title: Unity Technologies

text: Unity announced its plans to offer an initial public offering (IPO) in August 2020. At the time, the company reported 1.5 million monthly users, with 15,000 new projects started daily. The company completed its IPO on 17 September 2020 at a total of , above its target price, and started trading as a public company on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker on the following day. The IPO gave Unity an estimated value of .


title: Unity Technologies

text: In December 2020, Unity announced the acquisition of the multiplayer networking framework, MLAPI, and RestAR, a computer vision and deep learning company. In June 2021, it acquired Pixyz Software, a developer of 3D data optimization technology. The company announced plans to acquire Parsec, desktop streaming software, in August 2021 for .


title: Unity Technologies

text: In a cash and shares deal Unity acquired Weta Digital for $1.63 billion in November 2021. Unity added the "Wellington-based company's 275 engineers to its workforce". The latter's visual special effects and animation teams "will continue to exist as a standalone entity", becoming Unity's "largest customer in the media and entertainment space". WetaFX remains majority owned by Peter Jackson.


title: Unity Technologies

text: In March, they announced a partnership with Insomniac to create interactive online concerts and events.


title: Unity Technologies

text: In July 2022, Unity agreed to buy ironSource in an all-stock deal worth US$4.4 billion. On completion of the deal, Unity shareholders will own about 73.5% of the combined company and current IronSource shareholders will keep about 26.5%. Unity will also receive a $1 billion investment from Sequoia Capital and Silver Lake once the deal is closed.


title: Unity Technologies

text: In August 2022, AppLovin made an unsolicited offer to buy Unity in exchange for $17.54 billion in an all-stock deal. The proposed merger would result in the Unity CEO John Riccitiello becoming the CEO of the combined entity. AppLovin's bid excludes ironSource, that Unity agreed to buy in July. Later that month, Unity's board rejected the offer and committed to complete its acquisition of ironSource.


title: Unity Technologies

text: Unity Technologies is a public company based in San Francisco, California; its IPO was in September 2020. , the company employed more than 2,000 people in offices across North America, Europe and Asia. It is overseen by a board of directors. John Riccitiello acts as chief executive officer (CEO), and replaced co-founder and former CEO David Helgason in 2014. Danny Lange, who has a history of work on machine learning for IBM, Microsoft, Amazon Web Services and Uber, is vice-president of artificial intelligence and machine learning, a post he has held since late 2016. Unity Technologies named its first independent directors in 2017. Riccitiello said the move was needed if the company intended to go public in the future. According to "TechCrunch", Unity Technologies had raised more than $600 million in funding and was valued at about $3 billion by 2018. Its investors include Sequoia Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, Silver Lake, China Investment Corporation, FreeS Fund, Thrive Capital, WestSummit Capital and Max Levchin. Revenue streams include licensing fees for its game engine, its Unity Asset Store, and the Unity platform.


title: Unity Technologies

text: Unity's business is split into Operate Solutions (consisting of Unity Ads, Unity In-App Purchases, and other tools, which was newly established in 2015), Create Solutions (consisting of Unity Engine subscriptions and other professional services) and Strategic Partnerships. In 2019, of its reported revenue Operate Solutions accounted for 54%, Create Solutions for 31% and the remaining income sources for 15%.


title: Unity Technologies

text: In 2017, Unity Technologies launched Unity Without Borders, a programme that sponsored 50 video game programmers from the Middle East to attend Unity's Unite Europe conference in Amsterdam. Unity Without Borders sponsored video game programmers affected by travel restrictions by President Donald Trump's administration. Unity also awards annual grants through its Unity for Humanity awards, given to creators building games and experiences using Unity’s real-time 3D technology.


title: Unity Technologies

text: On 5 June 2019, Anne Evans, formerly vice-president in human resources for Unity Technologies, filed a sexual harassment and wrongful termination lawsuit against the company, alleging that she had been harassed by Riccitiello and another co-worker, and was then terminated over the dispute with the latter. Unity Technologies responded that Evans had been terminated due to misconduct and lapse in judgment, and replaced Evans with a former Microsoft executive in mid-2020.


title: Unity Technologies

text: Unity announced it had reached net-zero carbon emissions in 2020, and simultaneously signed onto the Science Based Targets Initiative.


title: Unity Technologies

text: In January 2021, Unity hired former Liverpool CEO Peter Moore as SVP and GM of Sports and Live Entertainment.


title: Unity Technologies

text: The engine originally launched in 2005 to create video games. Unity's eponymous platform is used to create two-dimensional, three-dimensional, virtual reality, and augmented reality video games and other simulations.


title: Unity Technologies

text: As of 2017, Unity Technologies used its game engine to transition into other industries using the real-time 3D platform, including film and automotive.


title: Unity Technologies

text: , it supports more than 25 platforms. The platform has been used to create approximately half of mobile games on the market and 60 percent of augmented reality and virtual reality content, including approximately 90 percent on emerging augmented reality platforms, such as Microsoft HoloLens, and 90 percent of Samsung Gear VR content.


title: Unity Technologies

text: , Unity-made applications were used by 2 billion monthly active users, with 1.5 million monthly creators. Unity technology is the basis for most virtual reality and augmented reality experiences, and "Fortune" said Unity "dominates the virtual reality business".


title: Unity Technologies

text: In September 2022, Unity launched new server-hosting and game matchmaking services as additions to Unity Software’s suite of tools.


title: Sandhill crane

text: The sandhill crane (Antigone canadensis) is a species of large crane of North America and extreme northeastern Siberia. The common name of this bird refers to habitat like that at the Platte River, on the edge of Nebraska's Sandhills on the American Great Plains. Sandhill Cranes are known to hangout at the edges of bodies of water especially in the Central Florida region. This is the most important stopover area for the nominotypical subspecies, the lesser sandhill crane ("A. c. canadensis"), with up to 450,000 of these birds migrating through annually.


title: Sandhill crane

text: In 1750, English naturalist George Edwards included an illustration and a description of the sandhill crane in the third volume of his "A Natural History of Uncommon Birds". He used the English name "The Brown and Ash-colour'd Crane". Edwards based his hand-coloured etching on a preserved specimen that had been brought to London from the Hudson Bay area of Canada by James Isham. When in 1758 the Swedish naturalist Carl Linnaeus updated his "Systema Naturae" for the tenth edition, he placed the sandhill crane with herons and cranes in the genus "Ardea". Linnaeus included a brief description, coined the binomial name "Ardea canadensis", and cited Edwards' work.


title: Sandhill crane

text: The sandhill crane was formerly placed in the genus "Grus", but a molecular phylogenetic study published in 2010 found that the genus, as then defined, was polyphyletic. In the resulting rearrangement to create monophyletic genera, four species, including the sandhill crane, were placed in the resurrected genus "Antigone" that had originally been erected by the German naturalist Ludwig Reichenbach in 1853.


title: Sandhill crane

text: Adults are gray overall; during breeding, their plumage is usually much worn and stained, particularly in the migratory populations, and looks nearly ochre. The average weight of the larger males is , while the average weight of females is , with a range of across the subspecies. Sandhill cranes have red foreheads, white cheeks, and long, dark, pointed bills. In flight, their long, dark legs trail behind, and their long necks keep straight. Immature birds have reddish-brown upperparts and gray underparts. The sexes look alike. Sizes vary among the different subspecies; the average height of these birds is around . Their wing chords are typically , tails are , the exposed culmens are long, and the tarsi measure . Wingspan is 78.7 in (200 cm).


title: Sandhill crane

text: These cranes frequently give a loud, trumpeting call that suggests a rolled "r" in the throat, and they can be heard from a long distance. Mated pairs of cranes engage in "unison calling". The cranes stand close together, calling in a synchronized and complex duet. The female makes two calls for every one from the male.


title: Sandhill crane

text: Sandhill cranes' large wingspans, typically , make them very skilled soaring birds, similar in style to hawks and eagles. Using thermals to obtain lift, they can stay aloft for many hours, requiring only occasional flapping of their wings, thus expending little energy. Migratory flocks contain hundreds of birds, and can create clear outlines of the normally invisible rising columns of air (thermals) they ride.


title: Sandhill crane

text: Sandhill cranes fly south for the winter. In their wintering areas, they form flocks over 10,000. One place this happens is at Bosque del Apache National Wildlife Refuge, south of Albuquerque, New Mexico. An annual Sandhill Crane Festival is held there in November.


title: Sandhill crane

text: Sandhill cranes have one of the longest fossil histories of any extant bird. A 10-million-year-old crane fossil from Nebraska is said to be of this species, but this may be from a prehistoric relative or ancestor of sandhill cranes, and not belong in the genus "Grus". The oldest unequivocal sandhill crane fossil is 2.5 million years old, older by half than the earliest remains of most living species of birds, primarily found from after the Pliocene/Pleistocene boundary some 1.8 million years ago. As these ancient sandhill cranes varied as much in size as present-day birds, those Pliocene fossils are sometimes described as new species. "Grus haydeni" may have been a prehistoric relative, or it may comprise material of a sandhill crane and its ancestor.


title: Sandhill crane

text: Sandhill cranes vary considerably in size (much of which is clinal) and in migratory habits. A female of "A. c. canadensis" averages , in length, and has a wingspan of . A male of "A. c. tabida" averages , in length, and has a wingspan of . The southern subspecies (along with "A. c. rowani") are intermediate, roughly according to Bergmann's rule.


title: Sandhill crane

text: Three subspecies are resident: "A. c. pulla" of the Gulf Coast of the U.S., "A. c. pratensis" of Florida and Georgia, and "A. c. nesiotes" of Cuba. The northern populations exist as fragmented remains in the contiguous U.S. and a large and contiguous population from Canada to Beringia. These migrate to the Southwestern United States and Mexico. These cranes are rare vagrants to China, South Korea, and Japan and very rare vagrants to Western Europe.


title: Sandhill crane

text: The Florida sandhill crane was listed as EC or easily confused to facilitate an attempted reintroduction of the whooping crane ("Grus americana") into Florida. The attempt failed, but the listing remained. The current list of endangered subspecies includes only two birds, "A. c. nesiotes" and "A. c. rowani", with "A. c. pratensis" no longer listed. Sandhill cranes occur in pastures, open prairies and freshwater wetlands in peninsular Florida from the Everglades to the Okefenokee Swamp.


title: Sandhill crane

text: Some authorities no longer recognize Canadian sandhill crane as a distinct subspecies, as insignificant genetic differentiation and minimal morphological differentiation exist between it and greater sandhill crane. The others can be somewhat more reliably distinguished in hand by measurements and plumage details, apart from the size differences already mentioned. Unequivocal identification often requires location information, which is often impossible in migrating birds.


title: Sandhill crane

text: Analysis of control region mtDNA haplotype data shows two major lineages. The Arctic and the subarctic migratory population includes the lesser sandhill cranes. The other lineages can be divided into a migratory and some indistinct clusters which can be matched to the resident subspecies. The lesser and greater sandhill cranes are quite distinct, their divergence dating to roughly 2.3–1.2 million years ago , some time during the Late Pliocene or Early Pleistocene. Glaciation seemingly fragmented off a founder population of lesser sandhill cranes, because during each major ice age, its present breeding range was frozen year-round. Still, sandhill cranes are amply documented from fossil and subfossil remains right to the modern era. Conceivably, they might be considered distinct species already, a monotypic "G. canadensis" and the greater sandhill crane, "G. pratensis", which would include the other populations.


title: Sandhill crane

text: The scant differences between southern Canadian and western U.S. populations appear to result from genetic drift, due to the recent reduction in population and range fragmentation. Until the early 20th century, the southern migratory birds occupied a much larger and continuous range. Thus, the subspecies "A. c. rowani" may well be abandoned.


title: Sandhill crane

text: The two southern U.S. resident populations are somewhat more distinct. The Cuban population has been comparatively little studied, but appears to have been established on the island for a long time. They and the migratory greater sandhill cranes proper may form a group of lineages that diverged much later from a range in the southern U.S. and maybe northern Mexico, where they were resident. The southern migratory population would then represent a later re-expansion, which (re-)evolved their migratory habits independent from the northernmost birds, the geographically separated populations expanding rapidly when more habitat was available as the last ice age ended.


title: Sandhill crane

text: Sandhill cranes are fairly social birds that usually live in pairs or family groups through the year. During migration and winter, unrelated cranes come together to form "survival groups" that forage and roost together. Such groups often congregate at migration and winter sites, sometimes in the thousands.


title: Sandhill crane

text: Sandhill cranes are mainly herbivorous, but eat various types of food, depending on availability. They often feed with their bills down to the ground as they root around for seeds and other foods, in shallow wetlands with vegetation or various upland habitats. Cranes readily eat cultivated foods such as corn, wheat, cottonseed, and sorghum. Waste corn is useful to cranes preparing for migration, providing them with nutrients for the long journey. Among northern races of sandhill cranes, their diet is most varied, especially among breeding birds. They variously feed on berries, small mammals, insects, snails, reptiles, and amphibians.


title: Sandhill crane

text: Sandhill cranes raise one brood per year. In nonmigratory populations, laying begins between December and August. In migratory populations, laying usually begins in April or May. Both members of a breeding pair build the nest using plant material from the surrounding area. Nest sites are usually marshes, bogs, or swales, though occasionally on dry land. Females lay one to three (usually two) oval, dull brown eggs with reddish markings. Both parents incubate the eggs for about 30 days. The chicks are precocial; they hatch covered in down, with their eyes open, and able to leave the nest within a day. The parents brood the chicks for up to three weeks after hatching, feeding them intensively for the first few weeks, then gradually less frequently until they reach independence at 9 to 10 months old.


title: Sandhill crane

text: The chicks remain with their parents until one to two months before the parents lay the next clutch of eggs the following year, remaining with them 10–12 months. After leaving their parents, the chicks form nomadic flocks with other juveniles and nonbreeders. They remain in these flocks until they form breeding pairs between two and seven years old.


title: Sandhill crane

text: As a conspicuous ground-dwelling species, sandhill cranes are at risk from predators, which are probably the main nonhuman source of mortality. Mammals such as foxes, raccoons, coyotes, wolves, cougars, bobcats, and lynx hunt them given any opportunity, the first three mainly hunting large numbers of young cranes, the latter four types more rarely taking full-grown cranes in ambush excepting the bobcat. Corvids, such as ravens and crows, gulls, and smaller raptors such as hawks (largely northern harriers or red-tailed hawks) feed on young cranes and eggs. Cranes of all ages are hunted by both North American species of eagles. Mainly chicks and possibly a few adults may be preyed on by great horned owls, and even a much smaller peregrine falcon has successfully killed a adult sandhill crane in a stoop. In Oregon and California, the most serious predators of flighted juveniles and adults has been cited as golden eagles and bobcats, the most serious predators of chicks are reportedly coyotes, ravens, raccoons, American mink, and great horned owls, roughly in descending order. In Cuba and Florida, the American crocodile and alligator can take surprisingly large numbers of sandhill cranes, especially recent fledglings. Sandhill cranes defend themselves and their young from aerial predators by jumping and kicking. Actively brooding adults are more likely to react aggressively to potential predators to defend their chicks than wintering birds, which most often normally try to evade attacks on foot or in flight. For land predators, they move forward, often hissing, with their wings open and bills pointed. If the predator persists, the crane stabs with its bill (which is powerful enough to pierce the skull of a small carnivore) and kicks.


title: Sandhill crane

text: In the 1930s, sandhill cranes were generally extirpated east of the Mississippi River, but their populations have recovered, with an estimated 98,000 in the region in 2018, a substantial increase over the previous year. Although sandhill cranes are not considered threatened as a species, the three southernmost subspecies are quite rare. Resident populations, not migratory birds, cannot choose secure breeding habitat. Many subpopulations were destroyed by hunting or habitat change. The greater sandhill crane proper initially suffered most; by 1940, probably fewer than 1,000 birds remained. Populations have since increased greatly again. At nearly 100,000, they are still fewer than the lesser sandhill crane, which, at about 400,000 individuals continent-wide, is the most plentiful extant crane.


title: Sandhill crane

text: Some migratory populations of sandhill cranes face population threats due to interspecies competition with snow geese. Since the 1990s, snow geese have eaten waste corn on which the cranes also rely prior to migration. Sandhill crane populations are also threatened by hunting. Hunting cranes is legal throughout the states of the Central Flyway, from the Dakotas and Wyoming south to Oklahoma and Texas. Nebraska is the sole state along the Central Flyway where hunting cranes is illegal. Despite losses from hunting, interspecies competition and other pressures such as habitat loss, the species has expanded its range. Since the early 2000s, the sandhill crane has expanded both its winter (nonbreeding) and breeding ranges northward, including into upstate New York. In the 21st century, parts of the Midwestern United States have seen an extensive rebound of the species.


title: Sandhill crane

text: The transplantation of wild birds and introduction of captive-reared birds into suitable low-population areas have been called viable management techniques.


title: Sandhill crane

text: The Mississippi sandhill crane has lost the most range; it used to live along most of the northern Gulf of Mexico coast, and its range was once nearly parapatric with that of its eastern neighbor. As of 2013, about 25 breeding pairs exist in an intensively managed population. The Mississippi Sandhill Crane National Wildlife Refuge—established in 1975 when fewer than 35 of the birds existed—has the biggest release program for cranes on Earth, and 90% of the cranes there were raised in captivity. The second viable egg from a two-egg nest was occasionally removed from the nests, starting in 1965, to become part of a captive flock. This breeding flock is divided between the Audubon Institute's Species Survival Center and White Oak Conservation in Yulee, Florida. These cranes have produced offspring for annual releases into the refuge.


title: Sandhill crane

text: A Mississippi sandhill crane was the first bird to hatch from an egg fertilized by sperm that was thawed from a cryogenic state. This occurred at the Audubon Institute, as part of this subspecies' endangered species recovery plan.


title: Sandhill crane

text: In January 2019, 25 to 30 thousand cranes (both greater and lesser subspecies) were found wintering at the Whitewater Draw State Wildlife Area near McNeal in southeast Arizona.


title: Sandhill crane

text: Sandhill cranes have been tried as foster parents for whooping cranes in reintroduction schemes. This failed when the whooping cranes imprinted on their foster parents, later did not recognize other whooping cranes as their conspecifics, and unsuccessfully tried to pair with sandhill cranes, instead.


title: Sandhill crane

text: Sandhill cranes occasionally reach Europe as vagrants. The first British record was on Fair Isle in April 1981, and the second was in Shetland in 1991. Small groups have also been seen in parts of eastern China and Taiwan. In 2022, reports emerged of regular sightings of sandhill cranes in New Brunswick, on the Atlantic coast of Canada.


title: T-54/T-55 operators and variants

text: The T-54/T-55 tank series is the most widely used tank in the world and has seen service in over 50 countries. It has also served as the platform for a wide variety of specialty armored vehicles.


title: T-54/T-55 operators and variants

text: Early on during the production T-55s were fitted with the TSh-2B-32P sight. Starting in 1970 T-55s were being armed at Uralwagonzavod with either a 12.7 mm DShK 1938/46 or KPVT loader's anti-aircraft heavy machine guns. These tanks were known as Model 1970, or sometimes T-55AM. KTD-1 or KTD-2 laser rangefinders and R-123 or R-123M radio sets were fitted to older tanks starting in 1974 (Model 1974). At the same time efforts were made to modernize and prolong the life of the drive train.


title: T-54/T-55 operators and variants

text: SU-122-54 (Ob'yekt 600) ("Samokhodnaya Ustanovka") – Self-propelled 122 mm gun, based on the T-54A and sometimes known as . Between 1955 and 1957, 77 vehicles were built with minor differences between production lots (different commander's cupola etc.). The SU-122-54 had a modified chassis, with small spaces between the first, second and fourth pair of wheels and a large gap between the third, similar to the T-62's; and a superstructure, built into the hull, housing the 122 mm D-49 L/48.4 gun for which the vehicle carries 35 rounds. The secondary armament consisted of two KPVT heavy machine guns, one mounted as an anti-aircraft machine gun near the commander's hatch and the other mounted coaxially with the main gun. The vehicle carried 600 rounds for the machine guns. The main gun has a fume extractor positioned right behind the muzzle brake, some vehicles did not have the fume extractor. Other variations included a different commander's cupola.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: Princess Märtha of Sweden (Märtha Sofia Lovisa Dagmar Thyra; 28 March 1901 – 5 April 1954) was Crown Princess of Norway as the spouse of the future King Olav V from 1929 until her death in 1954. The presently reigning King Harald V is her only son. Märtha was also a sister of Queen Astrid of Belgium, and a maternal aunt of Grand Duchess Joséphine-Charlotte of Luxembourg, King Baudouin of Belgium and King Albert II of Belgium.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: Märtha was born at her parents' home of Arvfurstens Palats in Stockholm on 28 March 1901, the second child of Prince Carl of Sweden, Duke of Västergötland, and his wife Princess Ingeborg of Denmark. Her father was the younger brother of King Gustav V of Sweden, making her a first cousin twice removed of the present King of Sweden, and her mother was the younger sister of King Christian X of Denmark and of King Haakon VII of Norway.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: Märtha had an elder sister, Princess Margaretha of Denmark, a younger sister, Queen Astrid of the Belgians, and a younger brother, Prince Carl Bernadotte. Märtha grew up as being much more confident and outgoing and as the daughter most admired by her mother.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: As a child, Märtha was taught at home by private tutors and completed in-depth courses in childcare and first aid. She and her sisters were occasionally seen shopping unaccompanied on the streets of Stockholm.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: Princess Märtha of Sweden became engaged to her first and second cousin, Olav, only son and heir apparent of her uncle the King of Norway as well as grandson of her grandfather Frederick VIII of Denmark's younger sister, during the 1928 Olympic Summer Games in Amsterdam. News of the engagement was very well received. It was taken as a sign that there was no longer any tension following the dissolution of the union between Norway and Sweden. An excellent match in terms of strengthening royal ties, it was also clearly a match based on love. Initially her younger sister, Astrid was considered to marry Olav due to the fact she was younger than Olav by 2 years, while Martha was 2 years older. Astrid was also considered more beautiful but she instead married future king of the Belgians Leopold III.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: Following a year-long engagement, she married Crown Prince Olav in Oslo Cathedral on 21 March 1929. Märtha's was the first royal wedding in Norway in 340 years. The marriage, which is widely believed to have been a success due in large part to their genuine love and affection for one another, produced three children: Ragnhild (1930–2012); Astrid (b. 1932); and the much awaited heir, Harald (b. 1937).


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: Crown Princess Märtha soon became a popular and respected member of the royal family. She undertook a range of official engagements, and she also gave many speeches, which was unusual for females in the royal family at the time.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: Crown Prince Olav and Crown Princess Märtha of Norway resided at the country estate of Skaugum, which was a wedding gift from Fritz Wedel Jarlsberg. When the main house at Skaugum was destroyed by fire in 1930, the Crown Princess was actively involved in the planning of the new building.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: Tragedy struck Crown Princess Märtha in 1935. Her sister, the Queen of the Belgians, was killed in a car crash. The two siblings had been very close, and Olav later said that it took his wife more than ten years to come to terms with it, but he did not think that she ever really got over her sister's death. She – together with her elder sister Margaretha – became a great support for her sister's children in Belgium.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: In 1939, shortly before the outbreak of World War II in Europe, the Crown Prince and Princess visited the United States. The couple befriended President Franklin Roosevelt and his wife, Eleanor Roosevelt. During this visit, the couple conducted an extensive tour of the Upper Midwest, where many Norwegian immigrants had settled. During the tour, Crown Princess Märtha was honoured with initiation into the Delta Zeta sorority. She and her lady-in-waiting were pinned during the initiation ceremony at the University of North Dakota, by Delta Zeta national president, Myrtle Graeter Malott.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: Crown Princess Märtha became the senior lady of the court on the death of her mother-in-law, Queen Maud, in 1938.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: Crown Princess Märtha, who contributed greatly in the mobilization work for Norway's self-protection, made a public announcement on 26 January 1940 in which she encouraged Norwegian women to take part in the mobilization work. During the flight from the German invasion in 9–10 April 1940, the Norwegian government decided that the Crown Princess and her children were to flee across the border to her native Sweden while her husband and father-in-law remained. Upon their arrival at the border, they were first denied entry because they could not provide passports: when she decided to run over the gate, however, she was allowed to pass.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: In Sweden she stayed at first at a tourist hotel in Sälen, before continuing to her parents and relatives in Stockholm. Her presence in Sweden was problematic and she was considered by some to have put Sweden's neutrality in jeopardy. President Roosevelt offered her a personal invitation to the United States. Her uncle, King Gustav V of Sweden, telegraphed her father-in-law King Haakon and advised against the trip, but Märtha insisted on accepting the invitation. She went to the United States on the United States Army transport , via the then Finnish port city of Petsamo. In the U.S., she and her children initially stayed in the White House. Crown Prince Olav, however, had gone with his father to the United Kingdom, where he worked with the Norwegian government-in-exile. Thus, the crown couple, like many couples during that time, were separated for much of the war.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: In August 1941, Crown Princess Märtha traveled with President Roosevelt aboard the presidential yacht, , and sailed to Newfoundland and the Atlantic Charter meetings with Winston Churchill.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: The friendship that the Crown Prince and Crown Princess had cultivated with the Roosevelts was further developed during the war years. In 1942, the US presented the exiled Norwegian forces with the gift of the submarine chaser , which was received by Crown Princess Märtha, who in her reply gave a speech in support of Norwegian liberation. Her work to assist the American Red Cross and on behalf of Norwegian interests greatly impressed Roosevelt and influenced his "Look to Norway" speech in 1942. Novelist and essayist Gore Vidal later asserted that Crown Princess Märtha was Roosevelt's "last love".


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: Roosevelt's son James stated that "There was no question that Martha was an important figure in Father's life during the war ... there is a real possibility that a true romantic relationship developed between the president and the princess." Roald Dahl, later a well-known author and then a young RAF fighter pilot assigned to Washington, seems to have agreed:


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: Princess Märtha spent much of World War II in the United States, where she worked tirelessly to keep up support for Norway among the American public and government.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: In 1942, she visited London to take part in the birthday celebration for her father-in-law, during which she was given the Saint Olav's order by her father-in-law the king, who said that it was "not because you are a Crown Princess, but because you have earned it."


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: When she returned to Norway following the war in 1945, she received a hero's welcome and was referred to as "Mother of the Nation". She wholly embraced her role as Crown Princess of Norway and made tremendous efforts towards ensuring the stability and well-being of all Norwegians.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: As King Haakon’s health declined, the Crown Prince and Crown Princess assumed a growing number of official engagements. The Crown Princess became involved in many official tasks, and even made the annual New Year’s Eve speeches in 1946 and 1950.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: Following a lengthy period of ill-health, Märtha died of cancer at The National Hospital in Oslo in 5 April 1954. At the time of her death, her elder daughter Ragnhild was expecting her first child. Her death came little more than three years before her husband ascended the throne as king.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: A statue of the princess, created by Kirsten Kokkin was erected outside the Norwegian embassy in Washington, D.C. in 2005. In 2007, a replica of the statue was erected in the courtyard of the Royal Palace in Oslo. A third replica was erected outside The Norwegian Seamen`s Church in Stockholm, Sweden, unveiled by her daughter, Princess Astrid in 2008. This church, "Kronprinsesse Märthas kirke" is named after her.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: Crown Princess Märtha’s Memorial Fund is a charitable trust administered by the Norwegian Crown. The Crown Princess's youngest daughter, Princess Astrid, serves as chairperson. Initially established as "Her Royal Highness Crown Princess Märtha’s Fund" on 1 April 1929, the fund "is to provide financial support to social and humanitarian initiatives carried out by non-governmental organizations." In 2005, the Fund had assets of approximately 28 million Norwegian krone (NOK), and issued grants totaling about 1.5 million NOK for roughly 300 recipients.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: The popular Swedish layer cake Princess cake was named for Märtha and her two sisters when they were children.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: The ship ", completed in 1929, bears her name. The ship helped to save hundreds of passengers from the sinking German cruise ship "Dresden" in 1934. Since 2000, it has been used as a hotel ship in Stockholm.


title: Princess Märtha of Sweden

text: She was depicted in the historical docudrama television miniseries, "Atlantic Crossing," a co-production of Cinenord and the state broadcaster, NRK.


title: Modulation

text: In electronics and telecommunications, modulation is the process of varying one or more properties of a periodic waveform, called the "carrier signal", with a separate signal called the "modulation signal" that typically contains information to be transmitted. For example, the modulation signal might be an audio signal representing sound from a microphone, a video signal representing moving images from a video camera, or a digital signal representing a sequence of binary digits, a bitstream from a computer. The carrier is higher in frequency than the modulation signal. In radio communication the modulated carrier is transmitted through space as a radio wave to a radio receiver. Another purpose is to transmit multiple channels of information through a single communication medium, using frequency-division multiplexing (FDM). For example in cable television which uses FDM, many carrier signals, each modulated with a different television channel, are transported through a single cable to customers. Since each carrier occupies a different frequency, the channels do not interfere with each other. At the destination end, the carrier signal is demodulated to extract the information bearing modulation signal.


title: Modulation

text: A modulator is a device or circuit that performs modulation. A demodulator (sometimes "detector") is a circuit that performs demodulation, the inverse of modulation. A modem (from modulator–demodulator), used in bidirectional communication, can perform both operations. The frequency band occupied by the modulation signal is called the "baseband", while the higher frequency band occupied by the modulated carrier is called the "passband".


title: Modulation

text: In analog modulation an analog modulation signal is impressed on the carrier. Examples are amplitude modulation (AM) in which the amplitude (strength) of the carrier wave is varied by the modulation signal, and frequency modulation (FM) in which the frequency of the carrier wave is varied by the modulation signal. These were the earliest types of modulation, and are used to transmit an audio signal representing sound, in AM and FM radio broadcasting. More recent systems use digital modulation, which impresses a digital signal consisting of a sequence of binary digits (bits), a bitstream, on the carrier, by means of mapping bits to elements from a discrete alphabet to be transmitted. This alphabet can consist of a set of real or complex numbers, or sequences, like oscillations of different frequencies, so-called frequency-shift keying (FSK) modulation. A more complicated digital modulation method that employs multiple carriers, orthogonal frequency-division multiplexing (OFDM), is used in WiFi networks, digital radio stations and digital cable television transmission.


title: Modulation

text: In analog modulation, the modulation is applied continuously in response to the analog information signal. Common analog modulation techniques include:


title: Modulation

text: In digital modulation, an analog carrier signal is modulated by a discrete signal. Digital modulation methods can be considered as digital-to-analog conversion and the corresponding demodulation or detection as analog-to-digital conversion. The changes in the carrier signal are chosen from a finite number of M alternative symbols (the "modulation alphabet").


title: Modulation

text: A simple example: A telephone line is designed for transferring audible sounds, for example, tones, and not digital bits (zeros and ones). Computers may, however, communicate over a telephone line by means of modems, which are representing the digital bits by tones, called symbols. If there are four alternative symbols (corresponding to a musical instrument that can generate four different tones, one at a time), the first symbol may represent the bit sequence 00, the second 01, the third 10 and the fourth 11. If the modem plays a melody consisting of 1000 tones per second, the symbol rate is 1000 symbols/second, or 1000 baud. Since each tone (i.e., symbol) represents a message consisting of two digital bits in this example, the bit rate is twice the symbol rate, i.e. 2000 bits per second.


title: Modulation

text: According to one definition of digital signal, the modulated signal is a digital signal. According to another definition, the modulation is a form of digital-to-analog conversion. Most textbooks would consider digital modulation schemes as a form of digital transmission, synonymous to data transmission; very few would consider it as analog transmission.


title: Modulation

text: In QAM, an in-phase signal (or I, with one example being a cosine waveform) and a quadrature phase signal (or Q, with an example being a sine wave) are amplitude modulated with a finite number of amplitudes and then summed. It can be seen as a two-channel system, each channel using ASK. The resulting signal is equivalent to a combination of PSK and ASK.


title: Modulation

text: In all of the above methods, each of these phases, frequencies or amplitudes are assigned a unique pattern of binary bits. Usually, each phase, frequency or amplitude encodes an equal number of bits. This number of bits comprises the "symbol" that is represented by the particular phase, frequency or amplitude.


title: Modulation

text: If the alphabet consists of formula_1 alternative symbols, each symbol represents a message consisting of "N" bits. If the symbol rate (also known as the baud rate) is formula_2 symbols/second (or baud), the data rate is formula_3 bit/second.


title: Modulation

text: For example, with an alphabet consisting of 16 alternative symbols, each symbol represents 4 bits. Thus, the data rate is four times the baud rate.


title: Modulation

text: In the case of PSK, ASK or QAM, where the carrier frequency of the modulated signal is constant, the modulation alphabet is often conveniently represented on a constellation diagram, showing the amplitude of the I signal at the x-axis, and the amplitude of the Q signal at the y-axis, for each symbol.


title: Modulation

text: PSK and ASK, and sometimes also FSK, are often generated and detected using the principle of QAM. The I and Q signals can be combined into a complex-valued signal "I"+"jQ" (where "j" is the imaginary unit). The resulting so called equivalent lowpass signal or equivalent baseband signal is a complex-valued representation of the real-valued modulated physical signal (the so-called passband signal or RF signal).


title: Modulation

text: As is common to all digital communication systems, the design of both the modulator and demodulator must be done simultaneously. Digital modulation schemes are possible because the transmitter-receiver pair has prior knowledge of how data is encoded and represented in the communications system. In all digital communication systems, both the modulator at the transmitter and the demodulator at the receiver are structured so that they perform inverse operations.


title: Modulation

text: Asynchronous methods do not require a receiver reference clock signal that is phase synchronized with the sender carrier signal. In this case, modulation symbols (rather than bits, characters, or data packets) are asynchronously transferred. The opposite is synchronous modulation.


title: Modulation

text: MSK and GMSK are particular cases of continuous phase modulation. Indeed, MSK is a particular case of the sub-family of CPM known as continuous-phase frequency-shift keying (CPFSK) which is defined by a rectangular frequency pulse (i.e. a linearly increasing phase pulse) of one-symbol-time duration (total response signaling).


title: Modulation

text: OFDM is based on the idea of frequency-division multiplexing (FDM), but the multiplexed streams are all parts of a single original stream. The bit stream is split into several parallel data streams, each transferred over its own sub-carrier using some conventional digital modulation scheme. The modulated sub-carriers are summed to form an OFDM signal. This dividing and recombining help with handling channel impairments. OFDM is considered as a modulation technique rather than a multiplex technique since it transfers one bit stream over one communication channel using one sequence of so-called OFDM symbols. OFDM can be extended to multi-user channel access method in the orthogonal frequency-division multiple access (OFDMA) and multi-carrier code-division multiple access (MC-CDMA) schemes, allowing several users to share the same physical medium by giving different sub-carriers or spreading codes to different users.


title: Modulation

text: Of the two kinds of RF power amplifier, switching amplifiers (Class D amplifiers) cost less and use less battery power than linear amplifiers of the same output power. However, they only work with relatively constant-amplitude-modulation signals such as angle modulation (FSK or PSK) and CDMA, but not with QAM and OFDM. Nevertheless, even though switching amplifiers are completely unsuitable for normal QAM constellations, often the QAM modulation principle are used to drive switching amplifiers with these FM and other waveforms, and sometimes QAM demodulators are used to receive the signals put out by these switching amplifiers.


title: Modulation

text: Automatic digital modulation recognition in intelligent communication systems is one of the most important issues in software-defined radio and cognitive radio. According to incremental expanse of intelligent receivers, automatic modulation recognition becomes a challenging topic in telecommunication systems and computer engineering. Such systems have many civil and military applications. Moreover, blind recognition of modulation type is an important problem in commercial systems, especially in software-defined radio. Usually in such systems, there are some extra information for system configuration, but considering blind approaches in intelligent receivers, we can reduce information overload and increase transmission performance. Obviously, with no knowledge of the transmitted data and many unknown parameters at the receiver, such as the signal power, carrier frequency and phase offsets, timing information, etc., blind identification of the modulation is made fairly difficult. This becomes even more challenging in real-world scenarios with multipath fading, frequency-selective and time-varying channels.


title: Modulation

text: There are two main approaches to automatic modulation recognition. The first approach uses likelihood-based methods to assign an input signal to a proper class. Another recent approach is based on feature extraction.


title: Modulation

text: Digital baseband modulation changes the characteristics of a baseband signal, i.e., one without a carrier at a higher frequency.


title: Modulation

text: This can be used as equivalent signal to be later frequency-converted to a carrier frequency, or for direct communication in baseband. The latter methods both involve relatively simple Line Codes, as often used in local buses, and complicated baseband signalling schemes such as used in DSL.


title: Modulation

text: Pulse modulation schemes aim at transferring a narrowband analog signal over an analog baseband channel as a two-level signal by modulating a pulse wave. Some pulse modulation schemes also allow the narrowband analog signal to be transferred as a digital signal (i.e., as a quantized discrete-time signal) with a fixed bit rate, which can be transferred over an underlying digital transmission system, for example, some line code. These are not modulation schemes in the conventional sense since they are not channel coding schemes, but should be considered as source coding schemes, and in some cases analog-to-digital conversion techniques.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Snap presidential elections held in Ukraine on 25 May 2014 resulted in Petro Poroshenko being elected President of Ukraine. Originally scheduled to take place on 29 March 2015, the date was changed following the 2014 Ukrainian revolution. Poroshenko won the elections with 54.7% of the votes, enough to win in a single round. His closest competitor, Yulia Tymoshenko, emerged with 12.81% of the votes. The Central Election Commission reported voter turnout over 60%, excluding the regions not under government control. Since Poroshenko obtained an absolute majority in the first round, a run-off second ballot (on 15 June 2014) was unnecessary.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: The election was not held everywhere in Ukraine. During the 2014 Crimean crisis, Ukraine lost control over Crimea, which was unilaterally annexed by Russia in March 2014. As a result, elections were not held in Crimea. Of the 2,430 planned ballot stations (in Donbas), only 426 remained open for polling. The self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic, controlling large parts of Donbas, had vowed to do everything possible to disrupt the elections on their territory.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Petro Poroshenko won the presidency and served a full presidential term until 2019, losing to Volodymyr Zelensky.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: On 7 December 2012, Fatherland nominated Yulia Tymoshenko as its presidential candidate. On 14 June 2013, the congress of her party approved the decision to nominate her as its candidate for the presidential election. On 11 October 2011, a Ukrainian court found Tymoshenko guilty of abuse of power, sentenced her to seven years in jail and banned her from seeking elected office for her period of imprisonment. Because Tymoshenko was in prison during the 2012 Ukrainian parliamentary election, Arseniy Yatsenyuk headed the election list of Fatherland. Tymoshenko remained in prison until 22 February 2014, after parliament voted for her release and removal of her criminal record, allowing her to compete for elected office once again.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: In May 2013, Fatherland, UDAR, and Svoboda vowed to coordinate their actions during the presidential campaign, and promised "to support the candidate from among these parties who wins a place in the run-off election". If the election format were to change to a single round, the three parties vowed to agree on a single candidate.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: On 24 October 2013, the leader of UDAR, Vitali Klitschko, announced he intended to take part in the election. Experts and lawyers argued that it is unclear if Klitschko could take part. Under Ukrainian law a presidential candidate must have had his residence in Ukraine for the past ten years prior to election day. Klitschko has lived for many years in both Ukraine and Germany, where, according to media reports, he has a residence permit. Klitschko confirmed on 28 February 2014 that he would take part in the 2014 Ukrainian presidential election. However, on 29 March, he withdrew from the race for the presidency, simultaneously pledging his support for Petro Poroshenko.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Former President Viktor Yanukovych, prior to his dismissal and subsequent flight from the country (see below), was considered likely to run for his second and final term. But, as of 19 December 2013, he had made no final decision on this. On 19 December 2013, Yanukovych alluded to not participating when he stated "If, theoretically speaking, my rating is low and has no prospects, I won't hinder the country's development and movement ahead".


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: On 21 November 2013, the Ukrainian Second Azarov Government suspended preparations for signing an association agreement with the European Union. The decision to postpone the signing of the association agreement led to massive protests across Ukraine. These led to the removal of President Viktor Yanukovych and his government by the parliament in February, as part of the 2014 Ukrainian revolution, during which Yanukovych fled the country to Russia. On 22 February 2014, the Verkhovna Rada voted 328–0 to dismiss Yanukovych as president. Oleksandr Turchynov, deputy chairman of Fatherland, who had been appointed as Chairman of the Verkhovna Rada earlier that day, was named acting Prime Minister, and, due to Yanukovych's deposition, acting president, until new elections could be held.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: In a press conference in the Russian city of Rostov-on-Don on 28 February, Yanukovych stated that he would not take part in the elections, stating that "I believe they are unlawful, and I will not take part in them". It was later speculated that Serhiy Tihipko would be the presidential candidate of the Party of Regions, Yanukovych's former party. The party's nomination went to Mykhailo Dobkin, however, and Tihipko entered the elections as an independent candidate. Dobkin was amongst the persons wanted by the (then new) Yatsenyuk Government to be sent for trial at the International Criminal Court.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: During the 2014 Crimean crisis and Russian military intervention, Ukraine lost control over the Crimea, which was unilaterally annexed by Russia in March 2014. As a result, elections were not held in the Crimea, but Ukrainians who had kept their Ukrainian citizenship were allowed to vote elsewhere in Ukraine.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: In the Donbas region of the Eastern Ukraine, pro-Russian protests escalated into an armed separatist insurgency early in April 2014, when masked gunmen took control of several of the region's government buildings and towns.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: On 15 April 2014, Ukrainian media reported that the General Prosecutor of Ukraine had launched criminal proceedings against then-candidate Oleh Tsarov for allegedly aiding separatists and thus violating Ukraine's territorial integrity. Tsarov withdrew his candidacy on 29 April.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Serhiy Taruta, governor of Donetsk, has suggested a referendum, to be held on 15 June, at the same time as the potential second round of the election. The referendum would address the decentralization of political power, potentially giving regions a greater say in their own affairs, such as greater control over the taxes they levy and the power to make Russian a second official language.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: On 16 May 2014, the Constitutional Court of Ukraine ruled that the candidate elected as a result of the presidential election would serve a full five-year term of office.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: On 17 May 2014, the Central Election Commission of Ukraine (CEC) stated that, due to "illegal actions of unknown people", it could not arrange for the "preparation and conduct of elections" in six constituencies in the Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts. According to the CEC, members of district election commissions there had received threats to their own personal safety and to that of their families. The CEC warned that two million people in the two oblasts (provinces), about 5.6% of Ukraine's approximately 36 million eligible voters, could be deprived of their right to vote if the situation there did not improve. On 22 May, the work of eighteen of the thirty-four election commissions in Donetsk and Luhansk Oblasts had been stopped fully or partially by representatives of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic. By 23 May, this number had increased to twenty of the thirty-four. The Committee of Voters of Ukraine predicted on 23 May that, due to "ongoing acts of terrorism and armed insurgency", 10% of the Ukrainian population would be unable to vote. On the same day, the leader of the Luhansk People's Republic advised citizens not to go to the polls to vote, warning of possible provocative "explosions" set by Ukrainian military.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: On 25 May 2014, 27 mayoral elections were also held, including those in Odessa and 2014 Kyiv local election.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Initially Russia opposed rescheduling the election because the Russian government considered the removal of then President Viktor Yanukovych illegal and his temporary successors an "illegitimate junta". But on 7 May 2014 Russian President Vladimir Putin stated the election would be a step "in the right direction" but that the vote would decide nothing unless the rights of "all citizens" were protected. At the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum on 23 May 2014, Putin appeared to further move away from Russia's initial position by announcing that Russia would respect the outcome of the elections in Ukraine and was ready to work with whoever won the presidency.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: The US and European Union vowed early May 2014 that they would impose further sanctions against Russia (sanctions have been in place against Russia since the 2014 Crimean crisis) if it disrupted the election. However, unlike previous sanctions which were limited to individuals and companies, the third stage is set to target entire sectors of the Russian economy. Earlier the US and the EU had accused Russia of destabilising Ukraine by stoking the 2014 pro-Russian rebellion in Eastern Ukraine, a charge Russia has denied.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: The term of office for the Ukrainian president is five years. If no candidate had obtained an absolute majority in the first round, then the two highest polling candidates would have contested a run-off second ballot on 15 June 2014.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Arsen Avakov underlined the importance of Elections 2014 a new IT elections monitoring system ("") that allowed voters to track the progress of the elections in real time, potentially increasing transparency, and avoiding the post-election disturbances seen in prior Ukrainian elections. On 22 May 2014, three days before the election, hacker group CyberBerkut announced that it had compromised the primary servers of the Central Election Commission and stolen passwords from the servers. As well, the Security Service of Ukraine investigated the servers and discovered malware that would have destroyed election results. On election day, authorities arrested a group of hackers with specialized equipment in Kyiv. They had been attempting to rig the election.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: 21 candidates took part in the elections; seven of them had been nominated by political parties, 15 were self-nominees. A total of 18 candidates ran for president in 2010. Before 7 April 2014, four Party of Regions members were running for election, but on 7 April 2014 the political council of the party expelled the presidential candidates Serhiy Tihipko, Oleh Tsarov and Yuriy Boiko from the party. On 29 March a Party of Regions convention supported Mykhailo Dobkin's nomination as a presidential candidate.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Candidates were able to nominate themselves at the Central Election Commission of Ukraine from 25 February 2014 until 30 March 2014. The last date for registering candidates was 4 April 2014. Candidates needed to submit a full package of documents and a ₴2.5 million deposit.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: The Central Election Commission was unable to remove from the ballot the names of candidates who withdrew from the race after the deadline of 1 May 2014.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: The Central Election Commission rejected some applications for candidate registration early in the process. It refused to register O. Burnashova, V. Marynych, A. Makhlai, A. Kucheryavenko, V. Chopei, L. Rozhnova, L. Maksymenko, D. Myroshnychenko, P. Rekal, T. Onopriyuk, and Z. Abbasov. On 3 April 2014 the CEC rejected a further three candidates: a man named Darth Vader, Evhen Terekhov, and Yuriy Ivanitsky.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: On 29 March 2014, Vitali Klitschko (UDAR) endorsed Petro Poroshenko, and announced he would run for Mayor of Kyiv in the local election taking place alongside the presidential election.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: The Central Election Commission of Ukraine (CEC) had registered 543 international official observers on 2 May 2014. On 23 May (two days before the election) this number had risen to 3,607 (CEC had completed the registration of observers on 19 May but on 23 May had allowed 823 members of the observer organization European Platform for Democratic Elections). Among others OSCE's Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, OSCE's Parliamentary Assembly, the Ukrainian World Congress and the United States sent observers. OSCE deployed 100 long-term observers and 900 short-term observers. On 9 May 2014 U.S. Assistant Secretary for European and Eurasian Affairs Victoria Nuland stated her country would support 255 long-term and more than 3,300 short-term observers. Russia did not send observers. Other Commonwealth of Independent States members also did not send observers; because Ukraine had not sent an invitation to the CIS Election Monitoring Organisation.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Petro Poroshenko won the elections with 54.7% of the votes. His closest competitor was Yulia Tymoshenko, who emerged with 12.81% of the votes. The Central Election Commission reported voter turnout at over 60% excluding those regions not under government control. In the Donbas region of Ukraine only 20% of the ballot stations were open due to threats and violence by pro-Russia separatists. Of the 2,430 planned ballot stations (in Donbas) only 426 remained open for polling.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Exit polls had also predicted that Poroshenko won the election outright with over 55.9% of the votes,


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: Despite Russia's earlier protest at rescheduling the election and the general tense relation between the countries at the time because of the annexation of Crimea and the Russian military intervention in Ukraine, Russian President Vladimir Putin recognised the vote.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: The leaders of the self-proclaimed Donetsk People's Republic and Luhansk People's Republic, controlling large parts of the Donbas region of Eastern Ukraine, declared that the regions had made their choice shown in the results of the status referendum of 11 May.


title: 2014 Ukrainian presidential election

text: US President Barack Obama congratulated Petro Poroshenko with his victory by telephone 2 days after the election. This was also done by President of the European Commission José Manuel Barroso and European Parliament President Martin Schulz and other EU leaders such as German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President François Hollande.


title: YouTube TV

text: YouTube TV is an American streaming television service operated by YouTube, a wholly owned subsidiary of Google. Announced on February 28, 2017, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor offers a selection of live linear channel feeds and on-demand content from more than 100 television networks (including affiliates of the Big Three broadcast networks (such as ABC, NBC and CBS), Fox, The CW and PBS in most markets) and over 30 OTT-originated services, as well as a cloud-based DVR.


title: YouTube TV

text: The service, which is aimed at cord cutters, is available only in the continental United States, and can be streamed through its dedicated website and mobile app, smart TVs and digital media players. Since 2017, YouTube TV has served as the presenting partner of the World Series and the NBA Finals. As of , YouTube TV has over five million subscribers.


title: YouTube TV

text: YouTube TV launched on April 24, 2017, in five major U.S. markets—New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia and San Francisco. In addition to carrying national broadcast networks, YouTube TV offers cable-originated channels owned by the corporate parents of the four major networks and other media companies. Other channels initially available on the service included CNBC, MSNBC, BBC World News, Smithsonian Channel (a venture of Showtime Networks and the Smithsonian Institution), Sundance TV (owned by AMC Networks), numerous sports channels, Disney Channel (owned by The Walt Disney Company), and BBC America (jointly owned by AMC Networks and BBC Studios).


title: YouTube TV

text: YouTube TV members also received access to YouTube Premium’s original movies and series, though an additional subscription to Premium was required for customers to access ad-free content and additional app features; Showtime and Fox Soccer Plus were also purchasable as optional premium add-ons for an extra fee. Also in 2017, YouTube added MLB Network, and entered into regional streaming rights deals with two Major League Soccer clubs, Seattle Sounders FC and Los Angeles FC.


title: YouTube TV

text: On February 14, 2018, YouTube TV began carrying the Time Warner-owned Turner Broadcasting System's cable networks (including, among others, TBS, TNT, CNN and Cartoon Network). In addition, YouTube TV also announced a deal to add NBA TV and MLB Network. With these additional channels, the service increased its monthly price for the first time in March 2018, from $34.99 to $39.99, with no grandfathering or opt-out available. On June 19, 2018, under an agreement with Lionsgate, YouTube TV began offering Starz as a premium add-on, containing linear feeds of the six Starz and eight Starz Encore channels.


title: YouTube TV

text: The service expanded to cover 98% of U.S. households by January 2019. In March 2019, YouTube TV launched in Glendive, Montana, thus making the service available in all 210 American television markets. On April 10, 2019, YouTube TV added nine networks owned by Discovery, Inc. (including Discovery Channel, HGTV, Food Network, TLC, Animal Planet and OWN), bringing the service's lineup up to 70 channels. The service concurrently announced a second monthly price increase, from $39.99 to $49.99, without grandfathering existing customers or allowing them to opt out. On April 12 of that year, YouTube TV reached an agreement with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer to offer its Epix premium service as an add-on.


title: YouTube TV

text: On July 29, 2019, at the Television Critics Association Summer Press Tour in Pasadena, California, YouTube TV announced it had signed a multi-year deal with PBS to allow carriage of live streams of the public broadcaster's member stations and PBS Kids Channel beginning as early as the fourth quarter of 2019. On December 15, 2019, the first PBS affiliate stations were added to YouTube TV. On February 20, 2020, YouTube TV reached an agreement with WarnerMedia (now Warner Bros. Discovery) to carry HBO and Cinemax as add-ons, and allowing access to the conglomerate's HBO Max streaming service, which launched on May 20 of that year, with a containing HBO subscription. (Customers who subscribe to the HBO add-on can access content within the HBO Max app using their YouTube TV/Google account credentials.) The additions of HBO and Cinemax resulted in YouTube TV becoming the first American vMVPD service to offer all five major premium channels as add-ons.


title: YouTube TV

text: On May 7, 2020, YouTube TV reached an expanded, multi-year deal with ViacomCBS (now Paramount Global) to add the company's major cable networks (including MTV, Nickelodeon, BET and Comedy Central) that were notably absent since the streamer's launch. The deal also entailed a continued commitment to distribute several other ViacomCBS-owned networks, including Showtime, through YouTube TV, along with an extended partnership to distribute the media company's content on the broader YouTube platforms. Eight of the channels were added on June 30, expanding YouTube TV's lineup to over 85 channels. The additions of the extra channels were accompanied by the service's third monthly price increase, from $49.99 to $64.99, which also had no grandfathering or opt-out provisions. Some of its competitors, such as Hulu + Live TV and FuboTV, have also implemented similar price increases over time.


title: YouTube TV

text: On September 3, 2020, YouTube TV added the NFL Network to its base lineup and announced the launch of a Sports Plus add-on package, which includes premium sports networks such as NFL RedZone, MavTV, GolTV, Fox Soccer Plus, Stadium and TVG for an additional cost. On December 1, 2020, YouTube TV announced an agreement to carry Nexstar Media Group's NewsNation (the former WGN America) beginning in January 2021. On March 16, 2021, YouTube TV announced that seven additional ViacomCBS-owned networks (including MTV2, TeenNick, Nick Jr., Dabl and BET Her) that were not added as part of the May 7 renewal agreement would be added to the lineup.


title: YouTube TV

text: On February 18, 2021, the service launched its “Entertainment Plus” add-on, an optional discount bundle (available for $29.99 per month) consisting of the HBO Max, Showtime and Starz premium add-ons. On September 2, 2021, YouTube TV announced that BeIN Sports, Outside TV, VSiN and several other niche sports channels would be added to its Sports Plus add-on tier, effective September 8.


title: YouTube TV

text: On May 10, 2022, the service launched a secondary Spanish-language base plan aimed at Hispanic and Latino customers, and a complimentary "Spanish Plus" add-on; the "Spanish Plan", available for $34.99 per month, consists of 28 Spanish-language channels (including ESPN Deportes, CNN en Español, Cine Latino, Estrella TV, Nat Geo Mundo and Cine Mexicano), while Spanish Plus, available for $14.99 per month, includes over 25 Spanish-language channels (including several that are offered as part of the main Spanish plan). The Spanish plan—which, unlike the Spanish Plus add-on, does not require a subscription to the main base plan—launched with a seven-day free trial.


title: YouTube TV

text: In September 2022, YouTube TV began allowing subscribers the option of purchasing its premium add-ons without requiring signing up for the 85-channel base plan (a concept similar to the streaming channel stores operated by Apple, Prime Video and Roku), with around 20 add-ons initially being made available for purchase à la carte, including HBO Max; Cinemax; Showtime; Starz; Epix; Hallmark Movies Now; CuriosityStream; MLB.tv and NBA League Pass. (YouTube launched a standalone channel store, Primetime Channels, within the platform's Movies & TV hub on November 1 of that year.)


title: YouTube TV

text: YouTube TV offers a cloud-based DVR service with unlimited storage that saves recordings for nine months; access to the DVR required a subscription to the service's base channel plan until September 2022, when YouTube TV expanded the feature to subscribers of its premium add-ons who do not have an accompanying subscription to the base package. Each subscription can be shared among six accounts and allows up to three simultaneous streams.


title: YouTube TV

text: In February 2020, YouTube TV announced that Sinclair Broadcast Group-owned regional sports networks (including Fox Sports Networks and YES Network) would likely be pulled from the service on February 28, 2020, citing high carriage fees. On that day, YouTube TV announced that it had reached an interim agreement to continue offering the channels on the platform while negotiations are under way. On March 5, 2020, YouTube TV and Sinclair reached a new deal to continue carrying all the Fox RSNs except three – the YES Network, Fox Sports Prime Ticket and Fox Sports West. However, on October 1, 2020, the networks were pulled off the service after the two sides could not come to a renegotiation agreement. The same month, YouTube TV dropped NESN, which carries games for the Boston Red Sox and the Boston Bruins.


title: YouTube TV

text: In September 2021, YouTube TV entered into a dispute with NBCUniversal when negotiating a renewal of their contract, with the latter warning that its channels would be removed from the service if they failed to reach an agreement by the end of the month. NBC had reportedly demanded YouTube TV bundle their Peacock streaming service, while YouTube TV announced that it would decrease their price by $10 if the contract is not renewed. The two companies failed to reach an agreement by October 1, but agreed to a "short extension" to avoid the channels being taken down. A deal was reached a day later.


title: YouTube TV

text: In December 2021, YouTube TV engaged in a dispute with The Walt Disney Company over a renewal in their contract, warning customers about the possible removal of ABC, Disney Channel, ESPN, Freeform, FX, National Geographic, and other Disney-owned networks should the two fail to reach an agreement. Google and Disney were unable to renew their contract by the expiration date, resulting in YouTube TV's first contract-related blackout. This was resolved a day later, with the two companies reaching a new deal.


title: Massage

text: Massage is the manipulation of the body's soft tissues. Massage techniques are commonly applied with hands, fingers, elbows, knees, forearms, feet or a device. The purpose of massage is generally for the treatment of body stress or pain. In European countries, a person professionally trained to give massages is traditionally known as a masseur (male) or masseuse (female). In the United States, these individuals are often referred to as massage therapists, because they must be certified and licensed as "licensed massage therapists".


title: Massage

text: In professional settings, clients are treated while lying on a massage table, sitting in a massage chair or lying on a mat on the floor. There are many different modalities in the massage industry, including (but not limited to): deep tissue, manual lymphatic drainage, medical, sports, structural integration, Swedish, Thai and trigger point.


title: Massage

text: The word comes from the French 'friction of kneading', which, in turn, comes either from the Arabic word "massa" meaning 'to touch, feel'. or from the Portuguese 'knead', from the Latin meaning 'mass, dough', from the Greek verb () 'to handle, touch, to work with the hands, to knead dough'.


title: Massage

text: Archaeological evidence of massage has been found in many ancient civilizations including China, India, Japan, Korea, Egypt, Rome, Greece, and Mesopotamia.


title: Massage

text: BC 2330: The Tomb of Akmanthor (also known as "The Tomb of the Physician") in Saqqara, Egypt, depicts two men having work done on their feet and hands, possibly massage.


title: Massage

text: BC 2000: The word "muššu'u" ("massage") is written for the first time, and its use is described, in some Sumerian and Akkadian texts found at the beginning of the 21st century in ancient Mesopotamia.


title: Massage

text: BC 722–481: "Huangdi Neijing" is composed during the Chinese Spring and Autumn period. The Nei-jing is a compilation of medical knowledge known up to that date, and is the foundation of traditional Chinese medicine. Massage is referred to in 30 different chapters of the Nei Jing. It specifies the use of different massage techniques and how they should be used in the treatment of specific ailments, and injuries. Also known as "The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon," the text refers to previous medical knowledge from the time of the Yellow Emperor (approx 2700 BC), misleading some into believing the text itself was written during the time of the Yellow Emperor (which would predate written history).


title: Massage

text: BC 762: "In the Iliad and the Odyssey the massage with oils and aromatic substances is mentioned as a means to relax the tired limbs of warriors and a way to help the treatment of wounds."


title: Massage

text: BC 500: Jīvaka Komarabhācca was an Indian physician who according to the Pāli Buddhist Canon was Shakyamuni Buddha's physician. Jivaka is sometimes credited with founding and developing a style of massage that led to the type of massage practiced in current-day Thailand. Though this claim is disputed.


title: Massage

text: BC 493: A possible biblical reference documents daily "treatments" with oil of myrrh as a part of the beauty regimen of the wives of Xerxes (Esther, 2:12).


title: Massage

text: BC 460: Hippocrates wrote "The physician must be experienced in many things, but assuredly in rubbing."


title: Massage

text: BC 300: Charaka Samhita, sometimes dated to 800 BCE, is one of the oldest of the three ancient treatises of Ayurvedic medicine, including massage. Sanskrit records indicate that massage had been practiced in India long before the beginning of recorded history.


title: Massage

text: Many of Galen's manuscripts, for instance, were collected and translated by Hunayn ibn Ishaq in the 9th century. Later in the 11th-century copies were translated back into Latin and again in the 15th and 16th centuries, when they helped enlighten European scholars as to the achievements of the Ancient Greeks. This renewal of the Galenic tradition during the Renaissance played a very important part in the rise of modern science.


title: Massage

text: One of the greatest Persian medics was Avicenna, also known as Ibn Sina, who lived from 980 AD to 1037 AD. His works included a comprehensive collection and systematization of the fragmentary and unorganized Greco-Roman medical literature that had been translated Arabic by that time, augmented by notes from his own experiences. One of his books, "Al-Qānūn fī aṭ-Ṭibb" (The Canon of Medicine) has been called the most famous single book in the history of medicine in both East and West. Avicenna excelled in the logical assessment of conditions and comparison of symptoms and took special note of analgesics and their proper use as well as other methods of relieving pain, including massage.


title: Massage

text: AD 1150: Evidence of massage abortion, involving the application of pressure to the pregnant abdomen, can be found in one of the bas reliefs decorating the temple of Angkor Wat in Cambodia. It depicts a demon performing such an abortion upon a woman who has been sent to the underworld. This is the oldest known visual representation of abortion.


title: Massage

text: AD 1776: Jean Joseph Marie Amiot and Pierre-Martial Cibot, French missionaries in China translate summaries of Huangdi Neijing, including a list of medical plants, exercises, and elaborate massage techniques, into the French language, thereby introducing Europe to the highly developed Chinese system of medicine, medical-gymnastics, and medical-massage.


title: Massage

text: AD 1776 Pehr Henrik Ling, a Swedish physical therapist and teacher of medical-gymnastics, is born. Ling has often been erroneously credited for having invented "Classic Massage", also known as "Swedish Massage", and has been called the "Father of Massage".


title: Massage

text: AD 1779: Frenchman Pierre-Martial Cibot publishes "Notice du Cong-fou des Bonzes Tao-see", also known as "The Cong-Fou of the Tao-Tse", a French language summary of medical techniques used by Taoist priests. According to English historian of China Joseph Needham, Cibot's work "was intended to present the physicists and physicians of Europe with a sketch of a system of medical gymnastics which they might like to adopt—or if they found it at fault they might be stimulated to invent something better. This work has long been regarded as of cardinal importance in the history of physiotherapy because it almost certainly influenced the Swedish founder of the modern phase of the art, Pehr Hendrik Ling. Cibot had studied at least one Chinese book but also got much from a Christian neophyte who had become expert in the subject before his conversion."


title: Massage

text: AD 1813 The Royal Gymnastic Central Institute for the training of gymnastic instructors was opened in Stockholm, Sweden, with Pehr Henrik Ling appointed as principal. Ling developed what he called the "Swedish Movement Cure". Ling died in 1839, having previously named his pupils as the repositories of his teaching. Ling and his assistants left a little proper written account of their methods.


title: Massage

text: AD 1878: Dutch massage practitioner Johan Georg Mezger applies French terms to name five basic massage techniques, and coins the phrase "Swedish massage system". These techniques are still known by their French names (effleurage (long, gliding strokes), petrissage (lifting and kneading the muscles), friction (firm, deep, circular rubbing movements), tapotement (brisk tapping or percussive movements) and vibration (rapidly shaking or vibrating specific muscles)).


title: Massage

text: Massage in China is an extremely popular therapy, the city of Shanghai alone playing host to over 1500 foot massage centers while there are more than 3000 in Shenzhen. It is one of the biggest service industries in China with workers in Shanghai numbering in the tens of thousands. The average rate of pay for a worker in the massage industry in China is over 10,000 yuan per month, making them a well-paying job in China's service sector.


title: Massage

text: Massage started to become popular in the United States in the middle part of the 19th century and was introduced by two New York physicians, George and Charles Taylor, based on Pehr Henrik Ling's techniques developed in Sweden.


title: Massage

text: During the 1930s and 1940s massage's influence decreased as a result of medical advancements of the time, while in the 1970s massage's influence grew once again with a notable rise among athletes. Until the 1970s, nurses used massage to reduce pain and aid sleep. The massage therapy industry is continuously increasing. In 2009, U.S. consumers spent between $4 and $6 billion on visits to massage therapists. In 2015, research estimates that massage therapy was a $12.1 billion industry.


title: Massage

text: All but six States require massage therapists to be licensed, and licensure requires the applicant to receive training at an accredited school, and to pass a comprehensive exam. Those states that require licensure also typically require continuing education in massage techniques and in ethics.


title: Massage

text: The service of massage or "physiological shampooing" was advertised in "The Times" from as early as 1880. Adverts claimed it as a cure for obesity amongst other chronic ailments.


title: Massage

text: Massage developed alongside athletics in both Ancient China and Ancient Greece. Taoist priests developed massage in concert with their Kung Fu gymnastic movements, while Ancient Greek Olympians used a specific type of trainer ("aleiptes") who would rub their muscles with oil. Pehr Ling's introduction to massage also came about directly as a result of his study of gymnastic movements.


title: Massage

text: The 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles was the first time that massage therapy was televised as it was being performed on the athletes. And then, during the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta massage therapy was finally offered as a core medical service to the US Olympic Team. Massage has been employed by businesses and organizations such as the U.S. Department of Justice, Boeing and Reebok. Athletes such as Michael Jordan and LeBron James have personal massage therapists that at times even travel with them.


title: Massage

text: Acupressure [from Latin acus "needle" (see acuity) + pressure (n.)] is a technique similar in principle to acupuncture. It is based on the concept of life energy which flows through "meridians" in the body. In treatment, physical pressure is applied to acupuncture points with the aim of clearing blockages in those meridians. Pressure may be applied by fingers, palm, elbow, toes or with various devices.


title: Massage

text: Some medical studies have suggested that acupressure may be effective at helping manage nausea and vomiting, for helping lower back pain, tension headaches, stomach ache, among other things, although such studies have been found to have a high likelihood of bias.


title: Massage

text: Aquatic bodywork comprises a diverse set of massage and bodywork forms performed in water. This includes land-based forms performed in water (e.g., Aquatic Craniosacral Therapy, Aquatic Myofascial Release Therapy, etc.), as well as forms specific to warm water pools (e.g., Aquatic Integration, Dolphin Dance, Healing Dance, Jahara technique, WaterDance, Watsu).


title: Massage

text: In ashiatsu, the practitioner uses their feet to deliver treatment. The name comes from the Japanese, "ashi" for foot and "atsu" for pressure. This technique typically uses the heel, sesamoid, arch, and/or whole plantar surface of foot, and offers large compression, tension and shear forces with less pressure than an elbow and is ideal for large muscles, such as in thigh, or for long-duration upper trapezius compressions. Other manual therapy techniques using the feet to provide treatment include Keralite, Barefoot Lomilomi, and Chavutti Thirumal.


title: Massage

text: Ayurvedic massage is known as "Abhyangam" in Sanskrit. According to the Ayurvedic Classics "Abhayngam" is an important dincharya (Daily Regimen) that is needed for maintaining a healthy lifestyle. The massage technique used during Ayurvedic Massage aims to stimulate the lymphatic system. Practitioners claim that the benefits of regular Ayurvedic massage include pain relief, reduction of fatigue, improved immune system and improved longevity.


title: Massage

text: Known in Myanmar as Yoe Yar Nhake Nal Chin, meaning "traditional massage", Burmese massage has its ancient origins from Thai, Chinese and Indian medicine. Currently, Burmese massage also includes the use of local natural ingredients such as Thanaka which helps to promote smooth skin and prevents sunburn.


title: Massage

text: Burmese massage is a full body massage technique that starts from head to toes, drawing on acupuncture, reflexology and kneading. Signature massage strokes include acupressure using the elbows, quick gentle knocking of acupressure points, and slow kneading of tight muscles. The massage aims to improve blood circulation and quality of sleep, while at the same time help to promote better skin quality.


title: Massage

text: Biomechanical stimulation (BMS) is a term generally used for localised biomechanical oscillation methods, whereby local muscle groups are stimulated directly or via the associated tendons by means of special hand held mechanical vibration devices. Biomechanical oscillation therapy and training is offered in a variety of areas such as competitive sports, fitness, rehabilitation, medicine, prevention, beauty and used to improve performance of the muscles and to improve coordination and balance. It is often used in myofascial trigger point therapy to invoke reciprocal inhibition within the musculoskeletal system. Beneficial effects from this type of stimulation have been found to exist; the efficacy of the BMS Matrix therapy was proven in an independent study carried out by TÜV-Süd which was commissioned by German health insurer .


title: Massage

text: Biodynamic massage was created by Gerda Boyesen as part of Biodynamic Psychotherapy. It uses a combination of hands-on work and "energy work" and also uses a stethoscope to hear the peristalsis.


title: Massage

text: Craniosacral therapy (CST) is a pseudoscience that aims to improve fluid movement and cranial bone motion by applying light touch to the skull, face, spine, and pelvis.


title: Massage

text: A type of massage that is done in an erotic way via the use of massage techniques by a person on another person's erogenous zones to achieve or enhance their sexual excitation or arousal and to achieve orgasm.


title: Massage

text: It was also once used for medical purposes as well as for the treatment of "female hysteria" and "womb disease".


title: Massage

text: "Lomilomi" is the traditional massage of Hawaii. As an indigenous practice, it varies by island and by family. The word "lomilomi" also is used for massage in Samoa and East Futuna. In Samoa, it is also known as "lolomi" and "milimili". In East Futuna, it is also called "milimili", "fakasolosolo", "amoamo", "lusilusi", "kinikini", "fai’ua". The Māori call it "romiromi" and "mirimiri". In Tonga massage is "fotofota", "tolotolo", and "amoamo". In Tahiti it is "rumirumi". On Nanumea in Tuvalu, massage is known as "popo", pressure application is "kukumi", and heat application is "tutu". Massage has also been documented in Tikopia in the Solomon Islands, in Rarotonga, in Pukapuka and in Western Samoa.


title: Massage

text: Manual lymphatic drainage is a technique used to gently work and stimulate the lymphatic system, to assist in reduction of localized swelling. The lymphatic system is a network of slow moving vessels in the body that carries cellular waste toward the liver, to be filtered and removed. Lymph also carries lymphocytes and other immune system agents. Manual lymphatic drainage claims to improve waste removal and immune function.


title: Massage

text: Medical massage is a controversial term in the massage profession. Many use it to describe a specific technique. Others use it to describe a general category of massage and many methods such as deep tissue massage, myofascial release and trigger-point therapy, as well as osteopathic techniques, cranial-sacral techniques and many more can be used to work with various medical conditions.


title: Massage

text: Massage used in the medical field includes decongestive therapy used for lymphedema which can be used in conjunction with the treatment of breast cancer. Light massage is also used in pain management and palliative care. Carotid sinus massage is used to diagnose carotid sinus syncope and is sometimes useful for differentiating supraventricular tachycardia (SVT) from ventricular tachycardia. It, like the valsalva maneuver, is a therapy for SVT. However, it is less effective than management of SVT with medications.


title: Massage

text: A 2004 systematic review found single applications of massage therapy "reduced state anxiety, blood pressure, and heart rate but not negative mood, immediate assessment of pain, and cortisol level," while "multiple applications reduced delayed assessment of pain," and found improvements in anxiety and depression similar to effects of psychotherapy. A subsequent systematic review published in 2008 found that there is little evidence supporting the use of massage therapy for depression in high quality studies from randomized controlled trials.


title: Massage

text: Myofascial release refers to the manual massage technique that claims to release adhered fascia and muscles with the goal of eliminating pain, increasing range of motion and equilibrioception. Myofascial release usually involves applying shear compression or tension in various directions, cross fiber friction or by skin rolling.


title: Massage

text: Reflexology, also known as "zone therapy", is an alternative medicine involving application of pressure to the feet and hands with specific thumb, finger, and hand techniques without the use of oil or lotion. It is based on a pseudoscientific system of zones and reflex areas that purportedly reflect an image of the body on the feet and hands, with the premise that such work effects a physical change to the body.


title: Massage

text: Shiatsu (指圧) ("shi" meaning finger and "atsu" meaning pressure) is a type of alternative medicine consisting of the fingers and palm pressure, stretches, and other massage techniques. There is no convincing data available to suggest that shiatsu is an effective treatment for any medical condition.


title: Massage

text: Sports massage is the use of specific massage therapy techniques in an athletic context to improve recovery time, enhance performance and reduce the risk of injury. This is accomplished using techniques that stimulate the flow of blood and lymph to and from muscles. Sports massage is often delivered before or after physical activity depending on the subject's needs, preferences and goals.


title: Massage

text: Structural Integration's aim is to unwind the strain patterns in the body's myofascial system, restoring it to its natural balance, alignment, length and ease. This is accomplished by hands-on manipulation, coupled with movement re-education. There are about 15 schools of Structural Integration as recognized by the International Association of Structural Integration, including the Dr. Ida Rolf Institute (with the brand Rolfing), Hellerwork, Guild for Structural Integration, Aston Patterning, Soma, and Kinesis Myofascial Integration.


title: Massage

text: The most widely recognized and commonly used category of massage is Swedish massage. The Swedish massage techniques vary from light to vigorous. Swedish massage uses five styles of strokes. The five basic strokes are effleurage (sliding or gliding), petrissage (kneading), tapotement (rhythmic tapping), friction (cross fiber or with the fibers) and vibration/shaking.


title: Massage

text: The development of Swedish massage is often inaccurately credited to Per Henrik Ling, though the Dutch practitioner Johann Georg Mezger applied the French terms to name the basic strokes. The term "Swedish massage" is actually only recognized in English- and Dutch-speaking countries, and in Hungary. Elsewhere the style is referred to as "classic massage".


title: Massage

text: Clinical studies have found that Swedish massage can reduce chronic pain, fatigue, joint stiffness and improve function in patients with osteoarthritis of the knee.


title: Massage

text: Known in Thailand as "Nuat phaen boran", meaning "ancient/traditional massage", traditional Thai massage is generally based on a combination of Indian and Chinese traditions of medicine.


title: Massage

text: Thai massage combines both physical and energetic aspects. It is a deep, full-body massage progressing from the feet up, and focusing on sen or energy lines throughout the body, with the aim of clearing blockages in these lines, and thus stimulating the flow of blood and lymph throughout the body. It draws on yoga, acupressure and reflexology.


title: Massage

text: Thai massage is a popular massage therapy that is used for the management of conditions such as musculoskeletal pain and fatigue. Thai Massage involves a number of stretching movements that improve body flexibility, joint movement and also improve blood circulation throughout the body. In one study scientists found that Thai Massage showed comparable efficacy as the painkiller ibuprofen in the reduction of joint pain caused by osteoarthritis (OA) of the knee.


title: Massage

text: Massage of Chinese Medicine is known as An Mo (按摩, pressing and rubbing) or Qigong Massage and is the foundation of Japan's Anma. Categories include Pu Tong An Mo (general massage), Tui Na An Mo (pushing and grasping massage), Dian Xue An Mo (cavity pressing massage), and Qi An Mo (energy massage). Tui na (推拿) focuses on pushing, stretching, and kneading muscles, and Zhi Ya (指壓) focuses on pinching and pressing at acupressure points. Technique such as friction and vibration are used as well.


title: Massage

text: Sometimes confused with pressure point massage, this involves deactivating trigger points that may cause local pain or refer pain and other sensations, such as headaches, in other parts of the body. Manual pressure, vibration, injection, or other treatment is applied to these points to relieve myofascial pain. Trigger points were first discovered and mapped by Janet G. Travell (President Kennedy's physician) and David Simons. Trigger points have been photomicrographed and measured electrically and in 2007 a paper was presented showing images of Trigger Points using MRI. These points relate to dysfunction in the myoneural junction, also called neuromuscular junction (NMJ), in muscle, and therefore this technique is different from reflexology acupressure and pressure point massage.


title: Massage

text: Tui na is a Chinese manual therapy technique that includes many different types of strokes, aimed to improve the flow of chi through the meridians.


title: Massage

text: In traditional Turkish baths, massage involves not just vigorous muscle kneading, but also joint cracking, "not so much a tender working of the flesh as a pummelling, a cracking of joints, a twisting of limbs..." An 18th-century traveler reported:


title: Massage

text: Watsu, developed by Harold Dull at Harbin Hot Springs, California, is a type of aquatic bodywork performed in near-body-temperature water, and characterized by continuous support by the practitioner and gentle movement, including rocking, stretching of limbs, and massage. The technique combines hydrotherapy floating and immersion with shiatsu and other massage techniques. Watsu is used as a form of aquatic therapy for deep relaxation and other therapeutic intent. Related forms include Waterdance, Healing Dance, and Jahara technique.


title: Massage

text: Specialized massage tables and chairs are used to position recipients during massages. A typical commercial massage table has an easily cleaned, heavily padded surface, and horseshoe-shaped head support that allows the client to breathe easily while lying face down and can be stationary or portable, while home versions are often lighter weight or designed to fold away easily. An orthopedic pillow or bolster can be used to correct body positioning.


title: Massage

text: Ergonomic chairs serve a similar function as a massage table. Chairs may be either stationary or portable models. Massage chairs are easier to transport than massage tables, and recipients do not need to disrobe to receive a chair massage. Due to these two factors, chair massage is often performed in settings such as corporate offices, outdoor festivals, shopping malls, and other public locations.


title: Massage

text: Temperature-controlled warm-water therapy pools are used to perform aquatic bodywork. For example, Watsu requires a warm-water therapy pool that is approximately chest-deep (depending on the height of the therapist) and temperature-controlled to about 35 °C (95 °F).


title: Massage

text: A dry-water massage table uses jets of water to perform the massage of the client's muscles. These tables differ from a Vichy shower in that the client usually stays dry. Two common types are one in which the client lies on a waterbed-like mattress which contains warm water and jets of water and air bubbles and one in which the client lies on a foam pad and is covered by a plastic sheet and is then sprayed by jets of warm water, similar to a Vichy shower. The first type is sometimes seen available for use in malls and shopping centers for a small fee.


title: Massage

text: A Vichy shower is a form of hydrotherapy that uses a series of shower nozzles that spray large quantities of water over the client while they lie in a shallow wet bed, similar to a massage table, but with drainage for the water. The nozzles may usually be adjusted for height, direction, and temperature to suit the client's needs.


title: Massage

text: Many different types of massage cremes, lotions, gels, and oils are used to lubricate and moisturize the skin and reduce the friction between skin (hands of technician and client).


title: Massage

text: These instruments or devices are sometimes used during massages. Some tools are for use by individuals, others by the therapist.


title: Massage

text: Instrument-assisted soft-tissue massage can deploy stainless-steel devices to manipulate tissue in a way that augments hands-on work.


title: Massage

text: A body rock is a serpentine-shaped tool, usually carved out of stone. It is used to amplify the therapist's strength and focus pressure on certain areas. It can be used directly on the skin with a lubricant such as oil or corn starch or directly over clothing.


title: Massage

text: Bamboo and rosewood tools are also commonly used. They originate from practices in southeast Asia, Thailand, Cambodia, and Burma. Some of them may be heated, oiled, or wrapped in cloth.