The Oaths of Strasbourg were mutual pledges of allegiance between Louis the German, ruler of East Francia, his half-brother Charles the Bald, ruler of West Francia made on 12 February 842. They are written in three different languages: Medieval Latin, Old Gallo-Romance and Old High German, all in Caroline minuscule; the Romance passages are considered to be the earliest texts in a language, distinctly Gallo-Romance. The several pledges were spoken at a strategic meeting on 12 February 842 at Strasbourg, with the brothers' assembled armies in attendance and participating in the ceremonies. In addition to their promised allegiance to each other and Charles pledged their solidarity to oppose their eldest brother Lothair, ruler of Middle Francia and, emperor of all the Carolingian Empire Frankish kingdoms as well as Holy Roman Emperor. Louis spoke his oath in the Romance language of Charles' realm, while Charles spoke his oath in lingua teudisca, Germanic, of Louis' realm; the historical nature of the meeting is made more remarkable by the additional, separate pledges that were scripted for the monarchs' armies – in their respective vernaculars – to the effect that, for each "soldier": should their own lord-king unilaterally break the oath just pledged each "soldier of the oath" promises not to help his master against the abused other monarch.

The sole source for the text of the oaths is Nithard's Historiae or De dissensionibus filiorum Ludovici pii, where it is found in Chapter V of Book III. Nithard's work is preserved in a manuscript from the 10th or 11th century and the text of the oaths is on folios 12v-13r-13v. Both kings first made the same preamble speech, a detailed complaint against Lothair; each king swore his individual oath in front of their assembled armies, not in Latin nor in his own language, but in the vernacular of the other's kingdom. The armies swore separate pledges in their respective languages. One version of the pledges was written in the Rhine Franconian dialect of Old High German; the second version is in a form of Romance that can be viewed approximately, as Proto-French. The preamble was written in Latin, as were sections to report the ceremonies; the text is significant to both historians. Linguistically, the text is the first document known to be written in a Romance language, in a form of Gallo-Romance.

The documents shed light on a significant period in the history of the Carolingian-Frankish empire. Historians have long used the coexistence of these bilingual documents to illustrate their theory that, by 842, the empire had begun splitting into separate proto-countries and developing with different languages and customs. However, others of late have come to favour a different hypothesis: that the Frankish Kingdom comprised several regna that since ancient times had maintained different customs and languages. Supporting this theory they note that both Charlemagne and Louis the Pious sent their sons to be raised in the respective regna which they were designated to inherit, in order to better enlist the support of the local populace by becoming familiar with them and their customs; the transcriptions are edited, with abbreviations written out and some punctuation and word boundaries inserted. The image to the right is a scan of the original text. In the transcription below, two asterisks mark the beginning and end of the text visible in this scan.

The following is the Romance vernacular part in its original manuscript form and a close transcription: Treaty of Verdun Carolingian dynasty Sequence of Saint Eulalia List of languages by first written accounts Foerster, Werner. Altfranzösisches Übungsbuch, zum Gebrauch bei Vorlesungen und Seminarübungen. Erster Teil: die Ältesten Sprachdenkmäler. Leipzig: O. R. Reisland. Facsimile of the manuscript: Folio 12v Folio 13r Folio 13v Ayres-Bennett, Wendy. A History of the French Language through Texts. London/New York: Routledge. Cerquiglini, Bernard La naissance du français, Presses universitaires de France, 1991 3rd edition, 2007 Goldberg, Eric J.. Struggle for Empire: Kingship and Conflict under Louis the German, 817–876. Ithaca and London: Cornell University Press. Hall, Robert A.. "The Oaths of Strassburg: Phonemics and Classification". Language. 29: 317–321. Doi:10.2307/410027. Hartmann, Wilfried. Ludwig der Deutsche und seine Zeit. Darmstadt: Wissenschaftliche Buchgesellschaft. Hartmann, Wilfried. Ludwig der Deutsche.

Darmstadt: Primus. Hilty, Gerold. "Review of Francesco Lo Monaco and Claudia Villa, I Giuramenti di Strasburgo: Testi e tradizione". Vox Romanica. 69: 273–276. Holtus, Günter. "Rilievi su un'edizione comparatistica dei Giuramenti di Strasburgo". In Jószef Herman. La transizione dal latino alle lingue romanze. Tübingen: Niemeyer. Pp. 195–212. Lowe, Lawrence F. H.. "The Language of the Strassburg Oaths". Speculum. 2: 310–317. Doi:10.2307/2847721. Rea, John A.. "Again the Oaths of Strassburg". Language. 34: 367–369. Doi:10.2307/410928. Thompson, James Westfall. "The Romance Text of the Strassburg Oaths. Was it Written in the Ninth Century?". Speculum. 1: 410–438. Doi:10.2307/2847162. Wright, Roger. "Early Medieval Pan-Romance Comprehension". In Roger

The Polish National Catholic Church is a Christian church based in the United States and founded by Polish-Americans. The PNCC is not in full communion with the Roman Catholic Church. A sister church in Poland, the Polish-Catholic Church of Republic of Poland, is a member of the Old Catholic Union of Utrecht and is not in communion with the Holy See; the Polish National Catholic Church welcomes people of all ethnic and social backgrounds. The church has around 26,000 members in five dioceses in the United States and Canada; the five dioceses are: Buffalo-Pittsburgh, Eastern and Canada. The Mass of the Polish National Catholic Church uses one of three liturgies: the Contemporary Rite, the Traditional Rite, the Rite of Prime Bishop Hodur; the Contemporary is the most used in PNCC parishes. It is similar to the current Roman Rite Mass; the Traditional is longer and is still used. It is the older Mass used at the time; the Prime Bishop Hodur Mass is the longest and filled with additional prayers and litanies, as well as parts of the Traditional Mass.

Following the PNCC's first synod in 1904, the vernacular replaced Latin as the language of the liturgy. Polish National Catholics believe and accept the doctrine of transubstantiation, that the two species used become the literal Body and Blood of Christ at the consecration, the doctrine of real presence that Christ's body and blood are and present in the Eucharist. Both doctrines conclude the Mystical Presence of Christ, thus the essence of Eucharistic theology is maintained in either doctrine; the consecration takes place during the Canon of the Mass, incorporating both the Words of Institution as spoken by Christ at the Last Supper and the conferring of the Holy Spirit over the elements. Collectively, the bread and wine are believed to become the Body and Blood of Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit; as in the Maronite Church and several other Eastern rite churches, the Eucharist is given through intinction, whereby the Body of Christ is dipped in the Blood of Christ and placed on the tongue of the receiver.

If only one of the consecrated elements is available or received. The clergy will use only the consecrated bread during communion calls outside the church, but still state, "The Body and Blood of Christ" while administering the sacrament. Altar rails are used during the distribution of communion. In preparing for the first reception of the Eucharist, education is given from the church's catechism, so that the future recipients will be prepared and understand the experience; the PNCC regards a confession of faults to God, followed by the assignment of penance and absolution given by the priest, to be the way the congregation obtains forgiveness of sins. The sacrament may be administered in one of two ways: private. Private confession is required for all members under the age of sixteen, while public confession is a part of every Mass. In this form, the faithful confess their sins directly and to God; the entire congregation recites the Prayer of Confession. Adults may avail themselves of private confession.

The PNCC rejects the concept of original sin. The church believes that "Marriage is the sacrament which makes a Christian man and woman husband and wife, gives them grace to be faithful to each other and to bring up their children in love and devotion to God." Unlike in the Catholic Church, PNCC deacons are not permitted to officiate at weddings. The PNCC permits divorced people to participate in the Mass and to receive the Eucharist; the church does not recognise civil divorce and requires an annulment before parishioners can remarry. Every diocese has a matrimonial commission that studies each request for marriage by persons who have been divorced; the commission presents its findings and recommendation to the bishop. Since 1921 the PNCC has permitted its clergy to be married, in practice encourages them to be so, they believe that a married priest will have a better understanding of the marital issues facing his parishioners. If a person is unmarried at the time of ordination, he must remain so for a period of two years before entering marriage.

The church does not permit women to be ordained either to ministerial priesthood. The PNCC is governed in accordance with its Constitution and Laws. Bishops and priests possess the authority to explain and teach the doctrinal position of the church in matters of faith and discipline; the legislative authority of the Church is vested in the General Synod, the Special Synod, the Diocesan Synod and the Parish Meeting. In financial and administrative matters, the parishioners possess administrative authority. Representatives elected at the Annual Parish Meeting, confirmed by the diocesan Bishop, exercise their constitutional authority in cooperation with the pastor; the chief legislative body is the General Synod, which convenes every four years. The composition of the General Synod includes clergy and laity; each parish is entitled to send one lay delegate for each 50 active members. While the Constitution and Laws provide that the General Synod holds the authority to remove bishops, the Prime Bishop

Frances Cuka was an English actress, principally on television, whose career spanned over fifty years. In her years, she was best known for playing Grandma Buller in the sitcom Friday Night Dinner. Cuka was born in London, the daughter of Letitia Alice Annie, a tailor, Joseph Cuka, a process engraver; the family subsequently moved to Hove. As a child, she appeared in BBC radio broadcasts as part of Children's Hour, she trained at the Guildhall School of Drama. After the Guildhall, she joined Theatre Workshop. Between runs of A Taste of Honey she appeared in several plays at the Royal Court Theatre, including Endgame and Live Like Pigs. In 1963 she played Becky Sharp in the musical Vanity Fair, alongside George Baker and Sybil Thorndike. Cuka moved into television, her subsequent television roles included Adam Adamant Lives, Hammer House of Horror, The Champions and Minder. She appeared as Doll Tearsheet in a BBC TV version of Henry IV, Part II, she had recurring roles in the soap operas Coronation Street.

Her film roles have included Scrooge as Bob Cratchit's wife, Henry VIII and his Six Wives as Catherine of Aragon. From 2006 to 2009, she played the recurring role of a homeless woman called Mrs Bassey in the popular medical drama Casualty, her final appearance was in September 2009, when her character died from severe burns after being involved in an explosion at a shopping centre. In 2010, she played Lady Bracknell for Logos Theatre Company at Upstairs at the Gatehouse, in the unusual four-act version of The Importance of Being Earnest. From March 2011, she appeared as Grandma Nelly Buller. Cuka was the second actress to play Peggy Mitchell in the BBC1 soap opera EastEnders when the character was first introduced in 1991, she had filmed several scenes of the character when she was axed from the show and all her scenes were scrapped. Frances Cuka on IMDb Biography

Melissa Helmbrecht is a New Jersey based social entrepreneur and activist who over the course of her career works to solve social problems through nonprofit work. Over the course of her career she has been working with children and families who struggle with adversity by helping them get the tools and resources they need to improve their lives; the three issues she works on the most are reforming the foster care system, ending mass incarceration, making college affordable for low income youth. Helmbrecht was appointed the youngest member of the Orlando, Florida Leadership Council in 1991. In this position she promoted youth service around the city, she participated in a design council for the Disney model town of Celebration, Florida. In the 1990s Helmbrecht co-founded Camden's Promise School in New Jersey. While a student at the University of Denver Law School, Helmbrecht served as the 15th Circuit Governor for the American Bar Association Law Student Division and on the ABA Committee for the Unmet Legal Needs of Children.

In 2000 Helmbrecht was a speaker at the National Association of Independent Schools conference. She studied at the Rocky Mountain Children's Law Center, serving as a Guardian Ad Litem for abused and neglected children in court; as the president of the Children's Millennium Movement Helmbrecht was cited by the American Bar Association in 2001 for her work addressing the needs of foster children. In the wake of the Columbine High School Massacre and the September 11th terrorist attacks, Helmbrecht set out to help young people, who felt powerless in a tumultuous world, restore their sense of agency and potential for impact through service. Helmbrecht founded an organization called the Youth Investment Project with a grant from Youth Service America, was acknowledged by that organization as one of the "six most promising social entrepreneurs in America." The project was an intensive mentoring program for middle school students in Denver, Colorado to encourage their participation in peer mediation and conflict resolution activities.

The youth involvement project included a "Day of Hope" on the first anniversary of the Columbine High School massacre that featured two surviving students. On the Day of Hope, 10,000 young people participated in volunteer service projects At the age of 25 Helmbrecht founded Champions of Hope, a global team of youth dedicated to tackling personal and social challenges through service; that organization, along with Youth Service America, founded the United Day of Service, designed to promote youth-led service learning projects across the country. Activities were sponsored by the Verizon Foundation. Helmbrecht was responsible for securing the participation of Kelly Clarkson in the first celebration of the United Day of Service on September 11, 2002 at the National Mall, along with actor Sean Astin and former U. S. Senator Harris Wofford; that year she served on the White House's "Youth Service Compact," a committee of the top non-profit groups in the country that convened at the White House to design a strategy to increase the impact of youth service organizations.

Helmbrecht ran for U. S. House of Representatives in Virginia's Eighth Congressional District in 2003, she ran as a Republican and was one of the youngest women to run for Congress. Lisa Marie Cheney secured the nomination at the district Republican convention. In 2008 Helmbrecht served on the Global Ambassadors committee of Airline Ambassadors International, a project organized by travel commentator Peter Greenberg, the travel editor of NBC's Today Show, she signed the Youth Entitlements Summit Declaration in June, 2008. Helmbrecht is the CEO of Splashlife.com. Launching in September 2010, Splashlife is devoted to empowering youth by working with nonprofit and corporate partners to enable its members to take action for social change. On March 19, 2009 Whoopi Goldberg mentioned Splashlife on The View, a television show on ABC. Splashlife's first campaign is called "Hunger and Homelessness in America," and is based on Helmbrecht's personal experience volunteering at a homeless shelter as a youth.

Partnering with Peter Samuelson's EDAR, Splashlife is sharing the organization as a "brilliant example of one way to design simple temporary solutions for complex issues." Helmbrecht has been the recipient of several awards, including the White House Building Healthy Communities and Healthy Youth Award, the CBS Everyday Hero Award, the Walt Disney World Dreamers and Doers Award, the National Caring Award. She was inducted into the Frederick Douglass Museum and Hall of Fame for Caring Americans and was named "One of the Six Leading Social Entrepreneurs in America" by Youth Service America. Splashlife.com

In the mathematical fields of order and domain theory, a Scott domain is an algebraic, bounded-complete cpo. It has been named in honour of Dana S. Scott, the first to study these structures at the advent of domain theory. Scott domains are closely related to algebraic lattices, being different only in lacking a greatest element, they are closely related to Scott information systems, which constitute a "syntactic" representation of Scott domains. While the term "Scott domain" is used with the above definition, the term "domain" does not have such a accepted meaning and different authors will use different definitions. Additionally, Scott domains appear with other names like "algebraic semilattice" in some publications. Dana Scott demanded a complete lattice, the Russian mathematician Yury Yershov constructed the isomorphic structure of cpo, but this was not recognized until after scientific communications improved after the fall of the Iron Curtain. In honour of their work, a number of mathematical papers now dub this fundamental construction a "Scott–Ershov" domain.

Formally, a non-empty ordered set is called a Scott domain if the following hold: D is directed complete, i.e. all directed subsets of D have a supremum. D is bounded i.e. all subsets of D that have some upper bound have a supremum. D is algebraic, i.e. every element of D can be obtained as the supremum of a directed set of compact elements of D. Since the empty set has some upper bound, we can conclude the existence of a least element ⊥ from bounded completeness; the property of being bounded complete is equivalent to the existence of infima of all non-empty subsets of D. It is well known that the existence of all infima implies the existence of all suprema and thus makes a ordered set into a complete lattice. Thus, when a top element is adjoined to a Scott domain, one can conclude that: the new top element is compact and the resulting poset will be an algebraic lattice. Scott domains are in a sense "almost" algebraic lattices. However, removing the top element from a complete lattice does not always produce a Scott domain.

Scott domains become topological spaces by introducing the Scott topology. Scott domains are intended to represent partial algebraic data, ordered by information content. An element x ∈ D is a piece of data that might not be defined; the statement x ≤ y means " y contains all the information that x does". With this interpretation we can see that the supremum ⋁ X of a subset X ⊆ D is the element that contains all the information that any element of X contains, but no more; such a supremum only exists provided X does not contain inconsistent information. The algebraicity axiom ensures that all elements get all their information from lower down in the ordering; the bottom element is the supremum of the empty set, i.e. the element containing no information at all. On the other hand, the infimum ⋀ X is the element that contains all the information, shared by all elements of X, no less. If X contains no consistent information its elements have no information in common and so its infimum is ⊥. In this way all non-empty infima exist, but not all infima are interesting.

This definition in terms of partial data allows an algebra to be defined as the limit of a sequence of more defined partial algebras—in other words a fixed point of an operator that adds progressively more information to the algebra. For more information, see Domain theory; every finite poset is directed algebraic. Thus any bounded-complete finite poset trivially is a Scott domain; the natural numbers with an additional top element ω constitute an algebraic lattice, hence a Scott domain. For more examples in this direction, see the article on algebraic lattices. Consider the set of all finite and infinite words over the alphabet, ordered by the prefix order on words. Thus, a word w is smaller than some word v if w is a prefix of v, i.e. if there is some word v' such that w v' = v. For example, 101 ≤ 10110; the empty word is the bottom element of this ordering, every directed set is eas