Irish Travellers are a traditionally itinerant ethnic group whose members maintain a set of traditions. They are predominantly English-speaking, though many speak Shelta, the majority are Catholics. Although they are referred to as "Gypsies", Irish Travellers are not genetically related to Romani Gypsies. Genetic analysis has shown Travellers to be of Irish extraction, that they diverged from the settled Irish population in the 1600s, during the time of the Cromwellian invasion of Ireland; the centuries of separation has led to Travellers becoming genetically distinct from the settled Irish. Traveller rights groups long advocated for ethnic status from the Irish government, succeeding in 2017. Irish Travellers live in Ireland, as well as in large communities in the United Kingdom, the United States; as of 2016, there are 32,302 Travellers within Ireland. They have a much higher fertility rate than the general Irish population. Travellers refer in Irish as an Lucht Siúil. "Pikey" or "pikie" is a slang term, pejorative and is a derogatory term aimed towards Travellers.

It is used in the UK and Ireland to refer to Travellers. In a pejorative sense it means "a lower-class person", perhaps'coarse' or'disreputable', it is not well received among Irish Romani, as it is an ethnic slur. The historical origins of Irish Travellers as a distinct group is still unknown, it continues to be the subject of popular debate. Research has been complicated by the fact that the group appears to have no written records of its own. Deeper documentation of Shelta and the Travellers dates to the 1830s, but knowledge of Irish Travellers has been seen from the 1100s, as well as the 1500s-1800s. Many decrees against begging in England were directed at Travellers, passed by King Edward VI around 1551. One such decree was the “Acte for tynckers and pedlers”; the identity of Irish Travellers resembles other itinerant communities, some aspects being self-employment, family networks, birth and burial rituals and folklore. Because they worked with metal, Travellers had to travel throughout Ireland and work on making various items such as ornaments and horse harnesses to make a living.

As a result, by 1175, they were referred to as “tinkler,” “tynkere,” or Tinkers, as well as Gypsies, all of which are derogative names to refer to their itinerant way of life. Many different theories have been put forward to explain the origins of Ireland's itinerant population. A suggestion that they might be of Romani extraction is not supported by genetic evidence, which finds no connection to Romani groups. One idea is of them being distantly related to a Celtic group. Another theory is of a pre-Gaelic origin, where Travellers are descended from a community that lived in Ireland before the arrival of the Celts. Once Ireland was claimed as Celtic, this group was seen as lower class. There is a theory that an indigenous, itinerant community of craftsmen are the ancestors of Travellers, they never settled down like the Celts. Other speculations on their origin are that they were descended from those Irish who were made homeless during the Cromwellian conquest of Ireland in the 1650s, or made homeless in either the 1741 or the 1840s famine due to eviction.

It has since been recognised that no single explanation is to be adequate in answering this complex question. Current scholarship is investigating the background of Gaelic Ireland before the English Tudor conquest; the mobile nature and traditions of a Gaelic society based on pastoralism rather than land tenure before this event implies that Travellers represent descendants of the Gaelic social order marginalised during the change-over to an English landholding society. An early example of this mobile element in the population, how displacement of clans can lead to increased nomadism within aristocratic warrior societies, is that of the Clan Murtough O' Connors, displaced after the Norman invasion. Present genetic evidence indicates. In 2011, researchers at the Royal College of Surgeons in Dublin and the University of Edinburgh analysed DNA samples from 40 Travellers; the study provided evidence that Irish Travellers are a distinct Irish ethnic minority, who have been distinct from the settled Irish community for at least 1000 years.

However, this apparent distance may be the effect of genetic drift within a small homogeneous population and may therefore exaggerate the distance between the two populations. A genetic analysis of Irish Travellers found evidence to support: Irish ancestry. In 2017 a further genetic study using profiles of 50 Irish Travellers, 143 European Roma, 2232 settled Irish, 2039 British and 6255 European or worldwide individuals confirmed ancestral origin within the general Irish population. An estimated time of divergence between the settled population and Travellers was set at a minimum of 8 generations ago, with generations at 30 years, hence 240 years and a maximum of 14 generations or 420 years ago; the best fit was estimated at 360 years ago. This date coincides well with the final destruction of Gaelic society following the 1641 Rebellion and during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms in which Cromwell's forces devastated the country. Irish Travellers

The Osiris blue is a butterfly in the family Lycaenidae. It is found in South Europe, Asia Minor, southern Siberia, the Alay Mountains, Tian-Shan, Dzhungarsky Alatau, the Altai Region, the Sayan mountains, Lake Baikal and Mongolia, it is confused with the small blue, a related species. The larvae feed on Leguminosae species. L. sebrus Bdv.. Above dull violet-blue or black-brown. With the markings of the underside feebly shining through, narrow black margin and white fringes. In the Alps, locally plentiful, southwards to Italy, south-eastwards to Asia Minor and eastwards to the Altai. Specimens with the ocelli prolonged occur in this species, as proved by a fine specimen in Courvoisier's collection: ab. elongata Courr. I. l. — Larva on Onobrychis and Orobus, until April and again in June. The butterflies in the mountains, sporadic, in May and again from the end of June onwards. Leps It: Images of Osiris blue

Zhili, alternately romanized as Chihli, was a northern province of China from the 14th-century Ming dynasty until the region was dissolved in 1911 and converted as a province and renamed as Hebei in 1928. The name Zhili means "directly ruled" and indicates regions directly ruled by the imperial government of China. Zhili province was first constituted during the Ming dynasty when the capital of China was located at Nanjing along the Yangtze River. In 1403, the Ming Yongle Emperor relocated the capital to Beiping, subsequently renamed Beijing; the region known as North Zhili was composed of parts of the modern provinces of Hebei, Shandong, including the provincial-level municipalities of Beijing and Tianjin. There was another region located around the "reserve capital" Nanjing known as South Zhili that included parts of what are today the provinces of Jiangsu and Anhui, including the provincial-level municipality of Shanghai. During the Qing dynasty, Nanjing lost its status as the "second capital" and Southern Zhili was reconstituted as a regular province, while Northern Zhili was renamed Zhili Province.

In the 18th century the borders of Zhili province were redrawn and spread over what is today Beijing and the provinces of Hebei, Western Liaoning, Northern Henan, the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. After the collapse of Qing dynasty, in 1911, the National Government of the Republic of China converted Zhili into a province as Zhili Province. In 1928 the National Government assigned portions of northern Zhili province to its neighbors in the north and renamed the remainder Hebei Province. Complete Map of the Seven Coastal Provinces from 1821-1850

This is a list of notable alumni and faculty associated with Mapúa University located in Intramuros and Makati in the Philippines. Peter Ureta, BSCE - Dean of the College of Engineering at Far Eastern University Ernesto Endrina, BSArchi - Dean of the College of Architecture at the University of Northern Philippines Edwin Obra, BSChE - Dean of the College of Engineering at the Emilio Aguinaldo College Antonio Mateo, BSEE - Dean of the College of Engineering at Adamson University Melencio Gener, BSME - Dean of the College of Engineering and Technology at Palawan State University Arturo Trinidad, BSBA - Dean of the University of the East Graduate School of Business Administration Jose Mananzan, BSBA - former Dean of the Asian Institute of Tourism at the University of the Philippines Herman Gamboa, BSEE - founder of STI Education Services Group Demetrio Quirino, HS - Founder of the Technological Institute of the Philippines Alfredo Ang, BSCE - Professor Emeritus of Civil Engineering. V. Coscolluela and Associates.

Villarosa Architects. Antonio Abacan, Jr. BSBA - President of Metrobank Arnel B. Aranas, BSMIE - President of American Standard Philippines Dennis B. Aranas, BSEE - President and CEO of Microwarehouse, Inc. Oscar Biason, BSMIE - President and CEO of Bankard, Inc. Ricardo Buencamino, BSEE - Executive Vice President of the Manila Electric Company and Director of Meralco Industrial Engineering Corp. Rudyardo Bunda, BSBA - Chief Operating Officer of the Union Bank of the Philippines Leovic Tabalba Capili, BSME 1991 - Managing Director for Cypress Manufacturing Limited, The only Autoline Semiconductor Manufacturing in the World Alain Gerard Coballes, BSECE - Chief Creative Officer for SEOP, Inc. An A-list Full-Service Interactive Digital Marketing Agency. Allyxon Cua, BSEE - President and CEO for AMTI and Ardent Networks, Inc. Nilo Cruz, BSMIE - President of Hewlett-Packard Philippines Arthur A. De Guia, BSEE - President of Philippine Electric Corp. Felizardo dela Merced, BSEE/BSECE - President of Asian Media Development

Paula Yacoubian is a Lebanese politician and law-maker of Armenian ethnic origins from her father's side. She was known as a journalist and a television host, she is one of Lebanon’s most prominent television personalities. Throughout her career, she had worked as a host in a number of Lebanese and pan-Arab international television stations. Known for the transformational impact she's had in her organizations and the broader community, Paula became one of the experts chosen by the World Bank group as a member of their'External Advisory Panel for Diversity and Inclusion' as a result of her advocacy for women's rights, her efforts for women empowerment, as well as for being a fierce defender of electoral women quota and a fairer electoral law in Lebanon. In 2018, she announced her candidacy for the 2018 Lebanese Parliamentary Elections, running for the Armenian Orthodox seat in the Beirut I constituency, she was announced as a winner following the elections which took place on Sunday 6 May 2018.

Yacoubian started work in June 1995 in ICN, a Lebanese television station founded by Henri Sfeir. Through Sfeir's encouragement, who had the license for Nida' al Watan newspaper, the 19-year-old Yacoubian became a celebrity broadcasting news and interviews and appeared in the news broadcasts of the station, she was assigned as head of the station's regional and international news department and had her own talk news program, Al Sulta al Raabi'a. She was active in highlighting the Armenian Genocide in an Arabic language series. After closure of ICN, Yacoubian moved to LBCI through the station's morning show Nharkon Saeed in addition to presenting the news on the channel's international satellite broadcasts, she moved to the Lebanese station MTV where she presented the programme Min al Akhar. She worked in Arab Radio and Television Network where she presented a number of programmes on the satellite station's various channels ART al Awael, ART al Munawwaat and ART al Aalamiyyah. Various programmes Yacoubian hosted on ART included Ded al Tayyar, Liqaa' Khass, Roui'ya Waadiha and Liqaa' min America.

She moved to Alhurra television based in the United States where her husband Muwaffak Harb ran the pro-American news channel. Returning to Lebanon, Yacoubian worked in Future TV, she interviewed Lebanese prime minister Saad Hariri in Saudi Arabia in a significant live broadcast direct from Riyadh after Hariri presented his resignation from the Saudi capital amidst rumors about his actual conditions in Saudi Arabia. This interview served in dispelling grave concerns about his status in Saudi Arabia, included the announcement of his return to Lebanon; as a humanist/social activist, always advocating on behalf of the less privileged, Paula was successful in launching “Dafa Campaign”, one of the largest and most successful donation campaigns in Lebanon and the Middle East for the second year in a row. "Dafa Campaign" has reached 14,800 underprivileged families in Lebanon in November 2015, 43,000 families in December 2016, more than 100,000 in 2017. Paula offers 15 scholarships for students with outstanding performance who cannot afford their school tuition.

On the professional side, Mrs. Yacoubian is the CEO and General Manager of "Integrated Communications", a company specialized in communications strategy and media relations, as well as public speaking training, she is a certified trainer who attended several training courses and workshops in the US and has a degree in Administration & Political Science. She has been involved with political journalism since the beginning of her career at the age of 17. Yacoubian hosted shows on ICN, LBC, MTV, ART and Future TV, she has interviewed many of the world leaders and personalities and held town hall discussions and debates. Yacoubian joined efforts with social activists and is running for the Lebanese parliamentary elections that were held in May 2018. On May 7, 2018, it was announced that she is now a member of the parliament. Last but not least, Paula, an ongoing enthusiast for ecology, has been raising awareness and participating in events of up-cycling for environmental sustainability, she has launched projects and organized and participated in events and sea-diving clean-up campaigns.

Paula Yacoubian has a 14-year-old son, named Paul. She is the daughter of an Armenian Genocide survivor. Yacoubian received many awards throughout her career, in August 2017 she received a prominent award "Officier De L'Ordre de la Couronne" from King Philippe I of Belgium, in reward for all the work she has carried out. Paula Yacoubian website

Nelson McCain Ford was United States Under Secretary of the Army from 2007 to 2009. Nelson M. Ford was educated at the University of Delaware. In the 1970s, Ford was Executive Secretary of the Health Care Financing Administration and worked in the Office of Management and Budget on health care policy issues, he joined Coopers & Lybrand and became a consultant to health care companies. In the 1990s, he became Chief Operating Officer of the Georgetown University Medical Center. In 1997, he became CEO of Clinipad, a manufacturer of disposable medical products. Ford joined the United States Department of Defense in 2002 as Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense. In 2005, he became Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Army, the next year President of the United States George W. Bush named Ford full Assistant Secretary of the Army. In 2007, President Bush nominated Ford as United States Under Secretary of the Army. Ford held this post until 2009. Ford worked as President & CEO of LMI, a not-for-profit government consulting firm based in McLean, Va, from 2009 until he retired in June 2017.

Appearances on C-SPAN Biography from the Dept. of the Army Biography of Nelson M. Ford at LMI