Unnamed: 0.1
int64 1
131k
| Unnamed: 0
int64 1
130k
| id
stringlengths 6
24
| title
stringclasses 2
values | context
stringlengths 151
44k
| question
stringlengths 2
25.7k
| answers
stringlengths 32
440
|
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
101,652 | 101,310 |
572fae7a947a6a140053cb69
|
generic
|
Austria was not able to retake Silesia or make any significant territorial gain. However, it did prevent Prussia from invading parts of Saxony. More significantly, its military performance proved far better than during the War of the Austrian Succession and seemed to vindicate Maria Theresa's administrative and military reforms. Hence, Austria's prestige was restored in great part and the empire secured its position as a major player in the European system. Also, by promising to vote for Joseph II in the Imperial elections, Frederick II accepted the Habsburg preeminence in the Holy Roman Empire. The survival of Prussia as a first-rate power and the enhanced prestige of its king and its army, however, was potentially damaging in the long run to Austria's influence in Germany.
|
How would Prussia's outcome affect Austria in the long run?
|
{'text': "was potentially damaging in the long run to Austria's influence in Germany.", 'answer_start': 710}
|
77,905 | 77,563 |
5a5e1d035bc9f4001a75ae34
|
generic
|
Scholars have debated the relationship and differences within āstika philosophies and with nāstika philosophies, starting with the writings of Indologists and Orientalists of the 18th and 19th centuries, which were themselves derived from limited availability of Indian literature and medieval doxographies. The various sibling traditions included in Hindu philosophies are diverse, and they are united by shared history and concepts, same textual resources, similar ontological and soteriological focus, and cosmology. While Buddhism and Jainism are considered distinct philosophies and religions, some heterodox traditions such as Cārvāka are often considered as distinct schools within Hindu philosophy.
|
What are the two sibling traditions?
|
{'text': 'Indologists and Orientalists', 'answer_start': 143}
|
52,174 | 51,832 |
5a8615a4b4e223001a8e746c
|
generic
|
In general, avian influenza is a disease of birds caused by bird-specific influenza A virus that is not normally transferred to people; however, people in contact with live poultry are at the greatest risk of becoming infected with the virus and this is of particular concern in areas such as Southeast Asia, where the disease is endemic in the wild bird population and domestic poultry can become infected. The virus possibly could mutate to become highly virulent and infectious in humans and cause an influenza pandemic.
|
What portion of the world is immune to the flu?
|
{'text': 'areas such as Southeast Asia', 'answer_start': 279}
|
18,900 | 18,558 |
56e768a600c9c71400d770d6
|
generic
|
Worldwide consumption of paper has risen by 400% in the past 40 years leading to increase in deforestation, with 35% of harvested trees being used for paper manufacture. Most paper companies also plant trees to help regrow forests. Logging of old growth forests accounts for less than 10% of wood pulp, but is one of the most controversial issues.
|
What do many paper companies do to ensure the health of forests?
|
{'text': 'plant trees', 'answer_start': 196}
|
90,422 | 90,080 |
5ad26921d7d075001a4292bc
|
generic
|
Instead, he formulated the spearhead model of evolution, a version of genetic pluralism. According to this model, living organisms themselves have goals, and act according to these goals, each guided by a central control. In its most sophisticated form, this is the brain of humans, but controls also exist in much less sophisticated ways for species of lower complexity, such as the amoeba. This control organ plays a special role in evolution—it is the "spearhead of evolution". The goals bring the purpose into the world. Mutations in the genes that determine the structure of the control may then cause drastic changes in behaviour, preferences and goals, without having an impact on the organism's phenotype. Popper postulates that such purely behavioural changes are less likely to be lethal for the organism compared to drastic changes of the phenotype.
|
What is a species of higher complexity than the human brain?
|
{'text': 'amoeba', 'answer_start': 384}
|
48,746 | 48,404 |
571a9fa84faf5e1900b8ab48
|
generic
|
The Umayyad Caliphate (Arabic: الخلافة الأموية, trans. Al-Khilāfat al-ʾumawiyya) was the second of the four major Islamic caliphates established after the death of Muhammad. This caliphate was centered on the Umayyad dynasty (Arabic: الأمويون, al-ʾUmawiyyūn, or بنو أمية, Banū ʾUmayya, "Sons of Umayya"), hailing from Mecca. The Umayyad family had first come to power under the third caliph, Uthman ibn Affan (r. 644–656), but the Umayyad regime was founded by Muawiya ibn Abi Sufyan, long-time governor of Syria, after the end of the First Muslim Civil War in 661 CE/41 AH. Syria remained the Umayyads' main power base thereafter, and Damascus was their capital. The Umayyads continued the Muslim conquests, incorporating the Caucasus, Transoxiana, Sindh, the Maghreb and the Iberian Peninsula (Al-Andalus) into the Muslim world. At its greatest extent, the Umayyad Caliphate covered 15 million km2 (5.79 million square miles), making it the largest empire (in terms of area - not in terms of population) the world had yet seen, and the fifth largest ever to exist.
|
How many major Islamic caliphates existed after Muhammad's death?
|
{'text': 'four', 'answer_start': 104}
|
103,198 | 102,856 |
5731d15c0fdd8d15006c6582
|
generic
|
Drawing from his own experiences in Scouting, Spielberg helped the Boy Scouts of America develop a merit badge in cinematography in order to help promote filmmaking as a marketable skill. The badge was launched at the 1989 National Scout Jamboree, which Spielberg attended, and where he personally counseled many boys in their work on requirements. That same year, 1989, saw the release of Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade. The opening scene shows a teenage Indiana Jones in scout uniform bearing the rank of a Life Scout. Spielberg stated he made Indiana Jones a Boy Scout in honor of his experience in Scouting. For his career accomplishments, service to others, and dedication to a new merit badge Spielberg was awarded the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award.
|
When was Spielberg's merit badge launched?
|
{'text': '1989', 'answer_start': 218}
|
64,630 | 64,288 |
5727784ddd62a815002e9db8
|
generic
|
The changes brought about by these developments have led many scholars to view this period as the end of the Middle Ages and beginning of modern history and early modern Europe. However, the division is somewhat artificial, since ancient learning was never entirely absent from European society. As a result there was developmental continuity between the ancient age (via classical antiquity) and the modern age. Some historians, particularly in Italy, prefer not to speak of the late Middle Ages at all, but rather see the high period of the Middle Ages transitioning to the Renaissance and the modern era.
|
Historians from what country in particular do not refer to the Late Middle Ages?
|
{'text': 'Italy', 'answer_start': 446}
|
9,655 | 9,313 |
56dee1f8c65bf219000b3dc8
|
generic
|
In the 1950s, the recruitment of women was open to roles in medicine, communication, logistics, and administration. The roles of women in the CAF began to expand in 1971, after the Department reviewed the recommendations of the Royal Commission on the Status of Women, at which time it lifted the ceiling of 1,500 women personnel, and gradually expanded employment opportunities into the non-traditional areas—vehicle drivers and mechanics, aircraft mechanics, air-traffic controllers, military police, and firefighters. The Department further reviewed personnel policies in 1978 and 1985, after Parliament passed the Canadian Human Rights Act and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. As a result of these reviews, the Department changed its policies to permit women to serve at sea in replenishment ships and in a diving tender, with the army service battalions, in military police platoons and field ambulance units, and in most air squadrons.
|
What year did further recruitment for women open in the CAF?
|
{'text': '1971', 'answer_start': 165}
|
116,120 | 115,778 |
5ad4a032ba00c4001a268e3b
|
generic
|
The interface of Windows 8 has been the subject of mixed reaction. Bright wrote that its system of hot corners and edge swiping "wasn't very obvious" due to the lack of instructions provided by the operating system on the functions accessed through the user interface, even by the video tutorial added on the RTM release (which only instructed users to point at corners of the screen or swipe from its sides). Despite this "stumbling block", Bright said that Windows 8's interface worked well in some places, but began to feel incoherent when switching between the "Metro" and desktop environments, sometimes through inconsistent means. Tom Warren of The Verge wrote that the new interface was "as stunning as it is surprising", contributing to an "incredibly personal" experience once it is customized by the user, but had a steep learning curve, and was awkward to use with a keyboard and mouse. He noted that while forcing all users to use the new touch-oriented interface was a risky move for Microsoft as a whole, it was necessary in order to push development of apps for the Windows Store. Others, such as Adrian Kingsley-Hughes from ZDNet, considered the interface to be "clumsy and impractical" due to its inconsistent design (going as far as considering it "two operating systems unceremoniously bolted together"), and concluded that "Windows 8 wasn't born out of a need or demand; it was born out of a desire on Microsoft's part to exert its will on the PC industry and decide to shape it in a direction—touch and tablets -- that allows it to compete against, and remain relevant in the face of Apple's iPad."
|
Who said the Windows 8 interface was practical?
|
{'text': 'Adrian Kingsley-Hughes', 'answer_start': 1112}
|
128,513 | 128,171 |
5ad2f4e9604f3c001a3fda52
|
generic
|
Environmental anthropology is a sub-specialty within the field of anthropology that takes an active role in examining the relationships between humans and their environment across space and time. The contemporary perspective of environmental anthropology, and arguably at least the backdrop, if not the focus of most of the ethnographies and cultural fieldworks of today, is political ecology. Many characterize this new perspective as more informed with culture, politics and power, globalization, localized issues, and more. The focus and data interpretation is often used for arguments for/against or creation of policy, and to prevent corporate exploitation and damage of land. Often, the observer has become an active part of the struggle either directly (organizing, participation) or indirectly (articles, documentaries, books, ethnographies). Such is the case with environmental justice advocate Melissa Checker and her relationship with the people of Hyde Park.
|
What was the first focus of field work in environmental anthropology?
|
{'text': 'political ecology', 'answer_start': 375}
|
114,503 | 114,161 |
573057cc8ab72b1400f9c487
|
generic
|
There has been a football tournament at every Summer Olympic Games since 1900, except at the 1932 games in Los Angeles. Before the inception of the World Cup, the Olympics (especially during the 1920s) had the same status as the World Cup. Originally, the event was for amateurs only; however, since the 1984 Summer Olympics, professional players have been permitted, albeit with certain restrictions which prevent countries from fielding their strongest sides. The Olympic men's tournament is played at Under-23 level. In the past the Olympics have allowed a restricted number of over-age players per team. A women's tournament was added in 1996; in contrast to the men's event, full international sides without age restrictions play the women's Olympic tournament.
|
In what year was a women's tournament added to the Summer Olympics?
|
{'text': '1996', 'answer_start': 642}
|
128,994 | 128,652 |
5a6913cb8476ee001a58aa7e
|
generic
|
Among the Punjabi poets, the names of Sultan Bahu, Bulleh Shah, Mian Muhammad Baksh, and Waris Shah and folk singers like Inayat Hussain Bhatti and Tufail Niazi, Alam Lohar, Sain Marna, Mansoor Malangi, Allah Ditta Lona wala, Talib Hussain Dard, Attaullah Khan Essa Khailwi, Gamoo Tahliwala, Mamzoo Gha-lla, Akbar Jat, Arif Lohar, Ahmad Nawaz Cheena and Hamid Ali Bela are well-known. In the composition of classical ragas, there are such masters as Malika-i-Mauseequi (Queen of Music) Roshan Ara Begum, Ustad Amanat Ali Khan, Salamat Ali Khan and Ustad Fateh Ali Khan. Alam Lohar has made significant contributions to folklore and Punjabi literature, by being a very influential Punjabi folk singer from 1930 until 1979.
|
Folk singers created classical whats?
|
{'text': 'ragas', 'answer_start': 417}
|
97,837 | 97,495 |
5ace430732bba1001ae4a10b
|
generic
|
The Arabic term ijāzat al-tadrīs was awarded to Islamic scholars who were qualified to teach. According to Makdisi, the Latin title licentia docendi 'licence to teach' in the European university may have been a translation of the Arabic, but the underlying concept was very different. A significant difference between the ijāzat al-tadrīs and the licentia docendi was that the former was awarded by the individual scholar-teacher, while the latter was awarded by the chief official of the university, who represented the collective faculty, rather than the individual scholar-teacher.
|
What did earning the ijazat al-tadris discipline students?
|
{'text': 'licence to teach', 'answer_start': 150}
|
34,373 | 34,031 |
570a5f2f4103511400d59692
|
generic
|
William Henry Perkin studied and worked at the college under von Hofmann, but resigned his position after discovering the first synthetic dye, mauveine, in 1856. Perkin's discovery was prompted by his work with von Hofmann on the substance aniline, derived from coal tar, and it was this breakthrough which sparked the synthetic dye industry, a boom which some historians have labelled the second chemical revolution. His contribution led to the creation of the Perkin Medal, an award given annually by the Society of Chemical Industry to a scientist residing in the United States for an "innovation in applied chemistry resulting in outstanding commercial development". It is considered the highest honour given in the industrial chemical industry.
|
Who discovered the first synthetic dye?
|
{'text': 'William Henry Perkin', 'answer_start': 0}
|
102,183 | 101,841 |
572ec488cb0c0d14000f1527
|
generic
|
Increasing state control over the oil sector, the RCC began a program of nationalization, starting with the expropriation of British Petroleum's share of the British Petroleum-N.B. Hunt Sahir Field in December 1971. In September 1973, it was announced that all foreign oil producers active in Libya were to be nationalized. For Gaddafi, this was an important step towards socialism. It proved an economic success; while gross domestic product had been $3.8 billion in 1969, it had risen to $13.7 billion in 1974, and $24.5 billion in 1979. In turn, the Libyans' standard of life greatly improved over the first decade of Gaddafi's administration, and by 1979 the average per-capita income was at $8,170, up from $40 in 1951; this was above the average of many industrialized countries like Italy and the U.K.
|
How did the RCC begin their march toward nationalization?
|
{'text': "starting with the expropriation of British Petroleum's share of the British Petroleum-N.B. Hunt Sahir Field in December 1971.", 'answer_start': 90}
|
85,845 | 85,503 |
57283bbeff5b5019007d9fae
|
generic
|
Von Neumann's principal contribution to the atomic bomb was in the concept and design of the explosive lenses needed to compress the plutonium core of the Fat Man weapon that was later dropped on Nagasaki. While von Neumann did not originate the "implosion" concept, he was one of its most persistent proponents, encouraging its continued development against the instincts of many of his colleagues, who felt such a design to be unworkable. He also eventually came up with the idea of using more powerful shaped charges and less fissionable material to greatly increase the speed of "assembly".
|
What principal contribution did von Neumann make to atomic bomb?
|
{'text': 'concept and design of the explosive lenses needed to compress the plutonium core', 'answer_start': 67}
|
355 | 13 |
56d43ce42ccc5a1400d830b4
|
generic
|
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter (/biːˈjɒnseɪ/ bee-YON-say) (born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, record producer and actress. Born and raised in Houston, Texas, she performed in various singing and dancing competitions as a child, and rose to fame in the late 1990s as lead singer of R&B girl-group Destiny's Child. Managed by her father, Mathew Knowles, the group became one of the world's best-selling girl groups of all time. Their hiatus saw the release of Beyoncé's debut album, Dangerously in Love (2003), which established her as a solo artist worldwide, earned five Grammy Awards and featured the Billboard Hot 100 number-one singles "Crazy in Love" and "Baby Boy".
|
What was Beyoncé's role in Destiny's Child?
|
{'text': 'lead singer', 'answer_start': 290}
|
5,093 | 4,751 |
56cf5f6daab44d1400b89164
|
generic
|
West demonstrated an affinity for the arts at an early age; he began writing poetry when he was five years old. His mother recalled that she first took notice of West's passion for drawing and music when he was in the third grade. Growing up in the city,[which?] West became deeply involved in its hip hop scene. He started rapping in the third grade and began making musical compositions in the seventh grade, eventually selling them to other artists. At age thirteen, West wrote a rap song called "Green Eggs and Ham" and began to persuade his mother to pay $25 an hour for time in a recording studio. It was a small, crude basement studio where a microphone hung from the ceiling by a wire clothes hanger. Although this wasn't what West's mother wanted, she nonetheless supported him. West crossed paths with producer/DJ No I.D., with whom he quickly formed a close friendship. No I.D. soon became West's mentor, and it was from him that West learned how to sample and program beats after he received his first sampler at age 15.
|
What was one of the first tracks written by Kanye when he was 13?
|
{'text': '"Green Eggs and Ham"', 'answer_start': 499}
|
128,694 | 128,352 |
5734205b4776f419006618e9
|
generic
|
Montana has a larger Native American population numerically and percentage-wise than most U.S. states. Although the state ranked 45th in population (according to the 2010 U.S. Census), it ranked 19th in total native people population. Native people constituted 6.5 percent of the state's total population, the sixth highest percentage of all 50 states. Montana has three counties in which Native Americans are a majority: Big Horn, Glacier, and Roosevelt. Other counties with large Native American populations include Blaine, Cascade, Hill, Missoula, and Yellowstone counties. The state's Native American population grew by 27.9 percent between 1980 and 1990 (at a time when Montana's entire population rose just 1.6 percent), and by 18.5 percent between 2000 and 2010. As of 2009, almost two-thirds of Native Americans in the state live in urban areas. Of Montana's 20 largest cities, Polson (15.7 percent), Havre (13.0 percent), Great Falls (5.0 percent), Billings (4.4 percent), and Anaconda (3.1 percent) had the greatest percentage of Native American residents in 2010. Billings (4,619), Great Falls (2,942), Missoula (1,838), Havre (1,210), and Polson (706) have the most Native Americans living there. The state's seven reservations include more than twelve distinct Native American ethnolinguistic groups.
|
Between what years did the Native population increase by 27.9%
|
{'text': '1980 and 1990', 'answer_start': 645}
|
110,173 | 109,831 |
57301e40a23a5019007fcdbd
|
generic
|
Near the intersection of Craycroft and Ft. Lowell Roads are the remnants of the Historic Fort Lowell. This area has become one of Tucson's iconic neighborhoods. In 1891, the Fort was abandoned and much of the interior was stripped of their useful components and it quickly fell into ruin. In 1900, three of the officer buildings were purchased for use as a sanitarium. The sanitarium was then sold to Harvey Adkins in 1928. The Bolsius family Pete, Nan and Charles Bolsius purchased and renovated surviving adobe buildings of the Fort – transforming them into spectacular artistic southwestern architectural examples. Their woodwork, plaster treatment and sense of proportion drew on their Dutch heritage and New Mexican experience. Other artists and academics throughout the middle of the 20th century, including: Win Ellis, Jack Maul, Madame Cheruy, Giorgio Belloli, Charels Bode, Veronica Hughart, Edward and Rosamond Spicer, Hazel Larson Archer and Ruth Brown, renovated adobes, built homes and lived in the area. The artist colony attracted writers and poets including beat generation Alan Harrington and Jack Kerouac whose visit is documented in his iconic book On the Road. This rural pocket in the middle of the city is listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Each year in February the neighborhood celebrates its history in the City Landmark it owns and restored the San Pedro Chapel.
|
What year where three officer building bought and used for a sanitarium?
|
{'text': '1900', 'answer_start': 292}
|
32,468 | 32,126 |
5a360f18788daf001a5f86e5
|
generic
|
The Gurkhas, a martial tribe, came to power in Nepal in the year 1768. They consolidated their military power and began to expand their territory. Gradually, the Gorkhas annexed Sirmour and Shimla. With the leadership of Amar Singh Thapa, Gorkhas laid siege to Kangra. They managed to defeat Sansar Chand Katoch, the ruler of Kangra, in 1806 with the help of many provincial chiefs. However, Gurkhas could not capture Kangra fort which came under Maharaja Ranjeet Singh in 1809. After the defeat, the Gurkhas began to expand towards the south of the state. However, Raja Ram Singh, Raja of Siba State managed to capture the fort of Siba from the remnants of Lahore Darbar in Samvat 1846, during the First Anglo-Sikh War. They came into direct conflict with the British along the tarai belt after which the British expelled them from the provinces of the Satluj. The British gradually emerged as the paramount power. In the revolt of 1857, or first Indian war of independence, arising from a number of grievances against the British, the people of the hill states were not as politically active as were those in other parts of the country. They and their rulers, with the exception of Bushahr, remained more or less inactive. Some, including the rulers of Chamba, Bilaspur, Bhagal and Dhami, rendered help to the British government during the revolt.
|
Who was in control of Lahore Darbar in 1809?
|
{'text': 'Maharaja Ranjeet Singh', 'answer_start': 447}
|
60,431 | 60,089 |
57267749dd62a815002e85ea
|
generic
|
Lee and freelance artist and eventual co-plotter Jack Kirby's Fantastic Four originated in a Cold War culture that led their creators to revise the superhero conventions of previous eras to better reflect the psychological spirit of their age. Eschewing such comic-book tropes as secret identities and even costumes at first, having a monster as one of the heroes, and having its characters bicker and complain in what was later called a "superheroes in the real world" approach, the series represented a change that proved to be a great success.
|
What traditional superhero element did the Fantastic Four initially do without?
|
{'text': 'costumes', 'answer_start': 307}
|
122,670 | 122,328 |
5731ba670fdd8d15006c64ac
|
generic
|
The Duke of York had required that every community in his new lands of New York and New Jersey support some church, but this was more often Dutch Reformed, Quaker or Presbyterian, than Anglican. Some chose to support more than one church. He also ordained that the tax-payers were free, having paid his local tax, to choose their own church. The terms for the surrender of New Amsterdam had provided that the Dutch would have liberty of conscience, and the Duke, as an openly divine-right Catholic, was no friend of Anglicanism. The first Anglican minister in New Jersey arrived in 1698, though Anglicanism was more popular in New York.
|
Instead of Anglican, what were the churches most often supported in New York and New Jersey?
|
{'text': 'Dutch Reformed, Quaker or Presbyterian', 'answer_start': 140}
|
49,501 | 49,159 |
5ad176e7645df0001a2d1d22
|
generic
|
In March 1861, Victoria's mother died, with Victoria at her side. Through reading her mother's papers, Victoria discovered that her mother had loved her deeply; she was heart-broken, and blamed Conroy and Lehzen for "wickedly" estranging her from her mother. To relieve his wife during her intense and deep grief, Albert took on most of her duties, despite being ill himself with chronic stomach trouble. In August, Victoria and Albert visited their son, the Prince of Wales, who was attending army manoeuvres near Dublin, and spent a few days holidaying in Killarney. In November, Albert was made aware of gossip that his son had slept with an actress in Ireland. Appalled, Albert travelled to Cambridge, where his son was studying, to confront him. By the beginning of December, Albert was very unwell. He was diagnosed with typhoid fever by William Jenner, and died on 14 December 1861. Victoria was devastated. She blamed her husband's death on worry over the Prince of Wales's philandering. He had been "killed by that dreadful business", she said. She entered a state of mourning and wore black for the remainder of her life. She avoided public appearances, and rarely set foot in London in the following years. Her seclusion earned her the nickname "widow of Windsor".
|
What wasn't Albert ill with?
|
{'text': 'chronic stomach trouble', 'answer_start': 380}
|
3,354 | 3,012 |
56cddf9e62d2951400fa6936
|
generic
|
All of the highways into Wenchuan, and others throughout the province, were damaged, resulting in delayed arrival of the rescue troops. In Beichuan County, 80% of the buildings collapsed according to Xinhua News. In the city of Shifang, the collapse of two chemical plants led to leakage of some 80 tons of liquid ammonia, with hundreds of people reported buried. In the city of Dujiangyan, south-east of the epicenter, a whole school collapsed with 900 students buried and fewer than 60 survived. The Juyuan Middle School, where many teenagers were buried, was excavated by civilians and cranes. Dujiangyan is home of the Dujiangyan Irrigation System, an ancient water diversion project which is still in use and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The project's famous Fish Mouth was cracked but not severely damaged otherwise.
|
What percentage of building collapsed in Beichuan?
|
{'text': '80%', 'answer_start': 156}
|
52,731 | 52,389 |
57261d0d38643c19005ad02f
|
generic
|
Investitures, which include the conferring of knighthoods by dubbing with a sword, and other awards take place in the palace's Ballroom, built in 1854. At 36.6 m (120 ft) long, 18 m (59 ft) wide and 13.5 m (44 ft) high, it is the largest room in the palace. It has replaced the throne room in importance and use. During investitures, the Queen stands on the throne dais beneath a giant, domed velvet canopy, known as a shamiana or a baldachin, that was used at the Delhi Durbar in 1911. A military band plays in the musicians' gallery as award recipients approach the Queen and receive their honours, watched by their families and friends.
|
What is the largest room in the palace?
|
{'text': 'Ballroom', 'answer_start': 127}
|
122,571 | 122,229 |
5731b3b7b9d445190005e475
|
generic
|
Many early immigrant groups traveled to America to worship freely, particularly after the English Civil War and religious conflict in France and Germany. They included nonconformists like the Puritans, who were Protestant Christians fleeing religious persecution from the Anglican King of England. Despite a common background, the groups' views on religious toleration were mixed. While some such as Roger Williams of Rhode Island and William Penn of Pennsylvania ensured the protection of religious minorities within their colonies, others like the Plymouth Colony and Massachusetts Bay Colony had established churches. The Dutch colony of New Netherland established the Dutch Reformed Church and outlawed all other worship, though enforcement was sparse. Religious conformity was desired partly for financial reasons: the established Church was responsible for poverty relief, putting dissenting churches at a significant disadvantage.
|
What was one of the reason early immigrant groups came to America?
|
{'text': 'to worship freely', 'answer_start': 48}
|
108,286 | 107,944 |
57306bf68ab72b1400f9c4dc
|
generic
|
The difference in the above factors for the case of θ=0 is the reason that most broadcasting (transmissions intended for the public) uses vertical polarization. For receivers near the ground, horizontally polarized transmissions suffer cancellation. For best reception the receiving antennas for these signals are likewise vertically polarized. In some applications where the receiving antenna must work in any position, as in mobile phones, the base station antennas use mixed polarization, such as linear polarization at an angle (with both vertical and horizontal components) or circular polarization.
|
What is one use that would require an antenna to receive signals in various ways at once?
|
{'text': 'mobile phones', 'answer_start': 427}
|
42,066 | 41,724 |
5aced94e32bba1001ae4b74f
|
generic
|
The army's most common vehicle is the High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle (HMMWV), commonly called the Humvee, which is capable of serving as a cargo/troop carrier, weapons platform, and ambulance, among many other roles. While they operate a wide variety of combat support vehicles, one of the most common types centers on the family of HEMTT vehicles. The M1A2 Abrams is the army's main battle tank, while the M2A3 Bradley is the standard infantry fighting vehicle. Other vehicles include the Stryker, and the M113 armored personnel carrier, and multiple types of Mine Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicles.
|
What does MRAA stand for?
|
{'text': 'Mine Resistant Ambush Protected', 'answer_start': 573}
|
61,266 | 60,924 |
5726d525708984140094d2b7
|
generic
|
The 1998 edition of Guinness Book of World Records stated: "No female artist has sold more records than Madonna around the world". In 1999 Madonna signed to play a violin teacher in the film Music of the Heart but left the project, citing "creative differences" with director Wes Craven. She recorded the single "Beautiful Stranger" for the 1999 film Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me. It reached number 19 on the Hot 100 solely on radio airplay. Madonna won a Grammy Award for "Best Song Written for a Motion Picture, Television or Other Visual Media".
|
Who was the director of Music of the Heart?
|
{'text': 'Wes Craven', 'answer_start': 276}
|
128,189 | 127,847 |
5733c3184776f419006611c3
|
generic
|
On July 1, 2014, the University of Notre Dame and Under Armour reached an agreement in which Under Armour will provide uniforms, apparel,equipment, and monetary compensation to Notre Dame for 10 years. This contract, worth almost $100 million, is the most lucrative in the history of the NCAA. The university marching band plays at home games for most of the sports. The band, which began in 1846 and has a claim as the oldest university band in continuous existence in the United States, was honored by the National Music Council as a "Landmark of American Music" during the United States Bicentennial. The band regularly plays the school's fight song the Notre Dame Victory March, which was named as the most played and most famous fight song by Northern Illinois Professor William Studwell. According to College Fight Songs: An Annotated Anthology published in 1998, the "Notre Dame Victory March" ranks as the greatest fight song of all time.
|
What is the value of the contract between Under Armour and Notre Dame?
|
{'text': 'almost $100 million', 'answer_start': 223}
|
129,774 | 129,432 |
57344da9acc1501500babde6
|
generic
|
Regional social norms are generally antagonistic to hunting, while a few sects, such as the Bishnoi, lay special emphasis on the conservation of particular species, such as the antelope. India's Wildlife Protection Act of 1972 bans the killing of all wild animals. However, the Chief Wildlife Warden may, if satisfied that any wild animal from a specified list has become dangerous to human life, or is so disabled or diseased as to be beyond recovery, permit any person to hunt such an animal. In this case, the body of any wild animal killed or wounded becomes government property.
|
What sect lays special emphasis on conservation of particular species?
|
{'text': 'Bishnoi', 'answer_start': 92}
|
65,530 | 65,188 |
5727bc2a4b864d1900163bea
|
generic
|
The original Cubist architecture is very rare. There is only one country in the world where Cubism was really applied to architecture – namely Bohemia (today Czech Republic) and especially its capital, Prague. Czech architects were the first and only ones in the world to ever design original Cubist buildings. Cubist architecture flourished for the most part between 1910–1914, but the Cubist or Cubism-influenced buildings were also built after the World War I. After the war, the architectural style called Rondo-Cubism was developed in Prague fusing the Cubist architecture with round shapes.
|
What was for the form of architectural Cubism in Prague called?
|
{'text': 'Rondo-Cubism', 'answer_start': 510}
|
32,282 | 31,940 |
5a14a61aa54d4200185292f5
|
generic
|
The implications are multiple as various research traditions are now[when?] heavily utilizing the lens of identity to examine phenomena.[citation needed] One implication of identity and of identity construction can be seen in occupational settings. This becomes increasing challenging in stigmatized jobs or "dirty work" (Hughes, 1951). Tracy and Trethewey (2005) state that "individuals gravitate toward and turn away from particular jobs depending in part, on the extent to which they validate a "preferred organizational self" (Tracy & Tretheway 2005, p. 169). Some jobs carry different stigmas or acclaims. In her analysis Tracy uses the example of correctional officers trying to shake the stigma of "glorified maids" (Tracy & Tretheway 2005). "The process by which people arrive at justifications of and values for various occupational choices." Among these are workplace satisfaction and overall quality of life (Tracy & Scott 2006, p. 33). People in these types of jobs are forced to find ways in order to create an identity they can live with. "Crafting a positive sense of self at work is more challenging when one's work is considered "dirty" by societal standards" (Tracy & Scott 2006, p. 7). "In other words, doing taint management is not just about allowing the employee to feel good in that job. "If employees must navigate discourses that question the viability of their work, and/ or experience obstacles in managing taint through transforming dirty work into a badge of honor, it is likely they will find blaming the client to be an efficacious route in affirming their identity" (Tracy & Scott 2006, p. 33).
|
Where is the implication of identity and identity construction least obvious?
|
{'text': 'occupational settings', 'answer_start': 226}
|
106 | 106 |
138429
|
pubqa
|
In the winter and spring of 2011 a large outbreak of cryptosporidiosis occurred in Skellefte municipality, Sweden. This study summarizes the outbreak investigation in terms of outbreak size, duration, clinical characteristics, possible source(s) and the potential for earlier detection using calls to a health advice line. Methods: The investigation included two epidemiological questionnaires and microbial analysis of samples from patients, water and other environmental sources. In addition, a retrospective study based on phone calls to a health advice line was performed by comparing patterns of phone calls between different water distribution areas. Results: Our analyses showed that approximately 18,500 individuals were affected by a waterborne outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in Skellefte in 2011. This makes it the second largest outbreak of cryptosporidiosis in Europe to date. Cryptosporidium hominis oocysts of subtype IbA10G2 were found in patient and sewage samples, but not in raw water or in drinking water, and the initial contamination source could not be determined. The outbreak went unnoticed to authorities for several months. The analysis of the calls to the health advice line provides strong indications early in the outbreak that it was linked to a particular water treatment plant. Conclusions: We conclude that an earlier detection of the outbreak by linking calls to a health advice line to water distribution areas could have limited the outbreak substantially. Keywords: Early outbreak detection, Cryptosporidiosis, Syndromic surveillance, Cryptosporidium hominis Background The protozoan parasite Cryptosporidium is a major cause of gastroenteritis in humans worldwide [1]. At least 29 valid species of Cryptosporidium have been identified [2] and the two most common species infecting humans are Crypto- sporidium parvum and Cryptosporidium hominis [3]. Cryptosporidium hominis has been the cause of several large waterborne outbreaks. The largest took place in 1993 in Milwaukee, USA, where more than 400,000 people were infected [4]. Cryptosporidiosis is mainly transmitted by the fecal-oral route, usually through oocyst-contaminated water or food, or through contact with infected humans or ani- mals. As few as 10 ingested oocysts can cause infection [5]. Asymptomatic carriage occurs [6, 7] while symptomatic in- fection is associated with diarrhoea, abdominal pain, nau- sea, vomiting and fever that usually resolve within 2 weeks. Symptoms occur a few days up to 2 weeks after ingestion of oocysts [5]. Severe life-threating diarrhoea may develop among immunocompromised patients [8]. Gastrointestinal- and joint symptoms can persist for several months after the initial infection with Cryptosporidium [9]. The public health impact of the parasite was recognised in Sweden in 2004 * Correspondence: par.bjelkmar@folkhalsomyndigheten.se 1Department of Monitoring and Evaluation, Public Health Agency of Sweden, 171 83 Solna, Sweden Full list of author information is available at the end of the article The Author(s). 2017 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver (http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated. Bjelkmar et al. BMC Public Health (2017) 17:328 DOI 10.1186/s12889-017-4233-8 when cryptosporidiosis became a notifiable disease and the parasite was also included in the World Health Organiza- tions Neglected Diseases Initiative in the same year [10]. In November and December 2010 a massive waterborne outbreak of C. hominis occurred in the city of stersund in Jmtland County, Sweden. Based on a retrospective cohort study, it was concluded that approximately 27,000 individ- uals were infected through the drinking water which made it the second biggest reported waterborne outbreak of cryptosporidiosis globally [11]. A couple of months later, in April 2011, drinking water from a municipal water treat- ment plant (WTP) in the neighboring county of Vsterbot- ten was suspected to be the source of a number of cases of cryptosporidiosis. A boil water notice (BWN) was therefore issued on 19 April and a web-based questionnaire was im- mediately created and published on the webpage of the mu- nicipality to collect epidemiological data. In order to complement the web-based questionnaire and better esti- mate the extent of the outbreak and to find its source, an additional study based on a postal questionnaire was per- formed in June 2011. The study was managed by the Vs- terbotten County Medical Office and the municipal environmental and health authorities in collaboration with the Public Health Agency of Sweden (at the time named Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control). Syndromic surveillance is defined as the real-time (or near real-time) collection, analysis, interpretation and dis- semination of health-related data [12]. As part of the on- going effort of development and evaluation of a syndromic surveillance system at the Public Health Agency, a retro- spective analysis of phone calls to a national health advice line from inhabitants living in Skellefte municipality dur- ing the time period of the outbreak was performed. No contemporaneous analysis of the phone calls was per- formed at the time of the outbreak. A new approach for early detection and improved situational awareness of local waterborne outbreaks was used where call patterns from individuals living in different drinking-water distribution areas were compared. The utility of syndromic surveillance systems for detecting and tracking local gastrointestinal outbreaks (GI) has been questioned [13] but systems based on data from health advice lines have been shown to be successful in a few cases [14, 15]. Globally, there are several examples of similar syndromic surveillance systems based on health advice lines [1618]. This study describes the outbreak investigation by sum- marizing the results from web-based and postal question- naires, human and environmental sampling and the analysis of phone calls to the health advice line. It outlines the extent and duration of the outbreak, risk factors and clinical characteristics of the infected persons, and discusses the potential for detecting the outbreak earlier. Figure 1 de- picts a time line indicating for which time periods the dif- ferent data sources were used in the analyses. Methods Study setting Skellefte is situated in Vsterbotten County geographic- ally located next to Jmtland County where the stersund outbreak occurred. The distance between Skellefte and stersund is almost 500 km. Skellefte is a municipality with a population of approximately 72,000 inhabitants. Twenty-eight water treatment plants are operating within the municipality. Two of these deliver water to the city of Skellefte; Slind WTP and Abborrverket WTP, where the latter delivers water to the majority of the inhabitants. All water treatment plants in the municipality use ground- water as the water source except Abborrverket which uses surface water obtained from the river Skelleftelven. Abborrverket WTP produces approximately 18,000 m3 of treated water daily to 44,000 of the 72,000 inhabitants in the municipality (31 March 2011). The normal water in- take to Abborrverket is located far out and deep in the river but due to icing during the winter months the intake is shifted to a more shallow position closer to shore where the ice can be removed more easily. Microbiological investigation Human samples Fecal samples from patients seeking healthcare for gastro- intestinal illness were analysed with standard techniques for enteric bacterial pathogens; polymerase chain reaction (PCR) for analysis of noro- and sapoviruses and micros- copy for analysis of Entamoeba spp. and Giardia intesti- nalis. Samples were only sporadically analysed for presence of Cryptosporidium oocysts up until 19 April 2011, when the current outbreak was first suspected. An intensification of testing for Cryptosporidium followed from that time until 1 July 2011 when the outbreak was considered over. Samples tested for Cryptosporidium were analysed using standard concentration technique followed by modified Ziehl-Neelsen staining [19]. A subset of posi- tive Cryptosporidium samples (n = 26) were sent to the Swedish Institute for Communicable Disease Control for species identification by PCR restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis of the rRNA gene [20, 21]. Subtypes were characterized by sequence analysis of the 60 kDa glycoprotein (gp60) gene [22, 23]. Environmental samples At the time of the outbreak Abborrverket WTP used floc- culation and sedimentation followed by sand filtering and chlorination for water treatment. This water treatment setup could be sufficient for removal of Cryptosporidium oocysts if the processes work optimally and the concentra- tion of oocysts is relatively low, but ultraviolet (UV) treat- ment is generally preferred as a disinfectant [24]. The winter intake was used from 19 November 2010 until 19 April 2011. A total of 38 samples were collected from the Bjelkmar et al. BMC Public Health (2017) 17:328 Page 2 of 10 drinking water system during a period of 5 months, 19 April to 15 September 2011. These samples included raw water from the river Skelleftelven, i.e. incoming water to Abborrverket WTP, treated water at Abborrverket WTP and samples taken from the distribution net. Twelve influent and twelve effluent wastewater samples were collected at the main sewage water treatment plant (SWTP) Tuvan. Moreover, in order to investigate possible causes of contamination of Skelleftelven and to trace sources of oocysts, 9 samples were collected from the wastewater and storm water systems and from other rele- vant locations. Water samples were analysed for Cryptosporidium oo- cysts according to ISO 15553:2006 [25] with filtration of water (101000 L), immunomagnetic separation (IMS) and immunofluorescence (IFL) microscopy. The slides with concentrated and purified material were identified by fluorescent-marked oocysts specific in size, shape, internal structure and DAPI-(4,6-diamidino-2-phenylindole)- stained nuclei. Wastewater samples were analyzed as water samples but without passing filters and in smaller volumes, 50100 mL for influent wastewater and 0.30.5 L for efflu- ent wastewater. Two sediment samples from the inside of the influent raw water pipe were also analysed as water sample but without filtration before IMS. DNA from one wastewater concentrate was analysed by sequence analysis of the gp60 gene as described for human samples [22, 23]. Epidemiological investigation Web-based questionnaire The same day as the BWN was issued, on 19 April 2011, a web-based questionnaire (Additional file 1) was created in order to immediately start collecting epidemiological data. The value of such a questionnaire was demonstrated in the preceding cryptosporidiosis outbreak in stersund [11] and those experiences were applied here as well. The questionnaire was made available to the public on the website of the municipality on the evening the same day, and was closed on 9 May 2011. The public was informed of the questionnaire by press releases and there were also links to it from key web pages such as the local newspaper and Vsterbotten County Council. The full data set was summarised after the outbreak was considered to be over. Visitors to the webpage who were residents of Skellefte municipality, both individuals with and without GI symp- toms, were asked to answer a set of questions regarding gastrointestinal illness in the family. A case attributed to the outbreak was defined as a person with residential ad- dress within Skellefte municipality with 3 loose stools per day for at least 1 day with onset between 1 April and 5 May 2011. Respondents with a date of symptom onset be- fore 1 April or after 5 May, persons who had travelled abroad 2 weeks prior to symptom onset, as well as individ- uals with a residential postal code outside Vsterbotten County were excluded from the analysis. Remaining re- spondents who did not fulfil the criteria of having 3 loose stools per day were considered non-cases. More detailed analyses of the data were not performed since the follow- up postal survey was conducted. Postal questionnaire A retrospective cohort study was performed in June 2011 by sending a questionnaire to a random sample of 1754 citizens in the municipality of Skellefte (Additional file 2, Additional file 3). The random sample was stratified by age (05 years, 615 years, 1665 years and 66 years or older) and gender. Questions were asked to find out about the start and magnitude of the outbreak, the source of the outbreak and risk factors for disease. The questionnaire contained questions on demographics, onset, duration and occurrence of symptoms indicating cryptosporidiosis, and water consumption as well as history of symptoms be- fore 1 January 2011. Caretakers were asked to answer for children <15 years of age. A case attributed to the out- break was defined as a person with 3 loose stools per day for at least 1 day with onset between 1 December 2010 and 31 May 2011. Statistical analysis of the postal questionnaire Each of the 1754 respondents were assigned a random number and a barcode on the questionnaire was used to identify each respondent. The postal codes were matched to the water distribution areas of the WTPs. In a stratified survey study, weights are used to calculate the number of individuals in the population represented by each individ- ual in the sample. Binary logistic regression was used to Fig. 1 Time line indicating for which time periods the different data sources were used in the analyses Bjelkmar et al. BMC Public Health (2017) 17:328 Page 3 of 10 find associated variables for the propensity of responding to the survey. Age, gender and water supply were used to calibrate the weights for non-response to adjust for unbal- ance between the sample and the population. The association between the binary outcome of case/ non-case and the exposure variables was analysed by binary logistic regression. Included in the model as covariates and exposure variables were gender, age (05 years, 615 years, 1665 years, and 66 years or older), gastric ulcer (yes, no), irritable bowel syndrome (yes, no), Crohns disease (yes, no), celiac disease (yes, no), lactose intolerance (yes, no), immunodeficiency disease (yes, no), average tap water con- sumption (<1 glass, 1 glass, 25 glasses, >5 glasses) and household water supply (Abborrverket, not Abborrverket or not from any WTP/own well). The results from the binary logistic regression were expressed as odds ratios (OR). All I do not know an- swers for binary questions were regarded as non- informative and were set as missing values prior to the analysis. Missing values for binary variables were then given a value (yes, no) using multiple imputation chain equations [26]. The chains contained all exposure vari- ables plus the outcome non-case/case [27]. Twenty data- sets with different imputed values for missing data were created and binary logistic regression results from each dataset were weighted together into one result using Rubins formula [28]. All analyses were performed in the statistical software R (version 3.3.2) using the packages survey (version 3.31.2), MICE (version 2.25) and the gen- eralized linear model function (glm) in the base R package stats. In all analyses a p-value less than 0.05 was used as a significant result and in case of estimated confidence in- tervals a confidence level of 95% was applied. Analysis of phone calls to a health advice line Healthcare Guide 1177 is a national Swedish telephone health advice line staffed by nurses. The service provides advice and information about urgent, but non-life- threatening, health problems. The medical record cre- ated for each consultation includes a structured data field, called the contact cause, that represents the most severe symptom as assessed by the nurse [29]. There are almost 200 contact causes in the services medical deci- sion support system but only a handful are related to GI problems. For the purpose of this study daily call counts on GI symptoms were retrospectively extracted from the service for inhabitants in Skellefte municipality from 1 August 2010 to 18 April 2011. The contact causes vomiting or nausea, diarrhoea and stomach pain were used since changes in contact patterns for these symptoms previously have been shown in outbreaks of cryptosporidiosis [14]. In addition, for each call, infor- mation on the postal code of the registered residence ad- dress of the patient was extracted. Postal codes were divided into two geographical regions; belonging to the distribution area of Abborrverket WPT or not, and the number of inhabitants in the corresponding regions were calculated. To compare the call patterns of GI-related symptoms between these two regions a previ- ously published outbreak detection algorithm [14] was used but with a minor modification. No analyses were performed for the period from the BWN and onwards since, as the in- formation of an ongoing outbreak becomes public, the con- tact pattern to the health advice line changes drastically and it is challenging to adjust for this in the analyses. The daily call count, Ct , i, for one contact cause or a sin- gle group of contact causes at day t for geographical re- gion i was classified as an outbreak signal if it exceeded a threshold Tt , i: Tt;i max L; V ; V Et;i L SDt;i; L 3; 5 f g Et;i pt;i Ni; SDt;i Ni pt;i q 1pt;i; pt;i Pni j1;ji P C;j 10 Pni j1;jiNj ; t7; t8; t9; t10; t11; t12; t13; t14 f g; 2; if t7; t14 f g 1; if t8; t9; t10; t11; t12; t13 f g where L is the threshold level for a weak and strong outbreak signal respectively, V is the threshold for a positive outbreak signal, Et , i is the expected number of calls and SDt , i is the standard deviation, both based on a binomial distribution, Niis the population size of geographical region i, pt , i is the probability of a single call per inhabitant per day, and ni is the number of geographical regions in the analysis. In the current study, two geographical regions were in- cluded: Abborrverket distribution area and not Abborrverket distribution area. It is important to note that calls from inhabitants of the geographical region under investigation are not included in the calculation of its threshold since that would increase the thresh- old if an outbreak in that region has been ongoing for more than 6 days. Compared to the previously published algorithm, the time period for the calcula- tion of pt , i has been modified. Here, calls for 8 days, t-7 to t-14, were included. Since the call patterns dif- fer between different weekdays, call counts for the weekdays matching the day for which the threshold is calculated, t-7 and t-14, has a weight of 2. The Bjelkmar et al. BMC Public Health (2017) 17:328 Page 4 of 10 motivation for this modification of the algorithm was primarily to reduce the risk of calculating pt , i based on small number of calls. Results Microbiological investigation Human samples Between 1 January and 1 July 2011, 145 laboratory con- firmed cases of domestic cryptosporidiosis were reported from Vsterbotten County. Only a handful were reported before 19 April, including one case on 15 April and two on 18 April. Genotyping identified C. hominis subtype IbA10G2 in samples from 24 confirmed cases, while no amplification product was obtained from the remaining two samples that were tested. No other gastrointestinal pathogens were found in a subset of the samples that were positive for Cryptosporidium. Environmental samples Cryptosporidium oocysts could not be detected in any of the 38 samples collected from the drinking water system. In influent and effluent wastewater samples from Tuvan SWTP oocysts were detected in 10 out of 24 samples. The concentration of oocysts in influent wastewater was highest on 22 April 2011 at 150,000 oocysts/L and de- clined to 6200 oocysts/L on 1 June 2011. From 27 June 2011 no oocysts were detected in influent wastewater. In effluent wastewater the concentration was highest on 8 June 2011 with a concentration of 12,000 oocysts/L. In subsequent samples the concentration varied between 1700 and 4200 oocysts/L and from 27 June 2011 the concentration was below the detection limit. Molecular investigation of one wastewater sample revealed C. hominis subtype IbA10G2. In the remaining 9 water and sediment samples collected at other places no oocysts were detected. Epidemiological investigation Web-based questionnaire The epidemiological curve based on the web-based questionnaire (Fig. 2) showed that the number of cases declined after a couple of days following the BWN and verified the hypothesis of an ongoing waterborne out- break. Importantly, it also indicated that the outbreak started well before 1 April. In total 12,358 individuals answered the questionnaire and 11,065 remained after exclusions. The results from the questionnaire were con- tinually monitored in order to provide information for decision making based on the extent of the outbreak, who were being affected and to follow up the effect of interventions. Moreover, it was used to inform the in- habitants about the progress of the outbreak and these reports were highly appreciated. Postal questionnaire In total, 1099 out of 1754 (63%) questionnaires were an- swered and returned for analysis. The survey showed that 26.4% of the respondents fulfilled the case defin- ition, i.e. self-reported diarrhoea (3 loose stools per day) between 1 December 2010 and 31 May 2011, which corresponds to an estimate of 18,449 cases (Table 1). The data from the survey also provided evidence that the outbreak started in January and ended by the end of May (Fig. 3). April was the peak month with 6969 cases. If the outbreak had been detected earlier and we assume that all cases from 1 February forward had remained healthy, the estimation is that the outbreak would have affected 2273 individuals, corresponding to approxi- mately 12% the current outbreak size. Only the variables age and water supply were identi- fied as risk factors for infection (Table 2). Divided into age groups, children up to 5 years were most affected, 37.2%, while the group of 66 years and above were least affected, 12.1% (Table 3). Among the different water supplies in Skellefte, water from Abborrverket WPT was the only supply that significantly correlated with an increased risk of infection (p < 0.001). Approximately 1 in 3 (32.7%) living in the distribution area of Abborrver- ket WPT had symptoms of cryptosporidiosis, compared to 16.2% of inhabitants living in other areas (Table 4). The most common symptoms, each present in more than 70% of the respondents that fulfilled the case defin- ition, were fatigue, abdominal pain, upset stomach, and watery diarrhoea (Table 5). Health advice line Starting on 30 December 2010, the retrospective analysis showed a sequence of 6 days of consecutive outbreak sig- nals regarding GI symptoms from individuals living in the distribution area of Abborrverket WTP (Fig. 4). Four of those were strong. A large number of outbreak signals for inhabitants living in the distribution area of Abborrverket WTP were evident during the following time period up until the BWN. In contrast, very few outbreak signals regarding GI symptoms were present for Abborrverket WPT distribu- tion area during the autumn and early winter of 2010. However, there was a small cluster of five outbreak signals between 20 November and 29 November 2010, but they were weak and not on consecutive days, hence the inter- pretation was that those outbreak signals were inconclu- sive. For the other geographical area in the analysis, individuals not living in the distribution area of Abborr- verket WTP, only one weak outbreak signal was present during the entire time-period under investigation - em- phasizing the abnormality of the identified outbreak signal pattern for the distribution area of Abborrverket WTP in the beginning of 2011. Similar results are obtained using Bjelkmar et al. BMC Public Health (2017) 17:328 Page 5 of 10 the original definition of the outbreak algorithm and with other groupings of ages and contact causes related to cryptosporidiosis (results not shown). When comparing the current outbreak signals based on geographical regions corresponding to the distribution of drinking water with outbreak signals based on (adult) GI calls from the entire Skellefte municipality with respect to the other municipalities within Vsterbotten County [14], the two patterns are similar and suggest the same time for outbreak detection: beginning of January 2011. Discussion The three cases of cryptosporidiosis in the middle of April together with other indications from informal sources re- garding large numbers of sick people, and higher-than- normal contacts regarding symptoms of gastrointestinal illness reported by the nurses staffing the regional health advice line, led the authorities to suspect an outbreak. However, our epidemiological investigation shows that the outbreak had already started, unnoticed to the authorities, in the beginning of January 2011. High norovirus activity together with only a handful of domestic cases of crypto- sporidiosis reported in Vsterbotten County between January and 19 April 2011 were contributing factors to the late detection of the outbreak. New routines are now in place in Vsterbotten County where analysis of Crypto- sporidium is performed on fecal samples if there are clus- ters of cases with gastrointestinal symptoms or other indications of an outbreak. If the outbreak had been detected in the beginning of the year by systematic monitoring of the telephone calls as described in this study, it is very likely that the outbreak would have ended during January. Two facts support this conclusion. First, once the outbreak was suspected the BWN was an effective intervention that substantially lim- ited illness within a few days. A similar delay in the Fig. 2 Epidemiological curve based on observed cases in the web questionnaire Table 1 Population estimates of cases and non-cases of Cryptosporidium-infection in Skellefte between December 2010 and May 2011 Status N SE (N) 95% CI (N) N (%) Non-cases 51,618 1214 49,239 53,997 73.7 Cases 18,448 1191 16,114 20,782 26.3 N Number, SE standard error, CI confidence interval Based on postal questionnaire Fig. 3 Epidemiological curve of population estimates of number of cases from the postal questionnaire Bjelkmar et al. BMC Public Health (2017) 17:328 Page 6 of 10 decrease of reported cases was seen in the stersund out- break [11] and it is explained by the time it takes to de- velop symptoms after ingestion of oocyst. Second, the outbreak signals from the described analyses of telephone calls would have given a strong indication during January that the outbreak was waterborne and which drinking water supply to suspect (Abborrverket WTP). We therefor argue that such an early outbreak detection followed by a timelier BWN in January 2011 would have limited the out- break substantially from approximately 18,500 cases down to 2300 cases if all who fell ill after 31 January had remained healthy. The potential of syndromic surveillance systems based on analysing telephone call patterns to Healthcare Guide 1177 for early event detection and situational awareness of local outbreaks has been shown previously [14]. In the current work the concept was taken a step further by comparing call patterns between water distribution areas that were based on groups of postal codes. The im- portance of this should not be underestimated. In the situation of an unknown waterborne outbreak, or other types of local outbreaks where the spread matches geographical areas used in the analysis, this procedure gives a more timely indication of the underlying cause and therefore substantially increases the chances of ef- fective countermeasures. Since water distribution areas are known, the approach can be used in systems for syn- dromic surveillance. There is always a tradeoff between sensitivity and spe- cificity in signal detection. In practical terms it is the in- stitution that is eligible to act on the signal that needs to find a reasonable protocol for signal evaluation and val- idation. To increase the sensitivity and hence the poten- tial of timely detection of local outbreaks, which usually are very short-lived in contrast to the outbreak under in- vestigation here, the outbreak algorithm used operates on a daily basis. This has the drawback of reduced speci- ficity, i.e. that more false positive outbreak signals are generated due to randomness, especially for geographical regions where the population size is small. Despite this, and even though the daily call counts are relatively low, the outbreak signal pattern shown in Fig. 4 is excep- tional and clearly indicates that individuals living in the distribution area of Abborrverket WTP report more GI symptoms compared to individuals living in other areas. Moreover, this outbreak signal pattern is similar if other groupings of age and contact causes related to symptoms of cryptosporidiosis are used. Although possible sources of contamination were in- vestigated and discussed no conclusive information could be found. Several samples from the drinking water system and the environment were analysed for Crypto- sporidium oocysts but none were detected - apart from the findings in wastewater samples. The most likely the- ory in our opinion is that the winter intake of water to Abborrverket WTP, which is more exposed to contamin- ation since it is located more shallowly in the river and closer to shore compared to the summer intake, was contaminated with Cryptosporidium oocysts from sew- age from one or several sources. However, data on weekly maximal turbidity and bacteriological counts (Escherichia coli, general coliform bacteria, enterococci and Clostridium perfringens) in raw water to Abborrver- ket WTP for the period October 2010 to March 2011 had been within normal levels so such a contamination, if present, was not detected in the routine testing at the WTP. The water intake was shifted to the summer position on the same day as the BWN was issued on 19 April 2011, which may explain why no Cryptosporidium oo- cysts were found in the water samples, since they were all taken after 19 April. It is worth noting that the out- break signals from the syndromic surveillance algorithm present in November 2010 coincide with the shift to the winter intake which might indicate a contamination at that point in time as well - although probably unrelated Table 2 Significant risk factors for infection based on postal questionnaire Odds ratio 95% CI P-value* Age 0-5 4.22 2.66 6.68 <0.001 6-15 2.28 1.42 3.68 0.001 16-65 3.08 1.96 4.83 <0.001 66- 1.00 Water source Not from any WTP/own well 1.00 Abborrverket WTP 2.30 1.49 3.56 <0.001 Not Abborrverket WTP 1.14 0.68 1.91 0.613 CI confidence interval, WTP water treatment plant *Fishers exact P - value Table 3 Population estimates of cases and non-cases of Cryptosporidium-infection in Skellefte between December 2010 and May 2011 divided into age groups Status Age N SE (N) 95% CI (N) N (%) Non-cases 0-5 2433 121 2195 2671 62.8 6-15 5542 208 5135 5950 75.3 16-65 30,728 1148 28,479 32,977 69.6 66- 12,914 326 12,276 13,553 87.9 Cases 0-5 1442 120 1207 1676 37.2 6-15 1819 202 1423 2215 24.7 16-65 13,402 1132 11,183 15,621 30.4 66- 1786 301 1196 2377 12.1 N number, SE standard error; CI confidence interval Based on postal questionnaire Bjelkmar et al. BMC Public Health (2017) 17:328 Page 7 of 10 to the current outbreak. The fact that Cryptosporidium oocysts were found in wastewater is in our opinion re- lated to the fact that a substantial part of the population connected to the municipal SWTP Tuvan was infected with C. hominis IbA10G2. Thus, although the initial cause of the outbreak remains unknown, it was most certainly caused by fecal contamination of human origin since C. hominis is almost exclusively human specific. Compared to the stersund outbreak [11] only age was the common risk factor. In contrast, the current study did not find statistical significance for any of the underlying diseases nor amount of water consumed. Symptom pro- files were almost identical between the outbreaks. The same Cryptosporidium gp60 subtype was found respon- sible for both the current and the stersund outbreak. It is in our opinion likely that the outbreaks were related since this subtype seldom is found in domestic cases in Sweden, in contrast to other European countries, and the time period between the outbreaks was short. However, similarity on gp60 is not conclusive evidence [30] and the question of whether two outbreaks were related is currently investigated by whole genome sequencing. Speculatively, one or a few infected individuals from the stersund outbreak brought the parasite to Skellefte and caused a second outbreak through spread of Cryptosporid- ium oocysts via sewage, into the river, finally ending up in the drinking water since the microbial barriers present in Abborrverket WPT at the time were insufficient to inacti- vate or remove the oocysts. After the outbreak was identified, the water distribution system was flushed to remove the contamination and work to improve the water treatment in Abborrverket WTP was started. Since the large outbreak in stersund only took place a few months earlier the municipality of Skellefte could utilize experience from the actions taken to stop the former outbreak. Even so, the BWN had to be kept in place for 5 months, compared to 3 months in stersund. This was partly due to the longer period of time it took to install an ultraviolet unit as an additional Table 4 Population estimates of cases and non-cases of Cryptosporidium-infection in Skellefte between December 2010 and May 2011 divided into water supply categories Status Category N SE (N) 95% CI (N) N (%) Non-cases Not Abborrverket WTP 22,649 642 21,392 23,906 83.8 Abborrverket WTP 28,696 1033 26,944 30,994 67.3 Cases Not Abborrverket WTP 4368 624 3145 5590 16.2 Abborrverket WTP 14,081 1019 12,084 16,078 32.7 N number, SE standard error, CI confidence interval Based on postal questionnaire Table 5 Clinical features of Cryptosporidium-infection cases in the municipality of Skellefte during December 2010 to May 2011 Proportion with symptom (%) 95% CI (%) Fatigue 78.5 72.4 84.7 Abdominal pain 73.3 66.8 79.8 Upset stomach 71.4 64.7 78.2 Diarrhoea Watery 70.2 63.4 77.0 Bloody 0.9 0.0 2.5 Nausea 63.5 56.1 70.9 Headache 46.9 39.3 54.5 Vomiting 35.8 28.6 43.1 Fever >38 C 36.5 28.2 42.8 Joint pain 27.4 20.4 34.4 Pain in eyes 14.6 9.1 20.1 CI confidence interval Based on postal questionnaire Fig. 4 Daily call counts from Skellefte municipality to Healthcare Guide 1177 regarding GI symptoms from 1 August 2010 until the day before the BWN on 19 April 2011. Inhabitants are divided into two groups; those living in the water distribution area of Abborrverket WPT (blue) and those who are not (red). Outbreak signals from the detection algorithm [14] are shown as blue (Abborrverket WTP) and red circles (not Abborrverket WTP) with weak (hollow circles) and strong outbreak signals (filled circles) along the lower horizontal and upper horizontal, respectively Bjelkmar et al. BMC Public Health (2017) 17:328 Page 8 of 10 microbiological barrier in Abborrverket WTP as well as a longer and more complex water distribution network that had to be flushed. As of November 2016, the municipality of Skellefte is in the process of rebuilding their infrastruc- ture for production of drinking water. This work had started before the outbreak of cryptosporidiosis. Conclusions Our investigation concludes that approximately 18,500 people in the municipality of Skellefte were infected by Cryptosporidium during the winter and spring of 2011 making it the second largest outbreak of cryptosporidiosis described in Europe to date. Cryptosporidium hominis subtype IbA10G2 was isolated from patient samples and wastewater. The epidemiological investigation strongly indicates that this outbreak was waterborne based on the vast number of cases, as well as the fact that the BWN were an effective countermeasure, and that people living in the water distribution area of one specific WTP were more likely to become ill. This conclusion is also strongly supported by the pattern of phone calls to the national health advice line Healthcare Guide 1177. We therefore firmly believe that the outbreak was waterborne and caused by C. hominis transmitted through the public water supplied by Abborrverket WTP even though no oocysts could be found in raw water or in drinking water. Moreover, our results show that the outbreak went unnoticed to the authorities for several months and that systematic monitoring of phone calls to the health advice line, as described in this study, could have limited the out- break to approximately 2300 cases compared to the current estimate of 18,500 cases. This new approach of linking health advice line calls to water distribution areas has been implemented in a system for syndromic surveillance deployed by the Public Health Agency of Sweden in 2016. Additional files Additional file 1: Web-based questionnaire. Translated web-based questionnaire. (PDF 162 kb) Additional file 2: Postal questionnaire for adults. Translated postal questionnaire for adults. (PDF 128 kb) Additional file 3: Postal questionnaire for children. Translated postal questionnaire for children. (PDF 128 kb) Abbreviations BWN: Boil water notice; GI: Gastrointestinal; IFL: Immunofluorescence; IMS: Immunomagnetic separation; OR: Odds ratio; PCR: Polymerase chain reaction; RFLP: Fragment length polymorphism; SWTP: Sewage water treatment plan; UV: Ultraviolet; WTP: Water treatment plant Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Leah Martin at the Public Health Agency of Sweden for useful comments on the manuscript and Stefan Johansson of Skellefte municipality for the information on the drinking water infrastructure, production and testing. Funding The study was partly funded by the Swedish Agency for Contingency Planning through a research and development project named Event-based Surveillance System (ESS). The funding organisation was not involved in any part of the study. Availability of data and materials The datasets used are available from the corresponding author on request. Authors contributions PB conceived and performed the health advice line study and wrote the manuscript. AH performed water analysis and was part of the outbreak team. JB designed and made the statistical analyses of the epidemiology part of the manuscript. ML was part of the outbreak team. ML performed analysis on human samples, including typing and sub-typing and was part of the outbreak team. GA performed water analysis and was part of the outbreak team. SS was responsible for the local outbreak team and contributed to the study design and acquisition of data. JL conceived the study and performed epidemiological analysis. All authors contributed to the interpretation of data and made substantial contributions to the overall content of the manuscript, and approved the final manuscript. Competing interests The authors declare that they have no competing interests. Consent for publication Not applicable. Ethics approval and consent to participate The study was approved by Stockholm ethical review board, reference number 2011/220-31/4. Written informed consent was not necessary due to outbreak investigation. However, a letter stating the art of the investigation was handed out to all participants. Here it was also stated that all personal identification issues were handled according to Swedish law. Furthermore, answers to questionnaires would be seen as written consent to participate in study. Collection of field samples The field samples were collected as part of an ongoing outbreak investigation, followed Swedish routines and legislation, and the sampling was performed in collaboration with local authorities and the drinking water producer. Requirement for permission was waived. Publishers Note Springer Nature remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations.
|
What are the symptoms?
|
{'answer_id': 265069, 'document_id': 394251, 'question_id': 138429, 'text': 'fatigue, abdominal pain, upset stomach, and watery diarrhoea ', 'answer_start': 23325, 'answer_category': 'LONG'}
|
89,194 | 88,852 |
5ad12225645df0001a2d0eaf
|
generic
|
After a debate, the 129 delegates passed Hardie's motion to establish "a distinct Labour group in Parliament, who shall have their own whips, and agree upon their policy, which must embrace a readiness to cooperate with any party which for the time being may be engaged in promoting legislation in the direct interests of labour." This created an association called the Labour Representation Committee (LRC), meant to coordinate attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions and represent the working-class population. It had no single leader, and in the absence of one, the Independent Labour Party nominee Ramsay MacDonald was elected as Secretary. He had the difficult task of keeping the various strands of opinions in the LRC united. The October 1900 "Khaki election" came too soon for the new party to campaign effectively; total expenses for the election only came to £33. Only 15 candidatures were sponsored, but two were successful; Keir Hardie in Merthyr Tydfil and Richard Bell in Derby.
|
What association was meant to disorganize attempts to support MPs sponsored by trade unions?
|
{'text': 'Labour Representation Committee', 'answer_start': 370}
|
109,795 | 109,453 |
572f6be0947a6a140053c939
|
generic
|
For instance, a common use of a database system is to track information about users, their name, login information, various addresses and phone numbers. In the navigational approach all of this data would be placed in a single record, and unused items would simply not be placed in the database. In the relational approach, the data would be normalized into a user table, an address table and a phone number table (for instance). Records would be created in these optional tables only if the address or phone numbers were actually provided.
|
How is information stored in a navigational system?
|
{'text': 'in a single record', 'answer_start': 215}
|
130,621 | 130,279 |
5a7de6bf70df9f001a8752db
|
generic
|
In astrophysics and cosmology, dark matter is matter of unknown composition that does not emit or reflect enough electromagnetic radiation to be observed directly, but whose presence can be inferred from gravitational effects on visible matter. Observational evidence of the early universe and the big bang theory require that this matter have energy and mass, but is not composed of either elementary fermions (as above) OR gauge bosons. The commonly accepted view is that most of the dark matter is non-baryonic in nature. As such, it is composed of particles as yet unobserved in the laboratory. Perhaps they are supersymmetric particles, which are not Standard Model particles, but relics formed at very high energies in the early phase of the universe and still floating about.
|
Supersymmetric particles are part of what Model?
|
{'text': 'Standard', 'answer_start': 656}
|
76,075 | 75,733 |
5727bd4c2ca10214002d951d
|
generic
|
Chapter IX deals with the fact that the geologic record appears to show forms of life suddenly arising, without the innumerable transitional fossils expected from gradual changes. Darwin borrowed Charles Lyell's argument in Principles of Geology that the record is extremely imperfect as fossilisation is a very rare occurrence, spread over vast periods of time; since few areas had been geologically explored, there could only be fragmentary knowledge of geological formations, and fossil collections were very poor. Evolved local varieties which migrated into a wider area would seem to be the sudden appearance of a new species. Darwin did not expect to be able to reconstruct evolutionary history, but continuing discoveries gave him well founded hope that new finds would occasionally reveal transitional forms. To show that there had been enough time for natural selection to work slowly, he again cited Principles of Geology and other observations based on sedimentation and erosion, including an estimate that erosion of The Weald had taken 300 million years. The initial appearance of entire groups of well developed organisms in the oldest fossil-bearing layers, now known as the Cambrian explosion, posed a problem. Darwin had no doubt that earlier seas had swarmed with living creatures, but stated that he had no satisfactory explanation for the lack of fossils. Fossil evidence of pre-Cambrian life has since been found, extending the history of life back for billions of years.
|
Which book written by Charles Lyell contains the argument that fossils are too rare to be used as proof of life suddenly arising?
|
{'text': 'Principles of Geology', 'answer_start': 224}
|
115,351 | 115,009 |
57337479d058e614000b5b41
|
generic
|
Early followers of Whitehead were found primarily at the University of Chicago's Divinity School, where Henry Nelson Wieman initiated an interest in Whitehead's work that would last for about thirty years. Professors such as Wieman, Charles Hartshorne, Bernard Loomer, Bernard Meland, and Daniel Day Williams made Whitehead's philosophy arguably the most important intellectual thread running through the Divinity School. They taught generations of Whitehead scholars, the most notable of which is John B. Cobb, Jr.
|
What professors established the importance of Whitehead's work?
|
{'text': 'Wieman, Charles Hartshorne, Bernard Loomer, Bernard Meland, and Daniel Day Williams', 'answer_start': 225}
|
128,899 | 128,557 |
5a68fabf8476ee001a58a968
|
generic
|
The major and native language spoken in the Punjab is Punjabi (which is written in a Shahmukhi script in Pakistan) and Punjabis comprise the largest ethnic group in country. Punjabi is the provincial language of Punjab. There is not a single district in the province where Punjabi language is mother-tongue of less than 89% of population. The language is not given any official recognition in the Constitution of Pakistan at the national level. Punjabis themselves are a heterogeneous group comprising different tribes, clans (Urdu: برادری) and communities. In Pakistani Punjab these tribes have more to do with traditional occupations such as blacksmiths or artisans as opposed to rigid social stratifications. Punjabi dialects spoken in the province include Majhi (Standard), Saraiki and Hindko. Saraiki is mostly spoken in south Punjab, and Pashto, spoken in some parts of north west Punjab, especially in Attock District and Mianwali District.
|
What is primarily divided by social stratifications?
|
{'text': 'tribes', 'answer_start': 585}
|
30,327 | 29,985 |
570659e875f01819005e7b6f
|
generic
|
In September 1998, the Fraunhofer Institute sent a letter to several developers of MP3 software stating that a license was required to "distribute and/or sell decoders and/or encoders". The letter claimed that unlicensed products "infringe the patent rights of Fraunhofer and Thomson. To make, sell and/or distribute products using the [MPEG Layer-3] standard and thus our patents, you need to obtain a license under these patents from us."
|
What can products not use if they want to avoid infringing on patent rights?
|
{'text': 'the [MPEG Layer-3] standard', 'answer_start': 332}
|
15,253 | 14,911 |
5acf7fe177cf76001a684fdf
|
generic
|
Comics in the US has had a lowbrow reputation stemming from its roots in mass culture; cultural elites sometimes saw popular culture as threatening culture and society. In the latter half of the 20th century, popular culture won greater acceptance, and the lines between high and low culture began to blur. Comics nevertheless continued to be stigmatized, as the medium was seen as entertainment for children and illiterates.
|
What was thought to be bad for children and those who could not read or write?
|
{'text': 'Comics', 'answer_start': 307}
|
104,237 | 103,895 |
5a76ff462d6d7f001a4a9f0d
|
generic
|
In 1821, after Mexico's War of Independence from Spain, Texas was part of the United Mexican States as the state of Coahuila y Tejas. A large influx of Americans soon followed, originally with the approval of Mexico's president. In 1836, the now largely "American" Texans, fought a war of independence from the central government of Mexico and established the Republic of Texas. In 1846, the Republic dissolved when Texas entered the United States of America as a state. Per the 1850 U.S. census, fewer than 16,000 Texans were of Mexican descent, and nearly all were Spanish-speaking people (both Mexicans and non-Spanish European settlers who include German Texan) who were outnumbered (six-to-one) by English-speaking settlers (both Americans and other immigrant Europeans).[citation needed]
|
What census found fewer than 16,000 Texans of English descent?
|
{'text': '1850 U.S. census', 'answer_start': 479}
|
3,623 | 3,281 |
56cecd53aab44d1400b88a89
|
generic
|
On May 12, 2009, China marked the first anniversary of the quake with a moment of silence as people across the nation remembered the dead. The government also opened access to the sealed ruins of the Beichuan county seat for three days, after which it will be frozen in time as a state earthquake relic museum, to remind people of the terrible disaster. There were also several concerts across the country to raise money for the survivors of the quake.
|
Where did the government open access to?
|
{'text': 'the sealed ruins of the Beichuan county seat', 'answer_start': 176}
|
84,332 | 83,990 |
57280c6eff5b5019007d9bbb
|
generic
|
Despite the commanded withdrawal of Egyptian troops, about 2,000 Egyptian soldiers were killed during engagement with Israeli forces, and some 5,000 Egyptian soldiers were captured by the Israeli Army. Amer and Salah Salem proposed requesting a ceasefire, with Salem further recommending that Nasser surrender himself to British forces. Nasser berated Amer and Salem, and vowed, "Nobody is going to surrender." Nasser assumed military command. Despite the relative ease in which Sinai was occupied, Nasser's prestige at home and among Arabs was undamaged. To counterbalance the Egyptian Army's dismal performance, Nasser authorized the distribution of about 400,000 rifles to civilian volunteers and hundreds of militias were formed throughout Egypt, many led by Nasser's political opponents.
|
How many Egyptian soldiers did the Israeli army capture?
|
{'text': '5,000', 'answer_start': 143}
|
81,446 | 81,104 |
57288fa83acd2414000dfb19
|
generic
|
In 2003, a congestion charge was introduced to reduce traffic volumes in the city centre. With a few exceptions, motorists are required to pay £10 per day to drive within a defined zone encompassing much of central London. Motorists who are residents of the defined zone can buy a greatly reduced season pass. London government initially expected the Congestion Charge Zone to increase daily peak period Underground and bus users by 20,000 people, reduce road traffic by 10 to 15 per cent, increase traffic speeds by 10 to 15 per cent, and reduce queues by 20 to 30 per cent. Over the course of several years, the average number of cars entering the centre of London on a weekday was reduced from 195,000 to 125,000 cars – a 35-per-cent reduction of vehicles driven per day.
|
What services were anticipated to be greatly increased as a result of the congestion charge zone?
|
{'text': 'Underground and bus', 'answer_start': 404}
|
53,933 | 53,591 |
572688fd708984140094c92c
|
generic
|
Harry Caray's stamp on the team is perhaps even deeper than that of Brickhouse, although his 17-year tenure, from 1982 to 1997, was half as long. First, Caray had already become a well-known Chicago figure by broadcasting White Sox games for a decade, after having been a St Louis Cardinals icon for 25 years. Caray also had the benefit of being in the booth during the NL East title run in 1984, which was widely seen due to WGN's status as a cable-TV superstation. His trademark call of "Holy Cow!" and his enthusiastic singing of "Take me out to the ballgame" during the 7th inning stretch (as he had done with the White Sox) made Caray a fan favorite both locally and nationally.
|
How did Caray become a well-known Chicago figure?
|
{'text': 'by broadcasting White Sox games for a decade', 'answer_start': 206}
|
43,259 | 42,917 |
570db26616d0071400510cf6
|
generic
|
The kingdom is mentioned in the Periplus of the Erythraean Sea as an important market place for ivory, which was exported throughout the ancient world. Aksum was at the time ruled by Zoskales, who also governed the port of Adulis. The Aksumite rulers facilitated trade by minting their own Aksumite currency. The state also established its hegemony over the declining Kingdom of Kush and regularly entered the politics of the kingdoms on the Arabian peninsula, eventually extending its rule over the region with the conquest of the Himyarite Kingdom.
|
How did the Aksumite rulers facilitate trade?
|
{'text': 'by minting their own Aksumite currency', 'answer_start': 269}
|
11,053 | 10,711 |
5ad0caa5645df0001a2d0381
|
generic
|
LE: Life expectancy at birth
MYS: Mean years of schooling (Years that a person 25 years-of-age or older has spent in schools)
EYS: Expected years of schooling (Years that a 5-year-old child will spend in schools throughout his life)
GNIpc: Gross national income at purchasing power parity per capita
|
What does MIS stand for?
|
{'text': 'Mean years of schooling', 'answer_start': 34}
|
119,834 | 119,492 |
5731dce4e17f3d14004224b3
|
generic
|
Feathers being critical to the survival of a bird, require maintenance. Apart from physical wear and tear, feathers face the onslaught of fungi, ectoparasitic feather mites and birdlice. The physical condition of feathers are maintained by preening often with the application of secretions from the preen gland. Birds also bathe in water or dust themselves. While some birds dip into shallow water, more aerial species may make aerial dips into water and arboreal species often make use of dew or rain that collect on leaves. Birds of arid regions make use of loose soil to dust-bathe. A behaviour termed as anting in which the bird encourages ants to run through their plumage is also thought to help them reduce the ectoparasite load in feathers. Many species will spread out their wings and expose them to direct sunlight and this too is thought to help in reducing fungal and ectoparasitic activity that may lead to feather damage.
|
What is anting?
|
{'text': 'bird encourages ants to run through their plumage', 'answer_start': 628}
|
7,666 | 7,324 |
56db7092e7c41114004b5108
|
generic
|
Hong Kong: The event was held in Hong Kong on May 2. In the ceremony held at the Hong Kong Cultural Centre in Tsim Sha Tsui, Chief Executive Donald Tsang handed the torch to the first torchbearer, Olympic medalist Lee Lai Shan. The torch relay then traveled through Nathan Road, Lantau Link, Sha Tin (crossed Shing Mun River via a dragon boat, which had been never used before in the history of Olympic torch relays), Victoria Harbour (crossed by Tin Hau, a VIP vessel managed by the Marine Department) before ending in Golden Bauhinia Square in Wan Chai. A total of 120 torchbearers were selected to participate in the event consisting of celebrities, athletes and pro-Beijing camp politicians. No politicians from the pro-democracy camp were selected as torchbearers. One torchbearer could not participate due to flight delay. It was estimated that more than 200,000 spectators came out and watched the relay. Many enthusiastic supporters wore red shirts and waved large Chinese flags. According to Hong Kong Chief Secretary for Administration Henry Tang, 3,000 police were deployed to ensure order.
|
Who handed the torch to Lee Lai Shan, the first torchbearer?
|
{'text': 'Donald Tsang', 'answer_start': 142}
|
116,708 | 116,366 |
5a4e72b0755ab9001a10f454
|
generic
|
An airport is an aerodrome with facilities for flights to take off and land. Airports often have facilities to store and maintain aircraft, and a control tower. An airport consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surface such as a runway for a plane to take off or a helipad, and often includes adjacent utility buildings such as control towers, hangars and terminals. Larger airports may have fixed base operator services, airport aprons, air traffic control centres, passenger facilities such as restaurants and lounges, and emergency services.
|
What is an example of an airport apron?
|
{'text': 'one operationally active surface such as a runway', 'answer_start': 269}
|
118,442 | 118,100 |
5acfae8377cf76001a68583c
|
generic
|
Namibia follows a largely independent foreign policy, with persisting affiliations with states that aided the independence struggle, including Cuba. With a small army and a fragile economy, the Namibian Government's principal foreign policy concern is developing strengthened ties within the Southern African region. A dynamic member of the Southern African Development Community, Namibia is a vocal advocate for greater regional integration. Namibia became the 160th member of the UN on 23 April 1990. On its independence it became the fiftieth member of the Commonwealth of Nations.
|
What sub-Saharan country has a strong economy?
|
{'text': 'Namibia', 'answer_start': 0}
|
74,101 | 73,759 |
572785725951b619008f8c3d
|
generic
|
New Haven is a predominantly Roman Catholic city, as the city's Dominican, Irish, Italian, Mexican, Ecuadorian, and Puerto Rican populations are overwhelmingly Catholic. The city is part of the Archdiocese of Hartford. Jews also make up a considerable portion of the population, as do Black Baptists. There is a growing number of (mostly Puerto Rican) Pentecostals as well. There are churches for all major branches of Christianity within the city, multiple store-front churches, ministries (especially in working-class Latino and Black neighborhoods), a mosque, many synagogues (including two yeshivas), and other places of worship; the level of religious diversity in the city is high.
|
How many yeshivas are located in New Haven?
|
{'text': 'two', 'answer_start': 590}
|
59,586 | 59,244 |
5acfc68477cf76001a685e9b
|
generic
|
The Westminster Confession is "The principal subordinate standard of the Church of Scotland" but "with due regard to liberty of opinion in points which do not enter into the substance of the Faith" (V). This formulation represents many years of struggle over the extent to which the confession reflects the Word of God and the struggle of conscience of those who came to believe it did not fully do so (e.g. William Robertson Smith). Some Presbyterian Churches, such as the Free Church of Scotland, have no such "conscience clause".
|
Which is the principal standard of the Church of Faith?
|
{'text': 'The Westminster Confession', 'answer_start': 0}
|
20,821 | 20,479 |
56e7993000c9c71400d77351
|
generic
|
The first game in Arena Football League history was played on June 19, 1987, between the Gladiators and Commandos at Pittsburgh Civic Arena in front of 12,117 fans. The game was deliberately not televised so that it could be analyzed and any follies and failures would not be subject to national public scrutiny. Following the inaugural game, tweaks and adjustments were made, and the first season continued. The Dynamite and Bruisers played in the first-ever televised AFL game the next night, on June 20, 1987, at the Rosemont Horizon in suburban Chicago on ESPN with Bob Rathbun and Lee Corso calling the play. The broadcast showed a short clip of the Commandos-Gladiators game. Each team played six games, two against each other team. The top two teams, Denver and Pittsburgh, then competed in the first-ever AFL championship game, ArenaBowl I.
|
On what date was the inaugural game of the AFL played?
|
{'text': 'June 19, 1987', 'answer_start': 62}
|
60,937 | 60,595 |
5726881e708984140094c909
|
generic
|
Botany was greatly stimulated by the appearance of the first "modern" text book, Matthias Schleiden's Grundzüge der Wissenschaftlichen Botanik, published in English in 1849 as Principles of Scientific Botany. Schleiden was a microscopist and an early plant anatomist who co-founded the cell theory with Theodor Schwann and Rudolf Virchow and was among the first to grasp the significance of the cell nucleus that had been described by Robert Brown in 1831. In 1855, Adolf Fick formulated Fick's laws that enabled the calculation of the rates of molecular diffusion in biological systems.
|
What was the first modern text book?
|
{'text': 'Grundzüge der Wissenschaftlichen Botanik', 'answer_start': 102}
|
109,514 | 109,172 |
572f7534a23a5019007fc644
|
generic
|
Although unpleasantness is an essential part of the IASP definition of pain, it is possible to induce a state described as intense pain devoid of unpleasantness in some patients, with morphine injection or psychosurgery. Such patients report that they have pain but are not bothered by it; they recognize the sensation of pain but suffer little, or not at all. Indifference to pain can also rarely be present from birth; these people have normal nerves on medical investigations, and find pain unpleasant, but do not avoid repetition of the pain stimulus.
|
How much do some patients going through psychosurgery suffer from the sensation of pain?
|
{'text': 'little, or not at all', 'answer_start': 338}
|
27,198 | 26,856 |
5ad3c735604f3c001a3ff03b
|
generic
|
Additionally, cable-ready TV sets can display HD content without using an external box. They have a QAM tuner built-in and/or a card slot for inserting a CableCARD.
|
SD content can be displayed by cable-ready TVs without using what?
|
{'text': 'external box', 'answer_start': 74}
|
27,733 | 27,391 |
56fae0a58f12f3190063021d
|
generic
|
An estimated 20,000 Somalis emigrated to the U.S. state of Minnesota some ten years ago and the Twin Cities (Minneapolis and Saint Paul) now have the highest population of Somalis in North America. The city of Minneapolis hosts hundreds of Somali-owned and operated businesses offering a variety of products, including leather shoes, jewelry and other fashion items, halal meat, and hawala or money transfer services. Community-based video rental stores likewise carry the latest Somali films and music. The number of Somalis has especially surged in the Cedar-Riverside area of Minneapolis.
|
What sort of meat is sold in Somali businesses in Minneapolis?
|
{'text': 'halal', 'answer_start': 367}
|
106,148 | 105,806 |
572f96f0947a6a140053ca9b
|
generic
|
Liquor was another profitable private industry nationalized by the central government in 98 BC. However, this was repealed in 81 BC and a property tax rate of two coins for every 0.2 L (0.05 gallons) was levied for those who traded it privately. By 110 BC Emperor Wu also interfered with the profitable trade in grain when he eliminated speculation by selling government-stored grain at a lower price than demanded by merchants. Apart from Emperor Ming's creation of a short-lived Office for Price Adjustment and Stabilization, which was abolished in 68 AD, central-government price control regulations were largely absent during the Eastern Han.
|
What did Emperor Wu sell that offended the merchants?
|
{'text': 'grain', 'answer_start': 312}
|
116,751 | 116,409 |
5a4e7dae755ab9001a10f490
|
generic
|
Airports may also contain premium and VIP services. The premium and VIP services may include express check-in and dedicated check-in counters. These services are usually reserved for First and Business class passengers, premium frequent flyers, and members of the airline's clubs. Premium services may sometimes be open to passengers who are members of a different airline's frequent flyer program. This can sometimes be part of a reciprocal deal, as when multiple airlines are part of the same alliance, or as a ploy to attract premium customers away from rival airlines.
|
What services are always available to passengers who fly with more than one airline?
|
{'text': 'Premium services', 'answer_start': 281}
|
128,635 | 128,293 |
57340a0dd058e614000b6852
|
generic
|
East of the divide, several roughly parallel ranges cover the southern part of the state, including the Gravelly Range, the Madison Range, Gallatin Range, Absaroka Mountains and the Beartooth Mountains. The Beartooth Plateau is the largest continuous land mass over 10,000 feet (3,000 m) high in the continental United States. It contains the highest point in the state, Granite Peak, 12,799 feet (3,901 m) high. North of these ranges are the Big Belt Mountains, Bridger Mountains, Tobacco Roots, and several island ranges, including the Crazy Mountains and Little Belt Mountains.
|
What is thie highest point in the state?
|
{'text': 'Granite Peak', 'answer_start': 371}
|
113,424 | 113,082 |
5a540f0bbdaabd001a38682b
|
generic
|
Between the 8th and 18th centuries, the use of glazed ceramics was prevalent in Islamic art, usually assuming the form of elaborate pottery. Tin-opacified glazing was one of the earliest new technologies developed by the Islamic potters. The first Islamic opaque glazes can be found as blue-painted ware in Basra, dating to around the 8th century. Another contribution was the development of stone-paste ceramics, originating from 9th century Iraq. Other centers for innovative ceramic pottery in the Old world included Fustat (from 975 to 1075), Damascus (from 1100 to around 1600) and Tabriz (from 1470 to 1550).
|
Where can you find the latest examples of opaque glazes in the Muslim world?
|
{'text': 'Basra', 'answer_start': 307}
|
27,953 | 27,611 |
56fb623d8ddada1400cd63bc
|
generic
|
As Western Europe witnessed the formation of new kingdoms, the Eastern Roman Empire remained intact and experienced an economic revival that lasted into the early 7th century. There were fewer invasions of the eastern section of the empire; most occurred in the Balkans. Peace with Persia, the traditional enemy of Rome, lasted throughout most of the 5th century. The Eastern Empire was marked by closer relations between the political state and Christian Church, with doctrinal matters assuming an importance in eastern politics that they did not have in Western Europe. Legal developments included the codification of Roman law; the first effort—the Theodosian Code—was completed in 438. Under Emperor Justinian (r. 527–565), another compilation took place—the Corpus Juris Civilis. Justinian also oversaw the construction of the Hagia Sophia in Constantinople and the reconquest of North Africa from the Vandals and Italy from the Ostrogoths, under Belisarius (d. 565). The conquest of Italy was not complete, as a deadly outbreak of plague in 542 led to the rest of Justinian's reign concentrating on defensive measures rather than further conquests. At the emperor's death, the Byzantines had control of most of Italy, North Africa, and a small foothold in southern Spain. Justinian's reconquests have been criticised by historians for overextending his realm and setting the stage for the Muslim conquests, but many of the difficulties faced by Justinian's successors were due not just to over-taxation to pay for his wars but to the essentially civilian nature of the empire, which made raising troops difficult.
|
What year saw the completion of the Theodosian Code?
|
{'text': '438', 'answer_start': 685}
|
108,874 | 108,532 |
572f3f8f04bcaa1900d767d1
|
generic
|
Classified as a Subtropical Mediterranean climate (Köppen Csb), Santa Monica enjoys an average of 310 days of sunshine a year. It is located in USDA plant hardiness zone 11a. Because of its location, nestled on the vast and open Santa Monica Bay, morning fog is a common phenomenon in May, June and early July (caused by ocean temperature variations and currents). Like other inhabitants of the greater Los Angeles area, residents have a particular terminology for this phenomenon: the "May Gray" and the "June Gloom". Overcast skies are common during June mornings, but usually the strong sun burns the fog off by noon. In the late winter/early summer, daily fog is a phenomenon too. It happens suddenly and it may last some hours or past sunset time. Nonetheless, it will sometimes stay cloudy and cool all day during June, even as other parts of the Los Angeles area enjoy sunny skies and warmer temperatures. At times, the sun can be shining east of 20th Street, while the beach area is overcast. As a general rule, the beach temperature is from 5 to 10 degrees Fahrenheit (3 to 6 degrees Celsius) cooler than it is inland during summer days, and 5–10 degrees warmer during winter nights.
|
What is the beach temperature in Fahrenheit during the summer ?
|
{'text': '5 to 10 degrees', 'answer_start': 1050}
|
78,997 | 78,655 |
5ad26420d7d075001a42912f
|
generic
|
Because the nuns of the order did not preach among the people, the need to engage in study was not as immediate or intense as it was for men. They did participate, however, in a number of intellectual activities. Along with sewing and embroidery, nuns often engaged in reading and discussing correspondence from Church leaders. In the Strassburg monastery of St. Margaret, some of the nuns could converse fluently in Latin. Learning still had an elevated place in the lives of these religious. In fact, Margarette Reglerin, a daughter of a wealthy Nuremberg family, was dismissed from a convent because she did not have the ability or will to learn.
|
What Strasbourg monastery did some nuns not converse fluently in Latin?
|
{'text': 'St. Margaret', 'answer_start': 359}
|
42,938 | 42,596 |
570df3470dc6ce1900204d47
|
generic
|
Some species of marine animals exist and rely, directly or indirectly, on the phytoplankton. Antarctic sea life includes penguins, blue whales, orcas, colossal squids and fur seals. The emperor penguin is the only penguin that breeds during the winter in Antarctica, while the Adélie penguin breeds farther south than any other penguin. The rockhopper penguin has distinctive feathers around the eyes, giving the appearance of elaborate eyelashes. King penguins, chinstrap penguins, and gentoo penguins also breed in the Antarctic.
|
What sea plankton doe many sea creatures rely on to live?
|
{'text': 'phytoplankton', 'answer_start': 78}
|
116,360 | 116,018 |
5730492d947a6a140053d3a8
|
generic
|
Education in Swaziland begins with pre-school education for infants, primary, secondary and high school education for general education and training (GET), and universities and colleges at tertiary level. Pre-school education is usually for children 5-year or younger after that the students can enroll in a primary school anywhere in the country. In Swaziland early childhood care and education (ECCE) centres are in the form of preschools or neighbourhood care points (NCPs). In the country 21.6% of preschool age children have access to early childhood education.
|
In reference to education in Swaziland, hat is an NCP otherwise known as?
|
{'text': 'neighbourhood care points', 'answer_start': 444}
|
95,695 | 95,353 |
5ace39de32bba1001ae49f3d
|
generic
|
Animals that characterize the Appalachian forests include five species of tree squirrels. The most commonly seen is the low to moderate elevation eastern gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis). Occupying similar habitat is the slightly larger fox squirrel (Sciurus niger) and the much smaller southern flying squirrel (Glaucomys volans). More characteristic of cooler northern and high elevation habitat is the red squirrel (Tamiasciurus hudsonicus), whereas the Appalachian northern flying squirrel (Glaucomys sabrinus fuscus), which closely resembles the southern flying squirrel, is confined to northern hardwood and spruce-fir forests.
|
How many species of animals are in the Appalachian forests?
|
{'text': 'five', 'answer_start': 58}
|
129,365 | 129,023 |
5734203ed058e614000b6983
|
generic
|
Persistent infections occur because the body is unable to clear the organism after the initial infection. Persistent infections are characterized by the continual presence of the infectious organism, often as latent infection with occasional recurrent relapses of active infection. There are some viruses that can maintain a persistent infection by infecting different cells of the body. Some viruses once acquired never leave the body. A typical example is the herpes virus, which tends to hide in nerves and become reactivated when specific circumstances arise.
|
What are persistent infections characterized by the continual presence of?
|
{'text': 'the infectious organism', 'answer_start': 175}
|
95,150 | 94,808 |
5729939d1d04691400779555
|
generic
|
The first phase of neoclassicism in France is expressed in the "Louis XVI style" of architects like Ange-Jacques Gabriel (Petit Trianon, 1762–68); the second phase, in the styles called Directoire and "Empire", might be characterized by Jean Chalgrin's severe astylar Arc de Triomphe (designed in 1806). In England the two phases might be characterized first by the structures of Robert Adam, the second by those of Sir John Soane. The interior style in France was initially a Parisian style, the "Goût grec" ("Greek style") not a court style. Only when the young king acceded to the throne in 1771 did Marie Antoinette, his fashion-loving Queen, bring the "Louis XVI" style to court.
|
What architect typifies the first style of neoclassical in England?
|
{'text': 'Robert Adam', 'answer_start': 380}
|
86,097 | 85,755 |
5ad2df1bd7d075001a42a5a1
|
generic
|
PlayStation 3 uses the Cell microprocessor, designed by Sony, Toshiba and IBM, as its CPU, which is made up of one 3.2 GHz PowerPC-based "Power Processing Element" (PPE) and eight Synergistic Processing Elements (SPEs). The eighth SPE is disabled to improve chip yields. Only six of the seven SPEs are accessible to developers as the seventh SPE is reserved by the console's operating system. Graphics processing is handled by the NVIDIA RSX 'Reality Synthesizer', which can produce resolutions from 480i/576i SD up to 1080p HD. PlayStation 3 has 256 MB of XDR DRAM main memory and 256 MB of GDDR3 video memory for the RSX.
|
PS4 has 526 MB of what kind of main memory?
|
{'text': 'XDR DRAM', 'answer_start': 557}
|
88,206 | 87,864 |
572822da3acd2414000df562
|
generic
|
The annelids are bilaterally symmetrical, triploblastic, coelomate, invertebrate organisms. They also have parapodia for locomotion. Most textbooks still use the traditional division into polychaetes (almost all marine), oligochaetes (which include earthworms) and leech-like species. Cladistic research since 1997 has radically changed this scheme, viewing leeches as a sub-group of oligochaetes and oligochaetes as a sub-group of polychaetes. In addition, the Pogonophora, Echiura and Sipuncula, previously regarded as separate phyla, are now regarded as sub-groups of polychaetes. Annelids are considered members of the Lophotrochozoa, a "super-phylum" of protostomes that also includes molluscs, brachiopods, flatworms and nemerteans.
|
Which subtype of annelids includes earthworms?
|
{'text': 'oligochaetes', 'answer_start': 221}
|
125,323 | 124,981 |
57325a420fdd8d15006c6a11
|
generic
|
According to the 2010 Census, 53.5% of Bronx's population was of Hispanic, Latino, or Spanish origin (they may be of any race); 30.1% non-Hispanic Black or African American, 10.9% of the population was non-Hispanic White, 3.4% non-Hispanic Asian, 0.6% from some other race (non-Hispanic) and 1.2% of two or more races (non-Hispanic). The U.S. Census considers the Bronx to be the most diverse area in the country. There is an 89.7 percent chance that any two residents, chosen at random, would be of different race or ethnicity.
|
How much of the Bronx's population is non-Hispanic White?
|
{'text': '10.9%', 'answer_start': 174}
|
30,904 | 30,562 |
570711b19e06ca38007e9382
|
generic
|
In the constituent legislature or convention, the conservative and liberal elements formed using the nicknames of Chirrines and Cuchas. The military entered as a third party. The elections for the first regular legislature were disputed, and it was not until May 1, 1826, that the body was installed. The liberals gained control and the opposition responded by fomenting a conspiracy. This was promptly stopped with the aid of informers, and more strenuous measures were taken against the conservatives. Extra powers were conferred on the Durango governor, Santiago Baca Ortiz, deputy to the first national congress, and leader of the liberal party.
|
Which party had gained control?
|
{'text': 'liberals', 'answer_start': 305}
|
106,897 | 106,555 |
572f6665a23a5019007fc5d9
|
generic
|
Replicated CDs are mass-produced initially using a hydraulic press. Small granules of heated raw polycarbonate plastic are fed into the press. A screw forces the liquefied plastic into the mold cavity. The mold closes with a metal stamper in contact with the disc surface. The plastic is allowed to cool and harden. Once opened, the disc substrate is removed from the mold by a robotic arm, and a 15 mm diameter center hole (called a stacking ring) is created. The time it takes to "stamp" one CD is usually two to three seconds.
|
What size is the diameter of the center hole in a CD?
|
{'text': '15 mm', 'answer_start': 397}
|
67,760 | 67,418 |
5727a05d2ca10214002d924c
|
generic
|
Switzerland has an overwhelmingly private sector economy and low tax rates by Western World standards; overall taxation is one of the smallest of developed countries. Switzerland is a relatively easy place to do business, currently ranking 20th of 189 countries in the Ease of Doing Business Index. The slow growth Switzerland experienced in the 1990s and the early 2000s has brought greater support for economic reforms and harmonization with the European Union. According to Credit Suisse, only about 37% of residents own their own homes, one of the lowest rates of home ownership in Europe. Housing and food price levels were 171% and 145% of the EU-25 index in 2007, compared to 113% and 104% in Germany.
|
How is Switzerland ranked of 189 countries in the Ease of Doing Business Index?
|
{'text': '20th', 'answer_start': 240}
|
124,224 | 123,882 |
5a53dca0bdaabd001a386796
|
generic
|
Within the diasporan Armenian community, there is an unofficial classification of the different kinds of Armenians. For example, Armenians who originate from Iran are referred to as Parskahay (Պարսկահայ), while Armenians from Lebanon are usually referred to as Lipananahay (Լիբանանահայ). Armenians of the Diaspora are the primary speakers of the Western dialect of the Armenian language. This dialect has considerable differences with Eastern Armenian, but speakers of either of the two variations can usually understand each other. Eastern Armenian in the diaspora is primarily spoken in Iran and European countries such as Ukraine, Russia, and Georgia (where they form a majority in the Samtskhe-Javakheti province). In diverse communities (such as in Canada and the U.S.) where many different kinds of Armenians live together, there is a tendency for the different groups to cluster together.
|
What do groups of Russians do when they live in the US?
|
{'text': 'there is a tendency for the different groups to cluster together', 'answer_start': 830}
|
129,379 | 129,037 |
5a82fcfbe60761001a2eb2c7
|
generic
|
Diagnosis of infectious disease sometimes involves identifying an infectious agent either directly or indirectly. In practice most minor infectious diseases such as warts, cutaneous abscesses, respiratory system infections and diarrheal diseases are diagnosed by their clinical presentation and treated without knowledge of the specific causative agent. Conclusions about the cause of the disease are based upon the likelihood that a patient came in contact with a particular agent, the presence of a microbe in a community, and other epidemiological considerations. Given sufficient effort, all known infectious agents can be specifically identified. The benefits of identification, however, are often greatly outweighed by the cost, as often there is no specific treatment, the cause is obvious, or the outcome of an infection is benign.
|
What does diagnosis of an infectious always involve ignoring?
|
{'text': 'an infectious agent either directly or indirectly', 'answer_start': 63}
|
47,885 | 47,543 |
5ad2b0d3d7d075001a429f48
|
generic
|
The 2000 U.S. Census in the write-in response category had a code listing which standardizes the placement of various write-in responses for automatic placement within the framework of the U.S. Census's enumerated races. Whereas most responses can be distinguished as falling into one of the five enumerated races, there remains some write-in responses which fall into the "Mixture" heading which cannot be racially categorized. These include "Bi Racial, Combination, Everything, Many, Mixed, Multi National, Multiple, Several and Various".
|
What heading can be racially categorized?
|
{'text': 'Mixture', 'answer_start': 374}
|
70,347 | 70,005 |
5ad3f69b604f3c001a3ff9f1
|
generic
|
The island experienced large-scale immigration over the 20th century, especially after the Second World War. Bermuda has a diverse population including both those with relatively deep roots in Bermuda extending back for centuries, and newer communities whose ancestry results from recent immigration, especially from Britain, North America, the West Indies, and the Portuguese Atlantic islands (especially the Azores), although these groups are steadily merging. About 46% of the population identified themselves with Bermudian ancestry in 2010, which was a decrease from the 51% who did so in the 2000 census. Those identifying with British ancestry dropped by 1% to 11% (although those born in Britain remain the largest non-native group at 3,942 persons). The number of people born in Canada declined by 13%. Those who reported West Indian ancestry were 13%. The number of people born in the West Indies actually increased by 538. A significant segment of the population is of Portuguese ancestry (10%), the result of immigration over the past 160 years, of whom 79% have residency status.
|
What group of people increased by 583?
|
{'text': 'people born in the West Indies', 'answer_start': 876}
|
90,611 | 90,269 |
5ad16f83645df0001a2d1b39
|
generic
|
Beside the introduction of the lute to Spain (Andalusia) by the Moors, another important point of transfer of the lute from Arabian to European culture was Sicily, where it was brought either by Byzantine or later by Muslim musicians. There were singer-lutenists at the court in Palermo following the Norman conquest of the island from the Muslims, and the lute is depicted extensively in the ceiling paintings in the Palermo’s royal Cappella Palatina, dedicated by the Norman King Roger II of Sicily in 1140. His Hohenstaufen grandson Frederick II, Holy Roman Emperor (1194 - 1250) continued integrating Muslims into his court, including Moorish musicians. By the 14th century, lutes had disseminated throughout Italy and, probably because of the cultural influence of the Hohenstaufen kings and emperor, based in Palermo, the lute had also made significant inroads into the German-speaking lands.
|
What is another term for Moors?
|
{'text': 'Andalusia', 'answer_start': 46}
|
65,221 | 64,879 |
5726d047f1498d1400e8ec0a
|
generic
|
By the late Middle Ages university towns had grown in wealth and importance as well, and this was reflected in the buildings of some of Europe's ancient universities. Particularly remarkable examples still standing nowadays include the Collegio di Spagna in the University of Bologna, built during the 14th and 15th centuries; the Collegium Carolinum of the University of Prague in Bohemia; the Escuelas mayores of the University of Salamanca in Spain; the chapel of King's College, Cambridge; or the Collegium Maius of the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland.
|
What is the name of the secular building at the Jagiellonian University in Kraków, Poland?
|
{'text': 'the Collegium Maius', 'answer_start': 497}
|
56,854 | 56,512 |
5726a3d5708984140094ccb0
|
generic
|
Mexico City is served by Mexico City International Airport (IATA Airport Code: MEX). This airport is Latin America's second busiest and one of the largests in traffic, with daily flights to United States and Canada, mainland Mexico, Central America and the Caribbean, South America, Europe and Asia. Aeroméxico (Skyteam) is based at this airport, and provide codeshare agreements with non-Mexican airlines that span the entire globe. In 2014, the airport handled well over 34 million passengers, just over 2 million more than the year before. This traffic exceeds the current capacity of the airport, which has historically centralized the majority of air traffic in the country. An alternate option is Lic. Adolfo López Mateos International Airport (IATA Airport Code: TLC) in nearby Toluca, State of Mexico, although due to several airlines' decisions to terminate service to TLC, the airport has seen a passenger drop to just over 700,000 passengers in 2014 from over 2.1 million passengers just four years prior.
|
What is the name of the smaller airport near Mexico City?
|
{'text': 'Adolfo López Mateos International Airport', 'answer_start': 708}
|
9,170 | 8,828 |
5a1cbf334ea40d0018b06ef7
|
generic
|
During the Dutch Golden Age in the late 16th century onward, the Dutch Republic dominated world trade in the 17th century, conquering a vast colonial empire and operating the largest fleet of merchantmen of any nation. The County of Holland was the wealthiest and most urbanized region in the world.
|
What trade fleet was the wealthiest and most urbanized?
|
{'text': 'County of Holland', 'answer_start': 223}
|
23,330 | 22,988 |
56f8def59e9bad19000a0642
|
generic
|
While Southampton is no longer the base for any cross-channel ferries, it is the terminus for three internal ferry services, all of which operate from terminals at Town Quay. Two of these, a car ferry service and a fast catamaran passenger ferry service, provide links to East Cowes and Cowes respectively on the Isle of Wight and are operated by Red Funnel. The third ferry is the Hythe Ferry, providing a passenger service to Hythe on the other side of Southampton Water.
|
What body of water does the Hythe Ferry cross to reach Hythe from Southampton?
|
{'text': 'Southampton Water', 'answer_start': 455}
|
86,451 | 86,109 |
572a95fe34ae481900deab9f
|
generic
|
Under modern constitutional conventions, the sovereign acts on the advice of his or her ministers. Since these ministers most often maintain the support of parliament and are the ones who obtain the passage of bills, it is highly improbable that they would advise the sovereign to withhold assent. An exception is sometimes stated to be if bills are not passed in good faith, though it is difficult to make an interpretation on what this circumstance might constitute. Hence, in modern practice, royal assent is always granted; a refusal to do so would be appropriate only in an emergency requiring the use of the monarch's reserve powers.
|
Is it probable, improbable, or impossible that a sovereign would withhold assent?
|
{'text': 'improbable', 'answer_start': 230}
|
102,803 | 102,461 |
57318d40a5e9cc1400cdc051
|
generic
|
His first professional TV job came when he was hired to direct one of the segments for the 1969 pilot episode of Night Gallery. The segment, "Eyes," starred Joan Crawford; she and Spielberg were reportedly close friends until her death. The episode is unusual in his body of work, in that the camerawork is more highly stylized than his later, more "mature" films. After this, and an episode of Marcus Welby, M.D., Spielberg got his first feature-length assignment: an episode of The Name of the Game called "L.A. 2017". This futuristic science fiction episode impressed Universal Studios and they signed him to a short contract. He did another segment on Night Gallery and did some work for shows such as Owen Marshall: Counselor at Law and The Psychiatrist, before landing the first series episode of Columbo (previous episodes were actually TV films).
|
What was Spielberg's first full TV episode to direct?
|
{'text': 'an episode of The Name of the Game called "L.A. 2017"', 'answer_start': 466}
|
28,046 | 27,704 |
56fb741bb28b3419009f1d54
|
generic
|
Efforts by local kings to fight the invaders led to the formation of new political entities. In Anglo-Saxon England, King Alfred the Great (r. 871–899) came to an agreement with the Viking invaders in the late 9th century, resulting in Danish settlements in Northumbria, Mercia, and parts of East Anglia. By the middle of the 10th century, Alfred's successors had conquered Northumbria, and restored English control over most of the southern part of Great Britain. In northern Britain, Kenneth MacAlpin (d. c. 860) united the Picts and the Scots into the Kingdom of Alba. In the early 10th century, the Ottonian dynasty had established itself in Germany, and was engaged in driving back the Magyars. Its efforts culminated in the coronation in 962 of Otto I (r. 936–973) as Holy Roman Emperor. In 972, he secured recognition of his title by the Byzantine Empire, which he sealed with the marriage of his son Otto II (r. 967–983) to Theophanu (d. 991), daughter of an earlier Byzantine Emperor Romanos II (r. 959–963). By the late 10th century Italy had been drawn into the Ottonian sphere after a period of instability; Otto III (r. 996–1002) spent much of his later reign in the kingdom. The western Frankish kingdom was more fragmented, and although kings remained nominally in charge, much of the political power devolved to the local lords.
|
When did Alfred the Great begin his reign?
|
{'text': '871', 'answer_start': 143}
|
40,530 | 40,188 |
570d1a97b3d812140066d411
|
generic
|
In 1988, Apple sued Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard on the grounds that they infringed Apple's copyrighted GUI, citing (among other things) the use of rectangular, overlapping, and resizable windows. After four years, the case was decided against Apple, as were later appeals. Apple's actions were criticized by some in the software community, including the Free Software Foundation (FSF), who felt Apple was trying to monopolize on GUIs in general, and boycotted GNU software for the Macintosh platform for seven years.
|
On what grounds did Apple sue Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard in 1988?
|
{'text': "they infringed Apple's copyrighted GUI", 'answer_start': 70}
|
128,296 | 127,954 |
5733ac79d058e614000b6003
|
generic
|
Similar organizations in other countries followed: The American Anthropological Association in 1902, the Anthropological Society of Madrid (1865), the Anthropological Society of Vienna (1870), the Italian Society of Anthropology and Ethnology (1871), and many others subsequently. The majority of these were evolutionist. One notable exception was the Berlin Society of Anthropology (1869) founded by Rudolph Virchow, known for his vituperative attacks on the evolutionists. Not religious himself, he insisted that Darwin's conclusions lacked empirical foundation.
|
Vienna created it's society in what year?
|
{'text': '1870', 'answer_start': 186}
|
30,602 | 30,260 |
5ad28874d7d075001a429953
|
generic
|
One of the early anthemic tunes, "Promised Land" by Joe Smooth, was covered and charted within a week by the Style Council. Europeans embraced house, and began booking legendary American house DJs to play at the big clubs, such as Ministry of Sound, whose resident, Justin Berkmann brought in Larry Levan.
|
Who covered and charted the single "American Land"?
|
{'text': 'Style Council', 'answer_start': 109}
|
82,923 | 82,581 |
5727f4bcff5b5019007d992e
|
generic
|
Admissions are characterized as "most selective" by U.S. News & World Report. There were 35,099 applications for the undergraduate class of 2020 (entering 2016), and 3,751 (10.7%) were admitted, making Northwestern one of the most selective schools in the United States. For freshmen enrolling in the class of 2019, the interquartile range (middle 50%) on the SAT was 690–760 for critical reading and 710-800 for math, ACT composite scores for the middle 50% ranged from 31–34, and 91% ranked in the top ten percent of their high school class.
|
What percentage of freshman students enrolling in the class of 2019 ranked in the top 10% of their high school class?
|
{'text': '91%', 'answer_start': 482}
|
66,990 | 66,648 |
5726b0d3f1498d1400e8e789
|
generic
|
During his period in Milan, Montini was known as a progressive member of the Catholic hierarchy. Montini went new ways in pastoral care, which he reformed. He used his authority to ensure that the liturgical reforms of Pius XII were carried out at the local level and employed innovative methods to reach the people of Milan: Huge posters announced that 1,000 voices would speak to them from 10 to 24 November 1957. More than 500 priests and many bishops, cardinals and lay persons delivered 7,000 sermons in the period not only in churches but in factories, meeting halls, houses, courtyards, schools, offices, military barracks, hospitals, hotels and other places, where people meet. His goal was the re-introduction of faith to a city without much religion. "If only we can say Our Father and know what this means, then we would understand the Christian faith."
|
What part of Catholic ministry did Montini seek to reform?
|
{'text': 'pastoral care', 'answer_start': 122}
|
40,250 | 39,908 |
570c69aeb3d812140066d1e8
|
generic
|
John met the rebel leaders at Runnymede, near Windsor Castle, on 15 June 1215. Langton's efforts at mediation created a charter capturing the proposed peace agreement; it was later renamed Magna Carta, or "Great Charter". The charter went beyond simply addressing specific baronial complaints, and formed a wider proposal for political reform, albeit one focusing on the rights of free men, not serfs and unfree labour. It promised the protection of church rights, protection from illegal imprisonment, access to swift justice, new taxation only with baronial consent and limitations on scutage and other feudal payments. A council of twenty-five barons would be created to monitor and ensure John's future adherence to the charter, whilst the rebel army would stand down and London would be surrendered to the king.
|
A council of how many barons was created to monitor John's future adherence to the charter?
|
{'text': 'twenty-five', 'answer_start': 635}
|
47,039 | 46,697 |
5719fc7710f8ca1400304ecb
|
generic
|
Seattle's population historically has been predominantly white. The 2010 census showed that Seattle was one of the whitest big cities in the country, although its proportion of white residents has been gradually declining. In 1960, whites comprised 91.6% of the city's population, while in 2010 they comprised 69.5%. According to the 2006–2008 American Community Survey, approximately 78.9% of residents over the age of five spoke only English at home. Those who spoke Asian languages other than Indo-European languages made up 10.2% of the population, Spanish was spoken by 4.5% of the population, speakers of other Indo-European languages made up 3.9%, and speakers of other languages made up 2.5%.
|
In 2006-2008, how many people in Seattle spoke English at home?
|
{'text': '78.9%', 'answer_start': 385}
|
129,861 | 129,519 |
57345181879d6814001ca508
|
generic
|
Hunting in the United States is not associated with any particular class or culture; a 2006 poll showed seventy-eight percent of Americans supported legal hunting, although relatively few Americans actually hunt. At the beginning of the 21st century, just six percent of Americans hunted. Southerners in states along the eastern seaboard hunted at a rate of five percent, slightly below the national average, and while hunting was more common in other parts of the South at nine percent, these rates did not surpass those of the Plains states, where twelve percent of Midwesterners hunted. Hunting in other areas of the country fell below the national average. Overall, in the 1996–2006 period, the number of hunters over the age of sixteen declined by ten percent, a drop attributable to a number of factors including habitat loss and changes in recreation habits.
|
What percentage of Americans supported legal hunting in 2006?
|
{'text': 'seventy-eight percent', 'answer_start': 104}
|
Subsets and Splits
No community queries yet
The top public SQL queries from the community will appear here once available.