A target market, also known as serviceable obtainable market (SOM), is a group of customers within a business's serviceable available market at which a business aims its marketing efforts and resources. A target market is a subset of the total market for a product or service.

The target market typically consists of consumers who exhibit similar characteristics (such as age, location, income or lifestyle) and are considered most likely to buy a business's market offerings or are likely to be the most profitable segments for the business to service by OCHOM

Once the target market(s) have been identified, the business will normally tailor the marketing mix (4 Ps) with the needs and expectations of the target in mind. This may involve carrying out additional consumer research in order to gain deep insights into the typical consumer's motivations, purchasing habits and media usage patterns.

The choice of a suitable target market is one of the final steps in the market segmentation process. The choice of a target market relies heavily on the marketer's judgement, after carrying out basic research to identify those segments with the greatest potential for the business.

Occasionally a business may select more than one segment as the focus of its activities, in which case, it would normally identify a primary target and a secondary target. Primary target markets are those market segments to which marketing efforts are primarily directed and where more of the business's resources are allocated, while secondary markets are often smaller segments or less vital to a product's success.

Selecting the "right" target market is a complex and difficult decision. However, a number of heuristics have been developed to assist with making this decision.

Definition

A target market is a group of customers (individuals, households or organisations), for which an organisation designs, implements and maintains a marketing mix suitable for the needs and preferences of that group.

Target marketing goes against the grain of mass marketing. It involves identifying and selecting specific segments for special attention. Targeting, or the selection of a target market, is just one of the many decisions made by marketers and business analysts during the segmentation process.

Examples of target markets used in practice include:

 Rolls-Royce (motor vehicles): wealthy individuals who are looking for the ultimate in prestige and luxury.

 Dooney and Bourke handbags: teenage girls and young women under 35 years

Background

Selection of a target market (or target markets) is part of the overall process known as S-T-P (Segmentation→Targeting→Positioning). Before a business can develop a positioning strategy, it must first segment the market and identify the target (or targets) for the positioning strategy. This allows the business to tailor its marketing activities with the needs, wants, aspirations and expectations of target customers in mind. This enables the business to use its marketing resources more efficiently, resulting in more cost and time efficient marketing efforts. It allows for a richer understanding of customers and therefore enables the creation of marketing strategies and tactics, such as product design, pricing and promotion, that will connect with customers' hearts and minds. Also, targeting makes it possible to collect more precise data about customer needs and behaviors and then analyze that information over time in order to refine market strategies effectively.

The first step in the S-T-P process is market segmentation. In this phase of the planning process, the business identifies the market potential or the total available market (TAM). This is the total number of existing customers plus potential customers, and may also include important influencers. For example, the potential market or TAM for feminine sanitary products might be defined as all women aged 14–50 years. Given that this is a very broad market in terms of both its demographic composition and its needs, this market can be segmented to ascertain whether internal groups with different product needs can be identified. In other words, the market is looking for market-based opportunities that are a good match its current product offerings or whether new product/service offerings need to be devised for specific segments within the overall market.

Market segmentation

Markets generally fall into two broad types, namely consumer markets and business markets.  A consumer market consists of individuals or households who purchase goods for private consumption and do not intend to resell those goods for a profit. A business market consists of individuals or organisations who purchase goods for one of three main purposes; (a) for resale; (b) for use in producing other goods or services and; (c) for general use in daily business operations. Approaches to segmentation will vary depending on whether the total available market (TAM) is a consumer market or a business market.

Market segmentation is the process of dividing a total available market, using one of a number of key bases for segmenting such as demographic, geographic, psychographic, behavioural or needs-based segments. For example, a demographic segmentation of the adult male population might yield the segments,  Men 18-24; Men 25-39, Men 40-59 and Men 60+. Whereas a psychographic segmentation might yield segments such as Young Singles, Traditional Families, Socially Awares and Conservatives. Identifying consumer demand and opportunity within these segments should assist the marketer to identify the most profitable segments.

Although there are many different ways to segment a market, the most common bases used in practice are:
 Geographic – Residential address, location, climate, region.
 Demographic/socioeconomic segmentation – Gender, age, income, occupation, socio-economic status, educational-level, family status, marital status, ethnic group, religious affiliation.
 Psychographic – Attitudes, values, beliefs, interests and lifestyles.
 Behavioral  – usage occasion, degree of loyalty, user status, purchase-readiness
 Needs-based segmentation – relationship between the customer's needs for specific features and product or service benefits

During the market segmentation process, the marketing analyst will have developed detailed profiles for each segment formed. This profile typically describes the similarities between consumers within each segment and the differences between consumers across each of the segments. The primary use of the segment profile is to assess the extent to which a firm's offerings meet the needs of different segments. A profile will include all such information as is relevant for the product or service and may include basic demographic descriptors, purchasing habits, disposition to spend, benefits-sought, brand preferences, loyalty behavior, usage frequency and any other information deemed relevant to the subject at hand.

The segment profile assists in the decision-making process and has a number of specific benefits:
 assists to determine those segments that are most attractive to the business
 provides quantitative data about segments for a more objective assessment of segment attractiveness
 assists in tailoring the product or service offering to the needs of various segments
 provides basic information to assist with targeting
 allocating the firm's resources effectively

After profiling all the market segments formed during the segmentation process, detailed market analysis is carried out to identify one or more segments that are worthy of further investigation. Additional research may be undertaken at this juncture to ascertain which segments require detailed analysis with the potential to become target segments.

Selecting the target market

A key consideration in selecting the target markets is whether customer needs are sufficiently different to warrant segmentation and targeting. In the event that customer needs across the entire market are relatively similar, then the business may decide to use an undifferentiated approach. On the other hand, when customer needs are different across segments, then a differentiated (i.e. targeted) approach is warranted. In certain circumstances, the segmentation analysis may reveal that none of the segments offer genuine opportunities and the firm may decide not to enter the market.

When a marketer enters more than one market, the segments are often labeled the primary target market and the secondary target market. The primary market is the target market selected as the main focus of marketing activities and most of the firm's resources are allocated to the primary target. The secondary target market is likely to be a segment that is not as large as the primary market, but may have growth potential. Alternatively, the secondary target group might consist of a small number of purchasers that account for a relatively high proportion of sales volume perhaps due to purchase value, purchase frequency or loyalty.

In terms of evaluating markets, three core considerations are essential:

 Segment size and growth
 Segment structural attractiveness
 Compatibility with company objectives and resources.

However, these considerations are somewhat subjective and call for high levels of managerial judgement. Accordingly, analysts have turned to more objective measures of segment attractiveness. Historically a number of different approaches have been used to select target markets. These include:

 Distance Criterion: Under this approach, the business attempts to define the primary geographic catchment area for the business by identifying people who live within a predetermined distance of the business. For a retailer or service-provider the distance might be around 5 km; for domestic tourist destination, the distance might be 300km. This method is used extensively in retailing.

 Sales Criterion: Using this method, the business allocates its resources to target markets based on historical sales patterns. This method is especially useful when used in conjunction with sales conversion rates. This method is used in retail. A disadvantage of the method is that it assumes past sales will remain constant and fails to account for incremental market potential.

 Interest Survey Methods: This method is used to identify new business potential. Primary research, typically in the form of surveys, identifies people who have not purchased a product or service, but have positive attitudes and exhibit some interest in making a purchase in the short-term. Although this method overcomes some of the disadvantages of other methods, it is expensive even when syndicated research is used.

 Chain ratio and indexing methods: This method is used in marketing of branded goods and retail. It involves ranking alternative market segments based on current indices. Widely used indices are the Category Index and Brand Index. The Category Index measures overall patterns within the product category while the Brand Index calculates a given brand's performance within the category. By dividing the Category Index by the Brand Index, a measure of market potential can be obtained.

International segmentation and targeting

Segmentation and targeting for international markets is a critical success factor in international expansion. Yet, the diversity of foreign markets in terms of their market attractiveness and risk profile, complicates the process of selecting which markets to enter and which consumers to target. Targeting decisions in international markets have an additional layer of complexity.

An established stream of literature focussing on International Market Segmentation (IMS) suggests that international segmentation and targeting decisions employ a two-stage process:

 1. Macro-segmentation (assess countries for market attractiveness, i.e. market size, market potential)
 2. Micro-segmentation (i.e. consumer-level based on personal values and social values)

Analysis carried out in the first stage focuses involves the collection of comparative information about different countries with a view to identifying the most valuable markets to enter. This is facilitated by the relatively wide data availability for macro-variables. Most government departments collect business census data as well as data for a broad range of economic and social indicators that can be used to gauge the attractiveness of various destinations.

Positioning

Positioning is the final step in the S-T-P planning approach (Segmentation→ Targeting → Positioning). Positioning refers to decisions about how to present the offer in a way that resonates with the target market. During the research and analysis carried out during the segmentation and targeting process, the marketer will have gained insights into what motivates consumers to purchase a product or brand. These insights can be used to inform the development of the positioning strategy.

Firms typically develop a detailed positioning statement which includes the target market definition, the market need, the product name and category, the key benefit delivered and the basis of the product's differentiation from any competing alternatives. The communications strategy is the primary means by which businesses communicate their positioning statement to target audiences.

Marketing mix (4 Ps)

Once the segmentation has been carried out, target markets selected and the positioning strategy developed, the marketer can begin to shape the marketing mix (or marketing program) around the needs, wants and motivations of the target audience. The traditional marketing mix refers to four broad levels of marketing decision, namely: product, price, promotion, and place. When implemented successfully, these activities should deliver a firm's products or services to target consumers in a cost efficient manner. The four core marketing activities include: product, price, place and promotion.

The marketing mix is the combination of all of the factors at the command of a marketing manager to satisfy the target market. The elements of the marketing mix are: Product – the item or service that is being offered, through its features and consumer benefits and how it is positioned within the marketplace whether it be a high or low quality product. Price, is a reference to the sacrifices made by a consumer to acquire a product and may include both monetary and psychological costs such as the combination of the ticket price, payment methods and other associated acquisition costs. Place refers to the way that a product physically reaches the consumer – where the service or item is sold; it also includes the distribution channels in which the company uses to get products or services to market. Finally, Promotion refers to marketing communications used to convey the offer to consumers and may include;   personal selling, advertising, public and customer relations, sales promotion and any other activities to communicate with target markets.

The first reference to the term, the 'marketing mix' was claimed to be in around 1950 by Neil H. Borden. Borden first used the term, 'marketing mix' in an address given while he was the President of the American Marketing Association in the early 1950s. For instance, he is known to have used the term 'marketing mix' in his presidential address given to the American Marketing Association in 1953. However, at that stage, theorists and academics were not in agreement as to what elements made up the so-called marketing mix. Instead, they relied on checklists or lengthy classifications of factors that needed to be considered to understand consumer responses. It was not until 1960 when E. Jerome McCarthy published his now-classic work, Basic Marketing: A Managerial Approach that the discipline accepted the 4 Ps as constituting the core elements of the marketing mix. In the 1980s, the 4 Ps was modified and expanded for use in the marketing of services, which were believed to possess unique characteristics which necessitated a different marketing program. The commonly accepted 7Ps of services marketing include: the original four Ps of product, price, place, promotion plus participants (people), physical evidence and process.

Product

A ‘Product’ is "something or anything that can be offered to the customers for attention, acquisition, or consumption and satisfies some want or need." (Riaz & Tanveer (n.d); Goi (2011) and Muala & Qurneh (2012)). The product is the primary means of demonstrating how a company differentiates itself from competitive market offerings. The differences can include quality, reputation, product benefits, product features, brand name or packaging.

Price

Price provides customers with an objective measure of value.(Virvilaite et al., 2009; Nakhleh, 2012). Price can be an important signal of product quality. Prices can also attract specific market segments. For instance, premium pricing is used when a more affluent segment is the target, but a lower-priced strategy might be used when price-conscious consumers are the target. Price can also be used tactically, as a means to advertise, short stints of lower prices increase sales for a variety of reasons such as to shift product over-runs or out of season goods.

Place

Place refers to the availability of the product to the targeted customers (Riaz & Tanveer, n.d). So a product or company does not have to be close to where its customer base is but instead they just have to make their product as available as possible. For maximum efficiency, distribution channels must identify where the target market are most likely to make purchases or access the product. Distribution (or place) may also need to consider the needs of special-interest segments such as the elderly or those who are confined to wheelchairs. For instance, businesses may need to provide ramps for wheelchair access or baby change rooms for mothers.

Promotion

Promotion refers to "the marketing communication used to make the offer known to potential customers and persuade them to investigate it further". May comprise elements such as: advertising, PR, direct marketing and sales promotion. Target marketing allows the marketer or sales team to customize their message to the targeted group of consumers in a focused manner. Research has shown that racial similarity, role congruence, labeling intensity of ethnic identification, shared knowledge and ethnic salience all promote positive effects on the target market. Research has generally shown that target marketing strategies are constructed from consumer inferences of similarities between some aspects of the advertisement (e.g., source pictured, language used, lifestyle represented) and characteristics of the consumer (e.g. reality or desire of having the represented style). Consumers are persuaded by the characteristics in the advertisement and those of the consumer.

Strategies for segmenting and targeting
Marketers have outlined five basic strategies to the segmentation and the identification of target markets: undifferentiated marketing or mass marketing, differentiated marketing, concentrated marketing (niche marketing) and micromarketing (hyper-segmentation).

Mass marketing (undifferentiated marketing)
Undifferentiated marketing/Mass marketing is a method which is used to target as many people as possible to advertise one message that marketers want the target market to know (Ramya & Subasakthi). When television first came out, undifferentiated marketing was used in almost all commercial campaigns to spread one message across to a mass of people.  The types of commercials that played on the television back then would often be similar to one another that would often try to make the viewers laugh, These same commercials would play on air for multiple weeks/months to target as many viewers as possible which is one of the positive aspects of undifferentiated marketing. However, there are also negative aspects to mass marketing as not everyone thinks the same so it would be extremely difficult to get the same message across to a huge number of people (Ramya & Subasakthi).

Differentiated marketing strategy
Differentiated marketing is a practice in which different messages are advertised to appeal to certain groups of people within the target market (Ramya & Subasakthi). Differentiated marketing however is a method which requires a lot of money to pull off. Due to messages being changed each time to advertise different messages it is extremely expensive to do as it would cost every time to promote a different message. Differentiated marketing also requires a lot time and energy as it takes time to come up with ideas and presentation to market the many different messages, it also requires a lot of resources to use this method. But investing all the time, money and resources into differentiated marketing can be worth it if done correctly, as the different messages can successfully reach the targeted group of people and successfully motivate the targeted group of people to follow the messages that are being advertised (Ramya & Subasakthi).

Concentrated marketing or niche marketing
Niche marketing is a term used in business that focuses on selling its products and services solely on a specific target market. Despite being attractive for small businesses, niche marketing is highly considered to be a difficult marketing strategy as businesses may need thorough and in-depth research to reach its specific target market in order to succeed.

According to (Caragher, 2008), niche marketing is when a firm/ company focuses on a particular aspect or group of consumers to deliver their product and marketing to. Niche marketing, is also primarily known as concentrated marketing, which means that firms are using all their resources and skills on one particular niche. Niche marketing has become one of the most successful marketing strategies for many firms as it identifies key resources and gives the marketer a specific category to focus on and present information to. This allows companies to have a competitive advantage over other larger firms targeting the same group; as a result, it generates higher profit margins. Smaller firms usually implement this method, so that they are able to concentrate on one particular aspect and give full priority to that segment, which helps them compete with larger firms.

Some specialities of niche marketing help the marketing team determine marketing programs and provide clear and specific establishments for marketing plans and goal setting.  According to, (Hamlin, Knight and Cuthbert, 2015), niche marketing is usually when firms react to an existing situation.

There are different ways for firms to identify their niche market, but the most common method applied for finding out a niche is by using a marketing audit. This is where a firm evaluates multiple internal and external factors. Factors applied in the audit identify the company's weaknesses and strengths, company's current client base and current marketing techniques. This would then help determine which marketing approach would best fit their niche.

There are 5 key aspects or steps, which are required to achieve successful niche marketing. 1: develop a marketing plan; 2: focus your marketing program; 3: niche to compete against larger firms; 4: niche based upon expertise; 5: develop niches through mergers.

Develop A Marketing Plan:

Developing a market plan is when a firms marketing team evaluates the firms current condition, what niches the company would want to target and any potential competition. A market plan can consist of elements such as, target market, consumer interests, and resources; it must be specific and key to that group of consumers as that is the speciality of niche marketing.

Focus Your Marketing Program:

Focusing your marketing program is when employees are using marketing tools and skills to best of their abilities to maximise market awareness for the company. Niche marketing is not only used for remaining at a competitive advantage in the industry but is also used as a way to attract more consumers and enlarge their client database. By using these tools and skills the company is then able to implement their strategy consistently.

Niche To Compete Against Larger Firms:

Smaller and medium-sized firms are able to compete against niche marketing, as they are able to focus on one primary niche, which really helps the niche to grow. Smaller firms can focus on finding out their clients problems within their niche and can then provide different marketing to appeal to consumer interest.

Niche Based Upon Expertise:

When new companies are formed, different people bring different forms of experience to the company. This is another form of niche marketing, known as niche based on expertise, where someone with a lot of experience in a specific niche may continue market for that niche as they know that niche will produce positive results for the company.

Developing Niches Through Mergers:

A company may have found their potential niche but are unable to market their product/ service across to the niche. This is where merging industry specialist are utilised. As one company may have the tools and skills to market to the niche and the other may have the skills to gather all the necessary information required to conduct this marketing. According to (Caragher, 2008), niche marketing, if done effectively, can be a very powerful concept.

Overall, niche marketing is a great marketing strategy for firms, mainly small and medium-sized firms, as it is a specific and straightforward marketing approach. Once a firm's niche is identified, a team or marketers can then apply relevant marketing to satisfy that niche's wants and demands.

Niche marketing also closely interlinks with direct marketing as direct marketing can easily be implemented on niches within target markets for a more effective marketing approach.

Direct marketing
Direct marketing is a method which firms are able to market directly to their customers needs and wants, it focuses on consumer spending habits and their potential interests. Firms use direct marketing a communication channel to interact and reach out to their existing consumers (Asllani & Halstead, 2015). Direct marketing is done by collecting consumer data through various means. An example is the internet and social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter and Snapchat. Those were a few online methods of which organisations gather their data to know what their consumers like and want allowing organisations to cater to what their target markets wants and their interest (Lund & Marinova, 2014). This method of marketing is becoming increasingly popular as the data allows organisations to come up with more effective promotional strategies and come up with better customize promotional offers that are more accurate to what the customers like, it will also allows organisations to uses their resources more effectively and efficiently and improve customer management relationships. An important tool that organisations use in direct marketing is the RFM model (recency-frequency-monetary value) (Asllani & Halstead, 2015). Despite all the benefits this method can bring, it can be extremely costly which means organisation with low budget constraints would have trouble using this method of marketing..

Online targeting

Digital communications have allowed marketers to segment markets at ever tighter levels - right down to the individual consumer. This process is known as micromarketing, cyber-segmentation or hyper-segmentation. In effect, this allows to the marketer to pursue both a differentiated marketing strategy and a niche marketing strategy to reach the smallest groups in the marketplace.

Hyper-segmentation relies on extensive information technology, big databases, computerized and flexible manufacturing systems, and integrated distribution systems. Data is captured from electronic communications devices, mapped and logged with a management information system. This enables the integration of observed behaviour (domains accessed) with motives (content involvement), geographics (IP addresses), demographics (self-reported registration details) and brand preferences (site-loyalty, site stickiness). Additional data inputs might include behavioural variables such as frequency (site visits), diversity including visitation across different landscapes and fluidity spanning multiple time periods. Programmed business intelligence software analyses this data and in the process, may also source data inputs from other internal information networks. Marketers and advertisers can then use an inventory of stock images and phrases to compile customised promotion offers in real-time which are delivered to prospective purchasers with a strong interest in the product, or who are in an advanced state of buyer-readiness.

With increased availability of electronic scanner data there has been a greater focus on research of micromarketing and pricing problems that retailers encounter.  Research in 1995 by Stephen J. Hoch et al. provided empirical evidence for the micromarketing concept. In 1997, Alan Montgomery used hierarchical Bayes models to improve the estimation procedures of price elasticities, showing that micromarketing strategies can increase gross profits.

With the advent of social media, advertising has become a more efficient at reaching relatively small target audiences.  People are constantly exposed to advertisements and their content, which is key to its success. In the past, advertisers had tried to build brand names with television and magazines; however, advertisers have been using audience targeting as a new form of medium. The rise of internet users and its wide availability has made this possible for advertisers. Targeting specific audiences has allowed for advertisers to constantly change the content of the advertisements to fit the needs and interests of the individual viewer. The content of different advertisements are presented to each consumer to fit their individual needs.

The first forms of online advertising targeting came with the implementation of the personal email message. The implementation of the internet in the 1990s had created a new advertising medium; until marketers realized that the internet was a multibillion-dollar industry, most advertising was limited or illicit.

Many argue that the largest disadvantage to this new age of advertising is lack of privacy and the lack of transparency between the consumer and the marketers. Much of the information collected is used without the knowledge of the consumer or their consent.  Those who oppose online targeting are worried that personal information will be leaked online such as their personal finances, health records, and personal identification information.

Advertisers use three basic steps in order to target a specific audience: data collection, data analysis, and implementation. They use these steps to accurately gather information from different internet users. The data they collect includes information such as the internet user's age, gender, race, and many other contributing factors. Digital communications has given rise to new methods of targeting:

 Addressable advertising
Behavioral targeting
 Location-based targeting
 Reverse segmentation (a segment-building approach rather than a segmentation approach)

These methods rely on data collected from consumer-browsing histories and as such, rely on observed behaviour rather than self-reported behaviours. The implication is that data collected is much more reliable, but at the same time attracts concerns about consumer privacy. Many internet users are unaware of the amount of information being taken from them as they browse the internet. They don't know how it is being collected and what it is being used for. Cookies are used, along with other online tracking systems, in order to monitor the internet behaviors of consumers.

Many of these implemented methods have proven to be extremely effective. This has been beneficial for all three parties involved: the advertiser, the producer of the good or service, and the consumer. Those who are opposed of targeting in online advertising are still doubtful of its productivity, often arguing the lack of privacy given to internet users. Many regulations have been in place to combat this issue throughout the United States.my

See also
 Demographic profile
 Market segmentation
 Mass marketing
 Marketing strategy
 Niche market
 Precision marketing
 Serviceable available market
 Total addressable market
Positioning

References

Market segmentation


Ila Lóth, born: Mária Rónai (28 May 1900 – 21 September 1975) was a Hungarian film actress. She appeared in 27 films between 1918 and 1973. She was born in Budapest, Hungary (Austria-Hungary) and died in Budapest. In 1923, she married Győző János Rohoczy Storer. Through her daughter Judit, she is grandmother of an actress Sunnyi Melles, Princess of Sayn-Wittgenstein-Sayn.

Selected filmography
 Az Élet királya (1917)
 Lili (1918)
 Küzdelem a létért (1918)
 Casanova (1918)
 Yamata (1919)
 Under the Mountains (1920)
 For Love and Crown (1922)

References

External links

1900 births
1975 deaths
Hungarian film actresses
Hungarian silent film actresses
20th-century Hungarian actresses


"How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" is the sixth episode of the sixth season of the science fiction television series The X-Files. It premiered on the Fox network on December 13, 1998. It was written and directed by series creator Chris Carter, and featured guest appearances by Edward Asner and Lily Tomlin. The episode is a "Monster-of-the-Week" story, unconnected to the series' wider mythology. "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" earned a Nielsen household rating of 10.6, being watched by 17.3 million people in its initial broadcast. The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics, although some reviews criticized the episode for over-simplifying the characters.

The show centers on FBI special agents Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) and Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) who work on cases linked to the paranormal, called X-Files. Mulder is a believer in the paranormal, while the skeptical Scully has been assigned to debunk his work. In this Christmas-themed episode, Mulder and Scully stake out a reputed haunted house. The duo soon discover a pair of lovelorn spectres living inside the house who are determined to prove how lonely the holidays can be.

Carter based the episode around an idea he and fellow writer Frank Spotnitz had been working on, set in a haunted house. Featuring the smallest cast of an X-Files episode—with only four actors—and a single set, "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" was the cheapest sixth season episode. The drastic reduction in the budget, however, put more strain on the main actors.

Plot
Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) reluctantly responds to Fox Mulder's (David Duchovny) call on Christmas Eve to investigate a haunted house in Maryland. He explains that during Christmas of 1917, a young couple living in the house agreed to a lovers' pact, one killing the other and the remaining one committing suicide. He explains that they could not stand the thought of being alone after the other died and during the afterlife; they wanted to spend all eternity together. Now, Mulder claims, they haunt the house every Christmas Eve.

Scully, who doesn't want to abandon her Christmas plans, follows Mulder into the house to retrieve her car keys from him, and the door to the mansion slams shut. Inside the house, the agents experience strange phenomena: creaks are heard in the ceiling from the upper floor, and the shadow in the form of an old woman in a nightgown is seen, among other occurrences. Mulder and Scully reluctantly decide to investigate the floor above them. There, they find a massive library storing two corpses that have the same clothes and hairstyles as the agents, along with two gunshot wounds. They decide to go search other rooms, only to find that every door they walk through is the same library room they first entered. They then decide to split up, hoping to find a way out of the room.

While separated, they meet the inhabitants of the mansion—Maurice (Ed Asner) and Lyda (Lily Tomlin). The ghosts soon turn the agents against each other. Scully is told that Mulder will kill her. Scully meets back up with Mulder, only for him to pull out a gun and shoot her. Scully, completely confused, loses consciousness, and the perspective shifts. It is revealed that Lyda is actually the one carrying out these actions and, through her ghostly ability to create apparitions, causes Scully to see Mulder instead. Meanwhile, Mulder comes upon a bleeding Scully lying on the floor. When he leans over her to try to help her, she shoots Mulder in the stomach. Again, the audience sees that it is Lyda pretending to be Scully, manipulating Mulder.

Both Mulder and Scully stumble down the stairs in hope of just getting outside to die. They meet up by the door, both crawling on the floor, covered in massive amounts of blood. Scully claims he shot her, while Mulder claims she shot him. Mulder realizes that that could not have happened and stands up. The illusion is broken, and the two leave the house. Maurice and Lyda sit by the fire, holding hands, saying that they almost had the two agents. Meanwhile, at Mulder's apartment, Mulder and Scully exchange gifts, even though they told each other they would not.

Production

Conception and writing

Writer, director, and series creator Chris Carter based "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" around a story idea he and fellow writer and executive producer Frank Spotnitz had been working on about a haunted house. The only scene that the two had really developed was what would become the climax of the episode: Mulder and Scully pulling themselves across the floor, bleeding profusely. Carter also wanted to keep all the action on a single set, which led to production designer Corey Kaplan proposing that they base it in Scully's apartmenta set that the crew had not used for a while. However, Carter, wanting to keep the haunted house motif, decided to set the episode in a haunted house and asked Kaplan to design a mansion set that was "bleak, but not too bleak [...] decrepit, but not too decrepit," and "deserted, but not too deserted".

Casting and filming
"How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" featured the smallest cast of any X-Files episode, with only Duchovny, Anderson, and the two guest stars interacting. Lily Tomlin, who played the part of Lyda, had originally approached The X-Files producers several seasons prior and asked to be cast in an episode. Carter agreed to meet her and the two discussed possible ideas for future episodes. Several years later, Carter decided to write "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" largely as a vehicle for her. Originally, Carter wanted Bob Newhart to play the part of Maurice. However, Newhart was not interested, and so the production team approached Ed Asner, who readily agreed.

The production for the episode was bare-bones, making use of only a few sets. Because of this, "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" was the cheapest sixth season episode; however, the reduction in the budget made writing and directing the episode a challenge, as Carter was forced to work within tighter production constraints. The outside scenes were filmed in front of the Piru Mansion in Piru, California, where the sixth season episode "The Rain King" was filmed. The day before filming at the mansion was slated to begin, a fire erupted behind the building. Luckily, after an hour local firemen were able to bring the blaze under control by digging a fire break, with the fire stopping a mere 300 feet from the house.

Effects and music
Special effects editor Bill Millar was tasked with designing the "bloodless bullet holes" that Scully, and later Mulder, discover on Maurice and Lyda. To create this effect, Millar attached fluorescent cloth to the places that would become the bullet wounds. An ultraviolet light was then added to the set lighting, "invisibly reflect[ing]" the ultraviolet light, which Millar used as tracking data. The cloth was then removed during post-production and computer-generated bullet wounds were pasted in their place. Millar admits that the technique was borrowed from the 1992 movie Death Becomes Her, although he sarcastically admitted that, "we did it better and with less money." Anderson was later critical of the fake blood used for the episode because the sheer quantity quickly coagulated and formed a "gummy mess".

Mark Snow, the composer for the episode, admitted to "ripping off" Joseph Haydn's "Toy" Symphony to create the eerie Baroque-inspired harpsichord score. Snow also admits that another major influence for the episode was Johnny Mandel's "brilliant" score for the film Deathtrap (1982).

Broadcast and reception
"How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" first aired in the United States on December 13, 1998. This episode earned a Nielsen rating of 10.6, with a 16 share, meaning that roughly 10.6 percent of all television-equipped households, and 16 percent of households watching television, were tuned in to the episode. It was viewed by 17.30 million viewers. The episode aired in the United Kingdom and Ireland on Sky1 on April 11, 1999 and received 0.70 million viewers and was the fourth most watched episode that week. Fox promoted the episode with the tagline "This holiday season... share the gift of terror." Corey Kaplan later won an award of excellence from the Society of Motion Picture and Television Art Directors for his work on "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas."

The episode received mostly positive reviews from critics, with some detractors. Sight on Sound called the episode "one of the best Christmas episodes of any series." The review called “How the Ghosts Stole Christmas,” "an extremely creative, arguably bitter Holiday treat, perfect for [Christmas] with its blend of horror, comedy and hints of romance." Static Mass writer Patrick Samuel awarded the episode five stars and said, "As [Mulder and Scully] gleefully unwrap their presents at the end, this episode is something that really makes my own Christmases feel that little bit more complete." Den of Geek writer Juliette Harrisson, in a review of "Monday," said, "Season six included some more excellent episodes [and] classic comedy episodes including, "How The Ghosts Stole Christmas." DVD.net called "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" a "classic" standalone episode. SFX named the episode the sixth best "SF [Sci-Fi] & Fantasy Christmas Episodes" and noted that it was full of "classic lines, some neat tricks".

Zack Handlen from The A.V. Club gave the episode a largely positive review and awarded it a grade of an A. He noted that the episode was written in a similar manner to the earlier, Carter-penned "The Post-Modern Prometheus". Handlen wrote that both entries "have a gleeful, everybody-gets-out-okay-in-the-end vibe". He, however, concluded that the "episode lives and dies on the strength of its two guest stars" before writing that "Asner and Tomlin are more than up to the task." Earl Cressey from DVD Talk called "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" one of the "highlights of season six."  Robert Shearman and Lars Pearson, in their book Wanting to Believe: A Critical Guide to The X-Files, Millennium & The Lone Gunmen, rated the episode five stars out of five. Tom Kessenich, in his book Examination: An Unauthorized Look at Seasons 6–9 of the X-Files gave the episode more of a mixed to positive review, noting the lack of darkness in the episode. He wrote, "OK, I liked a lot of this episode. […] But while I've enjoyed the sheer entertainment value of the past three shows, I really am longing for something a bit sinister and darker."

Not all reviews were so positive. Paula Vitaris from Cinefantastique gave the episode a largely negative review and awarded it one-and-a-half stars out of four. Vitaris was unhappy with the way Maurice and Lyda were characterized, noting that their method of trying to get Mulder and Scully to kill each other resulted in "endless psychobabble dialogue". Michigan Daily writer Melissa Runstrom, in a review of the sixth season, described "How the Ghosts Stole Christmas" as "hokey" and "over-the-top." She identified it as the weakest episode of the sixth season.

Footnotes

Bibliography

External links

The X-Files (season 6) episodes
1998 American television episodes
Television episodes directed by Chris Carter (screenwriter)
Television episodes written by Chris Carter (screenwriter)
American Christmas television episodes
Television episodes about ghosts
Television episodes set in Maryland


In analysis of algorithms, probabilistic analysis of algorithms is an approach to estimate the computational complexity of an algorithm or a computational problem. It starts from an assumption about a probabilistic distribution of the set of all possible inputs. This assumption is then used to design an efficient algorithm or to derive the complexity of a known algorithm.
This approach is not the same as that of probabilistic algorithms, but the two may be combined.

For non-probabilistic, more specifically deterministic, algorithms, the most common types of complexity estimates are the average-case complexity  and the almost-always complexity. To obtain the average-case complexity, given an input distribution, the expected time of an algorithm is evaluated, whereas for the almost-always complexity estimate, it is evaluated that the algorithm admits a given complexity estimate that almost surely holds.

In probabilistic analysis of probabilistic (randomized) algorithms, the distributions or average of all possible choices in randomized steps is also taken into account, in addition to the input distributions.

See also
Amortized analysis
Average-case complexity
Best, worst and average case
Random self-reducibility
Principle of deferred decision

Randomized algorithms

Analysis of algorithms


Baaz: A Bird in Danger (English:- Falcon: A Bird in Danger) is 2003 Indian Hindi language psychological thriller film directed by Tinnu Verma, starring Sunil Shetty, Jackie Shroff, Karishma Kapoor, Dino Morea and Preeti Jhangiani.

Synopsis

This film revolves around a killer who suffers from a mental disorder which causes him to kill those who he is attracted to. Karisma Kapoor plays a girl from Delhi named Neha Chopra, who gets a new job as an interior designer in Nainital, and moves to lonely neighbourhood to pursue her career. She later falls in love with a man named Raj Singh, who is played by Dino Morea. However, the cops inform her that he may be the killer of many young beautiful girls in the area, and she doubts the cops until something causes her to doubt him instead, so she decides to leave the city. The police officer Harshvardhan Bhatti (played by Sunil Shetty) asks her to see the condition of the sister of a victim who witnessed the murder, but is in coma. Seeing her terrible condition, Neha decides to stay and help with the case and acts as if she is in love with Raj. Raj who has lost the love from Neha has to now gain her trust back and save her from the dangers that await her.

Plot
The film opens with the life of a child born with a strange disorder where he tends to destroy anything that fascinates him. His father had committed suicide and his mother is declared mentally ill. The doctors diagnose that he has inherited this condition genetically. He would be looked after by his grandmother.

Then the film moves to Nainital 17 years later, where Neha Chopra (Karisma Kapoor) from Delhi comes to Nainital to work as an interior designer for Jai Singh Dabral (Jackie Shroff), the city Mayor who is also a womaniser and attracted to Neha, at one of his secluded and deserted mansions. A serial killer is said to be on the prowl in the city, killing beautiful women ruthlessly and who is always eluding the police, getting away from the law without evidence if at all he gets arrested. Neha soon meets Raj Singh (Dino Morea), a loafer whom everyone in the city seems to avoid as he is the suspected serial killer, but she likes him, and soon both fall in love. The city police commissioner Harshvardhan Bhatti (Sunil Shetty) and subordinate Preeti Rastogi (Preeti Jhangiani) observe the movements of the couple all over the city, and soon they call Neha and warn her that Raj is a serial killer and she must help them nab him red handed as she is soon going to be his next victim. Neha refuses to believe, especially because Raj saves her life on one occasion. But later she finds items of murder in Raj's house, and thinks Raj is the killer. Brokenhearted, she then decides to leave Nainital for good, much against Dabral's wishes, but Harshvardhan and Preeti convince her to stay back and nab Raj red handed.

Raj goes to meet Neha but sees that she is very dull, knowing that something is wrong. Soon one of the killer's victim's sister comes out of coma and tells Preeti that she can identify the killer. Preeti informs Harshvardhan, but when they both arrive at the house, the comatose girl dies of shock unexpectedly. Later that night Preeti thinks over everything, and goes to question Harshvardhan. Dabral notices her racing in her car somewhere at night. The next day, Preeti is found murdered in Raj's house. Raj is chased by Harshvardhan and the cops until he jumps off a waterfall and seeks shelter in Neha's house.

Dabral threatens to demote Harshvardhan if he does not nab the killer in 24 hours, to which the latter replies assertively. Harshvardhan gives a mobile phone to Neha, telling her that if Raj calls on her, she must dial his number and inform him immediately. Raj does go to Neha to explain his situation but she pushes him off and dials Harshvardhan.  Surprisingly, Harshvardhan does not answer the phone. She then leaves a voice message saying that Raj has come to kill her. Raj accidentally hits during the argument Neha and she falls unconscious.

Then the movie reaches its climax where Harshvardhan appears on the scene. He takes Raj and the unconscious Neha to a temple where Raj and Neha had been before and chains him there. Here Harshvardhan reveals himself as the serial killer terrorizing the town. He is the child with the strange disorder shown in the beginning of the movie. He was neglected by his peers due to his disorder and was never able to make any friends. He used to share all his sorrows with his mother during his visits to the mental asylum where she was being treated. Upon seein her son in pain, she told him to “make his own world” since people didn’t want him in theirs, thus triggering his killing spree.

Harshvardhan admits to committing all the murders and hiding the bodies in an underground lair. He also admits to murdering Preeti because she had found out the truth, told everything she knew to his grandmother, and had also stumbled upon his underground lair. It is also revealed that Harshvardhan never had any feelings for Preeti, although she was madly in love with him and was hoping he would reciprocate. He goes on to say that he has always searched for someone to love since he was a child and his search ended when he saw Neha for the first time and will take her by any means necessary.

He was the one who also framed Raj by placing the items of murder in his house. He says "Kaam mera, naam tera", meaning that the crime is his and the name will be of Raj. He does so by recording Neha's voice message stating that Raj is the killer, and as a result Raj will be convicted. Harshvardhan then takes Neha to his underground enclosure to kill her, where the bodies of all his previous victims are found to be kept in glass boxes, as though it were a park.

In the meantime, Dabral comes and frees Raj, and both of them attack him at his house. A huge fight ensues between the three of them and suddenly, Harshvardhan's grandmother appears on the scene out of nowhere and shoots him multiple times.

The film ends with Raj and Neha planning to get married, and Dabral giving the deserted house for them to live in.

Cast
Suniel Shetty as DSP Harshvardan Bhatti
Jackie Shroff as Jai Singh Dabral
Karishma Kapoor as Neha Chopra
Dino Morea as Raj Singh
Preeti Jhangiani as Inspector Preeti Rastogi
Aditi Govitrikar as Winner of the beauty contest
Razak Khan as Nathuram Nada
Vivek Shauq as Constable Chautala
Suresh Bhagwat as Tiwari Anand
Antara Biswas as Naina Kohli
Suhasini Mulay as Harshvardhan's grandmother

Soundtrack

References

External links

2003 films
2000s Hindi-language films
Films set in Uttarakhand
Films directed by Tinu Verma
Indian thriller films


A hob is a type of small mythological household spirit found in the English Midlands, Northern England, and on the Anglo-Scottish border, according to traditional folklore of those regions. They could live inside the house or outdoors. They are said to work in farmyards and thus could be helpful; however, if offended they could become nuisances. The usual way to dispose of a hob was to give them a set of new clothing, the receiving of which would make the creature leave forever. It could, however, be impossible to get rid of the worst hobs.

Etymology

"Hob" is a diminutive form of the name "Robin", which is itself a diminutive form of the name "Robert".

"Hob" is sometimes a generic term given to a goblin, bogle or brownie. The name "Hob" became associated with the mythical creature as "a piece of rude familiarity to cover up uncertainty or fear"; essentially, calling a mystical creature by a common nickname was a way to make the concept less frightening, and the nickname eventually became the common term.

As well as the brownie, another cognate exists in the Scandinavian nisse or tomte; all are thought to be derived from the household gods of olden times, known in England as the  (Old English for "house-gods") of which the brownie and hob are indeed a survival.

Folklore

Yorkshire
Hobs have been described as small, hairy, wizened men. Hobs were viewed as kind but mischievous spirits, helpful to local people in need. One famous hob lived near Runswick Bay in a hobhole; this hob was believed to be able to cure young children of kink-cough (whooping cough). Parents would bring their ailing young to the hob's cave dwelling and recite the following:

Hobs are generally considered household spirits, who preferred to be about at night. Hobs were not tied to a particular place, but seemed to come and go as they chose. A hob would help the farmer in the field or the shopkeeper in his store. The householder had to be careful in dealing with a hob, so as not to offend it. If a farmer were to speak poorly of a hob on his farm, the hob might retaliate by breaking dishes and turning loose livestock. Most importantly, a hob must not be given a gift of clothing, as this would be greatly resented and might cause a helpful hob to leave immediately.  This was said to have happened at Sturfit Hall in Yorkshire, where the well-meaning family left a small hat and cloak for their helpful hob; however, when he encountered the gift, he exclaimed "Ha! a cap and a hood, / Hob'll never do mair good!" and was never seen again. Another Yorkshire hob, this one at Hart Hall, refused with a warning when offered a work shirt: "Gin Hob mun hae nowght but a hardin' hamp, / He'll come nae mair nowther to berry nor stamp."

North York Moors

Habitation

The following is a list of examples of Hob habitations on the North York Moors:

Hob-trush hob (Mulgrave woods)

According to local folklore, the hob-trush hob lived in a cave in Mulgrave woods.

The name hob-trush may be derived from "hob o' t' hyrst" ("hob of the hurst"):
 Hob o' t' hyrst.
 Hob-t-hyrst
 Hob-tyrst.
 Hob-trust.
 Hob-trush.

Farndale flit
Farndale in the North York Moors is separated from its neighbour Rosedale to the east by a high but relatively level moorland promontory known as Blakey Ridge. On the east side of that ridge is a topological feature known as Hobb Crag, overlooking the village of Rosedale Abbey. A local storyate's how a farmer in Farndale was so troubled by a Hob that he decided to relocate to another farm – just to get rid of that Hob.

Note the local dialect word flittin
which may be derived from the Old Norse language.

Legacy

Place names

Yorkshire place names
Many topological features, especially in North Yorkshire, are named "Hobs".

Examples of "Hob" place names in the North York Moors include:

 Hob Hill above the Fairy Glen (a deep gorge), .
 Hob on the Hill,  Commondale Moor, near Guisborough.
 Hob Holes near Runswick Bay.
 Hobb Crag and Hobb Farm near Rosedale Abbey.

Derbyshire place names
Examples in Derbyshire:
 Hob's House Cave, Monsal Dale.
 Hob Hurst's House, Beeley Moor, near Chatsworth House.
 Hob Hall and Hob Wood (Hobcrofte 1610) near Hob (folklore)|Wirksworth.
 Hob Hill and Hobroyd, Whitfield, Glossop.

Other place names

 Hobbs Flow, source of the Kershope Burn, Scottish Borders.
 Hobb Hill, Bloxham, near Banbury, Oxfordshire.
 Hobbs Hole Farm, near Great Tew, Oxfordshire.
 Hobb's Hill, near Hobbs Hill tin mine, Bodmin Moor, Cornwall.

Notable people
 Hobhouse is a rare English family name, belonging originally to a Somerset family.
The Scottish national hero Robert the Bruce was known as "King Hobbe" by his English enemy.

Modern popular culture
The 1958 TV serial Quatermass and the Pit, and the later film version, centre around the fictional Hobbs Lane (formerly called Hob's Lane), the significance of the name becoming apparent as the plot unfolds.
In Jim Butcher's The Dresden Files, hobs are eyeless creatures who burn in light. They serve the Queen Mab of the Winter Court of the Sidhe.
In Lionhead Studios' video games Fable, Fable II, and Fable III some of the minor adversaries are creatures known as "hobbes". They are created from children who misbehave and are captured by hobbes.
In J. K. Rowling's Harry Potter series, house-elves (such as Harry's friend Dobby) appear to be a type of hob, doing household tasks for human masters and driven from their households if given gifts of clothing (in what most house-elves see as a type of shameful expulsion, but the eccentric Dobby – and several human observers – consider an emancipation from slavery).
 The Hob appearing in The Years of Longdirk by Ken Hood is considerably different from the traditional depiction, being a powerful spirit which is amoral, neither good nor bad, but which has considerable destructive powers it can use if provoked. In Hood's fantasy world, "Hob" and "Imp" are two names for much the same kind of being.
In The Hob's Bargain by Patricia Briggs, the Hob is a powerful creature, possibly the last of his kind, who bargains to help protect a local village from a necromancer in exchange for a mate. The heroine who brought the Hob to the village agrees to his bargain in exchange for his help.
In Moonshine, the second novel of the Cal Leandros novels by Rob Thurman, the villain is "Hobgoblin" or "the Hob", the oldest of the race of immortal creatures known as pucks. In this series, the pucks all look alike, with curly brown hair, green eyes, and "foxlike" faces. Unlike his fellow puck, Robin Goodfellow, the Hob sees humans merely as toys and tools, beings which are utterly beneath him.
In An Elder Scrolls Novel: The Infernal City, hobs are used as kitchen slaves.
In Richard Dawson's 2017 album Peasant, a song titled "Hob" tells the story of a family's encounter with a hobthrust.
In Travis Baldree's book Legends & Lattes, the main character hires a hob as a carpenter in her coffee shop, noting that they are disparagingly referred to as 'pucks' by humans and are not often seen in cities.

See also
Hobbit
Hobgoblin
Lubber fiend, also known as "Lob".

References

Explanatory notes

Citations

General and cited sources

  Linked version is the 1977 second edition.

Anglo-Scottish border
Elves
English folklore
English legendary creatures
Fairies
Goblins
Household deities
Northumbrian folklore
Northumbrian folkloric beings
Tutelary deities
Yorkshire folklore


HMS Pendennis was a 70-gun third rate ship of the line of the Kingdom of England built at Chatham in 1677/79. She was in the War of English Succession. She was in the Battle of Bantry Bay. She was wrecked on the Kentish Knock in October 1689.

She was the first vessel to bear the name Pendennis in the English and Royal Navy.

Construction and Specifications
She was ordered on April 1677 to be built at Chatham Dockyard under the guidance of Master Shipwright Phineas Pett. She was launched in 1679. Her dimensions were a gundeck of  with a keel of  for tonnage calculation with a breadth of  and a depth of hold of . Her builder’s measure tonnage was calculated as 1,051 tons. Her draught was .

Her initial gun armament was in accordance with the 1677 Establishment with 72/60 guns consisting of twenty-six demi-cannons (54 cwt, 9.5 ft) on the lower deck, twenty-four 12-pounder guns (32 cwt, 9 ft) on the upper deck, ten sakers (16 cwt, 7 ft) on the quarterdeck and four sakers (16 cwt, 7 ft) on the foc’x’le with four 3-pounder guns (5 cwt, 5 ft) on the poop deck or roundhouse. By 1688 she would carry 70 guns as per the 1685 Establishment . Their initial manning establishment would be for a crew of 460/380/300 personnel.

Commissioned Service
She was commissioned on 25 September 1688 under the command of Captain Sir William Booth sailing with Dartmouth's Fleet in October 1688. . On 16 March 1689, Booth, a secret Jacobite, attempted to involve the lieutenants of the ship in an attempt to defect to France while the ship was lying at Sheerness. However, he was unsuccessful in persuading them and instead fled to France, fearing discovery. Captain George Churchill (brother of the Later Duke of Marlborough) held command in 1690. She was at the Battle of Bantry Bay on 1 May 1689.

Loss
She was wrecked on the Kentish Knock on 26 October 1689.

Citations

References

 Colledge (2020), Ships of the Royal Navy, by J.J. Colledge, revised and updated by Lt Cdr Ben Warlow and Steve Bush, published by Seaforth Publishing, Barnsley, Great Britain, © 2020,  (EPUB), Section N (Northumberland)
 Winfield (2009), British Warships in the Age of Sail (1603 – 1714), by Rif Winfield, published by Seaforth Publishing, England © 2009, EPUB
 Lavery, Brian (2003) The Ship of the Line - Volume 1: The Development of the Battlefleet 1650-1850. Conway Maritime Press.
 Clowes (1898), The Royal Navy, A History from the Earliest Times to the Present (Vol. II). London. England: Sampson Low, Marston & Company, © 1898

Ships of the line of the Royal Navy
1670s ships


Paul Schwartz (born 1956) is an American record producer, composer, arranger, conductor, and pianist. the basic elements of which are voice, piano, violin, and electronic samples. He has collaborated with vocalists Lisbeth Scott and Rebecca Luker, performing on many songs.

Schwartz was born in New York City, the son of composer/producer Arthur Schwartz and actress/dancer Mary Schwartz, and he is the half-brother of radio personality/sometime musician Jonathan Schwartz.

Paul studied composition at the Royal College of Music in London. He has conducted the pit orchestras of Broadway shows (such as The Phantom of the Opera). He has worked with André Previn, composed and recorded with Carlos Santana and David Foster, and written for Josh Groban.

Discography

 Aria (Astor Place, 1997)
 Revolution (Astor Place, 1998)
 Aria 2: New Horizon (Astor Place, 1999)
 Aria 3: Metamorphosis (Astor Place, 2003)
 Earthbound (2002)
 State of Grace (2000, 2011)
 State of Grace II: Turning to Peace (2003)
 State of Grace III (2006)
 Glimpses of Sappho (2007)

References

External links
 Official website

1956 births
Living people
American classical pianists
American classical composers
American multi-instrumentalists
American music arrangers
American conductors (music)
Alumni of the Royal College of Music
Record producers from New York (state)


Erota, Den Ksereis N'Agapas (Greek: Έρωτα, Δεν Ξέρεις Ν' Αγαπάς; English: Love, you don't know how to love) is an album by popular Greek artist Natasa Theodoridou. It was released in 2004.

Background
Released as Natasa Theodoridou's sixth studio album and the follow-up to the platinum certified Mia Diadromi, the album was written by Evanthia Reboutsika, with whom Theodoridou had recently collaborated with on the soundtrack for Politiki Kouzina (A Touch of Spice); the lyrics are by Mihalis Gkanas.

Originally scheduled for a September release, the album was delayed and finally released on October 27, 2004. It is described as being substantially different from the style of Theodoridou's first albums and is similar to the music and beat of older Greek folk music, featuring many Hasapikos and Zeibekikos.

Promotion
Theodoridou appeared on the MAD TV show Live@5 on December 31, 2004 to co-host the New Year's Eve party, talk about the album and her successful career so far. She was also nominated for "Best Female Artist" at the Arion Music Awards with the album.

Track listing
"Ksimeronomai" (I'm dawning) – 3:14
"Govaki Gialino" (Glass shoe) – 2:57
"Pos Ta Kataferes" (How do you make it?) – 3:33
"Erota, Den Ksereis N' Agapas" (Love, you don't know how to love) – 2:45
"Saloniki" (Saloniki) – 3:18
"Nostalgia" (Nostalgia) – 2:25
"Mathima Horou" (Dance lesson) – 3:20
"Fotia" (Fire) – 4:14
"Ti Sou Ho Kani" (What did I do to you?) – 3:45
"Mia Foni Makrini" (A distant voice) – 2:54

Singles and music videos
"Ksimeronomai"
"Ksimeronomai" was released as the first single from the album.

"Pos Ta Kataferes"
"Pos Ta Kataferes" was released as the second single from the album with music by Evanthia Reboutsika and lyrics by Michalis Gkanas. A music video was created and is directed by Manolis Tzirakis.

Charts

References

Natasa Theodoridou albums
Greek-language albums
2004 albums
Sony Music Greece albums


Pat Keysell (7 June 1926 – 31 October 2009) was a presenter of the BBC television series Vision On which ran from 1964 to 1976. She was also a mime artist and administrator.

Early life
Keysell was born in Tooting, London and brought up in Petts Wood, Kent. She was educated in Orpington and trained in mime at the Central School of Speech and Drama. She later emigrated, returning to Britain in 1958 with her son, after having divorced her husband.

Career
Keysell worked as a personal assistant to Ursula Eason (1910–93) who was the Assistant Head of BBC Children's Television from 1955 to 1970. She made her debut with For Deaf Children in the late 1950s by introducing mime to the format, acted out by deaf actors. By the time of Vision On she was a production assistant with the BBC's Drama Department and went freelance in order to present the new programme. Keysell was involved in Vision On at a very early stage when the series began in 1964, being the presenter and assistant to Tony Hart. Many of her ideas were included in the very early shows which were then broadcast fortnightly. It was Keysell who delivered the catch phrase "I'm sorry we can't return any of your pictures but we give a small prize for those that we do show" after the programme's 'Gallery' feature.

Her main contribution to BBC television was that she helped to bridge the gap between hearing and non-hearing viewers. She did this by addressing the television camera and using sign language as she spoke.

Keysell was a mime teacher for the Royal National Institute for the Deaf (RNID) and in 1968 was awarded a Winston Churchill Fellowship to study with the National Theatre of the Deaf in the USA. On her return she set up a company also named the National Theatre of the Deaf. The American company threatened to sue and the name was promptly changed to British Theatre of the Deaf which became a professional touring company in 1974 and was the forerunner of later projects developed by other deaf people particularly Terry Ruane who was general manager. It is arguable that other opportunities for deaf actors like the course at Reading University developed from Keysell's earlier work.

After Vision On ended in 1976, she wrote and produced two series of the storytelling programme Under the Same Sun (1978–79) for Yorkshire Television. The title originated from a theatre show she had recently done with the British Theatre of the Deaf, Under the Sun, and followed the same format, using the same stories.

In 1992 Keysell wrote a mime workshop book called Mime Over Matter. She then worked at the Brewery Arts Centre in Cumbria and on other projects before settling in Eastbourne, Sussex from 1996. Keysell and Tony Hart were reunited over lunch shortly before Hart's death, not having seen each other since the Vision On series had finished.

After touring her own Compass Storytelling shows for many years, Keysell studied storytelling as a healing art at Emerson College and Mindfields College, subsequently developing her work in day centres, Crowborough Hospital, working with the elderly, adults and children with a learning disability, the Sussex Association for the Blind, Shinewater Court (people with severe physical disabilities) and in the hearing impaired unit in Willingdon School.

Until May 2006, Keysell was artistic director of Compass Community Arts, a registered charitable arts organisation working with all branches of the community based in her home town of Eastbourne. She was featured on the BBC community programme See Hear on 1 April 2009, where she talked about her career in television and education. She retired and went to live in Italy, where she died aged 83, survived by her son Michael.

References

External links

TV Presenter Vision On
Contributors to Vision On

1926 births
2009 deaths
Alumni of the Royal Central School of Speech and Drama
BBC television presenters
British mimes
Educational broadcasting in the United Kingdom
English television presenters
People from Tooting
People from Eastbourne


In computational complexity theory, the average-case complexity of an algorithm is the amount of some computational resource (typically time) used by the algorithm, averaged over all possible inputs. It is frequently contrasted with worst-case complexity which considers the maximal complexity of the algorithm over all possible inputs.

There are three primary motivations for studying average-case complexity. First, although some problems may be intractable in the worst-case, the inputs which elicit this behavior may rarely occur in practice, so the average-case complexity may be a more accurate measure of an algorithm's performance. Second, average-case complexity analysis provides tools and techniques to generate hard instances of problems which can be utilized in areas such as cryptography and derandomization.  Third, average-case complexity allows discriminating the most efficient algorithm in practice among algorithms of equivalent best case complexity (for instance Quicksort).

Average-case analysis requires a notion of an "average" input to an algorithm, which leads to the problem of devising a probability distribution over inputs. Alternatively, a randomized algorithm can be used. The analysis of such algorithms leads to the related notion of an expected complexity.

History and background

The average-case performance of algorithms has been studied since modern notions of computational efficiency were developed in the 1950s. Much of this initial work focused on problems for which worst-case polynomial time algorithms were already known. In 1973, Donald Knuth published Volume 3 of the Art of Computer Programming which extensively surveys average-case performance of algorithms for problems solvable in worst-case polynomial time, such as sorting and median-finding.

An efficient algorithm for -complete problems is generally characterized as one which runs in polynomial time for all inputs; this is equivalent to requiring efficient worst-case complexity. However, an algorithm which is inefficient on a "small" number of inputs may still be efficient for "most" inputs that occur in practice. Thus, it is desirable to study the properties of these algorithms where the average-case complexity may differ from the worst-case complexity and find methods to relate the two.

The fundamental notions of average-case complexity were developed by Leonid Levin in 1986 when he published a one-page paper defining average-case complexity and completeness while giving an example of a complete problem for , the average-case analogue of .

Definitions

Efficient average-case complexity

The first task is to precisely define what is meant by an algorithm which is efficient "on average". An initial attempt might define an efficient average-case algorithm as one which runs in expected polynomial time over all possible inputs. Such a definition has various shortcomings; in particular, it is not robust to changes in the computational model. For example, suppose algorithm  runs in time  on input  and algorithm  runs in time  on input ; that is,  is quadratically slower than . Intuitively, any definition of average-case efficiency should capture the idea that  is efficient-on-average if and only if  is efficient on-average. Suppose, however, that the inputs are drawn randomly from the uniform distribution of strings with length , and that  runs in time  on all inputs except the string  for which  takes time . Then it can be easily checked that the expected running time of  is polynomial but the expected running time of  is exponential.

To create a more robust definition of average-case efficiency, it makes sense to allow an algorithm  to run longer than polynomial time on some inputs but the fraction of inputs on which  requires larger and larger running time becomes smaller and smaller. This intuition is captured in the following formula for average polynomial running time, which balances the polynomial trade-off between running time and fraction of inputs:

for every  and polynomial , where  denotes the running time of algorithm  on input , and  is a positive constant value. Alternatively, this can be written as

for some constants  and  , where . In other words, an algorithm  has good average-case complexity if, after running for  steps,  can solve all but a  fraction of inputs of length , for some .

Distributional problem
The next step is to define the "average" input to a particular problem. This is achieved by associating the inputs of each problem with a particular probability distribution. That is, an "average-case" problem consists of a language  and an associated probability distribution  which forms the pair . The two most common classes of distributions which are allowed are:

Polynomial-time computable distributions (-computable): these are distributions for which it is possible to compute the cumulative density of any given input . More formally, given a probability distribution  and a string  it is possible to compute the value  in polynomial time. This implies that  is also computable in polynomial time.
Polynomial-time samplable distributions (-samplable): these are distributions from which it is possible to draw random samples in polynomial time.

These two formulations, while similar, are not equivalent. If a distribution is -computable it is also -samplable, but the converse is not true if  ≠ .

AvgP and distNP
A distributional problem  is in the complexity class  if there is an efficient average-case algorithm for , as defined above. The class  is occasionally called  in the literature.

A distributional problem  is in the complexity class  if  is in  and  is -computable. When  is in  and  is -samplable,  belongs to .

Together,  and  define the average-case analogues of  and , respectively.

Reductions between distributional problems
Let  and  be two distributional problems.  average-case reduces to  (written ) if there is a function  that for every , on input  can be computed in time polynomial in  and

(Correctness)  if and only if
(Domination) There are polynomials  and  such that, for every  and ,

The domination condition enforces the notion that if problem  is hard on average, then  is also hard on average. Intuitively, a reduction should provide a way to solve an instance  of problem  by computing  and feeding the output to the algorithm which solves . Without the domination condition, this may not be possible since the algorithm which solves  in polynomial time on average may take super-polynomial time on a small number of inputs but  may map these inputs into a much larger set of  so that algorithm  no longer runs in polynomial time on average. The domination condition only allows such strings to occur polynomially as often in .

DistNP-complete problems
The average-case analogue to -completeness is -completeness. A distributional problem  is -complete if  is in  and for every  in ,  is average-case reducible to .

An example of a -complete problem is the Bounded Halting Problem, , defined as follows:

In his original paper, Levin showed an example of a distributional tiling problem that is average-case -complete. A survey of known -complete problems is available online.

One area of active research involves finding new -complete problems. However, finding such problems can be complicated due to a result of Gurevich which shows that any distributional problem with a flat distribution cannot be -complete unless  = . (A flat distribution  is one for which there exists an  such that for any , .) A result by Livne shows that all natural -complete problems have -complete versions. However, the goal of finding a natural distributional problem that is -complete has not yet been achieved.

Applications

Sorting algorithms
As mentioned above, much early work relating to average-case complexity focused on problems for which polynomial-time algorithms already existed, such as sorting. For example, many sorting algorithms which utilize randomness, such as Quicksort, have a worst-case running time of , but an average-case running time of , where  is the length of the input to be sorted.

Cryptography
For most problems, average-case complexity analysis is undertaken to find efficient algorithms for a problem that is considered difficult in the worst-case. In cryptographic applications, however, the opposite is true: the worst-case complexity is irrelevant; we instead want a guarantee that the average-case complexity of every algorithm which "breaks" the cryptographic scheme is inefficient.

Thus, all secure cryptographic schemes rely on the existence of one-way functions. Although the existence of one-way functions is still an open problem, many candidate one-way functions are based on hard problems such as integer factorization or computing the discrete log. Note that it is not desirable for the candidate function to be -complete since this would only guarantee that there is likely no efficient algorithm for solving the problem in the worst case; what we actually want is a guarantee that no efficient algorithm can solve the problem over random inputs (i.e. the average case). In fact, both the integer factorization and discrete log problems are in , and are therefore not believed to be -complete. The fact that all of cryptography is predicated on the existence of average-case intractable problems in  is one of the primary motivations for studying average-case complexity.

Other results
In 1990, Impagliazzo and Levin showed that if there is an efficient average-case algorithm for a -complete problem under the uniform distribution, then there is an average-case algorithm for every problem in  under any polynomial-time samplable distribution. Applying this theory to natural distributional problems remains an outstanding open question.

In 1992, Ben-David et al. showed that if all languages in  have good-on-average decision algorithms, they also have good-on-average search algorithms. Further, they show that this conclusion holds under a weaker assumption: if every language in  is easy on average for decision algorithms with respect to the uniform distribution, then it is also easy on average for search algorithms with respect to the uniform distribution. Thus, cryptographic one-way functions can exist only if there are  problems over the uniform distribution that are hard on average for decision algorithms.

In 1993, Feigenbaum and Fortnow showed that it is not possible to prove, under non-adaptive random reductions, that the existence of a good-on-average algorithm for a -complete problem under the uniform distribution implies the existence of worst-case efficient algorithms for all problems in . In 2003, Bogdanov and Trevisan generalized this result to arbitrary non-adaptive reductions. These results show that it is unlikely that any association can be made between average-case complexity and worst-case complexity via reductions.

See also
 Probabilistic analysis of algorithms
NP-complete problems
Worst-case complexity
Amortized analysis
Best, worst and average case

References

Further reading
The literature of average case complexity includes the following work:
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. See also 1989 draft.
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Paul E. Black, "Θ", in Dictionary of Algorithms and Data Structures[online]Paul E. Black, ed., U.S. National Institute of Standards and Technology. 17 December 2004.Retrieved Feb. 20/09.
Christos Papadimitriou (1994). Computational Complexity. Addison-Wesley.

Randomized algorithms
Analysis of algorithms


Akhtar Mohiuddin (Urdu: ) (born 1 March 1956 in Chaman, Pakistan), is a Pakistani professional football coach and former player who was most recently the head coach of PMC Athletico. Mohiuddin was also the head coach of the Pakistan football team from 2007 to 2008.

Managerial career

When Salman Sharida quit as Pakistan manager in 2007, Mohiuddin was given the role 2 months before the 2010 World Cup qualifiers. Pakistan had to face Asian champions Iraq. Pakistan were defeated 7-0 in the first leg but they were able to hold Iraq to a nil-nil draw in the second leg.

After the second leg draw, Mohiuddin was retained as manager for the rest of the 2008 fixtures. Pakistan played a two match away series against Nepal in late March as preparation for the 2008 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers. Pakistan lost the first match 2-1 as even though they held the lead for most of the match, two late Nepal goals resulted in a loss for Pakistan. They bounced back however, in the second match and won 2-0.

They then travelled to Taipei for 2008 AFC Challenge Cup qualifiers where Pakistan were favourites to qualify for the main round. Pakistan first faced Chinese Taipei, and they came back from 1-0 down to 2-1 and eventually won the game. However, in the next game, Sri Lanka defeated Pakistan 7-1 with a hat trick from Kasun Jayasuriya. With the final game being dead rubber, Pakistan had a big win with a 9-2 victory over Guam, Pakistan's biggest victory in their history.

The SAFF Championship 2008 would prove to be Mohiuddin’s last tournament as manager when Pakistan failed to go beyond the group stages losing 3-0 to Maldives, 2-0 to India and 4-1 to Nepal.

He briefly returned as the Pakistan manager for the 2010 Asian Games with Graham Roberts as a coaching consultant. The team performed poorly as Pakistan lost 3 their matches and drew one which meant that Mohiuddin was replaced afterwards.

He was appointed the head coach of PMC Athletico for the 2011/12 season. PMC Athletico went on to finish 14th in the league, 3 points above the relegation zone.

References

External links
Faisal appoints Akhtar Mohiuddin as head coach

Pakistani football managers
Pakistan national football team managers
People from Killa Abdullah District
Living people
1956 births


Masked Ball () is a 1917 Hungarian film directed by Alfréd Deésy and featuring Béla Lugosi and Norbert Dan. The screenplay was written by Francesco Maria Piave, Eugène Scribe and Antonio Somma. It was based on the opera Un ballo in maschera by Giuseppe Verdi.

Lugosi played Rene, a Secretary Governor, one of his earliest "red herring" roles. The film was first shown at the Urania Theater in Budapest on Oct. 21, 1917.

Cast
 Norbert Dán
 Róbert Fiáth
 Lajos Gellért (credited as Viktor Kurd)
 Annie Góth as Amalia
 Richard Kornai as Rendorfonok
 Béla Lugosi as Rene
 Gyula Feher as Osvals

See also
 Béla Lugosi filmography

References

External links

1918 films
Hungarian black-and-white films
Hungarian silent films
Films directed by Alfréd Deésy
Films based on operas
Films based on works by Eugène Scribe
Austro-Hungarian films


was a Japanese daimyō of the late Edo period. He was the last daimyō of the Nagaoka Domain and, after the Japanese feudal system was abolished in 1871, he served as a regional governor.

References

Daimyo
Meiji Restoration
1859 births
1918 deaths
Makino clan
People from Nagaoka Domain


This article contains a list of named passenger trains in New Zealand.

New Zealand
Long-distance passenger trains in New Zealand
Named passenger trains


Yingjiang County (; ; Jingpho: ; ) is a county in Dehong Prefecture, Yunnan province, China, bordering Burma's Kachin State to the west.

Geography
Yingjiang county has a border of  with Kachin State, Myanmar in the west. The Danzha River () and Binglang River () meet near Jiucheng () and become the Daying River (Dàyíngjiāng). The Daying then flows through Yingjiang County into Myanmar and into the Irrawaddy River, with the confluence near Bhamo. The Daying is known as the Taping (大平江; Dàpíng Jiāng) in Myanmar.

Yingjiang county is mountainous with several alluvial plains. The county has various climate types, with ranges from the tropical, the subtropical, to the temperate zones. Intact forests can be seen in the mountains above . The elevations vary from .

Yingjiang is abundant in hydroelectric, forest, and geothermal resources. There are 21 hot springs, six of which are above . Most of the hot springs are distributed within the Daying River system.

The county is within a very active seismic zone, and have been struck in 2008, 2009 and 2011 by violent earthquakes.

Climate

History
Yingjiang county became part of Chinese territory for the first time in the Western Han dynasty. It was under control of Yizhou Prefecture (益州郡) (Yìzhōu jùn) in the Western Han dynasty. During the Eastern Han, the Shu Han, the Western Jin, and the Eastern Jin, it was governed by Ailao county (哀牢縣) (Āiláo xiàn), Yongchang Prefecture (永昌郡)  (Yǒngchāng jùn), and then by Xicheng county (西城縣) (Xīchéng xiàn) from the Southern Qi dynasty in 479.

Actually, from 320s on, the Cuan (爨) (Cuàn) family began to control Yunnan. China was very unstable during the Northern and Southern Dynasties, and the central governments had no force to control Yunnan. The Cuan family took the strategy by which they recognized the nominal sovereignty of the central governments while remaining themselves as the real local rulers. In this way, the Cuan family had controlled Yunnan for more than 400 years until it was conquered by Nanzhao in 769.

Yingjiang was ruled by Nanzhao and later by Dali from the 8th to the 13th century and hence was not governed by China during the Tang dynasty and the Song dynasty. It was conquered by the Mongols and again became part of the Chinese territory. During the Ming dynasty and the Qing dynasty, Yingjiang was governed by local chiefs under the "Tusi system" (土司制度) (Tǔsī Zhìdù), i.e. the Native Chieftain system, in which the central government had the nominal sovereignty.

Administrative divisions
Yingjiang County has 8 towns, 6 townships and 1 ethnic township.
8 towns

6 townships

1 ethnic township
 Sudian Lisu Ethnic Township ()

Sights
Yunyan Pagoda (允燕塔)(Yǔnyàn Tǎ).

A great flood occurred in Yingjiang in 1946. For Buddha's blessing, a pagoda was proposed. The construction of Yuyan Pagoda began in 1947 and was completed in 1952. The Yuyan Pagoda was built on Ertaipo (二台坡)(Èrtáipō), Yuyan Mountain (允燕山)(Yǔnyàn Shān),  east of the Pingyuan Township (平原鎮)(Píngyuán Zhèn), where the county seat resides.

Hutiaoshi (虎跳石)(Hǔtiàoshí)

Once several hundred meter wide, the Daying River is narrowed to only  wide when passing through Hutiaoshi. With the waterfall and the steep cliffs, Hutiaoshi is a famous attraction.

Tongbiguan Natural Protection Area (銅壁關自然保護區)(Tóngbìguān Zìrán Bǎohùqū)  The Protection Area has some seasonal tropical forest.

The Tongbiguan Natural Protection Area was established in 1986. With an area of , it covers part of Yingjiang and Longchuan counties as well as Ruili city. The vegetation in the area displays an obvious vertical distribution. The Tongbiguan Natural Protection Area offers a shelter to many rare or endangered species.

See also
 Trimeresurus yingjiangensis, the Yingjiang green pitviper, a snake species named after Yingjiang

Notes

External links
Yingjiang County Official Website
Map of Dehong
Tusi (Chinese version of Wikipedia)
Treaties concerning the non-navigational uses of international watercourses - Asia.  Boundary Treaty between the Union of Burma and the People's Republic of China, signed at Peking on 1 October 1960. p.32. (pdf)
Dehong Prefecture Government Public Information Website - Yingjiang County
Earthquake-Report.com extensive coverage of the Yingjiang 2011 earthquake

County-level divisions of Dehong Prefecture


was a Japanese daimyō of the late Edo period, who ruled the Nagaoka Domain. Born the son of Matsudaira Munehide, he was adopted as heir by Makino Tadayuki.

Daimyo
Meiji Restoration
1844 births
1875 deaths
Makino clan
People from Nagaoka Domain


The lost village of Coton is located around the environs of the hamlet of Coton and Coton Manor House in the English county of Northamptonshire.

History
The lost village of Coton has an entry as an independent manor in the Domesday Book of 1086. Then the population was recorded as nine residents. Not much else is known after that survey about Coton until the 17th century when it was recorded that there were eight households paying the 1673 Hearth Tax. In 1791 there were 17 houses in the village. By 1839 this number had reduced to 15.

Remains today
Coton lies entirely along today’s single street that runs through the hamlet. On the western side of the street today there are no dwellings but in 1839 records show that there were six dwellings and a farm to the north of these; all have now been destroyed. Also the land between the main street and the valley below shows signs of paddocks, platforms and closes in the form of earthworks in the recent past. Unfortunately much of these earthworks have been ploughed out in recent times.

References

Former populated places in Northamptonshire


The following article presents a summary of the 1928 football (soccer) season in Brazil, which was the 27th season of competitive football in the country.

Campeonato Paulista

In 1928 there were two different editions of the Campeonato Paulista. One was organized by the Associação Paulista de Esportes Atléticos (APEA) while the other one was organized by the Liga de Amadores de Futebol (LAF).

APEA's Campeonato Paulista

Final Standings

Comercial-RP matches were canceled, as the club abandoned the competition.

Corinthians declared as the APEA's Campeonato Paulista champions.

LAF's Campeonato Paulista

Final Standings

SC Internacional de São Paulo declared as the LAF's Campeonato Paulista champions.

State championship champions

Other competition champions

Brazil national team
The following table lists all the games played by the Brazil national football team in official competitions and friendly matches during 1928.

References

 Brazilian competitions at RSSSF
 1928 Brazil national team matches at RSSSF

Seasons in Brazilian football
Brazil