title: 2018 in video games

text: Numerous video games were released in 2018. Best-selling games included "", "Marvel's Spider-Man", "Red Dead Redemption 2", "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate", "Far Cry 5", "God of War", "", and "Dragon Ball FighterZ". Games highly regarded by video game critics released in 2018 included "Red Dead Redemption 2", "God of War", "Super Smash Bros. Ultimate", "Marvel's Spider-Man", "Forza Horizon 4", "Monster Hunter: World", "Dead Cells", "Return of the Obra Dinn", and "Celeste". The year's highest-grossing games included "Fortnite", "Honor of Kings/Arena of Valor", "Dungeon Fighter Online", "League of Legends", and "Pokémon Go".


title: 2018 in video games

text: Among major trends in 2018 included the explosive growth of battle royale games such as Bluehole's "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" and Epic Games' "Fortnite Battle Royale", the resurgence of "Pokémon Go", ongoing governmental review of loot boxes in light of national gambling restrictions, Sony Interactive Entertainment agreeing to allow cross-platform play between PlayStation 4 and other console users, and the entry of "Fortnite"-related internet memes into popular culture. With "Fortnite"s success, Epic was able to establish the Epic Games Store for personal computers as a strong competitor to the dominant but criticized position held by Valve's Steam digital storefront by significantly increasing the revenue split it gave to developers. Additionally, with a number of major sudden studio closures, including Telltale Games, there was an increasing call for video game developers to unionize. A nearly year-long freeze on video game approvals by the Chinese government had a major impact on publishers Tencent and NetEase, and is expected to impact future revenues in the industry.


title: 2018 in video games

text: Metacritic is an aggregator of video game journalism reviews. It generally considers expansions and re-releases as separate entities.


title: 2018 in video games

text: According to industry analysis firm NewZoo, the video game industry was worth by revenues in 2018, a 10.9% growth over 2017. Of this, 47% of the revenues were generated from mobile gaming, with consoles taking 28% and personal computers taking the remaining 25%. The top five largest video game markets of 2018 were China (), the United States (), Japan (), South Korea (), and Germany ().


title: 2018 in video games

text: According to the NPD Group, total revenue from the video game industry, including hardware, software, and accessories, in the United States grew by 17% to , nearly matching revenues for the American film industry for 2018. Of that, were from software sales, digital content, and subscriptions. Hardware sales, at , were up 15% from 2017, as despite the fact that there was no new hardware releases, several system-exclusive titles helped to drive hardware sales.


title: 2018 in video games

text: Licensed merchandise based on video game franchises generated $20.68 billion in 2018 retail sales, a rise of 6.1% compared to 2017.


title: 2018 in video games

text: The following were 2018's top ten highest-grossing video games in terms of worldwide digital revenue (including digital purchases, microtransactions, free-to-play and pay-to-play) across all platforms (including mobile, PC and console platforms). Six of the top ten highest-grossing games are published or owned by Tencent, including the top five titles.


title: 2018 in video games

text: The video game franchise that has generated the highest licensed merchandise sales is "Pokémon". Other video game franchises with significant licensed merchandise sales include "Sonic the Hedgehog", "Mario", "Call of Duty", "Overwatch", "Roblox", "Halo", "Fortnite" and "Minecraft".


title: 2018 in video games

text: The following were 2018's top ten best-selling video games by region, in terms of software units sold (excluding microtransactions and free-to-play titles) on PC and console platforms, for the United States, Japan, and Europe.


title: 2018 in video games

text: Series with new installments in 2018 include "Anno", "Assassin's Creed", "Battlefield", "Bloons Tower Defense", "Bayonetta", "Bit.Trip", "BlazBlue", "Bomberman", "Call of Duty", "Darksiders", "Digimon", "Donkey Kong", "Dragon Ball", "Dynasty Warriors", "Earth Defense Force", "Fallout", "Far Cry", "Forza", "God of War", "Hitman", "Just Cause", "Kirby", "Life Is Strange", "Mario Party", "Mario Tennis", "Mega Man", "Monster Hunter", "Ni no Kuni", "Persona", "Pillars of Eternity", "Pokémon", "Red Dead", "Sakura Wars", "Science Adventure", " Shantae", "Soulcalibur", "Spider-Man", "Spyro", "State of Decay", "Super Smash Bros.", "The Bard's Tale", "The Crew", "The Walking Dead", "Tomb Raider", "Tropico", "Valkyria Chronicles", "Warhammer", and "Wolfenstein"


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging (DWI or DW-MRI) is the use of specific MRI sequences as well as software that generates images from the resulting data that uses the diffusion of water molecules to generate contrast in MR images. It allows the mapping of the diffusion process of molecules, mainly water, in biological tissues, in vivo and non-invasively. Molecular diffusion in tissues is not random, but reflects interactions with many obstacles, such as macromolecules, fibers, and membranes. Water molecule diffusion patterns can therefore reveal microscopic details about tissue architecture, either normal or in a diseased state. A special kind of DWI, diffusion tensor imaging (DTI), has been used extensively to map white matter tractography in the brain.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: In diffusion weighted imaging (DWI), the intensity of each image element (voxel) reflects the best estimate of the rate of water diffusion at that location. Because the mobility of water is driven by thermal agitation and highly dependent on its cellular environment, the hypothesis behind DWI is that findings may indicate (early) pathologic change. For instance, DWI is more sensitive to early changes after a stroke than more traditional MRI measurements such as T1 or T2 relaxation rates. A variant of diffusion weighted imaging, diffusion spectrum imaging (DSI), was used in deriving the Connectome data sets; DSI is a variant of diffusion-weighted imaging that is sensitive to intra-voxel heterogeneities in diffusion directions caused by crossing fiber tracts and thus allows more accurate mapping of axonal trajectories than other diffusion imaging approaches.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Diffusion-weighted images are very useful to diagnose vascular strokes in the brain. It is also used more and more in the staging of non-small-cell lung cancer, where it is a serious candidate to replace positron emission tomography as the 'gold standard' for this type of disease. Diffusion tensor imaging is being developed for studying the diseases of the white matter of the brain as well as for studies of other body tissues (see below). DWI is most applicable when the tissue of interest is dominated by isotropic water movement e.g. grey matter in the cerebral cortex and major brain nuclei, or in the body—where the diffusion rate appears to be the same when measured along any axis. However, DWI also remains sensitive to T1 and T2 relaxation. To entangle diffusion and relaxation effects on image contrast, one may obtain quantitative images of the diffusion coefficient, or more exactly the apparent diffusion coefficient (ADC). The ADC concept was introduced to take into account the fact that the diffusion process is complex in biological tissues and reflects several different mechanisms.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is important when a tissue—such as the neural axons of white matter in the brain or muscle fibers in the heart—has an internal fibrous structure analogous to the anisotropy of some crystals. Water will then diffuse more rapidly in the direction aligned with the internal structure (axial diffusion), and more slowly as it moves perpendicular to the preferred direction (radial diffusion). This also means that the measured rate of diffusion will differ depending on the direction from which an observer is looking.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Diffusion Basis Spectrum Imaging (DBSI) further separates DTI signals into discrete anisotropic diffusion tensors and a spectrum of isotropic diffusion tensors to better differentiate sub-voxel cellular structures. For example, anisotropic diffusion tensors correlate to axonal fibers, while low isotropic diffusion tensors correlate to cells and high isotropic diffusion tensors correlate to larger structures (such as the lumen or brain ventricles).


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Traditionally, in diffusion-weighted imaging (DWI), three gradient-directions are applied, sufficient to estimate the trace of the diffusion tensor or 'average diffusivity', a putative measure of edema. Clinically, trace-weighted images have proven to be very useful to diagnose vascular strokes in the brain, by early detection (within a couple of minutes) of the hypoxic edema.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: More extended DTI scans derive neural tract directional information from the data using 3D or multidimensional vector algorithms based on six or more gradient directions, sufficient to compute the diffusion tensor. The diffusion tensor model is a rather simple model of the diffusion process, assuming homogeneity and linearity of the diffusion within each image voxel. From the diffusion tensor, diffusion anisotropy measures such as the fractional anisotropy (FA), can be computed. Moreover, the principal direction of the diffusion tensor can be used to infer the white-matter connectivity of the brain (i.e. tractography; trying to see which part of the brain is connected to which other part).


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Recently, more advanced models of the diffusion process have been proposed that aim to overcome the weaknesses of the diffusion tensor model. Amongst others, these include q-space imaging and generalized diffusion tensor imaging.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Diffusion imaging is an MRI method that produces in vivo magnetic resonance images of biological tissues sensitized with the local characteristics of molecular diffusion, generally water (but other moieties can also be investigated using MR spectroscopic approaches).


title: Diffusion MRI

text: MRI can be made sensitive to the motion of molecules. Regular MRI acquisition utilizes the behavior of protons in water to generate contrast between clinically relevant features of a particular subject. The versatile nature of MRI is due to this capability of producing contrast related to the structure of tissues at the microscopic level. In a typical formula_1-weighted image, water molecules in a sample are excited with the imposition of a strong magnetic field. This causes many of the protons in water molecules to precess simultaneously, producing signals in MRI. In formula_2-weighted images, contrast is produced by measuring the loss of coherence or synchrony between the water protons. When water is in an environment where it can freely tumble, relaxation tends to take longer. In certain clinical situations, this can generate contrast between an area of pathology and the surrounding healthy tissue.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: To sensitize MRI images to diffusion, the magnetic field strength (B1) is varied linearly by a pulsed field gradient. Since precession is proportional to the magnet strength, the protons begin to precess at different rates, resulting in dispersion of the phase and signal loss. Another gradient pulse is applied in the same magnitude but with opposite direction to refocus or rephase the spins. The refocusing will not be perfect for protons that have moved during the time interval between the pulses, and the signal measured by the MRI machine is reduced. This "field gradient pulse" method was initially devised for NMR by Stejskal and Tanner who derived the reduction in signal due to the application of the pulse gradient related to the amount of diffusion that is occurring through the following equation:


title: Diffusion MRI

text: where formula_4 is the signal intensity without the diffusion weighting, formula_5 is the signal with the gradient, formula_6 is the gyromagnetic ratio, formula_7 is the strength of the gradient pulse, formula_8 is the duration of the pulse, formula_9 is the time between the two pulses, and finally, formula_10 is the diffusion-coefficient.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: In order to localize this signal attenuation to get images of diffusion one has to combine the pulsed magnetic field gradient pulses used for MRI (aimed at localization of the signal, but those gradient pulses are too weak to produce a diffusion related attenuation) with additional "motion-probing" gradient pulses, according to the Stejskal and Tanner method. This combination is not trivial, as cross-terms arise between all gradient pulses. The equation set by Stejskal and Tanner then becomes inaccurate and the signal attenuation must be calculated, either analytically or numerically, integrating all gradient pulses present in the MRI sequence and their interactions. The result quickly becomes very complex given the many pulses present in the MRI sequence, and as a simplification, Le Bihan suggested gathering all the gradient terms in a "b factor" (which depends only on the acquisition parameters) so that the signal attenuation simply becomes:


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Also, the diffusion coefficient, formula_10, is replaced by an apparent diffusion coefficient, formula_13, to indicate that the diffusion process is not free in tissues, but hindered and modulated by many mechanisms (restriction in closed spaces, tortuosity around obstacles, etc.) and that other sources of IntraVoxel Incoherent Motion (IVIM) such as blood flow in small vessels or cerebrospinal fluid in ventricles also contribute to the signal attenuation.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: At the end, images are "weighted" by the diffusion process: In those diffusion-weighted images (DWI) the signal is more attenuated the faster the diffusion and the larger the b factor is. However, those diffusion-weighted images are still also sensitive to T1 and T2 relaxivity contrast, which can sometimes be confusing. It is possible to calculate "pure" diffusion maps (or more exactly ADC maps where the ADC is the sole source of contrast) by collecting images with at least 2 different values, formula_14 and formula_15, of the b factor according to:


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Although this ADC concept has been extremely successful, especially for clinical applications, it has been challenged recently, as new, more comprehensive models of diffusion in biological tissues have been introduced. Those models have been made necessary, as diffusion in tissues is not free. In this condition, the ADC seems to depend on the choice of b values (the ADC seems to decrease when using larger b values), as the plot of ln(S/So) is not linear with the b factor, as expected from the above equations. This deviation from a free diffusion behavior is what makes diffusion MRI so successful, as the ADC is very sensitive to changes in tissue microstructure. On the other hand, modeling diffusion in tissues is becoming very complex. Among most popular models are the biexponential model, which assumes the presence of 2 water pools in slow or intermediate exchange and the cumulant-expansion (also called Kurtosis) model,


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Given the concentration formula_17 and flux formula_18, Fick's first law gives a relationship between the flux and the concentration gradient:


title: Diffusion MRI

text: where D is the diffusion coefficient. Then, given conservation of mass, the continuity equation relates the time derivative of the concentration with the divergence of the flux:


title: Diffusion MRI

text: With no diffusion present, the change in nuclear magnetization over time is given by the classical Bloch equation


title: Diffusion MRI

text: In 1956, H.C. Torrey mathematically showed how the Bloch equations for magnetization would change with the addition of diffusion. Torrey modified Bloch's original description of transverse magnetization to include diffusion terms and the application of a spatially varying gradient. Since the magnetization formula_23 is a vector, there are 3 diffusion equations, one for each dimension. The Bloch-Torrey equation is:


title: Diffusion MRI

text: For the simplest case where the diffusion is isotropic the diffusion tensor is a multiple of the identity:


title: Diffusion MRI

text: The exponential term will be referred to as the "attenuation" formula_28. Anisotropic diffusion will have a similar solution for the diffusion tensor, except that what will be measured is the "apparent diffusion coefficient" (ADC). In general, the attenuation is:


title: Diffusion MRI

text: An "apparent diffusion coefficient" (ADC) image, or an "ADC map", is an MRI image that more specifically shows diffusion than conventional DWI, by eliminating the T2 weighting that is otherwise inherent to conventional DWI. ADC imaging does so by acquiring multiple conventional DWI images with different amounts of DWI weighting, and the change in signal is proportional to the rate of diffusion. Contrary to DWI images, the standard grayscale of ADC images is to represent a smaller magnitude of diffusion as darker.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Cerebral infarction leads to diffusion restriction, and the difference between images with various DWI weighting will therefore be minor, leading to an ADC image with low signal in the infarcted area. A decreased ADC may be detected minutes after a cerebral infarction. The high signal of infarcted tissue on conventional DWI is a result of its partial T2 weighting.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Diffusion tensor imaging (DTI) is a magnetic resonance imaging technique that enables the measurement of the restricted diffusion of water in tissue in order to produce neural tract images instead of using this data solely for the purpose of assigning contrast or colors to pixels in a cross-sectional image. It also provides useful structural information about muscle—including heart muscle—as well as other tissues such as the prostate.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: In DTI, each voxel has one or more pairs of parameters: a rate of diffusion and a preferred direction of diffusion—described in terms of three-dimensional space—for which that parameter is valid. The properties of each voxel of a single DTI image are usually calculated by vector or tensor math from six or more different diffusion weighted acquisitions, each obtained with a different orientation of the diffusion sensitizing gradients. In some methods, hundreds of measurements—each making up a complete image—are made to generate a single resulting calculated image data set. The higher information content of a DTI voxel makes it extremely sensitive to subtle pathology in the brain. In addition the directional information can be exploited at a higher level of structure to select and follow neural tracts through the brain—a process called tractography.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: A more precise statement of the image acquisition process is that the image-intensities at each position are attenuated, depending on the strength ("b"-value) and direction of the so-called magnetic diffusion gradient, as well as on the local microstructure in which the water molecules diffuse. The more attenuated the image is at a given position, the greater diffusion there is in the direction of the diffusion gradient. In order to measure the tissue's complete diffusion profile, one needs to repeat the MR scans, applying different directions (and possibly strengths) of the diffusion gradient for each scan.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Diffusion MRI relies on the mathematics and physical interpretations of the geometric quantities known as tensors. Only a special case of the general mathematical notion is relevant to imaging, which is based on the concept of a symmetric matrix. Diffusion itself is tensorial, but in many cases the objective is not really about trying to study brain diffusion per se, but rather just trying to take advantage of diffusion anisotropy in white matter for the purpose of finding the orientation of the axons and the magnitude or degree of anisotropy. Tensors have a real, physical existence in a material or tissue so that they do not move when the coordinate system used to describe them is rotated. There are numerous different possible representations of a tensor (of rank 2), but among these, this discussion focuses on the ellipsoid because of its physical relevance to diffusion and because of its historical significance in the development of diffusion anisotropy imaging in MRI.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: The same matrix of numbers can have a simultaneous second use to describe the shape and orientation of an ellipse and the same matrix of numbers can be used simultaneously in a third way for matrix mathematics to sort out eigenvectors and eigenvalues as explained below.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: The idea of a tensor in physical science evolved from attempts to describe the quantity of physical properties. The first properties they were applied to were those that can be described by a single number, such as temperature. Properties that can be described this way are called scalars; these can be considered tensors of rank 0, or 0th-order tensors. Tensors can also be used to describe quantities that have directionality, such as mechanical force. These quantities require specification of both magnitude and direction, and are often represented with a vector. A three-dimensional vector can be described with three components: its projection on the "x," "y", and "z" axes. Vectors of this sort can be considered tensors of rank 1, or 1st-order tensors.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: A tensor is often a physical or biophysical property that determines the relationship between two vectors. When a force is applied to an object, movement can result. If the movement is in a single direction, the transformation can be described using a vector—a tensor of rank 1. However, in a tissue, diffusion leads to movement of water molecules along trajectories that proceed along multiple directions over time, leading to a complex projection onto the Cartesian axes. This pattern is reproducible if the same conditions and forces are applied to the same tissue in the same way. If there is an internal anisotropic organization of the tissue that constrains diffusion, then this fact will be reflected in the pattern of diffusion. The relationship between the properties of driving force that generate diffusion of the water molecules and the resulting pattern of their movement in the tissue can be described by a tensor. The collection of molecular displacements of this physical property can be described with nine components—each one associated with a pair of axes "xx", "yy", "zz", "xy", "yx", "xz", "zx", "yz", "zy". These can be written as a matrix similar to the one at the start of this section.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Diffusion from a point source in the anisotropic medium of white matter behaves in a similar fashion. The first pulse of the Stejskal Tanner diffusion gradient effectively labels some water molecules and the second pulse effectively shows their displacement due to diffusion. Each gradient direction applied measures the movement along the direction of that gradient. Six or more gradients are summed to get all the measurements needed to fill in the matrix, assuming it is symmetric above and below the diagonal (red subscripts).


title: Diffusion MRI

text: In 1848, Henri Hureau de Sénarmont applied a heated point to a polished crystal surface that had been coated with wax. In some materials that had "isotropic" structure, a ring of melt would spread across the surface in a circle. In anisotropic crystals the spread took the form of an ellipse. In three dimensions this spread is an ellipsoid. As Adolf Fick showed in the 1850s, diffusion exhibits many of the same patterns as those seen in the transfer of heat.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: At this point, it is helpful to consider the mathematics of ellipsoids. An ellipsoid can be described by the formula: "ax" + "by" + "cz" = 1. This equation describes a quadric surface. The relative values of "a", "b", and "c" determine if the quadric describes an ellipsoid or a hyperboloid.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: As it turns out, three more components can be added as follows: "ax" + "by" + "cz" + "dyz" + "ezx" + "fxy" = 1. Many combinations of "a", "b", "c", "d", "e", and "f" still describe ellipsoids, but the additional components ("d", "e", "f") describe the rotation of the ellipsoid relative to the orthogonal axes of the Cartesian coordinate system. These six variables can be represented by a matrix similar to the tensor matrix defined at the start of this section (since diffusion is symmetric, then we only need six instead of nine components—the components below the diagonal elements of the matrix are the same as the components above the diagonal). This is what is meant when it is stated that the components of a matrix of a second order tensor can be represented by an ellipsoid—if the diffusion values of the six terms of the quadric ellipsoid are placed into the matrix, this generates an ellipsoid angled off the orthogonal grid. Its shape will be more elongated if the relative anisotropy is high.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: When the ellipsoid/tensor is represented by a matrix, we can apply a useful technique from standard matrix mathematics and linear algebra—that is to "diagonalize" the matrix. This has two important meanings in imaging. The idea is that there are two equivalent ellipsoids—of identical shape but with different size and orientation. The first one is the measured diffusion ellipsoid sitting at an angle determined by the axons, and the second one is perfectly aligned with the three Cartesian axes. The term "diagonalize" refers to the three components of the matrix along a diagonal from upper left to lower right (the components with red subscripts in the matrix at the start of this section). The variables "ax", "by", and "cz" are along the diagonal (red subscripts), but the variables "d", "e" and "f" are "off diagonal". It then becomes possible to do a vector processing step in which we rewrite our matrix and replace it with a new matrix multiplied by three different vectors of unit length (length=1.0). The matrix is diagonalized because the off-diagonal components are all now zero. The rotation angles required to get to this equivalent position now appear in the three vectors and can be read out as the "x", "y", and "z" components of each of them. Those three vectors are called "eigenvectors" or characteristic vectors. They contain the orientation information of the original ellipsoid. The three axes of the ellipsoid are now directly along the main orthogonal axes of the coordinate system so we can easily infer their lengths. These lengths are the eigenvalues or characteristic values.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Diagonalization of a matrix is done by finding a second matrix that it can be multiplied with followed by multiplication by the inverse of the second matrix—wherein the result is a new matrix in which three diagonal ("xx", "yy", "zz") components have numbers in them but the off-diagonal components ("xy", "yz", "zx") are 0. The second matrix provides eigenvector information.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: In present-day clinical neurology, various brain pathologies may be best detected by looking at particular measures of anisotropy and diffusivity. The underlying physical process of diffusion causes a group of water molecules to move out from a central point, and gradually reach the surface of an ellipsoid if the medium is anisotropic (it would be the surface of a sphere for an isotropic medium). The ellipsoid formalism functions also as a mathematical method of organizing tensor data. Measurement of an ellipsoid tensor further permits a retrospective analysis, to gather information about the process of diffusion in each voxel of the tissue.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: In an isotropic medium such as cerebrospinal fluid, water molecules are moving due to diffusion and they move at equal rates in all directions. By knowing the detailed effects of diffusion gradients we can generate a formula that allows us to convert the signal attenuation of an MRI voxel into a numerical measure of diffusion—the diffusion coefficient "D". When various barriers and restricting factors such as cell membranes and microtubules interfere with the free diffusion, we are measuring an "apparent diffusion coefficient", or ADC, because the measurement misses all the local effects and treats the attenuation as if all the movement rates were solely due to Brownian motion. The ADC in anisotropic tissue varies depending on the direction in which it is measured. Diffusion is fast along the length of (parallel to) an axon, and slower perpendicularly across it.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Once we have measured the voxel from six or more directions and corrected for attenuations due to T2 and T1 effects, we can use information from our calculated ellipsoid tensor to describe what is happening in the voxel. If you consider an ellipsoid sitting at an angle in a Cartesian grid then you can consider the projection of that ellipse onto the three axes. The three projections can give you the ADC along each of the three axes ADC, ADC, ADC. This leads to the idea of describing the average diffusivity in the voxel which will simply be


title: Diffusion MRI

text: We use the "i" subscript to signify that this is what the isotropic diffusion coefficient would be with the effects of anisotropy averaged out.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: The ellipsoid itself has a principal long axis and then two more small axes that describe its width and depth. All three of these are perpendicular to each other and cross at the center point of the ellipsoid. We call the axes in this setting eigenvectors and the measures of their lengths eigenvalues. The lengths are symbolized by the Greek letter "λ". The long one pointing along the axon direction will be "λ" and the two small axes will have lengths "λ" and "λ". In the setting of the DTI tensor ellipsoid, we can consider each of these as a measure of the diffusivity along each of the three primary axes of the ellipsoid. This is a little different from the ADC since that was a projection on the axis, while "λ" is an actual measurement of the ellipsoid we have calculated.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: The diffusivity along the principal axis, "λ" is also called the longitudinal diffusivity or the axial diffusivity or even the parallel diffusivity "λ". Historically, this is closest to what Richards originally measured with the vector length in 1991. The diffusivities in the two minor axes are often averaged to produce a measure of radial diffusivity


title: Diffusion MRI

text: This quantity is an assessment of the degree of restriction due to membranes and other effects and proves to be a sensitive measure of degenerative pathology in some neurological conditions. It can also be called the perpendicular diffusivity (formula_37).


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Another commonly used measure that summarizes the total diffusivity is the Trace—which is the sum of the three eigenvalues,


title: Diffusion MRI

text: where formula_39 is a diagonal matrix with eigenvalues formula_40, formula_41 and formula_42 on its diagonal.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Aside from describing the amount of diffusion, it is often important to describe the relative degree of anisotropy in a voxel. At one extreme would be the sphere of isotropic diffusion and at the other extreme would be a cigar or pencil shaped very thin prolate spheroid. The simplest measure is obtained by dividing the longest axis of the ellipsoid by the shortest = ("λ"/"λ"). However, this proves to be very susceptible to measurement noise, so increasingly complex measures were developed to capture the measure while minimizing the noise. An important element of these calculations is the sum of squares of the diffusivity differences = ("λ" − "λ") + ("λ" − "λ") + ("λ" − "λ"). We use the square root of the sum of squares to obtain a sort of weighted average—dominated by the largest component. One objective is to keep the number near 0 if the voxel is spherical but near 1 if it is elongate. This leads to the fractional anisotropy or FA which is the square root of the sum of squares (SRSS) of the diffusivity differences, divided by the SRSS of the diffusivities. When the second and third axes are small relative to the principal axis, the number in the numerator is almost equal the number in the denominator. We also multiply by formula_47 so that FA has a maximum value of 1. The whole formula for FA looks like this:


title: Diffusion MRI

text: The fractional anisotropy can also be separated into linear, planar, and spherical measures depending on the "shape" of the diffusion ellipsoid. For example, a "cigar" shaped prolate ellipsoid indicates a strongly linear anisotropy, a "flying saucer" or oblate spheroid represents diffusion in a plane, and a sphere is indicative of isotropic diffusion, equal in all directions. If the eigenvalues of the diffusion vector are sorted such that formula_49, then the measures can be calculated as follows:


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Each measure lies between 0 and 1 and they sum to unity. An additional anisotropy measure can used to describe the deviation from the spherical case:


title: Diffusion MRI

text: The most common application of conventional DWI (without DTI) is in acute brain ischemia. DWI directly visualizes the ischemic necrosis in cerebral infarction in the form of a cytotoxic edema, appearing as a high DWI signal within minutes of arterial occlusion. With perfusion MRI detecting both the infarcted core and the salvageable penumbra, the latter can be quantified by DWI and perfusion MRI.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Another application area of DWI is in oncology. Tumors are in many instances highly cellular, giving restricted diffusion of water, and therefore appear with a relatively high signal intensity in DWI. DWI is commonly used to detect and stage tumors, and also to monitor tumor response to treatment over time. DWI can also be collected to visualize the whole body using a technique called 'diffusion-weighted whole-body imaging with background body signal suppression' (DWIBS). Some more specialized diffusion MRI techniques such as diffusion kurtosis imaging (DKI) have also been shown to predict the response of cancer patients to chemotherapy treatment.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: The principal application is in the imaging of white matter where the location, orientation, and anisotropy of the tracts can be measured. The architecture of the axons in parallel bundles, and their myelin sheaths, facilitate the diffusion of the water molecules preferentially along their main direction. Such preferentially oriented diffusion is called anisotropic diffusion.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: The imaging of this property is an extension of diffusion MRI. If a series of diffusion gradients (i.e. magnetic field variations in the MRI magnet) are applied that can determine at least 3 directional vectors (use of 6 different gradients is the minimum and additional gradients improve the accuracy for "off-diagonal" information), it is possible to calculate, for each voxel, a tensor (i.e. a symmetric positive definite 3×3 matrix) that describes the 3-dimensional shape of diffusion. The fiber direction is indicated by the tensor's main eigenvector. This vector can be color-coded, yielding a cartography of the tracts' position and direction (red for left-right, blue for superior-inferior, and green for anterior-posterior). The brightness is weighted by the fractional anisotropy which is a scalar measure of the degree of anisotropy in a given voxel. Mean diffusivity (MD) or trace is a scalar measure of the total diffusion within a voxel. These measures are commonly used clinically to localize white matter lesions that do not show up on other forms of clinical MRI.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: Early in the development of DTI based tractography, a number of researchers pointed out a flaw in the diffusion tensor model. The tensor analysis assumes that there is a single ellipsoid in each imaging voxel— as if all of the axons traveling through a voxel traveled in exactly the same direction. This is often true, but it can be estimated that in more than 30% of the voxels in a standard resolution brain image, there are at least two different neural tracts traveling in different directions that pass through each other. In the classic diffusion ellipsoid tensor model, the information from the crossing tract just appears as noise or unexplained decreased anisotropy in a given voxel. David Tuch was among the first to describe a solution to this problem. The idea is best understood by conceptually placing a kind of geodesic dome around each image voxel. This icosahedron provides a mathematical basis for passing a large number of evenly spaced gradient trajectories through the voxel—each coinciding with one of the apices of the icosahedron. Basically, we are now going to look into the voxel from a large number of different directions (typically 40 or more). We use ""n"-tuple" tessellations to add more evenly spaced apices to the original icosahedron (20 faces)—an idea that also had its precedents in paleomagnetism research several decades earlier. We just want to know which direction lines turn up the maximum anisotropic diffusion measures. If there is a single tract, there will be just two maxima pointing in opposite directions. If two tracts cross in the voxel, there will be two pairs of maxima, and so on. We can still use tensor math to use the maxima to select groups of gradients to package into several different tensor ellipsoids in the same voxel, or use more complex higher rank tensors analyses, or we can do a true "model free" analysis that just picks the maxima and go on about doing the tractography.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: The Q-Ball method of tractography is an implementation in which David Tuch provides a mathematical alternative to the tensor model. Instead of forcing the diffusion anisotropy data into a group of tensors, the mathematics used deploys both probability distributions and a classic bit of geometric tomography and vector math developed nearly 100 years ago—the Funk Radon Transform.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: For DTI, it is generally possible to use linear algebra, matrix mathematics and vector mathematics to process the analysis of the tensor data.


title: Diffusion MRI

text: In some cases, the full set of tensor properties is of interest, but for tractography it is usually necessary to know only the magnitude and orientation of the primary axis or vector. This primary axis—the one with the greatest length—is the largest eigenvalue and its orientation is encoded in its matched eigenvector. Only one axis is needed as it is assumed the largest eigenvalue is aligned with the main axon direction to accomplish tractography.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: The Caterpillar 797 is a series of off-highway, ultra class, two-axle, mechanical powertrain haul trucks developed and manufactured in the United States by Caterpillar Inc. specifically for high-production mining and heavy construction applications worldwide. In production since 1998, the 797 series represents Caterpillar’s largest, highest capacity haul trucks. The current, third-generation model, the 797F, offers one of the largest haul truck payload capacities in the world, up to and has the highest payload capacity among mechanical drive haul trucks.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: In 1997, Caterpillar decided to begin the development of a payload capacity haul truck to meet the demand from large-scale mine operators wanting to reduce operating costs at mines using 80 to 90 short tons (73 to 82 t) per pass shovels. Engineers at Caterpillar's Mining & Construction Equipment Division in Decatur, Illinois, created a new design for the 797 using computer-aided design technology. This was the first time CAD tools had been used extensively to design a Caterpillar truck.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: Caterpillar first unveiled a completed 797 on September 29, 1998, at its assembly plant in Decatur, Illinois. The first two 797s produced were transported to Caterpillar's Arizona proving grounds for testing. In the second quarter of 1999, the third and fourth 797s produced were the first to be placed in service with a customer at the Bingham Canyon Mine in Utah. Caterpillar put 18 additional 797s into service with mine operators worldwide as production development units.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: Caterpillar began marketing the 797 in North America in 2000, with full worldwide marketing following in 2001. The first generation serial number prefix is 5YW.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: Caterpillar introduced the 797B in spring of 2002, replacing the first-generation 797. The 797B's increased payload capacity of is a increase over the first generation 797. Caterpillar increased the power output of the Cat 3524B EUI 24-cylinder diesel engine used in the 797 from net to net enabling the 797B to achieve a top speed when transporting a load, a increase over the first generation 797.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: Caterpillar introduced the 797F to the public at MINExpo International in September, 2008. The 797F replaced its predecessor model, the 797B, when the 797F entered full production in late 2009. Prior to the introduction of the Caterpillar 797F and the Bucyrus MT6300AC at MINExpo International in September, 2008, the Liebherr T 282B, introduced in 2004, was the only haul truck with a payload capacity of .


title: Caterpillar 797

text: Compared to the 797B, the 797F has a higher payload capacity and a more powerful, more efficient engine. These changes allowed Caterpillar to meet mine operator's needs to increase operational efficiency and reduce costs by increasing the amount of material hauled per trip.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: Caterpillar replaced the gross [net ] Cat 3524B EUI 24-cylinder diesel engine used in the 797B with the gross [net ] Cat C175-20 ACERT 20-cylinder diesel engine, enabling the 797F to maintain the top speed of the 797B while transporting a heavier payload.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: The Caterpillar 797 series trucks employ mechanical drive powertrains in contrast to the diesel-electric powertrains of similar haul trucks offered by competitors. During initial development in 1997, a diesel-electric powertrain was considered for the 797, but this powertrain configuration was not developed because Caterpillar considered a mechanical drive powertrain more appropriate for market conditions at that time.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: A gross [net ] Cat 3524B HD EUI 24-cylinder, electronic unit injection, quad single-stage turbocharged, liquid aftercooled, four-stroke diesel engine powers the 797. The Cat 3524B HD engine is a tandem unit consisting of two 12-cylinder Cat 3512B HD engine blocks coupled to operate as a single engine with a combined displacement of 106 liters (6468 cubic inches).


title: Caterpillar 797

text: A gross [net ], quad turbocharged Caterpillar 3524B engine powers the 797B. The power rating of the 3524B is valid up to an elevation of or with a high altitude arrangement.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: A gross [net ] Cat C175-20 ACERT single block, 20-cylinder, electronic common rail injection, quad turbocharged, air-to-air aftercooled, four-stroke diesel engine powers the 797F. The power rating of the C175-20 is valid up to an elevation of or up to with a high altitude arrangement.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: The 797 series haul trucks are equipped with a rear-axle-mounted, computer-controlled, seven-speed planetary transmission with a separate lock-up torque converter. Both transmission and torque converter use a common powertrain oil.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: Each 797 wheel is attached to the axle using 54 - nuts that are torqued to . A size 55/80R63 radial tire was developed by Michelin in conjunction with Caterpillar specifically for the first generation 797. The Caterpillar 797B and 797F run tall, Michelin 59/80R63 XDR. Most first generation 797s have been retrofitted to use the 59/80R63 tires as well. Six tires are required per truck at a cost in 2009 of approximately US$42,500 per tire.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: Major components of the 797 are manufactured and assembled at seven Caterpillar or supplier facilities located throughout North America, then shipped to the customer site for final assembly by Caterpillar technicians.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: The engine is manufactured by Caterpillar in Lafayette, Indiana, and is then shipped to Caterpillar's assembly plant in Decatur, Illinois.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: The transmission and torque converter are manufactured by Caterpillar in East Peoria, Illinois, and is then shipped to Caterpillar's assembly plant in Decatur, Illinois.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: The axle assemblies are manufactured by Caterpillar in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and are shipped to the customer site.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: The tires are manufactured by Michelin North America at the US7 Earthmover Manufacturing plant in Lexington, South Carolina, and are shipped to the customer site.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: The driver's cab is manufactured by Bergstrom Climate Control Systems' Contract Assembly division in Joliet, Illinois. Each cab is assembled by one person and requires forty hours to complete. The cab is shipped to the customer site.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: The dump body is composed of five components: the floor, the two sides, the front wall and the canopy. The dump body is manufactured at Caterpillar Mexico in Monterrey, Mexico, as well as at least to a limited degree by WesTech of Casper, Wyoming in the western United States and shipped in component form to the customer site where it is assembled and welded into a monolithic structure before being joined to the frame during final assembly.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: The frame is created from nine individual metal castings manufactured by Harrison Steel Castings Co., in Attica, Indiana and by Amite Foundry and Machine, Inc., in Amite City, Louisiana. The smallest casting weighs and the largest casting weighs . The rough castings are shipped to the Caterpillar Decatur, Illinois, assembly plant.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: At Caterpillar's assembly plant in Decatur, Illinois, the frame is assembled and the powertrain is installed and tested.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: The nine castings that compose the frame are machined to provide clean welding surfaces. The castings are placed in a jig and are initially joined by human welders. The frame is moved to a second welding station for further welding by robots. The third and final welding stage is completed by human welders. To ensure quality, welds are tested using an ultrasonic flaw detector. In total, of welding wire is used to join the individual castings into a monolithic frame.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: After the frame assembly is completed, production workers attach hydraulic lines and electrical wiring to the frame before installing the engine and rear axle. The frame/powertrain assembly is tested and then partially disassembled to facilitate shipping from Caterpillar's Decatur, Illinois assembly plant to the customer site.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: The engine, frame, axles and differential requires six to seven semi-trailer truck loads, the cab requires one semi-trailer load, the six tires require two semi-trailer loads and the dump body requires four semi-trailer loads. In total, one 797 requires 12 to 13 semi-trailer truck loads that originate at various manufacturing facilities and deliver to the customer site. If a 797 must be moved from one job site to another for any reason, it cannot be driven on public roads due to its exceptional size and weight. Moving a 797 requires dis-assembly, loading onto semi-trailer trucks, transport and re-assembly at the new location.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: Final assembly of the 797 is completed by Caterpillar field mechanics at or near the customer site. Before the dump body can be joined to the frame, the dump body components must be assembled and welded together by a dedicated team, requiring seven to ten days per dump body. Final assembly of one 797 requires a team of seven mechanics working in three shifts around the clock, for 20 days, in addition to the time required to assemble and weld the dump body.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: Although the price varies based on individual customer specifications, each 797 costs approximately US$5,000,000.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: All major components of the 797 can be serviced or replaced during the useful life of the truck, except for the frame. The overall service life of the truck is therefore dependent upon the durability of the frame which Caterpillar estimates to have a twenty-year service life.


title: Caterpillar 797

text: The Liebherr T 282 B and Bucyrus MT6300AC, as well as Caterpillar's own 798AC, match the Caterpillar 797F's payload capacity, but employ diesel/electric powertrains in contrast to the 797F's diesel-powered, mechanical powertrain. Both fall short of the BelAZ 75710's 500 short ton capacity, the largest of any haul truck in the world, which also employs a diesel/electric powertrain. Depending on customer requirements, lower payload capacity products such as the Komatsu 960E-1 and Belaz 75600 may also place competitive pressure on sales of the 797F.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: The Swiss mercenaries () were a powerful infantry force constituted by professional soldiers originating from the cantons of the Old Swiss Confederacy. They were notable for their service in foreign armies, especially among the military forces of the Kings of France, throughout the Early Modern period of European history, from the Late Middle Ages into the Renaissance. Their service as mercenaries was at its peak during the Renaissance, when their proven battlefield capabilities made them sought-after mercenary troops. There followed a period of decline, as technological and organizational advances counteracted the Swiss' advantages. Switzerland's military isolationism largely put an end to organized mercenary activity; the principal remnant of the practice is the Pontifical Swiss Guard at the Vatican.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: During the Late Middle Ages, mercenary forces grew in importance in Europe, as veterans from the Hundred Years War (1337–1453) and other conflicts came to see soldiering as a profession rather than a temporary activity, and commanders sought long-term professionals rather than temporary feudal levies to fight their wars. Swiss mercenaries () were valued throughout the kingdoms and states of Medieval Europe for the power of their determined mass attack in deep columns with the spear, the pike, and halberd. Hiring them was made even more attractive because entire ready-made Swiss mercenary contingents could be obtained by simply contracting with their local governments, the various Swiss cantons—the cantons had a form of militia system in which the soldiers were bound to serve and were trained and equipped to do so.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: The warriors of the Swiss cantons had gradually developed a reputation throughout Europe as skilled soldiers, due to their successful defense of their liberties against their Austrian Habsburg overlords, starting as early as the late 13th century, including remarkable upset victories over heavily armoured knights at Morgarten and Laupen. This was furthered by later successful campaigns of regional expansion, mainly into the Italian Peninsula. By the 15th century, they were greatly valued as mercenary soldiers, particularly following their series of notable victories in the Burgundian Wars (1474–1477) in the latter part of the century. The standing mercenary army of the Hungarian King Matthias Corvinus, known as the "Black Army" (1458–1490), also contained Swiss pikemen units, who were held in high regard by the king. The native German term "Reisläufer" literally means "one who goes to war" and is derived from the Middle High German "Reise," meaning "military campaign".


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: The Swiss mercenaries, with their head-down attack in huge columns with the long pike, refusal to take prisoners, and consistent record of victory, were greatly feared and admired—for instance, the Italian diplomat and political philosopher Niccolò Machiavelli addressed their system of combat at length in the twelfth chapter of his literary masterpiece, "The Prince" (1513–1532). Although often referred to as "pikemen", the Swiss mercenary units also contained halberdiers as well until several decades into the 16th century, as well as a small number of skirmishers armed with bows and crossbows or crude firearms to precede the rapid advance of the attack column.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: The young men who went off to fight, and sometimes die, in foreign service had several incentives—limited economic options in the still largely rural cantons; adventure; pride in the reputation of the Swiss as soldiers; and finally what military historian Sir Charles Oman describes as a pure love of combat and warfighting in and of itself, forged by two centuries of conflict.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: Until roughly 1490, the Swiss had a virtual monopoly on pike-armed mercenary service. However, after that date, the Swiss mercenaries were increasingly supplanted by imitators, chiefly the "Landsknechts". Landsknechts were Germans (at first largely from Swabia) and became proficient at Swiss tactics, even surpassing them with their usage of the "Zweihänder" to crush opposing pike formations. This produced a force that filled the ranks of European armies with mercenary regiments for decades. After 1515 the Swiss pledged themselves to neutrality, other than regarding Swiss soldiers serving in the ranks of the Royal French army. The "Landsknecht", however, would continue to serve any paymaster, even, at times, enemies of the Holy Roman Emperor (and "Landsknechts" at times even fought each other on the battlefield). The "Landsknecht" often assumed the multi-coloured and striped clothing of the Swiss.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: The Swiss were not flattered by the imitation, and the two bodies of mercenaries immediately became bitter rivals over employment and on the battlefield, where they were often opposed during the major European conflict of the early sixteenth century, the Great Italian Wars. Although the Swiss generally had a significant edge in a simple "push of pike", the resulting combat was nonetheless quite savage, and known to Italian onlookers as "bad war". Period artists such as Hans Holbein attest to the fact that two such huge pike columns crashing into each other could result in a maelstrom of battle, with very many dead and wounded on both sides.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: Despite the competition from the "Landsknechts", and imitation by other armies (most notably the Spanish, which adopted pike-handling as one element of its "tercios"), the Swiss fighting reputation reached its zenith between 1480 and 1525, and indeed the Battle of Novara, fought by Swiss mercenaries, is seen by some as the perfect Swiss battle. Even the close defeat at the terrible Battle of Marignano in 1515, the "Battle of Giants", was seen as an achievement of sorts for Swiss arms due to the ferocity of the fighting and the good order of their withdrawal.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: Nonetheless, the repulse at Marignano presaged the decline of the Swiss form of pike warfare—eventually, the two-century run of Swiss victories ended in 1522 with disaster at the Battle of Bicocca when combined Spanish "tercios" and "Landsknecht" forces decisively defeated them using superior tactics, fortifications, artillery, and new technology (i.e. handguns). At Bicocca, the Swiss mercenaries, serving the French king, attempted repeatedly to storm an impregnable defensive position without artillery or missile support, only to be mown down by small-arms and artillery fire. Never before had the Swiss suffered such heavy losses while being unable to inflict much damage upon their foe.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: The early contingents of Swiss mercenary pikemen organized themselves rather differently than the cantonal forces. In the cantonal forces, their armies were usually divided into the "Vorhut" (vanguard), "Gewalthut" (center) and "Nachhut" (rearguard), generally of different sizes. In mercenary contingents, although they could conceivably draw up in three similar columns if their force was of sufficient size, more often they simply drew up in one or two huge columns which deployed side by side, forming the center of the army in which they served. Likewise, their tactics were not very similar to those used by the Swiss cantons in their brilliant tactical victories of the Burgundian Wars and Swabian War, in which they relied on maneuver at least as much as the brute force of the attack columns. In mercenary service they became much less likely to resort to outmaneuvering the enemy and relied more on a straightforward steamroller assault of the phalanx formation.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: Such deep pike columns could crush lesser infantry in close combat and were invulnerable to the effects of a cavalry charge, but they were vulnerable to firearms if they could be immobilized (as seen in the Battle of Marignano). The Swiss mercenaries did deploy bows, crossbows, handguns and artillery of their own, however these always remained very subsidiary to the pike and halberd square. Despite the proven armour-penetration capability of firearms, they were also very inaccurate, slow-loading, and susceptible to damp conditions, and did not fit well with the fast-paced attack tactics used by the Swiss mercenary pike forces (the Spanish invention of the armor piercing arquebus leading to the later tercios formation changed the optimal war tactics).


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: The Swiss remained primarily pikemen throughout the sixteenth century, but after that period they adopted similar infantry formations and tactics to other units in the armies in which they served. Accordingly, they began to deviate from their previously unique tactics, and they took a normal place in the battle line amongst the other infantry units.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: In the end, as proven at Marignano and Bicocca, the mass pike attack columns of the Swiss mercenaries proved to be too vulnerable to gunpowder weapons as firearms technology advanced, especially arquebusiers and artillery deployed on prepared ground (e.g., earthworks) and properly supported by other arms. These "arquebusiers" and heavy cannons scythed down the close-packed ranks of the Swiss squares in bloody heaps—at least, as long as the Swiss attack could be bogged down by earthworks or cavalry charges, and the vulnerable arquebusiers were backed up by melee infantry—pikemen, halberdiers, and/or swordsmen (Spanish sword-and-buckler men or the Doppelsöldner wielding the Zweihänder)—to defend them if necessary from the Swiss in close combat.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: Other stratagems could also take the Swiss pikemen at a disadvantage. For instance, the Spanish "rodeleros", also known as sword-and-buckler men, armed with steel rodelas and "espadas" and often wearing a helmet and a breastplate, were much better armed and armored for man-to-man close quarters combat. Accordingly, they could defeat the Swiss pike square by dashing under their unwieldy pikes and stabbing them. However, this tactic operated in support of allied pike squares and thus required the opposing pike square to be fully engaged in the chaos of the push of pike. Swiss pike columns that retained good formation were often able to beat back Spanish "rodeleros" with impunity, such as in the Battle of Seminara, in which the Swiss pike were heavily outnumbered.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: Despite the end of their supremacy circa 1522, the Swiss pike-armed mercenaries continued to be amongst the most capable close order infantry in Europe throughout the remainder of the sixteenth century. This was demonstrated by their battlefield performances in the service of the French monarchy during the French Wars of Religion, in particular at the Battle of Dreux, where a block of Swiss pikemen held the Huguenot army until the Catholic cavalry were able to counterattack.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: Swiss soldiers continued to serve as valued mercenaries with a number of European armies from the seventeenth to the nineteenth centuries, in spite of extensive changes in tactics, drill and weapons. The most consistent and largest-scale employer of these troops was the French army, where the Swiss formed an elite part of the infantry. The Swiss Guards regiment, the most senior of the twelve Swiss mercenary regiments in French service, was essentially identical to the French Guards in organization and equipment, other than wearing a red uniform as opposed to the blue coats of the French corps. The Swiss adopted the musket in increasingly large numbers as the seventeenth century wore on, and abandoned the pike, their ancient trademark, altogether at around the same time as other troops in the French army, circa 1700. They also served in the New World: Samuel De Champlain's map of the Île Sainte-Croix (Saint Croix Island) settlement shows a barracks for the Swiss.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: The Swiss mercenaries were recruited according to contracts (capitulations) between the French Monarchy and Swiss cantons or individual noble families. By 1740 more than 12,000 Swiss soldiers were in French service. During the remainder of the eighteenth century, Swiss numbers varied according to need, reaching a peak of 20,000 during the Austrian War of Succession and falling to 12,300 after 1763. In addition to the direct military value of employing Swiss in French service, a political purpose was achieved through the extension of French diplomatic and commercial influence over the neighbouring cantons.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: The Swiss soldier was paid at a higher level than his French counterpart but was subject to a harsher disciplinary code, administered by his own officers. The basis of recruitment varied according to regiment – in some units recruits were drawn exclusively from the Swiss inhabitants of specific cantons while in others German or French volunteers were accepted to make up shortfalls in the number of available Swiss. During the latter part of the 18th century, increasing reliance was placed on recruiting from the "children of the regiment" – the sons of Swiss soldiers who had married French women and stayed in France after their term of service had ended. The effect was to partially break down barriers between the Swiss and the French population amongst whom they were garrisoned. On the eve of the French Revolution the log-book of one Swiss regiment expressed concern that Franco-Swiss recruits were becoming prone to desertion as general discontent spread. French-speaking Swiss soldiers were generally to prove more susceptible to revolutionary propaganda than their German-speaking colleagues.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: At the outbreak of the French Revolution the Swiss troops were, as at least nominal foreigners, still considered more reliable than their French counterparts in a time of civil unrest. Accordingly, Swiss regiments made up a significant proportion of the royal troops summoned to Paris by Louis XVI in early July 1789. A detachment of Swiss grenadiers from the Salis-Samade Regiment was sent to reinforce the garrison of the Bastille prison shortly before it was besieged by the mob. The Swiss and other royal troops were subsequently withdrawn to their frontier garrisons. Over the next years The Ernest Regiment in particular faced a series of clashes with local citizens, culminating in a two-day battle with Marseilles' militia in 1791. This indication of growing popular resentment against the Swiss caused the Canton of Berne to recall the disarmed regiment. Another Swiss regiment, the Chateauvieux, played a major part in the Nancy affair (mutiny) of 1790 and 23 of its soldiers were executed, after trial by their own Swiss officers. The Swiss Guard however remained loyal and was massacred on 10 August 1792, when the mob attacked the Tuileries Palace, although Louis XVI had already left the building. The eleven Swiss regiments of line infantry were disbanded under a decree passed by the French Assembly on 20 August 1792. Over three thousand Swiss soldiers transferred individually to French units and continued in service. However, many of the rank and file returned to Switzerland, where measures had to be taken to provide them with relief and reintegration into the rural society from which most had been drawn.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: Following the occupation of Switzerland by French revolutionary forces in 1798, a project to raise six demi-brigades of Swiss infantry for French service was initiated. However, recruitment proved difficult and by May 1799 only a quarter of the intended establishment of 18,000 had been raised. Napoleon authorized the recruitment of a Swiss infantry regiment for French service in July 1805. A further three infantry regiments were created in October 1807, each including an artillery company. He specified that this newly raised Swiss Corps should comprise only citizens of Switzerland without "mingling in deserters or other foreigners". The Swiss regiments fought well both in Spain (where they clashed at the Battle of Bailén with Swiss troops in the Spanish Army) and in Russia. During the retreat from Moscow Swiss losses amounted to 80% of their original numbers. The Swiss were allowed to keep the distinctive red coats which had distinguished them prior to 1792, with different facings identifying each regiment.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: During the first Bourbon restoration of 1814–15, the grenadier companies of the by now under-strength four Swiss regiments undertook ceremonial guard duties in Paris. Upon Napoleon's return from Elba in 1815 the serving Swiss units were recalled to Switzerland on the grounds that a new contract signed with the government of Louis XVIII had now been rendered void. However, one composite regiment of Napoleon's Swiss veterans fought at Wavre during the Hundred Days. Upon the second restoration of the monarchy in 1815 two regiments of Swiss infantry were recruited as part of the Royal Guard, while a further four served as line troops. All six Swiss units were disbanded in 1830 following the final overthrow of the Bourbon monarchy.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: Another major employer of Swiss mercenaries from the later 16th century on was Spain. After the Protestant Reformation, Switzerland was split along religious lines between Protestant and Catholic cantons. Swiss mercenaries from the Catholic cantons were thereafter increasingly likely to be hired for service in the armies of the Spanish Habsburg superpower in the later 16th century. The first regularly embodied Swiss regiment in the Spanish army was that of Walter Roll of Uri (a Catholic canton) in 1574, for service in the Spanish Netherlands, and by the middle of the 17th century there were a dozen Swiss regiments fighting for the Spanish army. From the latter part of the 17th century these could be found serving in Spain itself or in its overseas possessions.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: The Swiss units saw active service against Portugal, against rebellions in Catalonia, in the War of the Spanish Succession, War of the Polish Succession, War of the Austrian Succession (in the fighting in Italy), and against Britain in the American Revolutionary War. By the 1790s there were about 13,000 men making up the Swiss contingents in a total Spanish army of 137,000. The practice of recruiting directly from the Catholic cantons was however disrupted by the outbreak of the French Revolutionary Wars. Recruiting agents substituted Germans, Austrians and Italians and in some regiments the genuine Swiss element dwindled to 100 or less.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: Their final role in Spanish service was against the French in the Peninsular War, in which the five Swiss regiments ("Ruttiman, Yann, Reding, Schwaler" and "Courten") mostly stayed loyal to their Spanish employers. At the Battle of Bailén, the Swiss regiments pressed into French service defected back to the Spanish Army under Reding. The year 1823 finally saw the end of Swiss mercenary service with the Spanish army.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: The Swiss fighting in the ranks of the Spanish army generally followed its organization, tactics and dress. The Swiss regiments were however distinguished by their blue coats, in contrast to the white uniforms of the Spanish line infantry.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: The Dutch employed many Swiss units at various dates during the 17th and 18th centuries. In the early 18th century there were four regiments, and a ceremonial company of "Cent Suisses". They were mostly employed as garrison troops in peacetime, although the Republic sent Swiss regiments to Scotland in 1715 and 1745; in 1745, three battalions of the Swiss Hirtzel Regiment formed part of the Dutch contingent sent to serve in England as allies at the time of the Jacobite rising in Scotland that year. With the threat of a French invasion in 1748, four additional regiments were taken into service, but that year, the War of Austrian Succession ended and three of these additional regiments were retired from service. In 1749 a regiment of "Zwitsersche Guardes" ("Swiss Guards") was raised, the recruits coming from the ranks of the existing Swiss infantry regiments; in 1787, these six regiments numbered a total of 9,600 men.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: Swiss regiments were employed by both the Dutch Republic and the Dutch East India Company for service in the Cape Colony and the East Indies. In 1772, the Regiment Fourgeoud was sent to Surinam to serve against the Marrons in the Surinam jungle. A narrative of this campaign written by John Gabriel Stedman, was later published. In 1781, the Regiment De Meuron was hired for Dutch service and in 1784 the Regiment Waldner. De Meurons' regiment was captured by the British in Ceylon, than taken into British service and sent to Canada, where it fought in the War of 1812.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: With the abdication of the Stadhouder in 1795 and the forming of the Batavian Republic, the six Swiss regiments were disbanded in 1796. After the return of the Prince of Orange in 1813, four regiments of Swiss infantry, numbered 29 to 32 in the line, were raised, of which the 32nd Regiment served as a guard regiment performing guard duties at the Royal Palace in Amsterdam after 1815; however, these regiments were also disbanded in 1829.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: In 1781, Charles-Daniel de Meuron, a former colonel of the French Swiss Guard, founded his own mercenary regiment under the name Regiment de Meuron, first serving the Dutch East India Company, and from 1796, the British East India Company. Under British service, they fought in the Mysore Campaign of 1799, the Mediterranean and Peninsula Campaigns. After being stationed in Britain the regiment was posted to Canada, where it served in the War of 1812. It was finally disbanded in 1816.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: The Regiment de Watteville was a Swiss regiment founded by Louis de Watteville and recruited from regiments that served between 1799 and 1801 in the Austrian army but in British pay. The Swiss soldiers were then transferred to British service. They fought in the Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815), mainly around the Mediterranean. They were based in Malta and then in Egypt from 1801 to 1803, fighting in Sicily and Naples. The regiment fought in the Battle of Maida in Italy in July 1806. Kept up to strength by Spanish and Portuguese recruits from 1811 to 1813, De Watteville's Regiment was involved in the Peninsular War in Spain, defending Cádiz during the Siege of Cádiz. The regiment sailed to Canada in 1813 to fight in the War of 1812. It saw service at Fort Erie and Oswego, before being disbanded in 1816.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: During the period of formalization of the employment of Swiss mercenaries in organized bodies from the late 16th century on, customary capitulations existed between employing powers and the Swiss cantons or noble families assembling and supplying these troops. Such contracts would generally cover specific details such as the numbers, quality, pay rates and equipment of recruits. Provisions were commonly made that Swiss soldiers would only serve under officers of their own nationality, would be subject to Swiss laws, would carry their own flags and would not be employed in campaigns that would bring them into conflict with Swiss in the service of another country.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: It has been claimed that such contracts might also contain a commitment that Swiss units would be returned if the confederation came under attack. However, surviving capitulations from the 16th and 17th centuries are not known to contain provisions to this effect.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: With the passing of the amendment to the Swiss Constitution of 1874 banning the recruitment of Swiss citizens by foreign states, such contractual relations ceased. Military alliances had already been banned under the Swiss constitution of 1848, though troops still served abroad when obliged by treaties. One such example were the Swiss regiments serving under Francis II of the Two Sicilies, who defended Gaeta in 1860 during the Italian War of Unification. This marked the end of an era.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: Since 1859, only one mercenary unit has been permitted, the Vatican's Swiss Guard, which has been protecting the Pope for the last five centuries, dressed in colourful uniforms, supposedly drawn by Michelangelo, reminiscent of the Swiss mercenary's heyday. Despite its being prohibited, individual Swiss citizens carried on the tradition of foreign military service into the twentieth century. This included 800 Swiss volunteers who fought with the Republican International Brigades during the Spanish Civil War, incurring heavy losses.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: Swiss citizens also served in the German Wehrmacht during the Second World War, although purely on an individual and voluntary basis. At least 2,000 Swiss fought for Germany during the war, mostly from the German-speaking cantons of Bern and Zurich, and many of them had dual German nationality. Besides the Wehrmacht some also joined the SS, particularly the 6th mountain division. Due to Switzerland's neutral status, their allegiances were considered illegal and in 1943 the government decided that those who cooperated with Germany would be deprived of their nationality. By 1945, there were only 29 such cases. A number of Swiss citizens were taken prisoner by the Soviet Union while fighting on the Eastern Front.


title: Swiss mercenaries

text: The plot of George Bernard Shaw's comedy "Arms and the Man" (and of the operetta "The Chocolate Soldier" based on it) is focused on a fictional Swiss mercenary serving in the 1885 Serbo-Bulgarian War; there is, however, no evidence of actual such mercenaries in that war.


title: Adını Feriha Koydum

text: Adını Feriha Koydum () is a Turkish television drama series which was first broadcast on Show TV from 14 January 2011 to 29 June 2012. A rebooted version aired from September 7 to December 14, 2012. It follows housekeeper Feriha Yilmaz (Hazal Kaya), a young woman from a poor background and the daughter of Zehra Yılmaz (Vahide Percin); and Rıza Yılmaz (Metin Çekmez), a doorman. Feriha is awarded a scholarship to an elite university, where wealthy playboy Emir Sarrafoğlu (Cagatay Ulusoy) studies as well. Emir eventually falls in love with Feriha, believing she is also wealthy. The series was written by Melis Civelek and Sırma Yanık and produced by Med Yapım.


title: Adını Feriha Koydum

text: The series was very popular among younger viewers. The first two seasons of the show were very successful all over the world. The third and final season, titled "Adını Feriha Koydum: Emir'in You", which was broadcast from 7 September to 14 December 2012. was not as successful and ended it's run after 12 episodes. The series has been exported to over 70 countries. It was Ulusoy's first acting role, after playing an extra in the Turkish series "Arka Sokaklar" and "Recep Ivedik 3".


title: Adını Feriha Koydum

text: According to Nilüfer Pembecioğlu, Feriha is a symbol of class anxiety in Turkey; though having a university education, she is forced to lie in order to get ahead. Pembecioğlu includes it among the most successful Turkish television serials being shown around the world; it was especially popular in Bulgaria, and was aired in Russia, Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. In Pakistan, it aired on Urdu 1 dubbed in Urdu, the national language of Pakistan. In India, it was dubbed in Hindi and broadcast on Zindagi which is owned by ZEEL. In Bangladesh, it was dubbed in Bangla and aired on Deepto TV from 13 November 2020.


title: Adını Feriha Koydum

text: Due to demand, the show has been rerun on the same network since 12 May 2016. The third and final season, "Adını Feriha Koydum: Emir'in Yolu", which until then hadn't been shown in India, was broadcast for the first time from 16 November to 15 December 2016 under the title "Feriha-New Season" by Zindagi.


title: Adını Feriha Koydum

text: The series was revived in the 3rd season under the title of "Adını Feriha Koydum: Emir'in Yolu" from episode 68 to 72. From the 73rd episode onwards, the show was broadcast only with the name "Emir'in Yolu" in Turkey.


title: Adını Feriha Koydum

text: Feriha Yılmaz (Hazal Kaya) is an attractive, beautiful, talented, and ambitious girl from a very poor family. Her father, Rıza Yılmaz (Metin Çekmez), is a doorman in Etiler, an upper-class neighborhood of Istanbul. Her mother, Zehra Yılmaz (Vahide Perçin), is a housekeeper. Because of her intelligence, Feriha is awarded a full scholarship to attend a private university. She wears her neighbor's lavish clothes, trying to look wealthy. There, she meets a handsome and wealthy young man, Emir Sarrafoğlu (Çağatay Ulusoy), who is known for being a womanizer. Feriha lies about her life due to the fear of being rejected. She and Emir, with passing time and favorable circumstances, fall in love with each other. However, as that love grows, she becomes trapped in her own lies.


title: Adını Feriha Koydum

text: Emir's friend Hande Gezgin (Ceyda Ateş) has a crush on Emir, while Emir's close male friend Koray Onat falls for Hande. Feriha learns that Günce is pregnant by Koray and decides to help them by taking up her abortion. Hande publishes a photo of Koray and Feriha hugging in the magazine. Emir first feels that Feriha was wrong, but later he believes her. Feriha borrows fancy clothes from her neighbor Cansu, who is a longtime fan of Emir. Cansu becomes jealous of Feriha and shows Feriha's parents the magazine photos, provoking them to arrange a marriage between Feriha and Halil. After the problem was solved, they broke up with her. Emir discovers Feriha's falsehoods and she breaks up with him. Later, Feriha is kidnapped by Halil and saved by Emir, who marries her. Both Yilmaz's and Sarrafoğlu's families get furious and break ties with them. Emir wants to protect Ece from Yavuz Sanchakter. Due to the entry of Ruia and Ece in Emir and Feriha's life, it was highly disturbing. On the day of the party, Feriha asks Emir to choose between her and work. Later, Feriha discovers Emir taking his decision. Due to a misunderstanding, Feriha divorces Emir in his absence and moves with Levent to the US for 3 years. Emir was engaged to Ece to protect her from Yavuz Sancaktar, until the problem gets solved and Feriha and Emir remarry. However, Feriha is shot by Ece on the orders of Sanem, and she dies in Emir's arms.


title: Adını Feriha Koydum

text: Emir (Cagatay Ulusoy) deals with the grief of Feriha's death. Feriha's beautiful cousin Zulal Yilmaz falls in love with Emir. Later, Yavuz Sanchakter's sister Gunes also falls for Emir. At the end of the season Aysun slapped Sanem and Emir goes to Yavuz Sanchakter to sort out things.


title: Vito Scotti

text: Vito Giusto Scozzari (January 26, 1918 – June 5, 1996), also known as Vito Scotti, was an American character actor who played both dramatic and comedy roles on Broadway, in films, and later on television, primarily from the late 1930s to the mid-1990s. He was known as a man of a thousand faces for his ability to assume so many divergent roles in more than 200 screen appearances in a career spanning 50 years and for his resourceful portrayals of various ethnic types. Of Italian heritage, he played everything from a Mexican bandit, to a Russian doctor, to a Japanese sailor, to an Indian travel agent.


title: Vito Scotti

text: Vito Giusto Scozzari was born 26 Jan 1918 in San Francisco, California. He was the son of Giusto and Virginia Ambroselli Scozzari. His family spent the early 1920s in Naples. The family returned to the United States on 4 July 1924 and lived briefly at 802 South 8th Street in Philadelphia before moving to New York City the following year.


title: Vito Scotti

text: In 1925, after the Scozzari family had returned to the United States, his mother became a diva in New York City theatre circles. Scotti worked the night club circuit as a stand-up magician and Mime artist. He made his debut on Broadway in "Pinocchio", where he played a small role.


title: Vito Scotti

text: After serving in World War II, Scotti entered movies and television in the late 1940s. He made his film debut, playing an uncredited role as a Mexican youth in "Illegal Entry" (1949), with Howard Duff and George Brent.


title: Vito Scotti

text: By 1953, Scotti replaced J. Carrol Naish as Luigi Basco, an Italian immigrant who ran a Chicago antique store, on the television version of the radio show "Life with Luigi". Five years later, he portrayed another "ethnic" character, Rama from India (among other characters) in the live-action segment "Gunga Ram" on the Andy Devine children's show, "Andy's Gang",


title: Vito Scotti

text: where he also played a foil to the trickster Froggy the Gremlin. He was cast as French Duclos in the 1959 episode "Deadly Tintype" of the NBC Western series, "The Californians".


title: Vito Scotti

text: In 1963, Scotti was cast as the Italian farmer Vincenzo Peruggia in the episode "The Tenth Mona Lisa" of the CBS anthology series, "General Electric True", hosted by Jack Webb. In the episode set in the year 1911, Peruggia steals the "Mona Lisa" from the Louvre museum in Paris but is apprehended by a French detective when he attempts to unload the painting on an art dealer.


title: Vito Scotti

text: He also appeared in television series, such as "How to Marry a Millionaire" (as Jules in the 1958 episode "Loco and the Gambler"), in four episodes of "The Rifleman", "Rescue 8" (1959), "State Trooper" (1959), "Sugarfoot" (1959), "The Texan" (1959), "Johnny Staccato" (1960), "The Twilight Zone" (Mr. Bevis), (1960), The Twilight Zone (The Gift), (1962), "The Investigators" (1961), "" (1962), "Lassie", "Stoney Burke" (1963), "The Wide Country" (1963), "Dr. Kildare" (1963), "Going My Way" (1963), "Breaking Point" (1963), "The Dick Van Dyke Show" (1963), and "The Addams Family" (1964–1965).


title: Vito Scotti

text: Scotti appeared in two episodes of "Bonanza", in "Gunsmoke" (1965–1970), "The Man from U.N.C.L.E." (1965 and 1967), "The Wild Wild West", "Ironside", "The Monkees", "The Flying Nun", "Get Smart", "Hogan's Heroes", as one of The Penguin's henchmen in two episodes of "Batman", two episodes of "The Bionic Woman" (1976), and two episodes of "The Golden Girls" (1988-1989). He played Geppetto in "Geppetto's Workshop" in the 1980s.


title: Vito Scotti

text: He appeared four times on "Gilligan's Island" in the 1960s: in season one, episode 15 (1964–65) as a Japanese sailor who did not know World War II was over, later in season one, episode 31, as the same sailor in scenes where Ginger, the skipper, and Mister Howell reflect in diaries on their versions of how a rescue transpired in the above-mentioned episode 15, and twice as Dr. Boris Balinkoff, a mad scientist, in seasons two and three. He appeared in 5 episodes (1973-1975) of the original "Columbo", as a befuddled maître d’, a snobbish clothing store salesman, a soliciting undertaker, an erudite street bum, and a soybean wholesaler, and in one episode (1989) as Vito when the series was revived.


title: Vito Scotti

text: Scotti was cast as a Mexican bandit in two one-hour episodes of "Zorro" titled "El Bandido" and "Adios El Cuchillo" alongside Gilbert Roland, and an Italian restaurant owner in episode 35 of season one of "Bewitched".


title: Vito Scotti

text: The actor appeared in hundreds of film and television roles, including a prominent role as the "Italian Train Engineer" in "Von Ryan's Express" who leads the escaped prisoners to Switzerland, as Nazorine in "The Godfather" (1972), as Vittorio in "Chu Chu and the Philly Flash" (1981), and most notably as the scene-stealing cook in "How Sweet It Is!" (1968). In the pivotal scene, Scotti grabs a flustered Debbie Reynolds and plants a kiss on her midriff.


title: Vito Scotti

text: He portrayed Colonel Enrico Ferrucci in "The Secret War of Harry Frigg" (1968) and later appeared in the Academy Award-winning comedy "Cactus Flower" (1969), as Señor Arturo Sánchez, who unsuccessfully tries to seduce Ingrid Bergman's character.


title: Vito Scotti

text: He voiced the Italian Cat in the Walt Disney animated film "The Aristocats" (1970), and appeared with Lindsay Wagner on her television special, "Another Side of Me" (1977). His last screen performance was as the manager at Vesuvio's in the criminal comedy "Get Shorty" (1995).


title: Vito Scotti

text: Scotti died of lung cancer at the Motion Picture & Television Country House and Hospital in Woodland Hills, California, on June 5, 1996. He was interred at Hollywood Forever Cemetery, with his first wife Irene, in the Abbey of the Psalms Mausoleum.


title: Vito Scotti

text: In addition to his accomplishments as an actor, Scotti was highly regarded as a cook. He loved cooking, especially the recipes of his beloved mother and grandmother. Two generations of Hollywood's top names always left his dinner parties raving about the food and wine.


title: Vito Scotti

text: He was married for many years to Irene A. Scozzari until her death at age 54, on April 15, 1979. Vito then married Beverly and they were married until his death. He was a dedicated fundraiser for the "Carmen Fund", set up by the Joaquin Miller High School Parents Guild, to assist the school's special-needs students in obtaining medical treatment. The fund was named after the Scottis' daughter, one of the first patients to undergo pioneering spinal implant surgery.


title: Benmont Tench

text: Benjamin Montmorency "Benmont" Tench III (born September 7, 1953) is an American musician and singer, and a founding member of Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.


title: Benmont Tench

text: Tench was born in Gainesville, Florida, the second child of Benjamin Montmorency Tench Jr. and Mary Catherine McInnis Tench. His father was born and raised in the city of Gainesville, and served as a circuit court judge.


title: Benmont Tench

text: Tench played piano from an early age. His first recital was at age six. After discovering the music of The Beatles, he ended his classical piano lessons and focused on rock and roll. At age 11, he met Tom Petty for the first time at a Gainesville music store. Petty and Tench played together as members of The Sundowners in 1964. The Tench family's garage was a frequent practice site for the band.


title: Benmont Tench

text: He attended Phillips Exeter Academy, and subsequently Tulane University in New Orleans. While on a college break, Tench went to a concert by Mudcrutch, Petty's band, with an opening act from nearby Jacksonville, Lynyrd Skynyrd. Afterwards, he sat in with the band on several different sessions, then went back to school. Soon after, Petty called Tench and asked him to quit school and join Mudcrutch full-time, which after long deliberation, Tench agreed to; but before he would leave school, Petty had to convince Tench's father that his son had a promising music career.


title: Benmont Tench

text: In addition to playing piano and Hammond organ with the Heartbreakers, Tench is also a session musician, having recorded with dozens of notable artists.


title: Benmont Tench

text: Songs written by Tench and recorded by other artists include "You Little Thief", a top 5 UK and Australian hit for Feargal Sharkey in 1985, and "Never Be You" (co-written with Petty), which became a #1 US Country hit for Rosanne Cash, also in 1985. Tench has received two ASCAP songwriting awards: in 1995 for "Stay Forever" (performed by Hal Ketchum) and in 2001 for "Unbreakable Heart" (performed by Jessica Andrews). This was also recorded by Carlene Carter in the early 1990s. He also wrote songs for Kimmie Rhodes ("Play Me A Memory") and Lone Justice ("Sweet, Sweet Baby (I'm Falling)").


title: Benmont Tench

text: In 2008, Tench became part of a supergroup, initially named The Scrolls, now officially known as Works Progress Administration (W.P.A.). The band is composed of Tench, Sean Watkins (guitar), Sara Watkins (fiddle), Glen Phillips (guitar, vocals), Luke Bulla (fiddle), Greg Leisz (various), Pete Thomas (drums), and Davey Faragher (bass). The group released a self-titled album in September 2009. Tench penned one of the songs on the album, named "The Price," sung by Sara Watkins and himself.


title: Benmont Tench

text: Tench has worked extensively with other musicians, playing keyboards on hundreds of songs on albums such as Stevie Nicks' "Bella Donna", Bob Dylan's "Shot of Love", along with other musical greats such as Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Alanis Morissette, Eurythmics, Fiona Apple, U2, X (American band) among many more.


title: Benmont Tench

text: In 2009, Tench frequently appeared with the Watkins Family Hour at Largo at the Coronet in Los Angeles. He has also appeared at the Largo and at the Fillmore in San Francisco as a special guest with Gillian Welch and David Rawlings, and accompanied the Dave Rawlings Machine on part of their west coast tour in spring 2010. In 2015, the Watkins Family Hour released their debut album and went on a national tour.


title: Benmont Tench

text: In 2014, Tench released his first solo album, titled "You Should Be So Lucky". Tench also added keyboard parts to Stevie Nicks' album "".


title: Benmont Tench

text: In 2016, he played the Fleetwood Mac tribute at the Fonda Theater, in Los Angeles; he performed the song "Silver Springs" with Courtney Love. Tench also appears on the bill for a tribute to the band Big Star that took place in Los Angeles, California, in April 2016 (together with members of R.E.M, Wilco and Semisonic).


title: Benmont Tench

text: Tench also reunited with Mudcrutch to record the band's second album, "Mudcrutch 2". The band embarked on their American tour on May 26, 2016.


title: Benmont Tench

text: In March 2019, Tench played three shows with Phil Lesh & Friends at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, New York. He also played on three songs from The Who's album "WHO", released in December 2019.


title: Benmont Tench

text: In 1991, Tench married Canadian model Courtney Taylor. They divorced in late 1999. In 2015, Tench married his second wife, author Alice Carbone Tench. Their daughter Catherine Gabriella Winter was born on December 16, 2017.


title: Anandham Vilayadum Veedu

text: Anandham Vilayadum Veedu () is a 2021 Indian Tamil-language action drama film written and directed by Nandha Periyasamy and produced by Sri Vaari Film. The film stars Gautham Karthik, Cheran and Shivathmika Rajasekhar with a supporting cast including Saravanan, Vignesh, Daniel Balaji, Rajendran and Soundararaja. The film was released in theatres on 24 December 2021.


title: Anandham Vilayadum Veedu

text: Periya Aambalai (Joe Malloori) plays an elderly man who has four sons, Kasi (Saravanan), Pazhanisamy (Vignesh), Dharmaraj (Snehan) and a daughter with his deceased first wife. Muthupandi (Cheran), Chella, Selvam (Soundararaja) and Mahesh are his sons with his second wife. Kasi has two children, Sakthivel (Gautham Karthik) and Venpa. Muthupandi is very affectionate towards his half brother Kasi and also employs his nephew Sakthivel in his lorry business. (Daniel Balaji) who plays Karuppan is an evil money lender who loses his business due the brothers working hard, helping one another and waits for an opportunity to destroy them. When Venba gets pregnant after marriage the Kasi decides to have the childbirth in their home but since its in bad shape decides to build a new house. Muthupandi offers his land to Kasi who in return promises to build a house for the entire family of thirty members. The construction begins and Karuppan starts plotting against them and creates rifts between the half brothers.


title: Anandham Vilayadum Veedu

text: In November 2020, it was reported that filmmaker Nandha Periyasamy was planning to make "Mayandi Kudumbathar 2", a spiritual sequel to the film "Mayandi Kudumbathar" (2009), with Gautham Karthik in the lead role. The pair subsequently collaborated for a separate family drama through "Anandham Vilayadum Veedu".


title: Anandham Vilayadum Veedu

text: The post-theatrical streaming rights of the film was bought by ZEE5 and the satellite rights of the film was bought by Zee Tamil and Zee Thirai.


title: Anandham Vilayadum Veedu

text: Ram Venkat Srikar of "Cinema Express" rated the film with 2.5/5 stars, stating that, "When we walk into the film, we know what we are walking into and that’s exactly what we get. Beneath the flaws, the melodrama, a host of squawking characters, there’s some heart to be found in this family drama, but it needed more. In other words, the foundation is strong enough, but it needed a stronger build." Suganth of "The Times of India" gave a rating of 2 out on 5 and wrote, "A family drama with contrived writing and TV serial-level making." "Sify" rated the film with 2/5 stars, criticizing that, "Anandham Vilayadum Veedu is for audiences who love TV serials and family dramas from the 80s." and gave the final verdict as Below Average. Bharat Kumar of "News Today" wrote, "The film is cringe at places and fails to leave an emotional connect. But Nandha Periyasamy can be lauded for taking up a movie with a good message." Siby Jeyya of "India Herald" called, "The film follows Routine Family Drama Template."


title: XPeng

text: Guangzhou Xiaopeng Motors Technology Co Ltd (), doing business as XPeng Motors (), commonly known as XPeng, is a Chinese electric vehicle manufacturer. The company is headquartered in Guangzhou, Guangdong, with offices in Mountain View, California, United States and is publicly traded on the New York Stock Exchange.


title: XPeng

text: XPeng was co-founded in 2014 by Xia Heng (Henry Xia) and He Tao, former senior executives at GAC Group with expertise in automotive technology and research and development. Initial backers included: the founder of UCWeb and former Alibaba executive He Xiaopeng, namesake and current Chairman of XPeng, and Lei Jun, the founder of Xiaomi. Prominent Chinese and international investors included Alibaba, Foxconn and IDG Capital. A further funding round in 2018 saw Alibaba's vice president Joseph Tsai join the corporate board of XPeng.


title: XPeng

text: XPeng's subsidiary in the United States, XMotors.ai held a permit for testing self-driving cars from the California Department of Motor Vehicles starting in September 2018. The permit was revoked in February 2020 due to XPeng's failure to submit a disengagement report. XPeng Motors then received a renewed Autonomous Vehicles Testing Permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles in March 2020.


title: XPeng

text: XPeng started production of its first model, the XPeng G3 SUV, in November 2018. It launched the G3 in December 2018 at the 2018 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas.


title: XPeng

text: Its second model, the P7, a four-door electric sedan, premiered in April 2019 at the 2019 Auto Shanghai show and started deliveries to customers in June 2020.


title: XPeng

text: In November 2019, XPeng raised US$400 million in a third fundraising round, which saw Xiaomi join as a strategic investor of XPeng. In July 2020, XPeng raised US$500 million from a group of investors including Aspex, Coatue, Hillhouse Capital and Sequoia Capital China. In August 2020, XPeng raised an additional US$400 million from a group of investors including Alibaba, Qatar Investment Authority and Abu Dhabi's sovereign wealth fund Mubadala. On 27 August 2020, XPeng raised US$1.5 billion with an IPO on the New York Stock Exchange, where its shares climbed more than 40% on the first day of trading. In March 2021, the company received a US$76.9 million funding from Guangdong Yuecai Investment Holdings Co. As of May 2021, 23% of XPeng shares are owned by He Xiaopeng, and 12% by Alibaba Group.


title: XPeng

text: In the third quarter of 2021, revenue for XPeng rose over 500% compared to the year before. It had also increased its R&D team by about a third since the year before.


title: XPeng

text: In 2021, for the first time, XPeng started exporting its flagship P7 sedan. Its first international market was Norway, starting in August. In August 2021, the company's P5 subcompact sedan became able to read traffic lights. In September 2021, XPeng brought its P5 to market. It is the first production car to be equipped with lidar sensors for advanced driver-assistance systems (ADAS).


title: XPeng

text: In October 2021, XPeng's subsidiary HT Aero announced $500 million in funding and the design for a flying car with a planned launch in 2024.