text:
The provincial government is reporting that the conversion of thousands of older, wood-burning stoves to newer and more efficient models has improved air quality and reduced risk of fires, but the Peace Region seems content to keep its old wood stoves as a primary source of heating for many homes.

The provincial government reported that its Wood Stove Exchange Program has resulted in the conversion of more than 5,000 wood-burning stoves to cleaner-burner models since the program began in 2008, which the Ministry of Environment states resulted in a reduction of more than 310 tonnes of particulate matter pumped into the air.

Trending Stories

The Province said that high-efficiency wood stoves are proven to burn one-third less wood, reduce emissions by up to 70 per cent and significantly reduce the risk of chimney fires and that the approximately 116,000 older model stoves still in use around the province can affect the health of homeowners, their neighbours and overall airshed.

However, the Peace River Regional District is not a participant in that incentive program, and in a previous discussion around the provincial program, the regional board of directors noted that "while the efficiency rating of the new technology wood-burning stoves is to be commended, there are many people within our region who rely on wood burning stoves as their sole source of heat and the new stoves cannot be controlled sufficiently to provide the extended burning time needed in these situations." The reference was in regards to the newer models not having dampers on them that would allow a fire to smoulder and provide warmth for longer periods of time.

"We were concerned about the rules they (the government) were putting in place because, as it always is in our beautiful province, one size does not fit all, so the solution for the Lower Mainland may in fact not be the solution for us," said Karen Goodings, regional district board chair, on why the board resisted new regulations for solid fuel burning for domestic appliances.

Jane Parsons, a resident of Farmington, said her and her husband have been using a wood-burning stove to heat their home for over 20 years and they believe it has many benefits.

"I think in the climate we live in, it is really good to have a wood burner because you don't have to rely on any outside power to work it," said Parsons. "When the power goes out, we just close the damper and open up the back of the furnace, and it keeps the house at a level temperature of about 65 [degrees Fahrenheit, or 18 degrees Celsius] even without power."

She added it has also saved them quite a bit of money over the years.

"Over the years, Nick [her husband] has worked out that we've saved $15,000 by burning our own wood in the last 20 years," she said.

Parsons said there is a discernable difference in the kind of heat produced by wood burning over that produced by natural gas combustion.

"It's a nice, moist heat, and it's a warm heat as well," she said. "I remember when we first moved to Canada we lived in a house that was heated by natural gas, and coming from England where there's a moist atmosphere to a house burning natural gas, we had very bad dry coughs for a while, and then when we moved here (to Farmington) with this wood-burning stove, our coughs went."

She said she doesn't think the emissions produced by wood burning stoves are really very significant to the overall quality of the airshed.

"I think wood-burning stoves are very clean. I lived in England in my early days and they burned coal, which caused a lot of smog, but I think actual wood burning, personally, is not a problem," she said, adding she suspects much more smoke and pollution is generated by the slash pile burning that goes on in the region than is generated by domestic heating.

Parsons said they re very careful to make sure their wood stove is properly maintained to prevent any uncontrolled fires from starting, and she believes that is the case with most people in the region who have one.

"My husband cleans our wood burner out every month, takes all of the old ash out and makes sure the chimney is clear. I think that goes without saying that people who burn wood always keep an eye on the chimney and the furnace."

She added it is a requirement of their home insurance that they have the wood stove inspected regularly, and she had it inspected about two years ago and it still meets that requirement.

Bob Fulton, deputy fire chief with the Dawson Creek fire department, said for the most part, wood burning stoves and other appliances are usually quite safe as long as they are maintained properly. However, he said residents who let their wood-burning stoves smoulder constantly without allowing hotter fires to burn are at an increased risk of starting chimney fires.

"Too many people will set a fire in it, just get the fire going and then damper it right down and let it smoulder, and that creates creosote, which is a hazard for starting chimney fires," said Fulton.

Creosote is a highly-combustible by-product of the incomplete combustion of wood or coal.

"It's the biggest issue with wood-burning appliances for us," said Fulton.

He said allowing for a hotter fire - generally in the morning before regular use and once at the end of the day - will prevent creosote from cooling, condensing and then accumulating in a chimney flue. He added chimneys need to be swept of debris on a regular basis, as well as the firebox itself needs to be cleaned and the ashes and other waste stored in a metal container, not a cardboard box, because the coals can still be hot enough to reignite even days after the fire.

Fulton said in Dawson Creek there have been residential fires resulting from wood-burning appliances, but he said generally residents have learned how to maintain those appliances properly. However, he said upgrading to more fuel-efficient appliances does generally reduce the chances of chimney fires, as long as the chimney is right-sized to that new appliance.

question: Summarize the stated benefits of wood-burner stoves compared to new models.

answer: Wood-burner stoves can provide warmth for a longer time, and is not reliant on outside power sources. Wood burning, according to a resident, is cheaper and produce a moist heat. The emissions from wood burning is not necessarily serious.

question: Summarize the stated benefits of cleaner-burner models compared to wood-burning stoves.

answer: Cleaner-burner models have lower emissions and therefore emit less particulate matter. Cleaner-burner models also reduce the risk of residential fires, as wood-burners can create the highly-combustible creosote which accumulates in chimneys. The overall effect is to improve health outcomes for residents and improve air quality.

question: Summarize the different viewpoints / approaches taken by the various parties mentioned in the article.

answer: Provincial government focuses on reducing emissions and the risk of chimney fires by encouraging people to switch to cleaner-burner models. The Peace River Regional District focuses on heat that stoves can provide and believes that newer stoves cannot provide heat for a long enough period. A resident of Farmington believes that a wood burner provides a better heat and is cheaper, and that the risks of fires can be sufficiently mitigated. The local deputy fire chief notes that wood stoves can risk chimney fires, which will be reduced by using more fuel-efficient devices, but generally residents are aware of how to prevent these fires.

question: Summarize what the article says about the provincial government's next steps.


split: train

text:
Part 1

I woke up and glanced at the clock to the side of me. 5:30. I never woke up that early. Even for school. I felt, different, though, somehow. Like I was being watched. Like I was in a movie or a book or something. But it was more than that. I was motivated? I guess? That fits well enough. I was motivated. I wanted to do something.
  I slowly got up and started to get ready for school. I dreaded school. I hated most people there, and they hated me back. I honestly don't know why I went. If it was up to me, I wouldn't. It was a big waste of time. I really hated it.
  I was never bad in school, but nothing exceptional either. It wasn't the work though, it was the people. If you were any different than the hive mind you were made an outcast. I wasn't one though. I had a good amount of friends, and knew the right people to not be made fun of, but I just never liked most of the people there. They were cruel and unforgiving. I didn't like them.
  So you're probably wondering why I still went? Well like many people, it was because of Her. I never knew her name, only what she looked like. She was amazing, but she hated me. I only still went to school because I thought I would have a chance of her not hating me. If I just had a chance to talk to her, or something, maybe she wouldn't hate me, like many people do.
  I honestly don't know why I'm telling anyone this. Nobody cares. But I don't mind. I don't care. I've been told countless times that I could never get her. Or anyone, for that matter. But I didn't care. I kept trying.
 Again, I know nobody cares, but this is my story. And I'm going to tell it for once.
  I went to school, again dreading it. The day wasn't anything special. I went to my classes, nothing more, nothing less. The worst part about school I think was how uneventful it always was.
  Anyway one thing did happen today, I talked to her. It turns out, she doesn't hate me, just never bothered to talk to me.

Part 2

He talked to me today! I couldn't believe it! Then, after I got over the shock, I felt so idiotic for not saying more. For not saying "I think I love you" or at least "Can we be friends?" All I could manage was "H-h-hi." Imbecile. Now he'll never know that I can't stop thinking about him and probably never will. Now he'll never know that I think he's amazing. And he'll certainly never, ever know that someone, even if it's just me, needs him.
  School was......school. I mean, I was pretty intelligent, I suppose. Made pretty good grades. But where does that get you in life? Further than most people think, but that's the point. The people who decide your social standing are highly unqualified to do so. But do I care? Not in the slightest. I'm not disliked. I'm friendly with pretty much everyone, but mainly, I'm not noticed at all, really. I'm not bothered by that. Trust me, most people at my school, you wouldn't want to notice you, either. The one thing that drove me crazy was that he didn't notice me. At least, I thought he didn't for awhile.
  Once, I heard from a friend who heard from a friend who heard him talking about suicide. I doubted he'd talk about it, but I didn't doubt he'd do it. This scared me. I realized I didn't exactly have a lot of time to tell him anything really. I had to force myself into his life. Honestly, I could care less if the whole world hated me. But not him. Please, not him.
  The reason I liked him was because you could tell by looking at him that he understood you. Not necessarily everyone, but I knew he'd understand me. I knew that maybe I could be someone he liked. I hoped I could be someone he loved. I just didn't know how to tell him.

title: Us

question: What was said in their conversation?

answer: Unclear.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: A male narrator talks about his hatred of school and how he is in love with a girl at school. He thought the girl hated him but after finally speaking to her he realizes she doesn't hate him she just never bothered to talk to him. A female narrator is excited that the guy she's in love with finally talked to her. She feels dumb for only saying hi and regrets not saying more. She feels like he understands her.


text:
DENIS OLEGOV () is a Bulgarian writer and journalist from Russian descent.[1] Olegov has authored five books with poems and prose so far. The most recent is _“A eternal foreigner”_ ().

Biography

Denis Olegov Molodtsov[2] was born on 9 February 1998 in Sofia, Bulgaria. At the age of 13 he began writing poems. His early works were published in the online page “Street of dreams~”. Furthermore, Olegov published his poems in some Bulgarian websites under the pseudonym “Akinfa”.[3][4][5]

In April 2014 Olegov released his first book, titled “Rimodraskanici”.,[6][7] which is the name of the author's Facebook page. Later that year he published his second work “The Division Of A Soul” ().[8][9]

In 2015 Olegov began working for The Bulgarian television Eurocom Sofia, where he gave commentary on some football matches from Campeonato Brasileiro Série A alongside Stanimir Bakalov, Boyko Kotev and Kristian Krasteva.[10] At the same time he was a reporter for Eurocom's sports show Ultrasport. Olegov has publications in Bulgarian websites Fanface,[11] Gol and Kafene.[12]

In July 2015 the author received his first award for his poem “Roots”, given to him for winning the poetic competition_“Against the wind”_ (_Срещу вятъра_) .[13] In November 2015 Olegov was awarded with second place at the contest _“Unknown streets”_ (_Непознати улици_).[14][15] Some of Olegov's works were published in the online compilation of Bulgarian literature “Manu prophia”.[16]

In the beginning of 2016 Olegov's poem “Love writing” took first place at the contest “Golden Yavor” in the category “under 20 y.o”[17] On the 13th of January 2016 the author's third book _“Iced Ember”_ (_Ледена жар_) was released.[18][19] The book's cover was done by his classmate Viara Stefcheva.[20] Olegov started his own blog, called “Olegovism”.

In 2017 Olegov switched to social poetry and had numerous publications in the online magazine “New social poetry”.[21][22][23] In March 2017 Denis's first book of poetry and prose - “The Wheel Of History”.[24][25][26] Poems “Moonlight poem” and “Amphibious life” received awards on contests “Young poet - Kostinbrod”[27] and “Wish for developing creation”[28] In 2017-2018 Olegov published several works in “New asocial poetry”[29] and “Literature world”.[30] In June 2018 he was awarded on “Sky meridians” contest in Israel.[31]

In 2019 Olegov won the national contest “Dimitar Boyadziev” and because of that he released his book “A eternal foreigner” (publishing house “Lexicon”) in June 2020.[32][33]

Denis Olegov is the co-founder of the literature' club “Beyond The Covers” (_Отвъд кориците_).[34][35]

Bibliography

Solo

-   “Rimodraskanici” (2014)
-   “The split of the soul” (2014)
-   “Ice and fire” (2016)
-   “The wheel of the history” (2017)
-   “A eternal foreigner” (2020)

Other

-   “Manu propria vol. 3” (2015)
-   “Black mirror” (2017) (with Todor Iliev)
-   “Absent” (2017)

[1]

[2] Резултати от поетичен конкурс “Срещу вятъра”, 2015

[3] Akinfa – otkrovenia.com

[4] Akinfa – stihovebg.com

[5] Дэнис Олегов – Akinfa

[6] Римодрасканици – Национален регистър на издаваните книги в България

[7] Римодрасканици – izdavam.com

[8] Раздвоението на една душа – Национален регистър на издаваните книги в България

[9] Раздвоението на една душа – izdavam.com

[10] Да се ожениш за бразилското футболно първенство

[11] Показва статии с етикет: Денис Олегов

[12]

[13] [http://www.hulite.net/modules.php?name=Forums&file=viewtopic&t=7775&start=0&postdays=0&postorder=asc&highlight= Резултати от Поетичния конкурс „СРЕЩУ ВЯТЪРА-2015”]

[14] Пет града си поделиха наградите от Четвъртото издание на „Непознати улици“

[15] Наградите от “Непознати улици” отпътуваха за пет града

[16] Емил Белев и Дэнис Олегов

[17] За втора поредна година поетът от Гоце Делчев Кирил Малаков с първа награда на конкурса „Златен Явор"

[18] Спортен коментатор издаде стихосбирка

[19] Третата стихосбирка на Денис Олегов, “Ледена жар”, вече е факт

[20] Ледена жар – Goodreads

[21] Денис Олегов - Черна събота

[22] Денис Олегов - Моторни песни

[23] Денис Олегов - Родени в калта

[24] Колелото на историята - Денис Олегов

[25] Репортер издаде собствена книга

[26] Ива Спиридонова - Денис Олегов - Колелото на историята и свещената война

[27] 17 септември 2017г. Костинброд празнува 43 години, от деня в който е обявен за град

[28] Копнеж за растящо творчество 2017: резултати и награждаване

[29] Нова асоциална поезия - Денис Олегов

[30] Литературен свят - Денис Олегов

[31] Международният литературен конкурс „Небесни меридиани” обяви наградените си участници

[32] Lexicon - Вечен чужденец

[33] Размислите на „вечните чужденци“ в новата книга на Денис Олегов

[34] Алумни общността на ABLE Mentor в подкрепа на Фондация “За нашите деца”

[35] Делници 29.06.2016 Денис Олегов и Божидар Иванов

title: Denis Olegov

question: What does Denis Olegov do?

answer: He is a writer and journalist.

question: What country is Denis Olegov from?

answer: Bulgaria.

question: How many books has Denis Olegov authored?

answer: 5.

question: When was Denis Olegov born?

answer: 9 February 1998.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: This article is about Denis Olegov, a Bulgarian writer and journalist.


text:
The POLITICS OF CALABRIA, Italy takes place in a framework of a presidential representative democracy, whereby the President of Regional Government is the head of government, and of a pluriform multi-party system. Executive power is exercised by the Regional Government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the Regional Council.

Executive branch

The Regional Government (_Giunta Regionale_) is presided by the President of the Region (_Presidente della Regione_), who is elected for a five-year term, and is composed by the President and the Ministers (_Assessori_), who are currently 11, including a Vice President (_Vice Presidente_).[1]

List of Presidents

Legislative branch

The Regional Council of Calabria (_Consiglio Regionale della Calabria_) is composed of 50 members. 40 councillors are elected in provincial constituencies by proportional representation using the largest remainder method with a Droop quota and open lists, while 10 councillors (elected in bloc) come from a “regional list”, including the President-elect. One seat is reserved for the candidate who comes second. If a coalition wins more than 50% of the total seats in the Council with PR, only 5 candidates from the regional list will be chosen and the number of those elected in provincial constituencies will be 45. If the winning coalition receives less than 40% of votes, special seats are added to the Council to ensure a large majority for the President's coalition. Parties obtaining less than 4% receive no seats, no matter if they are in coalition with larger parties or not.[2]

The Council is elected for a five-year term, but, if the President suffers a vote of no confidence, resigns or dies, under the _simul stabunt, simul cadent_ clause introduced in 1999 (literally _they will stand together or they will fall together_), also the Council is dissolved and a snap election is called.[3]

Local government

Provinces

Municipalities

Calabria is also divided in 404 _comuni_ (municipalities), which have even more history, having been established in the Middle Ages when they were the main places of government.

Provincial capitals

  Municipality      Inhabitants   Mayor                Party                        Election
  ----------------- ------------- -------------------- ---------------------------- ----------
  Catanzaro         89,364        Sergio Abramo        Forza Italia                 2017
  Cosenza           69,484        Mario Occhiuto       Independent (centre-right)   2016
  Crotone           58,881        Ugo Pugliese         Union of the Centre          2016
  Reggio Calabria   180,817       Giuseppe Falcomatà   Democratic Party             2014
  Vibo Valentia     33,357        Maria Limardo        Forza Italia                 2019

Other municipalities with more than 20,000 inhabitants

  Municipality         Inhabitants   Mayor                Party                        Election
  -------------------- ------------- -------------------- ---------------------------- ----------
  Corigliano-Rossano   74,848        Flavio Stasi         Independent (centre-left)    2019
  Lamezia Terme        70,336        Paolo Mascaro        Independent (centre-right)   2015
  Rende                33,555        Marcello Manna       Civic List                   2019
  Castrovillari        22,515        Domenico Lo Polito   Independent (centre-left)    2015
  Acri                 21,458        Pino Capalbo         Democratic Party             2017
  Gioia Tauro          20,089        Aldo Alessio         Independent (centre-left)    2019

Parties and elections

Latest regional election

In the latest regional election, which took place on 26 January 2020, Jole Santelli of Forza Italia was elected president by a landslide, after that in the previous election in 2014 the Democratic Party had won by a landslide.

[1]

[2] La Repubblica – Regional electoral law

[3]

title: Politics of Calabria

question: What does the text say about terms?

answer: The President of the Region of Calabria is elected for a 5 year term. The council is also elected for five year term. However, if the President suffers a vote of no confidence, resigns, or dies, the Council is dissolved and a snap election is called at any point in the term.

question: Summarize the role of the president.

answer: The President of the Region of Calabria is the head of government and of a pluriform multi-party system. They are elected to a 5 year term, and are able to have a regional list for 10 out of 50 councilors. They exercise executive power with the regional government.

question: What does the text say about votes?

answer: The president is elected via votes. The coalition contains 50 members, and they are also voted in. If the winning coalition receives less than 40% of the votes, special seats are added to the Council to ensure a large majority of the President's coalition. With less than 4% of votes, this party will receive no seats. If a Council is elected for a five-year term, but the President suffers a vote of no confidence, dies or resigns, the Council is dissolved.

question: What does the text say about primary elections?


text:
I WISH is the second studio album by Japanese rock band Deen.[1] It was released on 9 September 1996 under B-Gram Records. _I Wish_ includes previous 5 released singles, since _Teenage dream_ till _Sugao de Waratteitai_. Only five new tracks were included on this album. The album reached #2 in its first week and charted for 10 weeks, selling 612,000 copies.[2] [3]

Track listing

Personnel

-   Shuuichi Ikemori – lead and backing vocals
-   Shinji Tagawa – guitars
-   Naoki Uzumoto – drums, percussion
-   Koji Yamane – keyboards, backing vocals

[1] Deen discography (in Japanese) http://www.deen.gr.jp/disc/

[2] Oricon ranking http://www.oricon.co.jp/prof/5672/products/123536/1/

[3] Official track list (in Japanese) http://beinggiza.com/ci/item/JBCJ-1011

title: I Wish (Deen album)

question: When was I Wish released?

answer: September 9, 1996

question: What was the first single released from I Wish?

answer: Teenage Dream

question: Who is the lead singer for Deen?

answer: Shuuichi Ikemori

question: How did the album I Wish perform on the charts?

answer: It reached #2 in its first week and charted for 10 weeks.

question: What label was the album I Wish released under?

answer: B-Gram Records

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: I Wish is the second studio album by Japanese rock band Deen. It was released on September 9, 1996. The album charted at #2 and remained on the charts for 10 weeks.


text:
_IL MARCHIO DI KRIMINAL_ ( The Mark of Kriminal) is a 1967 film. It is the follow-up to _Kriminal_ (1966).

Plot

The bandit Kriminal accidentally discovers in an ancient porcelain statuette a fragment of a map relating to the place where a famous outlaw, before being executed, had managed to hide two precious canvases. Kriminal immediately begins the research to recover three other statuettes, similar to the one in his possession, containing the fragments necessary to complete the map.

His investigations are successful. Only one statuette is now missing from Kriminal to identify the place where the paintings are hidden. However, the statuette is in the hands of two adventurers, Mara and Robson, who, in turn, try to snatch the map fragments he recovered from Kriminal. An agreement is finally reached by the three: they will join forces to bring to light the hidden paintings and share the proceeds equally.

Kriminal, Mara and Robson then leave for Beirut and, in an archaeological area of the city, they find the precious paintings. Kriminal eliminates the two partners, who had tried to take over the entire booty, and sets out to return to his base. However, the unexpected arrival of Inspector Milton, who has been on his trail for some time, disrupts his plans. In an attempt to escape capture, Kriminal crashes his car into a ravine.

Production

_Il marchio di Kriminal_ is the follow-up to the film _Kriminal_ (1966), directed by Umberto Lenzi. Roel Bos, the main actor of the film states that the film was shot in Rome and on a cruise between Genoa to Beirut, Baalbeck, Byblos and Madrid. The film's credits note that Manuel Parada composed the score, but it is actually the work of Piero Umiliani. Nando Cicero is sometimes credited in aiding Fernando Cerchio in directing the film while Roel Bos states that to his “knowledge Cicero had nothing to do with the movie.”

Release

_Il marchio di Kriminal_ was released in Italy in 1967.

Reception

In a contemporary review, Italian newspaper _La Stampa_ gave a brief plot summary of the film, which stated that the plot summary alone indicates the quality of the film.[1]

In a retrospective review, Italian film critic and historian Roberto Curti noted that “despite a disappointing second half, which again transforms the movie into a banal travelogue adventure [...] _Il marchio di Kriminal_ is ultimately more successful than its predecessors in conveying the feeling of Magnus & Bunker's grimly ironic comic book.”

[1]

title: Il marchio di Kriminal

question: What is Il Marchio Di Kriminal?

answer: It means "The Mark of Kriminal" and it is a film from 1967, the follow up to "Kriminal" from 1966.

question: What is the beginning of the plot of the film?

answer: Kriminal is a bandit and accidentally discovers a fragment of a map in a porcelain statuette leading to the place where a famous outlaw hid two precious canvasses before being executed.

question: When Kriminal finds three other statuettes, who does he discover has the last of the set?

answer: The last statuette is in the hands of Mara and Robson who are also trying to get the statuette fragments from Kriminal.

question: What do the bandits agree to do?

answer: They agree to join forces and share the proceeds of the paintings equally. However when they find the paintings, Mara and Robson try to take all of the loot, so Kriminal eliminates them.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: Il Marchio de Kriminal is a 1967 film in which Kriminal, a bandit, stumbles upon a porcelain statuette which contains a piece of a map to two famous and valuable hidden canvasses. There are four statuettes in total, with Kriminal ultimately finding three, and the fourth in the hands of Mara and Robson. The bandits agree to join forces and split the loot, but when they find it Mara and Robson try and take it all for themselves. Kriminal then has to eliminate them.


text:
TITCHMARSH NATURE RESERVE is a 72.7 hectare Local Nature Reserve north of Thrapston in East Northamptonshire. It is owned and managed by the Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.[1][2] It is part of the Upper Nene Valley Gravel Pits Site of Special Scientific Interest.[3][4]

The River Nene runs through this site, which also has large areas of open water and grassland. There are nationally important numbers of goosanders, wigeons and gadwalls in winter, and banded demoiselle damselflies nest on nettles along the river bank.[5][6]

There is access from Lowick Lane.

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

title: Titchmarsh Nature Reserve

question: Where is the Titchmarsh Nature Reserve?

answer: North of Thrapston in East Northamptonshire

question: Who owns and manages the Titchmarsh Nature Reserve?

answer: The Wildlife Trust for Bedfordshire, Cambridgeshire and Northamptonshire.

question: What does the Titchmarsh Nature Reserve make part of?

answer: Part of the Upper Nene Valley Gravel Pits Site of Special Scientific Interest.

question: Summarize the description of the River Nene.

answer: It runs through the site which also has large areas of open water and grassland.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: The Titchmarsh Nature Reserve is 72.7 hectares in East Northamptonshire and is part of the Upper Nene Valley.


text:
The Human Terrain System set off intense debates among anthropologists and other social scientists when the U.S. Army in 2005-6 introduced the idea of embedding scholars with military units in Iraq and Afghanistan. In theory, the scholars would help the military understand ethnic groups that were mysterious to soldiers, potentially saving the lives of Americans and those who lived in the region. But from the program's start, many anthropologists and others saw the program as a violation of their disciplines' ethical standards.

Protests from anthropologists didn't stop the military program -- or the participation of some scholars. But the Army last week confirmed to journalists that the program had quietly been phased out -- not because of the ethical concerns, but because of the lack of ground forces for which the program was designed. "The HTS program ended on Sept. 30, 2014, as there was no longer a requirement for HTS teams in theater," the Army said in a statement to _USA Today_.

Even as many social scientist critics praised its end, some also suggested that it was important to consider the lessons learned from the program. The Human Terrain System led the American Anthropological Association to look anew at its code of ethics and prompted many scholars to think about how close they could ever be to the military. And while only a small number of social scientists participated in the program, four were killed.

Ed Liebow, executive director of the American Anthropological Association, said he viewed the group's debate and report on the ethics of participating in the Human Terrain System as an important demonstration of scholars studying an issue and coming to a conclusion that could help their colleagues. The process, he said, "convinced a very large majority of our members that it was just not a responsible way for professional anthropologists to conduct themselves."

The early history of anthropology included many examples of scholars using their knowledge to help Western powers in colonial aims, harming the peoples studied by anthropologists. And many anthropologists today charge that some scholars of previous generations -- up through the Vietnam War (which was strongly opposed by many other anthropologists) -- were far too close to the interests of their own governments, ignoring obligations to their research subjects.

It was with this context that many anthropologists pushed for their association to oppose the Human Terrain System. Some others, however, argued that anthropologists might minimize harm in Afghanistan and Iraq by working with the military, or that academic freedom should dictate that the association not take a stand.

The association, in a 2008 report, came out against the Human Terrain System. The discipline's ethics standards, the authors of the report said, require true informed consent by people being studied, and every possible effort by scholars to assure that they would cause no harm to those people. The report said that the idea of embedding scholars with the military was inconsistent with these values.

"When ethnographic investigation is determined by military missions, not subject to external review, where data collection occurs in the context of war, integrated into the goals of counterinsurgency, and in a potentially coercive environment -- all characteristic factors of the HTS concept and its application -- it can no longer be considered a legitimate professional exercise of anthropology," the report said.

Liebow said that some supporters of the program may have had good intentions, but that it became clear that wasn't enough. "You get out there into the combat theater and there's no way in the world that any information in the world you might gather would be possible to gather under conditions of fully informed consent in a noncoercive way," he said. "You are surrounded by armed combatants."

Hugh Gusterson, professor of anthropology and international affairs at George Washington University, said via email that, "one lesson for social scientists is that, when the military offers lots of resources to enlist us in their projects, we should examine very carefully what we are being asked to do in order to see if it is compatible with our disciplinary values and our ethics code."

He said that military goals and academic values are quite different. "The military is a hierarchical, task-oriented organization that sometimes has to cut ethical corners to achieve its goals," he said. "Academic organizations, at their best, are quite different: grad students can challenge professors in a way that enlisted men cannot challenge officers, and academics prioritize knowledge, open inquiry, original thought (even when the ideas are controversial) and intellectual difference over uniformity in the interest of getting a task done. This is not to criticize the military but to point out that, when they offer patronage to academics, there will be tension between what they expect and what we are used to. And he who pays the piper calls the tune."

Roberto Gonzalez, a professor of anthropology at San Jose State University and one of the leaders among anthropologists opposed to the program, in a recent article also questioned whether anthropologists embedded with the military were actually being used to build support for the war. "It became a propaganda tool for convincing the American public -- especially those with liberal tendencies -- that the U.S.-led occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan were benevolent missions in which smart, fresh-faced young college graduates were playing a role," he wrote. "It appeared to demonstrate how U.S. forces were engaged in a kinder, gentler form of occupation."

Most leaders in anthropology opposed the Human Terrain System, and _Inside Higher Ed_ was unable to reach a defender of the program on Monday. But in a 2009 essay, one participant, Adam L. Silverman, wrote that critics failed to see the good the program was doing for people who lived in Iraq and Afghanistan.

"My job in Iraq was to represent the population, to promote nonlethal planning and operations. When a mission is conceptualized, when course of action recommendations have to be made, when decisive points are identified for the commander, my job is to present what the population wants and expects, how it will react, and at all times promote nonlethal options," wrote Silverman.

He also wrote that the involvement of social scientists helped preserve important areas. "In fact, while out on patrol my teammates and I were able to identify several archaeological sites. We brought this to the attention of brigade and battalion staffs, as well as the cultural heritage officer at the U.S. Embassy and the head of the U.S. Army’s Archaeological Unit. We were able to preserve one site that was slated for development. And through collaboration with archaeologists at Penn State, University of Chicago, Harvard, the Army, and State Department, we created a comprehensive list and maps of all the sites in our operating environment so that the Army would know where construction could and could not take place," he wrote.

Liebow stressed that the work of anthropologists and other social scientists is public and can be read by all -- including the military. Likewise, many anthropologists who are back from studying various regions are free to (and do) help any number of organizations understand regions and their populations. But these scholars do so in a way consistent with the pledges they made to the groups they studied.

"Understanding cultural heritage," he said, is something that anthropologists promote for all audiences. He said he worried that the military may not see the real problems with the Human Terrain System and could use it in the future. Research, he said, "can be embedded in forward planning, but not in the tip of the spear in combat."

question: What is the Human Terrain System or HTS?

answer: The HTS was the U.S. Army program that embedded scholars (anthropologists and social scientists) with military units in Iraq and Afghanistan. In theory, the scholars would help the military understand ethnic groups that were mysterious to soldiers, potentially saving the lives of Americans in the region.

question: Why did the program spark debates and protests among anthropologists?

answer: Many anthropologists opposed the idea because they saw it as a violation of their disciplines' ethical standards.

question: Who is Ed Liebow?

answer: He is the executive director of the American Anthropological Association.

question: When was the Human Terrain System introduced and when did the program end?

answer: The HTS was introduced in 2005-06 and the program ended Sept. 30, 2014.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: The U.S. Army's Human Terrain System (HTS) was a program that embedded scholars such as anthropologists and social scientists with military units in Iraq and Afghanistan. In theory, the scholars would help the military understand ethnic groups that were mysterious to soldiers, potentially saving the lives of Americans in the region. The HTS was met with fierce debate and protests from anthropologists who opposed the idea, saying that the program was a violation of their ethical standards. After the Army introduced HTS in 2005-06, they ended the program on Sept. 30, 2014.


text:
Susanne Tarkowski Tempelhof, Founder and CEO of Bitnation, explains to Cointelegraph how smart contracts can lower costs of your business.

COINTELEGRAPH: WHAT ARE SMART CONTRACTS ABOUT?

SUSANNE TARKOWSKI: Smart contracts are applications ‘living on’ the Blockchain, and therefore can’t be censored. Simple, immutable and autonomous applications, basically. As Primavera de Filippi eloquently phrased it during her talk at OuiShare Paris 2016 “Smart Contracts are neither smart nor contracts...”. But ironically, smart contracts are however ideally suited to be… well… contracts!

In essence, your contract, whether it’s a marriage contract or a freelance gig contract, becomes a self-executing application. The contract goes from being a static agreement to a living application. That’s tremendously exciting.

What really turned me onto it was reading the “Lex Cryptographia” blog post by Justin Ranvier back in 2013, that’s when I realized the Blockchain, and smart contract technology more specifically, could be used to replace the government in its core function: security and dispute resolution. That is why we are building Pangea, an Ethereum smart contract powered peer-to-peer jurisdiction, based on the Secure Scuttlebutt communication protocol.

COINTELEGRAPH: HOW EXACTLY DO SMART CONTRACTS ADD VALUE TO BUSINESSES?

SUSANNE TARKOWSKI:

  I believe in the near future, two to three years, smart contracts will diminish costs of legal advice, notarization and dispute resolution by 99 percent at the very minimum for businesses who choose to adopt it, although it might slightly increase the cost of coders and code vetting services.

COINTELEGRAPH: HAVE SMART CONTRACTS IN THE COMMERCIAL REALM BEEN PROVEN YET?

SUSANNE TARKOWSKI: Yes, for tasks like escrow accounts, gambling, predictions, etc.

At Bitnation, we have used it for our own organizational structure - a DAO like contract called Decentralized Borderless Voluntary Nation (DBVN) - and we haven’t had any problems to date. Although we haven’t done very much with it up to now either, so it might be a bit early to tell. By the way, we would really like more people to vet our code, please reach out to me if you’re interested in doing that. Johan Nygren have created a patch for the ‘recursive call’ vulnerability which you can read about here https://github.com/Bit-Nation/BITNATION-Constitution/pull/9

It would indeed be very useful to collect a GitHub repo with proven successfully executed contracts, and rate their usability the same way we rate our AirBnB hosts or Uber Drivers, collecting qualitative as well as quantitative user feedback.

COINTELEGRAPH: SO WHEN SHOULD COMPANIES EMPLOY BLOCKCHAIN-ENABLED SMART CONTRACTS RATHER THAN EXISTING TECHNOLOGY?

SUSANNE TARKOWSKI:

  I can’t really see why any contract should not be a smart contract. From employment contracts to contractor contracts, to client contracts, delivery contracts, etc. You name it.

COINTELEGRAPH: WOULD YOU SAY SMART CONTRACTS HAVE COME TO STAY?

SUSANNE TARKOWSKI: Without a doubt.

COINTELEGRAPH: WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO BUSINESS LEADERS & OWNERS CONCERNING THE USE OF SMART CONTRACT?

SUSANNE TARKOWSKI: It is a super exciting technology that will no doubt change the world, but please tread carefully. We’re in the very early stages of it, and the whole scene is still largely experimental. I would encourage people to play around with it, to understand how it works, and to build on it, but treat it for what it is: an emerging and unstable technology in the early alpha phase.

  As much as I’m excited by Ethereum and Rootstock, I’m also looking forward to non-Turing smart contract technologies. I think in about five years time we’ll have experienced enough trial and error to establish basic best practices for smart contracts.

Further on, our thinking around what smart contracts are and how we interact with them will naturally evolve with time. Take the ‘code is law’ mantra for instance - championed by- and then brutally discredited by the DAO in a very painful community-wide learning experience. While ‘code is law’ might be a wet dream for people like us in the software space, the average user will find it terrifying — and rightly so.

Why would we want code to be law? Humanity is brilliant, thanks to all its imperfections. With our many shades and errors, also comes freedom, creativity, exploration and ultimately - innovation. Rather than eliminating human errors, I would like to harness the errors, turn them into new ideas and solutions.

With Pangea, our vision is that while code is extremely important, it is _not_ law, at least as long as we’re still humans, as opposed to AIs. The stated _intent_ governs the contract, like it typically does in Common Law jurisdictions, for instance, and _intent_ need flexible interpretation. Instead of eliminating human judgment, we’re using smart contracts to empower human thoughts, interactions, and of course - arbitration.

The law can be codified, people can code their own laws, but ultimately, code alone does not fulfill the criteria of being _a legal code_, nor a jurisdiction.

question: Who is Susanne Tarkowski?

answer: Founder and CEO of Bitnation

question: What does Susanne explain about Bitnation?

answer: Explains how smart contracts can lower costs of your business.

question: How can smart contracts lower costs of doing business?

answer: They diminish the costs of legal advice, notarization and dispute resolution.

question: Who is Cointelegraph?

answer: Cointelegraph is interviewing Susanne on smart contracts.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: Cointelegraph interviews Susanne Tarkowski, CEO and Founder of Bitnation, on Smart Contracts. She explains how smart contracts can lower costs of your business by diminishing costs of legal advice, notarization and dispute resolution.


text:
ST. XAVIER'S HIGHER SECONDARY SCHOOL, is a Catholic school administered by the Madurai Province of the Society of Jesus. Founded in 1884, it is the oldest school in Tuticorin.[1] It is named after the Jesuit missionary to India, St. Francis Xavier. V. O. Chidambaram Pillai is one among the notable Alumni of the school

History

It traces its origins to a parochial school built in the 1600s during Portuguese rule in Tuticorin.[2] In 1920 Xavier's had 563 pupils.[3] Xavier in Thoothukudi was registered under the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act in 1960. In 1976 it was declared a minority institution.[4]

Extracurricular activities

The school has a Naval NCC cadets section.[5]

[1]

[2]

[3]

[4]

[5]

title: St. Xavier's Higher Secondary School, Thoothukudi

question: What is St. Xavier's Higher Secondary School?

answer: a Catholic school administered by the Madurai Province of the Society of Jesus

question: When was St. Xavier's Higher Secondary School founded?

answer: 1884

question: Where is Tuticorin?

answer: the article does not contain this information

question: What is the Tamil Nadu Societies Registration Act?

answer: the article does not contain this information

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: St. Xavier's Higher Secondary School is a Catholic school administered by the Madurai Province of the Society of Jesus.


text:
[Born Warriors poster] _BORN WARRIORS_ is a 2016 trilogy of documentary films directed and shot by Vincent Giordano. The films focus on the art of Lethwei, an ancient form of Burmese bare-knuckle fighting that is still practiced throughout Myanmar.[1]

Overview

Burmese Lethwei, or Myanmar Traditional Boxing, is one of the oldest combat sports in Myanmar, and the Burmese are the last of the great bare-knuckle fighters in Southeast Asia.[2] The Thais, Cambodians and Laotians all gave up or outlawed their active bare-knuckle fighting traditions and introduced more modern (and gloved) ring arts such as Muay Thai, Pradal Serey and Muay Lao.[3]

The Born Warriors project unfolds in three distinct parts. Each part is a separate film. The first details Lethwei before Burma's era of democratic reform. The second part focuses on how the sport is again evolving as it struggles with growth and fierce competition among promoters who wish to control and dominate it. The third part updates the second documentary, but focuses more on the rural communities and the further evolution of the sport. It is a special updated director's cut of the second documentary.[4]

The original idea was to create distinctive chapters, similar to a book, where the main documentaries are supported by extensive bonus material. The latter material delves deeper into specific topics covered in the main documentaries.[5]

Ultimately, it is the story of Lethwei's survival through the dark periods of Myanmar's tough military rule and the country's gradual transition toward a quasi democracy.[6]

Synopsis

Born Warriors focuses on the ancient fighting sport of Lethwei and the tightly knit group of fighters, trainers and promoters who struggled during a turbulent period in Burma's history to keep the sport alive.[7]

The documentary, shot prior to the opening of the country's borders in 2011, takes advantage of a unique archive of rare photos, manuscripts, footage and training documents assembled from the research that took the director close to two decades to compile.[8]

_Born Warriors Redux_ follows the sport of Lethwei as it faces an unusual series of challenges stemming from the opening of the country to the outside world. Lethwei is an ancient sport that once prepared men for combat and served as a rite of passage into manhood. The recent rise of modern training camps throughout Myanmar have allowed people from all walks of life the ability to freely train and compete.[9] The documentary focuses on the clash of modern promoters who are clamoring to control the sport and its future direction.[10]

_Born Warriors Redux: Bound Fists_ is a special director's cut of the second documentary that focuses more on the rural communities that have been the sport's lifeblood since ancient times. The film shows how the people in these communities have kept the sport as it was while modern promoters try their best to the sell the sport as a commodity within Myanmar and to the outside world.[11]

Production

Filming began in 1999 on the northern border between Thailand and Myanmar. The original footage was not intended for a documentary, but as visual support documentation for the _Vanishing Flame_, a cross-cultural book on the bare-knuckle fighting arts of Southeast Asia and India.[12]

During a trip to Mandalay in 2003, Vincent suffered whiplash when his car nearly flipped as he attempted to flee a military crackdown. His camera was severely damaged and critical footage was lost.[13]

A network of Burmese informers and spies continued to monitor the filming progress, but did not obstruct any of the shoots. Instead, many of the Burmese who participated or helped were endlessly harassed.[14] The situation escalated in 2005, when Vincent and Associate Producer and Music Composer Camus Celli visited the compound of the late author and political activist Min Theinkha to film his Lethwei club in Hmawbi township.[15]

An eventual book deal eventually fell through, but Giordano continued to train, document and film for over two decades. He traveled through most of Burma, Cambodia, Thailand, Laos and India during this period.[16]

A series of screenings of rough-cut material was set up in New York and Connecticut.[17] The screenings failed to generate any interest or further financial support, and the project was scrapped. However, the opening of Myanmar in 2011-2012 sparked renewed interest among hungry Lethwei promoters inside the country. In July 2012, Giordano released a limited-edition DVD entitled Born to Battle: Burma vs. Thailand via his Vanishing Flame underground newsletter. This helped generate funds that enabled him to take a new investigative look at what was happening within the sport.[18] Associate Producer Paul Nikitopoulos, who was living in Yangon at the time, provided the impetus for a totally new video shoot that spread over three years and was completed on a shoestring budget. The final Born Warriors documentaries are a direct result of those intensive filming trips.[19]

Reception

At the invitation of film producer and martial artist, Warrington Hudlin, the original test edit of _Born Warriors_ entitled _Bare Knuckle Warriors_ was screened at the Museum of the Moving Image in March, 2011.[20] The successful screening was mentioned in a Black Belt magazine article covering the Fist and Sword shows.[21][22]

The Born Warriors edit was further refined, and a second show was assembled by Burmese Bando Master Mary Mester and held at the Real Art Ways theater in Hartford, Connecticut in October 2011. The show focused on Burmese martial tradition and introduced the new Footprints in the River documentary. This new piece was an overview of Burmese martial arts including Lethwei, Thaing, Bando, Banshay, Naban and various spiritual traditions. In an effort to raise funds to complete the Born Warriors project, a third show was held on June 16, 2012 at the Anthology Film Archives in New York City.[23] Editor Robert Reiter of _Muay Thaimes_ magazine offered to publish an article to support the documentary after attending the early screenings, and a piece written by Giordano appeared in the Spring 2012 issue.[24]

Awards

Born Warriors premiered at the 2014 Myanmar Film Festival as an official selection.[25] It won a special merit award and was later named an official selection of the Big Apple Film Festival, October Film Festival and the Outside the Box Film Festival.[26]

_Born Warriors Redux_ won the 2015 Best Documentary award at the Los Angeles Movie Awards, Best Documentary Runner up at the Action On Film International Film Festival, and was an official selection of the Hudson Valley Film Festival.[27]

_Born Warriors Redux: Bound Fists_ won 2015 Best Documentary honors at the Hollywood International Moving Pictures film Festival, Hollywood International Independent Documentary Awards and a Bronze Medal at the Global Independent Film Awards. Bound Fists also went on to win an Award of Merit at the IndieFest Film Awards, a Gold Award at the California Film Awards, and an Award of Excellence at the Impact Docs Film Festival. It was also an official selection of the Roma Cinema Doc Festival, Newark International Film Festival, MartialCon/Action on Film Festival and Miami Independent Film Festival. The documentary additionally won a Platinum Film Award at the 2016 Spotlight Documentary Film Awards.[28]

Release

The full Born Warriors Trilogy was released on DVD and Blu-ray in 2016.[29] A special 4 Disc Deluxe Edition was released in 2017.

[1] Myanmar’s fighting art of Lethwei Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[2] Thant, Myo and Nyein Ba If he bleeds, Stop hitting him: Burma’s MyanmaLethwei The Dangerous but Curiously humane sport of farmers and peasants. Black Belt Magazine November 1974 Vol 12 Number 11 pages 52-55 Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[3] Giordano, Vincent Born Warriors: Fighting for Survival Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[4] James Born Warriors: Bare-Knuckle Evolution Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[5]

[6] Xegarra, Guillermo Burmese Odyssey: An Interview with Vincent Giordano Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[7] Xegarra, Guillermo Burmese Odyssey: Vincent Giordano's Born Warriors Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[8] Born Warriors: Part Two Lethwei Training Routines Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[9] Born Warriors Redux Part One: Modern Training Camps Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[10] Born Warriors Redux: A New Era for an Ancient Sport Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[11] The award winning Born Warriors documentaries capture these changes in intimate detail _Barnes, James_ Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[12] Xegarra, Guillermo Burmese Odyssey Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[13]

[14]

[15] Celli, Camus Music Interview Born Warriors Redux: Bound Fists Bonus Feature DVD/Blu Ray November 2017 Release

[16] Born Warriors: Documentarian Vincent Giordano Interview Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[17] “Born Warriors” Documentary Release Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[18]

[19] The Vanishing Flame Report # 43: Back to Burma August 6, 2014 Underground newsletter Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[20] The Vanishing Flame: A Filmmaker’s Journey to Document the Endangered Martial Arts of Asia Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[21] Tellipier, John Highlighting the SE Asian Arts Black Belt Magazine January 2012 Volume 50 Number 01 page 12

[22] Jacobs, Mark A Night at the Museum Black Belt October 2011 Volume 49 Number 10 page 36

[23] A rare look inside Burma's Martial Traditions Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[24] The Ancient Art of Bare Knuckle Fighting Muay Thaimes Vol VI, No.1 Spring 2012 _Muay Thaimes_ Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[25] 2014 Myanmar Film Festival of Los Angeles is on September 13 & 14, 2014! Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[26] Born Warriors to Introduce Lethwei to the World Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[27] Action On Film 2015 Film Nominations Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[28] 2016 Award-Winning independent Documentary Films Retrieval date 22 December 2016

[29] Warriors: A Journey Inside Myanmar’s Ancient Fighting Tradition Retrieval date 22 December 2016

title: Born Warriors

question: What is Born Warriors?

answer: a 2016 trilogy of documentary films focused on Lethwei

question: What is Lethwei?

answer: an ancient form of Bureme bare-knuckle fighting that is still practiced throughout Myanmar

question: When was Born Warriors filmed?

answer: 1999 - 2005

question: Who directed Born Warriors?

answer: Vincent Gordiano

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: Born Warriors is a 2016 trilogy of documentary films directed and shot by Vincent Giordano. The films focus on the art of Lethwei, an ancient form of Burmese bare-knuckle fighting that is still practiced throughout Myanmar.


text:
BETSY FREESE is an American editor, blogger, and radio personality who focuses on small and large-scale agriculture journalism as executive editor for Successful Farming and Living the Country Life.[1][2][3] She was the host of both the Living the Country Life radio series and TV show.[4][5][6] She produces the exclusive annual Pork Powerhouses ranking of the largest 25 pork producers in the U.S. and Canada.[7]

Early life

Betsy Freese was raised in Maryland, one of three children.[8] She was exposed to agriculture from a young age through her father, Phil Johnson, who raised pigs and grew corn.[9] In 1975 her father purchased a turkey farm from his father, Warren Johnson.[10] The farm was originally used to grow turkeys, and provided one of the first turkeys for the White House Thanksgiving under president Harry S. Truman.[11] Betsy’s father converted the farm to raise confinement hogs and grow strawberries.[12]

Education

Betsy attended Iowa State University, majoring in agricultural journalism.[13][14] There she met her future husband, Robert Freese, who was a major in animal science.[15] She served as Issue Editor for the Iowa State University Yearbook, writing stories on agriculture and politics.[16] She graduated in 1984 with a degree in agricultural journalism.[17]

Career

Betsy began her career at Meredith Corporation, working for the farming focused magazine Successful Farming.[18] There she started her annual exclusive article Pork Powerhouses, which ranks the largest 25 pork producers in the U.S. and Canada.[19]

In the early 2000s, Betsy began working on a new project under Meredith Corporation aimed at small farms and acreages. Betsy recognized that agricultural journalists needed to expand past just using print media into new forms such as the internet.[20] This culminated in Living the Country Life, which would consist of a quarterly magazine, internet presence via blogging, radio and television show.[21][22] The Living the Country Life magazine was first released in 2002 and is produced quarterly.[23][24]

Launched in 2004, the Living the Country Life television show aired on RFD-TV, running for a total of 5 seasons.[25][26][27][28] Betsy was chosen to host the TV program because of her passion for country living as well as believability on the topic of running a small farm.[29] Betsy hosted the first four seasons of the show, while a fifth was hosted separately.[30]

The Living the Country Life radio show launched in 2007, and continues to air on 307 stations reaching 1.9 million listeners.[31][32][33][34] The show is hosted by Betsy Freese and Jodi Henke and features stories and advice on small farms and acreages.[35]

Honors

1993 - Master Writer, American Agricultural Editors’ Association

1994 - Oscar in Agriculture

2003 - Award for Best Team Story, American Agricultural Editors' Association[36]

2005 - Writer of Merit, American Agricultural Editors’ Association

2009 - Bill Zipf Presidential Award, North American Agricultural Journalists[37]

2015 - President's Award, American Agricultural Editors’ Association

2016 - Fellow, American Agricultural Editors’ Association[38]

[1]

[2]

[3]  Meredith Agrimedia|website=www.meredithagrimedia.com|access-date=2016-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161222224941/http://www.meredithagrimedia.com/contact-us%7Carchive-date=2016-12-22%7Curl-status=dead}}

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7]

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11]

[12]

[13]

[14]

[15]

[16]

[17]

[18]

[19]

[20]

[21]

[22]

[23]

[24]

[25]

[26]

[27]

[28]

[29]

[30]

[31]

[32]

[33]

[34]

[35]

[36]

[37]

[38]  American Agricultural Editors Association|website=www.ageditors.com|access-date=2016-12-22|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131213084731/http://www.ageditors.com/index.php/awards%7Carchive-date=2013-12-13%7Curl-status=dead}}

title: Betsy Freese

question: What was Betsy the host of?

answer: The Living Country Life radio series and TV show

question: What is Betsy's prime interest?

answer: She focuses on small and large-scale agriculture journalism

question: Describe the beginning of Betsy's career.

answer: She began her career at Meredith Corporation, working for the farming focused magazine Successful Farming. She started her annual exclusive article Pork Powerhouses there.

question: What is Meredith Corporation?

answer: It can be assumed that it is some sort of media company.

question: Name Betsy's latest honors.

answer: In 2015 she was given the President's Award, American Agricultural Editors’ Association, and in 2016 she was given Fellow from American Agricultural Editor's Association.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: This article discusses the early life, education, career, and honors of Betsy Freese. She is an American editor, blogger, and radio personality who focuses on small and large-scale agriculture journalism as executive editor for Successful Farming and Living the Country Life.


text:
The WINOOSKI RIVER BRIDGE, also known locally as the CHECKERED HOUSE BRIDGE, is a historic Pennsylvania through truss bridge, carrying U.S. Route 2 (US 2) across the Winooski River in Richmond, Vermont. Built in 1929, it is one of only five Pennsylvania trusses in the state, and was the longest bridge built in the state's bridge-building program that followed massive flooding in 1927. The bridge was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.[1]

Description and history

The Winooski River Bridge stands in a somewhat rural area of eastern Richmond, set roughly east–west across the Winooski River just north of the bridges carrying Interstate 89 (I-89). It is a single-span Pennsylvania through truss structure, in length and wide. Its portals have a clearance of , and the bridge stands about above the water on concrete abutments. Its trusses have extra reinforcing sub-struts to improve its performance under heavy loads.[2]

The bridge was built in 1929, as part of a major bridge-building program by the state, following flooding in 1927 that destroyed more than 1,200 bridges. The state sought to use standardized designs for as many of the replacement bridges as possible. This bridge, built by the American Bridge Company, is one of the small number that does not follow a standard design, due to difficulties in fitting the standard design to the site. It is the longest single span of the 1,600 bridges built in the three-year rebuilding program, and is one of just five Pennsylvania truss bridges in the state.[3]

[1]

[2]  with

[3]

title: Winooski River Bridge

question: What is a Pennsylvania truss?

answer: It is not stated in the text, although this is a long bridge with a singular design it can be said that the Pennsylvania truss is stronger than other bridge designs.

question: Why was the Vermont's bridge building program implemented?

answer: Flooding in 1927 that destroyed more than 1 200 bridges.

question: Does the Winooski River Bridge follow a standard design?

answer: No, the standard designs could not fit on the site.

question: How many Pennsylvania truss bridges are there in Vermont?

answer: There are 5 Pennsylvania truss bridges in Vermont.

question: What is special about the Winooski River Bridge?

answer: It is the longest single span of the 1 600 bridges built in the three-year rebuilding program.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: Winooski River Bridge is a Pennsylvania truss bridge in Vermont. It is the longest bridge built during the state's bridge-building program after the 1927 flood.


text:
GILAD HOCHMAN (; born 26 July 1982 in Herzliya) is an Israeli classical music composer.

Education

Hochman was born to an Odessa native father and a Paris native mother and currently resides in Berlin, Germany. He began his musical life at the age of 6, studying the piano, and started composing at the age of 9. At 18 he graduated from the Herzeli'ya Music Conservatory, where he studied under composer Ilya Heifets and pianist Mark Shaviner. In 2007 Hochman graduated with honors from the Buchman-Mehta School of Music at Tel Aviv University, studying composition under Gil Shohat, musicology and theoretical subjects under some of Israel's leading senior musicians.

Reception

Hochman's music was described as “written with a true artist’s hand”,[1] “the highpoint of an exciting performance”,[2] “sheds new light on customary expressions in music”[3] and as “original, fascinating, unusual and colorful” by the Israeli Prime Minister Award committee in 2007. He was also defined as “one of Israel’s most important composers” in an article concerning “composer Gilad Hochman’s meteoric career",[4] as “a rising star in the classical music world”[5] and as an “already well known classical composer”[6] by the BBC. The New York Times commented: “perhaps most impressive was Mr. Hochman’s gift for assembling musical gestures that come across as psychologically revealing, whether it’s players’ finishing each other's sentences, the neurotic instability suggested by a microtonal wobble on a held note or the freezing self-doubt of a painfully quiet passage.”[7]

At the age of 24 Hochman became the youngest composer to be awarded the prestigious Israeli Prime Minister Award (2007) for his artistic work. At age 22 he was the youngest to be appointed composer in residence by one of Israel’s most known orchestras, Ra’anana Symphonette. He founded and artistically directed the Arco String Ensemble and the New Sounds concert series of the Israel Composers’ League and in 2007 won a merit certificate from the city of Ra'anana. In 2017 he was awarded the S&R Washington Award for his musical work.

Compositions

Hochman's oeuvre includes a range of compositions for solo instruments, chamber music, choirs and orchestras which reflects a variety of aesthetic approaches. His music is, on the one hand, a continuation of western classical music's development, yet on the other hand he puts a great emphasis on themes relating to Jewish tradition and his Israeli origin. His diverse body of works includes _Whom My Soul Loveth_ for solo cello and mixed choir, commissioned by the Chorbiennale of Aachen, Germany in year 2009. The piece explores feeling of human yearning and is based upon a single verse from the biblical Solomon's Song of Songs (3:1). In this work Hochman originally defines the place of the individual cello vis-à-vis the choir surrounding it, creating a dialogue that shifts between a whispered prayer and dramatic, powerfully expressive climaxes. The uniqueness of this work does not derive solely from the unconventional ensemble, but more significantly from Hochman's sensitive treatment of the melodic phrases, the gradual construction of the dramatic progression and the way in which the distinctive artistic goal is reached in the end.

Hochman's music is commissioned and performed by leading musicians and music institutes worldwide. It was played, among others, by Oriol Ensemble, the Kammerorchester Berlin, Synergy Ensemble, Musica Nova Ensemble, XelmYa Ensemble – Berlin, Ensemble Meitar, Ensemble Sirenot, the Aachener Kammerchor, Studium Chorale, Tel Aviv Soloists Ensemble and the Israel Chamber Orchestra. It was also performed at the Heidelberg Biennale for New Music, Aachen International Chorbiennale, Israel Music Fest, the Israeli Schubertiade, Musica Sacra Festival - Maastricht and in dozens of different concert series and in music academies like Sibelius Academy (Helsinki), UdK (Berlin), Guildhall School of Music (London), Juilliard (New York) and Rubin (Jerusalem).

[1] Binur, O: _Ma’ariv newspaper_. Press, 2006.

[2] Miller, M: _Tempo Magazine_. Press, 2006.

[3] Ben-Ze’ev, N: _Ha’aretz newspaper_. Academic Press, 2008.

[4] Nielsen, C: _Deutschland Magazine_, 2009.

[5] Mailliet, A: _France 24_. Press, 2009.

[6] Pommert, K: _BBC World Service_. Press, 2009.

[7] Fonseca-Wollheim, C. da: https://www.nytimes.com/2015/09/12/arts/music/review-israel-chamber-project-offers-an-emotive-mix-of-old-and-new.html?_r=0

title: Gilad Hochman

question: What does the text say about the qualities that make a good composer?

question: What does the text say about Gilad Hochman's early life and education?

answer: Currently residing in Berlin, Germany, Hochman was born to a father who was an Odessa Native and a mother who was from Paris. He began his musical life at the age of 6, studying the piano, and started composing at the age of 9. He graduated from the Herzeli'ya Music Conservatory at age 18, where he studied under composer Ilya Heifets and pianist Mark Shaviner. Hochman graduated with honors from the Buchman-Metha School of Music at Tel Aviv University, studying composition under Gil Shohat. He also studied musicology and theoretical subjects under some of Israel's leading senior musicians.

question: What does the text say about Hochman's achievements?

answer: At 24 years old, Hochman became the youngest composer to be awarded the prestigious Israeli Prime Minister Award (2007) for his artistic work. At only 22 years old, he was the youngest to be appointed composer in residence by one of Israel's most known orchestras, Ra'anana Symphonette. He founded and artistically directed the Arco String Ensemble and the New Sounds concert of the Israel Composers' League. Hochman won a merit certificate from the city of Ra'anana in 2007. In 2017, he was awarded the S&R Washington Award for his musical work.

question: What does the text say about Hochman's compositions?

answer: Hochman's oeuvre includes a range of compositions for solo instruments, chamber music, choirs, and orchestras. His music is a continuation of western classical music with a great emphasis on themes relating to Jewish tradition and his Israeli origin. The uniqueness of Hochman's work does not derive solely from the unconventional ensemble, but more from his sensitive treatment of the melodic phrases and the gradual construction of dramatic progression. His music is commissioned and performed by leading musicians and music institutes worldwide. It was played by Oriol Ensemble, the Kammerorchester Berlin, Synergy Ensemble, and Musica Nova Ensemble, among others.


text:
FALK LYKKE (2 January 1583 – 7 July 1650) was a Danish nobleman, fief-holder, Colonel of the Scanian Regiment, and Knight of the Elephant.

Lykke participated in the Kalmar War as captain in Gert Rantzau's regiment of foot, receiving Christianopel as a fief after the war. This he in 1625 exchanged for Visborg which meant he was in-charge of the whole island of Gotland; in its turn exchanged for St. Peter's Priory in Lund two years later. Lykke was a representative of the nobility of Skåne at several Diets. After the death of Anders Sincklar in 1625, Lykke became colonel of the Scanian Regiment. During the Torstenson War he and his regiment were stationed in Elsinore; a period characterized by severe conflicts between him and the local citizenry. After that war, Lykke resigned from his colonelcy, but was rewarded with a knighthood.[1] [2]

Lykke was married to Kristine Rantzau. He held Skovgård in Jutland, and Bollerup, Kronovall and Gersnæs in Skåne, in allodial possession.[3]

[1] Fridericia, J.A. (1901). “Lykke, Falk”. _Dansk Biografisk Lexikon_. Kjøbenhavn, Gyldendalske Boghandels Forlag, vol. 10, pp. 509-510 Retrieved 2016-12-19.

[2] “Lykke, Falk Eriksen”. _Officer - adelsvælden._ Retrieved 2016-12-19.

[3] “Falk Lykke.” _Skeel & Kannegaard Genealogy_. Retrieved 2016-12-19.

title: Falk Lykke

question: Who was Falk Lykke?

answer: He was a Danish nobleman, fief-holder, Colonel of the Scanian Regiment, and the Knight of the Elephant.

question: Who was Lykke married to?

answer: He was married to Kristine Rantzau.

question: What was Lykke awarded with after the war?

answer: He was awarded with a knighthood.

question: In what capacity did Lykke participate in the Kalmar War?

answer: Lykke participated in the Kalmar War as captain in Gert Rantzau's regiment of foot.

question: Write a ~1 sentence summary.

answer: This article describes the military career of Falk Lykke, a a Danish nobleman, fief-holder, Colonel of the Scanian Regiment, and the Knight of the Elephant.


text:
NORMAN H. NIE was an American social scientist, university professor, inventor, and pioneering technology entrepreneur, known for being one of the developers of the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS). Born in St. Louis, Missouri in 1943, Nie was educated at the University of the Americas in Mexico City, Washington University in St. Louis and Stanford University, where he received a Ph.D. in political science in 1971. He died on April 2nd, 2015 of lung cancer.

Biography

Early years

While a graduate student at Stanford, Nie was faced with the daunting task of analyzing data from thousands of individual responses to a survey questionnaire he collected from seven nations with his advisor and mentor Sidney Verba.

Together with two young computer scientists, C. Hadlai (“Tex”) Hull and Dale Bent, Nie invented a computer software package called the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS).[1] SPSS automated the process of data analysis, allowing users to manipulate data files, transform data, and generate statistics on a mainframe computer. Nie served as CEO from the company's founding in 1975 until 1992, and continued as Chairman of the Board and software design consultant until 2008. SPSS has been a publicly traded company on the NASDAQ since 1993. Originally invented to solve the problem of analyzing data for Nie's dissertation, SPSS soon became widely used among other social scientists and researchers. Along with SAS, it revolutionized empirical social science. In an essay entitled “Doing It Ourselves: The SPSS Manual as Sociology's Most Influential Recent Book”, sociologist Barry Wellman wrote:

  I have taken a stand here in favor of empowering tools as the most influential sociological development in recent decades. Which is more important? The findings or the tools that enabled us to make them – and many more? Which should we celebrate more? Copernicus' 16th-century hypothesis of the solar system or Galileo's 17th-century invention of the telescope that enabled scholars to understand it clearly? It is an irresolvable dialectic between knowing what to look for and knowing how to find something. But if pressed, I would vote for the toolmakers because they give us the eyes to see things.[2]

Life after SPSS

In the early years after SPSS's invention, Nie and his colleagues shipped the software to users at cost. But as demand for the product (and its new features and accompanying documentation) expanded, Nie incorporated SPSS and became its president and CEO. During the same period, Nie became one of the most prominent scholars in the field of U.S. politics, particularly the study of American political behavior and public opinion. His intellectual home for 30 years was the University of Chicago, where he took his first academic appointment in 1968. During his tenure, he was twice chairman of the department. He became emeritus at Chicago in 1998.

In July 2009, IBM announced its agreement to purchase SPSS for $1.2 billion.[3]

Years in Chicago

Nie's Chicago years saw the publication of four major books in political science, three of which won prizes of national recognition for scholarly excellence. His first book, written with Sidney Verba, was _Participation in America_ (1972), which won the Gladys M. Kammerer Award,[4] from the American Political Science Association (APSA) for the best book in U.S. national politics. Soon after, Nie wrote _The Changing American Voter_ (1976)[5] with Verba and John Petrocik. This major work went on to win the Woodrow Wilson Award from the APSA for the best book published in political science. Two years later, Nie co-authored a work of comparative politics with Verba and Jae-on Kim, _Participation and Political Equality_ (1978).[6] Nie reprised his Woodrow Wilson Award in 1996, winning the prize for _Education and Democratic Citizenship in America_, written with Jane Junn and Kenneth Stehlik-Barry.

Life at Stanford

In 1998, Nie moved to Stanford University, where he served as a research professor in social sciences and business. He remained active as an author and social scientist and published a book on the politics of the 2000 U.S. Census enumeration, _The Hard Count_ (2006), with Ken Prewitt, D. Sunshine Hillygus, and Heili Pals. After that, he was working with Yorgos Panzaris on a book on technology and social change. He also wrote research articles for academic journals.

Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society

On his arrival at Stanford, Nie started the Stanford Institute for the Quantitative Study of Society (SIQSS),[7] where he served as director. The Institute is devoted to the pursuit and sponsorship of high-quality empirical social science research about the nature of society and social change. Nie led a multidisciplinary team of graduate and undergraduate students that included political scientists, economists, sociologists, and statisticians, among others, in research that included such diverse topics as how time is spent on the Internet, how Internet access affects political polarization, Latino voter mobilization, and how educational attainment affects future life outcomes. Research from the Institute has appeared in _The New York Times_, _the Boston Globe_, _Newsweek_, _Miller-McCune_, and other mainstream publications, as well as in more academic sources such as _Public Perspective_, _Fortschritte der politischen Kommunikations forschung_, and _IT & Society_.

Knowledge Networks, Revolution Analytics, and other business interests

Nie continued to innovate in the technology and tools field, co-founding the survey research firm Knowledge Networks (KN)[8] with R. Douglas Rivers in 1997; Nie continues to serve as Chairman of the Board of KN. The company remains the only survey vendor to collect survey data over the Internet using probability samples, placing computers into homes that do not have Internet connectivity.

In October 2009, Revolution Analytics (formerly REvolution Computing) appointed Nie as its new CEO. The company provides commercial software & support for the popular open source R (programming language). In May 2010, Forbes Magazine published an in-depth profile on Nie and Revolution Analytics [9] where he was quoted, “R is an absolutely massive advancement on the kind of analytics I invented. It's an opportunity to change the game in the fastest-growing field in software.”

Nie has also served as Chairman or board member for a number of high technology firms, including CustomerSat Inc.,[10] Vicinity, Lexiquest, and Captura.

Awards

Nie was the recipient of awards for research and scholarly achievement as well as professional recognition. In 2006, he was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award [11] from the American Association for Public Opinion Research (AAPOR) for both his technological innovations in survey research and his substantive contributions to the understanding of social and political behavior. He was honored as the KPMG Technology Entrepreneur of the Year in 1986.

In 2009, Nie was elected a fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

Personal life

Norman Nie and his wife Carol resided in Los Altos, California and Sun Valley, Idaho. They are the parents of two grown daughters and have two grandchildren.

[1]

[2] (pp. 71-78 in _Required Reading: Sociology's Most Influential Recent Books_, Daniel Clawson, Ed., University of Massachusetts Press, 1998).

[3]

[4]

[5]

[6]

[7] http://www.stanford.edu/group/siqss/cgi-bin/index.php

[8]

[9]

[10]

[11] http://www.allbusiness.com/government/public-policy/5479321-1.html

title: Norman H. Nie

question: What does the acronym SPSS stand for?

answer: The acronym SPSS stands for the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences.

question: Where did Norman H. Nie receive his Ph.D.?

answer: Norman H. Nie received his Ph.D. from Stanford University.

question: Who helped Norman H. Nie develop his SPSS?

answer: Norman H. Nie developed his SPSS with C. Hadlai Hull and Dale Bent.

question: Where did Norman H. Nie receive his first academic appointment?

answer: Norman H. Nie received his first academic appointment from the University of Chicago.

question: Who purchased SPSS in July 2009?

answer: SPSS was purchased by IBM in July 2009.

question: Who co-wrote Norman H. Nie's first book?

answer: Sidney Verba co-wrote Norman H. Nie's first book.

question: When did Norman H. Nie write The Hard Count?

answer: Norman H. Nie wrote The Hard Count in 2006.

question: How did Norman H. Nie die?

answer: Norman H. Nie died from lung cancer.

question: Write a ~4 sentence summary.

answer: Norman H. Nie was a social scientist and university professor. He received his Ph.D. from Stanford University where he helped develop the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences. The company was later bought by IBM in 2009. Norman H. Nie went on to research and write many books, and received many awards.


text:
Hello! Had to do some vignette exercises for class, feedback is much appreciated.

This city is beautiful in the rain.
I’m standing under an awning, inhaling hot smoke from the dangling cigarette between my lips and watching the rain fall in icy sheets over the most beautiful city in the world.  It sparkles under all that cold rain, and I’m in love.  My cigarette smoke collects under the awning in a cloud as I exhale, and the chilly winter air suddenly filling my lungs stings in contrast.  Behind me, I can hear the faint clink of glasses and soft murmurs between friends or lovers (or, both, maybe, if they’re lucky) escaping from the open door of the café out of which I’ve just stepped.  The warm, golden light spills onto the sidewalk next to me and calls me back inside, but nothing is more inviting than the city in the rain.  Icy water is beginning to seep through the soles of my heels (I wore them for you, you know) and the warm tears that have collected in the corners of my eyes, and which are now sliding down my cheeks, suddenly feel scalding.  Soon I’ll drop my cigarette onto the wet sidewalk and extinguish the ash with the toe of my now-ruined shoes, thumb the hot tears away, square my shoulders and turn back to the café to finish telling you goodbye. Goodbye to you, because I can’t say goodbye to this city. Because you are too silly to stay, and the city in the rain is too beautiful to leave.  But for the moment I’m standing under the awning, enjoying the burning sensation in my lungs, and the city is shimmering just for me.

title: Vignette Exercise

question: Where is the narrator?

answer: The narrator is standing under an awning of a café in their city.

question: What kind of mood is the narrator in?

answer: The narrator seems contemplative, but not negative.

question: Does the narrator have a love interest?

answer: It seems that they might because they say they need to go back to the café to tell someone goodbye.

question: Who is the narrator saying goodbye to?

answer: It's not clear, but it seems its a love interest.

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: The narrator smokes a cigarette outside a café, admiring their beautiful city and taking note of their surroundings. The narrator enjoys these moments before they have to walk back in to the café and finish telling someone (possibly a love interest) goodbye.


text:
MEHMET ÖMER ARIF ARAS (born November 8, 1954, Istanbul) Turkish Banker, QNB Finansbank’s Chairman of the Board.

Early life

Ömer Aras completed his primary, secondary and high school education at Şişli Terakki High School in 1971. He graduated from the Academy of Economic and Commercial Sciences, College of Economy and Finance in 1975, and received an MBA in 1978 and PhD in 1981 from Syracuse University in New York, U.S.[1] He worked as an assistant professor at the Ohio State University Business Administration Department from 1982 to 1984 and returned to Turkey in 1984. He got married with Feyza Aras in 1980. Aras has two children.

Career

He started his career as a junior credit marketing manager at Citibank Istanbul in 1984. In 1987, when he was working as a credit marketing manager and credit committee member, he quit his job to work for Yapi Kredi as head of Securities.[2]

He co-founded Finansbank with Hüsnü Özyeğin in 1987. He worked as Assistant General Manager responsible for Credit Marketing, Treasury and Foreign Affairs from 1987 to 1989 and became general manager in 1989. He served as General Manager from 1989 to 1995 and as an executive board member at QNB Finansbank.

Aras worked as the Vice Chairman of the Board at Fiba Holding from 1995 to 2006 and member of the board of directors at Finansbank's affiliates in Switzerland, the Netherlands, Russia, Romania and France.

He also served as the Chairman of the Board at Marks & Spencer Turkey and Member of the Board at Gima, which are Fiba Holding's retail industry investments.

Upon acquisition of Finansbank A.Ş by National Bank of Greece from Fiba Group in 2006, he first worked as Vice Chairman and then Chairman of the Board in 2010, also serving as Group CEO responsible for management of QNB Finansbank and its affiliates.

In 2007, he acted as Chairman of the Board at Cigna Finans Retirement, formerly known as Finans Emeklilik, 51% of which was purchased by American Cigna in 2012.

He was elected to serve as the executive committee member responsible for affiliates in Southeastern Europe at National Bank of Greece in 2008. He assumed management of banks operating in Bulgaria, Romania, Serbia, Macedonia and Albania.[3]

He worked as a member of the Board at the Turkish Industry & Business Association (TÜSİAD) from 2003 to 2006. In 2015, he was elected as Vice President of the High Advisory Council.

He participated in the founding of Özyeğin University in 2007 and has been a member of the Board of Trustees since then. In 2016 June, Finansbak A.Ş was acquired by Qatar National Bank (QNB) and The Bank's name has been changed to QNB Finansbank. Aras, is still the chairman of QNB Finansbank.

Affiliations

-   TÜSİAD - Vice President of the High Advisory Council[4]
-   Darüşşafaka Society – High Advisory Board[5]
-   Özyeğin University – Board of Trustees[6]
-   Hüsnü Özyeğin Foundation – Board of Trustees
-   Mother Child Education Foundation - Board of Trustees
-   Galata Business Angels[7]
-   Tennis, Fencing and Mountain Climbing Sports Club
-   Galatasaray Sports Club

Publications

-   Turkish Policy Quarterly, September 2014
-   International Journal of Policy and Information, December 15, 1985
-   IIE Transactions, Volume 17, Number 3, September 1985
-   TIMS XXVI Copenhagen, Denmark, June 17, 1984
-   American Institute of Decision Sciences, San Francisco, November 22, 1982
-   Journal of Operations Management, May 1982
-   American Institute for Decision Sciences, Boston, November 18, 1981
-   American Institute of Decision Sciences, Las Vegas, November 5, 1980

[1] http://www.ozyegin.edu.tr/tr/Hakkimizda/Yonetim/Mutevelli-Heyeti

[2] http://www.finansbank.com.tr/finansbanki-taniyin/finansbank-ust-yonetimi.aspx

[3] http://www.hurriyet.com.tr/yunanlar-ozgur-birakti-finansbank-9-yilda-3-kat-buyudu-28969101

[4] http://tusiad.org/tr/konusma-metinleri/item/488-tusiad-bankacilik-ve-sanayi-isleri-komisyon-baskani-omer-arasin-turk-bankacilik-sektorunun-maliyetlerine-iliskin-politika-onerileri-raporu-tanitim-toplantisi-konusmasi

[5] https://www.darussafaka.org/hakkimizda/kurumsal-yonetim/organizasyon-yapisi/yuksek-danisma-kurulu/omer-aras

[6]

[7] http://www.galatabusinessangels.com/tr/uyelerimiz/dr--omer-aras-

title: Mehmet Ömer Arif Aras

question: Who is the Chairman of the Board for QNB Finansbank?

answer: As of the time of the article's writing, the position was held by Turkish banker Mehmet Ömer Arif Aras. No information given as to whether Mehmet still holds the position in the present.

question: How did Mehmet become a banker?

answer: His formal education was in the field of Economy and Finance. He worked in education after earning his PhD in 1981 and then returned to Turkey 1984 where he worked as a junior credit marketing manager at Citibank -which began his career in the financial industry.

question: Is Mehmet a capable banker?

answer:
Mehmet has the proper education and training for a banker, he not only has a degree, but a PhD as well. He has more than enough academic mastery of the topic to teach it in a university.

In terms of experience, Mehmet has held a variety of positions in different levels for about 25 years (1981 to 2016). His proficiency in the field has been recognized by his peers, earning him positions of authority.

It would be logical to presume that Mehmet is more than a capable banker.

question: What information is given about Mehmet's personal life?

answer: Aside from his date of birth, which is November 8, 1954, and the fact that he is married and has two children, the article does not provide other information about his personal life.

question: Write a ~3 sentence summary.

answer: Mehmet Ömer Arif Aras is a Turkish banker whose 25 years of experience in the financial industry is recognized and respected by his peers. He completed his studies in the US and worked in Ohio as a university teacher before returning to Turkey where he led a successful career in banking. Mehmet is married to Feyza Aras and they have two children.


text:
IN HIS SIX YEARS AS CHIEF EXECUTIVE OF SWITZERLAND’S LARGEST BANK, SERGIO ERMOTTI HAS ACHIEVED QUITE A LOT, MORE THAN MOST OF HIS PREDECESSORS IN ANY CASE. BUT HIS ACHIEVEMENTS AREN'T BEING HELD IN PROPER REGARD, HE SAYS.

CEOs of listed companies take the value of their shares as a judgement of their performance. SERGIO ERMOTTI, UBS’ CEO, is no different. The stock of Switzerland’s largest bank has appreciated about 50 percent since he took over from OSWALD GRUEBEL as head of the company six years ago.

During his tenure, UBS has lowered risks, pared the balance sheet, converted the investment bank into a small, but profitable shop, and strengthened its position as biggest wealth manager.

IT'S NOT FAIR

Investors and markets have rewarded the bank for these changes, placing the bank somewhere in the middle of the pack, but with a valuation below the big U.S. banks'. Much to the chagrin of Ermotti, as he confessed to the «Financial Times» (_behind paywall_).

UBS was not the investment bank with the highest valuation, but the wealth manager with the lowest valuation of the world, he told the newspaper. If one compares UBS with Blackrock or Julius Baer, he’s right.

HELD BACK BY INDUSTRY WOES

Ermotti knows that UBS still carries the stigma of the high-flying investment bank that crashed. Investors see UBS as a risky bet because it has kept the investment bank.

And regulators at the same time have come down hard on the bank as well, both in Switzerland and in Europe. Seen this way, UBS very much is part of a European financial industry that struggles to escape the crisis, while the U.S. rivals are prospering.

Ermotti feels strongly that putting UBS in the same pot as some other crisis-ridden banks is deeply unfair. Claiming that U.S. banks had tackled their problems earlier and more vigorously was a generalization that didn’t hold up to scrutiny, he says.

HOW TRUMP HELPS BANKERS

Some banks, such as UBS, had done their homework. Others didn’t. And those causing trouble weren’t the investment banks, but the traditional European commercial banks.

Ermotti says that there’s a gulf dividing the U.S. and Europe, and that’s the regulators’ doing. While Trump is letting the banking industry breathe, Europe is tightening the screws ever more. This will eventually make the European financial sector lose its competitive edge, the UBS executive said.

Regulation in Europe has reached its high point and a further tightening would be useless, according to Ermotti. He likened the attempts to further tighten the screws to buying a second insurance policy in case the first failed.

question: Who is Sergio Ermotti?

answer: He is the CEO of Switzerland's largest bank, UBS.

question: What has Ermotti achieved in his six years as CEO?

answer: UBS stock has appreciated about 50 percent since Ermotti took over from Oswald Gruebel.

question: If UBS is so successful, why it is placed in the middle of the pack with a valuation way below the big U.S. banks?

answer: UBS still carries the stigma of the high-flying bank that crashed and investors see the bank as a risky bet.

question: How does Emrotti feel about having the wealth manager with the lowest valuation that's lumped in the same group with crisis-ridden banks?

answer: He thinks it is deeply unfair, and it's all the European regulators' fault.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: UBS, the largest bank in Switzerland, has seen its stock appreciate to 50 percent in the six years Sergio Emrotti has taken the helm as CEO. Despite all this success, the bank sits in the middle of the pack with a valuation that is lower than U.S. banks. Investors still see UBS as the high-flying bank that crashed, a stigma that tells them the Swiss bank is a risky bet. Being the wealth manager with the lowest valuation in the world seems deeply unfair, according to Emrotti. He says UBS shouldn't be lumped together with other crisis-ridden banks.


text:
GAZIPAITA 'गाजीपैता' is a village in Sonbarsa Raj, Saharsa District, Bihar state. It belongs to Kosi Division.

About

[] This village is full of sovereignty and similarity in which all cast live friendly. This village is dominated by KANWAR RAJPUT[1]2 and there are a sumptuously temple of MAA CHANDIKA which is best known as CHANDI ASTHAN MANDIR. As per mythological tale this temple was built by King Virata (as per source) of the mahabharat age[2] that's makes this village as religious place. It is one of the Shakti Peetha places of worship consecrated to the goddess chandi

Geography

Gazi Paita is located at Coordinates: [[25°43'37.0"N 86°45'08.8"E]] It has an average elevation of 42 meters. Gazi paita lies in North Bihar and is surrounded by Paita (Biratpur), Jamhara, Baisa, Atalkha, Bhada and Sahsaul.

Demographics

Gazi Paita is a medium size village located in Sonbarsa of Saharsa district, Bihar with total 410 families residing. The Gazi Paita village has population of 1768 of which 950 are males while 818 are females as per Population Census 2011.

In Gazi Paita village population of children with age 0-6 is 363 which makes up 20.53% of total population of village. Average Sex Ratio of Gazi Paita village is 861 which is lower than Bihar state average of 918. Child Sex Ratio for the Gazi Paita as per census is 881, lower than Bihar average of 935.

Gazi Paita village has higher literacy rate compared to Bihar. In 2011, literacy rate of Gazi Paita village was 69.04% compared to 61.80% of Bihar. In Gazi Paita Male literacy stands at 82.96% while female literacy rate was 52.78%. [3]

Art and culture

Holi, DurgaPuja, Diwali and chhath are the main festival of gazipaita. Janmashtami, shivaratri, hanuman jayanti etc. are also celebrated with full zest and fervour. Sama Chakeva and Chaurchan are other festivals of this village. Every year, a grand Mela is organised on the occasion of durga puja in this village. Every Tuesday, lot of devotees of maa chandi comes for puja.

Work

In Gazi Paita village out of total population, 554 were engaged in work activities. 64.98% of workers describe their work as Main Work (Employment or Earning more than 6 Months) while 35.02% were involved in Marginal activity providing livelihood for less than 6 months. Of 554 workers engaged in Main Work, 57 were cultivators (owner or co-owner) while 277 were Agricultural labourer.[4]

[1] 1

[2] http://saharsa.bih.nic.in/place.htm

[3] http://www.census2011.co.in/data/village/226547-gazi-paita-bihar.html

[4] http://www.census2011.co.in/data/village/226547-gazi-paita-bihar.html

title: GaziPaita

question: What is GaziPaita?

answer: A village in Sonbarsa Raj, Saharsa District, Bihar state which belongs to the Kosi Division.

question: What country is it located in?

answer: Doesn't say, possibly India or somewhere near there.

question: What makes the village a religious location?

answer: They have a temple purportedly built by King Virata, of the mahabharat age, known as Chandi Asthan Mandir; it is one of the Shakti Peetha places of worship consecrated to the goddess chandi.

question: What are relevant cultural practices of the village?

answer: Holi, DurgaPuja, Diwali and chhath are the main festival of gazipaita. Janmashtami, shivaratri, hanuman jayanti etc. are also celebrated with full zest and fervour. Sama Chakeva and Chaurchan are other festivals of this village. Every year, a grand Mela is organised on the occasion of durga puja in this village. Every Tuesday, lot of devotees of maa chandi comes for puja.

question: Write a ~5 sentence summary.

answer: GaziPaita is a village in Sonbarsa Raj, Saharsa District, Bihar state which belongs to the Kosi Division. The village is dominated by Kanwar Rajput and there is a temple of Maa Chadika known as Chandi Asthan Mandir. The temple was purportedly built by King Virata, of the mahabharat age. It is one of the Shakti Peetha places of worship consecrated to the goddess chandi. There are several regular festivals year round.


text:
AVA RANGER STATION HISTORIC DISTRICT is a national historic district located near Ava, Douglas County, Missouri. The district encompasses five frame and limestone buildings constructed by Civilian Conservation Corps in 1936. They are the 1 1/2-story, Colonial Revival style Ranger's Office; 1 1/2-story, Colonial Revival style Ranger's Dwelling; garage; warehouse and an oil house. It continues to be used as a Ranger Station for the Mark Twain National Forest.[1]

It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2003.[2]

[1]

[2]

title: Ava Ranger Station Historic District

question: When were the buildings of Ava Ranger station constructed?

answer: 1936

question: What is Colonial Revival style?

answer: the article does not answer this question

question: What is the Mark Twain National Forest?

answer: the article does not answer this question

question: When was the Ava Ranger Station Historic District listed on the National Register of Historic Places?

answer: 2003

question: Write a ~2 sentence summary.

answer: The Ava Ranger Station Historic District is a historic district located near Ava, Douglas County, Missouri. It was constructed in 1936.