title: International political economy

text: The liberal view point generally has been strong in Western academia since it was first articulated by Smith in the eighteenth century. Only during the 1940s to early 1970s did an alternative system, Keynesianism, command wide support in universities. Keynes was concerned chiefly with domestic macroeconomic policy. The Keynesian consensus was challenged by Friedrich Hayek and later Milton Friedman and other scholars out of Chicago as early as the 1950s, and by the 1970s, Keynes' influence on public discourse and economic policy making had somewhat faded.


title: International political economy

text: After World War II, the Bretton Woods system was established, reflecting the political orientation described as Embedded liberalism. In 1971 President Richard Nixon ended the convertibility of gold that had been established under the IMF in the Bretton Woods system. Interim agreements followed. Nonetheless, until 2008 the trend has been for increasing liberalization of both international trade and finance. From later 2008 world leaders have also been increasingly calling for a New Bretton Woods System.


title: International political economy

text: Topics such as the International Monetary Fund, Financial Crises (see Financial crisis of 2007–2008 and 1997 Asian financial crisis), exchange rates, Foreign Direct Investment, Multinational Corporations receive much attention in IPE.


title: International political economy

text: There are multiple approaches to trade within IPE. These approaches seek to explain international bargaining between states, as well as the foreign economic policies that states adopt. In terms of domestic explanations for the foreign economic policies of states, the two dominant approaches are the factor model and sector model, both of which build on David Ricardo's theory of comparative advantage.


title: International political economy

text: The factor model (which has been called the H-O-S-S model) is shaped by the Heckscher-Ohlin model and the Stolper-Samuelsson theorem. According to the Heckscher-Ohlin model of trade, the comparative advantage of countries in trade stems from their endowments of particular factors of trade (land, labor, capital). This means that a country abundant in land will primarily export land-intensive products (such as agriculture), whereas a country abundant in capital will export capital-intensive products (such as high-technology manufacturing) and a country abundant in labor will export labor-intensive products (such as textiles). Building on this model, the Stolper-Samuelsson theorem holds that groups that possess the factors will support or oppose trade depending on the abundance or scarcity of the factors. This means that in a country which is abundant in land and scarce in capital, farmers will support free trade whereas producers in capital-intensive manufacturing will oppose free trade. The factor model predicts that labor in developed countries will oppose trade liberalization (because it is relatively scarce), whereas labor in developing countries will support free trade (because it is relatively abundant). Building on these insights, influential research by Ronald Rogowski argued that factor endowments predicted whether countries were characterized by class-conflict (capital vs. labor) or urban-rural conflict. Similarly, an influential study by Helen Milner and Keiko Kubota argues that factor endowments explain why developing countries liberalize their trade after they democratize (the abundant factor, labor, supports trade liberalization). Research has substantiated the predictions of the Stolper-Samuelsson theorem, showing that trade openness tends to reduce inequality in developing countries, but exacerbate it in advanced economies.


title: International political economy

text: The sectors model of trade, the Ricardo–Viner model (named after David Ricardo and Jacob Viner), challenges the notion that factors are key to understanding trade preferences. Factors can be highly immobile, which means that capital-owners and labor who work in a particular sector may have similar interests. As a consequence, trade preferences are better understood by examining which economic sectors win or lose on trade liberalization. Whereas the factor model assumes that capital-owners in different sectors have similar trade preferences and that labor across different sector have similar trade preferences, the Ricardo-Viner model holds that in sectors where factors are immobile, labor and capital-owners in one sector may have the same trade preferences. As a result, the Ricardo-Viner model predicts that class conflict over trade is more likely when factors are highly mobile, but that industry-based conflict is more likely when factors are immobile.


title: International political economy

text: Adam Dean has challenged the economic assumptions in both models, arguing that workers' wages do not consistently correspond to increases in productivity in a given industry (contradicting Ricardo-Viner) nor do workers consistently benefit from import restrictions when labor is the scarce factor of endowment (contradicting Heckscher-Ohlin). The degree to which Ricardo-Viner and Heckscher-Ohlin are correct is conditioned by whether workers have profit-sharing institutions or are unionized (which helps them to bargain for higher wages amid productivity increases). He has also challenged Milner and Kubota's study on trade liberalization in developing countries, as he shows that democratic developing countries frequently repressed labor unions amid trade liberalization.


title: International political economy

text: Studies by Dani Rodrik and Anna Mayda, as well as Kenneth Scheve and Matthew J. Slaughter have found support for the factor models, as they show that there is greater support for trade openness in developing countries (where labor is abundant and thus benefits from trade openness). Other studies find no support for either model, and argue that the models have limited explanatory value. A 2022 study in the "Journal of Politics" found that comparative advantage predicts attitudes on free trade among individuals and legislators. According to a 2017 assessment by Thomas Oatley, there are "no strong conclusions" in IPE scholarship as to which of these models better characterizes the sources of individual trade policies.


title: International political economy

text: Aside from the sector and factor models, there are firm-specific models of trade preferences (some times described as "New new" trade theory) which predict that those who work for large, productive and globally oriented firms support trade liberalization (as well as free movement of capital and labor), whereas employees in smaller firms are less supportive of free trade. Economic geography approaches explain trade policies by looking at the regions that benefit and lose on globalization; it predicts that large cities support trade liberalization and that left-behind regions push back on liberalization. Other alternative models to the factor and sector models may explain individual preferences through demographic data (age, class, skills, education, gender), as well as ideology and culture. Some studies have raised questions about whether individuals understand the effects of trade protectionism, which puts doubt on theories that assume that trade policy preferences are rooted in economic self-interest.


title: International political economy

text: Trade may in and of itself alter domestic politics, including the trade preferences of the public. A 1988 study by Helen Milner found that trade openness substantially increased support for free trade by strengthening the position of firms that stand to lose from trade protectionism. Influential studies by David Cameron, Dani Rodrik and Peter Katzenstein have affirmed the insights of the Double Movement, as they show that greater trade openness has been associated with increases in government social spending.


title: International political economy

text: In terms of how preferences get aggregated and reconciled into foreign economic policies, IPE scholars have pointed to collective action problems, electoral systems, regime types, veto points, the nature of the legislative trade policy process, the interaction between domestic and international bargaining, and the interactions between political elites and epistemic communities. Some IPE scholarship de-emphasizes the role of domestic politics and points to international processes as shapers of trade policy. Some scholars have argued for a "new interdependence" approach, which restores insights from the complex interdependence of the 1970s, but emphasizes network effects, control over central nodes, and path dependence.


title: International political economy

text: Historically, three prominent approaches to IPE were the liberal, economic nationalist (mercantilist), and marxist perspectives.


title: International political economy

text: Economic liberals tend to oppose government intervention in the market when it inhibits free trade and open competition, but support government intervention to protect property rights and resolve market failures. Economic liberals commonly adhere to a political and economic philosophy which advocates a restrained fiscal policy and the balancing of budgets, through measures such as low taxes, reduced government spending, and minimized government debt.


title: International political economy

text: To economic nationalists, markets are subordinate to the state, and should serve the interests of the state (such as providing national security and accumulating military power). The doctrine of mercantilism is a prominent variant of economic nationalism. Economic nationalists tend to see international trade as zero-sum, where the goal is to derive relative gains (as opposed to mutual gains). Economic nationalism tends to emphasize industrialization (and often aids industries with state support), due to beliefs that industry has positive spillover effects on the rest of the economy, enhances the self-sufficiency and political autonomy of the country, and is a crucial aspect in building military power.


title: International political economy

text: There are several prominent approaches to IPE. The dominant paradigm is Open Economy Politics. Other influential approaches include dependency theory, hegemonic stability theory, and domestic political theories of IPE.


title: International political economy

text: Early modern IPE scholarship employed a diversity of methods and did both grand theory and middle range theory, but over time, the scholarship has become more quantitative and focused on middle-range theories. Robert Jervis wrote in 1998, "the IPE subfield, after a marvelous period of development in the 1970s and 1980s seems to be stagnating."


title: International political economy

text: The first wave of IPE scholarship focused on complex interdependence and the evolution of global systems of economic exchange. This scholarship focused on hegemonic stability theory, complex interdependence, and regimes. The second wave sought to explain the domestic sources of global economic cooperation or explain how global processes influence domestic policy-making. The third wave increasingly focused on explaining the micro-foundations of policy. According to Benjamin Cohen, "in terms of theory, consensus is often lacking on even the most basic causal relationships" in IPE scholarship.


title: International political economy

text: Open Economy Politics (OEP) can be traced to domestic political theories of IPE; OEP emerged in the late 1990s. OEP adopts the assumptions of neoclassical economics and international trade theory. It strongly emphasizes microfoundations. It has been characterized as employing rationalism, materialism and liberalism. According to David Lake,


title: International political economy

text: Thomas Oatley has criticized OEP for an overemphasis on domestic political processes and for failing to consider the interplay between processes at the domestic level and macro processes at the global level: in essence, OEP scholarship suffers from omitted variable bias. According to Peter Katzenstein, Robert Keohane and Stephen Krasner, scholarship in this vein assumes that actors' preferences and behavior are derived from their material position, which leads to a neglect of the ways in which variation in information may shape actor preferences and behaviors. Mark Blyth and Matthias Matthijs argue that OEP scholarship essentially black boxes the global economy. Stephanie Rickard has defended the OEP approach, writing in 2021:OEP has matured and developed over the past decade. As a framework, it has proven to be enormously productive and adaptable—integrating diverse economic phenomena under a common theoretical umbrella and providing a framework flexible enough to react to significant events in the global economy... The accumulating body of scholarship in the OEP tradition has moved our understanding of world politics decisively forward. Critics of OEP have yet to offer an alternative, more empirically powerful theory and as a result, OEP continues to progress as the dominant paradigm in IPE research.Scholars have questioned the empirical validity of the models derived from OEP scholarship on money and trade, as well as questioned the ability of OEP scholarship to explain momentous events in global political economy. Challengers to the OEP framework include behavioral approaches (which do not necessarily accept that individual interests stem from material incentives), and economic geography approaches. According to Stephanie Rickard, OEP scholars have modified their models to incorporate incomplete information (which affects how individual preferences are formed) and economies of scale (which affects the distribution of gains and losses). Erica Owen and Stephanie Walter similarly argue that "second-generation" OEP frameworks incorporate both material and ideational preferences.


title: International political economy

text: Dependency theory is the notion that resources flow from a "periphery" of poor and underdeveloped states to a "core" of wealthy states, enriching the latter at the expense of the former. It is a central contention of dependency theory that poor states are impoverished and rich ones enriched by the way poor states are integrated into the "world system". This theory was officially developed in the late 1960s following World War II, as scholars searched for the root issue in the lack of development in Latin America.


title: International political economy

text: Early IPE scholarship was focused on the implications of hegemony on international economic affairs. In the 1970s, US hegemony appeared to be on the fall, which prompted scholars to consider the likely effects of this falling. Robert Keohane coined the term Hegemonic stability theory in a 1980 article for the notion that the international system is more likely to remain stable when a single nation-state is the dominant world power, or hegemon. Keohane's 1984 book "After Hegemony", used insights from the new institutional economics, to argue that the international system could remain stable in the absence of a hegemon.


title: International political economy

text: Benjamin Cohen provides a detailed intellectual history of IPE identifying American and British camps. The Americans are positivist and attempt to develop intermediate level theories that are supported by some form of quantitative evidence. British IPE is more "interpretivist" and looks for "grand theories". They use very different standards of empirical work. Cohen sees benefits in both approaches. A special edition of "New Political Economy" has been issued on The 'British School' of IPE and a special edition of the "Review of International Political Economy" (RIPE) on American IPE.


title: International political economy

text: The leading journal for IPE scholarship is the generalist international relations journal "International Organization". "International Organization" played an instrumental role in making IPE one of the prominent subfields in IR. The leading IPE-specific journals are the "Review of International Political Economy" and "New Political Economy". Examples of journals within the historical study of IPE are Economic History Review and History of Political Economy.


title: Walking stick

text: A walking stick or walking cane is a device used primarily to aid walking, provide postural stability or support, or assist in maintaining a good posture. Some designs also serve as a fashion accessory, or are used for self-defense.


title: Walking stick

text: Walking sticks come in many shapes and sizes and some have become collector's items. People with disabilities may use some kinds of walking sticks as a crutch but a walking cane is not designed for full weight support and is instead designed to help with balance. The walking stick has also historically been known to be used as a self defensive weapon and may conceal a knife or sword – as in a swordstick or swordcane.


title: Walking stick

text: Hikers use walking sticks, also known as trekking poles, pilgrim's staffs, hiking poles, or hiking sticks, for a wide variety of purposes: as a support when going uphill or as a brake when going downhill; as a balance point when crossing streams, swamps, or other rough terrain; to feel for obstacles in the path; to test mud and water for depth; to enhance the cadence of striding, and as a defence against animals. An alpenstock, from its origins in mountaineering in the Alps, is equipped with a steel point and may carry a hook or ice axe on top. More ornate sticks may be adorned with small trinkets or medallions depicting visited territory. Wooden walking-sticks are used for outdoor sports, healthy upper-body exercise, and even club, department, and family memorials. They can be individually handcrafted from a number of woods and may be personalised with wood carving or metal engraving plaques.


title: Walking stick

text: Around the 17th or 18th century, a walking stick took over from the shepherd's walking stick as an essential part of the European gentleman's wardrobe, used primarily as a walking stick. A walking stick also became a men's fashion and dress accessory which also helped to display one's social class level. It would be common for an individual to wear a custom hat and walking stick to distinguish their status and wealth. In addition to its value as a decorative accessory, it also continued to be a self defense item to protect the user from street crime. The standard cane was rattan with a rounded wooden handle.


title: Walking stick

text: Some canes had specially weighted metalwork. Other types of wood, such as hickory, are equally suitable.


title: Walking stick

text: Various staffs of office derived from walking sticks or staffs are used by both western and eastern Christian churches.


title: Walking stick

text: In Islam the walking stick ('Asa) is considered a sunnah and Muslims are encouraged to carry one. The imam traditionally delivers the Khutbah while leaning on a stick.


title: Walking stick

text: In North America, a walking cane is a walking stick with a curved top much like a shepherd's staff, but shorter. Thus, although they are called "canes", they are usually made of more modern material other than cane, such as wood, metal or carbon fiber.


title: Walking stick

text: In the United States, presidents have often carried canes and received them as gifts. The Smithsonian has a cane given to George Washington by Benjamin Franklin. It features a gold handle in the shape of a Phrygian cap. In modern times, walking sticks are usually only seen with formal attire. Retractable canes that reveal such properties as hidden compartments, pool sticks, or blades are popular among collectors. Handles have been made from many substances, both natural and manmade. Carved and decorated canes have turned the functional into the fantastic.


title: Walking stick

text: The idea of a fancy cane as a fashion accessory to go with top hat and tails has been popularized in many song-and-dance acts, especially by Fred Astaire in several of his films and songs such as "Top Hat, White Tie and Tails" and "Puttin' On the Ritz", where he exhorts "Come, let's mix where Rockefellers walk with sticks or umbrellas in their mitts." He danced with a cane frequently.


title: Walking stick

text: Some canes, known as "tippling canes" or "tipplers", have hollowed-out compartments near the top where flasks or vials of alcohol could be hidden and sprung out on demand.


title: Walking stick

text: When used as a mobility or stability aid, canes are generally used in the hand opposite the injury or weakness. This may appear counter-intuitive, but this allows the cane to be used for stability in a way that lets the user shift much of their weight onto the cane and away from their weaker side as they walk. Personal preference, or a need to hold the cane in their dominant hand, means some cane users choose to hold the cane on their injured side.


title: Walking stick

text: In the U.S. Congress in 1856, Charles Sumner of Massachusetts criticized Stephen A. Douglas of Illinois and Andrew Butler of South Carolina for the Kansas–Nebraska Act. When a relative of Andrew Butler, Preston Brooks, heard of it, he felt that Sumner's behavior demanded retaliation, and beat him senseless on the floor of the Senate with a gutta-percha walking cane. Although this event is commonly known as "the caning of Senator Charles Sumner", it was not a caning in the normal (especially British) sense of formal corporal punishment with a much more flexible and usually thinner rattan.


title: Boleyn family

text: The Boleyn family was a prominent English family in the gentry and aristocracy. They reached the peak of their influence during the Tudor period, when Anne Boleyn became the second wife and queen consort of Henry VIII, their daughter being the future Elizabeth I.


title: Boleyn family

text: Due to the irregularity of English spelling at this period, the name in documents is also spelled Bulleyn or Bullen.


title: Thomas McMahon (Irish republican)

text: Thomas McMahon (born 1948) is a former volunteer in the South Armagh Brigade of the Provisional Irish Republican Army (IRA), and was one of the IRA's most experienced bomb-makers. McMahon was convicted of the murder of Lord Louis Mountbatten and three others off the coast of Mullaghmore, County Sligo, in the west of Ireland.


title: Thomas McMahon (Irish republican)

text: McMahon planted a bomb in "Shadow V", a fishing boat belonging to Mountbatten at Mullaghmore, County Sligo, near Donegal Bay. Lord Mountbatten was killed on 27 August 1979 by the bomb blast along with three other people: Doreen Knatchbull (Mountbatten's elder daughter's mother-in-law); his grandson Nicholas Knatchbull; and a 15-year-old crewmember Paul Maxwell. McMahon was arrested by the Gardaí (the Republic of Ireland's police force) at a Garda checkpoint between Longford and Granard on suspicion of driving a stolen vehicle two hours before the bomb detonated. The IRA claimed responsibility for the bombing in a statement released immediately afterwards that said: "This operation is one of the discriminate ways we can bring to the attention of the English people the continuing occupation of our country."


title: Thomas McMahon (Irish republican)

text: McMahon was tried for the assassinations in the Republic of Ireland, and convicted by forensic evidence supplied by James O'Donovan that showed flecks of paint from the boat and traces of nitroglycerine on his clothes. Although he was convicted of murder on 23 November 1979 and sentenced to life imprisonment, he served less than 20 years because he was released in 1998 under the terms of the Good Friday Agreement.


title: Thomas McMahon (Irish republican)

text: After his release, Toby Harnden in "Bandit Country" reported that McMahon was holding a tricolour in the first rank of the IRA colour party at a 1998 IRA meeting in Cullyhanna. However, according to a BBC report, McMahon has said that he had left the IRA in 1990.


title: Thomas McMahon (Irish republican)

text: He has twice refused to meet Paul Maxwell's father, John, who has sought him out to explain the reasons for his son's death. In an interview for "The Telegraph" in 2009, Maxwell stated that he had "made two approaches to McMahon, the first through a priest, who warned me in advance that he thought there wouldn't be any positive response. And there wasn't. I have some reservations about meeting him, obviously – it might work out in such a way that I would regret having made the contact. On the other hand, if we met and I could even begin to understand his motivation. If we could meet on some kind of a human level, a man to man level, it could help me come to terms with it. But that might be very optimistic. McMahon knows the door is open at this end."


title: Thomas McMahon (Irish republican)

text: His wife has stated, "Tommy never talks about Mountbatten, only the boys who died. He does have genuine remorse. Oh God yes."


title: Thomas McMahon (Irish republican)

text: As of 2009, McMahon was living with his wife in a hillside bungalow in Lisanisk, Carrickmacross, County Monaghan. He has two grown sons. He helped with Martin McGuinness's presidential campaign in 2011, erecting posters for McGuinness around Carrickmacross, and also canvassed for Sinn Féin's Matt Carthy in the 2014 European Parliament elections.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: The Norway women's national football team is controlled by the Football Association of Norway. The team is former European, World and Olympic champions and thus one of the most successful national teams. The team has had less success since the 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: Norway women's national football team emerged in 1978 for the Nordic Championship tournament, which was relatively early for Western Europe, but late for the Nordic countries, beating only Iceland. Having little culture for official clubs and a series system, Norway had a lot to do to catch up to especially Sweden and Denmark. Their early history therefore consisted of losing to their neighbours and eventually beating Northern Ireland for their first win.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: Eventually, Norway marked themselves as one of the better countries in Europe, if inferior to their Nordic neighbours. They beat England, France and Switzerland. In the first qualification for the European Competition for Representative Women's Teams (later renamed UEFA Women's Championship), Norway played opposite Sweden, Finland and Iceland. Norway lost both matches against Sweden, but beat Finland over both matches. A surprising home draw against Iceland mattered little, Norway took the second spot in a qualification where only the best teams qualified. Sweden later won the Euros.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: Norway seemed to have problems with Sweden, and they lost 0–5, their biggest loss at the time (if repeated later) shortly afterwards. Compared to other teams, however, Norway improved, and they beat Denmark and West Germany in the qualification for the 1987 Euros. The Euros, consisting as the men's Euros had been until 1980 of two semi finals and a final played in one of the countries qualified for it. In this case, Norway was the host for the four matches. Norway beat Italy in the semifinals and met Sweden in the finals. The finals was the first time Norway beat Sweden in a match, as Norway won 2–1. This made the national football team the first Norwegian sports team ever to have won anything, eleven years ahead of the Norway women's national handball team.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: Norway continued to win the next year as they beat Sweden again in a final in an invitational and unofficial world cup in China. In the 1989 Euros Norway made the finals against West Germany, but this time lost 1–4. After that loss the coaches resigned, leaving the helm to Even Pellerud. Pellerud saw Norway progress to the 1991 FIFA Women's World Cup. Before the first official world cup, Norway made it to the fourth (and Norway's third in a row) final of the Euros, where Norway again met Germany. Germany won in extra time. In the World cup Norway made it to the semifinals, where they lost to the USA.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: Following that, Pellerud led the team to the 1993 Euros. Norway beat Denmark in the semifinals and Italy in the finals, winning their second Euros. Norway followed up with winning the 1994 Algarve Cup, the first ever to be arranged. The focus the next year was the World Cup and its antecedent Euros, which also functioned as a qualifier for the World Cup. Norway met Italy already in the quarter finals, and won it. Sweden managed to come back and thrash Norway in the second semifinal in Sweden, winning 5–7 after two matches. Norway was still qualified for the World Cup.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: The 1995 World Cup in Sweden is part of Norwegian sports heritage. Norway won all their matches in the group stage, and continued to meet an unconvincing Denmark in the quarter finals. Norway was up 3–0 with five minutes to go, and while conceding a goal a minute later, Norway was never threatened. The next encounter for Norway was the US, and in a close match, USA could never respond to an early goal by Ann Kristin Aarønes, and the USA lost their first official international tournament. Norway met Germany in the finals. Having lost two Euro finals, Norway were not among the favourites, but they defeated Germany by two goals scored within the space of four minutes, becoming world champions. Pellerud resigned shortly afterwards.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: From the first women's football in the Olympic Games, it was considered equal with the world cup in rank. Norway qualified as a matter of course because of their win in the World Cup. Norway drew with Brazil, and beat Germany and Japan, proceeding to the semi finals. There they lost to the US after extra time, but won the bronze medal after defeating Brazil.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: The 1997 Euros turned out to be a big disappointment for the ruling world champions at home, and Norway only made it to the semi-finals. This was the last time the two-year gap was used, making it easier to focus on the two competitions separately. Norway eased through to the 1999 FIFA Women's World Cup, where they beat all their opposition in the group stage. They met Sweden in the quarter finals, proving that now Norway had the upper hand by beating them 3–1. Surprisingly, Norway lost heavily to China, who won 5–0, thus equaling the embarrassment Sweden defeated Norway some 13 years earlier. In the bronze final, Norway lost to Brazil on penalties in front of a record 90,185 spectators.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: Norway was not among the biggest favourites to win the Sydney Olympics. They started off losing to the US, but picked up nicely by beating Nigeria and China, the latter by one goal. In the semi finals Norway beat Germany with a lucky own goal by Tina Wunderlich after Germany pressed the Norwegians for the better part of the match. The final saw Norway against heavy favourites USA in an even match. Tiffeny Milbrett took the lead for the US, but Norway equaled the score by Gro Espeseth and stayed in the game with a good keeper in Bente Nordby. Norway took the lead in the match via a header by Ragnhild Gulbrandsen, but Milbrett scored in stoppage time to prolong the match to extra time with golden goal. Norway scored the winner in what seemed like a handball. The coach Per-Mathias Høgmo quit after achieving this feat.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: Åge Steen took over as coach, but under his tutelage, things went from top to mediocre. In the 2001 Euros Norway's play was lackluster, and while making it to the semi finals thanks to the French national team, Norway lost clearly to Germany. In the 2003 World Cup Norway disappointed with a fumbling 1–4 to Brazil in the group stage before losing to USA in the quarter finals. As Greece was arranging the 2004 Summer Olympics, there were only two additional spots for European teams, and Sweden and Germany, who had both proceeded to the finals, took them. Steen continued for another year, as stipulated by his contract, but was replaced in late 2004.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: Under the new coach, Bjarne Berntsen, Norway took things up a notch by reaching the final of the 2005 Euros with a classic 3–2 win over Sweden in extra time in the semifinal. Again Germany defeated Norway to win the championship. Norway continued to achieve reasonable results except in the Algarve Cup where the results started to slip.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: Despite this Norway qualified for the 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup in China. They drew with Australia and narrowly beat Canada, and then a 7–2 win over Ghana took them to the top of their group. Norway then progressed further by beating China 1–0, but lost 0–3 to Germany in the semifinal. In the bronze final Norway lost 1–4 to the US to finish in fourth place in the World Cup, which qualified them to enter the Beijing Olympics. Norway's top scorer Ragnhild Gulbrandsen was awarded the Bronze Boot behind Marta of Brazil and Abby Wambach of the United States.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: From there Berntsen's fortunes began to wane. First he was criticized for telling Lise Klaveness she had no future in the national team under him, at 1a.m. at Oslo airport as they were arriving back from China, a gross error that he later admitted. Then in the 2008 Olympics Norway first impressively beat USA, then lost to Japan 1–5 and went out in the quarter finals against Brazil. In October 2008, five players refused to play in the National Team, making comments that implied playing under Berntsen was too much of a burden, which led to a media outcry. With a reduced team, and also after some less controversial resignations, Norway produced a relatively good result at the 2009 UEFA Women's Championship by beating Sweden 3–1 in the quarter-finals, even with an embarrassing 0–4 against Germany and a modest 1–0 against Iceland and 1–1 against France. After the championship, Berntsen's contract ended.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: Eli Landsem, the first woman coach and the first coach with experience of coaching women's football, took over at the end of 2009. Under her some of the players who had previously elected not to play returned. Landsem produced acceptable results and the team qualified to play in the 2011 FIFA World Cup after winning all but one of the matches in their qualification group. However Norway failed to reach the quarter-finals for the first time in its history after losing to Brazil (0–3) and Australia (1–2). As a result, they also failed to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: The next task was qualification to the 2013 European Cup competition, with Norway in Group3 with Iceland, Northern Ireland, Belgium, Hungary and Bulgaria. The campaign began badly with 3–1 losses to Iceland and 64th-ranked Northern Ireland, but in 2012 the position was recovered with wins in the last six matches, and Norway finished top of Group3 with eight wins from ten matches. They later went on to finish as runners-up in the finals in Sweden.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: At the 2015 FIFA Women's World Cup, Norway was drawn into a group with Germany, Thailand and the Ivory Coast. Norway performed well in the group stage, as the team beat Thailand 4–0 and the Ivory Coast 3–1. They drew 1–1 against former champions Germany. Norway would lose 2–1 in the round of sixteen to England. England went on to win the bronze medal.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: On 16 December 2016 Martin Sjögren was introduced as the new coach of Norway. He had previous coaching experience in the Damallsvenskan with Linköpings and LdB FC Malmö.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: Norway qualified for Euro 2017 without losing a game. They were drawn into Group A alongside the Netherlands, Belgium and Denmark. Norway was the highest ranked team in Group A, and were predicted by many to win the group. They ended up being one of the biggest disappointments of the tournament as they lost all three group games without scoring a goal.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: On 9 September 2017 Norway striker and 2016 UEFA Women's Player of the Year Ada Hegerberg announced she was taking a break from international duty, and was unsure when or if she would return.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: On 7 October 2017 the Norway Football Association announced that Norway's male and female players would receive equal financial compensation, with the men making a contribution to the women's team. This equalled nearly a fifty percent increase in compensation for the women.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: On 4 September 2018 Norway defeated the Netherlands 2–1 in their final group game of UEFA World Cup Qualifying. As a result, Norway won qualifying Group3 and secured an automatic berth in the 2019 World Cup, while the Netherlands who won Euro 2017 were forced to go to the play-off.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: In their Euro 2022 group stage match against England on 11 July 2022, the team suffered their biggest defeat, losing 8–0. Norway was eliminated after the first round, as in 2017, after losing the final Group A match against Austria (0–1), having won only one match, in the opening match against Northern Ireland (4–1). In addition, Ada Hegerberg, back in the national team after several years of falling out with the federation, did not score a single goal.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: The following 25 players were initially called up for the Friendly against France and the England on 11 and 15 November 2022.


title: Norway women's national football team

text: The Algarve Cup is a global invitational tournament for national teams in women's soccer hosted by the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF). Held annually in the Algarve region of Portugal since 1994, it is one of the most prestigious women's football events, alongside the Women's World Cup and Women's Olympic Football.


title: Dracaena draco

text: Dracaena draco, the Canary Islands dragon tree or drago, is a subtropical tree in the genus "Dracaena", native to the Canary Islands, Cape Verde, Madeira, western Morocco, and is thought to be introduced in the Azores. Its closest living relative is the dragon blood tree of Socotra, "Dracaena cinnabari".


title: Dracaena draco

text: It was first described by Carl Linnaeus in 1762 as "Asparagus draco". In 1767 he assigned it to the new genus, Dracaena.


title: Dracaena draco

text: "Dracaena draco" is an evergreen long lived tree with up to or more in height and a trunk or more in circumference, starting with a smooth bark that evolves to a more rough texture as it ages. The "dragon tree" is a Monocot, with a branching growth pattern currently placed in the asparagus family (Asparagaceae, subfamily Nolinoidae). When young it has a single stem. At about 10–15 years of age the stem stops growing and produces a flower spike with white, lily-like perfumed flowers, followed by coral berries. Soon a crown of terminal buds appears and the plant starts branching. Each branch grows for about 10–15 years and re-branches, so a mature plant has an umbrella-like habit. It grows slowly, requiring about 10 years to reach in height, but can grow much faster.


title: Dracaena draco

text: Despite being a monocotyledon, it still has annual or growth rings. There is considerable genetic variation within the Canary Island dragon trees. The form found on Gran Canaria is now treated as a separate species, "Dracaena tamaranae", based on differences in flower structure. The form endemic to La Palma initially branches very low with numerous, nearly vertical branches arranged fastigiately. There is a forest of such trees at Las Tricias, Garafia district, La Palma.


title: Dracaena draco

text: "Dracaena draco" is native to Macaronesia and southwest Morocco, where it is commonly cultivated as an ornamental plant. On the Canary and Madeira archipelagos, wild endemic populations today are known only in Tenerife and Madeira after recently going extinct in the wild in Gran Canaria. Wild populations in Morocco extend to the southwest Atlas Mountains. Its origin on the Azores is uncertain but it is thought to result from an introduction made by the Portuguese prior to 1500 with seeds from Madeira and Cape Verde, as some individuals were observed to have similarities with the Cape Verdean subspecies (subsp. "caboverdeana"); there are around 200-300 individuals on remote sites in the island of São Jorge and a few more on other islands and is unknown if these populations can be considered native or the result of an early introduction.


title: Dracaena draco

text: When the bark or leaves are cut they secrete a reddish resin, one of several sources of substances known as dragon's blood. Red resins from this tree contain many mono- and dimeric flavans that contribute to the red color of the resins. Dragon's blood has a number of traditional medical uses, although dragon's blood obtained from "Dracaena draco" was not known until the 15th century, and analyses suggest that most dragon's blood used in art was obtained from species of the genus "Daemonorops". The primary and secondary plant body are the site of the secretory plant tissues that form dragon's blood. These tissues include ground parenchyma cells and cortex cells. Dragon's blood from "Dracaena draco" and "Dracaena cinnabari" can be distinguished by differences in 10 compounds and a dominant flavonoid DrC11 missing in "Dracaena draco".


title: Dracaena draco

text: The Guanches worshiped a specimen in Tenerife, and hollowed its trunk into a small sanctuary. Humboldt saw it at the time of his visit. It was tall and in circumference, and was estimated to be 6000 years old. It was destroyed by a storm in 1868.


title: Dracaena draco

text: "Dracaena draco" is cultivated and widely available as an ornamental tree for parks, gardens, and drought tolerant water conserving sustainable landscape projects. It has gained the Royal Horticultural Society's Award of Garden Merit.


title: Dracaena draco

text: The Museum of Wine on Pico Island, Azores, has one of the largest concentrations of this species in Macaronesia, some being more than 100 years old.


title: Crone

text: In folklore, a crone is an old woman who may be characterized as disagreeable, malicious, or sinister in manner, often with magical or supernatural associations that can make her either helpful or obstructive. The Crone is also an archetypal figure, a Wise Woman. As a character type, the crone shares characteristics with the hag. The word became further specialized as the third aspect of the Triple Goddess popularized by Robert Graves and subsequently in some forms of neopaganism, particularly Wicca in which she symbolizes the Dark Goddess, the dark of the moon, the end of a cycle; together with the Mother and the Maiden she represents part of the circle of life. In New Age and feminist spiritual circles, a "Croning" is a ritual rite of passage into an era of wisdom, freedom, and personal power.


title: Crone

text: As a noun, "crone" entered the English language around the year 1390, deriving from the Anglo-French word "carogne" (an insult), itself deriving from the Old North French "charogne", "caroigne", meaning a disagreeable woman (literally meaning "carrion"). Prior to the entrance of the word into English, the surname Hopcrone is recorded (around 1323–1324).


title: Crone

text: In the local folklore of Somerset in southwest England, the Woman of the Mist is said to appear sometimes as a crone gathering sticks; sightings of her were reported as late as the 1950s. In the Scottish Highlands tale "The Poor Brother and the Rich", a crone refuses to stay buried, until her son-in-law provides a generous wake, after which he becomes as wealthy as his more fortunate brother.


title: Crone

text: In Cuban traditional folklore old women often appear as helpful characters, as in the tale of the sick man who cannot get well until he meets an old woman who advises him to wear the tunic of a man who is truly happy. According to writer Alma Flor Ada, "They tend to be the ones who keep the family together, who pass on the traditions, who know the remedies that would cure the different illnesses".


title: Ed Roth

text: Ed "Big Daddy" Roth (March 4, 1932 – April 4, 2001) was an American artist, cartoonist, illustrator, pinstriper and custom car designer and builder who created the hot rod icon Rat Fink and other characters. Roth was a key figure in Southern California's Kustom Kulture and hot rod movement of the late 1950s and 1960s.


title: Ed Roth

text: Roth was born in Beverly Hills, California. He was the son of Marie (Bauer) and Henry Roth. He grew up in Bell, California, attending Bell High School, where his classes included auto shop and art.


title: Ed Roth

text: At age 14 Roth acquired his first car, a 1933 Ford coupe. He studied engineering at a Los Angeles college, then served in the United States air force, and, by the early '50s, was experimenting with fibreglass modelling.


title: Ed Roth

text: Roth is best known for his grotesque caricatures — typified by Rat Fink — depicting imaginary, out-sized monsters driving representations of the hot rods that he and his contemporaries built. Roth began airbrushing and selling "Weirdo" T-shirts at car shows and in the pages of "Car Craft" magazine as early as July 1958. By the August 1959 issue of "Car Craft" "Weirdo shirts" had become a full-blown craze with Roth at the forefront of the movement. The article featured Roth along with fellow Kustom Kulture pioneers Dean Jeffries and Pete Millar. Inspired by Roth and Barris Kustoms (whose shirts were airbrushed by Dean Jeffries), Detroit native Stanley Miller, a.k.a. "Stanley Mouse", began advertising his own shirts in the pages of "Car Craft" in January 1961. The lesser-known Rendina Studios of Detroit and Mad Mac of Cleveland also joined in on the monster "Weirdo" shirt craze, but Roth was certainly the person who widely popularized the "monsters in hot rods" art form.


title: Ed Roth

text: In 1959 Roth created the Outlaw. This fiberglass Kustom hot rod was featured in the January 1960 issue of "Car Craft". The car was covered in "Car Craft" and "Rod and Custom", and appeared at custom car and hot rod shows. Other hot rods include the Beatnik Bandit (1961), the twin Ford engined Mysterion (1963), the Orbitron (1964), and the Road Agent (1965), among others. In 1965, Roth's surf buggy, the Surfite, was featured in the film "Beach Blanket Bingo" starring Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, and also in "Village of the Giants", featuring Beau Bridges and Tommy Kirk. One of Roth's personal drivers was a tangerine orange 1955 Chevy 2-door post with a Ford 406 cu. in. engine under the hood; he drove this car to his shop every day for years.


title: Ed Roth

text: In 1962 the Revell model company began selling plastic models of Roth's cars and from 1963 to 1965 Revell also manufactured plastic models of many of Roth's monsters, including Rat Fink, Brother Rat Fink, Drag Nut, Mother's Worry, Mr. Gasser and other weird creatures created by Roth. Revell continues to re-issue Roth's Monsters and Kustom Car kits.


title: Ed Roth

text: In 1963 The Hawk Model Company issued its line of "Weird-Oh's" plastic models and Marx Toys issued Nutty Mads, both clearly inspired by Roth's work. Both items were quite popular in the mid-60s and remain sought after collector's items to this day. Hawk Models continues to re-issue its "Weird-Oh's" periodically.


title: Ed Roth

text: Numerous artists were associated with Roth including artist David Mann, "Rat Fink Comix" artist R.K. Sloane, Steve Fiorilla who illustrated some of Roth's catalogs, and most notably, Ed Newton, who worked for Roth and designed several of his cars and T-shirt designs beginning in 1964, and Kustom Kulture icon Robert Williams who began working for Roth in late 1965.


title: Ed Roth

text: In the mid 1960s Roth began customizing motorcycles. Mainstream motorcycle magazines refused to run his articles and ads, so he started his own publication called "Choppers", which featured articles on extending forks, custom sissy bars, etc. It was a small, black and white publication that ran from 1967 to 1970, and was the first magazine ever to exclusively feature custom motorcycles, or choppers. Roth also built the first known VW powered trike. Roth built many trikes for himself and others, including Candy Wagon, California Cruiser, Secret Weapon, Rubber Ducky and The Great Speckled Bird.


title: Ed Roth

text: In 1967 Roth built the Mega Cycle, Originally named by Robert Williams, "Captain Pepi's Motorcycle & Zeppelin Repair" was later changed to the "Mega Cycle" after a strong suggestion from car show promoters. Powered by a Buick V6 engine, Mega Cycle was designed to carry Ed's Harley XLCH. Later Ed felt that the XLCH just did not work and, through a series of trades, ended up with Bob Aquistapase's award-winning Triumph. The Mega Cycle is currently on display at Motorcyclepedia Museum in Newburgh, NY.


title: Ed Roth

text: In 1968 Mattel introduced Hot Wheels and Roth’s Beatnik Bandit was one of the first 16 die-cast toy cars produced by the company.


title: Ed Roth

text: From 1970 to 1975, Roth worked for Brucker's Movie World and their "Cars of the Stars" display. Brucker said that Roth was very loyal and a very hard worker, even though he was not making much money. Brucker said that when building something, Roth had a natural knack for seeing how things fit together — he would build something in a few days which would take others a couple of weeks. Although Roth was laid-back and amiable, Brucker also remembers that Roth was a fighter and if anyone came through the museum causing trouble, Roth would put them in line. He was fearless. Roth's Druid Princess was one of the many cars displayed there. Also during the 1970s, Roth worked for Knott's Berry Farm as a sign painter and artist. He worked there for 10 years until about 1980.


title: Ed Roth

text: In December 1977, Robert and Suzanne Williams, along with Skip Barrett, organized the first Rat Fink Reunion to celebrate the legacy of Roth. Rat Fink Reunions are still held to this day at the site of Roth's final residence in Manti, Utah and near Los Angeles.


title: Ed Roth

text: In 1993, a major exhibition was held at the Julie Rico Gallery in Santa Monica shortly after the Laguna Museum show "Kustom Kulture". It was at this time that the lowbrow art movement began to take on steam. Featured in the exhibition titled, "Rat Fink Meets Fred Flypogger Meets Cootchy Cooty" were Roth, Willams, and Mouse and their creations. The L.A. Times placed Roth's Rat Fink on the cover of the Culture section December 20, 1993 with a full article about the entire exhibition. Artist Jean Jacques Bastarache collaborated with Ed Big Daddy Roth for this exhibition creating paintings called Master Finks. Images were used from historical watershed paintings by well-known artists like Duchamp, Whistler and Miro among others. Roth drew an image of his Rat Fink character acting out in a funny way on each painting while Jean Jacques Bastarache created the Master Fink underlying painting. The paintings in all can be seen in the book titled Rat Fink: The Art of Ed "Big Daddy" Roth published by Last Gasp in 1993.


title: Ed Roth

text: The Orbitron, a Roth custom car that was the subject of a number of articles in automotive enthusiast magazines (most notably, in "Car Craft" magazine in 1965) which was feared lost in subsequent decades, was discovered in Mexico in the summer of 2008. The Orbitron was built in 1964. The car, in dilapidated, inoperative condition, had been parked for some time in front of an adult bookstore in Ciudad Juárez. The owners of the shop were also the owners of the car. It was purchased and taken back to the United States by Michael Lightbourn, an American auto restorer who did business in Mexico. The Orbitron has been restored to its original condition by Beau Boeckmann.


title: Ed Roth

text: Roth was active in counterculture art and hot-rodding his entire adult life. At the time of his death in 2001, he was working on a hot-rod project involving a compact car planned as a departure from the dominant tuner performance modification style.


title: Ed Roth

text: The year after his death, he was named as one of the "50 Who Made a Difference" at the 50th annual Meguiar's Autorama in Detroit. He was also inducted into the show's "Circle of Champions" in 2000, and was showcased as its "Builder of the Year" in 2006.


title: Ed Roth

text: Mr. Gasser & the Weirdos was a 1960s novelty music group led by Roth, who was known as Mr. Gasser. Formed in the early 1960s, they released a few bizarre surf rock albums, most notably 1963's "Hot Rod Hootenanny". One Way Records released a two-CD set (S22-18319) containing the three LPs and the original artwork.


title: Ed Roth

text: Roth had his shop, that he started in early 1959, at 4616 Slauson Avenue in Maywood, California (about 8 miles southeast of downtown Los Angeles). He ran an ad in "Car Craft" magazine that year announcing the new address of his shop.


title: Ed Roth

text: During the mid 1960s, Roth associated with various outlaw motorcycle clubs who congregated at his shop as a lot of bikers were then living in Lynwood and Maywood. Musicians, police officers, FBI agents and various people involved in Hollywood would visit as well, providing an environment for one of Ed Roth's most creative periods, and an important time in Kustom Kulture.


title: Ed Roth

text: Roth incorporated the Iron Cross into his artwork (surfers had previously been using the iron cross as a symbol of youthful, carefree rebellion). Roth did not own a bike at the time, so he bought a brand-new Harley-Davidson Sportster and then proceeded to paint its gas tank a flat black color. Roth painted white lettering on one side of the tank that said: "Love is Hate"; and on the reverse side: "Hate is Love".


title: Ed Roth

text: Roth had taken black and white photos of different bikers. He made posters, with titles like "Beautiful Buzzard", or "Gray Cat" out of these photos, and sold them at car shows. Roth would periodically give these bikers small amounts of money, but soon some of the bikers started to feel that Roth was "getting rich" off of them and they wanted a larger cut. Despite Roth's agreement, rumors began to circulate that a certain club intended to attack Roth's shop. The gang arrived at the shop with guns drawn, but Roth's crew defended themselves. Roth challenged the head biker to a one-on-one fist fight to settle matters in the middle of the shop. Eventually Roth gained the upper hand and "just started to beat the living crap out of the guy".


title: Ed Roth

text: After this incident, Roth burned his biker posters, leaving the lifestyle behind. Things started winding down at the shop in the late 1960s, and in 1970 the shop closed.


title: Ed Roth

text: Ed Roth was married four times. His fourth wife, Ilene, lives in Manti, Utah, where Ed Roth spent the final years of his life. Roth joined the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 1974. Roth shaved off his goatee and was heavily involved in social work through his church. His brother Gordon also became a Latter-day Saint.


title: Ed Roth

text: At a 1999 lecture given at Brigham Young University's Museum of Art, Roth shared some lessons he had learned in life: "accept criticism; if you can't do it get help; you don't need fancy tools or a fancy garage; and if you fulfill your duty Heavenly Father will bless you in what you do."


title: Ed Roth

text: Since his death, the official Rat Fink Reunion has been held in Manti, Utah the first weekend in June. The museum that Ilene Roth created to honor her late husband includes displays of Ed's art work and other memorabilia. Roth's son Darryl has been working on collecting and displaying his father's work.


title: Armored Core 4

text: "Armored Core 4" is set in the future where a war has made the nations of Earth devastated and these respective governments have been replaced by corporations. Conflicts soon begin to break out between the corporations, that use massive combat robots, Armored Cores, to fight each other. The player is a Lynx, a name given to pilots of highly advanced NEXT Armored Cores.


title: Armored Core 4

text: "Armored Core 4" streamlines many of the features of previous entries while retaining these highly complex customization system. Players are given missions from various clients in return for credits, which they can spend on unlockable parts and weapons. In addition to system link and split-screen multiplayer, players can engage in online battles with up to seven other players. "Armored Core 4" is also notable for being the directorial debut of Hidetaka Miyazaki.


title: Armored Core 4

text: Like previous entries in the franchise, in "Armored Core 4" players pilot mech units called Armored Cores and take on missions in return for credits. An arena mechanic returns to allow players to fight in 1-on-1 matches against computer-controlled opponents. When starting a new game, players choose from one of several Armored Cores with differing difficulty ratings. A tutorial introduces the basic game concepts prior to beginning the story sections. Once players finish the tutorial, they can begin selecting missions and earning credits for customization.


title: Armored Core 4

text: Gameplay has been sped up and controls have been streamlined to be more accessible than previous entries. Customization, a franchise staple, has retained depth. Hundreds of available parts and weapons can be used to radically change the player's mech, and each part has a number of stats to detail effectiveness. A change from earlier titles is that many parts are not available during beginning of this game and instead are unlocked in groups as the game progresses in throughout story. Parts can also be tuned to subtly alter performances to fit a player's needs.


title: Armored Core 4

text: While system link and split-screen options return, "Armored Core 4" is the first entry outside of Japan to have online multiplayer, since the mode's sole implementation in the Japanese version of "". Players on the PlayStation Network or Xbox Live can play with up to 7 additional players in various deathmatch modes. On the Xbox 360, "Armored Core 4" introduced achievements to the franchise.


title: Armored Core 4

text: This game is set in a dystopian version of Earth, where corporations have conquered the world's governing bodies amidst increasing civil unrest and dwindling resources, and established a new world order named the Pax Economica, forcing citizens to live in oppressively ruled colonies. Eventually, the member corporations of the Pax Economica begin warring with one another. They begin hiring pilots, known as Lynxes, to fight on this behalf.


title: Armored Core 4

text: The player character and main character is a freelancer from the civilian colony of Anatolia that is soon chosen to pilot a NEXT which is a highly advanced Armored Core unit, and is assigned Fiona Jarnefeldt as his operator. Initially, the player is hired to counter rebel attacks, culminating in an attack on an anti-establishment group. Amazigh, the group's Lynx, is killed in the battle, garnering significant fame for the player. With this new fame, the player is hired to fight in minor skirmishes between corporations, which escalates until they are hired by Global Armaments to destroy a series of prototypes developed by a seceding company. The mission is successful, but another corporation, Akva Vit, declares war on Global Armaments because of Akva Vit's ties with the seceding company.


title: Armored Core 4

text: During this war, the player makes contact with a friend of Fiona, Joshua O'Brian, who is also a Lynx pilot. The player successfully destroys one of the biggest corporations by assassinating the company's leadership, but an unknown corporation suddenly attacks Anatolia in retaliation. After eliminating this weapon, Fiona questions who ordered this attack. As the war continues, the player and Joshua independently destroy two other major corporations, including Akva Vit, which ends the war.


title: Armored Core 4

text: After the war, Joshua is blackmailed into piloting a prototype NEXT and is sent to destroy Anatolia. The player is forced to kill him, leading the player and Fiona to leave Anatolia.


title: Armored Core 4

text: "Armored Core 4" was initially released in Japan for the Sony PlayStation 3 on December 21, 2006. FromSoftware partnered with Sega and released a North American version for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on March 20, 2007, followed by a Japanese release on the Xbox 360 few days later. In Europe, FromSoftware partnered with 505 Games and released the game for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 on June 22, 2007.


title: Armored Core 4

text: "Armored Core 4" received "mixed or average" reviews on both platforms according to the review aggregator website Metacritic. In Japan, "Famitsu" gave the PlayStation 3 version a score of 31 out of 40, while "Famitsu Xbox 360" gave the Xbox 360 version a score of 32 out of 40.


title: Armored Core 4

text: Reviewers found that Armored Core 4's graphical update was a welcome addition following its increasingly outdated visuals over the last several titles, but noted that there were still issues with the visual presentation of the game. "Gamespot's" Tom Magrino wrote that after years of "pining for a graphical update" that the "update has now arrived", though he had reservations about the blandness of certain environments and clipping issues with mechs on hilly terrain. Andrew Mellick from "411Mania" remarked that the graphics looked impressive "sometimes" and noted that while the game had sections that "really look breathtaking", the game's "level of inspiration didn’t keep up the whole game". "IGN's" Greg Miller was far less impressed by the updated visuals, writing that "what they had didn't work". Bryan Vore of "Game Informer" opened his review by stating the "biggest surprises" found in "Armored Core 4" is the multiplatform status of the title and the "next-gen graphical makeover".


title: Armored Core 4

text: Changes to the core systems were praised by reviewers, with "Eurogamer's" Dave McCarthy calling it "more accessible than its predecessors". "Gamespot's" Magrino described the game as a "more visceral experience" and wrote that the streamlined boost mechanics allowed for greater freedom of movement. He praised the faster gameplay and commented that mech customization felt streamlined compared to previous entries, while still offering a considerable amount of depth for those who decided to dig deeper. Conversely, "GamePro" was unimpressed with the game's mechanics, writing that the missions were too repetitive and frequently broken up by loading screens and that the game was "far more complicated than it needed to be". "Game Informer's" Vore felt that mech customization was still as inaccessible as it had been previously, writing: "Do we really need to worry about four separate booster classes?"


title: Armored Core 4

text: While the addition of online multiplayer was welcomed, reviewers noted that there wasn't much variety in its offerings. While "GameSpot's" Magrino acknowledged that online multiplayer was a "much-anticipated feature", he believed that the limited map and game type selection "doesn't offer much to get excited about". "Game Informer's" Vore agreed, adding that the lack of respawn mechanics severely limited the playtime in multiplayer matches. "IGN's" Miller was more critical of the map selection, calling them "inadequate arenas".


title: Jio TV

text: JioTV is an Indian streaming television service, owned by Jio Platforms, a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Limited. JioTV is a live TV channel streaming platform. JioTV has over 950+ channels.


title: Jio TV

text: JioTV, launched in 2016, from the digital arm of LYF (Jio), LYF Digital Convergence Limited. JioTV, an streaming television service offering LIVE TV and Catch Up Content to end consumers on their mobile phones, tablets, laptops, desktops, entertainment boxes and connected TVs.


title: Jio TV

text: JioTV web version was launched on Dec 2017 but it was taken down after two days because of some technical litigation issues.


title: Jio TV

text: JioTV has partnered with different broadcasting companies such as Viacom18, Sony, Zee, NDTV, Times Now, TV Today Network, Turner, ABP News Network, and Discovery network to provide content in different categories such as Business, Devotional, Education, Entertainment, Infotainment, Kids, News and Sports. JioTV has 17 'Jio Darshan' channels which telecast proceedings from a few Indian temples


title: Jio TV

text: 32 government education channels on JioTV are hosted by the Ministry of Human Resources Development under Swayam Prabha.


title: Jio TV

text: In June 2020, JioTV tied up with the Assam government to host educational channel "Gyan Brikshya".. In July 2020, JioTV has partnered with Manipur, Maharashtra, Haryana and Telangana state governments to telecast education channels for e-classes.


title: Jio TV

text: Reliance's JioTV was one of the most popular streaming apps across India, recorded a staggering 84 million unique visitors in March 2020, an increase from 74 million unique visitors in March of the previous year. The company is owned by Jio Platforms, the digital service business of the multinational Reliance Industires Limited conglomerate.


title: Jio TV

text: According to a Kalagato report on OTT space, in 2018, JioTV saw around 18% of active users after Hotstar which has 40% active users. In terms of national reach, Hotstar and JioTV both had 30% and 24% respectively market share.


title: Jio TV

text: JioTV recorded 74.5 million unique visitors in March 2019, which was an increase from 31.2 million unique visitors in March of the previous year.


title: Pandiarajan

text: Pandiarajan is an Indian actor, director who has played leading roles in many humorous Tamil films and currently plays supporting and comedy roles.


title: Pandiarajan

text: Pandiarajan was born to Sulochana in Saidapet, Chennai in a lower-middle-class family. He has two sisters, Maheshwari & Geetha.


title: Pandiarajan

text: He has been married to Vasuki, daughter of Director, Producer, and Poet Avinasi Mani in 1986. They have three sons, Prithvi Rajan, Pallava Rajan and Prem Rajan.


title: Pandiarajan

text: Pandiarajan wanted to act in films. But due to his height and appearance he decided to join as an assistant director. He joined Thamizisai College where he had learnt violin and got his diploma as "Isai Selvam" in 1977. After that he had joined writer Thooyavan as an office assistant. Here he met director K. Bhagyaraj and later joined him as an assistant director. He had become his associate director in "Darling, Darling, Darling" and worked till the discussion of "Mundhanai Mudichu". Pandiarajan told the story of the film "Kanni Rasi" to Sivaji Ganesan's brother Shanmugam, he listened to the story and accepted it, though financiers refused to buy, the film was successful at the box-office.


title: Pandiarajan

text: His first directorial venture was "Kanni Rasi" in 1985 starring Prabhu and Revathi. He directed and made his debut as a hero in "Aan Paavam". Till now, he had directed nine films, including "Kaivantha Kalai", "Doubles" where he directed Prabhu Deva in the lead role and acted in some 90 Tamil films and one Malayalam hit Kathavasheshan, where he acted with Dileep. Recently, he is acting in a TV serial called "Mama Maaple" in Sun TV. His English short film called Help has been nominated at the ArtDeco Film Festival 2011, at São Paulo, in Brazil. ‘Help' is Pandiarajan's first short film in English.


title: VL-SRSAM

text: The Vertical Launch - Short Range Surface to Air Missile, or VL-SRSAM is a quick reaction surface-to-air missile developed by Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO). During mid-course flight, the missile uses fibre-optic gyroscope based inertial guidance mechanism while in terminal phase uses active radar homing. With lock on before launch (LOBL) and lock on after launch (LOAL) capability, the missile receives mid-course update via datalink. VL-SRSAM intended to replace older Barak 1 surface to air missile system onboard Indian Navy warships. It will also be used as short range air defence system for Indian Air Force.


title: VL-SRSAM

text: VL-SRSAM is based on Astra Mark 1 air-to-air missile with four short-span long-chord cruciform wings that provide aerodynamic stability. It also includes additional jet vane driven thrust vector control to enable quick reaction time on vertical launch and smokeless exhaust. VL-SRSAM conceived for area and point-defence role to save naval platforms. Each Vertical Launch System (VLS) can hold forty missiles in a twin quad-pack canister configuration carrying eight missiles each for hot launch that can be installed in an arrangement of multiple launch systems based on availability of space on the ship. The missile is for neutralizing various aerial threats at medium and close ranges, including fighter aircraft and sea skimming anti-ship missiles. As an integrated solution of missile and weapon control system (WCS) with 360° interception capability, it can detect and engage threats from different directions. Although plan was to develop short range air defence missile, VL-SRSAM achieved a range of 50 km making it a medium range air defence system. The missile is said to be fitted in destroyers, frigates, corvettes and aircraft carriers.


title: VL-SRSAM

text: Defence Research and Development Laboratory (DRDL), Research & Development Establishment (Engineers), Research Centre Imarat (RCI) and some private sector industries were involved in the design and development of the missile system as part of Development cum Production Partner programme (DCPP). VL-SRSAM superseded the cancelled Maitri missile project undertaken jointly by MBDA and DRDO based on the work done on MICA and Trishul.


title: VL-SRSAM

text: DRDO successfully test fired two "VL-SRSAM" on 22 February 2021 at Odisha coast. The maiden launch tested the efficacy of vertical launch system and missile's maximum and minimum range. Both the missile successfully intercepted their target with pin point accuracy.


title: VL-SRSAM

text: "VL-SRSAM" was successfully tested by DRDO from Integrated Test Range, Chandipur, off the coast of Odisha on 7 December 2021. The launch was conducted from a vertical launcher against an electronic target at a very low altitude. The launch was conducted to validate integrated operation of all weapon system components including the vertical launcher unit with controller, canisterised flight vehicle, weapon control system etc.


title: VL-SRSAM

text: Defence Research and Development Organisation (DRDO) on 24 June 2022 announced that India has successfully test-fired the Vertically Launched Short Range Surface to Air Missile (VL-SRSAM) from an Indian Naval Ship off the coast of Chandipur in Odisha. The launch of the system was conducted against a high-speed aerial target mimicking aircraft, which was successfully engaged.


title: VL-SRSAM

text: DRDO and Indian Navy successfully flight tested VL-SRSAM from the ITR,Chandipur off the coast of Odisha on 23 August 2022.The flight test was carried out from an Indian Naval Ship against a high-speed unmanned aerial target for demonstration of vertical launch capability. The missiles, equipped with indigenous Radio Frequency (RF) seeker, intercepted the target with high accuracy.


title: Alpha-Linolenic acid

text: "alpha"-Linolenic acid (ALA), also known as α-Linolenic acid (from Greek "alpha" meaning "first" and "linon" meaning flax), is an "n"−3, or omega-3, essential fatty acid. ALA is found in many seeds and oils, including flaxseed, walnuts, chia, hemp, and many common vegetable oils.


title: Alpha-Linolenic acid

text: In terms of its structure, it is named "all"-"cis"-9,12,15-octadecatrienoic acid. In physiological literature, it is listed by its lipid number, 18:3, and ("n"−3). It is a carboxylic acid with an 18-carbon chain and three "cis" double bonds. The first double bond is located at the third carbon from the methyl end of the fatty acid chain, known as the "n" end. Thus, α-linolenic acid is a polyunsaturated "n"−3 (omega-3) fatty acid. It is an isomer of gamma-linolenic acid (GLA), an 18:3 ("n"−6) fatty acid (i.e., a polyunsaturated omega-6 fatty acid with three double bonds).


title: Alpha-Linolenic acid

text: The word "linolenic" is an irregular derivation from "linoleic", which itself is derived from the Greek word "linon" (flax). "Oleic" means "of or relating to oleic acid" because saturating linoleic acid's omega-6 double bond produces oleic acid.


title: Alpha-Linolenic acid

text: Seed oils are the richest sources of α-linolenic acid, notably those of hempseed, chia, perilla, flaxseed (linseed oil), rapeseed (canola), and soybeans. α-Linolenic acid is also obtained from the thylakoid membranes in the leaves of "Pisum sativum" (pea leaves). Plant chloroplasts consisting of more than 95 percent of photosynthetic thylakoid membranes are highly fluid due to the large abundance of linolenic acid, that shows up as sharp resonances in high-resolution carbon-13 NMR spectra, invariably. Some studies state that ALA remains stable during processing and cooking. However, other studies state that ALA might not be suitable for baking, as it will polymerize with itself, a feature exploited in paint with transition metal catalysts. Some ALA may also oxidize at baking temperatures. ALA percentages in the table below refer to the oils extracted from each item.


title: Alpha-Linolenic acid

text: Although the best source of ALA is seeds, most seeds and seed oils are much richer in an "n"−6 fatty acid, linoleic acid. Exceptions include flaxseed (must be ground for proper nutrient absorption) and chia seeds. Linoleic acid is the other essential fatty acid, but it, and the other "n"−6 fatty acids, compete with "n"−3s for positions in cell membranes and have very different effects on human health. There is a complex set of essential fatty acid interactions.


title: Alpha-Linolenic acid

text: α-Linolenic acid can only be obtained by humans through their diets because the absence of the required 12- and 15-desaturase enzymes makes "de novo" synthesis from stearic acid impossible. Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA; 20:5, "n"−3) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA; 22:6, "n"−3) are readily available from fish and algae oil and play a vital role in many metabolic processes. These can also be synthesized by humans from dietary α-linolenic acid: ALA → stearidonic acid → eicosatetraeonic acid → eicosapentaenoic acid → docosapentaenoic acid → 9,12,15,18,21-tetracosapentaenoic acid → 6,9,12,15,18,21-tetracosahexaenoic acid → docosahexaenoic acid, but with an efficiency of only a few percent.


title: Alpha-Linolenic acid

text: Because the efficacy of "n"−3 long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acid (LC-PUFA) synthesis decreases down the cascade of α-linolenic acid conversion, DHA synthesis from α-linolenic acid is even more restricted than that of EPA. Conversion of ALA to DHA is higher in women than in men.


title: Alpha-Linolenic acid

text: Compared to many other oils, α-Linolenic acid is more susceptible to oxidation and will become rancid more quickly. Oxidative instability of α-linolenic acid is one reason why producers choose to partially hydrogenate oils containing α-linolenic acid, such as soybean oil. Soybeans are the largest source of edible oils in the U.S., and, as of a 2007 study, 40% of soy oil production was partially hydrogenated.


title: Alpha-Linolenic acid

text: However, when partially hydrogenated, part of the unsaturated fatty acids become unhealthy trans fats. Consumers are increasingly avoiding products that contain trans fats, and governments have begun to ban trans fats in food products. These regulations and market pressures have spurred the development of low-α-linolenic acid soybeans. These new soybean varieties yield a more stable oil that doesn't require hydrogenation for many applications, thus providing trans fat-free products, such as frying oil.


title: Alpha-Linolenic acid

text: Several consortia are bringing low-α-linolenic acid soy to market. DuPont's effort involves silencing the FAD2 gene that codes for Δ-desaturase, giving a soy oil with very low levels of both α-linolenic acid and linoleic acid. Monsanto Company has introduced to the market Vistive, their brand of low α-linolenic acid soybeans, which is less controversial than GMO offerings, as it was created via conventional breeding techniques.


title: Alpha-Linolenic acid

text: According to a 2012 review, higher ALA consumption is associated with a moderately lower risk of cardiovascular disease, but wide variation in results across multiple studies highlights the need for additional research before drawing firm conclusions.


title: Alpha-Linolenic acid

text: Dietary ALA intake can improve lipid profiles by decreasing triglycerides, total cholesterol, high-density lipoprotein and low-density lipoprotein cholesterol. A 2021 review found that ALA intake is associated with a reduced risk of mortality from all causes, cardiovascular disease and coronary heart disease but a slightly higher risk of cancer mortality.


title: Alpha-Linolenic acid

text: In 1887, linolenic acid was discovered and named by the Austrian chemist Karl Hazura of the Imperial Technical Institute at Vienna (although he didn't separate its isomers). α-Linolenic acid was first isolated in pure form in 1909 by Ernst Erdmann and F. Bedford of the University of Halle an der Saale, Germany, and by Adolf Rollett of the Universität Berlin, Germany, working independently, as cited in J. W. McCutcheon's synthesis in 1942, and referred to in Green and Hilditch's 1930s survey. It was first artificially synthesized in 1995 from C6 homologating agents. A Wittig reaction of the phosphonium salt of [("Z-Z")-nona-3,6-dien-1-yl]triphenylphosphonium bromide with methyl 9-oxononanoate, followed by saponification, completed the synthesis.


title: Mermaids: The Body Found

text: Mermaids: The Body Found is a mockumentary television program styled as a documentary originally aired on American TV channels Animal Planet (May 27, 2012) and Discovery Channel (June 17, 2012). It tells a story of a scientific team's investigative efforts to uncover the source behind mysterious underwater recordings of an unidentified marine body. The show presents the controversial aquatic ape hypothesis as evidence that mermaids exist, along with a digitally manufactured video. A sequel broadcast called "Mermaids: The New Evidence" aired May 26, 2013.


title: Mermaids: The Body Found

text: "Mermaids: The Body Found" and its sequel "Mermaids: The New Evidence" are examples of what is known as docufiction, in which documentary style and programming elements are combined with fictional – or sometimes, less egregiously, speculative – science and fiction. This type of programming receives particular criticism when, as in the original broadcast of "Mermaids: The Body Found", there are only a few, easily missed disclaimers to indicate the speculative nature of the programming. On the contrary, the serious tone of the majority of the presentation implied that it was a factual documentary. The first airings of the two "Mermaids" programs apparently gathered the attention of millions of people and also drew some of "Animal Planet's" largest audiences ever.


title: Mermaids: The Body Found

text: "Mermaids: The Body Found" received 1.9 million views during its US telecast premiere on Sunday, May 27, 2012. This is the network's most watched telecast since the Steve Irwin memorial special in September 2006.


title: Mermaids: The Body Found

text: "Mermaids" Animal Planet has been criticized for giving the impression of being an actual documentary, when in fact much of the material was made up, and the scientists shown were actors. Publicity for the program included a website falsely claiming government seizure of the site's domain, and the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration put up a rebuttal to the program.


title: Donnelly Rhodes

text: Henry Donnelly Rhodes (December 4, 1937 – January 8, 2018) was a Canadian actor, known professionally as Donnelly Rhodes. He had many American television and film credits, probably best known to American audiences as the hapless escaped convict Dutch Leitner on the soap opera spoof "Soap" and as Phillip Chancellor II on "The Young and the Restless". Rhodes was well-known to Canadian audiences as Sgt. Nick Raitt in the CBC TV series "Sidestreet" (1975–1978) and as Grant "Doc" Roberts in another CBC TV series, "Danger Bay" (1984–1990). He also starred as Doctor Cottle ("Doc") on "Battlestar Galactica" (2004–2009).


title: Donnelly Rhodes

text: Rhodes was born in 1937, although some sources say 1936, and raised in Winnipeg, Manitoba. He was a graduate of the National Theatre School of Canada.


title: Donnelly Rhodes

text: A large portion of Rhodes' career consists of guest-starring roles in American television. He appeared twice on "Laredo": in 1965, he played Bob Jamison in "Rendezvous at Arillo" and played a lead role in "The Trap", an episode on "The Alfred Hitchcock Hour". The next year, Rhodes was cast in "The Would-Be Gentleman of Laredo" as Don Carlos.


title: Donnelly Rhodes

text: In 1966, Rhodes appeared as Red Eagle in the episode "Pariah" of the Universal Television series "The Road West." The same year, he guest-starred on "Dundee and the Culhane". He appeared in three episodes of the original "" (1966-1973 TV series), in the Season 3 episode, "The Freeze" (1968), in the Season 4 episode, "Mastermind" (1969), and in the Season 7 episode, "Ultimatum" (1972). He also played the main card player, Macon, who threatens the Sundance Kid (Robert Redford) in the opening scene of "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969).


title: Donnelly Rhodes

text: In 1973, Rhodes co-starred in an episode of the sci-fi drama "The Starlost" (episode 12, 'The Implant People'). He played Phillip Chancellor II in "The Young and the Restless" from 1974 to 1975, and from 1978 to 1981, he played escaped convict Dutch Leitner on "Soap".


title: Donnelly Rhodes

text: In 1980, Rhodes played a priest in the miniseries "The Chisholms". In 1982, he played Leo, a bar patron on "Cheers". In 1983 he appeared as Wilson Arthur MacLeish on "Magnum P.I." on the episode "Of Sound Mind". In 1984, he had a supporting role as the beleaguered father in the short-lived TV series "Double Trouble" and appeared as Arland D. Williams Jr. in the television movie "". From 1985 to 1990, he played Dr. Grant Roberts in the series "Danger Bay". In 1987, he made a guest appearance on "The Golden Girls" as Jake Smollens, a handsome, rough-around-the-edges caterer.


title: Donnelly Rhodes

text: In 1988, Rhodes guest-starred on "Empty Nest" as Leonard, an old friend of the main character. In 1991 he played the "Prodigal Father" in an episode of "Murder, She Wrote". He starred as ruthless corporate lawyer R.J. Williams during the 1991-92 season of the drama "Street Legal". In 1993, Rhodes played Jim Parker in "Shapes" (Season 1, episode 19) of "The X-Files".


title: Donnelly Rhodes

text: For seven years (1998-2005), he played the role of Detective Leo Shannon on the acclaimed CBC television series, "Da Vinci's Inquest".


title: Donnelly Rhodes

text: Rhodes played the character Milash in an episode of "Smallville" in 2008. On the revived "Battlestar Galactica" (2004–2009), Rhodes played Chief Medical Officer Sherman Cottle who smoked cigarettes in most scenes. Most recently Rhodes played Mr. Decker, Rufus Decker's father, in the two seasons of "The Romeo Section" on CBC in 2015-2016.


title: Donnelly Rhodes

text: Rhodes' film appearances were fewer, including roles in "Gunfight in Abilene" (1967), "Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid" (1969), "Change of Mind" (1969), "The Neptune Factor" (1973), "Goldenrod" (1976), "Oh! Heavenly Dog" (1980), "Urban Safari" (1995), and "" (2010).


title: Donnelly Rhodes

text: In February 2009, the Union of British Columbia Performers honoured Rhodes with the Sam Payne Award for Lifetime Achievement.


title: Donnelly Rhodes

text: Rhodes provided the voice of the US president at the start of each episode of the CBC Radio One space opera/comedy series "".


title: Donnelly Rhodes

text: Rhodes died of cancer at the Baillie House Hospice in Maple Ridge, British Columbia at the age of 80.


title: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist

text: A gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist (GnRH agonist) is a type of medication which affects gonadotropins and sex hormones. They are used for a variety of indications including in fertility medicine and to lower sex hormone levels in the treatment of hormone-sensitive cancers such as prostate cancer and breast cancer, certain gynecological disorders like heavy periods and endometriosis, high testosterone levels in women, early puberty in children, as a part of transgender hormone therapy, and to delay puberty in transgender youth among other uses. GnRH agonists are given by injections into fat, as implants placed into fat, and as nasal sprays.


title: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist

text: Side effects of GnRH agonists are related to sex hormone deficiency and include symptoms of low testosterone levels and low estrogen levels such as hot flashes, sexual dysfunction, vaginal atrophy, penile atrophy, osteoporosis, infertility, and diminished sex-specific physical characteristics. They are agonists of the GnRH receptor and work by increasing or decreasing the release of gonadotropins and the production of sex hormones by the gonads. When used to suppress gonadotropin release, GnRH agonists can lower sex hormone levels by 95% in both sexes.


title: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist

text: GnRH was discovered in 1971, and GnRH analogues were introduced for medical use in the 1980s. Their nonproprietary names usually end in "-relin". The most well-known and widely used GnRH analogues are leuprorelin (brand name Lupron) and triptorelin (brand name Decapeptyl). GnRH analogues are available as generic medications. Despite this, they continue to be very expensive.


title: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist

text: Women of reproductive age who undergo cytotoxic chemotherapy have been pretreated with GnRH agonists to reduce the risk of oocyte loss during such therapy and preserve ovarian function. Further studies are necessary to prove that this approach is useful.


title: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist

text: GnRH agonists that have been marketed and are available for medical use include buserelin, gonadorelin, goserelin, histrelin, leuprorelin, nafarelin, and triptorelin. GnRH agonists that are used mostly or exclusively in veterinary medicine include deslorelin and fertirelin. GnRH agonists can be administered by injection, by implant, or intranasally as a nasal spray. Injectables have been formulated for daily, monthly, and quarterly use, and implants are available that can last from one month to a year. With the exception of gonadorelin, which is used as a progonadotropin, all approved GnRH agonists are used as antigonadotropins.


title: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist

text: The clinically used desensitizing GnRH agonists are available in the following pharmaceutical formulations:


title: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist

text: Common side effects of the GnRH agonists and antagonists include symptoms of hypogonadism such as hot flashes, gynecomastia, fatigue, weight gain, fluid retention, erectile dysfunction and decreased libido. Long term therapy can result in metabolic abnormalities, weight gain, worsening of diabetes and osteoporosis. Rare, but potentially serious adverse events include transient worsening of prostate cancer due to surge in testosterone with initial injection of GnRH agonists and pituitary apoplexy in patients with pituitary adenoma. Single instances of clinically apparent liver injury have been reported with some GnRH agonists (histrelin, goserelin), but the reports were not very convincing. There is no evidence to indicate that there is cross sensitivity to liver injury among the various GnRH analogues despite their similarity in structure.


title: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist

text: There is also a report that GnRH agonists used in the treatment of advanced prostate cancer may increase the risk of heart problems by 30%.


title: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist

text: GnRH agonists act as agonists of the GnRH receptor, the biological target of gonadotropin-releasing hormone (GnRH). These drugs can be both peptides and small-molecules. They are modeled after the hypothalamic neurohormone GnRH, which interacts with the GnRH receptor to elicit its biologic response, the release of the pituitary hormones follicle-stimulating hormone (FSH) and luteinizing hormone (LH). However, after the initial "flare" response, continued stimulation with GnRH agonists desensitizes the pituitary gland (by causing GnRH receptor downregulation) to GnRH. Pituitary desensitization reduces the secretion of LH and FSH and thus induces a state of hypogonadotropic hypogonadal anovulation, sometimes referred to as "pseudomenopause" or "medical oophorectomy." GnRH agonists are able to completely shutdown gonadal testosterone production and thereby suppress circulating testosterone levels by 95% or into the castrate/female range in men.


title: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist

text: Agonists do not quickly dissociate from the GnRH receptor. As a result, initially there is an increase in FSH and LH secretion (so-called "flare effect"). Levels of LH may increase by up to 10-fold, while levels of testosterone generally increase to 140 to 200% of baseline values. However, after continuous administration, a profound hypogonadal effect (i.e. decrease in FSH and LH) is achieved through receptor downregulation by internalization of receptors. Generally this induced and reversible hypogonadism is the therapeutic goal. During the flare, peak levels of testosterone occur after 2 to 4 days, baseline testosterone levels are returned to by 7 to 8 days, and castrate levels of testosterone are achieved by 2 to 4 weeks. Following the cessation of exogenous GnRH agonists, it takes 5 to 8 days before normal gonadotropin secretion is completely restored.


title: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist

text: Various medications can be used to prevent the testosterone flare and/or its effects at the initiation of GnRH agonist therapy. These include antigonadotropins such as progestogens like cyproterone acetate and chlormadinone acetate and estrogens like diethylstilbestrol, fosfestrol (diethylstilbestrol diphosphate), and estramustine phosphate; antiandrogens such as nonsteroidal antiandrogens like flutamide, nilutamide, and bicalutamide; and androgen synthesis inhibitors such as ketoconazole and abiraterone acetate.


title: Gonadotropin-releasing hormone agonist

text: GnRH agonists are synthetically modeled after the natural GnRH decapeptide with specific modifications, usually double and single substitutions and typically in position 6 (amino acid substitution), 9 (alkylation) and 10 (deletion). These substitutions inhibit rapid degradation. Agonists with two substitutions include: leuprorelin, buserelin, histrelin, goserelin, and deslorelin. The agents nafarelin and triptorelin are agonists with single substitutions at position 6.


title: Toyota Etios

text: The Toyota Etios is a subcompact car consisting a line of four-door saloon/sedan and five-door hatchback produced by the Japanese automaker Toyota since 2010. The saloon version was launched in December 2010 and the hatchback version (with additional "Liva" and "Valco" suffixes in India and Indonesia respectively) followed in June 2011. The vehicle is built on the EFC platform.


title: Toyota Etios

text: The Etios has been produced in India (between 2010 and 2020), Brazil (since 2012, export only since 2021) and Indonesia (between 2013 and 2017). It has also been exported to other countries such as South Africa and several Latin American markets.


title: Toyota Etios

text: The name "Etios" is derived from Greek word "ethos", meaning 'spirit', 'character' and 'ideals'. The "Liva" suffix is derived from the development concept phrase "live your life", while "Valco" is coined from terms "value" and "comfort".


title: Toyota Etios

text: The Etios Concept saloon with 1.5-litre petrol engine and Etios Concept hatchback with 1.2-litre petrol engine were unveiled in 10th Auto Expo automobile show in New Delhi.


title: Toyota Etios

text: During the development phase, the Etios was codenamed "EFC" (Entry Family Car). Originally, the Etios was planned to be built on the Yaris platform, however a low-cost platform derived from the NBC platform called the EFC platform was used instead. Aimed as the rival to the Dacia/Renault Logan, the vehicle is centered around India and Brazil as the manufacturing base. Toyota invested $350 million building a second plant in India to produce the Etios, with an initial annual production capacity of around 100,000 vehicles. The actual commercial production started in December 2010. In May 2012, the Etios series reached total sales of 100,000 units in India. By 2013, the Indian version was localized to more than 90% of its parts.


title: Toyota Etios

text: As of 2022, the Etios sedan has the largest trunk in its segment in Argentina (562 litres). It is bigger than the one in the Toyota Corolla (470 litres).


title: Toyota Etios

text: Since its introduction, the Etios has been updated three times, in March 2013, November 2014 and September 2016. No changes to the overall design were made, but there were changes to the interiors, front fascia and taillamps.


title: Toyota Etios

text: Indian production stopped in March 2020 there as the Bharat Stage 6 went into effect in April. Since Toyota had no interest to upgrade the Etios to meet the updated emissions standards, it was replaced by the more upmarket XP150 series Yaris saloon and the Suzuki Baleno-based Glanza hatchback as Toyota's subcompact car offering in the country. The Etios is also discontinued in Brazil in April 2021, but the production continues for export markets with 620,000 units made in Brazil up to March 2021. The XP150 series Yaris would assume the role of Toyota's entry-level car in the region.


title: Toyota Etios

text: The petrol engines and transmissions are made locally at Toyota Kirloskar Auto Parts (TKAP), Bidadi, Karnataka, India.


title: Toyota Etios

text: The saloon and hatchback models sold in Brazil are built with a flexible-fuel engine optimized to run with ethanol blends from E20/E25 to neat hydrous ethanol (E100).


title: Toyota Etios

text: The Etios Xclusive is a version of Etios G and Liva G respectively for Indian market, with dual-tone cream and beige coloured interiors, Bluetooth-equipped audio system, rear parking sensors, higher quality seat fabric, a chrome cap on the gear knob, and an "Xclusive" badge on the boot lid.


title: Toyota Etios

text: An updated version of the Etios Xclusive was released in 2015 with a touchscreen infotainment system and a wood grain finish on the instrument panel. It is based on the VX and VXD trims.


title: Toyota Etios

text: Toyota India started a one-make racing series in India called the Etios Motor Racing. The series started in 2012 and witnessed an overwhelming response from the Indian youngsters, there were 3,300 applicants. After a 3-round selection procedure, Toyota held 2 rounds of exhibition races in 2012, one at a purpose built race track in Chennai called the Sriperumbudur race track and other in the form of ROC (Race of Champions) in Gurgaon. The 25 selected drivers competed in the main championship held in the later half of 2013. The cars are prepared by Red Rooster Performance based in Bangalore and designed by Toyota Racing Development (TRD).


title: Toyota Etios

text: The Etios R5 is a R5 rally car built by Toyota Gazoo Racing Paraguay. It is based upon the Etios road car and was launched in 2016.


title: Toyota Etios

text: The Indian-market Etios and Etios Liva come with an immobilizer and door ajar warning as standard across all trims with dual SRS airbags, ABS and EBD available only on the G+, V and VX trims. Without ABS, it had earned a 4-star adult occupant and 3-star child occupant safety rating from Global NCAP in 2016.


title: Toyota Etios

text: The Brazilian Etios in its most basic Latin American configuration with 2 airbags had earned a 4-star adult occupant and 2-star child occupant safety rating from Latin NCAP in 2012. In 2019 (stricter from 2010–2015 protocols), both parameters earned 4-star safety rating for the newer version in its most basic Latin American configuration with 2 airbags.


title: Schlitterbahn

text: Schlitterbahn is an American brand of water parks and resorts owned by Cedar Fair. It was previously a company family-owned-and-operated by the Henry family that was based in New Braunfels, Texas. Schlitterbahn opened its first location, Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort, in 1979. At its peak, the company consisted of five outdoor waterparks, two indoor waterparks, and three resorts.


title: Schlitterbahn

text: Schlitterbahn's outdoor water parks are seasonally-operated, typically open from late April through mid-September, while its indoor locations operate year-round. Two parks are located in Texas.


title: Schlitterbahn

text: On June 13, 2019, Cedar Fair entered an agreement to acquire two of Schlitterbahn's properties in Galveston and New Braunfels for $261 million. The deal, which closed in early July 2019, gave Cedar Fair the option to purchase Schlitterbahn Waterpark Kansas City for $6 million within 120 days of the transaction, which Cedar Fair declined to do. Additionally, the rights to the Schlitterbahn name were included in the acquisition.