title: DeVry University

text: According to the National Center for Education Statistics, DeVry University-Illinois has a six-year graduation rate of 28%, for first-time full-time students who began their studies in 2013. While the university's 3-year student loan default rate is 11.2 percent, a Brookings Institution report found that DeVry's 5-year default rate was 43 percent. The College Scorecard reports of a graduation rate of 18 percent for Devry University-Illinois. Of those students in repayment 31 percent were in forbearance, 29 percent were not making progress, 10 percent were in deferment, 10 percent defaulted, 10 percent were making progress, 6 percent were delinquent, 3 percent were paid in full, and 1 percent were discharged. For the 2018-19 academic year, the amount that all undergraduate students received in federal student loans was $69.42 million. Median salary after attending ranges from $23.000 to $62,000 depending on the field of study and location.


title: DeVry University

text: DeVry University has been the subject of numerous investigations and lawsuits alleging a variety of false or deceptive practices. Some of the cases led to multi-million dollar settlements, though DeVry continued to deny the allegations. In 2014, accumulated student loan debt from DeVry University and Keller, its graduate school, was about $12.1 billion.


title: DeVry University

text: In March 1995, DeVry's ability to grant U.S. degrees through its Calgary facilities was discussed during a session of the Alberta Legislative Assembly. Therein, Grant Mitchell—then the Leader of the Opposition for the Alberta Liberal Party—accused the Premier of Alberta, Ralph Klein, of maintaining a conflict of interest with DeVry through his relationship with John Ballheim, who was at the time an executive at DeVry serving as both the president of DeVry's Calgary campus and as a member of the Klein's special advisory council on postsecondary education. Klein denied any conflict of interest. In 1995, DeVry was also suspended from the Ontario Student Assistance Program after a large number of its students misreported their income. DeVry was reinstated after paying fines of CA$1.7 million (equivalent to CA$ in ) to Ontario and putting up a letter of credit totalling CA$2 million (CA$ in ).


title: DeVry University

text: In 1996, students of DeVry's Toronto campus filed a class-action suit of CA$400,000 (CA$ in ) claiming poor educational quality and job preparation; the suit was dismissed on technical grounds.


title: DeVry University

text: In November 2000, Afshin Zarinebaf, Ali Mousavi, and another graduate of one of DeVry University's Chicago-area campuses filed a class-action lawsuit accusing DeVry of widespread deception, unlawful business practices, and false advertising, alleging that students were not being prepared for high-tech jobs. The lawsuit contributed to a 20 percent slide in the company's stock. The suit was not certified and the case was resolved for less than US$25,000 (US$ in ) in June 2006.


title: DeVry University

text: In 2001, DeVry became the first for-profit college or university to obtain permission from the Alberta Canada provincial government to grant degrees, on recommendation by the Private Colleges Accreditation Board. This decision was opposed by the Alberta New Democrats (sitting in opposition), the University of Calgary Faculty Association, the Canadian Federation of Students, and the Canadian Association of University Teachers.


title: DeVry University

text: In January 2002, Royal Gardner, a graduate of one of DeVry University's Los Angeles–area campuses, filed a class-action complaint against DeVry Inc. and DeVry University, Inc. on behalf of students in the post-baccalaureate degree program in Information Technology. The suit alleged that the nature of the program was misrepresented by the advertising. The lawsuit was dismissed and refiled. During the first quarter of 2004, a new complaint was filed in the same court by Gavino Teanio with the same general allegations. This action was stayed pending the outcome of the Gardner lawsuit. The lawsuits were being settled in late 2006.


title: DeVry University

text: In April 2007, the states of New York, Illinois, and Missouri settled with three institutions that were participating in questionable student-loan practices. DeVry, Career Education Corporation, and Washington University in St. Louis were involved with the settlement. DeVry agreed to refund US$88,122 (US$ in ) it received in revenue sharing from Citibank to students.


title: DeVry University

text: In 2008, DeVry was accused of filing false claims and statements about recruitment pay and performance to the government of the United States.


title: DeVry University

text: DeVry was one of the universities highlighted in the 2018 documentary "Fail State," which followed several stories of students who struggled with student loan debt after attending for-profit colleges. Murray Hastie, an Iraq War veteran with post-traumatic stress disorder, told his story about how he ended up with $50,000 in student loan debt after his experience at DeVry.


title: DeVry University

text: In January 2013, a lawsuit was filed by a former manager at DeVry which alleged that the college bribed students for positive performance reviews and worked around federal regulations on for-profit colleges. In April 2013, the attorneys general of Illinois and Massachusetts issued subpoenas to DeVry to investigate for violations of federal law and filing false information about loans, grants, and guarantees. In July 2014, DeVry stated that the office of the New York Attorney General was investigating whether the company's marketing violated laws against false advertising.


title: DeVry University

text: In March 2016, the Veterans Administration reprimanded DeVry over allegations of deceptive marketing practices made by the Federal Trade Commission and suspended DeVry University from its "Principles of Excellence" status under the G.I. Bill. On December 15, 2016, the Federal Trade Commission settled a US$100 million suit against DeVry, which alleged that DeVry's advertisements deceived consumers about the likelihood that students would find jobs in their fields of study, and would earn more than those graduating with bachelor's degrees from other colleges or universities. Students were eligible for a refund who: enrolled in a bachelor's or associate degree program at DeVry University between January 1, 2008 and October 1, 2015; paid at least US$5,000 with cash, loans, or military benefits; did not get debt or loan forgiveness as part of this settlement; and completed at least one class credit.


title: DeVry University

text: Separately, on June 16, 2016, two former DeVry students filed a demand for arbitration with the American Arbitration Association. DeVry responded by suing the students, claiming the dispute belongs in court and not in arbitration.


title: DeVry University

text: In May 2017, the Higher Learning Commission designated DeVry "under governmental investigation" as a result of a Massachusetts Attorney General investigation alleging "fraudulent or deceptive practices". In September 2017, the Higher Learning Commission removed this designation after DeVry negotiated a settlement.


title: DeVry University

text: In August 2018, the Associated Press reported that according to United States Department of Education documents, DeVry received more than 3,600 (over 15%) of the 24,000 federal fraud complaints lodged against for-profit colleges between January 20, 2017 and April 30, 2018. This is in conjunction with a "nearly 20 percent" decrease in enrollment in the last year.


title: DeVry University

text: In March 2019, former DeVry student Eric Luongo was invited to testify before the House Subcommittee on Labor, Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies about his experience at the university. Luongo, a disabled veteran, said he thought he would attend DeVry for free by using his GI Bill benefits. Luongo alleged that he was coerced into filling out federal loan paperwork and signing promissory notes. The result was that the veteran was left with over $100,000 in debt and a degree in graphic design that couldn't get him gainful employment.


title: DeVry University

text: In 2011, DeVry University partnered with the United States Olympic Committee (USOC) to become an official education provider for the United States' Olympic teams. In April 2016, the USOC announced an extension of its partnership with DeVry through 2020. According to the USOC, more than 125 Team USA student athletes were enrolled in DeVry programs.


title: DeVry University

text: In April 2014, DeVry University was named the "official education provider" for NFL Pro Legends, a group supporting players, coaches and other professionals who worked for NFL teams.


title: DeVry University

text: DeVry University was the official education and career development partner of Minor League Baseball. DeVry University and its Keller Graduate School of Management will provide higher education opportunities at the undergraduate and graduate levels for players, their spouses, umpires and National Association of Professional Baseball Leagues (NAPBL) employees and alumni through 2017.


title: DeVry University

text: The peak year for DeVry's lobbying in Congress was 2011, when it spent more than $720,000. The largest amount went to Thompson Coburn LLP. Democratic lobbyist Heather Podesta was a major lobbyist for DeVry University from 2010 to 2015.


title: DeVry University

text: Adtalem's stock price rebounded after the inauguration of Donald Trump. This has been attributed to deregulation by the U.S. Department of Education under Secretary Betsy DeVos, which contrasted with the more prosecutorial approach of the Obama administration.


title: Ken Liu

text: Ken Liu (born 1976) is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. His epic fantasy series "The Dandelion Dynasty", which he describes as silkpunk, is published by Simon & Schuster. Liu has won Hugo and Nebula Awards for his short fiction, which has appeared in "F&SF", "Asimov's", "Analog", "Lightspeed", "Clarkesworld", and multiple "Year's Best" anthologies.


title: Ken Liu

text: Liu was born in 1976 in Lanzhou, China. He spent his childhood with his grandparents. His mother, who received her Ph.D. in chemistry in the United States, is a pharmaceutical chemist, while his father is a computer engineer. The family immigrated to the United States when Liu was 11 years old. They lived in California and Stonington, Connecticut before settling in Waterford, Connecticut. Liu graduated from Waterford High School in 1994, where he ran cross-country and track. At Harvard College, he studied English Literature and Computer Science, receiving his A. B. in 1998.


title: Ken Liu

text: After graduation, Liu worked as a software engineer for Microsoft, and then joined a start-up in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He later received his J.D. from Harvard Law School in 2004 and after working as a corporate lawyer, eventually became a high-tech litigation consultant.


title: Ken Liu

text: Liu began publishing fiction in 2002. His first published work was "Carthaginian Rose", a short story on mind uploading, which was published alongside nine other authors in "The Phobos Science Fiction Anthology Volume 1".


title: Ken Liu

text: Liu has said he wanted to become a writer so he could make stories that “turn values upside down and inside out to gain new perspectives”.


title: Ken Liu

text: After a long career writing and publishing short fiction, Liu turned to epic fantasy novels, starting with "The Grace of Kings" (2015). He has also written for the "Star Wars" universe, with "The Legends of Luke Skywalker" (2017).


title: Ken Liu

text: Along with his original work, Liu has translated the works of multiple Chinese authors into English, including Liu Cixin, Hao Jingfang, Chen Qiufan, and Xia Jia. His translation of "The Three Body Problem" by Liu Cixin helped the book become a best seller to English readers. He has also worked as an editor. While editing the anthology "Invisible Planets", Ken Liu translated the stories contained within it from Chinese into English.


title: Ken Liu

text: Some of Liu's work have been adapted into visual media. His short story "Memories of My Mother" was the basis of "Beautiful Dreamer" (2016) by David Gaddie. His short story "Real Artists" was adapted into the short film "Real Artists" (2017) by Cameo Wood. His short story "Good Hunting" was adapted into an animated short as part of Netflix's "Love, Death & Robots" series (2019).


title: Ken Liu

text: Liu's short story collection “The Hidden Girl and Other Stories” (2020) explores ideas such as tradition and progress, the fallibility of memory, and the essence of what it means to be human.


title: Ken Liu

text: Liu's short story "The Paper Menagerie" is the first work of fiction, of any length, to win all of the Nebula, Hugo, and World Fantasy Awards. In addition, his short story, "Mono no aware" won the 2013 Hugo Award, and his novella "The Man Who Ended History: A Documentary" was also nominated for a Hugo. The first novel in his "The Dandelion Dynasty" series, "The Grace of Kings", was a 2016 Nebula Award finalist. The novel was the 2016 Locus Award Best First Novel winner.


title: Ken Liu

text: Besides his original work, Liu's translation of Liu Cixin's Chinese language novel "The Three-Body Problem" (the first in the "Remembrance of Earth's Past" trilogy) won the 2015 Hugo Award for Best Novel, making it the first translated novel to have won the award. Liu also translated the third volume of the "Remembrance of Earth's Past" series, "Death's End," in 2016, which was a 2017 Hugo Award for Best Novel finalist.


title: Ken Liu

text: One of Liu's short stories, "Thoughts and Prayers", is a part of Jonathan Strahan's "The Year's Best Science Fiction" (2020), Vol 1.


title: Ken Liu

text: Many of Liu's short stories have been translated into Chinese, Japanese, French, Spanish, and multiple other languages and published in short stories collections:


title: Ken Liu

text: The 2022 AMC+ series "Pantheon" is an animated version of the sci-fi short stories "The Gods Will Not Be Chained", "The Gods Will Not Be Slain", and "The Gods Have Not Died in Vain" from the "The Apocalypse Triptych".


title: 500 euro note

text: The five-hundred-euro note (€500) is the highest-value euro banknote and was produced between the introduction of the euro (in its cash form) in 2002 until 2019. Since 27 April 2019, the banknote has no longer been issued by central banks in the euro area, but continues to be legal tender and can be used as a means of payment.


title: 500 euro note

text: It is one of the highest-value circulating banknotes in the world, worth around 531 USD; 3,700 CNY; 73,900 JPY; 493 CHF, 9,200,000 LAK or 437 GBP as of December 2022.


title: 500 euro note

text: The note is used in the 25 countries which have the euro as their sole currency, with a population of about 343 million.


title: 500 euro note

text: Initially, the high denomination notes were introduced very rapidly so that in the first 7 years (up to December 2008) there were 530million five-hundred-euro banknotes in circulation. Subsequently, the rate of increase was radically slowed. In July 2022, there were approximately 350 million banknotes in circulation (decreased from 614 million in 2015). It is the least widely circulated denomination, accounting for 1.2% of the total banknotes.


title: 500 euro note

text: It is the largest note measuring 160 × 82 mm and has a purple colour scheme. The five-hundred-euro banknotes depict bridges and arches/doorways in modern architecture (around the late 20th century). The five-hundred-euro note contains several complex security features such as watermarks, invisible ink, holograms and microprinting that make counterfeiting very difficult.


title: 500 euro note

text: The note is being phased out due to concerns of widespread use for illegal purposes. Most printing of new €500 notes ceased in 2019, although existing notes will remain legal tender until further notice.


title: 500 euro note

text: The euro was founded on 1 January 1999, when it became the currency of over 300million people in Europe. For the first three years of its existence it was an invisible currency, only used in accountancy. Euro cash was not introduced until 1 January 2002, when it replaced the national banknotes and coins of the 12 initial eurozone countries, such as the Luxembourgish franc.


title: 500 euro note

text: Slovenia joined the Eurozone in 2007, Cyprus and Malta in 2008, Slovakia in 2009, Estonia in 2011, Latvia in 2014 and Lithuania joined on 1 January 2015.


title: 500 euro note

text: The changeover period during which the former currencies' notes and coins were exchanged for those of the euro lasted about two months, going from 1 January 2002 until 28 February 2002. The official date on which the national currencies ceased to be legal tender varied from member state to member state. The earliest date was in Germany, where the mark officially ceased to be legal tender on 31 December 2001, though the exchange period lasted for two months more. Even after the old currencies ceased to be legal tender, they continued to be accepted by national central banks for periods ranging from ten years to forever.


title: 500 euro note

text: Notes printed before November 2003 bear the signature of the first president of the European Central Bank, Wim Duisenberg, who was replaced on 1 November 2003 by Jean-Claude Trichet, whose signature appears on issues from November 2003 to March 2012. Notes issued after March 2012 bear the signature of the third president of the European Central Bank, Mario Draghi.


title: 500 euro note

text: As of June 2012, current issues do not reflect the expansion of the European Union. Cyprus is not depicted on current notes as the map does not extend far enough east and Malta is also missing as it does not meet the current series' minimum size for depiction. The European Central Bank is currently introducing a new series of euro banknotes. The 500-euro denomination, however, will not be included in the new series as it was decided to phase out issuance of 500-euro banknotes.


title: 500 euro note

text: The European Central Bank announced on 4 May 2016 that it would stop issuing the 500-euro notes by the end of 2018. This decision is due to the suspicion that the notes are widely used for illegal purposes, according to a high-ranking bank official, Benoît Cœuré. The notes were last printed in 2014 and the demand was satisfied since from stocks.


title: 500 euro note

text: On 27 January 2019, 17 of 19 Eurosystem's central banks stopped issuing and distributing €500 banknotes. To ensure a smooth transition and for logistic reasons, the Deutsche Bundesbank and the Oesterreichische Nationalbank opted for longer period and issued banknotes until 26 April 2019. Circulating 500-euro notes remain legal tender and can continue to be used as a means of payment and store of value until further notice. Banks, bureaux de change and other commercial parties can keep recirculating the existing notes. The date when euro banknotes of the first series cease to be legal tender will be announced "well in advance" by ECB. Banknotes will always retain their value and can be exchanged for an unlimited period of time at the Eurosystem central banks.


title: 500 euro note

text: The five-hundred-euro note measures at × with a purple colour scheme. All bank notes depict bridges and arches/doorways in a different historical European style; the five-hundred-euro note shows Modern architecture (around the 20th century). Although Robert Kalina's original designs were intended to show real monuments, for political reasons the bridge and art are merely hypothetical examples of the architectural era. Nevertheless, the featured bridge is highly similar to Guadiana International Bridge.


title: 500 euro note

text: Like all euro notes, it contains the denomination, the EU flag, the signature of the president of the ECB and the initials of said bank in different EU languages, a depiction of EU territories overseas, the stars from the EU flag and twelve security features as listed below.


title: 500 euro note

text: The value of the note is much greater than many of the largest circulating notes of other major currencies, such as the United States 100-dollar bill. Thus a large monetary value can be concentrated into a small volume of notes. This facilitates crimes that deal in cash, including money laundering, drug dealing, and tax evasion. There have been calls to withdraw the note for this reason. However, some of the currencies the euro replaced had widely used high-value notes, including the 5,000 Austrian schillings (€363), the 1,000 Dutch guilders (€454), the 1,000 Deutsche Marks (€511), and 500 Latvian lats (€711).


title: 500 euro note

text: Even though there were some valuable banknotes in the national currencies of Germany, Austria and the Netherlands, the number of banknotes was relatively small compared to the euro banknotes. At the end of the year 2000 there were 89.20 million 1,000 Deutsche Mark banknotes, 13.97 million 5,000 Austrian Schilling banknotes and 13.28 million 1,000 Dutch Guilder banknotes in circulation. Latvia had a negligible number of 500 lat banknotes. In contrast the European Central Bank ordered the production of 371 million €500 banknotes before 1 July 2002.


title: 500 euro note

text: In particular, Spain had a quarter of all these high-value bills within its borders in 2006. This concentration of €500 notes is far greater than expected for an economy of Spain's size, as prior to conversion to euro the largest banknote was 10,000 Spanish pesetas, worth €60. These notes are rarely seen in every-day commerce – they have been nicknamed "Bin Ladens" by the populace (as the presence and appearance of the notes are well-known, but the notes themselves are quite difficult to find). The financial analyst Jeffrey Robinson had warned back in 1998 before issuance that he believed that the €500 note would be used mostly for drug trafficking and money laundering. British and Spanish police are using the bills to track money laundering.


title: 500 euro note

text: As of 20 April 2010, money exchange offices in the United Kingdom were banned from selling €500 notes due to their use in money laundering. The Serious Organised Crime Agency claimed that "90% of all €500 notes sold in the UK are in the hands of organised crime", revealed during an eight-month analysis. The €500 note is worth about £400, depending on exchange rates (around eight times the value of the Bank of England's largest publicly circulated note), and had, according to SOCA, become the currency choice for criminal gangs to hide their profits.


title: 500 euro note

text: The EU directive 2005/06/EC "on the prevention of the use of the financial system for the purpose of money laundering and terrorist financing" tries to prevent such crime by requiring banks, real estate agents, tax and business advisors or agents, casinos and more companies to investigate and report usage of cash in excess of €15,000.<ref name="EU directive 2005/06/EC"></ref>


title: 500 euro note

text: In Denmark, which is an EU member state but which is not in the Eurozone, all transactions involving 500-euro notes have been banned since January 2020.


title: 500 euro note

text: The European Central Bank is closely monitoring the circulation and stock of the euro coins and banknotes. It is a task of the Eurosystem to ensure an efficient and smooth supply of euro notes and to maintain their integrity throughout the euro area.


title: 500 euro note

text: The first set of €500 banknotes was introduced in January 2002. The number of banknotes in circulation increased each year until 2011. In the period from 2011 until 2013 there was a decrease in the quantity of circulated banknotes.


title: 500 euro note

text: The €500 banknote peaked at the end of March 2009 at 36.9% of the value of all euro banknotes. Circulation by numbers of notes peaked at 613,559,542 banknotes in December 2015 when the decision to not include this denomination in the new Europa series was made.


title: 500 euro note

text: Legally, both the European Central Bank and the central banks of the eurozone countries have the right to issue the 7 different euro banknotes. In practice, only the national central banks of the zone physically issue and withdraw euro banknotes. The European Central Bank does not have a cash office and is not involved in any cash operations.


title: Charleroi

text: Charleroi ( , , ; ) is a city and a municipality of Wallonia, located in the province of Hainaut, Belgium. By 1 January 2008, the total population of Charleroi was 201,593. The metropolitan area, including the outer commuter zone, covers an area of with a total population of 522,522 by 1 January 2008, ranking it as the 5th most populous in Belgium after Brussels, Antwerp, Liège, and Ghent. The inhabitants are called "Carolorégiens" or simply "Carolos".


title: Charleroi

text: The municipality of Charleroi straddles both banks of the river Sambre in an area marked by industrial activities (coal mining and steel industry), which has been nicknamed the "Pays Noir" ("Black Country"), part of the larger "sillon industriel". Even though most of the factories have closed since the 1950s, the landscape remains dotted with spoil tips and old industrial buildings.


title: Charleroi

text: The topography of Charleroi is influenced by the valley of the river Sambre, which flows from west to east before joining the Meuse at Namur. The Piéton river flows from north to south to join the Sambre at Dampremy. The Charleroi-Brussels canal is dug in the valley of this stream. The Eau d'Heure river comes from the south and also flows into the Sambre at Marchienne-au-Pont. About twenty streams run through the territory of the municipality.


title: Charleroi

text: The altitude ranges from 100 metres (Sambre and Piéton valleys) to over 220 metres at the Bois du Prince in Marcinelle. The level is 132 metres on the Place Charles II. The height of the slag heaps often exceeds 200 metres, the Saint-Charles slag heap in the Bois du Cazier reaches 241 metres.


title: Charleroi

text: Like the calcareous grassland, the slag heaps are habitats created by human activity that are home to many very specific and often threatened animal and plant species. The rarity of these species depends on the rarity of the environment itself (the biotope). Biodiversity is also present in other environments: in a wasteland, a body of water, a meadow, etc. In terms of biodiversity, it is therefore preferable to maintain a mosaic of habitats, hence the interest in preserving different types of environments on the slag heaps.


title: Charleroi

text: The Viviers site, for example, is an old mining site located in the east of Charleroi (Gilly). This site has a small conical slag heap and large open areas consisting mainly of pioneer grassland and wasteland. It also includes a small body of water as well as temporary ponds, and some wooded areas on the western and northern edges. This particular biotope is of great biological interest and acts as a refuge for a diverse fauna. The vast reed bed surrounding the pond is home to the red warbler, a passerine bird specific to this type of vegetation. Several species of amphibians can be seen here, including a population of the natterjack toad, as well as certain insects, such as the magnificent blue-winged grasshopper.


title: Charleroi

text: The Martinet site, a former colliery on the boundary of the Monceau-sur-Sambre and Roux sections, is in the process of being rehabilitated and reallocated. Like the Viviers slag heap in Gilly, this vast site is of great biological interest.


title: Charleroi

text: Similar to the rest of Belgium Charleroi has an oceanic climate as a result of the Gulf Stream influence warming winters, while also moderating summer warmth in spite of its inland position.


title: Charleroi

text: The Charleroi area was already settled in the prehistoric period, with traces of metallurgical and commercial activities along the Sambre. Several public buildings, temples and villas were built in the area in the Roman period. Burial places, with jewels and weapons, have been found. The first written mention of a place called Charnoy dates from a 9th-century offering in the Lobbes abbey, which lists various neighboring towns and related tithe duties. During the Middle Ages, Charnoy was one of the many small hamlets in the area, with no more than about 50 inhabitants, part of the County of Namur.


title: Charleroi

text: Spanish territorial losses in the 1659 Treaty of the Pyrenees left a gap between the key fortresses of Mons and Namur; to fill this, Francisco Castel Rodrigo, then Governor of the Spanish Netherlands, expropriated land around Charnoy to build a fortress near the Sambre. In September 1666, it was renamed Charle-roi, or King Charles, in honour of five-year-old Charles II of Spain; the chronogram FVNDATVR CAROLOREGIVM (MDCLVVVI) can be found in the register of the parish of Charnoy.


title: Charleroi

text: Construction had only just begun when the War of Devolution with France began in 1667, and the Spanish withdrew. France retained the town under the 1668 Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, and its fortifications were completed by Vauban. A bridge was built over the Sambre, connecting the "Ville Haute" and "Ville Basse", with incentives offered to persuade people to settle there. The French relinquished control in 1678, and although it changed hands several times over the next 50 years, the town remained part of the Netherlands until the foundation of modern Belgium.


title: Charleroi

text: Shortly after its foundation, the new city was in turn besieged by the Dutch, ceded to the Spanish in 1678 (Treaty of Nijmegen), taken by the French in 1693, ceded again to the Spanish in 1698 (Treaty of Rijswijk), then taken by the French, the Dutch and the Austrians in 1714 (Treaty of Baden). The French Prince of Conti took the city again in 1745, but it was ceded back to Austria in 1748, beginning a period of prosperity under Joseph II. Glass, steel and coal industries, which had already sprung up a century earlier, could now flourish.


title: Charleroi

text: Trouble began again in 1790, the year of the civil uprising that eventually led to the United States of Belgium. The Austrians occupied the city, were forced out by the French after the Battle of Jemappes on 6 November 1792, and took it back again four months later. On 12 June 1794, the French revolutionary Army of Sambre-et-Meuse under the command of Jean-Baptiste Jourdan, invested Charleroi and won a decisive victory in the ensuing Battle of Fleurus. The city took the revolutionary name of Libre-sur-Sambre until 1800. After France's defeat in 1814, the whole area was annexed to the Netherlands, and new walls were built around the city. Napoleon stayed in Charleroi for a couple of days in June 1815, just before the Battle of Waterloo.


title: Charleroi

text: The Belgian Revolution of 1830 gave the area its freedom from the Netherlands and ushered in a new era of prosperity, still based mostly on glass, metallurgy and coal, hence the area's name, "Pays Noir" ("Black Country"). After the Industrial Revolution, Charleroi benefited from the increased use of coke in the metallurgical industry. People from across Europe were attracted by the economic opportunities, and the population grew rapidly.


title: Charleroi

text: Following the Industrial revolution in Wallonia, Charleroi from the 1850s–1860s became one of the most important places where labor strikes broke out. In 1886, 12 strikers were killed by the Belgian army in Roux. In the 1880s, miners in Hainaut were recruited by the Dominion Coal Company in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. These miners were anxious to flee the repression following bloody strikes and riots in Liège and Charleroi during the Walloon Jacquerie of 1886. Walloon miners from Charleroi also emigrated to Alberta, Canada. The working men of Charleroi always played an important role in Belgian general strikes and particularly during the Belgian general strike of 1936, the general strike against Leopold III of Belgium, and the 1960–1961 winter general strike.


title: Charleroi

text: Heavy fighting took place during World War I due to the city's strategic location on the Sambre. The city was badly damaged with further destruction only being prevented by a treaty agreed with the German forces which required the payment of 10 million Belgian Francs, foodstuffs, vehicles and armaments. The magazine "Spirou", which featured the popular cartoon characters Lucky Luke and the Smurfs, was launched by the publishing company Éditions Dupuis in 1938. After World War II, Charleroi witnessed a general decline of its heavy industry. Following the merger with several surrounding municipalities in 1977, the city ranks as the largest city in Wallonia and the 4th largest in Belgium.


title: Charleroi

text: As part of the effort to improve its identity, the city adopted a new logo and graphic charter in early 2015, designed by the Brussels studio Pam and Jenny.


title: Charleroi

text: The Socialist Party (Parti Socialiste or PS) has had a stronghold in Charleroi for some time. However, in October 2006, mayor Jacques Van Gompel of the PS was jailed on fraud and forgery charges. Léon Casaert, also of the PS, became the new mayor, elected by PS, MR and cdH majorities. The MR resigned from the coalition just before the 2007 general election, citing official charges of corruption leveled against a PS alderman in Charleroi. After the 2007 general election, the PS placed the Charleroi local party section under full supervision of Paul Magnette, with the city executive resigning. Mayor Casaert was charged with fraud on 18 June 2007, but would only step down after a new city executive had been formed.


title: Charleroi

text: In April 2010, the director of technical services of Charleroi, Henri Stassens, was convicted in court of fraud and corruption.


title: Charleroi

text: The municipality contains an industrial area for electrical engineering and the production of iron, steel, glass and chemicals. The conglomerate ArcelorMittal subdivided its Industeel unit to encompass the Charleroi steelworks.


title: Charleroi

text: Charleroi is in the center of a coal basin. Even so, due to the widespread loss in industrial power in the area since the 1970s, the area suffered some of the highest unemployment and poverty rates in Europe for most of the 1980s and 1990s. However, from the early 2000s, the overall economy of the area has diversified to include health care, transportation and telecommunications. Nevertheless, the poverty rates are still significant.


title: Charleroi

text: Charleroi is Belgium's biggest city without having its own university. In 1966 the University of Louvain began operations in Charleroi with three faculties on its UCLouvain Charleroi campus based in the city center and in Montignies-sur-Sambre, including the Louvain School of Management and, more recently, the Louvain School of Engineering, issuing Bachelor's and Master's degrees and conducting research. Other universities have since started operations in Charleroi, including the Universities of Namur, Mons and the "Université libre de Bruxelles".


title: Charleroi

text: The Brussels South Charleroi Airport in Gosselies, north of the centre, opened in 1919 as a flight school. Later, it housed the Fairey aircraft-factory building.


title: Charleroi

text: Gosselies is now used as an alternate airport for Brussels. Low-cost carrier Ryanair is the largest airline to provide service there; others include Wizz Air, Jetairfly. Seasonal holiday charters also use the airport.


title: Charleroi

text: A new terminal opened in January 2008, replacing a much smaller building which had exceeded capacity.


title: Charleroi

text: In October 2021, the 650m extension of the runway was officially opened, bringing it to a total length of 3200m.


title: Charleroi

text: Charleroi is connected by train to other Belgian major cities through the main Charleroi-South railway station. The city also has a secondary railway station, Charleroi-West, on the Charleroi-to-Ottignies line.


title: Charleroi

text: Public transport is provided by TEC (Transport En Commun), the Walloon public transport service. The greater Charleroi region is served by bus lines and a light-rail Metro system, (Métro Léger de Charleroi). Part of the latter is famous for incorporating one of the few remnants of the Vicinal, the former Belgian national tramway network.


title: Charleroi

text: The Charleroi Metro is equally famous for the parts of the system which were never built, partially built or fully completed but not opened. It was planned in the 1960s as a 48 km (30 mi.) light-rail network, operating on the heavy rail metro infrastructure, consisting of eight branch lines radiating from a central loop downtown. However, only one line (to Petria), part of another line (to Gilly) and three-quarters of the loop were actually built and opened to traffic, all from 1976 to 1996. Another branch line toward the suburb of Châtelet (Châtelineau) was almost fully built, to the extent of installing power cables, escalators and still-working electric signals in the first three stations but was never opened as passenger numbers would be too low to economically justify the extra staff. The high costs of construction, a decline in Charleroi's traditional "smokestack" industries and questioning of the scope of the whole project in proportion to the actual demand for it are cited as reasons for the original plan's becoming unfulfilled.


title: Charleroi

text: The central loop and the Gilly branch as far as Soleilmont were completed in 2012, with funds from the European Investment Bank. The Gosselies branch opened as a street-level tramline in 2013. In June 2021 it was announced that €60m will be allocated to refurbish and open the long-ago completed but never served inner section of the Châtelet "ghost" line, and extend it to the new hospital development in the area.


title: Charleroi

text: in June 2021, the new look of the first renovated tram is presented. This fleet-wide renovation of 22 million euro will end in 2026.


title: Charleroi

text: Charleroi is home to a number of champion teams in various sports. Spirou Charleroi in basketball has been an eight-times winner in the Basketball League Belgium. La Villette Charleroi in table tennis is the most successful club in the Champions League with five titles and has been the Belgian champion multiple times. Action 21 Charleroi in futsal has won one UEFA Futsal Cup and nine titles in the Belgian Division 1. In football, Royal Charleroi SC and ROC Charleroi have finished second in the Belgian Pro League. The 30,000-capacity Stade du Pays de Charleroi was a venue at UEFA Euro 2000.


title: Charleroi

text: During the 1990s, Charleroi was notorious for violence, attributed to its high poverty and unemployment rates.


title: Megas XLR

text: Megas XLR is an American animated television series created by Jody Schaeffer and George Krstic for Cartoon Network. The series revolves around two teenage slackers: mechanic Coop and his best friend Jamie, who find a mecha robot from the future called Megas ("Mechanized Earth Guard Attack System") in a New Jersey junkyard. Coop modifies Megas and replaces his head, the control center, with a classic muscle car, and names him XLR ("eXtra Large Robot"). Together with Megas's original pilot Kiva, they must defend Earth from the evil alien race called "the Glorft". The series is an homage and parody of mecha anime. Krstic was originally one of the co-creators of MTV's "Downtown".


title: Megas XLR

text: Schaeffer and Krstic conceived the idea of an animated series where the main character would pilot a giant robot utilizing his video gaming skills. The pilot episode, "LowBrow", was shown in 2002 during Cartoon Network's "Cartoon Cartoon Weekend Summerfest", to determine which pilot would become a new Cartoon Cartoon; it was the most popular among viewers. It aired on the Toonami block from May 1, 2004, to January 15, 2005, for two seasons (totaling 26 episodes), before being cancelled due to low ratings.


title: Megas XLR

text: Despite low ratings, the series was met with positive reception, and was ranked at No. 4 on ToonZone's "Toons of the 2000s: Top 5 Cartoon Network Originals". There have been various fan efforts and petitions to revive the show since its cancellation.


title: Megas XLR

text: "Megas XLR" was produced by Cartoon Network Studios; Titmouse, Inc. animated the main title and did animation work on Season 1.


title: Megas XLR

text: In the year 3037, Earth is fighting a losing war against the Glorft, a hostile alien race led by Gorrath (Clancy Brown). In a last, desperate attempt to save the planet, the human resistance steals a prototype mecha robot from the Glorft and modifies it into a powerful war machine, renaming it Megas ("Mechanized Earth Guard Attack System"). Their plan is to use a time-traveling device called a time drive to send Megas and its assigned pilot, Kiva Andru (Wendee Lee), two years into the past to the Battle of the Last Stand, which was the last major offensive fought by humanity against the Glorft. Humanity lost that battle, but the members of the resistance, particularly Kiva, believe that Megas can tip the scales and hand the Glorft a decisive defeat.


title: Megas XLR

text: Before the plan can be executed, however, an attack by the Glorft forces the human resistance to send Megas back in time before proper preparations are made. Megas' head is blown off in the attack and its time drive is damaged, and the crippled robot is inadvertently sent to a junkyard in 1930s New Jersey. It remains there until a slacker mechanic named "Coop" Cooplowski (David DeLuise) discovers it in approximately the year 2004. Coop turns Megas into a hot rod project by giving it a flaming paint job, replacing its head with a classic muscle car (resembling a car from the '70s MOPAR family; most likely a Plymouth Barracuda) and adding XLR ("eXtra Large Robot") to its name.


title: Megas XLR

text: While Coop is showing off the robot to his best friend Jamie (Steve Blum), Kiva travels to the 21st century to retrieve Megas and, upon discovering that only Coop can now pilot the robot due to his modifications to it, grudgingly agrees to train him in its use. However, Gorrath has followed her through time, forcing Kiva, Coop, and Jamie to team up and defend Earth against both Gorrath's forces and various other threats.


title: Megas XLR

text: While playing video games, Schaeffer and Krstic came up with an idea of making an animated series in which the main character would use his video gaming skills to pilot a giant robot. The pilot short ("LowBrow") was shown in 2002 as part of Cartoon Network's "Cartoon Cartoon Weekend Summerfest", a contest to determine which pilot would be selected as the next Cartoon Cartoon. It was the most popular among viewers, and was greenlit as a series.


title: Megas XLR

text: Much of the series is inspired by Japanese mecha anime which the two grew up watching, with the animation being inspired by both anime and Western animation. The humour often pays homage or mocks anime conventions.


title: Megas XLR

text: After being delayed from its original debut in December 2003, "Megas XLR" finally debuted on the Toonami block on May 1, 2004. However, due to low ratings, the series was cancelled after two seasons, with the final episode airing on January 15, 2005.


title: Megas XLR

text: Reruns continued to air sporadically from January 16, 2005, to June 24, 2006. During this time, the series was later moved to the graveyard slot of 3:30am on Friday nights/Saturday mornings, before being removed from the network altogether.


title: Megas XLR

text: In late 2012, fans of the show on Twitter started using the hashtag #BringBackMegasXLR. The co-creator George Krstic and director Chris Prynoski announced they would bring back the show; seeing as "Megas XLR" had been written off by Cartoon Network, the studio Titmouse, Inc. would have to get the rights to the show. On April 29, 2013, George Krstic posted a tweet saying that he and Chris Prynoski were having a meeting at Titmouse to discuss bringing back the show along with "Motorcity". However, in a 2014 interview George Krstic was quoted as saying: ""Megas" was written off as a tax loss and as such can not be exploited, at least domestically, in any way, or the network will get into some sort of tax/legal trouble."


title: Megas XLR

text: In December 2012, a series of messages were posted on Twitter by series director Chris Prynoski, hinting at production of a video game based on the series with Valve. No official comment on the project has yet been made by Valve or Cartoon Network. However, in 2015 Chris Prynoski mentioned on Twitter that he had been unable to sort out the licensing needed.


title: Peripatetic school

text: The Peripatetic school was a school of philosophy in Ancient Greece. Its teachings derived from its founder, Aristotle (384–322 BC), and "peripatetic" is an adjective ascribed to his followers.


title: Peripatetic school

text: The school dates from around 335 BC when Aristotle began teaching in the Lyceum. It was an informal institution whose members conducted philosophical and scientific inquiries. After the middle of the 3rd century BC, the school fell into a decline, and it was not until the Roman era that there was a revival. Later members of the school concentrated on preserving and commenting on Aristotle's works rather than extending them; it died out in the 3rd century.


title: Peripatetic school

text: The study of Aristotle's works by scholars who were called Peripatetics continued through late antiquity, the Middle Ages, and the Renaissance. After the fall of the Western Roman Empire, the works of the Peripatetic school were lost to the Latin West, but they were preserved in Byzantium and also incorporated into early Islamic philosophy. Western Europe recovered Aristotelianism from Byzantium and from Islamic sources in the Middle Ages.


title: Peripatetic school

text: The term "peripatetic" is a transliteration of the ancient Greek word περιπατητικός ("peripatētikós"), which means "of walking" or "given to walking about". The Peripatetic school, founded by Aristotle, was actually known simply as the Peripatos. Aristotle's school came to be so named because of the "peripatoi" ("walkways", some covered or with colonnades) of the Lyceum where the members met. The legend that the name came from Aristotle's alleged habit of walking while lecturing may have started with Hermippus of Smyrna.


title: Peripatetic school

text: Unlike Plato (428/7–348/7 BC), Aristotle (384–322 BC) was not a citizen of Athens and so could not own property; he and his colleagues therefore used the grounds of the Lyceum as a gathering place, just as it had been used by earlier philosophers such as Socrates. Aristotle and his colleagues first began to use the Lyceum in this way about 335 BC, after which Aristotle left Plato's Academy and Athens, and then returned to Athens from his travels about a dozen years later. Because of the school's association with the gymnasium, the school also came to be referred to simply as the Lyceum. Some modern scholars argue that the school did not become formally institutionalized until Theophrastus took it over, at which time there was private property associated with the school.


title: Peripatetic school

text: Originally at least, the Peripatetic gatherings were probably conducted less formally than the term "school" suggests: there was likely no set curriculum or requirements for students or even fees for membership. Aristotle did teach and lecture there, but there was also philosophical and scientific research done in partnership with other members of the school. It seems likely that many of the writings that have come down to us in Aristotle's name were based on lectures he gave at the school.


title: Peripatetic school

text: Among the members of the school in Aristotle's time were Theophrastus, Phanias of Eresus, Eudemus of Rhodes, Clytus of Miletus, Aristoxenus, and Dicaearchus. Much like Plato's Academy, there were in Aristotle's school junior and senior members, the junior members generally serving as pupils or assistants to the senior members who directed research and lectured. The aim of the school, at least in Aristotle's time, was not to further a specific doctrine, but rather to explore philosophical and scientific theories; those who ran the school worked as equal partners.


title: Peripatetic school

text: The doctrines of the Peripatetic school were those laid down by Aristotle and henceforth maintained by his followers. Whereas Plato had sought to explain things with his theory of forms, Aristotle preferred to start from the facts given by experience. Philosophy to him meant science, and its aim was the recognition of the "why" in all things. Hence he endeavoured to attain to the ultimate grounds of things by induction; that is to say, by "a posteriori" conclusions from a number of facts toward a universal. Logic either deals with appearances, and is then called "dialectics"; or of truth, and is then called "analytics".


title: Peripatetic school

text: All change or motion takes place in regard to substance, quantity, quality, and place. There are three kinds of substances – those alternately in motion and at rest, as the animals; those perpetually in motion, as the sky; and those eternally stationary. The last, in themselves immovable and imperishable, are the source and origin of all motion. Among them, there must be one first being, unchangeable, which acts without the intervention of any other being. All that is proceeds from it; it is the most perfect intelligence – God. The immediate action of this "prime mover" – happy in the contemplation of itself – extends only to the heavens; the other inferior spheres are moved by other incorporeal and eternal substances, which the popular belief adores as gods. The heavens are of a more perfect and divine nature than other bodies. In the centre of the universe is the Earth, round and stationary. The stars, like the sky, beings of a higher nature, but of grosser matter, move by the impulse of the "prime mover".


title: Peripatetic school

text: For Aristotle, "matter" is the basis of all that exists; it comprises the "potentiality" of everything, but of itself is not actually anything. A determinate thing only comes into being when the "potentiality" in matter is converted into "actuality". This is achieved by "form", the idea existent not as one outside the many, but as one in the many, the completion of the potentiality latent in the matter.


title: Peripatetic school

text: The soul is the principle of life in the organic body, and is inseparable from the body. As faculties of the soul, Aristotle enumerates the faculty of reproduction and nutrition; of sensation, memory and recollection; the faculty of reason, or understanding; and the faculty of desiring, which is divided into appetition and volition. By the use of "reason" conceptions, which are formed in the soul by external sense-impressions, and may be true or false, are converted into knowledge. For reason alone can attain to truth either in understanding or action.


title: Peripatetic school

text: The best and highest goal is the happiness which originates from virtuous actions. Aristotle did not, with Plato, regard virtue as knowledge pure and simple, but as founded on nature, habit, and reason. Virtue consists in acting according to nature: that is, keeping the mean between the two extremes of the too much and the too little. Thus valor, in his view the first of virtues, is a mean between cowardice and recklessness; temperance is the mean in respect to sensual enjoyments and the total avoidance of them.


title: Peripatetic school

text: The names of the first seven or eight scholarchs (leaders) of the Peripatetic school are known with varying levels of certainty. A list of names with the approximate dates they headed the school is as follows (all dates BC):


title: Peripatetic school

text: There are some uncertainties in this list. It is not certain whether Aristo of Ceos was the head of the school, but since he was a close pupil of Lyco and the most important Peripatetic philosopher in the time when he lived, it is generally assumed that he was. It is not known if Critolaus directly succeeded Aristo, or if there were any leaders between them. Erymneus is known only from a passing reference by Athenaeus. Other important Peripatetic philosophers who lived during these centuries include Eudemus of Rhodes, Aristoxenus, Dicaearchus, and Clearchus of Soli.


title: Peripatetic school

text: Sometime shortly after the death of Alexander the Great in June 323 BC, Aristotle left Athens to avoid persecution by anti-Macedonian factions in Athens, due to his ties to Macedonia. After Aristotle's death in 322 BC, his colleague Theophrastus succeeded him as head of the school. The most prominent member of the school after Theophrastus was Strato of Lampsacus, who increased the naturalistic elements of Aristotle's philosophy and embraced a form of atheism.


title: Peripatetic school

text: After the time of Strato, the Peripatetic school fell into a decline. Lyco was famous more for his oratory than his philosophical skills, and Aristo is perhaps best known for his biographical studies. Although Critolaus was more philosophically active, none of the Peripatetic philosophers in this period seem to have contributed anything original to philosophy. The reasons for the decline of the Peripatetic school are unclear. Undoubtedly, Stoicism and Epicureanism provided many answers for those people looking for dogmatic and comprehensive philosophical systems, and the scepticism of the Middle Academy may have seemed preferable to anyone who rejected dogmatism. Later tradition linked the school's decline to Neleus of Scepsis and his descendants hiding the works of Aristotle and Theophrastus in a cellar until their rediscovery in the 1st century BC, and even though this story may be doubted, it is possible that Aristotle's works were not widely read.


title: Peripatetic school

text: In 86 BC, Athens was sacked by the Roman general Lucius Cornelius Sulla; all the schools of philosophy in Athens were badly disrupted, and the Lyceum ceased to exist as a functioning institution. Ironically, this event seems to have brought new life to the Peripatetic school. Sulla brought the writings of Aristotle and Theophrastus back to Rome, where they became the basis of a new collection of Aristotle's writings compiled by Andronicus of Rhodes which forms the basis of the "Corpus Aristotelicum" which exists today. Later Neoplatonist writers describe Andronicus, who lived around 50 BC, as the eleventh scholarch of the Peripatetic school, which would imply that he had two unnamed predecessors. There is considerable uncertainty over the issue, and Andronicus' pupil Boethus of Sidon is also described as the eleventh scholarch. It is quite possible that Andronicus set up a new school where he taught Boethus.


title: Peripatetic school

text: Whereas the earlier Peripatetics had sought to extend and develop Aristotle's works, from the time of Andronicus the school concentrated on preserving and defending his work. The most important figure in the Roman era is Alexander of Aphrodisias (c. 200 AD) who wrote commentaries on Aristotle's writings. With the rise of Neoplatonism (and Christianity) in the 3rd century, Peripateticism as an independent philosophy came to an end, but the Neoplatonists sought to incorporate Aristotle's philosophy within their own system, and produced many commentaries on Aristotle's works. In the 5th century, Olympiodorus the Elder is sometimes described as a Peripatetic.


title: Peripatetic school

text: The last philosophers in classical antiquity to comment on Aristotle were Simplicius and Boethius in the 6th century AD. After this, although his works were mostly lost to the west, they were maintained in the east where they were incorporated into early Islamic philosophy. Some of the greatest Peripatetic philosophers in the Islamic philosophical tradition were Al-Kindi (Alkindus), Al-Farabi (Alpharabius), Avicenna (Ibn Sina) and Averroes (Ibn Rushd). By the 12th century, Aristotle's works began being translated into Latin during the Latin translations of the 12th century, and gradually arose Scholastic philosophy under such names as Thomas Aquinas, which took its tone and complexion from the writings of Aristotle, the commentaries of Averroes, and "The Book of Healing" of Avicenna.


title: Assam Legislative Assembly

text: The Assam Legislative Assembly is the unicameral legislature of the Indian state of Assam. It is housed in Guwahati, the capital city of Assam, geographically situated in present Western Assam region. The Legislative Assembly comprises 126 Members of Legislative Assembly, directly elected from single-seat constituencies. Its term is five years, unless sooner dissolved.


title: Assam Legislative Assembly

text: According to provisions of the Government of India Act 1935, a bicameral legislature of Assam province came into existence in 1937. After the Government of India Act 1935 was passed, it paved the way for the formation of Assam Legislative Assembly, and became a bicameral legislature. The strength of the House was 108, where all the members were elected. The Legislative Council (Upper House) was not less than 21 and not more than 22 members.


title: Assam Legislative Assembly

text: The first sitting of its lower house, the Assam Legislative Assembly, took place on 7 April 1937 in the Assembly Chamber at Shillong. Shillong was the capital of the composite State of Assam. It had a strength of 108 members.


title: Assam Legislative Assembly

text: However, the strength of the Assembly was reduced to 71 after the partition of India. After Indian independence in 1947, the Assam Legislative Council was abolished and the Assam Legislative Assembly became unicameral.


title: Assam Legislative Assembly

text: In the years that followed, Assam was truncated to several smaller states. And over the years, with the changing geographical boundaries and increase in population, the strength of members has changed from 108 in 1952–57 to 114 in 1967-72 (the third Assembly) and by 1972-78 (the fifth Assembly) it had a strength of 126 members.


title: Lipase

text: Lipase ( ) are a family of enzymes that catalyzes the hydrolysis of fats. Some lipases display broad substrate scope including esters of cholesterol, phospholipids, and of lipid-soluble vitamins and sphingomyelinases; however, these are usually treated separately from "conventional" lipases. Unlike esterases, which function in water, lipases "are activated only when adsorbed to an oil–water interface". Lipases perform essential roles in digestion, transport and processing of dietary lipids in most, if not all, organisms.


title: Lipase

text: Lipases are serine hydrolases, i.e. they function by transesterification generating an acyl serine intermediate. Most lipases act at a specific position on the glycerol backbone of a lipid substrate (A1, A2 or A3). For example, human pancreatic lipase (HPL), converts triglyceride substrates found in ingested oils to monoglycerides and two fatty acids.


title: Lipase

text: A diverse array of genetically distinct lipase enzymes are found in nature, and they represent several types of protein folds and catalytic mechanisms. However, most are built on an alpha/beta hydrolase fold and employ a chymotrypsin-like hydrolysis mechanism using a catalytic triad consisting of a serine nucleophile, a histidine base, and an acid residue, usually aspartic acid.


title: Lipase

text: Lipases are involved in diverse biological processes which range from routine metabolism of dietary triglycerides to cell signaling and inflammation. Thus, some lipase activities are confined to specific compartments within cells while others work in extracellular spaces.


title: Lipase

text: Some lipases are expressed and secreted by pathogenic organisms during an infection. In particular, "Candida albicans" has many lipases, possibly reflecting broad-lipolytic activity, which may contribute to the persistence and virulence of "C. albicans "in human tissue.


title: Lipase

text: In the commercial sphere, lipases are widely used in laundry detergents. Several thousand tons per year a produced for this role.


title: Lipase

text: Lipases are catalysts for hydrolysis of esters and are useful outside of the cell, a testament to their wide substrate scope and ruggedness. The ester hydrolysis activity of lipases has been well evaluated for the conversion of triglycerides into biofuels or their precursors.


title: Lipase

text: Lipases are of course chiral, which means that they can be used for the enantioselective hydrolysis prochiral diesters. Several procedures have been reported for applications in the synthesis of fine chemicals.


title: Lipase

text: Blood tests for lipase may be used to help investigate and diagnose acute pancreatitis and other disorders of the pancreas. Measured serum lipase values may vary depending on the method of analysis.


title: Lipase

text: Lipase assist in the breakdown of fats in those undergoing pancreatic enzyme replacement therapy (PERT). It is a component in Sollpura (Liprotamase).


title: Lipase

text: 25. Gulzar, Bio-degradation of hydrocarbons using different bacterial and fungal species. Published in international conference on biotechnology and neurosciences. CUSAT (cochin university of science and technology), 2003


title: Mm..Food

text: Mm..Food (stylized in all caps) is the fifth studio album by British-American rapper/producer MF DOOM, released by Rhymesayers in November 2004. The album peaked at number 17 on "Billboard"s Independent Albums chart, and number 9 on Heatseekers Albums chart. The title "Mm..Food" is an anagram of "MF Doom".


title: Mm..Food

text: MF Doom described "Mm..Food" as a concept album "about the things you find on a picnic, or at a picnic table". The album's titles and lyrics contain references to different foods, some with common metaphors and double entendres in the "street world" and the "nutritional realm".


title: Mm..Food

text: The album is primarily produced by MF Doom, except for the tracks "Potholderz", produced by Count Bass D; "One Beer", produced by Madlib and originally intended for the joint Madlib and MF Doom album "Madvillainy"; and "Kon Queso" produced by PNS of Molemen. "Mm..Food" features guest appearances from Count Bass D, Angelika, 4ize and Mr. Fantastik.


title: Mm..Food

text: "Kon Queso" was originally released under the name "Yee Haw" on a 12 inch single in July 2003 with Molemen. The track was re-recorded for "Mm..Food" with a more laidback performance from MF Doom. "Vomitspit" is a new version of the song "Vomit", with a different beat and some changed lyrics. The original release of the album included a different version of "Kookies". It was removed due to an unlicensed sample from "Sesame Street", and was promptly changed to a simpler version of the song in all future physical and digital releases.


title: Mm..Food

text: A bonus disc titled "Mm..LeftOvers" containing throwaway tracks and remixes from "Mm..Food" was released on November 16, 2004 on Hiphopsite.com. It was given away with copies of "Mm..Food". The CD contained a recipe for "Villainous Mac & Cheese" by Grammy Dumile on the back of the CD insert.


title: Mm..Food

text: The album cover art was directed by Stones Throw's art director Jeff Jank, and painted by Jason Jagel. The original painting included a blunt that was later edited out.


title: Mm..Food

text: Garnering universal acclaim upon release, "Mm..Food" received an average score of 81 from Metacritic, based on 22 reviews. Ryan Dombal of "Entertainment Weekly" wrote, ""Mm..Food" flips countless edible metaphors over hard-hitting, jazzy beats, while never devolving into pointless parody." David Jeffries of AllMusic called it "as vital as anything he's done before and entirely untouched or stymied by the hype." "Pitchfork"s Nick Sylvester called "Mm..Food" "an attempt to make good on Doom's almost fascist conceit to restore rap's golden age despite its loss of innocence." Nathan Rabin of "The A.V. Club" called the album "a crazy pastiche tied loopily together around obsessions with food, comic books, and supervillainy" and wrote that Doom is "exempt from the law of diminishing returns."


title: Mm..Food

text: In 2012, "Stereogum" named it the best MF Doom album. In 2015, "NME" named it "one of the 23 maddest and most memorable concept albums." "Complex" named the song "Rapp Snitch Knishes" the "22nd funniest rap song of all time."


title: Tiny Pretty Things

text: Tiny Pretty Things is an American drama streaming television series based on the novel of the same name by Sona Charaipotra and Dhonielle Clayton, created by Michael MacLennan. It premiered on Netflix on December 14, 2020, and has aired for one season.


title: Tiny Pretty Things

text: The series revolves around the goings on at a ballet school in Chicago, and focuses on the school's students, instructors, administrators, and benefactors. The dancing in the show is performed by the actors themselves, not doubles.


title: Tiny Pretty Things

text: Critical reaction to the series has been mixed. No official announcement has been made of its fate since then, although it is conjectured that it will not be continued.


title: Tiny Pretty Things

text: Insurrection Media, Inc. optioned the source material from HarperCollins and developed the project for a year before getting a series order on August 6, 2019, from Netflix for 10 episodes. The series is created by Michael MacLennan who executive produced alongside Kiliaen Van Rensselaer, Jordanna Fraiberg, Deborah Henderson, Gary Fleder, Gabrielle Neimand, and Carrie Mudd. Felder also directed the first episode of the series. Production companies involved with the series were slated to consist of Insurrection Media and Peacock Alley Entertainment, Inc. The series premiered on December 14, 2020.


title: Tiny Pretty Things

text: Upon the series order announcement, Lauren Holly, Kylie Jefferson, Casimere Jollette, Daniela Norman, Brennan Clost, Michael Hsu Rosen, Damon J. Gillespie, Bayardo De Murguia, Barton Cowperthwaite, Tory Trowbridge, and Jess Salgueiro were cast as series regulars. On September 20, 2019, Anna Maiche joined the main cast. On December 9, 2020, it was reported a professional ballet dancer, Emily Skubic is set to make her debut guest role in the series.


title: Tiny Pretty Things

text: Principal photography for the series began on August 6, 2019 and ended on December 3, 2019 in Toronto, Canada.


title: Tiny Pretty Things

text: On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, "Tiny Pretty Things" received an approval rating of 53% based on 19 critic reviews, with an average rating of 5.38/10. The website's critics consensus reads, ""Tiny Pretty Things" has some solid moves, but an over-reliance on empty scandal over emotional substance make for unsatisfying viewing." Metacritic gave the series a weighted average score of 47 out of 100 based on 6 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: History of circumcision

text: Circumcision likely has ancient roots among several ethnic groups in sub-equatorial Africa, Egypt, and Arabia, though the specific form and extent of circumcision has varied. Ritual male circumcision is known to have been practiced by South Sea Islanders, Aboriginal peoples of Australia, Sumatrans, Incas, Aztecs, Mayans and Ancient Egyptians. Today it is still practiced by Jews, Muslims, Coptic Christians, Ethiopian Orthodox, Eritrean Orthodox, Druze, and some tribes in East and Southern Africa, as well as in the United States and Philippines.


title: History of circumcision

text: There are four types of circumcision. As practiced in Judaism and in the United States, the foreskin is completely removed. However, in ancient Egypt and elsewhere in Africa, only part of the foreskin was removed. In the Pacific Islands, the frenulum was snipped but the foreskin was left unmodified.


title: History of circumcision

text: Circumcision and/or subincision, often as part of an intricate coming of age ritual, was a common practice among the Aboriginal peoples of Australia and Pacific islanders at first contact with Western travellers. It is still practiced in the traditional way by a proportion of the population.


title: History of circumcision

text: In Judaism, circumcision has traditionally been practised on males on the eighth day after birth (after the First Temple era). The Book of Genesis records circumcision as part of the Abrahamic covenant with Yahweh (God). Herodotus, writing in the 5th century BCE, lists first of all the Egyptians being the oldest people practicing circumcision, then Colchians, Ethiopians, Phoenicians, and Syrians as circumcising cultures. In the aftermath of the conquests of Alexander the Great, however, Greek dislike of circumcision (they regarded a man as truly "naked" only if his prepuce was retracted) led to a decline in its incidence among many peoples that had previously practiced it. The writer of 1 Maccabees wrote that under the Seleucids, many Jewish men attempted to hide or reverse their circumcision so they could exercise in Greek gymnasia, where nudity was the norm. First Maccabees also relates that the Seleucids forbade the practice of brit milah (Jewish circumcision), and punished those who performed it, as well as the infants who underwent it, with death. (See I Maccabbees 1:60)


title: History of circumcision

text: Removing the foreskin can prevent or treat a medical condition known as phimosis. It has been suggested that the custom of circumcision gave advantages to tribes that practiced it and thus led to its spread.


title: History of circumcision

text: Darby describes these theories as "conflicting", and states that "the only point of agreement among proponents of the various theories is that promoting good health had nothing to do with it." Freud believed that circumcision allows senior men to constrain the incestuous desires of their juniors, and mediates the tension inherent in the father-son relationship and generational succession. Youth are symbolically castrated, or feminized, but also blessed with masculine fruitfulness.


title: History of circumcision

text: Prior to the Out of Africa migration, circumcision may have been a cultural practice among homo sapiens. Homo sapiens then migrated out of Africa. In 45,000 BP, modern humans migrated into Australia. Based on iconographic evidence and perceived retention of hunter-gather traits among Australian Aborigines that are associated with the Paleolithic, circumcision may have originated in the early period of the Paleolithic, and may have even been an evolutionary trait of homo sapiens. In 40,000 BP, homo sapiens migrated into Europe. Upper Paleolithic rock art from the Aurignacian (38,000 BP – 30,000 BP), Gravettian (30,000 BP – 22,000 BP), Solutrean (22,000 BP – 18,000 BP), and Magdalenian (18,000 BP – 11,000 BP) eras of Prehistoric Europe feature figures with male genitalia that may serve as evidence of groups practicing male circumcision or the retraction of penile foreskins.


title: History of circumcision

text: At Oued Djerat, in Algeria, engraved rock art with masked bowmen, which feature male circumcision and may be a scene involving ritual, have been dated to earlier than 6000 BP amid the Bubaline Period; more specifically, while possibly dating much earlier than 10,000 BP, rock art walls from the Bubaline Period have been dated between 9200 BP and 5500 BP. The cultural practice of circumcision may have spread from the Central Sahara, toward the south in Sub-Saharan Africa and toward the east in the region of the Nile.


title: History of circumcision

text: Based on engraved evidence found on walls and evidence from mummies, circumcision has been dated to at least as early as 6000 BCE in ancient Egypt.


title: History of circumcision

text: Ancient Egyptian mummies, which have been dated as early as 4000 BCE, show evidence of having undergone circumcision.


title: History of circumcision

text: At the mastaba of Ankhmahor in Saqqara, an engraved wall provides an account of Uha, dated to the 23rd century BCE, which indicates that he and others underwent male circumcision.


title: History of circumcision

text: Herodotus (5th century BCE) indicated that the ancient Egyptians, at-large, practiced circumcision; he also indicated that ancient Ethiopians practiced circumcision.


title: History of circumcision

text: Xanthus of Lydia (5th century BCE) indicated that female circumcision was practiced among the ancient Egyptians.


title: History of circumcision

text: Agatharchides of Cnidus (2nd century BCE) indicated that "troglodyte" ethnic groups practiced circumcision; these groups may have resided along the African coast of the Red Sea in southern Egypt or near the Gulf of Zula in present-day Eritrea; while most of these groups practiced a form of circumcision that involved partial excision, the ethnic group, identified by Agatharchides as the "Colobi" ("the mutilated"), were indicated to have practiced a form of circumcision that involved total excision.


title: History of circumcision

text: A papyrus, which was part of the Serapeum's Ptolemaios archive at Memphis and has been dated to 163 BCE, indicated that an ancient Egyptian girl, Tathemis, was scheduled to undergo female circumcision.


title: History of circumcision

text: Between 60 BCE and 56 BCE, Diodorus Siculus indicated that female circumcision was a common custom in ancient Egypt.


title: History of circumcision

text: The Nomoli figurines, which were created by the Mende people in Sierra Leone and depict male circumcised genitalia, have been dated between the 7th century CE and the 8th century CE.


title: History of circumcision

text: Prior to 300 CE, male circumcision, which is a cultural practice that is part of male initiations, is estimated to have existed in Africa for more than 9000 years. By 300 CE, male initiation and male circumcision had ceased among matrilineal Bantu-speaking peoples in East Africa and Central Africa.


title: History of circumcision

text: In the 19th century CE, Shaka, a Zulu king, prohibited male circumcision due to concerns that young circumcised men might be less interested in joining as warriors in the military force he was amassing and uniting in the region of southern Africa and might be more interested in seeking opportunities for having sex.


title: History of circumcision

text: Sixth Dynasty (2345–2181 BCE) tomb artwork in Egypt has been thought to be the oldest documentary evidence of circumcision, the most ancient depiction being a bas-relief from the necropolis at Saqqara (c. 2400 BCE). In the oldest written account, by an Egyptian named Uha, in the 23rd century BCE, he describes a mass circumcision and boasts of his ability to stoically endure the pain: "When I was circumcised, together with one hundred and twenty men ... there was none thereof who hit out, there was none thereof who was hit, and there was none thereof who scratched and there was none thereof who was scratched." The Egyptian hieroglyph for "penis" (𓂸 ) depicts either a circumcised or an erect organ.


title: History of circumcision

text: Herodotus, writing in the 5th century BCE, wrote disparagingly that the Egyptians "practise circumcision for the sake of cleanliness, considering it better to be cleanly than comely." David Gollaher considered circumcision in ancient Egypt to be a mark of passage from childhood to adulthood. He mentions that the alteration of the body and ritual of circumcision were supposed to give access to ancient mysteries reserved solely for the initiated. (See also Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis 1.15) The content of those mysteries are unclear but are likely to be myths, prayers, and incantations central to Egyptian religion. The Egyptian "Book of the Dead", for example, tells of the sun god Ra cutting himself, the blood creating two minor guardian deities. The Egyptologist Emmanuel vicomte de Rougé interpreted this as an act of circumcision. Circumcisions were performed by priests in a public ceremony using a stone blade. It is thought to have been more popular among the upper echelons of the society, although it was not universal and those lower down the social order are known to have had the procedure done. On the other hand, medical historian Frederick Hodges argues there is evidence against the purported prevalence of circumcision in Egypt, proposing it was limited to priests, functionaries and some workers.


title: History of circumcision

text: According to studies, the Egyptian rite of circumcision, which was performed at the age of puberty, did not involve the amputation of an annular piece of the foreskin as in the Jewish rite. Instead, it would have involved excising a triangular section, or alternately just creating a longitudinal incision, in the dorsal face of the foreskin. This is supported by artworks and statues showing foreskins, some of which present an incision on the glans, not an annular circumcision. However, there is also evidence of individuals circumcised the traditional way at the time of Thutmose III. The rite might have mutated into this variation by the time Herodotus visited Egypt.


title: History of circumcision

text: Circumcision was also adopted by some Semitic peoples living in or around Egypt. Herodotus reported that circumcision is only practiced by the Egyptians, Colchians, Ethiopians, Phoenicians, the 'Syrians of Palestine', and "the Syrians who dwell about the rivers Thermodon and Parthenius, as well as their neighbours the Macronians and Macrones". Sanchuniathon, a purportedly ancient Phoenician writer recorded by Philo of Byblos, tells the origin of circumcision as part of a myth, according to which the god Kronos circumcised himself and his allies to atone for his castration of his father Ouranos. Herodotus also reports, however, that "the Phoenicians, when they come to have commerce with the Greeks, cease to follow the Egyptians in this custom, and allow their children to remain uncircumcised."


title: History of circumcision

text: Archaeological or further literary records do not support that circumcision was truly widespread among Semites. In the case of the Phoenicians, it has been proposed that Herodotus and successors like Aristophanes might have mistaken Jews for them, as Biblical sources describe Phoenicians and other peoples like the Philistines as uncircumcised. Roman authors do not mention circumcision in Carthage or other Phoenician settlements in Africa, even although it would have added to the colourful Punic stereotype entertained in Roman literature. Other authors believe Phoenicians abandoned the practice at some point, although it might have not fully died out, as proved by Philo's record.


title: History of circumcision

text: Josephus seems to suggest that the Edomites were uncircumcised until being forcefully converted to Judaism by John Hyrcanus. It has been also interpreted, however, that up to that point they actually practiced a different kind of circumcision that was superseded by the Jewish form.


title: History of circumcision

text: According to Genesis, God told Abraham to circumcise himself, his household and his slaves as an everlasting covenant in their flesh, see also Abrahamic Covenant. Those who were not circumcised were to be "cut off" from their people. Covenants in biblical times were often sealed by severing an animal, with the implication that the party who breaks the covenant will suffer a similar fate. In Hebrew, "kārat berît" meaning to seal a covenant translates literally as "cut a covenant". It is presumed by Jewish scholars that the removal of the foreskin symbolically represents such a sealing of the covenant. Moses might not have been circumcised; one of his sons was not, nor were some of his followers while traveling through the desert.. Moses's wife Zipporah circumcised their son when God threatened to kill Moses.


title: History of circumcision

text: According to Hodges, ancient Greek aesthetics of the human form considered circumcision a mutilation of a previously perfectly shaped organ. Greek artwork of the period portrayed penises as covered by the foreskin (sometimes in exquisite detail), except in the portrayal of satyrs, lechers, and barbarians. This dislike of the appearance of the circumcised penis led to a decline in the incidence of circumcision among many peoples that had previously practiced it throughout Hellenistic times.


title: History of circumcision

text: In Egypt, only the priestly caste retained circumcision, and by the 2nd century, the only circumcising groups in the Roman Empire were Jews, Samaritans, Jewish Christians, Egyptian priests, and the Nabatean Arabs. Circumcision was sufficiently rare among non-Jews that being circumcised was considered conclusive evidence of Judaism (or Early Christianity and others derogatorily called Judaizers) in Roman courts—Suetonius in "Domitian 12.2" described a court proceeding (from "my youth") in which a ninety-year-old man was stripped naked before the court to determine whether he was evading the head tax placed on Jews and Judaizers.


title: History of circumcision

text: Cultural pressures to circumcise operated throughout the Hellenistic world: when the Judean king John Hyrcanus conquered the Idumeans, he forced them to become circumcised and convert to Judaism, but their ancestors the Edomites had practiced circumcision in pre-Hellenistic times.


title: History of circumcision

text: Some Jews tried to hide their circumcision status, as told in 1 Maccabees. This was mainly for social and economic benefits and also so that they could exercise in gymnasiums and compete in sporting events. Techniques for restoring the appearance of an uncircumcised penis were known by the 2nd century BCE. In one such technique, a copper weight (called the "Judeum pondum") was hung from the remnants of the circumcised foreskin until, in time, they became sufficiently stretched to cover the glans. The 1st-century writer Celsus described two surgical techniques for foreskin restoration in his medical treatise "De Medicina". In one of these, the skin of the penile shaft was loosened by cutting in around the base of the glans. The skin was then stretched over the glans and allowed to heal, giving the appearance of an uncircumcised penis. This was possible because the Abrahamic covenant of circumcision defined in the Bible was a relatively minor circumcision; named "milah", this involved cutting off the foreskin that extended beyond the glans. Jewish religious writers denounced such practices as abrogating the covenant of Abraham in "1 Maccabees" and the Talmud. During the 2nd century, the procedure of circumcision changed in order to become irreversible.


title: History of circumcision

text: Later during the Talmudic period (500–625 CE) a third step, known as "Metzitzah", began to be practiced. In this step the "mohel" would suck the blood from the circumcision wound with his mouth to remove what was believed to be bad excess blood. As it actually increases the likelihood of infections such as tuberculosis and venereal diseases, modern day mohels use a glass tube placed over the infant's penis for suction of the blood. In many Jewish ritual circumcisions this step of Metzitzah has been eliminated.


title: History of circumcision

text: First Maccabees tells us that the Seleucids forbade the practice of "brit milah", and punished those who performed it – as well as the infants who underwent it – with death.


title: History of circumcision

text: The 1st-century Jewish author Philo Judaeus (20 BCE – 50 CE) defended Jewish circumcision on several grounds, including health, cleanliness and fertility. He also thought that circumcision should be done as early as possible as it would not be as likely to be done by someone's own free will. He claimed that the foreskin prevented semen from reaching the vagina and so should be done as a way to increase the nation's population. He also noted that circumcision should be performed as an effective means to reduce sexual pleasure: "The legislators thought good to dock the organ which ministers to such intercourse thus making circumcision the symbol of excision of excessive and superfluous pleasure." There was also division in Pharisaic Judaism between Hillel the Elder and Shammai on the issue of circumcision of proselytes.


title: History of circumcision

text: Flavius Josephus in Jewish Antiquities book 20, chapter 2 records the story of King Izates who having been persuaded by a Jewish merchant named Ananias to embrace the Jewish religion, decided to get circumcised so as to follow Jewish law. Despite being reticent for fear of reprisals from his non-Jewish subjects he was eventually persuaded to do it by a Galileean Jew named Eleazar on the grounds that it was one thing to read the Law and another thing to practice it. Despite his mother Helen and Ananias's fear of the consequences, Josephus said that God looked after Izates and his reign was peaceful and blessed.


title: History of circumcision

text: The Jewish philosopher Maimonides (1135–1204) insisted that faith should be the only reason for circumcision. He recognised that it was "a very hard thing" to have done to oneself but that it was done to "quell all the impulses of matter" and "perfect what is defective morally." Sages at the time had recognised that the foreskin heightened sexual pleasure. Maimonides reasoned that the bleeding and loss of protective covering rendered the penis weakened and in so doing had the effect of reducing a man's lustful thoughts and making sex less pleasurable. He also warned that it is "hard for a woman with whom an uncircumcised man has had sexual intercourse to separate from him."


title: History of circumcision

text: A 13th-century French disciple of Maimonides, Isaac ben Yediah, claimed that circumcision was an effective way of reducing a woman's sexual desire. With a non-circumcised man, he said, she always orgasms first and so his sexual appetite is never fulfilled, but with a circumcised man she receives no pleasure and hardly ever orgasms "because of the great heat and fire burning in her."


title: History of circumcision

text: The Council of Jerusalem in Acts of the Apostles 15 addressed the issue of whether circumcision was required of new converts to Christianity. Both Simon Peter and James the Just spoke against requiring circumcision in Gentile converts and the Council ruled that circumcision was not necessary. However, Acts 16 and many references in the Letters of Paul show that the practice was not immediately eliminated. Paul of Tarsus, who was said to be directly responsible for one man's circumcision in Acts 16:1–3 and who appeared to praise Jewish circumcision in Romans 3:2, said that circumcision didn't matter in 1 Corinthians 7:19 and then increasingly turned against the practice, accusing those who promoted circumcision of wanting to make a good showing in the flesh and boasting or glorying in the flesh in Galatians 6:11–13. In a later letter, Philippians 3:2, he is reported as warning Christians to beware the "mutilation". Circumcision was so closely associated with Jewish men that Jewish Christians were referred to as "those of the circumcision" (e.g. Colossians 3:20) or conversely Christians who were circumcised were referred to as Jewish Christians or Judaizers. These terms (circumcised/uncircumcised) are generally interpreted to mean Jews and Greeks, who were predominant; however, it is an oversimplification as 1st-century Iudaea Province also had some Jews who no longer circumcised and some Greeks (called Proselytes or Judaizers) who did, (along with a few Nabataean Arabs Judaized by Hasmoneans, Ethiopians, and the rare Egyptian priest). According to the Gospel of Thomas saying 53, Jesus says:


title: History of circumcision

text: Parallels to Thomas 53 are found in Paul's Romans 2:29, , 1 Corinthians 7:19, Galatians 6:15, Colossians 2:11–12.


title: History of circumcision

text: In John's Gospel 7:23 Jesus is reported as giving this response to those who criticized him for healing on the Sabbath:


title: History of circumcision

text: This passage has been seen as a comment on the Rabbinic belief that circumcision heals the penis (Jerusalem Bible, note to John 7:23) or as a criticism of circumcision.


title: History of circumcision

text: Europeans, with the exception of the Jews, did not practice circumcision. A rare exception occurred in Visigothic Spain, where during the armed campaign king Wamba ordered circumcision of everyone who committed atrocities against the civilian population. The practice, on the other hand, is customary among the Coptic, Ethiopian, and Eritrean Orthodox Churches, and also some other African churches.


title: History of circumcision

text: As part of an attempted reconciliation of Coptic and Catholic practices, the Catholic Church condemned the observance of circumcision as a moral sin and ordered against its practice in the Council of Basel-Florence in 1442. According to UNAIDS, the papal bull of Union with The Copts issued during that council stated that circumcision was merely unnecessary for Christians; El-Hout and Khauli, however, regard it as condemnation of the procedure. The Catholic Church currently maintains a neutral position on the practice of non-religious circumcision, as the church has a policy of inculturation.


title: History of circumcision

text: In the 18th century, Edward Gibbon referred to circumcision as a "singular mutilation" practised only by Jews and Turks and as "a painful and often dangerous rite" ... (R. Darby)


title: History of circumcision

text: In 1753 in London there was a proposal for Jewish emancipation. It was furiously opposed by the pamphleteers of the time, who spread the fear that Jewish emancipation meant universal circumcision. Men were urged to protect:


title: History of circumcision

text: These negative attitudes remained well into the 19th century. English explorer Sir Richard Burton observed that "Christendom practically holds circumcision in horror". However, starting in the last half of the 19th century, circumcision became common among Christians in the Western World, especially in the Anglosphere countries. Today many Christian denominations are neutral about ritual male circumcision, not requiring it for religious observance, but neither forbidding it for cultural or other reasons. Today male circumcision is commonly practiced in many predominantly Christian countries and among many Christian communities. The United States and the Philippines are the largest majority Christian countries in the world to extensively practice circumcision. Christian communities in the Anglosphere countries, Oceania, South Korea, the Philippines, the Middle East and Africa have high circumcision rates, while Christian communities in Europe and South America have low circumcision rates.


title: History of circumcision

text: Although negative attitudes prevailed for much of the 19th century, this began to change in the latter part of the century, especially in the English-speaking world. This shift can be seen in the account on circumcision in the Encyclopædia Britannica. The ninth edition, published in 1876, discusses the practice as a religious rite among Jews, Muslims, the ancient Egyptians and tribal peoples in various parts of the world. The author of the entry rejected sanitary explanations of the procedure in favour of a religious one: "like other body mutilations ... [it is] of the nature of a representative sacrifice". (R. Darby)


title: History of circumcision

text: "This surgical operation, which is commonly prescribed for purely medical reasons, is also an initiation or religious ceremony among Jews and Muslims".


title: History of circumcision

text: Now it was primarily a medical procedure and only after that a religious ritual. The entry explained that "in recent years the medical profession


title: History of circumcision

text: has been responsible for its considerable extension among other than Jewish children ... for reasons of health" (11th edition, Vol. 6).


title: History of circumcision

text: By 1929 the entry is much reduced in size and consists merely of a brief description of the operation, which is "done as a preventive measure in the infant" and "performed chiefly for purposes of cleanliness". Ironically, readers are then referred to the entries for "Mutilation" and "Deformation"


title: History of circumcision

text: There were two related concerns that led to the widespread adoption of this surgical procedure at this time. The first was a growing belief within the medical community regarding the efficacy of circumcision in reducing the risk of contracting sexually transmitted diseases, such as syphilis. The second was the notion that circumcision would lessen the urge towards masturbation, or "self abuse" as it was often called.


title: History of circumcision

text: The tradition of circumcision is said to have been practiced within the British Royal Family, with varying accounts regarding which monarch started it: either Queen Victoria on account of her rumored adherence to British Israelism and the notion she was a descendant of King David (or on the advice of her personal physician), or her third great-grandfather King George. The German-born King George was also the Prince-Elector of Hanover, and rumors existed that the Prince electors were circumcised. This is highly dubious since there is no evidence that Victoria was a supporter of the British Israeli movement, and the links between the royal family and the ancient House of David were only first proposed by its followers in the 1870s, long after she bore her sons (there is also evidence lacking that her sons, particularly Edward, had circumcisions); there is also no indication that the prince electors (or George himself) were circumcised and that the king introduced it upon his arrival to Britain and his ascension to the throne in 1714. If members of the royal family were circumcised, the reason was due to their embrace of a custom popular amongst the upper-classes in the late 19th and 20th centuries. Charles III and his brothers are believed to have been circumcised (the former by a reputable rabbi and mohel), but the supposed tradition ended before the births of Princes William and his brother Harry due to their mother Diana's objections. Speculations arose in the media that William's son George may have been circumcised following his birth in 2013, but this is also highly unlikely.


title: History of circumcision

text: The first medical doctor to advocate for the adoption of circumcision was the eminent English physician, Jonathan Hutchinson. In 1855, he published a study in which he compared the rate of contraction of venereal disease amongst the gentile and Jewish population of London. Although his manipulation and usage of the data has since been shown to have been flawed (the protection that Jews appear to have are more likely due to cultural factors), his study appeared to demonstrate that circumcised men were significantly less vulnerable to such disease. (A 2006 systematic review concluded that the evidence "strongly indicates that circumcised men are at lower risk of chancroid and syphilis.")


title: History of circumcision

text: Hutchinson was a notable leader in the campaign for medical circumcision for the next fifty years, publishing "A plea for circumcison" in the "British Medical Journal" (1890), where he contended that the foreskin "... constitutes a harbour for filth, and is a constant source of irritation. It conduces to masturbation, and adds to the difficulties of sexual continence. It increases the risk of syphilis in early life, and of cancer in the aged." As can be seen, he was also a convert to the idea that circumcision would prevent masturbation, a great Victorian concern. In an 1893 article, "On circumcision as a preventive of masturbation" he wrote: "I am inclined to believe that [circumcision] may often accomplish much, both in breaking the habit [of masturbation] as an immediate result, and in diminishing the temptation to it subsequently."


title: History of circumcision

text: Nathaniel Heckford, a paediatrician at the East London Hospital for Children, wrote "Circumcision as a Remedial Measure in Certain Cases of Epilepsy, Chorea, etc." (1865), in which he argued that circumcision acted as an effective remedial measure in the prevention of certain cases of epilepsy and chorea.


title: History of circumcision

text: These increasingly common medical beliefs were even applied to females. The controversial obstetrical surgeon Isaac Baker Brown founded the London Surgical Home for Women in 1858, where he worked on advancing surgical procedures. In 1866, Baker Brown described the use of clitoridectomy, the removal of the clitoris, as a cure for several conditions, including epilepsy, catalepsy and mania, which he attributed to masturbation. In "On the Curability of Certain Forms of Insanity, Epilepsy, Catalepsy, and Hysteria in Females", he gave a 70 per cent success rate using this treatment.


title: History of circumcision

text: However, during 1866, Baker Brown began to receive negative feedback from within the medical profession from doctors who opposed the use of clitoridectomies and questioned the validity of Baker Brown's claims of success. An article appeared in "The Times" in December, which was favourable towards Baker Brown's work but suggested that Baker Brown had treated women of unsound mind. He was also accused of performing clitoridectomies without the consent or knowledge of his patients or their families. In 1867 he was expelled from the Obstetrical Society of London for carrying out the operations without consent. Baker Brown's ideas were more accepted in the United States, where, from the 1860s, the operation was being used to cure hysteria, nymphomania, and in young girls what was called "rebellion" or "unfeminine aggression".