The 14"/50 caliber railway guns were spare US Navy Mk 4 14 inch/50 caliber guns mounted on railway cars and operated by US Navy crews in France in the closing months of World War I. In 1917 the Allies were losing an artillery duel against heavy German guns along the Flanders coast in Belgium, the important French Channel port of Dunkirk was being shelled by 38 cm German guns sited in Belgium at a range of over 24 miles. There was a need for the Allies to bombard strategic targets in the German rear areas to hinder German capability to stage attacks; the largest Allied guns in the area were British 12-inch Mk X guns. Upon its entry into the war, the US chose its largest and longest-ranged available naval gun to fill the gap—the 14"/50 caliber Mk 4 gun with a muzzle velocity of 2800 feet per second; the new 16-inch gun would have been preferable. Baldwin Locomotive Works delivered five trains for the United States Navy during April and May 1918; each train transported and supported a 14"/50 caliber Mk 4 gun mounted on a rail carriage with four 6-wheel bogies.

There was some doubt as to whether the Flanders coast and French Channel ports were now safe Allied ports, following the German Spring offensive successes in March and April 1918 which brought those areas within German artillery and attack range. The guns were therefore diverted from the British zone in the north to further south, to the port of St. Nazaire, to avoid the risk of having such valuable assets captured or destroyed; each battery composed of a locomotive, gun car, ammunition cars, supporting equipment cars, accommodation cars for the crew was under the command of a United States Navy lieutenant, under overall command of Rear Admiral Charles Peshall Plunkett. After delivery by ship, these trains were assembled in St. Nazaire in August. Before a gun arrived at a firing position, a curved length of track was laid at a position calculated suitable for firing at a specific target, a pit 9 feet deep, involving the removal of 103 cubic yards of earth was dug, between the rails into which the gun recoiled 44 inches.

Supports were embedded in this pit connected to the gun mounting, to transmit remaining recoil energy directly to the ground and avoid placing excessive vertical strain on the gun car and prevent it from moving backwards. In fact, by late 1918 the French had constructed many such curved spurs for their own guns and hence the US guns were able to re-use these; the gun car was positioned over the pit, the wheels were locked and the platform was locked into position with gun mount and car's weight shifted from the trucks directly to the ground by jacks and lifting screws. The rails were removed from above the pit; the gun could elevate up to 43°, which gave it a maximum range of 42,000 yards, could be traversed 2.5° left and right of center. Any greater change of direction required the gun to be moved forward or backward along its curved track and a new recoil pit dug; the gun used the standard naval gun mounting and recoil system, with the addition of a pneumatic system to assist the runout springs to return the gun to firing position after recoil at the higher maximum elevation of 43° compared to maximum 30° in naval use.

A major disadvantage of the Mark I mount was that the weight was distributed forward, placing weight on the leading axles, above the allowable weight for French railways, caused axle bearings to overheat at any speed over 5–10 mph. The armored enclosed gun house lacked ventilation and caused condensation to form, which promoted rusting; the necessity to excavate a recoil pit was not acceptable as a long-term solution of recoil control. Hence the Mark I, while functioning as designed, was seen as only a compromise measure necessitated by wartime time constraints; the guns served to support General Pershing's army offensive in the Meuse-Argonne sector of the Western Front in France. They operated as single-gun batteries designated Battery 1 to Battery 5. Battery 2, commanded by Lieutenant E. D. Duckett, US Navy, had the distinction of being the first all-US gun to fire in action on the Western Front. On 6 September 1918 they fired from the forest of Compiegne at the important German railway center of Tergnier in support of an Allied attack.

The guns were used to target key infrastructure deep behind the German lines, such as railway junctions and other lines of communication and concentration only opening fire after an Allied attack had begun to avoid giving the Germans any warning of Allied intentions. They fired 782 shells on 25 separate active days on the Western Front at ranges between 27 and 36 kilometers; this equated to an average of 156 rounds per gun, half the 300 rounds expected life of these guns before they would need refurbishment. The guns were only fired for specific strategic purposes to conserve barrel life, with smaller guns being used whenever possible. Hence on many days they were being moved; the last shot was fired by Battery 4 at 10:57:30 a.m. on 11 November 1918, timed to land just before the scheduled Armistice at 11 a.m. The US Army ordered three units identical to the Navy Mark I mountings in May 1918 and another three in July 1918 from Baldwin Locomotive Works, they were all completed by 20 September 1918 but the war ended before they were required to be shipped to France.

The new Mark II gun car developed during 1918 carried the same 14"/50 caliber Mk 4 gun but addressed the problem areas: it dispensed with the armored gun house, with gu

The Central University of Ecuador is a national university located in Quito, Ecuador and is the oldest and largest university in Ecuador, one of the oldest in the Americas. The enrollment at Central University of Ecuador is over 10,000 students per year. One of the cornerstones of Central University of Ecuador is the medical school, one of the best in the country; the goal of the Library Network System is to facilitate the preservation and free access to the resources of scientific, documentary and virtual information, while supporting the development of teaching and research in the processes of creation, knowledge management and liaison with the community. The Joint National Music and Latinoamericana "The Chakana" is a musical group that has formed through the initiative and support of the Department of Communication and Culture of the Central University of Ecuador; the code that handles consists of songs and instrumental pieces with a focus harboring native rhythms and airs both Ecuador and Latin America rescuing own musical roots and common that make us a cultural continental bloc from the origins of our history as American peoples.

Director: Professor Javier Muñoz CUDAE-Traditional Dance The multicultural and multi-ethnic Ecuador is a point of realization through the musical representation, traditional dance. This kind of folk dance is related to the cultural roots of a community, whose practice is done more by inheritance of tradition from generation to generation, that innovation; the cultural richness of our country, concocted by the socio-historical processes is represented through the body: rituals that express the symbolic force of events or events that marked their future. Director: Professor Nelson Diaz University Choir It was created on November 22, 1960 under the direction of Maestro Victor Austrian Bürger, he has represented the Central University of Ecuador outside the country for 54 years. Among the directors I have told the Choir Master Gerardo Guevara; the Art school program at Central University of Ecuador has numerous classes in ceramics, visual arts and fine arts drawing, painting, photography and graphic design.

The Art school was founded in 1967 and offers secondary, post-secondary or undergraduate, graduate or postgraduate programs in these areas. It has an undergraduate program in painting, printmaking and ceramics. Offers programs in the performing arts, specially theatre and acting. Is working in implementing music and dance programs for undergraduate and graduate studies, they are distinguished from larger institutions which may offer majors or degrees in the visual arts, but only as one part of a broad-based range of programs. France's École des Beaux-Arts is the first model for such organized instruction, breaking with a tradition of master and apprentice instruction when it was formed; the art school of the Central University of Ecuador follows a long tradition in academic learning of the art practice since it takes the place of the Fine arts school of Quito founded in 1904 and the school of arts founded in 1969. The medical school at Central University of Ecuador is one of the oldest in Ecuador that teaches medicine, awards a professional degree for physicians and surgeons.

Such medical degrees.. The medical school at Central University of Ecuador is one of the oldest in Ecuador. List of colonial universities in Latin America List of universities in Ecuador

"You and Forever and Me" is a song recorded by American country music group Little Texas. It was released in June 1992 as the third single from their debut album First Time for Everything, it was co-written by the band's lead guitarist Porter Stewart Harris. The song peaked at number 5 on the Billboards Hot Country Songs chart and reached number 18 on the Canadian RPM country Tracks chart in 1992. In "You and Forever and Me", sung by Tim Rushlow, the narrator is passing through his old hometown one afternoon after being away and recalls his memories of his teenage years and a lost love. Deborah Evans Price, of Billboard magazine reviewed the song favorably, calling it a "summertime ballad from a progressive group." She goes on to say that the "praiseworthy performance frolicks with harmonies" and that the production is "effectively smooth." The music video, directed by Jim Shea, shows the band on their bus driving through the desert. Each band member has flashbacks about former loves. "You and Forever and Me" debuted at number 70 on the U.

S. Billboard Hot Country Singles & Tracks for the week of June 20, 1992

Woolton Hall is a former country house located in Woolton, a suburb of Liverpool, England. Built in 1704 and extensively renovated in 1772 by the influential architect Robert Adam the building is praised as the finest example of Robert Adam's work in Northern England. Throughout its 300-year history the building has been the residence of a number of notable figures, including the Earl of Sefton and Liverpool shipowner Frederick Richards Leyland. During the part of the 20th century the building went through a number of uses becoming a school in the 1950s and being abandoned with plans for its demolition. A campaign against its destruction was successful and the hall is now a Grade I listed building. Early records indicate that the land of Woolton Hall had been occupied since 1180 when the area of Much Woolton came under the lordship of the holy Catholic order of the Knights Hospitaller who held the land for 360 years until the English Reformation. In the 16th century, Henry VIII's Dissolution of the Monasteries suppressed the Knights Hospitaller leading the land being confiscated and further restored by Mary I.

The land was permanently confiscated from the order in 1559 under Elizabeth I and was kept by the crown until 1609. The land came under ownership of the Brettarghs of Holt, reputed to have acquired it from an ancient family named de Woolton. On the death of William Brettargh in 1609 the land was described as a cottage. Sometime between 1700 and 1704 the house and surrounding estate was sold to politician Richard Molyneux, 1st Viscount Molyneux, who built the northern block of the hall. In 1772 Woolton Hall was acquired by Nicholas Ashton, a former High Sheriff of Lancashire, whose father was one of the original undertakers and the principal financier of the Sankey Canal, the first canal of the British industrial revolution. Shortly afterwards Ashton commissioned the noted architect Robert Adam to remodel and expand the building extensively. Nicholas Ashton died in 1833 leaving the house to his son Joseph Ashton who in turn left it to his son Charles Ellis Ashton. Charles Ellis sold the house in 1865 to James Reddecliffe Jeffery, the owner of Liverpool's largest department store Compton House, located on Church Street.

A fire at the store on 1 December 1865 destroyed much of Jeffery's uninsured stock leading to the business failing. Jeffery put the house up for action in 1869 but failed to find a buyer until 1877 when Liverpool shipowner Frederick Richards Leyland purchased the house for £19,000 moving with his family from nearby Speke Hall Leyland, somewhat of an art enthusiast decorated the house with paintings of varying styles including Edward Burne-Jones's Night and Day and Ford Madox Brown's The Entombment. Leyland sold the building to the McGuffies a family of shipowners who demolished the west wing and converted it into a Hydropathic Hotel. After living there for some 30 years the hotel closed in 1912After a short spell as the headquarters of the Middlesex Regiment and as an army hospital in the 1950s the building was converted into a fee-paying girls' school under the management of the Convent of Notre Dame. In 1970 the small school merged with Notre Dame High School located on Mount Pleasant to form Notre Dame Woolton.

As the school expanded new modern buildings were built nearby leading to Woolton Hall to be abandoned. Soon the building fell into disrepair being marked for demolition in the 1980s; the building was saved after local resident John Hibbert purchased the Hall and spent £100,000 in refurbishments, soon after Woolton Hall become a Grade I listed building on 28 June 1982. In 2005, there were plans to convert the house into retirement care flats. Molyneux Family 1704–1766 Ashton Family 1772–1865 Judge James Reddecliffe Jeffery 1865–1877 Sir Frederick Leyland 1877–1898 Captain Peter McGuffie 1902–1948 Sisters of Notre Dame 1948–1970 Mr J. B Hibbert & Family 1980 From its outside the slate roofed 2 storey structure is built of stone consisting of 7 bay windows, 2 of which break forward under a pediments; the windows, although now boarded up are sashed with glazing bars. The facade of the building was re-fronted in 1865 by Robert Adams to include a Porte-cochère which covers the entrance; this consists of 4 paired Doric columns between rusticated antae and balustrade.

Passing through the front entrance is a large lobby flanked by two main halls. The lobby has marble flooring and an imposing oak fireplace, one of the buildings original features, having been designed by Robert Adams. Adjacent to the fireplace are three doors with the leftmost allowing access to a kitchen area and a stairwell; the door directly to the fireplace's left leads to an octagonal shaped turquoise room with and a decorated ceiling that contains a circular painting of Frederic Leighton's The Garden of the Hesperides. The door on the right leads to the building's main staircase. Regarding the two main halls, the left side hall is a function room with two full-length windows, a stone set bar and fireplace and a back kitchen area; the hall's ceiling is decorated with painted with gold foliage centred around a bust of a man dressed in 18th-century clothing. On the right side of the building is a dance hall and adjoining tapestry room with high ceilings and oak panelled walls; the dance hall with two large front facing windows is decorated with paintings of previous residents and a large painting of Queen Ann which sits above a brick fireplace.

Next to this is a wooden bar area that leads into the tapestry room while at the room's centre is a Parquet dance floor, damaged to reveal stone flooring underneath. The tapestry room is an elongated semi-circular area decorated

Adem Kubilay Somyurek is an Australian Labor Party politician serving as Minister for Local Government and the Minister for Small Business in the Andrews Ministry, has served as Member of Parliament for South Eastern Metropolitan Region since 2002. He had held the role of Minister for Small Business and Trade in the Andrews Ministry from December 2014 to July 2015. Somyurek holds a Master of Arts in Policy and Politics, a Bachelor of Arts in Politics and Sociology and an Associate Diploma in Business Studies, he appeared in Dandenong Court for driving while disqualified in December 2009. Somyurek first entered parliament after winning the Legislative Council province of Eumemmerring at the 2002 election. Somyürek made his inaugural speech to the Victorian Legislative Council as the new member for Eumemmerring on 27 February 2003. After the reforms that introduced proportional representation into the Legislative Council, Somyurek won a safe spot on the Labor ticket for the South Eastern Metropolitan Region and was re-elected at the 2006 election.

Somyürek was elected in the 2014 State elections. In his first term Somyurek served on the Outer Suburban and Interface Committee, the Public Accounts and Estimates Committee. In his second term Somyurek was elected the first chair of the newly constituted Electoral Matters Committee. In his third term Somyurek was promoted into the Shadow Ministry of the Daniel Andrews-led Labor opposition. Upon election to his fourth term and the election of the Labor Party in Victoria, Somyurek was sworn in as Minister for Small Business and Trade. Mr Somyurek stood down from his ministerial role in May 2015 following allegations of inappropriate behaviour, pending an investigation; the allegations were investigated by the Secretary of the Department of Cabinet. On 28 July 2015, after a report was handed down on the incident, Somyurek resigned as a minister, he was succeeded by Philip Dalidakis in the Andrews Ministry. At the 2018 Victorian election Somyurek was returned to his seat in the Upper House. On 27 November 2018 Premier Daniel Andrews announced that Somyurek would be rejoining the Cabinet in the new Andrews Ministry.

On 29 November 2018 it was revealed that Somyurek was to handle the portfolios of Local Government and Small Business within the re-elected Andrews Government. Parliament of Victoria – Legislative Council – The Hon Adem Somyurek MP Parliamentary voting record of Adem Somyurek at Victorian Parliament Tracker