title: 1986 California Proposition 65

text: Political controversy over the law, including industry attempts to have it preempted by federal law, have died down, although preemption bills continue to be introduced in the U.S. Congress, most recently H.R. 6022 (introduced June 6, 2018). However, enforcement actions remain controversial. Many Proposition 65 complaints are filed on behalf of straw man plaintiffs by private attorneys, some of whose businesses are built entirely on filing Proposition 65 lawsuits.


title: 1986 California Proposition 65

text: The law has also been criticized for causing "over-warning" or "meaningless warnings," and this risk has been recognized by a California court. There is no penalty for posting an unnecessary warning sign, and to the extent that warnings are vague or overused, they may not communicate much information to the end user. Examples of warning signs can be found at gas stations, hardware suppliers, grocery stores, drug stores, medical facilities, parking garages, hotels, apartment complexes, retail stores, banks, and restaurants, warning about hazardous chemicals in items for sale, or present in the immediate environment. Utility companies mail a Prop 65 notice to all customers each year to warn them about exposures to natural gas, petroleum products and sandblasting.


title: 1986 California Proposition 65

text: Abuse of enforcement lawsuits has also been a consistent theme of Proposition 65 opponents, who criticize the motives of citizen enforcers. Industry critics and corporate defense lawyers charge that Proposition 65 is "a clever and irritating mechanism used by litigious NGOs and others to publicly spank politically incorrect opponents ranging from the American gun industry to seafood retailers, etc." Critics also note that the majority of settlement money collected from businesses has been used to pay plaintiffs' attorney fees. Businesses paid over $14.58 million in attorney fees and costs in 2012, 71% of all settlement money paid.


title: 1986 California Proposition 65

text: Because the law allows private citizens to sue and collect penalties from any business violating the law, lawyers and law firms have been criticized for using Proposition 65 to force monetary settlements out of Californian businesses. In the past the Attorney General's office has cited several instances of settlements where plaintiff attorneys received significant awards without providing for environmental benefit to the people of California, resulting in a requirement that the Attorney General's office must approve any pre-trial Proposition 65 settlement.


title: 1986 California Proposition 65

text: In the 2013–14 session of the California State Assembly, a consensus bill, AB 227, introduced by Assemblyman Mike Gatto (D-Los Angeles), effectively offered to protect certain small companies in specified circumstances from the threat of citizen enforcement lawsuits, by providing them with a streamlined compliance procedure and limited penalties. The bill was passed unanimously, with support from Proposition 65 proponents and supporters, and was enacted on October 10, 2013.


title: 1986 California Proposition 65

text: Following the success of AB 227, Gov. Jerry Brown announced on May 7, 2013, that his office plans to introduce a proposal to reform Proposition 65. In 2017, Brown advocated for more reform to Prop 65 to reduce "frivolous shakedown lawsuits."


title: 1986 California Proposition 65

text: As of 2019, the below list includes some of the named Fortune 500 companies that have been sued or received an intent to sue for allegedly not disclosing the Prop 65 warning on one or more of their products. The list includes, but is not limited to:


title: 1986 California Proposition 65

text: In most cases, such as McDonald's, Walgreens, and Disney, the listed chemicals have been removed. "As of August 2019, Amazon faces over 1,000 Prop 65 'Intent to Sue' notices." E-commerce marketplaces, like Amazon, require their sellers to disclose if their products contain Prop 65 chemicals. However, these companies are currently under fire for some of their sellers allegedly not disclosing Prop 65 chemicals that are in their brands.


title: 1986 California Proposition 65

text: Proposition 65 requires that the governor revise and republish at least once per year the list of chemicals known to the State to cause cancer or reproductive toxicity.


title: 1986 California Proposition 65

text: There also exists a "Safe harbor List" with tolerance thresholds for some of the chemicals named in the Proposition 65 list. Concentrations under the tolerance threshold do not legally require the warning label.


title: Georgina Haig

text: Georgina Haig (born 3 August 1985) is an Australian film and television actress, known for her roles in the Australian children's television series "The Elephant Princess", as well as the American television series "Fringe", "Limitless" and "Once Upon a Time".


title: Georgina Haig

text: Haig was born in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, to Gillian Haig, a fine artist, and Russell Hagg, an Australian script writer and film maker, whose credits include "BMX Bandits", "The Cup", "Cash and Company" and "Blue Heelers". She grew up on the Mornington Peninsula. She has one younger brother, actor/model Julian Haig.


title: Georgina Haig

text: Throughout her early youth she studied ballet, obtaining Grade 8 with the Royal Academy of Dance. Haig attended Red Hill Consolidated School and then Toorak College for her high school education. She was a head prefect and completed her Gold Duke of Edinburgh's Award. She was accepted into the University of Melbourne to study Arts but deferred for one year to teach English in Vietnam at the Hanoi University of Science and Technology with Lattitude Global Volunteering. She then returned to Melbourne to pursue her studies and was accepted in the Western Australian Academy of Performing Arts to study acting. She graduated in 2008 at age 23.


title: Georgina Haig

text: In her first year out of drama school Haig landed roles in two Australian feature films, "Wasted on the Young" and "Road Train". She secured a recurring guest role in two seasons of the crime drama "Underbelly". From 2009 to 2010 she also starred in the children's television series "The Elephant Princess".


title: Georgina Haig

text: In 2010 she won a Best Actress Scream Festival award for her performance in thriller "Crawl". She was considered for the role of Andromeda in the film "Wrath of the Titans" alongside several other actresses. The part ultimately went to Rosamund Pike. Haig was also considered for the role of Gwen Stacy in the 2012 film "The Amazing Spider-Man", but lost the part to Emma Stone.


title: Georgina Haig

text: In 2012, she appeared in the internationally acclaimed Australian film "The Sapphires", and made several guest appearances on the American FOX science-fiction series "Fringe", as Henrietta "Etta" Bishop. She appeared in "Dance Academy" and had a guest role in an episode of comedy series "A Moody Christmas".


title: Georgina Haig

text: Haig started 2013 with work on the sketch comedy show "The Elegant Gentleman's Guide to Knife Fighting", playing a variety of characters. She then secured the lead role of Lee Anne Marcus in the CBS legal drama "Reckless", where she played a police officer caught up in corruption at the Charleston, South Carolina Police Department. During that year she played the rock journalist Paula Yates in the miniseries "", and defense lawyer Jasmine in the black comedy "The Mule".


title: Georgina Haig

text: She worked with Australian comedian Lawrence Leung and husband Josh Mapleston on ABC Australia's farcical kung-fu comedy "Maximum Choppage" in 2014. Later that year she secured the much coveted role of Queen Elsa in the fourth season of "Once Upon a Time".


title: Georgina Haig

text: In July 2015, Haig was cast in Syfy futuristic pilot "Incorporated", but the role was later recast with Allison Miller. In November 2015, it was announced that Haig would have a recurring role alongside Bradley Cooper and Jake McDorman in the first season of CBS' crime drama "Limitless". She starred as Annabel in "Childhood's End", a Syfy three-part miniseries, based on a story by Arthur C. Clarke. In March 2016, she was cast as the female lead in The CW's "Untitled Mars Project" pilot.


title: Georgina Haig

text: In March 2020, it was announced Haig will replace Jessica Marais as Rachel Rafter in the upcoming series, "Back to the Rafters", a sequel series to "Packed to the Rafters".


title: Georgina Haig

text: In June 2014, Haig married screenwriter and actor Josh Mapleston. In March 2017, their daughter Greta was born.


title: Biophilic design

text: Biophilic design is a concept used within the building industry to increase occupant connectivity to the natural environment through the use of direct nature, indirect nature, and space and place conditions. Used at both the building and city-scale, it is argued that this idea has health, environmental, and economic benefits for building occupants and urban environments, with few drawbacks. Although its name was coined in recent history, indicators of biophilic design have been seen in architecture from as far back as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon.


title: Biophilic design

text: The word “Biophilia” was first introduced by a psychoanalyst named Erich Fromm who stated that biophilia is the “passionate love of life and of all that is alive…whether in a person, a plant, an idea, or a social group” in his book "The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness" in 1973. Fromm’s approach was that of a psychoanalyst (a person who studies the unconscious mind) and presented a broad spectrum as he called biophilia a biologically normal instinct.


title: Biophilic design

text: The term has been used since by many scientists, and philosophers overall being adapted to several different areas of study. Some notable mentions of biophilia include Edward O. Wilson’s book "Biophilia" (1984) where he took a biologist’s approach and first coined the “Biophilia hypothesis” and popularized the notion. Wilson defined biophilia as “the innate tendency to focus on life and lifelike processes”, claiming a link with nature is not only physiological (as Fromm suggested) but has a genetic basis. The biophilia hypothesis is the idea that humans have an inherited need to connect to nature and other biotic forms due to our evolutionary dependence on it for survival and personal fulfillment. This idea is relevant in daily life – humans travel and spend money to sightsee in national parks and nature preserves, relax on beaches, hike mountains, and explore jungles. Further, many sports revolve around nature such as skiing, mountain biking, and surfing. From a home perspective, people are more likely to spend more on houses that have views of nature; buyers are willing to spend 7% more on homes with excellent landscaping, 58% more on properties that look at water, and 127% more on those that are waterfront. Humans also value companionship with animals. In America 60.2 million people own dogs and 47.1 million own cats.


title: Biophilic design

text: While biophilia refers to the inherent need to experience and love nature, biophobia is human's inherited fear of nature and animals. In the case of modern life, humans urge to separate ourselves from nature and move towards technology; a cultural drive where people tend to associate with human artifacts, interests, and managed activities. Some anxieties of the natural environment are inherited from threats seen in anthropocentric evolution: this includes fear of snakes, spiders, and blood. In relation to buildings, biophobia can be induced through the use of bright colors, heights, enclosed spaces, darkness, and large open spaces are major contributors to occupant discomfort.


title: Biophilic design

text: Considered as one of the pioneers of biophilic design, Stephen Kellert has created a framework where nature in the built environment is used in a way that satisfies human needs – his principles are meant to celebrate and show respect for nature, and provide an enriching urban environment that is multisensory. The dimensions and attributes that define Kellert's biophilic framework are below.


title: Biophilic design

text: Each of these experiences are meant to be considered individually when using biophilia in projects, as there is no one right answer for one building type. Each building's architect(s) and project owner(s) must collaborate to include the biophilic principles they believe fit within their scope and most effectively reach their occupants.


title: Biophilic design

text: Timothy Beatley believes the key objective of biophilic cities is to create an environment where the residents want to actively participate in, preserve, and connect with the natural landscape that surrounds them. He established ways to achieve this through a framework of infrastructure, governance, knowledge, and behavior; these dimensions can also be indicators of existing biophilic attributes that already exist in current cities.


title: Biophilic design

text: Biophilic design is argued to have a wealth of benefits for building occupants and urban environments through improving connections to nature. For cities, many believe the biggest proponent of the concept is its ability to make the city more resilient to any environmental stressor it may face.


title: Biophilic design

text: Catherine Ryan, et al. found that elements such as nature sounds, improved mental health 37% faster than traditional urban noise after stressor exposure; the same study found that when surgery patients were exposed to aromatherapy, 45% used less morphine and 56% used fewer painkillers overall. Another study by Kaitlyn Gillis and Birgitta Gatersleben found that the inclusion of plants in interior environments reduce stress and increase pain tolerance; the use of water elements and incorporating views of nature are also mentally restorative for occupants. When researching the effects of biophilia on hospital patients, Peter Newman and Jana Soderlund found that by increasing vista quality in hospital rooms depression and pain in patients is reduced, which in turn shortened hospital stays from 3.67 days to 2.6 days.


title: Biophilic design

text: In biophilic cities, Andrew Dannenberg, et al. indicated that there are higher levels of social connectivity and better capability to handle life crises; this has resulted in lower crime rate levels of violence and aggression. The same study found that implementing outdoor facilities such as impromptu gymnasiums like the “Green Gym” in the United Kingdom, allow people to help clear overgrown vegetation, build walking paths, plant foliage, and more readily exercise (walking, running, climbing, etc.); this has been proven to build social capital, increase physical activity, better mental health and quality of life. Further, Dannenberg, et al. also found that children growing up in green neighborhoods are seen to have lower levels of asthma; decreased mortality rates and health disparities between the wealthy and poor were also observed in greener neighborhoods.


title: Biophilic design

text: Some argue that by adding physical natural elements, such as plants, trees, rain gardens, and green roofs, to the built environment, buildings and cities can manage stormwater runoff better as there are fewer impervious surfaces and better infiltration. To maintain these natural systems in a cost-effective way, excess greywater can be reused to water the plants and greenery; vegetative walls and roofs also decrease polluted water as the plants act as biofilters. Adding greenery also reduces carbon emissions, the heat island effect, and increases biodiversity. Carbon is reduced through carbon sequestration in the plant's roots during photosynthesis. Green and high albedo rooftops and facades, and shading of streets and structures using vegetation can reduce the amount of heat absorption normally found in asphalt or dark surfaces – this can reduce heating and cooling needs by 25% and reduce temperature fluctuations by 50%. Further, adding green facades can increase the biodiversity of an area if native species are planted - the Khoo Teck Puat Hospital in Singapore has seen a resurgence of 103 species of butterflies onsite, thanks to their use of vegetation throughout the exterior of the building.


title: Biophilic design

text: Biophilia may have slightly higher costs due to the addition of natural elements that require maintenance, higher-priced organic items, etc., however, the perceived health and environmental benefits are believed to negate this. Peter Newman found that by adding biophilic design and landscapes, cities like New York City can see savings nearing $470 million due to increased worker productivity and $1.7 billion from reduced crime expenses. They also found that storefronts on heavily vegetated streets increased foot traffic and attracted consumers that were likely to spend 25% more; the same study showed that increasing daylighting through skylights in a store increase sales by 40% +/- 7%. Properties with biophilic design also benefit from higher selling prices, with many selling at 16% more than conventional buildings.


title: Biophilic design

text: On the urban scale, Timothy Beatley believes that biophilic design will allow cities to better adapt to stresses that occur from changes in climate and thus, local environments. To better show this, he created a biophilic cities framework, where pathways can be taken to increase the resilience and sustainability of cities. This includes three sections: Biophilic Urbanism - the physical biophilic and green measures that can be taken to increase the resilience of the city, Adaptive Capacity - how the community's behaviors will adapt as a result of these physical changes, and Resilient Outcomes - what can happen if both of these steps are achieved.


title: Biophilic design

text: Under the Biophilic Urbanism section, one of the ways a city can increase resilience is by pursuing the "biophysical" pathway – by safeguarding and promoting the inclusion of natural systems, the natural protective barrier of the city is increased. For example, New Orleans is a city that has built over its natural wet plains and has exposed themselves to flooding. It is estimated that if they kept the bayous intact, the city could save $23 billion yearly in storm protection.


title: Biophilic design

text: In the Adaptive Capacity section, Beatley states that the "commitment to place and home" pathway creates stimulating and interesting nature environments for residents – this will create stronger bonds to home, which will increase the likelihood that citizens will take care of where they live. He goes further in saying that in times of shock or stress, these people are more likely to rebuild and or support the community instead of fleeing. This may also increase governmental action to protect the city from future disasters.


title: Biophilic design

text: By achieving Biophilic Urbanism and Adaptive Capacity, Beatley believes that one of the biggest resilient outcomes of this framework will be increased adaptability of the residents. Because the steps leading to resilience encourage people to be outside walking and participating in activities, the citizens become healthier and more physically fit; it has been found that those who take walks in nature experience decreased depression, anger, and increased vigor, versus those who walk in interior environments.


title: Biophilic design

text: Given the increased information supporting the benefits of biophilic design, organizations are beginning to incorporate the concept into their standards and rating systems to encourage building professionals to use biophilia in their projects. As of now, the most prominent supporters of biophilic design are the WELL Building Standard and the Living Building Challenge.


title: Biophilic design

text: The International WELL Building Institute uses biophilic design in their WELL Standard as a qualitative and quantitive metric. The qualitative metric must incorporate nature (environmental elements, natural lighting, and spatial qualities), natural patterns, and nature interaction within and outside the building; these efforts must be documented through professional narrative to be considered for certification. For the quantitative portion, projects must have outdoor biophilia (25% of the project must have accessible landscaped grounds and or rooftop gardens and 70% of that 25% must have plantings), indoor biophilia (plant beds and pots must cover 1% of the floor area and plant walls must cover 2% of the floor area), and water features (projects over 100,000 sqft must have a water feature that is either 1.8 m in height or 4 m in floor area). Verification is enforced through assurance letters by the architects and owners, and by on-site spot checks. Generally, both metric types can be applied to every building type the WELL Standard addresses, with two exceptions: core and shell construction does not need to include quantitative interior biophilia and existing interiors do not need to include qualitative nature interaction.


title: Biophilic design

text: The International Living Future Institute is the creator of the living building challenge – a rigorous building standard that aims to maximize building performance. This standard classifies the use of a biophilic environment as an imperative element in their health and happiness section. The living building challenge requires that a framework be created that shows the following: how the project will incorporate nature through environmental features, light, and space, natural shapes and forms, natural patterns, and place-based relationships. The challenge also requires that the occupants be able to connect to nature directly through interaction within the interior and exterior of the building. These are then verified through a preliminary audit procedure.


title: Biophilic design

text: Biophilic design is considered young, as it has not been implemented in modern building projects for a long period of time. Because of this, there has been little research that explores the long-term challenges, negatives, and even benefits of biophilia in buildings and cities. Other concerns are the initial and maintenance costs of projects that implement expensive biophilic design principles. This could be due to the lack of research that was discussed above, as there is little information regarding payback periods for investors. Another issue could be the prices for the technology needed, however this "should" eventually lower as the concept becomes more commonplace.


title: Biophilic design

text: The Church of Mary Magdalene is in Jerusalem and was consecrated in 1888. This church's architecture is biophilic in that it contains natural geometries, organized complexity, information richness, and organic forms (onion-shaped domes) and materials. On the exterior, complexity and order are shown through the repetitive use of domes, their scale, and placement. Inside, the church experiences symmetry and a savannah-like environment through its vaulting and domes – the columns also have leaf-like fronds, which represents images of nature. Prospect is explored through raised ceilings that have balconies and increased lighting; refuge is experienced in lower areas, where there are reduced lighting and alcoves and throughout, where small windows are encased by thick walls.


title: Biophilic design

text: Fallingwater, one of Frank Lloyd Wright’s most famous buildings, exemplifies many biophilic features. The home has human-nature connectivity through the integrative use of the waterfall and stream in its architecture - the sound from these water features can be heard throughout the inside of the home. This allows visitors to feel like they are “participating” in nature rather than “spectating” it like they would be if the waterfall were downstream. In addition, the structure is built around existing foliage and encompasses the local geology by incorporating a large rock in the center of the living room. There are also many glass walls to connect the occupants to the surrounding woods and nature that is outdoors. To better the flow of the space, Wright included many transitional spaces in the home (porches and decks); he also enhanced the direct and indirect experiences of nature by using multiple fireplaces and a wealth of organic shapes, colors, and materials. His use of Kellert's biophilic design principles are prominent throughout the structure, even though this home was constructed before these ideas were developed.


title: Biophilic design

text: Referred to as a “garden hospital”, KTP has an abundance of native plants and water features that surround its exterior. This inclusion of vegetation has increased the biodiversity of the local ecosystem, bringing butterflies and bird species; the rooftop of the hospital is also used by local residents to grow produce. Unlike many other hospitals, 15% of visitors come to Khoo Teck Puat for recreational reasons such as gardening or relaxing. The design behind this hospital was to increase the productivity of its doctors, wellbeing of its visitors, and increase the healing speed and pain resilience of its patients. To do this, the designers incorporated greenery from the hospital's courtyard to its upper floors, where patients have balconies that are covered in scented foliage. The hospital is centered on the Yishun pond, and like Frank Lloyd Wright's Fallingwater, the architects made this natural feature part of the hospital by having water stream through its courtyard, creating the illusion that the water was “drawn” from the pond. The hospital also utilizes natural ventilation as much as possible in common areas and corridors by orienting them in the direction the north and southeast prevailing winds; this has reduced energy consumption by 60% and increased airflow by 20-30%. This creates thermally adequate environments for patients and medical staff alike. Using Kellert strategies above, it is apparent that most of the strategies used for Khoo Teck Puat are direct nature experiences. The hospital also uses transitional spaces to make occupants more connected to the outdoors and has organized complexity throughout its overall architectural design. KTP has created a sense of place for occupants and neighbors, as it acts as a communal place for both those who work there and live nearby.


title: Biophilic design

text: After the disaster that struck Sandy Hook Elementary in 2012, a new school was built to help heal the community and provide a new sense of security for those occupying the space. Major biophilic design parameters that Svigals + Partners included in this project are animal feeders, wetlands, courtyards, natural shapes and patterns, natural materials, transitional spaces, images of nature, natural colors, and use of natural light. The school has incorporated a victory garden that is meant to act as a way of healing for children after the tragedy. The architects wanted the children to feel as if they are learning in the trees so they set the school back at the edge of the woods and surrounded the space with large windows; there are also metaphoric metal trees in the lobby that have reflective metal leaves that refract light onto colored glass. Using Kellert's biophilic framework, it is prevalent that the school utilizes many different nature experiences. The use of wood planks and stone on the outside of the building help enforce indirect experiences of nature because these are natural materials. Further, the interior environment of the school experiences information richness through the architects’ use of light reflection and color. Naturalistic shapes are brought into the interior environment through the metal trees and leaves. For experiences of space and place, Svigals + Partners bring nature into the classroom and school through the placement of windows that act as transitional spaces. The school also has a variety of breezeways, bridges, and pathways for students as they move from one space to another. Direct experiences of nature are enjoyed through water features, large rain gardens, and courtyards found on the property. The animal feeders also act as a way to bring fauna into the area.


title: Biophilic design

text: Nicknamed a “city in a garden”, Singapore has dedicated many resources to make a system of nature preserves, parks and connectors (ex. Southern Ridges), and tree-lined streets that promote the return of wildlife and reduce the heat island effect that is often seen in dense city centers; local governments agree with Kellert and Beatley that daily doses of nature enhance the wellbeing of its citizens. To manage stormwater, Singaporean governments have implemented the Bishan-Ang Mo Kio Park Project, where the old concrete water drains were excavated for the reconstruction of the Kallang River; this allowed residents in the area to enjoy the physiological and physical health benefits of having a green space with water. The reimagining of the park has increased the biodiversity of the local ecosystem, with dragonflies, butterflies, hornbills, and smooth-coated otters returning to the Singaporean region - the river also acts as a natural stormwater management system by increasing infiltration and movement of excess water.


title: Biophilic design

text: To increase the immediate presence of nature in the city, Singapore provides subsidies (up to half the installation cost) for those who include vegetative walls, green roofs, sky parks, etc. in their building designs. The city-state also has an impressive number of biophilic buildings and structures. For example, their Gardens by the Bay Project has an installation called the “Supertree Grove”. This urban nature installation has over 160,000 plants that stem from 200 different species installed in the 16 supertrees; many of these urban ‘’trees’’ have sky walkways, observatories, and or solar panels. Lastly, Singapore has implemented efforts to increase community engagement through the creation of over 1,000 community gardens for resident use.


title: Biophilic design

text: Oslo is sandwiched between the Oslo Fjord and wooded areas. Woods serve as an important feature to this municipality. More than two-thirds of the city is protected forests; in recent surveys over 81% of Oslo residents said they have gone to these forests at least once in the last year. These forests are protected, as Oslo adheres to ISO14001 for its forest management – the trees are controlled under “living forest” standards, which means that limited harvesting is acceptable. In addition to its extensive forest system, the city compounds its exposure to nature by bringing the natural environment into the urban setting. Being an already compact city (after all, two-thirds is forest) the city allocates around 20% of its urban land to green spaces; the local government is in the process of creating a network of paths to connect these green areas so that citizens can walk and ride their bikes undisturbed. In addition to the expanding park accessibility, the city has also restored the city's river the Akerselva, which runs through Olso's center. Because the water feature is near sets of dense housing, the city made the river more appealing and accessible to residents by adding waterfalls and nature trails; altogether the city has 365 kilometers worth of nature trails.


title: Biophilic design

text: To connect the city with its fjords, Oslo's government has started the process of putting its roadways underground in tunnels. This, combined with the construction of aesthetically creative architecture (Barcode Project) on the waterfront and promenade foot trails, is transforming this area into a place where residents can experience enjoyment from the unobstructed views of the fjord. Lastly, Oslo has a ‘’Noise Action Plan’’ to help alleviate urban noise levels – some of these areas (mostly recreational) have noise levels as low as 50 dB.


title: Metaxa

text: Metaxa () is a Greek amber spirit created by Spyros Metaxa in 1888. Its taste comes from the combination of Muscat wines from the island of Samos, aged wine distillates, and Mediterranean botanicals.


title: Metaxa

text: The Metaxa Collection consists of Metaxa aged 5 Stars, Metaxa aged 7 Stars, Metaxa aged 12 Stars, Metaxa Grande Fine, Metaxa Private Reserve, Metaxa Angels’ Treasure, and Aen Metaxa.


title: Metaxa

text: Metaxa is sold in more than 50 countries, including China, Canada, US, Australia, New Zealand, Austria, Germany, Greece, Czech Republic, Slovak Republic, Romania, Belgium, Netherlands, Luxembourg, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Ukraine, Hungary, Poland, Russia, UK, Republic of Ireland.


title: Metaxa

text: Spyros Metaxa was born in 1848 into a family of Greek silk merchants. His first business was in the trade of fine goods. During his travels, he was exposed to a number of different spirits and wines from all around the world. According to the company, spirits of the time tended to be harsh on the palate. Spyros Metaxa wanted a smoother drink and created Metaxa in 1888.


title: Metaxa

text: The "Salamina Warrior", the Metaxa emblem, is inspired by an ancient medallion that Spyros Metaxa found when building his distillery in Piraeus in 1888.


title: Metaxa

text: Metaxa became a commercial success. It began exporting to countries across the Mediterranean, and in 1900 it was first exported to the US.


title: Metaxa

text: In 1968, the distillery and the Metaxa cellars were relocated to new facilities in Athens' northern suburb of Kifissia where they still are today.


title: Metaxa

text: Although it was first compared to Cognac, and later to brandy, Metaxa does not fall under either of these spirit categories due to the presence of the Muscat wines and the Mediterranean botanicals.


title: Metaxa

text: The company's current Metaxa master, the equivalent of a master distiller or master blender, Constantinos Raptis, is the fifth since 1888. He has overseen the production process for more than 25 years.


title: Metaxa

text: Metaxa is made from Muscat wines from Samos and wine distillates, which are aged separately and then combined in Limousin oak casks. Mediterranean botanicals are added as part of the finishing process.


title: Metaxa

text: Samos is a Greek island located in the eastern Aegean Sea. The island's second-highest mountain is Mount Ambelos/Karvouni (1,153 m). Ampelos means "vine" in Greek. Grapes, primarily Muscat, are cultivated in terraces and hand-picked.


title: L3 Technologies

text: L3 Technologies, formerly L-3 Communications Holdings, was an American company that supplied command and control, communications, intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance (C3ISR) systems and products, avionics, ocean products, training devices and services, instrumentation, aerospace, and navigation products. Its customers included the Department of Defense, Department of Homeland Security, United States Intelligence Community, NASA, aerospace contractors, and commercial telecommunications and wireless customers. In 2019, it merged with Harris Corporation and was renamed to L3Harris Technologies.


title: L3 Technologies

text: L3 was formed as L-3 Communications in 1997 to acquire certain business units from Lockheed Martin that had previously been part of Loral Corporation. These units had belonged to Lockheed Corporation and Martin Marietta, which had merged three years before in 1993. The company was founded by (and named for) Frank Lanza and Robert LaPenta in partnership with Lehman Brothers. Lanza and LaPenta had both served as executives at Loral and Lockheed.


title: L3 Technologies

text: Frank Lanza, CEO and co-founder, died on June 7, 2006. CFO Michael T. Strianese was named as interim CEO, and was later appointed Chairman, President and CEO of the company on October 23, 2006. In 2015, former Lockheed Martin executive Christopher E. Kubasik was named president and COO, with Strianese remaining as chairman and CEO. On July 19, 2017, Strianese announced that he would retire as CEO on December 31, 2017, to be succeeded by Kubasik, but would remain as board chairman. As of January 1, 2018, Christopher E. Kubasik became chief executive officer and president of L3 Technologies.


title: L3 Technologies

text: L3 Technologies was originally named L-3 Communications for the last initials of its founders Frank Lanza, Robert LaPenta, and Lehman Brothers. Despite the similarity in naming, there is no corporate connection between L3 Technologies, formerly known as L-3 Communications, and networking provider Level 3 Communications, whose name is often abbreviated "L3" in informal industry communication.


title: L3 Technologies

text: On December 31, 2016, the company changed its name from L-3 Communications Holdings, Inc. to L3 Technologies, Inc. to better reflect the company's wider focus since its founding in 1997. The company's website changed from L-3com.com to L3T.com, but the company's NYSE ticker symbol of LLL remained the same.


title: L3 Technologies

text: In 2010, it was announced that L3's Special Support Programs Division had been suspended by the United States Air Force from doing any contract work for the US federal government. A US Department of Defense investigation had reportedly found that the company had, "used a highly sensitive government computer network to collect competitive business information for its own use." A US federal criminal investigation ended the temporary suspension on July 27, 2010.


title: L3 Technologies

text: On November 4, 2010, L3 issued a part purge notification to prevent future use of Chinese counterfeit parts, but did not notify its customers whose display systems suffered from much higher than expected failure rates.


title: L3 Technologies

text: In 2015, L3 Technologies agreed to pay $25.6 million to settle a lawsuit with the U.S. Government. L3 was accused of knowingly providing the U.S. military with optics that failed in extreme temperatures and humid weather conditions. These sights were provided to infantry and special operations forces operating in Afghanistan and Iraq, as well as civilians and law enforcement.


title: L3 Technologies

text: The civil fraud lawsuit was filed by Preet Bharara, in the Southern District of New York. The lawsuit alleged L3 officials have known since 2006 that the holographic sights being sent to Iraq and Afghanistan failed to perform as advertised in extreme temperature ranges. The lawsuit alleges that the FBI independently discovered the thermal drift defect, where the point-of-aim would shift when the sights were exposed to temperature extremes, in March 2015 and presented EOTech with "the very same findings that the company had documented internally for years. Shortly thereafter, EOTech finally disclosed the thermal drift defect to the DoD." According to court documents, EOTech had advertised that its sights performed in temperatures ranging from -40 degrees to 140 degrees Fahrenheit, and in humid conditions.


The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club, also known as the All England Club, based at Church Road, Wimbledon, London, England, is a private members' club. It is best known as the venue for the Wimbledon Championships, the only Grand Slam tennis event still held on grass. Initially an amateur event that occupied club members and their friends for a few days each summer, the championships have become far more prominent than the club itself. However, it still operates as a members' tennis club.


title: All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club

text: The club has 375 full members, about 100 temporary playing members, and a number of honorary members. To become a full or temporary member, an applicant must obtain letters of support from four existing full members, two of whom must have known the applicant for at least three years. The name is then added to the candidates' list. Honorary members are elected from time to time by the club's committee. Membership carries with it the right to purchase two tickets for each day of the Wimbledon Championships. In addition to this all champions are invited to become members.


text: The club was founded by six gentlemen at the offices of "The Field" on 23 July 1868 at the height of a croquet craze as the "All England Croquet Club," and held its first croquet competition in 1870. Its original ground was situated off Worple Road, Wimbledon. Croquet was very popular there until the then-infant sport of lawn tennis (a game introduced by Major Walter Clopton Wingfield a year or so prior, and originally called "Sphairistikè") was introduced in 1875, when one lawn was set aside for this purpose. The first tennis gentlemen's championship in singles was held in July 1877, when the club changed its name to "The All England Croquet and Lawn Tennis Club". That year at Wimbledon service was underarm. The champion, Spencer Gore, opined that "Lawn tennis will never rank among our great games." In 1878 the height of the net was altered to at the posts and at the centre. In 1882, croquet was dropped from the name, as tennis had become the main activity of the club. But in 1899 it was restored to the club's name for sentimental reasons, and the club's name became "The All England Lawn Tennis and Croquet Club".


text: In 1884, the club added Ladies' Singles and Gentlemen's Doubles, and then in 1913 Ladies' Doubles and Mixed Doubles. For the 1908 Summer Olympics, the venue hosted the Grass Courts tennis events. The early club colours were found to be almost identical to those of the Royal Marines, so they were changed in 1909 to the present club colours of dark green and purple. The popularity of Frenchwoman Suzanne Lenglen was largely responsible for forcing the club to move to larger grounds at its present site in Church Road, Wimbledon, in 1922, where its first championship was "plagued by rain each day".


text: The current Centre Court dates from that year. It has been improved and extended on several occasions. Most recently a sliding roof was added in time for the 2009 Championships. In 1924 the old No.1 Court opened on the west side of Centre Court. During World War II The Championships were suspended but the club remained open with a much smaller staff, and was used for fire and ambulance services, British Home Guard, and a decontamination unit, and troops stationed nearby drilled on the main concourse. At 5:20 p.m. on 11 October 1940, five 50-pound German bombs struck the grounds, demolishing 1,200 seats in Centre Court. The old No.1 Court was replaced with the current No.1 Court in 1997, and the Broadcast Centre was built at the same time. Shortly afterwards, the Millennium Building, which houses facilities for players, press, officials and members, was built on the site of the old No.1 Court.


text: The Church Road site initially extended only as far north as Centre Court. In 1967 the All England Club purchased to the north. This was leased to the New Zealand Sports and Social Club and became known as Aorangi Park (Aorangi means "Cloud Piercer", and is the Māori part of Aoraki / Mount Cook; "Aorangi" is the standard Māori spelling and "Aoraki" is used in the Māori dialect in the vicinity of the mountain). It is most commonly known as "Henman Hill" because of the popularity of former British tennis player Tim Henman. Initially the only use that the All England Club itself made of this new land was for car parking during The Championships, but in 1981 the New Zealanders' lease was terminated, and the club has developed most of the area for its own purposes.


text: The All England Club, through its subsidiary The All England Lawn Tennis Ground plc, issues debentures to tennis fans every five years to raise funds for capital expenditure. The original debentures were issued in 1920. Each debenture provides a pair of tickets for each day of the tournament for five years. Only debenture holders are legally permitted to sell on their tickets to third parties.


text: In 2011, the club established another subsidiary, The All England Lawn Tennis Club (Championships) Limited, trading as AELTC, and transferred all of its assets relating to The Championships to that entity on 1 August of that year. Since that time, the club's activities have been conducted separately from those of The Championships.


text: In June 2020, Wimbledon was cancelled for the first time since World War II due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Wimbledon was cancelled several times during the wars: in World War I between 1915-1918 and World War II between 1940 and 1945.


text: From June 2022, Wimbledon will be played on a Sunday for the first time since 2016, as a replacement for the traditional rest day.


text: A failed attempt was made to destroy the grounds in 1913, as part of the suffragette bombing and arson campaign. During the years before the First World war, suffragettes, as part of their campaign for women's votes, carried out politically motivated arson and bombings across the country. On 27 February 1913, a suffragette woman "between the ages of 30–35" was arrested within the grounds, after being spotted by a groundsman climbing over a hedge at around midnight. She was found to have on her paraffin and wood shavings, for the purpose of setting fires in the grounds. The woman refused to give her name or any information and was later sentenced to two months' imprisonment.


text: The club currently has 18 tournament grass courts, eight American clay courts, two acrylic courts and six indoor courts. There are also 22 Aorangi Park grass courts, which serve as competitors' practice courts before and during The Championships. The grass courts can be used from May until September. The grass has been cut to 8 mm since 1995, and 100% perennial ryegrass has been used for its strength since 2001 (prior to that, it was 70% perennial rye and 30% creeping red fescue). The courts are renovated in September, using nine tons of grass seed annually.


text: The largest court is Centre Court, which hosts the finals of the main singles and doubles events at The Championships. There is an inscription above the entryway to Centre Court which reads "If you can meet with triumph and disaster / And treat those two impostors just the same" – lines from Rudyard Kipling's poem "If—". This court also served as the main venue for the tennis events at the 2012 Summer Olympics.


text: Initially, the courts were arranged in such a way that the principal court was situated in the middle with the others arranged around it; hence the title "Centre Court".


text: The present Centre Court, built in 1922 upon the move of the club, was not actually in the centre at the time it was built, but as new courts were added in later years it became a more accurate description. It currently seats 15,000 – expanded from 14,000 following redevelopment in 2007–08 (spatially, the expansion is greater than those numbers imply, as seats have been widened), and (as of 2009) is the fourth-largest tennis stadium in the world. The Club installed a retractable roof on Centre Court which was completed in May 2009. It is a "folding concertina" made of 5,200 square metres of a translucent waterproof fabric that allows natural light to reach the grass, and opens or closes in under 10 minutes. Redevelopment work commenced in 2006, and Centre Court had no roof at all in place for the duration of the 2007 Championships.


text: The other "show court" is No.1 Court, built in 1997, which holds around 11,500 people and occasionally plays host to Davis Cup matches (Centre Court usually being reserved for the Wimbledon Championships). It has been fitted with a retractable roof similar to Centre Court and was unveiled at a special ceremony on 19 May 2019.


text: A new No.2 Court with 4,000 seats was first used at the 2009 Championships. The old No.2 Court was renamed No.3 Court in 2009, and was rebuilt after the 2009 Championships. The grounds underwent major renovation as part of the Wimbledon Master Plan.


text: In December 2018 the club agreed a £65 million compensation package with the members of the adjacent Wimbledon Park Golf Club to cut short their lease on the ground in order to expand.


text: Among the features that differentiate The Wimbledon Championships from the other Grand Slams are that they are played on grass courts, they require the players to wear white, and until 2021, the middle Sunday was a day off (though sometimes – in 1991, 1997, 2004 and 2016 – poor weather meant play needed to take place). Balls were also white until 1986. The winner of the Gentlemen's singles at The Championships receives a gold trophy inscribed with the words: "The All England Lawn Tennis Club Single Handed Champion of the World".


text: The Championships attract attendance of around 450,000 people. Ninety per cent of the financial surplus that the Club generates from running The Championships is used to develop tennis in Great Britain; between 1998 and 2016 the surplus ranged from £25–40 million per year. The Championships are run by a Committee of Management that consists of 12 club members and seven nominees of The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA). The 2017 Committee included the following Club members: P.G.H. Brook (chairman), Ms S.J. Ambrose, The Lord O'Donnell GCB, R.M. Gradon, T.H. Henman O.B.E., I.L. Hewitt, Mrs A.W.L. Innes, S.A. Jones L.V.O, R.T. Stoakes, A.J.K. Tatum, Miss D A Jevans CBE, The Hon H B Weatherill.


text: In 2003, a long-standing tradition of Centre Court players bowing or curtseying to the Royal Box was discontinued by order of the Duke of Kent, with the exception of the Queen or the Prince of Wales's attendance. Andy Murray and Jarkko Nieminen elected to bow when the Queen visited The Championships for their 2010 second round match, as did Roger Federer and Fabio Fognini at their second round match, watched by the Prince of Wales, in 2012. In December 2016, it was announced that the thenDuchess of Cambridge would succeed the Queen as Patron of The AELTC and The Championships, effective January 2017.


text: Black players were not allowed to play at the club until 1951, and Jews were not admitted until 1952. According to Angela Buxton, the Jewish former British Wimbledon doubles champion, it also has led to her exclusion. Buxton said in 2004, reflecting on the fact that the All England Club, almost 50 years after Buxton's 1956 Wimbledon triumph with Althea Gibson, had still not invited Buxton to join: "I think the anti-Semitism is still there. The mere fact that I'm not a member is a full sentence that speaks for itself." Buxton told "New York Post" reporter Marc Berman that she had been on the "waiting list" since she applied in the 1950s. "I wish it still wasn't such an elite sport," Buxton told Berman. "I wish we could bring it down to a common baseline. It's going that way. It's still not there."


text: In 2006, Chairman Tim Phillips said that paying men and women equal prize money at The Championships was something they "fundamentally don't think would be fair on the men" (due to men playing best-of-five sets, and women only best-of-three). The Championships introduced equal prize money the following year.


title: Disaster recovery

text: Disaster recovery is the process of maintaining or reestablishing vital infrastructure and systems following a natural or human-induced disaster, such as a storm or battle.It employs policies, tools, and procedures. Disaster recovery focuses on the information technology (IT) or technology systems supporting critical business functions as opposed to business continuity. This involves keeping all essential aspects of a business functioning despite significant disruptive events; it can therefore be considered a subset of business continuity. Disaster recovery assumes that the primary site is not immediately recoverable and restores data and services to a secondary site.


title: Disaster recovery

text: IT Service Continuity (ITSC) is a subset of business continuity planning (BCP) that focuses on Recovery Point Objective (RPO) and Recovery Time Objective (RTO). It encompasses IT disaster recovery planning and wider IT resilience planning. It also incorporates IT infrastructure and services related to communications, such as telephony and data communications.


title: Disaster recovery

text: Planning includes arranging for backup sites, whether they are "hot" (operating prior to a disaster), "warm" (ready to begin operating), or "cold" (requires substantial work to begin operating), and standby sites with hardware as needed for continuity.


title: Disaster recovery

text: In 2008, the British Standards Institution launched a specific standard supporting Business Continuity Standard BS 25999, titled BS25777, specifically to align computer continuity with business continuity. This was withdrawn following the publication in March 2011 of ISO/IEC 27031, "Security techniques — Guidelines for information and communication technology readiness for business continuity."


title: Disaster recovery

text: The Recovery Time Objective (RTO) is the targeted duration of time and a service level within which a business process must be restored after a disruption in order to avoid a break in business continuity.


title: Disaster recovery

text: According to business continuity planning methodology, the RTO is established during the Business Impact Analysis (BIA) by the owner(s) of the process, including identifying time frames for alternate or manual workarounds.


title: Disaster recovery

text: RTO is a complement of RPO. The limits of acceptable or "tolerable" ITSC performance are measured by RTO and RPO in terms of time lost from normal business process functioning and data lost or not backed up during that period.


title: Disaster recovery

text: The business continuity group conducts timed rehearsals (or actuals), during which RTA gets determined and refined as needed.


title: Disaster recovery

text: A Recovery Point Objective (RPO) is the maximum acceptable interval during which transactional data is lost from an IT service.


title: Disaster recovery

text: For example, if RPO is measured in minutes, then in practice, off-site mirrored backups must be continuously maintained as a daily off-site backup will not suffice.


title: Disaster recovery

text: A recovery that is not instantaneous restores transactional data over some interval without incurring significant risks or losses.


title: Disaster recovery

text: RPO measures the maximum time in which recent data might have been permanently lost and not a direct measure of loss quantity. For instance, if the BC plan is to restore up to the last available backup, then the RPO is the interval between such backups.


title: Disaster recovery

text: RPO is not determined by the existing backup regime. Instead business impact analysis determines RPO for each service. When off-site data is required, the period during which data might be lost may start when backups are prepared, not when the backups are secured off-site.


title: Disaster recovery

text: A data synchronization point is a backup is completed. It halts update processing while a disk-to-disk copy is completed. The backup copy reflects the earlier version of the copy operation; not when the data is copied to tape or transmitted elsewhere.


title: Disaster recovery

text: RTO and the RPO must be balanced, taking business risk into account, along with other system design criteria.


title: Disaster recovery

text: RPO is tied to the times backups are secured offsite. Sending synchronous copies to an offsite mirror allows for most unforeseen events. The use of physical transportation for tapes (or other transportable media) is common. Recovery can be activated at a predetermined site. Shared offsite space and hardware complete the package.


title: Disaster recovery

text: Planning for disaster recovery and information technology (IT) developed in the mid to late 1970s as computer center managers began to recognize the dependence of their organizations on their computer systems.


title: Disaster recovery

text: At that time, most systems were batch-oriented mainframes. An offsite mainframe could be loaded from backup tapes pending recovery of the primary site; downtime was relatively less critical.


title: Disaster recovery

text: The disaster recovery industry developed to provide backup computer centers. Sungard Availability Services was one of the earliest such centers, located in Sri Lanka (1978).


title: Disaster recovery

text: During the 1980s and 90s, computing grew exponentially, including internal corporate timesharing, online data entry and real-time processing. Availability of IT systems became more important.


title: Disaster recovery

text: Regulatory agencies became involved; availability objectives of 2, 3, 4 or 5 nines (99.999%) were often mandated, and high-availability solutions for hot-site facilities were sought.


title: Disaster recovery

text: IT service continuity became essential as part of Business Continuity Management (BCM) and Information Security Management (ICM) as specified in ISO/IEC 27001 and ISO 22301 respectively.


title: Disaster recovery

text: The rise of cloud computing since 2010 created new opportunities for system resiliency. Service providers absorbed the responsibility for maintaining high service levels, including availability and reliability. They offered highly resilient network designs. Recovery as a Service (RaaS) is widely availability and promoted by the Cloud Security Alliance.


title: Disaster recovery

text: Preparedness measures for all categories and types of disasters fall into the five mission areas of prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery.


title: Disaster recovery

text: Research supports the idea that implementing a more holistic pre-disaster planning approach is more cost-effective. Every $1 spent on hazard mitigation (such as a disaster recovery plan) saves society $4 in response and recovery costs.


title: Disaster recovery

text: As IT systems have become increasingly critical to the smooth operation of a company, and arguably the economy as a whole, the importance of ensuring the continued operation of those systems, and their rapid recovery, has increased.


title: Disaster recovery

text: Control measures are steps or mechanisms that can reduce or eliminate threats. The choice of mechanisms is reflected in a disaster recovery plan (DRP).


title: Disaster recovery

text: Control measures can be classified as controls aimed at preventing an event from occurring, controls aimed at detecting or discovering unwanted events, and controls aimed at correcting or restoring the system after a disaster or an event.


title: Disaster recovery

text: The disaster recovery strategy derives from the business continuity plan. Metrics for business processes are then mapped to systems and infrastructure. A cost-benefit analysis highlighs which disaster recovery measures are appropriate. Different strategies make sense based on the cost of downtime compared to the cost of implementing a particular strategy.


title: Disaster recovery

text: Disaster recovery as a service (DRaaS) is an arrangement with a third party vendor to perform some or all DR functions.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: The Superliner is a type of bilevel intercity railroad passenger car used by Amtrak, the national rail passenger carrier in the United States. Amtrak ordered the cars to replace older single-level cars on its long-distance trains in the Western United States. The design was based on the Budd Hi-Level vehicles, employed by the Santa Fe Railway on its "El Capitan" trains. Pullman-Standard built 284 cars, known as Superliner I, from 1975 to 1981; Bombardier Transportation built 195, known as Superliner II, from 1991 to 1996. The Superliner I cars were the last passenger cars built by Pullman.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: Car types include coaches, dining cars, lounges, and sleeping cars. Most passenger spaces are on the upper level, which features a row of windows on both sides. The Sightseer Lounge observation cars have distinctive floor-to-ceiling windows on the upper level. Boarding is on the lower level; passengers climb up a center stairwell to reach the upper level.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: The first Superliner I cars entered service in February 1979, with deliveries continuing through 1981. Amtrak assigned the cars to both long-distance and short-distance trains in the Western United States. The first permanent assignment, in October 1979, was to the Chicago–Seattle "Empire Builder". Superliner II deliveries began in 1993; the additional cars enabled the retirement of the aging Hi-Level cars and the assignment of Superliners to trains in the Eastern United States. Tunnel clearances prevent their use on the Northeast Corridor.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: On May 1, 1971, Amtrak assumed control of almost all private-sector intercity passenger rail service in the United States, with a mandate to reverse decades of decline. It retained about 184 of the 440 trains which had run the day before. To operate these trains, Amtrak inherited a fleet of 300 locomotives and 1,190 passenger cars, most of which dated from the 1940s and 1950s. No new sleeping cars had been built for service in the United States since 1955.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: Conventional single-level cars made up most of Amtrak's inherited fleet, but it also included 73 Hi-Level cars from the Santa Fe. The Budd Company built these between 1954 and 1964; the bilevel design, with its superior views and smooth riding characteristics, was well-suited to the long distances in the west. Michael R. Weinman, who worked at the design firm Louis T. Klauder & Associates, recalled that when Amtrak issued a request for proposal (RFP) in 1973 for a "totally new" passenger car, it "was assumed" that the design would be bilevel. Thirteen companies responded to the RFP; Amtrak selected the Klauder proposal. The design was finished by mid-1974 and Amtrak invited four companies to bid on its construction: Boeing, Budd, Pullman-Standard, and Rohr. Pullman-Standard won the contract.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: Amtrak ordered 235 Superliner I cars from Pullman-Standard on April 2, 1975, with deliveries scheduled for between January 1977 and June 1978. The order then consisted of 120 coaches, 55 sleepers, 34 diners, and 26 lounges. Amtrak soon increased the order to 284 cars: it added 30 coaches, 15 sleepers, 5 diners, and deleted 1 lounge. The initial order cost $143.6 million; with the additional cars and other payments the cost rose to $250 million.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: The railroad asked its employees to name the new cars, and announced the winning entry in its internal newsletter of June 1, 1977: "Vistaliner", harkening back to the Vista-Domes of the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroad. But the newsletter went on to note that the name was already under copyright by another company, and so the cars would be dubbed "Superliners", a name created by Needham, Harper & Steers, then Amtrak's advertising agency.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: As the cars arrived in 1978 and 1979, Amtrak put them into use on short-haul routes radiating from Chicago. The first coaches entered regular service on February 26, 1979, running from Chicago to Milwaukee. The coaches, led by an EMD F40PH locomotive, displaced the regular Turboliner equipment. The equipment continued to operate on the run for several weeks. The "Illini" and "Shawnee" trains received Superliner coaches soon after; the first Superliner dining car ran on the "Shawnee" as a lounge.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: A public unveiling took place at Union Station in Chicago on October 11, 1979, followed by a short trip over the Burlington Northern Railroad to Lisle. The following day, the "Shawnee" had the dubious distinction of the first Superliner accident, a collision with an Illinois Central Gulf Railroad freight train at Harvey, IL, which claimed the lives of 2 crew members of the freight train.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: Amtrak's first choice for Superliner assignments had been the financially troubled "Floridian", a Chicago–Florida long-distance train, but the two years' delay in delivery scuppered these plans. Amtrak turned next to the "Empire Builder". This long-distance train ran between Chicago and Seattle through the plains of Montana and North Dakota. Winters in that part of the United States are harsh, featuring both blizzards and cold temperatures. Traditional steam-heated equipment often broke down, causing Amtrak to cancel service. The Superliners, with their electrical head-end power, were far better suited for the conditions. The "Empire Builder" became the first long-distance train to use Superliners, and the first train permanently assigned them, on October 28, 1979. Amtrak's new national timetable depicted a Superliner coach on the front cover, and the listing for the "Empire Builder" carried a heading which read "Amtrak's Superliner is Special." At the same time, Superliners entered service on the short-haul "Pacific International" and "Mount Rainier" in the Pacific Northwest.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: With the "Empire Builder" in operation, Amtrak began re-equipping the remaining long-distance trains in the west. The second permanent Superliner train was the "Desert Wind", then a day train between Los Angeles and Ogden, Utah, which gained coaches on June 30, 1980. The "San Francisco Zephyr", a long-distance train on the traditional Overland Route between Chicago and San Francisco, followed on July 7, 1980; it received the first of the Sightseer lounges on January 6, 1981. Amtrak assigned Superliners to another long-distance train, the Los Angeles–Chicago "Southwest Limited", in October 1980. The "Southwest Limited", formerly the "Super Chief", traveled the same route as the "El Capitan", whose Hi-Level cars had inspired the design. The management of the Santa Fe, impressed by the design, permitted Amtrak to restore the name "Chief" to the train, and Amtrak renamed it the "Southwest Chief" on October 28, 1984. The "Chief" was the first train to receive Superliner II sleeping cars in September 1993.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: The "Coast Starlight" began operating with Superliners in January 1981. The "Sunset Limited", a long-distance train running along the southern border of the United States between Los Angeles and New Orleans, gained them in February, resulting in a commendation from the Texas State Legislature. The "Pioneer" gained Superliner coaches on April 26. The "Eagle", an overnight train between San Antonio and Chicago, began carrying Superliners in October on those days it connected with the "Sunset Limited" in San Antonio. Superliner assignments became permanent in the 1990s. Amtrak estimated that reequipping a train with Superliners boosted ridership on it by 25%. The last car of the order, a sleeper delivered in July 1981, was also the last car ever built by Pullman, and was named in honor of the company's founder, George Mortimer Pullman.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: In the mid-1980s Canada's Via Rail contemplated replacing its aging Budd-built steam-heated cars with Superliners. The order would have consisted of 130 cars, valued at , to be built by a consortium of Bombardier Transportation and the Urban Transportation Development Corporation. Via tested several Amtrak Superliners in revenue service between Edmonton and Winnipeg in 1984–85. Ultimately Via chose to rebuild its Budd cars to use head end power (HEP) instead of ordering new equipment.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: Amtrak ordered 140 Superliner II cars from Bombardier Transportation in 1991; Bombardier had acquired the Superliner patents after Pullman-Standard's closure. The order consisted of 55 sleeping cars, 38 coaches, 20 dining cars, 15 lounges, and 12 transition-dormitory cars. The initial order cost $340 million, and included an option for 39 additional cars. In late 1993 Amtrak exercised the option for 55 cars at a cost of $110 million, bringing the total order of Superliner II cars to 195. The option included ten dining cars, ten lounges, and 35 transdorms. Bombardier built the order in Barre, Vermont.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: The new order allowed the displacement of the remaining Hi-Level cars as well as the employment of Superliners on trains running with single-level cars. Amtrak converted three eastern long-distance trains to Superliners: the Chicago–New Orleans "City of New Orleans" (March 1994); the Chicago–Washington, D.C. "Capitol Limited" (October); and the Virginia–Florida "Auto Train" (March 1, 1995). A project to enlarge the First Street Tunnel in Washington, D.C., enabled the Chicago–Washington "Cardinal" to begin using Superliners in September 1995; these were withdrawn in 2002 because of equipment shortages. Superliners were used on the Chicago–Toronto "International" from November 1995 until early 2000. In 2017, Amtrak identified a need to replace the Superliners, noting that each car traveled the equivalent of "seven trips around the world" every year.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: In 2022, Amtrak announced that they would be replacing all of their current Superliner, Amfleet, and Viewliner I passenger cars by 2032. They also stated that they would be issuing a contract for replacement in the coming years.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: The Superliners generally resembled the Hi-Level design, though at , they were taller. The Superliners also used Amtrak's new 480-volt head-end power for heating and electricity. This was more reliable than the steam heat used by the Hi-Levels, whose own heaters and diesel generators would eventually be replaced by HEP equipment.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: Initially, the cars could not be worked east of Chicago because of limited overhead clearances, but by the 1980s many eastern railroads had raised clearances on their tracks to permit tri-level auto carriers and double-stack container trains, which also permitted the operation of the Superliners. To this day, inadequate tunnel clearances in and around New York City prevent the use of Superliners on Amtrak's busiest line, the Northeast Corridor.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: The Superliner I cars ride on Waggon Union MD-76 trucks, which require more frequent overhauls than comparable domestic designs and are "notorious for their rough riding characteristics". The Superliner IIs ride on GSI-G70 outboard bearing trucks, also found on the Horizon single-level cars. Both models have a maximum speed of .


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: The Superliner I cars originally stored waste in tanks, then macerated and dumped it along the tracks once the train had attained a preset speed. This was an improvement on the Hi-Levels, which dumped directly to the tracks. Growing public concern about such dumping led Amtrak to order its Superliner IIs with a full-retention system. The Superliner I cars were retrofitted with a full-retention system in the early 1990s.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: The "New York Times" described the Superliner I interior color scheme as "soft hues of beige, rust, brown and green". For the Superliner IIs, Amtrak introduced a new scheme incorporating gray, aquamarine, and salmon.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: Pullman-Standard built 102 Superliner I coaches and 48 coach-baggage combine cars. Bombardier built 38 Superliner II coaches. As built, Superliner coaches could carry 62 passengers in the upper level and 15 passengers on the lower level. The lower level's capacity would later be reduced to 12. The coach-baggage cars had a baggage compartment in lieu of the lower-level seating area, and squeezed 78 seats into the upper level. The total capacity of 75 to 78 represented a small increase over the 68 to 72 seats on the Hi-Level coaches, which lacked seating on the lower level. The Superliner I coach weighs ; the Superliner II coach weighs .


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: Seating on the upper and lower levels is 2×2 with reclining seats. The seats are wide with a pitch of . Included are adjustable footrests and retractable legrests, but no center armrest. There are overhead luggage racks on the upper level and a luggage storage area on the lower level across from the stairs. There are four unisex toilets per coach, all on the lower level. A shower was included in the original design, to be locked when the coaches were used in short-haul service, but deleted from the final design. After a grade crossing accident in 1999, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada faulted the layout on the lower level; the exterior door, when opened and locked in position, prevented egress from the wheelchair-accessible bathroom.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: Two-piece windows are located at each seat row. Each window is . Integral blinds were rejected in favor of curtains on maintenance grounds, while an upper level of "skylight" windows, similar to those on the Sun Lounge cars, was rejected as too expensive. Full-height windows were incorporated into the lounge cars.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: Eleven Superliner I coaches were rebuilt as "snack coaches". These retained the 62 seats on the upper level but removed the lower-level seating in favor of a snack bar and lounge seats.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: Amtrak rebuilt 34 of the coach-baggage cars as "smoking coaches" in 1996 and 1997. The baggage room was converted to a self-contained specially ventilated smoking lounge. After Amtrak banned smoking on long-distance trains in 2004, the cars were reconverted.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: Five Superliner II coaches were rebuilt in 1996 and 1997 as "family coaches" or "Kiddie Cars". These cars featured a children's play area on the lower level instead of seating and were assigned to the "Coast Starlight", a long-distance train between Los Angeles and Seattle along the West Coast of the United States. Amtrak rebuilt these five cars again in 2008 and 2009 as "arcade cars" with video game machines in the lower level. The cars were converted once more in 2015 to provide business class service on the "Coast Starlight". The service began in June 2015.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: The California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) paid to rebuild six Superliner I coaches and one baggage-coach, which had been wrecked in various accidents, for use in Amtrak California service. The seating capacity was increased to 76 on the upper level and 20 on the lower level.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: Pullman-Standard built 70 Superliner I sleeping cars; Bombardier built 49 "standard" Superliner II sleepers and six "deluxe" sleepers. The standard Superliner sleeping car contains 14 roomettes, five bedrooms, a family bedroom, and an accessible bedroom. The deluxe sleeping car contains ten bedrooms, four roomettes, a family bedroom, and an accessible bedroom. As built, the standard sleeping car could hold a maximum of 44 passengers. The Superliner I sleeping car weighs ; the Superliner II sleeping car weighs . The Superliner II deluxe sleeper is slightly heavier at .


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: Roomettes measure × . In daytime configuration each features two facing seats; these are combined to form a bed. A second bed is folded down from the ceiling. Bedrooms measure × . Like the roomette, there are two berths; during the day the lower berth acts as a sofa. The room also contains a chair which faces the beds. Unlike the roomette, a bedroom includes a private combination toilet/shower, and a private sink.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: The family bedroom is located at one end of the car's lower level and measures × . It can hold up to two adults and two children in four berths. During the day the berths form a sofa and two seats. At the opposite end of the car from the family bedroom is the accessible bedroom, which measures × . It sleeps two people in two berths and includes a wheelchair-accessible toilet, but no shower.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: The standard sleeping car has five bedrooms and ten roomettes on the upper level. The bedrooms are set against one side of the car with a hallway along the edge, while the roomettes are located to each side with the hallway running down the centerline. At the center of the car are the stairs to the lower level and a bathroom. A hallway runs through the centerline of the lower level with the accessible bedroom at one end and the family bedroom at the other. To one side of the stairs are three bathrooms and one shower, and to the other are four more roomettes. Luggage racks are located opposite the stairs. The layout of the deluxe sleeping car is similar. There are ten bedrooms on the upper level with a continuous hallway along one edge. The lower level contains opposed family and accessible bedrooms, four toilets, four roomettes, and a luggage rack. Two bedrooms may be combined to form a "bedroom suite".


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: As delivered, the Superliner I sleeping cars had five bathrooms, all on the lower level, and no public shower. Roomettes were termed "economy bedrooms" and bedrooms "deluxe bedrooms". During the 1980s Amtrak retrofitted the cars to add a bathroom on the upper level and a public shower on the lower level, at the expense of one bathroom. The Superliner II cars incorporated these improvements into their design.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: Pullman-Standard and Bombardier each built 25 dedicated lounge cars, dubbed "Sightseer" lounges. Windows wrap upward into the ceiling, providing lateral views of scenery along the train's route. This design element was drawn from the Hi-Level lounges and the Seaboard Air Line's Sun Lounges. The Superliner I lounge weighs ; the Superliner II lounge weighs .


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: The upper level contains a mix of seating options. At one end are eight tables, four to each side, each seating four passengers. In the center is a lounge area with a wet bar and several groups of seats. The stairs to the lower level are located here as well. At the other end are swivel chairs. The lower level contains a bathroom, additional tables, and a café. As built, the lounges had seating for 73. The cars were built with an electric piano in the lower level, which has since been removed.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: In addition to the Sightseer lounges, Amtrak converted five Superliner I dining cars to lounge cars in 1998 for use on the "Auto Train", an automobile-carrying overnight train between Virginia and Florida. These cars may be distinguished from the Sightseer lounges by their conventional windows.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: Pullman-Standard built 30 dining cars; Bombardier built another 39. The dining cars can seat a maximum of 72 people on the upper level in tables of four. The galley occupies the entire lower level. At the center of the car are stairs down to the kitchen. A dumbwaiter is used to bring food and drink to the dining level, as well as to return dishes, glasses, and cutlery for washing. A late 2010s overhaul added a refrigerator on the upper level for easy access and replaced incandescent lights with LED lighting. As built, the Superliner I dining car weighs ; the Superliner II dining car weighs .


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: Amtrak rebuilt 17 Superliner I dining cars as diner-lounges in the late 2000s. Dubbed the "Cross-Country Cafe", they were intended to reduce food service losses by replacing both a traditional dining car and the Sightseer lounge on long-distance trains. One end of the car was converted into a café area, with tables and a small serving area near the stairs to the kitchen. The other side remained dedicated to traditional diner seating, but the standard two-by-two tables were replaced by booths.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: As part of the Superliner II order, Bombardier built 47 "transition sleeper" or dormitory cars. The car had two purposes: to provide sleeping accommodations for train personnel; and to provide access to single level equipment from bilevel Superliner and Hi-Level cars. Hi-Level "step-down" coaches previously performed the latter role. Most transition dormitory ("transdorm") cars have 16 roomettes on the upper level for crew accommodations, with an accessible bedroom and small crew lounge on the lower level. Bathrooms and showers are located on both levels. At one end of the car is a top level end-door; at the other end is a staircase and end door on the lower level. On some trains, Amtrak makes the roomettes closest to the upper level end door available for sale to passengers. The transition sleepers weigh .


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: The Superliners established a standard basic design for bilevel railcars, including the upper-floor height of above the top of rail. Built primarily for long-distance services, the Superliners were not ideal for use on corridor routes. They were not equipped for the volumes of passenger loading and unloading found on corridor routes, nor did they have amenities designed for these shorter trips. The 1990 passage of California propositions 108, 111 and 116 authorized the sale of nearly $3 billion in bonds for the creation of rail services across the state. Proposition 116 required the California Department of Transportation (Caltrans) to create specifications for standardized railcars and locomotives that would be suitable for rail operations across the state.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: The resulting California Car design, of which 66 were built by Morrison Knudsen from 1994 to 1997, offered a number of improvements on the Superliner design. The single vestibule and bent staircase of the Superliner design were replaced with two vestibules and two straight staircases to facilitate faster loading and unloading. The trainline-controlled power doors do not require a crew member at every door, thus reducing crew size requirements. The California Cars comply with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990, with wheelchair lifts and accessible seating on the lower levels. Fourteen of the cars were built as cab cars, allowing push-pull operations rather than turning the whole train or moving the locomotive at terminals.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: The success of the California Cars resulted in the procurement of the Surfliner cars by Amtrak and Caltrans in 1998. Alstom built 62 Surfliners from 2000 to 2002. The Surfliner is a modification of the California Car, with design changes including an improved accessible bathroom design and passenger amenities such as electric outlets. Surfliners and California Cars are mechanically and electrically compatible with each other and the Superliners, and they often are combined in trainsets on Amtrak California services.


title: Superliner (railcar)

text: Caltrans and Amtrak began drafting the specification for a third generation of the design in 2006. This specification, dubbed "Corridor Car for the 21st Century" or C21, became the basis for the design work undertaken by the Next Generation Corridor Equipment Pool Committee (NGCE) under the provisions of the Passenger Rail Investment and Improvement Act of 2008 beginning in 2009. Caltrans and the Illinois Department of Transportation ordered 130 of these Next Generation Bi-Level Passenger Rail Cars from Sumitomo (with Nippon Sharyo as the builder) in 2012. In August 2015, a new car shell failed a buff strength compression test. Increasing the buff strength would require a complete redesign of the car, and would delay delivery beyond the expiration of a $220 million American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) grant that funded the order. In November 2017, Sumitomo cancelled their order of bilevel cars with Nippon Sharyo, and instead contracted with Siemens Mobility to build 137 single-level Siemens Venture cars based on the European Siemens Viaggio Comfort cars instead of the bilevel cars.


title: Contraceptive implant

text: A contraceptive implant is an implantable medical device used for the purpose of birth control. The implant may depend on the timed release of hormones to hinder ovulation or sperm development, the ability of copper to act as a natural spermicide within the uterus, or it may work using a non-hormonal, physical blocking mechanism. As with other contraceptives, a contraceptive implant is designed to prevent pregnancy, but it does not protect against sexually transmitted infections.


title: Contraceptive implant

text: The contraceptive implant is hormone-based and highly effective, approved in more than 60 countries and used by millions of women around the world. The typical implant is a small flexible tube measuring about 40mm in length. It is most commonly inserted subdermally in the inner portion of the upper, non-dominant arm by a trained and certified health care provider. After insertion, it prevents pregnancy by releasing progestin which inhibits ovulation. The two most common versions are the single-rod etonogestrel implant and the two-rod levonorgestrel implant. Brands include: Norplant, Jadelle (Norplant II), Implanon, Nexplanon, Sino-implant (II), Zarin, Femplant and Trust.


title: Contraceptive implant

text: Benefits of the implant for some include fewer, lighter periods, improved symptoms of premenstrual syndrome, long-lasting up to three to five years, smoker- and breastfeeding-safe, and the convenience of not needing to remember to use it every day.


title: Contraceptive implant

text: In some cases, adverse effects do occur, the most common being irregular bleeding or amenorrhea. Although irregularity in bleeding can be troublesome for some women, this also allows for use in treatment of dysmenorrhea, menorrhagia, and endometriosis. Less common symptoms include change in appetite, depression, moodiness, hormonal imbalance, sore breasts, weight gain, dizziness, pregnancy symptoms, and lethargy. Although rare, there is also a risk of complications occurring during insertion or removal of the implant.


title: Contraceptive implant

text: Most commonly reported from the levonorgestrel-releasing intrauterine system LNG-IUG contraceptive; breast tenderness, headaches, swelling, and skin irritation.contraceptive also corresponds with earlier waking, frequent mood swings, impaired concentration, and strain. Irregular vaginal uterus lining shedding is a common pattern with Norplant users, if this occurs it will be seen during the first 60 days of use but it can subside or disappear over time. The Implanon also has these negative side effects causing a considerable amount of vaginal bleeding irregularities, and amenorrhea in about 40%-30% of its users during the following 90 days of starting use.


title: Contraceptive implant

text: With regard to helping women space their pregnancies appropriately, there is some debate about the most effective time to insert contraceptive implants after pregnancy. However, there may be little or no difference between immediate and delayed insertion in terms of continued use of implants at six months or in terms of women's satisfaction. Progestin containing implants (specifically etonogestrel) are safe for immediate insertion in both postpartum individuals and those post-abortion.


title: Contraceptive implant

text: An intrauterine device (IUD) is a small contraceptive device, often 'T'-shaped, which is implanted into the uterus. They can be hormonal or non-hormonal are long-acting, reversible, and the most effective types of reversible birth control. As of 2011, IUDs are the most widely used form of reversible contraception worldwide. Among types of birth control they, along with birth control implants, result in the greatest satisfaction among users. IUDs also tend to be one of the most cost-effective methods of contraception for women. Cons of intrauterine devices, similarly to implants, is the need for a trained healthcare professional for both insertion and removal.


title: Contraceptive implant

text: Hormonal IUDs contain the hormone levonorgestrel which is a progestin. Most commonly, products are inserted for 5 years, allowing them to release a low dose of hormones over that time frame. The mechanism of action of both hormonal and non-hormonal IUDs is similar, plus the additional benefit of progestin causing a thickening of the cervical mucus.


title: Contraceptive implant

text: The levonorgestrel IUD is highly efficacious and has a failure rate of only 0.2% in the first year of use. An additional benefit of hormonal IUDs is decreased blood loss, which 20-30% of patients will experience amenorrhea. Within 1-3 months of removing the intrauterine device, however, patients should experience a return to their normal menstrual cycle. The most common side effect of levonorgestrel containing IUDs is spotting during the first 3 months.


title: Contraceptive implant

text: Use in patients immediately postpartum can be discussed but the greater potential for expulsion and perforation must be carefully considered.


title: Contraceptive implant

text: Non-hormonal IUDs, also known as copper IUDs, are a hormone-free option of contraception available and work by two main mechanisms of action. They are thought to slow the rate at which sperm reaches the fallopian tubes or decreases fertilization of the egg. An increase of copper ions, along with other cells and enzymes, is what affects functioning of the sperm and the prevention of pregnancy.


title: Contraceptive implant

text: Although they do have a higher risk of pregnancy compared to hormonal IUDs, failure rates with the copper IUD are still only approximately 0.8%. They also provide protection from anywhere between 2.5 to 10 years depending on the brand and manufacturer. Potential adverse effects of copper IUDs include heavier menses and increased menstrual cramping.


title: Contraceptive implant

text: Copper IUDs have the ability to be inserted anywhere from 10 minutes to 48 hours postpartum. The disadvantage of this immediate insertion is the associated higher risk of expulsion or uterine perforation, however, the benefits greatly outweigh any potential risk. They also are safe to use in lactation.


title: Contraceptive implant

text: An additional benefit of copper IUDs is their use in emergency contraception. Not only are the able to be used as a form of emergency contraception but a Cochrane review noted that they are the most effective method of emergency contraception as well. When inserted within 7 days of unprotected intercourse, they are able to reduce the risk of pregnancy by 99% and provide the added benefit of ongoing contraception in the patient too.


title: Contraceptive implant

text: Several barriers exist to expanding research into implantable and other contraceptive methods for men, including vague regulatory guidelines, long device development timelines, men's attitudes towards convenience, and a significant lack of funding. Several implantable devices have been attempted, both hormonal and non-hormonal.


title: Contraceptive implant

text: In 2001, Dutch pharmaceutical company Organon announced clinical trials of its implantable etonogestrel-based male contraceptive would begin in Europe and the U.S., anticipating a marketable product as early as 2005. Despite promising results, research development stopped, with outside speculation that lack of marketability was a factor. Organon representative Monique Mols stated in 2007 that "[d]espite 20 years of research, the development of a [hormonal] method acceptable to a wide population of men is unlikely". Schering/Bayer had been working on a similar annual implant with quarterly injections but cancelled the research in 2006/2007, declaring that men would most likely view it as "not as convenient as a woman taking a pill once a day."


title: Contraceptive implant

text: In 2005, a collaboratory project led by the Population Council, the University of California, Los Angeles, and the Medical Research Council began researching a matchstick-sized implant that contains MENT (7α-methyl-19-nortestosterone or trestolone), a "synthetic steroid that resembles testosterone." Clinical trials were set to begin in 2011 or 2012, and the project was ongoing as of 2016, with hopes of gaining approval as the first reversible male contraceptive.


title: Contraceptive implant

text: In 2006, Shepherd Medical Company received FDA approval for a clinical trial of its non-hormonal implant called an intra vas device (IVD), which consists of two plugs that block sperm flow in the vas deferens. Working on the success of its pilot study and solid results from its clinical trials, the company announced it would expand its trials to three U.S. cities later that year. Questions remained about how reversible the procedure would be in the long-term; however, it was expected to be more reversible than a vasectomy. In 2008, the company disbanded due to the economic crisis but has stated it would restart its research with proper funding.


title: Contraceptive implant

text: In January 2016, news broke of a non-hormonal, implantable valve — the Bimek SLV. It included a switch that attaches to the vas deferens, allowing the owner to stop and resume the flow of sperm on demand. A clinical trial of 25 participants was announced to further test the efficacy of the device.


title: Contraceptive implant

text: Implantable contraception is also an option for animals, particularly for animal managers at zoos and other captive animal facilities who require reversible contraception methods for managing population growth in limited captive habitat. The Association of Zoos and Aquariums' (AZA) Reproductive Management Center (formerly known as the AZA Wildlife Contraception Center) at the Saint Louis Zoo in St. Louis, Missouri has played a major role in researching and disseminating contraception information, via its Contraception Database. It houses over 30,000 records for hundreds of species. One of the most popular contraceptive methods used by zoos (as well as in domestic animals) is the melengestrol acetate (MGA) implant, a progestin-based hormonal contraceptive developed in the mid-1970s. Other progestin-based implants that have been placed in animals include Norplant, Jadelle, and Implanon. Androgen-based implants that use agonist (stimulating) gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH) and, to a lesser degree, IUDs have also seen use in several domestic and exotic species. Whatever the implant, some care must be taken to minimize the risk of implant migration or loss.


title: National FFA Organization

text: National FFA Organization is an American 501(c)(3) youth organization, specifically a career and technical student organization, based on middle and high school classes that promote and support agricultural education. It was founded in 1925 at Virginia Polytechnic Institute, by agriculture teachers Henry C. Groseclose, Walter Newman, Edmund Magill, and Harry Sanders as Future Farmers of Virginia. In 1928, it became a nationwide organization known as Future Farmers of America. In 1988 the name was changed to the National FFA Organization, now commonly referred to as FFA, to recognize that the organization is for students with diverse interests in the food, fiber, and natural resource industries, encompassing science, business, and technology in addition to production agriculture. Today FFA is among the largest youth organizations in the United States, with 850,823 members in 8,995 chapters throughout all 50 states, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands. FFA is the largest of the career and technical student organizations in U.S. schools.


title: National FFA Organization

text: The National FFA Organization is a youth leadership organization that makes a positive difference in the lives of young people by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth, and career success through agriculture education. The FFA Motto is Learning to Do, Doing to Learn, Earning to Live, Living to Serve.


title: National FFA Organization

text: FFA functions within the three-circle model of agricultural education as a student leadership organization that complements a student's classroom/laboratory instruction and supervised agricultural experience program.


title: National FFA Organization

text: FFA members can compete in Career Development Events (CDE) that cover job skills in everything from communications to mechanics. Some events allow students to compete as individuals, while others allow them to compete in teams. These competitions can happen at a local or district level, state level, and on the national level.


title: National FFA Organization

text: Students are supervised by agricultural education teachers that have to cooperate with parents, employers, and other adults who assist individuals in the development and achievement of educational and career goals.


title: National FFA Organization

text: To be an active member in the National FFA Organization, a member must have a Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) project. The projects involve hands-on application of concepts and principles learned in the agricultural education classroom, with guidelines for the SAE projects governed by the state FFA delegation. SAE programs are grouped into four areas:


title: National FFA Organization

text: The most recognizable symbol of the organization is the blue corduroy jacket that is worn by FFA members. The back of the jacket features a large FFA emblem underneath the name of the member's state. The name of the local FFA chapter, district, region or area is embroidered below the emblem. The front of the FFA jacket features a smaller FFA emblem on the left chest and the FFA member's name and sometimes, if applicable, office and year on the right chest. Members may also wear award pins or officer pins under their names. FFA members are required to wear the jacket as part of the official dress while participating in all official organization activities.


title: National FFA Organization

text: The FFA jacket was created to be worn by the Fredericktown Band of the Fredericktown FFA Chapter by Dr. Gus Lintner. It was adopted in 1933.


title: National FFA Organization

text: The color of the jacket's corduroy has ranged from shades of blue to shades of purple through the years. In 2004, the National FFA Organization worked with a supplier in North Carolina to set a new standard for the blue corduroy by using samples from archived FFA jackets. The jacket's color standardization was accompanied by a restoration of the embroidered FFA emblems and fit corrections led by Clemson University's Apparel Research Center. The improved FFA jacket, produced in both Van Wert, Ohio and South Vietnam, was first made available in August 2005. Currently, all lettering, embroidery and finishing of FFA jackets is completed by Universal Lettering Company in Van Wert, Ohio.