title: Michael Avenatti

text: Avenatti was born on February 16, 1971 in Sacramento, California, and spent his early childhood in Colorado and Utah. His father was a manager for Anheuser-Busch. He moved with his family to Chesterfield, Missouri, a suburb of St. Louis, in 1982, where he attended Parkway Central High School.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: After graduating in 1989, Avenatti attended Saint Louis University for one year before transferring to the University of Pennsylvania, where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in political science in 1996. While in college, he worked as an opposition researcher for Rahm Emanuel's political consulting firm. After college, Avenatti attended the George Washington University Law School. His application was initially wait-listed, and he was eventually admitted to its evening school program. While a law student, Avenatti worked with Professor Jonathan Turley on constitutional issues relating to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA).


title: Michael Avenatti

text: Avenatti graduated in 2000 and ranked first in his class with a Juris Doctor with high honors and Order of the Coif membership.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: In 2003, the George Washington Law School established the Michael J. Avenatti Award for Excellence in Pre-Trial and Trial Advocacy after Avenatti made five-figure donations to the school. The annual award is given to the member of the graduating Juris Doctor class who demonstrates excellence in pre-trial and trial advocacy. Avenatti was awarded GW's Alumni Recognition Award in 2010.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: In college and later in law school, Avenatti worked at The Research Group, a political opposition research and media firm run by Rahm Emanuel (later White House Chief of Staff for President Barack Obama, and Mayor of Chicago). Avenatti worked on over 150 Democratic and Republican campaigns in 42 states while studying at George Washington University.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: After law school, Avenatti worked at O'Melveny & Myers in Los Angeles, California, alongside Daniel M. Petrocelli, who previously represented the Ron Goldman family in its case against O. J. Simpson. He assisted Petrocelli on multiple legal matters, including the representation of singer Christina Aguilera and litigation surrounding the movie "", and worked extensively for Don Henley and Glenn Frey of the musical group the Eagles, including in a suit brought by former bandmate Don Felder against the group and Irving Azoff.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: Avenatti later joined Greene Broillet & Wheeler, a Los Angeles boutique law firm. While there, he handled a number of high-profile cases, including a $10 million defamation case against Paris Hilton which was settled out of court, settled an idea-theft lawsuit relating to the show "The Apprentice" and against producers Mark Burnett and Donald Trump, and a $40 million embezzlement lawsuit involving KPMG.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: In 2007, Avenatti formed the law firm Eagan Avenatti, LLP (formerly known as Eagan O'Malley & Avenatti, LLP) with offices in Newport Beach, Los Angeles, and San Francisco, all in California. The firm launched many high-profile lawsuits, including one over allegedly defective hospital gowns. He appeared on "60 Minutes" three times in connection with cases he has handled.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: Avenatti has also served as lead counsel on a number of historically large cases, including an April 2017 $454 million verdict after a jury trial in Federal Court in Los Angeles in a fraud case against Kimberly-Clark and Halyard Health, later reduced to a $21.7 million verdict upon appeal, an $80.5 million class-action settlement against Service Corporation International, and a $41 million jury verdict against KPMG.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: In 2013, Avenatti formed a company, Global Baristas, to buy Seattle-based Tully's Coffee out of bankruptcy. Avenatti first formed a partnership with actor Patrick Dempsey, but Dempsey later backed away from the venture after a short legal battle that resulted in a settlement. Since 2015, Global Baristas has been named in more than 50 lawsuits in state and federal courts for breach of contract, unpaid bills, and unpaid taxes.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: In 2015, Avenatti prevailed against the National Football League (NFL) following a jury trial in Dallas. He later pursued a class-action suit on behalf of fans who showed up for Super Bowl XLV with tickets that didn't correspond to actual seats, but the courts in Texas declined to certify the class.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: In 2016, Avenatti filed another class action lawsuit against the NFL, this time on behalf of ticket-holders to the annual Hall of Fame Game, which was canceled a few hours before kickoff.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: In 2017, Gerald Tobin alleged Avenatti failed to pay him $28,700 for private investigatory work. As a result, Avenatti's firm was abruptly forced into bankruptcy. Tobin, a Floridian with four decades of convictions and jail time, was not a licensed investigator. Tobin's claim forced Avenatti to cancel a deposition in an unrelated lawsuit days later, raising the question of collusion between Avenatti and Tobin. The issue was resolved when the pair entered a non-disclosure agreement, and Avenatti paid Tobin the $28,700.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: In 2018, Avenatti's law firm was subjected to a $10 million judgment in a U.S. bankruptcy court. Avenatti has also defaulted on a $440,000 verdict in back taxes, penalties, and interest that he was personally obligated to pay under another bankruptcy settlement. The U.S. Attorney's office asserted in court that a motion seeking payment would soon be filed against Avenatti. Eagan Avenatti had been in Chapter 11 bankruptcy proceedings and, in December 2017, had agreed to pay $4.8 million in unpaid fees to a former partner, $2 million in back taxes, and $1 million to other creditors. In June 2018, the former partner filed a motion in U.S. bankruptcy court asking for a lien on any and all legal fees Avenatti's firm might collect, up to $10 million, from clients in 54 cases including his representation of Stormy Daniels.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: In November 2018, a few days after his arrest on suspicion of domestic violence, Avenatti's law firm was evicted from its office in Newport Beach after skipping $213,000 worth of rent payments. In January 2019, a former client filed an arbitration against Avenatti, alleging misuse of settlement funds Eagan Avenatti LLP had received in trust.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: On June 3, 2019, the California State Bar filed a 573-page petition to enroll Avenatti in involuntary inactive status pending the outcome of the criminal cases and the disciplinary action which will be filed against him. The primary basis for the action was Avenatti's alleged embezzlement of $1,600,000 in funds from client Greg Barela.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: Since 2010, Avenatti has driven in approximately 33 sportscar races, including various American Le Mans Series, FIA World Endurance Championship, Porsche Supercup, and United SportsCar Championship races in the United States and Europe. These races have included the 24 Hours of Daytona, 12 Hours of Sebring, 2012 Petit Le Mans, and the Long Beach Grand Prix. Avenatti had been planning to race the 2013 24 Hours of Le Mans, but replaced himself with Patrick Long a few weeks before the event because scheduling conflicts had arisen with his other business interests. At the 2015 24 Hours of Le Mans, Avenatti teamed up with Saudi Prince Abdulaziz bin Turki Al Saud and Polish driver Jakub "Kuba" Giermaziak in the No. 66 JMW Motorsport Ferrari 458 Italia. The team placed seventh in its class.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: During the 1999 "Leonard v. Pepsico, Inc." lawsuit, Avenatti – then a law student – was hired by plaintiff John Leonard as a media relations consultant.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: Avenatti appeared in the 2022 Netflix docuseries "Pepsi, Where's My Jet?", recounting his part in Leonard's defence; his interviews were filmed under house arrest.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: In March 2018, Avenatti filed a lawsuit on behalf of adult film actress Stormy Daniels seeking to invalidate a 2016 non-disclosure agreement regarding an alleged affair with Donald Trump in 2006, claiming that Daniels had been paid off by Trump's lawyer Michael Cohen not to disclose information covered by the NDA. The non-disclosure agreement had been negotiated in the final days of the 2016 U.S. Presidential campaign. Avenatti also represented Daniels in a related defamation suit against Trump. In October 2018, a federal judge dismissed the defamation lawsuit and ordered Daniels to pay Trump's legal fees. Avenatti said he would appeal that decision; Daniels later said that Avenatti had initiated the suit against her wishes.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: Avenatti was a frequent guest on talk shows and cable news programs to discuss the cases, logging 108 CNN and MSNBC appearances between March 7 and May 10, 2018. He also gained a large following on Twitter; he ended his tweets about the case and other Trump-related matters with the Twitter hashtag "#basta" – the Italian word for "enough."


title: Michael Avenatti

text: In May 2018, Avenatti released records showing multiple large payments, some from major corporations, into the bank account Cohen had used to pay Daniels. Cohen's lawyers subsequently argued that some of the transactions released by Avenatti involved a different Michael Cohen, but they did not dispute the larger deposits. The US Treasury Department opened an investigation into how Avenatti gained information from Cohen's private bank records. Avenatti had also filed a motion to join the federal investigation of Michael Cohen. The federal judge issued Avenatti "a choice" that if he wanted to join, he would have to end what the judge called his "publicity tour" of TV appearances and tweets about the case. Avenatti withdrew the motion, and appeared on MSNBC that same day.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: In early March 2019, Daniels terminated her arrangement with Avenatti, replacing him with attorney Clark Brewster. Later that month, when federal charges against Avenatti were announced, she said, "Knowing what I know now about Michael, I’m saddened but not shocked regarding his arrest." Avenatti faces New York charges of wire fraud, identity theft, and embezzling almost $300,000 from Daniels. On June 2, 2022, Avenatti was sentenced to four years in prison for defrauding Daniels.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: Avenatti provided a video to MSNBC, which aired on the June 25, 2018, episode of "The Rachel Maddow Show", a "secretly shot" video of a child in the custody of immigration officials who was separated from her mother. The video was leaked by a former employee whom Avenatti represented. The leaked video was part of the response to the Trump administration family separation policy.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: In September 2018, as the nomination of Brett Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court was being evaluated in the Senate, two women accused him of inappropriate sexual conduct while in high school or college. Avenatti then announced that he had a client who made additional allegations against Kavanaugh as both a witness and a victim of his inappropriate behavior and that she would soon come forward publicly. On September 25, the woman was publicly identified by Avenatti as Julie Swetnick, a resident of Washington, D.C. and a 1980 graduate of Gaithersburg High School in Maryland. Swetnick claimed, in an unnotarized declaration, signed under penalty of perjury, that Kavanaugh, as a high school student in the early 1980s, drank excessively and engaged in physically aggressive behavior toward girls. She said he was present at parties where girls were drugged and gang-raped and that he participated in those activities. Swetnick also claimed she was gang-raped at a party where Kavanaugh was present, although he did not personally participate in the attack. Kavanaugh retorted, "I don't know who this is and this never happened." On September 26, Democrats on the Judiciary Committee sent a letter to Chairman Grassley requesting "[i]n light of shocking new allegations detailed by Julie Swetnick" that the vote be immediately canceled and that Grassley should support either the reopening of the FBI investigation or the withdrawal of Kavanaugh's nomination. In an NBC interview, Swetnick provided the names of four people she alleged were friends who had gone to the parties with her – however, one is deceased and another claimed not to know her.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: Avenatti announced that he had a sworn declaration by another woman corroborating Swetnick's accusations. Subsequently, NBC News reported that the unnamed declarant told them on September 30 (before Michael Avenatti released her sworn statement on October 3 with her name redacted) that she never thought it was Kavanaugh spiking the punch and that she never witnessed him act inappropriately towards girls. In a text to NBC News on October 4, the unnamed accuser reiterated, "It is incorrect that I saw Brett spike the punch. I didn't see anyone spike the punch...I was very clear with Avenatti from day one," adding that she would never allow anyone to be abusive towards males or females in her presence. She also expressed that she had only given her sworn declaration a cursory look. The response to NBC News by Avenatti was that she read, signed, and repeatedly stood behind the sworn declaration. The unnamed declarant contacted NBC News on October 5 and reiterated her denial of ever seeing Kavanaugh spike punch or act inappropriately toward women, and charged Avenatti with twisting her words.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: Kavanaugh was confirmed to the Supreme Court by a margin of 50–48, mostly along party lines. Democrat Joe Manchin (WV) voted for Kavanaugh, while Republican Steve Daines (MT) was not present to vote. Republican Lisa Murkowski (AK) voted present. Democratic Senators blamed Avenatti as the Swetnick accusation "gave Republicans an opportunity to shift the narrative away from Ford's allegations and make a broader case that the growing accusations of sexual misconduct amounted to an orchestrated Democratic smear campaign". Senator Susan Collins, a Republican swing vote, called the Swetnick allegation "outlandish...[without] any credible supporting evidence", and ended up supporting Kavanaugh's nomination. Senator Gary Peters said that Avenatti's allegations "turns [sic] it into a circus atmosphere and certainly that's not where we should be", while another Senate aide said that "Democrats and the country would have been better off if Mr. Avenatti spent his time on his Iowa vanity project rather than meddling in Supreme Court fights". Avenatti fired back, criticizing anonymous Democrats as "cowards", arguing that this showed "failed leadership" in the Democratic Party.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: Senate Judiciary Chairman Chuck Grassley referred Avenatti and Swetnick to the Department of Justice for a possible criminal investigation over allegations they made false statements to Congress about now-Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh. Avenatti called the referral "completely baseless."


title: Michael Avenatti

text: In February 2019, Avenatti provided Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office with a tape of R. Kelly having sex with an underage girl, which he received from a whistleblower whom he was representing.The video would later be used in a criminal trial against Kelly.  In March 2019, Avenatti represented six different people with links to Kelly including two alleged victims, two whistleblowers, and two parents of the victims. Avenatti accused Kelly of violating the terms of his bail release, but Avenatti's comments led to no legal trouble for Kelly. Avenatti also criticized Kelly's interview with Gayle King in a series of tweets.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: Avenatti expressed interest in running for President of the United States in 2020; he started a political action committee, and held his first fundraiser at the Democratic Wing Ding in August. In September 2018, Avenatti said he would run in 2020 only against Trump or Pence. On November 1, 2018, Avenatti released his first political ad, which urged Americans to vote on November 6, 2018; "The Washington Post" ranked him a top 15 contender. On December 4, 2018, Avenatti announced that he would not be a candidate for president of the United States in 2020. In a Twitter post, he announced, "I do not make this decision lightly – I make it out of respect for my family."


title: Michael Avenatti

text: In November 2018, Avenatti was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence. The Los Angeles Police Department (LAPD) later confirmed Avenatti was arrested for felony domestic violence and his bail was set at $50,000. An LAPD spokesperson said that the unidentified victim, at the time, later described as his girlfriend, had "visible injuries" and that the case would be referred to the Los Angeles County District Attorney for prosecution. Minutes after the reports of Avenatti's arrest, the Twitter account of Surefire Intelligence, a company created by the far-right conspiracy theorist Jacob Wohl, seemingly claimed responsibility for the arrest, tweeting a news story about it and adding "Surefire Intelligence strikes again."


title: Michael Avenatti

text: Later in November, actress Mareli Miniutti's name was released as the woman alleging domestic violence. The filing stated that Miniutti and Avenatti had been residing together, and alleged that they had gotten into an argument over money before Avenatti hit her in the face with pillows and dragged her across their apartment floor.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: Avenatti called the allegations "completely bogus" and "fabricated and meant to do harm to my reputation." Both of his ex-wives issued statements that Avenatti had never been violent toward either of them. The county district attorney declined to press charges, and referred the case to the city attorney for possible misdemeanor charges.<ref name="Lee_11/21/2018"></ref> On February 1, 2019, the city attorney's office announced that their investigation was complete, and that Avenatti would not be charged.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: Avenatti's settlement offers in his suit against Nike became so overly aggressive that the prosecutors of his case contended that he was engaging in extortion. Nike had agreed to pay a coach damages to settle a case; however, Avenatti concealed this from the coach because Nike‘s offer didn't include attorney's fees.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: On March 25, 2019, Avenatti was arrested in New York City, and federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York announced that they were charging Avenatti with attempting to extort up to $25 million from U.S. athletic apparel and shoe company Nike by threatening to make damaging charges against the company. Avenatti allegedly claimed that Nike improperly made payments to families of high school basketball players. The arrest came about 15 minutes after Avenatti announced he would be holding a press conference the next day, at which he claimed he would reveal information about a high school and college basketball scandal involving Nike.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: During the afternoon of March 25, Avenatti and an unnamed co-conspirator were scheduled to meet with lawyers from Nike, at which prosecutors allege he would have offered to cancel the press conference in exchange for payment. Avenatti's suspected co-conspirator was identified as Mark Geragos. Avenatti was released on a $300,000 bond that evening.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: On February 14, 2020, Avenatti was found guilty on all three counts related to the attempted extortion of Nike. He faced potentially more than 40 years in prison. On July 8, 2021, Judge Paul G. Gardephe sentenced him to 30 months in prison.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: Also, on March 25, 2019, the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California, Nicola T. Hanna, announced in Los Angeles the filing of a 197-page complaint accusing Avenatti of wire fraud and bank fraud. The indictment said that Avenatti had embezzled money from a client and had defrauded a Mississippi bank by submitting false tax returns to obtain more than $4 million in loans. Prosecutors also alleged that Avenatti had not filed personal tax returns for the years in question.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: On April 10, 2019, Avenatti was charged by a federal grand jury in Santa Ana, California with embezzling funds that his client, NBA player Hassan Whiteside, had wired to him in January 2017 to pay a settlement to his ex-girlfriend. Avenatti stands accused of withholding client funds and applying most of the settlement money of $1.75 million, along with his included $1 million fees, to invest $2.5 million in a share of a private jet. He is further accused of misrepresenting Whiteside's settlement payment as monthly installments, which he paid out until June 2018, totaling $194,000. Federal agents subsequently seized a Honda HA-420 twin-engine jet from Santa Barbara Airport co-owned by Avenatti and former client, Indigo Systems co-founder William J. Parrish, as the latter was about to embark on a flight. Parrish successfully sued Avenatti in 2017 for $2.1 million for failure to repay a 2013 loan. Avenatti had not appeared in court to defend himself and appealed that judgment. Avenatti denies the charges.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: On April 11, 2019, 36 additional financial crime charges were announced by the U.S. Attorney for the Central District of California. Avenatti is accused of stealing money from clients to purchase a $5 million private jet he co-owned, as well as fraud related to tax documents and banking information. According to U.S. Attorney Hanna, "[m]oney generated from one set of crimes was used to further other crimes, typically in the form of payments designed to string along victims." The purpose of his crimes was "to prevent Mr. Avenatti’s financial house of cards from collapsing." Vowing to "fully fight" the additional charges and appealing to the public to presume his innocence, Avenatti stated on Twitter that "[f]or 20 years, I have represented Davids vs. Goliaths and relied on due process and our system of justice. Along the way, I have made many powerful enemies."


title: Michael Avenatti

text: On December 5, 2022, Avenatti was sentenced by James V. Selna in a California court to 14 years in prison for wire fraud as well as obstruction against the IRS in their effort to collect $5 million in unpaid payroll taxes for Tully's Coffee.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: On May 22, 2019, Avenatti was charged with wire fraud and aggravated identity theft as a result of allegations that he stole money from former client Stormy Daniels while helping negotiate her 2018 book deal. Avenatti pleaded not guilty. Avenatti was released on a $300,000 bail bond on the conditions that he notify authorities of any travel plans and that he have no contact with Daniels.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: On February 4, 2022, Avenatti was convicted in a New York federal court of identity theft and wire fraud for stealing from Daniels. He was ordered to surrender to U.S. Marshals by February 7 In May 2022, Avenati's attorneys submitted a letter of apology to Daniels, saying he was "truly sorry," and that he failed her in many respects.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: On June 2, 2022, Avenatti was sentenced to four years in prison on prison on top of the 2 1/2 years he is already serving after another fraud conviction. Avenatti, registration number 86743-054, is currently incarcerated at Federal Correctional Institution, Terminal Island, where he was scheduled for release in 2026.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: On June 5, 2019, the State Bar of California filed with the California State Bar Court a 573-page application under the California Business and Professions Code section 6007(c)(2), to involuntarily enroll Avenatti as an inactive member of the bar. The State Bar Court is the court that decides whether a California attorney committed professional misconduct worthy of discipline, up to and including disbarment. The State Bar contends that the evidence submitted with the petition establishes that Avenatti has committed professional misconduct that has caused or is causing substantial harm to Avenatti's clients or the public. There is a substantial probability that Avenatti's professional misconduct will result in his disbarment. If the State Bar Court finds sufficient evidence to place Avenatti on involuntary inactive enrollment, the State Bar must initiate disciplinary proceedings within 45 days of the effective date of the order. If the State Bar Court rules on disbarment, the California Supreme Court must review and approve it.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: Avenatti has been on "Interim suspension after conviction 20-C-30155" since May 4, 2020. California, like most states, considers a felony conviction to be grounds for disbarment.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: Avenatti was again arrested on January 14, 2020, during a recess in court for his disbarment proceedings, for violating the terms of a previous release, and was expected to appear in federal court in Santa Ana, California, on January 15.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: According to "The Wall Street Journal", Avenatti was scheduled to face trial in New York on charges of attempting to extort millions from Nike when a federal judge in California ordered him jailed until his trial in California. Prosecutors in California accused Avenatti of violating the conditions of his release by committing a series of financial crimes while free on bond: structuring currency transactions to avoid reporting requirements and concealing his personal assets from his creditors. U.S. Marshals were prepared to take Avenatti to Manhattan as early as January 17, 2020, for his trial on the New York charges. Avenatti's trial on the California charges was scheduled for the following May.


title: Michael Avenatti

text: He married Lisa Storie in 2011. They have one son. Lisa Storie-Avenatti filed for divorce in December 2017. On November 30, 2018, the couple had signed a temporary agreement, which required Avenatti to sign over certain possessions and pay $40,000 a month in family support, with the first payment being due by December 3, 2018. In December 2018, it was reported that Avenatti had agreed to pay Lisa $1,947,540 in child and spousal support, and to transfer ownership of several assets to her, including five luxury wristwatches, a Frank Gehry sculpture, other artwork, and a leased 2017 Ferrari 488 GT Spider, while his law firm would transfer to Lisa its interest in a 2015 Honda private jet. He responded to the reports, calling them "bogus". The jet was later confiscated by federal agents at Santa Barbara Airport on April 10, 2019, during an asset seizure based on the tax, wire, and bankruptcy fraud indictment filed in the U.S. Central District Court of California.


title: Autocorrelation

text: Autocorrelation, sometimes known as serial correlation in the discrete time case, is the correlation of a signal with a delayed copy of itself as a function of delay. Informally, it is the similarity between observations of a random variable as a function of the time lag between them. The analysis of autocorrelation is a mathematical tool for finding repeating patterns, such as the presence of a periodic signal obscured by noise, or identifying the missing fundamental frequency in a signal implied by its harmonic frequencies. It is often used in signal processing for analyzing functions or series of values, such as time domain signals.


title: Autocorrelation

text: Different fields of study define autocorrelation differently, and not all of these definitions are equivalent. In some fields, the term is used interchangeably with autocovariance.


title: Autocorrelation

text: Unit root processes, trend-stationary processes, autoregressive processes, and moving average processes are specific forms of processes with autocorrelation.


title: Autocorrelation

text: In statistics, the autocorrelation of a real or complex random process is the Pearson correlation between values of the process at different times, as a function of the two times or of the time lag. Let formula_1 be a random process, and formula_2 be any point in time (formula_2 may be an integer for a discrete-time process or a real number for a continuous-time process). Then formula_4 is the value (or realization) produced by a given run of the process at time formula_2. Suppose that the process has mean formula_6 and variance formula_7 at time formula_2, for each formula_2. Then the definition of the auto-correlation function between times formula_10 and formula_11 is


title: Autocorrelation

text: where formula_12 is the expected value operator and the bar represents complex conjugation. Note that the expectation may not be well defined.


title: Autocorrelation

text: Subtracting the mean before multiplication yields the auto-covariance function between times formula_10 and formula_11:


title: Autocorrelation

text: Note that this expression is not well defined for all time series or processes, because the mean may not exist, or the variance may be zero (for a constant process) or infinite (for processes with distribution lacking well-behaved moments, such as certain types of power law).


title: Autocorrelation

text: If formula_1 is a wide-sense stationary process then the mean formula_16 and the variance formula_17 are time-independent, and further the autocovariance function depends only on the lag between formula_10 and formula_11: the autocovariance depends only on the time-distance between the pair of values but not on their position in time. This further implies that the autocovariance and auto-correlation can be expressed as a function of the time-lag, and that this would be an even function of the lag formula_20. This gives the more familiar forms for the auto-correlation function


title: Autocorrelation

text: It is common practice in some disciplines (e.g. statistics and time series analysis) to normalize the autocovariance function to get a time-dependent Pearson correlation coefficient. However, in other disciplines (e.g. engineering) the normalization is usually dropped and the terms "autocorrelation" and "autocovariance" are used interchangeably.


title: Autocorrelation

text: If the function formula_23 is well defined, its value must lie in the range formula_24, with 1 indicating perfect correlation and −1 indicating perfect anti-correlation.


title: Autocorrelation

text: The normalization is important both because the interpretation of the autocorrelation as a correlation provides a scale-free measure of the strength of statistical dependence, and because the normalization has an effect on the statistical properties of the estimated autocorrelations.


title: Autocorrelation

text: The autocorrelation of a continuous-time white noise signal will have a strong peak (represented by a Dirac delta function) at formula_32 and will be exactly formula_33 for all other formula_34.


title: Autocorrelation

text: The Wiener–Khinchin theorem relates the autocorrelation function formula_26 to the power spectral density formula_36 via the Fourier transform:


title: Autocorrelation

text: For real-valued functions, the symmetric autocorrelation function has a real symmetric transform, so the Wiener–Khinchin theorem can be re-expressed in terms of real cosines only:


title: Autocorrelation

text: The (potentially time-dependent) auto-correlation matrix (also called second moment) of a (potentially time-dependent) random vector formula_41 is an formula_42 matrix containing as elements the autocorrelations of all pairs of elements of the random vector formula_43. The autocorrelation matrix is used in various digital signal processing algorithms.


title: Autocorrelation

text: For a random vector formula_41 containing random elements whose expected value and variance exist, the auto-correlation matrix is defined by


title: Autocorrelation

text: For example, if formula_51 is a random vector, then formula_52 is a formula_53 matrix whose formula_54-th entry is formula_55.


title: Autocorrelation

text: In signal processing, the above definition is often used without the normalization, that is, without subtracting the mean and dividing by the variance. When the autocorrelation function is normalized by mean and variance, it is sometimes referred to as the autocorrelation coefficient or autocovariance function.


title: Autocorrelation

text: Given a signal formula_60, the continuous autocorrelation formula_61 is most often defined as the continuous cross-correlation integral of formula_60 with itself, at lag formula_34.


title: Autocorrelation

text: where formula_64 represents the complex conjugate of formula_60. Note that the parameter formula_2 in the integral is a dummy variable and is only necessary to calculate the integral. It has no specific meaning.


title: Autocorrelation

text: The above definitions work for signals that are square integrable, or square summable, that is, of finite energy. Signals that "last forever" are treated instead as random processes, in which case different definitions are needed, based on expected values. For wide-sense-stationary random processes, the autocorrelations are defined as


title: Autocorrelation

text: For processes that are also ergodic, the expectation can be replaced by the limit of a time average. The autocorrelation of an ergodic process is sometimes defined as or equated to


title: Autocorrelation

text: These definitions have the advantage that they give sensible well-defined single-parameter results for periodic functions, even when those functions are not the output of stationary ergodic processes.


title: Autocorrelation

text: Alternatively, signals that "last forever" can be treated by a short-time autocorrelation function analysis, using finite time integrals. (See short-time Fourier transform for a related process.)


title: Autocorrelation

text: If formula_74 is a continuous periodic function of period formula_75, the integration from formula_76 to formula_77 is replaced by integration over any interval formula_78 of length formula_75:


title: Autocorrelation

text: In the following, we will describe properties of one-dimensional autocorrelations only, since most properties are easily transferred from the one-dimensional case to the multi-dimensional cases. These properties hold for wide-sense stationary processes.


title: Autocorrelation

text: Multi-dimensional autocorrelation is defined similarly. For example, in three dimensions the autocorrelation of a square-summable discrete signal would be


title: Autocorrelation

text: When mean values are subtracted from signals before computing an autocorrelation function, the resulting function is usually called an auto-covariance function.


title: Autocorrelation

text: For data expressed as a discrete sequence, it is frequently necessary to compute the autocorrelation with high computational efficiency. A brute force method based on the signal processing definition formula_97 can be used when the signal size is small. For example, to calculate the autocorrelation of the real signal sequence formula_98 (i.e. formula_99, and formula_100 for all other values of ) by hand, we first recognize that the definition just given is the same as the "usual" multiplication, but with right shifts, where each vertical addition gives the autocorrelation for particular lag values:


title: Autocorrelation

text: Thus the required autocorrelation sequence is formula_102, where formula_103 formula_104 and formula_105 the autocorrelation for other lag values being zero. In this calculation we do not perform the carry-over operation during addition as is usual in normal multiplication. Note that we can halve the number of operations required by exploiting the inherent symmetry of the autocorrelation. If the signal happens to be periodic, i.e. formula_106 then we get a circular autocorrelation (similar to circular convolution) where the left and right tails of the previous autocorrelation sequence will overlap and give formula_107 which has the same period as the signal sequence formula_108 The procedure can be regarded as an application of the convolution property of Z-transform of a discrete signal.


title: Autocorrelation

text: While the brute force algorithm is order , several efficient algorithms exist which can compute the autocorrelation in order . For example, the Wiener–Khinchin theorem allows computing the autocorrelation from the raw data with two fast Fourier transforms (FFT):


title: Autocorrelation

text: Alternatively, a multiple correlation can be performed by using brute force calculation for low values, and then progressively binning the data with a logarithmic density to compute higher values, resulting in the same efficiency, but with lower memory requirements.


title: Autocorrelation

text: For a discrete process with known mean and variance for which we observe formula_72 observations formula_111, an estimate of the autocorrelation coefficient may be obtained as


title: Autocorrelation

text: for any positive integer formula_113. When the true mean formula_16 and variance formula_17 are known, this estimate is unbiased. If the true mean and variance of the process are not known there are several possibilities:


title: Autocorrelation

text: The advantage of estimates of the last type is that the set of estimated autocorrelations, as a function of formula_122, then form a function which is a valid autocorrelation in the sense that it is possible to define a theoretical process having exactly that autocorrelation. Other estimates can suffer from the problem that, if they are used to calculate the variance of a linear combination of the formula_123's, the variance calculated may turn out to be negative.


title: Autocorrelation

text: In regression analysis using time series data, autocorrelation in a variable of interest is typically modeled either with an autoregressive model (AR), a moving average model (MA), their combination as an autoregressive-moving-average model (ARMA), or an extension of the latter called an autoregressive integrated moving average model (ARIMA). With multiple interrelated data series, vector autoregression (VAR) or its extensions are used.


title: Autocorrelation

text: In ordinary least squares (OLS), the adequacy of a model specification can be checked in part by establishing whether there is autocorrelation of the regression residuals. Problematic autocorrelation of the errors, which themselves are unobserved, can generally be detected because it produces autocorrelation in the observable residuals. (Errors are also known as "error terms" in econometrics.) Autocorrelation of the errors violates the ordinary least squares assumption that the error terms are uncorrelated, meaning that the Gauss Markov theorem does not apply, and that OLS estimators are no longer the Best Linear Unbiased Estimators (BLUE). While it does not bias the OLS coefficient estimates, the standard errors tend to be underestimated (and the t-scores overestimated) when the autocorrelations of the errors at low lags are positive.


title: Autocorrelation

text: The traditional test for the presence of first-order autocorrelation is the Durbin–Watson statistic or, if the explanatory variables include a lagged dependent variable, Durbin's h statistic. The Durbin-Watson can be linearly mapped however to the Pearson correlation between values and their lags. A more flexible test, covering autocorrelation of higher orders and applicable whether or not the regressors include lags of the dependent variable, is the Breusch–Godfrey test. This involves an auxiliary regression, wherein the residuals obtained from estimating the model of interest are regressed on (a) the original regressors and (b) "k" lags of the residuals, where 'k' is the order of the test. The simplest version of the test statistic from this auxiliary regression is "TR", where "T" is the sample size and "R" is the coefficient of determination. Under the null hypothesis of no autocorrelation, this statistic is asymptotically distributed as formula_124 with "k" degrees of freedom.


title: Autocorrelation

text: Responses to nonzero autocorrelation include generalized least squares and the Newey–West HAC estimator (Heteroskedasticity and Autocorrelation Consistent).


title: Autocorrelation

text: In the estimation of a moving average model (MA), the autocorrelation function is used to determine the appropriate number of lagged error terms to be included. This is based on the fact that for an MA process of order "q", we have formula_125, for formula_126, and formula_127, for formula_128.


title: Autocorrelation

text: Serial dependence is closely linked to the notion of autocorrelation, but represents a distinct concept (see Correlation and dependence). In particular, it is possible to have serial dependence but no (linear) correlation. In some fields however, the two terms are used as synonyms.


title: Autocorrelation

text: A time series of a random variable has serial dependence if the value at some time formula_2 in the series is statistically dependent on the value at another time formula_130. A series is serially independent if there is no dependence between any pair.


title: Autocorrelation

text: If a time series formula_1 is stationary, then statistical dependence between the pair formula_132 would imply that there is statistical dependence between all pairs of values at the same lag formula_133.


title: John Havlicek

text: John Joseph Havlicek ( ; April 8, 1940 – April 25, 2019) was an American professional basketball player who spent his entire career with the Boston Celtics, winning eight NBA championships, four of them coming in his first four seasons with the team.


title: John Havlicek

text: In the National Basketball Association he is one of four players to have won eight championships in their playing careers; only teammates Bill Russell and Sam Jones won more, with 11 and 10 championships respectively. Havlicek is also one of three NBA players with an unsurpassed 8–0 record in NBA Finals series outcomes. Havlicek is widely considered to have been one of the greatest players in the history of the game and was inducted as a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in 1984.


title: John Havlicek

text: Havlicek was born in Martins Ferry, Ohio, where his parents ran a general store. He was of Czech and Croatian descent, from his father and mother respectively. Havlicek was a three-sport athlete at Bridgeport High School in Bridgeport, Ohio, where he was a boyhood friend of Baseball Hall of Famer Phil Niekro.


title: John Havlicek

text: Havlicek played college basketball at Ohio State University with future seven-time NBA All-Star Jerry Lucas, who was his roommate, future first-round NBA draft pick Larry Siegfried, future coaching legend Bobby Knight, and Mel Nowell, among many others. The 1960 Ohio State Buckeyes, coached by head coach Fred Taylor and assistant coaches Jack Graf and Frank Truitt, won the 1960 NCAA title. Havlicek was named as an alternate of the 1960 United States national team that competed in the 1960 Summer Olympics.


title: John Havlicek

text: Havlicek was drafted by both the Boston Celtics of the National Basketball Association (NBA) and the Cleveland Browns of the National Football League in 1962. After competing briefly as a wide receiver in the Browns' training camp that year, he focused his energies on playing for the Celtics, with head coach Red Auerbach later describing him as the "guts of the team." He was also known for his stamina, with competitors saying that it was a challenge just to keep up with him. Havlicek was a swingman who could play in either the guard position or the forward position.


title: John Havlicek

text: Nicknamed "Hondo" (a nickname inspired by the 1953 movie of the same name starring John Wayne), Havlicek revolutionized the "sixth man" role in the NBA during his early years coming off the bench for the Celtics.


title: John Havlicek

text: Havlicek has been immortalized for his clutch steal in the closing seconds of the 1965 Eastern Conference championship. In the seventh and final game, played at Boston Garden on April 15, the Celtics led the Philadelphia 76ers 110–109 with five seconds left, and only needed to inbound the ball underneath their basket to secure the victory and advance to the 1965 NBA Finals; however, Bill Russell's pass struck a wire which was hanging down from the ceiling and helping to support the baskets, the turnover then giving the 76ers and Wilt Chamberlain the ball and a chance to win the game and the series. Hal Greer was set to throw the inbounds pass for the 76ers. Havlicek stood with his back to Greer, guarding Chet Walker. But as Greer's pass came inbounds, Havlicek spun, leaped, and tipped the pass to Sam Jones. Veteran referee Earl Strom, who wrote this game action in his memoir "Calling the Shots", called Havlicek's reaction one of the greatest plays he ever saw in his 32 years as a professional official. Announcer Johnny Most's call of "Havlicek stole the ball!" was dubbed by the NBA as "the most famous radio call in basketball history."


title: John Havlicek

text: In Game Five of the 1968 Eastern Division Finals, Havlicek recorded a near triple-double with 29 points, nine rebounds and 10 assists as the Celtics avoided elimination at the hands of the 76ers. He almost replicated his performance in Game Seven, as he recorded 21 points, 12 rebounds and eight assists in a 100–96 road win against the 76ers. In that series, the Celtics became the first NBA team to overcome a 3–1 playoff series deficit.


title: John Havlicek

text: In the second overtime of game five of the 1976 NBA Finals, Havlicek made a leaning, running bank shot that appeared to be the game-winner. However, Havlicek's shot went in with one second left, and Phoenix was allowed one final shot after Jo Jo White converted a technical foul shot for Phoenix's illegal timeout. Gar Heard scored for Phoenix to force the game's third overtime. The Celtics went on to win the game in triple overtime.


title: John Havlicek

text: When he retired after the 1977–78 NBA season, Havlicek finished his career as the Celtics all-time leading scorer, a distinction he still held at the time of his death in 2019. Besides his prolific scoring, he was also well-regarded for his defensive skills. Havlicek was named to eight NBA all-defensive teams, and was known for his ability to harass ballhandlers and get steals. He finished his career with eight NBA championships and was named to 13 all-star teams during his 16-year career.


title: John Havlicek

text: A 13-time NBA All-Star, Havlicek retired in 1978 and his number 17 jersey was immediately retired by the Celtics. At the time of his retirement, Havlicek was the NBA career leader in games played (a mark surpassed in 1984 by Elvin Hayes) and third in points behind Chamberlain and Oscar Robertson. Havlicek also retired as the NBA career leader in field goal attempts (later surpassed by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar) and missed field goals (later surpassed by Kobe Bryant).


title: John Havlicek

text: In 1980, Havlicek was selected as one of the league's greatest players by being named to the NBA 35th Anniversary Team. In 1984, Havlicek became a member of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. In 1996, he was selected as one of the 50 Greatest Players in NBA History, by a panel of journalists, players, coaches, executives, and general managers. He was also named the 14th best player of all-time in Bill Simmons's "". In October 2021, Havlicek was honored as one of the league's greatest players of all time by being named to the NBA 75th Anniversary Team.


title: John Havlicek

text: Havlicek is the Celtics' all-time leader in points, scoring 26,395 points (20.8 points per game, 16th all-time in points scored in the NBA), and playing in 1,270 games (30th all-time). He became the first player to score 1,000 points in 16 consecutive seasons, with his best scoring season coming during the 1970–71 season when he averaged 28.9 points per game.


title: John Havlicek

text: The Bridgeport High School gymnasium was renamed the "John J. Havlicek Gymnasium" in January 2007. He shares the honor with National High School Hall of Fame member Frank Baxter, a longtime coach at Bridgeport High School. The court is named after Baxter. Fellow Hall of Famer Chris Mullin wore number 17 as a tribute to Havlicek. In 1974, Havlicek received the Golden Plate Award of the American Academy of Achievement.


title: John Havlicek

text: Longtime Celtics teammate Bill Russell once described Havlicek as "'the best all-around ballplayer [he] ever saw'".


title: John Havlicek

text: Havlicek was shrewd with his money during his playing career, and he invested much of this income in the Wendy's fast food chain during its formative years. The success of his investments left Havlicek with a comfortable income after retirement and he never had to work for a conventional salary again. He had no desire to coach; instead, he served as a corporate speaker.


title: John Havlicek

text: Havlicek was a member of the board of the Genesis Foundation, which assists children with disabilities and genetic disorders. "He and his wife, Beth, held the John Havlicek Celebrity Fishing Tournament for more than three decades with proceeds going to the foundation".


title: John Havlicek

text: Havlicek met his wife, Beth, while both were attending Ohio State University. The couple married in 1967. They had two children: a son named Chris and a daughter named Jill. Chris Havlicek attended the University of Virginia on a basketball scholarship in the early 1990s. Jill Havlicek married former Major League Baseball outfielder and coach Brian Buchanan.


title: John Havlicek

text: Havlicek had Parkinson's disease during his last years. He died on April 25, 2019, in Jupiter, Florida, seventeen days after his 79th birthday.


title: Equals sign

text: The equals sign (British English, Unicode) or equal sign (American English), also known as the equality sign, is the mathematical symbol , which is used to indicate equality in some well-defined sense. In an equation, it is placed between two expressions that have the same value, or for which one studies the conditions under which they have the same value.


title: Equals sign

text: The etymology of the word "equal" is from the Latin word ""æqualis"," as meaning "uniform", "identical", or "equal", from "aequus" ("level", "even", or "just").


title: Equals sign

text: The symbol, now universally accepted in mathematics for equality, was first recorded by Welsh mathematician Robert Recorde in "The Whetstone of Witte" (1557). The original form of the symbol was much wider than the present form. In his book Recorde explains his design of the "Gemowe lines" (meaning "twin" lines, from the Latin "gemellus")


title: Equals sign

text: "The symbol was not immediately popular. The symbol was used by some and (or ), from the Latin word meaning equal, was widely used into the 1700s" ("History of Mathematics", University of St Andrews).


title: Equals sign

text: In mathematics, the equal sign can be used as a simple statement of fact in a specific case (), or to create definitions (), conditional statements (), or to express a universal equivalence ().


title: Equals sign

text: The first important computer programming language to use the equal sign was the original version of Fortran, FORTRAN I, designed in 1954 and implemented in 1957. In Fortran, serves as an assignment operator: sets the value of to 2. This somewhat resembles the use of in a mathematical definition, but with different semantics: the expression following is evaluated first, and may refer to a previous value of . For example, the assignment increases the value of by 2.


title: Equals sign

text: A rival programming-language usage was pioneered by the original version of ALGOL, which was designed in 1958 and implemented in 1960. ALGOL included a relational operator that tested for equality, allowing constructions like with essentially the same meaning of as the conditional usage in mathematics. The equal sign was reserved for this usage.


title: Equals sign

text: Both usages have remained common in different programming languages into the early 21st century. As well as Fortran, is used for assignment in such languages as C, Perl, Python, awk, and their descendants. But is used for equality and not assignment in the Pascal family, Ada, Eiffel, APL, and other languages.


title: Equals sign

text: A few languages, such as BASIC and PL/I, have used the equal sign to mean both assignment and equality, distinguished by context. However, in most languages where has one of these meanings, a different character or, more often, a sequence of characters is used for the other meaning. Following ALGOL, most languages that use for equality use for assignment, although APL, with its special character set, uses a left-pointing arrow.


title: Equals sign

text: Fortran did not have an equality operator (it was only possible to compare an expression to zero, using the arithmetic IF statement) until FORTRANIV was released in 1962, since when it has used the four characters to test for equality. The language B introduced the use of with this meaning, which has been copied by its descendant C and most later languages where means assignment.


title: Equals sign

text: The equal sign is also used in defining attribute–value pairs, in which an attribute is assigned a value.


title: Equals sign

text: In PHP, the triple equal sign, , denotes value and type equality, meaning that not only do the two expressions evaluate to equal values, but they are also of the same data type. For instance, the expression is true, but is not, because the number 0 is an integer value whereas false is a Boolean value.


title: Equals sign

text: JavaScript has the same semantics for , referred to as "equality without type coercion". However, in JavaScript the behavior of cannot be described by any simple consistent rules. The expression is true, but is false, even though both sides of the act the same in Boolean context. For this reason it is sometimes recommended to avoid the operator in JavaScript in favor of .


title: Equals sign

text: In Ruby, equality under requires both operands to be of identical type, e.g. is false. The operator is flexible and may be defined arbitrarily for any given type. For example, a value of type is a range of integers, such as . is false, since the types are different (Range vs. Integer); however is true, since on values means "inclusion in the range". Under these semantics, codice_1 is non-symmetric; e.g. codice_2 is false, since it is interpreted to mean codice_3 rather than codice_4.


title: Equals sign

text: The equal sign is also used as a grammatical tone letter in the orthographies of Budu in the Congo-Kinshasa, in Krumen, Mwan and Dan in the Ivory Coast. The Unicode character used for the tone letter (U+A78A) is different from the mathematical symbol (U+003D).


title: Equals sign

text: A possibly unique case of the equal sign of European usage in a person's name, specifically in a double-barreled name, was by pioneer aviator Alberto Santos-Dumont, as he is also known not only to have often used a double hyphen resembling an equal sign between his two surnames in place of a hyphen, but also seems to have personally preferred that practice, to display equal respect for his father's French ethnicity and the Brazilian ethnicity of his mother.


title: Equals sign

text: Instead of a double hyphen, the equal sign is sometimes used in Japanese as a separator between names. In Ojibwe, the readily available equal sign on a keyboard is used as a substitute for a double hyphen.


title: Equals sign

text: In linguistic interlinear glosses, an equal sign is conventionally used to mark clitic boundaries: the equal sign is placed between the clitic and the word that the clitic is attached to.


title: Equals sign

text: In chemical formulas, the two parallel lines denoting a double bond are commonly rendered using an equal sign.


title: Equals sign

text: In recent years, the equal sign has been used to symbolize LGBT rights. The symbol has been used since 1995 by the Human Rights Campaign, which lobbies for marriage equality, and subsequently by the United Nations Free & Equal, which promotes LGBT rights at the United Nations.


title: Equals sign

text: In Morse code, the equal sign is encoded by the letters B (-...) and T (-) run together (-...-). The letters BT stand for Break Text, and are put between paragraphs, or groups of paragraphs in messages sent via Telex, a standardised tele-typewriter. The sign, used to mean Break Text, is given at the end of a telegram to separate the text of the message from the signature.


title: Equals sign

text: In some areas of East Asia such as Japan, "≒" is used to mean "the two terms are almost equal", but in other areas and specialized literature such as mathematics, "≃" is often used. In addition to its mathematical meaning, it is sometimes used in Japanese sentences with the intention of "almost the same."


title: Equals sign

text: The symbol used to denote inequation (when items are not equal) is a slashed equal sign (U+2260). In LaTeX, this is done with the "\neq" command.


title: Equals sign

text: Most programming languages, limiting themselves to the 7-bit ASCII character set and typeable characters, use , , , or to represent their Boolean inequality operator.


title: Equals sign

text: The triple bar symbol (U+2261, LaTeX "\equiv") is often used to indicate an identity, a definition (which can also be represented by or ), or a congruence relation in modular arithmetic.


title: Equals sign

text: Equality of truth values (through bi-implication or logical equivalence), may be denoted by various symbols including , , and .


title: Equals sign

text: Additional precomposed symbols with code points in Unicode for notations related to the equal sign include:


title: Equals sign

text: The equal sign is sometimes used incorrectly within a mathematical argument to connect math steps in a non-standard way, rather than to show equality (especially by early mathematics students).


title: Equals sign

text: For example, if one were finding the sum, step by step, of the numbers 1, 2, 3, 4, and 5, one might incorrectly write


title: Equals sign

text: but the notation is incorrect, because each part of the equality has a different value. If interpreted strictly as it says, it would imply that


title: Equals sign

text: This difficulty results from subtly different uses of the sign in education. In early, arithmetic-focused grades, the equal sign may be "operational"; like the equal button on an electronic calculator, it demands the result of a calculation. Starting in algebra courses, the sign takes on a "relational" meaning of equality between two calculations. Confusion between the two uses of the sign sometimes persists at the university level.


title: Albert Bourla

text: Albert Bourla (; born ) is a Greek-American veterinarian and the chairman and chief executive officer of Pfizer, an American pharmaceutical company. He joined the company in 1993 and has held several executive roles across Pfizer's divisions. Prior to becoming chief executive officer, Bourla served as chief operating officer.


title: Albert Bourla

text: In addition to the boards of Pfizer and the Pfizer Foundation, he serves or has served on the boards of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, Catalyst, the Partnership for New York City, and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America. Bourla is also a member of The Business Council and the Business Roundtable.


title: Albert Bourla

text: medicine and is credited with reshaping Pfizer to be a company focused on research and development. He is also credited with helping the development of Improvac, which eradicates boar taint, and for refocusing Pfizer's vaccine division to focus on "Staphylococcus", "Clostridioides difficile" infection, infant diseases, and the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. He opposes government interference in pharmaceutical pricing, which he argues would hamper spending on development of new drugs.


title: Albert Bourla

text: Bourla was awarded the 2022 Genesis Prize for his leadership in the development of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine.


title: Albert Bourla

text: Bourla was born and raised in Thessaloniki, Greece. His parents, who were Sephardi Jews, were among the 2,000 of 50,000 Jews in Thessaloniki to survive the Holocaust; According to Bourla, his mother was allegedly minutes away from execution by firing squad when she was spared via a ransom paid to a Nazi Party official by her non-Jewish brother-in-law, while his father happened to be out of the Jewish ghetto when the residents were taken to the Auschwitz concentration camp and went into hiding, never to see his parents again.


title: Albert Bourla

text: Bourla earned a doctorate in the biotechnology of reproduction at Aristotle University of Thessaloniki's Veterinary School in 1985. He left Greece with his wife when he was 34 after a promotion within Pfizer and since then he has lived in seven different cities, in four different countries.


title: Albert Bourla

text: Bourla joined Pfizer in 1993, first serving as a doctor of veterinary medicine and technical director for the company's animal health division in Greece.


title: Albert Bourla

text: He held multiple executive roles at Zoetis (then known as Animal Health) and other divisions of Pfizer. From 2005 to 2009, he served as area president for Animal Health's Europe, Africa and Middle East division. In 2009 and 2010, he oversaw the Europe, Africa, and Asia Pacific division. In the latter role, he managed the merger of Wyeth's Fort Dodge Animal Health business with Pfizer in these regions.


title: Albert Bourla

text: From 2010 to 2013, Bourla served as president and general manager of Pfizer's Established Products Business Unit. There, he built business for the company's drugs that had recently lost patent exclusivity.


title: Albert Bourla

text: From January 2014 to January 2016, Bourla served as Group President of Pfizer's Global Vaccines, Oncology, and Consumer Healthcare business, where he led Pfizer's work on cancer and heart drugs, among others, and helped launch Eliquis, an anticoagulant, and Ibrance, a breast cancer treatment drug.


title: Albert Bourla

text: From February 2016 to December 2017, he was group president of Pfizer Innovative Health. In 2016, during his tenure, Innovative Health's revenue increased by 11%.


title: Albert Bourla

text: Bourla became Pfizer's chief operating officer (COO) on January 1, 2018, overseeing the company's drug development, manufacturing, sales, and strategy. He restructured Pfizer and spun-off the consumer health care business during his tenure as COO.


title: Albert Bourla

text: He was promoted to chief executive officer in October 2018, effective January 1, 2019, succeeding Ian Read, his mentor.


title: Albert Bourla

text: In February 2019, Bourla was one of seven CEOs in the pharmaceutical industry who participated in a hearing on prescription drug prices in the United States with the United States Senate Committee on Finance.


title: Albert Bourla

text: In April 2019, at the Prix Galien Greece Awards ceremony, he was presented with the award for "Preeminent Greek Leader" of the global pharmaceutical industry by Geoffrey R. Pyatt, United States Ambassador to Greece.


title: Albert Bourla

text: In January 2020, Bourla assumed the additional post of executive chairman, upon the retirement of Ian Read.


title: Albert Bourla

text: In 2020, Bourla pushed Pfizer employees for the fast development of a COVID-19 vaccine in partnership with German company BioNTech, making sure it is safe and effective. He told his team that "financial returns should not drive any decisions" with regards to the vaccine. He took the risk of producing the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine before approval from the Food and Drug Administration so that it would be ready to ship immediately upon approval. However his strategy of pricing during the pandemic has been called "war profiteering" by former CDC chief Tom Frieden.


title: Albert Bourla

text: In 2020, he was ranked as America's top CEO in the pharmaceutical industry by "Institutional Investor".


title: Albert Bourla

text: In an interview he gave to the BBC in December 2021, Bourla said “there is no doubt in my mind that the benefits, completely, are in favour of” vaccinating five to 11 year old children against Covid-19. “Covid in schools is thriving... This is disturbing, significantly, the educational system, and there are kids that will have severe symptoms [without our vaccine]". Following this interview, the British Medical Ethics Authority determined that Pfizer violated the ethical code by misleading the public, making unsubstantiated claims, and by failing to present information in a factual and balanced way.


title: Albert Bourla

text: Bourla has served on the Health Section Governing board of the Biotechnology Innovation Organization, the largest biotechnology trade association worldwide. He joined Pfizer's board of directors in February 2018, and also serves on the board of the Pfizer Foundation. Bourla is a board member of Catalyst, a global nonprofit organization promoting the advancement of women, the Partnership for New York City, and the Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA), a trade association representing companies in the pharmaceutical industry in the United States.


title: Albert Bourla

text: Bourla is a member of The Business Council, an organization of business leaders headquartered in Washington, D.C., and the Business Roundtable, a group of chief executives of major U.S. corporations established to promote pro-business public policy.


title: Albert Bourla

text: Bourla and his wife live in Scarsdale, New York. He has two children: a daughter and a son. He received $21 million in compensation from Pfizer in 2020.


title: Albert Bourla

text: Bourla is committed to his Greek heritage. He maintains a home in Chalkidiki, which he visits every summer. He is a supporter of the Aris Thessaloniki sports club. To benefit Greece, he organized vaccine donations, medical aid for refugees, and more than $1 million in medicine to help uninsured patients. He established the Pfizer Artificial Intelligence Center in his hometown, directed Pfizer's participation in the Thessaloniki International Fair, is close friends with Geoffrey R. Pyatt, United States Ambassador to Greece, and he brought Pfizer's leadership team to Greece to meet with Prime Minister of Greece Kyriakos Mitsotakis.


title: Albert Bourla

text: After he was awarded the Genesis Prize by Israeli President Isaac Herzog for his for his leadership in delivering the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, he directed the $1 million prize to Holocaust education and the Holocaust Museum of Greece to be built in Thessaloniki. Bourla also earned a 2022 Double Helix Medal 'for spearheading the rapid development of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine'.


title: Albert Bourla

text: He has made political contributions to both Republicans and Democrats, in particular to those who oppose controls on prescription drug prices in the United States.


title: Albert Bourla

text: He is regularly featured by CNBC and "The New York Times" and makes weekly posts on LinkedIn promoting Pfizer's work.


title: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

text: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee is an American talk-show web series directed and hosted by comedian Jerry Seinfeld. The series premiered on digital network Crackle on July 19, 2012. As of May 2015, it had been streamed nearly 100 million times. The series moved to Netflix in 2018 for the debut of its tenth season. Its eleventh season premiered on July 19, 2019. Seinfeld has since indicated that he may be done working on the series.


title: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

text: Episodes feature Seinfeld introducing a vintage car selected for a guest comedian, followed by a drive to a café or restaurant where they drink coffee. Episodes diverge from the format spontaneously, from making unplanned stops to interacting with members of the public.


title: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

text: Seinfeld has stated that the roots of the concept traced to a DVD extra he made for his 2002 documentary "Comedian" along with a later trip he made after purchasing an old VW Beetle in New Mexico, subsequently filming the return trip to the east coast with a friend. Later, describing the birth of the series, Seinfeld said the series birth was "an experiment"—as "kind of a guess."


title: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

text: Prior to the development of the series, Seinfeld was told by leading social network advisers, including those at Facebook and Yahoo, that a show length exceeding five minutes had little chance of success on the web. Howard Schultz, coffee magnate and Chairman of Starbucks, turned down the opportunity to sponsor the show. Acura eventually sponsored the show, giving Seinfeld creative license with creating commercials and product placements.


title: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

text: The series premiered on Crackle on July 19, 2012. As of May 2015, it had been streamed nearly 100 million times. In January 2017, it was announced that the series would migrate to Netflix starting with the show's tenth season. The first nine seasons became available to stream on Netflix in January 2018. Excluded are the Super Bowl promotional episode with Jason Alexander and Wayne Knight reprising their respective roles of George Costanza and Newman from "Seinfeld", a series of promotional videos featuring Michael Richards as fictional Crackle president Dick Corcoran and a spin-off series "Single Shot" (2014–2016), which compiled footage from various episodes to focus on a more narrow subject.


title: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

text: The series' eleventh season premiered on July 19, 2019. After hinting in mid-2020 that he may be done working on the series, Seinfeld stated in late 2021 that "I think I'm going to put that volume on the shelf." He elaborated that "It was a lot of fun and I got to meet ... a lot of those people who I had not met. We're friends now." The first episode filmed and last episode released feature Barry Marder and the same 1966 Porsche 356.


title: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

text: Episodes are estimated to cost roughly $100,000, with guests being paid in cash and the initial raw shoot lasting on average three and a half hours, which is then edited over a two-week period down to a 12 to 20-minute episode. The process uses a lean production staff, involves a minimum of network interaction and is designed as an edited and unscripted talk show without an audience that can be comfortably watched on a smartphone.


title: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

text: The show is formatted around the car drive and "movement," as Seinfeld believed that "when attempting to show the meandering, silly and sometimes deep conversations that comedians share, you have to remove the audience to keep the participants from dropping into their acts," adding that "part of what makes the show watchable is that it's always moving. There's no narrative [to] drive the story. We know what happens. We know they're going to get coffee. You need a kinetic energy to move it along. Moving people around keeps them awake."


title: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

text: The format is similar to Robert Llewellyn's "Carpool", which ran for over 100 episodes between 2009 and 2011. In July 2019, Seinfeld apologized to Llewellyn for the similarity and for not previously being aware of his series.


title: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

text: Bob Einstein became the first repeat guest on the show, appearing in the first season and again in the ninth season. Two guests have had their appearances split into two episodes: Jimmy Fallon in the fifth season and Ricky Gervais in the eleventh season. Several episodes have featured multiple guests appearing together including: Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks, Colin Quinn and Mario Joyner, and Kathleen Madigan and Chuck Martin. Colleen Ballinger appeared in character as Miranda Sings as a guest on an episode.


title: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

text: A series of bonus promotional videos featuring Michael Richards as Crackle president Dick Corcoran were released before and during this season.


title: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

text: Joan Rivers had been asked by Seinfeld to be the fifth season's first guest. However, she postponed her appearance due to a scheduled medical procedure. Rivers died as a result of that procedure.


title: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

text: Brian Lowry of "Variety" said that the series is the kind of short-form concept that feels stretched, even at 18 minutes. David Hinckley of The "New York Daily News" gave the series 3 out of 5 stars. Mike Hale of "The New York Times" said: "The [series' segments] ... are presented in a clean, elegant template with a studiously casual pencil-drawn logo. And the filming and editing are, if you break them down, impressively complex and artful for a Web series."


title: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

text: "The New York Times"s Anand Giridharadas critiqued the show as being out of touch with the everyman and more of a showcase of Seinfeld's wealth. Giridharadas wrote: "The democracy of observational humor has become, in Mr. Seinfeld's reincarnation, an oligarchy of mutual admiration." Other publications have been more positive in their opinion. The "New York Daily News" wrote of the show's format and first three seasons that, "It all sounds random, which it is and trivial, which it is and isn’t. In the end, the fun is contagious." "Newsday" then graded season four of the series with an "A".


title: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

text: Among the show's highlights is the episode with then-president Barack Obama. The episode begins with Seinfeld knocking on the White House windows, which he later would say "was the peak of my entire existence." Critics and audiences alike praised the episode for "what could have easily come off as stilted, manufactured dribble miraculously contains a comedic spark" and for its "charming and relaxed natural moments of playfulness," as well as the chemistry between the two.


title: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

text: "The Guardian"'s Stuart Heritage reviewed the later seasons of the show as degraded in quality, with the Christoph Waltz episode representing a low point that was "a betrayal of the premise [and] a slab of flabby filler to boot." With the move to Netflix, a subscription service, Heritage expected an increase of quality rather than episodes that were "exactly the same in terms of look and feel as the ones that came before," and further that the series feels more like "a product" with less creativity regarding its selection of guests.


title: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

text: The show has earned numerous Primetime Emmy Award nominations and has won several Producers Guild awards.


title: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee

text: A variant cover for the first issue of the 2022 reboot of the "" comic book series features Seinfeld driving the Batmobile with Superman in the passenger seat and Batman on the back of the car, all three holding coffees in the manner of the show.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The McDonnell Douglas DC-9 is an American five-abreast single-aisle aircraft designed by the Douglas Aircraft Company. It was initially produced by the developer company as the Douglas DC-9 until August 1967 and then by McDonnell Douglas.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: After introducing its heavy DC-8 in 1959, Douglas approved the smaller, all-new DC-9 for shorter flights on April 8, 1963.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The DC-9-10 first flew on February 25, 1965, and gained its type certificate on November 23, to enter service with Delta Air Lines on December 8.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The aircraft has two rear-mounted Pratt & Whitney JT8D low-bypass turbofans under a T-tail for a cleaner wing aerodynamic, a two-person flight deck and built-in airstairs.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The Series 30, stretched by 15 ft (4.5 m) to seat 115 in economy, has a larger wing and more powerful engines for a higher maximum takeoff weight (MTOW); it first flew in August 1966 and entered service in February 1967.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The Series 20 has the Series 10 fuselage, more powerful engines and the -30 improved wings; it first flew in September 1968 and entered service in January 1969.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The Series 40 was further lengthened by 6 ft (2 m) for 125 passengers, and the final DC-9-50 series first flew in 1974, stretched again by 8 ft (2.5 m) for 135 passengers.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: Smaller variants competed with the BAC One-Eleven, Fokker F28 and Sud Aviation Caravelle, and larger ones with the original Boeing 737.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The original DC-9 was followed by the second generation in 1980, the MD-80 series, a lengthened DC-9-50 with a larger wing and a higher MTOW.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: This was further developed into the third generation, the MD-90, in the early 1990s, as the body was stretched again, fitted with V2500 high-bypass turbofans and an updated flight deck.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The shorter and final version, the MD-95, was renamed the Boeing 717 after McDonnell Douglas's merger with Boeing in 1997 and is powered by Rolls-Royce BR715 engines.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The DC-9 family was produced between 1965 and 2006 with a total delivery of 2441 units: 976 DC-9, 1191 MD-80, 116 MD-90 and 155 Boeing 717.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: As of August 2022 a total of 250 aircraft remain in service, 31 DC -9 (freighter), 116 MD-80 (mainly freighter) and 103 Boeing 717 (passenger), while MD-90 was retired without freighter conversion.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: During the 1950s, Douglas Aircraft studied a short-to-medium-range airliner to complement their higher capacity, long range DC-8. (DC stands for Douglas Commercial.) A medium-range four-engine Model 2067 was studied but it did not receive enough interest from airlines and it was abandoned. In 1960, Douglas signed a two-year contract with Sud Aviation for technical cooperation. Douglas would market and support the Sud Aviation Caravelle and produce a licensed version if airlines ordered large numbers. None were ordered and Douglas returned to its design studies after the cooperation deal expired.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: In 1962, design studies were underway. The first version seated 63 passengers and had a gross weight of 69,000 lb (31,300 kg). This design was changed into what would be the initial DC-9 variant. Douglas gave approval to produce the DC-9 on April 8, 1963. Unlike the competing but larger Boeing 727 trijet, which used as many 707 components as possible, the DC-9 was an all-new design.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The first DC-9, a production model, flew on February 25, 1965. The second DC-9 flew a few weeks later, with a test fleet of five aircraft flying by July. This allowed the initial Series 10 to gain airworthiness certification on November 23, 1965, and to enter service with Delta Air Lines on December 8. The DC-9 was always intended to be available in multiple versions to suit customer requirements; the first stretched version, the Series 30, with a longer fuselage and extended wing tips, flew on August 1, 1966, entering service with Eastern Air Lines in 1967. The initial Series 10 would be followed by the improved -20, -30, and -40 variants. The final DC-9 series was the -50, which first flew in 1974.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The DC-9 series, the first generation of the DC-9 family, was a commercial success for the manufacturer. Produced on the final assembly line in Long Beach, California, USA beginning in 1965 and later on a common line with the second generation of the DC-9 family, the MD-80, with which it shares its line number sequence. After the delivery of 976 DC-9s and 108 MD-80s, McDonnell Douglas stopped DC-9 series production in December 1982,


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The DC-9 family is one of the longest-lasting aircraft in production and operation. Its last family member, the Boeing 717, was produced until 2006. The DC-9 family was produced in total 2441 units: 976 DC-9s (first generation), 1191 MD-80s (second generation), 116 MD-90s and 155 Boeing 717s (third generation). This compared to 2,970 Airbus A320s and 5,270 Boeing 737s delivered as of 2006.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: Studies aimed at further improving DC-9 fuel efficiency, by means of retrofitted wingtips of various types, were undertaken by McDonnell Douglas. However, these did not demonstrate significant benefits, especially with existing fleets shrinking. The wing design makes retrofitting difficult. Between 1973 and 1975 McDonnell Douglas studied the possibility of re-engining the DC-9 with the JT8D-109 turbofan, a quieter and more efficient variant of the JT8D. This progressed to the flight-test stage, and tests achieved noise reduction between 8 and 9 decibels depending on the phase of flight. No further aircraft were modified, and the test aircraft was re-equipped with standard JT8D-9s prior to delivery to its airline customer.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: There were two further developments of the original or first generation DC-9 series that used the new designation with McDonnell Douglas initials (MD- prefix) followed by the year of development. The first derivative or second generation was the MD-80 series and the second derivative or third generation was the MD-90 series. Together they formed the DC-9 family of 12 aircraft members (variants) and if the DC-9- designation were retained, the family members would be as follow: first generation (Series 10, Series 20, Series 30, Series 40 and Series 50), second generation (Series 81, Series 82, Series 83, Series 87 and Series 88), and third generation (Series 90 and Series 95).


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The original DC-9 series was followed in 1980 by the introduction of the second generation of the DC-9 family, the MD-80 series. This was originally called the DC-9-80 (short "Series 80" and later stylized "Super 80"). It was a lengthened DC-9-50 with a higher maximum takeoff weight (MTOW), a larger wing, new main landing gear, and higher fuel capacity. The MD-80 series features a number of variants of the Pratt & Whitney JT8D turbofan engine having higher thrust ratings than those available on the original DC-9 series. The MD-80 series includes the MD-81, MD-82, MD-83, MD-88, and shortest variant, the MD-87.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The MD-80 series was further developed into the third generation, the MD-90 series, in the early 1990s. It has yet another fuselage stretch, an electronic flight instrument system (first introduced on the MD-88), and completely new International Aero V2500 high-bypass turbofan engines. In comparison to the very successful MD-80, relatively few MD-90s were built.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The shorter and final variant, the MD-95, was renamed the Boeing 717 after McDonnell Douglas's merger with Boeing in 1997 and before aircraft deliveries began. The fuselage length and wing are very similar to those of the DC-9-30, but much use was made of lighter, modern materials. Power is supplied by two BMW/Rolls-Royce BR715 high-bypass turbofan engines.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: China's Comac ARJ21 is derived from the DC-9 family. The ARJ21 is built with manufacturing tooling from the MD-90 Trunkliner program. As a consequence, it has the same fuselage cross-section, nose profile, and tail.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The DC-9 has two rear-mounted Pratt & Whitney JT8D turbofan engines, relatively small, efficient wings, and a T-tail. The DC-9's takeoff weight was limited to 80,000 lb (36,300 kg) for a two-person flight crew by Federal Aviation Agency regulations at the time. DC-9 aircraft have five seats across for economy seating. The airplane seats 80 to 135 passengers depending on version and seating arrangement.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The DC-9 was designed for short to medium routes, often to smaller airports with shorter runways and less ground infrastructure than the major airports being served by larger designs like the Boeing 707 and Douglas DC-8. Accessibility and short field characteristics were called for. Turnarounds were simplified by built-in airstairs, including one in the tail, which shortened boarding and deplaning times.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The tail-mounted engine design facilitated a clean wing without engine pods, which had numerous advantages. For example, flaps could be longer, unimpeded by pods on the leading edge and engine blast concerns on the trailing edge. This simplified design improved airflow at low speeds and enabled lower takeoff and approach speeds, thus lowering field length requirements and keeping wing structure light. The second advantage of the tail-mounted engines was the reduction in foreign object damage from ingested debris from runways and aprons. However, with this position, the engines could ingest ice streaming off the wing roots. Third, the absence of engines in underslung pods allowed a reduction in fuselage ground clearance, making the aircraft more accessible to baggage handlers and passengers.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The problem of deep stalling, revealed by the loss of the BAC One-Eleven prototype in 1963, was overcome through various changes, including the introduction of vortilons, small surfaces beneath the wing's leading edge used to control airflow and increase low speed lift.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The DC-9 series, the first generation of the DC-9 family, includes five members or variants and ten sub-variants, which are the production versions (types). Their designations use the Series (DC-9-) prefix followed by a two-digit numbering with the same first digit and the second digit being a zero for variant names and a non-zero for version/type designations. The first variant, Series 10 (DC-9-10), has four versions (Series 11, Series 12, Series 14 and Series 15); the second variant, Series 20, has one version (Series 21); the third variant, Series 30, has four versions (Series 31, Series 32, Series 33 and Series 34); the fourth variant, Series 40, has one version (Series 41); and the fifth or final variant, Series 50, has one version (Series 51).


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The original DC-9 (later designated the Series 10) was the smallest DC-9 variant. The -10 was long and had a maximum weight of . The Series 10 was similar in size and configuration to the BAC One-Eleven and featured a T-tail and rear-mounted engines. Power was provided by a pair of Pratt & Whitney JT8D-5 or JT8D-7 engines. A total of 137 were built. Delta Air Lines was the initial operator.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The Series 10 has an overall length of , a fuselage length of , a passenger-cabin length of , and a wingspan of .


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The Series 20 was designed to satisfy a Scandinavian Airlines request for improved short-field performance by using the more-powerful engines and improved wings of the -30 combined with the shorter fuselage used in the -10. Ten Series 20 aircraft were produced, all as the Model -21. The -21 had slats and stairs at the rear of plane.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The Series 20 has an overall length of , a fuselage length of , a passenger-cabin length of , and a wingspan of . The DC-9 Series 20 is powered by the thrust JT8D-11 engine.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The Series 30 was produced to counter Boeing's 737 twinjet; 662 were built, about 60% of the total. The -30 entered service with Eastern Airlines in February 1967 with a fuselage stretch, wingspan increased by just over and full-span leading edge slats, improving takeoff and landing performance. Maximum takeoff weight was typically . Engines for Models -31, -32, -33, and -34 included the P&W JT8D-7 and JT8D-9 rated at of thrust, or JT8D-11 with .


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The DC-9-30 was offered with a selection of variants of JT8D including the -1, -7, -9, -11, -15. and -17. The most common on the Series 31 is the JT8D-7 ( thrust), although it was also available with the −9 and -17 engines. On the Series 32 the JT8D-9 ( thrust) was standard, with the -11 also offered. The Series 33 was offered with the JT8D-9 or -11 ( thrust) engines and the heavyweight -34 with the JT8D-9, -15 ( thrust) or -17 ( thrust) engines.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The DC-9-40 is a further lengthened version. With a longer fuselage, accommodation was up to 125 passengers. The Series 40 was fitted with Pratt & Whitney engines with thrust of . A total of 71 were produced. The variant first entered service with Scandinavian Airlines System (SAS) in March 1968.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: The Series 50 was the largest version of the DC-9 to enter airline service. It features an fuselage stretch and seats up to 139 passengers. It entered revenue service in August 1975 with Eastern Airlines and included a number of detail improvements, a new cabin interior, and more powerful JT8D-15 or -17 engines in the class. McDonnell Douglas delivered 96, all as the Model -51. Some visual cues to distinguish this version from other DC-9 variants include side strakes or fins below the side cockpit windows, spray deflectors on the nose gear, and thrust reversers angled inward 17 degrees as compared to the original configuration. The thrust reverser modification was developed by Air Canada for its earlier aircraft, and adopted by McDonnell Douglas as a standard feature on the series 50. It was also applied to many earlier DC-9s in the course of regular maintenance.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: A total of 31 DC-9 series, freighter variant, were in service as of August 2022. Operators include Aeronaves TSM (11), USA Jet Airlines (6), Everts Air Cargo (4), Ameristar Charters (4) and other operators with fewer aircraft.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: After acquiring Northwest Airlines, Delta Air Lines operated a fleet of DC-9 aircraft, most of which were over 30 years old at the time. With severe increases in fuel prices in the summer of 2008, Northwest Airlines began retiring its DC-9s, switching to Airbus A319s that are 27% more fuel efficient. As the Northwest/Delta merger progressed, Delta returned several stored DC-9s to service. Delta Air Lines made its last DC-9 commercial flight from Minneapolis/St. Paul to Atlanta on January 6, 2014, with the flight number DL2014.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: With the existing DC-9 fleet shrinking, modifications do not appear to be likely to occur, especially since the wing design makes retrofitting difficult. DC-9s are therefore likely to be further replaced in service by newer airliners such as Boeing 737, Airbus A320, Embraer E-Jets, and the Bombardier CSeries.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: One ex-SAS DC-9-21 is operated as a skydiving jump platform at Perris Valley Airport in Perris, California. With the steps on the ventral stairs removed, it is the only airline transport class jet certified to date by the FAA for skydiving operations as of 2016.


title: McDonnell Douglas DC-9

text: , the DC-9 family aircraft has been involved in 276 major aviation accidents and incidents, including 156 hull-losses, with 3,697 fatalities combined (all generations of family members) = (1st gen., DC-9 series): 107 hull-losses & 2,250 fatalities + (2nd gen., MD-80 series): 46 hull-losses & 1,446 fatalities + (3rd gen., MD-90 series including Boeing 717): 3 hull-losses & 1 fatality.


title: Senate of Canada

text: The Senate of Canada () is the upper house of the Parliament of Canada. Together with the Crown and the House of Commons, they comprise the bicameral legislature of Canada.


title: Senate of Canada

text: The Senate is modelled after the British House of Lords with members appointed by the governor general on the advice of the prime minister. The explicit basis on which appointment is made and the chamber's size is set, at 105 members, is by province or territory assigned to 'divisions'. The Constitution divides provinces of Canada geographically among four regions, which are represented equally. Senatorial appointments were originally for life; since 1965, they have been subject to a mandatory retirement age of 75.


title: Senate of Canada

text: While the Senate is the upper house of parliament and the House of Commons is the lower house, this does not imply the former is more powerful than the latter. It merely entails that its members and officers outrank the members and officers of the Commons in the order of precedence for the purposes of protocol. As a matter of practice and custom, the House of Commons is the dominant chamber. The prime minister and Cabinet are responsible solely to the House of Commons and remain in office only so long as they retain the confidence of that chamber. Parliament is composed of the two houses together with the "Crown-in-Parliament" (i.e. the monarch, represented by the governor general as "ex officio" viceroy).


title: Senate of Canada

text: The approval of both houses is necessary for legislation to become law, and thus the Senate can reject bills passed by the House of Commons. Between 1867 and 1987, the Senate rejected fewer than two bills per year, but this has increased in more recent years. Although legislation can normally be introduced in either chamber, the majority of government bills originate in the House of Commons, with the Senate acting as the chamber of "sober second thought" (as it was called by John A. Macdonald, Canada's first prime minister).


title: Senate of Canada

text: The Senate came into existence in 1867, when the Parliament of the United Kingdom passed the "British North America Act 1867" (now entitled the "Constitution Act, 1867"), uniting the Province of Canada (as two separate provinces, Quebec and Ontario), Nova Scotia and New Brunswick into a single federal Dominion. The Canadian parliament was based on the Westminster system (that is, the model of the Parliament of the United Kingdom). Canada's first prime minister, Sir John A. Macdonald, described the Senate as a body of "sober second thought" that would curb the "democratic excesses" of the elected House of Commons and provide regional representation. He believed that if the House of Commons properly represented the population, the upper chamber should represent the regions. It was not meant to be more than a revising body or a brake on the House of Commons. Therefore, it was deliberately made an appointed house, since an elected Senate might prove too popular and too powerful and be able to block the will of the House of Commons.


title: Senate of Canada

text: In 2008 the Canadian Heraldic Authority granted the Senate, as an institution, a coat of arms composed of a depiction of the chamber's mace (representing the monarch's authority in the upper chamber) behind the escutcheon of the Arms of Canada.


title: Senate of Canada

text: Discussion of Senate reform dates back to at least 1874, but to date there has been no meaningful change.


title: Senate of Canada

text: In 1927, The Famous Five Canadian women asked the Supreme Court to determine whether women were eligible to become senators. In the Persons Case, the court unanimously held that women could not become senators since they were not "qualified persons". On appeal, the Judicial Committee of the Privy Council ruled that women were persons, and four months later, Cairine Wilson was appointed to the senate.


title: Senate of Canada

text: In the 1960s, discussion of reform appeared along with the Quiet Revolution and the rise of Western alienation. The first change to the Senate was in 1965, when a mandatory retirement age of 75 years was set. Appointments made before then were for life.


title: Senate of Canada

text: In the 1970s the emphasis was on increased provincial involvement in the senators' appointments. Since the '70s, there have been at least 28 major proposals for constitutional Senate reform, and all have failed, including the 1987 Meech Lake Accord, and the 1992 Charlottetown Accord.


title: Senate of Canada

text: Starting in the 1980s, proposals were put forward to elect senators. After Parliament enacted the National Energy Program Western Canadians called for a Triple-E (elected, equal, and effective) senate. In 1982 the Senate was given a qualified veto over certain constitutional amendments. In 1987 Alberta legislated for the Alberta Senate nominee elections. Results of the 1989 Alberta Senate nominee election were non-binding.


title: Senate of Canada

text: Following the Canadian Senate expenses scandal Prime Minister Stephen Harper declared a moratorium on further appointments. Harper had advocated for an elected Senate for decades, but his proposals were blocked by a 2014 Supreme Court ruling that requires a constitutional amendment approved by a minimum of seven provinces, whose populations together accounted for at least half of the national population.


title: Senate of Canada

text: In 2014 Liberal leader Justin Trudeau expelled all senators from the Liberal caucus and, as prime minister in 2016, created the Independent Advisory Board for Senate Appointments, both of which were attempts to make the Senate less partisan without requiring constitutional change. Members of the board include members from each jurisdiction where there is a vacancy. The prime minister is not bound to accept the board's recommendation. Some provinces refused to participate, stating that it would make the situation worse by lending the Senate some legitimacy. Since this new appointments process was launched in 2016, 52 new senators, all selected under this procedure, were appointed to fill vacancies. All Canadians may now apply directly for a Senate appointment at any time, or nominate someone they believe meets the merit criteria.