title: Bill Drummond

text: In February 2014, Drummond announced plans for a world tour, beginning under Spaghetti Junction in Birmingham on 13 March 2014 and ending at the same place on 28 April 2025. Taking in twelve cities in twelve different countries, each leg of the tour will last three months, during which he will produce 25 paintings whilst working on other art projects.


title: Bill Drummond

text: A book "The 25 Paintings" (Penkiln Burn 19; 2014) featured the paintings themselves in their initial states - to be repainted in different cities of the tour, each describing the different art actions that would for his practice during the following years - some new, some well established - and which would replace the 17 in his repertoire. Other paintings and actions are expected to evolve as the tour progresses and the canvasses are reworked.


title: Bill Drummond

text: A film "Best Before Death" covering the actions (jobs) "Bang Drum", "Man Made Bed", "Make Soup" and "Man Shines Shoes" during the 2016 Kolkata, India and 2018 Lexington, North Carolina legs of the world tour was made by Paul Duane, Robbie Ryan (Kolkata) and Patrick Jordan (Lexington). The finished film had difficulties gaining distribution and festival screenings as it was criticised as being an example of White Saviour Complex.


title: Bill Drummond

text: Drummond wrote a play in his Tenzig Scott Brown persona called "White Saviour Complex" consisting of three acts, two of which formed a dialogue between Drummond as Brown, and the actor Tam Dean Burn playing Drummond, Duane's film formed the second act, and this toured the UK and its script became a book (Penkiln Burn 22, 2019).


title: Bill Drummond

text: The DVD Release of "Best Before Death" (Anti-Worlds, 2019) featured a booklet with a piece written by Drummond called "Best Before death" and featuring the script for an imaginary film by Tenzing Scott Brown called "Bad Wisdom".


title: Bill Drummond

text: Drummond reunited with Jimmy Cauty in 2017. They returned as The Justified Ancients of Mu Mu, with a novel - "" - and a 3-day event, "Welcome to the Dark Ages". Cauty confirmed that the duo's work is an ongoing project.


title: Bill Drummond

text: In 1993, "Select" magazine published a list of the 100 Coolest People in Pop. Drummond was number one on the list. "What has this giant of coolness not achieved?", they asked: "Like the Monolith in , Drummond has always been a step ahead of human evolution, guiding us on. Manager of The Teardrop Explodes, co-inventor of ambient and trance house, number one pop star, situationist pagan, folk troubadour, pan-dimensional zenarchist gentleman of leisure...and then, ladies and gentlemen, he THROWS IT ALL AWAY, machine-guns the audience and dumps a dead sheep on the doorstep of the Brit Awards and vanishes to build dry-stone walls. His new 'band' The K Foundation make records but say they won't release them at all until world peace is established. Deranged, inspired, intensely cool."


title: Bill Drummond

text: Also in 1993, an "NME" piece about the K Foundation found much to praise in Drummond's career, from Zoo Records through to the K Foundation art award: "Bill Drummond's career is like no other... there's been cynicism... and there's been care (no one who didn't love pop music could have made a record so commercial and so Pet Shop Boys-lovely as 'Kylie Said to Jason', or the madly wonderful 'Last Train to Trancentral', or the Tammy Wynette version of 'Justified and Ancient'). There's been mysticism... But most of all there's been a belief that, both in music and life, there's something more."


title: Bill Drummond

text: Charles Shaar Murray wrote in "The Independent" that "[Bill] Drummond is many things, and one of those things is a magician. Many of his schemes... involve symbolically-weighted acts conducted away from the public gaze and documented only by Drummond himself and his participating comrades. Nevertheless, they are intended to have an effect on a worldful of people unaware that the act in question has taken place. That is magical thinking. Art is magic, and so is pop. Bill Drummond is a cultural magician..."


title: Bill Drummond

text: In 2001, NME readers voted "the KLF's Art Terrorism" at the Brit Awards in 1992 at number 4 in the "top 100 Rock moments of all time." NME also ranked Drummond as number 17 in its 20 "Greatest Cult Heroes" in 2010.


title: Bill Drummond

text: In 2006, Drummond's book "45" was ranked 21 in the Observer's list of "The 50 greatest music books ever". Kitty Empire of the Guardian included "45" in her list of "10 best music memoirs". in 2010. "45" also featured in a 2010 book list compiled by Belle & Sebastian.


title: Bill Drummond

text: BBC Radio 1 in 2006 included Drummond in a survey of "Most Punk Persons". Virgin Media ranked Drummond at number 8 in a list of "Most Eccentric Musicians".


title: Bill Drummond

text: Julian Cope said in 2000, "I have no relationship with this guy. He burned a million pounds which was not all his, and some of it was mine. People should pay off their creditors before they pull intellectual dry-wank stunts like that."


title: Bill Drummond

text: Bill Drummond is a fan of Scottish football club Queen of the South, which he says is due to their proximity to his home town of Newton Stewart. "Queen of the South" is also the title of the sixth track on his 1986 album, "The Man".


title: Nikolai Tolstoy

text: Count Nikolai Dmitrievich Tolstoy-Miloslavsky (; born 23 June 1935), known as Nikolai Tolstoy, is a British monarchist and historian. He is a former parliamentary candidate of the UK Independence Party and is the current nominal head of the House of Tolstoy, a Russian noble family.


title: Nikolai Tolstoy

text: Born in England in 1935, Tolstoy is of part Russian descent. The son of Count Dimitri Tolstoy and Mary Wicksteed, he is a member of the noble Tolstoy family. He grew up as the stepson of author Patrick O'Brian, whom his mother married after his parents divorced. On his upbringing he has written:


title: Nikolai Tolstoy

text: Tolstoy holds dual British and Russian citizenship. He was educated at Wellington College, Sandhurst, and Trinity College Dublin.


title: Nikolai Tolstoy

text: Tolstoy has written a number of books about Celtic mythology. In "The Quest for Merlin" he has explored the character of Merlin, and his Arthurian novel "The Coming of the King" builds on his research into ancient British history. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature in 1979.


title: Nikolai Tolstoy

text: He has also written about World War II and its immediate aftermath. In 1977 he wrote the book "Victims of Yalta", which criticised Britain's Operation Keelhaul, a forced handover of Soviet citizens to Joseph Stalin in direct violation of the Geneva Conventions. In 1986 he wrote "The Minister and the Massacres" which criticised British repatriation of collaborationist troops to Josip Broz Tito's Yugoslav government. It received much critical praise, as well as criticism by Macmillan's authorised biographer.


title: Nikolai Tolstoy

text: Tolstoy has written of the forced repatriation of Soviet citizens and others during and after World War II. As a result, he was called by the defence as an expert witness at the 1986-88 trial of John Demjanjuk in Israel. In a letter to the "Daily Telegraph" (21 April 1988), Tolstoy said the trial and the court's procedures struck "at the most vital principles of natural justice". He condemned the use of especially bussed-in audiences, who were repeatedly permitted by Judge Levin to boo and hiss at appropriate moments. He called Levin's conduct "an appalling travesty of every principle of equity", and said that it was "a show trial in every sense of the word", even being conducted in a theatre.


title: Nikolai Tolstoy

text: In 1989, Lord Aldington, previously a British officer (chief-of-staff to Field Marshal Alexander), former Chairman of the Conservative Party, and then Chairman of Sun Alliance insurance company, commenced a libel action over allegations of war crimes made by Tolstoy in a pamphlet distributed by Nigel Watts, a man in dispute with Sun Alliance on an insurance matter. Although Tolstoy was not the initial target of the libel action, he insisted in joining Watts as defendant because, Tolstoy later wrote, Watts was not a historian and so would have been unable to defend himself. Tolstoy lost and was ordered to pay £2 million to Lord Aldington (£1.5 million in damages and £0.5 million in costs). This sum was over three times any previous award for libel.


title: Nikolai Tolstoy

text: Tolstoy delayed payment by appealing to fifteen courts in Britain and Europe, the European Court of Human Rights ruled that the size of the penalty violated his right to freedom of expression. Documents subsequently obtained from the Ministry of Defence suggested that, under Government instructions, files that could have had a bearing on the defence case might have been withdrawn from the Public Record Office and retained by the Ministry of Defence and Foreign Office throughout the run-up to the trial and the trial itself.


title: Nikolai Tolstoy

text: Tolstoy sought to appeal on the basis of new evidence which he claimed proved Aldington had perjured himself over the date of his departure from Austria in May 1945. This was ruled inadmissible at a hearing in the High Courts of Justice, from which the press and public were barred, and his application for an appeal was rejected.


title: Nikolai Tolstoy

text: In July 1995, the European Court of Human Rights decided unanimously that the British Government had violated Tolstoy's rights in respect of Article 10 of the Convention on Human Rights. This decision referred only to the amount of the damages awarded against him and did not overturn the verdict of the libel action. "The Times" commented:


title: Nikolai Tolstoy

text: Tolstoy refused to pay any libel damages while Lord Aldington was alive; it was not until 9 December 2000, two days after Aldington's death, that Tolstoy paid £57,000 to Aldington's estate.


title: Nikolai Tolstoy

text: A committed monarchist, Tolstoy is Chancellor of the International Monarchist League. In 1978, Tolstoy was Guest-of-Honour at the Eldon League (founded by Neil Hamilton while a student at Cambridge), and appeared to respond to the Russian Tsarist toast "Autocracy, Orthodoxy and Nationalism" (also a motto of the League). He was also Chairman of the London-based Russian Monarchist League, and chaired their annual dinner on 6 March 1986, when the Guest-of-Honour was the MP John Biggs-Davison. He was also in the chair for their Summer Dinner on 4 June 1987, at the Oxford and Cambridge Club in Pall Mall. Tolstoy was a founding committee member (January 1989) of the now established "War and Peace Ball", held annually in London, which raises funds for White Russian charities. A member of the Royal Stuart Society since 1954, he is presently one of the Vice-Presidents.


title: Nikolai Tolstoy

text: In October 1987, he was presented with the International Freedom Award by the United States Industrial Council Educational Foundation: ""for his courageous search for the truth about the victims of totalitarianism and deceit."" In October 1991, Tolstoy joined a Conservative Monday Club delegation, under the auspices of the Club's Foreign Affairs Committee, and travelled to observe the war between Serbia and Croatia, the first British political delegation to observe that conflict.


title: Nikolai Tolstoy

text: Conservative MPs Andrew Hunter, and Roger Knapman, then a junior minister in the Conservative government (and from 2002 to 2006 leader of the United Kingdom Independence Party), were also part of the delegation which, after going to the front lines in the Sisak region, was entertained by President Franjo Tuđman and the Croatian government in Zagreb.


title: Nikolai Tolstoy

text: On 13 October the group held a Press Conference at the Hotel Intercontinental in Zagreb, which apart from the media, was also attended by delegates from the French government. A report on the conflict was agreed and handed in to 10 Downing Street by Andrew Hunter.


title: Nikolai Tolstoy

text: Tolstoy has stood unsuccessfully for the Eurosceptic and populist United Kingdom Independence Party (UKIP) as a parliamentary candidate in four British general elections, having first been asked by UKIP founder Alan Sked in November 1996. Tolstoy was subsequently UKIP's candidate for the Barnsley East by-election in 1996; where he received 2.1% of the vote, and for Wantage in the 1997 (0.8%), 2001 (1.9%) and 2005 general elections (1.5%). Tolstoy stood for UKIP in Witney at the 2010 general election - against David Cameron - and received 3.5% of the vote.


title: Nikolai Tolstoy

text: Tolstoy is the head of the senior branch of the Tolstoy family, being descended from Ivan Andreyevich Tolstoy (1644–1713). He is a distant cousin to the author Leo Tolstoy (1828–1910) as Leo Tolstoy was descended from Pyotr Andreyevich Tolstoy (1645–1729), the younger brother of Ivan. Tolstoy's great-grandfather, Pavel Tolstoy-Miloslavsky, was chamberlain to the last Emperor, Nicholas II of Russia, who had declared his intention of creating him a Count for his services, but this was deferred due to the growing crisis in Russia during the First World War. When Grand Duke Kiril succeeded to the imperial inheritance and rights, he granted Pavel Tolstoy-Miloslavsky the title, an elevation which was approved by the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna and by Nicholas II's sisters Xenia and Olga.


title: Nikolai Tolstoy

text: Tolstoy's father, Count Dimitri Tolstoy, escaped from Russia in 1920 and settled in the United Kingdom, granted British nationality in September 1946. He entered the legal profession, was called to the bar, and later appointed a Queen's Counsel.


title: Nikolai Tolstoy

text: Tolstoy has also contributed chapters to the new "History of the Twentieth Century" published in Moscow, which is a prescribed text for all Russian high schools.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: In biochemistry, flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD) is a redox-active coenzyme associated with various proteins, which is involved with several enzymatic reactions in metabolism. A flavoprotein is a protein that contains a flavin group, which may be in the form of FAD or flavin mononucleotide (FMN). Many flavoproteins are known: components of the succinate dehydrogenase complex, α-ketoglutarate dehydrogenase, and a component of the pyruvate dehydrogenase complex.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: FAD can exist in four redox states, which are the flavin-N(5)-oxide, quinone, semiquinone, and hydroquinone. FAD is converted between these states by accepting or donating electrons. FAD, in its fully oxidized form, or quinone form, accepts two electrons and two protons to become FADH (hydroquinone form). The semiquinone (FADH) can be formed by either reduction of FAD or oxidation of FADH by accepting or donating one electron and one proton, respectively. Some proteins, however, generate and maintain a superoxidized form of the flavin cofactor, the flavin-N(5)-oxide.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: Flavoproteins were first discovered in 1879 by separating components of cow's milk. They were initially called lactochrome due to their milky origin and yellow pigment. It took 50 years for the scientific community to make any substantial progress in identifying the molecules responsible for the yellow pigment. The 1930s launched the field of coenzyme research with the publication of many flavin and nicotinamide derivative structures and their obligate roles in redox catalysis. German scientists Otto Warburg and Walter Christian discovered a yeast derived yellow protein required for cellular respiration in 1932. Their colleague Hugo Theorell separated this yellow enzyme into apoenzyme and yellow pigment, and showed that neither the enzyme nor the pigment was capable of oxidizing NADH on their own, but mixing them together would restore activity. Theorell confirmed the pigment to be riboflavin's phosphate ester, flavin mononucleotide (FMN) in 1937, which was the first direct evidence for enzyme cofactors. Warburg and Christian then found FAD to be a cofactor of D-amino acid oxidase through similar experiments in 1938. Warburg's work with linking nicotinamide to hydride transfers and the discovery of flavins paved the way for many scientists in the 40s and 50s to discover copious amounts of redox biochemistry and link them together in pathways such as the citric acid cycle and ATP synthesis.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: Flavin adenine dinucleotide consists of two portions: the adenine nucleotide (adenosine monophosphate) and the flavin mononucleotide (FMN) bridged together through their phosphate groups. Adenine is bound to a cyclic ribose at the 1' carbon, while phosphate is bound to the ribose at the 5' carbon to form the adenine nucledotide. Riboflavin is formed by a carbon-nitrogen (C-N) bond between the isoalloxazine and the ribitol. The phosphate group is then bound to the terminal ribose carbon, forming a FMN. Because the bond between the isoalloxazine and the ribitol is not considered to be a glycosidic bond, the flavin mononucleotide is not truly a nucleotide. This makes the dinucleotide name misleading; however, the flavin mononucleotide group is still very close to a nucleotide in its structure and chemical properties.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: FAD can be reduced to FADH through the addition of 2 H and 2 e. FADH can also be oxidized by the loss of 1 H and 1 e to form FADH. The FAD form can be recreated through the further loss of 1 H and 1 e. FAD formation can also occur through the reduction and dehydration of flavin-N(5)-oxide. Based on the oxidation state, flavins take specific colors when in aqueous solution. flavin-N(5)-oxide (superoxidized) is yellow-orange, FAD (fully oxidized) is yellow, FADH (half reduced) is either blue or red based on the pH, and the fully reduced form is colorless. Changing the form can have a large impact on other chemical properties. For example, FAD, the fully oxidized form is subject to nucleophilic attack, the fully reduced form, FADH has high polarizability, while the half reduced form is unstable in aqueous solution. FAD is an aromatic ring system, whereas FADH is not. This means that FADH is significantly higher in energy, without the stabilization through resonance that the aromatic structure provides. FADH is an energy-carrying molecule, because, once oxidized it regains aromaticity and releases the energy represented by this stabilization.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: The spectroscopic properties of FAD and its variants allows for reaction monitoring by use of UV-VIS absorption and fluorescence spectroscopies. Each form of FAD has distinct absorbance spectra, making for easy observation of changes in oxidation state. A major local absorbance maximum for FAD is observed at 450 nm, with an extinction coefficient of 11,300 M cm. Flavins in general have fluorescent activity when unbound (proteins bound to flavin nucleic acid derivatives are called flavoproteins). This property can be utilized when examining protein binding, observing loss of fluorescent activity when put into the bound state. Oxidized flavins have high absorbances of about 450 nm, and fluoresce at about 515-520 nm.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: In biological systems, FAD acts as an acceptor of H and e in its fully oxidized form, an acceptor or donor in the FADH form, and a donor in the reduced FADH form. The diagram below summarizes the potential changes that it can undergo.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: Along with what is seen above, other reactive forms of FAD can be formed and consumed. These reactions involve the transfer of electrons and the making/breaking of chemical bonds. Through reaction mechanisms, FAD is able to contribute to chemical activities within biological systems. The following pictures depict general forms of some of the actions that FAD can be involved in.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: Mechanisms 1 and 2 represent hydride gain, in which the molecule gains what amounts to be one hydride ion. Mechanisms 3 and 4 radical formation and hydride loss. Radical species contain unpaired electron atoms and are very chemically active. Hydride loss is the inverse process of the hydride gain seen before. The final two mechanisms show nucleophilic addition and a reaction using a carbon radical.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: FAD plays a major role as an enzyme cofactor along with flavin mononucleotide, another molecule originating from riboflavin. Bacteria, fungi and plants can produce riboflavin, but other eukaryotes, such as humans, have lost the ability to make it. Therefore, humans must obtain riboflavin, also known as vitamin B2, from dietary sources. Riboflavin is generally ingested in the small intestine and then transported to cells via carrier proteins. Riboflavin kinase (EC 2.7.1.26) adds a phosphate group to riboflavin to produce flavin mononucleotide, and then FAD synthetase attaches an adenine nucleotide; both steps require ATP. Bacteria generally have one bi-functional enzyme, but archaea and eukaryotes usually employ two distinct enzymes. Current research indicates that distinct isoforms exist in the cytosol and mitochondria. It seems that FAD is synthesized in both locations and potentially transported where needed.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: Flavoproteins utilize the unique and versatile structure of flavin moieties to catalyze difficult redox reactions. Since flavins have multiple redox states they can participate in processes that involve the transfer of either one or two electrons, hydrogen atoms, or hydronium ions. The N5 and C4a of the fully oxidized flavin ring are also susceptible to nucleophilic attack. This wide variety of ionization and modification of the flavin moiety can be attributed to the isoalloxazine ring system and the ability of flavoproteins to drastically perturb the kinetic parameters of flavins upon binding, including flavin adenine dinucleotide (FAD).


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: The number of flavin-dependent protein encoded genes in the genome (the flavoproteome) is species dependent and can range from 0.1% - 3.5%, with humans having 90 flavoprotein encoded genes. FAD is the more complex and abundant form of flavin and is reported to bind to 75% of the total flavoproteome and 84% of human encoded flavoproteins. Cellular concentrations of free or non-covalently bound flavins in a variety of cultured mammalian cell lines were reported for FAD (2.2-17.0 amol/cell) and FMN (0.46-3.4 amol/cell).


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: FAD has a more positive reduction potential than NAD+ and is a very strong oxidizing agent. The cell utilizes this in many energetically difficult oxidation reactions such as dehydrogenation of a C-C bond to an alkene. FAD-dependent proteins function in a large variety of metabolic pathways including electron transport, DNA repair, nucleotide biosynthesis, beta-oxidation of fatty acids, amino acid catabolism, as well as synthesis of other cofactors such as CoA, CoQ and heme groups. One well-known reaction is part of the citric acid cycle (also known as the TCA or Krebs cycle); succinate dehydrogenase (complex II in the electron transport chain) requires covalently bound FAD to catalyze the oxidation of succinate to fumarate by coupling it with the reduction of ubiquinone to ubiquinol. The high-energy electrons from this oxidation are stored momentarily by reducing FAD to FADH. FADH then reverts to FAD, sending its two high-energy electrons through the electron transport chain; the energy in FADH is enough to produce 1.5 equivalents of ATP by oxidative phosphorylation. Some redox flavoproteins non-covalently bind to FAD like Acetyl-CoA-dehydrogenases which are involved in beta-oxidation of fatty acids and catabolism of amino acids like leucine (isovaleryl-CoA dehydrogenase), isoleucine, (short/branched-chain acyl-CoA dehydrogenase), valine (isobutyryl-CoA dehydrogenase), and lysine (glutaryl-CoA dehydrogenase). Additional examples of FAD-dependent enzymes that regulate metabolism are glycerol-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (triglyceride synthesis) and xanthine oxidase involved in purine nucleotide catabolism. Noncatalytic functions that FAD can play in flavoproteins include as structural roles, or involved in blue-sensitive light photoreceptors that regulate biological clocks and development, generation of light in bioluminescent bacteria.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: Flavoproteins have either an FMN or FAD molecule as a prosthetic group, this prosthetic group can be tightly bound or covalently linked. Only about 5-10% of flavoproteins have a covalently linked FAD, but these enzymes have stronger redox power. In some instances, FAD can provide structural support for active sites or provide stabilization of intermediates during catalysis. Based on the available structural data, the known FAD-binding sites can be divided into more than 200 types.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: 90 flavoproteins are encoded in the human genome; about 84% require FAD, and around 16% require FMN, whereas 5 proteins require both to be present. Flavoproteins are mainly located in the mitochondria because of their redox power. Of all flavoproteins, 90% perform redox reactions and the other 10% are transferases, lyases, isomerases, ligases.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: Monoamine oxidase (MAO) is an extensively studied flavoenzyme due to its biological importance with the catabolism of norepinephrine, serotonin and dopamine. MAO oxidizes primary, secondary and tertiary amines, which nonenzymatically hydrolyze from the imine to aldehyde or ketone. Even though this class of enzyme has been extensively studied, its mechanism of action is still being debated. Two mechanisms have been proposed: a radical mechanism and a nucleophilic mechanism. The radical mechanism is less generally accepted because no spectral or electron paramagnetic resonance evidence exists for the presence of a radical intermediate. The nucleophilic mechanism is more favored because it is supported by site-directed mutagenesis studies which mutated two tyrosine residues that were expected to increase the nucleophilicity of the substrates.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: Glucose oxidase (GOX) catalyzes the oxidation of β-D-glucose to D-glucono-δ-lactone with the simultaneous reduction of enzyme-bound flavin. GOX exists as a homodimer, with each subunit binding one FAD molecule. Crystal structures show that FAD binds in a deep pocket of the enzyme near the dimer interface. Studies showed that upon replacement of FAD with 8-hydroxy-5-carba-5-deaza FAD, the stereochemistry of the reaction was determined by reacting with the "re" face of the flavin. During turnover, the neutral and anionic semiquinones are observed which indicates a radical mechanism.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: Prenylcysteine lyase (PCLase) catalyzes the cleavage of prenylcysteine (a protein modification) to form an isoprenoid aldehyde and the freed cysteine residue on the protein target. The FAD is non-covalently bound to PCLase. Not many mechanistic studies have been done looking at the reactions of the flavin, but the proposed mechanism is shown below. A hydride transfer from the C1 of the prenyl moiety to FAD is proposed, resulting in the reduction of the flavin to FADH. COformED IS a carbocation that is stabilized by the neighboring sulfur atom. FADH then reacts with molecular oxygen to restore the oxidized enzyme.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: UDP-N-acetylenolpyruvylglucosamine Reductase (MurB) is an enzyme that catalyzes the NADPH-dependent reduction of enolpyruvyl-UDP-N-acetylglucosamine (substrate) to the corresponding D-lactyl compound UDP-N-acetylmuramic acid (product). MurB is a monomer and contains one FAD molecule. Before the substrate can be converted to product, NADPH must first reduce FAD. Once NADP dissociates, the substrate can bind and the reduced flavin can reduce the product.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: Glutathione reductase (GR) catalyzes the reduction of glutathione disulfide (GSSG) to glutathione (GSH). GR requires FAD and NADPH to facilitate this reaction; first a hydride must be transferred from NADPH to FAD. The reduced flavin can then act as a nucleophile to attack the disulfide, this forms the C4a-cysteine adduct. Elimination of this adduct results in a flavin-thiolate charge-transfer complex.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: Cytochrome P450 type enzymes that catalyze monooxygenase (hydroxylation) reactions are dependent on the transfer of two electrons from FAD to the P450. Two types of P450 systems are found in eukaryotes. The P450 systems that are located in the endoplasmic reticulum are dependent on a cytochrome P-450 reductase (CPR) that contains both an FAD and an FMN. The two electrons on reduced FAD (FADH) are transferred one at a time to FMN and then a single electron is passed from FMN to the heme of the P450.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: The P450 systems that are located in the mitochondria are dependent on two electron transfer proteins: An FAD containing adrenodoxin reductase (AR) and a small iron-sulfur group containing protein named adrenodoxin. FAD is embedded in the FAD-binding domain of AR. The FAD of AR is reduced to FADH by transfer of two electrons from NADPH that binds in the NADP-binding domain of AR. The structure of this enzyme is highly conserved to maintain precisely the alignment of electron donor NADPH and acceptor FAD for efficient electron transfer. The two electrons in reduced FAD are transferred one a time to adrenodoxin which in turn donates the single electron to the heme group of the mitochondrial P450.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: The structures of the reductase of the microsomal versus reductase of the mitochondrial P450 systems are completely different and show no homology.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: "p"-Hydroxybenzoate hydroxylase (PHBH) catalyzes the oxygenation of "p"-hydroxybenzoate ("p"OHB) to 3,4-dihyroxybenzoate (3,4-diOHB); FAD, NADPH and molecular oxygen are all required for this reaction. NADPH first transfers a hydride equivalent to FAD, creating FADH, and then NADP dissociates from the enzyme. Reduced PHBH then reacts with molecular oxygen to form the flavin-C(4a)-hydroperoxide. The flavin hydroperoxide quickly hydroxylates "p"OHB, and then eliminates water to regenerate oxidized flavin. An alternative flavin-mediated oxygenation mechanism involves the use of a flavin-N(5)-oxide rather than a flavin-C(4a)-(hydro)peroxide.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: Chorismate synthase (CS) catalyzes the last step in the shikimate pathway—the formation of chorismate. Two classes of CS are known, both of which require FMN, but are divided on their need for NADPH as a reducing agent. The proposed mechanism for CS involves radical species. The radical flavin species has not been detected spectroscopically without using a substrate analogue, which suggests that it is short-lived. However, when using a fluorinated substrate, a neutral flavin semiquinone was detected.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: Glutamate synthase catalyzes the conversion of 2-oxoglutarate into L-glutamate with L-glutamine serving as the nitrogen source for the reaction. All glutamate syntheses are iron-sulfur flavoproteins containing an iron-sulfur cluster and FMN. The three classes of glutamate syntheses are categorized based on their sequences and biochemical properties. Even though there are three classes of this enzyme, it is believed that they all operate through the same mechanism, only differing by what first reduces the FMN. The enzyme produces two glutamate molecules: one by the hydrolysis of glutamine (forming glutamate and ammonia), and the second by the ammonia produced from the first reaction attacking 2-oxoglutarate, which is reduced by FMN to glutamate.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: Due to the importance of flavoproteins, it is unsurprising that approximately 60% of human flavoproteins cause human disease when mutated. In some cases, this is due to a decreased affinity for FAD or FMN and so excess riboflavin intake may lessen disease symptoms, such as for multiple acyl-CoA dehydrogenase deficiency. In addition, riboflavin deficiency itself (and the resulting lack of FAD and FMN) can cause health issues. For example, in ALS patients, there are decreased levels of FAD synthesis. Both of these paths can result in a variety of symptoms, including developmental or gastrointestinal abnormalities, faulty fat break-down, anemia, neurological problems, cancer or heart disease, migraine, worsened vision and skin lesions. The pharmaceutical industry therefore produces riboflavin to supplement diet in certain cases. In 2008, the global need for riboflavin was 6,000 tons per year, with production capacity of 10,000 tons. This $150 to 500 million market is not only for medical applications, but is also used as a supplement to animal food in the agricultural industry and as a food colorant.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: New design of anti-bacterial medications is of continuing importance in scientific research as bacterial antibiotic resistance to common antibiotics increases. A specific metabolic protein that uses FAD (Complex II) is vital for bacterial virulence, and so targeting FAD synthesis or creating FAD analogs could be a useful area of investigation. Already, scientists have determined the two structures FAD usually assumes once bound: either an extended or a butterfly conformation, in which the molecule essentially folds in half, resulting in the stacking of the adenine and isoalloxazine rings. FAD imitators that are able to bind in a similar manner but do not permit protein function could be useful mechanisms of inhibiting bacterial infection. Alternatively, drugs blocking FAD synthesis could achieve the same goal; this is especially intriguing because human and bacterial FAD synthesis relies on very different enzymes, meaning that a drug made to target bacterial FAD synthase would be unlikely to interfere with the human FAD synthase enzymes.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: Optogenetics allows control of biological events in a non-invasive manner. The field has advanced in recent years with a number of new tools, including those to trigger light sensitivity, such as the Blue-Light-Utilizing FAD domains (BLUF). BLUFs encode a 100 to 140 amino acid sequence that was derived from photoreceptors in plants and bacteria. Similar to other photoreceptors, the light causes structural changes in the BLUF domain that results in disruption of downstream interactions. Current research investigates proteins with the appended BLUF domain and how different external factors can impact the proteins.


title: Flavin adenine dinucleotide

text: There are a number of molecules in the body that have native fluorescence including tryptophan, collagen, FAD, NADH and porphyrins. Scientists have taken advantage of this by using them to monitor disease progression or treatment effectiveness or aid in diagnosis. For instance, native fluorescence of a FAD and NADH is varied in normal tissue and oral submucous fibrosis, which is an early sign of invasive oral cancer. Doctors therefore have been employing fluorescence to assist in diagnosis and monitor treatment as opposed to the standard biopsy.


title: Shell and tube heat exchanger

text: A shell and tube heat exchanger is a class of heat exchanger designs. It is the most common type of heat exchanger in oil refineries and other large chemical processes, and is suited for higher-pressure applications. As its name implies, this type of heat exchanger consists of a shell (a large pressure vessel) with a bundle of tubes inside it. One fluid runs through the tubes, and another fluid flows over the tubes (through the shell) to transfer heat between the two fluids. The set of tubes is called a tube bundle, and may be composed of several types of tubes: plain, longitudinally finned, etc.


title: Shell and tube heat exchanger

text: Two fluids, of different starting temperatures, flow through the heat exchanger. One flows through the tubes (the tube side) and the other flows outside the tubes but inside the shell (the shell side). Heat is transferred from one fluid to the other through the tube walls, either from tube side to shell side or vice versa. The fluids can be either liquids or gases on either the shell or the tube side. In order to transfer heat efficiently, a large heat transfer area should be used, leading to the use of many tubes. In this way, waste heat can be put to use. This is an efficient way to conserve energy.


title: Shell and tube heat exchanger

text: Heat exchangers with only one phase (liquid or gas) on each side can be called one-phase or single-phase heat exchangers. Two-phase heat exchangers can be used to heat a liquid to boil it into a gas (vapor), sometimes called boilers, or to cool the vapors and condense it into a liquid (called condensers), with the phase change usually occurring on the shell side. Boilers in steam engine locomotives are typically large, usually cylindrically-shaped shell-and-tube heat exchangers. In large power plants with steam-driven turbines, shell-and-tube surface condensers are used to condense the exhaust steam exiting the turbine into condensate water which is recycled back to be turned into steam in the steam generator.


title: Shell and tube heat exchanger

text: They are also used in liquid-cooled chillers for transferring heat between the refrigerant and the water in both the evaporator and condenser, and in air-cooled chillers for only the evaporator.


title: Shell and tube heat exchanger

text: There can be many variations on the shell and tube design. Typically, the ends of each tube are connected to plenums (sometimes called water boxes) through holes in tubesheets. The tubes may be straight or bent in the shape of a U, called U-tubes.


title: Shell and tube heat exchanger

text: In nuclear power plants called pressurized water reactors, large heat exchangers called steam generators are two-phase, shell-and-tube heat exchangers which typically have U-tubes. They are used to boil water recycled from a surface condenser into steam to drive a turbine to produce power. Most shell-and-tube heat exchangers are either 1, 2, or 4 pass designs on the tube side. This refers to the number of times the fluid in the tubes passes through the fluid in the shell. In a single pass heat exchanger, the fluid goes in one end of each tube and out the other.


title: Shell and tube heat exchanger

text: Surface condensers in power plants are often 1-pass straight-tube heat exchangers (see surface condenser for diagram). Two and four pass designs are common because the fluid can enter and exit on the same side. This makes construction much simpler.


title: Shell and tube heat exchanger

text: There are often baffles directing flow through the shell side so the fluid does not take a short cut through the shell side leaving ineffective low flow volumes. These are generally attached to the tube bundle rather than the shell in order that the bundle is still removable for maintenance.


title: Shell and tube heat exchanger

text: Countercurrent heat exchangers are most efficient because they allow the highest log mean temperature difference between the hot and cold streams. Many companies however do not use two pass heat exchangers with a u-tube because they can break easily in addition to being more expensive to build. Often multiple heat exchangers can be used to simulate the countercurrent flow of a single large exchanger.


title: Shell and tube heat exchanger

text: To be able to transfer heat well, the tube material should have good thermal conductivity. Because heat is transferred from a hot to a cold side through the tubes, there is a temperature difference through the width of the tubes. Because of the tendency of the tube material to thermally expand differently at various temperatures, thermal stresses occur during operation. This is in addition to any stress from high pressures from the fluids themselves. The tube material also should be compatible with both the shell and tube side fluids for long periods under the operating conditions (temperatures, pressures, pH, etc.) to minimize deterioration such as corrosion. All of these requirements call for careful selection of strong, thermally-conductive, corrosion-resistant, high quality tube materials, typically metals, including aluminium, copper alloy, stainless steel, carbon steel, non-ferrous copper alloy, Inconel, nickel, Hastelloy and titanium. Fluoropolymers such as Perfluoroalkoxy alkane (PFA) and Fluorinated ethylene propylene (FEP) are also used to produce the tubing material due to their high resistance to extreme temperatures. Poor choice of tube material could result in a leak through a tube between the shell and tube sides causing fluid cross-contamination and possibly loss of pressure.


title: Shell and tube heat exchanger

text: The simple design of a shell and tube heat exchanger makes it an ideal cooling solution for a wide variety of applications. One of the most common applications is the cooling of hydraulic fluid and oil in engines, transmissions and hydraulic power packs. With the right choice of materials they can also be used to cool or heat other mediums, such as swimming pool water or charge air. There are many advantages to shell and tube technology over plates


title: Shell and tube heat exchanger

text: In shell and tube heat exchangers there is a potential for a tube to rupture and for high pressure (HP) fluid to enter and over-pressurise the low pressure (LP) side of the heat exchanger. The usual configuration of exchangers is for the HP fluid to be in the tubes and for LP water, cooling or heating media to be on the shell side. There is a risk that a tube rupture could compromise the integrity of the shell and the release flammable gas or liquid, with a risk to people and financial loss. The shell of an exchanger must be protected against over-pressure by rupture discs or relief valves. The opening time of protection devices has been found to be critical for exchanger protection. Such devices are fitted directly on the shell of the exchanger and discharge into a relief system.


title: Celanese

text: Celanese Corporation, formerly known as Hoechst Celanese, is an American technology and specialty materials company headquartered in Irving, Texas. A Fortune 500 corporation, the company is the world’s leading producer of acetic acid, producing about 1.95 million tonnes per year, representing approximately 25% of global production. Celanese is also the world's largest producer of vinyl acetate monomer (VAM).


title: Celanese

text: Celanese operates 25 production plants and six research centers in 11 countries, mainly in North America, Europe, and Asia. The company owns and operates the world's three largest acetic acid plants: one in the Clear Lake area of Pasadena, Texas, one on Jurong Island in Singapore, and a third in Nanjing, China.


title: Celanese

text: In 1918, the American Cellulose & Chemical Manufacturing Company (known as Amcelle) was founded in New York City by Swiss chemist Camille Dreyfus.


title: Celanese

text: The American Cellulose and Chemical Manufacturing Co. Ltd plant in Cumberland, Maryland was set up during World War I to produce cheaper fabric for airplane manufacturing. The plant location was chosen inland to protect against Zeppelin attacks. It was also situated in proximity to a ready source of water at the Potomac River and easy access to coal supplies and railroad lines. After a series of delays, production began on Christmas Day, 1924 with a series of cellulose acetate commercial fabrics and yarns intended as alternatives to silk. The plant was closed in 1983, and was later torn down to provide a space for a new state prison.


title: Celanese

text: The company had introduced the word “Celanese,” a combination of “cellulose” and “ease” in 1925, remarking on the ease of cleaning and care of their acetate yarn, or artificial silk, fabrics. They officially took this name in 1927, becoming Celanese Corporation of America.


title: Celanese

text: In 1947, Celanese started producing acetate fiber at its plant near Ocotlán, Jalisco, Mexico. The plant was closed in 2019.


title: Celanese

text: By 1958, Celanese had 13 domestic plants, three research and development centers, some 30 groups of products, and approximately 13,000 employees.


title: Celanese

text: Celanese commissioned Edward Stone, a 20th century American architect, in 1959 to build the “Celanese House,” a model home in New Canaan, Connecticut to showcase the company’s new materials and styles.


title: Celanese

text: Celanese bought operations of Imperial Chemicals Incorporated in 1982. This included the Fiber Industries Incorporated plant in Salisbury, North Carolina, a part of Invista since 2004.


title: Celanese

text: In 1983, Celanese built a $20 million plant in Rock Hill, South Carolina to produce polybenzimidazole (PBI), a material used to fabricate high-performance protective apparel used in firefighter's gear and astronaut space suits.


title: Celanese

text: In 1987, Celanese Corporation was acquired by Hoechst and merged with its American subsidiary, American Hoechst, to form Hoechst Celanese Corporation.


title: Celanese

text: In 1998, in a $2.7 billion deal, Hoechst Celanese sold its Trevira division to a consortium between Houston-based KoSa, a joint venture of Koch Industries, IMASAB S.A., and Grupo Xtra, both of Mexico. Also in 1998, Hoechst combined most of its industrial chemical operations into a new company, Celanese AG.


title: Celanese

text: In 1999, Hoechst spun off Celanese AG as a publicly traded German corporation, cross-listed on both the Frankfurt and New York stock exchanges as "CZZ" and "CZ", respectively.


title: Celanese

text: On 16 December 2003, the U.S. private equity firm Blackstone Group announced a takeover offer for Celanese, after two years of wooing management. Shareholders formally approved the offer from Blackstone on 16 June 2004, and Blackstone completed the acquisition of Celanese AG. The company was delisted from the New York Stock Exchange, and Blackstone changed the entity's name back to Celanese Corporation. Under Blackstone, a number of streamlining initiatives were undertaken, and several acquisitions were made.


title: Celanese

text: On 21 January 2005, Celanese Corporation conducted an initial public offering and became a publicly traded corporation traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol "CE". When Blackstone sold the last of its shares in 2007, it had made five times what it had invested and it, and its co-investors collected a $2.9 billion profit.


title: Celanese

text: In 1995, Hoechst Celanese was named along with Shell Oil and US Brass as a defendant in a class action lawsuit for $7 billion in both past and potential future damages for which they were accused of being liable because of leaks in their polybutylene (PB) plumbing systems. The lawsuit alleged a complex scheme to mislead buyers into believing that PB plumbing systems were suitable for use as potable water distribution systems and purportedly enjoying a lifetime of 50 years service. According to the lawsuit, scientists from the defendants allegedly reported that the PB plumbing systems would degrade even when exposed to low concentrations of chlorine typically found in municipal water systems. The lawsuit claimed that in spite of this knowledge, the defendants concealed the information and continued to market these products (Shell supplying PB resins to water pipe manufacturers and Hoechst Celanese providing acetal resins to manufacturers of pipe fittings) until approximately 1996.


title: Celanese

text: In January 2014, a class action lawsuit was filed on behalf of the citizens of Cannon’s Campground, seeking relief from health and environmental dangers posed by groundwater and surface water contamination emanating from the Hoechst-Celanese manufacturing plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The lawsuit alleged the dumping of a number of toxic chemicals into local waters, which has diminished property values and caused a number of illnesses. Hoechst Celanese asked the courts to dismiss these charges as spurious, claiming that its discharges have not caused substantial harm to anyone or to the environment, and further asserting that a 3-year limit on tort claims had expired, relieving the company of any responsibility for damages which might be eventually discovered.


title: Celanese

text: Acetyl intermediates is Celanese's largest segment, with a product range consisting of basic chemicals such as acetic acid, acetic anhydride, and vinyl acetate. Customers of acetyl intermediates and industrial specialties are in the chemical, paint and coatings, construction, and adhesive industries for polymerization.


title: Celanese

text: Advanced engineered materials offers plastic polymers to customers in the automotive, electronics, telecommunications, and medical industries. Major products include engineered plastics for fuel system components (provided by Ticona, the engineering polymer business of Celanese), conveyor belts, electronics, safety systems, emissions filtration, and fluid handling. Polymer production is improved by the acquisition of SO.F.TER Group, Forlì, in Italy in 2016.


title: Celanese

text: The food ingredients business Nutrinova produces the high intensity sweetener Sunett (acesulfame K), the preservatives Nutrinova, potassium sorbate, and sorbic acid, and other food ingredients. Major end-use markets include beverages, confections, baked goods, and dairy products. In 2021, Celanese ranked 7th on FoodTalks' Global Top 20 Food Preservative Companies list.


title: Celanese

text: Celanese is one of the world's largest producers of cellulose acetate. Acetate products are primarily used in cigarette filters, as well as in the production of fashion apparel and linings. Celanese also manufactures Clarifoil cellulose acetate film that is wood pulp based and certified biodegradable and compostable in home and industrial composting conditions.


title: Celanese

text: Industrial specialties, using the feedstock from acetyl intermediates, manufactures polymer and emulsions such as polyvinyl acetate emulsions, and specialty chemicals as ethylene vinyl acetate. Major end-use markets include polyvinyl alcohol producers, paper, mortar and gypsum, textiles, paints, coatings, and adhesives manufacturers.


title: Celanese

text: TCX Technology is a hydrocarbon-based ethanol production process developed and marketed by Celanese and launched in November 2010. Celanese researchers developed the TCX Technology to create a fuel that helps countries reduce their need to import oil and gas. Celanese plans to invest $700 million to build one-to-two plants in China and one in Texas that will produce TCX-based ethanol.


title: Species III

text: Species III is a 2004 science fiction action thriller television film. The film is a sequel to "Species II" (1998) and the third installment of the "Species" series. Directed by Brad Turner and stars Robin Dunne, Robert Knepper, Sunny Mabrey, Amelia Cooke and John Paul Pitoc. Natasha Henstridge, who was contracted to a trilogy commencing with the first "Species" film, briefly reprises the role of Eve in the opening scene.


title: Species III

text: The film premiered on the American channel Syfy on November 27, 2004, and released on DVD on December 7, in both a standard and an unrated version. The film was shot in HD video.


title: Species III

text: Hours after the events of the previous film, the ambulance transporting the lifeless Eve has lost its way, but when the co-driver tries to radio their superiors, the driver, Dr. Bruce Abbot, stops and holds him at gunpoint. They are ambushed by Portus, who kills the co-driver with his tongue. Abbot discovers both Portus and Eve in the back of the ambulance; Portus strangles Eve to death while she gives birth to a newborn alien, which Abbot flees with. Government agent Wasach orders an autopsy, discovering Eve's pregnancy, then has her body burned.


title: Species III

text: Abbot returns to his usual job teaching biochemistry at a university, where he teaches his belief that it is wrong to decide whether a species should live or die. He raises Eve's child in his home and she grows into a young girl who he names Sara. One night at Abbot's office, he is visited by Portus, who has dramatically aged and is critically ill. While Abbot tries to treat him, Portus demands to see "it" (Eve's child) and reveals to Abbot that there are other half-breeds suffering from similar illnesses. Afterward, he dies horribly while sitting in the chair. Shocked by these events, Abbot approaches Dean, one of his students whose funding for an experimental power plant project is in jeopardy and asks for his aid in perfecting the alien DNA to save the species. In return, Abbot promises Dean a share of any funding or awards their work receives.


title: Species III

text: In Abbot's absence, Sara pupates inside a cocoon and emerges as an adult. Abbot's superior, Dr. Nicholas Turner, arrives at the house seeking Abbot and comes across Sara, who initially tries to seduce him but then rejects him. He attempts to rape her and Sara kills him. Sara leaves to seek a mate and Abbot returns home, and sees evidence of Sara's transformation and disposes of Turner's body. Sara eventually connects with another half-breed, but discovers his illnesses and knocks his tooth out. As Abbot and Dean continue their experiments on Sara, Dean begins to bond with her. Abbot informs Dean of the government's "Project Athena", which created Sil in the first film and Sara's heritage as the child of Patrick Ross infected with alien DNA from Mars and Eve, Sil's clone. The half-breed that Sara rejected breaks into the lab, mortally wounds Abbot and attempts to impregnate Sara, but is killed by hydrochloric gas Abbot sprays over the lab. Left alone, Dean ponders whether to continue Abbot's work, and Sara urges him to save her species.


title: Species III

text: Dean's roommate at the university, Hastings, discovers a website posted by a woman named Amelia who wants to date biochemists. After snooping through Dean's notes, he forwards them to Amelia, who agrees to meet him. En route, Amelia - who is another half-breed - has sex with and murders a gas station attendant who attempts to rape her. At the campus, she senses Sara and kidnaps Hastings, taking him to Abbot's home. Both Amelia and Sara force Hastings to work on perfecting the alien DNA using Sara's purer biology to save the half-breeds and create perfect mating partners for them. Agent Wasach, whose team also monitored Amelia's website and discovered its connection to Project Athena, picks up Dean and helps him save Hastings.


title: Species III

text: Dean, Hastings, and Wasach flee to Dean's experimental power plant with Sara and Amelia in pursuit. While attempting to keep Sara's harvested eggs away from them, the three decide to try trapping Amelia and Sara in the plant's core, but this tactic risks causing a catastrophic meltdown. Dean drops the eggs into the core, prompting Amelia to attempt to kill him, but Sara attacks her and throws her into the core as well. Dean, Hastings, and Wasach manage to close the core in time to prevent a meltdown.


title: Species III

text: Later, Hastings visits Dean at Abbot's home and discovers both Sara and a half-breed alien boy. Dean reveals that he actually managed to pull Sara to safety before sealing the plant's core, then completed the refined alien DNA to create a mate for her so she would not be alone. After the boy is grown, Dean tells Sara she is on her own and to be careful, but before Sara and her mate leave, Dean asks Sara why she saved him from Amelia when there was no reason to. She does not answer; however, it is implied that she has come to care for him. Dean then reassures the nervous Hastings by revealing that he had ensured that Sara's mate would be sterile, preventing them from reproducing.


title: Species III

text: Executive producer Frank Mancuso Jr., who also worked on the previous "Species" films, wanted the sequel to be aimed more at young adults, so the characters were written to be younger than what was originally planned. They decided to cast Sunny Mabrey as the main blonde alien. Amelia Cooke was also taken for the role. Also, Mancuso wanted the creatures to look slightly different from H.R. Giger's original concept. The alien species was then redesigned by Rob Hinderstien.


title: Species III

text: "Species III" received mostly negative reviews, holding a 33% rating on Rotten Tomatoes based on six reviews. "DVD Talk" negatively reviewed the film saying "this film is underdeveloped with an absurd plot and bad special effects, this film just reuses old ideas and is not worth your time, it is a pointless sequel that lacks an effective story to make it a watchable film, it is just camouflaged by nudity". "Den of Geek!" said: "If you are going to start watching this franchise, you should give this one a miss and cut straight to the final film".


title: Species III

text: A fourth film, "Species: The Awakening", was released straight-to-television in 2007. While it does continue the "Species" series", it was a standalone film, not a direct follow-up to "Species III".


title: George Lam

text: George Lam Tsz-Cheung (born 12 October 1947), also known professionally by his surname Lam, is a Hong Kong-based veteran Cantopop singer, singer-songwriter, music producer and actor, with a career that has so far lasted more than four decades. Lam produces most of his own albums, writes many of his own songs, occasionally writes for other artists, and covers other people's songs. Lam has a wide vocal range and is capable of interpreting and performing many different genres of music. He is heavily involved with planning and designing his concerts and his LP/CD covers. He was the one who came up with the first Cantopop rap, "Ah Lam's Diary", and he also pioneered the stringing together of multiple hit Cantopop songs to create a 10-minute long medley which is called "10 Minutes 12 Inches". In 2019, Lam interwove his songs together to put on a musical-like concert, Lamusical.


title: George Lam

text: In addition to his singing career, Lam has also acted in some TV dramas, and played lead roles in many films, making his film debut in "Luckies Trio" in 1978. Possibly his most memorable role was as a Japanese journalist in "Boat People" (1982), directed by Ann Hui.


title: George Lam

text: Lam was born in Hong Kong to a family of physicians, with both his father (a Yuen Long obstetrician) and paternal grandfather (former hospital chief executive of Alice Ho Miu Ling Nethersole Hospital) being doctors. He attended Tak Sun Primary School, then Diocesan Boys' School, a predominantly English-language boys school, where he was a boarder. At the latter school, he chose to study French rather than Chinese as a second language.


title: George Lam

text: Lam started to pick up music at a young age. His grandfather often took him to movies, both Chinese and Western ones, which exposed him to film music. In addition, his mom loved to sing and dance while his dad loved listening to music and playing piano. All this constant music around him kindled his interest in this art form. He started to love listening to music on the radio when he was a teenager and taught himself to play guitar. In 1965, Lam left Hong Kong to further his studies in United Kingdom. During this time and his subsequent stay in the United States, his musical horizon was further broadened by exposure to a great variety of musical genres in those countries.


title: George Lam

text: When he first went to United Kingdom in 1965, he attended Dover College (he was a Leamingtonian there) under the headship of Timothy Cobb. His long time pal Ching Y. Wong, S.C., also from Diocesan Boys' School. attended there as well. After about a year, he transferred to Barcote School of Coaching to join his brother, Tony. There he formed a folk song group, the Midnighters, with two friends. Lam paid a return visit to both colleges in January 2019.


title: George Lam

text: After his studies in the U.K., Lam worked for a few years there before moving to California, where he coached tennis and worked in a stock brokerage firm. It was at this time he started writing his own songs. Not long thereafter, he returned to Hong Kong to launch his music career.


title: George Lam

text: Initially, Lam was one of the lead singers in a band called "Jade". In 1976, he went solo with his first English album, "Lam". His first Cantonese album came out in 1978. In 1980, both his own compositions "In The Middle of The Water"《在水中央》and "Need You Every Minute"《分分鐘需要你》won the Top Ten Chinese Gold Songs Awards.Throughout the 1980s, Lam had 23 songs that topped the RTHK Chinese Pop Chart, second only to Alan Tam, who had 28.


title: George Lam

text: Over the years, he has introduced a wide variety of song styles to the Hong Kong pop music scene, with many of his own compositions and covers becoming classics of Cantopop. He taps into a wide variety of sources to choose which songs to do covers of, including songs from the United Kingdom, United States, Continental Europe, Russia, Middle East, Latin America, Japan, etc. The songs he chooses for such covers range from classical music, songs from musicals, Hebrew folk songs, to funk and rock and roll. His own compositions and covers encompass a very wide stylistic range, from country rock, rhythm and blues, rock and roll, funk, jazz, rap, Chinese tunes, to tango and bossa nova. Lam has also hosted some TV music programs, acted in some TV dramas, and played lead roles in many films.


title: George Lam

text: In May 2003, Lam accidentally fell through a floor opening, down 2.5 metres, while he was performing on stage at the Hong Kong Coliseum as a guest of Lisa Wang. This fall injured his right ear, which lost part of its hearing, particularly in high frequencies, and resulted in tinnitus. Thereafter, he could essentially only hear sounds in mono. A few months after his injury, he purposely put on a series of concerts in southern China to get used to performing with his new hearing problems. Within a short period of time, he managed to adapt to this new reality and was able to perform like normal on stage and thereby resume his career in full.


title: George Lam

text: Lam has remained active for more than four decades. Over time, Lam has not only gained the recognition and respect of his peers such as Anita Mui, Leslie Cheung, and Paula Tsui, he has also played a part in shaping the Hong Kong music scene, as many of today's top singers such as Eason Chan, Hacken Lee, and Andy Lau were influenced by his music.


title: George Lam

text: In recognition of his contribution to the music scene, Lam was awarded numerous awards, including the Golden Needle Award in 1994, the CASH Hall of Fame Award in 2003, the J.S.G. Lifetime Achievement Award in 2015, and the RTHK Hall of Fame Award in 2016.


title: George Lam

text: Lam married Ng Ching Yuen in 1980. Together, they have a son, Alex Lam Tak Shun, who is also a singer and actor, and a daughter April. Lam and Ng divorced in 1994. On 17 July 1996, he married singer and actress Sally Yeh. As Sally and Alex were raised abroad, neither Alex nor Sally can read Chinese, so he writes pronunciation guides for them.


title: George Lam

text: In sports, Lam used to love playing tennis, and now he loves playing golf. Besides composing songs, his creativity also gets him into drawing, and he has a particular fondness for drawing mazes. In 2013, an intricate maze artwork drawn by Lam was depicted and engraved onto the cassock of a Lalique crystal Buddha. This was the very first collaboration project that the French brand Lalique had worked with a Chinese artist. Lam also likes tailoring, often modifying used clothes he purchases to his own taste.


title: George Lam

text: Lam has a very wide tenor range. His highest notes could reach F5, D#6 in full voice and volume rather than soft falsetto. His lowest note is G2, ten notes below middle C (C4).


title: Dune buggy

text: A dune buggy — also known as a beach buggy — is a recreational motor vehicle with large wheels, and wide tires, designed for use on sand dunes, beaches, roads or desert recreation.


title: Dune buggy

text: The design is usually a topless vehicle with a rear-mounted engine. A dune buggy can be created by modifying an existing vehicle or custom-building a new vehicle.


title: Dune buggy

text: Dune buggies are typically created by modifying an existing road vehicle, while sandrails are built from the ground up as a custom vehicle.


title: Dune buggy

text: For dune buggies built on the chassis of an existing vehicle, the Volkswagen Beetle has been most commonly used as the basis for the buggy, though conversions were made from other cars (such as the Corvair and Renault Dauphine). The model is nicknamed Bug, lending partial inspiration to the term "buggy." The Beetle platform chassis was used because the rear engine layout improves traction, the air-cooled engine avoids the complexities and failure points associated with a water-cooled engine, the front suspension was considered cheap and robust and the spare parts — and donor vehicles themselves — were cheap and readily available. While early dune buggy conversions were left with no body, or featured custom bodies of sheet metal (such as the EMPI Sportsters and similar buggies), glass-reinforced plastic (fiberglass) bodies, developed in the 1960s, have become the standard image of the modern buggy, and come in many shapes and sizes.


title: Dune buggy

text: The original fiberglass dune buggy was the 1964 "Meyers Manx" built by Bruce Meyers. Bruce Meyers designed his fiberglass bodies as a "kit car", using the Volkswagen Beetle chassis. Many other companies worldwide have been inspired by the Manx, making similar bodies and kits. These types of dune buggies are known as "clones".


title: Dune buggy

text: A sandrail is a lightweight vehicle similar to a dune buggy, but designed specifically for operation on open sand.


title: Dune buggy

text: Sandrails are usually built as a spaceframe by welding steel tubes together. The name sandrail is due to the frame "rails" present. The advantage of this method is that the fabricator can change fundamental parts of the vehicle (usually the suspension and addition of a built-in roll cage). Sandrails, as per dune buggies, often have the engine located behind the driver. Sizes can vary from a small-engine one-seat size to four-seat vehicles with eight or more cylinders.


title: Dune buggy

text: Dune buggies are recreational vehicles that are used in difficult terrain like dirt, sand gravel and it has more engine power and lighter frame to increase the power to weight ratio where as sandrails are made from existing vehicles, typically you wont find windows doors or even body panel on sand rail.


title: Dune buggy

text: A similar, more recent generation of off-road vehicle, often similar in appearance to a sandrail, but designed for a different use, is the "off road go-kart". The difference may be little more than fitting all-terrain tires instead of sand tires and the much smaller size of the engine.


title: Dune buggy

text: The buggies built for the United States military used to be called Desert Patrol Vehicles (DPV) or Fast Attack Vehicles (FAV), and with the latest improvements are known as Light Strike Vehicles (LSV). They are used by United States Navy SEALs, the SAS, and other forces. Among the dune buggies used by the United States military is the Chenowth Advanced Light Strike Vehicle. The US Border Patrol also uses this (although it is not a military organization).


title: Dune buggy

text: In the United Kingdom, the SAS have used cut-down, light-weight all terrain vehicles for secret special operations "behind the lines" since early in World War II. A buggy was used by the British Special Air Services (SAS) forces during the Gulf War. A long-range special desert operations vehicle was developed in 1992 and nicknamed "pink panthers" because of their color, but these were only modified Land Rovers.


title: Summer of 85

text: Summer of 85 () is a 2020 romantic drama film written and directed by François Ozon, partly based on the 1982 novel "Dance on My Grave" by Aidan Chambers. It stars Félix Lefebvre and Benjamin Voisin.


title: Summer of 85

text: In the summer of 1985 in Normandy, Alexis (Alex), a 16-year-old who is fascinated by death, goes out to sea. A thunderstorm forms, causing his boat to capsize, but he is rescued by David, who is eighteen years old. After this incident, they grow very close and Alexis ends up helping out at David's family shop. The two end up having a relationship in secret, however, David claims he is bored and has an affair with Alexis' friend Kate. Alexis gets very angry and confronts David. They get into a fight and Alex throws a rock at David. Luckily he dodges the rock, but Alexis wrecks the shop and runs out. David chases after Alexis, but ends up dying in a motorcycle crash. Alex, feeling guilty, decides to carry out the pact formed between them: to go and dance on the grave of the one who dies first. Alex gets arrested while doing so, but is pitied by the judge and only charged with 140 hours of community service and a strong recommendation to visit a psychiatrist.


title: Summer of 85

text: The film alternates between scenes of the two boys' relationship before David's death, and scenes of the aftermath of the accident, in which Alex finds healing in writing his story for his trial on his literature teacher's recommendation.


title: Summer of 85

text: In June 2019, it was announced that Félix Lefebvre, Benjamin Voisin and Philippine Velge had joined the cast of the film, with François Ozon directing from a screenplay he wrote. Principal photography began in May 2019.


title: Summer of 85

text: The film was set to premiere at the Cannes Film Festival in May 2020, prior to its cancellation due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It was released in France on 14 July 2020. In September 2020, Music Box Films acquired U.S. distribution rights to the film. It screened at the 2020 Toronto International Film Festival on 13 September 2020. It was released in the United States on 18 June 2021.


title: Summer of 85

text: "Summer of 85" holds approval rating on review aggregator website Rotten Tomatoes, based on reviews, with an average of . The site's critical consensus reads, "While not François Ozon's best work, "Summer of 85" serves as a beguiling, bittersweet ode to teen love and its lingering after-effects." On Metacritic, the film holds a rating of 64 out of 100, based on 20 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".


title: Native Tongues

text: The Native Tongues were a collective of late 1980s and early 1990s hip-hop artists known for their positive-minded, good-natured Afrocentric lyrics, and for pioneering the use of eclectic sampling and jazz-influenced beats. Its principal members were the Jungle Brothers, De La Soul, and A Tribe Called Quest. The collective was also closely tied to the Universal Zulu Nation. "Rolling Stone" cites the track "Doin' Our Own Dang" as "the definitive Native Tongues posse cut".


title: Native Tongues

text: The Native Tongues took their name from a line in the song “African Cry,” by Motown-offshoot funk group New Birth, which features the lyric, “took away our native tongues."


title: Native Tongues

text: The New York City-based Native Tongues crew was a collective of like-minded hip hop artists who would help bring abstract and open-minded lyricism that addressed a range of topics—from spirituality and modern living to race, sex, and just having fun—to the mainstream. Together with the use of eclectic samples that would take on an increasingly jazzy sound, they would be pioneers of so-called conscious hip hop, alternative hip hop, and jazz rap.


title: Native Tongues

text: De La Soul's Trugoy the Dove recalled: "The Native Tongues came about where, basically, we had a show together in Boston. [De La Soul], Jungle [Brothers] and we linked from there. We had a natural love for the art and a natural love for each other on how we put stuff together. So we invited [the Jungle Brothers] to a session, and when they hooked up with us, we happened to be doing "Buddy." It wasn't business; it wasn't for a check. It was just trading ideas and just seeing what you're doing. Bottom line, it was just having fun."


title: Native Tongues

text: According to Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest: "I remember Afrika [Baby Bam] called me that night, like, two in the morning. "Yo these kids, De La Soul, you gotta meet ’em! I swear we're just alike!" I went there, met them, and it was just fuckin' love at first sight. It was disgusting. In hip hop, it praises individualism. I think that's the main achievement of the Native Tongues. It just showed people could come together."


title: Native Tongues

text: Fostered by Kool DJ Red Alert, the success of the Jungle Brothers would pave the way for De La Soul and A Tribe Called Quest; together, these three groups would form the core of the crew and continue the spirit of Afrika Bambaataa and the Zulu Nation. By 1989 they had been joined by Queen Latifah and the United Kingdom's Monie Love, and soon by the Black Sheep & Chi-Ali. Collectively, the members of the Native Tongues had a huge effect on the style and trends of hip hop during its most important period, the golden age of the late 1980s–early 1990s. A Tribe Called Quest and De La Soul's albums of this time are considered among the best and most important in the hip hop genre.


title: Native Tongues

text: The song "Scenario" was the final track on A Tribe Called Quest's album "The Low End Theory" and featured the fledgling Leaders of the New School—Dinco D, Busta Rhymes, and Charlie Brown.


title: Native Tongues

text: While featuring an extensive discography, the collaborations of the Native Tongues have been fairly limited: the collective never recorded anything under that name, and the number of notable crew cuts can be counted on one hand. The various groups grew distant with time, and, by 1993, De La Soul's Trugoy the Dove proclaimed, "That native shit is dead." The collective would, however, reunite in 1996 for the Jungle Brothers’ "How Ya Want It We Got It (Native Tongues Remix)"; collaborators in this period, such as Common, The Roots, Truth Enola, DJ S.T.R.E.S.S., Da Bush Babees, and Mos Def, could be seen as latter-day additions to the crew. In 1998 on A Tribe Called Quest's album The Love Movement, the last track ("Rock Rock Ya'll") features Jane Doe, Mos Def, Punchline & Wordsworth. Q Tip states near the track's end that "this right here is a family".


title: Native Tongues

text: The Native Tongues are credited with expanding the hip-hop genre, inspiring and enabling the future success of artists such as Kanye West and Pharrell Williams. In 2019, the in Washington, D.C. launched an annual Native Tongues Festival to celebrate the musical legacy of the Native Tongues.


title: Native Tongues

text: There are several collectives today—with overlapping membership—that can be seen as the spiritual heirs to the Native Tongues crew: the Spitkicker crew (founded by De La Soul's Trugoy and Posdnuos in 2000), the Okayplayers, and the Soulquarians. Chris Lighty was a member of the Native Tongues-affiliated street crew the Violators and began his career carrying records for Zulu Nation DJs, and later as the Jungle Brothers' roadie. Until his death in 2012 he ran the successful Violator Management company, which represented Busta Rhymes and Q-Tip, among other high-profile clients.


title: Native Tongues

text: "Collaborations involving the original members, those that could be considered true Native Tongues crew cuts, are in bold. Note that this list is incomplete."


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: The Tanque Argentino Mediano (TAM; English: "Argentine Medium Tank") is a medium tank in service with the Argentine Army. Lacking the experience and resources to design a tank, the Argentine Ministry of Defense contracted German company Thyssen-Henschel. The vehicle was developed by a German and Argentine team of engineers, and was based on the German Marder infantry fighting vehicle chassis.


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: The TAM met the Argentine Army's requirement for a modern, lightweight and fast tank with a low silhouette and sufficient firepower to defeat contemporary armored threats. Development began in 1974 and resulted in the construction of three prototypes by early 1977 and full-scale production by 1979. Assembly took place at the local TAMSE plant, founded for the purpose by the Argentine government. Economic difficulties halted production in 1983, but manufacturing began anew in 1994 until the army's order of 200 tanks was fulfilled.


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: The TAM series includes seven different variants, such as a self-propelled howitzer and a self-propelled mortar vehicle. In total, over 280 such vehicles were built, including armored personnel carriers, artillery and mortar pieces. The TAM and VCTP (Infantry Fighting Vehicles based on the TAM chassis) were manufactured for the Peruvian Army, only to be integrated into the Argentine Army when Peru canceled the contract. The TAM also competed for other export orders, but the TAM was ultimately not exported.


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: The TAM has never seen combat, although 17 VCTPs were deployed to Croatia for the United Nations UNPROFOR peacekeeping mission.


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: During the 1960s Argentina sought to replace its aging fleet of tanks, which included British Sherman V Firefly tanks and American M3A1 half-tracks dating from shortly after the Second World War. In their attempts to procure equipment from the United States, Argentina could only secure 50 M41 Walker Bulldogs (undelivered) and 250 M113 armored personnel carriers. When the United States turned down requests for further equipment, the Argentine government turned to the other side of the Atlantic, putting their "Plan Europa" (Plan Europe) into action. It was hoped that European technology could stimulate Argentine industry so the country could produce its own armaments in the future. Argentina procured 80 AMX-13 light tanks, as well as 180 AMX-VCIs and 24 AMX-155 F3s, from the French government, manufacturing around 40 AMX-13s and 60 AMX-VCIs at home. The French AMX-30 and German Leopard 1 were also examined as possible replacements for the Argentine Sherman fleet.


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: In 1973 the Argentine Ministry of Defense drew up a series of requirements for a tank to enter service in the 1980s. The armored vehicle would weigh no more than , move at a maximum speed of , and cover at least on roads. It would be armed with a modern 105 mm main gun, two machine guns, and grenade launchers. The tank designers also had to take into account Argentina's existing infrastructure, including railroad capacity, bridges and road capacity, as well as the country's varied terrain. In late 1973 the "Proyecto de Tanque Argentino Mediano" (Argentine Medium Tank Project) was founded with the goal of designing and developing a tank for the Argentine Army. Lacking the experience and the necessary technology, the Argentine government sought collaboration with a foreign company, resulting in a contract with the German company Thyssen-Henschel. The contract called for a transfer of technology resulting in a program to develop a tank in line with the government's requirements and under a technical team that included both German and Argentine engineers. The hull of the German Marder armored personnel carrier was used, and the chassis was strengthened to support the increased weight of the TAM. Two prototypes were manufactured in late 1976 and early 1977, which were put through extensive testing for two years and over a road range of . Simultaneously, another prototype was manufactured to further the investigation of the new vehicle and complete the three prototypes as agreed in the contract.


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: The new tank's firepower requirements were met by fitting a British Royal Ordnance L7A1 main gun. This gun was later replaced by the modified L7A2 and finally by Rheinmetall's Rh-105-30 gun. This gun is manufactured in Argentina as the FM K.4 "Modelo" 1L. The Rh-105-30's advantages include low weight, compact size and increased lethality. Unlike the Rh-105-30, the FM K.4 does not have a muzzle brake. The locally built cannon can be elevated to 18 degrees or depressed to -7 degrees on the TAM. The gun's hydraulic recoil mechanism has an extended length of to absorb the recoil force. It is designed to fire the M735A1 armor-piercing fin-stabilized discarding sabot, which can penetrate a maximum of at . It can also fire high-explosive anti-tank rounds, high-explosive squash head and smoke rounds. The tank's secondary armaments include a co-axial FN MAG 60-40 general purpose machine gun and a second FN MAG 60-20 mounted on the TAM's turret roof as an anti-aircraft machine gun. The fire control system includes a with a range of and a FLER-HG ballistic computer to compute the gun's fire solutions—helping the gunner aim and hit the target. The tank commander uses a Zeiss PERI-R/TA panoramic periscope, with a 2x and 8x zoom.


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: The TAM's engine requirements included low weight and volume, but with a fast rate of acceleration and high reliability. The program chose MTU's MB-833 Ka 500 diesel engine, producing at 2,400 rpm. This gives the TAM a power-to-weight ratio of 24 horsepower per tonne and a maximum speed of on road and off-road. With a internal fuel tank, the TAM can travel . Its range is extended to if the vehicle is equipped with two external fuel tanks. The TAM's transmission is a Renk HSWL-204 automatic, with a hydrodynamic torque converter. A double brake system includes hydraulic disk brakes on the roadwheels, and the suspension is a torsion bar.


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: The TAM's survivability is related to its low profile turret, based on that of the Leopard 1A4s and the Leopard 2, and its physical armor array. It has at 75 degrees on the glacis plate and 32 degrees on the vehicle's sides. This offers protection against anti-armor shells from up to guns. The turret front is protected by of steel armor at an angle of 32 degrees. Although the tank's weight and armor protection are light compared to other main battle tanks, it has the advantage of better tactical mobility over the nation's terrain.


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: As a private venture, Thyssen-Henschel built a fourth prototype designated TH 301. Completed in 1978, it added a PERI R12 periscope, originally designed for the Leopard 1A4, for the tank commander. The gunner and loader each received a day periscope as well. To enable the crew to fire effectively at night, a low light level television (LLLTV) camera, which moved in elevation with the main gun, was fitted to the mantlet. Furthermore, the tank received a more powerful engine. The improvement program also made provisions to increase the thickness of the armor for additional protection.


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: Production began in 1979, with the intent to build a total of 512 armored vehicles (200 tanks and 312 VCTP infantry fighting vehicles). Economic problems, however, ended production in 1983 with only 150 TAMs and 100 VCTPs built. These vehicles were produced by an Argentine company, "Tanque Argentino Mediano Sociedad del Estado" (or TAMSE) founded by the government in March 1980. 70% of the TAM's components were manufactured in Argentina, while the 30% manufactured in Germany corresponded to the transmission, optics and fire control system. In 1983, 20 TAMs and 26 VCTPs were delivered to the Argentine Army after an original order of 80 TAMs by Peru was canceled due to budgetary issues. In 1991, TAMSE and the TAM production line were shut down, although in 1994 TAMSE was reactivated to complete an order for 120 of both TAMs and VCTPs to replace the M4 Shermans in the 2nd Armored Cavalry Brigade of the Argentine Army. By 1995 the Argentine Army was equipped with 200 TAM tanks and 216 VCTP and VCPC armored vehicles. Although 25 VCA-155s were originally planned for production starting in 1990, only 19 were completed and delivered by 1995, along with 50 VCTMs. No other variants of the TAM, including the VCLC, VAC and VCRT were put into production due to budget restrictions.


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: The TAMSE plant is a facility. The factory is completely covered, with two warehouses for storing components, quality control laboratories, a project office, an engine test room and a firing range. Also participating in the production of TAM and variant components were Argentine companies Military Factories General San Martín (manufacturing the chassis), Río Tercero (turret and armament) and Bator Cocchis, S.A.


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: The TAM has never been exported, although a number of nations were interested in buying it. In 1981, Malaysia signed a contract for 102 vehicles of the TAM family, including the tank, VCTP and VCRT (renaming these Lion, Tiger and Elephant, respectively). None of these vehicles were delivered and Malaysia chose instead to procure Poland's PT-91. In mid-1983, Peru established a contract for 80 TAMs. Due to budgetary problems the order was canceled after 20 tanks had been completed. A similar order was established by Panama in 1984, and was canceled as well. In 1989 the TAM competed in a tank procurement order from Ecuador, alongside the American Stingray light tank, the Austrian SK-105 Kürassier and the French AMX-13-105 light tank. The TAM achieved 950 out of 1,000 points, while its closest competitor earned 750 points, but in the end Ecuador did not procure any of the vehicles presented.


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: In the Middle East, both Iran and Saudi Arabia expressed interest in the TAM. The Iranian deal fell through after Saudi Arabia and Iraq successfully appealed to Germany to cancel the order. TAMSE attempted to sell 60 tanks through a Panamanian company, Agrometal, offering this company a commission worth 10% of the contract's price. This failed when TAMSE lowered the price of the vehicles, angering the Iranian government, which subsequently canceled the offer.


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: The Saudi Arabian deal was scrapped when Israel appealed to Germany to cancel the order. Failing to export the tank, the Argentine government closed the TAMSE fabrication plant in 1995.


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: The TAM did not participate in the Falklands War, as it had not entered service before the end of the conflict.


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: Seventeen VCTPs were deployed with an Argentine battalion to Yugoslavia during United Nations peacekeeping operations.


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: A number of variants were built on the same chassis as the TAM tank. The original program called for the design of an infantry fighting vehicle, and in 1977 the program finished manufacturing the prototype of the "Vehículo de Combate Transporte de Personal" (Personnel Transport Combat Vehicle), or VCTP. The VCTP is able to transport a squad of 12 men, including the squad leader and nine riflemen. The squad leader is situated in the turret of the vehicle; one rifleman sits behind him and another six are seated in the chassis, the eighth manning the hull machine gun and the ninth situated in the turret with the gunner. All personnel can fire their weapons from inside the vehicle, and the VCTP's turret is armed with Rheinmetall's Rh-202 autocannon. The VCTP holds 880 rounds for the autocannon, including subcaliber armor-piercing DM63 rounds. It is also armed with a 7.62 mm FN MAG 60-20 machine gun mounted on the turret roof. Infantry can dismount through a door on the rear of the hull. The commander has a day sight and seven observation periscopes, while the gunner has a day sight and three observation periscopes.


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: Variants also include the "Vehículo de Combate de Artillería de 155 mm" (155 mm Artillery Combat Vehicle), or VCA 155, and the "Vehículo de Combate Transporte de Mortero" (Mortar Transport Combat Vehicle), or VCTM. The VCA-155 is an elongated TAM chassis fitted with Oto Melara's Palmaria self-propelled howitzer turret. It carries 28 projectiles, 23 of which are stored in the turret bustle. The VCTM carries an AM-50 internal mortar, which has a range of and a rate of fire of 8 to 12 shots per minute. Based on the TAM chassis, the "Vehículo de Combate Puesto de Mando" (command combat vehicle), or VCPC, is another variant designed in 1982. The "Vehículo de Combate Lanzacohetes" (Rocket launcher combat vehicle), or VCLC, designed in 1986, is also based on the TAM chassis and can be fitted with both and rockets. A combat ambulance, "Vehículo de Combate Ambulancia" (VCA), and an armored recovery vehicle, "Vehículo de Combate de Recuperación" (VCRT) are other combat variants of the tank.


title: Tanque Argentino Mediano

text: In 2010, a modernization program was announced. Israeli defense contractor Elbit Systems was chosen to provide 3-axis gyro-stabilization. The first TAM unit upgraded by Elbit Systems was delivered in March 2013. The TAM 2C was upgraded with many features, mainly revolving around electronics and other secondary features. The upgrades included a thermal imager for the gunner and commander, a thermal sleeve for the barrel, and an auxiliary power unit to provide power to critical systems when the main engine is off and reduce fuel consumption while idling. The TAM 2C also had numerous firepower upgrades, including new APFSDS shells and a new HEAT shell, and the capability to fire LAHAT anti-tank guided missiles, with over 800 mm of penetration and 8 km range. It is not known whether or not the Argentinian government will purchase such missiles. The TAM 2C also received a new turret storage basket.


title: Frankenchrist

text: Frankenchrist is the third album by the American hardcore punk band Dead Kennedys, released in 1985 on Alternative Tentacles.


title: Frankenchrist

text: The album is an example of the progressive, psychedelic side of Dead Kennedys' musical personality. The spaghetti Western soundtrack influence is noticeable in the horn parts and in East Bay Ray's guitar work. "Frankenchrist" is also noted for its relative lack of traditionally "hardcore" material, with most of the tracks being slower and longer than the majority of other Dead Kennedys songs. "M.T.V. − Get off the Air" is notable for its pointed slam of the music establishment and "Stars and Stripes of Corruption" for its exegesis of vocalist Jello Biafra's political philosophies.


title: Frankenchrist

text: The album was a subject of controversy because the original record sleeve included a poster featuring the painting "Landscape #XX", or "Penis Landscape", by H. R. Giger, depicting rows of copulating penises and vulvae. The choice of the painting came as the result of a comment by Jello Biafra to his then-roommate and Dead Kennedys artist, Jayed Scotti, art partners with Winston Smith. Biafra showed Scotti a copy of "Omni" magazine showing several works of art by Giger, including "Penis Landscape", printed in 1977, for a Paris art collection. Biafra said he wanted to use the piece on the upcoming album cover. Scotti phoned New York agent Les Barany and explained the project. Barany contacted Giger to ask permission, then contacted Mike Bonanno of Alternative Tentacles Records; Giger agreed to let the label use a reproduction chrome of the artwork for $600, half the usual price. Biafra presented the idea to the other members of the band, but the idea was rejected as the album cover and as an interior gatefold double LP album. Finally it was accepted as an inserted poster. Jayed Scotti created the production mechanicals by hand for the poster. The poster was printed and inserted in the "Frankenchrist" album with an additional sticker on the outside shrinkwrap, warning buyers of the contents.


title: Frankenchrist

text: Biafra was brought to trial for distributing harmful matter to minors, and though the case did not result in a conviction, Alternative Tentacles was almost driven to bankruptcy. It was only through the support of fans that the label was able to stay alive. Biafra gained attention as a champion of free speech, and was subsequently one of the most active opponents of the Parents Music Resource Center.


title: Frankenchrist

text: "Frankenchrist"'s front cover itself depicts a Shriners parade, featuring Shriners members driving miniature cars, wearing their distinctive red fez hats. The four Shriners members pictured in the photograph sued Dead Kennedys in 1986. The image was originally photographed and published by "Newsweek" in the 1970s, a decade before the "Frankenchrist" usage by Dead Kennedys and Alternative Tentacles in 1985.


title: Frankenchrist

text: "Trouser Press" wrote: "There are some bad tracks with forced, awkward lyrics, but the LP does contain two of the DKs’ finest moments: 'MTV — Get Off the Air' and 'Stars and Stripes of Corruption', one of the most powerful political statements ever committed to vinyl."


title: Moesia

text: Moesia (; Latin: "Moesia"; ) was an ancient region and later Roman province situated in the Balkans south of the Danube River, which included most of the territory of modern eastern Serbia, Kosovo, north-eastern Albania, northern parts of North Macedonia (Moesia Superior), Northern Bulgaria, Romanian Dobruja and small parts of Southern Ukraine (Moesia Inferior).


title: Moesia

text: In ancient geographical sources, Moesia was bounded to the south by the Haemus (Balkan Mountains) and Scardus (Šar) mountains, to the west by the Drinus (Drina) river, on the north by the Donaris (Danube) and on the east by the Euxine (Black Sea).


title: Moesia

text: The region was inhabited chiefly by Thracians, Dacians (Thraco-Dacian), Illyrian and Thraco-Illyrian peoples. The name of the region comes from Moesi, Thraco-Dacian peoples who lived there before the Roman conquest.


title: Moesia

text: Parts of Moesia belonged to the polity of Burebista, a Getae king who established his rule over a large part of the northern Balkans between 82 BC and 44 BC. He led plunder and conquest raids across Central and Southeastern Europe, subjugating most of the neighbouring tribes. After his assassination in an inside plot, the empire was divided into several smaller states.


title: Moesia

text: In 75 BC, C. Scribonius Curio, proconsul of Macedonia, took an army as far as the Danube and gained a victory over the inhabitants, who were finally subdued by M. Licinius Crassus, grandson of the triumvir and later also proconsul of Macedonia during the reign of Augustus c. 29 BC. The region, however, was not organized as a province until the last years of Augustus' reign; in 6 AD, mention is made of its governor, Caecina Severus. As a province, Moesia was under an imperial consular legate (who probably also had control of Achaea and Macedonia).


title: Moesia

text: In AD 86, the Dacian king Duras ordered his troops to attack Roman Moesia. After this attack, the Roman emperor Domitian personally arrived in Moesia and reorganized it in 87 AD into two provinces, divided by the river Cebrus (Ciabrus): to the west Moesia Superior or Upper Moesia (meaning upriver) and to the east Moesia Inferior or Lower Moesia or Ripa Thracia (from the Danube river's mouth and then upstream). Each was governed by an imperial consular legate and a procurator.


title: Moesia

text: The chief towns of Upper Moesia in the Principate were: Singidunum (Belgrade), Viminacium (sometimes called municipium Aelium; modern Kostolac), Remesiana (Bela Palanka), Bononia (Vidin), Ratiaria (Archar) and Skupi (modern Skopje); of Lower Moesia: Oescus (colonia Ulpia, Gigen), Novae (near Svishtov, the chief seat of Theodoric the Great), Nicopolis ad Istrum (Nikup; really near the river Yantra), Marcianopolis (Devnya), Tyras (Bilhorod-Dnistrovskyi), Olvia, Odessus (Varna) and Tomis (Constanţa; to which the poet Ovid was banished). The last two were Greek towns which formed a pentapolis with Istros, Mesembria (Nessebar) and Apollonia (Sozopol).


title: Moesia

text: From Moesia, Domitian began planning future campaigns into Dacia and by 87 he started a strong offensive against Dacia, ordering General Cornelius Fuscus to attack. Therefore, in the summer of 87, Fuscus led five or six legions across the Danube. The campaign against the Dacians ended without a decisive outcome, and Decebalus, the Dacian King, had brazenly flouted the terms of the peace (89 AD) which had been agreed on at the war's end.


title: Moesia

text: Emperor Trajan later arrived in Moesia, and he launched his first military campaign into the Dacian Kingdom c. March–May 101, crossing to the northern bank of the Danube River and defeating the Dacian army near Tapae, a mountain pass in the Carpathians (see Second Battle of Tapae). Trajan's troops were mauled in the encounter, however, and he put off further campaigning for the year to heal troops, reinforce, and regroup. During the following winter, King Decebalus launched a counter-attack across the Danube further downstream, but this was repulsed. Trajan's army advanced further into Dacian territory and forced King Decebalus to submit to him a year later.


title: Moesia

text: Trajan returned to Rome in triumph and was granted the title "Dacicus". The victory was celebrated by the Tropaeum Traiani. However, Decebalus in 105 undertook an invasion against Roman territory by attempting to stir up some of the tribes north of the river against the empire. Trajan took to the field again and after building with the design of Apollodorus of Damascus his massive bridge over the Danube, he conquered part of Dacia in 106 (see also Second Dacian War).


title: Moesia

text: Sometime around 272, at the Moesian city of Naissus or Nissa (modern Niš in Serbia), future emperor Constantine I was born.


title: Moesia

text: After the abandonment of Roman Dacia to the Goths by Aurelian (270–275) and the transfer of the Roman citizens from the former province to the south of the Danube, the central portion of Moesia took the name of "Dacia Aureliana" (later divided into "Dacia Ripensis" and "Dacia Mediterranea").