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https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cavern%20Creatures | Cavern Creatures is a vertically scrolling shooter for the Apple II written by Paul Lowrance and published by Datamost in 1983. The title screen artwork is by Art Huff. The game is similar to the 1981 game Caverns of Mars for the Atari 8-bit family.
Gameplay
The player controls a small craft, navigating it through a series of winding caverns and tunnels while shooting or avoiding obstacles. The caverns scroll from the bottom of the screen to the top at a fixed speed, so the player must always move forward.
The obstacles filling the tunnels are mostly the eponymous "creatures" and appear as simple icons like smiley faces, floppy diskettes, birds, eyes, apples, bunches of grapes, Pac-Man ghosts, baseball hats, turrets, etc. Many of these objects are animated, but they do not actually move about. The player's craft fires bolts of energy simultaneously in three directions (left, right and forward) that destroy the creatures but consume the ship's energy, tracked by a green bar at the bottom of the screen. Energy is replenished by shooting occasional "tanks" on the tunnel walls.
Special objects in the caverns include indestructible Rubik's cube-like boxes that can be shot to gain extra points, indestructible wriggling snakes (one of the cavern's few mobile opponents), and pulsing energy barriers.
The craft is destroyed if it strikes any object or the cavern wall; a new one can be put back into play at any position on the screen. The game ends when the last craft is destroyed or when the player beats the final challenge. The game's introduction promises that "the end battle will be a surprise that no one can miss."
Reception
Softline noted Cavern Creatures resemblance to the Atari 8-bit family game Caverns of Mars and called the graphics "top-notch" and "wonderful". The magazine concluded that it "combines the best action of maze games with the excitement and challenge of the arcade".
Computer Gaming World wrote, "This is a case of 'The box artwork has little to do with the game'. The 'creatures' in this game are an assortment of symbols...but not the green meany on the box cover," and also "The underground city looks nice, the game is so-so."
References
External links
Apple II games
Apple II-only games
1983 video games
Datamost games
Vertically scrolling shooters
Video game clones
Video games developed in the United States
Single-player video games |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FF2 | FF2 may refer to:
Final Fantasy II, a 1988 console role-playing game for the Family Computer
Final Fantasy IV, retitled Final Fantasy II in North America, a 1991 console role-playing game for the Super NES
Fatal Fury 2, a 1992 competitive fighting game for the Neo-Geo
Fatal Frame II, a 2003 survival horror game for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox
Final Fight 2, a 1993 side-scrolling action game for the Super NES
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer, the sequel to the 2005 Fantastic Four film
2 Fast 2 Furious, a 2003 film
Mozilla Firefox 2, a web browser released in 2006
Freak Fortress 2, a game mode/mini-community for the game, "Team Fortress 2"
See also
FFII (disambiguation) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cancer%20Treatment%20Centers%20of%20America | Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA), headquartered in Boca Raton, Florida, was a national, for-profit network of five comprehensive cancer care and research centers and three outpatient care centers that served cancer patients throughout the United States. It was acquired by City of Hope in 2022 and went defunct in 2023.
CTCA was originally headquartered in Schaumburg, Illinois. In January 2015, the corporate office was moved to Boca Raton, Florida, and was renamed Cancer Treatment Centers of America Global, Inc.
History
Cancer Treatment Centers of America (CTCA) was founded in 1988 by Richard J. Stephenson following the death of his mother, Mary Brown Stephenson, who died from lung cancer. Stephenson purchased the American International Hospital in Zion, Illinois, in 1988 and expanded the hospital to include a radiation center, the Mary Brown Stephenson Radiation Oncology Center. That center served as the CTCA's first location.
CTCA formally opened its second hospital on May 7, 1990, in Tulsa, Oklahoma, located in the CityPlex Towers, which were constructed by Oral Roberts as part of the City of Faith hospital. Fifteen years later, on April 29, 2005, the center relocated to a newly constructed 195,845-square-foot hospital in Tulsa.
In 2004, CTCA purchased the former Parkview hospital in Northeast Philadelphia. After renovating 104,000 square feet and adding an additional 81,000 square feet for future expansion, CTCA opened the location on December 19, 2005. With a total of 200,025 square-foot facility, the Philadelphia location became CTCA's first hospital on the east coast. On March 26, 2021, Temple University announced that it would acquire the Philadelphia location to provide needed office and clinical space for use by Temple University Hospital.
On Dec. 29, 2008 CTCA opened Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Phoenix, with a 210,000-square-foot hospital serving patients primary from the west coast. On September 18, 2012, Cancer Treatment Centers of America, Atlanta opened to patients. In 2015, it opened a patient concierge and information office in Mexico City. It also advertised in the Middle East, the Caribbean and Latin America, offering patients in these regions the opportunity to pursue treatment at one of its U.S. comprehensive cancer care and research centers.
Each cancer hospital earned accreditations and certifications from the Joint Commissions, American College of Surgeons Commission on Cancer, and National Accreditation Program of Breast Centers.
In June 2021, as part of the organization's downsizing efforts, CTCA closed 2 of its 5 locations: Philadelphia and Tulsa. Temple University Hospital purchased the Philadelphia location. CTCA cited regional market difficulties along with low revenue in these locations as the reason for this closure.
It was reported on December, 2021 that CTCA would be acquired by Duarte, California-based City of Hope National Medical Center for $390 million.
Clinical services
In 2016, C |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Datamost | Datamost was a computer book publisher and computer game company founded by David Gordon and based in Chatsworth, California. Datamost operated in the early 1980s producing games and other software mainly for the Apple II, Commodore 64 and Atari 8-bit family, with some for the IBM PC. It also published educational and reference materials related to computers and computer programming.
Software
Publications
How to Program the Apple II Using 6502 Assembly Language (1981) Using 6502 Assembly Language by Randy Hyde | PDF by Randy Hyde
The Elementary Commodore-64 (1982) by William B. Sanders, Ph.D.
How to Write an Apple Program (1982) by Ed Faulk
Designing Apple Games with Pizazz (1983) by Greg Minter and John Ruffner
p-Source (A Guide to the Apple Pascal System) (1983) by Randall Hyde
Games Apples Play (1983) by Mark James Capella and Michael D. Weinstock
Games Ataris Play (1983) by Hal Glicksman and Kent Simon
Games Commodores Play (1983) by Phil Dennis and Greg Minter
The Elementary Apple (1983) by William B. Sanders
The Commodore 64 Experience (1983) by Mike Dean Klein
The Atari Experience by Adrien Z. Lamothe (1984)
Atari Roots (1984) by Mark Andrews
The Musical Atari (1984) by Hal Glickman
The Apple Almanac (1984) by Eric Goez and William Sanders
Apple Macintosh Primer (1984) by William Sanders
Inside Commodore DOS (1984, 1985) by Richard Immers and Gerald G. Neufeld
The Super Computer Snooper (1984) by Isaac Malitz
References
External links
Defunct software companies of the United States
Defunct video game companies of the United States
Defunct companies based in Greater Los Angeles
Video game companies established in 1981 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MARK%20IV%20%28software%29 | MARK IV is a fourth-generation programming language that was created by Informatics, Inc. in the 1960s. Informatics took advantage of IBM's decision to unbundle their software; MARK IV was the first "software product to have cumulative sales of $10 million".
MARK IV was developed for IBM Systems (360 and 370) and for the RCA Spectra 70. Its main benefit was allowing faster application development on the order of 6 to 10 times faster than doing a system using a 3GL, such as COBOL. MARK IV, being an early 4GL, allowed user development of systems related to business. In a 1971 ad by Informatics, there are several quotes from customers, such as:
We conservatively estimate that the benefits derived from the MARK IV System have completely returned the cost of our investment in a period of less than 3 months.
MARK IV runs ... handle Accounts Receivable, Inventory, Sales Analyses, etc. on about 26 different factories.
MARK IV went to Sterling Software in 1985 as part of that company's acquisition of Informatics General. As CA VISION:BUILDER, it became part of the product suite from Computer Associates once that company acquired Sterling Software in 2000. Following the acquisition of Computer Associates by Broadcom Inc in 2018, CA VISION:BUILDER was listed as a legacy product by the new owner.
References
External links
Oral history interview with Walter F. Bauer at the Charles Babbage Institute, University of Minnesota. Discusses the proprietary nature of software and the development of the software industry. In 1962 Bauer, Werner Frank, Richard Hill, and Frank Wagner started Informatics General Corporation as a wholly owned subsidiary of Dataproducts. Bauer discusses the corporate structure, business strategies, and products of Informatics, later acquired by Sterling Software.
Fourth-generation programming languages
Mainframe computer software |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans%20J.%20Hofmann | Hans J. Hofmann (3 October 1936, Kiel, Germany – 19 May 2010, Montreal, Quebec, Canada)
was a paleontologist, specializing in the study of Precambrian fossils using computer modelling and image analysis to quantify morphologic attributes.
Born in Germany, Hofmann immigrated to Montreal, Quebec, Canada and studied geology at McGill University, where he earned a Ph.D. under the supervision of T. H. Clark. He taught for three years at the University of Cincinnati and then worked at the Geological Survey of Canada. He was a professor in the geology department of the Université de Montréal for 31 years (1969–2000). He spent the last ten years of his life as a researcher in the Redpath Museum and an adjunct professor in the Department of Earth and Planetary Sciences at McGill.
The National Academy of Sciences noted him for, "his pioneering discoveries of fossils that have illuminated life's early evolution, from Archean stromatolites and Proterozoic cyanobacteria, to the rise of multicellular organisms."
Hofmann's contributions have shed light on the biologic, stratigraphic, and evolutionary significance of various stromatolites, microfossils, macrofossils, and trace fossils.
Awards
1995, Awarded the Willet G. Miller Medal by the Royal Society of Canada
2002, Awarded the Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal by the National Academy of Sciences
References
1936 births
2010 deaths
Canadian paleontologists
Geological Survey of Canada personnel
German emigrants to Canada
Academic staff of the Université de Montréal
University of Cincinnati faculty
Scientists from Kiel
Scientists from Montreal
McGill University Faculty of Science alumni
Charles Doolittle Walcott Medal winners |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IS-DOS | iS-DOS is a disk operating system (DOS) for Soviet/Russian ZX Spectrum clones. iS-DOS was developed in 1990 or 1991, by Iskra Soft, in Leningrad, Soviet Union, now Saint Petersburg, Russia.
It handles floppy disks (double sided, double density), hard disk drives, and CD-ROMs. Maximum iS-DOS disk partitioning size on a hard disk is 16 MiB.
Unlike TR-DOS, iS-DOS is resident in random-access memory (RAM), and thus reduces the amount of memory available for user programs.
Versions
iS-DOS Chic is a version developed for the Nemo KAY. It provides more memory for user programs.
TASiS, based on iS-DOS Chic, is a modern version developed by NedoPC for the ATM Turbo 2+ in 2006, supports the enhanced text mode and larger memory of that model.
Distributors
Slot Ltd. (Moscow) distributed iS-DOS in Moscow and regions in 1990s, and issued paper books.
Nemo (Saint Petersburg) distributed iS-DOS in ex-USSR until 2004, and issued Open Letters electronic press.
iS-DOS Support Team (Saratov Oblast) distributes iS-DOS in ex-USSR and issues iS-Files electronic press.
NedoPC distributes TASiS as freeware.
Books
Картавцев И.Ю, Самыловский С.В., Криштопа С.В. "iS-DOS. Руководство пользователя". IskraSoft, Slot, С-Пб, Москва, 1993, 128 стр.
Криштопа С.В. "Операционная система IS-DOS для ZX-SPECTRUM. Руководство программиста". "IskraSoft" С-Пб, "Slot" Москва, 1994, 84 стр.
See also
TR-DOS
CP/M
DISCiPLE
MB02
ESX-DOS
DNA OS
Kay 1024
ATM Turbo 2+
Scorpion ZS-256
References
External links
, Virtual TR-DOS
ATM Turbo support site
Microcomputer software
Disk operating systems
ZX Spectrum
Computing in the Soviet Union
Soviet inventions |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Open%20Grid%20Forum | The Open Grid Forum (OGF) is a community of users, developers, and vendors for standardization of grid computing. It was formed in 2006 in a merger of the Global Grid Forum and the Enterprise Grid Alliance.
The OGF models its process on the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and produces documents with many acronyms such as OGSA, OGSI, and JSDL.
Organization
The OGF has two principal functions plus an administrative function: being the standards organization for grid computing, and building communities within the overall grid community (including extending it within both academia and industry). Each of these function areas is then divided into groups of three types: working groups with a generally tightly defined role (usually producing a standard), research groups with a looser role bringing together people to discuss developments within their field and generate use cases and spawn working groups, and community groups (restricted to community functions).
Three meetings are organized per year, divided (approximately evenly after averaging over a number of years) between North America, Europe and East Asia. Many working groups organize face-to-face meetings in the interim.
History
The concept of a forum to bring together developers, practitioners, and users of distributed computing (known as grid computing at the time) was discussed at a "Birds of a Feather" session in November 1998 at the SC98 supercomputing conference.
Based on response to the idea during this BOF, Ian Foster and Bill Johnston convened the first Grid Forum meeting at NASA Ames Research Center in June 1999, drawing roughly 100 people, mostly from the US. A group of organizers nominated Charlie Catlett (from Argonne National Laboratory and the University of Chicago) to serve as the initial chair, confirmed via a plenary vote was held at the second Grid Forum meeting in Chicago in October 1999.
With advice and assistance from the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), OGF established a process based on the IETF. OGF is managed by a steering group.
During 1998, groups similar to Grid Forum began to organize in Europe (called eGrid) and Japan. Discussions among leaders of these groups resulted in combining to form the Global Grid Forum which met for the first time in Amsterdam in March 2001. GGF-1 in Amsterdam followed five Grid Forum meetings. Catlett served as GGF Chair for two 3-year terms and was succeeded by Mark Linesch (from Hewlett-Packard) in September 2004.
The Enterprise Grid Alliance (EGA), formed in 2004, was more focused on large data center businesses such as EMC Corporation, NetApp, and Oracle Corporation.
At GGF-18 (the 23rd gathering of the forum, counting the first five GF meetings) in September 2006, GGF became Open Grid Forum (OGF) based on a merger with EGA.
In September 2007, Craig Lee of the Aerospace Corporation became chair.
Technologies
Some technologies specified by OGF include:
GridFTP: Extensions to the File Transfer Protocol |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TR-DOS | TR-DOS is a disk operating system for the ZX Spectrum with Beta Disc and Beta 128 disc interfaces. TR-DOS and Beta disc were developed by Technology Research Ltd (UK), in 1984. A clone of this interface is also used in the Russian Pentagon and Scorpion machines.
It became a standard and most disk releases for the ZX Spectrum, especially of modern programs, are made for TR-DOS as opposed to other disk systems.
The latest official firmware version is 5.03 (1986).
Unofficial versions with various enhancements and bug-fixes have been released since 1990, with the latest being 6.10E (2006).
TR-DOS handles SS/DS, SD/DD floppy disks. All modern versions support RAM Disk and some versions support hard disks.
Current emulators support TR-DOS disk images in the formats .TRD or .SCL.
Commands
The following list of commands is supported by TR-DOS V4.
40
CAT
CLOSE
COPY
ERASE
FORMAT
GO TO
INPUT
LOAD
MOVE
NEW
OPEN
PRINT
RETURN
RUN
SAVE
Utility programs include:
FILER
TAPECOPY (replaces BACKUP, COPY and SCOPY utility programs in TR-DOS V3)
See also
iS-DOS
CP/M
DISCiPLE
References
External links
World of Spectrum
Virtual TR-DOS
Web TR-DOS. Encyclopedia of TR-DOS, ZX Games
Microcomputer software
ZX Spectrum
Disk operating systems |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clos%20network | In the field of telecommunications, a Clos network is a kind of multistage circuit-switching network which represents a theoretical idealization of practical, multistage switching systems. It was invented by Edson Erwin in 1938 and first formalized by the American engineer Charles Clos in 1952.
By adding stages, a Clos network reduces the number of crosspoints required to compose a large crossbar switch. A Clos network topology (diagrammed below) is parameterized by three integers n, m, and r: n represents the number of sources which feed into each of r ingress stage crossbar switches; each ingress stage crossbar switch has m outlets; and there are m middle stage crossbar switches.
Circuit switching arranges a dedicated communications path for a connection between endpoints for the duration of the connection. This sacrifices total bandwidth available if the dedicated connections are poorly utilized, but makes the connection and bandwidth more predictable, and only introduces control overhead when the connections are initiated, rather than with every packet handled, as in modern packet-switched networks.
When the Clos network was first devised, the number of crosspoints was a good approximation of the total cost of the switching system. While this was important for electromechanical crossbars, it became less relevant with the advent of VLSI, wherein the interconnects could be implemented either directly in silicon, or within a relatively small cluster of boards. Upon the advent of complex data centers, with huge interconnect structures, each based on optical fiber links, Clos networks regained importance. A subtype of Clos network, the Beneš network, has also found recent application in machine learning.
Topology
Clos networks have three stages: the ingress stage, the middle stage, and the egress stage. Each stage is made up of a number of crossbar switches (see diagram below), often just called crossbars. The network implements an r-way perfect shuffle between stages. Each call entering an ingress crossbar switch can be routed through any of the available middle stage crossbar switches, to the relevant egress crossbar switch. A middle stage crossbar is available for a particular new call if both the link connecting the ingress switch to the middle stage switch, and the link connecting the middle stage switch to the egress switch, are free.
Clos networks are defined by three integers n, m, and r. n represents the number of sources which feed into each of r ingress stage crossbar switches. Each ingress stage crossbar switch has m outlets, and there are m middle stage crossbar switches. There is exactly one connection between each ingress stage switch and each middle stage switch. There are r egress stage switches, each with m inputs and n outputs. Each middle stage switch is connected exactly once to each egress stage switch. Thus, the ingress stage has r switches, each of which has n inputs and m outputs. The middle stage has m s |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KAGT | KAGT (90.5 FM) is a radio station and affiliate of the Air 1 network, playing Christian Worship music.
History
KAGT was originally a Southern gospel radio station that served the Abilene, Texas, area. The call letters were originally intended to be an acronym for Kings All Gospel Talk. The station was owned by Gospel Radio Network until December 2006 when the license was transferred to the Educational Media Foundation. Prior to changing to 90.5, it was KAGT 95.1. Its programming schedule consisted of "The Wake Up show" hosted by Tim Walker, "the Afternoon Coffee Break", hosted by Mike Coffey and "Late with Tate", hosted by Tate Ellison. Tate Ellison went on to dj at the affiliate station in Nashville, TN for a time before returning a short while to KAGT.
Call Letter History
KAGT 1490 (in SKAGiT County, WA) was an AM radio station located in Anacortes, Washington, from 1957 until 1987 when the station's owner at the time, Bill Berry, opted to embrace his own Irish heritage and rebrand the station at 1340 with the calls KLKI and market the station as "Lucky 13" before dropping that in favor of simply "1340 KLKI." Prior to the call change, AM KAGT billed itself "The Voice of Skagit County". The same station, had yet another call change to KWLE in 2007, branding itself as "The Whale." This station has been sold, from San Juan Communications to New Age Media, along with AM 1110 KRPA (formerly KWDB Oak Harbor) and it is speculated that it will become a foreign language rimshot station, aiming non-English, non-American programming to Victoria, B.C., Canada. The call letters KAGT became available in 2007 for this station to use.
References
External links
Air1 radio stations
AGT
Radio stations established in 2003
2003 establishments in Texas
Educational Media Foundation radio stations
AGT |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MAPPER | MAPPER Systems, now known as Business Information Server, BIS, is a fourth-generation programming language originally from
Sperry Univac. Now owned by Unisys Corporation. Mapper originated in the 1970s based on some work in the 1960s, It has been functionally enhanced and kept current. It was also given an extension named ICE - Internet Commerce Enabler.
Originally available on Sperry's Univac 1108, implementations now also exist for Windows NT, Sun Solaris and Linux. The GUI on Windows is the most advanced of these.
MAJOR Comping Error
Unisys $7.0 BILLION, Now $0.4 BILLION. Unisys abandoned $3 BILLION International Customer Base. DETAILS:
Business Information Serverer (google.com)
History
MAPPER (MAintain, Prepare, and Produce Executive Reports) (alternatively nicknamed "Most Amazing Programming Product Ever Released" by enthusiasts)—officially renamed BIS (Business Information Server) but still called MAPPER by many users—began as an internal product. It was developed in Sperry Univac's computer factory in Roseville, Minnesota to help the company manage their factory producing computer hardware. It was initially called CRT RPS (Report Processing System), to differentiate it from RPG. Its first external customer was Santa Fe Railway. Besides the Santa Fe, the Kansas City government was an early customer. MAPPER became a popular solution in the Government sector. User group communities formed like the New England MAPPER Users Group. The concept of MAPPER was conceived by Louis Schlueter in 1967 and presented in a whitepaper in February 1968 entitled 418 Report Processing System to management and accepted for development immediately. Three developers (Bill Grey, Louis Schlueter and Chuck Hanson) began coding under another budget that was initially approved for a different project. They had a lot of resistance, such as the lead programmer (Jack Olgren) under the initial testing department (the original programming was for stress testing the hardware), stating "You can't use computers that way!" but after seeing more of what was happening, he joined the team and eventually became the lead programmer due to his genius mind. Unfortunately, he died a year later, never to see the full realization implemented. There was so much continued obstruction, fighting the cognitive dissonance around traditional thinking at that time.
CRT RPS was renamed MAPPER in 1975. Because of its unofficial status, it was a low-budget development, and was built for minimum use of resources. Today the entire system, minus user data, is only 25 megabytes. It was written in Assembler language. Initially it had only limited string manipulation; that has since been corrected. A Macro capability was also subsequently added. The development of the UNIVAC 1100, as well as pressure from customers, led to a release for more general use in 1979.
In the mid-1980s, Sperry actively marketed MAPPER, including advertising featuring "MAPPER Man", the self-empowered executive end-u |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthly%20Delights%20%28video%20game%29 | Earthly Delights is an Apple II text adventure game created by Roger Webster and Daniel Leviton and published by Datamost in 1984. It was ported to the IBM PC (as a self-booting disk) and Macintosh.
Plot
In Earthly Delights, the story begins with the death of the player's uncle, whom they've not seen for many years, and the unusual inheritance received from him — a portrait of a beautiful woman entitled Earthly Delight. The uncle writes that pleasures and rewards will come to the player if they keep the picture, and exhorts them not to sell it. When a stranger approaches the player offering an enormous sum for the work, their suspicions are aroused and the adventure of Earthly Delights begins.
The introduction to the game describes the painting as "Parrish's Earthly Delight", alluding to American painter Maxfield Parrish. This allusion is supported by the painting's depiction on the cover, which mimics the mountainous landscape of Parrish's Canyon and female subject in flowing dress common in his works. Though Parrish never created a piece named Earthly Delight, Dutch artist Hieronymus Bosch painted a triptych named The Garden of Earthly Delights in the early 16th century.
Gameplay
The game's interface shows the player's location in the fictional world in the upper left corner and the number of "moves" that have been made in the upper right. The player enters commands at the question mark prompt.
References
External links
1980s interactive fiction
1984 video games
Apple II games
Classic Mac OS games
Datamost games
Video games developed in the United States
Single-player video games |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray%20XT4 | The Cray XT4 (codenamed Hood during development) is an updated version of the Cray XT3 supercomputer. It was released on November 18, 2006. It includes an updated version of the SeaStar interconnect router called SeaStar2, processor sockets for Socket AM2 Opteron processors, and 240-pin unbuffered DDR2 memory. The XT4 also includes support for FPGA coprocessors that plug into riser cards in the Service and IO blades. The interconnect, cabinet, system software and programming environment remain unchanged from the Cray XT3. It was superseded in 2007 by the Cray XT5.
External links
News release regarding Hood
"Cray Introduces XMT and XT4 Supercomputers" on HPCwire
Cray XT4 at top500.org
References
Xt4
X86 supercomputers |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray%20XMT | Cray XMT (Cray eXtreme MultiThreading, codenamed Eldorado) is a scalable multithreaded shared memory supercomputer architecture by Cray, based on the third generation of the Tera MTA architecture, targeted at large graph problems (e.g. semantic databases, big data, pattern matching). Presented in 2005, it supersedes the earlier unsuccessful Cray MTA-2. It uses the Threadstorm3 CPUs inside Cray XT3 blades. Designed to make use of commodity parts and existing subsystems for other commercial systems, it alleviated the shortcomings of Cray MTA-2's high cost of fully custom manufacture and support. It brought various substantial improvements over Cray MTA-2, most notably nearly tripling the peak performance, and vastly increased maximum CPU count to 8,192 and maximum memory to 128 TB, with a data TLB of maximal 512 TB.
Cray XMT uses a scrambled content-addressable memory model on DDR1 ECC modules to implicitly load-balance memory access across the whole shared global address space of the system. Use of 4 additional Extended Memory Semantics bits (full/empty, forwarding and 2 trap bits) per 64-bit memory word enables lightweight, fine-grained synchronization on all memory. There are no hardware interrupts and hardware threads are allocated by an instruction, not the OS.
Front-end (login, I/O, and other service nodes, utilizing AMD Opteron processors and running SLES Linux) and back-end (compute nodes, utilizing Threadstorm3 processors and running MTK, a simple BSD Unix-based microkernel) communicate through the LUC (Lightweight User Communication) interface, a RPC-style bidirectional client/server interface.
Threadstorm3
Threadstorm3 (referred to as "MT processor" and Threadstorm before XMT2) is a 64-bit single-core VLIW barrel processor (compatible with 940-pin Socket 940 used by AMD Opteron processors) with 128 hardware streams, onto each a software thread can be mapped (effectively creating 128 hardware threads per CPU), running at 500 MHz and using the MTA instruction set or a superset of it. It has a 128KB, 4-way associative data buffer. Each Threadstorm3 has 128 separate register sets and program counters (one per each stream), which are fairly fully context-switched at each cycle. Its estimated peak performance is 1.5 GFLOPS. It has 3 functional units (memory, fused multiply-add and control), which receive operations from the same MTA instruction and operate within the same cycle. Each stream has 32 general-purpose registers, 8 target registers and a status word, containing the program counter. High-level control of job allocation across threads is not possible. Due to the MTA's pipeline length of 21, each stream is selected to execute instructions again no prior than 21 cycles later. The TDP of the processor package is 30 W.
Due to their thread-level context switch at each cycle, performance of Threadstorm CPUs is not constrained by memory access time. In a simplified model, at each clock cycle an instruction from one of the threads is ex |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asha%20Blake | Asha Blake is a five-time Emmy Award-winning television news journalist. Her US-based career has spanned anchoring ABC and NBC network newscasts, daytime- and entertainment-based talk shows, and local news anchoring at flagship news stations KNBC and KTLA. In 1999, Blake co-hosted NBC's Later Today, a spinoff of the Today Show, with Jodi Applegate and Florence Henderson.
Early life and education
Born in Guyana, South America, Blake grew up in Toronto and in Minnesota. She earned a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Minnesota's journalism school.
Professional career
Blake began her career at KJCT-TV in Grand Junction, Colorado.
After "Later Today" went off the air in 2000, Blake hosted two syndicated programs, "Smart Gardening" on PBS and the nationally syndicated "Life Moments".
In 2005, Blake joined KWGN-TV.
References
Television anchors from Los Angeles
American people of Guyanese descent
Television anchors from Denver
Television anchors from Detroit
University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication alumni
1961 births
Living people |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The%20God%20Machine%20%28novel%29 | The God Machine is a science-fiction novel by American writer Martin Caidin first published in 1968. Set in the near future, the novel tells the story of a top-secret cybernetic technician, Steve Rand, one of the brains behind Project 79, a top-secret US government project dedicated to creating artificial intelligence. Rand survives an attempt on his life before he realizes that Project 79 has gained sentience and is trying to control the minds of humans and take over the world. Assisted by a security agent and a mathematician, Rand sets out to destroy Project 79 before it is too late.
This early work by Caidin includes a discussion of bionics, the replacement of human body parts with machinery. Caidin revisited this theme a few years later in his novel, Cyborg, which was eventually adapted into the 1970s television series The Six Million Dollar Man.
See also
Society of the Mind
References
1968 science fiction novels
1968 novels
Novels about computing
E. P. Dutton books
Novels by Martin Caidin |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asus%20Media%20Bus | The Asus Media Bus is a proprietary computer bus developed by Asus, which was used on some Socket 7 motherboards in the middle 1990s. It is a combined PCI and ISA slot. It was developed to provide a cost-efficient solution to a complete multimedia system. Using Media Bus cards for building a system reduced slot requirements and compatibility problems. Expansion cards supporting this interface were only manufactured by Asus for a very limited time. This bus is now obsolete.
While similar to PCI-X in appearance, the extension contains 4 additional pins (2 on each side) for a total of 68. The divider between the PCI slot and Media Bus extension is too wide to support a properly-keyed PCI-X card.
Despite the very short lifespan, there were at least two revisions of Asus Media Bus – revision 1.2 and 2.0. The difference between them is that the latter revision has 72 pins instead of 68 so it does not have to use any PCI slot signals reserved for PCI cards and PCI slot shared with the Media Bus slot becomes standards compliant. The gap between PCI slot and Media Bus extension is 0.32 in. for revision 1.2 (pictured) and 0.4 in. for revision 2.0 so expansion cards designed for two revisions are mutually incompatible.
Expansion cards designed for this interface included primarily combined audio and video cards, but also some combined SCSI and audio cards. The (possibly incomplete) list of Media Bus expansion cards presented here (all cards manufactured by Asus):
Media Bus rev. 1.2 cards
PCI-AS7870 – Fast/Wide SCSI and audio card (Adaptec AS7870 and Vibra16s (with separate Yamaha yfm262-m))
PCI-AV264CT – audio and video card (ATI Mach64 PCI 1 MiB (up to 2 MiB) and Vibra16s (with separate Yamaha yfm262-m))
PCI-AV868 (pictured) – audio and video card (S3 Vision868 1 MiB and Vibra16s (with separate Yamaha yfm262-m))
Media Bus rev. 1.2 motherboards
Asus P/I-P55SP4
Asus P/I-P55TP4XE
Media Bus rev. 2.0 cards
PCI-AS2940UW – Ultra Fast/Wide SCSI and audio card
PCI-AV264CT-N – audio and video card (ATI Mach64 PCI 1 MiB (up to 2 MiB) and Vibra16c)
PCI-AV264VT – audio and video card (ATI Mach64 PCI 1 MiB (up to 2 MiB) and Vibra16c)
PCI-AV264GT – audio and video card (ATI Rage PCI 2 MiB and Vibra16c)
PCI-AV264GT/Plus – audio and video card (ATI 3D Rage II 2 MiB (up to 4 MiB) and Vibra16c)
Media Bus rev. 2.0 motherboards Socket 7
Asus P/E-P55T2P4D (Dual)
Asus P/I-P55T2P4
Asus P/I-P55TVP4
Asus P/I-XP55T2P4
Asus P/I-XP55T2P4S
Asus P55TP4N
Asus TXP4-X (optional?)
Asus TX97
Asus TX97-E
Media Bus rev. 2.0 motherboards Socket 8
Asus P/I-P6NP5
Asus P/I-P6RP4
Asus P/I-XP6NP5
Asus P65UP5 + P6ND CPU Card (Dual)
References
Media Bus
Computer buses |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Front%20TV | Front TV was an international broadcast design and branding firm that catered to television, film and interactive media sectors. The firm originally specialized in creative thinking, network branding, station IDs, film titles, 2D-3D animation, web, print, and sound design. They expanded their operations in 2009, launching their own TV production arm. Front TV's main headquarters, TV studio, animation and postproduction facilities were originally located in Toronto, Ontario.
Front TV was founded in 1999 by Jeff Rustia. Their first client was Nickelodeon Philippines, for whom they created several network ID's & on-air promos. Subsequently, Front TV would also pursue projects for other Nickelodeon channels in Malaysia, Spain, and India. The firm also went on to produce visual content and commercials for international networks such as HBO Asia and Cinemax, Current TV, CBC and Disney Channel. Front TV's clients included many other international TV network entities including the Republic of Georgia's public broadcaster Georgian Public Broadcaster, Indonesia's national channel Global TV, Vision TV (Canada's multi-faith religious channel), Aboriginal Peoples Television Network (APTN), QTN, (an American gay and lesbian channel), CPAC (Canada's political television), Ichannel (Issues Channel) and The Pet Network (a 24-hour pet channel).
Front TV's Facebook account was last updated in September 2013; during that same month, the front.tv domain name expired.
Front TV has been noted for its controversial human resources practices.
References
Playback article 2001 entitled, "FRONT TV EYES THE WORLD", by Mark Dillon
Scene and Heard.ca article about FRONT, by Shawn Micalief
Promax Asia Speaker Biographies, Jeff Rustia, FRONT
Promax Indonesia Speaker, Jeff Rustia, FRONT
Globe and Mail, Report on Business Article about FRONT, entitled "Multimillions" by Paul Webster
Indian Television.com article about FRONT and Jeff Rustia, Designer Promos don't mean Designer Budgets
Visa Article about FRONT
Promax/BDA Russia about Jeff Rustia, FRONT
External links
Facebook account
Notes
Companies based in Toronto
Design companies established in 1999
1999 establishments in Ontario |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kotsovolos | Kotsovolos () is one of the leading electrical and electronics retailers in Greece. It started in a small neighborhood store downtown Athens in 1950 and today has a network of over 90 stores, in Greece and Cyprus, both corporate and franchise, as well as two online stores, kotsovolos.gr and kotsovolos.cy.
It has been a member of Dixons British company of electrical goods since 2005. In addition to retail, it provides after-sales support, installation, warranty and repair services, together with business-to-business services. The company's headquarters are located in New Heraklion, Attica.
History
1950s
Kotsovolos started in 1950 in a regional, small shop downtown Athens.
1990s
In 1993 Kotsovolos was bought out by "Fourlis Trade S.A.".
In 1998 Kotsovolos bought out the "Radio Athinai" chain, expanding its network even further.
2000s
Kotsovolos expanded into markets outside Greece and in May 2000 embarked on a strategic cooperation with the British multinational, Dixons Carphone plc.
In 2004 it joined forces with the Dixons Group with new privately owned stores, as well as through a franchise system. It renovated its stores in accordance with the international standards of the Dixons group and introduces a new store concept in the market, featuring total support coverage for appliances.
In 2007 it launched its online store www.kotsovolos.gr.
In 2008 Kotsovolos entered appliance recycling, recycling tons of electrical and electronic devices within a few years.
2010s
In 2010 Kotsovolos launched the Support 360° integrated customer support umbrella of services, and introduces innovative products to the market, such as 3D TVs and Smart TVs.
In 2015, Kotsovolos celebrated its 65th anniversary with a technology exhibition at the Technopolis of Athens. Exhibits included appliances of the past and state-of-the-art appliances of the future that are not yet released in the Greek market. The Thanks to Tech annual technology exhibition was thus established. Free of charge and easily accessible to all, the exhibition presents technological innovations and devices that are not yet on the market, together with devices that have appeared only at the IFA International Exhibition.
Kotsovolos launched its first online show, "TryMe" on YouTube in 2015.
In 2016 the company presented the corporate social responsibility program "Second Home", which mobilizes those who own appliances that work but are not in use, to offer them to families in need.
In 2019, for the first time in the Greek market, Kotsovolos created the Pay Express service.
See also
List of companies of Greece
References
External links
Corporate website
Career website
Official Blog
Currys plc
Greek brands
Retail companies established in 1950
Retail companies of Greece |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centre%20for%20Forest%20Research | The Centre for Forest Research (Centre d'Étude de la Forêt) is a group of researchers in eastern Canada interested in forest ecology and forest management. It is a new network created with the amalgamation of two research centres that had been operating in the province of Quebec, Canada. The present structure is built around 46 scientists from eight universities in the province.
Main research fields are ecophysiology, genetics, silviculture, entomology, ornithology, mycology and ecology. The research will link these disciplines with the development of innovative alternatives regarding the management of forested lands in the province.
External links
Centre for Forest Research - official site
Forest research institutes
Research institutes in Canada |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hark%20at%20Barker | Hark at Barker is a 1969 British comedy series combining elements of sitcom and sketch show, which starred Ronnie Barker. It was made for the ITV network by London Weekend Television.
Each show began with a spoof news item read by Barker as the announcer. He would then introduce the main part of the programme, a lecture to be given by Lord Rustless (also Barker) on a different topic each week from his stately home, Chrome Hall. Helped and hindered by Rustless' secretary (Mildred) Bates, his Butler Badger, his bad-tempered Cook, his incoherent gardener Dithers and (in Series 2) his buxom, near-mute maid Effie, these lectures invariably degenerated into farce, and were frequently interrupted by comic sketches on location or in the studio which also starred Barker in differing roles.
Barker reprised the role of Lord Rustless in the BBC series His Lordship Entertains, and played very similar characters in Futtock's End and the Two Ronnies specials The Picnic and By the Sea.
Writers
The Chrome Hall sequences were written by "Peter Caulfield" (a pseudonym of Alan Ayckbourn). During the first season, the sketches were written by Barker under his pseudonym "Gerald Wiley", generally with separate sketch contributions from one or both of the team of Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie. (Some of the Garden/Oddie sketches reprised material from I'm Sorry, I'll Read That Again, and another was a forerunner of The Goodies episode "Bunfight at the OK Tea Room"). There were also other occasional sketch contributors during season 1, notably Eric Idle who contributed material to episode 3.
For season 2, sketch material was written by Gerald Wiley and Bernard McKenna.
Regular cast
Ronnie Barker - Announcer / Lord Rustless / Various sketch characters
Frank Gatliff - Badger
Josephine Tewson - Mildred Bates
David Jason - Dithers / Various sketch characters
Mary Baxter - Cook
Moira Foot - Effie the maid (series 2 only)
Sketch performers seen across multiple episodes included Jan Rossini and Jo Kendall.
Amongst the many other performers who appeared in sketches, seen in one episode apiece were Pauline Yates, Michael Palin, Carol Cleveland, and (in a wordless cameo) Ronnie Corbett.
Episode guide
Series 1 (11 April 1969 – 30 May 1969) - Produced in black and white
1. "Meet Lord Rustless" 11 April 1969
2. "Rustless And Women" 18 April 1969
3. "Rustless In Pigtails" 25 April 1969
4. "Rustless And A Banquet" 2 May 1969
5. "Rustless And Murder" 9 May 1969
6. "Rustless And Foreigners" 16 May 1969
7. "Rustless And The Solar System" 23 May 1969
8. "Rustless And Relics" 30 May 1969
Series 2 (10 July 1970 – 21 August 1970) - Produced in colour
1. "Rustless On Music" 10 July 1970
2. "Rustless On Law" 17 July 1970
3. "Rustless On Communications" 24 July 1970
4. "Rustless On Cooking" 31 July 1970
5. "Rustless On Medicine" 7 August 1970
6. "Rustless On Do-It-Yourself" 14 August 1970
7. "Rustless On Sport" 21 August 1970
All Star Comedy Carnival Christmas Special (25 De |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum%20finite%20automaton | In quantum computing, quantum finite automata (QFA) or quantum state machines are a quantum analog of probabilistic automata or a Markov decision process. They provide a mathematical abstraction of real-world quantum computers. Several types of automata may be defined, including measure-once and measure-many automata. Quantum finite automata can also be understood as the quantization of subshifts of finite type, or as a quantization of Markov chains. QFAs are, in turn, special cases of geometric finite automata or topological finite automata.
The automata work by receiving a finite-length string of letters from a finite alphabet , and assigning to each such string a probability indicating the probability of the automaton being in an accept state; that is, indicating whether the automaton accepted or rejected the string.
The languages accepted by QFAs are not the regular languages of deterministic finite automata, nor are they the stochastic languages of probabilistic finite automata. Study of these quantum languages remains an active area of research.
Informal description
There is a simple, intuitive way of understanding quantum finite automata. One begins with a graph-theoretic interpretation of deterministic finite automata (DFA). A DFA can be represented as a directed graph, with states as nodes in the graph, and arrows representing state transitions. Each arrow is labelled with a possible input symbol, so that, given a specific state and an input symbol, the arrow points at the next state. One way of representing such a graph is by means of a set of adjacency matrices, with one matrix for each input symbol. In this case, the list of possible DFA states is written as a column vector. For a given input symbol, the adjacency matrix indicates how any given state (row in the state vector) will transition to the next state; a state transition is given by matrix multiplication.
One needs a distinct adjacency matrix for each possible input symbol, since each input symbol can result in a different transition. The entries in the adjacency matrix must be zero's and one's. For any given column in the matrix, only one entry can be non-zero: this is the entry that indicates the next (unique) state transition. Similarly, the state of the system is a column vector, in which only one entry is non-zero: this entry corresponds to the current state of the system. Let denote the set of input symbols. For a given input symbol , write as the adjacency matrix that describes the evolution of the DFA to its next state. The set then completely describes the state transition function of the DFA. Let Q represent the set of possible states of the DFA. If there are N states in Q, then each matrix is N by N-dimensional. The initial state corresponds to a column vector with a one in the q0'th row. A general state q is then a column vector with a one in the qth row. By abuse of notation, let q0 and q also denote these two vectors. Then, after reading input s |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KTLE-LD | KTLE-LD (channel 20) is a low-power television station licensed to Odessa, Texas, United States, affiliated with the Spanish-language network Telemundo. It is owned by Gray Television alongside CBS affiliate KOSA-TV (channel 7), MyNetworkTV affiliate KWWT (channel 30), Big Spring–licensed CW+ affiliate KCWO-TV (channel 4), and Midland-licensed low-power Antenna TV affiliate KMDF-LD (channel 22). The five stations share studios inside the Music City Mall on East 42nd Street in Odessa, with a secondary studio and news bureau in downtown Midland; KTLE-LD's transmitter is located on US 385 just north of downtown Odessa.
Even though KTLE-LD has a digital signal of its own, the low-power broadcast range only covers the immediate Midland–Odessa area. Therefore, the station is simulcast in 16:9 widescreen standard definition on KOSA-TV's third digital subchannel in order to reach the entire Permian Basin market; this signal can be seen on virtual and VHF channel 7.3 from a transmitter on FM 866 west of Odessa. Until 2014, KTLE's programming was also simulcast on KTLD-LP (channel 49) in Midland.
History
KTLE-LP began as a construction permit granted to Telemundo on August 23, 1989 and was licensed as K60EE, UHF channel 60, on April 19, 1991. KTLD-LP began as a construction permit granted to Brooks Broadcasting Inc. on April 29, 1988. Brooks Broadcasting sold the permit to Ronald J. Gordon in March 1989, who in turn, sold the permit to Telemundo in October 1991. The station was licensed as K49CD, UHF channel 49, on August 14, 1992.
The stations' early days were marked by uncertainty, being transferred several times as Telemundo, their owner, endured financial hardship in the mid-1990s, and at one point went into bankruptcy. In May 2001, Telemundo sold the stations, along with Amarillo station K36DV (later KTMO-LP), to Lawton, Oklahoma-based Drewry Communications, who owned NBC affiliate KWES-TV in the Midland–Odessa market. Both stations received new call letters in January 2002; K60EE became KTLE-LP, and K49CD became KTLD-LP. In April 2004, KTLE moved from channel 60 to channel 20, having been required to abandon their position in the high-700 MHz band (channels 60-69). KTLD's license was canceled by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) on March 12, 2014.
On August 10, 2015, Raycom Media announced that it would purchase Drewry Communications for $160 million. The deal was completed on December 1, 2015.
Sale to Gray Television
On June 25, 2018, Atlanta-based Gray Television, owner of CBS affiliate KOSA-TV (channel 7), announced it had reached an agreement with Raycom to merge their respective broadcasting assets (consisting of Raycom's 63 existing owned-and/or-operated television stations, including KWES and KWAB, and Gray's 93 television stations) under Gray's corporate umbrella. The cash-and-stock merger transaction valued at $3.6 billion—in which Gray shareholders would acquire preferred stock currently held by Raycom—required divestment of |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthly%20Delights | Earthly Delights may refer to:
Earthly Delights (record label), a UK record label
Earthly Delights (computer game), a text adventure game for the Apple II
Earthly Delights, the fifth album by noise rock band Lightning Bolt.
See also
The Garden of Earthly Delights, a painting by Hieronymus Bosch |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vivian%20Alamain | Vivian Alamain is a fictional character from Days of Our Lives, an American soap opera on the NBC network. Created by head writers Richard J. Allen and Beth Milstein, and introduced by executive producers Ken Corday and Al Rabin, the role is most recognized as portrayed by actress Louise Sorel. In addition to Sorel, the role has subsequently been portrayed by Marj Dusay, Robin Strasser and Linda Dano.
Casting
Louise Sorel, who was previously best known for playing Augusta Lockridge in NBC soap opera, Santa Barbara, was cast in the role of Vivian in 1992. The Days of Our Lives casting director contacted Sorel's new agent about the role of Vivian and described her. Sorel's agent explained that they managed the actress to the casting director, who was familiar with Sorel's work in Santa Barbara. Other actresses were being considered for the role, but Sorel was eventually cast as Vivian. Sorel signed an initial one-year contract with the show. Sorel was released from her contract after only five months. Marj Dusay was cast in the role, appearing for a total of five episodes. When producers learned that they would have to continue paying Sorel, despite her departure, she was brought back to the role. In 1993, it was announced that Vivian's nephew, Lawrence Alamain (Michael Sabatino), and her nemesis, Carly Manning (Crystal Chappell), were to both leave Days of Our Lives. Sorel's future with the show was subsequently in doubt. However, it was confirmed that Sorel would remain on the show regardless. In December 1993, The Herald Journal reported that Sorel had signed a new multi-year contract. In 1995, Sorel signed a third contract term with the show.
In October 1999, it was announced that Sorel was to leave Days of Our Lives when her contract expired in January of the following year. Of Vivian's departure, executive producers, Ken Corday and Tom Langan, said "We love the character of Vivian, and hopefully she will return sometime in the near future." Producers confirmed that the role would not be recast. Vivian and Sorel were dismissed from the soap, and the actress admitted that it felt "horrible". Vivian departed on February 22, 2000.
In July 2009, it was announced that Sorel would be reprising the role of Vivian. Executive producer, Gary Tomlin, contacted Sorel and invited her to return to the show. Sorel was surprised as Tomlin invited her to return over the telephone without seeing her current appearance. Sorel told TV Guide "[Tomlin] didn’t ask me how I’m looking these days. For all he knew, I’ve gained 250 pounds." The actress commuted from New York to California, where Days of Our Lives is filmed, for the role. Sorel signed an initial one-year contract. Sorel was planning to sign a longer contract, but since relocating to New York, she could not speculate on her long-term future with the show. Sorel returned to filming in September 2009. Vivian's return was broadcast on October 30, 2009. Sorel's return coincided with the return of Chappell |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demographics%20of%20Minnesota | The demographics of Minnesota are tracked by the United States Census Bureau, with additional data gathered by the Minnesota State Demographic Center. According to the most recent estimates, Minnesota's population as of 2020 was approximately 5.7 million, making it the 22nd most populous state in the United States. The total fertility rate in Minnesota was roughly 1.87 in 2019, slightly below the replacement rate of 2.1.
For decades, Minnesota has been characterized by a higher number of births than deaths. The state has seen significant population growth in the past century, both through natural increase and immigration. In 2020, approximately 8% of the population was foreign-born.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Minnesota was a significant destination for European immigrants, especially from Germany, Norway, and Sweden. In more recent years, the state has become a new home for refugees and immigrants from Latin America, East Africa (especially Somalia), and Southeast Asia (primarily Hmong and Vietnamese communities).
The population of Minnesota is not only diverse in terms of birthplace and ancestry but also in terms of age and socioeconomic status. Minnesota boasts a well-educated populace, with one of the highest high school graduation rates in the nation and a robust system of public and private colleges and universities. With a median household income of around $70,000 in 2019, Minnesota is a predominantly middle-class state. However, income disparities and child poverty rates have been persistent issues, reflecting broader national trends.
As of 2020, Minnesota was among the top states in the nation for life expectancy, health care access, and quality of life. The state's robust healthcare system and progressive social policies contribute to these rankings. Furthermore, Minnesota is known for its commitment to environmental stewardship and outdoor recreation, with numerous state parks, forests, and water bodies. However, the state faces challenges related to aging infrastructure, racial disparities, and environmental sustainability.
Population
Minnesota's population experienced significant growth over the years. In 1850, the state had fewer than 6,100 residents, which expanded to over 1.75 million by 1900. Throughout the following six decades, there was a consistent increase of 15.0% in population, reaching 3.41 million in 1960. Subsequently, the growth rate slowed, with an 11.0% rise to 3.8 million in 1970. Over the next three decades, the population continued to grow at an average rate of 9.0%, resulting in a population of 4.91 million according to the 2000 census. In 2020, the population was approximately 5.7 million.
Minnesota's population trends, age distribution, and gender ratios closely approximate the national average. However, it is worth noting that minority groups in Minnesota constitute a smaller proportion of the overall population compared to the nation as a whole.
The center of population in Minnesota is |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OpenNMS | OpenNMS is a free and open-source enterprise grade network monitoring and network management platform. It is developed and supported by a community of users and developers and by the OpenNMS Group, offering commercial services, training and support.
The goal is for OpenNMS to be a truly distributed, scalable management application platform for all aspects of the FCAPS network management model while remaining 100% free and open source. Currently the focus is on Fault and Performance Management.
All code associated with the project is available under the Affero General Public License.
The OpenNMS Project is maintained by The Order of the Green Polo.
History
The OpenNMS Project was started in July, 1999 by Steve Giles, Brian Weaver and Luke Rindfuss and their company PlatformWorks. It was registered as project 4141 on SourceForge in March 2000.
On September 28, 2000, PlatformWorks was acquired by Atipa, a Kansas City-based competitor to VA Linux Systems. In July 2001, Atipa changed its name to Oculan.
In September 2002, Oculan decided to stop supporting the OpenNMS project. Tarus Balog, then an Oculan employee, left the company to continue to focus on the project.
In September 2004, The OpenNMS Group was started by Balog, Matt Brozowski and David Hustace to provide a commercial services and support business around the project. Shortly after that, The Order of the Green Polo (OGP) was founded to manage the OpenNMS Project itself. While many members of the OGP are also employees of The OpenNMS Group, it remains a separate organization.
Platform support and requirements
OpenNMS is written in Java, and thus can run on any platform with support for a Java SDK version 11 or higher. Precompiled binaries are available for most Linux distributions.
In addition to Java, it requires the PostgreSQL database, although work is being done to make the application database independent by leveraging the Hibernate project.
Features
OpenNMS describes itself as a "network management application platform". While useful when first installed, the software was designed to be highly customizable to work in a wide variety of network environments.
There are four main functional areas of OpenNMS.
Event Management and Notifications
OpenNMS is based around a "publish and subscribe" message bus. Processes within the software can publish events, and other processes can subscribe to them. In addition, OpenNMS can receive events in the form of SNMP Traps, syslog messages, TL/1 events or custom messages sent as XML to port 5817.
Events can be configured to generate alarms. While events represent a history of information from the network, alarms can be used to create correlation workflow (resolving "down" alarms when matching "up" alarms are created) and performing "event reduction" by representing multiple, identical events as a single alarm with a counter. Alarms can also generate events of their own, such as when an alarm is escalated in severity. Alarms clear f |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electroencephalography%20functional%20magnetic%20resonance%20imaging | EEG-fMRI (short for EEG-correlated fMRI or electroencephalography-correlated functional magnetic resonance imaging) is a multimodal neuroimaging technique whereby EEG and fMRI data are recorded synchronously for the study of electrical brain activity in correlation with haemodynamic changes in brain during the electrical activity, be it normal function or associated with disorders.
Principle
Scalp EEG reflects the brain's electrical activity, and in particular post-synaptic potentials (see Inhibitory postsynaptic current and Excitatory postsynaptic potential) in the cerebral cortex, whereas fMRI is capable of detecting haemodynamic changes throughout the brain through the BOLD effect. EEG-fMRI therefore allows measuring both neuronal and haemodynamic activity which comprise two important components of the neurovascular coupling mechanism.
Methodology
The simultaneous acquisition of EEG and fMRI data of sufficient quality requires solutions to problems linked to potential health risks (due to currents induced by the MR image forming process in the circuits created by the subject and EEG recording system) and EEG and fMRI data quality. There are two degrees of integration of the data acquisition, reflecting technical limitations associated with the interference between the EEG and MR instruments. These are: interleaved acquisitions, in which each acquisition modality is interrupted in turn (periodically) to allow data of adequate quality to be recorded by the other modality; continuous acquisitions, in which both modalities are able to record data of adequate quality continuously. The latter can be achieved using real-time or post-processing EEG artifact reduction software. EEG was first recorded in an MR environment around 1993.
Several groups have found independent means to solve the problems of mutual contamination of the EEG and fMRI signals. The first continuous EEG-fMRI experiment was performed in 1999
using a numerical filtering approach. A predominantly software-based method was implemented shortly thereafter. An addition to EEG-fMRI set up is the simultaneous and synchronized video recording without affecting the EEG and fMRI data quality.
For the most part, the acquisition of concurrent EEG-fMRI data is now treated as a solved problem, and commercial devices are available from major manufacturers (e.g., Electrical Geodesics, Inc.; NeuroScan/Compumedics, Inc.; Brain Products; Advanced Neuro Technology), but issues remain. For example, there are significant residual artifacts in the EEG that occur with each heartbeat. The traces in the EEG that record this are often referred to as a, "Ballistocardiogram (BCG)," because of their presumed origin in the motion of the EEG leads in the magnetic field that occurs with each heartbeat.
A number of methods have been developed to remove the BCG artifact from concurrent EEG-fMRI signals. The majority of early methods were based on manual identification of noise components using independent com |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Count%20Duckula%202 | Count Duckula 2 is a computer game for the ZX Spectrum and Amstrad CPC released in 1992 by Alternative Software.
It was the follow-up to the 1989 release Count Duckula in No Sax Please—We're Egyptian. Both are tie-in licenses of the Cosgrove Hall Count Duckula cartoon series.
Gameplay
Count Duckula 2 is a platform game in which the player advances Duckula from screen to screen shooting soft toys with a ketchup gun.
Reception
Critically, the game consistently achieved some of the lowest review scores of the 8-bit era and is considered one of the worst games published for these platforms. Sinclair User reviewed the game, awarding it 64%, concluding: "If you like silent, slow, basic, dated, unresponsive, annoying games, get it!" The Your Sinclair review was more scathing, awarding 9%: "The whole thing seems to play quite happily by itself, with the player being a sort of novelty bonus." The Amstrad CPC version fared no better, with Amstrad Action awarding the game a mere 3%. In the final issue of Your Sinclair, Count Duckula 2 was voted the "Worst Game Of All Time" by the magazine's readers.
The Amstrad CPC version of Count Duckula 2 is included in Stuart Ashen's 2015 book Terrible Old Games You've Probably Never Heard Of, in which he states that "Count Duckula 2 is one of the very worst examples of a lazy conversion. And as the game is distressingly poor in the first place, Alternative Software took something dreadful and made it into something frankly unholy." Ashen criticises Count Duckula 2's graphics, calling them "absolutely dreadful" and expresses that many of the sprites are difficult to parse due to being reduced to two colours without being redrawn.
References
External links
1992 video games
Alternative Software games
Amstrad CPC games
Platformers
Single-player video games
Video games about birds
Video games about vampires
Video games based on animated television series
Video games developed in the United Kingdom
ZX Spectrum games
Danger Mouse |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hierarchical%20cell%20structure%20%28telecommunications%29 | For telephone services to mobile phones, Hierarchical cell structure ("HCS") used in mobile telecommunication means the splitting of cells. This type of cell structure allows the network to effectively use the geographical area and serve an increasing population.
Mechanism
The large cell (called a "macro cell") is rearranged to include small cells in it called micro and pico cells. The cricket stadium/exhibition ground can be a micro cell and a multi storied building can be a pico cell within the large cell. The micro/pico cell is allocated the radio spectrum to serve the increased population. The User Equipments (UEs) going out of the pico/micro cells are allowed to reselect the larger cell.
The HCS cells are given priorities from 0-7 where 0 is the lowest priority and 7 the highest. The cells close to the serving cell are given highest priority. The mobiles in high mobility prioritise to reselect to the lower priority cells to avoid continuous reselections.
Microcells can add localized capacity within Macro cell.
References
External links
Phone Signal Booster
Mobile telecommunications |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential%20matrix | In computer vision, the essential matrix is a matrix, that relates corresponding points in stereo images assuming that the cameras satisfy the pinhole camera model.
Function
More specifically, if and are homogeneous normalized image coordinates in image 1 and 2, respectively, then
if and correspond to the same 3D point in the scene (not an "if and only if" due to the fact that points that lie on the same epipolar line in the first image will get mapped to the same epipolar line in the second image).
The above relation which defines the essential matrix was published in 1981 by H. Christopher Longuet-Higgins, introducing the concept to the computer vision community. Richard Hartley and Andrew Zisserman's book reports that an analogous matrix appeared in photogrammetry long before that. Longuet-Higgins' paper includes an algorithm for estimating from a set of corresponding normalized image coordinates as well as an algorithm for determining the relative position and orientation of the two cameras given that is known. Finally, it shows how the 3D coordinates of the image points can be determined with the aid of the essential matrix.
Use
The essential matrix can be seen as a precursor to the fundamental matrix, . Both matrices can be used for establishing constraints between matching image points, but the fundamental matrix can only be used in relation to calibrated cameras since the inner camera parameters (matrices and ) must be known in order to achieve the normalization. If, however, the cameras are calibrated the essential matrix can be useful for determining both the relative position and orientation between the cameras and the 3D position of corresponding image points. The essential matrix is related to the fundamental matrix with
Derivation and definition
This derivation follows the paper by Longuet-Higgins.
Two normalized cameras project the 3D world onto their respective image planes. Let the 3D coordinates of a point P be and relative to each camera's coordinate system. Since the cameras are normalized, the corresponding image coordinates are
and
A homogeneous representation of the two image coordinates is then given by
and
which also can be written more compactly as
and
where and are homogeneous representations of the 2D image coordinates and and are proper 3D coordinates but in two different coordinate systems.
Another consequence of the normalized cameras is that their respective coordinate systems are related by means of a translation and rotation. This implies that the two sets of 3D coordinates are related as
where is a rotation matrix and is a 3-dimensional translation vector.
The essential matrix is then defined as:
{| style="font-size:120%; border:3px dashed red;" cellpadding="8"
|-
|
|}
where is the matrix representation of the cross product with .
Note: Here, the transformation will transform points in the 2nd view to the 1st view.
For the definition of we are only inter |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird%20Neighbors | Bird Neighbors, published in 1897, was the first major work by nature writer Neltje Blanchan. The book combined scientific data with color illustrations, accessible language, and personal experience reflecting Blanchan's joy in nature. In his introduction, naturalist John Burroughs praised it as "reliable" as well as "written in a vivacious strain by a real bird lover."
After discussing the scientific classification of birds by families, Blanchan lists 19 "habitats" where birds can be found (such as "birds seen near the edges of woods" and "birds found near salt water"), and groups the birds themselves by size and color. The 52 color illustrations were produced by photographing stuffed birds in front of appropriate backgrounds, since cameras of the time could not take good photographs of living birds. The published photographs were also limited by the color printing technologies of the time, and some of the darker birds have been described as looking like "they had been dipped in shoe polish."
Among the "birds conspicuously black" in the book is the red-winged blackbird, which is introduced this way:
In oozy pastures where a brook lazily finds its way through the farm is the ideal pleasure ground of this "bird of society." His notes, "h'-wa-ker-ee" or "con-quer-ee" (on an ascending scale), are liquid in quality, suggesting the sweet, moist, cool retreats where he nests ... satisfied with cut-worms, grubs, and insects, or with fruit and grain for his food – the blackbird is an impressive and helpful example of how to get the best out of life.
On publication, The New York Times praised the book's color prints and its ability to be "understood by all readers," and the following year included it in a list of "150 books for summer reading." Bird Neighbors sold over 250,000 copies, helping to make the author the best-selling female nature writer of her time.
Originally published by Doubleday, the book was republished by the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation in 1999.
See also
Nature's Garden: An Aid to Knowledge of our Wild Flowers and their Insect Visitors
Wild Flowers Worth Knowing
Birdwatching
History of photography
References
Further reading
Blanchan, Neltje (1897): Bird Neighbors. HTML or TXT fulltext at Project Gutenberg
Blanchan, Neltje (1898): Bird Neighbors. 1898 edition from archive.org (includes full-color illustrations)
1897 non-fiction books
Ornithological handbooks
Birdwatching
History of photography |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fiona%20O%27Loughlin%20%28comedian%29 | Fiona Taheny (born 16 July 1963), commonly known as Fiona O'Loughlin, is an Australian comedian. O'Loughlin has made television performances on ABC TV's Spicks and Specks, and Network Ten's Rove Live, Good News Week, All Star Family Feud, The Project, Studio 10, Show Me the Movie! and Hughesy, We Have a Problem and a series of advertisements for Heinz soups. She has performed as a headline act in the Melbourne International Comedy Festival and the Edinburgh Fringe festival. In 2011 a book of her short stories, Me of the Never Never: The (Chaotic) Life and Times of Fiona O'Loughlin was published by Hachette Australia.
Career
In the early 1990s O'Loughlin was writing a column for the Centralian Advocate, and emceeing cabaret shows at the Araluen Arts Centre. By 1994 she was doing a weekly radio segment on the ABC. In 2000 she appeared at the Adelaide Fringe Festival.
In 2001, she won the award for Best Newcomer at the Melbourne International Comedy Festival with her show, Fiona and her sister (and some weird guy).
In 2007, she was the "funny woman" in the Seven Network's Sunrise.
In 2009, she was a contestant on the Australian version of Dancing with the Stars.
In 2012, O'Loughlin was a candidate on the second series of The Celebrity Apprentice Australia; she was the first to be fired from the series.
In 2014, she appeared on the ABC TV’s Australian Story discussing her career and her alcoholism.
In 2018, she was a contestant on fourth season of the Australian version of I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. She won the series and donated the prize of $100,000 to her chosen charity, Angel Flight. In 2018, she appeared as herself in the comedy film That's Not My Dog! She appeared as a guest quiz master on Have You Been Paying Attention?
In 2021, O'Loughlin appeared as a guest on episode #23 of Riley Dyson’s “Aussies with stories!” podcast. O'Loughlin appeared as leader of the negative team on Australia Debates.
Personal life
Fiona Taheny was born into an Irish-Australian family at Warooka, South Australia, and is herself a single mother of five children. She lived in Alice Springs for 27 years but relocated to Melbourne in 2012. She was married to Chris O'Loughlin from 1985-2012. Her family, and attitude towards children, make up a large component of her act.
In 2009, O'Loughlin collapsed during a performance in Brisbane. She subsequently announced that she suffers from alcoholism.
Her younger sister, Emily Taheny, is also a comedian and formerly a regular cast member of Comedy Inc.
O'Loughlin's daughter, Biddy O'Loughlin, is a comedian, and toured Ireland in 2011-12.
References
External links
Fiona's bio and photo
1963 births
Living people
Australian people of Irish descent
Australian women comedians
People from Alice Springs
The Apprentice Australia candidates
I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (Australian TV series) winners |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CUDA | CUDA (or Compute Unified Device Architecture) is a proprietary and closed source parallel computing platform and application programming interface (API) that allows software to use certain types of graphics processing units (GPUs) for general purpose processing, an approach called general-purpose computing on GPUs (GPGPU). CUDA is a software layer that gives direct access to the GPU's virtual instruction set and parallel computational elements, for the execution of compute kernels.
CUDA is designed to work with programming languages such as C, C++, and Fortran. This accessibility makes it easier for specialists in parallel programming to use GPU resources, in contrast to prior APIs like Direct3D and OpenGL, which required advanced skills in graphics programming. CUDA-powered GPUs also support programming frameworks such as OpenMP, OpenACC and OpenCL; and HIP by compiling such code to CUDA.
CUDA was created by Nvidia. When it was first introduced, the name was an acronym for Compute Unified Device Architecture, but Nvidia later dropped the common use of the acronym.
Background
The graphics processing unit (GPU), as a specialized computer processor, addresses the demands of real-time high-resolution 3D graphics compute-intensive tasks. By 2012, GPUs had evolved into highly parallel multi-core systems allowing efficient manipulation of large blocks of data. This design is more effective than general-purpose central processing unit (CPUs) for algorithms in situations where processing large blocks of data is done in parallel, such as:
cryptographic hash functions
machine learning
molecular dynamics simulations
physics engines
Ontology
The following table offers a non-exact description for the ontology of CUDA framework.
Programming abilities
The CUDA platform is accessible to software developers through CUDA-accelerated libraries, compiler directives such as OpenACC, and extensions to industry-standard programming languages including C, C++ and Fortran. C/C++ programmers can use 'CUDA C/C++', compiled to PTX with nvcc, Nvidia's LLVM-based C/C++ compiler, or by clang itself. Fortran programmers can use 'CUDA Fortran', compiled with the PGI CUDA Fortran compiler from The Portland Group.
In addition to libraries, compiler directives, CUDA C/C++ and CUDA Fortran, the CUDA platform supports other computational interfaces, including the Khronos Group's OpenCL, Microsoft's DirectCompute, OpenGL Compute Shader and C++ AMP. Third party wrappers are also available for Python, Perl, Fortran, Java, Ruby, Lua, Common Lisp, Haskell, R, MATLAB, IDL, Julia, and native support in Mathematica.
In the computer game industry, GPUs are used for graphics rendering, and for game physics calculations (physical effects such as debris, smoke, fire, fluids); examples include PhysX and Bullet. CUDA has also been used to accelerate non-graphical applications in computational biology, cryptography and other fields by an order of magnitude or more.
CUDA provides both |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forwarding | Forwarding may refer to:
Computing and technology
Call forwarding, a telephony feature that allows calls to one phone number to be forwarded to another number
Remote call forwarding, a telephony feature that allows call forwarding to be activated remotely
Cisco Express Forwarding, an advanced layer 3 switching technology used mainly on the enterprise core network or the Internet
Mail forwarding, a service that redirects mail from one address to another
Email forwarding, the re-sending of an email message onward to another email address
Operand forwarding in an instruction pipeline
Packet forwarding, the relaying of packets from one network segment to another by nodes in a computer network
Forwarding equivalence class, a set of packets with similar or identical characteristics that may be forwarded the same way
Perfect forwarding, a feature of the programming language C++11
Port forwarding, the act of forwarding a network port from one network node to another
Reverse-path forwarding, a technique used in routers for ensuring loop-free forwarding of packets in multicast routing and to help prevent IP address spoofing in unicast routing
URL redirection, also called URL forwarding, domain redirection and domain forwarding, a technique that forwards web page visitors to another page
Other uses
Freight forwarding, a service by which a freight forwarder dispatches shipments via common carriers
Timber forwarding, the transport of logs from the stump to the forest road
See also
Routing (disambiguation) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve%20Vickers%20%28computer%20scientist%29 | Steve Vickers (born c. 1953) is a British mathematician and computer scientist. In the early 1980s, he wrote ROM firmware and manuals for three home computers, the ZX81, ZX Spectrum, and Jupiter Ace. The latter was produced by Jupiter Cantab, a short-lived company Vickers formed together with Richard Altwasser, after the two had left Sinclair Research. Since the late 1980s, Vickers has been an academic in the field of geometric logic, writing over 30 papers in scholarly journals on mathematical aspects of computer science. His book Topology via Logic has been influential over a range of fields (extending even to theoretical physics, where Christopher Isham of Imperial College London has cited Vickers as an early influence on his work on topoi and quantum gravity). In October 2018, he retired as senior lecturer at the University of Birmingham. As announced on his university homepage, he continues to supervise PhD students at the university and focus on his research.
Education
Vickers graduated from King's College, Cambridge with a degree in mathematics and completed a PhD at Leeds University, also in mathematics.
Sinclair Research
In 1980 he started working for Nine Tiles, which had previously written the Sinclair BASIC for the ZX80. He was responsible for the adaptation of the 4K ZX80 ROM into the 8K ROM used in the ZX81 and also wrote the ZX81 manual. He then wrote most of the ZX Spectrum ROM, and assisted with the user documentation.
Vickers left in 1982 to form "Rainbow Computing Co." with Richard Altwasser. The company became Jupiter Cantab and they were together responsible for the development of the commercially unsuccessful Jupiter ACE, a competitor to the similar ZX Spectrum.
Academia
Originally at the Department of Computing at Imperial College London, Vickers later joined the Department of Pure Mathematics at the Open University before moving to the School of Computer Science at the University of Birmingham, where he is currently a senior lecturer and the research student tutor of the School of Computer Science.
Research
Vickers' main interest lies within geometric logic. His book Topology via Logic introduces topology from the point of view of some computational insights developed by Samson Abramsky and Mike Smyth. It stresses the point-free approach and can be understood as dealing with theories in the so-called geometric logic, which was already known from topos theory and is a more stringent form of intuitionistic logic. However, the book was written in the language of classical mathematics.
Extending the ideas to toposes (as generalised spaces) he found himself channelled into constructive mathematics in a geometric form and in Topical Categories of Domains he set out a geometrisation programme of, where possible, using this geometric mathematics as a tool for treating point-free spaces (and toposes) as though they had "enough points". Much of his subsequent work has been in case studies to show that, with suitable tec |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Syntax%20tree | Syntax tree may refer to:
Abstract syntax tree, used in computer science
Concrete syntax tree, used in linguistics |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amy%20Parks | Amy Parks (born 10 June 1982 ) is an Australian journalist and broadcaster. She is a reporter for Seven News Melbourne from Melbourne. Parks was one of the original hosts of Nine Network's late night interactive quiz show, Quizmania (2006–2007). She was a reporter on Nine News Melbourne in 2008, before switching to rival network, Seven.
Early years
Parks was born on 10 June 1982. She was raised in Horsham, Victoria until 13 and then moved to the Bellarine Peninsula. She joined a junior Geelong theatre society and Matthew Flinders Girls Secondary College' jazz group. Parks was a singer in the school-based band, Sweethearts of Swing, and toured overseas.
Television
After being accepted to RMIT's Bachelor of Journalism course, Parks became very involved in community television, taking on the hosting role for three seasons of Raucous (a live-to-air music show), was the TV reporter on Darren & Brose, and also became both producer and presenter of Newsline and Pluck. It was during her time at RMIT that Parks was asked to join the team at Fox Footy and present 26 episodes of Young Guns, a show focusing on the lives and careers of young footballers.
Returning to university after Fox Footy, Parks finished her degree whilst doing various freelance journalism and presenting activities. These included work at The Age newspaper, Media Giants and the Essendon Football Club, as well as hosting Channel 31's Real Time Racing, and conducting a series of interviews over three years at the annual Falls Festival for a historical DVD.
Parks' next project saw her presenting a children's DVD, Talking Time, released commercially September 2006 in Australia, Canada, USA and NZ. In this role, Parks played beside a collection of puppets in a DVD that is aimed at increasing parents' awareness of the importance of instilling good speech practices in their children.
Quizmania
In July 2006 Parks was one of the original hosts of the Nine Network late-night phone-in quiz show, Quizmania. Her co-presenters were Brodie Young (ex-Big Brother intruder) and Nikki Osborne (an actress).
Media career
In 2008 Parks joined Nine News Melbourne as a reporter, prior to becoming a reporter Amy was a producer.
In 2009 Parks moved to Seven News Melbourne as a reporter. She was one of the Geelong Cup Ambassadors, with Geelong footballer Steve Johnson, in 2010. She achieved viral fame when reporting from similarly-named sporting venue AAMI Park, with the video receiving more than 250,000 views on YouTube.
Music
Amy Parks joined Melbourne-based pop, rock band Loomset as lead vocalist in late 2001. Loomset had formed in 1999 by Tuffy and D. T. and had recorded material for their debut album, Disguise (2002). The group released their second album, Winterland in 2004, but disbanded soon after.
References
Australian television presenters
RMIT University alumni
Television personalities from Melbourne
1982 births
Living people
21st-century Australian singers
21st-century Australian women singe |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autodesk%20Mudbox | Mudbox is a proprietary computer-based 3D sculpting and painting tool. developed by Autodesk, Mudbox was created by Skymatter, founded by Tibor Madjar, David Cardwell and Andrew Camenisch, former artists of Weta Digital, where the tool was first used to produce the 2005 Peter Jackson remake of King Kong. Mudbox's primary application is high-resolution digital sculpting, texture painting, displacement map creation, and normal map creation, although it is also used as a design tool.
History
Mudbox was developed by Skymatter in New Zealand as the founders David Cardwell, Tibor Madjar and Andrew Camenisch were working on The Lord of the Rings at Weta Digital circa 2001. They created the software to expand their own toolsets, and Mudbox was first used as a complete product in the 2005 film King Kong. The beta was released in May 2006, followed by version 1.0 in mid-February 2007. On August 6, 2007, Autodesk announced the acquisition of Skymatter. Since 2020, no new features or bugfixes have been implemented except for new installers. However, there are still yearly new releases.
Features
Mudbox's user interface is a 3D environment that allows the creation of movable cameras that can be bookmarked. Models created within the program typically start as a polygon mesh that can be manipulated with a variety of different tools. A model can be subdivided to increase its resolution and the number of polygons available to sculpt with. 3D layers allow the user to store different detail passes, blending them with multiplier sliders and layer masks. Using layers, the user is able to sculpt and mold their 3D model without making permanent changes.
As a detailing app, Mudbox can import and export .obj, .fbx, and .bio files, as well as its own .mud format. A typical workflow is to create a relatively simple (low polygon count) model in a 3D modeling application and then import it to Mudbox for sculpting. Subdivision of models occurs using the Catmull-Clark subdivision algorithm.
The sculpting tool set contains an assortment of brushes with adjustable falloffs.
The use of 3D layers allows for design visualization, non-destructive sculpting, and high polygon counts. Since the layers combine additively, their ordering is unimportant for the final model and may be created arbitrarily. Curves can be created and projected on a mesh for use as precise masking. All of the standard transform and selection tools are there as well. Paint layers were added in Mudbox 2009.
Design visualization plays an important role in Mudbox's production value. Simple poly primitives can be created from within Mudbox, facilitating the creation of busts, props, terrain, etc.
Mudbox also includes stamps and stencils. Stencils work by overlaying a grayscale, or "alpha channel" image, such as a bump map, over the mesh. The artist can then project part or all of the image's detail onto the mesh through brush strokes, providing a method to quickly sculpt surface detail.
The underlying a |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neuron%20%28disambiguation%29 | Neuron is one of the primary cell types in the nervous system.
Neuron may also refer to:
Artificial neuron is the basic unit in an artificial neural network
Neuron (synthesizer) is an electronic musical instrument
The Dassault nEUROn is a planned stealth unmanned combat air vehicle designed by a consortium of European countries
Neuron (journal) is a scientific journal publishing scholarly neuroscience articles
Neuron (software) is a simulation environment used in computational neuroscience for modeling individual neurons and networks of neurons
"Neurons", a song by Avey Tare from 7s |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philadelphia%20Anti-Graffiti%20Network | The Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network (PAGN) was founded in January 1984 by former Philadelphia Mayor Wilson Goode. The original goal of the program was to combat the spread of graffiti in the Philadelphia area and was led by Tim Spencer. In 1986 another program began within PAGN, named The Mural Arts Project (MAP), and headed by artist Jane Golden. Through the success of both programs in 1991 the city of Philadelphia was awarded the Innovations in American Government Award due to the progress PAGN and MAP had made in the surrounding communities. In 1996 the success of MAP was noted and split off into a separate program and placed under the umbrella of the Philadelphia Recreation Department. From the founding of these programs over 2,500 murals have been created across the city and over 40,000 walls cleaned of graffiti. The Philadelphia Anti-Graffiti Network currently consists of three programs; Mural Arts Program, Paint Voucher Program, and the Graffiti Abatement Team.
History
A precursor is The Philadelphia Museum of Art's urban outreach project in the seventies. The program helped to create murals around Philadelphia to cover up the graffiti-covered buildings. The museum's program ended in 1983, a year prior to the beginning (COAST) of the PAGN, which like its predecessor attempted to use murals to curb the rising graffiti problem.
While closely related to the Philadelphia Museum of Art's urban outreach project, the PAGN encompassed a larger goal with similar priorities. The program was originally created during a citywide crackdown on graffiti and accompanied other antigraffiti regulations and increases in penalties. Selling of spray paints to minors was prohibited as well as displaying unlocked cans of paint in stores, the latter to curb the common practice of shoplifting paints. Included with the increased penalties also came alternative forms of punishment such as forcing graffiti writers to clean graffiti as a form of community service and an amnesty program for identified "taggers" who signed pledges promising not to vandalize property anymore. The amnesty program accumulated over a thousand signatures between 1984 and 1991. Those found guilty of vandalism also had another option: apprenticeship in the PAGN program. The apprenticeship focused on taking the creative energy of the graffiti artists (BERN) and helping them gain guidance from already established professional artists.
In 1996, the PAGN program was merged into the Philadelphia Recreation Department and MAP was elevated as an independent entity. From the MAP program came the Philadelphia Mural Arts Advocates, a not for profit corporation for raising funds for the MAP programs. While 1996 marked a greater position for MAP-it also was the year the PAGN founder, Tim Spencer, died. The roots of MAP was in a meeting with Jane Golden and Spencer in 1984 in which she asked to run a program within PAGN. Spencer originally envisioned a program that would move kids more towards ot |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tonearm%20%28musician%29 | Tonearm is the stage name of Russian-born, New York-based musician Ilia Bis (Илья Бис). Bis grew up in Moscow and later moved to the United States to study mathematics and computer sound analysis. After doing graduate work at the University of Chicago, he decided to pursue music full-time.
Tonearm usually performs as a one-man band, combining electronic processing with singing and playing an electric guitar. He also collaborates closely with video artists, and all shows are accompanied by tightly-scripted live video projections. Despite not having released a full record to date, Tonearm has received considerable critical attention both in the United States and in his native Russia for his strong songwriting and original production. In 2006, he was reportedly working on a debut album.
References
External links
Official website
Tonearm's instrumental music on myspace.com
Radio Liberty article
Moscow Times article
American electronic musicians
American male singer-songwriters
Intelligent dance musicians
Russian emigrants to the United States
University of Chicago alumni
Ableton Live users
Living people
Year of birth missing (living people) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cocaine%20%28disambiguation%29 | Cocaine is a naturally occurring organic compound, an alkaloid, present in the leaves of the coca plant.
Cocaine (data page)
Cocaine may also refer to:
Arts and entertainment
Cocaine (film), a 1922 British crime film directed by Graham Cutts
The Pace That Kills (1935 film), also known as Cocaine Madness and The Cocaine Fiends, a 1935 film directed by William A. O'Conner
Cocaine: An Unauthorized Biography, a 2002 book by Dominic Streatfeild
Cocaine Blues (novel), by Kerry Greenwood (1989)
Music
Cocaine (album), a 2009 album by Z-Ro
"Cocaine" (song), a 1976 song by J.J. Cale, later recorded by Eric Clapton and Nazareth
"Cocaine", a poem by Patti Smith in her 1972 book Seventh Heaven
"Coke'n", a 2002 song by Izzy Stradlin on his album On Down the Road
"Cocaine Blues",
Other uses
Cocaine (PaaS), an open source project
Cocaine (drink), a highly caffeinated energy drink that does not contain the alkaloid cocaine
Honey Cocaine (born 1992), stage name of the Canadian rap artist Sochitta Sal
List of cocaine analogues, the structurally and functionally analogous chemical molecules derived from or modified to be in accord with the basic form of cocaine
See also
Kokane (born 1969), an American hip hop artist otherwise known as Jerry B. Long Jr.
Cockayne (disambiguation) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foundation%20for%20Contemporary%20Art | The Foundation for Contemporary Art (FCA) is a Ghanaian visual arts foundation that aims to create an active network of artists and provide a critical forum for the development of contemporary art in Ghana. Based in Accra, the FCA was founded in 2004 by Professor Joe Nkrumah and Australian/Italian artist Virginia Ryan, along with 12 founding members. The FCA office is located in the W.E.B. DuBois Memorial Centre for Pan-African Culture in the Cantonments neighborhood of Accra.
Membership
The Foundation for Contemporary Art currently has circa 100 members — artists, critics, collectors, art enthusiasts — as well as an advisory board and an executive board. The Foundation for Contemporary Art Ghana actively recruits new members and welcomes all practising artists and people interested in contemporary arts.
Objectives
The objectives of the Foundation for Contemporary Art are fourfold:
Organize exhibitions, seminars, workshops and publications to raise the awareness of and develop critical thinking about contemporary art in Ghana
Establish a resource centre of arts-related texts available for consultation, research and documentation
Create a website to promote contemporary art in Ghana
Establish a public database of artists, arts organizations, art businesses, galleries and others interested in contemporary art in Ghana
References
External links
Official website
Cultural organisations based in Ghana
Arts organizations established in 2004 |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KFLB | KFLB-FM (branded as Family Life Radio) is a radio station that serves the Midland–Odessa metropolitan area with Christian programming on 88.1 FM. The station is owned by Family Life Broadcasting. KFLB (920 AM) was also owned by Family Life Broadcasting and carried the same programming until its license was surrendered and cancelled on July 17, 2023.
History
KECK, KBZB and KYXX
KECK went on the air at noon on January 26, 1947. It was owned by Ben Nedow's Ector County Broadcasting Company and broadcast as a daytime-only station with 1,000 watts, adding 500-watt nighttime service in 1950. KECK brought NBC programs to Odessa and was the second new station for the city in as many Sundays (KOSA had gone on the air on January 19). The Nedows owned the station until 1965, three years after Ben's death, when High Sky Broadcasters acquired the frequency. High Sky changed KECK's call sign to KBZB on April 10, 1967.
KBZB was sold in 1968 to the Atkins and Green Broadcasting Company, formed by two Odessa businessmen. Mesa Broadcasting, owned by Randy Wayne of Brownwood, acquired the station in 1976 for $260,000 and relaunched it as KYXX with a country format. KYXX and sister station KKYN in Plainview were sold to Keith Adams and Jim Shelton of Amarillo in 1979. The format flip helped vault KYXX to the top of the Permian Basin radio ratings, where in 1981 it had a market share of 16.5 percent, but in 1982 it was supplanted by KUFO, an FM station.
KENT
In 1986, Adams-Shelton sold KYXX to the Southwest Educational Media Foundation of Texas (SEMFOT), which took control on January 1, 1987. The new ownership, headed by a T. Kent Atkins, changed the call sign to KENT and instituted a middle-of-the-road Christian music format, augmented by syndicated programs from James Dobson, J. Vernon McGee, Warren Wiersbee and others; the station operated noncommercially, seeking support from listeners. Two years later, KENT acquired the construction permit for noncommercial station KOFR at 90.5 MHz, which was owned by Family Radio, and brought it to air as KENT-FM, a simulcast of the AM station.
The signing on of KENT-FM and co-owned FM radio stations in Amarillo and Lubbock, however, would turn into a years-long legal headache for SEMFOT. Three years of investigation turned serious when the Federal Communications Commission asked its administrative law judge to impose the maximum $250,000 fine, citing a record of false information provided to the FCC and saying that KENT-FM, Amarillo's KLMN (now K-LOVE transmitter KXLV) and Lubbock's KAMY (now a Family Life Radio transmitter) were built and operated without FCC authorization. The FCC also designated all SEMFOT stations' licenses for hearing. That April, SEMFOT decided to sell all of its stations to Maranatha Radio for $600,000 in a minority distress sale.
Maranatha sold six stations in Texas and Lake Charles, Louisiana, all former SEMFOT properties, to Family Life Radio in 1998 for $1 million. KENT and KENT-FM became KFLB |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association%20of%20UK%20Media%20Librarians | The Association of UK Media Librarians (AUKML) was formed in 1986 to create a network of information professionals in the print and broadcasting industries as up until this point there had been no organised body to represent them. With the growth in online information and the perceived threat to jobs, informal links had begun to be made between individual librarians. However it was a networking lunch hosted by David Nicholas, Senior lecturer at the then Polytechnic of North London, that proved to be the catalyst in bringing most of the London-based librarians together in the summer of 1986. Nicholas had been in contact with a range of people working in the media as part of a British Library-funded study into online information. The lunch provided the impetus for the new group with Sarah Adair, librarian at London Weekend Television (LWT), assuming a leading role. The inaugural meeting took place on 12 November 1986.
At the same time, the National Association of Newspaper Librarians (NANL) had been formed independently to represent the views of regional librarians. Led by Peter Chapman, Chief librarian at The Northern Echo, the group soon had a membership of at least 30 that was meeting regularly. With similar aims the two groups formally merged on 7 March 1988. The AUKML name was retained and Deadline became the newsletter for the new group.
The number of media libraries and media librarians began to decline in the early 21st century and the Association ceased to exist in 2010
External links
Guardian story about AUKML (subscription required)
References
UK Media Librarians
1986 establishments in the United Kingdom
Organizations established in 1986
British librarians |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bounded%20pointer | In computer science, a bounded pointer is a pointer that is augmented with additional information that enable the storage bounds within which it may point to be deduced. This additional information sometimes takes the form of two pointers holding the upper and lower addresses of the storage occupied by the object to which the bounded pointer points.
Use of bound information makes it possible for a compiler to generate code that performs bounds checking, i.e. that tests if a pointer's value lies within the bounds prior to dereferencing the pointer or modifying the value of the pointer. If the bounds are violated some kind of exception may be raised. This is especially useful for data constructs such as arrays in C.
See also
Bounds-checking elimination
Smart pointer
Tagged pointer
References
Data types |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnic%20Multicultural%20Media%20Academy | The Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy (EMMA) is a British organization that raises awareness of discrimination through media campaigns and social networking.
The EMMA Awards was founded in 1997 by Bobby Syed and "seeks to promote diversity within the media industry by publicly recognising the levels of excellence achieved by the multicultural community, and the qualities that each ethnic group brings to the professional and commercial success of United Kingdom as a whole". The first award presentation took place in 1998 at The Dorchester Hotel, Park Lane, London, and was hosted by TV presenter Lisa Aziz and journalist/broadcaster Darcus Howe.
Prominent recipients include Lord Richard Attenborough, who received the 2001 Lifetime Achievement Award at the Grosvenor House Hotel. In 2000, EMMA honored Nelson Mandela. Mahatma Gandhi (2002) and Bruce Lee (2004) both received EMMA's Legend Award.
The UK EMMAs are screened on the internet and accompanied by an online voting system. The BBC broadcast the ceremony until 2004. The ceremony officially ended in 2005 after a legal dispute with the show's sponsor, NatWest.
Patrons
The patrons of the Ethnic Multicultural Media Academy (Awards) include Sir Trevor McDonald OBE, Dame Anita Roddick (Late), Donald Woods CBE (Late), Gulam Noon, Baron Noon, Lord Desai, Lord Ouseley, Darcus Howe and Jonathan Dimbleby. They have all backed EMMA since 1998.
References
Awards established in 1997
Mass media awards
Multiculturalism |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeoNet | GeoNet was an early international on-line services network built using microcomputers. Based on software developed in Germany by GeoNet Systems GmbH in the early 1980s, and completed in the early 1990s, it was one of the first networks to offer a comprehensive on-line services platform, and was early to market with a number of innovations. Unlike other "mailbox" systems at the time, GeoNet had a user-friendly command interface and made extensive use of distributed processing technology.
History
GeoNet became an important force in the European market within 15 months of introducing its first system in the early 1980s, and by 1986 had an installed base of some 25 systems in 8 countries. By the early 1990s GeoNet systems had been established in Austria, France, Germany, Guatemala, Ireland, Italy, Luxembourg, Netherlands, Poland, Portugal, Switzerland, UK, USA and USSR. Apart from the Austrian PTT and An Post in Ireland, most of the operators were independent private companies.
System features and design
GeoNet systems were strongly interconnected using a proprietary pre-X.400 protocol, called "InterMail". The so-called "GeoMail" network constituted a worldwide “private domain”, later interconnected with other public and private domains through X.400.
Later versions of GeoNet software ran under OpenVMS on DEC hardware. The largest installations ran on Alpha clusters. GeoNet operated centralised system monitoring and maintenance from Germany.
Some of the many innovative features of the GeoNet systems:
Cross-system accounting and clearing: the systems were able to bill for many on-line activities, but also had a built-in micropayment clearing system whereby users of one system could use services offered on another and be billed accordingly.
Unified database front end: the GeoNet philosophy was to offer users a "one-stop-shop" for on-line services. Users could access a wide range of remote on-line databases using a sophisticated gateway called Intelligent Interface, developed with a research grant from the European Commission. The cost of accessing remote databases was added to the user's bill.
Unified messaging: GeoNet was one of the first systems to offer "unified messaging" (a term introduced by Ovum Ltd. in the UK). The "one-stop-shop" metaphor was extended by allowing message exchange with fax, telex, teletex, SMS, pager, voice and Inmarsat-C. GeoNet was one of the first systems to introduce a fax-out service, and also one of the first systems to offer private fax-in numbers, allowing users to send and receive faxes from wherever they could get a connection to their mailbox.
Multilingual user interface, in Dutch, English, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Spanish.
Forerunner of instant messaging: users could "chat" live online.
Operators
The UK systems GEO2 and MCR1 were run by Poptel which aimed its services at non-commercial organisations, and the distinctive GeoNet addressing format (e.g. GEO2:TONY.BLAIR – a w |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Audicom | Audicom was the first system in the world to record and play audio from a PC computer, beginning in 1988 the era of digital recording that would eliminate recorders from magnetic and cassette tape used for half a century.
Invention
This technology was created in Argentina by a group of engineers led by Oscar Bonello, professor at the University of Buenos Aires, who began in 1982 to develop the idea of the digital recording on hard disk.
This invention has changed the way we today record and reproduce sound or listen to it via streaming.
The Audicom required the creation of a data compression technology that could reduce the size of digital audio files. This technology now named Perceptual Coding is the core of all the systems that we use every day to hear music using audio streaming. From his experience in the field of Psychoacoustics, Bonello considered that the solution to reduce digital data would be to transmit only a small fraction of it, selected to achieve masking of critical ear bands prevent noticing the absence of the missing information. This is a property of the human ear, known for many years, but without practical applications and which was used for the first time in this field.
This idea was the forerunner of other forms of compression that appeared later such as MP3, AAC, Opus, etc. that were based exactly on the same principle of psychoacoustics.
It was also necessary to invent the world's first audio card to be able to faithfully record and reproduce audio in the 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz range.
The development team included several engineers, including Ricardo Sidoti and Elio Demaria, who made the hardware including the programmable logic gates. In turn, the driver and the user application were developed by Gustavo Pesci.
Later, Sebastian Ledesma was added to the group, author of all the modern versions starting with Audicom 5. He used algorithms of artificial intelligence, to carry out the proposed technology of Bonello of an AutoDJ music scheduling system that works with the perfection of the best human DJ creating exact time blocks, previously impossible in broadcasting programs.
This invention was immediately applied in radio stations, sound systems, recording studios and sound in shows, achieving an immediate impact on audio engineering and even in journalistic media.
The development was carried out in Solidyne, a private company that paid for the costs of this project for 5 years. But the company understood that this invention was too important for millions of people to use it freely and decided not to apply for invention patents.
To avoid future discussions about this invention and in order to give constancy of their existence as a commercial product of free availability, Solidyne published a note in the international edition of AES Journal that was the first offer of a product capable of recording and reproducing audio digitally from a standard PC.
The release of patents allowed the rapid spread of audio rec |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interrupt%20control%20register | An interrupt control register, or ICR, is a hardware register in a computer chip used to configure the chip to generate interrupts—to raise a signal on an interrupt line—in response to some event occurring within the chip or a circuit connected to the chip.
An Interrupt Control is usually used in Micro controllers to generate interrupts signals which tells the CPU to pause its current task and start executing another set of predefined activities.
References
External links
Details on Interrupt control registers, NMI and VIC at this link.
Digital registers |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WGGO | WGGO is an AM radio station located in Salamanca, New York, United States. The station broadcasts at 1590 kHz. WGGO is owned by Holy Family Communications as part of its network of Catholic radio stations, The Station of the Cross.
WGGO's licensed 5,000-watt daytime signal, the strongest AM signal in southwestern New York, covers all of Cattaraugus County and much of Chautauqua, Allegany, and McKean Counties as well as the Southtowns of Erie County. Further north, an FCC oversight means that WRSB's signal begins interfering with WGGO's near Buffalo.
History
WGGO signed on June 19, 1957, with the call sign WNYS; it changed to WGGO within a year of signing on. Initial plans for the station were for it to be based in Great Valley. Religious broadcaster George Thayer built the station's transmitter; he continued to produce religious broadcasts until his death in 2020. It was initially owned by the Schaeffer family, doing business as the Cattaraugus Broadcast Service.
One of WGGO's most notable alumni is CBS weatherman Ira Joe Fisher, who worked at the station for his first job in 1963. Barry Lillis, a longtime weatherman at WGRZ and currently at WEBR, began his radio career at WGGO.
In the late 1970s/early 1980s, WGGO's original programming included "Tradio on the Radio" and a top 25 countdown show called "The Most Alive 25". During this time period, one of the evening DJs went by the moniker "Johnny B. Goode", and would end each broadcast day by playing the Chuck Berry hit before sign-off.
WGGO was a local operation well into the 1990s, when it ran a country music and variety format. Some time in the late 1990s, WGGO switched to a satellite nostalgia format ("America's Best Music") from Westwood One. In 2003, the station moved to an MOR format ("Unforgettable Favorites") from ABC Radio, with ABC News Radio updates at the top of each hour.
Prior to 2003 the station was a daytime-only station that, regardless of time of year, would always sign off at 5:00 PM each day. The station now broadcasts at a nominal power level at night.
End of local programming
In 2006, Pembrook Pines Media Group (an ownership group led by Robert Pfuntner) purchased the station's license and assets from previous owner Michael Washington. Pembrook Pines changed the format to sports radio along with sister stations WELM in Elmira and WPIE in Ithaca. The last regularly scheduled local non-brokered program on the station, Tradio, was dropped unceremoniously in 2008. On Sunday September 12, 2010 at 9:22am, the longest running program on WGGO AM, "The Voice Of Living Waters", ended its run; Bill Ferguson, Sr. (1924-2012) started the program in 1963. The program was first called "The Voice of Many Waters" and had as its theme song the song of the same title. The ESPN Radio affiliation moved to WHDL in October 2013, at which point WGGO assumed an adult standards/oldies format.
Sound Communications was slated to buy what is left of Pembrook Pines in 2014, and changed the for |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Global%20Change%20Master%20Directory | The Global Change Master Directory holds more than 28,000 data set descriptions, known as DIFs (Directory Interchange Format). This format is compatible with the Federal Geographic Data Committee's (FGDC) standard and the international ISO 19115 standard. The purpose of the directory is to provide users with information on the availability of data and services that will meet their needs, along with efficient access to those data and services. Links are provided, when available, to connect directly to the data or services of interest.
The directory is part of NASA's Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS) and also serves as NASA's contribution to the Committee on Earth Observation Satellites (CEOS), through which it is also known as the International Directory Network (IDN). The international participants contribute descriptions of data and services that are held around the world and have provided valuable guidance in the development and direction of the project over the years.
The directory also offers an online metadata authoring tools for those wishing to share knowledge of available data. One of the cornerstones to effective searches within the directory is twelve sets of controlled keywords that assist in normalizing the search. The development of these keywords was initiated over a decade ago. Currently, over 7,000 keywords are controlled, with new sets created for better search refinements, as time permits. The keyword sets are widely used throughout the world and are being translated into many languages. Within the Global Change Master Directory and the IDN, these controlled keywords can be used in combination with a full-text search engine and also for search refinements.
See also
Earth Observing System Data and Information System (EOSDIS)
Climate change
OPeNDAP
Ozone
Sunspot
Geospatial metadata
Solar variation
IDN
External links
GCMD Keywords
International Directory Network
Earth Science Data and Information System (ESDIS) of NASA
Earth observation projects
American environmental websites
Metadata
NASA programs |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Homeostatic%20plasticity | In neuroscience, homeostatic plasticity refers to the capacity of neurons to regulate their own excitability relative to network activity. The term homeostatic plasticity derives from two opposing concepts: 'homeostatic' (a product of the Greek words for 'same' and 'state' or 'condition') and plasticity (or 'change'), thus homeostatic plasticity means "staying the same through change".
Comparison with Hebbian plasticity
Homeostatic synaptic plasticity is a means of maintaining the synaptic basis for learning, respiration, and locomotion, in contrast to the Hebbian plasticity associated with learning and memory. Although Hebbian forms of plasticity, such as long-term potentiation and long-term depression occur rapidly, homeostatic plasticity (which relies on protein synthesis) can take hours or days. TNF-α and microRNAs are important mediators of homeostatic synaptic plasticity.
Homeostatic plasticity is thought to balance Hebbian plasticity by modulating the activity of the synapse or the properties of ion channels. Homeostatic plasticity in neocortical circuits has been studied in depth by Gina G. Turrigiano and Sacha Nelson of Brandeis University, who first observed compensatory changes in excitatory postsynaptic currents (mEPSCs) after chronic activity manipulations.
Mechanism
Synaptic scaling has been proposed as a potential mechanism of homeostatic plasticity. Homeostatic plasticity can be used to describe a process that maintains the stability of neuronal functions through a coordinated plasticity among subcellular compartments, such as the synapses versus the neurons and the cell bodies versus the axons. Recently, it was proposed that homeostatic synaptic scaling may play a role in establishing the specificity of an associative memory.
Homeostatic plasticity also maintains neuronal excitability in a real-time manner through the coordinated plasticity of threshold and refractory period at voltage-gated sodium channels.
Role in central pattern generators
Homeostatic plasticity is also very important in the context of central pattern generators. In this context, neuronal properties are modulated in response to environmental changes in order to maintain an appropriate neural output.
References
External links
Neuroplasticity |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genesia | Genesia might refer to:
An Ancient Greek festival of the dead
An expert system developed by Électricité de France in the 1980s
The European title of Ultimate Domain, a 1992 computer game from Microïds
Genesia, a planet from the Star Wars expanded universe
Genesia, a planet from Buck Rogers in the 25th Century (TV series). |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Graveyard%20slot | A graveyard slot (or death slot) is a time period in which a television audience is very small compared to other times of the day, and therefore broadcast programming is considered far less important. Graveyard slots usually displayed in the early morning hours of each day, when most people are asleep.
With little likelihood of a substantial viewing audience during this daypart, providing useful television programming during this time is usually considered unimportant; some broadcast stations go off the air during these hours, and some audience measurement systems do not collect measurements for these periods. Some broadcasters may do engineering work at this time. Others use broadcast automation to pass-through network feeds unattended, with only broadcasting authority-mandated personnel and emergency anchors/reporters present at the local station overnight. A few stations use "we're always on" or a variant to promote their 24-hour operation as a selling point, though as this is now the rule rather than the exception it was in the past, it has now mainly become a selling point for a station's website instead.
Programming
Overnight slot
The most well-known graveyard slot in most parts of the world is the overnight television slot, after late night television and before breakfast television/morning show (between 2:00 and 6:00a.m.). During this time slot, most people are asleep, leaving only insomniacs, intentionally nocturnal people, and irregular shift workers as regular potential audiences. Because of the small number of people in those categories, the overnight shift was historically ignored as a revenue opportunity, although increases in irregular shifts have made overnight programming more viable than it had been in the past. In the United States, for example, research has shown that the number of televisions in use at 4:30a.m. doubled from 1995 to 2010 (8% to 16%).
Since the advent of home video recording, some programs in this slot may be transmitted mainly with time-shifting in mind; in the past, the BBC offered specialized overnight strands such as BBC Select (an often-encrypted block providing airtime for specialized professional programmes), and the BBC Learning Zone (which broadcast academic programmes, such as from the Open University). The BBC's current "Sign Zone" strand broadcasts repeat programmes with in-vision interpretation in British Sign Language. Some channels may carry adult-oriented content in the graveyard slot, depending on local regulations. Live events from other time zones (most often sports) may sometimes fall in overnight slots, such as daytime events from the Asia-Pacific region on channels in the Americas, and prime-time events from the Americas on channels in Europe for example. Some anime-oriented streaming services (such as Crunchyroll) have arrangements with Japanese networks to premiere episodes at the same time as their domestic television airings, often falling within the overnight hours in the America |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radio%20Disney%20Music%20Awards | The Radio Disney Music Awards (RDMA) were an annual awards show operated and governed by Radio Disney, an American radio network. Beginning in 2001, the show was originally broadcast only on Radio Disney, but later began being televised on Disney Channel from 2013 to 2019.
Radio Disney ceased operations on April 14, 2021, after switching to automated programing on January 1 of that same year. The network has made no statement about the future of the awards.
History
The Radio Disney Music Awards honored the year's achievements in music, mainly in the teen pop genre, and were awarded based on popular vote from the network's listeners via online voting. The trophy awarded to a winner is known as the "Golden Mickey", a gold-colored statuette with a silhouette figure of Mickey Mouse donning headphones nicknamed the "Ardy", representing Radio Disney's initials. Before 2014, the ceremony was not televised beyond commercial interstitial segments for Disney Channel to promote their sister radio network. As of the seventh annual ceremony on April 26, 2014, the ceremony began to be televised in full a day after a tape delay, as the network attempted to compete with Nickelodeon's Kids' Choice Awards in airing awards programming. Starting in 2016, Canada was able to vote for the first time as Disney programming, formerly under the control of Family Channel, is now carried by Disney-branded Corus Entertainment networks in both English and French.
On June 16, 2019, the 2019 Radio Disney Music Awards were renamed ARDYs: A Radio Disney Music Celebration and aired live for the first time instead of on a tape-delay.
On June 25, 2020, it was announced that the 2020 Radio Disney Music Awards would be renamed Radio Disney Presents ARDYs Summer Playlist and premiere on July 10, 2020 with Laura Marano as the host.
Awards events
Award categories
Best Female Artist
Best Male Artist
Best Music Group
Song of the Year
Best New Artist
Breakout Artist
Artist with the Best Style
Most Talked About Artist
Best Artist Turned Singer
Best Music Video
Best Soundtrack Song
Catchiest New Song
Best Anthem
Best Crush Song
Song to Dance to
Fiercest Fans
Best Song That Makes You Smile
Best Breakup Song
Best Collaboration
Best Song To Lip Sync To
Country Favorite Artist
Country Favorite Song
Country Best New Artist
Favorite Tour
Favorite Social Media Star
Favorite International Artist
Best Album
Best Homework Song
Best Karaoke Song
Best Song to Air Guitar
Best Song to Watch Your Dad Sing
Best Song to Rock Out to with Your BFF
Funniest Celebrity Take
Best Acoustic Performance
Favorite Roadtrip Song
Special awards
Impact Award
Impact Award is in recognition of an artist's influence on the world of entertainment and society, across generations of music enthusiasts.
2018: Janet Jackson
Hero Award
Hero Award is an honor for contribution for the charitable work.
2014: Shakira
2015: Jennifer Lopez
2016: Gwen Stefani
2017: Nick Jonas
2018: Carrie Underwood
2019: Avril Lavigne
Icon Award
|
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Enquiry%20character | In computer communications, enquiry is a transmission-control character that requests a response from the receiving station with which a connection has been set up. It represents a signal intended to trigger a response at the receiving end, to see whether it is still present. The response, an answer-back code to the terminal that transmitted the WRU (who are you) signal, may include station identification, the type of equipment in service, and the status of the remote station.
Some teleprinters had a "programmable" drum, which could hold a 20- or 22-character message. The message was encoded on the drum by breaking tabs off the drum. This sequence could be transmitted upon receipt of an enquiry signal, if enabled, or by pressing the "Here is" key on the keyboard.
The 5-bit ITA2 has an enquiry character, as do the later ASCII and EBCDIC.
In the 1960s, DEC routinely disabled the answerback feature on Teletype Model 33 terminals because it interfered with the use of the paper-tape reader and punch for binary data. However, the DEC VT100 terminals from 1978 responded to enquiry with a user-configurable answerback message, as did its successors.
See also
C0 and C1 control codes
Keepalive
References
External links
Browser Test Page for Unicode Character 'ENQUIRY' (U+0005)
Control characters |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aga%20Khan%20Academies | The Aga Khan Academies is an initiative of the Aga Khan Development Network. When fully operational, the Aga Khan Academies network will consist of eighteen co-educational, K-12, non-denominational day and residential schools in fourteen countries in Africa, South and Central Asia, and the Middle East. The academic program is based on the internationally recognized International Baccalaureate curriculum.
The aim of the Academies is to nurture future leaders and equip students with the skills and knowledge to support development in their societies. The Academies network will eventually serve approximately 14,000 students, graduating approximately 1,000 students annually.
Overview
The Aga Khan Academies, a network of day and residential K-12 schools, is one of the education agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network. The AKDN operates a number of education programs and institutions spanning from early childhood to university degrees and continuing professional development. Under this umbrella, the specific focus of the Aga Khan Academies is on leadership development for its students.
Each Academy also includes a Professional Development Centre that provides outreach professional development programs for teachers and school leaders from government and other nonprofit schools.
The Aga Khan Academies are being established in fourteen countries across Africa, South and Central Asia, and the Middle East. Four Academies are currently operating in Dhaka, Mombasa, Hyderabad, and Maputo. The next Academies include Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. The network of Academies will eventually include eighteen schools with a student enrollment of approximately 14,000 girls and boys, and more than 1,000 graduates annually.
History
His Highness the Aga Khan, the Chairman of the Aga Khan Development Network, founded the Aga Khan Academies as one of the AKDN's agencies in 2000.
In 2003, the first Aga Khan Academy opened in Mombasa, Kenya on an eighteen-acre site in the Kizingo area. The Academy started as a day school, with the residential program beginning in 2009. Since May 11, 2005, the Aga Khan Academy, Mombasa has been recognized as an International Baccalaureate World School when its Diploma Programme was accredited. The Middle Years Programme and Primary Years Programme were accredited by the IB in 2009 and 2007, respectively.
In 2006, construction began on the second Aga Khan Academy in Hyderabad, India on a 100-acre site gifted by the State Government near the Rajiv Gandhi International Airport. The Academy's Junior School opened in August 2011. The Senior School and the residential program for senior students opened in 2012, with the first class graduating in 2014. Since September 6, 2012, the Aga Khan Academy, Hyderabad has been designated as an International Baccalaureate World School when the Diploma Programme was accredited. The Middle Years Programme and the Primary Years Programme were authorised in 2014.
The third Aga Khan Academy opened in Maputo, |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TDM%20Bus | A TDM bus is one application of the principle of Time-Division Multiplexing.
In a TDM Bus, data or information arriving from an input line is put onto specific timeslots on a high-speed bus, where a recipient would listen to the bus and pick out only the signals for a certain timeslot.
It resembles the TDM carried out in synchronous optical networking, but the "TDM Bus" term is more commonly used when the bus is inside a single unit like a telecommunications switch or a PC.
A specification for putting a TDM bus on PCI hardware has been published as H.100/H.110 by the Enterprise Computer Telephony Forum (ECTF). These are not related to the ITU-T recommendations with the same identifiers.
References
Telephony |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Krzysztof%20Kononowicz | Krzysztof Kononowicz also known as Konon, El Defecatore, Potężny Warmianin (the Mighty Varmian), Mleczny Człowiek (the Milky Man), Kandydat na Kandydata (Candidate-to-be), Knur (Pig), Ostatni Chuj Polski (the Last Prick of Poland) (born 21 January 1963, in Kętrzyn) is a Polish Politician, internet celebrity and social activist. In 2006, he ran for mayor of Białystok during the local elections in Poland. He attracted notoriety for his purposely unsophisticated political advertisement, first aired on local TV and featured heavily on YouTube.
Biography
Kononowicz comes from a family of Borderlands Poles origin. His parents Bronisław (8 May 1908 5 October 2004) and Leonarda (née Bykowicz) (19311 September 2012) lived in the Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic, part of the Soviet Union. They came to Poland in 1958. They lived in the village of Wilkowo, near Kętrzyn.
In 2006, Krzysztof Kononowicz, a 43-year-old driver-mechanic living with his widowed mother Leonarda (now deceased) and mentally ill older brother Bogumił ( b. circa 1959 or 1960 d. 21 January 2013) became a candidate of the electoral committee Podlachia of the 21st Century (Podlasie XXI Wieku). Several weeks before the elections, Adam Czeczetkowicz, an activist of the fringe far-right Polish National Party (supported by the party leader Leszek Bubel), convinced him to run for mayor and make the advertisement. Within several days, over 3 million Internet users had seen the commercial on YouTube (English version), posted by Kononowicz's electoral committee. The video also made it to Polish national TV. Soon merchandise (including the characteristic sweater supposedly belonging to Kononowicz) were being sold on the Internet.
Kononowicz got only 1,676 votes (1.9%), but became the most remembered person of the 2006 elections, featured as a guest in several television shows. He became a popular Internet meme in Poland in late 2006 and early 2007. He was also voted "personality of the year" in the poll by the Polish web portal Onet.pl. In several interviews, he stated that he wants to be a candidate for the President of Poland at the next election, while Czeczetkowicz's representatives said they wanted him to be a candidate for the post of mayor of Warsaw.
It is unclear if Kononowicz himself was aware, in the beginning, that his newly established "popularity" was highly derogatory. The leading Polish politician Donald Tusk called him "an unfortunate man". Foreign press described him as "like Borat, except not acting but the real thing".
In March 2007, Kononowicz was accused by his neighbours of abusing his elderly mother. Both Kononowicz and his mother denied the accusations, but the police still decided to investigate. The investigation ended two months later and Kononowicz was cleared of all charges.
He was featured in the 2010 movie Ciacho directed by Patryk Vega as a prosecutor, much to reviewers' acclaim, especially given the movie being a flop.
In December 2018, Kononowicz anno |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aga%20Khan%20Health%20Services | The Aga Khan Health Services is an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) that supports activities in the health field, and manages more than 200 health facilities, including a network of Aga Khan Hospitals.
It works closely with the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF) and the Aga Khan University (AKU) on planning, training, and resource development, and with the Aga Khan Education Services (AKES) and the Aga Khan Planning and Building Services (AKPBS) on the integration of health issues into specific projects.
With community health programmes in Central and South Asia, as well as East Africa, AKHS is one of the most comprehensive private not-for-profit health care systems in the developing world. It provides curative health care through 237 health centres, dispensaries, hospitals, diagnostic centres and community health outlets to one million beneficiaries and handles 1.2 million patient visits annually.
Building on the Ismaili Community's health care efforts in the first half of the 20th century, AKHS now provides primary health care and curative care in Afghanistan, India, Kenya, Pakistan, and Tanzania, and provides technical assistance to government in health service delivery in Kenya, Syria and Tajikistan.
Programmes and major initiatives
AKHS's community health programmes are designed to reach vulnerable groups in society, especially child-bearing women and young children, with low-cost, proven medical technologies. In AKHS's approach to health services, primary health care and prevention are considered as steps towards improved health status that must be linked to the availability of high quality medical care. To complement its work in primary health care, AKHS offers curative services in institutions ranging from dispensaries through health centres to full-service hospitals. At each level of care, the AKHS focus is on providing services that are needed and wanted by the community and on building linkages within the system. It also aims to ensure a quality of care that significantly raises local standards. Quality control in laboratory diagnosis, appropriate documentation in medical records, regular supply of pharmaceuticals and continuing education of nurses and doctors are some of the practices that AKHS emphasises in its approach to institutional development.
AKHS's overall major initiatives include:
Assisting communities to develop, manage, and sustain the health care they need.
Providing accessible medical care in modern, efficient, and cost-effective facilities.
Working in partnership with other agencies in the development of communities and the enhancement of their health.
Educating physicians, nurses, and allied health professionals.
Conducting research relevant to environments in which AKHS institutions exist.
Contributing to the development of national and international health policy.
Organization and governance
AKHS is organised into national service companies in Afghanistan, India, Kenya, Pakistan, Syria, Tajiki |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aga%20Khan%20Education%20Services | Aga Khan Education Services (AKES) is one of the agencies of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN) supporting activities in the field of education. The others are the Aga Khan Foundation (AKF), the Aga Khan University (AKU), the University of Central Asia (UCA), and the Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC).
History
In 1905, Aga Khan III started the Aga Khan School in Mundra, the first school what later became a large network of schools, AKES.
AKES currently operates more than 300 schools and advanced educational programmes that provide quality pre-school, primary, secondary, and higher secondary education services to more than 54,000 students in Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, and Tajikistan. AKES is also developing new schools in Kyrgyzstan and Madagascar and studying the feasibility of services and facilities in Mozambique.
AKES in Pakistan
The existence of AKES in Pakistan dates back to the late 1940s, before the establishment of formal AKDN agencies. His Highness the Aga Khan's grandfather, Sir Sultan Mohamed Shah, created literacy centres for girls in remote villages situated in the Karakorum Mountains. Diamond Jubilee Schools for girls were established in Northern Pakistan and Chitral district in 1946 to commemorate Sir Sultan Mohamed Shah's sixty years as the spiritual leader of the Ismaili community.
The AKES has helped to provide easy access to education in remote areas of Pakistan, with special emphasis given to the education of girls in the northern areas. As of 2007, AKES operates 191 schools with 37,285 students enrolled. It believes that all children should have access to good schools, teachers and learning resources. Most of the Aga Khan Schools in Pakistan provide pre-school, primary and secondary education.
Northern Pakistan Education Programme (NPEP)
AKES implements or funds education programmes aimed at improving access and quality of primary and secondary education. One of the programmes they have implemented is the Northern Pakistan Education Programme in 1997, a joint partnership between AKES and the European Commission. The programme had helped to increase accessibility of primary and secondary education by funding schools to help them increase their intake of students, with 60% of the new vacancies going to girls as instructed. The programme ended in 2008, with 80% of the children in the region enrolled in primary schools and a significant number of them are girls.
Releasing Confidence and Creatitivty (RCC)
The program 'Releasing Confidence and Creativity (RCC): Building Sound Foundations for Early Learning in Pakistan', is being implemented in 100 government schools in Sindh and Balochistan, Pakistan. The programme focuses on early childhood development.
The programme aims to enhance the development of the staff and expansion of participation of parents and communities in their children's education. RCC also creates incentives and innovative models for investing in the school in order to imp |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Butterfly%20keyboard | Butterfly keyboard may refer to keyboards used on specific laptop computer models:
IBM ThinkPad 701
MacBook Pro
MacBook Air |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automated%20telephone%20survey | Automated telephone surveys is a systematic collection a data from demography by making calls automatically to the preset list of respondents at the aim of collecting information and gain feedback via the telephone and the internet. Automated surveys are used for customer research purposes by call centres for customer relationship management and performance management purposes. They are also used for political polling, market research and job satisfaction surveying.
An automated phone survey applies the interactive voice response system is any telephone system that interacts with callers without input from a human other than the caller. More specifically, interactive voice response, or IVR, is the technology that automates telephone contact between humans and machines.
Characteristics
Place automatic calls for landline, mobile phones, PHS, totally free of artificial operation.
Be served with self-helped indicating voice, customer service representative (CSR) and interchangeable services.
Apply multiple concurrent calls, can call a number of different target simultaneously.
Accomplished with text direct synthesis voice (TTS). The text could be transferred to fluent speech automatically.
Types
Government and Administration
assessing the efficiency and achievement of the government by investigation
Conference Feedback
Provide a dial-in number, and ask participants to call in to give their feedback after a conference session. Make participation open to all, and eliminate paper forms and manual tabulation.
Job Satisfaction
Survey employees in companies and get know what they want and need, then make changes in human resource management and welfare system, which help to retain the staff.
Automatic Notifications
Remind people to pay their utilities automatically
Customer Satisfaction
Establish a comprehensive customer satisfaction survey system to get feedback about what they want and subsequently offer the better services.
Academic Research
Educational institutions including colleges and universities rely on phone surveys to get the feedback from the students and parents.
Robo-Polling
Use of automated phone surveys is common in polling during political campaigns, where it is frequently referred to as robo-polling. It is a low cost and quick way of generating data but it has been criticized because of this. Mike O'Neil of O'Neil Associates Public Opinion Research called this method "cheap and untrustworthy" and news organisations such as CNN, the Associated Press, the New York Times, the Wall street Journal and the Washington Post will not use results from automated polls.
Advantages
Low costs
Compared to the conventional questionnaires, it saves times and money to conduct the automated telephone survey. It only requires the time to record the questions beforehand.
Simple and convenient to process data
The survey is based on the computer system, which leads to a faster way to process, analyse and store the data gather |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lexical%20grammar | In computer science, a lexical grammar or lexical structure is a formal grammar defining the syntax of tokens. The program is written using characters that are defined by the lexical structure of the language used. The character set is equivalent to the alphabet used by any written language. The lexical grammar lays down the rules governing how a character sequence is divided up into subsequences of characters, each part of which represents an individual token. This is frequently defined in terms of regular expressions.
For instance, the lexical grammar for many programming languages specifies that a string literal starts with a character and continues until a matching is found (escaping makes this more complicated), that an identifier is an alphanumeric sequence (letters and digits, usually also allowing underscores, and disallowing initial digits), and that an integer literal is a sequence of digits. So in the following character sequence the tokens are string, identifier and number (plus whitespace tokens) because the space character terminates the sequence of characters forming the identifier. Further, certain sequences are categorized as keywords – these generally have the same form as identifiers (usually alphabetical words), but are categorized separately; formally they have a different token type.
Examples
Regular expressions for common lexical rules follow (for example, C).
Unescaped string literal (quote, followed by non-quotes, ending in a quote):
"[^"]*"
Escaped string literal (quote, followed by escaped characters or non-quotes, ending in a quote):
"(\.|[^\"])*"
Integer literal:
[0-9]+
Decimal integer literal (no leading zero):
[1-9][0-9]*|0
Hexadecimal integer literal:
0[Xx][0-9A-Fa-f]+
Octal integer literal:
0[0-7]+
Identifier:
[A-Za-z_$][A-Za-z0-9_$]*
See also
Lexical analysis
References
External links
ANSI C grammar, Lex specification
Formal languages
Parsing |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rprop | Rprop, short for resilient backpropagation, is a learning heuristic for supervised learning in feedforward artificial neural networks. This is a first-order optimization algorithm. This algorithm was created by Martin Riedmiller and Heinrich Braun in 1992.
Similarly to the Manhattan update rule, Rprop takes into account only the sign of the partial derivative over all patterns (not the magnitude), and acts independently on each "weight". For each weight, if there was a sign change of the partial derivative of the total error function compared to the last iteration, the update value for that weight is multiplied by a factor η−, where η− < 1. If the last iteration produced the same sign, the update value is multiplied by a factor of η+, where η+ > 1. The update values are calculated for each weight in the above manner, and finally each weight is changed by its own update value, in the opposite direction of that weight's partial derivative, so as to minimise the total error function. η+ is empirically set to 1.2 and η− to 0.5.
Rprop can result in very large weight increments or decrements if the gradients are large, which is a problem when using mini-batches as opposed to full batches. RMSprop addresses this problem by keeping the moving average of the squared gradients for each weight and dividing the gradient by the square root of the mean square.
RPROP is a batch update algorithm. Next to the cascade correlation algorithm and the Levenberg–Marquardt algorithm, Rprop is one of the fastest weight update mechanisms.
Variations
Martin Riedmiller developed three algorithms, all named RPROP. Igel and Hüsken assigned names to them and added a new variant:
RPROP+ is defined at A Direct Adaptive Method for Faster Backpropagation Learning: The RPROP Algorithm.
RPROP− is defined at Advanced Supervised Learning in Multi-layer Perceptrons – From Backpropagation to Adaptive Learning Algorithms. Backtracking is removed from RPROP+.
iRPROP− is defined in Rprop – Description and Implementation Details and was reinvented by Igel and Hüsken. This variant is very popular and most simple.
iRPROP+ is defined at Improving the Rprop Learning Algorithm and is very robust and typically faster than the other three variants.
References
External links
Rprop Optimization Toolbox
Rprop training for Neural Networks in MATLAB
Artificial neural networks
Machine learning algorithms |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Video%20router | A video router, also known as a video matrix switch or SDI router, is an electronic switch designed to route video signals from multiple input sources such as cameras, VT/DDR, computers and DVD players, to one or more display devices, such as monitors, projectors, and TVs.
Inputs and outputs
The number of inputs and outputs varies dramatically. Routers are normally described by number of inputs by number of outputs e.g. 2x1, 256x256, 576x1152.
Some video routers, by the use of additional drop-in cards, allow the system to be expanded for more inputs or outputs, or to support other formats.
Signals
The signal format that the router transports can be anything from analogue composite video using PAL and NTSC. Also multi-format routers can route more than one Digital video signal format, Serial Digital Interface (SDI), HD-SDI, component video. Some routers have the ability to internally convert digital to analog and analog to digital.
For HD Video, HDMI Matrix switch can be used to switch any HDMI source to any connected HDTV using a HDMI connection.
More recent developments have allowed audio embedding and de-embedding within the router, this allows for audio to be routed along with video.
Crosspoints
Because any of the sources can be routed to any destination, the internal arrangement of the router is arranged as a number of crosspoints which can be activated to pass the corresponding source signal to the desired destination. This architecture has guaranteed bandwidth and is non-blocking.
Crosspoints can also be switched in the vertical interval to avoid losing picture information, for this the router would need to be genlocked to either black and burst or tri-level sync.
Control
Many types of broadcast automation systems can be used to control a video router via IP or serial communications such as RS-422. Video routers can also be controlled by other types of user interfaces, including front panel buttons, IR remote control, or application software running on a PC.
Future prospects
With the advent of 4K/UHD TV, the traditional 'baseband' video router has become something of a victim to the data rates. UHD TV requires 3840x2160P @ 50 Hz or 60 Hz. Traditional crosspoint based devices have therefore been reduced in size by a factor of 4 as the UHD signal is split into 4x1080P@50 Hz/60 Hz 3 Gb/s streams. A few smaller manufacturers (Blackmagic Design, Utah Scientific, Ross Video, PESA) have taken on 12 Gb/s routing over copper coax cable and fiber. Although their router sizes cannot compete with the ~576x1152 size of HD routers, and the distance achievable on copper is somewhat limited. This may mean that baseband architectures start to migrate over to IP based infrastructures. Where UHD TV can be transmitted (albeit compressed) over a single 10 Gb/s link using IT hardware.
Manufacturers
Ampex
Blackmagic Design
Evertz Microsystems
Imagine Communications
Pulse-Eight
Sony
Thomson Grass Valley
References
See also
Audio router
Vision mi |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Characterization%20test | In computer programming, a characterization test (also known as Golden Master Testing) is a means to describe (characterize) the actual behavior of an existing piece of software, and therefore protect existing behavior of legacy code against unintended changes via automated testing. This term was coined by Michael Feathers.
Overview
The goal of characterization tests is to help developers verify that the modifications made to a reference version of a software system did not modify its behavior in unwanted or undesirable ways. They enable, and provide a safety net for, extending and refactoring code that does not have adequate unit tests.
In James Bach's and Michael Bolton's classification of test oracles, this kind of testing corresponds to the historical oracle. In contrast to the usual approach of assertions-based software testing, the outcome of the test is not determined by individual values or properties (that are checked with assertions), but by comparing a complex result of the tested software-process as a whole with the result of the same process in a previous version of the software. In a sense, characterization testing inverts traditional testing: Traditional tests check individual properties (whitelists them), where characterization testing checks all properties that are not removed (blacklisted).
When creating a characterization test, one must observe what outputs occur for a given set of inputs. Given an observation that the legacy code gives a certain output based on given inputs, then a test can be written that asserts that the output of the legacy code matches the observed result for the given inputs. For example, if one observes that f(3.14) == 42, then this could be created as a characterization test. Then, after modifications to the system, the test can determine if the modifications caused changes in the results when given the same inputs.
Unfortunately, as with any testing, it is generally not possible to create a characterization test for every possible input and output. As such, many people opt for either statement or branch coverage. However, even this can be difficult. Test writers must use their judgment to decide how much testing is appropriate. It is often sufficient to write characterization tests that only cover the specific inputs and outputs that are known to occur, paying special attention to edge cases.
Unlike regression tests, to which they are very similar, characterization tests do not verify the correct behavior of the code, which can be impossible to determine. Instead they verify the behavior that was observed when they were written. Often no specification or test suite is available, leaving only characterization tests as an option, since the conservative path is to assume that the old behavior is the required behavior. Characterization tests are, essentially, change detectors. It is up to the person analyzing the results to determine if the detected change was expected and/or desirable, or un |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ciaran%20Gultnieks | Ciaran Eugene Gultnieks (born 1970) is a British computer game programmer, whose projects include Star Wars (1988, for home computers), Dogfight (1993), Slipstream 5000 (1995) and Hardwar (1998) for the PC. He is the founder of F-Droid and contributes to the microblogging platform GNU social.
Biography
Gultnieks was the first employee at Vektor Grafix, later moving on to work for Microprose and Spectrum Holobyte. In 1993, he co-founded development house The Software Refinery, which closed in 2002. In recent years he has contributed to various open source software projects. In 2010, he founded the F-Droid software repository, a catalogue of FOSS applications for the Android platform.
Works
He is credited on the following games:
Star Wars (1987), Domark
Star Wars: The Empire Strikes Back (1988), Domark
Fighter Bomber (1989), Activision
Strike Aces (1990), Activision
Killing Cloud, The (1991) Image Works
Dogfight (1993), Microprose
Air Duel: 80 Years of Dogfighting (1993), MicroProse
Slipstream 5000 (1995), Gremlin Interactive
Hardwar (1998), Gremlin Interactive
References
External links
Personal home page
British computer programmers
Video game programmers
Living people
1970 births
Date of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people) |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20Standard%20Networks%20products | This list of Standard Networks products includes all major standalone services and programs created by Standard Networks, a Madison, Wisconsin-based software company founded in 1989 and acquired by Ipswitch, Inc. in 2008. All products listed are well into their gold releases. This list also includes previous products that are no longer being actively developed.
Client Applications
Secure File Transfer
Terminal Emulation
Server Applications
Secure File Transfer
Previous Projects
References
Computing-related lists |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arena%20of%20Octos | Arena of Octos is a single-player, turn-based combat video game for the Apple II and TRS-80 computer families. It was created by Steve Kropinak and Al Johnson in 1981 and published by SoftSide magazine. The player assumes the role of a human space pilot, captured by an aggressive race of green-skinned aliens known as Octons after straying into their space. To win freedom, the human must become a gladiator and engage in physical combat with numerous Octon warriors.
Gameplay
Combat takes place in an octagonal arena, with eight stones littering the ground and a fire pit at its center. The first round pits the player against a single Octon warrior named Ziuf-Basi, whom the player must defeat using a sword and shield. (The Octon is similarly equipped.) Subsequent rounds of combat may add additional opponents.
Combat is handled in turn fashion: the player makes a series of actions, then the opponents respond. Actions include swinging the sword, raising the shield, moving in one of eight directions, or standing up. The player can shove an opponent by moving into him, which may cause him to stumble over a rock or fall into the fire pit. In the first round, both the player and the Octon can perform four actions in a turn, but this increases in subsequent rounds.
Damage is tracked using strength points. The player begins with 16 points and each direct blow removes one point, as does stumbling. Falling into the fire pit removes one or more points.
The game's display has an eight-pointed direction selector to choose which way to move, and a stats area showing the player's condition and that of the opponents.
Development
In response to offers in computing magazines promising "up to $1000 for your programs," friends Steve Kropinak and Al Johnston created Arena of Octos and submitted it in 1981 to SoftSide, a magazine which published user-submitted programs for the TRS-80, Apple II, and Atari 8-bit platforms. Having worked out the premise of the game together, Johnston wrote the TRS-80 version and Kropinak the Apple II version. SoftSide paid Johnston and Kropinak $90 each for first publishing rights of the game's BASIC listing, and a further $90 to acquire the full rights.
Reception
Legacy
Arena of Octos was reprinted in The Best of SoftSide (1983).
References
External links
GameFAQs: Arena of Octos
Apple II games
TRS-80 games
1981 video games
SoftSide games
Video games developed in the United States
Commercial video games with freely available source code |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mike%20Darnell | Michael H. Darnell is an American television executive and is currently the president of unscripted and alternative television at Warner Bros. He spent nearly 19 years at the FOX network as president of alternative entertainment, overseeing the network's reality television division during the genre's rise. In 2017, Preston Beckman, a former FOX executive who writes under the pseudonym The Masked Scheduler, called Darnell "the king of reality TV and one of the more interesting, offbeat characters ever to occupy an executive suite."
Early life and career
Mike Darnell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to Eileen and Doyle E. Darnell. His father was a policeman, and Darnell was raised and attended public school in Philly's Northeast section. When he was 10, a talent manager saw him singing at a Police Athletic League event and encouraged him to do commercials. When he was 12, his family moved to California, where he eventually appeared in, or voiced-over, some sixty commercials. He also appeared in TV episodes such as Sanford and Son, Welcome Back, Kotter and Kojak. Later he worked as a bank teller to help pay his way through Cal State-Northridge. He also played piano at a night spot. Soon after graduating, he had an internship at Entertainment Tonight, which he says he "hated", before he started working at Fox's West Coast flagship station KTTV, within their news department.
Darnell is married to Carolyn Oberman, a public relations executive who works for the Emmy Awards, and they have a daughter. , he lives in Calabasas, California.
Fox Broadcasting Company
Darnell became an executive at FOX in 1994, initially under the title "director of specials," and during his 19 years at the network he rose through the ranks to become President of Alternative Entertainment.
He quickly made a name for himself with one of his first hits that came to broad attention in 1995 when a producer brought Darnell black-and-white footage that appeared to portray an alien being dissected. As the network feared accusations of propagating a hoax, the show was broadcast with the title Alien Autopsy: Fact or Fiction; it drew an audience of nearly twelve million viewers and was rebroadcast several more times. At one point, he produced over sixty specials a year for Fox, including: When Animals Attack!, World's Wildest Police Videos, Breaking the Magician's Code: Magic's Biggest Secrets Finally Revealed, and Man vs Beast. Darnell's projects were known for their often lurid and controversial nature, leading The New York Times to call him "Fox's point man for perversity" in 2000.
Series that Darnell developed and oversaw included iconic projects such as American Idol, Hell’s Kitchen, MasterChef, So You Think You Can Dance, The X Factor, Kitchen Nightmares, Are You Smarter Than a 5th Grader?, Temptation Island, The Simple Life, My Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancé, Joe Millionaire, and the launch of the animated series Futurama and Family Guy.
With more than thirty million viewe |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph%20F.%20Traub | Joseph Frederick Traub (June 24, 1932 – August 24, 2015) was an American computer scientist. He was the Edwin Howard Armstrong Professor of Computer Science at Columbia University and External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute. He held positions at Bell Laboratories, University of Washington, Carnegie Mellon, and Columbia, as well as sabbatical positions at Stanford, Berkeley, Princeton, California Institute of Technology, and Technical University, Munich.
Traub was the author or editor of ten monographs and some 120 papers in computer science, mathematics, physics, finance, and economics. In 1959 he began his work on optimal iteration theory culminating in his 1964 monograph, Iterative Methods for the Solution of Equations. Subsequently, he pioneered work with Henryk Woźniakowski on computational complexity applied to continuous scientific problems (information-based complexity). He collaborated in creating significant new algorithms including the Jenkins-Traub Algorithm for Polynomial Zeros, as well as the Shaw-Traub, Kung-Traub, and Brent-Traub algorithms. One of his research areas was continuous quantum computing. As of November 10, 2015, his works have been cited 8500 times, and he has an h-index of 35.
From 1971 to 1979 Traub headed the Computer Science Department at Carnegie Mellon during a critical period. From 1979 to 1989 he was the founding Chair of the Computer Science Department at Columbia. From 1986 to 1992 he served as founding Chair of the Computer Science and Telecommunications Board, National Academies and held the post again 2005–2009. Traub was founding editor of the Annual Review of Computer Science (1986–1990) and Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Complexity (1985–2015). Both his research and institution building work have had a major impact on the field of computer science.
Early career
Traub attended the Bronx High School of Science where he was captain and first board of the chess team. After graduating from City College of New York he entered Columbia in 1954 intending to take a PhD in physics. In 1955, on the advice of a fellow student, Traub visited the IBM Watson Research Lab at Columbia. At the time, this was one of the few places in the country where a student could gain access to computers. Traub found his proficiency for algorithmic thinking matched perfectly with computers. In 1957 he became a Watson Fellow through Columbia. His thesis was on computational quantum mechanics. His 1959 PhD is in applied mathematics since computer science degrees were not yet available. (Indeed, there was no Computer Science Department at Columbia until Traub was invited there in 1979 to start the Department.)
Career
In 1959, Traub joined the Research Division of Bell Laboratories in Murray Hill, NJ. One day a colleague asked him how to compute the solution of a certain problem. Traub could think of a number of ways to solve the problem. What was the optimal algorithm, that is, a method which would minimize the required co |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aga%20Khan%20Trust%20for%20Culture | The Aga Khan Trust for Culture (AKTC) is an agency of the Aga Khan Development Network (AKDN), a family of institutions created by Aga Khan IV with distinct but complementary mandates to improve the welfare and prospects of people in the developing world, particularly in Asia and Africa. It focuses on the revitalization of communities in the Muslim world—physical, social, cultural, and economic. The AKTC was founded in 1988 and is registered in Geneva, Switzerland, as a private non-denominational philanthropic foundation.
Programs
Aga Khan Award for Architecture (AKAA) is an architectural prize that recognizes architectural excellence in the Muslim world.
Aga Khan Historic Cities Programme (HCP) supports the revitalization of historic sites in the Muslim world.
Aga Khan Music Initiative (AKMI) provides financial resources and technical assistance to support the preservation and promotion of professional oral tradition music in Central Asia and other regions.
Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture (AKPIA) is an endowed center for the history, theory and practice of Islamic architecture at Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
ArchNet is a website on architecture, urban design, urban development, and related issues in the Muslim world, created in cooperation with MIT.
Museums and Exhibitions refers to museum and exhibition projects, including the Aga Khan Museum in Toronto. It also displays exhibitions of pieces from its collection and provides support services for museums in the developing world, including the National Museum of Mali.
Historic preservation
The trust has restored and rehabilitated over 350 monuments and historic sites all over the world, especially in south Asia. UNESCO also awarded it 13 heritage awards for excellence in restoration.
Restoration of the Walled City of Lahore in partnership with the Government of Punjab.
Restoration of Humayun's Tomb and water fountains in the gardens, 2007-2013
Restoration of Sunder Nursery, New Delhi, 2007-2019. It created a 90-acre heritage garden with 15 historical monuments and over 300 tree species, making it Delhi's first arboretum. This 10-year project to restore the 16th century garden to its former glory was done in collaboration with the Delhi Municipal Corporation and Central Public Works Department and Archaeological Survey of India, Government of India.
Restoration tomb of Isa Khan, 2011-2015
Restoration of the Qutb Shahi tombs in Hyderabad, India in collaboration with the Telangana State Archaeology and Museums Department.
Restoration of the Sabz Burj close to Humayun's tomb, 2019–present
Restoration of Lahore Fort Picture Wall, 2017-2019
Restoration of the central souq in the Ancient City of Aleppo (Received ICCROM-Sharjah Award for Best Practice in Cultural Heritage Conservation and Management in the Arab region)
Restoration of Tomb of Abdul Rahim Khan-I-Khana with the InterGlobe Foundation and the Archaeological Survey of India, |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Institute%20for%20Quantum%20Computing | The Institute for Quantum Computing (IQC) is an affiliate scientific research institute of the University of Waterloo located in Waterloo, Ontario with a multidisciplinary approach to the field of quantum information processing. IQC was founded in 2002 primarily through a donation made by Mike Lazaridis and his wife Ophelia whose substantial donations have continued over the years. The institute is now located in the Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre and the Research Advancement Centre at the University of Waterloo.
Its executive director is physics professor Norbert Lütkenhaus and hosts researchers based in 7 departments across 3 faculties at the University of Waterloo. In addition to theoretical and experimental research on quantum computing, IQC also hosts academic conferences and workshops, short courses for undergraduate and high school students, and scientific outreach events including open houses and tours for the public.
History
The Institute for Quantum Computing was officially created in 2002, sparked by Research In Motion co-founder Mike Lazaridis and then-president of the University of Waterloo, David Johnston, for research into quantum information. Since inception, Lazaridis has provided more than $100 million in private funding for IQC. The institute is a collaboration between academia, the private sector, and the federal and provincial governments. Raymond Laflamme is the founding executive director.
At its establishment, the institute was composed of only a handful of researchers from the Departments of Computer Science and Physics. Ten years later, there are more than 200 researchers across six departments within the Faculties of Science, Mathematics, and Engineering at the University of Waterloo.
In 2008, IQC moved into the Research Advancement Centre 1 (RAC I) in the University of Waterloo's Research & Technology Park. In 2010, research operations expanded into the adjacent building, Research Advancement Centre 2 (RAC II).
In 2012, IQC expanded into the Mike & Ophelia Lazaridis Quantum-Nano Centre. The 285,000-square-foot facility is shared with the Waterloo Institute for Nanotechnology, and is built to stringent standards (controls for vibration, humidity, temperature, and electromagnetic radiation) for quantum and nanotechnology experiments. The building was designed by Toronto-based firm Kuwabara Payne McKenna Blumberg Architects (KPMB).
Research
Research at IQC focuses on three main applications of quantum information science and technology using the physical sciences, mathematics and engineering from both theoretical and experimental perspectives.
Areas of research currently studied at IQC include:
quantum computing
quantum communication
quantum sensing
quantum materials
quantum engineering
In collaboration with the University of Waterloo, IQC offers research positions and advanced courses in the foundations, applications, and implementation of quantum information processing for graduate students. |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kelly%20Writers%20House | The Kelly Writers House is a mixed-use programming and community space on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia.
Founded in 1995 by a group of students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the University of Pennsylvania, the Kelly Writers House (3805 Locust Walk, Philadelphia) hosts more than 300 events and projects per year, such as readings, art exhibits, lectures, seminars, film screenings, manuscript exchanges, tutoring programs, and literary celebrations. Most events are open to the public and live-streamed on the internet for worldwide viewing via KWH-TV. All Writers House events are free. Writers House also sponsors or hosts several publications, including student run magazines such as Penn Review, Penn Appetit, and F-word, as well as the international online magazine of poetry and poetics Jacket2.
Partially funded by the Provost's Office of the University of Pennsylvania, Writers House is also supported by "Friends of the Writers House"—alumni, Penn parents, Philadelphians, and other literary-minded and generous people interested in creative enterprise. The Writers House is also sustained by members of the Writers House Planning Committee (known as "the Hub"), the core group of writers and writing activists who plan events, offer ideas for new initiatives, and dedicate their time to literary activities.
History
Founding of the House
In 1995 Professor Al Filreis and a group of volunteers made up of faculty, students, staff and alumni of the University of Pennsylvania founded the Kelly Writers House. The group, the Writers House Planning Committee (also known as the "Hub"), aimed to create a central space where students of the University of Pennsylvania and members of the greater Philadelphia writing community could "organize, promote, and share" creative writing activities.
Penn alumnus Paul Kelly funded renovations to the house itself, a cottage built as part of a Victorian suburban development project in 1851. The renovations transformed the house, which had for many years been the home of a university chaplain, into a unique multi-purpose community space. What had once been the parlor became the Arts Café, a south-facing room with large windows where classes and many Kelly Writers House events are held. The house also features a publications room, an office for the Kelly Writers House Hub, classroom space, and a dining room and kitchen, all open for events and student and Writers House community use.
Paul Kelly's support
In 1997, Paul Kelly, a University of Pennsylvania alumnus (C'62, WG'64) and investment banker, provided an initial grant that was used to fund renovations to the house itself, a Victorian cottage built in 1851. When the Writers House reopened after the renovations, the planning committee dedicated the reopening to Kelly's parents Thomas and Rita. Since his initial 1997 contribution Kelly has continued to support the house and its programs, including the Kelly Writers House Fellows Progr |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Turnstile%20%28symbol%29 | In mathematical logic and computer science the symbol ⊢ () has taken the name turnstile because of its resemblance to a typical turnstile if viewed from above. It is also referred to as tee and is often read as "yields", "proves", "satisfies" or "entails".
Interpretations
The turnstile represents a binary relation. It has several different interpretations in different contexts:
In epistemology, Per Martin-Löf (1996) analyzes the symbol thus: "...[T]he combination of Frege's , judgement stroke [ | ], and , content stroke [—], came to be called the assertion sign." Frege's notation for a judgement of some content
can then be read
I know is true.
In the same vein, a conditional assertion
can be read as:
From , I know that
In metalogic, the study of formal languages; the turnstile represents syntactic consequence (or "derivability"). This is to say, that it shows that one string can be derived from another in a single step, according to the transformation rules (i.e. the syntax) of some given formal system. As such, the expression
means that is derivable from in the system.
Consistent with its use for derivability, a "⊢" followed by an expression without anything preceding it denotes a theorem, which is to say that the expression can be derived from the rules using an empty set of axioms. As such, the expression
means that is a theorem in the system.
In proof theory, the turnstile is used to denote "provability" or "derivability". For example, if is a formal theory and is a particular sentence in the language of the theory then
means that is provable from . This usage is demonstrated in the article on propositional calculus. The syntactic consequence of provability should be contrasted to semantic consequence, denoted by the double turnstile symbol . One says that is a semantic consequence of , or , when all possible valuations in which is true, is also true. For propositional logic, it may be shown that semantic consequence and derivability are equivalent to one-another. That is, propositional logic is sound ( implies ) and complete ( implies )
In sequent calculus, the turnstile is used to denote a sequent. A sequent asserts that, if all the antecedents are true, then at least one of the consequents must be true.
In the typed lambda calculus, the turnstile is used to separate typing assumptions from the typing judgment.
In category theory, a reversed turnstile (), as in , is used to indicate that the functor is left adjoint to the functor . More rarely, a turnstile (), as in , is used to indicate that the functor is right adjoint to the functor .
In APL the symbol is called "right tack" and represents the ambivalent right identity function where both ⊢ and ⊢ are . The reversed symbol "⊣" is called "left tack" and represents the analogous left identity where ⊣ is and ⊣ is .
In combinatorics, means that is a partition of the integer .
In Hewlett-Packard's HP-41C/CV/CX and HP-42S series of calculators, the symb |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Universitas%2021 | Universitas 21 (U21) is an international network of research-intensive universities. Founded in Melbourne, Australia in 1997 with 11 members, it has grown to include twenty-nine member universities in nineteen countries and territories.
The universities collaborate on student experience, researcher engagement and educational innovation. It offers various student competitions including the Three Minute Thesis (3MT), the U21/PwC Innovation Challenge and the RISE (Real Impact on Society and Environment) Showcase.
Since 2012, Universitas 21 has commissioned the "U21 Ranking of National Higher Education Systems". Produced by researchers at the University of Melbourne, this ranking aims to show which countries create a "strong environment" that allows universities to contribute to growth, provide a high-quality student experience and help institutions compete globally. It evaluates the standing of national higher education systems by providing rankings in four broad areas: resources, environment, connectivity and output. The rankings are then combined to provide an overall ranking. The ranking is then adjusted by GDP per capita, which allows countries to be compared to others at a similar stage of economic development. The 2013 study, which serves as the primary reference for the Universitas 21 Ranking of National Higher Education Systems, reveals that countries with high output rankings generally demonstrate strong resource indicators. It further establishes a positive correlation between research output and government funding, specifically in research and development (R&D).
Universitas 21 has Consultative Status with the Economic & Social Affairs Council (ECOSOC).
Members
U21Global
U21Global was a for-profit university formed in June 2001 in Singapore as a joint venture between Universitas 21 and Thomson Learning (which later became Cengage Learning).
In late 2007, Cengage Learning sold its entire 50% in U21Global share to Mauritius-based Manipal Universal Learning International for an undisclosed sum. In 2010, the Universitas 21 shareholding was diluted to 25 per cent, with only 10 universities continuing to hold equity. The university now trades as GlobalNxt University and has no remaining connection with Universitas 21.
See also
List of higher education associations and alliances
References
External links
U21 Universitas21
International college and university associations and consortia |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quest%20Atlantis | Quest Atlantis (QA) was a 3D multiuser, computer graphics learning environment that utilized a narrative programming toolkit to immerse children, ages 9–16, in meaningful inquiry tasks. Quest Atlantis combined strategies used in the commercial gaming environment with lessons from educational research on learning and motivation. The project was unique in its goals to combine the best aspects of learning, playing, and helping, as a means to motivate and engage students. It allowed users to travel to virtual places to perform educational activities (known as Quests), talk with other users and mentors, and build virtual personae. The project was intended to engage children ages 9–16 in a form of transformational play comprising both online and off-line learning activities, with a storyline inspiring a disposition towards social action. More than sugar-coating content to coerce dis-empowered students into caring about disciplinary knowledge, the goal of Quest Atlantis was to establish educational worlds where children become empowered scientists, doctors, reporters, and mathematicians who have to understand disciplinary content to accomplish desired ends.
Over the five-year span, more than 65,000 children on five continents have participated in the project. Quest Atlantis has demonstrated learning gains in things like science, language arts, and social studies, and students have completed thousands of Quests, some of which were assigned by teachers and many of which were chosen by students to complete in their free time. Equally important have been reported personal experiences, with teachers and students reporting increased levels of engagement and interest in pursuing the curricular issues outside of school. Students and teachers conduct rich inquiry-based explorations through which they learn particular standards-based content, and at the same time develop pro-social attitudes regarding significant environmental and social issues (see Critical Design Article). Rather than just placing work and play side-by-side, QA strived to make learning fun and to show children how they can make a difference.
The principal investigator was Sasha Barab, Associate Professor in Learning Sciences, who is now at Arizona State University Center for Games and Impact. Other faculty members that played prominent roles on the project included Dan Hickey at Indiana University-Bloomington and Melissa Gresalfi at Vanderbilt University. Users of QA came together from all over the world.
This educational game was redesigned in 2012 with the help of funding from the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation and re-released as Atlantis Remixed.
See also
Active Worlds
Simulated reality
References
Siyahhan, S., Barab, S. A., & James, C. (in press). Youth and the ethics of identity play in virtual spaces. To appear in the Interactive Journal of Learning Research.
Barab, S.A., Gresalfi, M.S., & Ingram-Goble, A. (2010). Transformational play: Using games to position person, content, and |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern%20search | Pattern search may refer to:
Pattern search (optimization)
Pattern recognition (computing)
Pattern recognition (psychology)
Pattern mining
String searching algorithm
Fuzzy string searching
Bitap algorithm
K-optimal pattern discovery
Nearest neighbor search
Eyeball search |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Computerized%20classification%20test | A computerized classification test (CCT) refers to, as its name would suggest, a Performance Appraisal System that is administered by computer for the purpose of classifying examinees. The most common CCT is a mastery test where the test classifies examinees as "Pass" or "Fail," but the term also includes tests that classify examinees into more than two categories. While the term may generally be considered to refer to all computer-administered tests for classification, it is usually used to refer to tests that are interactively administered or of variable-length, similar to computerized adaptive testing (CAT). Like CAT, variable-length CCTs can accomplish the goal of the test (accurate classification) with a fraction of the number of items used in a conventional fixed-form test.
A CCT requires several components:
An item bank calibrated with a psychometric model selected by the test designer
A starting point
An item selection algorithm
A termination criterion and scoring procedure
The starting point is not a topic of contention; research on CCT primarily investigates the application of different methods for the other three components. Note: The termination criterion and scoring procedure are separate in CAT, but the same in CCT because the test is terminated when a classification is made. Therefore, there are five components that must be specified to design a CAT.
An introduction to CCT is found in Thompson (2007) and a book by Parshall, Spray, Kalohn and Davey (2006). A bibliography of published CCT research is found below.
How it works
A CCT is very similar to a CAT. Items are administered one at a time to an examinee. After the examinee responds to the item, the computer scores it and determines if the examinee is able to be classified yet. If they are, the test is terminated and the examinee is classified. If not, another item is administered. This process repeats until the examinee is classified or another ending point is satisfied (all items in the bank have been administered, or a maximum test length is reached).
Psychometric model
Two approaches are available for the psychometric model of a CCT: classical test theory (CTT) and item response theory (IRT). Classical test theory assumes a state model because it is applied by determining item parameters for a sample of examinees determined to be in each category. For instance, several hundred "masters" and several hundred "non-masters" might be sampled to determine the difficulty and discrimination for each, but doing so requires that you be able to easily identify a distinct set of people that are in each group. IRT, on the other hand, assumes a trait model; the knowledge or ability measured by the test is a continuum. The classification groups will need to be more or less arbitrarily defined along the continuum, such as the use of a cutscore to demarcate masters and non-masters, but the specification of item parameters assumes a trait model.
There are advantage |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Husbands%20and%20Knives | "Husbands and Knives" is the seventh episode of the nineteenth season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It first aired on the Fox network in the United States on November 18, 2007. It features guest appearances from Alan Moore, Art Spiegelman, and Dan Clowes as themselves and Jack Black as Milo. It was written by Matt Selman and directed by Nancy Kruse. The title is a reference to the Woody Allen film Husbands and Wives.
Plot
The Comic Book Guy charges Milhouse $25 for accidentally ruining a Wolverine comic book when one of his tears drops on its cover and smudges one of Wolverine's sideburns after being scratched by the comic's infamous "pop-out claws" feature at The Android's Dungeon. After Bart proclaims that the events in comic books are not "real", Comic Book Guy tells him and the other children to get out of the store, just as a new comic book store, "Coolsville Comics & Toys" opens across the street.
When the children arrive at Coolsville, the store owner, a hipster named Milo, gives them Japanese candy and invites them to his grand opening. The store is filled not only with comic books, but also with video games and modern art, giving it a sophisticated arcade look. When Lisa accidentally rips a page of an Adventures of Tintin book, Milo assures her that the books are meant to be read and enjoyed.
The store becomes even more popular, playing host to Art Spiegelman, Daniel Clowes and Alan Moore, who all visit for a book signing. Comic Book Guy jealously tries to sabotage Milo's popularity by revealing he has a girlfriend (whom they have already accepted for she, like Milo, is hip) and bribing the children with "Japanese weapons". When this does not work, Comic Book Guy tries to use the weapons to destroy Coolsville, but is subdued by the three authors who remove their shirts to reveal muscular super-hero physiques.
After comparing herself to a cardboard cutout of Wonder Woman, Marge decides to become slimmer. While exercising at a large gym, she struggles with the treadmill and is embarrassed showering in public, and as a result decides to open a gym for ordinary women.
Comic Book Guy, having finally given up, closes the Android's Dungeon which Marge then acquires in order to open "Shapes", a women-only workout center that is an immediate hit. Many women of Springfield comment on Marge's efforts; she opens another location at an abandoned Krusty Burger. After an interview on the women's television show Opal, Marge becomes an international hit. Homer and Marge go on a luxury vacation at a hotel. Homer meets a group of three strapping young men who tell him he is on "wife support". They are all "trophy" husbands and convince Homer that Marge will soon dump him for a healthier man. They list the stages that will occur in their marriage before Marge dumps him. As these begin to occur, Homer overhears Marge talking to a group of women about dumping her purse, though he wrongly assumes she is talking about him. One of |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generics%20in%20Java | Generics are a facility of generic programming that were added to the Java programming language in 2004 within version J2SE 5.0. They were designed to extend Java's type system to allow "a type or method to operate on objects of various types while providing compile-time type safety". The aspect compile-time type safety was not fully achieved, since it was shown in 2016 that it is not guaranteed in all cases.
The Java collections framework supports generics to specify the type of objects stored in a collection instance.
In 1998, Gilad Bracha, Martin Odersky, David Stoutamire and Philip Wadler created Generic Java, an extension to the Java language to support generic types. Generic Java was incorporated in Java with the addition of wildcards.
Hierarchy and classification
According to Java Language Specification:
A type variable is an unqualified identifier. Type variables are introduced by generic class declarations, generic interface declarations, generic method declarations, and by generic constructor declarations.
A class is generic if it declares one or more type variables. It defines one or more type variables that act as parameters. A generic class declaration defines a set of parameterized types, one for each possible invocation of the type parameter section. All of these parameterized types share the same class at runtime.
An interface is generic if it declares one or more type variables. It defines one or more type variables that act as parameters. A generic interface declaration defines a set of types, one for each possible invocation of the type parameter section. All parameterized types share the same interface at runtime.
A method is generic if it declares one or more type variables. These type variables are known as the formal type parameters of the method. The form of the formal type parameter list is identical to a type parameter list of a class or interface.
A constructor can be declared as generic, independently of whether the class that the constructor is declared in is itself generic. A constructor is generic if it declares one or more type variables. These type variables are known as the formal type parameters of the constructor. The form of the formal type parameter list is identical to a type parameter list of a generic class or interface.
Motivation
The following block of Java code illustrates a problem that exists when not using generics. First, it declares an of type . Then, it adds a String to the ArrayList. Finally, it attempts to retrieve the added String and cast it to an Integer—an error in logic, as it is not generally possible to cast an arbitrary string to an integer.
final List v = new ArrayList();
v.add("test"); // A String that cannot be cast to an Integer
final Integer i = (Integer) v.get(0); // Run time error
Although the code is compiled without error, it throws a runtime exception (java.lang.ClassCastException) when executing the third line of code. This type of logic error can be detected during com |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America%27s%20Town%20Meeting%20of%20the%20Air | America's Town Meeting of the Air was a public affairs discussion broadcast on radio from May 30, 1935, to July 1, 1956, mainly on the NBC Blue Network and its successor, ABC Radio. One of radio's first talk shows, it began as a six-week experiment, and NBC itself did not expect much from it.
Broadcast live from New York City's Town Hall, America's Town Meeting of the Air debuted on Thursday May 30, 1935, and only 18 of NBC's affiliates carried it. The topic for that first show was "Which Way America: Fascism, Communism, Socialism or Democracy?” The moderator was George V. Denny, Jr., executive director of the League for Political Education, which produced the program. Denny moderated the program from 1935 to 1952 and had a major role in choosing weekly topics. Denny and the League wanted to create a program that would replicate the Town Meetings that were held in the early days of the United States.
Current events and issues
The show's introduction tried to evoke the old town meetings, as the voice of the mythical town crier announced, “Town meeting tonight! Come to the old Town Hall and talk it over!” Denny and the League believed that a radio town meeting could enhance the public's interest in current events. Denny worried that an uninformed public was bad for democracy; and he believed society had become so polarized that the average person didn't listen to other points of view.
His goal was to create a new kind of educational program, one that would be entertaining as well as mentally challenging, while exposing listeners to various perspectives on the issues of the day. Explaining the rationale behind a radio town meeting, Denny wrote that it was "... a device which is designed to attract [the average American's] attention and stimulate his interest in the complex economic, social and political problems which he must have a hand in solving."
Audience participation
On paper, America's Town Meeting looked like a typical panel discussion, with high-profile celebrity guests, who were experts on a particular current issue. For example, on a December 19, 1935, show about Social Security, one of the panelists was U.S. Secretary of Labor Frances Perkins, who explained and defended the new government program. (What she said about it can be heard here.)
But while many shows had well-known experts, few had the kind of audience participation that this one did. They cheered or applauded when they liked what a speaker said, and they hissed or booed when they felt the speaker was wrong. They also heckled: part of the format of the show was to allow members of the audience to ask questions, and while the rule was the question had to be brief—about 25-30 words maximum, with no insults or name-calling, that didn't stop people from using sarcasm, or strongly disagreeing with what a guest had said.
Even the listeners at home could take part: while at first there was no easy way to get callers on the air, by 1936, NBC engineers had designed a method |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Patrick%20Juola | Patrick Juola is an internationally noted expert in text analysis, security, forensics, and stylometry. He is a professor of computer science at Duquesne University. As a faculty member at Duquesne University, he has authored two books and more than 100 scientific publications as well as generated more than two million dollars in Federal research grant funding. He works in the field of computer linguistics and computer security currently serving as Director of Research at Juola & Associates and Principal of the Evaluating Variations in Language Laboratory. He is credited with co-creating the original biometric word list. Juola has also created a Java-based open source authorship attribution suite JGAAP, Java Graphical Authorship Attribution Program, with several students at Duquesne University including David Berdik, Sean Vinsick, Amanda Kroft, and Michael Ryan.
Patrick Juola is the author of Principles of Computer Organization and Assembly Language, a textbook on computer organization and assembly language, published through Prentice-Hall. He also wrote Authorship Attribution, a survey and technical monograph on authorship attribution, the process of inferring the author or author's characteristics from the text of a document, published through NOW Publishers.
Patrick Juola was instrumental in identifying J.K. Rowling as the author of The Cuckoo's Calling.
He was born in 1966 in Renton, Washington. Juola attended the Johns Hopkins University, and received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado at Boulder under Lise Menn. He is married and currently has no children.
References
External links
Juola & Associates
Evaluating Variations in Language Lab
American computer scientists
1966 births
Living people
Duquesne University faculty
Johns Hopkins University alumni
University of Colorado alumni
Computer security academics |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spy%20vs.%20Spy%20%28disambiguation%29 | Spy vs. Spy is a wordless black and white comic strip published in Mad magazine since 1961.
Spy vs. Spy may also refer to:
Spy vs. Spy (1984 video game), the first computer game based on the comic strip.
Spy vs. Spy II: The Island Caper
Spy vs. Spy III: Arctic Antics
Spy vs. Spy (2005 video game)
Spy vs Spy (album), the 1989 recording of Ornette Coleman compositions by American multi-instrumentalist, John Zorn
Spy vs. Spy (band), Australian rock band |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/KOPB%20%28AM%29 | KOPB 1600 AM is a radio station licensed to serve Eugene, Oregon. The station is owned by Oregon Public Broadcasting. It airs a news/talk format. It airs public radio programming primarily from NPR.
The station was assigned the KOPB call letters by the Federal Communications Commission on February 20, 2008.
Ownership
On November 28, 2007, it was reported that Oregon Public Broadcasting reached an agreement to purchase KOPT from Churchill Media for $500,000. On February 20, 2008, the station switched from Air America Radio to OPB programming.
Although KOAC in Corvallis easily covers much of Eugene, some areas in the southern part of the city don't get a strong signal. KOPB serves to fill in those areas.
External links
KOPB official website
Oregon Public Broadcasting
FCC History Cards for KOPB
OPB
News and talk radio stations in the United States
Radio stations established in 1947
Lane County, Oregon
NPR member stations
1947 establishments in Oregon |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fizzball | Fizzball is a cross-platform computer game by American studio Grubby Games in which the player bounces the titular "fizzball" around the screen. The game was a finalist for an award at the 2007 Independent Games Festival. It was later ported to the Wii, under the name Doctor Fizzwizzle's Animal Rescue.
Plot and gameplay
All of the island's animals have been acting strange lately. Professor Fizzwizzle takes on the task of capturing them all in his newly invented magic bubble. The animals are then kept in a nursery and fed using the coins he has collected throughout the island's levels.
Players obtain coins by completing a series of levels in which the bubble is bounced upward, toward a playfield filled with animals. Different stages feature breakable objects such as fences which must be destroyed to reach some animals. The animals come in a variety of sizes, some of which cannot be collected with the bubble at its initial size; the bubble starts out small, allowing only the smallest animals to be collected, but as more are captured, the bubble increases in size, making larger animals available. Along with the animals, stages are populated with hazards such as barrels of toxic waste. For avoiding these hazards, players are awarded bonus points.
In the PC version, the paddle (a rocket) is controlled using a mouse. The Wii port instead supports the Wii Remote's pointer and tilt functions, the Nunchuk, the Classic Controller and the Wii Balance Board.
Reception
The game had a generally positive reception. In their 9.0/10 review, Inside Mac Games called the graphics "absolutely amazing for a game that runs [so] fast", said "the music is pretty smooth and works well" and overall the game was "well worth it!" Jay is Games said "the simple, light-hearted gameplay won me over immediately" and that it was "a joy to play". However, some criticism was directed at the game's low level of difficulty. Jay is Games lamented that "the one problem I had with it, and it's a big one, is that [it] takes a long time to ramp up in difficulty."
References
http://www.gamezebo.com/2006/11/01/fizzball-review/
Fizzball game combines Breakout, Katamari Damacy
Grubby Games releases Fizzball
External links
2006 video games
2009 video games
Breakout clones
Grubby Games games
Linux games
MacOS games
Single-player video games
Steel Penny Games games
Video games developed in the United States
Wii Balance Board games
Wii games
Windows games |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Focus%20stealing | In computing, focus stealing is a mode error occurring when a program not in focus (e.g. minimized or operating in background) places a window in the foreground and redirects all keyboard input to that window. This is considered to be an annoyance or hazard to some users because the program may steal the focus while the user is typing, causing keystrokes to go to the newly focused window, possibly being lost or causing an unintended effect therein. This may be a few keystrokes due to reaction time, or may be more if the user's attention is not on the computer screen, e.g. typing while looking at the keyboard or while reading copy to the side, or if processor lag causes a delay (sometimes of several seconds) between the focus stealing event and the newly focused window displaying on the screen.
Security issues
Focus stealing can cause damage, as users may, while typing when their attention is away from the screen, inadvertently agree to a program doing something that causes damage. For example, when Microsoft Windows pops up the Disk Cleanup wizard, the user may "agree" to deleting files without realizing that the wizard was waiting for input. Focus stealing can also on occasion cause security breaches, for example, when a user enters a password and the typed password appears instead in a new instant-messaging window in an unmasked input field.
Alternatives to focus stealing
There are a number of alternative methods for grabbing the attention of the user that can be used instead of focus stealing:
Pulse the application's icon in the task bar, leaving the application in the background
Output a message to the notification area
Pulsate the display over scan area
Use an audible alerting framework
Affected systems
X Window Managers
The following window manager systems allow focus stealing:
9wm - fails the launch test, giving focus to window placement facility
compiz - configurable, and capable of passing both the launch test and the JavaScript test
fvwm - configurable, and capable of passing or failing both the launch test and the JavaScript test
IceWM - fails the launch test, giving focus to newly started applications
oroboros - fails the launch test, giving focus to newly started applications
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows-based systems use pop-up dialogue boxes which can steal focus from the current application. On versions of Microsoft Windows prior to Windows 7, there is a user setting that will by default prevent a cooperative application from stealing focus when launching another program or popping up a new window or dialogue box. This same method does not work in Windows 7 or later.
MacOS X
Apple MacOS X systems also switch applications from background to foreground when the background applications uses pop-up modal dialogs. Example of this behavior is Google Chrome using alert dialog, as documented in
Web browsers
The following web browsers allow focus stealing via a this.focus() JavaScript facility:
Mozilla Firefo |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autov%C3%ADa%20A-138 | The A-138 is a road belonging to the autonomic road network of Aragon, Spain. It connects France at the Tunnel of Bielsa-Aragnouet with Barbastro and the N-240.
External links
Carretera A-138 in Google Maps
Transport in Aragon |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sonic%20Jihad%20%28Paris%20album%29 | Sonic Jihad is a studio album by rapper Paris, released in 2003. It was recorded, mixed, and mastered at Data Stream Studio, San Francisco. The album was marketed by Guerrilla Funk, Paris's label, as "so dangerous to homeland security [that] it's unavailable at chain stores."
Production
Sonic Jihad was produced solely by Paris. Paris claimed that he recorded the album after a track he posted for free in 2002, "What Would You Do?," was downloaded hundreds of thousands of times. Public Enemy appear on ""Freedom"; Paris would collaborate with the group three years later on Rebirth of a Nation.
Critical reception
The Austin Chronicle called the album a "jolting wake-up call for those still cognizant enough to read between the lines of repression," writing that "with classic G-funk sensibilities guiding its head-on course, Sonic Jihad encapsulates an entire decade of firebrand rap." Exclaim! wrote that Paris's lyrics are delivered in a "stoic, commandeering rasp [that] uncompromisingly deconstructs neoconservative politics, identifies the media outlets as 'agents of repression' and targets materialistic hip-hop for turning its back on the issues he addresses."
Battlefield 2 incident
In 2006, a fan of the video game Battlefield 2, referring to himself as "SonicJihad" after Paris's album, posted a montage of clips from the game, edited with audio excerpts from the movie Team America: World Police and other sources. The video was viewed with alarm by members of the United States House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence, which held an open hearing on May 4, 2006, titled "Terrorist Use of the Internet." News reports suggested that the video was an example of efforts by al Qaeda and other groups to recruit young people.
Track listing
"Ave Bushani"
"Field Nigga Boogie"
"Sheep to the Slaughter"
"Split Milk" (featuring Capleton)
"Tear Shit up" (featuring Dead Prez)
"Freedom" (featuring Dead Prez)
"Ain't No Love" (featuring Kam)
"Lay Low"
"Life Goes On"
"You Know My Name"
"Evil"
"AWOL"
"Agents of Repression"
"What Would You Do"
"How We Do"
"Freedom" (The Last Cell remix) (featuring Public Enemy and Dead Prez)
Bonus Track (The Deluxe Edition)
"Field Nigga Boogie" (XLR8R Remix) (featuring Immortal Technique)
References
External links
Sonic Jihad review
2003 albums
Paris (rapper) albums
Obscenity controversies in music |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Viola%20pedata | Viola pedata, the birdsfoot violet, bird's-foot violet, or mountain pansy, is a violet native to sandy areas in central and eastern North America.
Varieties
Two primary color forms exist, Viola pedata var. lineariloba ("concolor"), which is a solid pink-lilac-lavender color, and var. pedata ("bicolor"), in which the superior petals are a deep red-purple and the lateral and interior petals are similar to the concolor variety. Less common is Viola pedata var. linearloba forma alba, which is a white flowered form.
Cultivation
Birdsfoot violet favors well drained, acidic soils in full to partial sun environments. It is difficult to cultivate in typical garden environments because it does not tolerate rich, organic garden soils and excess moisture.
Gallery
References
External links
Kemper Center for Home Gardening, Missouri Botanical Garden
Ontario Wildflowers
Robert W. Freckmann Herbarium, University of Wisconsin Stevens Point
Plant Fact Sheet, North Carolina Cooperative Extension
Chesapeake Bay Watershed Natives
Plant of the Week, Celebrating Wildflowers, US Forest Service
Bioimages
Viola Pedata Faces (variation in flower color)
pedata
Flora of the Eastern United States
Plants described in 1753
Taxa named by Carl Linnaeus |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mr.%20Robot%20and%20His%20Robot%20Factory | Mr. Robot and His Robot Factory is a platform game created for the Atari 8-bit family by Ron Rosen and published in 1983 by Datamost. The music was composed by Gary Gilbertson using Philip Price's Advanced Music Processor, while the title screen was drawn by Art Huff. It was ported to the Apple II by Robert McNally and to the Commodore 64.
The gameplay is similar to that of Miner 2049er (1982). The player controls a humanoid robot that must traverse all of the platforms in a factory filled with ladders, conveyor belts, and other gadgetry. There are 22 levels, plus a built-in level editor.
Gameplay
The robot is moved with either the keyboard or a joystick, and can make it walk side to side, climb up and down, and jump, collecting the white power pills from the platforms in the process. The player begins with four robots, and loses one if it falls too much or touches any of the fireball enemies. When one of the pulsing white rings scattered around the level is collected, the robot becomes temporarily invulnerable and can safely touch the fireballs, destroying them.
In each level the player begins with 100 units of energy and loses units at a rate of about one per second, making quick completion of each level important. When the energy runs out, the player loses a robot.
Points are granted in 10 point increments as the robot advances through the level. Collecting a ring earns 100 points, as does collecting the small musical note at the beginning of the level that turns off the game's sound effects. Dispatching a fireball is worth 500 points. Completing a level earns 100 points per unit of energy remaining on the screen.
Later levels include bombs and magnets. There are a total of 22 levels, not counting the 26 customized levels.
Reception
Mr. Robot and His Robot Factory was reviewed by Video magazine in its "Arcade Alley" column where it was compared to Miner 2049er and described as "sufficiently different [...] to represent an enthralling new test of skill". The reviewers praised the efforts of programmer Ron Rosen, noting that "the programming skill evidenced in the preparation of Mr. Robot is awesome" and concluding "what this game lacks in stark originality, it more than makes up for with polish".
In 1984 it received a positive review in the German magazine Happy Computer.
References
External links
Mr. Robot and His Robot Factory at Atari Mania
1983 video games
Apple II games
Atari 8-bit family games
Commodore 64 games
Datamost games
Platformers
Video games about robots
Video games developed in the United States
Single-player video games |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CodeGear | CodeGear is a wholly owned division of Embarcadero Technologies. CodeGear develops software development tools such as the Delphi Integrated development environment, the programming language Delphi, and the database server InterBase. Originally a division of Borland Software Corporation, it was launched on 14 November 2006.
History
On 8 February 2006 Borland announced that it would seek a buyer for its IDE division and database products. During the spin-off negotiations, these divisions ("developer tools group") internally reorganized into a division called CodeGear.
Eventually, five parties bid for the group. However, no bidder offered Borland "numbers that appropriately reflected the value we think is in the business," according to a conference call with Borland CEO Tod Nielsen.
Borland's 2006 annual report showed that its CodeGear IDE business had sales of US$75.7 million in 2006, which accounted for 25 percent of Borland's total revenue.
On 7 May 2008, Borland Software Corporation and Embarcadero Technologies announced that Embarcadero had "signed a definitive asset purchase agreement to purchase CodeGear."
On 1 July 2008, Embarcadero Technologies announced the completed acquisition of CodeGear from Borland Software Corporation on 30 June 2008, for approximately $24.5 million.
Embarcadero Technologies, Inc. era
On 25 August 2008, Embarcadero Technologies announced the release of Delphi 2009 and C++Builder 2009.
On 28 September 2008, Embarcadero Technologies announced the release of InterBase SMP 2009.
On 1 December 2008, Embarcadero Technologies announced the general availability of CodeGear RAD Studio 2009.
Products
RAD Studio (including Delphi, Delphi Prism and C++Builder)
Delphi for PHP
Delphi
Delphi Prism
JBuilder
InterBase
C++Builder
JGear
3rdRail
References
External links
Borland
Companies based in Santa Cruz County, California
Development software companies |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Embeddable%20Linux%20Kernel%20Subset | The Embeddable Linux Kernel Subset (ELKS), formerly known as Linux-8086, is a Linux-like operating system kernel. It is a subset of the Linux kernel, intended for 16-bit computers with limited processor and memory resources such as machines powered by Intel 8086 and compatible microprocessors not supported by 32-bit Linux.
Features and compatibility
ELKS is free software and available under the GNU General Public License (GPL). It can work with early 16-bit and many 32-bit x86 (8088, 8086) computers like IBM PC compatible systems, and later x86 models in real mode. Another useful area are single board microcomputers, intended as educational tools for "homebrew" projects (hardware hacking), as well as embedded controller systems (e.g. Automation).
Early versions of ELKS also ran on Psion 3a and 3aR SIBO (SIxteen Bit Organiser) PDAs with NEC V30 CPUs, providing another possible field of operation (gadget hardware), if ported to such a platform. This effort was called ELKSibo. Due to lack of interest, SIBO support was removed from version 0.4.0.
Native ELKS programs may run emulated with Elksemu, allowing 8086 code to be used under Linux-i386. An effort to provide ELKS with an Eiffel compliant library also exists.
History
Development of Linux-8086 started in 1995 by Linux kernel developers Alan Cox and Chad Page as a fork of the standard Linux. By early 1996 the project was renamed ELKS (Embeddable Linux Kernel Subset), and in 1997 the first website www.elks.ecs.soton.ac.uk/ (offline, ) was created. ELKS version 0.0.63 followed on August 8 that same year. On June 22, 1999, ELKS release 0.0.77 was available, the first version able to run a graphical user interface (the Nano-X Window System). On July 21, ELKS booted on a Psion PDA with SIBO architecture. ELKS 0.0.82 came out on January 10, 2000. By including the SIBO port, it became the first official version running on other computer hardware than the original 8086 base. On March 3 that year, the project was registered on SourceForge, the new website being elks.sourceforge.net.
On January 6, 2001, Cox declared ELKS "basically dead". Nonetheless, release 0.0.84 came along on June 17, 2001, Charilaos (Harry) Kalogirou added TCP/IP networking support seven days later, and in the same year ELKS reached 0.0.90 on November 17. On April 20, 2002, Kalogirou added memory management with disk swapping capability, followed nine days later by ELKS release 0.1.0, considered the first beta version. By end of the year, on December 18, the EDE (Elks Distribution Edition, a distribution based on the ELKS kernel), itself version 0.0.5, is released. January 6, 2003, brought ELKS 0.1.2, an update to 0.1.3 followed on May 3, 2006, the first official release after a long hiatus in development.
A development into FlightLinux, a real-time operating system for spacecraft, was planned, but the project it was intended for (UoSAT-12) eventually settled on the qCF operating system from Quadron Corporation instead.
Curren |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Event%20%28computing%29 | In programming and software design, an event is an action or occurrence recognized by software, often originating asynchronously from the external environment, that may be handled by the software. Computer events can be generated or triggered by the system, by the user, or in other ways. Typically, events are handled synchronously with the program flow; that is, the software may have one or more dedicated places where events are handled, frequently an event loop.
A source of events includes the user, who may interact with the software through the computer's peripherals - for example, by typing on the keyboard. Another source is a hardware device such as a timer. Software can also trigger its own set of events into the event loop, e.g. to communicate the completion of a task. Software that changes its behavior in response to events is said to be event-driven, often with the goal of being interactive.
Description
Event driven systems are typically used when there is some asynchronous external activity that needs to be handled by a program; for example, a user who presses a button on their mouse. An event driven system typically runs an event loop, that keeps waiting for such activities, e.g. input from devices or internal alarms. When one of these occurs, it collects data about the event and dispatches the event to the event handler software that will deal with it.
A program can choose to ignore events, and there may be libraries to dispatch an event to multiple handlers that may be programmed to listen for a particular event. The data associated with an event at a minimum specifies what type of event it is, but may include other information such as when it occurred, who or what caused it to occur, and extra data provided by the event source to the handler about how the event should be processed.
Events are typically used in user interfaces, where actions in the outside world (mouse clicks, window-resizing, keyboard presses, messages from other programs, etc.) are handled by the program as a series of events. Programs written for many windowing environments consist predominantly of event handlers.
Events can also be used at instruction set level, where they complement interrupts. Compared to interrupts, events are normally implemented synchronously: the program explicitly waits for an event to be generated and handled (typically by calling an instruction that dispatches the next event), whereas an interrupt can demand immediate service.
User-generated events
There are a large number of situations or events that a program or system may generate or respond to. Some common user generated events include:
Mouse events
A pointing device can generate a number of software recognisable pointing device gestures. A mouse can generate a number of mouse events, such as mouse move (including direction of move and distance), mouse left/right button up/down and mouse wheel motion, or a combination of these gestures. For example, double-clicks commonly |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WLGF | WLGF (107.1 FM) is a radio station located in Gulfport, Mississippi broadcasting a Contemporary Christian format under the national K-Love radio network. WLGF is owned by Educational Media Foundation and its signal covers areas in Gulfport-Biloxi area.
History
WROA-FM/Power 107/Surf 107
The station first signed on the air in 1964 as WROA-FM, co-owned with WROA-AM 1390. In the early 1980s, the station was called WZKX. In 1987, the owner of the station switched from the 107.1 signal to the 107.9 signal because the 107.9 range was a stronger signal. The WZKX calls were applied to 107.9. 107.1 took the name WXLS and played adult contemporary music as "Surf 107" and later "Lite Rock 107".
Kiss 107/107.1 The Monkey
On February 14, 1997, WXYK "Kiss 105.9", the market's premier CHR/Top 40 station moved to 107.1 as "Kiss 107, Today's Hottest Music" featuring market vet Patty Steele in mornings, Dave Allen for middays, Matt Austin hosting afternoons and Hurricane Kelly for nights.
On September 18, 1998, after over a year of struggling to achieve ratings success, Kiss 107 relaunched as "107-1 The Monkey, Party Music For Humans" and featured more of a dance lean than a typical top 40. The Monkey debuted with market vet "Collin "The Reverend" Powell hosting "The Morning Zoo", Kyle Curley in Middays, Scot Fox in afternoons and current Program Director, Lucas, hosting nights. The station immediately garnered successful ratings, and in 2000 was named "Mississippi Radio Station Of The Year."
In June 2003, WXYK added nationally syndicated The Kidd Kraddick Morning Show to mornings.
In July 2014, station owner, Triad Broadcasting was sold to Alpha Media along with sister stations, WCPR, WGBL, WQBB and WTNI.
In December 2018, it was announced Alpha Media would be selling its Gulf Coast cluster to local Mississippi broadcast company, Telesouth Communications, who already owns WOSM, the SuperTalk Mississippi affiliate in the Biloxi market. To comply with FCC ownership rules, WXYK was spun off to another local company, Port Broadcasting. The FCC approved the sale on February 12, 2019, and closed on March 1, 2019.
K-Love
At midnight on February 28, 2019, after playing "Now Or Never" by Halsey, WXYK's programming moved to sister station Bob 105-9 as "105.9 The Monkey" replacing that station's variety hits format and ending its 22-year run on 107.1 FM. The station was also assigned new call letters, WLGF.
For the next 24 hours, the station began stunting with various announcements alerting listeners of the change and to switch over to 105.9 FM before officially changing formats to Contemporary Christian under Educational Media Foundation's K-Love network at midnight on March 1 Via a local marketing agreement.
On June 7, 2019, it was announced that Port Broadcasting officially sold WLGF to Educational Media Foundation. The sale, at a price of $362,000, was consummated on July 31, 2019
References
External links
K-Love radio stations
Radio stations established |
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multiple%20Access%20with%20Collision%20Avoidance | Multiple Access with Collision Avoidance (MACA) is a slotted media access control protocol used in wireless LAN data transmission to avoid collisions caused by the hidden station problem and to simplify exposed station problem.
The basic idea of MACA is a wireless network node makes an announcement before it sends the data frame to inform other nodes to keep silent. When a node wants to transmit, it sends a signal called Request-To-Send (RTS) with the length of the data frame to send. If the receiver allows the transmission, it replies the sender a signal called Clear-To-Send (CTS) with the length of the frame that is about to receive.
Meanwhile, a node that hears RTS should remain silent to avoid conflict with CTS; a node that hears CTS should keep silent until the data transmission is complete.
WLAN data transmission collisions may still occur, and the MACA for Wireless (MACAW) is introduced to extend the function of MACA. It requires nodes sending acknowledgements after each successful frame transmission, as well as the additional function of Carrier sense.
External links
Phil Karn: MACA - A New Channel Access Method for Packet Radio (Phil Karn, KA9Q)
Media access control
de:Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Avoidance#RTS/CTS Koordination |
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