed an experiment involving x-raying Dudley's head that resulted in his hair loss. A report by Dr. H.D. Hawks, a graduate of Columbia College, of his severe hand and chest burns in an x-ray demonstration, was the first of many other reports in "Electrical Review".


title: Radiation protection

text: Many experimenters including Elihu Thomson at Thomas Edison's lab, William J. Morton, and Nikola Tesla also reported burns. Elihu Thomson deliberately exposed a finger to an x-ray tube over a period of time and experienced pain, swelling, and blistering. Other effects, including ultraviolet rays and ozone were sometimes blamed for the damage. Many physicists claimed that there were no effects from x-ray exposure at all.


title: Radiation protection

text: As early as 1902 William Herbert Rollins wrote almost despairingly that his warnings about the dangers involved in careless use of x-rays was not being heeded, either by industry or by his colleagues. By this time Rollins had proved that x-rays could kill experimental animals, could cause a pregnant guinea pig to abort, and that they could kill a fetus. He also stressed that "animals vary in susceptibility to the external action of X-light" and warned that these differences be considered when patients were treated by means of x-rays.


title: Radiation protection

text: Before the biological effects of radiation were known, many physicists and corporations began marketing radioactive substances as patent medicine in the form of glow-in-the-dark pigments. Examples were radium enema treatments, and radium-containing waters to be drunk as tonics. Marie Curie protested against this sort of treatment, warning that the effects of radiation on the human body were not well understood. Curie later died from aplastic anaemia, likely caused by exposure to ionizing radiation. By the 1930s, after a number of cases of bone necrosis and death of radium treatment enthusiasts, radium-containing medicinal products had been largely removed from the market (radioactive quackery).


title: Symmetry in biology

text: Symmetry in biology refers to the symmetry observed in organisms, including plants, animals, fungi, and bacteria. External symmetry can be easily seen by just looking at an organism. For example, take the face of a human being which has a plane of symmetry down its centre, or a pine cone with a clear symmetrical spiral pattern. Internal features can also show symmetry, for example the tubes in the human body (responsible for transporting gases, nutrients, and waste products) which are cylindrical and have several planes of symmetry.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: Biological symmetry can be thought of as a balanced distribution of duplicate body parts or shapes within the body of an organism. Importantly, unlike in mathematics, symmetry in biology is always approximate. For example, plant leaves – while considered symmetrical – rarely match up exactly when folded in half. Symmetry is one class of patterns in nature whereby there is near-repetition of the pattern element, either by reflection or rotation.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: While sponges and placozoans represent two groups of animals which do not show any symmetry (i.e. are asymmetrical), the body plans of most multicellular organisms exhibit, and are defined by, some form of symmetry. There are only a few types of symmetry which are possible in body plans. These are radial (cylindrical), bilateral, biradial and spherical symmetry. While the classification of viruses as an "organism" remains controversial, viruses also contain icosahedral symmetry.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: The importance of symmetry is illustrated by the fact that groups of animals have traditionally been defined by this feature in taxonomic groupings. The Radiata, animals with radial symmetry, formed one of the four branches of Georges Cuvier's classification of the animal kingdom. Meanwhile, Bilateria is a taxonomic grouping still used today to represent organisms with embryonic bilateral symmetry.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: Organisms with radial symmetry show a repeating pattern around a central axis such that they can be separated into several identical pieces when cut through the central point, much like pieces of a pie. Typically, this involves repeating a body part 4, 5, 6 or 8 times around the axis – referred to as tetramerism, pentamerism, hexamerism and octamerism, respectively. Such organisms exhibit no left or right sides but do have a top and a bottom surface, or a front and a back.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: George Cuvier classified animals with radial symmetry in the taxon Radiata ("Zoophytes"), which is now generally accepted to be an assemblage of different animal phyla that do not share a single common ancestor (a polyphyletic group). Most radially symmetric animals are symmetrical about an axis extending from the center of the oral surface, which contains the mouth, to the center of the opposite (aboral) end. Animals in the phyla Cnidaria and Echinodermata generally show radial symmetry, although many sea anemones and some corals within the Cnidaria have bilateral symmetry defined by a single structure, the siphonoglyph. Radial symmetry is especially suitable for sessile animals such as the sea anemone, floating animals such as jellyfish, and slow moving organisms such as starfish; whereas bilateral symmetry favours locomotion by generating a streamlined body.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: Many flowers are also radially symmetric, or "actinomorphic". Roughly identical floral structures – petals, sepals, and stamens – occur at regular intervals around the axis of the flower, which is often the female reproductive organ containing the carpel, style and stigma.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: Some jellyfish, such as "Aurelia marginalis", show tetramerism with a four-fold radial symmetry. This is immediately obvious when looking at the jellyfish due to the presence of four gonads, visible through its translucent body. This radial symmetry is ecologically important in allowing the jellyfish to detect and respond to stimuli (mainly food and danger) from all directions.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: Flowering plants show five-fold symmetry, or pentamerism, in many of their flowers and fruits. This is easily seen through the arrangement of five carpels (seed pockets) in an apple when cut transversely. Among animals, only the echinoderms such as sea stars, sea urchins, and sea lilies are pentamerous as adults, with five arms arranged around the mouth. Being bilaterian animals, however, they initially develop with mirror symmetry as larvae, then gain pentaradial symmetry later.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: Icosahedral symmetry occurs in an organism which contains 60 subunits generated by 20 faces, each an equilateral triangle, and 12 corners. Within the icosahedron there is 2-fold, 3-fold and 5-fold symmetry. Many viruses, including "canine parvovirus", show this form of symmetry due to the presence of an icosahedral viral shell. Such symmetry has evolved because it allows the viral particle to be built up of repetitive subunits consisting of a limited number of structural proteins (encoded by viral genes), thereby saving space in the viral genome. The icosahedral symmetry can still be maintained with more than 60 subunits, but only in factors of 60. For example, the T=3 "Tomato bushy stunt virus" has 60x3 protein subunits (180 copies of the same structural protein). Although these viruses are often referred to as 'spherical', they do not show true mathematical spherical symmetry.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: In the early 20th century, Ernst Haeckel described (Haeckel, 1904) a number of species of Radiolaria, some of whose skeletons are shaped like various regular polyhedra. Examples include "Circoporus octahedrus", "Circogonia icosahedra", "Lithocubus geometricus" and "Circorrhegma dodecahedra". The shapes of these creatures should be obvious from their names. Tetrahedral symmetry is not present in "Callimitra agnesae".


title: Symmetry in biology

text: Spherical symmetry is characterised by the ability to draw an endless, or great but finite, number of symmetry axes through the body. This means that spherical symmetry occurs in an organism if it is able to be cut into two identical halves through any cut that runs through the organism's center. True spherical symmetry is not found in animal body plans. Organisms which show approximate spherical symmetry include the freshwater green alga "Volvox".


title: Symmetry in biology

text: Bacteria are often referred to as having a 'spherical' shape. Bacteria are categorized based on their shapes into three classes: cocci (spherical-shaped), bacillus (rod-shaped) and spirochetes (spiral-shaped) cells. In reality, this is a severe over-simplification as bacterial cells can be curved, bent, flattened, oblong spheroids and many more shapes. Due to the huge number of bacteria considered to be cocci (coccus if a single cell), it is unlikely that all of these show true spherical symmetry. It is important to distinguish between the generalized use of the word 'spherical' to describe organisms at ease, and the true meaning of spherical symmetry. The same situation is seen in the description of viruses – 'spherical' viruses do not necessarily show spherical symmetry, being usually icosahedral.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: Organisms with bilateral symmetry contain a single plane of symmetry, the sagittal plane, which divides the organism into two roughly mirror image left and right halves – approximate reflectional symmetry.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: Animals with bilateral symmetry are classified into a large group called the bilateria which contains 99% of all animals (comprising over 32 phyla and 1 million described species). All bilaterians have some asymmetrical features; for example, the human heart and liver are positioned asymmetrically despite the body having external bilateral symmetry.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: The bilateral symmetry of bilaterians is a complex trait which develops due to the expression of many genes. The bilateria have two axes of polarity. The first is an anterior-posterior (AP) axis which can be visualised as an imaginary axis running from the head or mouth to the tail or other end of an organism. The second is the dorsal-ventral (DV) axis which runs perpendicular to the AP axis. During development the AP axis is always specified before the DV axis


title: Symmetry in biology

text: The AP axis is essential in defining the polarity of bilateria and allowing the development of a front and back to give the organism direction. The front end encounters the environment before the rest of the body so sensory organs such as eyes tend to be clustered there. This is also the site where a mouth develops since it is the first part of the body to encounter food. Therefore, a distinct head, with sense organs connected to a central nervous system, tends to develop. This pattern of development (with a distinct head and tail) is called cephalization. It is also argued that the development of an AP axis is important in locomotion – bilateral symmetry gives the body an intrinsic direction and allows streamlining to reduce drag.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: In addition to animals, the flowers of some plants also show bilateral symmetry. Such plants are referred to as zygomorphic and include the orchid ("Orchidaceae") and pea ("Fabaceae") families, and most of the figwort family ("Scrophulariaceae"). The leaves of plants also commonly show approximate bilateral symmetry.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: Biradial symmetry is found in organisms which show morphological features (internal or external) of both bilateral and radial symmetry. Unlike radially symmetrical organisms which can be divided equally along many planes, biradial organisms can only be cut equally along two planes. This could represent an intermediate stage in the evolution of bilateral symmetry from a radially symmetric ancestor.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: The animal group with the most obvious biradial symmetry is the ctenophores. In ctenophores the two planes of symmetry are (1) the plane of the tentacles and (2) the plane of the pharynx. In addition to this group, evidence for biradial symmetry has even been found in the 'perfectly radial' freshwater polyp " Hydra" (a cnidarian). Biradial symmetry, especially when considering both internal and external features, is more common than originally accounted for.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: Like all the traits of organisms, symmetry (or indeed asymmetry) evolves due to an advantage to the organism – a process of natural selection. This involves changes in the frequency of symmetry-related genes throughout time.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: Early flowering plants had radially symmetric flowers but since then many plants have evolved bilaterally symmetrical flowers. The evolution of bilateral symmetry is due to the expression of "CYCLOIDEA" genes. Evidence for the role of the "CYCLOIDEA" gene family comes from mutations in these genes which cause a reversion to radial symmetry. The "CYCLOIDEA" genes encode transcription factors, proteins which control the expression of other genes. This allows their expression to influence developmental pathways relating to symmetry. For example, in "Antirrhinum majus", "CYCLOIDEA" is expressed during early development in the dorsal domain of the flower meristem and continues to be expressed later on in the dorsal petals to control their size and shape. It is believed that the evolution of specialized pollinators may play a part in the transition of radially symmetrical flowers to bilaterally symmetrical flowers.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: Symmetry is often selected for in the evolution of animals. This is unsurprising since asymmetry is often an indication of unfitness – either defects during development or injuries throughout a lifetime. This is most apparent during mating during which females of some species select males with highly symmetrical features. For example, facial symmetry influences human judgements of human attractiveness. Additionally, female barn swallows, a species where adults have long tail streamers, prefer to mate with males that have the most symmetrical tails.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: While symmetry is known to be under selection, the evolutionary history of different types of symmetry in animals is an area of extensive debate. Traditionally it has been suggested that bilateral animals evolved from a radial ancestor. Cnidarians, a phylum containing animals with radial symmetry, are the most closely related group to the bilaterians. Cnidarians are one of two groups of early animals considered to have defined structure, the second being the ctenophores. Ctenophores show biradial symmetry leading to the suggestion that they represent an intermediate step in the evolution of bilateral symmetry from radial symmetry.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: Interpretations based only on morphology are not sufficient to explain the evolution of symmetry. Two different explanations are proposed for the different symmetries in cnidarians and bilateria. The first suggestion is that an ancestral animal had no symmetry (was asymmetric) before cnidarians and bilaterians separated into different evolutionary lineages. Radial symmetry could have then evolved in cnidarians and bilateral symmetry in bilaterians. Alternatively, the second suggestion is that an ancestor of cnidarians and bilaterians had bilateral symmetry before the cnidarians evolved and became different by having radial symmetry. Both potential explanations are being explored and evidence continues to fuel the debate.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: Although asymmetry is typically associated with being unfit, some species have evolved to be asymmetrical as an important adaptation. Many members of the phylum Porifera (sponges) have no symmetry, though some are radially symmetric.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: The presence of these asymmetrical features requires a process of symmetry breaking during development, both in plants and animals. Symmetry breaking occurs at several different levels in order to generate the anatomical asymmetry which we observe. These levels include asymmetric gene expression, protein expression, and activity of cells.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: For example, left-right asymmetry in mammals has been investigated extensively in the embryos of mice. Such studies have led to support for the nodal flow hypothesis. In a region of the embryo referred to as the node there are small hair-like structures (monocilia) which all rotate together in a particular direction. This creates a unidirectional flow of signalling molecules causing these signals to accumulate on one side of the embryo and not the other. This results in the activation of different developmental pathways on each side, and subsequent asymmetry.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: Much of the investigation of the genetic basis of symmetry breaking has been done on chick embryos. In chick embryos the left side expresses genes called "NODAL" and "LEFTY2" which activate "PITX2" to signal the development of left side structures. Whereas, the right side does not express "PITX2" and consequently develops right side structures. A more complete pathway is shown in the image at the side of the page.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: For more information about symmetry breaking in animals please refer to the left-right asymmetry page.


title: Symmetry in biology

text: Plants also show asymmetry. For example the direction of helical growth in "Arabidopsis", the most commonly studied model plant, shows left-handedness. Interestingly, the genes involved in this asymmetry are similar (closely related) to those in animal asymmetry – both "LEFTY1" and "LEFTY2" play a role. In the same way as animals, symmetry breaking in plants can occur at a molecular (genes/proteins), subcellular, cellular, tissue and organ level.


title: Kim Kyung-nam

text: Kim Kyung-nam (born December 21, 1989) is a South Korean actor. He is best known for his roles in the television series "Prison Playbook" (2017–2018), "Come and Hug Me" (2018), "Where Stars Land" (2018), "Special Labor Inspector" (2019), "" (2020), and "Revolutionary Sisters" (2021).


title: Croix de Guerre

text: The Croix de Guerre (, "Cross of War") is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was first awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts; the "croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures" ("cross of war for external theatres of operations") was established in 1921 for these. The Croix de Guerre was also commonly bestowed on foreign military forces allied to France.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: The Croix de Guerre may be awarded either as an individual award or as a unit award to those soldiers who distinguish themselves by acts of heroism involving combat with the enemy. The medal is awarded to those who have been "mentioned in dispatches", meaning a heroic deed or deeds were performed meriting a citation from an individual's headquarters unit. The unit award of the Croix de Guerre with palm was issued to military units whose members performed heroic deeds in combat and were subsequently recognized by headquarters.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: The "Croix de Guerre" medal varies depending on which country is bestowing the award and for what conflict. Separate French medals exist for the First and Second World War.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: For the unit decoration of the Croix de Guerre, a "fourragère" (which takes the form of a braided cord) is awarded; this is suspended from the shoulder of an individual's uniform.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: As the "Croix de Guerre" is issued as several medals, and as a unit decoration, situations typically arose where an individual was awarded the decoration several times, for different actions, and from different sources. Regulations also permitted the wearing of multiple Croix de Guerre, meaning that such medals were differentiated in service records by specifying "French Croix de Guerre", "French Croix de Guerre (WWI)", etc.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: Furthermore, the French collaborationist government created two "croix" during World War II. These "croix" are now illegal under French law and wearing them is outlawed:


title: Croix de Guerre

text: The "Croix" was created by a law of April 2, 1915, proposed by French deputy Émile Briant. The Croix reinstated and modified an older system of mentions in dispatches, which were only administrative honours with no medal accompanying them. The sculptor Paul-André Bartholomé created the medal, a bronze cross with swords, showing the effigy of the republic.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: The French Croix represents a mention in dispatches awarded by a commanding officer, at least a regimental commander. Depending on the officer who issued the mention, the ribbon of the Croix is marked with extra pins.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: The French Croix de guerre des TOE was created in 1921 for wars fought in theatres of operation outside France. It was awarded during the Indochina War, Korean War, and various wars in the decades that followed. It is the only version of the Croix de Guerre still considered active, though it has not been presented since the Kosovo War in 1999.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: When World War II broke out in 1939, a new Croix de Guerre was created by Édouard Daladier. It was abolished by Vichy Government in 1941, which created a new Croix de Guerre. In 1943 General Giraud in Algiers created another Croix de Guerre. Both the Vichy and Giraud Croix were abolished by General de Gaulle in 1944, who reinstated the 1939 Croix.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: The Croix de Guerre takes precedence between the Ordre national du Mérite and the Croix de la Valeur Militaire, the World War I Croix being senior to the World War II one, itself senior to the TOE Croix.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: The Croix can be awarded to military units, as a manifestation of a collective Mention in Despatches. It is then displayed on the unit's flag. A unit, usually a regiment or a battalion, is always mentioned at the army level. The Croix is then a Croix de Guerre with palm. Other communities, such as cities or companies can be also awarded the Croix.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: When a unit is mentioned twice, it is awarded the "fourragère" of the "Croix de Guerre". This "fourragère" is worn by all men in the unit, but it can be worn on a personal basis: those permanently assigned to a unit, at the time of the mentions, were entitled to wear the fourragère for the remainder of service in the military.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: Temporary personnel, or those who had joined a unit after the actions which had been mentioned, were authorized to wear the award while a member of the unit but would surrender the decoration upon transfer. This temporary wearing of the fourragère only applied to the French version of the Croix de Guerre.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: The 2nd Battalion Devonshire Regiment of the British Army along with 5 Battery RA were awarded the French Croix de Guerre with palm for its gallant defence of Bois des Buttes on 27 May 1918, the first day of the Third Battle of the Aisne. The Croix de Guerre with palm was also awarded to 2nd Battalion Kings Shropshire Light Infantry for Gallantry near Bligny, part of the Second Battle of the Marne. Several other British Army battalions would receive the award before the end of the war.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: In the United States military, the Croix de Guerre was accepted as a foreign decoration. It remains one of the more difficult foreign awards to verify entitlement. The Croix de Guerre unit and individual award were often presented with original orders only and rarely entered into a permanent service record. The 1973 National Archives Fire destroyed most of the World War II personnel records which are needed to verify a veteran's entitlement to the Croix de Guerre award. However, foreign unit award entitlements can be checked and verified through official unit history records. Veterans must provide proof of service in the unit cited at the time of action in order to be entitled to the award. Individual foreign awards can be checked through foreign government (France) military records.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: Regarding the United States in WWI, on April 10, 12, and 13, 1918, the lines being held by the troops of the 104th Infantry Regiment, of the 26th "Yankee" Division, in Bois Brûlé, near Apremont in the Ardennes, were heavily bombarded and attacked by the Germans. At first the Germans secured a foothold in some advanced trenches which were not strongly held but, thereafter, sturdy counterattacks by the 104th Infantry - at the point of the bayonet - succeeded in driving the enemy out with serious losses, entirely re-establishing the American line. For its gallantry the 104th Infantry was cited in a general order of the French 32nd Army Corps on April 26, 1918. In an impressive ceremony occurring in a field near Boucq on April 28, 1918, the 104th Infantry's regimental flag was decorated with the Croix de Guerre by French General Fenelon F.G. Passaga. "I am proud to decorate the flag of a regiment which has shown such fortitude and courage," he said. "I am proud to decorate the flag of a nation which has come to aid in the fight for liberty." Thus, the 104th Infantry became the very first American unit to be honored by a foreign country for exceptional bravery in combat. In addition, 117 members of the 104th Infantry received the award, including its commander, Colonel George H. Shelton.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: In World War II, the 320th Bombardment Group received the Croix de Guerre avec Palme for action in preparation for and in support of Allied offensive operations in central Italy, April–June 1944. It was the first American unit in this war to be awarded the citation. Members of the 440th AAA AW Battalion (Anti-Aircraft Artillery - Automatic Weapons) of the U.S. Army also received the Croix de Guerre avec Palme (unit award) for stopping the German Ardennes counter-offensive in holding the town of Gouvy, Belgium for 4 days at the beginning of the Battle of the Bulge on December 16, 1944. Gouvy is midway between St. Vith and Bastogne. Commanding Officer of the 440th, Lt. Col. Robert O. Stone, and Pfc. Joseph P. Regis, also received an individual award of the Croix de Guerre avec Palme. On June 21, 1945, French General De Gaulle presented the following citation to the 34th United States Infantry Division: "A 'division d'elite', whose loyal and efficient cooperation with French divisions, begun in TUNISIA, was gloriously continued throughout the Italian campaign, in particular during the operations of BELVEDERE when the 34th Division, despite the difficulties of the moment, displayed most courageous efforts in support of the operations of the 3rd Algerian Division. This citation bears with it the award of Croix de Guerre with Palm." Soldiers of the US Army 509th Parachute Infantry Regiment "Geronimos" were awarded the Croix de Guerre with Silver Star, For Service in the Southern France campaign. The 369th Infantry Regiment, known as the Harlem Hellfighters by the Germans they killed, were as a unit awarded this medal. 171 members were personally awarded the medal along with the nations highest award, the Legion of Honor. The 509th Unit colors bear the Streamer embroidered "MUY EN PROVENCE".


title: Croix de Guerre

text: On March 30, 1951, the President of the French Republic, Vincent Auriol, pinned not only the Croix de Guerre with Palm but also the Legion of Honour on the flag of the Brigade of Midshipmen of the United States Naval Academy in recognition of historic contributions of the Naval Academy, particularly the contributions of alumni to victory in World War II. The flag of the Brigade of Midshipmen does not display streamers for either award, nor do Midshipmen wear the fourragère, despite apparent entitlement to do both.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: Today, members of several US Army and Marine Corps units that received the fourragère for combat service during World Wars I and/or II are authorized to wear the award while assigned to the unit. Upon transfer from the unit the individual is no longer authorized to wear the fourragère. Wearing of the decoration is considered ceremonial only and it is not entered as an official military individual or unit award in the service member's permanent service records.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: 106th Cavalry Regiment - For service during WW II - 121st CRS: Fourragère; 121st CRS: French Croix de Guerre with Palm; 106th Group: French Croix de Guerre with Palm


title: Croix de Guerre

text: Cpl. George C. Doneworth, 84th Co., 3rd Bn., 6th Marines, USMC. Wounded four times in battle, including mustard gas, a bayonet through his thigh while jumping a German machine gun nest, a spinal injury (unbeknownst to him except for pain) from a broken piece of frozen ground hurled by a nearby artillery shell burst, and lastly a close-range rifle shot from a German soldier resulting in major head trauma at Belleau Wood on June 6, 1918; Col. Albertus Catlin had been shot that same day and place. That final head-wound in the eye socket, exiting at the temple near the ear, knocked him unconscious, and after being left for dead and waking later in the day near sunset, covered in blood, he walked back to U.S. lines and took two German prisoners while enroute. Upon arrival at the first friendly machine gun emplacement, he collapsed and was evacuated to a field hospital. Awarded the French Fourragère of the Order of the Legion of Honor for gallantry by a French General officer, an all-red in color rare award by the French. He was also awarded the Purple Heart and two wound stripes, and medals for Chateau Theirry COTE-204, the Ainse Defensive Sector (with 4 stars), and the 2nd Division Regulars, U.S. Army. Spent 3 years in hospital in France, Washington, DC and Baltimore, MD. When recovered, he returned to his home in Harrison, OH and created the first American Legion Post where he became Commander. He lived to the age of 88.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: During World War I, Cher Ami, a carrier pigeon with the 77th Division, helped save the lives of 194 American soldiers by carrying a message across enemy lines in the heat of battle. Cher Ami was shot in the chest and leg, losing most of the leg to which the message was attached, and blinded in one eye, but continued the 25-mile flight avoiding shrapnel and poison gas to get the message home. Cher Ami was awarded the French Croix de Guerre with Palm for heroic service. He later died from the wounds received in battle and was enshrined in the Smithsonian Institution.


title: Croix de Guerre

text: Aram Karamanoukian, a lieutenant-general of the Syrian army of Armenian descent, who participated in the First Arab-Israeli war, was awarded the Croix de Guerre.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The 2021 Munster abuse case, contemporaneously reported in the media as the Munster abuse trial, refers to a criminal trial that took place in Ireland between 2021 and 2022, pertaining to five adults who were found guilty of a plethora of offenses committed against five of the children of two of the accused, between 18 August 2014 and 28 April 2016, in several different counties in the province of Munster, Ireland.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: On 6 August 2021, five out of seven accused—all of whom are from Munster—were found guilty of raping, sexually abusing, sexually exploiting, abusing, and wilfully neglecting five children: four boys and one girl. In total, the five were found guilty on 77 counts, including 18 counts of rape and 24 counts of sexual assault, all of which took place between 2014 and 2016. They were sentenced to a cumulative 57 years in prison. At the time of being removed from their parents' care in 2016, the boys were aged nine, six, four, and three, and the girl was aged seven.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The parents of the children both have intellectual impairments, with the mother's deficit reported as being more severe. The condition of the house the family lived in amounted to squalor, and both of the parents, as well as the children, were repeatedly noted for being extremely dirty.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The seven who were accused are all relatives of the five children, and cannot be named due to Irish law surrounding the identification of minors involved in criminal proceedings. Extensive reporting restrictions have been enacted around the case, and as a result, the exact detail of the abuse the children suffered cannot be reported on in order to protect the welfare of the children.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: All of the family members who were accused of the crimes are from various undisclosed locations in Munster.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The parents of the children both have undisclosed intellectual impairments, with the mother's deficit being severe enough to be classed as a disability. She further has a notably low intelligence quotient (IQ). During the trial, these factors were dismissed by the prosecution as unrelated to the abusive treatment of the children by their parents, and claimed that relating the two would be "an insult to people with intellectual disabilities to say they would leave their children in that condition." Bernard Condon, for the prosecution, accused the father of the children of neglecting his children by choice, rather than by incapacity. A social worker appointed to work with the family in 2014 said that she thought that the parents understood what they were being told at case meetings concerning the care of the children.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: Engagement with social services began in 2011, after two of the children, the girl and one of the boys, accompanied their mother to a neonatal appointment. Medics grew concerned for the children as they were dirty, overdressed for the hot weather, and, as was later discovered, were suffering from third-degree burns. A family support worker was assigned to the family during this period, but had died by the time of the trial.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: In 2014, a new social worker, who proved central to the case, moved to the area. She revealed to the trial that her previous colleagues had been concerned about the amount of "dirt, flies and nappies" in the house. At the time, there was only one case open on the family, pertaining to the eldest boy. The boy had run away from school, and after the principal of his school had followed him home, she was "so concerned at the state of the house"—which she described as "horrific"—that she immediately contacted Tusla (the organization responsible for child welfare and protection in Ireland). Several teachers had also contacted Tusla on multiple occasions, out of concern for the hygiene and well-being—both mental and physical—of the children. Members of An Garda Síochána had also contacted Tusla after finding the boy alone and soiled in a local park.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The social worker met with the boy's parents whom she described as being "filthy. Filthy dirty". She described them both as emanating a strong body odour, and that the mother's hair was matted to her head. This meeting alarmed the social worker to such an extent that she opened a professional assessment of all five of the couple's children, who at the time were aged between one and six years old. In December 2014, Tusla called a case conference, where a number of professionals such as teachers and medical practitioners assessed the needs of the children. By the end of the conference, the professionals were unanimous that the children were at risk of neglect.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: In January 2016, the father of the children admitted to the social worker that he gave his children—in particular, his daughter—melatonin medication in order to make them "settle" at night. At this point, the decision was made to remove the children from the parents' care.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The press have been banned from reporting the full nature of the "harrowing" abuse suffered by the children in this case. While it is customary not to name minors or those connected to them in criminal trials in Ireland, in the interest of protecting the children's welfare, further restrictions were applied to the reporting of the abuse they suffered, though the press have been able to report on certain aspects of the case.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The eldest boy's school principal described the house as "filthy", with "a really strong, disgusting odour coming from the house". She described the carpet as being heavily stained, with "patches of dirt and grime everywhere". She said the walls were greasy and spattered with dirt. She further described the kitchen as being in a "dreadful condition", with used crockery and pieces of food "thrown around" the room. In October 2014, a month after meeting with the parents, the social worker visited their home for the first time. The entire house was filthy, and filled with an "unbearable" stench. Before even entering the domicile, she noticed rubbish, debris, and pieces of broken toys scattered all over the garden.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: After entering the house, the mother locked the front door behind them. Though the social worker protested, citing fire safety concerns, the door was locked after entry every time the social worker visited over the following 18 months. Though the floor had been swept, there remained "sticky, gunky filth" in the corners of the room. Just inside the front door, there was a "fossilized" slice of pizza on the floor. In response to suggestions that she throw the slice of pizza in the bin for fear of attracting rodents, the mother of the children responded that she needed to buy a new door in order to prevent rodents entering. There were piles of clothes all over the house, and a pot of mouldy food on the counter. Thick, smelly, hairy blankets covered almost every surface in the house, and upon pulling one back, the social worker discovered a child—18 months old at the time—tightly strapped in a buggy. The child was "pale and grey" and when spoken to was "blank and unresponsive".


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: In the bathroom, there was no toilet paper, shampoo, shower gels, toothpaste, or toothbrushes. There was one bar of soap in the bathroom, which was described as the "only cleaning item of any kind in the entire house". There were deep crevices in the soap, as it had dried out due to the amount of time which had passed since its last use.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: A neighbour of the family gave evidence at the trial, in which she described the constant "screaming, roaring, and crying" coming from the children, saying that the "kids cried more than they talked in that house". The neighbour had contacted the Gardaí out of concern for the children on numerous occasions. The neighbour kept diaries, recording information on the children to provide it to authorities. The diaries detail numerous examples of the children being in dangerous situations. Once, she recorded seeing one of the boys being dangled by the waist of his trousers from an upstairs window. She said that the children were permitted to play on the road at any time of day, without any supervision. She described an incident at nighttime where there was continuous banging on the walls of the house, for up to six hours. One entry noted how on Christmas Day, the boys were playing on the road without wearing shoes, while the girl spent the day crying, as she did not get a toy she wanted. In that particular instance, all of the children were wearing their pyjamas, something which was typical, as the diaries noted that the children "lived" in their pyjamas. The neighbour recorded in her diary that the children's father would whistle at the children, after which they would line up outside the house, and he would medicate them with a syringe. The neighbour also noted that the 49-year-old uncle had more control over the household than the parents, and when he came over, there could be "dead silence" following his arrival.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: On the day of his annual school tour, the eldest boy was sent home with his father, as he was badly sunburnt. While the father insisted that the boy had refused to allow him to apply sun cream on him that morning, teachers who applied sun cream to the boy after he had been burnt said that he made no complaint about it.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: Eighteen months after the children were taken into care, a pediatrician examined all five. She noted some injuries consistent with accidental injury, along with some unexplained scarring and scarring from burn wounds.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: A general practitioner gave evidence at trial saying that the youngest of the children, who was 18 months old at the time of examination, was in the 0.4th percentile of weight for a child of his age.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: Further evidence of the past mistreatment of the children emerged when they entered foster care. The children were separated when they entered the foster system, with the eldest boy going to one home, the girl and second oldest boy going to another, and the two youngest boys going to a third home. All of the children were placed in the care of experienced foster parents, several of whom later told the jury that they had never before seen neglect of the magnitude present in this case. Upon arriving at their foster homes, the children had faeces caked to their bodies. According to the foster parents, the older children were unable to use cutlery, a toothbrush, or toilet roll, and did not know how to shower or bathe. The eldest boy and the second youngest boy were described as having almost no teeth. All had dirty skin, hair, and nails, and those who were not missing teeth had dental issues. Upon entering foster care, the children arrived with just the clothes on their back. For the three eldest children, this amounted to dirty school uniforms.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The eldest boy was reportedly fascinated by the amount of food in his foster parents' house. His foster mother took him to a shopping centre to purchase new clothes, where they ran into two of his younger siblings. The boy expressed that he hoped his younger siblings would also have clothes bought for them.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The girl and the second oldest boy were sent to the same foster home. Their foster mother reported that the boy was badly scarred, and that the girl had next to no hair. According to their foster mother, the siblings had a "disturbing" relationship with food: they would never go looking for snacks or take food from the fridge, always awaited permission before eating food she set in front of them, and initially she had to chop their food in advance, as they were unable to properly chew it.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The second youngest boy was briefly in a foster home without any of his siblings, though he was later moved into the same house as the youngest sibling. His initial foster mother described how when he cried he would do so in total silence, making no noise as tears streamed down his face. The boy would not speak for the first few days in his foster home, and would not allow his foster parents to bathe him for the first three days.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The foster mother of the youngest child stated that she had never seen a child so afraid of being washed, that the child was unresponsive when hugged, and that the boy would not call out during the night, even in cases where he had vomited on himself. She later took in the second youngest boy as well.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: After entering foster care, several of the foster parents became concerned about the sexual behaviour being exhibited, and obscene language being used by the children. Gardaí visited the elder three children, which is when they first made allegations of abuse.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The primary portion of the trial lasted 10 weeks, and was heard at the level of the Central Criminal Court. Due to social distancing measures in place as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic in Ireland, the trial was held in a conference room in Croke Park. Each of the accused had their own defense counsel, and all were relatives of the five children. An enlarged jury of 15 were sworn in for the trial on 27 May 2021 by the presiding judge, Mr Justice Paul McDermott. They went out on 29 July, returning on 6 August after almost 19 hours of deliberations, returning 41 of the 78 charges, 40 of which were guilty. After asking the judge for guidance on the definition of wilful neglect, the jury returned to their deliberations, and after just over an hour returned the final 37 verdicts, all of which were guilty.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: During the trial, the three eldest children gave evidence via videolink. The content of the interviews of the girl and younger boy have been excluded from most reports of the trial, which discuss only the behaviour of the children during the interview process, the manner in which they were dealt with by the courts, and the fact that they claimed to have been abused, sexually abused, and exploited. Their evidence was given via recordings; the day after their respective evidence was heard, they were cross-examined. The "Limerick Leader" reported that the younger boy said in a Garda interview that his father and mother had touched his genitals with their hands, and that his mother also touched them with a stick. He further described feeling "bad" and "uncomfortable" after his maternal aunt touched his genitals with her hand, and her husband, the older uncle, touched them with a spoon. He said that he had been anally raped by his father, and both of his uncles. He said that his two older siblings had asked him if he wanted to "do sex" with them. He went on to say that photographs were taken of him when he was naked and "doing sex", and that those photos had been posted on Facebook.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The eldest child delivered his evidence live. He delivered similar testimony to his siblings, stating that they had been abused, while also detailing how prior to being taken into foster care, the children lacked access to clean clothes, were not provided with enough to eat, and were not "cleaned right". Though he admitted that his memory of the events was now hazy, he repeatedly denied accusations from the defence that he was misremembering, or that he was making up his testimony.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: During interviews with Gardaí, the mother of the children confessed to some of the accusations relating to the sexual abuse of the children, which she later recanted. She recounted several instances of abuse, including one which incriminated her husband and the children's 49-year-old uncle. She described the abuse as having happened "maybe once or twice a week". Having initially denied the allegations, part way through her fifth interview she began to tell Gardaí that she had witnessed her own mother, the children's grandmother, sexually assaulting the girl. She further described how she herself had abused the three eldest children. She further provided the Gardaí with a list of names of people who had abused the children. During the trial, she did not stand by these admissions.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The mother's sister, who was later found guilty of sexually assaulting the girl, likewise initially denied the allegations, before later saying that what the children were reporting was correct. After conferring with her solicitor, however, she said that she had been lying, and that she had neither done anything to the children nor witnessed anything untoward happening to them in her home. She is considered a minor party to the crimes.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: In the absence of the jury, the court was told that the grandmother of the children confessed to Gardaí about having sexually assaulted her granddaughter, saying "I only did it the once [...] I think you know, there's no point in lying." These interviews with Gardaí, however, were considered inadmissible as evidence for several reasons. At one stage the woman asked for a solicitor, and was not provided with one. She had an intellectual disability, and appeared not to understand some of the words the Gardaí were saying. The presiding judge further found that "verbal aggression and foul language" were used by Garda interviewers. Due to these mitigating factors, her interviews were not played for the jury, and her charges were eventually withdrawn.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The children's 49-year-old uncle, who is married to their maternal aunt, was found to have played a central role in the abuse of the children. According to Bernard Condon, for the prosecution, he was a "recurring feature [...] in all of the children's allegations". Mr Condon alleged that the uncle played a particular role in the abuse of the eldest boy, whom he instructed not to tell anyone about the abuse. According to Mr Condon, this uncle did nothing to stop the abuse "because he was right in the middle of doing it". The uncle had a high level of control over the family.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The younger uncle of the children was the only member of the accused to take the stand. Like the other members of the accused, he denied all wrongdoing. Having only been mentioned in the children's second Garda interviews, Mr Condon urged the jury not to treat him as an "afterthought" in this case, as the young girl in particular had described "in great detail" what this uncle had done to her.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The father of the five children, aged 56, was charged with 34 different counts, including rape, anal rape, sexual assault, sexual exploitation and permitting other people to engage in sexual activity with a child, wilful neglect, and mistreating his children by medicating them.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: He was found guilty of 31 counts: six counts of rape, six counts of sexual assault, three counts of permitting other people to engage in sexual activity with a child, three counts of sexually exploiting two of them, 10 counts of wilfully neglecting five of his children, and three counts of mistreating three of his children by giving them medication. An additional three counts against him were withdrawn during the trial by direction of the judge.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The mother of the children, aged 34, was charged with 25 counts, including sexual assault, sexual exploitation, permitting other people to engage in sexual activity with a child and wilful neglect. She was found guilty of all 25 counts: 10 counts of wilful neglect, 10 counts of sexual assault, three counts of permitting other people to engage in sexual activity with a child, and two counts of sexually exploiting her oldest son.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The aunt of the children, aged 35, was charged with 3 counts of sexual assault. She was found guilty of all counts: two counts of sexually assaulting the girl and one count of sexually assaulting the second oldest boy. Her husband, aged 49, was charged with 12 counts including rape, sexual assault and sexual exploitation. He was found guilty of 10 counts: five counts of sexual assault, three counts of sexual exploitation and two counts of rape. Two additional counts were withdrawn during the trial.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The uncle of the children, aged 27, was charged with 10 counts including rape, sexual assault and sexual exploitation. He was found guilty of 8 charges: six counts of rape and two counts of sexual exploitation. He was found not guilty of one count of sexually exploiting the girl. One count was withdrawn during the trial by direction of the judge. His partner, aged 32, was charged with four counts including sexual assault and sexual exploitation. All charges against her were withdrawn.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The grandmother of the children, aged 57, was charged with three counts of sexually assaulting her granddaughter. All charges against her were withdrawn.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: All of the alleged offences took place between 18 August 2014 and 28 April 2016. Out of 91 total charges leveled against the group of seven, 13 were withdrawn. Of the five who were found guilty, 78 charges in total had been leveled against them, and they were found guilty of all but one charge.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: On 4 October 2021, it emerged that after the trial concluded in August one of the jurors wrote a letter to the judge. Though the contents of the letter cannot be published by the media due to the reporting restrictions enacted surrounding this case, it is understood that the letter detailed the juror's "views of the jury system". Mr Justice McDermott made the letter available to all of the barristers involved in the case on 4 October 2021, and though he felt that the contents of the letter would not prevent him from sentencing those found guilty, he gave the defence counsel leave to return to court to raise any potential concerns they may have arising from the letter. On 17 December, defence counsel for both the 27-year-old uncle and the 49-year-old-uncle moved to have the guilty verdicts set aside in wake of the contents of the letter. Conor Devally, senior counsel representing the 27-year-old uncle, expressed the possibility that a number of the verdicts may be "unfair or tainted". He further referred to cases heard before the European Court of Human Rights, in which verdicts given under similar circumstances have been set aside. He submitted that in this area, Irish law is outdated. Andrew Sexton, senior counsel for the 49-year-old uncle, supported Devally's motion. Senior counsel for the children's father submitted that while the letter had caused his client "disquiet and concern", and that they would support an inquiry into the situation surrounding the letter; they also submitted that such action would have to take place in a different forum. This was supported by respective counsel for both the children's mother and their aunt. Bernard Condon stated that it was the Director of Public Prosecutions'(DPP) view that the trial judge had no jurisdiction to set aside verdicts in the case, nor any authority to contact and question jurors; that any objections would have to be heard before the Court of Appeal. On 21 December, Mr Justice McDermott stated that he was satisfied the letter from the juror did not contain evidence which would suggest that impropriety had taken place and could not be used by him, as trial judge, as a basis for any inquiry, agreeing with the DPP that it was the business of the Court of Appeal.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The court reconvened on 4 October 2021, and set a date for sentencing on 10 January 2022. All of those found guilty were remanded in custody from 6 August 2021 and remained in custody until they again appeared before the courts for sentencing. Some of them had packed their belongings in advance of the guilty verdict.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: Victim impact statements were made by each set of foster parents on behalf of the children, as well as by the eldest three children in the family. The boy, who was not present in the court, stated in a written statement that what his family had done to him had "changed [his] whole life", and that he thought that "[his] old family should go to jail for a long time for what they put [him] and [his] brothers and sister through." He further stated that he didn't believe his family should ever be permitted to be near children again. His siblings' statements, also written, were both two sentences long: the girl saying that her parents had "ruined [her] childhood and didn't even care about [her]. I wasn't loved when I was younger." The younger boy said that he didn't "feel safe about them not being in prison. I had no happy childhood."


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The impact of the abuse on the development and welfare of the children was further revealed by the victim impact statements issued by their foster parents. The foster mother of the eldest boy revealed in her statement that the boy "couldn't believe" that his bedroom was clean, and that the bed-sheets were changed regularly. She described him as being so thin upon arrival that "you could nearly see through his skin". She soon brought the boy to see a doctor and barber—the boy, nine years old at the time, had never been to a barber before. The boy reportedly couldn't understand that the kitchen was so full of food, and would "proudly show off the contents off the fridge" to any visitors to the house. She described what the children had endured as "unthinkable" and "inexcusable".


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The foster parents of the girl and second eldest boy gave details about the amount of support the children needed after entering foster care: they were brought to a speech and language therapist, a physiotherapist, an occupational therapist, a dietitian, an eye specialist, a dentist and orthodontist, a psychotherapist, a play therapist, and a specialist that helps children learn how to build attachments with others. A burns specialist plastic surgeon was also required, to treat burns sustained in 2011—the children entered foster care in 2016. The foster parents stated that it seemed as though the kids had never been toilet trained, and that they had massive issues with food—seemingly, the children could not identify when they were hungry, or control the amount that they ate. The pair would hide food around the house, and would even steal food from the lunchboxes of other children at their school. The parents theorized that hunger was so prevalent in their lives that they were unable to properly recognise their hunger need. For the first few weeks of their time in foster care, the children often tried to hide in various locations, such as under the stairs, beneath tables, and in the hot press. The children were not accustomed to wearing clean clothes every day. The children were afraid of falling asleep, and as result, every light in the house was kept on during the night. The children were also deeply uncomfortable with physical contact or proximity to other people for their first two years in foster care. Their foster parents were quoted as saying "We don't think they knew what their needs were and they certainly didn't know what feelings were."


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The foster parents of the youngest two boys, who initially only had the youngest boy, said that when the youngest boy entered foster care, at the age of three, the boy would sit extremely still, and would seemingly be scanning the facial expressions of the adults around him. He walked around the house on the tips of his toes, and would peek around corners before moving beyond them. When the second youngest entered their care, he was unable to relax for a long time. He would pretend to sleep when put to bed, and was focused on telling adults whatever he thought they wanted to hear. Like the other children, an extensive range of specialists were secured for the boys, including doctors, therapists, play therapists, paediatricians and dietitians.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The sentences were delivered on 18 January 2022. When delivering the sentences, Mr Justice McDermott stated that children's parents had made "the most profound breach of trust a human being can commit against their children". The five who were found guilty were sentenced to a cumulative 57 years in prison: the father and both uncles were sentenced to 15 years each, the mother to nine years, and the aunt to three years. The sentences were backdated to 6 August 2021, when the five first entered into custody.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: A second trial, concerning the abuse of another child who was related to the five siblings, terminated in March 2022 when all charges against the accused were dropped.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: After their five children had been taken into care, their mother had a sixth child: the couple's second daughter. The pregnancy had been kept a secret, with the mother not receiving any medical care until six weeks before the baby was born. The 49-year-old uncle assisted in the baby's delivery. The father reportedly could not remember the name of this daughter. She was also put into foster care.


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: The children, having entered foster care in 2016, are now reportedly doing well, with only hazy memories of their life in their original home. The eldest three children found the trial, "difficult and traumatising", according to their foster parents. Since the end of the trial, the eldest boy is reportedly much happier, and is described as a polite boy whose teachers often praise him. During the trial, the girl and second eldest boy suffered the reemergence of sleeping and eating issues. Described as "kind, caring children" by their foster mother, they reportedly feel "much safer" since the conclusion of the trial. They reportedly struggle, however, to understand why they were abused in the manner that they were, and "are often very sad". Both have social anxiety, and are averse to change. Of the two youngest boys, their foster parents said that they "want to say that these children have a lot of potential, but because of their early life experiences, we worry as to what the future holds for them."


title: 2021 Munster abuse case

text: In 2018, a review of the actions taken by Tusla and An Garda Síochána in respect to this case was proposed by Katherine Zappone, then the Minister for Children. Though it underwent several months of preparation, the review was eventually cancelled, due to concerns from the Attorney General that it may have jeopardized the trial.


title: Audiophile

text: An audiophile is a person who is enthusiastic about high-fidelity sound reproduction. An audiophile seeks to reproduce the sound of a piece of recorded music or a live musical performance, typically inside closed headphones, In-ear monitors, open headphones in a quiet listening space, or a room with good acoustics.


title: Audiophile

text: Audiophile values may be applied at all stages of music reproduction: the initial audio recording, the production process, and the playback, which is usually in a home setting. In general, the values of an audiophile are seen to be antithetical to the growing popularity of more convenient but lower quality music, especially lossy digital file types like MP3, lower definition streaming services, and inexpensive headphones.


title: Audiophile

text: The term "high-end audio" refers to playback equipment used by audiophiles, which may be bought at specialist shops and websites. High-end components include turntables, digital-to-analog converters, equalization devices, preamplifiers and amplifiers (both solid-state and vacuum tube), loudspeakers (including horn, electrostatic and magnetostatic speakers), power conditioners, subwoofers, headphones, and acoustic room treatment in addition to room correction devices.


title: Audiophile

text: Although many audiophile techniques are based on objective criteria that can be verified using techniques like ABX testing, perceived sound quality is necessarily subjective, leading to some more controversial audiophile techniques being based on pseudoscientific, magical or paranormal principles.


title: Audiophile

text: An audio system typically consists of one or more source components, one or more amplification components, and (for stereo) two or more loudspeakers.


title: Audiophile

text: Signal cables (analog audio, speaker, digital audio etc.) are used to link these components. There are also a variety of accessories, including equipment racks, power conditioners, devices to reduce or control vibration, record cleaners, anti-static devices, phonograph needle cleaners, reverberation reducing devices such as speaker pads and stands, sound absorbent foam, and soundproofing.


title: Audiophile

text: The interaction between the loudspeakers and the room (room acoustics) plays an important part in sound quality. Sound vibrations are reflected from walls, floor and ceiling, and are affected by the contents of the room. Room dimensions can create standing waves at particular (usually low) frequencies. There are devices and materials for room treatment that affect sound quality. Soft materials, such as draperies and carpets, can absorb higher frequencies, whereas hard walls and floors can cause excess reverberation.


title: Audiophile

text: Audiophiles play music from a variety of sources including phonograph records, compact discs (CDs), and digital audio files that are either uncompressed or are losslessly compressed, such as FLAC, DSD, Windows Media Audio 9 Lossless and Apple Lossless (ALAC), in contrast to lossy compression, such as in MP3 encoding. From the early 1990s, CDs were the most common source of high-quality music. Nevertheless, turntables, tonearms, and magnetic cartridges are still used, despite the difficulties of keeping records free from dust and the delicate set-up associated with turntables.


title: Audiophile

text: The 44.1 kHz sampling rate of the CD format, in theory, restricts CD information losses to above the theoretical upper-frequency limit of human hearing – 20 kHz, see Nyquist limit. Nonetheless, newer formats such as FLAC, ALAC, DVD-Audio and Super Audio Compact Disc (SACD) have sampling rates of 88.2 kHz, 96 kHz or even 192 kHz.


title: Audiophile

text: CD audio signals are encoded in 16-bit values. Some higher-definition consumer formats such as HDCD-encoded CDs, DVD-Audio, and SA-CD contain 20-bit, 24-bit and even 32-bit audio streams. With more bits more dynamic range is possible; 20 bit dynamic range is theoretically 120 dB—the limit of most consumer electronic playback equipment.


title: Audiophile

text: SACDs and DVD-Audio have up to 5.1 to 6.1 surround sound. Although both high-res optical formats have failed, there has been a resurgence in high-res digital files. SACD can be stored as a DSD file, and DVD-Audio can be stored as a FLAC or ALAC file. FLAC is the most widely used digital format for high-res with up to 8 channels and a maximum depth of 32 bit, and 655,350 Hz sampling rate. Uncompressed formats such as WAV and AIFF files can store audio CDs with no compression.


title: Audiophile

text: A preamplifier selects among several audio inputs, amplifies source-level signals (such as those from a turntable), and allows the listener to adjust the sound with volume and tone controls. Many audiophile-oriented preamplifiers lack tone controls. A power amplifier takes the "line-level" audio signal from the preamplifier and drives the loudspeakers. An integrated amplifier combines the functions of power amplification with input switching and volume and tone control. Both pre/power combinations and integrated amplifiers are widely used by audiophiles.


title: Audiophile

text: Audiophile amplifiers are available based on solid-state (semiconductor) technology, vacuum-tube (valve) technology, or hybrid technology—semiconductors and vacuum tubes.


title: Audiophile

text: Dedicated amplifiers are also commonly used by audiophiles to drive headphones, especially those with high impedance and/or low sensitivity, or electrostatic headphones.


title: Audiophile

text: The cabinet of the loudspeaker is known as the enclosure. There are a variety of loudspeaker enclosure designs, including sealed cabinets (acoustic suspension), ported cabinets (bass-reflex), transmission line, infinite baffle, and horn loaded. The enclosure plays a major role in the sound of the loudspeaker.


title: Audiophile

text: Depending on the frequencies reproduced, the drivers that produce the sound are referred to as tweeters for high frequencies, midranges for middle frequencies e.g.voice and lead instruments, and woofers for bass frequencies. Driver designs include dynamic, electrostatic, plasma, ribbon, planar, ionic, and servo-actuated. Drivers are made from a variety of materials including paper pulp, polypropylene, kevlar, aluminum, magnesium, beryllium, and vapor-deposited diamond.


title: Audiophile

text: The direction and intensity of the output of a loudspeaker, called dispersion or polar response, has a large effect on its sound. Various methods are employed to control the dispersion. These methods include monopolar, bipolar, dipolar, 360-degree, horn, waveguide, and line source. These terms refer to the configuration and arrangement of the various drivers in the enclosure.


title: Audiophile

text: The positioning of loudspeakers in the room has a strong influence on the sound experience. Loudspeaker output is influenced by interaction with room boundaries, particularly bass response, and high frequency transducers are directional, or "beaming".


title: Audiophile

text: Audiophiles use a wide variety of accessories and fine-tuning techniques, sometimes referred to as "tweaks", to improve the sound of their systems. These include power conditioner filters to "clean" the electricity, equipment racks to isolate components from floor vibrations, specialty power and audio cables, loudspeaker stands (and footers to isolate speakers from stands), and room treatments.


title: Audiophile

text: There are several types of room treatment. Sound-absorbing materials may be placed strategically within a listening room to reduce the amplitude of early reflections, and to deal with resonance modes. Other treatments are designed to produce diffusion, reflection of sound in a scattered fashion. Room treatments can be expensive and difficult to optimize.


title: Audiophile

text: Headphones are regularly used by audiophiles. These products can be remarkably expensive, some over $10,000, but in general are much cheaper than comparable speaker systems. They have the advantage of not requiring room treatment, and being usable without requiring others to listen at the same time. However, many audiophiles still prefer speaker systems over headphones due to their ability to simulate an immersive, rounded sonic environment. Newer canalphones can be driven by the less powerful outputs found on portable music players.


title: Audiophile

text: For music storage, digital formats offer an absence of clicks, pops, wow, flutter, acoustic feedback, and rumble, compared to vinyl records. Depending on the format, digital can also have a higher signal-to-noise ratio, a wider dynamic range, less total harmonic distortion, and a flatter and more extended frequency response. Despite this, vinyl records remain popular, and discussion about the relative merits of analog and digital sound continues (see Comparison of analog and digital recording). (Note that vinyl records may be mastered differently from their digital versions.)


title: Audiophile

text: In the amplification stage, vacuum-tube electronics remain popular, despite most other applications having since abandoned tubes for solid state amplifiers. Also vacuum-tube amplifiers often have higher total harmonic distortion, require rebiasing, are less reliable, generate more heat, are less powerful, and cost more. There is also continuing debate about the proper use of negative feedback in amplifier design.


title: Audiophile

text: The audiophile community is scattered across many different platforms and communication methods. In person, one can find audiophiles at audio-related events such as music festivals, theaters, and concerts. The online audiophile community is even more widespread, with users on web forums and apps such as Facebook, Reddit, and others. These groups are people who are self-identified audiophiles that will often contribute to their communities by mentoring new audiophiles, posting their current audio configurations, and sharing news related to the audiophile community.


title: Audiophile

text: Among the listeners themselves, audiophiles will commonly differentiate community members between "golden eared" and "wooden eared" individuals. Those who are deemed as having "golden ears" are people who can accurately express the description of a sound or sonic environment, whereas those with the "wooden ears" are implied to be untrained in listening and needing more guidance or assistance. These labels are not permanent, however, and people within these two groups can move between the groups interchangeably, often depending on the judgement of others within the community.


title: Audiophile

text: There is substantial controversy on the subject of audiophile components; many have asserted that the occasionally high cost produces no measurable improvement in audio reproduction. For example, skeptic James Randi, through his foundation One Million Dollar Paranormal Challenge, has offered a prize of $1 million to anyone who can demonstrate that $7,250 audio cables "are any better than ordinary audio cables". In 2008, audio reviewer Michael Fremer attempted to claim the prize, and said that Randi declined the challenge. Randi said that the cable manufacturer Pear Cables was the one who withdrew.


title: Audiophile

text: Another commonly referenced study done by Philip Greenspun and Leigh Klotz of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology found that although test subjects were able to distinguish between high fidelity, "expensive" cables versus common use cables, there was no statistically significant preference between the two cables. Greenspun and Klotz expect that critics of the study will point to the fact that this experiment was not done as a double-blind test, but this critique has a counter in that the study participants felt as though the experiment solely isolated the subjects' opinions on sound quality and nothing more.


title: Audiophile

text: There is disagreement on how equipment testing should be conducted and as to its utility. Audiophile publications frequently describe differences in quality which are not detected by standard audio system measurements and double blind testing, claiming that they perceive differences in audio quality which cannot be measured by current instrumentation, and cannot be detected by listeners if listening conditions are controlled, but without providing an explanation for those claims.


title: Audiophile

text: Criticisms usually focus on claims around so-called "tweaks" and accessories beyond the core source, amplification, and speaker products. Examples of these accessories include speaker cables, component interconnects, stones, cones, CD markers, and power cables or conditioners. One of the most notorious "tweakers" was Peter Belt, who introduced numerous eccentric innovations that included a £500 "quantum clip" that consisted of a crocodile clip with a short length of copper wire attached.


title: With Honors (film)

text: With Honors is a 1994 American comedy-drama film directed by Alek Keshishian and starring Brendan Fraser, Joe Pesci and Moira Kelly.


title: With Honors (film)

text: Montgomery “Monty” Kessler is a senior majoring in Government at Harvard University and sharing a house with friends: art student Courtney, womanizing radio disc jockey Everett, and neurotic medical student Jeff.


title: With Honors (film)

text: While Monty is working on his senior thesis, which takes a pessimistic view of citizens on public assistance, a power outage ruins his computer’s hard drive. When he rushes out to print a backup copy of his thesis, he trips on the street, breaking his leg, and drops his thesis down a grating into the boiler room under Widener Library. There Monty finds a homeless man, resembling the writer Walt Whitman, burning his thesis page by page. Monty calls the campus police who arrest the man, but they are unable to recover the thesis.


title: With Honors (film)

text: In court, Monty learns the man’s name is Simon Wilder. Simon gets the worst of the charges against him dismissed, but is held in contempt, for which Monty pays the fine. Despite Simon’s anger over Monty’s having him arrested, they work out a deal: for every service Monty provides, Simon will return one page of his thesis. Monty takes Simon to the house, letting him stay in a broken down van in the backyard.


title: With Honors (film)

text: Over time, Monty and Simon become close friends. Monty confides in Simon about his absent father, and Simon helps Monty see poor people like himself as human beings. Simon also shows Monty his collection of stones, each one representing a significant memory from his life.


title: With Honors (film)

text: Monty’s roommates begin to like the arrangement as well, with Courtney appreciating Monty’s newfound open-mindedness and Everett giving Simon wine in exchange for repairing the van. However, Jeff refuses to let Simon stay in the house’s basement on a particularly cold night because of his parents’ visiting. When Monty lies to Simon about why he can’t come in the house, Simon ends their deal and leaves.


title: With Honors (film)

text: While everyone goes home for Christmas vacation, Monty stays to recompose his thesis. Simon sends a friend to deliver the thesis; he reveals where Simon is staying, but says he does not want to see Monty. Monty finds him living on the street, coughing and wheezing as a result of years of exposure to asbestos in the U.S. Merchant Marine. Monty agrees that Simon can live in the house and refuses his offer of a new deal. Simon gets disability benefits to help with the rent while Monty decides to completely rewrite his thesis. Courtney and Everett are supportive of Simon’s moving in, but Jeff is still unwelcoming.


title: With Honors (film)

text: Realizing the seriousness of his illness, Simon writes his obituary, which reveals that he left his wife and child to join the Merchant Marine. Though initially angry, Monty eventually forgives him and takes him as his guest to a campus pajama party. As Monty watches Courtney dance with another man, Simon encourages Monty to confess his love for her. Courtney reciprocates and the two begin a relationship.


title: With Honors (film)

text: Monty agrees to drive Simon to visit the son he abandoned, named Frank, despite the fact that doing so will delay the completion of his thesis. All the roommates, including Jeff, who has come to see Simon's humanity, make the long drive. Frank bitterly berates Simon for leaving him and is dismissive when Simon’s granddaughter asks who he is. Before leaving, Simon adds a stone to his collection.


title: With Honors (film)

text: Simon’s condition deteriorates on the drive back to the house; the roommates stay up all night reading Walt Whitman to him before he dies. At his funeral, Monty tearfully reads Simon’s obituary where he refers to the roommates as his family, and states that Monty ‘’will graduate life with honor and without regret.”


title: With Honors (film)

text: Monty meets with his haughty mentor, Professor Pitkannan, and explains why he changed his thesis to a more optimistic subject. Pitkannan accepts his explanation, but tells him his lateness means that he will not graduate with honors. Monty thanks him for his mentorship. He also returns the Walt Whitman book to Widener Library, symbolically leaving Simon’s spirit there.