Question: What is the role of red bone marrow?

The red bone marrow serves as a crucial component of the lymphatic system, primarily functioning as a lymphoid organ responsible for the production of lymphocytes from hematopoietic stem cells. Together with the thymus, it plays a pivotal role in the generation and initial development of lymphocytes. Additionally, the bone marrow acts as a barrier to hinder the reverse flow of lymphatic fluid within the lymphatic system.

The human skeleton is the internal framework of the body. It is composed of about 300 bones at birth â€“ this total decreases to around 206 bones by adulthood after some bones get fused together.[1] The bone mass in the skeleton reaches maximum density around age 21. The human skeleton can be divided into the axial skeleton and the appendicular skeleton. The axial skeleton is formed by the vertebral column, the rib cage, the skull and other associated bones. The appendicular skeleton, which is attached to the axial skeleton, is formed by the shoulder girdle, the pelvic girdle and the bones of the upper and lower limbs.

The serous fluid produced by the serous membranes reduces friction between the walls of the cavities and the internal organs when they move, such as when the lungs inflate or the heart beats, that could otherwise lead to inflammation of the organs.[2]

The red blood cell cell membrane comprises a typical lipid bilayer, similar to what can be found in virtually all human cells. Simply put, this lipid bilayer is composed of cholesterol and phospholipids in equal proportions by weight. The lipid composition is important as it defines many physical properties such as membrane permeability and fluidity. Additionally, the activity of many membrane proteins is regulated by interactions with lipids in the bilayer.

The axial skeleton (80 bones) is formed by the vertebral column (32â€“34 bones; the number of the vertebrae differs from human to human as the lower 2 parts, sacral and coccygeal bone may vary in length), a part of the rib cage (12 pairs of ribs and the sternum), and the skull (22 bones and 7 associated bones).

Copper is essential in the human body as both a catalyst and as part of enzymes. Copper is mainly involved in redox reactions throughout the body, but also plays a role in iron transportation in blood plasma.

Osteoporosis is a disease of bone where there is reduced bone mineral density, increasing the likelihood of fractures.[11] Osteoporosis is defined by the World Health Organization in women as a bone mineral density 2.5 standard deviations below peak bone mass, relative to the age and sex-matched average, as measured by Dual energy X-ray absorptiometry, with the term "established osteoporosis" including the presence of a fragility fracture.[12] Osteoporosis is most common in women after menopause, when it is called "postmenopausal osteoporosis", but may develop in men and premenopausal women in the presence of particular hormonal disorders and other chronic diseases or as a result of smoking and medications, specifically glucocorticoids.[11] Osteoporosis usually has no symptoms until a fracture occurs.[11] For this reason, DEXA scans are often done in people with one or more risk factors, who have developed osteoporosis and be at risk of fracture.[11]

The body's hemostasis system requires careful regulation in order to work properly. If the blood does not clot sufficiently, it may be due to bleeding disorders such as hemophilia or immune thrombocytopenia; this requires careful investigation. Over-active clotting can also cause problems; thrombosis, where blood clots form abnormally, can potentially cause embolisms, where blood clots break off and subsequently become lodged in a vein or artery.

Individual organs like the lung have numerous internal branchings that increase the surface area; in the case of the lung, the large surface supports gas exchange, bringing oxygen into the blood and releasing carbon dioxide from the blood.[2][3] Similarly, the small intestine has a finely wrinkled internal surface, allowing the body to absorb nutrients efficiently.[4]

MHC class I molecules are one of two primary classes of major histocompatibility complex (MHC) molecules (the other being MHC class II) and are found on the cell surface of all nucleated cells in the bodies of jawed vertebrates.[1][2] They also occur on platelets, but not on red blood cells. Their function is to display peptide fragments of non-self proteins from within the cell to cytotoxic T cells; this will trigger an immediate response from the immune system against a particular non-self antigen displayed with the help of an MHC class I protein. Because MHC class I molecules present peptides derived from cytosolic proteins, the pathway of MHC class I presentation is often called cytosolic or endogenous pathway.[3]

A joint or articulation (or articular surface) is the connection made between bones in the body which link the skeletal system into a functional whole.[1][2][3] They are constructed to allow for different degrees and types of movement. Some joints, such as the knee, elbow, and shoulder, are self-lubricating, almost frictionless, and are able to withstand compression and maintain heavy loads while still executing smooth and precise movements.[3] Other joints such as sutures between the bones of the skull permit very little movement (only during birth) in order to protect the brain and the sense organs.[3] The connection between a tooth and the jawbone is also called a joint, and is described as a fibrous joint known as a gomphosis. Joints are classified both structurally and functionally.[4]


Question: What occurs to water that seeps into the soil but isn't taken up by plant roots?

After infiltrating the soil, water either stays within the soil, descends to the groundwater table, or contributes to subsurface runoff, depending on soil saturation and permeability conditions. If not absorbed by plant roots, it can either replenish groundwater reserves or move laterally as subsurface flow, eventually reaching surface water bodies or other outlets.

Archaeological material tends to accumulate in events. A gardener swept a pile of soil into a corner, laid a gravel path or planted a bush in a hole. A builder built a wall and back-filled the trench. Years later, someone built a pigsty onto it and drained the pigsty into the nettle patch. Later still, the original wall blew over and so on. Each event, which may have taken a short or long time to accomplish, leaves a context. This layer cake of events is often referred to as the archaeological sequence or record. It is by analysis of this sequence or record that excavation is intended to permit interpretation, which should lead to discussion and understanding.

When the river courses over resistant bedrock, erosion happens slowly and is dominated by impacts of water-borne sediment on the rock, while downstream the erosion occurs more rapidly.[1][4] As the watercourse increases its velocity at the edge of the waterfall, it may pluck material from the riverbed, if the bed is fractured or otherwise more erodable. Hydraulic jets and hydraulic jumps at the toe of a falls can generate large forces to erode the bed[5], especially when forces are amplified by water-borne sediment. Horseshoe-shaped falls focus the erosion to a central point, also enhancing riverbed change below a waterfalls[6]. A process known as "potholing" involves local erosion of a potentially deep hole in bedrock due to turbulent whirlpools spinning stones around on the bed, drilling it out. Sand and stones carried by the watercourse therefore increase erosion capacity.[1] This causes the waterfall to carve deeper into the bed and to recede upstream. Often over time, the waterfall will recede back to form a canyon or gorge downstream as it recedes upstream, and it will carve deeper into the ridge above it.[7] The rate of retreat for a waterfall can be as high as one and half meters per year.[1]

Hormones are transported within the plant by utilizing four types of movements. For localized movement, cytoplasmic streaming within cells and slow diffusion of ions and molecules between cells are utilized. Vascular tissues are used to move hormones from one part of the plant to another; these include sieve tubes or phloem that move sugars from the leaves to the roots and flowers, and xylem that moves water and mineral solutes from the roots to the foliage.

Significant discoveries relating to nitrogen assimilation and metabolism, including ammonification, nitrification and nitrogen fixation (the uptake of atmospheric nitrogen by symbiotic soil microorganisms) had to wait for advances in chemistry and bacteriology in the late 19th century and this was followed in the early 20th century by the elucidation of protein and amino-acid synthesis and their role in plant metabolism. With this knowledge it was then possible to outline the global nitrogen cycle.[105]

Phosphorus is an essential nutrient for plants and animals. Phosphorus is a limiting nutrient for aquatic organisms. Phosphorus forms parts of important life-sustaining molecules that are very common in the biosphere. Phosphorus does not enter the atmosphere, remaining mostly on land and in rock and soil minerals. Eighty percent of the mined phosphorus is used to make fertilizers. Phosphates from fertilizers, sewage and detergents can cause pollution in lakes and streams. Overenrichment of phosphate in both fresh and inshore marine waters can lead to massive algae blooms which, when they die and decay, leads to eutrophication of fresh waters only. An example of this is the Canadian Experimental Lakes Area. These freshwater algal blooms should not be confused with those in saltwater environments. Recent research suggests that the predominant pollutant responsible for algal blooms in salt water estuaries and coastal marine habitats is Nitrogen.[3]

Around one-third of the worldâ€™s population drinks water from groundwater resources. Of this, about 10 percent, approximately 300 million people, obtains water from groundwater resources that are heavily contaminated with arsenic or fluoride.[15] These trace elements derive mainly from leaching of minerals.[16] Maps are available of locations of potential problematic wells via the Groundwater Assessment Platform GAP.

This class of PGR is composed of one chemical compound normally produced in the leaves of plants, originating from chloroplasts, especially when plants are under stress. In general, it acts as an inhibitory chemical compound that affects bud growth, and seed and bud dormancy. It mediates changes within the apical meristem, causing bud dormancy and the alteration of the last set of leaves into protective bud covers. Since it was found in freshly abscissed leaves, it was thought to play a role in the processes of natural leaf drop, but further research has disproven this. In plant species from temperate parts of the world, it plays a role in leaf and seed dormancy by inhibiting growth, but, as it is dissipated from seeds or buds, growth begins. In other plants, as ABA levels decrease, growth then commences as gibberellin levels increase. Without ABA, buds and seeds would start to grow during warm periods in winter and be killed when it froze again. Since ABA dissipates slowly from the tissues and its effects take time to be offset by other plant hormones, there is a delay in physiological pathways that provide some protection from premature growth. It accumulates within seeds during fruit maturation, preventing seed germination within the fruit, or seed germination before winter. Abscisic acid's effects are degraded within plant tissues during cold temperatures or by its removal by water washing in out of the tissues, releasing the seeds and buds from dormancy.[9]

The roots fix the plant in the soil giving it support but the most important and life supporting function of the roots is to absorb

mineral nutrients required by the plant are absorbed from the soil by the roots only. some of these nutrients are observed as salts( nitrates, phosphates, sulphates, etc...) and some are simply as ions( potassium , calcium , magnesium , chlorine , etc...).These elements are required as constituents of cell and cell organelles as well as in the synthesis of a variety of compounds or enzymes within the cell.

The availability of organic phosphorus to support microbial, plant and animal growth depends on the rate of their degradation to generate free phosphate. There are various enzymes such as phosphatases, nucleases and phytase involved for the degradation. Some of the abiotic pathways in the environment studied are hydrolytic reactions and photolytic reactions. Enzymatic hydrolysis of organic phosphorus is an essential step in the biogeochemical phosphorus cycle, including the phosphorus nutrition of plants and microorganisms and the transfer of organic phosphorus from soil to bodies of water.[1] Many organisms rely on the soil derived phosphorus for their phosphorus nutrition.[citation needed]


Question: Did Sumerian architecture include archways for doors and gates?

Sumerian architecture, known for its ziggurats and possible inspiration for the biblical Tower of Babel, featured the innovative use of arches. These arches were used to construct domes, a type of roof that provided strength and stability to Sumerian structures. By combining multiple arches, the Sumerians were able to create these impressive architectural feats. Additionally, their residential buildings often resembled those of the Marsh Arabs of Southern Iraq, constructed from reeds up until 400 AD. However, the specific use of archways for doors and gates in Sumerian architecture is not explicitly mentioned in historical records.

Text sources indicate open space planning was a part of the city from the earliest times. The description of Uruk in the Epic of Gilgamesh tells of one third of that city set aside for orchards. Similar planned open space is found at the one fifth enclosure of Nippur. Another important landscape element was the vacant lot (Akkadian: kišubbû).

At the entrance of the city are statues of Ignacio Allende, Juan Aldama, Miguel Hidalgo and Josefa Ortiz de Dominguez, with one of the Archangel Michael in the center.[15] While the outlying areas of the town and municipality have changed over time, the historic center remains much as it was 250 years ago. The layout of the center of the city is mostly a straight grid, which was favored by the Spanish during colonial times. However, due to the terrain, many roads are not straight. There are no parking meters, no traffic signals and no fast food restaurants.[4] These roads are lined with colonial era homes and churches. With a few exceptions, the architecture is domestic rather than monumental, with well-tended courtyards and rich architectural details.[16] The houses have solid walls against the sidewalks, painted in various colors, many with bougainvillea vines falling down the outside and the occasional iron-grated window. Many of the larger structures have large front doors which used to be used by horses and carriages.[4][17]

The ruins of the walls of Han's first capital Chang'an still stand today at 12 m (39 ft) in height with a base width of 12 to 16 m (39 to 52 ft).[127] Modern archaeological surveys have proven that the eastern wall was 6,000 m (20,000 ft) long, the southern wall was 7,600 m (24,900 ft) long, the western wall was 4,900 m (16,100 ft) long, and the northern wall was 7,200 (23,622 ft) long.[127] Overall the total length of walls equalled 25,700 m (84,300 ft), and formed a roughly square layout (although the southern and northern walls had sections which zigzagged due to topographical concerns: rough terrain existed along the southern wall and the course of the Wei River obstructed the straight path of the northern wall).[127] The city's moat was 8 m (26 ft) wide and 3 m (9.8 ft) deep; the remains of what were wooden bridges have been discovered along the moat.[128] Chang'an had twelve gatehouses leading into the city, three for each side of the wall, and acted as terminus points for the main avenues.[129] Every gatehouse had three gateway entrances that were each 6 m (20 ft) wide; Han-era writers claimed that each gateway could accommodate the traffic of four horse-drawn carriages at once.[129] The drainage system included many drainholes that were dug under these gates and lined with bricks that form arches, where ceramic water pipes have been found that once connected to the ditches built alongside the major streets.[130] Only some wall sections and platform foundations of the city's once lavish imperial palaces remain.[131] Likewise, the stone foundations of the armory were also discovered, but its wooden architecture had long since disappeared.[131]

The history of astronomy in Mesopotamia, and the world, begins with the Sumerians who developed the earliest writing system—known as cuneiform—around 3500–3200 BC. The Sumerians developed a form of astronomy that had an important influence on the sophisticated astronomy of the Babylonians. Astrolatry, which gave planetary gods an important role in Mesopotamian mythology and religion, began with the Sumerians. They also used a sexagesimal (base 60) place-value number system, which simplified the task of recording very great and very small numbers. The modern practice of dividing a circle into 360 degrees, of 60 minutes each hour, began with the Sumerians.

Architectural styles prominent at Teotihuacan are found widely dispersed at a number of distant Mesoamerican sites, which some researchers have interpreted as evidence for Teotihuacan's far-reaching interactions and political or militaristic dominance.[21] A style particularly associated with Teotihuacan is known as talud-tablero, in which an inwards-sloping external side of a structure (talud) is surmounted by a rectangular panel (tablero). Variants of the generic style are found in a number of Maya region sites, including Tikal, Kaminaljuyu, Copan, Becan, and Oxkintok, and particularly in the Petén Basin and the central Guatemalan highlands.[22] The talud-tablero style pre-dates its earliest appearance at Teotihuacan in the Early Classic period; it appears to have originated in the Tlaxcala-Puebla region during the Preclassic.[23] Analyses have traced the development into local variants of the talud-tablero style at sites such as Tikal, where its use precedes the 5th-century appearance of iconographic motifs shared with Teotihuacan. The talud-tablero style disseminated through Mesoamerica generally from the end of the Preclassic period, and not specifically, or solely, via Teotihuacano influence. It is unclear how or from where the style spread into the Maya region. During the zenith main structures of the site, including the pyramids, were painted in dark-red (maroon to Burgundy) colors (only small spots remain now) and were a very impressionable view.[24]

Many merchants became very wealthy by providing their goods to the agricultural population, and ended up dominating the society of sea port cities. Unlike yeoman farmhouses, these merchants lived in elegant  2 1⁄2-story houses designed in the new Georgian style, imitating the lifestyle of the upper class of England. These Georgian houses had a symmetrical façade with equal numbers of windows on both sides of the central door. The interior consisted of a passageway down the middle of the house with specialized rooms off the sides, such as a library, dining room, formal parlor, and master bedroom. Unlike the multi-purpose space of the yeoman houses, each of these rooms served a separate purpose. These houses contained bedrooms on the second floor that provided privacy to parents and children.

The Hindu text Sthapatya Veda describes many plans and styles of temples of which the following are found in other derivative literature: Chaturasra (square), Ashtasra (octagonal), Vritta (circular), Ayatasra (rectangular), Ayata Ashtasra (rectangular-octogonal fusion), Ayata Vritta (elliptical), Hasti Prishta (apsidal), Dwayasra Vrita (rectangular-circular fusion); in Tamil literature, the Prana Vikara (shaped like a Tamil Om sign, ) is also found. Methods of combining squares and circles to produce all of these plans are described in the Hindu texts.[34]

Built in receding tiers upon a rectangular, oval, or square platform, the ziggurat was a pyramidal structure. Sun-baked bricks made up the core of the ziggurat with facings of fired bricks on the outside. The facings were often glazed in different colors and may have had astrological significance. Kings sometimes had their names engraved on these glazed bricks. The number of tiers ranged from two to seven, with a shrine or temple at the summit. Access to the shrine was provided by a series of ramps on one side of the ziggurat or by a spiral ramp from base to summit. It has been suggested that ziggurats were built to resemble mountains, but there is little textual or archaeological evidence to support that hypothesis.

A field of dark-colored igneous trachyte with geometrical designs executed in white Istrian stone, similar to travertine composed the design. Squares of diagonally laid blocks alternated with rectangular and oval designs along broad parallel bands. The squares were pitched to the centre, like a bowl, where a drain conducted surface water into a below-grade drainage system. The pattern connected the central portal of the Basilica with the centre of the western opening into the piazza. This line more closely parallels the faÃ§ade of the Procuratie Vecchie, leaving a nearly triangular space adjacent to the Procuratie Nuove with its wider end closed off by the Campanile. The pattern continued past the campanile, stopping at a line connecting the three large flagpoles and leaving the space immediately in front of the Basilica undecorated. A smaller version of the same pattern in the Piazzetta paralleled Sansovino's Library, leaving a narrow trapezoid adjacent to the Doge's palace with the wide end closed off by the southwest corner of the Basilica. This smaller pattern had the internal squares inclined to form non-orthogonal quadrilaterals.

Various authors have claimed that early monuments have golden ratio proportions, often on conjectural interpretations, using approximate measurements, and only roughly corresponding to 1.618.[1] For example, claims have been made about golden ratio proportions in Egyptian, Sumerian and Greek vases, Chinese pottery, Olmec sculptures, and Cretan and Mycenaean products from the late Bronze Age. These predate by some 1,000 years the Greek mathematicians first known to have studied the golden ratio.[2][3] However, the historical sources are obscure, and the analyses are difficult to compare because they employ differing methods.[2]


Question: What happens to the ovum after ovulation in the menstrual cycle?

After ovulation in the menstrual cycle, the released ovum (egg) enters the fallopian tube where it can be fertilized by sperm. If fertilization occurs, the zygote will travel to the thickened uterine lining (endometrium) for implantation. However, if fertilization does not occur, the unfertilized ovum and the thickened uterine lining will be shed during menstruation.

The cornerstone of the immune system is the recognition of "self" versus "non-self". Therefore, the mechanisms that protect the human fetus (which is considered "non-self") from attack by the immune system, are particularly interesting. Although no comprehensive explanation has emerged to explain this mysterious, and often repeated, lack of rejection, two classical reasons may explain how the fetus is tolerated. The first is that the fetus occupies a portion of the body protected by a non-immunological barrier, the uterus, which the immune system does not routinely patrol.[2] The second is that the fetus itself may promote local immunosuppression in the mother, perhaps by a process of active nutrient depletion.[2] A more modern explanation for this induction of tolerance is that specific glycoproteins expressed in the uterus during pregnancy suppress the uterine immune response (see eu-FEDS).

The heart pumps blood with a rhythm determined by a group of pacemaking cells in the sinoatrial node. These generate a current that causes contraction of the heart, traveling through the atrioventricular node and along the conduction system of the heart. The heart receives blood low in oxygen from the systemic circulation, which enters the right atrium from the superior and inferior venae cavae and passes to the right ventricle. From here it is pumped into the pulmonary circulation, through the lungs where it receives oxygen and gives off carbon dioxide. Oxygenated blood then returns to the left atrium, passes through the left ventricle and is pumped out through the aorta to the systemic circulation−where the oxygen is used and metabolized to carbon dioxide.[8] The heart beats at a resting rate close to 72 beats per minute.[9] Exercise temporarily increases the rate, but lowers resting heart rate in the long term, and is good for heart health.[10]

The female is mildly aggressive to her suitors during estrus, and will often lunge at males, usually after a long period of being approached and followed. Vocalizations during mating include a whistling sound, most commonly by the female, usually during June and August, coinciding with female estrus. Other vocalizations recorded during estrus include chittering and growling. The testosterone levels of the males are seasonal, with peaks coinciding with female estrogen peaks.[45]

Cell division with no significant growth, producing a cluster of cells that is the same size as the original zygote, is called cleavage. At least four initial cell divisions occur, resulting in a dense ball of at least sixteen cells called the morula. The different cells derived from cleavage, up to the blastula stage, are called blastomeres. Depending mostly on the amount of yolk in the egg, the cleavage can be holoblastic (total) or meroblastic (partial).[2]

The female tarantula hawk wasp stings and paralyzes a tarantula, then drags the prey to a specially prepared brooding nest, where a single egg is laid on the spider's abdomen, and the entrance is covered.[3] Sex of the larvae is determined by fertilization; fertilized eggs produce females, while unfertilized eggs produce males.[3] When the wasp larva hatches, it creates a small hole in the spider's abdomen, then enters and feeds voraciously, avoiding vital organs for as long as possible to keep the spider alive.[3] After several weeks, the larva pupates. Finally, the wasp becomes an adult and emerges from the spider's abdomen to continue the lifecycle.

In some cases, the foramen ovale fails to close. This abnormality is present in approximately 25% of the general population.[10] This is known as a patent foramen ovale, an atrial septal defect. It is mostly unproblematic, although it can be associated with paradoxical embolization and stroke.[10]

The embryoblast forms an embryonic disc, which is a bilaminar disc of two layers, an upper layer called the epiblast (primitive ectoderm) and a lower layer called the hypoblast (primitive endoderm). The disc is stretched between what will become the amniotic cavity and the yolk sac. The epiblast is adjacent to the trophoblast and made of columnar cells; the hypoblast is closest to the blastocyst cavity and made of cuboidal cells. The epiblast migrates away from the trophoblast downwards, forming the amniotic cavity, the lining of which is formed from amnioblasts developed from the epiblast. The hypoblast is pushed down and forms the yolk sac (exocoelomic cavity) lining. Some hypoblast cells migrate along the inner cytotrophoblast lining of the blastocoel, secreting an extracellular matrix along the way. These hypoblast cells and extracellular matrix are called Heuser's membrane (or the exocoelomic membrane), and they cover the blastocoel to form the yolk sac (or exocoelomic cavity). Cells of the hypoblast migrate along the outer edges of this reticulum and form the extraembryonic mesoderm; this disrupts the extraembryonic reticulum. Soon pockets form in the reticulum, which ultimately coalesce to form the chorionic cavity or extraembryonic coelom.

During its lifetime, a nucleus may be broken down or destroyed, either in the process of cell division or as a consequence of apoptosis (the process of programmed cell death). During these events, the structural components of the nucleus — the envelope and lamina — can be systematically degraded.
In most cells, the disassembly of the nuclear envelope marks the end of the prophase of mitosis. However, this disassembly of the nucleus is not a universal feature of mitosis and does not occur in all cells. Some unicellular eukaryotes (e.g., yeasts) undergo so-called closed mitosis, in which the nuclear envelope remains intact. In closed mitosis, the daughter chromosomes migrate to opposite poles of the nucleus, which then divides in two. The cells of higher eukaryotes, however, usually undergo open mitosis, which is characterized by breakdown of the nuclear envelope. The daughter chromosomes then migrate to opposite poles of the mitotic spindle, and new nuclei reassemble around them.

Before gastrulation, the cells of the trophoblast become differentiated into two strata: The outer stratum forms a syncytium (i.e., a layer of protoplasm studded with nuclei, but showing no evidence of subdivision into cells), termed the syncytiotrophoblast, while the inner layer, the cytotrophoblast or "Layer of Langhans", consists of well-defined cells. As already stated, the cells of the trophoblast do not contribute to the formation of the embryo proper; they form the ectoderm of the chorion and play an important part in the development of the placenta. On the deep surface of the inner cell mass, a layer of flattened cells, called the endoderm, is differentiated and quickly assumes the form of a small sac, called the yolk sac. Spaces appear between the remaining cells of the mass and, by the enlargement and coalescence of these spaces, a cavity called the amniotic cavity is gradually developed. The floor of this cavity is formed by the embryonic disk, which is composed of a layer of prismatic cells, the embryonic ectoderm, derived from the inner cell mass and lying in apposition with the endoderm.[3]

Each cell of the preimplantation embryo has the potential to form all of the different cell types in the developing embryo. This cell potency means that some cells can be removed from the preimplantation embryo and the remaining cells will compensate for their absence. This has allowed the development of a technique known as preimplantation genetic diagnosis, whereby a small number of cells from the preimplantation embryo created by IVF, can be removed by biopsy and subjected to genetic diagnosis. This allows embryos that are not affected by defined genetic diseases to be selected and then transferred to the mother's uterus.


Question: Who developed the concept of microfinancing in 1976?

Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi social entrepreneur, economist, and banker, developed the concept of microfinance in 1976. He is renowned for founding the Grameen Bank, which provides microcredit to impoverished entrepreneurs who are ineligible for traditional bank loans. Yunus and the Grameen Bank were jointly awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 2006 for their efforts in promoting economic and social development through microcredit. The Norwegian Nobel Committee acknowledged that poverty alleviation is essential for achieving lasting peace and that Yunus and the Grameen Bank have demonstrated the potential for the poorest individuals to contribute to their own development. Yunus has also been honored with several other national and international awards, including the United States Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 and the Congressional Gold Medal in 2010.

In his 1980 autobiography, I, Me, Mine, George Harrison describes the period following the two Concert for Bangladesh shows as "very emotional".[1] The concerts took place at Madison Square Garden, New York, on 1 August 1971, as the first part of his fundraising program for the 8â€“10 million refugees of the Bangladesh Liberation War.[2] The generosity of all the participants, together with the response from the general public,[3] encouraged Harrison to feel "very positive about certain things".[1] At the same time, the fact that it had fallen to musicians such as himself and concert instigator Ravi Shankar to address the issue left Harrison "slightly enraged", given the wealth of resources available to governments around the globe.[1] Author Gary Tillery writes that, through his humanitarian gesture, Harrison had "changed the perception" of rock musicians, "making it clear they could be good world citizens too",[4] while music critic Mikal Gilmore has noted of Harrison's "cautious yet optimistic and tender" worldview: "[it] stood in stark contrast to the ugly dissolution of the Beatles and the defeated idealism that then characterised so much of rock & roll culture."[5] The day after the Madison Square Garden concerts, Harrison began writing the song "The Day the World Gets 'Round",[1] having stayed in New York to work with producer Phil Spector on the proposed live album of the event.[6][7]

The new structure for costing of credit will work best for the biggest credit advances, in excess of R8,000. The cost of credit on agreements of less than R1,000 is comparable with the typical thirty per cent per month charged with no interest limits on small loans, The vast majority of borrowers of micro-loans are from low-income groups. The poorest households carry the greatest debt-servicing burden. Low-income individuals and communities who borrow small amounts are therefore likely to continue to suffer the same devastating socio-economic hardships referred to above, contributing to the perpetuation of poverty.

Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, sought to demonstrate that markets (and economies) pre-existed the state, and hence should be free of government regulation[citation needed]. He argued (against conventional wisdom) that money was not the creation of governments. Markets emerged, in his view, out of the division of labour, by which individuals began to specialize in specific crafts and hence had to depend on others for subsistence goods. These goods were first exchanged by barter. Specialization depended on trade, but was hindered by the "double coincidence of wants" which barter requires, i.e., for the exchange to occur, each participant must want what the other has. To complete this hypothetical history, craftsmen would stockpile one particular good, be it salt or metal, that they thought no one would refuse. This is the origin of money according to Smith. Money, as a universally desired medium of exchange, allows each half of the transaction to be separated.[2]

These investigations fueled suspicion that many attacks might be politically motivated,[101] due to difficult relations between Sheikh Hasina and Yunus since early 2007, when Yunus created his own political party, an effort he dropped in May 2007.[65]

The idea of cultural pluralism in the United States has its roots in the transcendentalist movement and was developed by pragmatist philosophers such as Horace Kallen, William James and John Dewey, and later thinkers such as Randolph Bourne. One of the most famous articulations of cultural pluralistic ideas can be found in Bourne's 1916 essay "Trans-National America".[5] Philosopher Horace Kallen is widely credited as being the originator of the concept of cultural pluralism.[6][7][8] Kallen's 1915 essay in The Nation, Democracy versus the Melting Pot, was written as an argument against the concept of the "Americanization" of European immigrants.[9] He later coined the term cultural pluralism in 1924 when he published Culture and Democracy in the United States.[10] In 1976, the concept was further explored in Crawford Young's book The Politics of Cultural Pluralism. Young's work, in African studies, emphasizes the flexibility of the definition of cultural pluralism within a society.[11] More recent advocates include moral and cultural anthropologist Richard Shweder. In 1976, an article in the Journal of Sociology and Social Welfare offered a redefinition of cultural pluralism in which it is described as a social condition in which communities of different cultures live together and function in an open system.[2]

Congress established the Farm Credit System in 1916 to provide a reliable source of credit for farmers and ranchers. Today, the Farm Credit System provides more than one-third of the credit needed by those who live and work in rural America.[citation needed]

The screenwriter pair Salim-Javed, consisting of Salim Khan and Javed Akhtar, began narrating the idea for Sholay as a four-line snippet to filmmakers in 1973.[8][9] The idea was rejected by two producer/director teams, including directors Manmohan Desai and Prakash Mehra.[9] About six months after the release of Zanjeer (1973), Salim-Javed got in touch with G. P. Sippy and his son Ramesh Sippy,[8] and narrated the four-line snippet to them.[9] Ramesh Sippy liked the concept of Sholay and hired them to develop it. The original idea of the film involved an army officer who decided to hire two ex-soldiers to avenge the murder of his family. The army officer was later changed to a policeman because Sippy felt that it would be difficult to get permission to shoot scenes depicting army activities. Salim-Javed completed the script in one month, incorporating names and personality traits of their friends and acquaintances.[9] The film's script and dialogues are in Hindi-Urdu,[2] primarily Urdu.[3] Salim-Javed wrote the dialogues in Urdu script, which was then transcribed by an assistant into Devanagari script so that Hindi readers could read the Urdu dialogues.[10]

During Khatami's presidency, Mohammad Taghi Mesbah Yazdi claimed that an unnamed former CIA chief had visited Iran with a suitcase stuffed with dollars to pay opinion-formers. "What is dangerous is that agents of the enemy, the CIA, have infiltrated the government and the cultural services," he was quoted as saying. On top of its official budget for Iran, the CIA had given "hundreds of millions of dollars to our cultural officials and journalists," he added. "The former head of the CIA recently came here as a tourist with a suitcase full of dollars for our cultural centres and certain newspapers. He made contact with various newspaper chiefs and gave them dollars."[43][44] Nasser Pourpirar for instance believes that a significant portion of Iranian history are baseless fabrications by Jewish orientalists and Zionists. The whole existence of Pre-Islamic Iran is no more than a Jewish conspiracy and the most important key for analyzing todayâ€™s world events is the analysis of ancient "Jewish genocide of Purim."[45][46][47] Another neoconservative theorist, Mohammad Ali Ramin believes that contemporary western history (e.g. Holocaust) are all fabrications by Jews. He also claimed that Adolf Hitler was a Jew himself.[48] M.A. Ramin, Hassan Abbasi, Abbas Salimi Namin and others have been giving speeches about Jewish conspiracy theory, Iranian and western history intensively all over the country since the establishment of Ahmadinejad government in 2005.[44] Currently, Abadgaran described itself as a group of Islamic neo-principalist,[49] have the control over current Iranian government. However, it lost the 2006 city council election.

Johannes Gutenberg, a goldsmith by profession, developed, circa 1439, a printing system by adapting existing technologies to printing purposes, as well as making inventions of his own. Printing in East Asia had been prevalent since the Tang dynasty,[3][4] and in Europe, woodblock printing based on existing screw presses was common by the 14th century. Gutenberg's most important innovation was the development of hand-molded metal printing matrices, thus producing a movable type based printing press system. His newly devised hand mould made possible the precise and rapid creation of metal movable type in large quantities. Movable type had been hitherto unknown in Europe. In Europe, the two inventions, the hand mould and the printing press, together drastically reduced the cost of printing books and other documents, particularly in short print runs.

Microcomputers are the most common kind of computers in use as of 2014. The term “microcomputer” was introduced with the advent of systems based on single chip microprocessors. The best-known early system was the Altair 8800, introduced in 1975. The term "microcomputer" has practically become an anachronism.


Question: Who developed the concept of microfinancing in 1976?

In 1976, Muhammad Yunus, while visiting impoverished households in Jobra, a village near Chittagong University, realized that small loans could significantly impact the lives of the poor. He found that village women who crafted bamboo furniture were forced to borrow money at exorbitant rates from local lenders to purchase bamboo. Traditional banks were unwilling to extend small, low-interest loans to the poor due to the perceived high default risk. Yunus, however, believed that the poor would repay their loans if given the opportunity, thus validating the microcredit concept. As a test, he loaned $27 of his own money to 42 women in the village, which resulted in a profit of $0.02 per person, affirming the potential of microcredit as a sustainable business model. Consequently, Yunus is widely acknowledged as the pioneer of the microfinance concept.

This period marked a transformation in Azad's own life. Along with fellow Khilafat leaders Dr. Mukhtar Ahmad Ansari, Hakim Ajmal Khan and others, Azad grew personally close to Gandhi and his philosophy. The three men founded the Jamia Millia Islamia in Delhi as an institution of higher education managed entirely by Indians without any British support or control. Both Azad and Gandhi shared a deep passion for religion and Azad developed a close friendship with him. He adopted the Prophet Muhammad's ideas by living simply, rejecting material possessions and pleasures. He began to spin his own clothes using khadi on the charkha, and began frequently living and participating in the ashrams organised by Gandhi.[citation needed] Becoming deeply committed to ahimsa (non-violence) himself, Azad grew close to fellow nationalists like Jawaharlal Nehru, Chittaranjan Das and Subhas Chandra Bose.[14] He strongly criticised the continuing suspicion of the Congress amongst the Muslim intellectuals from the Aligarh Muslim University and the Muslim League.

The White Revolution was a far-reaching series of reforms in Iran launched in 1963 by Shah Mohammad Reza Pahlavi and lasted until 1978. Mohammad Reza Shah's reform program was built especially to weaken those classes that supported the traditional system. It consisted of several elements including: the land reform; sales of some state-owned factories to finance the land reform; the enfranchisement of women; nationalization of forests and pastures; formation of a literacy corps; and institution of profit sharing schemes for workers in industry.[60]

Charles Darwin discussed the concept of kin selection in his 1859 book, The Origin of Species, where he reflected on the puzzle of sterile social insects, such as honey bees, which leave reproduction to their mothers, arguing that a selection benefit to related organisms (the same "stock") would allow the evolution of a trait that confers the benefit but destroys an individual at the same time. R.A. Fisher in 1930 and J.B.S. Haldane in 1932 set out the mathematics of kin selection, with Haldane famously joking that he would willingly die for two brothers or eight cousins. In 1964, W.D. Hamilton popularised the concept and the major advance in the mathematical treatment of the phenomenon by George R. Price which has become known as Hamilton's rule. In the same year John Maynard Smith used the actual term kin selection for the first time.

Many of the book's key concepts were previously covered in Competing For The Future by Gary Hamel and C.K. Prahalad, which was published in 1996.[49] The authors encouraged managers to stake out new marketing space, which they termed white space, in order to "create and dominate emerging opportunities."[49]

The origin of the concept was pieces of ivory or bone, containing specimens held between disks of transparent mica, that would slide into the gap between the stage and the objective.[1] These "sliders" were popular in Victorian England until the Royal Microscopical Society introduced the standardized glass microscope slide.[2]

W. D. Hamilton, in 1963[13] and especially in 1964[1][2] popularised the concept and the more thorough mathematical treatment given to it by George Price.[1][2]

Adam Smith, the father of modern economics, sought to demonstrate that markets (and economies) pre-existed the state, and hence should be free of government regulation[citation needed]. He argued (against conventional wisdom) that money was not the creation of governments. Markets emerged, in his view, out of the division of labour, by which individuals began to specialize in specific crafts and hence had to depend on others for subsistence goods. These goods were first exchanged by barter. Specialization depended on trade, but was hindered by the "double coincidence of wants" which barter requires, i.e., for the exchange to occur, each participant must want what the other has. To complete this hypothetical history, craftsmen would stockpile one particular good, be it salt or metal, that they thought no one would refuse. This is the origin of money according to Smith. Money, as a universally desired medium of exchange, allows each half of the transaction to be separated.[2]

The modern banknote rests on the assumption that money is determined by a social and legal consensus. A gold coin's value is simply a reflection of the supply and demand mechanism of a society exchanging goods in a free market, as opposed to stemming from any intrinsic property of the metal. By the late 17th century, this new conceptual outlook helped to stimulate the issue of banknotes. The economist Nicholas Barbon wrote that money "was an imaginary value made by a law for the convenience of exchange."[28] A temporary experiment of banknote issue was carried out by Sir William Phips as the Governor of the Province of Massachusetts Bay in 1690 to help fund the war effort against France.[29]

She returned the following day with food and clothes for some prisoners. She was unable to personally further her work for nearly four years because of difficulties within the Fry family, including financial difficulties in the Fry bank[clarification needed]. Fry returned in 1816 and was eventually able to fund a prison school for the children who were imprisoned with their mothers. She began a system of supervision and required the women to sew and to read the Bible. In 1817 she helped found the Association for the Reformation of the Female Prisoners in Newgate This association provided materials for women so that they could learn to sew and knit and once they were out of prison and then could earn money for themselves.[6] This led to the eventual creation of the British Ladies' Society for Promoting the Reformation of Female Prisoners in 1821,[7] described as constituting the first "nationwide" women's organisation in Britain.[citation needed] She also promoted the idea of rehabilitation instead of harsh punishment which was taken on by the city authorities in London as well as many other authorities and prisons.

Williams' pioneering accomplishment was that he brought about the successful implementation of the all-purpose credit card (in the sense that his project was not cancelled outright), not in coming up with the idea.[11] By the mid-1950s, the typical middle-class American already maintained revolving credit accounts with several different merchants, which was clearly inefficient and inconvenient due to the need to carry so many cards and pay so many separate bills each month.[12] The need for a unified financial instrument was already evident to the American financial services industry, but no one could figure out how to do it. There were already charge cards like Diners Club (which had to be paid in full at the end of each billing cycle), and "by the mid-1950s, there had been at least a dozen attempts to create an all-purpose credit card."[12] However, these prior attempts had been carried out by small banks which lacked the resources to make them work.[12] Williams and his team studied these failures carefully and believed they could avoid replicating those banks' mistakes; they also studied existing revolving credit operations at Sears and Mobil Oil to learn why they were successful.[13] Fresno was selected for its population of 250,000 (big enough to make a credit card work, small enough to control initial startup cost), BofA's market share of that population (45%), and relative isolation, to control public relations damage in case the project failed.[14]


Question: The golden age of India occurred during the reign of which ruler?

The Gupta Empire, a significant ancient Indian empire, experienced its peak from around 319 to 485 CE, encompassing a vast area of the Indian subcontinent. This era is widely recognized as the Golden Age of India. Established by Sri Gupta, the Gupta dynasty featured prominent rulers such as Chandragupta I, Samudragupta, and Chandragupta II. According to the 5th-century CE Sanskrit poet Kalidasa, the Guptas claimed victories over approximately twenty-one kingdoms, both within and beyond India's borders, including the Parasikas, the Hunas, the Kambojas, and various tribes situated in the western and eastern Oxus valleys, as well as the Kinnaras and Kiratas.

Sundiata's nephew Mansa Musa made a Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca during the reign of the Mamluk Sultan Baibars (r. 1260–1277). Following a series of usurpations of the throne of Mali, in c. 1285 Sakoura, a former royal court slave, became emperor and was one of its most powerful rulers, greatly expanding the territories of Mali. He made a pilgrimage to Mecca during the reign of Mamluk Sultan An-Nasir Muhammad (r. 1298–1308). Dying on his return, the throne reverted to the descendants of Sundiata Keita. After the reigns of three more emperors, Musa Keita became emperor in c. 1312. Musa made a famous pilgrimage to Mecca from 1324 to 1326. His generous gifts to Mamluk Egypt and his expenditure of gold caused gold to be greatly devalued, which gave rise to his fame outside of Mali. In 1337, he was succeeded by his son Maghan I, who in 1341 was deposed by his uncle Suleyman. It was during Suleyman's reign that Ibn Battuta visited Mali.[8]

The last known inscription by a Gupta emperor is from the reign of Vishnugupta (the Damodarpur copper-plate inscription),[55] in which he makes a land grant in the area of Kotivarsha (Bangarh in West Bengal) in 542/543 CE.[56] This follows the occupation of most of northern and central India by the Aulikara ruler Yashodharman circa 532 CE.[56]

There is controversy among scholars about the original homeland of the Guptas. Jayaswal has pointed out that the Guptas were originally inhabitants of Prayaga (Allahabad), Uttar Pradesh, in north India, as the vassal of the Nagas or Bhaarshivas. Thereafter they rose in prominence. Another scholar, Gayal supported the theory of Jayaswal, suggesting that the original home of the Guptas was Antarvedi and embracing the regions of Oudh and Prayag. These historians have derived their theory from several Gupta Dynasty coins found in those regions, and this study of numismatic evidence led to the theory that the Guptas were the original inhabitants of that region of northeastern India. However, another historian of this time in Indian history, D. K. Ganguly, has offered a different view about the original Gupta homeland. According to him the Guptas' homeland is further south, the Murshidabad region of Bengal, and not Magadha in Bihar. He based his theory on the statement of the Chinese Buddhist monk, Yijing (I-Tsing), who visited India during 675 and 695 CE. J. F. Fleet and other historians, however, criticize Ganguly's theory because Sri Gupta ruled during the end of the 3rd century, but Yijing placed him at the end of the 2nd century. Hence the theory of historians, who have provided their views based on the accounts of Yijing, are considered less valid than theories based on other sources such as coinage.

The origin of the dynasty is uncertain, but according to the Puranas, their first king overthrew the Kanva dynasty. In the post-Maurya era, the Satavahanas established peace in the Deccan region, and resisted the onslaught of foreign invaders. In particular their struggles with the Saka Western Satraps went on for a long time. The dynasty reached its zenith under the rule of Gautamiputra Satakarni and his successor Vasisthiputra Pulamavi. The kingdom fragmented into smaller states by the early 3rd century CE.

Arnoraja's younger son Vigraharaja IV greatly expanded the Chahamana territories, and captured Delhi from the Tomaras. His kingdom included parts of the present-day Rajasthan, Haryana, and Delhi. It probably also included a part of Punjab (to the south-east of Sutlej river) and a portion of the northern Gangetic plain (to the west of Yamuna).[22] His 1164 CE Delhi-Shivalik pillar inscription claims that he conquered the region between the Himalayas and the Vindhyas, and thus restored the rule of Aryans in Aryavarta. While this is an exaggeration, it is not completely baseless. The inscription was originally found in Topra village, near the Shivalik Hills (Himalayan foothills). Also, the exiled ruler of Malwa (Vindhyan region) possibly acknowledged his suzerainty. Thus Vigraharaja's influence extended from the Himalayas to the Vindhyas, at least in name.[23]

Skandagupta, son and successor of Kumaragupta I is generally considered to be the last of the great Gupta rulers. He assumed the titles of Vikramaditya and Kramaditya.[43] He defeated the Pushyamitra threat, but then was faced with invading Kidarites (sometimes described as the Hephthalites or "White Huns", known in India as the Sweta Huna), from the northwest.

According to economic historian Angus Maddison in Contours of the world economy, 1–2030 CE: essays in macro-economic history, India had the world's largest economy from 1 CE to 1000 CE. However, productivity did not grow during the period. Between 1000 and 1500, in the high medieval era (during the Delhi Sultanate), India began to experience GDP growth, but more slowly than East Asia, which overtook India to become the world's most productive region. Ming China and India remained the largest economies through 1600. India experienced its fastest economic growth under the Mughal Empire, during the 16th–18th centuries, boosting Mughal India above Qing China by 1700.[24]

After the sweeping victory of the Left Front in 1977, Jyoti Basu became the Chief Minister of the Left Front government, a position he held continuously for more than 23 years, a record in the country. Under his leadership, the Left Front government embarked on land reforms on a scale unprecedented in the country[citation needed]; it instituted a panchayati raj system which was radical for its times, which gave the poor peasants and small farmers a say in running the panchayati institutions. As per leftists, West Bengal became an oasis of communal harmony and secular values under his leadership as there were always reports of communal clashes in West Bengal[citation needed], while various measures were introduced to promote social and economic development in West Bengal, however these measures never fully gave results expected and West Bengal remains a poverty ridden state. Basic land reform was instituted, while irrigation and rural electrification were extended. In addition, India's first comprehensive system of democratic decentralisation was established. Agricultural production came out of a slump that it had been in for decades before the Left Front came to power, and during the Eighties and Nineties the state showed the highest rates of agricultural growth among the 17 most populous Indian states. As a result of institutional changes and agricultural growth, levels of nutrition improved and rural poverty declined noticeably.[11] One has to recall how as Chief Minister he dealt with the situation after the assassination of Indira Gandhi in 1984 when violence against Sikhs broke out in various parts of the country, but nothing was allowed to happen in West Bengal. Similarly he dealt firmly with efforts to instigate trouble after the demolition of the Babri Masjid in 1992. In 1996 Jyoti Basu seemed all set to be the consensus leader of the United Front for the post of Prime Minister of India. However, the CPI(M) Politburo decided not to participate in the government, a decision that Jyoti Basu later termed a historic blunder. H.D. Deve Gowda from the Janata Dal instead became prime minister. Basu resigned from the Chief Ministership of West Bengal in 2000 for health reasons, and was succeeded by fellow CPI(M) politician Buddhadeb Bhattacharya. As of 2014[update], Basu holds the record for being the longest-serving Chief Minister in Indian political history.[12]

The Age of Discovery brought a broad change in globalization, being the first period in which Eurasia and Africa engaged in substantial cultural, material and biologic exchange with the New World. It began in the late 15th century, when the two Kingdoms of the Iberian Peninsula – Portugal and Castile – sent the first exploratory voyages around the Cape of Good Hope and to the Americas, "discovered" in 1492 by Christopher Columbus. Shortly before the turn of the 16th century, Portuguese started establishing trading posts (factories) from Africa to Asia and Brazil, to deal with the trade of local products like slaves, gold, spices and timber, introducing an international business center under a royal monopoly, the House of India.[9]

The Mughal India's (1526â€“1858) economy was prosperous into the early 18th century.[26] Parthasarathi estimated that 28,000 tonnes of bullion (mainly from the New World) flowed into the Indian subcontinent between 1600 and 1800, equating to 20% of the world's production in the period.[27]


Question: When is World Consumer Rights Day observed?

World Consumer Rights Day is observed annually on March 15th. The focus for 2018 was on creating Fairer Digital Marketplaces, with Consumers International advocating for three key points: 1. Ensuring equitable and secure internet access for the more than half of the global population that remains unconnected. 2. Implementing measures against online scams and fraud. 3. Enhancing overall consumer protection in the digital sphere.

In Nepal, Children's Day (बाल दिवस) is celebrated on Bhadra 29 according to the Nepali Calendar (August-September)after signing the child rights agreement with UN. Earlier during the Shah Rule, Nepal used to observe Children's day on Bhadra 4 on the birthday of H.M. Queen Mother Ratna Rajya Laxmi Devi Shah. It is celebrated by conducting various programme on various institutions around Nepal. It was established as a holiday in 1990.

In September 2012, the Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations led the initiative for the education of children.[12] He firstly wants every child to be able to attend school, a goal by 2015.[12] Secondly, to improve the skill set acquired in these schools.[12] Finally, implementing policies regarding education to promote peace, respect and environmental concern.[12] Universal Children's Day is not just a day to celebrate children for who they are, but to bring awareness to children around the globe that have experienced violence in forms of abuse, exploitation and discrimination. Children are used as labourers in some countries, immersed in armed conflict, living on the streets, suffering by differences be it religion, minority issues, or disabilities.[13] Children feeling the effects of war can be displaced because of the armed conflict and may suffer physical and psychological trauma.[14] The following violations are described in the term "children and armed conflict": recruitment and child soldiers, killing/maiming of children, abduction of children, attacks on schools/hospitals and not allowing humanitarian access to children.[14] Currently there are about 153 million children between the ages of 5 and 14 who are forced into child labour.[15] The International Labour Organization in 1999 adopted the Prohibition and Elimination of the Worst Forms of Child Labour including slavery, child prostitution and child pornography.[15]

Children's Day is  celebrated across India to increase awareness of the rights, care and education of children.[1][2] It is celebrated on 14 November every year on the birth anniversary of the  first Prime Minister of India Jawaharlal Nehru also called 'Chacha Nehru'. Nehru is often cited as saying that children should always be carefully and lovingly nurtured, as they are the future of the nation and the citizens of tomorrow.[3]

The January Kalends (Latin: Kalendae Ianuariae) came to be celebrated as the new year at some point after it became the day for the inaugurating new consuls in 153 BC. Romans had long dated their years by these consulships, rather than sequentially, and making the kalends of January start the new year aligned this dating. Still, private and religious celebrations around the March new year continued for some time and there is no consensus on the question of the timing for January 1's new status.[6] Once it became the new year, however, it became a time for family gatherings and celebrations. A series of disasters, notably including the failed rebellion of M. Aemilius Lepidus in 78 BC, established a superstition against allowing Rome's market days to fall on the kalends of January and the pontiffs employed intercalation to avoid its occurrence.[7][8]

Saint Stephen's Day, or the Feast of Saint Stephen, is a Christian saint's day to commemorate Saint Stephen, the first Christian martyr or protomartyr, celebrated on 26 December in the Latin Church and 27 December in Eastern Christianity. The Eastern Orthodox Church adheres to the Julian calendar and mark Saint Stephen's Day on 27 December according to that calendar, which places it on 9 January of the Gregorian calendar used in secular contexts. In Latin Christian denominations, Saint Stephen's Day marks the second day of Christmastide.[1][2]

Boxing Day is a holiday celebrated in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and other Commonwealth countries. Boxing Day originated in England in the middle of the nineteenth century under Queen Victoria. For years in which the holiday falls on a weekend, the celebration is moved to make sure workers still get a day off (except in Canada, where it remains 26 Dec.) In the UK it is classed as a Bank Holiday.

In Maldives, Children's Day is celebrated on 10 May. On this day all the school children go to school to the event to celebrate Children's Day. The schools that are involved would also organize numerous activities for their pupils.

The National Youth Day is observed all over India at schools and collegesâ€”with processions, speeches, recitations, music, youth conventions, seminars, Yogasana presentation, competitions in essay-writing, recitations, speeches, music, sports, and other programs on 12 January every year.

Youth Day is celebrated on March 21 in Tunisia just after celebration of their independence.[4]

International Labour Day is observed in Pakistan on 1 May to commemorate the social and economic achievements of workers. It is a public and national holiday. All government and non-government organisations, factories and educational institutions remain closed on this day. Currently (2015), it is honoured by every single organisation in Pakistan to give respect to all those who worked, to those who are working and those who played a part in social as well as economic conditions.


Question: What is the purpose of a Jake Brake?

A compression release engine brake, commonly referred to as a Jake brake or Jacobs brake, is a braking system installed on diesel engines. Its function is to release the compressed air from the cylinders by opening the exhaust valves after the compression phase, effectively slowing down the vehicle. This braking mechanism serves as an auxiliary brake, providing additional stopping power and reducing wear on the vehicle's regular brakes.

Early spark arrestors were simply iron wire screens installed within the stack. This screen reduced the rate at which smoke and steam could escape from the boiler. Embers caught upon the screen further reduced available space for passing steam and smoke and heat generated by these burning embers rapidly melted the restraining wire screen. Chimney top diameters enlarged to increase screen surface area and reduce smoke velocity through the screen so embers might fall away from the screen into collection hoppers. Baldwin Locomotive Works compiled a diagram illustrating 57 different spark arresting chimney designs in response to an 1857 patent infringement claim.[4]

The system features an oil pressure operated device attached to the back of the standard gearbox operating on the gearbox output shaft. Through a system of oil pressure, solenoids and pistons, the overdrive would drop the revs on whatever gears it was used on by 22% (.778). For instance, the overdrive system applied to a Triumph TR5 operates on 2nd, 3rd and top gear. When engaged, the overdrive would drop the revs from 3000 by 666 RPM, or from 3500 the drop would be 777 RPM to 2723 net. The advantages this reduced rpm had on fuel consumption was most often quite near 22% decrease during highway driving.

From an accountant's viewpoint, the provision of reserve fuel costs money (the fuel needed to carry the hopefully unused reserve fuel). Techniques known variously as reclear, redispatch, or decision point procedure have been developed, which can greatly reduce the amount of reserve fuel needed while still maintaining all required safety standards. These techniques are based on having some specified intermediate airport to which the flight can divert if necessary;[2] in practice such diversions are rare. The use of such techniques can save several tons of fuel on long flights, or it can increase the payload carried by a similar amount.[4]

In 2009, an early warning system called ShakeAlarm was installed and commissioned in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It was placed to protect a piece of critical transportation infrastructure called the George Massey Tunnel, which connects the north and south banks of the Fraser River. In this application the system automatically closes the gates at the tunnel entrances if there is a dangerous seismic event inbound.[7] The success and the reliability of the system was such that as of 2015 there have been several additional installations on the west coast of Canada and the United States, and there are more being planned.

A cage gear, also called a lantern gear or lantern pinion, has cylindrical rods for teeth, parallel to the axle and arranged in a circle around it, much as the bars on a round bird cage or lantern. The assembly is held together by disks at each end, into which the tooth rods and axle are set. Cage gears are more efficient than solid pinions,[citation needed] and dirt can fall through the rods rather than becoming trapped and increasing wear. They can be constructed with very simple tools as the teeth are not formed by cutting or milling, but rather by drilling holes and inserting rods.

Using electromagnets with electronic switching comparable to electronic speed control it is possible to generate electromagnetic fields moving in an arbitrary direction. As described in the section above about eddy current brakes, a non-ferromagnetic conductor surface tends to rest within this moving field. When however this field is moving, a vehicle can be levitated and propulsed. This is comparable to a maglev but is not bound to a rail.[8]

When the motor moves a single step it overshoots the final resting point and oscillates round this point as it comes to rest. This undesirable ringing is experienced as motor vibration and is more pronounced in unloaded motors. An unloaded or under loaded motor may, and often will, stall if the vibration experienced is enough to cause loss of synchronisation.

Although some cars exist for the railroad's own use – for track maintenance purposes, for example – most carry a revenue-earning load of passengers or freight, and may be classified accordingly as passenger cars or coaches on the one hand or freight cars (or wagons) on the other.

Other advances in design include adjustable travel, allowing riders to adapt the fork's travel to the specific terrain (e.g. less travel for uphill or paved sections, more travel for downhill sections). Many forks feature the ability to lock out the travel. This completely eliminates or drastically reduces the fork's travel for more efficient riding over smooth sections of terrain. The lockout can sometimes be remotely controlled by a lever on the handlebars via a mechanical cable, or even through electronics.

Even when designed as a bearing joint, the surface friction between the clamped elements may be sufficient to resist movement for some time, especially when the building may not yet be fully loaded – thus it operates initially as a friction joint. When the lateral force becomes sufficient to overcome this friction, the clamped elements move until the sides of the holes bear against the shank of the bolt. This movement – "slip into bearing" – usually starts and stops very suddenly, often releasing elastic energy in the associated elements, resulting in a loud but harmless bang.[12]


Question: When does the letter X sound like a Z?

The letter X
In English, the letter X is not commonly used at the beginning of words. When it does start a word, it is often pronounced as /z/ (for example, in words like xylophone, xenophobia, and xanthan). In some recent loanwords or foreign names, X can also be pronounced as /s/ (as in the Vietnamese unit xu) or /ʃ/ (as in Chinese names starting with Xi like Xiaomi or Xinjiang). A majority of words beginning with X are of Greek origin or are standardized trademarks (like Xerox) or acronyms (like XC). In abbreviations, X can represent "trans-" (as in XMIT for transmit or XFER for transfer), "cross-" (as in X-ing for crossing or XREF for cross-reference), "Christ-" (as in Xmas for Christmas or Xian for Christian), the "crys-" in crystal (XTAL), or various words starting with "ex-" (such as XL for extra large or XOR for exclusive-or).

The long counterpart to short /a/ is sometimes misleadingly transcribed /ɑ/. This is often found in solely quality-distinctive transcriptions to avoid using a length mark. The actual pronunciation of long /a/ is [aː], which makes the vowel pair unique in that there is no significant quality difference. Regional realisations of /aː/ may be [æː] or  [ɛː] in north-central and (decreasingly) south-eastern Wales or sporadically as [ɑː] in some southern areas undoubtedly under the influence of English.[6]

Kennedy used the phrase twice in his speech, including at the end, pronouncing the sentence with his Boston accent and reading from his note "ish bin ein Bearleener", which he had written out using English orthography to approximate the German pronunciation. He also used classical Latin pronunciation of civis romanus sum, with the c pronounced /k/ and the v as /w/.

Carroll wrote the letter-combination ye throughout the poem instead of the word the, using the letter Y in place of the letter þ (Thorn) in combination with the superscript E, as in þe,[4] a common abbreviation for the word the in middle and early modern English, presumably to create a pseudo-archaic impression.

Inconveniently long words used frequently in related contexts can be represented according to their letter count. For example, i18n abbreviates internationalization, a computer-science term for adapting software for worldwide use. The 18 represents the 18 letters that come between the first and the last in internationalization. Localization can be abbreviated l10n, multilingualization m17n, and accessibility a11y. In addition to the use of a specific number replacing that many letters, the more general "x" can be used to replace an unspecified number of letters. Examples include Crxn for crystallization and the series familiar to physicians for history, diagnosis, and treatment (hx, dx, tx).

The hundredth V or X was marked with a box or circle. Thus 500 was like a Ↄ superimposed on a ⋌ or ⊢, becoming D or Ð by the time of Augustus, under the graphic influence of the letter ⟨D⟩. It was later identified as the letter D; an alternative symbol for "thousand" was (I) (or CIↃ or CꟾↃ), and half of a thousand or "five hundred" is the right half of the symbol, I) (or IↃ or ꟾↃ), and this may have been converted into ⟨D⟩.[15] This at least was the etymology given to it later on.

Stress in polysyllabic words occurs most commonly on the penultimate syllable, more rarely on the final syllable (e.g. verbs ending in -áu).[7] Exceptions can arise in relation to borrowings from foreign words, such as ambiwlans and testament, and words with an epenthetic echo vowel such as cenedl /ˈkɛnɛdɛl/. According to its positioning, related words or concepts (or even plurals) can sound quite different, as syllables are added to the end of a word and the stress moves correspondingly:

There is only one letter I in Irish, but i is undotted in the traditional uncial Gaelic script to avoid confusion of the tittle with the buailte overdot found over consonants. Modern texts replace the buailte with an h, and use the same antiqua-descendant fonts, which have a tittle, as other Latin-alphabet languages. However, bilingual road signs use dotless i in lowercase Irish text to better distinguish i from í. The letter "j" is not used in Irish other than in foreign words.

A prominent syllable or word is said to be accented or tonic; the latter term does not imply that it carries phonemic tone. Other syllables or words are said to be unaccented or atonic. Syllables are frequently said to be in pretonic or post-tonic position; certain phonological rules apply specifically to such positions. For instance, in American English, /t/ and /d/ are flapped in post-tonic position.

By the time of the Dead Sea Scrolls, /ɬ/ had shifted to /s/ in the Jewish traditions, though for the Samaritans it merged with /ʃ/ instead. (Elisha Qimron 1986. Hebrew of the Dead Sea Scrolls, 29). The Tiberian reading tradition of the Middle Ages had the vowel system /a ɛ e i ɔ o u ă ɔ̆ ɛ̆/, though other Medieval reading traditions had fewer vowels.

In the Greek original translated as English "jot and tittle" are found the words iota and keraia (Greek: κεραία).[3] Iota is the smallest letter of the Greek alphabet (ι). Alternatively, it may represent yodh (י), the smallest letter of the Hebrew and Aramaic alphabets. "Keraia" is a hook or serif, possibly referring to other Greek diacritics, or possibly to the hooks on Hebrew letters (ב) versus (כ) or cursive scripts for languages derived from Aramaic, such as Syriac, written in Serṭā (ܣܶܪܛܳܐ, 'short line'),[4] or for adding explicit vowel marks such as crowns (e.g. the Vulgate apex) known as Niqqud that developed with later scribal practices in the Torah. A keraia is also used in printing modern Greek numerals. In many abjads only consonants such as yodh in Hebrew have character forms; a word's phonetic pronunciation depends on unwritten or indistinct vowel markings such that many meanings can be rendered ambiguous or corrupted via oral transmission over time.


Question: Where did the Allies move to after the North Africa campaign?

After the successful conclusion of the North African Campaign, the Allies shifted their focus to the Italian Campaign. This strategic move was facilitated by the intelligence gathered through British Ultra code-breaking, which played a crucial role in the North African victory. The Italian Campaign resulted in the collapse of the fascist regime in Italy and significantly weakened Germany's position in Europe by neutralizing one of its key allies.

The Panzer Army Africa (Panzerarmee Afrika), composed of German and Italian infantry and mechanised units under Generalfeldmarschall Erwin Rommel, had struck deep into Egypt by 12 July 1942 after its success at the Battle of Gazala. This threatened the British Empire's control of the Suez Canal and Mandatory Palestine. General Claude Auchinleck withdrew the Eighth Army to within 80 kilometres (50 mi) of Alexandria to a point where the Qattara Depression came to within 64 kilometres (40 mi) of El Alamein on the coast. This gave the defenders a short front to defend and provided secure flanks because tanks could not traverse the Depression. The Axis advance was halted here in early July in the First Battle of El Alamein.

With the commencing of the Allies' Operation Torch against Vichy French-held Morocco and Algeria, Germany and Italy intervened in Vichy France and in Vichy French-held Tunisia. Italy seized military control over a significant portion of southern France and Corsica, while a joint German-Italian force seized control over most of Tunisia.[105] When the issue of sovereign control over Tunisia arose from seizure of control by the German-Italian force from Vichy French control, Ribbentrop proclaimed Italian predominance in Tunisia.[105] However, in spite of Germany's claim to respect Italian predominance, Germans supervised public services and local government in Tunisia, and the German presence was more popular in Tunisia with both the local Arab population and Vichy French collaborators since Germany had no imperial aspirations in Tunisia while Italy did.[105]

After their conquests in the Agrigentum campaign, and following several naval battles, Rome attempted (256/255 BC) the second large scale land operation of the war. Seeking a swifter end to the war than the long sieges in Sicily would have provided, Rome decided to invade the Carthaginian colonies of Africa and usurp Carthage's supremacy in the Mediterranean Sea, consequently forcing Carthage to accept its terms.[33][46]

The initial thrust had ended by Sunday. The Allies had advanced through the minefields in the west to make a 6 mi (9.7 km) wide and 5 mi (8.0 km) deep inroad. They now sat atop Miteirya Ridge in the south-east. Axis forces were firmly entrenched in most of their original battle positions and the battle was at a standstill. Montgomery decided that the planned advance southward from Miteirya Ridge by the New Zealanders would be too costly and instead decided that XXX Corps—while keeping firm hold of Miteirya—should strike northward toward the coast with 9th Australian Division. Meanwhile, 1st Armoured Division—on the Australians' left—should continue to attack west and north-west, and activity to the south on both Corps fronts would be confined to patrolling.[48] The battle would be concentrated at the Kidney feature and Tel el Eisa until a breakthrough occurred.

Hitler ordered Case Anton to occupy Corsica and then the rest of the unoccupied southern zone in immediate reaction to the landing of the Allies in North Africa (Operation Torch) on 8 November 1942. Following the conclusion of the operation on 12 November, Vichy's remaining military forces were disbanded. Vichy continued to exercise its remaining jurisdiction over almost all of metropolitan France, with the residual power devolved into the hands of Laval, until the gradual collapse of the regime following the Allied invasion in June 1944. On 7 September 1944, following the Allied invasion of France, the remainders of the Vichy government cabinet fled to Germany and established a puppet government in exile in the so-called Sigmaringen enclave. That rump government finally fell when the city was taken by the Allied French army in April 1945.

On the night of 2 November, Montgomery once again reshuffled his infantry in order to bring four brigades (5th Indian, 151st, 5th New Zealand and 154th) into reserve under XXX Corps to prepare for the next thrust. He also reinforced X Corps by moving 7th Armoured Division from army reserve and sending 4th Light Armoured Brigade from XIII Corps in the south. General von Thoma's report to Rommel that night said he would have at most 35 tanks available to fight the next day and his artillery and anti-tank weapons had been reduced to ⅓ of their strength at the start of the battle. Rommel concluded that to forestall a breakthrough and the resulting destruction of his whole army he must start withdrawing to the planned position at Fuka. He called up Ariete from the south to join the mobile Italian XX Corps around Tel el Aqqaqir. His mobile forces (XX Corps, Afrika Korps, 90th Light Division and 19th Flak Division) were ordered to make a fighting withdrawal while his other formations were to withdraw as best they could with the limited transport available.[98]

There were four distinct phases of the blockade. The first period was from the beginning of European hostilities in September 1939 to the end of the "Phoney War," during which the Allies and Axis Powers both intercepted neutral merchant ships to seize deliveries en route to the enemy. The blockade was rendered less effective because the Axis could get crucial materials from the Soviet Union until June 1941, while harbours in Spain were used to import war materials for Germany. The second period began after the rapid Axis occupation of the majority of the European landmass which gave them control of major centres of industry and agriculture. The third period was from the end of 1941 after the beginning of hostilities between the United States and the Empire of Japan. The final period came after the tide of war finally turned against the Axis after heavy military defeats up to and after D-Day, which led to a gradual withdrawal from the occupied territories in the face of the overwhelming Allied military offensive.[1]

After the German Army invaded the Soviet Union in June 1941, the Soviet leader Joseph Stalin began pressing his allies for the creation of a second front in western Europe.[14] In late May 1942 the Soviet Union and the United States made a joint announcement that a "... full understanding was reached with regard to the urgent tasks of creating a second front in Europe in 1942."[15] However, British Prime Minister Winston Churchill persuaded American President Franklin D. Roosevelt to postpone the promised invasion as, even with American help, the Allies did not have adequate forces for such an activity.[16]

The strong wind also made matters difficult for the amphibious landings but also ensured surprise as many of the defenders had assumed that no one would attempt a landing in such poor conditions.[52] Landings were made in the early hours of 10 July on 26 main beaches spread along 105 miles (169 km) of the southern and eastern coasts of the island between the town of Licata [53] where the U.S. 3rd Infantry Division, under the command of Major General Lucian Truscott, landed at Torre di Gaffe, red beach, and Mollarella and Poliscia, green beaches in the west, and Cassibile in the east,[54] with British and Canadian forces in the east and Americans toward the west. This constituted the largest amphibious operation of World War II in terms of size of the landing zone and the number of divisions put ashore on the first day.[55] The Italian defensive plan did not contemplate a pitched battle on the beaches and so the landings themselves were somewhat anti-climactic.[56]

At first Adolf Hitler did not encourage Franco's offer, as he was convinced of eventual victory. In August 1940, when Hitler became serious about having Spain enter the war, a major problem that emerged was the German demand for air and naval bases in Spanish Morocco and the Canaries, which Franco was completely opposed to.[8] After the victory over France, Hitler had revived Plan Z (shelved in September 1939) for having a huge fleet with the aim of fighting the United States, and he wanted bases in Morocco and the Canary islands for the planned showdown with America.[9] The American historian Gerhard Weinberg wrote: "The fact that Germans were willing to forgo Spain's participation in the war rather than abandon their plans for naval bases on and off the coast of Northwest Africa surely demonstrates the centrality of this latter issue to Hitler as he looked forward to naval war with the United States".[10] In September, when the Royal Air Force had demonstrated its resilience in defeating the Luftwaffe in the Battle of Britain, Hitler promised Franco help in return for its active intervention. This had become part of a strategy to forestall Allied intervention in north-west Africa. Hitler promised that "Germany would do everything in its power to help Spain" and would recognise Spanish claims to French territory in Morocco, in exchange for a share of Moroccan raw materials. Franco responded warmly, but without any firm commitment. Falangist media agitated for irredentism, claiming for Spain the regions of Catalonia and the Basque Country which were under French administration.[11][12]


Question: What film features the song "Count on Me" by Bruno Mars?

The song "Count On Me" by Bruno Mars is featured in the animated film "A Turtle's Tale: Sammy's Adventures" and the TV show "Suburgatory." It has also been used in commercials for the Blue Cross Blue Shield Association and a Hyundai commercial during the Super Bowl XLVIII’s fourth quarter. The song was included in the relief album "Songs for the Philippines" to aid the victims of Typhoon Haiyan, and it is featured in the film "Diary of a Wimpy Kid: The Long Haul."

"Part of Me" was used in a national marketing campaign for The Sims 3 limited-edition expansion pack, The Sims 3: Showtime. Perry filmed a 30-second commercial, in which she performed the song onstage as a Sim version of herself. The expansion pack includes Katy Perry-themed items, inspired by the concept and artwork of her album Teenage Dream (2010), that players can use on their own Sims.[66] In May 2012, Perry signed a deal with Pepsi to promote Katy Perry: Part of Me. This deal was a part of Pepsi's first global campaign titled, "Live For Now" which partners with entertainment artists and properties to promote their work.[67] "Part of Me" was used in a series of trailers as part of this deal as well as various other media related campaigns to promote the film.[62] The track is available as downloadable content for the video game Just Dance 2014.[68]. It's also DLC on Just Dance 4, as the only DLC released when the game came out

The accompanying music video was filmed in Johannesburg, South Africa,[7][25] and was directed by British director Sophie Muller back-to-back with the video for "Better in Time".[7][26] It premiered on Lewis official website and BBC Radio 1's website on 27 February 2008.[27] The video begins with the message "Working to change lives across the world, in support of Sport Relief". Then, it intercuts a performance of Lewis in front of a wall and greyscale scenes: an image of a child walking on a landfill site, a funeral, a child lying in the street, and a kid sat in a traffic island. As the first chorus begins, the video continues showing scenes of poverty and AIDS issues in the country. Whilst the second verse goes, pictures of malnourished people appears. As the second chorus and the bridge elapse people crying still coming on the scene. But whereas The Tuff Session Singers start to sing the third chorus, the video begins to show images of kids playing association football and cricket. The video ends with children smiling as Lewis sings the outro of the song. It was released on the US iTunes Store on 3 February 2009.[28]

Another video was created for the So So Def remix, but it does not feature Carey or the hip-hop musicians that perform in the song.[50] Instead, the video is animated and based on a scene in the video from Carey's "Heartbreaker" (1999). It features cartoon cameo appearances by Carey, Jermaine Dupri, Bow Wow, Luis Miguel (Carey's boyfriend at the time), Carey's dog Jack, and Santa Claus. Kris Kringle is credited with directing the music video.[50] Since 2009, the song has been included in a music video accompanying ESPN's (and their sister station, ABC) Christmas Day coverage of the NBA.[60][64] The music video for the duet featuring Bieber was filmed in Macy's department store in New York City, and features Bieber shopping with his friends whilst Carey is seen singing in the background.[54]

"Footprints in the Sand" is a song recorded by British singer Leona Lewis for her debut studio album Spirit (2007). It was written by Simon Cowell, David Kreuger, Per Magnusson, Richard Page, and produced by Steve Mac. The song was digitally released as Lewis's third single on 9 March 2008 in the United Kingdom. Sony BMG and Syco Music launched it as a double A-side with "Better in Time", and "You Bring Me Down" as the B-side.

Lyrically, the song is a midtempo pop number about restoring someone's faith in love and family relationships.[1][5] The song starts with a woman's recollection of her father abandoning his family; by the chorus, she finds a new man in her life, whom she describes as someone who, "piece by piece", had restored her "faith that a man can be kind and a father could stay".[6][7] Written in a first-person narrative, Clarkson introspectively co-wrote the song to her father, whose abandonment of his family when she was six years old was utilized as a juxtaposition in contrast to her husband's unconditional love to her and their daughter, whom they had both promised in the song to never leave behind.[2][8][9][10]

In 1979, the song was also recorded by the English singer Marianne Faithfull. Taken from her 1979 album Broken English, it was released as a single in October 1979 and has become one of her highest charted songs. It is featured on the soundtracks to the films Montenegro, Tarnation and Thelma & Louise. Faithfull also performed the song during a guest appearance in the episode "Donkey" from the fourth season of Absolutely Fabulous, in which God (Faithfull) sings the song in a dream to a miserable, dieting Edina. In 2016, the Faithfull version was used in the finale of American Horror Story: Hotel.

Alexandra Patsavas, music supervisor for the Twilight films, explained the choice of Mars was due to the wedding, in which Part 1 is centered, "who more appropriate than Bruno Mars to write a timeless, classic wedding song?"[3] The Breaking Dawn – Part 1 soundtrack was released on November 8, 2011.[1] "It Will Rain" is the third song featured in the end credits of, the franchise's fourth movie, The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn – Part 1.[3][4]

In 2006, a lounge music style cover of the song by Trombo Combo was included on their covers album Trombo Combo: Swedish Sound Deluxe.[99] A hi-NRG-eurodance cover by Jayne Montgomery was released through Almighty Records.[100] In the 2009 compilation Punk Goes Pop 2, a cover of the song by metalcore band August Burns Red was included along with a cover of "Toxic" by A Static Lullaby.[101][102] Music duo Doll Factory included a cover of the song as a bonus track on later printings of their album Weightless.[103] Singer-songwriter Christopher Dallman released an EP titled Sad Britney that includes a cover of the song along with covers of "Toxic", "Gimme More" and "Radar".[104] The song has also been covered by Brainshake, Intwine, Kevorkian, P.T. Grimm and the Dead Puppies, Jenny Owen Youngs, Neil Sahgal and Annie Bethancourt, among others.[86] In the 2010 Glee episode "Britney/Brittany", the character of Rachel Berry, played by Lea Michele, covered the song using similar outfits to the ones of the music video. Spears also made a cameo, taking the teacher's role, previously played by Cullota.[105] Darren Criss also of Glee performed a mash-up of "...Baby One More Time" with "Für Elise" on Sing Out, Raise Hope for The Trevor Project and the Elizabeth Glaser Pediatric AIDS Foundation in December 2011.[106] In 2012, British singer Ed Sheeran performed an acoustic version of the song NOW 100.5 FM.[107] A year later he covered it on The Elvis Duran Z100 Morning Show and added a rap verse.[108] The song is sung by actresses Selena Gomez, Vanessa Hudgens, Ashley Benson and Rachel Korine in Harmony Korine's film Spring Breakers.[109] Swedish singer Tove Styrke released a cover of the song on July 24, 2015.[110] The song was also covered and used for a Frogz singing toy in 2005.[111]

In 2013, the song was featured in the Daniel Radcliffe horror fantasy film, Horns.

In Moneyball she performs a cover of Lenka's song "The Show", which is included on the soundtrack to the film.[3]