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45641381 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TeamNote | TeamNote | TeamNote is a mobile-first business communication and collaboration software developed by the Hong Kong based technology company TeamNote Limited. TeamNote as a product is usually sold as a white label solution to corporations and deployed in private cloud or on-premises server. It allows users to send text messages and voice messages, share images, documents, user locations, and other content. It’s not available for download on App Store (iOS) or in Google Play, companies add new users by sending out links or manually deploying the app out.
Features
TeamNote offers standardized communication features, customizable workflow modules and system integration. The primary features of TeamNote are instant messaging including text and voice, individual and group chat mode as well as news announcement organized by top management. Also, it offers GPS location tacking, polling or voting, task assignment, photo reporting, sales reporting in chat room(s) and share training manual. In addition, TeamNote also has customized features such as form filling, HR tasks, job dispatch and duty roster.
Platforms
TeamNote provides Android and iOS mobile apps for end user, and web portal for web clients including end user and superuser.
Business Model
TeamNote offers subscription business model and claimed to charge US$5 per user per month. The fee would be adjusted accordingly for additional features. A custom rate could be apply if deeper integration is required.
History
TeamNote as a product started off its research and development in 2012 under its then-parent company Apptask Limited, a project-led mobile applications development company. TeamNote was originally developed for a Hong Kong local real estate conglomerate as a customized corporate communication app, which inspired its founder Roy Law and the team to develop TeamNote as a product.
TeamNote Limited as an independent company was founded in July 2013 after spinning off from its now-sister company Apptask Limited and TeamNote is officially launched to the Asia market in the first quarter of 2014. In January 2015, TeamNote Limited as a startup company was shortlisted to be a part of Y Combinator's three-month-long accelerator programme and received USD$120,000 seed money and later raised approximately USD$1M angel round. TeamNote announced its global launch during an interview with TechCrunch in March 2015.
The original TeamNote app focused on secure messaging. This included password-protected conversations, the ability to send a message out to a group and get private replies, and even a feature to make sensitive messages disappear after a specific expiration date. As it expanded, the application has gained features for managing shifts for workers on the field, who can send back messages and photographs related to their work in to their company’s home base to complete tasks. There are also mobile training modules, letting teams quickly get new workers out on the field up to speed without making them sit down and watch an entire training session.
Award
In 2014, TeamNote won the Red Herring (magazine) Asia Top 100 Technology Award in Hong Kong and Global Top 100 Technology Award in Los Angeles. In 2015, TeamNote won the Best Mobile Apps Grand Award and Best Mobile Apps (Business and Enterprise Solution) Gold Award in Hong Kong ICT Awards. TeamNote also won merit of Asia Pacific ICT Alliance Awards (APICTA).
See also
Comparison of cross-platform instant messaging clients
List of collaborative software
Secure communication
References
Emily Goh, 25 startups in Asia that caught our eye (8/3/2015),
來自香港的Slack對手－TeamNote (8/03/2015),
Josh Horwitz, Y Combinator-backed TeamNote is a Hong Kong-born answer to Slack and HipChat (4/03/2015),
Kyle Russell, YC-Backed TeamNote Provides Enterprise Communications For Companies With People Out In The Field (3/03/2015),
當辦公也移動：YC 孵化的“團信”欲打造企業版WhatsApp (5/02/2015),
羅國明, 矽谷啟示錄(一)：闖矽谷需要盲公竹 (30/01/2015),
港產通訊App 闖矽谷：「創業很型！」(27/01/2015),
Y Combinator casts its eye towards Asia and what that means for you (18/03/2015),
Here Are The Companies That Presented At Y Combinator Demo Day 1 (24/03/2015),
深入矽谷精煉技術TeamNote向國際進發 (24/03/2015),
2015 香港資訊及通訊科技獎得獎者巡禮 (二) (15/05/2015),
Startups to Watch: Hong Kong, The Wall Street Journal (19/05/2015),
我從矽谷加速器回來，學到的是…(30/05/2015),
矽谷啟示錄(二)：知識分享並非「教路」(02/06/2015),
2015香港資訊及通訊科技獎得獎巡禮(三) (04/06/2015),
香港初創科企：走出創業迷霧 (05/06/2015),
External links
Project management software
Collaborative software
Instant messaging
Software
Business software |
56658364 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas%20LeBlanc | Thomas LeBlanc | Thomas John LeBlanc is a computer scientist and academic administrator. He was the President of the George Washington University from July 2017 to December 2021.
Education
LeBlanc earned a Bachelor of Science in computer sciences from the State University of New York, Plattsburgh. He earned a master's degree and a Ph.D. in computer sciences from the University of Wisconsin–Madison in 1982.
Career
LeBlanc has been widely published in computer science and engineering journals. LeBlanc has served as principal investigator or co-principal investigator on eight federally-funded research initiatives. He is a member of the Association for Computing Machinery and the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers.
LeBlanc became the President of the George Washington University in July 2017. He had previously worked with GW as the chair of the evaluation team for GW's academic accreditation during the 2007–2008 academic year.
Prior to his appointment as President of the George Washington University, LeBlanc served as the University of Miami's Chief Academic Officer, Chief Budget Officer, Executive Vice-president, and Provost. While at the University of Miami, LeBlanc led the development and implementation of the university's strategic plan. He served as interim President of the University of Miami in 2015. He also led the deans in the design of a $1.6 billion fundraising campaign.
Prior to Miami, LeBlanc served as Vice Provost & Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Sciences, and Engineering at the University of Rochester. He was chair of the department of computer science and the Dean of the College Faculty. He is credited with the development of the biomedical engineering department with the University of Rochester Medical Center.
In May 2021, LeBlanc said he would retire from his position at GWU at the end of the 2021–2022 academic year. However, in September 2021, GWU's Board of Trustees Chair Grace E. Speights said LeBlanc would step down at the end of 2021, to be replaced by former Washington University in St. Louis Chancellor Mark S. Wrighton.
Controversies
On February 1, 2020, a video was posted to the George Washington University Overheard Facebook page where a freshman at the university, Sophie Gengler, asked President LeBlanc about divestment from fossil fuels. In the video, LeBlanc admitted for the first time that 3% of the university's endowment is indirectly invested in the fossil fuels industry through buying funds that invest in "whatever they want to invest in" which includes the carbon industry. This, along with other points the president made about the university's relationship with climate change activism and deniers, sparked a student protest and several petitions demanding for the university to divest immediately.
In the same video, LeBlanc criticized majority rule over GW policy by saying, "What if the majority of the students agreed to shoot all the black people here?" Students quickly condemned the president's comments as "racially insensitive" and "thoughtless." The president later apologized, saying "The point I was making – that majority rule should never suppress the human rights of others – was obscured by the example I used...I regret my choice of words and any harm I unintentionally inflicted on a community I value greatly."
References
External links
GWU Office of the President About President LeBlanc
1956 births
Living people
Presidents of George Washington University
State University of New York at Plattsburgh alumni
University of Wisconsin–Madison College of Letters and Science alumni
American computer scientists |
16951169 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough%20Software | Breakthrough Software | Breakthrough Software was a software company based in Novato, California. Breakthrough developed and sold the Time Line project management software for PC DOS computers, releasing the first version in 1984, and version 2.0 in July, 1985. Company staff in the 1980s included William Lohse (1984-1985) as president, Victoria Lohse as COO and CEO and Andrew Layman as president starting in 1986.
Negotiations to merge Breakthrough into Integrated Software Systems Corp. (ISSCO) reached an agreement in principle in October, 1986 but broke down soon afterwards when Computer Associates, developer of a different project management program, announced an agreement to acquire ISSCO.
Breakthrough was acquired by Symantec in 1987. Symantec continued to release versions of Timeline until at least version 6.0 in 1994.
References
Software companies based in California
Defunct companies based in California
Software companies of the United States |
39204173 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Endomondo | Endomondo | Endomondo was a social fitness network created by Endomondo LLC which allowed users to track their fitness and health statistics with a mobile application and website. Endomondo launched in 2007 with the goal of motivating people to lead healthier lives.
History
Endomondo started in Denmark in 2007 by Mette Lykke, Christian Birk and Jakob Nordenhof Jønck. In 2011, the company opened an office in Silicon Valley, USA, but kept its research and development department in Denmark. In 2013, Endomondo LLC was listed in Red Herring as a European finalists for promising start-ups. The same year, Christian Birk and Jakob Nordenhof Jønck left the daily operation of the company, but kept co-ownership.
In February 2015, Endomondo LLC was acquired by athletic apparel maker Under Armour for $85 million. Endomondo, at that time, had over 20 million users.
In October 2020, Under Armour announced that Endomondo would be shutting down and selling off MyFitnessPal to the private equity firm Francisco Partners for $345 million. Service stopped on 31 December 2020, giving customers until 15 February 2021 to download an archive of their historic data.
Features
Endomondo could track numerous fitness attributes such as running routes, distance, duration, and calories. The software could help analyze performance and recommend improvements.
There was a free and a paid version available of Endomondo. The free version had advertisements. The paid Premium version was free of advertisements and includes additional features such as the possibility to create your own training plan. The offering of additional features is different between the Android, IOS and Windows platforms, and had significantly better features for tracking performance over time than UnderArmours suggested replacement.
Endomondo offered challenges of various types to the user and allowed users to create their own challenges.
References
External links
GPS sports tracking applications
Mobile social software
American health websites
Fitness apps
IOS software
Android (operating system) software
Windows Phone software
BlackBerry software
Web applications
2007 software |
874815 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurumin | Kurumin | Kurumin Linux was a Live CD operating system based on Debian. Its main features are the advanced hardware auto-detection (inherited from Knoppix) and a Portuguese user interface, and its main goal is ease of use. As of release 7.0, the size of the disk image is approximately 603 MB.
Version NG 8.06, based on Ubuntu 8.04, was released June 24, 2008, and was discontinued on January 29, 2009.
Name origin and history
The name comes from the Tupi word "curumim", which means boy. The usage of the letter K, instead of the usual Portuguese spelling ("curumi" or "curumim"), brings it in line with KDE (Kurumin's default desktop environment), as well as with Knoppix.
In late 2007, Morimoto said, that the project would be halted or have its scope reduced. In November 2008, the project was officially discontinued.
Features
The distribution sports an open-source control center named ClicaAki (roughly: "ClickHere"). It features a series of shell scripts, Kommander-based panels, and "magic icons" that install software not included on the live CD, and with which icons one can configure a wide range of networking options. The control center also provides access to the Synaptic package manager.
The ClicaAki control panel has shortcuts to scripts that also perform tasks like downloading and installing free games, with apps divided into categories and a short description of how they work and their differences.
Hardware support
The control panel also includes scripts for downloading and automatically configuring drivers for 3D video cards (ATI and Nvidia), a difficult task for novice users.
Another feature of the distro is, that it has support for many "winmodems", including some that have no official packages or drivers in the Debian repository, and also with scripts that automate the tasks of compiling and configuring the necessary modules.
With these features, Kurumin has spread the Linux operating system in Brazil in a level never seen before.
See also
Poseidon Linux, a distribution based on Kurumin
External links
Kurumin official site (in Portuguese)
Oca do Kurumin (Fansite)
LWN: Linux in Brazil
Knoppix
Portuguese-language Linux distributions
Discontinued Linux distributions
Linux distributions |
42792244 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/RIOT%20%28operating%20system%29 | RIOT (operating system) | RIOT is a small operating system for networked, memory-constrained systems with a focus on low-power wireless Internet of things (IoT) devices. It is open-source software, released under the GNU Lesser General Public License (LGPL).
Background
It was initially developed by Free University of Berlin (FU Berlin), French Institute for Research in Computer Science and Automation (INRIA) and the Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg). RIOT's kernel is mostly inherited from FireKernel, which was originally developed for sensor networks.
Technical aspects
RIOT is based on a microkernel architecture. In contrast to other operating systems with similarly low memory use (such as TinyOS or Contiki), RIOT allows application software programming with the programming languages C and C++, and Rust, also by an experimental application programming interface (API). It has full multithreading and real-time abilities. Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) and successor Transport Layer Security (TLS) are supported by popular libraries such as wolfSSL.
RIOT runs on processors of 8 bits (such as AVR Atmega), 16 bits (such as TI MSP430), and 32 bits (such as ARM Cortex). A native port also enables RIOT to run as a Linux or macOS process, enabling use of standard developing and debugging tools such as GNU Compiler Collection (GCC), GNU Debugger, Valgrind, Wireshark, etc. RIOT is partly Portable Operating System Interface (POSIX) compliant.
RIOT provides multiple network stacks, including IPv6, 6LoWPAN, or content centric networking and standard protocols such as RPL, User Datagram Protocol (UDP), Transmission Control Protocol (TCP), and CoAP.
Source code
RIOT source code is available on GitHub, and developed by an international community of open source developers.
See also
Contiki
TinyOS
FreeRTOS
Nano-RK
Zephyr
Comparison of real-time operating systems
References
External links
ARM operating systems
Embedded operating systems
Free software operating systems
Internet of things
Microkernels
Microkernel-based operating systems
MIPS operating systems
Real-time operating systems |
69513107 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roopkotha | Roopkotha | Wasik Farhan Roopkotha (; born January 27, 2006), mononymously known as Roopkotha, is a Bangladeshi computer programmer and game developer. At the age of 6, he was recognized as the world's youngest computer programmer by several media outlets, TV shows and reference books. He has developed multiple games, most notable of which is "Space Collider." He was included in The Golden Book of World Records as the youngest known IT expert in the world. Roopkotha started coding since he was five years old. Bangladesh Government's Information and Communication Technology Division granted Roopkotha fundings for making a game about the liberation war of the country, titled "The Victory," which had a playable demo released in 2019. In 2012, National Curriculum and Textbook Board of Bangladesh dedicated a chapter of grade 8 English For Today book to Roopkotha.
In popular culture
Roopkotha has been subject to multiple TV channels' and media outlets' documentaries of both home and abroad including Xinhua, BBC News, NDTV, Reuters, AXN, Zee TV.
In 2012, UK TV show Ripley's Believe It or Not placed Roopkotha in their annual cartoon book as the "world's youngest computer programmer."
References
Bangladeshi computer programmers
2006 births
Living people |
98791 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SHRDLU | SHRDLU | SHRDLU was an early natural-language understanding computer program, developed by Terry Winograd at MIT in 1968–1970. In the program, the user carries on a conversation with the computer, moving objects, naming collections and querying the state of a simplified "blocks world", essentially a virtual box filled with different blocks.
SHRDLU was written in the Micro Planner and Lisp programming language on the DEC PDP-6 computer and a DEC graphics terminal. Later additions were made at the computer graphics labs at the University of Utah, adding a full 3D rendering of SHRDLU's "world".
The name SHRDLU was derived from ETAOIN SHRDLU, the arrangement of the letter keys on a Linotype machine, arranged in descending order of usage frequency in English.
Functionality
SHRDLU was primarily a language parser that allowed user interaction using English terms. The user instructed SHRDLU to move various objects around in the "blocks world" containing various basic objects: blocks, cones, balls, etc. What made SHRDLU unique was the combination of four simple ideas that added up to make the simulation of "understanding" far more convincing.
One was that SHRDLU's world was so simple that the entire set of objects and locations could be described by including as few as perhaps 50 words: nouns like "block" and "cone", verbs like "place on" and "move to", and adjectives like "big" and "blue". The possible combinations of these basic language building blocks were quite simple, and the program was fairly adept at figuring out what the user meant.
SHRDLU also included a basic memory to supply context. One could ask SHRDLU to "put the green cone on the red block" and then "take the cone off"; "the cone" would be taken to mean the green cone one had just talked about. SHRDLU could search back further through the interactions to find the proper context in most cases when additional adjectives were supplied. One could also ask questions about the history, for instance one could ask "did you pick up anything before the cone?"
A side effect of this memory, and the original rules SHRDLU was supplied with, is that the program could answer questions about what was possible in the world and what was not. For instance, SHRDLU would deduce that blocks could be stacked by looking for examples, but would realize that triangles couldn't be stacked, after having tried it. The "world" contained basic physics to make blocks fall over, independent of the language parser.
Finally, SHRDLU could also remember names given to objects, or arrangements of them. For instance one could say "a steeple is a small triangle on top of a tall rectangle"; SHRDLU could then answer questions about steeples in the blocks world, and build new ones.
Here is a famous demonstration of SHRDLU:
Person: Pick up a big red block.
Computer: OK.
Person: Grasp the pyramid.
Computer: I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHICH PYRAMID YOU MEAN.
Person (changing their mind): Find a block which is taller than the one you are holding and put it into the box.
Computer: BY "IT", I ASSUME YOU MEAN THE BLOCK WHICH IS TALLER THAN THE ONE I AM HOLDING.
Computer: OK.
Person: What does the box contain?
Computer: THE BLUE PYRAMID AND THE BLUE BLOCK.
Person: What is the pyramid supported by?
Computer: THE BOX.
Person: How many blocks are not in the box?
Computer: FOUR OF THEM.
Person: Is at least one of them narrower than the one which i told you to pick up?
Computer: YES, THE RED CUBE.
Person: Is it supported?
Computer: YES, BY THE TABLE.
Person: Can the table pick up blocks?
Computer: NO.
Person: Can a pyramid be supported by a block?
Computer: YES.
Person: Can a pyramid support a pyramid?
Computer: I DON'T KNOW.
Person: Stack up two pyramids.
Computer: I CAN'T.
Person: Will you please stack up both of the red blocks and either a green cube or a pyramid?
Computer: OK.
Person: Which cube is sitting on the table?
Computer: THE LARGE GREEN ONE WHICH SUPPORTS THE RED PYRAMID.
Person: Is there a large block behind a pyramid?
Computer: YES, THREE OF THEM: A LARGE RED ONE, A LARGE GREEN CUBE, AND THE BLUE ONE.
Person: Put a small one onto the green cube which supports a pyramid.
Computer: OK.
Person: Put the littlest pyramid on top of it.
Computer: OK.
Person: Does the shortest thing the tallest pyramid's support supports support anything green?
Computer: YES, THE GREEN PYRAMID.
Person: What color is it?
Computer: BY "IT", I ASSUME YOU MEAN THE SHORTEST THING THE TALLEST PYRAMID'S SUPPORT SUPPORTS.
Computer: RED
Person: How many things are on top of green cubes?
Computer: I'M NOT SURE WHAT YOU MEAN BY "ON TOP OF "IN THE PHRASE "ON TOP OF GREEN CUBES " .
DO YOU MEAN:
1 - DIRECTLY ON THE SURFACE
2 - ANWHERE ON TOP OF ?
Person: 2
Computer: THREE OF THEM.
Person: Had you touched any pyramid before you put the green one on the little cube?
Computer: YES, THE GREEN ONE.
Person: When did you pick it up?
Computer: WHILE I WAS STACKING UP THE RED CUBE, A LARGE RED BLOCK AND A LARGE GREEN CUBE.
Person: Why?
Computer: TO GET RID OF IT.
Person: Why did you do that?
Computer: TO CLEAN OFF THE RED CUBE.
Person: Why did you clear off that cube?
Computer: TO PUT IT ON A LARGE GREEN CUBE.
Person: Why did you do that?
Computer: TO STACK UP THE RED CUBE , A LARGE RED BLOCK AND A LARGE GREEN CUBE.
Person: Why did you do that?
Computer: BECAUSE YOU ASKED ME TO.
Person: How did you do it?
Computer: BY PUTTING A LARGE RED BLOCK ON THE TABLE ; THEN LETTING GO OF IT ; THEN PUTTING A LARGE GREEN CUBE ON IT ; THEN LETTING GO OF THAT CUBE ; THEN PUTTING THE RED CUBE ON THAT CUBE; THEN LETTING GO OF THAT CUBE.
Person: How many objects did you touch while you were doing it?
Computer: FOUR OF THEM.
Person: What did the red cube support before you started to clean it off?
Computer: THE GREEN PYRAMID.
Person: There were five blocks to the left of the box then.
Computer: NO, ONLY FOUR OF THEM: THE RED CUBE, TWO LARGE GREEN CUBES AND A LARGE RED BLOCK.
Person: Put the blue pyramid on the block in the box.
Computer: OK.
Person: Is there anything which is bigger than every pyramid but is not as wide as the thing that supports it?
Computer: YES, THE BLUE BLOCK.
Person: Does a steeple
Computer (interrupting): SORRY, I DON'T KNOW THE WORD "STEEPLE".
Person: A "steeple" is a stack which contains two green cubes and a pyramid.
Computer: I UNDERSTAND.
Person: Are there any steeples now?
Computer: NO.
Person: Build one.
Computer: OK.
Person: Call the biggest block "superblock".
Computer: OK.
Person: Have you picked superblock up since we began?
Computer: YES.
Person: Why did you drop it?
Computer: BY "IT", I ASSUME YOU MEAN THE SUPERBLOCK.
I CAN'T EXPLAIN A NON-EXISTENT EVENT.
Person: Is there anything to the right of the red pyramid?
Computer: YES, FOUR THINGS: THE BOX , THE RED CUBE, THE BLUE PYRAMID AND THE BLOCK NAMED SUPERBLOCK
Person: Thank you.
Computer: YOU'RE WELCOME!
Consequences
SHRDLU was considered a tremendously successful demonstration of artificial intelligence (AI). This led other AI researchers to excessive optimism which was soon lost when later systems attempted to deal with situations with a more realistic level of ambiguity and complexity. Subsequent efforts of the SHRDLU type, such as Cyc, have tended to focus on providing the program with considerably more information from which it can draw conclusions.
Though not intentionally developed as such, SHRDLU is considered the first known formal example of interactive fiction, as the user interacts with simple commands to move objects around a virtual environment, though lacking the distinct story-telling normally present in the interactive fiction genre. The 1976-1977 game Colossal Cave Adventure is broadly considered to be the first true work of interactive fiction.
See also
Planner programming language
References
</ref>
External links
– Terry Winograd's SHRDLU page, includes source code
- A re-written versions of SHRDLU, including a Java3D version
History of artificial intelligence
Natural language processing software
Computer-related introductions in 1968 |
53045 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File%20Allocation%20Table | File Allocation Table | File Allocation Table (FAT) is a file system developed for personal computers. Originally developed in 1977 for use on floppy disks, it was adapted for use on hard disks and other devices. It is often supported for compatibility reasons by current operating systems for personal computers and many mobile devices and embedded systems, allowing interchange of data between disparate systems. The increase in disk drives capacity required three major variants: FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32. The FAT standard has also been expanded in other ways while generally preserving backward compatibility with existing software.
FAT is no longer the default file system for Microsoft Windows computers.
FAT file systems are still commonly found on floppy disks, flash and other solid-state memory cards and modules (including USB flash drives), as well as many portable and embedded devices. FAT is the standard file system for digital cameras per the DCF specification.
Overview
Concepts
The file system uses an index table stored on the device to identify chains of data storage areas associated with a file, the File Allocation Table (FAT). The FAT is statically allocated at the time of formatting. The table is a linked list of entries for each cluster, a contiguous area of disk storage. Each entry contains either the number of the next cluster in the file, or else a marker indicating the end of the file, unused disk space, or special reserved areas of the disk. The root directory of the disk contains the number of the first cluster of each file in that directory. The operating system can then traverse the FAT, looking up the cluster number of each successive part of the disk file as a cluster chain until the end of the file is reached. Sub-directories are implemented as special files containing the directory entries of their respective files.
Each entry in the FAT linked list is a fixed number of bits: 12, 16 or 32. The maximum size of a file or a disk drive that can be accessed is the product of the largest number that can be stored in the entries (less a few values reserved to indicate unallocated space or the end of a list) and the size of the disk cluster. Even if only one byte of storage is needed to extend a file, an entire cluster must be allocated to it, so large clusters waste much disk space if there are large numbers of small files.
Originally designed as an 8-bit file system, the maximum number of clusters must increase as disk drive capacity increases, and so the number of bits used to identify each cluster has grown. The successive major variants of the FAT format are named after the number of table element bits: 12 (FAT12), 16 (FAT16), and 32 (FAT32).
Uses
The FAT file system has been used since 1977 for computers, and it is still frequently used in embedded systems. Compatible file systems make it easier to exchange data between, for example, desktop computers and portable devices. FAT file systems are the default for removable media such as floppy disks, super-floppies, memory and flash memory cards or USB flash drives. FAT is supported by portable devices such as PDAs, digital cameras, camcorders, media players, and mobile phones. While FAT12 is used on floppy disks, FAT16 and FAT32 are typically found on the larger media.
FAT was also used on hard disks throughout the DOS and Windows 9x eras. Microsoft introduced a new file system, NTFS ("New Technology File System"), with the Windows NT platform in 1993, but FAT remained the standard for the home user until the introduction of the NT-based Windows XP in 2001. FAT is still used in hard drives expected to be used by multiple operating systems, such as in shared Windows, Linux and DOS environments. Microsoft Windows additionally comes with a pre-installed tool to convert a FAT file system into NTFS directly without the need to rewrite all files, though this can not be reversed directly.
Many operating systems provide support for FAT-formatted media through built-in or third-party file system handlers.
The DCF file system adopted by almost all digital cameras since 1998 defines a logical file system with 8.3 filenames and makes the use of either FAT12, FAT16, FAT32 or exFAT mandatory for its physical layer for compatibility.
FAT is also used internally for the EFI system partition in the boot stage of EFI-compliant computers. Hidden FAT filesystems are also used in the UEFI boot partition on modern PCs.
For floppy disks, FAT has been standardized as ECMA-107 and ISO/IEC 9293:1994 (superseding ISO 9293:1987). These standards cover FAT12 and FAT16 with only short 8.3 filename support; long filenames with VFAT were partially patented.
Nomenclature
"FAT file system" refers to, FAT12, FAT16 and FAT32. Operating system utilities may not identify which version will be used to format a device.
"FAT16" refers to both the original group of FAT file systems with 16-bit wide cluster entries and also to later variants ( "FAT16B") with 32-bit sector entries. Values stored in the disk parameter block can be used to identify the file structure.
"VFAT" is an optional extension for long file names, which can work on top of any FAT file system. Volumes using VFAT long-filenames can be read also by operating systems not supporting the VFAT extension.
The general type of file system (FAT12, FAT16 or FAT32) is determined by the width of the cluster entries in the FAT. Specific threshold values for the number of clusters, stored in the disk parameter block, define which FAT type is used. Other properties of the storage device such as size, parameter block format, or file system name cannot reliably be used to derive the file system type.
A FAT12 or FAT16 volume can be defined with a "FAT32 EBPB" normally used for FAT32 volumes.
Partition IDs are not used to specify a type of file system by themselves.
Types
Original 8-bit FAT
The original FAT file system (or FAT structure, as it was called initially) was designed and implemented by Marc McDonald, based on a series of discussions between McDonald and Bill Gates.
It was introduced with 8-bit table elements (and valid data cluster numbers up to 0xBF) in a precursor to Microsoft's Standalone Disk BASIC-80 for an 8080-based successor of the NCR 7200 model VI data-entry terminal, equipped with 8-inch (200 mm) floppy disks, in 1977 or 1978.
In 1978, Standalone Disk BASIC-80 was ported to the 8086 using an emulator on a DEC PDP-10, since no real 8086 systems were available at this time.
The FAT file system was also used in Microsoft's MDOS/MIDAS, an operating system for 8080/Z80 platforms written by McDonald since 1979.
The Standalone Disk BASIC version supported three FATs, whereas this was a parameter for MIDAS. Reportedly, MIDAS was also prepared to support 10-bit, 12-bit and 16-bit FAT variants. While the size of directory entries was 16 bytes in Standalone Disk BASIC, MIDAS instead occupied 32 bytes per entry.
Tim Paterson of Seattle Computer Products (SCP) was first introduced to Microsoft's FAT structure when he helped Bob O'Rear adapting the Standalone Disk BASIC-86 emulator port onto SCP's S-100 bus 8086 CPU board prototype during a guest week at Microsoft in May 1979. The final product was shown at Lifeboat Associates' booth stand at the National Computer Conference in New York on June 4–7, 1979, where Paterson learned about the more sophisticated FAT implementation in MDOS/MIDAS and McDonald talked to him about the design of the file system.
FAT12
Between April and August 1980, while borrowing the FAT concept for SCP's own 8086 operating system QDOS 0.10, Tim Paterson extended the table elements to 12 bits, reduced the number of FATs to two, redefined the semantics of some of the reserved cluster values, and modified the disk layout, so that the root directory was now located between the FAT and the data area for his implementation of FAT12. Paterson also increased the nine-character (6.3) filename length limit to eleven characters to support CP/M-style 8.3 filenames and File Control Blocks. The format used in Microsoft Standalone Disk BASIC's 8-bit file system precursor was not supported by QDOS. By August 1980, QDOS had been renamed 86-DOS. Starting with 86-DOS 0.42, the size and layout of directory entries was changed from 16 bytes to 32 bytes in order to add a file date stamp and increase the theoretical file size limit beyond the previous limit of 16 MB.
86-DOS 1.00 became available in early 1981. Later in 1981, 86-DOS evolved into Microsoft's MS-DOS and IBM PC DOS.
The capability to read previously formatted volumes with 16-byte directory entries was dropped with MS-DOS 1.20.
FAT12 used 12-bit entries for the cluster addresses; some values were reserved to mark the end of a chain of clusters, to mark unusable areas of the disk, or for other purposes, so the maximum number of clusters was limited to 4078. To conserve disk space, two 12-bit FAT entries used three consecutive 8-bit bytes on disk, requiring manipulation to unpack the 12-bit values. This was sufficient for the original floppy disk drives, and small hard disk up to 32 megabytes. The FAT16B version available with DOS 3.31, supported 32-bit sector numbers and so increased the volume size limit.
All the control structures fit inside the first track, to avoid head movement during read and write operations. Any bad sector in the control structures area would make the disk unusable. The DOS formatting tool rejected such disks completely. Bad sectors were allowed only in the file data area. Clusters containing bad sectors were marked unusable with the reserved value 0xFF7 in the FAT.
While 86-DOS supported three disk formats (250.25 KB, 616 KB and 1232 KB with FAT IDs 0xFF and 0xFE on 8-inch (200 mm) floppy drives, IBM PC DOS 1.0, released with the original IBM Personal Computer in 1981, supported only an 8-sector floppy format with a formatted capacity of 160 KB (FAT ID 0xFE) for single-sided 5.25-inch floppy drives, and PC DOS 1.1 added support for a double-sided format with 320 KB (FAT ID 0xFF). PC DOS 2.0 introduced support for 9-sector floppy formats with 180 KB (FAT ID 0xFC) and 360 KB (FAT ID 0xFD).
86-DOS 1.00 and PC DOS 1.0 directory entries included only one date, the last modified date. PC DOS 1.1 added the last modified time. PC DOS 1.x file attributes included a hidden bit and system bit, with the remaining six bits undefined. At this time, DOS did not support sub-directories, but typically there were only a few dozen files on a diskette.
The PC XT was the first PC with an IBM-supplied hard drive, and PC DOS 2.0 supported that hard drive with FAT12 (FAT ID 0xF8). The fixed assumption of 8 sectors per clusters on hard disks practically limited the maximum partition size to 16 MB for 512 byte sectors and 4 KB clusters.
The BIOS Parameter Block (BPB) was introduced with PC DOS 2.0 as well, and this version also added read-only, archive, volume label, and directory attribute bits for hierarchical sub-directories.
MS-DOS 3.0 introduced support for high-density 1.2 MB 5.25-inch diskettes (media descriptor 0xF9), which notably had 15 sectors per track, hence more space for the FATs.
FAT12 remains in use on all common floppy disks, including 1.44 MB and later 2.88 MB disks (media descriptor byte 0xF0).
Initial FAT16
In 1984, IBM released the PC AT, which required PC DOS 3.0 to access its 20 MB hard disk. Microsoft introduced MS-DOS 3.0 in parallel. Cluster addresses were increased to 16-bit, allowing for up to 65,526 clusters per volume. However, the maximum possible number of sectors and the maximum partition size of 32 MB did not change. Although cluster addresses were 16 bits, this format was not what today is commonly understood as FAT16.
A partition type 0x04 indicates this form of FAT16 with less than 65,536 sectors (less than 32 MB for sector size 512). The benefit of FAT16 was the use of smaller clusters, making disk usage more efficient, particularly for large numbers of files only a few hundred bytes in size.
As MS-DOS 3.0 formatted all 16 MB-32 MB partitions in the FAT16 format, a 20 MB hard disk formatted under MS-DOS 3.0 was not accessible by MS-DOS 2.0. MS-DOS 3.0 to MS-DOS 3.30 could still access FAT12 partitions under 15 MB, but required all 16 MB-32 MB partitions to be FAT16, and so could not access MS-DOS 2.0 partitions in this size range. MS-DOS 3.31 and higher could access 16 MB-32 MB FAT12 partitions again.
Logical sectored FAT
MS-DOS and PC DOS implementations of FAT12 and FAT16 could not access disk partitions larger than 32 megabytes. Several manufacturers developed their own FAT variants within their OEM versions of MS-DOS.
Some vendors (AST and NEC) supported eight, instead of the standard four, primary partition entries in their custom extended Master Boot Record (MBR), and they adapted MS-DOS to use more than a single primary partition.
Other vendors worked around the volume size limits imposed by the 16-bit sector entries by increasing the apparent size of the sectors the file system operated on. These logical sectors were larger (up to 8192 bytes) than the physical sector size (still 512 bytes) on the disk. The DOS-BIOS or System BIOS would then combine multiple physical sectors into logical sectors for the file system to work with.
These changes were transparent to the file system implementation in the DOS kernel. The underlying DOS-BIOS translated these logical sectors into physical sectors according to partitioning information and the drive's physical geometry.
The drawback of this approach was increased memory used for sector buffering and deblocking. Since older DOS versions could not use large logical sectors, the OEMs introduced new partition IDs for their FAT variants in order to hide them from off-the-shelf issues of MS-DOS and PC DOS. Known partition IDs for logical sectored FATs include: 0x08 (Commodore MS-DOS 3.x), 0x11 (Leading Edge MS-DOS 3.x), 0x14 (AST MS-DOS 3.x), 0x24 (NEC MS-DOS 3.30), 0x56 (AT&T MS-DOS 3.x), 0xE5 (Tandy MS-DOS), 0xF2 (Sperry IT MS-DOS 3.x, Unisys MS-DOS 3.3 – also used by Digital Research DOS Plus 2.1). OEM versions like Toshiba MS-DOS, Wyse MS-DOS 3.2 and 3.3, as well as Zenith MS-DOS are also known to have utilized logical sectoring.
While non-standard and sub-optimal, these FAT variants are perfectly valid according to the specifications of the file system itself. Therefore, even if default issues of MS-DOS and PC DOS were not able to cope with them, most of these vendor-specific FAT12 and FAT16 variants can be mounted by more flexible file system implementations in operating systems such as DR-DOS, simply by changing the partition ID to one of the recognized types. Also, if they no longer need to be recognized by their original operating systems, existing partitions can be "converted" into FAT12 and FAT16 volumes more compliant with versions of MS-DOS/PC DOS 4.0–6.3, which do not support sector sizes different from 512 bytes, by switching to a BPB with 32-bit entry for the number of sectors, as introduced since DOS 3.31 (see FAT16B below), keeping the cluster size and reducing the logical sector size in the BPB down to 512 bytes, while at the same time increasing the counts of logical sectors per cluster, reserved logical sectors, total logical sectors, and logical sectors per FAT by the same factor.
A parallel development in MS-DOS / PC DOS which allowed an increase in the maximum possible FAT size was the introduction of multiple FAT partitions on a hard disk. To allow the use of more FAT partitions in a compatible way, a new partition type was introduced in PC DOS 3.2 (1986), the extended partition (EBR), which is a container for an additional partition called logical drive. Since PC DOS 3.3 (April 1987), there is another, optional extended partition containing the next logical drive, and so on. The MBR of a hard disk can either define up to four primary partitions, or an extended partition in addition to up to three primary partitions.
Final FAT16
In November 1987, Compaq Personal Computer DOS 3.31 (a modified OEM version of MS-DOS 3.3 released by Compaq with their machines) introduced what today is simply known as the FAT16 format, with the expansion of the 16-bit disk sector count to 32 bits in the BPB.
Although the on-disk changes were minor, the entire DOS disk driver had to be converted to use 32-bit sector numbers, a task complicated by the fact that it was written in 16-bit assembly language.
The result was initially called the DOS 3.31 Large File System. Microsoft's DSKPROBE tool refers to type 0x06 as BigFAT, whereas some older versions of FDISK described it as BIGDOS. Technically, it is known as FAT16B.
Since older versions of DOS were not designed to cope with more than 65,535 sectors, it was necessary to introduce a new partition type for this format in order to hide it from pre-3.31 issues of DOS. The original form of FAT16 (with less than 65,536 sectors) had a partition type 0x04. To deal with disks larger than this, type 0x06 was introduced to indicate 65,536 or more sectors. In addition to this, the disk driver was expanded to cope with more than 65,535 sectors as well. The only other difference between the original FAT16 and the newer FAT16B format is the usage of a newer BPB format with 32-bit sector entry. Therefore, newer operating systems supporting the FAT16B format can cope also with the original FAT16 format without any necessary changes.
If partitions to be used by pre-DOS 3.31 issues of DOS need to be created by modern tools, the only criteria theoretically necessary to meet are a sector count of less than 65536, and the usage of the old partition ID (0x04). In practice however, type 0x01 and 0x04 primary partitions should not be physically located outside the first 32 MB of the disk, due to other restrictions in MS-DOS 2.x, which could not cope with them otherwise.
In 1988, the FAT16B improvement became more generally available through DR DOS 3.31, PC DOS 4.0, OS/2 1.1, and MS-DOS 4.0. The limit on partition size was dictated by the 8-bit signed count of sectors per cluster, which originally had a maximum power-of-two value of 64. With the standard hard disk sector size of 512 bytes, this gives a maximum of 32 KB cluster size, thereby fixing the "definitive" limit for the FAT16 partition size at 2 GB for sector size 512. On magneto-optical media, which can have 1 or 2 KB sectors instead of 0.5 KB, this size limit is proportionally larger.
Much later, Windows NT increased the maximum cluster size to 64 KB, by considering the sectors-per-cluster count as unsigned. However, the resulting format was not compatible with any other FAT implementation of the time, and it generated greater internal fragmentation. Windows 98, SE and ME also supported reading and writing this variant, but its disk utilities did not work with it and some FCB services are not available for such volumes. This contributes to a confusing compatibility situation.
Prior to 1995, versions of DOS accessed the disk via CHS addressing only. When Windows 95(MS-DOS 7.0) introduced LBA disk access, partitions could start being physically located outside the first c. 8 GB of this disk and thereby out of the reach of the traditional CHS addressing scheme. Partitions partially or fully located beyond the CHS barrier therefore had to be hidden from non-LBA-enabled operating systems by using the new partition type 0x0E in the partition table instead. FAT16 partitions using this partition type are also named FAT16X. The only difference, compared to previous FAT16 partitions, is the fact that some CHS-related geometry entries in the BPB record, namely the number of sectors per track and the number of heads, may contain no or misleading values and should not be used.
The number of root directory entries available for FAT12 and FAT16 is determined when the volume is formatted, and is stored in a 16-bit field. For a given number RDE and sector size SS, the number RDS of root directory sectors is RDS = ceil((RDE × 32) / SS), and RDE is normally chosen to fill these sectors, i.e., RDE × 32 = RDS × SS. FAT12 and FAT16 media typically use 512 root directory entries on non-floppy media. Some third-party tools, like mkdosfs, allow the user to set this parameter.
FAT32
In order to overcome the volume size limit of FAT16, while at the same time allowing DOS real-mode code to handle the format, Microsoft designed a new version of the file system, FAT32, which supported an increased number of possible clusters, but could reuse most of the existing code, so that the conventional memory footprint was increased by less than 5 KB under DOS. Cluster values are represented by 32-bit numbers, of which 28 bits are used to hold the cluster number.
Maximal sizes
The FAT32 boot sector uses a 32-bit field for the sector count, limiting the maximal FAT32 volume size to 2 terabytes with a sector size of 512 bytes. The maximum FAT32 volume size is 16 TB with a sector size of 4,096 bytes. The built-in Windows shell disk format tool on Microsoft Windows only supports volume sizes up to 32 GB, but larger FAT32 volumes can be created with the command prompt, PowerShell or third-party tools and read by Microsoft Windows.
The maximal possible size for a file on a FAT32 volume is 4 GB minus 1 byte, or 4,294,967,295 (232 − 1) bytes. This limit is a consequence of the 4-byte file length entry in the directory table and would also affect relatively huge FAT16 partitions enabled by a sufficient sector size.
Like FAT12 and FAT16, FAT32 does not include direct built-in support for long filenames, but FAT32 volumes can optionally hold VFAT long filenames in addition to short filenames in exactly the same way as VFAT long filenames have been optionally implemented for FAT12 and FAT16 volumes.
Development
FAT32 was introduced with Windows 95 OSR2(MS-DOS 7.1) in 1996, although reformatting was needed to use it, and DriveSpace 3 (the version that came with Windows 95 OSR2 and Windows 98) never supported it. Windows 98 introduced a utility to convert existing hard disks from FAT16 to FAT32 without loss of data.
In the Windows NT line, native support for FAT32 arrived in Windows 2000. A free FAT32 driver for Windows NT 4.0 was available from Winternals, a company later acquired by Microsoft. The acquisition of the driver from official sources is no longer possible. Since 1998, Caldera's dynamically loadable DRFAT32 driver could be used to enable FAT32 support in DR-DOS. The first version of DR-DOS to natively support FAT32 and LBA access was OEM DR-DOS 7.04 in 1999. That same year IMS introduced native FAT32 support with REAL/32 7.90, and IBM 4690 OS added FAT32 support with version 2. Ahead Software provided another dynamically loadable FAT32.EXE driver for DR-DOS 7.03 with Nero Burning ROM in 2004. IBM introduced native FAT32 support with OEM PC DOS 7.1 in 1999.
Two partition types have been reserved for FAT32 partitions, 0x0B and 0x0C. The latter type is also named FAT32X in order to indicate usage of LBA disk access instead of CHS. On such partitions, CHS-related geometry entries, namely the CHS sector addresses in the MBR as well as the number of sectors per track and the number of heads in the EBPB record, may contain no or misleading values and should not be used.
Extensions
Extended attributes
OS/2 heavily depends on extended attributes (EAs) and stores them in a hidden file called "EA␠DATA.␠SF" in the root directory of the FAT12 or FAT16 volume. This file is indexed by two previously reserved bytes in the file's (or directory's) directory entry at offset 0x14. In the FAT32 format, these bytes hold the upper 16 bits of the starting cluster number of the file or directory, hence making it impossible to store OS/2 EAs on FAT32 using this method.
However, the third-party FAT32 installable file system (IFS) driver FAT32.IFS version 0.70 and higher by Henk Kelder & Netlabs for OS/2, eComStation and ArcaOS stores extended attributes in extra files with filenames having the string "␠EA.␠SF" appended to the regular filename of the file to which they belong. The driver also utilizes the byte at offset 0x0C in directory entries to store a special mark byte indicating the presence of extended attributes to help speed up things. (This extension is critically incompatible with the FAT32+ method to store files larger than 4 GB minus 1 on FAT32 volumes.)
Extended attributes are accessible via the Workplace Shell desktop, through REXX scripts, and many system GUI and command-line utilities (such as 4OS2).
To accommodate its OS/2 subsystem, Windows NT supports the handling of extended attributes in HPFS, NTFS, FAT12 and FAT16. It stores EAs on FAT12, FAT16 and HPFS using exactly the same scheme as OS/2, but does not support any other kind of ADS as held on NTFS volumes. Trying to copy a file with any ADS other than EAs from an NTFS volume to a FAT or HPFS volume gives a warning message with the names of the ADSs that will be lost. It does not support the FAT32.IFS method to store EAs on FAT32 volumes.
Windows 2000 onward acts exactly as Windows NT, except that it ignores EAs when copying to FAT32 without any warning (but shows the warning for other ADSs, like "Macintosh Finder Info" and "Macintosh Resource Fork").
Cygwin uses "EA␠DATA.␠SF" files as well.
Long file names
One of the user experience goals for the designers of Windows 95 was the ability to use long filenames (LFNs—up to 255 UTF-16 code units long), in addition to classic 8.3 filenames (SFNs). For backward and forward compatibility LFNs were implemented as an optional extension on top of the existing FAT file system structures using a workaround in the way directory entries are laid out.
This transparent method to store long file names in the existing FAT file systems without altering their data structures is usually known as VFAT (for "Virtual FAT") after the Windows 95 virtual device driver.
Non VFAT-enabled operating systems can still access the files under their short file name alias without restrictions; however, the associated long file names may be lost when files with long filenames are copied under non VFAT-aware operating systems.
In Windows NT, support for VFAT long filenames began with version 3.5.
Linux provides a VFAT filesystem driver to work with FAT volumes with VFAT long filenames. For some time, a UVFAT driver was available to provide combined support for UMSDOS-style permissions with VFAT long filenames.
OS/2 added long filename support to FAT using extended attributes (EA) before the introduction of VFAT. Thus, VFAT long filenames are invisible to OS/2, and EA long filenames are invisible to Windows; therefore experienced users of both operating systems would have to manually rename the files.
Human68K supported up to 18.3 filenames and (Shift JIS) Kanji characters in a proprietary FAT file system variant.
In order to support Java applications, the FlexOS-based IBM 4690 OS version 2 introduced its own virtual file system (VFS) architecture to store long filenames in the FAT file system in a backwards-compatible fashion. If enabled, the virtual filenames (VFN) are available under separate logical drive letters, whereas the real filenames (RFN) remain available under the original drive letters.
Forks and alternate data streams
The FAT file system itself is not designed for supporting alternate data streams (ADS), but some operating systems that heavily depend on them have devised various methods for handling them on FAT volumes. Such methods either store the additional information in extra files and directories (classic Mac OS and macOS), or give new semantics to previously unused fields of the FAT on-disk data structures (OS/2 and Windows NT).
Mac OS using PC Exchange stores its various dates, file attributes and long filenames in a hidden file called "FINDER.DAT", and resource forks (a common Mac OS ADS) in a subdirectory called "RESOURCE.FRK", in every directory where they are used. From PC Exchange 2.1 onwards, they store the Mac OS long filenames as standard FAT long filenames and convert FAT filenames longer than 31 characters to unique 31-character filenames, which can then be made visible to Macintosh applications.
macOS stores resource forks and metadata (file attributes, other ADS) using AppleDouble format in a hidden file with a name constructed from the owner filename prefixed with "._", and Finder stores some folder and file metadata in a hidden file called ".DS_Store" (but note that Finder uses .DS_Store even on macOS' native filesystem, HFS+).
UMSDOS permissions and filenames
Early Linux distributions also supported a format known as UMSDOS, a FAT variant with Unix file attributes (such as long file name and access permissions) stored in a separate file called "--linux-.---". UMSDOS fell into disuse after VFAT was released and it is not enabled by default in Linux from version 2.5.7 onwards. For some time, Linux also provided combined support for UMSDOS-style permissions and VFAT long filenames through UVFAT.
FAT+
In 2007 the open FAT+ draft proposed how to store larger files up to 256 GB minus 1 byte, or 274,877,906,943 (238 − 1) bytes, on slightly modified and otherwise backward-compatible FAT32 volumes, but imposes a risk that disk tools or FAT32 implementations not aware of this extension may truncate or delete files exceeding the normal FAT32 file size limit. Support for FAT32+ and FAT16+ is limited to some versions of DR-DOS and not available in mainstream operating systems. (This extension is critically incompatible with the /EAS option of the FAT32.IFS method to store OS/2 extended attributes on FAT32 volumes.)
Derivatives
Turbo FAT
In its NetWare File System (NWFS) Novell implemented a heavily modified variant of a FAT file system for the NetWare operating system. For larger files it utilized a performance feature named Turbo FAT.
FATX
FATX is a family of file systems designed for Microsoft's Xbox video game console hard disk drives and memory cards, introduced in 2001.
While resembling the same basic design ideas as FAT16 and FAT32, the FATX16 and FATX32 on-disk structures are simplified, but fundamentally incompatible with normal FAT16 and FAT32 file systems, making it impossible for normal FAT file system drivers to mount such volumes.
The non-bootable superblock sector is 4 KB in size and holds an 18 byte large BPB-like structure completely different from normal BPBs. Clusters are typically 16 KB in size and there is only one copy of the FAT on the Xbox. Directory entries are 64 bytes in size instead of the normal 32 bytes. Files can have filenames up to 42 characters long using the OEM character set and be up to 4 GB minus 1 byte in size. The on-disk timestamps hold creation, modification and access dates and times but differ from FAT: in FAT, the epoch is 1980; in FATX, the epoch is 2000. On the Xbox 360, the epoch is 1980.
exFAT
exFAT is a file system introduced with Windows Embedded CE 6.0 in November 2006 and brought to the Windows NT family with Vista Service Pack 1 and Windows XP Service Pack 3 (or separate installation of Windows XP Update KB955704). It is loosely based on the File Allocation Table architecture, but incompatible, proprietary and protected by patents.
exFAT is intended for use on flash drives and memory cards such as SDXC and Memory Stick XC, where FAT32 is otherwise used. Vendors usually pre-format SDXC cards with it. Its main benefit is its exceeding of the 4 GB file size limit, as file size references are stored with eight instead of four bytes, increasing the limit to 264 − 1 bytes.
Microsoft's GUI and command-line format utilities offer it as an alternative to NTFS (and, for smaller partitions, to FAT16B and FAT32). The MBR partition type is 0x07 (the same as used for IFS, HPFS, and NTFS). Logical geometry information located in the VBR is stored in a format not resembling any kind of BPB.
In early 2010, the file system was reverse-engineered by the SANS Institute. On August 28, 2019, Microsoft announced that it will be making the technical specification for exFAT publicly available so that it can be used in the Linux kernel and other operating systems.
Patents
Microsoft applied for, and was granted, a series of patents for key parts of the FAT file system in the mid-1990s. All four pertain to long-filename extensions to FAT first seen in Windows 95: U.S. patent 5,579,517, U.S. patent 5,745,902, U.S. patent 5,758,352, U.S. patent 6,286,013 (all expired since 2013).
On December 3, 2003, Microsoft announced that it would be offering licenses for use of its FAT specification and "associated intellectual property", at the cost of a US$0.25 royalty per unit sold, with a $250,000 maximum royalty per license agreement. To this end, Microsoft cited four patents on the FAT file system as the basis of its intellectual property claims.
In the EFI FAT32 specification Microsoft specifically grants a number of rights, which many readers have interpreted as permitting operating system vendors to implement FAT.
Non-Microsoft patents affecting FAT include: U.S. patent 5,367,671, specific to the OS/2 extended object attributes (expired in 2011).
Challenges and lawsuits
The Public Patent Foundation (PUBPAT) submitted evidence to the US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) in 2004 disputing the validity of U.S. patent 5579517, including prior art references from Xerox and IBM. The USPTO opened an investigation and concluded by rejecting all claims in the patent. The next year, the USPTO further announced that following the re-examination process, it affirmed the rejection of '517 and additionally found U.S. patent 5,758,352 invalid on the grounds that the patent had incorrect assignees.
However, in 2006 the USPTO ruled that features of Microsoft's implementation of the FAT system were "novel and non-obvious", reversing both earlier decisions and leaving the patents valid.
In February 2009, Microsoft filed a patent infringement lawsuit against TomTom alleging that the device maker's products infringe on patents related to VFAT long filenames. As some TomTom products are based on Linux, this marked the first time that Microsoft tried to enforce its patents against the Linux platform. The lawsuit was settled out of court the following month with an agreement that Microsoft be given access to four of TomTom's patents, that TomTom will drop support for the VFAT long filenames from its products, and that in return Microsoft not seek legal action against TomTom for the five-year duration of the settlement agreement.
In October 2010, Microsoft filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Motorola alleging several patents (including two of the VFAT patents) were not licensed for use in the Android operating system. They also submitted a complaint to the ITC.
Developers of open source software have designed methods intended to circumvent Microsoft's patents.
In 2013, patent EP0618540 "common name space for long and short filenames" (expired since 2014) was invalidated in Germany. After the appeal was withdrawn, this judgment became final on the 28th October 2015.
See also
Comparison of file systems
Design of the FAT file system
Drive letter assignment
List of file systems
Transaction-Safe FAT File System
Notes
References
External links
Description of the FAT32 File System: Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 154997
MS-DOS: Directory and Subdirectory Limitations: Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 39927
Overview of FAT, HPFS, and NTFS File Systems: Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 100108
Microsoft Technet; Volume and file size limits of FAT file systems, copy made by Internet Archive Wayback Machine of an article with summary of limits in FAT32 which is no longer available on Microsoft website.
Chen, Raymond; Microsoft TechNet: A Brief and Incomplete History of FAT32
Fdisk does not recognize full size of hard disks larger than : Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 263044, copy made by Internet Archive Wayback Machine. Explains inability to work with extremely large volumes under Windows 95/98.
Microsoft Windows XP: FAT32 File System, copy made by the Internet Archive's Wayback Machine of an article with summary of limits in FAT32 which is no longer available on Microsoft website.
1977 software
Computer file systems
Disk file systems
DOS technology
Ecma standards
File systems supported by the Linux kernel
Windows components
Windows disk file systems |
66779699 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grenada%20Packet%20%281789%20ship%29 | Grenada Packet (1789 ship) | Grenada Packet was launched in Cork in 1789 as a West Indiaman. A nominally French privateer captured her in 1794; she burnt accidentally at Savannah while awaiting trial.
Career
Grenada Packet first appeared in Lloyd's Register (LR) in 1789.
Fate
On 16 October 1793 Grenada Packet, Werryss, master, sailed from Gravesend, bound for Pensacola. Grenada Packet, Wemys, master, arrived in Jamaica from London, while bound to Pensacola.
Grenada Packet, Wemyss, master, was reported to have been taken and carried into Georgia. She had been on her way from Pensacola to London. Grenada Packet, a prize to Amie Point Petre was reported to have burnt at Savannah.
Legal issues
The date of capture was 16 April 1794 and the captor was Ami de la Pointe-à-Pitre (henceforth Ami).
Ami was the former American schooner Fair Play, which William Talbot, Edward Ballard, and John Sinclair had purchased at Charleston, South Carolina and had armed and outfitted for privateering. The process involved sending Fair Play to Guadeloupe, and assuming French registry. It also required Talbot sailing her to Guadeloupe and there assuming French citizenship on 28 December 1793. The aim was to circumvent the Act of June 5, 1793, which sought to preserve the neutrality of the United States in the war between Britain and France by outlawing the arming of United States vessels to sail against Great Britain with letters of marque issued by France.
Ami received her French commission on 2 January 1794, with Talbot as master. She sailed that same day and by the time she returned to Charleston she had taken nine prizes, including Grenada Packet.
Grenada Packet, Francis Hamilton, master, arrived at Savannah on 19 April. The French consul advertised her condemnation trial for 25 April. Before she could be libelled, a tar pot overturned and set fire to her. The burning ship floated past wharves and warehouses, and sank. Her value had been estimated at £2,500, and the value of her cargo at £13849 19s 7d. The reason for the taring was that she was being fitted out as a privateer.
The United States established a board of commissioners to hear claims for recompense by owners of vessels seized in contravention of the post–5 June 1793 ban on the arming in the United States of French privateers. The board awarded $18,498.09 to the owners of Grenada Packet, Wemyss, master.
Citations and references
Citations
References
1789 ships
Age of Sail merchant ships of England
Captured ships
Maritime incidents in 1794 |
50461712 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alex%20Holden | Alex Holden | Alex Holden (born November 5, 1974) is the owner of Hold Security, a computer security firm. As of 2015, the firm employs 16 people.
Life
In 1979, when Holden was five years old, Holden's family was denied permission to emigrate to the United States from Soviet Ukraine; this may have resulted in persecution for attempting to leave. However, seven years later the Chernobyl nuclear disaster led to mass evacuations, allowing the family to flee to Moldova, moving next to Italy, and finally the United States. In Italy, at 14, he missed a year of school to work in a farm. Holden later attended, but did not graduate from, the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. At the age of 27, Holden became the chief information security officer of Robert W. Baird & Co., a Milwaukee-based financial-services company that manages more than a hundred billion dollars of assets. Hold Security came into existence in February 2013, when a small security company called Cyopsis split in two.
Company Profile
Holden's firm Hold Security focuses on penetration testing and auditing for companies but also offers a unique service they call Deep Web Monitoring. In this service, the firm's analysts look for client's stolen login credentials, trade secrets, and any private employee or customer information that is circulating among hackers on the deep and dark web.
Notable investigations
POS Vendor Breaches
In August 2016, Holden's firm discovers evidence leading to breach of Oracle's MICROS POS along with a number of other victims. Discovery details the indicators of compromise of MICROS and other victims and potential data that could have been stolen from them.
2016 Alleged Email Credentials Cache
In 2016, Holden claimed to have uncovered a major cache of 272 million unique email addresses along with the passwords to their webmail accounts. Holden's news release was criticized when subsequent investigation by the webmail providers showed that almost none of the passwords were valid.
97 Dating Websites Breached
During the summer of 2015, Russian hackers breached 97 websites mostly made up of dating sites. Ashely Madison, the most prominent of these sites, had sensitive company information, emails, internal documents, and details of 30 million users stolen in this breach. Holden's firm were the ones who discovered the stolen information which they found on a server the hackers were using.
JP Morgan Breach
In the summer of 2014, JPMorgan Chase was attacked by a gang of Russian hackers who stole information compromising 76 million households and seven million small businesses. Holden and his firm were crucial in helping discover this intrusion uncovering a billion of passwords and usernames that the gang had stolen.
2014 Russian Hackers
In 2014, Holden and his firm discovered that a group of Russian hackers possessed 542 million stolen email addresses with 1.2 billion email-and-password combinations, the largest cache of stolen credentials discovered to date. Hold Security did not publicly name the victims, but at the request of The New York Times, an independent expert confirmed for the Times that the cache was authentic.
CorporateCarOnline Breach
In November 2013, Holden's firm discovered that the limousine software-as-a-service company Corporatecaronline had been hacked exposing credit card and personal information of nearly 1 million customers. Some of these customers include politicians, star athletes, and corporate executives. But, there were no indications that any of the information the hackers stole was abused in any way afterwards.
PR Newswire Breach
In October 2013, the same hackers that breached Adobe earlier that year did the same to PR Newswire. This group of hackers stole the usernames and encrypted passwords of the marketing and press release distribution service's customers. Holden and his firm were vital in the discover of this breach and the analysis of the stolen data from PR Newswire.
Adobe Systems Breach
Holden worked with cybersecurity journalist Brian Krebs to alert Adobe of the 2013 Adobe data breach, a theft of 2.9 million customer accounts and of the source code to some of Adobe's products. Adobe Systems publicly acknowledge the breach thanking Holden and Krebs for incident discovery.
Lexis Nexis, Dun & Bradstreet, HireRight/Kroll, and NW3C Breach
In 2013, popular data brokers like Lexis Nexis and the non-profit organization National White Collar Crime Center (NW3C) were compromised when operations of the underground criminal identity theft service was discovered. Hackers compromised systems within Lexis Nexis, Dun & Bradstreet, HireRight/Kroll, and NW3C stealing data and information. Holden and his firm were instrumental in discovering and analyzing the attack servers and breaches.
Credibility Issues
There has been evidence to suggest that Alex Holden has inflated figures, combined breaches, and invented hacker groups in order to obtain press and speaking positions. This has been pointed out as early as the alleged 2014 breaches. He has at various times claimed to possess degrees that he did not possess, attend schools he did not attend, and have been employed by employers who never contracted/employed him.
References
Ukrainian IT businesspeople
University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee alumni
1970s births
Living people |
24299746 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Personal%20Software%20Services | Personal Software Services | Personal Software Services (PSS) was a British software company based in Coventry, founded by Gary Mays and Richard Cockayne in 1981. The company was acquired by Mirrorsoft in 1987. PSS produced video games for the ZX Spectrum, Commodore 64, Amiga, Atari ST, Atari 8-bit family, Amstrad CPC, Oric and IBM PC compatibles.
PSS was known for strategic wargames, such as Theatre Europe and Falklands '82. Several games produced by the French company ERE Informatique were distributed in Britain by PSS, including Get Dexter.
History
Personal Software Services was founded in Coventry, England, by Gary Mays and Richard Cockayne in 1981. The company had a partnership with French video game developer ERE Informatique, and published localised versions of their products to the United Kingdom. The Strategic Wargames series was conceptualised by software designer Alan Steel in 1984. During development of these titles, Steel would often research the topic of the upcoming game and pass on the findings to other associates in Coventry and London. Some games of the series were met with controversy upon release, such as Theatre Europe. In 1983, the company received recognition for being "one of the top software houses" in the United Kingdom, and was a finalist for BBC Radio 4's New Business Enterprise Award for that year.
In 1986, Cockayne took a decision to alter their products for release on 16-bit consoles, as he found that smaller 8-bit home computers such as the ZX Spectrum lacked the processing power for larger strategy games. The decision was falsely interpreted as "pull-out" from the Spectrum market by a video game journalist.
Following years of successful sales throughout the mid 1980s, Personal Software Services experienced financial difficulties, in which Cockayne admitted that "he took his eye off the ball." The company was acquired by Mirrorsoft in February 1987, and was later dispossessed by the company due to strains of debt.
Games
Blade Alley, 1983
Metro Blitz, 1983
The Guardian, 1983
Cosmic Split, 1983
Light Cycle, 1983
Centipede, 1983
Invaders, 1983
Hopper, 1983
The Ultra, 1983
The Battle For Midway, 1984
Deep Space, 1984
Frank 'n' Stein, 1984
Les Flics, 1984
Maxima, 1984
Xavior, 1984
The Covenant, 1985
Macadam Bumper, 1985
Swords and Sorcery, 1985
Theatre Europe, 1985
Annals of Rome, 1986
Falklands '82, 1986
Get Dexter, 1986
Iwo Jima, 1986
After Mirrorsoft acquisition
Battle of Britain, 1987
Battlefield Germany, 1987
Bismarck, 1987
Legend of the Sword, 1987
Pegasus Bridge, 1987
Sorcerer Lord, 1987
Tobruk, 1987
Firezone, 1988
Austerlitz, 1989
Final Frontier, 1989
Waterloo, 1989
Battle Master, 1990
The Final Battle, 1990
Champion of the Raj, 1991
J. R. R. Tolkien's Riders of Rohan, 1991
References
External links
PSS at gamefaqs.com
PSS at World of Spectrum
Defunct video game companies of the United Kingdom
Video game companies established in 1981
Video game companies disestablished in 1988
Defunct companies of England
Companies based in Coventry
1981 establishments in England
1988 disestablishments in England
British companies disestablished in 1988
British companies established in 1981 |
8544850 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transposition-driven%20scheduling | Transposition-driven scheduling | Transposition driven scheduling (TDS) is a load balancing algorithm for parallel computing. It was developed at the Vrije Universiteit in Amsterdam, The Netherlands as an algorithm to solve puzzles. The algorithm provides near-linear speedup with some problems and scales extremely well. It was published about by John Romein, Aske Plaat, Henri Bal and Jonathan Schaeffer.
Transposition based puzzle solving
In a puzzle, all possible plays can be represented in a tree with board positions corresponding to the nodes, moves corresponding to the edges, the initial position as the root of the tree and the solutions as leaves. Cycles in a path, i.e. moves that yield a position that is already encountered higher up in the tree, are left out of the tree because they can never lead to an optimal solution.
In most puzzles, different ordering of actions can lead to the same position of the puzzle. In puzzles where previous actions do not influence the solution, you need to only evaluate this position once to get a solution for both paths. To avoid evaluating the same position more than once (and thus wasting computation cycles), programs written to solve these kinds of puzzles use transposition tables. A transposition is a puzzle state that can be reached by different paths but has the same solution. Every time such a program starts evaluating a position, it first looks up in a table if the position has already been evaluated. If it has, the solution is taken from the table instead of calculated, saving large amounts of time.
However, in parallel computing, this approach has a serious drawback. To make full use of the advantages of transposition lookups, all computers in the network have to communicate their solutions to the other computers one way or the other, or you run the risk of redundantly solving some positions. This incurs a severe communication overhead, meaning that a lot of all computers' time is spent communicating with the others instead of solving the problem.
Transposition driven scheduling
The traditional setup
To solve this drawback, an approach has been taken that integrates solving the problem and load balancing. To begin, a function is defined that assigns a unique value to every board position. Every computer in the network is assigned a range of board positions for which it holds authority. Every computer has its own transposition table and a job queue. Whenever a computer is done with its current job it fetches a new job from the queue. It then computes all possible distinct positions that can be reached from the current position in one action. This is all traditional transposition based problem solving. However, in the traditional method, the computer would now, for every position just computed, ask the computer that holds authority over that position if it has a solution for it. If not, the computer computes the solution recursively and forwards the solution to the computer whose authority it falls under. This is what causes a lot of communication overhead.
The TDS-step
What TDS does is, instead of asking someone else if it has the solution, is appending the problem to someone else's job queue. In other words, every time a computer has a board position for which it wants a solution, it simply sends it over the network to the responsible computer and does not worry about it anymore. Only if a problem falls within its own authority range will a computer try to look up if it has a solution stored in its own table. If not, it simply appends it to its own queue. If it does have a solution, it does not have to compute anything anymore and fetches a new job from the queue.
The difference
What makes the big difference between traditional transposition based problem solving and TDS is that asking some computer if it has solved a problem follows a request-response approach, in which the computer asking the other computer has to wait for a response. In TDS, forwarding a job to another computer does not involve any waiting, because you know (by design) that the other computer will accept the job and try to solve it. This means that latency (the main cause of delays in request-response models) is not an issue, because a computer simply never waits for an answer to come back. The hardware or operating system can guarantee that the message arrives at its destination so the program does not have to worry about anything anymore after it forwards the job.
Results
Speedup
TDS yields spectacular results compared to traditional algorithms, even attaining superlinear speedup (although only in one sense of the word). This property is attained because computers have a limited amount of memory and for large problems, not all transpositions can be stored. Therefore, some transpositions will be calculated more than once. Because 16 computers have 16 times as much memory as 1 (assuming all computers are identical), 16 computers with TDS can store more transpositions than 1 and therefore have to compute less. When the one computer gets 16 times as much memory as each of the group of 16, speedup is just below linear.
Scalability
Because the communication scheme in TDS uses only point-to-point communication and no broadcasting or other group communication, the amount of total communication is proportional to the number of computers participating the computation. Because of this, TDS scales really well to parallel systems with more computers. Also, because latency is not an issue, TDS is scalable in a geographical sense as well
References
Network management |
23369 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pakistan%20Armed%20Forces | Pakistan Armed Forces | The Pakistan Armed Forces (; ) are the combined military forces of Pakistan. It is the world's sixth-largest military measured by active military personnel and consist of three formally uniformed services—the Army, Navy, and the Air Force, which are backed by various constitutionally−sanctioned paramilitary forces. According to Global Firepower, the Pakistan Armed Forces are ranked as the 9th most powerful military in the world. A critical component to the armed forces' structure is the Strategic Plans Division Force, which is responsible for the maintenance and safeguarding of Pakistan's tactical and strategic nuclear weapons stockpile and assets. The chain of command of the Pakistan Armed Forces is organized under the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC) alongside the respective Chiefs of staffs of the Army, Navy, and Air Force. All branches are systemically coordinated during joint operations and missions under the Joint Staff Headquarters (JSHQ).
Since the 1963 Sino-Pakistan Agreement, the Pakistani military has had close relations with China, working jointly to develop the JF-17, the K-8, and various weapons systems. China was the second-largest foreign supplier of military equipment to Pakistan behind the United States. Both nations also cooperate on the development of their nuclear and space technology programs. The Chinese People's Liberation Army and Pakistan Armed Forces maintain a regular schedule for joint military exercises. Alongside this, the Pakistani military also maintains close relations with the United States, which gave Pakistan major non-NATO ally status in 2004. As such, Pakistan procures the bulk of its military equipment from China, the United States and its own domestic suppliers.
The Pakistan Armed Forces were formed in 1947, when Pakistan gained independence from the British Empire. Since then, they have played a decisive role in the modern history of Pakistan, most notably due to fighting major wars with India in 1947–1948, 1965 and 1971. The armed forces have seized control of the government on several occasions, consequently forming what analysts refer to as a deep state referred to as "The Establishment". The need for border management led to the creation of paramilitary forces to deal with civil unrest in the North-West, as well as the security of border areas in Punjab and Sindh by paramilitary troops. In 2017, the Pakistan Armed Forces had approximately 654,000 active personnel, excluding 25,000–35,000+ personnel in the Strategic Plans Division Forces and 482,000 active personnel in the various paramilitary forces. The military has traditionally had a large pool of volunteers, and therefore conscription has never been brought into effect, although both the Constitution of Pakistan and supplementary legislation allow for conscription in a state of war.
Accounting for 18.3% of national government expenditure in 2021, after interest payments, Pakistan's military absorbs a large part of the country's annual budget. The armed forces are generally highly approved of in Pakistani society. Since the founding of Pakistan, the military has played a key role in holding the state together, promoting a feeling of nationhood and providing a bastion of selfless service. As of April 2021, Pakistan was the sixth-largest contributor to United Nations peacekeeping efforts, with 4,516 personnel deployed overseas. Other foreign deployments have consisted of Pakistani military personnel serving as military advisers in various African and Arab countries. The Pakistani military has maintained combat divisions and brigade-strength presences in some Arab states during the Arab–Israeli Wars, aided American-led coalition forces in the first Gulf War against Iraq, and actively taken part in the Somali and Bosnian conflicts.
History
The Pakistani military traces its roots directly back to the British Indian Army, in which many British Indian Muslims served during World War I and World War II, prior to the Partition of India in 1947. Upon Partition, military formations with a Muslim-majority (such as the Indian Army's infantry Muslim regiments) were transferred to the new Dominion of Pakistan, while on an individual basis, Indian Muslims could choose to transfer their allegiance and service to the Pakistan Armed Forces (consisting of the Pakistan Army, Royal Pakistan Navy and Royal Pakistan Air Force) or remain serving in the Indian Armed Forces of the Dominion of India. Significant figures who opted for the former included Ayub Khan (British Indian Army), Haji Mohammad Siddiq Choudri (Royal Indian Navy) and Asghar Khan (Royal Indian Air Force). Many of the senior officers who would form the Pakistan Armed Forces had fought with British forces in World War II, thus providing the newly created country with the professionalism, experience and leadership it would need in its future wars against neighbouring India. In a formula arranged by the British, military resources were to be divided between India and Pakistan in a ratio of 64% going to India and 36% going to Pakistan.
The Pakistani military largely retained British military traditions and doctrine until 1956, when the United States dispatched a specialized Military Assistance Advisory Group to Pakistan to build its military; from this point onward, American military tradition and doctrine became more dominant within Pakistan's armed forces. In March 1956, the order of precedence of the Pakistani military's three formal services changed from "Navy-Army-Air Force" to "Army-Navy-Air Force".
Between 1947 and 1971, Pakistan fought three direct conventional wars against India, with the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 witnessing the secession of East Pakistan as the independent state of Bangladesh. Rising tensions with Afghanistan in the 1960s (primarily over the Durand Line dispute) and an indirect proxy war fought against the Soviet Union throughout the 1970s and 1980s in the Soviet–Afghan War with American, British and Israeli assistance led to a sharp rise in the development of the Pakistan Armed Forces. In 1999, an extended period of intense border-skirmishing with India, the so-called Kargil War, resulted in a massive redeployment of forces in Kashmir. the military has been conducting counter-insurgency operations along the border areas of Afghanistan, while continuing to participate in several United Nations peacekeeping operations.
Since 1957, the armed forces have taken control from the civilian government in various military coups—ostensibly to restore order in the country, citing corruption and gross inefficiency on the part of the civilian leadership. While many Pakistanis have supported these seizures of power, others have claimed that the rampant political instability, lawlessness and corruption in Pakistan are the direct consequence of consistent military rule. The budget allocation for the Pakistan Armed Forces at over 20% of the annual budget of Pakistan. Elected officials and the lawmakers have been forced to come under military rule for over 30 years of Pakistan's existence.
Organization and Command Structure
Leadership of the Pakistan Armed Forces is provided by the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC), which controls the military from the Joint staff Headquarters (JS HQ), adjacent to the Air HQ, Navy HQ, and Army General HQ (GHQ) in the vicinity of the Rawalpindi Military District, Punjab. The Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee is composed of the Chairman Joint Chiefs, the Chief of Army Staff, the Chief of Air Staff and the Chief of Naval Staff.
At the JS HQ, it forms with the office of the Engineer-in-Chief, Navy Hydrographer, Surgeon-General of each inter-service, director of JS HQ, and Director-Generals (DGs) of Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), Inter-Services Selection Board (ISSB), Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI), and the Strategic Plans Division Force (SPD Force).
Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (JCSC)
Following military failures in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971 and Bangladesh Liberation War, federal studies on civil–military relations were held by a commission led by Hamoodur Rahman, Chief Justice of Pakistan. Recommendations of the Hamoodur Rahman Commission helped establish the Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee to co-ordinate all military work and oversee joint missions and their execution during operations.
The chairmanship of the JCSC rotates among the three main service branches, with appointment by the prime minister confirmed by the president. The chairman outranks all other four-star officers; however, he does not have operational command authority over the armed forces. In his capacity as chief military adviser, he assists the prime minister and the minister of defence in exercising their command functions.
Technically, the JCSC is the highest military body; and its chairman serves as the principal staff officer (PSO) to the civilian prime minister, Cabinet, National Security Council (its adviser), and president. The JCSC deals with joint military planning, joint training, integrated joint logistics, and provides strategic directions for the armed forces; it periodically reviews the role, size, and condition of the three main service branches; and it advises the civilian government on strategic communications, industrial mobilisations plans, and formulating defence plans. In many ways, the JCSC provides an important link to understand, maintain balance, and resolve conflicts between military and political circles. In times of peace, the JCSC's principle functions are to conduct planning of civil–military input; in times of war, the chairman acts as principal military adviser to the prime minister in the supervision and conduct of joint warfare.
Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee
Service branches
Army
After the partitioning of British India in 1947, the Pakistan Army was formed by Indian Muslim officers serving in the British Indian Army. The largest branch of the nation's military, it is a professional, volunteer fighting force, with about 550,000 active personnel and 500,000 reserves (though estimates vary widely). Although, the Constitution provides a basis for the service draft, conscription has never been imposed in Pakistan. A single command structure known as General Headquarters (GHQ) is based at Rawalpindi Cantt, adjacent to the Joint staff HQ. The army is commanded by the Chief of Army Staff (COAS), by statute a four-star army general, appointed by the president with the consultation and confirmation of the prime minister. General Qamar Javed Bajwa was the chief of army staff. Army General Nadeem Raza is the current Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee. The army has a wide range of corporate (e.g.: Fauji Foundation), commercial (e.g.: Askari Bank), and political interests, and on many occasions has seized control of the civilian government to restore order in the country.
The Army Aviation Corps reportedly operates about 250 aircraft, including approximately 40 AH-1 Cobra combat helicopters. The Army Strategic Forces Command operates a wide range of missile systems in its arsenal. In spite of the Pressler amendment enforced in the 1990s, the army has been focused on development of land-based weapon systems and production of military hardware. Domestic innovation resulted in the successful development of G3A3 rifles, Anza missile systems, and Al-Zarrar and Al-Khalid main battle tanks (MBTs).
Since 1947, the army has waged three wars with neighbouring India, and several border skirmishes with Afghanistan. Due to Pakistan's diverse geography, the army has extensive combat experience in a variety of terrains. The army has maintained a strong presence in the Arab world during the Arab–Israeli Wars, aided the Coalition Forces in the first Gulf War, and played a major role in combat in the Bosnian war as well as rescuing trapped American soldiers in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993. Recently, major joint-operations undertaken by the army include Operation Black Thunderstorm and Operation Rah-e-Nijat, against armed insurgents within Pakistan. The army has also been an active participant in UN peacekeeping missions.
Air Force
Brought into existence in 1947 with the establishment of the Pakistan Air Force Academy, the Pakistan Air Force (PAF) is regarded as a "powerful defence component of the country's defence." The prefix "Royal" was added in 1947, but dropped when Pakistan became an Islamic republic in 1956. The PAF is the seventh-largest air force and the largest in the Islamic world, with about 943 combat fighter jets and over 200 trainer, transport, communication, helicopter, and force-multiplier aircraft. A single command structure Air Headquarters (AHQ) is based at Islamabad. The air force is commanded by the Chief of Air Staff (CAS), by statute a four-star air chief marshal, appointed by the president, with the consultation and confirmation of the prime minister. As of current appointment, Air Chief Marshal Sohail Aman is the CAS.
In many important events in Pakistan's history, the air force has played a pivotal, influential, and crucial role in the nation's defence and national security, and promoted a sense of security in civil society. Its military significance and importance in public perception contribute to the PAF's dominance over the other major service branches. The PAF officially uses the slogan: "Second to None; fully abreast with the requisite will and mechanism to live by its standards in the coming millennium and beyond."
Historically, the air force has been heavily dependent on U.S., Chinese, and French aircraft technology to support its growth, despite impositions of the Pressler amendment. While F-16s continue to be a backbone of the air force, the local development and quick production of the JF-17 have provided an alternative route to meet its aerial combat requirements. According to PAF accounts, the air force plans to retire several of its ageing French-licensed Mirage III and Mirage 5 fighter jets.
Joint production with the Chinese Air Force of a light-weight multi-role combat aircraft and further avionics development of the JF-17 is ongoing at the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC). As of 2016, 70 JF-17s are operational and have replaced 50 Mirage IIIs and F-7Ps. The PAF plans to replace all F-7Ps and Mirage III/5 aircraft by 2020. The F-7PG will be replaced later, and the JF-17 fleet may eventually be expanded to 300 aircraft. Realizing the importance of fifth generation fighter aircraft, the PAF successfully negotiated for the procurement of approximately 36 Chinese FC-20 fighter jets – a deal worth around US$1.4 billion, signed in 2009. It was expected that the FC-20s would be delivered in 2015. In close co-ordination with Turkish Aerospace Industries, the PAC engaged in a mid-life update (MLU) program of its F-16A/Bs, approximately 26 of which are in service. In 2010, the air force procured at least 18 newly built F-16C/D Block 52s under the Peace Gate-II by the United States.
In 2009, the PAF enlisted two types of airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) systems aircraft: four Erieye-equipped Saab 2000s from Sweden, and six [text missing] – a Chinese AWACS based on the Shaanxi Y-8F cargo aircraft. Four Ilyushin Il-78 aerial tankers, capable of refuelling F-16, Mirage III, Mirage 5, JF-17, and FC-20 fighters, have been acquired second-hand from Ukrainian surplus stocks. The fleet of FT-5 and T-37 trainers is to be replaced with approximately 75 K-8 Karakorum intermediate jet training aircraft. Other major developments continue to be under development by the local aerospace industries; some of its electronic systems were exhibited in IDEAS 2014 held in Karachi. Since the 1960s, the PAF has held regular combat exercises, such as Exercise Saffron Bandit and Exercise High Mark, modelled on the USAF Weapons School; many authors believe the PAF is capable of mastering the methods of "toss bombing" since the 1990s.
Navy
The Pakistan Navy was formed in 1947 by the Indian Muslim officers serving in the Royal Indian Navy. The prefix "Royal" was soon added but dropped in 1956 when Pakistan became an Islamic republic. Its prime responsibility is to provide protection of nation's sea ports, marine borders, approximately 1,000 km (650 mi) of coastline, and supporting national security and peacekeeping missions. With approximately 71 commissioned warships and 36,000 active duty personnel, its operational scope has expanded to greater national and international responsibility in countering the threat of sea-based global terrorism, drug smuggling, and trafficking issues.
A single command structure known as Naval Headquarters (NHQ) is based at the Rawalpindi Cantt, adjacent to the Joint Staff HQ. The navy is commanded by the Chief of Naval Staff (CNS), who is by statute a four-star admiral, appointed by the president, with the required consultation and confirmation of the prime minister. Admiral Muhammad Zakaullah is the chief of naval staff.
Navy Day is celebrated on 8 September to commemorate its service in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. According to author Tariq Ali, the navy lost one-half of its force in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971. The Navy heavily depended on American-built naval technology and operated a large infrastructure from 1947 to 1971. The Pressler amendment forced an embargo in the 1990s, during which the navy developed air independent propulsion (AIP) technology purchased from France and built the Agosta-class submarines; two of these (as well as one of the new frigates) were built at Pakistan's facilities in Karachi. The navy's surface fleet consists of helicopter carriers, destroyers, frigates, amphibious assault ships, patrol ships, mine-countermeasures, and miscellaneous vessels. Established in 1972, the Naval Air Arm provides fleet air defence, maritime reconnaissance, and anti-submarine warfare capability. Mirage 5 aircraft donated by the PAF are flown by the Navy, equipped with Exocet anti-ship missiles. The Navy's fleet of P-3C Orion turboprop aircraft, equipped with electronic intelligence (ELINT) systems, play a pivotal role in the Navy's gathering of intelligence. Since 2001, the navy has emphasised its role and expanded its operational scope across the country with the establishment of Naval Strategic Forces Command, based in Islamabad.
In the 1990s, the navy lost its opportunity to equip itself with latest technology and negotiated with the Royal Navy to acquire ageing Tariq-class destroyers in 1993–94, which continue to be extensively upgraded. During the same time, the Navy engaged in a process of self-reliance and negotiated with China for assistance. This ultimately led the introduction of F-22P Zulfiquar-class frigates, which were designed and developed at the Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works (KSEW); at this same time, the Agosta-90B submarines were also built. Pakistan's role in the War on Terror led to a rapid modernisation, which saw the induction of the PNS Alamgir anti-submarine warship in 2011. The submarines remain to be backbone of the navy, which has been developing a nuclear submarine. Since 2001, media reports have been surfaced that the Navy has been seeking to enhance its strategic strike capability by developing naval variants of the nuclear cruise missile. The Babur cruise missile has a range of and is capable of using both conventional and nuclear warheads. Future developments of Babur missiles include capability of being launched from submarines, surface ships, and a range extension to . An air-launched version, Ra'ad, has been successfully tested.
Since the 1990s, the navy has been conducting joint naval exercises and has participated in multinational task forces such as CTF-150 and CTF-151.
Marines
Recommended by the Navy, based on Royal Marines, the Pakistan Marines were established on 1 July 1971 to undertake riverine operations in East Pakistan. The Marines saw their first combat actions in amphibious operations during the Bangladesh Liberation War, fighting against the Indian Army. Due to poor combat performance in the war, high losses and casualties, and inability to effectively counter the Indian Army, the Marines were decommissioned by 1974. However, Marines continued to exist in its rudimentary form until 1988 to meet fundamental security requirements of Pakistan Navy units. In 1990, the Marines were recommissioned under Commander M. Obaidullah.
The Marines are the uniform service branch within the Navy whose leadership comes directly from the Navy. It shares the Navy's rank code, but conducts its combined combat training with army at Pakistan Military Academy Kakul and School of Infantry in Quetta.
Its single command structure is based at the Manora Fort in Qasim Marine Base in Karachi and the Marines are under the command of the Commander Coast (COMCOAST), by statute a two-star rear-admiral. According to the ISPR, the Marines are deployed at the southeastern regions of Pakistan to avoid infiltration and undercover activities from the Indian Army.
As of current appointment, Rear Admiral Bashir Ahmed is currently serving as the Commandant of Marines. A small number of Marine Battalions are deployed at the Sir Creek region to deter the Indian Army, and coordinated the relief efforts in the 2010 Pakistan floods. Almost an entire combat contingent of Marines were deployed in Sindh and Southern Punjab to lead the flood-relief operations in 2014.
For intelligence purposes, the army immediately raised the combat battalion of the Marines, from the officers of the Navy, in 1999. Major intelligence activities are gathered from the Sir Creek region by the Marines, where an entire battalion is deployed to conduct reconnaissance.
Coast Guards
The Pakistan Coast Guards (PCG) protects Pakistan's maritime interests and enforces maritime law, with jurisdiction over the territorial waters of Pakistan, including its contiguous zone and exclusive economic zone.
The Coast Guards works under administrative control of Ministry of Interior in close co-operation with the Pakistan Navy and the Ministry of Maritime Affairs in peace time whereas it will come under operational control of Ministry of Defense in wartime situations.
Paramilitary forces
The paramilitary forces are under various ministerial departments, and appointments are directly made from the armed forces. In a 2010 estimate, Pakistan's paramilitary personnel are approximated at 420,000. Appointments for military offices and for command of the Pakistan Rangers, Coast Guards, National Guards, and Frontier Corps are made by the army while the Navy appoints the Maritime Security Agency as part of the external billets commission. Two-star rank officers are usually appointed to command the paramilitary forces.
The PAF trains and commands the Airports Security Force for ensuring the safeguard and protection of airports in Pakistan. On some occasions, air force officers been appointed to corporate positions at Pakistan's Civil Aviation Authority as deputies.
Personnel
Troop strength
estimations by national and international bodies were that approximately 651,800 people were on active duty in the three main service branches, with an additional 291,000 serving in paramilitary forces and 550,000 in reserve. It is an all-volunteer military, but conscription can be enacted at the request of the president with the approval of the parliament of Pakistan. The military is the sixth largest in the world and has troops deployed around the globe in military assistance and peacekeeping operations.
Pakistan is the only predominantly Muslim country in which women serve as high-ranking officers and in combat roles, and a sizeable unit of female army and air force personnel has been actively involved in military operations against Taliban forces.
Members of the Pakistani military hold a rank, either that of officer or enlisted, and can be promoted.
The following table summarises current Pakistani military staffing:
Uniforms
From 1947 to the early 2000s, Pakistan's military uniforms closely resembled those of their counterparts in the British armed services. The Army uniform consisted of plain yellowish khaki, which was the standard issue as both the combat uniform (ACU) and the service uniform (ASU). The Pakistan Air Force (PAF) uniform was primarily based on the Royal Air Force uniform, with bluish-grey as its reporting colour markings. The Navy uniform was likewise based on the Royal Navy uniform, with predominant colours of navy blue and white.
In 2003, the service uniforms for each major service branch were revised and orders were made to issue new uniforms roughly based on the American military. With Marines reestablished in 2004, the Universal Camouflage Pattern (UCP) uniforms are now worn by each service in respect to their colours; the flag of Pakistan patch worn on the shoulder became compulsory.
In the military, the service dress, however, remains yellowish khaki for the Army; plain white service dress for the Navy (excluding the Marines). The Air Force abandoned its rank and uniform structure in 2006, and introduced its own uniform insignia which closely resembled that of the Turkish Army.
The Army's standard UCP is based on a pixelated version of the region's arid desert patterns. The army's UCP varies depending on the type of missions and deployment it is being used for. The Navy's UCP is based on a design that incorporates sparse black and medium grey shapes on a light grey background. The Marines have a woodland pattern featuring light brown, olive green and dark blue shapes on a tan or light olive background. Slight colour variations have been noted. Other than a greenish flight suit and a standard service dress, the Air Forces's Airman Battle Uniform (ABU) camouflage features a variation of the six-colour desert pattern. In each service's UCP, the name of the service branch, rank, and gallantry badges are worn on the chest; insignia are worn on the shoulders with the compulsory flag-of-Pakistan patch.
Source: ISPR works, Commons
Rank and insignia structure
As Pakistan became independent, the British military ranks and insignia were immediately commissioned by the armed forces as part of a legacy of British colonialism. Within a few months of its founding in 1947, the military had inherited all professional qualifications of the British military in India.
In respect to the British Indian military, the Ministry of Defence (MoD) authorised the three junior commissioned officer (JCO) pay grades between the enlisted ranks and commissioned officers. The JCO grades are equivalent to the civil bureaucracy's pay scales for those who rise by promotion from among enlisted recruits. The JCO grades in the Pakistani military are a continuation of the former Viceroy of India's commissioned pay grades during the British colonial period. Promotion to the JCO, however, remains a lucrative and powerful incentive for the enlisted military personnel; thus, if JCO ranks are ever phased out, it will probably be a slow process.
Current deployments
Within Pakistan
It is estimated that approximately 60–70% of Pakistan's military personnel are deployed along the Indo-Pakistani border. In the aftermath of the United States invasion of Afghanistan, more than 150,000 personnel were shifted towards the Tribal Areas adjacent to Afghanistan. Since 2004, Pakistan's military forces have been engaged in military efforts against al-Qaeda extremists.
In comparison with multinational and US forces, Pakistan's military has suffered the highest number of casualties in the war on terror, both in confrontations with al-Qaeda and during border skirmishes with the United States. After the 2008 Mumbai attacks and the subsequent standoff with India, several combat divisions were redeployed to Eastern and Southern Pakistan.
In addition to its military deployments, the armed forces also assist the government in responding to natural disasters such as the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the nationwide floods of 2010.
Overseas
A large number of Pakistan Armed Forces personnel are deployed overseas as part of the United Nations' peacekeeping missions. As of May 2019, 5,083 personnel were serving abroad, making Pakistan the sixth-largest contributor of personnel to UN peacekeeping missions.
Foreign military relations
China
China's relationship with Pakistan holds great importance for both countries in terms of common interest and geopolitical strategy. The alliance was initially formed to counter the regional influence and military threat posed by India and the Soviet Union. In recent years the friendship has deepened further: China and Pakistan have signed several mutual-defence treaties.
China has been a steady source of military equipment and has cooperated with Pakistan in setting-up weapons production and modernisation facilities.
The two countries are actively involved in several joint projects to enhance each other's military needs, including development and production of the JF-17 Thunder fighter jet, the K-8 Karakorum advanced training aircraft, the Al-Khalid tank, airborne early warning and control (AEW&C) systems, and many other projects. The two countries have held several joint military exercises to enhance co-operation between their armed forces. China is also the largest investor in the Gwadar Deep Sea Port, which is strategically located at the mouth of the Strait of Hormuz.
South Asian countries
Prior to 1971, Pakistan's military had a strong presence in East Pakistan and an active theatre-level military command. After Bangladesh's independence from Pakistan, full diplomatic relations were not restored until 1976. Relations improved considerably under the Bangladesh military governments of President Major Ziaur Rahman and General Hossain Mohammad Ershad, as Bangladesh had grown distant from its former war ally, India. Common concerns over India's regional power have influenced strategic co-operation, leading to a gift of several squadrons of F-6 fighter aircraft to the Bangladesh Air Force in the late 1980s.
After being condemned by India, Great Britain, and the United States between 2004 and 2006 for repressing democracy, the Nepalese monarchy developed military ties with China and Pakistan, who offered extensive support, arms, and equipment for the monarchy's struggle to stay in power in the face of a Maoist insurgency.
When India proved reluctant to supply Sri Lanka with weapons, the insurgency-plagued island nation turned to Pakistan. In May 2000, with separatist Tamil Tiger rebels about to recapture their former capital of Jaffna, Pakistan President Musharraf provided millions of dollars of much-needed armament to the Sri Lankan government. In May 2008, Lt-Gen Fonseka of the Sri Lanka Army held talks with his Pakistan Army counterparts regarding the sale of military equipment, weapons, and ammunition. The sale of 22 Al-Khalid main battle tanks to the Sri Lanka Army was finalised during these talks, in a deal worth over US$100 million. In April 2009, Sri Lanka requested $25 million worth of 81 mm, 120 mm and 130 mm mortar ammunition, to be delivered within a month, which proved decisive in the defeat of the Tamil Tigers.
United States and NATO
Throughout its history, Pakistan has had a fluctuating military relationship with the United States. During times of co-operation, US military funding and training have enhanced the Pakistan Armed Forces; in contrast, severing of US support at critical junctures has led to bitter disillusionment. These wide swings of fortune are something to which the Pakistanis have become accustomed, and they recognise that, whatever the provocation, the relationship with the United States has too much potential benefit to be discarded lightly.
In support of the United States' 2001 invasion of Afghanistan, Pakistan's armed forces received large amounts of military aid, funding, and training. According to Ministry of Finance calculations, in the three years prior to the 11 September attacks, Pakistan received approximately $9 million in American military aid; in the three years after, the amount increased to $4.2 billion.
Pakistan has maintained strong military-to-military relations with the 28 member states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). NATO regards its relations with Pakistan as "partners across the globe." With the support of US Secretary of State Colin Powell, Pakistan was designated a "major non-NATO ally" in 2004.
Since the 2000s, military relations have improved between the Russian armed forces and the Pakistan armed forces.
Middle Eastern countries
Pakistan's close ties to the nations of the Middle East, based on geography and shared religion, have led to periodic military deployments since the 1960s. The Arab world countries – many of them wealthy but with small populations and limited militaries – have historically depended on regional armies to provide a protective umbrella and military muscle in times of instability and crisis. The Pakistani military has retained a particularly close relationship with Saudi Arabia which has been a sporadically generous patron: much of the military equipment bought from the United States by Pakistan in the 1980s was paid for by Saudi Arabia. The United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Kuwait also have been important sources of financial support.
Pakistani military personnel have been posted as military advisers and instructors to the militaries of Saudi Arabia, Jordan, Syria, Libya, Kuwait, and the UAE. Pakistan Air Force, Navy, and Army personnel played crucial roles in building the UAE military. Many Arab military officials have been educated at Pakistan's military staff colleges and universities. A combat division commanded by Major-General Zia-ul-Haq was instrumental in putting down the Palestinian Black September revolt against King Hussein in Jordan in the early 1970s.
Pakistan has enjoyed strong military co-operation with the Iranian military since the 1950s. Iranian leader Mohammad Reza Shah provided free fuel to PAF fighter jets in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, allowing Pakistani planes to land at Iranian Air Force bases, refuel, and take off. The military relationship continued even after the Iranian revolution, as Pakistan was among the first countries to recognise the new Iranian government. In the aftermath of the hostage crisis in Tehran, the United States severed its ties with Iran, leading Iran to send its military officers and personnel to be educated at Pakistani military academies. Relations became difficult following the Soviet–Afghan War, when hundreds of foreign fighters (mostly Sunni Arabs) arrived in Pakistan to take part in the Afghan Jihad. Pakistan President Zia-ul-Haq's military administration policy reflected extremist views towards the Shiites and caused religious tensions to rise between Sunni and Shiites in Pakistan, much to the discomfort of Iran. During the Iran–Iraq War, the Arab countries and the United States, who were supporting Iraq, pressured Pakistan to discontinue its covert support and military funding for Iran.
The 1980s were a difficult time in military relations for both countries, as Iran was blamed for the rising ethnic tensions between Sunnis and Shiites in Pakistan. The relationship further deteriorated in the 1990s when the Taliban, with Pakistan's support, began their rule of Afghanistan. In 1998, Iran and Afghanistan were on the verge of war over the assassination of Iranian diplomats. Iran's relations with India improved during this time, with both supporting the Northern Alliance against the Taliban.
The situation began to normalise in 2000, with Pakistan and Iran reinstating trade relations. In the wake of the 11 September attacks in the United States and the fall of the Taliban government in Afghanistan, the two countries began rebuilding their military ties. Over the years, diplomatic delegations have been exchanged, and Pakistan has agreed to sell military equipment to Iran. In addition, Pakistan has maintained strong military-to-military ties with Turkey, and would like to use these, as well as its Iranian connections, as a bridge to the new Muslim states of Central Asia.
Special operations forces
After the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, recommendations for establishing an elite commando division within the army were accepted. Commissioned in 1956 with help from US Army Special Forces, the Pakistan Army's Special Services Group (SSG) is an elite special operations division; its training and nature of operations are roughly equivalent to British Special Air Service (SAS) and US Army Special Forces and Delta Force. Tentative estimates of the division's size are put at four battalions but the actual strength is kept highly classified.
With the successful commissioning of Special Services Group, the Pakistan Navy accepted recommendations for commissioning its own special operational unit shortly after the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965. Established as Special Service Group Navy (SSGN) in 1966, it is an elite and secretive commando division whose training and combat operations are similar to the Royal Navy's Special Boat Service and US Navy's Special Warfare Development Group (DEVGRU) and Sea, Air, Land (SEAL) teams. Operatives' identities and actual static strength are kept secret and classified. Very few details of their missions are publicly known.
A small unit of Pakistan Marines have, since 1990, operated reconnaissance units to deter the Indian Army's actions in the Sir Creek region. Other battalions of Marines are trained to carry out operations with airborne, heliborne, submarine, and waterborne insertions and extractions.
The Special Service Wing (SSW) is the newest special operations commando division, established by the Pakistan Air Force in 2004, in the wake of challenges posed by the Afghanistan war. The unit was active earlier and had seen action during the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, 1965, and 1971. The SSW is designed to execute difficult aerial and land operations, serving as equivalent to the US Air Force's Special Tactics Squadron units. Following the secretive tradition of its counterparts in other services, the actual number of its serving personnel is kept classified.
UN peacekeeping forces
In 2009, Pakistan was the single largest contributor of UN peacekeeping forces, with more than 11,000 Pakistani military personnel serving in UN peacekeeping operations worldwide.
The table below shows the current deployment of Pakistani Forces in UN Peacekeeping missions.
The total number of troops serving in peacekeeping missions was 10,173
Involvement in Pakistani civil society
According to the views of Russian scholar Anatol Lieven, the Pakistan Armed Forces play a vital role in keeping the Pakistani state together, promoting a spirit of unity and nationhood, and providing a bastion of selfless service to the nation. As an institution, the armed forces have been integrated into Pakistani civil society since the establishment of the country in 1947. The military has been involved in building much of the country's infrastructure (such as dams, bridges, canals, power stations, and energy projects) and civil–military input from all sections of the armed forces has helped to build a stable society and professionalism in the armed forces.
In times of natural disasters such as floods and earthquakes, army engineers, medical and logistics personnel, and the armed forces generally have played a major role in rescue, relief, and supply efforts. In 2010, armed forces personnel donated one day of salary for their flood-effected brethren.
In 1996, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Jehangir Karamat, described the Pakistan Armed Forces' relations with civilian society:
According to 2012 reports of the National Reconstruction Bureau (NRB), around 91.1% of civilian infrastructure in the Federally Administered Tribal Area was built by the armed forces in a policy based on sustainable development plans, to improve the livelihood of ordinary people of the region. According to Air Force statistics, the air force conducted approximately 693 relief operations in Pakistan and abroad during the fiscal period 1998–2008. The Air Force carried and distributed thousands of tons of wheat, medicines, emergency shelters, and provided assistance to rehabilitate the disaster-effected areas of the country.
During the wave of floods from 2010 to 2014, the Navy launched relief operations nationwide and provided healthcare, medicines, relief efforts, and coordinated the distribution of food in the flood-effected areas. In the Navy's own admission, it had provided of food and relief goods to flood victims; this included 5,700 kg of ready-to-cook food, 1,000 kg of dates and 5,000 kg of food dispatched to Sukkur. The Pakistan Naval Air Arm had air dropped more than 500 kg of food and relief goods in Thal, Ghospur, and Mirpur areas.
Engineering units of the Navy built more than 87 houses distributed to the local internally displaced persons (IDPs). About 69,000 affected IDPs were treated in Navy medical camps.
Commemoration and parades
The Youm-e-Difa (English: Defence Day) – Pakistan's day in remembrance of fallen soldiers of the Indo-Pakistani war of 1965 – is observed on 6 September. Memorial services are held in the presence of Pakistan's top military and civil officials. Wreaths of flowers are laid on the graves of the fallen soldiers and ceremonies are held across the country. The change of guard ceremony takes place at Mazar-e-Quaid, where the cadets of inter-services academies present Guard of Honour and take the charge. Additionally, the Youm-e-Fizaya (Air Force Day) is celebrated on 7 September, and the Youm-e-Bahriya (Navy Day) on 8 September.
The Pakistan Armed Forces parades take place on 23 March, which is celebrated as Youm-e-Pakistan (Pakistan Day). All main service branches parade on Constitution Avenue in Islamabad, where the weapon exhibitions are televised.
Weapons of mass destruction and policy
Pakistan's development of nuclear weapons began in 1972, following the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, with the government adopting a policy of deliberate ambiguity which was practised and observed from 1972 to 1998. Amid pressure built after India's nuclear test in 1998, Pakistan successfully conducted its first publicly announced nuclear tests in 1998: Chagai-I and Chagai-II. With these tests, Pakistan became the seventh nation to achieve the status of a nuclear power.
Under a public policy guidance, strategic weapons and projects are researched and developed entirely by civilian scientists and engineers, who also develop a wide range of delivery systems. On military policy issues, Pakistan issues directives towards "first use" and maintains that its program is based on nuclear deterrence, to peacefully discourage attack by India and other countries with large conventional-force advantages over Pakistan. According to United States military sources, Pakistan has achieved survivability in a possible nuclear conflict through second strike capability. Since the early 1990s, Pakistan's nuclear strategists have emphasised attaining "second strike" capability in spite of their "first use" policy. Statements and physical actions by Pakistan have cited the survivability through a second strike, forming a naval-based command and control system to serve as "the custodian of the nation's second-strike capability."
In January 2000, the head of United States Central Command, General Anthony Zinni, told NBC that longtime assumptions that India had an edge in the South Asian strategic balance of power were questionable at best. Said Zinni: "Don't assume that the Pakistanis' nuclear capability is inferior to the Indians".
Despite international pressure, Pakistan has refused to sign either the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty or the Comprehensive Nuclear Test Ban Treaty. Initiatives taken towards consolidating strategic infrastructure led to the establishment, in 2000, of the Nuclear Command Authority (NCA), which oversees the policy, military control, development, and deployment of the country's tactical and strategic nuclear arsenals. The command and control of the strategic arsenal are kept under an inter-service strategic command which reports directly at the Joint staff HQ.
Since its establishment in 2000, the chairperson of the NCA has been the Prime Minister of Pakistan. The NCA supervises and forms a tight control of the strategic organisations related to the research and development in Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD). Pakistan has an extremely strict command and control system over its strategic assets, which is based on C4ISTAR (Command, Control, Communications, and Computing of Intelligence, Surveillance, Target Acquisition, and Reconnaissance) which is kept under the Air Force. The Islamabad-based Strategic Force Organization (SFO) has a three-tier system which forms by combining the Nuclear Command Authority, Strategic Plans Division Force (SPD Force), and each of three Inter-Services strategic force commands. The SPD's own force called SPD Force is responsible for security of nuclear weapons while the strategic forces commands of the air force, army, and navy exercise the deployments and eventual usage of the WMDs. However, the executive decisions, operational plannings, and controls over the WMDs remains vested with the NCA under the Prime Minister of Pakistan.
Defence Intelligence cycle
Inter-Services Intelligence (ISI) is the premier intelligence service of Pakistan that is responsible for providing, managing, and co-ordinating military intelligence for the Pakistan Armed Forces. After an eminent intelligence failure in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1947, the ISI was established by Army Major-General R. Cawthome and Navy Commander S.M. Ahsan, in a view to co-ordinate military intelligence from each major service branch and provide an inter-service intelligence estimate. While intelligence operatives are recruited from each service, including civilians, the ISI has become very powerful and influential. Due to its wide range of intelligence operations and influence, the ISI has been criticised both internally and externally. The Director General for Inter-Services Intelligence is the head of the ISI and also the principal adviser to the Prime Minister and President of Pakistan; the ISI reports directly to the prime minister.
The Directorate of Military Intelligence (MI) provides intelligence to the Army, while the other main branches are served by Naval Intelligence and Air Intelligence. The intelligence services in each branch are tasked with providing intelligence on foreign operations, performing counterintelligence operations, and identifying and eliminating sleeper cells, foreign agents and other anti-Pakistani elements within Pakistan. Additional functions involve monitoring high-level military and political leaders and safe-guarding critical military and non-military facilities. The director-generals of each intelligence branch are usually two-star officers.
Traditionally, the bulk of intelligence work and efforts in Pakistan has been carried out by the ISI, the Intelligence Bureau (IB), and the Federal Investigation Agency (FIA) as well as the others in the Pakistani intelligence community. To provide better co-ordination and eliminate competition, the National Intelligence Directorate (NID) was established in 2014. The NID serves a similar purpose as the U.S. National Intelligence Estimate, providing statistical analysis and counter-insurgency recommendations at all levels of command.
Military academies
The military academies are:
Pakistan Military Academy
Pakistan Air Force Academy
Pakistan Naval Academy
There are also a number of engineering, professional, and higher education military institutes:
National Defence University
Command and Staff College
PAF Air War College
Combat Commanders' School
Pakistan Naval War College
Military College of Engineering
College of Electrical and Mechanical Engineering
Army Medical College
Military College of Signals
College of Aeronautical Engineering
College of Flying Training
Pakistan Navy Engineering College
Air University
Fauji University
Bahria University
Military justice system
Pakistan's military justice system rests on the inter-services administrated Judge Advocate General Branch (JAG); all military criminal cases are overseen by the high-ranking officials of joint tribunals of the military. Each major service branch has its own service law: Army Justice Act, promulgated in 1952; the PAF Justice Act, established in 1953; and the Navy Ordinance, enacted in 1961. The identities of active-duty uniformed JAG officials are kept classified and no details of such individuals are made available to media.
All three sets of service laws are administered by the individual major service branches under the central reporting supervision of the Ministry of Defence (MoD). The army has a four-tier system while the air force and navy have three-tier systems. The two top levels of all three-tier systems are the general court-martial and district court-martial; the third level comprises the field general court-martial in the army, air force, and navy. The fourth-level tier of the army comprises the summary court-martial. The differences in tier levels reflect whether their competence extends to officers or enlisted personnel, and the severity of the punishment that may be imposed.
Pakistan's Supreme Court and the civilian courts cannot question decisions handed down by the military judges, and double jeopardy is prohibited. In cases where a member of the military is alleged to have committed a crime against a civilian, then the MoD and Ministry of Justice (MoJ) determine the prosecution of the case to be tried, whether military or civilian courts have jurisdiction. Former servicemen in civilian life who are accused of felonies committed while on active duty are liable for prosecution under the jurisdiction of military courts. These courts are empowered to dispense a wide range of punishments including death. All sentences of imprisonment are served in military prisons or detention barracks.
Weapons industry
Budget
At the time of the creation of Pakistan, the country had virtually no military industry or production capability. In 1949–50, the contribution of the industrial sector to the GNP was only 5.8%, of which 4.8% was attributed to small-scale industries. The new nation's only major heavy-industry operation was the Karachi Shipyard and Engineering Works (KSEW), which was focused on civil maritime construction. All military industrial materials and weapons systems were either inherited or purchased from the United Kingdom.
By 1951, Prime Minister Liaquat Ali Khan had established the Pakistan Ordnance Factory (POF) in Wah Military District, with a civilian chemist, Dr. Abdul Hafeez, serving as director and senior scientist. The POF was oriented towards the production of small arms, ammunition, and chemical explosives. During the period of reliance on United States supply, from 1955 to 1964, there was little attention given to domestic production. Almost all military weapons and equipment were provided by the United States, as part of Pakistan's membership in South East Asian Treaty Organization (SEATO) and Central Treaty Organization (CENTO). By 1963, the Defence Science and Technology Organization (DESTO) was formed by POF Director Hafeez for the purposes of military research and development. After U.S. military assistance was cut off in the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965 (followed by the disastrous 1971 War), Pakistan turned to China for help in expanding its military industrial and production capabilities, including the modernisation of the facilities at Wah.
Faced with defence and security issues involving much larger opponents on both its eastern and western borders, the Ministry of Defence and Ministry of Finance require a disproportionate share of the nation's resources to maintain even a minimally effective defensive stance. Since 1971, the military budget of the armed forces grew by 200% in support of armed forces contingency operations. During the administrations of Prime Ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif, approximately 50–60% of scientific research and funding went to military efforts.
In 1993, Benazir Bhutto's defence budget for the year was set at P₨.94 billion (US$3.3 billion), which represented 27% of the government's circular spending and 8.9% of GDP, in calculations shown by the United States military. Despite criticism from the country's influential political-science sphere, the government increased the military budget by an additional 11% for the fiscal year 2015–16.
Defence contractors and explosive engineering
During the Indo-Pakistani War of 1971, the US Congress scrutinised its military aid to Pakistan despite efforts by U.S. President Richard Nixon. After the war, programs on self-reliance and domestic production were launched with the establishment of the Ministry of Defence Production (MoDP) in 1972, aiming to promote and co-ordinate the patchwork of military production facilities which had developed since independence. New military policy oversaw the establishment of Heavy Industries Taxila (HIT) in Taxila and the Pakistan Aeronautical Complex (PAC) in Kamra, north of Islamabad. The militarisation of the Karachi Shipyard Engineering Works (KSEW) took place the same year. The PAC reverse-engineered several F–6J, F–7P, Mirage III, and Mirage 5 fighter jets (of the Chinese and French), built the Mushak trainer (based on the Swedish SAAB Safari), and maintained radar and avionics equipment. After the success of the Mushak, the Super Mushak and the state-of-art Karakoram-8 advanced training jet were produced. The MoDP includes seven other specialised organizations devoted to research and development, production, and administration.
In 1987, the KSEW began developing submarine technology and rebuilding the submarine base near Port Qasim. In the 1990s, concerns over Pakistan's secretive development of nuclear weapons led to the "Pressler amendment" (introduced by US Senator Larry Pressler) and an economic and military embargo. This caused a great panic in the Pakistan Armed Forces and each major service branch launched its own military-industrial programs.
By 1999, the KSEW had built its first long-range attack submarine, the Agosta 90B, which featured air-independent propulsion (AIP) technology purchased from France in 1995. By early 2000, a joint venture with China led to the introduction of the JF-17 fighter jet (developed at PAC) and the Al-Khalid main battle tank, built and assembled at HIT. Since 2001, Pakistan has taken major steps toward becoming self-sufficient in aircraft overhaul and modernisation and tank and helicopter sales.
After the success of its major projects in the defence industry, the Defence Export Promotion Organization (DEPO) was created to promote Pakistani defence equipment to the world by hosting the International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS), which is held biennially at the Karachi expo center. Pakistan's defence exports were reportedly worth over US$200 million in 2006, and have continued to grow since.
Awards
Gallantry awards
Nishan-e-Haider (English: Sign of the Lion) is the highest military decoration of Pakistan. It is awarded "to those who have performed acts of greatest heroism or most conspicuous courage in circumstances of extreme danger and have shown bravery of the highest order or devotion to the country, in the presence of the enemy on land, at sea or in the air." this award has been given to ten Pakistani servicemen who sacrificed their lives in the line of duty.
Hilal-e-Jurat (English: Crescent of Courage) is the second-highest military decoration of Pakistan, and the highest to be given to a living Pakistani (the Nishan-i-Haider has only been awarded posthumously.) The award is conferrable on officers of the Army, Navy, or Air Force, for acts of valour, courage, or devotion to duty, performed on land, at sea, or in the air in the face of the enemy. Recipients have often received land and pensions, and could place the honorific "HJ" after their name.
Sitara-e-Jurat (English: Star of Courage) is the third-highest military decoration of Pakistan, awarded for gallantry or distinguished service in combat, and can be bestowed upon officers, JCOs, and warrant officers of the Armed Forces including paramilitary forces under federal control. Recipients can place the honorific "SJ" after their name.
Tamgha-e-Jurat (English: Medal of Courage) is the fourth-highest military decoration of Pakistan, awarded for gallantry or distinguished service in combat. This is essentially the NCO and enlisted version of the Sitara-i-Jurat. Recipients can place the honorific "TJ" after their name.
Service awards
See also
List of missiles of Pakistan
Defence industry of Pakistan
Military exercises of Pakistan
Pakistan Armed Forces Band
Pakistan Armed Forces deployments
Women in the Pakistan Armed Forces
Space & Upper Atmosphere Research Commission
References
Further reading
Ayub, Muhammad (2005). An army, Its Role and Rule: A History of the Pakistan Army from Independence to Kargil, 1947–1999. RoseDog Books. .
External links
Official websites
1947 establishments in Pakistan
Armed Forces |
11654277 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas%20Thacker | Thomas Thacker | Thomas or Tom Thacker may refer to:
Tom Thacker (basketball) (born 1939), American basketball player
Tom Thacker (musician) (born 1974), Canadian singer and lead guitarist
Thomas Thacker (died 1548), steward of Thomas Cromwell, Repton Priory
See also
Thacker (disambiguation) |
51857193 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little%20Moose%20Meyer | Little Moose Meyer | LaVerne Lester "Little Moose" Meyer (June 17, 1917 – July 1, 1962) was an American professional basketball player. He played for the Kankakee Gallagher Trojans in the National Basketball League for three games during the 1938–39 season and averaged 2.3 points per game.
He is not related to teammate Big Moose Meyer, who happened to play alongside him with the Trojans. A heart attack killed Meyer at age 45.
References
1917 births
1962 deaths
American men's basketball players
Basketball players from Illinois
Guards (basketball)
Kankakee Gallagher Trojans players
People from Will County, Illinois |
54737875 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Index%20of%20articles%20related%20to%20terms%20of%20service%20and%20privacy%20policies | Index of articles related to terms of service and privacy policies | This is a list of articles about terms of service and privacy policies. These are also called terms of use, and are rules one must agree to, in order to use a service. The articles fall in two main categories: descriptions of terms used for specific companies or products, and descriptions of different kinds of terms in general. Articles on companies vary widely in the amount of detail they give on terms of service. Annotations show what is available in the article on each company, and need to be updated as those articles are improved.
Terms of service are regularly the subject of news articles throughout the English-language press, such as in the US, UK, Africa, India, Singapore, and Australia. Terms of service are also addressed in a widely reviewed documentary, academic research, and legal research.
Articles which describe specific companies' terms of service
Social media
Comparison: Privacy concerns with social networking services – Partially compares privacy policies, data retention, geo-tagging, data releases
Comparison: Comparison of Q&A sites – Compares topics allowed, copyright, and licensing of user contributions
Comparison: Death and the Internet - Compares rules on access after death
Facebook Addresses privacy settings and enforcement
Instagram Partly addresses commercial re-use of members' posts, and geo-tagging
Pinterest Addresses sales of user data and tracking of users on other websites which have a Pinterest button
Tencent Partly addresses user security
Twitter Addresses privacy, data dissemination, security breaches, legal jurisdiction, deletion to comply with national laws and survivors' requests
Search engines
Comparison: Privacy-focused search engines/browsers – Partially compares location of servers and hiding IP addresses
DuckDuckGo Addresses lack of tracking
Google Addresses privacy and indemnification
Browsers
Comodo Dragon Addresses arbitration, tracking, disclosures, liability, and use of the information for advertising
Google Chrome Addresses tracking of users, and insecurity with VPNs
Safari Addresses tracking, disclaimers, and disclosing unique device identifiers "for any purpose"
Transport
Comparison: Credit card damage waivers – Compares credit cards' limits on rental car damages
Comparison: Diminution in value – Compares rental car companies' terms about charging for diminution in value
Air passengers and freight Montreal Convention 119 states and the EU; Warsaw Convention 152 states
Road freight: CMR Convention Europe and Asia; Uniform Bill of Lading Act USA
Sea freight Hague–Visby Rules applied in US by the Carriage of Goods by Sea Act; newer are Hamburg Rules and Rotterdam Rules
Trains in Europe (CIV) Partly addresses guarantee of arrival and connections, baggage, compensation
Trains in UK National Rail Conditions of Travel Addresses compensation for delays; links to other issues
Lyft Addresses indemnification (user payment of company's legal bills)
Southwest Airlines Partly addresses difficulties beyond the airline's control
Uber Addresses indemnification (user payment of company's legal bills)
Credit cards
American Express Addresses limits on rental car damages
Discover Addresses limits on rental car damages
Mastercard Addresses limits on rental car damages
Visa Partly addresses terms imposed on merchants, and limits on rental car damages
Email
Comparison: Death and the Internet - Compares rules on access after death
Utility software
CCleaner Addresses tracking of users and their software, matching with outside sources of information, use of the information for advertising, data retention, liability
GeForce (graphics processing units from Nvidia) Addresses liability, and user data provided to Nvidia, to social media and to advertisers
Malwarebytes Addresses arbitration, tracking of users and all software they run, their clickstreams, locations, data retention, and use of the information for advertising
Microsoft account (formerly Passport or Live ID) Partly addresses privacy and allegations of deceptive practices
Other software
Comparison: List of commercial software with available source code – Compares copyright, open source, copyright licensing
Comparison: List of commercial video games with available source code – Compares copyright licensing
Online file storage and hosting
Comparison: Comparison of file hosting services - Compares limits on size, bandwidth, expiration
Comparison: Comparison of online backup services - Compares limits on size, bandwidth, server locations, security key management
Comparison: Comparison of free and open-source software licenses
Comparison: Death and the Internet - Compares rules on access after death
Amazon Drive Addresses file sizes and commercial use
Baidu Wangpan Partly addresses country of storage
Dropbox Partly addresses privacy, ownership of data and deletion
Google Drive Partly addresses privacy and intellectual property
ICloud Partly addresses encryption
OneDrive Partly addresses privacy and usage prohibitions
SpiderOak Partly addresses encryption
SecureSafe Addresses digital inheritance
Tresorit Addresses encryption
Website hosts
Comparison: Comparison of free blog hosting services – Compares limits on size, bandwidth, e-commerce
Google Sites Addresses limits on file sizes, e-commerce, scripting, countries
Jimdo Addresses limits on e-commerce, languages, location of data storage
Tripod Addresses storage, e-commerce, scripting
Weebly Partly addresses storage, e-commerce
Wix.com Partly addressed e-commerce
WordPress.com Partly addresses ads, paid upgrades
Yola Partly addresses limits on storage, web pages
Broad comparisons across categories
Death and the Internet – Compares terms on retention and access after an account holder dies
Indemnity – requirements that users pay companies' legal bills
Articles which discuss terms of service in general
Acceptable use policy
Click wrap
Contract of carriage
Community standards
Disclaimer
Email privacy
End-user license agreement
Free license
Free software license
Free web hosting service
Internet privacy
License compatibility
Multi-licensing
Open-source license
Privacy concerns with social networking services
Privacy policy
Proprietary software
Public domain equivalent license
Service-level agreement
Shrink wrap contract
Site license
Software license
Standard form contract
Terms and Conditions May Apply
Terms of service
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84264 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ilione | Ilione | In Greek mythology, Ilione was a Trojan princess who later became a queen of Thrace. She is briefly mentioned in Virgil's Aeneid: Aeneas gives her scepter to Dido.
Family
Ilione was the oldest daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. Her husband was the Thracian king Polymestor.
Mythology
Ilione plays a significant role in a version of the story of her younger brother Polydorus. He had been entrusted by Priam and Hecuba to the care of his older sister and her husband. Ilione, who already had a son of her own, Deipylus, brought her brother up as her son, and her son as her brother, thinking that if anything happened to one of them, she could return the other one to her parents in any case. So when Polymestor was instigated by the Greeks to kill the son of Priam, he killed Deipylus instead, taking him for Polydorus. The real Polydorus thus survived and escaped. Later, he went to inquire the oracle at Delphi about his parents, and was answered that his native city had been destroyed, father killed, and mother enslaved. Still thinking that he was the son of Polymestor and Ilione, Polydorus thought that the oracle must have been wrong, and asked Ilione about it. She told him all the truth and suggested that he take revenge on Polymestor; Polydorus then blinded and killed him.
Ilione was said to have eventually committed suicide, grieving at her parents' deaths.
Her story was the subject of early Roman tragedies by Pacuvius and Accius.
Notes
References
Gaius Julius Hyginus, Fabulae from The Myths of Hyginus translated and edited by Mary Grant. University of Kansas Publications in Humanistic Studies. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Maurus Servius Honoratus, In Vergilii carmina comentarii. Servii Grammatici qui feruntur in Vergilii carmina commentarii; recensuerunt Georgius Thilo et Hermannus Hagen. Georgius Thilo. Leipzig. B. G. Teubner. 1881. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneid. Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Publius Vergilius Maro, Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Children of Priam
Women of the Trojan war
Trojans
Princesses in Greek mythology
Women in Greek mythology
Characters in Greek mythology
Suicides in Greek mythology |
53573 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth%3A%20Final%20Conflict | Earth: Final Conflict | Earth: Final Conflict is a science fiction television series based on ideas developed by Gene Roddenberry. The series was produced under the guidance of his widow, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, who possessed notes kept by Roddenberry that would provide the conceptual basis for the series. It ran for five seasons between October 6, 1997 and May 20, 2002.
Setting
Early in the 21st century, a race of aliens, the Taelons (often referred to as "the Companions"), travel to Earth and take up residence in limited numbers. The Taelons possess highly advanced technologies, many of which they share with humanity, seemingly out of generosity and good will. As a result of these advances, disease, war and pollution are nearly eliminated within three years of their arrival. Despite this, some question whether the Taelons' motives are as benevolent as they appear, and a resistance movement forms to halt the Taelons' ever-growing influence on humanity.
Development
After the cancellation of Star Trek in 1969, its creator Gene Roddenberry began working on other projects, producing scripts and pilot episodes which were shown to various networks, including Genesis II and The Questor Tapes. He began early planning for a project called Battleground: Earth, a science fiction series set in the near future when a group of aliens landed on Earth under a banner of peace.
Twentieth Century Fox expressed interest in producing a pilot episode for the series, but Roddenberry's busy schedule prevented it. When the order for the pilot came in, he was in England filming a TV movie, which was followed by work on the Star Trek films and later the TV series Star Trek: The Next Generation. When he died in 1991, Battleground: Earth had yet to be produced.
In the mid-1990s, Roddenberry's widow, Majel Barrett-Roddenberry, began to develop the project. It went into production with Tribune Entertainment. It was renamed Earth: Final Conflict to avoid confusion with the film Battlefield Earth, which was released around the same time. The success of the show led to the development of one other posthumous Roddenberry project, Andromeda.
Series
The show premiered on October 6, 1997 and ran for five seasons. The finale was broadcast on May 20, 2002.
The show had an unusually high turnover rate among the regular cast, partially due to contractual disagreements between the cast and the producers. Almost all of the show's major characters were killed or otherwise removed within a season or two of being introduced. In fact, the only character to appear as a regular during all five seasons was FBI Agent Ronald Sandoval (Von Flores), one of the show's antagonists.
The fifth season of the show was a radical departure from the storyline of the previous seasons, with the Taelons being replaced by a new and more openly hostile alien race, a group of energy vampires called the Atavus.
Cast
Kevin Kilner as William Boone, Companion Protector/Resistance agent (season 1; recurring season 5)
Lisa Howard as Lili Marquette, interdimensional shuttle pilot/Resistance agent (seasons 1–2; recurring seasons 3–4)
Von Flores as Ronald Sandoval, Companion Protector (seasons 1–5)
Richard Chevolleau as Marcus "Augur" Deveraux, Resistance hacker (seasons 1–3, recurring season 4)
Leni Parker as Da’an, the North American Companion (seasons 1–4)
David Hemblen as Jonathan Doors, Resistance leader (seasons 1–3; recurring season 4)
Robert Leeshock as Liam Kincaid, Companion Protector/Resistance agent (seasons 2–4; recurring season 5)
Anita La Selva as Zo’or, United Nations Companion, later Leader of the Taelon Synod (seasons 2–4; recurring seasons 1 and 5)
Jayne Heitmeyer as Renee Palmer, Companion business liaison/Resistance agent (seasons 3–5)
Melinda Deines as Juliet Street, Resistance hacker (seasons 4–5)
Guylaine St-Onge as Juda, Atavus warrior (season 5)
Alan van Sprang as Howlyn, Atavus leader (season 5)
Helen Taylor as Ra’jel, Sire of the Synod (season 5)
Majel Barrett-Roddenberry as Julianne Belman, Doctor and CVI expert/Resistance agent (season 1; recurring season 2 and 3)
Synopsis
Season 1
"Three years ago they came, forever altering the future of humanity.
William Boone's life has been destroyed. A man caught between two worlds. Assigned protector to the Companions; undercover agent for the Liberation. An alien implanted cyber-virus expands his mind. Controlling a bio-engineered weapon of unprecedented power. William Boone searches for the truth."
– Season 1 introduction; the italic part comes with episode 13
The story begins three years after the Taelons arrived on Earth. The Taelons have used their advanced technology to help humanity achieve a better quality of life. However, the North American Taelon Companion, Da'an, is targeted by an assassin while making a speech. Jonathan Doors, a businessman with close ties to the Taelons, is killed while Da'an is unharmed. Da'an is impressed by Police Commander Boone's work in protecting him from the assassination attempt, and offers him a spot as a Taelon Protector, a personal bodyguard and envoy for a particular Taelon.
Boone politely refuses because he wants to start a family with his wife. Also, deep down, he doesn't trust the Taelons fully. Subsequently, Boone's wife is killed in a mysterious automobile accident and Boone finds out that Jonathan Doors faked his own death so that he could focus on an underground resistance movement that he founded in secret. Boone believes the Taelons have sinister intentions, and wants to find out their true motives. He also believes that the Taelons had something to do with the death of his wife. Because of this, Boone agrees to work as a double agent for the resistance in order to find answers. He accepts Da'an's offer to become a Protector, and receives a Cyber-Viral Implant (CVI) that gives him enhanced mental abilities – including perfect recall. While most CVIs alter the minds of their hosts so they become singularly loyal to the Taelons above all others, including friends, family, and the human race as a whole, the Resistance sees to it that Boone receives a modified CVI which leaves his loyalties the way they were. Agent Boone receives a bioengineered weapon, called a Skrill, that attaches to his arm. Boone is joined by fellow double agent and ex-Marine Lili Marquette. She is an accomplished pilot of the Taelon shuttlecraft (that can travel in interdimensional space). On the Taelon side, Boone works with another protector, Agent Ronald Sandoval. Sandoval is apparently fully loyal to the Taelons, thanks to his CVI.
Boone soon finds out that Sandoval had Boone's wife killed so that he would join the Taelons. Sandoval explains that his own wife held him back and that he was forced to put her in a mental institution to get her out of the way. He did not want Boone to have the same problem, so he had his wife killed. Boone (who would have been forced to agree if his CVI had not been modified) pretends to understand and continues his duties for the Resistance.
A strange satellite is found in an Amish community. Lili and Boone investigate. In later episodes, the satellite ends up in the Resistance base. It has the ability to make replicants and later kills a Resistance scientist. The probe later winds up in the hands of the Taelons.
Boone introduces Lili to Marcus Deveraux, a technical genius and computer hacker better known by the nickname "Augur," whom Boone often hires when he needs technical skills. Later Lili and Boone become acquainted with Jonathan Doors's state-of-the-art base for the Resistance. They learn that Augur was actually a member of the Resistance all along.
Boone continues to search for the true motives of the Taelons and actually becomes good friends with Da'an, a spiritual and very charismatic being who seems to personally hold humans in high regard. A less sympathetic Taelon named Zo'or is introduced. Boone finds out that a Taelon named Ma'el visited Earth centuries ago and predicted that humanity would one day be equal to the Taelons. Sandoval meets an Irish Protector, Siobhan Beckett, who seems to fancy him.
Sandoval's CVI malfunctions and frees him of Taelon control. He saves his wife from the mental institution but comes close to death. The Resistance captures the couple, and Boone convinces Doors to return Sandoval to the Taelons. Sandoval's wife is given safe passage, while Sandoval receives a new CVI and is made to believe that Boone killed his wife.
The Taelons order an investigation into a psychic invasion of their commonality, leading Boone and the resistance to learn that Ma'el gave humans psychic abilities so they would have a chance to be seen as equals when Taelons and humans met again.
The resistance successfully infects the Taelon headquarters in Washington with a computer virus, which unexpectedly spreads through Taelon technology world-wide, leading to a threat to human technology that is connected to Taelon technology. Boone and Sandoval work to destroy the virus. An enormous mothership appears in the skies, before disappearing in inter-dimensional space.
Boone discovers more Taelon experiments performed on humans while they are traveling through a new, world-wide, inter-dimensional travel system. Some humans are given an implant similar to a CVI, while others, including his sister, are used for some unknown breeding experiment. The continued use and function of this travel system appears to be another point of contention between Da’an and Zo’or.
A virus is extracted from the strange probe for testing. It is highly contagious and communicable between Taelons and humans. White supremacists steal a sample of the virus and unleash it in a housing center, affecting the entire surrounding area. A cure is discovered, but not before hundreds are killed.
The fiancé of the resistance scientist killed by the previously mentioned probe becomes determined to find a way to get his love back. The Resistance breaks into a Taelon installation in which the probe is located. The scientist gets his fiancée back at the cost of his own life. The probe is supposedly destroyed.
An enemy of the Taelons named Ha'gel lands on Earth. The Taelons have apparently wronged his race (the Kimera) somehow. Ha'gel has the power to temporarily assume other forms, leaving his victims temporarily incapacitated. Ha'gel steals Sandoval's form and impregnates Siobhan Beckett. Boone tries to confront the alien but Ha'gel is frightened. Boone is badly wounded and Ha'gel is killed. Boone is in critical condition, as Beckett goes into labor while in the custody of the Resistance. Zo'or seemingly vaporizes Boone's body.
Season 2
"They are the Companions. Aliens, come to Earth on a mission of peace.
Their true mission... The secrets they hide... Forever alter humanity.
In a struggle for our planet, the battle between these Taelon Companions and Human Resistance...
holds the key to Earth's future, and the fate of mankind... On Earth: Final Conflict."
– Season 2 episode 1 introduction
"They are the Companions. Aliens come to Earth on a mission of peace.
Their true mission... The secrets they hide... Forever alter humanity.
Caught in the struggle between these Taelon Companions and the Human Resistance is Liam Kincaid... a man who is more than Human. The mysteries of his past hold the key to Earth's future and the fate of mankind... on Earth: Final Conflict."
– Season 2 episodes 2–22 introduction
Beckett gives birth as the Resistance is saddened by the news that Boone has died. The protector's baby is a Kimeran/human hybrid and grows at a rapid rate. He takes the name "Liam Kincaid" and immediately takes action as an adult. Beckett's memory is wiped and she is sent back to the Taelons. The recovered fiancée is really a replicant of the mysterious probe, which is from another alien race known as the Jaridians. The probe replicant kills the leader of the Taelon Synod. Liam saves Da'an and is recruited to become his new protector. Liam joins the Resistance but doesn't get along with Doors. Lili is forced to work under Sandoval but continues her double agent duties. Zo'or becomes the new Taelon leader, with Sandoval becoming his personal protector.
Da'an realizes who and what Liam is but keeps his secret, and the two become good friends. Da'an and Zo'or battle over each other's ideologies. Zo'or believes humans should serve the Taelons, while Da'an thinks humanity is worthy of being their equals. The Taelons prepare Earth for war with the Jaridians, who believe humans have sided with the Taelons.
Augur's experiments accidentally sever Da’an's connection to the Commonality, causing him to revert to a primitive state the Taelons call an Atavus. Zo’or orders Da’an's death, claiming he is a threat to the Synod and that Da’an will never be able to rejoin the Commonality. Liam is able to reconnect Da’an to the Commonality, restoring his physical form.
Zo’or tries to destroy the Liberation by manipulating human brain waves, but a lucky trip through a time-portal gives Liam the hints he needs to prevent it.
An attempt by Doors to have Liam killed results in Liam and Augur being cast into a parallel dimension, where they see humanity without the influence of Ma’al. They return with Maya, who was Kayla's (Lili's) sister and Jason's (Sandoval's) wife in her dimension.
Augur is arrested in Russia and sentenced to death. A Taelon representative, Lazarus, recruits him for an experimental procedure to create super-soldiers. Lazarus regains his memories, restores Augur's memories then attempts a coup on the Taelon mothership.
The Resistance finds out that the CVI's motivational imperative wears off after a time, leaving the protectors restored to their own wills. Liam senses that the CVI of his mother, long-serving Protector Siobhan Beckett, has malfunctioned and attempts to locate her. Beckett has to deal internally with all the wrongs she has committed while in an altered mental state. Also concerned, Zo'or sends Sandoval to locate Beckett, but Liam locates her first. He joins his dying mother and shares with her energetically/telepathically revealing his true origin. She realizes who he is as she passes away.
Doors decides to take the Resistance above ground and runs for president. The Resistance members are pardoned in a deal Doors is able to make.
Sandoval becomes intrigued by Maya, and begins a search for her. She begins to suffer from being in the wrong dimension. Her counterpart in this dimension, Isabel, is tracked down. Lili discovers Isabel is her half-sister from her father's secret life. Maya and Isabel are united so the two can merge and both survive in one body. The dead body is left for Sandoval to find, to discourage him from pursuing Maya/Isabel any more.
A Jaridian soldier escapes from the Taelon mothership, taking Lili hostage. Liam pursues them through inter-dimensional space, and the three are stranded on a Kimera station. After navigating their way to the heart of the station, Liam lets the Jaridian go and reports his demise on the station to Sandoval and Zo'or.
Chandler and his stolen shuttle reappear to attempt an attack on a Taelon embassy.
Teens are being recruited to become front line soldiers in the Taelon war. Da’an recalls the soldiers after threatening to betray Zo’or's plans to the humans.
Former Resistance members come to Lili and Augur concerned over humanity's protection. The Resistance is reformed under Liam's leadership. Da'an warns Liam that reforming the Resistance is a bad idea, but decides not to betray them to the Synod.
A Taelon crashes on Earth, claiming to be sympathetic to the humans. He claims the entire plan the Taelons have for humanity was conceived by Da’an.
Augur is hired to help complete a weapon called the Forge to use against the Jaridians. Liam and Da’an disagree about the weapon.
A Jaridian probe crashes on Earth after taking a partial hit from the Taelons. The resistance finds it, but are captured before they begin to examine it. After finding a black ops group that is also preparing to survive whatever the Taelons may bring, they cooperate to examine the probe, and discover it is a message probe with plans for an advanced communications device, with an offer. From the Jaridians to cooperate to defeat the Taelons.
Zo'or sets the Resistance and Doors up when he has an assassination attempt made on President Thompson. Thompson survives and declares martial law. The Resistance members are targeted and many are brought to the Taelon Mothership. Liam and Augur try to rescue Doors but are pinned down. Lili tries to destroy the mothership in a last-ditch effort to save Earth.
Season 3
"They have come to Earth with the promise of peace...an alien race called the Taelons.
But there are those who resist these alien Companions.
For the Taelons' true mission...the secrets they hide...will forever alter our world.
The fate of humanity now relies on those who dare challenge the future of Earth."
– Season 3 introduction, retained for Season 4
Lili's plan backfires and she is believed dead, and exposed as a traitor to the Taelons. Liam and Augur are rescued by a Volunteer (a human foot soldier who has been augmented to a lesser degree than a Protector). Doors, on the other hand, is captured. Doors is able to cut a deal with Zo'or to give himself freedom while ensuring that his company can secretly resist the Taelons. The Volunteer is really one of his people, Renee Palmer, the new CEO of Doors International. Martial law is repealed and many of the Resistance members are returned. Lili is revealed to be alive, but in secret captivity, under Sandoval's control. He alters her DNA and sends her off into deep space. Liam and Augur continue to lead the resistance.
Though Doors proceeds to do work separately from the Resistance, Renee and Liam find their interests frequently overlapping, and occasionally assist each other. Their relationship gradually develops into a close partnership. At the same time, Da'an and Liam's relationship becomes strained, as Zo'or continues his ambitious plans from his position of leadership. Meanwhile, Sandoval seems to be working towards a clandestine agenda of his own, as he begins concealing information from the Taelons. Unbeknownst to anyone else, Lili arrives at the alien planet Sandoval sent her to, but because her perception is being altered, she does not realize this. The alien planet turns out to be the homeworld of the Jaridians, and Lili is tricked into delivering Taelon Inter-Dimensional (ID) travel technology to their leaders.
After the illusion ends, she realizes that she is in fact, on Jaridia, and is horrified once she figures out that the ID drives she unwittingly gave her new captors, are exactly what they needed to invade Earth. Time passes back on Earth, during which it is revealed that Zo'or is Da'an's child, Jonathan Doors dies saving his son, and Renee continues to work with Liam. Lili eventually leaves Jaridia, bound for Earth, with a Jaridian named Vorjack, whose half-human, half-Jaridian child she is carrying. Their arrival complicates the plans of both the Taelons and the Resistance, particularly as Vorjack struggles with the atmospheric conditions on Earth. As the new hybrid baby is about to be born, Liam and Renee help Lili through a difficult delivery.
Season 4
"They have come to Earth with the promise of peace...an alien race called the Taelons.
But there are those who resist these alien Companions.
For the Taelons' true mission...the secrets they hide...will forever alter our world.
The fate of humanity now relies on those who dare challenge the future of Earth."
– Season 4 introduction, retained from Season 3
Da'an helps to make sure that the Human/Jaridian hybrid lives. The Jaridians are dying, and Vorjack had hoped that the child would hold the key to their salvation, but this does not happen as expected. Before Vorjack dies from being on Earth for too long for his body to handle, Liam thinks quickly and saves his life. Lili, the Jaridian, and their hybrid child, manage to escape as Liam wishes them well.
Augur runs into trouble with the law and is forced into hiding. He offers his friend Juliet Street, a.k.a. J.Street, the opportunity to take over his role in the Resistance, and she accepts. She proves savvy and intelligent, eventually revealing that she has the rare ability to think and calculate in multiple dimensions, which makes her a target for the increasingly desperate Taelons.
The Resistance goes above ground once again when Renee and Liam team up with an international group, the Atlantic National Alliance, dedicated to defending human interests against the Taelons.
Toward the end of the season, it is discovered that the Taelons are a dying race as well; their core energy is almost spent. More and more Taelons are entering stasis, and Zo'or becomes increasingly desperate to save his species.
Liam and Renee discover a regeneration chamber hidden deep in a volcano, set in place long ago by Ma'el. Liam realizes that all species are interconnected and he must play a role in saving the Taelons, despite all the trouble they have caused. He brings them out of stasis. To conserve energy, they combine their essence into just six Taelons who go down to the regeneration chamber. At the same time, the remainder of Vorjack's Jaridian fleet arrives on the scene. Zo'or, greedy to ensure his own survival, touches an energy pool in the chamber and is absorbed into it. Liam convinces the Jaridians to attempt a "joining" with the Taelons, which, it is believed, will return them to an earlier evolutionary form that is better suited to survival. As the volcano erupts, the joining procedure begins with Liam's help, but it is unclear who or what will survive.
Season 5
"In the 21st century, an alien species known as the Taelons came to Earth, with the promise of peace.
"They lied.
"Their true agenda was to dominate us.
"After years of struggle, the Taelons have perished, leaving more aggressive beings in their wake: the Atavus.
"My name is Renee Palmer. My mission is to stop this new species from dominating our planet.
"This is Earth's Final Conflict."
– Season 5 introduction, narrated in voice-over by Jayne Heitmeyer
Liam, the Taelons, and the Jaridians have disappeared but their efforts, far from saving everyone, have doomed the galaxy: they have awakened the Atavus, a race of energy vampires that preceded the Taelons and Jaridians. Renee and Street are the only ones who know the truth of what's happening: the Resistance is disbanded and the human governments are in no rush to accept the beginning of another war with an alien race. Their only ally is Raj'el, the first and now the last of the Taelons, who is forced to provide covert support from the heart of the Taelon mothership.
To make matters worse, Sandoval, left in control of the Taelon mothership, allies with the Atavus leaders Howlyn and Juda. Together, they are able to keep their presence hidden for much of the season. Their plan is to create an army of Atavus-Human hybrids by means of a joining process, then use the hybrids to awaken other Atavus hives hidden around the world.
As the season progresses, a few familiar faces re-enter the fight: William Boone is brought back as a trap for Renee, but he quickly joins her side. In response, Sandoval and Howlyn revive Zo'or, giving him a new body as a female Atavus, but Renee and Boone are able to defeat their nemesis once and for all.
Final Conflict comes to a head when Liam returns to help Renee stop Howlyn from unleashing his elite warriors from the long-buried Atavus mothership. At the end of the series, Liam, Renee and Raj'el depart in the Taelon mothership, resolving to bring the few trustworthy Atavus home and indulge in a little adventure along the way.
Broadcasting
The series was first shown on CTV in 1997 and ran for two seasons until the network decided to cancel it due to low ratings. The show was, however, resurrected by Chum Limited and was moved to their New Net network for the remainder of its run. The series was broadcast in syndication in the United States.
The series has been re-shown daily on Bravo, and later by Horror, in the United Kingdom, Showcase in Canada, Jimmy in Italy, and Bangladesh Television in Bangladesh.
The series aired in the Republic of Ireland on RTÉ Two from 22 March 1999 to 2005.
Home media
Region 1
ADV Films released seasons three, four, and five on DVD in 2003. Due to different companies owning different rights for different seasons, these were the only seasons they were able to negotiate the distribution rights for. The episodes are presented in uncropped 16x9 widescreen on six discs per season. There were only minimal extras.
On May 5, 2009, Universal Studios Home Entertainment released Season One on DVD in the US. The episodes are presented in 4x3 full-screen on five discs with a small handful of extras included. The episodes appear uncut but are time compressed, running at a slightly faster pace, resulting in each episode running approximately two minutes shorter than in their original unaltered forms. On July 27, 2010, Season Two was released on DVD in the US.
Alliance Home Entertainment has released all five seasons on DVD in Canada. All of these are bare-bones releases, no extras at all and are presented in 4x3 full-screen on six discs per season with both English and French audio tracks. Season One is presented at its original pacing.
Regions 2 and 4
Universal Pictures UK released the first season on DVD in the UK on April 3, 2006.
Pandastorm Pictures started to release the series in Germany on May 29, 2015. Season 2 followed on September 18, 2015. Season 3 followed on January 29, 2016, Season 4 on April, 15th, 2016 On February 4th, 2019, the German publisher Pandastorm Pictures had to announce via their Facebook page, that so far it was impossible to find all of the rights holders for Earth: Final Conflict - season five - it is quite likely by now, that they will not be able to publish season five in Germany. They announced the release of Series 1 and Series 2 as codefree, sound: German DD 2.0, English DD 2.0 and subtitles: English.
Via Vision Entertainment has released all five seasons on DVD in Australia.
References
External links
1997 American television series debuts
2002 American television series endings
1997 Canadian television series debuts
2002 Canadian television series endings
1990s American science fiction television series
2000s American science fiction television series
1990s Canadian science fiction television series
2000s Canadian science fiction television series
CTV Television Network original programming
English-language television shows
First-run syndicated television shows in Canada
First-run syndicated television programs in the United States
ADV Films
Television series set in the future
Television series by Tribune Entertainment
Television series by Alliance Atlantis
Television series by Bell Media
Television shows filmed in Toronto
Television shows based on works by Gene Roddenberry |
2512283 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interruptible%20operating%20system | Interruptible operating system | An interruptible operating system is an operating system with ability to handle multiple interrupts concurrently, or in other words, which allow interrupts to be interrupted.
Concurrent interrupt handling essentially mean concurrent execution of kernel code and hence induces the additional complexity of concurrency control in accessing kernel datastructures.
It means that the system can stop any program that is already running. This is a feature on nearly all modern operating systems.
See also
Operating system
Operating System Projects
Interrupts |
57763003 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Broadcast%2C%20unknown-unicast%20and%20multicast%20traffic | Broadcast, unknown-unicast and multicast traffic | Broadcast, unknown-unicast and multicast traffic (BUM traffic) is network traffic transmitted using one of three methods of sending data link layer network traffic to a destination of which the sender does not know the network address. This is achieved by sending the network traffic to multiple destinations on an Ethernet network. As a concept related to computer networking, it includes three types of Ethernet modes: broadcast, unicast and multicast Ethernet. BUM traffic refers to that kind of network traffic that will be forwarded to multiple destinations or that cannot be addressed to the intended destination only.
Overview
Broadcast traffic is used to transmit a message to any reachable destination in the network without the need to know any information about the receiving party. When broadcast traffic is received by a network switch it is replicated to all ports within the respective VLAN except the one from which the traffic comes from.
Unknown-unicast traffic happens when a switch receives unicast traffic intended to be delivered to a destination that is not in its forwarding information base. In this case the switch marks the frame for flooding and sends it to all forwarding ports within the respective VLAN. Forwarding this type of traffic can create unnecessary traffic that leads to poor network performance or even a complete loss of network service. This flooding of packets is known as a traffic storm.
Multicast traffic allows a host to contact a subset of hosts or devices joined into a group. This causes the message to be broadcast when no group management mechanism is present. Flooding BUM frames is required in transparent bridging and in a data center context this does not scale well causing poor performance.
BUM traffic control
Throttling
One issue that may arise is that some network devices cannot handle high rates of broadcast, unknown-unicast or multicast traffic. In such cases, it is possible to limit the BUM traffic for specific ports in order to have a control on the number of packets or bytes that are flooded on the VLAN to other devices. This threshold is represented in kilobits per second (kbps), and it can be set for broadcast rate, multicast rate and unknown unicast rate independently.
Network port security
In the case of unknown-unicast traffic, a security issue may arise. To prevent flooding unknown-unicast traffic across the switch, it is possible to configure the network equipment to divert unknown-unicast traffic to specific trunk interfaces in order to split broadcast coming from different VLANs or to use specific trunk interfaces for multiple VLANs.
BUM handling in VXLAN
The use of VXLAN as overlay technology allows providing data link layer connectivity services between endpoints that may be deployed across network layer network domains. Since those endpoints are logically part of the same data link layer domain, they must be capable of sending and receiving data link layer multi-destination frames (BUM traffic). BUM traffic can be exchanged across network layer network boundaries by encapsulating it into VXLAN packets addressed to a multicast group, so to leverage the network for traffic replication services.
In Data Plane Learning the broadcast traffic is flooded to multicast group members. In Control Plane Learning addresses are collected and forwarded via BGP. Broadcast traffic is suppressed and VXLAN tunnel endpoints (VTEPs) reply to the caller directly.
VXLAN can handle BUM in two ways: Multicast and Head End Replication.
Multicast is the most common and each VXLAN network identifier (VNI) is mapped to a single multicast group, while each multicast group may map to one or more VNIs. When VTEP comes alive it uses the protocol Internet Group Management Protocol (IGMP) to join the multicast groups for the VNIs it uses. When VTEP has to send BUM traffic it will send it only to the relevant multicast group. This is a method for VTEP discovery.
Head End Replication is only available if using BGP EVPN. It is less efficient than multicast and does not scale well but it is simpler to implement if you do not have a multicast-enabled infrastructure. In Host End Replication, when BUM arrives, the VTEP creates several unicast packets and sends one to each VTEP that supports the VNI.
BUM handling in EVPN
Ethernet VPN (EVPN) and Provider Backbone Bridging EVPN (PBB-EVPN) are next generation solutions that provide Ethernet multipoint services over MPLS networks. In EVPN operations, the Provider Edge (PE) routers automatically discover each other when connected on the same ethernet segment and select a Designated Forwarder (DF) responsible for forwarding BUM traffic.
In a VXLAN-EVPN, MAC learning occurs via the control plane instead of data plane. Furthermore, it is accepted only traffic from VTEPs whose information is learnt via the control plane, otherwise it is dropped. This presents a secure fabric where traffic will only be forwarded between VTEPs validated by the control plane.
See also
Transparent bridging
References
Computer networking
Ethernet
Network topology |
197700 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/COMAL | COMAL | COMAL (Common Algorithmic Language) is a computer programming language developed in Denmark by Børge R. Christensen and Benedict Løfstedt and originally released in 1975. COMAL was one of the few structured programming languages that was available for and comfortably usable on 8-bit home computers. It was based on the seminal BASIC programming language, adding multi-line statements and well-defined subroutines among other additions.
"COMAL Kernel Syntax & Semantics" contains the formal definition of the language. Further extensions are common to many implementations.
Design
COMAL was created as a mixture of the prevalent educational programming languages of the time, BASIC, Pascal, and, at least in the Commodore and Compis versions, the turtle graphics of Logo. The language was meant to introduce structured programming elements in an environment where BASIC would normally be used.
With the benefit of hindsight, COMAL looks like a Structured BASIC that has reasonably well-written, vendor neutral, free, standards. It is never necessary to use GOTO, and line numbers are purely for editing purposes rather than flow control. Note, however, that the standardised language only supports control structuring, not data structuring such as records or structs (commercial implementations such as UniCOMAL 3 supported this as an extension).
History
COMAL was originally developed in Denmark by mathematics teacher Børge R. Christensen. The school in which he taught had received a Data General NOVA 1200 minicomputer in 1972, with the expectation that the school would begin to teach computer science. Christensen, who had taken a short course on the subject at university, was expected to lead the program and to maintain the computer system. The NOVA 1200 was supplied with Data General Extended BASIC, and Christensen quickly became frustrated with the way in which the unstructured language led students to write low-quality code that was difficult to read and thus mark. Christensen met with computer scientist Benedict Løfstedt, who encouraged him to read Systematic Programming, the then-new book on programming language design by Niklaus Wirth, the creator of Pascal. Christensen was impressed, but found that he could not use Pascal directly, as it lacked the interactive shell that made BASIC so easy for students to develop with. Over the next six months Christensen and Løfstedt corresponded by mail to design an alternative to BASIC which retained its interactive elements but added structured elements from Pascal. By 1974 the language's definition was complete but Christensen was unsuccessful in attracting interest from software firms in developing an implementation. He therefore worked with two of his students, to whom he had taught NOVA 1200 machine language, to write an implementation themselves, over another six months. The first proof-of-concept implementation (running a five-line loop) was ready on 5 August 1974, and the first release (on paper tape, as this was what the NOVA 1200 used for input-output) was ready in February 1975. Development costs had been around . Only now did the system (which had previously used an internal Danish name) pick up the name COMAL, for Common Algorithmic Language, inspired by ALGOL, with which Christensen had been experimenting. The first release was therefore named COMAL 75. Christensen subsequently wrote a textbook on the language which evolved into Beginning COMAL.
In 1978, Christensen began to adapt COMAL such that it would run on microcomputers, which were becoming available, worried that without such an implementation he would be required to teach and use BASIC again as Danish schools acquired the new machines. By 1980 a version of COMAL developed in conjection with a college group was able to run on the Zilog Z80, and thus COMAL 80 was released. Around the same time, a Danish firm introduced the Comet, a very capable microcomputer for the time, which would be the first machine to run a version of what would look like the later COMAL releases. Christensen subsequently stepped back from COMAL development around 1980-81, which was handed over to groups including UniComal, started by Mogens Kjaer, who had written to Christensen with critiques of COMAL and subsequently ported it to the Commodore PET for release 0.14. At this time, Danish schools insisted that COMAL be available on any microcomputer they purchased.
In the early 1980s, Apple Computer won a contract to supply Apple II computers running CP/M and COMAL to Irish secondary schools. It was popular for education and some textbooks were locally written.
In 1984 Acornsoft released a COMAL implementation, by David Christensen, Jim Warwick and David Evers, for their 8-bit BBC Micro and Acorn Electron computers (with a manual by Paul Christensen and Roy Thornton)
Between 1984-1987 TeleNova, a subsidiary of the industrial arm of the Swedish Telecoms system, manufactured a desktop PC called "Compis" for the educational sector. An enhanced version of COMAL was supplied as the standard programming language for this PC. Versions were created for both CP/M-86 and MS-DOS. The latter version is available for Windows XP. The (Swedish) reference manual is .
In 1990 Thomas Lundy and Rory O'Sullivan produced the definitive text on COMAL Programming. They matched and compared COMAL with BBC Structured Basic.
As of 2016 COMAL is still actively in use as an educational programming language. Some high schools in the United Kingdom continue to use it to teach the subject of Computing.
Availability
COMAL was available for:
BBC Micro
Commodore PET (public domain software)
Commodore 64 (public domain software)
Commodore 128
Amiga
Compis/Scandis
CP/M
IBM PC
Tiki 100
ZX Spectrum
Grundy NewBrain
Windows XP
Examples
"Hello, world!"
PRINT "HELLO, WORLD!"
Conditions
IF condition THEN
instructions
ENDIF
Loops
FOR number:= 1 TO 1000 DO
PRINT number
ENDFOR
Print statements with variables
INPUT "What's your favourite number? " :nmr#
PAGE
PRINT "Your favourite number is " ; nmr#
See also
Action! (programming language)
References
Further reading
Thomas Lundy & Rory O'Sullivan: Beginning Structured Programming in BASIC and COMAL, 1990
Roy Atherton: Structured programming with COMAL. Horwood, Chichester 1982, .
Børge R. Christensen: Beginning Comal. Horwood, Chichester 1982, .
Børge R. Christensen: COMAL Reference Guide. Toronto PET Users Group, Toronto Ontario, .
Len Lindsay: COMAL handbook. Reston Publishing, Reston, VA, 1983, .
Gordon Shigley: COMAL Workbook. Comal Users Group, USA, 1985, .
External links
OpenCOMAL for Unix, MS-DOS and Win32
A fork of the above for standards-compliant Unix, mainly Linux and Mac OS X
UniComal 3.11 packaged to run under DOSBox
Description of COMAL, versions, and characteristics (1984)
Programming languages
Educational programming languages
Structured programming languages
Procedural programming languages
Programming languages created in 1973 |
36130575 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Classes%20of%20computers | Classes of computers | Computers can be classified, or typed, in many ways. Some common classifications of computers are given below.
Classes by purpose
|-
|style="text-align: left;"|Notes:
Microcomputers (personal computers)
Microcomputers became the most common type of computer in the late 20th century. The term “microcomputer” was introduced with the advent of systems based on single-chip microprocessors. The best-known early system was the Altair 8800, introduced in 1975. The term "microcomputer" has practically become an anachronism.
These computers include:
Desktop computers – A case put under or on a desk. The display may be optional, depending on use. The case size may vary, depending on the required expansion slots. Very small computers of this kind may be integrated into the monitor.
Rackmount computers – The cases of these computers fit into 19-inch racks, and maybe space-optimized and very flat. A dedicated display, keyboard, and mouse may not exist, but a KVM switch or built-in remote control (via LAN or other means) can be used to gain console access.
In-car computers (carputers) – Built into automobiles, for entertainment, navigation, etc.
Laptops and notebook computers – Portable and all in one case.
Tablet computer – Like laptops, but with a touch-screen, entirely replacing the physical keyboard.
Smartphones, smartbooks, and palmtop computers – Small handheld personal computers with limited hardware specifications.
Programmable calculator– Like small handhelds, but specialized in mathematical work.
Video game consoles – Fixed computers built specifically for entertainment purposes.
Handheld game consoles – The same as game consoles, but small and portable.
Minicomputers (mid-range computers)
Minicomputers (colloquially, minis) are a class of multi-user computers that lie in the middle range of the computing spectrum, in between the smallest mainframe computers and the largest single-user systems (microcomputers or personal computers). The term supermini computer or simply supermini was used to distinguish more powerful minicomputers that approached mainframes in capability. Superminis (such as the DEC VAX or Data General Eclipse MV/8000) were usually 32-bit at a time when most minicomputers (such as the PDP-11 or Data General Eclipse or IBM Series/1) were 16-bit. These traditional minicomputers in the last few decades of the 20th century, found in small to medium-sized businesses, laboratories and embedded in (for example) hospital CAT scanners, often would be rack-mounted and connect to one or more terminals or tape/card readers, like mainframes and unlike most personal computers, but require less space and electrical power than a typical mainframe.
Mainframe computers
The term mainframe computer was created to distinguish the traditional, large, institutional computer intended to service multiple users from the smaller, single-user machines. These computers are capable of handling and processing very large amounts of data quickly. Mainframe computers are used in large institutions such as government, banks, and large corporations.
They are measured in MIPS (million instructions per second) and can respond to hundreds of millions of users at a time.
Supercomputers
A supercomputer is focused on performing tasks involving intense numerical calculations such as weather forecasting, fluid dynamics, nuclear simulations, theoretical astrophysics, and complex scientific computations. A supercomputer is a computer that is at the front-line of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation. The term supercomputer itself is rather fluid, and the speed of today's supercomputers tends to become typical of tomorrow's ordinary computer. Supercomputer processing speeds are measured in floating-point operations per second, or FLOPS. An example of a floating-point operation is the calculation of mathematical equations in real numbers. In terms of computational capability, memory size and speed, I/O technology, and topological issues such as bandwidth and latency, supercomputers are the most powerful, are very expensive, and not cost-effective just to perform batch or transaction processing. These computers were developed in 1970s and are the fastest and the highest capacity computers
Classes by function
Servers
Server usually refers to a computer that is dedicated to providing one or more services. A server is expected to be reliable (e.g. error-correction of RAM; redundant cooling; self-monitoring, RAID), fit for running for several years, and giving useful diagnosis in case of an error. For even increased security, the server may be mirrored. Many smaller servers are actually personal computers that have been dedicated to provide services for other computers.
A database server is a server which uses a database application that provides database services to other computer programs or to computers. Database management systems (DBMSs) frequently provide database-server functionality, and some database management systems (such as MySQL) rely exclusively on the client–server model for database access while others (such as SQLite) are meant for using as an embedded database. Users access a database server either through a "front end" running on the user's computer – which displays requested data – or through the "back end", which runs on the server and handles tasks such as data analysis and storage.
A file server does not normally perform computational tasks or run programs on behalf of its client workstations but manage and store a large collection of computer files. The crucial function of a file server is storage. File servers are commonly found in schools and offices, where users use a local area network to connect their client computers and use Network-attached storage (NAS) systems to provide data access.
A web server is a server that can satisfy client requests on the World Wide Web. A web server can, in general, contain one or more websites. A web server processes incoming network requests over HTTP and several other related protocols. The primary function of a web server is to store, process and deliver web pages to clients. The communication between client and server takes place using the Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP). Pages delivered are most frequently HTML documents, which may include images, style sheets and scripts in addition to the text content.
A terminal server enables organizations to connect devices with an RS-232, RS-422 or RS-485 serial interface to a local area network (LAN). Products marketed as terminal servers can be very simple devices that do not offer any security functionality, such as data encryption and user authentication. These provide GUI sessions that can be used by client PCs that work someway like a remote control. Only the screen (and audio) output is shown on the client. The GUI applications run on the server, data (like in files) would be stored in the same LAN, thus avoiding problems, should a client PC be damaged or stolen.
A server may run several virtual machines (VMs) for different activities, supplying the same environment to each VM as if it ran on dedicated hardware. Different operating systems (OS) can therefore be run at the same time. This technology approach needs special hardware support to be useful and was first the domain of mainframes and other large computers. Nowadays, most personal computers are equipped for this task, but for long-term operation or critical systems, specialized server hardware may be needed.
Another approach is to implement VMs on the operating system level, so all VMs run on the same OS instance (or incarnation), but are fundamentally separated to not interfere with each other.
Workstations
Workstations are computers that are intended to serve one user and may contain special hardware enhancements not found on a personal computer. By the mid 1990s personal computers reached the processing capabilities of mini computers and workstations. Also, with the release of multi-tasking systems such as OS/2, Windows NT and Linux, the operating systems of personal computers could do the job of this class of machines. Today, the term is used to describe desktop PCs with high-performance hardware. Such hardware is usually aimed at a professional, rather than enthusiast, market (e.g. dual-processor motherboards, error-correcting memory, professional graphics cards).
Information appliances
Information appliances are computers specially designed to perform a specific "user-friendly" function—such as editing text, playing music, photography, videography etc. The term is most commonly applied to battery-operated mobile devices, though there are also wearable devices.
Embedded computers
Embedded computers are computers that are a part of a machine or device. Embedded computers generally execute a program that is stored in non-volatile memory and is only intended to operate a specific machine or device. Embedded computers are very common. The majority are microcontrollers. Embedded computers are typically required to operate continuously without being reset or rebooted, and once employed in their task the software usually cannot be modified. An automobile may contain a number of embedded computers; however, a washing machine or DVD player would contain only one microcontroller. Embedded computers are chosen to meet the requirements of the specific application, and most are slower and cheaper than CPUs found in a personal computer.
Classes by usage
Public computer
Public computers are open for public uses, possibly as an Interactive kiosk. There are many places where one can use them, such as cybercafes, schools and libraries.
They are normally fire-walled and restricted to run only their pre-installed software. The operating system is difficult to change and/or resides on a file server. For example, "thin client" machines in educational establishments may be reset to their original state between classes. Public computers are generally not expected to keep an individual's data files.
Personal computer
A personal computer has one user who may also be the owner (although the term has also come also mean any computer hardware somewhat like the original IBM PC, irrespective of how it is used). This user often may use all hardware resources, has complete access to any part of the computer and has rights to install/remove software. Personal computers normally store personal files, and often the owner/user is responsible for routine maintenance such as removing unwanted files and virus-scanning. Some computers in a business setting are for one user but are also served by staff with protocols to ensure proper maintenance.
Shared computer
These are computers where different people might log on at different times; unlike public computers, they would have usernames and passwords assigned on a long-term basis, with the files they see and the computer's settings adjusted to their particular account. Often the important data files will reside on a central file server, so a person could log onto different computers yet still see the same files. The computer (or workstation) might be a "thin client" or X terminal, otherwise it may have its own disk for some or all system files, but usually will need to be networked to the rest of the system for full functionality. Such systems normally require a system administrator to set up and maintain the hardware and software.
Display computer
Computers that are used just to display selected material (usually audio-visual, or simple slide shows) in a shop, meeting or trade show. These computers may have more capabilities than they are being used for; they are likely to have WiFi and so be capable of Internet access, but are rarely firewalled (but have restricted port access or monitored in some way). Such computers are used and maintained as appliances, and not normally used as the primary store for important files.
Classed by generation of computer technology
The history of computing hardware is often used to reference the different generations of computing devices:
First generation computers (1940-1955): It used vacuum tubes such as the 6J6 or specially designed tubes - or even mechanical arrangements, and were relatively slow, energy-hungry and the earliest computers were less flexible in their programmability.
Second generation computers (1956-1963): It used discrete transistors, and so were smaller and consumed less power.
Third generation computers (1964-1970): It used Integrated Circuits (ICs), the main difference between hardware in computers of the 1960s and today being the density of transistors in each IC (beginning with Small Scale Integration chips like the Transistor-transistor logic (TTL) SN7400 gates with 20 transistors, through Medium Scale Integration and Large Scale Integration to Very-large-scale integration (VLSI) with over ten billion transistors in a single silicon-based IC "chip".
Fourth generation computers(1971-present): It uses Microprocessors, as millions of ICs were built onto a single silicon-based chip. Since then form factor of computers reduced, task processing & graphic rendering improved and it became more battery-powered with the advent of personal mobile devices such as laptops, tablets, smartphones etc.
See also
List of computer size categories
Bell's law of computer classes
Analog computers
Feng's classification
Flynn's taxonomy
References
External links
Four types of Computers |
2564143 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philoctetes%20%28Sophocles%20play%29 | Philoctetes (Sophocles play) | Philoctetes (, Philoktētēs; English pronunciation: , stressed on the third syllable, -tet-) is a play by Sophocles (Aeschylus and Euripides also each wrote a Philoctetes but theirs have not survived). The play was written during the Peloponnesian War. It is one of the seven extant tragedies by Sophocles. It was first performed at the City Dionysia in 409 BC, where it won first prize. The story takes place during the Trojan War (after the majority of the events of the Iliad, but before the Trojan Horse). It describes the attempt by Neoptolemus and Odysseus to bring the disabled Philoctetes, the master archer, back to Troy from the island of Lemnos.
Background
When Heracles was near his death, he wished to be burned on a funeral pyre while still alive. In the play Philoctetes, Sophocles references the myth in which no one but Philoctetes would light Heracles' funeral pyre, and in return for this favor Heracles gave Philoctetes his bow (seen in later texts, such as Ovid's Metamorphoses). Philoctetes left with the Greeks to participate in the Trojan War, but was bitten on the foot by a snake while walking on Chryse, a sacred ground. The bite caused him constant agony, and emitted a horrible smell. For this reason he was left by Odysseus and the Atreidai (sons of Atreus) on the desert island Lemnos.
Ten years pass, and the Greeks capture the Trojan seer Helenus, son of Priam. He foretells that they will need the master archer Philoctetes and the bow of Heracles to win the war. Odysseus sails back to Lemnos with Neoptolemus (son of Achilles) to get Philoctetes. The task is not easy, as Philoctetes bitterly hates Odysseus and the Greeks for leaving him there.
Synopsis
Sophocles' Philoctetes begins with their arrival on the island. Odysseus explains to Neoptolemus that he must perform a shameful action in order to garner future glory—to take Philoctetes by tricking him with a false story while Odysseus hides. Neoptolemus is portrayed as an honorable boy, and so it takes some persuading to get him to play this part. To gain Philoctetes' trust, Neoptolemus tricks Philoctetes into thinking he hates Odysseus as well. Neoptolemus does this by telling Philoctetes that Odysseus has his father's (Achilles) armor. He tells Philoctetes that this armor was his right by birth, and Odysseus would not give it up to him. After gaining Philoctetes' trust and offering him a ride home, Neoptolemus is allowed to look at the bow of Heracles.
Neoptolemus holds the bow while Philoctetes is going into an unbearable fit of pain in his foot. Feeling ashamed, Neoptolemus debates giving it back to him. Odysseus appears, and a series of arguments ensue. Eventually Neoptolemus' conscience gains the upper hand, and he returns the bow. After many threats made on both sides, Odysseus flees. Neoptolemus then tries to talk Philoctetes into coming to Troy by his own free will, but Philoctetes does not agree. In the end, Neoptolemus consents to take Philoctetes back to Greece, even though that will expose him to the anger of the army. This appears to be the conclusion of the play—however, as they are leaving, Heracles (now a deity) appears above them and tells Philoctetes that if he goes to Troy, he will be cured and the Greeks will win. Philoctetes willingly obeys him.
The play ends here. When Philoctetes later fights in Troy, his foot is healed, and he wins glory, killing many Trojans (including Paris).
Themes and ideas
The concept of having a moral high ground is a key aspect in this play. The play makes the spectator question what morality means to each person. Furthermore, the play makes one question the struggle between what is right for the individual versus what is right for the group. It is possible that this struggle is irreconcilable. More specifically, one can see this struggle by looking at what has happened to Philoctetes versus what the Greeks need.
Another theme is that of trauma. Philoctetes suffers wounds that do not heal. Furthermore, Philoctetes' suffering is now what defines him, yet Neoptolemus pretends not to know Philoctetes at first. In other words, Philoctetes' suffering should at least make him known, but it is as if his story is dead.
Contemporary adaptations
The Theatre of War Project
The story of Philoctetes, dealing with the wounded man and the interwoven relationships with others, has been frequently noted. In 2005 Bryan Doerries, writer and director, began a series of readings of the play in the New York City area, noting the reactions of the audience to the reading, especially related to the reactions of audience members to the interaction of the suffering soldier and the conflicted caregiver. The project revolves around presenting such readings, especially to audiences of medical professionals and students.
A number of readings were followed by a panel discussion about doctor-patient relationships, involving presenters in psychiatry, physicians, and military medical personnel.
The concept has also been extended to training of medical students, such as a presentation also in 2007 to the first year medical class at Weill Medical College of Cornell University.<ref>{{cite web |first=Abigail |last=Zuger |title=The Difficult Patient, a Problem as Old as History (or Older, The Key Reporter (Phi Beta Kappa) |date=Spring 2008 |url=http://staging.pbk.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=TKR_Archives&Template=/CM/ContentDisplay.cfm&ContentIDID=2674/ |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061129202142/http://staging.pbk.org/AM/Template.cfm?Section=TKR_Archives |archive-date=2006-11-29 }}</ref>
In 2008, at a conference dedicated to finding new ways to help US Marines recover from post-traumatic stress and other disorders after serving in Iraq or Afghanistan, four New York actors presented a dramatic reading from Philoctetes and Ajax.
Fictional adaptations
Philoctetes also figures in Les Aventures de Télémaque (1699) by François Fénelon.
The Cure at Troy by Seamus Heaney, based on Philoctetes Neutral Ground by Tom Stoppard, loosely based on Philoctetes (as stated in the introduction to Stoppard's collected television plays).
The Man in the Maze by Robert Silverberg, a retelling of the play in a science fictional idiom.
Heracles' Bow (short story) by Madeline Miller
New Amsterdam (2018 TV series) season 2 episode 7 2019 episode Good Soldiers
Paradise by Kae Tempest, performed at the Royal National Theatre in London in 2021
Translations
Thomas Francklin, 1759 – verse: full text
Richard C. Jebb, 1904 – prose: full text
Francis Storr, 1912 – verse
Kathleen Freeman, 1948 – verse OCLC 10111365
E.F. Watling, 1953 - verse and prose
David Grene, 1957 – verse
Kenneth McLeish, 1979 – verse
Gregory McNamee, 1986 – prose: full text
Christopher Webber, 1989 – verse and prose
Desmond Egan, 1991 poetic prose
Seth L. Schein, 2003 – verse and prose
Carl Phillips, 2003
Ian C. Johnston, 2008 - verse: full text
George Theodoridis, 2009 – prose: full text
Bryan Doerries, 2014 – verse
Notes
Further reading
Austin, N. 2011. Sophocles' Philoctetes and the Great Soul Robbery. Madison: Univ. of Wisconsin Press.
Doerries, B. 2015. The Theater of War: What Ancient Tragedies Can Teach us Today. New York: Alfred A. Knopf.
Falkner, T. M. 1998. "Containing Tragedy: Rhetoric and Self-representation in Sophocles’ Philoctetes". Classical Antiquity 17:25–58.
Gardiner, C. P. 1987. The Sophoclean Chorus: A Study of Character and Function. Iowa City: Univ. of Iowa Press.
Gill, C. 1980. "Bow, Oracle, and Epiphany in Sophocles' Philoctetes". Greece & Rome 27:137–146.
Hall, E. 2012. "Ancient Greek Responses to Suffering: Thinking with Philoctetes". In Perspectives on Human Suffering. Edited by J. Malpas and N. Likiss, 155–169. Dordrecht, The Netherlands, and New York: Springer.
Heaney, S. 1990. The Cure at Troy: A Version of Sophocles’s Philoctetes. London: Faber and Faber.
Heath, M. 1999. "Sophocles’ Philoctetes: A Problem Play?" In Sophocles Revisited: Essays Presented to Sir Hugh Lloyd-Jones. Edited by J. Griffin, 137–160. Oxford: Oxford Univ. Press.
Jameson, M. H. 1956. "Politics and the Philoctetes". Classical Philology 51:217–227.
Long, A. A. 1968. Language and Thought in Sophocles: A Study of Abstract Nouns and Poetic Technique. University of London Classical Studies 6. London: Athlone.
Schein, S. L. 2006. "The Iliad and Odyssey in Sophocles’ Philoctetes: Generic Complexity and Ethical Ambiguity". In Greek Drama III. Essays in Honour of Kevin Lee. Edited by J. F. Davidson, F. Muecke, and P. Wilson, 129–140. Bulletin of the Institute of Classical Studies'' supplement 87. London: Institute of Classical Studies.
External links
Philoctetes at Perseus Digital Library
Theatre of War - Readings and Discussion from Philoctetes
Medical ethics in fiction
Medical sociology
Odysseus
Philoctetes
Plays set in ancient Greece
Trojan War literature |
31590539 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Content%20centric%20networking | Content centric networking | In contrast to IP-based, host-oriented, Internet architecture, content centric networking (CCN) emphasizes content by making it directly addressable and routable. Endpoints communicate based on named data instead of IP addresses. CCN is characterized by the basic exchange of content request messages (called "Interests") and content return messages (called "Content Objects"). It is considered an information-centric networking (ICN) architecture.
The goals of CCN are to provide a more secure, flexible and scalable network thereby addressing the Internet's modern-day requirements for secure content distribution on a massive scale to a diverse set of end devices. CCN embodies a security model that explicitly secures individual pieces of content rather than securing the connection or "pipe". It provides flexibility by using data names instead of host names (IP addresses). Additionally, named and secured content resides in distributed caches automatically populated on demand or selectively pre-populated. When requested by name, CCN delivers named content to the user from the nearest cache, traversing fewer network hops, eliminating redundant requests, and consuming less resources overall. CCN began as a research project at the Palo Alto Research Center (PARC) in 2007. The first software release (CCNx 0.1) was made available in 2009. CCN is the ancestor of related approaches, including named data networking. CCN Technology and its open source code base has been acquired by Cisco in February 2017.
History
The principles behind information-centric networks were first described in the original 17 rules of Ted Nelson's Project Xanadu in 1979. In 2002, Brent Baccala submitted an Internet Draft differentiating between connection-oriented and data-oriented networking and suggested that the Internet web architecture was rapidly becoming more data oriented. In 2006, the DONA project at UC Berkeley and ICSI proposed an information centric network architecture, which improved TRIAD by incorporating security (authenticity) and persistence as first-class primitives in the architecture. On August 30, 2006, PARC Research Fellow Van Jacobson gave a talk titled "A new way to look at Networking" at Google. The CCN project was officially launched at PARC in 2007. In 2009, PARC announced the CCNx project (Content Centric Network), publishing the interoperability specifications and an open source implementation on the Project CCNx website on September 21, 2009. The original CCN design was described in a paper published at the International Conference on emerging Networking EXperiments and Technologies (CoNEXT) in December 2009.
Annual CCNx Community meetings were held in 2011, 2012, 2013 and 2015.
The protocol specification for CCNx 1.0 has been made available for comment and discussion. Work on CCNx happens openly in the ICNRG IRTF research group.
Specification
The CCNx specification was published in some IETF drafts. The specifications included:
draft-irtf-icnrg-ccnxsemantics-01
draft-irtf-icnrg-ccnxmessages-01
draft-mosko-icnrg-ccnxurischeme-00
Seamless data integration within an open-run environment was proposed as a major contributing factor in protecting the security of cloud-based analytics and key network encryption. The driving force in adopting these heuristics was twofold: Batch-interrupted data streams remaining confined to an optimal run environment; and secure shared cloud access depending upon integrative analytic processes.
Software
The CCNx software was available on GitHub.
Motivation and benefits
The functional goal of the Internet Protocol as conceived and created in the 1970s was to enable two machines, one comprising resources and the other desiring access to those resources, to have a conversation with each other. The operating principle was to assign addresses to end-points, thereby enabling these end-points to locate and connect with one another.
Since those early days, there have been fundamental changes in the way the Internet is used — from the proliferation of social networking services to viewing and sharing digital content such as videos, photographs, documents, etc. Instead of providing basic connectivity, the Internet has become largely a distribution network with massive amounts of video and web page content flowing from content providers to viewers. Internet users of today are demanding faster, more efficient, and more secure access to content without being concerned with where that content might be located.
Networks are also used in many environments where the traditional TCP/IP communication model doesn't fit. The Internet of Things (IoT) and sensor networks are environments where the source-destination communication model doesn't always provide the best solution.
CCN was designed to work in many environments from high-speed data centers to resource constrained sensors. CCN aims to be:
Secure - The CCN communication model secures data and not the communication pipe between two specific end-hosts. However, ubiquitous content caching and absence of secure communication pipe between end hosts introduces the challenge to content protection against the unauthorized access, which requires extra care and solutions.
Flexible - CCN uses names to communicate. Names can be location independent and are much more adaptable than IP addresses. Network elements can make more advanced choices based on the named requests and data.
Scalable - CCN enables the network to scale by allowing caching, enabling native multicast traffic, providing native load balancing and facilitating resource planning.
Basic concepts
Content Object messages are named payloads that are the network-sized chunks of data. Names are a hierarchical series of binary name segments that are assigned to Content Objects by content publishers. Signatures are cryptographic bindings between a name, a payload, and the Key Id of the publisher. This is used for provenance. Interest messages are requests for Content Objects that match the name along with some optional restrictions on that object.
The core protocol operates as follows: Consumers issue a request for content by sending an Interest message with the name of the desired content. The network routes the interest based on the name using longest prefix match. The interest leaves state as it traverses the network. This state is stored in the Pending Interest Table (PIT). When a match is found (when an Interest matches a Content Object) the content is sent back on the reverse path of the Interest, following the PIT state created by the Interest.
Because the content is self identifiable (via the name and the security binding) any Content Object can be cached. Interest messages may be matched against caches along the way, not only at the publishers.
Distributed caching within a content-centric network is also possible, requiring multifunctional access parameters across the database. This essentially enables shared network encryption algorithms to employ role-based access limitations to users based on defined authorization levels.
CCNx releases
CCNx 0.x
Interests match Content Objects based on name prefixes. For example, an Interest for /a/b would match a Content Object named /a/b/c/d or /a/b.
Interests include restrictions in the form of selectors. These help the network select which of the possible prefix matches are an actual match. For example, an Interest might exclude certain names, ask for a minimum or maximum number of extra name segments, etc.
Content Objects have an implicit final name component that is equal to the hash of the Content Object. This may be used for matching to a name.
Packet encoding is done using ccnb (a proprietary format based on a type of binary XML).
The last version of this branch is 0.8.2 Software is available under a GPL license. Specifications and documentation are also available.
CCNx 1.x
CCNx 1.x differs from CCNx 0.x in the following ways:
Interests match Content Objects on exact names, not name prefixes. Therefore, an Interest for /a/b/ will only match a Content Object with the name /a/b.
Interests can restrict matches on the publisher KeyID or the object's ContentObjectHash.
A nested type–length–value (TLV) format is used to encode all messages on the wire. Each message is composed of a set of packet headers and a protocol message that includes the name, the content (or payload), and information used to cryptographically validate the message – all contained in nested TLVs.
The specification of CCNx 1.0 is available at: http://blogs.parc.com/ccnx/specifications/
Derivative works
Named data networking is an NSF funded project based on the original CCNx 0.x code.
CCN-lite is a lightweight version of CCNx functionally interoperable with CCN 0.x.
Related Projects
GreenICN is a project focused on disaster recovery scenarios using an Information Centric Networking paradigm.
See also
Information-centric networking
Named data networking
Information-centric networking caching policies
References
Computer networking |
56077921 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friend%20%28operating%20system%29 | Friend (operating system) | The Friend OS or the Friend Unifying Platform is a network based Meta Operating System – a technology that can be used implementing a graphical user interface delivered through a browser, with a back-end that behaves like an operating system. This operating system connects resources and end-user software together in a seamless user experience that can be accessed anywhere. Additionally, it can be customized and prepped for any security requirements and is the first open source cloud operating system that aims to unify web applications and deliver an ecosystem for them to be used across all devices.
Friend OS offers users a device agnostic computing environment accessible via the Friend Workspace, an HTML5 and JavaScript based user interface where file management and applications can be run.
The project was started in 2014 by Friend Software Labs and they delivered their first open source version on GitHub in June 2017.
They announced a partnership with the Golem project in November 2017. Friend will integrate their operating system environment into Golem’s distributed computing platform.
Overview
Friend OS is a multi-user meta operating system. Based on the Friend Core kernel, it is designed to be a complete operating system which will evolve and adapt with information and communication technologies.
It employs a Blockchain based database structure for security, and is developed with decentralised flows of information in mind.
Friend OS is designed to fit the Liquid Computing workflow concept by using a desktop environment and applications that can be accessed via a web browser without the need for any additional plugins, meaning it can run on any device, from a smartphone, to a high end workstation.
It also fits the Web 4.0 outline of being a middleware where the Internet functions like an operating system. Where Friend OS enables more intuitive forms of resource management, or can be used between devices more easily. The term Web 4.0 itself is used to indicate another phase of the internet and World Wide Web — where humans and machines have a more symbiotic relationship. Friend OS fits within its framework, as well as future iterations of the Web, because it supports efficient and intelligent information flows.
Components
Friend Core
Friend Core is Friend’s kernel. It behaves like a web server and operates as an operating system kernel for Friend applications. It also handles user sessions and resources that are available on the remote server. Friend Core is primarily written in C for speed, which allows it to handle requests on high bandwidth networks with 2ms response times.
Features
Friend Core is a small and fast web server with an OS inside of it. Written mainly in C, it provides low-level system calls to its native applications. Friend Core also integrates with various file systems, provides clustering with other core instances via Friend Network and ensures secure user data storage.
Friend Workspace
The Friend Workspace is the desktop and mobile environment of the Friend OS. It adapts to your device – whether it is a desktop computer, a tablet or a smart phone. It is highly collaborative – with a built-in chat, and an audio and video conferencing solution that’s just a click away.
The Friend Workspace allows you to share files and collaboratively edit office documents. And if you’re away from the office – it will kindly send you push notifications when you have an important message
Libraries
Some of Friend Core's functionality is implemented as runtime linked libraries. This allows for the exchanging of pluggable libraries while Friend Core is running. This provides advantages when sand-boxing and handling decentralised data flows.
Modules (Node.js/PHP/Python)
Friend Core is modular. The modules extend the system with any functionality required by applications on the server side. The modules can be written using many programming languages like Node/JavaScript, PHP, Python, Perl or Java. The modules are user and group permission sensitive, allowing for various degrees of access control. Using a highly optimised core, time to first byte (TTFB) round trips are kept to a minimum.
File System Drivers
Friend Core provides a file system driver API that allows developers to build support for any file system or standards-based web resource using several programming languages. A DOS driver implements basic functions for reading and writing to various remote and cloud service disks such as Dropbox, Google Drive, SAMBA, and others.
Friend Network
Friend Core servers form a network between them for increased scalability, access to computing power, additional services and resources.
Friend Network can also provide an open client-side/server-side decentralised and distributed supercomputing network which allows users to share resources and form workgroups. This one is owned, run and governed by token holders, and can act as auxiliary infrastructure for businesses and organisations.
Frnd Token
A global network needs an immutable bookkeeping system. The FRND Token uses Blockchain technology to trace all transactions in the Friend Network. And it adds a logic layer that can be utilised to form contractual relationships between users and vendors. It allows for decentralisation of the Friend Sky Computing network.
Friend runs a variety of applications both natively and via remote sessions.
Applications
Web Suite
Friend provides you with a Workspace and full office suite and connectivity to MS-office, GSuite and other comparable cloud services. It gives you complete freedom to choose where your data is processed and where it is stored. Easily drag and drop between all applications – it’s never been simpler to multitask online.
Our Document, Presentation and Spreadsheet apps run on any device while letting you choose where you want to store your documents.
Friend comes with a flexible suite of file systems that lets you store data both on-premise and using your preferred storage provider. Easy user and storage administration make your everyday life easier while keeping your documents safely under your control.
Web Applications
Friend OS is compatible with web applications. As the OS is built using web technologies, applications hosted on the web can easily be executed inside the Friend Workspace.
Friend Applications
The Friend Workspace has its own set of APIs and protocols. Native Friend applications are fully integrated into the operating system and allow features such as pull down menus, managed windows and a range of GUI controls. They are localized therefore they operate much quicker than web hosted or Windows apps.
Friend comes bundled with several applications including a native video, audio and text conferencing suite called Friend Chat.
Windows Applications
By routing through the Liberator application stack, a user can run Windows applications directly in the Friend Workspace, alongside Web and Friend applications. By integrating through the RDP protocol, the Windows applications act like they are native web applications. Users can perform functions such as transferring files from Friend disk drives directly into their your Windows applications as well as and copy and paste text from within the Friend Workspace.
Friend Hydrogen
Release history
V.1.0.0 - First public open source release.
V.1.1.0 - Second public open source release.
V.1.2.0 - Third public open source release.
V.1.2.4 - Release of Friend Hydrogen
References
External links
TWiT FLOSS Weekly Friend special
Open-source cloud applications
Operating systems |
927585 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minisupercomputer | Minisupercomputer | Minisupercomputers constituted a short-lived class of computers that emerged in the mid-1980s, characterized by the combination of vector processing and small-scale multiprocessing. As scientific computing using vector processors became more popular, the need for lower-cost systems that might be used at the departmental level instead of the corporate level created an opportunity for new computer vendors to enter the market. As a generalization, the price targets for these smaller computers were one-tenth of the larger supercomputers.
Several notable technical, economic, and political attributes characterize minisupercomputers. First, they were architecturally more diverse than prior mainframes and minicomputers in hardware and less diverse in software. Second, advances in VLSI made them less expensive (mini-price). These machines were market targeted to be cost-effective and quickly manufactured. Third, it is notable who did not manufacture minisupercomputers: within the USA, IBM and the traditional mainframe makers, outside the USA: the Japanese supercomputer vendors and Russia (despite attempts to manufacture minicomputers).
The appearance of even lower-priced scientific workstations (e.g., Dana Computer/Ardent Computer/Stellar Computer (the merger of these companies)) based on microprocessors with high performance floating point units (FPUs) during the 1990s (such as the MIPS R8000, IBM POWER2), and Weitek eroded the demand for this class of computer.
The industry magazine Datamation coined the term "crayette" which in short order meant instruction set compatible to Cray Research, Inc.
Notable minisupercomputer companies (alphabetically) (mostly defunct)
Ametek
Alliant Computer Systems (founded 1982 as Dataflow Systems; went bankrupt in 1992)
American Supercomputer (founded by Mike Flynn, failed 2nd round funding)
Astronautics (Division founded by Jim Smith, U. Wisc)
BBN Technologies (Acquired by Raytheon in 2009)
Convex Computer (founded 1982 as Parsec; acquired by Hewlett-Packard in 1995)
Culler Harris (CHI)
Culler Scientific
Cydrome (founded 1984, closed in 1988)
DEC (VAX 9000) (Acquired by Compaq in 1998, who was acquired by HP in 2002)
Elxsi Corporation (founded 1979) (Acquired by Tata)
Encore Computer (founded 1983; acquired in 2002 by Compro Computer Services)
Evans & Sutherland
Flexible Computer
Floating Point Systems (founded 1970; acquired by Cray Research in 1991)
Guiltech/SAXPY
HAL Computer Systems (Closed in 2001)
ICL (DAP) (Acquired by Fujitsu in 2002)
Kendall Square Research (Closed in 1994)
Key Laboratories
MasPar (Ceased operations in 1996)
Meiko Scientific (Ceased operations in 1991)
Myrias Research Corporation (Canadian firm, Edmonton, AB)
Multiflow Computer (founded 1984; ceased operation in 1990)
nCUBE (Acquired by C-COR in 2005)
Prisma
Parsytec
Pyramid Technology (Acquired by Siemens in 1995)
Scientific Computer Systems (founded 1983; switched to high-speed network development in 1989; now defunct)
Sequent (Acquired by IBM in 1999)
Solbourne (Acquired by Deloitte in 2008)
SUPRENUM (Started as research in 1985, cancelled in 1990)
Supertek Computers (Founded 1985; acquired by Cray Research in 1990)
Thinking Machines Corporation (Acquired by SUN in 1994)
Vitesse Corporation (Closed the computer division in 1987)
References
External links
Book on the history of Multiflow
Classes of computers |
25628295 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Liverpool%20Data%20Research%20Associates | Liverpool Data Research Associates | Liverpool Data Research Associates (LDRA) is a provider of software analysis, and test and requirements traceability tools for the Public and Private sectors and a pioneer in static and dynamic software analysis.
History
LDRA was founded in 1975 by Professor Michael Hennell to commercialize a software test-bed created to perform quality assessments on the mathematical libraries on which his Nuclear physics research at the University of Liverpool depended.
Products
LDRA Testbed is a proprietary software analysis tool providing static code analysis, and also provides code coverage analysis, code, quality, and design reviews. It is a commercial implementation of the software test-bed created by Hennell as part of his university research. It was the first commercial product to include support for the Linear Code Sequence and Jump software analysis method, which resulted from the same research. It is used primarily where software is required to be reliable, rugged, and as error free as possible, such as in safety critical aerospace electronics (or Avionics). It has also been used in the detection and removal of security vulnerabilities. LDRA Testbed is a part of a tool suite from LDRA, including:
TBrun — an automated unit testing tool
TBmanager — a requirements traceability tool
TBevolve — supports software baseline management
TBsafe — supports certification objectives: DO-178C, Def Stan 00-55, IEC 61508
TBpublish — for publishing HTML indexes
TBaudit — for Microsoft Word reports
LDRAcover — coverage tool
LDRArules — standards compliance
TBmisra — LDRArules add-on to apply MISRA C:2012 and other related or similar safety and security rulesets<
Tool Qualification Support Packages — for safety- and security-critical workflows, e.g., DO-178C
Services
In March 2012, LDRA announced a fully compliant FAA/EASA certification solution to provide support and guide certification applicants through a wide range of standards including:
DO-178C(B), DO-278A, DO-254
IEC 62304
ISO 26262
EN 50128
IEC 60880
Industry Standards
LDRA is a contributor to several industry standards, including DO-178C, MISRA C and MISRA C++. Additionally, LDRA is an Industry Partner for the CERT C Secure Coding Standard produced by the Computer Emergency Response Team at Carnegie Mellon's Software Engineering Institute.
In February 2018, LDRA announced the hiring of Andrew Banks to boost their Standards activities. Banks is the Chairman of both the MISRA C Working Group and of the BSI Software Testing Working Group, and a contributor to a number of national and international standards in the Software Engineering and Functional Safety domains, notably ISO 26262.
References
Software companies of the United Kingdom
Privately held companies of the United Kingdom |
4501454 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia%20PC%20Suite | Nokia PC Suite | Nokia PC Suite is a discontinued software package used to establish an interface between Nokia mobile devices and computers that run the Microsoft Windows operating system. Its first release was in 1997, originally called Nokia Data Suite. It was replaced by Nokia Suite and integrated into the Ovi service suite.
Functionality
Nokia PC Suite can be used to transfer music, photos and applications. It can also be used to send Short Message Service (SMS) messages or act as a modem to connect the computer to the Internet. A mobile phone can be connected by USB, Bluetooth, or infrared.
Some older Nokia phones lack compatibility with later versions of the PC Suite. The official site supplies a table that matches each phone model with the most recent compatible version.
The latest version of Nokia PC Suite also contains several integrated applications, including the File Manager, Application Installer and "Nokia Communication Centre" data viewer. PC Suite users can also access on-device features (e.g. battery, memory and call handling), as well as Nokia PC Sync functionality.
History
Some of the earliest devices that worked with Nokia Data Suite were Nokia 3110, Nokia 6110 and Nokia 8110.
Nokia PC Suite has been unimproved, and was replaced by Nokia's next generation phone suite software, Nokia Suite, which supported other platforms in addition to Windows.
Nokia Suite drops the Lotus Notes client sync support which is present in Nokia PC Suite, instead requiring the user to use Lotus Notes' Traveler software. This must be installed and maintained on the Lotus Notes server; synchronization using PC Suite works from the phone to the user's PC, while synchronization on a phone which has Nokia Suite must use third-party software.
Limitations
The backup feature in PC Suite uses a non-documented binary file format (.nbu), which can only be used to restore to a phone through the proprietary client. This means that the data can only be accessed by doing a restore to a working phone. Third-party programs (either commercial or free) can be used to read the file, but they greatly vary in the amount of information they can retrieve.
Nokia PC Sync
Nokia PC Sync allows the user to synchronize contacts, calendar, notes, to-do items, e-mails, bookmarks and files/folders between a supported Nokia mobile phone and:
Microsoft Outlook 2000-2007 (Outlook 2010 x64 doesn't work with PC Suite at the moment, but its possible to sync via Nokia Suite (tested with 3.1 and E71). Office 2010 x86 does, but is not officially supported. )
Microsoft Outlook Express / Windows Address Book
Lotus Organizer 5.0-6.0
Lotus Notes 5.x-8.x
Microsoft Windows Vista Contacts
Microsoft Windows Vista Calendar
Microsoft Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox bookmarks
Windows 2000/XP files/folders
PC Sync 7.0.9.2 contained a major bug, truncating street addresses which have been edited on the PC to run over more than one line, when synchronized back to the phone. It was possible to lose large parts of your contacts' address information due to this issue.
Nokia Maps
Nokia PC Suite is unable to add or update maps and voices for the Nokia Maps application. This requires Nokia Map Loader or Nokia Suite; both require Microsoft Windows with the .NET Framework installed. However, it is possible to download maps for Nokia Maps without need for Nokia Map Loader or Nokia Suite by pointing a web browser directly to the map files on Nokia's Maps server.
System requirements
Available hard disk space: 250 MB (file size approx 25 MB)
Operating system: Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP Professional or Home (SP2 or higher)
Connection methods: USB cable, Bluetooth, or Infrared
Supported Bluetooth stacks (software):
Microsoft Windows Bluetooth (included in XP SP2, Vista and 7)
Toshiba Bluetooth stack for Windows XP/2000 v 4.0
WIDCOMM BTW 1.4, 3.0, 4.0, 5.0
IVT BlueSoleil Bluetooth stack
Windows XP/2000 use driver version 1.6.1.4
Nokia Nseries, Eseries, and 3250 phones require driver version 2.1.2.0
Related products
iNoki - an iPhone app for transfer Nokia PC Suite backup file to iPhone & iPad
Noki - an explorer for Nokia PC Suite backup file (.nbu, .nfb, .nfc, .arc - sd card backup file and contacts.cdb - symbian contact database format)
References
External links
Nokia services
Mobile device management software
S60 (software platform) |
1968295 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Creative%20Computing%20%28magazine%29 | Creative Computing (magazine) | Creative Computing was one of the earliest magazines covering the microcomputer revolution. Published from October 1974 until December 1985, the magazine covered the spectrum of hobbyist/home/personal computing in a more accessible format than the rather technically oriented Byte.
The magazine was created to cover educational-related topics. Early issues include articles on the use of computers in the classroom, various simple programs like madlibs and various programming challenges, mostly in BASIC. By the late 1970s, it had moved towards more general coverage as the microcomputer market emerged. Hardware coverage became more common, but type-in programs remained common into the early 1980s.
The company published several books, the most successful being BASIC Computer Games, the first million-selling computer book. Their Best of Creative Computing collections were also popular. Creative Computing also published software on cassette and floppy disk for the popular computer systems of the time and had a small hardware business.
Ziff-Davis purchased Creative Computing in 1983 and closed the non-magazine endeavors.
History
DEC and Edu
Prior to starting Creative Computing, in the early 1970s David H. Ahl was working in the educational department of Digital Equipment Corporation (DEC) where he started publication of their Edu newsletter in the spring of 1971. At the time, DEC had an estimated 2,000 to 3,000 machines being used in educational settings, so he was surprised to find the number of subscribers reach 20,000 after 18 months. He found that many subscribers did not have a DEC machine but were using Edu as a source of general information on computers in educational settings. This began his earliest thoughts about a non-DEC magazine aimed at this market.
On 22 February 1973, Ahl was let go during a downsizing at DEC. Even before he received his last paycheck, he was hired by a different department to help develop new low-end versions of the DEC minicomputer line. During this period he collected many user submissions to Edu and convinced DEC to publish 101 BASIC Computer Games in the summer of 1973. This was a hit, eventually selling over 10,000 copies in three publishing runs in July 1973, April 1974, and March 1975.
By 1974, the team had produced two new designs, a PDP-8 combined with a VT50 terminal, and a briefcase-sized version of the PDP-8 with a small floppy disk that would be used with an external computer terminal. Other divisions within DEC saw these inexpensive machines as a threat to their own products and agitated against them, causing debates that eventually worked their way to the CEO. When the new designs were personally canceled by Ken Olsen with the statement that "I can't see any reason that anyone would want a computer of his own" Ahl quit DEC and took a position at AT&T.
Formation
It was at this point that Ahl decided to move ahead with the educational-focused magazine. Reasoning that the educational market would be of interest to public foundations and many companies, Ahl sent funding proposals to over a hundred companies and received nothing. Instead, he used his own funds to print 11,000 copies of a flier that he sent to Hewlett-Packard and other minicomputer vendors, which resulted in 850 subscriptions to a magazine that did not even exist yet.
Instead of printing 850 copies, Ahl split the subscription money in two; he kept one half for future operations, and used the other half to print as many copies of the new magazine as he could. This allowed for the printing of 8,000 copies of the first edition, which were completed on 7 October 1974. The subscribers were sent their copies first, but the rest were sent for free to a wide variety of companies, libraries and schools. He followed the same pattern for the next three issues. The trick worked, and subscriptions began to pour in. During this period the magazine was based in Morristown, New Jersey.
Growth
By August 1975 the magazine had 2,500 subscribers. In January, the Altair 8800 had been announced and Ahl began looking for new authors who could write for the exploding microcomputer market. By 1976 the content was roughly split between the education and microcomputing market. At that point, the magazine started actively looking for advertisers and the November/December 1976 issue was the first to be printed on coated paper rather than newsprint to provide better quality ads.
By 1978 the subscriptions hit 60,000, and revenue was approaching $1 million. In July 1978, Ahl quit his position at AT&T to work at Creative Computing full time. This caused friction with his wife. In August, they purchased ROM magazine and two smaller newsletters and combined their content into the magazine. In January 1979, the magazine went monthly from bimonthly.
By 1979 the magazine had outgrown the single-family home it was being run from, and Ahl looked for a larger duplex home that would allow him to live with his wife in one half and run the magazine from the other. It was at this time that Regis McKenna, the advertising company handling Apple Computer, was asked to pay an overdue advertising bill. The company provided a canceled check proving they had already done so. When they began tracking it down, the police were called and found that two people in the company had embezzled $100,000 by sending some incoming cheques to their own account at a different bank. This was only discovered because one of the conspirators had forgotten to mark the bill with McKenna as paid, causing a second invoice to be sent out.
When she was told the story, Ahl's wife had enough and kicked him out of the house pending a divorce. He moved into the only unused room in the other side of the building. During this time, Ted Nelson, known for the invention of hypertext, was briefly the editor. Nelson would arrive at 5 pm and work all night, waking Ahl in the bedroom when he started printing on a Qume daisy wheel printer. In October 1980 the company moved to a much larger office building.
Through this period, featured writers included Robert Swirsky, David Lubar, and John J. Anderson. The magazine regularly included BASIC source code for utility programs and games, which users could manually enter into their home computers. The April issues, starting in 1980, became famous for their parodies of the major computer magazines of the time.
Ziff-Davis
Larger publishers began taking note of the computer market. A watershed moment was in 1979 when McGraw-Hill purchased Byte. By 1982, most of the quality magazines had been purchased and only a few large ones remained independent, including Compute!, Interface Age, Family Computing and Creative Computing.
Realizing they were being pushed out of the market due to the huge budgets and marketing power of these major players, in 1982 Ahl approached several potential buyers, including Atari, CBS and Ziff-Davis. In 1983 Ahl sold the company to Ziff-Davis, which at that time published 28 different magazines. Ahl remained the Editor-in-Chief. The magazine moved to Los Angeles, California. At their peak, the magazine reached about 500,000 subscriptions.
Through the early 1980s, and especially with the launch of the IBM PC, the market began to shift from a hobby-and-educational oriented one to more and more business applications. Ziff quickly shifted the focus of the magazine to be more software-oriented, and the programming articles disappeared shortly after the sale. This attempt to refocus on business computing was not successful, and when Bill Ziff had a cancer scare in 1985 he began concentrating his businesses, selling off many of the specialty magazines. Ziff ultimately ceased publication of Creative Computing in December 1985.
Other magazines
The company also began publication of several other magazines at different times, but none of these were very successful and tended to have very short production runs. Among these were Small Business Computing, Sync Magazine for the ZX81, and Video and Arcade Games.
Books
The company also published several books. Among these were three volumes of The Best of Creative Computing Magazine (Creative Computing Press) in 1976, 1977, and 1980. The cover of volume 2 was illustrated by underground cartoonist Gilbert Shelton. 101 BASIC Computer Games was ported to Microsoft BASIC and published in 1978 as BASIC Computer Games. It became the first million-selling computer book. This was followed by More BASIC Computer Games in 1979.
It also published the first The Best of Byte collection, in spite of being friendly competitors with Byte. The relationship ended with the McGraw-Hill purchase.
Software
A number of home computer games were published under the Sensational Software banner, also known as Creative Computing Software. Their best seller was a version of Space Invaders for the Apple II. Ziff-Davis closed the division as they felt it competed with their advertisers.
Titles included:
Air Traffic Controller (1979)
Released on cassette for the TRS-80 and Apple II.
Space Games-3 (1980) CS-3002
A collection of 4 games, containing Ultratrek, Romulan, Starwars, Starlanes; released on cassette for the TRS-80.
Space and Sport Games (1980)
A collection of 9 games, with 3 space games amongst them. Released on diskette for the Apple II.
Super Invasion/Spacewar (1980)
A collection of 2 games, containing Super Invasion and Spacewar; released on diskette for the Apple II.
Action & Bumping Games (1981)
A collection of 6 games, containing Bumper Blocks, Obstacle Course, Hustle Jr., Moto Jump, Mine Rover, Road Machine; released on diskette for the Apple II.
Milestones (1981)
Released on cassette and diskette for the Apple II.
Hardware
The company also briefly sold hardware under the Peripherals Plus brand. The main product was a music card for the Apple II, although they also sold a plotter and a few other products. Ziff closed this division as well.
Notes
References
Other sources
External links
Three Best of Creative Computing volumes are available at AtariArchives.org
The full text of most of the issues from the last three years (1983–1985) of this magazine can be found at AtariMagazines.com
Full page scans of most issues, except the earliest three years, can be found at Archive.org
1974 establishments in New Jersey
1985 disestablishments in California
Atari 8-bit computer magazines
Defunct computer magazines published in the United States
Home computer magazines
Magazines established in 1974
Magazines disestablished in 1985
Magazines published in New Jersey
Magazines published in Los Angeles |
239392 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BibTeX | BibTeX | BibTeX is reference management software for formatting lists of references. The BibTeX tool is typically used together with the LaTeX document preparation system. Within the typesetting system, its name is styled as . The name is a portmanteau of the word bibliography and the name of the TeX typesetting software.
The purpose of BibTeX is to make it easy to cite sources in a consistent manner, by separating bibliographic information from the presentation of this information, similarly to the separation of content and presentation/style supported by LaTeX itself.
Basic structure
In the words of the program's author Oren Patashnik:
Here's how BibTeX works. It takes as input
BibTeX chooses from the .bib file(s) only those entries specified by the .aux file (that is, those given by LaTeX's or commands), and creates as output a .bbl file containing these entries together with the formatting commands specified by the .bst file [..]. LaTeX will use the .bbl file, perhaps edited by the user, to produce the reference list.
History
BibTeX was created by Oren Patashnik and Leslie Lamport in 1985. It is written in WEB/Pascal.
Version 0.98f was released in March 1985.
With version 0.99c (released February 1988), a stationary state was reached for 22 years.
In March 2010, version 0.99d was released to improve URL printing. Further releases were announced.
Reimplementations
During the period following BibTeX's implementation in 1985, several reimplementations have been published:
BibTeXu
A reimplementation of bibtex (by Yannis Haralambous and his students) that supports the UTF-8 character set. Taco Hoekwater of the LuaTeX team criticized it in 2010 for poor documentation and for generating errors that are difficult to debug.
bibtex8
A reimplementation of bibtex that supports 8-bit character sets.
CL-BibTeX
A completely compatible reimplementation of bibtex in Common Lisp, capable of using bibtex .bst files directly or converting them into human-readable Lisp .lbst files. CL-BibTeX supports Unicode in Unicode Lisp implementations, using any character set that Lisp knows about.
MLBibTeX
A reimplementation of BibTeX focusing on multilingual features, by Jean-Michel Hufflen.
BibLaTeX
A complete reimplementation. "It redesigns the way in which LaTeX interacts with BibTeX at a fairly fundamental level. With biblatex, BibTeX is only used to sort the bibliography and to generate labels. Instead of being implemented in BibTeX's style files, the formatting of the bibliography is entirely controlled by TeX macros." It uses the bibliography processing program Biber and offers full Unicode and theming support.
Bibulous
A drop-in BibTeX replacement based on style templates, including full Unicode support, written in Python.
Bibliographic information file
BibTeX uses a style-independent text-based file format for lists of bibliography items, such as articles, books, and theses. BibTeX bibliography file names usually end in .bib. A BibTeX database file is formed by a list of entries, with each entry corresponding to a bibliographical item. Entry types correspond to various types of bibliographic sources such as article, book, or conference.
An example entry which describes a mathematical handbook would be structured as an entry name followed by a list of fields, such as author and title:
@Book{abramowitz+stegun,
author = "Milton {Abramowitz} and Irene A. {Stegun}",
title = "Handbook of Mathematical Functions with
Formulas, Graphs, and Mathematical Tables",
publisher = "Dover",
year = 1964,
address = "New York City",
edition = "ninth Dover printing, tenth GPO printing"
}
If a document references this handbook, the bibliographic information may be formatted in different ways depending on which citation style (APA, MLA, Chicago etc.) is employed. The way LaTeX deals with this is by specifying commands and the desired bibliography style in the LaTeX document. If the command appears inside a LaTeX document, the bibtex program will include this book in the list of references for the document and generate appropriate LaTeX formatting code. When viewing the formatted LaTeX document, the result might look like this:
Abramowitz, Milton and Irene A. Stegun (1964), Handbook of mathematical functions with formulas, graphs, and mathematical tables. New York: Dover.
Depending on the style file, BibTeX may rearrange authors' last names, change the case of titles, omit fields present in the .bib file, format text in italics, add punctuation, etc. Since the same style file is used for an entire list of references, these are all formatted consistently with minimal effort required from authors or editors.
The types of entries and fields used in virtually all BibTeX styles BibTeX are listed below.
Entry types
A BibTeX database can contain the following types of entries:
article An article from a journal or magazine.Required fields: author, title, journal, year, volumeOptional fields: number, pages, month, doi, note, key
book A book with an explicit publisher.Required fields: author/editor, title, publisher, yearOptional fields: volume/number, series, address, edition, month, note, key, url
booklet A work that is printed and bound, but without a named publisher or sponsoring institution.Required fields: titleOptional fields: author, howpublished, address, month, year, note, key
conference The same as inproceedings, included for Scribe compatibility.
inbook A part of a book, usually untitled. May be a chapter (or section, etc.) and/or a range of pages.Required fields: author/editor, title, chapter/pages, publisher, yearOptional fields: volume/number, series, type, address, edition, month, note, key
incollection A part of a book having its own title.Required fields: author, title, booktitle, publisher, yearOptional fields: editor, volume/number, series, type, chapter, pages, address, edition, month, note, key
inproceedings An article in a conference proceedings.Required fields: author, title, booktitle, yearOptional fields: editor, volume/number, series, pages, address, month, organization, publisher, note, key
manual Technical documentation.Required fields: titleOptional fields: author, organization, address, edition, month, year, note, key
mastersthesis A master's thesis.Required fields: author, title, school, yearOptional fields: type, address, month, note, key
misc For use when nothing else fits.Required fields: noneOptional fields: author, title, howpublished, month, year, note, key
phdthesis A Ph.D. thesis.Required fields: author, title, school, yearOptional fields: type, address, month, note, key
proceedings The proceedings of a conference.Required fields: title, yearOptional fields: editor, volume/number, series, address, month, publisher, organization, note, key
techreport A report published by a school or other institution, usually numbered within a series.Required fields: author, title, institution, yearOptional fields: type, number, address, month, note, key
unpublished A document having an author and title, but not formally published.Required fields: author, title, noteOptional fields: month, year, key
Field types
A BibTeX entry can contain various types of fields. The following types are recognized by the default bibliography styles; some third-party styles may accept additional ones:
address
Publisher's address (usually just the city, but can be the full address for lesser-known publishers)
annote
An annotation for annotated bibliography styles (not typical)
author
The name(s) of the author(s) (in the case of more than one author, separated by and)
booktitle
The title of the book, if only part of it is being cited
Email
The email of the author(s)
chapter
The chapter number
crossref
The key of the cross-referenced entry
doi
digital object identifier
edition
The edition of a book, long form (such as "First" or "Second")
editor
The name(s) of the editor(s)
howpublished
How it was published, if the publishing method is nonstandard
institution
The institution that was involved in the publishing, but not necessarily the publisher
journal
The journal or magazine the work was published in
key
A hidden field used for specifying or overriding the alphabetical order of entries (when the "author" and "editor" fields are missing). Note that this is very different from the key (mentioned just after this list) that is used to cite or cross-reference the entry.
month
The month of publication (or, if unpublished, the month of creation)
note
Miscellaneous extra information
number
The "(issue) number" of a journal, magazine, or tech-report, if applicable. Note that this is not the "article number" assigned by some journals.
organization
The conference sponsor
pages
Page numbers, separated either by commas or double-hyphens.
publisher
The publisher's name
school
The school where the thesis was written
series
The series of books the book was published in (e.g. "The Hardy Boys" or "Lecture Notes in Computer Science")
title
The title of the work
type
The field overriding the default type of publication (e.g. "Research Note" for techreport, "{PhD} dissertation" for phdthesis, "Section" for inbook/incollection)
volume
The volume of a journal or multi-volume book
year
The year of publication (or, if unpublished, the year of creation)
In addition, each entry contains a key (Bibtexkey) that is used to cite or cross-reference the entry. This key is the first item in a BibTeX entry, and is not part of any field.
Style files
BibTeX formats bibliographic items according to a style file, typically by generating TeX or LaTeX formatting commands. However, style files for generating HTML output also exist. BibTeX style files, for which the suffix .bst is common, are written in a simple, stack-based programming language (dubbed "BibTeX Anonymous Forth-Like Language", or "BAFLL", by Drew McDermott) that describes how bibliography items should be formatted. There are some packages which can generate .bst files automatically (like custom-bib or Bib-it).
Most journals or publishers that support LaTeX have a customized bibliographic style file for the convenience of the authors. This ensures that the bibliographic style meets the guidelines of the publisher with minimal effort.
Uses
Astrophysics Data System – The NASA ADS is an online database of over eight million astronomy and physics papers and provides BibTeX format citations.
BibDesk – Open-source software application for macOS for creating, editing, managing, and searching BibTeX files.
BibSonomy – A social bookmark and publication management system based on BibTeX.
Citavi – Reference manager. Works with various TeX-Editors and supports BibTeX input and output.
CiteSeer – An online database of research publications which can produce BibTeX format citations.
CiteULike (discontinued) – A community based bibliography database that had BibTeX input and output.
The Collection of Computer Science Bibliographies – uses BibTeX as internal data format, search results and contributions primarily in BibTeX.
Connotea – Open-source social bookmark style publication management system.
Digital Bibliography & Library Project – A bibliography website that lists more than 910,000 articles in the computer science field.
Google Books – The bibliographic information for each book is exportable in BibTeX format via the 'Export Citation' feature.
Google Scholar – Google's system for searching scholarly literature provides BibTeX format citations if the option is enabled in 'Scholar Preferences'.
Google Research – Housed within the artificial intelligence division of Google is a compilation of publications by Google staff with BibTeX citation links.
HubMed – A versatile PubMed interface including BibTeX output.
INSPIRE-HEP – The INSPIRE High-Energy Physics literature database provides BibTeX format citations for over one million high-energy physics papers.
JabRef – Open-source cross-platform software application for creating, editing, managing, and searching BibTeX and BibLaTeX files.
MathSciNet – Database by the American Mathematical Society (subscription), choose BibTeX in the "Select alternative format" box
Mendeley – Reference manager, for collecting papers. It supports exporting collections into bib files and keep them synchronized with its own database.
Pandoc – Open-source document converter that can read a BibTeX file and produce formatted citations in any bibliography style specified in a citation style language (CSL) file.
Qiqqa – Software application for Windows that includes a fully featured BibTeX editor and validator, along with tools for automatically populating BibTeX records for PDFs.
refbase – Open-source reference manager for institutional repositories and self archiving with BibTeX input and output.
RefTeX – Emacs based reference manager.
Wikindx – Open-source virtual research environment/enhanced bibliography manager including BibTeX input and output.
Wikipedia – Pressing cite this page on the side of an article provides a BibTeX format citation.
Zentralblatt MATH – Database by the European Mathematical Society, FIZ Karlsruhe and Heidelberg Academy (subscription, 3 free entries); choose BibTeX button or format.
Zotero – Open-source reference manager with advanced features such as synchronization between different computers, social bookmarking, searching inside saved PDFs and BibTeX output.
See also
Data schemes
EndNote – a text-based data scheme used by the EndNote program
refer – an aging text-based data scheme supported on UNIX-like systems
RIS – a text-based data scheme from Research Information Systems
Bebop – a web-based front-end interface for BibTeX
Other
Citation style language – a newer XML-based bibliography style specification analogous to BibTeX's .bst files
Comparison of reference management software
List of TeX extensions
References
External links
CTAN: Package bibtex official site
bibtex.org third-party site.
BibTeXing. The original manual (1988) by the co-author of BibTeX, Oren Patashnik.
Managing Citations and Your Bibliography with BibTeX by Jürgen Fenn (The PracTeX Journal 2006, number 4).
BibTeX tutorial. Section from Getting to Grips with LaTeX tutorials.
Bibliography file formats |
42045947 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/TVPlayer | TVPlayer | TVPlayer is an Internet television service in the United Kingdom, owned by international digital distribution company Alchimie. It provides access to free live television channel streams using a web browser or application software via big screen and small screen mobile devices. Alongside the free service, TVPlayer offers multiple no contract monthly subscriptions each carrying different premium live television channel streams.
History
TVPlayer was launched as Android and Apple iOS smartphone apps on 19 December 2013, compatible apps for Android tablet computers and the Apple iPad were released on 30 January 2014. Company representatives reported that TVPlayer had received 250,000 application software downloads within 28 days of launching.
Where Alchimie has been operating in mainland Europe and Australia for a number of years, TVPlayer is a service exclusively for the United Kingdom.
On 30 January 2017, TVPlayer announced it had launched compatibility for all Windows 10 devices. As of January 2017, TVPlayer's applications had been downloaded 2.5 million times and boasted over one million active viewers.
On 26 November 2020, TVPlayer's licensing agreement with Discovery expired. Discovery, Investigation Discovery, TLC and Discovery Home & Health were no longer available on TVPlayer’s Premium service and Quest, Quest Red, Really, DMAX, Food Network and HGTV were removed from the free service.
Accessing TVPlayer content
All TVPlayer apps can be used via devices connected to all 3G, 4G, and Wi-Fi Internet connections. Some channels are only available while using a Wi-Fi Internet connection due to licensing rights and legal restrictions. TVPlayer is a United Kingdom only service and offers streaming of up to 1080i video resolution depending on the playback device being capable. Two devices on the same account can stream subscribed content at the same time.
Compatible devices
Devices and operating systems that can be used to watch TVPlayer television content:
Laptops and desktop computers
Microsoft Windows 10 or later (Microsoft Store app)
Operating system with Adobe Flash Player enabled web browser
Tablet computers and smartphones
Microsoft Windows 10 or later (Microsoft Store app)
Google Android 4.2 or later
Apple iOS 11.0 or later
Microsoft Windows 10 Mobile or later (Microsoft Store app)
Amazon Fire Tablet
Video game consoles
Xbox One
PlayStation 5
Nintendo Switch
Set-top box / streaming devices
EE TV (Premium Channels Only)
Freesat (Premium Channels Only)
Freeview (Premium Channels Only)
Apple TV
Roku
Amazon Fire TV
Chromecast
Android TV
Samsung TV
Humax H3 espresso
Available television content
There is a video on demand service allowing viewers to catch up on up to 30 days of television programmes. Some television channels are not available on certain devices and software due to licensing rights and legal restrictions.
References
External links
Internet properties established in 2013
2013 establishments in the United Kingdom
Video on demand services
Streaming television
Digital television in the United Kingdom
Television networks in the United Kingdom
British brands
Mass media companies of the United Kingdom
Android (operating system) software
IOS software
Pay television
British companies established in 2013
Companies based in the City of Westminster |
1336869 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Findev | Findev | Findev Inc. (formerly TransGaming Inc.) is a real estate financing company, with its head office in Toronto, involved in property development within the Greater Toronto area. The company is aligned with Plazacorp, a property development company, which is its major shareholder. The current CEO is Sruli Weinreb.
A former technology company, it was founded by Gavriel State, who ran the Linux product division at Corel. TransGaming's Graphics and Portability Group was acquired by NVIDIA in 2015, paving way to NVIDIA's first office in Canada, located in Toronto.
In 2016, TransGaming Inc. decided to change its business focus from technology and gaming to real estate financing. In August 2016 its last remaining gaming division, GameTree TV, together with its subsidiaries and offices in Tel Aviv and Kyiv, were sold to TransGaming Interactive UK Limited, a subsidiary of General Media Ventures based in the United Kingdom. This company, now renamed to PlayWorks Digital Ltd., carries on the former GameTree TV business under the PlayWorks name.
Former technology products
Cider
Cider was a technology marketed towards developers that allows Windows games to run on Mac OS X. It shared much of the same core technology as Cedega but was designed for video game designers and publishers. Like Cedega, Cider was a proprietary fork of Wine.
At the 2007 World Wide Developer Conference (WWDC07), Electronic Arts announced their return to the Mac, publishing various titles simultaneously on both PCs and Macs, using Cider on the Mac.
In a newsletter dated 2007-11-13, the company announced that Cider's improvements will be merging back into Cedega.
GameTree Linux
GameTree Linux was a developer program dedicated to the further development of Cedega, which is a compatibility layer for running Microsoft Windows games on Linux.There are games that run on Cedega but not on Wine, and games that run on Wine but not Cedega. Users that want to play a specific game usually look for it on the games databases available on the web.
SwiftShader
SwiftShader is an advanced software renderer with Direct3D 8/9 class features, including shaders. SwiftShader was sold to Google in 2015 for $1.25 million USD.
GameTree TV
In 2010 Transgaming launched their new app, GameTree TV, a cloud-based, on-demand entertainment platform for Smart TV. In 2012 Transgaming acquired the connected TV division of Oberon Media and integrated them into their GameTree TV platform.
Digital rights management (DRM)
In a press release dated 2008-08-20, TransGaming announced that they "will utilize Sony DADC's SecuROM digital rights management (DRM) solution for all video game titles enabled through TransGaming's Cider portability engine for Mac games." TransGaming's use of SecuROM is notable because of the company's decision to use SecuROM technology for all Mac games enabled through Cider, irrespective of distribution channel (download vs. retail) and whether SecuROM was used for a game's Windows PC release.
References
External links
Companies listed on the TSX Venture Exchange
Companies based in Toronto
Real estate companies established in 2001
Financial services companies established in 2001
Real estate companies of Canada |
61563 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spiral | Spiral | In mathematics, a spiral is a curve which emanates from a point, moving farther away as it revolves around the point.
Helices
Two major definitions of "spiral" in the American Heritage Dictionary are:
a curve on a plane that winds around a fixed center point at a continuously increasing or decreasing distance from the point.
a three-dimensional curve that turns around an axis at a constant or continuously varying distance while moving parallel to the axis; a helix.
The first definition describes a planar curve, that extends in both of the perpendicular directions within its plane; the groove on one side of a record closely approximates a plane spiral (and it is by the finite width and depth of the groove, but not by the wider spacing between than within tracks, that it falls short of being a perfect example); note that successive loops differ in diameter. In another example, the "center lines" of the arms of a spiral galaxy trace logarithmic spirals.
The second definition includes two kinds of 3-dimensional relatives of spirals:
a conical or volute spring (including the spring used to hold and make contact with the negative terminals of AA or AAA batteries in a battery box), and the vortex that is created when water is draining in a sink is often described as a spiral, or as a conical helix.
quite explicitly, definition 2 also includes a cylindrical coil spring and a strand of DNA, both of which are quite helical, so that "helix" is a more useful description than "spiral" for each of them; in general, "spiral" is seldom applied if successive "loops" of a curve have the same diameter.
In the side picture, the black curve at the bottom is an Archimedean spiral, while the green curve is a helix. The curve shown in red is a conic helix.
Two-dimensional
A two-dimensional, or plane, spiral may be described most easily using polar coordinates, where the radius is a monotonic continuous function of angle :
The circle would be regarded as a degenerate case (the function not being strictly monotonic, but rather constant).
In --coordinates the curve has the parametric representation:
Examples
Some of the most important sorts of two-dimensional spirals include:
The Archimedean spiral:
The hyperbolic spiral:
Fermat's spiral:
The lituus:
The logarithmic spiral:
The Cornu spiral or clothoid
The Fibonacci spiral and golden spiral
The Spiral of Theodorus: an approximation of the Archimedean spiral composed of contiguous right triangles
The involute of a circle, used twice on each tooth of almost every modern gear
An Archimedean spiral is, for example, generated while coiling a carpet.
A hyperbolic spiral appears as image of a helix with a special central projection (see diagram). A hyperbolic spiral is some times called reciproke spiral, because it is the image of an Archimedean spiral with an circle-inversion (see below).
The name logarithmic spiral is due to the equation . Approximations of this are found in nature.
Spirals which do not fit into this scheme of the first 5 examples:
A Cornu spiral has two asymptotic points.
The spiral of Theodorus is a polygon.
The Fibonacci Spiral consists of a sequence of circle arcs.
The involute of a circle looks like an Archimedean, but is not: see Involute#Examples.
Geometric properties
The following considerations are dealing with spirals, which can be described by a polar equation , especially for the cases (Archimedean, hyperbolic, Fermat's, lituus spirals) and the logarithmic spiral .
Polar slope angle
The angle between the spiral tangent and the corresponding polar circle (see diagram) is called angle of the polar slope and the polar slope.
From vector calculus in polar coordinates one gets the formula
Hence the slope of the spiral is
In case of an Archimedean spiral () the polar slope is
The logarithmic spiral is a special case, because of constant !
curvature
The curvature of a curve with polar equation is
For a spiral with one gets
In case of (Archimedean spiral).
Only for the spiral has an inflection point.
The curvature of a logarithmic spiral is
Sector area
The area of a sector of a curve (see diagram) with polar equation is
For a spiral with equation one gets
The formula for a logarithmic spiral is
Arc length
The length of an arc of a curve with polar equation is
For the spiral the length is
Not all these integrals can be solved by a suitable table. In case of a Fermat's spiral the integral can be expressed by elliptic integrals only.
The arc length of a logarithmic spiral is
Circle inversion
The inversion at the unit circle has in polar coordinates the simple description: .
The image of a spiral under the inversion at the unit circle is the spiral with polar equation . For example: The inverse of an Archimedean spiral is a hyperbolic spiral.
A logarithmic spiral is mapped onto the logarithmic spiral
Bounded spirals
The function of a spiral is usually strictly monotonic, continuous
and unbounded. For the standard spirals is either a power function or an exponential function. If one chooses for a bounded function the spiral is bounded, too. A suitable bounded function is the arctan function:
Example 1
Setting and the choice gives a spiral, that starts at the origin (like an Archimedean spiral) and approaches the circle with radius (diagram, left).
Example 2
For and one gets a spiral, that approaches the origin (like a hyperbolic spiral) and approaches the circle with radius (diagram, right).
Three-dimensional
Conical spirals
If in the --plane a spiral with parametric representation
is given, then there can be added a third coordinate , such that the now space curve lies on the cone with equation :
Spirals based on this procedure are called conical spirals.
Example
Starting with an archimedean spiral one gets the conical spiral (see diagram)
Spherical spirals
If one represents a sphere of radius by:
and sets the linear dependency for the angle coordinates, one gets a spherical curve called spherical spiral with the parametric representation (with equal to twice the number of turns)
Spherical spirals were known to Pappus, too.
Remark: a rhumb line is not a spherical spiral in this sense.
A rhumb line (also known as a loxodrome or "spherical spiral") is the curve on a sphere traced by a ship with constant bearing (e.g., travelling from one pole to the other while keeping a fixed angle with respect to the meridians). The loxodrome has an infinite number of revolutions, with the separation between them decreasing as the curve approaches either of the poles, unlike an Archimedean spiral which maintains uniform line-spacing regardless of radius.
In nature
The study of spirals in nature has a long history. Christopher Wren observed that many shells form a logarithmic spiral; Jan Swammerdam observed the common mathematical characteristics of a wide range of shells from Helix to Spirula; and Henry Nottidge Moseley described the mathematics of univalve shells. D’Arcy Wentworth Thompson's On Growth and Form gives extensive treatment to these spirals. He describes how shells are formed by rotating a closed curve around a fixed axis: the shape of the curve remains fixed but its size grows in a geometric progression. In some shells, such as Nautilus and ammonites, the generating curve revolves in a plane perpendicular to the axis and the shell will form a planar discoid shape. In others it follows a skew path forming a helico-spiral pattern. Thompson also studied spirals occurring in horns, teeth, claws and plants.
A model for the pattern of florets in the head of a sunflower was proposed by H. Vogel. This has the form
where n is the index number of the floret and c is a constant scaling factor, and is a form of Fermat's spiral. The angle 137.5° is the golden angle which is related to the golden ratio and gives a close packing of florets.
Spirals in plants and animals are frequently described as whorls. This is also the name given to spiral shaped fingerprints.
As a symbol
A spiral like form has been found in Mezine, Ukraine, as part of a decorative object dated to 10,000 BCE.
thumb|250px|This Petroglyph with a spiral figure carved into it was made by the Hohokams, a Native American tribe over 1000 years ago.
The spiral and triple spiral motif is a Neolithic symbol in Europe (Megalithic Temples of Malta). The Celtic symbol the triple spiral is in fact a pre-Celtic symbol. It is carved into the rock of a stone lozenge near the main entrance of the prehistoric Newgrange monument in County Meath, Ireland. Newgrange was built around 3200 BCE predating the Celts and the triple spirals were carved at least 2,500 years before the Celts reached Ireland but has long since been incorporated into Celtic culture. The triskelion symbol, consisting of three interlocked spirals or three bent human legs, appears in many early cultures, including Mycenaean vessels, on coinage in Lycia, on staters of Pamphylia (at Aspendos, 370–333 BC) and Pisidia, as well as on the heraldic emblem on warriors' shields depicted on Greek pottery.
Spirals can be found throughout pre-Columbian art in Latin and Central America. The more than 1,400 petroglyphs (rock engravings) in Las Plazuelas, Guanajuato Mexico, dating 750-1200 AD, predominantly depict spirals, dot figures and scale models. In Colombia monkeys, frog and lizard like figures depicted in petroglyphs or as gold offering figures frequently includes spirals, for example on the palms of hands. In Lower Central America spirals along with circles, wavy lines, crosses and points are universal petroglyphs characters. Spirals can also be found among the Nazca Lines in the coastal desert of Peru, dating from 200 BC to 500 AD. The geoglyphs number in the thousands and depict animals, plants and geometric motifs, including spirals.
Spiral shapes, including the swastika, triskele, etc., have often been interpreted as solar symbols.
Roof tiles dating back to the Tang Dynasty with this symbol have been found west of the ancient city of Chang'an (modern-day Xi'an).
Spirals are also a symbol of hypnosis, stemming from the cliché of people and cartoon characters being hypnotized by staring into a spinning spiral (one example being Kaa in Disney's The Jungle Book). They are also used as a symbol of dizziness, where the eyes of a cartoon character, especially in anime and manga, will turn into spirals to show they are dizzy or dazed. The spiral is also found in structures as small as the double helix of DNA and as large as a galaxy. Because of this frequent natural occurrence, the spiral is the official symbol of the World Pantheist Movement.
The spiral is also a symbol of the dialectic process and Dialectical monism.
In art
The spiral has inspired artists throughout the ages. Among the most famous of spiral-inspired art is Robert Smithson's earthwork, "Spiral Jetty", at the Great Salt Lake in Utah. The spiral theme is also present in David Wood's Spiral Resonance Field at the Balloon Museum in Albuquerque, as well as in the critically acclaimed Nine Inch Nails 1994 concept album The Downward Spiral. The Spiral is also a prominent theme in the anime Gurren Lagann, where it represents a philosophy and way of life. It also central in Mario Merz and Andy Goldsworthy's work. The spiral is the central theme of the horror manga Uzumaki by Junji Ito, where a small coastal town is afflicted by a curse involving spirals. 2012 A Piece of Mind By Wayne A Beale also depicts a large spiral in this book of dreams and images.
See also
Celtic maze (straight-line spiral)
Concentric circles
DNA
Fibonacci number
Hypogeum of Ħal-Saflieni
Megalithic Temples of Malta
Patterns in nature
Seashell surface
Spirangle
Spiral vegetable slicer
Spiral stairs
Triskelion
References
Related publications
Cook, T., 1903. Spirals in nature and art. Nature 68 (1761), 296.
Cook, T., 1979. The curves of life. Dover, New York.
Habib, Z., Sakai, M., 2005. Spiral transition curves and their applications. Scientiae Mathematicae Japonicae 61 (2), 195 – 206.
Harary, G., Tal, A., 2011. The natural 3D spiral. Computer Graphics Forum 30 (2), 237 – 246 .
Xu, L., Mould, D., 2009. Magnetic curves: curvature-controlled aesthetic curves using magnetic fields. In: Deussen, O., Hall, P. (Eds.), Computational Aesthetics in Graphics, Visualization, and Imaging. The Eurographics Association .
A. Kurnosenko. Two-point G2 Hermite interpolation with spirals by inversion of hyperbola. Computer Aided Geometric Design, 27(6), 474–481, 2010.
Miura, K.T., 2006. A general equation of aesthetic curves and its self-affinity. Computer-Aided Design and Applications 3 (1–4), 457–464 .
Miura, K., Sone, J., Yamashita, A., Kaneko, T., 2005. Derivation of a general formula of aesthetic curves. In: 8th International Conference on Humans and Computers (HC2005). Aizu-Wakamutsu, Japan, pp. 166 – 171 .
Farouki, R.T., 1997. Pythagorean-hodograph quintic transition curves of monotone curvature. Computer-Aided Design 29 (9), 601–606.
Yoshida, N., Saito, T., 2006. Interactive aesthetic curve segments. The Visual Computer 22 (9), 896–905 .
Yoshida, N., Saito, T., 2007. Quasi-aesthetic curves in rational cubic Bézier forms. Computer-Aided Design and Applications 4 (9–10), 477–486 .
Ziatdinov, R., Yoshida, N., Kim, T., 2012. Analytic parametric equations of log-aesthetic curves in terms of incomplete gamma functions. Computer Aided Geometric Design 29 (2), 129—140 .
Ziatdinov, R., Yoshida, N., Kim, T., 2012. Fitting G2 multispiral transition curve joining two straight lines, Computer-Aided Design 44(6), 591—596 .
Ziatdinov, R., 2012. Family of superspirals with completely monotonic curvature given in terms of Gauss hypergeometric function. Computer Aided Geometric Design 29(7): 510–518, 2012 .
Ziatdinov, R., Miura K.T., 2012. On the Variety of Planar Spirals and Their Applications in Computer Aided Design''. European Researcher 27(8-2), 1227—1232 .
External links
Jamnitzer-Galerie: 3D-Spirals
Archimedes' spiral transforms into Galileo's spiral. Mikhail Gaichenkov, OEIS |
7964388 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20mobile%20network%20operators%20of%20the%20Middle%20East%20and%20Africa | List of mobile network operators of the Middle East and Africa | This is a list of mobile network operators of the Middle East and Africa.
Algeria
In Q2 of 2021, the penetration rate was estimated at 104.13% over a population estimate of 44.02 million.
The telecom regulator in Algeria is Autorité de Régulation de la Poste et des Télécommunications (ARPT).
Angola
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 63.7% over a population estimate of 13.3 million.
The telecom regulator in Angola is Instituto Angolano das Comunicações (INACOM).
Bahrain
At the end of 2011 the penetration rate was estimated at 133% over a population estimate of 1.27 million.
The telecom regulator in Bahrain is Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Bahrain هيئة تنظيم الاتصالات (TRA).
Benin
In December 2015, the penetration rate was estimated at 90.33% (in 2014, the population was estimated as 10.33 millions).
The telecom regulator in Benin is Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques et de la poste (ARCEP BENIN).
Botswana
In March 2015 the penetration rate was 167% over a population estimate of 2.05 millions.
The telecom regulator in Botswana is Botswana Communications Regulatory Authority (BOCRA).
Burkina Faso
In December 2011 the penetration rate was estimated at 36% over a population estimate of 16.7 million.
The telecom regulator in Burkina Faso is Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques et des postes (ARCEP), the current name of the former Autorité de régulation des communications électroniques (ARCE) and of the previous Autorité de régulation des télécommunications (ARTEL).
Burundi
In 2011 the penetration rate was estimated at 20% over a population estimate of 8 million.
The telecom regulator in Burundi is Agence de Régulation et de Contrôle des Télécommunications (ARCT).
Cabo Verde
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 87.5% over a population estimate of 0.5 million.
The telecom regulator in Cabo Verde is Agência Nacional de Comunicações (ANAC).
Cameroon
In July 2011 the penetration rate was estimated at 43% over a population estimate of 19.7 million.
The telecom regulator in Cameroon is Agence de Régulation des Télécommunications (ART).
Central African Republic
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 17.2% over a population estimate of 4.9 million.
The telecom regulator in Central African Republic is Agence de régulation des télécommunications (ART).
Chad
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 24.3% over a population estimate of 10.7 million.
The telecom regulator in Chad is Office Tchadien de Régulation des Télécommunications (OTRT).
Comoros
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 20.8% over a population estimate of 0.8 million.
The telecom regulator in Comoros is Autorité Nationale de Régulation des TIC (ANRTIC).
Congo
In Q4 2015 the penetration rate was estimated at 95.7% over a population estimate of 4.6 million.
The telecom regulator in Congo is Agence de Régulation des postes et des Communications Electroniques (ARPCE).
Côte d'Ivoire
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 68.5% over a population estimate of 21.5 million.
The telecom regulator in Côte d'Ivoire is Autorité de Régulation des Télécommunications/TIC de Côte d'Ivoire (ARTCI).
Democratic Republic of the Congo
In 2016 the penetration rate was estimated at 50% over a population estimate of 80 million.
The telecom regulator in Democratic Republic of the Congo is Agence de Régulation de la Poste et des Télécommunications du Congo (ARPTC).
Djibouti
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 14.88% over a population estimate of 0.75 million.
The telecom regulator in Djibouti is Ministère de la Communication chargé des Postes et des Télécommunications (MCPT).
Egypt
Egypt has 99 million mobile users as of December 2017, government figures showed.
The telecom regulator in Egypt is National Telecom Regulatory Authority (NTRA).
Equatorial Guinea
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 74% over a population estimate of 0.6 million.
The telecom regulator in Equatorial Guinea is Órgano Regulador de las Telecomunicaciones Telecommunications Regulatory Agency (ORTEL).
Eritrea
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 3.4% over a population estimate of 5.9 million.
The telecom regulator in Eritrea is Eritrean Communications Regulatory Authority (ECRA).
Ethiopia
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 4.6% over a population estimate of 90.8 million.
The telecom regulator in Ethiopia is Ministry of Communication and Information Technology (MCIT).
Gabon
In June 2018 the penetration rate was estimated to at almost 157%.
The telecom regulator in Gabon is Autorité de Régulation des communications Electroniques et des Postes (ARCEP) https://www.arcep.ga.
Gambia
In 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 85.53% over a population estimate of 1.77 million.
The telecom regulator in Gambia is Public Utilities Regulatory Authority (PURA).
Ghana
In March 2021 the penetration rate was estimated at 133.14% over a population estimate of 31.1 million.
The telecom regulator in Ghana is National Communications Authority (NCA).
Guinea
In Q4 2015, the penetration rate was estimated at 99.1% over a population estimate of 10.8 million.
The telecom regulator in Guinea is Autorité de Régulation des Postes et Télécommunications (ARPT).
Guinea-Bissau
In March 2015 the penetration rate was estimated at 67.0% over a population estimate of 1.75 million.
The telecom regulator in Guinea-Bissau is Autoridade Reguladora Nacional das Tecnologias de Informação e Comunicação da Guiné Bissau (ARN).
Iran
In December 2020 the penetration rate was estimated at 151.91% over a population estimate of 80 million.
The telecom regulator in Iran is Communications Regulatory Authority of Iran سازمان تنظيم مقررات و ارتباطات رادیویی (CRA).
Iraq
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 74.2% over a population estimate of 30.4 million.
The telecom regulator in Iraq is Communications and Media Commission هيئة الإعلام والإتصالات (CMC).
Israel
In 2018 the penetration rate was estimated at 111% over a population estimate of over 10 million.
The telecom regulator in Israel is Ministry of Communications משרד התקשורת (MOC).
Jordan
In March 2016 the penetration rate was estimated at 140% over a population estimate of 14.09 million.
The telecom regulator in Jordan is Telecommunications Regulatory Commission هيئة تنظيم قطاع الاتصالات (TRC).
Kenya
The country has 40.8 million subscribers in total, or a 76.9% penetration rate. (Jan 2018)
The telecom regulator in Kenya is Communications Authority of Kenya (CAK).
Kuwait
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 164.7% over a population estimate of 2.6 million.
The telecom regulator in Kuwait is the Communication and Information Technology Regulatory Authority (CITRA).
Lebanon
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 65.9% over a population estimate of 4.1 million.
The telecom regulator in Lebanon is Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA).
Lesotho
In 2016 the penetration rate was estimated at 86% over a population estimate of 2.2 million.
The telecom regulator in Lesotho is Lesotho Communications Authority (LCA).
Liberia
At the end of 2013, the penetration rate was estimated at 68.3% over a population estimate of 3.8 million.
The telecom regulator in Liberia is Liberia Telecommunications Authority (LTA).
Libya
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 169.74% over a population estimate of 6.6 million.
Madagascar
In 2014 the penetration rate was estimated at 42% (9.7 million) over a population estimate of 23 million.
The telecom regulator in Madagascar is Autorité de Régulation des Technologies de Communication (ARTEC).
Malawi
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 19.32% over a population estimate of 15.9 million.
The telecom regulator in Malawi is Malawi Communications Regulatory Authority (MACRA).
Mali
The country had 20.2 million subscribers in total (end 2016), or a 113% penetration rate.
The telecom regulator in Mali is Autorité Malienne de Régulation des Télécommunications/TIC et des Postes (AMRTP).
Mauritania
At the end 2020 the penetration rate was estimated at 101% over a population estimate of 4 million.
The telecom regulator in Mauritania is Autorité de Régulation (ARE).
Mauritius
The telecom regulator in Mauritius is Information and Communication Technologies Authority of Mauritius (ICTA).
Morocco
The country has 31.311 million subscribers in total, or a 113.57% penetration rate. (December 2011)
The telecom regulator in Morocco is Agence Nationale de Réglementation des Telecommunications (ANRT).
Mozambique
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 27.19% over a population estimate of 22.95 million.
The telecom regulator in Mozambique is Instituto Nacional das Comunicações de Moçambique (INCM).
Namibia
In December 2016 Namibia had 2.66 million active SIM cards.
The telecom regulator in Namibia is Communications Regulatory Authority of Namibia (CRAN).
Niger
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 20.63% over a population estimate of 16.5 million.
The telecom regulator is Autorité de Régulation des Télécommunications et de la Poste (ARTP).
Nigeria
The telecom regulator in Nigeria is Nigerian Communications Commission.
Oman
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 142.19% over a population estimate of 3 million.
The telecom regulator in Oman is Telecommunications Regulatory Authority هيئة تنظيم الاتصالات (TRA).
Palestine
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 97.5% over a population estimate of 2.5 million.
The telecom regulator in Palestine is Palestinian Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (PTRA).
Qatar
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 322.52% over a population estimate of 0.8 million.
The telecom regulator in Qatar is Communications Regulatory Authority (CRA).
La Réunion
This French overseas territory has ? million subscribers in total, or a 74.7% penetration rate. (2008)
The telecom regulator in La Réunion is Autorité de Régulation des Communications Electroniques et des Postes (ARCEP).
Rwanda
In December 2013 the penetration rate was estimated at 63.5% over a population estimate of 11.4 million.
The telecom regulator in Rwanda is Rwanda Utilities Regulatory Agency (RURA).
São Tomé and Príncipe
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 57.94% over a population estimate of 0.18 million.
The telecom regulator in São Tomé and Príncipe is Autoridade Geral de Regulação (AGER).
Saudi Arabia
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 162.6% over a population estimate of 26.1 million.
The telecom regulator in Saudi Arabia is Communications and Information Technology Commission هيئة الاتصالات وتقنية المعلومات (CITC).
Senegal
At the end of December 2015 the penetration rate was estimated at 110,74%, over a population estimate of 13,5 millions.
The telecom regulator in Senegal is Autorité de Régulation des Télécommunications et des Postes (ARTP).
Seychelles
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 245% over a population estimate of 0.09 million.
The telecom regulator in Seychelles is Department of Information Communications Technology (ICT).
Sierra Leone
The country has 0.8 million subscribers in total, or a 13.23% penetration rate. (2007)
The telecom regulator in Sierra Leone is National Telecommunications Commission (NATCOM).
Somalia
As of 2009, dial up internet services in Somalia were among the fastest developing in the region, with an annual landline growth rate of over 12.5%. Internet via satellite also had a steady growth rate of 10% to 15% per year.
South Africa
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 99.6% over a population estimate of 49 million.
The telecom regulator in South Africa is Independent Communications Authority of South Africa (ICASA).
South Sudan
The country has 1 million subscribers in total, or an 8% penetration rate.
The telecom regulator in South Sudan is Ministry of Telecommunication and Postal Services (MOTPS).
Sudan
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 42.3% over a population estimate of 45 million.
The telecom regulator in Sudan is National Telecommunication Corporation (NTC).
Eswatini
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 49.55% over a population estimate of 1.37 million.
The telecom regulator in Swaziland is Swaziland Communications Commission (SCCom).
Syrian Arab Republic
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 46.6% over a population estimate of 22.5 million.
The telecom regulator in Syrian Arab Republic is Syrian Telecommunication Regulatory Authority (SyTRA).
Tanzania (United Republic of)
In March 2020 the penetration rate was estimated at 86% over a population estimate of 51 million.
The telecom regulator in Tanzania is Tanzania Communications Regulatory Authority (TCRA).
Togo
In June 2014 the penetration rate was estimated at 60.7% over a population estimate of 7.2 million.
The telecom regulator in Togo is Autorité de Règlementation des secteurs de Postes et de Télécommunications (ART&P).
Tunisia
The country has 14.7 million subscribers in total, or about 125.6% penetration rate. (Q3 2017)
The telecom regulator in Tunisia is Instance Nationale des Télécommunications (INT).
Turkey
Turkey has 71.7 million subscribers in total, or a 94.34% penetration rate. (2015)
The telecom regulator in Turkey is Information and Communication Technologies Authority (BTK : Bilgi Teknolojileri ve Iletisim Kurumu).
Uganda
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 30.78% over a population estimate of 34.6 million.
The telecom regulator in Uganda is Uganda Communications Commission (UCC).
United Arab Emirates
In May 2020 the total number of active mobile subscriptions was 16.7 million.
The telecom regulator in United Arab Emirates is Telecommunications Regulatory Authority الهيئة العامة لتنظيم قطاع الاتصالات (TRA).
Yemen
In September 2010 the penetration rate was estimated at 38.4% over a population estimate of 24.1 million.
The telecom regulator in Yemen is Public Telecommunication Corporation (PTC).
Zambia
In December 2011 the penetration rate was estimated at 62% over a population estimate of 13.9 million.
The telecom regulator in Zambia is Zambia Information & Communications Technology Authority (ZICTA).
Zimbabwe
In December 2011 the penetration rate was estimated at 74.7% to 9.037 million subscribers.
The telecom regulator in Zimbabwe is Postal and Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of Zimbabwe (POTRAZ).
See also
List of mobile network operators worldwide
List of mobile network operators of the Americas
List of mobile network operators of The Caribbean
List of mobile network operators of Europe
List of mobile network operators of the Asia Pacific region
List of telecommunications regulatory bodies
Mobile country code
References
Africa-related lists
Middle East-related lists
Middle East and Africa
Telecommunications in Africa
Telecommunications in Asia
Telecommunications lists |
19011063 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Windows%20Live%20Messenger | Windows Live Messenger | MSN Messenger (also known colloquially simply as "MSN"), later rebranded as Windows Live Messenger, was a cross-platform instant-messaging client developed by Microsoft. It connected to the Microsoft Messenger service and, in later versions, was compatible with Yahoo! Messenger and Facebook Messenger. Versions were developed for Windows, Xbox 360, Mac OS X (later under the name Microsoft Messenger for Mac), BlackBerry OS, iOS, Java ME, S60 on Symbian OS 9.x, MSN TV, Zune HD, Windows Phone, Windows Mobile and Windows CE.
The client was first released as MSN Messenger Service on July 22, 1999, and was marketed under the MSN brand until 2005, when it was rebranded under the Windows Live name. It has since been officially known by the latter name, although its first name remained in common use. In June 2009, Microsoft reported the service attracted over 330 million active users each month, placing it among the most widely used instant-messaging clients in the world.
Following its acquisition of Skype Technologies in May 2011, Microsoft added interoperability between Skype and Microsoft accounts, allowing Skype—which had features unique to its platform and a wider user base—to communicate with Windows Live Messenger contacts. In 2013, the product was discontinued, and Microsoft began cutting service to existing clients. It remained active in China for another 18 months, and ceased operations there on October 31, 2014.
History
MSN Messenger 1.0–7.5 (1999–2005)
Before the product was renamed Windows Live Messenger, it was named "MSN Messenger" from 1999 to 2006. During that time, Microsoft released seven major versions as follows.
The first version of MSN Messenger Service, version 1.0 (1.0.0863), was released July 22, 1999. It included only basic features, such as plain text messaging and a simplistic contact list. When it was first released, it featured support for access to America Online's AIM network. America Online continually tried to block Microsoft from having access to their service until eventually the feature was removed, and it has not re-surfaced in any later versions of the software. AOL did this by exploiting a buffer overflow bug in AIM, which causes it to execute a bit of machine code sent by the server. When this code runs, it determines if the client is AIM and sends a message back to verify the client. Since then, the software has only allowed connections to its own service, requiring a Windows Live ID (.NET Passport at that time) account to connect.
Microsoft released the first major update, version 2.0 (2.0.0083), on November 16, 1999. It included a rotating advertising banner and the ability to customize the appearance of the chat window. It came as an install option for Windows Me. This version was followed the next year by version 3.0 (3.0.0080), which was released May 29, 2000. It included file transfers and PC-to-PC and PC-to-phone audio capabilities with Net2Phone and Callserve, two of the larger VoIP providers.
Along with the release of Windows XP came version 4.6 of MSN Messenger, on October 23, 2001. It included major changes to the user interface, the ability to group contacts, and support for voice conversations. In this version, the client software was renamed from "MSN Messenger Service" to just "MSN Messenger," while the underlying service became known as ".NET Messenger Service". This version was only compatible with Windows 95, 98, ME, NT 4.0, and 2000, because Microsoft provided a scaled-down new program for Windows XP, called Windows Messenger. Version 5.0 of MSN Messenger was released on October 24, 2002. It was the first version that was allowed to be installed along with Windows Messenger on Windows XP. It included UPnP (Universal Plug and Play) based file transfers, minor changes to the user interface artwork, and a Windows Media Player interface plug-in.
Version 6.0 of MSN Messenger was released July 17, 2003. MSN Messenger 6.0 was a major overhaul of the whole platform, upgrading its simple text-based interface to include customizable elements such as emoticons, personalized avatars, and backgrounds. An update, version 6.1, focused on improvements to the conversation window, enabling users to hide the window frame and menu bar, and also the ability to change the theme color. The theme color could be set differently for each user. Another update, version 6.2, was released April 22, 2004, and it was the last version of the MSN Messenger 6 series. The most notable changes were a dedicated Mobile group for mobile contacts, a connection troubleshooter, and the Launch Site feature was renamed to Fun & Games.
MSN Messenger received a major upgrade to version 7.0 on April 7, 2005. This version brought wink features that were previously only available in threedegrees. This version also advertised items to sell to you including animated display pictures, emoticons and backgrounds. The contact list window style was also updated to match instant message windows. This version also introduced the Xbox Live Integration feature. This version also introduced digital ink and handwriting recognition support. It is the last version of MSN Messenger to support Windows 98, Windows Me and Windows 2000.
The last version of MSN Messenger before the name change, version 7.5, was released August 23, 2005. New features included the Dynamic Backgrounds feature and the "msnim" protocol handler, which allowed Web sites to provide links which automatically add a contact or start conversations. Additionally, a new Voice Clips feature allowed users to hold down F2 and record a message for a maximum of 15 seconds and send it to the recipient. The window for conversations was changed slightly with an added video button. This version also introduced the Windows Installer for its auto-update feature.
Windows Live Messenger 8.0–8.5 (2005–2009)
As part of Microsoft's Windows Live effort, which rebranded many existing MSN services and programs, MSN Messenger was renamed "Windows Live Messenger" beginning with version 8.0.
The first beta of the newly renamed Windows Live Messenger, Beta 1, was released on December 13, 2005. Major changes and additions included offline messaging, an option to change the color theme of the windows, separated send and search boxes, a word wheel search box in the main window, and additional details for contacts when hovering over their names in the contact list window.
The second beta of version 8.0, Beta 2, was released on February 26, 2006. The overall theme of this version was improved, fixing and improving several smaller places in the program. Major changes and additions included the introduction of Windows Live Contacts, the reintroduction of single file transfer, improvements to the "Add a Contact" dialog box, improved color themes, minor changes in the conversation window, and revert of the "Busy" status icon back to the normal dash icon.
The final beta version, Beta 3, was released on May 2, 2006. Major changes and additions included new icons for the program, PC-to-phone calling, an updated look for the Windows Live Call window, a new default display picture, the Windows Live Today window, improvements to the grouping of sequential messages from each contact, Rhapsody integration in the U.S., and an option for sounds to be edited and/or turned off.
The official release of Windows Live Messenger version 8.0 was on June 19, 2006. Although no notable changes were made between Beta 3 and the final version, the change from MSN Messenger to Windows Live Messenger brought some additional changes, such as customization for the nicknames of individual contacts, timestamps on messages, the ability to see a contact's name only once if the same person writes multiple messages in a row, and color schemes for the entire application. The main authentication system, Microsoft Passport Network, was replaced with Windows Live ID at the same time. A refresh to version 8.0 was released on August 10, 2006. It included audio and video improvements and fixed up minor bugs.
The first update to Windows Live Messenger was previewed on October 30, 2006, with the release of Beta 1 of version 8.1. No major changes were made, but several minor changes were included. These include the addition of the roaming identity feature (so that the same user's display name and picture would appear on any computer), a new contact card appearance, a "recently used" list for the emoticon, wink, display picture and background menus, an SMS phone book in the main menu allowing the association and editing of a phone number to the contact and allowing text messaging to a contact, a "sign out" button, a "report abuse" option in the help menu, interoperability with Yahoo! Messenger, and improvements to user status on Windows Vista
A minor update, the Windows Live Messenger 8.1 Beta 1 Refresh, was released on December 13, 2006, and fixed bugs that were causing some people to be unable to sign in and others unable to see their contact list.
The final version 8.1 was released on January 29, 2007. No changes were made from the Beta 1 Refresh. All versions of Windows Live Messenger below version 8.1 were rendered obsolete on September 12, 2007, due to a security issue identified when a user accepts a webcam or video chat invitation from an attacker.
On September 12, 2007, the Windows Live Messenger blog posted a fix that resolved a security problem. It reported of a security vulnerability in versions of Messenger older than 8.1, that the released fix would resolve. This led to an auto-update being released to all older versions. Versions running on Windows 2000 and below were required to update to a new version of MSN Messenger 7.0, and versions running on Windows XP and above were required to update to Windows Live Messenger 8.1.
On August 27, 2009, the Windows Live Messenger blog posted that due to a security problem, all users of versions 8.1 and newer need to update to the latest version, 14.0.8089. The mandatory upgrade requirement would be fully phased in by late October 2009 and began on September 15, 2009.
The first beta of Windows Live Messenger 8.5, Beta 1, was released on May 31, 2007. An update was released on June 21, 2007, to test updates being installed by Microsoft Update. This version required Windows XP SP2, compared to previous versions requiring Windows XP SP1. It was the first version to be installed in a "Windows Live" folder under "Program Files," with the shortcuts placed in a "Windows Live" folder in the Start Menu.
Major changes and additions in Beta 1 included a new installation program in conjunction with the release of Windows Live 2.0, a new look for all of its windows that matches the aesthetic styles of Windows Vista, a new "bunny" emoticon, and integration with Windows Live OneCare Family Safety. Beginning with this version, updates could be downloaded and installed through Microsoft Update.
The second beta of Windows Live Messenger 8.5, Beta 2, was released on September 5, 2007. Several issues were fixed in Beta 2, but no significant changes were applied. Compared with the first beta, the build does not say "Beta" on the top of the window, although developers had noted that it was not the final release. The new Windows Live Installer, which is used to install Windows Live Messenger 8.5 Beta 2, does not run on Windows Server 2003.
The final release of Windows Live Messenger version 8.5 was released on November 6, 2007, and it introduced no major changes.
Windows Live Messenger 14.0–16.4 (2009–2012)
Windows Live Messenger 2009 was originally designated version 9.0, it was later assigned the technical version number 14.0, in order to be unified with the other Windows Live programs and Microsoft Office programs.
In a presentation to the Georgia Institute of Technology's IEEE Student Branch, Microsoft employee Andrew Jenks reported that the Messenger team had been working on multi-person audio/video chat, and they are also attempting to create interoperability with AIM/XMPP/ICQ. There is a basic internal version that works with XMPP already. However, these features were not seen in any versions of Windows Live Messenger 2009.
Microsoft sent an invitation to participate in the Windows Live Messenger "9" beta program to Microsoft Connect members on November 20, 2007; a week later, Microsoft began sending out emails welcoming them to the Windows Live Messenger "9" beta program for the first release, known as Beta 0.
A fan site for Windows Live Messenger, Mess.be, claimed to have a new build of Windows Live Messenger "9" on August 11, 2008, and published screenshots along with a brief summary of new features. The screenshots featured a new user interface design matching the "Wave 3" design in development by Microsoft. The images were later removed by the site after a DMCA notice was received. The installer for the same build was leaked through private forums on August 23, 2008. It would later be discovered this build was a preview of Milestone 2, or M2.
News web site LiveSide published an article on September 4, 2008, with screenshots of M2 of the newly minted "Windows Live Messenger 2009," which had become version 14.0 instead of 9.0 as previously expected. LiveSide summarized its new features, including protection against messaging spam, the ability to stay signed into the application from several computers (referred to as "Multiple Points of Presence Support"), animated GIF files in the photo area, per-contact customized sounds for various user actions, and clickable URLs in the status area.
Microsoft began the official beta program for Windows Live Messenger 2009 on September 17, 2008, when it released a new beta officially known as Windows Live Messenger 2009 Beta (Milestone 3, Build 14.0.5027.908), which was made available to the general public as a free download. The ability to submit feedback, however, was restricted to select participants of the Microsoft Connect closed beta program.
Notable changes in Milestone 3 include a new revamped and refined user interface to follow suit with the rest of the Windows Live "Wave 3" design, the ability to set a "Scene" by customizing the background image and color of the contact list, and the display of these scenes in conversation windows for improved contact identification and window management.
Milestone 3 also brings a new "Groups" feature that allows users to create a continuous group conversation between select contacts, newly redesigned status icons which now resemble small gems rather than the previous "Messenger Buddy" icons, a new default "Favorites" category in which you can place your favorite contacts for easy access to them, a new Photo Sharing utility that allows contacts to quickly and easily browse photos together, and a "What's New" section at the bottom of the contact list to outline recent contact updates. Display pictures have been moved over to the left side of conversation windows, and new colorful borders appear around display pictures to display the current status of that contact. Milestone 3 is the first version of Windows Live Messenger to use the standard window frame on Windows Vista in accordance with the user experience guidelines.
Several features were removed in version 9.0 however, such as the ability to use add-ins, the ability to transfer files when the recipient is signed in as offline, the "Be right back," "Out to lunch," and "In a call" status options, the Go to my space button, the ability to adjust webcam settings during a video call, the Send button, some games (depending on your localization) and integration with Windows Contacts. Other features were replaced, such as Sharing Folders (replaced by integration with Windows Live SkyDrive) and background sharing (replaced by the "Scene" feature).
On December 15, 2008, Windows Live Messenger 2009 RC (Build 14.0.8050.1202) was released together with the other Windows Live Wave 3 software applications, now renamed as Windows Live Essentials. This version saw a removal of the custom sign-in sound feature however it is still possible to select a sound for other individuals, as well as changes to how the background image chosen is applied to the conversation windows. This build also included over 200 bug fixes including the "Custom Emoticon Bug" and saving of pictures when using the Photo sharing feature. On January 7, 2009, the same build was released as the final version of Windows Live Messenger 2009.
The last QFE update for Wave 3 was released on May 12, 2010, and saw the removal of some features from Windows Live Messenger. Specifically, the ability to independently show only your own webcam or your contacts' webcam (one way webcam) and without an audio call is gone. It is only possible to start a video call which starts the webcams of both people communicating and which also automatically starts audio calling. Also removed is the ability to import and save/export instant messaging contacts to and from .CTT files.
On June 14, 2012, Microsoft has made the update from 2009 to 2011 mandatory for those using Windows Vista or 7. 2009 continues to be usable for those still running XP. This can be circumvented by running Windows Live Messenger in Windows XP compatibility mode, thus making it believe it is running on Windows XP.
In late March 2010, a beta of Windows Live Essentials Wave 4 was leaked onto the internet and has since spread to various BitTorrent networks, which included a private beta build of Windows Live Messenger Wave 4. However, as the software was designed for private beta testing, non-beta testers cannot sign into this leaked build.
The new software features a revamped interface which brings the "What's new" section of Windows Live to the new "social pane", similar to the way a social networking site presents updates. Among the new features are tabbed conversations, a redesign of the old emoticons, integration of Bing results, built-in video message support, HD video chat, in-line commenting of social updates, a new social photo viewer that supports commenting (for Facebook and SkyDrive photos), badges support, synchronised status updates, availability by categories, as well as integration with Facebook chat. However, several features had also been removed from the previous version, such as the removal of display names, handwriting tool, one-way webcam requests and import/export of instant messaging contacts feature. The "Wave 4" release of Windows Live Essentials, which includes Messenger, also dropped compatibility with Windows XP and only runs on Windows Vista or Windows 7.
The new Windows Live Messenger for the iOS became available on the App Store on June 21, 2010, in addition to other mobile versions of Windows Live Messenger for Windows Phone, BlackBerry, and Symbian mobile platforms.
On June 24, 2010, a public beta of Windows Live Messenger Wave 4 was released as part of the new Windows Live Essentials beta. A "beta refresh" of Windows Live Messenger Wave 4 was released on August 17, 2010, as part of an upgraded Windows Live Essentials beta. The final version of Windows Live Messenger 2011 (Wave 4) was released on September 30, 2010. On the same date, a version of Windows Live Messenger for Zune HD also became available.
On August 7, 2012, Microsoft delivered a new version of the Windows Essentials 2012 suite, which includes Windows Live Messenger 2012.
Discontinuation
On November 6, 2012, Microsoft announced that Messenger and Skype services would merge in the first quarter of 2013. According to Tony Bates (president of Skype Division at the time), Messenger users could sign into Skype using their Microsoft accounts, access their Messenger contacts and communicate as usual. On January 8, 2013, Microsoft emailed Messenger users and informed them that with the exception of mainland China, the Messenger service would stop working on March 15, 2013, and users would not be able to sign in.
On February 15, 2013, ZDNet wrote the discontinuation email was only sent to one percent of Messenger users, a test group. On the same day, Microsoft announced its plans to phase out Messenger: the process would start on April 8, 2013, with English users and would end on April 30, 2013; Messenger would remain available in mainland China. According to ZDNet, this might only apply to the ability to sign in with Messenger client; Microsoft would keep its Messenger service running for another year. "Windows Live Messenger Upgrades to Skype," as they were referred to by Microsoft, started on April 8, 2013. This transition took place language by language. Brazil was the last country to be "upgraded," on April 30.
Chinese Messenger users received an email from Microsoft in August 2014, containing an announcement that Messenger service in China would end on October 31, 2014; users were advised to migrate to Skype and receive free credits.
Features
In addition to its basic functionality and general capability as an instant messaging client, the latest version of Windows Live Messenger offered the following features:
Album Viewer
Windows Live Messenger's album viewer is based on Windows Photo Gallery and provides users a photo viewing experience for photo albums shared via SkyDrive and Facebook. The album viewer is interactive and supports full screen and slideshow modes, as well as viewing and uploading comments on Facebook and SkyDrive albums. It also supports people tagging for SkyDrive. The album viewer closely resembles the Microsoft Silverlight counterpart for web photo albums present on SkyDrive.
Appear offline to individuals or categories
Windows Live Messenger allows users to appear offline to particular individual contacts, as well as to an entire category within Windows Live Messenger, while appearing online to other contacts.
This is a recent feature of Windows Live Messenger 2011, and is a departure from the previous versions of Windows Live Messenger, where blocking a contact would prevent the "blockee" from sending the user any messages to the "blocker". With the "appear offline to" configuration currently implemented, "hidden from" users can still send "offline messages" to the target.
Social networks integration
Users can connect services such as Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn using Windows Live Profile, and display their contact's Messenger social updates within the "Full view" of Windows Live Messenger. Users can also post status updates and photos directly to the connected services within Windows Live Messenger. Additionally, Messenger also imports all contacts from the connected services and integrates with Facebook Chat (via the XMPP protocol) for instant messaging support with users on Facebook.
Offline messaging
One can send messages to contacts who are offline; they will receive the messages once they come online. Additionally, a user can start conversations even when his or her status is set to Appear Offline in Windows Live Messenger 2009 or before.
Games and applications
There are various games and applications available in Windows Live Messenger that can be accessed via the conversation window by clicking on the games icon, and challenging your friend or contact to a competition in a game, or inviting them to launch a shared external application.
Messenger Companion
Windows Live Messenger Companion was an add-in for Windows Internet Explorer that detects when a user is on a website that one of their friends has shared content from and surfaces that update so that the user can instantly view what their friends have shared and leave a comment to the shared content on Windows Live. The service utilizes Windows Live ID and integrates tightly with Windows Live Messenger to obtain the user's contact list and their shared contents. The features of Windows Live Messenger Companion include:
Sharing links to web pages with the user's friends on Windows Live within the web browser
See links to web pages the user's friends have shared
Add comments to the links the user's friends have shared
Windows Live Messenger Companion was made available as part of Windows Live Essentials 2011. However, Microsoft discontinued Messenger Companion in its newer Windows Essentials 2012 suite.
Protocol
Windows Live Messenger used the Microsoft Notification Protocol (MSNP) over TCP (and optionally over HTTP to deal with proxies) to connect to Microsoft Messenger service—a service offered on port 1863 of "messenger.hotmail.com."
The protocol is not completely secret; Microsoft disclosed version 2 (MSNP2) to developers in 1999 in an Internet Draft, but never released versions 8 or higher to the public. The Messenger service servers currently only accept protocol versions from 8 and higher, so the syntax of new commands sent from versions 8 and higher is only known by using packet sniffers like Wireshark. This has been an easy task because – in comparison to many other modern instant messaging protocols, such as XMPP – the Microsoft Notification Protocol does not provide any encryption and everything can be captured easily using packet sniffers. The lack of proper encryption also makes wiretapping friend lists and personal conversations a trivial task, especially in unencrypted public Wi-Fi networks.
Content filtering
The content of users' messages is filtered on server side of the client. For example, the user can't send the links to The Pirate Bay's pages neither from the Windows Live Messenger, nor through other clients supporting the protocol. However, links to other P2P networks are allowed.
"i'm" initiative
The i'm initiative was a program Microsoft launched in March 2007, that connects the user with ten organizations dedicated to social causes through Windows Live Messenger, only for conversations sent or received in the USA. Every time someone had a conversation using i'm, Microsoft Corp. shared a portion of the program's advertising revenue with the organization of the user's choice. There was no set cap on the amount donated to each organization. The more i'm conversations the user had, the more money went to one of the ten causes. Each participating organization was guaranteed a minimum donation of $100,000 during the first year of the program. The i'm initiative worked with version 8.1 and above.
In March 2010, the initiative concluded, having raised over 3 million dollars.
Platforms
Messenger Mobile (formerly named Windows Live Messenger Mobile) was the version of Messenger that was aimed to be used on mobile devices over a cellular data plan or Wi-Fi (if supported by the phone). There was also a WAP-compatible version that may be used on any mobile device, and also specific client versions designed for Windows Mobile, iOS, BlackBerry and Nokia Series 60 devices.
Windows Mobile
A client version of Windows Live Messenger Mobile was a part of client application named "Windows Live for Windows Mobile" included with the Windows Mobile 6 operating system. It was included on both Windows Mobile 6 smartphone edition (non-touch screen phones) and professional (touch screen phones). Among other features you could send voice-clips (max 10 seconds), pictures & emoticons.
Xbox
Windows Live Messenger support was included in the Xbox 360 spring 2007 dashboard update released on May 9, 2007. It was known as Xbox Live Messenger.
Those using Windows Live Messenger were able to see the Gamertags of friends logged into Xbox Live, including the games that they were playing. Xbox 360 users could chat in-game or while watching a movie. Although only text chat was supported, Microsoft suggested that voice and video chatting may come in a future update. Support for child accounts was added in December 2007.
To coincide with the arrival of the integration of Windows Live Messenger with Xbox Live, Microsoft released a new Xbox 360 keyboard adapter called the Xbox 360 Messenger Kit for easier text input. The keyboard device attaches to the standard Xbox 360 controller through the headphone jack and features a QWERTY-style key layout with 47 backlit keys. However, any USB keyboard is also compatible with the Xbox 360.
Microsoft also announced on June 14, 2010, that users on Xbox LIVE with the controller-free Kinect could have real-time video conversations with Windows Live Messenger contacts. This feature was enabled at launch.
MSN TV (WebTV)
Starting in the summer of 2000, the Microsoft-owned web access product MSN TV (then known as WebTV) introduced a software upgrade for users of its internet terminals that added a basic messaging client among other features. The messaging client was designed to work with the Microsoft Messenger service and was simply named MSN Messenger. The client for the original WebTV/MSN TV internet terminals supported basic presence, plain text messages (no graphical emoticons), and buddy lists, with the overall WebTV/MSN TV service hosting services for users to add, remove, or block Messenger contacts and manage their Messenger settings. Windows Live Messenger support was later added to the MSN TV 2, introducing a new UI to fit the rest of the MSN TV 2's interface and support for graphical emotions. It's believed these clients still worked up until the discontinuation of the MSN TV service in September 2013.
Although WebTV was also available in Japan well before the Summer 2000 upgrade was introduced in the U.S., it does not appear that Japanese WebTV users ever received this Messenger feature.
Mac
Microsoft Messenger for Mac (previously MSN Messenger for Mac) was the official Mac OS X instant messaging client for use with Microsoft Messenger service, developed by the Macintosh Business Unit, a division of Microsoft. Its feature list was limited in comparison to that of its counterpart Windows Live Messenger; the client lacked a number of features that its Windows counterpart contained.
The versions 3.x and later of Microsoft Messenger for Mac featured new Aqua graphics, whereas version 2.x and below have graphics similar to Windows Messenger 4.0. Versions 5.x used the brushed metal theme.
Version 2.5.1, update to version 2.5, which is a mandatory update to version 2.1 that is available for users running Mac OS 9.2.2.
Version 3.5 for Mac OS X revisions older than 10.2.8
Version 4.0.1 for Mac OS X revisions 10.2.8 and newer
Version 5.1.1 for Mac OS X revisions 10.3 and newer
Version 6.0.3 for Mac OS X revisions 10.3.9 and newer
Version 7.0.0 for Mac OS X 10.4.9 or newer was released on April 29, 2008.
Version 7.0.1 for Mac OS X 10.4 or later includes minor bug fixes.
Version 7.0.2 for Mac OS X 10.4 or later: improves overall quality and conversations with Microsoft Office Communicator 2007 R2.
Version 8.0.0 beta for Mac OS X 10.5 or later, for Intel Macs only: Official Beta released on March, 24th 2010. Adds A/V conferencing between Mac OS X users and Windows Live Messenger 2009 users.
Version 8.0.0 for Mac OS X 10.5 or later, for Intel Macs only: Released with Microsoft Office 2011 for Mac in October 2010 and bears a visual similarity to previous Windows counterparts. It features somewhat more stable functional voice and video calls.
With the release of Microsoft Messenger for Mac 7.0, Microsoft has discontinued the client's support for older versions of their Corporate messaging systems (such as Live Communications Server 2005). The latest version to support these older systems is Version 6.0.3, which is still available for download on the Microsoft website.
Webcam and audio support was delayed due to Windows Live Messenger's webcam and audio engine being reworked, which meant that the Mac version had to wait until this was complete in order for both platform releases to function correctly.
iOS
The Windows Live Messenger for iOS client supported receiving of instant messaging notifications even when the application closed, and allowed Multiple Points of Presence (MPOP) such that a user can be signed into multiple locations at the same time. Photos and albums could also be uploaded from the mobile devices onto Windows Live Photos, based on SkyDrive, and the application allowed simple image editing capabilities and people tagging within the photos. The application also supported the "Messenger social" feed on Windows Live Profile, allowing users to view and comment on the social updates and activities of their contacts on Windows Live, as well as those on Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn once these social networks had been connected to Windows Live as a "Service".
Java ME
Nokia Series 40
The Windows Live Messenger Mobile client came as a Java ME mobile application pre-loaded on devices such as Nokia 7610, Nokia 7510, Nokia 7210, Nokia 6700c, Nokia 6600s, Nokia 6303c, Nokia 6260s, Nokia 5220, Nokia 5130XM, Nokia 3720c, Nokia 3710f, Nokia, 3600s, Nokia 2730c, Nokia 2700c, Nokia 5530, Nokia 6303c and Nokia X3.
Sony Ericsson
A version of the Windows Live Messenger Mobile client was also pre-loaded on most Sony Ericsson mobile devices as a Java ME application.
Symbian
A client for Windows Live Messenger was developed by Microsoft for the Symbian S60 Platform commonly used on mobile phones such as Nokia smartphones and released on August 23, 2007, to selected markets. In May 2009, the client was made available on the Ovi Store. This version of Windows Live Messenger included many of the features of the Windows Live Messenger client, including grouped contacts, voice clips (max 10 seconds), image and file sending; as well as features unique to S60 such as tabbed chat windows and integration with contact list and other features of the S60 platform. When the trial expires the cost to users of Messenger for S60 is £1.50/$2.94 for 30 calendar days of use. As of February 2009, Microsoft stopped charging for Windows Live Mobile and the service is now offered for free.
Interoperability
On October 13, 2005, Yahoo! and Microsoft announced plans to add interoperability between their messenger services. The announcement came after years of third-party interoperability success (most notably, PowWow by Tribal Voice, Trillian, Pidgin) and criticisms from Tribal Voice and iCast that the major real time communications services were locking their networks. Yahoo! and Windows Live Messenger became interoperable on July 12, 2006. For six years, Yahoo! Messenger and Windows Live Messenger users in possession of up-to-date software could communicate across the two networks. Instant messaging as well as transmission of emoticons, nudges, offline messages, presence information and personal status messages were supported. On December 14, 2012, the interoperability ended.
Interoperability with Facebook Chat was added on September 30, 2010, with the launch of Windows Live Messenger 2011.
See also
Comparison of instant messaging clients
Comparison of instant messaging protocols
Microsoft Lync
Messenger Plus! Live
Windows Live Web Messenger
References
1999 software
Adware
MSN
Teleconferencing
Videotelephony
VoIP software
Windows instant messaging clients
Messenger
Windows-only freeware
Symbian software
Yahoo! instant messaging clients
Products and services discontinued in 2013
Discontinued Microsoft software |
404440 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zend%20%28company%29 | Zend (company) | Zend, formerly Zend Technologies, is a Minneapolis, Minnesota-based software company. The company's products, which include Zend Studio, assist software developers with developing, deploying and managing PHP-based web applications.
The company was founded in 1999, and it was acquired in 2019 as part of Perforce's acquisition of Zend's parent, Rogue Wave Software.
History
Zend Technologies was founded by Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski who, along with other Israeli graduates of the Technion, the Israel Institute of technology, further developed PHP after its initial creation by Rasmus Lerdorf. The name Zend is a combination of Suraski's and Gutmans' forenames, Zeev and Andi.
In 1997, Gutmans and Suraski rewrote the parser of PHP-FI, originally written by Lerdorf, resulting in PHP 3. In 1998 they redesigned that parser completely, and named it the Zend Engine. PHP 4 is based on the first version of the Zend Engine.
In 1999, their company Zend Technologies was formally established and received initial funding from the Israeli venture capital funds Platinum Neurone Ventures and Walden Israel. Business executive Doron Gerstel was recruited to head the company as CEO.
In August 2006 Zend raised $20 million in a series D funding.
In February 2009, Zend's co-founder Andi Gutmans was appointed as CEO, after serving as the company's VP of research and development. Zend also recruited Mark Burton, who had served as EVP of worldwide sales at MySQL, as executive chairman.
In October 2015, Louisville, Colorado-based software developer Rogue Wave Software acquired Zend.
Shortly after being acquired, co-founder Andi Gutmans left the company in February 2016.
In January 2019, Rogue Wave Software was acquired by Minneapolis, Minnesota-based application software developer Perforce. In April, Perforce's Zend Framework was spun off as a separate project to the Linux Foundation, and was renamed Laminas.
Products
Zend branded products are designed to help PHP developers create applications. Products include Zend Server, Zend Studio and Zend Guard, as well as related PHP certification testing.
Zend Server
Zend Server is a web application server for running and managing PHP applications. Zend Server comes with built-in application monitoring, application problem diagnostics, caching and optimization capabilities and a Web-based administrator console. Zend Server's installers are native to the OS (RPM/DEB/MSI) and include a tested PHP distribution, Zend Framework, out-of-the-box connectivity to all common databases, Java connectivity and a scalable and PHP-integrated download server (for Linux only).
Zend Server includes Z-Ray, a PHP debugging and productivity tool.
The company also develops a Zend Server Community Edition, supporting Linux, Windows, iSeries i5/OS, and Mac OS X, and available as a paid upgrade.
Zend Studio
Zend Studio is a commercial, proprietary integrated development environment (IDE) for PHP.
Zend Guard
Zend Guard was a tool to protect PHP 4 and 5 source code from being viewed, copied or modified. Development ended in 2016 without support for PHP 7 being added.
Zend Certification Test
Zend also provides a PHP Certification Test and certifies people succeeding on the exam as Zend Certified PHP Engineers (ZCE). The company publishes a directory of certified engineers for those passing the test.
Sponsored projects
Zend Technologies sponsors various projects to help PHP developers.
Zend Engine
Zend Engine is the heart of PHP, originally written by Andi Gutmans and Zeev Suraski. The first version of Zend Engine was shipped with PHP4. Zend sponsors some developers to actively contribute to the engine, while the main development of Zend Engine today comes from contributors to the PHP project.
Laminas
Laminas, formerly Zend Framework, is an open-source, object-oriented web application framework written in PHP5 and licensed under the BSD license. It was spun off as a separate project to the Linux Foundation in April 2019. Apigility was Zend's API Builder, designed to simplify the creation and maintenance of APIs. It was spun off along with Zend Framework, and was renamed Laminas API Tools.
References
External links
Zend
Companies based in Minneapolis
Software companies established in 1999
2015 mergers and acquisitions
Software companies of the United States
1999 establishments in Minnesota |
8008600 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Second%20voyage%20of%20HMS%20Beagle | Second voyage of HMS Beagle | The second voyage of HMS Beagle, from 27 December 1831 to 2 October 1836, was the second survey expedition of HMS Beagle, under captain Robert FitzRoy who had taken over command of the ship on its first voyage after the previous captain, Pringle Stokes, committed suicide. FitzRoy had thought of the advantages of having someone onboard who could investigate geology, and sought a naturalist to accompany them as a supernumerary. At the age of 22, the graduate Charles Darwin hoped to see the tropics before becoming a parson and accepted the opportunity. He was greatly influenced by reading Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology during the voyage. By the end of the expedition, Darwin had made his name as a geologist and fossil collector and the publication of his journal (later known as The Voyage of the Beagle) gave him wide renown as a writer.
Beagle sailed across the Atlantic Ocean, and then carried out detailed hydrographic surveys around the coasts of southern South America, returning via Tahiti and Australia after having circumnavigated the Earth. The initial offer to Darwin told him the voyage would last two years; it lasted almost five.
Darwin spent most of this time exploring on land: three years and three months land, 18 months at sea. Early in the voyage, Darwin decided that he could write a geology book, and he showed a gift for theorising. At Punta Alta in Argentina, he made a major find of gigantic fossils of extinct mammals, then known from very few specimens. He collected and made detailed observations of plants and animals. His findings undermined his belief in the doctrine that species are fixed, and provided the basis for ideas which came to him when back in England, leading to his theory of evolution by natural selection.
Aims of the expedition
When the Napoleonic Wars ended in 1815, the Pax Britannica saw seafaring nations competing in colonisation and rapid industrialisation. The logistics of supply and growing commerce needed reliable information about sea routes, but existing nautical charts were incomplete and inaccurate. Spanish American wars of independence ended Spain's monopoly over trade, and the UK's 1825 commercial treaty with Argentina recognised its independence, increasing the naval and commercial significance of the east coast of South America. The Admiralty instructed Commander King to make an accurate hydrographic survey of "the Southern Coasts of the Peninsula of South America, from the southern entrance of the River Plata, round to Chilóe; and of Tierra del Fuego". As Darwin wrote of his voyage, "The object of the expedition was to complete the survey of Patagonia and Tierra del Fuego, commenced under Captain King in 1826 to 1830—to survey the shores of Chile, Peru, and of some islands in the Pacific—and to carry a chain of chronometrical measurements round the World." The expeditions also had diplomatic objectives, visiting disputed territories.
An Admiralty memorandum set out the detailed instructions. The first requirement was to resolve disagreements in the earlier surveys about the longitude of Rio de Janeiro, which was essential as the base point for meridian distances. The accurate marine chronometers needed to determine longitude had only become affordable since 1800; Beagle carried 22 chronometers to allow corrections. The ship was to stop at specified points for a four-day rating of the chronometers and to check them by astronomical observations: it was essential to take observations at Porto Praya and Fernando de Noronha to calibrate against the previous surveys of William Fitzwilliam Owen and Henry Foster. It was important to survey the extent of the Abrolhos Archipelago reefs, shown incorrectly in Albin Roussin's survey, then proceed to Rio de Janeiro to decide the exact longitude of Villegagnon Island.
The real work of the survey was then to commence south of the Río de la Plata, with return trips to Montevideo for supplies; details were given of priorities, including surveying Tierra del Fuego and approaches to harbours on the Falkland Islands. The west coast was then to be surveyed as far north as time and resources permitted. The commander would then determine his own route west: season permitting, he could survey the Galápagos Islands. Then, Beagle was to proceed to Point Venus, Tahiti, and on to Port Jackson, Australia, which were known points to verify the chronometers.
No time was to be wasted on elaborate drawings; charts and plans should have notes and simple views of the land as seen from the sea showing measured heights of hills. Continued records of tides and meteorological conditions were also required. An additional suggestion was for a geological survey of a circular coral atoll in the Pacific Ocean including its profile and of tidal flows, to investigate the formation of such coral reefs.
Context and preparations
The previous survey expedition to South America involved HMS Adventure and HMS Beagle under the overall command of the Australian Commander Phillip Parker King. During the survey, Beagle captain, Pringle Stokes, committed suicide and command of the ship was given to the young aristocrat Robert FitzRoy, a nephew of George FitzRoy, 4th Duke of Grafton. When a ship's boat was taken by the natives of Tierra del Fuego, FitzRoy tried taking some of them hostage, and after this failed he got occupants of a canoe to put another on the ship in exchange for buttons. He brought four of them back to England to be given a Christian education, with the idea that they could eventually become missionaries. One died of smallpox. After Beagle return to Devonport dockyard on 14 October 1830, Captain King retired.
The 27-year-old FitzRoy had hopes of commanding a second expedition to continue the South American survey, but when he heard that the Lords of the Admiralty no longer supported this, he grew concerned about how to return the Fuegians. He made an agreement with the owner of a small merchant-vessel to take himself and five others back to South America, but a kind uncle heard of this and contacted the Admiralty. Soon afterwards, FitzRoy heard that he was to be appointed commander of HMS Chanticleer to go to Tierra del Fuego, but due to her poor condition, Beagle was substituted. On 27 June 1831, FitzRoy was commissioned as commander of the voyage, and Lieutenants John Clements Wickham and Bartholomew James Sulivan were both appointed.
Captain Francis Beaufort, the Hydrographer of the Admiralty, was invited to decide on the use that could be made of the voyage to continue the survey, and he discussed with FitzRoy plans for a voyage of several years, including a continuation of the trip around the world to establish median distances. Beagle was commissioned on 4 July 1831, under the command of Captain FitzRoy, who promptly spared no expense in having Beagle extensively refitted. Beagle was immediately taken into dock for extensive rebuilding and refitting. As she required a new deck, FitzRoy had the upper-deck raised considerably, by aft and forward. The Cherokee-class brig-sloops had the reputation of being "coffin brigs", which handled badly and were prone to sinking. By helping the decks to drain more quickly with less water collecting in the gunnels, the raised deck gave Beagle better handling and made her less liable to become top-heavy and capsize. Additional sheathing to the hull added about seven tons to her burthen and perhaps fifteen to her displacement.
The ship was one of the first to test the lightning conductor invented by William Snow Harris. FitzRoy obtained five examples of the Sympiesometer, a kind of mercury-free barometer patented by Alexander Adie and favoured by FitzRoy as giving the accurate readings required by the Admiralty.
In addition to its officers and crew, Beagle carried several supernumeraries, passengers without an official position. FitzRoy employed a mathematical instrument maker to maintain his 22 marine chronometers kept in his cabin, as well as engaging the artist/draughtsman Augustus Earle to go in a private capacity. The three Fuegians taken on the previous voyage were going to be returned to Tierra del Fuego on Beagle together with the missionary Richard Matthews.
Naturalist and geologist
For Beaufort and the leading Cambridge "gentlemen of science" the opportunity for a naturalist to join the expedition fitted with their drive to revitalise British government policy on science. This elite disdained research done for money and felt that natural philosophy was for gentlemen, not tradesmen. The officer class of the Army and Navy provided a way to ascend this hierarchy; the ship's surgeon often collected specimens on voyages, and Robert McCormick had secured the position on Beagle after taking part in earlier expeditions and studying natural history. A sizeable collection had considerable social value, attracting wide public interest, and McCormick aspired to fame as an exploring naturalist. Collections made by the ship's surgeon and other officers were government property, though the Admiralty was not consistent on this, and went to important London establishments, usually the British Museum. The Admiralty instructions for the first voyage had required officers "to use their best diligence in increasing the Collections in each ship: the whole of which must be understood to belong to the Public", but on the second voyage this requirement was omitted, and the officers were free to keep all the specimens for themselves.
FitzRoy's journal written during the first voyage noted that, while investigating magnetic rocks near the Barbara Channel, he regretted "that no person in the vessel was skilled in mineralogy, or at all acquainted with geology", to make use of the opportunity of "ascertaining the nature of the rocks and earths" of the areas surveyed. FitzRoy decided that on any similar future expedition, he would "endeavour to carry out a person qualified to examine the land; while the officers, and myself, would attend to hydrography." This indicated a need for a naturalist qualified to examine geology, who would spend considerable periods onshore away from the ship. McCormick lacked expertise in geology and had to attend to his duties on the ship.
FitzRoy knew that commanding a ship could involve stress and loneliness. He was aware of his uncle Viscount Castlereagh's suicide due to stress from overwork, as well as Captain Stokes's suicide. This was to be the first time that FitzRoy would be fully in charge of a ship with no commanding officer or second captain to consult. It has been suggested that he felt the need for a gentleman companion who shared his scientific interests and could dine with him as an equal, although there is no direct evidence to support this. Professor John Stevens Henslow described the position "more as a companion than a mere collector", but this was an assurance that FitzRoy would treat his guest as a gentleman naturalist. Several other ships at this period carried unpaid civilians as naturalists.
Early in August, FitzRoy discussed this position with Beaufort, who had a scientific network of friends at the University of Cambridge. At Beaufort's request, mathematics lecturer George Peacock wrote from London to Henslow about this "rare opportunity for a naturalist", saying that an "offer has been made to me to recommend a proper person to go out as a naturalist with this expedition", and suggesting the Reverend Leonard Jenyns. Though Jenyns nearly accepted and even packed his clothes, he had concerns about his obligations as vicar of Swaffham Bulbeck and about his health, therefore Jenyns declined the offer. Henslow briefly thought of going, but his wife "looked so miserable" that he quickly dropped the idea. Both recommended bringing the 22-year-old Charles Darwin, who was on a geology field trip with Adam Sedgwick. He had just completed the ordinary Bachelor of Arts degree which was a prerequisite for his intended career as a parson.
Offer of place to Darwin
Darwin fitted well the expectations of a gentleman natural philosopher and was well trained as a naturalist. When he had studied geology in his second year at Edinburgh, he had found it dull, but from Easter to August 1831, he learned a great deal with Sedgwick and developed a strong interest during their geological field trip. On 24 August Henslow wrote to Darwin:
...that I consider you to be the best qualified person I know of who is likely to undertake such a situation— I state this not on the supposition of yr. being a finished Naturalist, but as amply qualified for collecting, observing, & noting any thing worthy to be noted in Natural History. Peacock has the appointment at his disposal & if he can not find a man willing to take the office, the opportunity will probably be lost— Capt. F. wants a man (I understand) more as a companion than a mere collector & would not take any one however good a Naturalist who was not recommended to him likewise as a gentleman. ... The Voyage is to last 2 yrs. & if you take plenty of Books with you, any thing you please may be done ... there never was a finer chance for a man of zeal & spirit... Don't put on any modest doubts or fears about your disqualifications for I assure you I think you are the very man they are in search of.
The letter went first to George Peacock, who quickly forwarded it to Darwin with further details, confirming that the "ship sails about the end of September". Peacock had discussed the offer with Beaufort, "he entirely approves of it & you may consider the situation as at your absolute disposal". When Darwin returned home from the field trip late on 29 August and opened the letters, his father objected strongly to the voyage so, the next day, he wrote declining the offer and left to go shooting at the estate of his uncle Josiah Wedgwood II. With Wedgwood's help, Darwin's father was persuaded to relent and fund his son's expedition, and on Thursday 1 September, Darwin wrote to Beaufort accepting the offer. That day, Beaufort wrote to tell FitzRoy that his friend Peacock had "succeeded in getting a 'Savant' for you—A Mr Darwin grandson of the well known philosopher and poet—full of zeal and enterprize and having contemplated a voyage on his own account to S. America". On Friday, Darwin left for Cambridge, where he, the next day, got advice on preparations of the voyage and references to experts by Henslow.
Alexander Charles Wood (an undergraduate whose tutor was Peacock) wrote from Cambridge to his cousin FitzRoy to recommend Darwin. Around midday on Sunday 4 September, Wood received FitzRoy's response, "straightforward and gentlemanlike" but strongly against Darwin joining the expedition; both Darwin and Henslow then "gave up the scheme". Darwin went to London anyway, and next morning met FitzRoy, who explained that he had promised the place to his friend Mr. Chester (possibly the novelist Harry Chester), but Chester had turned it down in a letter received not five minutes before Darwin arrived. FitzRoy emphasised the difficulties, including cramped conditions and plain food. Darwin would be on the Admiralty's books to get provisions (worth £40 a year) and, like the ship's officers and captain, would pay £30 a year towards the mess bill. Including outfitting, the cost to him was unlikely to reach £500. The ship would sail on 10 October, and would probably be away for three years. They talked and dined together, and soon found each other agreeable. The Tory FitzRoy had been cautious at the prospect of companionship with this unknown young gentleman of Whig background, and later admitted that his letter to Wood was "to throw cold water on the scheme" in "a sudden horror of the chances of having somebody he should not like on board". He half-seriously told Darwin later that, as "an ardent disciple of Lavater", he had nearly rejected Darwin on the phrenological basis that the shape (or physiognomy) of Darwin's nose indicated a lack of determination.
Darwin's preparations
While he continued to get acquainted with FitzRoy, going shopping together, Darwin rushed around to arrange his supplies and equipment. He took advice from experts on specimen preservation including William Yarrell at the Zoological Society of London, Robert Brown at the British Museum, Captain Phillip Parker King who led the first expedition, and invertebrate anatomist Robert Edmond Grant who had tutored Darwin at Edinburgh. Yarrell gave invaluable advice and bargained with shopkeepers, so Darwin paid £50 for two pistols and a rifle, while FitzRoy had spent £400 on firearms. On Sunday, 11 September, FitzRoy and Darwin took the steam packet for Portsmouth. Darwin was not seasick and had a pleasant "sail of three days". For the first time, he saw the "very small" cramped ship, met the officers, and was glad to get a large cabin, shared with the assistant surveyor John Lort Stokes. On Friday, Darwin rushed back to London, "250 miles in 24 hours", and on via Cambridge and St. Albans, travelling on the Wonder coach all day on 22 September to arrive in Shrewsbury that evening, then after a last brief visit to family and friends left for London on 2 October. Delays to Beagle gave Darwin an extra week to consult experts and complete packing his baggage. After sending his heavy goods down by steam packet, he took the coach along with Augustus Earle and arrived at Devonport on 24 October.
The geologist Charles Lyell asked FitzRoy to record observations on geological features such as erratic boulders. Before they left England, FitzRoy gave Darwin a copy of the first volume of Lyell's Principles of Geology which explained features as the outcome of a gradual process taking place over extremely long periods of time. In his autobiography, Darwin recalled Henslow giving advice at this time to obtain and study the book, "but on no account to accept the views therein advocated".
Darwin's position as a naturalist on board was as a self-funded guest with no official appointment, and he could leave the voyage at any suitable stage. At the outset, George Peacock had advised that "The Admiralty are not disposed to give a salary, though they will furnish you with an official appointment & every : if a salary should be required however I am inclined to think that it would be granted". Far from wanting this, Darwin's concern was to maintain control over his collection. He was even reluctant to be on the Admiralty's books for victuals until he got assurances from FitzRoy and Beaufort that this would not affect his rights to assign his specimens.
Beaufort initially thought specimens ought to go to the British Museum, but Darwin had heard of many left waiting to be described, including botanical specimens from the first Beagle voyage. Beaufort assured him that he "should have no difficulty" as long as he "presented them to some public body" such as the Zoological or Geological societies. Henslow had set up the small Cambridge Philosophical Society museum, Darwin told him that new finds should go to the "largest & most central collection" rather than a "Country collection, let it be ever so good", but soon expressed "hope to be able to assist the Philosoph. Society" with some specimens.
FitzRoy arranged transport of specimens to England as official cargo on the Admiralty Packet Service, at no cost to Darwin even though it was his private collection. Henslow agreed to store them at Cambridge, and Darwin confirmed with him arrangements for land carriage from the port, to be funded by Darwin's father.
Darwin's work on the expedition
The captain had to record his survey in painstaking paperwork, and Darwin too kept a daily log as well as detailed notebooks of his finds and speculations, and a diary which became his journal. Darwin's notebooks show complete professionalism that he had probably learnt at the University of Edinburgh when making natural history notes while exploring the shores of the Firth of Forth with his brother Erasmus in 1826 and studying marine invertebrates with Robert Edmund Grant for a few months in 1827. Darwin had also collected beetles at Cambridge, but he was a novice in all other areas of natural history. During the voyage, Darwin investigated small invertebrates while collecting specimens of other creatures for experts to examine and describe once Beagle had returned to England. More than half of his carefully organised zoology notes deal with marine invertebrates. The notes also record closely reasoned interpretations of what he found about their complex internal anatomy while dissecting specimens under his microscope and small experiments on their response to stimulation. His onshore observations included intense, analytical comments on possible reasons for the behaviour, distribution, and relation to their environment of the creatures he saw. He made good use of the ship's excellent library of books on natural history but continually questioned their correctness.
Geology was Darwin's "principal pursuit" on the expedition, and his notes on that subject were almost four times larger than his zoology notes, although he kept extensive records on both. During the voyage, he wrote to his sister that "there is nothing like geology; the pleasure of the first days partridge shooting or first days hunting cannot be compared to finding a fine group of fossil bones, which tell their story of former times with almost a living tongue". To him, investigating geology brought reasoning into play and gave him opportunities for theorising.
Voyage
Charles Darwin had been told that Beagle was expected to sail about the end of September 1831, but fitting out took longer. The Admiralty Instructions were received on 14 November, and on 23 November, she was moved to anchorage, ready to depart. Repeated Westerly gales caused delays, and forced them to turn back after departing on 10 and 21 December. Drunkenness at Christmas lost another day. Finally, on the morning of 27 December, Beagle left its anchorage in the Barn Pool, under Mount Edgecumbe on the west side of Plymouth Sound and set out on its surveying expedition.
Atlantic islands
Beagle touched at Madeira for a confirmed position without stopping. Then on 6 January, it reached Tenerife in the Canary Islands but was quarantined there because of cholera in England. Although tantalisingly near to the town of Santa Cruz, to Darwin's intense disappointment, they were denied landing. With improving weather conditions, they sailed on. On 10 January, Darwin tried out a plankton net he had devised to be towed behind the ship—only the second recorded use of such a net (after use by John Vaughan Thompson in 1816). Next day, he noted the great number of animals collected far from land and wrote: "Many of these creatures so low in the scale of nature are most exquisite in their forms & rich colours. — It creates a feeling of wonder that so much beauty should be apparently created for such little purpose."
Six days later, they made their first landing at Praia on the volcanic island of Santiago in the Cape Verde Islands. It is here that Darwin's description in his published Journal begins. His initial impression was of a desolate and sterile volcanic island. However, upon visiting the town, he came to a deep valley where he "first saw the glory of tropical vegetation" and had "a glorious day", finding overwhelming novelty in the sights and sounds. FitzRoy set up tents and an observatory on Quail Island to determine the exact position of the islands, while Darwin collected numerous sea animals, delighting in vivid tropical corals in tidal pools, and investigating the geology of Quail Island. Though Daubeny's book in Beagle library described the volcanic geology of the Canary Islands, it said that the structure of the Cape Verde Islands was "too imperfectly known". Darwin saw Quail Island as his key to understanding the structure of St. Jago and made careful studies of its stratigraphy in the way he had learnt from Adam Sedgwick. He collected specimens and described a white layer of hard white rock formed from crushed coral and seashells lying between layers of black volcanic rocks, and noted a similar white layer running horizontally in the black cliffs of St. Jago at above sea level. The seashells were, as far as he could tell, "the same as those of present day". He speculated that in geologically recent times a lava flow had covered this shell sand on the sea bed, and then the strata had slowly risen to their present level. Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology presented a thesis of gradual rising and falling of the Earth's crust illustrated by the changing levels of the Temple of Serapis. Darwin implicitly supported Lyell by remarking that "Dr. Daubeny when mentioning the present state of the temple of Serapis. doubts the possibility of a surface of country being raised without cracking buildings on it. – I feel sure at St Jago in some places a town might have been raised without injuring a house." Later, in his first letter to Henslow, he wrote that "The geology was preeminently interesting & I believe quite new: there are some facts on a large scale of upraised coast ... that would interest Mr. Lyell." While still on the island, Darwin was inspired to think of writing a book on geology, and later wrote of "seeing a thing never seen by Lyell, one yet saw it partially through his eyes".
Beagle surgeon Robert McCormick sought fame and fortune as an explorer. When they first met at the start of the voyage, Darwin had commented that "My friend [McCormick] is an ass, but we jog on very amicably". They walked into the countryside of St. Jago together, and Darwin, influenced by Lyell, found the surgeon's approach old-fashioned. They found a remarkable baobab tree, which FitzRoy measured and sketched. Darwin went on subsequent "riding expeditions" with Benjamin Bynoe and Rowlett to visit Ribeira Grande and St Domingo. FitzRoy extended their stay to 23 days to complete his measurements of magnetism. Darwin subsequently wrote to Henslow that his collecting included "several specimens of an Octopus, which possessed a most marvellous power of changing its colours; equalling any chamaelion, & evidently accommodating the changes to the colour of the ground which it passed over.—yellowish green, dark brown & red were the prevailing colours: this fact appears to be new, as far as I can find out." Henslow replied that "The fact is not new, but any fresh observations will be highly important."
McCormick increasingly resented the favours FitzRoy gave to assist Darwin with collecting. On 16 February, FitzRoy landed a small party including himself and Darwin on St. Paul's Rocks, finding the seabirds so tame that they could be killed easily, while an exasperated McCormick was left circling the islets in a second small boat. That evening, novices were greeted by a pseudo-Neptune, and in the morning, they crossed the equator with the traditional line-crossing ceremony.
Darwin had a special position as a guest and social equal of the captain, so junior officers called him "sir" until the captain dubbed Darwin Philos for "ship's philosopher", which became his suitably respectful nickname.
Surveying South America
In South America, Beagle carried out its survey work going to and fro along the coasts to allow careful measurement and rechecking.
Darwin made long journeys inland with travelling companions from the locality. He spent much of the time away from the ship, returning by prearrangement when Beagle returned to ports where mail and newspapers were received, and Darwin's notes, journals, and collections sent back to England, via the Admiralty Packet Service. He had ensured that his collections were his own and, as prearranged, batches of his specimens were shipped to England, then taken by land carriage to Henslow in Cambridge to await his return. The first batch was sent in August 1832, journey time varied considerably but all batches were eventually delivered.
Several others on board, including FitzRoy and other officers, were able amateur naturalists, and they gave Darwin generous assistance as well as making collections for the Crown, which the Admiralty placed in the British Museum.
Tropical paradise and slavery
Due to heavy surf, they only stayed at Fernando de Noronha for a day to make the required observations, then FitzRoy pressed on to Bahia de Todos Santos, Brazil, to rate the chronometers and take on water. They reached the continent and arrived at the port on 28 February. Darwin was thrilled at the magnificent sight of "the town of Bahia or St Salvador", with large ships at harbour scattered across the bay. On the next day, he was in "transports of pleasure" walking by himself in the tropical forest, and in "long naturalizing walks" with others continued to "add raptures to the former raptures".
He found the sights of slavery offensive, and when FitzRoy defended the practice by describing a visit to a slaveowner whose slaves replied "no" on being asked by their master if they wished to be freed, Darwin suggested that answers in such circumstances were worthless. Enraged that his word had been questioned, FitzRoy lost his temper and banned Darwin from his company. The officers had nicknamed such outbursts "hot coffee", and within hours FitzRoy apologised, and asked Darwin to remain. Later, FitzRoy had to remain silent when Captain Paget visited them and recounted "facts about slavery so revolting" that refuted his claim.
Surveying of sandbanks around the harbour was completed on 18 March, and the ship made its way down the coast to survey the extent and depths of the Abrolhos reefs, completing and correcting Roussin's survey.
They manoeuvred Beagle into Rio de Janeiro harbour "in first rate style" on 4 April, with Darwin enthusiastically helping. Amidst excitement at opening letters from home, he was taken aback by news that his close friend Fanny Owen was engaged to marry Biddulph of Chirk Castle. Augustus Earle showed Darwin round the town, and they found a delightful cottage for lodgings at Botafogo. Darwin made arrangements with local estate owners, and on 8 April set off with them on a strenuous "riding excursion" to Rio Macaè.
McCormick had made himself disagreeable to FitzRoy and first lieutenant Wickham, so was "invalided home", as he also was on other voyages. In his 1884 memoirs, he claimed he had been "very much disappointed in my expectations of carrying out my natural history pursuits, every obstacle having been placed in the way of my getting on shore and making collections". Assistant Surgeon Benjamin Bynoe was made acting surgeon in his place.
The required observations from Villegagnon Island at Rio showed a discrepancy of of longitude in the meridian distance from Bahia to Rio, compared to Roussin's results, and FitzRoy wrote telling Beaufort he would go back to check.
On 24 April Darwin got back to the ship, next day his books, papers, and equipment suffered minor damage when the boat taking him to Botafogo cottage was swamped. He sent his sister his "commonplace Journal" to date, inviting criticisms, and decided to stay in the cottage with Earle while the ship went to Bahia.
Eight of the crew had gone snipe shooting in the cutter, with an overnight stay at the Macacu River near Rio. After their return on 2 May, some fell ill with fever. The ship set off on 10 May, a seaman died en route, a ship's boy and a young midshipman died at Bahia. The ship returned to Rio on 3 June. Having confirmed that his measurements were correct, FitzRoy sent corrections to Roussin.
At the cottage, Darwin composed his first letter outlining his collecting to Henslow. He said he would not "send a box till we arrive at Monte Video.—it is too great a loss of time both for Carpenters & myself to pack up whilst in harbor". He returned to the ship on 26 June, and they set sail on 5 July.
Amidst political changes, Beagle had a diplomatic role. As they arrived at Montevideo on 26 July, HMS Druid signalled them to "clear for action" as British property had been seized in growing unrest after "military usurpation" deposed Lavalleja. They took observations for the chronometers, then on 31 July sailed to Buenos Aires to meet the governor and get maps, but were met by warning shots from a guard ship. FitzRoy promptly lodged a complaint and departed, threatening a broadside in response to any further provocation. When they got back on 4 August, FitzRoy informed the Druids captain who set off to demand an apology. On 5 August, Town officials and the British Consul asked FitzRoy for help to quell a mutiny; the garrison was held by Black troops loyal to Lavalleja. With Darwin and 50 well-armed men from the ship he arrived at the fort, then next day withdrew leaving a stand-off. Darwin enjoyed the excitement, and wrote "It was something new to me to walk with Pistols & Cutlass through the streets of a Town". Druid returned on 15 August, with a long apology from the government and news that the guard-ship captain had been arrested.
Darwin's first box of specimens was ready, and went on the Falmouth packet Emulous departing on 19 August, Henslow received the box in mid January.
On 22 August, after taking soundings in Samborombón Bay, Beagle began survey work down the coast from Cape San Antonio, Buenos Aires Province, Argentina.
Fossil finds
At Bahía Blanca, in the southern part of present Buenos Aires Province, Darwin rode inland into Patagonia with gauchos: he saw them use bolas to bring down "ostriches" (rheas) and ate roast armadillo. With FitzRoy, he went for "a very pleasant cruize about the bay" on 22 September, and about from the ship, they stopped for a while at Punta Alta. In low cliffs near the point, Darwin found conglomerate rocks containing numerous shells and fossilised teeth and bones of gigantic extinct mammals, in strata near an earth layer with shells and armadillo fossils, suggesting to him quiet tidal deposits rather than a catastrophe. With assistance (possibly from the young sailor Syms Covington acting as his servant), Darwin collected numerous fossils over several days, amusing others with "the cargoes of apparent rubbish which he frequently brought on board".
Much of the second day was taken up with excavating a large skull which Darwin found embedded in soft rock, and seemed to him to be allied to the rhinoceros. On 8 October, he returned to the site and found a jawbone and tooth which he was able to identify using Bory de Saint-Vincent's Dictionnaire classique. He wrote home describing this and the large skull as Megatherium fossils, or perhaps Megalonyx, and excitedly noted that the only specimens in Europe were locked away in the King's collection at Madrid. In the same layer he found a large surface of polygonal plates of bony armour. His immediate thought was that they came from an enormous armadillo like the small creatures common in the area. However, from Cuvier's misleading description of the Madrid specimen and a recent newspaper report about a fossil collected by Woodbine Parish, Darwin thought that the bony armour identified the fossil as Megatherium. With FitzRoy, Darwin went about across the bay to Monte Hermoso on 19 October and found numerous fossils of smaller rodents in contrast to the huge Edentatal mammals of Punta Alta.
They returned to Montevideo, and on 2 November revisited Buenos Aires, passing the guard-ship which now gave them due respect. From questioning the finder of the Megatherium reported in the newspaper (Woodbine Parish’s agent), Darwin concluded it came from the same geological formation as his own fossil finds. He also "purchased fragments of some enormous bones" which he "was assured belonged to the former giants!!" In Montevideo from 14 November, he packaged his specimens, including all the fossils, and sent this cargo on the Duke of York Falmouth packet.
The mail from home included a copy of the second volume of Charles Lyell's Principles of Geology, a refutation of Lamarckism in which there was no shared ancestry of different species or overall progress to match the gradual geological change. Instead, it was a continuing cycle in which species mysteriously appeared, closely adapted to their "centres of creation", then became extinct when the environment changed to their disadvantage.
Tierra del Fuego
They reached Tierra del Fuego on 18 December 1832, and Darwin was taken by surprise at what he perceived as the crude savagery of the Yaghan natives, in stark contrast to the "civilised" behaviour of the three Fuegians they were returning as missionaries (who had been given the names York Minster, Fuegia Basket and Jemmy Button). He described his first meeting with the native Fuegians as being "without exception the most curious and interesting spectacle I ever beheld: I could not have believed how wide was the difference between savage and civilised man: it is greater than between a wild and domesticated animal, inasmuch as in man there is a greater power of improvement." They appeared like "the representations of Devils on the Stage" as in Der Freischütz. In contrast, he said of Jemmy that "It seems yet wonderful to me, when I think over all his many good qualities, that he should have been of the same race, and doubtless partaken of the same character, with the miserable, degraded savages whom we first met here." (Four decades later, he recalled these impressions in The Descent of Man to support his argument that just as humans had descended from "a lower form", civilised society had arisen by graduations from a more primitive state. He recalled how closely the Fuegians on board Beagle "resembled us in disposition and in most of our mental faculties.")
At the island of "Buttons Land" on 23 January 1833, they set up a mission post with huts, gardens, furniture and crockery. Upon returning nine days later, the possessions had been looted and divided up equally by the natives. Matthews gave up, rejoining the ship and leaving the three civilised Fuegians to continue the missionary work. Beagle went on to the Falkland Islands, arriving just after the British return. Darwin studied the relationships of species to habitats and found ancient fossils like those he found in Wales. FitzRoy bought a schooner to assist with the surveying, and they returned to Patagonia, where it was fitted with a new copper bottom and renamed Adventure. Syms Covington assisted Darwin in preserving specimens, and his collecting was so successful that, with FitzRoy's agreement, he hired Covington as a full-time servant for £30 a year.
Gauchos, rheas, fossils and geology
The two ships sailed to the Río Negro in Argentina, and on 8 August 1833, Darwin left on another journey inland with the gauchos. On 12 August, he met General Juan Manuel de Rosas who was then leading a punitive expedition in his military campaign against native "Indians" and obtained a passport from him. As they crossed the pampas, the gauchos and Indians told Darwin of a rare smaller species of rhea. After three days at Bahía Blanca, he grew tired of waiting for Beagle, and on 21 August, revisited Punta Alta where he reviewed the geology of the site in light of his new knowledge, wondering if the bones were older than the seashells. He was very successful with searching for bones, and on 1 September, found a near-complete skeleton with its bones still in position.
He set off again and on 1 October, while searching the cliffs of the Carcarañá River, found "an enormous gnawing tooth", and then, in a cliff of the Paraná River, saw "two great groups of immense bones" which were too soft to collect but a tooth fragment identified them as mastodons. Illness delayed him at Santa Fe, and after seeing the fossilised casing of a huge armadillo embedded in rock, he was puzzled to find a horse tooth in the same rock layer since horses had been introduced to the continent with European migration. They took a riverboat down the Paraná River to Buenos Aires but became entangled in a revolution as rebels allied to Rosas blockaded the city. The passport helped, and with Covington, he managed to escape in a boatload of refugees. They rejoined Beagle at Montevideo.
As surveys were still in progress, Darwin set off on another "galloping" trip in Banda Oriental to see the Uruguay River and visit the Estancia of Mr Keen near Mercedes on the Río Negro. On 25 November, he "heard of some giants bones, which as usual turned out to be those of the Megatherium" but could only extract a few broken fragments. The next day, he visited a nearby house and bought "a head of a Megatherium which must have been when found quite perfect" for about two shillings, though the teeth had since been broken and the lower jaw had been lost. Mr Keen arranged to ship the skull downriver to Buenos Aires. At Las Piedras, a clergyman let him see fossils, including a club-like tail which he sketched and called an "extraordinary weapon". His notes included a page showing his realisation that the cliff banks of the rivers exposed two strata formed in an estuary interrupted by an undersea stratum, indicating that the land had risen and fallen.
Back at Montevideo, Darwin was introduced to Conrad Martens, the replacement artist brought on board Beagle after Augustus Earle had to leave due to health problems. They sailed south, putting in at Port Desire on 23 December, and the following day Darwin shot a guanaco which provided them with a Christmas meal. Early in the new year, Martens shot a rhea which they enjoyed eating before Darwin realised that this was the elusive smaller rhea and preserved the remains. On 9 January 1834, further south, they reached Port St Julian and exploring the local geology in cliffs near the harbour Darwin found fossils of pieces of spine and a hind leg of "some large animal, I fancy a Mastodon". On 26 January, they entered the Straits of Magellan, and at St. Gregory's Bay, they met half-civilised Patagonian "giants" over tall, described by Darwin as "excellent practical naturalists". One told him that the smaller rheas were the only species this far south, while the larger rheas kept to the north, the species meeting around the Rio Negro.
After further surveying in Tierra del Fuego, they returned on 5 March 1834 to visit the missionaries but found the huts deserted. Then canoes approached, and they found that one of the natives was Jemmy Button, who had lost his possessions and had settled into the native ways, taking a wife. Darwin had never seen "so complete & grievous a change". Jemmy came on board and dined using his cutlery properly, speaking English as well as ever, then assured them that he "had not the least wish to return to England" and was "happy and contented", leaving them gifts of otter skins and arrowheads before returning to the canoe to join his wife. Of the first visit, Darwin had written that "Viewing such men, one can hardly make oneself believe that they are fellow creatures placed in the same world. .... It is a common subject of conjecture; what pleasure in life some of the less gifted animals can enjoy? How much more reasonably it may be asked with respect to these men", yet Jemmy had readily adapted to civilisation and then chosen to return to his primitive ways. This raised awkward questions; it jarred with Charles Lyell's sheltered views, expressed in volume 2 of his Principles of Geology, that human races "showed only a slight deviation from a common standard", and that acceptance of transmutation meant renouncing man's "belief in the high genealogy of his species".
About this time Darwin wrote Reflection on Reading My Geological Notes, the first of a series of essays included in his notes. He speculated on possible causes of the land repeatedly being raised, and on a history of life in Patagonia as a sequence of named species.
They returned to the Falkland Islands on 16 March, just after an incident where gauchos and Indians had butchered senior members of Vernet's settlement, and helped to put the revolt down. Darwin noted the immense number of organisms dependent on the kelp forests. He received word from Henslow that his first dispatch of fossils had reached Cambridge, were highly prized by the expert William Clift as showing hitherto unknown species and features of the Megatherium, and had been displayed by William Buckland and Clift before the cream of British science, making Darwin's reputation.
Beagle now sailed to southern Patagonia, and on 19 April, an expedition including FitzRoy and Darwin set off to take boats as far as possible up the Santa Cruz river, with all involved taking turns in teams dragging the boats upstream. The river cut through a series of rises, then through plateaux forming wide plains covered with shells and shingle. Darwin discussed with FitzRoy his interpretation that these terraces had been shores that had gradually raised per Lyell's theories. Several of the smaller rheas were seen in the distance but were too elusive to catch. The expedition approached the Andes but had to turn back.
Darwin summarised his speculation in his essay on the Elevation of Patagonia. Though tentative, it challenged Lyell's ideas. Darwin drew on measurements by Beagle officers, as well as his own measurements, to propose that the plains had been raised in successive stages by forces acting over a wide area, rather than smaller-scale actions in a continuous movement. However, he supported Lyell in finding evidence to dismiss a sudden deluge when normal processes were suddenly speeded. Seashells he had found far inland still showing their colour suggested to him that the process had been relatively recent and could have affected human history.
West coast of South America
Beagle and Adventure now surveyed the Straits of Magellan before sailing north up the west coast, reaching Chiloé Island in the wet and heavily wooded Chiloé Archipelago on 28 June 1834. They then spent the next six months surveying the coast and islands southwards. On Chiloé, Darwin found fragments of black lignite and petrified wood, at least two of which the British Geological Survey discovered in 2011 locked away in their collection labelled "unregistered fossil plants". Exchanged with Joseph Dalton Hooker about ten years later, one slide was signed "Chiloe, C. Darwin Esq".
They arrived at Valparaíso on 23 July, and Darwin "got scent of some fossil bones .... if gold or galloping will get them, they shall be mine." After several walks in the area, he obtained horses and, on 14 August, set off up the volcanic Andes with a companion. Three days later they spent an enjoyable day on the summit of the "Campana or Bell" mountain, Cerro La Campana. Darwin visited a copper mine and spent five days scrambling in the mountains before going on to Santiago, Chile. On his way back, he fell ill on 20 September and had to spend a month in bed. It is possible that he contracted Chagas' disease here, leading to his health problems after his return to England, but this diagnosis of his symptoms is disputed. He learnt that the Admiralty had reprimanded FitzRoy for buying Adventure. FitzRoy had taken it badly, selling the ship and announcing they would go back to recheck his survey. He then had resigned his command, doubting his sanity, but was persuaded by his officers to withdraw his resignation and proceed. The artist Conrad Martens left the ship and took passage to Australia.
After waiting for Darwin, Beagle sailed on 11 November to survey the Chonos Archipelago. From here, they saw the eruption of the volcano Osorno in the Andes. They sailed north, and Darwin wondered about the fossils he had found. The giant Mastodons and Megatheriums were extinct, but he had found no geological signs of a "diluvial debacle" or of the changed circumstances that, in Lyell's view, led to species no longer being adapted to the position they were created to fit. He agreed with Lyell's idea of "the gradual birth & death of species", but, unlike Lyell, Darwin was willing to believe Giovanni Battista Brocchi's idea that extinct species had somehow aged and died out.
They arrived at the port of Valdivia on 8 February 1835. Twelve days later, Darwin was on shore when he experienced a severe earthquake and returned to find the port town badly damaged. They sailed north to Concepción, and arrived on 4 March to find that the same earthquake had devastated the city by repeated shocks and a tsunami, with even the cathedral in ruins. Darwin noted the horrors of death and destruction, and FitzRoy carefully established that mussel beds were now above high tide, giving clear evidence of the ground rising some , which he confirmed a month later. They had actually experienced the gradual process of the continent emerging from the ocean, as Lyell had indicated.
They returned to Valparaiso on 11 March, Darwin set out on another trek up the Andes three days later and, on 21 March, reached the continental divide at : even here, he found fossil seashells in the rocks. He felt the glorious view "was like watching a thunderstorm, or hearing in the full Orchestra a Chorus of the Messiah." After going on to Mendoza, they were returning by a different pass when they found a petrified forest of fossilised trees, crystallised in a sandstone escarpment showing him that they had been on a Pacific beach when the land sank, burying them in the sand which had been compressed into rock, then had gradually been raised with the continent to stand at in the mountains. On returning to Valparaiso with half a mule's load of specimens, he wrote to his family on 23 April that his findings, if accepted, would be crucial to the theory of the formation of the world. After another gruelling expedition in the Andes, while Beagle was refitted, he rejoined it at Copiapó on 5 July and sailed to Lima but found an armed insurrection in progress and had to stay with the ship. Here he was writing up his notes when he realised that Lyell's idea, that coral atolls were on the rims of rising extinct volcanoes, made less sense than the volcanoes gradually sinking so that the coral reefs around the island kept building themselves close to sea level and became an atoll as the volcano disappeared below. This was a theory he would examine when they reached such islands.
On 14 June, when about to leave Valparaiso, FitzRoy had received news of the shipwreck of HMS Challenger captained by his friend Michael Seymour (Darwin had arranged two boxes for this packet ship early in the year). On investigation, FitzRoy found that Commodore Mason was unwilling to take to the rescue for fear of lee-shore hazards, so FitzRoy "had to bully him & at last offered to go as Pilot". After "a tremendous quarrel" with hints to the Commodore of court-martial, they took Blonde to Concepción. FitzRoy rode about on horseback with a guide to reach Seymour's camp at the Lebu River, then returned to further disputes before Blonde set out and rescued the survivors of the shipwreck on 5 July. Wickham took Beagle on to reach Copiapò on 3 July, two days before Darwin rejoined the ship and they continued on to Lima. On 9 September Blonde brought FitzRoy to join them at Lima.
Galápagos Islands
A week out of Lima, Beagle reached the Galápagos Islands on 15 September 1835. The next day Captain FitzRoy dropped anchor near where the town of Puerto Baquerizo Moreno is now sited, at Chatham Island. At the location that is now known as Frigatebird Hill (Cerro Tijeretas), Darwin spent his first hour onshore in the Galapagos islands.
Darwin eagerly looked forward to seeing newly formed volcanic islands and took every opportunity to go ashore while Beagle was methodically moved round to chart the coast. He found broken black rocky volcanic lava scorching under the hot sun, and made detailed geological notes of features including volcanic cones like chimneys which reminded him of the iron foundries of industrial Staffordshire. He was disappointed that he did not see active volcanoes or find strata showing uplift as he had hoped, though one of the officers found broken oyster-shells high above the sea on one of the islands. Abundant giant Galápagos tortoises appeared to him almost antediluvian, and large black marine iguanas seemed "most disgusting, clumsy Lizards" well suited to their habitat—he noted that someone had called them "imps of darkness". Darwin had learnt from Henslow about studying the geographical distribution of species, and particularly of linked species on oceanic islands and nearby continents, so he endeavoured to collect plants in flower. He found widespread "wretched-looking" thin scrub thickets of only ten species and very few insects. Birds were remarkably unafraid of humans, and in his first field note, he recorded that a mockingbird was similar to those he had seen on the continent.
Beagle sailed on to Charles Island. By chance, they were greeted by the Englishman Nicholas Lawson, acting Governor of Galápagos for the Republic of the Equator, who accompanied them up to the penal colony. It was said that tortoises differed in the shape of the shells from island to island, and Darwin noted Lawson's statement that on seeing a tortoise, he could "pronounce with certainty from which island it has been brought". Though Darwin remembered this later, he did not pay much attention at the time. However, he found a mockingbird and "fortunately happened to observe" that it differed from the Chatham Island specimen, so from then on, he carefully noted where mockingbirds had been caught. He industriously collected all the animals, plants, insects and reptiles, and speculated about finding "from future comparison to what district or 'centre of creation' the organized beings of this archipelago must be attached." At this stage, his thoughts reflected Lyell's rejection of transmutation of species.
They went on to Albemarle Island, where Darwin saw a small jet of smoke from a recently active volcano. On 1 October, he landed near Tagus Cove and explored Beagle Crater. There, he saw his first Galapagos land iguanas. Water pits were disappointingly inadequate for drinking, but attracted swarms of small birds, and Darwin made his only note of the finches he was not bothering to label by island. He caught a third species of mockingbird.
After passing the northern islands of Abingdon, Tower and Bindloe, Darwin was put ashore at James Island for nine days together with the surgeon Benjamin Bynoe and their servants. They busily collected all sorts of specimens while Beagle went back to Chatham Island for freshwater.
After further surveying, Beagle set sail for Tahiti on 20 October 1835. Darwin wrote up his notes, and to his astonishment, found that all the mockingbirds caught on Charles, Albemarle, James and Chatham Islands differed from island to island. He wrote "This birds which is so closely allied to the Thenca of Chili (Callandra of B. Ayres) is singular from existing as varieties or distinct species in the different Isds.— I have four specimens from as many Isds.— These will be found to be 2 or 3 varieties.— Each variety is constant in its own Island....".
Tahiti to Australia
They sailed on, dining on Galapagos tortoises, and passed the atoll of Honden Island on 9 November. They passed through the Low Islands archipelago, with Darwin remarking that they had "a very uninteresting appearance; a long brilliantly white beach is capped by a low bright line of green vegetation." Arriving at Tahiti on 15 November, he soon found interest in luxuriant vegetation and the pleasant intelligent natives who showed the benefits of Christianity, refuting allegations he had read about tyrannical missionaries overturning indigenous cultures.
On 19 December, they reached New Zealand, where Darwin thought the tattooed Māori to be savages with the character of a much lower order than the Tahitians. He also noted that they and their homes were "filthily dirty and offensive". Darwin saw missionaries bringing improvement in character, as well as new farming practices with an exemplary "English farm" employing natives. Richard Matthews was left here with his elder brother Joseph Matthews who was a missionary at Kaitaia. Darwin and FitzRoy were agreed that missionaries had been unfairly misrepresented in tracts, particularly one written by the artist Augustus Earle which he had left on the ship. Darwin also noted many English residents of the most worthless character, including runaway convicts from New South Wales. By 30 December, he was glad to leave New Zealand.
The first sight of Australia on 12 January 1836 reminded him of Patagonia, but inland the country improved, and he was soon filled with admiration at the bustling city of Sydney. On a journey into the interior, he came across a group of aborigines who looked "good-humoured & pleasant & they appeared far from such utterly degraded beings as usually represented". They gave him a display of spear throwing for a shilling, and he reflected sadly on how their numbers were rapidly decreasing. At a large sheep farm, he joined a hunting party and caught his first marsupial, a "potoroo" (rat-kangaroo). Reflecting on the strange animals of the country, he thought that an unbeliever "might exclaim 'Surely two distinct Creators must have been [at] work; their object however has been the same & certainly the end in each case is complete'," yet an antlion he was watching was very similar to its European counterpart. That evening he saw the even stranger platypus and noticed that its bill was soft, unlike the preserved specimens he had seen. Aboriginal stories that they laid eggs were believed by few Europeans.
Beagle visited Hobart, Tasmania, where Darwin was impressed by the agreeable high society of the settlers but noted that the island's "Aboriginal blacks are all removed & kept (in reality as prisoners) in a Promontory, the neck of which is guarded. I believe it was not possible to avoid this cruel step; although without doubt the misconduct of the Whites first led to the Necessity." They then sailed to King George's Sound in south-west Australia, a dismal settlement then being replaced by the Swan River Colony. Darwin was impressed by the "good disposition of the aboriginal blacks... Although true Savages, it is impossible not to feel an inclination to like such quiet good-natured men." He provided boiled rice for an aboriginal "Corrobery" dancing party performed by the men of two tribes to the great pleasure of the women and children, a "most rude barbarous scene" in which everyone appeared in high spirits, "all moving in hideous harmony" and "perfectly at their ease". Beagle departure in a storm was delayed when she ran aground. She was refloated and got on her way.
Keeling Island homewards
FitzRoy's instructions from the Admiralty required a detailed geological survey of a circular coral atoll to investigate how coral reefs formed, particularly whether they rose from the bottom of the sea or the summits of extinct volcanoes, and the effects of tides measured with specially constructed gauges. He chose the Keeling Islands in the Indian Ocean, and on arrival on 1 April, the entire crew set to work. Darwin found a coconut economy, serving both the small settlement and wildlife. There was a limited range of native plants and no land birds, but hermit crabs everywhere. The lagoons teemed with a wide variety of invertebrates and fish, and he examined the atoll's structure in view of the theory he had developed in Lima, of encircling reefs becoming atolls as an island sank. This idea was supported by the numerous soundings FitzRoy had taken, showing a steep slope outside the reef with no living corals below 20–30 fathoms (40–60 m).
Arriving at Mauritius on 29 April 1836, Darwin was impressed by the civilised prosperity of the French colony, which had come under British rule. He toured the island, examining its volcanic mountains and fringing coral reefs. The Surveyor-general Captain Lloyd took him on the only elephant on the island to see an elevated coral plain. By then, FitzRoy was writing the official Narrative of the Beagle voyages, and after reading Darwin's diary he proposed a joint publication. Darwin asked his family about FitzRoy's idea "to have the disposal & arranging of my journal & to mingle it with his own".
Beagle reached the Cape of Good Hope on 31 May. In Cape Town, Darwin received a letter dated 29 January from his sister Catherine which briefly mentioned "the little books, with the Extracts from your Letters; every body is much pleased, with them, who has seen them". Darwin was horrified that his careless words were in print, but No hay remedio (it can't be helped). Unknown to Darwin, his fame was spreading; extracts from his letters to Henslow had been read to the Cambridge Philosophical Society on 16 November 1835 by Henslow and Sedgwick. On 18 November, Sedgwick had read extracts to the Geological Society of London, and this had been reported in The Athenæum on 21 November. On 25 December, their father received a letter from Henslow which said that Darwin would become one of the premier naturalists of the time and enclosed some copies of the pamphlet Extracts from letters addressed to Professor Henslow which had been printed for private distribution. Their father "did not move from his seat till he had read every word of book & he was very much gratified – he liked so much the simple clear way you gave your information".
Darwin explored the geology of the area, reaching conclusions about the slate formation and the injection of granite seams as a liquid which differed from the ideas of Lyell and Sedgwick. The zoologist Andrew Smith showed him formations, and later discussed the large animals living on sparse vegetation, showing that a lack of luxuriant vegetation did not explain the extinction of the giant creatures in South America.
Around 15 June, Darwin and FitzRoy visited the noted astronomer Sir John Herschel. In his diary, Darwin called this "the most memorable event which, for a long period, I have had the good fortune to enjoy." His zeal for science had been stirred at Cambridge by reading Herschel's book on philosophy of science, which had guided his theorising during the voyage. Their discussion is not recorded, but a few months earlier, on 20 February 1836, Herschel had written to Lyell praising his Principles of Geology as a work which would bring "a complete revolution in [its] subject, by altering entirely the point of view in which it must thenceforward be contemplated." and opening a way for bold speculation on "that mystery of mysteries, the replacement of extinct species by others." Herschel himself thought catastrophic extinction and renewal "an inadequate conception of the Creator", and by analogy with other intermediate causes "the origination of fresh species, could it ever come under our cognizance, would be found to be a natural in contradistinction to a miraculous process".
In Cape Town, missionaries were being accused of causing racial tension and profiteering, and after Beagle set to sea on 18 June, FitzRoy wrote an open letter to the evangelical South African Christian Recorder on the Moral State of Tahiti incorporating extracts from both his and Darwin's diaries to defend the reputation of missionaries. This was given to a passing ship that took it to Cape Town to become FitzRoy's (and Darwin's) first published work.
On 8 July, they stopped at St. Helena for six days. Darwin took lodgings near Napoleon's tomb, and when writing to Henslow asking to be proposed for the Geological Society, he mentioned his suspicions "that differently from most Volcanic Islds. its structure is rather complicated. It seems strange, that this little centre of a distinct creation should, as is asserted, bear marks of recent elevation." With a guide, he wandered over the island, noting its complex sloping strata showing fault lines, interlaced with volcanic dykes. He examined beds high on the hill that had been taken as seashells showing that St. Helena had risen from the ocean in recent times, but Darwin identified them as extinct species of land-shells. He noted that woodland had been destroyed by goats and hogs that had run wild since being introduced in 1502, and native vegetation only predominated on high steep ridges, having been replaced by imported species.
At this stage, Darwin had an acute interest in the island biogeography, and his description of St Helena as "a little centre of creation" in his geological diary reflects Charles Lyell's speculation in volume 2 of Principles of Geology that the island would have acted as a "focus of creative force". He later recalled believing in the permanence of species, but "as far as I can remember, vague doubts occasionally flitted across my mind". When organising his Ornithological Notes between mid June and August, Darwin expanded on his initial notes on the Galapagos mockingbird Mimus thenca:
These birds are closely allied in appearance to the Thenca of Chile or Callandra of la Plata. ... In each Isld. each kind is found: habits of all are indistinguishable. When I recollect, the fact that the form of the body, shape of scales & general size, the Spaniards can at once pronounce, from which Island any Tortoise may have been brought. When I see these Islands in sight of each other, & [but del.] possessed of but a scanty stock of animals, tenanted by these birds, but slightly differing in structure & filling the same place in Nature, I must suspect they are only varieties.The only fact of a similar kind of which I am aware, is the constant asserted difference – between the wolf-like Fox of East & West Falkland Islds. If there is the slightest foundation for these remarks the zoology of Archipelagoes – will be well worth examining; for such facts [would inserted] undermine the stability of Species.
The term "would" before "undermine" had been added after writing what is now noted as the first expression of his doubts about species being immutable. That led to him becoming convinced about the transmutation of species and hence evolution. In opposing transmutation, Lyell had proposed that varieties arose due to changes in the environment, but these varieties lived in similar conditions though each on its own island. Darwin had just reviewed similar inconsistencies with mainland bird genera such as Pteroptochos. Though his suspicions about the Falkland Island fox may have been unsupported, the differences in Galápagos tortoises between islands were remembered, and he later wrote that he had been greatly struck from around March 1836 by the character of South American fossils and species on the Galapagos Archipelago, noting "These facts origin (especially latter) of all my views".
Beagle reached Ascension Island on 19 July 1836, and Darwin was delighted to receive letters from his sisters with news that Sedgwick had written to Dr. Butler: "He is doing admirably in S. America, & has already sent home a Collection above all praise.— It was the best thing in the world for him that he went out on the Voyage of Discovery— There was some risk of his turning out an idle man: but his character will now be fixed, & if God spare his life, he will have a great name among the Naturalists of Europe." Darwin later recalled how he "clambered over the mountains... with a bounding step and made the volcanic rocks resound under my geological hammer!." He agreed with the saying attributed to the people of St Helena that "We know we live on a rock, but the poor people at Ascension live on a cinder", and noted the care taken to sustain "houses, gardens & fields placed near the summit of the central mountain". (In the 1840s, Darwin worked with Hooker, who proposed in 1847 that the Royal Navy shall import tree species, a project started in 1850 which led to the creation of an artificial cloud forest on what is now Green Mountain.)
On 23 July, they set off again longing to reach home, but FitzRoy, who wanted to ensure the accuracy of his longitude measurements, took the ship across the Atlantic back to Bahia in Brazil to take check readings. Darwin was glad to see the beauties of the jungle for one last time but now compared "the stately Mango trees with the Horse Chesnuts of England." The return trip was delayed for a further 11 days when weather forced Beagle to shelter further up the coast at Pernambuco, where Darwin examined rocks for signs of elevation, noted "Mangroves like rank grass", and investigated marine invertebrates at various depths on the sandbar. Beagle departed for home on 17 August. After a stormy passage including a stop for supplies at the Azores, the Beagle finally reached England on 2 October 1836 and anchored at Falmouth, Cornwall.
Return
On the stormy night of 2 October 1836, immediately after arriving in Falmouth, Darwin set off on the Royal Mail coach from Fish Strand Hill (a plaque now marks the site) for the two day journey to his family home, The Mount House in Shrewsbury, Shropshire. As he wrote to FitzRoy, the countryside they passed was "beautiful & cheerful", and though the "stupid people on the coach did not seem to think the fields one bit greener than usual", he now knew "that the wide world does not contain so happy a prospect as the rich cultivated land of England". In April 1835 Darwin had written that he was undecided whether to "sleep at the Lion, the first night," when he arrived by the daily Wonder coach, "or disturb you all in the dead of the night". He arrived late at night on 4 October 1836, and at breakfast the next morning greeted his family, to their delight and celebrations. His sisters assured him he did "not look the least different", but his father's first reaction was to tell them "Why, the shape of his head is quite altered." After time spent catching up with family, Darwin went on to Cambridge on 15 October and sought Henslow's advice on organising the description and cataloguing of his collections.
Darwin's father gave him an allowance that enabled him to put aside other careers. As a scientific celebrity with a reputation established by his fossils and the wide distribution of Extracts from Letters to Henslow on South American natural history and geology, Darwin toured London's social institutions. By this time, he was part of the "scientific establishment", collaborating with expert naturalists to describe his specimens and working on ideas he had been developing during the voyage. Charles Lyell gave him enthusiastic backing. In December 1836, Darwin presented a talk to the Cambridge Philosophical Society. He wrote a paper proving that Chile, and the South American continent, was slowly rising, which he read to the Geological Society of London on 4 January 1837.
Darwin was willing to have his diary published mixed in with FitzRoy's account, but his relatives, including Emma and Hensleigh Wedgwood, urged that it be published separately. On 30 December, the question was settled by FitzRoy taking the advice of William Broderip that Darwin's journal should form the third volume of the Narrative. Darwin set to work reorganising his diary, trimming it, and incorporating scientific material from his notes. He completed his Journal and Remarks (now commonly known as The Voyage of the Beagle) in August 1837, but FitzRoy was slower, and the three volumes were published in August 1839.
Syms Covington stayed with Darwin as his servant. Then, on 25 February 1839 (shortly after Darwin's marriage), Covington left on good terms and migrated to Australia.
Expert publications on Darwin's collections
Darwin had shown great ability as a collector and had done the best he could with the reference books he had on the ship. It was now the province of recognised expert specialists to establish which specimens were unknown, and make their considered taxonomic decisions on defining and naming new species.
Fossils
Richard Owen had expertise in comparative anatomy, and his professional judgements revealed a succession of similar species in the same locality, giving Darwin insights which he would later recall as being central to his new views. Owen met Darwin on 29 October 1836 and quickly took on the task of describing these new fossils. At that time the only fully described fossil mammals from South America were three species of Mastodon and the gigantic Megatherium. On 9 November, Darwin wrote to his sister that "Some of them are turning out great treasures." The near-complete skeleton from Punta Alta was apparently very closely allied to anteaters, but of the extraordinary size of a small horse. The rhinoceros-sized head bought for two shillings near the city of Mercedes was not a megatherium, but "as far as they can guess, must have been a gnawing animal. Conceive a Rat or a Hare of such a size— What famous Cats they ought to have had in those days!"
Over the following years, Owen published descriptions of the most important fossils, naming several as new species. He described the fossils from Punta Alta as including a nearly perfect head and three fragments of heads of Megatherium Cuvierii, the jaw of a related species which Owen named Mylodon Darwinii, and jaws of Megalonyx Jeffersonii. The near-complete skeleton was named Scelidotherium by Owen, who found that it had most of its bones nearly in their proper relative positions. At the nearby Monte Hermoso beds, numerous rodents included species allied to the Brazilian tuco-tuco and the capybara.
Owen decided that the fossils of polygonal plates of bony armour found at several locations were not from the Megatherium as Cuvier's description implied, but from a huge armadillo, as Darwin had briefly thought. Owen found a description of an earlier unnamed specimen which he named Glyptodon clavipes in 1839. Darwin's find from Punta Alta, a large surface about doubled over with toe bones still inside the folded armour, was identified as a slightly smaller Glyptodont named Hoplophorus by Peter Wilhelm Lund in the same year.
The huge skull from near Mercedes was named Toxodon by Owen, and he showed that the "enormous gnawing tooth" from the cliffs of the Carcarañá River was a molar from this species. The finds near Mercedes also included a large fragment of Glyptodont armour and a head that Owen initially identified as a Glossotherium, but later decided was a Mylodon. Owen found fragments of the jaw and a tooth of another Toxodon in the fossils from Punta Alta.
The fossils from near Santa Fe included the horse tooth which had puzzled Darwin as it had been previously thought that horses had only come to the Americas in the 16th century, close to a Toxodon tooth and a tooth of Mastodon andium (now Cuvieronius hyodon). Owen confirmed that the horse tooth was of an extinct South American species which he named Equus curvidens, and its age was confirmed by a corroded horse tooth among the Punta Alta fossils. This discovery was later explained as part of the evolution of the horse.
The "soft as cheese" Mastodon bones at the Paraná River were identified as two gigantic skeletons of Mastodon andium, and mastodon teeth were also identified from Santa Fe and the Carcarañá River. The pieces of spine and a hind leg from Port S. Julian, which Darwin had thought came from "some large animal, I fancy a Mastodon", gave Owen difficulties, as the creature which he named Macrauchenia appeared to be a "gigantic and most extraordinary pachyderm", allied to the Palaeotherium, but with affinities to the llama and the camel. The fossils at Punta Alta included a pachyderm tooth which was thought probably came from Macrauchenia.
Footnotes
Notes
References
External links
Further reading
The Complete Works of Charles Darwin Online – Darwin Online; Darwin's publications, private papers and bibliography, supplementary works including biographies, obituaries and reviews. Free to use, includes items not in public domain.
; public domain
Darwin Correspondence Project Text and notes for most of his letters
Darwin in Galapagos: Footsteps to a New World
Voyage on HMS Beagle
History of evolutionary biology
Global expeditions
1831 in the United Kingdom
1833 in Argentina
1830s in science
HMS Beagle
Expeditions from the United Kingdom |
16654353 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan%20G.%20Rogers | Alan G. Rogers | Alan Greg Rogers (September 21, 1967 – January 27, 2008) was an ordained pastor, a U.S. Army Major and Intelligence Officer, a civil rights activist in the gay, lesbian and bisexual military community and the first known gay combat fatality of Operation Iraqi Freedom. The subsequent coverage of his death in the media sparked a debate over the effect of the military's "Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell" (DADT) policy and what information should be included in the biography of a gay military person killed in action.
Early life and education
At the age of 3, Rogers was adopted by George and Genny Rogers and was their only child. In 1977, the Rogers family moved from New York City to Hampton, Florida, near Gainesville. Rogers attended Hampton Elementary School, and ultimately graduated from Bradford County High School in Starke, Florida, in 1985. Rogers joined Ebenezer Missionary Baptist Church in Lincoln City, Florida, and was ordained a pastor as a young man. While in high school, Rogers was commander of the Junior Reserve Officers' Training Corps program and elected by his classmates as the "most intellectual."
Military career and adult life
After high school, Rogers joined the Reserve Officers' Training Corps program at the University of Florida and then accepted a commission in the United States Army upon graduation with a Bachelor of Arts degree in religion in 1995. Rogers later completed a Master of Arts degree in organizational management from the University of Phoenix through distance learning.
Rogers's father, George, died of a heart attack in 2000, and his mother, Genny, died of kidney-related problems two weeks later. Rogers preached at his mother's funeral.
In 2001, Rogers commanded a military intelligence company based out of Waegwan, South Korea. During his tenure as company commander, Rogers emphasized unit morale and cohesiveness, often organizing company wide get togethers and functions.
In 2004, Rogers moved to Washington, D.C. and, in 2005, earned a Master of Public Policy degree from Georgetown University. Only 25 Army officers were accepted into the program. Rogers's thesis adviser was Mark Nadel, who described Rogers as "an officer with leadership qualities that made him think, 'This is a guy I'm going to hear from in 10 years, and he's going to be a general.'" Rogers's thesis examined how the US military's DADT policy affected recruitment and retention for military officers. In recognition of his achievements at Georgetown, Rogers gained an internship at the Pentagon serving the deputy secretary of defense, Gordon R. England.
Beginning in October 2004, Rogers served as Treasurer of the Washington, D.C. chapter of the American Veterans for Equal Rights (AVER). On January 16, 2005, Rogers received an award from the organization for his service at a ceremony held at Dupont Grill. Rogers also attended events supporting the Servicemembers Legal Defense Network (SLDN), which works to end the DADT policy.
Rogers expressed his opinion on the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy in his Master's thesis, written in 2005 shortly before he was deployed to Iraq and reportedly killed by an improvised explosive device (IED) while on foot patrol: "Today’s current policy on gays in the military seems to rest on many faulty assumptions – namely that homosexuals will jeopardize unit cohesiveness. My research has been unable to justify that position and has found that the opposite is more true. Denying service members the right to serve freely and openly violates basic dignity and respect of the human experience and puts our national security at risk."
In June 2006, Rogers provided the opening prayer for a same-sex wedding ceremony. Rogers reportedly expressed "an intensely deep loneliness that stemmed from his inability to have both a [same-sex] relationship ... and the military career he also loved so much."
In July 2007, Rogers was deployed to Iraq. Friends organized a send-off party in his honor on July 14, 2007, held at the Fabulous Bed & Breakfast in Northwest Washington, D.C.
Rogers's commanding officer in Iraq was Col. Thomas Fernandez. Rogers communicated via e-mail with many of his friends during his deployment, and two of his friends from AVER received e-mail from Rogers the day before he died.
Death and afterward
According to an Army report, Rogers was killed by an improvised explosive device while on foot patrol in Baghdad, on January 27, 2008. On January 30, 2008, friends of Rogers established the Alan G. Rogers Memorial Scholarship Fund.
A funeral service was held for Rogers at Ebenezer Baptist Church on February 8, 2008. In honor of Rogers, Florida Gov. Charlie Crist ordered the Florida and U.S. flags be flown at half-staff at the Bradford County Courthouse, Hampton City Hall and the Florida State Capitol. Family members later expressed that "we really didn't know about [Rogers being gay] until after his death. " Rogers' beneficiary from Florida later stated that he knew Rogers was gay, but felt it had "no more relevance than I'm straight."
Rogers was buried with full military honors at Arlington National Cemetery on March 14, 2008, in Section 60, at Gravesite 8558. About 200 people attended the service, including Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England, Army Lt. Gen. John F. Kimmons, active duty military, both enlisted and officers, Rogers's friends and family from Florida, and Rogers's friends in northern Virginia, and Washington, D.C. Also in attendance were a dozen or more gay active duty military personnel.
National media coverage of Rogers's funeral
Rogers's funeral gained national media publicity, initially on MSNBC, in The Washington Post'''' and on National Public Radio's Morning Edition. However, initial reports omitted Rogers's sexual orientation or anything related to the subject.
The Post and NPR reports coincided with the "grim milestone" that the U.S. Military death toll reached 4,000 dead. Rogers's death and funeral gained further media attention when it was revealed that he was gay and worked to end the military's DADT policy.
Initially, members of the national media were well aware of Rogers's sexual orientation, yet it was widely reported that Rogers was not married and left no children. While technically accurate, some members of the LGBT community viewed the statement as an intentional distortion and dodge of Rogers's sexual orientation.
Rogers's cousin, Cathy Long of Ocala, Fla., said, "The Post did a wonderful job. Personally, as far as the family is concerned, we really didn't know about this until after his death. It was in the back of our minds, but we didn't discuss it." Cathy Long accepted Rogers's flag at the major's funeral. "I really feel Alan was a lot more than that," said Cathy Long who called the Washington Blade story "self-serving whatever their cause is and that they're trying to use Alan to do that."The Washington Post Ombudsman, Deborah Howell, stated that the editors of the Post deliberated the question of whether to disclose his sexual orientation and ultimately made a decision not to include such information.
The Army asked that Rogers's sexual orientation not be disclosed, and the Army presented it as a concern of the family.
The Washington Blade reported on the Post's decision to change the story and included more details about Rogers's activities and friends in the LGBT community. Subsequently, Howell of The Washington Post, citing Rogers's apparent feelings on DADT, wrote a column admitting that the Post's article "would have been richer" had it disclosed his sexual orientation and activities in the GLBT community.
On March 31, 2008, an anonymous attempt was made to remove information relating to Rogers's sexual orientation from the present Wikipedia article. The IP address associated with the attempt corresponds with the IP address for the office of the Army Deputy Chief of Staff for Intelligence (G-2) at the Pentagon, currently headed by Lt. Gen. John Kimmons. Kimmons attended Rogers's funeral and presented the U.S. flag from Rogers's coffin to a family member. The Army subsequently denied that the IP address associated with the changes "necessarily belongs to any one specific office."
The August 4, 2008, issue of The New Yorker magazine published a lengthy profile of Rogers, and the larger issues surrounding the DADT debate spurred on by his death. The story quotes Colonel Mike Hardy, who worked with Major Rogers at the Pentagon, as saying, "He did not make any moves to be remembered as a gay soldier. Nowhere in those phone calls home did he say, 'let everyone know that I died a proud gay officer.'" Ben McGrath, the author of the article, then comments, "Of course, being a proud gay officer is tantamount, under the current military policy, to being a retired gay officer with no pension."
In December 2010, the U.S. Congress passed a bill providing for the potential repeal of DADT pending certain conditions. Those were confirmed in July 2011 by President Barack Obama, the Secretary of Defense, and Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and repeal took effect on September 20, 2011.
Awards
Bronze Star (2)
Purple Heart
References
External links
A Soldier's Legacy An article from The New Yorker'' about Rogers and the debate over press coverage
Alan Remembered (Personal dedication from a close friend)
In his own words: Maj. Alan Rogers on the military's "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy "Policy Management Project - Analysis of Department of Defense 'Don't Ask, Don't Tell,'" Personnel Policy, Alan Rogers, Georgetown University, Master Policy Management (MPM) Capstone, PPOL 950–01, Dr. Mark Nadel, May 6, 2005.
African-American military personnel
American LGBT military personnel
American military personnel killed in the Iraq War
Burials at Arlington National Cemetery
Georgetown University alumni
LGBT African Americans
LGBT Baptist clergy
LGBT rights activists from the United States
United States Army officers
University of Florida alumni
University of Phoenix alumni
1967 births
2008 deaths
United States Army personnel of the Iraq War
Gay men
20th-century Baptist ministers |
42968021 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Route%20redistribution | Route redistribution | In a router, route redistribution allows a network that uses one routing protocol to route traffic dynamically based on information learned from another routing protocol.
Routing
On the Internet, routers forward data packets between computer networks. In order for a router to determine where to forward each packet, it may use:
default or static routes that are manually configured,
on-demand routing,
dynamic routing protocols, or
Policy-based routing.
In a small network such as a home or home office, a default route is often used to send all traffic to the user's Internet service provider. Likewise, medium-sized networks such as branch offices or small Internet service providers may use default routes for traffic intended for the public Internet. But in medium-sized and large networks, routers use dynamic routing protocols to determine the best paths to various network destinations.
Sometimes, a network may use more than one dynamic routing protocol, for example, if two different companies merge or if networking devices from multiple vendors are used. In such networks, it is often useful to redistribute information from one routing protocol into another.
Where used
Route redistribution may be used to allow different networks belonging to the same company to communicate with each other. It may also be used when two companies merge and their networks use different routing protocols. And it may be used in conjunction with VRFs or MP-BGP.
Route redistribution pitfalls
If not implemented carefully, route redistribution may cause routing loops.
Each routing protocol contains loop-avoidance mechanisms, but the information needed for loops to be avoided is lost when routes are redistributed. For example, a distance-vector routing protocol may prevent loops by the "split-horizon" rule; that is to say, if a router learns a route from a particular interface it will not re-advertise the route out the same interface. In other words if A learns from B that the path to C is through B then it will not tell B to route packets destined for C through A. Likewise, a link-state routing protocol may keep a database containing the state of different links in the network, representing a "map" (so to speak) of the network. But the portion of the network whose routes are learned by redistribution are not "mapped" in the same way. The "where did I learn this route?" information is lost in the redistribution process.
The chance of loops is increased if there are more than one router that performs redistribution in the same network, and if redistribution occurs in both directions (for example, both from EIGRP into OSPF and from OSPF into EIGRP).
References
External links
David Davis, Cisco administration 101: Routing redistribution, http://www.techrepublic.com/article/cisco-administration-101-routing-redistribution (Dec. 8, 2005).
Cisco Systems, Inc., Configuring a Gateway of Last Resort Using IP Commands, http://www.cisco.com/c/en/us/support/docs/ip/routing-information-protocol-rip/16448-default.html (last updated Aug. 10, 2005).
Routing algorithms |
16627889 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cadwork | Cadwork | cadwork is a software suite that includes IFC-based virtual design and construction software tools developed by cadwork informatik AG. This suite of tools provides a solution for 3D wood manufacturing (Computer-aided manufacturing, CAM) and a solution for Building Information Modeling that includes project planning and control functions of 3D quantity takeoff, 4D scheduling, 5D pricing, and 6D execution.
The primary application is in light frame woods and heavy timber construction: The Architectural design, structural engineering, and construction carpentry phases are supported with novel features for glue laminated timber and stairs
With a commitment to opensource ideals, cadwork viewers are free and thus providing an inclusive environment for collaboration across project stakeholders through model navigation features, such as zoom, pan, and print: the freeware version does not allow modifying a file. Three file types define the level of sophistication implemented through the model.
.2d, .2dc (2 dimensions drawing)
.3d, .3dc (3 dimensions drawings)
.2dv (parametric elements)
Following an international shift towards open-source software standards, cadwork is IFC compatible (Industry Foundation Classes) with several certifications, such as IFC 2x3 (Import ISO/PAS).
See also
Virtual design and construction
Industry Foundation Classes (IFC)
Open Design Alliance (OpenDWG)
3D ACIS Modeler (ACIS)
Construction management
Construction engineering
References
External links
Data modeling
Building information modeling
Construction
Civil engineering
Building engineering software
Construction management
Computer-aided design
Computer-aided design software
3D graphics software
Computer-aided design software for Windows |
6426596 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transmission%20time | Transmission time | In telecommunication networks, the transmission time is the amount of time from the beginning until the end of a message transmission. In the case of a digital message, it is the time from the first bit until the last bit of a message has left the transmitting node. The packet transmission time in seconds can be obtained from the packet size in bit and the bit rate in bit/s as:
Packet transmission time = Packet size / Bit rate
Example: Assuming 100 Mbit/s Ethernet, and the maximum packet size of 1526 bytes, results in
Maximum packet transmission time = 1526×8 bit / (100 × 106 bit/s) ≈ 122 μs
Propagation delay
The transmission time should not be confused with the propagation delay, which is the time it takes for the first bit to travel from the sender to the receiver (During this time the receiver is unaware that a message is being transmitted). The propagation speed depends on the physical medium of the link (that is, fiber optics, twisted-pair copper wire, etc.) and is in the range of meters/sec for copper wires and for wireless communication, which is equal to the speed of light. The ratio of actual propagation speed to the speed of light is also called the velocity factor of the medium. The propagation delay of a physical link can be calculated by dividing the distance (the length of the medium) in meter by its propagation speed in m/s.
Propagation time = Distance / propagation speed
Example: Ethernet communication over a UTP copper cable with maximum distance of 100 meter between computer and switching node results in:
Maximum link propagation delay ≈ 100 m / (200 000 000 m/s) = 0.5 μs
Packet delivery time
The packet delivery time or latency is the time from when the first bit leaves the transmitter until the last is received. In the case of a physical link, it can be expressed as:
Packet delivery time = Transmission time + Propagation delay
In case of a network connection mediated by several physical links and forwarding nodes, the network delivery time depends on the sum of the delivery times of each link, and also on the packet queuing time (which is varying and depends on the traffic load from other connections) and the processing delay of the forwarding nodes. In wide-area networks, the delivery time is in the order of milliseconds.
Roundtrip time
The round-trip time or ping time is the time from the start of the transmission from the sending node until a response (for example an ACK packet or ping ICMP response) is received at the same node. It is affected by packet delivery time as well as the data processing delay, which depends on the load on the responding node. If the sent data packet as well as the response packet have the same length, the roundtrip time can be expressed as:
Roundtrip time = 2 × Packet delivery time + processing delay
In case of only one physical link, the above expression corresponds to:
Link roundtrip time = 2 × packet transmission time + 2 × propagation delay + processing delay
If the response packet is very short, the link roundtrip time can be expressed as close to:
Link roundtrip time ≈ packet transmission time + 2 × propagation delay + processing delay
Throughput
The network throughput of a connection with flow control, for example a TCP connection, with a certain window size (buffer size), can be expressed as:
Network throughput ≈ Window size / roundtrip time
In case of only one physical link between the sending and transmitting nodes, this corresponds to:
Link throughput ≈ Bitrate × Transmission time / roundtrip time
The message delivery time or latency over a network depends on the message size in bit, and the network throughput or effective data rate in bit/s, as:
Message delivery time = Message size / Network throughput
See also
Minimum-Pairs Protocol
End-to-end delay
References
Behrouz A. Forouzan, Sophia Chung Fegan, Data communications and networking. McGraw-Hill Higher Education, 2007 - 1134 pages.
Kurose, J.F. & Ross, K.W. (2005) Computer Networking—A top-down approach featuring the internet. Pearson Education Inc.
Data transmission |
1692500 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SUPER-UX | SUPER-UX | SUPER-UX is a version of the Unix operating system from NEC that is used on its SX series of supercomputers.
History
The initial version of SUPER-UX was based on UNIX System V version 3.1 with features from BSD 4.3. The version for the NEC SX-9 was based on SVR4.2MP with BSD enhancements.
Features
SUPER-UX is a 64-bit UNIX operating system. It supports the Supercomputer File System (SFS).
Earth Simulator
The Earth Simulator uses a custom OS called "ESOS" (Earth Simulator Operating System) based on SUPER-UX. It has many enhanced features custom designed for the Earth Simulator which are not in the regular SUPER-UX OS.
See also
EWS-UX
References
External links
NEC Europe HPC
NEC Japan HPC
Official NEC SUPER-UX page, Archived 6 May 2008
UNIX System V
NEC supercomputers
Supercomputer operating systems |
13229421 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO/IEC%20JTC%201 | ISO/IEC JTC 1 | ISO/IEC JTC 1, entitled "Information technology", is a joint technical committee (JTC) of the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) and the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC). Its purpose is to develop, maintain and promote standards in the fields of information and communications technology (ICT).
JTC 1 has been responsible for many critical IT standards, ranging from the Joint Photographic Experts Group (JPEG) image formats and Moving Picture Experts Group (MPEG) audio and video formats to the C++ programming language.
History
ISO/IEC JTC 1 was formed in 1987 as a merger between ISO/TC 97 (Information Technology) and IEC/TC 83, with IEC/SC 47B joining later. The intent was to bring together, in a single committee, the IT standardization activities of the two parent organizations in order to avoid duplicative or possibly incompatible standards. At the time of its formation, the mandate of JTC 1 was to develop base standards in information technology upon which other technical committees could build. This would allow for the development of domain and application specific standards that could be applicable to specific business domains, while also ensuring the interoperation and function of the standards on a consistent base.
In its first 15 years, JTC 1 brought about many standards in the information technology sector, including standards in the fields of multimedia (such as MPEG), IC cards (or "smart cards"), ICT security, programming languages, and character sets (such as the Universal Character Set). In the early 2000s, the organization expanded its standards development into fields such as security and authentication, bandwidth/connection management, storage and data management, software and systems engineering, service protocols, portable computing devices, and certain societal aspects such as data protection and cultural and linguistic adaptability.
For more than 25 years, JTC 1 has provided a standards development environment where experts come together to develop worldwide Information and Communication Technology (ICT) standards for business and consumer applications. JTC 1 is also addressing such critical areas as teleconferences and e-meetings, cloud data management interface, biometrics in identity management, sensor networks for smart grid systems, and corporate governance of ICT implementation. As technologies converge, JTC 1 acts as a system integrator, especially in areas of standardization in which many consortia and forums are active. JTC 1 provides the standards approval environment for integrating diverse and complex ICT technologies. These standards rely upon the core infrastructure technologies developed by JTC 1 centers of expertise complemented by specifications developed in other organizations. There are over 2800 published JTC 1 standards developed by some 2100 technical experts from around the world, many of which are freely available for download.
Leadership
In 2008, Ms. Karen Higginbottom of HP was elected as chair. In a 2013 interview, she described priorities, including cloud computing standards and adaptations of existing standards. After Higginbottom's nine-year term expired in 2017, Mr. Phil Wennblom of Intel was elected as chair at the JTC 1 Plenary meeting in Vladivostok, Russia.
PAS transposition process
JTC 1 has implemented a process to transpose "publicly available specifications" (PAS) into international ISO/IEC standards. The PAS transposition process allows a PAS to be approved as an ISO/IEC standard in less than a year, as opposed to a full length process that can take up to 4 years. Consortia, such as OASIS, Trusted Computing Group (TCG), The Open Group, Object Management Group (OMG), W3C, Distributed Management Task Force (DMTF), Storage Networking Industry Association (SNIA), Open Geospatial Consortium (OGC), GS1, Spice User Group, Open Connectivity Foundation (OCF), NESMA, Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers (SMPTE), Khronos Group, or Joint Development Foundation use this process to transpose their specifications in an efficient manner into ISO/IEC standards.
Scope and mission
The scope of ISO/IEC JTC 1 is "International standardization in the field of information technology". Its official mandate is to develop, maintain, promote and facilitate IT standards required by global markets meeting business and user requirements concerning:
The design and development of IT systems and tools
The performance and quality of IT products and systems
The security of IT systems and information
The portability of application programs
The interoperability of IT products and systems
The unified tools and environments
The harmonized IT vocabulary
The user-friendly and ergonomically-designed user interfaces
Guiding principles
JTC 1 has a number of principles that guide standards development within the organization, which include:
Standards development conducted with full attention to a strong business-like approach (e.g., cost effective, short development times, market-oriented results)
Providing a wide range of quality products and services, within the JTC 1 scope and mission, to cover identified global needs
Promoting the use of its products and services and the timely implementation of JTC 1 standards within the form of useful products on a worldwide basis
Ensuring that its user needs, including multicultural requirements, are fully met, such that its products and services promote international trade
Recognizing the value of the work of other organizations and the contribution they make to international IT standardization and complementing existing and forthcoming JTC 1 programs through other leading edge activity with the objective of providing the best standards worldwide
Providing a standards development environment which attracts technical experts and users having identified standardization needs
Members
Like its ISO and IEC parent organizations, members of JTC 1 are national standards bodies. One national standards body represents each member country, and the members are referred to within JTC 1 as "national bodies" (NBs). A member can either have participating (P-member) or observing (O-member) status, with the main differences being the ability to participate at the working group level in the drafting of standards and to vote on proposed standards (although O-members may submit comments). As of May 2021, JTC 1 has 35 P-members and 65 O-members, and thus 100 member NBs. The secretariat of JTC 1 is the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), which is the national standards body for the United States member NB.
Other organizations can participate as Liaison Members, some of which are internal to ISO/IEC and some of which are external. Liaison relationships can be established at different levels within JTC 1 – i.e., at the JTC 1 level, the subcommittee level, or at the level of a specific working group within a subcommittee. Altogether, as of May 2021, there are about 120 external organizations that are in liaison with JTC 1 at one level or another. The liaison relationships established directly at the JTC 1 level are:
European Commission (EC)
Ecma International
International Telecommunication Union (ITU), including ITU-T Study Group 16 on Multimedia
Structure
Most work on the development of standards is done by subcommittees (SCs), each of which deals with a particular field. Most of these subcommittees have several working groups (WGs). Subcommittees, working groups, special working groups (SWGs), and study groups (SGs) within JTC 1 are:
Each subcommittee can have subgroups created for specific purposes:
Study Groups (SGs) are chartered to investigate the need and feasibility of additional standardization and/or guidance in a technical area. The main objective of a Study Group is to understand the current activities in a particular area and make recommendations to JTC 1 or a specific subcommittee.
Working Groups (WGs) are established to expedite development of one or more approved work items, and will exist as long as it has responsibility for approved work items.
Other Working Groups (OWGs) undertake specific tasks between the meetings of a subcommittee. These tasks are defined in the terms of reference of the OWG.
Subcommittees can be created to deal with new situations (SC 37 was established in 2002; SC 38 in 2009; SC 39 in 2012; and SC 40 in 2013) or disbanded if the area of work is no longer relevant. There is no requirement for any member body to maintain status on any or all of the subcommittees.
See also
International Organization for Standardization
International Electrotechnical Commission
American National Standards Institute
List of IEC Technical Committees
List of ISO standards
Notes
References
External links
ISO/IEC JTC 1 page at ISO
JTC1 homepage
001 |
35988882 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whelan%20v.%20Jaslow | Whelan v. Jaslow | Whelan Assocs., Inc. v. Jaslow Dental Laboratory, Inc. (3rd Cir. 1986) was a landmark case in defining principles that applied to copyright of computer software in the United States, extending beyond literal copying of the text to copying the more abstract structure, sequence and organization.
The decision initiated a six-year period (until Computer Associates Int. Inc. v. Altai Inc.) of heightened copyright protection for computer programs.
Background of the case
In 1978 Rand Jaslow tried to build a computer program to handle customer management, billing, accounting, inventory management and other functions for Jaslow Dental Laboratories.
He gave up after a few months and hired Strohl Systems to do the job.
The software was built by the half-owner of Strohl, Elaine Whelan, and delivered in March 1979.
It was written in the EDL language and ran on an IBM Series/1 minicomputer.
Strohl kept ownership of the software, which was branded Dentalab, and could license it to other companies in exchange for a 10% commission to Jaslow.
In November 1979 Whelan left Strohl and set up her own business, acquiring the right to the software.
Later, Jaslow became engaged in selling the Dentalab software in exchange for a percentage of the gross sales.
He formed a company named Dentcom which in late 1982 began to develop a program in a different computer language (BASIC) but with very similar functionality called Dentlab,
marketed as a Dentalab successor. The new software could run on IBM Personal Computers, giving access to a broader market.
On 30 June 1983 Jaslow's company filed a suit in Pennsylvania state court alleging that Whelan had misappropriated its trade secrets.
Whelan filed a countersuit in federal court in Pennsylvania alleging that the Dentlab software violated Whelan's copyrights in the Dentalab software.
The district court ruled that Dentlab was substantially similar to Dentalab because its structure and overall organization were substantially similar.
Jaslow appealed the decision to the U.S. Third Circuit Court of Appeals.
Relevant law
The district court ruling in the Whelan case drew on the established doctrine that even when the component parts of a work cannot be copyrightable, the structure and organization of a work may be.
The court also drew support from the 1985 SAS Inst. Inc. v. S&H Computer Sys. Inc. in which it had been found that copyright protected organizational and structural details, not just specific lines of code.
Structure, sequence and organization (SSO) in this case was defined as "the manner in which the program operates, controls and regulates the computer in receiving, assembling, calculating, retaining, correlating, and producing useful information."
SSO refers to non-literal elements of computer programs that include "data input formats, file structures, design, organization and flow of the code, screen outputs or user interfaces, and the flow and sequencing of the screens."
Decision
The Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit noted that computer programs are literary works under U.S. law.
The court drew an analogy with a concept defined by Judge Learned Hand who noted, talking about a play, that the exact wording was certainly protected, and then there were a series of layers of increasing abstraction before the high-level plot outline is reached, which is not protected. An ad hoc judgement based on careful comparison of the works would be needed to determine where in this spectrum any alleged copying lay, and to decide whether it was at a sufficiently specific level to be a violation rather than a different expression of the same idea. But "careful comparison" in the case of software works might involve checking millions of lines of code.
The court rejected the "extrinsic-intrinsic" test that had commonly been used until then, where an expert and a lay observer are asked to independently determine whether the works are substantially similar.
The court reasoned that with literary works a non-literal element is protected to the extent that it is an expression of an idea rather than the idea itself. By analogy, the purpose or function of a software work would be the work's "idea", while everything not necessary to that purpose or function would be part of the expression of the idea. The expression would be protected, but the basic purpose or function would not.
On this basis the Court of Appeals upheld the district court's ruling of copyright violation due to similarity of SSO.
The court found that the Copyright Act of 1976 supported its view of a software work as a compilation, saying:
Results
The Whelan decision initiated a period of excessively tight protection, suppressing innovation, since almost everything other than the broad purpose of a software work would be protected.
The only exception was where the functionality could only be achieved in a very small number of ways.
In these cases there could be no protection due to the merger doctrine, which applies when the expression and the idea are inextricably merged.
Later the same year, in Broderbund v. Unison the court cited Whelan when finding that the overall structure, sequencing, and arrangement of screens, or the "total concept and feel", could be protected by copyright.
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
Further reading
United States copyright case law
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit cases
1986 in United States case law
Dental software
United States computer case law
Dentistry in the United States |
41909781 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline%20of%20global%20surveillance%20disclosures%20%282013%E2%80%93present%29 | Timeline of global surveillance disclosures (2013–present) | This timeline of global surveillance disclosures from 2013 to the present day is a chronological list of the global surveillance disclosures that began in 2013. The disclosures have been largely instigated by revelations from the former American National Security Agency contractor Edward Snowden.
2012
In April 2012, Defense contractor Edward Snowden began downloading sensitive Western intelligence material while working for the American computer corporation Dell. By the end of the year, Snowden had made his first contact with journalist Glenn Greenwald of The Guardian.
January–May 2013
In January 2013, Snowden contacted documentary filmmaker Laura Poitras. In March 2013, Snowden took up a new job at Booz Allen Hamilton in Hawaii, specifically to gain access to additional top-secret documents that could be leaked. In April 2013, Poitras asked Greenwald to meet her in New York City. In May 2013, Snowden was permitted temporary leave from his position at the NSA in Hawaii, on the pretext of receiving treatment for his epilepsy. Towards the end of May, Snowden flew to Hong Kong.
June 2013
After the U.S.-based editor of The Guardian held several meetings in New York City, it was decided that Greenwald, Poitras, and The Guardians defence and intelligence correspondent Ewen MacAskill would fly to Hong Kong to meet Snowden. On June 5, in the first media report based on the leaked material, The Guardian exposed a top secret court order showing that the NSA had collected phone records from over 120 million Verizon subscribers. Under the order, the numbers of both parties on a call, as well as the location data, unique identifiers, time of call, and duration of call were handed over to the FBI, which turned over the records to the NSA. According to the Wall Street Journal, the Verizon order is part of a controversial data program, which seeks to stockpile records on all calls made in the U.S., but doesn't collect information directly from T-Mobile USA and Verizon Wireless, in part because of their foreign ownership ties.
On June 7, 2013, the second media disclosure, the revelation of the PRISM surveillance program, was published simultaneously by The Guardian and The Washington Post.
Documents provided by Snowden to Der Spiegel revealed how the NSA spied on various diplomatic missions of the European Union (EU) including the EU's delegation to the United States in Washington D.C., the EU's delegation to the United Nations in New York, and the Council of the European Union in Brussels, as well as the United Nations Headquarters in New York. During specific episodes within a four-year period, the NSA hacked several Chinese mobile phone companies, the Chinese University of Hong Kong, and Tsinghua University in Beijing, and the Asian fiber-optic network operator Pacnet. Only Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK are explicitly exempted from NSA attacks, whose main target in the EU is Germany. A method of bugging encrypted fax machines used at an EU embassy is codenamed Dropmire.
During the 2009 G-20 London summit, the British intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) intercepted the communications of foreign diplomats. In addition, the GCHQ has been intercepting and storing mass quantities of fiber-optic traffic via Tempora. Two principal components of Tempora are called "Mastering the Internet" (MTI) and "Global Telecoms Exploitation". The data is preserved for three days while metadata is kept for thirty days. Data collected by the GCHQ under Tempora is shared with the National Security Agency (NSA) of the United States.
From 2001 to 2011, the NSA collected vast amounts of metadata records detailing the email and internet usage of Americans via Stellar Wind, which was later terminated due to operational and resource constraints. It was subsequently replaced by newer surveillance programs such as ShellTrumpet, which "processed its one trillionth metadata record" by the end of December 2012.
According to the Boundless Informant, over 97 billion pieces of intelligence were collected over a 30-day period ending in March 2013. Out of all 97 billion sets of information, about 3 billion data sets originated from U.S. computer networks and around 500 million metadata records were collected from German networks.
Several weeks later, it was revealed that the Bundesnachrichtendienst (BND) of Germany transfers massive amounts of metadata records to the NSA.
July 2013
According to the Brazilian newspaper O Globo, the NSA spied on millions of emails and calls of Brazilian citizens, while Australia and New Zealand have been involved in the joint operation of the NSA's global analytical system XKeyscore. Among the numerous allied facilities contributing to XKeyscore are four installations in Australia and one in New Zealand:
Pine Gap near Alice Springs, Australia, which is partly operated by the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA)
The Shoal Bay Receiving Station near Darwin, Australia, is operated by the Australian Signals Directorate (ASD)
The Australian Defence Satellite Communications Station near Geraldton, Australia, is operated by the ASD
HMAS Harman outside Canberra, Australia, is operated by the ASD
Waihopai Station near Blenheim, New Zealand, is operated by New Zealand's Government Communications Security Bureau (GCSB)
O Globo released an NSA document titled "Primary FORNSAT Collection Operations", which revealed the specific locations and codenames of the FORNSAT intercept stations in 2002.
According to Edward Snowden, the NSA has established secret intelligence partnerships with many Western governments. The Foreign Affairs Directorate (FAD) of the NSA is responsible for these partnerships, which, according to Snowden, are organized such that foreign governments can "insulate their political leaders" from public outrage in the event that these global surveillance partnerships are leaked.
In an interview published by Der Spiegel, Snowden accused the NSA of being "in bed together with the Germans". The NSA granted the German intelligence agencies BND (foreign intelligence) and BfV (domestic intelligence) access to its controversial XKeyscore system. In return, the BND turned over copies of two systems named Mira4 and Veras, reported to exceed the NSA's SIGINT capabilities in certain areas. Every day, massive amounts of metadata records are collected by the BND and transferred to the NSA via the Bad Aibling Station near Munich, Germany. In December 2012 alone, the BND handed over 500 million metadata records to the NSA.
In a document dated January 2013, the NSA acknowledged the efforts of the BND to undermine privacy laws:
According to an NSA document dated April 2013, Germany has now become the NSA's "most prolific partner". Under a section of a separate document leaked by Snowden titled "Success Stories", the NSA acknowledged the efforts of the German government to expand the BND's international data sharing with partners:
In addition, the German government was well aware of the PRISM surveillance program long before Edward Snowden made details public. According to Angela Merkel's spokesman Steffen Seibert, there are two separate PRISM programs - one is used by the NSA and the other is used by NATO forces in Afghanistan. Both surveillance programs are "not identical".
The Guardian revealed further details of the NSA's XKeyscore tool, which allows government analysts to search through vast databases containing emails, online chats and the browsing histories of millions of individuals without prior authorization. Microsoft "developed a surveillance capability to deal" with the interception of encrypted chats on Outlook.com, within five months after the service went into testing. NSA had access to Outlook.com emails because “Prism collects this data prior to encryption.”
In addition, Microsoft worked with the FBI to enable the NSA to gain access to its cloud storage service SkyDrive. An internal NSA document dating from 3 August 2012 described the PRISM surveillance program as a "team sport".
Even if there is no reason to suspect U.S. citizens of wrongdoing, the CIA's National Counterterrorism Center is allowed to examine federal government files for possible criminal behavior. Previously the NTC was barred to do so, unless a person was a terror suspect or related to an investigation.
Snowden also confirmed that Stuxnet was cooperatively developed by the United States and Israel. In a report unrelated to Edward Snowden, the French newspaper Le Monde revealed that France's DGSE was also undertaking mass surveillance, which it described as "illegal and outside any serious control".
August 2013
Documents leaked by Edward Snowden that were seen by Süddeutsche Zeitung (SZ) and Norddeutscher Rundfunk revealed that several telecom operators have played a key role in helping the British intelligence agency Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ) tap into worldwide fiber-optic communications. The telecom operators are:
Verizon Business (codenamed "Dacron")
British Telecommunications (codenamed "Remedy")
Vodafone Cable (codenamed "Gerontic")
Global Crossing (codenamed "Pinnage")
Level 3 (codenamed "Little")
Viatel (codenamed "Vitreous")
Interoute (codenamed "Streetcar")
Each of them were assigned a particular area of the international fiber-optic network for which they were individually responsible. The following networks have been infiltrated by the GCHQ: TAT-14 (Europe-USA), Atlantic Crossing 1 (Europe-USA), Circe South (France-UK), Circe North (The Netherlands-UK), Flag Atlantic-1, Flag Europa-Asia, SEA-ME-WE 3 (Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe), SEA-ME-WE 4 (Southeast Asia-Middle East-Western Europe), Solas (Ireland-UK), UK-France 3, UK-Netherlands 14, ULYSSES (Europe-UK), Yellow (UK-USA) and Pan European Crossing.
Telecommunication companies who participated were "forced" to do so and had "no choice in the matter". Some of the companies were subsequently paid by GCHQ for their participation in the infiltration of the cables. According to the SZ the GCHQ has access to the majority of internet and telephone communications flowing throughout Europe, can listen to phone calls, read emails and text messages, see which websites internet users from all around the world are visiting. It can also retain and analyse nearly the entire European internet traffic.
The GCHQ is collecting all data transmitted to and from the United Kingdom and Northern Europe via the undersea fibre optic telecommunications cable SEA-ME-WE 3. The Security and Intelligence Division (SID) of Singapore co-operates with Australia in accessing and sharing communications carried by the SEA-ME-WE-3 cable. The Australian Signals Directorate (ASD) is also in a partnership with British, American and Singaporean intelligence agencies to tap undersea fibre optic telecommunications cables that link Asia, the Middle East and Europe and carry much of Australia's international phone and internet traffic.
The U.S. runs a top-secret surveillance program known as the Special Collection Service (SCS), which is based in over 80 U.S. consulates and embassies worldwide. The NSA hacked the United Nations' video conferencing system in Summer 2012 in violation of a UN agreement.
The NSA is not just intercepting the communications of Americans who are in direct contact with foreigners targeted overseas, but also searching the contents of vast amounts of e-mail and text communications into and out of the country by Americans who mention information about foreigners under surveillance. It also spied on the Al Jazeera and gained access to its internal communications systems.
The NSA has built a surveillance network that has the capacity to reach roughly 75% of all U.S. Internet traffic. U.S. Law-enforcement agencies use tools used by computer hackers to gather information on suspects. An internal NSA audit from May 2012 identified 2776 incidents i.e. violations of the rules or court orders for surveillance of Americans and foreign targets in the U.S. in the period from April 2011 through March 2012, while U.S. officials stressed that any mistakes are not intentional.
The FISA Court that is supposed to provide critical oversight of the U.S. government's vast spying programs has limited ability to do and it must trust the government to report when it improperly spies on Americans. A legal opinion declassified on August 21, 2013 revealed that the NSA intercepted for three years as many as 56,000 electronic communications a year of Americans who weren't suspected of having links to terrorism, before FISC court that oversees surveillance found the operation unconstitutional in 2011. Under the Corporate Partner Access project, major U.S. telecommunications providers receive hundreds of millions of dollars each year from the NSA. Voluntary cooperation between the NSA and the providers of global communications took off during the 1970s under the cover name BLARNEY.
A letter drafted by the Obama administration specifically to inform Congress of the government's mass collection of Americans’ telephone communications data was withheld from lawmakers by leaders of the House Intelligence Committee in the months before a key vote affecting the future of the program.
The NSA paid GCHQ over £100 Million between 2009 and 2012, in exchange for these funds GCHQ "must pull its weight and be seen to pull its weight." Documents referenced in the article explain that the weaker British laws regarding spying are "a selling point" for the NSA. GCHQ is also developing the technology to "exploit any mobile phone at any time." The NSA has under a legal authority a secret backdoor into its databases gathered from large Internet companies enabling it to search for U.S. citizens' email and phone calls without a warrant.
The Privacy and Civil Liberties Oversight Board urged the U.S. intelligence chiefs to draft stronger US surveillance guidelines on domestic spying after finding that several of those guidelines have not been updated up to 30 years. U.S. intelligence analysts have deliberately broken rules designed to prevent them from spying on Americans by choosing to ignore so-called "minimisation procedures" aimed at protecting privacy.
After the U.S. Foreign Secret Intelligence Court ruled in October 2011 that some of the NSA's activities were unconstitutional, the agency paid millions of dollars to major internet companies to cover extra costs incurred in their involvement with the PRISM surveillance program.
"Mastering the Internet" (MTI) is part of the Interception Modernisation Programme (IMP) of the British government that involves the insertion of thousands of DPI (deep packet inspection) "black boxes" at various internet service providers, as revealed by the British media in 2009.
In 2013, it was further revealed that the NSA had made a £17.2 million financial contribution to the project, which is capable of vacuuming signals from up to 200 fibre-optic cables at all physical points of entry into Great Britain.
September 2013
The Guardian and The New York Times reported on secret documents leaked by Snowden showing that the NSA has been in "collaboration with technology companies" as part of "an aggressive, multipronged effort" to weaken the encryption used in commercial software, and the GCHQ has a team dedicated to cracking "Hotmail, Google, Yahoo and Facebook" traffic.
Israel, Sweden and Italy are also cooperating with American and British intelligence agencies. Under a secret treaty codenamed "Lustre", French intelligence agencies transferred millions of metadata records to the NSA.
The Obama Administration secretly won permission from the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court in 2011 to reverse restrictions on the National Security Agency's use of intercepted phone calls and e-mails, permitting the agency to search deliberately for Americans’ communications in its massive databases. The searches take place under a surveillance program Congress authorized in 2008 under Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. Under that law, the target must be a foreigner “reasonably believed” to be outside the United States, and the court must approve the targeting procedures in an order good for one year. But a warrant for each target would thus no longer be required. That means that communications with Americans could be picked up without a court first determining that there is probable cause that the people they were talking to were terrorists, spies or “foreign powers.” The FISC extended the length of time that the NSA is allowed to retain intercepted U.S. communications from five years to six years with an extension possible for foreign intelligence or counterintelligence purposes. Both measures were done without public debate or any specific authority from Congress.
A special branch of the NSA called "Follow the Money" (FTM) monitors international payments, banking and credit card transactions and later stores the collected data in the NSA's own financial databank "Tracfin". The NSA monitored the communications of Brazil's president Dilma Rousseff and her top aides. The agency also spied on Brazil's oil firm Petrobras as well as French diplomats, and gained access to the private network of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of France and the SWIFT network.
In the United States, the NSA uses the analysis of phone call and e-mail logs of American citizens to create sophisticated graphs of their social connections that can identify their associates, their locations at certain times, their traveling companions and other personal information. The NSA routinely shares raw intelligence data with Israel without first sifting it to remove information about U.S. citizens.
In an effort codenamed GENIE, computer specialists can control foreign computer networks using "covert implants,” a form of remotely transmitted malware on tens of thousands of devices annually. As worldwide sales of smartphones began exceeding those of feature phones, the NSA decided to take advantage of the smartphone boom. This is particularly advantageous because the smartphone combines a myriad of data that would interest an intelligence agency, such as social contacts, user behavior, interests, location, photos and credit card numbers and passwords.
An internal NSA report from 2010 stated that the spread of the smartphone has been occurring "extremely rapidly"—developments that "certainly complicate traditional target analysis." According to the document, the NSA has set up task forces assigned to several smartphone manufacturers and operating systems, including Apple Inc.'s iPhone and iOS operating system, as well as Google's Android mobile operating system. Similarly, Britain's GCHQ assigned a team to study and crack the BlackBerry.
Under the heading "iPhone capability", the document notes that there are smaller NSA programs, known as "scripts", that can perform surveillance on 38 different features of the iOS 3 and iOS 4 operating systems. These include the mapping feature, voicemail and photos, as well as Google Earth, Facebook and Yahoo! Messenger.
October 2013
On October 4, 2013, The Washington Post and The Guardian jointly reported that the NSA and the GCHQ have made repeated attempts to spy on anonymous Internet users who have been communicating in secret via the anonymity network Tor. Several of these surveillance operations involve the implantation of malicious code into the computers of Tor users who visit particular websites. The NSA and GCHQ have partly succeeded in blocking access to the anonymous network, diverting Tor users to insecure channels. The government agencies were also able to uncover the identity of some anonymous Internet users.
The Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) has been using a program called Olympia to map the communications of Brazil's Mines and Energy Ministry by targeting the metadata of phone calls and emails to and from the ministry.
The Australian Federal Government knew about the PRISM surveillance program months before Edward Snowden made details public.
The NSA monitored the public email account of former Mexican president Felipe Calderón (thus gaining access to the communications of high-ranking cabinet members), the E-Mails of several high-ranking members of Mexico's security forces and text and the mobile phone communication of current Mexican president Enrique Peña Nieto. The NSA tries to gather cellular and landline phone numbers—often obtained from American diplomats—for as many foreign officials as possible. The contents of the phone calls are stored in computer databases that can regularly be searched using keywords.
The NSA has been monitoring telephone conversations of 35 world leaders. The U.S. government's first public acknowledgment that it tapped the phones of world leaders was reported on October 28, 2013 by the Wall Street Journal after an internal U.S. government review turned up NSA monitoring of some 35 world leaders. The GCHQ has tried to keep its mass surveillance program a secret because it feared a "damaging public debate" on the scale of its activities which could lead to legal challenges against them.
The Guardian revealed that the NSA had been monitoring telephone conversations of 35 world leaders after being given the numbers by an official in another U.S. government department. A confidential memo revealed that the NSA encouraged senior officials in such Departments as the White House, State and The Pentagon, to share their "Rolodexes" so the agency could add the telephone numbers of leading foreign politicians to their surveillance systems. Reacting to the news, German leader Angela Merkel, arriving in Brussels for an EU summit, accused the U.S. of a breach of trust, saying: "We need to have trust in our allies and partners, and this must now be established once again. I repeat that spying among friends is not at all acceptable against anyone, and that goes for every citizen in Germany." The NSA collected in 2010 data on ordinary Americans’ cellphone locations, but later discontinued it because it had no “operational value.”
Under Britain's MUSCULAR programme, the NSA and the GCHQ have secretly broken into the main communications links that connect Yahoo and Google data centers around the world and thereby gained the ability to collect metadata and content at will from hundreds of millions of user accounts.
The mobile phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel might have been tapped by U.S. intelligence. According to the Spiegel this monitoring goes back to 2002 and ended in the summer of 2013, while the New York Times reported that Germany has evidence that the NSA's surveillance of Merkel began during George W. Bush's tenure. After learning from Der Spiegel magazine that the NSA has been listening in to her personal mobile phone, Merkel compared the snooping practices of the NSA with those of the Stasi.
On October 31, 2013, Hans-Christian Ströbele, a member of the German Bundestag, met Snowden in Moscow and revealed the former intelligence contractor's readiness to brief the German government on NSA spying.
A highly sensitive signals intelligence collection program known as Stateroom involves the interception of radio, telecommunications and internet traffic. It is operated out of the diplomatic missions of the Five Eyes (Australia, Britain, Canada, New Zealand, United States) in numerous locations around the world. The program conducted at U.S. diplomatic missions is run in concert by the U.S. intelligence agencies NSA and CIA in a joint venture group called "Special Collection Service" (SCS), whose members work undercover in shielded areas of the American Embassies and Consulates, where they are officially accredited as diplomats and as such enjoy special privileges. Under diplomatic protection, they are able to look and listen unhindered. The SCS for example used the American Embassy near the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin to monitor communications in Germany's government district with its parliament and the seat of the government.
Under the Stateroom surveillance programme, Australia operates clandestine surveillance facilities to intercept phone calls and data across much of Asia.
In France, the NSA targeted people belonging to the worlds of business, politics or French state administration. The NSA monitored and recorded the content of telephone communications and the history of the connections of each target i.e. the metadata. The actual surveillance operation was performed by French intelligence agencies on behalf of the NSA. The cooperation between France and the NSA was confirmed by the Director of the NSA, Keith B. Alexander, who asserted that foreign intelligence services collected phone records in "war zones" and "other areas outside their borders" and provided them to the NSA.
The French newspaper Le Monde also disclosed new PRISM and Upstream slides (See Page 4, 7 and 8) coming from the "PRISM/US-984XN Overview" presentation.
In Spain, the NSA intercepted the telephone conversations, text messages and emails of millions of Spaniards, and spied on members of the Spanish government. Between December 10, 2012 and January 8, 2013, the NSA collected metadata on 60 million telephone calls in Spain.
According to documents leaked by Snowden, the surveillance of Spanish citizens was jointly conducted by the NSA and the intelligence agencies of Spain.
November 2013
The New York Times reported that the NSA carries out an eavesdropping effort, dubbed Operation Dreadnought, against the Iranian leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. During his 2009 visit to Iranian Kurdistan, the agency collaborated with the GCHQ and the U.S.'s National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, collecting radio transmissions between aircraft and airports, examining Khamenei's convoy with satellite imagery, and enumerating military radar stations. According to the story, an objective of the operation is "communications fingerprinting": the ability to distinguish Khamenei's communications from those of other people in Iran.
The same story revealed an operation code-named Ironavenger, in which the NSA intercepted e-mails sent between a country allied with the United States and the government of "an adversary". The ally was conducting a spear-phishing attack: its e-mails contained malware. The NSA gathered documents and login credentials belonging to the enemy country, along with knowledge of the ally's capabilities for attacking computers.
According to the British newspaper The Independent, the British intelligence agency GCHQ maintains a listening post on the roof of the British Embassy in Berlin that is capable of intercepting mobile phone calls, wi-fi data and long-distance communications all over the German capital, including adjacent government buildings such as the Reichstag (seat of the German parliament) and the Chancellery (seat of Germany's head of government) clustered around the Brandenburg Gate.
Operating under the code-name "Quantum Insert", the GCHQ set up a fake website masquerading as LinkedIn, a social website used for professional networking, as part of its efforts to install surveillance software on the computers of the telecommunications operator Belgacom. In addition, the headquarters of the oil cartel OPEC were infiltrated by the GCHQ as well as the NSA, which bugged the computers of nine OPEC employees and monitored the General Secretary of OPEC.
For more than three years the GCHQ has been using an automated monitoring system code-named "Royal Concierge" to infiltrate the reservation systems of at least 350 upscale hotels in many different parts of the world in order to target, search and analyze reservations to detect diplomats and government officials. First tested in 2010, the aim of the "Royal Concierge" is to track down the travel plans of diplomats, and it is often supplemented with surveillance methods related to human intelligence (HUMINT). Other covert operations include the wiretapping of room telephones and fax machines used in targeted hotels as well as the monitoring of computers hooked up to the hotel network.
In November 2013, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and The Guardian revealed that the Australian Signals Directorate (DSD) had attempted to listen to the private phone calls of the president of Indonesia and his wife. The Indonesian foreign minister, Marty Natalegawa, confirmed that he and the president had contacted the ambassador in Canberra. Natalegawa said any tapping of Indonesian politicians’ personal phones “violates every single decent and legal instrument I can think of—national in Indonesia, national in Australia, international as well”.
Other high-ranking Indonesian politicians targeted by the DSD include:
Boediono (Vice President)
Jusuf Kalla (Former Vice President)
Dino Patti Djalal (Ambassador to the United States)
Andi Mallarangeng (Government spokesperson)
Hatta Rajasa (State Secretary)
Sri Mulyani Indrawati (Former Finance Minister and current managing director of the World Bank)
Widodo Adi Sutjipto (Former Commander-in-Chief of the military)
Sofyan Djalil (Senior government advisor)
Carrying the title "3G impact and update", a classified presentation leaked by Snowden revealed the attempts of the ASD/DSD to keep up to pace with the rollout of 3G technology in Indonesia and across Southeast Asia. The ASD/DSD motto placed at the bottom of each page reads: "Reveal their secrets—protect our own."
Under a secret deal approved by British intelligence officials, the NSA has been storing and analyzing the internet and email records of British citizens since 2007. The NSA also proposed in 2005 a procedure for spying on the citizens of the UK and other Five-Eyes nations alliance, even where the partner government has explicitly denied the U.S. permission to do so. Under the proposal, partner countries must neither be informed about this particular type of surveillance, nor the procedure of doing so.
Towards the end of November, The New York Times released an internal NSA report outlining the agency's efforts to expand its surveillance abilities. The five-page document asserts that the law of the United States has not kept up with the needs of the NSA to conduct mass surveillance in the "golden age" of signals intelligence, but there are grounds for optimism because, in the NSA's own words:
The report, titled "SIGNT Strategy 2012–2016", also said that the U.S. will try to influence the "global commercial encryption market" through "commercial relationships", and emphasized the need to "revolutionize" the analysis of its vast data collection to "radically increase operational impact".
On November 23, 2013, the Dutch newspaper NRC Handelsblad reported that the Netherlands was targeted by U.S. intelligence agencies in the immediate aftermath of World War II. This period of surveillance lasted from 1946 to 1968, and also included the interception of the communications of other European countries including Belgium, France, West Germany and Norway. The Dutch Newspaper also reported that NSA infected more than 50,000 computer networks worldwide, often covertly, with malicious spy software, sometimes in cooperation with local authorities, designed to steal sensitive information.
December 2013
According to the classified documents leaked by Snowden, the Australian Signals Directorate, formerly known as the Defence Signals Directorate, had offered to share information on Australian citizens with the other intelligence agencies of the UKUSA Agreement. Data shared with foreign countries include "bulk, unselected, unminimised metadata" such as "medical, legal or religious information".
The Washington Post revealed that the NSA has been tracking the locations of mobile phones from all over the world by tapping into the cables that connect mobile networks globally and that serve U.S. cellphones as well as foreign ones. In the process of doing so, the NSA collects more than five billion records of phone locations on a daily basis. This enables NSA analysts to map cellphone owners’ relationships by correlating their patterns of movement over time with thousands or millions of other phone users who cross their paths.
The Washington Post also reported that the NSA makes use of location data and advertising tracking files generated through normal internet browsing i.e. tools that enable Internet advertisers to track consumers from Google and others to get information on potential targets, to pinpoint targets for government hacking and to bolster surveillance.
The Norwegian Intelligence Service (NIS), which cooperates with the NSA, has gained access to Russian targets in the Kola Peninsula and other civilian targets. In general, the NIS provides information to the NSA about "Politicians", "Energy" and "Armament". A top secret memo of the NSA lists the following years as milestones of the Norway-United States of America SIGNT agreement, or NORUS Agreement:
1952 - Informal starting year of cooperation between the NIS and the NSA
1954 - Formalization of the agreement
1963 - Extension of the agreement for coverage of foreign instrumentation signals intelligence (FISINT)
1970 - Extension of the agreement for coverage of electronic intelligence (ELINT)
1994 - Extension of the agreement for coverage of communications intelligence (COMINT)
The NSA considers the NIS to be one of its most reliable partners. Both agencies also cooperate to crack the encryption systems of mutual targets. According to the NSA, Norway has made no objections to its requests from the NIS.
On 5 December, Sveriges Television reported that the National Defence Radio Establishment (FRA) has been conducting a clandestine surveillance operation in Sweden, targeting the internal politics of Russia. The operation was conducted on behalf of the NSA, receiving data handed over to it by the FRA. The Swedish-American surveillance operation also targeted Russian energy interests as well as the Baltic states. As part of the UKUSA Agreement, a secret treaty was signed in 1954 by Sweden with the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, regarding collaboration and intelligence sharing.
As a result of Snowden's disclosures, the notion of Swedish neutrality in international politics was called into question. In an internal document dating from the year 2006, the NSA acknowledged that its "relationship" with Sweden is "protected at the TOP SECRET level because of that nation’s political neutrality." Specific details of Sweden's cooperation with members of the UKUSA Agreement include:
The FRA has been granted access to XKeyscore, an analytical database of the NSA.
Sweden updated the NSA on changes in Swedish legislation that provided the legal framework for information sharing between the FRA and the Swedish Security Service.
Since January 2013, a counterterrorism analyst of the NSA has been stationed in the Swedish capital of Stockholm.
The NSA, the GCHQ and the FRA signed an agreement in 2004 that allows the FRA to directly collaborate with the NSA without having to consult the GCHQ.
In order to identify targets for government hacking and surveillance, both the GCHQ and the NSA have used advertising cookies operated by Google, known as Pref, to "pinpoint" targets. According to documents leaked by Snowden, the Special Source Operations of the NSA has been sharing information containing "logins, cookies, and GooglePREFID" with the Tailored Access Operations division of the NSA, as well as Britain's GCHQ agency.
During the 2010 G-20 Toronto summit, the U.S. embassy in Ottawa was transformed into a security command post during a six-day spying operation that was conducted by the NSA and closely co-ordinated with the Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC). The goal of the spying operation was, among others, to obtain information on international development, banking reform, and to counter trade protectionism to support "U.S. policy goals." On behalf of the NSA, the CSEC has set up covert spying posts in 20 countries around the world.
In Italy the Special Collection Service of the NSA maintains two separate surveillance posts in Rome and Milan. According to a secret NSA memo dated September 2010, the Italian embassy in Washington, D.C. has been targeted by two spy operations of the NSA:
Under the codename "Bruneau", which refers to mission "Lifesaver", the NSA sucks out all the information stored in the embassy's computers and creates electronic images of hard disk drives.
Under the codename "Hemlock", which refers to mission "Highlands", the NSA gains access to the embassy's communications through physical "implants".
Due to concerns that terrorist or criminal networks may be secretly communicating via computer games, the NSA, the GCHQ, the CIA, and the FBI have been conducting surveillance and scooping up data from the networks of many online games, including massively multiplayer online role-playing games (MMORPGs) such as World of Warcraft, as well as virtual worlds such as Second Life, and the Xbox gaming console.
The NSA has cracked the most commonly used cellphone encryption technology, A5/1. According to a classified document leaked by Snowden, the agency can "process encrypted A5/1" even when it has not acquired an encryption key. In addition, the NSA uses various types of cellphone infrastructure, such as the links between carrier networks, to determine the location of a cellphone user tracked by Visitor Location Registers.
US district court judge for the District of Columbia, Richard Leon, declared on December 16, 2013, that the mass collection of metadata of Americans’ telephone records by the National Security Agency probably violates the fourth amendment prohibition of unreasonable searches and seizures. Leon granted the request for a preliminary injunction that blocks the collection of phone data for two private plaintiffs (Larry Klayman, a conservative lawyer, and Charles Strange, father of a cryptologist killed in Afghanistan when his helicopter was shot down in 2011) and ordered the government to destroy any of their records that have been gathered. But the judge stayed action on his ruling pending a government appeal, recognizing in his 68-page opinion the “significant national security interests at stake in this case and the novelty of the constitutional issues.”
However federal judge William H. Pauley III in New York City ruled the U.S. government's global telephone data-gathering system is needed to thwart potential terrorist attacks, and that it can only work if everyone's calls are swept in. U.S. District Judge Pauley also ruled that Congress legally set up the program and that it does not violate anyone's constitutional rights. The judge also concluded that the telephone data being swept up by NSA did not belong to telephone users, but to the telephone companies. He further ruled that when NSA obtains such data from the telephone companies, and then probes into it to find links between callers and potential terrorists, this further use of the data was not even a search under the Fourth Amendment. He also concluded that the controlling precedent is Smith v. Maryland: “Smith’s bedrock holding is that an individual has no legitimate expectation of privacy in information provided to third parties,” Judge Pauley wrote. The American Civil Liberties Union declared on January 2, 2012 that it will appeal Judge Pauley's ruling that NSA bulk the phone record collection is legal. "The government has a legitimate interest in tracking the associations of suspected terrorists, but tracking those associations does not require the government to subject every citizen to permanent surveillance,” deputy ACLU legal director Jameel Jaffer said in a statement.
In recent years, American and British intelligence agencies conducted surveillance on more than 1,100 targets, including the office of an Israeli prime minister, heads of international aid organizations, foreign energy companies and a European Union official involved in antitrust battles with American technology businesses.
A catalog of high-tech gadgets and software developed by the NSA's Tailored Access Operations (TAO) was leaked by the German news magazine Der Spiegel. Dating from 2008, the catalog revealed the existence of special gadgets modified to capture computer screenshots and USB flash drives secretly fitted with radio transmitters to broadcast stolen data over the airwaves, and fake base stations intended to intercept mobile phone signals, as well as many other secret devices and software implants listed here:
The Tailored Access Operations (TAO) division of the NSA intercepted the shipping deliveries of computers and laptops in order to install spyware and physical implants on electronic gadgets. This was done in close cooperation with the FBI and the CIA. NSA officials responded to the Spiegel reports with a statement, which said: "Tailored Access Operations is a unique national asset that is on the front lines of enabling NSA to defend the nation and its allies. [TAO's] work is centred on computer network exploitation in support of foreign intelligence collection."
In a separate disclosure unrelated to Snowden, the French Trésor public, which runs a certificate authority, was found to have issued fake certificates impersonating Google in order to facilitate spying on French government employees via man-in-the-middle attacks.
January 2014
The NSA is working to build a powerful quantum computer capable of breaking all types of encryption. The effort is part of a US$79.7 million research program known as "Penetrating Hard Targets". It involves extensive research carried out in large, shielded rooms known as Faraday cages, which are designed to prevent electromagnetic radiation from entering or leaving. Currently, the NSA is close to producing basic building blocks that will allow the agency to gain "complete quantum control on two semiconductor qubits". Once a quantum computer is successfully built, it would enable the NSA to unlock the encryption that protects data held by banks, credit card companies, retailers, brokerages, governments and health care providers.
According to the New York Times the NSA is monitoring approximately 100.000 computers worldwide with spy software named Quantum. Quantum enables the NSA to conduct surveillance on those computers on the one hand and can also create a digital highway for launching cyberattacks on the other hand. Among the targets are the Chinese and Russian military, but also trade institutions within the European Union. The NYT also reported that the NSA can access and alter computers which are not connected with the internet by a secret technology in use by the NSA since 2008. The prerequisite is the physically insertion of the radio frequency hardware by a spy, a manufacturer or an unwitting user. The technology relies on a covert channel of radio waves that can be transmitted from tiny circuit boards and USB cards inserted surreptitiously into the computers. In some cases, they are sent to a briefcase-size relay station that intelligence agencies can set up miles away from the target. The technology can also transmit malware back to the infected computer.
Channel 4 and The Guardian revealed the existence of Dishfire, a massive database of the NSA that collects hundreds of millions of text messages on a daily basis. The GCHQ has been given full access to the database, which it uses to obtain personal information of Britons by exploiting a legal loophole.
Each day, the database receives and stores the following amounts of data:
Geolocation data of more than 76,000 text messages and other travel information
Over 110,000 names, gathered from electronic business cards
Over 800,000 financial transactions that are either gathered from text-to-text payments or by linking credit cards to phone users
Details of 1.6 million border crossings based on the interception of network roaming alerts
Over 5 million missed call alerts
About 200 million text messages from around the world
The database is supplemented with an analytical tool known as the Prefer program, which processes SMS messages to extract other types of information including contacts from missed call alerts.
According to a joint disclosure by the New York Times, the Guardian, and ProPublica, the NSA and the GCHQ have begun working together to collect and store data from dozens of smartphone application software by 2007 at the latest. A 2008 GCHQ report leaked by Snowden asserts that "anyone using Google Maps on a smartphone is working in support of a GCHQ system". The NSA and the GCHQ have traded recipes for various purposes such as grabbing location data and journey plans that are made when a target uses Google Maps, and vacuuming up address books, buddy lists, phone logs and geographic data embedded in photos posted on the mobile versions of numerous social networks such as Facebook, Flickr, LinkedIn, Twitter and other services. In a separate 20-page report dated 2012, the GCHQ cited the popular smartphone game "Angry Birds" as an example of how an application could be used to extract user data. Taken together, such forms of data collection would allow the agencies to collect vital information about a user's life, including his or her home country, current location (through geolocation), age, gender, ZIP code, marital status, income, ethnicity, sexual orientation, education level, number of children, etc.
A GCHQ document dated August 2012 provided details of the Squeaky Dolphin surveillance program, which enables the GCHQ to conduct broad, real-time monitoring of various social media features and social media traffic such as YouTube video views, the Like button on Facebook, and Blogspot/Blogger visits without the knowledge or consent of the companies providing those social media features. The agency's “Squeaky Dolphin” program can collect, analyze and utilize YouTube, Facebook and Blogger data in specific situations in real time for analysis purposes. The program also collects the addresses from the billion of videos watched daily as well as some user information for analysis purposes.
During the 2009 United Nations Climate Change Conference in Copenhagen, the NSA and its Five Eyes partners monitored the communications of delegates of numerous countries. This was done to give their own policymakers a negotiating advantage.
The Communications Security Establishment Canada (CSEC) has been tracking Canadian air passengers via free Wi-Fi services at a major Canadian airport. Passengers who exited the airport terminal continued to be tracked as they showed up at other Wi-Fi locations across Canada. In a CSEC document dated May 2012, the agency described how it had gained access to two communications systems with over 300,000 users in order to pinpoint a specific imaginary target. The operation was executed on behalf of the NSA as a trial run to test a new technology capable of tracking down "any target that makes occasional forays into other cities/regions." This technology was subsequently shared with Canada's Five Eyes partners - Australia, New Zealand, Britain, and the United States.
February 2014
According to research by Süddeutsche Zeitung and TV network NDR the mobile phone of former German chancellor Gerhard Schröder was monitored from 2002 onwards, reportedly because of his government's opposition to military intervention in Iraq. The source of the latest information is a document leaked by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden. The document, containing information about the National Sigint Requirement List (NSRL), had previously been interpreted as referring only to Angela Merkel's mobile. However Süddeutsche Zeitung and NDR claim to have confirmation from NSA insiders that the surveillance authorisation pertains not to the individual, but the political post – which in 2002 was still held by Schröder. According to research by the two media outlets, Schröder was placed as number 388 on the list, which contains the names of persons and institutions to be put under surveillance by the NSA.
The GCHQ launched a cyber-attack on the activist network "Anonymous", using denial-of-service attack (DoS) to shut down a chatroom frequented by the network's members and to spy on them. The attack, dubbed Rolling Thunder, was conducted by a GCHQ unit known as the Joint Threat Research Intelligence Group (JTRIG). The unit successfully uncovered the true identities of several Anonymous members.
The NSA Section 215 bulk telephony metadata program which seeks to stockpile records on all calls made in the U.S. is collecting less than 30 percent of all Americans’ call records because of an inability to keep pace with the explosion in cellphone use according to the Washington Post.. The controversial program permits the NSA after a warrant granted by the secret Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court to record numbers, length and location of every call from the participating carriers in.
March 2014
The NSA has built an infrastructure which enables it to covertly hack into computers on a mass scale by using automated systems that reduce the level of human oversight in the process. The NSA relies on an automated system codenamed TURBINE which in essence enables the automated management and control of a large network of implants (a form of remotely transmitted malware on selected individual computer devices or in bulk on tens of thousands of devices). As quoted by The Intercept, TURBINE is designed to "allow the current implant network to scale to large size (millions of implants) by creating a system that does automated control implants by groups instead of individually." The NSA has shared many of its files on the use of implants with its counterparts in the so-called Five Eyes surveillance alliance – the United Kingdom, Canada, New Zealand, and Australia.
Among other things due to TURBINE and its control over the implants the NSA is capable of:
breaking into targeted computers and to siphoning out data from foreign Internet and phone networks
infecting a target's computer and exfiltrating files from a hard drive
covertly recording audio from a computer's microphone and taking snapshots with its webcam
launching cyberattacks by corrupting and disrupting file downloads or denying access to websites
exfiltrating data from removable flash drives that connect to an infected computer
The TURBINE implants are linked to, and relies upon, a large network of clandestine surveillance "sensors" that the NSA has installed at locations across the world, including the agency's headquarters in Maryland and eavesdropping bases used by the agency in Misawa, Japan and Menwith Hill, England. Codenamed as TURMOIL, the sensors operate as a sort of high-tech surveillance dragnet, monitoring packets of data as they are sent across the Internet. When TURBINE implants exfiltrate data from infected computer systems, the TURMOIL sensors automatically identify the data and return it to the NSA for analysis. And when targets are communicating, the TURMOIL system can be used to send alerts or "tips" to TURBINE, enabling the initiation of a malware attack. To identify surveillance targets, the NSA uses a series of data "selectors" as they flow across Internet cables. These selectors can include email addresses, IP addresses, or the unique "cookies" containing a username or other identifying information that are sent to a user's computer by websites such as Google, Facebook, Hotmail, Yahoo, and Twitter, unique Google advertising cookies that track browsing habits, unique encryption key fingerprints that can be traced to a specific user, and computer IDs that are sent across the Internet when a Windows computer crashes or updates.
The CIA was accused by U.S. Senate Intelligence Committee Chairwoman Dianne Feinstein of spying on a stand-alone computer network established for the committee in its investigation of allegations of CIA abuse in a George W. Bush-era detention and interrogation program.
A voice interception program codenamed MYSTIC began in 2009. Along with RETRO, short for "retrospective retrieval" (RETRO is voice audio recording buffer that allows retrieval of captured content up to 30 days into the past), the MYSTIC program is capable of recording "100 percent" of a foreign country's telephone calls, enabling the NSA to rewind and review conversations up to 30 days and the relating metadata. With the capability to store up to 30 days of recorded conversations MYSTIC enables the NSA to pull an instant history of the person's movements, associates and plans.
On March 21, Le Monde published slides from an internal presentation of the Communications Security Establishment Canada, which attributed a piece of malicious software to French intelligence. The CSEC presentation concluded that the list of malware victims matched French intelligence priorities and found French cultural reference in the malware's code, including the name Babar, a popular French children's character, and the developer name "Titi".
The French telecommunications corporation Orange S.A. shares its call data with the French intelligence agency DGSE, which hands over the intercepted data to GCHQ.
The NSA has spied on the Chinese technology company Huawei. Huawei is a leading manufacturer of smartphones, tablets, mobile phone infrastructure, and WLAN routers and installs fiber optic cable. According to Der Spiegel this "kind of technology […] is decisive in the NSA's battle for data supremacy." The NSA, in an operation named "Shotgiant", was able to access Huawei's email archive and the source code for Huawei's communications products. The US government has had longstanding concerns that Huawei may not be independent of the People's Liberation Army and that the Chinese government might use equipment manufactured by Huawei to conduct cyberespionage or cyberwarfare. The goals of the NSA operation were to assess the relationship between Huawei and the PLA, to learn more the Chinese government's plans and to use information from Huawei to spy on Huawei's customers, including Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Kenya, and Cuba. Former Chinese President Hu Jintao, the Chinese Trade Ministry, banks, as well as telecommunications companies were also targeted by the NSA.
The Intercept published a document of an NSA employee discussing how to build a database of IP addresses, webmail, and Facebook accounts associated with system administrators so that the NSA can gain access to the networks and systems they administer.
At the end of March 2014, Der Spiegel and The Intercept published, based on a series of classified files from the archive provided to reporters by NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, articles related to espionage efforts by GCHQ and NSA in Germany. The British GCHQ targeted three German internet firms for information about Internet traffic passing through internet exchange points, important customers of the German internet providers, their technology suppliers as well as future technical trends in their business sector and company employees. The NSA was granted by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court the authority for blanket surveillance of Germany, its people and institutions, regardless whether those affected are suspected of having committed an offense or not, without an individualized court order specifying on March 7, 2013. In addition Germany's chancellor Angela Merkel was listed in a surveillance search machine and database named Nymrod along with 121 others foreign leaders. As The Intercept wrote: "The NSA uses the Nymrod system to 'find information relating to targets that would otherwise be tough to track down,' according to internal NSA documents. Nymrod sifts through secret reports based on intercepted communications as well as full transcripts of faxes, phone calls, and communications collected from computer systems. More than 300 'cites' for Merkel are listed as available in intelligence reports and transcripts for NSA operatives to read."
April 2014
Towards the end of April, Edward Snowden said that the United States surveillance agencies spy on Americans more than anyone else in the world, contrary to anything that has been said by the government up until this point.
May 2014
An article published by Ars Technica shows NSA's Tailored Access Operations (TAO) employees intercepting a Cisco router.
The Intercept and WikiLeaks revealed information about which countries were having their communications collected as part of the MYSTIC surveillance program. On May 19, The Intercept reported that the NSA is recording and archiving nearly every cell phone conversation in the Bahamas with a system called SOMALGET, a subprogram of MYSTIC. The mass surveillance has been occurring without the Bahamian government's permission. Aside from the Bahamas, The Intercept reported NSA interception of cell phone metadata in Kenya, the Philippines, Mexico and a fifth country it did not name due to "credible concerns that doing so could lead to increased violence." WikiLeaks released a statement on May 23 claiming that Afghanistan was the unnamed nation.
In a statement responding to the revelations, the NSA said "the implication that NSA's foreign intelligence collection is arbitrary and unconstrained is false."
Through its global surveillance operations the NSA exploits the flood of images included in emails, text messages, social media, videoconferences and other communications to harvest millions of images. These images are then used by the NSA in sophisticated facial recognition programs to track suspected terrorists and other intelligence targets.
June 2014
Vodafone revealed that there were secret wires that allowed government agencies direct access to their networks. This access does not require warrants and the direct access wire is often equipment in a locked room. In six countries where Vodafone operates, the law requires telecommunication companies to install such access or allows governments to do so. Vodafone did not name these countries in case some governments retaliated by imprisoning their staff. Shami Chakrabarti of Liberty said "For governments to access phone calls at the flick of a switch is unprecedented and terrifying. Snowden revealed the internet was already treated as fair game. Bluster that all is well is wearing pretty thin – our analogue laws need a digital overhaul." Vodafone published its first Law Enforcement Disclosure Report on June 6, 2014. Vodafone group privacy officer Stephen Deadman said "These pipes exist, the direct access model exists. We are making a call to end direct access as a means of government agencies obtaining people's communication data. Without an official warrant, there is no external visibility. If we receive a demand we can push back against the agency. The fact that a government has to issue a piece of paper is an important constraint on how powers are used." Gus Hosein, director of Privacy International said "I never thought the telcos would be so complicit. It's a brave step by Vodafone and hopefully the other telcos will become more brave with disclosure, but what we need is for them to be braver about fighting back against the illegal requests and the laws themselves."
Above-top-secret documentation of a covert surveillance program named Overseas Processing Centre 1 (OPC-1) (codenamed "CIRCUIT") by GCHQ was published by The Register. Based on documents leaked by Edward Snowden, GCHQ taps into undersea fiber optic cables via secret spy bases near the Strait of Hormuz and Yemen. BT and Vodafone are implicated.
The Danish newspaper Dagbladet Information and The Intercept revealed on June 19, 2014, the NSA mass surveillance program codenamed RAMPART-A. Under RAMPART-A, 'third party' countries tap into fiber optic cables carrying the majority of the world's electronic communications and are secretly allowing the NSA to install surveillance equipment on these fiber-optic cables. The foreign partners of the NSA turn massive amounts of data like the content of phone calls, faxes, e-mails, internet chats, data from virtual private networks, and calls made using Voice over IP software like Skype over to the NSA. In return these partners receive access to the NSA's sophisticated surveillance equipment so that they too can spy on the mass of data that flows in and out of their territory. Among the partners participating in the NSA mass surveillance program are Denmark and Germany.
July 2014
During the week of July 4, a 31-year-old male employee of Germany's intelligence service BND was arrested on suspicion of spying for the United States. The employee is suspected of spying on the German Parliamentary Committee investigating the NSA spying scandal.
Former NSA official and whistleblower William Binney spoke at a Centre for Investigative Journalism conference in London. According to Binney, "at least 80% of all audio calls, not just metadata, are recorded and stored in the US. The NSA lies about what it stores." He also stated that the majority of fiber optic cables run through the U.S., which "is no accident and allows the US to view all communication coming in."
The Washington Post released a review of a cache provided by Snowden containing roughly 160,000 text messages and e-mails intercepted by the NSA between 2009 and 2012. The newspaper concluded that nine out of ten account holders whose conversations were recorded by the agency "were not the intended surveillance targets but were caught in a net the agency had cast for somebody else." In its analysis, The Post also noted that many of the account holders were Americans.
On July 9, a soldier working within Germany's Federal Ministry of Defence (BMVg) fell under suspicion of spying for the United States. As a result of the July 4 case and this one, the German government expelled the CIA station chief in Germany on July 17.
On July 18, former State Department official John Tye released an editorial in The Washington Post, highlighting concerns over data collection under Executive Order 12333. Tye's concerns are rooted in classified material he had access to through the State Department, though he has not publicly released any classified materials.
August 2014
The Intercept reported that the NSA is "secretly providing data to nearly two dozen U.S. government agencies with a 'Google-like' search engine" called ICREACH. The database, The Intercept reported, is accessible to domestic law enforcement agencies including the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Administration and was built to contain more than 850 billion metadata records about phone calls, emails, cellphone locations, and text messages.
February 2015
Based on documents obtained from Snowden, The Intercept reported that the NSA and GCHQ had broken into the internal computer network of Gemalto and stolen the encryption keys that are used in SIM cards no later than 2010. , the company is the world's largest manufacturer of SIM cards, making about two billion cards a year. With the keys, the intelligence agencies could eavesdrop on cell phones without the knowledge of mobile phone operators or foreign governments.
March 2015
The New Zealand Herald, in partnership with The Intercept, revealed that the New Zealand government used XKeyscore to spy on candidates for the position of World Trade Organization director general and also members of the Solomon Islands government.
April 2015
In January 2015, the DEA revealed that it had been collecting metadata records for all telephone calls made by Americans to 116 countries linked to drug trafficking. The DEA's program was separate from the telephony metadata programs run by the NSA. In April, USA Today reported that the DEA's data collection program began in 1992 and included all telephone calls between the United States and from Canada and Mexico. Current and former DEA officials described the program as the precursor of the NSA's similar programs. The DEA said its program was suspended in September 2013, after a review of the NSA's programs and that it was "ultimately terminated."
January 2016
NSA documents show the US and UK spied on Israeli military drones and fighter jets.
August 2016
A group called The Shadow Brokers says it infiltrated NSA's Equation Group and teases files including some named in documents leaked by Edward Snowden.
References
Global surveillance
Technology timelines
21st century in technology |
496268 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hatchery%20%28Star%20Trek%3A%20Enterprise%29 | Hatchery (Star Trek: Enterprise) | "Hatchery" is the seventeenth episode of the third season of the American science fiction television series Star Trek: Enterprise, the 69th overall. It was written by André Bormanis and Michael Sussman, and was directed by Michael Grossman; his first episode of Star Trek.
Set in the 22nd century, the series follows the adventures of the first Starfleet starship Enterprise, registration NX-01. Season three of Enterprise features an ongoing story following an attack on Earth by previously unknown aliens called the Xindi. In this episode, Captain Jonathan Archer (Scott Bakula) discovers an Insectoid egg hatchery on a downed Xindi ship and becomes obsessed with protecting the eggs. In response to his increasingly erratic behaviour, Commander Charles "Trip" Tucker III (Connor Trinneer) leads a mutiny to relieve Archer of his command.
Plot
The Enterprise investigates a lifeless Insectoid vessel crashed on a barren planet, hoping to find helpful information on its computer database. Archer leads an away team to explore the wreckage and discovers an Insectoid hatchery with several dozen surviving eggs, but a failing bio-support system. He is sprayed in the face by one of the eggs. Doctor Phlox concludes it was a defense mechanism and treats him with an analgesic. Dead Insectoids and one of their shuttles are then taken aboard for analysis, and computer logs reveal the survivors cut off their own life support in order to save the ship's hatchery.
Despite objections, Archer keeps Enterprise at the planet and orders Commander Tucker to repair the hatchery's bio-support. Incompatibilities with Starfleet portable power generators cause an overload, prematurely hatching one of the eggs, but Phlox cannot save it. Increasingly obsessive, Archer soon orders the transfer of one-third of Enterprises antimatter supply to the Xindi ship so that full power can be restored. With the success of the mission in mind, Sub-Commander T'Pol refuses to carry out his order, so he relieves her of duty and confines her to quarters. Soon after, Lieutenant Reed, in control of the bridge, destroys an escaping Xindi ship. Archer relieves him as well, saying that the alien crew could have helped to save the eggs.
Archer promotes Major Hayes, non-Starfleet leader of the MACOs (Military Assault Command Operations), to First Officer. Hayes questions nothing about Archer's behavior, and has his MACOs man a number of critical positions on the ship. Archer orders Ensign Sato to prepare an Insectoid-language distress signal. With time running out, Tucker and Phlox conclude that a mutiny is in order, and they free T'Pol and Reed to assist. After a tense standoff and shootout with the MACOs, the Enterprise crew capture the bridge. Meanwhile, Tucker beams down to the hatchery and stuns Archer. Back on Enterprise, a thorough medical scan by Phlox reveals that the egg had sprayed Archer with a "nurturing hormone", making him focus on preserving them. In the end, Archer is fully treated, Hayes confirms that he did not have a medical reason for thoughtlessly following questionable orders, and the ship resumes at full warp-speed towards Azati Prime.
Production
The script for "Hatchery" was written by André Bormanis and Michael Sussman, and directed by Michael Grossman. This was the first episode in the Star Trek universe to be directed by Grossman, who had previously directed episodes of the science fiction and fantasy television shows Firefly, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. "Hatchery" saw the return of several of the recurring cast members portraying MACO marines; Steven Culp as Major Hayes, Daniel Dae Kim as Corporal Chang and Sean McGowen as Corporal Hawkins. The other MACOs seen were portrayed by stunt workers.
"Hatchery" required several new sets to be built under the supervision of production designer Herman Zimmerman, to represent the crashed Xindi-Insectoid vessel and the hatchery chamber. The special effects seen in the episode, such as the egg sacs and the dead Insectoids, were created by the makeup team under the leadership of Michael Westmore. The work of these two teams, combined with the smoke and lighting effects, create the hatchery set seen throughout the episode. Further effects were added in post-production, which included the addition of newborn Insectoids. Filming was completed on December 19, 2003, the final episode to be filmed that year. The cast and crew took a two-week break following "Hatchery" over Christmas, returning on January 5, 2004.
Reception
"Hatchery" was first aired in the United States on UPN on February 25, 2004. According to Nielsen Media Research, it received a 2.4/4 percent share among adults. This means that it was seen by 2.4 percent of all households, and 4 percent of all of those watching television at the time of the broadcast. Both the previous and following episodes, "Doctor's Orders" and "Azati Prime", received higher ratings, each of 2.6/4 percent. "Hatchery" was not the least viewed installment of the series, which came two episodes later when "Damage" received a rating of 2.0/3 percent.
Michelle Erica Green of TrekNation enjoyed the episode and said it had thrilling moments but was disappointed that it did nothing to further the Xindi plot arc. "It's good, but it's not quite striving for greatness."
In 2021, Baz Greenland of The Digital Fix said this was a "decent" episode in season 3, but thought it delayed resolving the Xindi story arc.
Home media release
The first home media release of "Hatchery" was as part of the season three DVD box set, released in the United States on September 27, 2005. The Blu-ray release of the third season of Enterprise took place on January 7, 2014.
References
External links
Star Trek: Enterprise (season 3) episodes
2004 American television episodes |
3084104 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software%20assurance | Software assurance | Software assurance (SwA) is defined as "the level of confidence that software is free from vulnerabilities, either intentionally designed into the software or accidentally inserted at any time during its lifecycle, and that the software functions in the intended manner."
The main objective of software assurance is to ensure that the processes, procedures, and products used to produce and sustain the software conform to all requirements and standards specified to govern those processes, procedures, and products. A secondary objective of software assurance is to ensure that the software-intensive systems we produce are more secure. For such software-intensive systems, a preventive dynamic and static analysis of the potential vulnerabilities is required, and holistic, system-level understanding is recommended. As stated by Gary McGraw, "Design flaws account for 50% of security problems. One can't find design defects by staring at code. A higher-level understanding is required. That's why architectural risk analysis plays an essential role in any solid software security program."
Alternate definitions
United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS)
According to the DHS, software assurance addresses:
Trustworthiness - no exploitable vulnerabilities exist, either maliciously or unintentionally inserted;
Predictable Execution - justifiable confidence that software, when executed, functions as intended;
Conformance - planned and systematic set of multi-disciplinary activities that ensure software processes and products conform to requirements, standards/ procedures.
Contributing SwA disciplines, articulated in bodies of knowledge and core competencies: software engineering, systems engineering, information systems security engineering, information assurance, test and evaluation, safety, security, project management, and software acquisition.
Software assurance is a strategic initiative of the US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to promote integrity, security, and reliability in software. The SwA Program is based upon the National Strategy to Secure Cyberspace - Action/Recommendation 2-14:
“DHS will facilitate a national public-private effort to promulgate best practices and methodologies that promote integrity, security, and reliability in software code development, including processes and procedures that diminish the possibilities of erroneous code, malicious code, or trap doors that could be introduced during development.” There are open-source software tools for software assurance that help identify potential security vulnerabilities.
United States Department of Defense (DoD)
For the DoD, SwA is defined as "the level of confidence that software functions only as intended and is free of vulnerabilities, either intentionally or unintentionally designed or inserted as part of the software, throughout the life cycle. DoD is developing SwA as a sound systems engineering practice as demonstrated by two recent publications funded by JFAC with development led by the Software Engineering Institute (SEI) and expert practitioners within the Military Services and NSA. The Program Manager's SwA Guidebook shows how SwA should be planned, resourced, and managed while the Developer's SwA Guidebook recommends tailorable technical practices throughout the life cycle. Both of these documents are the first of their kind, and awarded. The two enterprise-scale organizations in DoD building SwA capability are the Joint Federated Assurance Center (JFAC) and the DoD SwA Community of practice which has operated as a quarterly collegial forum 32 consecutive gatherings. Both are open to other parts of the US Government. The JFAC Charter is available at its website. To develop wider situational awareness of the families of SwA tools commercially available, JFAC funded the Institute for Defense Analysis (IDA) to produce the State of the Art Resource (SOAR). A recent innovation in "engineering-in" SwA throughout the life cycle is coupling selected NIST 800-53 controls to engineering tasks so that the engineering results define the Risk Management Framework (RMF) and drive the Authority to Operate (ATO). A package including Data Item Descriptions (DIDs), machine-readable vulnerability report formats, and a brief overviewing application of the techniques is available at the JFAC website. Other disruptive innovations are in process.
Software Assurance Metrics and Tool Evaluation (SAMATE) project
According to the NIST SAMATE project, software assurance is "the planned and systematic set of activities that ensures that software processes and products conform to requirements, standards, and procedures to help achieve:
Trustworthiness - No exploitable vulnerabilities exist, either of malicious or unintentional origin, and
Predictable Execution - Justifiable confidence that software, when executed, functions as intended."
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
According to NASA, software assurance is a "planned and systematic set of activities that ensures that software processes and products conform to requirements, standards, and procedures. It includes the disciplines of quality assurance, quality engineering, verification and validation, nonconformance reporting and corrective action, safety assurance, and security assurance and their application during a software life cycle." The NASA Software Assurance Standard also states: "The application of these disciplines during a software development life cycle is called software assurance."
Object Management Group (OMG)
According to the OMG, software assurance is “justifiable trustworthiness in meeting established business and security objectives.”
OMG's SwA Special Interest Group (SIG), works with Platform and Domain Task Forces and other software industry entities and groups external to the OMG, to coordinate the establishment of a common framework for analysis and exchange of information related to software trustworthiness by facilitating the development of a specification for a Software Assurance Framework that will:
Establish a common framework of software properties that can be used to represent any/all classes of software so software suppliers and acquirers can represent their claims and arguments(respectively), along with the corresponding evidence, employing automated tools (to address scale)
Verify that products have sufficiently satisfied these characteristics in advance of product acquisition, so that system engineers/integrators can use these products to build (compose) larger assured systems with them
Enable industry to improve visibility into the current status of software assurance during development of its software
Enable industry to develop automated tools that support the common framework.
Software Assurance Forum for Excellence in Code (SAFECode)
According to SAFECode, software assurance is “confidence that software, hardware and services are free from intentional and unintentional vulnerabilities and that the software functions as intended.”
Initiatives
A US federally funded initiative was called Software Assurance, which was jointly funded by DHS, DOD and NIST, and ran the Build Security In (BSI) website.
Why does software assurance matter?
Many business activities and critical functions—from national defense to banking to healthcare to telecommunications to aviation to control of hazardous materials—depend on the correct, predictable operation of software. These activities could be seriously disrupted were the software-intensive systems that they rely on to fail.
See also
Software quality assurance
References
External links
DHS "Build Security In" information resource
DHS SwA Community of Practice portal
NIST Software Assurance Metrics and Tool Evaluation (SAMATE) project
Object Management Group SwA SIG
Software Assurance Forum for Excellence in Code (SAFECode)
NASA Software Assurance Guidebook and Standard (see quality assurance in IEEE 610.12 IEEE Standard Glossary of Software Engineering Terminology).
Software Security Assurance State of the Art Report (SOAR)
Quality assurance
Software quality |
1141795 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20typefaces%20included%20with%20macOS | List of typefaces included with macOS | This list of fonts contains every font shipped with Mac OS X 10.0 through macOS 10.14, including any that shipped with language-specific updates from Apple (primarily Korean and Chinese fonts). For fonts shipped only with Mac OS X 10.5,
please see Apple's documentation.
System fonts up to Mac OS X 10.7
New fonts added with OS X 10.10 Yosemite
The following system fonts have been added with Yosemite:
ITC Bodoni 72: Book, Italic, Bold (these three in separate fonts with lining and text figures), Small Caps, Ornaments (Sumner Stone)
ITF Devanagari
Kohinoor Devanagari (Satya Rajpurohit)
Luminari (Philip Bouwsma)
Phosphate: Inline and Solid (Steve Jackaman & Ashley Muir)
Shree Devanagari 714 (Modular Infotech)
SignPainter (House Industries)
Skia: Light, Light Condensed, Light Extended, Condensed, Extended, Bold, Black, Black Condensed, Black Extended (Matthew Carter; system previously only included regular)
Sukhumvit Set: Thin, Light, Text, Medium, SemiBold, Bold (Anuthin Wongsunkakon; previously used as a system font for iOS 7.0)
Bitstream Symbols
Trattatello (James Grieshaber)
New fonts added with OS X 10.11 El Capitan
At least the following system fonts have been added with El Capitan:
PingFang SC / PingFang TC / PingFang HK, a new set of Chinese UI Fonts produced by DynaComware in lieu of deprecated STHeiti Family.
San Francisco UI / Display / Text.
New fonts added with macOS 10.12 Sierra
At least the following system fonts have been added with Sierra:
Toppan Bunkyu Mincho Pr6N Regular
Toppan Bunkyu Midashi Mincho StdN ExtraBold
Toppan Bunkyu Gothic Pr6N Regular / Demibold
Toppan Bunkyu Midashi Gothic StdN Extrabold
Monotype LingWai Medium (SC / TC)
Songti (SC / TC)
Yu Kyokasho N (Medium / Bold) (Vertical Version / Horizontal Version)
San Francisco Mono
New fonts added with macOS 10.13 High Sierra
High Sierra added several system fonts or additional weights of existing system fonts:
Charter (Roman, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic, Black, Black Italic)
DIN (Alternate Bold, Condensed Bold)
Hiragino Kaku Gothic StdN W8
InaiMathi (Bold)
Kai (Regular)
Kaiti SC (Regular, Bold, Black)
Myriad Arabic (Semibold)
Noto Nastaliq Urdu
Rockwell (Regular, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic)
STIX Two Math
STIX Two Text (Regular, Italic, Bold, Bold Italic)
macOS 10.14 Mojave
No new fonts were provided with Mojave.
Font appearances
These images compare Roman fonts only, in most styles:
The fonts in the following list were included as "extras" with AppleWorks 6, which was bundled with new iMacs until 2006.
Hidden fonts
A number of fonts have also been provided with iMovie, iLife, iDVD and other Apple applications in hidden folders, for the sole use of these applications. The reason why these fonts are hidden is unknown, with licensing issues suggested as the cause. However, one may easily install them for use by all applications by copying them out of their Library directories and installing them as with any third-party font, although one should always check that the license for the fonts allows them to be used outside the given software.
Notable hidden fonts on macOS include Bank Gothic, Bodoni, Century Gothic, Century Schoolbook, Garamond, several cuts of Lucida and Monotype Twentieth Century.
See also
List of typefaces
Unicode typefaces
List of typefaces included with Microsoft Windows
Fonts on the Mac
Notes
References
Apple's font list for 10.3 (names only, no images)
Apple's font list for 10.4 (names only, no images)
Apple's font list for 10.5 (names only, no images)
Apple's font list for 10.6 (names only, no images)
Apple's font list for 10.7 (names only, no images)
Apple's font list for 10.8 (names only, no images)
Apple's font list for 10.9 (names only, no images)
Apple's font list for 10.12 (names only, no images)
Apple's font list for 10.13 (names only, no images)
Apple's font list for 10.14 (names only, no images)
Apple's font list for 11 (names only, no images)
Advanced Typography with Mac OS X Tiger (Appendix B contains representations of Latin fonts included with Mac OS 10.4 Tiger)
Microsoft's list of Mac OS X installed fonts
Alan Wood's list of common Mac OS X fonts
Code Style's survey of Mac OS fonts (includes OS 8/9 users)
Szántó Tibor: A betű (The type) (Hungarian; Akadémiai Kiadó, Budapest, 1982, ), Chapter XVI.
External links
Revised (cross-platform) font stack (for the web)
typefaces included with macOS
OS X
MacOS |
6766283 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Systems%20Engineering%20Laboratories | Systems Engineering Laboratories | Systems Engineering Laboratories (also called SEL) was a manufacturer of minicomputers in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. It was one of the first 32-bit realtime computer system manufacturers. Realtime computers are used for process control and monitoring.
History
Systems Engineering Laboratories was founded and incorporated in Fort Lauderdale, Florida in 1959, and were involved in the beginning of the breakout of minicomputers from 16-bit to larger architectures, with a 24-bit model in 1966.
SEL was purchased by Gould Electronics in 1981 and was operated essentially unchanged as the Gould Computer Systems Division (CSD). The parent company was acquired by Nippon Mining in 1988, but as part of the U.S. government approval of the deal, Nippon Mining was required to divest the Gould divisions that did work for the Department of Defense, including the Computer Systems Division. Later, in 1989, Encore Computer Corporation (about 250 employees) bought the computer division (about 2500 employees) from Nippon Mining. Parts of Encore were sold off over the years, with the last major spin-off being their Storage Products Group, sold to Sun Microsystems in 1997. This left the company consisting primarily of their real-time group (the original SEL core) and returned to this business niche after renaming themselves Encore Real Time Computing. In 2002, Compro Computer Services, Inc. (a former service competitor, and later service partner) obtained SEL/Gould/Encore real-time technological assets through its acquisition of Encore Real Time Computing, Inc., and continues support of the legacy SelBUS-based product line as far back as the 32/55 and offers an upgrade path using the Legacy Computer Replacement System (LCRS) hardware simulator. Compro Computer Services, Inc continue trading as Encore in Europe, COMPRO continues the tradition of long-term product support by offering replacement solutions (e.g., the Legacy Computer Replacement System, or LCRS) that emphasize backward-compatibility coupled with future-proofing. Gould (as well as its primary competitors MASSCOMP, Harris and Concurrent) were driven into the ground by general purpose microprocessor Unix designs such as those by Sun and SGI.
Computer products
SEL 800 series
SEL's first computers the 810 & 840 use all silicon monolithic integrated circuits. The 810 has a 16 bit word size while the 840 has a 24 bit word size. Core memory for both is in 4096 word increments up to 32,768 words with a 1.75 μsec machine full cycle time. They featured a complete software package for real-time applications and a FORTRAN package for off-line scientific computation. Options included external disk or drum storage and any "standard" peripheral.
The 810A and 840A are somewhat enhanced versions of the earlier models.
The 810B has a 750 nanosec full cycle time with an 8K work memory expandable to 32K.
The multiprocessing 840MP can be configured for up to three CPUs with 32k 24-bit words each and sharing a 64K core bank. It uses the 840A software and peripherals.
SEL 32 series
In 1975, the Model 32/55 computer was introduced along with a new bus architecture called the SelBUS.
This system was one of the industry's first true 32-bit superminicomputers along with the PerkinElmer 8/32.
The bus speed was 26.6 megabytes per second, which was a record at the time of its introduction. The CPU of the 32/55 was composed of three wire-wrapped boards bolted together. The use of a bus instead of a wire-wrapped backplane simplified manufacturing, lowered costs, and made system enhancements easier. Multilayer printed circuit boards were introduced with the 32/75 about a year later, and single-board CPUs were introduced as the 32/27 shortly thereafter. Core memory was replaced by semiconductor memory.
The SEL 32 series became extremely popular in many technical markets such as aircraft simulation, oil exploration, electric power system control, and the beginnings of computer animation. Gould/SEL computers were used to animate the opening sequence for Steven Spielberg's television series Amazing Stories.
SEL 32/x7 and 6000-9000 series
In the early 1980s, SEL introduced a system based on emitter-coupled logic (ECL) technology code named the Thunderbird. Its official marketing name became the Concept series, consisting of three models: the low-end Concept 32/67, and the refrigerator-sized Concept 32/87 and 32/97. These ran the company's proprietary MPX-32 operating system. With the additional of virtual memory hardware, the 32/67 and 32/97 models took on the designations of Powernode 6000 and Powernode 9000, with several variants of each available. These ran UTX-32, Gould's version of Unix based on a BSD 4.2 kernel developed by Purdue University to support multiprocessor systems. The Powernode 9080 was a symmetrical dual processor system, with both processors having full access to memory and the I/O bus, and capable of being booted up from either processor. It was the first such commercially available system to run any version of Unix.
The CPU for these system ballooned to about a dozen boards because of the low-density ECL chip footprint. As a result, CPUs could only be placed at each end of the SELbus, limiting computer systems to two CPUs. It had modular cache memory that could be upgraded. The ECL circuitry consumed huge amount of current at a very low voltage; the cabinets of the larger models contained extra rack space which held stacks of 400-amp power supplies, and heavy-gauge wiring leading to the backplane. In the mid-1990s, the RSX computer board featured RISC processing capabilities and high speed 75 ns static RAM design (essentially an all-cache design) while maintaining complete binary compatibility with existing programs.
Gould/SEL's "High Speed Data interface" or HSD was considered an industry standard in the process control industry.
Other
One of Gould's primary contributions to the real-time computing world was its "Reflective Memory" technology which allowed up to eight computers to share memory at a very high speed.
When Encore Computer acquired Gould's Computer Systems division, the new Encore switched to using Motorola 88100 series of chips and a Unix-based OS. They built a small Unix based system known as the Encore-91 which included a number of RT extensions including a "micro-MPX environment."
Encore used the real-time reflective memory design from Gould along with their 88100 based systems and Umax OS to create a line of high-density storage devices. Known as the Infinity-90 product these acted as large SANs for Unix, Windows and Mainframe computers with data sharing capabilities. In 1997 Encore sold this product line to Sun Microsystems where it was marketed as the A7000. It was not very successful and eventually canceled by Sun. About 200 Encore employees went to Sun in this exchange.
Because of the long-life support requirements of nuclear plants and military flight simulators, there are still companies in existence today providing support and parts for Gould/SEL systems.
Software
SEL had a proprietary operating system called Real Time Monitor (RTM) which, although extremely fast, had limited user interface. It supported a console for command entry, and would support up to 16 users via the ALIM interface. When the SEL 32 systems were introduced, SEL created another operating system called MPX-32 which supported multiprocessing and multiple users. Later, in the early 1980s, SEL adopted the Unix operating system. As "Gould CSD" (Computer System Division) then introduced the UTX-32 Unix-based OS that included both BSD and System V characteristics. At a time when there was a "religious war" between BSD and System V advocates, Gould developed this "dual universe" system that contained nearly all of the features of both BSD 4.2 and System V.4. The user made the selection of which environment would be used by setting a few shell variables. (However, clever programmers soon discovered that by customizing search paths, they could mix utilities, system calls and libraries from both environments.) A special secure version, designated UTX-32S
, was one of the first Unix based systems to receive NSA's C2 security level certification.
See also
Encore Computer
References
External links
Company History
American companies established in 1959
American companies disestablished in 1981
Computer companies established in 1959
Computer companies disestablished in 1981
Defunct computer companies of the United States
Defunct computer hardware companies |
48141 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mac | Mac | Mac or MAC most commonly refers to:
Mac, Gaelic for "son", a prefix to family names often appearing in Gaelic names
Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth
Macintosh, a brand of computers and operating systems made by Apple Inc.
Mac or MAC may also refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media
Fictional entities
Mac (Green Wing), a television character
Mac (It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia), a television character
Mac Gargan, an enemy of Spider-Man
Mac Foster, a character on Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends
Angus "Mac" MacGyver, from the television series MacGyver
Cindy "Mac" Mackenzie, from the TV series Veronica Mars
Lt. Col. Sarah MacKenzie, from the TV series JAG
Dr. Terrence McAfferty, from Robert Muchamore's CHERUB and Henderson's Boys novel series
"Mac" McAnnally, in The Dresden Files series
Randle McMurphy, in the movie One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Mac Taylor, from the TV series CSI: NY
Mac, a canine character in the television series Clifford the Big Red Dog
Monster Attack Crew, a fictional pilot squadron in the television series Ultraman Leo
MAC (Mysterious Alien Creature), the titular character in the 1988 film Mac and Me
Other uses in arts, entertainment, and media
Mac (film), 1992 directed by and starring John Turturro
Mac (novel), by John MacLean
Mac, a Sports Beanie Baby cardinal produced by Ty, Inc. in 1999
MAC Awards, for achievements in cabaret, comedy, and jazz, administered by the Manhattan Association of Cabarets & Clubs
Mac the Moose, a public statue in Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan, Canada; formerly the World's Largest Moose
Business and economics
Marginal Abatement Cost, a concept in environmental economics
Material adverse change, a provision in mergers and acquisitions contracts and venture financing agreements
Organizations
Businesses
MAC Cosmetics, a cosmetics brand, stylized as M•A•C
Mac Para Technology, a Czech aircraft manufacturer
Macerich, an American real estate investment trust (NYSE stock symbol MAC)
Manufacture d'armes de Châtellerault, a French state arms manufacturer
Martin's Air Charter, now Martinair, an airline
Morgan Advanced Ceramics, a ceramics manufacturing company
Government and military agencies
Mainland Affairs Council, an agency under the Executive Yuan of the Republic of China
Medicare Administrative Contractor, a private company contracted to administer Medicare benefits in the U.S.
Metropolitan Airports Commission, the operator of airports in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area
Military Affairs Commission in China; see Central Military Commission (People's Republic of China)
Military Airlift Command, the predecessor of the Air Mobility Command of the United States Air Force
Municipal Assistance Corporation, created by the State of New York in 1975 to deal with New York City's fiscal crisis
Non-profit organizations
mac (Birmingham), formerly known as the Midlands Arts Centre, in Birmingham, UK
Malaysian AIDS Council
Marine Aquarium Council
Myanmar Accountancy Council
Political groups
Mouvement d'Action Civique, a defunct Belgian far right group
Mouvement Autonome Casamançais (Casamancian Autonomous Movement), a defunct political party in Casamance, Senegal
Mudiad Amddiffyn Cymru, a Welsh organization responsible for several bombing incidents
Muslims Against Crusades, a UK-based Islamic group noted for burning poppies during the Remembrance Day silence in 2010
Schools
Macdonald Campus of McGill University, Canada
McMaster University, in Canada
Michigan Agricultural College, former name of Michigan State University
Sports organizations
Clubs and teams
Maranhão Atlético Clube, a Brazilian association football club
Marília Atlético Clube, a Brazilian association football club
Missouri Athletic Club, a traditional gentlemen's and athletic club in downtown St. Louis, Missouri
Multnomah Athletic Club, a private athletic club in Oregon
Conferences
Macomb Area Conference, a Michigan high school football conference
Mayflower Athletic Conference, a high school athletic conference in Massachusetts
Mid-American Conference, an NCAA Division I (Football Bowl Subdivision) sports conference
Mid-Atlantic Athletic Conference, a Washington, D.C., area high school athletic league
Mid-Atlantic Rifle Conference, an NCAA rifle-only conference
Midwest Athletic Conference, an Ohio high school athletic conference in west-central Ohio
Middle Atlantic Conferences, an umbrella organization for three NCAA Division III sports conferences
Middle Atlantic Conference, one of the three conferences of the above, used to organize competition in some sports
Mississippi Athletic Conference, a high school sports conference in the Iowa Quad Cities
Mountain Athletic Conference (NCHSAA), a North Carolina high school athletic conference
Mountain Athletic Conference (PIAA), a Pennsylvania high school athletic conference
People
Names
Mac, Gaelic for "son", a prefix to family names often appearing in Irish and Scottish names
Mac (nickname)
Mạc (surname), Anglicized surname or Mạc (Vietnamese surname)
Mạc dynasty, 16th-century rulers in Vietnam
People with the nickname or professional name
Mac (rapper) (born 1977), American rapper, stage name of McKinley Phipps Jr
MC Mac, member and musician of So Solid Crew
Derek McCulloch (1897–1967), British radio broadcaster known as "Uncle Mac"
Ian McCulloch (singer) (born 1959), commonly referred to as "Mac the Mouth" or just "Mac"
Stanley McMurtry (born 1936), British cartoonist with the pen name "Mac"
Places
Inhabited places
Fort McMurray, Alberta, Canada, nicknamed "Fort Mac"
Macau, a special administrative region of the People's Republic of China, ISO 3166 code MAC
Macedonia (disambiguation), various places
Museums and arts centers
mac (Birmingham), formerly known as the Midlands Arts Centre, in Birmingham, UK
Metropolitan Arts Centre, Belfast, UK
Archaeology Museum of Catalonia (Museu d'Arqueologia de Catalunya), an archaeology museum in Catalonia, Spain
Niterói Contemporary Art Museum (Museu de Arte Contemporânea de Niterói), a museum in Niterói, Brazil
Other facilities
Macomb (Amtrak station), Illinois, United States, Amtrak station code MAC
UCLA Marina Aquatic Center, a recreational facility in Marina del Rey, California
Science and technology
Biology and medicine
MAC (chemotherapy), a chemotherapy regimen of Mitoxantrone and Ara-C
Maximum allowable concentration, a concept related to threshold limit value (TLV)
Membrane attack complex, an immune system function using complement
Microbiota-accessible carbohydrates, a category of carbohydrates consumed by gut microbes
Minimum alveolar concentration, a measure used to compare the strengths of anesthetic vapors
Mitochondrial apoptosis-induced channel, the cytochrome c release pore of apoptotic mitochondria
Monitored anesthesia care, a form of anesthesia with partial awareness
Mycobacterium avium complex, a group of environmental pathogens
Computing and telecommunication
MAC address, or Ethernet Hardware Address (EHA), the OSI layer 2 address of network interfaces
.mac, a file extension for macros in Agilent ChemStation software
Macintosh, a brand of computers and computer operating systems made by Apple Inc.
macOS, formerly Mac OS X and OS X, Apple's current operating system for the Macintosh
Classic Mac OS, the original operating system for Apple's Macintosh
.Mac, now iCloud, a subscription service by Apple
MAC times, metadata which record times of events associated with a computer file
Mandatory access control, a type of access control in computer security
Maximum activate count, a parameter associated with the LPDDR4 memory's TRR feature that mitigates the row hammer effect
Medium access control (often "Media Access Control"), a sublayer of the Data Link layer
Message authentication code, used to authenticate a message in cryptography
Migration Authorisation Code, a unique code used when switching between DSL Internet service providers in the UK
Multiplexed Analogue Components, a proposed satellite television transmission standard
Multiply–accumulate operation, or multiplier–accumulator, in digital signal processing
Transportation
Mean aerodynamic chord, a measure of the geometry of an airfoil
Merchant aircraft carrier, used during World War II by Britain and the Netherlands
Mid-air collision, a type of aircraft accident
Weapons
Mac-10 (Military Armament Corporation Model 10, officially the M10), a compact, blowback-operated machine pistol
Mac-11, a sub-compact version of the Model 10 machine pistol
Other uses in science and technology
Mission assurance, an engineering process
MAC (Money Access Card), an ATM (automated teller machine) card
Other uses
MAC Award, or Hermann Trophy, the highest award in American college soccer
Mackintosh, a raincoat made of rubberized cloth
Modern Army Combatives, a hand-to-hand combat training regimen
Material adequacy condition, a concept in the philosophies of logic and language
See also
Big Mac (disambiguation)
Little Mac (disambiguation)
Macaroni and cheese, or "mac and cheese" in American and Canadian English
Mach (disambiguation)
Mack (disambiguation)
Mak (disambiguation) |
36067495 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mohd%20Noor%20Amin | Mohd Noor Amin | Datuk Mohd Noor Amin bin Mohd Noor Khan has been the Chairman of the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Threats since its establishment 2008. Datuk Amin heads the world's largest United Nations (UN) backed public-private partnership against cyber threats. In May 2011, Amin along with Dr. Hamadoun Toure was successful in the appointment of IMPACT as UN's cybersecurity executing arm by UN specialised agency – International Telecommunication Union (ITU). As Chairman of IMPACT, he guides the organisation and its stakeholders (international organisations and member states) to enhance the global community's capacity to prevent, defend against and respond to cyber threats.
In 2000, Datuk Amin acquired an ICT software company, Ascendsys, and became its non-executive chairman. Ascendsys is Southeast Asia's leading managed security services (‘MSS’) company.
In the area of foreign relations, Datuk Amin became the founding Secretary-General of the Malaysia-U.S. Friendship Council, headquartered in Washington D.C. The Council was established in 2002 and was sponsored by leading Malaysian companies to provide advice on matters relating to bilateral relationship between the two countries. In 2004, he was appointed by the President of the Republic of Guatemala to serve as the nation's honorary envoy to Malaysia.
Biography
Datuk Amin was born in 1969 in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. Amin is an English trained barrister and has been admitted to the English Bar at Gray's Inn and to the Malaysian Bar. He holds a Masters in Commercial and Corporate Law from King's College, University of London (U.K.). Upon completing his education, he returned to Malaysia in 1994 and began his law pupillage at Malaysia's law firm, Zaid Ibrahim & Co. In 1995, he was admitted to the Malaysian Bar as an Advocate & Solicitor. He also served as personal legal counsel to two previous Malaysian Prime Ministers and served as general counsel to Malaysia's ruling party. In 2001, he married Shariza binti Tan Sri Kamaruzzaman, and they have a daughter, Nor Amira Suraiya.
Upon the commendation of the Malaysian Prime Minister Dato' Sri Haji Mohammad Najib bin Tun Haji Abdul Razak, the thirteenth King of Malaysia His Majesty Sultan Mizan Zainal Abidin in 2009 bestowed Datuk Amin the 'Panglima Jasa Negara' (PJN) award, he was this youngest recipient of this Federal Award. The PJN Award carries with it the honorific title 'Datuk'.
References
External links
1969 births
Living people
Alumni of King's College London
Commanders of the Order of Meritorious Service |
16813327 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM%20Power%20Systems | IBM Power Systems | Power Systems is a family of server computers from IBM that are based on its Power processors. It was created in 2008 as a merger of the System p and System i product lines.
History
IBM had two distinct POWER- and PowerPC-based hardware lines since the early 1990s:
Servers running processors based on the IBM PowerPC-AS architecture in the AS/400 family (later known as iSeries, then System i) running OS/400 (later known as i5/OS, and now IBM i)
Servers and workstations using POWER and PowerPC processors in the RS/6000 family (later known as pSeries, then System p), running IBM AIX and Linux on Power.
After the introduction of the POWER4 processor in 2001, there was little difference between both the "p" and the "i" hardware; the only differences were in the software and services offerings. With the introduction of the POWER5 processor in 2004, even the product numbering was synchronized. The System i5 570 was virtually identical to the System p5 570.
In April 2008, IBM officially merged the two lines of servers and workstations under the same name, Power, and later Power Systems, with identical hardware and a choice of operating systems, software, and service contracts, based formerly on a POWER6 architecture. PowerPC line was discontinued.
Systems
IBM Power Systems models:
2008/2009
BladeCenter JS12 Express
BladeCenter JS22 Express
BladeCenter JS23 Express
BladeCenter JS43 Express
Power 520 Express
Power 550 Express
Power 560 Express
Power 570
Power 575
Power 595
2010
BladeCenter PS700 Express
BladeCenter PS701 Express
BladeCenter PS702 Express
Power 710 Express
Power 720 Express (8202-E4B, 8202-E4C) (4, 6 or 8-core POWER7 CPU)
Power 730 Express
Power 740 Express (8205-E6B, 8205-E6C) (1~2 4, 6 or 8-core POWER7 CPUs)
Power 750 Express (8233-E8B) (1~4 6 or 8-core POWER7 CPUs)
Power 755 (8236-E8C) (4 8-core POWER7 CPUs) for high-performance computing (HPC)
Power 770
Power 780
Power 795
2011
Power 775 also known as PERCS
2012
Flex System p260
Flex System p460
Flex System p24L (Linux only)
2013
Power 720 Express (8202-E4D) (4, 6 or 8-core POWER7+ CPU)
Power 740 Express (8205-E6D) (1~2 6 or 8-core POWER7+ CPUs)
Power 750 Express (8408-E8D) (1~4 8-core POWER7+ DCMs)
Power 760 (9109-RMD) (1~4 12-core POWER7+ DCMs)
2014
Power Systems S821LC and S821LC
Power Systems S822 and S822L
Power Systems S814
Power Systems S824 and S824L
Power Systems E870
Power Systems E880
2015
Power Systems E850
Power Systems S812L and S812LC
Power Systems S822LC
2017
Power Systems AC922
Power Systems L922
Power Systems S914
Power Systems S922
Power Systems S924
Power Systems H922
Power Systems H924
Power Systems E950
Power Systems E980
IBM PowerVM provides the virtualisation solution for Power Systems servers.
See also
IBM BladeCenter
PureSystems
References
External links
Power Systems (Power Systems for UNIX, and Linux Clients) – IBM.com
IBM Power Systems Redbooks
It's Official: Now We're Power Systems and i for Business – ITjungle.com
Hardware, OS Get New Names--And That's a Good Thing – IBM Systems Magazine.com
IBM IT Infrastructure web page
IBM Systems Power Systems Magazine
IBM server computers
AS/400
Computer-related introductions in 2008 |
4916193 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PaperPort | PaperPort | PaperPort is commercial document management software published by Kofax, used for working with scanned documents. It uses a built-in optical character recognition to create files in searchable Portable Document Format (PDF); text in these files is indexed and can be searched for with appropriate software, such as Microsoft's Windows Search. Earlier versions of PaperPort used OmniPage to provide this function. It provides image editing tools for these files.
PaperPort allows scanned documents to be separated into individual pages, and reassembled into new PDF files.
Originally, PaperPort created files in .MAX file format natively, but later versions use PDF. Versions of PaperPort from V14 cannot edit .MAX files, but they can be converted to PDF, which can be edited.
PaperPort only supports Windows and iOS. An open-source program called Paperman provides basic functionality for Linux (and has been partially ported to Mac OS).
History
Visioneer, the original developer of PaperPort, first released its predecessor, MaxMate document communications software bundled with the MaxMate scanner and MaxMate Viewer software, in 1994 for DOS, Windows and Macintosh. The software used a visual metaphor for dragging pages and typewriter function for annotating electronic documents. Its form-filling tool recognized lines in scanned forms to allow filling in fields and printing completed forms, replacing the laborious old method of typing entries into paper forms. It integrated with optical character recognition (OCR) software for converting scanned paper documents into editable electronic documents.
In December 2019, the Nuance document division, which included PaperPort, was sold to Kofax.
Selected versions and their estimated release dates
References
External links
Nuance software
PDF software |
3818678 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo%20Wi-Fi%20USB%20Connector | Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector | The Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector is a wireless game adapter, developed jointly by Nintendo and Buffalo Technology, which allows Nintendo DSi and Wii users without a Wi-Fi connection or compatible Wi-Fi network to establish one via a broadband-connected PC. Inserted into the host PC's USB port, the connector functions with the Nintendo DS, Wii, and DSi, permitting the user to connect to the Internet to play Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection games and access various other online services. The product was the best selling Nintendo accessory to date, according to the official Nintendo site on 15 November 2007, but was discontinued in the same month until further notice. On September 8, 2008, Nintendo announced the Nintendo Wi-Fi Network Adapter, an 802.11g wireless router/bridge which serves a similar purpose.
Functionality
The Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector is a rebranded Buffalo WLI-U2-KG54-YB (although this is often confused for the Buffalo WLI-U2-KG54-AI - the two adapters are almost identical, and only differ in that the latter features flash memory to allow for auto installation) which is based on the Ralink RT2570 chipset and as such is different from most other Wi-Fi adapters in that it can operate as a software access point (also referred to as a soft AP). Few adapters could do this under Windows at the time of the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector's release; Windows lacked both the software necessary to configure a soft AP and capable drivers for natively supported hardware. By bundling a soft AP compatible device with their own proprietary software, Nintendo was able to overcome this and at the same time greatly simplify the otherwise complicated process of putting a supported device into soft AP mode, configuring it, and routing Internet traffic over it.
In addition, a number of community developed tools and drivers exist which expand the functionality of the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector beyond its initial design. While not officially supported by Nintendo, the USB Connector can function as a standard wireless adapter by using modified Ralink or Buffalo Technology drivers, and can be used to send official game demos and homebrew software to the Nintendo DS through the Wireless Multi Boot (WMB) protocol.
Criticism
There have been a number of complaints and criticisms made of the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector since its release. While the device works as advertised for the majority of users, there have been some complaints brought up about its design and functionality. These users often fall outside of the target audience for the Wi-Fi USB Connector (namely Microsoft Windows users without a pre-existing wireless network or the technical expertise to configure one.)
Proprietary authentication
One disadvantage of the Wi-Fi USB Connector is that it uses a proprietary authentication mechanism. Because of this, the Wi-Fi USB Connector works only with approved devices, which at this time is limited to the DS and Wii consoles. This behavior was an intentional design decision on the part of Nintendo, as it prevents outside parties from connecting to the Wi-Fi USB Connector with their computers and accessing the user's Internet connection or computer.
While the Wi-Fi USB Connector can be modified to bypass this, the modification is beyond the capability of most users and is naturally unsupported by Nintendo.
Operating system support
Initially, the Wi-Fi USB Connector only supported Microsoft Windows XP. A main concern at that time was the lack of support for older versions of Windows, principally Windows 2000. After the introduction of the Windows Vista operating system, however, criticism shifted to lack of support for the new platform. Though Vista drivers were eventually released by Nintendo of Europe and Nintendo of America, it was two years after the first Windows XP drivers were available and several months after Vista's launch. There is no official support for Windows 7/8/10 (although it is possible to install working drivers when under compatibility mode).
It is possible to use the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector as a USB Wi-Fi NIC to connect to other access points under Linux and BSD when using the appropriate drivers. Notably, Debian and Debian-based systems such as Ubuntu have out of the box support for the chipset in the device.
Additionally, there is currently no official support for Windows XP Professional x64 Edition, or driver for the 64-bit versions of Windows XP or Windows Vista; there are only drivers for 32-bit versions of these operating systems.
Internet connection sharing
The core functionality of the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector is provided by Windows' Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) feature, which allows a Windows computer to act as a router and automatically configure client devices for Internet access. Unfortunately, due to limitations in ICS, there are a number of caveats with this method.
Like the Wi-Fi USB Connector software itself, ICS offers the user no configurable options. This means that ICS may not function as expected, or at all, in complex network environments. In addition, Windows cannot handle multiple ICS configurations simultaneously, or in other words, only a single application or network device can use and configure ICS at one time. This means that if your network is currently relying on ICS or you use software that utilizes it (such as Windows Media Center Extender for the Xbox 360), you may not be able to use the Wi-Fi USB Connector at all.
Software firewall compatibility
Though not an innate fault with the Wi-Fi USB Connector itself, due to the nature of the device, a software firewall like those commonly installed on Microsoft Windows computers hosting the Wi-Fi USB Connector will interfere with its operation. To alleviate this issue, the user must allow the software full access to the Internet, or manually specify acceptable port ranges to allow through the firewall; depending on how that particular firewall is configured.
Unfortunately, some firewall products (like ZoneAlarm, and Windows Live OneCare) are incompatible with the Wi-Fi USB Connector software and must be either uninstalled or disabled, leaving the computer open to possible attack from external sources. The user's only option in this scenario is to risk connecting to the Internet unprotected, or install a different firewall product.
Network topology
A common complaint from more advanced users is the complete lack of user-configurable options in the Wi-Fi USB Connector software and installer. For the novice user this is seen as a much-welcomed advantage of the Wi-Fi USB Connector over a traditional wireless router, but for those users who wish to use the device in a more complicated network environment, it can be an insurmountable obstacle.
For example, the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector will cause an IP conflict if an existing network is using the 192.168.0.x or 192.168.1.x IP schemes, both common IP ranges used in consumer routers.
Packaging
The Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector includes a USB extension cable, a manual, and a software CD. It is recommended that the latest version of the Wi-Fi USB Connector software should be downloaded and installed rather than using the version on the CD, as important updates have been made in the newer versions. Devices shipped with software driver versions below 1.05 are incompatible with Windows Vista until updated.
Discontinuation
While Nintendo hasn't come forward explaining the reason for the discontinuation of the device, manufacturers Buffalo Technology are reportedly no longer licensed to distribute it due to a successful recent lawsuit by the Australian Government's technology research agency CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organization). As a result, the company has been prevented from trading in any products adhering to the 802.11a/g standards in the US, including the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB connector.
Nintendo, however, only states on their website that the device is discontinued and says that a standard wireless router should work with the Wii. Here is their official statement:
"Please note: The Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector has been discontinued until further notice. As an alternative for on-line access, Wii owners can use a standard wireless router, or the Wii LAN Adapter."
References
External links
Latest Software for the Nintendo Wi-Fi USB Connector
USB Connector
Wii accessories
Wi-Fi
sv:Nintendo Wi-Fi Connection#Anslutning |
868263 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MythTV | MythTV | MythTV is a free and open-source home entertainment application with a simplified "10-foot user interface" design for the living room TV. It turns a computer with the necessary hardware into a network streaming digital video recorder, a digital multimedia home entertainment system, or home theater personal computer. It can be considered a free and open-source alternative to TiVo or Windows Media Center. It runs on various operating systems, primarily Linux, macOS, and FreeBSD.
History
The MythTV project was started in April 2002 by Isaac Richards, who explained his motivation:
Features
Pause, skip, and rewind live TV shows
Completely automatic commercial detection and optional skipping
Intelligently schedules recordings to avoid conflicts
Interfaces with television listing sources such as XMLTV or PSIP
Interfaces with nonprofit subscription listings service Schedules Direct in the United States and Canada. Schedules Direct delivers the same Tribune Media Services listings data that TiVo and other video recorders use.
Supports ATSC, QAM, DMB-T/H and DVB (everything supported by LinuxTV) high-definition television
Supports Xv, OpenGL, and VDPAU video output
Supports H.264 codec
Supports VP9 and H.265 codecs as of version 0.28
A backend server and frontend client architecture, allowing multiple frontend client machines to be remotely served content from one or more backend servers. A single computer can perform as both the frontend client and the backend server.
Plays recordings at an accelerated or decelerated rate, adjusting the audio pitch as necessary
Schedule and administer various system functions using a web browser-based interface
Controls a set-top box using an infrared remote (IR blaster), or Firewire
HDTV support
MythTV is capable of capturing HDTV streams from any source that will provide unencrypted video. This means broadcast ATSC and DVB content, as well as encrypted DVB content when using a tuner with an integrated CI module. Most U.S. cable and satellite providers use encrypted video only accessible through their own set-top boxes. Cable systems may provide some unencrypted QAM channels, but these will generally only be local broadcast stations, and not cable programming or premium channels.
OpenCable devices are available to access encrypted content on U.S. cable systems, but as this is a full DRM system, and not just CA like DVB CI, every piece of hardware and software on the playback chain must be tested and licensed by CableLabs. At current, Windows Media Center is the only DVR software to meet these requirements, and only it, and other software using its recording libraries, can use these devices. In 2010, CableLabs relaxed the DRM restrictions allowing unlicensed devices to record copy freely content using these devices, however it is still entirely up to cable operators what content they provide flagged as such.
As an alternative to direct digital capture, one can use an external decoder to receive the channels, and then capture using digital-analog-digital conversion (the analog hole). A popular means of doing this conversion is to connect the component outputs of a set-top box to the Hauppauge HD PVR.
Modules
MythTV's add-on modules (plugins) include:
MythVideo plays various video file formats
MythMusic a music player, jukebox, collection manager, and CD ripper
MythGallery online photo gallery manager
MythNews RSS feed news reader
MythWeather fetches weather forecasts – including weather radar – from the Internet
MythBrowser small web browser
MythGame frontend for game console emulators
MythWeb controls MythTV from a remote web browser
MythArchive DVD burner
MythNetvision streaming video player intended primarily for Flash-websites like YouTube
MythZoneMinder frontend interface for a ZoneMinder system
UPnP AV MediaServer v1.0 compliant server: share media files with UPnP-clients
The base system integrates with its modules. A system can be controlled with an infrared remote control using LIRC, or radio remote control using kernel modules.
Operating systems
MythTV is available for many operating systems based on Linux or Unix, including Mac OS. The MythTV website distributes only source code, which must be compiled for the desired system; executable programs can be downloaded from various third-party sources. The software runs on and is officially supported by Microsoft Windows, but no official executable version was available; there are detailed instructions for compiling for Windows. All core frontend features work under Windows, including LiveTV, scheduling, and watching recordings, but most plugins do not work without additional patches.
Bundles
Notable projects that include a Linux distribution bundled with MythTV (and associated libraries) are:
FreeBSD has several ports to support MythTV
LinHES is a bootCD derivative of Arch Linux. Its MythTV frontend can be run from the CD. An entire installation to the hard disk can be made in minutes.
LinuxMCE bundles MythTV with Kubuntu as the Linux distro, along with the Pluto Home automation suite.
Mythbuntu combines Ubuntu distributions with MythTV. The Ubuntu community has built extensive resources for installing, configuring and troubleshooting MythTV. It was discontinued in 2016.
Ubuntu TV integrates MythTV into a television-ready interface (based on the Ubuntu Unity user interface).
Xebian is a distribution of Debian Linux for the Microsoft Xbox game console and includes MythTV.
See also
Comparison of DVR software packages
Home theater PC
Infrared blaster
List of free television software
Schedules Direct
Ubuntu TV
References
External links
Client/server media players
Free television software
macOS media players
Television placeshifting technology
Television technology
Television time shifting technology
Video recording software
Video software that uses Qt |
489557 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/California%20State%20University%2C%20Los%20Angeles | California State University, Los Angeles | California State University, Los Angeles (Cal State LA) is a public university in Los Angeles, California. It is part of the 23-campus California State University (CSU) system. Cal State LA offers 142 bachelor's degrees, 122 master's degrees, and four doctoral degrees: a Doctor of Philosophy (Ph.D.) in special education in collaboration with the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), a Doctor of Education (Ed.D.) in Educational Leadership, a Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) and a Doctor of Audiology (AuD). It also offers 22 teaching credentials.
In fall 2018, Cal State LA received the 5th-most applications of any CSU campus for incoming freshmen, and had the 4th-lowest admission rate. Cal State LA has a student body of 26,342 as of fall 2020, which includes 22,566 undergraduates, primarily from the greater Los Angeles area, and 3,776 graduate students. While Cal State LA previously operated on the quarter system, the university transitioned to the semester system starting in fall 2016, with each academic year now consisting of two 15-week semesters. Cal State LA is organized into nine colleges that house a total of four schools and approximately 50 academic departments, divisions and interdisciplinary programs, offering a variety of majors. The university’s forensic science program is one of the oldest in the nation. The Early Entrance Program (EEP) in the Honors College for gifted students as young as 12 is the only one of its kind in the United States in promoting a direct transitional scheme from middle and high school to college without intermediary remedial education. Cal State LA is a Hispanic-serving institution.
The hilltop campus core is home to the nation's first Charter College of Education, the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs, the Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center, the Hydrogen Research and Fueling Facility and the Luckman Fine Arts Complex.
It is also home to two high schools: the Marc and Eva Stern Math and Science School and the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts (LACHSA), the only arts high school in Los Angeles that allows students from any district within Los Angeles County to attend.
History
First half of 20th century
The university is located on the site of one of California's 36 original adobes, built in 1776 by Franciscan missionaries and destroyed by fire in 1908. When the Spanish Franciscans founded the San Gabriel Mission in 1771, they dubbed the small river El Rio Rosa de Castillo. These lands once were part of a Mexican land grant known as Rancho Rosa Castilla, given to Juan Batista Batz, a Basque rancher from northern Spain and his wife, Catalina who settled here in the 1852. Batz used the land for farming and intensive sheep ranching. The inspiration for the name of the ranch, according to local historians, was the abundant amount of native wild Wood roses (Rosa californica) that grew near the ranch home along the creek. The Tongva Indians named this area, Ochuunga (Place of Roses). The main drive through the campus is known as Paseo Rancho Castilla, in acknowledgment of the university's historic heritage.
Cal State LA was founded on July 2, 1947, by an act of the California legislature and opened for classes as Los Angeles State College (LASC) on the campus of Los Angeles City College (LACC). LACC is a public community college in East Hollywood, Los Angeles located on Vermont Avenue south of Santa Monica Boulevard the former campus of UCLA and originally a farm outside Los Angeles. As president of LACC, P. Victor Peterson became the acting president of the state college. Since the college had opened in September, 1947, with 136 students, it had grown in two years to over 2,000 students. Most were studying under the GI Bill, which had been largely responsible for establishment of the college. The first class of seven students graduated in 1948.
In 1949, when Howard S. McDonald became president of both Los Angeles State College and Los Angeles City College, the state college upper division classes were being taught in borrowed spaces on the City College campus by mostly part-time faculty. He hired administrators to help him formally organize the colleges. Then he found a site within LA to house the new "Los Angeles State College of Applied Arts and Sciences" (LASCAAS), which replaced the Los Angeles State College also in 1949 after being reconstituted by the Legislature. Howard S. McDonald enjoyed telling how some influential supporters of the University of Southern California (USC) opposed his selection of a piece of land in Baldwin Hills, and how the then Los Angeles Mayor Norris Poulson ran him out of Chavez Ravine so that he could lure the Dodger baseball team to Los Angeles. The college opened in its new location in 1958, Howard S. McDonald becomes first full-time president. When McDonald retired in 1962, seven academic buildings on the new campus were completed and an eighth structure (North Hall, later named King Hall) was nearing completion. North Hall opened in September 1962.
Second half of 20th century
In 1952 the state proposed a new satellite campus for Cal State LA, at the time known as Los Angeles State College, and in July 1958, the campus separated from Cal State LA and was renamed San Fernando Valley State College (now known as California State University, Northridge). The first master’s degrees were awarded in 1952.
Since 1954, Cal State LA has been accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC). The university's credential programs are approved by the Commission for Teacher Credentialing Committee on Accreditation.
In 1955, officials broke ground on the current location, dubbed the Ramona site at the time. The college then moved to its present campus in the northeastern section of the City of Los Angeles, east of the Civic Center.
1957 the first Cal State LA time capsule is sealed in corner of Administration building (now Student Affairs) and a second Time capsule was buried during the Cal State LA 50th anniversary celebration September 1998.
In 1962 the college welcomed its third president Albert D. Graves who was vice president of Academic Affairs of LASCAAS. The college also entered into its first contract to prepare students for the U.S. Peace Corps. The first group of 65 volunteers was trained for service in the Dominican Republic in the areas of teacher training, music teacher training and urban community action. The first Commencement at new site takes place in June 1963.
On December 6, 1963, the California State College (now California State University) Board of Trustees named the library after the late 35th president of the United States John F. Kennedy. An edifice plaque was unveiled during the John F. Kennedy Memorial Library naming ceremony on February 12, 1964, and in November 1969 the library North Wing is dedicated.
In 1964, the Board of Trustees of the California State Colleges changed the name of the college to the "California State College at Los Angeles" (CSCLA), and in 1968 to "California State College, Los Angeles", when it became part of the California State College (CSC) system. In 1972, CSCLA was awarded university status and was renamed California State University, Los Angeles (CSULA).
In 1968 Cal State LA established the nation's first Chicano Studies department.
In fall 1970 the South Tower and South Hall were completed and opened. July 1976 the CSU Board of Trustees approved the renaming of South Tower to Simpson Tower, in memory of Floyd R. Simpson, first dean of the School of Business and Economics. South Hall was renamed Salazar Hall in memory of slain Los Angeles Times journalist and news director for KMEX-DT Ruben Salazar.
The original mascot of the school was the Diablo. In 1980, new university president James Rosser adopted a new mascot, Eddie the golden eagle, designed to be more reflective of the campus' highly diverse community. The theme was extended to student facilities such as the student union and bookstore.
A Statue of Confucius, a gift of the Republic of China in Taiwan, was dedicated June 1987. The statue was moved to a new campus location in summer 2005. Its home is now on the grassy area, south of the State Playhouse.
In 1993, the California State University (CSU) Chancellor and Trustees approved development of Cal State LA's Charter College of Education, creating the first such college of higher education in the nation.
In October 1998, the Center for Environmental Analysis (CEA-CREST), first of its kind funded by the National Science Foundation on the West Coast, opened on campus.
21st century
In September 2000, California Governor Gray Davis chose the Cal State LA campus to hold a press conference at which he signed the historic bills expanding the Cal Grant program.
Cal State LA departments of Social Work and Nursing, located within the university’s College of Health and Human Services, were granted the status of School in Winter 2002.
Cal State LA Downtown is a satellite campus opened in January 2016. Programs are provided through the university's College of Professional & Global Education.
Naming of the Rongxiang Xu College of Health and Human Services took place during the university's 69th Commencement on June 11, 2016. The naming recognized the largest gift in the university's history and named in honor of the late Dr. Rongxiang Xu, who was a surgeon and expert in regenerative medicine.
The Patricia A. Chin School of Nursing was dedicated as the first named school at Cal State L.A. in April 2018. Patricia Chin taught nursing at the university, later serving as director and, upon her retirement, professor emerita.
University presidents
Campus life and cost of university
As of the fall of 2016, Cal State LA switched over from the quarter to the semester system. Tuition and fees for in-state is $6,745, $17,245 for out-of-state and room and board $11,723 as of the 2018–2019 academic year with a student/faculty ratio of 25:1. Classes are scheduled Monday through Saturday from 7 am until 10 pm.
Near the edge of the city of Los Angeles, adjacent to the western San Gabriel Valley cities of Alhambra and Monterey Park, the campus affords views of the mountains to the north, the San Gabriel Valley to the east, metropolitan Los Angeles to the west, and the Palos Verdes Peninsula and Catalina Island to the south.
The Harriet and Charles Luckman Fine Arts Complex, the campus' northern gateway, was dedicated in 1994. An architectural tour-de-force, the buildings house a 1,100-seat theater, a fine art gallery and the black box Intimate Theater, completed in 2004.
Construction on a $30 million University-Student Union (U-SU) building began in 2005; it opened in January 2009. The facility offers a place for students and faculty to congregate and interact before or after class. It replaced the 1975 U-SU building that was closed in 2004 due to seismic concerns. The U-SU offers a theater, a fitness center, and an array of other services dedicated to the student body. Its meeting rooms connect to those of The Golden Eagle building via a third floor bridge. The Golden Eagle includes a food court, a Barnes & Noble-operated bookstore and major conference facilities. The university food court is owned by the Coca-Cola Company, offering a selection of fast food restaurants that include El Pollo Loco, Carl's Jr., The Spot, and Juice It Up. The U-SU facility houses additional fast food options that include Sbarro and Starbucks. Various places inside the campus also serve food and coffee.
Cal State LA is one of only eight institutions in North and South America selected as a Rockefeller Foundation humanities fellowship residency site.
As of fall 2018 Cal State LA has the second largest enrollment percentage of Mexican Americans and Other Latino Americans that are not Mexican-American in the Cal State University system. Other Latinos Americans having heritage from Central America, South America and the Caribbean.
The HBO show Silicon Valley used the face of the U-SU as the building for the Hooli company.
Campus services
California State University, Los Angeles offers a number of student services including nonremedial tutoring, a women's center, a job placement service, a day care, health services, and health insurance. Cal State LA also offers campus safety and police services like 24-hour foot and vehicle patrols, late night transport/escort service, 24-hour emergency telephones, lighted pathways/sidewalks, and student patrols.
Students, faculty, and staff can get a wireless connection to the Internet by interconnected Wi-Fi hot spots throughout the campus.
Associated Students
Associated Students Incorporated (ASI) is the student government of California State University, Los Angeles. ASI is governed by a student board of directors who are elected each year by the student body of Cal State LA. ASI represents the interests of the student body and acts as the officially recognized voice of the students. In addition, ASI sponsors a number of campus events and activities using mandatory student fees.
Eagle Advocates a.k.a. Lobby Corps
Eagle Advocates, or ASI's Lobby Corps, is the sole student advocacy group representing the entire student body of the school. Each CSU campus has a lobby corps and is open to all students. Students are trained in advocacy and lobbying throughout the school year. A focus is aimed at the state legislature although local and federal issues are followed as well.
Student housing
From 1964 to 1972, developer Louis Lesser built six off-campus, 10-story high-rise residential halls to house 3,600 students. The campus lacked space for horizontal expansion, following the California State University expansion plan started in 1959. This doubled the university's housing capacity, making Cal State LA the largest in the California State University system. Maxwell Starkman & Associates, AIA, of Beverly Hills, designed the development plan. Unlike other components of the Cal State University system being developed in the 1960s, the residence halls were privately financed by Louis Lesser Enterprises, Inc. The first residential life complex phase I on-campus housing was opened in June 1984, and three years later, a second residential life complex Phase II was opened. Cal State LA has a student-housing complex where students can rent a house at double occupancy for $655.00 per month (as of November 2009). During 1984 Summer Olympics that took place in Los Angeles, Cal State LA student houses were upgraded and expanded because it housed the athletics of the 1984 Summer Olympics.
Lesser also pioneered underground parking, with his Cal State LA development, at the time considered unusual enough to merit a separate newspaper section header, "Parking Underground", which described a two-level underground parking lot as a "concept" of "subterranean spaces".
The new housing expansion the Golden Eagle Apartments (GEA) for Graduate and Upper-Division Students are located one block north of campus. The Student Housing East project is scheduled for completion in fall 2021.
Themed-living communities
Resident Scholars Housing
The goal of Resident Scholars Housing is to provide Cal State LA Honors College and academically achieving students with themed housing that supports the mission and vision of the Honors College and the Institutional Learning Outcomes by forming a strong community of students through shared Honors classes, providing learning opportunities and social engagement beyond the classroom and engaging in a student-directed community. It also increases the following: student interaction with Honors faculty, staff and fellow students; involvement in the larger Los Angeles and Cal State LA community; and retention and graduation rates.
Gender Inclusive Housing
Gender Inclusive Housing is for students interested in living with people of all gender identities and expressions. The Cal State LA Housing and Residence Life community defines Gender Inclusive Housing as an environment where students may choose to share a room with any other student regardless of sex, biological gender, gender identity, gender expression and sexual orientation.
Halisi Scholars Living Learning Community
The Halisi Scholars Living Learning Community is designed to enhance the residential experience for students who are a part of or interested in issues regarding the Black community living on campus by offering the opportunity to connect with faculty and peers, and engage in programs that focus on academic success, cultural awareness and civic engagement.
Parking and public transportation
Cal State LA's parking received press coverage for pioneering the concept of underground parking to deal with the limitations of ground space for expansion under the initial California State expansion plans of the early 1960s. Developer Louis Lesser developed "underground parking” in his off campus residential housing development for the university in 1964, with only a two level underground parking structure considered so unusual as to merit a separate newspaper section header, "Parking Underground", and calling the parking “subterranean spaces."
Structure E, a 5-story open parking garage provides over 2,000 parking spaces and hosts electric vehicle (EV) charging stations, including 3 fast chargers for the Cal State LA community. Structure E is accessible to the upper level of campus through the existing Structure C in Lot 5. The Solar PV System installed atop Structure E generates 1 megawatt (MW) of renewable energy.
The school is home to the first commuter train station on a college campus, the station of the same name on Metrolink's San Bernardino Line, which opened in October 1994. The school is also accessible from the namesake station on the El Monte Busway; both stations are located at the south end of the campus. Metro Local lines 106, 256, 258 & 665, as well as neighborhood shuttles serve the school.
Construction is completed on a hydrogen fueling station on campus. The station will operate as a teaching resource for classes on alternative energy and fuel systems, as well as a public accommodation selling and dispensing hydrogen to those driving fuel cell vehicles. Cal State LA is one of only three organizations in the state to be awarded CARB funding for such a facility.
Organization and administration
Cal State LA is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The CSU system is administered by a 25-member board of trustees, which adopts regulations and policies governing the entire system. The system’s chief executive officer is Chancellor Timothy P. White, who assumed office in 2012. Joseph I. Castro was appointed on September 23, 2020, by the CSU board of trustees to succeed White starting on January 4, 2021.
University leadership
The chief executive of Cal State LA is President William A. Covino.
As of December 2020, the leadership team includes an executive vice president who also serves as chief operating officer and provost, and four vice presidents:
José A. Gómez, Executive Vice President, Chief Operating Officer and Provost
Lisa Chavez, Vice President for Administration and Chief Financial Officer
Octavio Villalpando, Vice President for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
Nancy Wada-McKee, Vice President for Student Life
Janet Dial, Vice President for University Advancement
Affiliations
Cal State LA is a member of the American Association of State Colleges and Universities and the Coalition of Urban and Metropolitan Universities. The latter organization designated Cal State LA in 2018 as one of 33 U.S. universities that serve as “anchor institutions” driving economic growth in their communities.
Academics
The Charter College of Education's Division of Special Education and Counseling has a joint PhD program in Special Education with University of California, Los Angeles, and an independent Ed.D. program in Educational Administration as part of the Division of Applied and Advanced Studies in Education.
Cal State LA's School of Nursing launched the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) in the fall of 2012. The DNP has been accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges (WASC).
In 2019 a team of Cal State LA's graduate students won the American College of Healthcare Executives (ACHE) western regional healthcare executives college bowl case study competition.
Cal State LA's Small Business Strong team of undergraduates students was the winner of the 2016 LA Mayor's Cup. The Mayor's Cup is a competition for young entrepreneurs at L.A. universities to pitch innovative solutions for tackling the city’s biggest challenges. More than 100 teams applied. The Cal State LA team and four other finalists pitched their projects to L.A. Mayor Eric Garcetti, deputy mayors, and local business leaders.
Cal State LA's College of Business and Economics (CB&E) is divided into six departments: Accounting, Economics & Statistics, Finance Law & Real Estate, Information Systems, Management and Marketing. CB&E is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB International).
In July 2000 the university's Model United Nations (NMUN) chapter placed in the top 30 out of 190 teams in the New York City competition, bringing home its first national conference win since the chapter's inception more than 30 years previous. The Cal State LA student delegation garnered top awards in all categories at the 2009 annual National Model United Nations. In 2010 The student team received both "Outstanding Delegation" and "Outstanding Position Papers", the highest honors a delegation can receive.
With the nation's first Chicano Studies department (established in 1968), Cal State LA is a top source of bachelor's and master's degrees for Hispanic students in California.
Popular majors for undergraduates in 2018 included Business Administration (Management and Operations) at 19.56%, Sociology at 7.55% and Psychology (General) at 5.48%. While popular majors for graduates were Social Work at 11.73%, Student Counseling and Personnel Services at 8.44% and Registered Nursing, Nursing Administration, Nursing Research and Clinical Nursing at 6.08%.
At Convocation, held Monday, Aug. 19, 2019, President William A. Covino announced a new college within Cal State Los Angeles, the College of Ethnic, Racial, and Social Transformation. The college houses the university's three ethnic studies departments: Asian and Asian American Studies, Chicana(o) and Latina(o) Studies, and Pan-African Studies. It opened during the fall 2020 semester as the College of Ethnic Studies.
The Five most popular majors for 2019 graduates
Business, Management, Marketing, and Related Support Services at 19%
Health Professions and Related Programs at 11%
Social Sciences at 10%
Engineering at 6%
Homeland Security, Law Enforcement, Firefighting and Related Protective Services at 6%
Specialized and mission-driven colleges
Rongxiang Xu College of Health and Human Services
College of Natural and Social Sciences
College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology
College of Business and Economics
The Charter College of Education
College of Arts and Letters
The Honors College
College of Professional and Global Education
College of Ethnic Studies
Desert Studies Center
The Desert Studies Center is a field station of the California State University located in Zzyzx, California in the Mojave Desert. The purpose of the center is to provide opportunities to conduct research, receive instruction and experience the Mojave Desert environment. Is officially operated by the California Desert Studies Consortium, a consortium of 7 CSU campuses: Fullerton, Cal Poly Pomona, Long Beach, San Bernardino, Northridge, Dominguez Hills and Los Angeles.
Faculty
Cal State Los Angeles' faculty include two presidential award-winning professors and 13 faculty members honored with the CSU Trustees' Outstanding Professor Awards.
Professors
In December 1999 Raymond Landis, Dean of Engineering and Technology, was honored by the White House for outstanding student mentoring. The recognition earned the university its second presidential award.
In September 1996 chemistry professor Carlos G. Gutiérrez was among the first honorees named by President Bill Clinton to receive the newly established annual Presidential Award for Excellence in Science, Mathematics and Engineering Mentoring, at a White House ceremony.
In fall 1995 chemistry professor Thomas P. Onak, was named California Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
In 1992 chemistry professor Phoebe K. Dea, was named California Professor of the Year by the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and the Council for Advancement and Support of Education.
Hal Fishman served as an assistant adjunct professor of political science for two years. Fishman won the Associated Press Television-Radio Association's first-ever Lifetime Achievement Award for his work as a Los Angeles local (KTLA) news anchor.
Ann Garry, Professor Emerita of Philosophy; early pioneer of the field of feminist philosophy.
Raphael Sonenshein, executive director of the Pat Brown Institute for Public Affairs
Distinguished Visiting Adjunct Professors
Christopher Isherwood taught a course on Modern English Literature in 1961–1962. A noted author his Berlin Stories was the basis for the Broadway musical and film, Cabaret.
Dorothy Parker taught a course in the English department in 1962–1963. Parker, a writer and founding member of the Algonquin Round Table, was inducted into the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1959.
Trustee Professors
Barry Munitz, fifth chancellor of the California State University system, and sixth president of the University of Houston
Rankings
The 2021 U.S. News & World Reports “America’s Best Colleges” issue included the following rankings for Cal State LA in the category of regional universities in the Western United States: tied for 9th among public universities, tied for 26th among public and private universities, and ranked 11th in Best Value Schools. The business program in the College of Business and Economics continues to be one of the top 10 in California among public institutions. In a separate category, Cal State LA’s undergraduate computer science program is ranked among the top 20 in California.
nurse.org ranked Cal State La 5th on its Top 10 Nursing Schools in California ranking 2021.
Washington Monthlys 2020 College Ranking Guide named Cal State LA 10th out of 614 schools nationally in the Master's University category. The magazine rates universities based on their contribution to the public good, considering factors that include research, service and social mobility. Also in the 2020 issue by Washington Monthly, Cal State LA ranked 3rd for "Best Bang for the Buck" out of 215 schools in the U.S. Western region.
Money ranked Cal State LA 31st for Best Colleges for Engineering Majors and 31st in its evaluation of its 2020 Best Colleges ranking.
Business Insider ranked Cal State LA #12 for its Best Return on Investment Business Insider 2020 rankings.
Forbes ranked Cal State LA 139th in its 2019 ranking of America's Best Value Colleges out of the 300 universities that were included.
CollegeNET ranked Cal State LA #2 Social Mobility Index.
In 2018, Cal State LA was ranked the 14th top college in the United States by Payscale and CollegeNET's Social Mobility Index college rankings.
In January 2017, Cal State LA was ranked #1 in the country for the upward mobility of students. The Equality of Opportunity Project followed 30 million students enrolled at over 2,200 colleges and universities, from 1999 to 2013, and concluded that the institution with the highest "mobility rate" was Cal State LA.
Cal State LA was ranked 8th in the nation in the amount of B.A. degrees awarded in 2017 to Hispanics by Hispanic Outlook on Education Magazine.
The National Science Foundation lists Cal State LA as the top baccalaureate institution of origin for Latino science and engineering Ph.D. recipients among all undergraduate and master's colleges and universities in the continental U.S. The most recent findings cover 2008 through 2012 and were published in the NSF report, Women, Minorities, and Persons with Disabilities in Science and Engineering: 2015. The data come from surveys conducted by the NSF, the U.S. Department of Education, the U.S. Department of Commerce, and the U.S. Department of Labor.
In 2014 Cal State LA was listed as one of Time magazine's top 100 colleges and universities, according to new criteria proposed by the White House that is based solely on accessibility, affordability, and graduation rate. Ranked at #24, Cal State LA is one of the seven CSU campuses that made the list.
The American Council of Trustees and Alumni gives Cal State LA's General Education an overall score a B.
Engineering competitions
Founded in 1953 as the Department of Engineering, today's College of Engineering, Computer Science and Technology (ECST) was established in 2001. ECST was funded by NASA to advance aerospace technology and space research. Cal State LA's NASA University Research Center is only one of its kind in the state of California. The objective of the program is to design and build a segmented reflector test-bed. The College of Engineering and Technology added the Department of Computer Science and officially became the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology in June 2001.
Cal State LA's College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology is divided into five departments: the Departments of Civil Engineering, Computer Science, Electrical and Computer Engineering, Mechanical Engineering, and Technology. Collectively, these departments offer 12 undergraduate programs, four graduate programs and two teaching credentials in collaboration with the Charter College of Education.
The Solar Eagle
The college has achieved international recognition with its advanced vehicles. Cal State LA's Team Solar Eagle has built three cars that competed in solar car races in the United States and Australia, winning a national championship at the American Solar Challenge in 1997. The 1997 champion Solar Eagle III was the first solar and only Hot Wheels reproduction of a student-built vehicle. The Solar Eagle II is on display at the California Science Center in Los Angeles it place third in the nation. Cal State LA’s Solar Eagle, the first solar-powered electric car designed and built by Engineering and Technology students, placed fourth in the nation and is first among California competitors in the transcontinental GM Sunrayce USA. The Solar Eagle is in display at the Cal State LA's Engineering, Computer Science and Technology building lobby.
Mini Baja
Cal State LA’s Mini Baja vehicle (car #6) finished first place overall and also captured first place in the endurance challenge at the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) international 1996 Mini Baja West competition. Cal State LA’s Mini Baja vehicle (car #7) won first place overall at the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) international 1998 Mini Baja West competition. Cal State LA’s Mini Baja vehicle (car #38) finished first place overall at the Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) International 1999 Mini Baja West competition, winning first place awards in the endurance and acceleration challenges as well.
The Super Eagle
The ultra-high gas mileage car ECST Super Eagle won the American Society of Automotive Engineers (SAE) 2004 mileage competition with a tested fuel consumption of per gallon. The faculty team advisor, James Ettaro, was honored by the SAE. The Solar Eagle and Super Eagle are the latest in a long line of solar-powered cars and other super-efficient vehicle technologies.
AVTC competitions
In August 2006 Cal State LA became the first university west of the Mississippi and second overall to achieve successful flight powered by fuel cells. The unmanned aerial vehicle was developed by a team of mechanical engineering students working in Cal State LA's Multidisciplinary Flight dynamics and Control Laboratory (MFDCLab).
EcoCar competitions
In April 2011 Cal State LA was chosen to become part of the 3-year AVTC EcoCAR2: Plugging into the Future competition managed by Argonne National Laboratory and sponsored by the US Department of Energy and General Motors. EcoCAR2 tasks 15 universities to modify a Chevrolet Malibu into a plug-in hybrid while maintaining safety and consumer acceptability. The university has chosen a parallel-through-the-road architecture as part of the competition. The competition is a collaboration between the College of Engineering, Computer Science, and Technology and the College of Business and Economics, with Engineering handling the design and implementation of the vehicle systems and the Business handling budgeting, fundraising and promotion of the program.
In May 2013 Cal State LA's EcoCAR 2 team came home 2nd place overall in Year Two of the EcoCAR 2: Plugging In to the Future collegiate engineering competition.
Continuing their participation in AVTCs, Cal State LA is involved with General Motors' new competition series called EcoCAR3. This is a four-year competition where 16 universities across northern America were donated a 2016 Chevy Camaro and are focused on converting this traditional fossil fuel vehicle into a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle. Cal State LA's team has focused on developing a post-transmission parallel architecture for their vehicle. Additionally, the team has decided to deviate from the standard expectation of marketing their developed vehicle to consumers and is instead targeting law enforcement fleets as a business to business focus. The EcoCar3 team will have four years (2014–18) to redesign and re-engineer a Chevy Camaro in an effort to reduce the energy consumption and greenhouse emissions of the vehicle, while maintaining consumer acceptability, performance, utility and safety. At the end of the four years, the student-built vehicles will participate in an over-the-road event, raising the stakes for vehicle, dependability and safety.
Programs
Early Entrance Program
The Early Entrance Program (EEP) is an early college entrance program for gifted individuals of middle school and high school ages. The unique educational program is specifically designed to permit young, highly gifted students to enroll in college as full-time students. The Early Entrance Program was established at California State University, Los Angeles in 1982. The program allows qualified students as young as 12 years of age the opportunity to excel at the university level. The program maintains a population of approximately 130 full-time highly gifted teenaged students known as "EEPsters." Every year, approximately 100 academically gifted students from all over the United States apply to EEP, with around 30 applicants admitted. Students must achieve a minimum score of 550 on the evidence-based reading and writing section and 570 on the mathematics section of the SAT; or at least a 22 in English and a 23 in mathematics on the ACT. After a preliminary interview with the EEP director, prospective students must also undergo a rigorous assessment period called a Provisional Quarter (or "Provie Summer") before final admission.
Forensic sciences
Cal State LA's growing forensic science program has been a part of the university curriculum since the founding of the school. It is home to one of the few and the longest-operating graduate Criminal Justice and Criminalistics program west of the Mississippi river, located in the new Los Angeles Regional Crime Lab. The new Hertzberg-Davis Forensic Science Center, which was dedicated on May 11, 2007, jointly house the LAPD's Scientific Investigation Division, the L.A. County Sheriff's Department Scientific Services Bureau and Cal State LA Criminal Justice and Criminalistics programs.
Sea floor engineering
Cal State LA also has a comprehensive seafloor-engineering program. Research is conducted at the Naval Facilities Engineering Service Center in Port Hueneme, California. In 2003, Civil engineering professor Mark Tufenkjian led Cal State LA to receive over half a million dollars in grant money. The award of $594,253 is the largest grant ever received by Cal State LA's Department of Civil Engineering.
Cal State LA Experiential Learning
The Cal State LA spring water (bottled water), sold on campus, is the result of a partnership between the university's administration and the College of Business and Economics. Together the two branches of the university worked together to develop a product that would appeal to the student body and be affordable. The college has developed "experiential" learning projects, which students participate in during their final years of schooling. Other projects have included the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance Program, where students complete tax returns for small businesses and low-income community members, marketing and site selection research for the Rocky Mountain Chocolate Factory and a case study for American Apparel.
Campus media
University Times
The University Times (UT) is a student-run newspaper. The first student newspaper, at that time called The College Times, was published in June 1948 for the first time. In 1965 The College Times was named the best newspaper by California Intercollegiate Press. On October 2, 1972 The College Times changed its name to University Times, in accordance with the change in university status. The name was the popular result of a campus-wide poll, with "Devil's Advocate" coming in second. Larry Hawthorne was the first editor-in-chief of the University Times.
Golden Eagle Radio
This webcast station started in 2015.
Golden Eagle Productions
Golden Eagle Productions (also known as GEP) is Cal State LA's primary film and television unit, composed of students creating and producing media content such as news and digital pieces, as well as original films and series.
Greek life
Excluding the Greek Council and Order of Omega, as of the summer of 2019, the Cal State LA Campus is home to 25 social fraternal organization chapters, 10 fraternities (two new colonies), 13 sororities, and 2 co-ed fraternities.
There are 4 representative governing bodies of the Greek community at Cal State LA; the Interfraternity Council, National Pan-Hellenic Council, Multi-Cultural Greek Council, and the Panhellenic Council. These governing bodies are advised by the university through the Center for Student Involvement—a division of Cal State LA's University-Student Union. This division is under the auspices of both the university-Student Union and the Department of Student of Affairs. Cal State LA's Greek System began with the establishment of the Alpha Theta Pi (ΑΘΠ) sorority on November 15, 1948.
Intercollegiate Athletics
The Golden Eagles are members of the California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) for all sports except women's tennis, which is in the Pacific West Conference, and women's beach volleyball and Indoor Track & Field, which are in the NCAA Division II independent schools. Cal State LA is the only CCAA University who has beach volleyball as a sport. Cal State LA competes in the Division II level of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). Prior to January, 1981, Cal State LA was known as the Diablos; the change to Golden Eagles was made by then-President James Rosser to create a more inclusive, less stereotypical mascot.
The university fields as of 2019 fourteen intercollegiate teams for men or women in soccer, baseball, basketball, tennis, golf, volleyball, cross country, indoor track, and outdoor track and field. Cal State LA's more than athletic facility is named the Billie Jean King Sports Complex. The sports complex—which was approved by the CSU Board of Trustees in September 2010—features the Eagle's Nest Arena, the University Stadium, Jesse Owens Track and Field, Reeder Field (baseball), the swimming pool, and tennis and basketball courts. Development project plans for the complex include a new gym, athletic field and the Rosie Casals / Pancho Gonzales tennis center. The center is a new two-story building which will include locker and training rooms on the ground floor with multi-use space and viewing areas on the second floor. It is 7,000 sq. ft. Completion date of fall 2021.
The Eagles Nest is home to the Cal State LA basketball and volleyball teams. The arena seats just over 3,200 fans at full capacity. In 1984, the Eagles Nest hosted the Summer XXIII (23rd) Olympics judo competition. In July 1984 the Olympic mural, Olympic Fantasy, a mosaic tile work by muralist Guillermo "Bill" Granizo, was installed on west side of the arena in remembrance of the event.
The Los Angeles Football Club (LAFC) of Major League Soccer selected Cal State LA in 2017 as the home of its new training facility, soccer operations headquarters, and youth academy.
The LAFC trains on the site at the northern gateway of the campus, though it plays its games at Banc of California Stadium, which opened in 2018 in Exposition Park in South Los Angeles. The arrangement with Cal State LA was approved by the California State University Board of Trustees.
Entering the 2017–2018 school year, Cal State LA has won a total of 75 conference championships in the university's history. This is in addition to the eighth national championships and 10 national runner-up finishes. Besides being located in close proximity to each other, Cal Poly Pomona and Cal State LA have competed heavily as conference rivals.
In 2021 Cal State LA men’s soccer won the first national championship in program history. The national championship is the eighth from any sport in school history and Cal State LA’s first since 1981.
National Division II Championships Won
Men's Tennis Team titles: 1963, 1964, 1965
Football: 1964 (#1 on the UPI poll)
Men's Track and Field: 1978
Men's Archery: 1979
Women's Badminton: 1981
Men's Soccer: 2021
Cal State LA has won in Men's tennis singles four times in 1963, 1964, 1965 and 1968. In doubles Cal State LA has won once in 1963 of the NCAA Men's Division II Tennis Championship. In Women tennis singles Cal State LA was champion once in 1990 and once in doubles the same year in the NCAA Women's Division II Tennis Championship.
Symbols
University Seal
The university seal is reserved for legal, formal and ceremonial purposes, including commencement materials, diplomas, transcripts, formal events, presidential documents and gift items from the President’s Office. The seal, available in full-color or black-and-white, cannot be used in combination with the Cal State LA logo.
University Mace
The university Mace is a ceremonial piece symbolizing the authority under which the university is chartered. It is identified with the Office of the President and is carried in academic processions for commencements and other official university gatherings. The honor of serving as mace-bearer is accorded to the Chair of the Academic Senate.
University badge
The shield, with its urban architecture angles, represents the enterprising, global city in which it resides. Inside the shield, you will find iconic buildings and landmarks from the Los Angeles skyline. They are drawn to scale and ascend upward, from left to right, pointing toward the future. The thick bordure (outer edge of the shield) has open corners that represent a campus that opens out to the region it serves. The 'A' in Cal State LA, features an eagle's beak at its tip.
Future developments
LA BioSpace
LA BioSpace at Cal State LA will give bioscience startup companies the springboard they need to succeed. Created by grants from Los Angeles County and the U.S. Economic Development Administration, LA BioSpace is a university incubator in the heart of Los Angeles.
Scheduled to open in 2019, the LA BioSpace incubator will equip entrepreneurs to turn scientific advances into job-creating businesses.
LA BioSpace is part of a larger grant project based out of Cal State LA, LABioStart. This project hosts networking events and runs a Bioscience Entrepreneur Boot camp in addition to this incubator.
North Campus Project
The proposed project provides for new student housing facilities, new soccer fields, and a parking structure within the northern portion of the Cal State LA campus. Scope of Work: The student housing facilities will provide 1,500 beds for freshmen and sophomore students, as well as an associated dining facility. The North Field is anticipated to be used as a training soccer field by a major league soccer team, and will also be used as a training field by the community youth soccer organizations. The existing surface parking lots immediately south across Hellman Avenue will be replaced with new soccer fields. These South Fields will be used by the university students, including students living in the existing and proposed new student residence halls on site, and will support the Athletics Department programs. The displaced surface parking will be the accommodated in a new parking structure located next to the existing Parking Structure C, on the site that is currently used as a surface parking lot. The four-level parking structure will provide approximately 1,650 parking spaces, including up to 100 new parking spaces.
Notable alumni
Notable professors
See also
Ernest E. Debs, Assembly member who sponsored bill establishing the university
Hispanic Serving Institution
References
External links
Cal State Los Angeles Athletics website
Universities and colleges in Los Angeles
Los Angeles
California State University, Los Angeles
Eastside Los Angeles
1947 establishments in California
Educational institutions established in 1947
Schools accredited by the Western Association of Schools and Colleges |
1158132 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freely%20redistributable%20software | Freely redistributable software | Freely redistributable software (FRS) is software that anyone is free to redistribute. The term has been used to mean two types of free to redistribute software, distinguished by the legal modifiability and limitations on purpose of use of the software. FRS which can be legally modified and used for any purpose is the same as free software. Non-legally modifiable FRS is freeware, shareware or similar.
The non-modifiable FRS generally comes in the form of executable binaries and is often used by proprietary software companies and authors to showcase their work or to encourage the user to buy full products from them (in the case of shareware, demo or trial versions). Freeware that is not restricted to be obtained from a specific distributor is also FRS.
Firmware and microcode
In cases of firmware or microcode, it is acceptable for major open-source projects like OpenBSD to include a binary firmware of a device within the distribution, as long as said firmware runs only on the external device in question, and not on the main CPU where the operating system itself is running.
However, for such an inclusion to be in place, the binary firmware must be distributed under an adequate licence, like ISC or BSD, and must not require a discriminatory contract to be in place.
A lack of such licence is why wireless devices from Intel Corporation do not work out of the box in almost all open-source distributions, whereas Ralink wireless cards work just fine.
References
Software licenses |
9251 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Engineering | Engineering | Engineering is the use of scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad range of more specialized fields of engineering, each with a more specific emphasis on particular areas of applied mathematics, applied science, and types of application. See glossary of engineering.
The term engineering is derived from the Latin ingenium, meaning "cleverness" and ingeniare, meaning "to contrive, devise".
Definition
The American Engineers' Council for Professional Development (ECPD, the predecessor of ABET) has defined "engineering" as:
The creative application of scientific principles to design or develop structures, machines, apparatus, or manufacturing processes, or works utilizing them singly or in combination; or to construct or operate the same with full cognizance of their design; or to forecast their behavior under specific operating conditions; all as respects an intended function, economics of operation and safety to life and property. (Includes Britannica article on Engineering)
History
Engineering has existed since ancient times, when humans devised inventions such as the wedge, lever, wheel and pulley, etc.
The term engineering is derived from the word engineer, which itself dates back to the 14th century when an engine'er (literally, one who builds or operates a siege engine) referred to "a constructor of military engines." In this context, now obsolete, an "engine" referred to a military machine, i.e., a mechanical contraption used in war (for example, a catapult). Notable examples of the obsolete usage which have survived to the present day are military engineering corps, e.g., the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
The word "engine" itself is of even older origin, ultimately deriving from the Latin ingenium (c. 1250), meaning "innate quality, especially mental power, hence a clever invention."
Later, as the design of civilian structures, such as bridges and buildings, matured as a technical discipline, the term civil engineering entered the lexicon as a way to distinguish between those specializing in the construction of such non-military projects and those involved in the discipline of military engineering.
Ancient era
The pyramids in ancient Egypt, ziggurats of Mesopotamia, the Acropolis and Parthenon in Greece, the Roman aqueducts, Via Appia and Colosseum, Teotihuacán, and the Brihadeeswarar Temple of Thanjavur, among many others, stand as a testament to the ingenuity and skill of ancient civil and military engineers. Other monuments, no longer standing, such as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon and the Pharos of Alexandria, were important engineering achievements of their time and were considered among the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
The six classic simple machines were known in the ancient Near East. The wedge and the inclined plane (ramp) were known since prehistoric times. The wheel, along with the wheel and axle mechanism, was invented in Mesopotamia (modern Iraq) during the 5th millennium BC. The lever mechanism first appeared around 5,000 years ago in the Near East, where it was used in a simple balance scale, and to move large objects in ancient Egyptian technology. The lever was also used in the shadoof water-lifting device, the first crane machine, which appeared in Mesopotamia circa 3000 BC, and then in ancient Egyptian technology circa 2000 BC. The earliest evidence of pulleys date back to Mesopotamia in the early 2nd millennium BC, and ancient Egypt during the Twelfth Dynasty (1991-1802 BC). The screw, the last of the simple machines to be invented, first appeared in Mesopotamia during the Neo-Assyrian period (911-609) BC. The Egyptian pyramids were built using three of the six simple machines, the inclined plane, the wedge, and the lever, to create structures like the Great Pyramid of Giza.
The earliest civil engineer known by name is Imhotep. As one of the officials of the Pharaoh, Djosèr, he probably designed and supervised the construction of the Pyramid of Djoser (the Step Pyramid) at Saqqara in Egypt around 2630–2611 BC. The earliest practical water-powered machines, the water wheel and watermill, first appeared in the Persian Empire, in what are now Iraq and Iran, by the early 4th century BC.
Kush developed the Sakia during the 4th century BC, which relied on animal power instead of human energy.Hafirs were developed as a type of reservoir in Kush to store and contain water as well as boost irrigation. Sappers were employed to build causeways during military campaigns. Kushite ancestors built speos during the Bronze Age between 3700 and 3250 BC.Bloomeries and blast furnaces were also created during the 7th centuries BC in Kush.
Ancient Greece developed machines in both civilian and military domains. The Antikythera mechanism, an early known mechanical analog computer, and the mechanical inventions of Archimedes, are examples of Greek mechanical engineering. Some of Archimedes' inventions as well as the Antikythera mechanism required sophisticated knowledge of differential gearing or epicyclic gearing, two key principles in machine theory that helped design the gear trains of the Industrial Revolution, and are still widely used today in diverse fields such as robotics and automotive engineering.
Ancient Chinese, Greek, Roman and Hunnic armies employed military machines and inventions such as artillery which was developed by the Greeks around the 4th century BC, the trireme, the ballista and the catapult. In the Middle Ages, the trebuchet was developed.
Middle Ages
The earliest practical wind-powered machines, the windmill and wind pump, first appeared in the Muslim world during the Islamic Golden Age, in what are now Iran, Afghanistan, and Pakistan, by the 9th century AD. The earliest practical steam-powered machine was a steam jack driven by a steam turbine, described in 1551 by Taqi al-Din Muhammad ibn Ma'ruf in Ottoman Egypt.
The cotton gin was invented in India by the 6th century AD, and the spinning wheel was invented in the Islamic world by the early 11th century, both of which were fundamental to the growth of the cotton industry. The spinning wheel was also a precursor to the spinning jenny, which was a key development during the early Industrial Revolution in the 18th century.
The earliest programmable machines were developed in the Muslim world. A music sequencer, a programmable musical instrument, was the earliest type of programmable machine. The first music sequencer was an automated flute player invented by the Banu Musa brothers, described in their Book of Ingenious Devices, in the 9th century. In 1206, Al-Jazari invented programmable automata/robots. He described four automaton musicians, including drummers operated by a programmable drum machine, where they could be made to play different rhythms and different drum patterns. The castle clock, a hydropowered mechanical astronomical clock invented by Al-Jazari, was the first programmable analog computer.
Before the development of modern engineering, mathematics was used by artisans and craftsmen, such as millwrights, clockmakers, instrument makers and surveyors. Aside from these professions, universities were not believed to have had much practical significance to technology.
A standard reference for the state of mechanical arts during the Renaissance is given in the mining engineering treatise De re metallica (1556), which also contains sections on geology, mining, and chemistry. De re metallica was the standard chemistry reference for the next 180 years.
Modern era
The science of classical mechanics, sometimes called Newtonian mechanics, formed the scientific basis of much of modern engineering. With the rise of engineering as a profession in the 18th century, the term became more narrowly applied to fields in which mathematics and science were applied to these ends. Similarly, in addition to military and civil engineering, the fields then known as the mechanic arts became incorporated into engineering.
Canal building was an important engineering work during the early phases of the Industrial Revolution.
John Smeaton was the first self-proclaimed civil engineer and is often regarded as the "father" of civil engineering. He was an English civil engineer responsible for the design of bridges, canals, harbors, and lighthouses. He was also a capable mechanical engineer and an eminent physicist. Using a model water wheel, Smeaton conducted experiments for seven years, determining ways to increase efficiency. Smeaton introduced iron axles and gears to water wheels. Smeaton also made mechanical improvements to the Newcomen steam engine. Smeaton designed the third Eddystone Lighthouse (1755–59) where he pioneered the use of 'hydraulic lime' (a form of mortar which will set under water) and developed a technique involving dovetailed blocks of granite in the building of the lighthouse. He is important in the history, rediscovery of, and development of modern cement, because he identified the compositional requirements needed to obtain "hydraulicity" in lime; work which led ultimately to the invention of Portland cement.
Applied science lead to the development of the steam engine. The sequence of events began with the invention of the barometer and the measurement of atmospheric pressure by Evangelista Torricelli in 1643, demonstration of the force of atmospheric pressure by Otto von Guericke using the Magdeburg hemispheres in 1656, laboratory experiments by Denis Papin, who built experimental model steam engines and demonstrated the use of a piston, which he published in 1707. Edward Somerset, 2nd Marquess of Worcester published a book of 100 inventions containing a method for raising waters similar to a coffee percolator. Samuel Morland, a mathematician and inventor who worked on pumps, left notes at the Vauxhall Ordinance Office on a steam pump design that Thomas Savery read. In 1698 Savery built a steam pump called "The Miner's Friend." It employed both vacuum and pressure. Iron merchant Thomas Newcomen, who built the first commercial piston steam engine in 1712, was not known to have any scientific training.
The application of steam-powered cast iron blowing cylinders for providing pressurized air for blast furnaces lead to a large increase in iron production in the late 18th century. The higher furnace temperatures made possible with steam-powered blast allowed for the use of more lime in blast furnaces, which enabled the transition from charcoal to coke. These innovations lowered the cost of iron, making horse railways and iron bridges practical. The puddling process, patented by Henry Cort in 1784 produced large scale quantities of wrought iron. Hot blast, patented by James Beaumont Neilson in 1828, greatly lowered the amount of fuel needed to smelt iron. With the development of the high pressure steam engine, the power to weight ratio of steam engines made practical steamboats and locomotives possible. New steel making processes, such as the Bessemer process and the open hearth furnace, ushered in an area of heavy engineering in the late 19th century.
One of the most famous engineers of the mid 19th century was Isambard Kingdom Brunel, who built railroads, dockyards and steamships.
The Industrial Revolution created a demand for machinery with metal parts, which led to the development of several machine tools. Boring cast iron cylinders with precision was not possible until John Wilkinson invented his boring machine, which is considered the first machine tool. Other machine tools included the screw cutting lathe, milling machine, turret lathe and the metal planer. Precision machining techniques were developed in the first half of the 19th century. These included the use of gigs to guide the machining tool over the work and fixtures to hold the work in the proper position. Machine tools and machining techniques capable of producing interchangeable parts lead to large scale factory production by the late 19th century.
The United States census of 1850 listed the occupation of "engineer" for the first time with a count of 2,000. There were fewer than 50 engineering graduates in the U.S. before 1865. In 1870 there were a dozen U.S. mechanical engineering graduates, with that number increasing to 43 per year in 1875. In 1890, there were 6,000 engineers in civil, mining, mechanical and electrical.
There was no chair of applied mechanism and applied mechanics at Cambridge until 1875, and no chair of engineering at Oxford until 1907. Germany established technical universities earlier.
The foundations of electrical engineering in the 1800s included the experiments of Alessandro Volta, Michael Faraday, Georg Ohm and others and the invention of the electric telegraph in 1816 and the electric motor in 1872. The theoretical work of James Maxwell (see: Maxwell's equations) and Heinrich Hertz in the late 19th century gave rise to the field of electronics. The later inventions of the vacuum tube and the transistor further accelerated the development of electronics to such an extent that electrical and electronics engineers currently outnumber their colleagues of any other engineering specialty.
Chemical engineering developed in the late nineteenth century. Industrial scale manufacturing demanded new materials and new processes and by 1880 the need for large scale production of chemicals was such that a new industry was created, dedicated to the development and large scale manufacturing of chemicals in new industrial plants. The role of the chemical engineer was the design of these chemical plants and processes.
Aeronautical engineering deals with aircraft design process design while aerospace engineering is a more modern term that expands the reach of the discipline by including spacecraft design. Its origins can be traced back to the aviation pioneers around the start of the 20th century although the work of Sir George Cayley has recently been dated as being from the last decade of the 18th century. Early knowledge of aeronautical engineering was largely empirical with some concepts and skills imported from other branches of engineering.
The first PhD in engineering (technically, applied science and engineering) awarded in the United States went to Josiah Willard Gibbs at Yale University in 1863; it was also the second PhD awarded in science in the U.S.
Only a decade after the successful flights by the Wright brothers, there was extensive development of aeronautical engineering through development of military aircraft that were used in World War I. Meanwhile, research to provide fundamental background science continued by combining theoretical physics with experiments.
Main branches of engineering
Engineering is a broad discipline that is often broken down into several sub-disciplines. Although an engineer will usually be trained in a specific discipline, he or she may become multi-disciplined through experience. Engineering is often characterized as having four main branches: chemical engineering, civil engineering, electrical engineering, and mechanical engineering.
Chemical engineering
Chemical engineering is the application of physics, chemistry, biology, and engineering principles in order to carry out chemical processes on a commercial scale, such as the manufacture of commodity chemicals, specialty chemicals, petroleum refining, microfabrication, fermentation, and biomolecule production.
Civil engineering
Civil engineering is the design and construction of public and private works, such as infrastructure (airports, roads, railways, water supply, and treatment etc.), bridges, tunnels, dams, and buildings. Civil engineering is traditionally broken into a number of sub-disciplines, including structural engineering, environmental engineering, and surveying. It is traditionally considered to be separate from military engineering.
Electrical engineering
Electrical engineering is the design, study, and manufacture of various electrical and electronic systems, such as broadcast engineering, electrical circuits, generators, motors, electromagnetic/electromechanical devices, electronic devices, electronic circuits, optical fibers, optoelectronic devices, computer systems, telecommunications, instrumentation, control systems, and electronics.
Mechanical engineering
Mechanical engineering is the design and manufacture of physical or mechanical systems, such as power and energy systems, aerospace/aircraft products, weapon systems, transportation products, engines, compressors, powertrains, kinematic chains, vacuum technology, vibration isolation equipment, manufacturing, robotics, turbines, audio equipments, and mechatronics.
Bioengineering
Bioengineering is the engineering of biological systems for a useful purpose. Examples of bioengineering research include bacteria engineered to produce chemicals, new medical imaging technology, portable and rapid disease diagnostic devices, prosthetics, biopharmaceuticals, and tissue-engineered organs.
Interdisciplinary engineering
Interdisciplinary engineering draws from more than one of the principle branches of the practice. Historically, naval engineering and mining engineering were major branches. Other engineering fields are manufacturing engineering, acoustical engineering, corrosion engineering, instrumentation and control, aerospace, automotive, computer, electronic, information engineering, petroleum, environmental, systems, audio, software, architectural, agricultural, biosystems, biomedical, geological, textile, industrial, materials, and nuclear engineering. These and other branches of engineering are represented in the 36 licensed member institutions of the UK Engineering Council.
New specialties sometimes combine with the traditional fields and form new branches – for example, Earth systems engineering and management involves a wide range of subject areas including engineering studies, environmental science, engineering ethics and philosophy of engineering.
Other branches of engineering
Aerospace engineering
Aerospace engineering studies design, manufacture aircraft, satellites, rockets, helicopters, and so on. It closely studies the pressure difference and aerodynamics of a vehicle to ensure safety and efficiency. Since most of the studies are related to fluids, it is applied to any moving vehicle, such as cars.
Marine engineering
Marine engineering is associated with anything on or near the ocean. Examples are, but not limited to, ships, submarines, oil rigs, structure, watercraft propulsion, on-board design and development, plants, harbors, and so on. It requires a combined knowledge in mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, civil engineering, and some programming abilities.
Computer engineering
Computer engineering (CE) is a branch of engineering that integrates several fields of computer science and electronic engineering required to develop computer hardware and software. Computer engineers usually have training in electronic engineering (or electrical engineering), software design, and hardware-software integration instead of only software engineering or electronic engineering.
Geological engineering
Geological engineering is associated with anything constructed on or within the Earth. This discipline applies geological sciences and engineering principles to direct or support the work of other disciplines such as civil engineering, environmental engineering, and mining engineering. Geological engineers are involved with impact studies for facilities and operations that affect surface and subsurface environments, such as rock excavations (e.g. tunnels), building foundation consolidation, slope and fill stabilization, landslide risk assessment, groundwater monitoring, groundwater remediation, mining excavations, and natural resource exploration.
Practice
One who practices engineering is called an engineer, and those licensed to do so may have more formal designations such as Professional Engineer, Chartered Engineer, Incorporated Engineer, Ingenieur, European Engineer, or Designated Engineering Representative.
Methodology
In the engineering design process, engineers apply mathematics and sciences such as physics to find novel solutions to problems or to improve existing solutions. Engineers need proficient knowledge of relevant sciences for their design projects. As a result, many engineers continue to learn new material throughout their careers.
If multiple solutions exist, engineers weigh each design choice based on their merit and choose the solution that best matches the requirements. The task of the engineer is to identify, understand, and interpret the constraints on a design in order to yield a successful result. It is generally insufficient to build a technically successful product, rather, it must also meet further requirements.
Constraints may include available resources, physical, imaginative or technical limitations, flexibility for future modifications and additions, and other factors, such as requirements for cost, safety, marketability, productivity, and serviceability. By understanding the constraints, engineers derive specifications for the limits within which a viable object or system may be produced and operated.
Problem solving
Engineers use their knowledge of science, mathematics, logic, economics, and appropriate experience or tacit knowledge to find suitable solutions to a particular problem. Creating an appropriate mathematical model of a problem often allows them to analyze it (sometimes definitively), and to test potential solutions.
Usually, multiple reasonable solutions exist, so engineers must evaluate the different design choices on their merits and choose the solution that best meets their requirements. Genrich Altshuller, after gathering statistics on a large number of patents, suggested that compromises are at the heart of "low-level" engineering designs, while at a higher level the best design is one which eliminates the core contradiction causing the problem.
Engineers typically attempt to predict how well their designs will perform to their specifications prior to full-scale production. They use, among other things: prototypes, scale models, simulations, destructive tests, nondestructive tests, and stress tests. Testing ensures that products will perform as expected.
Engineers take on the responsibility of producing designs that will perform as well as expected and will not cause unintended harm to the public at large. Engineers typically include a factor of safety in their designs to reduce the risk of unexpected failure.
The study of failed products is known as forensic engineering and can help the product designer in evaluating his or her design in the light of real conditions. The discipline is of greatest value after disasters, such as bridge collapses, when careful analysis is needed to establish the cause or causes of the failure.
Computer use
As with all modern scientific and technological endeavors, computers and software play an increasingly important role. As well as the typical business application software there are a number of computer aided applications (computer-aided technologies) specifically for engineering. Computers can be used to generate models of fundamental physical processes, which can be solved using numerical methods.
One of the most widely used design tools in the profession is computer-aided design (CAD) software. It enables engineers to create 3D models, 2D drawings, and schematics of their designs. CAD together with digital mockup (DMU) and CAE software such as finite element method analysis or analytic element method allows engineers to create models of designs that can be analyzed without having to make expensive and time-consuming physical prototypes.
These allow products and components to be checked for flaws; assess fit and assembly; study ergonomics; and to analyze static and dynamic characteristics of systems such as stresses, temperatures, electromagnetic emissions, electrical currents and voltages, digital logic levels, fluid flows, and kinematics. Access and distribution of all this information is generally organized with the use of product data management software.
There are also many tools to support specific engineering tasks such as computer-aided manufacturing (CAM) software to generate CNC machining instructions; manufacturing process management software for production engineering; EDA for printed circuit board (PCB) and circuit schematics for electronic engineers; MRO applications for maintenance management; and Architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) software for civil engineering.
In recent years the use of computer software to aid the development of goods has collectively come to be known as product lifecycle management (PLM).
Social context
The engineering profession engages in a wide range of activities, from large collaboration at the societal level, and also smaller individual projects. Almost all engineering projects are obligated to some sort of financing agency: a company, a set of investors, or a government. The few types of engineering that are minimally constrained by such issues are pro bono engineering and open-design engineering.
By its very nature engineering has interconnections with society, culture and human behavior. Every product or construction used by modern society is influenced by engineering. The results of engineering activity influence changes to the environment, society and economies, and its application brings with it a responsibility and public safety.
Engineering projects can be subject to controversy. Examples from different engineering disciplines include the development of nuclear weapons, the Three Gorges Dam, the design and use of sport utility vehicles and the extraction of oil. In response, some western engineering companies have enacted serious corporate and social responsibility policies.
Engineering is a key driver of innovation and human development. Sub-Saharan Africa, in particular, has a very small engineering capacity which results in many African nations being unable to develop crucial infrastructure without outside aid. The attainment of many of the Millennium Development Goals requires the achievement of sufficient engineering capacity to develop infrastructure and sustainable technological development.
All overseas development and relief NGOs make considerable use of engineers to apply solutions in disaster and development scenarios. A number of charitable organizations aim to use engineering directly for the good of mankind:
Engineers Without Borders
Engineers Against Poverty
Registered Engineers for Disaster Relief
Engineers for a Sustainable World
Engineering for Change
Engineering Ministries International
Engineering companies in many established economies are facing significant challenges with regard to the number of professional engineers being trained, compared with the number retiring. This problem is very prominent in the UK where engineering has a poor image and low status. There are many negative economic and political issues that this can cause, as well as ethical issues. It is widely agreed that the engineering profession faces an "image crisis", rather than it being fundamentally an unattractive career. Much work is needed to avoid huge problems in the UK and other western economies. Still, the UK holds most engineering companies compared to other European countries, together with the United States.
Code of ethics
Many engineering societies have established codes of practice and codes of ethics to guide members and inform the public at large. The National Society of Professional Engineers code of ethics states:
In Canada, many engineers wear the Iron Ring as a symbol and reminder of the obligations and ethics associated with their profession.
Relationships with other disciplines
Science
There exists an overlap between the sciences and engineering practice; in engineering, one applies science. Both areas of endeavor rely on accurate observation of materials and phenomena. Both use mathematics and classification criteria to analyze and communicate observations.
Scientists may also have to complete engineering tasks, such as designing experimental apparatus or building prototypes. Conversely, in the process of developing technology, engineers sometimes find themselves exploring new phenomena, thus becoming, for the moment, scientists or more precisely "engineering scientists".
In the book What Engineers Know and How They Know It, Walter Vincenti asserts that engineering research has a character different from that of scientific research. First, it often deals with areas in which the basic physics or chemistry are well understood, but the problems themselves are too complex to solve in an exact manner.
There is a "real and important" difference between engineering and physics as similar to any science field has to do with technology. Physics is an exploratory science that seeks knowledge of principles while engineering uses knowledge for practical applications of principles. The former equates an understanding into a mathematical principle while the latter measures variables involved and creates technology. For technology, physics is an auxiliary and in a way technology is considered as applied physics. Though physics and engineering are interrelated, it does not mean that a physicist is trained to do an engineer's job. A physicist would typically require additional and relevant training. Physicists and engineers engage in different lines of work. But PhD physicists who specialize in sectors of engineering physics and applied physics are titled as Technology officer, R&D Engineers and System Engineers.
An example of this is the use of numerical approximations to the Navier–Stokes equations to describe aerodynamic flow over an aircraft, or the use of the Finite element method to calculate the stresses in complex components. Second, engineering research employs many semi-empirical methods that are foreign to pure scientific research, one example being the method of parameter variation.
As stated by Fung et al. in the revision to the classic engineering text Foundations of Solid Mechanics:
Engineering is quite different from science. Scientists try to understand nature. Engineers try to make things that do not exist in nature. Engineers stress innovation and invention. To embody an invention the engineer must put his idea in concrete terms, and design something that people can use. That something can be a complex system, device, a gadget, a material, a method, a computing program, an innovative experiment, a new solution to a problem, or an improvement on what already exists. Since a design has to be realistic and functional, it must have its geometry, dimensions, and characteristics data defined. In the past engineers working on new designs found that they did not have all the required information to make design decisions. Most often, they were limited by insufficient scientific knowledge. Thus they studied mathematics, physics, chemistry, biology and mechanics. Often they had to add to the sciences relevant to their profession. Thus engineering sciences were born.
Although engineering solutions make use of scientific principles, engineers must also take into account safety, efficiency, economy, reliability, and constructability or ease of fabrication as well as the environment, ethical and legal considerations such as patent infringement or liability in the case of failure of the solution.
Medicine and biology
The study of the human body, albeit from different directions and for different purposes, is an important common link between medicine and some engineering disciplines. Medicine aims to sustain, repair, enhance and even replace functions of the human body, if necessary, through the use of technology.
Modern medicine can replace several of the body's functions through the use of artificial organs and can significantly alter the function of the human body through artificial devices such as, for example, brain implants and pacemakers. The fields of bionics and medical bionics are dedicated to the study of synthetic implants pertaining to natural systems.
Conversely, some engineering disciplines view the human body as a biological machine worth studying and are dedicated to emulating many of its functions by replacing biology with technology. This has led to fields such as artificial intelligence, neural networks, fuzzy logic, and robotics. There are also substantial interdisciplinary interactions between engineering and medicine.
Both fields provide solutions to real world problems. This often requires moving forward before phenomena are completely understood in a more rigorous scientific sense and therefore experimentation and empirical knowledge is an integral part of both.
Medicine, in part, studies the function of the human body. The human body, as a biological machine, has many functions that can be modeled using engineering methods.
The heart for example functions much like a pump, the skeleton is like a linked structure with levers, the brain produces electrical signals etc. These similarities as well as the increasing importance and application of engineering principles in medicine, led to the development of the field of biomedical engineering that uses concepts developed in both disciplines.
Newly emerging branches of science, such as systems biology, are adapting analytical tools traditionally used for engineering, such as systems modeling and computational analysis, to the description of biological systems.
Art
There are connections between engineering and art, for example, architecture, landscape architecture and industrial design (even to the extent that these disciplines may sometimes be included in a university's Faculty of Engineering).
The Art Institute of Chicago, for instance, held an exhibition about the art of NASA's aerospace design. Robert Maillart's bridge design is perceived by some to have been deliberately artistic. At the University of South Florida, an engineering professor, through a grant with the National Science Foundation, has developed a course that connects art and engineering.
Among famous historical figures, Leonardo da Vinci is a well-known Renaissance artist and engineer, and a prime example of the nexus between art and engineering.
Business
Business Engineering deals with the relationship between professional engineering, IT systems, business administration and change management. Engineering management or "Management engineering" is a specialized field of management concerned with engineering practice or the engineering industry sector. The demand for management-focused engineers (or from the opposite perspective, managers with an understanding of engineering), has resulted in the development of specialized engineering management degrees that develop the knowledge and skills needed for these roles. During an engineering management course, students will develop industrial engineering skills, knowledge, and expertise, alongside knowledge of business administration, management techniques, and strategic thinking. Engineers specializing in change management must have in-depth knowledge of the application of industrial and organizational psychology principles and methods. Professional engineers often train as certified management consultants in the very specialized field of management consulting applied to engineering practice or the engineering sector. This work often deals with large scale complex business transformation or Business process management initiatives in aerospace and defence, automotive, oil and gas, machinery, pharmaceutical, food and beverage, electrical & electronics, power distribution & generation, utilities and transportation systems. This combination of technical engineering practice, management consulting practice, industry sector knowledge, and change management expertise enables professional engineers who are also qualified as management consultants to lead major business transformation initiatives. These initiatives are typically sponsored by C-level executives.
Other fields
In political science, the term engineering has been borrowed for the study of the subjects of social engineering and political engineering, which deal with forming political and social structures using engineering methodology coupled with political science principles. Marketing engineering and Financial engineering have similarly borrowed the term.
See also
Lists
Engineering society
List of aerospace engineering topics
List of basic chemical engineering topics
List of electrical engineering topics
List of engineering topics
List of engineers
List of genetic engineering topics
List of mechanical engineering topics
List of nanoengineering topics
List of software engineering topics
Glossaries
Glossary of areas of mathematics
Glossary of biology
Glossary of chemistry
Glossary of engineering
Glossary of physics
Related subjects
Controversies over the term Engineer
Design
Earthquake engineering
Engineer
Engineering economics
Engineering education
Engineering education research
Engineers Without Borders
Forensic engineering
Global Engineering Education
Industrial design
Infrastructure
Mathematics
Open-source hardware
Planned obsolescence
Reverse engineering
Science
Structural failure
Sustainable engineering
Technology
Women in engineering
References
Further reading
External links
Engineering occupations
Ethics
Philosophy of science
Main topic articles |
6076142 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Association%20for%20Software%20Testing | Association for Software Testing | The Association for Software Testing, commonly referred to as the AST, is dedicated to advancing the understanding of the science and practice of software testing according to context-driven principles. AST's membership consists of scholars, students and practitioners who are interested in the advancement of the field of software testing. The group was founded in the United States in 2004 by Cem Kaner.
AST has multiple objectives including:
Fostering cross-pollination of ideas between scholars, students and practitioners.
Hosting an annual conference focused on cross-community information sharing.
Promoting ethical behavior for all software testers.
Supporting peer workshops related to software testing.
Conference
The AST's first conference, named "CAST" for the Conference of the Association for Software Testing, was held in Indianapolis, Indiana in 2006 and had the theme "Influencing the Practice".
CAST 2007 had a theme of "Testing Techniques: Innovations and Applications" and was held in Bellevue, Washington, USA
CAST 2008 had a theme of "Beyond the Boundaries: Interdisciplinary Approaches to Software Testing" and was held in Toronto, Ontario, Canada
CAST 2009 had a theme of "Serving Our Stakeholders" and was held in Colorado Springs, Colorado
CAST 2010 had a theme of "Skills in Testing" and was held in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
CAST 2011 had a theme of "Context-Driven Testing" and was held in Seattle, Washington.
CAST 2012 had a theme of "The Thinking Tester" and was held in San Jose, California.
CAST 2013 had a theme of "Lessons Learned" and was held in Madison, Wisconsin.
CAST 2014 had a theme of "The Art and Science of Testing" and was held in New York City, New York.
CAST 2015 had a theme of "Moving Testing Forward" and was held in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
CAST 2016 had a theme of "Testing: Software Development Catalyst" and was held in Vancouver, Canada
CAST 2017 had a theme of "What the heck do testers really do?" and was held in Nashville, Tennessee, USA
Training
The AST offers a series of online training courses in black box software testing (BBST), based on videos from Florida Institute of Technology's Center for Software Testing Education & Research (CSTER) with additional study aids and support from live instructors.
The initial set of courses enhances materials developed under a series of grants from the National Science Foundation. These materials are used in traditional university courses and in courses for practitioners, such as those offered by AST. The AST courses run 4 weeks each and focus on a single topic or test technique. AST is planning new courses by additional instructors.
See also
Up to date information on the Executive Committee, and Board of Directors can be found here.
External links
Cem Kaner, Rebecca L. Fiedler, & Scott Barber, "Building a free courseware community around an online software testing curriculum." MERLOT conference, Minneapolis, August 2008.
Information technology organizations based in North America
Software testing |
2964515 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Barracuda%20Networks | Barracuda Networks | Barracuda Networks, Inc. is a company providing security, networking and storage products based on network appliances and cloud services. The company's security products include products for protection against email, web surfing, web hackers and instant messaging threats such as spam, spyware, trojans, and viruses. The company's networking and storage products include web filtering, load balancing, application delivery controllers, message archiving, NG firewalls, backup services and data protection.
History
Barracuda Networks was founded in 2003 by Dean Drako (founding CEO), Michael Perone, and Zach Levow; the company introduced the Barracuda Spam and Virus Firewall in the same year. In 2007 the company moved its headquarters to Campbell, California, and opened an office in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
In January 2006, it closed its first outside investment of $40 million from Sequoia Capital and Francisco Partners.
On January 29, 2008, Barracuda Networks was sued by Trend Micro over their use of the open source anti-virus software Clam AntiVirus, which Trend Micro claimed to be in violation of their patent on 'anti-virus detection on an SMTP or FTP gateway'. In addition to providing samples of prior art in an effort to render Trend Micro's patent invalid, in July 2008 Barracuda launched a countersuit against Trend Micro claiming Trend Micro violated several antivirus patents Barracuda Networks had acquired from IBM.
In December 2008, the company launched the BRBL (Barracuda Reputation Block List), its proprietary and dynamic list of known spam servers, for free and public use in blocking spam at the gateway.
Soon after opening BRBL many IP addresses got blacklisted without apparent reason and without any technical explanation.
As of October 2009, Barracuda had over 85,000 customers. As of November, 2011, Barracuda had more than 130,000 customers. As of January, 2014, Barracuda has more than 150,000 customers worldwide.
In 2012, the company became a co-sponsor of the Garmin-Barracuda UCI ProTour cycling team and entitlement sponsor of the 2011 Indianapolis 500 champion Bryan Herta Autosport in the IndyCar Series, with the #98 Lotus driven by Alex Tagliani, who will defend the team's championship.
Barracuda Networks expanded its research and development facility in Ann Arbor to a 12,500 square foot office building on Depot Street in 2008. By 2012, the Michigan-based research division had grown to about 180 employees, again outgrowing its space. In June, 2012, Barracuda signed a lease to occupy the 45,000 square foot office complex previously used as the Borders headquarters on Maynard St in downtown Ann Arbor.
In July 2012, Dean Drako, Barracuda Networks's co-founder, president and CEO since it was founded in 2003, resigned his operating position, remaining on the company's board of directors. At the time of Drako's departure, the company stated it had achieved profitability, a nearly ongoing 30 annual percent growth rate since inception, 150,000 customers worldwide, nearly 1,000 employees, 10 offices, and did business in 80 countries. The company created the office of the CEO as it started a CEO search.
In November 2012, long-time EMC executive William "BJ" Jenkins joined the company as president and CEO. Jenkins worked at EMC since 1998 and most recently served as president of EMC's Backup and Recovery Systems (BRS) Division.
In November 2013, Barracuda Networks went public on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker symbol CUDA.
In March 2015, Barracuda Networks expanded its business to North Asia and was distributed by TriTech Distribution Limited in Hong Kong.
In November 2015, Barracuda added new Next Generation Firewall to its firewall family.
Barracuda has announced future discontinuation of its Copy and CudaDrive services as of May 2016.
In November 2017 Thoma Bravo LLC, a private equity firm, announced they were taking Barracuda Networks private in a $1.6 billion buyout expected to go through in Feb 2018. In February 2018 Thoma Bravo announced that it has completed the acquisition.
Products
In chronological order:
Email Security Gateway - In October 2003, Barracuda announced its spam and virus firewall plug-in appliance. In June 2008, Barracuda launched a spam and virus firewall for large enterprises and ISPs.
Web Security Gateway - In April 2005, the company introduced its web filtering appliance to prevent spyware and viruses from gathering and transmitting user data, and to control web surfing.
Load balancer ADC - In November 2006, the company introduced a load balancing appliance for high availability distribution of network traffic across multiple servers.
Message Archiver - In July 2007, the company introduced message archiving to index and preserve emails, and to meet legal and regulatory compliance.
SSL VPN & Remote Access - In November 2008, the company launched its secure sockets layer virtual private network product to provide secure, clientless, remote access.
Web Application Firewall - Announced in February 2008, for securing Web applications for large enterprises and to address regulation compliance such as PCI DSS.
Link Balancer - Announced in September 2008, to optimize and aggregate internet connections from different providers.
Barracuda Backup - In November 2008, the company announced a service to back up data in the cloud, including on-site backup with data deduplication and off-site data replication for disaster recovery. In January 2009, Barracuda added message-level backup for Microsoft Exchange and Novell GroupWise, integrating Barracuda Backup Service with Yosemite Backup, formerly Tapeware.
Web Security Service - In October 2009, in conjunction with its acquisition of Purewire, Barracuda Networks launched the Purewire Web Security Service which is a software as a service offering for Web filtering, content security, and safe web surfing.
NextGen Firewall - In February 2010, Barracuda announced its NextGen Firewalls to protect enterprise network infrastructures. The firewalls integrate web and email filtering, intrusion prevention, layer 7 application profiling, and network access control into one platform that is centrally managed across multiple distributed enterprise network locations. NextGen Firewalls are available as a hardware appliance, virtual appliance and public cloud instance. The product includes wide area network traffic optimization.
CudaTel Communication Server (PBX) - in August 2010, Barracuda announced the release of CudaTel, a VOIP Private branch exchange designed for IT administrators. CudaTel features FreeSWITCH, an open-source project sponsored by Barracuda Networks.
Copy.com was announced as a cloud storage service in February 2013. The service was discontinued on May 1, 2016.
Barracuda Sentinel - In June 2017, Barracuda launched an artificial intelligence service to prevent spear phishing and cyber fraud.
Barracuda Mobile Device Manager end-of-life was announced in December 2017. The free service was launched in 2014.
Acquisitions
In September 2007, Barracuda Networks acquired NetContinuum, a company providing application controllers to secure and manage enterprise web applications.
In November 2008, Barracuda Networks expanded into cloud-based backup services by acquiring BitLeap.
In November 2008, Barracuda Networks acquired 3SP, allowing the company to introduce Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) Virtual Private Network (VPN) products to allow secure remote access to network file shares, internal Web sites and remote control capabilities for desktops and servers.
In January 2009, Barracuda Networks acquired Yosemite Technologies to add software agents for incremental backups of applications such as Microsoft Exchange Server and SQL Server, and Windows system states.
September 2009, Barracuda Networks acquired controlling interest in phion AG, an Austria-based public company delivering enterprise-class firewalls.
In October 2009, Barracuda Networks acquired Purewire Inc, a software as a service (SaaS) company offering cloud based web filtering and security.
In April 2013, Barracuda Networks acquired SignNow.
In 2014, Barracuda Networks purchased C2C Systems UK.
In October 2015, Barracuda Networks acquired Intronis.
In November 2017, Barracuda purchased Sonian
In November 2017, Barracuda announced that it was being acquired by private equity investment firm Thoma Bravo, LLC.
In January 2018, Barracuda acquired PhishLine.
Controversies
Security Issue
In January 2013, a backdoor was discovered: "A variety of firewall, VPN, and spam filtering gear sold by Barracuda Networks contains undocumented backdoor accounts that allow people to remotely log in and access sensitive information, researchers with an Austrian security firm have warned." The backdoor was then secured shortly after the announcement.
IP reputation and Emailreg.org
On April 13, 2009, Emailreg.org published a notice clarifying that it is a whitelist of domains that had no impact on Barracuda Blog Lists. April 10, 2010 a blog entry appeared alleging that Barracuda Networks SPAM blocking deliberately targets non-spamming IP addresses and tries to get them to sign up for an email whitelisting service "emailreg.org". In 2019 Emailreg.org announced that it was no longer accepting new customers but would continue services for existing customers until further notice. Emailreg.org discontinued services shortly thereafter and is no longer in operation. As of May 2, 2020 the same warning appears for some IP addresses.
See also
Comparison of file hosting services
Comparison of file synchronization software
Comparison of online backup services
References
External links
American companies established in 2003
Companies based in Campbell, California
Networking companies of the United States
Networking hardware companies
Networking software companies
Computer security software companies
Telecommunications equipment vendors
Service-oriented (business computing)
Computer security companies
Firewall software
Spam filtering
Anti-spam
Email
Content-control software
Backup software
Deep packet inspection
Companies formerly listed on the New York Stock Exchange
One-click hosting
Private equity portfolio companies
Software companies established in 2003
2003 establishments in California
2013 initial public offerings
2018 mergers and acquisitions |
465820 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark%20Avenger | Dark Avenger | Dark Avenger was a pseudonym of a computer virus writer from Sofia, Bulgaria. He gained considerable popularity during the early 1990s, as some of his viruses spread not only nationwide but across Europe as well, even reaching the United States and Australia.
Background and origins
In the 1980s and 1990s, Bulgaria had a blooming computer hardware industry specialized in providing large numbers of PCs for educational purposes. Thus, many schools and universities were provided with computers and computer science was a commonly studied subject. This helped foster a certain attitude about computers among that generation.
In April 1988, Bulgaria's trade magazine for computers, Компютър за Вас (Computer for You), issued an article explaining in detail the nature of computer viruses and even methods for writing them. A few months after that, Bulgaria was "visited" by several foreign viruses, namely "Vienna", "Ping Pong", and "Cascade". The interest spawned by both the article and the viruses was huge, and soon young Bulgarian programmers began to search for ways to devise their own viruses.
Soon a wave of Bulgarian viruses erupted, started by the "Old Yankee" and "Vacsina" viruses. Dark Avenger made his first appearance in the spring of 1989.
Viruses
Dark Avenger's first virus appeared in early 1989 and contained the string, "This program was written in the city of Sofia (C) 1988–89 Dark Avenger". Thus, this first virus is usually referred to as "Dark Avenger", eponymous to its author.
It was very infectious: if the virus was active in memory, opening or just copying an executable file was sufficient to infect it. Additionally, the virus also destroyed data, by overwriting a random sector of the disk at every 16th run of an infected program, progressively corrupting files and directories on the disk.
Corrupted files contained the string, "Eddie lives... somewhere in time!"—possibly a reference to Iron Maiden's album Somewhere in Time. Due to its highly infectious nature, the virus spread worldwide, reaching Western Europe, the USSR, the United States, and even East Asia. It even received moderate mention in The New York Times and The Washington Post.
Dutch author Harry Mulisch reported having encountered the virus on his laptop while writing his magnum opus The Discovery of Heaven in his logbook on 21 October 1981 in the 51st chapter of the book, and because of his own and the book’s cabalistic nature, interpreted it as a “favourable sign from higher powers”, and subsequently considered it referring to the raven named Edgar (after Edgar Allen Poe’s short story) which appeared in the corrupted scene of the book, and even considered naming his upcoming son Eduard, after the virus’ output ‘Eddie lives... somewhere in time’, though he eventually named him Menzo instead. A few weeks later, on 16 November he re-encountered the virus, and throughout 23–27 November he eventually had the virus professionally removed.
This virus was soon followed by others, each employing a new clever trick. Dark Avenger is believed to have authored the following viruses: Dark Avenger, V2000 (two variants), V2100 (two variants), 651, Diamond (two variants), Nomenklatura, 512 (six variants), 800, 1226, Proud, Evil, Phoenix, Anthrax, and Leech. As a major means for spreading the source code of his viruses, Dark Avenger used the then popular bulletin board systems.
In its variants, the virus also contained the following strings:
"Zopy (sic) me – I want to travel"
"Only the Good die young..."
"Copyright (C) 1989 by Vesselin Bontchev"
In technical terms, the most prominent feature of some of Dark Avenger's viruses was their polymorphic engine, the Mutation Engine (MtE); MtE could be linked to the plain virus in order to generate polymorphic decrypters. Dark Avenger did not, however, invent polymorphism itself, since this had already been predicted by Fred Cohen and later put into practice by Mark Washburn, in his 1260 virus, in 1990. It wasn't until a year or more later that Dark Avenger's viruses began to employ polymorphic code.
Dark Avenger made frequent attacks on Bulgarian anti-virus researcher Vesselin Bontchev. Such is the case with the viruses V2000 and V2100, which claim to have been written by Bontchev, in an attempt to defame him. This "conflict" between the two has led many to believe that Bontchev and Dark Avenger were intentionally "promoting" each other or that they might even be the same person.
Dark Avenger's actions were not treated as a crime at that time in Bulgaria, since there was no law for information protection.
Identity
The identity of the person behind the pseudonym has never been ascertained. However, a lot can be inferred via various details of the viruses. Additionally, Dark Avenger was the subject of an interview conducted by Sarah Gordon which contains revealing information. Some of Dark Avenger's contemporaries, mainly Vesselin Bontchev, have also shed light on his potential identity.
Dark Avenger may have been a fan of heavy metal music. The string Eddie lives...somewhere in time, which the virus outputs, draws attention. Eddie is the name of the mascot of the heavy metal band Iron Maiden. Additionally, Somewhere in Time is the title of the band's sixth album. Furthermore, in his interview with Gordon, Dark Avenger states that he named himself after "an old song"; Manowar (another heavy metal band) have a song titled Dark Avenger, on their debut album. One of the viruses, Anthrax may have been named after a heavy metal band of the same name.
Some hypothesize that Dark Avenger is Dr. Vesselin Vladimirov Bontchev due to the fact that a "Vesselin Bontchev" was mentioned in a 1989 virus by the Dark Avenger soon after Bontchev had written his doctoral thesis on computer viruses.
Interview with Sarah Gordon
One of the victims of Dark Avenger's viruses was Sarah Gordon, a computer security researcher. Gordon became intrigued with the virus and joined a virus-exchange Bulletin Board System ("BBS") in search of more information. Thus, she randomly came upon Dark Avenger, who was an avid visitor and BBS participant. The two came into contact and maintained it through e-mails for several years. Sarah Gordon later compiled most of these e-mails into a makeshift interview.
The interview offers the best available insight into Dark Avenger's personality and motives, and it contains some valuable information. Dark Avenger had previously stated on several occasions that "destroying data is a pleasure". However, in this "interview", he confesses that he regrets his actions, and that they were not right. The degree to which Dark Avenger exposes himself to Gordon has led many to believe that he held a deep affection for her. He even went as far as devoting one of his viruses to her.
It has been suggested by some virus writers that the Dark Avenger personality was a social experiment and Gordon was the object of a study herself, while helping build the myth. Others have hypothesized that Gordon herself was Dark Avenger.
References
External links
MtE downloads for three of its versions
An interview of the Dark Avenger made by Sarah Gordon
An interview of the Dark Avenger made by Sarah Gordon (another link)
General psychological profile over virus writers I, by Sarah Gordon
General psychological profile over virus writers II, by Sarah Gordon
Many papers on virus writers by Sarah Gordon
Dark Avenger Virus Information
Heart of Darkness, by David S. Bennahum
Living people
Computer viruses
People from Sofia
Bulgarian computer criminals
Year of birth missing (living people) |
38019050 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DHS%20Cyber%20Security%20Division | DHS Cyber Security Division | The Cyber Security Division (CSD) is a division of the Science and Technology Directorate (S&T Directorate) of the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS). Within the Homeland Security Advanced Research Projects Agency, CSD develops technologies to enhance the security and resilience of the United States' critical information infrastructure from acts of terrorism. S&T supports DHS component operational and critical infrastructure protections, including the finance, energy, and public utility sectors, as well as the first responder community.
CSD Mission
Mission statement as defined by S&T Directorate:
The Cyber Security Division's mission is to enhance the security and resilience of the nation's critical infrastructure and the Internet by "developing and delivering new technologies, tool and techniques; conducting and supporting technology transition; and leading and coordinating research and development." The Science and Technology Directorate oversees the work done by the CSD, and clearly defines the CSD's work as a means towards developing the future of cyber security.
Mission statement as defined by DHS:
Enhancing security and resilience of critical infrastructure. By "developing and delivering new technologies, tools and techniques in order for the U.S. to defend, mitigate and secure current and future systems, networks, and infrastructure from cyber-attacks." While conducting and supporting "technology transitions, leading and coordinating research and development (R&D) among the R&D community" (department customers, government agencies, private sector, and international partners). The Department of Homeland Security later defines its own division as more of a way to help defend and protect systems.
Mission statement as defined by Congressional Research Service:
The Cyber Security Division's mission is within the spectrum of "prevention, protection, mitigation, response, and recovery." DHS seeks to assess cyber risks and promote security and resilience of information communication technology (ICT) systems. When an incident occurs, DHS has "capabilities and authorities to provide direct assistance to the victim (both federal and non-federal)." While the Congressional Research Services combines the two and states that the CSD will in the case of an incident have the means towards assisting both public and private sectors.
DHS Cybersecurity Program
Under the Science and Technology Directorate the Department of Homeland Security created its own Cyber Security Division. The division seeks to assist both private and public sectors. The CSD has programs across some current hard problems in information security research. These research programs include and are not limited to "Combating Insider Threats," "Combating Malware and Botnets," and "Identity Management." The CSD's goal is to not only save money and time while meeting DHS critical missions, but to "support S&T with transitioning technologies to operational use." Research in these programs include studying "Social Behavior," "Software Assurance," "Trustworthy Infrastructure." Which are then broken down further into "Usable Cybersecurity," "Cyber Economics Incentives," "Incident Response communities," "Software Quality Assurance and Marketplace," "Securing Protocols," and many more! The CSD recognizes that a failure to respond, creates enormous penalties.
DHS Cybersecurity Strategy
The CSD strategy is to be a lead in cybersecurity research and awareness. The CDS develops and oversees DHS standards that "ensure reliable, interoperable and effective technologies and processes. This includes coordination and representation on a number of standard-setting bodies and organizations." The need to enhance the "efficiency and effectiveness of the U.S. government’s work to protect and secure critical infrastructure." CSD maintains a sense of teamwork in security and risk management across various research programs and partners.
Science & Technology: Cyber Security Division
S&T’s CDS work closely with "DHS components to reduce or mitigate the challenges that DHS faces", and to "help these components execute their programs and systems in the safest, most-efficient, and most cost-effective way." The goal is to make improvements within cybersecurity, as it is a global issue international partners including "Australia, Canada, Japan, the Netherlands, Sweden, and the United Kingdom." All come together to work in "areas such as cyber enomic incentives, software assurance, and modeling of internet attacks."
See also
United States Department of Homeland Security
Computer security
National security
DHS Science and Technology Directorate
Homeland Open Security Technology
References
External links
DHS Cyber Security Division official website
S&T's Website on DHS.gov
S&T's Organizational Chart (May 12, 2011)
S&T's 2011 Strategic Plan
Cybersecurity Resource Links
Cyber Security Division
Computer security organizations |
40567277 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BlackBerry%20Z30 | BlackBerry Z30 | The BlackBerry Z30 is a high-end 4G touchscreen smartphone developed by BlackBerry. Announced on September 18, 2013, it succeeds the Z10 as the second totally touchscreen device to run the BlackBerry 10 operating system (and the first with version 10.2). The Z30 includes a 5-inch 720p Super AMOLED display (built on 86 μm pixel) with "quad-core graphics", speakers and microphones with "Natural Sound" technology, six processor cores (GPU is a Quad-Core Adreno 320, CPU is a dual-core Snapdragon S4 Pro processor, both 1.7 GHz) and a non-removable 2880 mAh battery. The BlackBerry Z30 also uses Paratek Antenna Technology. This refers to the number of proprietary advancements in antenna hardware and tuning technology that is aimed to improve performance especially in regions with low signal.
Features
Operating system and software
The BlackBerry Z30 uses the new BlackBerry 10 mobile operating system based on QNX. The user interface of BB 10 is based on the concept of direct manipulation, using multi-touch gestures. Interaction with the OS includes gestures such as swipe, tap, pinch, and reverse pinch, all of which have specific definitions within the context of the BB10 operating system and its multi-touch interface.
The Z30 comes pre-loaded with: BlackBerry Browser (with Flash Player), BlackBerry Hub, Contacts, BlackBerry Calendar, BBM, Text Messages, BlackBerry World, BlackBerry Remember, Docs To Go (for PowerPoint, Word, Excel), Pictures, Music, Videos, Story Maker, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Foursquare, BlackBerry Maps, Games, YouTube, Voice Control, Weather, Active Frames, Clock, Calculator, Compass, File Manager, Box, BlackBerry Connect for Dropbox, Print To Go, Smart Tags, Settings, Android Runtime, Adobe Reader, Phone, Camera/Video Camera/Time Shift, Setup, Help, SIM Toolkit, Search.
The phone has a mobile hotspot functionality, which supports up to 8 devices, sharing its internet connection. It accesses the BlackBerry World, an online application distribution platform for the BlackBerry OS. The service allows users to browse and download applications, games, music, videos from the BlackBerry World store.
The touchscreen keyboard provides an advanced typing experience. It learns the user's writing style and suggests words to help the user type faster, more accurately and with the least amount of effort.
The BlackBerry Z30 camera contains the same Time Shift feature as the previous models which is described as: "Time Shift mode captures milliseconds before and after your photo—so you can scroll back on the dial to open one friend's eyes and then forward to catch your other friend smiling, before combining it all to create the perfect picture."
The Z30 has Voice Control, that allows the user to operate the phone by spoken commands. Voice Control recognizes natural speech patterns, so that the user can talk naturally and always be understood. It can be used to send messages, compose emails, dictate documents, and search the phone just by speaking to the app.
Availability
The BlackBerry Z30 was first announced on September 18, 2013 in Indonesia.
In Canada, the Z30 became available on October 18, 2013 through Bell Mobility, Telus Mobility, Rogers Wireless (Online Only), SaskTel and MTS Mobility.
In the US, the Z30 first became available on November 14, 2013 through Verizon Wireless.
See also
BlackBerry 10
List of BlackBerry 10 devices
References
Z30
Mobile phones introduced in 2013
Discontinued smartphones |
35486581 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emergency%20communication%20system | Emergency communication system | An emergency communication system (ECS) is any system (typically computer-based) that is organized for the primary purpose of supporting one-way and two-way communication of emergency information between both individuals and groups of individuals. These systems are commonly designed to convey information over multiple types of devices, from signal lights to text messaging to live, streaming video, forming a unified communication system intended to optimize communications during emergencies. Contrary to emergency notification systems, which generally deliver emergency information in one direction, emergency communication systems are typically capable of both initiating and receiving information between multiple parties. These systems are often made up of both input devices, sensors, and output/communication devices. Therefore, the origination of information can occur from a variety of sources and locations, from which the system will disseminate that information to one or more target audiences.
Emergency communication vs. notification
An emergency notification system refers to a collection of methods that facilitate the one-way dissemination or broadcast of messages to one or many groups of people with the details of an occurring or pending emergency situation. Mass automated dialing services such as Cell Broadcast, Reverse 911, as well as common siren systems that are used to alert for tornadoes, tsunamis, air-raid, and other such incidents, are examples of emergency notification systems.
Emergency communication systems often provide or integrate those same notification services but will also include two-way communication—typically to facilitate communications between emergency communications staff, affected people, and first responders. Another distinguishing attribute of the term "communication" may be that it implies the ability to provide detailed and meaningful information about an evolving emergency and actions that might be taken; whereas "notification" denotes a relatively more simplistic one-time conveyance of the existence and general nature of an emergency.
Alternate and related terms
Since there are a collection of related systems used in diverse settings in varying ways, there are numerous terms that are used interchangeably among the entities that use or have a need for emergency communication systems. In most instances, though, these are all used to refer to the same or substantially similar concepts. For example, use of the terms “emergency communications” and “disaster communications” definitively refer to the same concept, with the only potential difference lying in the connotation or emotional meaning.
Emergency Notification
Emergency Notification System
Emergency Notification Service
Emergency Communications
Emergency Communications System
Emergency Communications Service
Emergency Response Software
Unified Emergency Communications
Emergency Warning System
Emergency Management System
Emergency Management Software
Alerting System
Emergency Alert
Emergency Alert System (not to be confused with EAS)
Emergency Alerting System
Notification System
Unified Communication System
Public Mass Notification
Public Notification System
Mass Notification
Mass Notification System
Network-centric emergency notification
Network-Centric Emergency Communication
Unified Emergency Communication System
Disaster Communication System
Emergency Public Warning System
Public Address System (audio)
Audiovisual Public Address System
Intercom System
Public Safety System
Public Security System
Need and limitations
Emergencies place demands on communication processes that are often significantly different from the demands of non-emergency circumstances. Emergencies often involve escalating and evolving events that demand high performance and flexibility from the systems that provide emergency communication services. Message prioritization, automation of communication, fast message delivery, communication audit trails, and other capabilities are often required by each unique emergency situation. Inadequate emergency communications capabilities can have consequences that are inconvenient at best and disastrous at worst.
Depending on the location, time, and nature of the emergency, a large variety of limitations could present themselves when it comes to communicating details of an emergency and any resultant actions that may need to be taken to protect life and property. For example, an audio public address system might be rendered ineffective if the emergency happens to be an explosive event which renders most or all of those affected deaf. Another common example might be the limitation of a fire alarm's siren component in a deaf school. Yet another example of a limitation could be the overloading of public services (such as cellular phone networks), resulting in the delay of vital SMS messages until they are too late, such as occurred during the Boston Marathon bombing.
Attributes
Timeliness and speed of delivery
Emergency systems require timely and quick dissemination in order to mitigate damage or loss of life. During the Virginia Tech massacre, about two hours had passed before the first communication (an email) was sent to staff and students. By that time, the gunman had already entered and secured a building in which he was shortly to begin his attack. It wasn't until about 20 minutes after the shootings began that a loudspeaker announcement was made for people to take cover.
Ease of use
During a crisis, the people who use an ECS need to quickly and easily launch their notifications and they need to be able to do so in a way that securely provides them with confidence and an intuitive, familiar and easy-to-use interface that can be accessed from any location. An emergency communication system that's designed for non-technical users will ensure successful administration and usage; and during some life-threatening emergency situations, campus administrators must be able to react quickly and trigger the alert system swiftly. Yet emergency alert is probably among the least used and least familiar processes. Ease-of-use therefore is critical to the effectiveness of an emergency communication system.
However, in order to support a robust and capable emergency communication ability, this ease of use should not preclude the use of a complex, technologically advanced system. A sufficiently advanced system is required to coordinate multiple components to act in concert, to initiate and propagate emergency communications in any manner of ways. A distinguishing factor is when such a system includes these advanced capabilities, while still being easy for the user to operate. This is important not only for effective emergency communication, but also for an organization to realize the most return on investment, as well as the user being familiar enough with its operation as to effectively operate it under stressful emergency situations, such as in an earthquake or tsunami.
Providing instructions
A clearly needed attribute of any modern emergency communication system is the ability to not only provide notification of an emergency, but to also provide clear and actionable instructions for how to respond to an emergency. In a study by the Rehabilitation Engineering Research Center for Wireless Technologies, it was revealed that regardless of the initial form of notification, a secondary form was necessary before action would be taken. This supports the important observation that providing clear and concise instructions may reduce dependency on such secondary verification; and thus, providing instructions may save lives in an urgent emergency situation.
Specific audiences or recipients
Emergencies often require delivery of different versions of the same communication at the same time. For example, in an armed hostage-taking incident, occupants of a building may need to receive instructions to lock and barricade the door until further notice, while first responders to the incident need to be aware of the lockdown instructions and be provided more specific details of the hostage-taking event to inform their actions.
Using the hostage-taking example, some of the more modern emergency communication systems state the ability to deliver a single message that provides full details to first responders, while filtering that same message to provide more limited instructions to different groups. For example, a specific message could be sent to people in a certain area, in a specific building, or even in a specific department. By using a single message that segregates information between types of users, fewer messages have to be created and sent, which can also save time.
Multiple communication paths/redundancy
There should be multiple means of delivering emergency information so that if one fails, others may get through. Also, according to the Partnership for Public Warning, research shows clearly that more than one channel of communication will be consulted by people at risk in order to confirm the need for action. The public expects to be contacted in a variety of ways. As evidenced by various historical and recent events, besides phone calls and emails, citizens also expect to be able to use and be reached via text messaging, and fax. In one exemplary incident, the 2012 Wisconsin Sikh temple shooting, barricaded victims relied on sending text messages for help, in addition to traditional phone calls. In addition, the public may look to social media as another vehicle to receive messages and check in on updates.
Additionally, the Partnership for Public Warning states, “A single warning is frequently insufficient to move people to action, especially if it cannot be confirmed by direct observation. For most people the first warning received captures their attention and triggers a search for corroboration, but cannot be relied on to elicit the desired behavior. Scientific research supports the common-sense observation that people are disinclined to risk being fooled by a single alarm that might prove false or accidental. Effective warning requires the coordinated use of multiple channels of communication.”
Interoperability
To support these attributes, a "unified" emergency communication system should be able to connect to and communicate with other related systems, hence the term. According to the Partnership for Public Warning, a fundamental problem is the lack of technical and procedural interoperability among warning originators, system providers, delivery systems, and warning recipients. Originators of warnings must undertake expensive, redundant tasks using multiple, dissimilar tools and techniques to take full advantage of today's warning systems.
Also, there are multiple ways that an emergency communication system might obtain an original warning. One example of this might be the case of a building's fire control system dispatching a notice that a smoke detector has activated. A properly designed emergency communication system should be able to receive that notice and process it into a message that the building's occupants can understand and take action on in order to save life and property. Another example might be of the National Weather Service sending an EAS severe weather warning (e.g. via RSS feed or similar). Modern emergency communication systems include the capability to subscribe to such source feeds, so that those responsible for disseminating the message have the most up-to-date information.
The ability to interoperate should also consider the need to be both forward and backward compatible with older and yet-to-be-conceived technologies. Introduction of a system that cannot interoperate with previously deployed equipment creates potentially serious barriers to effective operation.
Affordability
Because of budgetary constraints, for many organizations, the affordability of an emergency communication system can be just as important as the system's capabilities and effectiveness. The purchase and installation of enough emergency communication devices to provide multiple methods of communication to many locations within an organization in order to deliver location-specific instructions and for redundancy can be very expensive. Many organizations, therefore, are looking for more economical emergency communication solutions. Overall, the more affordable it is to procure, install, and maintain an emergency communication system, the more prolific such systems may become, and the more prolific these systems are, the more likely it is that these systems will be available to aid in times of emergency in more locations. According to Federal Signal, beyond supporting emergency response, today's mass notification systems have proven to be a valuable asset for everyday, non-emergency, intra- and inter-plant communications. This has become particularly evident in the deployment of interoperable, multi-device communications technology that not only enhances overall plant communications, but provides a host of useful software-based management and administrative tools. Additionally, many of the more traditional approaches to mass notification, i.e., public address and intercom systems, e-mail, and voice and text messaging, provide everyday functionality for plant communications and process control that represents attractive potential for return on investment.
Product versus service
An emergency communication system may be composed of a product and its associated hardware and software, as owned by the entity using it (e.g., an on-site paging network), or as a service owned and provided by a third-party (e.g., a cellular carrier's SMS network). Each have their own advantages and disadvantages; however, despite perception otherwise, services have some major inherent problems when it comes to effective emergency communications. For instance, using SMS as one example, due to the architecture of cellular networks, text messaging services would not be able to handle a large volume of communications in a short period of time, making this particular type of service a potentially ineffective emergency communication method.
Premises based versus non-premises based
Premises based emergency communication systems are those which primarily or wholly exist in the same geographical or structural area as it serves, while non-premises based emergency communication systems are those which exist in a different geographical or structural area. There are advantages and disadvantages of each. Often, non-premises based systems are slower than those that are premises-based, because at the very least, the different locations need to be connected via (usually public) data networks, which may be susceptible to disruption or delay.
History
With the growth of populations and the evolution of technology, the methods for communicating emergency situations have also changed, as has the definition for what might constitute an “emergency.” These methods would also very likely depend on a particular region's culture and location, as well.
Early systems
In America's formative years, common means of emergency communications may have mostly consisted of church bells being rung or messengers on horseback. Later, as technology developed, the telegraph became a nearly instant method of communicating. From there, radio communications, telephones and sirens became commonplace.
After the surprise attack on Pearl Harbor, by the Japanese in 1941, Civil Defense sirens became popular and resulted in their widespread use in military bases and towns across America. A particular weakness of these systems is that they largely lack the ability to inform people what they should do.
Fire alarm systems were first developed around the late 1800s and other related life-safety detectors associated with those systems (e.g., duct detectors, heat detectors, etc.) were developed around the early 1900s. These constitute the first automated systems used in public and private buildings that are in normal and widespread use today. These systems, although originally designed for fire, have also been used for many other types of emergencies, sometimes effectively and sometimes not. For instance, if a fire alarm has been activated (as a general warning device) during an active shooter incident, the typical reaction to evacuate may not be the safest course of action; instead, a shelter in place action may be better. As an example, during the 2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting, a mass shooting event that happened at the Century 16 movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, the assailant began targeting victims as they attempted to exit the theater; in which case, it would have been unwise to heed the fire alarm, that was sounding, and evacuate.
Modern systems
Today, modern communication tools such as smartphones, flat-panel digital signage, GPS, and text-to-speech (among many others) are changing the way in which people are notified about emergencies. Of added value, with these more modern tools, is the ability to provide more specific instructions. Now, instead of merely notifying people about an emergency, it is possible to provide specific instructions on what to do in order to mitigate the effects of an emergency. Furthermore, those instructions might even be customized for those peoples' specific and unique circumstances. For example, smart-phones may have geo-location abilities that would allow a map to be shown of safe locations (and perhaps routing there-to), relative to those devices' specific users — all with a singular alert being sent as the source of those warnings. Modern implementations directed at personal devices allow for acknowledgement of receipt. This way emergency services can gain insight on message reception and tally users that have reached safety.
Broadcast technologies
Perhaps the oldest or most basic forms of public communication are staples such as over-the-air television, sirens, and radio. More modern components (using the same concept) might include lights and Giant Voice systems. These all have one thing in common: they broadcast indiscriminately to anyone who has the means to receive the message; whether they are simply in the immediate area or require some sort of receiving device.
Broadcast technologies use point-to-point communications methodology and may either require infrastructure or not. Examples of broadcast technologies requiring infrastructure might include such things as Reverse 911 and broadcast-affiliate networks.
Infrastructure-independent
Broadcast technologies that do not depend on man-made infrastructure to convey communication may be least susceptible to disruption during disasters and emergencies. Some examples of infrastructure-independent technologies are:
Short-wave Radio
Short-wave (or Amateur) radio is a relatively long range method of communicating using radio waves. Because of the nature of radio wave propagation, communications made via short-wave radio can be intercepted and heard by anyone with the proper equipment and knowledge. However, due to their reliance only on electrical power (which can be obtained via batteries, solar, and other alternative means) and Earth's ionosphere, they are ideal for some of the worst case emergency scenarios. One disadvantage may be that one requires training and licensing to transmit using a short-wave radio, in many countries.
Two-way Radio
Two-way radio consists of at least two devices (typically portable and hand-held) that are capable of transmitting and receiving communications to each other, using radio waves. Similar to short-wave, this type of communication is also able to be intercepted and heard by anyone with the proper equipment. However, unlike short-wave, this communication equipment is restricted by range (usually several miles, at most), but is relatively simple to operate and the main power source is usually provided by batteries. Two-way radios are in-use by many emergency responders on a daily basis, so they require minimal concentration to operate in the stress of an emergency situation, since the person operating it is already familiar with it. Additionally, many non-professionals may use unlicensed two-way radios, as is common with CB radio, Family Radio Service or PMR446.
Weather Radio
A weather radio is a device which receives normal and emergency weather broadcasts. It may automatically turn on whenever an emergency is eminent or occurring, providing an alarm as well as a description of the situation. Anyone with a weather radio device can receive these broadcasts.
Internet Based Communication
There is increasingly an opportunity to use infrastructure-independent network connection, sometimes called Network-centric emergency notification, for emergency communication. The emergence of initiatives such as Google's Project Loon offer opportunities for networked communication when infrastructure-dependent communication is hindered in emergency situations.
Each device has its own pros and cons given the emergency situation.
Infrastructure-dependent
Broadcast technologies that depend on man-made infrastructure to convey communication are susceptible to disruption if any part of that infrastructure is overloaded, damaged or otherwise destroyed. Some examples of infrastructure-dependent technologies are:
Audio Public Address Systems
A system which can provide audio (usually spoken language) messaging capability, usually consisting of microphone devices, wiring, and speakers installed in public areas of buildings. These systems are typically located indoors or in smaller outdoor areas with multiple speakers, due to their speakers' individual volume being too limited for large areas. Usually connected together by wiring requiring electricity, these systems may be vulnerable to electrical disruption or any other event which results in the wires being severed or disconnected.
WMT Public Address Systems
Wireless Mobile Telephony (WMT) PA Systems refers to PA paging and [intercom] systems that use any form of Wireless Mobile Telephony System such as GSM networks instead of a centralized amplifier to distribute the audio signal to paging locations across a building or campus, or other location. The GSM mobile Networks are used to provide the communication function. At the transmission end, a PSTN Telephone, mobile phone, VOIP phone or any other communication device that can access and make audio calls to a GSM based mobile SIM card can communicate with it. At the receiving end, a GSM transceiver receives these network transmissions and reproduce the analogue audio signal via a Power Amplifier and speaker. The work on this was pioneered by Stephen Robert Pearson of Lancashire, England who successfully applied for and was granted patents for the systems which incorporate control functionality in addition to the audio announcement capabilities. The use of the WMT (GSM) networks means that live announcements can be made from anywhere to anywhere in the world where there is WMT connectivity. The patents cover all forms of WMT i.e. 2G, 3G, 4G ..... xxG. A UK company called Remvox Ltd (REMote VOice eXperience) has been appointed under license to develop and manufacture products based upon this technology.
L.E.D. Electronic Signs
LED electronic signs use light-emitting diodes to display messages when connected over a network to an emergency communication system. LED signs, when deployed in large numbers on a network, can be used as visual alternatives to traditional audio public address systems. LED Signs are able to communicate effectively in loud environments where audio PA systems can be ineffective. When deciding whether or not to include LED electronic signs as part of an emergency communication system, it is important to realize that a lack of hearing-impaired persons does not negate the need for visual signs. Explosions and other events can render many hearing-able people effectively deaf, necessitating the inclusion of a visual alternative to audio PA systems. LED electronic signs have multiple valuable attributes that enhance public communications:
Some emergency communication systems can deliver, share, and prioritize the display of messages on LED signs that have been sent by multiple people and systems.
LED signs, when connected to an emergency communication system, have the ability to project the communication in a specific direction while loud speakers generally radiate communication in many directions.
LED signs are manufactured in a large variety of shapes and sizes, with some models designed specifically for indoor use and very bright models designed for outdoor use.
Because LEDs consume very little electricity, power over Ethernet (PoE) and power over RS232 can be used in conjunction with UPS power located in wiring closets to keep these devices functioning for a significant period of time during a general power outage in a building.
Like audio PA systems, visual PA systems composed of LED signs are network-attached appliances that, unlike computer screen popup messages (more information about this technology, below), text messages, phone calls, etc., represent `Always On` technologies, which can be relied on to deliver the communication in real time without the risk that the device might be off, in use, or out of power.
LED signs are available that can display messages in a single color, red-green-yellow characters, or full color, which allows for color coding of emergency messages when desired. These types of signs can be relatively affordable compared to digital signs and are easy to install, making them a common choice for organizations wishing to use electronic forms of visual communication. Common means of connecting these devices include Ethernet or serial communication cabling.
In combination with audio PA systems, these devices can be used to achieve compliance with the ADA requirements for equal access to communications.
Government, public and private entities may use LED electronic signs for any purpose ranging from advertising to emergency management. For emergency use of these types of signs, it is often necessary to electronically control them in a unified and coordinated manner, using one of or a mixture of specialized hardware and software. There exist at least a few commercial methods that advertise this capability, for example Siemens Sygnal, Inova Solutions, and MessageNet Connections.
Combination Audio/Visual Public Address Devices
Any device which combines the audio capability of a PA system with the visual capability of an electronic sign (usually of the L.E.D. variety). These, too, rely on infrastructure to operate.
Digital Signage
Throughout the first decade of the twenty-first century, plasma televisions and other flat-panel LCD televisions and monitors have become commonplace in businesses, hospitals, schools, post-secondary institutions, government, airports, shopping malls, and financial institutions, etc.; with that prominence, they have begun to play a major role in emergency communications. Similar to combination audio/visual PA devices, yet much more advanced, digital signage monitors are capable of displaying high-resolution videos, pictures, multimedia presentations, text and other high-definition media. Typically digital signage can provide video, audio, presentation graphics and web page content abilities that can support the communication of an emergency. In addition, the graphical multimedia capabilities of digital signage can enable emergency wayfinding or egress routing that can be customized to the event and location of the emergency and the affected people.
Digital signage is often more expensive than relatively simple LED electronic signs, which makes it more sensible to garner as much utility from it as possible for maximum return on investment. Over time, though, this technology has become more affordable, resulting in digital signage being used in more venues, usually for non-emergency purposes such as displaying news, weather, directions, etc. Other emerging uses of digital signage related to emergency communication systems include: displaying building floorplans, maps, evacuation routes, and first responder situational awareness (such as showing a firefighter where a fire has been detected).
Emergency communication systems and digital signage are integrated in many verticals including outdoor, in retail spaces, in hospitals and clinics. More recently, smart city companies are using prominent screens around the urban landscape to convey critical messages to the city's population. These emergency systems have technical integrations where the emergency message will interrupt and override any advertisements currently playing or scheduled.
Giant Voice Systems
A system focused on providing auditory messaging capability for large outdoor areas, being able to project voice and sounds over large distances, without the need for a large number of speakers. These systems are commonly used on military bases and chemical manufacturing plants, for example. These technologies allow specific instructions to be broadcast over a large area, however they may be subject to substantial echo and weather-related effects; and furthermore, environmental noise may interfere with their effectiveness. This forces unnatural speech, on the part of the warning originator, and may render the communication difficult for the listener to comprehend. This fact has prompted some to primarily rely on tones and coded signals that the audience must be familiar with in advance. Even though these can be heard over a large area, the high-powered speakers require a connection to the communication originator via some sort of infrastructure, meaning they might have a certain level of vulnerability to disruption in the collection infrastructure. The alternative to the use of Giant Voice systems is to deploy large arrays of smaller lower power speakers, this approach also allows for greater specificity of message by location. When properly synchronized these speaker arrays can deliver more comprehensible speech, however these arrays will involve larger amounts of supporting infrastructure. Siemens and Federal Signal are two of the major commercial providers of Giant Voice systems being actively deployed at military bases, government facilities and industry, currently; with Federal Signal being one of the first providers of these types of systems, after the Pearl Harbor attack.
Communication devices
There are two major types of communication devices: those for individual people and those for groups of people. Public communication devices are designed to deliver a communication to more than one person as a simultaneous single process. Examples include a digital electronic sign, a loud speaker that is part of a PA system, or a large flat panel display on a wall. A private communication device is a device that is designed to deliver a communication to one person at a time through a single process. Typically, a single person is in control of such a device which is usually not shared. Examples include a cell phone, a text message on the cell phone, an email, or a message over a 2-way radio.
Public and shared devices
Public communication refers to the conveyance of messages to people, in such a way that anyone may receive the communication at nearly the same time as anyone else, typically using a common device. The most common way of facilitating public communications is by using devices that are incorporated into some public venue, such as public-address systems or digital signage. Using public devices for the purpose of public warning empowers people at risk to take actions to reduce losses from natural hazards, accidents, and acts of terrorism.
Private devices
"Private" means the delivery of messages to a specific individual, in a private manner or in such a way that even those nearby may not get the message. Common ways of facilitating private communications involve devices such as telephones or electronic mail.
Mobile phones
Mobiles phones may be considered a private communication device, because they are usually associated with or owned by a single individual. One possible limitation of using mobile phones for emergency communications, in a bomb-threat situation, for example, might include the potential of cellular networks being disabled for fear that a bomb might be detonated using a cellular phone. They also provided wide array of apps that can help in emergency communications.
Line-based phones
These phones, in whole or in part (e.g. a cordless telephone with base station), are physically connected to and rely upon a wire (often called a landline) to operate. As with mobile phones, these are often associated with a single person, family or business. Regardless, this method may be considered private due to a single phone device’s inherent weakness in reaching large numbers of people at the same time.
SMS/Text messaging
SMS text messages should be considered a type of private communication because they are directed toward a specific mobile phone number; and, thus, they are designed to reach one person at a time without the general public knowing anything about the message. A limitation in using SMS messaging for emergencies might be that it doesn't meet the needs of emergency communication: that is, it must be highly reliable, be secure, have excellent access control, and high-speed delivery.
Social Media - Syndicated Emergency Communications
Twitter is an online social networking and micro-blogging service using SMS text messaging. While it wasn't intended or designed for high performance communication, the idea that it could be used for emergency communication certainly was not lost on the originators, who knew that the service could have wide-reaching effects early on, when the San-Francisco, California-based company used it to communicate during earthquakes.
Facebook may have potential for emergency communication, as it has a large involved user-base.
Electronic mail
Email should be considered a type of private communication because it is sent to a specific email address, which is associated with a person. Emails can be sent to multiple people, but even this results in multiple individual copies of the email that are ultimately sent to their individual recipients.
Emergency-oriented instant messengers and computer screen pop-ups
Personal computer instant messengers have become popular and inexpensive technologies by which to deliver emergency communications to broad or specific audiences in a short period of time. With this technology, emergency communications will "pop up" on the personal computer screens as a new window that sits on top of any other window that may be open on the screen at the time. This technology uses LAN and/or WAN networks to deliver short messages, often less than about 120 characters in length, typically in real time. The speed of modern LAN and WAN technologies and the shortness of such messages makes it possible to deliver emergency messages to thousands of computer screens in less than a minute's time.
In private communications, a computer pop-up can be targeted to a specific user, i.e. one that is logged into the computer or is associated with that computer in some way. The emergency communication system should be able to define the relationship between the user and his or her computer. A potential limitation of this is that if a user is not logged in, then the operating system may not allow any messages to display.
In the case of public-oriented emergency communications, a computer pop-up ability might prove useful for public computers or interactive kiosks where more than one person might use it, or for computers with displays that are in prominent locations. In this case, the pop-up might also need to be easily read from a distance, and be able to get attention — similar to how a digital sign may be used. These might be structured as a notification window with static non-moving text, or as a window with scrolling text.
Emergency communications may require certain attributes that are not commonly found in standard instant messengers; here is a list of attributes that may prove valuable to emergency-oriented instant messengers:
Prevents the user from killing the program, which would prevent the delivery of emergency messages.
Delivers emergency messages in a large font that can be easily read a substantial distance from the screen.
Scrolls the message across the screen to attract attention and to ensure that the entire message can be displayed without any user effort. Scrolling the message may also allow for the use of a large font and readability from a distance.
Non-chat-oriented, ensuring that the software will be set up for a large scrolling font.
Supports many priorities for messages, ensuring that emergency messages are not lost in the crowd of common messages that may appear in the computer screen.
Supports a non-counterfeit-able signature as part of the message to insure the recipient that the communication can be trusted and that it comes from a known authority.
Supports both one-to-one and one to many communication.
Emergency-oriented instant messenger requires that the sender of the message have the ability to update messages that are appearing on users PC screens without the recipient needing to take any action.
The sender of an emergency message must have the ability to terminate the display (remove) a message from display on all of the screens that display the message by closing the window in which it is displayed.
Supports communications to arbitrary groups of PC, by lists of PC, by lists of users, and by IP address ranges. Each of these addressability options are optimal in specific circumstances and reduce the labor of administration.
Using instant messaging for emergency communications may also present some limitations:
If the PC is not connected to the network, it will not display the message. This means that the network is another potential point of failure.
If the PC is logged off or if the screen saver is active and requires a password to access the screen, then conventional knowledge posits that it will prevent the delivery of the emergency message.
In addition to some well-known instant messengers, for example ICQ and AIM, a variety of specialized instant messengers exist that are intended for use in emergency communications. The commercially-available products sold by RedAlert and Desktop Alert are examples of specialized instant messengers that claim to provide a relatively narrow set of message delivery capabilities within a smaller subset of an overall ECS. Other commercial offerings MessageNet Connections, React Systems, and Siemens Sygnal also provide instant messengers that are sold to be used in conjunction with other communication equipment such as phones, and digital signage as part of an integrated and whole emergency communication system.
Case studies, failures and successes
New York City World Trade Center attack
During the September 11 attack in 2001, traditional telecommunications were stretched and overloaded. Phone networks along the entire East Coast were congested into uselessness. 911 operators were overwhelmed with calls and could do little more than offer encouragement because of the confusing information they were receiving. Communications between emergency services personnel were limited by a lack of interoperability between departments. Many fire-fighters died when the towers collapsed because they couldn't receive the warning that the police officers received from the New York City Police Department (NYPD) helicopters. Amateur radio played a large role in facilitating communications between the various emergency departments, which operated on different frequencies and protocols.
London Underground bombings
On the day of the 7 July 2005 London bombings, mobile phone networks, including Vodafone, reached full capacity and were overloaded by 10:00 a.m., only an hour and ten minutes after the bombs went off. Because of an antiquated radio system, the damaged trains were unable to communicate with the Transport for London control center or emergency personnel, while senior emergency services managers, of the London Ambulance Service in particular, were forced to rely on the already overloaded mobile phone network because of the lack of digital radios. The Access Overload Control, implemented only in a 1 km area around Aldgate Tube Station, wasn't helpful because many officials didn't have ACCOLC-enabled mobile phones. In the aftermath, the London Assembly determined the need for a digital radio communications system in London that can operate underground.
2011 Joplin, Missouri tornado
161 people were killed and at least 990 injured when an EF5 multiple-vortex tornado hit Joplin, Missouri. Because Joplin is located in a tornado-prone area of the country, many people considered the tornado sirens routine and ignored them. Instead, many residents waited until they received confirmation from another, non-routine, source, such as seeing the tornado, a radio or TV report, or hearing a second siren. In the aftermath, an assessment team recommended that emergency warnings take risk perception into account to convey a sense of urgency. NOAA Officials are considering ways to change the warning system to distinguish smaller tornadoes from more deadly ones.
Hurricane Katrina
When Hurricane Katrina, a Category 5 hurricane, hit New Orleans, the emergency communications systems were completely destroyed, including power stations, internet servers, mobile phone towers, and 911 services. The Federal relief workers' satellite phones weren't interoperable, even when they did work. A few AM radio stations were able to continue broadcasting throughout the storm, notably WWL Radio, which remained on the air by broadcasting from a closet. Amateur radio was instrumental in the rescue process and maintained signals when 911 communications were damaged or overloaded.
Virginia Tech shootings
The Virginia Tech shooting, which resulted in the death of 33 people, helped propel discourse for effective emergency communication systems in schools. Virginia Tech had systems already in place, including e-mail and text notifications, but lacked a cohesive plan for using them. No warnings were sent out until after the event, two and a half hours after the initial shootings. Virginia Tech has since updated its emergency communications systems, especially public ones, since students can't always check e-mail in a timely fashion and professors often request that wireless devices be turned off in class. Because the massacre occurred within a 10-minute period, other schools have also implemented new, improved emergency communications systems with an emphasis on speed of communication.
2011 Tōhoku earthquake
The Japan Meteorological Agency's (JMA) early warning system, which uses seismometers, was able to alert millions of people across Japan about the impending earthquake via radio, mobile phone networks, including Docomo, AU, and SoftBank, and television, including both NHK channels and cable channels. The tsunami warning system alerted people shortly after, although the tsunami was larger than expected. In areas with infrastructure still intact, even though both landline and mobile phone lines were not functioning as might be expected, the Internet was still accessible. In the hardest hit areas, particularly Sendai and other areas of Miyagi, Iwate, and Fukushima Prefectures, satellite phones were often the only form of communication that functioned reliably. The following nuclear disaster at the Fukushima Daiichi Plant was rife with communications problems. No communications plan was in place, internal communications were poor, external communications were slow, and the public quickly lost confidence in TEPCO and the nuclear industry. The primary criticism was a failure of the government to release accurate information about the disaster. Calls were made for more transparency and promptness with future events.
2012 Aurora, Colorado shooting
During the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado, on July 20, 2012, the gunman, James Eagan Holmes, released tear gas before opening fire during a showing of The Dark Knight Rises, causing many of the moviegoers to mistake the attack for part of the film's special effects. According to preliminary reports, the suspect initially went into the theater as a patron. He then exited and propped open an emergency exit, while he went to his car to get his bulletproof vest and weapons. He then attacked after reentry through the propped-open door. In this type of situation, there could have been considerable warning. Technology exists that can warn about open doors (such as an emergency door that shouldn't normally be open), and can send clear warning and instructions to any number of devices, including a movie screen. There is also a significant opportunity to consider the use of the theater's fire alarm system. Shortly after the assailant began shooting, the building's fire alarms were sounded. The natural inclination, in response to a fire alarm, would be to evacuate the building, but in this case, the assailant was specifically targeting people who attempted to exit.
Hurricane Sandy
Hurricane Sandy hit New York City, New Jersey, and the surrounding area on October 29, 2012, destroying thousands of houses and leaving millions without electricity and thus without internet, mobile phones, or landline communications. To prepare for the hurricane, many areas provided additional emergency help lines in case 911 wasn't available, The Federal Emergency Management Agency has strengthened its ability to respond to a disaster since the communications problems during Hurricane Katrina and using Twitter in its rescue efforts, and amateur radio operators were on standby to provide emergency communications. In the aftermath, up to 25% of mobile phone towers, network providers, and television stations were powerless. Communications have been steadily improving, however, although the hardest hit areas are still experiencing serious power outages.
Hurricane Harvey
Hurricane Harvey hit the coast of Texas, causing devastation upon landfall and massive flooding in Houston after meandering through Eastern Texas over the course of four days. While organizations like the Salvation Army and American Red Cross contributed to the disaster relief process, H.E.B., a regional grocery chain, was also able to assist by using its emergency notification system to identify employees who were in need of assistance, and those available to help. H.E.B. was able to accomplish this by using its emergency notification system, AlertMedia, which it has used since 2017. H.E.B. deployed mobile kitchens and giant water coolers to the affected community in the days following the hurricane.
Stoneman Douglas High School Shooting
A gunman opened fire at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Florida, on February 14, 2018. The shooter pulled the fire alarm in order to lure students and staff members out into the hallways, which caused some confusion among students and staff members, because there had been a fire drill earlier that same day, and shortly after the shooting began, a staff member activated a code red lockdown. There was also confusion because of the contradictory instructions coming from the emergency communication system, the fire alarm instructing students to evacuate while the PA system instructed them to lock down and stay where they were. Seventeen students and staff members were killed in the shooting, and a further seventeen were injured. This incident prompted students to found Never Again MSD and demand firearm legislation from lawmakers.
See also
Emergency notification system
Common Alerting Protocol
Civil defense siren
Public safety network
Office of Emergency Management
Emergency management
Emergency management information system
Emergency management software
Emergency control centre
References
Emergency population warning systems
Articles containing video clips |
481515 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20Nokia%20products | List of Nokia products | The following is a list of products branded by Nokia.
Current products and services
Products by Nokia Technologies
Wi-Fi routers
Nokia WiFi Beacon 1
Nokia WiFi Beacon 3
Digital audio
Nokia OZO Audio
Smart TVs
Nokia markets smart TVs that run on Android TV.
Nokia Smart TV 55 inch
Nokia Smart TV 43 inch (to be launched on June 4, 2020)
Products by Nokia Networks
Nokia Networks is a multinational data networking and telecommunications equipment company headquartered in Espoo, Finland and wholly owned subsidiary of Nokia Corporation.
The list of products is available here: Nokia Networks - Solutions, Services & Products
HMD Global products
HMD Global develops devices under the Nokia brand. The company has signed a deal with Nokia allowing it to use the Nokia brand for its devices.
Smartphones (Android One)
Nokia 9 PureView
Nokia 8.3 5G
Nokia 8.1 (released in China as Nokia X7)
Nokia 8 Sirocco
Nokia 8
Nokia 7.2
Nokia X71 (available in Taiwan & China only)
Nokia 7.1
Nokia 7 Plus
Nokia 7 (available in China only)
Nokia 6.2
Nokia 6.1 Plus (released in China as Nokia X6)
Nokia 6.1
Nokia 6
Nokia 5.4
Nokia 5.3
Nokia 5.1 Plus (released in China as Nokia X5)
Nokia 5.1
Nokia 5
Nokia 4.2
Nokia 3.4
Nokia 3.2
Nokia 3.1 Plus
Nokia 3.1
Nokia 3
Nokia 2.4
Nokia 2.3
Nokia 2.2
Nokia 2.1
Nokia 2
Nokia 1.4
Nokia 1.3
Nokia 1 Plus
Nokia 1
Nokia X20
Nokia X10
Nokia G20
Nokia G10
Nokia C30
Nokia C20
Nokia C10
Nokia C5 Endi
Nokia C3
Nokia C2 Tava / Tennen
Nokia C2
Nokia C1 Plus
Nokia C1
Tablets
Nokia T20
Feature phones
Nokia 8110 4G
Nokia 8000 4G
Nokia 6310 (2021)
Nokia 6300 4G
Nokia 5310 (2020)
Nokia 3310 (2017)
Nokia 2720 Flip
Nokia 800 Tough
Nokia 230
Nokia 225 4G
Nokia 220 4G
Nokia 216
Nokia 215 4G
Nokia 210 (2019)
Nokia 150 (2020)
Nokia 150
Nokia 130 (2017)
Nokia 125
Nokia 110 4G
Nokia 110 (2019)
Nokia 106 (2018)
Nokia 105 4G
Nokia 105 (2019)
Nokia 105 (2017)
Nokia 105 (2015)
Operating systems
Series 20
Series 30
Series 30+
Series 40
Series 60
Series 80
Series 90
Smart Feature OS
KaiOS
Past products and services
Mobile phones
Note:
Phones in boldface are smartphones
Status: D = discontinued; P = in production; C = cancelled
The Mobira/Nokia series (1982–1990)
The earliest phones produced by Nokia. These all use 1G networks.
Original series (1992–1999)
The last 1G phones by Nokia.
4-digit series (1992–2010, 2017–Present)
Nokia 1xxx – Ultrabasic series (1992–2010)
The Nokia 1000 series include Nokia's most affordable phones. They are mostly targeted towards developing countries and users who do not require advanced features beyond making calls and SMS text messages, alarm clock, reminders, etc.
Out of all of these phones, the Nokia 1680 classic has the most features.
Nokia 2xxx – Basic series (1994–2010, 2019–Present)
Like the 1000 series, the 2000 series are entry-level phones. However, the 2000 series generally contain more advanced features than the 1000 series; many 2000 series phones feature color screens and some feature cameras, Bluetooth and even A-GPS, GPS such as in the case of the Nokia 2710.
Nokia 3xxx – Expression series (1997–2009, 2017–Present)
The Nokia 3000 series are mostly mid-range phones targeted towards the youth market. Many of these models included youthful designs to appeal to the teen market, unlike the 6000-series which were more conservatively styled to appeal to business users, and the 7000-series which were usually more feminine and mature in design to appeal to fashionable women.
Nokia 4xxx
The Nokia 4000 series was officially skipped as a sign of deference from Nokia towards East Asian customers.
Nokia 5xxx – Active series (1998–2010, 2020–Present)
The Nokia 5000 series is similar in features to the 3000 series, but often contains more features geared toward active individuals. Many of the 5000 series phones feature a rugged construction or contain extra features for music playback.
Nokia 6xxx – Classic Business series (1995–2010, 2020–present)
The Nokia 6000 series is Nokia's largest family of phones. It consists mostly of mid-range to high-end phones containing a high number of features. The 6000 series is notable for their conservative, unisex designs, which make them popular among business users.
Nokia 6136 UMA is the first mobile phone to include Unlicensed Mobile Access. Nokia 6131 NFC is the first mobile phone to include Near Field Communication.
Nokia 7xxx – Fashion and Experimental series (1999–2010)
The Nokia 7000 series is a family of Nokia phones with two uses. Most phones in the 7000 series are targeted towards fashion-conscious users, often with feminine styling to appeal to women. Some phones in this family also test features. The 7000 series are considered to be a more consumer-oriented family of phones when contrasted to the business-oriented 6000 series. The family is also distinguished from the 3000-series phones as being more mature and female-oriented, while the 3000-series was largely targeted towards the youth market.
The 7110 was the first Nokia phone with a WAP browser. WAP was significantly hyped up during the 1998–2000 Internet boom. However WAP did not meet these expectations and uptake was limited. Another industry first was the flap, which slid from beneath the phone with a push from the release button. Unfortunately the cover was not too durable. The 7110 was also the only phone to feature a navi-roller key.
The 7250i was a slightly improved version of the Nokia 7250. It includes XHTML and OMA Forward lock digital rights management. The phone has exactly the same design as the 7250. This phone is far more popular than the 7250 and has been made available on pre-paid packages and therefore it is very popular amongst youths in the UK and other European countries.
The 7510 Supernova was a phone exclusive to T-Mobile USA. Only some units of this model have Wi-Fi chips with UMA. The Wi-Fi adapter on this phone supports up to WPA2 encryption if present. This phone uses Xpress-On Covers.
The 7650 was the first Series 60 smartphone of Nokia. It was quite basic compared to smartphones, it didn't have MMC slot, but it had a camera.
The 7610 was Nokia's first smartphone featuring a megapixel camera (1,152x864 pixels), and is targeted towards the fashion conscious individual. End-users can also use the 7610 with Nokia Lifeblog. Other pre-installed applications include the Opera and Kodak Photo Sharing. It is notable for its looks, having opposite corners rounded off. It comes with a 64 MB Reduced Size MMC. The main CPU is an ARM compatible chip (ARM4T architecture) running at 123 MHz.
The 7710's 640x320 screen was a touch screen phone.
Nokia 8xxx – Premium series (1996–2007, 2018–present)
This series is characterized by ergonomics and attractiveness. The internals of the phone are similar to those in different series and so on that level offer nothing particularly different, however the physical handset itself offers a level of functionality which appeals to users who focus on ergonomics. The front slide keypad covers offered a pseudo-flip that at the time Nokia were unwilling to make. Materials used increased the cost and hence exclusivity of these handsets.
The only exception to the rule (there are many in different series) is the 82xx and 83xx which were very small and light handsets.
Nokia 9xxx – Communicator series (1996–2007)
The Nokia 9000 series was reserved for the Communicator series, but the last Communicator, the E90 Communicator, was an Eseries phone.
Lettered series: C/E/N/X (2005–2011)
Cseries (2010–2011)
The Nokia Cseries is an affordable series optimized for social networking and sharing. The range includes a mix of feature phones running Series 40 and some smartphones running Symbian.
C1-00 and C2-00 are dual SIM phones, but with Nokia C1-00 both SIM cards cannot be utilized at the same time.
Eseries (2006–2011)
The Nokia Eseries is an enterprise-class series with business-optimized products. They are all smartphones and run on Symbian.
Nseries (2005–2011)
The Nseries are highly advanced smartphones, with strong multimedia and connectivity features and as many other features as possible into one device.
Note:
Although part of the Nseries, the Nokia N800 and N810 Internet Tablets did not include phone functionality. See the Internet Tablets section.
The N950 was meant to be the N9-00 with the old N9 'Lankku' being N9-01, however the N9-00 model number was used for the all touch 'Lankku' with the original design being the MeeGo developer-only N950.
Xseries (2009–2011)
The Nokia Xseries targets a young audience with a focus on music and entertainment. Like the Cseries, it is a mix of both Series 30/40/ feature phones and Series 60/Symbian smartphones.
3-digit series Symbian phones (2011–2012)
Since the Nokia 500, Nokia has changed the naming rule for Symbian^3 phones.
Worded series: Asha/Lumia/X (2011–2014)
Asha (2011–2014)
The Nokia Asha series is an affordable series optimized for social networking and sharing, meant for first time users. All phones run Series 40 except Asha 230 and 50x phones, which run on the Nokia Asha platform.
Lumia (2011–2014)
Lumia is a series of smartphones running Windows Phone. It also includes the Nokia Lumia 2520, a Windows RT-powered tablet computer. The series was sold to Microsoft in 2014 who branded these products under the name Microsoft.
Devices with Microsoft branding are not listed here.
X Family (2014)
The Nokia X family is a range of Android smartphones from Nokia. These were the first ever Nokia phones to run on Google's Android OS.
3-digit series feature phones (2011–)
Those phones are entry-level, classic mobile phones platform (with relatively long work on battery). The series was sold in 2014 to Microsoft which continued branding these products under Nokia. Microsoft sold this series to HMD Global in 2016 which also continues branding these products under Nokia.
Other phones
N-Gage – Mobile gaming devices (2003–2004)
PCMCIA Cardphones (2001–2003)
Concept phones
Nokia developed a phone concept, never realised as a working device, in the 2008 Nokia Morph.
Tablets
Nokia N1
VR cameras
Nokia OZO
Health
The Digital Health division of Nokia Technologies bought the following personal health devices from Withings in 2016. The division was sold back to Withings in 2018.
Nokia Steel
Nokia Steel HR
Nokia Body/Body+/Body Cardio
Nokia Go
Nokia Sleep
Nokia BPM/BPM+
Nokia Thermo
Nokia Home
Services
After the sale of its mobile devices and services division to Microsoft, all of the below services were either discontinued or spun off.
Consumer services
Accounts & SSO
Club Nokia
Maliit
Mobile Web Server
MOSH
Nokia Accessibility
Nokia Browser for Symbian
Nokia Car App
Nokia Care
Nokia Conference
Nokia Business Center
Nokia Download!
Nokia Life
Nokia Lifeblog
Nokia Mail and Nokia Chat
Nokia MixRadio
Nokia Motion Data
Nokia Motion Monitor
Nokia network monitor
Nokia Pure
Nokia Sensor
Nokia Sports Tracker
Nokia Sync
Nokia Xpress
OFono
OTA bitmap
Ovi
Plazes
Smart Messaging
Twango
WidSets
Nokia imaging apps
Nokia Camera
Nokia Cinemagraph
Nokia Creative Studio
Nokia Glam Me
Nokia Panorama
Nokia Refocus
Nokia Share
Nokia Smart Shoot
Nokia Storyteller
Nokia PhotoBeamer
Nokia Play To
Nokia Storyteller
Nokia Video Director
Nokia Video Trimmer
Nokia Video Tuner
Nokia Video Upload
Navigation apps
Boston University JobLens
HERE.com
HERE Maps
HERE Map Creator
HERE Drive
HERE Transit
HERE City Lens
Nokia Internships Lens
Nokia JobLens
Nokia Point & Find
Desktop apps
Nokia Software Recovery Tool
Nokia Software Updater
Nokia Suite
Nokia PC Suite
Humanitarian services
Nokia Data Gathering
Nokia Education Delivery
Nokia Mobile-Mathematics
Developer tools
Nokia DVLUP
Python
Websites
Dopplr
Nokia Beta Labs
Nokia Conversations
Nokia Discussions
Noknok.tv
Video gaming
Bounce
N-Gage
Nokia Climate Mission
Nokia Climate Mission 3D
Nokia Game
Nokia Modern Mayor
Snake
Space Impact
Operating systems
Series 30
Series 30+
Series 40
Symbian
S60, formerly Series 60
Series 80
Series 90
Linux-based
Maemo
MeeGo
Nokia Asha platform
Nokia X platform
Security
IP appliances run Nokia IPSO FreeBSD based operating system, work with Check Point's firewall and VPN products.
Nokia IP 40
Nokia IP 130
Nokia IP 260
Nokia IP 265
Nokia IP 330
Nokia IP 350
Nokia IP 380
Nokia IP 390 (EU Only)
Nokia IP 530
Nokia IP 710
Nokia IP 1220
Nokia IP 1260
Nokia IP 2250
Nokia Horizon Manager
Nokia Network Voyager
In 2004, Nokia began offering their own SSL VPN appliances based on IP Security Platforms and the pre-hardened Nokia IPSO operating system. Client integrity scanning and endpoint security technology was licensed from Positive Networks.
Nokia 50s
Nokia 105s
Nokia 500s
Internet Tablets
Nokia's Internet Tablets were designed for wireless Internet browsing and e-mail functions and did not include phone capabilities. The Nokia N800 and N810 Internet Tablets were also marketed as part of Nseries. See the Nseries section.
Nokia 770 Internet Tablet
Nokia N800 Internet Tablet
Nokia N810 Internet Tablet
Nokia N810 WiMAX Edition
The Nokia N900, the successor to the N810, has phone capabilities and is not officially marketed as an Internet Tablet, but rather as an actual Nseries smartphone.
ADSL modems
Nokia M10
Nokia M11
Nokia M1122
Nokia MW1122
Nokia M5112
Nokia M5122
Nokia Ni200
Nokia Ni500
GPS products
Nokia GPS module LAM-1 for 9210(i)/9290 Communicator
Nokia 5140 GPS Cover
Nokia Bluetooth GPS module LD-1W
Nokia Bluetooth GPS module LD-3W*
Nokia Bluetooth GPS Module LD-4W
Navigation Kit for Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, including LD-3W GPS receiver and software
Nokia 330 Navigator, that supports an external TMC module.
Nokia 500 Navigator
WLAN products
Nokia A020 WLAN access point
Nokia A021 WLAN access point/router
Nokia A032 WLAN access point
Nokia C020 PC card IEEE 802.11 2 Mbit/s, DSSS (produced by Samsung)
Nokia C021 PC card, with external antenna
Nokia C110 PC card IEEE 802.11b 11 Mbit/s
Nokia C111 PC card, with external antennas
Nokia MW1122 ADSL modem with wireless interface
Nokia D211 WLAN/GPRS PC card
Digital television
Nokia DBox
Nokia DBox2
Nokia Mediamaster 9200 S
Nokia Mediamaster 9500 S
Nokia Mediamaster 9500 C
Nokia Mediamaster 9600 S
Nokia Mediamaster 9600 C
Nokia Mediamaster 9610 S
Nokia Mediamaster 9800 S
Nokia Mediamaster 9850 T
Nokia Mediamaster 9900 S
Nokia Mediamaster 110 T
Nokia Mediamaster 210 T
Nokia Mediamaster 221 T
Nokia Mediamaster 230 T
Nokia Mediamaster 260 T
Nokia Mediamaster 260 C
Nokia Mediamaster 310 T
Military communications and equipment
Nokia has developed the Sanomalaitejärjestelmä ("Message device system") for the Finnish Defence Forces. It includes:
Sanomalaite M/90
Partiosanomalaite
Keskussanomalaite
For the Finnish Defence forces Nokia manufactured also:
AN/PRC-77 portable combat-net radio transceiver (under licence, designated LV 217)
M61 gas mask
Telephone switches
Nokia DX 200
Nokia DX 220
Nokia DX 220 Compact
Computers
Minicomputers
Nokia designed and manufactured a series of mini-computers starting in 1970s. These included the Mikko series of minicomputers intended for use in the finance and banking industry, and the MPS-10 minicomputer that was extensively based the Ada programming language and was widely used in major Finnish banks in the late 1980s.
Personal computers
In the 1980s, Nokia's personal computer division Nokia Data manufactured a series of personal computers by the name of MikroMikko. The MikroMikko series included the following products and product series.
Nokia's PC division was sold to the British computer company ICL in 1991. In 1990, Fujitsu had acquired 80% of ICL plc, which throughout the decade became wholly the part of Fujitsu. Personal computers and servers were marketed under the ICL brand; the Nokia MikroMikko line of compact desktop computers continued to be produced at the Kilo factories in Espoo, Finland. Components, including motherboards and Ethernet network adapters were manufactured locally, until production was moved to Taiwan. Internationally the MikroMikko line was marketed by Fujitsu as the ErgoPro.
In 1999, Fujitsu Siemens Computers was formed as a joint venture between Fujitsu Computers Europe and Siemens Computer Systems, wherein all of ICL's hardware business (except VME mainframes) was absorbed into the joint venture. On 1 April 2009, Fujitsu bought out Siemens' share of the joint venture, and Fujitsu Siemens Computers became Fujitsu Technology Solutions. Fujitsu continues to manufacture computers in Europe, including PC mainboards developed and manufactured in-house.
Mini laptops
On 24 August 2009, Nokia announced that they will be re-entering the PC business with a high-end mini laptop called the Nokia Booklet 3G. It was discontinued a few years later.
Computer displays
Nokia produced CRT and early TFT LCD Multigraph displays for PC and larger systems application. The Nokia Display Products' branded business was sold to ViewSonic in 2000.
Others
During the 1990s, Nokia divested itself of the industries listed below to focus solely on telecommunications.
Aluminium
Communications cables
Capacitors
Chemicals
Electricity generation machinery
Footwear (including Wellington boots)
Military technology and equipment
Paper products
Personal computers
Plastics
Robotics
Televisions
Tires (car and bicycle)
See also
Nokian Footwear
Nokian Tyres
Nokia phone series
History of mobile phones
List of Motorola products
List of Sony Ericsson products
References
External links
Nokia – Phone Software Update
Nokia
Nokia services
Nokia
Nokia
Lists of mobile computers |
1252448 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web%20engineering | Web engineering | The World Wide Web has become a major delivery platform for a variety of complex and sophisticated enterprise applications in several domains. In addition to their inherent multifaceted functionality, these Web applications exhibit complex behaviour and place some unique demands on their usability, performance, security, and ability to grow and evolve. However, a vast majority of these applications continue to be developed in an ad hoc way, contributing to problems of usability, maintainability, quality and reliability. While Web development can benefit from established practices from other related disciplines, it has certain distinguishing characteristics that demand special considerations. In recent years, there have been developments towards addressing these considerations.
Web engineering focuses on the methodologies, techniques, and tools that are the foundation of Web application development and which support their design, development, evolution, and evaluation. Web application development has certain characteristics that make it different from traditional software, information system, or computer application development.
Web engineering is multidisciplinary and encompasses contributions from diverse areas: systems analysis and design, software engineering, hypermedia/hypertext engineering, requirements engineering, human-computer interaction, user interface, information engineering, information indexing and retrieval, testing, modelling and simulation, project management, and graphic design and presentation. Web engineering is neither a clone nor a subset of software engineering, although both involve programming and software development. While Web Engineering uses software engineering principles, it encompasses new approaches, methodologies, tools, techniques, and guidelines to meet the unique requirements of Web-based applications.
As a discipline
Proponents of Web engineering supported the establishment of Web engineering as a discipline at an early stage of Web. Major arguments for Web engineering as a new discipline are:
Web-based Information Systems (WIS) development process is different and unique.
Web engineering is multi-disciplinary; no single discipline (such as software engineering) can provide complete theory basis, body of knowledge and practices to guide WIS development.
Issues of evolution and lifecycle management when compared to more 'traditional' applications.
Web-based information systems and applications are pervasive and non-trivial. The prospect of Web as a platform will continue to grow and it is worth being treated specifically.
However, it has been controversial, especially for people in other traditional disciplines such as software engineering, to recognize Web engineering as a new field. The issue is how different and independent Web engineering is, compared with other disciplines.
Main topics of Web engineering include, but are not limited to, the following areas:
Modeling disciplines
Business Processes for Applications on the Web
Process Modelling of Web applications
Requirements Engineering for Web applications
B2B applications
Design disciplines, tools, and methods
UML and the Web
Conceptual Modeling of Web Applications (aka. Web modeling)
Prototyping Methods and Tools
Web design methods
CASE Tools for Web Applications
Web Interface Design
Data Models for Web Information Systems
Implementation disciplines
Integrated Web Application Development Environments
Code Generation for Web Applications
Software Factories for/on the Web
Web 2.0, AJAX, E4X, ASP.NET, PHP and Other New Developments
Web Services Development and Deployment
Testing disciplines
Testing and Evaluation of Web systems and Applications.
Testing Automation, Methods, and Tools.
Applications categories disciplines
Semantic Web applications
Document centric Web sites
Transactional Web applications
Interactive Web applications
Workflow-based Web applications
Collaborative Web applications
Portal-oriented Web applications
Ubiquitous and Mobile Web Applications
Device Independent Web Delivery
Localization and Internationalization of Web Applications
Personalization of Web Applications
Attributes
Web quality
Web Metrics, Cost Estimation, and Measurement
Personalisation and Adaptation of Web applications
Web Quality
Usability of Web Applications
Web accessibility
Performance of Web-based applications
Content-related
Web Content Management
Content Management System (CMS)
Multimedia Authoring Tools and Software
Authoring of adaptive hypermedia
Education
Master of Science: Web Engineering as a branch of study within the MSc program Web Sciences at the Johannes Kepler University Linz, Austria
Diploma in Web Engineering: Web Engineering as a study program at the International Webmasters College (iWMC), Germany
See also
DevOps
Web developer
Web modeling
References
Sources
Robert L. Glass, "Who's Right in the Web Development Debate?" Cutter IT Journal, July 2001, Vol. 14, No.7, pp 6–0.
S. Ceri, P. Fraternali, A. Bongio, M. Brambilla, S. Comai, M. Matera. "Designing Data-Intensive Web Applications". Morgan Kaufmann Publisher, Dec 2002,
Web engineering resources
Organizations
International Society for Web Engineering e.V.: http://www.iswe-ev.de/
Web Engineering Community: http://www.webengineering.org
WISE Society: http://www.wisesociety.org/
ACM SIGWEB: http://www.acm.org/sigweb
World Wide Web Consortium: http://www.w3.org
Books
"Engineering Web Applications", by Sven Casteleyn, Florian Daniel, Peter Dolog and Maristella Matera, Springer, 2009,
"Web Engineering: Modelling and Implementing Web Applications", edited by Gustavo Rossi, Oscar Pastor, Daniel Schwabe and Luis Olsina, Springer Verlag HCIS, 2007,
"Cost Estimation Techniques for Web Projects", Emilia Mendes, IGI Publishing,
"Web Engineering - The Discipline of Systematic Development of Web Applications", edited by Gerti Kappel, Birgit Pröll, Siegfried Reich, and Werner Retschitzegger, John Wiley & Sons, 2006
"Web Engineering", edited by Emilia Mendes and Nile Mosley, Springer-Verlag, 2005
"Web Engineering: Principles and Techniques", edited by Woojong Suh, Idea Group Publishing, 2005
"Form-Oriented Analysis -- A New Methodology to Model Form-Based Applications", by Dirk Draheim, Gerald Weber, Springer, 2005
"Building Web Applications with UML" (2nd edition), by Jim Conallen, Pearson Education, 2003
"Information Architecture for the World Wide Web" (2nd edition), by Peter Morville and Louis Rosenfeld, O'Reilly, 2002
"Web Site Engineering: Beyond Web Page Design", by Thomas A. Powell, David L. Jones and Dominique C. Cutts, Prentice Hall, 1998
"Designing Data-Intensive Web Applications", by S. Ceri, P. Fraternali, A. Bongio, M. Brambilla, S. Comai, M. Matera. Morgan Kaufmann Publisher, Dec 2002,
Conferences
World Wide Web Conference (by IW3C2, since 1994): http://www.iw3c2.org
International Conference on Web Engineering (ICWE) (since 2000)
2018: http://icwe2018.webengineering.org/ (Caceres, Spain)
2017: http://icwe2017.webengineering.org/ (Rome, Italy)
2016: http://icwe2016.webengineering.org/ (Lugano, Switzerland)
2007: http://www.icwe2007.org/
2006: http://www.icwe2006.org
2005: http://www.icwe2005.org
2004: http://www.icwe2004.org
ICWE Conference Proceedings
ICWE2007: LNCS 4607 https://www.springer.com/computer/database+management+&+information+retrieval/book/978-3-540-73596-0
ICWE2005: LNCS 3579 https://www.springer.com/east/home/generic/search/results?SGWID=5-40109-22-58872076-0
ICWE2004: LNCS 3140 https://www.springer.com/east/home/generic/search/results?SGWID=5-40109-22-32445543-0
ICWE2003: LNCS 2722 https://www.springer.com/east/home/generic/search/results?SGWID=5-40109-22-3092664-0
Web Information Systems Engineering Conference (by WISE Society, since 2000): http://www.wisesociety.org/
International Conference on Web Information Systems and Technologies (Webist) (since 2005): http://www.webist.org/
International Workshop on Web Site Evolution (WSE): http://www.websiteevolution.org/
International Conference on Software Engineering: http://www.icse-conferences.org/
Book chapters and articles
Pressman, R.S., 'Applying Web Engineering', Part 3, Chapters 16–20, in Software Engineering: A Practitioner's Perspective, Sixth Edition, McGraw-Hill, New York, 2004. http://www.rspa.com/'
Journals
Journal of Web Engineering: http://www.rintonpress.com/journals/jwe/
International Journal of Web Engineering and Technology: http://www.inderscience.com/browse/index.php?journalID=48
ACM Transactions on Internet Technology: http://toit.acm.org/
World Wide Web (Springer): https://link.springer.com/journal/11280
Web coding journal: http://www.web-code.org/
Web Reference: https://www.kevi.my/
Special issues
Web Engineering, IEEE MultiMedia, Jan.–Mar. 2001 (Part 1) and April–June 2001 (Part 2). http://csdl2.computer.org/persagen/DLPublication.jsp?pubtype=m&acronym=mu
Usability Engineering, IEEE Software, January–February 2001.
Web Engineering, Cutter IT Journal, 14(7), July 2001.*
Testing E-business Applications, Cutter IT Journal, September 2001.
Engineering Internet Software, IEEE Software, March–April 2002.
Usability and the Web, IEEE Internet Computing, March–April 2002.
Web development
Citations |
39498413 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dinesh%20Saparamadu | Dinesh Saparamadu | Dinesh B. Saparamadu (born December 24, 1965) is the Founder and Chairman of hSenid Group of Companies and PeoplesHR, companies providing enterprise HR and mobile solutions with presence in United States, India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Australia. He is a key stakeholder in the Information Technology Industry of Sri Lanka and is a founding member and Chairman Emeritus of SLASSCOM.
Dinesh has over 25 years of experience in the information technology industry. He is a HR thought leader and speaker and has been a participant for many panel discussions and forums in the fields of SaaS, Human Resources and Information Technology. He is also the recipient of the 2012 ICT Most Outstanding Contribution award from the BCS Sri Lanka section for his contribution to the development of ICT in Sri Lanka. A serial entrepreneur, Dinesh founded more than six companies over the last two decades. He is also involved in the capacity of Director, Executive Committee Member of Chambers of Commerce both locally and internationally and in a number of IT organizations.
Dinesh has a Bachelor of Science in Computer Engineering and a Master of Science in Computer Science from University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA. He is an old boy of D.S. Senanayake College, Colombo, Sri Lanka. He began his career with Aetna Life and Casualty, Connecticut, USA; where he worked on Enterprise Technology, and served as an Enterprise Technology Consultant. After Aetna he joined Pepsi Cola, in Somers, New York, as a Software Engineer.
References
Sinhalese businesspeople
1965 births
Living people |
8110867 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/EyeTV | EyeTV | EyeTV is a European brand of TV tuners that allow users to watch TV on various devices including computers and smartphones. The brand was introduced in 2002 by Elgato Systems and was sold to Geniatech in 2016.
History
The first EyeTV hardware device was introduced in November 2002. It was a small USB-powered device that contained a cable tuner and hardware encoder in order to convert television video into an MPEG-1 format for watching on a computer. It also had coaxial and RCA plugs to connect it with a VCR or camcorder. A 2002 article in Macworld said it was the "first step" in bridging computers and television, but at this point still had "some kinks".
The next iteration was released in 2004 and called EyeTV 200. EyeTV 200 introduced a digital remote control and converted video programming into the higher-quality MPEG-2 format. A Macworld review gave it 4 out of 5 stars for "very good" and emphasized the video quality and ease-of-use. A story in The Washington Post said it was more expensive than some alternatives, but worked on a Mac and had good-quality recordings. Also in 2004 the first EyeTV product for satellite television was introduced with the EyeTV 310, which was later discontinued and replaced with EyeTV Sat.
That same year a home media server called EyeHome was introduced. It had recording features similar to other EyeTV products, but was also intended for streaming a computer display to a television. It connected Mac computers and televisions that share the same home network. A review in Macworld gave it three stars or a "good" rating, saying that it was easy to install and worked well with Apple applications, but some aspects were quirky or frustrating. Sound and Vision Magazine said it was "pretty darn cool" and an easy, inexpensive way to get media server functionality, though there were some user interface quirks. It gave the product an 89 out of 100 rating.
By 2005, several other EyeTV products had been introduced, such as the EyeTV for DTT, the EyeTV EZ and the EyeTV Wonder. The EyeTV for DTT (digital terrestrial TV) is a small USB-powered device with an antenna for receiving free over-the-air television broadcasts. It received a 4 out of 5 rating in TechRadar. A review in The Register gave it an 85 percent rating. The Eye TV Wonder was only available from July 2005 to January 2006, before being discontinued and replaced with the Eye TV EZ. The EZ was a basic, entry-level product with an analog tuner for watching TV on a Mac computer.
In 2006, version 2.1 of the EyeTV software was introduced with a new user-interface, an integrated TV guide from TitanTV and compatibility with Apple remotes. The interface was similar to that of other Apple products. An article in Macworld praised the update and especially the new editing features, but said it had some quirks, such as a difficult-to-find Edit button. Some of the iHome software, which plays video content from a computer onto a television, was released in 2006 as a universal binary.
Version 2.4 of the EyeTV software was released in 2007 and added an export tool for Apple TV.
Exit from the ATSC tuner market
As of February 2015, EyeTV no longer sells ATSC tuners. (ATSC is the digital television standard used in the United States, Canada, South Korea, Mexico and the Dominican Republic.) The Elgato web site explicitly declined to give a reason: "Elgato Technical Support is not able to comment on this business decision."
In February 2016, Elgato sold EyeTV to Geniatech Europe GmbH, a wholly owned subsidiary of Shenzhen Geniatech Inc., Ltd. Geniatech will take over the complete EyeTV product line. This company no longer sells the Turbo.264 HD software and reduced digital TV tuners to one model. The Thunderbolt products remained with Elgato until they were sold to Corsair in 2018.
Products
Over the air
The EyeTV Diversity is a USB-powered device with dual tuners for receiving over the air television broadcasts. The tuners can be used simultaneously for an optimized signal, or one tuner can be used to record a channel, while another is used to watch a separate show. Diversity was first introduced in November 2006. A driver in 2009 added compatibility with Windows 7. A review in TechRadar gave EyeTV Diversity five out of five stars. PC Advisor and Pocket-Lint both gave it four out of five stars.
EyeTV Hybrid, which can pick up digital or analog television broadcasts, was first released in early 2009. A CNET review said the device was easy and effective to use, but that buffering was often too slow to make watching live TV practical. Macworld said EyeTV's "core strength" was recording scheduled TV shows. A review in PC Magazine gave the product 3.5 out of 5 stars. The review said it "works exceptionally well" but doesn't come with Windows software.
Satellite
In June 2010, the EyeTV HD product for recording high-definition cable and satellite programming was introduced. Because cable and satellite signals are encoded, the device must be connected to a tuner from a television provider. Then it provides remote controls, recording and DVR-functionality from a connected computer. A Macworld review gave the product four out of five stars. A review in Laptop Magazine gave EyeTV HD 3.5 out of 5 stars. It said the interface was intuitive and the video quality was good, but noted it was only compatible with Macs.
The EyeTV Netstream 4Sat has four satellite tuners, allowing four channels to be watched simultaneously from different devices. It was introduced in 2014. A review in Macworld gave it 5 out of 5 stars. The review said Elgato had addressed some of the limitations of prior EyeTV satellite tuners like Netstream Sat/DTT. Pocket-Lint gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars CNET gave it five stars. The EyeTV Sat product, which receives free-to-air television, was introduced in Europe in late 2009. The Register gave it an 80% rating, saying that it "works well" and that the documentation did not make it clear how to install the Apple and Windows versions of the software.
Software
The EyeTV software was updated to version 3.0 in 2008. 3.0 made user interface improvements, such as being able to mark favorites or automatically record shows in a series. A review in TechRadar gave it 4.5 out of 5 stars. The review noted that EyeTV was the de facto software for TV and computer video integration and praised its new features, but said it was expensive when purchased separately. A 2007 article in MacLife said their "top picks" for USB-powered tuners were those using the EyeTV software, such as the EyeTV hybrid or EyeTV 250. In addition to Elgato's EyeTV line of consumer devices, other brands such as Terratec and Miglia used the EyeTV software in their products through licensing agreements with Elgato.
Mobile
The EyeTV W was introduced in November 2013. It is a small 44 gram device that receives free digital over-the-air television broadcasts and makes it available to portable devices through a wireless hot spot. A review in Macworld said it was portable, easy to use and had good battery life, but noted that users can't connect to other WiFi networks and watch TV at the same time. It gave the product 4 out of 5 stars. An EyeTV Mobile device for iPads was announced at the 2011 International Franchise Conference as the first tuner for the new Freeview system in the United Kingdom.
Subsequently the EyeTV Mobile and EyeTV Micro products were released for iPhones and Android respectively. The Micro and Mobile allow users to watch or record free over-the-air television programming from their smartphone. Reviews of the mobile products ranged from 2 out of 5 stars by CNET 4 out of 5 stars in Macworld and 3 out of 5 stars in PC Magazine. There is also an EyeTV iPhone app that allows the user to watch their recorded shows on their iPhone, control their EyeTV recordings or watch live TV while connected to Wi-Fi. A compact version for laptops, the EyeTV GO, was introduced in May 2014.
References
Digital video recorders
Technology companies established in 2002
Television technology
Television time shifting technology |
33429735 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software%20reliability%20testing | Software reliability testing | Software reliability testing is a field of software-testing that relates to testing a software's ability to function, given environmental conditions, for a particular amount of time. Software reliability testing helps discover many problems in the software design and functionality.
Overview
Software reliability is the probability that software will work properly in a specified environment and for a given amount of time. Using the following formula, the probability of failure is calculated by testing a sample of all available input states.
Mean Time Between Failure(MTBF)=Mean Time To Failure(MTTF)+ Mean Time To Repair(MTTR)
Probability = Number of failing cases / Total number of cases under consideration
The set of all possible input states is called the input space. To find reliability of software, we need to find output space from given input space and software.
For reliability testing, data is gathered from various stages of development, such as the design and operating stages. The tests are limited due to restrictions such as cost and time restrictions. Statistical samples are obtained from the software products to test for the reliability of the software. Once sufficient data or information is gathered, statistical studies are done. Time constraints are handled by applying fixed dates or deadlines for the tests to be performed. After this phase, design of the software is stopped and the actual implementation phase starts. As there are restrictions on costs and time, the data is gathered carefully so that each data has some purpose and gets its expected precision.
To achieve the satisfactory results from reliability testing one must take care of some reliability characteristics.
For example, Mean Time to Failure (MTTF) is measured in terms of three factors:
operating time,
number of on off cycles,
and calendar time.
If the restrictions are on operation time or if the focus is on first point for improvement, then one can apply compressed time accelerations to reduce the testing time. If the focus is on calendar time (i.e. if there are predefined deadlines), then intensified stress testing is used.
Measurement
Software availability is measured in terms of mean time between failures (MTBF).
MTBF consists of mean time to failure (MTTF) and mean time to repair (MTTR). MTTF is the difference of time between two consecutive failures and MTTR is the time required to fix the failure.
Steady state availability represents the percentage the software is operational.
For example, if MTTF = 1000 hours for a software, then the software should work for 1000 hours of continuous operations.
For the same software if the MTTR = 2 hours, then the .
Accordingly,
Software reliability is measured in terms of failure rate ().
Reliability for software is a number between 0 and 1. Reliability increases when errors or bugs from the program are removed. There are many software reliability growth models (SRGM) (List of software reliability models) including, logarithmic, polynomial, exponential, power, and S-shaped
Objectives of reliability testing
The main objective of the reliability testing is to test software performance under given conditions without any type of corrective measure using known fixed procedures considering its specifications.
Secondary objectives
The secondary objectives of reliability testing is:
To find perceptual structure of repeating failures.
To find the number of failures occurring in a specified amount of time.
To find the mean life of the software.
To discover the main cause of failure.
Checking the performance of different units of software after taking preventive actions.
Points for defining objectives
Some restrictions on creating objectives include:
Behaviour of the software should be defined in given conditions.
The objective should be feasible.
Time constraints should be provided.
Importance of reliability testing
The application of computer software has crossed into many different fields, with software being an essential part of industrial, commercial and military systems. Because of its many applications in safety critical systems, software reliability is now an important research area. Although software engineering is becoming the fastest developing technology of the last century, there is no complete, scientific, quantitative measure to assess them. Software reliability testing is being used as a tool to help assess these software engineering technologies.
To improve the performance of software product and software development process, a thorough assessment of reliability is required. Testing software reliability is important because it is of great use for software managers and practitioners.
To verify the reliability of the software via testing:
A sufficient number of test cases should be executed for a sufficient amount of time to get a reasonable estimate of how long the software will execute without failure. Long duration tests are needed to identify defects (such as memory leakage and buffer overflows) that take time to cause a fault or failure to occur.
The distribution of test cases should match the actual or planned operational profile of the software. The more often a function or subset of the software is executed, the greater the percentage of test cases that should be allocated to that function or subset.
Types of reliability testing
Software reliability testing includes feature testing, load testing, and regression testing.
Feature test
Feature testing checks the features provided by the software and is conducted in the following steps:
Each operation in the software is executed once.
Interaction between the two operations is reduced and
Each operation is checked for its proper execution.
The feature test is followed by the load test.
Load test
This test is conducted to check the performance of the software under maximum work load. Any software performs better up to some amount of workload, after which the response time of the software starts degrading. For example, a web site can be tested to see how many simultaneous users it can support without performance degradation. This testing mainly helps for Databases and Application servers. Load testing also requires software performance testing, which checks how well some software performs under workload.
Regression test
Regression testing is used to check if any new bugs have been introduced through previous bug fixes. Regression testing is conducted after every change or update in the software features. This testing is periodic, depending on the length and features of the software.
Test planning
Reliability testing is more costly compared to other types of testing. Thus while doing reliability testing, proper management and planning is required. This plan includes testing process to be implemented, data about its environment, test schedule, test points, etc.
Problems in designing test cases
Some common problems that occur when designing test cases include:
Test cases can be designed simply by selecting only valid input values for each field in the software. When changes are made in a particular module, the previous values may not actually test the new features introduced after the older version of software.
There may be some critical runs in the software which are not handled by any existing test case. Therefore, it is necessary to ensure that all possible types of test cases are considered through careful test case selection.
Reliability enhancement through testing
Studies during development and design of software help for improving the reliability of a product. Reliability testing is essentially performed to eliminate the failure mode of the software. Life testing of the product should always be done after the design part is finished or at least the complete design is finalized.
Failure analysis and design improvement is achieved through testings.
Reliability growth testing
This testing is used to check new prototypes of the software which are initially supposed to fail frequently. The causes of failure are detected and actions are taken to reduce defects.
Suppose T is total accumulated time for prototype. n(T) is number of failure from start to time T. The graph drawn for n(T)/T is a straight line. This graph is called Duane Plot. One can get how much reliability can be gained after all other cycles of test and fix it.
solving eq.1 for n(T),
where K is e^b.
If the value of alpha in the equation is zero the reliability can not be improved as expected for given number of failure. For alpha greater than zero, cumulative time T increases. This explains that number of the failures doesn't depends on test lengths.
Designing test cases for current release
If new features are being added to the current version of software, then writing a test case for that operation is done differently.
First plan how many new test cases are to be written for current version.
If the new feature is part of any existing feature, then share the test cases of new and existing features among them.
Finally combine all test cases from current version and previous one and record all the results.
There is a predefined rule to calculate count of new test cases for the software. If N is the probability of occurrence of new operations for new release of the software, R is the probability of occurrence of used operations in the current release and T is the number of all previously used test cases then
Reliability evaluation based on operational testing
The method of operational testing is used to test the reliability of software. Here one checks how the software works in its relevant operational environment. The main problem with this type of evaluation is constructing such an operational environment. Such type of simulation is observed in some industries like nuclear industries, in aircraft, etc. Predicting future reliability is a part of reliability evaluation.
There are two techniques used for operational testing to test the reliability of software:
Steady state reliability estimation In this case, we use feedback from delivered software products. Depending on those results, we can predict the future reliability for the next version of product. This is similar to sample testing for physical products.
Reliability growth based prediction This method uses documentation of the testing procedure. For example, consider a developed software and that we are creating different new versions of that software. We consider data on the testing of each version and based on the observed trend, we predict the reliability of the new version of software.
Reliability growth assessment and prediction
In the assessment and prediction of software reliability, we use the reliability growth model. During operation of the software, any data about its failure is stored in statistical form and is given as input to the reliability growth model. Using this data, the reliability growth model can evaluate the reliability of software.
Much data about reliability growth model is available with probability models claiming to represent failure process. But there is no model which is best suited for all conditions. Therefore, we must choose a model based on the appropriate conditions.
Reliability estimation based on failure-free working
In this case, the reliability of the software is estimated with assumptions like the following:
If a defect is found, then is it going to be fixed by someone.
Fixing the defect will not have any effect on the reliability of the software.
Each fix in the software is accurate.
See also
Software testing
Load testing
Regression testing
Reliability engineering
List of software reliability models
References
External links
Mean Time Between Failure
Software Life Testing
Software testing |
4931880 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software%20technical%20review | Software technical review | A software technical review is a form of peer review in which "a team of qualified personnel ... examines the suitability of the software product for its intended use and identifies discrepancies from specifications and standards. Technical reviews may also provide recommendations of alternatives and examination of various alternatives" (IEEE Std. 1028-1997, IEEE Standard for Software Reviews, clause 3.7).
"Software product" normally refers to some kind of technical document. This might be a software design document or program source code, but use cases, business process definitions, test case specifications, and a variety of other technical documentation, may also be subject to technical review.
Technical review differs from software walkthroughs in its specific focus on the technical quality of the product reviewed. It differs from software inspection in its ability to suggest direct alterations to the product reviewed, and its lack of a direct focus on training and process improvement.
The term formal technical review is sometimes used to mean a software inspection. A 'Technical Review' may also refer to an acquisition lifecycle event or Design review.
Objectives and participants
The purpose of a technical review is to arrive at a technically superior version of the work product reviewed, whether by correction of defects or by recommendation or introduction of alternative approaches. While the latter aspect may offer facilities that software inspection lacks, there may be a penalty in time lost to technical discussions or disputes which may be beyond the capacity of some participants.
IEEE 1028 recommends the inclusion of participants to fill the following roles:
The Decision Maker (the person for whom the technical review is conducted) determines if the review objectives have been met.
The Review Leader is responsible for performing administrative tasks relative to the review, ensuring orderly conduct, and ensuring that the review meets its objectives.
The Recorder documents anomalies, action items, decisions, and recommendations made by the review team.
Technical staff are active participants in the review and evaluation of the software product.
Management staff may participate for the purpose of identifying issues that require management resolution.
Customer or user representatives may fill roles determined by the Review Leader prior to the review.
A single participant may fill more than one role, as appropriate.
Process
A formal technical review will follow a series of activities similar to that specified in clause 5 of IEEE 1028, essentially summarised in the article on software review.
References
Software review |
21659626 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Firetide | Firetide | Firetide is an American, international provider of wireless mesh network technology. It is a division of UNICOM Global. Based in the Silicon Valley, Firetide designs and sells hardware and software for wireless technology.
Corporate history
Firetide was founded in 2001, under the name Landmark Networks, to provide hardware and software for wireless infrastructure mesh networks. In 2003 the name changed to Firetide, which would "better reflect the company's mission and culture". In 2004, the company moved from Hawaii to Los Gatos, CA.
Firetide, Inc. was acquired by UNICOM Global on May 19, 2014.
Firetide Inc. is currently headquartered in Campbell, CA, CA with a R&D office in Bangalore, India.
Hardware
HotPort 7000 Series. Indoor and outdoor wireless mesh node, equipped with dual 802.11n MIMO radios. The radios are able to operate at 2.4, 4.9 and 5.0 GHz and allows for a throughput of up to 400 Mbit/s.
FWB-200 Series. Indoor and outdoor wireless point-to-point bridges, equipped with dual 802.11n MIMO radios. The point-to-point bridges are used to connect distant, wireless networks to each other.
HotPoint 5000 Series. Indoor and outdoor wireless access points, equipped with dual 802.11n MIMO radios. The access points allow for a wireless Wi-Fi network to be connected to the mesh. Software development stopped in 2015.
HotClient 2000 Series. Indoor and outdoor wireless customer premises equipment. A product that extends the range of a Wi-Fi network.
Firetide FWC 2050 WLAN Controller. A product that can control up to 50 access points and that provides configuration of the access points through central management. It is controlled through a web-interface.
Firetide IVS 100. Integrated video solution, a combined IP-camera and mesh node.
Software
HotView Pro. Software that centrally manages the mesh nodes and the other Firetide hardware connected to the mesh network.
Firetide Mobility Controller. Software that enables Firetide's mesh to be compatible with mobile units, such as connecting to a moving subway train.
Routing protocol
Firetide use their own, proprietary AutoMesh routing protocol to control the data flow in the mesh.
Notable installations
In 2006, Firetide announced that they were going to supply their technology to Singapore's Wireless@SG project. The project's goal was to install a nationwide network to enable public Wi-Fi as well as video and voice traffic.
In 2007, Firetide installed its wireless mesh technology on the construction site of Burj Khalifa (Burj Dubai) to allow communication between workers via VOIP radio, replacing walkie talkies which presented communication issues at high altitudes.
In 2009, Firetide installed a wireless mesh network in Seoul Metropolitan Subway. The request from the South Korean subway operator for live camera coverage came after a fatal arson in 2003. Firetide technology provided wireless connection to the station and the moving trains. The systems included cameras on the train stations and on the trains. The design aimed to avoid more fatal accidents by distributing real-time video feed both to the train drivers and to the operators in the command central. The installation included 1000 mesh nodes as well as 650 cameras.
January 2009, Firetide installed a system at California State University, Long Beach.
Partnership
In May 2010, Firetide announced an Original Equipment Manufacturer OEM agreement with Netgear. The license agreement enabled for Netgear to use Firetide's WLAN Controller software in their new portfolio of WLAN controllers.
References
Los Gatos, California
Companies based in Silicon Valley
Wireless networking hardware
Mesh networking |
27340137 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1985%20Oregon%20State%20Beavers%20football%20team | 1985 Oregon State Beavers football team | The 1985 Oregon State Beavers football team represented Oregon State University in the 1985 NCAA Division I-A football season. The Beavers started the season 2–0, their best start in 18 years, but lost all but one of their remaining games to post their 18th consecutive losing season. The Beavers' 3–8 record was their best in seven years. The 1985 season is best known for Oregon State's 21–20 win over Washington, the largest point spread upset before Stanford's 2007 win over USC.
Schedule
Roster
QB #15 Rich Gonzalez, Fr.
Andre Todd, Sr.
QB Erik Wilhelm
Season summary
Before the Season
Joe Avezzano compiled a 6-47-2 record at Oregon State from 1980 to 1984. The university allowed his five-year contract to expire on November 23. After Oakland Raiders' assistant coach, Sam Boghosian, withdrew his name from consideration, Idaho's head coach, Dennis Erickson, became the front runner. Erickson wanted the job, and Athletic Director, and former head coach, Dee Andros, wanted to hire him. However, President John Byrne waited. Eventually, Erickson withdrew his name for consideration along with a couple of the other more obvious choices.
After more than five weeks, long enough for the search to become a regional joke, the university settled on Dave Kragthorpe, the Athletic Director at Utah State. Kragthorpe had four years of head coaching experience at South Dakota State and Idaho State, where he employed the "Air Express" offense. However, he had not coached in three years. The head coaching search led to Andros losing his position as Athletic Director. Andros was "promoted" to a special two-year fundraising position created specifically for him.
Oregon State's starting quarterback in 1984, Ricky Greene, transferred to Western Oregon, and Greene's backup, Steve Steenwyck, was declared academically ineligible. Three days before the first game, after the ambidextrous scrambler, Shaun Shahan, lost a close quarterback battle to fellow redshirt freshman, Erik Wilhelm, Shahan quit the team as well. In addition to losing three quarterbacks in the offseason, Oregon State also lost all but three defensive starters. The Beavers did however return the Pac-10's most prolific receiver in both 1983 and 1984, Reggie Bynum. Bynum entered the season having caught the first, second, and fourth longest passes in Beaver history.
Idaho
Idaho and Oregon State met 27 times between 1937 and 1966. Between 1967 and 1983, the two teams did not play, but the series resumed in 1984 in Moscow. The Vandals won that game 41-22, playing without starting quarterback, Scott Linehan. Idaho had not won back to back games in the series since 1937–1938. The Beavers entered every game in 1985 as underdogs. The Beavers-Vandals spread was the lowest spread of the season for the Beavers with Idaho favored by a mere 5 points.
It took Oregon State almost half of a quarter to get its first first down. By that time, Wilhelm had thrown two interceptions and Idaho led 16-0. The Beavers scored 23 straight points to post a 23-16 lead, but Linehan ran in from four yards out with one second left in the first half to tie the game at 23. After Idaho again knotted the game at 26, Oregon State marched from its own one-yard line to set up Dave Nielsen's 36-yard field goal with 5:44 left. On the ensuing kickoff, the Vandals fumbled and the Beavers recovered at the Idaho eight. Bynum caught his fourth touchdown reception on the next play. Lavance Northington ended the Vandals' following drive by intercepting a pass at the Beaver 14 with 3:19 left. However, after Oregon State's drive stalled, Idaho blocked the Beavers' punt. The ball rolled out of the end zone for a safety. Idaho failed to field Oregon State's free kick, which Oregon State's Brian Swanson recovered at the Vandal nine. From there, Darvin Malone scored on his second carry, giving the Beavers a 43-28 win. Wilhelm finished with 27 completions and four touchdown passes, which tied Oregon State records. Bynum caught all four of Wilhelm's touchdown passes, which set a Beaver record and tied a Pac-10 record. Idaho's coach was Dennis Erickson, Oregon State's future coach. The Beavers did not play an Erickson-coached team again until the 1988 Oregon State-Washington State game. It was Oregon State's last win over an Erickson-coached football team for more than two decades.
California
Oregon State had not won two consecutive games in seven years and had not started a season 2-0 in 18 years. The game was played on the rain-slicked turf of Civic Stadium in Portland, Oregon. The Beavers scored first on a four-play 39-yard drive, capped off by a nine-yard Wilhelm to Bynum connection. In the second quarter, California drove to the Oregon State two. On fourth down, the Bears lined up for a field goal, but the snap was fumbled. California's kicker, Leland Rix, got to the ball and scooped it to tight end Don Noble, who ran in the "pass" for a game-tying touchdown. After the Bears took the lead, Oregon State scored on a 16-yard touchdown pass from Wilhelm to Dave Montagne with time running out in the first half to take a 13-10 halftime lead, despite Wilhelm's four first half interceptions.
Oregon State's offense did not commit a second-half turnover. After California tied the game at 13 late in the third quarter, Wilhelm hit Bynum for a 66-yard touchdown pass. The Bears tied the game again at 20 early in the fourth quarter. The game took its toll on Oregon State. Two different strong safeties were injured during the game. In fact, the only starting defensive back to play the whole game was cornerback Lavance Northington. The other starting cornerback, Brian McElroy, was knocked out for the remainder of the season. Oregon State got the ball back for the last time with 4:08 left. On fourth-and-four at the California 40 with 1:26 left, Wilhelm hit Bynum for a five-yard gain. On the next play, Darvin Malone rambled 32 yards for a first down at the Bear three with 51 seconds left. The Beavers got the ball to the two and almost let the game clock expire. However, Jim Nielsen made his way onto the field to convert a 20-yard field goal with no time left. Oregon State's win remains its last in Portland.
Fresno State
In the 23 seasons from 1981 to 2003, Oregon State and Fresno State played 13 times, more than three times more often than any other nonconference opponent in the same period. The Beavers won the first meeting 31-28 in the largest comeback ever, at the time. The Bulldogs looked to even the series. Jim Sweeney, coach of Fresno State was no stranger to Oregon State, having coached Washington State from 1968 to 1975.
The Beavers started their first drive at the Bulldog nine after a fumble, and Oregon State's second drive breached the Fresno State six, but both drives ended in Jim Nielsen field goals. In the second quarter, Fresno State responded with three field goals of their own, the last field goal with two seconds left in the first half.
In the second half, rather than choosing to receive, Fresno State chose to kick with the wind. After Glenn Pena pinned the Bulldogs at their own 5-yard line with a 37-yard punt, Jim Sweeney's son Kevin Sweeney hit Stephen Baker "the Touchdown Maker" for a 95-yard touchdown, when the defensive back guarding Baker fell down. The play is the longest pass play in Parker Stadium history. In 2000, after Parker Stadium was renamed Reser Stadium, Chad Johnson (Ochocinco) finally broke the record, when he caught a 97-yard touchdown from Jonathan Smith. The Bulldogs converted the extra point for a 16-6 lead. In the next 4:44, Fresno State scored another two touchdowns on six offensive plays to take a 30-9 lead. The Bulldogs tacked on a fourth-quarter field goal for a 33-9 lead. Oregon State scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to pull within 11. The Beavers' last chance ended when the Bulldog's punter was able to recover a bad snap for a safety with 11 seconds left. The wind played a big factor in the game, as the team with the wind outscored the other team a combined 51-6. Wilhelm finished 28 for 51, setting a new Oregon State record for completions and tying an Oregon State record for attempts. The win was Fresno State's first in Corvallis, and the win was Jim Sweeney's first over Oregon State since 1973. The Bulldogs finished the season 11-0-1, the only undefeated team in Division I-A.
Grambling State
After the 1969 Fred Milton affair, Dee Andros was branded as a racist in many circles. In an effort to entice more black football players to enroll, Oregon State signed a home-and-home contract with Grambling State. The Tigers won the 1975 game in Portland 19-12, Dee Andros' final year. As Andros was no longer the Beavers' coach, much of the impetus to play Grambling had subsided. However, the Beavers could not afford to buy out the contract to play the 1985 game in Shreveport, Louisiana against the Division I-AA Tigers. Grambling State's head coach was Eddie Robinson with 322 career head coaching victories, one win short of Paul "Bear" Bryant's record of 323 career wins. 13,396 fans showed up for the event, filling less than a third of Independence Stadium. The Beavers' share of the gate was not enough to offset the travel costs, so the university lost money on the game.
Grambling State scored two first-quarter touchdowns. Jim Nielsen kicked a 53-yard field goal with one second left in the first half, to pull within 11. On the last play of the third quarter, Wilhelm suffered a season-ending injury. Rich Gonzales took his place, leading the Beavers to another Jim Nielsen field goal. Grambling State safety, James Harris, tackled Gonzales in the end zone for a safety, and the Tigers tacked on a touchdown to win 23-6. Oregon State was penalized 16 times for 159 yards, while Grambling State was penalized 6 times for 49 yards. Kragthorpe cited the disproportionate number of penalties as a key reason for the loss. Many columnists also noted the large penalty disparity.
As of 2017, this game is Oregon State's only trip to Shreveport, Louisiana.
Southern California
Southern California began the year beating #11 Illinois by 10 points in Urbana, Illinois. After the win, recruiting violations were uncovered, leading to an assistant coach being fired. The Trojans, in turmoil, proceeded to lose to Baylor by a touchdown in the Coliseum and Arizona State by 24 points in Tempe, Arizona. Entering the game, Tailback U had not scored a rushing touchdown in 1985. Kragthorpe described the Trojans as a bear with a burnt paw.
On Oregon State's first drive, the Beavers drove 55 yards, to set up a 52-yard field goal attempt, which Jim Nielsen missed. The Trojans wound up rushing for 387 yards and four touchdowns; the Beavers rushed for -3 yards and never breached the Trojan 30-yard line. Gonzales passed for 94 yards but rushed six times for -61 yards. Bynum entered the game, the second-leading receiver in the country but was held to seven catches for 70 yards. The 63-point loss is the largest in Oregon State's history.
Washington State
Washington State's quarterback was future Super Bowl MVP Mark Rypien. In their first five games, the Cougars primarily ran a veer offense. During the game, Washington State debuted the wishbone offense. Rypien ran for two touchdowns and his replacement ran for another. In turn, Oregon State's quarterback was sacked four times and tackled behind the line of scrimmage twice more to finish the game carrying six times for -51 yards. To make matters worse, Bynum was injured early in the second quarter and did not return for three weeks.
No Beaver team had ever lost two consecutive games by 97 points.
Washington
Source:
Washington entered the game atop the Pac-10, on a four-game winning streak. The Huskies had finished 1984 as the #2 team in the nation behind #1 BYU, having defeated previous #2 Oklahoma 28-17 in the Orange Bowl. Washington won the previous 10 meetings with Oregon State by a combined score of 332-89, averaging winning 33-9 in each meeting. Las Vegas oddsmakers made the Huskies 38-point favorites. In the days leading up to the game, Steve Rudman of the Seattle Post-Intelligencer compared Oregon State to Barney Fife and called the Beavers a "blight" and an "embarrassment". The Seattle media had called a Husky victory a sure thing. David Whitley of the Orlando Sentinel said that the game pitted "David versus Goliath if David had two broken legs and had chickenpox."
Washington struck first on a 28-yard field goal. Gonzales responded by throwing a 43-yard strike to Darvin Malone for a 7-3 lead. The Huskies immediately responded going 80 yards in 15 plays. Washington threatened in the second quarter, first-and-goal at Oregon State's eight. They were pushed back to the ten before the Beavers' Reggie Hawkins, a converted wide receiver, was able to intercept a Husky pass in the end zone. Taking over at their 20, Oregon State drove 70 yards on seven completions. A second Gonzales to Malone touchdown pass was nullified on a holding call. On the next play, Gonzales sauntered 20 yards untouched into the end zone to propel the Beavers to a 14-10 lead. Michael Lopez intercepted a pass at the Washington 42. Oregon State drove 17 yards, but Jim Nielsen's 42-yard field goal was blocked with no time left on the clock.
In the third quarter, Washington drove down to the Oregon State three but did not gain a yard on three attempts. On fourth down, holder and backup quarterback, Chris Chandler fumbled the snap. He recovered in time to throw an interception to Lavance Northington. On an ensuing drive, the Huskies scored a touchdown to take a 17-14 lead. With 1:32 left in the quarter, the Huskies had the ball first-and-goal at the Beaver one. On first down, Osia Lewis tackled Washington's starting tailback, Vince Weathersby, outside of the end zone. On second down, Paul Saunders knocked Hugh Millen back for a loss on a quarterback sneak. On third down, Lewis "killed" Weathersby. Lewis' hit knocked the ball loose and knocked Weathersby out of the game. The Beavers' Lavance Northington recovered the loose football. Weathersby joined Washington's starting fullback, Rick Fenney, and wide receiver, Lonzell Hill, on the sidelines for the remainder of the game. With 7:59 left in the game, the Huskies hit a 43-yard field goal to stretch the lead to 20-14. The Beavers drove down to the Washington 11 but turned the ball over on downs with 3:22 left. The Huskies pushed the ball to their own 30 but were forced to punt with 1:29 left. Watching film before the game, the Beavers' Andre Todd noticed that the blocker he was matched up against tended to block to the outside. Todd faked outside and cut inside untouched, managing to block the punt, which bounded into the end zone. If not for a queer bounce, it likely would have squirted out of bounds for a safety, but Northington out-raced Todd to pounce on the ball for a touchdown, knotting the score at 20. Northington finished with two fumble recoveries, an interception, and a touchdown. Nielsen's extra point gave Oregon State a 21-20 lead. Washington managed to make it to the 50 before turning the ball over on downs. Oregon State could not manage to run out the clock, punting the ball back to the Huskies with 20 seconds left. Washington made it to their own 26. On the last play of the game, Lopez intercepted his second Washington pass at the Beaver 37.
Oregon State was the first team to upset a 38-point favorite, the greatest Las Vegas line upset in history at the time. It was the Beavers' first road win over a Division I-A opponent since their 32-31 win over the Cougars in 1978. Coming into the game Gonzales had been sacked 15 times. Kragthorpe tried to run more shotgun plays to buy Gonzales more time. Gonzales was only sacked three times. Gonzales finished completing 26 of 42 passes for 298 yards. Osia Lewis' 21 tackles were the second most in Oregon State history. His four tackles for loss set an Oregon State record. Dave Kragthorpe waited in an empty room for his post game interview, but the Seattle media never showed up. The 3-4 start was the Beavers' best start after seven games in 15 years.
Arizona
Oregon State finished with more passing yards, but the Wildcats outrushed the Beavers 203-0. Arizona's offense breached the Oregon State 31 six times but only converted the six trips into six points. In the first quarter, the Wildcats' Don Be'Ans blocked Glenn Pena's punt and Martin Rudolph picked up the ball and ran it in for a touchdown and a 7-0 Arizona lead. Pena was so fazed that his next two punts each only carried 19 yards. He was subsequently replaced by Chip Stempeck. On one drive Gonzales was stripped by Craig Vesling in the end zone and Arizona's Byron Evans recovered for a 14-0 lead. Max Zendejas tacked on a 22-yard field goal for a 17-0 lead with 2:03 left in the half. The Beavers only managed to cross the 50 three times. Following the Zendejas field goal, Oregon State drove into Arizona territory but Gonzales was called for intentional grounding after throwing a pass to a lineman. On their second drive of the second half, the Beavers drove 39 yards for a touchdown to pull within 11. After a Michael Lopez interception and return to the Arizona 19, Oregon State was called for delay of game and Gonzales was sacked for a nine-yard loss. On fourth down, Jim Nielsen's 51-yard field goal attempt sailed wide right. Early in the fourth quarter Zendejas tacked on a 25-yard field goal for a 20-6 lead. Gonzales was replaced by Don Lema late in the fourth quarter. With 39 seconds left, Lema got hit as he threw. The wobbly ball fell into the arms of Boomer Gibson, who returned the interception 40 yards for a touchdown and 27-6 victory. Bynum returned to play in his final game in Corvallis and finished with four receptions to break Steve Coury's all-time Beaver reception record.
Stanford
After the teams traded first-quarter touchdowns, Oregon State drove to the one-yard line. On fourth down, Darvin Malone was stopped cold. On the very next play, the Beavers' Harold Johnson tackled Brad Muster for a safety. However, Robert Adams and Reggie Hawkins mishandled the free kick, pinning Oregon State at their 15. After going nowhere, Chip Stempeck mishandled a bad snap and ran out of the side of the end zone for a safety. Stanford fielded the free kick and drove for a touchdown, capped by Muster's three-yard scamper. A Gonzales' interception at the Beaver 21 set up a David Sweeney field goal. On the next drive, Stempeck dropped a perfect snap, which led to a 15-yard punt. The Cardinal used the miscue to set up another Sweeney field goal. Oregon State responded, when Gonzales hit Phil Ross for a 73-yard touchdown pass, the Beavers' longest gain of the season.
In the third quarter, Muster carried 12 times in a 16 play drive that culminated in Muster's second three-yard touchdown scamper. After Stanford only could manage a 17-yard punt, Oregon State drove to the Cardinal nine. From there, Toi Cook intercepted a Gonzales pass in the end zone and returned the pass to the Oregon State 47 before Gonzales knocked Cook out of bounds. The Cardinal converted the interception into a field goal and a 32-16 lead. After Oregon State's next drive stalled at their own 23, Stanford blocked Glenn Pena's punt, which only traveled seven yards. It took the Cardinal nine plays to score a touchdown on a four-yard reverse to take a 39-16 lead. With 2:38 left, Gonzales carried the ball into the end zone after Malone fumbled to pull within 15 to cap scoring.
UCLA
In the three previous seasons, #13 UCLA had won three consecutive New Year's Day bowl games. They entered the game against Oregon State, only needing two wins to clinch a Rose Bowl berth, their fourth consecutive New Year's Day Bowl game. The Beavers kept it close early, only giving up 10 first half points. Gonzales was knocked out of the game with a back injury midway through the second quarter and was replaced by Don Lema.
UCLA took the second half kickoff and drove 80 yards to take a 17-0 lead. 55 seconds later, James Washington returned an errant Lema pass 29 yards for a 24-0 Bruin lead. From there, UCLA tacked on an additional 17 points to win 41-0. UCLA's quarterback, David Norrie, a Jesuit High School graduate, finished 16-22 for 236 yards and one touchdown in less than three quarters of work. The Bruins lost to the Trojans but backed into the Rose Bowl after the Wildcats upset the Sun Devils. Subsequently, UCLA beat Iowa 45-28 in the Rose Bowl.
Oregon
The temperature was 26 degrees with a windchill of 5. There were pockets of ice all over the field. Oregon took the opening kickoff and drove 69 yards for a 7-0 lead. Three plays later, the Ducks' E.J. Duffy recovered a fumble at the Beaver 32. Four plays later, Oregon lead 14-0. Less than 10 minutes into the game and before attempting a single pass, Gonzales was knocked out with a head injury. Duffy recovered two more first half fumbles in the Duck red zone. The second at Oregon's eight with 1:53 left in the half. The Ducks drove 92 yards in 1:34 to take a 31-0 lead into the locker rooms.
Oregon scored a field goal early in the second half to take a 34-0 lead. The Beavers' Reggie Hawkins blocked a punt later in the quarter that Northington recovered at the Duck 24. On the next play, Lema threw a touchdown pass to Robert Adams to cut the lead to 27. Oregon State scored its final touchdown with 35 seconds left. The Beavers lined up for two but were called for illegal procedure. Jim Nielsen then missed the extra point. Oregon State's subsequent onside kick failed.
After the Season
In 1986, Wilhelm won the starting quarterback position over Gonzales. As a result, Gonzales, a two-sport star, dropped out of Oregon State and concentrated on baseball. In 1990, he led Fullerton State to a College World Series berth but only played in part of one game in Omaha after running into a wall and knocking himself unconscious.
Team players drafted into the NFL
References
Oregon State
Oregon State Beavers football seasons
Oregon State Beavers football |
8411029 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moral%20police | Moral police | Moral police is an umbrella category of vigilante groups which act to enforce a code of morality in India. Some of India's laws, and some actions of police forces in India are also considered to be instances of moral policing. The target of moral policing is any activity that vigilante groups, the government or police deem to be "immoral" and/or "against Indian culture".
Overview
India has several vigilante groups that claim to protect the Indian culture. They resist and oppose cultural concepts that they deem to have been imported from the Western culture. They have been known to attack bars and pubs. Some of these groups have attacked or have forced to shut down art exhibitions, where they claim obscene paintings were being displayed. They have issued diktats against western attires. Some have also condemned beauty parlours. Some members of the media have also colluded with such groups. Some politicians have supported such viewpoints and occasionally such activities.
Laws
In India, the Sections 292 to 294 of the Indian Penal Code are used to deal with obscenity. Most of these laws date back to 1860. The Section 292 of the Indian Penal Code deals with sales and distribution of obscene books and other material. It criminalises materials like books and paintings if it is deemed to be "lascivious or appeals to the prurient interest". The Section 292 was amended in 1969 to exclude material that are for public good (like condom ads), scientific material, art and religious figures. Police also use Section 292 of the IPC to file cases against film posters and advertisement hoardings that are deemed to be "obscene".
The Section 293 deals with the sale of obscene material to people under 20. The Section 294 of the Indian Penal Code deals with "obscene acts and songs" and it states that:
There is no proper definition of an obscene act and it is open to interpretation. It is frequently used by the police to justify acts of moral policing.
Immoral Traffic (Prevention) Act, 1956 (also known as Prevention of Immoral Traffic Act or PITA) was originally passed to prevent human trafficking. It allows police to raid hotels if they suspect a sex racket is being run there. Police have used this law to raid hotels and arrest consenting couples.
India's obscenity laws have also been frequently compared to the Hicklin test.
Valentine's Day
Valentine's Day is often opposed by groups like Shiva Sena and the moral police for being a western import. Vigilante group have been known to attack gift and card shops prior to the occasion. Couples are often beaten up for holding hands or kissing in public.
Shiv Sena leader Uddhav Thackeray has called it an attack of the west on Indian culture and that it is attracting youth for commercial gain. Shiv Sena leader Bal Thackeray has said that people not wanting violence on the day should not celebrate it. He has also called the festival shameless and contrary to Indian culture. Occasionally, the police also try to restrict these groups but even though their activities flourish 'til the date.
Incidents of moral policing
By vigilante groups, religious organizations and unaffiliated citizens
In the early 1990s, an Islamic women's separatist organization called Dukhtaran-e-Millat in Jammu and Kashmir began forcing local women to cover their faces and threatening them with acid attacks. During the period, they also attacked cinemas, video parlours, beauty parlours and wine shops. In 2005, they attacked hotel bars and restaurants, and destroyed liquor bottles.
In 1996, a Hindi magazine Vichar Mimansa published an article titled "M. F. Husain: A Painter or a Butcher?" which contained reprints of paintings M. F. Husain had created in 1975. They depicted various Hindu goddesses in nude or copulating poses. Eight different lawsuits were filed against him. In 2008, the Delhi High Court quashed three cases which had been transferred to it.
The 1996 Miss World pageant was held in Bangalore. It faced criticism from protestors who claimed that event was demeaning women and India's culture. Several self-immolation threats were made. The police arrest 1,500 protestors, including several from the BJP. One man died in a self-immolation attempt. Among other organizations which had protested the event were: Karnataka Rajya Raitha Sangha and Communist Party of India.
In 1997, a lawyer named Sabu Thomas from Kerala filed an obscenity case against the author Arundhati Roy, claiming that the 21st chapter of The God of Small Things contains obscene scenes. The book was also criticized by politician E. M. S. Namboodiripad.
In May 2005, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) workers stormed a pub in Pune, Maharashtra, broke window panes, and damaged furniture. The move came days after Pune Police had forced five pubs to shut before the closing time of 12:30 am.
In September 2005, Tamil actress Khushbu said during an interview with a magazine that it was fine for girls to indulge in pre-marital sex as long as they took precautions against diseases and pregnancies. Various political parties, notably Pattali Makkal Katchi and Dalit Panthers of India, took offence at the statement. They claimed that the comment "denigrates the chastity of Tamil Women" and over 20 lawsuits were filed against the actress in the state of Tamil Nadu. During a hearing in November, protestors hurled eggs, rotten tomatoes and slippers at her car. In April 2010, the Supreme Court of India dropped all 23 defamation cases against her.
In September 2005, a fatwa against tennis player Sania Mirza was issued by a cleric named Haseeb-ul-hasan Siddiqui of the Sunni Ulema Board. The fatwa said that her attire on the tennis court and billboard advertisements were un-Islamic. Mirza later decided to hire bodyguards.
In September 2005, a court in Rajasthan fined an Israeli couple for kissing during their wedding ceremony. The couple had decided to get married in a Hindu ceremony at Pushkar Lake. However, the priests were offended when the couple started kissing and hugging during the ceremony, and filed a lawsuit.
In December 2006, an obscenity case was filed against Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje and Biocon India Chief Kiran Mazumdar-Shaw for allegedly kissing at a public function. The lawsuit came after newspapers published the pictures of a cheek-to-cheek air kiss from a peculiar angle.
2008 Imphal bombing: In October 2008, an explosion occurred at Ragailong, a tribal village near Imphal where people had gathered to play a traditional gambling game. Seventeen people were killed, and many more injured, in the blast. The Kangleipak Communist Party (Military Council) claimed responsibility for the blast, stating they wanted to stop the game because it "affects Manipuri culture adversely".
2009 Mangalore pub attack: On 24 January 2009, members of the Sri Ram Sena barged into the pub "Amnesia – The Lounge" in Mangalore, Karnataka, and beat up a group of young women and men, claiming the women should not be drinking in a public place.
In December 2011, Vinay Rai, the editor of a Delhi-based Urdu daily called Akbari, filed an obscenity case against 21 websites including Facebook, Yahoo and Google, for allegedly distributing obscene material. The companies appealed the Delhi High Court to drop the case, but the Delhi HC on 13 January allowed the case to proceed.
2012 Mangalore homestay attack: On 28 July 2012, activists belonging to the Hindu Jagarana Vedike attacked a birthday party at an unlicensed homestay in Mangalore, Karnataka. The 12 people at the party, including 5 girls, were allegedly beaten, stripped and molested. The faces of some girls were blackened. The activists claimed the youngsters were consuming alcohol and were involved in "some indecent activities".
In February 2013, three girls who were members of a rock band in Jammu and Kashmir began receiving threats and hate messages on the internet. Later, the Grand Mufti of Kashmir, Bashir-ud-din Farooqi, issued a fatwa against them, asking them to stop such immoral activities. Ayaz Akbar, the spokesperson of All Parties Hurriyat Conference said that western culture had no place in the Kashmir valley, and Dukhtaran-e-Millat also supported the fatwa. Later, the girls shut down the band.
On March 8, 2017 Moral policing happened in marine drive Kochi against the kiss of love activists. As the ‘moral police’ unleashed attack on a few couples who were reluctant to disperse, about 20 other couples present at the spot fled in scare. ‘‘Some of the couples were seen pleading to let them go. But the group abused some of the females and cane-charged them,’’ said an eyewitness.
On 23 October 2014, a restaurant in Kozhikode was attacked and vandalised. The attackers claimed that eatery was facilitating immoral activities. The attack came after a local Malayalam-language TV channel broadcast a report claiming that some coffee shops and restaurants in Kozhikode had become centres of "immoral activities".
On February 19, 2020 a man was attacked in Kochi by three people while he was riding on a motorcycle with his wife. The three people hit the man and he became unconscious. Police later arrested three of the culprits.
On 14 July 2015, a Madhyamam Daily journalist and her husband were attacked by a group at her office. They did not accept that they were married. The police arrived before the incident escalated. Later, a Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader was arrested for leading the attack.
By police
In October 1993, Mumbai police began arresting street-hawkers selling girlie magazines. The publishers of Debonair issued a letter to retailers declaring that their magazine was not banned. They petitioned Bombay High Court against seizures of its issues. Another magazine, Chastity, delayed its November issue until it could acquire legal support against seizures.
In September 2000, Mumbai police banned kissing in the Marine Drive area. They cited the Section of 110 Mumbai Police Act, 1951 which allows the police to interfere in "disorderly behaviour." The decree was later withdrawn after protests.
In September 2005, the license of a Chennai night club was suspended by the police, after photographs of some couples kissing were published by two newspapers, Tamil Murasu and Dinamalar. The reason for the license suspension was given that the club served alcohol after midnight. Following the incident, several clubs and bars in the city banned cellphones with cameras.
On 19 December 2005, police personnel raided a public park in Meerut, accompanied by cameras crews from TV channels. They attacked couples sitting in the park in front of cameras. The raid was termed "Operation Majnu" (named after the folklore) and it was claimed by the police that the purpose was to check sexual harassment.
In November 2006, police raided a trance music festival in Ramgarh near Jaipur after local complained about alcohol, drug and sex. They also said that the laser lights at the venue were disturbing the local wildlife.
In September 2008, a policeman in Delhi filed a case of obscenity against a married couple for kissing in the Dwarka court complex. The couple appealed in the Delhi High Court. The Court noted that even though the charge-sheet claimed that the case was filed because the passerby were feeling bad, no one was mentioned by name. The Court said that kissing in public by married couples cannot be termed obscene. The Court passed its verdict on 25 May 2009 and asked the police to drop the case against the couple. The police was asked to pay to both husband and wife.
In January 2008, the police from D.N. Nagar of Mumbai arrested a Belgian fashion photographer named Vandelanotte Gaetan for taking nude pictures of two Indian models, Tushar Narvekar and Nitin Gupta. A court discharged him in March 2009 saying a laptop is akin to a personal diary and photos stored on it cannot used as evidence of obscenity.
In August 2008, 22 customs officers were arrested from a party at a bungalow near Lonavla. They were allegedly watching porn on a laptop and were undressed. The police also arrested 10 girls and a husband-wife duo. The Mumbai High Court dropped the case in September 2010 stating watching pornography in a private residence is not an offence.
On 29 November 2011, the Ghaziabad police launched its own "Operation Majnu". The police caught couples in parks and made the men do sit-ups in front of TV cameras. The head of the operation an officer called Alka Pandey said it was to prevent "innocent girls being trapped by boys with evil motives".
In 2012, Assistant Police Commissioner Vasant Dhoble carried out a series of raids on bars and clubs in and around Mumbai, claiming to rescue prostitutes. In one instance, he labelled four German women wrongly as sex workers in front of cameras when he arrested them on 30 March 2014 from the Voodoo pub. On 5 June 2012, Dhoble raided Masala Curry restaurant after he felt suspicious of women being allowed free entry. Two cousins who were picked up in the raid later filed a defamation case against Dhoble.
On 10 August 2013, Ghaziabad police raided a hotel on a tip-off and detained 56 adult couples. It was later found out of them, 52 couples were married or consenting friends. The police had carried out the raid after locals noticed usual traffic to the hotel and told the police.
Following the gang rape of a photojournalist in Mumbai in August 2013, Mumbai Police Commissioner Satyapal Singh was severely criticized by the public for defending moral policing. The Commissioner was quoted to have said, "On the one hand you want to have a promiscuous culture and on the other hand you want a safe and secure environment for the people."
Hyderabad Police raided a gay party at a club in the city on 3 September 2013. The police defended that raid under the Sector 294 of IPC that it was obscenity in a public place and that bar was serving alcohol after closing time. LGBT activists denounced the raid as "a classic example of moral policing" and discrimination against the LGBT community.
On 14 February 2014, the police in Gokarna attacked a party of about 200 foreigners with sticks. The police claimed that the party was going on after established time limit. The victims alleged that initially the police had demanded bribes to let the party continue, but attacked them after they refused. A petition was sent to various embassies to interfere in the matter.
On 6 August 2015, Malwani police in Mumbai, raided hotels and guest houses near Aksa Beach and Madh Island, and detained about 40 couples. Most of them were consenting couples in private rooms, but they were charged under Section 110 (Indecent behaviour in public) of the Bombay Police Act and fined . Only three cases were filed under Prevention of Immoral Traffic Act. Later, Mumbai Police Commissioner Rakesh Maria order an inquiry into the raids.
By the Central and state governments
Central Board of Film Certification
The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) or the Censor Board, which is tasked with regulating the public exhibition of films under the provisions of the "Cinematograph Act, 1952", has been accused of moral policing by some filmmakers. Director Anurag Kashyap has argued that it is infeasible to have a single body for a large and diverse country like India. Director Prakash Jha has pointed out that even if a film is certified by the Board, it is often not allowed a release in some states due to protests from local political parties or moral police. He has also said that the Board should be scrapped and each film-maker should simply state the type of content in the film because the society is mature enough to understand it. Sudhir Mishra has noted that censor committees have been influenced to giving films lighter ratings.
The former chief of the Censor Board, Sharmila Tagore, has defended the body saying that it does not carried out moral policing. In August 2014, then chief of the Censor Board, Rakesh Kumar, was arrested for allegedly delaying certifications to films and demanding bribes to speed up the process.
Restrictions on night life and alcohol
Throughout India, restrictions have been place by some state governments on timings for pubs, bars and other establishments that sell liquor.
The 2005 ban on dance bars in Maharashtra was considered to be an act of moral policing. Prior to the ban, the state government had claimed that the bars had a "corrupting influence on youth and compromised the moral standards of local men". As a result of the ban thousands of women employed by the 750 bars in the state lost their jobs and many were forced into prostitution. In June 2011, the state raised the legal age of drinking to 25, from previous 21. Furthermore, an old law called "Bombay Prohibition of Foreign Liquor Act, 1949", mandates anyone seeking to buy, possess or consume alcohol to obtain a special permit.
The state of Karnataka has a law dating back to 1967, called Rule 11(1) of the "Karnataka Excise Licences Rules of 1967", which prohibits dancing in establishments which serve alcohol. In July 2014, the Karnataka High Court asked the government of amend the law, stating that it was unconstitutional as it violated the Freedom of Expression. This law had been used by the local police to ban dancing in bars and clubs, especially in Bangalore.
Opposition to sex education in schools
The Adolescence Education Programme (AEP) was a sex education program designed by the Ministry of Human Resource Development (India) and National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO) to implement the policies of the National AIDS Control Programme II (NACP II). However, it faced opposition in various states, including Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra, Karnataka, and Rajasthan.
In February 2007, Gujarat government in a press release stated that it would not be introducing sex education in the state. It stated that the books suggested in the program by the Central government were inappropriate for children. However, in April 2010, it reintroduced sex education in a diluted form.
In March 2007, Maharashtra government banned sex education in schools. The ban came after the ruling and opposition Members of the Legislative Assembly protested in the state assembly claiming that western countries had forced the Central government to implement the program.
In April 2007, the Karnataka Minister for Primary and Secondary Education Basavaraj Horatti said that the program has been put on hold after complaints from teachers. The teachers had complained that the books was oriented towards increasing the sales of condoms, and that the illustrations were against Indian culture and sexually provocative.
In May 2007, Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan banned sex education in schools claiming that sex education has no place in Indian culture.
In May 2007, Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje wrote a letter to Arjun Singh, then Union Minister of Human Resource Development. In the letter, she stated that children in Class IX and XI, at whom the course was directed, do not require sex education as they are in the early stages of puberty. The state Education Minister Ghansyam Tiwari stated that they already had a life skills course called Jeevan Shaili, and sex education will have a negative impact on young minds.
Others
In 2016, a man was killed in Mankada, Malappuram, Kerala for visiting his girlfriend in the night. The victim was a 42-year-old man called Nazeer from the same locality. Around three in the morning some of his neighbors spotted him in a house where a woman was living alone. They attacked him and killed as an act of moral policing. Kerala police have arrested three persons in connection with this incident.
In 1996, it was announced by a Chandigarh-based company Global Internet Ltd. that an adult entertainment pay channel called Plus 21 would be launched in India. In response to this, the National Commission for Women (NCW) filed a lawsuit in the Delhi High Court. NCW claimed that it was performing its stipulated functions of protecting the interests of women and preventing culture shock to viewers. NCW was represented by notable feminist lawyer Indira Jaising. NCW claimed that channel would be showing pornography which would violate Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act 1986. The argument also cited the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885. The High Court put an injunction against the launch of the channel.
In the 2001, the Information and Broadcasting ministry banned two television channels TB6 and Fashion TV.
In December 2000, after Priyanka Chopra was crowned Miss World, beauty contests were banned in her home state of Uttar Pradesh under the orders of then Chief Minister Rajnath Singh. He claimed that beauty contests were against traditional culture and were vulgar. Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad praised the ban.
In 2003, Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Sushma Swaraj removed condom ads, funded by National AIDS Control Organisation (NACO), from public broadcasting channel Doordarshan.
In January 2007, the Information and Broadcasting ministry banned the TV channel AXN for two months. The channel was allegedly adversely affecting public morality by broadcasting a show called 'World's Sexiest Commercials' after 11 pm.
In March 2007, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting banned Fashion TV for two months for broadcasting programs that were capable of corrupting public morality.
In June 2009, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology issued a notice to various internet service providers and directed them to block the pornographic webcomic called Savita Bhabhi.
In March 2013, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology ordered Fashion TV to be taken off air for 10 days, for violating the Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994. The government claimed the channel was showing obscene and vulgar visuals which were unsuitable for the public and children. This was the 3rd time the channel was ordered to go off-air.
In May 2014, the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology suspended the TV channel Comedy Central for 10 days. The ministry claimed that Comedy Central had violated Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, 1995, by showing shows which were obscene and denigrated women. In November 2014, Delhi High Court upheld the government's order. By this time, the channel had gone off air for 4 days. They had appealed in the court claiming that their right to broadcast was protected under Article 19 of the Constitution. The court had also upheld a fine of . However, later in the same month the Supreme Court stayed the order and allowed further hearing.
In March 2015, local authorities in the Malda district of West Bengal cancelled a women's football match, featuring national team players, between a Kolkata side and a North Bengal team in March 2015. The order came after Muslim residents and local maulvis objected to women playing sports. Biplab Roy, the Block Development Officer (BDO) of Harishchandrapur, Malda explained, "When I came to know about the local opposition, I referred the matter to the SP and the DM, and the local police station. The order came from the top that the match should be cancelled, and I acted accordingly in the interest of peace and tranquillity and public order."
Accusations of obscenity against actors and film-makers
In 1993, during Nelson Mandela's visit to India, he kissed actress Shabana Azmi on the cheek. The incident created a controversy and drew criticism from the Muslim community.
In 1995, an obscenity case was filed against model-turned actor Milind Soman and Madhu Sapre for posing nude in a shoe advertisement. They were acquitted by a Mumbai court in December 2009. The court said that what may consider obscene for one, may not be so for others.
In February 2000, a Mumbai court heard an obscenity case against actresses, Pooja Bhatt, Madhuri Dixit, Mamta Kulkarni, Karisma Kapoor, Tabassum Hashmi, Raveena Tandon and Juhi Chawla. The main complainant in the case was Archana Chavan, head of the Baroda-based Nari Shakti Sanghatna. She claimed that the actresses were corrupting Indian culture. The court dropped the case stating the allegation of obscenity were vague.
In July 2000, an obscenity case against Mamta Kulkarni was heard in a Mumbai court. She was accused of posing obscenely on the cover of magazine called Stardust in 1993. The court fined her however the judgement was quashed by the Mumbai High Court as lower court didn't have authority to levy fines over .
In January 2005, a case was filed against Pooja Bhatt, the director of a film called Rog. The complainant was a St Xavier's College lecturer, Pratibha Naithani, who considered the posters of film obscene. The case was dropped in 2008 by a Bandra court. But it was reopened in 2011, after the petition of one Vinod Jain. In November 2012, the Bombay High Court dropped the case.
In 2006, a Madurai-based lawyer, Dakshninammorthy, filed a case against actress Shilpa Shetty and Reema Sen, under Section 109 of the Indian Penal Code, Prevention of Publication of Obscene Pictures Act and Section 3 of the Young Persons (Harmful Publications) Act. The lawsuit came in response to some photographs published in a newspaper called Tamil Murasu. The petitioner claimed that the pictures polluted the minds of the youth. The court had issued non-bailable warrants against the actresses. On 23 April 2008, the Madras High Court dropped that case against the two actress, but however added that the case could be continued against the publishers.
In May 2006, a case filed against item girl Rakhi Sawant after a live-performance for "indecent behaviour" and "destroying public peace" under Section 110, 112, 117 of the Bombay Police Act, 1951. The organizer was also indicted in the case.
In 2006, Shailendra Dwivedi, an Indore-based lawyer, filed an obscenity case against actors Aishwarya Rai and Hrithik Roshan for kissing in the movie Dhoom 2. The lawyer claimed that the scene was vulgar and couldn't be watched by Indian families. A separate case had been filed by a Muzaffarpur-based lawyer named Sudhir Kumar Ojha.
In January 2007, Vinod Jain tried to file an obscenity case against actress Mallika Sherawat in the Santacruz police station after watching the telecast of a New Year's performance on television. The police examined the footage and decided not file a case after pointing out that Sherawat was wearing a skin-coloured suit. However, later a Bandra court had accepted the petition. In June 2007, Narendra Tiwari, the President of the Baroda bar association, filed an obscenity case against her for the same performance. In January 2011, Sherawat was acquitted in one of the cases but Vinod Jain said that he will appeal in the Mumbai High Court. In the other case, Sherawat appealed to the Gujarat High Court to drop the case, but the Court rejected the appeal on 2 March 2013. On 16 August 2013, the Supreme Court of India stayed the proceedings on appeal.
Shilpa Shetty and Richard Gere kissing incident: In April 2007, effigies of Hollywood actor Richard Gere and Bollywood actress Shilpa Shetty were burnt after Gere kissed Shetty on the cheek at an AIDS awareness function in Delhi, and a Rajasthan court ordered Gere's arrest on obscenity charges. The lawsuit had been filed by a lawyer named Poonam Chand Bhandari claimed to have been annoyed by the obscene act. Former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee described the court order as reminiscent of the "Taliban moral police". In April 2008, the Supreme Court of India dropped the arrest warrant against Gere and said that he is free to enter and leave India anytime. In November 2011, the Supreme Court shifted the case against Shetty to a Mumbai court.
In 2009, an obscenity case was filed against actor Akshay Kumar and his wife Twinkle Khanna by an activist named Anil Nair. During a fashion show in Mumbai, Kumar had allegedly walked down the ramp and asked his wife who was seated in the front to unbutton his jeans.
In 2009, Rajnikant Borile, a social worker, filed an obscenity case against Mallika Sherawat in Yavatmal, claiming she had performed obscene acts in her various films which affected the society and the younger generation.
In December 2011, a Nampally-based lawyer Sai Krishna Azad filed an obscenity case against actress Vidya Balan. According to him, poster and advesitisement of the film The Dirty Picture, starring Balan, were spoiling the minds of people and causing harm to the society. The court accepted petition, it directed police to book Balan and take action against the posters.
On 2 February 2015, Akhilesh Tiwari, president of Brahman Ekta Seva Sanstha filed a complaint against film-maker Karan Johar, and actors Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh in Mumbai. They claimed that they had appeared in a YouTube comedy channel's roast event held in December 2014, All India Bakchod Knockout, whose videos were uploaded to the internet. The complaint accused the three of using filthy language. The Maharashtra government also ordered an inquiry. The video removed from on 3 February by the channel. Later, in a separate complaint filed by one Wazir Shaikh in Pune, accusations against 14 people were included. It named Deepika Padukone, who was kissed by Ranveer Singh. Sonakshi Sinha was also named in it. YouTube was accused of distributing the obscene content. The charges filed were Indian Penal Code Section 292 (distribution of obscene content) and Section 294 (obscene act in public place); and Section 67a of IT Act (transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act in electronic form).
Other
Some colleges and universities enforce a dress code on their students, usually restricting girls from wearing Western clothing. The rationale behind such restriction has been stated that such clothes attracts "eve-teasing".
Protests against moral policing
In 2009, following the 2009 Mangalore pub attack, an organisation called "Consortium of Pubgoing, Loose Forward Women" started a movement called the "Pink chaddi campaign". The movement requested people to mail pink underwear to Pramod Muthalik the leader of Sri Ram Sena which was behind the attacks. About 34,000 people participated.
In the state of Kerala, a public hugging and kissing campaign by name 'Kiss of Love' was launched in protest against moral policing on 2 November 2014. Similar events were later organized in Delhi, Kolkata, and various other cities.
See also
Nanny state
Pink chaddi campaign
2014 Kiss of Love protest
List of books banned in India
List of films banned in India
Vigilante attacks in Kerala
References
Violence against women in India
Conservatism in India
Crime in India
Vigilantes |
13802295 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List%20of%20fictional%20child%20prodigies | List of fictional child prodigies | Child prodigies and children who have exceptional talents frequently figure in entertainment media. This article indicates some examples of characters cited as child prodigies in such media.
In comics
Adhemar, son of Nero in the eponymous Belgian comic strip series The Adventures of Nero is a five year old who is so intelligent that he teaches at both the University of Oxford and University of Cambridge. He has his own laboratory in Kobbegem and invents numerous new inventions, including rockets, medicines, robots, and atomic formulae.
Génial Olivier, the main protagonist of the eponymous Belgian comic strip series by Jacques Devos is a boy genius whose inventions drive the plot of many of his stories.
Itachi Uchiha, Sasuke's older brother and character in the manga and anime series Naruto, is considered a genius by the Uchiha Clan.
Kakashi Hatake, introduced as the trainer of Naruto, Sakura, and Sasuke, was a child prodigy who graduated the ninja academy at age 5, becoming a full-fledged ninja at age 12.
Minato Namikaze, Naruto's father and the Fourth Hokage was recognised as a prodigy.
Chiyo Mihama, a character in the manga and anime series Azumanga Daioh, is a prodigy who is allowed to skip several grades and attend high school at age 10.
Urumi Kanzaki, a character in the manga and anime series Great Teacher Onizuka, is a prodigy with an IQ over 200, can speak 5 languages, and was able to do differential calculus in elementary school.
In the manga and anime Fullmetal Alchemist, both Edward Elric and Winry Rockbell are noted as being child prodigies, Edward for performing advanced alchemy at age 11, and Winry for becoming a skilled automail (cybernetic prosthetics) mechanic at the same age. Edward's brother Alphonse also performed the same alchemy with Ed at age 10, but most people who don't know him well don't realize that he's a child.
In the manga and both anime series of Sailor Moon, fifteen-year-old Hotaru Tomoe shows signs of a girl prodigy at the young age of four, being the lookalike reincarnation of Sailor Saturn herself, who has transferred some of her powers to her host since their rebirth.
In the manga and anime series Nichijou, the character Hakase Shinonome (literally "Professor Shinonome") is a child genius who created a robot (Nano Shinonome) at age 7, but otherwise acts like any other child.
In literature
In the 1988 novel Matilda by Roald Dahl, the eponymous Matilda Wormwood, is, according to the BBC News, "a child prodigy who [is] unloved by her parents."
In Evil Genius, Genius Squad, and Genius Wars by Catherine Jinks, Cadel Piggot is a child genius who enrolls in a "University of Evil".
In the 1985 novel Ender's Game, Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, Bean, Petra Arkanian, and a group of also exceptionally talented child geniuses known as "Ender's jeesh" are recruited by an organization known as the International Fleet in order to unknowingly command fleets against an alien species to save the Earth.
In the series Artemis Fowl of books by Eoin Colfer, Artemis Fowl II starts as a 12-year-old child prodigy and ages throughout the series.
In the works of J. D. Salinger (Nine Stories, Franny and Zooey, Raise High the Roof Beam, Carpenters and Seymour: An Introduction), the children in the Glass family are considered to be child prodigies. All seven children appeared on the radio quiz show "It's a Wise Child."
In Harry Potter, Severus Snape is described as a former child prodigy who, as a bullied teenager, briefly sides with series antagonist Voldemort.
Lord Voldemort, the most powerful sorcerer in the Harry Potter universe, second to Albus Dumbledore. He was the most brilliant student who ever went to Hogwarts.
In the Legend trilogy written by Marie Lu, June Iparis is described as a child prodigy, having scored full on her Republic's Trial.
In Genius: The Game, Rex, a genius programmer and hacker, Tunde, engineer who created his small Nigerian village's solar power tower, and Cai, a blogger who is a master of disguise, set to expose underhand Chinese government deals, are all kids under eighteen invited to participate in 'THE GAME', where 200 of the world's brightest minds will face challenges set by Kiran Biswes, the young CEO of a company named "OndScan".
In the series The Mysterious Benedict Society, the main characters Reynie Muldoon, George "Sticky" Washington, Kate Wetherall, and Constance Contraire have been described as child prodigies.
In The School for Gifted Potentials series, Everett is identified as highly gifted despite purposely scoring low on the entrance test. Students either enroll in the school from birth by gifted parents or are invited by “Observers”.
High School Prodigies Have It Easy Even In Another World is light novel also developed into a manga and an anime, about seven child prodigies sent to a fantasy world.
In films
Billy Elliot in Billy Elliot (2000), a dance prodigy.
Anakin Skywalker, in The Phantom Menace (1999), features the 9-year-old boy who is a brilliant pilot, technician, mechanic and engineer. He later becomes a member of the elite Jedi Knights, but clashes with authority and falls to the dark side of the Force, eventually becoming Darth Vader in Revenge of the Sith.
Harold Wormser, Revenge of the Nerds (1984). A twelve-year-old child prodigy in the first film, reluctantly went into college by his parents at first, but was accepted among his fellow misfits and was helpful in many of their capers against the rival campus jocks that bullied them in the film series.
Dade Murphy, Hackers (1995). He hacked and crashed exactly 1,507 systems of the New York Stock Exchange at the age of 11.
Tony Stark, Iron Man (2008). He built his first circuit board at age 6, his first engine (a V8) at 8 and graduated summa cum laude from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) at 17.
Fred Tate, Little Man Tate (1991). A particularly clever young boy suffers from burnout.
Stanley Spector, Magnolia (1999). The character is an eminent contestant on the quiz show What Do Kids Know? His greedy father capitalizes off of his son's success and constantly pressures him to win. The emotional distress that this pressure, along with alienation from society caused by being perceived as an amusing object, eventually becomes evident.
The Royal Tenenbaums (2001) concerns "a family composed of three child prodigies".
Jamal Wallace, Finding Forrester (2000), is a genius teenager.
August in August Rush (2007) possesses a deep understanding of the concept of music and a musical talent far exceeding his adult peers, including his parents. In the film, he is capable of creating, mastering, and performing his own symphony in front of thousands.
Nathan in A Brilliant Young Mind (2014) is a mathematical prodigy. Comprehending to love as imaginary, he ignores initially his mother's caring behaviour. When he falls in love, he understands that love is not bound to any formula.
Hiro Hamada in Big Hero 6 (2014) is a robotics genius that graduated from high school early, and was admitted to university at the San Fransokyo Institute of Technology at the age of 14.
Mary Adler (played by Mckenna Grace) in Gifted (2017) is a mathematical prodigy whose late mother was a mathematician. She expressed an interest in solving the Navier-Stokes existence and smoothness problem which her mother was working on.
In television
In Sarah Jane Adventures, Sarah Jane's adopted son Luke is a child prodigy with the ability to remember numbers with over 20 digits after only a glance beforehand.
In Code Lyoko, Jeremy Belpois is a child genius and an expert in quantum physics and science. At 11, he builds a time machine and could create a materialization program that teleports humans into a virtual plane. It is also shown that he can easily create a clone of himself and his friends, and knows Morse code. Aelita, who was believed to be a humanoid virtual being, is exceptionally gifted due to being the daughter of computer scientist Franz Hopper, the creator of the quantum supercomputer, the virtual world Lyoko, and X.A.N.A. himself.
In Code Lyoko: Evolution, Jeremie Belpois seems to have met his match with the appearance of girl-genius Laura Gauthier.
In Family Guy, Stewie Griffin is portrayed as a child prodigy already as a baby.
In Smart Guy, T.J Henderson (played by Tahj Mowry) skips 6 grades and goes straight from 4th grade to 10th grade. T.J deals with the trial and tribulations of a kid in high school. He joins his 16-year-old brother Marcus (played by Jason Weaver) and his friend Mo (played by Omar Gooding).
In The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon Cooper (played by Jim Parsons) has an IQ of 187 and an eidetic memory. He went to college when he was 11 and received his Ph.D when he was 16. When he was 14, Sheldon tested out lasers and the college teacher who saw was shushed by the government. Also, in the episode "The Jerusalem Duality", Dennis Kim, a 15-year-old physics child prodigy appears and clashes with Sheldon when the former excels the latter in every way. In the prequel spin-off series, Young Sheldon, Sheldon Cooper (Iain Armitage) met another precocious but troubled child named Paige Swanson (Mckenna Grace). Sheldon also got admitted into the California Institute of Technology.
In CSI, there are two episodes (The Unusual Suspect and Goodbye and Good Luck) where the character of Hannah West, a 12-year-old child prodigy, appears. In the first episode, she was in senior year in high school, and in the second (two years later), she was already a teacher's assistant in college.
In Breakout Kings, Lloyd Lowery (Jimmi Simpson) is a former child prodigy who graduated high school at 12, college at 16, and medical school at 20. He has an IQ of 210.
In Doogie Howser, M.D., the title character is a child prodigy who has graduated from medical school and practices medicine.
In the television show Firefly, the character of River Tam (played by Summer Glau) is shown as a prodigy throughout the show, having started to correct her elder brother's spelling at an early age, as well as seeing flaws and "fallacious conclusions" in one of his textbooks. She is also able of feats such as calculating in her head a course for the show's spaceship destination.
In the television show Heroes, Micah Sanders is a computer hacker who is a child prodigy.
In the television show Criminal Minds, one of the main characters, the socially awkward Spencer Reid (played by Matthew Gray Gubler) is a former child prodigy who has an IQ of 187, an eidetic memory, and can read 20,000 words per minute. He graduated from high school at the age of 12, and between the ages of 16 and 21, he received three doctorates (mathematics, chemistry, and engineering), and two bachelor's degrees (psychology, and sociology). He joined the BAU at 22, and currently works on a team who catch criminals through behavioral profiling. He has shown hints of schizophrenia, and is speculated of having Asperger's Syndrome.
In the television show </Scorpion>, Elyes Gabel plays wunderkind and boy genius, Walter O'Brien, inspired by the real-life genius, Walter O'Brien.
In the TV show Numb3rs, one of the main characters, Charlie Eppes (played by David Krumholtz), is a child prodigy. At the age of three he was multiplying four digit numbers in his head. At age 13 he started attending Princeton University and graduated at age 16. He now helps his brother Don solve cases for the FBI.
In the TV series The Pretender (1996–2000), the main character, Jarod, is a former child prodigy who, as an adult, is capable of emulating any person within various fields of work or situations with only a minimal amount of research.
In Star Trek: The Next Generation, Wesley Crusher was a child prodigy who was not well received by fans of the show.
In the TV series Buck Rogers in the 25th Century, the 11-year-old Gary Coleman of Diff'rent Strokes plays genius Hieronymus Fox.
In seaQuest DSV, Lucas Wolenczak is a child prodigy who graduated from Stanford magna cum laude with a degree in Applied Principles of Artificial Intelligence. He left Stanford in the middle of his Ph.D. to become a member of the science crew aboard seaQuest at 16. His GPA record was never broken, even after 15-plus years.
In The Adventures of Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius, the titular character is a fifth grader whose IQ is off the charts, and, in one episode, went to college at age ten.
In Max Headroom, Bryce Lynch is the 16-year-old techno-wiz who runs the Research and Development department at Network 23. Not only did he create Max himself out the mind of reporter Edison Carter, but he is credited in the film book of the original movie as being the one responsible for Network 23's rise to power.
In The Loud House, Lisa Loud is the four-year-old child prodigy of the Loud family who speaks in scientific terms.
In Mr. Young, Adam Young is a 14-year-old high school science teacher who attended college at age 9.
In The Simpsons, Lisa Simpson is an 8-year-old girl who excels at academics, and music, particularly jazz.
In Dexter's Laboratory, Dexter is a boy genius with a secret laboratory who went to college at 10 years of age.
In Johnny Test, identical redheaded twins Susan and Mary Test are 13-year-old girl geniuses.
In PAW Patrol, Ryder builds the team's technology, including the Pup Packs, Vehicles, etc. at 10 years of age
In Your Lie in April Kousei Arima performs as a piano player with an orchestra when 8 years old
References
Prodigy |
253838 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple%20ProDOS | Apple ProDOS | ProDOS is the name of two similar operating systems for the Apple II series of personal computers. The original ProDOS, renamed ProDOS 8 in version 1.2, is the last official operating system usable by all 8-bit Apple II series computers, and was distributed from 1983 to 1993. The other, ProDOS 16, was a stop-gap solution for the 16-bit Apple II that was replaced by GS/OS within two years.
ProDOS was marketed by Apple as meaning Professional Disk Operating System, and became the most popular operating system for the Apple II series of computers 10 months after its release in January 1983.
Background
ProDOS was released to address shortcomings in the earlier Apple operating system (called simply DOS), which was beginning to show its age.
Apple DOS only has built-in support for 5.25" floppy disks and requires patches to use peripheral devices such as hard disk drives and non-Disk-II floppy disk drives, including 3.5" floppy drives. ProDOS adds a standard method of accessing ROM-based drivers on expansion cards for disk devices, expands the maximum volume size from about 400 kilobytes to 32 megabytes, introduces support for hierarchical subdirectories (a vital feature for organizing a hard disk's storage space), and supports RAM disks on machines with 128kB or more of memory. ProDOS addresses problems with handling hardware interrupts, and includes a well-defined and documented programming and expansion interface, which Apple DOS had always lacked. Although ProDOS also includes support for a real-time clock (RTC), this support went largely unused until the release of the Apple II, the first in the Apple II series to include an RTC on board. Third-party clocks were available for the II Plus, IIe, and IIc, however.
ProDOS, unlike earlier Apple DOS versions, has its developmental roots in SOS, the operating system for the ill-fated Apple III computer released in 1980. Pre-release documentation for ProDOS (including early editions of Beneath Apple ProDOS) documented SOS error codes, notably one for switched disks, that ProDOS itself could never generate. Its disk format and programming interface are completely different from those of Apple DOS, and ProDOS cannot read or write DOS 3.3 disks except by means of a conversion utility; while the low-level track-and-sector format of DOS 3.3 disks was retained for 5.25-inch disks, the high-level arrangement of files and directories is completely different. For this reason, most machine-language programs that run under Apple DOS will not work under ProDOS. However, most BASIC programs work, though they sometimes require minor changes. A third-party program called DOS.MASTER enables users to have multiple virtual DOS 3.3 partitions on a larger ProDOS volume.
With the release of ProDOS came the end of support for Integer BASIC and the original Apple II model, which had long since been effectively supplanted by Applesoft BASIC and the Apple II Plus. Whereas DOS 3.3 always loads built-in support for BASIC programming, under ProDOS this job is given to a separate system program called , which one launches to run and write Applesoft BASIC programs. BASIC itself continued to be built into the Apple ROMs; is merely a command interpreter enhancement that allows BASIC programs to access ProDOS by means of the same "Control-D" text output they had used under DOS 3.3. alone requires about as much memory as the whole of DOS 3.3. Since the ProDOS kernel itself is stowed away in the "Language Card" RAM, the usable amount of RAM for BASIC programmers remains the same under ProDOS as it had been under DOS 3.3.
Despite ProDOS's many advantages, many users and programmers resisted it for a time because of their investment in learning the ins and outs of Apple DOS and in Apple-DOS-based software and data formats. A contributing reason was that ProDOS allows only 15 characters in a filename compared to Apple DOS's 30. But Apple's integrated software package AppleWorks, released in 1984, proved a compelling reason to switch, and by the end of 1985 few new software products were being released for the older operating system. Apple IIs continued to be able to boot the older DOS (even the Apple IIGS can boot the older DOS floppies) but as 3.5" floppies and hard disks became more prevalent, most users spent the bulk of their time in ProDOS.
The Apple IIe, also released in 1983, was the first Apple II computer to have 64kB of memory built in. For a while, Apple shipped both DOS 3.3 and ProDOS with new computers.
The original ProDOS was renamed ProDOS 8 when ProDOS 16 was released to support the 16-bit Apple II computer, although ProDOS 16 (which was 8-bit at its core) was soon replaced by GS/OS.
Requirements
All editions of ProDOS require an Apple II series computer or compatible.
ProDOS 8 requires 64kB of memory to run. The original ProDOS (8) 1.0 through 1.0.2 requires only 48kB for the kernel, but nearly all programs, including the needed to use Applesoft BASIC, require 64kB, making a 48kB system useless for ProDOS as a practical matter, and support for 48kB machines was removed in version 1.1.
ProDOS 8 version 2.x requires a 65C02 or later (65802, 65816) CPU. ProDOS 8 2.x runs in 64kB, but the utility programs on the system disk require 128kB. Systems with a 6502 CPU instead of a 65C02 must use ProDOS 8 versions prior to version 2.0.
ProDOS 16 requires an Apple IIGS.
Unlicensed Apple II clones
With the release of ProDOS version 1.01 and higher, a check was added to see if it was running on an official Apple-manufactured computer. If the word "Apple" is found in the computer's ROM firmware, ProDOS will load up as normal. If anything else is found (e.g. "Golden", "Franklin", "Elite") ProDOS refuses to run, locking up at the boot splash screen. This measure was taken by Apple Computer to discourage use of unlicensed Apple II clones. It is still possible to run newer versions of ProDOS on clones; however, users have to apply a small byte patch to every successive version of ProDOS. Some users go as far as replacing their physical ROM chip(s) with an illegal copied version of Apple's own ROM; or, failing that, a custom patched ROM with "Apple" added in the name.
Disk support
ProDOS 8 natively supports Disk II-compatible floppy drives, a RAM drive of approximately 59kB on computers having 128K or more RAM, and block devices whose controllers support the Pascal firmware protocol, a standardized method of accepting block reads and writes originally introduced for use with the UCSD p-System. This latter category includes 3.5" disk and hard drives. Custom block device drivers can be hooked into the OS as well.
File system
ProDOS uses the same file system as the earlier Apple SOS for the Apple III. The SOS/ProDOS file system is native to Apple SOS, ProDOS 8, ProDOS 16, and GS/OS. Some classic Mac OS versions also come with a file system translator to handle this file system.
A volume is allocated in 512-byte blocks. (5.25" floppy disks are still formatted using 256-byte sectors, as this is the format required by the controller ROM to boot the disk. ProDOS simply treats pairs of 256-byte sectors as a single block on such drives.) A volume can have a capacity of up to 32 megabytes, and each file can be up to 16 megabytes. Each volume (floppy disk or hard drive partition) has a "volume name", a filename which is used as the base directory name; having two volumes with the same volume name can result in conflicts. If necessary, ProDOS searches all available drives to find a named volume. Subdirectories are supported, and the concept of a "prefix" (working directory or current path) was provided to make working with subdirectories easier.
File, directory, and volume names can be 1 to 15 characters, starting with a letter, then containing more letters, digits or periods. Each file entry also contains the 16-bit (2-byte) pointer to the block containing the beginning of the file (or its block index); a 16-bit block count; a 24-bit (3-byte) file size; an 8-bit (1-byte) filetype; a 16-bit auxiliary type (the meaning of which depends upon the filetype); creation and modification timestamps; and data related to how the file is stored on the volume. Sparse files are supported, but files are never "sparsified" by removing zero-filled blocks. The volume header contains similar information as relevant to volumes.
Directories (including the root directory) are sequentially indexed, with each block starting with the address of the previous block (or zero if none) and the subsequent block (or zero if none). The root directory on most disks is initialized to 4 blocks, allowing 51 entries (excluding the volume header). It never changes in size, except by manual intervention with special tools. Subdirectories begin at one block, and grow automatically as needed.
Normal files are progressively indexed. Single-block files (under 513 bytes) have no index block; the directory entry points directly to the block of file data. Files with between 2 and 256 blocks (513 bytes to 128 kB) of data have a single index block, to which the directory entry points, which contains a list of up to 256 data block addresses. Larger files have a master index block containing a list of up to 256 index block addresses. When the Apple IIgs was introduced, a new storage format was introduced for files with two forks, as was typical for IIgs system and program files; the directory entry points to an informational block that tells the computer the storage format of the two forks. These files cannot be read or written natively by ProDOS 8, though the volume itself remains compatible.
The volume has a bitmap of used blocks. Other than this, there is no central file allocation table.
A ProDOS 8 volume formatted by Apple's tools has a boot sector that supports booting both ProDOS and SOS depending on what computer it is booted on. Block 0 is the Apple II boot block and block 1 boots SOS. This allows a disk to be used to boot on either Apple II or Apple III computers by putting both operating system kernels in the top directory: the Apple II boot sector looks for the file and the Apple III boot sector looks for the file . Third-party formatting utilities often did not provide the SOS boot block, and some would even mark block 1 available for user data.
ProDOS has no kernel support for other file systems. If necessary, a conversion utility on the main system disk is used to transfer files individually between ProDOS and older Apple DOS 3.3 disks. Because they use a different low-level disk format than DOS 3.3 and ProDOS, transferring data from DOS 3.2 disks to ProDOS is a two-step process using a DOS 3.3 disk as an intermediary (utilizing the DOS 3.3 utility MUFFIN or similar).
References
Notes
Don Worth and Pieter Lechner. Beneath Apple ProDOS. Quality Software, Chatsworth, California, 1984.
External links
Apple II History: DOS 3.3, ProDOS & Beyond
Apple II Information Reference - Apple2.info - ProDOS 8 Technical Reference Manual, wiki formatted, with FAQs, compatibility guides, etc.
ProDOS 8 Technical Reference Manual - HTML formatted
Apple II System Disk 4.0.2 - Apple II System Disk 4.0.2, with ProDOS 8 2.0.3 and the system utilities, as an 800K DiskCopy format image
Apple Operating Systems - DOS, ProDOS 8, GS/OS, Basic.System
ProDOS
ProDOS
Disk operating systems
Discontinued operating systems
1983 software |
22608452 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft%20Translator | Microsoft Translator | Microsoft Translator is a multilingual machine translation cloud service provided by Microsoft. Microsoft Translator is a part of Microsoft Cognitive Services and integrated across multiple consumer, developer, and enterprise products; including Bing, Microsoft Office, SharePoint, Microsoft Edge, Microsoft Lync, Yammer, Skype Translator, Visual Studio, and Microsoft Translator apps for Windows, Windows Phone, iPhone and Apple Watch, and Android phone and Android Wear.
Microsoft Translator also offers text and speech translation through cloud services for businesses. Service for text translation via the Translator Text API ranges from a free tier supporting two million characters per month to paid tiers supporting billions of characters per month. Speech translation via Microsoft Speech services is offered based on time of the audio stream.
The service supports languages and language varieties as of . It also supports 12 speech translation systems that currently power the Microsoft Translator live conversation feature, Skype Translator, and Skype for Windows Desktop, and the Microsoft Translator Apps for iOS and Android.
Development
History
The first version of Microsoft's machine translation system was developed between 1999 and 2000 within Microsoft Research. This system was based on semantic predicate-argument structures known as logical forms (LF) and was spun from the grammar correction feature developed for Microsoft Word. This system was eventually used to translate the entire Microsoft Knowledge Base into Spanish, French, German, and Japanese.
Microsoft's approach to machine translation, like most modern machine translation systems, is "data driven": rather than relying on writing explicit rules to translate natural language, algorithms are trained to understand and interpret translated parallel texts, allowing them to automatically learn how to translate new natural language text. Microsoft's experience with the LF system led directly to a treelet translation system that simplified the LF to dependency trees and eventually to an order template model, significantly improving in speed and enabling the incorporation of new target languages.
The consumer-facing translation site known as Bing Translator (previously known as Windows Live translator) was launched in 2007 and provides free text and website translations on the web. Text is translated directly within the Bing Translator webpage while websites are translated through the Bilingual Viewer tools.
In 2011, the service was extended to include numerous Microsoft Translator products through a cloud-based application programming interface, which supports products available to both consumer and enterprise users. An additional speech translation capability was introduced in March 2016.
In May 2018, an update to the API was introduced. This new version offered neural machine translation as the default method of translating. In addition to translation, the new version features transliteration and a bilingual dictionary to look up words to find alternative translations and to view examples in sentences.
Speech translation was integrated into Microsoft Speech services in September 2018, providing end-to-end speech, speech-to-text, and text-to-speech translation.
Translation methodology and research
Microsoft Translator uses machine translation to create instantaneous translations from one natural language to another. This system is based on four distinct areas of computer learning research seen below.
Accuracy
The quality of Microsoft Translator’s machine translation outputs are evaluated using a method called the BLEU score.
BLEU (Bilingual Evaluation Understudy) is an algorithm for evaluating the quality of text which has been machine-translated from one natural language to another. Quality is considered to be the correspondence between a machine's output and that of a human. BLEU was one of the first metrics to achieve a high correlation with human judgments of quality, and remains one of the most popular automated and inexpensive metrics.
Because machine translation is based on statistical algorithms rather than human translators, the automatic translations it produces are not always entirely accurate. Microsoft Translator has introduced various feedback features, such as the Collaborative Translation Framework, into its products to allow users to suggest alternative translations. These alternative translations are then integrated into the Microsoft Translator algorithms to improve future translations.
In November 2016, Microsoft Translator introduced translation using deep neural networks in nine of its highest traffic languages, including all of its speech languages and Japanese. Neural networks provide better translation than industry standard statistical machine learning.
Core products
Microsoft Translator is a cloud-based API that is integrated into numerous Microsoft products and services. The Translator API can be used on its own and can be customized for use in a pre-publishing or post-publishing environment. The API, which is available through subscription, is free for lower translation volumes, and is charged according to a tiered payment system for volumes exceeding two million characters per month. The remaining core products are available for free.
Microsoft Translator cloud translation
The Microsoft Translator is a cloud-based automatic translation service that can be used to build applications, websites, and tools requiring multi-language support.
Text translation: The Microsoft Translator Text API can be used to translate text into any of the languages supported by the service.
Speech translation: Microsoft Translator is integrated into Microsoft Speech services which is an end-to-end REST based API that can be used to build applications, tools, or any solution requiring multi-languages speech translation. Speech to speech translation is available to or from any of the conversation languages, and speech to text translation is available from the conversation languages into any of the Microsoft Translator-supported language systems.
Custom Translator
Custom Translator is a feature of the Microsoft Translator services that allows enterprises, app developers, and language service providers to build neural translation systems that understand the terminology used in their own business and industry. The customized translations can then be delivered into existing applications, workflows and websites using a normal call to the Microsoft Translator API. Custom Translator can be used when translating text with the Microsoft Translator Text API and when translating speech with Microsoft Speech services.
Live feature
A personal universal translator that enables up to 500 people to have live, multi-device, multi-language, in person translated conversations. This feature is currently free and available in the Microsoft Translator apps (Android, iOS or Windows) and from the browser at:
Microsoft Translator Hub
The Microsoft Translator Hub allows enterprises and language service providers to build their own translation systems that understand business- and industry-specific terminology. The Hub can also be used in conjunction with the CTF, allowing administrators to approve CTF results and add them directly to the Hub. The Microsoft Translator Hub is only available for statistical machine translation and cannot be used with the newest version of the Microsoft Translator API.
The Hub has also been used for language preservation, allowing communities to create their own language translation systems for language and cultural preservation. The Hub has been used to create translation systems for languages such as Hmong, Mayan, Nepali, and Welsh.
Multilingual App Toolkit (MAT)
The Multilingual App Toolkit (MAT) is an integrated Visual Studio tool, which allows developers to streamline localization workflows of their Windows, Windows Phone and desktop apps. MAT improves localization of file management, translation support, and editing tools.
Microsoft Translator web app
Microsoft Translator (previously Live Search Translator, Windows Live Translator, and Bing Translator) is a user facing translation portal provided by Microsoft as part of its Bing services to translate texts or entire web pages into different languages. All translation pairs are powered by the Microsoft Translator, a Neural machine translation platform and web service, developed by Microsoft Research, as its backend translation software. Two transliteration pairs (between Chinese (Simplified) and Chinese (Traditional)) are provided by Microsoft's Windows International team.
Bing Translator can translate phrases entered by the user or acquire a link to a web page and translate it entirely. When translating an entire web page, or when the user selects "Translate this page" in Bing search results, the Bilingual Viewer is shown, which allows users to browse the original web page text and translation in parallel, supported by synchronized highlights, scrolling, and navigation. Four Bilingual Viewer layouts are available:
Side by side
Top and bottom
Original with hover translation
Translation with hover original
Bing Translator integrates with several other Microsoft products. The following is a table of products into which Bing Translator is integrated or may be integrated:
Supported products
Through its core product offerings, Microsoft Translator supports the translation features of many Microsoft products at the consumer and enterprise levels. These products fall broadly into three categories — communication products, Microsoft Office, and apps.
Communication
Lync
SharePoint
Yammer
Skype Translator
Microsoft Office
Excel
OneNote
Outlook
PowerPoint
Publisher
Visio
Word
Word Online
Apps
Web app (translator.microsoft.com)
Windows and Windows 10
Windows Phone
iPhone and Apple Watch
Android phone and Android Wear
Kindle Fire
Skype Translator
Microsoft Edge
Microsoft SwiftKey
Deprecated products
Collaborative Translation Framework (CTF)
The Collaborative Translation Framework (CTF) is an extension of the Microsoft Translator API that allows post-publishing improvement of translated text. By using the CTF, readers have the ability to suggest alternative translations to those provided by the API, or vote on previously offered alternatives. This information is then delivered to the API to improve future translations.
Translator Web Widget
The Translator Web Widget is a translation tool that can be added to web pages by pasting a predefined snippet of JavaScript code into the page. The web widget is offered for free by Microsoft, and supports both pre-publishing customized translations using the Translator Hub, and post-publishing improvements using the Collaborative Translation Framework.
Supported languages
As of , Microsoft Translator supports 105 languages and language varieties. The list of supported languages is available at the Microsoft Translator website and can also be retrieved programmatically through the cloud services.
Afrikaans
Albanian
Amharic
Arabic
Armenian
Assamese
Azerbaijani
Bashkir
Bengali
Bosnian
Bulgarian
Burmese
Cantonese (Traditional)
Catalan
Chinese (Literary)
Chinese (Simplified)
Chinese (Traditional)
Croatian
Czech
Danish
Dari
Dutch
English
Estonian
Fijian
Filipino (Tagalog)
Finnish
French
French (Canada)
Georgian
German
Greek
Gujarati
Haitian Creole
Hebrew
Hindi
Hmong Daw
Hungarian
Icelandic
Indonesian
Inuinnaqtun
Inuktitut
Inuktitut (Latin)
Irish
Italian
Japanese
Kannada
Kazakh
Khmer
Klingon (Latin)
Korean
Kurdish (Central) (Sorani)
Kurdish (Northern) (Kurmanji)
Kyrgyz
Lao
Latvian
Lithuanian
Macedonian
Malagasy
Maldivian (Divehi)
Malay
Malayalam
Maltese
Māori
Marathi
Mongolian (Cyrillic)
Mongolian (Traditional)
Nepali
Querétaro Otomi
Norwegian (Bokmål)
Odia
Pashto
Persian
Polish
Portuguese (Brazil)
Portuguese (Portugal)
Punjabi (Gurmukhi)
Romanian
Russian
Samoan
Serbian (Cyrillic)
Serbian (Latin)
Slovak
Slovene
Spanish
Swahili
Swedish
Tahitian
Tamil
Tatar
Telugu
Thai
Tibetan
Tigrinya
Tongan
Turkish
Turkmen
Ukrainian
Upper Sorbian
Urdu
Uyghur
Uzbek (Latin)
Vietnamese
Welsh
Yucatec Maya
Community partners
Microsoft Translator has engaged with community partners to increase the number of languages and to improve overall language translation quality. Below is a list of community partners that Microsoft Translator has teamed with.
CNGL Centre for Global Intelligent Content
Hmong Language Partners - Hmong Daw
Jawaharlal Nehru University - Urdu
Senedd Cymru (the Welsh Parliament, partnered as the National Assembly for Wales) - Welsh
Tilde - Estonian, Latvian, Lithuanian
Translators Without Borders - Swahili
Appen - Filipino (Tagalog), Malagasy, Samoan, Tahitian, Tongan
Government of Nunavut - Inuktitut
Auckland University of Technology - Māori
Waikato University - Māori
Government of the State of Querétaro - Querétaro Otomi
Klingon Language Institute - Klingon
Additionally, Microsoft has teamed with the Klingon Language Institute, which promotes the constructed language, Klingon, which is used within the fictional Star Trek universe produced by Paramount and CBS Studios. Klingon has been supported by Microsoft Translator since May 2013.
See also
Apertium
Babel Fish (discontinued; redirects to main Yahoo! site)
Bing
Comparison of machine translation applications
Google Translate
Jollo (discontinued)
List of Microsoft software
Skype Translator
SYSTRAN
Yandex Translate
References
External links
(copyright of Microsoft)
SW development
Machine translation software
Natural language processing software
Translation websites
Universal Windows Platform apps
IOS software
WatchOS software
Android (operating system) software
Wear OS software
Microsoft websites
Microsoft software
Microsoft Edge extensions
Internet Explorer add-ons
Microsoft Bing |
84249 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hicetaon | Hicetaon | In Greek mythology, Hicetaon (Ancient Greek: Ἱκετάονα or Ἱκετάονος) may refer to:
Hicetaon, a Trojan prince as the son of King Laomedon of Troy, thus a brother of King Priam. He was one of the Trojan elders. After Paris kidnapped Helen of Troy, Hicetaon suggested that she be returned to Menelaus to avoid war. His sons were: Melanippus, who died in the war Hicetaon had sought to avert; Critolaus, husband of Priam's daughter Aristomache; Thymoetes (in the Aeneid only, otherwise given as his brother); and, possibly, Antenor.
Hicetaon, prince of Methymna, Lesbos, a son of King Lepetymnus and Methymna, daughter of King Macareus. He and his brother Hypsipylus defended their home city against Achilles and fell in the battle.
Notes
References
Apollodorus, The Library with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, F.B.A., F.R.S. in 2 Volumes, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1921. ISBN 0-674-99135-4. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library. Greek text available from the same website.
Dictys Cretensis, from The Trojan War. The Chronicles of Dictys of Crete and Dares the Phrygian translated by Richard McIlwaine Frazer, Jr. (1931-). Indiana University Press. 1966. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A.T. Murray, Ph.D. in two volumes. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Homer, Homeri Opera in five volumes. Oxford, Oxford University Press. 1920. . Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Parthenius, Love Romances translated by Sir Stephen Gaselee (1882-1943), S. Loeb Classical Library Volume 69. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1916. Online version at the Topos Text Project.
Parthenius, Erotici Scriptores Graeci, Vol. 1. Rudolf Hercher. in aedibus B. G. Teubneri. Leipzig. 1858. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Pausanias, Description of Greece with an English Translation by W.H.S. Jones, Litt.D., and H.A. Ormerod, M.A., in 4 Volumes. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann Ltd. 1918. . Online version at the Perseus Digital Library
Pausanias, Graeciae Descriptio. 3 vols. Leipzig, Teubner. 1903. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Publius Vergilius Maro, Aeneid. Theodore C. Williams. trans. Boston. Houghton Mifflin Co. 1910. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Publius Vergilius Maro, Bucolics, Aeneid, and Georgics. J. B. Greenough. Boston. Ginn & Co. 1900. Latin text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Strabo, The Geography of Strabo. Edition by H.L. Jones. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press; London: William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library.
Strabo, Geographica edited by A. Meineke. Leipzig: Teubner. 1877. Greek text available at the Perseus Digital Library.
Princes in Greek mythology
Trojans
Characters in Greek mythology |
11546163 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fred%20Davis%20%28tight%20end%29 | Fred Davis (tight end) | Frederick Martin Davis (born January 15, 1986) is a former American football tight end. He was drafted by the Washington Redskins in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft. He played college football at USC.
Early years
Davis prepped at Rogers High School in Toledo. He was on the USA Today All-USA second team. According to Scout.com, Davis was rated the second best wide receiver in his recruiting class coming out of high school. Davis played in the 2004 U.S. Army All-American Bowl.
As a high school junior, Davis considered attending Ohio State University because it was the first program to offer him an athletic scholarship. His senior season resulted in many other offers, with USC winning out with a combination of weather, location, coaches, quality players and a style of offense that suited Davis; he conversed the matter over with fellow recruit Dwayne Jarrett before they both decided to join the Trojans.
College career
Davis graduated from Robert S. Rogers High School in Toledo, OH, a semester early to start spring training with the Trojans. Tired of the recruiting process that accompanies top prospects, Davis secretly left Ohio to enroll at USC. Recruited as a wide receiver, he showed solid speed and raw athletic ability but lacked the route-running skills and ball-catching ability of other receivers. After consulting with then-offensive coordinator Norm Chow, Davis decided to try converting to tight end.
His freshman year, Davis contributed as a reserve to the eventual-national champion 2004 USC Trojans football team, playing in nine games and catching four passes behind fellow tight ends Dominique Byrd and Alex Holmes. However, because of repeated incidences of tardiness, reporting late after trips back to Ohio, Davis was not allowed to travel with the Trojans to the BCS National Championship Game in 2005 Orange Bowl. Davis reapplied himself the next season, catching 13 passes in 13 games during the 2005 season, including two in the 2006 Rose Bowl. During the 2006 season, Davis started ten games and caught 38 passes for 352 yards and three touchdowns.
Davis was a preseason team All-Pacific-10 Conference player prior to 2007 and was considered a likely high draft choice for the 2008 NFL Draft. He was on the 2007 Mackey Award watch list. Against Washington State, Davis had the best game of his career, with nine receptions for 124 yards and two touchdowns. The performance marked the most yards receiving ever in a game by a Trojans tight end. Prior to that, Davis had never caught more than six passes or gained more than 68 receiving yards in a game.
At the end of the 2007 regular season, Davis was selected to the All-Pac-10 Conference first team by league coaches. He was also selected to the SI.com All-American Second Team. Davis became the first USC player to win the Mackey Award as the nation's top tight end. When asked his favorite game as a USC player, Davis noted the 2006 Rose Bowl.
Professional career
Washington Redskins
2008 season
Davis was drafted in the second round of the 2008 NFL Draft by the Washington Redskins. On May 4, the last day of the Redskins mini-camp, Davis overslept and missed the morning practice. On July 19, Davis received a four-year contract from the Redskins worth $3.5 million, including $1.8 million in bonus money.
Davis was not much of a factor during the 2008 season, partially due to the lack of playing time, for the Washington Redskins. He caught three passes for 27 yards.
2009 season
During the 2009 season, in a Week 7 game vs. the Philadelphia Eagles, Davis caught his first touchdown and recorded a career-high 7 catches for 78 yards. Davis was playing first-string tight end for most of this game due to an injury to starter Chris Cooley. He finished the season with 48 receptions for 509 yards and 6 touchdowns.
2010 season
In the 2010 season, Davis had 21 receptions for 316 receiving yards. He played in all 16 games of the season and started 9 of them.
2011 season
During the 2011 preseason, Davis switched from his original jersey number of 86 to 83. In the 2011 season, Davis would eventually become the starting tight end after starter, Chris Cooley, was placed on injured reserve. In Week 14, Davis and teammate, Trent Williams, were suspended for four games after repeatedly failing league drug tests.
Starting in 12 games, he finished the season recording career highs of 59 receptions and 796 yards, as well as having three touchdowns. Despite his suspension, he was named the Redskins' 2011 Offensive Player of Year.
2012 season
On March 2, 2012, the Washington Redskins placed the non-exclusive franchise tag on Davis.
On March 16, 2012, he signed his one-year, franchise-player tender contract worth $5.446 million. After the release of Chris Cooley, he was officially named the Redskins' starting tight end. In the Week 7 game against the New York Giants, Davis tore his Achilles tendon in the first half, ending his 2012 season. Cooley was eventually brought back to replace Davis. He finished the season with 325 yards on 24 receptions and no touchdowns.
2013 season
On February 26, 2013, Davis was officially cleared by medical personnel to play. Set to become an unrestricted agent, he re-signed with the Redskins on March 29 to a one-year contract. Before Davis could test the upcoming free agent market for the 2014 season, he was suspended indefinitely by the NFL for violating their substance-abuse policy.
New England Patriots
2015 season
On May 1, 2015, Davis was reinstated by the league after being suspended for roughly a year. On May 11, 2015, Davis signed a one-year contract with the New England Patriots. On June 19, 2015, Davis was released.
Personal
On January 10, 2011, a woman by the name of Makini R. Chaka filed a civil lawsuit against Davis for an altercation that occurred between the two at a nightclub in Washington, D.C. Davis was accused of assaulting Chaka by dumping his drink on her. The civil case is closed. During the September 17, 2013 ruling, Judge Laura Cordero wrote that Chaka "has established by a preponderance of evidence that Defendant Fred Davis assaulted and battered her."
The judge awarded Chaka $186 in medical damages, $575 to compensate for damage to "her boots, her dress, [and] her hair weave." The judge also awarded Chaka $9,000 in lost earnings and $10,000 in pain and suffering.
On July 23, 2014, D.C. police announced that there was a warrant for Davis' arrest for assaulting his ex-girlfriend on June 2. The next day, Davis surrendered himself to the police. The charges were dropped on August 27, 2014 due to insufficient evidence.
References
External links
Washington Redskins bio
USC Trojans bio
1986 births
Living people
American football tight ends
Sportspeople from Toledo, Ohio
USC Trojans football players
Washington Redskins players
New England Patriots players
Players of American football from Ohio |
2578705 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zhou%20Chaochen | Zhou Chaochen | Zhou Chaochen (; born 1 November 1937) is a Chinese computer scientist.
Zhou was born in Nanhui, Shanghai, China. He studied as an undergraduate at the Department of Mathematics and Mechanics, Peking University (1954–1958) and as a postgraduate at the Institute of Computing Technology, Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS) (1963–1967).
He worked at Peking University and CAS until his visit to the Oxford University Computing Laboratory (now the Oxford University Department of Computer Science) (1989–1992). During this time, he was the prime investigator of the duration calculus, an interval logic for real-time systems as part of the European ESPRIT ProCoS project on Provably Correct Systems.
During the periods 1990–1992 and 1995–1996, Zhou Chaochen was visiting professor at the Department of Computer Science, Technical University of Denmark, Lyngby, on the invitation of Professor Dines Bjørner. He was Principal Research Fellow (1992–1997) and later Director of UNU-IIST in Macau (1997–2002), until his retirement, when he returned to Beijing.
In 2007, Zhou and Dines Bjørner, the first Director of UNU-IIST, were honoured on the occasion of their 70th birthdays. Zhou is a member of the Chinese Academy of Sciences.
Books
Zhou, Chaochen and Hansen, Michael R., Duration Calculus: A Formal Approach to Real-Time Systems. Springer-Verlag, Monographs in Theoretical Computer Science, An EATCS Series, 2003. .
References
External links
Institute of Software, Chinese Academy of Sciences (ISCAS) information
1937 births
Living people
Chinese computer scientists
Formal methods people
Members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences
Members of the Department of Computer Science, University of Oxford
Peking University alumni
Peking University faculty
Scientists from Shanghai
Technical University of Denmark faculty
United Nations University faculty |
33171432 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business%20Operating%20System | Business Operating System | Business Operating System may refer to:
Business Operating System (software), a cross-platform operating system originally produced for Intel 8080 and Motorola 6800 computers
Business Operating System (management), a standard, enterprise-wide collection of business processes used in companies |
245593 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ARX%20%28operating%20system%29 | ARX (operating system) | ARX was an unreleased Mach-like operating system written in Modula-2+ developed by Acorn Computers Ltd in the Acorn Research Centre (ARC) United Kingdom (UK) and later by Olivetti - which purchased Acorn - for Acorn's new Archimedes personal computers based on the ARM architecture reduced instruction set computer (RISC) central processing unit (CPUs).
Overview
According to the project Application Manager Richard Cownie, during the project, while Acorn was developing the kernel, it used the C and Acorn Modula Execution Library (CAMEL) in the Acorn Extended Modula-2 (AEM2) compiler (ported from Modula-2 ETH Zurich (ETH) using Econet hardware). Though never released externally, CAMEL was ported to use on Sun Microsystems Unix computers. In an effort to port Sun's workstations Sun NeWS to the Archimedes, David Chase developed a compiler based on AEM2 for the programming language Modula-3.
ARX was a preemptive multitasking, multithreading, multi-user operating system. Much of the OS ran in user mode and as a result suffered performance problems due to switches into kernel mode to perform mutexes, which led to the introduction of the SWP instruction to the instruction set of the ARM3 version of the ARM processor. It had support of a file system for optical (write once read many (WORM)) disks and featured a window system, a window toolkit (and a direct manipulation user interface (UI) editor) and an Interscript-based text editor, for enriched documents written in Interpress (a HTML precursor). The OS had to be fitted in a 512 KB read-only memory (ROM) ROM image. This suggests that ARX had a microkernel-type design.
It was not finished in time to be used in the Acorn Archimedes range of computers, which shipped in 1987 with an operating system named Arthur, later renamed RISC OS, derived from the earlier Machine Operating System (MOS) from Acorn's earlier 8-bit BBC Micro range. Confusion persisted about the nature of ARX amongst the wider public and press, with some believing that ARX was Acorn's own Unix variant, with this view being refined in time to accommodate ARX as Acorn's own attempt to deliver a "UNIX look-alike" whose development had been abandoned in favour of a traditional Unix version for the Archimedes, which ultimately emerged as RISC iX.
The Acorn Research Centre was acquired by Olivetti.
See also
RISC iX
References
External links
ARX features
History of the addition of the SWP instruction to the ARM3 instruction set
Acorn operating systems
ARM operating systems
Discontinued operating systems
Microkernel-based operating systems
Microkernels |
38149409 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Miguel%20Chevalier | Miguel Chevalier | Miguel Chevalier (born April 22, 1959 in Mexico) is a French digital and virtual artist. Since 1978, Miguel Chevalier has used computers as a means of expression in the field of the visual arts. He has established himself internationally as one of the pioneers of virtual and digital art.
His multidisciplinary and experimental work addresses the question of immateriality in art, as well as the logics induced by computers, such as hybridization, generativity, interactivity, networking. He develops different themes in his work, such as the relationship between nature and artifice, the observation of flux and networks organizing our contemporary societies, the imaginary of architecture and virtual cities, the transposition of patterns from Islamic art into the digital world. The images he offers perpetually question our relationship to the world.
His works are most often presented in the form of digital installations projected at a large scale. He creates in-situ works that revisit the history and architecture of places through digital art, giving them a new interpretation. He also creates sculptures using 3D printing or laser cutting techniques, which materialize his virtual universes.
Miguel Chevalier has been features in numerous exhibitions in museums, art centers and galleries all over the world. He also carries out projects in public and architectural spaces.
Biography
Childhood and Youth
Miguel Chevalier spent his childhood in Mexico where his father was a university researcher studying the history of Latin America. The cultural and artistic environment in which he grew up enabled the emergence of an early interest in art. Regular visitors to the family home included muralists David Alfaro Siqueiros, Rufino Tamayo or Diego Rivera, director Luis Buñuel and architect Luis Barragán, whose violent use of color would significantly influence the artist. The influence of Mexican artists is subsequently noticeable in the monumental dimension of the artist's works, as well as in the attention he pays to the integration of his art into the public space.
During his teenage years he followed his parents to Madrid, where his father took over the management of the Casa de Vélazquez. He discovers with great passion the treasures of Churrigueresque architecture, as well as the European masters' paintings in museums. At the Prado Museum, Miguel Chevalier has the opportunity to discover Goya's work, which he describes as an emotional shock. The reproduction technique as a series such as the The Disasters of War impacts him deeply him, much like Andy Warhol's the silkscreened works. In 1974 he also discovered the work of the Venezuelan artist Carlos Cruz-Diez opening him to kinetic art.
He then moved to Paris, whose cultural richness and numerous exhibitions (including the one on Marcel Duchamp in 1977 and the famous Paris-New York, Paris-Moscow and Paris-Berlin at the Centre Georges Pompidou) struck him as a revelation.
Training
Miguel Chevalier joined the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux-Arts of Paris in 1978 where he learned the basics of drawing and sculpture, where he graduated in 1981. Two years later he graduated from the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs as well as obtaining a license in art and archeology at the University of Paris La Sorbonne as well as in plastic art at the University of Paris Saint-Charles.
The completion of Miguel Chevalier's training also included a few stays abroad, including at the Pratt Institute and the School of Visual Arts in New York, thanks to the Lavoisier scholarship from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1984. In the United States, the French artist finally gains access to the first computer-assisted drawing software and realizes the imminent computer revolution about to transform the artistic approach to painting, photography and video. Likewise, his stays at the Villa Kujoyama in Kyoto, Japan, from 1993 to 1994, proved to be fundamental in intensifying his relationship with nature which he had already experienced as omnipresent and luxuriant in Latin America and he encountered in the Kyoto's zen gardens like an artificial kingdom where everything is controlled in detail.
Career
While the end of the 1970s marks a return to painting through free figuration and graffiti, Miguel Chevalier seeks to generate a new pictorial subject in the field of painting. With the increased presence of computers in the media and the beginning of the Information Society at the beginning of the 1980s, Miguel Chevalier then invests the field of digital art thanks to computers which allow him to modify, animate and experiment with images endlessly. However, the access to IT tools remained difficult.
His encounter with Serge Equilbey, engineer at the CNRS optics center, gave him access to Numelec computers which analyze images by successive processing. CNRS engineers also help him write small pieces of program softwares, allowing him to manipulate these images. He thus created in 1982-1983 his first digital works with the series entitled “Baroque et Classic”.
The end of the 1980s and the birth of micro-computing is a turning point in Miguel Chevalier's practice by allowing him to acquire a personal computer as well as a color printer. These technological advances enabled a new freedom of creation for the artist and opened up endless possibilities.
With the appearance of the first moderately priced graphics cards, able to calculate thousands of polygons, in between the 90s and the 2000s, the artist could then create his first generative works in 3D with his virtual gardens entitled "Sur-Natures". The rapid development of new technologies starting 2005, particularly the development of increasingly powerful and accessible PC computers but also the appearance of open sourced programs and engines such as Pure Data or Unity, led Miguel Chevalier to create, with the help of computer scientists, generative and interactive virtual reality softwares like “Fractal Flowers”, “Liquid Pixel”, “Second nature” and “Terra incognita”. The arrival of 3D printers also allowed him to explore the materialization of the virtual with works such as "Lilus Arythmeticus said to be Euclid".
With the development of increasingly complex digital works, Miguel Chevalier surrounded himself with a team of specialists in a studio he called La Fabrika, in reference to Andy Warhol's factory. This workshop and research laboratory then allows him, with computer scientists, developers and other collaborators, to experiment with his works on a large scale.
Miguel Chevalier also works to promote the recognition of the field of digital art in the world by closely participating in large-scale exhibitions such as Artistes & Robots at the Grand Palais in 2018 (curators : Laurence Bertrand Dorléac et Jérôme Neutres) or Immaterial / Re-material: A Brief History of Computing Art at the UCCA in Beijing in 2020 (curator: Jérôme Neutres). He was also successively in charge of various teaching, especially for the City of Paris (ADAC), at the Universidad de las Andes de Bogota, at the Universidad de Mexico and at the Centro Nacional de las Artes de Mexico. He held lectures at the École Supérieure d’Art et de Design in Reims, at the École des Beaux-Arts in Rennes, at the École des Beaux-Arts in Metz and at Sciences Po Paris.
Artistic work
Miguel Chevalier's work pursues a constant dialogue with the history of art, in a continuity and a metamorphosis of vocabulary, to explore and experiment with a new pictorial language.
Flows and networks
The representations of the world no longer boil down to describing the territories, but rather learning about the flows that drives continents and thus expressing the ways in which recent technologies influence the constitution of new images of the globe, Miguel Chevalier has had an early interesting the theme of networks. All the flows and networks that surround us (data flows, information flows, electricity networks, railway networks, family networks, network of relationships, etc. ) overlap and intertwine. Through his works, Miguel Chevalier studies their creation, seeks to make them visible, to materialize them and to create a link between these elements.
For the classic notions of near and far, slow and fast for the calculation of extents and distances, Miguel Chevalier substitutes those for connections, continuous or discontinuous interlacing and relations between spaces for cartographic installations, such as in Crossborders, which are now established on the invisible links, information and exchanges that roam our world.
Miguel Chevalier combines his wired virtual universes with large networks that are formed and deformed, creating infinitly renewed diverse universes, as illustrated in Digital Supernova. The elements attract, repel each other, creating a rhythm of expansion and contraction similar to breathing and blending in with the architecture in which they take place.
Visitors are invited to stroll around the cathedral, sit in the chairs and look up to the heavens. These digital pixel constellations immerse visitors in an atmosphere bathed in light and open onto infinity.
The work of Miguel Chevalier is also imprinted with the theme of pixels, in connection with the kinetic art of the 70s, pioneers of the digital world. By enlarging the pixel, as with Mini Voxels Light, the artist composes an abstract image and the viewer dives into this infinite universe of lights and shapes.
Works: Crossborders, Mini Voxels Light, Digital Supernova
Digital Arabesques
Inspired by the tales of the Thousand and One Nights, Miguel Chevalier developed a virtual language creating a world of colors and patterns, which would transform, as through a kaleidoscope, the universe into constellations.
Starting from Islamic art, a mathematical art based on geometry, as well as mosaics, a decorative art where fragments of colored stones, enamels, or even ceramics put side by side form patterns or figures, the artist transforms the fragments into pixels to create computer-generated figures. This digital geometry, either composed of crystals, as with Pixels Snow, or of arabesques, as with Digital Arabesques, forms a world of moving shapes and colors, like a universe in creation.
In many of his works, such as Magic Carpets, Miguel Chevalier integrates interactivity using sensors that engage the body physically and its mobility in space. The viewer is encouraged to move so that the work reacts according to its movements. The relationship with the image is therefore built with the idea of movement in order to explore all its potentialities and grasp its deeper meaning. With a gesture, the visitor causes a change in the work, he elicits or modifies a color, even if he cannot foresee and control all the reactions for which he is responsible.
Virtual reality artworks, 3D printed or laser cut sculptures, robot drawings or laser paper cuts, by using digital tools and techniques, Miguel Chevalier multiplies these extraordinary crystalline fractal structured shapes.
Works: Pixels Snow, Magic Carpets, Digital Arabesques
Nature and Artifice
Creations, such as Ultra-Nature, have their starting point the observation of the world of plants and its transposition into the digital universe. Miguel Chevalier, first inspired by his childhood spent in Mexico and his travels in Latin America where nature is omnipresent and luxuriant, but also by Japanese gardens, creates virtual gardens that explore the link between nature and artifice, which now coexist and mutually enrich each other, in a poetic and metaphorical way.
In works like Herbarius ‘2059’, the life processes of each of these creations are inspired by models developed by the French National Institute for Agronomic Research (INRA). Miguel Chevalier's virtual gardens utilize algorithms borrowed from biology, which allowed him to create universes of artificial life, effects of growth, proliferation and disappearance. Works such as Extra-Natural also have an interactive component with the use of sensors. Each of the flowers reacts to the passage of visitors according to its orientation: the plants curve from left to right, the flower corollas fall, the leaves drop and the flowers disappear in an explosion of stamens. The lightness of their dance seems to sum up the evanescence of beauty and life.
These artificial paradises reflect in a poetic way our current world where nature is increasingly controlled and conditioned, where reality and virtuality, nature and artifices interpenetrate more and more. These works question the status of the work of art in the digital age and the challenges of genetic manipulation.
Works: Ultra-Nature, Herbarius '2059', Extra-Natural
Meta-territories
Miguel Chevalier has nourished, through his many travels in the world, a reflection on urbanity and cities which are illustrated through different mediums (digital installation, video, digital prints, sculptures…). Since the early 90s using digital technology, as in Terra Incognita, the artist has been translating the new forms of contemporary life and cities today: growth, infinite renewal, speed, transformation.
Miguel Chevalier therefore questions how to appropriate and transcribe the city faced with the multiplication of networks. Computer tools allow the artist to explore these new digital cities in their ever evolving world. Through his fixed or moving works, he composes cities between reality and simulation, inscribed in a transformable time-space continuum. He creates a different image of the city, as with Light Meta-Cité.
The artist also investigates the body as science reveals it through medical imaging (scans, MRI, ultrasound, thermography). Inspired by these new technologies which give an unprecedented vision of the human body, as illustrated in Body Voxels where mankind becomes transparent, wired, Miguel Chevalier revisits the classics of sculpture in an aesthetic linked to the digital realm (pixelation, meshing, voxelling).
Through these different creations, Miguel Chevalier warns us of a future he fears: the disappearance of nature destroyed by the chaotic urban invasion devouring it.
Works: Terra Incognita, Body Voxels, Light Meta-Cité
Grants and Residencies
2004 Artist-in-Residence, Riad Denise Masson, Marrakech (MAR)
1993-94 Artist-in-Residence, Villa Kujoyama, Kyoto (JPN)
1991 Artist-in-Residence, Casa Velazquez, Madrid (SPA) Workshop Coordinator, Museo Internacional de Electrografia, Cuenca (SPA)
1989 Fellowship, Musashino University, Toyko (JPN)
1988 Fellowship, Institut des Hautes Etudes en Arts Plastiques de Paris – Founder: Pontus Hulten, Paris (FRA)
1984 Visiting Artist, School of Visual Arts of New York (USA)
1983 Visiting Artist, Pratt Institute, New York (USA)
Solo exhibition (Selection)
2020 Power Pixels, Wood Street Galleries, Pittsburgh (USA)
2020 Digital Cristaux, Espace Art Absolument, Paris (FRA)
2019 Orbites 2019, Beaugrenelle Paris, Atrium Magnetic, (FRA)
2019 Digitale Supernova 2019, Cathédrale Notre-Dame de Rodez, (FRA)
2019 Pixels Noir Lumière, Musée Soulages, Rodez, (FRA)
2019 Machine Vision, Galerie Lélia Mordoch, Paris (FRA)
2018 D'un rêve à l'autre, Domaine de Trévarez, Saint-Goazec (FRA)
2018 Power Pixels 2018, Galerie par Graf Notaires, Paris (FRA)
2018 Magic Carpets Bangkok, Bangkok Illumination at ICONSIAM, Bangkok (THA)
2018 Digital Icônes, Chapelle Saint-Nicolas, Grand festival, Verdun (FRA)
2018 Digital Abysses, Base sous-marine, Bordeaux (FRA)
2018 Ubiquity 1, The Mayor Gallery, London (UK)
2018 Ubiquity 2, Wilmotte Gallery, London (UK)
2017 Flower Power, Festival Aarhus, Bispetorv, Aarhus (DNK), Galerie Lélia Mordoch, Paris (FRA)
2017 In-Out/Paradis Artificiels, Domaine de Chaumont-sur-Loire (FRA) Galerie Lélia Mordoch, Paris (FRA)
2017 Fractal Flowers, front of the Hôtel de Ville, Ivry-sur-Seine (FRA) Galerie Lélia Mordoch, Paris (FRA)
2016 Power Pixels, Galerie Lélia Mordoch, Paris (FRA)
2016 Voûtes Célestes, Nuit Blanche, Saint-Eustache, Paris (FRA)
2016 Onde Pixel - Lo sguardo di... Miguel Chevalier, UniCredit Pavilion, Milan (ITA)
2016 Magic Carpets, IF: Milton Keynes International Festival 2016, Middleton Hall; centre:mk, Milton Keynes (UK)
2015 Voxels Light, Église Saint-Eustache, Paris (FRA)
2015 Complex Meshes, Festival Lumière, Durham Cathedral, Durham (UK)
2015 Dear World... Yours, Cambridge, King's College Chapel, Cambridge (UK)
2015 Méta-Territoires, Galerie Fernand Léger, Ivry-sur-Seine (FRA)
2015 Vortex, Galerie Lélia Mordoch, Paris (FRA)
2015 Paradis Artificiels, Domaine départemental de la Roche Jagu, Ploëzal (FRA)
2015 Instituts français of Morocco: Derb Lâalouj à Essaouira; Dar Benjelloun à Tétouan; Institut français garden in Agadir; Dar Batha à Fès (MAR)
2014 Digital Paradise, Puerta Roja Gallery, Hong Kong (CN)
2014 Magic Carpets, Festival Internazionale di Andria Castel dei Mondi, Castel del Monte, Andria (ITA)
2014 Paradis Artificiels, Musée d'art moderne, Céret (FRA)
2013 El Origen del mundo, Filux, Festival Internacional de las Luces México, Palacio de Bellas Artes, México (MEX)
2013 Power Pixels, Centre des Arts, Enghien-les-Bains (FRA)
2013 Fractal Flowers, Château de la Cité de Carcassonne (FRA)
2013 Power Pixels, Wood Street Galleries, Pittsburgh (US)
2012 Power Pixels, Festival a-part, Carrières de Lumières, Baux-de-Provence (FRA)
2012 Nuage Fractal, Château de Dravert, La Guiche (FRA)
2011 Pixels Snow, Forum des Halles, Paris (FRA)
2010 Terra Incognita, Mis, Sao Paulo (BRA)
2009 Fractal Flowers 2009, Galeria metro station, Brasilia (BRA)
2007 Sur-Natures, LCL building on the Champs-Élysées, Paris (FRA)
2006 Arabesques numériques 2006, Ksar Char Bagh Palace, Marrakech (MOR)
2005 Sur-Natures in vitro, Centre Pompidou, Paris (FRA)
2004 Ultra-Nature, metro Central Station, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo (NOR)
1996 Oro negro, Museo de arte Alvar y Carmen T. de Carrillo Gil, México (MEX)
1992 Performances, Winter and Summer Olympic Games, Albertville (FRA) and Barcelona (SPN)
1987 Baroque & Classique, Granit Centre d'art contemporain, Belfort (FRA)
Group exhibitions (Selection)
2020 Immaterial/Re-material: A Brief History of Computing Art, UCCA - Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing, (CHI)
2020 Art Paris Art Fair avec la Galerie Lélia Mordoch, Grand Palais, Paris (FRA)
2019 Illusion Natur, Digitale Welten, Sinclair-Haus Museum, Bad Homburg v. d. Höhe (GER)
2019 MUTATIO, Garage Amelot, Paris (FRA)
2019 Desviaciones, Museo Provincial de Fotografia, Palacio Dionisi, Cordoba (ARG)
2019 Diálogo entre sentidos: el viaje del arte perceptivo entre América y Europa, Museo del Canal Interoceánico de Panamá (PAN)
2019 Arte Botanica-Regards d'artistes contemporains, Domaine de la Roche Jagu, Ploëzal (FRA)
2019 TEFAF Maastricht, avec The Mayor Gallery (Londres), Maastricht (NLD)
2019 Cinétisme, Abstraction, Figuration, Galerie Lélia Mordoch, Paris (F)
2019 Shadows, Galerie italienne, Paris (FRA)
2018 Art in Motion. 100 Masterpieces With and Through Media, ZKM, Center for art, technologies and medias, Karlsruhe, (GER)
2018 Artistes & Robots, Grand Palais, Paris (FRA)
2018 Al Musica, Philharmonie, Paris (FRA)
2018 TEFAF Maastricht, The Mayor Gallery (London), Maastricht (NLD)
2018 De Calder à Koons, bijoux d’artistes. La collection idéale de Diane Venet, Musée des Arts décoratifs de Paris (FRA)
2018 Art Paris Art Fair, avec la Galerie Mordoch (Paris/Miami), Grand Palais, Paris (FRA)
2017 Artists & Robots, Contemporary Art Center, Astana (KAZ)
2017 Hortus 2.0, Musée Louis Vouland, Avignon (FRA)
2017 De Nature en Sculpture, Fondation Villa Datris, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (FRA)
2017 Data City, Centre des arts, Enghien-les-Bains (FRA)
2017 Gainsbourg still alive, Maison de vente aux enchères Cornette de Saint Cyr, Paris (FRA)
2016 Sculpture en partage, Fondation Villa Datris, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (FRA)
2016 Scope Miami Beach, Galerie Lélia Mordoch, Miami (USA)
2016 Intangible Space - Miguel Chevalier et Laurent Martin "Lo", Puerta Roja Gallery, Hongkong, (HKG)
2016 Les Lumières de la Ville, Galerie Lélia Mordoch, Paris (FRA)
2015 ARCHI-SCULPTURE, Fondation Villa Datris, L’Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (FRA)
2015 2050 - Une brève histoire de l'avenir, Musées Royaux des Beaux-Arts de Belgique, Bruxelles (BEL)
2015 Bonjour la France, Seongnam Arts Center, Seongnam (KOR)
2014 Digital Arabesques, Al Majaz waterfront, Islamic Art Festival, Sharjah (E.A.U)
2014 Metamorphosis of the Virtual, K11 Art Foundation, Shanghai (CHN)
2014 L'Origine du Monde, façade du Grand Palais, Art Paris Art Fair, Paris (FRA). Courtesy Louise Alexander Gallery
2013 Les Métamorphoses du Virtuel, 100 ans d’art et de liberté, Officina delle Zattere, Venise (ITA)
2013 Retrospective Auguste Herbin, Musée d'art moderne, Céret (FRA)
2013 Turbulences II, Fondation Boghossian – Villa Empain, Bruxelles (BEL)
2012 Retrospective Auguste Herbin, Musée départemental Matisse, Le Cateau Cambrésis (FRA)
2012 Mouvement et lumière, Villa Datris, L'Isle-sur-la-Sorgue (FRA)
2012 Turbulences, Espace culturel Louis Vuitton, Paris (FRA)
2012 Picasso to Koons: Artist as Jeweler (cat.), Benaki Museum, Athènes (GRC)
2011 Festival La Novela, Musée des Abattoirs, Toulouse (FRA)
2010 Manimal, Herzliya Contemporary Art Museum, Herzliya (IL)
2009 Inside, art and science, Cordoaria, Lisbonne (POR)
2009 Dialogue avec les collections #2 - paysage/vidéo, Musée d'Art de Toulon (FRA)
2008 Ultra-Natures, Emoção Art.ficial 4.0, Station de Métro Paraiso, Centro Cultural Itaú, São Paulo (BRA)
2007 Ultra-Nature, Glow Festival : forum of light in art and architecture, Eindhoven (NLD)
2006 Art and playing, Funsters, Seoul Arts Center, Séoul (KOR)
2005 Digital Paradise, Daejeon Museum of Art Gallery, Daejeon (KOR)
2003 Space Art, Festival Art Outsiders, Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris (FRA)
2000 Kwangju International Biennale (KOR)
1999 Virtuel Réel, Espace Paul Ricard, Paris (FRA)
1997 Magie der Zahl, Staatsgalerie, Stuttgart (GER)
1996 La Ville moderne en Europe, Museum of contemporary art of Tokyo (JPN)
1996 La Ville, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (FRA)
1993 Excess in the techno-mediacratic society, Shoshana Wayne Gallery, Santa Monica (États-Unis)
1992 Variaciones en Gris, Centro Cultural de la Villa, Madrid (SPA)
1990 Art & publicité 1890-1990, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris (FRA)
1988 Ateliers 88, ARC, Musée d’art moderne de Paris (FRA)
Public procurments
2017 Pixels Wave Light, Forum des Halles, Paris (FRA)
2015 Les Métamorphoses, Les Fauvettes Cinéma, Paris (FRA), Architect: Françoise Raynaud/Loci Anima
2012 Pixels Crossing, Forum des Halles, Paris (FRA)
2011 Pixels Op'Art, front of a building, Colmar (FRA)
2010 Seconde Nature, place d'Arvieux, Marseille (FRA), avec Charles Bové
2008 Fractal Flowers, Bank of Cheonggyecheon River, Séoul (KOR)
2007 Pixels Crossing, Hôpital Trousseau, Paris (FRA), Architectes: Agence Grimaud & Israël
2006 Mosaïque Unicef, Hall of the Head Office of the UNICEF, NYC (USA)
2000 Living Networks, Palais de Congrès, Paris (FRA), Architecte: Christian de Portzamparc
Miguel Chevalier's work in Museum collections
Musée d'Art moderne de la ville de Paris, Paris (FRA)
Bibliothèque nationale, Paris (FRA)
Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris (FRA)
Mobilier National, Paris (FRA)
Institut Pasteur, Paris (FRA)
Fonds national d'art contemporain, Puteaux (FRA)
Musée d’art et d’histoire, Belfort (FRA)
MAC/VAL, musée d'art contemporain du Val-de-Marne, Vitry-sur-Seine (FRA)
Museo internacional de electrografia, Cuenca (ESP)
Museo de arte Alvar y Carmen T. de Carrillo Gil, Mexico (MEX)
Museo de artes visuales Alejandro Otero, Caracas (VEN)
Museo de bellas artes, Maracaibo (VEN)
Royal Caribbean Cruce line, Miami (US)
Centre Culturel Itau, Sao Paulo (BRA)
Musée de la poste, Paris (FRA)
Digital Art International (FRA)
Fondation Clément, Martinique (MTQ)
Bibliography
Miguel Chevalier, Bernard Chauveau Édition, Paris, 2018 (ISBN 9782363062437)
Miguel Chevalier, 1-Bit Book: l'imaginaire des mondes virtuels 2012-2015, Galerie Lélia Mordoch, Paris/Miami, 2015 (ISBN 978-2-909138-24-4)
Serge Fauchereau et David Rosenberg, Power Pixels, Enghien-les-Bains, Centre des arts, 2013 (ISBN 978-2-916639-32-1)
Miguel Chevalier, L’Algorithme pixelisé, collection "L'art en écrit", éditions Jannink, Paris, 2003 (ISBN 2-902462-84-0)
Serge Fauchereau et Vincent Huguet, Power Pixels, Rio de Janeiro, Aeroplano editora, 2011
Christine Buci-Glucksmann, Seconde Nature/Marseille 2010, Miguel Chevalier et Charles Bové, Paris, a.p.r.e.s. éditions, 2011 (ISBN 978-2-95288-975-9)
Miguel Matos, Power Pixels, Lisboa, Antonio Prates, 2010
Suzete Venturelli, Segunda Natureza, Brasilia, Espaço Marcantônio Vilaça, 2009
Jean-Pierre Balpe et Miguel Chevalier, Herbarius 2059 - 12 graines, Paris, 2009 (ISBN 978-2-84940-059-3)
Cemren Altan et Pierre Yves Desaive, Fractal Flowers 2009, Bruxelles, iMal, 2009
Mario Costa, Edmond Couchot, Gunnar B. Kvaran, Ariella Masboungi et Mohamed Rachdi, Miguel Chevalier, 2000/2008, Blou, Monografik Editions, 2008 (ISBN 978-2-916545-76-9)
Henri-François Debailleux, Seconde nature, Trelazé, Ed. Mairie de Trelazé, 2007
Manuela de Barros, Arabesques Numériques, Marrakech, Ed. Institut Français de Marrakech, 2005
Françoise Gaillard, Paradis artificiels, Vitry sur Seine, Ed. Galerie Municipale de Vitry-sur-Seine, 2004
Norbert Hillaire, Autres Natures, Montreuil, Ed. Centre d’Art Modene Espace Mira Phalaina, 2001
Pierre Restany, Laurence Bertrand-Dorléac et Patrick Imbard, Miguel Chevalier 1981/2000, Paris, Flammarion, 2001
Christine Buci-Glucksmann et Miguel Chevalier, CD-Rom intéractive, Paris, 2000
Gerardo Estrada, Jorge Juanes et Elias Levin Rojo, Oro negro, Mexico, Ed. Museo de arte Alvar y Carmen T. de Carrillo Gil, 1996
José Hernan Aguilar et Miguel Chevalier, Oro negro, Bogotà, Ed. Museo de arte universidad nacional de Colombia, 1994
Jorge Luis Gutiérrez, Oro negro, Caracas, Ed. Museo de artes visuales Alejandro Otero, 1993
Rosanna Albertini, De l’analogique au numérique, Belfort, Ed. Musée d’art et d’histoire, 1992
Miguel Chevalier, Marine, Nantes, Ed. École régionale des beaux-arts, 1991
Eric Audinet et Ginger Danto, Œnologie, Paris, Ed. Horizons chimériques, 1991
Patrick Imbard et Alain Renaud, Miguel Chevalier. Interconnexion, Levallois-Perret, Ed. Centre d’art contemporain La Base, 1990
Vittorio Fagone, Anthropométrie, Firenze, Ed. Galleria Vivita 2, 1990
Miguel Chevalier, Mosaïques, Brétigny-sur-Orge, Ed. Centre d’art contemporain, 1989
Pierre Restany et Laurence Bertrand Dorléac, Révolution. De la peinture au numérique, Hérouville-Saint-Clair, Ed. Centre d’art contemporain, 1989
Jérôme Sans, Miguel Chevalier, Images nouvelles, Belfort, Ed. Granit Centre d’art contemporain, 1987
References
External links
Vimeo
Instagram
Facebook
1959 births
Living people
French digital artists
University of Paris alumni
Kinetic art |
2888041 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comverse%20Technology | Comverse Technology | Comverse Technology, Inc., often referred to as simply Comverse, was a technology company located in Woodbury, New York in the United States, that developed and marketed telecommunications software. The company focused on providing value-added services to telecommunication service providers, in particular to mobile network operators. Comverse Technology had several wholly or partly owned subsidiaries. The name "Comverse" is a fusion of the words "communication" and "versatility".
Founded in 1982, the company went public on the Nasdaq Stock Market in 1986. Led by co-founder and CEO Jacob "Kobi" Alexander, the company originally specialized in centralized hardware/software systems for voice and fax messaging and sold them to telecommunications companies and other large enterprises. Much of its funding came from Israeli government subsidies and tax credits provided to research and development for hi-tech firms. By the mid-1990s, one of its most successful products allowed legal authorities and intelligence agencies to record and store data collected from intercepted communications. Starting in the late 1990s, Comverse's voice messaging software became its main product and the company grew rapidly with the surge in mobile phone use, passing the $1 billion mark in revenues. It established a formidable position in the worldwide mobile voicemail management market and sold a popular short message service center (SMSC) product. While headquartered in the US, most of the company's research and development was done in Israel; Comverse became one of the more visible success stories in Israel's hi-tech industry. It was one of Israel's largest employers of software engineers, was closely followed in the nation's business press, and was the first Israeli-associated company to join the S&P 500 index.
In 2006, Comverse was involved in an options backdating scandal. Alexander and two other top executives were charged in the US with multiple counts of conspiracy, fraud, money laundering and making false filings. Alexander fled the country to Namibia where he engaged in a prolonged fight against extradition. The scandal proved difficult for Comverse Technology to recover from; the company was delisted from Nasdaq, removed from the S&P 500, and spent the next several years consumed by the costly need to restate its financial reports for several years. Additionally affected by the financial crisis of 2008 and on and changes in the mobile phone market, the company underwent several rounds of large-scale layoffs and sold off parts of its business. By 2011 the company began a turnaround.
During 2012 and 2013, Comverse Technology divested itself of all its holdings and ceased to exist. The two independent companies that carried on its most well-known product lines were a newly independent Comverse, Inc. and Verint Systems. After further mergers Comverse, Inc. became Xura in 2015 and then Mavenir in 2017, while part of the Comverse business went to Amdocs in 2015.
Subsidiaries
Comverse Technology had multiple subsidiaries, many of which are still in business. Their activities at the time of their belonging to Comverse Technology were:
Comverse, also known as Comverse Network Systems or Comverse CNS, was a provider of software and systems enabling value-added services for voice, messaging, mobile Internet and mobile advertising; converged billing and active customer management; and IP communications. Comverse's solutions supported flexible deployment models, including in-network, hosted and managed services, and could run on circuit-switched, IP, IMS, and converged network environments. Comverse's customer base spanned more than 130 countries and covered over 500 communication service providers serving more than two billion subscribers. It typically provided some 70 percent of Comverse Technology's overall revenue. Comverse had 100 local offices in 40 countries, with its corporate headquarters located in Wakefield, Massachusetts, in the United States.
Verint Systems (which, from 1999 to 2002, was known as Comverse Infosys) was a provider of solutions for analysis of intercepted communications, digital video-focused security and surveillance, and analytics and business intelligence for the enterprise. Their products were aimed at enabling government and enterprises to make sense of the vast information they collected to meet performance and security goals. Verint solutions were used by more than 10,000 organizations in 150 countries. Verint was headquartered in Melville, New York, with offices worldwide and 2500 employees around the globe. By 2011, Verint was 52 percent owned by Comverse Technology.
Ulticom provided signaling solutions for wireless, wireline, and Internet communications. Ulticom's products were used by telecommunication equipment and service providers worldwide to deploy mobility, location, payment, switching, and messaging services. Ulticom was headquartered in Mount Laurel, New Jersey, with additional offices in the United States, Europe, and Asia. Comverse acquired Ulticom in 1996 and sold it in 2010.
Startel sold integrated voice, data and networking solutions for use in call centers worldwide. It was originally an independent company that was acquired by Comverse Technology in 1992. Startel was sold to financier Bill Robertshaw in the late 2000s and then became employee-owned in 2011.
Starhome provided roaming services for mobile network operators. The Starhome portfolio included international roaming services and core network solutions across various technologies, including intelligent networks and next-generation networks. It was fully owned by Comverse Technology until being sold to Fortissimo Capital in 2012 for $54 million.
ComSor was a venture capital operation, created as a subsidiary in partnership with Soros Fund Management, that invested in start-up companies directly and was active in the late 1990s and early 2000s.
History
Origins
The company's origins date to 1982 (or 1983, sources differ), when three Israelis, aspiring investment banker Jacob "Kobi" Alexander of Shearson Loeb Rhoades, engineer Boaz Misholi, and Alexander brother-in-law and Columbia University computer science professor Yechiam Yemini, got together and founded an Israeli start-up company, Efrat Future Technologies Ltd. In a meeting in New York, Misholi had the idea of building a business around centralized hardware systems to support voice and fax messaging and selling them to telecommunications companies and other large enterprises, who could then resell the voice and fax services to their customers. The three quickly returned to Israel and started the company, with the goal of securing Israeli government grants to fund the research and development work.
The early years of the company were difficult; in 1984, they founded Comverse in the United States, which became the parent company of Efrat. The name "Comverse" was chosen as a fusion of the words "communication" and "versatility".
In 1986 Comverse went public on the Nasdaq Stock Market with a $20 million valuation; the company used the money so gained as its final round of funding. The three founders had trouble working with each other, and Yemini divorced Alexander's sister; in 1987, Alexander was left with sole control of the company after the other two pulled out. The company was a penny stock on the edge of collapse.
Early successes
Under his lead, Alexander was credited with turning around Comverse's fortunes. In 1989, the Ascom Group made a $6 million direct investment in the company. In 1990, Comverse won a potentially $10 million contract, its largest yet, to deliver computers running voicemail and fax applications on West German cellular networks, beating out far larger corporations in the process. Deutsche Telekom became one of the company's biggest early customers. By 1991, the company had annual sales of $17 million and was selling a combined voice and fax mailbox system. Many of its early successes came from avoiding the huge telecommunications companies in the U.S. and instead focusing on selling to small- and medium-sized companies in the wireless market in Europe. The company also sought a variety of other markets, including developing countries such as Mexico and China for its Trilogue virtual telephone service. Gradually its product emphasis shifted more from hardware to software.
While headquartered in the U.S., nearly all its manufacturing was done in Israel, where it was able to substantially benefit from government subsidies and tax credits provided to research and development for hi-tech firms and industries by the Office of the Chief Scientist in the Ministry of Trade and Industry and by the Israel-U.S. Binational Industrial Research and Development Foundation. Many other Israeli companies were built by the same model, including another top software company, Mercury Interactive. During the 1990s, Comverse received at least 69 research and development grants from the OCS program.
In 1993, the company reported a 341 percent rise in profits on revenues in the $64 million range and was named a "Company to Watch" by Fortune magazine. However its stock plunged for a while in 1994 after a disappointing earnings report.
By 1995, Comverse was best known for its AudioDisk product, which was sold to overseas clients and allowed legal authorities and intelligence agencies to record and store data collected from wiretaps. Half the company's revenues at that point were from AudioDisk, and market analysts were recommending Comverse's stock.
Growth with wireless
Comverse became a market leader in voice messaging software and boomed during the late 1990s with the surge in mobile phone use. Much of its market focus was on wireless operators and overseas companies, and it gained a formidable position in the worldwide mobile voicemail management market. The growth coincided with SMS text messages becoming popular; the first big application for SMS was as a notification mechanism to tell a wireless subscriber that voicemail were stored in a voicemail box. Comverse expanded this application into a full-blown short message service center (SMSC), which receives, buffers, processes, and dispatches all SMS messages throughout a mobile network. Comverse branded and productised this as the Intelligent Short Message Service Center, or ISMSC. Typical of telecomm software, it ran on Unix-based platforms, such as UnixWare and later Linux. Comverse's ISMSC found success as a lower-price solution for lower-traffic networks, where it competed with Logica's Telepath solution. Other companies in the SMSC space included CMG and Openwave. ISMSC found considerable market penetration, exemplified by all six of Hong Kong's wireless carriers using it.
Comverse also became a participant in forming international wireless standards, such as in 2001 for the Speech Application Language Tags (SALT) markup language for XML to add voice capabilities to web-based applications. Additional industry standards groups in which Comverse has been active include the Open Mobile Alliance and TM Forum.
In addition to growing organically, Comverse Technology began acquiring other companies in both Israel and the U.S. It acquired Dale, Gesek, McWilliams, & Sheridan, later known as DGM&S Telecom, in 1996 and renamed it Ulticom in 1999. Comverse Technology acquired one of its key rivals, Boston Technology, for $843 million in stock in 1997. The acquisition gave Comverse entree into the large U.S. telecommunications market and meant Comverse would be supplying voice messaging systems to 12 of the world's top 20 carriers, and left it the third-largest supplier after Lucent and Northern Telecom. In 1999, as it saw record earnings, Comverse formed two wholly owned subsidiaries, Comverse Network Systems and Comverse Infosys, representing the telecommunications services platforms and products and the digital monitoring and recording products, respectively.
By 2000, its revenues were $1.2 billion and it had global operations. It continued to aggressively acquire small companies to fill out its technologies, as exemplified by the purchase of Loronix, Gaya Software, and Exalink, all within a 30-day period in 2000. The company's stock price rose from around $10 in late 1998 to over $120 in early 2001. The company was able to raise money several times on Nasdaq, including once for its Ulticom subsidiary and once (at a valuation of $600 million) shortly before the Dot-com bubble burst.
Comverse was one of the most prominent success stories in Israel's hi-tech industry, with both Haaretz and The Jerusalem Post referring to it as a flagship of that industry. As CEO, Alexander was sought out for meetings in Tel Aviv by world leaders such as Chinese President Jiang Zemin. He became known, as Bloomberg News later stated, as "the wizard of Israel's technology boom"; his oft-stated goal was for Comverse to do for Israel what Nokia had done for Finland. Comverse was one of the largest employers of software engineers in Israel and its stock was widely held among the Israeli investing public; as a consequence, the successes and failures of Comverse were always followed closely in the country's financial press. (Amdocs and Mercury Interactive were two other prominent Israeli companies in the enterprise software sector that were also closely followed.)
The company was also quintessentially Israeli in how it was run, with Comverse CEO Ze'ev Bregman in particular favoring a loose, relaxed system in which he knew all the employees and lines of management reporting were frequently bypassed. When Comverse Technology joined the S&P 500 index in 1999, it was the first Israeli-associated company ever to do so. It set the same mark when it joined the NASDAQ-100 index.
The early 2000s recession led to some struggles for Comverse Technology, with the global economic downturn leading to publicly announced profit warnings and a plunge in the stock price in July 2001. Over 3,000 jobs were cut during the period as part of several restructuring efforts.
The company still made some acquisitions, such as buying the instant messaging specialist Odigo for $20 million in 2002, after having previously purchased a 12 percent stake in it in 2001.
The image of Comverse Technology as Israel's blue-chip hi-tech stock suffered, and led to a slide in several other large Israeli technology firms. Comverse's management was criticized by analysts for having issued over-optimistic forecasts, although many other Israeli firms in the industry did even worse or failed completely during this period.
In addition, the European market for mobile voicemail management was already saturated by 2002 and the prepaid wireless market was in decline. In 2002, Comverse Infosys changed its name to Verint, partly to separate its more thriving business from Comverse's struggles, and staged a modestly successful IPO of a minority portion of its stock. By 2002, Comverse Technology had more than 5,000 employees across nearly 40 countries; due to the partial spinoffs and economic difficulties, revenues were down to $735 million.
In December 2001, Fox News reported that wiretapping equipment provided by Comverse Infosys to the U.S. government for electronic eavesdropping may have been vulnerable, as these systems allegedly had a back door through which the wiretaps could be intercepted by unauthorized parties. Fox News reporter Carl Cameron said there was no reason to believe the Israeli government was implicated, but that "a classified top-secret investigation is underway". A March 2002 story by Le Monde recapped the Fox report and concluded: "Comverse is suspected of having introduced into its systems of the 'catch gates' in order to 'intercept, record and store' these wire-taps. This hardware would render the 'listener' himself 'listened to'." Fox News did not pursue the allegations, and in the years since, there have been no legal or commercial actions of any type taken against Comverse by the FBI or any other branch of the US Government related to data access and security issues. While no real evidence has been presented against Comverse or Verint, the allegations have become a favorite topic of conspiracy theorists.
By 2005, the company had $959 million in sales and employed over 5,000 people, of whom about half were located in Israel. That country held most of the research and development workers, many of whom occupied the company's seven buildings on HaBarzel in the Ramat HaHayal district of Tel Aviv, while business and marketing operations were stationed in the company's Woodbury, New York headquarters.
Options backdating scandal
In 2006, Comverse Technology was involved in an options backdating scandal. In May of that year, company founder and CEO Jacob Alexander stepped down from his position. Alexander, finance chief David Kreinberg, and former senior general counsel William Sorin (both of whom had also stepped down) were charged in July 2006 in the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York with multiple counts of conspiracy, fraud, money laundering and making false filings to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), all related to alleged options backdating or other actions related to stock options between 1998 and 2006. The accusations against the three included the backdating of options to when Comverse stock had been trading at low prices, the use of fake names of option holders, and the creation of secret funds in which to hold the illicit gains. The SEC also filed civil charges against the three, for filing false annual and quarterly financial reports and proxy statements from 1991 to 2005.
By then, Alexander had fled the country and was classified a wanted fugitive in August 2006 by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. On 27 September 2006, he was arrested in Namibia after hiding in Windhoek with his family, where he had bought a house at a country club. If extradited to the US and convicted, he faced 25 years in prison.
He was released on bail and engaged in a long battle to avoid extradition to the US (in Namibia neither money laundering nor options backdating is a crime). Upon leaving the US he had transferred some $64 million to Israel, with most of that ending up in Namibia; another $50 million was blocked by the US government, which overall sought the forfeiture of $138 million of Alexander's assets. In April 2010, Alexander won a victory in the Supreme Court of Namibia that allowed him to continue to live and work there until the extradition request was ruled upon. In November 2010, Alexander agreed to pay the U.S. government $53.6 million to settle the SEC's case against him, with those monies being targeted to settle assorted lawsuits against Comverse by shareholders.
Of the other two executives, William Sorin pleaded guilty to criminal charges and was sentenced to a year in prison in 2007. David Kreinberg cooperated with prosecutors, repaid $2.4 million to the SEC, and in 2011 was sentenced to the "time served" of the minimal period he had originally been in custody. While over a hundred companies were investigated or charged with options backdating, Comverse was one of the most visible and was labeled by a pair of financial writers a "poster child for stock option fraud."
Continuing difficulties
Recovery from the scandal was difficult. The three charged executives, who had stayed on as consultants, were fired without severance pay, and the company said it would pursue legal action against them. The board of directors was expanded from five to ten, with all new ones being Americans rather than Israelis. A new CEO, Andre Dahan, came on board in April 2007 but the ongoing management crisis prevented the company from engaging in new innovation or entering new business areas. Despite the 2006-2007 economic climate being one of growth, layoffs occurred in mid-2007. Research analysts began speculating that the company might break up.
Because of the accounting issues from the option backdating, Comverse Technology was unable to file full or timely financial reports with the SEC. Its stock was delisted from the Nasdaq Stock Market on 1 February 2007, and removed from the S&P 500 and NASDAQ-100 at the same time. The stock then traded on the Pink Sheets. In 2009, the SEC settled its case with Comverse Technology; the company would not be subject to penalty fines over the backdating matter, but would accept a permanent injunction against itself regarding any future violations of law regarding publicly traded companies. A settlement in a similar case against Ulticom was also reached. The failure to file timely financial reports put the company at risk of having its stock registration revoked; a process deciding this, involving the SEC and an Administrative Law Judge, was still active of 2011.
The financial crisis of 2008 and on caused further difficulties for Comverse Technology, with new layoffs occurring in October 2008, March 2009, and August 2009. The company reportedly lost considerable money in 2009, and the moves were typical of other hi-tech companies caught in the bad economic environment. Some of Comverse's products were still viewed highly; a Yankee Group survey ranked them first in the world in their type of billing services, and they were the worldwide market-share leaders in providing multimedia message service centers to wireless carriers. However, the rise in popularity of smartphones and of sending e-mail eroded the carrier market for some of Comverse's products and services. By 2009, the company's upper management was now largely American rather than Israeli, Dahan was under internal criticism, and there were frequent clashes regarding company culture.
In early 2010, Comverse Technology planned to release an annual report with full financial statements and return to being fully listed on Nasdaq, but anticipated more layoffs.
One piece of positive news in July 2010 was an $80 million investment by well-known entrepreneur George Soros.
However, the financial reports were not published and a public announcement was made in August 2010 that the company was short on cash and planning more layoffs. A precipitous drop of the stock price caused the market valuation of the company to fall below $1 billion, and the continued failure to file financial reports put the company at risk of having its stock being delisted completely. CEO Dahan said simply, "These are challenging times."
By August 2010, analysts were stating that Comverse Technology might have to break up by selling off its subsidiaries and spin off Comverse's own business units. Running low on cash, Comverse Technology engaged Goldman Sachs to explore such possibilities, with several large, well-known technology companies potentially interested in Comverse and some private equity firms possibly interested in Verint.
The company had some 4,000 employees, and continued having about half of them employed in Israel and most of the rest in the US and France. The continuing financial reporting problems had cost the company some $500 million in accountants' fees and related costs since 2006 and was the largest drain on its cash position.
The fact that senior management awarded itself bonuses in a time of various rounds of layoffs left employees feeling outraged. Comverse's restructuring also affected its 2006-acquired NetCentrex business unit in France, with layoffs or a shutdown possible. In October 2010, Comverse Technology agreed to sell its two-thirds ownership of its Ulticom subsidiary to a U.S. private equity firm for $90 million; the deal closed in December 2010. The company also sold part of its holdings in Verint, netting $80 million, and sold for $27 million land in the hi-tech area of Ra'anana, north of Tel Aviv, where it had been planning to build a new headquarters.
In October 2010, Comverse Technology finally published its restated financial reports for fiscal years 2005 through 2008. (The company's fiscal year N ran from February of year N to January of N+1.) They revealed that the company lost about $1 billion during that period. In February 2011, the company announced that due to this effort, its report for fiscal 2009 would be delayed, and also that it was restructuring into four independent business units and focusing much of its emphasis on billing systems for mobile carriers. Layoffs also resumed, with more possibly in the offing.
In March 2011, revenues for fiscal 2009 were announced at $1.58 billion, down from $1.72 billion two years previously, with an overall loss of $273.3 million. Dahan stepped down as CEO. During his tenure, Comverse Technology stock fell 68 percent in price and 2,000–2,500 employees were laid off; he made more than $20 million during that time and gained payments of some $5 million upon his departure. Overall, his stint as leader of the company was not regarded positively by some in the Israeli business press.
The new CEO was Charles Burdick, who had been non-executive chairman of the company. Burdick became the first American to head the company.
In April 2011, the company agreed to a $2.8 million settlement with the U.S. government over violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act that had taken place between 2003 and 2005. Payments of $536,000 had been made to the Hellenic Telecommunications Organization in order to obtain purchase orders and had been inaccurately reported as sales commissions in Comverse's accounting.
Hopes for recovery
During the first half of 2011, analysts such as Oppenheimer & Co., J.P. Morgan and Barclays said that with its accounting problems largely behind it, some restructuring done, and an improving cash balance and some revenue growth, Comverse Technology was well-positioned for ongoing operations or a possible sale. Zacks Investment Research predicted the company would again show a profit for fiscal year 2011. Comverse itself had gained tens of millions in new business, was hiring again in modest numbers, and was at about 4,000 employees, including some on an outsourcing basis.
In June 2011, results for fiscal 2010 were announced, finally bringing the company current with its annual audited reporting. Revenues rose to $1.63 billion while the company's net loss was halved to $132.3 million, and the cash position was now stated as being sufficient to meet foreseeable needs. Another positive sign for its recovery came when it was re-listed on NASDAQ in September 2011. In April 2012, results for fiscal 2011 were announced; revenues remained flat at $1.59 billion while the company's net loss decreased again, to $58.7 million.
Restructuring
In August 2012, a series of transactions were announced that would end Comverse Technology as a functioning entity, by making Comverse Network Systems an independent company once again known simply as Comverse, allowing Verint Systems to buy back Comverse Technology's majority stake, and selling off the other subsidiaries. Burdick said, "[The Verint] agreement, along with the planned spin-off of [Comverse Network Systems], will result in a tax efficient distribution to our shareholders and direct ownership in two independent, well-capitalized traded companies." Philippe Tartavull was named as the CEO of the newly independent Comverse. Results for fiscal year 2012 for the restructured Comverse, Inc. demonstrated a return to profitability, with a net income of $5.1 million.
These restructuring transactions were completed on 4 February 2013 and represented the effective liquidation of the Comverse Technology holding entity.
Further actions followed the end of Comverse Technology. During June 2015 Comverse divested its BSS business to Amdocs. In September 2015 after a merger this new Comverse entity changed its name to Xura, then after a further series of acquisitions and mergers in February 2017 it became part of Mavenir.
Industry recognition
Over the years, Comverse Technology won a number of awards within its industry, including:
2002 – Technology Marketing Corporation's Product of the Year (for Verint's Ultra IntelliMiner)
2004 – CMP Media's Product of the Year (for Verint's Ultra Intelligent Recording)
2004 – CDMA Development Group's Innovative Solutions Award (for Comverse's Multimedia Messaging Service Center)
2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009 – Frost and Sullivan's Telecom BSS Vendor of the Year award (for Comverse's business support systems in the Asia Pacific region)
2007 – International Engineering Consortium's Best VoIP Product or Service Award (for Comverse's Converged IPCentrex solution)
2007 – Technology Marketing Corporation's IMS Leadership Award (for Comverse's Converged Messaging Solution)
2007 – International Engineering Consortium's InfoVision Awards for Best New Product (for Comverse's Converged Billing Suite)
2007 – Technology Marketing Corporation's Internet Telephony Excellence Award (for Comverse's MyCall Converged Communications product)
2009, 2010 – Technology Marketing Corporation's Internet Telephony BSS/OSS Excellence Award (for Comverse's ONE Billing & Active Customer Management package)
2010 – Virgo Publishing's Excellence Award for Best Cost Management Implementation (for Comverse's Business Support System product)
Bibliography
References
External links
Former official Comverse Technology website
Software companies of Israel
Software companies based in New York (state)
Telecommunications companies of Israel
Computer companies established in 1982
Technology companies established in 1982
Companies disestablished in 2013
Companies based in Nassau County, New York
Companies formerly listed on the Nasdaq
1982 establishments in Israel
Mergers and acquisitions of Israeli companies
Software companies of the United States |
639649 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Binary%20Runtime%20Environment%20for%20Wireless | Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless | Binary Runtime Environment for Wireless (Brew MP, Brew, Qualcomm BREW, or BREW) is an application development platform created by Qualcomm, originally for code division multiple access (CDMA) mobile phones, featuring third-party applications such as mobile games. It is offered in some feature phones (mostly with specifications similar to those of mid to high-end mobile phones) but not in smartphones. First developed in 1999, as a platform for wireless applications on CDMA-based mobile phones, it debuted in September 2001.
As a software platform that can download and run small programs for playing games, sending messages, and sharing photos, the main advantage of Brew MP is that the application developers can easily port their applications among all Brew MP devices by providing a standardized set of application programming interfaces. Software for Brew MP enabled handsets can be developed in C or C++ using the freely downloadable Brew MP software development kit (SDK). The BREW runtime library is part of the wireless device on-chip firmware or operating system to allow programmers to develop applications without needing to code for system interface or understand wireless applications. BREW is described as a pseudo operating system, but not a true mobile operating system. BREW is not a virtual machine such as Java ME, but it runs a native code.
Software
For software developers, Brew MP is a full set of application programming interfaces (API) that enables making software and applications in C, C++, Java, and is supported (platform) by an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). It has a memory footprint of about 15,900 KB (15.9 MB). From versions 1.x to 2.x (before 2004), it had a smaller memory footprint of around 60 KB. BREW also features direct hardware access. Versions before Brew MP ran/relied on REX OS (Qualcomm's own RTOS), while Brew MP uses Brew RTOS (another RTOS for advanced feature phones). Rather than using an interpreter-based code, BREW also relied on its own mobile hardware.
Version history
BREW 1.0 / 1.1 (2001–2003)
Debuted in 2001, it was the first actual version of BREW. Originally made for the Kyocera QCP-3035 (which was the earliest BREW-enabled phone commercially available) and Sharp Z-800. It made use of personal digital assistant-level features (usually for some applications and the ability to run BREW applications). However, it lacks advanced multimedia features and support for Java ME that were available in subsequent versions. It was the only version of BREW to support monochrome screens as support for monochrome screens were removed in BREW 2.0. BREW 1.1 was the first version of Brew to run Java ME applications. It was available in some BREW-enabled phones in 2002 and early 2003.
BREW 2.0 / 2.1 (2002–2009)
Released in the mid-2002, it was installed for most of the BREW-enabled phones in late-2002 until late-2009. It includes support for advanced multimedia playbacks (the ability to play video and audio files, as well as support for 3GPP multimedia formats), connectivity for EV-DO and Bluetooth support, as well as screen savers and other improvements. It also supports MIDP 2.0 on BREW 2.1 and it is backwards compatible with BREW 1.x applications.
It was installed on most feature phones in the Indonesia, China, and in other countries since 2004 and it is still supported by a few carriers until 2017.
BREW 3.0 / 3.1 (2004–2012)
Released in the mid-2002, it was installed for most of the BREW-enabled phones in late-2004 until early-2012. It was the first version of BREW to have major changes and it has a vast majority of features for mobile phones, such as WiFi connectivity, OpenGL ES 1.0, support for 3G, GPS, QWERTY-based keypads, and support for mobile screens that are higher than 176x220. It is backwards compatible with BREW 2.x applications, but not with BREW 1.x applications.
It is also the first version of BREW to support 3D graphics rendering, althrough it only uses software rendering (which also supports JSR 184 for Java ME games). Hardware acceleration is also natively supported via OpenGL ES 1.0 (if a 3D acceleration chip is available).
It was installed on most feature phones in the United States and in other countries since 2005 and it is still supported by a few carriers.
BREW 4.0.1 - 4.0.2 (2007–2011)
Released in 2007 until 2011, it was only integrated on very few mobile phones (such as LG enV Touch and the LG Versa). It has only a few improvements and it was later succeeded by Brew MP. It has additional features that are also available in Brew MP, such as accelerometer support and other changes.
It is also used for the Zeebo console in Mexico and Brazil.
Brew MP 1.0.1 - 1.0.4 (2009–2021)
Released in 2009, internally known as BREW 5.0, it has new various features (including SVG images support) and certain improvements and it is backwards compatible with BREW 3.x and 4.x applications. It is also the first version of BREW to make certain APIs and legacy files deprecated. It is also the first version of BREW to rely on its own RTOS rather than Qualcomm's own REX OS.
The Brew MP developer page was shut down in 23 July 2021 due to inactivity for 8 years ago.
BREW application development
For testing applications during the development process, the SDK includes a BREW emulator, or starting with BREW version 1.1 and above, the BREW Simulator. The BREW environment provides for multiple levels of application signatures. One signature authenticates the developer. Another signature verifies that an application has passed True BREW testing and is bestowed through Intertek. The individual telecommunications operators configure the handsets to either enforce or ignore the presence and verification of this second signature. BREW-enabled handsets have a test mode that allows applications to bypass verification of the signature. Qualcomm makes applications that have passed testing available to BREW-enabled wireless network operators. The operators are then able to choose which of these applications to make available to end-users on their catalog.
BREW's own signatures is protected by an Electronic Serial Number (ESN) and a Mobile Equipment Identifier (MEID), this means it prevents the unauthorized distribution/sideloading of BREW applications to 3rd-parties rather than carriers. Once the application is downloaded OTA via a BREW-based carrier, the .sig file will automatically generate an electronic serial number to its installed handset.
The BREW emulator, named BREW Simulator, does not emulate handset hardware. Instead, the BREW application is compiled to native code and linked with a compatible BREW runtime library. Because of this, applications cannot be tested for platform bugs related to memory alignment and various firmware related glitches without a BREW handset operating in test mode.
For testing purposes, BREW applications can be transferred using a Universal Serial Bus (USB) or serial cable to any BREW-compatible handset using BREW App Loader from Qualcomm. A BREW application contains several components which, if not present and valid, cause the application to be automatically deleted on reboot. This includes the compiled binary file, a file which describes the application, the features it uses and permissions requested, a file that contains string and image resources if required, and a file containing the application's digital signature.
BREW applications may be unloaded from a consumer handset to save handset memory space. This is referred to as "Disable/Restore", and is a requirement of the True BREW Test Process. Saved files are kept intact using Disable/Restore, and it is possible to re-load the application without paying for it again. In a "Disable" situation, all .bar, .mod, and .sig files are deleted from the handset, while any other files remain in their original place. During the "Restore" operation, the .bar, .mod, and.sig files are downloaded from the carrier's mobile store, and the previously disabled application will have full functionality remaining. The Disable/Restore process is only available to consumer users once the handset's memory is full.
On May 28, 2008, Qualcomm and Adobe announced a partnership to integrate Adobe Flash Lite as a supported user interface on BREW.
Since March 2006, the least expensive digital signature package for developers costs US$400 for 100 application submissions.
Business model implications/availability
Strictly speaking, time to market can take longer with BREW than with Java ME because of Qualcomm BREW's rigorous certification requirements. This certification process may be perceived as an advantage by established software developers because the difficulties associated with testing and development costs create a high cost of entry to developers with low budgets and little time, resulting in less market dilution. Specifically, developers of casual games run less risk of having to compete with freeware workalikes developed and self-published by hobbyists. However this comes as a cost to the end-user as there is less competition to develop the best solution at the lowest price to the end user.
After an application is written, it takes two weeks per iteration of True BREW testing (each time the application fails the test).
Next, negotiations with carrier(s) commence.
Then, (if successful) the carrier will spend time retesting the application with their own tests on their network.
Finally, rolling out a new version means starting the process over again.
Differences between Java ME and BREW
Currently, most developers choose to support both Java ME and BREW, or only Java ME. Java ME may offer a lower cost to market because most carriers allow non-certified Java ME applications to run on their phones. Java ME phones have a larger market share than BREW enabled handsets. Java ME is widely used in Europe, while BREW is primarily used in the U.S. and Japan. Even in the U.S. One of the initial advantages of BREW was that Verizon made it easy to purchase applications from the phone, while most Java ME carriers did not. However, most carriers of Java ME phones now offer easy-to-access purchasing portals.
Owing to its different APIs, Java ME relies on Java's virtual machine (interpreter-based code), which is technically slower than BREW, which uses native C/C++ plus and direct hardware access (especially for games). Java ME has limited subset of APIs (both for applications and games). However, 3rd-party APIs and implementations (such as MascotCapsule by HI CORPORATION. (3D rendering API) and DoJa/Star by NTT Docomo) are available, but not popular and successful outside Japan (particularly device adoption). BREW (on the other hand), relies on its own APIs and direct hardware access.
Performance for Java ME applications and games are slow than BREW. For 3D games, Java ME uses JSR 184 (M3G), which 3D games that are developed on Java ME are slower (which results in 10 frames per second on some/most handsets) and have limited graphics, while BREW uses either software rendering (if the BREW handset does not have a 3D acceleration chip) or OpenGL ES (which it can take advantage of its performance).
Unlike the Java ME, when the BREW application crashes, the phone will cause reboot due to BREW can't handle and recover while the application crashes, it creates "$SYS.EXCEPT_(4-Digit Number)" into the "except" folder on the root of directory, then the phone will automatically reboot by itself, when the Java ME application crashes under BREW, Java ME will handle correctly and recover them from phone rebooting by itself.
Some/few handset manufacturers do not allow to integrate Java ME's virtual machine on a few of their phones.
There are now commercial technologies to fully automate porting from Java ME to BREW. This reduces the entry barrier to produce BREW applications by eliminating the need to develop two versions of the same application in both Java and C/C++.
System Failure
System Failure in BREW is caused by the components are stopped working properly, a file required for an BREW application is missing, application crash, or some other errors. It creates the "$SYS.EXCEPT_XXXX" file inside the "except" folder on the root of directory. BREW's System Failure has 2 variants, the "Component Error" and the "Reboot of Death (RoD)".
Component Error (example.c XXXXX)
Component Error is an error that will display an black, white, or blue screen with an error text for about 5 seconds if the components are stopped working properly, then the phone will reboot by itself. this error may vary depending on your activity, for example:
• fs_dir.c (File System Error)
• mdsptask.c (Task Error)
• oemheap3x.c (Heap Violation)
• memory.c (Memory Corruption)
• nvm.c (NVM Check Violation)
• srch_mdsp.c (Index Error)
• callheap.c (Call Error)
Rarity of this variant to occur are very rare, generally, crashing BREW can lead to system reboot without black, white, or blue screen with text, it's known as the "Reboot of Death (RoD)". Here's the example of this activities to trigger this variant:
• Undervolting the phone while it's running, it will cause memory corruption ( Usually if the battery is near flat, on modern devices, undervoltage protection was added) (e.g. LG VX10, LG VX4400, LG PM225)
• The phone is at defective condition, usually, the phone will trigger the "Reboot of Death (RoD)" variant, which it will restart itself without black/white/blue screen with text. (e.g. Nokia 1325)
• "brew", "nvm", or ".efs_private" folder is removed. (fs_dir.c or nvm.c)
Reboot of Death (RoD)
Reboot of Death (RoD) is an error that will reboot the phone by itself instead of displaying an black, white, or blue screen with text known as "Component Error", rarity of this variant to occur are common, Here's the example of this activities to trigger this variant:
• Crashing an application.
• Removing the R-UIM card.
• The phone is at defective condition.
• Incorrectly entering an SP code.
• Application that requires files are missing.
• Running the exception test on engineering mode.
For Example:
Nokia 1265 Startup then RoD.
Nokia 1325 Startup then RoD 3 times.
Device usage and carrier availability
Qualcomm BREW is used by some mobile phone manufacturers and mobile networks, however most often the end-user does not know this since mobile phones running BREW most often lack any Qualcomm BREW branding and BREW runs in the background with the custom "skins" of the mobile phone manufacturer or operator on-top. Qualcomm BREW is used by Sprint Nextel, metroPCS, U.S. Cellular, Verizon, Syringa Wireless, Cricket Wireless, and AT&T (in the HTC Freestyle) in the US, KDDI in Japan, KT and SK Telecom in South Korea, China Telecom in China, MOVILNET in Latin America, Sistema Shyam (now MTS) in India, and by the 3 network in much of Europe, the UK and Australia on many mobile phones produced especially for their network.
Because BREW is only offered to mobile networks that operates in CDMA, other countries (with the exception of parts of Europe, the UK and Australia via the 3 network, India, Japan and China) do not have BREW, because they do not have CDMA networks.
Manufacturers such as Huawei, INQ Mobile, Amoi, LG, Samsung Mobile, ZTE, and HTC amongst others use Qualcomm BREW in some of their mobile phones and it is featured in 3 UK phones such as the 3 Skypephone, INQ1, ZTE Z431, LG T385 and Huawei u7510 (3 Touch). Tectoy's Zeebo is the only game console to use BREW. Motorola's own T720 as well as the RAZR V3m also use Qualcomm BREW.
See also
Smartphone
Platform (computing)
Mobile application development — How BREW stacks up against the alternatives on mobile platforms.
Java ME - BREW's competitor.
References
External links
In-depth discussion of BREW and other mobile platforms from European market perspective
Adobe Flash Lite for BREW Datasheet (.pdf)
cxBrewUnit - BREW Unit Test Framework Harness for C/C++ Unit Test.
Mobile software
Qualcomm software |
39005310 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blink%20%28browser%20engine%29 | Blink (browser engine) | Blink is a browser engine developed as part of the Chromium project (since 2013) with contributions from Google, Facebook, Microsoft, Opera Software, Adobe, Intel, IBM, Samsung, and others. It was first announced in April 2013.
Naming
Blink's naming was influenced by the non-standard presentational blink HTML element, which was introduced by Netscape Navigator, and supported by Presto- and Gecko-based browsers until August 2013. Blink has, contrary to its name, never functionally supported the element.
History
Blink is a fork of the WebCore component of WebKit, which was originally a fork of the KHTML and KJS libraries from KDE.
It is used in Chrome starting at version 28, Microsoft Edge starting at version 79, Opera (15+), Vivaldi, Brave, Amazon Silk and other Chromium-based browsers and frameworks.
Much of WebCore's code was used for features that Google Chrome implemented differently such as sandboxing and the multi-process model. These parts were altered for the Blink fork, and although slightly bulkier, it allowed greater flexibility for adding new features. The fork also deprecates CSS vendor prefixes; existing prefixes will be phased out and new experimental functionality will instead be enabled on an opt-in basis. Aside from these planned changes, Blink initially remained relatively similar to WebCore.
By commit count, Google was the largest contributor to the WebKit code base from late 2009 until 2013 when they started work on their fork, Blink.
Internals
Blink engine has the following components:
DOM, HTML DOM and CSS rendering engines
Web IDL implementation
Skia Graphics engine — makes calls to an underlying Graphics Library (like OpenGL, Vulkan, DirectX etc) which depends on the platform
V8 JavaScript engine
Frameworks
Several projects exist to turn Chromium's Blink into a reusable software framework for other developers:
In currently supported versions of the Android operating system (since version 4.4) the WebView component is based on Blink instead of WebKit.
Chromium Embedded Framework is widely used in software by Adobe Systems, streaming media services such as Spotify, video game services such as Battle.net and Steam, etc.
NW.js (previously known as Node-Webkit) is the original Node.js based framework and is being developed by Intel.
Electron is a Node.js based framework developed by GitHub.
In the Qt 5 framework the Qt WebEngine module supersedes the previous QtWebKit module. In 2013, Qt WebEngine replaced the Apple-developed WebKit engine with Blink because of its cross-platform features (like WebRTC, WebGL, WebSockets, system calls etc) that work out of the box. Qt developers found it easier to maintain and test it.
Microsoft Edge WebView2 is a framework that allows developers of Windows apps to implement a desktop app using web technologies, replacing the older EdgeHTML or MSHTML based WebView and WebBrowser controls.
DotNetBrowser is a proprietary .NET Chromium-based library that can be used to use Chromium capabilities in a wide range of .NET applications, including desktop and server solutions.
Platforms
Chromium Blink is implemented on seven platforms: Windows, macOS, Linux, Chrome OS, Fuchsia, Android, and Android WebView.
Blink is also unofficially supported on FreeBSD and OpenBSD.
iOS versions of Chromium continue to use the WebKit WebCore renderer.
See also
Comparison of browser engines
References
External links
Free layout engines
Free software programmed in C++
Google Chrome
Mobile software
Software based on WebKit
Software forks
2013 software |
19946064 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline%20of%20DOS%20operating%20systems | Timeline of DOS operating systems | This article presents a timeline of events in the history of 16-bit x86 DOS-family disk operating systems from 1980 to 2020. Non-x86 operating systems named "DOS" are not part of the scope of this timeline.
Also presented is a timeline of events in the history of the 8-bit 8080-based and 16-bit x86-based CP/M operating systems from 1974 to 2014, as well as the hardware and software developments from 1973 to 1995 which formed the foundation for the initial version and subsequent enhanced versions of these operating systems.
DOS releases have been in the forms of:
OEM adaptation kits (OAKs) – all Microsoft releases before version 3.2 were OAKs only
Shrink wrap packaged product for smaller OEMs (system builders) – starting with MS-DOS 3.2 in 1986, Microsoft offered these in addition to OAKs
End-user retail – all versions of IBM PC DOS (and other OEM-adapted versions) were sold to end users. DR-DOS began selling to end users with version 5.0 in July 1990, followed by MS-DOS 5.0 in June 1991
Free download – starting with OpenDOS 7.01 in 1997, followed by FreeDOS alpha 0.05 in 1998 (FreeDOS project was announced in 1994)
DOS era version overview (1980–1995)
1973–1980: Hardware foundations and CP/M
1980–1995: Important events in DOS history
1995–2000: Windows 9x era
2001–2020: Post-millennium
See also
Comparison of DOS operating systems
List of DOS commands
Timeline of Intel
Timeline of Microsoft
Timeline of Microsoft Windows
Timeline of operating systems
Comparison of operating systems
List of operating systems
Notes
References
External links
Origins of DOS , Tim Paterson website
PC DOS Retro by Vernon C. Brooks
I.B.M. Executive Describes Price Pressure by Microsoft, New York Times, May 28, 1999
IBM vs. Microsoft Google Ngram Viewer
DR-DOS versions
DOS
Timeline of x86 DOS |
47679289 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exposed.su | Exposed.su | Exposed.su was a website run by Russian hackers focused on the listing of personal information of celebrities, and other high-profile figures. Among the high-profile victims include Michelle Obama, Donald Trump, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Kim Kardashian, Joe Biden, Hillary Clinton, Beyonce and Robert Mueller. The "doxed" documents, which are hosted on the website, include Social Security numbers, credit histories, loan documents and mortgage information of the individuals.
The credit history information appears to have been obtained through the hacking of 3 US credit history databases, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, by the hacker CosmoTheGod.
In April 2013 Brian Krebs linked his swatting incident to the coverage of this site.
In 2017, a teenager named Eric Taylor, also known by his hacker handle CosmoTheGod, was sentenced to 36 months by United States District Court for the District of Columbia on charges of cybercrime with regards to a conspiracy that resulted in the disclosure of personal information of Trump, John Brennan, Obama, among others on the website. Previously in 2016, a New Yorker named Mir Islam was also arrested by the federal agents for posting CIA director John Brennan's confidential information to Exposed.su and "swatting" 50 people including Michelle Obama and Robert Mueller.
The site was shut down in March 2013 before jumping to other domains and has since been mirrored on a Tor hidden service.
References
Defunct Tor hidden services
Dark web
Hacking in the 2010s
Internet privacy
Celebrity |
13290954 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A1%20Belarus | A1 Belarus | Unitary enterprise A1 (, A1) is the largest private telecom, ICT & content service provider in Belarus. The company provides GSM 900/1800, UMTS (WCDMA/HSDPA/HSUPA/HSPA+) and 4G (via beCloud) services. A1 is the second-largest mobile network operator in Belarus. A1 also provides ADSL, Ethernet and GPON Internet access services in all regional centers of Belarus, as well as in Bobruisk, Zhlobin, Rechitsa, Svietlahorsk and Dobrush, and IPTV digital television services under the VOKA brand. Until August 2019, the company conducted operations under the brand name velcom.
History
The company began commercial operations to provide mobile communications services and sell mobile communications devices on 16 April 1999 under the brand name JV LLC Mobile digital communication, and became the first GSM carrier in Belarus (the country's first cellular operator was the NMT carrier BelCel).
Ten base stations (nine in Minsk and one in Oreshniki on the way to the National Airport Minsk) had been launched by the time commercial operations started. By the summer of 2000, all regional cities of Belarus had been connected to the network. Mobile communications services were available on the Minsk-Brest-Orsha highway and in settlements along the road. Since 23 April 2007, mobile communications have been available to 100% of Belarus's urban population. In April 2019, the operator launched the first GSM network in the Polesye State Radiation-Ecological Reserve.
On 15 March 2001, the operator subscribers were enabled to send and receive texts (SMS), and in June 2005, Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS) became available.
On 2 June 2003, the carrier launched the GPRS service. In December 2005, EDGE technology became available in three regions of Belarus.
On 30 March 2006, the company became the country's first carrier to start testing the third generation of wireless mobile telecommunications technology. The 3G network was rolled out in only 27 days. The commercial operation of the 3G network in Minsk and Gomel started on 17 March 2010. In February 2016, the company became the country's first carrier to launch a 3G network in the 900 MHz band, and in May 2019, it further improved the capacity of its 3G network being the first operator to add a fourth RF carrier in the 2100 MHz band to its base stations.
In November 2007, the company became part of A1 Telekom Austria Group as a result of the acquisition of 70% (in November 2007) and then the remaining 30% (in October 2010) of shares. Starting in June 2019, A1 subscribers will be able to use the Internet at domestic prices in the networks of the A1 Telekom Austria Group operators.
In May 2008, the company had a rebranding campaign, changing its logo and name to Unitary enterprise velcom.
In May 2009, the carrier signed an exclusive agreement with LLC JV BelCel on the provision of CDMA2000 broadband Internet access services (EV-DO Rev.A). The services were provided up until 16 May 2013.
In 2014, VOKA digital television was launched, construction of the company's proprietary data center began and the official online store was unveiled. In May, 2020 the company expanded online trade chains and opened the first online shop.
By 2017, velcom had evolved into a major player in the Belarusian fixed-line communications market through the acquisition of a number of Internet providers. Also in 2017, the carrier became the world's first carrier to launch a commercial fully virtualized core network.
In 2017, the company was licensed to commercially launch Belarus's first Narrow Band Internet of Things (NB-IoT) network. As of 2019, the technology is available in Minsk and all regional cities of Belarus.
Since April 2018, velcom subscribers have benefited from making Wi-Fi calls using the VoWiFi (Voiceover Wi-Fi or Wi-Fi Calling) technology. In December 2019, А1 was the first in the country to implement the VoLTE (Voice over LTE) technology.
In the summer of 2018, velcom in partnership with JSC Reshenie Bank and Visa international payment system launched the virtual V-BANKING (rebranded A1 Banking in August 2019) card to pay for a broad range of services. In November 2020 А1 and Visa entered into a Strategic Partnership Agreement in order to develop digital financial services in the country, and to extend financial facilities of А1 banking application.
On 21 March 2019, A1 started to provide data services using 4G technology. By the end of 2019, 4G network has become available to A1 subscribers in all major cities in the 1800 MHz band. In December 2019, the company announced about three-year strategic partnership with infrastructure operator beCloud aiming to develop 4G mobile communications standard in Belarus. Starting from 2020, A1 will provide its infrastructure for base stations, as well as transport network based on hybrid communications lines, radio relays and fibre optic lines to make 4G network in the 800 MHz band available in rural areas. From August 2020 to September 2021, due to a new radio-frequency band, 4G network coverage expanded up: in Gomel Region to 96.4 %, in Mogilev Region to 81%, in Minsk Region to 89%, in Vitebsk Region to 75%.
On 8 April 2019, the company announced a rebranding campaign. It had been using the dual brand velcom | A1 in communications between April and August 2019. The single brand A1 is used since 12 August 2019.
In April 2019, the company started providing free Wi-Fi Internet access in 18 electric trains of Belarusian Railway. In June 2019, the operator launched 38 new base stations along the railway tracks to improve the quality of mobile communication service in trains.
From April to May 2019 А1 provided mobile communication for all tunnels of the Maskoŭskaja and Aŭtazavodskaja lines of Minsk Metro, in November 2020 the communication became available on Zelenoluzhskaya line.
On 12 August 2019, the company launched virtual eSIM cards and in the same November gave opportunity to transfer to online eSIM in the user account. Since August 31, 2021, it has been possible to become a company subscriber remotely via eSIM card registration in “My A1” mobile application.
In August 2019 А1 presented the first smartphone under its own trade mark — А1 Alpha, in July 2020 А1 Alpha 20+ went on sale.
On 12 November 2019, A1 took part in signing a joint Belarusian-Austrian Declaration on strengthening cooperation in the sphere of communications, IT technologies and 5G technology development. A1 has applied for frequency allocation subject to the international standards of 5G and is currently developing the architecture of the 5G network. On May 22, 2020 A1 brought in test mode the first 5G SA network in Belarus in operation, created on the basis of standalone architecture. On May 25, 2020 the first call in Belarus and the CIS was made on this network using the VoNR technology.
On May 14, 2020 the company presented A1 Smart House system.
On February 18, 2021, the company introduced A1 Xplore Music service by Deezer. The company's subscribers got access to the streaming platform on special conditions.
A1 was the second company in the country, which began to sell SIM cards for self-registration in the partner network stores on May 12, 2021.
Owners and management
Prior to January 2005, Cypriot SB Telecom controlled 69.9% of shares in velcom, CJSC Beltechexport and Republican Unitary Enterprise Beltelecom had 30% and 0.1%, respectively. In January 2005, the state bought into the company: it acquired a 30.9% stake, whereas SB Telecom had 49%, Beltechexport 20%, and Beltelecom 0.1%.
In August 2007, SB Telecom increased its shareholding to 100%, paying U.S. $556 million.
At the beginning of October 2007, Austria's A1 Telekom Austria Group signed a purchase agreement to buy 70% in the carrier from SB Telecom, and in October 2010, it bought the remaining stake of 30%.
Helmut Duhs is the CEO of A1 as of 2022.
Operations
Mobile communications
A1 provides GSM 900/1800, UMTS (WCDMA/HSDPA/HSUPA/HSPA+) and 4G services in Belarus.
Subscribers benefit from core services (voice communications, data transfer, SMS, MMS, voice mail, etc.), as well as additional services (roaming, business and entertainment services).
Subscriber numbers
+375 29 1 xx xx xx, +375 29 3 xx xx xx, +375 29 6 xx xx xx, +375 29 9 xx xx xx
+375 44 4 xx xx xx, +375 44 5 xx xx xx, +375 44 7 xx xx xx
Due to the introduction of the Mobile number portability (MNP) service in the Republic of Belarus, subscriber numbers can be as follows: +375 25 xxx xx xx, +375 29 xxx xx xx, +375 33 xxx xx xx.
Fixed-line communications
The company started building its own fiber-optic network for its corporate customers in September 2014.
In 2016–2018, velcom completed a series of transactions to acquire Belarusian Internet service providers – Atlant Telecom (Minsk), Aichyna Plus (Minsk), Belinfonet (Minsk), Garant (Gomel and Vitebsk), Ranak Media (Svetlogorsk). Furthermore, Business Network (Delovaya Set) Internet provider transferred most of its private and some corporate subscribers to velcom (Minsk).
Currently, A1 provides GPON, Ethernet and ADSL Internet access services in all regional centers of Belarus, as well as in Bobruisk, Dobrush, Rechitsa, Zhlobin, Novopolotsk and Svetlogorsk.
As of 31 December 2021, A1's fixed-line subscriber base was approximately 668,6 users. Most of the operator's Internet access rates are package offers, i.e. they imply simultaneous subscription to digital television services under the VOKA brand.
Video service VOKA
Video service from A1 is available under the VOKA brand. A1's fixed-line Internet users benefit from the IPTV service and enjoy more than 160 channels (including 47 HD channels). VOKA is also available in the networks of other mobile and fixed-line operators with the use of the OTT technology and offers more than 140 television channels (including 39 HD channels). VOKA features diverse interactive functionality: pause, fast forward and reverse, archives of TV shows, as well as the function to continue watching on another device. Also available to all users are movies, cartoons and series provided by online streaming services MEGOGO, Amediateka, START, ivi, The Walt Disney Studios movies and cartoons. The service is accessible from Android and iOS mobile devices, Smart TV running on Tizen, WebOS, Android TV, on RedboxMini, Xiaomi Mi Box 3, Apple TV (via AirPlay) boxes. Desktop users can access the video service via the VOKA application for Windows or on the website.
In 2018, VOKA launched proprietary media content: "Our Football" and "Our Hockey" offering broadcasts of games with Belarusian clubs and national teams, live streaming of concerts, music festivals, conferences and forums, as well as cyber sports tournaments in the section "Cybersport". Also available for users is CINEVOKA – Movies in Belarusian, a collection of popular movies with professional voice overs in the Belarusian language. Since June 2019, ideo service users can watch popular HBO TV-series in Belarusian: the first season of the Sex and the City TV-series, the Chernobyl mini-series and the final season of the Games of Thrones series.
In 2018, video service began to produce their own content. So, in the section VOKA SHOW you can find reviews, mini-reality and TV-shows created exclusively for the platform.
On 28 January 2019, the VOKA video service presented the country's largest Ultra-High-Definition (4K) content library[.
VOKA CINEMA
In August 2017, the VOKA CINEMA multiplex (until 12 August 2019 was called velcom cinema) was unveiled in partnership with the Silver Screen cinema chain. The facility includes seven high-tech movie theaters.
The Silver ART project for art house enthusiasts has been available at VOKA CINEMA since 2018.
In August 2019, the VOKA CINEMA unveiled Eastern Europe's first 270-degree ScreenX cinema screen offering panoramic visual.
In September 2019, VOKA and Silver Screen launched the joint project Tuteishyn Studio to translate movie premieres into the Belarusian language. Zeroville and The Wedding Year were the first to be dubbed.
VOKA Smartfilm
Since 2010, A1 in conjunction with the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Belarus has held the annual mobile film festival. In 2016, it became an international event. Every year, the film festival sees the number of entrants and countries grow consistently. In 2020, the ninth International Mobile Film Festival VOKA Smartfilm took place, with its competitive program encompassing 356 short-length films from 75 countries.
Esports
In February 2020, the Belarusian Esports Federation Republican Public Association was established and registered with the assistance of A1. On April 17, 2020 the Belarusian Computer Sport Association (BCSA) was registered. BCSA members are
11 companies representing the Belarusian Esports industry. Association was created to promote esports in Belarus, develop and support professional players, coaches and referees, hold competitions and further international contacts.
On May 4, 2020 the first cybersport mobile online games match was held on the A1's 5G SA test network. While testing, the data transfer speed was 1.2 Gbit/s, ping speed 10 milliseconds.
Data centre and ICT services
In September 2017, A1 launched one of the largest Belarusian data processing centers (DPC) in Minsk. Four DPC modules are designed for 800 server racks and have their own optical ring with a bandwidth of 1 Tbit/s. As of June 2018, the first module with 200 server racks was put into operation.
The A1 data center has an international Uptime Institute (UI) certificate for Tier III fault tolerance in the Design and Facility categories, as well as a PCI DSS certificate confirming the customer infrastructure security and payment card data protection.
In March 2019, the data center received a compliance certificate with national information security requirements. In August 2019, the company confirmed compliance with the international standard ISO 27001, and in May 2020 — with the state standard of the Republic of Belarus ISO/IEC 27001-2016. In September 2020, the company received an information security work and services license to provide information security for safety-critical systems (SCS). In October 2020, A1 received the status of a platinum partner of Kaspersky Lab.
Currently, the data center provides the following services: cloud solutions rental (IaaS, private clouds, “Oblako-62”), server and network equipment placement (Colocation, HaaS), ICT services and solutions (Baas, Veeam Cloud Connect, DRaaS, Oracle integrated technical support, etc.), IT consulting, Remote Office, as well as subscription-based use of Microsoft software products.
Since April 1, 2021, the A1 Unitary Enterprise has transferred the rights and obligations under a number of contracts for the provision of ICT services to the new company - A1 ICT Services. A1 ICT Services LLC operates under the A1 brand and is registered as a High-Tech Park resident.
Solar power plant
In 2016, A1 launched its own solar power plant in the Gomel Region, Solar II, connected to the Bragin substation. The plant covers an area of 41 hectares and has a nominal capacity of 18.48 MW and consists of 85 thousand solar panels. During 5 years of operation, the equipment of the solar park generated 129,360,452 kWh of clean electricity.
In October 2017, velcom launched the first solar-powered base communications station in Belarus in the Luban District of the Minsk Region.
Statistics
As of 31 December 2021, the company had more than 4.938 million mobile subscribers. Some 668.6 users were subscribed to fixed-line Internet and TV services. The company's share in the country's mobile communications market stood at 42.2%.
2G is available on 97.7% of the territory of the country with 99.9% of the population (100% of urban residents). 3G is available on 97.1% of the country's territory. As of June 2010, the company operated 3,301 base stations and 28,754 transmitter receivers in 1,360 settlements across the country, as well as eight switches: three in Minsk and one in each regional center.
The company's subscribers benefit from international roaming services in 191 countries of the world in 382 carriers' networks. Unitary Enterprise A1 has a proprietary network of sales centers consisting of 86 offices in 32 cities of Belarus. The dealer network includes more than 500 mobile shops throughout the country.
The company's revenue (according to international financial statements) for the fourth quarter of 2021 reached EUR 122.7 million, EBITDA was at EUR 46.2 million.
In 2021, the company's revenue amounted to EUR 419.6 million, EBITDA – EUR 180.5 million.
Corporate social responsibility
The list of A1 priorities as a socially responsible business includes assistance to children, support for national self-identification and the environment.
Helping children
A1 has supported people with autism since 2015. In 2016, the "i" Family Inclusive Theatre was established at the Pushkaryova Studio as a joint initiative of Children. Autism. Parents international charity and velcom | A1. The carrier provides financial and informational support for the project as its general partner. Since 2016, velcom | A1 has been involved in the annual international campaign Light It Up Blue held on 2 April to support people with autism.
The #velcombegom charity project is one of the company's biggest social initiatives: every year since 2015, two or three campaigns have been held. The mission is to help children's health care institutions, promote healthy lifestyles, and popularize running. The beneficiaries of the campaign included national medical rehabilitation centers for children, a boarding school for disabled children with special needs, and other medical institutions for children. Throughout the project, more than BYN 700,000 in financial support has been transferred to beneficiaries. In 2018, the #velcombegom Running Cities campaign won the best healthy lifestyle nomination of the Eventiada IPRA Golden World Awards 2018.
The I see! project has been implemented by company since 2016 till 2020 in cooperation with the Belarusian Children's Fund with the support of the Ministry of Health of the Republic of Belarus. The objective of the project is to assist in the timely diagnosis and detection of early visual impairments in school-age children residing in rural areas. Over the past four years, 35 ophthalmologists visited 693 schools in the Mogilev, Gomel, Brest and Vitebsk regions and tested 51,474 schoolchildren. When the project was close to its conclusion, the "I See!” graphic novel was prepared and published with the participation of the Modern Comics creative association.
In September 2019, А1 became a general sponsor of Junior football school. The sponsorship involves several directions for development of children and youth sport, including creation of the A1 Junior brand and purchase of the new equipment for the club's players.
On December 28, 2019 A1 was the general partner of the Viennese Ball held in the Palace of Independence. Following the results of the event, the company provided financial assistance to the civic association “SOS Children's Villages Belarus”.
On June 23, 2020 A1 started the charitable sport action “100 hours with А1”. Following the results of the action, A1 provided financial assistance to the Republican children palliative medicine clinical center. On June 1, 2021, the second season of “100 gadzin z A1” campaign, connected with the theme of ecology, was launched. As a result of the A1 action, 50,000 rubles were transferred to the International Public Organization SOS-Children's Villages. The allocated funds were used to install 300 solar panels and an air heat pump in the Mogilev SOS-Children's Village. Now it is expected to plant an alley with named trees of active participants of the action on the territory of the Borovlyany SOS-Children's Village.
Support for the Belarusian language and culture
A1 supports initiatives encouraging the interest in the Belarusian national heritage, traditions, history, culture and art.
In 2016–2019, the company conducted a joint project with Kinakong, entitled Belarusian Weekends. During that period, more than 20 movies were translated and dubbed into Belarusian. More than 50,000 viewers have enjoyed these movies in Belarusian in more than 60 movie theaters of the country.
In 2018–2019, velcom launched the velcom YOUTH social and outreach project for high school students who want to make a difference in this world. The project was launched in partnership with the Ministry of Education of the Republic of Belarus and the organizers of the TEDx Minsk conferences. The first season featured over 800 contestants from 230 secondary schools across the country. All of the velcom YOUTH communications (from the application to the presentation of the project in the finals) are in the Belarusian language. The final of the project was held on 18 May 2019 as TEDxYouth@Minsk.
In October 2019, Pershiya project was initiated by А1 with support of conference organisers "TEDxMinsk". More than 1,000 school students from all over Belarus took part in educational workshops. More than 100 of them sent their video presentations to enter the contest. The jury panel selected 10 finalists, who on September 19, 2020 presented in public their socially significant ideas at the Belorussian-language youth online conference TEDxYouth@Minsk.
On February 2, 2021, a new season of the “Pershya” project started. The authors of the most interesting ideas according to the results of this project took part in TEDxYouth@Minsk 2021.
In 2019–2020, A1 became the general partner of the 100th season of the Yanka Kupala National Academic Theatre. The partnership helped organize a free live broadcast of the theatre's iconic performances via the VOKA video service, including "Radio Prudok", "Two Souls", "The People of the Marsh","Paulinka"and other.
In October 2019, A1 together with the Belarusian-Jewish Cultural Heritage Center and the Museum of the History of the Vitebsk People’s Art College launched the project #UNOVIS100 in honor of the 100th anniversary of the UNOVIS art association. On 15 February 2020, the National Art Museum of Belarus opened Belarus’s first ever exhibition of the suprematist artist Lazar Khidekel "We Will Be Understood in 100 Years".
On February 21, 2020 A1 presented the project “LANGUAGE” (“МОВА”), in terms of which interactive art installations are being set up in the biggest cities of the country. From May till December, sculptures in form of letters which serve as street furniture and make up together the word МОВА were installed in Gomel, Brest, Mogilyov, Vitebsk and Grodno. The project is being implemented in liaison with the initiative “Native language nobility”.
Ecology
In 2020, the social campaign “Get in touch with nature” was launched by A1 and the public organization “APB-BirdLife Belarus”. Since May 21st, everyone who wishes to do so may call on special phone numbers to birds and listen to them chirping. From May 2020 to February 2021, to numbers of Belarusian birds were called 183,285 times.
In June-July, 2020, the competition “Sunlight energy for the Green schools” was held, an ecological project by A1 in cooperation with the Ministry of natural resources and environment protection of the Republic of Belarus, Ministry of education of the Republic of Belarus, and the UN Development Program in Belarus. As a result of this contest, 7 “Green schools” were chosen, one from each Belarusian region and form Minsk. By December 2020 the company completed installation of solar panels at education institutions, which won the contest.
In 2021, in accordance with the principles of sustainable environmental, social and corporate governance (ESG), A1 launched a large-scale initiative to achieve carbon neutrality: it introduced natural cooling technologies for base station equipment and upgraded power supply installations at technological facilities.
On April 16, 2021, the "А1garod" project was launched. The eco-friendly space (a vegetable garden) appeared on the roof of the A1 headquarters in Minsk. The company implements the concept of an energy-efficient "green office", minimizes the use of paper, introduces electronic document management and conducts separate collection and sorting of garbage.
Digital literacy
In October 2020 А1 launched voluntary project #яонлайн (IAmOnline). The project goal is to help in teaching people, who want to become confident users of the mobile Internet.
In 2021, A1 and UNFPA (United Nations Fund for Population Activities) launched an educational program for improvement of digital literacy of older people. In June 2021, the #ionline mobile technology guide was launched. In July, #ionline training started for volunteers in offline and online regimes in all regions of Belarus.
Work of A1 during the COVID-19 pandemic
In March, 2020 A1 started the initiative #оставайсяонлайн (#stayonline) in order to support its subscribers and the population as COVID-19 spread.
Since the onset of the pandemic, the company provided financial assistance to Minsk Municipal Clinical Infectious Diseases Hospital, Children's Municipal Clinical Infectious Diseases Hospital, provided medical professionals with smartphones and free on-duty mobile communication. The company has created a USSD-number and a short number for philanthropic contributions in favour of medical workers. Ministry of health hotline calls concerning the coronavirus infection calls on the numbers of diplomatic missions abroad for its subscribers in roaming, hotline calls for victims of domestic violence and information line calls for senior citizens were made free.
Criticism and security
Austrian investors have been accused of ingratiating themselves with “Europe's last dictator” for good business since 2007. The 2010 Belarusian presidential election resulted in the 2010 Belarusian protests, which were brutally suppressed, but it later emerged that protesters had been spied on by the authorities using their cell phone data. A1 has always emphasized that it had not actively passed on any customer data: "In contrast to most other countries, any access to personal and call data takes place without a court order and without the involvement of the mobile network operator," it said at the time.
In July 2016, the human rights organization Amnesty International accused A1 Belarus of involvement in spying on Belarusian citizens. According to a report by human rights activists, the company provides the Belarusian authorities with virtually unlimited access to its clients' conversations and their data. A1 Telekom Austria Group responded to the allegations by referring to the fact that it only complies with the country's law.
According to the son of Mikola Statkevich wife, on the eve of the celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Belarusian People's Republic in March 2017, the operator blocked the smartphones of the Belarusian politician Mikola Statkevich and transferred his passwords for Facebook and Viber. A1 did not respond to the allegations.
On August 23, 2020, during a rally in Minsk, all Belarusian mobile operators had problems with mobile Internet. According to A1 it happened at the request of government bodies for national security purposes. Later on the same day data transmission services were restored to the fullest extent. On August 26 the company warned subscribers in advance of similar problems. The cyclic blackouts of the Internet continued in the following weeks and months. In the report of the Belarusian human rights organization “Human Constanta,” such termination of work was equated with a violation of human rights, because it actually is “the dispersal of a peaceful demonstration, just online.”
On September 21, 2020 the European Telecommunication Network Operation Association (ETNO) made a statement with regard to cutting off the Internet access in Belarus. It also contains a public position of A1 Telekom Austria Group: “А1 in Belarus is unable to provide communication services without access to the external channel monopolised by the state — voice communication and data transmission both at national and international levels are controlled by authorised government bodies”.
A prominent A1 critic is Veronika Tsepkalo. She worked for many years at “velcom” in sales and corporate customer departments and said in October 2020: “I don't think it's right that a company from the EU so obviously supports Lukashenko and his non-democratic values. There is no other way of calling their behavior when they turn off the mobile internet every Sunday. What is A1 doing to distance itself from this bloody regime?" In October 2020 the International coalition #KeepItOn published an open letter with an appeal to Belorussian suppliers of telecommunication services to counteract the cutting off the Internet access. The response from А1 was as follows: “Restriction of access to the Internet services is in the best interests of neither the company, nor its clients. However, as in any country, where A1 Telekom Austria Group operates, the company is obliged to comply with local legislative and regulatory requirements. In the event of non-compliance with such requirements, consequences of their implementation may be much more extensive”. The law "On Amendments to the Law of the Republic of Belarus 'On Telecommunications'" entered into force in May 2021. The failure of the operators to comply with the requirements of the Operational and Analytical Center on the suspension or restriction of the functioning of communication networks shall be considered a gross law violation, and the radio frequency spectrum application permit may be suspended.
References
External links
A1
A1 Group
Mobile phone companies of Belarus
Companies based in Minsk
Telecommunications companies established in 1999
Belarusian brands
Belarusian companies established in 1999 |
385316 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gladesville%20Bridge | Gladesville Bridge | Gladesville Bridge is a heritage-listed concrete arch road bridge that carries Victoria Road over the Parramatta River, linking the Sydney suburbs of Huntleys Point and Drummoyne, in the local government areas of Canada Bay and Hunter's Hill, in New South Wales, Australia. Despite its name, the bridge is not located in Gladesville.
The Gladesville Bridge is a few kilometres upstream of the famous Sydney Harbour Bridge. When it was completed in 1964, Gladesville Bridge was the longest single span concrete arch ever constructed. Gladesville Bridge is the largest of a complex of three bridges, including Fig Tree Bridge and Tarban Creek Bridge, designed to carry traffic as part of the North Western Expressway. The bridge was the first phase of this freeway project that was to connect traffic from the via /Lane Cove, then through / to connect into the city. Due to community action the freeway project was abandoned by the Wran Government in 1977, leaving the Gladesville Bridge connecting the existing arterial roads.
The Gladesville Bridge was designed by Anthony Gee, G. Maunsell & Partners and Eugène Freyssinet and built from 1959 to 1964 by Reed & Mallik (Engineers, England) and Stuart Bros (Builders, Sydney). The property is owned by Transport for NSW. The bridge was added to the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 1 October 2014.
History
Europeans first settled in the Gladesville/Drummoyne area of Sydney soon after landfall at Sydney Cove. In the 1790s, Crown grants of lots were made available in the vicinity of Gladesville to encourage agricultural pursuits in the area. The future suburb of Gladesville remained isolated and rural until the 1850s when the earlier land grants were subdivided into large urban building blocks for the development of 'gentlemen's residences' for the wealthier colonists of NSW.
1881 bridge
To provide better access to Sydney, a wharf was soon erected on the Parramatta River at Gladesville and a two-lane steel lattice truss girder bridge with swing span was built across the river between Drummoyne and Huntleys Point. Remnants of the sandstone abutments of the original bridge still exist on the river banks to the south-west of the present bridge. This bridge carried a tramline and road traffic but did not accommodate pedestrians. This bridge, called the Gladesville Bridge, and also known as the Parramatta River Bridge, was opened on 1 February 1881.
The old Gladesville Bridge was constructed as part of a series of bridges built during the 1880s, which also saw the construction of the Fig Tree Bridge and the Iron Cove Bridge. It was the only crossing of the Parramatta River east of Parramatta at the time of construction, with punts and ferries (steamers) providing the main methods of crossing the river. The closest crossing to the bridge was the Bedlam Punt, which operated from 1829 through to 1881 between Punt Road in the present-day Gladesville and the Great North Road in present-day . This bridge was also constructed per agitation by the community on providing a tram service from Ryde to the city.
The 1881 Gladesville Bridge was about to the west of the modern bridge. This original bridge only carried one lane of traffic in each direction as well as a tramway. It featured a swing section on the southern end of the bridge that could be opened to permit sailing ships and steamers with high funnels to pass. Colliers from Newcastle would require the bridge to be opened to gain access to the Australian Gas Light Company (AGL) gasworks site at , (now redeveloped as ). The bridge stood on iron cylinders with a sandstone pier at each end of the bridge. The sandstone piers are all that remain today of the original bridge, with the northern pier adjacent to the Huntleys Point ferry wharf, and the southern in Howley Park in Drummoyne.
Current bridge
By the 1950s, due to a rapid growth in private car ownership and road freight transport in Sydney during the interwar and post World War 2 period, the traffic crossing the old Gladesville Bridge was becoming increasingly congested. With consistent interruptions and delays from the tramline and from shipping transportation along the Parramatta River, it was soon realised that a new bridge was required to alleviate the problem.
In the late 1950s, the Department of Main Roads (DMR) intended the replacement Gladesville Bridge to be a conventional steel truss of its own design. However, an alternative approach, prepared by English civil engineering firm G. Maunsell & Partners, was soon submitted by another English firm, Reed & Mallik Ltd which had teamed up with Sydney-based builders Stuart Brothers.
Civil engineer Guy Maunsell, having recently split from his professional business partners and seeking new international engineering opportunities, recognised that a concrete arch bridge would be a much better suited and economical solution for the new Gladesville Bridge than the steel truss the DMR had designed. However, winning the bridge contract was perhaps considered a long shot by the firm's partners and scarce resources were invested into the project from the outset. The firm's first graduate recruit, 22-year-old Anthony Gee, was given the task of developing Maunsell's preliminary drawings into a viable design from which Reed & Mallik Ltd and Stuart Brothers, could formulate a price. Due in part to the unprecedented nature of the design, the proposal was independently reviewed by internationally revered engineer, and pioneer of pre-stressed concrete methods, Eugene Freyssinet. Among the last works of Freyssinet's life, the proposed , six-lane, high level concrete arch bridge was soon extended to , the design accepted and the contract to build was issued.
DMR intended the new $6.3 million Gladesville Bridge to be part of the North Western Expressway, a larger program of road works that would act as a main artery to link Sydney with the northern suburbs, and through to Newcastle. Although the strategic project was finally abandoned in the 1970s, the new Gladesville Bridge started in December 1959, and took nearly five years to complete. It was officially opened by Princess Marina on 2 October 1964. The bridge was originally opened with six traffic lanes, but the extra-wide outer lanes enabled a later reconfiguration to take place. The bridge now has three northbound lanes and four southbound lanes, separated by a concrete median.
Design and construction
At the time when the bridge was planned, it was anticipated that extremely large vessels would need to pass underneath it in the years to come. This, as well as the topography of the site, explains why the bridge was designed with a high 61 metre (200 ft) clearance.
The construction of the new Gladesville Bridge was a noteworthy engineering achievement for its time and, being both daring and untried, its innovative design and construction set several new standards on the international stage. In many ways the construction echoed the Roman method of building arches using segmented units built over a temporary formwork. In Gladesville's case, these were hollow precast concrete blocks which were hoisted up from barges on the river, then moved down a railway on the top of the formwork into position. Every few blocks, special inflatable rubber gaskets were inserted. When all of the blocks in the arch (there are four parallel arches altogether, not seen in the picture) were in place, the gaskets were 'inflated' using synthetic hydraulic fluid, expanding the entire arch and lifting it away from the formwork to support its own weight. Once adjusted to the correct position, the gaskets were filled with liquid concrete, driving out the oil and setting to form a permanent solid arch. The formwork was then moved sideways and the next arch constructed in the same fashion. Once all four arches were erected, the deck was laid on top built from further precast concrete units. The arches bed into solid sandstone bedrock on either side of the river.
The bridge as originally tendered for this location was a rather conventional steel cantilever bridge, but one of the contractors tendered the alternative catenary arch design, recognising it was pushing the envelope of existing bridge-building knowledge. The contractor's designer was G Maunsell & Partners of London. Their alternative was accepted after submission to the famous bridge engineer Eugène Freyssinet, who approved the design with recommendations. The inflatable gasket method for example had been pioneered by Freyssinet on much earlier designs.
Gladesville Bridge was the first span concrete bridge in the world and had a substantial number of engineering and technical elements that made it a world-leading bridge design and construction achievement. It was also the first bridge, if not one of the first bridges, to utilise computer programming in its construction. As there was no suitable proprietary engineering software available at that time, the bridge designer (Anthony Gee of G. Maunsell & Partners) also wrote a suite of five computer programs for analysis and detailed design to guide its construction.
Having eclipsed Sweden's Sando Bridge (built in 1943 at ) to become the longest concrete arch span bridge in the world, the new Gladesville Bridge was an unprecedented success that attracted world-wide attention and interest. Measuring in length, above the water level, and wide, with wide pathways on either side, the scale of the new Gladesville Bridge established it as one of the landmark engineering achievements of the world.
In the 1970s, the roadway of Gladesville Bridge was widened from six to seven-lanes (without structural modification) to accommodate increased traffic flow. This widening was achieved by narrowing the generous width of the pedestrian walkways on either side of the roadway. Aside from this, the bridge has remained relatively unchanged since its completion in 1964.
Gladesville Bridge was named an Engineering Heritage International Marker upon its 50th anniversary on 1 October 2014; and was named an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark on 15 December 2015.
Description
The Gladesville Bridge connects the suburbs of Gladesville (located on the northern bank of the Parramatta River) and Drummoyne (located on its southern and eastern sides). Gladesville Bridge is a four-box pre-stressed concrete arch with a span of . Its total length (including approaches) is . The roadway across the bridge is includes seven roadway lanes with pathway on either side.
The arch of the bridge is supported by concrete thrust blocks embedded into sandstone foundations on either side of Parramatta River. The bridge was constructed as four arches, each made from precast concrete box sections. Each rib of blocks was erected on a falsework system supported on piles. When the four arches were in place, they were stressed together (using the Freyssinet stressing system) by transverse cables passing through diaphragms.
On completion of the arch, the piers (stressed vertically using the Lee McCall system) were constructed on both the arch and approaches. These supported the deck which is a waffle construction of eight longitudinal pre-cast and pre-stressed "T" beams with four intermediate cast-in-place transverse beams per span, and with cast in place fillers between the "T" beams. At its northern end, the deck flares out from its six lanes to accommodate the diverging traffic lanes feeding both Victoria Road and Burns Bay Road.
Gladesville Bridge is the furthest east (downstream) of the crossings on Parramatta River. A short distance further east, Parramatta River enters Port Jackson, and the next crossing on Port Jackson is Sydney Harbour Bridge.
Condition
Still in active operation and serving heavy inner-city road traffic on a daily basis, the Gladesville Bridge appears to be in good physical condition due to regular maintenance works.
Modifications and dates
In the 1970s, the roadway of Gladesville Bridge was widened from six to seven-lanes (without structural modification) to accommodate an increased traffic flow over the bridge. This widening was achieved by taking in some of the generous width of the pedestrian walkways on either side of the roadway. Fencing along the north eastern side of the Gladesville Bridge appears to have been a later addition.
Bicycle and pedestrian access
The bridge has a footpath on both sides of the bridge. The path on the west side is under a metre wide, much too narrow to cycle on. The path on the east side is listed as a shared cycle path, but it is also only wide bound between a low barrier with a steel hand rail on the road side and a fence on the drop side. These barriers make the effective path approximately wide for two way cycle and pedestrian traffic.
Access from the northern end is via a pedestrian tunnel off Huntleys Point Road, directly under the bridge. The bridge is not wheelchair accessible.
Heritage listing
As at 19 December 2013, Gladesville Bridge has state heritage significance as the longest concrete arch span bridge in the world at the time of its completion in 1964, being . One of only two of its type in NSW, Gladesville Bridge is considered to be a leading example of technical and engineering achievement on the international stage. An innovative design that set new global standards for design and construction, Gladesville Bridge was one of the first bridges in the world (if not, the first) to utilise computer programming in its construction. With particular social significance and an important association with a number of internationally acclaimed engineers and engineering firms (including G. Maunsell & Partners and Eugene Freyssinet), Gladesville Bridge is one of the landmark engineering achievements of the world. Gladesville Bridge was listed on the New South Wales State Heritage Register on 1 October 2014 having satisfied the following criteria.
The place is important in demonstrating the course, or pattern, of cultural or natural history in New South Wales.
Gladesville Bridge has state heritage significance as the longest concrete arch span bridge in the world at the time of its completion in 1964 (at 1000 feet, this record was held for 15 years until 1980). Considered to be a leading example of technical and engineering achievement, the Gladesville Bridge was an innovative design that set new standards for design and construction on the international stage. One of the landmark engineering achievements of the world, Gladesville Bridge was one of the first bridges in the world (if not, the first) to utilise computer programming in its construction.
The place has a strong or special association with a person, or group of persons, of importance of cultural or natural history of New South Wales's history.
Gladesville Bridge has state heritage significance for its association with a number of internationally acclaimed engineers and engineering firms. Designed by English firm G. Maunsell & Partners, the vision of the new Gladesville Bridge being a concrete arch bridge, rather than a more standard steel truss bridge, is attributed to Guy Maunsell. Maunsell was a revered British engineer and early developer of pre-stressed concrete. In the mid-20th century, at the time of the construction of Gladesville Bridge, G. Maunsell & Partners were applying their creative methods to building iconic bridges across the world. Gladesville Bridge is also associated with the celebrated French engineer, Eugene Freyssinet who reviewed the innovative and unprecedented design. A pioneer in using pre-stressed concrete in bridge construction, Freyssinet's contribution to the design of Gladesville Bridge was among the last works of his life.
The place is important in demonstrating aesthetic characteristics and/or a high degree of creative or technical achievement in New South Wales.
Gladesville Bridge has state heritage significance for its aesthetic and technical significance. Upon its construction in 1964, Gladesville Bridge was the longest concrete arch span bridge in the world and its innovative design set new standards for design and construction on the international stage. An internationally leading example of technical and engineering achievement, Gladesville Bridge was considered to be one of the landmark engineering achievements of the world. Built in an era when aesthetic qualities were given high priority, particularly on high-profile infrastructure projects, Gladesville Bridge is an impressive and visually distinctive structure that serves as an inner-city landmark from the road and river.
The place has a strong or special association with a particular community or cultural group in New South Wales for social, cultural or spiritual reasons.
Gladesville Bridge has state heritage significance for its social value to the community of NSW. The replacement of the 1881 Gladesville Bridge, and the development of the unrealised North-Western Expressway, was a major Department of Main Roads project that was instigated by, and responded directly to, the demands of the Sydney community. The crossing of Parramatta River at this point was considered to be a critical connection between the city and the northern suburbs. A critical link in the planned expressway to Newcastle, the new Gladesville Bridge was to alleviate traffic congestion and provide better access for the new residential suburbs and communities that were developing in the post-war period. Today, Gladesville Bridge is a landmark structure that continues to be a major arterial roadway servicing the Sydney community.
The place has potential to yield information that will contribute to an understanding of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.
Gladesville Bridge has state heritage significance for its technical significance and, as such, may have potential to reveal information about its world-class standards of design and construction that led to the structure being considered a leading example of technical and engineering achievement.
The place possesses uncommon, rare or endangered aspects of the cultural or natural history of New South Wales.
Gladesville Bridge has state heritage significance as a rare example of a concrete arch span bridge in NSW. Gladesville Bridge is one of only two of its type in the state-the other is the nearby Tarban Creek Bridge which is a 300-foot bridge, built in 1965 as part of the same unrealised North-Western Expressway project that was also responsible for the construction of Gladesville Bridge. Although both were built by the same team, both Gladesville Bridge and Tarban Creek Bridge are distinctly different in their structural specifications and construction methods. The longest concrete arch span bridge in the world upon its construction (a record held for 15 years), Gladesville Bridge is now the seventh longest bridge of its type (in excess of 1000 feet) in the world. Eclipsed by the1280 foot Krk Bridge in Croatia (built in 1980), Gladesville Bridge continues to be the longest concrete arch span bridge in Australia.
The place is important in demonstrating the principal characteristics of a class of cultural or natural places/environments in New South Wales.
Gladesville Bridge is a representative example of the technological advancement of bridge design and construction in NSW. From the peak of the arch, one can witness the evolution of bridge engineering in Sydney - from the Sydney Harbour Bridge (1932), to the Gladesville Bridge (1964) to the ANZAC Bridge (1995). Replacing an earlier 1881 swing bridge and ferry service, Gladesville Bridge is also a representative example of a critical transport crossing across the Parramatta River.
Engineering heritage awards
The bridge received an Engineering Heritage International Marker from Engineers Australia as part of its Engineering Heritage Recognition Program and was designated as an International Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the American Society of Civil Engineers.
Gallery
See also
List of bridges in Sydney
List of the largest arch bridges
References
Bibliography
Attribution
Further reading
External links
Deck arch bridges
Bridges in Sydney
Bridges completed in 1964
Concrete bridges in Australia
Road bridges in New South Wales
1964 establishments in Australia
New South Wales State Heritage Register
City of Canada Bay
Municipality of Hunter's Hill
Articles incorporating text from the New South Wales State Heritage Register
Parramatta River
Recipients of Engineers Australia engineering heritage markers
Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks |
32956475 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISIS%20%28operating%20system%29 | ISIS (operating system) | ISIS, short for Intel System Implementation Supervisor, is an operating system for early Intel microprocessors like the 8080. It was originally developed by Ken Burgett and Jim Stein under the management of Steve Hanna and Terry Opdendyk for the Intel Microprocessor Development System with two 8" floppy drives, starting in 1975, and later adopted as ISIS-II as the operating system for the PL/M compiler, assembler, link editor, and In-Circuit Emulator (developed by Steve Morse). The ISIS operating system was developed on an early prototype of the MDS 800 computer, the same type of hardware that Gary Kildall used to develop CP/M.
Overview
Communication with the user is terminal-like. Its user interface is somewhat CP/M-like, even from the program interface point of view. For file opening, the program sends the name of file and gets back a handle. Each device has a name, which is entered between a pair of colons (:F0: and :F1: are floppies, :LP: is printer, etc.). Each diskette has one directory and no subdirectories. ISIS-II has been distributed as part of the Intel Microprocessor Development System and includes standard operating system commands (COPY, DELETE, DIR, RENAME, FORMAT) and debugging software (assembler, linker and debugger for external debugging in the developed device). There are two editors, one of which, AEDIT, contains editing macros support. File editing is provided directly on diskette (a .BAK file is always created). The other editor is CREDIT.
ISIS-II needed at least 32 kilobytes of RAM, the 8080/8085 CPU maximum address space was 64 kilobytes. In the MDS-800 and Series-II, the Monitor occupied F800h to FFFFh. Floppy disk format was 8-inch single-sided, 250 KB single-sided, single-density FM, or 500 KB single-sided, double-density MMFM. ISIS-PDS was also software and media incompatible and unique, it came on 720 KB DSDD 5¼-inch floppies with the Intel personal development system (iPDS-100).
The ISIS-IV operating system was another incompatible (even with other Intel development systems) that ran on the iMDX-430 Series-IV Network Development System-II.
Intel ASM80, PLM-80, BASIC-80, COBOL-80, FORTRAN-80 were all available for ISIS-II.
ASM86, ASM48, ASM51 were available as well.
Commands
The following list of commands are supported by the ISIS-II console.
IDISK
FORMAT
FIXMAP
DEBUG
SUBMIT
DIR
COPY
HDCOPY
DELETE
RENAME
ATTRIB
BINOBJ
HEXOBJ
OBJHEX
EDIT
LIB
LINK
LOCATE
See also
CONV86
CP/M
RMX (operating system) or iRMX
References
External links
ISIS-MDS Obsolete ISIS SW, MDS HW Retrieved 2016-11-24
Intel MDS 80 - Microcomputer Development System
Joe's Intel MDS web page
ISIS II Users Guide
Intel ISIS Command-Video
Reverse engineered source
Additional reverse engineered source
ISX - An ISIS-II emulator
Intel software
Microcomputer software
Disk operating systems
Floppy disk-based operating systems |
8452216 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PDF/UA | PDF/UA | PDF/UA (PDF/Universal Accessibility), formally ISO 14289, is an International Organization for Standardization (ISO) standard for accessible PDF technology. A technical specification intended for developers implementing PDF writing and processing software, PDF/UA provides definitive terms and requirements for accessibility in PDF documents and applications. For those equipped with appropriate software, conformance with PDF/UA ensures accessibility for people with disabilities who use assistive technology such as screen readers, screen magnifiers, joysticks and other technologies to navigate and read electronic content.
On February 18, 2015 the US Access Board announced its Proposed Rule for US federal policy on accessibility, commonly known as Section 508. The proposed rule identifies PDF/UA as equivalent to WCAG 2.0 for "appropriate content".
Description
PDF/UA is not a separate file-format but simply a way to use the familiar PDF format invented by Adobe Systems and now standardized as ISO 32000.
In general PDF/UA requires Tagged PDF (ISO 32000-1, 14.8), but adds a variety of qualitative requirements, especially regarding semantic correctness of the tags employed:
PDF/UA complements WCAG 2.0, and should be used to make PDF files that also conform with WCAG 2.0.
The 2014 update to PDF/UA, published in December 2014, is the first fully accessible standard ISO has ever published; the PDF file distributed by ISO itself conforms to PDF/UA.
Requirements for conforming PDF files (Clause 7)
Complete tagging of "real content" in logical reading order
Tags must correctly represent the document's semantic structures (headings, lists, tables, etc.)
Problematic content is prohibited, including illogical headings, the use of color/contrast to convey information, inaccessible JavaScript, and more
Meaningful graphics must include alternative text descriptions
Security settings must allow assistive technology access to the content
Fonts must be embedded, and text mapped to Unicode
Requirements for conforming PDF processors (Clause 8)
The ability to fully process tags and artifacts in PDF files
The ability to announce relevant actions to users
The ability to process and represent digital signatures, annotations and Optional Content
The ability to navigate the document by a variety of means
Requirements for conforming assistive technology (AT) (Clause 9)
The ability to represent information provided by a PDF/UA conforming reader to the AT user
The ability to navigate the document by a variety of means
The formal name of PDF/UA is "ISO 14289-1 Document management applications -- Electronic document file format enhancement for accessibility -- Part 1: Use of ISO 32000-1 (PDF/UA-1)".
Audience & Benefits
While the PDF/UA specification is written for software developers, PDF/UA support is of interest to persons with disabilities who require or benefit from assistive technology when reading electronic content. With PDF/UA conforming files, readers and assistive technology, users are guaranteed – so far as the PDF format itself can provide – equal access to information.
The benefits of PDF/UA extend beyond people with disabilities. With support for PDF/UA, reader software will be able to reliably reflow text onto small screens, provide powerful navigation options, transform text appearance, improve search engine functionality, aid in the selection and copying of text, and more.
History
The PDF/UA project began in 2004 as an AIIM Standards Committee. The PDF/UA wiki, operated by AIIM, contains agendas, meeting-minutes and public-access documents pertaining to the development of PDF/UA.
Chaired since 2005 by Duff Johnson, in 2009 AIIM's PDF/UA Committee became the U.S. Committee for ISO/AWI (Accepted Work Item) 14289 with Cherie Ekholm of Microsoft as International Project Leader.
The US Committee continued as the main driver of the standard's development through the WD, CD, DIS and FDIS Phases of ISO standards development, with review, comment and balloting by the member bodies of ISO TC 171.
ISO 14289-1:2012 (PDF/UA) was published in July, 2012. A minor update (ISO 14289-1:2014) was published in December 2014. The document is available directly from the ISO's webstore.
In October 2012 the US Library of Congress added PDF/UA to their list of archivable file formats. The LoC's guidance states that PDF/UA is "...a preferred format for page-oriented content by the Library of Congress."
Adobe Systems, the largest implementer of interactive PDF software, has announced its intention to support PDF/UA.
In December 2014 ISO published ISO 14289-1:2014, a minor revision of the original 2012 document.
In March 2016 AIIM and ANSI published PDF/UA as an American National Standard:.
AIIM's US Committee for PDF/UA has published the following documents in support of PDF/UA:
Achieving WCAG 2.0 with PDF/UA
PDF/UA-1 Technical Implementation Guide: Understanding ISO 14289-1 (PDF/UA-1)
PDF/UA-1 Technical Implementation Guide: Understanding ISO 32000-1 (PDF 1.7)
Ongoing ISO and AIIM Committee Activities
Work on ISO 14289-2 (PDF/UA-2) is ongoing. PDF/UA-2 will be based on PDF 2.0.
Committee Organization & Leadership
AIIM's US Committee for PDF/UA led development of the document from 2004 until 2010, when the draft became an ISO NWI. Both US and ISO Committees maintain their work on AIIM's PDF Standards wiki.
Project Leader, International Committee: Duff Johnson, Independent Consultant and Executive Director of the PDF Association
U.S. Chair & Spokesperson: Duff Johnson, Independent Consultant and Executive Director of the PDF Association
TC 171 SC 2 WG 9 Secretary: Betsy Fanning, Standards Director at 3D PDF Consortium 3D PDF Consortium - The Experts in PDF for Engineering
Convener, International Committee: Matthew Hardy, Adobe Systems
Participation by subject matter experts, software developers and other interested parties is invited and encouraged.
PDF Association Activities
The PDF Association helps promote PDF/UA in a variety of ways.
PDF/UA Competence Center
In 2011 the PDF Association created the PDF/UA Competence Center as a way for vendors to develop educational resources and share experiences regarding implementation of PDF/UA. The Matterhorn Protocol (see below) is a product of the PDF/UA Competence Center.
NVDA goes PDF/UA Project
In 2012 and 2013 the PDF Association helped raise money and awareness for NV Access's NVDA to further development of the world's first PDF/UA conforming screen reader.
The Matterhorn Protocol
In August 2013 the PDF Association's PDF/UA Competence Center published the Matterhorn Protocol, a set of 31 checkpoints and 136 failure conditions to help software developers make it easier for document authors to create fully accessible PDF files and forms.
The PDF/UA Reference Suite
In June 2014 the PDF Association's PDF/UA Competence Center published the first iteration of the PDF/UA Reference Suite, a set of reference-quality documents conforming to PDF/UA-1.
The Tagged PDF Best Practice Guide
In December 2015 the PDF Association's PDF/UA Competence Center unveiled the first public draft of its Tagged PDF Best Practice Guide. Publication is expected by the summer of 2016.
Seminars, Books and Brochures
The PDF Association conducted numerous educational seminars on PDF/UA throughout Europe, North America and Australia in 2012 and 2013. A book, "PDF/UA in a Nutshell", was produced in both English and German. An informational brochure was also produced in both languages.
References
External links
ISO's webstore page for ISO 14289-1:2014
ANSI's webstore page for ISO 14289-1:2014
AIIM's webstore page for ANSI / AIIM / ISO 14289-1:2016
List of software supporting PDF/UA (no longer maintained)
Accessible PDF: A Glossary of Terms
Video recordings from the PDF/UA sessions at the PDF Association Technical Conference 2012 in Basel, Switzerland
Make a PDF document accessible from Adobe InDesign and Acrobat Pro
Make a PDF document accessible from Microsoft Word
Advantages and Disadvantages of PDF
Content management systems
ISO standards
Page description languages
Assistive technology
PDF standards |
502632 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mary%20Ann%20Horton | Mary Ann Horton | Mary Ann Horton (born Mark R. Horton, on November 21, 1955), is a Usenet and Internet pioneer. Horton contributed to Berkeley UNIX (BSD), including the vi editor and terminfo database, created the first email attachment tool uuencode, and led the growth of Usenet in the 1980s.
Horton successfully requested the first transgender-inclusive language added to the Equal Employment Policy in a large American company, and championed the language and insurance coverage of transgender health benefits at other companies.
Horton is a computer scientist and a transgender educator and activist.
Education
Horton was born in Richland, Washington, and raised in the Pacific Northwest. Finding an interest in computer programming in 1970, Horton moved to San Diego County in 1971, and quickly fell in love with California. She graduated from San Dieguito High School in 1973. Earning a BSCS from the University of Southern California in 1976, Horton went on to obtain an MSCS at the University of Wisconsin, and transfer to the University of California at Berkeley in 1978, earning a Ph.D. in Computer Science in 1981.
Horton was introduced to UNIX at Wisconsin, creating an enhanced UNIX text editor called hed. At Berkeley, she contributed to the development of Berkeley UNIX, including the vi text editor, uuencode (the first mechanism for Email attachments), w and load averages, termcap, and curses. Her Ph.D. dissertation was the creation of a new type of syntax directed editor with a textual interface. This technology was later used to create computer-aided software engineering tools.
In 1980, Horton brought Usenet's A News system to Berkeley and began to champion its growth from a 10 site network. To Usenet's original dialup UUCP technology, she added support for Berknet and ARPANET, and added a gateway between several popular ARPANET mailing lists and usenet "fa" newsgroups. In 1981, high school student Matt Glickman asked Horton for a spring break project, and the two designed and implemented B News, which offered major performance and user interface improvements needed to keep up with the explosive growth of Usenet traffic volume.
UNIX and Internet work
In 1981, Horton became a Member of Technical Staff of Bell Labs in Columbus, Ohio. At Bell Labs she brought parts of Berkeley UNIX to UNIX System V, including vi and curses; as part of the work on curses, she developed terminfo as a replacement for termcap (most of this work shipped as part of SVR2). In 1987 she joined the Bell Labs Computation Center to bring official support for Usenet and Email to Bell Labs.
Horton continued to lead Usenet until 1988. During this time she promoted rapid growth by arranging news feeds for new sites. Each new site agreed to be the feed for two more new sites as the need arose. This policy contributed to the growth of Usenet to over 5000 sites by 1987. Horton recruited membership in and designed the original physical topology of the Usenet Backbone in 1983. Gene "Spaf" Spafford then created an email list of the backbone administrators, plus a few influential posters. This list became known as the Backbone Cabal and served as a "political (i.e. decision making) backbone". The backbone ensured the reliability and performance of the overall network.
Usenet began with only a few messages per day, but volume rapidly grew to become a problem. Horton added moderated newsgroups, distinguished with names beginning with "mod" or containing "announce", and moderated the first such newsgroup: news.announce.important. Only the moderator could post messages, all other messages were automatically sent to the moderator for approval. Eventually the B News software was enhanced to permit any newsgroup with any name to be moderated.
Usenet relied on email for replies, requiring that Usenet links could be used for email. At first, all Usenet and UUCP messages used "bang paths", such as unc!research!ucbvax!mark, as email addresses. Horton guided this email process, including the use of the ARPANET/UUCP gateway, using routed email addresses such as cbosgd!mark@berkeley. These addresses were complex, convoluted, and sometimes ambiguous. When Internet domains were first created in 1983, Horton championed their use, publishing the classic paper "What is a domain?"
At Usenix in January 1984, Horton recruited a group of volunteers to create the UUCP Mapping Project. The project divided the world into geographic regions. A volunteer for each region maintained the region's UUCP connectivity map and posted it regularly to the comp.mail.maps newsgroup. Each site ran Steve Bellovin and Peter Honeyman's pathalias program to create a locally optimized email routing database from this map. Horton worked with Chris Seiwald and Larry Auton to produce the smail program, used this database to route email, using email addresses such as [email protected].
In the mid 1980s, early domain use included .ARPA, .UUCP, .CSNET, and .BITNET as top level domains, representing four major email networks. In January 1986, Horton represented UUCP at a meeting to arrange technical cooperation of these networks. Others were Dan Oberst representing BITNET, Craig Partridge representing CSNET, and Ken Harrenstein, who hosted the meeting on behalf of the ARPANET. Harrenstein convinced the others to support the creation of six top level functionally domains COM, EDU, ORG, NET, GOV, and MIL. Each network was authorized to register domains in COM, EDU, ORG, and NET. This group of registrars was the precursor to the ICANN domain name registry.
Horton implemented the UUCP portion of the registry by reorganizing the UUCP Project into the "UUCP Zone". With Tim Thompson, Horton registered 150 UUCP-only organizations with officially sanctioned .COM and .EDU domains. [email protected] became a valid UUCP email address, even though the message was delivered via UUCP using dial-up modems.
The UUCP Zone joined with Lauren Weinstein's Stargate project, which built a pilot project to transmit Usenet over satellite television, to form Stargate Information Systems. The first domain they registered was stargate.com, the second was Horton's employer, att.com. The att.com domain connected to the Internet using dial-up modems until 1990, when Horton implemented Bill Cheswick's firewall architecture
to build AT&T's first TCP/IP connection to the Internet with a demonstrably secure firewall.
Horton's 1990 book, Portable C Software became a popular reference for programming in C. It outlined functions and programming techniques that could be reliably used on many different types of computer systems, and which methods were unportable.
In 1992, Horton created an internal email package for Bell Labs called EMS (Electronic Messaging System). This package integrated the existing UUCP-based email system with the AT&T "POST" white pages directory and the domain-based email world. She created and led a supported email service for Bell Labs. This system supported many email addressing formats, including those that dynamically queried the POST directory:
Handle: [email protected]
Full name: Mark. [email protected]
Broadcast to a building: loc=oh0012/[email protected]
Complex query: all technical managers and directors in Columbus: loc=oh0012/tl=tmgr/tl=dir/[email protected]
In 2000, Horton joined Avaya, where she was the Sr. Manager of Avaya Corporate Email and Directory. In 2002, Horton joined the UNIX Implementation Engineering group at Bank One, which was purchased by JPMorgan Chase in 2004. Finally fulfilling a lifelong dream, Horton moved from Columbus to San Diego in 2007, joining Sempra Energy's Transmission Grid Operations team.
Diversity work
Horton is a transgender woman. Adopting the name Mary Ann in 1987, Horton founded Columbus' first transgender support group, the Crystal Club, in 1989. In 1997, she joined EQUAL Lucent's LGBT employee resource group, and saw the value of being "out" at work, supported by an Equal Opportunity (EO) nondiscrimination policy. At the time, no major company included transgender language in their EO policy. Horton asked for its inclusion in Lucent's policy, and recommended the language "gender identity, characteristics, or expression". As a result, Lucent became the first large company to add transgender-inclusive language to its EO policy in 1997.
At the time, Horton identified as a crossdresser, presenting sometimes as Mark and sometimes as Mary Ann. After the Lucent EO policy was published, Horton worked at Lucent primarily as Mark, but occasionally as Mary Ann. She was the first known crossdresser to successfully work part-time as a woman for a large company. Despite controversy about the ability of corporate America to deal with a part-time crossdresser, Horton's workplace experience was positive.
Horton championed the addition of transgender-inclusive language with other companies, supporting its addition to Apple, Xerox, Chase, and later to Bank One and Sempra Energy. The "characteristics" term was intended to include intersex individuals, but was removed after discussions with intersex activists who stated that "gender expression" best includes their needs.
Horton was one of the first transgender actors to play a transgender role on television. She appeared as Aurora, a business executive, in a public service announcement advertisement for Stonewall Columbus entitled The Boardroom in June 2003.
Horton was awarded the "Trailblazer" award by Out & Equal Workplace Advocates in October, 2001 for her work at Lucent and Avaya. The next week, she transitioned, presenting full-time as Mary Ann. Over the next few years, she took appropriate medical steps, and legally changed her name to Mary Ann Horton and her sex to female.
In the 1990s, most employer health insurance policies denied coverage for sex reassignment surgery (SRS) or anything related to it. Horton advocated for the inclusion of transgender health benefits (THBs) in these policies. She documented Lucent's coverage of SRS in 2000.
and championed the inclusion of points for THBs in the Human Rights Campaign's Corporate Equality Index, which were added in 2005.
In 2002, Horton gathered data from 13 of 15 major SRS surgeons to determine incidence, intrinsic prevalence,
and average cost of SRS-related surgeries. This data, presented at the
Out & Equal Annual Workplace Summit
showed that the cost of THB coverage, previously believed to be very high, is actually very low, less than 40 cents per US resident per year. This data, combined with the HRC CEI points, has led to increased coverage of THBs by large employers.
Current status
Horton currently resides in Poway, California.
Horton is retired from Sempra Energy as a Principal EMS Programmer/Analyst. (In this case, EMS stands for energy management system, a SCADA control system.)
Horton is also a Consultant on Transgender Workplace issues and on UNIX and Internet technology. She owns Red Ace Technology Solutions, providing discounted web hosting services to nonprofit organizations and small businesses.
References
External links
Mary Ann Horton's home page
Red Ace Technology Solutions
1955 births
Living people
People from Richland, Washington
Usenet people
Cellular automatists
LGBT people from California
LGBT people from Washington (state)
Transgender and transsexual scientists
Transgender and transsexual women
Transgender and transsexual computer programmers
Transgender rights activists
LGBT scientists from the United States |
293685 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GNUnet | GNUnet | GNUnet is a software framework for decentralized, peer-to-peer networking and an official GNU package. The framework offers link encryption, peer discovery, resource allocation, communication over many transports (such as TCP, UDP, HTTP, HTTPS, WLAN and Bluetooth) and various basic peer-to-peer algorithms for routing, multicast and network size estimation.
GNUnet's basic network topology is that of a mesh network. GNUnet includes a distributed hash table (DHT) which is a randomized variant of Kademlia that can still efficiently route in small-world networks. GNUnet offers a "F2F topology" option for restricting connections to only the users' trusted friends. The users' friends' own friends (and so on) can then indirectly exchange files with the users' computer, never using its IP address directly.
GNUnet uses Uniform resource identifiers (not approved by IANA, although an application has been made). GNUnet URIs consist of two major parts: the module and the module specific identifier. A GNUnet URI is of form gnunet://module/identifier where module is the module name and identifier is a module specific string.
The primary codebase is written in C, but there are bindings in other languages to produce an API for developing extensions in those languages. GNUnet is part of the GNU Project. It has gained interest in the hacker community after the PRISM revelations.
GNUnet consists of several subsystems, of which essential ones are Transport and Core subsystems. Transport subsystem provides insecure link-layer communications, while Core provides peer discovery and encryption. On top of the core subsystem various applications are built.
GNUnet includes various P2P applications in the main distribution of the framework, including filesharing, chat and VPN; additionally, a few external projects (such as secushare) are also extending the GNUnet infrastructure.
GNUnet is unrelated to the older Gnutella P2P protocol. Gnutella is not an official GNU project while GNUnet is.
Transport
Originally, GNUnet used UDP for underlying transport. Now GNUnet transport subsystem provides multiple options, such as TCP and SMTP.
The communication port, officially registered at IANA, is 2086 (tcp + udp).
Trust system
GNUnet provides trust system based on excess-based economic model. The idea of employing economic system is taken from MojoNation network.
GNUnet network has no trusted entities so it is impossible to maintain global reputation. Instead, each peer maintains its own trust for each of its local links.
When resources, such as bandwidth and CPU time, are in excess, peer provides them to all requesting neighbors without reducing trust or otherwise charging them. When a node is under stress it drops requests from its neighbor nodes having lower internal trust value. However, when peer has less resources than enough to fulfill everyone's requests, it denies requests of those neighbors that it trusts less and charges others by reducing their trust.
File sharing
The primary application at this point is anonymous, censorship-resistant file-sharing, allowing users to anonymously publish or retrieve information of all kinds. The GNUnet protocol which provides anonymity is called GAP (GNUnet anonymity protocol). GNUnet FS can additionally make use of GNU libextractor to automatically annotate shared files with metadata.
File encoding
Files shared with GNUnet are ECRS (An Encoding for Censorship-Resistant Sharing) coded.
All content is represented as GBlocks. Each GBlock contains 1024 bytes. There are several types of GBlocks, each of them serves a particular purpose. Any GBlock is uniquely identified by its RIPEMD-160 hash .
DBlocks store actual file contents and nothing else. File is split at 1024 byte boundaries and resulting chunks are stored in DBlocks. DBlocks are linked together into Merkle tree by means of IBlocks that store DBlock identifiers.
Blocks are encrypted with a symmetric key derived from when they are stored in the network.
Queries and replies
GNUnet Anonymity Protocol consists of queries and replies. Depending on load of the forwarding node, messages are forwarded to zero or more nodes.
Queries are used to search for content and request data blocks.
Query contains resource identifier, reply address, priority and TTL (Time-to-Live).
Resource identifier of datum is a triple-hash . Peer that replies to query provides to prove that it indeed has the requested resource without providing to intermediate nodes, so intermediate nodes can't decrypt .
Reply address is the major difference compared to Freenet protocol. While in Freenet reply always propagates back using the same path as the query, in GNUnet the path may be shorter. Peer receiving a query may drop it, forward it without rewriting reply address or indirect it by replacing reply address with its own address. By indirecting queries peer provides cover traffic for its own queries, while by forwarding them peer avoids being a link in reply propagation and preserves its bandwidth. This feature allows the user to trade anonymity for efficiency. User can specify an anonymity level for each publish, search and download operation. An anonymity level of zero can be used to select non-anonymous file-sharing. GNUnet's DHT infrastructure is only used if non-anonymous file-sharing is specified. The anonymity level determines how much cover traffic a peer must have to hide the user's own actions.
Priority specifies how much of its trust user wants to spend in case of resource shortage.
TTL is used to prevent queries from staying in the network for too long.
File sharing URIs
The fs module identifier consists of either chk, sks, ksk or loc followed by a slash and a category specific value. Most URIs contain hashes, which are encoded in base32hex.
chk identifies files, typically: gnunet://fs/chk/[file hash].[query hash].[file size in bytes]
File hash is the hash of the plaintext file, which allows decrypting it once it is downloaded. Query hash is the hash of topmost GBlock which allows downloading the whole tree of GBlocks that contain encrypted file. File size is required to determine the shape of the tree.
sks identifies files within namespaces, typically: gnunet://fs/sks/NAMESPACE/IDENTIFIER
ksk identifies search queries, typically: gnunet://fs/ksk/KEYWORD[+KEYWORD]*
loc identifies a datum on a specific machine, typically: gnunet://fs/loc/PEER/QUERY.TYPE.KEY.SIZE
Examples
A type of GNUnet filesharing URI pointing to a specific copy of GNU GPL license text:
gnunet://fs/chk/9E4MDN4VULE8KJG6U1C8FKH5HA8C5CHSJTILRTTPGK8MJ6VHORERHE68JU8Q0FDTOH1DGLUJ3NLE99N0ML0N9PIBAGKG7MNPBTT6UKG.1I823C58O3LKS24LLI9KB384LH82LGF9GUQRJHACCUINSCQH36SI4NF88CMAET3T3BHI93D4S0M5CC6MVDL1K8GFKVBN69Q6T307U6O.17992
Another type of GNUnet filesharing URI, pointing to the search results of a search with keyword "gpl":
gnunet://fs/ksk/gpl
GNU Name System
GNUnet includes an implementation of the GNU Name System (GNS), a decentralized and censorship-resistant replacement for DNS. In GNS, each user manages their own zones and can delegate subdomains to zones managed by other users. Lookups of records defined by other users are performed using GNUnet's DHT.
Protocol translation
GNUnet can tunnel IP traffic over the peer-to-peer network. If necessary, GNUnet can perform IPv4-IPv6 protocol translation in the process. GNUnet provides a DNS Application-level gateway to proxy DNS requests and map addresses to the desired address family as necessary. This way, GNUnet offers a possible technology to facilitate IPv6 transition. Furthermore, in combination with GNS, GNUnet's protocol translation system can be used to access hidden services — IP-based services that run locally at some peer in the network and which can only be accessed by resolving a GNS name.
Social API
Gabor X Toth published in early September 2013 a thesis to present the design of a social messaging service for the GNUnet peer-to-peer framework that offers scalability, extensibility, and end-to-end encrypted communication. The scalability property is achieved through multicast message delivery, while extensibility is made possible by using PSYC (Protocol for SYnchronous Conferencing), which provides an extensible RPC (Remote Procedure Call) syntax that can evolve over time without having to upgrade the software on all nodes in the network. Another key feature provided by the PSYC layer are stateful multicast channels, which are used to store e.g. user profiles. End-to-end encrypted communication is provided by the mesh service of GNUnet, upon which the multicast channels are built. Pseudonymous users and social places in the system have cryptographical identities — identified by their public key — these are mapped to human memorable names using GNS (GNU Name System), where each pseudonym has a zone pointing to its places.
That is the required building block for turning the GNUnet framework into a fully peer-to-peer social networking platform.
Chat
A chat has been implemented in the CADET module, for which a GTK interface for GNOME exists, specifically designed for the emerging Linux phones (such as the Librem 5 or the PinePhone).
See also
InterPlanetary File System
Comparison of file-sharing applications
Synchronous conferencing
Notes
References
Further references
External links
GNU Project software
Free file sharing software
Anonymity networks
Anonymous file sharing networks
Free software programmed in C
Cross-platform free software
Software using the GNU AGPL license
Key-based routing |
44030 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Office%20of%20Management%20and%20Budget | Office of Management and Budget | The Office of Management and Budget (OMB) is the largest office within the Executive Office of the President of the United States (EOP). OMB's most prominent function is to produce the president's budget, but it also examines agency programs, policies, and procedures to see whether they comply with the president's policies and coordinates inter-agency policy initiatives.
Shalanda Young has served as acting director of OMB since March 24, 2021. President Joe Biden initially nominated Neera Tanden as the next OMB director, but Tanden withdrew her nomination after it became clear that she did not have enough support to be confirmed by the Senate. Biden has nominated Young to serve as permanent director.
History
The Bureau of the Budget, OMB's predecessor, was established in 1921 as a part of the Department of the Treasury by the Budget and Accounting Act of 1921, which President Warren G. Harding signed into law. The Bureau of the Budget was moved to the Executive Office of the President in 1939 and was run by Harold D. Smith during the government's rapid expansion of spending during World War II. James L. Sundquist, a staffer at the Bureau of the Budget, called the relationship between the president and the bureau extremely close and subsequent bureau directors politicians, not public administrators.
The bureau was reorganized into the Office of Management and Budget in 1970 during the Nixon administration. The first OMB included Roy Ash (head), Paul O'Neill (assistant director), Fred Malek (deputy director), Frank Zarb (associate director) and two dozen others.
In the 1990s, OMB was reorganized to remove the distinction between management staff and budgetary staff by combining the dual roles into each given program examiner within the Resource Management Offices.
Purpose
OMB prepares the president's budget proposal to Congress and supervises the administration of the executive branch agencies. It evaluates the effectiveness of agency programs, policies, and procedures, assesses competing funding demands among agencies, and sets funding priorities. OMB ensures that agency reports, rules, testimony, and proposed legislation are consistent with the president's budget and administration policies.
OMB also oversees and coordinates the administration's procurement, financial management, information, and regulatory policies. In each of these areas, OMB's role is to help improve administrative management, develop better performance measures and coordinating mechanisms, and reduce unnecessary burdens on the public.
OMB's critical missions are:
Budget development and execution, a prominent government-wide process managed from the Executive Office of the President (EOP) and a device by which a president implements their policies, priorities, and actions in everything from the Department of Defense to NASA.
Managing other agencies' financials, paperwork, and IT.
Structure
Overview
OMB is made up mainly of career appointed staff who provide continuity across changes of party and administration in the White House. Six positions within OMBthe Director, the Deputy Director, the Deputy Director for Management, and the administrators of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, and the Office of Federal Financial Managementare presidentially appointed and Senate-confirmed positions.
OMB's largest components are the five Resource Management Offices, which are organized along functional lines mirroring the federal government, each led by an OMB associate director. Approximately half of all OMB staff are assigned to these offices, the majority of whom are designated as program examiners. Program examiners can be assigned to monitor one or more federal agencies or may be deployed by a topical area, such as monitoring issues relating to U.S. Navy warships. These staff have dual responsibility for both management and budgetary issues, as well as for giving expert advice on all aspects relating to their programs. Each year they review federal agency budget requests and help decide what resource requests will be sent to Congress as part of the president's budget. They perform in-depth program evaluations with the Program Assessment Rating Tool, review proposed regulations and agency testimony, analyze pending legislation, and oversee the aspects of the president's management agenda including agency management scorecards. They are often called upon to provide analysis information to EOP staff. They also provide important information to those assigned to the statutory offices within OMB: the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, the Office of Federal Procurement Policy, the Office of Federal Financial Management, and the Office of E-Government & Information Technology, which specializes in issues such as federal regulations and procurement policy and law.
Other components are OMB-wide support offices, including the Office of General Counsel, the Office of Legislative Affairs, the Budget Review Division (BRD), and the Legislative Reference Division. The BRD performs government-wide budget coordination and is largely responsible for the technical aspects relating to the release of the president's budget each February. With respect to the estimation of spending for the executive branch, the BRD serves a purpose parallel to that of the Congressional Budget Office (which was created in response to the OMB) for estimating Congressional spending, the Department of the Treasury for estimating executive branch revenue, and the Joint Committee on Taxation for estimating Congressional revenue.
The Legislative Reference Division is the federal government's central clearing house for proposed legislation or testimony by federal officials. It distributes proposed legislation and testimony to all relevant federal reviewers and distills the comments into a consensus opinion of the administration about the proposal. It is also responsible for writing an Enrolled Bill Memorandum to the president once a bill is presented by both chambers of Congress for the president's signature. The Enrolled Bill Memorandum details the bill's particulars, opinions on the bill from relevant federal departments, and an overall opinion about whether it should be signed into law or vetoed. It also issues Statements of Administration Policy that let Congress know the White House's official position on proposed legislation.
Role in the executive budget process
In practice, the president has assigned the OMB certain responsibilities when it comes to the budget and hiring authorities who play key roles in developing it. OMB coordinates the development of the president's budget proposal by issuing circulars, memoranda, and guidance documents to the heads of executive agencies. The OMB works very closely with executive agencies in making sure the budget process and proposal is smooth.
The development of the budget within the executive branch has many steps and takes nearly a year to complete. The first step is the OMB informing the president of the country's economic situation. The next step is known as the Spring Guidance: the OMB gives executive agencies instructions on policy guidance to use when coming up with their budget requests along with due dates for them to submit their requests. The OMB then works with the agencies to discuss issues in the upcoming budget. In July, the OMB issues circular A-11 to all agencies, which outlines instructions for submitting the budget proposals, which the agencies submit by September. The fiscal year begins October1 and OMB staff meet with senior agency representatives to find out whether their proposals are in line with the president's priorities and policies and identify constraints within the budget proposal until late November. The OMB director then meets with the president and EOP advisors to discuss the agencies' budget proposals and recommends a federal budget proposal, and the agencies are notified of the decisions about their requests. They can appeal to OMB and the president in December if they are dissatisfied with the decisions. After working together to resolve issues, agencies and OMB prepare a budget justification document to present to relevant congressional committees, especially the Appropriations Committee. Finally, by the first Monday in February, the president must review and submit the final budget to Congress to approve.
OMB is also responsible for the preparation of Statements of Administrative Policy (SAPs) with the president. These statements allow the OMB to communicate the president's and agencies' policies to the government as a whole and set forth policymakers' agendas. During the review of the federal budget, interest groups can lobby for policy change and affect the budget for the new year. OMB plays a key role in policy conflicts by making sure legislation and agencies' actions are consistent with the executive branch's. OMB has a powerful and influential role in the government, basically making sure its day-to-day operations run. Without a budget, federal employees could not be paid, federal buildings could not open and federal programs would come to a halt in a government shutdown. Shutdowns can occur when Congress refuses to accept a budget.
Suspension and debarment
The Interagency Suspension and Debarment Committee (ISDC) was created as an OMB committee by President Ronald Reagan's Executive Order 12549 in 1986, for the purpose of monitoring the implementation of the order. This order mandates executive departments and agencies to:
participate in a government-wide suspension and debarment system,
issue regulations with government-wide criteria and minimum due process procedures when debarring or suspending participants, and
send debarred and suspended participants' identifying information to the General Services Administration for inclusion on a list of excluded persons, now known as the System for Award Management (SAM).
Circulars
Circulars are instructions or information the OMB issues to federal agencies that are indexed by major category: Budget, State and Local Governments, Educational and Non-Profit Institutions, Federal Procurement, Federal Financial Management, Federal Information Resources / Data Collection and Other Special Purpose.
Circular NO. A-119
Circular A-119 is for federal participation in the development and use of voluntary consensus standards and in conformity assessment activities. A-119 instructs its agencies to adopt voluntary consensus standards before relying upon industry standards and reducing to a minimum the reliance by agencies on government standards. Adoption of international standards is widely followed by U.S. agencies. This includes:
Environmental Protection Agency referencing ISO 14001 supporting public policy in environmental management
Department of Energy referencing ISO 50001 supporting public policy for energy performance aligned with the International Energy Agency
Department of Labor referencing ISO 45001 supporting public policy in occupational health and safety
Food and Drug Administration referencing ISO 13485 supporting public policy in medical devices
Food and Drug Administration referencing ISO 22000 supporting public policy in food products
Organization
Director of the Office of Management and Budget
Deputy Director, OMB
Executive Associate Director of OMB
Office of General Counsel
Office of Legislative Affairs
Office of Communications
Office of Economic Policy (EP)
Management and Operations Division
Legislative Reference Division
Budget Review Division (BRD)
Resource Management Offices
Natural Resource Programs
Education, Income Maintenance, and Labor Programs
Health Programs
General Government Programs
National Security Programs
Deputy Director for Management (Chief Performance Officer of the United States)
Office of Performance and Personnel Management (OPPM)
Office of Federal Financial Management (OFFM)
Office of Federal Procurement Policy (OFPP)
Office of E-Government & Information Technology (administrator: Federal Chief Information Officer of the United States)
Cyber and National Security Unit
United States Digital Service (USDS)
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA)
Office of the Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator (IPEC)
Current appointees
Director: Shalanda Young (acting since March 24, 2021)
Deputy Director: Shalanda Young
General Counsel: Samuel Bagenstos
Deputy Director for Management (Chief Performance Officer of the United States): Jason Miller
Controller of the Office of Federal Financial Management: vacant (Patrick Corrigan is Performing the Duties of the Controller)
Administrator of the Office of Federal Procurement Policy: vacant
Administrator of the Office of E-Government & Information Technology (Federal Chief Information Officer of the United States): Clare Martorana
Made in America Director: Celeste Drake
Administrator of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs: Sharon Block (Acting)
List of directors
See also
List of federal agencies in the United States
Learning agenda
United States Census Bureau
List of U.S. states and territories by population
List of metropolitan areas of the United States
List of United States cities by population
List of United States counties and county-equivalents
Primary statistical area – List of the 574PSAs
Combined Statistical Area – List of the 169CSAs
Core Based Statistical Area – List of the 929CBSAs
Metropolitan Statistical Area – List of the 388MSAs
Micropolitan Statistical Area – List of the 541μSAs
United States urban area – List of United States urban areas
Title 2 of the Code of Federal Regulations
Title 5 of the Code of Federal Regulations
United States federal budget
Office of Federal Financial Management
Office of Federal Procurement Policy
Government procurement in the United States
Office of E-Government & Information Technology
Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs
Data.gov
USAFacts
Notes
References
External links
Office of Management and Budget in the Federal Register
Budget of the United States government and supplements, 1923–present
Death and Taxes: 2009 A visual guide and infographic of the 2009 United States federal discretionary budget request as prepared by OMB
"The Decision Makers: Office of Management and Budget" GovExec.com, August 22, 2005
United States Office of Management and Budget
Management and budget
United States administrative law
United States federal budgets
Cabinet of the United States
Government agencies established in 1970 |
31399333 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strozzi%20NoSQL | Strozzi NoSQL | Strozzi NoSQL is a shell-based relational database management system initialized and developed by Carlo Strozzi that runs under Unix-like operating systems, or others with compatibility layers (e.g., Cygwin under Windows). Its file name NoSQL merely reflects the fact that it does not express its queries using Structured Query Language; the NoSQL RDBMS is distinct from the circa-2009 general concept of NoSQL databases, which are typically non-relational, unlike the NoSQL RDBMS. Strozzi NoSQL is released under the GNU GPL.
Construction
NoSQL uses the operator-stream paradigm, where a number of "operators" perform a unique function on the passed data. The stream used is supplied by the UNIX input/output redirection system so that over the pipe system, the result of the calculation can be passed to other operators. As UNIX pipes run in memory, it is a very efficient way of implementation.
NoSQL, with development led by Carlo Strozzi, is the latest and perhaps the most active in a line of implementations of the stream-operator database design originally described by Evan Shaffer, Rod Manis, and Robert Jorgensen in a 1991 Unix Review article and an associated paper. Other implementations include the Perl-based RDB, a commercial version by the original authors called /rdb, and Starbase, a version with added astronomical data operators by John Roll of Harvard and the Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory. Because of its strengths in dealing with pipe data, most implementations are a mixture of awk and other programming languages, usually C or Perl.
The concept was originally described in a 1991 Unix Review article, and later expanded in a paper (see reference above), as well as in the book, "Unix Relational Database Management". NoSQL (along with other similar stream-operator databases) is well-suited to a number of fast, analytical database tasks, and has the significant advantage of keeping the tables in ASCII text form, allowing many powerful text processing tools to be used as an adjunct to the database functions themselves. Popular tools for use with NoSQL include Python, Perl, awk, and shell scripts using the ubiquitous Unix text processing tools (cut, paste, grep, sort, uniq, etc.)
NoSQL is written mostly in interpretive languages, slowing actual process execution, but its ability to use ordinary pipes and filesystems means that it can be extremely fast for many applications when using RAM filesystems or heavily leveraging pipes, which are mostly memory-based in many implementations.
Philosophy
The reasons for avoiding SQL are as follows:
Complexity: Most commercial database products are often too costly for minor projects, and free databases are too complex. They also do not have the shell-level approach that NoSQL has.
Portability:
Data: The data from NoSQL can be easily ported to other types of machines, like Macintoshes or Windows computers, since tables exist as simple ASCII text and can be easily read from or redirected to files at any point in processing.
Software: NoSQL can run on any UNIX machine that has the Perl and the AWK programming languages installed, and perhaps even on the Cygwin UNIX-like environment for Microsoft Windows.
Unlimited: NoSQL has no arbitrary limits, like a data field size, column number, or file size limit, and can principally work where other products cannot. (The number of columns in a table may actually be limited to 32,768 by some implementations of the AWK1 programming language).
Usability: With its straight forward and logical concept, NoSQL can easily be used by non-computer people. For instance, rows of data are selected with the 'row' operator, columns with the 'column' operator.
In contrast to other RDBMS, NoSQL has the full power of UNIX during application development and usage. Its user interface uses the UNIX shell. So, it is not necessary to learn a set of new commands to administer the database. From the view of NoSQL, the database is not more than a set of files similar to any other user file. No scripting or other type of database language is used besides the UNIX shell. This shell-nature encourages casual use of this database, which makes its use familiar, resulting in formal use. In other words, NoSQL is a set of shell routines that access normal files of the operating system.
Examples
To retrieve information about a particular employee, a query in SQL might look like this:
select e.*, a.*, mgr.* from EMPLOYEES e, ADDRESSES a, MANAGERS mgr
WHERE .....
Since a document-oriented NoSQL database often retrieves a pre-connected document representing the entire employee, the query might look like this:
$e = doc("/employee/emp_1234")
return $e/address/zip
The stream-operator paradigm differs from conventional SQL, but since the NoSQL DB is relational, it is possible to map NoSQL operators to their SQL equivalents:
See also
Relational database management system (RDBMS)
Further reading
External links
NoSQL: a non-SQL RDBMS
Relational database management systems
Free database management systems |
60365045 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kathryn%20R.%20Nightingale | Kathryn R. Nightingale | Kathryn Radabaugh Nightingale is an American biomedical engineer in the field of medical ultrasound. She is the Theo Pilkington Professor of Biomedical Engineering at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. Nightingale is also a Member of the Duke Cancer Institute and Bass Fellow in the Duke University Pratt School of Engineering.
Education
Nightingale graduated magna cum laude with her bachelor's degree in electrical engineering from the Duke University Pratt School of Engineering in 1989. In 1997, she obtained a Doctorate of Philosophy in biomedical engineering from the Duke University Graduate School of Arts at Sciences. Nightingale's thesis was entitled Ultrasonic Generation and Detection of Acoustic Streaming to Differentiate between Fluid-Filled and Solid Lesions in the Breast.
College athletics
As a freshman, Nightingale was a member of the 1985-86 Duke Blue Devils women's basketball team, and made the Atlantic Coast Conference Honor Roll for that year.
Career
Research interests
Nightingale's early work focused on acoustic streaming to differentiate fluid filled cysts and solid masses in the breast, which was the precursor to acoustic radiation force impulse (ARFI) imaging when it was determined that acoustic radiation force could induce displacements in soft tissue.
Nightingale's research interests center around ultrasound and elasticity imaging. She is specifically interested in acoustic streaming, acoustic radiation force, and nonlinear acoustics, especially for tissue characterization. She uses finite element modeling as well as phantom and clinical experiments to investigate these phenomena. Nightingale's clinical imaging interests include abdominal imaging, prostate imaging and muscle imaging.
Teaching
BME 354L: Introduction to Medical Instrumentation
BME 542: Ultrasonic Imaging
BME 845: Elasticity Imaging
Professional societies
Nightingale is a member of many professional and academic societies and advisory boards.
National Advisory Council for Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering
American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, Fellow
National Academy of Inventors, Fellow
Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, senior member
American Institute of Ultrasound in Medicine
Biomedical Engineering Society
American Society for Engineering Education
Professional committees
Nightingale has sat and sits on several professional committees.
IEEE Transactions on Medical Imaging Steering Committee, 1999-2001
IEEE Biotechnology Council, 2005-2007
IEEE UFFC International Ultrasonics Symposium Technical Program Committee, 1998–present
SPIE Medical Imaging Symposium Technical Program Committee, 2004-2006
AIUM Annual Convention technical review committee, 2011-2015
AIUM Chair of Subcommittee on Transiently Increased Output for Ultrasonic Imaging 2012-2017
AIUM Technical Standards Committee, 2013-2017
AIUM Basic Science and Instrumentation Community, 2013–present
WFUMB Consensus Report on Elasticity Imaging, Faculty expert 2013-2015
RSNA/QIBA Ultrasonic Shearwave Speed Technical Committee 2012–present
Conference and review panels
Nightingale has sat on several grant review panels and has chaired several conference sessions.
NIH BMIT-B Study Section Charter Member 2015–present
NIH MEDI-A and CMIP Study Section (Ad-hoc member), 2004-2014
NIH RNM Study Section (Ad-hoc member), 2003
NIH Ad-hoc Ultrasound Study Section, 1999-2002
Department of Defense, Breast Cancer Research Program, 1998
Department of Defense, Prostate Cancer Research Training Program, 2010
Chair, Sessions of IEEE UFFC Ultrasonics Symposium, 2000–2007, 2009-2018
Chair, Sessions of BMES Annual Meeting, 2001, 2010
Chair, Sessions of AIUM, 2011, 2013, 2015 - 2018
Awards and patents
Awards
Lois and John L. Imhoff Distinguished Teaching Award, Pratt School of Engineering, 2018
Fellow, American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering, 2016
Capers and Marion McDonald Teaching and Research Award, Pratt School of Engineering, 2015
Klein Family Distinguished Teaching Award, Pratt School of Engineering, 2007
Patents
Method and Apparatus for Delivery of Agents across the Blood Brain Barrier, in review, 2008. (Application No. 12/588,667)
Ultrasound methods, systems, and computer program products for imaging fluids, in review, 2009. (Application No. 12/407,979)
Ultrasound methods, systems and computer program products for imaging fluids using acoustic radiation force, in review, 2011. (Application No. 13/312,278)
Methods, Systems and Computer Program Products for Estimating Shear Wave Speed Using Statistical Inference, (Application No. 14/801,007)
Methods, systems and computer program products for constructive shear wave ultrasound imaging, in review, 2018 (Application No. 16/076,379)
Adaptive Tracking Focal Configuration for Tissue Deformation Estimation, IDF submitted August, 2014, patent application in preparation, 2015.
Systems and Methods for Determining Viscoelastic Properties in Soft Tissue Using Ultrasound (Provisional Application No. 62/404,793; Full Application filed October 2017).
References
Living people
American biomedical engineers
Duke University Pratt School of Engineering alumni
Year of birth missing (living people)
American women engineers
Duke University faculty
American women academics
21st-century American women |
43068306 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/INFITT | INFITT | The International Forum for Information Technology in Tamil (INFITT, read In-Fit; Tamil: உலகத் தமிழ் தகவல் தொழில்நுட்ப மன்றம் (உத்தமம்)) is a non-profit, non-governmental nodal organization for collaboration among professionals, enthusiasts, government entities, and other international organizations working in the development and standardization of information technology for Tamil language. It has active liaison and collaboration with government entities in India, Sri Lanka, Singapore and Malaysia, and industry bodies like Unicode Consortium.
INFITT conducts regular technical conferences related to Tamil computing, which attract active participation from international researchers and professionals. These Tamil Internet Conferences (aka TIC) are conducted in Tamil speaking countries like India, Singapore and Malaysia, or international institutions that pioneer in Tamil research. Past conferences have been organized in association with governments of Tamil Nadu and Malaysia, and universities of Singapore, California, Pennsylvania and Cologne.
History
There had been active interaction between various technology professionals and Tamil scholars over the internet well before the creation of INFITT. Some of this collaboration was in standardizing a keyboard layout more suited for computers, and defining an 8-bit encoding scheme to work on then current operating systems which didn't yet support Unicode. International technical workshops and conferences were already being conducted regularly, with patronage from government or universities. The idea of a formal international entity was mooted in private communications among key members preparing for Tamil Internet 2000 Conference and a constitution was drafted. Establishment of the organization was announced during that conference with the participants of the conference forming the initial general body.
Tamil Internet Conferences
Tamil Internet Conferences bring together scholars and researchers working in Tamil Information Technology from across the world for active discussion and learning. The main aspect of the conferences are the technical section with paper presentations and group discussions. Some conferences held in locations with significant Tamil population may also have two additional sections, namely, Public Gallery (மக்கள் அரங்கம்), and Exhibition. Typically, participation in technical conferences only would require paid registration.
The gallery is used for showcasing recent developments in technology. Educational sessions and booths help the visiting public in enabling Tamil in their devices, and learn about job and business opportunities in Tamil computing.
The table below lists 3 precursor events conducted before the formation of INFITT, in the years 1997, 1999 and 2000. INFITT was established during the conference in 2000, held in Singapore.
Working Groups
Working groups are the primary mode of coordination for technical discussion within INFITT. Some of the working groups may be time bound and might close on completion of their objective, while others continue to function to facilitate ongoing discussions and developments. There were a total of 8 working groups formed so far in INFITT.
Events & workshops
INFITT organizes educational workshops focused to specific target audience. These workshops range from basic training in using computers in Tamil language, to advanced workshops on research topics. These are often organized in coordination with colleges and universities.
Organizational structure
INFITT are governed by the 9-member executive committee (EC) which takes all major decisions. It is headed by a chair who holds the office for a one-year term, who is assisted by a vice chair, executive director and a treasurer. The EC is elected to hold office for a two-year term by the general council.
The general council consists of 54 elected members. Members of GC are elected by the general body every two years. GC has proportional representation for regions and countries with significant Tamil population. The general body consists of all registered members of the organization.
INFITT also has regional chapters for handling activities in specific regions. Currently there are two active regional chapters in India and Malaysia. There are also student chapters within major universities.
Membership
Membership of INFITT is open to individuals and organizations. Membership doesn't have any restrictions other than to abide by the rules of the organization and payment of annual membership fee.
Registered students may become members without paying any registration fee. Student members will enjoy similar benefit as regular members except the voting rights in General Council elections.
Collaborations
INFITT regularly collaborates with various industry organizations and government bodies in setting standards, facilitating development and promoting usage. INFITT is a liaison member of Unicode Consortium, and worked to develop the Unicode standard in Tamil language.
References
Tamil computing |
11826939 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeckOS | GeckOS | GeckOS is a multitasking operating system for MOS 6502, and compatible processors such as the MOS 6510. The GeckOS operating system is one of the few successful attempts to implement a Unix-like operating system on the 6502 architecture.
Overview
The system offers some Unix-like functionality including pre-emptive multitasking, multithreading, semaphores, signals, binary relocation, TCP/IP networking via SLIP, and a 6502 standard library.
GeckOS includes native support for the Commodore PET (32 KB and 96 KB models), Commodore 64 and the CS/A65 homebrew system. Due to the platform independent nature of the kernel code, GeckOS is advertised as an extremely easy OS to port to alternative 6502 platforms.
Binary compatibility with the LUnix operating system can be attained when the lib6502 shared library is used.
Due to the small fixed-location stack of the 6502, and because an external MMU is rarely provided, multitasking is somewhat limited. The OS supports a maximum of four tasks when a shared stack space is used. This can be increased to sixteen tasks when stack snapshotting is enabled, although this is done at the expense of some system speed.
A webserver is integrated into the SLIP daemon.
Unix on 6502 architecture
While early versions of unix ran on for example early model PDP 11 computers that were comparable to Commodore 64 in terms of memory and processor performance there were architecture differences in terms of lack of a kernel mode, only 3 8-bit registers versus eight 16-bit general registers, and a fixed stack. These architectural limitations make implementing a unix-like operating system on the 6502 challenging.
The possible non exhaustive list of other viable unix-like implementations on 6502 are LUnix, Asterix (Chris Baird) and ACE (Chris "Polar" Baird). GeckOS arguably is more complete in some respects, with ACE being stronger in terms of standard unix utilities but weaker in the operating system area.
References
Footnotes
Sources
External links
Analysis, building instructions
Unix variants
Commodore 64 software
Free software operating systems
Hobbyist operating systems
Lightweight Unix-like systems
Discontinued operating systems |
22184422 | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ozarba | Ozarba | Ozarba is a genus of moths of the family Noctuidae. The genus was erected by Francis Walker in 1865.
Species
Ozarba abscissa (Walker, 1858) Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Madagascar, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia, Gambia
Ozarba abscondita Hampson, 1918 Peru
Ozarba acantholipina Draudt, 1950 Yunnan
Ozarba accincta (Distant, 1898) Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa
Ozarba acclivis Felder & Rogenhofer, 1874
Ozarba adaptata Hacker, 2016 Yemen
Ozarba adducta Berio, 1940 Oman, Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea
Ozarba aeria (Grote, 1881) Wisconsin, Mexico
Ozarba africana Berio, 1940 Nigeria, Zaire, Rwanda, Tanzania, Zimbabwe
Ozarba agraria Schaus, 1911 Costa Rica
Ozarba alberti Wiltshire, 1994 Arabia, Ethiopia, Kenya
Ozarba albifascia (Walker, 1865) South Africa
Ozarba albimarginata (Hampson, 1895) India (Gujarat), Ethiopia, Somalia, South Africa
Ozarba albomediovittata Berio, 1937 Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa
Ozarba aldabrae Berio, 1959 Seychelles
Ozarba algaini Wiltshire, 1983
Ozarba aloisiisabaudiae Berio, 1937 Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania
Ozarba amazonia (Warren, 1889) Brazil (Amazonas, São Paulo)
Ozarba angola Hacker, 2016 Angola
Ozarba angulilinea Schaus, 1914 French Guiana
Ozarba apicalis Hampson, 1910 Arabia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zambia, South Africa
Ozarba argentofusca Hacker, 2016 Yemen, Ethiopia, Kenya, Namibia
Ozarba argyrogramma (Hampson, 1914) Burkina Faso, Guinea, Senegal, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria, Congo, Zaire, Angola, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia
Ozarba atribasalis (Hampson, 1896) Oman, Yemen
Ozarba atrifera Hampson, 1910
Ozarba atrisigna (Hampson, 1910) Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia
Ozarba badia (Swinhoe, 1886) India (Madhya Pradesh)
Ozarba bascura Dyar, 1914 Brazil (São Paulo)
Ozarba berioi Hacker, 2016 Yemen, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania
Ozarba besidia (H. Druce, 1898) Mexico
Ozarba bettina (H. Druce, 1898) Mexico
Ozarba bicolora (Bethune-Baker, 1911) Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania
Ozarba bicoloria Gaede, 1915 Namibia, South Africa
Ozarba bicornis Hampson, 1910 Paraguay
Ozarba binorbis Hampson, 1910
Ozarba bipars Hampson, 1891 India (Tamil Nadu)
Ozarba bipartita (Hampson, 1902) Angola, South Africa, Zimbabwe, Arabia, Ethiopia, Tanzania
Ozarba bisexualis Hampson, 1910
Ozarba boursini Berio, 1940
Ozarba brachycampta Hacker, 2016 Ethiopia, Tanzania
Ozarba brunnea (Leech, 1900) China
Ozarba capreolana Rebel, 1947 Egypt
Ozarba captata Berio, 1940 Eritrea
Ozarba catilina (H. Druce, 1889) Mexico
Ozarba catoxantha (Hampson, 1910) Botswana, South Africa, Namibia
Ozarba chionoperas Hampson, 1918
Ozarba choruba Dyar, 1914 Mexico
Ozarba chromatographa Hacker, 2016 Tanzania
Ozarba chrysaspis (Meyrick, 1891) Australia (Queensland)
Ozarba chryseiplaga Hampson, 1910
Ozarba cinda Schaus, 1940 Puerto Rico
Ozarba cinerea (Aurivillius, 1879) Namibia
Ozarba concolor Hampson, 1918 Peru
Ozarba consanguis (Hampson, 1902) Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Angola, Zaire
Ozarba consternans Hayes, 1975 Galápagos Islands
Ozarba contempta (Walker, 1858) South Africa
Ozarba corniculans (Wallengren, 1860) Ethiopia, Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania, Botswana, Madagascar, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia
Ozarba corniculantis Berio, 1947 South Africa, Senegal
Ozarba costata Hampson, 1910 Argentina
Ozarba cryptica Berio, 1940 Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Senegal, Ghana
Ozarba cryptochrysea Hampson, 1902
Ozarba cupreofascia Le Cerf, 1922
Ozarba cyanopasta Hampson, 1910
Ozarba damagarima Rothschild, 1921 Niger
Ozarba damarensis Berio, 1940 Namibia
Ozarba debrosi Wiltshire, 1983
Ozarba deficiens Berio, 1935 Somalia, Kenya
Ozarba delogramma Warren, 1913 Khasia Hills
Ozarba densa Walker, 1865
Ozarba devylderi Berio, 1940 Namibia
Ozarba diaphora Berio, 1937 Uganda, Ethiopia
Ozarba didymochra Hacker, 2016 Ethiopia
Ozarba dignata (Möschler, 1884) South Africa
Ozarba diplogramma Hacker, 2016 Nigeria, Zaire
Ozarba diplopodia Hacker, 2016 South Africa
Ozarba dissymetrica Hacker, 2016 Ethiopia, Tanzania
Ozarba divisa Gaede, 1916
Ozarba domina (Holland, 1894) Ivory Coast, Togo, Gabon, Nigeria, Cameroon, Congo, Zaire, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique
Ozarba duosigna Hacker, 2016 Somalia
Ozarba duplovittata Hacker, 2016 Madagascar
Ozarba endoplaga Hampson, 1916 Somalia
Ozarba endoscota Hampson, 1916 Oman, Yemen, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania
Ozarba epimochla Bethune-Baker, 1911
Ozarba euthygramma Hacker, 2016 Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast
Ozarba euthygrapha (Hacker, 2016) Tanzania
Ozarba excisa Hampson, 1891 India (Tamil Nadu)
Ozarba excurvata Hampson, 1910 Argentina
Ozarba exolivacea Hampson, 1916
Ozarba exoplaga Berio, 1940 Cape Verde, Cameroon, Arabia, Sudan, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Madagascar
Ozarba fasciata (Wallengren, 1860) South Africa
Ozarba felicia Le Cerf, 1922 Kenya
Ozarba ferruginata Hacker, 2016 Tanzania, Kenya, South Africa
Ozarba festiva Berio, 1950
Ozarba flavescens Hampson, 1910 Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda, eastern Zaire
Ozarba flavicilia Hampson, 1914 Uganda
Ozarba flavidiscata Hampson, 1910 Madagascar
Ozarba flavipennis Hampson, 1910
Ozarba fuscescens Rebel, 1947 Egypt
Ozarba fuscogrisea Hacker, 2016 Namibia
Ozarba fuscopallida Hacker, 2016 Namibia
Ozarba fuscundosa Hacker, 2016 Ethiopia, Kenya, Zaire
Ozarba gaedei Berio, 1940 Namibia
Ozarba genuflexa (Hampson, 1902) South Africa, Namibia, Angola
Ozarba geta (H. Druce, 1889) Mexico
Ozarba glaucescens Hampson, 1910 India (Andhra Pradesh)
Ozarba gonatia Hacker, 2016 Namibia, South Africa
Ozarba grisescens (Berio, 1947) Ethiopia, Kenya
Ozarba griveaudae Viette, 1985 Madagascar
Ozarba heliastis Hampson, 1902
Ozarba hemichrysea Hampson, 1910
Ozarba hemileuca Wiltshire, 1982 Arabia, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania
Ozarba hemimelaena Hampson, 1910
Ozarba hemiochra Hampson, 1910 Oman, Zambia, South Africa, Namibia
Ozarba hemiphaea (Hampson, 1907) India (Andhra Pradesh), Sri Lanka
Ozarba hemipolia Hampson, 1910 Yemen, Ethiopia, Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia
Ozarba hemipyra Hampson, 1916
Ozarba hemisarca Hampson, 1916 Somalia, Namibia
Ozarba hemitecta Dyar, 1914 Venezuela
Ozarba heringi Berio, 1940
Ozarba hermanstaudei Hacker, 2016 South Africa
Ozarba hoffmanni Berio, 1940 Brazil (Santa Catarina)
Ozarba holophaea Hampson, 1910 Argentina
Ozarba honesta (Walker, 1865) southern India
Ozarba hypenoides (Butler, 1889) India (Himachal Pradesh, Sikkim)
Ozarba hypotaenia (Wallengren, 1860) Kenya, Tanzania, Swaziland, South Africa
Ozarba hypoxantha Wallengren, 1860
Ozarba illimitata Warren, 1914
Ozarba illosis (Hampson, 1907) Sri Lanka
Ozarba imperspicua Hacker & Saldaitis, 2016 Yemen, Oman
Ozarba implicata Berio, 1940
Ozarba implora Dyar, 1918 Mexico
Ozarba incondita Butler, 1889 Nepal, India (Himachal Pradesh)
Ozarba inobtrusa (Hampson, 1902) Ethiopia, South Africa
Ozarba inopinata Berio, 1940 Namibia
Ozarba insignis (Butler, 1884) Arabia, Ethiopia
Ozarba irrationalis Hacker, 2016 Namibia, Zimbabwe, Botswawa
Ozarba isocampta Hampson, 1910 Ethiopia, Kenya, Zimbabwe, Botswana, South Africa, Namibia
Ozarba itwarra Swinhoe, 1885 India (Maharashtra)
Ozarba jansei Berio, 1940 Ethiopia, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Namibia
Ozarba joergmuelleris Hacker, 2016 Angola
Ozarba kalaharis Hacker, 2016 South Africa, Namibia
Ozarba lamina (Swinhoe, 1901) Myanmar
Ozarba lascivalis Lederer, 1855
Ozarba lata Berio, 1977
Ozarba latizonata Hacker, 2016 Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania
Ozarba legrandi Berio, 1959 Kenya
Ozarba lepida Saalmüller, 1891 Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Madagascar
Ozarba leptocyma Hampson, 1914 Senegal, Ghana, Nigeria, Sudan
Ozarba limbata (Butler, 1898) Oman, Yemen, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania
Ozarba limitata Berio, 1940 Sikkim
Ozarba madagascana Hacker, 2016 Madagascar
Ozarba madanda (Felder & Rogenhofer, 1874) South Africa
Ozarba magnofusca Hacker, 2016 Tanzania
Ozarba malaisei Berio, 1940 Namibia
Ozarba mallarba Swinhoe, 1885 India (Maharashtra)
Ozarba marabensis Wiltshire, 1980 Arabia, Ethiopia
Ozarba marthae Berio, 1940 Madagascar
Ozarba megaplaga Hampson, 1910 Kenya, Eritrea, Gambia
Ozarba melagona Hampson, 1910 Madagascar
Ozarba melanodonta Hampson, 1910 Trinidad
Ozarba melanographa (Hampson, 1916) Somalia
Ozarba melanomaura Hacker, 2016 Tanzania
Ozarba mesozonata Hampson, 1916 Arabia, Ethiopia, Somalia
Ozarba metachrysea Hampson, 1910
Ozarba metaleuca Hampson, 1910 Brazil (Amazonas)
Ozarba metallica (Hampson, 1896) Sri Lanka
Ozarba metaphora Hacker, 2016 Yemen
Ozarba miary Viette, 1985 Madagascar
Ozarba microcycla (Mabille, 1879) Madagascar
Ozarba micropunctata Berio, 1959 Madagascar
Ozarba moldavicola Herrich-Schäffer, [1851]
Ozarba molybdota Hampson, 1910 Sri Lanka
Ozarba morstatti Berio, 1938 Tanzania
Ozarba mortua Berio, 1940 Eritrea, Ethiopia, Uganda, Tanzania
Ozarba nairobiensis Berio, 1977 Kenya
Ozarba naumanni Hacker, 2016 Ethiopia
Ozarba nebula Barnes & McDunnough, 1918 Louisiana
Ozarba negrottoi Berio, 1940 Somalia, Tanzania
Ozarba nephroleuca Hampson, 1910 Madagascar
Ozarba nicotrai Berio, 1950 Somalia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania
Ozarba nigroviridis (Hampson, 1902) Eritrea, Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania, Mozambique, Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Nambia
Ozarba nyanza (Felder & Rogenhofer, 1874) Arabia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, South Africa, Namibia, Madagascar
Ozarba ochritincta Wileman & South, 1916 Taiwan
Ozarba ochrizona (Hampson, 1910) Arabia
Ozarba ochrozona Hampson, 1910 Ghana
Ozarba olimcorniculans Berio, 1940 South Africa, Namibia
Ozarba onytes Schaus, 1914 French Guiana
Ozarba oplora Dyar, 1914 Panama
Ozarba orthochrysea Hacker, 2016 Tanzania
Ozarba orthogramma Hampson, 1914 Ghana, Niger, Nigeria, Cameroon, Sudan, Ethiopia
Ozarba orthozona (Hampson, 1902) South Africa
Ozarba ovata Berio, 1977 Zaire, Malawi, Tanzania
Ozarba oxycampta Hacker, 2016 Madagascar
Ozarba pallescens (Wiltshire, 1990) Arabia, Somalia, Kenya, Tanzania
Ozarba pallida Hampson, 1910 India (Gajarat)
Ozarba pallidicoloria Hacker, 2016 Namibia
Ozarba parafricana Hacker, 2016 Angola
Ozarba paraplaga Hacker, 2016 Ethiopia, Tanzania
Ozarba parvula Berio, 1940
Ozarba paulianae Viette, 1985
Ozarba peraffinis Strand, 1920 Taiwan
Ozarba permutata Hacker, 2016 Ethiopia, Nigeria
Ozarba perplexa Saalmüller, 1891
Ozarba perplexoides Hacker, 2016 Madagascar
Ozarba persinua Berio, 1940 Namibia
Ozarba pesinua Berio, 1940
Ozarba phaea (Hampson, 1902) South Africa, Namibia, Arabia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania
Ozarba phaeocroa Hampson, 1910 Zaire
Ozarba phaeomera (Hampson, 1910) Nigeria
Ozarba phlebitis Hampson, 1910 India (Uttar Pradesh), Pakistan, Oman, Cape Verde
Ozarba plagifera (Rebel, 1907) Arabia, Sokotra, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Malawi, Tanzania, South Africa
Ozarba pluristriata Berio, 1937
Ozarba postrufoides (Poole, 1989) Madagascar
Ozarba prolai Berio, 1977
Ozarba propera (Grote, 1882) Arizona
Ozarba punctifascia Le Cerf, 1922 Kenya, Ethiopia
Ozarba punctigera Walker, 1865 Nepal, Australia (Queensland)
Ozarba punctithorax Berio, 1940
Ozarba rectifascia (Hampson, 1894) India (Maharashtra)
Ozarba rectificata Berio, 1950 India (Madhya Pradesh)
Ozarba reducta Berio, 1940 India (Karnataka)
Ozarba regia Warren, 1914 South Africa
Ozarba reussi Strand, 1911
Ozarba rosescens Hampson, 1910
Ozarba rougeoti Berio, 1984 Djibouti
Ozarba rubrivena Hampson, 1910 Cape Verde, Mali, Mauritania, Burkina Faso, Senegal, Togo, Gambia, Nigeria, Niger, Cameroon, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Namibia
Ozarba rubrofusca (Berio, 1947) Ethiopia
Ozarba rufula Hampson, 1910 India (Gujarat), Ethiopia, Sudan
Ozarba sancta Staudinger, 1900
Ozarba schmiedelae Mey, 2011 South Africa, Namibia
Ozarba schreieri (Hacker & Fibiger, 2006) Yemen
Ozarba sciaphora Hampson, 1910 Mexico
Ozarba scoliocampta Hacker, 2016 Madagascar
Ozarba scorpio Berio, 1935
Ozarba semiluctuosa Berio, 1937 Eritrea, Ethiopia, Somalia, Kenya, Arabia
Ozarba semipotentia Dyar, 1914 Mexico
Ozarba semipurpurea (Hampson, 1902) Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania, Zimbabwe, South Africa, Zaire
Ozarba semirubra Hampson, 1910 India (Tamil Nadu)
Ozarba semitorrida Hampson, 1916
Ozarba separabilis Berio, 1940
Ozarba simplex (Rebel, 1907) Sokotra
Ozarba sinua Hampson, 1910 Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Angola, Namibia
Ozarba socotrana Hampson, 1910 Arabia, Egypt, Eritrea, Sokotra, Zaire, Tanzania, South Africa
Ozarba spectabilis Hacker, 2016 Kenya
Ozarba squamicornis Dyar, 1918 Mexico
Ozarba staudeana Hacker, 2016 South Africa
Ozarba stenocampta Hacker, 2016 Madagascar
Ozarba stenochra Hacker, 2016 Burkina Faseo, N.Nigeria, Kenya
Ozarba strigipennis (Hampson, 1916) Somalia
Ozarba subdentula Hampson, 1910 Sri Lanka
Ozarba subterminalis Hampson, 1910
Ozarba subtilimba Berio, 1963
Ozarba subtilis Berio, 1966
Ozarba subtusfimbriata Berio, 1940 South Africa
Ozarba tacana Berio, 1977 Mexico
Ozarba tamsina (Brandt, 1947) Iran, Pakistan, Arabia
Ozarba tenuis Hacker, 2016 Ethiopia
Ozarba terminipuncta (Hampson, 1899) Sokotra
Ozarba terribilis Berio, 1940 Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania
Ozarba tilora (Dyar, 1912) Mexico
Ozarba timida Berio, 1940
Ozarba topnaari Mey, 2011 Namibia
Ozarba toxographa Hacker, 2016 Kenya, Tanzania
Ozarba toxotis Hampson, 1910 Ethiopia, Malawi, Tanzania
Ozarba transversa (Moore, [1884]) Sri Lanka
Ozarba tricoloria Hacker & Saldaitis, 2016 Sokotra
Ozarba tricornis Berio, 1977 Belize
Ozarba tricuspis Hampson, 1910 Kenya
Ozarba uberosa (Swinhoe, 1885) India (Maharashtra)
Ozarba uhlenhuthi Hacker, 2016 Ethiopia
Ozarba umbrifera Hampson, 1910 India (Gujarat)
Ozarba unigena Hacker & Saldaitis, 2016 Sokotra
Ozarba varia Walker, 1865
Ozarba variabilis Berio, 1940 Egypt, Eritrea
Ozarba variegata Le Cerf, 1911 Kenya
Ozarba venata Butler, 1889 India (Hiamchal Pradesh)
Ozarba vicina (Schaus, 1904) Brazil (São Paulo)
Ozarba violascens (Hampson, 1910) Arabia, Eritrea, Kenya
Ozarba wolframmeyi Hacker, 2016 Namibia
References
Acontiinae |
Subsets and Splits