title: Urban renewal

text: The Civil Rights Act of 1964 is a landmark law to discard discrimination based on race, gender, religion, sex, national origin, and later sexual orientation and gender identity through legal means. At this time, racial deed restrictions on housing were legally removed and banned, which was an important step for Desegregation in the United States. However, redlining still existed to present the unequal real estate transaction for many ethnic minorities. Even though segregation was explicitly illegal, discrimination under urban planning context has been deep-rooted.


title: Urban renewal

text: From 1965 to 1967, riots swept many cities across the States—most drastically in Detroit during the 12th Street Riot. By the 1970s many major cities developed opposition to the sweeping urban-renewal plans for their cities. In Boston, community activists halted construction of the proposed Southwest Expressway but only after a three-mile long stretch of land had been cleared. In San Francisco, Joseph Alioto was the first mayor to publicly repudiate the policy of urban renewal, and with the backing of community groups, forced the state to end construction of highways through the heart of the city. Atlanta lost over 60,000 people between 1960 and 1970 because of urban renewal and expressway construction, but a downtown building boom turned the city into the showcase of the New South in the 1970s and 1980s. In the early 1970s in Toronto, Jacobs was heavily involved in a group which halted the construction of the Spadina Expressway and altered transport policy in that city.


title: Urban renewal

text: Some of the policies around urban renewal began to change under President Lyndon Johnson and the War on Poverty, and in 1968, the Housing and Urban Development Act and The New Communities Act of 1968 guaranteed private financing for private entrepreneurs to plan and develop new communities. Subsequently, the Housing and Community Development Act of 1974 established the Community Development Block Grant program (CDBG) which began in earnest the focus on redevelopment of existing neighborhoods and properties, rather than demolition of substandard housing and economically depressed areas.


title: Urban renewal

text: Until 1970, the displaced owners and tenants received only the constitutionally-mandated "just compensation" specified in the Fifth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution. This measure of compensation covered only the fair market value of the taken property, and omitted compensation for a variety of incidental losses like, for example, moving expenses, loss of favorable financing and notably, business losses, such as loss of business goodwill. In the 1970s the federal government and state governments enacted the Uniform Relocation Assistance Act which provides for limited compensation of some of these losses. However the Act denies the displaced land owners the right to sue to enforce its provisions, so it is deemed an act of legislative grace rather than a constitutional right. Historically, urban redevelopment has been controversial because of such practices as taking private property by eminent domain for "public use" and then turning it over to redevelopers free of charge or for less than the acquisition cost (known as "land write-down"). Thus, in the controversial Connecticut case of Kelo v. City of New London (2005) the plan called for a redeveloper to lease the subject 90-acre waterfront property for $1 per year.


title: Urban renewal

text: Currently, a mix of renovation, selective demolition, commercial development, and tax incentives is most often used to revitalize urban neighborhoods. An example of an entire eradication of a community is Africville in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Gentrification is still controversial, and often results in familiar patterns of poorer residents being priced out of urban areas into suburbs or more depressed areas of cities. Some programs, such as that administered by Fresh Ministries and Operation New Hope in Jacksonville, Florida, and the Hill Community Development Corporation (Hill CDC) in Pittsburgh's historic Hill District attempt to develop communities, while at the same time combining highly favorable loan programs with financial literacy education so that poorer residents are not displaced.


title: Urban renewal

text: An example of urban renewal gone wrong in the United States is in downtown Niagara Falls, New York. Most of the original downtown was demolished in the 1960s, and many replacement projects including the Rainbow Centre Factory Outlet, Niagara Falls Convention and Civic Center, the Native American Cultural Center, the Hooker Chemical (later the Occidental Petroleum) Headquarters building, the Wintergarden, the Fallsville Splash Park, a large parking ramp, an enclosed pedestrian walkway, the Falls Street Faire & Falls Street Station entertainment complexes, sections of the Robert Moses State Parkway, and the Mayor E. Dent Lackey Plaza closed within twenty to thirty years of their construction. In several American cities, some demolished blocks were never replaced.


title: Urban renewal

text: Ultimately, the former tourist district of the city along Falls Street was destroyed. It went against the principles of several urban philosophers, such as Jane Jacobs, who claimed that mixed-use districts were needed (which the new downtown was not) and arteries needed to be kept open. Smaller buildings also should be built or kept. In Niagara Falls, however, the convention center blocked traffic into the city, located in the center of Falls Street (the main artery), and the Wintergarden also blocked traffic from the convention center to the Niagara Falls. The Rainbow Centre interrupted the street grid, taking up three blocks, and parking ramps isolated the city from the core, leading to the degradation of nearby neighborhoods. Tourists were forced to walk around the Rainbow Center, the Wintergarden, and the Quality Inn (all of which were adjacent), in total five blocks, discouraging small business in the city.


title: Urban renewal

text: Urban renewal sometimes lives up to the hopes of its original proponents – it has been assessed by politicians, urban planners, civic leaders, and residents – it has played an undeniably important if controversial role. But at other times urban redevelopment projects have failed in several American cities, having wasted large amounts of public funds to no purpose.


title: Urban renewal

text: Replenished housing stock might be an improvement in quality; it may increase density and reduce sprawl; it might have economic benefits and improve the global economic competitiveness of a city's centre. It may, in some instances, improve cultural and social amenity, and it may also improve opportunities for safety and surveillance. Developments such as London Docklands increased tax revenues for government.


title: Urban renewal

text: In late 1964, the British commentator Neil Wates expressed the opinion that urban renewal in the United States had 'demonstrated the tremendous advantages which flow from an urban renewal programme,' such as remedying the 'personal problems' of the poor, creation or renovation of housing stock, educational and cultural 'opportunities'. In the United States successful urban redevelopment projects tend to revitalize downtown areas, but have not been successful in revitalizing cities as a whole. The process has often resulted in the displacement of low-income city inhabitants when their dwellings were taken and demolished. Eventually, urban redevelopment became an engine of construction of shopping malls, automobile factories and dealerships, "large box" department stores (like Target, Costco and Best Buy). Thus, in Washington, DC, the famous (or notorious) Southwest Washington renewal project (see Berman v. Parker) displaced thousands of largely African-American families, but provided them with no replacement housing because at the time (1954) the law did not provide for any. Also, the version of the project that was approved by the U.S. Supreme Court in Berman, provided for low-cost replacement housing, one-third of which was to rent for $17/room/month, but after the court's decision, that provision in the local law was repealed.


title: Urban renewal

text: Replacement housing – particularly in the form of high-rise housing for low-income tenants – has not been successful. These projects are difficult to police, leading to an increase in crime, and such structures might in themselves be dehumanizing. Public housing projects like Cabrini-Green in Chicago and Pruitt-Igoe in St. Louis became so bad that they had to be demolished.


title: Urban renewal

text: Moreover, as an important method of urban renewal project, slum clearance seemed very effective in cleaning the city environment but failed in solving the real social problems that causes slums. And low-income residents were forced to move out of their communities, which is considered as direct displacement. Moreover, urban renewal is highly like to open the door for gentrification, which leads to the outcome that the high middle-class residents take place of the urban renewal area by making the rising housing price no longer affordable by low-income residents. It's an outcome of indirect displacement. The threatened groups also sometimes suffer from social inequalities due to discrimination on racial identity.


title: Urban renewal

text: In 2000, the Portland, Oregon city leaders' promised to make amends for its treatment of local African-Americans, whose communities had decimated through the local urban renewal program. The promise said money spent in North and Northeast Portland would benefit the poor, the elderly and people of color, but after 16 years, the city leaders failed in fulfilling the promise. In these years, white developers leveraged city cash into multimillion-dollar apartment projects, the increasing prices force the African-American and other low-income residents out of the market.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: The Alpha variant (B.1.1.7) was a SARS-CoV-2 variant of concern. It was estimated to be 40–80% more transmissible than the wild-type SARS-CoV-2 (with most estimates occupying the middle to higher end of this range). It was first detected in November 2020 from a sample taken in September in the United Kingdom, and began to spread quickly by mid-December, around the same time as infections surged. This increase is thought to be at least partly because of one or more mutations in the virus' spike protein. The variant was also notable for having more mutations than normally seen.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: By January 2021, more than half of all genomic sequencing of SARS-CoV-2 was carried out in the UK. This had given rise to questions as to how many other important variants were circulating around the world undetected.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: On 2 February 2021, Public Health England reported that they had detected "[a] limited number of B.1.1.7 VOC-202012/01 genomes with E484K mutations", which they dubbed Variant of Concern 202102/02 (VOC-202102/02). One of the mutations (N501Y) is also present in Beta variant and Gamma variant.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: On 31 May 2021, the World Health Organization announced that the Variant of Concern would be labelled "Alpha" for use in public communications.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: The variant is known by several names. Outside the UK it is sometimes referred to as the "UK variant" or "British variant" or "English variant", despite the existence of other, less common, variants first identified in UK, such as Eta variant (lineage B.1.525). Within the UK, it is commonly referred to as the "Kent variant" after Kent, where the variant was found.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In scientific use, the variant had originally been named "the first Variant Under Investigation in December 2020" (VUI – 202012/01) by Public Health England (PHE), but was reclassified to a Variant of Concern ("Variant of Concern 202012/01", abbreviated "VOC-202012/01") by Meera Chand and her colleagues in a report published by PHE on 21 December 2020. In a report written on behalf of COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium, Andrew Rambaut and his co-authors, using the Phylogenetic Assignment of Named Global Outbreak Lineages (pangolin) tool, dubbed it "lineage B.1.1.7", while Nextstrain dubbed the variant "20I/501Y.V1".


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: Mutations in SARS-CoV-2 are common: over 4,000 mutations have been detected in its spike protein alone, according to the COVID-19 Genomics UK (COG-UK) Consortium.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: VOC-202012/01 is defined by 23 mutations: 14 non-synonymous mutations, 3 deletions, and 6 synonymous mutations (i.e., there are 17 mutations that change proteins and six that do not).


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: Imperial College London investigated over a million people in England while the Alpha variant was dominant and discovered a wide range of further symptoms linked to Covid. "Chills, loss of appetite, headache and muscle aches" were most common in infected people, as well as classic symptoms.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: Several rapid antigen tests for SARS-CoV-2 are in widespread use globally for COVID-19 diagnostics. They are believed to be useful in stopping the chain of transmission of the virus by providing the means to rapidly identify large numbers of cases as part of a mass-testing program. Following the emergence of VOC-202012/01, there was initially concern that rapid tests might not detect it, but Public Health England determined that rapid tests evaluated and used in the United Kingdom detected the variant.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: However, as further mutations occur, concerns were raised as to whether vaccine development would need to be altered. SARS-CoV-2 does not mutate as quickly as, for example, influenza viruses, and the new vaccines that had proved effective by the end of 2020 are types that can be adjusted if necessary. As of the end of 2020, German, British, and American health authorities and experts believe that existing vaccines will be as effective against VOC-202012/01 as against previous variants.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: On 18 December, NERVTAG determined "that there are currently insufficient data to draw any conclusion on… [a]ntigenic escape".


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: , Public Health England confirmed there is "no evidence" to suggest that the new variant would be resistant to the Pfizer–BioNTech vaccine currently being used in the UK's vaccination programme, and that people should still be protected.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: On 2 February 2021, Public Health England reported that they had detected "[a] limited number of B.1.1.7 VOC-202012/01 genomes with E484K mutations", which is also present in the Beta and Gamma variants; a mutation which may reduce vaccine effectiveness. On 9 February 2021, it became known that some 76 cases with the E484K mutation had been detected, principally in Bristol, but with a genomically distinct group in Liverpool also carrying the mutation. A week later a Research and analysis report from PHE gave a total of 77 confirmed and probable cases involving the E484K mutation across the UK, in two variants, VUI-202102/01 and VOC-202102/02, the latter described as 'B.1.1.7 with E484K'.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: On 5 March 2021, it was reported that a B.1.1.7 lineage with the E484K mutation has been detected in two US patients (in Oregon and New York states). Researchers think that the E484K mutation in the Oregon variant has arisen independently.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: The transmissibility of the Alpha variant (lineage B.1.1.7) had generally been found to be substantially higher than that of pre-existing SARS-CoV-2 variants. The variant was discovered by a team of scientists at COG-UK whose initial results found transmissibility was 70% (50-100%) higher. A study by the Centre for the Mathematical Modelling of Infectious Diseases at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine reported that the variant was 43 to 90% (range of 95% credible intervals, 38 to 130%) more transmissible than pre-existing variants in the United Kingdom, depending on the method used to assess increases in transmissibility, and measured similar increases in the transmissibility of lineage B.1.1.7 in Denmark, Switzerland, and the United States. Furthermore, a simple model to account for the rapid rise of lineage B.1.1.7 in several countries and the world found that the variant is 50% more transmissible than the local wild type in these three countries and across the world as whole. Another study concluded that it was 75% (70%–80%) more transmissible in the UK between October and November 2020. A later study suggested that these earlier estimates overestimated the transmissibility of the variant and that the transmissibility increase was on the lower ends of these ranges.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: The Dutch Ministry of Health, Welfare and Sport calculated, based on genome sequencing of positive cases, each week the transmissibility rate of the variant compared to the local wildtype, and found it to fluctuate between 28%-47% higher during the first six weeks of 2021. The Danish Statens Serum Institut in comparison calculated it to be 55% (48%–62%) more transmissible in Denmark based upon the observed development of its relative frequency from 4 January to 12 February 2021. The Institute of Social and Preventive Medicine (ISPM) under University of Bern, calculated the transmissibility of lineage B.1.1.7 based on the weekly development of its observed fraction of all Covid-19 positives during the entire pandemic, and found for 95% confidence intervals under the assumption of a wildtype reproduction number Rw≈1 and an exponentially generation time of 5.2 days, that transmissibility was: 52% (45%–60%) higher when compared to the wildtype in Denmark and 51% (42%-60%) higher when compared to the wildtype in Switzerland.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: On 18 December 2020—early on in the risk assessment of the variant—the UK scientific advisory body New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (NERVTAG) concluded that they had moderate confidence that VOC-202012/01 was substantially more transmissible than other variants, but that there were insufficient data to reach any conclusion on underlying mechanism of increased transmissibility (e.g. increased viral load, tissue distribution of virus replication, serial interval etc.), the age distribution of cases, or disease severity. Data seen by NERVTAG indicated that the relative reproduction number ("multiplicative advantage") was determined to be 1.74—i.e., the variant is 74% more transmissible—assuming a 6.5-day generational interval. It was demonstrated that the variant grew fast exponentially with respect to the other variants. The variant out-competed the ancestral variant by a factor of every two weeks. Another group came to similar conclusions, generating a replicative advantage, independent of "protective measures", of 2.24 per generation of 6.73 days, out-competing the ancestral variant by every two weeks. Similarly, in Ireland, the variant—as indicated by the missing S gene detection ("S-gene target failure" [SGTF]), which historically was rare—went from 16.3% to 46.3% of cases in two weeks. This demonstrates, based on the statistics of 116 positive samples, that the variant had a relative higher growth by a factor of when compared to the average growth for all other variants by the end of this two week period. The variant became the dominant variant in London, East of England and the South East from low levels in one to two months. A surge of SARS-CoV-2 infections around the start of the new year is seen as being the result of the elevated transmissibility of the variant, while the other variants were in decline.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: One of the most important changes in lineage B.1.1.7 seems to be N501Y, a change from asparagine (N) to tyrosine (Y) in amino-acid position 501. This is because of its position inside the spike protein's receptor-binding domain (RBD)—more specifically inside the receptor-binding motif (RBM), a part of the RBD—which binds human ACE2. Mutations in the RBD can change antibody recognition and ACE2 binding specificity and lead to the virus becoming more infectious;. Chand et al. concluded that "[i]t is highly likely that N501Y affects the receptor-binding affinity of the spike protein, and it is possible that this mutation alone or in combination with the deletion at 69/70 in the N-terminal domain (NTD) is enhancing the transmissibility of the virus". In early 2021 a peer-reviewed paper found that the mentioned HV 69–70 deletion "in vitro" "appeared to have two-fold higher infectivity over a single round of infection compared to " in lentiviral SARS-CoV-2 pseudoviruses.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: Using In Silico approach, Shahhosseini et al. demonstrated that the Y501 mutation in lineage B.1.1.7 forms a shorter H-bond (length of 2.94 Å) than its counterpart in the wild type (WT) variant residue N501, indicating that in lineage B.1.1.7 the RBD and hACE2 have a stable interaction. Furthermore, the Y501 mutation in lineage B.1.1.7 contributes more negatively to Binding Free Energy (BFE) (-7.18 kcal/mol) than its counterpart in the WT variant residue N501 (-2.92 kcal/mol). As a result of combining BFE and molecular interaction results, the N501Y mutation in RBD strengthens binding affinity of SARS-CoV-2 RBD to hACE2.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: Matched cohort studies of the Alpha variant (lineage B.1.1.7) found higher mortality rate than earlier circulating variants overall, but not in hospitalised patients. An ecological study found no difference in mortality overall.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: Initially, NERVTAG said on 18 December 2020 that there were insufficient data to reach a conclusion regarding disease severity. At prime minister Boris Johnson's briefing the following day, officials said that there was "no evidence" as of that date that the variant caused higher mortality or was affected differently by vaccines and treatments; Vivek Murthy agreed with this. Susan Hopkins, the joint medical adviser for the NHS Test and Trace and Public Health England (PHE), declared in mid-December 2020: "There is currently no evidence that this strain causes more severe illness, although it is being detected in a wide geography, especially where there are increased cases being detected." Around a month later, however—on 22 January 2021—Johnson said that "there is some evidence that the new variant [VOC-202012/01]… may be associated with a higher degree of mortality", though Sir Patrick Vallance, the government's Chief Scientific Advisor, stressed that there is not yet enough evidence to be fully certain of this.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In a paper analysing twelve different studies on lineage B.1.1.7 death rate relative to other lineages, it was found to have a higher death rate (71% according to LSHTM, 70% according to University of Exeter, 65% according to Public Health England, and 36% according to Imperial College London), and NERVTAG concluded: "Based on these analyses, it is likely that infection with VOC B.1.1.7 is associated with an increased risk of hospitalisation and death compared to


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: infection with non-VOC viruses". Results of the death studies were associated with some high uncertainty and confidence intervals, because of a limited sample size related to the fact that UK only analysed the VOC status for 8% of all COVID-19 deaths.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: A UK case-control study for 54,906 participants, testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 between 1 October 2020 and 29 January 2021 in the community setting (not including vulnerable persons from care centres and other public institutions), reported that patients infected with the Alpha variant (VOC 202012/1) had a hazard ratio for death within 28 days of testing of 1.64 (95% confidence interval 1.32-2.04), as compared with matched patients positive for other variants of SARS-CoV-2. Also in the UK, a survival analysis of 1,146,534 participants testing positive for SARS-CoV-2 between 1 November 2020 and 14 February 2021, including individuals in the community and in care and nursing homes, found a hazard ratio of 1.61 (95% confidence interval 1.42–1.82) for death within 28 days of testing among individuals infected with lineage B.1.1.7; no significant differences in the increased hazard of death associated with lineage B.1.1.7 were found among individuals differing in age, sex, ethnicity, deprivation level, or place of residence. Both studies adjusted for varying COVID-19 mortality by geographical region and over time, correcting for potential biases due to differences in testing rates or differences in the availability of hospital services over time and space.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: A Danish study found people infected by lineage B.1.1.7 to be 64% (32%–104%) more likely to get admitted to hospitals compared with people infected by another lineage.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: Genetic sequencing of VOC-202012/01 has shown a Q27stop mutation which "truncates the ORF8 protein or renders it inactive". An earlier study of SARS-CoV-2 variants which deleted the ORF8 gene noted that they "have been associated to milder symptoms and better disease outcome". The study also noted that "SARS-CoV-2 ORF8 is an immunoglobulin (Ig)–like protein that modulates pathogenesis", that "SARS-CoV-2 ORF8 mediates major histocompatibility complex I (MHC-I) degradation", and that "SARS-CoV-2 ORF8 suppresses type I interferon (IFN)–mediated antiviral response".


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: Referring to amino-acid position 501 inside the spike protein, Chand et al. concluded that "it is possible that variants at this position affect the efficacy of neutralisation of virus", but noted that "[t]here is currently no neutralisation data on N501Y available from polyclonal sera from natural infection". The HV 69–70 deletion has, however, been discovered "in viruses that eluded the immune response in some immunocompromised patients", and has also been found "in association with other changes".


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: Cases of the Alpha variant (lineage B.1.1.7) were estimated to be under-reported by most countries as the most commonly used tests do not distinguish between this variant and other SARS-CoV-2 variants, and as many SARS-CoV-2 infections are not detected at all. RNA sequencing is required for detection of this variant, although RT-PCR test for specific variants can be used as a proxy test for Alpha — or as a supplementing first-screening test before conducting the whole-genome sequencing.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: As of 23 March, the Alpha variant had been detected in 125 out of 241 sovereign states and dependencies (or 104 out of 194 WHO member countries), of which some had reported existence of community transmission while others so far only found travel related cases. As of 16 March, it had become the dominant COVID-19 variant for 21 countries: United Kingdom (week 52), Ireland (week 2), Bulgaria (week 4), Slovakia (week 5), Israel (week 5), Luxembourg (week 5), Portugal (week 6), Denmark (week 7), Netherlands (week 7), Norway (week 7), Italy (week 7), Belgium (week 7), France (week 8), Austria (week 8), Switzerland (week 8), Liechtenstein (week 9), Germany (week 9), Sweden (week 9), Spain (week 9), Malta (week 10) and Poland (week 11). The emergence and the fast spreading of the new variant has been detected in Lebanon and a relationship noted between SARS-CoV-2 transmission intensity and the frequency of the new variant during the first twelve days of January. Since February, Alpha has become the dominant variant in Lebanon.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: As of February 2021, none of the countries from South America, Central America, Africa, Middle East (except Israel), Asia and Oceania had reported data for the detected share of the Alpha variant among their COVID-19 positives; rendering it unknown whether or not Alpha could be dominant for their COVID-19 pandemic.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: The first case was likely in mid-September 2020 in London or Kent, United Kingdom. As of 13 December 2020, 1,108 cases with this variant had been identified in the UK in nearly 60 different local authorities. These cases were predominantly in the south east of England. The variant has also been identified in Wales and Scotland. By November, around a quarter of cases in the COVID-19 pandemic in London were being caused by the new variant, and by December, that was a third. In mid-December, it was estimated that almost 60 percent of cases in London involved Alpha. By 25 January 2021, the number of confirmed and probable UK cases had grown to 28,122.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In Bulgaria, genome sequencing found the variant to be dominant with 52.1% in week 4, followed by 73.4% in week 9.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: Also in Slovakia, a RT-PCR Multiplex DX test capable of detecting the 2 deletions specific for lineage B.1.1.7 (ΔH69/ΔV70 and ΔY144), first found the variant nationwide in 74% of cases on 3 February (week 5), followed by 72% of cases on 15 February (week 7), and it then grew to 90% of cases on 3 March (week 9). The same test found earlier on 8 January prevalence of the variant at a rate of 36% in the Michalovce District and 29% in Nitra.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In Israel, the variant was first time detected by genome sequencing 23 December 2020. Leumit Health Care Services however analysed with the proxy test RT-PCR (SGTF) and found the variant at a rate of 3‑4% on 15 December. The national Ministry of Health estimated based on genome sequencing, that the prevalence of the variant became dominant (70%) on 6 February followed by 90% on 16 February.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In Luxembourg, a weekly genome sequencing revealed that the variant grew from 0.3% (week 51) to be dominant with a share of 53.0% in week 5, although results might not be fully representative due to the fact that no correction occurred from potential targeting bias from contact tracing, airport travellers and local outbreaks. Genome sequencing of a population representative randomized test pool - with no target bias - was conducted since week 6, and it confirmed the dominant status of the variant at a rate of 54.1% (week 6) growing to 62.8% (week 9), while the competing Beta variant (lineage B.1.351) was found to be at 18.5% in week 9.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In Denmark the variant grew from 0.3% (week 46 of 2020) to become dominant with 65.9% (week 7 of 2021), and it grew further to 92.7% (week 10); with the regional prevalence ranging from 87.3% in the North Jutland Region to 96.1% in the Central Denmark Region. The observed growth of the relative variant share, was in full accordance with the earlier modelled forecast, that had predicted dominance (over 50%) around mid-February and a prevalence of around 80% of the total circulating variants by early March. In comparison, the genome sequencing only found the competing Beta variant in 0.4% of the positive cases (9 times out of 2315 tests) in week 10.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In the Netherlands, a randomly conducted genome sequencing found that the variant grew from 1.3% of cases in week 49 to a dominant share of 61.3% in week 7, followed by 82.0% in week 9; while the competing Beta variant in comparison was found to be at 3.0% in week 9. In Amsterdam, the Alpha variant (lineage B.1.1.7) grew from 5.2% (week 52) to 54.5% (week 6).


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In Norway, the variant was found by genome sequencing to grow from 5.7% (week 1) into dominance by a 58.4% (week 7), followed by 65.0% (week 8). Another large survey comprising results of both genome sequencing and PCR proxy tests, with a sample seize of more than 1000 tests per week (since week 4), at the same time found that the variant grew from 2.0% (week 48) into dominance by 60.0% (week 7), followed by 72.7% in week 10 - while only 2.2% of cases in comparison were found to be of the Beta variant. The variant regionally had its highest share in the county of Oslo and Viken, growing from 18% to 90% of analysed samples in Oslo from 20 January to 23 February (although with the data-corrected estimate a bit lower at 50-70% on 23 February); while growing from 21% to 80% of analysed samples in Viken from 25 January to 23 February (although with the data-corrected estimate a bit lower at 50% on 23 February). For the period 15 February to 14 March, the combined survey of genome sequencing and PCR proxy tests, also found the Alpha variant was at a dominant rate over 50% for 8 out of 11 regions, with its highest rate (82%) found for Oslo; while the region Nordland was different from all other regions by having only 6% cases of Alpha along with a dominant 88% of cases represented by the Beta variant.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In Portugal, the variant represented according to a national genome sequencing survey: 16.0% of the Covid-19 infections during 10–19 January (week 2), followed by a dominant 58.2% in week 6. A national RT-PCR proxy test based on SGTF and SGTL observations, found the variant at a rate of 33.5% in week 4, but observed afterwards a decelerating pace for the weekly rise of the variant share (reason unknown), and according to this study it only became dominant by 50.5% in week 8, followed by 64.3% in week 10.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In Italy, the Alpha variant accounted for 17.8% of cases nationwide on 4–5 February (week 5), followed by 54.0% on 18 February (week 7). The regional prevalence for week 7 ranged from 0% in Aosta Valley (although only one sample was tested) to 93.3% in Molise. In week 7, the competing Gamma variant had a prevalence of 4.3% (ranging between 0%-36.2% regionally) and the South African variant a prevalence of 0.4% (ranging between 0%-2.9% regionally).


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In Switzerland, a nationwide weekly genome sequencing survey found that the Alpha variant grew from 0.05% (week 51) to a dominant 58.2% of cases in week 8, followed by 71.1% in week 9. This was in full accordance with a model from 9 February that had forecast dominance around mid-February. In comparison, the competing Beta variant was only found nationwide in 1.0% of the positive cases in week 9.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In Belgium, genome sequencing of samples selected randomly after excluding all samples from active targeted testing related to local outbreaks or travels (creating a statistical representative national sample with a seize equal to 4.4% of all COVID-19 positive tests), found that the Alpha variant share grew from 7.1% in week 1 to a dominant 51.5% in week 7, followed by 79.3% in week 10. The variant was first time detected by targeted genome sequencing in week 49, but due to a small sample seize (not being random, and less than 100 tests per week) then no reliable variant share data could be determined before week 1. The proxy test for the variant (RT-PCR SGTF) was also conducted for a sample seize equal to 25.8% of all COVID-19 positive tests, and found a dominant 54.8% SGTF rate for week 10. In comparison, the competing Beta variant was found to be at 3.6% and the Gamma variant had a prevalence of 1.8% in week 10.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In France, scientists accurately forecast the Alpha variant (VOC-202012/01) would likely become dominant nationwide around week 8–11 of 2021. A nationwide survey of randomly selected positive COVID-19 samples first analysed by a RT-PCR screening test and subsequently confirmed by genome sequencing, revealed that the variant grew from a share of 3.3% (388/11916) on 7–8 January (week 1) to 13.3% (475/3561) on 27 January (week 4), followed by 44.3% (273/615) on 16 February (week 7). In week 8, the variant was found to have a dominant share of 56.4% (758/1345) according to the interpretable results of a weekly genome sequencing survey comprising 0.9% of all COVID-19 positive tests, or 59.5% according to a variant-specific RT-PCR survey testing 54% of all the COVID-19 positive tests. In week 10, the variant was found to have a share of 71.9% according to a variant-specific RT-PCR survey testing 56.9% of all the COVID-19 positive tests. The spread of the variant differed regionally for the 96 departments located in Metropolitan France for week 10, with 91 departments over 50% and 5 departments with 30%-50% (of which the Moselle department in particular was notable due to finding a high 38.3% rate of the competing Beta variant, that - despite having declined from a dominant 54.4% value in week 8 - still was significantly above the 5.0% national average for this specific variant).


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In Austria, Agentur für Gesundheit und Ernährungssicherheit (AGES) collected data from N501Y RT-PCR specific tests combined with subsequent genome sequencing analysis, and found that the variant grew from 7.2% (week 1) to a dominant 61.3% (week 8), followed by 61.2% in week 9 and 48.3% in week 10. If all N501Y positive tests had been analysed further by genome sequencing, then these listed shares could have been even higher, for example they could have been as mcuh as: 2.4% higher for week 1, 23.0% higher for week 7, 4.0% higher for week 8, 6.8% higher for week 9 and 25.4% higher for week 10. The competing Beta variant was only found nationwide in 0.3% of the positive cases in week 10, and for the region Tyrol - where it had been most prevalent - its share declined from 24.5% in week 4 to just 1.9% in week 10. Regionally Alpha was found to be dominant with over 50% for 7 out of 9 regions, with the only two exceptions being Tyrol and Vorarlberg.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In Germany, the largest and probably most representative national survey published by the Robert Koch Institute (entitled "RKI-Testzahlerfassung"), determined the share of circulating COVID-19 variants for the latest week by analysing 53,272 COVID-19 positive samples either by genome sequencing or RT-PCR proxy tests, with data collected on a voluntary basis from 84 laboratories from the university / research / clinical / outpatient sector - spread evenly across the nation. The survey did not utilize data weights or data selection criteria to ensure existence of geographical representativity, but might still be regarded as somewhat representative for the national average due to its big sample seize. According to the "RKI-Testzahlerfassung" survey, the variant grew from a share of 2.0% (week 2) to a dominant share of 54.5% (week 9), followed by 63.5% in week 10. In comparison, the competing Beta variant was only found nationwide in 0.9% of the positive cases in week 10.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In Malta, the variant was first time detected by genome sequencing on 30 December 2020, and represented 8% of the positive cases in week 7. A new RT-PCR variant specific test was introduced for the surveillance, where the first results reported on 10 March revealed the variant now represented 61% of cases nationwide.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In Sweden, the national authorities initially expected the variant would become dominant around week 12–14 under the assumption of 50% increased transmissibility compared to the original virus. In average, the variant share was found growing from 10.8% (week 4) to 36.9% (week 7) across five of its southern regions (Skåne, Västra Götaland, Västmanland, Gävleborg and Örebro). For week 7, the share of the variant was for the first time also calculated to 30.4% as the overall average for 19 out of 21 Swedish regions (ranging from 3.3% in Blekinge to 45% in Gävleborg). For week 9, the share of the variant was calculated to a dominant 56.4% as the overall average for the 19 regions (ranging from 16% in Kronoberg to 72% in Gävleborg). For week 10, the share of the variant was calculated to have increased further to 71.3% as the overall average for the 19 regions (ranging from 40% in Kronoberg to 84% in Jönköping). Although no geographical weights were applied to ensure geographical representativity for the calculated average for the 19 regions, the overall sample seize of 12,417 variant tests represented 43.1% of all COVID-19 positive PCR-tests for week 10, inferring that the result of the survey might be close to represent the actual true average for the nation as a whole.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In the microstate Liechtenstein, the first case of Alpha was detected on 19 December 2020. During the entire pandemic, 67 VOC-N501Y PCR-positive cases were detected comprising 58 cases of Alpha, 1 of Beta (detected 1 February) and 8 un-identified N501Y cases (from 10 Dec. to 22 Feb.), as of 18 March 2021. The weekly average of each days calculated 7-day rolling average for the share of all detected VOC-N501Y cases (which is a good proxy for Alpha in Liechtenstein), was found to be 10.9% in week 5, followed by a dominant 52.2% in week 9 (where 8 out of 15 tests were found to be Alpha); and grew further to 73.4% in week 10 (where 6 out of 9 tests were found to be Alpha).


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In Spain, the variant share was estimated nationwide to be 5%-10% of cases on 29 January, followed by 20%-25% of cases on 18 February and 25%-30% of cases on 22 February, and estimated to be dominant with over 50% as of 3 March (week 9). As of week 10, the prevalence of the variant ranged from 18.3% to 97.0% for the 17 regions, with all but two regions having a dominant rate above 50%:


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In Poland, a national survey among infected teachers led to experts estimating that the variant share was between 5% to 10% nationwide as of 11 February, while ECDC reported it to be 9% as of 15 February. According to Health minister Adam Niedzielski, the variant was found at a rate of 5% in the first studies from the second half of January, and then it increased by ten percentage points every ten days, until it became dominant nationwide by a 52% rate on 16 March (week 11). Regionally, the variant had already exceeded 70% for Warmian-Masurian and Pomeranian on 22–23 February (week 8), and even reached 90% for the Greater Poland Voivodeship on 17 March (week 11).


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In Finland, no statistical representative national survey had been conducted as of February 2021, as the national genome sequencing mainly targeted further analysis of COVID-19 positive samples from travellers and local outbreak clusters. Helsinky University Hospital (HUS), operating in the Helsinki and Uusimaa Hospital District, found the variant in 10% of all samples collected randomly during a few days ahead of 14 February in the capitol region (also known as the Helsinky constituency and Uusimaa constituency). For the capitol region, the variant was modelled to become dominant (over 50%) in the second half of March (week 11-13).


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In Iceland, the national authorities implemented a strict 3 test and quarantine regime for all persons entering the country from abroad, that so far successfully managed to prevent new infectious VOCs from gaining a foothold in the country. As of 4 March, a total of 90 travellers had tested positive for the Alpha variant at Iceland's borders and the 20 additional domestic cases were all closely connected to the border cases, with no cases related to community transmission.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In the United States, the variant first appeared late November 2020, grew from 1.2% in late January and became predominant around the end of March.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In Canada, the variant first appeared in Ontario late December 2020. By 13 February, it had spread to all ten provinces. Testing and confirmation of the Alpha variant (lineage B.1.1.7) in COVID-19-positive samples has been inconsistent across the country. On 3 February, the province of Alberta was the first to screen all COVID-19 positive samples for variants of concern. As of 23 March, the Alpha variant had been detected in 5812 cases, and was most prevalent in the province of Alberta. In Ontario, a combined RT-PCR (N501Y) and genome sequencing study found that all VOCs represented 4.4% of all COVID-19 positives on 20 January (week 3), and that Alpha comprised 99% of all those VOCs. Public Health Ontario laboratories found the variant in close to 7% of all COVID-19 positives in week 5, representing 97% (309/319) of all detected VOCs. Alpha became the dominant variant on or around 16 March; 53% of all positive cases were VOCs, and it was presumed 97% of VOCs were Alpha. In Quebec, where the variant was also widespread, it was expected to become dominant by late March or in April.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: The relatively low sensitivity of the projected dominance dates to the current percentage of the variant is due to its fast relative exponential growth. Recently, Delta appears to have overtaken Alpha in North America as it has in the UK.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: The following additional countries did not report variant shares, but are likely to have a significant share present due to their finding of more than 50 cases confirmed by whole genome sequencing per 13 March 2021:


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: The GISAID database of all sequenced COVID-19 genomes, calculates for each country for the past four weeks an average "Relative Variant Genome Frequency" for submitted samples. Those observed frequencies are however subject to sampling and reporting biases, and do not represent exact variant share prevalence due to absence of statistical representativity.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: Cases of the variant began to be reported globally during December, being reported in Denmark, Belgium, the Netherlands, Australia and Italy. Shortly after, several other countries confirmed their first cases, the first of whom were found in Iceland and Gibraltar, then Singapore, Israel and Northern Ireland on 23 December, Germany and Switzerland on 24 December, and the Republic of Ireland and Japan confirmed on 25 December.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: The first cases in Canada, France, Lebanon, Spain and Sweden were reported on 26 December. Jordan, Norway, and Portugal reported their first case on 27 December, Finland and South Korea reported their first cases on 28 December, and Chile, India, Pakistan and the United Arab Emirates reported their first cases on 29 December. The first case of new variant in Malta and Taiwan are reported on 30 December. China and Brazil reported their first cases of the new variant on 31 December. The United Kingdom and Denmark are sequencing their SARS-CoV-2 cases at considerably higher rates than most others, and it was considered likely that additional countries would detect the variant later.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: The United States reported a case in Colorado with no travel history on 29 December, the sample was taken on 24 December. On 6 January 2021, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention announced that it had found at least 52 confirmed cases in California, Florida, Colorado, Georgia, and New York. In the following days, more cases of the variant were reported in other states, leading former CDC director Tom Frieden to express his concerns that the U.S. will soon face "close to a worst-case scenario".


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: Turkey detected its first cases in 15 people from England on 1 January 2021. It was reported on 1 January that Denmark had found a total of 86 cases of the variant, equalling an overall frequency of less than 1% of the sequenced cases in the period from its first detection in the country in mid-November to the end of December; this had increased to 1.6% of sequenced tests in the period from mid-November to week two of 2021, with 7% of sequenced tests in this week alone being of Alpha variant (lineage B.1.1.7). Luxembourg and Vietnam reported their first case of this variant on 2 January 2021.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: On 3 January 2021, Greece and Jamaica detected their first four cases of this variant and Cyprus announced that it had detected Alpha (VOC 202012/01) in 12 samples. At the same time, New Zealand and Thailand reported their first cases of this variant, where the former reported six cases made up of five from the United Kingdom and one from South Africa, and the latter reported the cases from a family of four who had arrived from Kent. Georgia reported its first case and Austria reported their first four cases of this variant, along with one case of Beta variant, on 4 January.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: On 5 January, Iran, Oman, and Slovakia reported their first cases of VOC-202012/01. On 8 January, Romania reported its first case of the variant, an adult woman from Giurgiu County who declared not having left the country recently. On 9 January, Peru confirmed its first case of the variant. Mexico and Russia reported their first case of this variant on 10 January, then Malaysia and Latvia on 11 January.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: On 12 January, Ecuador confirmed its first case of this variant. The Philippines and Hungary both detected the presence of the variant on 13 January. The Gambia recorded first cases of the variant on 14 January with it being the first confirmation of the variant's presence in Africa. On 15 January, the Dominican Republic confirmed its first case of the new variant and Argentina confirmed its first case of the variant on 16 January. Czech Republic and Morocco reported their first cases on 18 January while Ghana and Kuwait confirmed their first cases on 19 January. Nigeria confirmed its first case on 25 January. On 28 January, Senegal detected its first case of the variant.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In early January, an outbreak linked to a primary school led to the detection of at least 30 cases of the new variant in the Bergschenhoek area of the Netherlands, signifying local transmission.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: On 16 January, the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health confirmed the variant was detected in L.A. County, with public health officials believing that it is spreading in the community.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: On 24 January, a person travelling from Africa to Faroe Islands tested positive upon arrival to the islands, and went directly into quarantine.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: On 28 January, North Macedonia confirmed the variant was detected in a 46-year-old man, who had already recovered.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: On 1 February, Lithuania has confirmed the first cases of the new lineage. On 4 February, health authorities in Uruguay announced the first case of the variant in the country. The case was detected in a person who entered the country on 20 December 2020 and has been in quarantine ever since. On 10 February, the Health Ministry of Croatia confirmed that out of 61 sequenced samples since 20 January, the variant was detected in 3 samples: a male 50 year old and 3.5 year old from Zagreb, and a male 34-year-old from Brod-Posavina County. On 12 February, the variant was detected from four areas in Sri Lanka, and the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador confirmed an outbreak of the variant.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: On 2 March, Indonesia reports its first cases of the variant in two migrant workers returning from Saudi Arabia. On the same day, Tunisia reported their first cases of the variant. The presence of the variant in Ivory Coast was confirmed on 25 March.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: The Alpha variant (lineage B.1.1.7) was first detected in early December 2020 by analysing genome data with knowledge that the rates of infection in Kent were not falling despite national restrictions.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: The two earliest genomes that belong to lineage B.1.1.7 were collected on 20 September 2020 in Kent and another on 21 September 2020 in Greater London. These sequences were submitted to the GISAID sequence database (sequence accessions EPI_ISL_601443 and EPI_ISL_581117, respectively).


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: Backwards tracing using genetic evidence suggests lineage B.1.1.7 emerged in September 2020 and then circulated at very low levels in the population until mid-November. The increase in cases linked to the variant first became apparent in late November when Public Health England (PHE) was investigating why infection rates in Kent were not falling despite national restrictions. PHE then discovered a cluster linked to this variant spreading rapidly into London and Essex.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: Also important was the nature of the RT-PCR test used predominantly in the UK, Thermo Fisher Scientific's TaqPath COVID-19. The test matches RNA in three locations, and stopped working for the spike gene due to the HV 69–70 deletion—a deletion of the amino acids histidine and valine in positions 69 and 70, respectively—in the spike protein of lineage B.1.1.7. This made preliminary identification easier because it could be better suspected which cases were with lineage B.1.1.7 through genome sequencing.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: It has been suggested that the variant may have originated in a chronically infected immunocompromised person, giving the virus a long time to replicate and evolve.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In the presence of a more transmissible variant, stronger physical distancing and lockdown measures were opted for to avoid overwhelming the population due to its tendency to grow exponentially.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: All countries of the United Kingdom were affected by domestic travel restrictions in reaction to the increased spread of the virus—at least partly attributed to Alpha—effective from 20 December 2020. During December 2020, an increasing number of countries around the world either announced temporary bans on, or were considering banning, passenger travel from the UK, and in several cases from other countries such as the Netherlands and Denmark. Some countries banned flights; others allowed only their nationals to enter, subject to a negative SARS-CoV-2 test. A WHO spokesperson said that, "[a]cross Europe, where transmission is intense and widespread, countries need to redouble their control and prevention approaches". Most bans by EU countries were for 48 hours, pending an integrated political crisis response meeting of EU representatives on 21 December to evaluate the threat from the new variant and coordinate a joint response.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: Many countries around the world imposed restrictions on passenger travel from the United Kingdom; neighbouring France also restricted manned goods vehicles (imposing a total ban before devising a testing protocol and permitting their passage once more). Some also applied restrictions on travel from other countries. , at least 42 countries had restricted flights from the UK, and Japan was restricting entry of all foreign nationals after cases of the new variant were detected in the country.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: The usefulness of travel bans has been contested as limited in cases where the variant has likely already arrived, especially if the estimated growth rate per week of the virus is higher locally.


title: SARS-CoV-2 Alpha variant

text: In October 2021, Dr Jenny Harries, chief executive of the UK Health and Security Agency stated that previous circulating variants such as Alpha had 'disappeared' and replaced by the Delta variant. In March 2022, the World Health Organization listed the Alpha, Beta and Gamma variants as previously circulating citing lack of any detected cases in the prior weeks and months.


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: The Lower Paleolithic (or Lower Palaeolithic) is the earliest subdivision of the Paleolithic or Old Stone Age. It spans the time from around 3 million years ago when the first evidence for stone tool production and use by hominins appears in the current archaeological record, until around 300,000 years ago, spanning the Oldowan ("mode 1") and Acheulean ("mode 2") lithics industries.


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: In African archaeology, the time period roughly corresponds to the Early Stone Age, the earliest finds dating back to 3.3 million years ago, with Lomekwian stone tool technology, spanning Mode 1 stone tool technology, which begins roughly 2.6 million years ago and ends between 400,000 and 250,000 years ago, with Mode 2 technology.


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: The Middle Paleolithic followed the Lower Paleolithic and recorded the appearance of the more advanced prepared-core tool-making technologies such as the Mousterian. Whether the earliest control of fire by hominins dates to the Lower or to the Middle Paleolithic remains an open question.


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: The Lower Paleolithic began with the appearance of the first stone tools in the world. Formerly associated with the emergence of "Homo habilis", some 2.8 million years ago, this date has been pushed back significantly by finds of the early 2000s, the Oldowan or Mode 1 horizon, long considered the oldest type of lithic industry, is now considered to have developed from about 2.6 million years ago, with the beginning Gelasian (Lower Pleistocene), possibly first used by australopithecine forbears of the genus "Homo" (such as "Australopithecus garhi").


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: However, even older tools were later discovered at the single site of Lomekwi 3 in Kenya, in 2015, dated to as early as 3.3 million years ago. As such, they would predate the Pleistocene (the Gelasian), and fall into the late Pliocene (the Piacenzian).


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: The early members of the genus "Homo" produced primitive tools, summarized under the Oldowan industry, which remained dominant for nearly a million years, from about 2.5 to 1.7 million years ago. "Homo habilis" is assumed to have lived primarily on scavenging, using tools to cleave meat off carrion or to break bones to extract the marrow.


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: The move from the mostly frugivorous or omnivorous diet of hominin "Australopithecus" to the carnivorous scavenging lifestyle of early "Homo" has been explained by the climate changes in East Africa associated with the Quaternary glaciation. Decreasing oceanic evaporation produced a drier climate and the expansion of the savannah at the expense of forests. Reduced availability of fruits stimulated some proto-australopithecines to search out new food sources found in the drier savannah ecology. Derek Bickerton (2009) has designated to this period the move from simple animal communication systems found in all great apes to the earliest form of symbolic communication systems capable of displacement (referring to items not currently within sensory perception) and motivated by the need to "recruit" group members for scavenging large carcasses.


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: "Homo erectus" appeared by about 1.8 million years ago, via the transitional variety "Homo ergaster".


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: "Homo erectus" moved from scavenging to hunting, developing the hunting-gathering lifestyle that would remain dominant throughout the Paleolithic into the Mesolithic.


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: The unlocking of the new niche of hunting-gathering subsistence drove a number of further behavioral and physiological changes leading to the appearance of "Homo heidelbergensis" by some 800,000-600,000 years ago. As such, "Homo" rose to the ranks of omnivorous predators (and possibly became hypercarnivores before "Homo sapiens" again transformed into hypocarnivores). As active hunters, they came in opposition to other, quadruped predators and started living in large groups.


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: "Homo erectus" migrated out of Africa and dispersed throughout Eurasia. Stone tools in Malaysia have been dated to be 1.83 million years old. The Peking Man fossil, discovered in 1929, is roughly 700,000 years old.


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: In Europe, the Olduwan tradition (known in Europe as Abbevillian) split into two parallel traditions, the Clactonian, a flake tradition, and the Acheulean, a hand-axe tradition. The Levallois technique for knapping flint developed during this time.


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: The carrier species from Africa to Europe was undoubtedly "Homo erectus". This type of human is more clearly linked to the flake tradition, which spread across southern Europe through the Balkans to appear relatively densely in southeast Asia. Many Mousterian finds in the Middle Paleolithic have been knapped using a Levallois technique, suggesting that Neanderthals evolved from "Homo erectus" (or, perhaps, "Homo heidelbergensis"; see below).


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: Monte Poggiolo, near Forlì, Italy, is the location of an Acheulian littoral handaxe industry dating from 1.8 to 1.1 million years ago.


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: The advent of technology and both verbal and non-verbal communication due to transition to group hunting and gathering resulted in the expansion of the parts of the brain associated with these, as well as greater cognition due to it being interlinked with the two. Later, behavioral adaptations to further social life, uncertain food distribution (resulting in need to find and secure food and remember where it could be found) and ecological changes brought about by "Homo" led to the further expansion of the brain in the areas of problem-solving, memory etc., ultimately leading to the great behavioral flexibility, highly efficient communication, and ecological dominance of humanity. The biological pre-adaptations of the great apes and earlier primates allowed the brain to expand threefold within just 2 to 2.3 million years of the Pleistocene, in response to increasingly complex societies and changing habitats.


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: The appearance of "Homo heidelbergensis" about 600,000 years ago heralds a number of other new varieties, such as "Homo rhodesiensis" and "Homo cepranensis" about 400,000 years ago.


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: "Homo heidelbergensis" is a candidate for first developing an early form of symbolic language. Whether control of fire and earliest burials date to this period or only appear during the Middle Paleolithic is an open question.


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: Also, in Europe, a type of human appeared that was intermediate between "Homo erectus" and "Homo sapiens", sometimes summarized under archaic "Homo sapiens", typified by such fossils as those found at Swanscombe, Steinheim, Tautavel, and Vertesszollos ("Homo palaeohungaricus"). The hand-axe tradition originates in the same period. The intermediate may have been "Homo heidelbergensis", held responsible for the manufacture of improved "Mode 2" Acheulean tool types, in Africa, after 600,000 years ago. Flakes and axes coexisted in Europe, sometimes at the same site. The axe tradition, however, spread to a different range in the east. It appears in Arabia and India, but more importantly, it does not appear in southeast Asia.


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: From about 300,000 years ago, technology, social structures and behaviour appear to grow more complex, with prepared-core technique lithics, earliest instances of burial and changes to hunting-gathering patterns of subsistence. "Homo sapiens" first appeared about 300,000 years ago, as evidenced by fossils found at Jebel Irhoud in Morocco.


title: Lower Paleolithic

text: Guy Ellcock Pilgrim, a British geologist and palaeontologist, discovered 1.5 million-year-old prehistoric human teeth and part of a jaw indicating that ancient people, intelligent hominins dating as far back as 1,500,000 ybp Acheulean period, lived in the Pinjore region near Chandigarh. Quartzite tools of the lower Paleolithic period were excavated in this region extending from Pinjore in Haryana to Nalagarh (Solan district in Himachal Pradesh).


title: Belmont University

text: Belmont University is a private Christian university in Nashville, Tennessee. Descended from Belmont Women's College, founded in 1890 by schoolteachers Ida Hood and Susan Heron, the institution was incorporated in 1951 as Belmont College. It became Belmont University in 1991. Belmont's current enrollment consists of approximately 8,900 students representing every state and 28 nations. The university served as the host site for the final presidential debate in the 2020 election cycle. Although the university cut its ties with the Tennessee Baptist Convention in 2007, it continues to emphasize a Christian identity.


title: Belmont University

text: The university originated in the founding of the Belmont Women's College in 1890 by Susan Ledley Heron and Ida Emily Hood. on the site of the Belmont Mansion, built by Joseph Acklen and Adelicia (Hayes) Acklen. Upon the retirement of Heron and Hood, Belmont Women's College merged with Ward Seminary in 1913 and was known as Ward—Belmont College, which included both a junior college and college-prep (or high) school for women. Today the Belmont Mansion is owned by Belmont University but maintained by the Belmont Mansion Association, a non-profit group. The mansion is open for tours and features Victorian art and furnishings. The water tower, gardens, with surviving gazebos and outdoor statuary from the Acklen era, are part of the college campus. In 1991, the school became Belmont University.


title: Belmont University

text: The university was awarded the Japanese Foreign Minister's Commendation for their contributions to promotion of mutual understanding between Japan and the United States on December 1, 2020.


title: Belmont University

text: John "Jack" DeWitt, Jr., a 16-year-old high school student, installed a twenty-watt transmitter at Belmont. The station, WDAA, was born when Doctor C. E. Crosland, Associate President, realized the potential advertising value to the college of a radio station. The WDAA program on April 18, 1922, marked the first time a music program was broadcast in Nashville. The broadcast could be heard 150 to from the school. DeWitt later became WSM (AM) radio station's chief engineer, 1932–1942, and president, 1947–1968.


title: Belmont University

text: In 1951, Ward-Belmont College, the finishing school operated in Nashville by Ward-Belmont, Inc., was facing severe financial difficulties. That’s when the Tennessee Baptist Convention bought Ward-Belmont. The Convention established the co-educational Belmont College in March of 1951. It elected R. Kelly White as president. Under its second president, Herbert Gabhart, Belmont received accreditation from the Southern Association of Schools and Colleges in 1959. Enrollment leaped from 365 students to 2,000, and it launched a music business program. He served from 1959-1962, when he was succeeded by Bill Troutt. At 32 he was the youngest college president in the nation. The school's growth continued, and in 1991 it became a university.


title: Belmont University

text: In 2005 Belmont's Board of Trustees sought to remove Belmont University from the control of the Tennessee Baptist Convention while remaining in a "fraternal relationship" with it.Advocates of this plan presented a blueprint for change in which all board members would be Christians but only 60 percent would be Baptists in order to affirm a Christian affinity while acknowledging the diversity of both the faculty and the student body. The head of the TBC would continue to be an "ex officio" board member. The TBC rejected this plan. In November 2005, TBC said it wants to shift its financial support to two other institutions, Union University and Carson-Newman College by the amount previously given to Belmont and Belmont would replace the three percent of its budget that was funded by the TBC; this announcement seemed to mark the end of the matter. However, on April 7, 2006, TBC sought to oust the existing board and replace it with one consisting entirely of Southern Baptists and amenable to ongoing TBC control.After settlement talks failed, the Tennessee Baptist Convention Executive Board filed a lawsuit on September 29, 2006, against Belmont seeking the return of approximately $58 million.


title: Belmont University

text: Belmont severed its ties from the Tennessee Baptist Convention in 2007, when the university announced it would be a Christian university without any denominational affiliations.An arrangement between the two parties would have been concluded before the trial. Under its terms, the TBC and Belmont would disaffiliate amicably, with Belmont agreeing to pay one million dollars to the convention immediately, and $250,000 annually for the next forty years, for a total cost of $11 million. The university has stated its intent to maintain a Christian identity, but no longer a specifically Baptist one.


title: Belmont University

text: Belmont University became a catalyst for anti-discrimination protests in December 2010, when women's soccer coach Lisa Howe allegedly lost her job at the university on December 2 after announcing that she was having three children with her same sex partner. Howe's dismissal sparked protests from students and from local and national gay-rights advocates. These events led to a citywide anti-discrimination ordinance being passed by the Nashville City Council in January 2011. On January 26, 2011, President Bob Fisher announced that Belmont has added sexual orientation to the university's non-discrimination policies. Belmont is a Christian university which was widely regarded for its progressive ideals until the controversy broke out over Howe's departure. The college was criticized for not allowing a group with a mission to support gay students and explore the intersection of Christianity and homosexuality called Bridge Builders to officially form as a student group. At a news conference, Fisher stated that they had resubmitted the application. On February 27, 2011, Belmont University officially recognized the gay student organization for the first time. Belmont Provost Thomas Burns and Bridge Builders President Robbie Maris announced the decision to recognize the student group in a joint statement.


title: Belmont University

text: In February 2018, Belmont University took ownership of the O'More College of Design. On March 6, 2019, Belmont University announced that its current College of Visual and Performing Arts will be separated into two distinct colleges with defined areas of focus: the College of Music and Performing Arts will include all music, theatre and dance programs while the O'More College of Architecture, Art and Design will house architecture, art, fashion, interior design and design communications.


title: Belmont University

text: In February 2020, Belmont University announced that they would merge with Watkins College of Art, Design & Film, located in Nashville, Tennessee. Belmont and Watkins will evaluate employment needs based on the number of students transferring, existing capacities and related considerations. As a long-standing Christian institution, Belmont's policy is to hire faculty and staff who support the Christian institution's mission, vision and values; however, due to the nature of merging institutions, the university announced special consideration will be given to current Watkins employees regardless of their position of faith. In May 2021, Belmont sold the former Watkins College campus for $22.5 million, funds which the university states will underwrite scholarships for students of the visual arts.


title: Belmont University

text: In July 2020, a group of Belmont University students and alumni began to draw attention to the university's longstanding relationship with CoreCivic (formerly the Corrections Corporation of America), asking the school to divest from any financial ties to CoreCivic and for-profit prisons. The relationship between CoreCivic and the university extends to the early 1980s. In 1983, notable Tennessee businessman Jack C. Massey, provided a portion of the initial funding to begin Corrections Corporation of America, along with Thomas Beasley. Discussed as early as 1966, Belmont's Massey Graduate School of Business was founded shortly after in 1986. Beasley has also funded major programs at the school, including a free enterprise institute at the Massey Business School. In 2018, Damon Hininger, CEO of CoreCivic, joined the Belmont University Board of Trustees. Shortly after students and alumni began a petition asking for his removal. Hininger is not the first board member with ties to CoreCivic. The current board includes Andrea Overby (donor to CoreCivic PAC in 2018 and wife of Charles Overby, former CCA board member) as well as John Ferguson (former CCA President). As of April 2021, Damon Hininger was no longer on a member of the board, having completed his allowed number of terms.


title: Belmont University

text: Belmont University offers bachelor's degrees in over 90 academic majors in nine colleges with more than 25 master's and five doctoral programs. Belmont and HCA created a health sciences consortium with local universities to alleviate the shortage of nurses and health care professionals in the local community, and provides students with shared office space and mentoring from faculty, local entrepreneurs and attorneys. Journalism students have gained work experience at The Oprah Winfrey Show, The Daily Show, CBS Evening News, and British Broadcasting Corp.


title: Belmont University

text: In the 2020 "U.S. News & World Report" college rankings, Belmont was tied for No. 166 in the category of National Universities. It is also tied for No. 121 as best college for veterans and tied for No. 17 in best undergraduate teaching. Previously, it was one of 64 institutions in the South recognized as a "Best Value", one of 20 institutions recognized for internship offerings across the nation, one of 18 institutions recognized in the nation for learning communities, one of 23 institutions recognized in the nation for service-learning, and one of 44 institutions in the nation recognized for study abroad opportunities.


title: Belmont University

text: For the applicant class of 2017–18, Belmont admitted 81% of its applicants. The class's average ACT score was 26 and the average SAT score was 1221. 27% of the class were in the top 10% of their high school's graduating, while 56% were in their class's top quarter. In 2017, 3.6% of the entering freshmen class were from New England, 21.2% were from the Midwest, 49.3% were from the South, 7.0% were from the Middle States, 7.8% were from the West, 9.9% were from the Southwest, and 1.2% were from "Other", a region including the U.S. territories, international students and those unspecified.


title: Belmont University

text: In fall 2017, the university had 7,587 students enrolled, a 4% increase from 2016. The overall, average graduation rate for Belmont is 67%.


title: Belmont University

text: Belmont's Mike Curb College of Entertainment & Music Business (CEMB) consists of current/former authors, performers, expert witnesses (for industry lawsuits), artist managers, lawyers, record label executives, songwriters, and others. Mike Curb is the CEO of Curb Records. He was a producer, songwriter and company executive and one of the most successful record men of the sixties and seventies. He is the department's namesake. The former dean of the CEMB, Jim Van Hook, is a legendary Nashville label head, especially as part of the Christian music industry. One of the hallmarks of the program is its internship program, which sends hundreds of students annually out into the Nashville, New York, and Los Angeles music industries to intern for record labels, management companies, publishing companies, booking agencies, publicists, recording studios, law firms, and other businesses.


title: Belmont University

text: Besides having three professional-quality recording studios on campus, Belmont owns the Belmont Studios (including Ocean Way Nashville), part of which is operated for-profit (used by such artists as Dave Matthews, Sheryl Crow, and Bob Seger), and part of which is used by students. Ocean Way Nashville, purchased by Belmont in 2001, has recorded thousands of tracks including the score for "The Last of Us," a top-selling game that won Best Audio in the global GANG (Game Audio Network Guild) Awards.


title: Belmont University

text: In June 2006, Belmont opened the $18 million Gordon E. Inman Center that houses the Gordon E. Inman College of Health Sciences and Nursing. The building has three stories of classroom space that contain learning labs equipped with Sim Man mannequins that respond to the actions of the nursing students. There are classrooms for adult and pediatric occupational therapy, maternity and neonatal care complete with Sim Man babies and a birthing Sim Woman, orthopedics lab, and many classrooms of various sizes.


title: Belmont University

text: Belmont houses the Curb Event Center, a 5000-seat multi-purpose arena, which is used for basketball games, concerts, and other events like the 2006, 2007 and 2008 CMT Awards, and the 2008 Presidential Debate. The facility is connected to the Beaman Student Life Center and Maddox Grand Atrium—collectively, a $52 million development.


title: Belmont University

text: In 2015, the university opened its R. Milton and Denice Johnson Center, home to Belmont's Curb College, Department of Media Studies, Motion Pictures and Harrington Place Dining.


title: Belmont University

text: Belmont has over 190 student organizations. These include the Student Government Association (SGA), The Student Activities Programming Board (SAPB), Greek organizations, as well as other special interest organizations.


title: Belmont University

text: The largest student organization on campus is Service Corps, which focuses on volunteer work inside the music industry and is open only to students enrolled in the Mike Curb College of Entertainment and Music Business.


title: Belmont University

text: Belmont's Greek community consists of five sororities and four fraternities. The sororities are Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Kappa Alpha, Alpha Sigma Tau, Delta Sigma Theta, Kappa Alpha Theta, and Phi Mu. The fraternities include Phi Kappa Tau, Alpha Phi Alpha, Phi Mu Alpha, and Phi Beta Sigma. In the spring of 2017, approximately 17% of full-time undergraduate students at Belmont were members of fraternities and sororities.


title: Belmont University

text: Belmont has a large music program, and a variety of musical ensembles exist on the campus. There are currently 15 vocal ensembles and 23 instrumental ensembles. In addition, there are three student-run a cappella groups: The Beltones (mixed ensemble), Prismatics (mixed), and Pitchmen (TTBB). All three a cappella groups compete in the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella (ICCA) regularly. The Beltones have advanced to ICCA finals three times and placed 4th at the event in 2014. The Pitchmen qualified for ICCA finals in 2020 but the event was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, The A Cappella Archive ranked The Beltones at #8 amongst all ICCA-competing groups since 1996. Belmont is home to two Greek-lettered music fraternities, Sigma Alpha Iota and Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, as well as a chapter for the national theatre fraternity, Alpha Psi Omega.


title: Belmont University

text: Belmont is a member of the NCAA Division I and is a member of the Missouri Valley Conference in all of Belmont's sports except men's soccer, which its previous conference, the Ohio Valley, does not sponsor. On September 28, 2021, Belmont announced that it would become a member of the Missouri Valley Conference, beginning in Fall of 2022. Until July 1, 2012, Belmont had been a member of the Atlantic Sun Conference, a non-football conference. The men's soccer team was most recently an independent before joining the Horizon League effective with the 2014 season.


title: Belmont University

text: In the mid-1990s, Belmont changed its nickname to the "Bruins", replacing the earlier mascot of Rebels due to its association with the Confederacy. Bruin is Middle English for bear from the Dutch fable "History of Reynard the Fox", translated by William Caxton.


title: Belmont University

text: In 2011 Belmont student-athletes won the Atlantic Sun Conference Academic Trophy for the eighth time in ten years with 76.32 per cent of the student-athletes achieving at least a 3.0 grade-point average.


title: Belmont University

text: In 2012 Belmont student-athletes won the Ohio Valley Conference Institutional Academic Achievement Award for the first time after joining the conference last year.


title: Belmont University

text: In 2015, Belmont received the OVC's Institutional Academic Achievement Award, presented each year to the member institution with the greatest percentage of its eligible student-athletes that earn a 3.25 GPA or higher. This award marked the 4th straight year for Belmont, who joined the OVC only 4 years prior.


title: Belmont University

text: On November 19, 2007, The Commission on Presidential Debates chose Belmont University from sixteen finalists to host one of three Presidential election debates on October 7, 2008. The debate at Belmont was a "town-hall" style debate with questions fielded from the audience.


title: Belmont University

text: In 2019, the Commission on Presidential Debates selected Belmont to host the third and final presidential debate on October 22. The second presidential debate, scheduled for Oct. 15 in Miami, was canceled. The Belmont debate, the final debate in the 2020 election cycle between then candidates President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden, occurred as scheduled NBC News' Kristen Welker moderating.


title: Nicholas Brothers

text: The Nicholas Brothers were an entertainment act composed of biological brothers, Fayard (1914–2006) and Harold (1921–2000), who excelled in a variety of dance techniques, primarily between the 1930s and 1950s. Best known for their unique interpretation of a highly acrobatic technique known as "flash dancing", they were also considered by many to be the greatest tap dancers of their day, if not all time. Their virtuoso performance in the musical number "Jumpin' Jive" (with Cab Calloway and his orchestra) featured in the 1943 movie "Stormy Weather" has been praised as one of the greatest dance routines ever captured on film.


title: Nicholas Brothers

text: Growing up surrounded by vaudeville acts as children, they became stars of the jazz circuit during the Harlem Renaissance and performed on stage, film, and television well into the 1990s. Diminutive in size, they were appreciated for their artistry, innovation, and soaring leaps.


title: Nicholas Brothers

text: Fayard Antonio Nicholas was born October 20, 1914, in Mobile, Alabama, and Harold Lloyd Nicholas was born March 17, 1921, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, to Viola Harden ("maiden;" 1893–1971), a pianist, and Ulysses Dominick Nicholas (1892–1935), a drummer.


title: Nicholas Brothers

text: The Nicholas Brothers grew up in Philadelphia, the sons of college-educated musicians who played in their own band at the Standard Theater. At the age of three, Fayard would always sit in the front row while his parents worked, and by the time he was ten, he had seen most of the great African-American vaudeville acts—particularly the dancers, including such notables of the time as Alice Whitman, Willie Bryant, and Bill Robinson. The brothers were fascinated by the combination of tap dancing and acrobatics. Fayard often imitated their acrobatics and clowning for the kids in his neighborhood.


title: Nicholas Brothers

text: Neither Fayard nor Harold had any formal dance training. Fayard taught himself how to dance, sing, and perform by watching and imitating the professional entertainers on stage. He then taught his younger siblings, first performing with his sister Dorothy as "the Nicholas Kids", later joined by Harold. Harold idolized his older brother and learned by copying his moves and distinct style. Dorothy later opted out of the act, and the Nicholas Kids became known as "the Nicholas Brothers".


title: Nicholas Brothers

text: As word spread of their talents, the Nicholas Brothers became known around Philadelphia. They were first hired for a radio program, "The Horn and Hardart Kiddie Hour", and then by other local theatres such as the Standard and the Pearl. When they were performing at the Pearl, the manager of The Lafayette, a New York vaudeville showcase, saw them and immediately wanted them to perform for his theater.


title: Nicholas Brothers

text: The brothers moved to Philadelphia in 1926 and gave their first performance at the Standard a few years later. In 1932, they became the featured act at Harlem's Cotton Club when Harold was 11 and Fayard was 18. They astonished their mainly white audiences dancing to the jazz tempos of "Bugle Call Rag"; they were the only entertainers in the African-American cast allowed to mingle with white patrons. They performed at the Cotton Club for two years, working with the orchestras of Lucky Millinder, Cab Calloway, Duke Ellington, and Jimmy Lunceford. During this time, they made their uncredited movie debut, in the 1932 short "Pie, Pie Blackbird", featuring Eubie Blake and his orchestra. The brothers attributed their success to their unique style of dancing - a hybrid of tap dance, ballet, and acrobatics sometimes called "acrobatic dancing" or "flash dancing" - which was greatly in demand during this time.


title: Nicholas Brothers

text: Producer Samuel Goldwyn saw them at the Cotton Club and invited them to California to be a part of "Kid Millions" (1934), their first performances in a Hollywood movie. The brothers made their Broadway debut in the "Ziegfeld Follies of 1936" and also appeared in Richard Rodgers and Lorenz Hart's musical "Babes in Arms" in 1937. They impressed their choreographer, George Balanchine, who invited them to appear in "Babes in Arms". With Balanchine's training, they learned many new stunts. Their talent led many to presume they were trained ballet dancers.


title: Nicholas Brothers

text: By 1940, they had moved to Hollywood and for several decades divided their time between movies, nightclubs, concerts, Broadway, television, and extensive tours of Latin America, Africa, and Europe. They toured England with a production of "Blackbirds". They gave a Royal Command Performance at the London Paladium for King George VI in 1948.


title: Nicholas Brothers

text: In 1991, the Nicholas Brothers received Kennedy Center Honors in recognition of their six decades of achievements. A year later, a documentary film, "We Sing & We Dance", celebrated their careers and included tributes from Mikhail Baryshnikov, Gregory Hines, M.C. Hammer, and Clarke Peters. In 1994, members of the cast of "Hot Shoe Shuffle" also paid them tribute.


title: Nicholas Brothers

text: The Nicholas Brothers taught master classes in tap dance as teachers-in-residence at Harvard University and Radcliffe at Ruth Page Visiting Artists. Among their known students are Debbie Allen, Janet Jackson, and Michael Jackson. Several of today's master tap dancers have performed with or been taught by the brothers: Dianne Walker, Sam Weber, Lane Alexander, Mark Mendonca, Terry Brock, Colburn Kids Tap/L.A, Channing Cook Holmes, Chris Baker, Artis Brienzo, Chester Whitmore, Darlene Gist, Chris Scott, Tobius Tak, Carol Zee, and Steve Zee.


title: Nicholas Brothers

text: The brothers were particularly known for their expressive use of their hands and arms while dancing, particularly tap. One of their signature moves was to leapfrog down a long, broad flight of stairs, while completing each step with a split. Its best remembered performance is in the finale of the movie "Stormy Weather" (1943). In that routine, the Nicholas Brothers leapt exuberantly across the orchestra's music stands and danced on the top of a grand piano in a call and response act with the pianist, to the tune of "Jumpin' Jive". Fred Astaire once told the brothers that this dance number was the greatest movie musical sequence he had ever seen. Numerous articles have been written about this whole dance being filmed in one take and unrehearsed. As unbelievable as that sounds, the Nicholas Brothers confirmed it in an interview shortly before their recognition at the 14th Annual Kennedy Center Honors. The choreographer, Nick Castle, said, "Just do it. Don`t rehearse it, just do it." And so it was done, unrehearsed and in one take, which relieved Harold Nicholas because he did not want to do the rigorous routine over and over all night.


title: Nicholas Brothers

text: In another signature move, they would rise from a split without using their hands. Gregory Hines declared that if their biography were ever filmed, their dance numbers would have to be computer-generated because no one now could emulate them. Ballet legend Mikhail Baryshnikov once called them the most amazing dancers he had ever seen in his life.


title: Nicholas Brothers

text: Fayard married four times. His marriage to Geraldine Pate lasted from 1942 until their divorce in 1955. That year, he married Mexican dancer Victoria Barron. As of May 1960, that marriage remained intact, with "Vicky" also working alongside Fayard professionally. He married Barbara January in 1967, the same year he converted to the Baháʼí Faith, and they remained together until her death in 1998. He married Katherine Hopkins in 2000.


title: Nicholas Brothers

text: He died on January 24, 2006, of pneumonia contracted after a stroke. His memorial service, presided over by Mary Jean Valente of "A Ceremony of the Heart", was standing-room only and featured personal tributes, music, dance, and one last standing ovation.


title: Nicholas Brothers

text: Two of Fayard's granddaughters dance as the "Nicholas Sisters" and have won awards for their performances.


title: Nicholas Brothers

text: Harold was married three times. From 1942 to 1951, he was married to singer and actress Dorothy Dandridge, with whom he had one child, Harolyn Nicholas, who was born with a severe intellectual disability In Paris, he had a son, Melih Nicholas, with his second wife Elayne Patronne. He lived on New York's Upper West Side for twenty years with his third wife, producer and former Miss Sweden, Rigmor Alfredsson Newman. Harold died July 3, 2000, of a heart attack following minor surgery.


title: Nicholas Brothers

text: According to a "Los Angeles Times" article on the brothers, "Because of racial prejudice, they appeared as guest artists, isolated from the plot, in many of their films. This was a strategy that allowed their scenes to be easily deleted for screening in the Jim Crow-era South".


title: Phyllis Davis

text: Phyllis Ann Davis (July 17, 1940 – September 27, 2013) was an American actress who appeared primarily on television. She co-starred on the 1978–1981 dramatic detective series "Vega$ as" Beatrice Travis, office manager and girl Friday for the show's main character, Las Vegas private detective Dan Tanna, played by Robert Urich.


title: Phyllis Davis

text: Phyllis Davis was born in Nederland, Texas, but considered Port Arthur, Texas, her hometown. Growing up, Davis and her family lived in her parents’ mortuary business, in their home on the second floor. Davis recalled that when a funeral service was being held, the Davis children had to be very quiet on the second floor. After graduating in 1958 from Nederland High School, Davis attended Lamar University. After working as a secretary and as a flight attendant for Continental Airlines, she moved to Los Angeles in 1965. While in Los Angeles, Davis attended acting classes at the Pasadena Playhouse.


title: Phyllis Davis

text: Davis's feature films include "The Big Bounce" (1969), Russ Meyer's "Beyond the Valley of the Dolls" (1970), "Sweet Sugar" (1972), "Terminal Island" (1973), "The Day of the Dolphin" (1973), "The Choirboys" (1977), "The Wild Women of Chastity Gulch" (1982) and "Guns" (1990).


title: Phyllis Davis

text: Davis appeared in guest roles on the prime-time series "Love, American Style" (1969) for five seasons. She also appeared in television series such as "Knight Rider;" she acted out the role of the villainous Tanya Walker in its pilot installment, "Knight of the Phoenix." Davis also had guest roles in "Magnum, P.I.," "The Love Boat," "Fantasy Island," and "The Wild Wild West" and was a regular performer in the vignettes in "Love, American Style." She was in an episode of "Adam-12" titled "You Blew It" in 1969. She was also a "Match Game" panelist on occasion and, during her tenure on ABC's Vega$, appeared on a "Battle of the Network Stars" special.


title: Phyllis Davis

text: Davis was probably best known as a co star on the ABC prime-time series "Vega$" from 1978 to 1981, alongside series star Robert Urich. Davis appeared in all 69 prime time episodes of Vega$. Davis's character, 'Beatrice Travis', worked for 'Dan Tanna', the Las Vegas-based private investigator played by Urich. Her role was working as Tanna's very smart secretary and girl Friday in the Las Vegas crime drama.


title: Phyllis Davis

text: Davis never married, but she had a long-term relationship with actor-singer Dean Martin during the 1970s, and a relationship with Hall of Fame racehorse jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. during the mid 1980s.


title: Phyllis Davis

text: Davis died of cancer on September 27, 2013, in Henderson, Nevada, where she had made her home. She was 73.


title: Dead Freight

text: "Dead Freight" is the fifth episode of the fifth season of the American television drama series "Breaking Bad", and the 51st overall episode of the series. Written and directed by George Mastras, it originally aired on AMC in the United States on August 12, 2012.


title: Dead Freight

text: A young boy rides on a dirt bike through the desert. Encountering a wild tarantula, he allows it to crawl over his hands before placing it in a jar. He hears a distant freight train and rides toward it.


title: Dead Freight

text: Walter White pays a visit to the recently promoted Hank Schrader at his new DEA office. During their conversation, Walt confesses that his marriage to Skyler White is failing, feigning tears. When Hank leaves momentarily to get coffee, Walt installs covert listening devices on the computer and inside a picture frame sitting on top of Hank's desk. Later, Walt, Jesse Pinkman, and Mike Ehrmantraut interrogate Lydia Rodarte-Quayle about the tracking device found affixed to the bottom of one of Madrigal's methylamine barrels. Mike and Walt believe that she planted it and decide to kill her, but Jesse does not. After forcing Lydia to contact Hank and report her discovery, the crew eavesdrops on Hank's next phone call, learning that it was actually placed by a DEA team in Houston.


title: Dead Freight

text: Although exonerated, Lydia is now useless to the trio, as all of the barrels in her warehouse are compromised. Desperate to avoid being killed, Lydia tries to prove her worth by asserting that she can access an "ocean" of methylamine, suggesting that the trio could heist a tremendous amount of methylamine from a transiting train. At first, the trio is skeptical, but with Jesse's motivation, they come up with a plan to stall the train in a dead zone, pump out the methylamine, and replace its weight with water, so that no one will know that the heist took place. Jesse informs Todd that neither he or his crew can ever say anything to anyone about the heist, and that no one must find out about the heist under any circumstances.


title: Dead Freight

text: On the day of the heist, Walt's crew manages to stop the train by blocking a railroad crossing with a "broken-down" dump truck driven by Patrick Kuby. When the engineer and conductor exit the locomotive to assist him, Mike acts as a lookout while Walt, Jesse, and Todd drain methylamine from the train into an empty buried tank, simultaneously pumping water back in to ensure its weight remains unchanged. The robbery is threatened when a good Samaritan arrives on the scene and pushes the dump truck off the tracks earlier than expected. Despite being told by Mike to stop, Walt recklessly makes Jesse and Todd complete the job, but they successfully pull it off. As Walt, Jesse, and Todd celebrate the heist's apparent success, they turn to see the boy with the dirtbike. The boy waves to them; Todd returns the wave, but fulfilling Jesse's earlier instruction, shoots and kills the boy, to Jesse's horror.


title: Dead Freight

text: "Dead Freight" was written and directed by George Mastras, making his directorial debut on the series. Mastras revealed that the episode was logistically complicated to film because many cameras were needed to capture the lengthy train heist sequence. On the first day of filming the sequence, the train broke down. According to Vince Gilligan, the sequence took four days to shoot.


title: Dead Freight

text: The episode was originally titled "Dark Territory," but was changed to avoid confusion with the film "". Coincidentally, that film also features actor Jonathan Banks. Mastras explains that "dead freight" refers to wasted space on a vessel that has been paid for in full.


title: Dead Freight

text: "Dead Freight" was watched by 2.48 million viewers and received a 1.3 rating among viewers aged 18–49.


title: Dead Freight

text: The episode received universal acclaim from critics and is considered one of the best in the series, with many critics praising the deadly train heist sequence and the ending scene that depicts Todd Alquist (Jesse Plemons)'s character development. Donna Bowman of "The A.V. Club" rated it as an A−. Though she criticized the material with Skyler and Walt Jr., calling it "clumsily functional", she stated that "this weak patch is more than made up for by the tremendous extended heist sequence and its tragic culmination, which is both well-conceived and perfectly shot." Seth Amitin of "IGN" rated the episode with a 10 out of 10, calling it "beautifully crafted" and "excellently executed". Alan Sepinwall of HitFix called "Dead Freight" a "great episode", stating: "So much fun, and then such a devastating but not unfair gut punch at the end." Sean T. Collins of "Rolling Stone" called the episode "harrowing, heartbreaking, magnificent television".