NeXT, Inc. was an American computer and software company founded in 1985 by Apple Computer co-founder Steve Jobs. Its name was pronounced as "Next". Based in Redwood City, the company developed and manufactured a series of computer workstations intended for the higher education and business markets. NeXT was founded by Jobs. NeXT introduced the first NeXT Computer in 1988, the smaller NeXTstation in 1990; the NeXT computers experienced limited sales, with estimates of about 50,000 units shipped in total. Their innovative object-oriented NeXTSTEP operating system and development environment were influential; the first major outside investment was from Ross Perot, who invested after seeing a segment about NeXT on The Entrepreneurs. In 1987, he invested $20 million in exchange for 16 percent of NeXT's stock and subsequently joined the board of directors in 1988. NeXT released much of the NeXTSTEP system as a programming environment standard called OpenStep. NeXT withdrew from the hardware business in 1993 to concentrate on marketing OPENSTEP for Mach, its own OpenStep implementation, for several original equipment manufacturers.

NeXT developed WebObjects, one of the first enterprise web application frameworks. WebObjects never became popular because of its initial high price of $50,000, but it remains a prominent early example of a Web server based on dynamic page generation rather than on static content. Apple purchased NeXT in 1997 for $429 million, 1.5 million shares of Apple stock. The merger converted Steve Jobs from Chairman and CEO of NeXT to an advisory role at Apple, the company he had co-founded in 1976. In following decades, the new operating system was renamed macOS and was adapted into the embedded multimedia platforms of iOS, watchOS, tvOS to serve as the basis of iPhone and iPad. In 1985, Apple co-founder Steve Jobs led Apple's SuperMicro division, responsible for the development of the Macintosh and Lisa personal computers; the Macintosh had been successful on university campuses because of the Apple University Consortium, which allowed students and institutions to buy the computers at a discount. The consortium had earned more than $50 million on computers by February 1984.

Jobs visited university departments and faculty members to sell Macintosh. Jobs met Paul Berg, a Nobel Laureate in chemistry, at a luncheon held in Silicon Valley to honor François Mitterrand President of France. Berg was frustrated by the expense of teaching students about recombinant DNA from textbooks instead of in wet laboratories, used for the testing and analysis of chemicals and other materials or biological matter. Wet labs were prohibitively expensive for lower-level courses and were too complex to be simulated on personal computers of the time. Berg suggested to Jobs to use his influence at Apple to create a "3M computer" workstation for higher education, featuring at least one megabyte of random-access memory, a megapixel display and megaFLOPs performance, hence the name "3M". Jobs was intrigued by Berg's concept of a workstation and contemplated starting a higher education computer company in the fall of 1985, amidst increasing turmoil at Apple. Jobs's division did not release upgraded versions of the Macintosh and much of the Macintosh Office system.

As a result, sales plummeted, Apple was forced to write off millions of dollars in unsold inventory. Apple's chief executive officer John Sculley ousted Jobs from his day-to-day role at Apple, replacing him with Jean-Louis Gassée in 1985; that year, Jobs began a power struggle to regain control of the company. The board of directors sided with Sculley while Jobs took a business visit to Western Europe and the Soviet Union on behalf of Apple. After several months of being sidelined, Jobs resigned from Apple on September 13, 1985, he told the board he was leaving to set up a new computer company, that he would be taking several Apple employees from the SuperMicro division with him. He told the board that his new company would not compete with Apple and might consider licensing its designs back to them to market under the Macintosh brand. Jobs named his new company Next, Inc. A number of former Apple employees followed him to Next, including Joanna Hoffman, Bud Tribble, George Crow, Rich Page, Susan Barnes, Susan Kare, Dan'l Lewin.

After consulting with major educational buyers from around the country, including a follow-up meeting with Paul Berg, a tentative specification for the workstation was drawn up. It was designed to be powerful enough to run wet lab simulations and cheap enough for college students to use in their dormitory rooms. Before the specifications were finished, Apple sued Next for "nefarious schemes" to take advantage of the cofounders' insider information. Jobs remarked, "It is hard to think that a $2 billion company with 4,300-plus people couldn't compete with six people in blue jeans." The suit was dismissed before trial. In 1986, Jobs recruited the famous graphic designer Paul Rand to create a brand identity costing $100,000. Jobs recalled, "I asked him if he would come up with a few options, he said,'No, I will solve your problem for you and you will pay me. You don’t have to use the solution. If you want options go talk to other people.'" Rand created a 20-page brochure detailing the brand, including the precise angle used for the logo and a new company name spelling, NeXT.

NeXT changed its business plan in mid-1986. The company dec

Mentuhotep I may have been a Theban nomarch and independent ruler of Upper Egypt during the early First Intermediate Period. Alternatively, Mentuhotep I may be a fictional figure created during the Eleventh dynasty, which rose to prominence under Intef II and Mentuhotep II, playing the role of a founding father. Mentuhotep was a local Egyptian nomarch at Thebes during the early first intermediate period, ca. 2135 BC. The Karnak king list found in position No. 12, the partial name "Men-" in a royal cartouche, distinct from those of Mentuhotep II or Mentuhotep III. The available fragments of the Karnak list do not seem to represent past pharaohs in any chronological order, thus one cannot ascertain if or when this "Men-" pharaoh lived. Many scholars have argued from the list that a Mentuhotep I, who might have been a Theban nomarch, was posthumously given a royal titulary by his successors; the fact that no contemporary monument can safely be attributed to a king "Mentuhotep I" has led some Egyptologists to propose that he is a fictional ancestor and founder of the Eleventh dynasty, invented for that purpose during the part of the dynasty.

On the base of a statue from the sanctuary of Heqaib on Elephantine, a Mentuhotep is referred to as "Father of the gods". This title refers to Mentuhotep's immediate successors, Intef I and Intef II who reigned as kings over Upper Egypt. From this title, many Egyptologists argued that this Mentuhotep was the father of Intef I and II, that he was never a pharaoh, as this title was reserved for the non-royal ancestors of pharaohs; the throne name of Mentuhotep is unknown. His Horus name Tepi-a, "The ancestor" was given to him posthumously. Mentuhotep's wife might have been Neferu I and the statue from Heqaib may be interpreted to show that he was the father of Intef I and II; the Karnak king list has one non-royal personage, named Intef, in position no. 13. This could refer to Intef the elder, son of Iku, a Theban nomarch loyal to the Herakleopolitan kings in the early first intermediate period. However, the kings on the remaining fragments are not listed in chronological order, so this is not at all certain.

As Theban nomarch, Mentuhotep's dominion extended south to the first cataract. Mentuhotep might hypothetically have formed an alliance with the nomarch of Coptos, which brought his successor Intef I to war with the Herakleopolitan kings of the 10th Dynasty ruling over Lower Egypt and their powerful nomarch allies in Middle Egypt, in particular Ankhtifi

Beauty for a Cause is the slogan of the Miss Earth beauty pageant adopted since the pageant's inception in 2001. It empowers the contestants to work with an environmental advocacy, significant to them; the first Beauty for a Cause prize was awarded in 2003. The connotation that all pageant contestants advocates "world peace" is a stereotype, no longer true and having a platform is a part of the competition. Since many women around the world admire and aspire to be a beauty queen, Carousel Productions believed beauty queens would be an effective advocate of worthy causes. In the United States, it was reported in 2013 that there were about 100,000 beauty contests held each year with more than 2.5 million women to compete for a chance to win a beauty title. The Miss Earth pageant raises public awareness about environmental protection and social action to reduce climate change where the delegates of the pageant promotes "5Rs", Re-think, Reuse and Respect. Miss Earth places greater weight on the intellectual abilities of a delegate more than any pageant by electing the winner based on her capability to be an effective ambassador of the earth and only secondarily on her beauty.

The Miss Earth candidates of each participating countries or territories are required to undertake extensive preparation and training in comprehending and addressing environmental issues and problems. The pageant requires the delegates to be knowledgeable about environmental protection, winners are expected to advocate for and become involved with environmental protection campaigns worldwide through activities like tree plantings, eco-fashion shows, coastal clean-ups; the delegates serve as a role model in upholding the advocacy of preserving and restoring the environment. The Beauty for a Cause award was first given in the Miss Earth 2003 competition to the candidate who made the most significant social contribution. Miss Afghanistan 2003, Vida Samadzai, received the award for helping found a US-based women's charity that seeks to raise awareness of women's rights and education in Afghanistan by “symbolizing the newfound confidence and spirit of today’s women and representing the victory of women’s rights and various social and religious struggles”.

The award was discontinued for three years. The award was reinstated in the finals of Miss Earth 2007 to honor the delegate with the most significant contribution in the preservation and protection of the environment. Miss South Africa Bokang Montjane was the second recipient of the Beauty for a Cause award, given at the conclusion of the 7th edition of Miss Earth pageant that took place on November 11, 2007 at the University of the Philippines Theater in Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines. Feminism, Beauty Pageants And The Environment: Fernando, Emmanuel Q.. "Feminism, Beauty Pageants And The Environment". The Manila Times. Retrieved 14 September 2016. An old chestnut recycled: Miss Earth: Lakhani, Nina. "An old chestnut recycled: Miss Earth". The Independent. Retrieved January 8, 2016. Official Miss Earth web site