title: Toyman

text: Okamura appears as one of Winslow Schott's androids in "Action Comics" #865; given the unreliable nature of Schott's narration, Hiro's status as his android creation is suspect.


title: Toyman

text: In 2011, "The New 52" rebooted the DC Comics universe. Hiro Okamura operates as the Toymaster. He and his friend Agnes have reverse-engineered the works of Silas Stone and Professor Emil Hamilton to create a massive multiplayer online role-playing game that puts the players with Batman and Superman in real life. When it comes to the Toymaster's latest game, Jimmy Olsen is one of the players that will partake in the game that will involve the killing of Batman. When Batman and Superman track down the Toymaster, he warns Batman of their weakness of being beaten down in real life while also stating that his game has somehow began to manifest in real life. Before Batman can destroy the console to end the game, the Toymaster's building is then attacked by Mongul, who plans to make the Toymaster's game real for him.


title: Toyman

text: Okamura later appears as a confidant at his Toymaster Gameshop for a witness named Condesa to Clark Kent and Lois Lane's story on HODOR_Root, in which he agrees to help them.


title: Toyman

text: The Toyman does not have powers, but he does possess an incredible technological prowess and expertise in robotics, as well as knowledge of biological weaponry. Despite the childish motif which he usually insists on incorporating, his creations were highly sophisticated, destructive, and dangerous. In addition, most of these inventions had an innocuous or even comical appearance that causes his opponents uncertainty, often to their regret.


title: Toyman

text: The heroic Toyman is an excellent engineer, able to fix most machinery (such as giant robots and computer hardware).


title: Toyman

text: The Toyman surfaces in Metropolis and allies with Lex Luthor in "Action Comics" #837 (May 2006) as part of the One Year Later story arc. His first appearance was written by Geoff Johns and Kurt Busiek with art by Pete Woods.


title: Toyman

text: His appearance, inspired by the character's "" incarnation, is that of a child-sized doll. This Toyman mentions meeting Hiro Okamura in Japan and stealing one of his Superman robots. As part of his bargain with Luthor, he is given the information needed to find his creator Winslow Schott in exchange for assistance in a plot against Superman.


title: Toyman

text: This Toyman, renamed the Toyboy, is shown amongst Schott's other robots in "Action Comics" #865, and appears as the Toyboy alongside Schott in the 2009-2010 "World's Finest" miniseries.


title: Toyman

text: On the cover of "Justice League of America" (vol. 2) #13, it shows this android Toyman as a member of the Injustice League.


title: Toyman

text: A female version of the Toyman named the Toywoman appears in "Superman" #349 (July 1980). The Toywoman is the gender-inverted version of Winslow Schott, the criminal known as the Toyman, created by Mister Mxyzptlk to serve as an enemy to his creation of Superwoman. Once Superman tricked Mister Mxyzptlk into saying his name backwards, the creation of Superwoman and Toywoman were undone.


title: Toyman

text: The Bizarro Toyman appears in "Action Comics" #856 (November 2007). When Bizarro III found himself infused with radiation from a blue sun, he developed the ability to replicate himself as well as create other "Bizarro" lifeforms based upon likenesses of people from Earth. He used this power to populate a cube-shaped planetoid dubbed the Bizarro World within the blue sun star-system. One of the many duplicates that he created was a Bizarro version of Superman's adversary Toyman. Bizarro imprisoned Toyman inside of his Fourtriss uv Bizarro along with several other known foes.


title: Toyman

text: A version of the Toyman appears in "World's Finest Comics" #167 (June, 1967). The Toyman is a notorious criminal and an enemy of Superman. He tried to start a crime spree in Gotham City, but was promptly stopped by Superman, Supergirl and Batman. In his defeat, the Toyman used a prototype molecular-dissolver ray on Batman, which affected him in the same way as gold kryptonite affects Kryptonians.


title: Toyman

text: An older Hiro appears in the "Titans Tomorrow" reality, where he dons a manga orange-and-blue battle armor as part of the Titans Army.


title: Toyman

text: In the story, "Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow?" by Alan Moore, the Toyman and the Prankster are unwittingly manipulated by Mister Mxyzptlk to discover Superman's secret identity. They succeed after kidnapping Pete Ross and torturing the information out of him, then killing him. After managing to unmask Clark Kent in front of Lana Lang and others by machine-gunning him and revealing his costume beneath his clothes, the Toyman and the Prankster are captured by Superman.


title: Toyman

text: Winslow Schott and Hiro Okamura are featured in the "Smallville Season 11" digital comic based on the TV series, The Toyman appears in a 2013 "Smallville Season Eleven" comic. At LexCorp R&D, Superman and Lex are all forced to be friendly-like as Lex analyzes the teleportation vest used by some criminals in a hostage situation and admits the technology is his, but that it was stolen during a series of robberies made on Lexcorp and other companies, one of which was foiled way back by the Green Arrow and Superman. Lex surmises that whoever created these teleportation vests using all that stolen technology would have to be very familiar with Lexcorp's patents and proprietary coding. This leads Superman to Stryker's Island prison and Winslow who is still incarcerated and seemingly not a suspect, according to Warden Draper, since he has been under constant supervision in "hyper-solitary". Lois Lane arrives at Stryker's Island to question the Toyman about the Prankster. The Toyman reveals that the Prankster is just a pathetic imitation of him; they worked together in the Queen Industries Research and Development Department before the Toyman started working for Lex. Winslow then asks Lois if Lex asked about him since his return, which leads Lois to retort that the Toyman must rank pretty low, since his memory has been removed. The Toyman reveals that Oswald has no sense of gamesmanship, would cheat whenever he could and had stolen his idea for kryptonite bullets. It is later revealed Schott modified Corben's kryptonite heart, giving Corben the power to absorb the kryptonite radiation once Schott has re-installed it.


title: Toyman

text: On Earth-31, an elderly version of the Toyman - never referred to as such, merely as Winslow - is contacted by the Joker to provide him with dangerous toys, such as exploding dolls.


title: Toyman

text: The Toyman appears as part of the new Legion of Doom in Alex Ross' miniseries "Justice". The Toyman is only seen in person in the first and last issues of the series; he communicates through a human-sized marionette resembling the Jack Nimball version of the Toyman. The Marionette uses a black-and-yellow color scheme and has several strings connected to its joints that give it the appearance of being operated from above. He attacks Hawkman and Hawkgirl in their museum using toy fighter planes and a gigantic Nimball Marionette, blowing up their museum and leaving the duo for dead, though they survive the attack.The Toyman's city is shown to resemble a fun house and is mainly populated by children and families. When the Justice League storm the Hall of Doom, the Marionette attacks the League as a whole instead of any particular target, but is nonetheless destroyed in the attack. After the attack, the toys in his city come to life and attack the Justice League. Superman eventually finds Schott, now morbidly obese and infected with Brainiac's cybernetics. Superman realizes that the Toyman had taken all the children in his city hostage and, with a band of Justice Leaguers, managed to save all of the children before any harm could come to them. Schott was seen recovering in a hospital bed on a screen in the Batcave.


title: Hypoglossal nerve

text: The hypoglossal nerve, also known as the twelfth cranial nerve, cranial nerve XII, or simply CN XII, is a cranial nerve that innervates all the extrinsic and intrinsic muscles of the tongue except for the palatoglossus, which is innervated by the vagus nerve. CN XII is a nerve with a solely motor function. The nerve arises from the hypoglossal nucleus in the medulla as a number of small rootlets, passes through the hypoglossal canal and down through the neck, and eventually passes up again over the tongue muscles it supplies into the tongue.


title: Hypoglossal nerve

text: The nerve is involved in controlling tongue movements required for speech and swallowing, including sticking out the tongue and moving it from side to side. Damage to the nerve or the neural pathways which control it can affect the ability of the tongue to move and its appearance, with the most common sources of damage being injury from trauma or surgery, and motor neuron disease. The first recorded description of the nerve is by Herophilos in the third century BC. The name hypoglossus springs from the fact that its passage is below the tongue, from "hypo" () and "glossa" ().


title: Hypoglossal nerve

text: The hypoglossal nerve arises as a number of small rootlets from the front of the medulla, the bottom part of the brainstem, in the anterolateral sulcus which separates the olive and the pyramid. The nerve passes through the subarachnoid space and pierces the dura mater near the hypoglossal canal, an opening in the occipital bone of the skull.


title: Hypoglossal nerve

text: After emerging from the hypoglossal canal, the hypoglossal nerve gives off a meningeal branch and picks up a branch from the anterior ramus of C1. It then travels close to the vagus nerve and spinal division of the accessory nerve, spirals downwards behind the vagus nerve and passes between the internal carotid artery and internal jugular vein lying on the carotid sheath.


title: Hypoglossal nerve

text: At a point at the level of the angle of the mandible, the hypoglossal nerve emerges from behind the posterior belly of the digastric muscle. It then loops around a branch of the occipital artery and travels forward into the region beneath the mandible. The hypoglossal nerve moves forward lateral to the hyoglossus and medial to the stylohyoid muscles and lingual nerve. It continues deep to the genioglossus muscle and continues forward to the tip of the tongue. It distributes branches to the intrinsic and extrinsic muscle of the tongue innervates as it passes in this direction, and supplies several muscles (hyoglossus, genioglossus and styloglossus) that it passes.


title: Hypoglossal nerve

text: The rootlets of the hypoglossal nerve arise from the hypoglossal nucleus near the bottom of the brain stem. The hypoglossal nucleus receives input from both the motor cortices but the contralateral input is dominant; innervation of the tongue is essentially lateralized. Signals from muscle spindles on the tongue travel through the hypoglossal nerve, moving onto the lingual nerve which synapses on the trigeminal mesencephalic nucleus.


title: Hypoglossal nerve

text: Neurons of the hypoglossal nucleus are derived from the basal plate of the embryonic medulla oblongata. The musculature they supply develops as the hypoglossal cord from the myotomes of the first four pairs of occipital somites. The nerve is first visible as a series of roots in the fourth week of development, which have formed a single nerve and link to the tongue by the fifth week.


title: Hypoglossal nerve

text: The hypoglossal nerve provides motor control of the extrinsic muscles of the tongue: genioglossus, hyoglossus, styloglossus, and the intrinsic muscles of the tongue. These represent all muscles of the tongue except the palatoglossus muscle. The hypoglossal nerve is of a general somatic efferent (GSE) type.


title: Hypoglossal nerve

text: These muscles are involved in moving and manipulating the tongue. The left and right genioglossus muscles in particular are responsible for protruding the tongue. The muscles, attached to the underside of the top and back parts of the tongue, cause the tongue to protrude and deviate towards the opposite side. The hypoglossal nerve also supplies movements including clearing the mouth of saliva and other involuntary activities. The hypoglossal nucleus interacts with the reticular formation, involved in the control of several reflexive or automatic motions, and several corticonuclear originating fibers supply innervation aiding in unconscious movements relating to speech and articulation.


title: Hypoglossal nerve

text: Reports of damage to the hypoglossal nerve are rare. The most common causes of injury in one case series were compression by tumours and gunshot wounds. A wide variety of other causes can lead to damage of the nerve. These include surgical damage, medullary stroke, multiple sclerosis, Guillain-Barre syndrome, infection, sarcoidosis, and presence of an ectatic vessel in the hypoglossal canal. Damage can be on one or both sides, which will affect symptoms that the damage causes. Because of the close proximity of the nerve to other structures including nerves, arteries, and veins, it is rare for the nerve to be damaged in isolation. For example, damage to the left and right hypoglossal nerves may occur with damage to the facial and trigeminal nerves as a result of damage from a clot following arteriosclerosis of the vertebrobasilar artery. Such a stroke may result in tight oral musculature, and difficulty speaking, eating and chewing.


title: Hypoglossal nerve

text: Progressive bulbar palsy, a form of motor neuron disease, is associated with combined lesions of the hypoglossal nucleus and nucleus ambiguus with wasting (atrophy) of the motor nerves of the pons and medulla. This may cause difficulty with tongue movements, speech, chewing and swallowing caused by dysfunction of several cranial nerve nuclei. Motor neuron disease is the most common disease affecting the hypoglossal nerve.


title: Hypoglossal nerve

text: The hypoglossal nerve is tested by examining the tongue and its movements. At rest, if the nerve is injured a tongue may appear to have the appearance of a "bag of worms" (fasciculations) or wasting (atrophy). The nerve is then tested by sticking the tongue out. If there is damage to the nerve or its pathways, the tongue will usually but not always deviate to one side. When the nerve is damaged, the tongue may feel "thick," "heavy," or "clumsy." Weakness of tongue muscles can result in slurred speech, affecting sounds particularly dependent on the tongue for generation (i.e., lateral approximants, dental stops, alveolar stops, velar nasals, rhotic consonants etc.). Tongue strength may be tested by poking the tongue against the inside of their cheek, while an examiner feels or presses from the cheek.


title: Hypoglossal nerve

text: The hypoglossal nerve carries lower motor neurons that synapse with upper motor neurons at the hypoglossal nucleus. Symptoms related to damage will depend on the position of damage in this pathway. If the damage is to the nerve itself (a lower motor neuron lesion), the tongue will curve toward the damaged side, owing to weakness of the genioglossus muscle of affected side which action is to deviate the tongue in the contralateral side . If the damage is to the nerve pathway (an upper motor neuron lesion) the tongue will curve away from the side of damage, due to action of the affected genioglossus muscle, and will occur without fasciculations or wasting, with speech difficulties more evident. Damage to the hypoglossal nucleus will lead to wasting of muscles of the tongue and deviation towards the affected side when it is stuck out. This is because of the weaker genioglossal muscle.


title: Hypoglossal nerve

text: The hypoglossal nerve may be connected (anastomosed) to the facial nerve to attempt to restore function when the facial nerve is damaged. Attempts at repair by either wholly or partially connecting nerve fibres from the hypoglossal nerve to the facial nerve may be used when there is focal facial nerve damage (for example, from trauma or cancer).


title: Hypoglossal nerve

text: The first recorded description of the hypoglossal nerve was by Herophilos (335–280 BC), although it was not named at the time. The first use of the name "hypoglossal" in Latin as "nervi hypoglossi externa" was used by Winslow in 1733. This was followed though by several different namings including "nervi indeterminati", "par lingual", "par gustatorium", "great sub-lingual" by different authors, and "gustatory nerve" and "lingual nerve" (by Winslow). It was listed in 1778 as "nerve hypoglossum magnum" by Soemmering. It was then named as the "great hypoglossal nerve" by Cuvier in 1800 as a translation of Winslow and finally named in English by Knox in 1832.


title: Hypoglossal nerve

text: The hypoglossal nerve is one of twelve cranial nerves found in amniotes including reptiles, mammals and birds. As with humans, damage to the nerve or nerve pathway will result in difficulties moving the tongue or lapping water, decreased tongue strength, and generally cause deviation away from the affected side initially, and then to the affected side as contractures develop. The evolutionary origins of the nerve have been explored through studies of the nerve in rodents and reptiles. The nerve is regarded as arising evolutionarily from nerves of the cervical spine, which has been incorporated into a separate nerve over the course of evolution.


title: Hypoglossal nerve

text: The size of the hypoglossal nerve, as measured by the size of the hypoglossal canal, has been hypothesised to be associated with the progress of evolution of primates, with reasoning that larger nerves would be associated with improvements in speech associated with evolutionary changes. This hypothesis has been refuted.


title: Fc receptor

text: In immunology, a Fc receptor is a protein found on the surface of certain cells – including, among others, B lymphocytes, follicular dendritic cells, natural killer cells, macrophages, neutrophils, eosinophils, basophils, human platelets, and mast cells – that contribute to the protective functions of the immune system.


title: Fc receptor

text: Its name is derived from its binding specificity for a part of an antibody known as the Fc (fragment crystallizable) region. Fc receptors bind to antibodies that are attached to infected cells or invading pathogens. Their activity stimulates phagocytic or cytotoxic cells to destroy microbes, or infected cells by antibody-mediated phagocytosis or antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity. Some viruses such as flaviviruses use Fc receptors to help them infect cells, by a mechanism known as antibody-dependent enhancement of infection.


title: Fc receptor

text: There are several different types of Fc receptors (abbreviated FcR), which are classified based on the type of antibody that they recognize. The Latin letter used to identify a type of antibody is converted into the corresponding Greek letter, which is placed after the 'Fc' part of the name. For example, those that bind the most common class of antibody, IgG, are called Fc-gamma receptors (FcγR), those that bind IgA are called Fc-alpha receptors (FcαR) and those that bind IgE are called Fc-epsilon receptors (FcεR). The classes of FcR's are also distinguished by the cells that express them (macrophages, granulocytes, natural killer cells, T and B cells) and the signalling properties of each receptor.


title: Fc receptor

text: All of the Fcγ receptors (FcγR) belong to the immunoglobulin superfamily and are the most important Fc receptors for inducing phagocytosis of opsonized (marked) microbes. This family includes several members, FcγRI (CD64), FcγRIIA (CD32), FcγRIIB (CD32), FcγRIIIA (CD16a), FcγRIIIB (CD16b), which differ in their antibody affinities due to their different molecular structure. For instance, FcγRI binds to IgG more strongly than FcγRII or FcγRIII does. FcγRI also has an extracellular portion composed of three immunoglobulin (Ig)-like domains, one more domain than FcγRII or FcγRIII has. This property allows FcγRI to bind a sole IgG molecule (or monomer), but all Fcγ receptors must bind multiple IgG molecules within an immune complex to be activated.


title: Fc receptor

text: The Fc-gamma receptors differ in their affinity for IgG and likewise the different IgG subclasses have unique affinities for each of the Fc gamma receptors. These interactions are further tuned by the glycan (oligosaccharide) at position CH2-84.4 of IgG. For example, by creating steric hindrance, fucose containing CH2-84.4 glycans reduce IgG affinity for FcγRIIIA. In contrast, G0 glycans, which lack galactose and terminate instead with GlcNAc moieties, have increased affinity for FcγRIIIA.


title: Fc receptor

text: Another FcR is expressed on multiple cell types and is similar in structure to MHC class I. This receptor also binds IgG and is involved in preservation of this antibody. However, since this Fc receptor is also involved in transferring IgG from a mother either via the placenta to her fetus or in milk to her suckling infant, it is called the neonatal Fc receptor (FcRn). Recently, research suggested that this receptor plays a role in the homeostasis of IgG serum levels.


title: Fc receptor

text: Only one Fc receptor belongs to the FcαR subgroup, which is called FcαRI (or CD89). FcαRI is found on the surface of neutrophils, eosinophils, monocytes, some macrophages (including Kupffer cells), and some dendritic cells. It is composed of two extracellular Ig-like domains, and is a member of both the immunoglobulin superfamily and the multi-chain immune recognition receptor (MIRR) family. It signals by associating with two FcRγ signaling chains. Another receptor can also bind IgA, although it has higher affinity for another antibody called IgM. This receptor is called the Fc-alpha/mu receptor (Fcα/μR) and is a type I transmembrane protein. With one Ig-like domain in its extracellular portion, this Fc receptor is also a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily.


title: Fc receptor

text: Fc receptors are found on a number of cells in the immune system including phagocytes like macrophages and monocytes, granulocytes like neutrophils and eosinophils, and lymphocytes of the innate immune system (natural killer cells) or adaptive immune system (e.g., B cells).


title: Fc receptor

text: They allow these cells to bind to antibodies that are attached to the surface of microbes or microbe infected cells, helping these cells to identify and eliminate microbial pathogens. The Fc receptors bind the antibodies at their Fc region (or tail), an interaction that activates the cell that possesses the Fc receptor. Activation of phagocytes is the most common function attributed to Fc receptors. For example, macrophages begin to ingest and kill an IgG-coated pathogen by phagocytosis following engagement of their Fcγ receptors. Another process involving Fc receptors is called antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC). During ADCC, FcγRIII receptors on the surface of natural killer (NK) cells stimulate the NK cells to release cytotoxic molecules from their granules to kill antibody-covered target cells.


title: Fc receptor

text: FcεRI has a different function. FcεRI is the Fc receptor on granulocytes, that is involved in allergic reactions and defense against parasitic infections. When an appropriate allergic antigen or parasite is present, the cross-linking of at least two IgE molecules and their Fc receptors on the surface of a granulocyte will trigger the cell to rapidly release preformed mediators from its granules.


title: Fc receptor

text: Fc gamma receptors belong to the group of non-catalytic tyrosine-phosphorylated receptors which share a similar signalling pathway involving phosphorylation of tyrosine residues. The receptors generate signals within their cells through an important activation motif known as an immunoreceptor tyrosine-based activation motif (ITAM). An ITAM is a specific sequence of amino acids (YXXL) occurring twice in close succession in the intracellular tail of a receptor. When phosphate groups are added to the tyrosine (Y) residue of the ITAM by membrane-anchored enzymes of the Src kinase family, a signaling cascade is generated within the cell. This phosphorylation reaction typically follows interaction of an Fc receptor with its ligand. An ITAM is present in the intracellular tail of FcγRIIA, and its phosphorylation induces phagocytosis in macrophages. FcγRI and FcγRIIIA do not have an ITAM but can transmit an activating signal to their phagocytes by interacting with another protein that does. This adaptor protein is called the Fcγ subunit and, like FcγRIIA, contains the two YXXL sequences that are characteristic of an ITAM.


title: Fc receptor

text: The presence of only one YXXL motif is not sufficient to activate cells, and represents a motif (I/VXXYXXL) known as an immunoreceptor tyrosine-based inhibitory motif (ITIM). FcγRIIB1 and FcγRIIB2 have an ITIM sequence and are inhibitory Fc receptors; they do not induce phagocytosis. Inhibitory actions of these receptors are controlled by enzymes that remove phosphate groups from tyrosine residues; the phosphatases SHP-1 and SHIP-1 inhibit signaling by Fcγ receptors. Binding of ligand to FcγRIIB leads to phosphorylation of the tyrosine of the ITAM motif. This modification generates the binding site for the phosphatase, a SH2 recognition domain. The abrogation of ITAM activation signaling is caused by inhibition of protein tyrosine kinases of Src family, and by hydrolyzing the membrane PIP3 interrupting the further downstream signaling by the activating receptors, such as activating FcγRs, TCR, BCR and cytokine receptors (e.g. c-Kit).


title: Fc receptor

text: The negative signaling by FcγRIIB is mainly important for regulation of activated B cells. The positive B cell signaling is initiated by binding of foreign antigen to surface immunoglobulin. The same antigen-specific antibody is secreted and it can feedback-suppress, or promote negative signaling. This negative signaling is being provided by FcγRIIB.: Experiments using B cell deletion mutants and dominant-negative enzymes have firmly established an important role for SH2-domain-containing inositol 5-phosphatase (SHIP) in negative signaling. Negative signaling through SHIP appears to inhibit the Ras pathway through SH2 domain competition with Grb2 and Shc and may involve consumption of intracellular lipid mediators that act as allosteric enzyme activators or that promote entry of extracellular Ca2+.


title: Fc receptor

text: When IgG molecules, specific for a certain antigen or surface component, bind to the pathogen with their Fab region (fragment antigen binding region), their Fc regions point outwards, in direct reach of phagocytes. Phagocytes bind those Fc regions with their Fc receptors. Many low affinity interactions are formed between receptor and antibody that work together to tightly bind the antibody-coated microbe. The low individual affinity prevents Fc receptors from binding antibodies in the absence of antigen, and therefore reduces the chance of immune cell activation in the absence of infection. This also prevents agglutination (clotting) of phagocytes by antibody when there is no antigen. After a pathogen has been bound, interactions between the Fc region of the antibody and the Fc receptors of the phagocyte results in the initiation of phagocytosis. The pathogen becomes engulfed by the phagocyte by an active process involving the binding and releasing of the Fc region/Fc receptor complex, until the cell membrane of the phagocyte completely encloses the pathogen.


title: Fc receptor

text: The Fc receptor on NK cells recognize IgG that is bound to the surface of a pathogen-infected target cell and is called CD16 or FcγRIII. Activation of FcγRIII by IgG causes the release of cytokines such as IFN-γ that signal to other immune cells, and cytotoxic mediators like perforin and granzyme that enter the target cell and promote cell death by triggering apoptosis. This process is known as antibody-dependent cell-mediated cytotoxicity (ADCC). FcγRIII on NK cells can also associate with monomeric IgG (i.e., IgG that is not antigen-bound). When this occurs, the Fc receptor inhibits the activity of the NK cell.


title: Fc receptor

text: IgE antibodies bind to antigens of allergens. These allergen-bound IgE molecules interact with Fcε receptors on the surface of mast cells. Activation of mast cells following engagement of FcεRI results in a process called degranulation, whereby the mast cell releases preformed molecules from its cytoplasmic granules; these are a mixture of compounds including histamine, proteoglycans, and serine proteases. Activated mast cells also synthesize and secrete lipid-derived mediators (such as prostaglandins, leukotrienes, and platelet-activating factor) and cytokines (such as interleukin 1, interleukin 3, interleukin 4, interleukin 5, interleukin 6, interleukin 13, tumor necrosis factor-alpha, GM-CSF, and several chemokines. These mediators contribute to inflammation by attracting other leukocytes.


title: Fc receptor

text: Large parasites like the helminth (worm) "Schistosoma mansoni" are too large for ingestion by phagocytes. They also have an external structure called an integument that is resistant to attack by substances released by macrophages and mast cells. However, these parasites can become coated with IgE and recognized by FcεRII on the surface of eosinophils. Activated eosinophils release preformed mediators such as major basic protein, and enzymes such as peroxidase, against which helminths are not resistant. The interaction of the FcεRII receptor with the Fc portion of helminth bound IgE causes the eosinophil to release these molecules in a mechanism similar to that of the NK cell during ADCC.


title: Fc receptor

text: CD4+ T cells (mature T cells) provide help to B cells that produce antibodies. Several subsets of activated effector CD4+ T cells are observed in disease pathology. Earlier studies summarized by Sanders and Lynch in 1993 suggested critical roles for FcRs in CD4+ T cell mediated immune responses and proposed the formation of a joint signaling complex among FcRs and TCR on the cell surface. Chauhan and coworkers reported the colocalization of the labeled ICs with the CD3 complex on activated CD4+ T cell surface, which thus suggest the coexistence of FcRs together with TCR complex. Both of these receptors are observed forming an apical structure on the membrane of activated CD4+ T cells, suggesting the lateral movement of these receptors. Co-migration of FcRs with TCR and BCR complex is observed on the cells surface and T:B cell cytoconjugates show this coexistence at the point of contact. An earlier review suggested that the expression of FcRs on CD4+ T cells is an open question. This established the current paradigm that T cells do not express FcRs and these findings were never challenged and experimentally tested. Chauhan and coworkers showed binding of immune complexes (ICs), the FcR ligand to activated CD4+ T cells. CD16a expression is induced in the activated human naïve CD4+ T cells, which express CD25, CD69, and CD98 and ligation to ICs leads to generation of effector memory cells. CD16a signaling is mediated by phosphorylation of Syk (pSyk).


title: Fc receptor

text: A study now suggests induced expression of CD32a upon activation of human CD4+ T cells, similar to CD16a. CD32a expression on CD4+ T cells was also suggested by three independent studies from HIV-1 researchers. The expression of CD16a and CD32a in a subset of activated CD4+ T cells is now confirmed. FcRs on the cell surface upon binding to ICs composed of nucleic acids trigger cytokine production and upregulate nucleic acid sensing pathways. FcRs are present both on the cell surface and in the cytosol. CD16a signaling upregulate the expression of nucleic acid sensing toll-like receptors and relocate them to cell surface. CD16a is a new costimulatory signal for human CD4+ T cells, which successfully substitute the CD28 requirement during autoimmunity. In an autoimmune background CD4+ T cells bypass the requirement of CD28 cosignaling to become fully activated. Furthermore, the blockade of CD28 cosignaling does not inhibit the development of TFH cells, a key subset for the generation of autoantibody producing autoreactive plasma B cells. A balance among costimulatory and inhibitory signals is required for immune homeostasis. Excessive costimulation and/or insufficient co-inhibition leads to the tolerance-breakdown and autoimmunity. CD16a mediated costimulation provides a positive signal in the activated CD4+ T cells and not in the quiescent cells which lack FcγR expression.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: Paris Saint-Germain Handball (PSG) is a French professional handball club founded in 1941, and based in the city of Paris in France. The club is the handball department of Paris Saint-Germain.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: PSG play in the highest tier of French handball, the LNH Division 1. Their home ground for LNH matches is Stade Pierre de Coubertin, which has a seating capacity of 3,400 spectators. For EHF Champions League matches, the club play at Halle Georges Carpentier, which has a seating capacity of 4,500 spectators.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: Initially called Patriotes d'Asnières (1941–1942), the club has gone through several name changes: Asnières Sports (1942–1987), Paris-Racing-Asnières (1987–1988), Paris-Asnières (1988–1992), PSG-Asnières (1992–2002), and Paris Handball (2002–2012). After being bought by Paris Saint-Germain owners Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) in 2012, the club became Paris Saint-Germain Handball.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: Since its inception, the club has won 23 titles. Domestically, Paris SG have clinched 9 LNH Division 1 titles, six French Cups, three Coupes de la Ligue, a record four and two LNH Division 2 titles. They are the only club in French handball to have ever won all their matches in LNH Division 1 in a season, which they did in the 2021–22 season. In international club handball, the capital side finished runners-up in the 2016–17 edition of the Champions League. PSG also have a reserve team that currently play in the , which serves as the . They have played in Nationale 1 since 2017–18, after clinching the title and winning promotion during the .


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: The Parisian club was founded in 1941. Initially, it took the name of Patriotes d'Asnières before becoming Asnières Sports one year later. Asnières Sports was presided by Christian Picard, whose son Gérard Picard took over during the 1975–1976 season and remained president until 2003.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: In 1987, the club's management succeeded in convincing the Paris City Council to partner Asnières Sports and create a major handball team in the capital. This resulted in the Hauts-de-Seine team moving to Paris and being renamed Paris-Racing-Asnières then Paris-Asnières. Relegated in 1989, Paris-Asnières immediately bounced back to the top flight in 1990 after winning the D2 title. At the time, the club's most notable players were future French internationals Jackson Richardson and Patrick Cazal.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: In 1992, the club came under the management of Paris Saint-Germain Football Club, a partnership that lasted 10 years. This led to another name change, and Paris-Asnières became PSG-Asnières. PSG-Asnières finished second in the LNH Division 1 during the and then reached the French Cup final in 2001, losing to Montpellier.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: During that time, PSG-Asnières managed to attract several international players such as Stéphane Stoecklin, Denis Lathoud, Gaël Monthurel, Nenad Peruničić and Olivier Girault. The latter set up home in Paris in 1999, playing for the club until 2008 and then coaching the team until 2011.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: Under yet another name, Paris Handball began 2002 with new club owner Louis Nicollin. During the next decade, the club played in the EHF Champions League during the 2005–06 season, and won its first major trophy in 2007 with star player Kévynn Nyokas. Paris Handball registered a over .


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: But there were tough times too. At the end of the , the club was relegated to . Paris Handball won the the very next season and rejoined the top clubs. In 2012, the team narrowly avoided relegation in the last round of play.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: After being bought by Paris Saint-Germain Football Club owners Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) in 2012, the club became Paris Saint-Germain Handball. Under the initiative of Nasser Al-Khelaifi, a new management and playing team was assembled. Jean-Claude Blanc was named General Manager, Philippe Gardent signed as first-team manager, and a host of international stars arrived at the French capital, including Didier Dinart, Luc Abalo, Samuel Honrubia, Mikkel Hansen, Marko Kopljar , José Manuel Sierra and Antonio García.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: In the 2012–13 season, PSG claimed their maiden league success, which also meant the club secured a spot in the EHF Champions League. However, PSG were denied the double by Montpellier in the French Cup final.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: Big-name signings kept coming in the 2013–14 season with the arrivals of Daniel Narcisse, Igor Vori, Jakov Gojun, Fahrudin Melić and Gábor Császár. PSG reached the Champions League quarterfinals for the first time in its history, but failed to keep up the pace with Dunkerque in the league. Despite this, the season finished on a high note, thanks to a victory in the against Chambéry, adding a second national cup trophy to the club's honours.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: In the 2014–15 season, new manager Zvonimir Serdarušić and star signing Nikola Karabatić led the capital club to its second league title following a nail-biting battle for top spot against Montpellier. PSG claimed the trophy on the last day of the season, after a win over . The league crown rounded off a domestic treble, going alongside the French Cup and the that they had won after beating Nantes and Dunkerque, respectively. On the European stage, PSG's hopes were dashed, for a second time, by Veszprém in the Champions League semifinals.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: PSG continued its winning ways in the 2015–16 season by claiming a second French Super Cup and a third league title. However, the crowning moment was reaching the Champions League Final4 for the first time in its history. Along the way, the club downed THW Kiel at the Sparkassen-Arena, where the German side had been undefeated for four years; topped its group for the first time ever; and trumped Kiel in the third-place play-off. Additionally, Mikkel Hansen set a new record for goals in a Champions League season, with no fewer than 141 strikes to his name.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: In the 2021–22 season they finished off LNH Division 1 with 60 points on 30 matches, being the only team ever in the french league to achieve that.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: Parent club Paris Saint-Germain represent both the city of Paris and the nearby royal town of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. As a result, red, blue and white are the club's traditional colours. The red and blue are Parisian colours, a nod to revolutionary figures Lafayette and Jean Sylvain Bailly, and the white is a symbol of French royalty and Saint-Germain-en-Laye.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: On the club's crest, the Eiffel Tower in red and the blue background represent Paris, while the fleur de lys in white is a hint to the coat of arms of Saint-Germain-en-Laye. The fleur de lys is a royal symbol as well and recalls that French King Louis XIV was born in the town. Throughout its history, PSG have brandished several different crests, but all of them have featured the club's three historical colours. Likewise, PSG's most iconic shirts have been predominantly red, blue or white, with the remaining two colours included as well. The club's official mascot, Germain the Lynx, also sports PSG's traditional colours.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: The Stade Pierre de Coubertin, with a seating capacity of 3,400 spectators, serves as PSG's home stadium for LNH Division 1 matches. For EHF Champions League games, on the other hand, the club use Halle Georges Carpentier as its home venue. It has a seating capacity of 4,500 spectators.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: In 2023, the club's first team and academy will move to the Paris Saint-Germain Training Center. On the second plateau of the new training ground and sports complex handball players – professionals as well as academy attendees – will enjoy the use of two fields, a stand with a capacity of 250 spectators, fitness rooms, recovery areas, staff offices and meeting rooms.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: Between 2010 and 2016, with the impossibility for fan groups to support parent club Paris Saint-Germain (men's football team) at home or away, the PSG faithful turned to Paris Saint-Germain Féminine, and to a lesser extent to the Paris Saint-Germain Academy sides, being the very rare case of fan groups supporting their club's women's football team. Liberté Pour les Abonnés and Nautecia, which were among several groups that reunited Boulogne and Auteuil supporters, were behind this initiative. PSG ultras have also occasionally attended big matches of the club's handball team ever since it was bought by PSG owners Qatar Sports Investments (QSI) in 2012.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: Tamim bin Hamad Al Thani, ruler of Qatar, bought 70% of parent club Paris Saint-Germain through state-owned shareholding organization Qatar Sports Investments (QSI). Colony Capital (29%) and Butler (1%) remained minority shareholders. In March 2012, QSI purchased the remaining 30% stake to become PSG's sole shareholder, valuing the club at €100m. PSG thus became one of the wealthiest clubs in the world. Paris Saint-Germain Handball (previously called Paris Handball) were then bought by PSG owners QSI in 2012.


title: Paris Saint-Germain Handball

text: In late June 2019, Paris Saint-Germain announced a long-term contract extension with kit manufacturer Nike, which is now one of European football's most lucrative and the biggest sponsorship agreement in the club's history. PSG are tied to the American brand until 2032 and will more than triple their previous €25m deal with an annual figure in excess of €80 million. PSG said the new Nike deal will cover the men's and women's football teams, as well as their handball outfit.


title: Godai (Japanese philosophy)

text: Godai are the five elements in Japanese Buddhist thought of earth ("chi"), water ("sui"), fire ("ka"), wind ("fu"), and void ("ku"). The concept is related to Buddhist Mahābhūta and came over China from India.


title: Godai (Japanese philosophy)

text: The Japanese Buddhist concept of "gogyo," which stems from Chinese "wuxing," is distinguishable from "godai" by the fact that the functional phases of wood and metal within "gogyo" are replaced by the formative elements of void and the wind (air) in "godai". "Godai" is attributed to esoteric Japanese Buddhism during the eleventh century CE in relation to the idea of "gorin" (the "five wheels" or the "five rings"). "Godai" and "gorin" are also seen within the practice of "ninjutsu", where these principles became an essential aspect of the esoteric ninja teachings (the "ninpo-mikkyo"); whereas the theory of "gogyo" moved into the functional theory of traditional Japanese medicine and exoteric Buddhism.


title: Godai (Japanese philosophy)

text: The "godai" is a static or inert philosophical understanding of the traditional Japanese elements and study, similar to the Greek classical elements. The four main elements or building blocks are Earth, Water, Fire, and Wind, while Void is non substantial.


title: Godai (Japanese philosophy)

text: As such, these may describe an individual's response to direct confrontation, such as in martial arts associations with physical center, footwork.


title: Godai (Japanese philosophy)

text: 地 "Chi" (sometimes "ji") or "tsuchi", meaning "Earth", represents the hard, solid objects of Earth. The most basic example of "chi" is in a stone. Stones are highly resistant to movement or change, as is anything heavily influenced by "chi". In people, the bones, muscles and tissues are represented by "chi". Emotionally, "chi" is predominantly associated with collectiveness, stability, physicality, and gravity. It is a desire to have things remain as they are; a resistance to change. In the mind, it is confidence when under the influence of this "chi" mode or "mood", we are aware of our own physicality and sureness of action. This is a separate concept from the energy-force, pronounced in Chinese as "qì" (also written "ch'i") and in Japanese as "ki", and written alternatively as 気, 氣, or 气.


title: Godai (Japanese philosophy)

text: 水 "Sui" or "mizu", meaning "Water", represents the fluid, flowing, and the formless things in the world. Outside of the obvious example of rivers and the lake, plants are also categorized under "sui", as they adapt to their environment, growing and changing according to the direction of the sun and the changing seasons. Blood and other bodily fluids are represented by "sui", as are mental or emotional tendencies towards adaptation and change. "Sui" can be associated with thought, defensiveness, adaptability, flexibility, suppleness, and magnetism.


title: Godai (Japanese philosophy)

text: 火 "Ka" or "hi", meaning "Fire", represents the energetic, forceful, moving things in the world. Animals, capable of movement and full of forceful energy, are primary examples of "ka" objects. Bodily, "ka" represents our metabolism and body heat, and in the mental and emotional realms, it represents drive and passion. "Ka" can be associated with security, motivation, desire, intention, and an outgoing spirit.


title: Godai (Japanese philosophy)

text: 風 "Fū" or "kaze", meaning "Wind", represents things that grow, expand, and enjoy freedom of movement. Aside from air, smoke and the like, "fū" can in some ways be best represented by the human mind. As we grow physically, we learn and expand mentally as well, in terms of our knowledge, our experiences, and our personalities. "Fū" represents breathing, and the internal processes associated with respiration. Mentally and emotionally, it represents an "open-minded" attitude and carefree feeling. It can be associated with will, elusiveness, evasiveness.


title: Godai (Japanese philosophy)

text: 空 "Kū" or "sora", most often translated as "Void", but also meaning "sky", "heaven" or environment, it represents those things beyond and within our everyday comprehension, particularly those things composed of pure energy before they manifest; the emptiness that the energy is made up of. Bodily, "kū" represents spirit, thought and creative energy. It represents the creation of phenomena. It can also be associated with the potential of power, creativity, spontaneity and inventiveness.


title: Godai (Japanese philosophy)

text: "Kū" is of particular importance as the highest of the elements. In martial arts, particularly in fictional tales where the fighting discipline is blended with magic or the occult, one often invokes the power of the Void to connect to the quintessential creative energy of the world. A warrior properly attuned to the Void can sense their surroundings and act without using the mind, and without using their "physical senses".


title: Godai (Japanese philosophy)

text: The most common representations today of the five elements, outside of martial arts and fictional references, are found in Buddhist architecture.


title: Godai (Japanese philosophy)

text: Japanese (from 'five', 'ring shape', and 'tower') can be seen in Zen gardens and Buddhist temples, represented as "stupas". They have five divisions to represent the five elements, although the five segments can be hard to discern. Touching the ground, the bottom-most piece represents "chi"; the next section represents "sui"; "ka" is represented by the middle section, while "fū" and "kū" are represented by the top-most two sections, pointing towards the sky. A "gorintō" is composed, from bottom to top, of a cube, a sphere, a pyramid, a crescent, and a shape resembling a lotus flower. These shapes also relate to the meanings described above.


title: Godai (Japanese philosophy)

text: The stone lanterns or , which are similar in form to the "gorinto", are stone towers of modest size put on a center line for the approach mainly to the Buddhist temples and cemeteries. The function of the toro is different from the gorinto: they are intended to illuminate the approach to the temple like lighthouses, with a flame encased in the section representing "ka", for Buddhist ceremonies taking place at night.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: Bridgestone Arena (originally Nashville Arena, and formerly Gaylord Entertainment Center and Sommet Center) is a multi-purpose venue in downtown Nashville, Tennessee, United States. Completed in 1996, it is the home of the Nashville Predators of the National Hockey League.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: Designed by HOK Sport in conjunction with the Nashville-based architecture/engineering firm Hart Freeland Roberts, INC., it was designed at an angle on the corner of Broadway and 5th Avenue in Nashville in physical homage to the historic Ryman Auditorium, the original home of the Grand Ole Opry.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: Bridgestone Arena is owned by the Sports Authority of Nashville and Davidson County and operated by Powers Management Company, a subsidiary of the Nashville Predators National Hockey League franchise, which has been its primary tenant since 1998.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: The Predators hosted the NHL Entry Draft here in 2003; it was also the location for the 2016 NHL All-Star Game.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: In 1997, it was the venue of the United States Figure Skating Championships, and in 2004 hosted the USA Gymnastics National Championships. It was the home of the Nashville Kats franchise of the Arena Football League from 1997 until 2001, and hosted the team's revival from 2005 to 2007, when the Kats folded.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: The arena has hosted college basketball events, including both men's (2001, 2006, 2010) and women's tournaments of the Southeastern Conference and the Ohio Valley Conference. Nashville will serve as a primary venue for the SEC men's basketball tournament nine times between 2015 and 2025 (2015–2017, 2019–2021, and 2023–2025) after the SEC signed a long-term agreement with the Nashville Sports Council in 2013. It hosted the 2014 NCAA Women's Final Four, the 2018 SEC women's basketball tournament and will host again in 2022 and 2026.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: In odd-numbered years, the arena was regularly one of eight sites to host the first and second rounds of the men's NCAA Basketball Tournament for the first ten years of its existence, though it was taken out of the rotation for several years, partly due to the obsolete octagonal mid-1990s-style scoreboard that hung above the arena floor. It was replaced in the summer of 2007 by a new $5 million scoreboard and digital control room. The NCAA Tournament returned to Nashville in 2012.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: Since 2002, the arena has hosted a Professional Bull Riders Built Ford Tough Series event every year (except in 2005 and 2006) until 2010. The event moved to the Arena in 2002 after having previously occupied the Municipal Auditorium from 1994 to 2001; during the venue's first year hosting this event, the Built Ford Tough Series was known as the Bud Light Cup.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: The venue has also hosted numerous concerts and religious gatherings. Beginning in 2006, the Country Music Association Awards have been held in the arena, after the awards show moved from the Grand Ole Opry House with a one-year stop in New York City at Madison Square Garden in 2005.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: Due to the 2012–13 NHL lockout, the Predators did not host any games that season until January 19, 2013. Instead, the arena hosted a Southern Professional Hockey League preseason game between the only other Tennessee pro hockey franchise, the Knoxville Ice Bears, and their cross-border rivals Huntsville Havoc on October 20.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: Bridgestone Arena has a seating capacity of 17,159 for ice hockey, 19,395 for basketball, 10,000 for half-house concerts, 18,500 for end-stage concerts and 20,000 for center-stage concerts, depending on the configuration used. It has also hosted several professional wrestling events and a boxing card since its opening.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: The seating configuration is notable for the oddly-shaped south end, which features two large round roof support columns, no mid-level seating, and only one level of suites, bringing the upper-level seats much closer to the floor.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: The arena can be converted into the 5,145-seat Music City Theater, used for theater concerts and Broadway and family shows, by placing a stage at the north end of the arena floor and hanging a curtain behind the stage and another to conceal the upper deck. The arena also features of space in a trade show layout. Mumford & Sons set the attendance record on March 22, 2019, with 19,047 fans in attendance. Kacey Musgraves set the record for the highest attendance for a female headliner with 18,373 fans during the Oh, What a World: Tour.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: During construction of the arena there was a major time loss accident October 5, 1995 when a temporary column collapsed. Lead ironworker connector Daniel Lane Foreman suffered a shattered pelvis and was hospitalized for 10 days at Vanderbilt University Hospital. Ironworker Raymond Vance Foreman received minor injuries and was treated and released.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: Besides hosting the Nashville Predators, because of its location near Music Row and Nashville's role as the center of country music, Bridgestone Arena has seen many other famous performers and events:


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: The Bridgestone Arena was nominated for the 2007 Pollstar Concert Industry Venue of the Year Award. This is the fourth time the venue has been nominated. The first was in 1998 as the Nashville Arena, and then in 1999 and 2000 as the Gaylord Entertainment Center. In 2017 it was named loudest arena in sports.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: When completed in 1996, the venue was known as Nashville Arena. In 1999, the arena was renamed Gaylord Entertainment Center after a 20-year, $80 million naming rights contract was signed between the Predators and Nashville-based Gaylord Entertainment Company, which at the time was a minority owner of the team.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: In February 2005, it was announced that the Predators and Gaylord (which had earlier sold its stake in the team) had reached an agreement terminating any further involvement between them, and that the Gaylord name would remain on the building only until a new purchaser could be found for the naming rights. As a result, many in the Nashville media quickly reverted to calling the facility by its original name. With the beginning of the 2006 season, the Predators began referring to the arena by its original name as well. In doing so, the team replaced the "Gaylord Entertainment Center" wordmark on the center ice circle with the original "Nashville Predators" wordmark from the inaugural season. The "Gaylord Entertainment Center" name, however, was still displayed on the building's exterior signage at that point.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: The facility was officially renamed Nashville Arena again, and all Gaylord signage was removed from the building's exterior on March 16, 2007.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: On May 18, 2007, Sommet Group, a Franklin-based collection of companies whose services included human resources administration, payroll processing, software development, computer repair, insurance, and risk management bought the naming rights to the arena, and it became known as Sommet Center. Terms of the deal were not disclosed. The company had previously been the corporate title sponsor for the Predators during the 2007 Stanley Cup Playoffs. The agreement had lasted little more than two years when the Predators sued the Sommet Group on November 25, 2009, for breach of contract, alleging the latter had failed to make numerous payments under the naming rights agreement. As part of the suit, the Predators stated intentions to seek a new title sponsor for the arena. Sommet Group's headquarters were later raided by the FBI and IRS due to suspicion of fraudulent activities, and the company subsequently filed for bankruptcy and was liquidated. Sommet's founder, Brian Whitfield, was eventually convicted of fraud, including using some of the fraudulent funds to secure the arena naming rights.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: Unlike the Gaylord parting-of-ways, Sommet Group's name was stripped from all signage inside and outside the arena as soon as the team was legally allowed to do so. The building briefly resumed using the Nashville Arena moniker until February 23, 2010, when it was announced that the Predators had signed a naming rights deal with Nashville-based Bridgestone Americas, Inc., the North American subsidiary of Japanese tire manufacturer Bridgestone. The arena became known as Bridgestone Arena.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: In the summer of 2007 a number of renovations were made to what was then called the Sommet Center at a cost of several million dollars. Renovations included changes to concession stands and public areas, as well as major changes to infrastructure. The most obvious change was the August 2007 replacement of the original center-hanging scoreboard (at a cost of $3.6 million) with a new scoreboard made by ANC Sports. The original analog scoreboard had become outdated and was no longer supported by the original manufacturer, making parts difficult to come by. The new scoreboard is referred to as the "megatron" by arena and Predators staff. In addition, the TV–media control room was renovated at a cost of $2.6 million.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: During the summer of 2011, a new NHL-mandated ice and dasherboard system was constructed and installed in the arena. In addition, the south side of the upper concourse was redesigned as a "fan zone". The wall separating the arena and that part of the upper concourse was removed.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: In the summer of 2015, the Predators began replacing all of the arena's seating. This project was completed in Summer of 2016.


title: Bridgestone Arena

text: In the summer of 2019, the scoreboard above center ice was replaced with a new model known as "FangVision" which measures high and wide, along with the replacement of urinals in the men's toilets with waterless versions.


title: 2023 Turkish parliamentary election

text: The 2023 Turkish parliamentary election is scheduled to take place on 18 June 2023, as part of the 2023 general election, alongside the presidential election on the same day.


title: 2023 Turkish parliamentary election

text: Voters from 87 electoral districts will elect 600 Members of Parliament to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey for a five year term, forming the country's 28th Parliament.


title: 2023 Turkish parliamentary election

text: The 600 members of the Grand National Assembly of Turkey will be elected by party-list proportional representation in 87 electoral districts, by the D'Hondt method. For the purpose of legislative elections, 77 of Turkey's 81 provinces serves as a single district. Due to their large populations, the provinces of Bursa and İzmir are divided into two districts, while the provinces of Ankara and Istanbul are each divided into three.


title: 2023 Turkish parliamentary election

text: According to the Constitution of Turkey, any amendment to the election law can only apply a year after it comes into effect.


title: 2023 Turkish parliamentary election

text: At the initiative of the ruling AKP and its main political ally MHP, the national electoral threshold for a party to enter parliament was lowered from 10 to 7 percent. This was the first lowering of the threshold since it was introduced by the military junta following the 1980 Turkish coup d'état.


title: 2023 Turkish parliamentary election

text: There is no threshold for independent candidates. Political parties can also opt to contest the election in a political alliance with other parties, removing the 7% requirement as long as the alliance as a whole wins more than 7% of the vote in total.


title: 2023 Turkish parliamentary election

text: Other amendments to the election law includes the distribution of seats. Previously, parliamentary seats were distributed based on the vote share of each election alliance in any given district. Now, the seats are distributed based solely on the vote share of each political party in that district. If applied to the previous elections, the results would have been slightly more in line with the preferences of the voters. For example, one Erzurum seat from IYI (4th largest party in Erzurum) would have gone to HDP (3rd largest party in Erzurum) and one Elazığ seat from CHP (3rd largest party in Elazığ) to MHP (2nd largest party in Elazığ).


title: 2023 Turkish parliamentary election

text: Although it is not listed as an illegal political party, the Interior Ministry has barred the Green Party from the election.


title: 2023 Turkish parliamentary election

text: Turkey is split into 87 electoral districts, which elect a certain number of Members to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey. The Assembly has a total of 600 seats, which each electoral district allocated a certain number of MPs in proportion to their population. The Supreme Electoral Council of Turkey conducts population reviews of each district before the election and can increase or decrease a district's number of seats according to their electorate.


title: 2023 Turkish parliamentary election

text: In all but four cases, electoral districts share the same name and borders of the 81 Provinces of Turkey, with the exception of Ankara, Bursa, Izmir and Istanbul. Provinces electing between 19 and 36 MPs are split into two electoral districts, while any province electing above 36 MPs are divided into three. As the country's most populous provinces, Bursa and Izmir are divided into two subdistricts while Ankara and Istanbul is divided into three. The distribution of elected MPs per electoral district is shown below.


title: 2023 Turkish parliamentary election

text: As of 13 January 2022, the amount of parties that had met the requirements of eligibility to contest the upcoming parliamentary election was at 24. This list is not final as uneligible political parties may still qualify to enter elections when they fulfill the requirements set in the Law no. 298 on "Basic Provisions on Elections and Electoral Registers".


title: Coracle

text: A coracle is a small, rounded, lightweight boat of the sort traditionally used in Wales, and also in parts of the West Country and in Ireland, particularly the River Boyne, and in Scotland, particularly the River Spey. The word is also used of similar boats found in India, Vietnam, Iraq, and Tibet. The word "coracle" is an English spelling of the original Welsh , cognate with Irish and Scottish Gaelic , and is recorded in English text as early as the sixteenth century. Other historical English spellings include "corougle", "corracle", "curricle" and "coricle".


title: Coracle

text: The structure is made of a framework of split and interwoven willow rods, tied with willow bark. The outer layer was originally an animal skin such as horse or bullock hide (corium), with a thin layer of tar to waterproof it – today replaced by tarred calico, canvas, or fibreglass. The Vietnamese/Asian version of the coracle is made of interwoven bamboo and made water proof by using resin and coconut oil. Oval in shape and very similar to half a walnut shell, the coracle has a keel-less flat bottom to evenly spread the load across the structure and to reduce the required depth of water – often to only a few inches. This structure helps to make the boat more maneuverable and less likely to snag when used on narrow and/or shallow slow-running waterways.


title: Coracle

text: Each coracle is tailored to the local river conditions. In general there is one design per river, but this is not always the case. The Teifi coracle, for instance, is flat-bottomed, as it is designed to negotiate shallow rapids, common on the river in the summer, while the Carmarthen coracle is rounder and deeper, because it is used in tidal waters on the Tywi, where there are no rapids. Teifi coracles are made from locally harvested wood – willow for the laths (body of the boat), hazel for the weave ( in Welsh – the bit round the top) – while Tywi coracles have been made from sawn ash for a long time. The working boats tend to be made from fibreglass these days. Teifi coracles use no nails, relying on the interweaving of the laths for structural coherence, whilst the Carmarthen ones use copper nails and no interweaving.


title: Coracle

text: They are an effective fishing vessel because, when powered by a skilled person, they hardly disturb the water or the fish, and they can be easily manoeuvred with one arm, while the other arm tends to the net; two coracles to a net. The coracle is propelled by means of a broad-bladed paddle, which traditionally varies in design between different rivers. It is used in a sculling action, the blade describing a figure-of-eight pattern in the water. The paddle is used towards the front of the coracle, pulling the boat forward, with the paddler facing in the direction of travel.


title: Coracle

text: The Welsh Coracle is intended to be carried on the back; Welsh saying is (load of a man is his coracle).


title: Coracle

text: Designed for use in swiftly flowing streams, the coracle has been in use in the British Isles for millennia, having been noted by Julius Caesar in his invasion of Britain in the mid first century BC, and used in his military campaigns in Spain. Remains interpreted as a possible coracle were found in an Early Bronze Age grave at Barns Farm near Dalgety Bay, and others have been described, from Corbridge and from near North Ferriby.


title: Coracle

text: Where coracle fishing is performed by two coraclers the net is stretched across the river between the two coracles. The coraclers will paddle one handed, dragging the net in the other, and draw the net downstream. When a fish is caught, each hauls up an end of the net until the two boats are brought to touch, and the fish is then secured, using a priest (or knocker – a small block of wood) to stun the fish.


title: Coracle

text: A new tax was introduced in 1863 on the commercial capture of migratory fish in Wales; this led to a decline in the number of coracles. During the 1930s, the government decided to begin revoking the licences of commercial fisher families on the death of the main licensees. It took some years for this plan to be completed but eventually led to a more significant decline in the number of craft.


title: Coracle

text: In the 1920s and 30s James Hornell visited hundreds of rivers in the British Isles to talk with remaining coracle makers and users. He documented the tradition in his book "British Coracles and the Curraghs of Ireland" (The Society for Nautical Research, 1938) containing drawings, diagrams and construction details gleaned from regular makers.


title: Coracle

text: Coracles are now seen regularly only in tourist areas of West Wales, and irregularly in Shropshire on the River Severn—a public house in Sundorne, Shrewsbury called "The Coracle" has a pub sign featuring a man using a coracle on a river. The Welsh rivers Teifi and Tywi are the most common places to find coracles in Wales. On the Teifi they are most frequently seen between Cenarth, and Cilgerran and the village of Llechryd.


title: Coracle

text: In 1974, a Welsh coracle piloted by Bernard Thomas (c. 1923–2014) of Llechryd crossed the English Channel to France in hours. The journey was undertaken to demonstrate how the Bull Boats of the Mandan Indians of North Dakota could have been copied from coracles introduced by Prince Madog in the 12th century.


title: Coracle

text: For many years until 1979, Shrewsbury coracle maker Fred Davies achieved some notability amongst football fans; he would sit in his coracle during Shrewsbury Town FC home matches at Gay Meadow, and retrieve stray balls from the River Severn. Although Davies died in 1994, his legend is still associated with the club.


title: Coracle

text: The Coracle Society is a UK-based organisation was founded in 1990 by its former president, Sir Peter Badge (1921–2020). The five founding aims of the Society were:


title: Coracle

text: The current president of the Society is Irving Finkel, Assistant Keeper in the Department of the Middle East at the British Museum, who is known for decoding a cuneiform tablet detailing Noah's Ark – the description of which resembles a very large coracle. The current Society chairperson is Jude Pilgrim, a committee member of the Heritage Lottery Fund. She recently played an instrumental part in setting up the Ironbridge Coracle Trust, formed to save the Eustace Rogers coracle hut in Ironbridge from demolition.


title: Coracle

text: There are many Society members across the country who demonstrate at events and/or run coracle building courses, helping meet the Society's founding aims. A list of some of this year's events can be found on the official Coracle Society website.


title: Coracle

text: The Society was present at the 2005 Shrewsbury River Festival, where they displayed various coracles on the River Severn. There is also an annual coracle regatta held in Ironbridge on the August Bank Holiday Monday every year. Organised by the Green Wood Centre until 2014 and the Ironbridge Coracle Trust from 2015, it is run on an informal basis whereby anyone with a coracle can take part in the event. Each year new entrants come with coracles made on the Bank Holiday weekend at the Green Wood Centre.


title: Coracle

text: Members of the Society support the annual world championship coracle races in Shrewsbury, which raises funds in support of Macmillan Cancer Support.


title: Coracle

text: In 2010, the Society celebrated its 20th anniversary with a number of events, including a morning of talks at the National Coracle Centre in Cenarth. In 2015, the Society celebrated its 25th anniversary at its founding home of St Fagans National History Museum. Events included a talk from Irving Finkel about his experiences decoding the Noah tablet and making the accompanying Channel 4 documentary. The Society also supported the return of coracles and coracle regattas to Welshpool in 2015.


title: Coracle

text: The design of the coracle makes it an unstable craft. Because it sits "on" the water, rather than "in" it, the vessel can easily be carried by currents and the wind. The Coracle Society has published guidelines for safely using coracles.


title: Coracle

text: The oldest instructions yet found for construction of a coracle are contained in precise directions on a four-thousand-year-old cuneiform tablet supposedly dictated by the Mesopotamian god Enki to Atra-Hasis on how to build a round "ark". The tablet is about 2,250 years older than previously discovered accounts of flood myths, none of which contain such details. These instructions depict a vessel that is today known as a (), or Iraqi coracle.


title: Coracle

text: Many scholars believe that the basket that baby Moses was cast adrift in on the Nile (in Exodus 2:3) was in fact a coracle or quffa, based on the similarity of that passage to Neo-Assyrian legends depicting infants cast adrift on rivers in .


title: Coracle

text: The Irish (also or ) is a similar, but larger, vessel still in use today. Curachs were also used in the west of Scotland:


title: Coracle

text: The currachs in the River Spey were particularly similar to Welsh coracles. Other related craft include:


title: Coracle

text: Indian coracles ( ; , , , , 'crab') are commonly found on the rivers Kaveri and Tungabhadra in Southern India. Coracles are light, bowl-shaped boats with a frame of woven grasses, reeds, or saplings covered with hides. Indian coracles are considered to have been in existence since prehistoric times, and are a major tourist attraction at the Hogenakkal falls on the Kaveri river. Although these boats were originally designed for general transport, they have recently been used mostly for giving tourists rides.


title: Coracle

text: The coracles found in the Hogenakkal are of two types, which differ mainly in size. The smaller ones are about 6.2 feet (1.9 metres) in diameter, and are used primarily for fishing. The larger ones, which measure up to 8.4 feet (2.6 metres) in diameter, are used for tourists.


title: Coracle

text: Indian coracles are either saucer or bowl shaped and circular, with the greatest diameter across the mouth. The circular coracles in Iraq are very similar, but they have convexly curved sides, and thus the mouth is not the widest part. Indian coracles are on average about 7.3 feet (2.24 metres) in diameter, but can still hold eight people at a time. Other kinds of coracles usually can only hold one person. Indian coracles, and coracles in general, are made of bamboo and take about a day to build, given all the necessary materials. The bottoms of the boats are covered in hides, or sometimes with sheets of plastic, in order to make them waterproof. In modern times, a sheet of LDPE plastic is often embedded between two layers of bamboo. Sometimes the bottom of the craft is tarred to make it waterproof. Coracles are steered and propelled using a single paddle from the front of the boat in the direction of travel, making them unique.


title: Coracle

text: The boats are made primarily from bamboo. The first step in construction is a basic framework woven from bamboo sticks. Then the bottom is further reinforced with the addition of more bamboo sticks, making the boat's base sturdy. Once the bottom is structurally sound, the lowest points of the sides are defined by a circumferential band of three flat strips of bamboo woven into the existing lattice. The sides of the boat are then made with 20 to 30 adjacent strips of bamboo. Finally this framework is again strengthened by lightweight bamboo, making sure that the sides are not heavier than the base.


title: Coracle

text: The boats had earlier been waterproofed by using hides of animals, but these days plastic sheets are used for this purpose as they are cheaper as well as easily available. The waterproofing is further enhanced by a layer of tar, a feature which is common in most contemporary coracles.


title: Coracle

text: Iraqi coracles, called or (), have been used as ferries, lighters, fishing vessels, and water taxis on the Tigris and Euphrates rivers since at least the 9th century BC. They share details with the myriad types of coracle used across Eurasia. Modern can be up to 18 feet (5.5 m) in diameter and carry four to five tons. Modern are of similar size and construction as their ancient counterparts, with both being made from woven bundles of reeds or basketry waterproofed with bitumen.


title: Sexy, Sexy Lover

text: "Sexy, Sexy Lover" is the second single from the Modern Talking eighth album, "Alone". The song features rapper Eric Singleton in music video and single.


title: Hamish Stuart

text: James Hamish Stuart (born 8 October 1949) is a British guitarist, bassist, singer, composer and record producer. He was an original member of the Average White Band.


title: Hamish Stuart

text: Born in Glasgow, Scotland, Stuart attended Queens Park School in Glasgow and left to form his first professional band 'The Dream Police'.


title: Hamish Stuart

text: He recorded a couple of singles with the Dream Police, before he was invited to join the recently formed Average White Band (AWB) in June 1972.


title: Hamish Stuart

text: A member of AWB from 1972 to 1982, he went on to work with Aretha Franklin, Chaka Khan and David Sanborn.


title: Hamish Stuart

text: He wrote Atlantic Starr's 1986 hit "If Your Heart Isn't in It" and songs for Smokey Robinson, Jeffrey Osborne, George Benson and Diana Ross.


title: Hamish Stuart

text: Stuart joined Paul McCartney’s band (where he switched between guitar and bass as necessary with McCartney) for McCartney's 1989 comeback album, "Flowers in the Dirt", and appearing on several other albums and McCartney's world tours of 1989 and 1993.


title: Hamish Stuart

text: After collaborating on numerous albums for other artists, he recorded his first solo album, "Sooner or Later," in 1999, 17 years after leaving the Average White Band, which he released on his own record label, Sulphuric Records.


title: Hamish Stuart

text: Apart from playing with his own group, the Hamish Stuart Band, and with his fellow Glaswegian guitarist and friend Jim Mullen, Stuart has also produced Gordon Haskell and the Swedish singer-songwriter Meja.


title: Hamish Stuart

text: In 2006, Stuart toured as the bass player with Ringo Starr & His All-Starr Band. He joined Starr again for a 2008 tour, where he performed "Pick Up The Pieces" and "Work to Do". He once again toured with the band in 2019 playing "Pick Up the Pieces", "Work to Do", and "Cut the Cake". Although the tour paused because of COVID-19 precautions, it resumed in 2022, completing tour dates initially planned for 2020.


title: Hamish Stuart

text: In 2007, he produced and appeared as a guest vocalist on the album "All About the Music", by The AllStars collective.


title: Hamish Stuart

text: In July 2015, Stuart reunited with his AWB bandmates Malcolm "Molly" Duncan and Steve Ferrone to form The 360 Band. This is in essence one third of the original Average White Band. They released an album titled "Three Sixty" in 2017 and have been performing live together along with supporting musicians.


title: Hamish Stuart

text: He is the curator, along with partner Claire Houlihan and friend Tom Sutton-Roberts, of the annual mOare Music festival, held in the village of Oare, Faversham, Kent.


title: Hamish Stuart

text: In recognition of his unique contribution to music, in 2016, Stuart was awarded with a BASCA Gold Badge award.


title: Zwan

text: Zwan was an American alternative rock supergroup that was formed by Billy Corgan and Jimmy Chamberlin, lead singer/guitarist and drummer of The Smashing Pumpkins respectively, after they disbanded in December 2000. Other members included bassist Paz Lenchantin, of A Perfect Circle, and guitarists David Pajo, of Slint, and Matt Sweeney of various prior bands and projects. The band released only one album, "Mary Star of the Sea", in 2003, before breaking up acrimoniously that same year during their world tour to promote the album. Following the disbanding, Corgan released a solo album, "TheFutureEmbrace" before reforming the Smashing Pumpkins in 2005, with Chamberlin in 2006. Despite allusions to multiple albums' worth of material written by band members, no further material has surfaced beyond their only studio album, and none of the material has ever been revisited in performances by any of the members outside of a brief 2017 tour by Corgan. In his solo shows in the summer of 2019, Corgan played "Honestly" and "Endless Summer" on his European summer tour at some dates.


title: Zwan

text: Following the breakup of the Smashing Pumpkins, Corgan and drummer Jimmy Chamberlin joined forces with Matt Sweeney (formerly of the bands Chavez and Skunk) to start Zwan. Corgan had been friends with Sweeney since early in his career and Sweeney was thanked in the liner notes to The Smashing Pumpkins album "Siamese Dream".


title: Zwan

text: Juan Alderete was one of the musicians who auditioned for the bassist position, before Sweeney recruited David Pajo (member of Slint, Papa M, Stereolab and many Drag City acts). The band debuted as a four-piece in late 2001. Later, former A Perfect Circle bassist Paz Lenchantin joined the band in 2002, and Pajo was moved to third guitarist.


title: Zwan

text: Zwan had two different incarnations. The first, and more common version, the True Poets of Zwan (or simply "Zwan"), used three guitars, bass guitar and drums. Zwan's only album, "Mary Star of the Sea", is attributed to the True Poets of Zwan in the liner notes. Zwan is credited with being a bridge between the success of the Smashing Pumpkins in the 1990s and the further career developments and experimentations undertaken by Corgan in the 2000s, as well as his shift from his sombre, dark themes towards more hopeful lyrics in line with his spiritual development at the time.


title: Zwan

text: Djali Zwan, an acoustic incarnation of Zwan, which also featured cellist Ana Lenchantin, Paz's sister, was to film and record the making of a new album in the studio in the fall of 2003, with an album and DVD to be issued in early 2004. Corgan spoke with "Rolling Stone" about his plans: "We're going to do it "Let It Be"-style," Corgan said, referring to the documentary about the 1970 Beatles album. "The album would be recorded live, with the cameras rolling. When you get the DVD, you can watch the takes on the album being done." He described the songs he'd written for Djali Zwan as "more folk-driven, rooted in traditional music. I don't want to compromise veins of material to fit into an electric band, which I often did in the Pumpkins. With Djali Zwan, I can write an acoustic song and not worry how it's going to stand up against some rock epic."


title: Zwan

text: Billy Corgan, Linda Strawberry, and Matt Sweeney came together to create the soundtrack for the movie "Spun", directed by Jonas Åkerlund, and were credited as The Djali Zwan.


title: Zwan

text: Billy Corgan announced the band had broken up on Chicago's WGN, on September 15, 2003. "I really enjoyed my experience with Zwan, but at the end of the day, without that sense of deeper family loyalty, it just becomes like anything else," Corgan said.


title: Zwan

text: On April 24, 2005, in the "Chicago Tribune", Corgan commented briefly on the breakup of the band: "The music wasn't the big problem, it was more their attitude... Sex acts between band members in public. People carrying drugs across borders. Pajo sleeping with the producer's girlfriend while we were making the record."


title: Zwan

text: In the May 27, 2005 edition of "Entertainment Weekly", Corgan elaborated on his version of what went wrong:


title: Zwan

text: Corgan also stated that he can no longer listen to "Mary Star of the Sea", because to him it sounds like "thousands of lies upon lies upon lies. It's a shame because there's tons of music unreleased that will just sit in a box until I can stomach it." When asked which of his two former bands would ever reform, he said, "Pumpkins. You'll never see Zwan. I'll never go anywhere near those people. Ever. I mean, I detest them. You can put that in capital letters. Bad people. James and D'arcy are good people. They might be misguided people, but they're good people."


title: Zwan

text: A decade after Zwan's demise, Corgan's stance would soften regarding performance of its material. He included Zwan songs in a set of mostly Smashing Pumpkins material during a solo show in August 2014, and the following year announced a Smashing Pumpkins acoustic tour that would also incorporate Zwan material in its sets. Zwan songs were also featured in Corgan's tour to support his 2017 solo album, "Ogilala".


title: Zwan

text: Matt Sweeney, who initiated the band with Corgan, said in 2017, "We had a friendship from before he was famous. One on one, we had a pretty great thing going. We had a great year where we made like a hundred songs. Nobody’s ever heard that stuff. But once it went public, everything was different. I was confused, it started to feel like fulfilling a commitment where the game had changed. It was interesting, I’m still sort of unpacking that experience. We all had to sign confidentiality agreements, so I can’t really talk about it." David Pajo was also still negative about the band as of 2017.


title: Zwan

text: Zwan's debut and only album was described as "an efficient exercise in the kind of American alternative rock with big choruses that makes the boys at the front jump up and down." The band's style is mostly pop-orientated and closer to mainstream pop rock, evoking "the candied pop that characterised much of the Pumpkins' later work." Nevertheless, the songs also contrast with late Pumpkins material, being described as a "bright blast of tuneful guitar rock, as effervescent as the late Pumpkins material was gloomy." In addition to being considered as power pop, the band's work also features guitarist David Pajo's post-rock textures.


title: Mehdi Bazargan

text: Mehdi Bazargan (; 1 September 1907 – 20 January 1995) was an Iranian scholar, academic, long-time pro-democracy activist and head of Iran's interim government. He was appointed prime minister in February 1979 by Ayatollah Khomeini, making him Iran's first prime minister after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. He resigned his position in November of the same year, in protest at the US Embassy takeover and as an acknowledgement of his government's failure in preventing it.


title: Mehdi Bazargan

text: Bazargan was born into an Azerbaijani family in Tehran on 1 September 1907. His father, Hajj Abbasqoli Tabrizi (died 1954) was a self-made merchant and a religious activist in "bazaar" guilds.


title: Mehdi Bazargan

text: Bazargan went to France to receive university education through an Iranian government scholarship during the reign of Reza Shah. He attended Lycée Georges Clemenceau in Nantes and was a classmate of Abdollah Riazi. Bazargan then studied thermodynamics and engineering at the École Centrale des Arts et Manufactures (École Centrale Paris).


title: Mehdi Bazargan

text: Following his return to Iran, Bazargan was called up for conscription, and served from 1935 to 1937. According to Houchang Chehabi, Bazargan was firstly tasked with shifting pebbles in a barracks but was then moved to translate technical articles from French.


title: Mehdi Bazargan

text: After his graduation, Bazargan became the head of the first engineering department at Tehran University in the late 1940s. He was a deputy minister under Premier Mohammad Mosaddegh in the 1950s. Bazargan served as the first Iranian head of the National Iranian Oil Company under the administration of Prime Minister Mosaddegh.


title: Mehdi Bazargan

text: Bazargan co-founded the Liberation Movement of Iran in 1961, a party similar in its program to Mossadegh's National Front. Although he accepted the Shah, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, as the legitimate head of state, he was jailed several times on political grounds.


title: Mehdi Bazargan

text: On 4 February 1979, Bazargan was appointed prime minister of Iran by Ayatollah Khomeini. He was seen as one of the democratic and liberal figureheads of the revolution who came into conflict with the more radical religious leaders – including Khomeini himself – as the revolution progressed. Although pious, Bazargan initially disputed the name "Islamic Republic", wanting an "Islamic Democratic Republic." He had also been a supporter of the original (non-theocratic) revolutionary draft constitution, and opposed the Assembly of Experts for Constitution and the constitution they wrote that was eventually adopted as Iran's constitution. Seeing his government's lack of power, in March 1979, he submitted his resignation to Ayatollah Khomeini. Khomeini did not accept his resignation, and in April 1979, he and his cabinet members were reported to have escaped an assassination attempt.


title: Mehdi Bazargan

text: Bazargan resigned, along with his cabinet, on 4 November 1979, following the US Embassy takeover and hostage-taking. His resignation was considered a protest against the hostage-taking and a recognition of his government's inability to free the hostages, but it was also clear that his hopes for liberal democracy and an accommodation with the West would not prevail.


title: Mehdi Bazargan

text: Bazargan continued in Iranian politics as a member of the first Parliament ("Majles") of the newly formed Islamic Republic. He openly opposed Iran's cultural revolution and continued to advocate civil rule and democracy. In November 1982, he expressed his frustration with the direction the Islamic Revolution had taken in an open letter to the then speaker of parliament Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani.


title: Mehdi Bazargan

text: The government has created an atmosphere of terror, fear, revenge and national disintegration. ... What has the ruling elite done in nearly four years, besides bringing death and destruction, packing the prisons and the cemeteries in every city, creating long queues, shortages, high prices, unemployment, poverty, homeless people, repetitious slogans and a dark future?


title: Mehdi Bazargan

text: His term as a member of parliament lasted until 1984. During his term, he served as a lawmaker of the Iran Freedom Movement, which he had founded in 1961, and which was abolished in 1990. In 1985, the Council of Guardians denied Bazargan's petition to run for president.


title: Mehdi Bazargan

text: Bazargan is a respected figure within the ranks of modern Muslim thinkers, known as a representative of liberal-democratic Islamic thought and a thinker who emphasized the necessity of constitutional and democratic policies. In the immediate aftermath of the revolution Bazargan led a faction that opposed the Revolutionary Council dominated by the Islamic Republican Party and personalities such as Ayatollah Mohammad Hossein Beheshti. He opposed the continuation of the Iran–Iraq War and the involvement of Islamists in all aspects of politics, economy and society. Consequently, he faced harassment from militants and young revolutionaries within Iran.


title: Mehdi Bazargan

text: During the Pahlavi era, Bazargan's house in Tehran was bombed on 8 April 1978. The underground committee for revenge, a reputed state-financed organization, proclaimed the responsibility of the bombing.


title: Mehdi Bazargan

text: Bazargan is known for some of the earliest work in human thermodynamics, as found in his 1946 chapter "A Physiological Analysis of Human Thermodynamics" and his 1956 book "Love and Worship: Human Thermodynamics", the latter of which being written while in prison, in which he attempted to show that religion and worship are a byproduct of evolution, as explained in English naturalist Charles Darwin's "On the Origin of Species" (1859), and that the true laws of society are based on the laws of thermodynamics.


title: Mehdi Bazargan

text: Bazargan died of a heart attack on 20 January 1995 in Switzerland. He died at a hospital in Zürich after collapsing at the airport. He was travelling to the United States for heart surgery.


title: Islam in Australia

text: Islam in Australia is a minority religious affiliation. According to the 2021 Census in Australia, the combined number of people who self-identified as Muslims in Australia, from all forms of Islam, constituted 813,392 people, or 3.2% of the total Australian population. That total Muslim population makes Islam, in all its denominations and sects, the second largest religious grouping in Australia, after all denominations of Christianity (43.9%, also including non-practicing cultural Christians).


title: Islam in Australia

text: Demographers attribute Muslim community growth trends during the most recent census period to relatively high birth rates, and recent immigration patterns. Adherents of Islam represent the majority of the population in Cocos (Keeling) Islands, an external territory of Australia.


title: Islam in Australia

text: The vast majority of Muslims in Australia are Sunni, with significant minorities belonging to Shia and Ahmadiyya branches. The followers of each of these are further split along different Madhhab (schools of thought within Islamic jurisprudence for the interpretation and practice of Islamic law) and Sub-Sect. There are also practitioners of other smaller denominations of Islam such as Ibadi Muslim Australians of Omani descent, and approximately 20,000 Druze Australians whose religion emerged as an offshoot of Islam which arrived in Australia with the immigration of Druze mainly from Lebanon and Syria. There are also Sufi (Islamic mysticism) minorities among Muslim practitioners in Australia.


title: Islam in Australia

text: While the overall Australian Muslim community is defined largely by a common religious identity with "Islam", Australia's Muslims aren't a monolithic community. The Australian Muslim community is fragmented into not only the traditional sectarian divisions of what each sect defines as Islam, but it is also extremely diverse racially, ethnically, culturally and linguistically. Different Muslim groups within the Australian Muslim community thus also espouse parallel non-religious ethnic identities with related non-Muslim counterparts, either within Australia or abroad.


title: Islam in Australia

text: Islam has been in Australia since the 1700s when Macassan traders were long-term visitors to Arnhem land (now Northern Territory). A dance among the Warramiri people refers to a dreamtime creational being is given the name, Walitha Walitha, which is an adaptation of the Arabic phrase Allah ta’ala (God, the exalted). The ‘Dreaming’ creation figure, Walitha’ walitha, is also known as Allah. In the Warramiri tradition, Walitha' walitha descends from heaven to re-establish order from infighting and violence between different groups in Arnhem land. Indigenous Australians share this ceremony, known as the Wurramu, with the people of Macassar Indonesia, but the Aboriginal version is a mortuary ritual. Aboriginal elders explain on an ‘outside’ level’ the dance performance is about the new world introduced to Aborigines in pre-colonial times as a result of this first contact experience, but on an ‘inside’ level, they focus on the Aboriginal deaths that occurred as a consequence of contact with these fishing peoples from the north of Australia. The ‘inside’ meaning of the ritual relates to the passage of the soul of the deceased to a heavenly paradise above, the abode of Allah.


title: Islam in Australia

text: Indonesian Muslims trepangers from the southwest corner of Sulawesi visited the coast of northern Australia, "from at least the eighteenth century" to collect and process "trepang", a marine invertebrate prized for its culinary and medicinal values in Chinese markets. Remnants of their influence can be seen in the culture of some of the northern Aboriginal peoples. Regina Ganter, an associate professor at Griffith University, says, "Staying on the safe grounds of historical method ... the beginning of the trepang industry in Australia [can be dated] to between the 1720s and 1750s, although this does not preclude earlier, less organised contact." Ganter also writes "the cultural imprint on the Yolngu people of this contact is everywhere: in their language, in their art, in their stories, in their cuisine." According to anthropologist John Bradley from Monash University, the contact between the two groups was a success: "They traded together. It was fair - there was no racial judgement, no race policy." Even into the early 21st century, the shared history between the two peoples is still celebrated by Aboriginal communities in Northern Australia as a period of mutual trust and respect.


title: Islam in Australia

text: Others who have studied this period have come to a different conclusion regarding the relationship between the Aboriginal people and the visiting trepangers. Anthropologist Ian McIntosh has said that the initial effects of the Macassan fishermen were "terrible", which resulted in "turmoil" with the extent of Islamic influence being "indeterminate". In another paper McIntosh concludes, "strife, poverty and domination . . is a previously unrecorded legacy of contact between Aborigines and Indonesians." A report prepared by the History Department of the Australian National University says that the Macassans appear to have been welcomed initially, however relations deteriorated when, "aborigines began to feel they were being exploited . . leading to violence on both sides".


title: Islam in Australia

text: A number of "Mohammedans" were listed in the musters of 1802, 1811, 1822, and the 1828 census, and a small number of Muslims arrived during the convict period. Beyond this, Muslims generally are not thought to have settled in large numbers in other regions of Australia until 1860.


title: Islam in Australia

text: Muslims were among the earliest settlers of Norfolk Island while the island was used as a British penal colony in the early 19th century. They arrived from 1796, having been employed on British ships. They left following the closure of the penal colony and moved to Tasmania. The community left no remnants; only seven permanent residents of the island identified themselves as "non-Christian" in a 2006 census.


title: Islam in Australia

text: Among the early Muslims were the "Afghan" camel drivers who migrated to and settled in Australia during the mid to late 19th century. Between 1860 and the 1890s a number of Central Asians came to Australia to work as camel drivers. Camels were first imported into Australia in 1840, initially for exploring the arid interior (see Australian camel), and later for the camel trains that were uniquely suited to the demands of Australia's vast deserts. The first camel drivers arrived in Melbourne, Victoria, in June 1860, when eight Muslims and Hindus arrived with the camels for the Burke and Wills expedition. The next arrival of camel drivers was in 1866 when 31 men from Rajasthan and Baluchistan arrived in South Australia with camels for Thomas Elder. Although they came from several countries, they were usually known in Australia as 'Afghans' and they brought with them the first formal establishment of Islam in Australia.


title: Islam in Australia

text: Cameleers settled in the areas near Alice Springs and other areas of the Northern Territory and inter-married with the Indigenous population. The Adelaide, South Australia to Darwin, Northern Territory, railway is named The Ghan (short for The Afghan) in their memory.