A carabiner or karabiner is a specialized type of shackle, a metal loop with a spring-loaded gate used to and reversibly connect components, most notably in safety-critical systems. The word is a shortened form of Karabinerhaken, a German phrase for a "spring hook" used by a carbine rifleman, or carabinier, to attach his carabin to a belt or bandolier. Carabiners are used in rope-intensive activities such as climbing, caving, hot air ballooning, rope rescue, industrial rope work, window cleaning, whitewater rescue, acrobatics, they are predominantly made from both steel and aluminium. and Those used in sports tend to be of a lighter weight than those used in commercial applications and rope rescue. Referred to as carabiner-style or as mini-biners, carabiner keyrings and other light-use clips of similar style and design have become popular. Most are stamped with a "Not For Climbing" or similar warning due to a common lack of load-testing and safety standards in manufacturing. While from an etymological perspective any metal attaching link with a spring gate is technically a carabiner, the strict usage among the climbing community refers only to those devices manufactured and tested for load-bearing in safety-critical systems like rock and mountain climbing rated to 20 kN or more.

Carabiners on hot air balloons are used to connect the envelope to the basket and are rated at 2.5 tonne, 3 tonne or 4 tonne. Load-bearing screw-gate carabiners are used to connect the diver's umbilical to the surface supplied diver's harness, they are rated for a safe working load of 5 kN or more. Carabiners come in four characteristic shapes: Oval: Symmetric. Most basic and utilitarian. Smooth regular curves allow easy repositioning of loads, their greatest disadvantage is that a load is shared on both the strong solid spine and the weaker gated axis. D: Asymmetric shape transfers the majority of the load onto the spine, the carabiner's strongest axis. Offset-D: Variant of a D with a greater asymmetry, allowing for a wider gate opening. Pear/HMS: Wider and rounder shape at the top than offset-D's, larger. Used for belaying with a munter hitch, with some types of belay device; the largest HMS carabiners can be used for rappelling with a munter hitch. These are the heaviest carabiners. There are three broad categories of locking mechanisms for carabiners: auto locking, manual locking, non-locking.

Non-locking carabiners have a sprung swinging gate that accepts a rope, webbing sling, or other hardware. Rock climbers connect two non-locking carabiners with a short length of webbing to create a quickdraw. Two gate types are common: Solid gate: The more traditional carabiner design, incorporating a solid metal gate with separate pin and spring mechanisms. Most modern carabiners feature a'key-lock nose shape and gate opening, less prone to snagging than traditional notch and pin design. Most locking carabiners are based on the solid gate design. Wire gate: A single piece of bent spring-steel wire forms the gate, with no separate spring or pins needed. Wire gate carabiners are lighter than solid gates, with the same strength. Wire gates are less prone to icing up than solid gates, an advantage in Alpine mountaineering and ice climbing; the reduced gate mass makes their wire bales less prone to "gate flutter", a dangerous condition created when the carabiner impacts rock or other hard surfaces during a fall, the gate opens momentarily due to momentum.

Simple wiregate designs feature a notch that can snag objects, but newer designs feature a shroud or guide wires around the "hooked" part of the carabiner nose to prevent snagging. Both solid and wire gate carabiners can be either "straight gate" or "bent gate". Bent-gate carabiners are easier to clip a rope into using only one hand, so are used for the rope-end carabiner of quickdraws and alpine draws used for lead climbing. Life supporting carabiners such as those used in tree climbing need to be strong, but secure against unintentional opening under use. All carabiners with a spring loaded gate are "self closing". Several are "self locking", some "self double locking". Locking carabiners have the same general shape as non-locking carabiners, but have an additional mechanism securing the gate; these mechanisms may be either threaded sleeves, spring-loaded sleeves, magnetic levers, other spring loaded unlocking levers or opposing double spring loaded gates. Screw-lock: Have a threaded sleeve over the gate which must be disengaged manually.

They have fewer moving parts than spring-loaded mechanisms, are less prone to malfunctioning due to contamination or component fatigue, are easier to employ one-handed. They, require more total effort and are more time-consuming than pull-lock, twist-lock or lever-lock. Twist-lock, push-lock, twist-and-push-lock: Have a security sleeve over the gate which must be manually rotated and/or pulled to disengage, but which springs automatically to locked position upon release, they offer the advantage of re-engaging without additional user input, but being spring-loaded are prone to both spring fatigue and their more complex mechanisms becoming balky from dirt

Jonathan Steingard is a Canadian musician and songwriter known as the lead vocalist and lead guitarist for the Christian pop-punk band, Hawk Nelson which he joined in October 2004, replacing the former guitarist David Clark. He took over vocal duties upon Jason Dunn's departure in March 2012, his side projects include September Satellite, The Natural Anthem, two albums entitled Fox Run, Under The Canopy and an EP Atlantis. Steingard's first principal side project, Fox Run, released on October 25, 2006, utilizes a large number of instruments for a unique sound, his second album Under The Canopy, released on November 25, 2008, is rather an emotional alternative one rather than the pop-punk genre of Hawk Nelson, while three singles from Under The Canopy was featured in the Atlantis EP released on November 11, 2008, available for free download. Steingard served as a judge for The 13th and 14th Annual Independent Music Awards in 2014 and 2015, his contributions helped to assist the careers of upcoming independent artists.

The oldest of three children, Jonathan started playing the guitar at the age of 9. He plays PRS Guitars and Metroamp Amps, Pedaltrain Pedalboards, GHS Strings, his current touring PRS guitars include an SC245, a Mira, a Chris Henderson Model. Steingard married Jessica Hubbard in March 2007. Jonathan Steingard on IMDb Jonathan Steingard's Website Hawk Nelson Dot Com the band's website -the website contains their tour dates, their "vodcasts", the latest news. You can hear some of their music there. Jonathan Steingard's MP3 Music Downloads at his side project website. Jonathan's page on the PRS Guitars Website Jonathan is a PRS Guitars Endorsee

Aldo Montano is an Italian fencer and a four-time Olympic medalist. He received a gold medal in sabre individual at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. On 11 October 2011, he won the gold medal at the World Championships in Italy, he is the third generation of his family to win a fencing medal for Italy at the Olympic Games. Aldo took up foil, but switched to sabre so he could follow in the footsteps of his grandfather and father, his grandfather, Aldo Montano, won silver medals on the team event in sabre at the 1936 Summer Olympics and the 1948 Summer Olympics. Aldo's father, Mario Aldo Montano, was part of the Italian sabre team that won the gold medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics, the team silver medals for sabre at the 1976 Summer Olympics, again at the 1980 Summer Olympics, his uncles were on the same team as his father. Another uncle, Carlo Montano, won silver in team foil in 1976. Since 2015 he was in a relationship with the Russian track and field athlete Olga Plachina, born in 1996, they got married in 2016 and as of December 2016 are expecting their first child, a girl, who they want to name Olimpia.

Montano is one of the most successful Italian sabre fencers of all time, surpassing the success of his father and grandfather as fencers. He has four Olympic medals, one gold for the individual event in 2004 Summer Olympics, a silver for the team event in 2004 and bronze medals for the team events in 2008 and 2012, respectively; the gold medal bout in 2004 was a "thrilling" final against Hungary's Zsolt Necsik, with a final score of 15-14. Necsik established an early lead of 5-1; the score remained close during the entire bout, with many close calls, but the final touch by Aldo demonstrated his strength on offense with a powerful redoublement attack. Aldo Montano has been successful at the World Championships, having one gold medal, five silver medals and three bronze medals for individual and team events, he has seven European Championships medals, five of them gold, as well as a gold medal from the 2005 Mediterranean Games. Aldo Montano at the International Fencing Federation Aldo Montano at the European Fencing Confederation Aldo Montano at the Comitato Olimpico Nazionale Italiano Aldo Montano at the International Olympic Committee Aldo Montano at the Olympic Channel Aldo Montano profile from the official site of the Olympics

The Uttamabhadras are an ancient Indian tribe described in the Mahabharata and inscriptions. The Uttamabhadras lived in the Punjab. Uttamabhadras were people of Balkh who had entered India in Vedic times. In Vedic times, they were related to Kurus and the Purus. In Kurukshetra war, we find Madras associated with the Kurus. King Shalya had taken part on behalf of the Kauravas. Madri, the mother of Pandava-putras Nakula and Sahadeva, was a Madra princess. Madri has been referred to as Bahliki i.e. princess of Bahlika janapada/tribe and king Salya has been referred to as Bahlika-pungava i.e. foremost among the Bahlikas. Epic refers to king Ashvapati of Madra, the beloved of the Paura Janapadas, father of Savitri. King Vyusitashva was a descendant of a famous king of Rigvedic times. Circa 120 CE, the Uttamabhadras are mentioned as allies of the Western Satraps in repulsing an attack by the Malavas, whom they crushed; the claim appears in an inscription at the Nashik Caves, made by the Nahapana's viceroy Ushavadata:...

And by order of the lord I went to release the chief of the Uttamabhadras, besieged for the rainy season by the Malayas, those Malayas fled at the mere roar as it were, were all made prisoners of the Uttamabhadra warriors

Steven Nicholas Melnyk is a former American professional golfer and golf sportscaster best known for his success as an amateur golfer. Melnyk won both the U. S. Amateur and British Amateur. Melnyk was born in Georgia, he attended the Glynn Academy in Brunswick for his high school education. Melnyk won the Georgia Open as an 18-year-old amateur golfer in 1965. Melnyk attended the University of Florida in Gainesville, where he played for coach Buster Bishop's Florida Gators men's golf team in National Collegiate Athletic Association competition from 1967 to 1969, he was a two-time All-American at Florida, was the number one golfer on the 1968 team that won their first NCAA Division I Golf Championship. Melnyk graduated from the University of Florida with a bachelor's degree in industrial management in 1969. Melnyk won the 1969 U. S. Amateur at Oakmont Country Club, shooting a 2-over-par 286 to beat Vinny Giles by five shots at stroke play, he claimed the British Amateur with a 3 & 2 victory over fellow American Jim Simons at Carnoustie Golf Links in 1971.

Melnyk had wins at the Western Amateur and Eastern Amateur and played on the 1969 and 1971 Walker Cup teams. He won the 1965 Georgia Open as an amateur, he was low amateur at the 1971 Masters Tournament. Melnyk turned professional in 1971 after his British Amateur win and started playing on the PGA Tour, he did not find the success. He never won a tournament on the PGA Tour, but he did place second four times: the 1973 Phoenix Open, 1974 Houston Open, 1979 First NBC New Orleans Open, 1981 Pensacola Open, his best finish in a major was a tie for 12th at the 1972 Masters Tournament. He did win the 1972 Masters Par 3 Contest. At the 1982 Phoenix Open, Melnyk broke his right elbow. While recuperating from the injury, he became an on-course reporter for CBS Sports, he resumed playing that year and both played and reported through the 1984 season when he retired from playing. He stayed with CBS until 1992, he retired from television in 2004, after 22 years as a reporter and analyst for CBS Sports, ABC Sports and ESPN.

He has designed or co-designed several golf courses. Melnyk was inducted into the University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame as a "Gator Great" in 1970, the Georgia Golf Hall of Fame in 1992, the Florida Sports Hall of Fame in 2000. Melnyk is retired from professional golf and broadcasting, but has regained his amateur golfer status and continues to play, he remains involved as a University of Florida alumnus and serving a ten-year stint on the board of directors of the Gators athletic boosters, including a term as its president. He lives in Florida. 1965 Georgia Open 1969 U. S. Amateur, Western Amateur 1970 Eastern Amateur 1971 British Amateur LA = Low amateur CUT = missed the half-way cut "T" indicates a tie for a place Amateur Walker Cup: 1969, 1971 List of Florida Gators men's golfers on the PGA Tour List of University of Florida alumni List of University of Florida Athletic Hall of Fame members Steve Melnyk at the PGA Tour official site

Marketing management is the organizational discipline which focuses on the practical application of marketing orientation and methods inside enterprises and organizations and on the management of a firm's marketing resources and activities. Marketing management employs tools from economics and competitive strategy to analyze the industry context in which the firm operates; these include Porter's five forces, analysis of strategic groups of competitors, value chain analysis and others. In competitor analysis, marketers build detailed profiles of each competitor in the market, focusing on their relative competitive strengths and weaknesses using SWOT analysis. Marketing managers will examine each competitor's cost structure, sources of profits and competencies, competitive positioning and product differentiation, degree of vertical integration, historical responses to industry developments, other factors. Marketing management conduct market research and marketing research to perform marketing analysis.

Marketers employ a variety of techniques to conduct market research, but some of the more common include: Qualitative marketing research, such as focus groups and various types of interviews Quantitative marketing research, such as statistical surveys Experimental techniques such as test markets Observational techniques such as ethnographic observationMarketing managers may design and oversee various environmental scanning and competitive intelligence processes to help identify trends and inform the company's marketing analysis. A brand audit is a thorough examination of a brand's current position in an industry compared to its competitors and the examination of its effectiveness; when it comes to brand auditing, six questions should be examined and assessed: how well the business’ current brand strategy is working, what the company's established resource strengths and weaknesses are, what its external opportunities and threats are, how competitive the business’ prices and costs are, how strong the business’ competitive position in comparison to its competitors is, what strategic issues are facing the business.

When a business is conducting a brand audit, the goal is to uncover business’ resource strengths, best market opportunities, outside threats, future profitability, its competitive standing in comparison to existing competitors. A brand audit establishes the strategic elements needed to improve brand position and competitive capabilities within the industry. Once a brand is audited, any business that ends up with a strong financial performance and market position is more than not to have a properly conceived and executed brand strategy. A brand audit examines whether a business' share of the market is decreasing, or stable, it determines if the company's margin of profit is improving and how much it is in comparison to the profit margin of established competitors. Additionally, a brand audit investigates trends in a business’ net profits, the return on existing investments, its established economic value, it determines whether or not the business’ entire financial strength and credit rating is improving or getting worse.

This kind of audit assesses a business’ image and reputation with its customers. Furthermore, a brand audit seeks to determine whether or not a business is perceived as an industry leader in technology, offering product or service innovations, along with exceptional customer service, among other relevant issues that customers use to decide on a brand of preference. A brand audit focuses on a business’ strengths and resource capabilities because these are the elements that enhance its competitiveness. A business’ competitive strengths can exist in several forms; some of these forms include skilled or pertinent expertise, valuable physical assets, valuable human assets, valuable organizational assets, valuable intangible assets, competitive capabilities and attributes that position the business into a competitive advantage, alliances or cooperative ventures. The basic concept of a brand audit is to determine whether a business’ resource strengths are competitive assets or competitive liabilities.

This type of audit seeks to ensure that a business maintains a distinctive competence that allows it to build and reinforce its competitive advantage. What's more, a successful brand audit seeks to establish what a business capitalizes on best, its level of expertise, resource strengths, strongest competitive capabilities, while aiming to identify a business’ position and future performance. Two customer segments are selected as targets because they score on two dimensions: The segment is attractive to serve because it is large, makes frequent purchases, is not price sensitive, or other factors. A cited definition of marketing is "meeting needs profitably"; the implication of selecting target segments is that the business will subsequently allocate more resources to acquire and retain customers in the target segment than it will for other, non-targeted customers. In some cases, the firm may go so far as to turn away customers; the doorman at a swanky nightclub, for example, may deny entry to unfashionably dressed individuals because the business has made a strategic decision to target the "high fashion" segment of nightclub patrons.

In conjunction with targeting decisions, marketing managers will identify the desired positioning they want the company, product, or brand to occupy in the target customer's mind. This positioning is an encapsul