title: Exponential decay

text: Thus, the amount of material left is 2 = 1/2 raised to the (whole or fractional) number of half-lives that have passed. Thus, after 3 half-lives there will be 1/2 = 1/8 of the original material left.


title: Exponential decay

text: Therefore, the mean lifetime formula_3 is equal to the half-life divided by the natural log of 2, or:


title: Exponential decay

text: where the final substitution, "N" = "e", is obtained by evaluating the equation at "t" = 0, as "N" is defined as being the quantity at "t" = 0.


title: Exponential decay

text: This is the form of the equation that is most commonly used to describe exponential decay. Any one of decay constant, mean lifetime, or half-life is sufficient to characterise the decay. The notation λ for the decay constant is a remnant of the usual notation for an eigenvalue. In this case, λ is the eigenvalue of the negative of the differential operator with "N"("t") as the corresponding eigenfunction. The units of the decay constant are s.


title: Exponential decay

text: Given an assembly of elements, the number of which decreases ultimately to zero, the mean lifetime, formula_3, (also called simply the lifetime) is the expected value of the amount of time before an object is removed from the assembly. Specifically, if the "individual lifetime" of an element of the assembly is the time elapsed between some reference time and the removal of that element from the assembly, the mean lifetime is the arithmetic mean of the individual lifetimes.


title: Exponential decay

text: Exponential decay is a scalar multiple of the exponential distribution (i.e. the individual lifetime of each object is exponentially distributed), which has a well-known expected value. We can compute it here using integration by parts.


title: Exponential decay

text: A quantity may decay via two or more different processes simultaneously. In general, these processes (often called "decay modes", "decay channels", "decay routes" etc.) have different probabilities of occurring, and thus occur at different rates with different half-lives, in parallel. The total decay rate of the quantity "N" is given by the "sum" of the decay routes; thus, in the case of two processes:


title: Exponential decay

text: The solution to this equation is given in the previous section, where the sum of formula_25 is treated as a new total decay constant formula_26.


title: Exponential decay

text: Partial mean life associated with individual processes is by definition the multiplicative inverse of corresponding partial decay constant: formula_28. A combined formula_29 can be given in terms of formula_30s:


title: Exponential decay

text: Since half-lives differ from mean life formula_3 by a constant factor, the same equation holds in terms of the two corresponding half-lives:


title: Exponential decay

text: where formula_35 is the combined or total half-life for the process, formula_36 and formula_37 are so-named partial half-lives of corresponding processes. Terms "partial half-life" and "partial mean life" denote quantities derived from a decay constant as if the given decay mode were the only decay mode for the quantity. The term "partial half-life" is misleading, because it cannot be measured as a time interval for which a certain quantity is halved.


title: Exponential decay

text: For a decay by three simultaneous exponential processes the total half-life can be computed as above:


title: Exponential decay

text: In nuclear science and pharmacokinetics, the agent of interest might be situated in a decay chain, where the accumulation is governed by exponential decay of a source agent, while the agent of interest itself decays by means of an exponential process.


title: Exponential decay

text: In the pharmacology setting, some ingested substances might be absorbed into the body by a process reasonably modeled as exponential decay, or might be deliberately formulated to have such a release profile.


title: Exponential decay

text: Exponential decay occurs in a wide variety of situations. Most of these fall into the domain of the natural sciences.


title: Exponential decay

text: Many decay processes that are often treated as exponential, are really only exponential so long as the sample is large and the law of large numbers holds. For small samples, a more general analysis is necessary, accounting for a Poisson process.


title: Peaked cap

text: The peaked cap, peaked hat, service cap, barracks cover or combination cap is a form of headgear worn by the armed forces of many nations, as well as many uniformed civilian organisations such as law enforcement agencies and fire departments. It derives its name from its short visor, or peak, which was historically made of polished leather but increasingly is made of a cheaper synthetic substitute.


title: Peaked cap

text: Other principal components are the crown, band and insignia, typically a cap badge and embroidery in proportion to rank. Piping is also often found, typically in contrast to the crown colour, which is usually white for navy, blue for air force and green for army. The band is typically a dark, contrasting colour, often black, but may be patterned or striped.


title: Peaked cap

text: In the British Army, each regiment and corps has a different badge. In the United States Armed Forces, the cap device is uniform throughout every service branch, though different variants are used by different rank classes.


title: Peaked cap

text: The peaked cap originated in late 18th or early 19th-century Northern Europe, usually worn by working-class men. In the later years of the Napoleonic Wars, it began to appear in the senior ranks of the Russian and Prussian armies, being popular because of its comfort and light weight, as opposed to the cumbersome bicorns and shakos that were standard duty issue. During the Biedermeier period (1815–48), they became universal dress for German and Austrian civilian males of all classes, and for the entire 19th century, they were popular with the working classes all over Northern Europe, although in Britain the flat cap was preferred by civilians towards the end of the century.


title: Peaked cap

text: In 1846, the United States Army adopted the peaked cap during the Mexican–American War due to the unsuitability of the shako in the hot Mexican climate. In 1879, a form of peaked cap was adopted by chief petty officers of Britain's Royal Navy, in imitation of an undress headdress worn by officers from as early as 1825. The British Army adopted peaked caps in 1902 for both the new khaki field dress and (in coloured form) as part of the "walking out" or off-duty wear for other ranks. A dark blue version was worn with dress blues by all ranks of the U.S. Army between 1902 and 1917.


title: Peaked cap

text: During the 20th century, the combination or peaked cap became common in the armies, navies, air forces and police forces of the world, forgone in combat by common soldiers in favour of more protective combat helmets.


title: Peaked cap

text: During the Cold War and after dissolution of the Soviet Union, uniforms copied from the Russian pattern were issued to the armies of various Asian, Eastern European, African communist nations and post-Soviet states (except Baltic states, Azerbaijan (similar design but closely aligned with the Turkish counterparts), Georgia (after 2004) and Ukraine (after 2016)). Particularly famous are the oversized caps worn by North Korean army officers, unchanged since the 1950s.


title: Peaked cap

text: In the Australian Army, the peaked cap is known as the service cap and is generally worn with the "Patrol Blues" order of dress by all ranks with the cap colour being blue. A khaki service cap could be worn previously by warrant officers, commissioned officers and officer/staff cadets with any general duty order of dress and working/protective dress until September 2010.


title: Peaked cap

text: In the Royal Australian Air Force, the peaked cap is the standard headdress for all ranks, usually worn with service dress, ceremonial dress and tropical dress among others.


title: Peaked cap

text: In the Royal Australian Navy, the peaked cap is the standard headdress worn by personnel holding the rank of petty officer and above when wearing ceremonial dress, regular day dress and informal evening dress among others.


title: Peaked cap

text: Throughout the 19th century, the Austro-Hungarian Army were issued with shakos, originally in black leather and later in pike grey wool. Gradually, the height of the shako decreased and the cardboard stiffening removed until, by 1908, it had evolved into the ski cap. This was worn by Austrian officers and enlisted personnel during both World Wars, but when the postwar Austrian Bundesheer was established in 1955 an olive drab peaked cap and American style uniform were introduced.


title: Peaked cap

text: The cap was used in the early stages of the First World War as the primary headgear, but increased head injuries led to its replacement by the Brodie helmet as primary combat head protection.


title: Peaked cap

text: In the Canadian Forces, the peaked cap () is the primary headgear for men's Royal Canadian Navy service dress. It has been abandoned in the Royal Canadian Air Force in favour of the wedge cap. It has also been eliminated from the Canadian Army in favour of the beret, with two exceptions. General officers wearing army uniform can wear either a beret or a peaked cap with service dress. Royal Canadian Infantry Corps members of foot guards units such as the Canadian Grenadier Guards wear the bearskin cap with full dress but the peaked cap with undress and service dress.


title: Peaked cap

text: On navy caps, the peak and chinstrap of the service cap are always black. The cap band is black with the exception of navy military police, who wear a scarlet cap band, and members of Canadian Special Operations Forces Command, who wear a tan cap band.


title: Peaked cap

text: On both navy and army caps, the chinstrap is affixed to the cap via two small buttons, one roughly over each ear; these buttons are miniature versions of the buttons on the service dress tunic, and as such bear an RCN or regimental device.


title: Peaked cap

text: The peak of the cap of non-commissioned members and subordinate officers is left plain, and officers' caps are adorned with one or more bands of braid (depending on rank) at the forward edge of the peak. The peak of the junior officer's cap has a gold band along the forward edge, that of the senior officer has a row of gold oak leaves across the forward edge, while that of the flag officer has two rows of gold oak leaves, one along the forward edge and one near the cap band. The same oak leaves are worn by the Governor General of Canada as Commander-in-Chief of the Canadian Armed Forces.


title: Peaked cap

text: The service cap is theoretically unisex, although there is a service hat () for women which does not have a crown top and has a stiff brim all around. The front of the brim is formed into a visor and the sides and back are folded upwards.


title: Peaked cap

text: Police forces across Canada also wear a peaked cap. The cap is basic black with colour cap band of either of red (municipal forces), blue (Ontario Provincial Police, OPP) or yellow (Royal Canadian Mounted Police, RCMP). The peaked cap of the is green with a green band and yellow piping.


title: Peaked cap

text: Until recently the OPP's front line officers wore a black campaign hat, but has since reverted to the peaked cap. The RCMP only use the campaign hat for formal dress uniform or by members of the Musical Ride. Use of service cap by female officers are all but gone and replaced by peaked cap as unisex headwear. The only other headwear available is the turban for male Sikh police officers.


title: Peaked cap

text: Members of the People's Liberation Army also wear a peaked cap, with the design influences from the former Soviet Union. However, since from 2007, PLA started to change to adapt the Type 07 Service Uniform, the new uniform retains peaked cap but the style is more like the US and Commonwealth peaked cap instead of the Soviet style caps.


title: Peaked cap

text: The peaked cap and peaked hat are worn as formal dress by members of the Hong Kong Disciplined Services (police, fire, customs/excise, immigration, etc.) with influence from the British colonial services. All caps use black as base colour. The crown is flat and round in shape. Female police officers' caps have a coloured band, no crown top and front of the brim is flat with sides/back folded upwards. Only members of the Hong Kong Police's Tactical units, Emergency unit, and motorcycle officers do not wear the peaked cap when on duty.


title: Peaked cap

text: Members of the Hong Kong Sea Cadet Corps, Hong Kong Adventure Corps and Hong Kong Air Cadet Corps (including the Ceremonial Squadron) use the British-based cap.


title: Peaked cap

text: The dress uniforms for the Public Security Police Force of Macau and the Corpo de Bombeiros de Macau utilises a peaked cap. However, most police officers in Macau wear berets or ball caps for patrol.


title: Peaked cap

text: In Denmark, the use of peaked cap has seen a gradual decline from official uniforms, but it is still used in the ceremonial uniforms the general corps of the Army, officers of the Airforce, officers of the Navy, the police and fire department.


title: Peaked cap

text: Peaked caps were first issued to German Landwehr troops during the Napoleonic Wars known as the Wachstuchmütze and made from oil cloth, since these were cheaper and easier to maintain than the heavy leather shakos and elaborate tailcoats worn by the British, French and Russian armies. The Prussian army was also the first to adopt the frock coat, so officers would not soil their dress uniforms on campaign.


title: Peaked cap

text: When the spiked helmet was introduced during the 1840s, enlisted German troops were issued with peakless forage caps resembling the sailor cap. Officers, however, continued to wear the German-style peaked cap () to set themselves apart from the French, who wore the kepi peaked cap. Initially, German peaked caps were in the uniform color, e.g., Prussian blue, cornflower blue, green, etc., but before the First World War a field grey hat was issued, with piping colour coded for infantry, artillery or cavalry. These caps, known as "crushers", could be worn beneath a helmet or stuffed into a pocket or knapsack.


title: Peaked cap

text: In 1935, the Nazis introduced new uniforms designed for modern mechanised warfare. However, the basic design including the peaked cap remained the same as in the Weimar Republic's "Reichsheer". But the new national emblem featuring eagle clutching swastika, and black-red-white roundel in oak wreath were introduced on the caps. Enlisted personnel and non-commissioned officers were issued with peaked caps with leather chincord. Officers received caps with metallic chincord. Both enlisted-NCOs' caps and officers' caps had specially colored piping around the cap according to their service branch (white for infantry, pink for panzer and so on). Gestapo and SS men were issued with black featuring a silver death's head. On campaign, Wehrmacht officers often removed the wire stiffening so the cap would resemble the older First World War–era crusher.


title: Peaked cap

text: After the Second World War, both the West German Bundeswehr and East German National People's Army continued to be issued uniforms derived from the Second World War pattern. East German caps bore the DDR State Cockade with the Hammer and Compass design, while West German caps had a cockade in the German national colours, and a badge featuring a pair of crossed swords. After reunification, the remained part of the German army dress uniform.


title: Peaked cap

text: Members of the armed and uniformed services in Indonesia wear the peaked cap during ceremonial and operational duties. It is widely worn by the Indonesian National Police, the Indonesian National Armed Forces and other uniformed institutions in the country.


title: Peaked cap

text: In the Israel Defense Forces, combination caps are used only by Israeli Air Force and Navy officers in ceremonial dress; Military Police soldiers while on duty; Israel Defense Forces Orchestra soldiers; and some regimental sergeants major of other service branches when in ceremonial dress.


title: Peaked cap

text: The rogatywka is a 4-cornered type of peaked cap, related to the czapka and worn by members of the Polish Land Forces.


title: Peaked cap

text: Russia was the first country to adopt the peaked cap. The official act of adopting the cap for military use was made by Alexander I of Russia in 1811. During the Napoleonic Wars, various early versions of the peaked cap were in use in the Russian army. Imperial Russia abandoned the cap for a short period in the second half of the 19th century for a forage cap similar to the one used by Americans during their civil war, but the peaked cap soon returned. Early soldiers' peaked caps were, in fact, peakless, hence the nickname (soldier's flapjack) for the headgear; officers' caps had peaks from the start and looked like modern peaked caps. The peakless version remained in use in the Russian navy under the name of (literally "peakless one") and is still worn by Russian seamen. Also during the Imperial period, peaked caps were introduced as part of government officials' uniforms. Serfs and peasants adopted an almost identical hat into their fashion after the Napoleonic Wars, known as a .


title: Peaked cap

text: In 1914, peakless caps were abolished everywhere in Russian armed forces except the Navy, and modern peaked caps were issued to all soldiers. However, after the October Revolution of 1917, it was replaced in Red Army field uniforms by the budenovka, and later by the garrison cap. The dress uniforms, on the other hand, retained this headgear, and various paramilitary Soviet agencies like the NKVD or VOKhR kept using it in all uniforms. Agencies like railway workers, firemen, pilots, mining supervisors, foresters, customs officers in the Soviet Union also were organised along military lines and wore uniforms with peaked caps of various designs.


title: Peaked cap

text: In 1990s, the Russian peaked cap was redesigned and widely issued to the armed forces and police. Caps of this shape are most associated with Russia among foreigners, since they are large and high. In 2012, after army general Sergey Shoygu was appointed Minister of Defence, the design of the peaked cap was changed again to a lower and more proportional style.


title: Peaked cap

text: Royal Navy officers were first issued peaked caps in 1825 as a less formal alternative to the bicorne hat. From 1846, it was worn with a crown on the front, and later (from 1856), gold braid was added to the brim to ensure commissioned officers were instantly recognised by their subordinates. Commanders, captains and commodores had one row of braid on their peaks, whereas flag officers had two. Before the Second World War, naval officers were required to possess two caps: one with a white cover for summer and one without for winter. However, flag officers often preferred the white-topped cap in order to stand out from their subordinates. Since November 2021, all ranks and rates of the Royal Navy Submarine Service wear black cap covers.


title: Peaked cap

text: Male Royal Navy officers, warrant officers, chief petty officers and petty officers today wear a framed cap with a white cover and a black band in nos 1, 2 and 3 dress; originally worn only in tropical climates, the white cover was adopted for all areas after the Second World War. Officers have the option of a cotton or plastic cover. Female personnel wear a tricorne hat instead.


title: Peaked cap

text: All Royal Marines personnel wear a cap with a white cover and a red band with 'blues' uniform. The Royal Marines Band Service also wear this cap with the Lovat uniform and barrack dress.


title: Peaked cap

text: British Army officers wore blue peaked caps as early as the Crimean War to distinguish themselves from enlisted men who wore the pillbox hat. The peaked caps were widely worn on campaign during the First and Second World Wars, until the more practical beret was popularised by generals like Sir Bernard Montgomery. After the war, officers continued to wear khaki caps as part of the number 2 dress uniform, but by the 1990s these had been phased out in favour of the dark blue and red caps previously worn with the number 1 dress uniform.


title: Peaked cap

text: Peaked caps were first issued to enlisted men in 1908 to replace the Glengarry caps and pillbox hats of the Boer War era. The new caps were made of khaki wool and sometimes had a neck flap to protect against the cold. Nicknamed the "gor blimey", these caps are associated with the First World War 'Tommy Atkins' and continued to be issued to members of the Household Cavalry, Foot Guards, Home Guard and Territorial Army during the Second World War.


title: Peaked cap

text: All personnel of most regiments and corps of the British Army wear a forage cap, as the peaked cap is formally called, in numbers 1 and 2 dress, the exceptions being:


title: Peaked cap

text: It has a cap band which may be coloured (red for all royal regiments and corps), a crown (formerly khaki, now dark blue, except for the Royal Military Police, who have always worn red, and the Rifles, who wear rifle green), which may have coloured piping or a regimental/corps colour, and a patent leather peak and chinstrap. The chinstrap is usually secured above and across the peak and secured at each end by a small (20 line) button of the appropriate regimental or corps pattern.


title: Peaked cap

text: Officers in some regiments are also required to wear a khaki version of the cap, often called the "service dress cap", with service dress (the officers' no 2 dress) or barrack dress; the design of this dates back to the cap worn in the field until replaced by the steel helmet during the First World War.


title: Peaked cap

text: Female personnel wear a peaked cap of a different pattern. For uniformity, however, female musicians wear the same peaked cap as male personnel in formal dress.


title: Peaked cap

text: All male personnel of the Royal Air Force wear a cap with a blue-grey crown and a black band, worn with the appropriate badge, in no 1 dress, and sometimes in other uniforms as well. The peak is:


title: Peaked cap

text: The caps of other ranks of the RAF Police have a white crown. Officer cadets wear the officers' cap with a white band instead of a black band.


title: Peaked cap

text: Female officers and warrant officers wear a peaked cap of a different pattern. Female other ranks wear a round hat instead, although the female version of the peaked cap was worn by the Women's Auxiliary Air Force and formerly by all female ranks of the RAF Police. For uniformity, however, female musicians wear the same peaked cap as male personnel in formal dress.


title: Peaked cap

text: Cadets of the Royal Marines Cadets and Combined Cadet Force wear peaked caps of the armed forces they are affiliated to in full dress.


title: Peaked cap

text: Basic headgear for male police officers in the UK is a peaked cap. This includes a cap badge and generally has a black and white diced band (called Sillitoe tartan) around the hat. Caps worn by traffic police officers have white crowns or covers.


title: Peaked cap

text: Caps are also part of the uniforms of male police community support officers (PCSOs), who wear a plain light blue band.


title: Peaked cap

text: Full members of Royal Yacht Clubs wear a black doeskin cap with plain black leather peak and a black band, worn with the appropriate individual club's badge. Flag officers' caps are not distinguished by oak leaves or similar devices.


title: Peaked cap

text: The Ministry of Defence Guard Service currently issues a peaked cap that is a dark shade of navy blue with a leather chin strap and MGS cap badge on the front to all of its male officers. Female officers are issued with a peaked cap of a different shape. Dog section officers traditionally wear a beret.


title: Peaked cap

text: The cap badge consists of the Ministry of Defence emblem in the centre backed by silver with a navy blue border encircling the emblem that contains text that reads 'Ministry of Defence Guard Service', all below a crown.


title: Peaked cap

text: In modern times His Majesty's Prison Service does not issue peaked caps to be worn on duty, although they formerly did so. However, peaked caps are still worn during ceremonial events along with a tunic, medals and black gloves if applicable.


title: Peaked cap

text: In the United States Marine Corps, these caps, bearing a cap badge of the Corps' Eagle, Globe, and Anchor (EGA) device, are worn in two forms.


title: Peaked cap

text: For blue dress uniforms, the cap is white with a gloss black visor. The enlisted version features a black chin strap and is worn with an all-gold EGA device, while the officer version features a gold and scarlet chinstrap and a gold and silver EGA device. In addition, officers wear a lace cross on the top, called the quatrefoil, a traditional mark of distinction enabling sharpshooters aboard ships to identify friendly officers from foes.


title: Peaked cap

text: For the green service uniforms, an olive drab combination cap is available; the EGA device and the chin strap are black for all ranks. In both cases, field grade officers (majors, lieutenant colonels and colonels) have gold oak leaf motifs on the visor, similar to those worn by navy commanders and captains, while general officers' caps have a different, larger oak leaf motif on the visor. Additionally the blue dress cap of the Commandant of the Marine Corps (as well as the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff if it is also a Marine) adds an additional gold oak leaf motif to the front of the band. In the Marine Corps, the combination cap is commonly referred to as the "barracks cover", and the particular versions are referred as the dress cap or service cap in Marine Corps Orders.


title: Peaked cap

text: In the United States Navy, midshipmen, chief petty officers, and commissioned officers wear combination covers, but there are differences between the three types. In general, the cap has a rigid framed crown with a cloth cover, a black hatband that extends to a semicircle on the grant to support a badge device, a glossy black visor, and a chinstrap secured by two gold colored buttons that match the buttons of the wearer's service dress uniform.


title: Peaked cap

text: Midshipmen at the United States Naval Academy, United States Merchant Marine Academy or in Naval Reserve Officers Training Corps units wear a gold fouled anchor device and have a gold chinstrap. Chief petty officers wear a cap badge consisting of a gold fouled anchor with silver block letters "USN" superimposed on the shank of the anchor, with the addition of one, two, or three stars at the top of the anchor if the wearer is a senior chief petty officer, a master chief petty officer, or the Master Chief Petty Officer of the Navy, respectively, and have a black chinstrap. Commissioned officers wear an officer's crest badge consisting of a silver federal shield over two crossed gold fouled anchors surmounted by a silver eagle and have a gold chinstrap. Additionally, officers of rank commander and captain have gold embroidered oak leaves and acorns on a black felt-covered visor, referred to as "scrambled eggs", with additional embroidery for flag officers.


title: Peaked cap

text: The covering fabric is khaki for use with the service khaki uniform or in white for use with blue and white uniforms (the use of blue fabric for use with blue uniforms was discontinued in 1963). Since October 2018 the same cap style is used by both males and females.


title: Peaked cap

text: In the United States Army, service caps are optional for wear with the green service uniform. They consist of a dark olive drab top and hat band matching the uniform coat with a russet brown leather visor and chinstrap. The combination cap for the blue service is midnight blue matching the uniform coat with a gloss black visor. The enlisted cap has a golden stripe on top of the cap band and a black chinstrap. The version for officers has a cap band with the branch-of-service color between two golden stripes, and a gold-colored chinstrap. Field-grade officers have oak leaves, known unofficially as "scrambled eggs", on the visor. General officers' caps are similar to those of field-grade officers, but the cap band is dark blue and embroidered with gold oak leaf motifs. For both the green and blue caps, enlisted soldiers wear a cap badge of a circular disk embossed with the United States' coat of arms, while officers wear a larger badge of the coat of arms without any backing.


title: Peaked cap

text: In the United States Air Force, all personnel have the option to wear service caps, but only field-grade (major through colonel) and general officers are required to own one. The service cap is issued without charge to enlisted airmen assigned to certain ceremonial units and details.


title: Peaked cap

text: Air Force service caps are Air Force blue (shade 1620), matching the coat and trousers of the service dress uniform, with a gloss black visor and black chinstrap secured by silver-colored buttons bearing a version of the "Hap Arnold emblem" first designed by James T. Rawls for use by the Air Force's predecessor, the Army Air Forces, in 1942. The cap badge consists of a relief of the Great Seal of the United States rendered in silver-colored metal. For enlisted members, the arms are surrounded by a silver-colored metal circle. Commissioned officers' insignia is larger and lacks the encompassing circle. The Air Force Band and Air Force Base Honor Guard each have their own distinctive cap insignia and other uniform devices. Field-grade officers' visors have two pairs of clouds and lightning bolts, patterned after the oak leaf motifs used by the other services. General officers' caps add an extra pair of clouds and bolts on the visor, while the cap of the Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force adds clouds and bolts around the entire cap band. The clouds and bolts are jokingly referred to in military slang as "farts and darts", much as the other services' oak leaf motifs are known as "scrambled eggs".


title: Peaked cap

text: The USAF service cap is also worn by the Air Force's civilian auxiliary, the Civil Air Patrol (CAP). Senior members (those over the age of 18 who are not cadets and everyone over 21) may wear the service cap with a CAP-specific badge.


title: Peaked cap

text: The United States Coast Guard wears the combination cap, known as the combo cover, with the Service Dress Blue uniform (SDBs), the Tropical Blue uniform (Trops), and with all other formal dress uniforms. The cover is identical to that of the Navy with respect to the chinstrap and peak ornamentation. Its crown is white. The buttons securing the chin strap to the sides of the band are smaller versions of the buttons worn on the Coast Guard's uniform coats. The blue band around the cap includes blue fabric extending upward on the front of the crown to serve as a backing behind the device. In the case of enlisted personnel, this extension is a blue circle identical to that on the caps of naval officers and chief petty officers. In the case of commissioned officers, however, the extension is a more elaborate polygon to accommodate the officers' cap device.


title: Peaked cap

text: Unlike their naval counterparts, coast guardsmen below the rank of chief petty officer wear combination covers; their cap device is a golden representation of the Coast Guard emblem. Coast Guard chief petty officers' cap devices match those of the Navy, albeit with a shield on the front of the fouled anchor; like Navy chiefs, their cap devices are enlarged renderings of the rank insignia worn on their collars. Coast Guard officers' cap device is an eagle with wings outstretched, above an anchor grasped horizontally in its talons.


title: Peaked cap

text: The United States Public Health Service Commissioned Corps and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Commissioned Corps—the two small services, consisting only of officers, which are the two uniformed services that are not armed forces—wear uniforms and rank insignia adopted from the Navy. The combination covers of the two services are identical to those of the Navy with respect to colors, and peak ornamentation. The chinstrap of the PHS is gold with a burgundy stripe. The buttons securing the chin strap to the sides of the band are smaller versions of the buttons worn on the services' uniform coats. The cap device of NOAACC officers is similar to that of Navy officers with a globe in place of the shield; the cap device of PHSCC officers is similar to that of Navy officers but has a caduceus in place of one of the anchors.


title: Peaked cap

text: While the majority of American merchant mariners are employed by shipping businesses and accordingly wear either uniforms prescribed by their employers or civilian attire, some officers receive commissions in the United States Maritime Service for federal government duty, such as the faculty of the United States Merchant Marine Academy and the Military Sealift Command's civilian officers manning non-commissioned United States Naval Ships. These officers wear uniforms and rank insignia adopted from the U.S. Navy, albeit with United States Merchant Marine's own button design, cap device, awards, and decorations. The combination covers these officers are identical to those of naval officer with respect to colors, chinstrap and peak ornamentation. The buttons securing the chin strap to the sides of the band are smaller versions of the buttons worn on their coats. The USMS cap device is a rendering of the Merchant Marine device in gold- and silver-colored metal. Like the device worn by naval officers, it features a silver eagle, with wings outstretched, above a gold shield; the shield, however, is defaced with an anchor and surrounded by a wreath.


title: Peaked cap

text: Public safety officers, such as those from the police, fire department, ambulance service, and customs, often wear peaked caps, especially on formal occasions. In the US, police forces use caps that have softer tops and are not round and rigid in form (notable are those worn in New York and San Francisco). British and Australian policemen have a checkerboard pattern on the cap band, and traffic wardens often have a reflective yellow strip.


title: Peaked cap

text: A number of civilian professions—the most notable modern examples being merchant marine and civil aviation—also wear peaked caps. In such civilian old traditional usage, only captains aboard ships and pilots in command (airline captains) in service aboard aircraft, have the golden oak leaf motifs ("scrambled eggs") on the visor; this is in contrast to the naval tradition, where it is also worn by commanders (one rank below captain) as well as by commodores and flag officers.


title: Peaked cap

text: The original civilian variant of the peaked cap was widely worn by sailors and workers from the mid 19th century onwards. These were made of wool or canvas, and sometimes waterproofed with tar. During the 1960s, blue denim Greek fisherman's caps became an essential accessory for the counterculture due to their use by John Lennon of the Beatles. A black leather version, sometimes embellished with chains or metal studs, was worn by bikers, greasers imitating Marlon Brando in "The Wild One", and members of the 1970s Black Power movement.


title: Peaked cap

text: Peaked caps are also commonly worn around the world by some railway, or airport staff (baggage porters, but often wearing kepi type cap), bus drivers and security guards. A peaked cap is a part of the Salvation Army uniform in most of the territories it operates in.


title: Peaked cap

text: Student caps in Northern and Central European countries are frequently peaked caps. The student caps in Nordic countries are traditionally white (summer uniform) or black (winter uniform) but the colors of the bands, lining, tassels and cockades differ, depending on the school or the faculty. In German-speaking countries and in Poland, Estonia and Latvia, student caps come in a variety of colors, depending on the colors of the student organization or the school, and can be decorated with its zirkel (a monogram).


title: Peaked cap

text: A typical peaked cap has a spring stiffening, often in the form of a wire grommet frame, to ensure the sides and rear of the fabric covering have the proper shape. A crusher cap removes the stiffener to allow headphones to be worn over the hat or use in confined spaces such as tanks and submarines, giving it a slouched and worn "crushed" appearance. Such modified caps were especially popular among US Army Air Forces combat pilots and German tank commanders and submariners in the Second World War.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: Biphasic sleep (or "diphasic", "bifurcated", or bimodal sleep) is the practice of sleeping during two periods over the course of 24 hours, while polyphasic sleep refers to sleeping multiple times—usually more than two. Each of these is in contrast to monophasic sleep, which is one period of sleep within 24 hours. Segmented sleep and divided sleep may refer to polyphasic or biphasic sleep, but may also refer to "interrupted sleep", where the sleep has one or several shorter periods of wakefulness, as was the norm for night sleep in pre-industrial societies. A common form of biphasic or polyphasic sleep includes a nap, which is a short period of sleep, typically taken between the hours of 9 am and 9 pm as an adjunct to the usual nocturnal sleep period. Napping behaviour during daytime hours is the simplest form of polyphasic sleep, especially when the nap(s) are taken on a daily basis.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: The term "polyphasic sleep" was first used in the early 20th century by psychologist J. S. Szymanski, who observed daily fluctuations in activity patterns (see ). It does not imply any particular sleep schedule. The circadian rhythm disorder known as irregular sleep-wake syndrome is an example of polyphasic sleep in humans. Polyphasic sleep is common in many animals, and is believed to be the ancestral sleep state for mammals, although simians are monophasic.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: The term "polyphasic sleep" is also used by an online community that experiments with alternative sleeping schedules to achieve more wake time and/or better sleep each day.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: Polyphasic sleep can be caused by irregular sleep-wake syndrome, a rare circadian rhythm sleep disorder which is usually caused by neurological abnormality, head injury or dementia. Much more common examples are the sleep of human infants and of many animals. Elderly humans often have disturbed sleep, including polyphasic sleep.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: In their 2006 paper "The Nature of Spontaneous Sleep Across Adulthood", Campbell and Murphy studied sleep timing and quality in young, middle-aged, and older adults. They found that, in free-running conditions, the average duration of major nighttime sleep was significantly longer in young adults than in the other groups. The paper states further:


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: One classic cultural example of a biphasic sleep pattern is the practice of siesta, which is a nap taken in the early afternoon, often after the midday meal. Such a period of sleep is a common tradition in some countries, particularly those where the weather is warm. The siesta is historically common throughout the Mediterranean and Southern Europe. It is the traditional daytime sleep of China, India, South Africa, Italy, Greece, Spain and, through Spanish influence, the Philippines and many Hispanic American countries.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: A separate biphasic sleep pattern is sometimes described as segmented sleep, often consisting of going to sleep early at night, awakening in the post-midnight hours, and then returning to bed for a second period of sleep into the morning. In a "New York Times" article, author Jesse Barron asserts that this practice was common in the past: "in the preindustrial West, most people slept in two discrete blocks." Benjamin Franklin was a prominent example of this sleeping pattern.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: The need for biphasic sleeping as essential to the health of children is described in the seminal nineteenth-century text ""Street Music in the Metropolis: Correspondence and Observations on the Existing Law, and Proposed Amendments,"" published by John Murray:


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: Interrupted sleep is a primarily biphasic sleep pattern where two periods of nighttime sleep are punctuated by a period of wakefulness. Along with a nap in the day, it has been argued that this is the natural pattern of human sleep in long winter nights. A case has been made that maintaining such a sleep pattern may be important in regulating stress.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: Historian A. Roger Ekirch has argued that before the Industrial Revolution, interrupted sleep was dominant in Western civilization. He draws evidence from more than 500 references to a segmented sleeping pattern in documents from the ancient, medieval, and modern world. Other historians, such as Craig Koslofsky, have endorsed Ekirch's analysis.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: According to Ekirch's argument, adults typically slept in two distinct phases, bridged by an intervening period of wakefulness of approximately one hour. This time was used to pray and reflect, and to interpret dreams, which were more vivid at that hour than upon waking in the morning. This was also a favourite time for scholars and poets to write uninterrupted, whereas still others visited neighbours, engaged in sexual activity, or committed petty crime.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: The human circadian rhythm regulates the human sleep-wake cycle of wakefulness during the day and sleep at night. Ekirch suggests that it is due to the modern use of electric lighting that most modern humans do not practice interrupted sleep, which is a concern for some writers. Superimposed on this basic rhythm is a secondary one of light sleep in the early afternoon.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: The brain exhibits high levels of the pituitary hormone prolactin during the period of nighttime wakefulness, which may contribute to the feeling of peace that many people associate with it.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: The modern assumption that consolidated sleep with no awakenings is the normal and correct way for human adults to sleep, may lead people to consult their doctors fearing they have maintenance insomnia or other sleep disorders. If Ekirch's hypothesis is correct, their concerns might best be addressed by reassurance that their sleep conforms to historically natural sleep patterns.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: Ekirch has found that the two periods of night sleep were called "first sleep" (occasionally "dead sleep") and "second sleep" (or "morning sleep") in medieval England. He found that first and second sleep were also the terms in the Romance languages, as well as in the language of the Tiv of Nigeria. In French, the common term was "premier sommeil" or "premier somme"; in Italian, "primo sonno"; in Latin, "primo somno" or "concubia nocte". He found no common word in English for the period of wakefulness between, apart from paraphrases such as "first waking" or "when one wakes from his first sleep" and the generic "watch" in its old meaning of being awake. In Old French an equivalent generic term is "dorveille", a portmanteau of the French words "dormir" (to sleep) and "veiller" (to be awake).


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: Because members of modern industrialised societies, with later evening hours facilitated by electric lighting, mostly do not practice interrupted sleep, Ekirch suggests that they may have misinterpreted and mistranslated references to it in literature. Common modern interpretations of the term "first sleep" are "beauty sleep" and "early slumber". A reference to first sleep in the "Odyssey" was translated as "first sleep" in the 17th century, but, if Ekirch's hypothesis is correct, was universally mistranslated in the 20th.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: In his 1992 study "In short photoperiods, human sleep is biphasic", Thomas Wehr had seven healthy men confined to a room for fourteen hours of darkness daily for a month. At first the participants slept for about eleven hours, presumably making up for their sleep debt. After this the subjects began to sleep much as people in pre-industrial times were claimed to have done. They would sleep for about four hours, wake up for two to three hours, then go back to bed for another four hours. They also took about two hours to fall asleep.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: In crises and other extreme conditions, people may not be able to achieve the recommended seven to nine hours of sleep per day. Systematic napping may be considered necessary in such situations.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: Claudio Stampi, as a result of his interest in long-distance solo boat racing, has studied the systematic timing of short naps as a means of ensuring optimal performance in situations where extreme sleep deprivation is inevitable, but he does not advocate ultrashort napping as a lifestyle. "Scientific American Frontiers" (PBS) has reported on Stampi's 49-day experiment where a young man napped for a total of three hours per day. It purportedly shows that all stages of sleep were included. Stampi has written about his research in his book "" (1992). In 1989 he published results of a field study in the journal "Work & Stress", concluding that "polyphasic sleep strategies improve prolonged sustained performance" under continuous work situations. In addition, other long-distance solo sailors have documented their techniques for maximizing wake time on the open seas. One account documents the process by which a solo sailor broke his sleep into between 6 and 7 naps per day. The naps would not be placed equiphasically, instead occurring more densely during night hours.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: NASA, in cooperation with the National Space Biomedical Research Institute, has funded research on napping. Despite NASA recommendations that astronauts sleep eight hours a day when in space, they usually have trouble sleeping eight hours at a stretch, so the agency needs to know about the optimal length, timing and effect of naps. Professor David Dinges of the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine led research in a laboratory setting on sleep schedules which combined various amounts of "anchor sleep", ranging from about four to eight hours in length, with no nap or daily naps of up to 2.5 hours. Longer naps were found to be better, with some cognitive functions benefiting more from napping than others. Vigilance and basic alertness benefited the least while working memory benefited greatly. Naps in the individual subjects' biological daytime worked well, but naps in their nighttime were followed by much greater sleep inertia lasting up to an hour.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: The Italian Air Force ("Aeronautica Militare Italiana") also conducted experiments for their pilots. In schedules involving night shifts and fragmentation of duty periods through the entire day, a sort of polyphasic sleeping schedule was studied. Subjects were to perform two hours of activity followed by four hours of rest (sleep allowed), this was repeated four times throughout the 24-hour day. Subjects adopted a schedule of sleeping only during the final three rest periods in linearly increasing duration. The AMI published findings that "total sleep time was substantially reduced as compared to the usual 7–8 hour monophasic nocturnal sleep" while "maintaining good levels of vigilance as shown by the virtual absence of EEG microsleeps." EEG microsleeps are measurable and usually unnoticeable bursts of sleep in the brain while a subject appears to be awake. Nocturnal sleepers who sleep poorly may be heavily bombarded with microsleeps during waking hours, limiting focus and attention.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: There is an active community that experiments with alternative sleeping schedules to achieve more time awake each day, but the effectiveness of this is disputed.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: Researcher Piotr Woźniak argues that the theory behind severe reduction of total sleep time by way of short naps is unsound, and that there is no brain control mechanism that would make it possible to adapt to the "multiple naps" system. Woźniak expresses concern that the ways in which the polyphasic sleepers' attempt to limit total sleep time, restrict time spent in the various stages of the sleep cycle, and disrupt their circadian rhythms will eventually cause them to experience the same negative effects as those with other forms of sleep deprivation or circadian rhythm sleep disorder. Woźniak claims to have scanned the blogs of polyphasic sleepers and found that they have to choose an "engaging activity" again and again just to stay awake and that polyphasic sleep does not improve one's learning ability or creativity.


title: Biphasic and polyphasic sleep

text: There are many claims that polyphasic sleep was used by polymaths and prominent people such as Leonardo da Vinci, Napoleon, and Nikola Tesla, but there are few if any reliable sources confirming these. One first person account comes from Buckminster Fuller, who described a regimen consisting of 30-minute naps every six hours. The short article about Fuller's nap schedule in "Time" in 1943, which referred to the schedule as "intermittent sleeping", says that he maintained it for two years, and notes that "he had to quit because his schedule conflicted with that of his business associates, who insisted on sleeping like other men."


title: Basic (film)

text: Basic is a 2003 mystery-action thriller film directed by John McTiernan and starring John Travolta, Connie Nielsen, and Samuel L. Jackson. It is the second collaboration of Travolta and Jackson, following 1994's "Pulp Fiction". The story follows a DEA agent solving the mystery of a bungled training exercise that leads to the deaths of multiple Army Ranger cadets and their instructor. "Basic" received negative reviews from critics regarding its overall plot and numerous twist endings. It was a box-office bomb, grossing only $42.8 million worldwide against a $50 million budget.


title: Basic (film)

text: During a live fire exercise in the jungles of Panama, a team of Army Rangers trainees is led by the fearsome instructor Master Sergeant Nathan West. Sergeant Ray Dunbar emerges from the jungle carrying wounded Second Lieutenant Levi Kendall. The two men are pursued by Sergeant Mueller, whom Dunbar kills in self-defense. Although no other bodies are found, West's team is presumed dead.


title: Basic (film)

text: Dunbar refuses to talk to Military Police investigator Captain Julia Osborne and insists on speaking to a fellow Ranger from outside the base, drawing an '8' on a piece of paper. The post commander Colonel Bill Styles calls in his friend: experienced interrogator, ex-Ranger and now DEA agent Tom Hardy, and assigns him to aid Osborne.


title: Basic (film)

text: During interrogations of the survivors, they learn that West was infamous for being a ruthless, tough-as-nails sergeant. One of the trainees, Jay Pike, earned West's wrath for not following orders, and may have staged the murder.


title: Basic (film)

text: Kendall, son of a Joint Chiefs of Staff general and a homosexual, claims West hated him and may have ordered a "training accident" on him. He claims West died when hit in the back with a phosphorus grenade. When Pike confessed to the crime, Dunbar wanted to turn him in; a firefight ensued and most of the trainees were killed.


title: Basic (film)

text: Dunbar claims Kendall is lying and that Mueller and his fellow trainee Castro were illegally selling prescription drugs and West became aware of their drug dealing. Mueller used Pike's grenade to kill West and tried to frame Pike. A firefight broke out and several trainees were killed. Dunbar claims that Dr. Peter Vilmer supplied the drugs and falsified drug tests so that soldiers came out clean. After confessing to the crime, Vilmer is placed under arrest.


title: Basic (film)

text: Styles orders Osborne and Hardy not to talk to Kendall again. They disobey and interrogate Kendall once more, but he suddenly begins vomiting blood. Before dying, he draws an '8' with his own blood on Osborne's hand. Hardy explains a rumor about a group of ex-Rangers in Panama calling themselves "Section 8". They apparently trained under West, turned rogue and became drug dealers.


title: Basic (film)

text: Styles is furious; he relieves Osborne of duty and tells Hardy to leave. He considers the investigation closed and a CID transport from Washington arrives to take Vilmer and Dunbar away.


title: Basic (film)

text: Vilmer accidentally reveals that 'Dunbar' is actually Pike, and Hardy removes Pike from the plane just before takeoff. Pike explains that West learned about the actual operation going on at the base: cocaine smuggling. He confronted the Rangers and threatened to turn them in to authorities. After a brief firefight, West and the other trainees were killed. Pike took Dunbar's dog tags and carried Kendall to the extraction point. He then gives Hardy, Osborne, and Styles the number of a crate where Vilmer had stowed cocaine.


title: Basic (film)

text: Hardy confronts Styles, determining he was behind the drug-dealing operation the whole time. When West reported the operation to Styles, Styles ordered Mueller and Kendall to kill him in the jungle, then poisoned Kendall to silence him. Styles tries to bribe Hardy before attempting to shoot him; Styles is instead shot and killed by Osborne, who was eavesdropping on their talk.


title: Basic (film)

text: As the investigation concludes, Osborne suspects that Hardy is somehow involved in the incident; this is confirmed when she watches Pike sneak into Hardy's car. She follows them into Panama City, where they enter a bar with a big eight-ball hanging above. After going inside, she is greeted by West and the missing members of the team Castro, Dunbar, and Nuñez, who Hardy reveals as his 'colleagues'.


title: Basic (film)

text: They explain that Section 8 is a covert black-ops anti-drug unit led by Colonel Tom Hardy; the "insane mercenary" story is a cover to spook the cartels. The agents infiltrated the base undercover to investigate cocaine trafficking and discovered Mueller, Kendall and Vilmer were responsible. West, not realizing Styles was also involved, informed him of the drug dealing. The training mission became a covert Section 8 operation to circumvent Mueller and Kendall and fake West's death in order to extract West from leadership and transfer him to Section 8. Hardy was called in to confirm Styles' and Vilmer's involvement.


title: Basic (film)

text: "Basic" earned $11.5 million in its opening weekend, ranking behind "Head of State", "Bringing Down the House", and "The Core". It grossed $26,793,311 in the US by the end of its theatrical run.


title: Basic (film)

text: "Basic" garnered negative reviews from critics. On the review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, it has a approval rating based on reviews, with an average score of . The website's critical consensus reads: ""Basic" gets so needlessly convoluted in its plot twists that the viewer eventually loses interest." On Metacritic, the film has a score of 34 out of 100, based on 33 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews". Audiences polled by CinemaScore gave the film an average grade of "B" on an A+ to F scale.


title: Basic (film)

text: Roger Ebert wrote that it was "not a film that could be understood", and that "It is all smoke and no mirrors. If I were to see it again and again, I might be able to extract an underlying logic from it, but the problem is, when a movie's not worth seeing twice, it had better get the job done the first time through."


title: Basic (film)

text: Marjorie Baumgarten of "The Austin Chronicle" commended Travolta and Jackson for delivering "a couple of fun, over-the-top moments" and Ribisi for scenery chewing "like nobody's business", but felt the film comes across as a "preposterous" mess, saying, "It begins in a muddle and ends in confusion. In between, "Basic" takes more silly twists than any that might be on display at a Chubby Checker look-alike contest."


title: Basic (film)

text: Chuck Randolph of "Slant Magazine" was mixed on the overall cast's performances, commended McTiernan's "efficient technical direction", and criticized the multiple twist endings for putting the film's "straightforward" action thriller story into "kindergarten territory", saying that ""Basic" is actually boiled down to the most uncomplicated of summations: it makes absolutely no sense."


title: Basic (film)

text: "Leonard Maltin's Movie Guide" gave it two stars out of four and wrote that the film "keeps adding layers of confusion so that it becomes less interesting as it goes along! The final "twist" seems to negate the entire story, like a bad shaggy-dog joke."


title: Samanid Empire

text: The Samanid Empire () also known as the Samanian Empire, Samanid dynasty, Samanid amirate, or simply as the Samanids) was a Persianate Sunni Muslim empire, of Iranian dehqan origin. The empire was centred in Khorasan and Transoxiana; at its greatest extent encompassing modern-day Afghanistan, huge parts of Iran, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and parts of Kazakhstan and Pakistan, from 819 to 999.


title: Samanid Empire

text: Four brothers—Nuh, Ahmad, Yahya, and Ilyas—founded the Samanid state. Each of them ruled territory under Abbasid suzerainty. In 892, Ismail Samani (892–907) united the Samanid state under one ruler, thus effectively putting an end to the feudal system used by the Samanids. It was also under him that the Samanids became independent of Abbasid authority.


title: Samanid Empire

text: The Samanid Empire is part of the Iranian Intermezzo, which saw the creation of a Persianate culture and identity that brought Iranian speech and traditions into the fold of the Islamic world. This later contributed to the formation of the Turko-Persian culture.


title: Samanid Empire

text: The Samanids promoted the arts, giving rise to the advancement of science and literature, and thus attracted scholars such as Rudaki, Ferdowsi, and Avicenna. While under Samanid control, Bukhara was a rival to Baghdad in its glory. Scholars note that the Samanids revived Persian language and culture more than the Buyids and the Saffarids while continuing to patronize Arabic for sciences as well as the religious studies. They considered themselves to be descendants of the Sasanian Empire. In a famous edict, Samanid authorities declared that "here, in this region, the language is Persian, and the kings of this realm are Persian kings."


title: Samanid Empire

text: The Samanid dynasty was founded by Saman Khuda, his descendants became rulers of the Samanid Empire. He was a dehqan of Iranian origin from the village of Saman in Balkh province, in present-day northern Afghanistan. The earliest appearance of the Samanid family appears to be in Greater Khorasan rather than Transoxiana. In some sources, the Samanids claimed to be descended from the House of Mihran of Bahram Chobin. It has been claimed that the House of Saman belonged to the Oghuz Turks, although the veracity is unlikely. Originally a Zoroastrian, Saman Khuda converted to Islam during the governorship of Asad ibn Abdallah al-Qasri in Khorasan, and named his oldest son as Asad ibn Saman in the governor's honour. In 819, the governor of Greater Khorasan, Ghassan ibn Abbad, rewarded the four sons of Asad ibn Saman for their aid against the rebel Rafi ibn al-Layth. Nuh ibn Asad received Samarkand; Ahmad ibn Asad received Farghana; Yahya ibn Asad received Tashkent, and Ilyas ibn Asad received Herat.


title: Samanid Empire

text: Ilyas died in 856, and his son Ibrahim ibn Ilyas became his successor. The Tahirid governor of Khorasan, Muhammad ibn Tahir, subsequently appointed him as the commander of his army, and sent him on an expedition against the Saffarid ruler Ya'qub ibn al-Layth al-Saffar in Sistan. After facing defeat in battle near Pushang in 857, he fled to Nishapur, only to be captured by Ya'qub al-Saffar and sent to Sistan as a hostage.


title: Samanid Empire

text: In 839/40, Nuh seized Isfijab from the nomadic pagan Turks living in the steppe. Consequently, he had a wall constructed around the city to protect it from their attacks. He died in 841/2—his two brothers Yahya and Ahmad, were then appointed as the joint rulers of the city by the Tahirid governor of Khorasan. After Yahya died in 855, Ahmad took control over Châch, thus becoming the ruler of most of Transoxiana. He died in 864/5; his son Nasr I received Farghana and Samarkand, while his other son Ya'qub received Châch (areas around modern Tashkent/Chachkent). Meanwhile, the Tahirids' authority had significantly weakened after suffering several defeats to Saffarid ruler Ya'qub al-Saffar. Hence, causing the Tahirids to lose their grip over the Samanids, who became more or less independent. Nasr I, used this opportunity to strengthen his authority by sending his brother Ismail to Bukhara, which was in an unstable condition after suffering from raids by the Afrighid dynasty of Khwarazm. When Ismail reached the city, he was warmly received by its inhabitants, who saw him as one who could restore order.


title: Samanid Empire

text: After not so long, disagreement over where to distribute tax money caused a conflict between the brothers. Ismail was eventually victorious in the dynastic struggle and took control of the Samanid state. However, Nasr had been the one who had been invested with Transoxiana, and the Abbasid caliphs continued to recognize him as the rightful ruler. Because of this, Ismail continued to recognize his brother as well, but Nasr was completely powerless, a situation that would continue until his death in August 892.


title: Samanid Empire

text: Following Nasr's death, Ismail moved the capital of the Samanid dynasty from Samarkand to Bukhara. A few months later the Saffarid emir, Ya'qub al-Saffar, also died and was succeeded by his brother Amr ibn al-Layth, who saw himself as the heir of the Saffarids. In the spring of 900, Amr clashed with Ismail near Balkh, but was defeated and taken into captivity. Ismail thereafter sent him to Baghdad, where he was executed. Ismail was thereafter recognized as the ruler of all of Khorasan and Transoxiana by the caliph. Furthermore, he also received the investiture over Tabaristan, Ray and Isfahan. It was also during this period that the Afrighid dynasty was forced into submission.


title: Samanid Empire

text: Before Ismail Samani's major victory against the Saffarids, he had made various expeditions in Transoxiana; in 892, he put an end to the Principality of Ushrusana by seizing all of its lands. During the same period, he put an end to the Bukhar Khudas in Bukhara. In 893, Ismail Samani invaded the territories of the Karluk Turks, taking Talas and converting the Nestorian church there into a mosque. The same year, he conducted a campaign to gather slaves, taking ten to fifteen thousand captives.


title: Samanid Empire

text: In 900, Ismail sent an army under Muhammad ibn Harun al-Sarakhsi against Muhammad ibn Zayd, the Zaydi ruler of Tabaristan and Gorgan. The invasion was successful; Muhammad ibn Zayd was killed and Tabaristan was conquered by the Samanids. However, Muhammad ibn Harun shortly revolted, forcing Ismail himself to invade the region the following year. Muhammad ibn Harun thereafter fled to Daylam, while Ismail reconquered Tabaristan and Gorgan. In 901, Amr Saffari was defeated at the battle of Balkh by the Samanids, which reduced the Saffarid dynasty to a minor tributary in Sistan. It was during this period that the Samanids were at their height of power, ruling as far as Qazvin in the west and Peshawar in the east.


title: Samanid Empire

text: Ismail is known in history as a competent general and a strong ruler; many stories about him are written in Arabic and Persian sources. Furthermore, because of his campaigns in the north, his empire was so safe from enemy incursions that the defences of Bukhara and Samarkand went unused. However, this later had consequences; at the end of the dynasty, the walls—earlier strong, but now falling apart—were greatly missed by the Samanids, who were constantly under attack by the Karakhanids and other enemies.


title: Samanid Empire

text: Not long after his accession, Ahmad invaded Sistan; by 911, Sistan was under complete Samanid control, and Ahmad's cousin Abu Salih Mansur was appointed as its governor. Meanwhile, an Alid named Hasan al-Utrush was slowly re-establishing Zaydi over Tabaristan. In 913, Ahmad sent an army under Muhammad ibn Sa'luk to deal with him. Although the Samanid army was much larger, Hasan managed to emerge victorious. Ahmad, before he could plan another expedition to Tabaristan, was the following year murdered by some of his slaves in a tent near Bukhara. During his reign, Ahmad is also said to have replaced the language of the court from Persian to Arabic, which made him unpopular among his subjects, and forced him to change it back to Persian. After Ahmad's death, his eight-year-old son Nasr II (r. 914–943) succeeded him.


title: Samanid Empire

text: Due to Nasr's youth, his prime minister Abu 'Abd-Allah al-Jaihani took care over most of the state affairs. Jaihani was not only an experienced administrator, but also a prominent geographer and greatly educated man. Almost right after Nasr II had ascended the throne, several revolts erupted, the most dangerous one being under his paternal grand-uncle, Ishaq ibn Ahmad, who seized Samarkand and began minting coins there, while his son Abu Salih Mansur seized Nishapur and several cities in Khorasan. Ishaq was eventually defeated and captured, while Abu Salih Mansur died of natural causes in 915. Some time later Nasr II once again had to deal with rebels; in 919, the governor of Khorasan, Husayn ibn Ali Marvarrudhi, rebelled against Samanid authority. Nasr responded by sending an army under Ahmad ibn Sahl to suppress the rebellion, which the latter managed to accomplish. After a few weeks, however, Ahmad shortly rebelled himself at Nishapur, made incursions into Gorgan, and then fortified himself in Merv to avoid a Samanid counter-attack. Nevertheless, the Samanid general Hamuya ibn Ali managed to lure Ahmad out of Merv, and defeated him in a battle at Marw al-Rudh; he was captured and imprisoned in Bukhara, where he remained until his death in 920.


title: Samanid Empire

text: In the west, Nasr II clashed several times with Daylamite and Gilite rulers; In 921, the Zaydids under the Gilite ruler Lili ibn al-Nu'man invaded Khorasan, but were defeated by the Simjurid general Simjur al-Dawati. Later in 930, a Dailamite military leader, Makan ibn Kaki, seized Tabaristan and Gurgan, and even took possession of Nishapur in western Khorasan. He was, however, forced to withdraw back to Tabaristan one year later, due to the threat that Samanids posed. Makan then returned to Tabaristan, where he was defeated by the Ziyarid ruler Mardavij, who managed to conquer the region. In 935, Nasr II re-established Samanid control in Gurgan and made Mardavij's successor Vushmgir his vassal. However, in 939 he declared independence, but was defeated the following year at Iskhabad.


title: Samanid Empire

text: In 943 several Samanid army officers, angry at Nasr's support of Isma'ili missionaries, formed a conspiracy to murder him. Nasr's son Nuh I, however, learned of the conspiracy. He went to a banquet designed to organize the plot and had the head of their leader cut off. To appease the other officers, he promised to stop the Isma'ili missionaries from continuing their activities. He then convinced his father to abdicate, who died of tuberculosis after a few months.


title: Samanid Empire

text: Right when Nuh I ascended the throne, a revolt erupted in Khwarazm, which he managed to suppress. Later in 945, he had to deal with the Muhtajid ruler Abu 'Ali Chaghani, who refused to relinquish his post as governor of Khorasan to Ibrahim ibn Simjur. Abu 'Ali Chaghani then rebelled, and was joined by several prominent figures such as Abu Mansur Muhammad, whom he appointed as his commander-in-chief. In 947, he installed Nuh's uncle Ibrahim ibn Ahmad as "amir" in Bukhara. Abu 'Ali Chaghani then returned to his domains in Chaghaniyan. Ibrahim, however, was unpopular with the people of Bukhara, and Nuh soon retaliated by retaking the city and blinding Ibrahim and two brothers.


title: Samanid Empire

text: When Abu Ali Chaghani received the news of the re-capture of Bukhara, he once again marched towards it, but was defeated by an army sent by Nuh and withdrew back to Chaghaniyan. After some time, he left the region and tried to obtain support from other Samanid vassals. Meanwhile, Nuh had Chaghaniyan ravaged and its capital sacked. Another battle shortly ensued between Abu 'Ali Chaghani and a Samanid army in Tukharistan, which resulted in a Samanid victory. Fortunately for Abu Ali Chaghani, he managed to secure the support of other Samanid vassals, such as the rulers of Khuttal, and the Kumiji mountain people, but in the end made peace with Nuh, who allowed him to keep Chaghaniyan in return for sending his son Abu'l Muzaffar Abdallah as hostage to Bukhara.


title: Samanid Empire

text: Alp Tigin, nominal vassal of the Samanids, conquered Ghazna in 962 from the Lawik dynasty. The fifth of these commanders was Sebüktigin, who governed Ḡazna for twenty years till 387 AH/997 CE with the title (as it appears from his tomb inscription) of al-ḥājeb al-ajall (most noble commander). He would later be the founder of an independent dynasty based in Ghazna, following the decline of the Samanid Empire in the 990s.


title: Samanid Empire

text: The power of the Samanids began to crumble in the latter half of the 10th century. In 962, one of the ghulams, Alp Tigin, commander of the army in Khorasan, seized Ghazna and established himself there. His successors, however, including Sebük Tigin, continued to rule as Samanid "governors". With the weakened Samanids facing rising challenges from the Karakhanids for control of Transoxiana, Sebük later took control of all the provinces south of the Oxus and established the Ghaznavid Empire.


title: Samanid Empire

text: In 992, a Karakhanid, Harun Bughra Khan, grandson of the paramount tribal chief of the Karluk confederation Sultan Satuq Bughra Khan, captured Bukhara, the Samanid capital. Harun died shortly afterwards, however, and the Samanids returned to Bukhara. In 999, Nasr b. Ali, a nephew of Harun, returned and took possession of Bukhara, meeting little resistance. The Samanid domains were split up between the Ghaznavids, who gained Khorasan and Afghanistan, and the Karakhanids, who received Transoxiana; the Oxus River thus became the boundary between the two rival empires.


title: Samanid Empire

text: Isma'il Muntasir was the youngest son of Nuh II—he was imprisoned by the Karakhanids after their conquest of Bukhara in 999. Some time later, Isma'il managed to escape to Khwarazm, where he gained support. Driving the Karakhanids out of Bukhara, he then moved on to and captured Samarkand. The approach of the Karakhanid army, however, forced Isma'il to give up all of his possessions, following which he travelled to Khorasan, where he captured Nishapur. Mahmud's army, however, made its way to the region, and Isma'il decided it necessary to flee again.


title: Samanid Empire

text: In 1003 Isma'il came back to Transoxiana, where he requested and received assistance from the Oghuz Turks of the Zarafshan valley. They defeated the Karakhanids in several battles, even when Nasr Khan was involved. For various reasons, however, Isma'il came to feel that he could not rely on the Oghuz to restore him, so he went back to Khorasan. He tried to gain Mahmud's support for a campaign to restore the Samanid state, but failed. Some time afterwards, he returned to the Zarafshan valley, where he gained the support of the Oghuz and others. A Karakhanid army was defeated in May 1004, but subsequently the Oghuz deserted Isma'il during another battle, and his army fell apart.


title: Samanid Empire

text: Fleeing to Khorasan yet again, Isma'il attempted to reenter Transoxiana in the end of 1004. The Karakhanids stopped this and Isma'il was nearly killed. Following this, he sought the hospitality of an Arab tribe near Merv. Their chief, however, killed Isma'il in 1005. His death marked the defeat of the last attempt to restore the Samanid state. Descendants of the Samanid family continued to live in Transoxiana where they were well regarded, but their power was relatively broken.


title: Samanid Empire

text: Along with several other states, the Samanid Empire was part of the Iranian Intermezzo, or "Persian renaissance". This period has been described as having a key importance in the formation of the Islamic civilization, both politically and culturally. In political terms, it saw an effective break up of the Abbasid power and the rise of several successor states such as the Samanids and Buyids while in cultural terms, it witnessed the rise of new Persian as an administrative and literary language.


title: Samanid Empire

text: The system of the Samanid state was modelled after the Abbasid system, which in turn was modelled after the Sasanian system. The ruler of the state was the "amir", and the provinces were governed by appointed governors or local vassal rulers. The administrative, political and economic affairs were administered by the "divan", and the Samanid bureaucracy used Arabic in its diplomatic discourses. The economy was managed by the "mustawfi", diplomatic correspondence and important state papers by the "diwanal-rasa'il", and the royal guard and military affairs by the "sahib al-shurta". The main responsibility of both governors and local rulers was to collect taxes and support the Samanid ruler with troops if needed. The most important province in the Samanid Empire was Khorasan, which was initially given to a relative of the Samanid ruler or a local Iranian prince (such as the Muhtajids), but was later given to one of his most trusted slaves. The governor of Khorasan was normally the "sipah-salar" (commander-in-chief).


title: Samanid Empire

text: Like in the Abbasid Caliphate, Turkic slaves could rise to high office in the Samanid state, which would sometimes give them enough power to nearly make the ruler their puppet.


title: Samanid Empire

text: The Samanids revived Persian culture by patronizing Rudaki, Bal'ami and Daqiqi. The Samanids determinedly propagated Sunni Islam, and repressed Ismaili Shiism but were more tolerant of Twelver Shiism. Islamic architecture and Islamo-Persian culture was spread deep into the heartlands of Central Asia by the Samanids. Following the first complete translation of the Qur'an into Persian in the 9th century, populations under the Samanid empire began accepting Islam in significant numbers. The arabization of the Samanids was clearly minimal compared to the almost entirely arabized Tahirids. Despite Arabic literature and science flourishing in the Samanid Empire, its distance from Baghdad allowed the Samanids to be a crucial element in the renaissance of New Persian language and culture. This Persianate culture variant was the first to use a language besides Arabic in Islamic culture.


title: Samanid Empire

text: Although the Zoroastrian population had previously been suppressed by the Abbasid Caliphate, according to Al-Masudi, the Samanid empire still had fire-temples that were still being venerated by the present Zoroastrian population. Despite the fact that the Samanids professed Sunni Islam, however, they were much more tolerant towards its Zoroastrian population than the previous empires.


title: Samanid Empire

text: Through zealous missionary work as many as 30,000 tents of Turks came to profess Islam and later under the Ghaznavids more than 55,000 under the Hanafi school of thought. The mass conversion of the Turks to Islam eventually led to a growing influence of the Ghaznavids, who would later rule the region.


title: Samanid Empire

text: Agriculture and trading were the economic bases of the Samanid State. The Samanids heavily engaged in trade with Europe. Thousands of Samanid coins have been found in the Baltic and Scandinavia.


title: Samanid Empire

text: During the 9th and 10th centuries, there was a large amount of growth in literature, mostly in poetry. It was during the Samanid period that Persian literature appeared in Transoxiana and was formally recognized. The advancement of an Islamic New Persian literature thus started in Transoxiana and Khorasan instead of Fars, the homeland of the Persians. The best known poets of the Samanid period were Rudaki (d. 941), Daqiqi (d. 977) and Ferdowsi (d. 1020).


title: Samanid Empire

text: Although Persian was the most-favored language, Arabic continued to enjoy a high status and was still popular among the members of the Samanid family. For example, al-Tha'alibi wrote an Arabic anthology named "Yatimat al-dahr" ("The Unique Pearl"). The fourth section of the anthology included a detailed account of the poets that lived under the Samanids. It also states that the poets of Khwarazm mostly wrote in Arabic.


title: Samanid Empire

text: The acknowledged founder of Persian classical poetry, and a man of great perception, was Rudaki, who was born in the village of Panjrudak, which is today part of the Panjakent District in Tajikistan. Rudaki was already becoming popular during his early years, due to his poems, his voice, and his great skill in using the chang (an Iranian instrument similar to the harp). He was shortly invited to the Samanid court, where he stayed almost the rest of his life. Fewer than 2,000 lines of his poetry have survived, but are enough to prove his great poetic skills—he perfected every basic verse form of medieval Persian poetry: mathnawi, qasida, ghazal and ruba'i.


title: Samanid Empire

text: Another prominent poet was Shahid Balkhi, born in the village of Jakhudanak near Balkh. Not much is known about his life, but he is mentioned as being one of the best poets in the court of Nasr II, and one of the best scholars of the age. He was also a student of Rudaki, and had close relations with him. He died in 936, a few years before Rudaki's death. His death saddened Rudaki, who afterwards wrote an emotional elegy about him.


title: Samanid Empire

text: Daqiqi, who was a native of Tus, began his career at the court of the Muhtajid ruler Abu'l Muzaffar ibn Muhammad in Chaghaniyan, and was later invited to the Samanid court. Under the Samanids, a special interest arose in ancient Iranian legends and heroic traditions, thus inspiring Daqiqi to write the Shahnameh ("The Book of Kings"), a long epic poem based on the history of the Iranians. However, by his death in 977, he had only managed to complete a small part of it, which was about the conflict between Gushtasp and Arjasp.


title: Samanid Empire

text: However, the most prominent poet of that age was Ferdowsi, born in Tus in 940 to a "dehqan" family. It was during his youth that there was a period of growth under the Samanids. The rapid growth of interest in ancient Iranian history made him continue the work of Daqiqi, completing the Shahnameh in 994, only a few years before the fall of the Samanid Empire. He later completed a second version of the Shahnameh in 1010, which he presented to the Ghaznavid Sultan Mahmud. However, his work was not as appreciated by the Ghaznavids as it had been by the Samanids.


title: Samanid Empire

text: Under the Samanid Empire, the Zarafshan valley, Kashka Darya and Usrushana were populated by Sogdians; Tukharistan by the Bactrians; Khwarezm by the Khwarazmians; the Ferghana valley by the Ferghanans; southern Khorasan by Khorasanians; and the Pamir mountains and environs by the Saka and other early Iranian peoples. All these groups were of Iranian ethnicity and spoke dialects of Middle Iranian and New Persian. In the words of Negmatov, "they were the basis for the emergence and gradual consolidation of what became an Eastern Persian-Tajik ethnic identity."


title: Samanid Empire

text: Ferghana, Samarkand, and Bukhara were starting to be linguistically Persianized in originally Khwarazmian and Sogdian areas during Samanid rule. The Persian language spread and led to the extinction of Eastern Iranian languages like Bactrian and Khwarezmian with only a tiny amount of Sogdian-descended Yaghnobi speakers remaining among the now Persian-speaking Tajik population of Central Asia. This was due to the fact that the Arab-Islamic army which invaded Central Asia at the time also included some Persians who later governed the region like the Samanids. Persian was rooted into Central Asia by the Samanids.


title: Samanid Empire

text: In the 9th and 10th centuries, intellectual life in Transoxiana and Khorasan reached a high level. In the words of N.N. Negmatov, "It was inevitable that the local Samanid dynasty, seeking support among its literate classes, should cultivate and promote local cultural traditions, literacy and literature."


title: Samanid Empire

text: The main Samanid towns – Bukhara, Samarkand, Balkh, Merv, Nishapur, Khujand, Bunjikath, Hulbuk, Termez and others, became the major cultural centres under the state. Scholars, poets, artists and other men of education from many Muslim countries assembled in the Samanid capital of Bukhara, where a rich soil was created for the prosper of creative thought, thus making it one of the most distinguished cultural centres of the Eastern world. An outstanding library known as "Siwān al-hikma" ("Storehouse of Wisdom") was put together in Bukhara, known for its various types of books.


title: Samanid Empire

text: Due to extensive excavations at Nishapur, Iran, in the mid-twentieth century, Samanid pottery is well-represented in Islamic art collections around the world. These ceramics are largely made from earthenware and feature either calligraphic inscriptions of Arabic proverbs, or colorful figural decorations. The Arabic proverbs often speak to the values of "Adab" culture—hospitality, generosity, and modesty.


title: Samanid Empire

text: A Bukharian historian writing in 943 stated that Ismail Samani: was indeed worthy and right for padishahship. He was an intelligent, just, compassionate person, one possessing reason and prescience...he conducted affairs with justice and good ethics. Whoever tyrannized people he would punish...In affairs of state he was always impartial.


title: Samanid Empire

text: The celebrated scholar Nizam al-Mulk, in his famous work "Siyasatnama", stated that Ismail Samani: was extremely just, and his good qualities were many. He had pure faith in God (to Him be power and glory) and he was generous to the poor – to name only one of his notable virtues.


title: Samanid Empire

text: The Somoni currency of Tajikistan is named after the Samanids. A notable airline based in Dushanbe is also named Somon Air. Also, the highest mountain in Tajikistan and in the former Soviet Union is named after Ismail Samani. The mountain was formerly known as "Stalin Peak" and "Communism Peak" but in 1998 the name was officially changed to Ismoil Somoni Peak.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: Arsenal Stadium was a football stadium in Highbury, London, which was the home of Arsenal Football Club between 6 September 1913 and 7 May 2006. It was popularly known as "Highbury" due to its location and was given the affectionate nickname of the "Home of Football" by the club.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: It was originally built in 1913 on the site of a local college's recreation ground and was significantly redeveloped twice. The first reconstruction came in the 1930s from which the Art Deco East and West Stands date. There was a second development; the first phase was completed in 1989 which added executive boxes to the Clock End, and afterwards in 1993 a new North Bank Stand was constructed, both following the recommendations of the Taylor Report which replaced the terraces to make the stadium an all-seater with four stands. However, further attempts to expand the stadium were blocked by the community, and the resulting reduction in capacity and matchday revenue eventually led to Arsenal opting to build a new stadium, to become known as the Emirates Stadium in nearby Islington. After the club moved to their new stadium upon the conclusion of the 2005–2006 season, Highbury was redeveloped as a residential development known as Highbury Square, with the Clock End and North Bank stands being demolished; parts of the East and West Stands remained and were incorporated into the new development due to their listed status.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: The stadium also hosted international matches – both for England and in the 1948 Summer Olympics – and FA Cup semi-finals, as well as boxing, baseball and cricket matches. Its presence also led to the local London Underground station being renamed to Arsenal in 1932, making it the only station on the Underground network to be named after a football club.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: In addition to its architecture, the stadium was known for its small but immaculate pitch and for the clock which had been positioned in the southern side of the ground since its introduction in 1930.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: The original stadium was built in 1913, when Woolwich Arsenal moved from the Manor Ground in Plumstead, South East London to Highbury, leasing the recreation fields of St John's College of Divinity for £20,000. The lease negotiation also agreed that no matches were to be played on "holy days" and that no "intoxicating liquor" would be sold at the stadium; however, these stipulations were dropped within a year. The stadium was hurriedly built over the summer of that year, and was designed by Archibald Leitch, architect of many other football grounds of that era. It featured a single stand on the eastern side and the other three sides had banked terracing. The new stadium cost £125,000. It opened whilst not fully complete, with Arsenal's first match of the 1913–14 season, a 2–1 Second Division win against Leicester Fosse on 6 September 1913. Leicester's Tommy Benfield scored the first goal at the new ground while George Jobey was the first Arsenal player to do so. Highbury hosted its first England match in 1920.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: The Australian rugby league team suffered the first loss of their 1921–22 Kangaroo tour of Great Britain at Highbury to an English side 4 points to 5 before approximately 12,000 spectators.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: No significant portion of Leitch's original stadium remains today following a series of bold redevelopments during the 1930s. The idea was to create a ground for London that could capture the grandeur of Villa Park, home of Birmingham club Aston Villa. The Highbury project was ambitious in its scale and reach, the first stand completed being the West Stand, designed by Claude Waterlow Ferrier and William Binnie in the Art Deco style which opened in 1932. On 5 November the same year the local Tube station was renamed from Gillespie Road to Arsenal. Leitch's main stand was demolished to make way for a new East Stand, matching the West, in 1936. The West Stand cost £45,000 while the East Stand went far over budget and ended up costing £130,000, mainly thanks to the expense of the facade. The North Bank terrace was given a roof and the southern terrace had a clock fitted to its front, giving it the name the Clock End.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: During the 1948 Summer Olympics, the stadium hosted the football preliminaries. For the next 50 years, the stadium changed little, although during the Second World War the North Bank terrace was bombed and had to be rebuilt; the roof was not restored until 1956. Floodlights were fitted in 1951, with the first floodlit match being a friendly against Hapoel Tel Aviv on 19 September of that year. The floodlights that adorn Dalymount Park, once stood at the Arsenal stadium. They were shipped to Dublin in 1962. The inaugural floodlit match saw Arsenal beat Bohemians 3–8. Undersoil heating was added in 1964. Unlike at many other grounds, Arsenal refused to install perimeter fencing, even at the height of hooliganism in the 1980s, which made it ineligible for use as an FA Cup semi-final venue.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: Before the Taylor report and the era of all-seater stadiums in Britain, both the North Bank and Clock End consisted of terracing, and the stadium often saw crowds of up to 60,000 or more; its largest attendance was 73,295 on 9 March 1935 when Arsenal played Sunderland in the First Division; the game finished 0–0. When the ground was initially constructed, it was to "accommodate 90,000 spectators".


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: The Clock End was redeveloped in 1988–89 with the addition of a roof and 48 executive boxes, while seating was fitted into the remaining standing area in 1993.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: In January 1990, the Taylor report on the Hillsborough disaster was published, which recommended that football stadia become all-seater. The North Bank, which had become home of Arsenal's most passionate supporters, was demolished at the end of the 1991–92 season. During redevelopment, a giant mural of fans was placed behind the goal at that end, to give the illusion that the players were kicking towards a crowd rather than a construction site. The mural initially attracted criticism for its absence of black fans, which was quickly rectified. The lengthy process of rebuilding the North Bank meant that Highbury was three-sided for the entire 1992–93 season, which was also the first season of the new FA Premier League. Although a lack of goals meant that Arsenal only finished 10th in the new league, they won both of the domestic cup competitions that season. Populous (then LOBB Partnership) designed all-seater two-tier North Bank Stand, the last area of Highbury to be refurbished, which was opened in August 1993 at a cost of £20 million amid strong opposition from local residents. The new North Bank Stand contained a museum and a concourse with video arcades, bars, confectionery counters, souvenir shops and fast-food stands. While the all-seater North Bank was "never the same as the old-fashioned Archibald Leitch stand" that it replaced, it was "much more like the future of Arsenal than the past" with its added amenities and "Gone were the days of pushing a petrified child through a packed crowd and placing them on a barrier from which they could only see a small section of the pitch". The old stand had received a fitting send off with a 5–1 defeat of Southampton, though the new stand had a less auspicious start, the first game being a surprise 0–3 defeat to Coventry City with all three goals coming from striker Micky Quinn. The first victory came 10 days later against Leeds United.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: At the time of its closure, the stadium consisted of four separate all-seater stands; the pitch was aligned north–south, with the North Bank Stand (formerly the Laundry End) and South Stand (popularly known as the Clock End) at the ends of the field. The East and West Stands ran alongside the pitch and are two of the few examples of British football stands designed in the Art Deco style. The East Stand incorporated the club's offices and was well known for its marble halls (though the floors were actually terrazzo) which are often cited in media depictions of the stadium, and the facade that faces onto Avenell Road. The East Stand is considered architecturally significant enough to have been designated a Grade II listed building.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: The stadium's main entrances were on Gillespie Road, Avenell Road and Highbury Hill. When it closed, Highbury had a capacity of 38,419 (approximately 12,500 in the North Bank, 11,000 in the West Stand, 9,000 in the East Stand and 6,000 in the Clock End), all seated, and had Jumbotron screens in the south-east and north-west corners.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: Arsenal Stadium was well known for its very small immaculately-kept pitch, which measured only 109×73 yards (100×67 metres). Arsenal's groundsmen, Steve Braddock and his successor Paul Burgess, won the FA Premier League's Groundsman of the Year award several times for their work on the stadium.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: The post-Taylor capacity of Highbury was limited to 38,419, while Arsenal's success during the 1990s and 2000s meant that virtually every home match was filled to near capacity. Restrictions, such as the East Stand's status as a listed building and the fact the stadium was surrounded on all sides by a residential area, made any future expansion of Highbury difficult and expensive, although the club's directors would have liked to have kept Arsenal at a modernised and expanded Highbury. In October 1998, just after Arsenal started playing Champions League games at Wembley, the club made an unsuccessful bid to buy the stadium and make it their permanent home to share with the England national football team.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: In November 1999, Arsenal decided to leave Highbury and construct a new 60,000-seat stadium in nearby Ashburton Grove. It was confirmed in October 2004 that the new stadium would be called the Emirates Stadium as part of a sponsorship deal with Emirates Airlines. The stadium opened in July 2006; Arsenal's offices were moved to a new building, Highbury House, which was named in commemoration of the former stadium.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: For their final season at Highbury (2005–06) Arsenal ran a series of promotions honouring the stadium's legacy. A commemorative logo was designed featuring the club's traditional Art Deco crest from the 1930s, and the club's history at Highbury was celebrated through a series of themed matchdays. On the field, Arsenal temporarily set aside their traditional red shirts with white sleeves for the season and adopted a solid redcurrant shirt, the colour they wore during their first season at Highbury in 1913–14.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: Arsenal's final game at the stadium was their FA Premier League match on 7 May 2006 against Wigan Athletic, the last game of the season. The team needed to better the result of neighbours Tottenham Hotspur to again secure qualification for the Champions League. Having been 2–1 behind, a hat trick by captain and all-time leading goal scorer Thierry Henry secured qualification, with Henry kneeling down to kiss the turf on scoring what proved to be the final goal seen at the stadium. The last goal scored in a regulation game at the stadium came in a Football Aid charity match when lifelong fan Alan Alger scored a penalty in the final minute of a fixture played on Thursday 8 June 2006 (exactly one month and one day after Henry's goal). After the stadium's closure, Arsenal held an auction to sell off many of the stadium's parts, including pieces of the pitch, the goalposts and former manager George Graham's desk. Sale of the stadium's seats had to be cancelled after it was found they contained trace amounts of the toxic metal cadmium.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: , Arsenal Stadium was redeveloped and converted into flats in a project known as "Highbury Square", a scheme that had 711 properties built on the site. The North Bank and Clock End stands were demolished. The exteriors of the listed Art Deco East Stand and the matching West Stand were preserved and incorporated into the new developments, while the rest of the stands' structures were removed, and the pitch became a communal garden. In October 2005 the proposed flats went on sale; as of May 2006 all properties in the North, East and West Stands had been taken.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: Arsenal's clock was moved from Highbury to the outer side of the new stadium, with a new larger version of the feature added inside the ground in August 2010. At the same time as the unveiling of the new clock, the south stands at the venue were also renamed "Clock End" in line with the same name previously used at Highbury.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: As well as being home to Arsenal, it also hosted games as home stadium for England matches; 12 internationals were played at Highbury from 1920 to 1961, most of them being friendlies. These included both England's first full home international against opposition outside of Great Britain and Ireland (Belgium in 1923), and the "Battle of Highbury", England's 3–2 win over World Champions Italy in 1934, where a record seven Arsenal players started the match, the most players from a single club to play in an England fixture. Highbury was also used as a football venue for two matches in the 1948 London Olympics – a first-round match and a quarter-final. It was also provisionally named as one of London's two host stadiums for the 1966 FIFA World Cup (along with Wembley), but was eventually dropped with White City Stadium taking the role instead. By the time of Euro 96, the pitch had been ruled too small for international football and the stadium would have been ineligible.


title: Arsenal Stadium

text: Highbury was the venue for twelve FA Cup semi-finals as a neutral ground, the first in 1929 and the last in 1997, although between 1984 and 1992 it was off the FA's list of approved venues, after Arsenal's refusal to install perimeter fencing following a pitch invasion by Everton fans during their semi-final against Southampton. It also hosted the London XI's home leg against Lausanne Sports in the 1955–58 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup semi-finals; London won 2–0 on the night and 3–2 on aggregate.