The Carpathian Mountains or Carpathians are a range of mountains forming an arc throughout Central and Eastern Europe. 1,500 km long, it is the third-longest European mountain range after the Urals with 2,500 km and the Scandinavian Mountains with 1,700 km. The range stretches from the far eastern Czech Republic in the northwest through Slovakia, Poland and Ukraine Serbia and Romania in the southeast; the highest range within the Carpathians is known as the Tatra mountains in Slovakia, where the highest peaks exceed 2,600 m. The second-highest range is the Southern Carpathians in Romania, where the highest peaks range between 2,500 m and 2,550 m; the divisions of the Carpathians are in three major sections: Western Carpathians—Austria, Czech Republic, Poland and Hungary Eastern Carpathians—southeastern Poland, eastern Slovakia and Romania Southern Carpathians—Romania and Serbia The term Outer Carpathians is used to describe the northern rim of the Western and Eastern Carpathians. The Carpathians provide habitat for the largest European populations of brown bears, wolves and lynxes, with the highest concentration in Romania, as well as over one third of all European plant species.

The mountains and their foothills have many thermal and mineral waters, with Romania having one-third of the European total. Romania is home to the second-largest surface of virgin forests in Europe after Russia, totaling 250,000 hectares, most of them in the Carpathians, with the Southern Carpathians constituting Europe's largest unfragmented forest area. Deforestation rates due to illegal logging in the Carpathians are high; the most important cities in or near the Carpathians are: Bratislava and Košice in Slovakia, Kraków in Poland, Cluj-Napoca and Brașov in Romania, Uzhhorod in Ukraine. In modern times, the range is called Karpaty in Czech and Slovak and Карпати in Ukrainian, Карпати / Karpati in Serbian, Carpați in Romanian, Karpaten in German, Kárpátok in Hungarian. Although the toponym was recorded by Ptolemy in the second century of the Christian era, the modern form of the name is a neologism in most languages. For instance, Havasok was its medieval Hungarian name. Sources, such as Dimitrie Cantemir and the Italian chronicler Giovanandrea Gromo, referred to the range as "Transylvania's Mountains", while the 17th-century historian Constantin Cantacuzino translated the name of the mountains in an Italian-Romanian glossary to "Rumanian Mountains".

The name "Carpates" is associated with the old Dacian tribes called "Carpes" or "Carpi" who lived in a large area from the east, north-east of the Black Sea to Transylvanian plains on the present day Romania and Moldova. The name Carpates may be from the Proto Indo-European root *sker-/*ker-, from which comes the Albanian word karpë, the Slavic word skála via a Dacian cognate which meant mountain, rock, or rugged; the archaic Polish word karpa meant "rugged irregularities, underwater obstacles/rocks, rugged roots, or trunks". The more common word skarpa means other vertical terrain; the name may instead come from Indo-European *kwerp "to turn", akin to Old English hweorfan "to turn, change" and Greek καρπός karpós "wrist" referring to the way the mountain range bends or veers in an L-shape. In late Roman documents, the Eastern Carpathian Mountains were referred to as Montes Sarmatici; the Western Carpathians were called Carpates, a name, first recorded in Ptolemy's Geographia. In the Scandinavian Hervarar saga, which relates ancient Germanic legends about battles between Goths and Huns, the name Karpates appears in the predictable Germanic form as Harvaða fjöllum.

"Inter Alpes Huniae et Oceanum est Polonia" by Gervase of Tilbury, has described in his Otia Imperialia in 1211. Thirteenth- to fifteenth-century Hungarian documents named the mountains Thorchal, Tarczal, or less Montes Nivium; the northwestern Carpathians begin in southern Poland. They surround Transcarpathia and Transylvania in a large semicircle, sweeping towards the southeast, end on the Danube near Orşova in Romania; the total length of the Carpathians is over 1,500 km and the mountain chain's width varies between 12 and 500 km. The highest altitudes of the Carpathians occur; the system attains its greatest breadth in the Transylvanian plateau and in the southern Tatra Mountains group – the highest range, in which Gerlachovský štít in Slovakia is the highest peak at 2,655 m above sea level. The Carpathians cover an area of 190,000 km2, after the Alps, form the next-most extensive mountain system in Europe. Although referred to as a mountain chain, the Carpathians do not form an uninterrupted chain of mountains.

Rather, they consist of several orographically and geologically distinctive groups, presenting as great a structural variety as the Alps. The Carpathians, which attain an altitude over 2,500 m in only a few places, lack the bold peaks, extensive snowfields, large glaciers, high waterfalls, numerous large lakes that are common in the Alps, it was believed that no area of the Carp

The Isuzu MU is a mid-size SUV, produced by the Japan-based manufacturer Isuzu. The three-door MU was introduced in 1989, followed in 1990 by the five-door version called Isuzu MU Wizard, both of which stopped production in 1998 to be replaced by a second generation; this time, the five-door version dropped the "MU" prefix. The acronym "MU" is short for "Mysterious Utility". Isuzu manufactured several variations to its derivates for sale in other countries; the short-wheelbase version was sold as the Isuzu MU and Honda Jazz in Japan, with the names Isuzu Amigo and Isuzu Rodeo Sport used in the United States. Throughout continental Europe, the three-door was called Opel Frontera Sport, with the Vauxhall Frontera Sport title used in the United Kingdom, Holden Frontera Sport in Australasia; the long-wheelbase version was available as the Isuzu Wizard in Japan, in North America as Isuzu Rodeo and the Honda Passport. Opel and Holden each sold rebadged versions of the five-door as the Opel Frontera, Vauxhall Frontera, Holden Frontera.

It was sold as the Chevrolet Frontera in Egypt, the Isuzu Cameo and Isuzu Vega in Thailand, the Isuzu Frontier in South America, as Chevrolet Rodeo in Ecuador and Bolivia. The three-door Isuzu MU made its debut in Japan during 1989, with the five-door MU Wizard introduced the following year. Based on the Isuzu Faster pickup truck of 1988, both the three- and five-door models shared bodywork and most internal components from the front doors forward. Like the Faster pickup, the MU and MU Wizard featured rear- and four-wheel drive layout configurations. Japanese sales were limited by the fact that the exterior width dimensions were not in compliance with Japanese Government dimension regulations, the engine displacement obligated Japanese drivers for higher levels of annual road tax. Between 1993 and 1996, Honda retailed three-door versions of the MU under the name Honda Jazz for the Japanese market under a model sharing arrangement that resulted in several Isuzu models being badged Honda and vice versa.

North AmericaSales of the three-door began in the United States during the second quarter of 1989 under the Isuzu Amigo name. A 2.3-liter 4ZD1 inline-four engine, producing 102 hp came standard with the RWD while the 4WD was offered with the 2.6-liter 4ZE1 engine. The transmission was manual only. There were limited options for the early Amigo including air conditioning, seating for two or four, two trim levels to choose from, S or XS; some of the model year changes throughout production included: small cosmetic alterations for 1991, the standardization of the 2.6-liter engine for 1992, the added availability of a four-speed automatic transmission on the RWD version for 1992 and 1993. No major changes were made for 1993, but for 1994, a high mount rear stop light was added, power steering and mirrors were made standard; the Amigo was dropped by Isuzu in the US market in 1994. A limited number of XS-F editions were produced which had additional options such as power windows and locking, four-wheel anti-lock brakes.

This version of the Amigo had only 49-state emissions and there are no official sales numbers, although most dealers agree there were fewer than 75 sold. The only badging that shows this model is a sport blue XS symbol with a sport-font "F" beside it. Isuzu introduced the five-door Isuzu Rodeo to the United States in 1990 for the 1991 model year, it was available with either a 2.6-liter inline-four engine rated at 89 kilowatts or a 3.1-liter V6 engine made by General Motors which had the same power output as the 2.6, but had more torque. An automatic transmission was available for the V6; the Rodeo, like the Amigo was available in both RWD and 4WD, with the latter featuring manually locking hubs on the S version and automatically locking hubs on the XS and top-of-the-line LS. Rear-wheel ABS were standard feature on 4WDs. A RWD manual transmission model with a 21.9 US gal tank was rated at 18 mpg‑US in city driving by the EPA, 22 mpg‑US on the highway. A 4WD model with the V6 and automatic transmission was rated at 15 mpg‑US city and 18 mpg‑US highway.

All Rodeos had a rear seat bottom which folded forward and rear seat back which folded down, extending the 35-cubic-foot cargo area. The vehicle's lug wrench was stored under the seat bottom, concealed by a carpeted Velcro flap; the jack was located behind a plastic panel in the rear left of the cargo area along with the rear windshield washer fluid reservoir if equipped. The LS was available with privacy glass, velour upholstery, split-folding rear seats. A secret locking compartment was fitted in the depths of the center console below a removable cassette storage bin; the vehicle weighed 3,490–3,820 pounds, depending on engine and options. For the 1993 model year, Isuzu replaced the GM V6 engine with their own 3.2-liter 24-valve SOHC V6, rated at 174 hp. Manually locking hubs were eliminated; the 1993 Rodeo featured a recalibrated suspension system, softened spring rates and softened shock valving. The Rodeo now weighed between 3,536–4,120 pounds and the EPA rating was 18 mpg‑US city and 21 mpg‑US highway.

For 1993, a Family II 2.4 litre four-cylinder engine from Holden was introduced, the Rodeo gained a third brake light above the rear window and a more refined center console. The "V6" badge on V6 models was moved behind the front wheels. Midway throug

Erol Erduran was an influential Turkish Cypriot educator and writer. Erduran was born on November 4, 1932 in Larnaca and died on August 5, 2011 in Bristol, England, he represented the Turkish Cypriot community on the Fulbright Commission and worked with other international agencies including the British Council and the Goethe Institute. The early influence on Erduran’s teaching philosophy was his father Hasan Nihat, a well-respected teacher and leader whose fellow villagers dedicated a street in his name in northern Cyprus 60 years after his death. An obituary of Hasan Nihat was written by Talat Yurdakul and published in the Halkın Sesi newspaper on 17 August 1948. Erduran was trained at Morphou Teachers' College, subsequently taught in several village schools in Cyprus, including at Sinde and Küçük Kaymaklı, he was one of the first Cypriot teachers to be granted a scholarship to study in the UK, where he completed a Diploma in Teaching English as a foreign language at the University of Wales, Cardiff in 1962.

Following his return to Cyprus, Erduran moved onto secondary school teaching at several schools including Nicosia Girls’ School where he taught for 20 years. Apart from Primary and Secondary School Teaching, Erduran’s career included Director of In-Service Teacher Training and Instructor at Anadolu Open University campus in Northern Cyprus, he was a visiting teacher at George Mason University, USA and was one of the founding members of the Eastern Mediterranean University, the first university of the Turkish Cypriot community. Following the Turkish invasion of Cyprus in 1974, he helped establish a new secondary school in Lapithos and served as its first head-teacher. Throughout his career, Erduran made numerous visits to schools in the United Kingdom, USA and Turkey. Erduran was an effective teacher who made a significant impact not only on the practice and policy of education but on the intellectual discourse on education in Cyprus, he was a proponent of holistic teaching. In 1954, he said: "Teachers, above all, are responsible for raising the cultural capital of the societies that they live in.

In order to nurture literate and constructive generations, teachers need awareness of not only their subject knowledge but other subjects to broaden their vision. Academic knowledge is necessary but not sufficient as a strong cultural foundation of youngsters". Francis Bacon’s essay “Of Studies” best captured Erduran’s passion for pedagogy and English literature: “Studies serve for delight, for ornament, for ability” influenced his teaching philosophy in differentiating the purposes of education, he believed in everyone’s potential to learn, took it upon himself as a teacher and an administrator to find creative ways of facilitating learning. He had a rare talent for transforming complex ideas into simple and animated narrative. Erduran was a known figure in Turkish Cypriot literature and journalism, he contributed to the Ideas and Arts Magazine “Çardak” where he published short stories. His prose was existential in nature, was influenced by international literature and philosophy including the work of Bertrand Russell, Albert Camus and Knut Hamsun.

He published numerous articles in the Turkish Cypriot newspaper "Nacak." His prose had an existential tone, questioning the absurdity of life and the alienation of humanity drawing on metaphors from the natural world to symbolise aspects of the human condition. In an interview he reported: "I must have believed that everything in life, apart from the earth, is rotten, everything is lacking of something, it must be so because the smell of soil has never been missing in my stories". The existential undertone of his writing was uniquely positioned in reference to education where he saw it as the responsibility of teachers and society at large to help the public understand and come to terms with humanity’s place in the world. Education in this sense was a vehicle to promote clarity of reason in understanding the existential condition of humanity. In his article “To Make Live,” he took issue with ignorance in reference to the role of reading in the Turkish Cypriot community describing it as a “deep wound of its cultural life” Nevertheless, he was hopeful that the contributions made within the community would yield to the advancement of the indigenous literature to the point of serious competition with the mainland Turkish literature.

His stories were full of lyrical use of the Turkish language through simple yet deep and powerful metaphors. His inspiration for writing came to fruition when he would "lock observations in mind and wait for characters to riot against them, and only would feel the necessity to weave the plot onto paper". One of Erduran’s passions in life was swimming. During British colonial rule, he competed in the swimming championships involving Greek and Turkish Cypriots as well as the British expatriates, having won numerous competitions. Ayten Erduran, his wife of 50 years died in London in 2003, he is survived by his daughter Sibel Erduran, Professor of STEM Education at University of Limerick, Ireland. His obituary has appeared in The Times and Cyprus Mail. Biography