Santa Croce sull'Arno is an Italian town in the province of Pisa, Tuscany. About 13,400 people lived there as of 2005.
The city is famous for the tanning industries. In 16.92 square kilometres there are about 400 factories and laboratories.
British Rail Class 142
The British Rail Class 142 is a class of "Pacer" diesel multiple units used in the United Kingdom. 96 units were built by BREL in Derby between 1985 and 1987. They were a development of the earlier Class 141 which were introduced in 1984.
Functional illiteracy
Functional illiteracy means that a person is not able to read, write, and do math well in regular life. Someone who is fully illiterate can not read, write, or do math at all. Such people have perhaps never learnt how to read or write; perhaps they did not need to. A person who is functionally illiterate is different - at some point in their lives, these people were taught reading and writing skills. For different reasons, adults who are functionally illiterate try to avoid writing and reading as much as possible. That way, a person who is functionally illiterate may be able to write their name, but it is very difficult for them to write more than a few sentences.
These people have trouble functioning in modern society: when they are confronted with printed materials they cannot perform simple tasks such as filling out a form, understanding a contract, following written instructions, reading a newspaper article, traffic signs, consulting a dictionary, or understanding a bus schedule.
Because of functional illiteracy, these people also have a lot of trouble using modern communication technologies, such as a personal computer or a mobile phone.
The people who are functionally illiterate often have other problems as well: Other people may bully them, they may have higher health risks, and stress. Because they cannot get good jobs, they often earn little money.
Crime-researchers and sociologists have talked about the link between functional illiteracy and crime.
"Business" magazine estimates that 15 million functionally illiterate adults had a job in the United States at the start of the 21st century. The American Council of Life Insurers reported that 75% of the Fortune 500 companies provide some level of training to help their workers overcome this situation. All over the U.S 30 million - 14% of adults - are unable to perform simple and everyday literacy activities.
The National Center for Education Statistics has more detail.
This report sees three parameters: prose, document, and quantitative literacy. There are four levels for each parameter: below basic, basic, intermediate, and proficient. For prose literacy, for example, a below basic level of literacy means that a person can look at a short piece of text to get a small piece of uncomplicated information. Similarly, a person who is "below basic" in quantitative literacy might be able to add two numbers.
In the US, 14% of adults are at the "below basic" level for prose literacy; 12% are at the "below basic" level for document literacy; and 22% are at that level for quantitative literacy. Only 13% of the population is proficient in these three areas. In the terms of the study, "proficient" means these people are able to compare viewpoints in two editorials. They can interpret a table about blood pressure, age, and physical activity. They can also compute and compare the cost per ounce of food items.
In the UK, according to the "Daily Telegraph" (14 June 2006) "one in six British adults lacks the literacy skills of an 11-year-old". The UK government's Department for Education reported in 2006 that 47 percent of school children left school at age 16 without having achieved a basic level in functional maths, and 42 percent fail to achieve a basic level of functional English. Every year 100,000 pupils leave school functionally illiterate in the UK.
A Literacy at Work study, published by the Northeast Institute in 2001, found that business losses attributed to basic skill deficiencies run into billions of dollars a year due to low productivity, errors, and accidents attributed to functional illiteracy.
Sociological research has demonstrated that countries with lower levels of functional illiteracy among their adult populations tend to be those with the highest levels of scientific literacy among the lower stratum of young people nearing the end of their formal academic studies. This correspondence suggests that a contributing factor to a society's level of civic literacy is the capacity of schools to ensure students attain the functional literacy required to comprehend the basic texts and documents associated with competent citizenship.
British Rail Class 143
The British Rail Class 143 is a diesel multiple unit, part of the Pacer family of trains introduced between 1985 & 1986. They originally worked around North East England but were later transferred to Wales. The coaches are based on an Alexander bus body mounted on a chassis from a freight or Goods truck. Twenty-five units were built, numbered 143001-025 but later re-numbered 143601 - 143625.
British Rail Class 144
The British Rail Class 144 "Pacer" diesel multiple units (DMUs) were built by BREL Derby from 1986-1987. A total of 23 units were built, replacing many of the earlier First-generation "Heritage" DMUs.
British Rail Class 150
The British Rail Class 150 "Sprinter" diesel multiple units (DMUs) were built by BREL from 1984-87. A total of 137 units were built in three main subclasses, replacing many of the earlier first-generation "Heritage" DMUs.
British Rail Class 151
The British Rail Class 151 was a prototype class of DMU built by Metro Cammell in the mid-1980s.
British Rail Class 153
The British Rail Class 153 "Sprinter" is a single-car diesel multiple unit train.
In the early 1990s, British Rail took the decision that running 2-car trains on rural routes was inefficient, and identified the need for single-carriage trains. Initially consideration was given to splitting the Met-Cam Class 156 units to form class 152 units, however due to various problems with the Class 155 units, the decision was taken to split these units instead.
British Rail Class 155
The British Rail Class 155 "Super-Sprinter" is a diesel multiple unit. These DMUs were built by British Leyland at Workington (using Leyland National bus components) between 1987 and 1988 as part of British Rail's replacement of its ageing diesel fleet which were First-Generation.
British Rail Class 156
The British Rail Class 156 "Super-Sprinter" is a diesel multiple unit (DMU). A hundred and fourteen of these units were built from 1987 to 1989 by Metro-Cammell (now owned by Alstom) at their Washwood Heath Works in Birmingham. They were built to replace elderly First Generation "Heritage" DMUs and locomotive-hauled passenger trains.
British Rail Class 157
Class 157 was the designation applied to a range of Diesel multiple unit trains of the Sprinter family planned for regional use, in particular for the Strathclyde Passenger Transport Executive. As well as the class number, British Rail reserved carriage numbers in the 526xx and 576xx series for these units.
As the Privatisation of British Rail began, this project became unviable as resources were concentrated on the privatisation process, leading to the famous 1064-day 'drought' of new train orders. By the time this period was over, plans had moved on and Stratchclyde ended up receiving a batch of Class 170 units.
British Rail Class 158