St John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge founded by the Tudor matriarch Lady Margaret Beaufort. In constitutional terms, the college is a charitable corporation established by a charter dated 9 April 1511; the aims of the college, as specified by its statutes, are the promotion of education, religion and research. It is one of the larger Oxbridge colleges in terms of student numbers. For 2018, St. John's was ranked 9th of 29 colleges in the Tompkins Table with over 30% of its students earning First-class honours; the college's alumni comprise the winners of 11 Nobel Prizes, seven prime ministers and 12 archbishops of various countries, at least two princes and three Saints. The Romantic poet William Wordsworth studied at St John's, as did William Wilberforce and Thomas Clarkson, the two abolitionists who led the movement that brought slavery to an end in the British Empire. Prince William was affiliated with the college while undertaking a university-run course in estate management in 2014.

St John's is well known for its choir, its members' success in a wide variety of inter-collegiate sporting competitions and its annual May Ball. The Cambridge Apostles and the Cambridge University Moral Sciences Club were both founded by members of the college; the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race tradition furthermore began with a St John's student, the college boat club, Lady Margaret Boat Club, is the oldest in the university. In 2011, the college celebrated its quincentenary, an event marked by a visit of Queen Elizabeth II and Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh; the site was occupied by the Hospital of St John the Evangelist founded around 1200. The hospital infirmary was located. By 1470 Thomas Rotherham Chancellor of the university, extended to the hospital the privileges of membership of the university; this led to St. John's House, as it was known, being conferred the status of a college. By the early 16th century the hospital was suffering from a lack of funds. Lady Margaret Beaufort, having endowed Christ's College sought to found a new college, chose the hospital site at the suggestion of John Fisher, her chaplain and Bishop of Rochester.

However, Lady Margaret died without having mentioned the foundation of St John's in her will, it was the work of Fisher that ensured that the college was founded. He had to obtain the approval of King Henry VIII of England, the Pope through the intermediary Polydore Vergil, the Bishop of Ely to suppress the religious hospital, by which time held only a Master and three Augustinian brethren, convert it to a college; the college received its charter on 9 April 1511. Further complications arose in obtaining money from the estate of Lady Margaret to pay for the foundation and it was not until 22 October 1512 that a codicil was obtained in the court of the Archbishop of Canterbury. In November 1512 the Court of Chancery allowed Lady Margaret's executors to pay for the foundation of the college from her estates; when Lady Margaret's executors took over they found most of the old Hospital buildings beyond repair, but repaired and incorporated the Chapel into the new college. A kitchen and hall were added, an imposing gate tower was constructed for the College Treasury.

The doors were to be closed each day at dusk. Over the course of the following five hundred years, the college expanded westwards towards the River Cam, now has twelve courts, the most of any Oxford or Cambridge College; the first three courts are arranged in enfilade. The college has retained its relationship with Shrewsbury School since 1578, when the headmaster Thomas Ashton assisted in drawing up ordinances to govern the school. Under these rulings, the borough bailiffs had power to appoint masters, along with Ashton's old college, St John's, having an academic veto. Since the appointment of Johnian academics to the Governing Body, the historic awarding of'closed' Shrewsbury Exhibitions, has continued; the current Master of St. John's, Chris Dobson, has remained an ex officio Governor of Shrewsbury since 2007. St John's College first admitted women in October 1981, when K. M. Wheeler was admitted to the fellowship, along with nine female graduate students; the first women undergraduates arrived a year later.

St John's distinctive Great Gate follows the standard contemporary pattern employed at Christ's College and Queens' College. The gatehouse is adorned with the arms of the foundress Lady Margaret Beaufort. Above these are displayed her ensigns, the Red Rose of Lancaster and Portcullis; the college arms are flanked by curious creatures known as yales, mythical beasts with elephants' tails, antelopes' bodies, goats' heads, swivelling horns. Above them is a tabernacle containing a socle figure of St John the Evangelist, an Eagle at his feet and symbolic, poisoned chalice in his hands; the fan vaulting above is contemporary with tower, may have been designed by William Swayne, a master mason of King's College Chapel. First Court is entered via the Great Gate, is architecturally varied. First Court was converted from the hospital on the foundation of the college, constructed between 1511 and 1520. Though it has since been changed, the front range is still much as it appeared when first erected in the 16th century.

The south range was refaced between 1772–6 in the Georgian style by the local architect, James Essex, as

Mpande was monarch of the Zulu Kingdom from 1840 to 1872, making him the longest reigning Zulu king. He was a half-brother of Sigujana and Dingane, who preceded him as kings of the Zulu, he came to power after overthrowing Dingane in 1840. Though his reign was lengthy, for the latter part of his reign he was king in name only, his son Cetshwayo became de facto ruler in 1856. Mpande himself claimed that he preferred a quiet life and had only become king because he was forced into it. Mpande was born in Babanango, the son of Senzangakhona kaJama and his ninth wife Songiya kaNgotsha Hlabisa, he was considered a weak man in comparison to his contemporaries. While other half-brothers were eliminated when his brother Dingane assassinated Shaka to become king in 1828, he was allowed to live. Mpande showed no interest in Zulu power politics. Mpande came to prominence when Dingane suffered a catastrophic disaster at the Battle of Blood River in December 1838, his defeat at the hands of the Boers led to unrest, which Dingane attempted to control by eliminating potential successors such as Mpande.

In September 1839 Mpande defied his brother, who demanded his support in a war against the Swazi people. Fearing he would be killed if he joined Dingane, Mpande instead led thousands of Zulus into the Boer republic of Natalia; the Boers led by Andries Pretorius and Gert Rudolph decided to support Mpande, hoping to gain concessions if he could oust Dingane. In January 1840 Mpande's army led by Nongalaza defeated Dingane at the Battle of Maqongqo. Mpande arrived shortly after with Pretorious' force of Boers, was proclaimed king. After executing his own general Ndlela kaSompisi, Dingane escaped, but was soon murdered in Hlatikhulu Forest. Mpande was now unopposed as king. Mpande claimed that he had been forced to become king against his own wishes; the Boers laid claim to a large stretch of territory in exchange for their help. In October 1843 British commissioner Henry Cloete negotiated a treaty to define the borders of Natal and Zululand. Mpande negotiated with the Boers, ceding land around the Klip River in 1847, which the British considered a violation of the treaty.

Mpande had to reoccupy the land with his own troops. Mpande managed to avoid further disputes with the British but continued to grant favours to the Boers. In 1843 Mpande ordered the death of his brother Gqugqu, said to be plotting to kill the king. Gqugqu's wives and children were killed; the massacre produced a large influx of refugees into Natal. Mpande adopted an expansionist policy in the early 1850s raiding the areas surrounding the Zulu kingdom; these moves culminated in the invasion of Swaziland in 1852. The Swazi were under Zulu suzerainty, but maintained effective independence under Mswati II. According to historian Philip Bonner, Mpande wanted Swaziland to be under his control because of fears of Boer expansion from Natal, he "was intent on turning Swaziland into a physical sanctuary should he become embroiled with Natal, was not prepared to settle for anything less than effective control". The Zulu invasion was a success to the extent that the Swazi were faced with the prospect of "disintegration and collapse".

During the invasion, Mpande's eldest son Cetshwayo proved his capacities as a leader. However, the British pressured him into withdrawing. Cetshwayo's success as a leader led to a conflict with Mpande's second, favourite, son Mbuyazi. Though Cetshwayo was the oldest, he was not successor, as his mother had not been declared the king's Great Wife. Either brother could inherit. Cetshwayo felt that his father was favouring Mbuyazi, both sides developed factions of followers. Mpande ceded territory to Mbuyazi on the Tugela River, where his followers settled. Mbuyazi cultivated support from European settlers led by John Dunn. Cetshwayo, supported by most of the territorial sub-chiefs, decided to settle the matter militarily, he invaded Mbuyazi's lands and crushed his followers at the Battle of Ndondakusuka, massacring survivors, including five of his brothers. Dunn escaped and became an adviser to Cetshwayo. After this Cetshwayo became de facto ruler, though his father continued to carry out ceremonial functions.

Cetshwayo continued his father's policy of maintaining links with both the British and the Boers and balancing out concessions. Cetshwayo kept an eye on his father's new wives and children for potential rivals, ordering the death of his favourite wife Nomantshali and her children in 1861. Nomantshali and her daughters were hacked to death. Though two sons escaped, the youngest was murdered in front of the king. According to Gibson, "in his days he became so fat he was unable to walk"; the exact date of his death in late 1872 is unclear, as it was kept secret to secure a smooth transition of power to Cetshwayo. Mpande's apparent passivity has been interpreted in different ways, he has been identified as a "simpleton" or "the fool of the family", in the words of J Y Gibson. James O. Gump, describes him as a "savvy survivor in the Machiavellian world of Zulu politics". Gibson himself says that in his youth he was an imposing figure, quoting a French witness who said he had a regal bearing such that "a Parisian might believe that Umpande, in his youth, had frequented the palaces of kings".

However, there is considerable evidence of his "lethargy and indifference" to ruling in his early years, when many of the decisions were made by his sons. Mpande had a positive reputation among Christian missionaries, he allowed John Colenso to produce Zulu translations of the Bible. Colenso's associate, Zulu convert Magema Fuze, gave a Biblically ins

Active Agenda is an open source risk management tool. Active Agenda is designed to support operational risk management in organizations and is optimized for high reliability organizations, it is a browser-based multi-user enabled software. Active Agenda includes one hundred modules covering areas of the operational risk management process. Active Agenda utilizes a custom code generator called "spec2app"; the "spec2app" processor converts specifications written in XML into integrated Active Agenda modules utilizing PHP and MySQL. The code generator enables rapid development of extensions to the core application and simplifies customization and maintenance. Active Agenda was released on Sourceforge in October 2006; the source code release coincided with Penton Media's publication of the project launch article titled "A Solution evolution." In 2007, Active Agenda was named a "FAST 50" by the readers of Fast Company magazine. In 2011, Active Agenda Founder, Dan Zahlis was named a "Risk Innovator" by RISK & INSURANCE magazine.

The project received further distinction as a "Responsibility Leader" by Liberty Mutual High reliability organization List of free and open source software packages Occupational safety and health Operational risk management Rapid application development Regulatory compliance Risk management Active Agenda official website Current Modules Technical Support General Support Active Agenda Sourceforge page