The Mitsubishi Group is a group of autonomous Japanese multinational companies in a variety of industries. Founded by Iwasaki Yatarō in 1870, the Mitsubishi Group descended from the Mitsubishi zaibatsu, a unified company which existed from 1870 to 1947; the company was disbanded during the occupation of Japan following World War II. The former constituents of the company continue to share trademark. Although the group companies participate in limited business cooperation, most famously through monthly "Friday Conference" executive meetings, they are formally independent and are not under common control; the four main companies in the group are MUFG Bank, Mitsubishi Corporation, Mitsubishi Electric and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries. The Mitsubishi company was established as a shipping firm by Iwasaki Yatarō in 1870. In 1873, its name was changed to Mitsubishi Shokai; the name Mitsubishi consists of two parts: "mitsu" meaning "three" and "hishi" meaning "water caltrop", hence "rhombus", reflected in the company's logo.

It is translated as "three diamonds". Mitsubishi was established in 1870, two years after the Meiji Restoration, with shipping as its core business, its diversification was into related fields. It entered into coal-mining to gain the coal needed for ships, bought a shipbuilding yard from the government to repair the ships it used, founded an iron mill to supply iron to the shipbuilding yard, started a marine insurance business to cater for its shipping business, so forth; the managerial resources and technological capabilities acquired through the operation of shipbuilding were used to expand the business further into the manufacture of aircraft and equipment. The experience of overseas shipping led the firm to enter into a trading business. In 1881, the company bought into coal mining by acquiring the Takashima Mine, followed by Hashima Island in 1890, using the production to fuel their extensive steamship fleet, they diversified into shipbuilding, insurance and trade. Diversification carried the organization into such sectors as paper, glass, electrical equipment, aircraft and real estate.

As Mitsubishi built a broadly based conglomerate, it played a central role in the modernization of Japanese industry. In February 1921, the Mitsubishi Internal Combustion Engine Manufacturing Company in Nagoya invited British Sopwith Camel designer Herbert Smith, along with several other former Sopwith engineers to assist in creating an aircraft manufacturing division. After moving to Japan, they designed the Mitsubishi 1MT, Mitsubishi B1M, Mitsubishi 1MF, Mitsubishi 2MR; the merchant fleet entered into a period of diversification that would result in the creation of three entities: Mitsubishi Bank was founded in 1919. After its mergers with the Bank of Tokyo in 1996, UFJ Holdings in 2004, this became Japan's largest bank. Mitsubishi Corporation, founded in 1950, Japan's largest general trading company Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which includes these industrial companies: Mitsubishi Motors, the sixth-largest Japan-based car manufacturer. Mitsubishi Atomic Industry, a nuclear power company. Mitsubishi Chemical, the largest Japan-based chemicals company Mitsubishi Hitachi Power Systems, a power generation division Nikon Corporation, specializing in optics and imaging.

The firm's prime real estate holdings in the Marunouchi district of Tokyo, acquired in 1890, were spun off in 1937 to form Mitsubishi Estate, now one of the largest real estate development companies in Japan. During the Second World War, Mitsubishi manufactured military aircraft under the direction of Dr. Jiro Horikoshi; the Mitsubishi A6M Zero was a primary Japanese naval fighter in World War II. It was used by Imperial Japanese Navy pilots throughout the war, including in kamikaze attacks during the stages. Allied pilots were astounded by its maneuverability, it was successful in combat until the Allies devised tactics to use their advantage in armor and diving speed. Mitsubishi made use of forced labor during this tenure. Laborers included allied POWs, as well as Chinese citizens. In the post-war period and demands for compensations were presented against the Mitsubishi Corporation, in particular by former Chinese workers. On July 24, 2015, the company agreed to formally apologize for this wartime labor, compensated 3765 Chinese laborers who were conscripted to Mitsubishi Mining during the war.

On July 19, 2015, the company apologized for using American soldiers as slave laborers during World War II, making them the first major Japanese company to apologize for doing so. Mitsubishi was involved in the opium trade in China during this period. Mitsubishi was among a number of major Japanese companies targeted for dissolution during the occupation of Japan, it was broken up into a large number of smaller enterprises. For several years, these companies were banned from coordinating with each other and from using the Mitsubishi name and trademarks; these restrictions were lifted in 1952, as the Korean War generated a need for a stronger industrial base in Japan. Mitsubishi Corporation and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries, which had themselves been broken up into many smaller entities, again coalesced by the mid-1950s. Mitsubishi companies participated in Japan's unprecedented economic growth of the 1960s. For example, as Japan modernized its ener

Grammar Explorer is a language learning resource, co-funded by the European Commission as part of its Lingua programme within the SOCRATES programme. The grammar is based on the requirements of The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages. One of the objectives of the Lingua programme is the promotion of language teaching and learning of all of the Community languages. Particular attention is paid to the development of skills in the less used and less taught official Community languages; the particular objective of the Lingua 2 programme is "to help raise the standards in language teaching and learning by ensuring the availability of sufficient high quality language learning instruments and tools for assessing linguistic skills acquired. Lingua 2 will encourage both the development of new tools and a wider dissemination of existing tools which represent best practice and provide European added value."The specific objectives of the Lingua 2 programme are: to encourage innovation in the development of language learning and teaching tools for all sectors of education.

The programme ceased in 2006 and has been replaced by the Lifelong Learning Programme 2007-2013, which pursues similar goals. Complementary to this programme and to support the objectives, the Council of Europe has produced a European-wide curriculum entitled The Common European Framework of Reference for Languages; this document provides a detailed model for describing and scaling language use and the different kinds of knowledge and skills required. There are countless internet sites. Many of these online grammars are text-based reproductions of traditional descriptive print grammars which expect the student to sit in front of a computer screen and read as they would read a grammar book; these grammars view grammar as an independent system of rules, not directly linked or relevant to language usage and the language user and learner. Further evidence of this view and approach is found in the fact that these grammars do not include practice material that asks learners/users to test their understanding and command of language usage.

None of these online grammars are structured to take advantage of the many benefits of multimedia and of the internet while avoiding the inherent pitfalls of that medium. Furthermore, none of them are structured with the Basic User in mind. Additionally, existing online materials do not make full use of the ideas laid down in the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages, they do not support a syllabus such as Waystage, pitch themselves at a defined level or help students to prepare for a recognized European Language Certificate. Grammar Explorer was created to address the missing pedagogical link between grammar as rule system and the needs of the language learner; this is achieved by putting into practice a functional and constructivist pedagogical concept that focuses on the aspect of usage in the language system and the individual learner’s need to acquire practical competence which does not require the ability to account for one’s grammatical knowledge. The pedagogical concept underlying Grammar Explorer is rooted in Constructivism, cognitive psychology and recent findings of the neurosciences with regard to learning.

It, fulfils the criteria laid down in The Common European Framework of Reference: The materials are multi-purpose, flexible accessible and non-dogmatic. Grammar Explorer surpasses the descriptive, form-focused grammars available, because it treats learners as active meaning-makers and puts them in control of their learning experience. Within the structure of the grammar, learners are able to enter into a non-linear process of negotiation with grammatical material that requires and encourages the use of basic cognitive and meta-cognitive strategies such as inferencing and recombination, it is through this process of exploration and negotiation that the learners acquire the type of functional grammatical competence, essential for the successful acquisition of pragmatic competence and for the development of cognitive and metacognitive skills. Information technologies and the hypertext principle underlying the World Wide Web/relational databases are ideally suited to support a constructivist approach to grammar acquisition.

The hypertext principle enables the learner to navigate flexibly in a multi-dimensional learning space in which grammar points and exercises are relevantly interlinked. Interlinking and cross-referencing of grammar points and accompanying meta-language will not only help structure and enhance the learner’s acquisition process, but foster depth of processing, important for retention and sustainable learning to take place. Furthermore, the layout and graphics of Grammar Explorer are pedagogically tailored with a view to supporting autonomous learning.

Astrophilately tells the story of the exploration of outer space with stamps and postmarked envelopes. It is the intersection of space and postal history. Covers cancelled on the date and at a post office near the controlling agency are used in postal exhibits to share the development and conquest of the cosmos. Topics of interest include postage stamps and covers connected to various projects. Examples include rocket mail, dating from as early as the 1928, mail carried on space flights, a practice that began with Project Apollo missions, has continued since then. Specialists distinguish astrophilately from topical collecting with a space theme; the Fédération Internationale de Philatélie has a Section for Astrophilately. Included are covers and cards cancelled at launch sites, tracking stations, Mission Control facilities, research laboratories, recovery ships. Many, though not all, such items have cachets produced for the mission; as with regular airmail, items of mail carried aboard spacecraft are known as "flown covers".

They are known from both Soviet- and American-flown missions. While some types are rare, such as space shuttle covers, were carried in large numbers, are thus common, costing less than US$50; the most common item of astrophilately is the "STS-8 flight cover". In cooperation with the USPS, the shuttle flight STS-8 carried several hundred thousand covers, franked with $9.35 express mail stamps, which were sold to the public after the shuttle's return. The original plan was to carry 500,000, but the final number was reduced to 261,900, of which 2,523 were damaged during the flight and discarded; the remaining covers were each enclosed in a souvenir folder describing the mission and the cover, sold for $15.35 each. They were sold out just a few months after the flight. Much rarer are the "Sieger" covers, carried on Apollo 15. German stamp dealer Hermann Sieger had arranged a deal, in which H. Walter Eierman convinced the Apollo 15 crew members to carry 100 cacheted covers to the moon and back, for the sum of US$7000 each, with the understanding that they would not be sold until after the end of the Apollo program.

These covers, along with an additional 300 that the crew would keep for themselves, were stuffed in David Scott's spacesuit pocket, never listed on the manifest. However, Sieger began selling the covers he received soon after the mission's return for $1500 each, when the whole affair came to light, NASA confiscated the astronauts' 298 surviving covers, grounded them permanently. In 1983, hearing of the STS-8 plans, astronaut Alfred Worden sued for the return of the 298 covers, the crew recovered them; the covers have appeared on the market from time to time since then. In an October 2000 auction, one of the crew covers realized US$14,950. Astrophilately items may be found in specialised catalogues: Kronstein, Max. Rocket Mail flights of the World, 1986. Lollini Conquête de l' espace, 21st edition, 2008. Lollini Catalogue des Cosmodromes, 8th edition, 2005. Space Cover Dictionary & Identifier, Year 2006 Edition Weebau Catalogue, 1991. Ball, David S. American Astrophilately: The First Fifty Years, 2010 Space Craft Covers: A Monograph and Catalog http://spacecovers.com/misc/book_review_1.htm Astronomy and cosmology stamp display Sieger covers of Apollo 15 Space & astronomy stamps Unmanned satellite philately World's oldest astro stamps Astro Space Stamp Society Belgian Philatelic Society Cosmos Weltraum-Philatelie e.

V. Space Topic Study Unit, Astrophile

For the Dominican musician see Vicente García Fr. Vicente García y Teodoro was hero and a defender of Dr. Jose P. Rizal. Padre Garcia was born in the village of Maugat a part of Rosario but now a barangay of Padre Garcia, on April 5, 1817 to parents Don Jose Garcia and Dona Andrea Teodoro, his family had Castilian blood. The faint photograph of the man among the exhibits in the town hall show a handsome mestizo. Another proof was that Vicente went to study for the priesthood while pure-blooded Filipinos at that time were not able to study because of poverty and discrimination. Garcia suffered discrimination from his Spanish superiors because although he was nominated for the position of Canonigo Magistral, he didn't occupy it; the colonizers didn't see fit to have an indio if he is a mestizo in any exalted position. There are anecdotes of his admirable qualities such as his kindness and generosity and his proficiency in Spanish and Latin, he was himself a writer who translated Latin literary pieces.

One of his more notable works was his translation from the original Latin to Tagalog of the Imitacion de Cristo. Padre Garcia's place in history comes not only from his admirable qualities as a human being. Although a member of the church, he had the courage to defend Rizal from the tirades and censure of the Catholic church, his letter of defense was intended to be given to Fr. José Rodriguez, an Augustinian friar who, in 1888, published a pamphlet entitled "¡CAIÑGAT CAYO! Sa Mañga Masasamang Libro,t, Casulatan"; the publication is filled with scathing condemnation of Jose Rizal's writings. However, his friends dissuaded him from doing so; the letter was published in La Solidaridad on March 15, 1895. In his defense-letter the priest belied Fr Rodriguez's accusation that Rizal was an "impious man, a heretic who hated religion and Spain." According to Padre Garcia while the friar was quick to issue such accusations, he failed to cite any proposition made by Rizal that showed his "impiety, heresy, or blasphemy."

Padre Garcia proceeded to cite various phrases in the Noli that showed the hero to be the exact opposite of the heretic and blasphemer that Fr Rodriguez had accused him of being. He signed his name as V. Caraig. Padre Garcia came home to Rosario in 1899 and in July of that year he died at the age of 82. In determining whether the bones interred in the old cemetery were those of the priest, the historical committee sought the help of University of the Philippines professor and anthropologist Jerome Bailen and his team of experts. Bailen says that based on historical data and technical description the bones found in the old cemetery are those of Padre Garcia. Last July 12, 1999 his remains were re-interred in the church of the Holy Rosary in the town proper of Padre Garcia; the church was built in 1776 predating the basilica of Batangas City

Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge, known in Japan as Vampire Hunter: Darkstalkers' Revenge, is the second game in the Darkstalkers fighting game series and released by Capcom for the arcades in 1995. Night Warriors was ported for the Sega Saturn home console in 1996, receiving a very positive critical reception for its smooth and detailed animation; the game was included in the Darkstalkers series compilation release Vampire: Darkstalkers Collection in 2005 and was remastered as part of Darkstalkers Resurrection in 2013. It was followed by Darkstalkers 3 in 1997. Night Warriors is a 2D competitive fighting game, it features several changes to the gameplay system of its predecessor, Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors. One of these changes is an introduction of the chain combos. Players can choose between a "normal" gameplay style or one that offers auto-blocking; the main change in Night Warriors is the ability for the player to stock up on their Special gauge, allowing them to store more than one Special gauge and preserve them through the entire match.

Two types of Super Moves are featured in the game: ES Specials, requiring a portion of the Special gauge, EX Specials, requiring an entire stock of the Special gauge to perform. The game introduces two new playable characters, Donovan Baine and Hsien-Ko. In addition, the two bosses from the first game and Pyron, are now playable characters as well. Despite being considered a sequel to Darkstalkers: The Night Warriors, Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge has the same plot and endings as the previous game, only adding stories and endings to the new characters and the bosses. Pyron invades Earth to add to his collection of planets; the world's most fearsome monsters are the last defense of mankind. Two darkstalker hunters join in the fray. Donovan Baine and Hsien-Ko are "Dark Hunters" who are out to hunt the other Darkstalkers in the game; as compared to the original Darkstalkers, which used 128MB for all characters, Vampire Hunter uses 256MB for the characters, meaning an average of 500 extra patterns for each character.

The announcement that a Saturn port of Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge would be released in December 1995 in Japan, while the PlayStation version of the original Darkstalkers still had no confirmed release date, was met with outrage from PlayStation owners. In explanation for the decision, Capcom representatives said in December 1995: "The reason is the problems we had converting the PlayStation version, which we didn't have with the Saturn; the plan was to release PlayStation Darkstalkers in April but it fell behind, hence the decision to take the Vampire Hunter straight to Saturn. We get the user response to release our software as soon as possible, which we have to do, we have Darkstalkers 3 lined up for the arcade."Unlike the PlayStation port of Darkstalkers, the Saturn port of Night Warriors: Darkstalkers' Revenge was developed by Capcom themselves. The game was released for the Japanese arcades in March 1995. A Sega Saturn port was released in Japan and North America on February 22, 1996.

A PAL conversion of the Saturn port was finished by May 1996 but the European publisher, Virgin Interactive, opted not to release it until November 1996. This version features an "Appendix Mode" that allows players to customize the backgrounds, the opponents' colors and background music between the regular ones and the ones used in the original Darkstalkers; the game was included in Vampire: Darkstalkers Collection, a compilation of all five Darkstalkers arcade games that were released in Japan only for the PlayStation 2 in 2005. It was included in a remastered form as part of 2013's Darkstalkers Resurrection for the PlayStation Network and Xbox Live Arcade. Several licensed tie-ins were released for the game in Japan, including: Books All About Vampire Hunter, a guide/art book published by Dempa Shimbunsha as part of Studio Bent Stuff's "All About Deluxe" series. Vampire Hunter, a special issue of Shinseisha's magazine Gamest in the "Gamest Mook" series; the Vampire Hunter Sega Saturn Manual Ver.1 and The Vampire Hunter Sega Saturn Manual Ver.2, two guide books for the Sega Saturn version, written by Famitsu staff and published by ASCII.

Vampire Hunter Perfect Guide, a Gamest Mook "EX"-series guide book for the Sega Saturn version, published by Shinseisha. Mystery of Vampire Hunter, backstory/setting essay book co-authored by Capcom. Vampire Hunter: Midnight Elegy, a novel written by Rei Isaki and published by Famitsu. Endless Spring and Witch of the Crimson Moon, two side-story novels written by Akihiko Ureshino and published by Gamest. Comic books Vampire Hunter: Darkstalkers' Revenge, a two-volume manga collection of short stories by Takeshi Fujita, published by Gamest Comics. Vampire Hunter Comic Anthology and Vampire Hunter Comic Anthology Vol.2, two manga short story anthologies in the Gamest Comics series, created by different artists and published by Shinseisha. Vampire Hunter: Darkstalkers' Revenge, two-manga collection of short stories published by Hobby Japan Comics. Vampire Hunter and The Darkness Heroine's Revenge, two manga anthologies in the Shounen Oh Comics series by Hinotama Game Comics. Vampire Comic, a manga anthology by ASCII Comix.

Vampire Hunter: Darkstalkers' Revenge, a manga anthology

Rogério de Faria was a Luso-Goan businessman. Rogério de Faria was a native of Chorão Island, son of Joao de Faria and Ana Maria D'Albuquerque e de Faria; the family migrated to Bombay after epidemics in Chorão Island in 1775. A Catholic Goan in the world of business, he was a pioneer in the opium trade in China, long before the British thought of entering this branch of commerce. Rogério de Faria was referred to in Bombay as a prince merchant. A resident of Bombay, where he was Consul of Brazil, Roger Faria did business in Bengal and Macau, he was a big supporter of mayor Bernardo Peres da Silva, appointed governor of Goa by the liberal government of Dom Pedro IV of Portugal, but rejected by the military stationed in Goa. According to de Souza, he accessed part of Faria's business correspondence dating back to 1789-1830, involving dealings with the Mhamai Kamat Agency House in Goa. De Souza suggests that the pre-1818 papers offer "much interesting information" that could help correct and supplement "whatever we know about Rogerio de Faria from a few contemporary published sources and from a few late and sketchy biographies."

Abbé Cottineau's Journal describes Sir Rogerio Faria's house as "commanding a most lovely view of the sea, the ramparts, the suburbs, the city, the Colaba island, the West coast as far as the so-called Malabar Point. Cited by Souza ). De Souza says that Faria made his fortune in "opium-peddling", writes: "We are not able to collaborate the statement, but we are told by the otherwise critical Indo-Portuguese administrator-historian, J. H. da Cunha-Rivara, that Sir Jamsetjee Jeejeebhoy, the most glamorous Parsee figures of the mid-nineteenth century in the annals of Bombay, started his prosperous career as a simple clerk in the firm of Rogerio de Faria. Reporting the death of Sir Roger's daughter, Miss Margaret de Faria, the Bombay Gazette of 7 October 1889 added that Sir Jamsetjee had made his first voyage to China in a ship belonging to Sir Roger de Faria." Faria had the financial losses. His only son died of tetanus after an accidental fall, a couple of years before him in 1848; the Goan journalist-editor A.

M. da Cunha wrote a 30-page booklet which Souza says "gives more details about the numerous progeny of Sir Roger than about him." He lived out the rest of his life on a pension granted to him by his friend Sir Jamsetjee Jejeebhoy. Naresh Fernandes writes in Bombaywallah.org: "Gloria Church [in Byculla, now known as Mumbai, contains a memorial stone to an almost-forgotten Bombay character: the Goan opium trader Sir Roger de Faria." de Souza, Teotonio R, For Goa and Opium. Goa: Penguin Books, 2006. de Souza, Teotonio R. "French slave-trading in Portuguese Goa." Essays in Goan History: 119-3. Trade and Finance in Portuguese India: A Study of the Portuguese Country Trade 1770-1840 by Celsa Pinto, Concept Publishing Company Markovits, Claude. "The political economy of opium smuggling in early nineteenth century India: Leakage or Resistance?." Modern Asian Studies 43.01: 89-111. Siddiqi, Asiya. "Pathways of the Poppy." India and China in the Colonial World: 21