title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: On October 9, 2012, the Supreme Court of the Philippines issued a temporary restraining order, stopping implementation of the Act for 120 days, and extended it on 5 February 2013 "until further orders from the court."


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: On February 18, 2014, the Supreme Court upheld most of the sections of the law, including the controversial cyberlibel component.


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: The Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 is one of the first laws in the Philippines which specifically criminalizes computer crime, which prior to the passage of the law had no strong legal precedent in Philippine jurisprudence. While laws such as the Electronic Commerce Act of 2000 (Republic Act No. 8792) regulated certain computer-related activities, these laws did not provide a legal basis for criminalizing crimes committed on a computer in general: for example, Onel De Guzman, the computer programmer charged with purportedly writing the ILOVEYOU computer worm, was ultimately not prosecuted by Philippine authorities due to lack of legal basis to charge him under existing Philippine laws at the time of his arrest.


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: The first drafts of the Anti-Cybercrime and Data Privacy Acts started in 2001 under the Legal and Regulatory Committee of the former Information Technology and eCommerce Council ([ITECC) which is the forerunner of the Commission on Information and Communication Technology (CICT) and now the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) It was headed by former Secretary Virgilio "Ver" Peña, with the Legal and Regulatory Committee chaired by Atty. Claro Parlade. The creation of the laws was an initiative of the Information Security and Privacy Sub-Committee chaired by Albert P. dela Cruz who was then president of the Philippine Computer Emergency Response Team (PHCERT), together with Anti-Computer Crime and Fraud Division (ACCFD) Chief, Elfren Meneses of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). The administrative and operational functions was provided by the Presidential Management Staff (PMS) acting as the CICT secretariat. The initial version] of the law was communicated to various other organizations and special interest groups during that time.


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: This was superseded by several cybercrime-related bills filed in the 14th and 15th Congress. The Cybercrime Prevention Act ultimately was the product of House Bill No. 5808, authored by Representative Susan Yap-Sulit of the second district of Tarlac and 36 other co-authors, and Senate Bill No. 2796, proposed by Senator Edgardo Angara. Both bills were passed by their respective chambers within one day of each other on June 5 and 4, 2012, respectively, shortly after the impeachment of Renato Corona, and the final version of the Act was signed into law by President Benigno Aquino III on September 12.


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: The Act, divided into 31 sections split across eight chapters, criminalizes several types of offense, including illegal access (hacking), data interference, device misuse, cybersquatting, computer-related offenses such as computer fraud, content-related offenses such as cybersex and spam, and other offenses. The law also reaffirms existing laws against child pornography, an offense under Republic Act No. 9775 (the Anti-Child Pornography Act of 2009), and libel, an offense under Section 355 of the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, also criminalizing them when committed using a computer system. Finally, the Act includes a "catch-all" clause, making all offenses currently punishable under the Revised Penal Code also punishable under the Act when committed using a computer, with more severe penalties than what was provided by the Revised Penal Code alone.


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: The Act has universal jurisdiction: its provisions apply to all Filipino nationals regardless of the place of commission. Jurisdiction also lies when a punishable act is either committed within the Philippines, whether the erring device is wholly or partly situated in the Philippines, or whether damage was done to any natural or juridical person who at the time of commission was within the Philippines. Regional Trial Courts shall have jurisdiction over cases involving violations of the Act.


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: A takedown clause is included in the Act, empowering the Department of Justice to restrict and/or demand the removal of content found to be contrary to the provisions of the Act, without the need for a court order. This provision, originally not included in earlier iterations of the Act as it was being deliberated through Congress, was inserted during Senate deliberations on May 31, 2012. Complementary to the takedown clause is a clause mandating the retention of data on computer servers for six months after the date of transaction, which may be extended for another six months should law enforcement authorities request it.


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: The Act also mandates the National Bureau of Investigation and the Philippine National Police to organize a cybercrime unit, staffed by special investigators whose responsibility will be to exclusively handle cases pertaining to violations of the Act, under the supervision of the Department of Justice. The unit is empowered to, among others, collect real-time traffic data from Internet service providers with due cause, require the disclosure of computer data within 72 hours after receipt of a court warrant from a service provider, and conduct searches and seizures of computer data and equipment.


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: The new Act received mixed reactions from several sectors upon its enactment, particularly with how its provisions could potentially affect freedom of expression, freedom of speech and data security in the Philippines.


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: The local business process outsourcing industry has received the new law well, citing an increase in the confidence of investors due to measures for the protection of electronic devices and online data. Media organizations and legal institutions though have criticized the Act for extending the definition of libel as defined in the Revised Penal Code of the Philippines, which has been criticized by international organizations as being outdated: the United Nations for one has remarked that the current definition of libel as defined in the Revised Penal Code is inconsistent with the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, and therefore violates the respect of freedom of expression.


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: Senator Edgardo Angara, the main proponent of the Act, defended the law by saying that it is a legal framework to protect freedoms such as the freedom of expression. He asked the Act's critics to wait for the bill's implementing rules and regulations to see if the issues were addressed. He also added that the new law is unlike the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act. However, Senator TG Guingona criticized the bill, calling it a prior restraint to the freedom of speech and freedom of expression.


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: The Electronic Frontier Foundation has also expressed concern about the Act, supporting local media and journalist groups which are opposed to it. The Centre for Law and Democracy also published a detailed analysis criticizing the law from a freedom of expression perspective.


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: Malacañang has attempted to distance itself from the law; after the guilty verdict was rendered in the Maria Ressa cyberlibel case, presidential spokesman Harry Roque blamed President Duterte's predecessor, Noynoy Aquino, for any negative effects of the law.


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: Several petitions were submitted to the Supreme Court questioning the constitutionality of the Act. On October 2, the Supreme Court initially deferred action on the petitions, citing an absence of justices which prevented the Court from sitting "en banc". The initial lack of a temporary restraining order meant that the law went into effect as scheduled on October 3. In protest, Filipino netizens reacted by blacking out their Facebook profile pictures and trending the hashtag #NoToCybercrimeLaw on Twitter. "Anonymous" also defaced government websites, including those of the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, the Metropolitan Waterworks and Sewerage System and the Intellectual Property Office.


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: On October 8, 2012, the Supreme Court decided to issue a temporary restraining order, pausing implementation of the law for 120 days. In early December 2012, the government requested the lifting of the TRO, which was denied. Over four hours of oral arguments by petitioners were heard on January 15, 2013, followed by a three-hour rebuttal by the Office of the Solicitor General, representing the government, on January 29, 2013. This was the first time in Philippine history that oral arguments were uploaded online by the Supreme Court.


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: On February 18, 2014, the Supreme Court ruled that most of the law was constitutional, although it struck down other provisions, including the ones that violated double jeopardy. Notably, likes and "retweets" of libelous content, originally themselves also criminalized as libel under the law, were found to be legal. Only justice Marvic Leonen dissented from the ruling, writing that he believes the whole idea of criminal libel to be unconstitutional.


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: While motions for reconsideration were immediately filed by numerous petitioners, including the Center for Media Freedom and Responsibility, they were all rejected on April 22, 2014. However, justice Arturo Brion, who originally wrote a separate concurring opinion, changed his vote to dissent after reconsidering whether it was just to impose higher penalties for cyberlibel than for regular libel.


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: On May 24, 2013, the DOJ announced they would seek to drop the online libel provisions of the law, as well as other provisions that "are punishable under other laws already", like child pornography and cybersquatting. The DOJ said it would endorse revising the law to the 16th Congress of the Philippines, but cyberlibel remains on the books as a crime in the Philippines, and has been charged by DOJ prosecutors multiple times since then. Senator Tito Sotto is primarily responsible for the cyberlibel provision, which he added after social media comments accusing him of plagiarism; he has defended his authorship of the last minute amendment, asking reporters if it was fair that "just because [bloggers] are now accountable under the law, they are angry with me?" While libel had been a crime in the Philippines since the American imperial period, before cyberlibel it had a penalty of minimum or medium "prisión correccional" (six months to four years and two months), but now has a penalty of "prisión mayor" (six to twelve years).


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: Duterte's administration has been accused of targeting journalists with the law, in particular Rappler. Journalists charged with cyberlibel since 2013 include Ramon Tulfo, RJ Nieto, and Maria Ressa. An online post does not even need to be public for cases to be filed by the DOJ. Roman Catholic clergy have also faced cyberlibel charges. Even foreigners have both accused others of and been accused of cyberlibel charges. As the act has universal jurisdiction, it is not required that an offender commit the offense in the Philippines; the DOJ brought up an OFW caregiver who lived in Taiwan on charges for allegedly "posting nasty and malevolent materials against President Duterte on Facebook".


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: Insults that would be seen in other countries as minor have led to DOJ prosecutors filing cyberlibel charges: such as "crazy"; "asshole"; "senile"; and "incompetent".


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: On March 2, 2020, the first guilty verdict in a cyberlibel case was returned against a local politician, Archie Yongco, of Aurora, Zamboanga del Sur. Yongco was found guilty of falsely accusing another local politician of murder-for-hire via a Facebook post, which he deleted minutes later, but of which archives were made; the court was unconvinced by his denial that he posted the message, and he was sentenced to eight years in jail and ordered to pay damages of ().


title: Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012

text: A Magna Carta for Philippine Internet Freedom was crowdsourced by Filipino netizens with the intent of, among other things, repealing the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012; it failed to pass. Several organizations continue to fight for the decriminalization of all forms of libel in the Philippines, including the National Union of Journalists of the Philippines and Vera Files.


title: Wayne Manor

text: Wayne Manor Estate (or simply Wayne Manor) is a fictional mansion appearing in American comic books published by DC Comics. It is the personal residence of Bruce Wayne, who is also the superhero Batman.


title: Wayne Manor

text: The residence is depicted as a large mansion on the outskirts of Gotham City and is maintained by the Wayne family's butler, Alfred Pennyworth. While the earliest stories showed Bruce Wayne buying the house himself, by the 1950s at the latest, retroactive continuity established that the manor had belonged to the Wayne family for several generations. Along with serving as a personal residence, the mansion sits above the Batcave, which Batman uses as his secret headquarters. The vast majority of DC Comics references place Wayne Manor just outside of Gotham City in the state of New Jersey.


title: Wayne Manor

text: The manor acts as a home base and representation of Bruce's old wealth life, despite matching the Gothic architecture present in Gotham. For live-action films, English country house locations in Nottinghamshire, Hertfordshire, and Buckinghamshire, as well as Stevenson Taylor Hall in New York, have been used to depict Wayne Manor.


title: Wayne Manor

text: Wayne Manor is depicted in earlier comics as being on the outskirts of Gotham City in the state of New Jersey. Comic book portrayals place the mansion within driving distance of Gotham City, close enough that the batsignal can be seen from Wayne Manor alerting Batman of distress in the city.


title: Wayne Manor

text: Wayne Manor's grounds include a surrounding gate around the perimeter with a larger front gate at the main entrance. Batman's subterranean headquarters, the Batcave, is located beneath the mansion.


title: Wayne Manor

text: The grounds also includes a large hill that was partially hollowed out for Batman's aerial vehicles, with the most prominent being the batcave, and there is also an underground river system that is large enough to accommodate docking space for the Batboat and has a large opening for said vehicle.


title: Wayne Manor

text: In "" it is revealed that Wayne Manor was designed by Nathan Van Derm for Darius Wayne, forming a stylized "W", although the additional gardens that existed at the time the manor was built add on to this symbol to create the image of a bat.


title: Wayne Manor

text: During the events of "" a massive earthquake struck Gotham City, the epicenter of which was less than a mile from Wayne Manor. The mansion was seriously damaged, as was the cave network beneath. The ground beneath the mansion shifted significantly, and actually revealed the Batcave below, although the Bat-family were able to relocate all of Batman's equipment before official rescue came to the manor so that nobody would learn Bruce Wayne's secrets. The original Manor was damaged beyond repair, forcing Bruce Wayne to redesign the Manor along with the Batcave. The new Manor is a veritable fortress, a pastiche of Gothic architecture combined with features of castellated architecture. Solar panels are installed in the new Manor, providing sustainable and environmentally-friendly electricity generation for the complex. It also includes a heliport for commercial helicopters.


title: Wayne Manor

text: During "Batman Eternal", Hush's machinations result in Wayne Enterprises being ruined and Bruce Wayne essentially bankrupt after the villain detonates various weapons caches Batman had concealed around Gotham. As part of this bankruptcy, Wayne Manor is repossessed by the city and turned into the new Arkham Asylum following the destruction of the original, but Bruce decides to accept this new status quo, reasoning that he can at least make sure that his enemies remain contained in the new manor given his intimate knowledge of its entrances and exits.


title: Wayne Manor

text: The manor is eventually reclaimed by Bruce's lawyers, but it is temporarily left empty due to Bruce's death and amnesic resurrection as Alfred wanted to give Bruce a chance to have a life without Batman. However, Bruce returns to the manor when he realizes who he used to be.


title: Wayne Manor

text: The manor grounds include an extensive cave system that Bruce Wayne discovered as a boy and later used as his base of operations, the Batcave. The method used to access it from inside the mansion has varied across the different storylines in the comics, movies, and shows. In the comic books, it is typically accessible from a hidden door in Wayne Manor's study behind a non-functioning grandfather clock, which opens to a descending staircase when the hands on said clock are turned to 10:47, the time Thomas and Martha Wayne were killed.


title: Wayne Manor

text: The Batcave is accessible from outside the mansion through a hidden entrance on the estate's grounds. This entrance leads directly to the Batcave and has been depicted in different forms, including a waterfall, pond, hologram, and camouflaged door.


title: Wayne Manor

text: While these grounds are the regular home of Bruce Wayne, he temporarily vacated it in the stories from the late 1960s to the early 1980s, preferring to live in a penthouse apartment on top of the Wayne Foundation building in the city, which also included a secret sub-basement acting as a Batcave.


title: Wayne Manor

text: Wayne came to this decision when Dick Grayson went off to college, which led him to decide that the mansion was now impractical with only one resident and one servant. Furthermore, Wayne decided he wanted to be closer to his main field of operations in Gotham City than a home situated outside the main urban area would allow. However, by the early 1980s, Wayne came to reconsider that purpose and decided that being less accessible to the public was more advantageous for his Batman activities and returned to Wayne Manor.


title: Wayne Manor

text: In "", Wayne Manor is destroyed as part of a plan to destroy Dracula's vampire family, bombs exposing the interior of the Batcave to sunlight after Batman lured the vampires into the cave following a chase through Gotham's sewers that ended in the Batcave just as the sun rose. Although the manor collapses into the cavern system after a second series of bombs are set off, thus concealing Bruce Wayne's secret, Batman and Alfred relocate to a brownstone in the center of town, Batman residing in a mausoleum in the basement while Alfred prepares his equipment in the main house. Although Alfred and Gordon stake Batman at the conclusion of "Batman: Bloodstorm" after he succumbs to his vampire instincts and drinks the Joker's blood, he is restored to life after Alfred removes the stake in "Crimson Mist", subsequently relocating to the catacombs underneath the remains of Wayne Manor. The manor's remains are finally destroyed for good when Gordon, Alfred, Two-Face, Killer Croc, and Two-Face's gang plant bombs on the cave roof, exposing the interior to sunlight and ending Batman's reign of terror once and for all.


title: Wayne Manor

text: In "Kingdom Come", the Manor was mostly destroyed by Two-Face and Bane after Batman's true identity was exposed; the Batcave, however, remained relatively untouched. By the end of the graphic novel, the Manor has been rebuilt as a hospital/hospice for Gulag battle victims.


title: Wayne Manor

text: The 1943 "Batman" serial originated the use of a grandfather clock as a door to the bat cave (or ""bats’" cave" as it was called in the serial), a device which was then adopted by the comics. The austere bat cave featured only an ornate desk, on the wall behind which was projected the shape of a bat.


title: Wayne Manor

text: 1949's "Batman and Robin" serial showed little more of Wayne Manor than its predecessor did. It continued the use of the grandfather clock as a secret door to the bat cave, which boasted more accoutrements than in the 1943 serial, including a holding cell.


title: Wayne Manor

text: In 1989's "Batman", Knebworth House, a Gothic Tudor mansion north of London was used for the exterior. The interior, however, is Hatfield House, Hertfordshire. The gaming room from the movie used the long gallery, and the marble hall was used for Wayne's "arsenal" with the two-way mirror. In "Batman Returns" (1992), an original scale model was used for the exteriors of Wayne Manor. In the sequel, the passageway to the Batcave is uncovered by turning on the lights of an ornament in a nearby aquarium and dropping through a false floor in an iron maiden, although Alfred does quip that he'll "take the stairs".


title: Wayne Manor

text: In "Batman Forever" (1995) and "Batman & Robin" (1997), Webb Institute in Glen Cove, New York was used for the exterior shots of Wayne Manor. In "Batman Forever", Dick Grayson discovers an entrance to the Batcave concealed behind a silverware storage cupboard.


title: Wayne Manor

text: In the more recent "Batman Begins" (2005), the former Rothschild estate, Mentmore Towers in Buckinghamshire, was used to portray Wayne Manor's exterior and interior. In "Batman Begins", the main part of the mansion is destroyed by fire caused by Ra's al Ghul, although its foundations survive intact and rebuilding efforts are underway as the film ends, with Alfred suggesting to Bruce to make improvements on the mansion's southeast corner (where the Batcave is located). The secret passage is an elevator shaft originally built as part of the Underground Railroad, accessed by playing three notes on a nearby piano.


title: Wayne Manor

text: In "The Dark Knight" (2008), Wayne Manor is still being reconstructed and is thus never seen, though it is briefly mentioned as being near the outer city limits in a neighborhood called the Palisades. Bruce Wayne relocates to a two-story tall penthouse apartment within a hotel he purchased, and his equipment is located in a different area: a secret bunker underneath a cargo container in a construction zone owned by Wayne Enterprises. The penthouse has a secret entrance to a location within the hotel where Wayne hides his equipment as Batman. According to the viral campaign, it is , with ceilings, two gigantic balconies, heliport for his private helicopter, and 360 degree view of the entire city. The monthly maintenance fee is around $31,000.


title: Wayne Manor

text: The reconstructed Wayne Manor has appeared in "The Dark Knight Rises" (2012) which takes place eight years after the events of "The Dark Knight", and Wollaton Hall (which Mentmore Towers is a near replica of) in Nottingham as Wayne Manor's exterior and interior. The Selina Kyle drawing room scene in "The Dark Knight Rises" was filmed in Osterley Park House in Hounslow, England, which is in a suburb of London. In the movie, the mastermind criminal Bane destroys a secret underground facility, an event that leads to the discovery of The Batcave. The film's drawing room is the real life mansion's entrance hall. The interior was designed by famed Neoclassical architect Robert Adam. At the end of the movie, after Bruce retires his role as Batman after fulfilling his vows to turn Gotham City into a city of order, he had his associates convert the manor into an orphanage, and named it after his parents.


title: Wayne Manor

text: Wayne Manor appears in "". It has been abandoned for some time, after a large fire destroys most of the house, with Bruce and Alfred now residing within the "Glasshouse", a small modern mansion on the shores of a lake, similar to Farnsworth House. The ruined former Manor; in actuallity, being a digital rendering of the real world, Sutton Scarsdale Hall ruins, located in Derbyshire, England.


title: Wayne Manor

text: Bruce visits his family's burial vault on the grounds of the mansion and briefly visits Wayne Manor's ruins before his battle with Superman. In "Justice League" and its director's cut, following the defeat of Steppenwolf and his army of Parademons with the help of Superman being revived, Bruce and Alfred re-visit the manor, accompanied by Diana, with Bruce discussing plans with them on rebuilding the Manor to serve as the new team's headquarters, and suggesting that the Manor's main hall could hold a round table of six chairs. Diana adds that the table should have room for more seats to be added in future, which Bruce agrees with. The interior of the manor was likely filmed on the Southill Estate in Bedfordshire The Knebworth House will be used again for the upcoming film "The Flash".


title: Wayne Manor

text: In the 2019 film "Joker", Webb Institute in Glen Cove, New York was once again used for exterior shots of Wayne Manor, following the Joel Schumacher films and the 2014 television series "Gotham".


title: Wayne Manor

text: It was revealed in "The Batman" that the Waynes moved into Wayne Tower and Wayne Manor was turned into an Orphanage where Riddler grew up.


title: Wayne Manor

text: In the upcoming film "The Flash", Burghley House in Peterborough was used as the exterior for Wayne Manor


title: Wayne Manor

text: Wayne Manor is seen in the background during Bruce's training and a visit by Lieutenant Gordon and his wife. The design is exactly the same design on the graphic novel of the same name


title: Wayne Manor

text: The design for Wayne Manor is the same one used in "Batman: Year One". It served as the home and seclusion for Bruce Wayne after he retires from being Batman 10 years previously due to the death of Jason Todd through unknown circumstances. It lost all power and ran on an emergency generator when Gotham, along with the rest of the United States lost power after Superman deflects a Soviet nuclear missile, which caused an EMP blast. Oliver Queen visited Bruce at the manor when planning to take down Superman. Wayne Manor was destroyed during Batman's final showdown with Superman in Gotham City after Alfred activated a self-destruct sequence. As the Manor burned to the ground Alfred looked on with sadness as he suffered a fatal stroke.


title: Wayne Manor

text: Wayne Manor is seen in the alternate timeline as the home of Thomas Wayne. However it is heavily dilapidated and all but abandoned with Thomas who has taken on the role of Batman, following the murder of his son Bruce by Joe Chill and the descent into madness and transformation into the Joker by his wife Martha. The balcony of the Manor is where Thomas and Barry Allen attempt on two occasions to restore Barry's connection to the Speed Force. The design used for the manor is the same one used for "Batman: Year One" and "Batman: The Dark Knight Returns" animated films. After Barry repairs the timeline, Wayne Manor is once again the residence of Bruce Wayne and restored to pristine condition.


title: Wayne Manor

text: Wayne Manor is featured in "The Lego Batman Movie" being located on an island called "Wayne Island". The entrance to the Batcave is accessed behind a fireplace. Wayne Manor and Wayne Island are controlled by a HAL 9000-like version of the Batcomputer, here called "'Puter".


title: Wayne Manor

text: In "", Wayne Manor is seen in a parallel universe where Superman rules the world. Because Batman's Insurgency opposed him, Superman exposed his identity and had the manor cordoned off. Batman, accompanied by Green Arrow, Wonder Woman, Green Lantern and Aquaman from another universe, infiltrate Wayne Manor to access the Batcave to retrieve a kryptonite weapon to use against Superman.


title: Wayne Manor

text: "" features several challenge maps set in Wayne Manor, including its main hall and armory. The interior of Wayne Manor is featured in the "" DLC, "Cold, Cold Heart". Bruce Wayne's New Year's Eve party is crashed by Mister Freeze and Penguin's gang, in search of Ferris Boyle. Wayne Manor is briefly featured in "". It is visible outside the game's bounds. After Scarecrow exposes Batman's identity to the world, a crowd of reporters gather outside the estate gates. The Dark Knight then returns to the manor to enact the Knightfall Protocol. Soon after he is greeted by Alfred and steps inside, Wayne Manor is destroyed by a series of explosions, giving the world the impression that Batman has died.


title: Wayne Manor

text: The lyrics to the song "She Looks Like Fun" on the album "Tranquility Base Hotel and Casino" by Arctic Monkeys mention Wayne Manor.


title: Monoamine neurotransmitter

text: Monoamine neurotransmitters are neurotransmitters and neuromodulators that contain one amino group connected to an aromatic ring by a two-carbon chain (such as -CH-CH-). Examples are dopamine, norepinephrine and serotonin.


title: Monoamine neurotransmitter

text: All monoamines are derived from aromatic amino acids like phenylalanine, tyrosine, and tryptophan by the action of aromatic amino acid decarboxylase enzymes. They are deactivated in the body by the enzymes known as monoamine oxidases which clip off the amine group.


title: Monoamine neurotransmitter

text: Monoaminergic systems, i.e., the networks of neurons that use monoamine neurotransmitters, are involved in the regulation of processes such as emotion, arousal, and certain types of memory. It has also been found that monoamine neurotransmitters play an important role in the secretion and production of neurotrophin-3 by astrocytes, a chemical which maintains neuron integrity and provides neurons with trophic support.


title: Monoamine neurotransmitter

text: Drugs used to increase or reduce the effect of monoamine neurotransmitters are used to treat patients with psychiatric and neurological disorders, including depression, anxiety, schizophrenia and Parkinson's disease.


title: Monoamine neurotransmitter

text: Specific transporter proteins called monoamine transporters that transport monoamines in or out of a cell exist. These are the dopamine transporter (DAT), serotonin transporter (SERT), and the norepinephrine transporter (NET) in the outer cell membrane and the vesicular monoamine transporter (VMAT1 and VMAT2) in the membrane of intracellular vesicles.


title: Monoamine neurotransmitter

text: After release into the synaptic cleft, monoamine neurotransmitter action is ended by reuptake into the presynaptic terminal. There, they can be repackaged into synaptic vesicles or degraded by the enzyme monoamine oxidase (MAO), which is a target of monoamine oxidase inhibitors, a class of antidepressants.


title: Monoamine neurotransmitter

text: Monoamine neurotransmitter systems occur in virtually all vertebrates, where the evolvability of these systems has served to promote the adaptability of vertebrate species to different environments.


title: NTSF:SD:SUV::

text: NTSF:SD:SUV:: (National Terrorism Strike Force: San Diego: Sport Utility Vehicle::) is an American television comedy that parodies the police procedural and action film genres. The series starred Paul Scheer, June Diane Raphael, Brandon Johnson, Kate Mulgrew, Rebecca Romijn, Martin Starr, Karen Gillan, Rob Riggle, and Peter Serafinowicz. "NTSF:SD:SUV::" aired three seasons on Adult Swim from July 22, 2011 to December 13, 2013. A number of special episodes were included within the broadcast of the series. In a 2014 interview, Scheer stated that the show is on an indefinite hiatus, with no immediate plans for a return.


title: NTSF:SD:SUV::

text: Created by comedian Paul Scheer, "NTSF:SD:SUV::" ("National Terrorism Strike Force: San Diego: Sport Utility Vehicle::") was first featured in a set of mock promotional television advertisements shot as a backdoor pilot and aired during season one broadcasts of "Childrens Hospital" on Adult Swim. The mock promos starred Scheer as agent Trent Hauser, along with June Diane Raphael, Brandon Johnson, and Rob Riggle. From the mock promos, the program was ordered to series with a 12-episode season, adding Kate Mulgrew, Rebecca Romijn, and Martin Starr to the cast. "NTSF:SD:SUV::" premiered on July 21, 2011. The series has aired three seasons, with the third concluding in 2013. In a 2014 interview, Scheer stated that the show is on an indefinite hiatus, with no immediate plans for a return.


title: NTSF:SD:SUV::

text: In Canada, "NTSF:SD:SUV::" previously aired on G4's Adult Digital Distraction block, and currently airs on the Canadian version of Adult Swim.


title: Sydney Tower

text: Sydney Tower is the tallest structure in Sydney, Australia, and the second-tallest observation tower in the Southern Hemisphere. It has also been known as "Centrepoint Tower", "AMP Tower", and colloquially as" Flower Tower", "Glower Tower", and "Big Poke".


title: Sydney Tower

text: The tower stands above the Sydney central business district (CBD), located on Market Street, between Pitt and Castlereagh Streets. It is accessible from the Pitt Street Mall, Market Street or Castlereagh Street and sits above the Westfield Sydney (formerly Centrepoint) shopping centre. The tower is open to the public, and is one of the most prominent tourist attractions in the city, being visible from a number of vantage points throughout town and from adjoining suburbs. Auckland's Sky Tower is taller but Sydney Tower's main observation deck is almost higher than the observation deck on Auckland's Sky Tower.


title: Sydney Tower

text: While the shopping centre at the base of the tower is run by the Scentre Group, the tower itself is occupied by Trippas White Group, which owns and operates Sydney Tower Dining, and Merlin Entertainments, which owns and operates the Sydney Tower Eye observation deck and Oztrek simulated ride attraction.


title: Sydney Tower

text: Designed by Australian architect Donald Crone, the first plans for Sydney Tower were unveiled in March 1968. Construction of the office building started in 1970, and tower construction began in 1975. Prior to construction of the tower, the height limit in Sydney had been set at , to allow for the harbour's flying boats that were popular before the jet era. It was developed by AMP, with Concrete Constructions the main contractor.


title: Sydney Tower

text: million. In 1998, the addition of a lightning rod to the top of spire extended the tower's overall height from 305 metres to , which is above sea level.


title: Sydney Tower

text: While AMP managed the Centrepoint shopping centre, the tower was officially referred to as the AMP Tower. After the Westfield Group took over ownership of Centrepoint in December 2001, the name was changed to Sydney Tower.


title: Sydney Tower

text: In 2009, the base building was closed and stripped for a major refurbishment. This involved the connection of the shopping centre to other arcades and a complete upgrade of all the sites. The shopping centre was progressively reopened from 2010 and was renamed Westfield Sydney. In June 2011 the AMP banner was removed by helicopter from the tower and replaced by a large illuminated Westfield logo.


title: Sydney Tower

text: In 2011, Merlin Entertainments acquired the rights to operate the observation deck, renaming the attraction the Sydney Tower Eye.


title: Sydney Tower

text: Four sections of the tower are open to the public, three being occupied by Sydney Tower Dining. 360 Bar and Dining, which offers revolving views of the Sydney skyline, is located on level one of the Sydney Tower. Sydney Tower Buffet, a contemporary self-select restaurant, is on the tower's second level. Studio, located on level three can cater for cocktail functions for 200 people and 156 sit-down guests.


title: Sydney Tower

text: The observation deck, currently called the Sydney Tower Eye, is located on level four of Sydney Tower. To access this level, visitors can buy a pass from the operating company or at the gate. The pass allows access to other Sydney attractions including Wild Life Sydney and the Sydney Aquarium. The Sydney Tower Eye is located above ground level. It has a fully enclosed viewing platform featuring 360-degree views of the city and surrounding areas. This floor also houses a small gift shop, multilingual touchscreens and a readout that displays data about the wind speed, direction, sway amplitude, and other statistics of the tower. On 23 September 2011, a 4D cinema was opened on the fourth floor of the arcade, playing a film with footage from various locations in Sydney. The theatre is the first of its kind in Australia; in-theatre effects include wind, bubbles, and fire.


title: Sydney Tower

text: Skywalk is an open-air glass-floored platform encircling the Sydney Tower Eye at a height of above ground level. The viewing platform extends over the edge of the main structure of the deck. It was opened on 18 October 2005, cost A$3.75 million to construct, took four years to design and two months to build. This platform is only accessible as part of planned and booked tours.


title: Sydney Tower

text: The golden turret near the top of the tower has a maximum capacity of 960 people. Travel to the observation deck is by three high speed double-deck lifts, each with a capacity of 8 to 10 people. The lifts travel at full, half or quarter speed, depending on wind conditions. At full speed the lifts reach the deck in 45 seconds.


title: Sydney Tower

text: Leading up to the Sydney 2000 Olympics, the tower was decorated with sculptures by Australian artist Dominique Sutton (an athlete rising from starting blocks, a gymnast performing a handstand, and a wheelchair basketball player passing the ball) which were positioned above the main body of the tower and in some cases overhung the edges. These sculptures were removed in 2003 and relocated to Sydney Olympic Park at Homebush Bay. The figures were placed atop the tower using an S-64 Aircrane heavy lift helicopter known as "Elvis".


title: Sydney Tower

text: On several occasions, the tower has been used to launch fireworks or it has been illuminated with coloured lights as part of various celebrations in Sydney, such as New Year's Eve or during the Olympics in 2000.


title: Sydney Tower

text: Each year the Sydney Tower Stair Challenge comprises the challenge of running up 1,504 stairs from Pitt Street Mall to the Observation Deck. The event is to raise money for the Cancer Council, and the two winners become eligible to compete in the Empire State Building Run-up. However, the event was cancelled in both 2011 and 2012.


title: Sydney Tower

text: On 8 March 2018, the Skywalk was closed for five weeks following the suicide of a 21-year-old woman who removed her safety harness and leapt from the tower while on a tour. The Skywalk reopened on 12 April 2018, after conducting a probe into the incident and the tower having upgraded the safety equipment.


title: Sydney Tower

text: The tower received an Engineering Heritage Plaque from Engineers Australia as part of its Engineering Heritage Recognition Program.


title: Heliconia

text: Heliconia, derived from the Greek word (), is a genus of flowering plants in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae. Most of the ca 194 known species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the western Pacific and Maluku. Many species of "Heliconia" are found in the tropical forests of these regions. Most species are listed as either vulnerable or data deficient by the IUCN Red List of threatened species. Several species are widely cultivated as ornamentals, and a few are naturalized in Florida, Gambia, and Thailand. Common names for the genus include lobster-claws, toucan beak, wild plantain, or false bird-of-paradise. The last term refers to their close similarity to the bird-of-paradise flowers ("Strelitzia"). Collectively, these plants are also simply referred to as "heliconias".


title: Heliconia

text: These herbaceous plants range from 0.5 to nearly 4.5 m (1.5–15 ft) tall, depending on the species. The simple leaves of these plants are 15–300 cm (6 in–10 ft). They are characteristically long, oblong, alternate, or growing opposite one another on nonwoody petioles often longer than the leaf, often forming large clumps with age. Their flowers are produced on long, erect or drooping panicles, and consist of brightly colored, waxy bracts, with small true flowers peeping out from the bracts. The growth habit of heliconias is similar to "Canna", "Strelitzia", and bananas, to which they are related. The flowers can be hues of reds, oranges, yellows, and greens, and are subtended by brightly colored bracts. Floral shape often limits pollination to a subset of the hummingbirds in the region.


title: Heliconia

text: The leaves in different positions on the plant have a different absorption potential of sunlight for photosynthesis when exposed to different degrees of sunlight. They also look like lobster claws.


title: Heliconia

text: The flowers produce ample nectar that attracts pollinators, most prevalent of which are hummingbirds.


title: Heliconia

text: Fruits are blue-purple when ripe and primarily bird dispersed. Studies of post-dispersal seed survival showed that seed size was not a determinant. The highest amount of seed predation came from mammals.


title: Heliconia

text: "Heliconia" is the only genus in the monotypic family Heliconiaceae, but was formerly included in the family Musaceae, which includes the bananas (e.g.," Musa, Ensete";). However, the APG system of 1998, and its successor, the APG II system of 2003, confirm the Heliconiaceae as distinct and places them in the order Zingiberales, in the commelinid clade of monocots.


title: Heliconia

text: Most of the 194 known species are native to the tropical Americas, but a few are indigenous to certain islands of the western Pacific and Maluku. Many species of "Heliconia" are found in the tropical forests of these regions. Several species are widely cultivated as ornamentals, and a few are naturalized in Florida, Gambia and Thailand.


title: Heliconia

text: Heliconias are an important food source for forest hummingbirds, especially the hermits (Phathornithinae), some of which – such as the rufous-breasted hermit ("Glaucis hirsuta") – also use the plant for nesting. The Honduran white bat ("Ectophylla alba") also lives in tents it makes from heliconia leaves.


title: Heliconia

text: Although "Heliconia" are almost exclusively pollinated by hummingbirds, some bat pollination has been found to occur. "Heliconia solomonensis" is pollinated by the macroglosine bat ("Melonycteris woodfordi") in the Solomon Islands. "Heliconia solomonensis" has green inflorescences and flowers that open at night, which is typical of bat pollinated plants. The macroglosine bat is the only known nocturnal pollinator of "Heliconia solomonensis".


title: Heliconia

text: Many bats use Heliconia leaves for shelter. The Honduran white bat, "Ectohylla alba", utilizes five species of "Heliconia" to make diurnal tent-shaped roosts. The bat cuts the side veins of the leaf extending from the midrib, causing the leaf to fold like a tent. This structure provides the bat with shelter from rain, sun, and predators. In addition, the stems of the "Heliconia" leaves are not strong enough to carry the weight of typical bat predators, so shaking of the leaf alerts roosting bats to presence of predators. The bats "Artibeus anderseni" and "A. phaeotis" form tents from the leaves of "Heliconia" in the same manner as the Honduran white bat. The neotropical disk-winged bat, "Thyroptera tricolor", has suction disks on the wrists which allow it to cling to the smooth surfaces of the "Heliconia" leaves. This bat roosts head-up in the rolled young leaves of Heliconia plants.


title: Heliconia

text: Heliconias provide shelter for a diverse range of insects within their young rolled leaves and water-filled floral bracts. Insects that inhabit the rolled leaves often feed upon the inner surfaces of the leaf, such as beetles of the family Chrysomelidae. In bracts containing small amounts of water, fly larvae and beetles are the dominant inhabitants. In bracts with greater quantities of water the typical inhabitants are mosquito larva. Insects living in the bracts often feed on the bract tissue, nectar of the flower, flower parts, other insects, microorganisms, or detritus in the water contained in the bract (Siefert 1982). Almost all species of Hispini beetles that use rolled leaves are obligate herbivores of plants of the order of Zingiberales, which includes "Heliconia". These beetles live in and feed from the rolled leaf, the stems, the inflorescences, or the unfurled mature leaves of the "Heliconia" plant. In addition, these beetles deposit their eggs on the leaf surface, petioles of immature leaves, or in the bracts of the "Heliconia". Furthermore, some wasp species such as "Polistes erythrocephalus" build their nest on the protected underside of large leaves.


title: Heliconia

text: Hummingbirds are the main pollinators of heliconia flowers in many locations. The concurrent diversification of hummingbird-pollinated taxa in the order Zingiberales and the hummingbird family (Trochilidae: Phaethorninae) starting 18 million years ago supports the idea that these radiations have influenced one another through evolutionary time. At La Selva Research Station in Costa Rica, specific species of "Heliconia" were found to have specific hummingbird pollinators. These hummingbirds can be organized into two different groups: hermits and non-hermits. Hermits are the subfamily Phaethornithinae, consisting of the genera "Anopetia, Eutoxeres, Glaucis, Phaethornis, Ramphodon," and "Threnetes". Non-hermits are a catch-all group of other hummingbirds that often visit heliconias, comprising several clades (McGuire 2008). Hermits are generally traplining foragers; that is, individuals visit a repeated circuit of high-reward flowers instead of holding fixed territories Non-hermits are territorial over their "Heliconia" clumps, causing greater self-pollination. Hermits tend to have long curved bills while non-hermits tend to possess short straight bills, a morphological difference that likely spurred the divergence of these groups in the Miocene era. Characteristics of "Heliconia" flowers that select for either hermit or non-hermit pollinator specificity are degree of self-compatibility, flowering phenology, nectar production, color, and shape of flower. The hummingbird itself will choose the plants its feeds from on the basis of its beak shape, its perch on the plant, and its territory choice.


title: Heliconia

text: Hummingbird visits to the "Heliconia" flower do not affect its production of nectar. This may account for the flowers not having a consistent amount of nectar produced from flower to flower.


title: Heliconia

text: Different "Heliconia" species have different flowering seasons. This suggests that the species compete for pollinators. Many species of "Heliconia", even the newly colonized species, are visited by many different pollinators.


title: Heliconia

text: Most commonly grown landscape "Heliconia" species include "H. augusta, H. bihai, H. brasiliensis, H. caribaea, H. latispatha, H. pendula, H. psittacorum, H. rostrata, H. schiediana, "and" H. wagneriana".


title: Heliconia

text: Heliconias are grown for the florist's trade and as landscape plants. These plants do not grow well in cold, dry conditions. They are very drought intolerant, but can endure some soil flooding. Heliconias need an abundance of water, sunlight, and soils that are rich in humus in order to grow well. These flowers are grown in tropical regions all over the world as ornamental plants. The flower of "H. psittacorum" (parrot heliconia) is especially distinctive, its greenish-yellow flowers with black spots and red bracts reminiscent of the bright plumage of parrots.


title: The Heavy (band)

text: The Heavy are an English rock band from Bath, Somerset, England, formed in 2007. They have released five albums as well as a wide array of singles. Their music has been widely used in the media, with their 2009 single "How You Like Me Now?" becoming their biggest hit.


title: The Heavy (band)

text: Formed in 2007 the band includes four members: Kelvin Swaby (lead vocals), Dan Taylor (guitar), Spencer Page (bass guitar) and Chris Ellul (drums). Swaby and Taylor became friends in 1998 when they bonded over vintage R&B music and Jim Jarmusch films and soon formed the band.


title: The Heavy (band)

text: The Heavy released two singles in the last half of 2007. Their first single was "That Kind of Man", which was released by Don't Touch Recordings and was mixed by Corin Dingley. Dingley was the original drummer and co-producer of the first album before being discovered by Ninja Tune, who promptly signed Swaby, Taylor, and Dingley. The Heavy released their first album "Great Vengeance and Furious Fire" on 17 September 2007 in the United Kingdom, and on 8 April 2008 in the United States.


title: The Heavy (band)

text: On 26 March 2008, the Heavy were named ’artist of the day’ in "Spin". The band was also mentioned in the "Rolling Stone" Hot List May 2008. They played at the 2008 South By Southwest (SXSW) music festival on the 89.3 Current Stage and collected one of the Best Discovery awards in "Spin Magazine"'s "Best and Worst of SXSW 2008".


title: The Heavy (band)

text: The Heavy appeared on the 2009 album "Johnny Cash Remixed" with a version of "Doing My Time". On 2 October 2009 their second album "The House That Dirt Built" was released by Counter Records. The band's third album "The Glorious Dead" was released on 21 August 2012 via a partnership between Counter Records and Ninja Tune. The band undertook an extensive tour of the United States from August to September 2012 with sponsorship from the American beer company Miller Lite. The band also had a string of European dates to support "The Glorious Dead", from October to November 2012. On 1 April 2016, The Heavy released their fourth album, "Hurt & the Merciless".


title: The Heavy (band)

text: The Heavy toured Europe and the United States in 2016, making stops at major festivals including Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival, South by Southwest, Free Press Summer Fest, INmusic festival, Fuji Rock Festival, Hurricane Festival, and Southside Festival.


title: The Heavy (band)

text: The Heavy play a mix of guitar-heavy neo soul and rock using crunchy guitar, funky horns, and raspy James Brown-like vocals. "Oh No! Not You Again" emulates garage rock, and "Girl" is a combination of spoken word and rap sampled from Terry Reid's "Superlungs".


title: The Heavy (band)

text: "How You Like Me Now?" is featured in several television series episodes: the twentieth episode of the fourth season of "The Vampire Diaries", the sixth season finale of "Entourage", the fourth episode of "Community", the third episode of "Rookie Blue", and the second season summer finale of "White Collar". The song is featured throughout the 2010 feature film "The Fighter".The song is features in The Expendables 3. It is featured on the soundtrack of the baseball video game "". It was featured in the 2011 film "Horrible Bosses" and its 2014 sequel, as well as the trailer for "The Change-Up". It was featured in the alternative ending for the film "Limitless". The song is played on the soundtrack of the film "This Means War". The song was used in a Kia Sorento television commercial, which was broadcast during Super Bowl XLIV, and returned for Super Bowl LIII, this time in a Jeep Gladiator commercial as well as an advert for Argos. The song appears in the soundtrack for "" along with songs "Big Bad Wolf" and "The Sleeping Ignoramus". The song was used in pro skateboarder Torey Pudwill's Big Bang video in the summer of 2011. The song was also used in a commercial for Strongbow cider in the UK. It was recently featured on the "Ted" movie trailer. The song was also the theme song to MLB Network's television show, "Intentional Talk" and for MSNBC's afternoon broadcast of Martin Bashir's news commentary. It was also featured in the credits for the movie "" and on trailers and TV spots for "Turbo".


title: The Heavy (band)

text: "How You Like Me Now?" could be heard being played over the speakers at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, Illinois, the 2012 election night location for U.S. President Barack Obama, just after the projected results for Ohio were announced. The Electoral College votes from Ohio clinched the 2012 Presidential re-election for him. The band played the song on the "Late Show with David Letterman" on 18 January 2010. This was the first time that Letterman had ever asked a musical artist to perform an encore on his show. On 9 June 2010 "How You Like Me Now?" was featured in the opening montage of "Hockey Night in Canada"'s broadcast of Game 6 of the Stanley Cup Finals. "How You Like Me Now?" also featured in the 2014 video game, Forza Horizon 2. "That Kind of Man" from the band's first album was featured in "Filthy Lucre", an episode of the series "Californication".


title: The Heavy (band)

text: "That Kind Of Man" was used in the trailer for "Parker" and "Coleen" also in "FIFA 09" both from the band's first album, was featured in "Play the Man", an episode of the USA network television show "Suits". The show also used "What Makes a Good Man?" for the season 2 promo, "Can't Play Dead" in episode "Zane vs. Zane" and "Short Change Hero" in episode "War".


title: The Heavy (band)

text: "Short Change Hero", from the Heavy's second album, has been used in the film "Faster"; The TV shows "The Outlaws (2021 TV series)", "The Vampire Diaries", "The Listener", "Suits, The Umbrella Academy, a"nd "Killjoys"; the ITV documentary "Best of Enemies"; the trailer for "", and in the promos for the first season of "Haven" and second season of "Longmire". The song was also used as the theme song since the second season of "Strike Back". The video game "Borderlands 2" featured "Short Change Hero" in the opening scene and "How You Like Me Now?" in the end credits. An instrumental jazz version of "Short Change Hero" later appeared in "Poker Night 2", which featured characters from "Borderlands". "What Makes A Good Man?" was later used in the credits of the next game released, "". The band recorded the song "Put It On The Line" for the theme of "Borderlands 3". The song also features in the virtual reality rhythm shooter game "Pistol Whip" during the opening level of the campaign "Smoke and Thunder".


title: The Heavy (band)

text: "What Makes A Good Man?", from their third album, was used for the launch trailer of "Sleeping Dogs", the official theme song for the 2013 Royal Rumble pay-per-view event, was featured in the 2013 film Grudge Match, the video game "NHL 13", the trailer for "Dallas Buyers Club" and Guinness' "Sapeurs" commercial, a production in collaboration with the advertisement agency, AMV BBDO, which was hailed as one of the most successful example of brand-agency partnership as top-classed quality adverts have been consistently produced. In addition, the song also appeared in the H&M commercials featuring David Beckham. The band also made their second appearance on "Late Show with David Letterman" on 28 August 2012 performing "What Makes A Good Man?" gaining their second encore on the show. The song was also featured in an episode of The Grand Tour titled "Lochdown".


title: The Heavy (band)

text: The band was asked to record a cover of the song "And When I Die" for the fourth season finale of "True Blood". It also appeared on the third "True Blood" soundtrack.


title: The Heavy (band)

text: "Who Needs The Sunshine?" was featured in the penultimate episode of the fourth series of "Being Human", "Making History". The song was featured in a promo for the Cinemax series "Hunted".


title: The Heavy (band)

text: "Big Bad Wolf" was used in the 2010 film "The Losers" (based on the comic series of the same name) and was also used in the episode "Brotherfae of the Wolves" of the Canadian TV show "Lost Girl" and in the credits sequence to Season 2 Episode 1 of the British crime-drama "Luther". It was also used in the BBC Two series "Top Gear" in episode 4 of series 21. The CBS show "Battle Creek" used the song throughout its third episode. The song is often used in Blue Angels performances.


title: The Heavy (band)

text: The song "Same 'Ol'" was used for the launch trailer for the game "", while a variation of it was used in the trailer for Quentin Tarantino's eighth feature film, "The Hateful Eight". The song was also used in a montage during the first episode of "The Grand Tour". It was the soundtrack for the Pepsi Momotaro CM series featuring Shun Oguri


title: The Heavy (band)

text: The song "Don't Say Nothing" was used in the trailer for "", included in "Gameloft's" Gangstar Vegas, and appeared on the soundtrack for "FIFA 13".


title: The Heavy (band)

text: On 23 February 2016, The Heavy were the musical guest on "Le Petit Journal" (Canal+) where they performed their single, "Turn Up" from their album "Hurt & The Merciless". In addition, the song is featured on the video game soundtrack of EA Sports "Madden NFL 17".


title: Hardcourt

text: A hardcourt (or hard court) is a surface or floor on which a sport is played, most usually in reference to tennis courts. It is typically made of rigid materials such as asphalt or concrete, and covered with acrylic resins to seal the surface and mark the playing lines, while providing some cushioning. Historically, hardwood surfaces were also in use in indoor settings, similar to an indoor basketball court, but these surfaces are rare now.


title: Hardcourt

text: Tennis hard courts are made of synthetic/acrylic layers on top of a concrete or asphalt foundation and can vary in color. These courts tend to play medium-fast to fast because there is little energy absorption by the court, as with grass courts but unlike clay courts. The ball tends to bounce high and players are able to apply many types of spin during play. Flat balls are favored on hard courts because of the extremely quick play style. Speed of rebound after tennis balls bounce on hard courts is determined by how much sand is in the synthetic/acrylic layer placed on top of the asphalt foundation. More sand will result in a slower bounce due to more friction.


title: Hardcourt

text: Of the Grand Slam tournaments, the US Open and Australian Open currently use hard courts, and it is the predominant surface type used on the professional tour.


title: Hardcourt

text: There are numerous hardcourt maintenance methods which are commonly used to keep these facilities in top condition. Some of these include brushing, pressure washing with a cleaning solution and applying chemical treatments to prevent the growth of moss and algae. Anti-slip paint is also applied to hardcourts to give better playing qualities which enhance player safety and performance.


The Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang (RCCK), also commonly known, especially when referenced historically, as the Left Kuomintang or Left Guomindang, is one of the eight legally recognised minor political parties in the People's Republic of China that follow the direction of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). It was founded in January 1948, during the height of the Chinese Civil War, by members of the left wing of the Kuomintang (KMT), especially those who were against Chiang Kai-shek's policies. The first Chairman of the party was General Li Jishen, a senior Nationalist military commander who had many disputes with Chiang over the years, while Soong Ching-ling (the widow of Sun Yat-sen) was named Honorary Chairwoman. Other early leading members were Wang Kunlun, Cheng Qian, He Xiangning and Tao Zhiyue. The party claims to be the true heir of Sun Yat-sen's legacy and his Three Principles of the People. By the end of 2017, it had 131,410 members.


title: Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang

text: Soong Ching-ling served as Vice President of the People's Republic of China and Honorary President of the People's Republic of China. Li Jishen served as Vice Chairman of the Central People's Government and Vice Chairman of the Central Military Commission.


text: Among the officially sanctioned political parties of the People's Republic of China, the Revolutionary Committee is seen as second in status to the CCP. Thus, the Revolutionary Committee is allotted the second highest number of seats in the People's Political Consultative Conference (30%). It also owns numerous assets, some formerly owned by the Kuomintang, throughout mainland China. The Revolutionary Committee operates a range of party-owned institutions, such as party schools.


text: After the end of World War II, the relationship between the Chinese Kuomintang and the CCP, who had allied to fight the Japanese, became increasingly tense; ultimately, both sides restarted the civil war, which World War II had interrupted.


text: In 1945 and 1946, members of the Kuomintang's left formed the Three Principles of the People Confederation of Comrades and the Kuomintang Democratic Promotion Association in Chongqing and Guangzhou, respectively.


text: In November 1947, the first joint representative meeting of the Kuomintang left was held in Hong Kong; on 1 January 1948, the meeting announced the official establishment of the "Chinese Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee", and nominated Soong Ching-ling, the widow of Sun Yat-sen, as the Honorary Chairwoman of the Revolutionary Committee (despite Soong Ching-ling never formally joining the commission).


text: Chairman Li Jishen, He Xiangning, and Feng Yuxiang were selected as the central leadership of the organization.


text: In 1949, Li Jishen and other representatives of the RCCK were invited by the CCP to participate in Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference.


text: After the founding of the People's Republic of China in October 1949, members of the Chinese Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee maintained positions in the municipal and central governments.


text: In November 1949, the second congress of the Chinese Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee was held in Beijing. At the second congress, the Chinese Kuomintang Revolutionary Committee, Chinese Nationalist Democratic Promotion Association, the Comrades of the Three Peoples Principles, and other members of the Kuomintang's left wing agreed to merge and form the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang.


text: Today, the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang focuses on improving relations with the Kuomintang on Taiwan, and its membership mainly consists of the descendants of Kuomintang revolutionaries. It recruits members with current ties to Taiwan who support Chinese unification.


text: The Central Committee of the Revolutionary Committee of the Chinese Kuomintang has six working departments including the General Office, the Organization Department, the Propaganda Department, the Liaison Department, the Social Services Department, and the Research Department.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: Lawrence Douglas Wilder (born January 17, 1931) is an American lawyer and politician who served as the 66th Governor of Virginia from 1990 to 1994. He was the first African American to serve as governor of a U.S. state since the Reconstruction era, and the first African American ever elected as governor. He is currently a professor at the eponymous Wilder School at Virginia Commonwealth University.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: Born in Richmond, Virginia, Wilder graduated from Virginia Union University and served in the United States Army during the Korean War. He established a legal practice in Richmond after graduating from the Howard University School of Law. A member of the Democratic Party, Wilder won election to the Virginia Senate in 1969. He remained in that chamber until 1986, when he took office as the Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, becoming the first African American to hold statewide office in Virginia. In the 1989 Virginia gubernatorial election, Wilder narrowly defeated Republican Marshall Coleman.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: Wilder left the gubernatorial office in 1994, as the Virginia constitution prohibits governors from immediately seeking re-election. He briefly sought the 1992 Democratic presidential nomination, but withdrew from the race before the first primaries. He also briefly ran as an independent in the 1994 Virginia Senate election before dropping out of the race. Wilder returned to elective office in 2005, when he became the first directly elected mayor of Richmond. After leaving office in 2009, he worked as an adjunct professor and founded the United States National Slavery Museum.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: Wilder was born on January 17, 1931, in the segregated Church Hill neighborhood of Richmond. He is the son of Beulah Olive (Richards) and Robert Judson Wilder. He is the grandson of slaves, his paternal grandparents having been enslaved in Goochland County. The seventh of eight brothers and sisters, Wilder was named for the African-American writers Paul Laurence Dunbar and Frederick Douglass.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: Wilder's father sold insurance and his mother worked as a maid. While the family was never completely destitute, Wilder recalled his early years during the Great Depression as a childhood of "gentle poverty".


title: Douglas Wilder

text: Wilder worked his way through Virginia Union University, a historically black university, by waiting tables at hotels and shining shoes, graduating in 1951 with a degree in chemistry.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: Drafted into the United States Army during the Korean War, he volunteered for combat duty. At the Battle of Pork Chop Hill, he and two other men found themselves cut off from their unit, but they bluffed nineteen North Korean soldiers into surrendering, for which Wilder was awarded the Bronze Star Medal. He was a sergeant when he was discharged in 1953.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: Following the war, Wilder worked in the state medical examiner's office and pursued a master's degree in chemistry. In 1956 he changed his career plans and entered Howard University Law School. After graduating in 1959, he established a law practice in Richmond, the Virginia capital.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: Wilder married Eunice Montgomery in 1958. The couple had three children before divorcing in 1978: Lynn Diana; Lawrence Douglas Jr.; and Loren Deane.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: Douglas Wilder had joined the Democratic Party and began his career in public office by winning a 1969 special election for the Virginia State Senate from a Richmond-area district. He was the first African American elected to the Virginia Senate since Reconstruction. A 1970 redistricting gave Wilder a predominantly African-American district, and he became a liberal in a predominantly conservative, white-majority legislature.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: Wilder briefly flirted with an independent bid for the United States Senate in 1982. He did so after the initial favorite for the Democratic nomination, State Delegate Owen Pickett of Virginia Beach, paid homage to the Byrd Organization in announcing his bid. Angered that Pickett would praise a political machine who obstinately resisted racial integration, Wilder threatened to make an independent bid for the seat if Pickett won the nomination. Pickett not only realized that Wilder was serious, but that he would siphon off enough black votes in a three-way race to hand the seat to the Republican nominee, Congressman Paul Trible. Pickett pulled out of the race, and Wilder abandoned plans to run for the Senate.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: In 1985 Wilder was narrowly elected as the 35th Lieutenant Governor of Virginia on a Democratic ticket headed by Attorney General Gerald L. Baliles, the party's candidate for governor. Wilder was the first African American to win a statewide election in Virginia. Aware that he needed to reach the swath of the state's majority-white electorate, Wilder had undertaken a two-month "back roads" campaign tour of the state, visiting Virginia's predominantly rural central and western regions and enhancing his name recognition across the state.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: Wilder was elected governor on November 8, 1989, defeating Republican Marshall Coleman by a spread of less than half a percent. The narrow victory margin prompted a recount, which reaffirmed Wilder's election. He was sworn in on January 13, 1990, by former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Lewis F. Powell, Jr. In recognition of his landmark achievement as the first elected African-American governor, the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People awarded Wilder the Spingarn Medal for 1990.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: Wilder had a comfortable lead in the last polls before the election. The unexpected closeness of the election may have been due to the Republicans' strong get out the vote efforts. Wilder had been candid about his pro-choice position in relation to abortion. Some observers believed the close election was caused by the Bradley effect, and suggested that white voters were reluctant to tell pollsters that they did not intend to vote for Wilder.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: During his tenure as governor, Wilder worked on crime and gun control initiatives. He also worked to fund Virginia's transportation initiatives, effectively lobbying Congress to reallocate highway money to the states with the greatest needs. Much residential and office development had taken place in Northern Virginia without its receiving sufficient federal money for infrastructure improvements to keep up. He also succeeded in passing state bond issues to support improving transportation. In May 1990 Wilder ordered state agencies and universities to divest themselves of any investments in South Africa because of its policy of apartheid, making Virginia the first Southern state to take such action.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: During his term, Wilder carried out Virginia's law on capital punishment, although he had stated his personal opposition to the death penalty. There were 14 executions by the electric chair, including the controversial case of Roger Keith Coleman. In January 1994 Wilder commuted the sentence of Earl Washington Jr., an intellectually disabled man, to life in prison based on testing of DNA evidence that raised questions about his guilt. Virginia law has strict time limits on when such new evidence can be introduced post-conviction. But in 2000, under a new governor, an STR-based DNA test led to the exclusion of Washington as the perpetrator of the murder for which he had been sentenced. He was fully exonerated by Governor Jim Gilmore for the capital murder and he was released from prison.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: Wilder declared himself a candidate for President in 1992, but withdrew before primary season had ended. He briefly ran for the U.S. Senate as an independent in 1994.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: In the mid-1990s Wilder was scrutinized for his attacks on fellow Democrat Chuck Robb and support of Republican Mark Earley.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: On May 30, 2004, Wilder announced his intention to run for Mayor of Richmond. Until 2004, the Richmond City Council had chosen the mayor from among its 9 members. The move to change this policy succeeded in November 2003 when voters approved a mayor-at-large referendum, with roughly 80 percent voting in favor of the measure. Wilder was a leading proponent of the mayor-at-large proposal.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: On November 2, 2004, Wilder received 79% of the vote (55,319 votes) to become the first directly elected mayor of the city in sixty years. Upon winning the election, Wilder communicated his intentions to take on corruption in the city government, issuing several ultimatums to the sitting city council before he took office. He was sworn in on January 2, 2005.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: He was a member of the Mayors Against Illegal Guns Coalition, a bipartisan group with a stated goal of "making the public safer by getting illegal guns off the streets." The Coalition was co-chaired by former Boston Mayor Thomas Menino and former New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: On May 16, 2008, Wilder announced that he would not seek reelection to another four-year term as mayor.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: Wilder has continued as a professor in public policy at Virginia Commonwealth University within the L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs. He writes occasional editorials for Virginia newspapers.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: Douglas Wilder is the founder of the United States National Slavery Museum, a non-profit organization based in Fredericksburg, Virginia. The museum has been fundraising and campaigning since 2001 to establish a national museum of slavery in America. In June 2008 Wilder requested that the museum be granted tax exempt status, which was denied. From that time, taxes on the land had not been paid and the property was at risk of being sold at auction by the city of Fredericksburg.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: Beset by financial problems the museum has been assessed delinquent property taxes for the years 2009, 2010, and 2011 amounting to just over $215,000. The organization filed for Chapter 11 Bankruptcy protection on September 22, 2011. Early in 2011 Douglas Wilder was refusing to respond to or answer any questions from either news reporters or patrons who had donated artifacts.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: Wilder made news in 2012 when he refused to support Barack Obama, the nation's first black president, for another term. He noted that he supported Obama in 2008, but said the president's tenure in the Oval Office thus far had been a disappointment. Wilder did not endorse Mitt Romney, the Republican challenger, and later said that he hoped for an Obama victory despite having gone to a Romney fundraiser.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: In March 2018, Wilder filed suit against John Accordino, who was serving as the Dean of his namesake college, for harassing Wilder's assistant. This led to Accordino stepping down from his position and Susan Gooden being named as the interim dean of the college and then Wilder dropping the suit 4 months after filing.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: In March 2019, Sydney Black filed a complaint under Title IX of the Education Amendments Act of 1972 against Wilder for sexual harassment after she claims he made sexual advances to her, which she rebuffed, and then told her later that there was no funding for her position at the Virginia Commonwealth University. In July 2019, the university's independent investigator concluded that Wilder did kiss the student without her consent. In response, Wilder provided a detailed rebuttal, in which he denied "non-consensual sexual contact” between Black and him. In addition, he denied retaliating against her by saying her position had been eliminated. Wilder also claimed the investigator ignored contradictory evidence, including his claim that Black called him eight times after the night during which he supposedly kissed her, something she presumably would not have done if she felt harassed or threatened. The university planned to consider the investigator's findings and Wilder's rebuttal before deciding what action to take, if any. On October 24, 2019, Wilder announced that the university's internal review panel had cleared him of wrongdoing.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: In 2020, Wilder raised concerns that the state archives at the Library of Virginia had failed to provide access to the records of his gubernatorial administration.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: In 2021, following the gubernatorial election of Republican Glenn Youngkin, Wilder joined Governor Youngkin's transition team, alongside former Republican governors Jim Gilmore, Bob McDonnell, and George Allen.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: Since the 1970s Wilder has supported the death penalty. He generally ran on "anti-crime" platforms. In response to a waning budget balance due to state economic problems, Wilder supported some of the most dramatic cuts in the United States in allocations for higher education.


title: Douglas Wilder

text: The L. Douglas Wilder Collection resides at the L. Douglas Wilder Library and Learning Resource Center at Wilder's alma mater, Virginia Union University. The collection contains press office photographs from Wilder's time as governor, over 600 audio cassette tapes of Wilder's WRVA radio talk show as well as other speeches, and over 350 video cassettes of political events, campaign materials, and news appearances. A gallery located in the library also displays many of Wilder's political recognitions and awards.


title: Bastogne

text: Bastogne (; , ; ; ) is a city and municipality of Wallonia located in the province of Luxembourg in the Ardennes, Belgium.


title: Bastogne

text: The municipality consists of the following districts: Bastogne, Longvilly, Noville, Villers-la-Bonne-Eau, and Wardin. The town is situated on a ridge in the Ardennes at an elevation of .


title: Bastogne

text: At the time of the Roman conquest the region of Bastogne was inhabited by the Treveri, a tribe of Gauls. A form of the name Bastogne was first mentioned only much later, in 634, when the local lord ceded these territories to the St Maximin's Abbey, near Trier. A century later, the Bastogne area went to the nearby Prüm Abbey. The town of Bastogne and its marketplace are again mentioned in an 887 document. By the 13th century, Henry VII, Holy Roman Emperor and count of Luxemburg, was minting coins in Bastogne. In 1332, John the Blind, his son, granted the city its charter and had it encircled by defensive walls, part of which, the current "Porte de Trèves", still exists. In 1451, the lands of the county of Luxemburg were absorbed into the Duchy of Burgundy and as a result, Bastogne became part of the lands of the Spanish Crown when the Burgundian heir Charles became king of Spain in 1516.


title: Bastogne

text: The city's walls were quite effective at protecting it during the troubled times that followed. The city's economy actually flourished thanks to the renown of its agricultural and cattle fairs. In 1602, the walls successfully repelled an attack by forces of the Dutch Republic. In 1688, they were dismantled by order of King Louis XIV when the town was occupied by French forces during the Nine Years War.


title: Bastogne

text: The 19th century and Belgium's independence were favourable to Bastogne, as its forest products and cattle fairs became better known abroad. Several railway lines were built to link it to the neighbouring towns. This all came to an end with the German occupation during World War I.


title: Bastogne

text: Liberated by the Allies on 10 September 1944, Bastogne was attacked by German forces a few months later. Hitler's plan was to regain control of the Ardennes, splitting British from American forces, then advance to and reoccupy the strategic port of Antwerp and cut off the key Allied supply line. On 16 December, taking advantage of cold and fog, German artillery initiated the Battle of the Bulge attacking the American divisions deployed sparsely around Bastogne. A few days later, Brigadier General Anthony McAuliffe and the 101st Airborne Division along with elements of the 10th Armored Division and the 82 Airborne Division, arrived to counter-attack but, after heavy fighting, became encircled within the town. On 22 December German emissaries asked for the American surrender, to which the General answered tersely, “Nuts!” The next day the skies cleared, allowing Allied air forces to retaliate and to drop much needed food, medicine, and weaponry to ground forces. On 26 December the Third U.S. Army, under the command of General Patton, arrived and broke the siege. The official end of the Battle of Bastogne occurred three weeks later, when all fighting in the area ceased.


title: Bastogne

text: Bastogne is the terminus of the Liberty Road, the commemorative way that marks the path of liberating Allied forces, and of the Third Army that subsequently relieved Bastogne.


title: Bastogne

text: Bastogne is located in the Belgian Ardennes, in the east of the province of Luxembourg. The city is away from the Luxembourg border. Its altitude is high on the ridge line separating the catchment areas of the Rhine and Meuse. It is the 9th largest municipality in Belgium and the third largest in the province (after Libramont-Chevigny and Léglise). In terms of population, it is the 4th largest municipality in the province after Arlon, Marche-en-Famenne and Aubange.


title: Bastogne

text: The municipality of Bastogne comprises five sections (Bastogne proper, Longvilly, Noville, Villers-la-Bonne-Eau, and Wardin) which were separate municipalities before the 1977 merger of municipalities. Each contains a number of villages.


title: Bastogne

text: Bastogne has an oceanic climate similar to the remainder of Belgium, but with more continental influences due to it being inland and elevated in comparison to lowland areas nearer the Atlantic. In spite of this the winters are heavily moderated for its latitude and although snowfall and frosts are common, means remain just above freezing.


title: Bastogne

text: The key character of all legends about Bastogne is the so-called "piche-cacaye". This is pronounced pish-cackay.


title: Bastogne

text: Bastogne originally had an NMBS/SNCB railway line connecting it to Libramont and to Gouvy. Passenger trains to Gouvy stopped in 1984 and in the 1990s the line to Libramont was taken out of service. The two station buildings in Bastogne remain, but are now used for other purposes. Part of the rail line has been converted into a cycle path. However, two bus stations are now open in Bastogne, according to SNCB: Bastogne Nord and Bastogne Sud. The short line that runs is only a rural shuttle line from Bastogne Nord to Libramont stopping only at Bastogne Sud.


title: Colored

text: Colored (or coloured) is a racial descriptor historically used in the United States during the Jim Crow Era to refer to an African American. In many places, it may be considered a slur, though it has taken on a special meaning in Southern Africa.


title: Colored

text: The word "colored" (Middle English "icoloured") was first used in the 14th century but with a meaning other than race or ethnicity. The earliest uses of the term to denote a member of dark-skinned groups of peoples occurred in the second part of the 18th century in reference to South America. According to the "Oxford English Dictionary", "colored" was first used in this context in 1758 to translate the Spanish term "mujeres de color" ('colored women') in Antonio de Ulloa's "A voyage to South America".


title: Colored

text: The term came in use in the United States during the early 19th century, and it then was adopted by emancipated slaves as a term of racial pride after the end of the American Civil War until it was replaced as a self-designation by "Black" or "African-American" during the second part of the 20th century"." Due to its use in the Jim Crow era to designate items or places restricted to African Americans, the word "colored" is now usually considered to be offensive.


title: Colored

text: The term has historically had multiple connotations. In British usage, the term refers to "a person who is wholly or partly of non-white descent," and its use is generally regarded as antiquated or offensive. Other terms are preferable, particularly when referring to a single ethnicity.


title: Colored

text: In the United States, "colored" was the predominant and preferred term for African Americans in the mid- to late nineteenth century in part because it was accepted by both white and black Americans as more inclusive, covering those of mixed-race ancestry (and, less commonly, Asian Americans and other racial minorities), as well as those who were considered to have "complete Black ancestry". They did not think of themselves as or accept the label "African", did not want whites pressuring them to relocate to a colony in Africa, and said they were no more African than white Americans were European. In place of "African" they preferred the term "colored", or the more learned and precise "Negro". However, the term "Negro" later fell from favor following the Civil Rights Movement as it was seen as imposed upon the community it described by white people during slavery, and carried connotations of subservience. The term "black" was preferred during the 1960s by the Black Power movement, as well as radical black nationalists (the Black Muslims and the Black Panthers), pan-Africanists (Stokely Carmichael, leader of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee) and political progressives. "Negro" was still favored as self-descriptive racial term over "black" by a plurality in the late 1960s; however, by the late 1970s and early 1980s, "black" was strongly favored.


title: Colored

text: NPR reported that the "use of the phrase 'colored people' peaked in books published in 1970." However, some individuals have more recently called for a revival of "African American", or "Afro-American", so as to remove attention to skin color. "Colored people lived in three neighborhoods that were clearly demarcated, as if by ropes or turnstiles", wrote Harvard professor Henry Louis Gates, Jr. about growing up in segregated West Virginia in the 1960s. "Welcome to the Colored Zone, a large stretched banner could have said ... Of course, the colored world was not so much a neighborhood as a condition of existence." "For most of my childhood, we couldn't eat in restaurants or sleep in hotels, we couldn't use certain bathrooms or try on clothes in stores", recalls Gates. His mother retaliated by not buying clothes that she was not allowed to try on. He remembered hearing a white man deliberately calling his father by the wrong name: "'He knows my name, boy,' my father said after a long pause. 'He calls all colored people George.'" When Gates's cousin became the first black cheerleader at the local high school, she was not allowed to sit with the team and drink Coke from a glass, but had to stand at the counter drinking from a paper cup. Gates also wrote about his experiences in his 1995 book, "Colored People: A Memoir".


title: Colored

text: In 1851, an article in "The New York Times" referred to the "colored population". In 1863, the War Department established the Bureau of Colored Troops.


title: Colored

text: The first 12 United States Census counts enumerated "colored" people, who totaled nine million in 1900. The census counts of 1910–1960 enumerated "negroes".


title: Colored

text: The term is still used in the name of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, although it is generally referred to as the NAACP. In 2008, its communications director Carla Sims said "the term 'colored' is not derogatory, [the NAACP] chose the word 'colored' because it was the most positive description commonly used [in 1909, when the association was founded]. It's outdated and antiquated but not offensive." However, NAACP today rarely uses its full name and made this decision not long after the United Negro College Fund switched to using just UNCF or United Fund.


title: Colored

text: In South Africa and neighboring countries, the term "Coloureds" refers to a multiracial ethnic group native to Southern Africa who have ancestry from more than one of the populations inhabiting the region, including indigenous (Khoisan, Bantu and others), Whites (including Afrikaners), Austronesian, East Asian, or South Asian (also called Cape Malays; it was once a subcategory of the Apartheid Coloured racial grouping). Under Apartheid, South Africa broadly classified its population into four races, namely Blacks, Whites, Coloureds and Indians.


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: Multiple-criteria decision-making (MCDM) or multiple-criteria decision analysis (MCDA) is a sub-discipline of operations research that explicitly evaluates multiple conflicting criteria in decision making (both in daily life and in settings such as business, government and medicine). Conflicting criteria are typical in evaluating options: cost or price is usually one of the main criteria, and some measure of quality is typically another criterion, easily in conflict with the cost. In purchasing a car, cost, comfort, safety, and fuel economy may be some of the main criteria we consider – it is unusual that the cheapest car is the most comfortable and the safest one. In portfolio management, managers are interested in getting high returns while simultaneously reducing risks; however, the stocks that have the potential of bringing high returns typically carry high risk of losing money. In a service industry, customer satisfaction and the cost of providing service are fundamental conflicting criteria.


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: In their daily lives, people usually weigh multiple criteria implicitly and may be comfortable with the consequences of such decisions that are made based on only intuition. On the other hand, when stakes are high, it is important to properly structure the problem and explicitly evaluate multiple criteria. In making the decision of whether to build a nuclear power plant or not, and where to build it, there are not only very complex issues involving multiple criteria, but there are also multiple parties who are deeply affected by the consequences.


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: Structuring complex problems well and considering multiple criteria explicitly leads to more informed and better decisions. There have been important advances in this field since the start of the modern multiple-criteria decision-making discipline in the early 1960s. A variety of approaches and methods, many implemented by specialized decision-making software, have been developed for their application in an array of disciplines, ranging from politics and business to the environment and energy.


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: MCDM or MCDA are well-known acronyms for "multiple-criteria decision-making" and "multiple-criteria decision analysis"; Stanley Zionts helped popularizing the acronym with his 1979 article "MCDM – If not a Roman Numeral, then What?", intended for an entrepreneurial audience.


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: MCDM is concerned with structuring and solving decision and planning problems involving multiple criteria. The purpose is to support decision-makers facing such problems. Typically, there does not exist a unique optimal solution for such problems and it is necessary to use decision-makers' preferences to differentiate between solutions.


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: "Solving" can be interpreted in different ways. It could correspond to choosing the "best" alternative from a set of available alternatives (where "best" can be interpreted as "the most preferred alternative" of a decision-maker). Another interpretation of "solving" could be choosing a small set of good alternatives, or grouping alternatives into different preference sets. An extreme interpretation could be to find all "efficient" or "nondominated" alternatives (which we will define shortly).


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: The difficulty of the problem originates from the presence of more than one criterion. There is no longer a unique optimal solution to an MCDM problem that can be obtained without incorporating preference information. The concept of an optimal solution is often replaced by the set of nondominated solutions. A solution is called nondominated if it is not possible to improve it in any criterion without sacrificing it in another. Therefore, it makes sense for the decision-maker to choose a solution from the nondominated set. Otherwise, she/he could do better in terms of some or all of the criteria, and not do worse in any of them. Generally, however, the set of nondominated solutions is too large to be presented to the decision-maker for the final choice. Hence we need tools that help the decision-maker focus on the preferred solutions (or alternatives). Normally one has to "tradeoff" certain criteria for others.


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: MCDM has been an active area of research since the 1970s. There are several MCDM-related organizations including the International Society on Multi-criteria Decision Making, Euro Working Group on MCDA, and INFORMS Section on MCDM. For a history see: Köksalan, Wallenius and Zionts (2011).


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: There are different classifications of MCDM problems and methods. A major distinction between MCDM problems is based on whether the solutions are explicitly or implicitly defined.


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: Whether it is an evaluation problem or a design problem, preference information of DMs is required in order to differentiate between solutions. The solution methods for MCDM problems are commonly classified based on the timing of preference information obtained from the DM.


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: There are methods that require the DM's preference information at the start of the process, transforming the problem into essentially a single criterion problem. These methods are said to operate by "prior articulation of preferences". Methods based on estimating a value function or using the concept of "outranking relations", analytical hierarchy process, and some rule-based decision methods try to solve multiple criteria evaluation problems utilizing prior articulation of preferences. Similarly, there are methods developed to solve multiple-criteria design problems using prior articulation of preferences by constructing a value function. Perhaps the most well-known of these methods is goal programming. Once the value function is constructed, the resulting single objective mathematical program is solved to obtain a preferred solution.


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: Some methods require preference information from the DM throughout the solution process. These are referred to as interactive methods or methods that require "progressive articulation of preferences". These methods have been well-developed for both the multiple criteria evaluation (see for example, Geoffrion, Dyer and Feinberg, 1972, and Köksalan and Sagala, 1995 ) and design problems (see Steuer, 1986).


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: Multiple-criteria design problems typically require the solution of a series of mathematical programming models in order to reveal implicitly defined solutions. For these problems, a representation or approximation of "efficient solutions" may also be of interest. This category is referred to as "posterior articulation of preferences", implying that the DM's involvement starts posterior to the explicit revelation of "interesting" solutions (see for example Karasakal and Köksalan, 2009).


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: When the mathematical programming models contain integer variables, the design problems become harder to solve. Multiobjective Combinatorial Optimization (MOCO) constitutes a special category of such problems posing substantial computational difficulty (see Ehrgott and Gandibleux, 2002, for a review).


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: The MCDM problem can be represented in the criterion space or the decision space. Alternatively, if different criteria are combined by a weighted linear function, it is also possible to represent the problem in the weight space. Below are the demonstrations of the criterion and weight spaces as well as some formal definitions.


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: Let us assume that we evaluate solutions in a specific problem situation using several criteria. Let us further assume that more is better in each criterion. Then, among all possible solutions, we are ideally interested in those solutions that perform well in all considered criteria. However, it is unlikely to have a single solution that performs well in all considered criteria. Typically, some solutions perform well in some criteria and some perform well in others. Finding a way of trading off between criteria is one of the main endeavors in the MCDM literature.


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: If is defined explicitly (by a set of alternatives), the resulting problem is called a multiple-criteria evaluation problem.


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: If is defined implicitly (by a set of constraints), the resulting problem is called a multiple-criteria design problem.


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: The quotation marks are used to indicate that the maximization of a vector is not a well-defined mathematical operation. This corresponds to the argument that we will have to find a way to resolve the trade-off between criteria (typically based on the preferences of a decision maker) when a solution that performs well in all criteria does not exist.


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: The decision space corresponds to the set of possible decisions that are available to us. The criteria values will be consequences of the decisions we make. Hence, we can define a corresponding problem in the decision space. For example, in designing a product, we decide on the design parameters (decision variables) each of which affects the performance measures (criteria) with which we evaluate our product.


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: Mathematically, a multiple-criteria design problem can be represented in the decision space as follows:


title: Multiple-criteria decision analysis

text: A well-developed special case is obtained when is a polyhedron defined by linear inequalities and equalities. If all the objective functions are linear in terms of the decision variables, this variation leads to multiple objective linear programming (MOLP), an important subclass of MCDM problems.