Belarus the Republic of Belarus known by its Russian name Byelorussia or Belorussia, is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe bordered by Russia to the northeast, Ukraine to the south, Poland to the west, Lithuania and Latvia to the northwest. Its capital and most populous city is Minsk. Over 40% of its 207,600 square kilometres is forested, its major economic sectors are manufacturing. Until the 20th century, different states at various times controlled the lands of modern-day Belarus, including the Principality of Polotsk, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, the Russian Empire. In the aftermath of the 1917 Russian Revolution, Belarus declared independence as the Belarusian People's Republic, conquered by Soviet Russia; the Socialist Soviet Republic of Byelorussia became a founding constituent republic of the Soviet Union in 1922 and was renamed as the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic. Belarus lost half of its territory to Poland after the Polish–Soviet War of 1919–1921.

Much of the borders of Belarus took their modern shape in 1939, when some lands of the Second Polish Republic were reintegrated into it after the Soviet invasion of Poland, were finalized after World War II. During WWII, military operations devastated Belarus, which lost about a quarter of its population and half of its economic resources; the republic was redeveloped in the post-war years. In 1945 the Byelorussian SSR became a founding member of the United Nations, along with the Soviet Union and the Ukrainian SSR; the parliament of the republic proclaimed the sovereignty of Belarus on 27 July 1990, during the dissolution of the Soviet Union, Belarus declared independence on 25 August 1991. Alexander Lukashenko has served as the country's first president since 1994. Belarus has been labeled "Europe's last dictatorship" by some Western journalists, on account of Lukashenko's self-described authoritarian style of government. Lukashenko continued a number of Soviet-era policies, such as state ownership of large sections of the economy.

Elections under Lukashenko's rule have been criticized as unfair. Belarus is the last country in Europe using the death penalty. Belarus's Democracy Index rating is the lowest in Europe, the country is labelled as "not free" by Freedom House, as "repressed" in the Index of Economic Freedom, is rated as by far the worst country for press freedom in Europe in the 2013–14 Press Freedom Index published by Reporters Without Borders, which ranks Belarus 157th out of 180 nations. In 2000, Belarus and Russia signed a treaty for greater cooperation. Over 70% of Belarus's population of 9.49 million resides in urban areas. More than 80% of the population is ethnic Belarusian, with sizable minorities of Russians and Ukrainians. Since a referendum in 1995, the country has had two official languages: Russian; the Constitution of Belarus does not declare any official religion, although the primary religion in the country is Eastern Orthodox Christianity. The second-most widespread religion, Roman Catholicism, has a much smaller following.

Belarus is a member of the United Nations since its founding, the Commonwealth of Independent States, CSTO, EEU, the Non-Aligned Movement. Belarus has shown no aspirations for joining the European Union but maintains a bilateral relationship with the organisation, participates in two EU projects: the Eastern Partnership and the Baku Initiative; the name Belarus is related with the term Belaya Rus', i.e. White Rus'. There are several claims to the origin of the name White Rus'. An ethno-religious theory suggests that the name used to describe the part of old Ruthenian lands within the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, populated by Slavs, Christianized early, as opposed to Black Ruthenia, predominantly inhabited by pagan Balts. An alternate explanation for the name comments on the white clothing worn by the local Slavic population. A third theory suggests that the old Rus' lands that were not conquered by the Tatars had been referred to as "White Rus'"; the name Rus is conflated with its Latin forms Russia and Ruthenia, thus Belarus is referred to as White Russia or White Ruthenia.

The name first appeared in Latin medieval literature. In some languages, including German and Dutch, the country is called "White Russia" to this day; the Latin term "Alba Russia" was used again by Pope Pius VI in 1783 to recognize the Society of Jesus there, exclaiming "Approbo Societatem Jesu in Alba Russia degentem, approbo." The first known use of White Russia to refer to Belarus was in the late-16th century by Englishman Sir Jerome Horsey, known for his close contacts with the Russian Royal Court. During the 17th century, the Russian tsars used "White Rus" to describe the lands added from the Grand Duchy of Lithuania; the term Belorussia first rose in the days of the Russian Empire, the Russian Tsar was styled "the Tsar of All the Russias", as Russ

Euro disco is the variety of European forms of electronic dance music that evolved from disco in the 1970s. Many Euro disco compositions feature lyrics sung in English, although the singers share a different mother tongue. Euro disco derivatives include Europop and Eurodance, with the most prominent subgenres being space disco of the late 1970s and Italo disco of the early 1980s; the genre has declined in popularity after 1990. Euro disco is an offshoot of contemporary American music trends going far back to the early times of jazz, soul and disco. In the 1950s and 1960s, besides the big American influence, the French/Italian-created pop music offshoots with a dance-oriented sound, became prevalent in Europe. 1950s and 1960s Europop hits spread around France and Germany, because of the French Scopitone and the Italian Cinebox/Coilorama Video-jukebox machines. Another root is the Eurovision song contest in the 1970s; the song "Waterloo" by Swedish pop group ABBA, which won the 1974 Eurovision song contest, is a typical example of a 1970s European pop/disco song, with a dance manner.

The success was huge and many European producers produced many pop hits that did not necessary sound the same, but kept that dance manner. With that created, in a short period of time, a whole new commercial music industry in Europe was met in the demand for social dancing music; the discofox dancing style was a result of this. The American music journalist Robert Christgau used the term "Euro disco" in his late 1970s articles for The Village Voice newspaper; the term "disco" in Europe existed long before the Euro disco and U. S. had a different meaning. It was used in Europe during the 1960s as a short alternative to "discotheque"; the first dance music venues called. Starting in Germany, the first discotheques featuring disc jockeys spread around Europe in the early 1960s. In the UK, "discotheques" and "discos" were called "clubs" like any other nightclub, in Germany both variants were common. Today, the term disco exists as an alternative name for the mainstream clubs in some European countries.

In Italy and Spain, the term "discoteca" or "discotheque" means mainstream clubs. In Greece, "discotheque" describes the retro-clubs. In Poland and Romania, the term "disco" is still used to refer to "dance clubs". An example of the term "disco" with no relation to a specific music style, is the Disco series that aired in Germany on the ZDF network from 1971 to 1982; this show proved that the term "disco" was widespread enough at the time, that the second national TV network of Germany used it for a general music TV show in 1971. Another example is the show Discoring on Italy's RAI channel; the term "Euro-disco" was first used during the mid-1970s to describe the non-UK based disco productions and artists such as DD Sound, Swedish group ABBA, German groups Arabesque, Boney M. Dschinghis Khan and Silver Convention, the West Germany-based Donna Summer, the Italian singer Gino Soccio, French artists Amanda Lear, Cerrone, Hot Blood, Ottawan, Dutch groups Luv', Eurovision song contest winners Teach-In.

In Spain Disco took off after the death of Francisco Franco with artist Baccara. 1970s Euro disco soon had variations. The most notable spinoff is a crossover of Euro disco and US Hi-NRG disco. Another popular variation, with no specific name, appeared in the late 1970s: a "Latin"-like sound added to the genre, which can be heard in Italy's Raffaella Carrà, Hermanas Goggi, La Bionda, D. D. Sound. Easy Going and France's Gibson Brothers. One of the early representatives of the 1980s genre was the British group Imagination and with their series of hits throughout 1981 and 1982; the term "Euro disco" faded in the 1980s and was replaced by the wide term of "Italo disco" for more than a decade. Notably, there was some Canadian disco productions, that at the time was called "Italo disco" in Europe, but not in America. Italo disco was the first successful 1980s Euro disco variation; because of this, all the 1980s Euro disco variations were called "Italo disco" by the Europeans. Italo disco began to develop in Italy in the late 1970s and early 1980s, by groups like Gazebo, Kano and'Lectric Workers.

1980s Euro disco variations soon appeared in France, Germany and Greece. The Italian and German Euro disco productions were the most popular. German pop duo Modern Talking was an icon of Euro disco between 1985–1987 and became the most successful Euro disco project ever. Bad Boys Blue was another successful project; that style became popular in Eastern Europe and remained popular until the early 1990s. In Poland, disco polo, a local music genre relying on Euro disco was developed at the verge of the 80s and 90s. During the late 1980s, Euro disco hits were produced in Spain and Greece and much in Poland and Russia. Meanwhile, a sped-up version of Euro disco with dance-pop elements became successful in the US, under the term "Hi-NRG". Today for many Americans, "Hi-NRG" means Paul Lekakis and the London Boys; those hits were the last hits called "Euro disco" in Europe. By the early 1990s, Euro disco was influenced by the emergence of genres such as house, acid house and the electro music styles, replaced by other music styles.

Eurohous

The PROSE Awards are presented by the Association of American Publishers’ Professional and Scholarly Publishing Division. Presented since 1976, the awards annually recognize distinguished professional and scholarly books, reference works and electronic content; the awards are judged by peer publishers, academics and medical professionals. Publishers and authors are honored at a luncheon ceremony at the PSP Annual Conference in Washington, DC. In recent years, the PROSE Awards luncheon has featured a live webcast of the event, original short films and several multimedia presentations highlighting winners. Awards by the numbers: Five “best of” awards chosen from 53 book, journal and e-product categories. Book subject categories: Humanities Archeology and Ancient History Art Exhibitions Art History and Criticism Biography and Autobiography Classics European and World History Language and Linguistics Literature Media and Cultural Studies Music and the Performing Arts Outstanding Scholarly Work by a Trade Publisher Philosophy Textbook/Humanities Theology and Religious Studies U.

S. History Biological and Life Sciences Biological Sciences Biomedicine and Neuroscience Clinical Medicine Nursing and Allied Health Sciences Textbook/Biological and Life Sciences Social Sciences Anthropology Architecture and Urban Planning Business and Management Economics Education Practice Education Theory Government and Politics Law and Legal Studies Psychology Sociology and Social Work Textbook/Social Sciences Physical Sciences & Mathematics Chemistry and Physics Computing and Information Sciences Cosmology and Astronomy Earth Science Engineering and Technology Environmental Science History of Science and Technology Mathematics Popular Science and Popular Mathematics Textbook/Physical Sciences and Mathematics Reference Works Multivolume Reference/Humanities and Social Sciences Multivolume Reference/Science Single Volume Reference/ Humanities and Social Sciences Single Volume Reference/ScienceElectronic publication categories – For electronic products, including electronic platforms and e-products with multiple components.

Electronic platforms and products are recognized in the following six categories: Best in Biological and Life Sciences Best in Humanities Best Multidiscipline Platform Best in Physical Sciences and Mathematics Best in Social Sciences Innovation in ePublishing Journals categories – For print and electronic journals. Best New Journal in Science and Medicine Best New Journal in Social Sciences and HumanitiesThe PROSE Awards for Excellence – Chosen from among the winners of the books and journals categories. One winner is recognized in each of the following categories: Award for Excellence in Biology and Life Sciences Award for Excellence in Humanities Award for Excellence in Physical Sciences and Mathematics Award for Excellence in Reference Works Award for Excellence in Social Sciences The R. R. Hawkins Award has been presented to the most outstanding work among each year’s PROSE Awards entries since they began in 1976. Hawkins winners have included Wiley Interdisciplinary Reviews, Atlas of the Transatlantic Slave Trade by David Eltis and David Richardson, The Diffusion Handbook and Alan Turing: His Work and Impact edited by S. Barry Cooper and Jan van Leeuwen.

The 2016 R. R. Hawkins Award was presented to University of California Press for The Scholar Denied: W. E. B. Du the Birth of Modern Sociology by Aldon Morris. Https://web.archive.org/web/20120522171950/http://publishers.org/press/57/ http://lj.libraryjournal.com/2012/02/industry-news/2011-prose-awards-presented/ http://www.reedelsevier.com/mediacentre/pressreleases/2012/Pages/elsevier-honored-with-six-prose-awards.aspx https://web.archive.org/web/20120301004428/http://www.aacr.org/home/public--media/aacr-in-the-news.aspx?d=2685 http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/accesspediatrics-wins-a-2011-prose-award-for-best-online-resource-in-biological-and-life-sciences-139511688.html http://lucian.uchicago.edu/blogs/news/2012/02/14/frederick-de-armas-receives-prose-award/ http://www.ons.org/news.aspx?id=199 Kolendo, Kate. "Behind the scenes of the PROSE Awards judging". Elsevier. Retrieved 14 November 2014