the sisterhood of the traveling pants 2 lucy hale scene

Tibby has been working at a video store in New York while retaking a NYU screenwriting class that requires her to finish her script. She's dating Brian (Leonardo Nam) and sleeps with him, but the condom breaks. Afraid that she might be pregnant, she withdraws from her friends, using her script as an excuse. She breaks up with Brian and gives Lena's younger sister, Effie (Lucy Hale), permission to date him. Lena brings Tibby a requested pregnancy test kit, but Tibby gets her period before she takes it. Tibby drives to Vermont, hoping for Carmen's support. After arguing over who ignores the other more, Tibby leaves. She ends going to Brian's house and apologizes, confessing that she had been afraid dealing with change. Realizing that he loves Tibby, Brian breaks up with Effie.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2 is a 2008 American romance drama film and a sequel to the 2005 film The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants. The original cast (Amber Tamblyn, America Ferrera, Blake Lively and Alexis Bledel) return to star in the film, which was directed by Sanaa Hamri. The film is based upon the fourth novel in The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants series, Forever in Blue: The Fourth Summer of the Sisterhood, but incorporates scenes and storylines from The Second Summer of the Sisterhood and Girls in Pants: The Third Summer of the Sisterhood.[2] The film was released in the United States on August 6, 2008.

In the summer following their first year of college, we revisit four friends who have been apart all year and plan to spend their summer apart until a magical old pair of pants reunites them. Bridget (Blake Lively) visits her grandmother Greta (Blythe Danner) in Alabama to ask about her mother's suicidal depression. Lena (Alexis Bledel) finds her former flame Kostas (Michael Rady) married in Greece. Tibby (Amber Tamblyn) goes through a pregnancy scare and alienates Carmen. Carmen (America Ferrara) auditions for Perdita in a Vermont acting workshop.

Bridget discovers her father (Ernie Lively) had hidden letters from her grandmother Greta and she rejects his explanation that he wanted to protect her. In Turkey, she immerses herself in an archaeological dig under Professor Nasrin Mehani (Shohreh Aghdashloo), who notices how glibly Bridget treats the past. After reading her grandmother's letters, Bridget leaves the dig early to visit Greta in Alabama, where she learns that her mother, who committed suicide, denied having depression. Though Bridget's father had accepted this, Greta could not and cut ties with both of them. When she worries that she will become unhappy like her mother, Greta assures Bridget that she is stronger than her mother. The conversation brings Bridget and Greta closer together, and allows Bridget to reconcile with her father.

Lena has gone to mourn the death of Bapi in Greece, but discovers her old boyfriend Kostas is married and his wife is pregnant. She returns to the Rhode Island School of Design and begins dating Leo (Jesse Williams), the model for her life class. When Kostas comes to see her, revealing that marriage was annulled after his wife revealed she was never pregnant, Lena forgives him but refuses him because she does not believe they are the same people any more. However, after spending time with Leo, she realizes some people only fall in love once and she still cares for Kostas.

Carmen attends an actor workshop in Vermont, prompted by fellow Yale student, Julia (Rachel Nichols). Julia is comfortable in the acting world and friends with the director, Bill (Kyle MacLachlan), while Carmen is uncertain of where she belongs. After accidentally dropping a curtain on classmate Ian (Tom Wisdom) during his audition for The Winter's Tale, they watch Julia audition for the lead in Perdita and Ian encourages Carmen to try. Carmen talks about how she connects with Perdita, winning her the part, while Julia, though clearly jealous, promises to help Carmen. Initially uncertain about her acting abilities, Carmen grows more confident when her talent is recognized by the director and the other actors, including Ian, with whom she begins a flirtatious friendship. Julia grows more jealous, and her competition for Ian upsets Carmen. Carmen believes Ian would prefer to be with Julia, so she declines his offers to practice and falters in rehearsals. Also, feeling her friends ignored her all year, she pushes Tibby away, but reconciles with her after her mother Christina (Rachel Ticotin) goes into labor. Carmen asks Tibby to help after she and her stepfather (Paul Coughlan) cannot get to the hospital in time. Ian comforts Carmen, who is distressed over missing her mother's labor. Ian prefers Carmen to Julia, who pursues him. Carmen overhears Julia tell director Bill to replace Carmen, but he does not. She performs spectacularly, regains confidence, and kisses Ian after the play. While packing to leave, she finally tells Julia off.

Effie, upset with Brian breaking up with her and how Lena seems to love her friends more than her own sister, steals the Pants and loses them in Greece while visiting her grandmother. The Sisterhood disagrees over whether the Pants are worth saving, so Lena travels to Greece first. The other girls follow to help, and convince the reluctant Lena to take back Kostas. Although they do not find the Pants, the summer ends in Greece with a renewal of their mutual commitment to each other.

Principal photography started on the island of Santorini, Greece in Oia and continued in Connecticut. Western Connecticut State University was used for the scenes of Lena at the Rhode Island School of Design campus. Tibby's scenes were filmed in New York City.[3]

In addition, Varèse Sarabande released an album of the film's score, composed by Rachel Portman (unlike the film's stars, composer Cliff Eidelman did not return for the sequel).

Review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 63%, based on 87 reviews, and writes "The workable chemistry among the four leads combined with the enriching message make for a winning Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 2".[4] Metacritic scored the film as 63/100, with "generally favorable reviews", based on 26 reviews.[5]

On its opening weekend, the film performed better than its predecessor, opening #4 at the box office with $10,678,430.[6] As of November 7, 2008, the film had grossed $44,080,484 domestically.[7]

The DVD and Blu-ray were released in the United States on November 18, 2008. In Australia, the movie was released straight-to-DVD.


who used the term dalit for the first time

The word dalit is a vernacular form of the Sanskrit दलित (dalita). In Classical Sanskrit, this means "divided, split, broken, scattered". This word was repurposed in 19th-century Sanskrit to mean "(a person) not belonging to one of the four Brahminic castes".[1] It was perhaps first used in this sense by Pune-based social reformer Jyotirao Phule, in the context of the oppression faced by the erstwhile "untouchable" castes from other Hindus.[2]

Dalit

Dalit, meaning "broken/scattered" in Sanskrit and Hindi, is a term mostly used for the castes in India that have been subjected to untouchability. Dalits were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and were seen as forming a fifth varna, also known by the name of Panchama.

The term dalits was in use as a translation for the British Raj census classification of Depressed Classes prior to 1935. It was popularised by the economist and reformer B. R. Ambedkar (1891â€“1956), himself a Dalit, and in the 1970s its use was invigorated when it was adopted by the Dalit Panthers activist group. India's National Commission for Scheduled Castes considers official use of dalit as a label to be "unconstitutional" because modern legislation prefers Scheduled Castes; however, some sources say that Dalit has encompassed more communities than the official term of Scheduled Castes and is sometimes used to refer to all of India's oppressed peoples. A similar all-encompassing situation prevails in Nepal.

Scheduled Caste communities exist across India, although they are mostly concentrated in four states; they do not share a single language or religion. They comprise 16.6 per cent of India's population, according to the 2011 Census of India. Similar communities are found throughout the rest of South Asia, in Nepal, Pakistan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka. They have emigrated to countries such as the United States, United Kingdom, Singapore and the Caribbean.

In 1932, the British Raj recommended separate electorates to select leaders for Dalits in the Communal Award. This was favoured by Ambedkar but when Mahatma Gandhi opposed the proposal it resulted in the Poona Pact. That in turn influenced the Government of India Act, 1935, which introduced the reservation of seats for the Depressed Classes, now renamed as Scheduled Castes.

From soon after its independence in 1947, India introduced a reservation system to enhance the ability of Dalits to have political representation and to obtain government jobs and education.[clarification needed] In 1997, India elected K. R. Narayanan as the nation's President. Many social organisations have promoted better conditions for Dalits through education, healthcare and employment. Nonetheless, while caste-based discrimination was prohibited and untouchability abolished by the Constitution of India, such practices still continue. To prevent harassment, assault, discrimination and similar acts against these groups, the Government of India enacted the Prevention of Atrocities Act on 31 March 1995.

Dalit is mostly used to describe communities that have been subjected to untouchability.[3][4] Such people were excluded from the four-fold varna system of Hinduism and thought of themselves as forming a fifth varna, describing themselves as Panchama.[5]

The term was in use as a translation for the British Raj census classification of Depressed Classes prior to 1935.[3] It was popularised by the economist and reformer B. R. Ambedkar (1891â€“1956), himself a Dalit,[6] and in the 1970s its use was invigorated when it was adopted by the Dalit Panthers activist group.[3]

Dalit has become a political identity, similar to the way African Americans in the United States moved away from the use of the term Negro, to the use of Black or indeed African-American.[7] Socio-legal scholar Oliver Mendelsohn and political economist Marika Vicziany wrote in 1998 that the term had become "intensely politicalÂ ... While use of the term might seem to express an appropriate solidarity with the contemporary face of Untouchable politics, there remain major problems in adopting it as a generic term. Although the word is now quite widespread, it still has deep roots in a tradition of political radicalism inspired by the figure of B. R. Ambedkar." They suggested its use risked erroneously labelling the entire population of untouchables in India as being united by a radical politics.[2] Anand Teltumbde also detects a trend towards denial of the politicised identity, for example among educated middle-class people who have converted to Buddhism and argue that, as Buddhists, they cannot be Dalits. This may be due to their improved circumstances giving rise to a desire not to be associated with the what they perceive to be the demeaning Dalit masses.[8]

Scheduled Castes is the official term for Dalits in the opinion of India's National Commissions for Scheduled Castes (NCSC), who took legal advice that indicated modern legislation does not refer to Dalit and that therefore, it says, it is "unconstitutional" for official documents to do so. In 2004, the NCSC noted that some state governments used Dalits rather than Scheduled Castes in documentation and asked them to desist.[9]

Some sources say that Dalit encompasses a broader range of communities than the official Scheduled Caste definition. It can include nomadic tribes and another official classification that also originated with the British Raj positive discrimination efforts in 1935, being the Scheduled Tribes.[7] It is also sometimes used to refer to the entirety of India's oppressed peoples,[3] which is the context that applies to its use in Nepalese society.[4] An example of the limitations of the Scheduled Caste category is that, under Indian law, such people can only be followers of Buddhism, Hinduism or Sikhism,[10] yet there are communities who claim to be Dalit Christians[11] and the tribal communities often practise folk religions.[12]

Mahatma Gandhi coined the word Harijan, translated roughly as people of God, to identify untouchables in 1933. The name was disliked by Ambedkar as it emphasised the Dalits as belonging to the Greater Hindu Nation rather than being an independent community like Muslims.[13][pageÂ needed]. When untouchability was outlawed after Indian independence, the use of the word Harijan to describe the ex-untouchables was more common among other castes than the Dalits themselves.[14]

In Southern India, Dalits are sometimes known as Adi Dravida, Adi Karnataka, and Adi Andhra. This practice began around 1917, when the Adi- prefix was appropriated by Dalit leaders in the region. It embodies a theory that they were the original inhabitants of India, although this is dubious.[15] The terms are used in the states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, respectively, to identify people of "untouchable" castes in official documents.[citation needed][clarification needed]

In the Indian state of Maharashtra, according to historian and women's studies academic Shailaja Paik, Dalit is a term mostly used by members of the Mahar caste, into which Ambedkar was born. Most other communities prefer to use their own caste name.[16]

In Nepal, aside from Harijan and, most commonly, Dalit, terms such as Haris (among Muslims), Achhoot, outcastes and neech jati are used.[6]

Scheduled Caste communities exist across India and comprised 16.6 per cent of the country's population, according to the[update] 2011 Census of India.[17] Uttar Pradesh (21 per cent), West Bengal (11 per cent), Bihar (8 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (7 per cent) between them accounted for almost half the country's total Scheduled Caste population.[18] They were most prevalent as a proportion of the states' population in Punjab, at about 32 per cent,[19] while Mizoram had the lowest at approximately zero.[10]

Similar groups are found throughout the rest of South Asia, in Nepal,[4] Pakistan,[citation needed] Bangladesh[citation needed] and Sri Lanka.[20] They have emigrated to countries such as the United States,[21] United Kingdom,[22] Singapore,[23] and the Caribbean,[24]

Dalits have had lowest social status in the traditional Hindu social structure but James Lochtefeld, a professor of religion and Asian studies, said in 2002 that the "adoption and popularization of [the term Dalit] reflects their growing awareness of the situation, and their greater assertiveness in demanding their legal and constitutional rights".[25]

In the past, they were believed to be so impure that caste Hindus considered their presence to be polluting. The impure status was related to their historic hereditary occupations that Hindus considered to be "polluting" or debased, such as working with leather, working with night soil and other dirty work.[26]

Gopal Baba Walangkar (ca. 1840-1900) is generally considered to be the pioneer of the Dalit movement, seeking a society in which they were not discriminated. This is despite the work of Harichand Thakur (ca. 1812-1878) with his Matua organisation that involved the Namasudra (Chandala) community in Bengal Presidency, British India. Ambedkar himself believed Walangkar to be the progenitor.[30] Another early social reformer who worked to improve conditions for Dalits was Jyotirao Phule (1827-1890).

The 1950 Constitution of India, introduced after the country gained independence, included measures to improve the socioeconomic conditions of Dalits. Aside from banning untouchability, these included the reservation system, a means of positive discrimination that created the classifications of Scheduled Castes, Scheduled Tribes and Other Backward Classes (OBCs). Communities that were categorised as being one of those groups were guaranteed a percentage of the seats in the national and state legislatures, as well as in government jobs and places of education. The system has its origins in the 1932 Poona Pact between Ambedkar and Gandhi, when Ambedkar conceded his demand that the Dalits should have an electorate separate from the caste Hindus in return for Gandhi accepting measures along these lines.[31] The notion of a separate electorate had been proposed in the Communal Award made by the British Raj authorities,[32] and the outcome of the Pact - the Government of India Act of 1935 - both introduced the new term of Scheduled Castes in replacement for Depressed Classes and reserved seats for them in the legislatures.[33]

By 1995, of all federal government jobs in India - 10.1 per cent of Class I, 12.7 per cent of Class II, 16.2 per cent of Class III, and 27.2 per cent of Class IV jobs were held by Dalits.[34] Of the most senior jobs in government agencies and government-controlled enterprises, only 1 per cent were held by Dalits, not much change in 40 years.[citation needed] In the 21st century, Dalits have been elected to India's highest judicial and political offices.[35][36]

In 2001, the quality of life of the Dalit population in India was not similar to that of the overall Indian population, on metrics such as access to health care, life expectancy, education attainability, access to drinking water and housing.[37][38][39] In 2010, Dalits received international attention due to a portrait exhibition by Marcus Perkins that depicted Dalits.

According to a 2007 report by Human Rights Watch (HRW), the treatment of Dalits has been like a "hidden apartheid" and that they "endure segregation in housing, schools, and access to public services". HRW noted that Manmohan Singh, then Prime Minister of India, saw a parallel between the apartheid system and untouchability.[40] Eleanor Zelliot also notes Singh's 2006 comment but says that, despite the obvious similarities, race prejudice and the situation of Dalits "have a different basis and perhaps a different solution."[7] Though the Indian Constitution abolished untouchability, the oppressed status of Dalits remains a reality. In rural India, stated Klaus Klostermaier in 2010, "they still live in secluded quarters, do the dirtiest work, and are not allowed to use the village well and other common facilities".[41] In the same year, Zelliot noted that "In spite of much progress over the last sixty years, Dalits are still at the social and economic bottom of society."[7]

According to a 2014 report to the Ministry of Minority Affairs, over 44.8 per cent of Scheduled Tribe (ST) and 33.8 per cent of Scheduled Caste (SC) populations in rural India were living below the poverty line in 2011â€“12. In urban areas, 27.3 per cent of ST and 21.8 per cent of SC populations were poor.[42][43]

Some Hindu Dalits have achieved affluence, although most remain poor. Some Dalit intellectuals, such as Chandra Bhan Prasad, have argued that the living standards of many Dalits have improved since the economic liberalisation[clarification needed] began in 1991 and have supported their claims through large surveys.[44][45] According to the Socio Economic and Caste Census 2011, nearly 79 per cent of Adivasi households and 73 per cent of Dalit households were the most deprived among rural households in India. While 45 per cent of SC households are landless and earn a living by manual casual labour, the figure is 30 per cent for Adivasis.[46]

A 2012 survey by Mangalore University in Karnataka found that 93 per cent of Dalit families in the state of Karnataka still live below the poverty line.[47]

According to an analysis by The IndiaGoverns Research Institute, Dalits constituted nearly half of primary school dropouts in Karnataka during the period 2012-14.[48][clarification needed]

A sample survey in 2014, conducted by Dalit Adhikar Abhiyan and funded by ActionAid, found that among state schools in Madhya Pradesh, 88 per cent discriminated against Dalit children. In 79 per cent of the schools studied, Dalit children are forbidden from touching mid-day meals. They are required to sit separately at lunch in 35 per cent of schools, and are required to eat with specially marked plates in 28 per cent.[49]

There have been incidents and allegations of SC and ST teachers and professors being discriminated against and harassed by authorities, upper castes colleagues and upper caste students in different education institutes of India.[50][51][52][53][54][55] In some cases, such as in Gujarat, state governments have argued that, far from being discriminatory, their rejection when applying for jobs in education has been because there are no suitably qualified candidates from those classifications.[56]

Discrimination can also exist in access to healthcare and nutrition. A sample survey of Dalits, conducted over several months in Madhya Pradesh and funded by ActionAid in 2014, found that health field workers did not visit 65 per cent of Dalit settlements. 47 per cent of Dalits were not allowed entry into ration shops; and 64 per cent were given less grains than non-Dalits.[49] In Haryana state, 49 per cent of Dalit children under five years were underweight and malnourished while 80 per cent of those in the 6â€“59 months age group were anaemic in 2015.[57]

Dalits comprise a slightly disproportionate number of India's prison inmates.[58] While Dalits (including both SCs and STs) constitute 25 per cent of the Indian population, they account for 33.2 per cent of prisoners.[59] About 24.5 per cent of death row inmates in India are from Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes which is proportionate to their population. The percentage is highest in Maharashtra (50 per cent), Karnataka (36.4 per cent) and Madya Pradesh (36 per cent).[60]

Caste-related violence between Dalit and non-Dalits allegedly stems from Dalit's economic success amidst ongoing prejudice.[61][62] The Bhagana rape case, which arose out of a dispute of allocation of land, is an example of atrocities against Dalit girls and women.[63] In August 2015, due to continued alleged discrimination from upper castes of the village, about 100 Dalit inhabitants converted to Islam in a ceremony at Jantar Mantar, New Delhi.[64] Inter-caste marriage has been proposed as a remedy,[65] but according to a 2014 survey of 42,000 households by the New Delhi-based National Council of Applied Economic Research (NCAER) and the University of Maryland, it was estimated that only 5 per cent of Indian marriages cross caste boundaries.[66]

A 2006 article reported incidents of violence, disputes and discrimination against Dalits in Maharashtra. The article noted that non-Dalit families claimed they do not treat Dalits differently. A carpenter caste person said, "We tell them anything and they tell us you are pointing fingers at us because of our caste; we all live together, and there are bound to be fights, but they think we target them."[67]

There have been reports of Dalits being forced to eat human faeces and drink urine by Christian Thevars, an OBC.[68][69][70][71] In one such instance, a 17-year-old girl was set on fire by Yadav (an OBC) youth, allegedly because she was allowed school-education.[72] In September 2015, a 45-year-old dalit woman was allegedly stripped naked and was forced to drink urine by perpetrators from the Yadav community in Madhya Pradesh.[73]

The Government of India has attempted on several occasions to legislate specifically to address the issue of caste-related violence that affects SCs and STs. Aside from the Constitutional abolition of untouchability, there has been the Untouchability (Offences) Act of 1955, which was amended in the same year to become the Protection of Civil Rights Act. It was determined that neither of those Acts were effective, so the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act of 1989 (POA) came into force.[74]

The POA designated specific crimes against SCs and STs as "atrocities" - a criminal act that has "the quality of being shockingly cruel and inhumane" - which should be prosecuted under its terms rather than existing criminal law.[74] It created corresponding punishments. Its purpose was to curb and punish violence against Dalits, including humiliations such as the forced consumption of noxious substances. Other atrocities included forced labour, denial of access to water and other public amenities, and sexual abuse. The Act permitted Special Courts exclusively to try POA cases. The Act called on states with high levels of caste violence (said to be "atrocity-prone") to appoint qualified officers to monitor and maintain law and order.[citation needed]

In 2015, the Parliament of India passed the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act to address issues regarding implementation of the POA, including instances where the police put procedural obstacles in the way of alleged victims or indeed outright colluded with the accused. It also extended the number of acts that were deemed to be atrocities.[74][75] One of those remedies, in an attempt to address the slow process of cases, was to make it mandatory for states to set up the exclusive Special Courts that the POA had delineated. Progress in doing so, however, was reported in April 2017 to be unimpressive. P. L. Punia, a former chairman of the NCSC, said that the number of pending cases was high because most of the extant Special Courts were in fact not exclusive but rather being used to process some non-POA cases, and because "The special prosecutors are not bothered and the cases filed under this Act are as neglected as the victims".[76] While Dalit rights organisations were cautiously optimistic that the amended Act would improve the situation, legal experts were pessimistic.[74]

Fa Xian, a Chinese Buddhist pilgrim who recorded his visit to India in the early 5th century, mentioned segregation in the context of the untouchable Chandala community:[77]

Throughout the country the people kill no living thing nor drink wine, nor do they eat garlic or onions, with the exception of Chandalas only. The Chandalas are named 'evil men', and dwell apart from others; if they enter a town or market, they sound a piece of wood in order to separate themselves; then men, knowing who they are, avoid coming in contact with them.

While discrimination against Dalits has declined in urban areas and in the public sphere,[79] it still exists in rural areas and in the private sphere, in everyday matters such as access to eating places, schools, temples and water sources.[80] Some Dalits successfully integrated into urban Indian society, where caste origins are less obvious. In rural India, however, caste origins are more readily apparent and Dalits often remain excluded from local religious life, though some qualitative evidence suggests that exclusion is diminishing.[81][82]

According to the 2014 NCAER/University of Maryland survey, 27 per cent of the Indian population still practices untouchability. The figure may be higher because many people refuse to acknowledge doing so when questioned, although the methodology of the survey was also criticised for potentially inflating the figure.[83] Across India, Untouchability was practised among 52 per cent of Brahmins, 33 per cent of Other Backward Classes and 24 per cent of non-Brahmin forward castes.[84] Untouchability was also practiced by people of minority religions â€“ 23 per cent of Sikhs, 18 per cent of Muslims and 5 per cent of Christians.[85] According to statewide data, Untouchability is most commonly practiced in Madhya Pradesh (53 per cent), followed by Himachal Pradesh (50 per cent), Chhattisgarh (48 per cent), Rajasthan and Bihar (47 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (43 per cent ), and Uttarakhand (40 per cent).[86]

Examples of segregation have included the Madhya Pradesh village of Ghatwani, where the Scheduled Tribe population of Bhilala do not allow Dalit villagers to use public borewell for fetching water and thus they are forced to drink dirty water.[87] In metropolitan areas around New Delhi and Bangalore, Dalits and Muslims face discrimination from upper caste landlords when seeking places to rent.[88][89]

In several incidents if dalits found burning holika for Holika Dahan ceremony, they are tonsured and paraded naked in the villages.[90] Also in some parts of India, there have been allegations that Dalit grooms riding horses for wedding ceremonies have been beaten up and ostracised by upper caste people.[91][92][93] In August 2015, upper caste people burned houses and vehicles belonging to Dalit families and slaughtered their livestock in reaction Dalits daring to hold a temple car procession at a village in Tamil Nadu.[94][95] In August 2015, it was claimed that a Jat Khap Panchayat ordered the rape of two Dalit sisters because their brother eloped with a married Jat girl of the same village. The claim was denied.[96][97][98]

Most Dalits in India practice Hinduism.[citation needed] According to the 61st round Survey of the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation, 90 per cent of Buddhists, one-third of Sikhs, and one-third of Christians in India belonged to Scheduled Castes or Scheduled Tribes.[99][100]

Ambedkar said that untouchability came into Indian society around 400 AD, due to the struggle for supremacy between Buddhism and Brahmanism (an ancient term for Brahmanical Hinduism).[101] Some Hindu priests befriended Dalits and were demoted to low-caste ranks. Eknath, another excommunicated Brahmin, fought for the rights of untouchables during the Bhakti period. Historical examples of Dalit priests include Chokhamela in the 14th century, who was India's first recorded Dalit poet. Raidas (Ravidass), born into a family of cobblers, is considered a guru by Dalits and is held in high regard. His teachings and writings form part of the Sikh holy book, the Guru Granth Sahib. The 15th-century saint Ramananda Ray accepted all castes, including Untouchables, into his fold. Most of these saints subscribed to the medieval era Bhakti movement in Hinduism that rejected casteism. The story of Nandanar describes a low-caste Hindu devotee who was rejected by the priests but accepted by God.[citation needed]

Due to isolation from the rest of Hindu society, many Dalits continue to debate whether they are "Hindu" or "non-Hindu". Traditionally, Hindu Dalits were barred from many activities that central to Vedic religion and Hindu practices of orthodox sects. Among Hindus, each community followed its own variant of Hinduism. The wide variety of practices and beliefs observed in Hinduism makes any clear assessment difficult.[citation needed]

In the 19th century, the Brahmo Samaj, Arya Samaj and the Ramakrishna Mission actively participated in Dalit emancipation. While Dalits had places to worship, the first upper-caste temple to openly welcome Dalits was the Laxminarayan Temple in Wardha in 1928. It was followed by the Temple Entry Proclamation issued by the last King of Travancore in the Indian state of Kerala in 1936.[citation needed]

The Punjabi reformist Satnami movement was founded by Dalit Guru Ghasidas. Guru Ravidas was also a Dalit. Giani Ditt Singh, a Dalit Sikh reformer, started Singh Sabha movement to convert Dalits. Other reformers, such as Jyotirao Phule, Ayyankali of Kerala and Iyothee Thass of Tamil Nadu worked for Dalit emancipation.[citation needed]

In the 1930s, Gandhi and Ambedkar disagreed regarding retention of the caste system. Whilst Ambedkar wanted to see it destroyed, Gandhi thought that it could be modified by reinterpreting Hindu texts so that the untouchables were absorbed into the Shudra varna. It was this disagreement that led to the Poona Pact.[31] Despite the disagreement, Gandhi began the Harijan Yatra to help the Dalits.[citation needed]

The declaration by princely states of Kerala between 1936 and 1947 that temples were open to all Hindus went a long way towards ending Untouchability there.[citation needed] However, educational opportunities to Dalits in Kerala remain limited.[102]

Other Hindu groups attempted to reconcile with the Dalit community.[citation needed] Hindu temples are increasingly receptive to Dalit priests, a function formerly reserved for Brahmins.[103][104][105]

The fight for temple entry rights for Dalits continues to cause controversy.[106] Brahmins such as Subramania Bharati passed Brahminhood onto a Dalit[citation needed], while in Shivaji's Maratha Empire Dalit warriors (the Mahar Regiment) joined his forces.[107][108] In an 2015 incident in Meerut, when a Dalit belonging to Valmiki caste was denied entry to a Hindu temple he converted to Islam.[109] In September 2015, four Dalit women were fined by the upper-caste Hindus for entering a temple in Karnataka.[110]

There have been allegations that Dalits in Nepal are denied entry to Hindu temples.[111][112] In at least one reported case were beaten up by some upper caste people for doing so.[113]

In Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and a few other regions, Dalits came under the influence of the neo-Buddhist movement initiated by Ambedkar. In the 1950s, he turned his attention to Buddhism and travelled to Ceylon to attend a convention of Buddhist scholars and monks. While dedicating a new Buddhist vihara near Pune, he announced that he was writing a book on Buddhism, and that he planned a formal conversion. Ambedkar twice visited Burma in 1954; the second time to attend a conference of the World Fellowship of Buddhists in Rangoon. In 1955, he founded the Bharatiya Bauddha Mahasabha (Buddhist Society of India). He completed writing The Buddha and His Dhamma in 1956.[citation needed]

After meetings with the Buddhist monk Hammalawa Saddhatissa, Ambedkar organised a public ceremony for himself and his supporters in Nagpur on 14 October 1956. Accepting the Three Refuges and Five Precepts in the traditional manner, he completed his conversion. He then proceeded to convert an estimated 500,000 of his supporters. Taking the 22 Vows, they explicitly condemned and rejected Hinduism and Hindu philosophy.[citation needed]

Guru Nanak in Guru Granth Sahib calls for everyone to treat each other equally. Subsequent Sikh Gurus, all of whom came from the Khatri caste, also denounced the hierarchy of the caste system.[114] Despite this, social stratification exists in the Sikh community. The bulk of the Sikhs of Punjab belong to the Jat caste;[115] there are also two Dalit Sikh castes in the state, called the Mazhabis and the Ramdasias.[116]

Sunrinder S. Jodhka says that, in practice, Sikhs belonging to the landowning dominant castes have not shed all their prejudices against the dalit castes. While dalits would be allowed entry into the village gurudwaras they would not be permitted to cook or serve langar (the communal meal). Therefore, wherever they could mobilise resources, the Sikh dalits of Punjab have tried to construct their own gurudwara and other local-level institutions in order to attain a certain degree of cultural autonomy.[117] In 1953, Sikh leader, Master Tara Singh, succeeded in winning the demands from the Government to include Sikh castes of the converted untouchables in the list of scheduled castes. In the Shiromani Gurdwara Prabandhak Committee (SGPC), 20 of the 140 seats are reserved for low-caste Sikhs.[118]

Sikhs adopt standard surnames such as Singh to disguise caste identities. Nevertheless, families generally do not marry across caste boundaries.[citation needed]

In 2003 the Talhan village Gurudwara endured a bitter dispute between Jat Sikhs and Chamars. The Chamars came out in force and confronted the Randhawa and Bains Jat Sikh landlords, who refused to give the Chamars a share on the governing committee of a shrine dedicated to Shaheed Baba Nihal Singh. The shrine earned 3–7 crore Indian Rupees, and the Jat Sikh landlords allegedly "gobbled up a substantial portion of the offerings". Though Dalits form more than 60 per cent of Talhan’s 5,000-strong population, local traditions ensured that they were denied a place on the committee. The landlords, in league with radical Sikh organisations and the SGPC, attempted to keep out the Dalits by razing the shrine overnight and constructing a gurdwara on it, but the Dalit quest for a say in the governing committee did not end.[119]

Chamars fought a four-year court battle with the landlords and their allies, including the Punjab Police. In that time Dalits conducted several boycotts against the Chamars. The Jat Sikhs and their allies cut off the power supply to their homes. In addition, various scuffles and fights set Chamar youths armed with lathis, rocks, bricks, soda bottles and anything they could find fought Jat Sikh landlords, youths and the Punjab police. Dalit youngsters painted their homes and motorcycles with the slogan, Putt Chamar De (proud sons of Chamars) in retaliation to the Jat slogan, Putt Jattan De.[119]

Bant Singh is a lower caste Mazhabi Sikh farmer and singer from Jhabhar village in Mansa district, Punjab, India, who has emerged as an agricultural labour activist, fighting landowners.

After his minor daughter was raped in 2000, Bant took the rapists to court, braving threats of violence and attempted bribes. Rapes of Dalits by non-Dalits are not commonly reported. The 2004 trial culminated in life sentences for three of the culprits.

On the evening of 7 January 2006 Bant Singh was returning home from campaigning for a national agricultural labour rally. He was assaulted by seven men, allegedly sent by Jaswant and Niranjan Singh, the headman of his village, who have links with the Indian National Congress party. One of them brandished a revolver to prevent any resistance while the other six beat him with iron rods and axes. He was left for dead, but survived.

He was first taken to civil hospital in Mansa but was not properly treated there. Then he moved to the PGI at Chandigarh, where both lower arms and one leg had to be amputated since gangrene had set in and his kidneys had collapsed due to blood loss. The original doctor was eventually suspended for misconduct.[120]

Historically Jainism was practiced by many communities across India.[121] They are often conservative and are generally considered upper-caste.[122]

In 1958,[123] a Sthanakvasi Jain called Muni Sameer Muni[124][125] came into contact with members of the Khatik community in the Udaipur region, who decided to adopt Jainism. Their centre, Ahimsa Nagar, located about four miles from Chittorgarh, was inaugurated by Mohanlal Sukhadia in 1966. Sameer Muni termed them Veerwaal,[126] i.e. belonging to Mahavira. A 22-year-old youth, Chandaram Meghwal, was initiated as a Jain monk at Ahore town in Jalore district in 2005.[127] In 2010 a Mahar engineer called Vishal Damodar was initiated as a Jain monk by Acharya Navaratna Sagar Suriji at Samet Shikhar.[128] Acharya Nanesh, the eighth Achayra of Sadhumargi Jain Shravak Sangha had preached among the Balai community in 1963 near Ratlam.[129] His followers are called Dharmapal.[130] In 1984, some of the Bhangis of Jodhpur came under the influence of Acharya Shri Tulsi and adopted Jainism.[131][132]

Many Christian communities in South India follow the caste system. The social stratification in some communities such as the Goan Catholics remained but varied from the Hindu system.[citation needed]

Dalit political parties include:

Anti-Dalit prejudices exist in groups such as the extremist militia Ranvir Sena, largely run by upper-caste landlords in Bihar. They oppose equal treatment of Dalits and have resorted to violence. The Ranvir Sena is considered a terrorist organisation by the government of India.[136] In 2015, Cobrapost exposed many leaders especially like C. P. Thakur alongside former PM Chandra Shekhar associated with Ranvir Sena in Bihar Dalit massacres[137] while governments of Nitish Kumar (under pressure from BJP), Lalu Prasad Yadav and Rabri Devi did nothing to get justice for Dalits.[138]

The rise of Hindutva's (Hindu nationalism) role in Indian politics has accompanied allegations that religious conversions of Dalits are due to allurements like education and jobs rather than faith. Critics[who?] argue that laws banning conversion and limiting social relief for converts mean that conversion impedes economic success. However, Bangaru Laxman, a Dalit politician, was a prominent member of the Hindutva movement.[citation needed]

Another political issue is Dalit affirmative-action quotas in government jobs and university admissions. About 8 per cent of the seats in the National and State Parliaments are reserved for Scheduled Caste and Tribe candidates.[citation needed]

Jagjivan Ram(1908 â€“ 1986) was the first scheduled caste leader to emerge at the national level from Bihar.[139] He was member of the Constituent assembly that drafted India's constitution.[140] Ram also served in the interim national government of 1946[141] He served in the cabinets of Congress party Prime ministers Jawaharlal Nehru,[142] Lal Bahadur Shastri and Indira Gandhi.[143] His last position in government was as Deputy Prime Minister of India in the Janata Party government of 1977-1979,[144][145][146]

In modern times several Bharatiya Janata Party leaders were Dalits, including Dinanath Bhaskar, Ramchandra Veerappa and Dr. Suraj Bhan.[citation needed]

In India's most populous state, Uttar Pradesh, Dalits have had a major political impact.[147] The Dalit-led Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) had previously run the government and that party's leader, Mayawati, served several times as chief minister.[148] Regarding her election in 2007, some reports claimed her victory was due to her ability to win support from both 17 per cent of Muslims and nearly 17 per cent Brahmins[149] alongside 80 per cent of Dalits.[150] However, surveys of voters on the eve of elections, indicated that caste loyalties were not the voters' principal concern. Instead, inflation and other issues of social and economic development dictated the outcome.[151][152][153][154] Mayawati's success in reaching across castes has led to speculation about her as a potential future Prime Minister of India.[155]

Aside from Mayawati in Uttar Pradesh, Damodaram Sanjivayya was chief minister of Andhra Pradesh (from 11 January 1960 â€“ 12 March 1962) and Jitan Ram Manjhi was chief minister of Bihar for just less than a year.[citation needed] In 1997, K. R. Narayanan, who was a Dalit, was elected as President of India.[34]

Votebank politics are common in India, usually based on religion or caste. Indeed, the term itself was coined by the Indian sociologist, M. N. Srinivas.[156] Dalits are often used as a votebank.[157][158][159] There have been instances where it has been alleged that an election-winning party reneged on promises made to the Dalits made during the election campaign[160] or have excluded them from party affairs.[161]

The SC, ST Sub-Plan, or Indiramma Kalalu, is a budget allocation by the Government of Andhra Pradesh for the welfare of Dalits. The law was enacted in May 2013. SCs and STs have separate panels for spending. The plan was meant to prevent the government from diverting funds meant for SCs and STs to other programs, which was historically the case. As of 2013[update], no equivalent national plan existed.[162] Scheduled Castes Sub Plan and Tribal Sub-Plan funds are often diverted by state governments to other purposes.[163]

While the Indian Constitution has provisions for the social and economic uplift of Dalits to support their upward social mobility, these concessions are limited to Hindus. Dalits who have converted to other religions have asked that benefits be extended to them.[164]

After World War II, immigration from the former British Empire was largely driven by labour shortages.[165] Like the rest of the Indian subcontinent diaspora, Dalits immigrated and established their own communities.[citation needed]

A 2009 report alleged that caste discrimination is "rife" in the United Kingdom.[166] The report alleged that casteism persists in the workplace and within the National Health Service[167] and at doctor's offices.[166][168]

Indians are divided on the subject[169] and such claims are disputed by the UK Hindu Council[167] who assert that the issue was being "manipulated" by Christians and other anti-Indian activists eager to convert Hindus.[170]

Hindu groups asserted that caste issues will be resolved as generations pass and that a trend towards inter-caste marriages should help.[171] Some claim that caste discrimination is non-existent.[172] Some have rejected the government's right to interfere in the community. The Hindu Forum of Britain conducted their own research, concluding that caste discrimination was "not endemic in British society", that reports to the contrary aimed to increase discrimination by legislating expression and behaviour and that barriers should instead be removed through education.[173]

A 2010 study found that caste discrimination occurs in Britain at work and in service provision. While not ruling out the possibility of discrimination in education, no such incidents were uncovered. The report found favourable results from educational activities. However, non-legislative approaches were claimed to be less effective in the workplace and would not help when the authorities were discriminating. One criticism of discrimination law was the difficulty in obtaining proof of violations. Perceived benefits of legislation were that it provides redress, leads to greater understanding and reduces the social acceptance of such discrimination.[171]

More recent studies in Britain were inconclusive and found that discrimination was "not religion specific and is subscribed to by members of any or no religion".[174] Equalities Minister Helen Grant found insufficient evidence to justify specific legislation, while Shadow Equalities minister Kate Green said that the impact is on a relatively small number of people.[174] Religious studies professor Gavin Flood of the Oxford Centre for Hindu Studies concluded that the Hindu community in Britain is particularly well integrated, loosening caste ties.[175] Casteist beliefs were prevalent mainly among first generation immigrants, with such prejudices declining with each successive generation due to greater assimilation.[174]

From September 2013 to February 2014, Indian philosopher Meena Dhanda led a project on ‘Caste in Britain’ for the UK Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), which focused on the proposed inclusion of a provision in the Equality Act 2010 to protect British citizens against caste discrimination.[176]

Supporters of anti-caste legislation include Lord Avebury and Lady Thornton.[177]

Sikhs in the United Kingdom are affected by caste. Gurdwaras such as those of the Ramgarhia Sikhs are organised along caste lines and most are controlled by a single caste.[178] In most British towns and cities with a significant Sikh population, rival gurdwaras can be found with caste-specific management committees.[179] The caste system and caste identity is entrenched and reinforced.[178][180]

Dalit Sikhs have formed a network of lower caste temples throughout the UK. Caste tensions erupt between higher caste Jat Sikhs and lower caste Sikhs. Violence has erupted between the two communities over inter-caste marriages. In the city of Wolverhampton, there have been incidents of Jat Sikhs refusing to share water taps and avoiding physical contact with lower castes. At a sports competition in Birmingham in 1999, Jat Sikhs refused to eat food that had been cooked and prepared by the Chamar community.[182]

Many Jat Sikhs refer to lower-caste temples by name such as the Ramgharia Gurdwara, Ghumaran Da Gurdwaraor Chamar Gurdwara. The majority of higher caste Sikhs would not eat in a Ravidassi house or in Ravidassi temples. Many Chamars stated that they are made to feel unwelcome in Sikh gurdwaras and Hindu temples. Many Sikhs do not wish to give Chamars equal status in their gurdwaras and communities.[183] Sikh Chamars (Ramdassi Sikhs) united with fellow Chamars across religious boundaries to form Ravidassi temples.[citation needed]

Mazhabi Sikhs were subjected to the same forms of inequality and discrimination in gurdwaras from Upper caste Sikhs and unified with Hindu Churas to form Valmiki temples.[citation needed]

Sikh gurdwaras, which often are controlled by the older first generation immigrants, in Britain generally frown upon inter-caste marriages even though they are on the rise. More and more families are affected by inter-caste marriages.

The few gurdwaras that accept inter-caste marriages do so reluctantly. Gurdwaras may insist on the presence of Singh and Kaur in the names of the bridegroom and bride, or deny them access to gurdwara-based religious services and community centres.[184]

It is estimated that in 1883, about one-third of the immigrants who arrived in the Caribbean were Dalits. The shared experience of being exploited in a foreign land gradually broke down caste barriers in the Caribbean Hindu communities.[24]

Dalit literature forms a distinct part of Indian literature.[185] One of the first Dalit writers was Madara Chennaiah, an 11th-century cobbler-saint who lived in the reign of Western Chalukyas and who is regarded by some scholars as the "father of Vachana poetry". Another early Dalit poet is Dohara Kakkaiah, a Dalit by birth, six of whose confessional poems survive. The Bharatiya Dalit Sahitya Akademi[186] (Indian Dalit Literature Academy)[187] was founded in 1984 by Babu Jagjivan Ram.

Notable modern authors include Mahatma Phule and Ambedkar in Maharashtra, who focused on the issues of Dalits through their works and writings. This started a new trend in Dalit writing and inspired many Dalits to offer work in Marathi, Hindi, Tamil and Punjabi.[188] There are novels, poems and even drama on Dalit issues. The Indian author Rajesh Talwar has written a play titled 'Gandhi, Ambedkar, and the Four Legged Scorpion' in which the personal experiences of Dr Ambedkar and the sufferings of the community have been highlighted.[189]

Baburao Bagul, Bandhu Madhav[190] and Shankar Rao Kharat, worked in the 1960s. Later the Little magazine movement became popular.[191] In Sri Lanka, writers such as K.Daniel[192] and Dominic Jeeva gained mainstream popularity.

Until the 1980s, Dalits had little involvement in Bollywood or other film industries of India[193] and the community were rarely depicted at the heart of storylines.[194] Chirag Paswan (son of Dalit leader Ram Vilas Paswan) launched his career in Bollywood with his debut film Miley Naa Miley Hum in 2011. Despite political connections and the financial ability to struggle against ingrained prejudices, Chirag was not able to "bag" any other movie project in the following years. Chirag, in his early days, described Bollywood as his "childhood dream", but eventually entered politics instead. When the media tried to talk to him about "Caste in Bollywood", he refused to talk about the matter, and his silence speaks for itself.[195] The first Bollywood film to portray a Dalit character in the leading role, although it was not acted by a Dalit, was Eklavya: The Royal Guard (2007).[196] The continued use of caste based references to Dalit sub-castes in South Indian films (typecast and pigeonholed in their main socio-economic sub-group) angers many Dalit fans.[197]

Several Dalit groups are rivals and sometimes communal tensions are evident. A study found more than 900 Dalit sub-castes throughout India, with internal divisions.[198] Emphasising any one caste threatens what is claimed to be an emerging Dalit identity and fostering rivalry among SCs.[199]

A DLM[clarification needed] party leader said in the early 2000s that it is easier to organise Dalits on a caste basis than to fight caste prejudice itself.[199]

Balmikis and Pasis in the 1990s refused to support the BSP, claiming it was a Jatav party[200] but over 80 per cent of dalits from all united Dalit castes voted BSP to power in 2007.[150]

Many converted Dalit Sikhs claim a superior status over the Hindu Raigars, Joatia Chamars and Ravidasis and sometimes refuse to intermarry with them.[201] They are divided into gotras that regulate their marriage alliances. In Andhra Pradesh, Mala and Madiga were constantly in conflict with each other[202] but as of 2015 Mala and Madiga students work for common dalit cause at University level.[203]

Although the Khateek (butchers) are generally viewed as a higher caste than Bhangis, the latter refuse to offer cleaning services to Khateeks, believing that their profession renders them unclean. They also consider the Balai, Dhobi, Dholi and Mogya as unclean and do not associate with them.[204]


the hypothalamic hormone that triggers the release of adrenocorticotropic hormone

ACTH is an important component of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis and is often produced in response to biological stress (along with its precursor corticotropin-releasing hormone from the hypothalamus). Its principal effects are increased production and release of cortisol by the cortex of the adrenal gland. ACTH is also related to the circadian rhythm in many organisms.[2]

Adrenocorticotropic hormone

Adrenocorticotropic hormone (ACTH, also adrenocorticotropin, corticotropin) is a polypeptide tropic hormone produced and secreted by the anterior pituitary gland.[1] It is also used as a medication and diagnostic agent.

Deficiency of ACTH is a sign of secondary adrenal insufficiency (suppressed production of ACTH due to an impairment of the pituitary gland or hypothalamus, cf. hypopituitarism) or tertiary adrenal insufficiency (disease of the hypothalamus, with a decrease in the release of corticotropin releasing hormone CRH). Conversely, chronically elevated ACTH levels occur in primary adrenal insufficiency (e.g. Addison's disease) when adrenal gland production of cortisol is chronically deficient. In Cushing's disease a pituitary tumor is the cause of elevated ACTH (from the anterior pituitary) and an excess of cortisol (hypercortisolism) â€“ this constellation of signs and symptoms is known as Cushing's syndrome.

POMC, ACTH and Î²-lipotropin are secreted from corticotropes in the anterior lobe (or adenohypophysis) of the pituitary gland in response to the hormone corticotropin-releasing hormone (CRH) released by the hypothalamus.[3] ACTH is synthesized from pre-pro-opiomelanocortin (pre-POMC). The removal of the signal peptide during translation produces the 241-amino acid polypeptide POMC, which undergoes a series of post-translational modifications such as phosphorylation and glycosylation before it is proteolytically cleaved by endopeptidases to yield various polypeptide fragments with varying physiological activity. These fragments include:[4]

In order to regulate the secretion of ACTH, many substances secreted within this axis exhibit slow/intermediate and fast feedback-loop activity. Glucocorticoids secreted from the adrenal cortex work to inhibit CRH secretion by the hypothalamus, which in turn decreases anterior pituitary secretion of ACTH. Glucocorticoids may also inhibit the rates of POMC gene transcription and peptide synthesis. The latter is an example of a slow feedback loop, which works on the order of hours to days, whereas the former works on the order of minutes.

The half-life of ACTH in human blood is about ten minutes.[5]

ACTH consists of 39 amino acids, the first 13 of which (counting from the N-terminus) may be cleaved to form α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH). (This common structure is responsible for excessively tanned skin in Addison's disease.) After a short period of time, ACTH is cleaved into α-melanocyte-stimulating hormone (α-MSH) and CLIP, a peptide with unknown activity in humans.

Human ACTH has a molecular weight of 4,540 atomic mass units (Da).[6]

ACTH stimulates secretion of glucocorticoid steroid hormones from adrenal cortex cells, especially in the zona fasciculata of the adrenal glands. ACTH acts by binding to cell surface ACTH receptors, which are located primarily on adrenocortical cells of the adrenal cortex. The ACTH receptor is a seven-membrane-spanning G protein-coupled receptor.[7] Upon ligand binding, the receptor undergoes conformation changes that stimulate the enzyme adenylyl cyclase, which leads to an increase in intracellular cAMP[8] and subsequent activation of protein kinase A.

ACTH influences steroid hormone secretion by both rapid short-term mechanisms that take place within minutes and slower long-term actions. The rapid actions of ACTH include stimulation of cholesterol delivery to the mitochondria where the P450scc enzyme is located. P450scc catalyzes the first step of steroidogenesis that is cleavage of the side-chain of cholesterol. ACTH also stimulates lipoprotein uptake into cortical cells. This increases the bioavailability of cholesterol in the cells of the adrenal cortex.

The long term actions of ACTH include stimulation of the transcription of the genes coding for steroidogenic enzymes, especially P450scc, steroid 11Î²-hydroxylase, and their associated electron transfer proteins.[8] This effect is observed over several hours.[8]

In addition to steroidogenic enzymes, ACTH also enhances transcription of mitochondrial genes that encode for subunits of mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation systems.[9] These actions are probably necessary to supply the enhanced energy needs of adrenocortical cells stimulated by ACTH.[9]

As indicated above, ACTH is a cleavage product of the pro-hormone, proopiomelanocortin (POMC), which also produces other hormones including α-MSH that stimulates the production of melanin. A family of related receptors mediates the actions of these hormones, the MCR, or melanocortin receptor family. These are mainly not associated with the pituitary-adrenal axis. MC2R is the ACTH receptor. While it has a crucial function in regulating the adrenal, it is also expressed elsewhere in the body, specifically in the osteoblast, which is responsible for making new bone, a continual and highly regulated process in the bodies of air-breathing vertebrates.[10] The functional expression of MC2R on the osteoblast was discovered by Isales et alia in 2005.[11] Since that time, it has been demonstrated that the response of bone forming cells to ACTH includes production of VEGF, as it does in the adrenal. This response might be important in maintaining osteoblast survival under some conditions.[12] If this is physiologically important, it probably functions in conditions with short-period or intermittent ACTH signaling, since with continual exposure of osteoblasts to ACTH, the effect was lost in a few hours.

An active synthetic form of ACTH, consisting of the first 24 amino acids of native ACTH, was first synthesized by Klaus Hofmann at the University of Pittsburgh.[13]

While working on her dissertation, Evelyn M. Anderson co-discovered ACTH with James Bertram Collip and David Landsborough Thomson and, in a paper published in 1933, explained its function in the body.[14][15]


is mass effect andromeda a sequel or prequel

Mass Effect: Andromeda begins in 2185, between the events of Mass Effect 2 and Mass Effect 3.[38][39] The four Citadel Council races and the Quarians are planning to populate new home worlds in the Andromeda Galaxy as part of a strategy called the Andromeda Initiative.[40] Each race sends 20,000 citizens on a one-way, 600-year journey to Andromeda aboard their own transportation vessel, called an Ark, and selects a leader, known as a Pathfinder. Once the races arrive, they help build the Nexus, a space station that serves as a center of government and diplomacy, a living area, as well as a base of operations for the Pathfinders.[41] Characters and player decisions from the original Mass Effect trilogy are not carried over into Mass Effect: Andromeda, and there is no canon ending which is referenced.[42]

Mass Effect: Andromeda

Mass Effect: Andromeda is an action role-playing video game developed by BioWare and published by Electronic Arts for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One. Released worldwide in March 2017, it is the fourth major entry in the Mass Effect series and the first since Mass Effect 3 (2012). The game begins within the Milky Way Galaxy during the 22nd century, where humanity is planning to populate new home worlds in the Andromeda Galaxy as part of a strategy called the Andromeda Initiative. The player assumes the role of either Scott or Sara Ryder, an inexperienced military recruit who joins the Initiative and wakes up in Andromeda following a 634-year journey. Events transpire that result in Ryder becoming humanity's Pathfinder, tasked with finding a new home world for humanity while also dealing with an antagonistic alien race, the kett, and uncovering the secrets of a mysterious synthetic race, the Remnant.

For Mass Effect: Andromeda, BioWare incorporated a lighter tone than previous installments in the series, utilized open world elements, and placed an emphasis on exploration. Many of the series' traditional gameplay elements remain, while others are modified, such as combat, which is less cover-based and more mobile. The game is the largest in the series, and offers the player the freedom to focus on either the main quest or side quests. Its score was composed by John Paesano and aims to match the game's mood by capturing the adventure of space exploration.

In contrast to the original Mass Effect trilogy, which was spearheaded by BioWare's Edmonton studio, Mass Effect: Andromeda was handled by a new team out of Montreal. The game experienced a troubled production cycle that saw many members of its leadership team depart mid-project and numerous changes in creative vision. It was built using the Frostbite 3 engine, which required that BioWare construct all systems, tools, and assets from scratch as the series was previously built in Unreal Engine 3. Following the game's release, BioWare released several patches in response to critical feedback, but decided not to release further single-player downloadable content additions.

After its announcement in June 2015, Mass Effect: Andromeda became a highly anticipated game. Upon release, it received generally mixed reviews from video game publications. Praise was directed at the game's improved combat and visuals, while criticism was aimed at its character animations and technical issues. As of September 2017, the game has shipped over 2 million copies worldwide.

Mass Effect: Andromeda is an action role-playing game in which the player takes control of either Scott or Sara Ryder from a third-person perspective.[1] Both Ryders' appearances and first names can be determined by the player.[2] The appearance of their father, Alec, is automatically adjusted based on the appearance of the Ryder twins.[3] Upon beating the game, a New Game+ is unlocked, which allows the player to restart the game with certain bonuses and switch to playing as the other Ryder, if desired.[4] Players can also choose to continue playing with their existing character and complete unfinished missions.[5]

Unlike previous installments in the Mass Effect series, where players begin each new game by choosing from six different character classes that each have their own unique set of skills, players instead have free rein to assign any skills that they want and build towards a specialty over the course of the game.[6] For example, if the player chooses to invest solely in biotic skills, Ryder will unlock the Adept profile, which results in bonuses related to that play style.[7] Experience points are earned by completing missions, and there is no cap on the number of points that can be earned.[8] Once enough points are gained, Ryder levels up, which allows for the unlocking and upgrading of skills along a tree.[9] Points assigned to each skill can be constantly reallocated so that players can experiment with multiple gameplay approaches without having to restart their games and build up their skills from scratch again.[10]

Similar to its predecessors, the player can interact with characters in Mass Effect: Andromeda using a radial command menu where the player's dialogue options depend on wheel direction.[6] Around the wheel are four types of responses that shape each conversation: emotional, logical, professional, and casual.[11] In general, conversations are based on agreeing or disagreeing with participants.[12] During some conversations, the player is prompted with an "Impulse Action" that offers an additional choice to what is available on the dialogue wheel.[13] For example, an on-screen prompt to "shoot" might appear and be momentarily selectable.[14] By conversing with non-player characters, Ryder can develop friendships and, in some cases, romantic relationships with them over time.[15] During both dialogue and quest sequences, the player is sometimes tasked with making moral decisions that do not have a clear good/bad distinction but are intended to be more nuanced, marking a departure from the Paragon/Renegade morality system of prior titles in the series.[16]

In Mass Effect: Andromeda, the player explores the Andromeda galaxy by selecting destinations from the inside of a ship called Tempest.[17] By having Ryder stand on the ship's bridge, the player is able to overlook the stars using a galaxy map and choose a navigation point.[18] The game features five primary planets and over a dozen hub worlds that connect the player to various quests that can be completed,[19] such as taking out hostile enemy bases or hideouts,[20] scanning for objects with useful data,[21] or completing loyalty missions for Ryder's squadmates.[22] As quests are completed, the player earns "Andromeda Viability Points", which allow for the waking of colonists from hibernation, and planets increase their "Viability Levels", which allow for the building of outposts.[18] Each planet has a boss that the player may not be able to defeat at first and may need to revisit later once Ryder has sufficiently leveled up.[20]

The game's primary planets have open world environments and can be traversed using the "Nomad", a six-wheeled, all-terrain vehicle.[23][24] While driving the Nomad, the player has the ability to scan the planet's terrain for resources and then deploy mining drones to collect them.[23] As new areas are explored, the player can find drop zones that serve as fast-travel points and allow for a loadout change.[21] To aid the player in managing quests, the game automatically logs available missions in a journal where the player can select a single quest to make active, which is then marked on the game's user interface.[25] Some planets have environmental hazards that must be accounted for, such as the planet Elaaden, where Ryder must avoid the heat to prevent taking damage.[26] Over the course of the game, the player can find blueprints and resources that are used for crafting weapons and armor.[4] All crafted items can be given customized names.[27]

Combat in Mass Effect: Andromeda takes place in real-time, and unlike previous installments in the series, pausing the game to aim or use skills from a menu is no longer a feature.[29] During action sequences, the player has direct control of Ryder from an over-the-shoulder perspective, who can move around the battlefield in a variety of ways, including a side-to-side dash or vertical leap into the air using a jetpack.[11] When the player approaches an object, Ryder will automatically take cover, providing the player with protection in battle.[29] The game encourages players to keep moving during combat with large, open battlefields and enemies that attack from all angles,[11] but also allows for both aggressive and defensive strategies.[28]

Damage is dealt to enemies using gunfire, melee attacks, or specialized skills such as a flamethrower.[30] At all times, three skills are available for use, along with a profile that provides play style bonuses.[28] The player can rotate between up to four combinations of skills and profiles by setting up "favorite slots", which can be accessed during battle. For example, one slot might have three biotic skills and the Adept profile while another has three combat skills and the Soldier profile.[31] A single skill cannot be deployed continuously; rather, after a skill is used, there is a cool down period during which the skill is disabled but other skills can be used.[32] Some weapons in the game have a finite magazine and require players to replenish ammunition after a certain number of shots, whereas other weapons operate on an overheating system where the player must wait for the weapon to cool down after a certain number of shots.[28]

In addition to its single-player content, Mass Effect: Andromeda also contains a multiplayer mode.[33] The mode revolves around horde-style cooperative matches in which the player must survive escalating waves of enemies and complete a series of objectives.[34] Before heading into battle, the player can select a character, allocate skill points, and manage weapons.[33] Unlike in the single-player mode, where the player is limited to playing as a human, the multiplayer mode offers a wider variety of species to choose from.[35] At the conclusion of a match, all players earn experience points and credits; the former is used for further character upgrades and the latter is used to buy unlockables.[34] The plot of the single-player campaign is not affected by the multiplayer mode.[36]

The protagonist of Mass Effect: Andromeda is, depending on player choice, either Scott or Sara Ryder (voiced by Tom Taylorson or Fryda Wolff, respectively). Their father, Alec Ryder (Clancy Brown), is humanity's Pathfinder, tasked with finding a new home for the species.[37] Squadmates in the game include Alec's second-in-command, Cora Harper (Jules de Jongh), a biotic specialist with intensive commando training; Liam Kosta (Gary Carr), a security expert who specializes in crisis response; Pelessaria "Peebee" B'Sayle (Christine Lakin), an asari gunslinger capable of biotic destabilization; Nakmor Drack (Stanley Townsend), a veteran krogan warrior of the Nakmor clan specializing in close combat; Vetra Nyx (Danielle Rayne), a female turian mercenary who excels in shielding and protection; and Jaal Ama Darav (Nyasha Hatendi), a resistance fighter of the newly introduced angara race.[43] Ryder's crewmates include Kallo Jath (Garett Ross), a salarian pilot; Suvi Anwar (Katy Townsend), a human science officer; Gil Brodie (Gethin Anthony), a human mechanic; Lexi T'Perro (Natalie Dormer), an asari medical doctor;[44] and SAM (Alexia Traverse-Healy), an artificial intelligence that can communicate with all members of the team via implants.[45]

In 2819, following a 634-year journey aboard the Ark Hyperion, Ryder awakens in the Heleus Cluster of the Andromeda Galaxy. Hyperion strikes a dark energy cloud called the "Scourge", temporarily knocking out its power and sending Ryder's sibling into a coma. Pathfinder Alec Ryder, Ryder's father, informs Ryder and Cora Harper that the planet they were sent to scout may no longer be viable for colonization. Alec, Ryder, Cora, and Liam Kosta head down to the planet, coming into contact with a hostile alien race, the kett, as well as strange structures from a synthetic alien race, the Remnant. Ryder and Alec find a terminal inside an alien monolith, which Alec activates in an attempt to stabilize the lightning storm-stricken planet. A large blast throws the two off the elevated platform, damaging Ryder's helmet and exposing Ryder to the toxic atmosphere. Alec saves Ryder by giving Ryder his helmet, sacrificing his own life. Ryder is later revived and merged with the artificial intelligence SAM, learning that Alec has made Ryder the new Pathfinder.

Hyperion reaches the Nexus, finding it incomplete and with no other Ark in sight. The crew learn from Nexus leadership that all of the worlds in Andromeda have become inhospitable, and that the Initiative has been stranded upon arrival, suffering from civil unrest and a supply shortage. As humanity's new Pathfinder, Ryder is tasked with finding a suitable world to colonize, as well as uncovering the fates of the other Arks. Ryder is also assigned a spaceship, the Tempest, piloted by Kallo Jath and accompanied by Vetra Nyx.

Ryder's first stop on the search is Eos, a desert planet plagued by radiation, where Nakmor Drack and Pelessaria B'Sayle (Peebee) join the crew. With SAM's help, Ryder unlocks a Remnant vault, which houses a terraforming system that gradually repairs the planet's ecosystem to more hospitable levels. The planet's newly improved viability allows Ryder to establish Andromeda's first successful outpost. Ryder also discovers a star chart pinpointing the location of other worlds that might hold similar structures. It is deduced that these worlds could sustain the Initiative.

On the way to another system, the Tempest runs into the kett fleet, and is forced to escape through the Scourge, suffering significant damage. The ship lands on the planet Aya, coming into contact with a new alien species, the angara, who are mounting a resistance against the kett. Ryder proves the Initiative's good intentions by aiding the angara on two other planets, in addition to recruiting a member of their species, Jaal Ama Darav, to the Tempest's crew. Ryder also rescues high-ranking angara Moshae Sjefa from a kett facility, discovering in the process that the kett have been turning the angara into more kett through a genetic modification process known as "exaltation". The Moshae takes Ryder to Aya's vault, learning that the kett leader, the Archon, is chasing an object called Meridian, which can control all vaults and, by extension, the worlds that they are connected to. Ryder, anxious to stop the kett, tracks down their flagship and discovers that the kett have captured the Salarian Ark and have been experimenting with various Initiative species. Ryder frees the ark and learns the location of Meridian.

Ryder then proceeds to the presumed location of Meridian, which is revealed to be an ancient Remnant city. Ryder discovers that Meridian, a Dyson sphere-like construct, was taken away from the city, disconnecting the vaults and rendering the planets uninhabitable.[46] The Archon launches an attack on Hyperion, severing SAM from Ryder, while also capturing Ryder's sibling, whose SAM implant he intends to use in order to take over Meridian. Ryder manages to activate the Remnant fleet and, together with other allied forces, makes an assault on the kett fleet guarding Meridian. The Ryder twins work to defeat the kett, eventually disconnecting the Archon from Meridian's system and killing him in the process. Ryder is hailed as a hero, having activated Meridian and made the cluster more suitable for settlement. Hyperion, after crash-landing onto Meridian, settles on the planet as humanity's new home.

In a post-credit scene, the Archon's second-in command, Primus, is seen observing Meridian, hinting at a possible future threat.

Mass Effect: Andromeda was developed by BioWare, the same company that developed the original Mass Effect trilogy, and published by Electronic Arts (EA), who published the second and third games in the original trilogy.[48] In contrast to the original trilogy, which was spearheaded by BioWare's Edmonton studio, Mass Effect: Andromeda was handled by a new team out of Montreal.[49] This was done so that Edmonton could focus on a new intellectual property (IP).[50] The company's Austin team assisted in development as well.[51] BioWare's general manager, Aaryn Flynn, noted that many of the developers working on the project were fans of the original trilogy who came to BioWare specifically to work on a Mass Effect game.[52]

Early stages of development on Mass Effect: Andromeda began in 2012, following the release of Mass Effect 3.[53] One of the first decisions that BioWare made was not to include Commander Shepard, the series' original protagonist, in the game.[54] This strategy allowed them to make changes to some of the series' traditional gameplay elements, such as the old Paragon/Renegade morality system, which they felt was tied to Shepard and would not make sense without the character.[55] Originally, they considered developing a prequel, but decided against it after soliciting feedback from fans, focus groups, and the development team.[56] Instead of preparing for another trilogy, the company tried to avoid locking themselves into a specific plan with regards to future installments in the franchise, which they felt gave them more creative freedom.[57]

Although BioWare approached Mass Effect: Andromeda as a new beginning and wanted it to feel fresh and new,[58] the company still borrowed elements from previous titles. For example, the ability to drive a vehicle was inspired by the Mako from Mass Effect and the concept of loyalty missions was taken directly from Mass Effect 2.[59] The team also applied lessons that they learned from Mass Effect 3, which featured a controversial ending where some fans didn't feel as though their investment in the series' characters had paid off.[57]

For Mass Effect: Andromeda, BioWare decided to include open world elements and place an emphasis on exploration.[24][60] As a result, they also decided to lighten the game's tone compared to previous installments in the series so that players could do side quests without feeling as though they were "letting the universe burn".[61] Producer Mike Gamble felt that the game was BioWare's biggest yet in terms of content, but also noted that the company made an effort to make every planet and area memorable.[62] To avoid the trap of making the player do side quests that felt tedious and insignificant–which was a common criticism of their previous title, Dragon Age: Inquisition–the company paid attention to what other games in the industry were doing, such as CD Projekt Red's The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt.[63] As late as 2014, BioWare planned to create hundreds of explorable planets by using procedural generation, but ultimately scrapped the idea because of the difficultly involved in implementing it as well as a lack of internal resources.[56] Due in part to the decision to abandon this concept so late in development, the company found themselves playing catch-up, and ended up building most of the game during the ensuing 18 months.[56]

Mass Effect: Andromeda required a team of over 200 developers and, as reported by the Edmonton Journal, was given a total budget of C$100 million, which included marketing and research costs.[64][65] The game was initially directed by GÃ©rard Lehiany, who was previously best known for his involvement in Beenox's Spiderman games.[56] Casey Hudson, who directed the original trilogy, was promoted to the role of executive producer before leaving BioWare in 2014.[47] That same year, Lehiany also departed from the project; he was replaced by Mac Walters,[56] who previously served as lead writer for the series.[66][67] In general, the game's development was plagued by internal instability,[56] with its lead writer, senior editor, and other members of its leadership team all departing from BioWare during production.[68]

Mass Effect: Andromeda was built using EA DICE's Frostbite 3 engine, which required that BioWare construct all systems, tools, and assets from scratch as the series was previously built on Epic Games' Unreal Engine.[69] Going into development, the company knew that the transition to Frostbite would be a difficult one, having already made the switch for Dragon Age: Inquisition, which proved to be extremely challenging as the engine was not designed with role-playing games in mind.[56] In an effort to optimize the engine's capabilities, BioWare sometimes enlisted the help of other Frostbite developers. For example, to ensure that the game's driving mechanics handled well, BioWare invited the Need for Speed team to come onsite and offer advice and guidance.[70] BioWare tried to push the boundaries of the software, particularly in the area of character animation,[71] but struggled with facial animations in particular.[56] This was due in part to struggles with various animation programs, an understaffed development team, and a delayed production cycle.[56]

As part of the move to Frostbite, BioWare decided to unite the combat systems of the single and multiplayer modes. In Mass Effect 3, the single-player mode used a system tailored to a slower, cover shooter approach while the multiplayer mode used a system tailored to a faster-paced approach.[29] It was important to BioWare that, for all gameplay modes in Mass Effect: Andromeda, the player stay moving and have a strategy behind every action as opposed to remaining in one location for the entire duration of an encounter.[72] To encourage players to play this way, BioWare built open combat layouts, which required the programming of complex artificial intelligence so that enemies could understand space and know how to flank the player from all angles.[11]

The original score of Mass Effect: Andromeda was composed by John Paesano, who was previously best known for his work on The Maze Runner films and Daredevil television series.[73] Scenes in the game that take place in nightclubs or other public venues were composed by Edmonton-based DJs and producers.[74] In general, the game's soundtrack was inspired by films such as Blade Runner and aimed to combine organic and synthetic sounds, an approach that BioWare used to "represent the triumph of space exploration and the fear of the unknown."[75]

A week after Mass Effect: Andromeda's North American release, BioWare announced that they were planning on making improvements to the game in response to critical feedback from fans.[76] In April, the company unveiled a patch that focused on bug fixes and improvements to the player experience, including better lip-syncing and faster movement around the galaxy map.[77] The following month, another patch was released which focused on improvements to cinematic scenes.[78] Further improvements were released through the month of July,[79] before BioWare released a statement on August 19 which confirmed that there would be no further single-player downloadable content developed or released for the game, though multiplayer patches could continue.[80]

Mass Effect: Andromeda was announced on June 15, 2015 at Electronic Entertainment Expo 2015.[81] The game was marketed with a wide variety of video content, including teasers,[a] gameplay reveals at various awards shows and conferences,[b] cinematic trailers,[c] and an instructional gameplay series.[d] It was also promoted with a set of action figures by toy company Funko, which consisted of Peebee, Liam Kosta, Jaal, Sara Ryder, and Archon.[89] One aspect of BioWare's marketing strategy was to avoid discussing certain plot points or making too many promises ahead of time, a plan which helped the company avoid disappointing players if they needed to cut content from the game.[52]

Leading to the release of Mass Effect: Andromeda, BioWare set up a promotional website whereby players could participate in a mock training program for the Andromeda Initiative, which included listening to recruitment pitches, reading the history of the Mass Effect universe, or watching mission briefings.[90] Briefings included an orientation video,[91] an introduction to the Arks and Nexus,[92] an overview of the Tempest and Nomad,[93] and dossiers on the game's main crewmembers.[94] As part of the program, BioWare also selected six fans to participate in an authentic astronaut training experience at the European Astronaut Centre.[95] Originally, BioWare planned a beta that would allow players to help test the game's multiplayer mode prior to release, but it was eventually cancelled as the company felt that it was ultimately unnecessary.[96]

Mass Effect: Andromeda was originally scheduled for release in late 2016,[81] but its official release date was eventually moved to March 21, 2017 in North America and March 23 in Europe, Australia and New Zealand.[97][98] In addition to the standard version of the game, players could also purchase a Deluxe Edition and Super Deluxe Edition, which included in-game single and multiplayer bonuses, as well as a free soundtrack download.[99] For a short time, players could also order two versions of a Collector's Edition, one of which included a model of the in-game vehicle, the Nomad, while the second version included a remote-control Nomad.[100] However, both versions of the Collector's Edition did not include the game or any other in-game bonuses.[101]

A week prior to Mass Effect: Andromeda's official release, BioWare made the first ten hours of the game available to players as part of EA Access and Origin Access.[102] The game's facial animations immediately became a topic of controversy, with players posting clips, images, and memes online that poked fun at its character movements.[103] One group of players took their complaints a step further, incorrectly identifying an EA employee as a lead developer and verbally abusing her on Twitter.[104] In response to the incident, BioWare released an official statement, saying, "We respect the opinions of our players and community... But attacking individuals, regardless of their involvement in the project, is never acceptable."[103]

Upon release, the Microsoft Windows and PlayStation 4 versions of Mass Effect: Andromeda received "mixed or average" reviews while the Xbox One version received "generally favorable" reviews from video game publications, according to review aggregator Metacritic.[105][106][107] The game was later ranked the 26th best of 2017 by Eurogamer.[118] Conversely, it also received several dishonors, including Worst Game (That We Played) from Giant Bomb.[119][120][121]

Mass Effect: Andromeda was not as well received as its predecessors.[122][123] In his review for Forbes, Paul Tassi predicted that Mass Effect fans would enjoy the game but prefer the original trilogy, outside of perhaps the original game.[124] Many outlets described Mass Effect: Andromeda as a disappointment,[125][126][127] including Giant Bomb and PlayStation LifeStyle, who retrospectively ranked it as the most disappointing game of 2017.[128][129] Some critics also described the game as a missed opportunity, such as Joe Juba of Game Informer, who concluded, ''Mass Effect: Andromeda is fun, and the important parts work... At the same time, I was often left looking through a haze of inconveniences and dreaming about the game it could have been."[110]

The combat in Mass Effect: Andromeda was one of the best-reviewed aspects of the game. IGN observed that it felt more energetic than previous titles in the series, although they criticized the automatic cover system and some of the user interface.[114] COGconnected described the combat as "a thing of beauty" and emphasized its focus on player choice and strong shooting mechanics, which they felt held up to other shooters.[130] In an otherwise lukewarm review for GameSpot, Scott Butterworth relented that he enjoyed the combat shooting mechanics and appreciated that he was able to experiment with different character loadouts.[112]

Many reviewers criticized Mass Effect: Andromeda for its technical issues. Writing for Electronic Gaming Monthly, Ray Carsillo described the game as "broken" and recalled instances where it came to a halt, particularly during driving sequences.[109] Character facial animations were often referenced as part of the problem, with Game Revolution's Aron Garst reflecting, "Andromeda is full of bugs and technical oddities. From the freaky facial animations to the entire screen turning a lime shade of green for a few minutes, many things went wrong during my playthrough.[111] In an otherwise positive review, Game Informer noted that technical glitches were plentiful, which hindered the game's playability.[110] Some outlets felt that animation glitches, model issues, and poor graphical fidelity were most apparent during the game's cinematic romance scenes in particular.[131][132]

The plot of Mass Effect: Andromeda was met with a mixed reception. Destructoid described it as "dull" and observed that it took too long to establish an easily-identifiable conflict.[108] Andy Hartup of GamesRadar+ felt that the game lacked the nuance of previous installments and missed out on what made the original trilogy successful.[113] IGN remarked that the plot was sometimes derivative of prior games in the series, using the Remnant as an example, which they felt was simply another "long-dead civilization that's left advanced technology lying around".[114] By contrast, VideoGamer.com listed the game's plot as a positive, likening it to a Hollywood hero story.[117] Reflecting on his experience with the game, Polygon's Arthur Gies opined that the story contained a number of worthwhile mysteries on the critical path and some "really interesting" optional content.[116]

Numerous publications praised Mass Effect: Andromeda for its larger-scale visuals, such as PC Gamer, which wrote that the game looked "stunning" and that the Frostbite Engine rendered environments at a scale that previous Mass Effect games could not match.[115] GameSpot remarked that the game's worlds were "breathtaking to behold and exciting to explore", but also noted that there were too many repetitive, inconsequential quests that felt like "padding".[112] RPGamer observed that the game's atmosphere was enhanced by its score, which they felt complemented the setting with either a "spacey background" or something more "rousing", as required.[133]

Mass Effect: Andromeda was the third-best-selling game of March 2017.[134] It led the United Kingdom in physical sales during its first two weeks of release.[135] As of August, it was the seventh best-selling game of the year.[136] However, it eventually dropped out of the year-end top ten.[137] The game had the second-best physical launch in the series after Mass Effect 3.[134] Its digital sales had only single-digit percentage point improvements over Mass Effect 3 (which sold 349,000 PC digital copies alone in its opening quarter) in their respective opening quarters despite a significant growth in industry digital sales since then.[138]

Prior to the release of Mass Effect: Andromeda, Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Blake Jorgensen projected that it would sell 3 million units before the end of March, and 6 to 9 million units during its lifetime.[139] BioWare General Manager Aaryn Flynn predicted that it would sell at least 5 million copies worldwide.[140] Wedbush Securities analyst Michael Pachter estimated that Mass Effect: Andromeda sold at least 2.5 million physical units in its opening quarter, resulting in $110 million in revenue.[141] The closest that EA has come to noting an exact figure was in their fourth quarter (Q4) of fiscal year 2017 (FY17) notes for investors, which stated that $53 million of the game's net sales related to its special editions were to be captured in Q1 FY18 instead of Q4 FY17 (the quarter of its release) for accounting purposes.[142]

In EA's Q3 FY18 Earnings Call on January 30 of 2018, CEO Andrew Wilson was asked by a research analyst as to why "unfortunately, some of the nonsports titles have performed
below expectations" (the analyst did not name any specific game). After citing the good performances of other games such as Battlefield 1 and Dragon Age: Inquisition, Wilson responded: "if you look at Mass Effect [Andromeda], while there was some polarizing sentiment in that franchise, it's actually performed really well, and player engagement is really strong."[143]

Although Mass Effect: Andromeda was not designed with specific plans for future installments, BioWare's original intention was to continue adding to the series.[57] However, following the game's disappointing commercial and critical reception, reports arose that BioWare Edmonton would be taking a break from the franchise to focus on their new IP, Anthem, and that BioWare Montreal would focus on other games under the EA umbrella, such as Star Wars Battlefront II.[149] In August 2017, BioWare Montreal was merged with EA's Motive Studios, casting further doubt on the future of the Mass Effect franchise.[150] However, former series creative director Casey Hudson, who departed from BioWare in 2014 but returned following Mass Effect: Andromeda's release, has stated that he would like for the series to continue.[151]


who wrote the song south of the border

"South of the Border" is a popular song describing a trip to Mexico, written by Jimmy Kennedy and Michael Carr and published in 1939 for the film of the same name starring country star Gene Autry.[1]

South of the Border (1939 song)

In the lyrics, a man looks back with regret and pain for having lied to the woman he can't forget ("...and now as I wander, my thoughts ever stray...") and returned far too late, to discover she had become a nun.[2] The lyric is in juxtaposition with the music, which swings with syncopated joy.[citation needed]

The song was a hit in 1939 for Shep Fields, vocal by Hal Derwin.[3]  Other successful recordings in 1939 were by Guy Lombardo, Gene Autry, Ambrose (vocal by Denny Dennis) and Tony Martin.[4]

Frank Sinatra recorded the song on April 30, 1953[5] for Capitol Records and it reached the Billboard charts with a top position of #18 in a 4-week stay.[6]

Members of the Western Writers of America chose it as one of the Top 100 Western songs of all time.[7]


what is the theme song for the tv show s.w.a.t

"Theme from S.W.A.T." is an instrumental song written by Barry De Vorzon and performed by American funk group Rhythm Heritage, released on their debut album Disco-Fied. It reached number one on the Billboard Hot 100 singles chart in the United States on the chart date of February 28, 1976.

Theme from S.W.A.T.

As the title implies, it was the opening theme music for the 1970s American television series S.W.A.T., though it is a noticeably different recording from the actual TV theme version, which was performed not by Rhythm Heritage, but by Barry De Vorzon's own orchestra with arrangement by Dominik Hauser. The theme song was also referenced by characters in the 2003 motion picture of the same name, who mouth the notes during a party to celebrate their successful completion of the training course. De Vorzon's original was eventually released on the LP Nadia's Theme on Arista records.

It remains one of a handful of TV themes to top the Billboard Hot 100, a list that includes "Welcome Back" by John Sebastian, "Miami Vice Theme" by Jan Hammer and "How Do You Talk to an Angel" by The Heights.