title: Rocky Bleier

text: Born and raised in Appleton, Wisconsin, Bleier was the oldest of four children of Bob and Ellen Bleier, who ran a tavern, Bleier's Bar, while the family of six lived above it. He had a paper route as a youth, and graduated from Xavier High School in 1964, where he starred in football and basketball. In football, Bleier was a three-time all-state selection as running back, and won all-conference honors at both linebacker and defensive back. He was a team captain in football, basketball, and track.


title: Rocky Bleier

text: Bleier played college football at the University of Notre Dame in Notre Dame, Indiana, and graduated in 1968 with a degree in business management. During his junior season in 1966, the Fighting Irish won the national championship and he was a team captain as a senior in 1967. He was selected in the 16th round of the 1968 NFL/AFL Draft by the Pittsburgh Steelers, 417th overall.


title: Rocky Bleier

text: After his rookie season with the Steelers, Bleier was drafted into the U.S. Army on December 4, 1968, during the Vietnam War. He volunteered for duty in South Vietnam and shipped out for Vietnam in May 1969 assigned to Company C, 4th Battalion (Light), 31st Infantry, 196th Light Infantry Brigade and assigned as a squad grenadier operating a 40mm M79 grenade launcher. On August 20, while on patrol in Hiep Duc, Bleier was wounded in the left thigh by an enemy rifle bullet when his platoon was ambushed in a rice paddy. While he was down, an enemy grenade landed nearby after bouncing off a fellow soldier, he tried to leap over it and it exploded sending shrapnel into his lower right leg. His right foot was severely damaged in the blast as well. He was later awarded the Bronze Star and Purple Heart. His rank was Specialist 4.


title: Rocky Bleier

text: While he was recovering in a hospital in Tokyo, doctors told him that he could not play football again. Soon after, he received a postcard from Steelers owner Art Rooney which simply read "Rock - the team's not doing well. We need you. Art Rooney". Bleier later said, "When you have somebody take the time and interest to send you a postcard, something that they didn't have to do, you have a special place for those kinds of people". After several surgeries, he was discharged from the military in July 1970, and began informal workouts with Steeler teammates.


title: Rocky Bleier

text: Bleier rejoined the Steelers in camp in 1970. Upon his return, he couldn't walk without being in pain, and weighed only . He was put on injured reserve for the season, but returned in 1971 and played on special teams. He spent several seasons trying to get increased playing time, and was waived on two occasions. But Bleier never gave up, and said that he worked hard so that "some time in the future you didn't have to ask yourself 'what if?'". An offseason training regimen brought Bleier back to in the summer of 1974, and he earned a spot in the Steelers' starting lineup.


title: Rocky Bleier

text: Since Preston Pearson was wearing number 26 (the number Bleier wore his rookie season before he went to Vietnam), Bleier switched to number 20 when he returned to the team. After Pearson was traded to the Dallas Cowboys in 1975, Bleier kept the number 20, with which he had become associated.


title: Rocky Bleier

text: In addition to being a great lead blocker, Bleier was the second of the Steelers' rushing weapons (Franco Harris was the primary back), but was effective nonetheless at both blocking and rushing. In 1976, both Harris and Bleier rushed for over 1,000 yards, making this the second NFL team to accomplish this feat, after Mercury Morris and Larry Csonka of the 1972 Miami Dolphins.


title: Rocky Bleier

text: Bleier played in the first four Steeler Super Bowl victories, and caught the touchdown pass from Terry Bradshaw that gave Pittsburgh a lead it would never relinquish in Super Bowl XIII. He also recovered Dallas's onside kick in the closing seconds, sealing the Steelers' victory.


title: Rocky Bleier

text: Bleier retired after the 1980 season, with 3,865 rushing yards, 136 receptions for 1,294 yards, and 25 touchdowns. At the time of his retirement, he was the Steelers' fourth all-time leading rusher.


title: Rocky Bleier

text: Bleier wrote a book of his struggle to recover from his war wounds called "", and it was made into a television movie in 1980, with Robert Urich starring as Bleier, Richard Herd as Steelers coach Chuck Noll, Art Carney as team owner Art Rooney, and many of Bleier's teammates (including Matt Bahr and "Mean Joe" Greene) as themselves. Bleier is featured in the 2014 feature documentary "Project 22", which chronicles the cross-country motorcycle journey of two young veterans exploring alternative treatments for PTSD and TBI.


title: Rocky Bleier

text: Bleier has four children. He has two children from his marriage with Aleta Giacobine Whitaker, from whom he was divorced in October 1996. He also has two adopted children with his second wife, Jan Gyurina. As of 2011, he lived in Mt. Lebanon, Pennsylvania.


title: Rocky Bleier

text: Bleier has become an author and speaker on retirement and financial management. He has authored the book "Don't fumble your retirement" and is the co-host of a weekly radio show "The Rock on Retirement" on Pittsburgh radio station 104.7 FM WPGB. He runs Bleier Zagula Financial with his business partner Matt Zagula.


title: Rocky Bleier

text: The football stadium at Xavier High School was renamed Rocky Bleier Field on the Knights of Columbus Sports Complex on October 12, 2007. Bleier tossed the coin to start the high school football game that day. He had spoken earlier in the day to students at an assembly. The entire student body wore T-shirts with his number 23, the only number retired in the school's history. On the following day, the third day of a three-day event, mayor Tim Hanna unveiled a street named in his honor. The former Oneida Court was renamed Rocky Bleier Run.In 2017, Rocky became the subject of a children’s book called, “Rock Solid-The Courageous Journey of Rocky Bleier.” The story was written and illustrated by Pittsburgh artist, Larry Klu.


title: Unravel Two

text: Unravel Two (stylized as UNRAVEL two) is a puzzle-platform game developed by Swedish studio Coldwood Interactive and published by Electronic Arts. It was released on June 9, 2018 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. A Nintendo Switch version released on March 22, 2019. The game is centered around two 'Yarnys', small anthropomorphic creatures made of yarn. It is the sequel to the 2016 game "Unravel".


title: Unravel Two

text: Unlike "Unravel", "Unravel Two" is both a single-player and a multiplayer game, however only in local co-op. The game focuses on two Yarnys (which can be controlled by one or two players) which must work together in order to solve puzzles and manipulate the world. The game's main storyline is set on an island, and it includes additional, more difficult challenge levels.


title: Unravel Two

text: A red Yarny is separated from his home and his owner in a storm at sea, and is washed ashore with his yarn being cut to a dead end. He encounters a blue Yarny among the shipwreck and the two connect their dead ends together, forming a bond. A spark emerges from the connection and the continuous objective of the game is to chase it. The two Yarnys explore the forest and the underground before emerging to ground level and taking residence in an abandoned lighthouse - the game's loading hub.


title: Unravel Two

text: The Yarnys enter the corridor of an adoption home where a young boy is attempting to escape abusive adults, and the Yarnys help him by using the spark to chase the adults off. A boy knocks on his bedroom window, and he escapes with him through the rooftop. The Yarnys follow the children through a small park, and the adults take the form of dark shadows with red sparks that disintegrate the Yarnys on touch.


title: Unravel Two

text: The Yarnys emerge in a sunny countryside setting in the midst of midsummer celebration, but as the children are mistreated by the intoxicated adults, the setting turns dark and threatening. The Yarnys run from the shadows and, along with the children, hide from the adults. They are chased through the forest by a capercaillie, narrowly escaping. As the children play and go swimming in the forest, the Yarnys explore the woods and are chased through a lake by a northern pike.


title: Unravel Two

text: By nighttime, adults search for the children with flashlights and hounds in an old factory. The boy is caught and locked up, but later escapes when the Yarnys cause a machine to malfunction, causing a mayhem distracting the adults, and the children are reunited. The Yarnys help the children hide by chasing the adults off with the spark, and finally break out of the factory. A truckload of wooden logs crashes onto an electrical fence, starting a forest fire that spreads to the buildings and stables. The boy rescues the boy from the fire when he is stuck in branches by a stream. The Yarnys struggle their way through, and the children are seen rescuing the stable horses from the fire before themselves running into safety.


title: Unravel Two

text: Initially, the Yarnys go through the ruins of the forest ravaged by wildfire, and go through an abandoned watermill, gradually making it active again, and they follow the water to the nearby rapids in a sunny setting. The children are seen pushing an adult into the current. In the final cutscene, the lighthouse is surrounded by dark spirits, but the spark chases them away and a group of Yarnys of various shapes and colors appear. Together they bring the spark to the center of the lighthouse and its light is restored, and the storm outside passes over.


title: Unravel Two

text: In May 2016, EA announced the developers of "Unravel", Coldwood Interactive, had signed a publishing deal for their next game. This game was later confirmed to be "Unravel Two". On June 9, 2018, at their 2018 E3 press conference, EA announced "Unravel Two" would be released that same day.


title: Unravel Two

text: According to the game's producer, Michael Gill, "Unravel Two" was not released on the Nintendo Switch as "it would have taken another half a year or so." On February 13, 2019, Nintendo announced that the game would arrive on the Nintendo Switch through its Nintendo Direct presentation.


title: Unravel Two

text: According to review aggregator Metacritic, the game received "generally positive reviews" upon release.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre Co., Ltd. (CMLL; , "World Wrestling Council") is a "lucha libre" professional wrestling promotion based in Mexico City. The promotion was previously known as "Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre" ("EMLL") ("Mexican Wrestling Enterprise"). Founded in 1933, it is the oldest professional wrestling promotion still in existence.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: CMLL currently recognizes and promotes twelve "World Championships" for various weight divisions and classifications, six national level and six regional level championships. The CMLL Anniversary Show series is the longest-running annual major show, starting in 1934, with the CMLL 87th Anniversary Show being the most recent. CMLL also regularly promotes major events under the names "Homenaje a Dos Leyendas" ("Homage to two legends"), "Sin Piedad" ("No Mercy"), "Sin Salida" ("No Escape"), "Infierno en el Ring" ("Inferno in the Ring") during the year. CMLL has promoted their regular weekly "Super Viernes" ("Super Friday") on a regular basis since the 1930s. Founder Salvador Lutteroth funded the building of Arena Coliseo in 1943, making it the first building in Mexico built specifically for professional wrestling.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: Prior to 1933, "lucha libre" shows in Mexico were primarily promoted by foreign promoters doing the occasional match through Mexico or a few scattered local promoters, especially along the U.S. border, who brought in American professional wrestlers as their main attractions.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: In 1929, Salvador Lutteroth González, who at the time was a property inspector for the Mexican tax department, moved to Ciudad Juárez, near the Mexico–United States border. During a trip to El Paso, Texas, Lutteroth witnessed a professional wrestling show and was intrigued by it, especially the main event, Greek wrestler Gus Pappas. Four years later, Lutteroth, along with his financial backer Francisco Ahumada, chartered Empresa Mexicana de Lucha Libre (EMLL; literally "Mexican Wrestling Enterprise"), the first Mexican-owned wrestling promotion in the country. EMLL held their first show on September 21, 1933, considered the "birth of Lucha libre", and which led to Lutteroth being known as "the father of Lucha Libre".


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: EMLL initially tried to book Arena Nacional, the premier boxing venue in Mexico City, but the promoters would not let him rent it, forcing Lutteroth and EMLL to take up residence in Arena Modelo, an abandoned and run-down facility that Lutteroth was able to use as his home base. The concept of Lucha Libre quickly became very popular, so much so that the EMLL 1st Anniversary Show drew a sold-out crowd of 5,000 paying fans. In 1934, an American wrestler debuted in Mexico under a black leather mask, and Lutteroth dubbed him La Maravilla Enmascarada or "The Masked Marvel". In the United States the concept of the masked wrestler was more of a mid-level attraction, but the reaction to La Maravilla Enmascarada led to Lutteroth and EMLL officials to introduce more masks, starting with a wrestler known simply as El Enmascarado ("The Masked Wrestler"), and later El Murciélago Enmascarado ("The Masked Bat"). Through the use of the masks and ring characters EMLL helped create the sacred position of the mask in "Lucha libre", making it the ultimate status symbol for "luchadors". In the early days of EMLL, most of the top names were Americans, but with time EMLL introduced several Mexican natives that became so popular that they began to main-event most of the EMLL shows. To expand their business, EMLL began working with a number of local wrestling promoters across Mexico, allowing them to use the EMLL name and some of their contracted wrestlers while also gaining access to local wrestlers in return. Each booking office was independent of each other, but the main office in Mexico City had the final say if there were disputes over who would be able to book certain wrestlers.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: In 1942, a masked wrestler clad in silver, simply known as El Santo ("the Saint"), a man who go on to become a cultural icon in Mexico and is often cited as the greatest Mexican wrestler of all time. With the popularity of El Santo as well as other Mexican stars such as Bobby Bonales, Tarzán López, Cavernario Galindo and Gory Guerrero Arena Modelo eventually became too small to accommodate the demand for tickets. To solve the problem Lutteroth financed the construction of Arena Coliseo in Mexico City, the first arena in Mexico built specifically for professional wrestling and the first sports building in Mexico to have built in air conditioning. The arena, nicknamed the "Lagunilla Funnel" due to its interior shape would hold over 8,800 spectators when configured for "Lucha libre" or boxing. Arena Coliseo began hosting EMLL's annual Anniversary shows starting with the 10th Anniversary show.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: In 1953, Salvador Lutteroth joined the US based National Wrestling Alliance (NWA), becoming the official NWA territory for all of Mexico, known as "NWA-EMLL" outside Mexico. By joining the NWA, Lutteroth and EMLL gained control of the NWA World Light Heavyweight Championship. They were also able to re-brand their "World Middleweight Championship" to become the NWA World Middleweight Championship and their "World Welterweight Championship" became the NWA World Welterweight Championship. In the early 1950s television became as a viable entertainment medium in Mexico which was set to bolster the popularity of EMLL, but Arena Coliseo was not equipped properly for television transmissions. As it turns out luck was on Lutteroth and EMLL's side as Lutteroth and the personnel at Arena Coliseo bought a lottery ticket worth 5 million Pesos. Lutteroth used his portion of the winnings to finance the construction of Arena México, on the location where Arena Modelo used to sit. Arena México enabled EMLL to broadcast their weekly wrestling shows across Mexico, yielding a popularity explosion for the sport. Starting in 1956, with the EMLL 23rd Anniversary Show all anniversary shows were held in Arena México, except the EMLL 46th Anniversary Show. Over time the arena became known as "The Cathedral of Lucha Libre".


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: Over time, Lutteroth retired from the day-to-day operations of EMLL leaving the company in the hands of his son Salvador "Chavo" Lutteroth Jr.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: In 1975, local promoter Francisco Flores, along with EMLL trainer Ray Mendoza broke away from EMLL, citing their displeasure with EMLL's conservative, restrictive promotional style. The two took a number of EMLL's younger wrestlers with them to form "Lucha Libre Internacional, S. C", later known as the Universal Wrestling Association (UWA). With the creation of the UWA EMLL faced a rival national promotion for the first time.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: In the mid-1980s, Chavo Lutteroth II retired, allowing his nephew Paco Alonso, grandson of Chavo Lutteroth I, to take control of EMLL. In the late 1980s EMLL decided to leave the NWA, seeking to distance themselves from the political infighting in the National Wrestling Alliance. In 1991 EMLL changed their name to "Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre" (CMLL; "World Wrestling Council") to establish a new identity after the NWA split. From 1991 through 1993 CMLL created eight "CMLL World" titles in addition to the three NWA branded titles they retained and a slew of other championships. At the start of the 1990s the company began appearing on the national Televisa network, which led to a second big boom in business due to the renewed national television exposure, in the mid-1970s through the 1980s, magazines and newspapers were the sole medium of Lucha Libre for most Mexicans.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: In the mid-1980s, retired wrestler Antonio Peña became one of the main bookers for EMLL, helping determine who would win matches, what storylines to use and so on, he was also a driving force behind the name change to "Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre". Peña would often clash with Juan Herrera, the other main booker for CMLL at the time. Herrera wanted to maintain the old style of booking with heavyweights such as Atlantis, El Dandy and El Satánico, while Peña wanted to feature younger, faster moving wrestlers such as Konnan, Octagón or Máscara Sagrada. In the end CMLL owner Paco Alonso decided to go with Herrera's booking style.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: After Paco Alonso chose to ignore Peña's booking ideas, Peña began negotiations with "Televisa" television channel to fund a new wrestling promotion that would provide "Televisa" with weekly wrestling shows. In 1992 Peña started a booking agency, providing wrestlers and matches for the "Televisa" owned Asistencia Asesoría y Administración (AAA) promotion. While Peña technically owned the promotion "Televisa" owns the rights to the AAA name. In a move that mirrored Flores' departure in the 1970s Peña left the promotion alongside a number of young wrestlers who were unhappy with their position in the promotion. With the creation of AAA the promotion replaced the UWA as Mexico's other main wrestling promotion, creating a long running rivalry between CMLL and AAA. Starting in 1996 CMLL began promoting an annual show in March, first paying homage to Salvador Lutteroth, then later Lutteroth and El Santo and then finally becoming the "Homenaje a Dos Leyendas" ("Homage to Two Legends") annual show series.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: From 2007 to 2009, CMLL had a working relationship with American promotion Total Nonstop Action Wrestling, which saw CMLL's Averno, Rey Bucanero, Último Guerrero and Volador Jr. winning the 2008 TNA World X Cup and TNA worker Alex Shelley winning the 2008 CMLL International Grand Prix. In 2008, CMLL established a working relationship with New Japan Pro-Wrestling as part of "G-1 World", several wrestlers have since toured between the two companies winning titles, including Místico winning the IWGP Junior Heavyweight Championship and Jushin Thunder Liger winning the CMLL Universal Championship tournament. Since 2011, the two promotions have annually co-promoted events in Japan, under the name "Fantastica Mania". In 2011, CMLL established a working relationship with Japanese women's promotion Universal Woman's Pro Wrestling Reina and announced that the two promotions would create a new championship for women who have been in the professional wrestling industry for less than ten years, called the CMLL-Reina International Junior Championship. This was followed by the establishment of the CMLL-Reina International Championship one year later.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: On March 16, 2010, a video was posted on YouTube featuring an interview David Marquez had with NWA Executive Director and Legal Counsel Robert Trobich. Trobich announced that CMLL did not have permission to use the NWA trademark. The rights to usage of the NWA trademark in Mexico is now held by NWA Mexico, represented by Blue Demon, Jr. CMLL replaced the three championships with the NWA World Historic Light Heavyweight Championship, NWA World Historic Middleweight Championship and the NWA World Historic Welterweight Championship.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: On September 19, 2014, CMLL became only the second promotion in the Americas, after WWE, to draw a $1 million gate with their 81st Anniversary Show, headlined by a Mask vs. Mask match between Atlantis and Último Guerrero.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: On November 6, 2014, the promotion made an alliance with the Mexican independent group Lucha Libre Elite to help bring independent wrestlers into CMLL which ended in early 2018.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: On July 6, 2016, NJPW announced that they would broadcast CMLL Friday shows in their video-streaming service, NJPW World. On August 10, CMLL announced a working relationship with American promotion Ring of Honor (ROH). The two promotions were linked through their separate relationships with NJPW. The alliance with ROH ended on April 27, 2021.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: On July 7, 2019, CMLL announced the death of the president of the company Paco Alonso (who died a day before, on July 6). On July 10, CMLL appointed Sofía Alonso as the president of said company. On August 26, 2019, it was revealed that Sofía Alonso had been relieved of her position and returned to the company's public area, appointing Salvador "Chavo" Lutteroth III as chairman.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: CMLL regularly runs seven shows on five days in a week. The biggest weekly show being the Friday night Super Viernes ("Super Friday") show held in the famous Arena Mexico in Mexico City. CMLL runs show at Saturday in Arena Coliseo, at Sunday (two shows) in Arena Mexico and Arena Coliseo Guadalajara, Monday in Arena Puebla, and Tuesday in Arena Mexico and Arena Coliseo Guadalajara. The Super Viernes, the Monday Arena Puebla, and the Tuesday Arena Mexico show are televised.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: Of all the major professional wrestling promotions in the world, CMLL is one of the most conservative, having earned the nickname "The serious and the stable" ("La Seria y Estable") over time. Matches with blood are not broadcast unless it accidentally happens during a live event. CMLL rarely uses specialty or "gimmick matches" outside a limited number of steel cage matches and the occasional "Super Libre", no-disqualification matches. While other promotions have adopted matches such as the ladder match, CMLL remains much more traditional. They also have strict rules for what they will allow to happen during their shows, on one occasion a match between Dr. Wagner Jr. and L. A. Park during the CMLL 75th Anniversary Show degenerated into a brawl on the floor that was so out of control that both wrestler were fired by CMLL a short time later. CMLL also has strict rules on what wrestlers can and cannot say during their shows, a rule illustrated in 2015 where L.A. Park was fired from the promotion only three weeks after returning due to a profanity laden rant during a CMLL show.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: CMLL's main programming, hosted by Alfonso Morales, Leobardo Magadan and Miguel Linares, is broadcast regularly on Televisa in Mexico, on LATV in the United States, and formerly on Telelatino in Canada and The Wrestling Channel in the United Kingdom. CMLL also had a syndicated show called "Sin Limite de Tiempo" ("with no time limit") which shows matches from Arena Coliseo shows and matches they could not fit onto the regular broadcast. It aired in Los Angeles on KWHY and Also Air in San Francisco on KEMO-TV. This show was followed up by "Guerreros del Ring" on Canal 52MX. Also, Spanish-language American sports channel Fox Sports en Español recently started broadcasting CMLL programming. Recently CMLL also added the Mexican network Cadena Tres to its list of networks airing CMLL Wrestling. Galavision began airing CMLL wrestling in the spring of 2011. Galavision shows only a one-hour version while LATV has shown a two-hour version. In 2015, several of CMLL's shows became available live on their YouTube channel and they have held a number of internet-Pay Per Views (PPVs).


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: Each year CMLL promotes a number of signature events, some shown as pay-per-view events and others shown on regular television. Over the last couple of years CMLL have held three regular events each year and a number of one off, special events. The Major show, shown in order of when they happen during the year, include:


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: CMLL conducts several annual tournaments which usually signify a big push. Tournaments have been left out of the schedule for unexplained reasons. Some tournaments are conducted as "torneo ciberneticos", a large multi-man tag team elimination match, others are normal single elimination tournament.


title: Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre

text: These are all the tournament that have been held in the past by Consejo Mundial de Lucha Libre but have not been promoted in the last two years.


title: Project management office

text: A project management office (abbreviated to PMO) is a group or department within a business, government agency, or enterprise that defines and maintains standards for project management within the organization. The PMO strives to standardize and introduce economies of repetition in the execution of projects. The PMO is the source of documentation, guidance, and metrics on the practice of project management and execution.


title: Project management office

text: Often, PMOs base project management principles on industry-standard methodologies such as PRINCE2 or guidelines such as PMBOK.


title: Project management office

text: There are many reasons for project failures. According to a PricewaterhouseCoopers survey of 1,524 organizations, inadequate project estimating and planning constitutes 30% of project failures, lack of executive sponsorship constitutes 16%, and poorly defined goals and objectives constitutes 12%. It also found that using established project management approaches increased success as measured by a project's key performance indicators of quality, scope, schedule, budgets and benefits. The survey indicates that operating an established PMO is one of the top three factors that drive successful project delivery.


title: Project management office

text: Darling & Whitty (2016) found that there is a complexity of interconnections in PMO intellectual capital, and though often the rationale for PMO establishment is to enhance stakeholder satisfaction with projects, often the establishment of the PMO leads to significant dissatisfaction in senior management.


title: Project management office

text: A PMO may have other functions beyond standards and methodology, and may participate in strategic project management either as a facilitator or owner of the Portfolio Management process. Tasks may include monitoring and reporting on active projects and portfolios (following up project until completion) and reporting progress to top management for strategic decisions on what projects to continue or cancel.


title: Project management office

text: The degree of control and influence that PMOs have on projects depends on the type of PMO. The three general types are:


title: Project management office

text: There are many opinions about what practices PMOs must fulfill. The PMBoK 5th edition dedicates a page and a half to such discussion, identifying 6 PMO functions. Hobbs & Aubry (2010) identify 27 distinct functions of PMOs, highlighting a number of these that were found to not correlate with enhanced project performance. Darling & Whitty (2016) state there is a need for evidence-based management practice, that consultants and practitioners are providing unproven solutions in which organizations both public and private are investing enormous quantities of finance without assured outcome. The publication of opinions without scientific basis in the field of science, medicine or law would not be tolerated, and it is equally important for justification to be presented in the management field.


title: Project management office

text: Some PMOs operate in specialist contexts. In the Scaled Agile Framework the term APMO is used to define a PMO with a focus on supporting business agility.


title: Project management office

text: PMO departments change frequently and for a variety of reasons. Research indicates that changes to portfolio management and methods, collaboration and accountability; project management maturity and performance; and work climate are all factors that drive PMO change.


title: Project management office

text: Whilst PMO functions change through frequent transformations, it is argued that the core function of the PMO is to act as a catalyst for change and delivery within organizations.


title: Project management office

text: The Project Management Institute (PMI) Program Management Office Community of Practice (CoP) describes the PMO as a strategic driver for organizational excellence, which seeks to enhance the practices of execution management, organizational governance, and strategic change leadership.


title: Project management office

text: Darling & Whitty (2016) highlight that many PMO typologies have existed, from the early 1800s as a collective for running government strategy in the agricultural sector, to the civil infrastructure projects of the early 20th century, to the early 2000s when the PMO became a commodity to be traded upon. It would be impossible to group PMOs into specific types (Darling & Whitty, 2016).


title: Project management office

text: Whilst the 'P' in PMO usually stands for "project," it can also refer to "program" or "portfolio." Where project management offices support projects, program management offices have a broader remit including getting and sustaining the benefits from projects/programs. Portfolio management offices have the added responsibility of supporting organizations in achieving strategic goals


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Assisted reproductive technology (ART) includes medical procedures used primarily to address infertility. This subject involves procedures such as in vitro fertilization (IVF), intracytoplasmic sperm injection (ICSI), cryopreservation of gametes or embryos, and/or the use of fertility medication. When used to address infertility, ART may also be referred to as fertility treatment. ART mainly belongs to the field of reproductive endocrinology and infertility. Some forms of ART may be used with regard to fertile couples for genetic purpose (see preimplantation genetic diagnosis). ART may also be used in surrogacy arrangements, although not all surrogacy arrangements involve ART.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: The existence of sterility will not always require ART to be the first option to consider, as there are occasions when its cause is a mild disorder that can be solved with more conventional treatments or with behaviors based on promoting health and reproductive habits.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: With ART, the process of sexual intercourse is bypassed and fertilization of the oocytes occurs in the laboratory environment (i.e., in vitro fertilization).


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: In the US, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) defines ART to include "all fertility treatments in which both eggs and sperm are handled. In general, ART procedures involve surgically removing eggs from a woman's ovaries, combining them with sperm in the laboratory, and returning them to the woman's body or donating them to another woman." According to CDC, "they do not include treatments in which only sperm are handled (i.e., intrauterine—or artificial—insemination) or procedures in which a woman takes medicine only to stimulate egg production without the intention of having eggs retrieved."


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: In Europe, ART also excludes artificial insemination and includes only procedures where oocytes are handled.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Ovulation induction is usually used in the sense of stimulation of the development of ovarian follicles by fertility medication to reverse anovulation or oligoovulation. These medications are given by injection for 8 to 14 days. A health care provider closely monitors the development of the eggs using transvaginal ultrasound and blood tests to assess follicle growth and estrogen production by the ovaries. When follicles have reached an adequate size and the eggs are mature enough, an injection of the hormone hCG initiates the ovulation process. Egg retrieval should occur from 34 to 36 hours after the hCG injection.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: In vitro fertilization is the technique of letting fertilization of the male and female gametes (sperm and egg) occur outside the female body.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: A pre-implantation genetic diagnosis procedure may be conducted on embryos prior to implantation (as a form of embryo profiling), and sometimes even of oocytes prior to fertilization. PGD is considered in a similar fashion to prenatal diagnosis. PGD is an adjunct to ART procedures, and requires in vitro fertilization to obtain oocytes or embryos for evaluation. Embryos are generally obtained through blastomere or blastocyst biopsy. The latter technique has proved to be less deleterious for the embryo, therefore it is advisable to perform the biopsy around day 5 or 6 of development. Sex selection is the attempt to control the sex of offspring to achieve a desired sex in case of X chromosome linked diseases. It can be accomplished in several ways, both pre- and post-implantation of an embryo, as well as at birth. Pre-implantation techniques include PGD, but also sperm sorting.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: However, some studies have suggested that assisted reproductive technology is associated with an increased risk of birth defects.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Artificial reproductive technology is becoming more available. Early studies suggest that there could be an increased risk for medical complications with both the mother and baby. Some of these include low birth weight, placental insufficiency, chromosomal disorders, preterm deliveries, gestational diabetes, and pre-eclampsia (Aiken and Brockelsby).


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: 6.2% of IVF-conceived children had major defects, as compared with 4.4% of naturally conceived children matched for maternal age and other factors (odds ratio, 1.3; 95% confidence interval, 1.00 to 1.67). ART carries with it a risk for heterotopic pregnancy (simultaneous intrauterine and extrauterine pregnancy).


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Sperm donation is an exception, with a birth defect rate of almost a fifth compared to the general population. It may be explained by that sperm banks accept only people with high sperm count.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Germ cells of the mouse normally have a frequency of spontaneous point mutations that is 5 to 10-fold lower than that in somatic cells from the same individual. This low frequency in the germline leads to embryos that have a low frequency of point mutations in the next generation. No significant differences were observed in the frequency or spectrum of mutations between naturally conceived fetuses and assisted-conception fetuses. This suggests that with respect to the maintenance of genetic integrity assisted conception is safe.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Usage of assisted reproductive technology including ovarian stimulation and in vitro fertilization have been associated with an increased overall risk of childhood cancer in the offspring, which may be caused by the same original disease or condition that caused the infertility or subfertility in the mother or father.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: That said, In a landmark paper by Jacques Balayla et al. it was determined that infants born after ART have similar neurodevelopment than infants born after natural conception.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: ART may also pose risks to the mother. A large US database study compared pregnancy outcomes among 106,000 assisted conception pregnancies with 34 million natural conception pregnancies. It found that assisted conception pregnancies were associated with an increased risk of cardiovascular diseases, including acute kidney injury and arrhythmia. Assisted conception pregnancies were also associated with a higher risk of caesarean delivery and premature birth.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: In theory, ART can solve almost all reproductive problems, except for severe pathology or the absence of a uterus (or womb), using specific gamete or embryo donation techniques. However, this does not mean that all women can be treated with assisted reproductive techniques, or that all women who are treated will achieve pregnancy.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: As a result of the 1992 Fertility Clinic Success Rate and Certification Act, the CDC is required to publish the annual ART success rates at U.S. fertility clinics. Assisted reproductive technology procedures performed in the U.S. has over than doubled over the last 10 years, with 140,000 procedures in 2006, resulting in 55,000 births.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: The most common reasons for discontinuation of fertility treatment have been estimated to be: postponement of treatment (39%), physical and psychological burden (19%), psychological burden (14%), physical burden (6.32%), relational and personal problems (17%), personal reasons (9%), relational problems (9%), treatment rejection (13%) and organizational (12%) and clinic (8%) problems.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Many Americans do not have insurance coverage for fertility investigations and treatments. Many states are starting to mandate coverage, and the rate of use is 278% higher in states with complete coverage.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: There are some health insurance companies that cover diagnosis of infertility, but frequently once diagnosed will not cover any treatment costs.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Another way to look at costs is to determine the expected cost of establishing a pregnancy. Thus, if a clomiphene treatment has a chance to establish a pregnancy in 8% of cycles and costs $, the expected cost is $ to establish a pregnancy, compared to an IVF cycle (cycle fecundity 40%) with a corresponding expected cost of $ ($ × 40%).


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: For the community as a whole, the cost of IVF on average pays back by 700% by tax from future employment by the conceived human being.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: In Europe, 157,500 children were born using assisted reproductive technology in 2015, according to the European Society of Human Reproduction and Embryology (ESHRE). But there are major differences in legislation across the Old Continent.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: A European directive fixes standards concerning the use of human tissue and cells, but all ethical and legal questions on ART remain the prerogative of EU member states.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Across Europe, the legal criteria per availability vary somewhat. In 11 countries all women may benefit; in 8 others only heterosexual couples are concerned; in 7 only single women; and in 2 (Austria and Germany) only lesbian couples.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Spain was the first European country to open ART to all women, in 1977, the year the first sperm bank was opened there. In France, the right to ART is accorded to all women since 2019. In the last 15 years, legislation has evolved quickly. For example, Portugal made ART available in 2006 with conditions very similar to those in France, before amending the law in 2016 to allow lesbian couples and single women to benefit. Italy clarified its uncertain legal situation in 2004 by adopting Europe's strictest laws: ART is only available to heterosexual couples, married or otherwise, and sperm donation is prohibited.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Today, 21 countries provide partial public funding for ART treatment. The seven others, which do not, are Ireland, Cyprus, Estonia, Latvia, Luxembourg, Malta, and Romania.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Such subsidies are subject to conditions, however. In Belgium, a fixed payment of €1,073 is made for each full cycle of the IVF process. The woman must be aged under 43 and may not carry out more than six cycles of ART. There is also a limit on the number of transferable embryos, which varies according to age and the number of cycles completed.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: In France, ART is subsidized in full by national health insurance for women up to age 43, with limits of 4 attempts at IVF and 6 at artificial insemination.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Germany tightened its conditions for public funding in 2004, which caused a sharp drop in the number of ART cycles carried out, from more than 102,000 in 2003 to fewer than 57,000 the following year. Since then the figure has remained stable.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: 17 countries limit access to ART according to the age of the woman. 10 countries have established an upper age limit, varying from 40 (Finland, Netherlands) to 50 (including Spain, Greece and Estonia).


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Since 1994, France is one of a number of countries (including Germany, Spain, and the UK) which use the somewhat vague notion of "natural age of procreation". In 2017, the steering council of France's Agency of Biomedicine established an age limit of 43 for women using ART.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Most European countries allow donations of gametes by third parties. But the situations vary depending on whether sperm or eggs are concerned. Sperm donations are authorized in 20 EU member states; in 11 of them anonymity is allowed. Egg donations are possible in 17 states, including 8 under anonymous conditions.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: On 12 April, the Council of Europe adopted a recommendation which encourages an end to anonymity. In the UK, anonymous sperm donations ended in 2005 and children have access to the identity of the donor when they reach adulthood.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: In France, the principle of anonymous donations of sperm or embryos is maintained in the law of bioethics of 2011, but a new bill under discussion may change the situation.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: In the United Kingdom, all patients have the right to preliminary testing, provided free of charge by the National Health Service (NHS). However, treatment is not widely available on the NHS and there can be long waiting lists. Many patients therefore pay for immediate treatment within the NHS or seek help from private clinics.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: In 2013, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) published new guidelines about who should have access to IVF treatment on the NHS in England and Wales.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: The guidelines say women aged between 40 and 42 should be offered one cycle of IVF on the NHS if they have never had IVF treatment before, have no evidence of low ovarian reserve (this is when eggs in the ovary are low in number, or low in quality), and have been informed of the additional implications of IVF and pregnancy at this age. However, if tests show IVF is the only treatment likely to help them get pregnant, women should be referred for IVF straight away.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: This policy is often modified by local Clinical Commissioning Groups, in a fairly blatant breach of the NHS Constitution for England which provides that patients have the right to drugs and treatments that have been recommended by NICE for use in the NHS. For example, the Cheshire, Merseyside and West Lancashire Clinical Commissioning Group insists on additional conditions:


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Some treatments are covered by OHIP (public health insurance) in Ontario and others are not. Women with bilaterally blocked fallopian tubes and are under the age of 40 have treatment covered but are still required to pay test fees (around CA$3,000–4,000). Coverage varies in other provinces. Most other patients are required to pay for treatments themselves.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Israel's national health insurance, which is mandatory for all Israeli citizens, covers nearly all fertility treatments. IVF costs are fully subsidized up to the birth of two children for all Israeli women, including single women and lesbian couples. Embryo transfers for purposes of gestational surrogacy are also covered.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: On 27 January 2009, the Federal Constitutional Court ruled that it is unconstitutional, that the health insurance companies have to bear only 50% of the cost for IVF. On 2 March 2012, the Federal Council has approved a draft law of some federal states, which provides that the federal government provides a subsidy of 25% to the cost. Thus, the share of costs borne for the pair would drop to just 25%. Since July 2017, assisted reproductive technology is also allowed for married lesbian couples, as German parliament allowed same-sex marriages in Germany.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: In July 2020, the French Parliament allowed assisted reproductive technology also for lesbian couples and single women.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: The Government of India has notified the Surrogacy (Regulation) Act 2021 and the Assisted Reproductive Technology (Regulation) Act 2021 to regulate the practice of ART. Prior to that, the National Guidelines for Accreditation, Supervision and Regulation of ART Clinics in India published by the Ministry for Health and Family Welfare, Government of India in the year 2005 was governing the field. Indian law recognises the right of a single woman, who is a major, to have children through ART.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Some couples may find it difficult to stop treatment despite very bad prognosis, resulting in futile therapies. This has the potential to give ART providers a difficult decision of whether to continue or refuse treatment.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Some assisted reproductive technologies have the potential to be harmful to both the mother and child, posing a psychological and/or physical health risk, which may impact the ongoing use of these treatments.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: In Israel, there is research supporting using art, including recycled lab materials from the IVF process, to help women work through some of these mixed emotions.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: Films and other fiction depicting emotional struggles of assisted reproductive technology have had an upswing in the latter part of the 2000s decade, although the techniques have been available for decades. As ART becomes more utilized, the number of people that can relate to it by personal experience in one way or another is growing.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: "For specific examples, refer to the fiction sections in individual subarticles, e.g. surrogacy, sperm donation and fertility clinic."


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: 25 July 1978, Louise Brown was born; this was the first successful birth of a child after IVF treatment. The procedure took place at Dr Kershaw's Cottage Hospital (now Dr Kershaw's Hospice) in Royton, Oldham, England. Patrick Steptoe (gynaecologist) and Robert Edwards (physiologist) worked together to develop the IVF technique. Steptoe described a new method of egg extraction and Edwards were carrying out a way to fertilise eggs in the lab. Robert G. Edwards was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 2010, but not Steptoe because the Nobel Prize is not awarded posthumously.


title: Assisted reproductive technology

text: The first successful birth by ICSI (Intracytoplasmic sperm injection) took place on 14 January 1992. The technique was developed by Gianpiero D. Palermo at the Vrije Universiteit Brussel, in the Center for Reproductive Medicine in Brussels. Actually, the discovery was made by a mistake when a spermatozoid was put into the cytoplasm.


title: Kiss of the Dragon

text: Kiss of the Dragon ("Le Baiser mortel du dragon" in French) is a 2001 French-American action film directed by Chris Nahon, written and produced by French filmmaker Luc Besson, and starring an international cast of Jet Li, Bridget Fonda, and Tchéky Karyo.


title: Kiss of the Dragon

text: Li purposefully wanted to take a realistic approach to the fight scenes, and forgo the CGI and wire work that had been popularized by films such as "Charlie’s Angels" and "The Matrix". It is notable as most of the action sequences did not use CGI or wire work; only two scenes required CGI enhancement and only one scene involved wire work.


title: Kiss of the Dragon

text: Liu Jian (Jet Li), a Chinese intelligence agent, is sent to Paris to help the French authorities apprehend Chinese mob boss Mr. Big (Ric Young), who is involved in heroin smuggling. He meets Inspector Jean-Pierre Richard (Tchéky Karyo), a corrupt and violent police detective, at a hotel. Richard tricks Liu into believing he is simply providing reconnaissance of a meet involving Mr. Big. During the operation, Mr. Big is introduced to two female prostitutes, one being Jessica Kamen (Bridget Fonda), an American woman, who he takes back to his room for sex. While Liu and the rest are watching through the surveillance camera, Mr. Big kicks everyone out except for the two women. After pretending to seduce him, the other prostitute stabs Mr. Big. Overseeing the events from another room, Liu rushes in and subdues the prostitute. He then attempts to call for help to save Mr. Big's life, but Richard enters shortly after, shooting Mr. Big and the woman with Liu's police-issued handgun, framing Liu for both murders. Jessica hides in the bathroom during the commotion.


title: Kiss of the Dragon

text: Realizing he has been set up, Liu manages to escape from the hotel with a surveillance tape showing Richard shooting Mr. Big. After the events, Chinese liaisons are sent to France to investigate the matter, as Richard makes Liu the primary suspect. However, the liaisons do not believe the story Richard provides. Liu meets with one of them on a ferry and passes him the tape, revealing the truth. However, Richard's men spot them, and the liaison is assassinated. Liu is then forced to flee from a horde of cops and GIGN commandos. After Liu escapes, he is forced to maintain a low profile.


title: Kiss of the Dragon

text: While his situation worsens, he meets Jessica, whose daughter was kidnapped by Richard to force her into prostitution. Liu discovers that Jessica was the second prostitute at the hotel during the night of Mr. Big's murder. He realizes she can prove his innocence, but she refuses to go without retrieving her daughter, Isabel (Isabelle Duhauvelle). Liu decides the tape would provide the best evidence, and sends Jessica to Richard's office to steal the tape. Jessica manages to get the tape, then Liu and Jessica head to an orphanage where Isabel is kept. However, Richard anticipates this move, and ambushes the duo at the orphanage. During their escape, Jessica is shot in the chest. Liu manages to get her to the hospital in time and leaves for the police station, driven to retrieve her daughter.


title: Kiss of the Dragon

text: Liu arrives at the police station where Richard is holding Isabel hostage and he fights his way through another horde of policemen. After managing to defeat Richard's personal henchmen, Liu enters his office and finds him holding Isabel at gunpoint. Even though Liu is unarmed, he tells Richard that if he kills Isabel, then he will have all the time he needs to kill him. Richard tries to kill Liu, but he only manages to shoot him in the shoulder. However, the bullet injury fails to prevent Liu from disarming Richard while sticking an acupuncture needle into the back of his neck, in a forbidden location known as the "kiss of the dragon," which stimulates all the body's blood to travel to the brain to cause a painful death by brain aneurysm. Richard suffers and dies from the "kiss of the dragon" just as Liu departs with Isabel. Returning to Jessica's hospital bedside, Liu removes an acupuncture needle from Jessica's neck, promptly waking her. Upon waking up, she happily finds Isabel peacefully sleeping by her side.


title: Kiss of the Dragon

text: The title "Kiss of the Dragon" is derived from one of the last scenes in the movie, in which Liu punctures Richard in the back of the neck with an acupuncture needle at a "very forbidden" point on the body. The puncture itself, called "kiss of the dragon", traps all the body's blood in the head and causes side effects of quadriplegia, bleeding from the head's orifices, and a painful death by brain aneurysm.


title: Kiss of the Dragon

text: The director filmed most of the action sequences without CGI or wire work; only two scenes required CGI enhancement and only one scene involved wire work. Wire work was added to one of the last fight sequences between Li and Cyril Raffaelli, in order to add clarity to Raffaelli's kicks, as he was moving too fast for the camera. Nahon had to slow down this fight scene, as both Li and Raffaelli were moving too quickly to be captured clearly at normal recording speed.


title: Kiss of the Dragon

text: The French version of the film is notably different from others; it contains a zoomed-out shot of Tcheky Karyo shooting one of his henchmen in the head, resulting in a fountain of blood erupting. This passage was cropped from most international versions of the movie.


title: Kiss of the Dragon

text: The film received mixed reviews from critics, who thought violence overwhelmed it at the expense of the story and even a true portrayal of martial arts.


title: Kiss of the Dragon

text: On Rotten Tomatoes the film has an approval rating of 52% based on reviews from 108 critics. The site's consensus states "A formulaic actioner that's sure to please action fans. Those looking for plot, believability, or character development will have difficulty finding them."


title: Kiss of the Dragon

text: On Metacritic it has a score of 58 out of 100, based on 26 critic reviews, indicating "mixed or average reviews".


title: Kiss of the Dragon

text: Roger Ebert of the Chicago Sun-Times gave the film 3 out of 4 stars, and wrote: "I like the movie on a simple physical level. There is no deeper meaning and no higher skill involved; just professional action, well-staged and filmed with a certain stylistic elegance." The film is based on a story by Li, and is one of Fonda's final on-screen appearances before her retirement from acting.


title: Kiss of the Dragon

text: "Kiss of the Dragon" opened at 2,025 North American theaters on July 6, 2001 to an opening weekend gross of $13,304,027 ($6,569 per screen). It went on to a total North American gross of $36,845,124, making the film to be very profitable for 20th Century Fox (which only paid slightly more than $12.5 million to acquire the distribution rights in North America and some other foreign territories).


title: Kiss of the Dragon

text: The film was set to be the first film in the United States to receive an R-rating to be available on Disney+ on April 29, 2022, but eventually the decision was dropped, and the film will instead be streaming in Canada only.


title: Kiss of the Dragon

text: The soundtrack was released on July 3, 2001 through Virgin Records, and consisted mainly of a blend of hip hop and electronic music.


title: Kaduna State

text: Kaduna State ( جىِهَر كَدُنا; , ; ) is a state in northern Nigeria. The state capital is its namesake, the city of Kaduna which happened to be the 8th largest city in the country as at 2006. Created in 1967 as North-Central State, which also encompassed the modern Katsina State, Kaduna State achieved its current borders in 1987. The fourth largest and third most populous state in the country, Kaduna State is nicknamed the "Centre of Learning", owing to the presence of numerous educational institutions of importance within the state such as Ahmadu Bello University.


title: Kaduna State

text: Modern Kaduna State is home to the sites of some of Africa's oldest civilizations, including the Nok civilization that prospered from to . In the 9th century, geographer and historian Ya'qubi documented the existence of the Hausa Kingdoms, which existed until the region was incorporated into the Sokoto Caliphate in the early 1800s following the Fulani War. During the colonial era, the city of Kaduna was made the capital of Northern Nigeria Protectorate by British leadership.


title: Kaduna State

text: The name "Kaduna" is believed to be a corruption of the Hausa word , which means crocodile; the Kaduna River previously hosted a large crocodile population. The state economy is dependent on agriculture, especially cotton and groundnut production. In the modern era, Kaduna State has been the site of violent ethnic and religious conflict, with the 2002 Miss World riots in the state capital over purported blasphemy leading to around 250 deaths and the loss of homes for around 30,000.


title: Kaduna State

text: The word "Kaduna" is said to be a corruption of the Hausa language word '"Kada' " for Crocodile and the plural is "Kadduna" for crocodiles, as there were previously many crocodiles in the river of Kaduna. Another version of the etymology of the name is a narrative linked to the Gbagyi word/name 'Odna' for River Kaduna. in the coat of arm of the state, there is a symbol of crocodile, and majority of emblem related to the state uses crocodile as a symbol. The state football club Kaduna United F.C. used ""The Crocodiles"" as a nickname.


title: Kaduna State

text: It is indicative that the name, Kaduna, was taken up by Lord Frederick Lugard and his colonial colleagues when they moved the capital of the then Northern Region from Zungeru to Kaduna city in 1916. This move of the colonial office to Kaduna city started in 1912–1918/20 with the initial effort having been made in 1902 from Jebba to Zungeru.


title: Kaduna State

text: At the start of British colonial rule in northern Nigeria the people groups who live in the area became 'Northern Nigerians'- a construct which continues even today. By 1967 these people groups again were carved into 'North Central State'; this was the case until 1975 that 'Kaduna State' was formerly created by the then military leader, Gen. Murtala Mohammed, with all distinct identities amalgamated into one state without a referendum. The state hence is the successor of the old Northern Region of Nigeria, which had its capital at Kaduna which is now the state capital to about 6.3 million people (Nigerian census figure, 2006).


title: Kaduna State

text: In 1967, the old Northern Region was divided into six states in the north, leaving Kaduna as the capital of North-Central State, whose name was changed to Kaduna State in 1976. Meanwhile, Kaduna State was further divided in 1987, creating Katsina State. Under the governance of Kaduna are the ancient cities of Zaria, Kafanchan, and Nok, the area where Africa's earliest civilization is recorded to have been excavated. The most intriguing aspect of this area is that the colonial construction and its post-colonial successor called 'Nigeria' hardly documented the history or the method of how Kaduna state's people groups encompassed in these constructs define and identify themselves as such the people groups who populate the area have lived in near oblivion or obscurity as they often are thought of as Hausa people. In 2019 Kaduna State celebrated its 100-year anniversary, making it one of the oldest states in Nigeria.


title: Kaduna State

text: Zazzau is said to have been founded in 1536 and later was renamed after the prominent Queen Zaria known as Amina. The Hausa people of Zaria are said to be the old ancestral of the region.


title: Kaduna State

text: The state is located at the Northern part of Nigeria's high plains. The vegetation cover is Sudan Savannah type, characterized by scattered short trees, shrubs and grasses. The soil is mostly loamy to sandy. A substantial amount of clay is found also.


title: Kaduna State

text: Its northern half became Katsina state in 1987. The state is bordered by seven states. The Kaduna state is located between latitude 10 degree centi 38'58" N and 10 degree centi 25'36" north of the equator to longitude 7 degree centi 22'14" east and 7 degree centi 32'00" east of the Greenwich Meridian.


title: Kaduna State

text: The Kaduna River, a tributary of the Niger River, flows through the state. There are rocky stones in Zaria and Kogoro Hill. Many communities are prone to seasonal flooding during the rainy season.


title: Kaduna State

text: The current governor of Kaduna state is legally under the control of Kaduna State Executives, Kaduna State House of Assembly and Kaduna State Judiciary. The current elected governor of the state is Nasir Ahmad el-Rufai and his deputy is Hadiza Sabuwa Balarabe. In the state there 14 ministries that operate with the state government to improve the state: Ministries of Kaduna State. Within each Ministry there are multiple agencies with regulatory authority, such as the Kaduna State Environmental Protection Authority which overseas waste, water, and other environmental quality issues.


title: Kaduna State

text: The governor of the state said he is trying to restore togetherness back in the state to make it hospitable for all Nigerians just as it has always been in the past. According to him, the city is now divided due to the frequent communal clashes that have been occurring in the last two decades.


title: Kaduna State

text: On 11 March 2021, thirty students were kidnapped in Kaduna State, when gunmen attacked the Federal College of Forestry Mechanization. This was the fourth school kidnapping in Nigeria in 2021, and also the fifth school attack. On 20 April 2021, in another bloody raid by bandits on the students and staffs of the Greenfield University kidnapped 23 students and killed 5 of them. presently, the state is facing securities challenges. The governor is working with all the security personnel to find lasting solutions.


title: Kaduna State

text: The Kaduna State economy was ranked 15th largest state in Nigerian economy from 2002 to 2008, and it made up 3.3% of Nigerian GDP. While agriculture contributed 30% of SGDP in Kaduna. Kaduna state cultivate cotton and peanuts (groundnuts) for exporting and domestic extraction of Peanut oil. In the state there is National Institute of Leather and Technology, to improve modern technology and traditional method.


title: Kaduna State

text: In Kaduna State there are many means of communication through mass media, broadcasting, internet communication and banking transaction. In Kaduna State there are 21 radio stations and more than four television stations broadcasting. Many of them are owned by the state government or federal government, and a few are private. The following is a list of radio stations in Kaduna.


title: Kaduna State

text: Kaduna State is populated by about 59 to 63 different ethnic groups, if not more, with the exactitude of the number requiring further verification through field work. The question as in the last paragraph with the Hausa and Fulani as the dominant ethnic groups followed by at least 60 others. These groups include:


title: Kaduna State

text: The main religions in Kaduna State are Christianity and Islam. Some minority ethnic groups practice traditional worshiping, mostly in the southern area of the state. The people of Kaduna are very religious, causing two religious crises in 2001 and 2002, the Miss World riots.


title: Kaduna State

text: Christian mission activities in the area began formally in the 1900s with the establishment of Sudan Interior Mission (SIM) in the Ham town of Har Kwain (Kwoi), hence today these people groups are mainly Christians. Culturally, the people groups of the then southern Zaria who are now Southern Kaduna, with some exception it must be acknowledged, share a lot in the cultural practices of marriage rites, naming, burial, farming, social organisations, kinship, etc. Until full scale research is undertaken, the diversity of Kaduna state remains blurred as some ethnic groups are so small in population that they are often overshadowed by the larger groups who live near them. There are several churches across the state, including the Roman Catholic dioceses of Zaria, Kaduna, Kafachan and megachurches.


title: Kaduna State

text: The central mosque in Kaduna metropolis is known as Sultan Bello Mosque. The Jama't Izalat al Bid’a Wa Iqamat as Sunna and Jamatu Nasril Islam main branch is located in Kaduna metropolis. Also, the prominent Tijaniyyah leader Sheikh Dahiru Usman is in Kaduna. The Nigerian Islamic mover known as Ibrahim Zakzaky has his main branch in Zaria, Kaduna State.


title: Kaduna State

text: Other languages in Kaduna State are Bacama, Firan, and Sambe. Almost all of these languages are spoken in Southern Kaduna.


title: Kaduna State

text: Kaduna is one of the largest centres of education in Nigeria. The slogan of the state is "Center of Learning" because of the presence of many institution like Ahmadu Bello University (established 1962). There are many government schools, include primary schools and secondary schools. All secondary schools in Kaduna are owned by the state government, federal government or private organisations. there are many tertiary institutions in the state. The state also has colleges for transportation and agriculture.


title: Kaduna State

text: Architecture includes the National Museum which was built in 1975 with archaeological and ethnographic exhibitions, the Kajuru Castle, Lugard Hall, Zaria walls and gates and Nok settlements. In the state there are many architectural buildings like Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Murtala Square, Investment house, Kaduna central market, and Sultan Bello Mosque. The palace of empire of Zazzau is one of the oldest traditional buildings in Kaduna state.


title: Kaduna State

text: In Kaduna State there are a lot of ethnic groups, which lead to the variation of culture and architectural style, this include the city wall of Zaria. The walls constructed during the reigns of Queen Amina of Zazzau protected the city and they are between 14 and 16 km long, and are closed by eight gates, Also the Emir's Palace of Zaria is an important traditional heritage. The palace has luxurious interiors. The St. Bartholomew's Church Zaria, built by the Church Missionary Society in 1929, still stands in Zaria, the church was built based on Hausa traditional architecture.


title: Kaduna State

text: Modern architecture is present in the state as a result of civilization and development. Most of these architectural buildings were built by the federal or state government, while the residential ones are mostly built by individuals; these buildings include Ahmadu Bello Stadium, Ten storey building, Investment house, federal secretary, Ranchers Bees Stadium, and Murtala square.


title: Kaduna State

text: Kaduna State has over 1,000 primary healthcare facilities to cater to every resident, even in the most remote village or ward of the state. To further improve on healthcare delivery, in 2016, the Kaduna State Government partnered with the UK Department for International Development (DFID) to install over 1.3 megawatts of solar power in primary healthcare facilities across the state.


title: Kaduna State

text: In Kaduna State many sports are played, such as football, golf, swimming, traditional wrestling and handball. The Kaduna State government run a football club called Kaduna United F.C. The club participated in playing Nigerian Professional Football League but are under relegation. the state also host Kaduna Marathon .


title: Kaduna State

text: In Kaduna State an annual festival is organized by Ministry of Culture and Tourism (Kaduna State). The festival exposes folklore talent and through these process, to promote unity and encourage tourism and build culture in the State. It takes place every November or December. Cultural activities include Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha performed by the Muslims in the state; the Tuk Ham; the Afan National Festival; the Christmas and Easter celebrations, by Christians, and the Kallan-Kowa celebrations. Kaduna has a museum and a park, the Kofar Gamji park and Zoo. Lord Lugard's Residence, is also a tourist attraction and it currently houses the state assembly.


title: Kaduna State

text: The rainy season in Kaduna is hot, humid, and cloudy, while the dry season is hot and partly cloudy. Throughout the year, the temperature rarely falls below 50°F or rises above 102°F, usually ranging between 55°F and 95°F.


title: Self-organizing map

text: A self-organizing map (SOM) or self-organizing feature map (SOFM) is an unsupervised machine learning technique used to produce a low-dimensional (typically two-dimensional) representation of a higher dimensional data set while preserving the topological structure of the data. For example, a data set with formula_1 variables measured in formula_2 observations could be represented as clusters of observations with similar values for the variables. These clusters then could be visualized as a two-dimensional "map" such that observations in proximal clusters have more similar values than observations in distal clusters. This can make high-dimensional data easier to visualize and analyze.


title: Self-organizing map

text: An SOM is a type of artificial neural network but is trained using competitive learning rather than the error-correction learning (e.g., backpropagation with gradient descent) used by other artificial neural networks. The SOM was introduced by the Finnish professor Teuvo Kohonen in the 1980s and therefore is sometimes called a Kohonen map or Kohonen network. The Kohonen map or network is a computationally convenient abstraction building on biological models of neural systems from the 1970s and morphogenesis models dating back to Alan Turing in the 1950s.


title: Self-organizing map

text: Self-organizing maps, like most artificial neural networks, operate in two modes: training and mapping. First, training uses an input data set (the "input space") to generate a lower-dimensional representation of the input data (the "map space"). Second, mapping classifies additional input data using the generated map.


title: Self-organizing map

text: In most cases, the goal of training is to represent an input space with "p" dimensions as a map space with two dimensions. Specifically, an input space with "p" variables is said to have "p" dimensions. A map space consists of components called "nodes" or "neurons," which are arranged as a hexagonal or rectangular grid with two dimensions. The number of nodes and their arrangement are specified beforehand based on the larger goals of the analysis and exploration of the data.


title: Self-organizing map

text: Each node in the map space is associated with a "weight" vector, which is the position of the node in the input space. While nodes in the map space stay fixed, training consists in moving weight vectors toward the input data (reducing a distance metric such as Euclidean distance) without spoiling the topology induced from the map space. After training, the map can be used to classify additional observations for the input space by finding the node with the closest weight vector (smallest distance metric) to the input space vector.


title: Self-organizing map

text: The goal of learning in the self-organizing map is to cause different parts of the network to respond similarly to certain input patterns. This is partly motivated by how visual, auditory or other sensory information is handled in separate parts of the cerebral cortex in the human brain.


title: Self-organizing map

text: The weights of the neurons are initialized either to small random values or sampled evenly from the subspace spanned by the two largest principal component eigenvectors. With the latter alternative, learning is much faster because the initial weights already give a good approximation of SOM weights.


title: Self-organizing map

text: The network must be fed a large number of example vectors that represent, as close as possible, the kinds of vectors expected during mapping. The examples are usually administered several times as iterations.


title: Self-organizing map

text: The training utilizes competitive learning. When a training example is fed to the network, its Euclidean distance to all weight vectors is computed. The neuron whose weight vector is most similar to the input is called the best matching unit (BMU). The weights of the BMU and neurons close to it in the SOM grid are adjusted towards the input vector. The magnitude of the change decreases with time and with the grid-distance from the BMU. The update formula for a neuron v with weight vector W(s) is


title: Self-organizing map

text: where "s" is the step index, "t" is an index into the training sample, "u" is the index of the BMU for the input vector D("t"), "α"("s") is a monotonically decreasing learning coefficient; "θ"("u", "v", "s") is the neighborhood function which gives the distance between the neuron u and the neuron "v" in step "s". Depending on the implementations, t can scan the training data set systematically ("t" is 0, 1, 2..."T"-1, then repeat, "T" being the training sample's size), be randomly drawn from the data set (bootstrap sampling), or implement some other sampling method (such as jackknifing).


title: Self-organizing map

text: The neighborhood function "θ"("u", "v", "s") (also called "function of lateral interaction") depends on the grid-distance between the BMU (neuron "u") and neuron "v". In the simplest form, it is 1 for all neurons close enough to BMU and 0 for others, but the Gaussian and mexican-hat functions are common choices, too. Regardless of the functional form, the neighborhood function shrinks with time. At the beginning when the neighborhood is broad, the self-organizing takes place on the global scale. When the neighborhood has shrunk to just a couple of neurons, the weights are converging to local estimates. In some implementations, the learning coefficient "α" and the neighborhood function "θ" decrease steadily with increasing "s", in others (in particular those where "t" scans the training data set) they decrease in step-wise fashion, once every "T" steps.


title: Self-organizing map

text: This process is repeated for each input vector for a (usually large) number of cycles λ. The network winds up associating output nodes with groups or patterns in the input data set. If these patterns can be named, the names can be attached to the associated nodes in the trained net.


title: Self-organizing map

text: During mapping, there will be one single "winning" neuron: the neuron whose weight vector lies closest to the input vector. This can be simply determined by calculating the Euclidean distance between input vector and weight vector.


title: Self-organizing map

text: While representing input data as vectors has been emphasized in this article, any kind of object which can be represented digitally, which has an appropriate distance measure associated with it, and in which the necessary operations for training are possible can be used to construct a self-organizing map. This includes matrices, continuous functions or even other self-organizing maps.


title: Self-organizing map

text: Selection of initial weights as good approximations of the final weights is a well-known problem for all iterative methods of artificial neural networks, including self-organizing maps. Kohonen originally proposed random initiation of weights. (This approach is reflected by the algorithms described above.) More recently, principal component initialization, in which initial map weights are chosen from the space of the first principal components, has become popular due to the exact reproducibility of the results.


title: Self-organizing map

text: A careful comparison of random initialization to principal component initialization for a one-dimensional map, however, found that the advantages of principal component initialization are not universal. The best initialization method depends on the geometry of the specific dataset. Principal component initialization was preferable (for a one-dimensional map) when the principal curve approximating the dataset could be univalently and linearly projected on the first principal component (quasilinear sets). For nonlinear datasets, however, random initiation performed better.


title: Self-organizing map

text: There are two ways to interpret a SOM. Because in the training phase weights of the whole neighborhood are moved in the same direction, similar items tend to excite adjacent neurons. Therefore, SOM forms a semantic map where similar samples are mapped close together and dissimilar ones apart. This may be visualized by a U-Matrix (Euclidean distance between weight vectors of neighboring cells) of the SOM.


title: Self-organizing map

text: The other way is to think of neuronal weights as pointers to the input space. They form a discrete approximation of the distribution of training samples. More neurons point to regions with high training sample concentration and fewer where the samples are scarce.


title: Self-organizing map

text: SOM may be considered a nonlinear generalization of Principal components analysis (PCA). It has been shown, using both artificial and real geophysical data, that SOM has many advantages over the conventional feature extraction methods such as Empirical Orthogonal Functions (EOF) or PCA.


title: Self-organizing map

text: Originally, SOM was not formulated as a solution to an optimisation problem. Nevertheless, there have been several attempts to modify the definition of SOM and to formulate an optimisation problem which gives similar results. For example, Elastic maps use the mechanical metaphor of elasticity to approximate principal manifolds: the analogy is an elastic membrane and plate.


title: Self-organizing map

text: Consider an array of nodes, each of which contains a weight vector and is aware of its location in the array. Each weight vector is of the same dimension as the node's input vector. The weights may initially be set to random values.


title: Self-organizing map

text: Now we need input to feed the map. Colors can be represented by their red, green, and blue components. Consequently, we will represent colors as vectors in the unit cube of the free vector space over generated by the basis:


title: Self-organizing map

text: Similarly, after training a grid of neurons for 250 iterations with a learning rate of 0.1 on Fisher's Iris, the map can already detect the main differences between species.


title: 1958 Lebanon crisis

text: The 1958 Lebanon crisis (also known as the Lebanese Civil War of 1958) was a political crisis in Lebanon caused by political and religious tensions in the country that included a United States military intervention. The intervention lasted for around three months until President Camille Chamoun, who had requested the assistance, completed his term as president of Lebanon. American and Lebanese government forces successfully occupied the Port of Beirut and Beirut International Airport. With the crisis over, the United States withdrew.


title: 1958 Lebanon crisis

text: After the end of World War II in 1945, the United States and Soviet Union were the two major world powers. Two years later, the Truman Doctrine was issued, aimed at containing the spread of communism and the Soviet Union. The Cold War is generally considered to have begun around this time. As the world divided into the Eastern (communist) and Western (capitalist) Blocs, a struggle for ideological geopolitical supremacy between the US and USSR emerged. One of the ways it manifested was through proxy wars in various global regions. One of those regions was the Middle East, where the Arab Cold War took place. After the Suez Crisis in 1956, there was an increase in Arab hostility to the United States as well as increased Soviet influence in Egypt and Syria. The crisis also encouraged pan-Arabism and increased the popularity and influence of Gamal Abdel Nasser, President of Egypt. The United States feared that the region was susceptible to the spread of communism.


title: 1958 Lebanon crisis

text: The Eisenhower Doctrine was announced by President of the United States Dwight D. Eisenhower in January 1957. It pledged American economic and military aid to prevent communism from spreading in the Middle East. The United States Congress passed the doctrine on March 7 and it was signed into law on March 9. James P. Richards began to tour the Middle East and the Joint Chiefs of Staff and United States European Command began to make plans for intervention in the region. Their plan centered around the United States Sixth Fleet, stationed in the Mediterranean Sea, the Middle East Force and several Air Force units. 11,000 soldiers were made ready for combat in the region. While the doctrine was never formally invoked, the US supported Hussein of Jordan in 1957 against an alleged coup attempt and moved to prevent communism from spreading in Syria.


title: 1958 Lebanon crisis

text: The partition of the Ottoman Empire divided present-day Syria and Lebanon under the Mandate for Syria and the Lebanon in 1923. Lebanon completely became an independent nation on 22 November 1943 when the French Mandate formally ended. Around the time of independence, the National Pact was agreed upon, stating that, among other things, "Lebanon was to be a completely independent sovereign state. The Christians were to forego seeking foreign [...] protection or attempting to bring Lebanon under foreign control or influence. In return, the Muslims were to forego making any attempt to bring Lebanon into any political union with Syria, or into the formation of any Arab Union". The Pact marked a compromise between several religious sects living in the countrynamely Maronite Christians, Sunni Muslims, Shia Muslims, Greek Orthodox Christians, Greek Catholic Christians and Druzes.


title: 1958 Lebanon crisis

text: Camille Chamoun was elected as the second President of Lebanon in the presidential elections in 1952, replacing Bechara El Khoury in the post. Described as "quite openly anti-Communist", the United States viewed Chamoun as "definitely our friend." In 1957, shortly after the announcement of the Eisenhower Doctrinewhich Chamoun's regime had been the only Arab government to openly endorse "without reservation"the United States became concerned that parliamentary elections set for June would result in the election of a parliament that was hostile to the US. Many Muslims in the nation supported Nasser and the United Arab Republic (UAR). Kamal Jumblatt and Rashid Karami, Druze and Sunni leaders, respectively, condemned Chamoun's support for the doctrine as violating the National Pact. US attempts to influence the election included approving the sending of $12.7 million in military or financial aid and sending operatives from the Central Intelligence Agency (including David Atlee Phillips, Miles Copeland Jr. and Wilbur Eveland) to the region, who provided "campaign contributions" towards pro-West politicians. In late May 1957 pro-Chamoun troops killed seven and wounded seventy-three protesters in Beirut and the following month opposition leaders argued that Chamoun "had bought so many votes and gerrymandered so many districts that the balloting would be meaningless." The election was an American success, as fifty-three out of sixty-six parliamentarians supported Chamoun. The US continued to provide aid to Chamoun, fearing Soviet and UAR influence in the region. Chamun's opponents maintained that the election was invalid and needed to be re-held.


title: 1958 Lebanon crisis

text: On 8 May 1958 a Lebanese journalist, Nasib Al Matni, was assassinated in his office in Beirut. He was a pro-Nasserist and anti-Chamoun Maronite. Following this incident intensive protests occurred in Beirut and Tripoli.


title: 1958 Lebanon crisis

text: On 1 February 1958, Syria and Egypt united, forming the UAR. The United States feared initially that the new nation would become the dominant power in the Middle East, but recognized it on February 25 after deciding that the UAR could be beneficial in halting communism's spread and keeping Nasser contained. Chamoun and Charles Malik worried that “the peril of subversion in Lebanon" by the UAR "was immediate” and asked for American aid.


title: 1958 Lebanon crisis

text: Tensions were increasing in Lebanon throughout early 1958. Although Chamoun's term would have expired on 23 September 1958, he intended to run for president again, which was not permitted in the Constitution of Lebanon, and asked for American support in his effort. While the United States feared that a movement against Chamoun could harm their interests in the region, they were reluctant to withdraw support for him, as Fouad Chehab, the chief of staff of the Lebanese Army, was the most likely figure to succeed Chamoun. Robert M. McClintock, American ambassador to Lebanon, described Chehab as “a neutral legume who would require careful pruning to grow in the right direction.” As a result, the US did not formally support Chamoun's effort.


title: 1958 Lebanon crisis

text: Protests by various groupsmainly the Sunnis and the Druzebegan in February against the Christian Chamoun, who had also aligned himself in support of the US and Britain, actions that protesters considered breaches of the National Pact. Demonstrations also protested that Chamoun had not allowed Lebanon to join the UAR. The protesters felt that "Chamoun was not willing to modify his foreign policy unless he was forced to." Tensions between Maronite Christians and Arab Muslims continued to rise after the killing of Nasib Al Matni on 8 May. Metni was the editor of "Al Telegraf" and had been critical of Chamoun's rule. Fighting erupted on the streets of Beirut as a Muslim mob burned the US Information Service library down. Heightened tensions existed around the country, including in the Beqaa Valley, where Shia militants were receiving weapons from Syria. "The New York Times" dated the beginning of a formal armed rebellion to 10 May 1958. Chamoun requested American military intervention in early May against the threat to his power under the Eisenhower Doctrine, although McClintock noted that there was an "absence of overt Communist aggression".


title: 1958 Lebanon crisis

text: The leader of the UAR, Nasser, began publicly calling for Arab unity. Various nations, including Lebanon, blamed Nasser's actions for the increase in sectarian unrest, and the Lebanese government filed a formal complaint to the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) on 22 May 1958, accusing the UAR of meddling in the nation's affairs. The UNSC passed a resolution on 11 June 1958 that recommended sending a group to Lebanon "to ensure that there is no illegal infiltration of personnel or supply of arms or other material across the Lebanese borders". A "Group of Three"Galo Plaza, Rajeshwar Dayal and Odd Bull Dag Hammarskjöld, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, and members of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization were soon dispatched to Lebanon to form the United Nations Observation Group in Lebanon (UNOGIL).


title: 1958 Lebanon crisis

text: Eisenhower responded by authorizing Operation Blue Bat on 15 July 1958, in the first application of the Eisenhower Doctrine in which the US announced that it would intervene to protect regimes that it considered to be threatened by international communism. The goal of the operation was to bolster Chamoun's pro-Western Lebanese government from internal opposition and threats from Syria and Egypt. The plan was to occupy and secure Beirut International Airport, a few miles south of the city, and then to secure the port of Beirut and the approaches to the city.


title: 1958 Lebanon crisis

text: The chain of command for Operation Blue Bat was as follows: the Eisenhower administration at the strategic level; Specified Command, Middle East (SPECCOMME, a 'double-hat' for Commander in Chief, U.S. Naval Forces, Eastern Atlantic and Mediterranean) at the operational level; the United States Sixth Fleet, with aircraft carriers , and , cruisers and , and two destroyer squadrons, including the , and the . At the end of June, "Essex" and "Boston" were anchored at Piraeus, Greece, while "Des Moines", from which Vice Admiral Charles R. Brown was flying his flag, was at Villefranche-sur-Mer, France. Land forces included the 2nd Provisional Marine Force (Task Force 62) and the United States Army Task Force 201 at the tactical level. Each of these three components influenced Operations Plan 215-58 and its execution.


title: 1958 Lebanon crisis

text: The operation involved more than 14,000 men, including 8,509 US Army personnel, a contingent from the 1st Airborne Battle Group, 187th Infantry from the 24th Infantry Division and 5,670 officers and men of the United States Marine Corps (the 2nd Provisional Marine Force, of Battalion Landing Teams 1st Battalion, 8th Marines and 2nd Battalion, 2nd Marines under Brigadier General Sidney S. Wade). The 2nd Battalion, 8th Marines arrived on July 16 after a 54-hour airlift from Cherry Point, North Carolina They were supported by a fleet of 70 ships and 40,000 sailors. On July 16, 1958, Admiral James L. Holloway Jr., CINCNELM and CINCSPECCOMME, flew in from London to Beirut airport and boarded from which he commanded the remainder of the operation. The U.S. withdrew its forces on October 25, 1958.


title: 1958 Lebanon crisis

text: Eisenhower sent the diplomat Robert Daniel Murphy to Lebanon as his personal representative. Murphy played a significant role in convincing both sides of the conflict to reach a compromise by electing the moderate Christian general Fouad Chehab as incoming president, but allowing Chamoun to continue in power until the end of his term, on September 22.


title: 1958 Lebanon crisis

text: Lebanese Prime Minister Rashid Karami formed a national reconciliation government after the end of the 1958 crisis.


title: Bremerhaven

text: Bremerhaven (, , Low German: "Bremerhoben") is a city at the seaport of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen, a state of the Federal Republic of Germany.


title: Bremerhaven

text: It forms a semi-enclave in the state of Lower Saxony and is located at the mouth of the River Weser on its eastern bank, opposite the town of Nordenham. Though a relatively new city, it has a long history as a trade port and today is one of the most important German ports, playing a role in Germany's trade.


title: Bremerhaven

text: The town was founded in 1827, but neighboring settlements such as Lehe were in the vicinity as early as the 12th century, and Geestendorf was "mentioned in documents of the ninth century". These tiny villages were built on small islands in the swampy estuary. In 1381, the city of Bremen established "de facto" rule over the lower Weser stream, including Lehe, later therefore called Bremerlehe. Early in 1653, Swedish Bremen-Verden's troops captured Bremerlehe by force.


title: Bremerhaven

text: The Emperor Ferdinand III ordered his vassal Christina of Sweden, then Duchess regnant of Bremen-Verden, to restitute Bremerlehe to Bremen. However, Swedish Bremen-Verden began the First Bremian War (March – July 1654). In the subsequent peace treaty (; November 1654) Bremen had to cede Bremerlehe and its surroundings to Swedish Bremen-Verden. The latter developed plans to found a fortified town on the site, and much later this location became the present-day city of Bremerhaven. In 1672, under the reign of Charles XI of Sweden, in personal union Duke of Bremen-Verden—colonists tried unsuccessfully to erect a castle (named Carlsburg after Charles XI) there; this fortified structure was meant to protect, as well as control shipping heading for Bremen.


title: Bremerhaven

text: Finally, in 1827, the city of Bremen under Burgomaster Johann Smidt bought the territories at the mouth of the Weser from the Kingdom of Hanover. Bremen sought this territory to retain its share of Germany's overseas trade, which was threatened by the silting up of the Weser around the old inland port of Bremen. Bremerhaven (literally in ) was founded to be a haven for Bremen's merchant marine, becoming the second harbour for Bremen, despite being downstream. Due to trade with, and emigration to North America, the port and the town grew quickly. In 1848, Bremerhaven became the home port of the German Confederation's Navy under Karl Rudolf Brommy.


title: Bremerhaven

text: The Kingdom of Hanover founded a rival town next to Bremerhaven and called it Geestemünde (1845). Both towns grew and established the three economic pillars of trade, shipbuilding and fishing. Following inter-state negotiations at different times, Bremerhaven's boundary was several times extended at the expense of Hanoveran territory. In 1924, Geestemünde and the neighbouring municipality of Lehe were united to become the new city of Wesermünde, and in 1939 Bremerhaven (apart from the overseas port) was removed from the jurisdiction of Bremen and made a part of Wesermünde, then a part of the Prussian Province of Hanover.


title: Bremerhaven

text: As possibly the most critical North Sea base of the Nazi War Navy, the "Kriegsmarine", 79% of the city was destroyed in the Allied air bombing of Bremen in World War II; however, key parts of the port were deliberately spared by the Allied forces to provide a usable harbour for supplying the Allies after the war. All of Wesermünde, including those parts which did not previously belong to Bremerhaven, was a postwar enclave run by the United States within the British zone of northern Germany. Most of the US military units and their personnel were assigned to the city's Carl Schurz Kaserne. One of the longest based US units at the Kaserne was a US military radio and TV station, an "Amerikanischer Soldatensender", AFN Bremerhaven, which broadcast for 48 years. In 1993, the Kaserne was vacated by the US military and returned to the German government.


title: Bremerhaven

text: In 1947 the city became part of the federal state Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and was consequently renamed from Wesermünde to Bremerhaven. Today, Bremerhaven is a city in its own right, but also part of the city-state of Bremen, which is for all intents and purposes a state comprising two cities. In addition to being part of the federal state, the city of Bremen has owned the "overseas port" within Bremerhaven since 1927. This and other parts of Bremerhaven owned by the city of Bremen are known as "stadtbremisch". To complicate matters, a treaty between the two cities (as mentioned in Section 8 of Bremerhaven's municipal constitution) makes Bremerhaven responsible for the municipal administration of those parts owned directly by Bremen.


title: Bremerhaven

text: The port of Bremerhaven is the sixteenth-largest container port in the world and the fourth-largest in Europe with of cargo handled in 2007 and 5,5 million in 2015. The container terminal is situated on the bank of the river Weser opening to the North Sea. In the wet dock parts, accessible by two large locks, more than 2 million cars are imported or exported every year with 2,3 million in 2014. Bremerhaven imports and exports more cars than any other city in Europe. Another million tons of "High-and-Heavy" goods are handled with ro-ro ships. In 2011 a new panamax-sized lock has replaced the 1897 "Kaiserschleuse", then the largest lock worldwide.


title: Bremerhaven

text: Bremerhaven has a temperate maritime climate; severe frost and heat waves with temperatures above are rare. On average, the city receives about of precipitation distributed throughout the year, with a slight peak in the summer months between June and August and a slightly drier season in late winter and early spring. Snow does fall in winter and early spring and, more rarely, in autumn. However, it usually doesn't stay on the ground for long. The hottest temperature ever recorded was on 20 July 2022, and the coldest was on 25 February 1956.