Sierra Leone first became inhabited by indigenous African peoples at least 2,500 years ago. The dense tropical rainforest isolated the region from other West African cultures, it became a refuge for peoples escaping violence and jihads. Sierra Leone was named by Portuguese explorer Pedro de Sintra, who mapped the region in 1462; the Freetown estuary provided a good natural harbour for ships to shelter and replenish drinking water, gained more international attention as coastal and trans-Atlantic trade supplanted trans-Saharan trade. In the mid-16th century, the Mane people invaded, subjugated nearly all of the indigenous coastal peoples, militarised Sierra Leone; the Mane soon blended with the local populations and the various chiefdoms and kingdoms remained in a continual state of conflict, with many captives sold to European slave-traders. The Atlantic slave trade had a significant impact on Sierra Leone, as this trade flourished in the 17th and 18th centuries, as a centre of anti-slavery efforts when the trade was abolished in 1807.

British abolitionists had organised a colony for Black Loyalists at Freetown, this became the capital of British West Africa. A naval squadron was based there to intercept slave ships, the colony grew as liberated Africans were released, joined by West Indian and African soldiers who had fought for Britain in the Napoleonic Wars; the descendants of the black settlers were collectively referred to as the Krios. During the colonial era, the British and Creoles increased their control over the surrounding area, securing peace so that commerce would not be interrupted, suppressing slave-trading and inter-chiefdom war. In 1895, Britain drew borders for Sierra Leone which they declared to be their protectorate, leading to armed resistance and the Hut Tax War of 1898. Thereafter, there was dissent and reforms as the Creoles sought political rights, trade unions formed against colonial employers, peasants sought greater justice from their chiefs. Sierra Leone has played a significant part in nationalism.

In the 1950s, a new constitution united the Crown Colony and Protectorate, governed separately. Sierra Leone gained independence from the United Kingdom in 1961 and became a member of the Commonwealth of Nations. Ethnic and linguistic divisions remain an obstacle to national unity, with the Mende and Creoles as rival power blocs. Half of the years since independence have been marked by autocratic governments or civil war. Archaeological finds show that Sierra Leone has been inhabited continuously for at least 2,500 years, populated by successive movements of peoples from other parts of Africa; the use of iron was introduced to Sierra Leone by the 9th century, by the end of the 10th century agriculture was being practiced by coastal tribes. Sierra Leone's dense tropical rainforest isolated the land from other pre-colonial African cultures and from the spread of Islam; this made it a refuge for people escaping subjugation by the Sahelian kingdoms and jihads. European contacts with Sierra Leone were among the first in West Africa.

In 1462, Portuguese explorer Pedro de Sintra mapped the hills surrounding what is now Freetown Harbour, naming the oddly shaped formation Serra Lyoa. At this time the country was inhabited by numerous politically independent native groups. Several different languages were spoken. In the coastal rainforest belt there were Bulom-speakers between the Sherbro and Freetown estuaries, Loko-speakers north of the Freetown estuary to the Little Scarcies River, Temne-speakers found at the mouth of the Scarcies River, Limba-speakers farther up the Scarcies. In the hilly savannah north of all of these lands were the Fula tribes; the Susu traded with the coastal peoples along river valley routes, bringing salt, clothes woven by the Fula, iron work, gold. Portuguese ships began visiting in the late 15th century, for a while they maintained a fort on the north shore of the Freetown estuary; this estuary is one of the largest natural deep-water harbours in the world, one of the few good harbours on West Africa's surf-battered "Windward Shore".

It soon became a favourite destination of European mariners, to shelter and replenish drinking water. Some of the Portuguese sailors stayed permanently and intermarrying with the local people. Slavery, in particular the Atlantic slave trade, had a great effect on the region—socially and politically—from the late 15th to the mid-19th centuries. There had been lucrative trans-Saharan trade of slaves in West Africa from the 6th century. At its peak the Mali Empire surrounded the region of modern-day Sierra Leone and Liberia, though the slave trade may not have penetrated the coastal rainforest; the peoples who migrated into Sierra Leone from this time would have had greater contact with the indigenous slave trade, either practicing it or escaping it. When Europeans first arrived at Sierra Leone, slavery among the African peoples of the area was believed to be rare. According to historian Walter Rodney, the Portuguese mariners kept detailed reports, so it is if slavery had been an important local institution that the reports would have described it.

There was mention of a particular kind of slavery in the region, which was: a person in trouble in one kingdom could go to another and place himself under the protection of its king, whereupon he became a "slave" of that king, obliged to provide free labour and liable for sale. According to Rodney, such a person would have retained some rights and had some opportunity to rise in status as time passed. If the Africans wer

The Nocturnes are five piano pieces by Erik Satie. They were written between August and November 1919. With the exception of the Premier Menuet they were his final works for solo piano, are considered among his most significant achievements in the genre; the Nocturnes stand apart from Satie's piano music of the 1910s in their complete seriousness, lacking the zany titles, musical parody, extramusical texts he featured in his scores of the time. In performance the set lasts about 13 minutes. Much had transpired in Satie's personal and professional lives in the two years since his previous keyboard piece, the Neoclassical spoof Sonatine bureaucratique. There was the fallout from the scandalous premiere of his ballet Parade, including Satie's conviction of criminal libel for sending insulting postcards to a critic, from which he narrowly escaped imprisonment. Ridiculed by the French press and dogged by chronic poverty, Satie fell into a depressed state that reached its nadir in August 1918, when he wrote to Valentine Hugo, "I shit on Art, it has'cut me up' too often."

He proceeded to break with the Nouveaux jeunes group of musicians he had founded, an act that set the stage for their eventual regrouping as Les Six. By the summer of 1919 his creative energies had revived, though his spirits remained hard-bitten and gloomy. "I have changed a lot during these last months", he mused to singer Paulette Darty. "I am becoming serious...too serious, even." Such feelings may have steered him to the nocturne form itself - the province of Chopin, evocative of the night and quiet and introspective - and affected the way the project developed. Satie's notebooks reveal he intended to present the Nocturnes with the whimsical literary humor the Parisian public had come to expect from him; the first piece had the working title Faux Nocturne and was accompanied by one of those little stories he seemed to enjoy writing for the pianist's private amusement: The night is silentMelancholy is all-pervasiveThe will-o'-the-wisp disturbs the peaceful landscapeWhat a bore! It's an old will-o'-the-wispTrust him to comeLet us resume our reverie, if you will But he soon abandoned the text and satirical nomenclature, choosing instead to let the Nocturnes stand as pure music.

He wrote them using conventional bar lines, a practice he had eschewed in piano music for nearly 30 years before returning to it – with a dash of irony – in the Sonatine bureaucratique. On August 24, 1919, Satie informed Valentine Hugo: "I am coming to the end of my Third Nocturne. I am dedicating it to you; the three of them are not at all bad. The first serves as a prelude. Between the three of them they form a whole with which I am pleased – though the first is the least good." This assessment was premature. Satie was not satisfied with the second Nocturne until the following month, he continued to tinker with No. 3 until October - by which time he was developing ideas for additional pieces in the series. Nos. 4 and 5 are dated November 1919, respectively. Printing of the Nocturnes was split between two of Satie's regular publishers. Rouart, Lerolle & Cie issued Nos. 1–3 in late 1919. Demets advertised a sixth Nocturne without a price, indicating it was a work in progress, but the piece would not appear in the composer's lifetime.

Satie dedicated each of the completed five to a patron or proponent of his music: 1. Doux et calme, for Marcelle Meyer 2. Simplement, for André Salomon 3. Un peu mouvementé, for Valentine Hugo 4. = 92, for the Countess Étienne de Beaumont 5.. = 60, for Madame Georges CocteauThe Nocturne No. 1 was premiered by Jane Mortier at the Salle Pleyel in Paris on March 18, 1920. The fourth Nocturne was not heard until January 4, 1923, when it was played by Jean Wiener at the Théâtre des Champs-Élysées. There is no clear indication of the debut for No. 5. The Nocturnes caused no immediate stir, although at the Viñes performance Jean Cocteau and Les Six members Darius Milhaud and Louis Durey expressed their enthusiasm. Given Satie's reputation as a musical humorist, the audience may have been unsure if it was having its leg pulled, but they have long been prized by Satie aficionados. John Cage championed them in the United States after World War II, they inspired choreographer Merce Cunningham's ballet Nocturnes, in which the dances were created using chance procedure.

Rollo H. Myers, Satie's first biographer in English, ranked the Nocturnes with a handful of Satie compositions that are "outstanding and cannot be ignored by any student of contemporary music." He continued: "The Nocturnes are in a sense the natural corollary of Socrate, which preceded them by a year, are conceived in the same gravely austere mood. The style is chastened, uncompromising in its rejection of any sensuous appeal, but the music is strangely impressive in its bleakness and inhuman detachment." The Nocturnes have never enjoyed the mainstream popularity of the Gymnopédies or other Satie piano works, while they have been recorded by such artists as Aldo Ciccolini, Pascal Rogé and Jean-Yves Thibaudet, they remain, according to J

A Paraklesis or Supplicatory Canon in the Byzantine Rite, is a service of supplication for the welfare of the living. It is addressed to a specific Saint or to the Most Holy Theotokos whose intercessions are sought through the chanting of the supplicatory canon together with psalms and ekteniae; the most popular Paraklesis is that in which the supplicatory canon and other hymns are addressed to the Most Holy Theotokos. There are two forms of this service: the Small Paraklesis, the Great Paraklesis. During the majority of the year, only the Small Paraklesis to the Theotokos is chanted. However, during the Dormition Fast, the Typikon prescribes that the Small and Great Paraklesis be chanted on alternate evenings, according to the following regulations: If August 1 falls on a Monday through Friday, the cycle begins with the Small Paraklesis. If August 1 falls on a Saturday or Sunday, the cycle begins with the Great Paraklesis. On the eves of Sundays and on the eve of the Transfiguration the Paraklesis is omitted.

On Sunday nights, the Great Paraklesis is always used. In the Russian Orthodox Church, the equivalent of a Paraklesis is the moleben, molében, service of intercession or service of supplication, similar in structure, except that the canon is omitted, retaining only the refrains and Irmoi of the third and ninth odes; when the full service itself is performed, it is called the "Supplicatory Canon". It is used in honor of the Mother of God, a Feast, or a particular saint or martyr; the present form of the Moleben originated in Slavic culture, but its use is now widespread both in Europe and in the Orthodox and Byzantine Catholic churches that follow the Slavic tradition. Whereas the Paraklesis includes as its principal focus the canon to the subject being honored, the Moleben omits the odes of the canon and includes only the simple refrains that occur between the odes. Molebens are traditionally served by a priest, but may be done as a reader's service, it is the custom to celebrate a moleben service only in honor of a glorified saint, when possible the service is done in front of an icon of the person or feast to whom the Moleben is celebrated.

Sometimes an Akathist will be chanted during the celebration of a Moleben. The general outline of a Moleben is based on the service of Matins, as served on a feast day, complete with a Gospel reading. Molebens may be occasional, for instance for one, ill or going on a journey. Molebens are important in the Russian Orthodox tradition, an entire volume of the Great Euchologion is devoted to them. Most molebens are served in the church, but they may be served in homes, schools or other appropriate places. Molebens may be served in processions; the procession may be going to a particular place, such as during a pilgrimage, or it may circle around the outside of the church building. When a processional Moleben circles around the church often the procession will pause on each of the four sides of the building, the bishop or priest will sprinkle holy water on the church, the icons and people that are taking part in the procession. Dormition of the Theotokos Akathist The Service of the Small Paraklesis from the Greek Orthodox Archdiocese of America Website The Paraclesis Service Explained St Nicholas Russian Orthodox Church, Texas Paraklesis article from OrthodoxWiki The Order of the General Moleben, according to the usage of the Russian Orthodox Church Outside of Russia Tropar & Kontakion for Royal Martyrs & New Martyrs Of Russia compiled by Fr.

Demetrios Serfes Photo: Blessing with holy water during Moleben Photo: Procession around the Church

Marstonia comalensis is a species of minute freshwater snail with a gill and an operculum, an aquatic gastropod mollusk or micromollusk in the family Hydrobiidae. It is found in United States. Marstonia comalensis is large for this genus, it has an ovate-conic umbilicate shell. The penis has a short filament and oblique, squarish lobe bearing a narrow gland along its distal edge, it is well differentiated morphologically from other congeners that have similar shells and penes, is genetically divergent relative to those congeners that have been sequenced. This species has been confused with Cincinnatia integra. In 1906, Henry Augustus Pilsbry and James Ferriss described this species under the name Amnicola comalensis based on six shells from Comal Creek and the Guadalupe River near New Braunfels, south-central Texas. Pilsbry and Ferriss differentiated this species from Amnicola limosa and two nomina that are recognized as synonyms of Cincinnatia integra by its much smaller size and noted that it further differed from the latter by its less shouldered whorls.

The genus Amnicola was used at that time as "a catch-all for most American amnicoloid species that could not conveniently be placed elsewhere on the basis of their shells". Amnicola comalensis was not further treated taxonomically until Taylor transferred it to Cincinnatia without comment in a bibliographic compilation. During the course of a revisionary study of Cincinnatia integra and Thompson examined several alcohol preserved collections of a snail that they identified as Amnicola comalensis and noted that it resembled species of Marstonia. Hershler et al. published a molecular phylogenetic analysis of the North American nymphophilines that included a specimen of Marstonia comalensis from Old Faithful Spring in Real County, depicted as nested within the Marstonia clade. This was the only published record for Marstonia comalensis subsequent to its original description. Hershler & Liu redescribed Marstonia comalensis based on study of a large series of dry shell and alcohol-preserved material, most of, collected by malacologists J. J. Landye and D. W. Taylor from 1971–1993, provided anatomical evidence supporting its current generic allocation.

The type locality is Comal Creek, near New Braunfels, Texas. The original collections of Marstonia comalensis are worn shells having the appearance of drift material, it is possible that Marstonia comalensis became extinct at Comal Springs when this water body temporarily dried in 1964. Records published by Hershler & Liu expanded the geographic range of Marstinia comalensis, which lives in springs and fluvial habitats spread among four river basins in south-central Texas. All of these localities are on the Edwards Plateau. Records indicate that Marstonia comalensis was distributed in the upper portions of the Brazos River, Colorado River, Guadalupe River and Nueces River basins, south-central Texas; the species has been live collected at only 12 localities and only two of these have been re-visited since 1993. Hershler & Liu were unable to confirm a previous report by Cable & Isserhoff of this species from a drainage canal near Galveston Bay. Hershler & Liu analyzed published molecular data to evaluate the genetic divergence and phylogenetic relationships of Marstonia comalensis, whose geographic range is broadly disjunct relative to other members of the genus.

The shell is ovate-conic with 4.5–5.5 whorls. The height of the shell is about 2.6–4.6 mm. Protoconch is near planispiral tilted, initial 0.75–1.0 whorl wrinkled. Teleoconch whorls are weakly convex narrowly shouldered having subsutural angulation; the sculpture of strong collabral growth lines whorls having numerous weak spiral striae. The aperture is ovate. Inner lip complete across parietal wall in larger specimens narrowly adnate slightly disjunct. Umbilicus is small; the operculum is thin, narrowly ovate, multispiral with eccentric nucleus. The last 0.25 whorl is sometimes frilled on outer side. The attachment scar border is sometimes weakly thickened near the nucleus; the cephalic tentacles are pale, except for black eyespots. Snout is brown, distal lips are pale and foot is pale. Pallial roof has black pigment bands along dorsal edge of genital duct. Ctenidium is positioned a little in front of pericardium. There are 24-25 ctenidial filaments. Osphradium is narrow, positioned posterior to middle of ctenidium.

Radula has about 36 well-formed rows of teeth. Central teeth are about 38 μm wide with convex cutting edge. There are 3-8 lateral cusps. Central cusp are parallel-sided proximally or tapering throughout. There are 1-3 small basal cusps. Basal tongue is U- or V-shaped, about as long as lateral margins. Lateral tooth face is rec

Investigations in Numbers and Space is a K–5 mathematics curriculum, developed at TERC in Cambridge, United States. The curriculum is referred to as Investigations or TERC. Patterned after the NCTM standards for mathematics, it is among the most used of the new reform mathematics curricula; as opposed to referring to textbooks and having teachers impose methods for solving arithmetic problems, the TERC program uses a constructivist approach that encourages students to develop their own understanding of mathematics. The curriculum underwent a major revision in 2005–2007. Investigations was developed between 1990 and 1998, it was just one of a number of reform mathematics curricula funded by a National Science Foundation grant. The goals of the project raised opposition to the curriculum from critics who objected to the emphasis on conceptual learning instead of instruction in more recognized specific methods for basic arithmetic.. The goal of the Investigations curriculum is to help all children understand the fundamental ideas of number and arithmetic, data and early algebra.

Unlike traditional methods, the original edition did not provide student textbooks to describe standard methods or provide solved examples. Instead, students were guided to develop their own invented algorithms through working with concrete representations of number such as manipulatives and drawings as well as more traditional number sentences. Additional activities include journaling and pasting, interviewing and playing conceptual games. Investigations released its second edition for 2006 that continues its focus on the core value of teaching for understanding; the revised version has further emphasis on basic skills and computation to complement the development of place value concepts and number sense. It is easier for teachers to use since the format is more user friendly, though some districts have failed to implement the second edition as well, moved back to textbooks that teach traditional arithmetic methods. A systematic review of research into Investigations was conducted by the U.

S. Department of Education, Institute of Education Sciences and published as part of the What Works Clearinghouse in February 2013; this found "potentially positive effects" on mathematics achievement, supported by a "medium to large" evidence base. A variety of measures of student achievement and learning including state-mandated standardized tests, research-based interview protocols, items from research studies published in peer-reviewed journals and specially constructed paper-and-pencil tests have been used to evaluate the effectiveness of Investigations Research featured at the TERC website states that students who use Investigations, among other things,'do as well or better than students using other curricula.' To support the assertion that children do better when they are not taught traditional arithmetic, Anne Goodrow, in her PhD thesis at Tufts University, compared subtraction strategies of students taught traditional methods with those who used constructivist methods with Investigations curriculum.

Although negative numbers are not taught in the 2nd grade, "constructivist" student subtracting 9 from 28 explains that "8 minus 9 equals negative 1" and argues that "-1 plus 20 is the same as 20-1 and equals 19." On the basis of this, of the average score of this group of 10 students, the author concluded that "although they did not receive instruction in the use of the standard algorithms, the children in the Constructivist group were the most successful at both two-digit addition and subtraction." Many research reports demonstrating the success of the program are criticized by opponents of this curriculum as having poor methodology or for being conducted by the publisher. NSF-sponsored curricula are required to conduct and report such studies, something, not required of traditional mathematics textbooks. See a recent study conducted with the revised edition, for more evidence of efficacy; some school districts report their own data about success with the program. Investigations was commercially successful.

But parents and math educators have criticized its lack of traditional arithmetic content, of decimal math, of multiplication tables, of division and multiplication of fractions, or of addition and subtraction of ordinary fractions apart from a small subset, its emphasis on "kindergarten activities" in class and homework, its lack of a traditional textbook. A common complaint is that the curriculum does not teach any of traditional arithmetic methods familiar to those taught in other nations and to parents with as little as an elementary-school education; the critics assert that "the TERC computational methods are cumbersome and only work for selected simple problems" and that "conscious thought is required for both TERC method selection and TERC method execution" at the simplest levels, thus precluding automaticity and the ability to focus conscious thought on higher-level cognitive tasks on. TERC defenders' response is that the traditional arithmetic methods familiar to Americans are not those used in other nations.

Research has shown that students are capable of developing algorithms that are as correct and generalizable as the "standard" algorithms. A common parent complaint is that there is no recognizable arithmetic and that homework is frequent and time-consuming, with some tasks requiring help from family members and cu

Nick Piombino is an American poet, essayist and psychotherapist. He has been associated with poets from both the New York School of the 1960s and the Language Poets of the 1970s, though his work is not classified. Piombino was born in New York City, he received his BA with honors in English from the City College of New York in 1964 and a master's degree in social work from Fordham University in 1971. He was certified in adult psychoanalysis and psychotherapy at the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health in New York in 1982. Piombino became an active participant in the thriving poetry scene in New York in the 1960s, he studied poetry in writing workshops with William S. Burroughs at City College in 1965 and at the Poetry Project with New York School poet Ted Berrigan in 1967 and Bernadette Mayer in 1973. Mayer in particular was a major influence on Piombino's writing. Encouraged by Berrigan and Mayer, Piombino gave his first poetry reading with singer-songwriter Patti Smith, at The Kitchen, in 1973.

Piombino's writing is informed by his psychoanalytical training. Finding that "early psychoanalytic theory is breathtakingly poetic,", at the same time that he was discovering poetry and fiction, the two disciplines became irrevocably intertwined in his work. Piombino discusses the relationship at length in his third volume of poetry, Theoretical Objects, where he states "psychoanalysis and literature are more interrelated than is apparent. On a year-long trip to Italy and Morocco in 1968, Piombino began to experiment with another art form. Inspired by the "cut-up" techniques that Berrigan and Burroughs used in their writing workshops and the Merz Pictures of German artist Kurt Schwitters, he constructed collages using found materials. Piombino began a private psychotherapy practice in 1976 and has held a number of staff positions as a social worker or psychotherapist in the New York City school system, he became a faculty supervisor at the Psychoanalytic Institute New York Counseling and Guidance Services in 1987.

His experience as a practicing psychotherapist his use of psychoanalytical theory have influenced his poetry. Following the advent of weblogging, Piombino began to make use the Internet, began a blog, fait accompli. Piombino's first published poems appeared in 1965 in American Weave Literary Journal. Throughout the 1970s, he continued to publish in small literary journals, such as The World, Dodgems and Roof, his first volume of poetry, titled Poems, was published by the Sun & Moon Press in 1988 and won an Author's Recognition Award from the Postgraduate Center for Mental Health in 1992. His second chapbook, Light Street, did not appear until 1996, it was followed by Theoretical Objects, a collection of manifestos, aphorisms and autobiographical prose poems. Piombino's poetry took a different turn with Hegelian Honeymoon, in which he moved away from the conventions of Language poetry to explore more traditional forms. Inspired by the poetry that accompanied an exhibition of Japanese calligraphy, the poems are a cross between haiku and aphorism.

The poems were published on the SUNY/Buffalo poetics list-serve before being published in chapbook form by Chax Press. Piombino made his literary reputation not as a poet, but as a theorist of experimental poetics. Piombino's essays use the discourse of psychoanalysis to discuss the role of memory and narrative in the construction of a style of poetry that strives to be both non-narrative and non-referential, he was a regular contributor to L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, which served as a forum for the Language poetry movement between 1978 and 1982. Charles Bernstein, one of the editors of L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E, describes Piombino's essays as the poetic heart of the magazine. Language Poets Similarly, poet Ron Silliman describes Piombino's essays on poetics as "one of the journal's most important attributes. Many of these essays have been reprinted in The Boundary of Blur. Inspired by the literary journals of writers such as Cesare Pavese and Paul Valéry, Piombino began experimenting with the related forms of the manifesto and the aphorism in the 1980s.

He included examples of both forms in Boundary of Theoretical Objects. Piombino's manifestos were published annually from 1993 to 2003 in the journal Ribot, edited by poet Paul Vengelisti. In recent years, Piombino has developed a form of aphorism that he calls "contradicta": paired aphorisms that are both true but nonetheless contradictory. A collection of these aphorisms, with illustrations by Toni Simon, was published by Green Integer Press in 2010 under the title Contradicta: Aphorisms. After his return from Italy and Morocco, Piombino continued to create collages, which he describes as "visual poetry", inspired by his exposure to the conceptual art movement through the work of Bernadette Mayer, Vito Acconci, Robert Smithson. Piombino's earliest collages other found materials. In the 1980s he moved from working. In his more recent collages, such as his photocollage "novel" Free Fall, Piombino has returned to the use of found materials, which he photocopies cuts and pastes. Photos of his early collages can be found on his fait accompli.

His works were exhibited in group shows at the arts center PS122 in 1980 and 2006, at the Maryann Boesky Gallery in 2001, at the Harvard Dudley House in 2005. Free Fall was exhibited as part of the Analogous Series curated by Tim Peterson in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2005 and was published by Otoliths Press in 2007. Collages from Free Fall have subsequently been incorporated into a video of the same name by artist Mike Burakoff. Poems. Sun & Moon Press. 1988. "Two Essays. Leave Books