document_title: Portal:India/Today's selected article/December 2006

question_text: which indian city's name literally means 'land of the thunderbolt'

question_tokens: which indian city 's name literally means ' land of the thunderbolt '

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text: Portal:India/Today's selected article/December 2006

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text: Mumbai (formerly known as Bombay) is the capital of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the most populous  Indian city. Mumbai is located on an island off the west coast of India. The city, which has a deep natural harbour, is also the largest port in western India, handling over half of India's passenger traffic. Mumbai is the commercial capital of India, and houses important financial institutions such as the Reserve Bank of India, the Bombay Stock Exchange and the corporate headquarters of many Indian companies. Owing to the immense business opportunities available in Mumbai and relatively high standard of living, it has attracted migrants from all over India and South Asia, making the city a potpourri of various communities and cultures. Within Mumbai is located Bollywood, the epicentre of the country's Hindi film and television industry, producing the world's highest number of films annually. Mumbai is also one of the rare cities to accommodate a National Park within its municipal limits.  (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Satyajit Ray – History of Tamil Nadu – Fundamental Rights, Directive Principles and Fundamental Duties of India

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text: The economy of India is the fourth-largest in the world as measured by purchasing power parity (PPP), with a GDP of $3.3 trillion.  When measured in USD exchange rates it is the tenth largest in the world, with a GDP of $691.8 billion. However India's huge population results in a relatively low per capita income ($3,100 at PPP). Services are the major source of economic growth in India today, though two-thirds of Indian workforce earn their livelihood directly or indirectly through agriculture. In recent times, India has also capitalised on its large number of highly-educated populace fluent in the English language to become a major exporter of software services, financial services and software engineers. For most of India's independent history, a socialist inspired approach was adhered to, with strict government control and regulation on private sector participation, foreign trade and foreign direct investment. Since the early 1990s, India has gradually opened up its markets through economic reforms by reducing government controls on foreign trade and investment. The socio-economic problems India faces are the burgeoning population, growing inequality, lack of infrastructure, growing unemployment and growing poverty. (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Mumbai – Satyajit Ray – History of Tamil Nadu

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text: The Indian Institutes of Technology (Hindi: भारतीय प्रौद्योगिकी संस्थान), or IITs, are a group of seven autonomous engineering and technology-oriented institutes of higher education established and declared as Institutes of National Importance by the Government of India. These institutes were created to train scientists and engineers to develop a skilled workforce with the aim of bolstering India's economic and social development after independence in 1947. The students and alumni of IITs are colloquially referred to as IITians. The first IIT was established at Kharagpur in 1951, followed by similar establishments at Mumbai, Chennai, Kanpur, Delhi, Guwahati and Roorkee. Although each IIT is an autonomous university, they are linked  through a common IIT Council to oversee their administration. They have a common admission process, using the Joint Entrance Examination (popularly known as IIT-JEE) to select around 4,000 candidates. About 15,500 undergraduate and 12,000 graduate students study in the seven IITs in addition to research scholars. Many IITians have achieved success in a variety of professions, resulting in the establishment of the widely recognised IIT Brand. The success of the IITs has led to the creation of similar institutes in other fields, such as the National Institutes of Technology, the Indian Institutes of Management and the Indian Institute of Information Technology.  (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Economy of India – Mumbai – Satyajit Ray

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text: Kolkata is the capital of the Indian state of West Bengal and was capital of British India until 1912. The city's name was officially changed from  Calcutta to Kolkata in January 2001. The urban agglomeration of Kolkata covers several municipal corporations, municipalities, city boards and villages and is the third largest urban agglomeration in India after Mumbai and Delhi. As per the census of 2001, the urban agglomeration's population was 13,216,546 while that of the city was 4,580,544. Kolkata city's population growth has been pretty low in the last decade. The city is situated on the banks of the Hoogli River (a distributary of the Ganges). Some of the renowned engineering marvels associated with Kolkata include the bridges like, Howrah Bridge, Vivekananda Setu and Vidyasagar Setu. Kolkata is the main business, commercial and financial hub of eastern India. The city's economic fortunes turned the tide as the early nineties economic liberalization in India reached Kolkata's shores during late nineties.  (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Indian Institutes of Technology – Economy of India – Mumbai

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text: The Tamil people are an ethnic group from South Asia with a recorded history going back almost two millennia. The oldest Tamil communities are those of southern India and north-eastern Sri Lanka. Unlike many ethnic groups, the Tamils have at no time been governed by a single political entity; Tamil̲akam, the traditional name for the Tamil lands, has always been under the rule of more than one kingdom or state. Despite this, the Tamil cultural identity has always been strong. Historically, this identity has been primarily linguistic, with Tamils being those whose first language was Tamil. In recent times, however, the definition has been broadened to also include emigrants of Tamil descent who maintain Tamil traditions, even when they no longer speak the language. Tamils are ethnically, linguistically and culturally related to the other Dravidian peoples of South Asia. There are an estimated 74 million Tamils around the world. Most Indian Tamils live in the state of Tamil Nadu, which includes the major part of the former Madras Presidency. Morover, Tamils are in a clear majority in the union territory of Puducherry, a former French colony which is a subnational enclave situated geographically within Tamil Nadu. (more...).

text: Recently appeared: Kolkata – Indian Institutes of Technology – Economy of India

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text: Norman Borlaug is an American agricultural scientist, humanitarian, Nobel laureate, and the father of the Green Revolution. During the mid-20th century, Borlaug led the introduction of his grain and modern agricultural production techniques to Mexico, Pakistan, and India. As a result, Mexico became a net exporter of wheat by 1963. Between 1965 and 1970, wheat yields nearly doubled in Pakistan and India, greatly improving the food security in those nations. These collective increases in yield have been labeled the Green Revolution, and Borlaug is often credited with saving over a billion people from starvation. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1970 in recognition of his contributions to world peace through increasing food supply. More recently, he has helped apply these methods of increasing food production to Asia and Africa. Borlaug has continually advocated the use of his methods and biotechnology to decrease world famine;  although his work has faced environmental and socioeconomic criticisms, he has repudiated most of those accusations. In 1986, he established the World Food Prize to recognize individuals who have improved the quality, quantity or availability of food around the globe.  (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Tamil people – Kolkata – Indian Institutes of Technology

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text: Sikkim is a landlocked  Indian state nestled in the Himalayas. It is the least populous state in India, and the second smallest.  Sikkim was an independent state  ruled by the Chogyal monarchy until 1975, when a referendum to make it India's twenty-second state succeeded. The thumb-shaped state borders Nepal in the west, Tibet to the north and east, and Bhutan in the south-east. The Indian state of West Bengal borders Sikkim to its south. The official language is  Nepali, and the predominant religions are Hinduism and Vajrayana Buddhism. Gangtok is the capital and largest town. Despite its small size, Sikkim is geographically diverse, owing to its location at the Himalayan foothills. Terrain ranges from tropical in the south to tundra in the north.  Kanchenjunga, the world's third highest peak, is located in Sikkim, straddling its northern border with Nepal. Sikkim has become one of India's most visited states owing to its reputation for untouched scenic beauty and political stability. (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Norman Borlaug – Tamil people – Kolkata

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text: Bengali or Bangla (বাংলা, Bengali pronunciation: [ˈbaŋla]) is an Indo-Aryan language of East South Asia, evolved from Prakrit, Pāli and Sanskrit. Bengali is native to the region of eastern South Asia known as Bengal, which comprises present day Bangladesh and the Indian state of West Bengal. With nearly 200 million native speakers, Bengali is one of the most widely spoken languages in the world (it is ranked between fourth and seventh). Bengali is the main language spoken in Bangladesh; in India, Bengali is ranked as either the second or third most spoken language. Along with Assamese, it is geographically the most eastern of the Indo-European languages.  (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Sikkim – Norman Borlaug – Tamil people

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text: Mahatma Gandhi(Gujarati: મોહનદાસ કરમચંદ ગાંધી; Hindi: मोहनदास करमचंद गांधी was the charismatic intellectual and mass-movement leader who brought the cause of independence for British colonial India to world attention.  His ideas, especially the satyagraha model of non-violent protest, have influenced both nationalist and internal movements throughout the world. By means of non-violent civil disobedience, Gandhi helped bring about India's independence from British rule, inspiring other colonial peoples to work for their own independence and ultimately dismantle the British Empire and replace it with the Commonwealth of Nations. Gandhi's principle of satyagraha ('"truth force"), often roughly translated as "way of truth" or "pursuit of truth," has inspired other democratic activists, including Martin Luther King, Jr. and Nelson Mandela. He often stated his values were simple, drawn from traditional Hindu beliefs: truth (satya), and non-violence (ahimsa).  (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Bengali language – Sikkim – Norman Borlaug

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text: Black pepper is a flowering vine in the family Piperaceae, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. Black pepper is native to southern India and is extensively cultivated there and elsewhere in tropical regions. The fruit is a small drupe five millimetres in diameter, dark red when fully mature, containing a single seed. Dried and ground pepper is one of the most common spices in European cuisine and its descendants, having been known and prized since antiquity for both its flavour and its use as a medicine. The spiciness of black pepper is due to the chemical piperine. Ground black peppercorn, usually referred to simply as "pepper", may be found on nearly every dinner table in some parts of the world, often alongside its frequent companion, table salt. (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Mahatma Gandhi – Bengali language – Sikkim

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text: Darjeeling is a hill station (a hill town) in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of Darjeeling district, situated in the Shiwalik Hills (or Lower Himalaya) at an average elevation of 2,134 m above sea level. Once ruled by the Kingdom of Sikkim, the Darjeeling region was converted into a hill station by the British East India Company in the 1800s, and came to be known as the "Queen of the Hills." It remained as a part of the state of West Bengal in independent India. The name Darjeeling is a composition of two Tibetan words – Dorje ("thunderbolt") and ling ("place"). Hence, darjeeling translates as "Land of the Thunderbolt".

text: Darjeeling is famous for its tea industry, which produces blends considered among the world's finest. Once used as a sanitarium for British troops and administrators, the town is now a popular tourist destination. The Darjeeling Himalayan Railway connecting the town with the plains was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1999. Darjeeling is noted for several western-style public schools attracting students from all over India and neighbouring countries. The town was a major centre of Gorkhaland separatism in the 1980s, resulting in a decrease in tourism-related commerce. Darjeeling has continued to grow in the recent years and the region's fragile ecology is threatened by a rising demand for environmental resources stemming from growing tourist traffic and rapid urbanisation.  (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Black pepper – Mahatma Gandhi – Bengali language

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text: The political integration of India established a united nation for the first time in thousands of years from a plethora of princely states, colonial provinces and possessions. Despite partition, a new India arose above demographic distinctions to unite peoples of various geographic, economic, ethnic, linguistic and religious backgrounds. India was transformed after independence through political upheaval and ethnic discontent, and continues to evolve as a federal republic natural to its diversity. The process is defined by sensitive religious conflicts between Hindus and Muslims, diverse ethnic populations, as well as by geo-political rivalry and military conflicts with Pakistan and China. When the Indian independence movement succeeded in ending British Raj on August 15, 1947, India's leaders faced the prospect of inheriting a nation fragmented between medieval-era kingdoms and provinces organized by colonial powers. Under the leadership of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, one of India's most respected freedom fighters and the Minister of Home Affairs, the new Government of India employed frank political negotiations backed with the option of military action to weld a nation. (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Darjeeling – Black pepper – Mahatma Gandhi

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text: Nathu La Pass is a mountain pass in the Himalayas mountain ranges. It is located on the Indo-China border connecting the Indian state of Sikkim with Yadong County in Tibet Autonomous Region of People's Republic of China. The pass, at 4,508 m (14,790 ft) above mean sea level, forms part of an offshoot of the ancient Silk Road. The name Nathu literally means "listening ears", and La means "Pass" in Tibetan. It can also spelled Ntula, Natu La, Nathula, or Natula.

text: Nathu La is one of the three trading border posts shared between China and India. Closed after the 1962 Sino-Indian War, the pass was re-opened in 2006 following numerous bilateral trade agreements. The opening bolstered the economy of the region and is expected to play key role in the Sino-Indian trade. The pass is used for export of 29 goods from Indian side and 15 goods from Chinese side. The opening of the pass also shortens the travel distance to important Hindu and Buddhist pilgrimage sites.  (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Political integration of India – Darjeeling – Black pepper

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text: The Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, also known as the Second Kashmir War, was the culmination of a series of skirmishes that occurred between April 1965 and September 1965 between India and Pakistan. The war was the second fought between India and Pakistan over the region of Kashmir, the first having been fought in 1947. The war lasted five weeks, resulted in thousands of casualties on both sides and ended in a United Nations (UN) mandated ceasefire. It is generally accepted that the war began following the failure of Pakistan's "Operation Gibraltar" which was designed to infiltrate and invade Jammu and Kashmir.

text: Much of the war was fought by the countries' land forces in the region of Kashmir and along the International Border (IB) between India and Pakistan. The war also involved a limited participation from the countries' respective air forces. This war saw the largest amassing of troops in Kashmir, a number that was overshadowed only during the 2001-2002 military standoff between India and Pakistan. Most of the war was fought on land by each country's infantry and armored units, with substantial backing from their air forces. Many details of this war, like those of most Indo-Pakistani Wars, remain unclear and riddled with media biases.  (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Nathu La – Political integration of India – Darjeeling

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text: Lage Raho Munna Bhai is a 2006  Bollywood comedy directed by Rajkumar Hirani and produced by Vinod Chopra Productions. It is the second film of the Munna Bhai series, preceded by Munna Bhai M.B.B.S. Apart from having the same main characters, the film bears little relation to the previous edition and does not continue the plot in a sequel format. It stars Sanjay Dutt, Arshad Warsi, Vidya Balan, Boman Irani, Dilip Prabhavalkar, and Dia Mirza.

text: In this movie, Munna Bhai (a bhai or a Tapori, a leader in the Mumbai underworld) meets the ghost of Mahatma Gandhi who teaches him the principles of Gandhian philosophy. Inspired by these ideals, he and his sidekick, Circuit are start promoting Gandhism, which Munna Bhai calls "Gandhigiri". This particular use of an underlying moral is a tradmark of Vidhu Vinod Chopra and has distinguished it from other Bollywood films. The movie was a major hit in India and was ranked #1 on the box office for a period of eight weeks since its release.  (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 – Nathu La – Political integration of India

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text: West Bengal (Bengali: পশ্চিমবঙ্গ, Poshchimbôŋgo) is a state in eastern India. With Bangladesh, which lies on its eastern border, the state forms the ethno-linguistic region of Bengal. To its northeast lie the states of Assam and Sikkim and the country Bhutan, and to its southwest, the state of Orissa. To the west it borders the state of Jharkhand and Bihar, and to the northwest, Nepal.

text: The region that is now West Bengal was a part of a number of empires and kingdoms during the past two millennia. The British East India Company cemented their hold on the region following the Battle of Plassey in 1757 CE, and the city of Kolkata, then Calcutta, served for many years as the capital of British India. A hotbed of the Indian independence movement through the early 20th century, Bengal was divided in 1947 into two separate entities, West Bengal - a state of India, and East Pakistan belonging to the new nation of Pakistan.

text: Following India's independence in 1947, West Bengal's economic and political theatres were dominated for many decades by intellectual Marxism, Naxalite movements and trade unionism. From late 1990s, economic rejuvenation led to a spurt in the state's economic and industrial growth. An agriculture-dependent state, West Bengal occupies only 2.7% of the India's land area, though it supports over 7.8% of Indian population, and is the most densely populated state in India. West Bengal has been ruled by the CPI(M)-led Left Front for three decades, making it the world's longest-running democratically-elected communist government. Many notable poets, writers, artists and performers are native to West Bengal.  (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Lage Raho Munna Bhai – Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 – Nathu La

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text: The Chola dynasty (Tamil: சோழர் குலம்) was a Tamil dynasty that ruled primarily in southern India until the 13th century CE. The dynasty originated in the fertile valley of the Kaveri River. Territories under their domain stretched from the islands of Maldives in the south to as far north as the banks of the river Ganges in Bengal. The dynasty was at the height of its power during the tenth and the eleventh centuries. Under Rajaraja Chola I (Rajaraja the Great) and his son Rajendra Chola, the dynasty rose as a military, economic and cultural power in Asia. The legacy of Chola rule has lasted in the region through modern times. Their patronage of Tamil literature and their zeal in building temples have resulted in some great works of Tamil architecture and poetry. The Chola kings were avid builders and envisioned the temples in their kingdoms not only as places of worship, but also as centres of economic activity, benefiting their entire community. They pioneered a centralised form of government and established a disciplined bureaucracy.  (more...)

text: Recently appeared: West Bengal – Lage Raho Munna Bhai – Indo-Pakistani War of 1965

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text: Rabindranath Tagore (May 7, 1861 – August 7, 1941), also known by the sobriquet Gurudev, was a Bengali poet, Brahmo (syncretic Hindu monotheist) philosopher, visual artist, playwright, composer, and novelist whose avant-garde works reshaped Bengali literature and music in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. A celebrated cultural icon of Bengal, he became Asia's first Nobel laureate when he won the 1913 Nobel Prize in Literature.

text: A Calcuttan Pirali Brahmin by birth, Tagore began writing poems at the age of eight; he published his first substantial poetry — using the pseudonym "Bhānusiṃha" ("Sun Lion") — in 1877 and wrote his first short stories and dramas at age sixteen. His home schooling, life in Shelidah, and extensive travels made Tagore an iconoclastic pragmatist; however, growing disillusionment with the British Raj caused the internationalist Tagore to back the Indian Independence Movement and befriend Mahatma Gandhi. Despite the loss of virtually his entire family and his regrets regarding Bengal's decline, his life's work — Visva-Bharati University — endured.  (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Chola dynasty – West Bengal – Lage Raho Munna Bhai

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text: Goa is India's smallest state in terms of area and the second smallest in terms of population after Sikkim. It is located on the west coast of India, in the region known as the Konkan, and is bounded by the state of Maharashtra to the north, and Karnataka to the east and south. The Arabian Sea makes up the state's west coast. Panaji is the state's capital, and Margao the largest town. A former colony of Portugal, Goa was ruled by the Portuguese for almost 450 years until 1961, when it was forcibly taken, after demands for a merger with India failed. Internationally renowned for its beaches, Goa is visited by thousands of foreign and domestic tourists each year. Besides beaches, Goa is also known for its world heritage architecture including the Bom Jesus Basilica. Goa also has rich flora and fauna, owing to its location on the Western Ghats range, which are classified as a biodiversity hotspot, one of only three among the ecoregions of India. (more...).

text: Recently appeared: Rabindranath Tagore – Chola dynasty – West Bengal

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text: Tamil is a classical language and one of the major languages belonging to the Dravidian language family. It is predominantly spoken in South India and Sri Lanka, with smaller communities of speakers in many other countries.  As of 1996, it was the 18th most spoken language in the world with over 74 million speakers worldwide.

text: As one of the few living classical languages, Tamil has an unbroken literary tradition of over two millennia. The written language has changed little during this period, with the result that classical literature is as much a part of everyday Tamil as modern literature.  Tamil schoolchildren, for example, are still taught the alphabet using the átticúdi, an alphabet rhyme written around the first century CE.

text: The name 'Tamil' is an anglicised form of the native name தமிழ் (IPA /tæmɪɻ/).  The final letter of the name, usually transcribed as the lowercase l or zh, is a retroflex r believed to only exist in Tamil and Malayalam. In phonetic transcriptions, it is usually represented by the retroflex approximant.  (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Goa – Rabindranath Tagore – Chola dynasty

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text: K. R. Narayanan (4 February 1921 — 9 November 2005) was the tenth President of the Republic of India. He is the only Dalit and the only Malayali to have held the Presidency. Born in the southern state of Kerala, and after a brief stint with journalism and studying political science at the London School of Economics with the assistance of a scholarship, Narayanan began his political career in India as a member of the Indian Foreign Service under the Nehru administration. He has served as ambassador to Japan, United Kingdom, Thailand, Turkey, People's Republic of China and United States of America and was referred by Nehru as "the best diplomat of the country". He entered politics at Indira Gandhi's request and won three successive general elections to the Lok Sabha and has served as a Minister of state in the Union cabinet under Rajiv Gandhi. Elected as Vice-President in 1992, Narayanan went on to become the President of India in 1997.

text: In India, where the office of the President is largely ceremonial without executive  powers, Narayanan was regarded as an independent and assertive President who set several precedents and enlarged the scope of the highest constitutional office. He described himself as a "working President" who worked "within the four corners of the Constitution"; something midway between an "executive President" who has direct power and a "rubber-stamp President" who endorses government decisions without question or deliberation. He used his discretionary powers as a President and deviated from conventions and precedents in many a situation including but not limited to— the  appointment of the Prime Minister in a hung Parliament situation, in dismissing a state government and imposition of President's rule there at the suggestion of the Union Cabinet, and the Kargil conflict. He set a new precent in the country's general election of 1998 by becoming the first Indian President to vote.  (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Tamil language – Goa – Rabindranath Tagore

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text: Greco-Buddhism is the cultural syncretism between the culture of Classical Greece and Buddhism, which developed over a period of close to 800 years in Central Asia in the area corresponding to modern-day Afghanistan and Pakistan, between the 4th century BCE and the 5th century CE. Greco-Buddhism influenced the artistic (and, possibly, conceptual) development of Buddhism, and in particular Mahayana Buddhism, before it was adopted by Central and Northeastern Asia from the 1st century CE, ultimately spreading to China, Korea and Japan. Numerous Greco-Buddhist works of art display the intermixing of Greek and Buddhist influences, around such creation centers as Gandhara.  The subject matter of Gandharan art was definitely Buddhist, while most motifs were of Western Asiatic or Hellenistic origin. The interaction between Hellenistic Greece and Buddhism started when Alexander the Great conquered Asia Minor and Central Asia in 334 BCE, going as far as the Indus, thus establishing direct contact with India, the birthplace of Buddhism.  (more...)

text: Recently appeared: K. R. Narayanan – Tamil language – Goa

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text: The Flag of India, sometimes also known as the Tiranga, which means tricolour in Hindi, was adopted as the national flag of the Republic of India on July 22, 1947, during an ad hoc meeting of the Constituent Assembly just before India's independence on August 15 1947. In India, the term "tricolour" almost always refers to the Indian national flag. The flag is a horizontal tricolour of saffron at the top, white in the middle and green at the bottom. In the centre is a navy blue wheel with twenty-four spokes, known as the Ashoka Chakra, taken from the Ashoka pillar at Sarnath. The flag is also the Indian army's war flag, hoisted daily on military installations. The Indian National Flag was designed by Pingali Venkayya. Official flag specification requires that the flag be made only of khadi–a special type of hand-spun yarn. The display and use of the flag are strictly enforced by the Indian Flag Code. A few days before India gained its freedom in August 1947, the Constituent Assembly set up an ad hoc committee headed by Rajendra Prasad. The Flag Committee was constituted on 1947-06-23 and after three weeks they came to a decision on 1947-07-14, being that the flag of the Indian National Congress should be adopted as the National Flag of India with suitable modifications. The "Dharma Chakra" which appears on the abacus of Sarnath was adopted in the place of the "Charkha". (more...).

text: Recently appeared: Greco-Buddhism – K. R. Narayanan – Tamil language

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text: Rudyard Kipling was a British author and poet, born in India. He is best known for the children's story The Jungle Book (1894), the Indian spy novel Kim (1901), the poems "Gunga Din" (1892) and "If—" (1895), and his many short stories. He was also an outspoken defender of Western imperialism, and coined the phrase "The White Man's Burden." The height of his popularity was the first decade of the 20th century; in 1907 he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. In his own lifetime he was primarily considered a poet, and was even offered a knighthood and the post of British Poet Laureate—though he turned them both down.  (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Flag of India – Greco-Buddhism – K. R. Narayanan

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text: Indian Railways is the state-owned railway company of India; it has a complete monopoly over the country's rail transport. Indian Railways (IR) has one of the largest and busiest rail networks in the world, transporting over 5 billion passengers and over 350 million tonnes of freight annually. IR is also the world's largest commercial or utility employer, having more than 1.6 million regular employees on its payroll. Railways were first introduced to India in 1853, and by 1947, the year of India's independence, it had grown to forty-two rail systems. In 1951 the systems were nationalised as one unit, to become one of the largest networks in the world. Indian Railways operates both long distance, as well as suburban rail systems. It operates 8,702 passenger trains and transports around five billion annually across twenty-seven states and three union territories (Delhi, Puducherry and Chandigarh). Sikkim is the only state not connected. The Railway Budget deals with the induction and improvement of existing trains and routes, the modernisation and most importantly the tariff for freight and passenger travel. (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Rudyard Kipling – Flag of India – Greco-Buddhism

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text: Delhi is a metropolis in northern India. The name Delhi also refers to the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT), which is a special union territory jointly administered by the Central government, the NCT elected government and three municipal corporations. The metropolis of Delhi and the National Capital Territory of Delhi are coextensive and for most practical purposes they are considered to be the same entity. New Delhi, an urban area within the metropolis of Delhi, is the seat of the Government of India. Delhi is the sixth most populous metropolis in the world with a population of 15.3 million (2005 figure). Delhi's metropolitan area, informally known as the National Capital Region (NCR), comprises the NCT and the neighbouring satellite towns of Faridabad and Gurgaon in Haryana, and Noida and Ghaziabad in Uttar Pradesh making it the sixth most populous agglomeration in the world, with an estimated population of 19.7 million.

text: Delhi has the most vibrant history among prominent cities or towns of India. Delhi was the capital of several empires in ancient India and has over 60,000 recognized monuments built over several millennia. It is believed to be the site of Indraprastha, founded by the Pandavas of the Mahabharata around 5000 BC. Delhi derives its historic importance from its position in northern India between the Aravalli Hills to the southwest and the Yamuna river on whose western banks it stands. This enabled it to dominate the old trade routes from northwest India to the plains of the Ganges. As a result, it has always been an important cultural and intellectual centre. Due to high migration rate, Delhi registers as one of the fastest growing cities in Asia. As a consequence, it faces key issues like environmental degradation, air and water pollution, traffic congestion and acute power and water shortage.  (more...)

text: Recently appeared: Indian Railways – Rudyard Kipling – Flag of India

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text: The Ramayana (Devanagari: रामायण) is an ancient Sanskrit epic attributed to the poet Valmiki and is an important part of the Hindu canon (smṛti). The name Ramayana is a tatpurusha compound of  Rama and ayana "going, advancing", translating to "the travels of Rama". The Ramayana consists of 24,000 verses in seven cantos (kandas) and tells the story of a prince, Rama of Ayodhya, whose wife Sita is abducted by the demon (Rakshasa) king of Lanka, Ravana. The Ramayana had an important influence on later Sanskrit poetry, primarily through its establishment of the Sloka meter.

text: One of the most important literary works on ancient India, the Ramayana has had a profound impact on art and culture in the Indian subcontinent. Starting from the 8th century, the colonisation of Southeast Asia by Indians began. Because of this, the Ramayana became popular in Southeast Asia and manifested itself in text, temple architecture and performance, particularly in Indonesia (Java, Sumatra and Borneo),  Thailand, Cambodia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Laos.  (more...)

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text: South India is a region of India that traditionally includes the entire Indian Peninsula, south of the Vindhya ranges. The Narmada and Mahanadi rivers form the northern boundaries of the region, while the Arabian Sea, Indian Ocean and the Bay of Bengal form the region's western, southern and eastern boundaries respectively. The southernmost point of the region, and therefore of mainland India, is Kanyakumari. South India as a cultural and linguistic entity, comprises the four southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu and the Union Territory of Puducherry, whose inhabitants are referred to as South Indians. Ethnically, South Indians are primarily linked by the Dravidian origin of their languages, although some communities such as the Konkani-speaking population of Karnataka retain distinct identities.

text: South India is a geographically diverse region, encompassing two mountain ranges — the Western Ghats and Eastern Ghats and a plateau heartland. The Tungabhadra, Kaveri, Krishna and Godavari rivers are important non-perennial sources of water. Historically, a number of dynasties including the Cholas, Pandyas, Cheras, Hoysalas and Vijayanagara ruled over different parts of South India prior to the British conquest of India. Agriculture is the single largest contributor to the regional net domestic product. Information technology (IT) is a rapidly growing industry in South India, whose main cities constitute some of India’s major IT hubs. South India's diverse culture varies from the cultures of other parts of India. Politically, South India is dominated by regional political parties rather than by the larger national political parties.  (more...)

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text: Ahmedabad is the largest city of the Indian state of Gujarat and seventh largest of India with a population of 5.2 million. Ahmedabad is located in north-central Gujarat on the banks of River Sabarmati. It once served as the capital of Gujarat and now is the administrative center of Ahmedabad district. Founded by Sultan Ahmed Shah of the Muzaffarid dynasty, Ahmedabad has been under the control of the Mughals, Marathas and then the British. Ahmeadabad was at the forefront of the Independence movement with the famous Dandi March led by Mahatma Gandhi starting from the city. The textile industry is the main industry of Ahmedabad due to which it was once called the Manchester of India. Recently endowed with the official title of "mega-city", Ahmedabad is one of the fastest growing cities of India. The various mosques built in the Indo-Saracenic style are a major attraction of the city. (more...)

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text: The Indian cricket team is an international cricket team representing India.  It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India, the main cricketing governing body in India.  Cricket is the de facto national sport of India, with a huge fan base.

text: The Indian cricket team made its debut in Test cricket, the highest level of international cricket, on June 25, 1932 at Lord's, England, becoming the sixth Test team.  For nearly fifty years, the India was weaker than most of the other Test cricket teams, such as Australia and England. The team gained strength in the 1970s with the emergence of players such as Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev and the Indian spin quartet, and the Indian team has continued to be highly ranked since then in both Test cricket and One-day Internationals.  The team won the Cricket World Cup in 1983 and were runners-up in 2003. The current team contains many of the world's leading players, including Sachin Tendulkar.  As of 9 April 2006, the team is ranked third in the ICC Test Championship and third in the ICC ODI Championship.  (more...)

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text: Kerala is a state on the southwestern tropical Malabar Coast of India. To its east and northeast, Kerala borders Tamil Nadu and Karnataka; to its west and south lie the Indian Ocean islands of Lakshadweep and the Maldives, respectively. Kerala also envelops Mahé, a coastal exclave of the Union Territory of Puducherry. In prehistory, Kerala's rainforests and wetlands — then thick with malaria-bearing mosquitoes and man-eating tigers — were largely avoided by Neolithic humans. More than a millennium of overseas contact and trade culminated in four centuries of struggle between and among multiple colonial powers and native Keralite states. Kerala was granted statehood on November 1, 1956. Radical social reforms begun in the 19th century by the kingdoms of Kochi and Travancore — and spurred by such leaders as Narayana Guru and Chattampi Swamikal — were continued by post-Independence governments, making Kerala among the Third World's longest-lived, healthiest, and most literate regions. Kerala's 31.8 million people now live under a stable democratic socialist political system and exhibit unusually equitable gender relations.  (more...)

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document_title: Atacama Desert

question_text: when did it last rain in the atacama desert

text: Atacama Desert

text: Setting[edit]

text: According to the World Wide Fund for Nature, the Atacama Desert ecoregion occupies a continuous strip for nearly 1,600 km along the narrow coast of the northern third of Chile, from near Arica (18°24'S) southward to near La Serena (29°55'S).[9] The National Geographic Society considers the coastal area of southern Peru to be part of the Atacama Desert[10][11] and also includes the deserts south of the Ica Region in Peru.

text: Peru borders it on the north and the Chilean Matorral ecoregion borders it on the south. To the east lies the less arid Central Andean dry puna ecoregion. The drier portion of this ecoregion is located south of the Loa River between the parallel Sierra Vicuña Mackenna and Cordillera Domeyko. To the north of the Loa lies the Pampa del Tamarugal.

text: The Coastal Cliff of northern Chile west of the Chilean Coast Range is the main topographical feature of the coast.[12] The geomorphology of the Atacama Desert has been characterized as a low-relief bench "similar to a giant uplifted terrace" by Armijo and co-workers.[13] The intermediate depression (or Central Valley) forms a series of endorheic basins in much of Atacama Desert south of latitude 19°30'S. North of this latitude, the intermediate depression drains into the Pacific Ocean.[14]

text: Climate[edit]

text: Although the almost total lack of precipitation is the most prominent characteristic of the Atacama Desert, exceptions may occur. In July 2011, an extreme Antarctic cold front broke through the rain shadow, bringing 80 cm (31 in) of snow to the plateau, stranding residents across the region, particularly in Bolivia, where many drivers became stuck in snow drifts and emergency crews became overtaxed with a large number of rescue calls.[16]

text: In 2012, the altiplano winter brought floods to San Pedro de Atacama.[17][18]

text: On 25 March 2015, heavy rainfall affected the southern part of the Atacama Desert.[19][20] Resulting floods triggered mudflows that affected the cities of Copiapo, Tierra Amarilla, Chanaral, and Diego de Almagro, causing the deaths of more than 100 people.

text: Aridity[edit]

text: The Atacama Desert is commonly known as the driest nonpolar place in the world, especially the surroundings of the abandoned Yungay town[21] (in Antofagasta Region, Chile).[22] The average rainfall is about 15 mm (0.6 in) per year,[23] although some locations, such as Arica and Iquique, receive 1 to 3 mm (0.04 to 0.12 in) in a year.[24] Moreover, some weather stations in the Atacama have never received rain. Periods up to four years have been registered with no rainfall in the central sector, delimited by the cities of Antofagasta, Calama, and Copiapó, in Chile.[1] Evidence suggests that the Atacama may not have had any significant rainfall from 1570 to 1971.[6]

text: The Atacama Desert may be the oldest desert on earth, and has experienced extreme hyperaridity for at least 3 million years, making it the oldest continuously arid region on earth. The long history of aridity raises the possibility that supergene mineralisation, under the appropriate conditions, can form in arid environments, instead of requiring humid conditions.[25] Geological research suggests that in some sections of the Atacama Desert, such as in today's Chile, hyperaridity has persisted for the last 200 million years (since the Triassic), competing only with Africa's Namib Desert for such a title.

text: The Atacama is so arid that many mountains higher than 6,000 m (20,000 ft) are completely free of glaciers. Only the highest peaks (such as Ojos del Salado, Monte Pissis, and Llullaillaco) have some permanent snow coverage.

text: The southern part of the desert, between 25 and 27°S, may have been glacier-free throughout the Quaternary (including during glaciations), though permafrost extends down to an altitude of 4,400 m (14,400 ft) and is continuous above 5,600 m (18,400 ft). Studies by a group of British scientists have suggested that some river beds have been dry for 120,000 years.[26] However, some locations in the Atacama receive a marine fog known locally as the camanchaca, providing sufficient moisture for hypolithic algae, lichens, and even some cacti—the genus Copiapoa is notable among these.

text: Geographically, the aridity of the Atacama is explained by it being situated between two mountain chains (the Andes and the Chilean Coast Range) of sufficient height to prevent moisture advection from either the Pacific or the Atlantic Oceans, a two-sided rain shadow.[8]

text: Comparison to Mars[edit]

text: In a region about 100 km (60 mi) south of Antofagasta, which averages 3,000 m (10,000 ft) in elevation, the soil has been compared to that of Mars. Owing to its otherworldly appearance, the Atacama has been used as a location for filming Mars scenes, most notably in the television series Space Odyssey: Voyage to the Planets.

text: In 2003, a team of researchers published a report in which they duplicated the tests used by the Viking 1 and Viking 2 Mars landers to detect life, and were unable to detect any signs in Atacama Desert soil in the region of Yungay.[28] The region may be unique on Earth in this regard, and is being used by NASA to test instruments for future Mars missions. The team duplicated the Viking tests in Mars-like Earth environments and found that they missed present signs of life in soil samples from Antarctic dry valleys, the Atacama Desert of Chile and Peru, and other locales. However, in 2014, a new hyperarid site was reported, María Elena South, which was much drier than Yungay, and thus, a better Mars-like environment.[29]

text:
Towards Atacama, near the deserted coast, you see a land without men, where there is not a bird, not a beast, nor a tree, nor any vegetation.
“
”

La Araucana by Alonso de Ercilla, 1569[30]

tag: div

text: In 2008, the Phoenix Mars Lander detected perchlorates on the surface of Mars at the same site where water was first discovered.[31] Perchlorates are also found in the Atacama and associated nitrate deposits have contained organics, leading to speculation that signs of life on Mars are not incompatible with perchlorates. The Atacama is also a testing site for the NASA-funded Earth–Mars Cave Detection Program.[32]

text: Flora[edit]

text: In spite of the geographic and climatic conditions of the desert, a rich variety of flora has evolved there. Over 500 species have been gathered within the border of this desert. These species are characterized by their extraordinary ability to adapt to this extreme environment.[33] Most common species are the herbs and flowers such as thyme, llareta, and saltgrass (Distichlis spicata), and where humidity is sufficient, trees such as the chañar (Geoffroea decorticans), the pimiento tree, and the leafy algarrobo (Prosopis chilensis).

text: The llareta is one of the highest-growing wood species in the world. It is found at altitudes between 3,000 and 5,000 m (9,800 and 16,400 ft). Its dense form is similar to a pillow some 3 to 4 m (9.8 to 13.1 ft) thick. It concentrates and retains the heat from the day to cope with low evening temperatures. The growth rate of the llareta has been recently estimated at about 1.5 cm per year, making many llaretas over 3,000 years old. It produces a much-prized resin, which the mining industry once harvested indiscriminately as fuel, making this plant endangered.

text: The desert is also home to cacti, succulents, and other plants that thrive in a dry climate. Cactus species here include the candelabro (Browningia candelaris) and cardon (Echinopsis atacamensis), which can reach a height of 7 m (23 ft) and a diameter of 70 cm (28 in).

text: The Atacama Desert flowering (Spanish: desierto florido) can be seen from September to November in years with sufficient precipitation, as happened in 2015.[19][20]

text: Fauna[edit]

text: The climate of the Atacama Desert limits the number of animals living permanently in this extreme ecosystem. Some parts of the desert are so arid, no plant or animal life can survive. Outside of these extreme areas, sand-colored grasshoppers blend with pebbles on the desert floor, and beetles and their larvae provide a valuable food source in the lomas (hills). Desert wasps and butterflies can be found during the warm and humid season, especially on the lomas. Red scorpions also live in the desert.

text: A unique environment is provided by some lomas, where the fog from the ocean provides enough moisture for seasonal plants and a few animal species. Surprisingly few reptile species inhabit the desert and even fewer amphibian species. Chaunus atacamensis, the Vallenar toad or Atacama toad, lives on the lomas, where it lays eggs in permanent ponds or streams. Iguanas and lava lizards inhabit parts of the desert, while salt flat lizards, Liolaemus, live in the dry areas bordering the ocean.[34] One species, Liolaemus fabiani, is endemic to the Salar de Atacama, the Atacama salt flat.[35]

text: Birds are probably the largest animal group in the Atacama. Humboldt penguins live year-round along the coast, nesting in desert cliffs overlooking the ocean. On salt flats both near the Pacific and inland, Andean flamingos flock to eat algae. Other birds (including species of hummingbirds and sparrows) visit the lomas seasonally to feed on insects, nectar, seeds, and flowers. The lomas help sustain several threatened species, such as the endangered Chilean woodstar.

text: Because of the desert's extreme aridity, only a few specially adapted mammal species live in the Atacama, such as Darwin's leaf-eared mouse. The less arid parts of the desert are inhabited by the South American gray fox and the viscacha (a relative of the chinchilla). Larger animals, such as guanacos and vicuñas, graze in areas where grass grows, mainly because it is seasonally irrigated by melted snow. Vicuñas need to remain near a steady water supply, while guanacos can roam into more arid areas and survive longer without fresh water. Seals and sea lions often gather along the coast.

text: Human presence[edit]

text: The Atacama is sparsely populated, with most towns located along the Pacific coast.[36] In interior areas, oases and some valleys have been populated for millennia and were the location of the most advanced pre-Columbian societies found in Chile.

text: Chinchorro culture[edit]

text: The Chinchorro culture developed in the Atacama Desert area from 7,000 to 1,500 BCE. These peoples were sedentary fishermen inhabiting mostly coastal areas. Their presence is found from today's towns of Ilo, in southern Peru, to Antofagasta in northern Chile. Presence of fresh water in the arid region on the coast facilitated human settlement in these areas. The Chinchorro were famous for their detailed mummification and funerary practices.[37]

text: In later times, the Atacama oases experienced little population growth and urban development. During the 20th century, they have had conflicts over water resources with the coastal cities and the mining industry.

text: San Pedro de Atacama, at about 2,400 m (8,000 ft) elevation, is like many of the small towns. Before the Inca empire and prior to the arrival of the Spanish, the extremely arid interior was inhabited primarily by the Atacameño tribe. They are noted for building fortified towns called pucarás, one of which is located a few kilometers from San Pedro de Atacama. The town's church was built by the Spanish in 1577.

text: The coastal cities originated in the 16th, 17th, and 18th centuries during the time of the Spanish Empire, when they emerged as shipping ports for silver produced in Potosí and other mining centers. During the 19th century, the desert came under control of Bolivia, Chile, and Peru. With the discovery of sodium nitrate deposits and as a result of unclear borders, the area soon became a zone of conflict and resulted in the War of the Pacific. Chile annexed most of the desert, and cities along the coast developed into international ports, hosting many Chilean workers who migrated there.[38][39][40]

text: With the guano and saltpeter booms of the 19th century, the population grew immensely, mostly as a result of immigration from central Chile. In the 20th century, the nitrate industry declined and at the same time, the largely male population of the desert became increasingly problematic for the Chilean state. Miners and mining companies came into conflict, and protests spread throughout the region.

text: Abandoned nitrate mining towns[edit]

text: The desert has rich deposits of copper and other minerals and the world's largest natural supply of sodium nitrate, which was mined on a large scale until the early 1940s. The Atacama border dispute over these resources between Chile and Bolivia began in the 19th century and resulted in the War of the Pacific.[citation needed]

text: The desert is littered with about 170 abandoned nitrate (or "saltpeter") mining towns, almost all of which were shut down decades after the invention of synthetic nitrate in Germany at the turn of the 20th century (see Haber process).[citation needed] The towns include Chacabuco, Humberstone, Santa Laura, Pedro de Valdivia, Puelma, María Elena, and Oficina Anita.[citation needed]

text: The Atacama Desert is rich in metallic mineral resources such as copper, gold, silver and iron, as well as nonmetallic minerals including important deposits of boron, lithium, sodium nitrate, and potassium salts. The Salar de Atacama is where bischofite is extracted.[citation needed] These resources are exploited by various mining companies such as Codelco, Lomas Bayas, Mantos Blancos, and Soquimich.[41][42]

text: Astronomical observatories[edit]

text: Because of its high altitude, nearly nonexistent cloud cover, dry air, and lack of light pollution and radio interference from widely populated cities and towns, this desert is one of the best places in the world to conduct astronomical observations.[44][45] The European Southern Observatory operates two major observatories in the Atacama:

text:
La Silla Observatory
Paranal Observatory, which includes the Very Large Telescope

text: A new radio astronomy telescope, called the Atacama Large Millimeter Array, built by European countries, Japan, the United States, Canada, and Chile in the Llano de Chajnantor Observatory officially opened on 3 October 2011.[46] A number of radio astronomy projects, such as the CBI, the ASTE and the ACT, among others, have been operating in the Chajnantor area since 1999.

text: Other uses[edit]

text: Sports[edit]

text: The Atacama Desert is popular with all-terrain sports enthusiasts. Various championships have taken place here, including the Lower Atacama Rally, Lower Chile Rally, Patagonia-Atacama Rally, and the latter Dakar Rally's editions. The rally was organized by the Amaury Sport Organisation and held in 2009, 2010, 2011, and 2012. The dunes of the desert are ideal rally races located in the outskirts of the city of Copiapó.[47] The 2013 Dakar 15-Day Rally started on 5 January in Lima, Peru, through Chile, Argentina and back to Chile finishing in Santiago.[48] Visitors also use the Atacama Desert sand dunes for sandboarding (Spanish: duna).

text: A week-long foot race called the Atacama Crossing has the competitors cross the various landscapes of the Atacama.[49]

text: An event called Volcano Marathon takes place near the Lascar volcano in the Atacama Desert.[50]

text: Solar car racing[edit]

text: Eighteen solar powered cars were displayed in front of the presidential palace (La Moneda) in Santiago in November 2012.[51] The cars were then raced 1,300 km (810 mi) through the desert from 15–19 November 2012.[52]

text: Tourism[edit]

text: Most people who go to tour the sites in the desert stay in the town of San Pedro de Atacama.[53] The Atacama Desert is in the top three tourist locations in Chile. The specially commissioned ESO hotel is reserved for astronomers.[54]

text: El Tatio Geyser[edit]

text: About 80 geysers occur in a valley about 80 km from the town of San Pedro de Atacama. They are closer to the town of Chiu Chiu.[55]

text: Termas Baños de Puritama[edit]

text: The Baños de Puritama are rock pools which are 37 miles from the geysers.[56]

text: Gallery[edit]

text:
"Icy Penitents by Moonlight"

Valle de la Luna, near San Pedro de Atacama

Laguna Verde

Valley in Atacama

Vista before sunset.

Chajnantor Plateau in the Chilean Andes, home to the ESO/NAOJ/NRAO ALMA

Salt evaporation ponds in the Atacama Desert

Paranal Observatory

Flowering desert

Llamas

Valley of Death

Machuca chapel

text: Protected areas[edit]

text:
Pan de Azúcar National Park
Pampa del Tamarugal National Reserve
La Chimba National Reserve

text: Legends[edit]

text:
Alicanto
Atacama Giant


document_title: Pui Fan Lee

question_text: who is the actress who plays po on teletubbies

text: Pui Fan Lee

text: This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (August 2018) (Learn how and when to remove this template message)

text:
Pui Fan LeeBorn
 (1971-07-14) 14 July 1971 (age 47)Nottingham, England, U.K.Occupation
Actress, presenterYears active
1982–presentKnown for
Presenting CBeebies (2002–2009)

text: Pui Fan Lee (born 14 July 1971) is an English actress and presenter,[1] best known for portraying Po in the children's television programme Teletubbies, and more recently for presenting the popular CBeebies pre-school educational programme Show Me Show Me. She was the first presenter, alongside Chris Jarvis, Sidney Sloane, and Sue Monroe to introduce programming on the BBC digital channel CBeebies. In January 2009, Pui left presenting CBeebies to host Show Me Show Me.


document_title: Dewey, Cheatem & Howe

question_text: what was the name of the three stooges law firm

text: Dewey, Cheatem & Howe

text: Dewey, Cheatem & Howe is the gag name of a fictional law or accounting firm,[1] used in several parody settings. The gag name pokes fun at the perceived propensity of some lawyers and accountants to take advantage of their clients: The name of the firm is a pun on the phrase "Do we cheat 'em? And how!" This gag name is also used more broadly as a placeholder for any hypothetical law firm.[2][3][4][5][6]

text: The second name varies somewhat with regards to spelling (Cheetem, Cheater, Cheethem, Cheatham, etc.), but also to the word upon which it is based (Screwum, Burnham, etc.).

text: Examples[edit]

text: Tom and Ray Magliozzi, of NPR's Car Talk radio program, named their business corporation "Dewey, Cheetham & Howe". Their corporate offices were located on a third-floor office at the corner of Brattle and JFK Streets in Harvard Square in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The Magliozzi brothers declared that they established DC&H in 1989.[7]

text: A popular poster for The Three Stooges features the Stooges as bumbling members of such a firm, although the actual episodes use the name "Dewey, Burnham, and Howe". The 2012 film uses this example, among similar ones such as proctologists "Proba, Keister, and Wince" and divorce lawyers "Ditcher, Quick, and Hyde."

text: The champion Standardbred race horse Deweycheatumnhowe takes his name from this pun. On August 3, 2008, that undefeated horse won harness racing's most prestigious event, the Hambletonian Stakes, run at the Meadowlands Racetrack in East Rutherford, New Jersey.[8]

text: Variants exist on the theme. The British magazine Private Eye uses "Sue, Grabbitt, and Runne" ("sue, grab it and run") when satirizing the legal profession, reflecting the magazine's experience defending from defamation lawsuits. In a set of legal forms published for lawyers and other legal professionals,[vague] one fictitious law-firm name is "Skrewer, Widow & Children." The narrating presidential aide in Christopher Buckley's novel The White House Mess came from the law firm of "Dewey, Scruem, and Howe".

text: Robin Williams used a variant of the pun when making a joke about the Bernard Madoff fiasco and the fact that his name is pronounced as "made off" by saying "What's next, a law firm called Dewey, Fuckyou and Howe?"

text: The novel Gump and Co., Winston Groom's sequel to Forrest Gump, names "Dewey, Screwum, & Howe" as legal representation for members, including Forrest Gump, of a New York firm accused of insider trading.

text: In an episode of Gilmore Girls, Luke Danes (Scott Patterson), while dealing with his wife's irritating divorce lawyer, jokes that his own lawyer is Don Dewey at "Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe."

text: In an episode of Prison Break, Theodore "T-Bag" Bagwell states that he won a large sum of money after sustaining an injury on an oil rig, thanks to his lawyers at "Dewey, Cheatem, and Howe".

text: In an episode of Friends, Chandler Bing's boss states that the company they both work for has signed a contract with a new law firm: "Dewey, Cheatem and Howe". It is, of course, in the context of an office party, shortly before the boss is heard giving the punchline "Twenty dollars Sister, same as in town.".

text: The 1989 video game Leisure Suit Larry III: Passionate Patti in Pursuit of the Pulsating Pectorals features a law firm by this name, though only the second partner, Suzi Cheatem, makes an actual appearance in the game.

text: The novel The Plague Dogs by Richard Adams features a firm of architects by the name of "Sir Conham Goode, Son, and Howe".

text: In an episode of White Collar (Season 01 Episode 09, time index 0:05:41) the document that has the Judge's ID stamp lists the Plaintiff as being represented by "Donald Dewey of the law firm Dewey, Chetham and Howe".

text: In the video game, The Sims 4, Sims in the Business career go to work at the "Dewey, Cheatem & Howe" offices.


document_title: Historic eruptions of Mount Fuji

question_text: when was the last time mount fuji errupted

text: Historic eruptions of Mount Fuji

text: Komitake[edit]

text: There has been much volcanic activity in the vicinity of Mount Fuji for several million years. In the location occupied by the current Mount Fuji, a volcano known as Mount Komitake (小御岳火山), literally meaning "small mountain volcano", became active 700,000 years ago. Around this time, another volcano, Mount Ashitaka (愛鷹山), in the area to the south-east of Mount Fuji, was also highly active. The peak of the ancient volcano, Komitake, can be seen from the north face of Mount Fuji at the fifth station, about 2,300 meters (7,500 ft) above sea-level.

text: Old Fuji[edit]

text: Around 100,000 years after becoming inactive, Komitake entered another period of activity. The volcano in this period is known as Old Fuji (古富士, kofuji). Older Fuji was known as to have explosive eruptions, throwing out large quantities of scoria, volcanic ash and lava, forming a large mountain which reached a height of 3,100 meters (10,200 ft).

text: New Fuji[edit]

text: Following the Old Fuji period, there were about 4,000 years of inactivity, ending at around 5,000 years ago, when Mount Fuji became active again; this period is known as New Fuji (新富士, shinfuji), and continues to the present day. Eruptions of New Fuji exhibit phenomena such as lava flows, magma, scoria, volcanic ash, collapses and side eruptions, leading it to be called "a department store of eruptions". Ash from New Fuji is often black, and eruptions are new in terms of geological layers. Valuable data on the activity of Mount Fuji is recorded in Japanese historical documents dating from the 8th century onwards. It exhibits a range of representative eruptions.

text: The Gotemba mud flow[edit]

text: About 2,300 years ago the east face of the volcano collapsed and lahars flowed down to the Gotemba area as far as the Ashigara plain in the east and the Suruga bay across Mishima city in the south. This incident is now called the Gotemba mud flow (御殿場泥流, Gotemba deiryū). Liquid mud piled up over an area as wide as the city area of Mishima.

text: Jōgan eruption[edit]

text: In 864 (the 6th year of the Jōgan era) there was an eruption on the north-east side of Mount Fuji, which produced a great amount of lava.

text: 864 (Jōgan 6, 5th month): Mount Fuji erupted for 10 days, and it ejected from its summit an immense quantity of cinders and ash which fell back to earth as far away as the ocean at Edo bay. Many people perished and a great numbers of homes were destroyed. The volcanic eruption began on the side of Fuji-san closest to Mount Asama, throwing cinders and ash as far away as Kai province.[2]

text: Some of the lava filled up a large lake Senoumi (せの海) which existed at the time, dividing it into two lakes, Saiko (西湖) and Shōjiko (精進湖). This is known as the Aokigahara lava (青木ヶ原溶岩), and at present is covered by the dense Aokigahara forest.

text: Hōei eruption[edit]

text: The latest eruption, in 1707 (the 4th year of the Hōei era), was known as the great Hōei eruption. It followed several weeks after the Great Hōei earthquake, an 8.7 in the Richter scale. The earthquake severely damaged the city of Osaka, but more than that, it created enough seismic activity to compress the magma chamber 20 km deep in the inactive Mt. Fuji. Due to the compression of the magma chamber, basaltic lava rose from the bottom to the higher dacitic magma chamber at 8 km deep. The mixing of the two different types of magma caused a plinian eruption to occur. Previous to the Hoei, another earthquake named Genroku had struck Japan in 1703. The earthquake affected both Kanagawa and Shizuoka prefectures; Genroku was measured as an 8.2 in the Richter Scale, it caused the same effect as Hoei but with less severity. It clamped the dike of the mountain at 8 km to the surface (where the dacitic magma resides), as well as the basaltic chamber at 20 km deep. Many articles find a correlation between the two earthquakes, getting to the conclusion that without one another the Hoei eruption would’ve not happened.

text:
November 11, 1707 (Hōei 4, 14th day of the 10th month): The city of Osaka suffers tremendously because of a very violent earthquake.[3]
December 16, 1707 (Hōei 4, 23rd day of the 11th month): An eruption of Mt. Fuji; the cinders and ash fell like rain in Izu, Kai, Sagami, and Musashi.[4] This eruption was remarkable in that it spread a vast amount of volcanic ash and scoria over a region as far away as Edo.

text: Records of eruption[edit]

text: Sixteen eruptions of New Fuji have been recorded since 781. Many of the eruptions occurred in the Heian era, with twelve eruptions between 800 and 1083. Sometimes inactive periods between eruptions lasted for hundreds of years, as in the period between 1083 and 1511, when no eruptions were recorded for over 400 years. At present, there have been no eruptions since the Hoei eruption in 1707–1708, around 300 years ago.

text: Current eruptive danger[edit]

text: Scientists study the activity of the magma rising by measuring CO2 emissions in the deeper parts of the volcano. Studies from before the Tohoku earthquake show the CO2 emissions below 5 gCO2/m2/day, which is the detection limit. If the emissions rise above 5 gCO2/m2/day then seismic activity is occurring and an eruption could possibly take place. According to a five-stage evolutionary model for the release of volcanic gas, Mt. Fuji would be considered stage I. Magma is at a considerable 10 km (6.2 mi) depth and no emissions of gasses can be observed regularly.

text: Following the 2011 Tōhoku earthquake and tsunami much attention was given to the volcanic reaction of Mt. Fuji. Experts have found that the internal pressure of the Mt. Fuji magma chamber has increased to an estimated 1.6 megapascals, raising speculation over the possibility of an eruption. The estimated damage to Japan from a Fuji eruption is at ¥2.5 trillion ($25 billion).

text: Professor Masaki Kimura has predicted on the basis of his many studies an eruption of Mt. Fuji in 2015, four years after the major Tohoku earthquake in 2011, and similar to the Hoei eruption four years after the Genroku earthquake. Professor Kimura mentions two important details that back up his prediction. One, the rise in the water level in Lake Sai, just after the Tohoku earthquake, which he believes was caused by the melting of a permafrost layer in the summit of the mountain by rising magma. And two, the continuous occurrence of phreatic eruptions, explosions of steam, around the mountain. It should also be noted that Professor Kimura is the author of two books that refer to his predictions: Fujisan no Funka wa Hajimatteiru! (The Eruption of Mt. Fuji has Begun), released in June 2012, and Fujisan Dai Funka! Bukimina Itsutsu no Choko (Major Eruption of Mt. Fuji! Five Eerie Signs), released in 2011. [5] [6]


document_title: Gel electrophoresis

question_text: in gel electrophoresis what is the purpose of the buffer

text: Gel electrophoresis

text: Physical basis[edit]

text: In simple terms, electrophoresis is a process which enables the sorting of molecules based on size. Using an electric field, molecules (such as DNA) can be made to move through a gel made of agarose or polyacrylamide. The electric field consists of a negative charge at one end which pushes the molecules through the gel, and a positive charge at the other end that pulls the molecules through the gel. The molecules being sorted are dispensed into a well in the gel material. The gel is placed in an electrophoresis chamber, which is then connected to a power source. When the electric current is applied, the larger molecules move more slowly through the gel while the smaller molecules move faster. The different sized molecules form distinct bands on the gel.[citation needed]

text: The term "gel" in this instance refers to the matrix used to contain, then separate the target molecules. In most cases, the gel is a crosslinked polymer whose composition and porosity is chosen based on the specific weight and composition of the target to be analyzed. When separating proteins or small nucleic acids (DNA, RNA, or oligonucleotides) the gel is usually composed of different concentrations of acrylamide and a cross-linker, producing different sized mesh networks of polyacrylamide. When separating larger nucleic acids (greater than a few hundred bases), the preferred matrix is purified agarose. In both cases, the gel forms a solid, yet porous matrix. Acrylamide, in contrast to polyacrylamide, is a neurotoxin and must be handled using appropriate safety precautions to avoid poisoning. Agarose is composed of long unbranched chains of uncharged carbohydrate without cross links resulting in a gel with large pores allowing for the separation of macromolecules and macromolecular complexes.[citation needed]

text: Electrophoresis refers to the electromotive force (EMF) that is used to move the molecules through the gel matrix. By placing the molecules in wells in the gel and applying an electric field, the molecules will move through the matrix at different rates, determined largely by their mass when the charge-to-mass ratio (Z) of all species is uniform. However, when charges are not all uniform then, the electrical field generated by the electrophoresis procedure will affect the species that have different charges and therefore will attract the species according to their charges being the opposite. Species that are positively charged will migrate towards the cathode which is negatively charged (because this is an electrolytic rather than galvanic cell). If the species are negatively charged they will migrate towards the positively charged anode.[4]

text: If several samples have been loaded into adjacent wells in the gel, they will run parallel in individual lanes. Depending on the number of different molecules, each lane shows separation of the components from the original mixture as one or more distinct bands, one band per component. Incomplete separation of the components can lead to overlapping bands, or to indistinguishable smears representing multiple unresolved components.[citation needed] Bands in different lanes that end up at the same distance from the top contain molecules that passed through the gel with the same speed, which usually means they are approximately the same size. There are molecular weight size markers available that contain a mixture of molecules of known sizes. If such a marker was run on one lane in the gel parallel to the unknown samples, the bands observed can be compared to those of the unknown in order to determine their size. The distance a band travels is approximately inversely proportional to the logarithm of the size of the molecule.[citation needed]

text: There are limits to electrophoretic techniques. Since passing current through a gel causes heating, gels may melt during electrophoresis. Electrophoresis is performed in buffer solutions to reduce pH changes due to the electric field, which is important because the charge of DNA and RNA depends on pH, but running for too long can exhaust the buffering capacity of the solution. There are also limitations in determining the molecular weight by SDS-PAGE, especially if you are trying to find the MW of an unknown protein. There are certain biological variables that are difficult or impossible to minimize and can affect the electrophoretic migration. Such factors include protein structure, post-translational modifications, and amino acid composition. For example, tropomyosin is an acidic protein that migrates abnormally on SDS-PAGE gels. This is because the acidic residues are repelled by the negatively charged SDS, leading to an inaccurate mass-to-charge ratio and migration.[5] Further, different preparations of genetic material may not migrate consistently with each other, for morphological or other reasons.

text: Types of gel[edit]

text: The types of gel most typically used are agarose and polyacrylamide gels. Each type of gel is well-suited to different types and sizes of analyte. Polyacrylamide gels are usually used for proteins, and have very high resolving power for small fragments of DNA (5-500 bp). Agarose gels on the other hand have lower resolving power for DNA but have greater range of separation, and are therefore used for DNA fragments of usually 50-20,000 bp in size, but resolution of over 6 Mb is possible with pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE).[6] Polyacrylamide gels are run in a vertical configuration while agarose gels are typically run horizontally in a submarine mode. They also differ in their casting methodology, as agarose sets thermally, while polyacrylamide forms in a chemical polymerization reaction.

text: Agarose[edit]

text: Agarose gels are made from the natural polysaccharide polymers extracted from seaweed. Agarose gels are easily cast and handled compared to other matrices, because the gel setting is a physical rather than chemical change. Samples are also easily recovered. After the experiment is finished, the resulting gel can be stored in a plastic bag in a refrigerator.

text: Agarose gels do not have a uniform pore size, but are optimal for electrophoresis of proteins that are larger than 200 kDa.[7] Agarose gel electrophoresis can also be used for the separation of DNA fragments ranging from 50 base pair to several megabases (millions of bases), the largest of which require specialized apparatus. The distance between DNA bands of different lengths is influenced by the percent agarose in the gel, with higher percentages requiring longer run times, sometimes days. Instead high percentage agarose gels should be run with a pulsed field electrophoresis (PFE), or field inversion electrophoresis.

text: "Most agarose gels are made with between 0.7% (good separation or resolution of large 5–10kb DNA fragments) and 2% (good resolution for small 0.2–1kb fragments) agarose dissolved in electrophoresis buffer. Up to 3% can be used for separating very tiny fragments but a vertical polyacrylamide gel is more appropriate in this case. Low percentage gels are very weak and may break when you try to lift them. High percentage gels are often brittle and do not set evenly. 1% gels are common for many applications."[8]

text: Polyacrylamide[edit]

text: Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (PAGE) is used for separating proteins ranging in size from 5 to 2,000 kDa due to the uniform pore size provided by the polyacrylamide gel. Pore size is controlled by modulating the concentrations of acrylamide and bis-acrylamide powder used in creating a gel. Care must be used when creating this type of gel, as acrylamide is a potent neurotoxin in its liquid and powdered forms.

text: Traditional DNA sequencing techniques such as Maxam-Gilbert or Sanger methods used polyacrylamide gels to separate DNA fragments differing by a single base-pair in length so the sequence could be read. Most modern DNA separation methods now use agarose gels, except for particularly small DNA fragments. It is currently most often used in the field of immunology and protein analysis, often used to separate different proteins or isoforms of the same protein into separate bands. These can be transferred onto a nitrocellulose or PVDF membrane to be probed with antibodies and corresponding markers, such as in a western blot.

text: Typically resolving gels are made in 6%, 8%, 10%, 12% or 15%. Stacking gel (5%) is poured on top of the resolving gel and a gel comb (which forms the wells and defines the lanes where proteins, sample buffer and ladders will be placed) is inserted. The percentage chosen depends on the size of the protein that one wishes to identify or probe in the sample. The smaller the known weight, the higher the percentage that should be used. Changes on the buffer system of the gel can help to further resolve proteins of very small sizes.[9]

text: Starch[edit]

text: Partially hydrolysed potato starch makes for another non-toxic medium for protein electrophoresis. The gels are slightly more opaque than acrylamide or agarose. Non-denatured proteins can be separated according to charge and size. They are visualised using Napthal Black or Amido Black staining. Typical starch gel concentrations are 5% to 10%.[10][11][12]

text: Gel conditions[edit]

text: Denaturing[edit]

text: Denaturing gels are run under conditions that disrupt the natural structure of the analyte, causing it to unfold into a linear chain. Thus, the mobility of each macromolecule depends only on its linear length and its mass-to-charge ratio. Thus, the secondary, tertiary, and quaternary levels of biomolecular structure are disrupted, leaving only the primary structure to be analyzed.

text: Nucleic acids are often denatured by including urea in the buffer, while proteins are denatured using sodium dodecyl sulfate, usually as part of the SDS-PAGE process. For full denaturation of proteins, it is also necessary to reduce the covalent disulfide bonds that stabilize their tertiary and quaternary structure, a method called reducing PAGE. Reducing conditions are usually maintained by the addition of beta-mercaptoethanol or dithiothreitol. For general analysis of protein samples, reducing PAGE is the most common form of protein electrophoresis.

text: Denaturing conditions are necessary for proper estimation of molecular weight of RNA. RNA is able to form more intramolecular interactions than DNA which may result in change of its electrophoretic mobility. Urea, DMSO and glyoxal are the most often used denaturing agents to disrupt RNA structure. Originally, highly toxic methylmercury hydroxide was often used in denaturing RNA electrophoresis,[13] but it may be method of choice for some samples.[14]

text: Denaturing gel electrophoresis is used in the DNA and RNA banding pattern-based methods temperature gradient gel electrophoresis (TGGE)[15] and denaturing gradient gel electrophoresis (DGGE).[16]

text: Native[edit]

text: Native gels are run in non-denaturing conditions, so that the analyte's natural structure is maintained. This allows the physical size of the folded or assembled complex to affect the mobility, allowing for analysis of all four levels of the biomolecular structure. For biological samples, detergents are used only to the extent that they are necessary to lyse lipid membranes in the cell. Complexes remain—for the most part—associated and folded as they would be in the cell. One downside, however, is that complexes may not separate cleanly or predictably, as it is difficult to predict how the molecule's shape and size will affect its mobility. Addressing and solving this problem is a major aim of quantitative native PAGE.

text: Unlike denaturing methods, native gel electrophoresis does not use a charged denaturing agent. The molecules being separated (usually proteins or nucleic acids) therefore differ not only in molecular mass and intrinsic charge, but also the cross-sectional area, and thus experience different electrophoretic forces dependent on the shape of the overall structure. For proteins, since they remain in the native state they may be visualised not only by general protein staining reagents but also by specific enzyme-linked staining.

text: A specific experiment example of an application of native gel electrophoresis is to check for enzymatic activity to verify the presence of the enzyme in the sample during protein purification. For example, for the protein alkaline phosphatase, the staining solution is a mixture of 4-chloro-2-2methylbenzenediazonium salt with 3-phospho-2-naphthoic acid-2’-4’-dimethyl aniline in Tris buffer. This stain is commercially sold as kit for staining gels. If the protein is present, the mechanism of the reaction takes place in the following order: it starts with the de-phosphorylation of 3-phospho-2-naphthoic acid-2’-4’-dimethyl aniline by alkaline phosphatase (water is needed for the reaction). The phosphate group is released and replaced by an alcohol group from water. The electrophile 4- chloro-2-2 methylbenzenediazonium (Fast Red TR Diazonium salt) displaces the alcohol group forming the final product Red Azo dye. As its name implies, this is the final visible-red product of the reaction. In undergraduate academic experimentation of protein purification, the gel is usually ran next to commercial purified samples in order to visualize the results and make confusions of whether or not purification was successful.[18]

text: Native gel electrophoresis is typically used in proteomics and metallomics. However, native PAGE is also used to scan genes (DNA) for unknown mutations as in Single-strand conformation polymorphism.

text: Buffers[edit]

text: Buffers in gel electrophoresis are used to provide ions that carry a current and to maintain the pH at a relatively constant value. These buffers have plenty of ions in them, which is necessary for the passage of electricity through them. Something like distilled water or benzene contains few ions, which is not ideal for the use in electrophoresis.[19] There are a number of buffers used for electrophoresis. The most common being, for nucleic acids Tris/Acetate/EDTA (TAE), Tris/Borate/EDTA (TBE). Many other buffers have been proposed, e.g. lithium borate, which is almost never used, based on Pubmed citations (LB), iso electric histidine, pK matched goods buffers, etc.; in most cases the purported rationale is lower current (less heat) and or matched ion mobilities, which leads to longer buffer life. Borate is problematic; Borate can polymerize, and/or interact with cis diols such as those found in RNA. TAE has the lowest buffering capacity but provides the best resolution for larger DNA. This means a lower voltage and more time, but a better product. LB is relatively new and is ineffective in resolving fragments larger than 5 kbp; However, with its low conductivity, a much higher voltage could be used (up to 35 V/cm), which means a shorter analysis time for routine electrophoresis. As low as one base pair size difference could be resolved in 3% agarose gel with an extremely low conductivity medium (1 mM Lithium borate).[20]

text: Most SDS-PAGE protein separations are performed using a "discontinuous" (or DISC) buffer system that significantly enhances the sharpness of the bands within the gel. During electrophoresis in a discontinuous gel system, an ion gradient is formed in the early stage of electrophoresis that causes all of the proteins to focus into a single sharp band in a process called isotachophoresis. Separation of the proteins by size is achieved in the lower, "resolving" region of the gel. The resolving gel typically has a much smaller pore size, which leads to a sieving effect that now determines the electrophoretic mobility of the proteins.

text: Visualization[edit]

text: After the electrophoresis is complete, the molecules in the gel can be stained to make them visible. DNA may be visualized using ethidium bromide which, when intercalated into DNA, fluoresce under ultraviolet light, while protein may be visualised using silver stain or Coomassie Brilliant Blue dye. Other methods may also be used to visualize the separation of the mixture's components on the gel. If the molecules to be separated contain radioactivity, for example in a DNA sequencing gel, an autoradiogram can be recorded of the gel. Photographs can be taken of gels, often using a Gel Doc system.

text: Downstream processing[edit]

text: After separation, an additional separation method may then be used, such as isoelectric focusing or SDS-PAGE. The gel will then be physically cut, and the protein complexes extracted from each portion separately. Each extract may then be analysed, such as by peptide mass fingerprinting or de novo peptide sequencing after in-gel digestion. This can provide a great deal of information about the identities of the proteins in a complex.

text: Applications[edit]

text:
Estimation of the size of DNA molecules following restriction enzyme digestion, e.g. in restriction mapping of cloned DNA.
Analysis of PCR products, e.g. in molecular genetic diagnosis or genetic fingerprinting
Separation of restricted genomic DNA prior to Southern transfer, or of RNA prior to Northern transfer.

text: Gel electrophoresis is used in forensics, molecular biology, genetics, microbiology and biochemistry. The results can be analyzed quantitatively by visualizing the gel with UV light and a gel imaging device. The image is recorded with a computer operated camera, and the intensity of the band or spot of interest is measured and compared against standard or markers loaded on the same gel. The measurement and analysis are mostly done with specialized software.

text: Depending on the type of analysis being performed, other techniques are often implemented in conjunction with the results of gel electrophoresis, providing a wide range of field-specific applications.

text: Nucleic acids[edit]

text: In the case of nucleic acids, the direction of migration, from negative to positive electrodes, is due to the naturally occurring negative charge carried by their sugar-phosphate backbone.[21]

text: Double-stranded DNA fragments naturally behave as long rods, so their migration through the gel is relative to their size or, for cyclic fragments, their radius of gyration. Circular DNA such as plasmids, however, may show multiple bands, the speed of migration may depend on whether it is relaxed or supercoiled. Single-stranded DNA or RNA tend to fold up into molecules with complex shapes and migrate through the gel in a complicated manner based on their tertiary structure. Therefore, agents that disrupt the hydrogen bonds, such as sodium hydroxide or formamide, are used to denature the nucleic acids and cause them to behave as long rods again.[22]

text: Gel electrophoresis of large DNA or RNA is usually done by agarose gel electrophoresis. See the "Chain termination method" page for an example of a polyacrylamide DNA sequencing gel. Characterization through ligand interaction of nucleic acids or fragments may be performed by mobility shift affinity electrophoresis.

text: Electrophoresis of RNA samples can be used to check for genomic DNA contamination and also for RNA degradation. RNA from eukaryotic organisms shows distinct bands of 28s and 18s rRNA, the 28s band being approximately twice as intense as the 18s band. Degraded RNA has less sharply defined bands, has a smeared appearance, and intensity ratio is less than 2:1.

text: Proteins[edit]

text: Proteins, unlike nucleic acids, can have varying charges and complex shapes, therefore they may not migrate into the polyacrylamide gel at similar rates, or at all, when placing a negative to positive EMF on the sample. Proteins therefore, are usually denatured in the presence of a detergent such as sodium dodecyl sulfate (SDS) that coats the proteins with a negative charge.[3] Generally, the amount of SDS bound is relative to the size of the protein (usually 1.4g SDS per gram of protein), so that the resulting denatured proteins have an overall negative charge, and all the proteins have a similar charge-to-mass ratio. Since denatured proteins act like long rods instead of having a complex tertiary shape, the rate at which the resulting SDS coated proteins migrate in the gel is relative only to its size and not its charge or shape.[3]

text: Proteins are usually analyzed by sodium dodecyl sulfate polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS-PAGE), by native gel electrophoresis, by preparative gel electrophoresis (QPNC-PAGE), or by 2-D electrophoresis.

text: Characterization through ligand interaction may be performed by electroblotting or by affinity electrophoresis in agarose or by capillary electrophoresis as for estimation of binding constants and determination of structural features like glycan content through lectin binding.

text: History[edit]

text:
1930s – first reports of the use of sucrose for gel electrophoresis
1955 – introduction of starch gels, mediocre separation (Smithies)[11]
1959 – introduction of acrylamide gels; disc electrophoresis (Ornstein and Davis); accurate control of parameters such as pore size and stability; and (Raymond and Weintraub)
1966 – first use of agar gels[23]
1969 – introduction of denaturing agents especially SDS separation of protein subunit (Weber and Osborn)[24]
1970 – Laemmli separated 28 components of T4 phage using a stacking gel and SDS
1972 – agarose gels with ethidium bromide stain[25]
1975 – 2-dimensional gels (O’Farrell); isoelectric focusing then SDS gel electrophoresis
1977 – sequencing gels
1983 – pulsed field gel electrophoresis enables separation of large DNA molecules
1983 – introduction of capillary electrophoresis
2004 – standardized time of polymerization of acrylamide gels enables clean and predictable separation of native proteins (Kastenholz)[26]

text: A 1959 book on electrophoresis by Milan Bier cites references from the 1800s.[27] However, Oliver Smithies made significant contributions. Bier states: "The method of Smithies ... is finding wide application because of its unique separatory power." Taken in context, Bier clearly implies that Smithies' method is an improvement.